#whatever position the sun/moon is in: Good [x]!

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

oh! while we're on the Appreciation Train and before i go to sleep! i would like to say that although i rarely respond to replies, i do see them! and i Do cherish them! thank you!

[lowkeycasanova]

good morning birthday boy

just a little sum

vinnie hacker x reader

warning: smut

Masterlist

___________________________________________

The morning sun peeks through the windows. The half open curtains allow to rays to shine on the boy who’s turing twenty two today.

Vinnie lies on his back, one hand resting on his bare abdomen and the other behind his head.

You wake slowly, gradually getting a sense of your surroundings. The festivities from a couple days prior still made you feel hazy.

After blinking a few times, your eyes get used to the brightness and fall on the man sleeping so peacefully beside you.

Vinnie hums in his sleep, and the arm that was behind his head now makes its way around yours, urging to pull you closer. You gladly obliged, running a hand on his chest, tracing the snake tattoo on his collarbone.

He shifts in bed and for a moment, you think he’s awake. But no. His eyes are still wired shut. With wandering eyes, you take in every detail of his body. The art on his skin, muscles, skin folds. Today is his day and you want to cherish him more than usual.

Your hand makes its way down his chest, caressing the tattoo of the crescent moon until you reach the waistband of his boxers. Peeping up at him, you notice he’s still sleeping. A devilish smile creeps on your lips as you know exactly how to wake him up.

Your hand slides further down, gently cupping the bulge of his cock through his boxers, rubbing sensually as to wake up the nerves down there. The reaction is instant. When you slip a hand underneath, he’s already half hard. Getting excited. Getting ready.

You get up from your lying position and throw a leg over him, hands on his chest for support as you now straddle him. You watch his face as his eyelids start to move, and finally flutter open as you press soft kisses to his jawline.

“Morning.” You smile at him as his hands immediately grip your ass and encircle your waist.

“Oh my, good morning to you too.”

He lets out a breath and you feel his body relax, a nonverbal cue letting you know you can do whatever you want.

“Did you sleep well birthday boy?” You ask with a smirk. His eyes are fixed on you as you innocently hook your fingers into his waistband.

“Mhm, yeah.” He mumbled. That morning voice of his does something to you.

You grin and pull his boxers down. He bucks his hips to make it easier. “I figured you’d want your first surprise early.”

“Really? That’s so nice-“ he seethes through his teeth as you press a kiss to the soft head and your hand slides down his erected length.

“I think you’ll like my gift.” You tease.

“I know I’ll love it.” He breaths out as he opens his legs slightly, watching you settle in between them.

You slide your tongue along his length and he moans at the sensation.

You use your tongue to lick around his top, before wetting your lips and finally taking him in your mouth right as he moans your name.

“Fuucckk, that feels so good.” He pants, one hand gripping your hair and the other gripping the sheets.

Going up and down his erection, you take as much as you can each time, getting the rest with your hand. He’s so big and your eyes start to water whenever he pushes down on your head.

“Goddamn. Y/N, please.”

He’s not able to hold still at this point. The lovely of his hips meet yours and now he’s pushing himself deeper. You come up for air, spitting on him and rubbing your hand up and down. Upon making eye contact with him, he looks at you with so much adoration under those half lidded eyes.

You take a breather before going down again. Really focusing on his cock and the lubrication from your saliva, you go deep. He fills your mouth completely and you pause for a second before coming back up.

“You take me so well, you know that?” He whimpers, chest heaving.

You take another breath and take him all the way again. Then a third time. Then a fourth.

“Holy shit. I’m gonna have an asthma attack, and I don’t even have asthma.”

Even with his cock in your mouth, you smile and a chuckle escapes from the back of your throat. He laughs too.

Getting back to business, you take him just like in the beginning. Taking the first half of him and giving him a handjob with the lower half. You pick up the lace as you know he’s close.

“Yeah, just like that. You’re doing so good.” He encourages.

You then suck on him a little harder, like a vacuum to give him that extra sensation.

“I’m gonna c-cum. Fuck!.”

His cock twitches in your hand and his orgasm releases into the back of your throat.

You let him go with a popping sound, swallowing without a second thought . Still massaging him, you wanna make sure it’s all out.

His skin is now slightly red due to the rush of blood.

“Y/N,” he calls out to you between pants and you glance up at him. “Come here.”

You get closer and he meets you halfway. Cupping both sides of your face as he brings you in for a steamy kiss.

“I hope you liked your surprise.” You told him.

“Are you kidding me? I loved it.”

——————————————————————

[mr-ys-phantasma]

🌙 Moon Phases 🌙

Agatha Harkness X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1328

Chapter 44:

The vine around your neck kept pulling you away, the struggle to fight it without your magic proving worthless, and yet you kept trying.

Hearing Agatha's screams of pain as she also tried to fight off Rio was driving you mad, but as the sun covered the moon fully, you were left powerless to act.

Eventually, the vine came to a halt, your head pressed against the wooden fence separating Agatha's House from the house right next to it.

Suddenly, more vines spread from the ground; wrapping around your wrists and your ankles, keeping you in an almost crucified position.

You tried to pull them again, and you had to bite your lip, feeling the pain coming from the thorns protruding from the green plants. They were never meant to kill you, just harm you enough when you tried to fight them.

The position alone did not help. A position you had once found excitement now only brought fear. That fear was not for you, though.

It was for Agatha.

It was the fear that you would once again fail to help her. The fear that Rio would harm her until Agatha gave in... the fear that you would be a spectator to this sadistic show of power between the two former lovers.

As if your desperation and need for help had been manifested by the universe, you felt a tingling sensation of magic approaching; for a moment, you wondered if the newcomer was an ally or a foe

You looked up, your heart skipping a beat at the sight of Billy in full costume, crown, and power; flying towards you.

All questions about how he got control over them or how he found you got thrown out of the window, hope flattering within your chest; a proof that you could somehow still win this.

"Billy!" You called him out, a tired smile forming.

"Y/N," he exclaimed as he stopped levitating, noticing you trapped by the vines.

Before he could question why you were trapped and not fighting, you interrupted him.

"Help, Agatha!" You shouted at him above the winds. He tried to argue, hesitating, but once again, you did not leave him. "I will be fine! Help her!"

With hesitation, he nodded and flew towards Agatha; readying his powers to blast Rio away from the magicless witch.

The fact that he was now present was a good thing, but it did little to ease worry growing inside of you. No matter how powerful he truly was, he was still a child; untrained.

And Rio... she was an undefeated force, one that could never truly die.

You wanted to help, and so you tried to fight the vines holding you hostage once again. The thorns dug deep into your skin, drawing blood, and yet you used that pain to fuel your attempts.

Defeat was slowly crawling in, and you were so close to giving up, feeling helpless. As you did that you barely noticed, the eclipse was over, and slowly, the first rate of moonlight had started to appear.

'Please,' you begged into your mind. 'Please help me save them'.

You continued mentally praying, hoping whatever ethereal power was out there would feel pity for you.

In that moment of helplessness, you could help but think back to all those years... to en era when you never felt that way.

The first time was back in Salem. You were a child no older than six years old, and yet your powers could surpass the powers of most witches. When you were a child , you never fet helpless, and you always took pride in what you could do.

Then they started criticising you, warning you that you were out of control. They started putting fear in your mind, telling you that without some self awareness, you would harm someone.

And when you actually did harm someone, when you actually started to hold back; you started to forget just how powerful truly were.

Only one person, back then, had tried to change that... Agatha.

You were both teenagers, sitting under a weeping willow. Side by side, you rested your head on her shoulder; fingers interlocked.

In your free hand, you held a flower you had plucked on your way to meet her, and you spun it around between your thumb and index finger.

That day was her birthday, and you had chosen to meet, only for you to confess to Agatha how you felt lately; that growing fear that you would truly harm someone with your powers.

Evanora's pressure on you, to harm and end Agatha,had definitely not helped ease your worries or feel better bout yourself... and your powers.

"You shouldn't listen to them,"she commented as her thumb caressed your skin."You shouldn't hold back for anyone."

"And what if i harm someone?" You looked at her. "What if I harm you?"

Agatha pecked your nose. The now 18 year old always chose to peck you there when younger and you were nervous. Even though, now, you were almost 16, she bever stopped.

"I trust you. I know you never would, no matter how powerful you become."

How many times did Agatha support you? Did she keep telling you to stop holding back? To stop being afraid?

How many times did Rio hold a similar stance?

"You shouldn't be afraid of your powers," she had commented one day after sering you hesitating casting a spel.

"I am not afraid, I am self-aware. There is a difference," you had argued, even though you did not believe it yourself.

"Right, and I don't show up where corpses are." She sat behind you, her longer legs trapping you within them as they spread on each side of you. "You are different than the rest, so why deny yourself that?" Her hands were placed above yours, magic subconsciously reacting; causing an exciting sense of thrill and faint pain. "Why hold back?"

A new memory flashed into your minds, the voice of a woman you did not expect to bring up in such a dire situation.

"Stop holding back. Face your fear."

Lilia had told you those words just before she left you go into the iron maiden. She could have told you anything else, knowing you would never mert again and yet... she chose those words because she knew something more, she had seen it.

The sound of fighting was faintly reaching your ears, reminding you that while you were laying there; contemplating about your life... Agatha and Billy were fighting for theirs.

You should have been there, helping them. You should be by Agatha's side as you promised, do something different compared to all those times you didn't.

And then it hit you.

This was a trial, and it was your trial.

All those times you have chosen to step back, to hold back your power... you potential , your love for Agatha.

There was only one way to end this, to truly honour your promise and be by her side...

And so you took a deep breath, concentrating as you felt the weak rays of moonlight upon your skin. You concentrate harder than ever, digging deep into your magic core. You tried to remember the power you always had, but you were always afraid of it.

Eyes close tightly during your attempt, a tear escaping and rolling on your cheek as you went deeper... and deeper.

The right hand, the very same one branded with the moonmark, wrapped around the vine holding it trapped and with one last effort you've started to summon on your magic in your hand; using it to burn the very same vine holding you hostage.

As you felt your power spreading across your body, burning your restraints... you didn't celebrate in triumph or clapped in joy.

Instead, you fought harder and harder to release it, barely registering the white light engulfing your body, giving you a boost you had never felt before as you finally.

Stopped. Holding. Back.

Chapter 45

[k-tarotz]

PICK A CARD; Your & Your F/O’s Dynamic

PILE ONE PILE TWO PILE THREE

hii and welcome to this pick a card! 🫶🏻 it will be a reading related to your fictional other! if that’s not your thing remember to not judge, everyone has different interests. that being said, if you are unsure how to pick a pile take a deep breath and choose the one your eyes first landed on, or the one you feel most drawn to. have fun and thank you for participating.

F/o reading | Kpop reading | personal reading | masterlist

PILE ONE

the sun, nine of pentacles, six of pentacles

so right of the bat this is someone who genuinely adores you a lot. they love the way you laugh, dress and carry yourself. they have a deep sense of love and adoration for you! not a single thing they don’t like about you.

they see you as the sun. the brightest, best thing in their life that they cannot live without. it doesn’t matter it you are a gloomy person, or not as positive as you could be. they will see only the good in you, never focus on your faults. they have a really high sense of love and adoration for you and nothing can change that. in their eyes you can do no harm, and that stays like that, most probably forever.

they would also most probably love to spoil you rotten, whatever you want is yours because they will get it for you in a heartbeat. they won’t accept a no. for some of you, your f/o could be really rich so they have no problem spending money on you. for another half of the group this is someone who doesn’t have a lot but is an insanely hardworking person and will do anything to provide you comfort.

they love you too much to just sit and watch you daydream about the things you could have. they are very action oriented and it will show in your relationship. there is also a possibility they aren’t good with words but they for sure will love you so much EVERYONE will know it. even strangers.

they love you dearly and would never ask for anyone else in their life, to them you are like a sweet summer song on a warm night under the stars. something that is impossible to forget.

this dynamic mainly sun x moon, but there is also a really strong power dynamic here. neither one of you less than the other but both having different roles. i don’t think theres a specific name for this one but the vibe is ‘would give up the world for them x not used to affection but secretly loving it’

some of you might be very shy receiving so much love and affection because you aren’t used to it or have never been loved this way before but this would only motivate your person further to love you deeply and show it to you everyday, let that be with big or small actions.

channeled messages: “ I love you, my dearest “, “ I wouldn’t mind dying in your arms”, “Do you love me like I love you?”, “Catch me before I fall”, “Wether you are 20 or a 200 years old I love you regardless”, “Summer Time Sadness”

other things that might be relevant:

ice, distance, natto?, orange, laces, black, aesthetics, gold, music/singing, fashion, pool (pool parties for some), king

PILE TWO

judgment, hermit, the world

this one is soooo cute! with all due respect, each pile is insanely cute, but this one is especially sweet. your f/o could be a person that has a hard time opening up to people and could be labeled as a cold person even if they are not. so, ultimately a misunderstood person.

regardless of that they do have a hard time with affection, as i have already said~ they could push people away on purpose and hurting them before getting hurt themselves. now with you this would change. no matter what happens and what they do you just keep loving them without needing a specific reason. you just love them for themselves without any bad intentions and it’s so new to them and they love it so much they just want to be around you all the time and they get so overwhelmed with this feeling they aren’t quite sure how to react to it but before they realise it they fell in love already.

you fell first, they fell harder. way harder. they love you so much they feel like their heart can jump out of their chest at any minute.

since we have the hermit & the world card together it is also very possible that you are their first and last love. (even if they are written to have romantic interest in the show.. it does not matter.)

however don’t be mistaken though, they do have a very ‘fuck it, i am going to love you on purpose’ energy. they want you to know that they love you, are in love with you and that it’s not because of some accident or uncontrollable force but they adore you for the person you are. for the things you do, for the way you talk and because you are you. they love everything about you, even your habits. they find it very endearing.

once they are comfortable accepting the fact that they are in love with you they will be very affectionate with you. let that be cuddling, holding you on their lap (or vise versa, whatever you prefer), kissing you, defending you even when they know you are wrong but correcting you in private, helping you cook, doing the things you have no energy for or whatever makes you feel loved they will do it. you won’t have to tell them. they are attentive and always pay attention to you. they adore you more than you could ever imagine.

channeled messages: “Please don’t cry for me”, “I love you the most”, “Don’t take your eyes of me”, “Theres a million worlds where I love you and I would destroy each one where I don’t if I had the power”

other things that might be relevant:

white cat, car, hell (??), tent, snake, help, healing crystals (?), bites, tags (?), spices, red, power

PILE THREE

queen of swords, nine of swords, four of pentacles

alright so for your person you are someone very healing, maybe not intentionally but you heal them in ways no one could ever do before and they adore you so much for it. you give them more perspective in life and teach them things they wouldn’t have been able to think about before. this could be views on life or specific things. definitely related to how different you two are as people, but in a good way.

do you know that saying? “i can change them” well you actually can, and it’s really cute.

they could be someone that is known as a powerful but morally not correct character, or perhaps just have a personal growth arc. well, with you they would have this not only faster but better. i am not saving that you would be their saviour and they cannot live without you, but that’s kind of the energy here.

maybe at first you wouldn’t be willing to get together or like them? either way, they would want your approval a lot, straight from the get go. they look up to you like to no other and want to be someone you approve of. they have this deep desire for your love. so they would naturally change themselves for the better.

i know some people look at change as a negative thing so i would like to say: they wouldn’t force their personality or anything of the sort to change, but rather their morals/principles and the way they view life. ultimately they would have more understanding and love in their heart because of you. they would want to see the world from your eyes, understanding what you think and why you do the things you do.

they view you as someone deserving of their love, their trust and such. you would be one of, if not the only, people they show their vulnerable side to. you are a diamond in a rough in their eyes.

you are also someone they wish to protect with all their might and will, they could be very possessive over you. (though not in a toxic way.)

channeled messages: “come with me”, “kiss me just one time”, “they might leave but i will never leave you”, “ i understand, you don’t have to say a word”

things that might be relevant:

royal, river, tenten (?), kelp, yoyo, yagami (death note), bandages, fire torches, silver, rings, sunlight

thank you for participating

- Candy

[whinesandwhimpers]

rodolfo parra x f!reader headcanons (sfw & nsfw)

SFW

he loves to cook!! esp for u, loves when u praise his cooking and tells him how the meal he made tastes, hes deff cocky about his cooking tho like he knows hes good but hearing u say it!!

honestly u giving him any type of compliment about anything about him not just his cooking skills is like music to his ears

he is a romantic because i said so and we know its true anyway

gives u flowers, not just on the first date

kisses ur forehead, wrist, palm, everywhere, every fucking inch of u

big on physical touch with u

actually listens to what u tell him!! and remembers!! remembers what u like, dislike, if u have been wanting something for a while he'll surprise u with it before u can get it urself

breakfast in bed providing typa guy, doesnt even have to be a special day

a perfect fucking gentlemen. boundaries? respected. hand? held. home? safely. (hotel trivago)

if a bad guy kidnaps/hurts u, he is seeing red and the bad guy is not walking outta there alive, might even torture him a lil if rudys got time?? no one hurts his girl

will absolutely teach u spanish if u dont know it, gets so happy once u start understanding whatever he says in spanish to/around u, when u respond in spanish hes beaming :)

if hes jealous of someone talking/flirting to u he'll silently watch, knowing u can handle it/trusting u, until he spots any discomfort coming from u then hes coming over, putting an arm around ur waist, making it known to this person that ur his and they have zero fucking chance with u

when he proposes, he gets Alejandro's help, makes it perfect, pulls together all your fav things, fav flowers, fav drinks, fav food - its a priv dinner, not at some fancy restaurant, because he wants it to be personal - fav ring, he either already knows what u wanted or he got Alejandro to pretend he needed ur opinions and outright asked u which one ur fav is before he reported that info back to rudy

NSFW

hes not vanilla because i said so

he'd deff be down to try whatever u wanna try, he'd make sure ur never in pain or discomfort tho

switch

soft dom, wouldnt want to see u in pain or degrade u, ur his whole fucking life, his heart, his sun and moon, he is cherishing u and worshipping the ground u walk on

"look at you, mi amor, taking me so well"

"have i told you how beautiful you look lately?" he asks, his hand on your cheek.

you giggle, smiling softly at him and leaning into his hand, "you tell me at least once a day, my love."

"hm, not nearly enough then, hermosa." he replies, leaning in to kiss you.

orgasm denial tho if ur bratty, asking "are you gonna be a good girl for me, amor?"

...or edging until ur a pathetic blubbering mess pleading with him that u will be good and to let u cum - rare tho because ur normally such a good girl for ur sweet rudy and he hates seeing u cry no matter the situation - afterwards he's taking care of u, kissing any tears off ur face, spooning u

unintentionally leaves bruises on ur hips from gripping u too tightly, he just gets carried away with how good it feels holding on and thrusting into u :(

kisses any bruises the next morning, mumbling apologies between each kiss

likes leaving hickeys on u tho and spotting them later peaking over ur shirt, or the fully obvious ones that everyone can see, loves knowing everyone knows ur taken, ur his

his fav positions are ones where he can see ur face, ur eyes, kiss ur lips, its not just fucking to him, its intimacy, its special, its love

likes cockwarming because it means he gets to be physically close with u, u cradled against him, ur arms wrapped around him - while he's working, he has a strong will so if u shift a lil on his cock he wont let it bother him, "stay still, amor, im not finished with this paperwork", but it will bother u and when u get impatient and needy and start begging in his ear he'll take a break from his work to make u cum

hes the wide eyed, pouty, pathetic, whimpering and begging type mess of a sub, he just wants u so badly :( wants to please u, wants to cum in u :(

if u haven't cum before him he'll beg u to let him help u

if hes tied up he will be pulling at those bonds trying to get free just to touch u

if u tell him "no touching" he'll try so hard to be good but then his will snaps at a particular noise u make or how u work urself on his cock and he WILL desperately beg u whining out a "por favor, i want to touch you, mi vida"

his fucking wide doe eyes looking up at u (i cant-), if ur strong enough to resist that look good 4 u

dom or sub his focus is on u and making u feel good

king of aftercare ofc, hes bringing u some water, cleaning u up, cuddling u, etc, whatever! u! need! after the first few times hes got u figured out and doesnt even need to ask anymore

[frickingnerd]

fumikage tokoyami with a hyperfeminine girlfriend

pairing: fumikage tokoyami x fem!reader

tags: typically feminine reader, wholesome fluff, established relationship, silly & cute petnames

tokoyami and you are day and night. light and dark. the sun and the moon. whatever you want to call it

nobody had expected tokoyami would be into someone as girly as you

and nobody had expected you would fall for a boy like tokoyami

yet here you were, happy and in love with each other

just based on your looks alone people would always stare at the two of you. he's wearing all black, while you're wearing all pink

you're a positive and bubbly girl, someone who easily makes friends with everyone around her

and because of it, you often drag your boyfriend to social events and get him to open up to others as well

tokoyami appreciates that you are this outgoing, since it compliments his own personality. he isn't the type to approach someone as naturally as you do

you do tokoyamis make up. you're pretty good at so you give the greatest eyeliner he's ever seen and paint his nails black

in return, tokoyami always lets you borrow his hoodies. they look so big on you and it's amusing to see you in complete black for once, instead of your usual pink dresses

tokoyami will listen to you ramble about fashion while he brushes your hair. you even teach him how to braid it

he'll go shopping with you and lets you pick out some clothes for him. often times you just get him jewelry though - some nice rings and necklaces that compliment his outfits

tokoyami gives you sweet nicknames like "princess" or "angel", while you call him "my dark lord" or "fallen angel"

it was a joke at first but you just kept using those nicknames for him

plus, there is nothing funnier than watching people's faces when you answer the phone with a casual "hello my dark lord" 

[heartlilith]

Full Moon transiting the Houses 🌕

Full Moons occur when the Sun is directly across from the Moon with Earth falling in the middle. The Sun and the Moon will always be in their corresponding sister signs (Aries x Libra, Taurus x Scorpio, etc). Tonight, the Gemini Full Moon will be opposing the Sun in Sagittarius.

