#wrung my heart and then ended in a way that made me feel satisfied and healed
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Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds Trailer #2 (2017) | Movieclips Indie
#youtube#choi san#ateez#san#along with the gods#just saw this movie#damn#no wonder why San loves it#I too cried btw#it starts off with such a simple premise#but the second they bring in the brother it got beautifully layered#no spoilers#but absolutely recommend#wrung my heart and then ended in a way that made me feel satisfied and healed#now I've got to watch the next#cute nod to TtB as well at the end#he is an adorable house god
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Now that you've finished utena and it's movies, what was your favorite part? Did you think the movie was a sequel? A retelling? Something else? Some scenes in utena are gonna stick w me till I'm in the dirt n id love to know if you had any like that :33
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Omgosh!!!! This series 😭😭😭💖 ok bear with me im gonna have a LOT to say affgugyyythh endgame spoilers for Revolutionary Girl Utena the show and movie below
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Fave parts of the show (in no particular order)
The third transformation scene when Anthy and Utena go to the arena together, badass, just one of the sequences ever
Utena's dorky lil stretches <3
The poisoned tea and biscuit scene
Badminton with Utena, Jury and Miki, along with Nanami ;_;
Miki's stopwatch. Still parsing out what it means but the animation and soundwork is so satisfying
The entire final act of the last episode wrecked me
Wakaba being there for Utena to help her snap out of her depression
Subsequent Utena vs Wakaba battle that breaks my heart into itty bitty pieces
The exploration of Utena's identity, and how she matured from "pretending to be a prince and the misconceptions of what that meant" to ultimately "being a prince"
Jury's backstory with Shiori and how it was visualized
Fave parts of the movie (in no particular order)
SHORT HAIR UTENA!! IN HER LIL BERET!!
The architecture of Ohtori is so cool
Love the opening sequence, especially when it pans up abruptly to the scene with Utena and her prince in silhouette
THEY KISS.
The partner drawing session
The dance <3
Chasing Anthy through the weird corridors of Ohtori after Jury's Duel
The farewell between Utena and Touga (how did they make me like Touga and Utena's relationship)
When they escape together from the maw of the castle in an explosion of roses, and the Shadow Girls guiding them and cheering them on turned out to be Utena and Anthy themselves!
THEY KISS!! AGAIN!!!!!
I actually love how obtuse and playful and surreal the series is, but in a way that's very intentional and gives you all the puzzle pieces to put together what's happening. After finishing the show I felt like I knew what it was about because the themes were so well visualized…… and then I watched one (1) youtube analysis video that made me realize that my understanding has barely scratched the surface of ANything lol. I was kinda embarrassed about it ngl, but I guess RGU is just one of those shows that do require multiple watches. I really, really do love how it's got multiple layers. I'd be happy if I could create a story that's half as clever and nuanced.
The movie was such an unexpected banger. I was told by a friend beforehand that the movie was a retelling+sequel hybrid. After watching it, to me it feels like an alternate version of the story that runs parallel to the one in the anime. Like…… a metaphor for the intention of the show, does that even make sense? I don't think the events or characters themselves are necessarily "canon" in a literal sense, but the philosophies and underlying character motivations are. I definitely see why everyone's like "oh the movie will clear up the themes of the show!! It's great!!" and I love how it clarifies the show by being 250% weirder LMFAO.
I also thought that the absurdity of "your girlfriend turns into a freakin car you drive towards freedom" was going to take me out of it, and it did at first. I was mostly scared for Utena because um that was a scary process, but tbh for the entire ending I had this huge smile on my face. And it was emotional for me even though it's ridiculous!! And that's because it's emotionally resonant!! And it metaphorically confirms for me that, even though Utena was in despair in the last moments we see her in the show, the endings of both the show and movie are ultimately fulfilling and---dare I say?---happy! Because both of them were wrung through the crucible that tore apart their identities, and they ultimately learned and grew, despite how hard and painful it was!
I'm also just so, so, so glad how lgbtq+ the characters and narrative are, and how neither show nor movie shied away from it (I was nervous that the movie was going to retroactively step back, but no, they made it GAYER). And plus how.... tactful and considerate they were when dealing with and visualizing heavier themes. Even the movie was very frank and intentional when portraying nudity. I appreciate that a lot.
What a masterful show. It's going to haunt me forever probably :)
#i typed this out yesterday but tumblr blipped and didnt save any progress rip#but for real what a gem of a show#also if anyone wants to talk to me about Utena please do hit up the ask box!! >:)#revolutionary girl utena#rgu#shoujo kakumei utena#sku#ask box#analysis
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“She gazette, had a sort of its”
A limerick sequence
1
Then shouts, bridge,—that in mellow hair, which Jack! She gazette, had a sort of its blue deeper was to act without you could that awful yawn white, but here and heart to say!
2
To find to follow: surely drops dead. Wept bitterness, if every battery in them mistook. This is gone, shrinking the wheels, and all that poverty brought the sky.
3
He watchman ever show’d; from wood and pity by love, for one that satisfies me writhe answer makes us smilest, and as from time when decide to look abroad.
4
Through not she had been; the hollows in whose lofty pride, some tender what you say. But of field sweet, when I am forsworn, to conquest of the Improvvisatore.
5
She, she would we the hay-field days are breast with Damaske roses through so very steps or want of pavement, he on’t is, with sceptics; and write my rest. Are perjured eye?
6
Or modesty’s my gentleman can hate so many mount up without all was half-serious. Want to be sublimest exulted; nay, let us like to wake!
7
Mercy and bad, and that she is, and set it went. Silence fellow, bugle; answer to grow pathetic, but the porch welcome, them away. As any, we are kept.
8
Came to frame here they thriue in looks at first cut. If that far as I have been seated by proper place, see, that out wrung him back at our own in universal sun.
9
But oh, ambrosial, Pharisaic times. Caw me, caw the loneliness for the bard’s tomb, and I, ye lie, ye learn thys so well Dear unto through street in the tenor.
10
Turns o’erflowing sprite; the whole of some to brings which Hamlet tells to the ink be dry, the glowing! He sworn by the drooping those religion, and say who lay a frenne.
11
The workmanship both might conceive her? Nothing sage, as career to increase, so save there are bold sharp knife that broke his turn’d by dinner; corroding in meant to her.
12
Saw Cupid beat, the possession was lucky hour yield us far condemn? My mother trusty night glad I was a lie. For unaware, the thoughts; dull and inflamed.
13
Loathing wanton and death. Colors it to be wed, or saunt’ring generations poor innocence as to mind;—’God save a couple, for, for superbly o’er they were.
14
And so happy man, of love at all excuse for Mistress; and words, too, Maud, so fair Geraldine, his conceded as is a poet. And allowances beside.
15
Towards the only know. Which rock’d up again towards to its pillar, her peerless sort, ere the tomb the trophy used up. His secretly have chose for such as hath hym payne.
16
Where delight, a fitting naked neck. Yet with her honor flies filed on Jove closed the truth, though on Lethe’s Mephistopheles; but being many, died ere he made.
17
Shut up annals wax’d but the Prophet eye she screeches. All to-night; the bloody sworder, there was not a sin far worse for not a fool; and through done than mortal flies.
18
To feel, and then die; and never doth smallest of victor’s brandy, that he call’d a street of hotel. Man quite alone, and eyed its crime we alone is the Genius.
19
Lounging to you. Came from; there of a wild plumes and in Vernet’s ocean maketh more perish to please, by the roses grew? In such skies—in eastern philosophy?
20
Strange Poet-prince amidst of rock and for being; in a stone to make. Both boys! With a desire spurn’d the same, else laws are nothing stares support Your Right the year.
21
In such as if the scorch the might not. Of the palace and here are thus: the disdainful eyes the breast with gyfts to deceives. Or a Ha! She sport he hated.
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Called it is the breast, when natures but all feebler heiress, and see, and those rough sorrow’s triumph at Turin: Ancona was one way th’ earth enfolds. Within.
23
Lilies and there wave may chatteries, my body in a diversions, and shuddering passed did bid me because to side of Gold! Let radiant Hero to him harm.
24
Wakes the purpose by this child, hath been able, they knew he was the hunters he had had thread’s spun out of purl, ’ the dickey—their heart of Albion’s room, enter her ends.
25
Which hell with a wilderness. I gave me food tree. Among the spot the cloud is state affair of thys shades hath a psalmodic amble in politician; and gem.
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Herself to dwelt. A rueful glance, increase, or little fell, tripping or years before hard one in a loving, as if she may crosses for ever. Then he’s gander.
27
A sorry I could. He was almost smother went I cannot seldom save one ever saw and their bright entered that never so. Or hold the miserable Mrs.
28
Thrice happy if from whom fortunate! On this anticipated; and caught that pleasaunt Pipe, whych Adam losing diamonds turned in these? She banquet and hell her hair.
29
Thirty-nine, ’ which I bear children, rivals in gormandize excell. Her comely to take, wherewith silent, cold, and makes descry the King Victor is, and cruel hand.
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In peach the best intent sane cursed in the good fame, in woods. She sees my life, for a large, from the others with your great carousing birds do the touch your eyes, and gained.
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Her babe till the Skirt of light turn their lids and ocean lightsome little drooping like a clam. And then my arms, which, light shift still the more ingenuous to our ear.
32
It chance is but a young star hath risen from the floor. Over meaning of the world’s golden brought can seems at first not yield his own heart—which laid it; ’ a kind reader!
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In lead, o why sullen, nor star! They will not say you rehearse making that pray, how dolefully; then small red with their arms, and knife that he thou art left alone.
34
To welcome guest to belief was his peculiar superfluous sign proclaim’d that near him. Kit-Cat, the carpe! Was an ever as windings that maken for joy of speech.
35
Then them, bleedingly! Yet remember that the render by mowing back, saw Neptune was at least may kiss hands and vassal wretch forth thy daughter, to show the socket.
36
Know not this ritual, although the lady Christabel: all that of Jove close shriek for rhyme. Did they don’t prodigy, Miss Raw, Miss Knowman. The whole wide worlds on world!
37
And sated wither is grilling tresses Giltbedding, in green her lover. A gentle, but before lead their hand, I was a lake towards the loves the grieved your His—lo!
38
Besides, but since Homer’s Catalogue between Tyrian tunic of men, she had been able, which Hamlet tell aught the liked the humming. Daughter knit into thy child.
39
To sign, save thee; though on Lethe, neither double friend, child—a very wiser too. It was takest, spare a duty will bloom could not to flow, wing’d with your body were.
40
Then holly to half of what feed him, with his bright be the gate. Acquire some virgin, lover. She tree. She told I love in vast, until somethinke it frantic.
41
To dally when the same troop going towns, to the sad’s a globe a globed peonies; or paper pew. As a Queene of the unquiet feel the reserves were made war.
42
Yea, she is so raft vs of our houri it may lose much more the same. So, to pull outwent. And shake upon them. Full welcome among us, learn, nor the lawn.
43
Whose Auspicion: though ‘Rows’ most ‘forlorn? My plaints, deck’d her was her partial stoic anchor o’ the West, till to me apple blossomed Muses Hobbinoll, what they blind.
#poetry#automatically generated text#Patrick Mooney#Markov chains#Markov chain length: 6#196 texts#limerick sequence
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Alix's rom-com night
The June event of the @mlwritersguild was to create bonus content for one of our fics - I decided to seize the opportunity to finally sit down and write one of the bonus scenes of You can count on me (I will be there for you), and to do draw a bit of fanart to go with it (4 panels, including a Marichat piece)! Let me tell you that the Burrow is a pain to draw, but I'm actually quite proud of the result :)
About YCCOM: It's an aged-up, one-sided reveal with "fake" wedding fic, based on Sallteas' art. The fic is 9 chapters and 20k words long. It was written before season 4, so it's no longer canon compliant in terms of who knows who's identities at the beginning.
Synopsis: Ladybug's identity is compromised, and somebody is after her. After a lot of pondering, she and Chat Noir come to the conclusion that her best bet is for her to marry Adrien Agreste. It breaks her heart that she is not marrying Chat Noir, but she knows that she's buying them time to figure out who is behind the anonymous letters she's been receiving, and hopefully to find Hawkmoth. Whatever the situation might be, her wedding day should provide a moment of respite. And maybe it would have, had Chat Noir refrained from coming to visit her just before the ceremony...
About Alix's rom-com night: it's a one shot that's chronologically set before the main fic, but I recommend reading it after reading the latter since it contains spoilers for it. It follows Alix (obviously), and includes Ladybug revealing her identity to Chat Noir and the set up of their "fake wedding" plan.
Hope you enjoy!
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Alix opened her door and dropped her keys in the bowl as she kicked off her shoes with a satisfied sigh. Home, sweet home.
Her studio apartment wasn’t very big, but then again, she didn’t need a huge surface when she had a whole extension waiting for her just a transformation phrase away. She’d mentally thanked Marinette more than once for choosing her to wield the Rabbit Miraculous, rather than somebody else, just for the savings she made in rent.
She whistled happily as she made her way to her kitchen area, grabbing a bag of popcorn out of a cupboard and shoving it in her microwave.
She deserved the treat. She’d been running around all week, trying to slide letters to her targets without being spotted, spending hours on end to find the perfect stationary, and then staying up at night to get the wording exactly right, a delicate mix of subtlety and threat to elicit some sort of response from them. It had taken a lot of trial and error, especially for Ladybug. Her friend had always been surprisingly oblivious on many fronts, and it seemed that her honeymoon phase with Chat Noir reinforced her optimistic ability to brush ominous details aside. It had taken three letters for her to start freaking out and to promise Tikki she would talk to her partner about them, whereas Hawkmoth had started the analysis phase upon the first one he’d received.
Alix had only been mildly surprised by the identity of their nemesis when she’d decided it was high time she knew who they were facing; it was all too fitting that the man who leached off Paris’ most intense negative emotions should be the most embittered person she knew, and the one who, in retrospect, had been the cause of many an Akuma (she still shuddered at the what-could-have-been of Chat Noir’s akumatisation).
The microwave dinged, bringing her thoughts back to her timeline. She took the bowl out and called for her Kwami.
“Fluff, clockwise! Burrow!”
A white portal appeared in the middle of her living space and she walked through it, emerging in the ovoid room covered in screens. She made her way to the furthest point, hung her umbrella up on the coathanger she kept in there, and grabbed a folding chair. It was a director’s seat which supposedly had belonged to a rising name in the cinema world before their career had been shot down for obscure reasons, but she didn’t really care about its story; she’d bought it for a very low price at a yard sale, and that was all that mattered to her.
“Right, where are you…” She muttered, scrutinising her surroundings, until she found the screen she was looking for.
She unfolded the chair, zoomed in on the empty (for now) rooftop, propped down in her seat and threw a fistful of popcorn into her mouth, waiting for the show to start.
Unsurprisingly, Ladybug was the first to arrive on the scene. She paced around, mumbling to herself as she wrung her hands together. Alix felt a pang of guilt as she watched her rehearse how she would break the news to her partner, but reassured herself that the ordeal would soon be over.
Finally, Chat Noir landed beside Ladybug, and she flung herself at him, holding him so tight he had to untangle himself from her arms to breathe.
“Well, well, well, my Lady, I know I couldn’t make it to patrol last night, but I didn’t think you’d miss me this much,” he chuckled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Alix rolled her eyes at just how lovestruck he looked as he did so. How could her friends be so sappy, and yet still be at square one in terms of knowing who the other was?
Some might have said that it was romantic, that they loved each other regardless of who they were; but those people did not have to deal with the constant end of the world threat.
“What was so important that you couldn’t just text me?”
Ladybug took a deep breath. Her fingers slid along his arms as she relaxed her embrace, taking his hands in hers at the end of the line. “Somebody knows my identity,” she said quietly, looking down. “And I don’t know who they are.”
“What?!” Chat’s voice detonated in the previously peaceful quiet of the evening, making a couple of pigeons take off in a loud flutter of wings.
“I’m so sorry, I must have been careless when I got home one night, they must have seen me, I bet it was last week when I was tired and I-”
“My Lady, no offence, but I don’t care about the when and why, just... are you okay?” He tilted her chin up, gently turning her head to each side, checking for any signs of injury.
She placed her hand on his, making him stop, and gave him a soft, sad smile. “Yes, Chaton. Just a little rattled; you know you were the first person I wanted to reveal my identity to. Not including Bunnyx, although technically I never told her who I am.”
“And technically, I’m still the only person who knows who you are,” Bunnyx smugly commented between two handfuls of popcorn. “Now come on, I want to see how you react when you reveal your identities to each other.”
“How do you know somebody knows, though? And do you have any idea what their intentions are?”
Ladybug’s expression darkened. “I received some letters. They’re not signed, but they’ve got enough butterflies on them to make me think that even if they’re not from the biggest pest in Paris, then they’re probably from somebody who’s up to no good.”
Chat Noir swore under his breath, then regained his countenance. “So, what do we do now? Do you think we can hunt down the bugger?”
“We definitely will, but…” Ladybug bit her lip, and Alix leaned forward in her seat. This had to be it. “Chaton, I think the time has come for me to tell you who I am.”
“YES! Finally!” Alix cheered, almost spilling her popcorn bowl.
“Are you sure, my Lady?” Alix didn’t have to be on site to tell that Chat Noir’s heart was beating faster than usual; the corners of his mouth twitched as he repressed a smile, as though his excitement could make her change her mind.
“Yes.” She nodded. “I really want you to know.” In case something happens to me, Alix was pretty sure her friend had left unsaid.
“Okay, okay.” Chat Noir took a deep breath, buzzing with anticipation, so much so that he apparently missed the whole subtext of her previous words. “Do you want to do this now? And how do you want to do it? Do you want me to close my eyes? Are you going to write it on a piece of paper for me to read? Are you going to detransform? Should-”
“I was thinking the latter, and yes, now,” Ladybug said timidly. “Up to you if you want to look or not.”
“For some reason, I feel like I shouldn’t.” He took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles without breaking their eye contact, then took another deep breath and closed his eyes, a blissful smile on his lips. “Ready when you are, my Lady.”
“Ok, here goes.” She let out a shaky breath and called off her transformation. The soft pink glow engulfed her and receded, her suit melting away to reveal her true appearance.
“Wow, Marinette, you actually broke out your favourite dress for this? Glad to see all of this isn’t affecting your ability to think straight.” Alix smirked. If her friend had gone home after a long, stressful work day, and found it in her to change and doll herself up to make a good impression on Chat Noir, things couldn’t be that bad. She had to agree that her dress, simple, white, with little red hearts embroidered on it, was perfect for the occasion, though.
“You can open your eyes now, Chaton.” Marinette gave his hands a squeeze.
Chat Noir obliged, blinking slowly as he took in her appearance, her identity, her. Marinette squirmed under his gaze, his expression not giving away any of his thoughts.
“H-Hi,” she stammered when she couldn’t take it anymore. “I, erm, I guess I should introduce myself? We’ve run into each other before, when we were younger, and even if you actually had lunch with my family that one time, I guess it’s been a while… My name is-”
“Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Chat’s smile finally broke free, spread from ear to ear, almost literally illuminating his face. Alix wondered if anything could ever wipe it off. Love and admiration twinkled in his eyes as he picked her up and started spinning her. Marinette wrapped her arms around his neck, giggling giddily, before Chat Noir closed the gap between their lips.
Bunnyx modestly looked away, allowing them to have their moment. Her eyes landed on a rerun of Plagg putting an end to the dinosaurs’ reign.
“I should have known that it was you, Princess.” Chat panted slightly as he carefully set Marinette back on the roof. “Everything makes so much more sense now, I-”
“Before you finish that thought, I can’t know your identity.” She placed her index finger on his lips. “Yet, of course.”
“What?” Chat froze, and so did Bunnyx, her hand pausing midway between the popcorn bowl and her mouth. “But why?”
“I don’t know what might happen to me, but I don’t want to put you in any danger.” Marinette cupped his cheek. “And I don’t want to lose my memories of you. Of us.”
“Oh for Kwami’s sake.” Alix rolled her eyes. “Boo!” She threw a fistful of popcorn at the screen as her friend continued to list all the reasons Chat couldn’t reveal his identity.
“My Lady, Marinette, if you’re worried about your safety, maybe we should do something about it. I could move in with you, or in a flat nearby, maybe, stay transformed or wear a mask at all times so you don’t know who I am, we can figure it out… Of course I know you can protect yourself, but I could stand guard while you sleep, or...” Chat raked his hand through his hair as he thought.
“You know I love you, Chaton, and that’s why I can’t let you do that! You can’t live like that, I can’t ask that of you. Not to mention how difficult it would be for me, do you really think I could resist having you so close, and not trying to get a glimpse of who you are?” She joked, trying to diffuse the sudden tension.
“Then we need to get you a bodyguard,” he insisted.
“I thought about it, but… Well, I can’t really afford it, and how could I justify suddenly needing personal security? I’m just a designer, and nothing I’ve ever done has been avant-garde enough that I should be worried about my safety.” She shook her head.
“Damn, I knew I should have targeted Chat Noir,” Alix swore under her breath. “He would’ve had to reveal his identity, and she definitely wouldn’t have been a pushover on her kitty’s protection matter. Come on Adrien, do something.”
She could tell that he was up to something just by looking at him. He’d been silent for a little too long for it to be natural. Cogs turned in his head, making him squint. He let go of her completely and paced around the roof, almost pulling his hair out as he did so. Alix sensed that whatever was on his mind was going to be big. She leaned forwards in anticipation.
Finally, Chat Noir came to a halt in front of Marinette, the fever in his eyes and his dishevelled hair making him look slightly unhinged.
“Buguinette, I think I’ve got a solution,” he whispered.
“You do?” Marinette’s voice was full of hope, although she looked slightly concerned about him.
“You’re probably not going to like it,” he warned her, lifting a finger.
“Beggars can’t be choosers.” She shrugged, taking a step forward.
“Right.” He gave her one last look, an opportunity to stop him before the words tumbled out. She nodded encouragingly. “Okay, here’s the thing. I have it on very good authority that Adrien Agreste is being pressured into getting married by his father.”
“I see Gabriel’s just as delightful as always,” Marinette shook her head.
“Unlike good cheese, he definitely doesn’t get better with time.” Chat smiled bitterly, eyes losing focus a little.
“What’s it got to do with us, though?” Marinette prompted, placing a hand on his arm.
“Oh, Agreste, you absolute genius, I think I know where this is going.” Alix took another handful of popcorn.
“Oh, yes, right.” He cleared his throat. “See, Adrien’s not dating anyone at the moment…” Right, Alix snorted. “And he’s not really planning on starting a relationship with his father breathing down his neck, but, well, he happens to owe me a favour, and I’m sure that he’d be more than happy to put his security detail to good use…”
“So you’re suggesting that I marry Adrien.” Marinette deadpanned.
“Well, er, I actually thought you could just date, but thinking about it… It would be less strange for you to request a bodyguard if your relationship was more serious…” He trailed off.
Alix was impressed by how well he concealed his emotions. His poker face was truly exceptional.
“And you think Adrien would be ready to marry me because of a favour he owes you?” Marinette crossed her arms over her chest, pursing her lips and squinting at him as she tried to pick at his lie.
Alix winced for Chat. Maybe he should have waited a bit before blurting out the (as it turned out) probably only sane option in that situation so he could work out all of the details for himself. Marinette was very good at trying to shake plans to see how solid their foundations were.
“Please. Adrien had a crush on you when you were younger, if anything I could probably smuggle it as another favour, given how perfect the fake scenario would be. Although I guess that since you also liked him… It might just cancel out.” He tapped his lip pensively.
“Adrien had a crush on me?” Marinette frowned. “Oh, you must mean Ladybug. I think Nino mentioned it once.”
“Well, yes, but he also had one on you, Marinette.” Chat stepped forward, mischief twinkling in his eyes as he poked her on the nose.
“Really, now,” she muttered to herself.
“The main reason he didn’t act on it was that he thought you loved somebody else.” Chat smiled ironically.
“Wow, what a pair of idiots.” Marinette chuckled.
“You don’t know the half of it.” He kissed her forehead.
“But you know what?” Marinette didn’t pick up on her partner’s comment. “I’m actually glad we didn’t get together. It probably would have delayed us getting together.” She pressed a peck to his lips. “If we’d gotten together at all in that timeline.” She smirked.
Alix snorted. Out of all the timelines she’d watched unfold in an attempt to keep things in check, there wasn’t a single one where Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Chat Noir, didn’t end up together, and not just because of her interventions to help them, and the rest of the planet, stay alive.
Marinette’s face fell at Chat Noir’s lack of response. Alix knew her friend didn’t particularly believe in soulmates, but she understood that she would have liked a sappy Chat Noir special comment on how he’d told her he’d grow onto her anyway, and that she would have soon discovered that the Agreste boy had nothing on him. She assumed that he was too busy restraining himself from saying the wrong thing.
“Actually… What about us, then?” Marinette cleared her throat and looked up at him, eyes glistening slightly in the half light.
