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kenananamin · 6 months

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Beside Each Other

Chapter 1: Moving in

[masterlist]

Summary: Single mom moves into a third floor apartment with her 5 year old daughter. Nanami Kento lives on the second floor and knows someone is moving in when he hears the furniture scraping across the floor to find its spot in the apartment. He expects the noise to end in a day or two but then hears the little pitter patter of tiny feet followed by a muffled, "Stop running!" Well... this should be interesting.

fluff, nanami kento x fem!reader

~3.6k words

♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡

Monday

*Second floor, Nanami's apartment*

Team leader Nanami Kento grabs his mug of freshly brewed tea and goes to sit in his office to begin the work day. It's almost the same thing every single day but he enjoys the job so far. The team is responsible and quick, he can work quietly from home, and most importantly, the pay is much better than any of his past jobs. He'll be able to save most of his check and save enough to move to a better place soon. The current building was breaking down and it seemed that every neighbor had a new complaint every day. He really does feel bad for anyone that falls for the listing and is conned by the landlady who just wants to fill the apartments for rent. He should've known better, a two bed two bath for much less than anything in the area was bound to have its conditions.

He sighs thinking about the apartment but logs in for the day and begins reading through the emails that came in over the weekend. A few emails in and he hears a couple loud thumps upstairs. He knew Truman left last week but the landlady was very quick to con someone (again) to take that space.

Nanami sighs, "Welcome to the money pit, neighbor."

He continues his morning while hearing the furniture scraping across the floor to find its spot in the apartment. The heavier furniture was loud and slow and the lighter stuff was clear and quick. It should only be a day or two at most of this noise. That is, until he hears quick and small pitter patters from the living room to right above his office.

Nanami pauses and focuses to listen through the thin walls. He hears a very muffled, "This is my room, mommy! Mommy! Momma!"

A kid? Nanami wonders.

*Third floor, your apartment*

You swing the door open and pout at the old discolored paint. This apartment wasn't at the top of your list, not even in your top 10, but it was cheaper than everything else and close to Yunn's school. Mr. Truman warned you about this apartment but also said it was a good temporary spot for you and Yunn. At least until your application was approved for any of the other apartments, townhouses, or rental houses you applied for. Mr. Truman and Jessie promised they'd let you know if they ever passed by any 'For Rent' sign.

You move out of the way while holding Yunn's hand to let the mover see the space to know what to bring up first. They quickly scan the room and go back down to bring the first bunch of furniture. You walk to the kitchen bar to check the papers left on the counter and look up to see the movers with the couch and side tables.

"Momma, can I go see the rooms?"

"Yeap, but remember what I told you please."

Yunn indeed does not remember and sprints off to one end of the apartment towards the smaller room. "This is my room, mommy! Mommy! Momma!"

You try to do a quiet tip-toe run after your daughter to get her to quiet down.

"Stop running!" you catch up to your excited daughter. “Yunnuen, I had told you to please not run and not yell. Please, baby, we just talked about this.”

She looks up and nods but continues to look around the room. Mr. Truman had said that although the neighbors constantly complained about management, they were very nice to each other. He told you the downstairs neighbor wouldn’t mind a little noise but you wanted to avoid making any noise, period. Mr. Truman said the neighbor worked from home and the last thing you wanted was to disturb someone while they worked or become a nuisance when they're trying to rest.

“Knock knock!”

“Ms. Jessie!” Yunn ran to the room door where Mr. Truman and Jessie stood.

“The movers are in and out and the door is open, we hope you don’t mind that we came in!”

Jessie was Yunn’s old pre-k teacher. She knew everything from your work schedule, to Yunn’s dad, to your struggle of finding a new place. You both grew close throughout the year especially after Yunn moved up to kinder. Mr. Truman is Jessie’s father. He works as a janitor at the same school and saw you often when you’d stay a bit longer after school to talk to Jessie and let Yunn play in the playground. He had to move in with Jessie after a back injury and told you about his old apartment. He did warn you about the shabbiness of it but said it’d be alright in the meantime. The kind older man offered to help with any maintenance issues and although you agreed at the time, you knew you would never call the poor man to work with his injured back. You’d figure it out… you hoped.

“No no, of course not! You didn’t have to come! It’s your day off, you should’ve stayed home to relax.”

Jessie looks up from hugging Yunn, “Didn’t want to stay home. I can help put some of the boxes in the correct rooms and at least start unboxing a few things.”

“And I wanted to show you a couple things around the building. Most of the things in here are old and get stuck. We all have — or had for me, our own ways of doing things around here,” Mr. Truman smiled at you. The gentlest smile, similar to the smile he always had around Jessie. “Come on, follow me down to the mailbox. Damn thing always gets stuck”

If anyone knew the building, it would be him. You start to follow Mr. Truman out the door when you turn and tell Yunnuen to stay with Jessie and not leave her sight.

*First floor, mailboxes*

Nanami pushes his mailbox slot to get it open. He wasn’t expecting any mail but he was making time for the new upstairs neighbor to finish moving things in the room directly above him to make a couple work calls. He takes a coupon page from the inside and closes his box.

“Be careful with the last steep step here, hold that baby’s hand tight when coming down or she might tumble one day.”

The familiar voice made Nanami turn quickly. Was that…? “Truman?” Nanami asked.

“Nanami! Hello boy, good thing I caught you here, there’s someone you should meet.”

You were a couple steps behind Mr. Truman, carrying a couple welcome bags with things the elderly neighbors had given you after knowing you were a friend of their close friend and had a little girl.

“Nanami, this is y/n, she’s moving into my old place with her little girl. y/n, this is Nanami, the downstairs neighbor,” Mr. Truman fumbles for the mailbox key you handed him on the staircase, “I’m gonna show her my trick to box 303.”

Only her and her daughter... single mom? Nanami extends his hand, “Well, welcome to the building, y/n.”

You shake his hand and smile, “Thank you, Mr. Truman mentioned you work from home. Please let me know if we get too loud, I’ll try to keep our volume down either way but please let me know if it’s too much.”

Nanami shakes his head, “It’s alright, I don’t mind.”

You smile again, but still feel a little bad at the thought that Yunnuen could be running around while this man tried to work. Despite Mr. Truman telling you about this man's calm and patient behavior, you still wanted to avoid any extreme noise. It’s a temporary place, but you still want to be considerate to others.

Mr. Truman calls you over to show you how he would push the mailbox up and slightly to the left to get it open. Mr. Truman closes the mailbox after wiggling it around and continues to talk about the trash chute, the main doorway, avoiding the elevator unless you have heavy things, the never opened or available maintenance office, the broken window at the end of the hall, the flickering light on the 2nd floor staircase, and on and on and on.

“Call me when you need something. I’m still close and know this building better than anyone, including that landlady!” Mr. Truman hits his chest to emphasize his point, making you smile.

Nanami notices your hesitation about calling Truman, but excuses himself to go up to his apartment.

“Don’t work too much, boy! It’s a holiday and it’s supposed to be a long weekend!”

Nanami gives a small smile to the old man, “Just a bit more today, promise.” He politely smiles, nods towards you and turns to leave.

Handsome, you thought.

Pretty, Nanami thought.

Thursday

*First floor, maintenance office*

Nanami opens the main entrance door and is immediately greeted by the warmth of the first floor. He pulls the bags on his right hand closer to himself and begins going up the stairs, but stops when he sees you trying to peek through the closed blinds of the maintenance office.

Nanami steps away from the staircase and walks a few feet towards you, “They’re supposed to be here Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays at least half day but I’ve never seen them open for more than a couple hours at a time. You might have missed them already.”

You quickly turn towards him, slightly disgruntled at the closed office. You put your hands on your hips and ask, "do you think they’ll come in tomorrow?"

Nanami slightly tilts his head to the side and without saying a word, you understood completely. You sigh heavily and pace in front of the office before pointing to the closed door, “Would you happen to have a number or contact for any maintenance person?”

"Yeah," he shrugs, but before you get too excited, he said, "Truman. He was our unofficial in-house maintenance man and he was the one that everyone called."

You hesitate before saying, "I wouldn’t want to bother him. His back is still hurt pretty bad and I wouldn’t want him on the floor."

"On the floor?" Nanami raises his eyebrows.

Nanami notices how you hesitate to answer, but you continue, "I noticed a small leak underneath the kitchen sink and I thought I just had to tighten it so I did but it’s been leaking nonstop since yesterday. I wouldn’t want to call Mr. Truman and ask him to basically crawl under my sink to figure out what’s wrong."

Nanami looks at his watch and sees he has 40 minutes left of his lunch. He looks back up, "I know we just met and I’m not a maintenance man but Truman did teach me a few things. Before you, I was the youngest in this building and he said every young man needed to learn how to handle things around his apartment," He chuckles at the memory of the older man happily walking downstairs to Nanami's apartment to help, "He helped me at first, but towards the end, he would just bring me the tools and supplies and watch me fix things on my own. I can go up and see what’s wrong with it, I have about 40 minutes left so I can at least check it out."

"Didn't you just say Mr. Truman would take his tools to you?" you ask, trying to find a way to sneak in a kind no, thank you.

"Yeah but he gave me about half his tool box when he moved out. Said I’d need it eventually," Nanami grins at the memory, "guess he was right."

Nanami sees you hesitate again and look down the hall. I don't want to ask any neighbor for this kind of help, I just moved in and don't know anything about him, you think. But — I do need the help, I can't have Yunn in a place without a properly working kitchen sink. You cross your arms and tell him, "I wouldn’t want to impose. I haven’t even been here in a week and I would already be asking you for something."

Nanami smiles and shakes his head. "It would be no imposition," he nods towards the staircase and motions you to walk up with him. "And I think you’ve held out long enough, maybe longer than the rest of us. A lot of us came down to the maintenance office the second day we were here."

Damn... I guess I can repay him later?

You lightly laugh and start ascending the stairs with your neighbor. "I'm y/n by the way, I know the last time I saw you was Monday," you stretch your hand out and Nanami introduces himself again.

"How can I pay you back? I wouldn’t want a free favor and I don’t want to take advantage of your generosity."

"Well let’s see what the issue is first. But I really don’t mind, Truman helped me when I needed it most. I’d be happy to help."

You turned your face away from Nanami, but he saw your tight-lipped smile. You both reach the second floor and tell Nanami you have a few tools he can use so he wouldn't have to stop to get his tools. Nanami nods and gives a small ok as you slowly reach your apartment door.

"Let me just say that I haven’t really had a chance to organize things how I would like and my daughter is not very good at picking things up before school," you reach into your pocket for the key and start to open your door.

Nanami laughs a bit behind you as you open the door. If it weren’t because you and Truman have mentioned your daughter, or the toys splattered on the living room floor, he wouldn’t believe a kid lived above him. Besides the first day and the chaos of moving in, he never heard any small footsteps running around or a child's laugh through the walls. He was somewhat impressed that you had kept your promise about keeping the noise down, but he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed though. Maybe he was looking forward to the noise of a child's laughter, sometimes the evenings were too quiet or they were filled with the elderly neighbor's drama filled evening programs.

"May I?" Nanami points to the bags in his hand and a spot on the floor near your door.

"Oh, I can take those, we can just put them on the table."

Nanami shrugs his shoulders a bit, his heavy coat becoming heavier in your warm apartment. You put his bags on an entryway table and ask him to follow you to the kitchen. He had been inside Truman’s apartment before and even though he knows it's the exact same layout as his own, he says nothing and lets you lead him in.

Nanami sees you keep a good few feet from him in your apartment and he honestly can’t blame you, you just let a new neighbor you don’t know into your house. He avoids getting closer than necessary to not make you uncomfortable and opens the cabinets under the kitchen sink. You open the cupboard beside the sink and take out your toolbox for him to use.

"Thank you," he smiles and gives you a quick glance before turning back to the pipe underneath the sink. He shrugs his shoulders again to try to shift the increasingly warm jacket and reaches for the wrench to start working on the sink trap.

You leave the small kitchen and head for the area on the other side of the bar. If Nanami looked up, he would be able to find you and you weren’t sure where to stand while he worked. You didn't want to hover, but you also didn’t feel like you should leave him completely alone since he was doing you a favor. You grab a closed box and start unpacking the extra dishes and utensils. You can’t see what he’s doing exactly but you hear a couple tools moving on the pipes and the clanking of other tools in the toolbox.

You grab another box and start removing the newspaper from the top when you see Nanami shrugging again. Since it was cold outside, you always kept your home slightly warmer for Yunn. You’re comfortable and not too warm in what you’re wearing, but a 6-foot well-built man with a winter coat must feel like an oven.

"Umm, let me take your jacket. I can put it by your bags so it’s out of your way if you'd like." Your neighbor looks up and although you can only see the top half of his face, you notice the slight sweat building on his brow.

"Thank you, I don’t think it’ll take much longer, but I appreciate it," he drops the tool in his hand and stands to take off his jacket. He was definitely handsome, very handsome, in fact, and apparently very helpful. You nod and smile at the man and quickly turn to put his jacket by the entryway.

You return to your spot on the other side of the bar and he stands back up after unpacking your third box.

"So the sink trap is going to have to be replaced. If you ask management for the sink trap alone, then they can get it to you maybe early next week. Can't promise they'll do anything for the labor part of it but they'll send the part somewhat quickly," Nanami closes the cupboard and reaches back down for the toolbox.

You nod and take a mental note of what he says, "Can you show me which part that is? I can change it as soon as they give it to me."

Nanami looks at you round the kitchen bar to move next to him and asks, "Are you sure? I’m sure you would be able to figure it out, but I wouldn’t mind coming back and switching it quickly. This alone took," he looks back at his watch and continues, "10 minutes."

You shift your weight from one leg to the other and contemplate his offer, "That’s a huge imposition, I can’t ask you to fix or switch everything for me."

Nanami gets on one knee to put the tools back in the cupboard where you retrieved them from. "I work eight hours a day, but I don’t have an exact assigned time to work. I can take my breaks whenever I want as long as I finish everything so I'd be able to replace it even during a break."

You hesitate again, but he continues, "Truman never let anybody help him. With the condition of the sink trap, I imagine that he couldn’t fix this himself, but he would be willing to help any of us if we needed anything. Think of this as me repaying him."

"Actually, he probably wasn't even aware of this, his daughter would take him home with her a lot towards the end of his lease here," you look up to your neighbor’s eyes. Even though the thought of a complete stranger in the same house as your daughter makes you nervous, you admit that you might need that help. It might be worth trusting Nanami especially when Mr. Truman kept talking about him so highly after your mailbox interaction last time.

The man is now gently smiling at you, waiting for your answer, and you smile back. "I work at the office two to three times a week. I work from home the rest of the week. I can let you know when I finally catch management so they can give me or order the part.” You pick at your fingernail, “I want you to know that I really really would not want to ask for any help, especially anything keeping you away from your real work or anything of yours, but I really would — do appreciate your help."

Nanami gives you another small smile and says, "Great, just let me know. You can just knock on my door or give me a call." He pulls out his wallet from his back pocket and hands you a business card. "It's my work cell but it's always on and I carry it everywhere."

You nod and take his card: Kento Nanami, Senior Mechanical Product Designer at Schneider Electric. Hmm, fancy.

Nanami walks around you and heads to the front door. You follow behind as he's grabbing his jacket and bags from the table when he turns around to look at you. "I'm not sure if I should say this or not, but I really wouldn't mind if your daughter runs around a bit. I haven't heard anything from up here since the day you moved in... you don't have to be so careful. It's ok if you show a couple signs of life up here." He gives his last smile before opening the door, "See you soon, y/n." Nanami softly closes the door behind him.

You stare at the door after his departure, his business card still in your hands. Show a couple signs of life up here. Anywhere else you've lived, you've been shushed through the walls and neighbors would complain about hearing your baby when you were trying your best to keep her quiet. You got used to keeping quiet ever since. Maybe it is ok — loud laughter, speaking a bit louder, maybe that much would be ok.

You smile down at the business card and put it behind your phone case for safekeeping.

Nanami returns to his apartment and looks at his watch. A little more than 25 minutes left for lunch. He sets his bags down and thinks about his pretty and nice neighbor. So she is a single mom. He sits on his couch and takes out his phone.

Truman was no longer looking over his shoulder to make sure everything was being done correctly. Nanami did not want to mess this up.

Google search: how to replace a sink trap

♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡

Chapter 2: The Pizza and the Tooth Fairy

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suniix · 10 months

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small bite | (botw) link x reader

synopsis | reader gets cute agression and bites link

word count | 624

note | two posts in one day is insane but sorry i’ve fallen into a rabbit hole ever since totk came out so have another blurb!! 😣 first time writing for link so idk how i feel about it 💔 (also yes i just did one for inumaki i like the idea leave me alone)

The campfire made crackling sounds as Link fed it more logs. The sun had set long ago, the moon rising to take its place and casting a white glow across the land. The two of you had been traveling for a long time without breaks, so when you suggested that the two of you should rest for the night, Link offered no complaints. You were tired, the horses were tired; a break would benefit everyone.

You sat on the ground, far enough away so you wouldn’t get burned but close enough to still feel the warmth of the fire. Link took a seat right next to you on the floor, holding up mushroom skewers with a grin.

“Seriously? We just ate not too long ago.” You laughed, accepting the skewer nonetheless.

The two of you ate in comfortable silence, enjoying the small dinner Link had made (though, to be honest, you know he’ll make more, his stomach is like a void that never gets full). Finishing your skewer, you close your eyes, basking in the ambiance of the night. Somewhere in the distance, there was a cricket chirping. The grass tickled your legs as a small breeze passed through, making you shiver. It’s moments like this that give you hope for a new life after Ganon is defeated. Soon, you’ll have peaceful nights like this every day.

A rustling sound brings you out of your thoughts. Turning to look at Link, you noticed him preparing another skewer. You hold back a laugh, knowing you were right. Link hears you nonetheless and raises an eyebrow, almost as if saying, ‘What?’. You wave him off, a small giggle managing to escape. “It’s nothing, you keep eating.”

Link rolls his eyes, but you don’t fail to see the small smile growing on his lips. It’s not often that you get to see it, but he has a really nice smile. You wish you had the Sheikah slate right now to capture it.