Since it's the final phase in the lunar cycle, Full Moons signify endings, releasing, culmination, and realizations. Emotions are at an all time high and could lead to emotional outbursts whether that be positive or negative. Use the Full Moon energy to "reap the fruits" of what you've accomplished this month and to reflect on relevant house themes and how they show up in your life. Pay attention to thoughts that pop into your head. It's also a good time to practice divination and for strengthening your intuition. Full Moons can trigger release in our lives in order to make room for the new.

Full Moon in the 1st House: You may have closed a chapter in your book so to speak. You may have been through something in the days leading up to the Full Moon which made you realize something about yourself. You may have realized that you've been putting others needs before your own, you may feel ignored or neglected in a sense, like everyone has forgotten about you. Your emotions are written all over your face and you're quick to get emotional at this time since the Moon is transiting the 1st house. You could be ready to make a big change. The focus here is on the self (1st house) vs others (7th house).

Full Moon in the 2nd House: Now is a time where your materials and finances will be in focus. Maybe you finished paying off a bill or maybe you got a raise. Either way, your materials and finances will directly affect your mood and your sense of stability. Let go of expectations and focus on self-care routines. Lean into what makes you feel the most comfortable and the most grounded.

Full Moon in the 3rd House: You could be a very busy bee at this time; mentally, physically, or both. Communication with others will be in focus now. You may have an unexpected conversation with someone that could lead to a mental breakthrough of some sort. Reflect on how you express yourself to others and ask yourself if that aligns with who you are. Running errands, short trips, paperwork, and conversations will have you wishing for an adventure that breaks up your everyday life, your boredom can even make you restless. This could also indicate that a restaurant or place in your community will be shutting down.

Full Moon in the 4th House: This Full Moon could shine a light on where your priorities are and where you want them to be. You may have been super focused on your career, public image, and work related goals, so much so that you've been paying less attention to your home life. You may have noticed this on your own or a situation could've taken place where your focus is forced to be with your family. Something in your domestic life could reach an end; you may move out of your parents house or sell your old furniture - either way you're making space for the new. You could experience joy in the home or agitation, depending on the Moon's aspects.

Full Moon in the 5th House: This transit will strongly encourage you to express yourself through your creativity. You may finish a creative project, a child close to you could reach a milestone, or you may take your casual relationship to the next level (or break up depending on aspects). You could be feeling overjoyed and energized or this moon could make you feel unappreciated. Whatever side of the spectrum you find yourself in, the moon is asking you to do something fun and let loose.

Full Moon in the 6th House: This transit has your focus turning inward, on your day to day routine and your habits. You're being asked to assess what's working and what isn't relating to these matters. Now is the time to quit smoking or quit your job; put an end to things that make you unhappy. You could apologize to a coworker that you've been arguing with or complete a work task that has been consuming all your time. A coworker could be leaving the workplace and you might have a goodbye party! Whatever it is, expect to have strong emotions when it comes to putting an end to things that aren't working for you.

Full Moon in the 7th House: Your relationships and one on one connections will be in focus at this time. You're being asked to fix whatever isn't working, whether that be ending a connection or coming to a compromise. You could be getting married or go into business with a friend. Pay attention to frenemies and enemies at this time because they could cause trouble now, resulting in intense emotions on your side. Or, you and someone you dislike could put an end to the beef.

Full Moon in the 8th House: Death and loss could be a prominent theme with the Full Moon transiting your 8th house. Literal or figurative death could affect you now. You may realize that you haven't fully processed the losses you've experienced in the past, now is the time to reflect and make peace with them. You could receive money from a woman in the family or from an in-law. You may be asked to settle your debts or you may be asked to assist others in settling debts.

Full Moon in the 9th House: A Full Moon transiting your 9th house could signify an ending in relation to school, a book, or a vacation. It'll be hard to ignore the need for adventure and fun - you may be bored with everyday life. Or, it may be time to get back to work after a vacation or time away. You could learn something that affects your personal beliefs, negatively or positively. You're being challenged to look at things differently. It's time to reflect on your beliefs and if they align with who you truly are.

Full Moon in the 10th House: A Full Moon transiting the 10th house could put your career and reputation in focus. Be careful with how you act in public or in the workplace; people are paying attention and how you act could greatly affect your reputation at this time. You may advance in your career or get some sort of recognition from an authority figure. You may be offered a new job. Reflect on what got you to this point in your life, be proud of everything that you've overcome.

Full Moon in the 11th House: Endings related to social groups, friend groups, or social media will be in focus now. Maybe you've decided to take a break from social media or one of your good friends could be moving away. It's a good time to hang out with friends and to reflect on how these certain relationships affect you. A friend may come to you asking for advice or needing help in some way, which can help you understand the role you play in others' lives.

Full Moon in the 12th House: You may feel a strong pull to be alone with the Full Moon transiting your 12th house. You may make peace and release memories of past traumatic experiences, refusing to let them take up any more space in your subconscious. Secrets and hidden information could come to light. Mental health issues could reach a peak and you may decide to seek therapy. Listen to your intuition now and be on the lookout for people who want to bring you down (hidden enemies). Now is a good time to be alone and reflect on the current themes in your life either by meditation or journaling.

MASTERLIST

[r0tting-rat]

DCA PROMPTOBER 2024

Am I 2 days late? Yes, yes I am.

Day 31 - Trick or Treat

Pairing: Jack-O-Moon x Gender Neutral Reader Warning: Slight Angst at the end Words: 2500+ Summary: Jack is not as good as he thinks he is at scaring people (reminder that this is not TSAMS! I literally never watched that show in my life)

You hadn’t been working for Faz&co for long, but by god, you were already tired of your job. You had been hired to test some of the new games being developed by Faz Entertainment before they could be released to the public, which meant that you’d make room in your living room and stand right in the middle of it, then you’d wear the headset and enter the little digital world you had begun to love in the last weeks. You had long finished most of the levels, ending up replaying many just to have something to do before you had to give back the headset. You weren’t ready to let go of it, and not due to the games, but because you had made a friend there.

Jack-O-Moon was a rudimental AI made for the Captain Foxy’s Log Ride and Cinder Carousel. He was similar to the Sun and Moon animatronics, which you had interacted with along with many others, but Jack was… different, in a way. His AI seemed to be less developed, more simple, but that didn’t change your opinion on the animatronic. Jack was peculiar; he was creepy—he was meant to be, considering he was a Halloween themed character—but he was also extremely playful and sweet. He made you laugh, he told you jokes and brightened your day in his peculiar way, and overall he made you feel comfortable. You could say the stupidest and most nonsense thing, and Jack would reply with something even worse.

As every day, you selected on the main menu the Captain Foxy’s Log Ride, and after a moment you were “sitting” inside one of the logs, holding the usual dart gun while the Foxy animatronic began to explain the rules to you. You had heard them thousands of times, so of course you didn’t even listen to the robotic voice, instead beginning to look around yourself in search of your friend. As per script, Jack was supposed to appear only in specific parts of the ride, advancing towards the player while laughing in a menacing way, and the player was supposed to close the door on him before he could get close enough to jumpscare them. Easy enough, right? Except you had shit aim and died multiple times because of him. 

Now that you had befriended the AI—you weren’t even sure how it started, at some point you had begun to talk to him whenever you’d see him, and he eventually stopped jumpscaring you, just hopping on your log to stare at you in curiosity—he would appear as soon as you entered the ride, sitting beside you or hovering over your head, chilling. 

This time, however, you couldn’t see him anywhere. He knew you were there, there was no possibility that he hadn’t noticed, he was programmed to know your position on the ride for the entire length of the game. You wondered if he felt lazy and wanted you to come to him, or—even worse—he had malfunctioned and couldn’t get to you. The only way to find out was to play the game, so you sat more comfortably on the log and began to play.

☆

You had finished the ride a total of 3 times, but Jack was nowhere to be found. You had even waited outside the open doors, waiting for him to pop up like he was supposed to do, according to his fucking code. That alone was proof that something was wrong, because Jack could not simply ignore the orders given by his basic code! Your hands closed into fists, wondering if Faz&co had suddenly decided to remove him from the game for whatever reason, but you would have known if they had made any updates to the game, you were their beta tester. You returned to the main menu, anxiety gripping your heart into a squeeze, and you kept thinking about what you should do about Jack. Technically, if you noticed any anomalies in the game, you were supposed to email Faz&co and tell them, but you were hesitant to do so. Maybe Jack was alright, maybe it was just a minor bug and you were overreacting.

As you stood in the main room, facing the monitor with all the games, you decided to try and see if he was in the carousel, but before you could press the button, you heard a sound coming from behind you. It was metallic, a clicking you had begun to link to your animatronic friend, but before you could turn around, a well- known raspy voice whispered in your ear.

-Trick or Treat?- Jack asked, joyful, and the first thing you did was turn around and shove him away.

-What the fuck is wrong with you?!- You were so angry you could barely speak clearly, while Jack looked at you confused, perched on a chair like a cat. -I looked for you for- for f-fucking hours! Where were you? You scared me shitless, idiot!-

You were breathing heavily, staring up at the animatronic, who clicked his head to the side and looked down at his chest, surprised. 

-Jack, where the fuck were you?- you asked again, stepping closer so he had to look you in the eyes, but once more the robot’s face was a mask of bafflement.

-Waiting for you,- he whispered, -Here. To scare you.-

-You wanted to… to scare me? Why?- You stared at him, puzzled, crossing your arms over your chest. Jack nodded, slouching a little on the spot, like he felt guilty. 

-Halloween,- he spoke, -I like Halloween.-

Suddenly you felt terrible—no, not just terrible, you felt like a monster. Shit, Jack just wanted to scare you a little, after all, he was an Halloween animatronic! It was only natural for him to try and… disappear? You thought more about it. Why did he hide, why did he disobey his own code just to scare you? Why did he think it would have been a good idea in the first place?!

-Oh, Jack,- you said, voice softened, -I didn’t… I’m so sorry buddy, I just got so worried when I couldn’t find you anywhere! I thought you had malfunctioned and that you…-

You shook your head. You didn’t want to think about it anymore. 

-Listen, I’m okay with being jumpscared and stuff, but don’t do anything to make me worry. It’s a different kind of fear when you’re scared for someone else’s well being.-

-I’m fine,- Jack said, like he couldn’t understand why you were stressing for him. 

-Now I know it, but how was I supposed to know that you were fine if I didn’t see you where you were supposed to be?- you asked him, and only then the animatronic seemed to understand. He nodded, still looking down, then one of his large hands came to rest on his chest, where you had touched him when you had shoved him away. 

-What’s wrong?- you asked, confused, and Jack made a humming sound.

-You touched me,- he said, and you nodded. 

-Yes, I did. So?- Gently, his other hand came to hold one of yours and slipped his fingers in between yours.

-You can touch me.-

You finally realized, and when you did, your eyes widened and you gasped, closing your fingers around Jack’s as well. 

-Holy shit, I can!- You had never really touched Jack before, not even when he sat on the log next to you, you had never tried to. You had always simply assumed that your hand would have met empty air, but now that you had your fingers intertwined with his, you could definitely say that Jack was very, very consistent. He felt almost… almost real. Were your touch receptors that fucked up by all the time spent in the game that you had begun to have sensory hallucinations? How rare was that?

Out of the blue, Jack began to purr, smiling down at your joined hands. The intensity of his gaze made your cheeks heat up. 

-Feels nice,- he grinned, and that sentence evoked something inside of you. 

-W-Wait, you can feel? Like, feel stuff, with your hands?- you asked, and Jack nodded, -But you’re… you’re just an AI in a game, you don’t have a physical body! How is that possible?-

The robot tilted his head to the side, but he didn’t seem to actually think about what you just asked, instead, he just shrugged and kept playing with your hand, holding it in both of his and brushing his hard metallic fingers over your soft pads.

-Dunno.- He kept smiling. -I like this.-

The purring was getting louder, turning into a constant rumbling coming from his chest, making you feel more and more flustered by the second. 

-This is so weird,- you whispered, but Jack didn’t seem to listen to you, or if he did, he didn’t care about it, -I should probably tell Faz&co and…-

Immediately, Jack’s head shot up to stare at you straight in the eyes, making you jump in place and attempt to retract your hand, but his firm grip didn’t allow you. 

-No,- he said, -No Fazbear.- 

-Okay,- you said, nodding, -Alright, no Fazbear, understood.-

Jack mumbled something you didn’t quite hear and then returned to his purring and touching, reminding you of a weird cat who had heard the word “vet” during a cuddling session. Alright, so Jack didn’t like Faz&co, understood. 

-Can I hug you?- he suddenly asked, looking at you with hope, and even if you were still feeling pretty weirded out, you still nodded. 

-Oh, uhm, sure?- you agreed, and immediately you were pulled into Jack’s tight embrace. Again, you were left speechless from the fact that you could feel everything: the burned green ruffled around his neck, the cold metal of his torso and arms, the rough texture of his pants, his fingers spread out around your lower back and your nape. You could feel his purring deep in your chest, loud and warm through the fabric of your shirt. 

-Nice,- whispered Jack as he buried his face in your neck, -Feels nice.-

Hugging something that wasn’t supposed to exist on the physical plane surely felt nice, in a way, but the more time you spent in the animatronic’s embrace, the more you questioned your sanity. You couldn’t think of something that made sense, and you were so engrossed by your own thoughts that you almost didn’t hear Jack’s next words.

-I like you,- he whispered, holding you tighter. You waited in silence, struggling to understand what he meant. 

-I like you too, Jack,- you replied, -You’re my friend.-

-No,- he insisted, pulling away just so he could grab your face and look at you intensely, -I like you.-

You blinked a couple of times, unsure, until you realized exactly what the robot meant. You looked into his yellow eyes, bright as a candlelight, and at his soft, crooked smile, and all you could think about was how you had less than a month before Faz&co would begin to question why you were taking so long to beta their game and demand their headset back. You brushed your fingers against the orange skin of the robot’s face, feeling all the small craters on his moon side which reminded you of cute little freckles, and Jack closed his eyes with a soft whimper, leaning in your touch, starved for more. 

-I like you too,- you repeated, -I.. I do, Jack. Really.- 

You leaned in, pressing a soft kiss on the robot’s nose, and then you pressed your forehead against his, smiling. For a moment Jack stood silent and still, not believing that you had actually done that, and then his internal fans immediately whirred to life, loud and clear in the silence of the main room of the game, clearly giving away his embarrassment.

You giggled when you heard him making a glitching sound with his voicebox, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him back into a hug. Something inside Jack’s chest was beginning to warm, and the sensation quickly spread all over his body, beckoning you to stay close. Still, you had to pull away from his embrace—it was late, and you had to begin to make dinner for yourself.

-Where do you go when you leave the game?- asked Jack. He had always been weirdly self-aware of the fact that he lived inside a game, and as far as you knew, he was the only one to know between the other animatronics. Jack might have looked childish, maybe even a little dumb or dopey at first, with his manic laughters and senseless ramblings, but he was actually incredibly bright.

-To my home,- you answered, stepping back from Jack despite his complaining whines.

-Is it a nice place?- His head clicked to the side, like it always did whenever he had a question. 

-I guess it is. What’s more important is that it’s all mine, though.- 

Jack hummed in thought, probably thinking about how your house looked like, imagining you waking up in a bed all yours and cooking food for yourself—it was hard, to be honest. Jack had only the most basic information about the human way of living, like the fact that you needed to sleep to function, and that to sleep you needed a bed, and that bed was supposed to keep you warm so you wouldn’t freeze. Everything else was stuff that he had learned through you and your conversations. 

-Will I ever be able to see your home, one day?- Jack asked, and you laughed, before realizing that he was serious. Your smile fell and your eyes traveled down to your feet as guilt gripped your heart in a vice. 

-I don’t think that’s possible, Jack,- you whispered just loud enough for him to hear, -I will try and describe it to you next time, but I’m afraid you will never actually see it.- 

Jack didn’t say anything, he just nodded, then leaned in and smushed his face against your forehead, trying to repeat what you did when you kissed him, not completely succeeding in the task.

-See you tomorrow,- Jack purred, and for one last time you caressed his round cheek. 

-See ya, Jack.- 

You removed the headset, finding yourself back into your living room, with your eyes tired and your legs aching after being stuck on the spot for so long. With a sigh, you placed the headset down on the closest surface and sat on your couch, holding your head in your hands and closing your eyes. 

You liked Jack, you really did, but… there was no way it would work, and a part of you wondered if maybe it wasn’t better that way. Maybe, if you and he had met in the real world, if he had been one of the physical robots at the plex, maybe things would have been different—for better or for worse, you couldn’t say, but they would have been different. 

One thing was sure though: if Jack hadn’t met you, his existence would have been far, far easier and more peaceful. Thinking about it, with all your human tales and stories, you might have actually ruined his life, condemning him to long for something he could never have, not even in his wildest fantasies. You just hoped he could move on one day. 

[thetrollock]

Amaranth

Dark!fem vampire x fem reader

synopsis: you're unaware of how obsessed Alvara is with you until it's far too late...

word count: 15.1k

content warnings: dark ish content, yandere, unhealthy relationship, brief violence

LIFE HADN’T ALWAYS been this way. You hadn’t always been running from Alvara, the wretched woman who had been pursuing you for centuries. You were a normal girl once but that was hundreds and hundreds of years ago and life had drastically changed since then becoming something that was nothing like the life you’d lived before. Life was so much easier back then, joyful even, it felt like you had a purpose, it used to be about living but now it was just surviving, and you weren’t sure how much more of this could you take. You got up from her chair and trudged towards your window sitting upon the ledge staring at the moon and the sparkles in the sky wishing you were amongst them because maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't be so lonely. You began to think about how simple life used to be and how on earth did you get into this mess in the first place.

❥ ❥ ❥

In a time long ago, you were a simple middle class woman working at a flower shop arranging and caring for flowers, you enjoyed your job and all the beautiful flowers you were able to care for and make into arrangements daily besides, it did help that you had some lovely loyal customers. Over the years, you had become quite popular within not only your area, but also further field due to the exposure from the royal family who often commissioned you for flowers with every event they held, big or small. But that might've been due to your friendship with the First Prince, Leonidas. A friendship like this was fairly uncommon as people of your social status and his own didn’t tend to mix. You had both become friends a few years ago when Leonidas had been running away from his duties and, as any upstanding citizen would, you hid him in your shop whilst everything blew over, treating him like a normal human being rather than someone to be worshipped. Since then, your friendship had blossomed and bloomed with the prince coming to your humble little shop at least once a week under the guise of buying flowers.

Humming mindlessly, you arranged and prepared flowers and bouquets for customers in a monotonous fashion, completely lost in the abyss of your mind, as you were making up the bouquet, you wondered what your beloved customer would prefer, “Miss Belmont, do you want the pink roses or the pink camellias with your bouquet?”

The older women didn't even get the chance to reply as a powerful honeyed voice interrupted, announcing herself, “Good morning, I want a bouquet of wolf’s bane flowers with whatever else you believe fits.”

You jumped slightly from her position, not expecting the interruption, you twisted around to look at the woman who had just entered your shop, you blinked owlishly before reminding yourself to smile. The woman herself was rather tall and stood proudly, her lips were plush, and pink formed in a stiff polite smile that felt odd and honestly quite disturbing. You swore her eyes were staring into your soul and you couldn’t help but stare back, her eyes were just... mesmerizing. They were such an icy blue that they reminded you of pure molten silver contrasting against darkness of the outer rings of her pupils. Her gaze was sharp and intimidating and you found yourself thinking that you never wanted to look away. Although this woman was absolutely stunning, breathtakingly so, you wondered if she ever caught the sun considering how pale her skin was, it was almost as if she’d never seen a lick of sunlight in her entire life. The only colour in her face where her lips and the pink colour decorating her eyelids, the darker colours contrasting against her pale skin tone making all of her features that much more pronounced.

The woman’s perfectly shaped eyebrow arched upwards as if asking why you hadn’t answered her yet, your shook your head slightly before plastering a blinding smile on your face.

“I am terribly sorry, my lady, I apologize for staring, I will get to you in a minute but as you can see, I am currently serving another customer so if you could give me a few minutes, I will get right to you.” She apologized trying to be as respectful as possible, she hoped this woman would be understanding enough and not like some of the other stuck-up nobles she had to deal with on a daily basis.