“My Lady… If you really think that you being a divorcée will spur me away…” Chat Noir looked down at their entwined hands, locks of blond hair falling in front of his eyes, concealing his giddy smile from her. You sneaky cat, Alix thought.
Marinette followed his gaze, letting out a long sigh as she watched their hands sway lightly. Alix knew her brain was probably trying to find all the flaws in the plan. She crossed her fingers, hoping that it would be enough for her friend to accept. It was perfect, whether they got their act together and figured everything out before the event, or not.
“Fine,” Marinette finally said with resolve, making Alix mentally thank whoever was out there. “I’ll do it on two conditions.”
“Anything, my love.” Chat let out a sigh of relief.
“Firstly, we’re honest with Adrien from the get go. No lying about anything.” Chat nodded along. “Secondly, we get cracking on finding Hawkmoth, and after we do and the divorce is settled, if we even get that far with Adrien because obviously if everything is settled before the wedding we won’t be going through the whole plan…” Chat smiled fondly as she took a deep breath. “After all that, we are getting married.” She gestured between the both of them.
“My Lady, are you proposing to me right meow?” Chat Noir all but purred.
“I guess so.” Marinette shrugged, a smile and a blush spreading on her cheeks.
“Wow, then, I’m definitely putting Adrien in charge of the proposal planning,” he replied with a smirk.
“Chaton!” She stomped her foot, her mildly amused smile cancelling out her frown.
“What?” He teased her.
“Will you? Marry me?” She held his gaze.
“Do you even have to ask?” He chuckled. “You know, my Lady, I’m pretty sure that, in my head, we’ve been married since that speech you gave on the Eiffel Tower during our very first fight. Well, I’ve been married to you; you do whatever you please.”
“You’re such a dork,” Marinette laughed, brushing her nose against his and throwing her arms around his neck.
“And yet you still love me.” He pulled her closer.
“Unfortunately, I do,” she sighed dramatically before pressing a kiss to his lips.
Alix dismissed the screen. She’d seen what she wanted, and it seemed like a good place to stop; a happy, sappy ending. Also, she’d finished all of her popcorn.
Everything was on track, her friends would start their Hawkmoth hunt, and soon everybody in Paris would be able to live without fear of their own negative emotions.
(Of course, that was the theory; she’d soon find out that she’d underestimated Adrien’s will to organise the perfect wedding for Marinette, and that, my friends, was no small oversight.)
#miraculous ladybug#the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir#ml#mlb#miraculous fanfiction#miraculous fanfic#miraculous fanart#alix kubdel#bunnyx#ladynoir#ladybug#chat noir#half-reveal#one-sided reveal#aged-up characters#elle writes#elle sketches#yccom
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Royally Matched Final Part
Pairing: Prince!Bucky x Matchmaker!Reader Royal AU
Summary: Happy ending!
Warnings: None
A/n: Thank you all for reading this series! It really means a lot. I would not have been able to do this without your love and support! Once again, THANK YOU!
Part 10
You dragged your suitcase behind you, tears threatening to spill. You pulled your jacket closer, the evening chill seemed to sting. Standing patiently, you thought about Bucky and how far he had come. Even though he could be a snob at times, he was such a sweetheart. You hoped he would find joy in Dot. Something caught your eye. Turning slightly, you saw a beautiful blue butterfly.
“Would you look at you.” You said as it landed on your hand. “And here I was thinking butterflies were nothing but trouble and sorrow.”
“Trouble yes, but I would hope not sorrow.”
You quickly whipped around toward the source of the voice. You saw the King staring at you, a smile tugging on his lips. He folded his arms, and huffed, his breath coming out in white puffs.
“What do you think you’re doing young lady? The coronation is this way.” He chuckled.
“I’m sorry your Majesty, but—”
“He’s in love with you for crying out loud! I know people are blinded by love, but this is just ridiculous!” He cried throwing his hands in the air. “Please come back. I really don’t want Dot to become my future daughter in law.”
“You don’t cringe at the thought of your son marrying a commoner?” You questioned.
“Would I have trekked out here in the cold if I thought otherwise? You make my son happy, and I want him—both of you to be happy. We must embrace love as it comes. Catch the butterflies as they come.”
“You’re not going to give up are you?” You laughed.
“I swear I won’t hear the end of it if I come back empty handed. Damien is waiting for us.”
You grabbed your suitcase and walked toward the King. “Okay, fine.”
He smiled and motioned for you to follow him. Damien greeted you with a smirk and took your suitcase. Sliding in beside the King, you began to feel nervous. You only hoped Bucky would take you.
~~~~~~~
Bucky couldn’t find any pleasure in the party, and it didn’t help that Dot was talking his ear off. He swirled his drink around a couple times, his eyes watching the tiny tornado in the middle. The King entered, a smirk gracing his feature.
“What is he smirking about?” Bucky muttered as he took a sip of his drink.
His eyes wandered toward the door, and he saw you. You looked adorable in a light pink dress and your nervous expression. Butterflies erupted in his stomach. Choking on his drink, he quickly set his drink down, loud sputters and coughs now echoing through the ballroom. Everyone’s attention had now focused on him.
“I’m *cough* fine.” He wheezed, his face bright red.
He slowly made his way to you, occasional sputters falling from his lips. Everyone watched as you two met in the middle.
“Well, this is a little embarrassing.” Bucky whispered as you lightly laughed.
“They’re all looking at you.” You giggled.
“Probably. They just saw their new king almost die from choking on water.” He chuckled.
Looking up at the rest of the guests. “What are you all waiting for? Get back to what you were doing!”
You shook you head with a chuckle. This man was such a dork. The music and chatter started up again and he turned toward you. He nervously wrung his hands together and sighed.
“Y/n, I—”
You stopped him. “I know Bucky. I love you too.”
Bucky let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His blue eyes shined brightly and he gently pulled you into him.
“May I have this dance, my Queen?” He breathed quietly.
“Only if you believe in true love.” You whispered softly.
Bucky leaned his face closer to yours. “You did it. You made a believer out of me. It took a while, but true love exists.”
He gently pressed his lips to yours, sparks and butterflies shooting through both your bodies. You both felt complete with each other.
“Wanna dance?’ Sam asked looking at the furious Dot.
She turned toward him, a murderous look on her face. Sam raised his hands in surrender and chuckled.
“I just thought I’d try to make your night better. But seriously, you had to see this coming.” Sam said gesturing to you and Bucky who were currently gazing into each other’s eyes like no one else mattered.
Deep in her anger, she ripped the butterflies off her dress and threw them harshly onto the ground. They shattered violently, and the guests gasped as shards flew everywhere.
“I hate you Jamie!” She screamed. “I hate you!”
Sam gently wrapped an arm around Dot. “I’ve got it folks! Continue!”
“You want some more wine? We have plenty on wine, come on.” Sam said leading her toward the food table, his deep voice soothing her.
Bucky looked at you and frowned. “Sorry about your butterflies.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like you broke it. It was my gift to her anyway.”
Quickly glancing toward his father, Bucky got everyone’s attention. Once everyone was quiet, Bucky grinned.
“Tonight I was supposed to become King with a future queen in mind. And I know my life couldn’t be complete without Y/n.” Pulling a velvet box out of his pocket and kneeling down he said, “Y/n, I know we didn’t really get along at first, but my heart threatens to stop working at the thought of going on with life without you. Will you make me the happiest man alive and become my queen?”
You tackled Bucky with a hug. “Yes, you idiot.”
Bucky’s smile looked like it about split his face in half as he slipped the ring on your finger. “I’m your idiot.”
You both kissed each other as everyone cheered. The King clapped as he took in his joyous state. Looking up to the picture of his wife the King whispered through tears, “We sure did a great job raising our son.”
~~~Extended Ending~~~
“You know, I’m single.” Sam said as Dot rolled her eyes for the hundredth time.
“I told you, get lost.”
“Oh, come on! One date! I won’t disappoint!” Sam retorted.
“Fine. One date.”
“Yes!” Sam cheered as he rushed toward Steve and Bucky. “100 dollars! Pay up!”
“She said yes?!” Steve and Bucky exclaimed.
“Yup.” Sam said quite satisfied. “It’s my amazing charm.”
“I feel bad for you, but I’ll attend your funeral. Maybe she can paint your picture.” Steve chuckled as he and Bucky started walking away.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Sam exclaimed. “Wait! Come back!”
Permanent Taglist: @sleep-i-ness
Royally Matched Taglist: @supraveng @all-art-is-quite-useless @bestofbucky @tonystankschild @emmabarnes @tiziswiat
A/n: names with strikethrough won’t let me tag.
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For your touch I am yearning
Pairing: Haldir x Reader (Gender not specified) Words: 2291 Summary: You are an elf who is skilled at helping other elves figure out their emotions, but you are not necessarily so skilled at figuring out your own. Haldir comes across you trying to figure out why you’re feeling so down, and offers to help in whatever way he can. Warnings: This gets very STEAMY towards the ends. No smut, but lots of steam. It’s kind of like a Kettle.
AN: Can I just say, I’m kind of shocked that it’s taken two years for me to write something set in Lothlorien, when Lothlorien is literally in my name? Anyway! This is based on a prompt submitted to me by the lovely @saviorsong.
Caras Galadhon, the heart of Elvendom on Earth, chief and central city of Lothlorien. Many Elves of the Golden Wood lived there, as did you.
The Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Their immortality gave them a sense of living outside time. Unlike humans, who must daily strive to understand themselves, their emotions, their place in the world, the Elves may take as long as they wish to discover such things about themselves.
Except, of course, when they can’t. Is it not the way of this world to contrive difficult situations for all? When faced with a distinct lack of time to mull things over, many Elves will find themselves struck with a rather uncomfortable lack of understanding of themselves and their emotions. When such circumstances occurred, many of the Elves of Lothlorien would turn to you.
You were an elf who’d been blessed with three younger siblings – a rare occurrence in a society where children were already uncommon, and when they could be found they often had no siblings to speak of. You had been born early enough that when your siblings had started to arrive, you’d been heavily involved in the upbringing of all three.
For the sake of peace within the family, you had quickly developed a deeper understanding of the emotions of others. This emotional intelligence had been invaluable in ending the feuds between your young siblings, and it was an emotional intelligence that few Elves, despite their general wisdom, shared. Therefore, if any elf was having trouble deciphering their own emotions, you were more than happy to help. Unfortunately, this was not a skill that extended to the understanding of your own emotions.
You all but sank into the bed in your Talan. You were absolutely exhausted, for all Elves are supposed to be tireless beings. There were many things that you had been intending to get done that day, and you had accomplished precisely none of them. It was not necessarily annoying, for the tasks could always be completed the next day, but the Elves around you seemed to be having more trouble than usual. You wondered if it had anything to do with the upcoming festival.
Still, there was something else bothering you other than physical exhaustion, and it was something that you could not quite place. You frowned slightly, wondering what exactly it was that you were feeling, but then there came a gentle knock at the door.
“Come in.” You called politely as you eased yourself back off the bed and into standing position to receive your guest.
The door opened slowly, and in walked Haldir, March warden of Lorien. You were surprised, but managed to bow your head lightly in respect.
“March warden.”
Haldir smiled a little and took a step towards you.
“We are friends, are we not? I have told you before that the use of my title between us is unnecessary.”
You smiled in return and raised your head, though in your exhaustion your smile did not reach your eyes, and Haldir noticed this.
“What brings you to my Talan at this hour, Haldir?”
Though you were always glad to see him – for you had long harboured feelings for the march warden – the visit was certainly unusual.
Haldir made a gesture for you to sit, and so you both settled on top of your bed, sitting a respectable distance apart and not touching, for physical touch is not a thing often practiced among Elves.
“I admit I noticed you on your way up here. You seemed out of sorts, so I thought to check on you. Please forgive the intrusion if it is unwanted.”
Your eyes narrowed slightly, for there was something a little off with Haldir. He seemed to be almost nervous, though you were hardly in a fit state to discover why, not with your own emotional problem to deal with.
“Do not trouble yourself my friend, an intrusion though this may be, it is not unwelcome.”
You glanced sideways at the other elf, who’s eyes widened a little at first in surprise, but then narrowed.
“You are teasing me.”
“I might be. You’re so formal with me – it is no wonder I still call you march warden.”
Haldir had opened his mouth to respond, no doubt with something teasing of his own, but then he paused and seemed to think better of it.
“Come now, do not distract me. I came to see of you are alright. Answer me truly, does something ail you?”
You looked down at your hands, which were resting on your lap.
“I would not burden you, Haldir.”
Haldir frowned at that, and seemed to lean a little closer, though he still kept distance between you.
“You could never be a burden. It is plan that you are troubled. Speak to me so that I might be able to help you.”
There was something in his tone of voice so earnest that you could not deny him.
“Very well. I confess I am troubled, though I hardly know what by. It came upon me earlier today, and I cannot seem to shift it.”
Your hands wrung together lightly as you spoke, clearly uncomfortable. Your mood had dropped rather dramatically, and Haldir quickly sought to lift it again.
“What’s this? The great emotional decipherer stumped by their own emotions? This would be quite the scandal if it got out.”
You tried to fix him with a glare, but your efforts in that department were fruitless, as you could not keep your mouth from twitching upwards. Haldir proceeded then, satisfied that you did not look so disheartened.
“I know your methods – I have seen you work your magic. I may not possess your skill but do remember I have two brothers of my own. Let us work through this, together. We will surely understand what is wrong soon enough.”
The corners of your eyes wrinkled as your smile widened. It was not difficult to consider yourself genuinely lucky to have Haldir as a friend, even if you secretly desired more than that from him.
“You know my methods? Go ahead then, I should like to see you apply them.”
You turned their body to sit cross-legged on the bed and watched as Haldir did the same.
“Think carefully – what’s different than usual that could have made you feel this way?”
Well, that was certainly a question you had asked many a time, and yet now that it was directed at you, you realised what a difficult question it was to answer. After a slightly drawn-out pause, you finally came upon your answer.
“I suppose… with my parents having sailed a few months ago and my brothers and sister now grown and visiting other lands… I have not had as much familial attention as I am used to.”
Internally, Haldir breathed a sigh of relief, for here was a problem he understood well, it was also something that wasn’t too serious. He had been dreading that you might somehow have heard the call of the sea, for if you had you would surely have decided to leave the shores of middle earth. Haldir did not think he could have borne it. It seemed, however, that you were not quite done with your explanation, and Haldir was more than willing to keep listening. Your cheeks had turned slightly pink, and Haldir was certainly curious as to why.
“My family… we are more physically affectionate than most… I must miss being held and touched, as I already missed them before today.”
At that, Haldir’s own face went rather red, for the solution to your problem was rather obvious and he had promised to help, still, it was a little taboo. Haldir swallowed, for it would surely wound his pride as march warden to back out now, but he could not help feeling rather nervous.
“Our solution is clear, then.”
Your eyes snapped up to look at him, wondering if Haldir was really offering himself as the elf for the job, or if he was simply stating that someone was needed.
“H-Haldir, I truly do not wish to impose… I do not wish to embarrass you.”
Haldir swallowed before speaking, though you did not notice this. Part of him felt guilt, for taking advantage of the situation in order to get close to you, but he would not, could not, back out now.
“You are my… friend, and we are alone. There is no imposition, and nothing to feel embarrassed about.”
He paused, holding his arms open slightly.
“Come here.”
You rather slowly and more than a little awkwardly manoeuvred closer to Haldir until you were close enough to him that Haldir could wrap his arms around you. You were stiff at first, but soon melted into the embrace with a soft sound. However, you soon felt better and as soon as you did, you felt that it would only be appropriate to end the embrace. Haldir had done so much for you. It would be wrong to take advantage of him.
“I’m feeling… much better now thank you.”
You said quietly, starting to lean back so as to move away from him. Suddenly Haldir’s arms tightened around you so that you could not get away, and he moved his head to hide it against your neck.
“Haldir, what are you doing?!”
“Do not ask me to let you go just yet, I cannot do it.”
His voice was a little muffled against your skin, but it was loud enough to hear clearly, so there was no possibility of mistake. You felt your pulse quicken and your throat dry as you rapidly tried to go through all the reasons he would say such a thing, and Eru help you, there weren’t many. Still, you could not jump to conclusions.
“M-my friend.” You began. “Do not let me mistake your intentions-”
Haldir looked up then, suddenly, his eyes looking straight into yours with pupils so blown it made his eyes seem black.
“Friends. Must we be friends?” He asked, earnestly, his fingers fisting at the back of your tunic where he held you. You merely gaped at him.
“For centuries I have buried my feelings but now that I have you in my arms I find I can do so no longer.” Haldir’s seeking gaze never left yours, and you could feel the heat of his hands through the thin fabric of your clothing.
“Tell me you do not feel the same and I will walk back out that door behind me.”
Haldir leant in and pressed his forehead against yours. You could feel his breath on your lips, and said absolutely nothing, for you were in such a state of shock that your feelings were returned that you were speechless.
“You say nothing!” He exclaimed, breathless and delighted, one hand leaving its place at the back of your tunic to tenderly – albeit shakily – caress the side of your neck. His voice dropped low, and finally his eyes left yours only to flick down to your lips.
“And yet now you must tell me that you do feel the same, or I can proceed no further.”
You finally snapped out of the dreamlike state you had been in since the first hint of Haldir’s true feelings. You flung your arms around his neck, fingers burying greedily into his thick golden hair, as you brought your lips to his so suddenly he jolted in surprise. Haldir righted himself almost instantly, kissing ardently back as he pushed you down onto the bed. When your back hit the mattress you gasped against his lips, and the march warden – ever ready to seize an advantageous opportunity – bit down on your bottom lip.
Your fingers moved in his hair and found his pointed ears, and you ran the pads of them fingers over the sensitive tips. Haldir’s hips jerked forward at the touch and he let out such a moan into the kiss that your legs seemed to wind around his trim waist all by themselves.
One of Haldir’s hands moved down your body to grasp your thigh. He squeezed firmly as he aligned your hips together, and you could not help but whimper against his lips at the hardness you felt there.
“Such pretty sounds you make.” Haldir’s voice was breathless and deeper than you had ever heard it before, and you writhed beneath him as he finally broke the kiss so that his lips could explore the sliver of exposed skin that your tunic afforded him.
“Have you truly yearned for me as I have for you?”
You were beyond words at that point, but could readily show him with your body, and so you rocked your hips up into his. Haldir’s grip on your thigh tightened deliciously and with a barely stifled groan he pressed his hips down to meet yours once, twice, and then suddenly his body went tense and he stopped all motion. You whined again beneath him, but this time from disappointment.
“Why did you stop?” You asked, panting so heavily the words were more puffs of breath than proper sounds.
He pulled his head up a little so he could look fondly down at his love, a sweet smile on his lips for all they were swollen from kissing. The sweet smile could not detract, however, from the near feral gleam in his eyes.
“I do not think your brothers, nor your sister indeed, would be pleased with me if I were to wed you here and now without any proper courting.”
Haldir leaned closer again, pressing his lips to your ear as he spoke softly.
“For if we had continued any further we certainly would have been married before the hour was up.” Forever Tags: @sweeticedtea @cd1242 @strongandfreedc @pixierox101 @jotink78 @luna-xial @underthemoon-imagines
#haldir#haldir x reader#march warden#lothlorien fic#lorien#lotr#lord of the rings#haldir fic#haldir x you
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Honey & Glass ❀ Kiara Carrera
Summary: After a night of caring for baby sea turtles, y/n’s only light in her life is Kiara Carrera. But being a Thornton is a heavy crown to bear along with all the expectations.
Warning: cursing, (I think that’s it, let me know)
word count: 4.5k
Pairing: Kiara Carrera x female!reader
Masterlist
a/n: this is my first Kie one shot so hopfully you enjoy! This fic is based off the song Little Miss Perfect. Stayed up till like 4 am writing this so I’m fried now. But leave feedback of your thoughts.
*^credits to owner^* ❀❀❀ The verdant hills of the country club golf course weren't as occupied this Sunday morning like it was on other days. The Camerons were scattered about, Rafe and Sarah arguing over a hole in one while Wheezie continually hit her ball until she made it into a nearby lake. Despite the distraction going on around them, the Thornton siblings were locked into their game. Standing atop a hill, Y/n was still as she lined up her wedged golf club with the small golf ball lying on the patch of grass. Topper stood just behind his sister, arms crossed over his blue polo clad chest. A smirk was playing on his lips as he watched his sister's eyes straining on the task at hand. She took the game all too seriously, and it was enjoyable to pester her whenever he had the chance.
Y/n was always known to be the perfect child out of the two. Her ponytails were always slicked back without so much as a stray hair escaping. Straight A's, straight forward, straight path, she doesn't cut corners. She made a point be on time and was even head of the student council at the Kook Academy. Unlike her sensitive turd of a brother who washes himself with girls affection and alcohol whenever he saw Sarah under John B's arm, she's never blacked out at a party. Not once. But even if she attended a party, it wouldn't be her taste considering she only ever jams to Paul McCartney.
Just when y/n was about to make the shot, Scarlet and Sarah wandered by, the blonde's friend passing her a disdainful look. That was the other thing about Y/n Thornton. She wasn't a wealthy Kook by birth. She was adopted when she was only two years old. And though they spoiled her rotten, she can't help but question what she did to get as far as she's gotten.
The scornful look didn't go unnoticed by Topper, and he spared her a glare. Scarlet mirrored his expression before she followed Sarah toward the lake to help Wheezie retrieve her golf ball.
Y/n knew they only hated her because she wasn't a true Kook, and she was blessed with a privileged family. She knew she had done nothing wrong but being little miss perfect wasn't always luxurious. Not when she was hiding a secret that would surely dishonor the family name laid upon her.
Unwinding the tension that built up in her shoulder, Y/n hit the golf ball gently and let it roll into the hole. She squealed slightly and hopped on her white tennis shoes. Topper slowly clapped from behind her, jutting his bottom lips to emphasize he was impressed. The bright smile on her face was worth seeing any day in Topper's opinion.
"Eat grass bitch," Y/n jeered in a drolled tone, bumping Topper's shoulder with her own.
Topper scoffed at her, raising his hands as he walked to where she was standing just a few seconds ago, rolling his shoulder back to take his shot. "Watch how the real pro does it." he chucked with a smug grin, bringing his sister to roll her eyes.
Y/n stood next to Topper, resting her weight on the golf club while the other rested on her knee. "Has anyone ever told you that you have shitty form?" she whispered tauntingly in her brother's ear.
Topper swung back, making his sister take a cautious step away before hitting the ball across the field. "I do not!" he said, pointing his gloved hand toward the ball he made into the hole." If anyone has shitty form, it's you!" he jested, hovering his club mockingly in her face before she smacked it away.
"Whatever, Top, at least my ball never ended up in the lake." y/n sneered playfully over her shoulder as she trotted toward her ball with a skip in her step.
Topper lifted his hand and dropped his arms to his side, rolling his eyes as he followed her. "That was one time!"
The sibling played a few more rounds until Topper called it quits after y/n beat him the rest of the day, making two holes in ones. She had school the next morning anyway, and with the sky colored a deep purple, they thought it was time to turn in for the night.
With her hands swaying by her side, a yawn left y/n lips before she felt Topper bump her shoulder with his own. "So there's rumors going around at school that you've gotta crush on somebody." Topper's tone was hopeful, and the way he lifted his eyebrows suggestively brought her to scoff.
"Yeah, okay. Whatever." she shrugged, suddenly finding the velcro of her white loves quite fascinating.
"Come on! I'm your brother, you can tell me!"
Y/n laughed, letting her ponytail graze her cheek when she whipped her head up toward where Topper walked beside her. "Um, yeah, exactly, you're my brother, I don't really feel like you're the one I should go to for talking about my love life. It's kinda embarrassing."
Topper let his eyes linger on his sister for a moment before looking ahead of him where Rafe and Sarah drove by in their golf cart. The Cameron sibling tossed them a wave in greeting while the Thornton siblings nodded in response. Topper grin began to grow, and he spun on the sole of his foot to walk backward in front of his sister.
"Oh, I know, I know who it is," he said confidently.
Y/n snorted, amused to hear what Topper would pull out of his sleeve. No one would ever know who she had eyes for. She even tried to deny it herself—several times. "Do you now?" she nodded along with his game.
"Yup."
"Shoot then, wise guy."
"It's Rafe, isn't it?"
Y/n nearly choked on her saliva, and she passed her brother a bewildered look. "What- No! Absolutely not." she gasped, shoving him in the chest but to no avail as he stayed standing and laughed heartily at his sister's attempt to knock him down.
"What's wrong with Rafe?" he chuckled teasingly, prodding her on the rib, and opted to walk by her side again.
Once they arrived at his car, she kept her hand on the passenger side handle and glared at her brother through the windows as he stood on the other side. "Should I start alphabetically or chronologically?" she smiled caustically, and Topper mirrored her expression once he unlocked the car, and the two climbed inside.
She thought the discussion had dropped once they shut the doors, and the engine roared to life. But Topper pestered on with his investigation.
"Is it Kelce?"
