#I’ll defend platonic relationships until I take my very last breath | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icedflames · 3 years

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Hello beautiful, can you list all the reasons why Elriel is not toxic and why it won’t be a toxic relationship. I’m tired of hearing people say that Elriel is toxic.

Alright, hang on... This is a long one.

“Azriel just wants Elain for sex.”

False. Until ACOSF, we had no indication that Azriel had sexual feelings for Elain. Based on his thoughts in the bonus chapter, his actions throughout ACOSF, we can infer that Azriel has romantic feelings for Elain. His friend.

The following scenes, read together, imply that Azriel has feelings for Elain beyond platonic or sexual feelings (I have only included my favorites for the sake of brevity):

ACOWAR

But Azriel asked softly, “What about Elain?” Something cold went through me. (Chp. 63)

From the shadows near the entrance to the tent, Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.” Nesta slid her gaze to the shadowsinger. Azriel’s hazel eyes glowed golden in the shadows. Nesta said, “Then you will die.” Azriel only repeated, rage glazing that stare, “I’m getting her back.” (Chp. 64)

The gray light of morning had broken over the world, mist clinging to our ankles as we headed into that camp, Azriel still cradling Elain to his chest. (Chp. 65)

She let out a sob at the sight of Elain, still in Azriel’s arms. (Chp. 65)

Cassian gawked at Azriel, and I wondered how often Azriel had lent out that blade— Never, Rhys said from where he finished buckling on his own weapons against the side of the wagon. I have never once seen Azriel let another person touch that knife. (Chp. 69)

ACOFAS

Azriel strode to the lone window at the end of the room and peered into the garden below. [...] “Azriel remained at the window. [...] Azriel said, turning from the garden window at last. (Chp. 16)

Az said nothing. No, he just moved toward her. Mor tensed beside me. But Azriel only took Elain’s heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, “Sit. I’ll take care of it.” (Chp. 12)

I made to move toward her, but someone beat me to it. The shadowsinger was clad in a black jacket and pants similar to Rhysand’s—the fabric immaculately tailored and built to fit his wings. He still wore his Siphons atop either hand, and shadows trailed his footsteps, curling like swirled embers, but there was little sign of the warrior otherwise. Especially as he gently said to my sister, “Happy Solstice.” (Chp. 19)

Azriel mastered himself enough to say, “Thank you.” I’d never seen his hazel eyes so bright, the hues of green amid the brown and gray like veins of emerald. “This will be invaluable.” (Chp. 20)

ACOSF

“Because of the shit with Elain?” Azriel stilled. “What happened to Elain?”

Cassian waved a hand. “A fight with Nesta. Don’t bring it up,” he warned when Azriel’s eyes darkened. Cassian blew out a breath. “I take that as a no regarding the meeting topic, then.” [...] Cassian surveyed the shadows gathered around Az. “You all right?” His brother nodded. “Fine.” But shadows still swarmed him. (Chp. 20)

Azriel stiffened. “I know. I helped rescue Elain, after all.” Az hadn’t so much as hesitated before going into the heart of Hybern’s war-camp.” (Chp. 22)

He was still happy to be Mor’s buffer with Azriel, but there’d been a change lately. In both of them. Mor no longer sat beside Cassian, draped herself over him, and Azriel … those longing glances toward her had become few and far between. As if he’d given up. After five hundred years, he’d somehow given up. Cassian couldn’t think why. (Chp. 22)

“No. But we need to summon Lucien,” Azriel said, just a shade tightly, as if he didn’t like it one bit. (Chp. 31)

Elain just linked her arm through Nesta’s and led her toward the family room, where Azriel stood in the doorway, monitoring them. As if he’d heard Elain’s sharp laugh and wondered what had caused it. (Chp. 58)

I also want to add... That the notion that Azriel only has sexual feelings is immediately disproven by a close reading of the bonus chapter:

Rhys bared his teeth. "So you will leave Elain alone. If you need to fuck someone, go to a pleasure hall and pay for it, but stay away from her."

Azriel snarled softly.

Azriel snarled in response to Rhys’ suggestion that his feelings are only sexual. The entire scene was Rhys not understanding that Azriel actually had feelings for Elain. Rhys even suggested that Azriel still had feelings for Mor when Cassian had noted that Azriel no longer pined for Mor.

To add, Azriel is not going antagonize Rhys and potentially kick off a feud between courts if he only wanted Elain for sex.

ALSO!!!!