In this moment, you can’t help but admire how beautiful he is. The light from the fire gave his sun-kissed skin a golden glow. His eyelashes are long, something you’ve commented on several times while on your journey together, casting shadows against his cheeks. Actually, his cheeks are unusually round today.

You’re tempted to squish them.

Silently debating whether or not to squish, you figure he wouldn’t mind. He does it often to you; this is only fair. Link turns to look at you as you lean in, half expecting you to kiss him, but instead you cup his cheeks. He gives a confused hum as you gently squish them for a few moments.

Slowly, you begin to pull him close to you. Now, Link thinks, now is when you give him a kiss. To his surprise, you bit his cheek. He doesn’t pull away; he just silently sits there as you bite his cheek.

When you pull away, Link is sitting there, confused. Link raises his skewer to you, gesturing for you to take it. This causes you to burst out laughing. “No no! I’m not hungry haha, just wanted to bite your cheek!”

“.. you sure?” Link asks, half expecting you to bite his cheek again.

“Yes, Link, I’m sure.” You laugh. You grab his free arm and wrap it around your shoulder, snuggling into his side for warmth.

Link goes back to eating, pulling you closer with his arm, still wondering where your sudden urge to bite him came from. While he was distracted, you turned to his arm that’s wrapped around your shoulder and bit his forearm. He flinches, once again caught off guard.

“If you’re hungry, please tell me.. I promise I didn’t eat everything and can make you another skewer.”

thank you for reading till the end! :D

masterlist

#link x reader #botw link x reader #botw x reader #loz x reader #link imagine #link fluff #botw #breath of the wild #[📝 sunni writes]

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staytinyville · 5 months

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OUTLAW (38)

ATEEZ poly!ot8 x Reader

Cowboy AU / Wild West

Series Masterlist

Warning: none (Due to the nature of the next chapter there will be no taglist. Please read bottom note for more info)

A/N BETA READ (@mariana-mmtz). YOU GUYS! Y'all my bad for missing Thursday's update! I live in the US so it was Thanksgiving for us and then the weekend was full of things. So I hope you can enjoy this update!

That night, the boys had taken it upon themselves to have their own small party in honor of starting the heist tomorrow. San had brought out some Moonshine they had saved, Wooyoung and Seonghwa made a good dinner. All of it was meant to keep the hopes up. A way of keeping them all happy before something that would take up all their energy.

You, however, seemed to keep thinking back to the whole thing. It might have been something the boys were used to. In fact, it was probably a lot tamer than what they were used to, but you couldn’t help to think how wrong it felt.

It wasn’t because you were going to feel bad about the entire thing–quite the opposite. Honestly, if Klein was doing something illegal with the money he was taking from the citizens, he deserved everything he had coming to him. Same thing with Quaid. The thing that left you bothered was the fact that you would be taking part in a heist.

Had you learned that what you have planned had happened from someone in town, you would've said: Well, good. They deserve something like that. You’re not above thinking they weren’t criminals. Because they were in fact just that. If it was up to someone else, you would praise them for what they are going to do.

But you grew up knowing the law, being told what was wrong and right. No matter how many times you would tell yourself that this was for the greater good, it still left a sour feeling in your gut. You could push someone for having taken a towel from the hotel and still feel bad about it. Only because you were told to be polite. Never steal. Never cheat.

But there were greater evils out there than just someone taking a towel. And your boys were the ones who were stopping them.

“You alright?” Hongjoong asked, coming to sit at your side.

“What was your first heist like?” You asked, turning to face him.

“A complete and utter uncoordinated mess.” Wooyoung cackled, moving to sit in front of you.

He sat crossed leg, placing his cheek against your thigh as you sat on a log. The rest of the boys calmly walked over, some nursing a shot of moonshine. Seonghwa took the other side of the log next to you. Mingi sat on the floor in front, wrapping his arms around the leg Wooyoung wasn’t occupying.

“That bad?” You snorted.

“We got what we needed, but we weren't exactly stealthy with it.” Hongjoong explained. “Left a huge mess behind.” He rolled his eyes, looking over at some of the members who looked away, guilty.

“But we still pulled through.” Yunho told you, coming up behind you to rest his head on top of yours. “Besides, it wasn't our problem after taking the horde. As long as the people were happy.” He shrugged.

Thinking about all those stories they were able to tell you so far, each one ended in a happy ending–for both them and the poor people of the town they were in. You had yet to hear about a heist gone wrong. The only time you did was when they claimed Yeosang got captured by the Black Pirates.

However, that was before they started doing what they do. Back when they were just teenagers, following everything their families would tell them. Nonetheless, it seemed that they had been doing heists after saving Yeosang from the Black Pirates. So they must have known what they were doing while being in Strickland. It left you to wonder how they had gotten discovered.

“Why did you guys get caught in Strickland?” You spoke up. “That you had to leave.”

“We might have gotten used to being stealthy, but this was something out of our control.” Hongjoong sighed. “We just messed with the wrong documents that gave us away. However, we got what we needed. At least enough for us to move forward with plans of taking down Strickland.” He told you.

It seemed to be the ultimate goal for all of them. Wanting to take down that compound. And you could understand why. Who wants to live in a world where no one has their own emotions? It might sound like a utopia to some, thinking that everyone would be equal, but who would want that? Who would want to lose their free will?

“Was it enough?” You asked.

“More than enough.” Seonghwa answered softly. “At least for us.”

There was no guarantee that the government would allow Sciensalver to go through with their drug of creating emotionless people. Maybe they would be stopped before it got to a certain point. But what about the corrupts of the world? The ones who would see it as an opportunity to gain control over a lot of things. Something like that in the wrong hands would not go well.

“It's normal to be nervous for your first heist.” San began to tell you. “If any of them tell you they weren't, that's a lie.” He grinned, giggling when some of the boys began to protest.

They started to bicker again, you watching in amusement as they seemed to let go of everything holding them back from tomorrow. They were so carefree. It was clear they had been doing those kinds of things for a long while. Even better when they knew how to work with another.

“I don't know if it's nervous of things going wrong or just me doing something criminal like.” You admitted.

“You'll get an adrenaline rush as you're going in. The thoughts of being a criminal will be far from your mind.” Yeosang rubbed at your shoulders, taking Yunho spot behind you. “Besides, when you leave the money at the doorsteps of people who need it, everything feels better.”

Series Masterlist

NEXT UPDATE will be Thursday November 30 (United States time)

@thefrog3223 , @iarayara , @0rangemilk , @explorewithd , @detectivedoodle , @bangtanxberm , @a1i33a , @loveforred , @drunken-deitence , @0325tiny , @the-ghostest-with-the-mostest , @atinyreads , @atinytinaa , @lexiigom , @smilingtokki , @mismatchfluffysocks , @brain-empty-only-draken , @sousydive , @alex-tinyyy , @h3arteyes4mingi , @onedumbho3 , @popcatx0 , @blue1amory , @mommahwa1117 , @sunnyhokyu , @cloudieclair , @araknoid , @starjoongi1117 , @chel-awingcherry , @puppyminnnie ,

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maelialuv · 2 years

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Fire Side - Eddie Munson

*NOT MY GIF*

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Summary: After a campfire with friends, you look at your best friend Eddie in a brand new light. Good thing he brought his van.

Warnings: SMUT! MINORS DNI! mature language, alcohol, jealous!eddie, smut, virgin!reader, reader is 18, The Van.

Word count: 4.3K

"To no more tests, no more shitty cafeteria food and NO MORE SCHOOL!"

As Steve bellowed from on top of a log, you and your friends cheered in excitement, each with a red solo cup in hand. The graduating class of 1985 - well, you and your friends- had gathered by Lover's Lake to set up a bonfire to celebrate the end of senior year. And while he wasn't able to graduate this year, Eddie Munson , as per your incessant pestering, had tagged along with you.

Eddie had been your best friend since your junior, his first senior, year. You'd been nose deep in your schedule when you'd collided with the long haired dungeon master. You'd been knocked right to the floor, the wind smacked right out of you, whilst Eddie stood tall.

"Wow, okay, you're alright, there you go" he'd said, hoisting you up and brushing the dust from your back. "Ouch, Click's history. Rough."

"Had them before?" you asked , taking your books from him as he grabbed them from the floor.

"Let's just say our relationship has not been one of love."

You'd been close with Eddie ever since, but it was your senior year - Eddie's second- that you became best friends. You had nearly every class together, ate lunch together, and hung out almost every day after school at your place or his. You were practically attached at the hip. So when Eddie said he was gonna skip out on the bonfire, you simply wouldn't put up with it. After nagging him for a good twenty minutes straight, he'd said yes to shut you up.

But he was secretly glad he'd come. He loved spending time with you, no matter the setting or reason. He would sit with you and watch paint dry if it meant that you two were hanging out.

The bonfire party consisted of you, Eddie, Steve and Robin, Nancy and a few others. As the night went on and the sky darkened, and the booze ran low, people started to file on to their bikes and head for home until it was just you five left. You five and a bottle of vodka.

"And who hid this from the rest of us?"

"Always gotta bring a spare for the after party, Y/n. Have I taught you nothing?" Steve said, ruffling your hair playfully as he sat down next to you on the logs. He cracked the cap on the bottle. "Ladies first?"

"Straight?" you said, hoping for at least a soda to relieve yourself from the alcohol.

"Why, are you coming on to me?" Steve said with a suggestive wink.

"Shut up, you know what I mean."

"It'll be fine , watch." Steve took a tiny swig from the bottle, grimacing lightly as he swallowed. "See." You could see him fighting back a cough.

"Was that meant to impress me, Harrington?"

"Are you impressed?"

You chuckled at your friends antics, ducking down as Harrington ruffled your hair again, this time harder.

Beside you, Eddie was not laughing. Far from it. A simmering anger was spluttering inside of his chest, much like the sparks from the embers of the fire. The way Steve was talking to you - flirting with you- made his blood boil. He was so flippant about it! In front of your friends too! Eddie clenched his hands by his sides, trying his best to shove this anger- or was it discomfort?- down and just enjoy the night. He couldn't take his eyes off of you, however, when you grabbed the bottle from Steve and took a large sip with a straight face, not breaking eye contact with your friend.

Jesus Christ, Eddie thought.

Why not just make out in front of us all?

The bottle got passed around a few times, and soon a happy buzz had worked its way on to all five of you. The fire was dying down, only a light glow now, casting orange light on to everyone's faces. Robin's head rested gently on Nancy's shoulder, eyes closed and murmuring to keep up with the conversation. Moments later, Nancy took on the same tired exterior, resting her head on top of Robin's.

"You guys had enough?" You asked, putting your hand on Nancy's shoulder. She yawned loudly in response. "I think it's time to get them home, Harrington." you said, tossing Steve his keys.

"Yeah, even when the kids aren't around I'm still playing baby sitter." He leaned forward to whisper in your ear. "Don't tell anyone, but I've been having soda all night."

"Wow, party animal. You gonna be okay to drive?" you joked, smiling at Steve's gracious role of designated driver even on graduation night.

"Oh yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'll leave you a message when we're all home." He wrapped his arms over your shoulder in a friendly hug. "Night, squirt. See ya, Eddie!" he called to your best friend, who simply waved in response.

After helping Steve get the girls into his car, you plopped down next to Eddie on the logs, the glow from the moon making his pale skin look ivory in the dark. He was staring into the embers of the fire, twisting his rings round his fingers.

With a tired, but happy, sigh, you rested your head on his shoulder. "I'm sad you didn't graduate with us, Eds, 's gonna be weird not getting to see you every day." Beneath your head, you could feel Eddie tense up.

"Well, you've got Harrington for that now." He laughed humourlessly as he said it, making you furrow your brows in confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean?" lifting your head abruptly when Eddie stood, shifting his feet with his hands in his jean pockets.

"Just that, clearly, Harrington can make you happy. So you won't need to miss me too much. Steve's gotcha covered from here , it seems." He laughed to himself again. "I mean, god, could it be more obvious that he's hot for you? Guy is shameless."

"What?" you gawked at your best friend, a mix of confused and slightly angry at his sudden outburst. "What are you talking about he's hot for me?" In any other situation, Eddie's phrasing would have made you laugh. Now it just made you mad.

"Oh come on, Y/n, he was practically rubbing it in my- our faces all night. Touching your hair all the time? He's gone textbook, which is the first time I think anyone has ever said that for Steve."

"Hey, leave him alone man." You were fully angry now, pissed off at Eddie's change in demeanour. "There's nothing going on with Steve and I. And even if there was - if he wasn't still obviously in love with Nance- why would it be anything to do with you?"

"Because!"

"Because what?"

"Because you're my best friend, and I should know these things, and not have it shoved in my face. God, he was practically eye fucking you all night!" Eddie ran his hands through his hair to try and calm his nerves, but he was on fire right now. He was shaking he was so distraught at the thought of Harrington getting to you.

Before he could tell you, or show you, how he felt about you.

Your mouth was agape in shock at Eddie's words. Shocked both at his sense of entitlement to know which boys you were or were not getting with, and at his vulgarity. Steve had been his normal friendly self all night. He made sure you were having fun, he took care of Robin and Nancy. He was just normal Steve.

What had made Eddie so...off?

"What the hell is your problem, Eddie?" you took a step closer to your friend. You were about arms length apart now. "You're being an asshole right now."

"You wanna know my problem?"

"Uh, yeah, that's why I asked."

Eddie paused for a second, rocking on the balls of his feet. Then, in one smooth stride, he walked to you, grabbed your face in his hands.

And kissed you.

Eddie was kissing you.

It was intense, and hard. He grasped your face so gently in his hands, the force of his lips seeming that much bigger. When the initial shock wore off, you pulled away breathlessly.

"What are you doing?" you asked, your hands on his forearms. You were so, so confused. So why were you enjoying it? In those ten short seconds, you'd had a better kiss than in your whole high school experience. Eddie pulled back with a deep sigh.

"That's my problem. Harrington getting to touch you, not a big fan." His hands still rested on your face, thumbs stroking the apples of your cheeks. When you didn't pull away, he touched his forehead to yours gently. "I've liked you for so long, Y/n. So long. And you know I'm not a big feelings guy, but, God, seeing Steve with you tonight just made me wanna scream." You laughed slightly at him. "Oh, that's funny to you , is it?"

"You were jealous, of Steve?"

Eddie looked down at his feet, smiling to himself gently. "Of course that's the bit you listen to." You moved your hands to smooth out his wild hair. You felt like the wind had been kicked from your lungs. Eddie liked you, Eddie was jealous of Steve touching you? As much as you were confused, the small flicker of warmth in your stomach was fanned into a flame as Eddie let out a deep chuckle. "Anything else you picked up on there?"

He was looking so deeply, so intently, into your eyes you felt as though he was seeing your very soul. His hands crept their way up to the back of your head, twining his fingers into the hair at the nape of your neck. "Well," you said, taking on a teasing tone despite your heart thrumming in your chest, "I don't get the jealousy thing." Eddie furrowed his brows. Had he not been clear before? "I don't get being jealous. It's not like Steve and I," you leaned in, hovering your lips over the shell of his ear, "touch here." You lightly kissed the skin below his lobe, grinning when Eddie sucked in a sharp breath.

Lowering your head, you dragged your lips down Eddie's neck. "It's not like he touches me," you kissed his adam's apple, dragging your teeth down to where his shoulders met his neck, "here." You ran your hands up Eddie's arms, lingering around his face and tracing his lips with the tip of your finger. "Wouldn't let him touch me there."

Eddie felt like he was going to implode. Your touches were driving him crazy, and if you didn't just kiss him again, he was gonna go out of his mind. You ceased your movements. "You've got no reason to be jealous of anything, Eds."

"Does Harrington know that?"

"Steve's not here, Eddie." You dropped your hands to your sides. "And even if he was, I wouldn't dream of kissing anyone else but you-"

Eddie's lips cut you off in another searing kiss, this time you reciprocated. It was all teeth and lips, hands in hair, and hands roaming anywhere they could reach. Eddie's lips felt like magic against your own, better than any kiss you'd ever had. When Eddie tugged against your hair, lowering his lips down to nip and kiss the skin of your neck, you groaned aloud. Eddie's head whipped to face you.

"Well, what do we have here?" he smirked, nipping the spot again and taking another groan as encouragement. You yanked his jaw, desperate to kiss him again. "C'mre, Munson." Eddie gladly obliged, crashing your lips together.

You felt overwhelmingly hot in your sweater now, tugging frantically at the hem to get it off without breaking the kiss. "Eds," you said, resting your hands on his cheeks. "can we sit down?"

His eyes lit up, excitement and desire evident in his now black eyes, blown wide and darkened with lust. "We could sit in the van?"

Doors thrown open, you clambered into the back of Eddie's van. You threw your sweater over your head, leaving you in a Van Halen tshirt. "You stealing my clothes now, Y/n?" You had borrowed the shirt last time you stayed at Eddie's place. The sight made Eddie just about burst. Seeing you in his clothes, he felt like he was marking you as his. The attention on the shirt - and your chest- made you suddenly self conscious, as you crossed your arms over your chest.

The pause in activity had made you nervous. What did this make you and Eddie? What would happen to your relationship now? You obviously had feelings for Eddie too, revealed by your feverish desire to kiss him, touch him, have him touch you. You head whirled with anxieties, broken when Eddie's hand wove its way into yours.

"Hey," he said softly, "we can stop if you're uncomfortable. We don't have to do anything, okay?" His thumb rubbed gently against your skin, leaving a blazing trail in its wake. Your whole body thrummed with an electric desire for Eddie. When you didn't respond right away, he scooted on the floor of the van next to you. "What's going on up here, hmm?" He tapped his fingers to your temple lightly.

"Can I tell you something?" you said, gaze on the rug Eddie had laid in the back of the van.

Eddie turned his body completely towards you. "Of course."

"I haven't... been with someone before." you grimaced in embarrassment at yourself. "So, if we do this" you finally met his gaze. "it would be my...first."

Eddie was quiet for a few heartbeats, before he leaned in and placed a soft kiss to your lips. It was slow and gentle, and conveyed his love and all his care for you without saying a word. When he pulled back, he smiled at you. You felt like your heart was in your mouth. He looked at you as if you were the moon. "Are you sure?"

You nodded your head. "I'm sure."