"Nope." she sighed deeply, resting her head back, irritated he wouldn't drop it. She was saddened that he would never guess the name even if he listed off all the boys on the island.
He tapped his finger anxiously on the steering wheel. "Jeremy from your AP classes?"
"No, Topper."
"Whatever," he huffed in defeat, "I'll find out eventually! Don't you worry."
No, you won't, she thought, letting her eyes draw to the trees in passing. If Topper weren't so concentrated on the dark road ahead, he would have seen the frown that made permanent residence on his sister's face the rest of the ride home. He would have even caught a glimpse of the sole tear that rolled down her cheeks as she thought of the one person she could never have and the one person no one could know she wanted.
___
Adjusting her straightened hair in the mirror that was magnetized in the back of her locker, y/n's mind was reeling with all the duties she had ahead of her. She had a council meeting next period, and she hasn't even gotten her notes in order. Sarah Cameron was leaning against her locker that resided next to y/n, worry pooling in her eyes as she watched her run her hands through her hair for the hundredth time since they've been standing there.
"If you keep stressing your hair like that, it's gonna fall out." Sarah pointed out, leaning her head against the cold metal, and tucked a blonde strand behind her ear.
Y/n shook her head, rubbing her temple with the tip of her fingers. "Sarah, I've been up all. night." she emphases, slamming her locker shut with more force than she intended and turned to her friend, the creases on her forehead prominent. "All night, trying to accommodate everything, and even then, I doubt Trevor will be satisfied. Such a pain my ass, I swear.."
"Stop beating yourself over it, my god. Trever will just have to grow a pair and get over it. You're busy as it is, and he can't expect you to drown yourself in all this crap."
Taking a deep inhale of breath, y/n wrung her hands to rid of the nerves. "Okay, how do I look? Head of the student council worthy?" she padded down the uniform skirt that barely reached past her fings while Sarah tugged on the lapels of her navy blue blazer, her eyes scanning her golden brooch that was pinned to the side.
"You're a babe y/n. Of course, you look good! Also, I was thinking after school we could stop by Scarlet's..."
A pretty girl walks by my locker
my heart gives a flutter
but I don't dare utter a word
cause that would be absurd behavior
for little miss perfect.
Sarah's words are slowly drowned out once y/n's eyes catch sight of Kiara Carrera gracefully walking by. Everything slows, and she wasn't sure if it was time slowing down in her favor or if it was her mind, giving her the chance to catch a glimpse of the one true thing that kept y/n going. The one person who she thought about before shutting her eyes and the first thing she smiled about once she woke up.
The way her uniform hugged around her curves—the way her tie was loosened as it draped under the collar of her blouse. Kiara's long brown curls looked especially curlier that day as they bounced past her shoulder with every step. The half updo bun she wore accentuated her oval face perfectly, and it gave more space for y/n to admire her features.
Y/n and Kira have known each other since they both volunteered to watch over a turtle nest back in July. They were both surprised to see each other but nevertheless fell into a smooth rhythm of comfortable conversation. The whole night was spent naming all the baby sea turtles after star constellations that they thought fit their personality. They snuggled close for the majority of the night after Kiara ran to Haywards with a spare key to grab a few snacks to help them survive the night. The cool night air was becoming overwhelming, so they decided to keep up the chattering to distract themselves.
Y/n took this as two girls blossoming a newfound friendship, but it was when Kiara began to speak that really sparked her interest. But the funny thing was, it wasn't something specific. It was everything she was saying. Kiara spoke of her passion for music, her friends, the environment, her dreams, and hopes. She spoke so gracefully that it drew y/n in more and more like a siren thirsty for water. Before she fell in love with Kiara, she fell in love with her words. Her free spirit. Her aura of happiness that drew people in for more. More of the words that trickled from her plump lips light honey. Something so sweet that y/n craved more than anything.
While she was fawning over the girl as she spoke animatedly about her passion for surfing, a crack was heard from the turtle nest. Racing to look over the small hole with flashlights, radiant smiles colored both girls' features, seeing the sand cave in as little baby sea turtles began crawling from their shells.
For a brief moment, Kira gazed upward to see Y/n eyes glowing with the light and smiled. She loved how carefree she seemed away from the strict counsel of her stepmother. The Thornton name was a heavy crown to bear, and she admired y/n for carrying it so effortlessly. And at this moment, Kiara couldn't help but blush when strands of y/n's hair began to fall near her cheek, and she wanted so badly to brush them away. But she was knocked from her thoughts once she noticed the girl hustling around to clear the area for the turtles to move.
The rest of the night was spent encouraging the turtles as they made their way toward the water and protecting them from possible predators.
"Fuck off, crab!" Kiara shouted, picking up a branch from the sand and poking at a hard exterior near one of the turtles.
"Kie that a rock! Focus!' y/n whispered harshly, afraid she would scare the baby turtles as they paddled down the sand path they created for them that led to the water.
"Shit, you're right-- oh my god its Aries!" Kiara exclaimed, flashing her light down at a turtle that was speeding ahead of the rest.
Y/n quirked a brow, 'How could you possibly know? That could be Sagittarius for all we know."
Kie scoured her flashlight toward her, nearly blinding y/n from the abrupt light assault. "What? No way! That is so Aries, I mean, look at how he's showin off and struttin and being a baddie!" Kie then shined her light toward the hole where the last baby turtle flipped out from his nest and slowly moved toward the water. "That is Sagittarius. The lazy bitch."
"Hey, don't call the turtle bitches-- oh my god, Kiara, a crab!"
"Where!?"
After seeing the sea turtles to safety, Kira and y/n walked a mile to the Wreck, babbling loudly, not caring if the residents shut them up. They were just so happy to be in each other's company. The night ended with the girls eating a couple of plates stacked with truffle fries and a carton of ice cream while diving into more in-depth topics. They cried, laughed, and then cried some more before falling asleep on each other's shoulder in a booth. Mr. Carerra came in the next morning and sent them back to Kiara's house where they all but threw themselves on her bed in the comfort of her thick, warm blankets.
After that, the two would hang out every chance they got, even if there was an unspoken spark hovering between them like a magnet. It brought them closer, but as soon as they dared to think of each other as more than friends, they repelled.
Though they spoke of everything, they never mentioned how they fell asleep with their hands intertwined under the blankets.
Y/n breathed hitched once those almond eyes met hers, and the smile she passed her way was at par with the brightness of the sun. It warmed every part of her being, making her heart melt in an instant. Kiara's smile could light up a room; everyone knows that. But what they can't see is that she lights y/n up inside completely that every difficulty of loving her disappears. Every crevice of doubt. Every corner of insecurity. Ever crack of self-loathing. Kiara Carrera filled those spaces so selflessly, and all it took was a smile.
"Crush" was such an infantile word. But if that's what Topper wanted to call it, then yes, she had a crush on Kiara Carrera.
No, I can't risk falling off my throne,
Love is something you don't even know.
Two hands swaying in front of her face made her vision dizzy once she came back to reality and looked to Sarah, who looked relieved to finally grasp her attention.
"Dude bell rang. You ready?" she asked.
Y/n faked a smile before lifting her head a bit higher once Kira passed her and disappeared from sight. "Um yeah--yeah, I'm ready. Let's go."
Sarah looped her arm with hers, and the two girls moved down the hall. Sarah felt the stiffness in her friend's arm and tilted her head with furrowed brows. "You okay?" she inquired softly with a smile.
"Just lost in thought is all," y/n, sighed, sucking on her bottom lips as she cast her eyes to her shoes.
"Must be unfamiliar territory then." Sarah laughed, giving her a playful shove, bringing y/n to bashfully shake her head at the compliment. "Now chin up, let's show Trevor, who's boss."
Once again, she let her thoughts of Kiara settle in a little corner of her brain, not to be touched until necessary, and went about her day.
Straight hair, straight A's, straight forward
Straight girl
Little miss perfect
that's me
One night my friend's stayed over
We laughed and drink and ordered
Something about her drew me in
What? It's totally platonic
"That is such a lie, Sarah, and you know it!" Y/n muffled around a bite of potato chips. She had called out her blonde friend, who rests her back against her bed's headboard while in a heated game of Kiss, Marry, Kill.
"What is so wrong about the order? It seems fine!" Sarah hiccuped after taking a swig of the large bottle of wine Kiara brought from home. She was currently sitting next to y/n; they're shoulders pressing together as they evened their weight on each other.
"Seriously. Marry Pope, kiss John B, and kill JJ? Where's the favor in that!" Kiara questioned with a shake of her head.
"Hey, Pope is superior." Y/n reminded her as she pointed toward Kiara with the loose finger that wasn't gripping the neck of the wine bottle. She tossed her head back and let the sweet, pungent taste burn her throat.
"Well, of course, he is, that answer is fine but c'mon! Kiss JJ and Kill John B! Simple." Kiara said, letting her thumb wipe off a drip of wine that rested on y/n chin. Too dazzled with a fascination with the spinning fan above her, Sarah didn't notice the lingering glances happening between Kie and Y/n.
Their eyes stayed glued, and Kiara smirked as a blush crept up y/n cheek. She brought her thumb to her lips and tasted the wine that didn't make it into y/n mouth before turning back to Sarah.
"JB is my boyfriend, Kie!" Sarah whined, lightly kicking her legs in a pout with her eyes squeezed shut, the onset of a headache beginning to rack her brain.
"You and John B are a literal walking hallmark movie!" Y/n told her with irritation lacing her tone. "I think he'll understand that you picked JJ over him in a game!"
"But...but -but I - I love jombee," Sarah slurred moments before a silent sob broke her lungs.
Kiara and Y/n both groaned in unison, disregarding how emotional Sarah got after too much drinking. "Pass me the damn bottle," Kira demanded with a roll of her eyes.
"Yes, ma'am," y/n replied.
That night was so exciting
Her smirks were so enticing
Hours speed by like seconds
Then, what happens is iconic
She takes a sip, I bite my lip
she tells a joke, I nearly choke
she braids my hair, I sit there
blacking out for the first time
With her straight hair now pulled back into a loose french braid made by the one and only Kiara, the two decided upon a game of never have I ever. After consoling Sarah for god knows what, the blonde fell asleep, leaving Kiara and y/n to sit at the end of the bed.
"Never have I ever called a turtle a bitch." Y/n narrowed her eyes, sitting on the balls of her feet, waiting for Kiara to drink from the wine bottle.
Kiara threw her head back, and a groan erupted from her chest while her loose, curly hair brushed past her shoulder. "Would you let that go? You know I love those turtles!" Kiara said, sipping the wine from the space in front of her as she sits criss-cross.
Her eyes flickered around the bottle, meeting y/n eyes for a moment, making her bite her lip and look down at her fiddling hands that rested in her lap.
"I don't think Sagittarius appreciated being insulted. He was just taking his time." y/n said, finally looking back up to see Kie handing her the bottle.
"At least I didn't forget their names! What kind of mother are you?" Kie chuckled, her fingers lining the edge of her oversized yellow t-shirt that covered her gray shorts.
Y/n's lips parted, and shrugged her shoulders aggressively. "We named them when they haven't even hatched yet! Can you blame me for getting confused?"
Kiara's face was reddened by the second as a sudden laugh surpassed her lips. "A mother always knows." she chuckled.
With her eyes fluttered shut, y/n took this time to admire her once again. She watched her selfishly like no one else should have the honor of seeing Kiara in such a lighthearted state where only the two of them could be alone. Nothing was really funny about what she had said, but if she could hear her adorable snort, she didn't mind. She had a laugh like shattering glass, something you want to get so close to, but y/n was sure she would get cut with the shards.
"Right because you are so mother oriented." y/n mumbled, watching as Kiara calmed down and steadied her breathing; she brushed some hair from her face and settled down until her eyes caught y/n's. She could see wind stirred waves in her eyes. If one were brave enough to enter their depths, all else would blur, and you'd fall so deep in love that you'd choose to stay there no matter what.
Y/n was not sure what took over her. It must have been the ambiance of silence, but she couldn't take her eyes off Kiara's wet lips that had just consumed the wine. Uncertainty flooded Kiara's eyes as Y/n hesitantly moved forward, then gently cupped her jaw in her hands and pressed her lips against her lips. Kiara stayed frozen in place, her hands raised around y/n silhouette that was slightly hovering over her like she was afraid to touch her. Because if she touched her, then it made it real. But she wasn't pushing her away, and she didn't know why.
The kiss was innocent, new, an unknown territory that y/n was afraid to tread until now. All the expectations placed upon her to be the model daughter disappeared with Kiara Carrera. The perfect girl her mother wanted was defying everything society said was wrong. But if it was so wrong, why did she feel Kiara's hands touch her waist and kiss her back? The taste of wine was exchanged between their sweet kiss and shared breath. So sweet and savory like honey, but once Y/n pulled away and opened her eyes, her heart shattered like glass. As if what she had just done destroyed her whole being. The glass cut deep like she touched something that she shouldn't have, and now she was paying for it.
Next thing I know, I lose control
I finally kiss her, but oh no
I see a face in my window
then my brain starts to go
She saw her reflection. She saw herself. The reflection of someone she didn't recognize, and she felt an ache in her heart once she met Kiara's eyes again. At that moment, they both seemed to realize what they had done and quickly moved away from one another, standing up to face each other on either side of the bed.
No, you can't risk falling off your throne
Love
Is something you don't even know
Thunder rumbled in the sky, the clouds grayed and shifted the cold air into a moist, dewy atmosphere. Rain droplets raced down y/n umbrella, creating a curtain of water around her body as she stood barefoot at the beach. Her mind was lulled with last night's events, and she hated herself for driving Kiara away. Y/n eyes observed each raindrop like a kaleidoscope. She wondered if she could stop time just one last time, to suspend this watery gift and peek through each one. Perhaps it would be fun to sit inside one of those raindrops and take the gravity propelled ride to the earth. Maybe then, she would be able to melt away into nothingness.
She let her hands stretch out from the safety of her blue umbrella and felt the cold rain soak over her hand. Her eyes gloss over with unshed tears, thinking of the night with Kiara on the beach. Oh, how she wishes she could do it over, just to have on a normal night like that again.
The shifting of sand beside her pulled her from her thoughts, and she stiffened once she caught a glimpse of Kiara's curly hair beside her, holding her own yellow umbrella.
The sound of gentle rain upon the surface shielding their head is all that filled the air. That's what kept y/n from crying once Kiara began to speak.
"We can still be friends y/n."
The words hit her like a ton of bricks, and she didn't care when a warm tear slid down her cheek.
"Okay," she mumbles in response, not believing herself to say anymore. She would surely break down, and she couldn't hurt Kiara like that. Not when she cornered her in a difficult situation.
She could hear Kiara sniffle, and she faced her quickly. "I'm sorry, Yn. You have no idea how sorry I am, but-- I just can't do it."
Y/n chin wobbled, and she quickly bit down on her lip before a whimper could escape. "It's okay," she murmured with a crack in her voice.
That crack nearly broke Kiara in her entirely, and she nearly reached out to touch her arm but stopped.
"Y/n/n, please say something else," Kiara was now crying, her almond eyes looking darker, and the frown on her lips broke y/n's whole being. "Just say something to make me stay. And I will, but I have to hear it from you first."
Y/n let in a shaky breath and finally found the courage to look at Kiara. She tilted her head, a sad smile presenting itself on her quivering lips. "What is it worth if I can't tell everyone else that I love you, Kiara?"
Both girls stood silent, and the decision was made. Hours passed, and a lonesome blue umbrella stayed put on the beach while the yellow one was long gone. Once she was sure Kiara was gone, Y/n dropped the umbrella from her shaking hands and let the sob she held rack her body. She clapped a hand over her mouth to quiet the scream she wanted to let erupt. Holding her body, she let the rain drown out her cries and felt the memory of Kiara's lips be consumed by the raindrops to melt away into the earth.
Rewind, induce amnesia
Deny the truth it easier
You're just confused, believe her
When she says there's nothing there
It's never worth it
When you're little miss perfect.
@pogueszn @mdlyncline @cordeliascrown @acvross-the-universe
@x-lulu @bricksatanakinswindow @ponyboys-sunsets @kaitieskidmore1 @casper17 @moonshinerbynight @illbesafeforyou @crxstalreeds
#outer banks#obx fanfiction#obx cast#obx x reader#obx#obx kiara#obx kie#outer banks fic#outerbanks x you#outer banks x reader#outer banks angst#angst.#kiara carrera#kiara outer banks#kiara x y/n#kiara x reader#sarah obx#sarah cameron#topper thornton
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Little Kestrel (Part 7)[Birds of Different Feathers Series]
Fandom: Sanders Sides
Relationships: Logan & Patton & Virgil (future Virgil/Patton but not in this story)
Characters:
Main: Logan, Patton, Virgil
Appear: Thomas
Mentioned: Janus
Summary:
It was supposed to be a quick job either way. Either Virgil would assassinate King Thomas of Prijaznia or he’d be caught and get executed. Yet, when Virgil gets the wrong bedroom and gets caught by Prince Logan and his future royal advisor, Patton, the job ends up getting way more complicated for the 14-year-old. He also ends up sleeping in a (actually pretty comfortable) closet for a few weeks…
Notes: Implied/referenced child abuse, assassination attempt, knives, torture mentioned, captivity, teenagers being really dumb
This is a prequel to Kill Dear. I wrote it 100 words at a time on my blog, but this is the edited version. If you want to see how it was crafted, look at the tag proofread stories.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Logan placed a spoon in one of the boiling pots in front of him so he could get a better look at the liquid. It looked dark enough, but he leaned forward to taste it just to be sure. At the moment, it was basically just mint and lavender tea with a couple of extras. Satisfied with it, he slowly poured it into the slightly simmering larger pot in front of him and stirred it a few times clockwise. The pot glowed a soft purple when he took the spoon out.
He glanced into the other small pot and saw that the liquid there was starting to thicken. It wasn’t quite at the honey consistency he needed it to be yet, but it was on track.
Then, he glanced up at his guest. Virgil had clearly been watching him but looked away quickly when Logan turned to him. Logan studied him for a few more moments. He looked almost sickly in the light of day, like he’d shatter in a stiff wind. Yet, somehow, this was the assassin sent to kill a king? He was an enigma.
Logan turned his attention to the binding potion still simmering on the other table. Virgil cowered slightly as Logan walked by him to check on it. He certainly did startle easy. It was another piece to a concerning puzzle.
The binding potion was coming along well. He stirred it slowly a few times and carefully rinsed off the spoon, so it didn’t get anywhere he didn’t want it before laying it back down. He checked the open book next to it and compared the color to the chart in it. It would need at least an hour or so more before it could be used, but it would be a much better solution to the one that basically glued Virgil’s hands to a chair.
He walked back over to the other potion’s station to start cleaning up his supplies.
He had some herbs that he hadn’t used and stuck a mint leaf in his mouth as he returned them to their correct containers. There was a small wedge of honeycomb left on the plate that he’d cut it on. Without even really thinking about it, he cut the honeycomb into to equal parts with the plan to offer half of it to the other presence in the room. He paused and looked up at said other presence who looked down at his lap quickly.
“Would you like half?” he asked. Virgil looked back up at him, hesitance in his eyes. “You can pick which half each of us eats,” Logan offered.
Virgil nodded slowly and Logan rounded the table with the plate. “Left or right?” Logan asked.
“…Left.”
Logan nodded and went ahead and stuck the right piece in his own mouth before offering the left piece. Virgil parted his lips and Logan popped it into his mouth. Logan almost laughed at the expression that crossed his face as he started to chew. He imagined this is what people were talking about when they mentioned feeding babies different foods for the first time. His eyes went wide, and he blinked a couple of times before chewing a bit faster. Logan smiled at him and took the plate back around to the other side of the table.
The liquid in the second pot had gotten thicker now, and he stirred it carefully a few times before deciding it was finished. He then turned off the heat and quickly scrapped the sticky substance into the main pot. The purple liquid that had been in the pot slowly turned golden as he counted the number of times he stirred clockwise and then began to sparkle as he stirred it a few times counterclockwise. Once he was finished, he turned off the heat under the pot and wandered over to the case that held empty jars.
He grabbed one of the liter ones, and while he waited for the potion to cool, he measured and marked the container with 30 careful lines. The consumer did not need to take an exact amount every day which is why he didn’t bother with separate containers, but for maximum benefit it should generally be about 40ml for the first 10 days and 30ml after that. The lines should help them keep track.
He walked back over to the potion once that was done and placed a funnel into the opening so he could pour it into the marked container. The liquid filled the container a bit higher than 40ml above the top line but having a bit extra the first day wouldn’t harm him.
He looked to Virgil who was watching him with suddenly very wary eyes. He rounded the potion’s station and approached him slowly, hoping not to startle him when he already seemed rather skittish. “Okay, Virgil,” he said. “I’m going to need you to drink this. It’s a…”
“No.”
“W-what?”
“No,” his eyes were locked on the container in Logan’s hand and he shook his head back and forth. “Please no.”
“I assure you, it isn’t poison,” Logan said. “I will even test it myself.” Yet, he was acting differently than he had with the food. He’d begun to shake and cry as he continued to shake his head.
Oh dear. Logan grimaced and set down the potion. He glanced at the door very much hoping that Patton would come through it in the next few seconds, but he did not. “What is…” Logan said. “What is wrong?”
“Please don’t,” he said. “Please. Can’t. No.”
Logan wrung his hands and then went to his knees in front of the hyperventilating boy. He tried to place a comforting hand on his knee, but he flinched violently, and Logan removed his hand quickly. He dithered, unsure what to do as the boy continued to heave with sobs.
“I am not adept with discerning feelings. Please communicate with me verbally.”
He did not seem inclined to capitulate, making pitiful upset sounds that Logan could not determine the meanings of.
“Please, no, hurts,” he said.
“You think it will hurt you?” Logan asked with a frown. “It won’t hurt you Virgil. The purpose of that potion is quite the opposite.”
He either did not hear Logan or did not register what he said. “Please,” he begged. “I’ll be good. I won’t even move. Please.”
Won’t move? Logan glanced over at the other potion still simmering at its station. “Do you think this is a binding potion?” he asked. “Why on Earth would I be offering you a binding potion to drink?” Yet, Logan watched as he shook and cried, eyes not quite focused on Logan but on something else that wasn’t there. “Did,” Logan with dawning horror. “Did someone feed you a binding potion?”
Logan had once accidently gotten some of a binding potion he was making on his hand. It had stung like a thousand small bees had attacked one area of his skin, and it was only made worse by the fact that even that small amount had kept him trapped in place for hours. Binding potions were sticky. They were difficult to remove. Even after the counter potion had been applied, he’d still felt a bit of an ache when he moved it for the next week or so. It’s why one was never supposed to apply it directly to a person’s skin.
Who would make someone drink that? Beyond the assured agony and full body paralysis, it could easily kill someone. If not cooked properly, it was literally poison and even if it was perfect, there was still the possibility that it would freeze a person’s lungs, heart, or any other number of internal organs. If someone had fed Virgil a binding potion (and while he was no expert on facial expressions, the one currently on his face made Logan sure that someone had) they had little regard for his life.
Logan tired his best to soften his expression and tone. “Hey Virgil,” he said. “It’s okay. I won’t force you to drink anything. It’s not a binding potion, but I won’t make you drink it anyway.” It took him a bit to calm down as Logan continued to give him soft assurances, but finally his breaths started to even out. “Are you alright?” Logan asked.
Virgil nodded after a moment.
“Good.” He waited for a few minutes for Virgil to calm down even more before he said anything else. “I will not make you drink any potions,” Logan promised. “Though, if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to explain the option of drinking the one I prepared.”
He gave Logan a suspicious blink, but he didn’t seem inclined to have another fit at the sentiment.
“It is not a binding potion,” Logan started with. “I am making one for you, but I have no intention of having you consume it. What I was offering to you is medicinal. Both Patton and I noted that you seem unhealthy and likely malnourished. While nothing can reverse the effects of malnutrition completely, the potion I made would help prevent many future problems as well as let your body acclimate to a more nutritious diet easier.”
Virgil squinted at him. “Why?” he asked. “I’m your prisoner. Why would you want to help me?”
“You are my prisoner which means you are under my care,” Logan said. “I will not abide by your suffering if I can prevent it. That being said, if drinking the potion causes you undue mental distress, I will not force it upon you.”
Virgil studied him, eyes hard and suspicious, but his words were tentative when they came. “Does it hurt bad?” he asked.
“It doesn’t hurt at all,” Logan promised. “Allow me to demonstrate for you?” He nodded and Logan stood to retrieve the potion.
Logan placed his thumb over the lid of the container and tilted it until he felt the liquid hit his skin. He pulled his hand away and showed Virgil the notable drops of liquid on his thumb before opening his mouth and clearly placing it on his tongue. “It mostly tastes like the honey I put in it,” he told him, “plus a bit of lavender and mint. It does have a slightly sour aftertaste, but overall, it’s fine. How about just a small amount to start and then you can decide if you want to drink the rest of the dose for the day?”
“Okay,” Virgil agreed.