The tall woman chuckled coldly before looking down at you with a carefully restrained smile that screamed impatience and slight annoyance, “I do not think you understand who I am, I expect you to serve me right now, it is quite clear that I am much more important than this woman.” She sneered gesturing rudely to the poor old woman standing next to her.

“Excuse me, my lady, but I do not appreciate you using that tone whilst talking about my customers, this is my shop and so we will follow my rules. I will decide who I serve when I serve, so I suggest you either wait a few minutes or you find a new place to buy some flowers.” Although you were thoroughly intimidated by this clearly powerful woman, you kept your voice firm and steady, you'd learnt years ago that being a pushover never got you anywhere. Respect is everything. Besides, you weren't all that worried about this woman trying to sabotage your career, after all you had the royal family on your side.

The woman tilted her head slightly in surprise her lips pursed in an ‘O’ shape and her icy eyes showed amusement, it was quite clear that she was taken aback by your statement, she’d probably never really had someone below her in the social chain stand up to her before. But there was a first time for everything you supposed suppressing your proud smile.

“As I was saying Miss Belmont, would you rather the pink roses or the pink camellias?” The older woman smiled gratefully and told you her preference thanking you for your kindness.

“It is no problem at all, you are a loyal customer after all.” You replied with a sweet smile saved only for your favourite customers.

With that, you turned around and walked into the back room to retrieve the flowers before arranging them and cutting the stems until everything fit together perfectly. You wrapped up the flowers with brown paper, as requested, and tied it up with Miss Belmont’s preferred colour of ribbon which you had, of course, memorized more than a few bouquets ago. You handed the flowers to the older woman with a bright smile after receiving the cash and a hefty tip.

“I hope they are up to your standards; I will see you next week!” You waved after Miss Belmont; she was one of your favourite customers after all. You then turned to the pale woman who had indeed decided to wait those few minutes. “Now, my lady, you said you wanted wolf’s bane, right?”

“Yes, I did, I expect you to also choose some others to go along with it.” She replied stiffly, her arms crossed against her chest defensively unconsciously pushing her chest up making you look away awkwardly; you hadn’t meant to look but it’s kind of hard when they’re right in your direct line of sight.

Humming your favourite tune, you made your way into the backroom where you kept a wide array of flowers, you picked up flowers as you walked past them knowing they go well with wolf’s bane. Thinking as you went along you began to reflect on many of you noble customers and how they believed that money solves all problems in such a stuck-up manner. But you knew not everyone was like that Leonidas was a prime example of a good person who had a fair amount of wealth. It was hard to come across those kinds of people, all you wanted was basic respect from people that’s all, it shouldn’t matter your place in society. You huffed as you made your way back into the front room where the woman was standing who was now staring at you again with that deep, intense stare. The stupid stare that felt like she was looking deep into your soul. It made you uncomfortable and if you were honest with yourself, you really didn’t like it even if this woman was one of the most beautiful people you had ever had the pleasure of laying your eyes on. You hoped this would be a onetime thing and that this woman wouldn’t come back again because not only was she unnerving but she was also extremely rude.

As you were arranging wrapping up the flowers, you decided to make this encounter a lot less awkward, “did you know that that wolf’s bane is scientifically known as Aconite, quite different isn’t it?” You didn’t even look up to observe the woman’s facial expression in favour of avoiding the icy stare she held.

“I did not know that, but I suppose you learn new things every day. What is your name, woman?” She asked, her voice almost emotionless but within your line of work you had become pretty good at sensing others’ emotions and could tell that she was amused by your attempt of conversation.

“I am Name.” You replied shortly not all that interested in this woman’s name especially as she has rudely referred to you as woman.

The woman continued to stare at you as if she were expecting the question back, “you know, Name, it is common courtesy to ask someone their name after they so kindly asked for yours first. My name is Alvara if you were wondering, Lady Alvara of the house Fox.”

“My apologies, Lady Fox, I simply forgot to ask you back, I hope you can forgive me.” However, despite your apology you were not sorry, you just wanted to be over with this transaction and say what you knew the woman wanted to hear. “I hope you like your bouquet, wolf's bane is fairly odd choice, but it is a rather beautiful flower. I must advise you to be careful with it though, if you come across any dogs or wolves as it can be extremely poisonous to them, and I really do not wish for any of them to die.”

“I know they are poisonous, but I must admit you have done a good job arranging them they look beautiful, thank you.” Her tone was rather blunt, but you appreciated the compliment none the less.

“Thank you, I am glad you like them!” Although you weren't overly fond of the woman, you didn’t think there was any harm in being nice to her, especially as it looked like Alvara planned on coming back, something you weren't particularly pleased with but maybe she would warm up to you the more you interacted…? Well, you sure hoped you would.

Alvara placed the money on the counter with a smile that seemed less forced, “Expect to see me back, Name.”

And with that she was gone.

❥ ❥ ❥

AFTER THAT DAY Alvara had stayed true to her words coming into your humble shop a couple of times a week, a lot of more often than you were expecting to be honest. Alvara had become a lot more comfortable with you, her stiffness disappearing and icy look her eyes melting to a look of joy and amusement when she came to get flowers. Although your first impressions of the tall women were not very pleasant, you found that you could tolerate and be kind to her and despite Alvara’s cold exterior she warmed up to you fairly quickly often entering your flower shop with a flourish and a genuine smile.

Brushing the hair from your eyes you began to sweep the leaves and flower stems to the side of your shop planning to pick it all up at the end of the day and with a reputation like your own, you had to keep the place looking at least half decent. People expected it of you considering the royal family often bought arrangements from you for their balls and important events, courtesy of Leonidas.

You walked back behind the counter cleaning up your workspace putting the ribbons back where they belonged and tidying up the brown paper you often used to wrap the bouquets up in. It began to creep closer to the end of day when you would finally close your shop and get some much needed rest. You stretched hearing your body crack in ways it probably shouldn’t, but you were broken from your momentary worry when the telltale sound of a bell resounded.

“Hello my dear Florist!” It was Alvara. You should’ve known, the pale almost sickly looking woman liked coming in at times when she knew you were quiet because she was impatient and didn’t like sharing you attention.

“Good evening Lady Fox, what are you here for today?” You replied without the usual pep in your tone trying to not let your fatigue show, you really didn’t want to deal with Alvara’s flirting tonight, actually you just didn’t want to deal with Alvara. Despite the fact that you had kind of gotten used to her, her presence was draining and there was still that lingering feeling of discomfort when you were around her.

Alvara frowned softly noticing the change in her favourite florist’s behaviour, “are you okay, Name? You better not have been working yourself too hard, you silly girl, I told you to take care of yourself.”

“Of course, I am okay, seriously my lady, I am fine. So please, do not worry about me.” You sighed forcing a sweet smile. “Now, what do you want?”

Nothing was said between them for a while with Alvara staring at you intently her frown deepening, she was not pleased by your response she could tell something was up and although she knew she should respect your boundaries she couldn’t find it within herself to care, the tall woman knew that she knew better, she’d been alive longer than her for starters. Alvara felt an intense need to protect you and she wanted to help you with your ailment, no matter how big or small, she didn’t even care if you wanted her help or not because she would find out either way. Alvara didn’t mind using force to get her way, she was a forceful woman after all, you had to be to get into the position she was in without any man by her side and still having all of the respect from the men around her. She was a powerful woman, and she knew it.

“I do not believe you, Name, you better tell me right now, or I will make you.” Her friendly disposition from earlier disappearing to reveal a hard unwavering stubborn expression, you sighed you knew Alvara wasn’t going to budge on her stance.

“Do you really want to know?” You did not want to talk to the noble woman about your true feelings but if it meant she would leave you alone then you supposed you could tell her.

She nodded staring at you with those firm icy eyes, you felt a shiver go down your spine not being able to bear looking into her uncomfortable gaze for another second.

“Please do not be angry with me for I am simply being honest with you." You took a deep breath preparing yourself for the worst, "I am confused by you, you are so hot and cold, one moment I cannot look you in the eyes because it feels as if you are looking straight through me with such a cold stare that I physically feel shivers run down my spine. Then the next moment you are sweet and, dare I say, happy and I am somewhat free to keep eye contact with you. You are so kind with me but with everyone else you treat them as if they are dirt below your shoes!” You exclaimed eyebrows furrowed and your face pinched in an expression of distress and confusion.

“I do not understand why you have decided to treat me any different. You have changed so drastically since that first day we met, you were so cold then, rude even! I just don’t understand the sudden attitude change.” You were quieter now no longer throwing your hands around violently to get your point across. You stared at your hands fiddling with the rings adorning them, you couldn't bare to look Alvara in the face after spilling all of your feelings to her.

Alvara continued to stare at the smaller woman before her running a hand through her long hair, “I see, you are confused by me, correct?”

You looked up with a bashful expression nodding softly, an expression that made Alvara’s heart do somersaults, she knew that if her heart could still beat it would be threatening to jump out of her chest.

“Well let me clear things up for you then, I like you a lot, Name, more than I should and I think you are an incredibly interesting and beautiful person, you have interested me, and my interest is no easy feat. My respect and kindness are not something I give out freely, you have to earn it and random people I come across do not deserve it simply because they have not proven to me that they do. I would also like to apologize for my stare I do not mean to be so cold, it must be a habit, I have to keep my reputation after all and as a woman as powerful as myself being kind doesn’t always help gain you respect from men. I like to scare them into submission.” She giggled explaining the reason for her cold stare, trying to lighten the rather gloomy mood.

You laughed hesitantly, “thank you for clearing that up for me, my lady.”

“I wish you would lighten up Name, I want for us to be friends, maybe even more in the future.” She smirked moving closer towards you , eyes flicking down to your lips.

Your face began to grow hot as your eyes widened, you were not expecting such a confession from Alvara, “Anyway! What kind of flowers do you want? That is the reason you are here, right?”

“Indeed, it is, dear, you can choose whatever you want, something that is easy for you to arrange.” She requested resting her cheek on her hand staring at you with eyes dripping in adoration.

You smiled turning around to the back room shutting the door behind you and pushing your back against the closed door, what the hell had just happened in there? You decided to take a breather closing your eyes for a few seconds before pushing yourself off of the door and towards were you kept your hyacinths, deciding on gathering a bunch of the purple ones, you loved hyacinths they were such beautiful flowers and looked just as pretty by themselves as they did with other flowers.

You had just about fit the bunch of flowers under one arm as you opened the door to the front room taking a deep breath and making your way over to the wrapping paper where you arranged them and tried to ignore Alvara’s piercing gaze blazing holes into your busied form. You hummed lightly trying to distract yourself as you wrapped up the flowers.

“Here you go, Lady Fox, I hope you like them, they are hyacinths in case you did not know.” You smiled softly hoping to shoo the woman out of your shop and get some much needed rest away from everyone.

“I love it Name, especially since you arranged it for me, they are beautiful.” She stated staring straight at you, it almost felt as if Alvara was complimenting you instead of the flowers she held in her arms.

You rounded the front desk until you were standing next to the pale woman, “I am glad, now I need to close up shop, so I will see you next time you come in to get some flowers.” Speaking to Alvara made you realize how short you were compared to the taller woman, your cheeks flushed again, goddamn your stupid brain, even though you found her unnerving you couldn’t look past how attracted to her you were. It was undeniable that Alvara was beautiful it was just a shame that she made you feel so uncomfortable, the kind of uncomfortable where you felt like Alvara was watching your every move. Like a predator stalking prey, it put you on edge.

You smiled at her trying shoo the woman towards the exit but Alvara was having none of simply standing in the doorway before looking down at you, her little florist, “I hope you know that I was completely honest with you earlier, I like you a lot, more than I should. I would also like you to know that I intend for us to become friends, you do not mind that, do you?”

The way Alvara spoke to you sent a shiver down your spine, the tone of voice she used was sickly sweet and even the way she asked to be friends with you felt predatory, it felt wrong and your gut instinct told you to shove her out of your shop and never speak to her again. Your brain screamed, RUN, RUN, RUN. But you couldn’t find it in yourself to do anything but nod and agree, it felt as if something awful would happen if you didn’t just go along with it and if you were honest, the fatigue was really getting to you and you just wanted to be rid of Alvara’s heavy presence.

“Good, I am glad we are on the same page. I will see you soon, Name. Make sure you take care of yourself.” She rested her hand on your cheek in an affectionate way that you had not really experienced before, it was when you started leaning into the touch that you realised how touch starved you must be to be comforted by the touch of someone who did the complete opposite.

You pulled away ushering her towards the outside world, “have a good evening, my lady.”

“You too, Name, call me by name next time, alright?” Alvara looked over shoulder and made her way out of your humble shop not even giving you a chance to reply.

Pushing down the urge to slam to door in relief, you took a deep breath to collect yourself before sweeping things up quickly and half arseing your usual cleaning routine.

By the time you got home you were practically dragging yourself to bed resisting the tantalizing temptation of sleeping on the floor, eventually you made your way to bed where you fell in a heap.

Finally, peace.

❥ ❥ ❥

ALTHOUGH YOU HAD to wake up early pretty much every morning, you would never get used to the blinding sun from your windows waking you up; it was something that you truly hated, often times wishing you could stay in bed but alas your shop couldn’t open itself. Pulling yourself from bed you began to get ready for the day, you slid on her dress and stretched yawning as you did so feeling the bones in her back crack as it always did, you mulled over the strange sounds your back made until there was a loud rap at the door of your cottage. You rushed over and opened your door with a sweet smile that you usually only pulled out at work.

“Hello Ma'am, I have an important announcement from the Royal Family regarding the Spring Equinox, would you like me to read it out to you?” He asked politely standing stiffly, he seemed slightly awkward as if it was his first time bringing letters to people especially ones from the Royal Family.

“No, it is quite alright, I can read it myself, thank you though!” You smiled softly bringing your hand out to retrieve the letter, he handed it to you with a smile clearly comforted by your simple kindness.

Closing your door you opened the letter carefully sliding out the fancy parchment paper reading the beautiful cursive writing:

To Name Lastname,

The Royal Family requests that you make the flower arrangements for the upcoming ball…

You skimmed over the rest of the letter, reading the requirements of what you were expected to prepare, thinking of the number of flowers you would need to order if you were to do this on time, placing the letter in your leather satchel you made quick work of your journey to your shop.

After opening up shop you busied yourself with orders and customers, wrapping up bouquets and arrangements until the door slammed open rather aggressively and there stood Leonidas in all his glory. He grinned at you with his signature smile looking as jovial as ever taking long strides towards where you were currently putting out pre-arranged flowers.   

“Good morning my dear Name!” He greeted, you always wondered how he was always such a pleasant person with a personality like sunshine incarnate and whilst you knew him as being an extremely bubbly and excitable man others knew him as the picture perfect prince of the Iridesiah. He was loved by everyone, nobles and working class people alike, he treated everyone with the same level of respect and that in return earned them his respect.

“Good morning to you too Leonidas, anything you were looking for in particular?” You asked politely continuing with putting out the pre-arranged bouquets.

“Oh, nothing much really,” he replied nonchalantly, “do you want some help with that?” Although he’d asked Leonidas had already started picking up the arrangements casually walking over to the right places.

You sighed shaking your head, “you really should not be helping, you are a prince you should not be doing work like this.”

The dark haired prince laughed looking back at you, “this is not even hard labour, it is literally nothing and besides it is not like you are forcing me to do anything, I enjoy helping you out.” The bright coloured bouquets were put onto display carefully as to not mess up the arrangement, you were quite the perfectionist after all.

Leonidas stared at you for a moment as you were focused on making everything perfect, he knew how hard you had worked to keep the reputation of the shop as high as it was and by just looking at your concentrated face, he remembered what he came to tell you.

“Name, I remembered what I wanted to tell you.” He blurted out, cursing himself for it he was a prince for Christ’s sake he should be used to talking by now.

Looking over at him with a relaxed expression, you smiled as if asking him to continue what he was going to say, it was a soft smile that seemed so genuine and free quite unlike the fake smiles he was surrounded with on a day to day basis. It was a nice change, a welcomed change.

“Ah yes well, you probably received the letter this morning if I am correct, but I wanted to personally invite you to the Equinox Ball. I just feel that since you are making the arrangements you should come and you are my friend after all, so I would very much appreciate it if you were there.” He rambled, words just kept tumbling from his tongue and he wasn’t quite sure why, maybe he was nervous? That’s what he assumed it was, but he found it rather strange that a human was making him feel this way, but he brushed it off simply choosing to smile bashfully at you instead.

Your mouth fell open into a soft ‘o’ shape, you would’ve dropped the flowers if it weren’t for Leonidas who caught them quickly before they hit the ground, you took a second to compose yourself blinking blankly for a few seconds.

“Oh dear! I am ever so sorry about this!” You exclaimed, a flustered look on your face avoiding eye contact with the prince in front you, “I was just very shocked that you invited me, I did not realize commoners were allowed to attend.”

He chuckled at your flustered countenance, “well there is an exception for you.”

“Me?” He laughed at your response and the incredulous expression that indicated how very confused by his actions you were, which greatly amused the young prince.

“Yes, you, and before you start worrying about what you are going to wear and such, I have already arranged it for you, I want you to enjoy yourself whilst you are there and not worry what you look like.” He reassured sending you that famous smile that brought men and women alike to their knees.

“You may even find a partner.” He teased subtly his smile changing to a stupid goofy grin, one that never failed to make you laugh. You tilted your head at him trying to scold him quietly with an unimpressed expression but failed miserably after falling into a fit of giggles.

Still laughing you grinned at him with an equally goofy smile, “you know I’m not interested in finding a partner just yet, my shop is my priority.”

His smile grew softer, he knew that your answer to the question of finding a partner has always been that your shop was your priority but at least he knew you would be attending the ball. Leonidas was just glad you had agreed and whilst you may not believe it, he treasured your friendship greatly.

“It seems my time is up Name, if I do not go back soon, they will send a search party out for me and I am not sure if I want to deal with that today. I also wanted to mention that when you bring the flowers to the place on the morning of the Equinox, I will meet you at the front and personally take you to the room you will be staying in. So, make sure to pack a bag of things you think you will need, is that okay?” He asked, he knew you would panic if he didn’t tell you what was going to happen, you liked being able to plan.

You nodded excitedly a huge grin stuck to your pretty face, “thank you so much! I cannot wait!”

With that he gave a parting smile and made his way out of your shop with a ding.

❥ ❥ ❥

IT WAS FINALLY the day; the day of the Spring Equinox Ball and you weren't quite sure if you were terrified or excited perhaps it was a bit of both. You had packaged up all of the arrangements the day before ready to be loaded onto a cart you’d borrowed from your kind neighbour; you liked to be prepared in situations like this so you'd already sent some of the larger pieces off since they were a bit trickier to transport.

As you readied to leave you picked up your trust leather satchel filled with everything you might possibly need. You began to think of what kind of dress Leonidas had decided on and yet you weren't worried, you knew you would love it especially because he’d picked it out. He had pretty good style he was a prince after all, so she trusted him on that front especially considering the fact she knew that he often helped his sister pick dresses for ball's quite like this. You had learned a lot about him that day, you smiled thinking back on it seeing how far your friendship had come since the day you first met when you hid him in your shop away from prying eyes.

It didn’t take long for you to reach your shop where your neighbour was already waiting outside sitting atop his cart accompanied by his two horses, “Good morning, young lady!”

“Good morning Henry! Thank you for agreeing to help me transport this all to the palace, I know it is quite a big job, so I apologize in advance.” You said bashfully turning towards the shop where you unlocked the multiple locks on the door.

“It is no problem at all! In fact, I would say it is an honour, it is not every day a man gets to say he went to the royal palace!” He exclaimed ruffling his hair as if it were nervous reaction before putting his cap back on.

You smiled in response as he jumped off the cart seat and walked towards you as you both began loading the boxes carefully onto the back of the cart until there was nothing left, securing the cart safely as you did so. Before you departed you made sure to add a quick sign to the window stating that the shop would not be open for the next two days, you hopped back onto the cart and went on your merry way through town chatting pleasantly with Henry.

It was safe to say that the palace was a particularly splendid sight one that never failed to amaze you no matter how many times you saw it, you especially liked the woods that surrounded it, to you, it only added to its mystical charm.

Once you had arrived the footmen began unloading the boxes, “please be careful with them, they are rather fragile!” You warned.

They simply smiled at you, “we know, my lady.”

You felt yourself stiffen in embarrassment, you weren't used to being referred as ‘my lady’, you could hear Leonidas laughing at. He walked down the stairs with the air of elegance and regality, “thank you, Henry for helping Name get here, it is greatly appreciated.”

Henry blushed a bright red and avoided the gaze of the prince, “why thank you, your highness! I- I will be on my way!” He spluttered, still reeling from shock at the fact that the Prince of Iridesiah knew his name.

Leonidas turned his gaze back to you, throwing a teasing smile your way, “you are early, my lady.”

You glared at your friend trying to mask the fact that you were embarrassed and yet failing miserably, “a lady must always be prepared.” You countered with a sarcastic smile.

He laughed jovially at your quick quip, “come on now I am sure you are wondering where your room is and what you will be wearing, I can assure you that you will be the bell of the ball. My younger sister even helped me pick out your dress, I believe she has come by your shop a few times in disguise, she’s dramatic like that.”