AZRIEL IS NOT GOING TO DECLARE HIS LOVE FOR ELAIN IN A BONUS CHAPTER. NO AUTHOR WILL EVER GIVE AWAY A MAJOR PLOT POINT/TWIST IN A BONUS CHAPTER. THAT WILL BE IMPORTANT AND WILL BE SAID IN THE NEXT BOOK!

Cassian never admitting his feelings for Nesta in Wings and Embers. Hell, Nesta kicked him in the balls. But we don’t doubt Nessian, now do we?

I answered another anon here comparing Wings and Embers to Azriel’s bonus chapter, comparing the themes and overall feel.

“Azriel feels entitled to Elain as the third sister.”

False. Azriel began to show interest in Elain prior to Nesta and Cassian getting together. Please see the quotes above if you don’t believe me. Also, please see my post on the progression of their relationship here.

Azriel is the first person to figure out what Elain’s powers were. He pulled her from her trance. Immediately after the seer reveal, we start to see Elain revert back to normal.

Azriel is the one who defends Elain against scrying, a very dangerous thing in ACOTAR may I remind you, when she is not there to defend herself.

Azriel is the one who would sit with Elain outside in the gardens.

Azriel lent Elain his most prized possession to keep her safe during the war.

“Azriel coddles her.”

False. Azriel gave Elain truth teller to defend herself. I’d hardly call that coddling.

Let’s take a look at that scene that misguidedly causes people to think that Azriel “coddles” Elain.

Azriel stiffened, an outright sign of temper from him as he said quietly, “There is an innate darkness to the Dread Trove that Elain should not be exposed to.”

“But Nesta should?” Cassian growled.

Is Cassian coddling Nesta? No. They both have the same reaction.

The coddling Elain experiences is from the Inner Circle constantly thinking she’s meek and reduces her to a simple girl who likes to garden.

“It doesn’t matter what I think. Go back to Feyre and your little garden.”

and then when Nesta refuses to let Elain scry for the trove:

“Why?” Elain demanded. “Shall I tend to my little garden forever?” When Nesta flinched, Elain said, “You can’t have it both ways. You cannot resent my decision to lead a small, quiet life while also refusing to let me do anything greater.”

Very different scenarios. It’s one thing to be protective (one of SJM’s favorite trope for romantic love interests). It’s another to belittle a person and then not let them grow. That is what Elain is referring to. That is the coddling she cannot stand.

“Azriel is too messed up mentally to be with anybody.”

False. This is demonstrably false. It is fanon. When this argument is used, it’s used to discredit Elain as a love interest and prop Gwyn up. If Azriel is too messed up to be with Elain, he’s too messed up to be with anybody. Period.

Nesta parallels Azriel in a lot of ways. And everybody loves Nesta and Cassian’s relationship now. Azriel does not have any of the mental illnesses the WebMD doctors come up with every other day. At the most, he has issues with his self worth and possible depression. At the most.

Saying that a character cannot be in a romantic relationship due to his mental health directly implies that individuals who are suffering with mental health issues cannot get into romantic relationships. That’s wrong and that’s mean.

In Conclusion

Elain and Azriel went from being strangers, to friends, to now possible lovers in a span of two years.

Their relationship is the most realistic one SJM has written. Nothing about them is toxic. They are kind and considerate of one another. Their feelings have slowly progressed and there are barriers to their relationship (namely, Elain’s mating bond to Lucien).

There is a difference between not liking Elain and Azriel together (an opinion) and saying Elain and Azriel are toxic together (a falsehood).

#asks #elriel #pro elriel #elain #azriel #mine

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wwilloww · 4 years

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you’ve got a friend in me | knj

Pairing: Namjoon x Reader

Genre: Smut

Rating: Explicit

WC: 3k

Summary: Your best friend and roommate proposes an interesting idea to decrease both of your stress levels.

Warnings: Super awkward conversation. Cockwarming. Cockwarming that turns into sex. A sprinkling of dirty talk. Cumshot. Cum eating. Cuddling.

A/N: Thank you to @kinktae for the title and to @ot7always for thirsting with me the other night and inspiring this story into being. Also this piece was written with two glasses of wine and is largely unedited. So proceed at your own risk of grammatical errors.

|| masterlist ||

©wwilloww Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without my permission.

YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME

You and your roommate had come to a very strange arrangement.

It had developed out of the strangest of circumstances. Two broken hearts. Finals approaching. Namjoon had lost his anxiety medication. You had been working so hard on your latest piece of research that you had ended up neglecting your entire social life.