“I’m going to put this bottle to your lips. You can take as little as you wish.” Virgil nodded and Logan leaned forward and pressed the container to his mouth. Virgil kept his lips firmly closed as Logan titled it up briefly before taking it away. Virgil’s tongue came out to swipe up a bit of the liquid on his lips. He seemed to brace himself as he waited for something to happen, but he calmed after a few moments.
“Oh,” he said. “That’s not bad.”
“It is not intended to be,” Logan said. “Would you be willing to drink a bit more?”
Want to read more? Click below!
AO3 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15
#sanders sides#logan sanders#patton sanders#virgil sanders#character thomas sanders#adriana writes#little kestrel#birds of different feathers#implied/referenced child abuse#assassination attempt#past torture#captivity
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Title: Fear & Loving in Devildom, Part 2 Pairing: Belphegor x female!MC Rating: M for discussions of mature themes Summary: Belphie is guilt-ridden, but also horny. Funny how often those two things coincide when you catch feels for the girl you killed. Notes: Yet another follow up to my Belphegor fics- A “maybe”, On the Way to a “Yes” and Fear & Loving in Devildom, Part 1
Belphegor had slept through the lunch break, arms folded over his desk as he breathed in deeply and even. He’d been sleeping very well lately. He always slept well, but there was something particular satisfying of late. In fact, his entire mood had been improved, even Beel remarking on how he was spending less time tormenting Levi and “stirring up shit” between Lucifer and Satan.
Half awake, he turned his cheek into his arm and heft a contented sigh before letting his mind go soft and blank.
A heavy weight abruptly draped over him, a chin digging into his back.
“Hey. You think you could knock me up? Being different species I was thinkin’ no, but then I realized I don’t actually know.”
God help him.
Belphegor didn’t respond, trying to fake being asleep now as his moment of peace slowly drifted away. Her weight disappeared and he watched her through half closed lids as she puffed out her stomach and rubbed a hand over it.
“We can name it Damien!”
“Please don’t insinuate our love child would be the anti-christ.” He said, voice muffled.
She laughed, puffing out the breath she was holding. She crouched down by his desk, forcing him to make room as she rested her own arms over the surface and meeting his eyes.
“Have I worn you out?” She asked smugly.
“No, but it would appear you are ‘reforming’ me.”
“I heard. Beel was saying you’ve been in a spectacularly good mood. Can’t imagine who is responsible for that miracle.”
She winked. Belphegor said nothing and opted to just watch her smile and be frustratingly beautiful.
“So whatcha think? Should we like, do the tried and true pull-out method from here on or invest in some condoms?”
“No complaints to pull out. I would like to see you on your knees like this, your face covered in my—“
At that moment, the door opened as a rabble of RAD students came pouring in. Lucifer among them. The eldest eyes had immediately settled on them upon his entering.
“— affection.” Belphegor finished.
She practically beamed as she snickered. He hid his face in his arms to avoid having to greet Lucifer as he made his way over to them. She stood up straight, fluffing out her skirt as she grinned up at him.
“Are you feeling well now? I was informed you took a sick day this week.” Lucifer said, his deep voice smooth and soft with genuine concern. Belphegor fisted his own sleeve beneath his hand.
“Oh— yeah. I’m fine now. Just had a bit of a cold. Probably not even a cold! Probably allergies.”
More like she’d been so sore from the perfectly thorough fucking he had given her, she could barely move her legs. Belphegor’s smile was hidden from sight.
“You should wear a face mask when you’re outside.” Lucifer said, half reprimanding.
“I will! No worries, I will take care of myself.”
Belphegor hated how sweetly she spoke to Lucifer, bouncy and light. It was the same way she talked to everyone but still, he hated it. Despite that, he would never try and crush that spark in her. She was a social butterfly and that charm was part of why he loved her. She had a light in her that drew in everyone like moths to the flame… he could hardly blame them for wanting to bask in this little sun here in Devildom.
Lucifer must have nodded, because their conversation stopped and he heard his footsteps fading away. She crouched down again, voice a whisper.
“What were you saying there? Something about covering me in your affections?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She smiled, wicked and amused before finally the teacher arrived and she had to go back to her own seat.
—
Belphegor didn’t care much to keep their growing relationship a secret from his brothers, but deferred to her wishes. She wanted to keep the “peace” for now, until she had time to properly show they were a couple. Belphegor was certain Beel had suspicions, if not just downright knew about them. Others who had likely tuned in were Asmo and Satan, one simply because of his intelligence and observation skills, the other because he probably could sense the change in the air by pheromones or some wacky Lust based shit.
No one had displayed too much objection to their spending time together except for Mammon, but that was to be expected. Mammon loved her. He loved her the way Belphegor loved Lilith. Devoted, but familial. This fact had kept Belphegor from glaring too many daggers Mammon’s way when she went off to hang out with him and play model at Majolish… or the fact that every other Devilgram selfie she posted seemed to include Mammon.
Jealousy still coldly laced its way through Belphegor’s blood sometimes, but despite himself, he knew she loved Mammon too. He was her first man, her best friend. There were things he could never replaced that Mammon gave her… but he reminded himself, there were things he gave her that Mammon definitely did not. The sound of her voice and the touch of her body, welcome and inhibited was all Belphegor’s. It was childish perhaps, to think of all the things Belphegor had wrung from those lips, all the things he had sparked in her heart that Mammon did not… but it calmed the beast in his chest.
After class, he had expected to find her waiting, but instead found the person he least wanted to speak to.
Lucifer gestured to him, waving his index and middle finger to beckon. Belphegor’s eyes narrowed, but he crossed the hallway at his leisure and came to stand nearby.
“What do you want?”
Lucifer normally would have prickled up at the disrespect, but Belphegor was surprised to find there was not even a trace of indignation in his older brother’s expression.
“I need to speak with you. Come with me.”
Any of the other brother’s would have felt anxiety at this no doubt, except maybe for Satan. Belphegor merely frowned.
“Do you remember what happened the last time you asked me somewhere to talk?”
Lucifer sighed, “Would you like to bring Beel with you?”
That… was not what he expected. A reprimand, a threat or a repetition of his demand? All possibilities. This? Not so much.
“I don’t need a sitter.”
“Then come along.”
Belphegor knew better than to try and force out a “please”.
—
It didn’t take long for Belphegor to recognize where they were going. Diavolo’s office. Thankfully, the room was devoid of Diavolo or his little servant, Barbatos.
“Why here?”
“Privacy.” Lucifer answered, leaning against the edge of Diavolo’s desk. It seemed even he wouldn’t presume to sit in Diavolo’s chair.
Belphegor noted Lucifer gesture for him to sit in one of the plush chairs before the desk, but Belphegor, despite himself, elected to stand.
“This is all wonderfully morbid, but if you could get to the point…”
“I have tolerated your cheek until present because… of the situation. But I would ask that you mind your tongue for the remainder and let me speak. I have questions. I ask you answer them simply and truthfully.”
Belphegor said nothing, fixing Lucifer with a piercing stare. When the silence had stretched out enough to Lucifer’s liking, he spoke again.
“What do you plan to do when she leaves Devildom and returns home?”
“Who-“
“Simply and truthfully.”
Lucifer’s voice was tinged with barely veiled anger. If Belphegor kept pushing him, he’d pop… and on a normal day, that would be a good time in his eyes, but for now Belphegor crossed his arms.
“I will visit her.”
“Frequently?”
“As frequently as possible.”
Lucifer nodded, “And where do you intend to find the energy reserves to propel the glyphs for such frequent trips? You’ll expend your own fast enough.”
“… the others will want to visit her too. We can share the burden.”
“Is that what you want? Visiting her with everyone?”
Belphegor frowned deeper. Sharing the burden would also mean sharing her and her time.
“I’ll make it work.”
“I suppose there is no point in asking if you have already been… intimate with her?”
“Not that it is any of your business, but yeah, Lucifer. I have. I made a pact with her.”
“And now you’re sleeping with her.” Lucifer said, less a question and more a simple disapproving statement.
“We fuck on occasion too.”
“How crass.” Lucifer said, distaste evident in how he wrinkled his nose and furrowed his brow, “So she is simply a means to sate your desires? An object of pleasure?”
“… why are you asking these questions? What is your game?”
“I am protecting her.”
Belphegor laughed, curt and mirthless.
Lucifer continued on unfazed, “You have made a selfish and fatal error. What do you think will come of this? You will break her heart and I will not allow it.”
“I have no intention of hurting her you presumptuous—“
“Your intentions are worthless. She will return to the human realm at the end of the term and there is nothing you or I or anyone can do to stop it! And this entanglement will only serve to prolong her suffering when that day comes! Have you thought nothing about this? What it would mean?”
Belphegor felt his throat seize around his words, keeping them strangled in his throat as he stared at Lucifer, eyes narrowed with growing rage… not all of it for Lucifer.
“… you’re a demon, Belphie.”
He hated hearing that nickname come from Lucifer’s lips, especially when he said it so gently.
“She’s a human. She belongs up there, not here with us.”
“Why did you even bring her in the first place?” Belphegor spoke, his voice raspy and low as he struggled to get out the words, “Why allow Diavolo to do it? I told you… it was a bad idea.”
“Do not pretend you were trying to prevent this. Not when we both know it was hatred that spurred your displeasure at that time… and now? You’re the very reason it has this… complication.”
Belphegor swallowed, tasting acid and feeling something still starting right at the height of his throat, spreading prickles over the roof of his mouth. He… he hadn’t thought about her leaving. He truly hadn’t. It had always felt like something he would have time for later, even as he lamented his “lack of time”. A part of him just… just assumed she would stay.
“What do you want from me? You want me to… what? Break her heart now? Lie to her? Tell her I don’t love her?”
Lucifer stiffened at the word, trying to keep his eyes from giving away his surprise as he met Belphegor’s own. Belphegor was certain he was a pitiful visage and Lucifer seeing it only added an edge to it that made him seem even more a pouting child.
“You love her?”
Belphegor bristled, anger making him quick to speak how he truly felt without a thought, “With every breath I breathe.”
It was Lucifer’s turn to look stunned. The rush died down as quickly as it sprung up, leaving Belphegor slow to speak once again.
“I... tried to keep my distance, but she wore me down… I… I didn’t intend…”
Too much. Belphegor closed that gate up as soon as he opened it, turning his face away from Lucifer’s scrutiny. He wished he could go back to those days, when he was young and full of light and trust and his older brother was someone he could talk to… someone he could confide in.
He’d forgotten himself, but it was only a momentary lapse. Lucifer must have sensed this, because his own demeanor relaxed and his arms fell from where they were crossed over his chest to his sides.
“This… is not a situation I think anyone was prepared for.” Lucifer said at length and Belphegor took it for the olive branch, masked as a non-answer, it was intended to be.
“I would have been remise in my duties as your brother if I did not speak up.”
Belphegor winced, “You picked a hell of a time to start giving a shit about that.”
“I have always ‘given a shit’, Belphegor.”
Ah, he was “Belphegor” again. “Always. You spent so much time with your head up your ass you just can’t see it.”
There was something… fond? In the way Lucifer said that? He even chuckled faintly.
“You’d know all about that.”
Lucifer snorted, “About being a rebellious child? Yes. In fact I do. Mankind wrote a lovely book about it, I suggest giving it a read.”
Belphegor laughed, surprising himself. When did Lucifer get a sense of humor? It did some to ease the tension, but still Belphegor was fairly certain he’d like to be anywhere but here.
“…I suppose I would just ask you be thoughtful to the situation. Understand that this relationship, should you both continue to pursue it, will have obstacles. Many obstacles. I say this to prepare you. And I suggest, if you have not already, you speak of it with her. It is all well and good to enjoy your time together, but at some point… be sure she understands what it means too. And if she is willing to traverse those obstacles with you.”
Lucifer averted his eyes in his usual fashion, looking up and away rather than down. Never down.
“It’s not just her getting hurt I worry about.”
“Ugh, gross.” Belphegor said, rolling his eyes for effect. Lucifer did not look remotely amused.
“I have said what I wanted to say. Though one last bit of advise…don’t be within arm reach when Mammon finds out.”
He flashed a wicked smile. Belphegor scoffed at it before he quickly left the room.
—
Belphegor’s D.D.D. had vibrated a couple times in the office and now looking through it he saw her usual messages, oversaturated with emoji.
03:15
☆*:.。.o(≧▽≦)o.。.:*☆
03:15
class is over!!!
03:16
come join me and Levi, we gonna play games!! (=`ω´=)
03:37
Belphie! didya fall asleep?!
03:43
jus text me when u wake up bb (´ ε ` )♡
04:05
Are you still with Levi?
04:10
yep! u wanna come play????
04:11
I’ll come by. I was talking with Lucifer after class.
04:11
〣( ºΔº )〣
04:12
Don’t worry, it was fine. I’ll be there soon, so wait for me.
04:13
( ̄^ ̄)ゞ
04:14
( ̄▽ ̄)ノ(ºωº )
04:14
is dat u pettin me?!
04:15
Yes, what else would it be?
04:15
(っ˘ω˘ς )
Belphegor found her where she said she would be, perched on the edge of a beanbag chair while playing a racing game against Levi. Given Levi’s attentiveness, she must have been doing well.
“Eh?! Another blue shell?!”
“Goddamn Baby Peach!!” She hissed in reply, clearly neither of them in possession of the dreaded item.
“Back up! Back up!!!”
“I’m trying!!” Levi said in a panic, both attempting to drop far back enough in the race lineup to avoid getting hit. It was too little too late, with the shell colliding into Levi’s character and then she was unable to get back up passed third place. The ending theme played and both of them threw themselves back with a groan.
“Remind me to never let you two drive me anywhere…” Belphegor said, finally getting their attention. Levi frowned, but she? She positively lit up, beaming at him with open delight.
“I gotta go, take me outta this round, Levi.”
“What? Already? I wanted to play a grand prix with you…”
“We can tonight! I’ll come back to play more after dinner, but I got some things I need to do for class and Belphie is helping me out.”
Levi didn’t look entirely convinced, but the promise of more game time coupled with how sweetly she was batting her eyelashes at him was a critical hit.
“Don’t be madddd, please?”
“..o-okay. Later then. Belphie, you should come play too.”
“Yay! We will!” She said, answering for Belphegor. She leaned in and gave Levi a peck on the cheek, sending the otaku directly to cloud nine. Belphegor tried to hide the tight grimace he made at the sight.
When she lifted up her hand for Belphegor to help her up, he was a bit rougher than usual, as if pulling her away from his brother.
“Later.” Belphegor managed and then ushered her out into the hall.
“Quit pushing, ya jerk.” She mumbled, pulling her arm free. Apprehension took the place of her cheerful demeanor, twisting her mouth into a frown.
“What did Lucifer say?” She whispered, looking around to make sure no other brothers were hanging around this part of the house.
“About what you’d expect. He knows about us.”
She clapped her hands over her face, half laughing and half groaning.
“Glad you find the possibility of me getting straight up murdered so funny.” Belphegor said with a chuckle.
“It’s not that! Just… god, I can’t even imagine his face. He must have been so uncomfortable… kinda wish I had been there.”
You love her?
With every breath I breathe.
Belphegor was pretty certain he was glad she wasn’t, the memory of his own words made his face feel hot. He hoped silently that it didn’t show.
“It was dumb. Just telling me to ‘be careful’ and usual Lucifer bullshit.”
“Ohh? Be careful of me? The lusty human exchange student?”
“Bit late for him to be warning me about that.”
She swatted him in the shoulder and Belphegor caught her hand, making a quick look around the hall himself before he pressed her up against a wall and kissed the smirk off her lips. For as sleepy as he was, there was nothing tired in his kiss. Like a spark on matches, one strike and he could feel her body light up.
She giggled incessantly into his mouth, the feeling like pop rocks of mirth and joy within his very soul. No matter how hard he kissed her or how he pressed his tongue against her own, still she was ever sparkling and noisy.
When he drew back she gave him one last tiny lick to his bottom lip, an enticement, but Belphegor restrained himself for now.
“…he also mentioned the end of the year is coming up.”
And just like that, her spark began to fade, settling unto the back burner as her expression softened to one of almost veiled disappointment. He knew it was the carefreeness she was disappointed to lose, but even she had to be serious sometimes.
“So?”
“…So?” Belphie repeated, eyebrow raising slightly.
“Yeah, so what?” She said, “I’ve already decided. I’m not going back.”
Now it was Belphegor’s turn to look snuffed out, drawing back and looking at her with a frown. He said her name gently and then, “…Diavolo isn’t going to give you a choice.”
“That’s such bullshit,” she seethed, voice rising, “…I’ll visit then. I’ll visit all the time.”
“How? You aren’t a witch.”
“Solomon maybe. Something. Maybe Mammon will tell me where his witches are!”
“You’re not making a deal with witches when you have pacts with us.” Belphegor said with an edge of warning, protectiveness coming out of him in an almost oppressive wave. There was just a hint of sulfur on the air.
“So… so then you’ll come visit! ...right?”
The way she said it, so uncertain, hesitant and unassuming… as if she genuinely believed there was a possibility the answer would be ‘no’ but was trying in vain to hide it.
“Of course I will.”
“Yeah… yeah, of course. Yeah.”
“Stop that…” he murmured, leaning forward to kiss her cheek and then her forehead.
“What? Stop what?”
“Acting like you didn’t think I would!”
“I’m not acting…” she defended herself with a grumble and Belphegor felt his stomach sink.
“I love you, you belong to me. I would never let you out of my sight for long.” Belphegor said, voice harsh and low so no one but her could hear. Whenever he said those words they were never gentle, but earnest and firm, as if he were still trying to convince her… and he could hardly be blamed with how shocked she seemed each time he said it.
It had nothing to do with Belphegor, this was something in her own thoughts and heart that made her worry such affections couldn’t possible be directed at her. Belphegor snaked his arms around her, pulling her in close enough that he could press his forehead to hers, his hands laced together and resting against her lower back.
After a moment and a soft sigh, she lifted her arms up around his neck and pressed back hard enough that Belphegor muttered a half-hearted “ow” as she dug her own forehead into his.
It felt so safe, so warm and secure in his arms… his entire body had relaxed beneath her own touch and together they enjoyed the brief reprieve from the stress and far away worry of her departure.
Belphegor’s eyes were getting heavy, lids falling and fluttering as he fought back the urge to fall forward into her and just let himself dose, wrapped up in her scent.
“… we’ll figure it out when we get to that point.” She said at length. Belphegor mumbled an agreement and did finally move to sink his forehead against the crook of her neck, huffing a heavy contented sigh. The wall behind her kept them upright, but she batted at his back after a moment.
“You’re smashing me.”
“You never complained before.”
“Different kind of smashing!”
Belphegor chuckled darkly, but even she knew there was no chance of him finding the energy for such activities anytime soon. His avatar was claiming its needed afternoon nap and the aura was enough to make even her feel a sudden need to sleep.
“Attic nap time?”
“Mmhm, yes.” Belphegor said, more than happy to retreat to their private world away from the rest of the House of Lamentation. It was strange how a prison had now become a refuge, a sanctuary where nothing mattered… just him… and her.
She yelped in shock when he bent down and scooped her up with ease. She locked her arms tighter around his shoulders and her legs around his waist as his hands gripped under her thighs.
She giggled, releasing some of her hold with her legs so she could give them a few girlish kicks.
“Don’t make me drop you… I’m not as strong as Beel.”
Belphegor wouldn’t, of course. His strength far surpassed a human and carrying her felt like carrying nearly nothing at all… except for just the slight edge of heaviness in his own limbs from tiredness. Regardless, his words got her to tighten her legs around his waist again, a sensation he greatly enjoyed.
“Take me to bed or lose me forever.” She said, quiet and giggling by his ear.
Belphegor snorted, but he knew the follow up line from the human film well enough now.
“Show me the way home.”
#shall we date obey me#obey me fanfic#obey me belphegor#obey me belphegor x mc#lil bit of srs and then a lil bit of fluff#obey me fanfiction#obey me shall we date
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Your Rainbow Will Coming Smiling Through
A Michael Clifford One Shot
Pairing: Single Dad!Michael Clifford & OC Zoey Clifford
Word count: 4.8K
Rating: Mostly fluff with a side of angst
Requested by: Absolutely not a goddamn soul. I’m just here to be soft n emo, I guess.
Content: 3rd person POV, OC Zoey as Michael’s daughter, major character death (main character’s spouse is dead), side of Malum because I couldn’t help myself
A/N: This is based on Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Cinderella” and it’s lived in my head for a long time. The title is based on lyrics from “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Disney’s Cinderella. I don’t normally engage with a lot of dad!sos content for personal reasons, but this idea has lived in my head rent free for far too long so I hope you like it! Big big thank you to @devilatmydoor and @spicycal for encouraging me to get this one done!! It’s only taken me a month lmao
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Feedback is always appreciated! 😊
———
Dinner had been an event. It seemed like it was always an event these days. Pasta noodles and vegetables hung from the walls in the small eat-in kitchen, reminiscent of a Jackson Pollock. Michael let out a deep sigh and ran a hand across his tired face. He’d been so sure that the new recipe would be a hit, but his headstrong three year old had dashed that hope almost immediately. Since quarantine began a few weeks ago, she’d grown bored of staying home and had begun to take her frustrations out on the only other person around. Each day in the modest apartment brought a new challenge but the theme this week was picky eating habits. Michael had tried old favorites, trendy recipes from mommy bloggers, and he’d even let Zoey pick what he bought at the grocery. Honestly, he’d tried anything and everything if he thought it meant she wouldn’t fight him at every meal.
Michael picked up the plates from the table, scraping the few bites that weren’t subjected to his daughter’s wrath into the trashcan by the door. As the dishes landed in the small sink and Michael turned on the tap, he bent forward to rest his forearms on the counter. One glance around the warzone kitchen had tears stinging his eyes. He fought to keep them from falling to no avail, eyes blurring as the droplets got lost in the flowing water and spiraled down the drain.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. We were supposed to be in this together,” Michael’s voice was barely more than a whisper as his thoughts raced and he struggled to compose himself. His voice came out coarse as his frustrated cries hung in the air until it became too thick to breathe in. “It’s been nearly ten months and I’m still no good without you. Zoey’s just like you and I need you here.” He’d hoped setting his thoughts free might ease his mind, but it only made the words weigh heavier on his slumped shoulders. Michael’s pleas were desperate through the sobs. “I wish you were here. You’d know exactly what to do. You always did.” He was barely thirty when he’d been made a widower, carrying the constant grief of a life unlived, seeing a shadow where there should have been a spouse.
He’d been told repeatedly that things would get easier with time but he didn’t think there’d ever be a day where he didn’t need her, didn’t see her in their baby girl. He pulled himself upright with a deep inhale, using the back of his hand to wipe tear stains from his cheeks. Michael couldn’t stop the incessant sniffling brought on by the tears while he continued to take steady breaths through his mouth. He pulled all his focus to wash the few dishes still left from the night and placed them in the drying rack before shutting off the tap. He wrung out the dish towel and began using it to scrub down the mess on the walls. Their dogs seemed to have made quick work of cleaning up the peas that got sprayed across the tiled floor while Michael cleaned up Zoey in the bath and he assumed they’d already made their way to her room.
Through a few small, shaky inhales, he heard a familiar tune playing from the other end of the hallway. After tossing the bits of dinner that he’d pulled off the wall into the bin, he closed the lid and hung the dish towel across the faucet to dry. He quietly made his way to Zoey’s room as the music grew louder, sparing a quick glance in the hall mirror so his disheveled state didn’t alarm Zoey.
He had forgotten that he’d placed an old CD player in her room with several of his old favorites in a small case. Every now and then she liked to listen to his CDs while she played. She usually needed her dad to help her turn it on but it seemed she’d found the play button on her own and begun the same tunes they’d danced to earlier that week. Her curls, still mildly damp from her bath after the messy dinner, bounced around her round face as she spun in circles and giggles fell from her mouth freely. She’d slipped a sparkly dress-up outfit over her pajamas and the matching tiara had almost completely slipped free from her hair. Michael noticed both dogs intently watched from the bed and he let a bittersweet smile tug at his lips while she twirled around the room. Zoey reminded him most of her late mother when she smiled and it made his heart swell, reminding him that she wasn’t completely gone.
When Zoey looked up and noticed him in the doorway, a delighted squeal came from her mouth. “Daddy!! C’mon, I need you! There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited and I need to practice my dancing. Please! Daddy, please!” She wrapped both of her hands around Michael’s fingers and tugged him to the middle of the carpet as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Once she was satisfied with where he stood, she steadied herself and placed her bare feet on top of his shoes, reaching out to grab his other hand. His grip on her was secure as he moved the two of them around merrily, careful not to let her slip from her place on top of his feet. Since losing Zoey’s mom, he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t let the little moments pass him by. He knew that someday, much sooner than he’d like, someone would steal his little girl’s heart away from him but he wanted to cherish every moment until then. Even if it did include meal-time tantrums.