Eddie leaned in to kiss you again, and his tongue made its way into your mouth. You moaned lightly at the sensation. He cupped your jaw, shifting your head to deepen the kiss. Wrapping his arms around you, he lightly laid you down on the bed of the van, moving on top of you. Raising your arms above your head, he intertwined your fingers before peppering kisses down your neck, the hollow of your throat before kissing down your clothed torso. "Can I take this off?"

"Do you want me to take mine off first?" he asked , noting your nervous look. When you nodded, grateful for his patience, he reached to his back and swiped his signature Hellfire shirt off in one swift movement. You'd seen Eddie shirtless before. You'd swam together, and you'd showered at each others houses a million times. But in the white light of the moon, accentuating his light abs and tattoos, it was like the first time. Subconsciously, you reached up to trace the tattoo on Eddie's hip, mindlessly moving across his stomach. He tensed under the touch, sucking in a raged breath.

"Jesus, Y/n, you don't know what you're doing to me."

You sat up slightly, lifting your hand from his stomach to pepper small kisses along the tattoos by Eddie's collar bones. "You're so handsome, Eddie." you whispered against his skin. You lifted your head to meet his lips again, graciously welcoming his tongue back into your mouth as he slid your - his- shirt over your head. "Christ," he breathed as your skin glowed in the light of the moon made you look silver, accentuating your boobs against the stark black of your bra. "You're beautiful."

Eddie pressed wet, open mouthed kisses along your chest, lowering down across your stomach until his lips reached the hem of your jeans. You sucked in a ragged breath, the heat of where the moment was leading finally catching up with you. Without realising it, your hands had begun to tremble lightly with excited nerves. One of Eddie's own large, ringed hands came to grasp you own. "How we doing up there?" he asked, eyes meeting your own as his finger toyed with a stray thread near the button of your jeans.

"Good." you said, flushing dark red at the sight before your eyes. Eddie was sprawled on the bed of the van, body between your opened legs, hair messy and curling round his face. Unable to stop yourself, you pushed a stray curl from his eye. He leaned into your touch, kissing your wrist as he caught it. "Do you want to keep going?"

You'd be insane to stop now. The heat in your stomach was a full on wild fire by now, centred between your legs where Eddie's head was. "Yes," you said breathlessly, "yes, please."

"Okay," Eddie began to unbutton your jeans at a purposefully, painfully slow pace. The coolness of his rings against your bare thighs made you gasp, resulting in a smirk from the metal head between your legs. With your jeans off, Eddie took his own off too. If you'd been staring before, now you were gawking at him. Through his boxers, Eddie was hard enough that you could see the outline of his cock clear as day, despite the limited light. He was big, bigger than you thought you could manage. If you went all the way tonight, it would be painful. Somehow, the thought turned you on even more.

Out of his jeans, Eddie crawled up your chest to reattach his lips to yours in a heated kiss. Feeling a surge of confidence, you ran your tongue along his bottom lip, moaning as he allowed you entrance and his tongue met yours. Subconsciously, you started to grind your hips against Eddie's , shocked at the volume of the gasp that was swallowed by his mouth. Matching your eagerness, Eddie ground his hips down to meet yours. "Fuck," he groaned right in your ear, turning you on even more than before. Something about bringing Eddie pleasure made your own start to pool between your legs.

"Eddie," you sighed, hands woven in his hair as you rutted against him, desperate for any friction you could find.

"Tell me what you want, sweetheart." he sucked on the skin of your neck, surely leaving marks that you would have to cover later. He nipped a particularly sweet spot that made you whine. "Tell me, and I'll give to you." Eddie would give you the moon if you asked. “You,” you breathed in a sigh as his tongue swiped over the bruising skin, “just want you, Eddie.”

Inside his chest, Eddie felt his heart surge. For months, he had been letting guilt eat him up inside. He never meant to fall for you, and he felt terrible for it. But the pain of losing you as a friend would be a thousand times worse than being rejected by you, so he bottled it up. So in the dark of the night, laid down in his van with yourself on display to him, professing your desire for him, Eddie felt confident.

”Well, I'm not going anywhere babe."

Babe

Eddie's delicate fingers wound themselves over the hem of your panties, shimmying them down your legs with heavy eyelids. "Gonna make you feel good , okay?" He threw your underwear over his shoulder blindly. His hands settled fondly on your hips, thumbs rubbing small circles . You felt like you weren't a person anymore, but merely a heap of ash from the sweltering heat you felt in your stomach. Every touch of Eddie's cool skin on the sizzling heat of your own felt like a fire hose on a burning house.

Then you exploded.

Eddie nestled his face between your thighs, wrapping your legs around his head and keeping them there with his arms. He flattened his tongue against you, and you felt like the floor was going to swallow you up. You were instantly melting underneath him, uttering breathless praise as he wrapped his lips around your clit and hummed. You hands clutched and palmed at his hair, desperate for him to be all the more close to you.

"Oh, shit."

"How's it feel, s'good? Tell me how good it feels, Y/n." When you didn't reply right away, he nipped at your inner thigh, leaving a bruise.

"So good, Eds, so so good." So good you could hardly form words, as your mouth seemed able to only form a silent oh as you back arched and your hands flailed around Eddie's hair, messing it up. "So- fuck- good."

Between your legs, Eddie groaned at the praise. The vibrations against you had your eyes rolling back into your skull. Eddie's hand travelled up your stomach before resting against your boobs, kneading and palming them. The coil in the pit of your stomach was close to snapping.

"E-Eddie, I'm gonna-" you cut yourself off as a loud, borderline pornographic moan escaped your mouth as Eddie began to rapidly shake his head bath and forth, tongue a vice on your clit. Your back arched from the floor of the van, almost sitting up, as you came. Eddie's face remained between your legs, licking up the remains of your climax as your chest heaved.

He kissed his way up your stomach to your face, and you crashed your lips to his. You tasted yourself on his mouth, groaning in reaction. "That was so hot," Eddie breathed against you, "almost got off on it."

"Almost?" you pouted your lips lightly at him, the thought of Eddie getting off to you made you ravenous. You reached for the hem of his boxers, completely ready to try your best to return the favour, when Eddie stopped you.

"As amazing as that would be," he said, laughing to himself, - the girl i'm crazy for wants to blow me and I'm saying no?-, "I just wanna make tonight easier for you. It's about you."

"Okay."

Eddie's hands cradled your face as he hovered over you, his hair fanning against your face and creating a cage around you. His eyes were black with lust. He guided your hand to the hem of his underwear. "We can stop now. Just say the word." You shook your head, maybe too quick, as Eddie chuckled.

"I want you, Eddie. All of you. Here." You stroked your knuckles against his cheek. "Now."

"Yes, ma'am."

Eddie moved with a speed that would be comical ,had you not been aching for him in that moment, as he took off his boxers. Reaching into his jean pocket, he pulled out a condom. Tearing it open with his teeth - an action you wished to see many more times- he rolled it down his shaft. "Okay, are you ready? It may hurt, but we'll take it slow and you can take as long as you need, alright?"

"I'm ready."

He took one hand in yours, holding them entwined firmly above your head as he inserted the tip. You gasped, the intrusion bringing a somewhat painful sting. Eddie kissed your neck as he slid in, stopping every inch or so to make sure you were okay. "You're so gorgeous," he sighed into your neck, moaning when he bottomed out and the two of you were entirely connected. "Are you okay?"

There was not a single word in the English language to describe the feeling you felt in that moment. So entirely full of Eddie, consumed by your need for him. When Eddie shifted slightly to get a look at your face, nudging a particularly sweet spot inside you, you whined aloud.

"Oh my God, Eddie please."

"What?"

"Move, please."

That was all Eddie needed. Seeing you fall apart beneath him as he ate you out had driven him nearly mad. And Eddie Munson was content with being insane if it meant he was making you feel the way you sounded when he set a slow, but deep, pace inside you on the floor of his van at Lover's Lake. The sound of skin slapping against skin, moans of ecstasy and high pitched whines echoed throughout the van. "Holy fuck, Y/n," Eddie moaned in your ear, the sound making you clench around him, "you feel so amazing." He kissed all along your collar bones, nipping and sucking as he went.

"So fucking good- shit, baby, I'm not gonna last if you keep doing that." He sighed as you pulled at the hair on the nape of his neck.

"Faster, Eddie, please," you cried. "Please, please."

Eddie wanted to make a mixtape of your moans and little sounds. "You don't need to beg, sweetheart." His hand came between your bodies, rubbing tight circles on your clit. "I've gotcha."

As soon as Eddie made contact with your sensitive bundle of nerves, it was over. A scream of a moan ripped through your throat, eyes clenched tightly shut as you came hard around his cock. "Oh fuck, Eddie, yes-yes-yes!"

"Shit, sweetheart, clenching me so-oh-tight, fuck!"

Eddie's hips stuttered as he came into the condom, arms buckling and chest meeting yours. You wrapped your arms around his back, holding him to you. The two of you stayed like that for a moment, panting and trying to collect yourselves. You felt completely content, blissed out. Eddie swiped your hair from your face as he pulled out. You whimpered at the loss of contact.

Reaching for the blanket at the foot of the van, Eddie wrapped it round the two of you and pulled you to his side. He paused for a second, thinking about his words very carefully. "That was-"

"Amazing." You said, snuggling into his chest and leaving small kisses over the tattoos there.

His heart swelled. "Yeah, pretty fucking great."

He wrapped his arms around you tightly, a hand cradling your head. Without saying the words, the I don't want to forget about this, I don't feel this way about anything or anyone else, the two of you had grown closer than ever before.

Eddie chuckled to himself as your eyes drifted closed, head nestled between his neck and shoulder. "Pretty fucking great."

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billyhargrovesupsidedownshadow · 2 years

Text

Billy was just sitting there staring at the jewelry box in his lap silently.

Eddie bit his thumb nail.

Steve tried to put the little strand of hair back into its place nervously.

No one said anything.

They weren't sitting here for long, but Steve felt almost like when he opened his first letter from a college. It was a rejection, so this wasn't boding well for him.

He didn't know why he was so nervous, but he could tell that Eddie was, too. This was supposed to be a good thing.

God if he knew what Billy was thinking.

Eddie and Steve had spent something like four hours on their date two days ago pursuing the impossible task of finding Billy's small pendant in the lake, but eventually Steve had found it caught on a log not too far from the shore. The clasp had been broken and the whole thing was somehow dirty and slimy after just a day in the water.

Billy usually took it off when doing anything shirtless outside home, but that time he had forgotten, and only noticed that it was gone in the evening, when they were all sprawled in the den over at Steve's. He acted as if it was fine, but both Eddie and Steve knew how few things of his mother's he still had.

That pendant mattered, like, a lot.

Billy had been quieter than usual for the past two days, but right now he was probably the quietest Steve has ever seen him.

Now the pendant was clean and shiny, on a new (expensive and fairly durable (they tested it) one) silver chain, arranged all nicely in a blue jewelry box on Billy's lap.

"Is... Is everything okay? We kind of... We... Well, we found it last night, and we thought... that we should..." Steve finally broke, but he couldn't quite find his words.

Eddie interrupted him:

"Steve found it in the lake, the chain broke, so we got a new one. This one shouldn't break," he said, his voice going soft by the end of the sentence.

"We cleaned it. Is that okay?" Steve asked.

Billy looked up suddenly, eyes bright and shining, full of something, making Steve lean back a bit form the intensity of the stare alone. But before either he or Eddie could really react, Billy was on them, kissing both of them, hard, chaotic.

The box cluttered to the floor.

Steve thought he heard Billy whisper a soft little thank you somewhere in there.

#stranger things #billy hargrove #steve harrington #eddie munson #harringrove #mungrove #that's kind of a fic #harringroveson

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adelaidedrubman · 3 months

Text

What if the strap could prematurely ejaculate? (Or, Jestiny gets knocked down a peg.) read on ao3.

notes: if i ever accidentally posted something good enough to trick you into following this account, i truly apologize. anyways here’s part two of the john/jestiny failstrap series. set hl&s adjacent and spiritual sequel to mine’s bigger. also new year’s eve themed, i meant to get it posted then but ironically didn’t finish in time. wordcount: 3.8k warnings: explicit sexual content, toxic relationships, emotional manipulation. (neg ’em and peg ’em, the jestiny rook method.) i feel like secondhand embarrassment and cringe dialogue is something of an implicit blanket warning for all my stuff, but. i feel the need to explicitly flag it in this one. that should tell you something. (please also see ao3 end notes or post tags for disclaimers.)

As with all holidays, Jestiny would ideally prefer to spend her New Year’s Eve outdoors.

She would gladly take her midnight kisses whilst guzzling craft beer and watching fish leap from the water over sipping champagne and watching pixelated footage of a ball dropping — if only the temperatures of December bleeding into January in Montana would agree with her preferences.

And sure, a sharp chisel and thick jacket could guarantee she would still be taking home her share of trout from a frozen solid pond. A good set of crampons strapped to her favorite hiking boots was all she needed to scale the highest mountain peaks, even covered in ice. A durable tent and well-insulated sleeping bag meant she could still feel wind-nipped cheeks warmed by the flames of a real campfire no matter the season, instead of settling for the store-bought logs currently crackling in the hearth behind her.

But even a rugged outdoorswoman the likes of Jestiny had to admit the blistering, unforgiving cold of Big Sky Country winter required some activities be strictly indoor-only until the first wildflowers of spring poked up from the hard, frozen earth.

And even with all the proper equipment packed, when it came to the activities that required removing clothing…

“God, I’ve needed this so fucking bad,” John whined against her jaw, pulling her along by the arm as his other hand impatiently finished her work of centering her strap-on properly in its harness. “I want you to fuck me all night long, right into the New Year. I want you to fuck me in every room of this house, until I can’t look anywhere without thinking of you.”

What Jessie didn’t have to admit — at least not out loud — was that the spacious yet cozy faux rustic interior of Seed Ranch, with its pervasive scent of leather, pine, and woodsmoke wafting from the fireplace; the vista of sprawling snow covered mountains offered up by its grand far-stretching windows; the lurking presence of hoards of taxidermy animals around every corner, made it the best substitute she could imagine for the thrill of fucking outdoors.

Yes, it was all blatantly, dreadfully fake — but fake was better than nothing.

“I want you to take me right here on my dining room table,” John continued to lustfully monologue to himself as his thighs hit the edge of the table on his path backward with Jessie in tow, turning from their embrace just long enough to sweep an arm along its length and knock all the stray clutter atop it to the floor. “Don’t hold back. Be rough enough to break it. Just give it to me and don’t stop.” He hopped atop the table to sit, then wrapped legs around Jestiny’s waist to pull her into place. “Then I want you to lay me down in front of the fireplace. Hold me close and take your time with me, give it to me slow until I’m fucking begging. Then drag me upstairs and bend me over the railing. Pound me until I can’t stand, until I cry. Then I want you to carry me into the model plane room and…”

“Yeah, yeah,” she shushed as she pushed him back to his elbows, popping the top off of the bottle of lube clenched in her fist. “I’ll fuck you on every tacky ass piece of furniture in this ugly fucking house.” She forced an extra grumble of irritation to hide the tremor of desire threatening to slip into her words from the sight of him laid back for her with legs spread, brow slick with sweat and the dew of melting snowflakes still clinging to his eyelashes. “I assume you want me to lube it up first, though…”

“Let me,” he cooed, grabbing the bottle from her just as it had begun to drip onto sleek silicone. “I want to do it…”

She shrugged in disinterested agreement, placing her hands behind her head and jutting her hips forward as he poured along the length, palm cradling its underside and sliding along to catch the excess.

“Fuck,” he cursed, biting down on his lip as he began to pump his hand faster along the attachment. “Already so fucking hard for me.”

She crinkled her nose and cocked her head to the side. “What the fuck are you talking about?” she questioned. “It’s a fucking dildo, John — it’s always hard.”

“It’s — It’s a turn of phrase,” he huffed, tightening his grip and jerking towards him so that she near-stumbled into him. “Are you not familiar with the concept of dirty talk? Not everything has to be so damn literal. Use some imagina —”

“And why the hell are you jerking it off?” she demanded, thrusting a hand against his collarbone. “You know I can’t feel that, right?”

“Well, I’ll try to be more realistic, then,” he snapped as he leaned forward and shoved a hand between her legs.

Fingers spring-loaded with lingering fury moved to roughly pull her harness to the side, barely stilling or softening their touch before sliding inside her. His other hand remained stubbornly wrapped around silicone to pump it at a now comically harsh pace, as if to prove just how aware he was there was no delicate flesh and blood to be concerned with suffering beneath his vice grip — beginning the spectacle with a rough shove forward of its base to press against her with a pressure that did incidentally send a rewarding flicker of pleasure through hungry nerve endings.

“Fuck,” he ground out in repetitive correction, his tone wilting midway from a sarcastic hiss to a reverent whimper as he curled his fingers. “Already so fucking wet for me.”

Well, it wasn’t her fault he looked so good flushed and panting, even through the ridiculous theatrics.

“Like you got room to fuckin’ talk,” she scoffed as she reached to quickly coat her fingers with lube, sliding inside him and finding right where they needed to be with a practiced ease that made her cheeks warm with satisfied pride at her own expertise. Her thumb traced a line up his cock to find and leisurely smear the precum dewing at his tip. “Fuckin’ dripping the second I get my fingers in you.”

The surrender in his next whimper was complete, paired with a bucking of his hips to beg for more as he mirrored her steady pumping in the pace of his own fingers, thumb tucking itself beneath her harness to find and stroke her clit properly — all while still uselessly jerking off the dildo resting atop it, of course.

Well. Maybe it was useless, but she had to admit — privately — his hands did look nice doing that.

Even if the curve of his spine restyled itself into a distinctly unnatural, exaggerated arch as he regrettably regained the faculty for words. “God, yes, do you — ah, do you like how it feels inside me?”

Another stupid question. Reaching past the contrived, polished exterior to find the depths at which he was all warm silk fluttering to the touch? Delving inside him to feel the promise of all the power to reduce him to a stuttering, pleading mess pulse beneath a single fingertip?

How could she not be positively intoxicated by it? How could the rush of adrenaline it stirred be contained to anything less than electricity prickling along every inch of skin until the air itself felt charged with the intensity of her desire?