“I think you should just put it in,” you stand, hands on your hips in the kitchen.

Namjoon is shirking in the doorframe.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“You were the one who suggested it.”

Namjoon’s eyes widen. “I didn’t mean it!” he defends.

“You can’t just suggest putting your penis in my vagina and think I’ll take it as a joke! You know I take these matters very seriously!”

“Please don’t call it that,” he grimaces. “And yeah, you’re right, you do. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“But you did.”

Fifteen minutes later you were sprawled on your back in Namjoon’s bed with the man himself straddling your waist.

“You could at least take your shirt off,” you suggest. He tugs it off in one go and you make a note to ask him later how he did it so gracefully. “The whole point is literally skin on skin contact.”

He starts to align himself with you before you place a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“Lube, darling.”

“Why?”

“Do you think vaginas are just walking lube machines? It takes work to get all oiled up and ready to go au naturel and I don’t see you doing any of that kind of mechanical labor.”

Namjoon shrugs off of you, grunting as he leans over to the bedside drawer, grabbing an opaque bottle. He squeezes some of the liquid onto his hand and then, eyes darting up to you, very quickly strokes himself to spread the lube thickly and evenly.

Averting his eyes from you, he lines himself up and pushes in. Joon is big and because you haven’t had any preparation you wince just a little when he finally bottoms out.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” you say, wiggling your hips to adjust. “Just, you’re really big. Give me a minute.”

You close your eyes and take a deep breath, doing your best to relax around him. It takes a minute, but you succeed, and finally, a gentle warmth begins to blossom out from your abdomen. When you open your eyes again Namjoon is holding himself as far away from you as possible, his arms trembling with the effort.

“This is supposed to be very good for our relationship, too,” you say, matter-of-factly, as if your best friend hasn’t just shoved his monster dick in your cunt as an act of platonic anxiety management. You take your hand and run it up his arm, beckoning him closer to you.

He feels so snug against you, his weight resting on top of you, suppressing any thought of strangeness or distraction or what you’re supposed to be doing. As you settle into the delightful comfort that is Namjoon, a yawn ripples through your body.

“Am I boring you?” Namjoon gapes. “My dick is in your--your hole, and you’re yawning?”

“Joonie!” you scold. “Unless you want me to be fucking you--like really, genuinely fucking you--I’m going to relax! And you should be as well!”

Needless to say, the first time didn’t go very well.

Two weeks later you are both done with your final projects for the semester and had journeyed out to your favorite pub, O'Reilly’s, for what was probably one too many beers and four too many tequila shots.

“I don’t think we did it right,” Namjoon blurts out as you traipse down the moonlit sidewalk, taking turns swinging around the streetlights.

“Whatcha mean?” you ask, twirling around a pole.

Namjoon laughs and steadies you as you wobble off balance, dizzy from spinning around so many times.

“The, ah, peen, vajayjay cuddle sitch.”

“Cockwarming. It’s called cockwarming, you dumbass.”

“I just mean to say I think we did it all wrong. I should be spooning you rather than on top of you. Like, for the extra cuddles.”

You search his face before speaking slowly. “Is this your way of trying to get me in bed with you?”

“Wha--no! I just genuinely think we did it wrong the first time and owe it to ourselves to try it again. And--” he grins at you. “It would make me feel reaaaaally good.” Your face flushes at his words, but you don’t say anything. “Please, just let me put it in for fifteen minutes.” He does his best impression of puppy dog eyes. “You yourself! You yourself told me that it was good for my health. Hm? Whatcha say to that?”

You laugh. “I don’t know, Joonie.”

He becomes serious. “If you really don’t want to, I won’t push you. Just say the word.”

You bite your lip, considering, even though you already know what you want. You just need to decide what’s right. “Okay,” you say sheepishly, surprised by how shy you feel in the face of your best friend.

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

You peek over your phone at Namjoon as he strips down to his birthday suit as you lay popped up on his pillows.

“Aren’t you going to take your clothes off?” he says, standing fully nude at the foot of the bed. Your eyes trail down his planed chest, trying not to linger too long on the supple definition of his pecs, or the way his skin seems to glow beneath the dim light--and definitely not trying to dawdle on the way his cock is already standing at attention, a thick vein tracking up the underside. You gulp. There’s definitely something to looking at it, that makes you want him in you now.

For cuddling purposes, of course.