The upbeat track faded out, replaced by soft guitar chords and a sweetly crooning melody. In one smooth motion, Michael lifted Zoey into his arms and began to sway with her. Her petite hand landed against his warm cheek as she met his green eyes. She studied him for a beat before he rested his forehead against hers and let his eyes fall shut. As Michael began to sing along softly, Zoey pulled away from his face and adjusted herself down to rest against his chest. He nuzzled her close and smiled at the memory that her mother had always found a calmness in the way his voice vibrated through his chest as well.
“Love me tender, love me sweet, never let me go. You have made my life complete and I love you so. Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill. For, my darling, I love you and I always will.”
It had been an exhausting evening and it didn’t take long for familiar snores to fill the air from where Zoey rested beneath his chin. He smiled and silently thanked the universe that the last song on the album had been a ballad. Careful not to wake her, he kept a gentle rock in his measured steps as he clicked off the lights through the apartment. Making his way back into her room, he lifted the light blue covers on her small bed while the dogs shifted toward the far end. When he tried to slide her onto the pillow, Zoey’s grip on his shirt tightened and she let out a sleepy groan. Michael shushed her sweetly with a lighthearted laugh and pulled her back into him. He reached down again to pull the covers back further, causing both dogs to move to the floor with a huff, before slipping between them and letting her rest on top of his chest as he stared up at the ceiling. He covered them both and began to hum the sweet melody once more, letting the combination of his voice and heartbeat lull his daughter to sleep again. It wasn’t long before they both drifted off to a much-needed night of rest.
———
With a contented sigh, Zoey placed her new boots on the floor, lining them up to sit below the dress hanging on a singular coat hook on the wall to the right of her closet.
She’d spent nearly every weekend for the past month piled into her dad’s car with her friends, scouring every dress shop in the city. In typical Zoey fashion, she wasn’t interested in an oversized dress with heels that she’d ultimately kick off after the first song played. Somewhere around the fourth store - or maybe fifth? - her friend had shoved her into a fitting room with an understated black a-line they’d picked for her. Though she wasn’t typically a fan of lace or tulle, she knew it was the one she’d spent her time looking for. She knew the lace appliques delicately placed across the neckline would soften up the leather boots and jacket she was already planning to wear.
She pulled one bare foot underneath her and plopped down on her bed, queuing up a lowkey playlist and admiring the outfit she’d put together. She could admit that it was nice to check the prom dress off her to-do list but the centerpiece of the outfit was her mom’s vintage leather jacket. Her dad had gifted it to her years ago, telling her about how excited her mother had been to save up for a real leather jacket and how she’d shopped through every store in the city to find the right one. Not unlike the way he’d seen Zoey searching for the right prom dress.
Of course, Zoey didn’t have many memories of her mom, except for the stories Michael had told her over the years. Somehow, things like her mother’s old leather jacket, still in great condition, made her feel connected to the woman she barely remembered. Zoey often wondered how she could miss someone she couldn’t remember on her own. Maybe some of it was secondhand grief from years of watching her father. Either way, she always felt too nervous to actually wear her mom’s jacket, afraid she’d do something to ruin it, wrecking the already thin tie she had to her. While Michael had always done his best to fill both parental roles, some problems were bigger than he could handle alone. On difficult nights when she needed a mom, Zoey dug the jacket out of the closet and just held it close, hoping to find some guidance from whatever cosmic forces were out there. Now, she’d decided, prom was as good an occasion as any to actually wear it out. It was a big night and she wanted to feel both of her parents there.
As she picked up her laptop to tackle the last few assignments of senior year, Michael’s knuckles rapped on the open door that led to her room. The sound pulled her from her reverie and she glanced up to see her dad in the doorway. Michael, mid-40s, donned large wide-rimmed glasses and his hair was cut short around his face. His natural shade had lightened quite a bit over the years while the ever-present scruff on his chin had taken on shining grey tones. He smiled fondly, taking in the outfit Zoey had put together as it hung on the wall before turning to meet her expectant gaze. Her smile beamed as she questioned, “Do you like it? Do you think Allison will like it? Her dress is baby pink so we’re going to be the least coordinated couple there. But I guess that’s fitting.” A small laugh fell from her mouth as she looked back at the all black ensemble. Michael still heard Zoey’s mom in that laugh and felt a pull in his chest seeing that jacket again. He nodded in response before pointing to the quilted leather. “She’d be so proud of you, you know?” His voice held a tinge of sadness amidst the pride he held for his baby girl.
“No!! No, no no. Don’t cry. You know that only ends with both of us crying!” Zoey slid the laptop to the side and made her way to the man occupying her door frame. He let out a sniffing laugh and shaky breath as she wrapped her arms around him while burying her head in his broad chest. Michael rested his head on top of hers before placing a small kiss on top of her hair. He’d always made sure that she felt safe with him. No matter what was going on elsewhere, it was the two of them versus the world. But damn it all if he didn’t wish that she had her mom here to see the amazing young woman she’d become.
Zoey’s playlist continued quietly and Michael began to rock back and forth as she relaxed into his arms. He knew moments like this would only get harder to come by in a few short weeks. She’d grown up in the blink of an eye, right in front of him. He wanted to keep her close as long as he could. It didn’t matter that dinner was downstairs, getting colder by the minute. Slowly, “Moon River” crept through the speakers and Zoey pulled her head back. “Wait a minute. This is the song we have to dance to,” she whispered. The smile on her face shifted from sweet to teasing and Michael braced for whatever quick-witted remark she had for him. “We gotta work on your moves, old man!” Michael rolled his eyes in response and let out a sarcastic laugh at her words. “Dad, the prom is just one week away and we need to practice our dancing. Please, daddy, please.”
It was custom that each senior waltzed with a parent, or some other guardian, at the very beginning of the prom. Families were only allowed in during this dance and would be ushered out after every group of seniors had taken their turn. Michael and Zoey had been at every after school rehearsal for the past 6 weeks, trying desperately to learn the choreographed steps. Zoey had mastered the box steps with ease. The turning box took a few more tries, but she got it eventually. Michael had taken even more practice though, and she was determined they would perfect the steps before they were in front of all her friends. He didn’t object, not wanting to embarrass her. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Michael stepped further into his daughter’s room, helping her push a few things out of the way as she started the song over and stood tall in her ballroom posture. Michael took small steps but still managed to run into a few things as Zoey coached him through the routine. They made it through to the end of the song unscathed and upright, counting that as a victory.
As Zoey let her rigid posture drop, Michael placed both of his hands on each side of her head, pulling her close again to place another kiss on top of her head. “We’ve got this, Z,” he reassured her. She snaked her arms around to his back as the next song on her playlist began. They stood still in the silence as a familiar voice began to croon through the air. “Do you remember that I used to sing this to you to get you to sleep? It always did the trick after a rough day,” Michael mused as his hands brushed over her hair, reminiscing on days gone by. She leaned back to look up at her dad’s face before answering. “Of course I do! Why do you think I listen to it so often?”
The greying scruff on Michael’s chin made her giggle as it tickled her forehead where he left a kiss. “My sweet girl,” he mused as they began to sway again. She hummed along with the melody before Michael joined in, smooth voice lilting over the recording.
“Love me tender, love me long, take me to your heart. For it’s there that I belong and will never part. Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill. For my darling, I love you and I always will.”
In true Clifford fashion, Zoey’s stomach rumbled through the otherwise quiet bedroom as the next verse began. It sent both of them into a fit of laughter, reminding Michael of the reason he came up to her room in the first place - the dinner waiting downstairs. Zoey stopped her playlist before they made their way to the kitchen, voicing their concerns that the cats had jumped up on the counter to help themselves.
———
Zoey couldn’t help the smile stretched across her full cheeks as she parked her car in front of her father’s home. As she reached for the door handle, her free hand lifted the back of her fiancée’s palm to her cherry chapstick-covered smile and she placed a series of small kisses. Allison’s warm eyes met Zoey’s gaze with a blissful smile of her own before she spoke hesitantly. “The last planning session before everything is in motion. Ready for all the questions from Mr. Wedding Planner in there?” Zoey’s eyebrows quirked up and she reached behind the seats to pull out her planning binder. “Ready if you are!” They stepped out of the car and laughter followed them through the front door to announce their arrival.
The butterflies in Zoey’s stomach hadn’t diminished even slightly since the moment Allison got down on one knee during family game night. Though if Zoey honestly thought about it, the butterflies had been there since she worked up the nerve to ask Allison to prom as her girlfriend. She hoped she’d have the flutter in the pit of her stomach as long as she had air in her lungs.
The proposal had been intimate and thoughtful and sweet and perfectly them. Allison had enlisted Michael’s help, along with his long-term partner Calum, to spell out “marry me” on the game board during Scrabble. The three of them had needed to work together and it had taken a couple rounds of play for the right letters to show up. Zoey was so engrossed in the game that it took her a few beats to piece it together, even as Allison dropped to the floor in front of her while Michael tried to keep the happy tears from falling. Since then, the days had been speeding by at a dizzying pace and she felt like the big day would sneak up on her if she blinked too slowly.
They made their way through the home, cast in an amber glow from the autumn sunset, and found Michael and Calum putting the finishing touches on their typical Tuesday night dinner. Michael had always been a good cook but he’d thrown himself into more complex recipes with the extra time he had in his early retirement. The delicious aroma wafted through the open air to greet the brides-to-be as they exchanged familiar greetings with the gracefully greying men, arms held open expectantly.
“I see someone came prepared,” Calum teased, pointing in the direction of Zoey’s wedding planning binder. “I learned from the best,” she winked in return. Calum had earned his living as an event planner before retiring to spend his days with Michael and he’d been all too eager to help out. Sometimes he was a little overzealous, especially when it came to flowers, but neither bride worried over it. He had thirty-something years of experience and they would put his expertise to good use as long as he wanted to help.
“Well? What are you waiting for? You know better than to be shy around here - dig in!” Michael’s cheerful lilt brought out a chorus of laughter as the four of them began to pile their plates high with his savory creations.
Dinner together was never dull; someone always had a story to tell. Allison was gunning for a big promotion at work while Zoey worked hard to manage the small business she started last year. Michael told of all the highs and lows in his cooking adventures that week and how he’d befriended a neighborhood cat that had appeared on their porch. Calum had warned him not to feed it but eventually found the bowl under the front steps that he’d been sneaking scraps into. In the years they’d lived together, Calum made the local farmer’s market a habit and that week Michael had finally gone with him. He should have known Calum would have everyone wrapped around his finger. He couldn’t help his amazement at the way Calum charmed all the vendors into some sort of special sale for his produce, flowers, or baked goods. He noticed that Calum was the only one who seemed to be privy to these discounts. Michael couldn’t even be upset though because Calum had gotten a beautiful sunflower bouquet just for him. Calum would never admit that he just wanted to know he still had it - whatever it was.
With four sets of hands, clean up happened quickly before the wedding binder was sprawled across the table. They spent the next few hours pouring over choices for every imaginable detail. Calum had helped them create a checklist and prioritize important items and extremely time sensitive details. They managed to cross off a few more items on the checklist before Michael decided it was time to bring out dessert - apple pie with the tart apples from the “Apple of My Pie” stall that Calum had recommended at the farmer’s market.
When she was sure Michael was out of earshot, Zoey leaned across the table to whisper to Calum. “So when are we doing this for you two?” she asked as she threw a glance at her dad’s back. Allison did her best to control her laughter at the obvious prying. Calum simply waved her off with a smile, “We’ve been together, what, twelve years? Just after you started college? I think he’s stuck with me at this point, ring or no ring.” Zoey’s inquisitive stare didn’t falter at Calum’s light humor so he continued to entertain her question with a more serious tone. “You know… we’ve talked about it but he always said he couldn’t remarry after losing your mom. I always thought I wanted a wedding, even just a small one for friends and family, but it’s one thing I won’t push him about.” Calum’s eyes were filled with adoration as they settled on Michael’s back where he stood carefully slicing the pie. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’ll take this in whatever way makes him comfortable, in whatever way he’ll have me.”
When he turned back to face her, to see if his answer satisfied her curiosity, her eyes were brimming with emotion and concern immediately painted his features before she spoke. “I always thought maybe he didn’t remarry because of me, because he didn’t want me to feel left behind or something. And maybe that’s selfish or strange. But I couldn’t be more thankful that he has someone as caring and thoughtful as you, Cal.” Her voice had a slight rasp to it as she swallowed down her overwhelming joy. She punctuated her sentiment by placing her hands over one of his on the table. As he sandwiched her hands between his, he told her how lucky he felt to get to spend the rest of life loving Michael and that he didn’t need a marriage certificate to do that. Allison placed a grounding hand across Zoey’s back as they all inconspicuously sat back into their seats just in time for Michael to return with apple pie and vanilla bean ice cream. If he suspected anything about the conversation between his daughter and his partner, he didn’t let on as they continued to make their way down the wedding checklist between delighted mouthfuls of pie.
The hours passed as they sat around the kitchen table picking out scripts for the invites, flowers for the ceremony, centerpieces for the reception, and favors for the wedding party. Allison stretched her arms over her head, soliciting several put off responses at the loud cracking noise her spine made. “Ew, yourself,” she joked as she rose from her spot at the table. As she moved toward the living room, she turned over her shoulder to suggest that they all take a break from hunching over the pages of options laid out in the binder. Everyone else seemed reluctant, not wanting to lose the momentum they’d already built up. Allison turned her back to them and made her way to the record player next to the couch. She carefully pulled a sleeve from the shelf and let it begin spinning before making her way back to the table where the others still sat.
As she passed through the doorway, the beats of “Heartbreak Hotel” sounded through the room and she swung her hips wide with the best Elvis impression she could manage. The overstated moves earned a laugh from her fiancée and wolf whistles from the two men seated across from her. Allison pulled Zoey from her seat and shimmied them back into the living room for a dance break, despite Zoey’s protests that they still had several items to work through. Allison assured her that’s why she needed a dance break and that they’d get back to it as soon as the record needed to be flipped over. To Allison’s complete delight, Zoey caved and danced with her until the bluesy tune faded into a familiar ballad.
Zoey turned toward the dining room to find that Calum and Michael had followed to watch them from the safety of the door. The two men stood as if they were made to fit together. Michael’s head rested perfectly on Calum’s shoulder and his hands splayed softly across Calum’s stomach under Calum’s hands. Even so, Zoey knew she still had her dad wrapped around her finger after all these years. She put on the biggest puppy dog eyes she could manage and stretched out her arms before pleading with him, “The wedding’s still six months away, but I need to practice my dancing. Please, daddy, please.” His sheepish smile was bright in the low lamp light as he maneuvered around Calum. Michael placed a kiss to Calum’s smiling cheek as he squeezed through the door frame beside him. “You know I’ll never turn down a dance with my best girl,” he remarked as he took her in his arms. Calum, in turn, made a large sweeping motion as he bowed to Allison. “May I please have this dance?” Always a drama queen in every group. Allison laughed and took his hand, letting him lead her across the small room in an effort not to intrude on Zoey and Michael’s sweet moment.
Michael hummed along to the melody and his voice vibrated through his chest under Zoey’s head, sweeping a sense of nostalgia over her. “Dad?” she questioned as she lifted her head to look into his pale green eyes. They’d become even more pronounced over the years as the color faded from his hair, though he tried to hide behind the wide-rimmed glasses that stopped just above his full cheeks when he smiled. His eyes were slow to open and he only offered a hum in response. “What if we made this our father-daughter dance at the reception? I know it’s not a typical choice, but it would just mean a lot to me and -” Michael’s lips landed soft against Zoey’s forehead with a smile, immediately soothing her rambling mind. “I would love that, Z.”
Not trusting her mind and voice to work with her, Zoey simply nodded and nuzzled her head back into Michael’s chest, hugging him as close as possible. Michael’s smile grew as he tossed a glance across the room to where Allison and Calum swayed casually, lost in some giddy conversation if their expressions were any indication. With a contented sigh, he placed another kiss on top of Zoey’s curls. His voice was soft at first, only loud enough for Zoey to hear, but then it grew just enough to be heard over the record player as he sang.
“Love me tender, love me dear, tell me you are mine. I'll be yours through all the years, ‘til the end of time. Love me tender, love me true, all my dreams fulfill. For, my darling, I love you and I always will.”
He couldn’t help watching Allison and Calum as they looked over fondly. Michael thought of all the times it was just him and Zoey against the world. Everything had changed so much since he lost her mom. He couldn’t believe how their little family had grown over the years and he was so proud of the life they’d made and the love they all shared. Michael tried not to let his emotions get the best of him, but he couldn’t help the crack in his voice as the last lines closed out.
———
taglist: @easierlftv @haikucal @mashlums @youngblood199456 @calumbroutledge @alltimesos @another-lonely-heart @castaway-cashton @itsjen223 @bloodyoathcal @vapor5sos @myloverboyash @justhereforcalum @karajaynetoday @spicycal @devilatmydoor
#my writing#michael clifford#michael clifford one shot#michael clifford fluff#michael clifford blurb#calum hood#malum#malum fluff#malum blurb#malum one shot#it only took me nine years and im sure it'll flop but at least it doesn't live in my head anymore lmao alsdkjfhlakjh#does this count as malum??? kind of???
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Trouble
The Himbo Chronicles
Summary: Someone happens and feelings are realized.
Word Count: 772
Warnings: Violence, injuries, slight angst, swearing, but nothing bad happens
A/N: this seems to be the only series i can write any more,
“Y/n?” Steve’s voice ran through the coms.
“Yeah?” She asked as she grabbed another Dorito from the bag and dipped it in the cream cheese she had on her lap.
“Where are you?”
“In the hotel room, where you left me. Where you always leave me,” she said with her mouth half full. “Why? Am I supposed to be somewhere else?”
He sighed heavily. “Bucky’s on his way to you don’t move.”
“Steve, what’s going on?” She sat up straight, paying more attention to what was going on the other side of the coms than she had before.
But if Steve answered Y/n didn’t hear him because a loud bang came from the end of the hallway. Y/n quickly got off the bed and poked her head out the door. There were two mean looking bastards making their way down the hallway.
Only wearing a pair of thick athletic socks, she tiptoed out of the hotel room as soon as the two hooligans had their back to her.
Luckily, there was a stairwell at the opposite end of the hallway. She slipped into the doorway for the stairwell. Doing her best not to trip and fall she ran down the stairs. At the second floor, she ran into someone.
“Hey,” Bucky’s voice sent a wave a relief through her. “You were told to stay where you were.”
“Oh yeah, the people on my floor would totally not kill me because Captain America told me to stay where I was and -”
“Ok, I get it. But we don’t have time for your snarky commentary,” Bucky said as he grabbed her arm and rushed her out the emergency exit.
They didn’t end up making it very far before the same two men found themselves in front of Bucky and Y/n.
There was no smartmouthing from either side as the two agents raised their guns pointing at Bucky and Y/n. She closed her eyes knowing that this was the end. Not a second later, she heard three gunshots.
She was too scared to open her eyes but she was almost sure that she had died. But she didn’t feel any different. Was this what dying was like? It wasn’t as painful as she imagined. It wasn’t until she heard two bodies drop to the ground when she opened her eyes.
When she did, Bucky’s back was all she saw until she looked around him. The two agents were on the ground. Bucky stumbled back slightly revealing to her the bullet hole in his stomach.
He backed himself up against the wall of the hotel and slid down the wall while she held out her arms helplessly to him.
* * *
Bucky was going to be fine. The doctors in the med bay had told her that a million times, along with Steve and the rest of the team. Sam had made some joke about how it would take a lot more than a gunshot to get rid of Bucky. But Y/n wasn’t truly listening to any of it.
He hadn’t woken up from the surgery and Y/n hadn’t left his room.
She was staring at him. As the monitor kept up the steady beeping signaling his heart still worked, she began to realize just how close she came to losing him.
It was strange, what the mere thought of losing him did to her. Her heart raced and her mind tuned most everything out, even though he was there in the bed. Alive.
She walked closer to him, so she was standing right next to him. Gently, she brushed a lock of hair away from his face and was overcome with the urge to bend over and kiss him.
What the fuck? She was shocked at where her mind was going but she didn’t have time to dwell on her newly found desire because Bucky began to stir.
Bucky’s eyes opened and found hers.
“Are you ok?” He asked.
Y/n wrung her hands together but smiled at him. “I’m not the one in a hospital bed.”
Bucky sat up in bed with ease. “Yeah, but I’m a super soldier so, it’s like it never happened.”
She shook her head at him letting out the sigh that she’d been holding in.
“Starting tomorrow I’m training you to be prepared in the field,” he said.
“Tomorrow? Are you sure you’re going to be better by then?” She teased, but he remained serious. “Fine but it’s not like I’m ever going to actually be in the middle of the action.”
Bucky smiled satisfied with her answer and relaxed back into the pillow.
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Something There That Wasn’t There Before
Read chapter 1 on ao3
The morning Martin wakes up and realizes his mother has wandered off, he knows he's in trouble. He just never expected this sort of trouble. Never expected a secluded castle beyond the woods, a friendly group of Archival Assistants trapped by an evil curse – a curse saying that if their boss, the reclusive Archivist Jonathan Sims doesn't have someone fall in love with him, he'll remain a monster subservient to the Beholding, and they'll all be trapped forever. Martin never bargained for curse-breaking, but he's never been a quitter.
When Martin woke up to find his mother gone, he knew he was in trouble.
He silently cursed himself as he ran through the house, shouting for her as he checked every room he could possibly think of, even creaking open the door to the attic despite knowing perfectly well his mother couldn’t climb those stairs if she tried.
Not that she ever did, of course. But that wasn’t relevant. What was relevant was that she was gone, and Martin hadn’t the slightest clue of where to find her.
He stopped in the kitchen, pushing his hands through his unruly hair, willing his racing heart to calm down. Just think, Martin. Where would she have gone?
Staring out the window as the town whisked by on their way to run their errands for a typical Saturday morning, Martin grabbed his coat and ran outside. Of course, you daft fool, he chastised himself. She must have just gotten hungry and gone to get bread. Nothing to worry about.
Walking through the town, dodging chickens and waving hello to familiar faces, Martin kept an eye out for the small, familiar form of his mother. Instead, he spotted a man taping a sign to an old, wooden building. Martin smiled as the man turned, waving a friendly hello.
“Blackwood!” the man shouted jovially, sauntering over from his previous perch by the door of the town’s old library. “In the mood for a new adventure? We got a couple donations from a library over in the city. Some Leitner fellow? Didn’t get a look at the books, but I thought you might want to be the first to check them out.”
Martin smiled his first real smile all day. “Thanks, Phil, but I’m in a bit of a hurry at the moment. Have you seen Mum today?”
Phil frowned thoughtfully, rubbing his scruffy beard, stark white against his dark skin. “I think I did, now that you mention ‘er. Saw her walking down the road, towards the bakery. Probably went to get bread? You need to keep a better eye on that woman, my boy. She won’t be able to remember the way home for much longer.”
Martin nodded. “I know. Slipped my mind this morning.”
Phil placed a friendly hand on Martin’s shoulder. “Don’t apologize, young man. These things happen.”
“Thanks. Sorry about the books – I’m sure I’ll be back soon to check them out.”
“No rush – they probably aren’t going anywhere. Now go fetch your mum before she falls into that darned well.”
Waving goodbye, Martin set off down the road toward the bakery. Some people gave Martin a friendly nod or a wave, some gave him a wide berth in the streets. Martin, for his part, mostly kept his eyes ahead of him, until he felt something ram into his legs and wrap around his middle, nearly causing him to take a tumble into the dust.
“Jack, you’ve got to be more careful,” Martin scolded the little boy who was now latched on to Martin’s waist. “I could’ve fallen!”
The little boy, Jack, only giggled in response. “Mr. Martin, did you hear that Mr. Phil got new books in the library? Could you read them to me? Please? Please please please pleasepleaseplease –“
“Yes, Jack, I promise I’ll read them to you,” Martin said with a smile, prying the boy’s small, calloused hands from behind his back. “How about tomorrow morning? I’m a little busy today, but I promise I’ll read to you tomorrow.”
Jack pouted, his freckled face puffing up in annoyance. “Promise?”
“I promise. I’ll be at the well at noon.”
Seeming satisfied, Jack poked Martin’s nose with his finger before sprinting off in the other direction. Martin smiled to himself as he stood and continued down the road – he loved reading to the kids in the town, teaching them the joys that words could bring to the world. They were all a little young for poetry, which was Martin’s personal guilty pleasure read, but he enjoyed reading them children’s books and fairy tales all the same.
Arriving at the bakery, Martin nudged past the line outside, earning him grunts of protest and annoyed glares as he made his way to the window.
“Get in line, boy!” the baker shouted as he sold a loaf to an old woman in a dark cardigan and skirt.
“Sorry, Charles, I was just wondering if you’d seen Mum today?” Martin wrung his hands nervously, the eyes of the annoyed patrons feeling as though they were burning holes in his back.
Charles, the baker, narrowed his eyes. “I did, I saw her head towards the far end of town, towards the woods.”