“It feels like an asshole, John,” she deadpanned, dragging her finger to tease shallowly. “Felt one, you’ve pretty much felt them all — and until science finds a way to implant a g-spot in the human finger, I’ll be getting just as little out of it every time.”

She gave a swift upward thrust for one last prod of his prostate in punctuation before she slipped fingers out entirely in the same fluid motion of her shoulders shrugging. “I’m more interested in finally getting to fuck you so good you can’t even talk to ask dumbass questions like that.”

She used the hand sticky with lube to smear a last glob onto the head of her strap as the other cradled his face, smoothing a thumb over his pouting lip as she added, “Just as soon as you ask nice.”

His pout deepened. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t play dumb now, baby. You know the drill.” She pushed him to lay with back flat on the table. “Beg me for it.”

“No,” he said testily, lifting his chin to give her a look of pure defiance. “You beg me.”

Her breath caught, for a moment — as if his words sank to snag in her chest before her mind even processed them, lunging back up as sharp barks of laughter the moment it did.

“Alright,” she sighed, breathless, as she dropped her head to rest against his collarbone and reached down to line up her attachment. “That was funny enough I’ll let you get by without the begging, this time.”

Her hips barely canted a single centimeter forward before they were stopped by a rough fist grabbing at the base of her dildo to hold her in place.

“It wasn’t a joke,” John hissed, eyes icing cold with determination, like a pond freezing over. “You’re going to beg to fuck me, or you won’t fuck me at all.”

She allowed her confused blinks to pick up pace into a sarcastic batting of her eyelashes paired with a sweet, dimple framed smile. “John, darling. My most cherished love. Light of my life, fire of my silicone sporting loins. Could you, kindly —” she scrunched her face into a scowl, “tell me what the fuck it is you’re talking about?”

“You’ve done nothing all night but mock and belittle me, and act as if you’re somehow begrudgingly doing me a favor,” he snapped. “Now you’re going to admit you want it as badly as I do,” he said, allowing his tone to melt and soften as he circled a finger around delicate, rosy skin. “If you want this, you have to beg for it.”

Oh, he was serious.

Heat flared in the pit of her stomach at how serious he was.

All the better. She loved a challenge.

“Now is not the fucking time to be a brat, John,” she growled, threading fingers in his hair and tugging in the way that pulled a needy moan to the surface to tremble in his adam’s apple. “Now is the time to be a good boy and spread your legs.”

“Oh, and I will,” he moaned, craning his neck so the pull of his hair was tautened — a dare, a meet and raise of a bet. “I’ll be so good for you, as soon as I hear that magic word.”

This time, the hand around her strap stayed still as he reached down to wrap one around his own cock.

“Say ‘please’ for me, Jessie,” John begged with wide eyes as he began to stroke himself. “I’m already so close — don’t make me cum from touching myself alone. I want you to fuck it from me. I need your strap.”

That bastard. But two could play that game.

“Are you begging me to beg you?” she scoffed as she began rolling her hips in steady rhythm, the tip of her strap just barely bumping against him as she fucked the grip of his hand in a promise of what she could do. “Why would I beg for something I won’t even feel?”

“Because you want to take me, don’t you, Jessie? Don’t you want this ass to be yours?” Fuck, he did not play fair — spreading his legs wider and pushing forward to rub the head against slickened, puckered skin, make it look so easy to slide home and fuck the attitude out of him. The sight alone made the friction of grinding against a held still strap-on swell to an unexpected thrum of ecstasy trickling through her veins. “God, I want it. I want to feel the way you move inside me. I want to belong to you, every part of me. I want to cum for you, only for my Jessie.”

Christ, when did the cheesy, unnatural porn lines start working on her?

“Must not want it t-too bad,” she grunted with a particularly harsh snap of her hips. The electricity in the air had heavied, absolutely saturated it. It fizzled with that strange feeling of being up high during a thunderstorm, everything so strongly charged that hair stood on end. “Since you won’t just let me —”

“Oh, I will, Jessie,” he panted, training his eyes on her impotent thrusts as he stroked himself faster. “I’ll let you do anything you want, as soon as you’re ready to —”

“Just —” She glared, thrust harder as if she could break right through his grip and end the standoff, only managing to increase pressure. “Move your fucking hand, and I’ll —”

“You’ll what?” he teased, squeezing the thighs wrapped around her waist. “Please tell me, won’t you? At least talk me off the way I like, since you’re not going to —”

“You’re not going to get off at all, until I —” Fuck, how was this happening? How could she feel every fiber of authority she possessed suddenly unraveling to slip from her fingers? “Say you’re fucking allowed —”

“I’m so close,” he gasped, tossing his head back and arching towards her — the tip of her strap just barely disappearing as he did. “But feel so empty. Oh, Jessie, won’t you —”

“Can you just —” Her cheeks were scalding as she fumbled to grab his hips and grumbled, “For the — the fucking love of god, could you please just —”

She found herself falling forward before she’d even realized the damned word had fallen from her lips, his hand pulling away the second it was spoken and his legs flexing to pull her in, sliding inside him as her knees smacked against the table.

And every volt of electricity hanging overhead came suddenly crashing down with her as she buried to the hilt as the coaxing of his eager rocking hips — as if lightning finally crackled through the air to ripple down her spine and spread through her body. Spread so forcefully she could taste it in her mouth, feel it tingle along her tongue and shoot down her jaw as the current seemed to hone on the place the base of the strap pressed just right against her clit — suddenly overloading from the sensation, short-circuiting into blissful oblivion.

And it felt as if she really had been struck by lightning — the way her flesh crawled with searing heat, the way her insides turned and convulsed, the way every muscle twitched and trembled in pure surrender to its force.

“Did you, um —” he shifted beneath her, pausing and clearing his throat as if for once in his life he realized what a ridiculous thing he was about to say and managed to think twice before saying it, “did you finish?”

“Did I —” she coughed weakly against his collarbone, wishing it had come out closer to a scoff than it did. “I’m genuinely fuckin’ curious — do you even bother to try to make the shit that comes out of your mouth make sense? Or do you just start flapping your jaws and see what happens?”

She did not wait for an answer before summoning her remaining wisps of strength to wind her hips back, forcing wobbly legs pleading to collapse beneath her to instead power a proper thrust forward.

She yelped, a jolt of pain shooting up through sensitive, overstimulated nerves as the base of the strap pressed against her clit at the full extension of her stroke.

John craned his neck, eyes scanning far too knowingly along the flush of pink sprawling along her cheeks and chest. “We can stop, if it’s —”

“I’m fuckin’ fine!” she barked. “I just —” She coughed, reaching down to slip a thumb beneath rubber ring and wedge under the dildo to put space between its base and her sore clit. “Gotta adjust a bit — you put this thing in at the wrong fuckin’ angle, fucked everything up.” She wriggled her hips back with a final grumble of, “Why you should never trust a man to do a woman’s job.”

She began rocking forward with hand still in place to lighten pressure against nerves pleading for rest — she could do this, she just needed to fake it through a few minutes of recovery period. She just needed to —

“Shit!” she cursed, jittery thumb pressing too hard against the base to push it free from the ring with a taunting pop, staying lodged stubbornly inside her lover as she reeled back. She lurched forward, hurrying to retake her place, looking down to gauge position and hopefully reattach herself before he noticed. “Goddamn…”

“Seriously, are you alright?” John questioned as he pushed himself up to his elbows. “Would you like ten minutes and a glass of orange —”

He was interrupted by a thud as he rose to sit fully upright and meet her face to face, Jestiny’s eyes barely catching to follow the shiny black blur that shot from between his legs to land heavy at her feet.

“Fuck.”

Her clumsy rush (since when was she clumsy? first saying ‘please’ and now this?) to turn and reach for the fallen dildo (was her sleight of hand good enough to reattach it without him noticing? what skills did she still have?) resulted in her kicking it with the heft of her combat boot (was it not a good idea to wear them during sex? who even was she?) before she’d even managed to bend down.

She whipped around, finding hardwood bare save for a slight glistening streak. When she lifted her head to follow the snail trail of lube, she found the strap-on had rolled itself across the greater length of floor — losing little momentum as wood broke into granite.

The slight rise of the granite platform barely impeded it at all, in fact, as it rolled right past the wrought-iron guard that had been haphazardly left ajar by Jestiny as she built the fire, tenderly welcomed into the roaring inferno of the fireplace.

The dead lump of a scream in her throat seemed to creep down to spread its decay, making her insides shrivel into brittle rot. As the stench of burning plastic filled the air, her eyes began to water from the sting of chemical smoke. She wondered if she might actually cry for the first time in her adult life.

“Wha — ! Aah,” A confused, devastated noise caught in the back of Jestiny’s throat, withering there to die at the first crackle of silicone as her prized strap-on went up in flames before her eyes.

The world swirled around her, buffeting at her senses like the cruelest of snowstorms.

Past the whistle and crackle of flame devouring silicone and the whoosh of her own pulse in her ears, Jestiny heard the muffled garble of a television set she hadn’t realized was on blare suddenly loud from the recesses of the ranch, cheers of ‘Happy New Year!‘ over discordant symphony of paper horns blown in celebration conjuring images of ceremonial ball reaching the denouement of its annual journey to the base of its pole into her mind unbidden.

On cue, somewhere in the background, a grandfather clock solemnly chimed to announce the turn of the hour.

And there stood teary-eyed, gaping mouthed Jestiny — some bizarre sex toy Cinderella whose impressive phallus turned back into a puddle of cheap plastic polymer at the stroke of midnight.

“Well,” John’s bemused hum pierced through the cacophony rattling around inside Jessie’s brain as he peered past her to the spectacle of silicone bubbling down to black ooze in his fireplace. “I guess it isn’t always hard.”

“Fuck!” Her shout crumpled back into a weak whimper as plain splintered through her knuckles before she even realized she’d swung to strike the table.

She kept fist loosely clenched and eyes glued to the grain of the table as John turned back towards her.

She caught in her periphery the falling of his sly smile. His brow pinched inward as he looked back and forth between Jessie’s flushed, scrunched face and the empty rubber ring at the front of her crotch, his eyes softening with the most genuine look of sympathy she thought she’d ever seen him wear, a level of earnest compassion she would have thought him incapable of even faking properly.

The kind of condescending pity that made her stomach curdle, made her blood boil hot as a melting strap-on. That she would normally lash out to reject, were she not already so thoroughly defeated and stripped of pride.

“It’s alright,” John whispered softly, reaching over to give a few comforting pats to Jessie’s curled fist before bringing his hand up to cup her jaw and lift her chin, guiding her to look into gentle blue eyes. “It happens to everyone, sometimes.”

“That —” she jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in gesture to the strap-on cremation still blazing strong behind her, drawing in a ragged breath, “has literally never happened to anyone before.”

“Well, it was... innovative,” John innovated the world’s first performatively horny purr that doubled as bland diplomacy to reply in, throwing his arms around her neck in embrace.

“We —” Her voice sounded so uncharacteristically small to her own ears as she stumbled over her words. “We can do other stuff. I can still finish you —”

“That’s alright. It was enough just to feel close to you,” John shushed, nuzzling against her neck. “All I want now is for you to carry me to the fireside and hold me.”

God, it was such obvious, manipulative fawning; such a poorly disguised consolation prize. She should storm out in offense.

In no position to refuse consolation prizes, Jessie slid an arm beneath the bend of his knees, wrapping the other around his middle. She gave a slight grunt as she hoisted his weight, at this point truly just grateful she managed not to drop him on the short walk over to the bearskin rug she lowered him to sprawl atop.

“You —” The impulse to counter with a comment that the firelight made him look much older from the shadows cast into the creases of his face extinguished itself as quickly as it sparked. “You would look even prettier by the light of a real campfire,” she muttered as she fell limp, allowing John to tangle their limbs as he saw fit. “That’s what we should do next New Year’s Eve. I hate being cooped up inside.”

“You always look so beautiful, bathed in firelight,” John sighed, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

“And do you envision our rugged adventures would begin with a first-class flight to the southern hemisphere?” he asked with a soft laugh, a hand smoothing along her sides. “I don’t have your outdoorsy expertise, of course, but I’d say it’s hardly pleasant camping weather around here.”

“It’s not so bad, actually,” she sighed pleasantly. “Pitching a tent in the dead of winter,” she continued, absentmindedly threading fingers through his hair. “So long as you —”

She coughed, clearing her throat and hiding her face and its burning cheeks against his chest as she finished the statement. “So long as you have the right equipment.”

She definitely should have just gone fishing.

#nsft #otp: stop bothering these nice folks #oc: deputy jestiny ellen #writies and wordies #hey at least i did manage to post it before january ended. still kinda the new year #i think maybe. they are good for each other #plot twist: SHE gets brat tamed. mostly by her own hubris but still. john dom moments they said i couldn’t do it.#also: jenna would reprimand me if i did not mention pure silicone will not melt like that.#assume jestiny is wearing a cheap blend regardless of how she refers to it #i also took some liberties with ranchsion redesign for this #in the actual game the platform of the hearth is raised and the guard does not have doors so this could not have happened #these are the only unrealistic parts of the fic.

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bowieandqueen11 · 1 year

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Dating Frenchie Would Include...

Request: Hi, May I please request some headcanons of what dating Frenchie (Our Flag Means Death) would include, please? Thank you so much!! 🖤

Of course my darling, here you go!!

Warning: a little strong language! Also I wrote this at 3 a.m. so it may be unintelligible 🏳️‍🌈

(I do not own OFMD or any of its characters, all rights go to creators. Gif credit goes to @crucifiix.)

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°

Lmao love a bit of fanfiction about Frenchie big fan

You are 100% the only other crew member, or the only other anybody in fact, that Frenchie allows into his room. Far too many times have you been caught sitting side saddled over Frenchie’s lap by Wee John Feeney, stroking the bottom of his beard and giggling as the two of you bump foreheads and continue talking shit about the newly crowned ‘Dizzy Izzy’ (during a rough patch in the storm that had raged earlier that night, he had accidentally tumbled after a large pitch into Lucius’ lap, and by golly was he not letting anyone forget about it.) Wee John just sighs, walking straight back out and letting the door slam shut; the last thing you can hear as you try to stifle your laugh against the side of Frenchie’s neck is him calling you ‘the weirdest eejits’ he’s ever met. Neither of you are really paying attention though: your lips managed to accidentally rub against the tip of Frenchie’s collar bone, one of his more ticklish points, and the man was too busy apologising and trying to give you a hand up after accidentally flinging you to the floor.

After a lot of coaxing, a lot of fake pouting, and a lot of pecking forehead kisses to try and convince him round to the idea, he does eventually get used to the idea of you sleeping over as well! I feel like Frenchie is definitely a ‘leg over you like a mossy log that’s been stuck in a marshy bog for hundreds of years and hasn’t moved an inch in that entire time’ kind of sleeper. Like, the man is so tall that on your single shared bed you’re lying properly on it as the bottom layer, and then Frenchie is playing a game of Tetris with his limbs over you during the night. Usually it ends up with his head dipped down and tucked up all neat and cosy against the side of your cheek, his snores resonating loudly enough through the walls of the ship that they could have invented the foghorn right there and then, and his left leg splayed completely over your midriff.

If you get too uncomfortable and give him a shove he will eventually roll over and curl up like an armadillo so you can spoon him though. That is, if one of you hasn’t managed to shove the other out of the bed first - it’s a common occurrence for Wee John to wake Frenchie up from where he’s half lying under the bed, but even though he’s got aching shoulders from spending half the night rolling about the wood he’s still all smiles and doe eyes at you when he sees you’re awake too. Like a Jack in the box, he pops up over the side of the bed with a smile bright enough to make even the crystal dawn of the sea pale by comparison, and presses a kiss against the tip of your nose before skipping off. He’s so sweet your honour I actually cannot with this man.

Sometimes he likes to talk before the two of you fall asleep. Before he’s splayed out like a starfish, the two of you lie in the cot side by side and just fiddle with each other’s fingers on the pillow. Noses close enough to rub against each other if you dared to move a hare and legs pulled up in a half-sit so they can rest familiarly against each other, Frenchie relishes and relaxes in the knowledge that there’s someone on this ship that will know his story. That there’s someone left in the world that’s even willing to hear it, to care about him, and not just what he can do for them. There’s a poignant wistfulness to the air, to his words, so much so that from time to time he can’t even meet your eye. He still always flashes you that shy, optimistic smile from time to time, but you can see the past in the wrinkles of his face every time he uncomfortably starts to recoil when you press your palm to his cheek.

Not going to lie, he may not be a visual artist to rival the mastery of Lucius, but you can bet your sandy ass that Frenchie has pinned up the walls some doodles he’s drawn of you in his spare time, with parchment that he tore out and ‘borrowed’ from Stede’s diary. When Stede collected the crew on the deck a few days later and had a ‘team meeting’ about why stealing was wrong, Frenchie gave a very convincing shrug and ‘it wasn’t me’ frown when Stede asked who had taken the paper. I mean, he was always bound to find out, and when he did stumble into Frenchie and Wee John’s room the next afternoon to borrow his lute (he was planning to write a song for Blackbeard to convince him he was more of a catch than Calico Jack don’t even ask), he only smiled fondly and shut the door when he spotted what his diary had been used for. (And secretly hoped that Ed wouldn’t find his own doodles of him in said diary lmao.)

Oooh, can you imagine how lovely it would be to stumble through Stede’s secret tunnel and to go sit out by unicorn figurehead with Frenchie?? Just the two of you, feet swinging together through the planks, the swirling pockets of silver dancing over the warm tides and the comforting buzz of Frenchie’s voice as he sings for you. With your head resting on his shoulder, you’re too busy falling into a blissful oblivion to even notice that Frenchie’s stopped picking at the strings of his lute, and has instead set it down at his side. He’s found that a much better use of his time would be staring at you, so obviously, so fondly, so sweetly: as if dewdrops hung from his lips, ready for the northern dawn that only your splendour could bring.

Getting to tie that cute little cravat around his neck before the five of you jump ship to go to that fancy dinner party. Every time you try to loop the end of it back through he chases your fingers (to try and kiss them or bite them, you’re not entirely sure), but it does make the two of you burst out into another fit of giggles.