“Ah, yeah,” you say, hurriedly undressing and tossing your clothes off to the side of his bed.

“Lube?”

“Um, I think I’ll be okay.”

Namjoon raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything. You flop on your side, presenting your ass to him and he plops down on the bed, shuffling over until he’s pressed against you. You can feel his fingertips fluttering above the skin of your hip.

“It’s okay,” you say softly. “You can touch me.”

His hand comes down on your waist, pressing lightly into you. It’s the simplest of touches and yet it sends goosebumps prickling all the way up your spine.

“And you’re sure you’re okay with this?” Namjoon asks, always the one to be overly clear, even in bed.

“More than okay.” You push your ass back just enough to signal your green light.

You imagine that behind you he’s got his lip caught between his teeth in the way he does when he’s thinking too hard, that he’s looking down at you, hand wrapped around his own cock as he presses up against your pussy.

The sensation of his head spreading through your lips has you biting your tongue, doing your best not to react.

“Relax,” he murmurs in your ear, the hand on your waist coming to brush up and down your side. “Ready?

“Mhmm.”

And with that he’s pushing into you, this particular position leaving you tighter than you were last time. He slides in slowly and you relish in the feeling of his cock head gripping against the ridges of your walls. Finally, he’s fully inside you.

“Ouch,” you grumble, his hip bone pressing uncomfortably into you.

He shifts, his hands on your hips, trying to get you comfortable. But instead of easing the sharp pain, the feeling of his cock shifting within you sends a surprising wave of pleasure through you and you moan. You freeze, clapping a hand over your mouth as if the action could wind back time and erase the lewd utterance that had just slipped through your lips.

“Did you--did you just moan?” Namjoon says astoundedly against your back. You say nothing. “Did you like that?”

“No?” you squeak out, your voice breaking underneath the lie.

Namjoon laughs, a big and belly-full laugh, one that spreads through his whole body. He’s shaking against you, causing his cock to rub delightfully within you, circling rhythmically against your walls. A small squeak of frustration and pleasure forces its way out of your throat.

“Oh my god,” Namjoon says, still cackling. “You like it! You like my cock!”

Even in your compromised position, you manage to cross your arms and pout.

“You keep moving, you dumbo, how do you expect me to react?!”

Why were you so damn sensitive to him today?

“I didn’t expect you to fucking moan like I was making love to you or something!”

As his laughter rolls through him, you can’t help but feel the pleasure build within your cunt, a warmth growing and spreading through your abdomen. It was not only the fact that his cock was pressed deliciously within you, filling you out in a way you had never been filled before, but it was the sensation of his joy, rippling through him, and pressed right up against your back. As much as you wanted to push it away, your years of friendship made it impossible to deny how good it felt to have him here, inside you and so joyously laughing.

“I mean if you keep moving like that you might as well just fuck me!” you say in one final show of frustration.

The arm Namjoon has wrapped around your waist tenses and falls still. You squeeze your eyes shut. Fuck.

And then. And then his cock fucking twitches. You gasp, your cunt clenching involuntarily, wrapping tightly around his length. A shiver shoots up your spine as you instinctively push back on him, taking him even deeper into you. Now, your ass is pressed flush against his pelvis.

Namjoon‘s hand tightens around your waist, the other one slipping beneath your body to wrap around your ribcage and pull your torso flush against his. The two of you are clinging to each other, pressed together as tightly as humanly possible. You bite your lip; your cunt continues to throb around Namjoon, desperate to pull him even deeper, desperate to find some kind of--really, any kind of-- satisfaction.

Wrapped up in his arms, you can almost grasp onto that sense of security and comfort the two of you had set out to find together. It’s there, singing on the edge of your consciousness. But any semblance of peace is split by a desire for more, for him to move against you, to allow your bodies to map each other out in pleasure, for him to fuck you.

As if he’s read your mind, his hips begin to slide backward ever so slowly, as if he means to leave the warmth of your cunt. With the speed of light, you reach your hand behind you, bringing it to his hip. Gripping it--hard--you push him back into you.

“Please,” you whisper.

Namjoon stutters beneath your touch. Your voice is filled with need, a note threading through the sweetness of the sound, urging him forward. Even as your begging turns him to putty, his cock hardens at the thought of you wanting him. Of you needing him. So he grips your hip and twines his other hand up to press between your breasts and drives into you.

The force with which he’s just rammed into you shudders through your entire body. It brushes against something so deep in you, you’re not sure if it hurts or if it’s the best thing you’ve ever felt. The whine that comes out of you splits through the stale air of the bedroom and Namjoon curses at the sound.