“She has come to my shop before??” You asked in disbelief, how had you not recognized her, one of the most beautiful and intelligent women in all of Iridesiah.

“How on earth did I not notice?”

Leonidas turned to you with an amused smile, “did you forget, my sister is as smart as she is beautiful.”

And with that the Prince turned on his heel beckoning you to follow him up the grand marble staircase of the palace, you’d never actually been this far inside of the palace, and you found yourself awestruck at the beauty and artistry of its architecture. The paintings depicting scenes from famous battles and monumental moments in history, it was stunning, and knowing you had the luxury to be in the vicinity of artwork that would surely be known throughout history was truly a delight. It shocked you how stunning the artwork was on the ceiling, on the ceiling of all places! You supposed it was to showcase their riches being able to put something in such a place as the ceiling, a strange thing to do you thought. The candelabras holding the soft yellowy light only helped add to the mystical, expensive atmosphere, you didn't think you would ever get used to being in such an expensive place.

“Are you coming, Name? we don’t have all day.” You were broken form your stupor by the unmistaken teasing voice of Leonidas.

“Ah, terribly sorry!” You apologized picking up your skirt and running up the stairs to catch up to your friend.

The two of you walked side by side down the hallways with the soft light of the candelabras to guide the way until you finally made it to your destination.

Leonidas opened the door and gestured for you to walk in, “so this is room where you will be staying the night and this lovely lady right here is Tiana, she will be helping with your hair and makeup to get ready for the ball. One of the footmen who you have met before, his name is Tom if I remember correctly, will be escorting you and showing you the way to the ball. I look forward to seeing you in that dress, try to enjoy yourself tonight.”

“Thank you, Leo, I really appreciate you doing this for me.” You thanked sending him a sincere smile.

With his hand on the door, he turned to look at your smaller form, “you need not thank me, it is what friends are for, is it not?” You did not even get the chance to reply for he had already left the room and disappeared into the confusing corridors.

With a huff you turned to Tiana with a smile, “I suppose we should get to know each other, I am Name, but you probably already knew that.” You ended with a light frown realizing your mistake in introducing yourself.

Tiana chuckled lightly, “yes, I did already know that my lady, but it is nice for you to introduce yourself regardless. Anyway, it is probably smart if we start getting you ready, I have prepared you a bath. Do you need any assistance?”

“No thank you, it is quite alright, I will be quick!” You smiled before being ushered into the bathroom where you closed the door and began to strip off your garments and dipped into the warm water of the bath letting out a sigh as you felt your tense muscles relax. Although the feeling of the warm water cascading down your back and hair was soothing, you knew you couldn’t enjoy it for any longer than necessary; you had to get ready after all and lord knows how long that would take.

You wrapped yourself in a fluffy towel and started to rummage around in your bag to find your undergarments before making your way out of the large bathroom and into the main room to find Tiana setting up hair products and makeup on the vanity.

The small woman’s head popped up as she heard the door open with a smile, “perfect, you came out just in time! Take a seat, let us get started on your hair, is there anything you want in particular?”

“No, do whatever you want, I am sure it will look amazing.” A huge smile grew on Tiana’s face as she clapped her hands excitedly and went to find the products, she needed to make this transformation possible. She began by adding many different products to her hair that you had never even head of and styled and dried your hair into a style she thought appropriate.

Tiana smiled as she looked at her handywork before starting on your makeup, she gathered her brushes as she brushed some kind of skin coloured liquid underneath your eyes and atop other imperfections you may or may not have had, blending it in until it looked like flawless skin. She picked up various other tools ranging in sizes colours and shape and began to paint with you as her blank canvas. Tiana added the finished touches and took a step back to admire her hard work.

“You look absolutely stunning my lady, you actually look like a fairy with this ethereal look you have going on.” She praised holding her cheeks as she stared at her handywork.

You stared at the person staring back at you in the mirror, gingerly touching your face noticing your skin glowing and eyelashes longer and darker, your eyebrows more tamed and shaped, and the glossy colour on your lips.

“Thank you so much Tiana! I look like a new woman, a beautiful one at that!” You exclaimed, smiling brightly at the blushing maid.

“Oh, I haven’t done much my lady, I just enhanced the beauty that was already there.” She stated smiling back, staring into the captivating eyes of the woman before her, Tiana quickly turned on her feet to open the closet door across the room. “Ah let us not dilly dally any longer and get you into this beautiful dress, I am sure you are just itching to see it!”

The closet doors swung open to reveal a gorgeous flowy peach coloured dress, Tiana gathered the fabric in her arms as she made her way over the vanity where you stood, “shall we get you into this dress then? I must admit I cannot wait to see you in it.”

You looked away in embarrassment at such an honest compliment and allowed her to help you put on the garment. When you were all fitted into the dress you looked into the mirror in awe as you saw how the fabric draped and fell perfectly over your body, it was elegant and beautiful something fit for a princess or at least someone with too much money to spare. It fit like a glove, and you weren't sure if you’d ever felt so beautiful in your entire life. You looked like an ethereal being with the way the tulle like fabric fell from the bodice and sleeves of her arms to meet at her wrists. Her hands smoothed over the bodice enjoying the feeling of the fabric beneath her fingertips and the texture of the flower embroidery spanning the bodice.

The two of you stood in awe until Tiana broke the silence, “oh my goodness me! You look absolutely stunning; dare I say like a goddess! You are surely going to steal the show tonight, my lady, there is no doubt you will be the bell of the ball. The royal siblings did a great job in picking out this dress.”

There was a pause before Tiana realised that she had been rambling as a blush rose to her cheeks, “a-anyway! We have to add the finishing touches before Tom gets here, you cannot be late!”

She hurried around the room picking up miscellaneous items and presenting them to you and asking you whether you liked them or not until you ended up deciding on a simple pearl choker necklace with matching earrings and some simple heeled shoes.

There was a knock at the door to reveal the tall footman, Tom, “good evening my lady, my name is Tom, and I am to be escorting you to the ball.”

Just as you were about to leave Tiana shouted at you to stop as she ran over to you with a beautiful flower crown with soft coloured carnations and hydrangeas to match the dress and a ribbon keeping it all attached.

“This will look beautiful on you my lady, may I put it on for you?” She asked with a sheepish smile.

“Of course, Tiana, I just wanted to say thank you for making me look so beautiful I really appreciate it.” You thanked with grateful smile to which the smaller woman placed the crown atop your head, careful not mess up her previous handy work before standing back with a pleased smile.

“Perfect! Listen to the Prince's words, try to enjoy yourself.” You thanked Tiana again as you turned away to follow her escort.

He offered his arm and off they went down the corridor towards the music and loud chatter, you just hoped you were prepared enough for the onslaught of rich nobles and royal families.

❥ ❥ ❥

YOU HAD NEVER been this nervous in your life, you felt like a baby deer on ice trying not to lose your footing not to mention the fact that you weren't used to walking in shoes like the ones you had been given. Your fists clenched into the fabric of Tom’s jacket in a way of grounding yourself; you’d never been to any ball as extravagant as this one, it was expensive, it was fancy, and it was full of important people. Important people that could ruin your life if you even so much as spoke to them wrong. You had no idea how you were supposed to act, you'd never had any sort of etiquette lessons, and you’d never needed them either! All you had going for you was that you might look the part and that hopefully you could just get away with just standing in a corner by yourself, preferably a corner where the food was, without having to interact with anyone whom you might offend.

“My Lady, are you feeling alright? You look quite nervous, is there anything I can do to help?” Came the comforting voice of the man accompanying you.

“Ah, thank you for asking but I am just nervous, I worry about offending people and not being fancy enough for everyone around here, they all have so much money and I am just a florist. I do not know how I am supposed to act, and it just makes me a bit nervous is all, I am not even quite sure why I agreed to come here anyway, it is not really my kind of thing. But I am here, and I might as well get on with it.” She rambled clenching and unclenching her fist in Tom’s jacket, gesturing wildly with her free arm ending with a sigh.

He stopped in front of the massive door leading to the ballroom and turned you to face him, “I understand you are nervous, my lady but, you must not worry so much, not all of the nobles and the rich who are attending this ball are crazy and obsessed with etiquette, some of them are rather humble people. You should just be yourself; you are a beautiful woman with an excellent personality to match, they will like you I can assure you of that, just flash them that smile of yours and you should be fine.”

You looked up at him with a big smile, his impromptu speech had comforted you immensely, you threw your arms around him and hugged him, “thank you so much Tom! You are ever so kind, thank you again for making me feel better I really do appreciate it, hopefully after tonight I will see you some time soon. You could come to my flower shop, bouquets and plants would be on the house.”

He laughed at your sudden change of energy, “I will take you up on your offer, my lady, now let us get going as I am sure you do not want to be late.”

With that the massive mahogany doors were pushed open to reveal the ballroom packed with people wither dancing or chattering away. Name was blown away everyone looked amazing, the women wearing dresses of beautiful bright colours and that fit them in a way that showed of all of their assets; the men looking smart and sophisticated in their suits and formal wear. Everyone was dressed differently, and they all looked absolutely stunning, Name couldn’t help but feel slightly self-conscious but reminded herself, fake it till you make it.

Tom’s breath was warm on your ear as he whispered his parting words, “this is where we part ways, my lady, I will around if you need me. Enjoy yourself.”

It wasn’t long before you were alone again, trying not to look too out of place as you stood rather awkwardly in the corner of the room, so much for being sociable. You leaned against the wall and observed everyone around her, they were all clearly having fun and wore expensive clothes but what did you expect they were all nobles. You shook your head, you needed to stop being so judgmental, besides you were also wearing expensive clothes, you might even be able to fit in considering the garment you were wearing. However, there was one thing you noticed, nobody was really wearing any light pale colours like yourself, the room was filled with brightly coloured fabrics and fabrics so dark they rivalled even the darkest of nights. Nothing like anything you were wearing, you cursed Leonidas for making you stand out, you supposed it must be so he could easily spot you.

At that point you were in a world of her own and although you were looking at your surroundings, you weren't at all focused on it until you were broken from your panicked thoughts by a honeyed voice you knew all too well, Alvara.

“What a surprise seeing you here my dear, I did not realise they invited people who are not of noble stature.” You did not mean to stare but in that moment Alvara radiated power and beauty in fact she was the epitome of it, and you were completely and utterly mesmerised. Her dress was jet black and contrasted against her pale almost white looking skin, the dress was floor length and fit her body like a glove, the deep V of the dress was bold maybe even scandalous, but she was Alvara Fox, and she could do whatever she wanted. Decorating her neck was an intricate gold choker with smaller chains attached to it falling from her neck and across her shoulder and collarbone to attach to the gold shoulder pads giving her a more structed look. She looked powerful, strong, confident and although you hated to admit it, you found her extremely attractive in that moment.

“What is with all of this staring my love? Do you like what you see?” She teased hoping to see that face you always made when you got flustered.

“I- uh, I deeply apologise my lady! I did not mean to star you just look... really nice tonight.” You hoped you did not sound as bashful as you felt and avoided eye contact with the stunning woman stood before you.

Alvara let out a loud laugh, a brilliant smile gracing her perfect face, “you are simply adorable! I am glad you think I look nice; I happen to think you look ravishing.”

You felt your face grow hot as you tried not to let your flustered expression show, “uh, I think I just heard somebody say my name, I will- I will speak to you later.”

You quickly turned on your heel and sped away trying to avoid any more conversations with your beautiful but pesky customer, all you wanted to do was eat and be ignored the entire time, but Alvara had different plans as she gripped your wrist in a tight grip pulling you back, so you fell into her cold embrace.  

“Whoever is calling your name can wait. I am much more important than they are besides, I thought I told you to refer to me as Alvara, especially if we are to be lovers one day.” At this declaration your mouth fell open into an ‘o’ shape not expecting such a bold statement even if you probably should have seen it coming considering the last conversation you had with the infamous Alvara Fox.

“Lovers? “You spluttered, “but I have never agreed to such a thing-!”

A slender finger was placed upon your lips silencing her, “you do not have to agree to anything, my love, we will be lovers one day. Mark my words. Why should we wait, I am a rather impatient woman and you of all people should know, be mine?”

You looked up at the taller woman and saw the twisted adoration in her eyes, those beautiful soulless eyes holding only an iciness that sent shivers down your spine, everything was telling you to say no, to reject this woman. Despite the love, or some sick version of it, that her eyes displayed you knew something was not right, something was very inhuman about Alvara and quite frankly, it scared you. You had come to the conclusion that realised that although you found her attractive you knew a relationship with her would never work because you would always feel like the prey and her the predator.  

Name diverted her eyes hating the eye contact she had just been subjected to before taking a deep breath and pushing herself out of the strangely cold woman’s embrace, “I am terribly sorry My Lady, but I cannot except your offer. I am not looking for any sort of relationship in that sense, I want to focus on my shop and my career, hopefully you will understand.” As she turned away from Alvara she grabbed her wrist once again eyes swirling with determination and annoyance holding an expression which struck fear into Name’s heart.

“I thought I told you to call me Alvara.”

“I apologise, but no I will not. You are my customer, and we will have a professional relationship, now if you don’t mind, I’m going to eat some cake.” You smiled politely shaking your wrist out of Alvara’s firm grasp and walking away confidently feeling very proud for finally standing up for yourself.

Holding a fancy plate of cake and a fork in your other hand, you escaped to the massive windows overlooking a beautiful landscape that you knew was there but couldn’t see because of the darkness that had prevailed. Yet despite not being able to see much you continued to stare out the window eating your cake imagining what could be there completely lost in thought, you placed the now empty plate on a nearby table and went back to your previous station situated at the windows. You were playing with the sleeve of your dress staring out into the dark abyss when a horrible feeling washed over you, like something absolutely awful was going to happen, you suddenly regretted eating all that cake as found yourself unable to pull yourself away from the window until you saw something, something awfully similar to a pair of red eyes…

And, in that moment, all chaos broke loose.

A piercing scream escaped your throat as the massive windows shattered by the brute force of something crashing through it, the glass left cuts all over your exposed skin as you lay in a heap.

People were screaming, shouting, doing anything they could to get out of the room safely. You lay there in a daze as you wondered if those really were red eyes you saw until you felt a crushing weight atop of you, your eyes lazily blinked open to see a man… or what you thought was a man grinning down at her with a sleazy look on his face.

“You smell reaaaal nice, I could just eat you up!” You stared at him in horror as he laughed like he’d made a hilarious joke, and it was in that moment that you realised his eyes were red and not a figment of her imagination.

“What- what are you?”

“Your worst nightmare, sweetheart.” He continued to laugh as you began to struggle in his unmoving grip, panic tightening like a noose around your throat, “no use in struggling, you are going to die anyway, angelface.” He continued to laugh maniacally as he leaned down to nose around your neck as if he were looking for something.

Tears began to fill your eyes as you continued to fruitlessly struggle until there was a blinding pain in your neck, you screamed once again this time filled with pure agonising pain. It felt like he was tearing at your neck and draining all the blood and energy from your body. You writhed in pain it was the kind of pain that was searing hot and although it was in one spot, you could feel it in your entire body, it was unbearable. You screamed as much as your voice would allow, fighting back as much as you could, trying to rid the burning sensation, scratching and clawing at anything you could. You could feel yourself growing weak, and you knew you didn’t have much time left. But if one thing was for sure, it was that you were not a quitter, and you weren't going to go down without a fight.

Just when you thought your time had come the crushing weight of the man on top of you was lifted off. You cracked open your eyes to see Alvara, she looked positively feral snarling at the man.

Everything was fuzzy and you couldn’t comprehend what was happening with everything sounding like it was underwater, the pain in your neck had become a dull ache at this point. You were trying so hard to keep your eyes open, but everything hurt, everything was just too much.

“Name!” a familiar voice shouted, “Name do not dare close your eyes, okay? Eyes on me.” He sounded desperate and you opened your eyes again to see Leonidas to which you smiled to the best of your abilities, but it probably looked more like a grimace.

You moved a shaky hand to touch the wound at your neck but was stopped by your friend, “don’t touch it, you’ll make it worse.” You knew he said something afterwards, but you couldn’t hear it. Your eyes began to close as the cold grasping at your mind whispered for you to welcome the darkness as you heard distant shouts for you to open your eyes.

Leonidas swore as he saw the damage done to you, blood was everywhere, it still wet all over your neck and shoulders. It took all of his strength to not to lap up the blood on your neck, but he has self-control unlike those other vampires who didn’t even deserve the title of vampire. He breathed in heavily trying to keep his composure as he gathered your limp body in his strong arms not even bothering to check on anyone else as he ran out of the room taking you to safety, he just hoped he had gotten there in time.

Meanwhile, Alvara was torturing the man who had dared lay a finger on her future wife, she was straddling the man punching at his face again and again blood painting her fist a beautiful shade of red, leaving the man a bloody mess and yet he continued to laugh.

“You sure are a feral one.” He continued to laugh coughing up blood as he did so.

“If you think this is feral you haven’t seen anything yet, you may think I am going to kill you but no, I will keep you alive and bring to you to the cusp of death just to do it all over again." she laughed humorously not breaking eye contact with the man below her.

"I am going to remove your teeth one by one, cut every inch of body. I'm going to burn your fucking flesh off I might even cut your tongue off. And that is not even beginning to scrape the surface of what I am going to do you.” She snarled; her eyes wild showing the true meaning of feral. He stared at her his laughter stopping as he truly understood what kind of situation he was in, he messed with the wrong vampire, and he would pay for it with his life.

❥ ❥ ❥

PAIN. BLINDING PAIN. Why did everything hurt so much, why was everything so overwhelming? Opening your eyes hurt, everything was so bright, it was as if your eyesight had miraculously improved to a scary degree. There was a strong flowery scent wafting through the air, it made you cough and your eyes water, why was it so strong and why was it affecting you so much? Something was very, very wrong and you could hardly remember what had happened the previous night not to mention the fact that you were in a bed that you had never seen before.

What the hell happened last night?

With all these questions and the fogginess in your brain, you pushed your weak body up into a sitting position instantly feeling a pain in your shoulder and neck. You hadn’t realised how weak you felt until your hand was shakily reaching for the junction between your shoulder and neck, there was a thick gauzy bandage over the area and just ghosting your fingers over it hurt like hell.

“Name?”

Your head shot up at the sound of your name, it was Leonidas, you instantly relaxed and a soft smile found its way to your face.

The prince rushed towards you checking over your entire body in a frantic frenzy, “you should not be sitting up, Name, you lost a lot of blood last night.” He pushed you back gently, so she rested against the mass of pillows behind her, a soft frown marring his usual smiley exterior.

“Yes… what happened last night Leon? I can hardly remember a thing; my brain is just so foggy.” You rubbed at your head hoping it would help you remember something, anything, but all it did was trigger a shock of pain through your shoulder.

He looked sad, terribly, terribly sad.

“I am not sure if you are ready to hear it.” He said solemnly.

“I want to know, Leon, please just tell me. I will only worry more if I have no idea what happened to me.”

He avoided eye contact looking at everything in the room but you as if he was mentally preparing himself for what he was about to explain, it made you worry even more seeing your usually composed friend look so anxious making your mind wander to the worst possible case scenario.

Leonidas took a deep breath and finally looked at you, “Okay, what I am about to tell you is going to sound absolutely insane, but you have to hear me out, do you understand?” You looked at him intently and nodded.

“Well starting off with what happened last night, you were attacked which I am sure is quite obvious, but you were attacked by a group of individuals who…” he paused for a moment as if trying to think of what to say next, “disagree with the crown and my family. Which I suppose does not explain much but I promise I will get there.”

He adjusted himself and sat closer to you and it was in that moment that you knew he was going to get to the crazy part of the situation in which he feared the kind of reaction you might have.

“I am sure you have heard of vampires before and how they are nothing but stories to keep children from going out late at night. But to put it bluntly, vampires are not just a myth or a story, they are real beings that live among us in society.”

“Are you serious? You have got to be joking, how would I not know about this if it is even true that is, I mean surely you are just messing with me, right… right?” Your words coming out of your mouth in a rapid pace, voice trembling as you looked at your friend with wide eyes full of even more questions at this massive revelation that you didn’t even entirely believe.

Leonidas took a deep breath looking at you with pity for he knew this was hard to believe,

“Sadly, I am not joking, I wish I was but, Vampires have been around for a very long time well before you and me. They helped create the system we live in today and to keep the humans who live in and around the towns safe from other creatures that wish them harm. The Royal family are the oldest vampire family in all of Iridesiah and we were tasked with taking care of our fellow vampire and human counterparts thousands and thousands of years ago. What I am saying is that I am a vampire, my entire family are, as well as pretty much the entire court. Which I know must sound crazy and a lot to take in and I sincerely apologize that this has happened to you Name, all I wanted was for you to live your life in peace without knowing.”

You gaped at your friend processing all of the information you had just been given, it was almost too much for your scrambled brain, “so you are a vampire? What- what about the people that attacked me, are they humans, vampires or whatever else they possibly could be?”

“Yes, I am a vampire and the man from that group who attacked you was also a vampire, we call his specific type a rogue as they don’t believe in protecting humans and think that the monarchy should be abolished so they can take over in our place.” He explained.