Although he has quite a sweet disposition, Frenchie is 100% ready to throw hands for you. The whole time he’s trying to crank up Oluwande’s ‘pyramid scheme’, he has one eye on the valuables being handed over and one trained solely on you. If any of the esteemed and highly respectable guests become a little too eager, coltish, agitated, Frenchie is straight on it. Before you can even knock their wig off, he’s grabbed your wrist and pulled you either behind his back or dragged you out to the hull with the sternest expression you’ve ever seen on his face. Either way, he’ll always put himself in the firing line of harm’s way first, if it means protecting you.

The two of you spend about 70% of your time singing together on deck. Frenchie’s jamming along with his lute, and you’re animatedly singing and dancing around him, often roping in Lucius to come do full body jigs or a ridiculing minuet Frenchie’s intensifying sea shanties. Since the three of you were supposed to be finishing Izzy’s order to mop the deck, he’s sitting cross legged on the helm behind your spinning bodies, with enough steam coming out of his crimson ears to drown the sky in thunderclouds.

During crew meetings he’ll just straight up wander in late and just... come up behind you and plop his chin down on top of your head. He won’t listen to a word of what’s going on either: too busy chatting with you, or with Jim, or fiddling with the rings on your fingers, or just trying to figure out if the stain on the ceiling looks more like an orange or a fish. To be honest he didn’t even realise it was a meeting until Stede asked him if he was paying attention - he just saw you and immediately came to seek out your heat (and also your hugs).

His love language is doing and making things with his hands, so instead of doing actual work to help out on the Revenge, he tries to craft for you. He sits by the mast, cross legged, and with his tongue sticking from the corner of his mouth in the uttermost form of concentration. He’s trying to remember how his ma taught him to thread a needle, so desperate to fix up your shirt properly after Spanish Jackie nearly tore the sleeve to shreds during your first meeting at the Republic of Pirates. Of course, you’ll eventually have to free him from where he’s managed to sew his shirt to his jacket (very well, might I add). He smiles all the while, leaning down to gently kiss your knuckles every time they bump up high enough with a new thread of the string to be within his reaching distance.

He likes to steal Wee John’s old hammock - he’s a big fan of having snuggled up naps on deck while Ed and Stede have stopped off at some new island and are busy off smooching on their foliage walks.

Or, he likes to venture out sometimes too and see someplace new with the love of his life! Usually it’s just some slightly different variation of a beach, but this just allows him ample opportunity to perform his favourite activity: scooping up wet sand and hurling at you in a mock sand-ball fight. The two of you fly across the streaking honey-gold boughs of the winding branches of the strip, Frenchie rolling his trousers up and finally catching up to you between the torn crags and cliff edges. He jumps, flying full sail through the air until he’s knocked both of you to the ground. He tries to be all romantic and pretend he hasn’t just knocked the ever loving wind out of you. He leans over you, crawling his knees up between your thighs and slowly dipping down to kiss you, before getting bashed up the face by a huge tide and falling ass over teakettle backwards in sweet revenge lmao.

#our flag means death #ofmd #ofmd imagine #frenchie #david jenkins #frenchie imagine #frenchie x reader #our flag means imagine #frenchie headcanons #frenchie ofmd #frenchie ofmd imagine #joel fry #ofmd headcanons #our flag means death headcanons #x reader

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icycoldninja · 4 months

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What would Dante do if he ended up in Eastern Europe?

Well first, he'd be really confused as to how he even got there. Then he'd wander around and try to communicate with the locals. Being a demon, he can adapt and learn new languages pretty easily, so he'd learn the basics of the local language pretty soon.

Then he'd start asking around, looking for a pizzeria so he can taste some "authentic" pizza. When he doesn't find one, he'll get really disappointed. He could have sworn Europe was where pizza was invented! It takes a quick phone call from Vergil to remind him that Italy is in Southern Europe, not Eastern Europe, where he currently is. Before Dante can ask Vergil to portal him home, the line goes dead, meaning that Sir PizzaMan is on his own.

Dante continued to wander around, wondering where he can find transport to get home. Along the way, he runs into a sexy lady, who convinces him to get a drink with her at a local bar.

An hour later, Dante is hammered and alone; the woman long gone and the half demon having consumed 3x the amount of liquor required to knock out an average human man. He is now incapable of rational thought and starts dancing on the counter, even though no music is playing.

The other patrons stare in shock; they've never seen anyone behave like this in their lives. Eventually a couple of equally drunk thugs approach him and a brawl breaks out. Dante goes to his holsters to pull out his pistols, only to find they are gone. Turns out the woman from earlier was a pickpocket, and stole them from him when they were drinking together!

Absolutely floored, Dante trashes the bar and everyone in it before heading out in search of that little thief. Thanks to his half demon senses, he was able to track her down by following the diminishing scent of her perfume.

Eventually, Dante corners the thief inside a pawn shop, where she was haggling with the clerk. Terrified as to how Dante found her so easily, the thief surrenders her stolen goods and runs off before anyone can say anything.

Pleased that he has his weapons back, Dante turns and gets ready to leave, only to find that he has several police officers waiting outside, ready to arrest him for trashing the bar earlier. Still feeling kinda tipsy, Dante kicks open a nearby window and makes a break for it down the street.

With the police hot on his heels, Dante races through town until he spots an unattended scooter sitting on the sidewalk. He "borrows" said scooter and tries to use it to escape his pursuers, only to find that the scooter is remarkably slow.

Disappointed and frustrated, Dante runs away from the city and into the nearby woods, where he comes face to face with a brown bear, who looks very hungry.

4 weeks later, Nico spawns her van into the forest, and Nero pops out, followed by a very cranky Vergil. The two search the area for some time before catching wind of some smoke that seems to originate not too far from where they are. Believing it to be a signal fire, the pair speed towards it, soon discovering that Dante went and built himself a cozy log cabin in the middle of the woods.

As father and son marvel at the structure, Dante himself emerges from the cabin, looking like a lumberjack--in fact, he had been for the past month or so.

Turns out, he loves living in the woods so much, he didn't want to return at first.

Nero and Vergil ultimately convince him to return--but only after promising to buy him all the pizza he wants for 2 weeks.

#Dmc #Dmc5 #dante devil may cry #Devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #Vergil #Nero #ask/answer #Idk is this roleplaying

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sparksqfly · 10 months

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─ So much for summer love𓆝 part 3

are we out of the woods?

synopsis: modern au - you meet ellie during a school activity and start getting involved in an intense relationship. warnings! bad words, pet names? (princess, good girl etc), implied sex, teasing, lowkey mean!ellie and mean!reader. ellie and reader gets injured. soo much drama but happy ending author's note: this is the final official part of the story. Possibly sometime this week, i will publish an epilogue for this story because i have a couple of ideas to wrap it up. this part is quite long, and i apologize for that, but i hope you still enjoy it!. again, english is not my first language, so i apologize for any mistakes i may have made. thank you for reading <3 about the story: joel is referred to as ellie's father. references to taylor swift and her music, the reader is a huge swiftie (this chapter is so out of the woods coded hehehhe). there is a big reference to taylor swift, but it speaks for itself :)

wc: 7,2k (im so sorry), taglist: @elliesinterlude @libr4sonsa @erikaar

"i think the guide closing this stage is my father," ellie said, turning around to look at you closely. "so, you have a cover story when you have to tell him that you broke a race limit with a blade," you tease her. "maybe, i was thinking of saying that I found it on the floor, but you're right, i don't have to give too many explanations," she said with a smirk. during what felt like an eternity in the forest, ellie had talked to you about her family. she had never known her mother, but she had given birth to her early, and it had always been joel and her with their two uncles. in that conversation, you had felt somewhat important. joel was one of the race guides who, as a father of a student, had helped the schools organize the outing, and you were his daughter's classmate. to some extent, you were important.

you snapped out of your imagination when you saw two men standing at the end of that stage of the race. Indeed, one of them was ellie's father. she was the one who handed him the collected objects. when she handed him the ribbon, joel simply said, "did you tie them again?" ellie nodded, and they continued looking at the objects as if nothing had happened. "okay, ladies, you can take some time to have lunch. It's around four-thirty in the afternoon, and you should be back by five. that way, you'll complete the final activity, and we can return by 7," he said, and you nodded, looking at him. "where can we eat?" you asked, hoping they wouldn't make you sit somewhere where some activity was going on. you had already dealt with many teenagers during the day. "you have a large part of the forest; there are some boundaries, but as long as you don't go too far to get lost, it's enough," he gave a stern look to his daughter, and she smiled back with arrogance. "understood, let's go eat," ellie said, smiling at you. joel moved aside to let them pass. "what? no money for lunch today, old man?" ellie said, putting a hand on your waist to guide you. "oh, sure! I'll give you 50 dollars to spend at the technological buffet in this forest," joel joked, and ellie laughed, throwing her head back. it was a beautiful sound. she should do it more often.

after a couple of minutes of both of you walking through the forest, ellie asked with a smile, "would you allow me to take you to a place for us to have lunch, princess?" her hand had held yours, and you were swinging them as you walked. "of course, babe, but keep in mind that i'm starving," you said, placing your hand on your stomach. it would start making noise any moment now.

it turned out that ellie knew the forest very well. much better than you could have expected. just before you sat down on the ground and asked ellie to pass you the lunch bag so you could sit on any fallen log to eat, she took your hand and led you away from where you were. when you looked up, you found yourself facing a beautiful river. it wasn't very large, and the water flowed calmly, almost silently. the shore was made of stones, and the trees seemed to have stopped growing in that part of the forest. as mundane as the place seemed, it looked like something out of one of the epic fantasy books you loved to read. "ellie..." you said, incredibly surprised by the beautiful landscape before your eyes. She smiled in response. "beautiful, isn't it?" "beautiful? oh my god, ellie, are you crazy? this is stunning!" she chuckled softly, with a sideways smile. she seemed extremely proud of herself for making you this happy. "i know, i used to come here with joel. I didn't think i'd remember the way, but look, it seems like i do," ellie said, sounding even prouder of herself. you took out your phone to take several photos. some just of the scenery, and when you turned around to take pictures of ellie, you saw her through your camera, taking a photo of you with her phone. immediately, you lowered your phone and covered your face with your hands, laughing at the situation and her beautiful concentrated expression while trying to take the picture.

instantly, arms wrapped around you, planting kisses on your hair amidst laughter. you looked up at ellie and nestled into her body, embracing her neck with your arms and bringing her lips close to yours, placing one of your hands on her nape. ellie deepened the kiss, and you let yourself go, partially opening your mouth to let her do as she pleased. after all, the two of you were truly alone, at least for the moment.

her lips parted in search of air, but ellie didn't stop there. she began kissing the right side of your face, leaving a trail of kisses from your forehead to your exposed collarbone due to the cut of your dress. her kisses continued descending where the fabric of your dress began, and you felt her sucking more on your skin with each kiss she left. as she approached your breasts, she started gently pressing your skin between her teeth. you felt her fingers play with the strap of your bra, which was visible due to your now disheveled dress. you were about to ask her to continue, to stop playing with you and lower that damn brassiere, when your stomach growled with hunger.

when you heard it, you held your breath at first, hoping that ellie hadn't noticed and that she would continue doing what she was doing just a second ago. but you knew her better than that. as soon as you released your breath, she burst into laughter as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world. you huffed, "fuck off, williams," and she continued laughing like crazy. "baby, that was freaking adorable," she said, looking at you with a smile as she gave you a kiss on the cheek. "i'm starving, babe. you've been teasing me for hours. i'm dead hungry," you pouted playfully, making ellie laugh even more. before releasing you, she playfully bit your shoulder and readjusted your bra and dress to their original positions.

she bent down to rummage through her backpack, pulling out the same waterproof coat from earlier and looping it around your waist before tying it at the front. as she tied it, she pecked your lips and you responded with a more aggressive kiss, albeit with a smile. "so you don't stain that beautiful dress," you smiled at her and watched as she sat on a large rock, spreading her legs wide open. she gestured with her head for you to sit in front of her, and you complied. carefully, you sat on the ground, making sure not to touch the water too much, as you had a feeling you'd freeze if any part of your body came into contact with it. ellie took out the lunch bags, keeping one for herself and handing you the other. without hesitation, you opened it, revealing two halves of a sandwich inside and an apple. without thinking, you took a bite of your food and realized that they hadn't given you anything to drink until ellie pulled out a thermos flask of water from her backpack and offered it to you.

you ate in comfortable silence, finding it amusing how differently you and ellie ate. ellie consumed her sandwich silently and slowly, while you devoured yours quickly, as if it were about to disappear, barely taking a sip of water. "this is fucking amazing," you said with a mouthful, without lifting your head. you heard her laugh and looked into her eyes. she smiled and used her thumb to wipe off a bit of mayonnaise from the corner of your lips. you thought about giving her a napkin to clean her finger, but without thinking, she brought it to her mouth. You had a déjà vu of being on the bus with her as you felt your face blush violently at her gesture.

"do you have any music to play, babe?" ellie asked as she placed the first sandwich wrapper back into the bag they had been given. you noticed that she had removed the lettuce, which you found adorable. responding to her question, you nodded and took out your phone from your purse. you realized that you had no signal, probably because they were deep into the woods, so you simply played music from your downloaded songs. "isn't it strange that we haven't crossed any of those purple boundaries to get here? i mean, we've gone pretty far," you asked ellie as you placed your phone far from the water. she nodded. "yeah, it's weird, but i think it's because the others are too scared to venture out so far," ellie said. "anyway, we didn't go that far from where we started," she added, looking in the direction they had come from. you nodded, laughing.

you packed up the remaining bits of your sandwich in the bag and looked at the apple that had been at the bottom of the bag. With a mischievous smile, you looked at ellie. "what?" ellie asked, looking at you. your smile grew even wider. "you know, i actually don't like apples," you started rummaging through your bag for the candies you had packed earlier in the morning before leaving. ellie continued to look at you with a smile, and you pulled out three chocolates for her. with adoration in her eyes, she took them from your hands. "thank you," she said in a deep but relaxed voice. you took out some gummy worms from a small plastic bag deep in your bag. you ate a couple, buying time until ellie finished her chocolates, and then you grabbed one of the gummy worms. before she could even extend her hand, you moved the candy away from her. "come and get it," you said and promptly put it in your mouth, holding it with your teeth and slightly tilting your head forward to show it to her better. ellie seemed excited about the idea, just like you, as before you knew it, she was on top of you, her face inches away from yours, and her two arms planted on the ground behind you, keeping you in place.

in a matter of seconds ellie bit off a part of the worm and swallowed it in record time, you even thought he hadn't even chewed it. anyway you imitated her action by eating the candy extremely fast. still with the taste of that damn gummy in your mouth, ellie pounced on your lips, kissing them desperately. one of her hands that was resting on the floor went to your back, to pull you even closer to her and glue your bodies together.

after what felt like an eternity in her mouth, the redhead changed positions. she gently laid you down on the coastal stones and she positioned herself on top of you. before diving into your lips again, she caressed your hair and placed it on the ground "so pretty..." Ellie whispered through her teeth while she kept touching a strand of your hair that was on your cheek. she kissed you again desperately and moved one of her hands to the same place where she had been fiddling before, your collarbone and the strap of your bra. ellie pulled away from your lips to look at you "can i pull this down angel?" she asked, you saw her intertwine her fingers with the elastic of your bra. "mhm" you said in a nodding manner. ellie smiled sideways and released the elastic, allowing it to fall onto your skin. It made a sound that slightly startled you, and you felt a slight pain as it pressed against your skin.

"mmhm?" he mimicked your tone, using a high pitched voice "babe, I don't understand that dialect, come on. use your big girl words." bitch, you wanted her so bad and she knew it. you blushed as you tried to formulate a coherent sentence to tell her that she could do whatever she wanted with you. "y-yes. y-you can pull it o-off." Ellie laughed tenderly at your stutter and gave you a kiss on the cheek and then pulled the dress you were wearing, including your bra, down below your shoulders. leaving your breasts completely uncovered. without missing a single moment he took one of them into his mouth, sucking it shamelessly and playing with your nipple between his teeth. causing you a fucking pleasurable pain. with his free hand she began to fiddle gently with the other one.

you on your side with one of your hands covered your mouth, you were already unable to contain your moans and gasps only with your lips. the refuge didn't last long, ellie withdrew the hand that had been on your tit to grab the hand you were covering your mouth with from your wrist. "come on, doll. let it out. we're in the middle of the woods all alone. who's going to hear you?" fuck, she was right. you were lying on the bank of a river with the girl of your dreams on top of you and you at her complete mercy. the thought that you were actually not far away from the crowded area and that anyone could appear at any moment made you even more excited. ellie let go of the tit she was touching to move on to the other one. giving it the same treatment as the other one. biting it and caressing it gently with her tongue.

she suddenly stopped paying attention to your breast and moved up to your mouth, kissing you until you were breathless, while continuing to caress you. sometimes your hair, other times parts of your body, she was driving you crazy. the music paused for a brief second, allowing you to hear the natural sounds of the forest. you heard a sound similar to a breaking branch and abruptly lifted your head, looking towards where it came from. if ellie wasn't on top of you, immobilizing you with her body, you would have stood up completely embarrassed at the thought of being discovered. you felt ellie gripping your chin and turning your face towards her. "eyes on me, baby," she said in a breath, staring at you intently. with her free hand, she began to caress your belly and abdomen from top to bottom. "i want you to feel comfortable," she said, smiling sideways. bitch. "y-yes, ellie. do whatever you want, but just do it," you were hopeless. you needed her right now. "what?" she said, laughing in your face. "yes! ellie, take me, damn it!" ellie seemed satisfied with that, and without waiting another second, she slipped her hand under your dress and inside your underwear.

slept for a long time after what had happened. as you remembered it, you smiled, and ellie turned to look at you again. "are you okay?" she asked, caressing the lower part of your back as you lifted your head from her neck. "better than ever," you smiled at her. "i think it's time to go," she said, sitting up straight. you didn't know how much time had passed, but it was probably longer than you should have taken for lunch. "right, do you think the others are worried?" you asked as you sat on the ground. you picked up your phone, which was a few steps away, and turned off the music that was still playing. taylor swift's "dress" was playing at that moment. you smiled internally as you heard the last line of the song before stopping it. "only bought this dress so you could take it off."