“God, you’re so tight,” Namjoon hisses. He nuzzles his head against your neck. When you push back against him, rotating your hips in a circle, his teeth find the skin of your shoulder. He bites down into the skin.

Namjoon is big. As he begins to push in and out of you, his head drags against the slick ridges of your walls, almost as if he barely fits. Your breath comes in pants and gasps as each new sensation rips through you, driving you closer to your own release.

“Joonie, please, harder,” you gasp. He punctuates your question with a particularly strong thrust. “More.”

Namjoon slips the arm he’s got beneath you down to your waist. Now both of his hands are on your hips and he draws his cock out of you slowly until only the head is resting at your entrance. You whine, trying to move your hips in search of any kind of friction, but his tight grip on your hips holds you in place.

“Please!” you gasp, squirming. He chuckles into your ear and the sound goes right through you.

“When you stop squirming, I’ll fuck you.”

You fall limp against his hold, desperate for him. He waits for what seems like forever as you feel the tension in your belly begin to recede.

Your breath is rammed out of you as he snaps his pelvis into your ass so hard you know there’ll be a bruise there tomorrow. He fucks into you, his hips driving with more power. But it’s the grip he has on your hips that makes all the difference. He moves you like a doll to his own will. He maneuvers you at just the right angle that the both of you are gasping in pleasure, his pace unrelenting.

You’ve never come from just vaginal penetration alone, but if he keeps doing this, you think you just might, the force of his thrusts rocketing through your entire body. Still, you reach down, slipping your fingers between your dripping folds, finding your clit. You build up a slow pace, circling around the hardened bud as he continues to ravage your pussy.

The combination of your hand and his cock has you tipping over the edge in less than a minute, the dual stimulation unleashing streams of pleasure you’d never known before. You throw your head back, your mouth stretched in a silent “oh.”

Namjoon lifts his head to press his cheek against yours, the sweat of your skin sticking the two of you together. He can hear the way your breath comes out, ragged and in tatters. And still, he never falters.

At this point he is chasing his own pleasure. His pace slows slightly as he circles his hips against your ass, relishing in the way your cunt spasms around him, flooding him with warmth and the delicious drip of your cum.

As you regain your senses, the feeling of his cock drawing through your sensitive folds is overwhelming.

“Too much,” you gasp, the sensation sending sparks through your body.

“Can you take it for just a bit longer?” he gasps.

You close your eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Yes,” you breathe, finding pleasure in the overwhelm and wanting to see him come undone for you. His thrusts have become fast and sloppy, losing some of the power and replacing it with speed. You can hear him whining against you, the sound so need-filled and wanton that you can’t help but clench around his length again.

You reach back, your hand brushing up against his side so softly and delicately. It’s this that has him squeezing his eyes shut and attempting to hold back the stampede of his orgasm.

“It’s okay, you can let go,” you say. “I wanna see you cum for me.”

His hips stutter to a full stop. He pulls out of you and you whine at the loss of him as he comes to kneel over you, one thigh on either side of your hips.

You watch as his head tips back, his lip caught between his teeth. Somehow the crease between his brow is the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen. His hand works over his cock with quick, practiced strokes. You want to memorize the way his wrist twitches, the way his fingers quickly circle his head, or the flex of his forearm when he tightens his grip as he nears the base of his cock.

“I-I’m cumming,” he groans. You look back up to his eyes, now open and looking down on you, unfocused as he takes in your bare body spread before him. He’d never thought he’d have you like this, but now that he does, he’s not sure how he’ll ever go back.

“Cum on me,” you command. “I want it, Joonie.”

With a groan, Namjoon grips his cock tighter and sends spurt after spurt onto the softness of your stomach, some of it landing directly in your belly button.

He collapses onto the bed next to you, sprawled out and panting. You gaze over at him lovingly, stretching out your hand to brush the sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes. You stay like that for a minute, him panting, you just watching him, before you come to your senses.

“I wouldn’t call that relaxing, but it definitely made me feel better,” you joke.

Namjoon pushes you gently, a grin spreading across his face.

“I should probably go, uh, wash up,” you finally say, sitting up on your elbows.

“Stay?” Namjoon flops on his side, fluttering his eyelashes in a poor attempt at begging. “Please?”

“If I’m being honest, I really don’t want to fall asleep with your cum in my belly button,” you laugh.