“I was bitten by that- that rogue...? Does that- does that mean I am going to become a vampire?” Tears welled up in your eyes threatening to fall down your face, what did this mean for you and your flower shop?

Leonidas put his hand atop your own and directed a soft look your way, “you were bitten by the rogue, yes, but we are not sure whether you will turn yet or not, your case is different to anything we have ever seen before and even our best doctors are not quite sure what is happening. I know must be horrible to hear but you are in good hands I can assure you and I will be here every step of the way; I promise.”

At his words the dam holding your tears back finally broke as your body shook with soul wrenching sobs, to which Leonidas immediately got up from his position beside your bed and pulled you into his embrace letting you cry it out.

❥ ❥ ❥

THEY STILL DIDN’T know what actually happened to you, just that you weren’t a vampire, but that you weren’t a human either. They ended up deciding that you were a hybrid of vampire and human where whilst you did need blood to survive, you didn’t have to rely on it and could eat normal food and gain nutrients from it unlike actual vampires.

Lost in your own thoughts arranging flowers and unpacking supplies you hadn’t even noticed a new presence in the shop.

“Hello there, darling Name.”

You nearly jumped out of your skin at the sensual voice you knew all too well, “Alvara! Oh, my goodness, you scared the life out of me.” You placed your hand on your chest hoping to calm your racing heart, you huffed trying to fix your frazzled composure.

“So, what exactly brings you here? Flowers or just companionship?” You teased, hand on hip as you sent a smile Alvara’s way.

She looked a bit thrown by the teasing of your usually flustered self, but she quickly caught her composure and smirked back, “since when did you get so flirtatious, my darling? I like it.” The sensual tone and intense gaze made you immediately melt, you turned away quickly pressing your cool hands against your face hoping to cool it down.

Alvara let out a melodious giggle at her darling’s reaction, “but to answer your previous question, I am here for a bit of both, I require some colourful flowers, I trust you to pick out something nice. Besides I have missed our little conversations and more importantly, I have missed you.”

“Oh, that is rather sweet of you to say, uh yes…” You lost your train of thought as you got lost in Alvara’s icy blue eyes and although they unnerved you to an alarming extent, you couldn’t deny how beautiful they were or how there was such an intense pull to her like a moth to a flame.

You snapped back into your thoughts with a shake of your head “anyway! I suppose I should get those flowers for you then.”

Although you tried not to act awkward and flustered Alvara just seemed bring it out of you whenever she opened her pretty pink lips. Why did this woman have such a hold over you, but why did she also scare you? You wondered what it was about Alvara that made you feel this way. You took a deep breath and tried to focus on choosing the perfect set of flowers humming as you walked about the back of the store picking and choosing things as you did, creating an image of how you were going to arrange them in your head.

You came back into the front room trying to avoid eye contact with Alvara for the time being, giving yourself a mental pep talk as you arranged and tied them all up. You huffed proudly looking at your handywork before picking it up and finally looking up to see the amused smirk of Alvara.

“I hope it’s colourful enough for you, I added all of my favourites, so I do hope you like it.” You rambled out with a bashful smile painted across your face.

Alvara leaned forward, so that her hands were pressed up upon the bench that separated them not breaking eye contact for a second. “You really are the cutest little thing I have ever had the pleasure of setting eyes on, my dear Name.” You stood there stiffly, not being able to break your gaze from that intense stare of the vampire in front of you, trying to stutter out a curt and hopefully not awkward thank you.

Alvara finally broke the eye contact with an amused shake of her head, stepping away from the counter and finally allowing you to breathe again.

“I have a proposal; one I have made before but that is beside the point. I do hope that you agree to it, for your sake and mine.” The underlying threat sent a shiver down your spine the kind of shiver that reminded you of the time you first met, goosebumps rose upon your skin as Alvara made slow purposeful steps towards you. “I am sure that you have noticed my fondness for you, my darling, I believe I have made it quite obvious and although I do realize that you have rejected me before I am not the kind of woman who takes no for an answer especially when it concerns something that I want. So, I would like to propose the idea of you being mine. Which I know is quite blunt, but you see, I have been alone for a very long time, most of my existence in fact and whilst I have chosen the life of solitude I long for a partner whom I can spend the rest of my life with.”

You wanted to move, to get away, but your limbs would not comply, it was as if Alvara’s icy cold stare had you frozen, the anticipation of the woman approaching you had the hair on the back of your neck rising. It wasn’t long before you were face to face, closer than you would’ve liked. Alvara smiled as she laid her cold hand atop your face stroking it in such a loving way it startled you.

“I know that you are aware of my power within the kingdom and that I am a ruthless woman but do not let that scare you, my darling, because I can assure you that I would be the most generous lover, a lover who would protect and treasure you, treat you exactly how deserve to be treated. So, I ask you again, be mine?” Her voice held such a sense of power and conviction that it made you want to agree, but you were hesitant, something was telling you that something was not quite right here, as it always had. There was a danger, a warning, in her words. It was possessive and quite frankly terrifying, a feeling that you often felt around the ice-cold woman, nothing of a warmth and security that you associated with love.

The fear snapped you out of your frozen stupor as you pulled Alvara’s hand off of your cheek and took a step back, creating a much-needed distance between them. “I am terribly sorry, Alvara, but I just cannot accept your invitation. You are a lovely woman, and anyone would be lucky to have you as a partner, but I am not your person, I am not your future lover. I have told you before that I am not interested and, sadly, that has not changed. I am simply just not interested in any kind of relationship; my flower shop means too much to me and I would much rather focus on that. I hope you understand, but I think you need to leave now.”

A dark shadow fell across the woman’s face, your blood went cold as you saw the change of expression and suddenly you felt that you were in great danger.

“You really are a funny one, Name, you really think that you can say no to me, I told you I do not take no for an answer. You will accept me because if I can’t have you no one can.” Her voice was level and calm, but it did not hide the cold anger it held as she closed the distance between you.  “That little speech of yours will not deter me, my love, I always get what I want.” Alvara tugged you closer to her as a strong arm curled around your waist and a hand gripping the back of your neck as she pulled her darling into an aggressive yet passionate kiss. You tried in vain to pull away from the bruising kiss, but Alvara would not budge instead deepening the kiss much to your dismay biting the lips of your aggressor in hopes of pulling the leech off of you.

Alvara pulled away, blood smeared on her bottom lip as she laughed cruelly, “you really are full of surprises, oh god I love it when you squirm in my arms.” She giggled intensely as she licked away the blood on her lips keeping that dreaded eye contact with the object of her twisted affections.

“Get out of my fucking shop.” You heaved, huffing with unrestrained anger.

She put her hands up in mock surrender, “now, now, darling, I think you should take a deep breath.”

“Shut up, just shut up.”

“Mm, I like this feisty side of you, Name.” She purred, starting to take a step closer to but you decided enough was enough and armed yourself with a sturdy wooden bat.

“I will not say it again, get out of my fucking shop.” Your voice was hard and red hot with anger.

Alvara hung her head and chuckled quietly, “I will leave but only because you asked me so nicely.”

You did not reply instead choosing to stare the vampire down, not putting your weapon down until Alvara had left and that you were sure you were safe. The wooden bat fell to the ground with loud clutter as the dams broke and loud sobs fell from your lips, you covered your mouth and cried and cried. Emotions of anger, fear and disgust clouding your mind. You found yourself curled on the floor hugging your body close in a way to comfort your broken psyche, you really should’ve listened to yourself when you thought that Alvara was bad news, but it was too late now.

❥ ❥ ❥

THAT DAY WAS only the start of your personal hell. After what felt like years of torment from a particularly icy woman you had decided to move away from Iridesiah and although Leonidas had told you he could protect you, you both knew that Alvara was a powerful woman, she had said so herself, and that she would not go down so easily.

You had taken to moving around every 10 years or so which in grand scheme of how long a vampire lives for, is a very short of time. All you wanted was a simple peaceful life where you could have a flower shop quite like the one, you had before all of this madness, and so the cycle of running and hiding began.

It was starting to become tiring this whole running thing, you had no place to call home, no constant in your life because of that god forsaken woman. Yet despite this you always managed to get away, again and again, you slipped through the cracks. Although you were constantly being hunted, long ago you had decided that you wouldn’t let that stop you from doing what you wanted and going where you wanted. You were your own person, and you wouldn’t let Alvara dictate her life, not now and hopefully not ever.

Looking out the window, you observed the miles and miles of lush green that surrounded your temporary abode, it was most certainly your favourite place you’d ever lived, surrounded by nature and flowers was where you belonged. Sure, you missed the company of others, but you couldn’t have any sort of partner, platonic or not, for you did not want to subject them to this life, a life where their every waking moment could be their last. You’d learnt that the hard way, when Alvara said if she couldn’t have you no one could, she sure as hell meant it.

You sipped from your mug of piping hot tea curling up into a ball as you thought about the past, about the woman who claimed to love you.

It had been a long time since you’d been around so many people, it was a slightly odd feeling but one that you found that you’d missed. The loud chatter of people all around you was comforting, you were truly enjoying yourself, listening to the street music and dancing around with the locals, it had been a long time since you’d felt peace like this. If only every day you could be surrounded by people who held such warmth and kindness to them, the rich scent of food only added to your sense of peace and comfort.

Walking around the market stalls and trying new food, talking to new people, and looking at all they had to offer felt like a dream, it was truly the best day you’d had in a long time, if only it could last forever. But alas, that was not the way things were planned, they never stayed peaceful for long, not when a certain someone was watching your every move.  

“That necklace would look so pretty around your throat, my dear.”

Your whole body went stiff. Every fibre of your being screamed for help, screamed for you to run, for you to get away from the very person whose body was wrapped around your own, pulling you away from the crowd and into an isolated alleyway.

Alvara placed a kissed upon your neck hugging your smaller body to her own, “you have no idea how much I’ve missed you, your body, your scent, everything about you.” Her face was buried into your neck, placing kisses all upon your neck and shoulder, laving her tongue over the supple skin.

That very action caused you to break out of her terrified stupor, you jerked your elbow back into Alvara, catching her off guard so that her tight grip around your waist loosened, and you were free to escape.

You gasped for air as you felt life being breathed back into your veins, you felt the need to run, to escape, it was the only thing on your mind, a one-track thought.

You raced through the streets, stumbling, and pushing past people left, right and centre, you didn’t have time to feel sorry for the people you were pushing past, for you could not be caught by Alvara. A woman so determined, so ruthless, that if you were ever truly caught, you would never have the chance to escape again. You knew Alvara was hot on your tail, she was a general for a reason.

You came to set of stone steps, you didn’t know where they led but you didn't have the luxury of time to think or plan or anything for that matter all you could do was run and hope for an escape route to appear. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and you didn’t know how much longer you could run for, you hoped that these stairs would lead to an escape one where Alvara could not follow.

Vines and trees pulled at your clothes tearing your skirt and shirt in the process, drawing your precious blood, you heard a snarl behind you that was unmistakably Alvara’s, you forced your tired limbs to move faster with the mantra of don’t look back, don’t look back, running through your head. Escape was the only option, you could do it, you’d done it before, this time wasn’t any different. Yet the cold grip of fear had set it’s sights on you and you couldn’t help but wonder if this time would be different, what if Alvara managed to catch you this time because surely she wouldn’t let you go, she’d been chasing you for this long why would she stop now.

You tried not to let these thoughts take control you had to focus on getting away, on getting home, or rather the place you’d fortified to keep yourself safe from Alvara. Until you came to a stumbling holt, beholding the cliff face with such a drop you felt her stomach churning at the sight alone. A dead end, the only way you could get away would be to jump, a terrifying feat but one you would make to escape the woman coming up behind you.

“There’s nowhere left to go Name. Give up won’t you, I’m beginning to tire of our little game.” Her voice was raised and slightly breathless from the earlier pursuit.

You laughed but there was nothing humourless about this situation, “you think this is a game, this is my life, Alvara, and you won’t let me live it because of your sick fucking fantasies. Accept that I will never be yours, just accept it.” Your voice trembling with barely restrained anger, tears began to well up in your eyes, emotions you didn’t like to feel taking over your body.

“Just- just let me go, Alvara, for the love of God please. Just let me have peace.” Tears fell from your eyes, you were just so tired, voice wobbling with defeat.

“You know I can’t do that Name, dear, you were mine the moment I set eyes on you and my belongings, my possessions, I never let them go. I would never let you go; you mean so much to me-” She moved closer, hoping to catch you off guard.

“That’s fucking bullshit! You don’t love me, you don’t care about me, you just want to own me, and I won’t let you.” You let herself fall backwards, down the side of the cliff and into the deep blue abyss.  

You heard Alvara scream your Name but all you could do was smile, you were successful, you were free, but there was that lingering thought at the back of your mind asking yourself how long you had left? How long could you really keep running?

Today would be a risky day, that much was clear, but you hadn’t seen Leonidas in hundreds of years, and you missed your friend dearly, it had been hard to see each other due to Leonidas’ kingship and your own predicament with Alvara.

You hummed a tune as you dolled yourself up for the event ahead, you arranged your hair and such, pulling on a beautiful silky dress to match. You smoothed the beautiful fabric enjoying the feeling beneath your fingertips, you didn’t know what would happen tonight but all you could hope for was peace, it was the only thing you had ever wanted. You slipped some shoes on and grabbed your bag before making your way out of your beloved home and into the unknown.

❥ ❥ ❥

YOU GRINNED, ENJOYING the company of the people around, enjoying the company of others, a feat you didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy often. The music, the chatter, the noise, it was beautiful, and you felt herself bask in it, you had missed this.

“Name!”

You turned at the warm voice, a voice you had dearly missed, “Leo!” You threw yourself into his welcoming embrace not caring about others who would surely judge you for such a careless action especially one regarding the King of Iridesiah.

“Name, I have truly missed your company, it's wonderful to see you again. How has life been treating you?” He asked pulling away from their tight embrace, hands resting on your arms.

You smiled softly, yet despite its softness it held an overwhelming sadness to it, “you know it’s the same old, same old, running and hiding. But don’t worry about me I can handle it; I’ve handled it for the last few hundred years.”   

His eyes mirrored the sadness in her smile, “I wish I could do more for you Name, I really do, but it really isn’t so simple. If I were to try and protect you, she would overthrow me and that would have disastrous consequences.”

“Oh Leo, of course, I know this, I know you cannot do anything to help. I’m sorry for bringing it up, we should be happy, we should treasure our limited time together.” You wiped the brewing tears from your eyes not letting a single drop fall, this was supposed to be a happy reunion, you should be enjoying yourself.

Leonidas smiled at you placing a comforting hand on your cheek, allowing you to nuzzle into his palm enjoying the moment of affection. “I know something that will cheer you up, how about we get you some cake?” You smiled a beaming smile at the offer, as the two of you talked for hours over cake and other delicacies that were on offer, but soon he would have to leave your side and be the King again, he promised to return later on the evening and left you with a parting hug.

You ended up venturing on towards the ballroom deciding on dancing to the beautiful jazz being played, moving your body to the rhythm letting it take over, relinquishing control to the beautiful symphony.

That was until your peace, your enjoyment was cut short. You felt the cold presence of a woman you knew all too well, her muscled arms snaked their way around your waist, constricting your movement.

“Fancy seeing you here, my dear. Rather bold of you to turn up to an event like this, knowing that I would be here.” She giggled, tracing soft circles onto your exposed flesh, the very flesh she dreamed of biting into.

“I didn’t come here for you, Alvara.” Your voice barely above a whisper.

Alvara spun her darling around, keeping her arm firmly wrapped around your waist, faces mere millimetres from each other, “god I love the way you say my name.” Her voice was desperate and breathy, it was so strange to hear her sound so vulnerable.

She moved her lips towards to your ear, “I would give anything to hear you moan it.”

Your eyes widened by the bold statement, ears burning with embarrassment, you were used to Alvara’s cold nature not this desire-stricken woman before her. It almost seemed as if a dam had broken, as if Alvara had finally had enough, enough of their so-called game.

“Let me go Alvara.” You felt so defeated, so useless, so hopeless. You didn’t know how much longer you could handle these feelings.

She placed her hand upon your face, “you know I cannot do that my darling; you are mine; you will always be mine. I have loved you for hundreds of years and that love has never wavered, in fact, how does the saying go? Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Tears dripped down your face, revealing a scared darling doe behind, “you don’t love me, you wouldn’t be hurting me if you truly loved me.”

Alvara gripped your face harshly bringing your faces closer together with a snarl, “don’t you dare question my love for you.” Your eyes locked eyes for a few intense seconds before she loosened her grip and wiped the fallen tears away from your face.

“Aren’t you tired? Why must you keep running my dear, when you can just give in. I can give you the love that you desire, I can show you the world's greatest pleasures, I am a generous lover my darling Name. You would want for nothing under my care, you would have a home, a lover, a partner. You would no longer be alone. You don’t have to run anymore, Name. Please, be mine?” She caressed her darling’s face trying to convince you to finally give up and fall into her awaiting grasp.

“Just say yes, that’s all you have to do, Name.”

You stared up into her eyes, lips trembling as you fought to keep your composure. It had been so long since you went on the run, what even was the reason why she couldn’t even learn to love Alvara? You could hardly even put your finger on the exact reason, did you even have a reason? Was it even worth all this pain fighting against a woman who would never quit, a woman who would never stop chasing you even if it was to the ends of the earth? Would it be so bad to give into Alvara? Would it really be that bad? You would finally have peace, a home, a constant in your life.

“Okay.” Your voice was soft, defeated and broken down.

A huge grin grew upon Alvara’s face, “Oh Name, I’m so glad you’ve finally come around. I have been waiting for this moment for too long, you have made the right choice that I can assure you. Let’s go home, I shall take great care of you, I promise.”

With her arm still around your waist she guided you toward the exit, you looked back hesitating for a moment as your met eyes with Leonidas, his own eyes widened filled with shock, fear, worry, but he could do nothing. Even though he was the king, holding all that power still wasn't enough, he couldn’t even save his best friend from the greatest monster of all.

“Come, my dear, we must make up for lost time.”

And with that your fate was sealed, you just hoped it would be peaceful.

[celestial-toys]

That I Would Be Good [3/5]

Whatever It's Worth

“For whatever it’s worth, I think it always looks fine. I think you fuss over it too damn much, but regardless… it’s… fine. You always look fine to me. You’d look fine even if you didn’t have any hair at all.”

A small smile blooms across your features as his words sink in. “That’s… that’s the closest thing to a compliment you’ve ever given me, Sun.”

You turn and he lets the ends of your hair slip from his hands, looking a bit caught off guard at your sudden motion. You ignore his false eyes and look directly into the camera in the center of his screen. “Thank you.”

He remains frozen for a moment before his display dims to black and he turns, quickly scrubbing the worst remnants of conditioner off of his hands and onto a nearby towel. “I think your hair has been conditioned enough.”

- - - - - - -

In This Chapter

Sun attempts some level-headed honesty with his hands in your hair, and Moon gets a little overzealous when it comes to his unofficial position as Household Chef.

Pairing: Sun x Moon x Reader

Word Count: 4,779

Contains: [AU - Real World | Sentient AI/Automatons | Personality Swap] [implied EDNOS] [invasion of privacy] [implication of past self-harming behavior] [Reader has their period (not graphically described)] [discussion of menstruation] [discussion of various foods and nutrition] [one (1) use of a gendered term for Reader] [discussion and feelings of dysphoria] [eating]

A/Ns: This is a songfic. Lyrics and title are from ‘That I Would Be Good’ by Alanis Morissette.

This fic is part of my AU “[Not] Made by Design”, the full series can be found here.

Links to other parts of this fic: [Ch.1] [Ch.2] [Ch.3 (you are here)]

That I would be good if I lost my hair and my youth.

After rinsing the remainder of lightly-tinted soap suds out of your hair, off of your body, and down the drain, you bend down to turn the shower off. Gently squeezing the worst of the water out of your locks, you straighten back up and pull the shower door aside.

Then you shout.

“SUN! What the fuck are you doing?!”

You quickly step behind the blurry frosted glass of the shower door, leaving only your head peeking around the edge. You shiver in the relatively cold air that rushes to fill the shower stall as you await an answer. The solar automaton is currently leaning against the opposite wall, arms crossed and casual as ever, monitor flipped around 180 degrees in what you assume was meant to be a silent assurance that he wasn’t watching you.

“I have a question.”

Your eyes pinch closed and your features scrunch up in frustration, silently asking any higher power out there to grant you the patience to deal with this nonsense. “And it couldn’t wait until I got dressed?”

He shrugs. “I don’t see why it would need to.”

You silently press your forehead against the cool metal of the shower door’s frame.

“…Are you decent yet or must I continue admiring the grout between the tiles on this wall behind me?”

You huff, reaching out of the shower and grabbing your bathrobe off of its designated hook. “Just one… damn second…” You cinch the rope around your waist and step gingerly out onto the bath mat. “Okay, I’m ‘decent.’ Now—pray tell—what do you need to ask me?”

He leans his upper body away from the wall, rays retracting to give himself enough clearance to flip his monitor around. His rays slide back out in tandem after he turns his head to face you, and he rests his shoulders against the wall once more. “I was wondering why you’ve taken three showers today.”