"ready, babe?" ellie asked you from behind. you put your phone in your bag, and she took hold of both of your hands to help you get up. you stood in front of her, only inches apart. ellie gave you a big smile. "what?" you asked her, feeling nervous. "what, els, you're scaring me." did you have something on your face? maybe dirt on your cheek? or in your hair? "you're the most beautiful girl i've ever seen," ellie responded, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. "you scared me!" you said, gently pushing her. she quickly returned to her place and held you by the waist, kissing your forehead. before you could protest, she grabbed your hand and started walking.

"are you sure you know how to get back?" you asked her. you couldn't help but notice how the sky was darkening, and the path you had taken on the way felt unfamiliar. it was curious how light could change a landscape so much. you felt like you had never been there, even though you had just been there a while ago. despite trusting ellie with your life, you were afraid that she might not navigate well or step on a bear trap, or that the forest animals might attack without the noise of the music to deter them. okay, you were being ridiculous. ellie probably knew this forest like the back of her hand. she had already told you there were no bear traps, and come on, she had a damn knife in her back pocket. perhaps it was the bear that should be afraid of crossing paths with her.

"princess?" ellie's voice snapped you out of your trance. "yes, els, sorry. i was lost in thought. what did you say?" she laughed and caressed your hand. "i was saying it's not a very difficult path. we just need to keep going straight until we reach a big tree, then turn right and walk for about five minutes. we should come across the racecourse." she spoke with concentration, looking at the trees. "sounds good," you said, stroking her hand back. you didn't want to distract her. "but wait," ellie suddenly stopped and crouched down to search for something in her backpack. you saw her pull out that damn waterproof coat again, but this time she helped you put it on and even closed it all the way up. "it's starting to get cold," she said, kissing the tip of your nose. you smiled foolishly, though you were worried about her getting cold on the way. "you're a superhuman and you don't get cold?" you teased her. "i have pretty good resistance, but don't worry. if i really get too cold, i can ask my dad for a jacket. you're my priority," she said, trying to sound serious, but you had already figured her out, especially with what she had just said. she was so sweet.

say that everything was going wrong was an understatement. the two of you had been walking through that damn forest for over an hour, and night had fallen a while ago. it was becoming increasingly difficult to see where you were heading. ellie seemed to be in a very bad mood and had been pacing around for a long while. you had the feeling that you two were just walking in circles in the forest for hours, but you had no idea how to break that cycle and find a way out.

ellie had let go of your hand fifteen minutes ago, although at that moment, she didn't seem as angry as she was now. her shoulders were tense, and you could hear her muttering curses under her breath. she made abrupt changes in direction without warning. not to mention the cold that had started to set in. ellie's coat kept you warm, but your legs trembled if you stayed still for too long. you couldn't ignore the slight pain that appeared in your chest when you saw ellie chattering her teeth and how her body trembled from the cold.

"els..." you called her with the sweetest voice you had, the last thing you wanted was to distract her, but you felt too selfish with her coat on while she shivered in the cold. "what?" ellie responded abruptly, as if you were bothering her, and that's exactly how you felt. "it's just that... it's freezing. do you want me to give you the coat for a while?" you asked. you were about to touch her shoulder to make her turn and look at you because she hadn't even done that. "what the hell are you saying? no, that's fucking stupid," the words came out of her mouth, sharp as a knife. and a wave of sadness flooded you, but at the same time, you felt a deep anger towards her in your chest. what the hell was wrong with her? she was the one who had put you both in this situation.

you quickly pushed those thoughts out of your head. you were letting yourself be carried away by your emotions and the exhaustion of the moment. it wasn't your fault, and it wasn't ellie's either. It was just how things had unfolded. "it's just that you're shivering, and this is your coat, and..." "oh my god, can you fucking shut up for one damn second?!" she exclaimed. she hadn't shouted at you, but it felt like she had. the anger in your chest grew even bigger, along with the urge to cry. you tried to calm yourself down, repeating what you had told yourself before, but before you could manage to calm down, ellie walked past you. "fucking move," she said. she didn't push you, but it made you feel even worse. the fact that she didn't even turn to look at you made it even worse. where was the girl who had made you blush on the bus hours ago, the one who couldn't go more than 5 minutes without holding your hand? for the first time, you felt alone in that forest and filled with anger.

"what the hell is wrong with you anyway?" you asked, furrowing your brow and using a voice you hadn't used with her until now, filled with anger and sadness. she turned around, also with a furrowed brow, her shoulders tense, and her hands clenched into fists. "i'm trying to guide us on the damn right path. maybe I would be on the right track if you weren't so damn annoying, you know?" she replied. you had never heard her so angry before. your blood boiled. "so this is how it's going to be, huh?" you asked, your voice rising, about to yell at her. "what the hell are you saying?" wllie asked, looking confused, but still as angry. "you fuck me once, and suddenly I'm a burden to you? is that really the kind of person you are, ellie?!" you accused, and you didn't take long to see the pain that appeared on her face. you suspected you had hit a sensitive spot. "no, y/n, it's not fucking like that. i just..." ellie tried to explain herself, but you simply couldn't bear it anymore. "yeah, but that's exactly what you're doing. I'm done with this, williams," you told her, and her face seemed a mix of sadness and anger. without thinking about what you were doing, you started walking in the opposite direction. "oh, perfect, go your own way. i don't even care about you anyway, right, y/n? fuck you," those last words hurt even more than the entire argument they had just had. "fuck you, williams. damn the moment you were assigned as my fucking partner," you said and continued on your way, walking quickly. you didn't even want her to try to follow you. in that moment, you hated her, and you were regretting everything, even though you knew it was just the anger of the moment. just like ellie probably felt.

when you realized it, you had been walking alone for 10 minutes, you understood the gravity of the situation. you were a girl, unarmed and alone in the middle of a forest filled with wild animals, and you didn't know how to navigate. you had only been thinking about ellie and the argument you both just had, how everything had crumbled in a second just because both of you were tired and in a bad mood. both of you had said things that you didn't truly mean under any circumstances. you knew ellie hadn't used you just for sex, but in the heat of the moment, that was the only thing that had come out to hurt her.

the desire to talk things out with ellie compelled you to continue on your path to find her and discuss what had happened, but you had no idea where she could have gone or where she was. so you decided to implement the only tip you remembered from those shitty tiktok videos you occasionally watched, where they recommended things to do in extreme situations. in this case, if you were lost in a forest, the advice was to find a river and follow it until you reached civilization. it seemed like a terrible idea, but it was the only one you had. you hugged your body, seeking more warmth in the coat and feeling ellie's scent on it. the urge to cry overwhelmed you; this coat was nothing like having her by your side. you thought about how much you would give to have her with you in this moment, and it made you even angrier that both of you were together when this started happening, but you had become too lost in anger and exhaustion to support each other.

somehow, you trusted your instincts that you were on the right path towards the river, so you continued on without looking back. you were terrified of encountering anything; your mind had taken it upon itself to scare you with the worst possible scenarios: ghosts, cults, vampires, wolves, foxes, men, men hunting, bear traps, and so on.

after what felt like hours of walking, you heard a noise. something like a voice. it could have been your imagination, but you swore it was a voice calling your name. you heard it from behind, so you started running in the opposite direction from where you were heading, hoping it wasn't just your mind playing tricks on you. you knew you shouldn't run, especially not in the darkness of a damn forest, but anxiety took over. you sprinted, trying to reach wherever that voice had come from. and as luck would have it, you stumbled on an uneven patch of ground.

for a moment, the pain from your ankle and the confusion were overwhelming. you knew you had twisted your ankle, and you didn't want to look at it. you also knew you had to get up and find a place to sit down at least before the injury got cold and you couldn't move. so that's what you did. you spotted a large fallen log and crawled towards it as best as you could. your whole body was in pain, and you felt exposed because a part of your dress had torn and you were damn dirty from all the dirt you had dragged along. you reached the log and sat down, realizing that you had absolutely nothing left but to pray that they find you quickly. you nestled your face in ellie's jacket, hiding the lower part of your face, and began to pray to be found soon. to be found by HER.

ellie:

fuck, I'm such a fucking idiot. i shouldn't have treated her like that. did she really think i was using her for a quick fuck? that i didn't feel anything for her? i'm an asshole. i had the most beautiful afternoon with her. with the girl of my dreams, and i ruined it just because i couldn't control my damn anger. i let her go, let her walk away from me, and i neglected her, letting her hate me for not shutting my fucking mouth.

ellie could only turn those thoughts over in her head. she couldn't stop regretting everything that had happened and the way she left you alone. it was cold, and you didn't have any food with you. she had taken the water and the other survival supplies. she had only left you a jacket that wasn't even enough for the cold in that forest. she quickly abandoned the mission of returning to the race site. it made no sense to go back to her student obligations when she had failed the only one she had, which was to protect you.

she began to wander around the places where she thought you might have gone. she thought maybe you would try to go back to the lake so she could find you, but right now, you hated her. why would you do that? she started running, trying to cover as much of the forest as possible. all she wanted was to find you; she would deal with returning to the race when she had you in her arms. lost in her thoughts, ellie didn't see the cluster of rocks on the ground. she stumbled over one of them and couldn't catch herself with her body before her head hit one of the rocks.

during the time she was unconscious, ellie couldn't say that she had dreamed anything. all she felt was cold, coldness, and distant voices. for some reason, images of what that day had been like kept repeating in her head. her packing her backpack for that stupid school excursion, getting in joel's car damn early to get to school before anyone else, when a grumpy teacher wrote a "27" on the back of her hand, being by your side all day, the way you looked at her, how nervous she was before she grab your chin for the first kiss, your smile when she complimented your dress, your face below hers, how your hair stretched on the rocks, the way you smiled at her while she touched you, you all over her by the river, and the overwhelming pain on your face when you argued.

"miss, miss, holy shit, it's one of them," she heard a male voice say, pulling her out of the dream. she felt herself being shaken from side to side and her face being touched. "hey, hey."

she abruptly opened her eyes, seeing the trees and the moon above her. in a second, a man appeared in her view, looking young and wearing a police uniform. "are you okay, miss?" another man asked, whose face she couldn't see. the buzzing in her ears was slowly fading away. "what? what happened?" ellie asked, her voice sounding hoarse, and her throat felt dry. "she's one of them, yes. look at the number on her hand." ellie slowly sat up with the help of the two men. "what happened?" she asked again, this time with a firmer voice. "it seems you got lost. you went out for lunch with your partner in the woods and never came back. it's been four hours since you went missing." that comment unleashed everything in ellie. "my partner, y/n. where is she? have you found her? she walked away from me, and i don't know where she went, but you have to find her. she's alone and knows nothing about survival. she was wearing a white dress and a brown jacket. you have to find her," ellie started explaining, her desperation growing with every thought crossing her mind.

"miss, listen to me. we need to get you back to where the school officials are. you lost consciousness, and we don't know what condition you're in. you need medical attention," one of the men explained. "i'm not leaving this damn place without her. she's under my responsibility," ellie said. her voice kept getting louder. "listen to me, miss. you weren't far from the race site. most likely, your friend couldn't have gone too far. we need you to come with us so we can take your statement. you are the most important piece in this," one of the men said. "besides, it's possible that by the time we get there, your friend has already been found," the other added.

after staring at both of them intensely for a few seconds, ellie agreed. they helped her to her feet and walked her toward where "the others were."

you didn't know how long you had been sitting there, probably not long, but you were starting to lose your mind. you felt colder with each passing moment, and the jacket was not enough. on top of that, ellie's perfume had faded from the coat, and you began to feel even more alone. you watched as your ankle started to swell from the impact, and you were incredibly thirsty. obviously, your phone wasn't working, and you had nothing in your bag except for candies.

just when you were feeling most hopeless, you saw your shadow begin to cast on the grass in front of you. you turned around in search of the light that was causing that shadow, and as you turned, all you saw was the blinding flash of a flashlight. "y/n?" a male voice asked from behind the flashlight. "y-yes, it's me," you said with some fear. they knew your name, they couldn't be here to harm you, right? "jesus, kid, we've been looking for you for hours." finally, the man turned off the flashlight and approached you. "joel, thank god," you said, looking at him. you were incredibly happy to see him; aside from ellie, he was the person you wanted to see the most. you knew he would take care of you; his daughter was just like him.

he approached you and noticed that you weren't moving. "is everything okay? are you hurt?" joel asked, getting closer to get a better look at you. "i think i sprained my ankle, it hurts a lot," you said, looking at him. we crouched down to your level; he was very tall, and you couldn't help but feel intimidated. he examined your ankle and nodded. "it's okay, let me help you. there are some men here wandering around. we can assist you together," joel said, and you nodded, trying to move your body while avoiding putting weight on your injured ankle to fight off the cold. "is that ellie's jacket?" joel asked with a smile. although he wasn't saying it accusingly, a huge anguish filled your chest. if you had stayed with ellie, maybe he would have found her by now. after all, his daughter was also missing. you couldn't hold back the tears, and you started crying. "oh, what happened, kiddo? is everything okay?" he asked, putting a hand on your shoulder to calm you down. "it's just that i was with her, and we got lost, and i left because i was very angry, and now i don't know where she is. i'm so sorry, joel," you said between sobs, sad for ellie, but you were also releasing all the anguish you had accumulated during those moments of being alone and desperate.

"its ok, y/n, ellie knows how to navigate this forest, and on the other hand, she knows how to make a scene," joel chuckled to himself. seeing your distressed expression, he continued. "hey, don't worry about her. be glad we found you, and in no time, we'll find ellie. yhey're searching the entire area." you nodded, and just then, another man arrived. alongside joel, they helped you to your feet, and you couldn't help but notice the resemblance between them. "guess what, old man? it seems they found ellie. she seemed to have fainted or something, but as always, that girl is ready for action. she's causing a commotion with the police," the other man said. joel chuckled and turned his gaze to you. "did you hear that, Y/N? I told you she'd be fine." you nodded with a smile. on one hand, you were happy that ellie was safe, but on the other hand, you were damn scared. she had fainted? would she be okay? you were desperate to see her and hold her, but you were terrified that she would still be angry with you.

after walking for a while with the help of the two men, you began to see flashing lights from ambulances and police cars. god, had you caused so much trouble? as the three of you got closer, you heard a voice that was all too familiar, and just as joel had described, causing a scene. perhaps he thought the same, as he chuckled softly as the girl's voice became more audible. finally, the three of you passed through some trees, and you could see the scene clearly. there were several police cars, an ambulance, and several people scattered around the clearing, and there was ellie, your ellie, yelling at a man in a suit and pointing her finger at him. you couldn't help but be taken aback when you saw her. she was covered in dirt, disheveled, and had a bit of blood trickling from her hairline down to her shirt. she had scratches on her cheek, a bruise on her chin, and a split lip. despite being impressed and scared to see her in such conditions, she remained the most beautiful girl in your eyes. your heart found solace in seeing that she was safe and able to stand.

"you're all fucking useless! how long have you been searching for us?! huh?! a whole damn hour and you still haven't found her?! you have one job, you fucking idiots!" she shouted at the man. she hadn't seen you yet but seeing her so worried about finding you from the outside made your heart melt. ellie, your ellie. how could you be so tender? joel and the other man asked one of the doctors where they could leave you to rest, and he pointed them to the edge of the open back of one of the ambulances where they could see the wounds on your leg. it surprised you that they noticed so quickly until you realized that you were noticeably limping on one of your legs. joel and his companion sat you down there, and you thanked them for their help. ellie signaled to you that she was going to talk to Ellie, and you nodded. you had started fidgeting with your fingers from the contained anxiety of seeing ellie so close and worried about you, but not knowing how to get her attention or what to do to talk to her.

you watched joel tap ellie on the shoulder, and she turned around as he pulled her towards him. she allowed it for a moment, her shoulders relaxing. It was freezing cold. how could she be wearing short sleeves? before you had time to process it, ellie turned around and saw you sitting in the ambulance. Without wasting a second, she approached you. not running, but at a fast pace, and she finally enveloped you in her arms. "baby," you heard her say once she had you in her arms. it was soft enough for only you to hear. "oh, ellie," you said. you took a moment to hold her tightly and feel her close. she let go of you to avoid hurting you and took a moment to look at you, caressing your face, and you knew she was brushing off some dirt. ellie was about to say something when a doctor appeared behind her and ordered her to "sit down already." you laughed. you knew ellie had probably refused medical attention before finding you. She sat down beside you and took your hand in hers. a police officer approached to give them a blanket, and ellie covered both of you with it. you looked at her, a bit overwhelmed by emotions, and rested your head on her shoulder. "i know, baby, i know," she said, stroking your lower back. it was clear that they had a lot to talk about, but they couldn't do it here, surrounded by doctors and ellie's father.

a doctor approached to talk to both of you. they had concluded that both of you should go to the hospital to be properly examined, especially ellie, who had a nasty bump on her head. your heart ached at the thought of her being unconscious and alone in the forest without anyone to help her, and she felt a pang in her stomach thinking about the pain and fear you must have felt being injured and alone in the woods. joel arrived and informed you that your parents had been notified and would meet you at the hospital. with the help of ellie, joel, and a couple of nurses, you were lifted onto the ambulance stretcher, and ellie stayed with you to go to the hospital in the same vehicle. you weren't sure if that was the procedure for someone who had lost consciousness from a head injury, but you didn't think ellie cared either way.

once they closed the ambulance with you on the stretcher and Ellie sitting on one of the benches at the sides, they left you alone for a while to retrieve documentation. ellie took your hand. "i shouldn't have spoken to you like that. it was immature of me, and i'm so sorry, y/n. i never wanted to hurt you. i just couldn't control my anger, and it's completely unjustifiable. i'm new to healthy relationships, and i want to learn for you. let's not let it happen again because i love you, and you're the most beautiful, intelligent, and kind girl i've ever known. you were never and will never be just a quick fling to me, and i'm so sorry for making you feel that way. i had the best day with you before this shit in the woods happened. i'm truly sorry for ruining it like this. can you forgive me?" ellie said, looking at you with puppy eyes while caressing your hand. "i love you too, ellie. forgive me as well. i didn't handle the situation well, and i hurt you too." your hand had moved to caress her cheek, and ellie turned her head to kiss it. both of you quickly pulled apart as the driver got into the vehicle to start driving.

ellie rested her head on your lap. it seemed like an uncomfortable position, but it wasn't for ellie. she just wanted to feel closer to you. you stroked her hair to relax her on your lap, and ellie smiled. she seemed like she was about to fall asleep. "we look like we just came out of a bad suspense movie," ellie said with her eyes closed. "of course, because we just escaped an extreme situation, and i'm still perfectly groomed and made up," you replied in an arrogant tone. ellie chuckled to herself. "your jokes are worse than mine," she said. "i know, baby," you replied, tucking one of her reddish locks behind her ear. "do you have any idea how quickly they're going to fire the person who assigned us as partners?" ellie opened her eyes, looked at you, and laughed again. "poor bastard, he lost his job and made me gain a beautiful girlfriend."