Namjoon leans over the bed to grab something before rolling back to you--and over you-- somewhat crushing you in the process. With his weight resting on your legs he looks up at you, his gaze intense as he dips his head down to your belly button, lapping up the cum that’s come to collect in the valley of your stomach.

Heat floods your cunt as you watch the white release rest on his pink tongue before he closes his mouth and swallows. You gulp.

When he’s done, he takes the t-shirt he’d grabbed and gently wipes you down, his movements gentle and

“You’ll stay?”

“I’ll stay. Just tonight.”

“Just tonight.”

Namjoon grins at you, his dimples showing, before he pulls you against his torso in a position now all too familiar to you.

|| masterlist ||

#ksmutclub #btsgoldnet #btswriterscollective #bangtanarmynet #hyunglinenetwork #namjoon smut #rm smut #knj smut #smut #fanfic #bts fic #rm #namjoon #knj #bts #bts ff #bts smut #friends to lovers #spooning

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mxvladdy · 3 years

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heyy i just read your fic Case of the Munchies on ao3 and im Loving it!!!! its amazing!! i was wonder if youre accepting requests and if you haven’t done it could you write the same for the rest: mammon, levi, satan, belphi, dia, barbatos and smth for simeon and luke (ofc platonic) like how angles have a true form and that means they can never relax around mc and how solomon has so much power at his fingertips he can just snap and end them or smth like that? pretty please and thank you!!!!

A/N: Of Course! Of Course! I already did Mammon and Levi HERE so I’ll do the other four in this request! You sent me a lot of good ideas and I’ll sprinkle them out into other requests soon!

Hope you like it!!

Case of the Munchies prt 3!

Word Count: 4.2k

Characters: Satan, Belphie, Diavolo, Barbatos

TW: Mentions of eating and cook humans, very mild gore

Satan

As the only full-blooded demon of the seven, he has thought about it...just hypothetically of course. When you were new to the Devildom he did find your scent more appetizing than the others. It’s a good thing he has the most restraint and control of all his kin, especially when it comes to his more base urges.

He doesn’t hide this knowledge from you. It’s readily available in the library and his own room in the history books. He just won’t bring it up. So if you don’t say anything, he won’t either. What would he say anyway? “Yes, I’ve thought about it, up until it was outlawed it was a staple of our diet after all…” Ye, probably not the best thing to say.

When you finally brought it up he was exasperated. Did you have to bring it up during the few hours he had alone with himself? He wasn’t going to lie but the thought of hurting your feelings would just about do him in.

He will alleviate your worries if you have any. If Satan was anything, he was genuine.

Mini Fic

His wine curdles in his stomach, turning sour along with the take-out he had nabbed for the two of you to enjoy tonight. Drinks and dinner were becoming a staple in your T.V. night tradition. If one of you had had a rough day you would drop by your favorite shop of the hour and pick up a meal to share while you vent.

Today in particular had been a shit day for him. Failed experiment after failed experiment, and one bottle that didn’t explode on impact with the potion he dropped. Sigh. At least your comforting words soothed his wounded pride a little. You chuckle at his escapades glad to see he is not hurt at least. It was nice to have someone to see the humor in something that normally would have dampened his mood.

“You’re a pest.” He laughs at you while snapping his takeout chopsticks in half to use. “I need sympathy-hours of work wasted.” You snort into your own bowl of udon.

“You need words of praise like Beel needs another stomach.” Satan gasps in mock insult pointing a sauce stained chopstick at you.

“How dare you insult your host! After I toiled over this meal of-” What did he get exactly? Honestly, when he placed the order he was near boiling with rage at his careless fumble. It was to be a surprise for you, something to give you a bit of magic while supervised by himself. He knew how frustrated you were with your lack of magical ability in class so he wanted to gift you something grand. Now he has to wait months to try again.

Ah, well...nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

You watch him sulk over his soup dumplings, his mile away from the comfort of your company and his room. “Come on blondie.” You poke him with your foot before burying them under his pajama-clad thighs on the couch. “Eat your ‘hard earned’ meal before I do.” You snatch up his D.D.D forgetting your own food for a moment to set up your favorite streaming service to cast to his small T.V. “Want to watch a bunch of humans fail miserably at baking?”

"I thought you would never ask."

Satan feels you stiffen in his arms two hours into your bake-off marathon. Your takeout boxes are cold and forgotten on his coffee table, a bottle of wine gone between the two of you. He glances down at you curious.