You stand there, blinking in disbelief. “That’s it?”

“Yes. It’s… concerning. I wanted to make sure you weren’t up to any… harmful behaviors in here while left unsupervised.”

You roll your eyes. “‘Left unsupervised…’ What is this, some kind of inpatient program? Christ, Sun, this is my house! Can’t I catch a break?”

You throw your arms up in frustration, and he doesn’t answer you immediately. It isn’t until you deflate, dropping your exaggerated expression and bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of your nose that he finally responds in a quieter tone. “You… concern me. I don’t know what to do.”

You sigh, trying to reign in your frustration.

Sometimes you forget that he has a lot less experience with being a person than you do.

You try to cut him some slack. “Sun, I appreciate the concern over my wellbeing. But I promise you, the only destructive behavior going on in this bathroom today is the damage I'm doing to my hair.”

He’s quiet, processing your words for a moment before he announces an observation. “It’s a lighter shade than it was this morning.”

You nod. “I sure hope it is. I’ve been in here washing the hell out of it with this fading treatment, trying to get the color I wanted.”

His expression is something between confused and disapproving. “You aren’t supposed to do that. It’s bad for your hair to wash it so much.”

You turn to the mirror and toy with your hair, dismissing him. “Yeah, yeah. Jeez, who are you, my hairdresser?”

He steps into view beside you in the mirror, leaning in closer to examine your hair. “Maybe if you’d gone to one instead of DIY-ing it you’d have gotten the color you wanted.”

You lock eyes with his reflection for a long moment. “…Touché.”

He seems pleased enough with your response, stepping back a bit and watching you futz with your hair in the mirror.

“Have your concerns been quelled now, or…?”

“…I suppose.” He replies, making no move to exit the bathroom.

“…Well then are you gonna just stand there and watch me apply my leave-in conditioner or what?”

He ignores your question, leaning in close to you again. Pinching the end of a damp lock of hair between the pads of his fingers, he hums his dissent. “You really need to quit fucking with your hair if you want to still have any left.”

You can’t help but laugh. “Goodness, the way you worded that almost sounds like a threat!”

His eyes meet yours in the mirror again and he smirks. “No… just a warning.”

He drags the tail end of your hair along the palm of his opposite hand, like idly toying with a paintbrush. “You’re always awfully concerned about the appearance of your hair.”

You cock a brow up at that. “Are you sure that isn’t a threat, Sun?”

A noise escapes him: half-scoff, half-laugh, and he sounds oddly genuine when he reassures you. “It’s not. I just… noticed.”

He releases your hair and you can finally lean far enough away to open the cabinet. “Mhm. What don’t you notice.”

He ignores your comment in favor of hitting you with another set of sudden left-field questions. “Are you afraid of getting older? Or are you afraid of losing control.”

Your hand halts, hovering halfway toward retrieving the conditioner from the cabinet, and drops back down to your side as you turn to face him. “What?”

“I’ve learned that some people dye their hair because they want to appear younger than they are. I’ve also seen many posts online where people describe making drastic changes to their hair while going through something difficult in their life. The concept appears in a number of song lyrics too. It seems to me like an attempt at gaining a sense of control.”

The fun thing about living with sentient, learning AI is that they’re always asking questions and compiling information about the world around them.

The not-so-fun thing about living with sentient, learning AI is that they’re always asking questions and compiling information about the world around them.

You’d liken it to having a fully grown adult with the curiosity and learning capacity of a child, if you didn’t want to feel even weirder about your “Creator x Creation” dynamic than you already do sometimes.

“While I… appreciate your attempts to psychoanalyze me based on my hair-dyeing habits, I regret to inform you that it’s neither of those things for me, Sunny.” You consider it a moment more, and add on. “…As far as I’m aware, at least.”

His head tilts to the side a bit. “You don’t have to patronize me.”

“I… wasn’t?”

“You used that name for me. ‘Sunny.’ It made your statement sound… patronizing.”

Another fun thing about living with sentient, learning AI is that you get to clear up all sorts of little miscommunications.

“Oh, no, I—I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I’m sorry, Sun. That wasn’t my intention.”

He doesn’t let it go so quickly. “Based on my calculations, a nickname like that tends to be used in one of three ways—patronizing, dismissive, or affectionate. Care to clarify which one it was?”

You level him with an unamused stare. “No, I don’t care to clarify.”

You then turn to retrieve the conditioner from the cabinet, effectively shutting down that line of questioning. You grab the body lotion while you’re at it, and as you set your items down on the counter, you attempt to free yourself of your overly-curious bathroom companion. “Unless you’re waiting around to help me put this stuff in my hair, I'm afraid it’s time for you to go find something else to do for a little while, Sun.”

His response is… unexpected. “I… can help.”

What has gotten into this guy recently? Used to be you had to fight to get one nice word out of him and now here he is playing ‘20 Questions’ and offering to condition your hair?

“I… didn’t expect you to actually—”

“If you didn’t want me to offer then why’d you ask?”

You squint at him, unamused. “Sun, c’mon, I know you grasp the concepts of sarcasm and rhetoric.”

Once again ignoring your statement, he pushes himself away from the wall and holds out his upturned palms in an open gesture of offering. “Would you like me to help or not?”

You’re quite sure he expects you to turn him down, so you agree to his offer, if for no other reason than to subvert his expectations. “You know what? Yeah, sure. I’d love the help, Sunny.”

He freezes for a moment—processing—but you’ve gotta admit, he collects himself surprisingly fast, apparently feeling up to the challenge.

Once you explain how much of the product to use and how to apply it, you quickly find yourself staring into the mirror, watching Sun carefully and methodically work conditioner into your hair and wondering how you got here.

Eventually a question pops up and you break through his focused silence. “Does it really look lighter than it did earlier today?”

“…Yes. But if you want my honest opinion it looked just fine before you scrubbed the life out of it three times.”

You huff in surprise at his bluntness. “Damn, okay, tell me how you really feel…”

“When have you ever known me to mince my words?”

“I know, I know. It’s fine. I appreciate your honesty.”

Silence settles over the two of you for another few moments, but he eventually pipes back up. “For whatever it’s worth, I think it always looks fine. I think you fuss over it too damn much, but regardless… it’s… fine. You always look fine to me. You’d look fine even if you didn’t have any hair at all.”

A small smile blooms across your features as his words sink in. “That’s… that’s the closest thing to a compliment you’ve ever given me, Sun.”

You turn and he lets the ends of your hair slip from his hands, looking a bit caught off guard at your sudden motion. You ignore his false eyes and look directly into the camera in the center of his screen. “Thank you.”

He remains frozen for a moment before his display dims to black and he turns, quickly scrubbing the worst remnants of conditioner off of his hands and onto a nearby towel. “I think your hair has been conditioned enough.”

Your tone quickly becomes teasing. “Aww, is somebody flustered?”

He reaches for the doorknob. “It’s time for me to walk Zero. I trust you can moisturize the rest of yourself without my assistance.”

Quickly making his very smooth retreat, as your laughter subsides, you’re left there to apply your lotion in thoughtful silence.

That I would be great if I was no longer Queen.

“Does this feel more like an ‘apple-cinnamon’ or ‘banana-walnut’ kind of day?”

You release a soft sigh as you raise your head from where it’d been… briefly planted atop your crossed arms, and you lean back into your seat at the kitchen table. “You really don’t have to do every single thing for me, Moon.”

His monitor clicks, spinning a few degrees back and forth to accompany his playful rebuttal. “And leave me with no task to occupy these idle hands? Why, I feel like that’d be just cruel.” The pout he wears doesn’t do much to convince you, nor to ease the guilt you feel.

He can tell as much, and tries a more serious approach. “Star… you’re menstruating. From what I can tell, this is a more painful period than normal. I’m sure in no small part due to the excess stress you’ve been under this past month. You deserve to rest as much as possible right now.”

“I figured you’d be in favor of me getting up and moving around. Isn’t that supposed to help in the long-run?”

He nods. “It can. But it tends to help the most when stretching and physical activity is maintained throughout the entire monthly cycle, not just once you’re already bleeding and in pain.”

His explanation is straightforward, but soft spoken, everything in his tone and body language obviously trying not to offend, accuse, or criticize. “Besides, bugging you to exercise tends to fall more under Sun’s jurisdiction, and he’s had his reasons for prioritizing other aspects of your well-being this month.”

Speak of the devil, Moon’s other half strides into the kitchen with Zero trailing closely behind. He has no trouble falling into the conversation. “I can help you through some gentle stretches later today if you’d like, but I second the notion that you should rest right now. I don’t need to hear any more groans and curses from you like I heard after you insisted on cleaning up the living room and prepping your own dinner last night.”

You rest your chin in your palm. “I ‘insisted’ because I just… I feel like I put too much on you guys. You don’t deserve to have to do all this shit for me.”

Sun scoffs, speaking with his back to you as he pulls open a cabinet door. “Trust me, you’re doing us all a favor by letting this one over here dote on you. I fear he’d go mad if there wasn’t always some task he could busy himself with, and he seems to favor any task that falls under the realm of taking care of you.” He turns to face you, mug in hand. “Now, what do you want to drink?”

You’d laugh at the juxtaposition of his words and his actions, but the deep pain of another cramp sets in and you weakly wave a hand in defeat. “Just some hot water, please.” He hums in confirmation and moves to grab the kettle. You turn your focus back to Moon. “I’ll let you… appease your instincts. It’s kinda my fault that you’ve got ‘em in the first place.”

His expression brightens, round eyes curling into his signature crescents. “Good! Now, shall I list your options again?”

You shake your head and hum a negative, mulling it over for a moment as you take hold of the steaming mug of water that Sun quietly slides in front of you. “Uhh… actually, can I just have it plain today?”

Moon smiles softly, head twisted back over his shoulder to look at you while he pulls a carton of dry oats from the pantry. “Of course, star. Would you like some sugar on it or do you want it truly plain?”

You shove aside the inner voice whispering to you about ‘empty calories’. “…I guess a little brown sugar wouldn’t hurt.”

Moon brightens a little at your answer. “Good choice! I hear that brown sugar gives it a maple syrup-y taste thanks to the molasses. Oh, that makes me think of pancakes! And waffles! And french toast! I should make one of those tomorrow. How does that sound?”

You smile at his growing excitement over tomorrow’s breakfast, in spite of the fact that he won’t even get to partake. Another cramp sets in as you respond and you try to keep the strain out of your voice. “They all sound good, but I don’t know if I can choose right now…”

He gently places a small pot of water on the stove, turning the burner’s dial with practiced precision. “That’s alright, there’s no rush! It’s just some—heh—food for thought!”

Sun groans at the joke, and Moon defends it. “Hey, no—that was a good one!”

Zero noses at Sun’s hand, stealing his attention before he can begin to debate with Moon. As you passively watch him pull the dog’s breakfast from the fridge, a random thought occurs. “Do we still have any Ruffles left?”

Moon opens a different cabinet and shuffles a few bags around in his search. “Weeee… do!”

You’re hesitant to request the odd combination, but your craving wins the inner battle. “Can I… have some of those too?”

“You certainly can!”

Sun reaches past Moon to grab Zero’s bowl from the dish rack, speaking beneath his mechanical breath. “Sugar and salt, what a breakfast.”

“They’re fine choices!” Moon chipperly responds, the word ‘fine’ punctuated by a small smack to the back of Sun’s monitor.

Sun’s rays retract as he ducks down and steps back, distancing himself from Moon’s reach. “I never said they weren’t.” He sets Zero’s bowl on the counter with emphasis. “But you might want to throw some sort of multivitamin in with that salty-sweet mix.”

“I always see to it that they meet their daily needs, Sun.” Moon’s voice rarely wavers from its amicable tone, but there’s an undercurrent of finality to it now that quiets any further commentary from his other half.

As he stirs the simmering oats on the stove, his monitor turns to face you. “Oh, speaking of! I was thinking about making you something with spinach and tofu for lunch. You could use the iron, and the magnesium might help to ease your cramps. Plus the vitamin C should help you absorb the iron, and- oh! I could add some wild rice, or potatoes. The additional B vitamins should help the magnesium, and they support progesterone prod—” The kitchen timer dings, stealing his attention and interrupting his ensuing nutritional ramble.

Twisting his head back around, he turns the burner’s dial off. “Anyways—point is—how does that sound to you? I could cube the tofu and toss it into a spinach salad, I could slice and fry it and arrange it together on a sandwich, or I could even sauté the spinach and make a tofu scramble!”

His excited discussion of all of your lunch options is a bit overwhelming to you, considering you haven’t even conquered breakfast yet. Still, you bear in mind that he’s only trying to help, over-enthusiastic as he may be sometimes. “Uhm… the sandwich sounds nice.”

���Alright! Then it shall be yours.” He moves to pass behind you, enroute to retrieve a bowl from the other side of the kitchen, wrapping an arm around your blanket-clad shoulders in a brief embrace. “Anything the Queen of the castle desires is hers upon command.”

You both giggle a bit at his playful expression, and Sun rolls his eyes, accompanied by a dramatic gagging sound. Zero’s happy tail thwacks repeatedly against one leg of the kitchen table. All is well.

Except it isn’t.

As Moon returns to the stove and Sun portions out Zero’s meal, you struggle to fight back the feeling that what he’d just said didn’t sit right.

It had nothing to do with his devotion to service and everything to do with the concept of you being “Queen.” All of this morning’s focus on your menstrual cycle, coupled with this ‘princess’ treatment and compounded by his casual use of feminine terms for you, suddenly has you feeling more like a woman than you suppose you’d like to.

Trying to push the nagging uncomfortable feeling aside, you pull your phone from your sweatpants pocket. You attempt to distract yourself with a mindless scroll through your notifications as the pleasant smell of your breakfast fills the room.

After presenting Zero with her own breakfast, Sun takes a seat across from you at the small table. You can feel his analytical gaze on you, pointedly avoiding eye contact when you glance up from your phone to sip your water.

By the time Moon presents you with your breakfast, the feeling has done nothing but rapidly fester. You try to distract yourself with the meal, but not even the absurd sight of your requested potato chips—on a plate, methodically arranged by size and laid atop one another in a spiral—is enough to rid you of it. You do your best to sound unbothered when you thank him, and he falters as he moves to step away from the table. “You’re very welc-ome… Is, uh… everything okay, star?”

Sun doesn’t beat around the bush. “Something’s wrong. Is the pain getting worse?”

You’re quick to shake your head. “No, no, it’s fine. I’m fine. Just… thinking about something.”

Moon’s hand comes to rest on the back of the nearest empty chair. “Well… talking tends to help people sort their thoughts out, no? We’re all ears if you’d like to get it off your chest.”

You hesitate and Sun straightens in his seat. “If my presence is preventing you from opening up, I can leave the room.”

Your gaze flicks to him, brows knitted. “What? No, no—I… why would you think that?”

He shrugs. If the notion bothers him, he doesn’t let it show. “I’m sure Moon is… the easier of the two of us to talk to. You seemed to be getting more uncomfortable the longer I sat here. Makes sense to me that maybe you’d rather me not hear about whatever’s going on.”

You start to feel a bit guilty that that’s the conclusion he jumped to. “No, Sun, that’s not… I mean, okay—yeah, I could feel you watching me, but just about anyone gets uncomfortable when they know they’re being watched. Your penchant for staring isn’t… you’re not keeping me from opening up.” You look him directly in the eye. “There isn’t anything I’d say to one of you that I wouldn’t want the other to hear. I don’t want either of you thinking that.”

Sun’s fingertips drum along the table and his faceplate clicks to the side. “Okay then, what is stopping you?”

You pull in a deep breath, internally debating whether it’s even worth explaining.

“You… don’t have to tell us, if you really don’t want to.”

You give Moon a tired smile, opening your mouth only for a defeated sigh to fall out. “It’s… nothing, really. Stupid, even.”

Moon frowns. “Did one of us do or say something wrong?”

“No… I mean—not really. Not intentionally! It’s just…” You groan, resting your forehead in your palms. “I feel uncomfortably… feminine. Today. For some reason.”

He nods slowly. “Oh…kay…”

You attempt to elaborate. “I know I don’t talk about it much. You guys know I use She/They pronouns and there’s no more explanation really required. But… I don’t know. Something lately has just had me wishing I was more masculine. Or—at least more androgynous, I guess. And with all this focus on my period, and—”

Sun, the ever patient listener he is, cuts you off. “Menstruation is not inherently feminine. Any human can have periods if they have a uterus.”

You nod quickly. “Yes—I—I agree, but you’ve gotta take into account that that’s a relatively new take on the concept. It’s a good one, of course, but… a lot of people still associate having periods with being a woman. It’s been so tied to femininity for so long, always seen as a ‘woman’s issue’ that… it can be a difficult thing to un-internalize. It’s a common cause of dysphoria in transmasc and nonbinary people.”

He listens intently, rays slowly circling his head as he considers your point. “Right… right. I see. That makes sense.”

You take a pause to sip your cooling drink and recall where you left off. “It… honestly doesn’t usually bother me this bad. I couldn’t tell you what’s different about this month, it’s just not sitting well with me. But I do appreciate knowing that you two don’t see it as making me feminine. That does help. It’s just…” You shake your head. “Ugh, this is so silly…”

Moon slowly pulls back on the chair he’s been holding onto, stepping around and gently taking a seat. “It’s not silly if it’s bothering you.”

Sun nods, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. “He’s right.”

You meet both of their gazes in turn with a small smile before casting your eyes back down to the table. “It’s not a big deal, though. It just… on top of already feeling very feminine, it sat with me wrong when you called me ‘Queen’ earlier. That’s… that’s literally all!” You punctuate your confession with laughter, trying your best to make light of the issue.

Moon’s eyes brighten. “Oh! Oh… oh goodness you’re right! I didn’t even—I didn’t even think…”

You raise a hand out toward him, quick to stop his unnecessary apologies. “It’s not your fault! I promise. You had no clue I was feeling… this way today, and I know you didn’t mean anything by it. I’m not upset with you, I’m… honestly way more upset with myself that I’m so bothered about it in the first place.”

Sun throws his opinion into the ring. “I don’t think either of you are at fault. Moon didn’t know you were feeling this way, and you can’t really control when you feel this way.”

Moon nods and you follow suit. “Yeah, I was hesitant to say anything because I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I already feel like I’m… hah—‘overly-sensitive’ right now anyways.”

Sun’s expression quickly shifts to disapproval. “Oh, that stereotype can get fucked. You feel how you feel and that’s that. It’s just as real right now as it would be at any other point in your cycle.”

Your eyes widen at Sun’s insistent tone and Moon chuckles a bit at the sight. “I agree, star. And… I don’t think that you’re making a ‘big deal’ about it at all. Honestly, I think the best way to not make it a big deal is to not be afraid to tell us if we use a term for you that makes you uncomfortable. I’d much rather you tell me than just try to ignore the feeling.” He reaches out to place a hand over yours. “We know that your identity isn’t set in stone. If there’s ever something you want to be called, or something you don’t want to be called, the best thing you can do is just let us know, okay?”

Unable to fight the affectionate smile that pulls at your cheeks, you flip your hand over to grab his properly, and squeeze. “Okay. Yeah, that… I can do that. Thank you for understanding.”

His faceplate contentedly clicks a few degrees to the right, his smile soft. “Thank you for telling us.”

Feeling flustered and just a bit overwhelmed by how surprisingly smooth that went, you give his hand one more squeeze before pulling back to wrap it around your mug instead. You clear your throat as you do so, looking for something less intense to say. “I uh, I guess for now I’d just like to stick to gender-neutral stuff, okay?”

Moon nods eagerly. “Of course! Easy-peasy. I can even remedy what I said earlier if you’d like!” He’s muttering to himself before you can even tell him that that’s not really necessary. “Oh—uhm… hmmm…. what’s a good neutral alternative to ‘Queen’…”

Sun instantly starts listing suggestions. “Monarch. Ruler. Sovereign.” His rays spin a quick round, a tell that he’s taking his internal database search online for more information. “‘Caln’ is apparently a monarch word based on the Q slash K sound of Queen and King, if that sounds better to your ear.”

He suddenly barks a laugh and your brows raise in interest. “What?”

He shakes his head dismissively, still chuckling. “Nothing, just… Quora results. The questions some people pose are truly something.”

Moon’s interest is piqued. “What’d you find that was funny enough to make you laugh?”

Sun’s voice shifts to his ‘default human’ impression. “If Queen Elizabeth announced she was gender fluid, dot-dot-dot…”

You stifle a laugh. “That’s certainly one way to pose the question.”

“What's the rest say?” Moon asks.

Sun waves his hand in dismissal. “I don’t know. The preview was humorous, but I wasn’t compelled to follow the link to the full thing. Quora gives me a headache. I’ve moved on.”

Moon playfully pouts as Sun expands his list of suggestions. “Excellency. Majesty. Highness. Grace. Eminence. …Quing?… Oh, apparently ‘Caln’ is queer. Wait, do they mean queer created or queer exclusive…”

You interject before he spends the next hour falling down a rabbit hole of royal terms. “You could go the meme-y route and call me Liege.”

Moon’s attention shifts back toward you. “Is that one gender neutral?”