#Spotify #ellie x fem reader #ellie williams fanfic #ellie williams tlou #ellie williams x reader #ellie x reader #ellie williams #ellie the last of us #the last of us 2 #tlou fanfiction #tlou2 #ellie tlou

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doxieandthedead · 25 days

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WIP Wednesday

Been writing a lil meet cute between Gortash and Tamasvi.

“They disgust you too, don’t they?” The cloaked man next to him mutters, “they take this as a mere japery and do not understand what we are about to witness”.

Enver Gortash does not bother to hide how his mouth twists into a sneer. Nobody can see his face under the ceramic mask he and the others have been asked to wear, and the anonymity has made others in their little party act out like giddy louts. They are clearly young, excitable and the dangerous allure of what they are about to witness is clearly beyond their comprehension.

‘Perhaps the group will get lucky, and it is these idiots that form the main performance of the night.’ It is a grim thought that he does not bother to share.

Their guide is also cloaked, such is the fashion of the lower city when the fog rolls through the darkened streets of Baldurs Gate. When they had met under on the corner of the Blushing Mermaid, safe under the dreary lamplight, he had been barely able to discern the violet veil that obscured the face of the person that wore it. There had been no words spoken, and Gortash had made a point to show the figure the bloody gash that his contact had insisted he carve into his thumb as proof of patronage.

Now, they were descending into the undercellar. The maze of corridors that all look the same. Its all glistening, pale stone and uneven slabs beneath their feet. There’s a stale smell of ale that lingers in the air and mostly masks the sharp undercurrent of iron and sweetness that betrays a more sinister use for the tunnels. To human eyes, he would be stumbling and cursing at the dark, and he can see the louts ahead doing exactly that as their initial excitement wears off. Enver is not a stupid man, and it took little planning to down a potion of dark vision on the way here.

Their guide leads them to a circular room, four metal fire bowls are ablaze at the corners of a platform that is only slightly raised from the floor. There are seats, and the guide motions to them as the group filters in. The crackling of logs seems to feed a tension that tightens his jawline and clamps at his shoulders. To be seated means to have his back towards the dark, and in Bhaalist company, it feels foolish.

They sit. Once the scraping of chairs finishes, all that can be heard is the infernal flames that burn, and the mouth breathing of whoever sat next to him. Nobody moves to take off the masks and cloaks, at least on that he is not surrounded wholly by idiots. One figure opposite leans forward, and Enver imagines that he can feel hunger emanating from them as they wait in the dark.

A drum sounds. Quiet at first. It rumbles into an insistent beat that grows louder and louder and fills up the space in his chest where his thundering heart beats to the point of pain. His throat is dry, muscles like a vice that refuse to loosen at his command. The drum grows louder. Something sweet attracts his attention, a pungent, smoky scent of incense that blurs the senses further.

It was mistake to come here. The drumbeat rumbles on. He can barely think. His mind reverberates with a pounding, relentless rhythm that demands all of his attention. Someone starts to cough. His own throat itches but Gortash knows that he has suffered worse, and so he endures.

The beating gets louder, a cacophony of noise he cannot believe would go unnoticed by the Fists. He quells the panicked thought that this is a trap and grits his teeth. The drums are unbearable now, he is a slave to the beat, unable to sense himself beyond it. He did not come this far to run away like a frightened dog.

A shadow moves. The drumming ends.

In the sudden, gutting quiet. Gortash remembers to breathe.

There is a rustle of fabric. He straightens his back as his eyes dart to the source and all he can see is the silhouette of a humanoid figure gliding behind the seated men to his side. It must be the effect of the incense, of the dark and of their ritual garb as the being seems to glide like a wraith as they move. In the poor light, even with his enhanced vision he isn’t able to make out more than what has been chosen to be revealed.

“Welcome” A feminine voice rings like a bell and the crowd instinctively sits up to attention. “It is a pleasure to be among you”.

It is not death he thinks of first, but sex. Gortash is no stranger to using both to get what he wants, but when one thinks of the High Primates of Bhaal, well, he doubts many of Bhaal’s priests sound this… divine.

The figure moves into the light like a dart. A man sitting, once masked and cloaked, is revealed as he makes a wet, gargling sound of panic as his hand raises towards his throat. The firelight is bright enough to see the young man’s face. He watches as it twists from shock to fear, the eyes glazing over as the smell of blood fills the room and corpse that was once a man slumps forward to the floor. Its head falls first, rolling over the platform and leaving a bloody trail behind it.

It is a woman’s body in the ritual garb that steps forward. She is a short creature, but not unusually so for an elf or some humans. He sees the curve of her hips first, then admires how the fabric clings to her lithe thighs and backside like a jealous lover. When she turns, he is not greeted by a mask or veil. Instead a large ceremonial crown sits atop her head obscures her eyes, ears, and nose. There is a coy smile on darkly painted lips as she appears to appraise her audience.

She holds one slender finger to pouting lips and turns until all the audience has seen her hush. “I’m afraid tonight is invite only”.

#enver gortash #durgetash #bg3 durge #the dark urge #bg3 gortash #dark urge #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 dark urge #WIP Wednesday #Tamasvi #The Red Room WIP #If it gets finished I'll pop it onto AO3

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dozenssporks · 9 months

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*the camera is tilted upward to show vash clinging to a redwood tree very very far from the ground*

wolfwood: how's it working out for you up there my guy

vash, whining: don't be meeean that was a very big mosquito and I have a very strong startle reflex. if it had been a real threat I'd be up here laughing and you'd be down there being eaten, so there

wolfwood: yuh huh, sure, spiky, sure. Comin' down now or do you want to hug that tree a little longer?

vash: gimme a sec--yeep!

*the camera blurs as wolfwood struggles to track vash's rapid descent from the tree but there is only a streak of red, the sound of vash yelping, and, finally, a crash*

wolfwood: holy mother--are you alive?!

*the camera focuses and vash, draped over a pile of moss covered logs, gives a feeble thumbs up. a moment later a large piece of bark falls and smacks him on the head*

vash, whimpering: I want to go home, maman, s'il vous plaît

*the scene cuts to vash standing at the base of the tree looking scuffed up and rumpled, his glasses sitting crooked on his nose*

vash: ahem! I was recently informed that people leave comments on these videos, which surprised me. I thought it was mostly the cops and, like, fbi who looked at these.

wolfwood: people always have somethin' to say about witnessing a walking disaster

vash, making an angry face: ANYWAY. This was brought to my attention by--well, naming no names, I can tell you she's a real stunner. Knock you right off your feet if given the chance. This lovely lady, too good for this sinful world, has kindly compiled what she believes to be the best comments and questions. Here we go.

wolfwood: please, dear viewers, understand that this creature before you can be explained neither scientifically or religiously. Don't expect to experience clarity today.

vash:, holding up a paper with the questions written on it it's called mystique. First question: "Mr. The Stampede, why is the guy behind the camera called--"

*breaking off, vash presses his fist to his mouth and makes high-pitched noises that nearly pass beyond human hearing*

wolfwood: I've got a bad feeling about this

vash: "why is--why is the guy behind the camera called . . . 'woof woof'?"

*sitting down on the ground, vash bursts into obnoxious laughter, pounding his fist on the ground. the camera tilts and shakes*

wolfwood, sputtering: that's not--that's not what I'm called! Mary, mother of Christ, that is not--

*the scene cuts. vash is back on his feet, facial expression strained as he struggles to remain solemn*

vash: I have been instructed to clarify that my assistant behind the camera is not named 'woof woof', has never been called 'woof woof', and never will be called 'woof woof'.

wolfwood: it's because you keep starting to say my name and stammering when you cut yourself off. This is your fault, needle-noggin, and I'm gonna take it out of your hide later, I swear.

vash, coughing: there's a second part of this question, um, "is he called that because he's a furry?"

*vash collapses to the ground again, shrieking with laughter*

wolfwood: a what

vash: a furry is a--it's a--

wolfwood: I know what a furry is!

vash: from--from personal experience?

wolfwood: no!

*vash rolls around laughing, kicking his legs. the camera jolts up and down while wolfwood marches over and snatches up the list of questions*

wolfwood: aw, geez, they really asked that, you didn't make it up. I can't believe the big girl did this to me--would you shut up?!

vash, shrieking from pain this time: don't kick the messenger when he's down, woof woof!

wolfwood: no, no, no, no. this is not going to be a thing. I will end you, I will shoot you right through your spiky head, I will--

*the scene cuts to vash laying face-down on the forest floor, limp and lifeless. cigarette smoke is puffing from behind the camera and wolfwood's hand can be seen gesturing*

wolfwood: the person who asked that question, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you want. If you are looking for blackmail money, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. I will find you, and I will kill you. Buh-by.

*video ends*

#trigun #trigun on the run au #trigun modern au #a dozen sporks speaks #I was trying to write something a little more story-oriented #but this came up from behind and hit me with a bat #trigun snippets

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thewidowsghost · 1 year

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Seeing the Beauty (Piper McLean x Fem!Jackson!Reader) - Chapter 8

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

(Y/n) stands in a clearing in the middle of a redwood forest, In front of her rises the ruins of a stone mansion. Low gray clouds blend with the ground fog, and the cold rain hangs in the air. A pack of large gray beasts mills round her, brushing against her legs and baring their teeth. They gently nudge her towards the ruins.

With no intention of becoming the world's largest dog biscuit, (Y/n) decides to do what they want.

The ground squelches under her combat boots as she walks. Stone spires of chimneys, no longer attached to anything, rise up like totem poles. The house must've been enormous once, multi-storied with massive log walls and a soaring gabled roof, but now nothing remains but its stone skeleton. (Y/n) finds herself passing under a crumbling doorway and almost knocks Jason over.

"Jason?" (Y/n) questions, and Jason turns, looking surprised.

"You're in my dream," both demigods say in unison, and (Y/n) cracks a grin.

(Y/n) and Jason are standing above a drained reflecting pool, long and rectangular. Jason can't tell how deep the pool is, due to the mist filling the bottom. A dirt path lies all the way around, and the house's uneven walls rise on either side. Wolves pace under the archways of rough red volcanic stone.

At the far end of the pool sits a giant she-wolf, several feet taller than the two demigods. Her eyes glow silver into the fog and her coat is the same color as the rocks – warm chocolaty red.

"I know this place," Jason realizes.

(Y/n) glances over at her friend, surprised.

The wolf regards Jason. She doesn't exactly speak, but Jason can understand her. The movements of her ears and whiskers, the flash of her eyes, the way she curls her lips – all a part of her language.

Of course, the she-wolf says. You began your journey here as a pup. Now you must find your way back. A new quest, a new start.

"That isn't fair," Jason replies to the wolf, and (Y/n) figures this is what it would look to others when they saw her talking to Blackjack.

The wolf says: Conquer or die. This is always our way.

Jason wasn't to protest that he can't conquer if she doesn't know who he is, who he was, or where he's supposed to go. But he knows this would. Her name is simply Lupa, the Mother Wolf, the greatest of her kind. Long ago, she'd found him in this place, protected him, nurtured him, chosen him, but if Jason showed weakness, she would tear him to shreds. Rather than being her pup, he would become her dinner. In the wolf pack, weakness is not an option.

"Can you guide me?" Jason asks.

Lupa makes a rumbling noise deep in her throat, and the mist in the pool dissolves.

At first, Jason isn't sure what he's seeing. At opposite ends of the pool two dark spires had erupted from the cement floor lithe drill bits of massive tunneling machines boring through the surface.

(Y/n) can't tell if the spires are made from rock or petrified vines, but they are formed of thick tendrils that come together in a point at the top. Each spire is about five feet tall, but they aren't identical. The one closest to the demigods is darker, and seems like a solid mass, its tendrils fused together. As they watch, it pushes a little farther out of the earth and expands a little wider.

On Lupa's end of the pool, the second spire's tendrils are more open, like the bars of a cage. Inside, (Y/n0 can see a misty figure struggling, shifting within its confines.

"Hera," Jason realizes.

The she-wolf growls in agreement. The other wolves circle the pool, their fur standing up on their backs as they snarl at the spires.

The enemy has chosen this place to awaken her most powerful son, the giant king, Lupa says. Our sacred place, where demigods are claimed – the place of death or life. The burned house. It is an abomination. You must stop her?

"Her?" Jason looks confused. "You mean, Hera?"

The she-wolf gnashes her teeth impatiently. Use your senses, pup. I care nothing for Juno, but if she falls, our enemy wakes. And that will be the end for all of us. You know this place. You can find it again. Cleanse our house. Stop this before it is too late.

The dark spire grows slightly larger, like the bulb of some horrible flower. Jason sense that if it ever opens, it would release something that he did not want to meet.

"Who am I?" Jason asks the she-wolf. "At least tell me that."

Wolves didn't seem to have a sense of humor, but Jason can tell that the question amused Lupa, as though Jason was a cub just trying out his claws, practicing to the alpha male.

You are our saving grace, as always, the she-wolf curls her lip, as if she'd just made a clever joke. Do not fail, Son of Jupiter.

. . .

(Y/n) picks herself off the ground off her cabin.

I have to stop having dreams and flashbacks like this, (Y/n) wipes the blood pouring from her chin.

The main door of the cabin slams open, and (Y/n) opens the door to her room.

"What's going on?" (Y/n) pulls her pen from the pocket of her jeans, uncapping it.

"Hurry!" (Y/n) can't tell if Butch, the Iris camper, was excited or scared. "The dragon is back."

. . .

"Leo?" Piper yells.

Sure enough, there he is, sitting atop a giant bronze death machine and grinning like a lunatic. Even before he lands, the camp alarm goes up. A conch horn blows. All the satyrs start screaming, "Don't kill me!" Half of the camp runs outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon sets down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yells, "It's cool! Don't shoot!"

Hesitantly, the archers lower their bows. The warriors back away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They make a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hide behind their cabin doors or peep out the windows. Nobody seems anxious to get close.

Piper can't blame them. The dragon is huge, glistening in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture — different shades of copper and bronze — a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurl like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flap.

"It's beautiful," Piper murmurs. The other demigods stare at her like she's insane.

The dragon rears its head and shoots a column of fire into the sky. Campers scramble away and heft their weapons, but Leo slides calmly off the dragon's back. He holds up his hands like he is surrendering, except that he still has that crazy grin on his face.

"People of Earth, I come in peace!" he shouts. Leo looks like he'd been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face are smeared with soot. His hands are grease-stained, and he is wearing a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes are bloodshot. His curly hair is so oily it sticks up in porcupine quills, and he smells strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looks absolutely delighted. "Festus is just saying hello!"

"That thing is dangerous!" an Ares girl shouts, brandishing her spear. "Kill it now!"

"Stand down!" someone orders. To Piper's surprise, it's (Y/n). She pushes through the crowd, slipping her pen into her pocket, flanked by Annabeth, Nyssa, Jason, and Butch.

(Y/n) gazes up at the dragon and shakes her head in amazement. "Leo, what've you done?"

"Found a ride!" Leo beamed, then he glances over at Jason. "You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!"

"It – has wings," Nyssa stammers. Her jaw looks as though it might drop off her face.

"Yeah!" Leo replies. "I found them and reattached them."

"But it never had wings. Where did you find them?"

Leo hesitates, and Piper can tell he is hiding something. "In . . . the woods," he says. "Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire."

"Mostly?" Nyssa asks.

The dragon's head twitches. It tilts to one side and a stream of black liquid — maybe oil, hopefully just oil, Piper thinks — pours out of its ear, all over Leo.

"Just a few kinks to work out," Leo grins.

"But how did you survive . . .?" Nyssa is still staring at the creature in awe. "I mean, the fire breath . . ."

"I'm quick," Leo replies. "And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?"

Jason scratches his head. "You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, 'festus' means 'happy'? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?"

The dragon twitches and shudders and flaps his wings.

"That's a yes, bro!" Leo says. "Now, urn, I'd really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the — urn, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous."

Jason frowns. "But we haven't planned anything yet. We can't just—"

"Go," Annabeth says. She is the only one who doesn't look nervous at all. Her expression is sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. "Jason, you've only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!"

Jason nods. Then he smiles at Piper. "You ready, partner?"

Piper looks at the bronze dragon wings shining against the sky, and the talons that could've shredded her to pieces. "You bet," she says.

. . .

Flying on the dragon has to be the coolest thing I've ever done, Piper thinks.

Up high, the air is freezing cold; but the dragon's metal hide generates so much heat, it is like they are flying in a protective bubble, and the grooves in the dragon's back are designed like high-tech saddles, so they aren't uncomfortable. Leo shows the others how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. The demigods sit in single file: Leo in front, then Jason, then Piper, and then (Y/n), and Piper seems hyper aware that (Y/n) is right behind her. Part of her brain wishes that –. Piper cuts off her thoughts, shaking her head.

Leo uses the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he'd been doing it all his life. The meal wings work perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island is just a hazy line behind them. They shoot over Connecticut and climb into the gray winter clouds.

Leo grins back at them. "Cool, right?"

"What if we get spotted?" Piper asks.

"The Mist," Jason replies. "It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they'll probably mistake us for a small plane or something."

Piper glanced over his shoulder. "You sure about that?"

"No," he admits. Then Piper sees he is clutching a photo in his hand — a picture of a girl with dark hair.

She gives Jason a quizzical look, but he blushes and puts the photo in his pocket. "We're making good time. Probably get there by tonight."