You were transfixed on the screen. The novice baker on screen was struggling to keep his monstrosity of a cake upright. It was the annual Halloween episode and this fool went for a Silence of the Lambs inspired cake. A good concept really, but very poorly executed. The fake body parts and sugar blood weighted the pastry down dangerously. If he were, to be frank, the cake was also tacky as hell. Heh, he'd have to try to make this for Lucifer.

"Does his abuse of the piping gun offend you that much?" He jokes wrapping an arm around you.

Your laugh is breathy and lacks its usual warmth. "It is excessive isn't it?" You look up at him. "Hey, Satan-have you ever eaten people before?"

"Uhh…" Great, how eloquent. This came out of nowhere, did Lucifer set you up to this? No-no you wouldn’t. Would you hate him if you knew? “I have.” He admits through clenched teeth waiting for your reaction.

“Didn’t Diavolo ban it?” He can tell you are doing the mental math in your head.

He chuckles dryly. “Well, you never asked if I did it legally.” You move away from his touch and pause the show. “I mean...I did it legally! ” His mouth runs freely, his brain screaming at him to shut up.

“Satan.” You cross your arms unimpressed.

“It was a new law and I never meant to eat it for the most part. It was at a time where I was still struggling to control myself.” Young and stupid as Lucifer had said defending him every step of the way when he would slip up. Was it sold on the black market now? Yes. Did he know how to get it? Sure, but he would never nor would he tell you about it either.

You nod thinking about his words. “I can empathize.” Oh, thank the Devil. “Have you thought of eating me?”Ahhh. “Oh my God, you have.” You chuck a pillow at him with a laugh.

He catches the pillow and clutches it to his fiery hot face. “Everyone did at first!” If he was going down then he was going to take every one of his brothers down with him. “I wasn’t going to act on it! It was a spur of the moment-why are you laughing!”

“Sorry, sorry.” You wipe at the tears in your eyes wishing you had your phone to take a picture of his blushing face. “I kind of figured you did.”

Satan looks at you incredulously. “Shouldn’t you be a bit more torn up over this?”

You shrug. “After everything we’ve been through? I admit it was a shock to think at first but I mean, you would have done it by now right?”

“Well, thank you?” He flops back on the couch, still clutching the pillow to act as a barrier between you two. He’ll take it as a compliment.

You scoot close, nudging his knee with yours. “You ok?” He nods. “Can I touch you?” He nods again eagerly. You wrap your arms around his shoulders and squeeze. “Sorry, I made you uncomfortable.”

Satan chuckled, dropping the pillow to hug you back. “It’s ok.” He peaks your forehead. “Now, with that out of the way. Shall we finish this?” He swipes up his phone to hit play. You nod, flinging your legs over him to snuggle closer. “Good, I’m dying to know how he tries to save that thing. I’m putting money on icing.”

“You know.” You break the silence once more, unable to stop yourself. “I wouldn’t be opposed to being eaten...in some ways.”

Belphegor

After your first *ahem* encounter, he doesn’t bring up the whole food thing. He is afraid that if you learned about it, it would be the last strike for you and his relationship. Perhaps it’s paranoia on his part but better safe than sorry.

In all honesty, he didn’t eat it that much anyway. Killing humans was something he did often in his youth as a demon. A stupid attempt at revenge on his part. It filled the holes in his hearts to hurt those he believed killed his sister.

But to eat their flesh? Disgusting. He tried it a few times and it turned his stomach with every mouthful. He just hated them too much to even stomach them. He’s mellowed out with time but still never got a taste for it.

When you asked it was a shock but welcomed in a way. Like he could finally get this weight off his shoulders every time he looked at you.

Mini Fic

“It’s gross.” Belphie yawns, jumping up to sit on the high garden wall. He bends down to help you up placing you gently next to himself. The wind catches you by surprise threatening to topple you back from the wall before he rights you. He tosses his sweater over you with a nod of satisfaction.

You snuggle into the fleece lining burying your nose into the fabric. It smelled of elderberries and honeysuckles. Belphie watches you curl up into his side with a fond smile. “Seriously, you all are nasty.”

“Ouch!” You push his shoulder with a grin. “I feel like I should be offended on behalf of all humans.”

Belphie snorts, looking up into the bright colors of the night sky. “Good. Be offended. You, humans, are slimy.” You squawk indignantly. “It’s true, never in all my years would I willingly ingest it.” He shudders theatrically.