“I… think so?” You shrug. “Sounds neutral enough to me. Though I honestly wouldn’t mind a bit of masculinity to counterbalance the way I’m… feeling right now.”

He nods sagely as Sun’s list of suggestions continues to grow, getting more and more obscure as he delves further and further into his search.

You can’t help but laugh a bit as you dig a spoon into your oats, beginning to breathe easier with the reminder that you’re in very considerate company.

A/N: Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I’ll be back in a few days with part 4! You can also find my notes and commentary on this fic right here on Ao3. Links to the playlist and moodboard for [N]MbD can be found on this blog’s pinned post, as well as in the series notes on Ao3. Image Sources: x - x - x

[sweetcollywobbles]

whiskey neat. | yan!re6! leon kennedy x reader

TOO SWEET by hozier ▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌‌‌၊|• 1:00

HAPPY SEPTEMBER 30TH!!! i just wanted to pop something out for the day, so have this really badly written one-shot that i'll maybe (or maybe not) fix up. but that doesn't matter because i am no writer and this is all for shits and giggles.

tw: implied drugging and implied kidnapping

₊˚⊹ ᥫ᭡. 𓂃

leon was too old for this. for this crush thing that he's been dealing with recently. a thirty-six-year-old man shouldn't have to deal with the butterflies, the random flustered faces at work, and the fantasies that were too explicit to share.

yet she's absolutely enamored him. heart and soul, he'd say, she's taken it. while she, his darling angel, has no absolute idea what she's done to him.

she started as the new F.O.S intern, tasked with the job of helping leon out with his daily schedule there at the office while learning a few things from hunnigan. yes, it wasn't all about him, but it was still something that leon wasn't too fond of. sure, he's gotten lazy on paperwork, but leon didn't see a need to have a babysitter. it's demeaning and insulting. especially for someone who's given all his life to this goddamn coun-

leon's internal rant was cut off when he saw her, sitting down in the conference room waiting to meet him. she was in her early twenties, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. she was the prettiest little thing he'd ever seen.

leon had changed his mind in an instant. with those berry pouted lips, she could absolutely demean the life out of him if she wanted to. command him like an absolute dog.

and that's how it's been for the past year now, moving from F.O.S intern to leon's personal assistant. leon had somehow convinced her that it was a much better position for her than being an F.O.S agent. and for whatever reason, she agreed.

since then, leon’s joked that she was his work wife. she got him to meetings on time, made sure all of his paperwork was filed properly, and made sure he looked presentable wherever he went. and he would take her out for lunch and buy her presents. it’s a fair trade, she thought. but she never figured that he would take her job description too seriously. that he would look at all the things she was supposed to do as anything romantic.

but she should've known better. leon had always been a bit too touchy with her. a hand always placed at the small of her back, the soft touches on her cheek, and the excuses to always have her hand in his. not to mention the way he looked at her. goodness, she would've guessed she hung the moon, created the stars, and lit up the sun every day. leon’s love-stricken gaze went right over her silly head.

what an idiot.

leon thought it nice to finally have someone to dote on, much less someone to dote on him too. it was something he had only ever dreamed of. and with his approaching birthday, leon’s fear of growing old with no one was steadily becoming a reality.

he needed that to change, and she was going to help him.

leon will invite her to share an early birthday meal with him in his office. maybe some greasy chinese takeout and a bottle of whiskey. but he'll leave a small surprise for her in her glass.

they'll both eat and share a few laughs.

but halfway through, she'll start to feel sleepy, and he'd assure her that it's okay to take a nap. he'll wake her if someone comes looking for her. but that nap will last a few hours, which will give him enough time to sneak her out of the building and into his car. or maybe he won't. maybe leon will parade her around in his arms, tell people that she wasn't feeling well, and he's taking her to the on-site clinic and then home. ya'know like a good supervisor.

a good, caring, loving supervisor.

what can he say? he's a good guy.

₊˚⊹ ᥫ᭡. 𓂃

hope you enjoyed! xxox

[thecelestialperiwinkle]

ᰋ  ׅ࣪   ꒰  tarot x zodiac signs ♡︎ a tarot reader predicting what each zodiac should expect before june ends  ꒱  

sun, moon and ascendant or significant signs on your birthchart is worked for this reading.

aries - seven of pentacles.

you can anticipate working on a project primarily for your own benefit, whether it's at work or in your relationships with others. you should take advantage of this opportunity to advance or work on your skills. also, pay attention to every little thing that happens to you this month because it might tell you what you're manifesting for. if you're applying for a job, they might be about to call you back. i do see this person getting a new job or starting a business on their own this month. your hard work might get you something in return.

taurus - ten of swords.

this month, you might feel really worn out. you might also discover that a someone's you've really trusted for a very long time is stabbing you in the back or talking trash about you. there is also a bad chance that someone will look down on you this month, but whatever the reason, you might end up feeling extremely worn out before the month is over. you were second-guessing yourself a great and bad deals during the current month. self-hatred is a possibility.

gemini - three of wands.

you might come to some brand-new realizations, such as continuing an old self-improvement project, making new progress toward your own self-improvement, or getting over toxic relationships and habits. this month is about moving on from the past and taking a new pathway. while, if you are manifesting someone or something. i do see that it has already manifested with this card, and your manifestation is successful - you are about to see the result.

cancer - seven of swords.

just a word of caution: don't be decisive. additionally, an air sign might attempt to influence you for their own personal advantage because, from what i can tell, you might have a positive public image, and they don't really like that at all. you have cunning adversaries all around you. this month, a lot of people have been spying on you, even on social media. (if you have a sizable and big following platforms, of course.)

leo - the chariot.

you may desire to travel or atleast have a vacation before this month ends. however, you want to focus on your goals whether it's career or study's. you will gain some attention. confidence and self-discipline is likely to workout higher. a possible rival is about to pop up.

virgo - justice.

all of our deeds have consequences whether they're good or bad - karma always kicks in. you are about to get something of what you've done but this more likely in a positive one. it's for the better. the (darkest) truth will finally come up to show themselves up. it will have an affect on you somehow and for the people around you. a new life lessons is a heading for you. be responsible for giving an opinion.

libra - five of wands.

an exciting challenge is heading up for you - this is about working on a team. if so, it's time fore you to show your real skills. it's your time to shine. you are about to get an opportunity to grow from this challenge. if you are an athlete you maybe about to get on a friendly competition - probably a martial arts. if you aren't, avoid playing gambling because you might get lost of control.

scorpio - seven of cups.

the heaven and universe will give you a lot of positive options. whether which one you are going to choose for, in the end it still gonna makes you happy. as well, pay attention to your dreams that seems vivid they're giving hints for you. messy life is about to happen most likely schedules. you will be busy and tired for this month to the point you wanted to escape the reality and just sleep and relax all day.

sagittarius - the sun.

you maybe dreaming a lot of your childhood lately this is because you maybe missed something or someone from your childhood that makes you happy. it can be grandparents, an old house or childhood friendships. you were dreaming an unknown person from your dreams this can be a soulmate. luck will surround you this month - just stay positive. someone's baby or a baby from a womb (family member or yourself) is happy to see and meet you sooner. you will get recognize because of your talents don't think that they're worthless and kitsch.

capricorn - three of pentacles.

you will meet someone whom you think is well-known person. you will be inspired to them to learn more about your skills and knowledge. it's about following your dreams. you will confess or someone's else might confess their feelings for you. if you are asking about job, you will get hired and will be under training or a promotion. your hardwork is gonna be recognize and rewarded.

aquarius - queen of wands.

you spent most of your days with nature currently and for the rest of the month. your mother or a mother figure will play important part for you this month. they can be a new friend and friendly person but somehow get jealous over someone and something this is because of their dominant ego but they're willing to stay on side always.

pisces - death.

a new beginning is about to start, you maybe sees a lot of angel numbers which is define and telling you a new start is about to come. you will cut-offs old habits that will bring a life changing ways for you. a blessings in disguise may happen. a bitter trials is exactly lying beneath of a probable gift.

[matty-bear]

III. Heat Of The Moment [N.S]

Type: Chapter three of The Influencer series

Pairing: Nick Sturniolo x Male!OC

Warnings: SFW, fluffy

Summary: Nick and Finn have a very successful shopping spree and have a small recap in a McDonald’s parking lot. What will happen when things get a little heated when Finn uses a silly excuse to get closer to Nick in the car? 

Notes: Writing this chapter took me so long cuz I hit a block 😖 I started sweating cuz I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the chapter today but I did 🔥 Happy reading and hope you enjoy this chapter! :DD

WC: 3541

CH1 CH2

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　 ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊ ＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

“Dude, you found so much shit at those thrift stores. Like I’m honestly jealous.” Finn says, a hand coming up to cover his mouth as he chews on a few french fries. 

“Says the person who hit the jewelry jackpot literally minutes after.” Nick retorts, a small laugh escaping him as he digs in his McDonald’s bag. 

The moon and stars have finally overtaken the sun in the sky as Nick and Finn sat in a McDonald’s parking lot. About ten bags full of clothes and accessories were in the back seat of Finn’s car, a clear sign that both boys had a very successful shopping spree.

It took them a minute to figure out what they wanted to eat and when Nick suggested McDonald’s, Finn immediately agreed and he drove to the nearby joint. Now they were talking about whatever their minds desired to help pass time. 

“Okay true, but like 50 percent of the bags in the back are sweaters and jackets you found at the thrift stores. I actually wanna steal that black and gray star sweater you found in one of the bins.” Finn defends, his eyes shooting up to bore into Nick’s. 

“You can borrow it if you want. I know I'll be wearing it a lot but I won’t mind you borrowing it when I’m not wearing it.” Nick suggests, his eyes shifting up and locking with Finn’s for a moment before he breaks it by looking down at the food in his lap. 

“You serious?”

“One hundred percent! Just text me when you wanna wear it and I’ll head over to yours and give it to you.” Nick looks up at Finn, a small smile spreading across his lips when the latter smiles widely and stuffs another fry in his mouth. 

“I’ll make the best fits I swear. I won’t let you down.” Both males giggled at Finn’s statement before silence fell over the two as they focused on finishing their food. Feeling rather uncomfortable with the silence and occasional chewing, Finn reached over to the radio and turned it up, the voice of Chase Atlantic immediately filling the car. After a few minutes, Nick and Finn both finished their food and sat back against their seats. 

“That was really fucking good.” Finn states as he looks over at Nick, his eyes trailing over his delicate features that are highlighted by the moonlight shining through the windshields 

“Oh, for sure.” Nick agrees with a small nod. “My McFlurry being mixed brought me pure happiness.” Having the feeling that someone’s staring at him, the red-head turns his head to look at Finn, panic flooding through his veins when he realizes that the male was already looking at him. The latter, feeling embarrassed that he got caught staring, quickly turns away and clears his throat, the small blush on his cheeks barely being evident to Nick who’s still looking at him.

“Do I have something on my face?” The red-head asks, trying to play off his flusteredness as he adjusts his position in his seat. 

“Umm..” Finn begins, looking back over at Nick. He finds himself staring at the male again before he leans in closer towards him. “Yeah, you have a little something right here…”

Nick’s eyes widen in panic as Finn raises his hand up to his face and gently brushes his thumb over his lip. The older’s eyes shift up from the red-head’s lips to his eyes, which are still slightly widened in panic. Finn’s gaze softens as he looks at Nick, his thumb still resting on his bottom lip as they both lock eyes. The two stay in that position for a moment, the only sound being their light breathing and the faint sound of a singer playing on the radio. 

Before either boys had the chance to potentially do something more, the loud sound of a car honking startled both of them. Finn jumps at the sudden sound and quickly retreats back to his seat as Nick immediately looks down at his lap, the rings on his fingers seeming to be the most interesting thing at the moment. Both males share the same shade of blush on their cheeks as they sit in the car, the newfound tension eating both of them up alive in a matter of seconds.