Piper wonders who the girl in the picture is, but she doesn't want to ask; and if Jason didn't volunteer the information, that wasn't a good sign. Had he remembered something about his life before? Was that a photo of his real girlfriend? Stop it, she thinks.

Piper asks a safer question. "Where are we heading?"

"To find the god of the North Wind," Jason replies. "And chase some storm spirits."

. . .

"Shut up, me," Leo says aloud, startling (Y/n) a little.

"What?" (Y/n) asks.

"Nothing," Leo replies. "Long night. I think I;m hallucinating. It's cool."

Sitting in front, Leo can't see their faces, but he assumes from their silence that his friends are not pleased to have a sleepless, hallucinating dragon driver.

"Just joking," Leo decides it might be good to change the subject. "So, what's the plan, bro?" Leo asks Jason. "You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?"

Leo smiles slightly as he hears the snort of laughter that comes from one of his friends – probably (Y/n). He liked joking to make his friends happy.

As they fly over New England, Jason lies out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information –

"His name is Boreas?" Leo has to ask. "What is he, the god of Boring?"

Second, Jason continues, they had to find those venti that had attacked them at teh Grand Canyon –

"Can we just call them storm spirits?" Leo asks.

"Venti makes them seem like evil espressos," (Y/n) agrees, and Leo turns to grin at his friend.

And third, Jason finished, they had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so they could find Hera and free her.

"So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose," Leo said. "The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds."

"That's about it," Jason said. "Well ... there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she's friendly. She probably won't eat us, unless we show weakness."

"So, it was like a weird shared dreamscape," (Y/n) says aloud, and Piper lets out a murmurs of confusion.

Jason and (Y/n) tell Piper and Leo about their dream — the big nasty mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.

"Uh-huh," Leo says. "But you don't know where this place is."

"Nope," Jason admits.

"There's also giants," Piper adds. "The prophecy said the giants' revenge."

"Hold on," Leo says. "Giants — like more than one? Why can't it be just one giant who wants revenge?"

"I don't think so," Piper says. "I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants."

"One to rival each of the gods, like the Titans," (Y/n) adds.

"Great," Leo mutters. "Of course, with our luck, it's an army. So you know anything else about these giants? Didn't you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad, Piper?"

"Your dad's an actor?" Jason asks.

Leo laughs. "I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That's funny. But yeah, her dad's Tristan McLean."

"Uh — Sorry, what was he in?"

"It doesn't matter," Piper says quickly. "The giants — well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I'm thinking of the right ones, they were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war — I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago — and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we're talking about the same giants —"

"Chiron said it was happening again," Jason recalls. "The last chapter. That's what he meant. No wonder he didn't want us to know all the details."

Leo whistles. "So . . . giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn't the time to bring up my psycho babysitter."

"Is that another joke?" Piper asks.

Leo tells them about Tia Callida, his evil babysitter, who was really Hera, and how she'd appeared to him at camp. Leo also manages to tell them about the night his mother had died, not mentioning the fire, just that the machine shop had collapsed. It is easier for Leo to tell the story without having to look at his friends, and just keeping his eyes forward as they fly.

And then he tells them about the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.

Leo estimates the whole state of Massachuttes passes below them before his friends speak.

"That's disturbing," Piper says.

"Bout sums it up," Leo agrees. "Thing is, everybody says don't trust Hera. She hates demigods."

(Y/n) laughs bitterly, "You can say that again. She tried to crush me and my friends with a giant statue of herself. Broke my friend Thalia's legs."

Piper glances back at her friend. "You remembered?"

"More of a pass out memory flash," (Y/n) replies, but Piper just looks more confused, but (Y/n) continues, "The prophecy says we'd cause death if we unleash her rage. So why the hell are we doin' this?"

"She chose us," Jason says. "I suspect that Piper, Leo, and I are the first of the seven who have to gather for the Great Prophecy."

(Y/n) adds, "And I think I'm the 'Child of the Sea' that's supposed to 'drop into endless darkness'. Probably hell if I know myself," she jokes, and the others also laugh, and Leo appreciates how easily (Y/n) could put everyone at ease.

"Besides," Jason continues, "helping Hera is the only way (Y/n) and I can get our memories back. And that dark spire in our dream seemed to be feeding off Hera's energy."

(Y/n) nods, "If that thing unleashes a 'king of the giants' by destroying Hera –"

"Not a good trade-off," Piper agrees. "At least Hera is on our side – mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She's the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War."

Jason nods. "Chiron also talks about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all – something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who's controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods –"

"Might be that weird sleeping lady," (Y/n) finishes.

"Dirt Woman, fully awake?" Leo says. "Not something I want to see."

"But who is she?" Jason asks. "And what does she have to do with the giants?"

All good questions, but none of the demigods have answers. They fly in silence while Leo wonders if he'd done the right thing, sharing so much. He'd never told anyone about that night at the warehouse. Even if he hadn't given them the whole story, it still feels strange, like he'd opened up his chest and taken out all the gears that made him tick. His body is shaking, and not from the cold. He hopes Jason, sitting behind him, can't tell.

The forge and dove shall break the cage. Wasn't that the prophecy line? That meant Leo and Piper would have to figure out how to break into that magic rock prison, assuming they could find it.

Festus keeps flying. The wind gets colder, and below them, snowy forests seem to go on forever. Leo doesn't know exactly where Quebec is – he'd told Festus to take them to the palace of Boreas, and Festus kept going north. Hopefully, the dragon knows the way, and they wouldn't end up at the North Pole.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Jason says in Leo's ear. "You were up all night."

Leo wants to protest, but the word sleep sound really good. "You won't let me fall off?"

Jason pats his shoulder. "Trust me, Leo."

"Right," he mutters. He leans forward against the warm bronze of the dragon's neck and closes his eyes."

. . .

When Jason shakes Leo awake, the daylight is fading.

"We're here," he says.

Leo rubs the sleep out of his eyes. Below, a city sits on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it are dusted with snow, but the city itself glows warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowd together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than anyplace Leo had seen before. In the center is an actual castle – at least Leo assumes it's a castle – with massive red brick walls and a square tower with a peaked, green gabled roof.

"Tell me that's Quebec and not Santa's workshop," Leo says.

"Yeah, Quebec City," Piper confirms. "One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?"

Leo raises an eyebrow. "Your dad do a movie about that too?"

(Y/n) laughs while Piper makes a face at him, "I read sometimes, okay?" Piper retorts. "Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn't mean I have to be an airhead."

"Feisty!" Leo says. "So you know so much, what's that castle?"

"A hotel, I think."

Leo laughs, "No way."

But as they get closer, the demigods find that Piper is right. The grand entrance is bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idle in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurry to get out of the cold.

"The North Wind is staying in a hotel?" Leo says. "That can't be –"

"Heads up, guys," Jason interrupts. "We got company!"

Leo looks below and sees what Jason means. Rising from the top of the tower are two winged figures – angry angels, with nasty looking swords.

Festus doesn't seem to like the angel guys. He swoops to a halt in midair, wings beating a talons bared, and makes a rumbling sound in his throat that Leo recognizes – the dragon was ready to blow fire.

"Steady, Boy," Leo mutters, patting the dragon's neck. Something tells the son of Hephestus that the angels would not take kindly to getting torched.

"I don't like this," Jason says. "They look like storm spirits."

"The evil espressos," (Y/n) mutters, and Piper glances back at her, amused.

At first, Leo thinks Jason is right, but as the angels get closer, he can see that they are much more solid than venti. They look like regular teenagers except for their icy white hair and feathery purple wings. Their bronze swords are jagged, like icicles. Their faces look similar enough that they might have been brothers, but definitely not twins.

One is the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights – both eyes are black, and when he bares his teeth, several of them are missing.

The other guys looks like he'd just stepped off of one of Leo's mom's 1980s rock album covers – Journey, maybe, or Hall & Oates. His ice-white hair is long and feathered into a mullet. He wears pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that are way too tight, and an awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thinks he looks like a groovy love got, but the guy couldn't have weighed more than ninety pounds, and a bad case of acne.

The angels pull up in front of the dragon and hover there, swords at the ready.

The 'ox' grunts, "No clearance."

"'Scuse me?" Leo questions.

"You have not flight plan on file," explains the 'groovy love god.' On top of his other problems, he has a French accent so bad (Y/n) is sure it's fake. "This is restricted airspace."

"Destroy them?" The 'ox' shows off his gap-toothed grin.

The dragon begins to hiss steam, ready to defend them.

(Y/n) had summoned her bronze sword, but Leo cries, "Hold on! Let's have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?"

"I am Cal!" the 'ox' grunts. He looks very proud of himself, like he'd taken a long time to memorize that sentence.

"That's short for Calais," the 'love god' says. "Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables –"

"Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!" Cal offers.

" – which includes his own name," the 'love god' finishes.

"I am Cal," Cal repeats. And this is Zethes! My brother!"

"Wow," (Y/n) says, her sword shrinking back into a ballpoint pen. "That was almost three sentences, man! Way to go."

Cal grunts, obviously pleased with himself.

"Stupid buffoon," his brother grumbles. "They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short of Zethes. And the lady there –" he winks at Piper, but the wink is more like a facial seizure. "She can call me anything she likes. Perhaps she would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?"

Piper makes a sound like gagging on a couch drop. "That's . . . a truly horrifying offer."

"It is no problem," Zethes wiggles his eyebrows. "We are a very romantic people, we Boreads."

"Boreads?" Jason cuts in. "Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?"

"Ah, so you've heard of us!" Zethes looks pleased. "We are our father's gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples." He points below and (Y/n) sees that the mortals are starting to take notice. Several are pointing up – not with alarm, yet – more with confusion and annoyance, the bronze dragon is a traffic helicopter flying too low.

"Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing," Zethes says, brushing his hair out of his acne-covered face, "we will have to destroy you painfully."

"Destroy!" Cal agrees, with a little more enthusiasm than (Y/n) thinks is necessary.

"Wait!" Piper says. "This is an emergency landing."

"Awww!" Cal looks so disappointed, Leo almost feels sorry for him.

Zethes studies Piper, which of course he'd already been doing. "How does the pretty girl decide this is an emergency, then?"

"We have to see Boreas. It's totally urgent! Please?" She forces a smile, which Leo figures looks been killing her; but she still has that blessing of Aphrodite thing going on, and she looks great. Something about her voice, too — Leo finds himself believing every word. (Y/n) was nodding, looking absolutely convinced.

Zethes picks at his silk shirt, probably making sure it is still open wide enough. "Well . . . I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you —"

"And our dragon is malfunctioning!" Piper adds. "It could crash any minute!"

Festus shudders helpfully, then turns his head and spills gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.

"No destroy?" Cal whimpers.

Zethes ponders the problem. Then he gives Piper another spasmodic wink. "Well, you are pretty. I mean, you're right. A malfunctioning dragon — this could be an emergency."

"Destroy them later?" Cal offers, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.

"It will take some explaining," Zethes decides. "Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us."

The Boreads sheathes their swords and pull smaller weapons from their belts — or at least Leo thinks they are weapons. Then the Boreads switch them on, and Leo realizes they are flashlights with orange cones, like the ones traffic controller guys use on a runway. Cal and Zethes turn and swoop toward the hotel's tower.

Leo turns to his friends. "I love these guys. Follow them?"

Jason and Piper don't look eager.

"I guess," Jason decides. "We're here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn't been kind to visitors."

"Pfft, he just hasn't met us." Leo whistles. "Festus, after those flashlights!"

As they get closer, (Y/n) worries that they are going to crash into the tower. The Boreads make right for the green gabled peak and don't slow down. Then a section of the slanted room slides open, revealing an entrance easily wide enough for Festus. The top and bottom are lined with icicles like jagged teeth.

"This cannot be good," Jason mutters, but Leo spurs the dragon downward, and they swoop in after the Boreads.

They land in what must have been the penthouse suite; but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall has vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back to the room leads up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branch off to the left and right. But the ice makes the room's beauty a little frightening. When (Y/n) slides off the dragon, the carpet crunches under her feet. A fine layer of frost covers the furniture. The curtains don't budge because they are frozen solid, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling is furry with icicles. As for the stairs, (Y/n) is sure she'd slip and break her neck if she tries to climb them.

"Guys," Leo says, "fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in."

"Not me," Jason looks uneasily at the staircase. "Something feels wrong. Something up there . . ."

Festus shudders and snorts flames and frost starts to form on his scales.

"No, no, no," Zethes marches over, though how he could walk in those pointed leather shoes, (Y/n) has no idea. "The dragon must be deactivated. We can't have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair."

"Mine too," (Y/n) jokes, running her hand over her short hair and Piper lets out a snort of laughter.

Festus growls at Zethes and spins his drill-bit teeth.

"S'okay, boy," Leo turns to Zethes. "The dragon's a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I've got a better solution."

"Destroy?" Cal suggests.

"No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait."

"Leo," Piper says nervously, "what are you –"

"Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others . . . Ah, here we go." Leo hooks his fingers behind the dragon's left foreleg. He pulls a switch, and the dragon shudders from head to toe. Everyone backs away as Festus folds like origami. His bronze plating stacks together. His neck and tail contracts into his body. His wings collapse and his truck compacts until he is a rectangular metal wedge about the size of a suitcase.

Leo tries to lift it, but Festus weighs about six billion pounds. "Um . . . yeah. Hold on. I think – aha." He pushes another button. A handle flips up on the top, and wheels click out on the bottom. "Ta-da!" he announces. "The world's heaviest carry-on bag!"

"That's impossible," Jason says. "Something that big couldn't –"

"Stop!" Zethes orders. He and Cal both draw their swords and glare at Leo.

Leo raises his hands. "Okay ... what'd I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don't have to take the dragon as carry-on —"

"Who are you?" Zethes shoves the point of his sword against Leo's chest. "A child of the South Wind, spying on us?"

"What? No!" Leo says. "Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!"

Cal growls. He puts his face up to Leo's, and he definitely isn't any prettier at point-blank, with his bruised eyes and bashed-in mouth. "Smell fire," he says. "Fire is bad."

Oh." Leo's heart races, "Yeah, well... my clothes are kind of singed, and I've been working with oil, and—"

"No!" Zethes pushes Leo back at sword point. "We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire . . . on you."

If it hadn't been like three degrees in the penthouse, Leo probably would've started sweating. "Hey . . . look . . . I don't know —" He glanced at his friends desperately. "Guys, a little help?"

(Y/n) already has his pen back in her hand. She steps forward, his eyes on Zethes. "Look, there's been a mistake. Leo isn't a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you're not a fire guy."

"Urn ..."

"Zethes?" Piper tries her dazzling smile again, though she looks a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. "We're all friends here. Put down your swords and let's talk."

"The girl is pretty," Zethes admits, "and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time." He pokes his sword point farther into Leo's chest, and Leo can feel the frost spreading across his shirt, turning his skin numb.

He wishes he could reactivate Festus. He needs some backup. But it would've taken several minutes, even if he could reach the button, with two purple-winged crazy guys in his path.

"Destroy him now?" Cal asks his brother.

Zethes nods. "Sadly, I think —"

"No," (Y/n) insists. She sounds calm enough, but Leo figures she is about two seconds away from uncapping her pen and going into full gladiator mode. "Leo's just a son of Hephaestus. He's no threat. Piper here is a daughter of Aphrodite. Jason's the son of Zeus. I'm a daughter of Poesidon We're on a peaceful . . ."

(Y/n)'s voice falters, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on him.

"What did you say?" Zethes demands, looking at Jason. "You are the son of Zeus?"

"Urn . . . yeah," Jason says. "That's a good thing, right? My name is Jason."

Cal looks so surprised, he almost drops his sword. "Can't be Jason," he says. "Doesn't look the same."

Zethes steps forward and squints at Jason's face. "No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me — but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago."

"Wait," Jason says. "Your Jason . . . you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?"

"Of course," Zethes says. "We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey."

"Hockey!" Cal agrees.

"But Jason — our Jason — he died a mortal death," Zethes says. "You can't be him."

"I'm not," Jason agrees.

"So, destroy?" Cal asks. Clearly the conversation is giving his two brain cells a serious workout.

"No," Zethes says regretfully. "If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we've been watching for."

"Watching for?" Leo asks. "But you mean like in a good way: you'll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he's in trouble?"

A girl's voice says, "That depends on my father's will."

Leo looks up the staircase. His heart nearly stops. At the top stands a girl in a white silk dress. Her skin is unnaturally pale, the color of snow, but her hair is a lush mane of black, and her eyes were coffee brown. She focuses on Leo with no expression, no smile, no friendliness. But it doesn't matter. Leo is in love. She is the most dazzling girl he'd ever seen.

Then she looks at Jason, (Y/n), and Piper, and seems to understand the situation immediately. "Father will want to see the one called Jason," the girl says.

"Then it is him?" Zethes asks excitedly.

"We'll see," the girl says. "Zethes, bring our guests."

Leo grabs the handle of his bronze dragon suitcase. He isn't sure how he'd lug it up the stairs, but he has to get next to that girl and ask her some important questions — like her e-mail address and phone number.

Before he can take a step, she freezes him with a look. Not literally frozen, but she might as well have.

"Not you, Leo Valdez," she says.

In the back of his mind, Leo wonders how she knows his name; but mostly he is just concentrating on how crushed he felt.

"Why not?" He probably sounds like a whiny kindergartner, but he couldn't help it.

"You cannot be in the presence of my father," the girl says. "Fire and ice — it would not be wise."

"We're going together," Jason insists, putting his hand on Leo's shoulder, "or not at all."

The girl tilts her head, like she isn't used to people refusing her orders. "He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do not kill him."

Cal pouts. "Just a little?"

"No," the girl insists. "And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment."

Jason, (Y/n), and Piper look at Leo, their expressions asking him a silent question: How do you want to play this?

Leo feels a surge of gratitude. They are ready to fight for him. They wouldn't leave him alone with the hockey ox. Part of him wants to go for it, bust out his new tool belt and see what he could do, maybe even summon a fireball or two and warm this place up. But the Boread guys scare him. And that gorgeous girl scares him more, even if he still wants her number.

"It's fine, guys," he says. "No sense causing trouble if we don't have to. You go ahead."

"Listen to your friend," the pale girl says. "Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting."

Word Count: 6249 words

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