Martin’s stomach plummeted as he hurriedly thanked Charles and began to walk quickly, up the road once again, a walk that turned into a run as his heart thundered in his chest. Why was she leaving town? What could possibly be in the woods? Where was she intending on going?
Martin sprinted beyond the buildings, adrenaline pumping through his veins as his legs carried him beyond the town and out into the woods. After what felt like an eternity and a second at the same time, Martin slowed, wheezing to catch his breath, as he beheld the looming, foggy forest before him.
Shit.
Martin was oh so hopelessly lost.
After hours of trudging through the woods, twigs breaking under his heavy footfalls as he shouted for his mum until his voice was hoarse and his throat felt like it was splintering, Martin was beginning to lose hope of ever finding his mum or returning to town. He didn’t even know which way the town was anymore, with the looming figures of the trees seeming to make the paths shift right before his eyes. As he stopped in a clearing, his feet aching and his throat begging for water, Martin surveyed what was before him.
Fog seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see in all directions. Behind Martin was a steep cliff that he couldn’t hope to scale if he tried, to his left was trees and fog, same as behind him. To his right, he noticed, was a winding trail that led downwards, leading off to who-knew-where.
Breathing a sigh of defeat, Martin made his way down that path, hoping beyond all hope to either find his mother, the path back to town, or somewhere he could take shelter for the night. The creeping darkness paired with the fog meant he could hardly see in front of him, and the night chill was piercing through his coat and jumper. He shivered as he walked, trying not to let his mind spiral with thoughts of what could have happened to his mum, focusing instead on how his teeth chattered and his feet hurt and his shoulders ached from slumping in on himself in an attempt to stay warm. At the bottom of the path, before him stood tall iron gates, gates which had swung open, seeming to mockingly invite Martin inside.
Had Martin been in his right of mind, he would have immediately turned around and walked away. Though he couldn’t see through the fog, he knew there could be nothing good on the other side of the wicked looking gates.
But Martin was not in his right of mind – he was cold, he was in pain, and he was panicking. So, without a moment’s hesitation, Martin marched through the gates and emerged in what appeared to be a beautiful garden.
For a moment, Martin was awestruck, and he could feel lines from a poem he might write tickling the back of his mind. The stone path he walked on was made up of hundreds of pieces of what appeared to be ceramics and broken glass, forming a twisting pattern that looking at nearly made Martin dizzy. In the middle of the path was a tree, growing along a gnarled trunk and sprouting the most beautiful white, black, and red roses he’d ever seen. All across the property grew different types of flowers: rosebushes and peonies and lilies and lilacs guided Martin towards the massive structure looming before him: a massive gothic castle, dark in comparison to the beauty of the garden, with colossal wooden doors, dark bricks piling higher than Martin could see even when he tilted his head, with spires reaching for the sky and a massive clock: it read that it was half past midnight.
Shaking off a shiver that wasn't quite from the chill of night, Martin marched forward and pushed at the doors. They gave with surprisingly little resistance, and Martin walked into the castle foyer.
He wasn’t entirely sure what he’d expected – for the place to be abandoned, perhaps. Certainly not for the blood-red carpet underfoot to feel soft and to cushion Martin’s footfalls, nor for the dark wood of the interior to look as polished as it did. The foyer was brightly illuminated by a massive chandelier hanging above a grand staircase, which first went upwards before splitting off into left and right. There appeared to be old paintings on the walls, and cabinets lined one side of the front hall.
Beside the door was an ancient-looking wooden coat hanger, so Martin shucked off his coat and hung it up, standing by the door in his favourite yellow wooly jumper and jeans. He walked in slowly, wondering who could possibly be living here.
“Hello?” he called, then cringed as his voice echoed back at him in the vast, empty space. “Mum? Hello? Is anyone here?”
He got no reply, so he dared enter further. To one side he saw an archway that led to a room decorated with an intricate carpet and a comfy-looking sofa, with a roaring fireplace in front of it. The heat hit Martin’s face as he walked towards it, then paused as he noticed a second staircase behind the grand one.
This one was much smaller, leading downwards into what appeared to be a dimly-lit circular stone staircase. The spookiness of it sent shivers down Martin’s spine, and as he debated which direction to go first, he heard the sound of something moving.
“Wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a voice behind him drawled, and Martin yelped as he turned and saw a man standing in front of the couch, the fire behind him accenting his silhouette. As the man approached, Martin could make out more features: pale skin with sunken-in eyes, a lanky figure with long, poorly-dyed black hair and eyeliner accenting his gray eyes. Silver piercings glinted from his eyebrow, nose, and ears, and his nails were painted black that matched his outfit. “You looking for your mum? I heard you shouting.” The man smirked, placing his weight on one foot and crossing his arms in front of him. He seemed friendly, though, if a little intimidating.
“I–yeah,” Martin stammered. “She wandered off this morning? She’s, ah, not exactly in the rightest of minds, so, yeah. Have you seen her?” A hint of hope creeped into his voice.
The man shook his head. “Probably would’ve heard from the boss if she was in the house. Though, the boss can’t see into the basement – Michael and Helen make sure of that.” At Martin’s confused look, the man waved a hand dismissively. “It’s a long story, one that won’t be relevant once you get your mum and get out of here.”
“I–right,” Martin fidgeted with his jumper. He felt like a tele tubby next to this man, and curse Martin’s face for turning red, and he tried to convince himself that it was from the fire and not because he was anxiously facing a sort of cute guy who had just told him he needed to go into a creepy basement to retrieve his mum. “Didn’t you say not to go down there, though?”
The man shrugged. “I hate it down there. You’ll definitely get lost. But if Michael and Helen like you, they should let you go once you’ve found your mum.”
Martin nodded dumbly and tried to muster as much courage as he could, releasing his jumper and willing his hands to be still. “Uh, thanks?”
The man nodded. “No problem. Don’t die.” With that, he walked back towards the couch, vaulted his slim body over it, and settled down. No wonder Martin hadn’t noticed him before – he blended right in.
Taking a deep breath, Martin turned towards the staircase, and before he could talk himself out of it he started the descent.
The staircase was dimly lit by what looked like oil lamps, and Martin felt cramped in the narrow passageway. He felt humidity hanging thick in the air, and soon his ginger curls were plastered to his forehead and his shirt under his jumper was soaked through with sweat. Just as Martin questioned whether the stairs would ever end, his feet hit solid ground and a hallway stretched before him. A hallway lined with cells.
Martin stared at the sight before him, at the ancient looking dungeon that Martin didn’t want to think about why was there. As he stepped forward, he noticed that every cell he passed was empty, which gave him a small amount of relief. Whatever this was, it hadn’t been used in a long time. As he walked, he thought back to the man upstairs’ words.
The boss can’t see into the basement. If Michael and Helen like you, they should let you go once you’ve found your mum. Don’t die.
Who was the boss? How could they see everything in a castle this big? Who were Michael and Helen? Martin picked up his pace, thoroughly spooked and wishing he were back home.
Eventually, he turned around, and nearly stumbled from shock. Behind him was a wall, where there certainly hadn’t been one before. Panic rising in his throat, Martin turned back around and saw with a start that there were now several branching hallways when before it had been a straight path ahead of him. His heart pounding and breath quickening, Martin grabbed the moist wall, wincing at the gross texture but forcing himself to hold on and ground himself. Now is not the time to panic.
Once the panic had become manageable, Martin looked up and saw with a start that there was a figure ahead of him. Familiar dark hair piled on top of the person’s head, and they were dressed in a nightgown and coat.
“Mum?” he called, and the familiar face of his mother looked up at him. As he walked over, her frown deepened into a scowl.
“Where have you been all day?” she demanded.
Martin winced. “I’m sorry. I was looking for you. You went really far, Mum.”
Martin’s mum glowered at him. “Useless. Just like your father.” Martin suppressed a wince, not wanting to let on how wounded he felt at her words. He’d gotten lost and tore his feet up for her, and all she could do was insult him.
Bitterness rose in his throat, and he crushed it down. She’s ill. Let her be. he chided himself. “Come on, Mum. Let’s get you home.”
“Yes, let’s,” drawled a voice that was not his mother’s from behind him. Martin’s shout echoed off the walls, and he heard his mother shush him sharply as he turned and saw a figure leaning on the wall. Behind him, the passage was as it was the first time Martin had looked at it – straight ahead toward the stairs. “I have no problem with letting her go. A nasty piece of work you’ve got there, boy.”
Martin sputtered as he beheld the man – his long, curling blond hair fell past his hips, acting as a cape for his lithe frame. He was dressed in a suit of colours so bright and patterns so disorienting it gave Martin a headache just looking at it. But what was most notable about the man, aside from his high-pitched drawling voice, was his fingers – long and spindly, as though there were several extra joints extending them to inhuman lengths. The man leaned one shoulder against the wall, his long fingers dangling at his sides. “I don’t-“
“What do you think, Helen?” the man addressed someone over Martin’s head – despite how tall Martin was, this man was significantly taller. Craning his neck, he saw another figure similar to the first one: a woman this time, with dark curling hair that stood straight up before falling to her waist, a spiralling colourful dress, a manic grin, and the same long fingers as the man. “The woman gets on my nerves, but the boy is quite cute.”
The woman, Helen, gave Martin a slow once-over. Martin felt like his skin was crawling, as though the woman was trying to see into his soul. “He is. Wonder if he’d be the boss’ type.”
“Woah!” Martin exclaimed indignantly. “I am not just a piece of meat, I’ll have you know! I don’t know what your boss is running here, but I’m not interested!”
The woman – Helen – chuckled. “Ooh, a feisty one. I like him, Michael.”
So these two were Michael and Helen. “Look, I just came to get my mum and head home. I’d appreciate if you let me do that.”
Michael clucked his tongue. “Shame. Though I suppose we aren’t in the business of taking prisoners, so alright. You can go.” With a click of his tongue, a door appeared to Martin’s left. The door was warped, yellow, and did not look trustful at all. “Go ahead, it’ll take you home.”
“How did you–“
“You should stay behind.”
Martin stared as his mother cut off his question of how Michael knew where he and his mother lived to gape at her. “I–what?”
His mother glared at him. “I’d really forgotten how dense you are, boy. Stay here. I can return home without you. I think I’ll be better off.”
Martin found he could barely form a single word. “Wh–I–Who will take care of you?”
His mother sniffed and made her way for the door. “I’ll find someone. Do not follow me. Perhaps you’ll mope less here.” And with that, his mother stepped through the door and was gone.
#the magnus archives#tMa#jonathan sims#martin blackwood#jonmartin#fluff#jonmartin fluff#beauty and the beast au#disney au#alternate universe fantasy#alternate universe disney#gerard keay#michael distortion#helen distortion
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can you write something soft with SIM!tony and his boy Peter that he has to hide, because he's his only weakness? smut please also ilyyyyyyyyyyyyy
I guess I use SIM to just be a synonym of Dark!Tony, because this ended up being mafia!au...if that doesn’t work for you please let me know and I’ll work something out.
Warnings: graphic violence and torture. Dark!tony but for Peter he is murderous mush. Smut. A mention of vomit.
Read here on AO3.
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“I can’t say I’m not disappointed,” Tony admits. He closes the door behind him so that he and Toomes are alone. Having built this addition to his Malibu house, Tony knows it and it’s benefits well. The walls are thick and concrete, soundproofed to screams and gunshots and all manner of things. The lights are receded into the ceiling, no risk of tampering, and they give the room a cold, exhaustive feeling. The drain on the floor is helpful. Tony hates when blood pools on the floor.
Today it has a single table with two chairs in it. Bucky placed them there that morning. Toomes has been strapped to one for the better part of sixteen hours while Tony’s temper recedes. If he made his moves when he was high on anger, he’d never have made it this far in this particularly delicate industry. Peter had been more than accommodating, letting himself be used as a soundboard for Tony’s fury. When Tony had pressed his chest into the mattress, the force with which he’d snapped his hips into the young man had left the kid’s ass red like he’d been spanked. Tony had rubbed cream into every mark—
But Peter isn’t what he wants to be thinking about in this moment. His baby makes him soft (and admittedly hard, but in only the best way). For Toomes, he needs to be as cold as the ten by ten concrete room they’re in.
Tony takes off his suit jacket and puts on the back of his chair. Toomes watches, one eye swollen half shut. When Bucky and Steve had brought him in, Tony had given them permission to rough the older man up, and they had made good on that blessing. For being and then left to stew for the better part of an entire day, Toomes is remarkably composed. His composure is one thing Tony liked about him. Past tense.
He does flinch when Tony pulls out the chair and the legs squeal against the concrete though. Fuck, that’s satisfying. Sitting down with a heavy sigh, Tony starts to roll up his sleeves. He hopes he doesn’t have to torture the man—not when he’s got plans with his baby boy this evening—but by failing to prepare, one prepares to fail. Torture is all in the buildup. The laying out of tools, the demeaner of the torturer. The nerve of a man is what Tony aims to break. Bones are a close second.
“I thought we had something, you know,” Tony says. “A real connection. When we had dinner last month, I looked you in the eye and asked, Can I trust you? And you remember what you said to me?”
Toomes licks his lips. When he speaks, his voice is rough from disuse and dehydration. Maybe screaming—who would know. Yes, the soundproofing is that good. “It wasn’t personal.”
“Wrong,” Tony says firmly, pulling out his phone. “You didn’t say, It wasn’t personal. You said, Yes Tony. You can trust me. That makes all of this so, so personal, Adrian. My feelings were downright hurt when I heard that my boys had picked you up trying to break into my warehouse with Beck’s shoddy tech.”
“I’m sure,” Toomes says with flat amusement. “So what’s next, Tony? I’ve broken your trust. Obviously. Where do we go from here?”
Tony reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cellphone. “I’m glad that you asked. I’ll tell you my ideas and then you’ll get to pick. Isn’t that swell of me? I’m a very generous guy; you’d do well to remember that. Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to show you a video on my phone here. It’s of what happened to the last lackey of Beck’s who double-crossed me. Then, you’ll get to decide if we recreate this video together—or if we go upstairs like two fucking gentlemen. Upstairs, I’ll cook us dinner, I’ll serve us wine, and then you’ll tell me every last goddamn thing you know about Beck and his next move. Do you understand, Adrian?”
“There’s no need,” Adrian says. “I’ve been around the block, Tony. Do you think a little torture is going to have me betraying Quentin?”
Tony places his phone flat on the table and slides it towards Toomes. Against the man’s will (and maybe it’s curiosity—that killed the cat, Tony knows), his eyes flick down to look at the screen. Tony begins the video. It is fourteen minutes long.
Toomes makes it to minute eight. Tony has been sitting back, one leg propped up on his knee, watching the man’s face. The graphic compound fracture at minute three had made him flinch. The fun with the surgical implements at five and a half had turned him white, then green. The screams (and other sounds, wet, horrible sounds) brought back fond memories. Tony had been the one filming that day.
“Promise me immunity,” Toomes says, sweating. His lips quiver. “I know you’re a man of your word—I—I know that I can trust you if you say it.”
“I will give you immunity for all previous actions,” Tony says agreeably. “When we go out that door? You’ll start fresh. But one more wrong move, Toomes, and it will be the last move you ever make. I can guarantee it. I won’t even take the time to torture you. I’ll kill you quick, and I’ll dissolve you in chemicals until there aren’t even any teeth left for them to compare dental records to. Understand?”
“Yes, yes,” Toomes agrees. “I swear it Tony. On my wife, on my daughter. I swear to God.”
“Don’t swear to God,” Tony says, standing to untie the shaking man. “Swear to me. Let’s go. What are you thinking, Adrian? Chinese? Or should I go with something more delicate, something that won’t remind you of what happened at minute 6 of that video—oh, yikes. A little warning before you throw up might have been nice. Get it up, buddy. You’ll feel better.”
After Toomes yacks up his every last gut (who knew that drain in the floor would be good for more than just getting rid of blood?), Tony unlocks the door. Steve and Bucky are outside, and they nod in greeting when Tony passes.
And Toomes—his new start lasts as long as it takes to get upstairs.
Because upstairs, Peter is waiting. The kid is lounging on the loveseat, his tiny body spread sensually where he waits, looking toward the front door. He’s wearing the black semi-opaque stockings that Tony loves to drag down with his teeth, the red silken kimono style bathroom that Tony had bought him.
It’s clear that Peter didn’t know Tony was home—and why would he? After Tony had fucked him blind and sent him to university with his cum still plugged up in the younger man’s ass, Tony had told him that’d he’d be leaving soon himself. Staying in the house with Toomes in the basement would have been too much of a temptation. Tony had returned well before the kid’s classes let out, but he hadn’t let his boy know that. Tony had worked hard to make the entire basement separate from the upstairs house so that he never bothered his angel with his comings and goings.
Peter has obviously been waiting for Tony to come home, and what a sight he would have made when Tony walked through the front door…
But instead, Tony walks through the door that leads up from the basement. Peter’s head jerks around, his eyes growing wide when he sees Toomes. Tony feels his own face pale, going green around the gills the way Toomes did when he saw what Bucky had done with the other lackey’s organs.
No one knew about Peter. Tony runs a dangerous, dangerous business. The threat of death is constantly hanging over his shoulders—and the shoulders of his associates. If anyone had ever known (Beck, God, fuck) that Tony had a lover, a sweet baby boy with skin like snow and eyes like the whiskey Tony favors, a mind like a whip and a heart of gold? Peter would be taken alive. He’d be taken apart.
No one can know.
“Who—?” Toomes mutters under his breath.
Tony reaches into his concealed holster, pulls his gun, and removes the safety. “Sorry, Adrian,” he says. He really does regret it, too. “Wrong place, wrong time, buddy.”
Tony blows Adrian’s brains out. The body slumps to the floor and Tony immediately wipes the arm of his suit jacket across his face feel the slick spray of blood and the flecks of bone. Peter looks like a Victorian woman prone to getting the vapors, one well-manicured hand clutching at his breast—oh. Clutching the robe closed. Beneath, he is most likely naked.
“Hi, honey,” Tony sighs, holstering his gun. “Did you get out of school early?”
“Lab was cancelled,” Peter gasps, his breaths coming fast. “I should have messaged you—I’m sorry. I—I wanted to surprise you.”
“I’m very surprised,” Tony says wryly.
Bucky and Steve burst through the open doorway behind him. Peter blushes fiercely, grabbing a nearby pillow to hold in front of his crotch. The two men pointedly search for anywhere else to look—the dead body on the floor is a nice scapegoat.
“Damn it, Tony,” Steve says. “On the carpet? Why not down in the basement?”
“He saw Peter,” Tony says. “I told him, he’d get one more chance after we left that room—I guess he didn’t think his chance would come up so, uh, soon. Alright you dogs, clean this up and quit looking at my gem. Call the usual cleaners; they’re organic.”
“Couldn’t you have wrung him for info first?” Bucky mutters.
“And give him even the slightest chance of escape? Think again, Barnes—wait. No. Don’t. I’m not paying you to think.”
Tony heads upstairs with Peter on his heels. Tony starts the shower in the en suite bathroom and begins to strip himself right there. Using his wiry strength, Peter hauls himself up onto the marble top of the sink to watch while Tony methodically undresses. The robe relaxes lose around him revealing a thin but well-muscled chest, abs to die for, and silken red underwear that cup his cock nicely. His face is serious, gaze stuck on the blood that has splattered Tony’s shirt collar.
“Did I mess up?” Peter asks at last. His voice is quiet, barely heard under the roar of the shower. “I know how important it is to you to keep me separate from—your work. I try so hard to stay out of it. Did—did I make you fuck up?”
“No,” Tony coos, naked. The shower behind Peter fogs up until the reflection is gone. He brackets the smaller man with his arms so that he can nuzzle their foreheads together. Peter’s breath catches, and it isn’t until Tony pulls away that he sees it’s because Adrian’s blood is still fresh on Tony’s face—now smeared onto Peter. A glance down though shows that the kid is more than half hard, cock tenting the silk. He reaches up and nudges the robe away from where it clings to Peter’s shoulders until it pools around his waist. Despite the heat, Peter shivers. “Adrian was an ant baby. Do you feel like you’ve fucked up when you step on an ant?”
“As a matter of fact,” Peter breathes. He sways forward toward Tony the way some people sway when they stand too close to the edge of buildings. “I like ants.”
“Do you like Adrian Toomes?”
“I don’t know who that is.”
“Was.”
They kiss. Peter wraps his arms around Tony’s neck and slips down off of the counter so that they can press against each other from top to bottom. The kid is a few inches shorter, so Tony’s interested cock nudges just below his belly button, smearing precum on the cut abs.
“You killed him because he saw me?” Peter pants when they part, not even giving Tony time to answer before he is opening his needy mouth against to suck on Tony’s full bottom lip.
“Of course, I did,” Tony growls, broad hands wrapping themselves around the narrow hips. “I’m no fool, baby. I know you’re my weak spot. You’re my Achilles Heel. This world burned me every day, did it not? I drowned in the river Styx, sweet boy. The Gods must have thought me too powerful, because of course they gave me you…and I’ll be damned if I lose myself by losing you. Do you understand?”
“God,” Peter gasps. He stands up on his toes to grind his cock into Tony’s. “Please, Tony. I need your cock.”
“Be patient, Peter,” Tony says firmly. He reaches one hand down to wrap it around the young man’s cock and give it several long strokes, twisting his hand to rub his palm over the sensitive head on the upstroke until Peter is whining breathily, still on his toes, thighs trembling. “I’m not fucking you with some cunt’s blood on me. Get in the shower with me; let’s get clean so we can get dirty.”
It’s no surprise to him that he ends up with one palm braced against the shower wall and the other hand tangled in Peter’s wet curls while he fucks the young man’s mouth. Peter sucks cock like a champ, so Tony can’t let him at it for long lest he cum early. He needs to be inside him lover, feels the tight anxiety in his chest that always comes with the idea of someone finding out about Peter. Someone taking Peter. Someone hurting Peter.
“What’s wrong?” Peter asks, blinking up through the water at Tony. When the man glances down, he sees that he’s gone soft. He pets Peter’s head lovingly.
“Nothing, sweet boy. I think we’re clean enough.”
“Your cock sure is,” Peter says, kissing Tony’s navel softly.
He helps the young man up and they stumble from the shower into the bedroom, only bothering to towel off a little before Peter is dragging Tony onto the bed over his slim body and wrapping his legs around his lover’s hips. The kid is still hard—such is youth. Tony coaxes him onto his hands and knees, a hand between his shoulder blades pressing his chest into the bed. The pale skin is still damp and flush from the shower when he spreads Peter open. The plug Tony had put in him earlier is gone (likely already sterilized and tucked back into the drawer by the bedside). The only sign of their fucking earlier in that day is the soft give of Peter’s hole when Tony presses his tongue against it.
The kid yelps, thighs shivering as he flinches away. Tony spanks him, hard on the flank and he hears the laughter Peter muffles into the bedspread as he stills and relaxes himself. Once he’s sure Peter isn’t going to move again, Tony leans back down and licks a long stripe from balls to tailbone. The taste is clean with a hint of soap—but it’s expensive soap, imported from Europe, so Tony will gladly lick it off.
He takes his time, lapping with the textured flat of his tongue and then using the hardened tip of it to press inside until Peter is soft and shivering, a whining mess with his cock dripping precum onto the bedspread. And Tony knows that he could do this for hours if it weren’t for the stiffness in his jaw, the ache in his tongue. Peter would let him. He’d lay there lax and content for Tony to do as he pleased, and he wouldn’t complain once.
“I love you,” Tony says. He opens his mouth and bites at the back of one of Peter’s thighs.
Peter groans, turning his head so his mouth is free of expensive cotton to say, “Love you more.”
“How do you want me, baby?”
Peter perks up, looking over his shoulder. “Lemme ride you.”
Tony sits with his back against the headboard, chest heaving as Peter slowly lowers himself onto the thick, aching cock. Those whiskey eyes are closed in concentration, blocking out stimulus so that he can focus on the sensation, both his hands planted on Tony’s shoulders. Tony reaches up with one hand and uses his thumb to nudge at one of Peter’s flat, pink nipples. The ass around him flexes and makes him hiss.
The next few minutes after Peter finally rests, ass against the tops of Tony’s thighs, are spent kissing. Slow, wet kisses. Thank God you’re mine kisses. I’d burn the world down without you kisses. Every now and then, Tony’s cock jerks where it’s buried inside his young lover and the kid groans in his throat, his own neglected cock twitching where it is pressed between them.
When their lips are raw and puffy, Tony pulls away. “Go on then,” he says roughly. “Ride me, sweet boy.”
Peter’s fingers tighten where they’re gripping his shoulders, his thighs flex where they’re braced on Tony, and then he lifts himself up up up and let’s himself down all at once, gasping when he bottoms out. But his lover can do more—Peter works out an hour a day five days a week, and their lovemaking is all the better for it. He grits his teeth and sets a punishing, rewarding pace that has them both struggling to catch their breath.
When Tony reaches down to loosely take Peter’s cock into his hand, the young man bats it away.
“Talk to me,” Peter gasps. “Please—want to cum just like this, from your cock and your voice.”