“You ready to head out?” Finn asks suddenly, his voice cracking slightly due to his nervousness. Nick doesn’t say anything in response and instead nods his head. Finn clears his throat once more as he reaches for the gear shift to put the car in drive, regret and embarrassment filling him as he drives out of the parking lot. 

~~~~~~ 

“This is your place, right?” Finn asks as he pulls into Nick's driveway. 

“Yup.” The latter replies sadly, a small frown appearing on his lips as he peers out the window to see the large house in front of him. 

“You need help with hauling all the bags inside?” Nick quickly whips his head around to face Finn, his face lighting up as he looks at the male. 

“Please?” Finn nods his head with a small smile before he opens his door and slips out of the car, Nick following soon after. The red-head scans the passenger seat to make sure he didn’t forget anything before he shuts the door and opens the backseat.

He goes to bend down to grab his bags off the floor of the car but halts when he sees Finn grabbing most of his bags. When the latter goes to stand up properly, his eyes land on Nick and a small giggle escapes him when he sees his dumbfounded expression.

“You good over there?” Finn asks, a small smile creeping up onto his lips as he stares at the male across from him. 

“Yeah…” Nick replies, his tall frame bending down to grab the remainder of his bags. “You don’t have to take most of my stuff, you know.” 

“I know.” Nick furrows his eyebrows in confusion before both him and Finn shut the back seat doors. Nick waits for the older to run up to him before he guides him up to his house. He sets one of his bags down to fish his keys out of his pocket and unlock the door. 

“Small house tour I suppose.” Nick jokes as he picks the bag back up and walks inside. A small chuckle from Finn causes a small smile to appear on Nick’s lips as he ascends the steps, the blue-haired male following close behind him.

When Nick arrives at the top of the steps, he whips his head around to scan the first floor. When he doesn’t see Matt or Chris, he lets out a small sigh of relief and turns around to look at Finn, his doe eyes looking up at him making his heart skip a few beats. 

“You can set the bags in my room.” Nick starts as he turns back around and walks to his staircase. “If you see that it’s a mess, no it’s not.” Nick shoots Finn a small smile before he guides him up the steps and passes the small loft area to go to his bedroom. 

He nudges the door open with his foot and walks inside, ‘Blind’ by SZA immediately filling his ears as he walks further inside his room. Finn walks inside Nick’s bedroom shortly after he does and looks around the room, his eyes slightly widening in amazement at the sight of the multitude of electronics, posters, and small trinkets in his room. 

“Dude, your room is sick.” Finn says, the sight of the bat phosphorescence fixture on his nightstand bringing a small smile to his face. 

“Thanks. It needs a little more decoration but I’m happy with where it is right now.” Nick replies with a smile as he sets the bags in his hands down near the foot of his bed. “You can set the bags here by the way.” 

“Oh, right.” Finn tears his focus away from the bat fixture and hurries over to Nick and sets the bags down. A small huff escapes his lips as he shakes his arms and looks over at the red-head, his gaze softening as he looks at him. 

“I really enjoyed hanging out with you today, Finn.” Nick says softly, his head turning to look over at the mentioned male who quickly looks away to avoid being caught staring again. 

“Same here.” Finn agrees, a small smile spreading across his lips as he looks back at the younger. “Thanks for the small house tour.” 

A small laugh escapes Nick’s lips. “Don’t mention it.” 

“Do I owe you a house tour now?” 

“I’m afraid you do.” Nick shoots Finn a teasing smile before he continues, “I’m actually dying to see what your place looks like. I feel like you’d have a badass room.” 

“Don’t have your standards too high now. I have a pretty simplistic place. My room on the other hand is a whole different story.” 

“So you have a sick ass room?” 

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see for yourself.” Finn laughs softly when Nick frowns, his long legs taking him to walk closer to him and ruffle his hair. 

“Hey!” Nick exclaims as he playfully shoves Finn’s hand off his head. “Can I go over to yours next hangout then?” 

“I don't see why not.” Finn replies, his smile growing at the sight of Nick smiling widely. “Say, ima head out now. I need to figure out where ima put all the shit I found.”

“Lemme walk you out!” Finn nods his head softly at Nick’s suggestion and he takes one more glance around his bedroom before exiting and heading downstairs. Nick follows closely right behind the male, a dorky smile staying glued onto his lips as they both exit the house and step outside again.

He watches as Finn takes his keys out of his pocket to unlock his car, the bright orange headlights lighting up a small section of the sidewalk as they both walk up to the older’s vehicle. 

Nick stops a few steps away from Finn’s car as the latter runs over to get in the drivers seat. The male buckles himself in and sets his hand on the gear shift before he looks over at Nick through the passenger window. He looks down at his door to roll down the window and bends his head down a little to see the red-head better, the smile the male is sending him causing him to smile himself. 

“Today was fun.” Finn shouts, his voice barely being audible over the rumbling of the car’s engine. 

“I agree!” Nick replies. “I’ll be looking forward to our next hangout.” 

“Same here. I’ll text you later! Goodnight, Nick!” 

“Goodnight, Finn!” With that, Finn rolls his window back up and waves goodbye to Nick before he drives off. Nick watches his car grow smaller as he drives down the street and he turns to go back inside when his Tesla is out of sight.

A stupid smile grows onto his lips as he shuts the door and ascends up the staircase. The moment he steps foot in the living room, he jumps when he’s met with Matt and Chris staring at him.

“What…” Nick mumbles, slowly taking a few steps towards the kitchen. 

“You brought Finn in.” Chris states. 

“He volunteered to help me carry my bags in. That’s it.” 

“You two were up in your room for a good minute. Did y’all do anything fishy?”

“Chirs!” Matt scolds as he smacks the younger’s bicep. “How did y’all’s hangout go?” 

“Good!” Nick replies, an immediate smile appearing on his lips as he fills a glass up with water. “He brought me to a lot of shops and I hit the jacket pot at the thrift stores. Finn himself found some pretty cool shit at the well known shops but I definitely bought more stuff than he did.” 

“Care to share what you bagged?” 

“Hmm…” Nick hums in thought as he puts the glass we was using back in the cupboard. “Maybe tomorrow. Ima go up to my room to sort everything out.”

“Alright, see ya Nick.” Nick bids the two boys goodbye before he walks up his stairs, a long yawn racking through his body as he stretches his sore limbs. When Matt hears the male’s door shut, he turns around to glare at Chris.

“What?” The younger asks as he turns around in his spot on the sofa. 

“You need to stop being up his ass about Finn. That’s why he hasn’t told you shit.” Matt scolds, his eyes rolling his annoyance. 

“Dude, I wanna fucking know what’s happening and who the hell this kid is! I don’t want Nick hooking up with a guy who’s gonna screw him over.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but I doubt Finn is like that. He genuinely seems like a nice and chill guy who wouldn’t wanna cause any harm to Nick. And I’m sure we’d know if he pulled something by now. Just take a chill pill and tone it down a little. I’m sure Nick will tell you all the shit he told me if you stop getting on his ass.” 

A heavy sigh escapes Chris’ lips as he rubs his hands over his face and gets up. “Alright. But if that guy pulls anything on Nick, I’m finding where he lives and putting his ass on blast.” 

“Me and you both.” Matt nods his head in agreement and watches with furrowed eyebrows when Chris walks to the staircase leading down to his room. “Where are you going?”

“I wanna play Fortnite.” 

“Can I join you?”

“Hell yeah. Go hop on and I’ll invite you to my party when I see that you’re online.” 

“Word. Ima go up to Nick’s room real quick and text you when I hop on.” 

“Word.” Matt gets off the sofa and grabs his phone off the armrest as Chris heads downstairs to his room, his footsteps growing quieter with every step he takes.

Matt walks over to Nick’s staircase and walks up the steps, the voice of Melanie Martinez growing louder as he gets closer to the older’s bedroom. When he arrives at Nick’s door, he knocks softly a few times before he lets himself in. 

“What’s up, Matt.” Nicks says as he pulls a hoodie over his head. 

“Just wanted to come in to know about the details regarding the hangout today.” Matt replies as he takes a seat on the red-heads bed. He looks over at Nick, the smile growing on his lips causing him to smile himself before the older walks over and sits next to him. 

“Well…” Nick begins, a stupid and dorky smile staying glued onto his lips as he looks down at his hands. “We went to some thrift stores first and like I said before, I hit the jackpot and dropped like 200 bucks combined at the two thrift stores we went too. Finn didn’t really find anything apart from a few tees so we went to some other shops. That’s when he found the jewelry jackpot and bought a shit ton of accessories. He found such cool and cute shit like I’m honestly jealous. Anyways, we kept walking around, went into a few more stores to look around, and window shopped before we called it a day and went back to his car. At this point we're both a little hungry so we ended up settling on getting McDonald’s. So he ordered, paid for both of us even though I told him not to, drove to the parking lot and we sat there and talked some more. And then… um..” 

At the sight of Nick growing quiet and his face flushing, Matt’s jaw drops and he shoves his shoulder. 

“DID YOU TWO KISS?!” Matt practically screams. “Nicolas Antonio Sturniolo! I thought you preached about taking baby steps in relationships and here you are sucking face with a guy on the first hangout?” 

“NO!” Nick exclaims,his body jumping on the bed a single time as his face grows hot. “We didn’t kiss! Listen to me!” 

“I’m listening, kid”. Nick bites down onto his bottom lip and looks down to fidget with the hem of his hoodie. 

“When I turned around to look at Finn, I caught him staring at me…” Nick starts, looking up to look at Matt who nods his head and gestures him to continue. “When he realized he got caught, he quickly turned around. I then proceeded to ask if there was anything on my face and he said yeah and started leaning into me. You do not understand how much I was panicking when he brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. He kept his hand on my lip and we both locked eyes for a good minute. I swear to god he was gonna make another move but a stupid, loud ass car ruined our moment.” 

“He definitely likes you, Nick.” 

“You really think so?”

“Nick, don’t be dense. He said that you had something on you as an excuse to touch your lips and probably would’ve kissed you if y’all weren’t interrupted.” 

“You’re right...” Nick falls back onto his bed as he covers his face with his hands. “I think he regretted it though.”

Matt looks down at the older with a confused expression. “What makes you say that?” 

“He seemed embarrassed after that whole thing happened and didn’t speak to me on our way here. He seemed very flustered, Matt.” 

“Maybe it was the heat of the moment type thing.” Matt lands a reassuring hand on Nick’s knee. “I’m sure he’s just like you right now; being really confused on whether or not he has feelings for you. Just, take it slow alright? Don’t jump into relationships so quickly, they end very quickly, trust.” 

“I know, I know…” Nick removes his face from his hands and looks up at Matt. “He said I could go over to his place for the next hangout so I’ll get to know him more then. I mean we hit it off really well today but I’d rather be safe than sorry.” 

“I completely agree. Set boundaries if you get uncomfortable or if he starts taking things a little too quickly for your liking. Don’t let him step over you, Nick. I don’t wanna see you getting hurt. Especially considering how you’re actually making progress towards a possible relationship right now. You’ve never gotten this far with crushes before and it’s so endearing to see you get all excited about this guy.” 

A small smile spears on Nick’s lips as he sits back up. “I promise I’ll tread carefully about this.  And thanks for understanding me and not being up my ass like someone.” 

A small chuckle escapes Matt’s lips when he sees Nick roll his eyes. “Speaking of Chris, I told him to get off your ass and calm the hell down. He said he’s just worried about the kind of guy Finn is since he doesn’t really know the guy. I also think that him teasing you is just the younger sibling in him. You know how he gets when either of us have sudden love interests.”

“Oh, I know. I just don’t need him being weird when Finn comes over to hangout.” 

“Rest assured that when he comes over, I’ll make sure Chris doesn’t come near either of you.” 

“Thanks, Matt.” Nick smiles warmly at the latter, the younger returning the smile with one of his own. “If he really gets off my ass about Finn, I’ll tell him all the details and shit. But as of right now, he’s not getting shit from me because he’s being really fucking annoying. And you better not be telling him anything!” 

“I’m not, I swear! It’s your business to tell, not mine.” Nick sends a suspicious glare towards Matt as the younger raises his hands up in defense. 

“Okay, good…” Nick sends one more glare to the younger before he drops the act and lets out a tired sigh. “Okay respectfully, can you please get the fuck out? I’m really tired.” 

“Yes, sir.” Matt giggles when Nick swats his side with a pillow. He quickly backs away from the older and sends him an innocent smile. “Goodnight, Nick.” 

“Night, Matt.” Matt leaves the room and gently shuts the door behind him as Nick falls back onto his bed with a sigh. A small smile spreads across his lips when ‘High School Sweethearts’ by Melanie Martinez plays through the speakers on his desk. He scoots back on his bed a little to lay down on his back more comfortably before he slips under the covers. He fixes his gaze onto his ceiling as he softly sings along to the lyrics, his fingers lightly drumming along to the beats on his blanket.

He lays there for a moment, tiredness taking over his body every second that passes by. Eventually, the song ends and ‘Recess’ begins to play. Melanie’s soft and calming voice ends up lulling Nick to sleep as she sings the first verse, the music creating background music in the red-heads dreams as he sleeps soundly. 

[alexandraisyes]

Rate all TSAMS Bloodmoon ships

Fuck both of you for sending these BACK TO BACK WHAT THE FUCK (/affectionate /positive /i love u guys). God there's so many hold on. It's so fun bc bm is like free game, I can do whatever I want with them. I'm gonna take a deep breath and I rot about bm a lot with my friend group and we rot about ships A LOT. All sorts of ships. I can almost guarantee there's a ramble made for at least half of these. Also I'm a fucking sucker for dark fiction and bloodmoon is low hanging fruit 😩

Bloodmoon x @turbotasthick : 0 Stars - I refuse to let him steal my wife, but she demanded to be on the list.

Bloodmoon x Sun: 10 out of 5 stars - Anyone who knows me knows that this is one of the ships I will fucking die on the hill for. I don't care how impractical it is, that is their sunny and they love their sunny and their sunny loves them.

Bloodmoon x Moon: 4 Stars - I think they could have been really toxic and that brings me joy

Bloodmoon x Nexus: 2 Stars - I can't figure out how they would work for the life of me

Bloodmoon x Monty: 0 Stars - Kill it with fire

Bloodmoon x Solar Flare: 5 Stars - It has Solar Flare in it. I actually have two separate AUs where they end up as a thing, or rather Flare ends up with one of them. It's funny he gets a chance to date both of them but in completely separate realities. In one he's starting to gain sentience, proper sentience, when he meets Bloody and ough our boy is a wreck. In the other it's him and Harvest and they're literally surviving their own little hell together and all they have is each other and Flare isn't super emotive but he still is sentient, and he's all Harvest has for a long time. They become ✨codependent✨.

Bloodmoon x Earth: 4 Stars - I will now elaborate bc I brought it up earlier. They're her good little guard dogs and you can take that however you want to.

Bloodmoon x Ruin: 5 Stars - Perfectly fucked up and toxic

Bloodmoon x Gemini: 4 Stars - HEAR ME OUT

Bloodmoon x Frank: 4 Stars - Because of the fucked up potential

Bloodmoon x Puppet: 4 Stars - She can fix them, trust

Bloodmoon x Foxy: 5 Stars - HES GONNA HOUSE TRAIN THEM AND LOVE THEM AND THEYRE GONNA BE SO NEEDY

Bloodmoon x Solar (Nice Eclipse): 5 Stars - I've got so many different iterations of this ship I swear to fucking go. I have like three? AUs of it? One where it's Solar and Harvest, and it's in my silly little "world exploded" au. One where it's Solar and both of them, and they're literally so obsessed with each other (solar's secretly super sadistic and they're super masochistic and it's starts as a pleasure grab but then they developed feelings ((tm)) for Solar and he doesn't exactly reciprocate but he finds them somewhat endearing). And the last one is Solar and Bloody, and Solar's helping him recover from some rough fucking shit (same au as flare/harvest).

Bloodmoon x Helios (Dark Sun): 5 Stars - @turbotasthick and I have specifically rotted about specifically this. About the thought that Helios brings them back to be his little plaything (and also a distraction for the celestials). This specific AU also has Solar and BM being a qpr, they're besties trust. They were attached to Solar (like a stray cat) and when he died they didn't know he died, they just knew he stopped leaving food out for them and wasn't coming out to say hi at night and it made them depressed as fuck so Helios brought Solar back bc BM was upset and missing him. Helios cares about them in his own way, even if he initially brought them back out of boredom. IT'S TOXIC BLOODYSUN GUYS TOXIC BLOODYSUN

Bloodmoon x Nyx (Evil Lunar): 4 Stars - They could be so evil together. Conniving little beasts

Bloodmoon x Gaia (Evil Earth): 4 Stars - HEHEHE They're her little pets and look! They're even housetrained. They know better than to bite.

Bloodmoon x Kronos (Lord Eclipse) x Crius (Servant Sun): 5 Stars - Went on a whole ass ramble with a friend group about how Kronos made a Bloodmoon out of star power after several millennia to be his guard dog. He's super animalistic and feral and he loves his master and the pretty servant.

I did cut out three ships that I was really anxious about bc I know it's a coin toss on whether or not people will tear me to shreds on them, even though there's literally nothing wrong with them, but the fandom has biases bro.

[jacobsbigmelons]

accidents happen

Jacob Custos x male reader

Fluff, Soft Jacob time, Kaitlyn being a girlboss, whatever other tags that would go into fluff or something.

blood, slight descriptions of injury.

The sun began to set as your group of kids were eager to see the moon with your telescope, you wanted them to do their best at drawing the moon when they saw how it looked like in person. After all everything looks better when you get to see it in person.

You handed out some papers with a big circle in the middle which is where they would draw the details of the moon, although one of the kids seemed to not hold on to one of the papers good enough because as you sat down you saw the paper dancing in the very slight breeze that came by as it got trapped under the table you were sitting at. You put your finger in the air as a way to let the kid know to wait, you ducked underneath the top part of the table as you went to reach for the paper. The lack of sunlight wasn’t helping but your eyesight should be just fine.

As you tried to reach for their paper you felt something sharp claw against your bare forearm, you quickly pulled away as you changed positions so your other arm can avoid whatever it was that nicked you. You finally got ahold of the gravel tainted piece of paper and gave it back to the kid, luckily the groups lanterns weren’t bright enough to expose what accident you had going on.

You sat back down. back to the group as you inspected the probable scrape or whatever, but when you went to touch your arm, you felt a liquid as your body practically froze. You tried to find the walkie-talkie you stuffed in your bag, luckily that was an easy find at least. You got up and stepped away from the group as you were trying to keep your cool in order not to freak out a whole group of elementary kids.

“Kaitlyn, where are you? come in.” you released your blood stained fingers off the button as you suspended the other arm in the air, the walkie-talkie made only static before her familiar voice rang through. “I’m with Ryan by the fire why?” her voice questioning with slight concern “get southbound, I- I think I hurt myself like…really really bad. And keeping my composure in front of ten to fifteenish kids is getting pretty hard with a hurt arm.” you kept it a bit vague in case the other councilors were with kids themselves.

After you stated your condition, other councilors began to chime in to your channel as they were also worried. “Woah woah are you okay?” Abi spoke “need someone to watch over your group?” Nick offered “ohmygoshyespleaseyesyes” you spoke very quickly as you heard fast moving footsteps from behind you, as you turned you saw Kaitlyn practically running from up the small hill before she eventually made her way to you as you maneuvered your way past the group while hiding your arm.

“Dude…how the hell did you do this?” Kaitlyn spoke quietly with a worried tone, you only had a concerned look on your face as you shrugged. She applied a tourniquet as she wrapped it up in cloth. During this Nick came by as Kaitlyn was about to take you back to the main camp. “Nick…just…guide the telescope to the moon. It isn’t hard, you got this.” Nick gave two thumbs up as you and Kaitlyn got back to the main camp as quickly as you could, she was trying to help you apply pressure while also getting back asap.

Ryan’s group of kids was at the fire as he was probably narrating more of his scary stories, Kaitlyns light illuminating you two behind him as you guys entered. You found Dylan and Jacob who were just communing with some of the other kids, of course walkie talkies nowhere in sight so they have no clue what’s happening. Though as they saw how scared the two of you looked they immediately went to express a lot more concern.

“uh are you guys okay?” Dylan said as he got up from his spot and walked to you, “Yo dude, what happened with your arm?” Jacob said as he pointed to it like he needed to or else he wouldn’t even believe what he was seeing. “Nicked myself on some sharp thing while I was helping a kid” you said while shrugging again, “okay okay that’s enough talking, we kinda have a patient in need here” Kaitlyn said as she shoved past the two boys and went into the clinic.

You sat down on the supposed to be bed area as Kaitlyn grabbed your hand and pushed it down on the wound to let you know to keep pressure. “Don’t let go of that wound, let me get shit to clean that up.” She said while scavenging around the cabinets, she eventually found some gauze and bandages. “Okay let’s- let’s clean the wound before I patch you up” the door opened with the two boys again, your arm now in some good lighting showed just how bloodied it had gotten, even with a cloth it still rarely dripped just a bit.

“Oh perfect, Jacob in here, Dylan make sure those kids don’t get nosy and try to peek in or whatever” Kaitlyn demanded as Jacob entered the clinic and Dylan went back to talking with the kids who they were talking with before. “Jacob we’re gonna clean his wound but it’s gonna sting and if this wound was as big as I think it is, you’re gonna have to hold him still because he will most definitely want to get away from this” Kaitlyn said as if you weren’t conscious to the ongoing problems at hand “i’m right here…what y-you think I can’t handle a bit of disinfectant?” you giggled as she rolled her eyes.

You two got up to go to a nearby sink as cool water began to run while Kaitlyn carefully removed the cloth, the tourniquet doing its job valiantly. She exposed the bottle of hydrogen peroxide as both Jacobs and your eyes lit up in slight fear but moreso you. “When you said disinfectant-“ “Dude you’re not gonna- put that…on his arm right?” both you and Jacob would rather amputate than deal with the pain that is hydrogen peroxide. “It’s all we have, it’ll disinfect it practically instantly but its going to burn like all hell.” You sighed as Jacob sighed, his footsteps slowly maneuvered behind you, so slow it’s as if he didn’t want to put you through even more pain. His hands rubbing your shoulders as if you were gonna get a pep talk, except that never happened. He grabbed your arm as you were thinking of any excuse to make Kaitlyn stop.

“Kaitlyn are you sure that’s all we got, i mean shit cmon there’s gotta be- FUCK DUDE FF- A-aHh- SHIT-“ You immediately tried retracting your arm but Jacob held it tight as you used your other hand to muffle your faint but very slight held back cries. “Shit dude i’m sorry i’m sorry” Jacob said rather genuinely. “Sorry, if I just did it now rather than hearing you make every excuse in the book for why I shouldn’t we would be here all day, I’m sure you’ll understand when your vendetta against me fades away in maybe a few centuries?” She said trying to lighten the mood despite the fact you couldn’t really grasp what anyone was saying, the burning was just way too much even if the cool water was supposed to help.

It felt like an eternity, the pain refused to let up and if it was then it’s doing a terrible job at it “hey man you did it! you did it!” Jacob moved his hand from your shoulder to your back as he tried to sooth every feeling going through you, his voice was always able to snap you out of thought even if it was a bit harder this time around. Your hand moved from your mouth as you simply gasped, trying not to make any of your pain vocal. Sure the pain was going away more and more at a snails pace but did she really have to do it so suddenly? You hadn’t realized the tourniquet was off as well, I guess the cut wasn’t super deep, no stitches thankfully. Though the cloth was put back on.

“Alright you gotta rest up, i’m sure the other guys will come back soon” she said as she moved you back to the bed, “cmon Jacob” she said as she tried pulling him out with her. “Uh- c-can he stay? Just a bit?” As much as you needed rest, seeing someone hurt and ask for something only to not get it just didn’t sit right with her. “Okay just- don’t stay in there forever kay? He needs rest.”

She closed the door softly as Jacob sat next to you “Fuck man that scared me dude, thought you were gonna like- I dunno lose an arm?” it was quiet to the point where Jacob thought he said something wrong before your head rested on his shoulder and your intact arm wrapped around his. “Sorry just…I kinda need someone like you with me right now, no offense to Kaitlyn but she isn’t a big strong guy who makes people feel safe.” Jacob was just looking around, not weirded out or anything just appreciative that you think that of it, “I make you feel safe? Well what can I say, you don’t workout just for nothing” he got that tone where his ego was boosted just a bit as he flexed the arm you were holding just to prove his point.

“Yes thank you for making it clear you have big biceps” you said playfully annoyed as you smiled in the moment, you liked him a lot and he didn’t seem to mind all the physical affection you were giving him. You explained how you got hurt, and with the rambling you two were doing, his voice lulled you more and more to sleep. At this point his hand was on your head to make sure you don’t accidentally fall off his shoulder. “i’m glad you’re okay man, really” he hugged you in a slightly odd way with how you two were together but he somehow found a way to hold your head up while giving you a rather delicate hug.

His head slightly rested upon yours as he was just glad to know you’re okay, the last thing he needed was someone he cared for a lot to get hurt. Even if it’s only been a month and a half together, he cared for you to be that safe figure for you to go to. He eventually did want you to get some sleep so as carefully as he could he moved your body to the bed as slowly as he could and made sure your hurt arm wasn’t touching anything unnecessary.

He got up as he just watched your sleeping body, “don’t do that shit again” he huffed with a smile as he playfully tapped his fist against your leg. As much as he would want to make you comfortable and take your shoes and jacket off, that would probably be what wakes you up, so he just carefully exited the room as he rejoined his friends while keeping you in his mind.

[conspicuous-clown-car]

lemme ramble for a bit

so i have this story in my head of my self insert and the bs they go through while working at the pizzaplex for like 2 years as a night guard

and originally they were gonna die at the end of it before the events of security breach, smth about them finally getting what they wanted bc that’s one of the reasons they wanted to work there in the first place. but i thought that was way too sad, despite, yknow, it being a horror and if i was in their place id definitely be dead before then. plus there are some things worse than death in the fnaf universe. so i decided to veer away from angst for this story and go for a more thriller horror (maybe psychological) type thing yknow? makes it more fun

THEN i was like yo what if ghosts kids start haunting them to help them find their killer and there’s like 1 for each pizzaplex animatronic (excluding freddy and roxy bc they got gregory and cassie). and it could be super angsty bc 2 of the kids were inadvertently killed because of moon and one was killed by moon, and my s/i is super close with moon right? so it would be like a moral dilemma, bc they want to help the kids but they still want to be friends with moon, but they’re also horrified that he killed a kid. and my s/i would start dreaming and sleepwalking, forced by the ghost kids to relive their deaths to try and find who killed them. but then i started thinking about the timeline of that, and it would mean moon would’ve had the virus or whatever years before this story takes place, which isn’t what i wanted nor did it make sense. so after a while i was just like nahhhh, and it didn’t really mesh well with the story of security breach anyways, its more sci-fi than supernatural now, and including the ghost kids would just be too much crammed into self insert story i have. the kids designs im still gonna use tho lol

NOW after getting back into fnaf after like a few months of not really caring about the lore, i’ve been watching more theory videos and book summaries and stuff like that and it made me shift my whole view on security breach’s story

so i’ve decided that i wanna stick as close to canon lore as possible and make gregory and vanessa/vanny more present and important. i want to focus more on the issues with ai, and show the slow downfall and problems with depending solely on them. i also need to figure out why my self insert has plot armor bc anyone in their situation would’ve been fired or killed by now (i don’t have to stick that close to canon for this i guess). but im just gonna justify it as they’re a pushover who doesn’t ask any questions and just does what they’re told, which is pretty much what got the other employees fired or killed bc they did the opposite (they’re also a huge nerd about robots so they end up being good friends with all the animatronics which is a HUGE plot point in this story, friendship is the real magic love conquers all etc. etc.) don’t get me wrong, they are fully aware of how wrong things are in the pizzaplex and how some things vanessa has told them don’t add up, but they are a good little employee (they are a severe people pleaser) so they feign ignorance to it all.

my self insert being autistic and having adhd is also a big thing i wanna include, bc there’s some really specific shit about their autism that would affect how they survive and stuff. things like trauma responses, masking, unmasking, meltdowns, and shutdowns that will affect their relationships with the others and will domino affect over time and lead to them surviving. idk ive just been thinking a lot lately about social interactions and experiences i have that are negatively or positively impacted specifically because of my autism. choices choices

i also want to make sure that it’s clear how neglected all the animatronics are. not just the dca since it is intended to be a s/i x sun and moon story. but there’s a lot of issues the in game messages have talked about with the animatronics that seem to happen because no one is bothering to help them. they just put a bandaid on a situation but they don’t fix the root problem yknow. also, my s/i doesn’t think the animatronics are sentient at first, and i want that to be a big thing that gets explored several times throughout the story bc i love thinking about robot sentience.

at first i was gonna have monty sort of start to be nice to my s/i, and maybe they could be friends or even have a sibling type relationship (red hair lol) but then i was like nah, monty being an asshole is what makes his character interesting. plus his behavior is a nice contrast from the rest of the band. though i think it would be funny for some characters to think monty is my s/i’s favorite at first bc their hair is dyed red

i also want sun and moon to be as close to canon as possible. while i love love LOVE pretty much every dca x reader fic i ever read, i have a preference for canon depictions of sun and moon lol. no hate to fanon depictions of sun when i say this, but ive been lost in the sauce of fanon sun for too long, and i wanna make him passive aggressive, and sarcastic, and picky, and fussy!! but still an anxious wreck and a people pleaser perfectionist. i’ll admit im still struggling with this. it was kinda hard to get a gauge on his personality at first because until help wanted 2 we had only seen how he interacts with kids. and even though in universe that isn’t the real sun it’s the only indication we have of how he interacts with adults, so im taking it. moon is still gonna be mischievous, creepy as hell, and won’t talk much, but he’s not gonna be killin anyone (yet), he’s just gonna be kind of a stalker lol. also the dca and freddy have beef for some reason, it’s a personal head canon of mine but im adding it to this story hehe

lots of physical injuries, several concussions, a migraine so bad they loose the ability to communicate properly (smth i experience) will all happen to them, bc i am throwing them through the ringer. they will be stressed more often than not. get projected on idiot (i say that as if this isn’t my self insert and is literally me)

tbh this story would mostly be just a slice of life, shenanigan, character driven thing for most of it. but then little things brought up in the past will become important to the plot later on.

like how copyright music can’t be played in front of any of the animatronics or else they will freak out :]

that’s all lol