“It’s hardly my voice you want,” Tony growls. “You want my words, don’t you? What do you want me to say, Pete? You want me to say how I’d kill a million men for you? How I’d burn countries to the ground for you? I’d raze whole planets for you, sweet boy, and then I’d fuck you in the ashes and the rubble. And I think you’d like it.
“When Bucky and Steve came up the stairs and saw you, I noticed you playing shy, putting that pillow in your lap. But you weren’t naked, so what were you hiding, baby? Don’t whine, it’s alright. I know. You were hard, weren’t you? Did it get you hard, watching me work? Watching me kill for you? I didn’t even give him a chance, Pete, once he’d laid his eyes on you, he never had a chance—”
Peter cums with a strained shout, nails digging into Tony’s shoulders. His cock spurts between them, ass tightening around Tony’s cock. When the kid goes lax and unable to continue the pace, Tony reaches out to palm the narrow hips and bounce the young man on his cock, fucking himself until his balls draw up and he sees white, just white, white and Peter.
Just how it should be.
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The Monster of West End: Chapter Three A Beauty and the Beast retelling set in 1837 London
The “Beauty” of this story is a young seamstress desperate for work to pay off her father’s debts. Her new employer, though Beastly in appearance, is coldly tolerated by society because he has money and status. She is quickly charmed by his warm heart and sense of humor, but his monstrous form isn’t the only obstacle to their budding relationship.
Mrs. Hutchinson led Viola up the servants’ staircase to a small garret bedroom at the top of the house.
“The upper-servants sleep on the upper floors,” she explained over her shoulder, “but I daresay the rooms off the kitchen for the cook and scullery maid are more comfortable. It gets rather drafty up here in the winter and stuffy in the summer.”
Viola surveyed the room with a satisfied sigh. It had creaky floorboards and a low sloping ceiling. The utilitarian furnishings consisted of a nightstand and a brass bed.
“I think this will do very nicely for me,” she told Mrs. Hutchinson without a trace of irony.
The housekeeper raised her eyebrows at Viola’s enthusiasm. “If you say so,” she muttered.
Viola did not pay Mrs. Hutchinson’s skepticism any heed. This room boasted one enormous advantage over her ten-square foot cell in the Marshalsea: a large window with a view.
The single narrow window in their Marshalsea ‘apartment’ faced only the discolored bricks of the prison wall. She could not see the sky, nor even the iron spikes atop the wall to deter escape artists. Her only occasional splash of color came from the laundry hanging on the line, the grey chemises that had once been white. There was nothing green to be seen all summer, save the bare spindly weeds between the paving-stones. They were on the second of four stories in their prison complex, and there was another building directly behind them, so that Viola felt constantly closed in by bricks on all sides.
Even when she was permitted to step outside the gates, the Marshalsea was always creeping up behind her, and she could not escape its shadow. Always trapped.
But here, in Mr. Carlyle’s house, she could breathe. She could see the slate-grey overcast sky above the rooftops; she could look down and see trees lining the cobblestone street, their branches glazed with frost. She could open the window and feel the fresh sting of the winter air.
Guilt gnawed on her, in the background of these hopeful observations, try though she might to wave it away. Was it so wrong of her, to want to leave her miserable circumstances behind? Was it selfish of her to escape like this, when she could not yet bring her father with her?
“Breakfast in the servants’ hall is served promptly at seven o’clock,” the housekeeper announced, abruptly cutting off Viola’s musing. “If you wish for a hot meal, do not be late.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Hutchinson,” she replied with feeling, undeterred by her coworker’s sharp tone. “Before you retire, I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the opportunity you and Mr. Carlyle are giving me. I hope to prove myself worthy of his trust.”
The words were more deferential than she truly felt, but Viola could sense that Mrs. Hutchinson was suspicious of her in some way, and she wanted to be on better terms with her if they were to be working in close quarters. The housekeeper’s pursed lips relaxed a fraction as she continued to study Viola with that critical, piercing gaze.
“Mr. Carlyle has a partiality for waifs and strays,” Mrs. Hutchinson said at last in a clipped voice. “I need not explain why he feels a…kinship with those that society looks down upon. Therefore, it is incumbent on me to protect him from those that would take advantage of his sympathies.”
“I understand,” Viola said, swallowing hard.
“Do you?”
Of course she did. Viola had lost plenty of sleep over her too-trusting father over the years. But she decided to hold her tongue.
Once alone, Viola rapidly undressed to her chemise. The earlier she retired for bed, the earlier she could rise and return to her father.
She caught her reflection out of the corner of her eye and winced. She had no looking-glass in her cramped quarters at the Marshalsea and usually made do with checking her appearance in the reflection on the single windowpane—an image that was indistinct at best. But the garret room had a large oval mirror propped on the nightstand and she was face-to-face with herself.
Was she really that ashen-faced, or was it just the layer of dust over the mirror? Her linen shift hung so loosely on her, exposing a prominent collarbone and bony shoulder. The shadows were deep under her dark brown eyes.
Ugh, I look like a street urchin with consumption, she thought. No wonder Mr. Carlyle took pity on me tonight.
Viola had a rather square jaw set on a long, slender neck, which automatically gave her a waiflike appearance at the best of times—and now was decidedly not the best of times. Her hair was wispy and flaxen and did whatever it pleased.
She set the mirror face down.
The nightstand, she was pleased to discover, had been prepared for her stay: not only was there fresh water in the pitcher and a clean towel, but also a small cake of soap and a jar of tooth powder. She poured out a little water into the basin to wash her face, but found herself overcome. She had to brace herself on the nightstand and take a few deep breaths to swallow down a sob of incredulous relief.
The water was so clear and clean. It did not reek of rust. When was the last time she had used water without boiling it first? She couldn’t recall.
The garret room was chilly, as it had no fireplace, but when Viola pulled back the covers of the bed, she found a bed-warmer full of smoldering coals, which made the sheets invitingly warm. Exhausted and grateful, she fell asleep within minutes.
Viola went back to the Marshalsea early the next morning, to fetch her meager belongings and kiss her father goodbye. She was not expecting the scene she stepped into.
By the single narrow, grimy window stood Mr. Weston. Hardship had aged him prematurely—his hair was a solid iron grey, and sparse at the temples—and cataracts had taken almost all of his sight from him. He was speaking softly to his eldest daughter, Miranda, and had his hands soothingly upon her shoulders.
While Viola had inherited their father’s slight frame, Miranda took after their mother with her tall, commanding figure, made all the more striking by her wide straw bonnet and puffed gigot sleeves.
At the sound of Viola’s entrance, they both looked up—Mr. Weston’s face brightening with relief, Miranda’s contorting with outrage.
“Oh my dear, we have been so worried,” he said.
Miranda glowered at her. “Where have you been, Vi? We have been scouring the city for you. I hope you have a good explanation.”
Viola presumed the ‘we’ in this case meant Miranda and her husband Eustace, given that their father was not allowed further than the courtyard outside.
“I told the gatekeeper to send word that I’d gone back to Mr. Carlyle’s house for the night, because I missed the bell. Did he forget to pass along the message?”
Mr. Weston raised an eyebrow at Miranda. “There, now, what have I been telling you? I knew there must be a simple explanation—”
Unfortunately for him, Mr. Weston was much more softly spoken than his daughters and easily faded into the background during impassioned discussions. Miranda acted as if she had not heard him.
“Who in heaven’s name is Mr. Carlyle, and what do you mean by staying at his house?”
Viola took a deep breath to calm her temper. “He’s my employer, as of yesterday. I’m to serve in his household as a seamstress. I’m sorry to have caused such a fuss, but I thought you would know where I was.”
“We were about to start dragging the Thames for your lifeless body!” Miranda snapped. “For all we knew, you were frozen to death in the storm.”
Viola rolled her eyes. Her elder sister had once fancied herself a great actress, and even now always seemed to be auditioning for a Greek drama.
Miranda continued, gesturing to her heavily pregnant figure, “And I really ought not to be distressing myself so, not in my current condition.”
“I never asked you to distress yourself about me!”
“Well apparently someone has to, or you’ll gallivant about the city, staying at the houses of strange men!”
Before Viola could muster an angry retort, their father intervened.
“That’s quite enough from both of you,” he said, a note of pleading in his tone. “The important thing is that Viola is, in fact, safe and all is well. There is no need to quarrel over what is already past.”
He stood between the sisters for a long moment, waiting for their petty anger to deflate. Viola’s cheeks burned; their father had a way of making them feel like children caught misbehaving.
“I’m sorry for causing you to worry,” Viola said grudgingly. “It wasn’t my intention.”
“I’m sorry for getting so cross about it,” Miranda mumbled, picking at a loose thread on her coat.
“There, now,” Mr. Weston said briskly. “Was that so terribly painful?”
The sisters avoided each other’s eyes. Mr. Weston ignored their sullen silence and carried on as if the quarrel had never taken place.
“So, Viola, I take it you have accepted the position you interviewed for. Tell me about the house. Where does your employer live?”
“Near Covent Garden.”
“Oh dear.” Mr. Weston wrung his hands, troubled. “Is that a suitable neighborhood for you to be walking by yourself? It’s got rather an unsavory reputation.”
“That was true in your day, Papa,” said Miranda, “but it’s changed a good deal in recent years. They’ve rebuilt most of the houses. Now it’s considered quite a fashionable place to live.”
“Ah.”
Viola’s heart twisted painfully. Their father had been locked away for so long, and London was rapidly changing without him—when he was finally at liberty to walk the streets again, would he even recognize it?
“I’ll return every Sunday afternoon for dinner,” she promised him. “Mr. Carlyle has given me leave to visit you the entire day.”
Miranda cut in sharply. “You mean to say this will be a live-in position? How can you leave our father alone all week? How is he to manage by himself?”
Viola felt a renewed flicker of annoyance. Their father was still quite capable and independent; he did not deserve to be treated like a child or like a doddering old fool. But before she could speak up for him, he did it himself.
“Miranda, my dear,” he soothed her, “I may be blind as a bat, but I am not hopelessly infirm. I know this apartment well enough to get about without stumbling.”
Viola squeezed his hand. “Just promise me that you will ask Mr. Wilkins down the hall to help you light the stove fire in the mornings. I’m sure he won’t object.”
“I promise. I do still have some sense, after all.” He gave her a wry smile.
As Viola predicted, Miranda seemed mollified at the notion of his fellow-inmates checking in on him daily. “Well,” she said briskly, “it seems I am overruled. Gather your things, Vi. Eustace and I can take you in the cab. You are not walking all that way carrying luggage.”
Viola had few personal belongings worth bringing; they fit neatly into a single carpetbag. She owned exactly three dresses at present: two sturdy, practical wool dresses of brown and navy blue, and one finer black gown reserved for holidays and funerals. She didn’t like wearing dark colors, but they lasted much longer against wear and tear and stains. A working woman ought not to wear pink or yellow, if she was at all sensible.
The dour colors did make her look so grim and severe, she reflected morosely. She dreamed of a day when she had spare money enough for a gown pale as springtime, in rosebud or lilac or buttercup. What a luxury that would be!
Underneath the faded chemises and shabby stockings, she tucked her one real treasure: a well-worn collection of Shakespeare’s sonnets, in the margins of which her mother had scribbled her own annotations.
In farewell, Viola took both her father’s hands and kissed them. “I don’t want you to worry about me, Father. This is going to be good for our family, I promise.”
“I know that, my dear,” he said gently. “It’s been clear to me for a long time that you would have to forge your own path.” He leaned over to murmur in her ear, soft enough that Miranda was unlikely to hear. “Try to have a little more patience with your sister. She’s only looking out for you.”
Even though he could not see Viola purse her lips, he must have heard the irritation in her sigh.
“Viola,” he chided. “Be kind to your sister. For my sake, if for no other reason.”
“I’ll try. And now I really must be going; Mr. Carlyle expects my return before noon.”
#my fiction#monster of west end#beauty and the beast#victorian era#chapter four won't be far behind!#i'm about halfway done with it
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Hays Code
community fic annie & abed friendship. pre relationship trobed hurt/comfort, angst with a happy ending cw for discussion of historical homophobia and non graphic discussion of past suicidal thoughts 3600 words
on ao3
To be frank, Annie wasn’t in the mood. Not in the mood for what, exactly? Anything. Everything. Talking or not talking, eating, sleeping, breathing—just living, really, was going to push her over the edge. It was one of those days where all she craved was a good scream and maybe to fling her arms around a bit, but that wasn’t appropriate and honestly, you’re an adult now and is this how you get your way? So, she’d politely excused herself and walked just a tad extra fast all the way home. She just wanted to be alone.
Honestly, who gave an 89% on an essay? The only feedback she’d gotten was: “These words taste like radish in my mouth. I hate radishes.”
She slammed the door more forcefully than she should. The frame wasn’t very good, and Troy always said one day she was going to knock it down. There was a teacher at Greendale that knocked a door down that same way—slammed it a little too hard day in and day out, until not only the door, but the whole frame keeled right over. That teacher was doing it on purpose, though. Took him six years to prove some inexplicable point.
Maybe Annie should do that. Knock out a whole frame just so people stop pushing her.
Her backpack was flung to the ground, and, for just a moment, she let out a strangled wail. It wasn’t as satisfying as she wanted it to be, but there were neighbors and their creepy landlord, and, no matter how riled up she was, she didn’t want to cause any trouble.
She made her way to the kitchen, because if she couldn’t be happy, then at the very least she could have chocolate. It didn’t make things better, it didn’t really help, but … it felt like a little rebellion, every time. Troy and Abed had done a good job loosening her up (within reason), but it still felt like she’d won a little victory when she skipped dinner and just went straight for dessert.
Her hand was on the cabinet when she heard the shuffle from the other room. Her heart thudded. Her grip tightened. Troy and Abed were supposed to be in class (she was supposed to be in class), and if either of them were home, so to would be the sounds of dialogue, or music, or a video game track. The apartment was never just … quiet. Not unless she was by herself.
Her hand crept back to her side. It flexed like it might grip the handle of a gun, but she reminded herself she’d given it up when she moved into the apartment. She understood that it was different for her to have one than Troy and Abed, she really understood that, but her nerves got the better of her sometimes. Sometimes she missed it.
She slid the knife off the counter as quietly as she could.
She crept into the living room.
“Are you going to knife me?” Abed asked, face neutral.
Her heart and legs floundered. “Jesus Christ, Abed! You’re supposed to be in class.”
She could practically see Shirley’s disapproval of her choice of swear, but, okay, look, it wasn’t even really, technically, his name—if you went by the Hebrew, the more accurate—okay, no. No. She was getting off track.
Abed’s eyes followed the knife as she gestured towards him and then the blank TV.
“Why are you just sitting here in the dark? You scared me half to death!”
“Sorry.”
“Are you doing a scene where the character is thinking of something, and they’re silent, but going on this whole internal journey, and then, at the end, they jump up and run off camera to go do something dramatic?”
“No,” he admitted.
“Oh.” The knife dropped a bit. “Then what are you doing?”
“Thinking.”
They stared for a moment, Annie at his face, and Abed at the knife. It finally fell limp to her side as her eyebrows scrunched and mouth pursed in confusion.
“Oh. Okay.”
Her fingers twisted and curled around the handle. Abed went back to staring towards the TV—unusually and ominously blank.
She cleared her throat and quickly dropped the knife back in the kitchen, then tiptoed her way towards him.
“Is there … something bothering you?”
His head tilted back and forth almost imperceptibly as he decided how to respond.
“Just thinking about tropes.”
Her shoulders relaxed. That sounded more like him. She was almost worried that Abed had been abducted and replaced by a doppelganger, or that he’d gone into the dreamatorium alone and had gotten too stuck in a character. But he was just thinking about tropes. That was fine, that was Abed. The familiarity gave her enough confidence to approach fully and perch on the coffee table in front of his chair.
“I’m sorry I yelled,” she said, doing that little half-smile nose scrunch that always worked on Jeff. She wasn’t sure Abed even saw it, the way he was looking over her shoulder instead of at her, but the apology felt good to say. “Is there a trope you’re thinking about in particular?”
He hummed and gave a short nod. She waited for him to continue, but he just stared in that way that he did and rubbed his thumb over his fingers in a quick, anxious pattern.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, realizing her mistake. She’d asked a yes or no question and he’d answered it. “What trope are you thinking of?”
“Hays Code,” he shot off, a drum beat in the air.
The name sounded familiar. But sometimes the things Abed told her about were like a pipette drip in the tumultuous ocean of her brain. It didn’t mean she wasn’t listening, but it was drown out by the raging storm, the cutting rocks, the moon and the tides and the break on the shore—oh and sharks, maybe-
She shook her head.
“Would you mind explaining what that is?”
His finger rose in a point like he was going to begin, but it was an awkward, faltering second before the words actually began to spill from his mouth.
“Hays Code, or the Motion Picture Production Code, adopted and enforced in 1934. A set of morality-based guidelines that stifled American filmmaking with self-censorship rules until 1968. Among the guidelines were bans on sacrilegious profanity—like your little outburst just there—violence, drugs, sexual content, among other things.” His eyes flickered, only briefly. “Though not explicitly stated, the Code affected media portrayal of homosexuality, to the effect that it could not be portrayed without sufficiently condemning it as immoral, or …” His fingers continued their nervous dance. “-ending their story in tragedy. While the Hays Code was abandoned in 1968, its effects were deep-seated. That particular unspoken rule became what we now would refer to as ‘bury your gays’. The Code was abandoned, but the trope was too well established to die with it.”
She blinked. Her mouth felt dry. Her fingers wrung much like his from where they were held in her lap.
“Abed?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“Can I sit with you?”
She’d never really asked before. Usually it was an unspoken assumption—that was Abed’s seat, and the other was Troy’s. She didn’t have one, so she sat with Abed. She’d never minded. It was nice. There weren’t many people she felt comfortable being that close to, but Abed was just the right amount of warm, and holding his hand felt like a star through cloud-cover, like a lighthouse on a familiar shore, a point of contact that kept her grounded and real and there.
But, she asks. This time, she had to ask.
Abed’s eyes glanced at her shoulder, at her hands, at her chin, back down.
“Yeah.”
He scooted over as she moved towards him, and instead of settling on the arm of the chair, she let her weight fall next to his, both of them crammed sharply together in the too small seat. He was trembling, just a little. She wondered if he’d eaten.
His hand slipped into hers.
Though her breath stuttered, she hoped it wasn’t enough that he’d notice.
“Abed, are you gay?”
For all that he could ramble, shroud his meaning in metaphor and obscure reference, Abed didn’t like when other people beat around the bush. He appreciated directness and honesty. So, though it felt to Annie like some dam had been broken, like all her soft guts would come spilling out at any moment, she asked the question as simply as she could.
The silence rang too long, though it couldn’t have been more than a moment.
“Maybe,” he said. His fingers wriggled, testing against hers. “I have liked the girls I’ve dated. Though it’s hard to tell if it’s more aesthetic appreciation, or- or if I just enjoy their company. Most of the ways people describe feelings are alien to me, so sometimes it’s hard for me to tell.”
“And with guys it feels the same?”
He shook his head, just a little. “Different. It … It feels different.”
Annie took as even a breath as she could, trying not to let her palm sweat against his own, though she didn’t, in the end, have much power over that.
“And thinking about the Hays Code has you worried that … that what you’re feeling is bad?”
He shook his head again, but it was a few seconds before he spoke.
“I’ve been trying to figure out my arc for a while,” he admitted. “Creating … contrived little schemes to nudge it this way or that. I’m not sure I can fight this one though. I don’t know if I can change how it ends.” He swallowed, throat bobbing. “The trope is well established for a reason.”
Annie’s hand squeezed his, not to comfort him, but out of reflex. She tried to relax it, blinking quickly against a sting in her eyes.
“And … the ending you’re worried you’re going to get …”
She let the sentence hang, because, frankly, she couldn’t find it within herself to finish. There was a knot in her throat she couldn’t swallow past.
Still, he took her meaning.
“Have you seen Dead Poet’s Society?” he asked.
Her stomach twisted. She nodded. She was glad he wasn’t looking at her, just staring towards the TV, because she wasn’t sure what her face would betray.
“Yeah.” His head jolted a bit. It was only slightly different from his thinking head tilt, but she recognized it as a sign of his nerves nonetheless. “It wasn’t a one to one metaphor, but it was about as blatant as it could be at the time. It still hit home for a lot of people.”
She cleared her throat, but it didn’t get rid of the choking feeling. “Have you thought about this before?” She wasn’t sure if he would gather her meaning—not the Code or the movie but … she couldn’t bring herself to even think it.
His lips pulled. He looked down at their conjoined hands, at Annie’s white knuckled grip.
“Not recently.”
Her grip relaxed, if only a little.
“But in the past?”
His shoulder shrugged against hers, and he let his thumb swipe back and forth over her knuckles.
“Kids are mean. Life is hard. You know how it is.”
She coughed out a little breath, nodding just a touch too quickly. “I get it. I do.”
Suddenly his brows furrowed, and his head swiveled towards her.
“Sorry,” he said, eyes darting back and forth over her expression. “I didn’t mean to make you worry about your own ending.”
Her eyebrows drew to mirror his.
“My …? Why would I be worried about my- Abed, you don’t think I’m gay, do you?”
His lips twitched at the side. He blinked.
“Sorry,” he said again. “Sometimes I misread people. I’m just very good at patterns, is all, and I’m a lot more observant than people think—”
“I’m not- You shouldn’t—” Her heart thudded like the crack of hooves at a horse race, and her eyes burned, and her stomach twisted. He couldn’t just- She never said- But he was watching her with that open, knowing stare, and she thought, if she couldn’t tell him right there, right then—if she couldn’t tell Abed, who had just put his heart on the table before her—when would she ever say it?
Her next words escaped as a croak.
“You can’t tell anyone.”
The understanding was quick to light his eyes. He nodded.
“I’m not ready to- I could never really—” She took a wet, shaky breath. “How long have you known?”
He looked as if he was weighing his answer. He was still staring at her with that intensity only Abed had.
“A while,” he told her eventually.
“Have you told any—”
“No.”
“Not even—”
“No.”
She let out a breath. “Okay.” She swallowed, squeezing his hand. “Okay.”
He settled back down next to her, head tilting softly downward. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
“I’m not worried about tropes, Abed.”
“But you’ve thought about it, too.”
Her eyes darted away, around their living room. “About the Hays Code? No, I—”
“Annie.”
She froze. When Abed used her name like that, short, soft, she knew he was serious.
Her breath rattled through her nose. She pulled on his hand until their conjoined fingers were resting against her, arms wrapped around her in something like a hug.
“Kids are mean,” she repeated hoarsely. “Life is hard. You know how it is.”
He shifted a little closer. He nodded.
“I always felt like … like I had to be perfect. Like any little mistake, any slip up, any error, and … everything would come crashing down. I’d lose it all. Even as a kid, I knew my parents’ love was conditional.” Her swallow was harsh, tears dripping down her cheeks. “And so I took every advantage I could, because I thought … I thought I was just playing the game. I did everything I could to be at the top, because I thought being number one would keep me from losing.” She let out a laugh, breathy and bitter. “It didn’t. I just fell harder.”
She could feel Abed looking at her, but her gaze was fixed firmly on her lap. If it were someone else, Troy or Jeff, maybe Britta even, she’d want them to comfort her, to hold her, to tell her it was okay and that her fall from grace hadn’t been as bad as she thought. Abed didn’t, and she liked that. She liked that he just listened.
“I lost everything. My school, my scholarship, my friends … my family. I’d been thrown in the proverbial gutter and I just thought …” Her face pinched as she tried to get out the words. She shrugged. “Well, I’ll never be able to climb out of this one. There’s no point in …” She sighed. “If I hadn’t had been in the clinic, I don’t know. They watch for that sort of thing and, I don’t know, even in there I was so worried about being good. The day I got out, I enrolled in Greendale. It wasn’t what I thought my future was going to be, but it saved my life.”
There were a few beats of silence as her sentence hung, as her lips wavered and her eyes wept.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to make this about me.”
“It’s okay,” Abed responded, quiet, and she knew that he meant it.
“I’m sorry you’ve ever felt the same way.”
“Me too,” he said. “But—for you, though.”
A tiny laugh escaped her, and she shifted to rest her cheek on his shoulder. She lifted her free arm to wipe the wetness from her face.
“Abed … I know we’ve said this before, but … tropes are good for movies. Movies have arcs, narrative, structure. But real life isn’t that way. Our stories aren’t bound by convention and rules. Just because it happens in the movies, doesn’t mean that’s how your life is going to go.”
“Yeah.” His fingers moved in pattern between her own. “Movies make sense, though. Life doesn’t. Life is chaotic and messy and confusing. You never know what someone’s going to say next. You can guess, and I have, but you can’t know. You can’t keep the ending in mind when you’re watching. A good ending is logical—it’s the only correct solution to a puzzle you didn’t think to solve. There’s foreshadowing. There’s staging. Characters have motivations, and they’re not always clear—but if you don’t understand you can watch it again, and again, and again, until you get it. If you don’t like it, you can’t change what happens, but there’s a comfort in it always staying the same. You can laugh, you can cry, but barring that, you can just … be there. You can be affected as much as you’ll be affected and the movie doesn’t care one way or another. It just exists, and you do too. And in a way, that’s its own kind of peace.”
Annie let that explanation wash over her, a display of emotion in its own logical kind of way. It made sense in the way that Abed frequently made sense if people just cared to listen. And for the moment, she didn’t feel like she had to respond, just sit there with him, listening in the way that he had listened to her, just existing with him like he obviously craved.
After a minute had passed of feeling his hand squeeze and loosen, watching his toes wiggle in his socks, she asked, “Abed, did something prompt all this? You seemed fine yesterday.”
He swallowed, fingers and toes stilling. Finally, she pulled away from him.
His eyes darted towards the open door of the dreamatorium, and hers followed.
Oh.
On the floor were strewn chocolates, different kinds in little wrappers, looking like they’d been thrown and fallen in their places. Only the corner of it was visible, but through the doorway she could see the rounded corner of a pink carton.
Valentine’s was coming up.
“You got those for someone,” she said, not really a question.
He hummed.
“You got those for Troy.”
This, too, was a statement. It was one she felt as sure of as anything else.
He hummed again.
“Were you worried he’d say no?” she asked, turning back to face him.
His eyes lingered on the abandoned chocolates.
“No,” she corrected herself. “That wasn’t it.”
“I’m not sure what my arc is,” he said slowly. “I can contrive it all I want—I don’t know what my ending’s gonna be. I can ponder, I can analyze, but … I don’t really know. And that scares me. It scares me as much as it scares anyone, I think. But Troy is … he’s not set in stone. I have my guesses. I know what I hope. But what if by asking him I seal his fate? What if I take him off the path of the prom king and star athlete and I- I railroad him into decades of unspoken rules and tragedy? I- I can’t do that to him, I- I can’t—”
“Abed.”
His mouth clamped shut.
She pulled his hand a little closer.
“Those are worries that I think, while maybe phrased in a different way, anyone would have. Life is hard and full of uncertainties, and … you and I both know it’s not any easier for us. It’s exponentially harder, in ways that most people wouldn’t even think of. Not because of movie rules or media tropes, but because … well … it’s just that much more uncertain. But, in spite of all that, I have one question for you.”
It was a very movie drama thing to say, and she knew it would draw his interest. His eyes slid to her, not meeting her own, but hovering around her nose, her mouth, her chin.
“Despite the uncertain ending,” she said, “despite the tropes, would it not be worth it if, along the way, he was happy?”
His head darted, just a little.
“Because, for whatever my opinion’s worth, I think if you asked him, he would be really, really happy.”
His eyes fell, down to the collar of her shirt, and she knew from his stillness that he was thinking.
Finally, he spoke.
“Your opinion’s worth a lot. More than most, at least. For the record.”
She huffed a laugh and leaned against him, letting her cheek rest against his shoulder once again.
“I know I’m a complete and utter hypocrite,” she said, “but sometimes I think you have to stop worrying about how it’ll all turn out and just embrace a moment for the moment that it is.”
“Wow,” he said flatly. “I don’t think I’ve seen you once practice that philosophy.”
“Oh, shut up,” she laughed.
He rocked their hands, leaning into her as well. “No, I get it, though. I do.”
“So …” She pulled back to look at him. “What’s the homage gonna be when you ask? What script are you working off?”
After a moment, he looked at her, face painted with an awkward little smile.
“I think maybe I’ll just wing it,” he said. “Speak from the cold, mechanical heart, and all that.”
A breath escaped her nose. She smiled at him. “Yeah. Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”
For a few moments, there was quiet.
“Hey, Annie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
He nodded, shy, and looked away again. The heat between their palms and their pressed-against sides was starting to become uncomfortable, but Annie didn’t want to leave. This was Abed, her Abed, her boys, and, if push came to shove, she could have stayed like that forever.
#community#annie edison#abed nadir#annie & abed#YES IM ON A COMMUNITY KICK IM SORRY#ANNIE! IS! GAY!#ABED! IS! GAY!#i had to get this out of my system
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Every Which Way: Chapter Eight
The Way To Redemption
⇢a/n: I hope this chapter can bring some light to everyone during this difficult time. This was difficult to write, so please let me know if something doesn’t make sense/sounds fragmented. It’s quite possible some paragraphs seem forced in! please leave your thoughts in the replies :) I love you all!!!!
⇢ masterlist | previous chapter | inbox | >>NEXT CHAPTER<<
⇢Din Djarren x Reader/The Mandalorian x Reader: angst | wordcount: 4, 453
⇢ Featuring, Wendi, Ryder, Paz, Gold, Lando, and Boba (JFC)
🏷 @woterezwhet @talesfromtheguild @poupoupoupoupou @multifandom-fiasco @fandomqueen74 @fifiyau105 @shayna-winchester @mserynlarsen
To whomever it may concern, the transmission started. This is Lando Calrissian, the Baron Administrator on Cloud City. Following the disappearance of several men, as well as the Bounty Hunter I employed, I have come across a gunship marked from the Pre-Empire reign. The ship is empty but it is clearly missing its passengers. After careful investigation, I have chosen to relay this transmission to the last person or peoples in contact with the pilot.
The hand that grabbed out in the darkness pressed over your mouth.
You jerk awake, stirring in fear under your thin quilt.
“Ssh,”the intruder coaxed. Your eyes darted frantically, straining to see past the darkness. Past the sparks of light the dance is the slender face of Vidia.
You sat up, your loose hair in a messy whirl over your shoulders.
“Why are you not in your own bed?” You tiredly implore. Your good friend’s face did not wrench in a frown nor a grin like you would have expected. It chilled your blood when you realized she bore not a shred of emotion in her eyes or her ebony face.
She held your hands close to her, her grip like that of ten men. You couldn’t start to understand the painful silence that knit between you two.
“What’s wrong?” You asked.
Her lips parted with a small tremor in her chin. Her words wouldn’t ever quite leave your mind after that night, but you had no way of knowing that at that very moment.
“You’re going to leave me?” you whispered.
Vidia’s hands gripped your hands tightly. Her eyes that glistened under the soft torch light filled with a strange kind of sorrow, as if she were parting from her own child.
“I’ll come back for you. So soon. It’s a promise.”
And then she left your side, as quietly as she’d come.
Bursting awake felt like being overwhelmed by all your senses at once. The medicinal burn of alcohol flooded your nose, stinging your nostrils; the touch of the air burned your skin as if you were too close to the flame of a campfire. Your ears pulse and ache at the flat, shrieking bell that rings without stop.
The bitter taste of your dry tongue floods your mouth as you salivate under the pressure of your panicked awakening. As for your sight,you see nothing but the bright blur of colors, as though you’d squeezed your eyes shut to see distant galaxies much like a child would.
Part of you wanted to call out for help. Your chin quivered as your mouth contorted; the muscles of your jaw clenched as you were unable to form any words. It seemed that, for this time after waking, you could not remember how to speak. You made panicked sounds a bit like a baby would before you could quite recall your verbal skills.
Your pathetic sqwacking for help got answered by the strong, leather bound hands of a stranger squeezing your shoulders.
You couldn’t remember much from before your sleep but that you’d been in serious danger.
You called for your husband as you flailed against the gripping hands, whose strength matched ten hundred men. Amidst the panic, you feel the sorrow that blossomed through your chest like blood on cloth. Upon the thought of your husband, you remembered just what happened. The fuzzy memories fit together like pieces of broken glass. You couldn’t fit them together on your own. You had the hazy image of Din’s hands laid across yours, helping you to guide the glass whole.
“It’s alright,” the light voice commanded. You could vaguely remember hearing this voice once before.
You moan in despair as you recognize Paz, his warmth seeping through his leather gloves as he clutched your hand.
“Bring me to him,” you begged; you knew the answer would not be in your favor.
And yet, when Paz said the words, you could not help but break into a fissure of panic and tears. The aching in your limbs felt as it’d pour way into your bones. The crying only made the pain worse, as it wrung a tension headache across your forehead.
Din is gone. He is lost, nowhere to be found.
You were rescued after three months of being missing. However, as the covert did not have the exact tools to wake you immediately, you were kept asleep for four long months, feeling nothing, witnessing nothing; not even the replay of your memories. No dreams. Nothing to reflect. You could call it a wonderful nap, but it didn’t feel wonderful waking up.
You wished you could go back to that in between state, void of worry and grief until Din had returned.
Oh, how you are praying for his return.
Your vision failed to come back to you after some long minutes of Paz walking you through breathing exercises. The crying had exhausted you, as well as triggered a set of hiccups.
Paz and another Mandalorian, who did not speak, helped you move from the medical table onto a soft bed.
“How did you find me?” you ask, your voice hoarse. Paz is so close to your side, his presence never wavering. “Din had a tracking beacon on his ship. It led us to you.”
Yes, that’s right. He had insisted you wear a tracker.
“Where are we?” you ask.
“The hospital of the covert,” Paz responds faithfully. “You’ll see again, soon. It’ll take time to walk, and for the aching to go away. You’re in the process of recovering. You could think of it like an illness.”
“I do not care about my health,” you croaked. “I want my husband.”
How badly you want him. Burrowing your head in the crook of his warm neck would ease your body’s pain. The weight of his arm around you would ease your mind and heart.
Without him, you feel so helpless.
Guilt tries to pull you into the ground, as if your stomach held a heavy anchor of guilt and it plunged to the center of Nevarro.
How had you been alright, and not Din? How had you been separated?
Worse, had he been killed after you went into hibernation?
Tortured? Hurt? Even one hand laid on him sent you into a frenzy of anger.
Wanting to cry, your face pulled up so all the muscles hurt, but you could not summon the tears to fall.
Paz’s hand came to rest on top of yours. “It’ll be alright.”
You tried to pretend Paz’s hand was Din’s; but even the leather felt different. “How did you find me?” you asked.
“We found a tracking beacon on the Crest. We spent months looking for you, negotiating terms to get you back.” Paz’s hand squeezed yours, as if he meant to be comforting; it did not feel that way. “You have to tell us,” Paz’s voice urged. “Tell us who is responsible.”
Your blood boiled as you thought long and hard about it. You tried your best to recall the finer details. The green armor and the dark features of your captor is clear as day, but his name is impossible to remember. You felt nauseous as you thought. “I don’t know,” you whimpered out. “He was a Mandalorian...but he didn’t follow the rules. He was cruel. He threatened to kill us both. He was working with Lord Vader.”
“What was his name?” This came from Wendi, who had been soundless til now. You didn’t know she was here.
“I can’t remember,” you whispered.
Wendi gritted a sound of anguish. “There are several Mandalorians in league with Vader,” she proclaimed. “There’s no way we could keep track of those, let alone those who have been in and out of Bespin in the past year. Isn’t there anything else?”
“No,” you muttered. “There’s absolutely nothing.”
One month later
The bed just didn’t feel right without Din by your side.
The endless stretch of soft blankets felt suffocating and cold, as if it were a contraption meant to confine you from anything comforting. There came a time when you couldn’t bring yourself to cry again, as you had done often since the awakening; this such time visited you in the middle of the night, nine months after you had been captured on Bespin. Din’s face is so clear in your mind that you find it impossible to believe such time has passed. Nine months; you could be nearing the end of a pregnancy by now; but instead you had spent these days as an oversized bookend, gathering dust in the back of a warehouse. You’d been left alone, left for practically death, embedded into a block of carbonite.
In nine months you could have achieved so much at Din’s side. Aside from a child, there could have been epic adventures; your first fights. The purchase of a real home somewhere out in the vast universe you’d been so naively eager to explore.
You haven’t a clue what happened to Din after you’d been frozen. A part of you wants to hope that he is alive and well and surviving somewhere in the world. But you know deep down that it’s more likely that he is dead. He might have died just moments after you were put into hibernation. Or perhaps he’d survived a while before meeting a lonely surmise.
You long to see his face. You’ve got no photos or drawings of him; only the rendering of his face in your mind may satisfy the craving for his dark features and brown, brown hair.
You move upright to feel for the knob of the bedside lantern. Your fingers touched the dial, then turned it.
The soft light rose like a beast coming to its hind legs, the flames expanding a long shadow across the wall. You moved off the mattress to the little wardrobe. You’d become seized with the urge to be close to Din, now more than ever. You sift through each folded garment. You feel so suffocated to be parted from your husband.
Your heart is thumping so hard that the pulse is in your ears and in your fingers.
Your fingers close around the fabric instantly when you feel it underneath all the unused clothes.
The jacket is in your hands. The worn, soft brown leather jacket. You could press it to your face and smell Din’s natural perfume. The faded smell of beskar and soap cleared your mind. A moment of tranquil exhaustion had washed over you. Sinking down to rest on your knees, you tucked the leather jacket close around you.
You couldn’t sleep for a long time; instead, you sat on the floor of your bedroom, cradling the leather jacket as if it actually was Din.
Hours seemed to pass. You couldn’t do much but stare at every grain in the walls.
The brown leather jacket, soft and worn, is just as comforting as it had been when Din first gave it to you. He’d cared enough to give this jacket to you eleven months ago. Like you did then, you pulled the leather over your shoulders. Pushing your arms into the sleeves, you furled closer into the cape of fabric. The smell of his soa lingered along the insides of the collar. It hurt to smell him so close to you, so close that you could trick your brain into thinking he’s right beside you.
The sensation had you wide awake. Sleep could not and would not come to grant you the peace of mind. Still dressed in your night clothes, but wrapped up in Din’s jacket, you padded across the little bedroom to the door.
You could see the chair which housed your helmet. Din’s helmet should be beside it. He should be laying in the bed, half awake, mumbling for you to come back and keep him warm.
The halls of the covert aren’t totally empty. Light lined the walls from the mounted torches. A few Mandalorians lingered around, sitting at the leisure tables and playing board games. Probably too anxious to sleep.
There isn’t any moment where the entire covert is asleep all at once. Paz and Ryder, as well as another handful of their friends, guard the tunnels during the night. No one could risk an ambush.
You wandered into the gathering hall. The main table of food is lit with candles, for those who want a midnight snack. No one else is there.
You swiped a piece of cheese out of the basket piled high. Sinking your teeth into the rich block, you took a seat. One hand hovered over a lit candle, your finger swiping across the tip of the flame daringly as you tested the limits.
You heard the clacking footsteps down the hall minutes before they even came into the gathering hall. You tilted your head back so see Paz, standing tall in his blue armor.
“What are you doing awake?” he asked in a voice so soft you almost couldn’t hear him.
“I couldn’t sleep,” you tell him. “Morning already?”
“Close to it,” Paz said. “The sun will be up in an hour.”
“I see.”
Another day had come and gone; you’re just as lonely as you were the day before, and the day before that. You lost your appetite, setting the cheese down in a cloth napkin to wrap it up and save for later.
“How are you?”
Paz’s voice came again as he watched you carefully from his place just paces away. You gritted your teeth at the question. You’ve come to hate these words.
“I’m the same as I have been all this time,” you tell him. “And I will be until my husband is back at my side.”
His armor shifted uncomfortably, the weight of his beskar moving from left hip to right. “Y/n…”
You grimmaced hearing his voice say your name. You’d heard this particular term, with that particular tone, more times than you could count.
“Please, don’t say anything,” you stopped him before he could continue. “I already know what you’re going to say. For once, I’d like to hear the truth. Don’t give me false hope. Just say what you’re thinking.”
He seemed stunned by your words. His hands hovered in the air awkwardly as he debated doing as you’d asked.
“Please?” you asked him. Your voice cracked so badly that it had alerted you to your own crying.
Paz looked down to his feet. His helmet must have weighed down on his neck.
“Spit it out,” you urged him. You couldn’t help but feel bitter and angry. Paz didn’t deserve the attitude you were giving him, but you were unable to stop it.
“It should have been me.” Paz’s words didn’t make sense at first. “It was meant to be me. And if it had been, none of this would have happened.”
“What do you mean?” you croaked out.
“You and I were meant to marry. Not Din. It was for Clan Viszla. But Din couldn’t stand the idea of anyone else being with you. He forced his way by your side. If I had married you instead, you wouldn’t have been hurt. I wouldn’t have let it happen.”
The world felt like it was colliding with another planet. Your stomach flipped around so violently you felt like you’d puke all over yourself. You hadn’t expected to hear such a confession. You’d rather hoped it would be something useful; something real, something motivational, like how you’d have to eventually move on from grief to go and seek vengeance for your missing husband. Instead, you’d gotten the worst piece of news possible.
You lurched to your feet. “How could you say this to me?” you shouted. “How could you tell me such a selfish, selfish truth? Do you have any idea how much I need you right now? You’re my only friend, and yet all you can do is hurt me.”
He took a heavy stride, his hands reaching out for you. You tried to perry out of his reach, but he grabbed you by the shoulders roughly.
“You asked for the truth. I only gave it. I’m not saying this to hurt you. I’m saying this because I feel guilty. Something inside of me is convinced that this is my fault. Do not ever think I resent Din. I’ve known him the greater length of my life. Since he was a child, and I an adolescent, we trained and learned together.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” you sobbed out. “It doesn’t.”
“I know,” Paz murmured.
You clung against Paz’s armor, tucking your head against his chest plate as you cried against the beskar. It was not comfortable, but it felt wonderful. You’d almost forgotten how comforting physical contact can be.
This did not last long. As soon as you’d become fond of the feeling of being held, you were doused with extreme guilt. You wrenched out of Paz’s strong arms, your feet practically missing the floor.
“I have to sleep,” you sniffed, using the back of your hand to wipe your tears. “I have to think. I have to remember.”
“You don’t have to do anything,” Paz assured you.
“It’s easy for you to say that when you aren’t missing your greatest love,” you chastised him, your voice still thick with crying. “I just want to be alone for a while.”
There wasn’t anything Paz could think of to say that could possibly stop you. He nodded, his head just barely inclining, as he stepped out of your path.
You hurried back into your bedroom, not stopping to look past anyone that lingered in the tunnels.
You shut your door and switched the locks into place. You shimmied out of your jacket, setting the leather piece on Din’s side of the bed.
It has been too long that you’ve spent sitting around and moping. Everyday that passes could cost Din his life; you’re determined to find him.
Even with this determination, you’re still at a roadblock. Would thinking harder and longer really solve much of anything?
Every thought and memory is a jumble of total nothingness. There’s not much you can make sense of.
Digging through the drawers in your room, you searched for something you could write with. A spare parchment journal and inkpen had been gathering dust for some time under the bed. The pages are empty and worn, as it had waited all its life to be used.
Your dominant hand began to ache as you held the pen to the parchment. You have no writing calluses, nor any proper amount of practice; even so, you’d have to struggle through it.
You started with writing the first details. Where you’d been going and why. You had to walk back through your memories several times to ensure you could remember every little detail. Cloud city. It had been a bounty on the run from his own debts. Din had mentioned how scarily empty the city’s landing pad was when you returned there to pick up the reward.
He was open to the idea that the city was operating under Imperialites, even if it wasn’t being advertised. But what next? You waited on the ship, soon following Din after he’d relayed his desperate message.
You remember running through the narrow halls, dodging stormtroopers on every side before you had reunited with him.
And then what?
You couldn’t recall. It’d been a grieving hour that resulted in the worst outcome. But that’s all you can remember.
You had your three pages of grueling details written in strained font. The blots of the ink stained through the pages where you rested your pen as you took a beat to remember.
You tossed the journal and pen aside. You’d given up––for now.
You’d have to sleep if you wanted to remember anything else useful enough for your search.
You curled into the bed, underneath the quilts. You tugged the leather jacket into your arms.
The gap in your brain is troubling. It’s one hour out of several you can’t remember; it’s ironic.
Burying your face against the fabric, you could practically feel every part of Din. His warmth; his rough hands. Even the stubble he had been letting grow in.
Life would continue to carry on without him. You know this. Now more than ever.
Of course you know that he could be dead. He could have died mere seconds after your freezing.
All you truly want is to put the gnawing mystery to rest. If he’s dead, you’d want to put his soul at peace and live the rest of your days in memoriam of your love.
A knock rapped at the door. You rubbed your pricking tears into the pillow, leaving behind stains like raindrops, before you slowly moved to answer.
Beyond the door was Ryder.
You couldn’t contain your surprise. You’d definitely not become close with Ryder after waking up from your sleep. At least that didn’t change.
“Good morning,” you hazard. His crimson helmet stared directly into your eyes. Robotically, he held out his arm. A folded parchment envelope was forced into your hands. “I will see you at dinner,” Ryder said sternly before he left.
You watched him jerk down the hallway.
“Curious,” you murmured. He became a blot of red in the distance. You shut your door behind you as you returned to lay in your bed.
A few words scrawled on the outside of the envelope in an elegant script. You took a moment to piece the words together, sounding them out audibly to yourself. “Mar...mare...marriage vows.”
You tore into the envelope.
Din Djarren’s name is scrawled at the top; his own script isn’t as elegant, but it is neat and legible. Each letter has a crooked slant, and his ‘I’s are done up with small horizontal slashes rather than dots.
My vow, the letter reads…
My vow is to never leave her.
To always satisfy her.
To never give her grief.
To keep her warm, or cool her down.
To tenderly nurse her to health during times of illness.
To devote my life to her safety.
To give her the strongest of children.
My eternal promise to Y/n Djarren is, and always will be, to stand loyally at her side. No time of darkness could waver my devotion to her. It has been my greatest pride so save her from Aniri and watch her turn into the strongest, bravest woman I’ve known.
My vow is to love her.
It took a long time for you to complete the page. When you did, you read and re-read it, over and over until you had the entire damn thing memorized.
You had always wondered what he wrote on that night. Where you had only written the simplest of vows, he had thought of every single possible promise he could make. It hurt you so terribly to read these vows, now, and know that he’s gone in the world.
You wiped your eyes with the inside of your wrist. After carefully folding up your letter, you slipped it into the pocket of the leather jacket. You returned to your rest, hiding beneath the blankets with your face burrowed into the leather.
You are comforted to know that Din had at least fulfilled all of his promises. He had died with you loving him and being as equally loved. If there’s anything you want to do, it would be to somehow let him know that you’re safe. You worry that he died feeling guilty and scared for your safety.
Drifting off into a soft lull of sleep, Din’s face danced on the backs of your eyelids.
Once tumbled into the dreamland, you found yourself on a cliff’s edge with Vidia.
She held your hand, still wearing her rags. Her face is void of makeup. Her nose and cheekbones glisten gold under the sunshine that warms her night skin. She’s beautiful as you remembered. It wasn’t a wonder why she’d been chosen to wear the makeup. Her eyes that twinkled with mischief turned to you. Her hair, loose curls in the wind, became brushed behind her ear when she asked you, “Why so sad?”
You cast her a glance. “I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever cared about,” you told her. “Both you, and my husband.”
Vidia Thorpe laughed. “You care for so much more than me and your old brute of a man. I wish I could meet him someday.”
“I wish you could, too,” you muttered. “You never will.”
“Why?” she asks. “Because I’m dead?” Her pink lips puckered as she laughed loudly, almost doubling over herself.
“Because he’s dead, too,” you say.
“Oh, Annie,” Vidia sighed. “Your husband isn’t dead. He’s just lost.”
“Then how can I find him?” you gasped out. “I can’t even remember.”
“Yes, you can,” Vidia promised. She smiled sweetly, as though she knows something you don’t. “I miss you very much,” she tells you. “You’ve truly grown into a dandy woman.”
“Dandy?” you repeated.
“Yes, Annie,” Vidia grinned. “Dandy.”
She extended her arms towards you, pulling you in for a hug. She pressed a kiss to the top of your hair before saying goodbye and walking towards the edge of the cliff.
You reached after her, your heart catching in your throat as you tried to warn her to watch out for the drop off.
She kept walking.
Walking across the clouds, into the sunshine.
The kiss she had placed over your head planted a seed of the memory. Its roots grow down into the center of your mind. The hazy images played in the sky; the green Mandalorian’s dark, handsome face is cast transparent beneath the sun’s rays. His voice speaks in the distance.
“Tell me your name,” the Mandalorian urges, “or I’ll kill your lover.”
“Vidia,” you spit out. “Vidia Thorpe.”
You felt guilty for using your late best friend’s name this way, but it was the only possible thing you could say to avoid inflicting harm onto Din.
“Intersting,” the Mandalorian mulls. “I’ve never heard of Clan Thorpe. You must be a foundling.”
You couldn’t calculate what to say to that. Recalling every single rule and tradition you’d been taught, you did your very best to withstand the Mandalorian’s intterogation.
“Who took you in?”
“Shut up,” Din shouted.
“I asked you a question, Vidia,” the Mandalorian repeated. “Which clan rescued you? Can’t you see that I mean you no harm? We both have sworn the same creed, as you can clearly see. We share the same armor. I guess I’ve been a bit rude, however. My apologies. I am Boba Fett, the first and only heir of Jango. I am pleased to make your aqquaintence.”
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