“Rude.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy? Lest I eat you?” He growls playfully, taking a swipe at you. He pulls you close to kiss the pout off your face. He stops only when your face is hot and your smile threatens to pull a muscle. “I’ll keep you safe, always.” He vows resting his chin on your head.

“Do you think other demons would try to eat me?”

“Have you met my twin?” He teases. He takes your jab to his ribs with a smile. “But if one of those lesser demons even tries to breathe in your direction I’ll kill them.”

“Ok, Mister sleeps till dinner.” You joke. His vow warms your heart a little, chasing away the small bit of fear that had rested itself in your chest. You saw how some demons looked at you at R.A.D, the longing and hungry looks got to be a bit much sometimes. A few older demons would discuss it loudly when they knew you were close by. Apparently, it was a long standing tradition of demons eating humans both body and soul when a pact was concluded.

Imagine what those brothers would do to them…

You shake your head hugging Belphie closer. You had nothing but his word that he would keep you safe, yet that was enough for you. Besides, he wasn’t one to follow the rules even at the best of times.

“I’m serious. You're off limits for everyone.”

You nod into his shirt, closing your eyes to enjoy the peace of the moment. “I’ll hold you to it.”

Diavolo

It is so far from his mind that when you say something it is like a rug was taken out from under him. He could be diplomatic about it, but you deserve better than a half-truth.

He was a wild child in his youth. Sometimes he would overindulge in his father’s heritage and gorge himself on his newfound powers and privilege. He would dine with the elders and eat with abandon under their proud eyes.

He regrets it now, in your company it brings up a slurry of emotions. Sometimes when he looks at you he sees flashes of his past behavior.

The urge is stronger in him than the brothers, a constant nagging tug in his guts, but he is strong. Stronger both in willpower and sheer physical prowess than them so the pull is more of an annoyance than a burning need. He can temper the hunger in other ways if need be *wink*

He fears what you might think of him if you ever found out the truth, but however you take it he will handle it in stride. He loves you too much not to.

Mini Fic

Dinners, when Diavolo could eat alone, were a rare and special treat. The solace of just being allowed to exist without constantly checking his posture or presentation was a blessing, just him, his thoughts, and a good meal. It was nice to have no paperwork to worry about staining this time or a tedious meeting where he couldn’t savor his meal. No, no this was good. He looks down at his heavily laden plate and smiles. Well, almost… Pulling out his phone he snaps a quick picture and sends it to you with a simple question. Join me?

Private meals were wonderful, but with you, they were perfect.

You arrive faster than he expected, flushed face and clutching a stitch in your side from rushing over. He almost felt bad before he saw the eager look in your eyes. Barbatos helps you with your school bags and coat before placing another plate of food across from the young lord. He winks at the prince before disappearing back through the door.

“Thank you for the invite!” You beam taking your seat across from him. “I hope you don’t mind that I'm not dressed for the occasion. I was just wrapping up a study session with the boys.” You look down at your rumpled lounge clothes.

Diavolo waved his hand disregarding your concerns. “I would emulate you if I had the time.” He looks at his own pressed school uniform. He had another meeting this evening, much to his distaste. “You look rather comfortable.” You smile in delight before tucking into your own plate.

You eat in a comfortable silence reading the room well enough to tell that he wished for some company but not needless chitter-chatter. Barbatos arrived moments after you put your fork down and left with the plate leaving behind a delicious smelling hot drink. You couldn’t put your finger on the flavor but it tastes spicy like cinnamon and coats your throat like warm honey.

Whatever was in the drink seemed to work some magic on the prince. His shoulder droop, his back sinking into the chair as his legs stretch out till they are close to brushing against yours. He starts talking over the drink, eyes slowly lighting up with delight. You drink, nodding along with him as he builds up steam. It was nice to see him so unguarded and light. You listen to him talk about simple innocent topics. You knew how he tried to have these conversations with the others to no avail. The brother’s always tried to stay clear of him, and Lucifer simply dismissed these things most days. Barbatos and the angels were a bit better but still listened mostly to placate him.

“Ah!” Diavolo stops mid-sentence as his door opens once more Barbatos holding a small platter in his gloved hand. Dia claps his hands in delight. “I’ve been wanting to have you try this with me for forever. The human palate is so different, but I hope this is tasty.”

“What is it?” You eye the covered plate curiously.

Dia says a word in infernal. It is harsh and guttural in his throat but his delight was evident in his tone. “It is like...a roasted nut? Sorry, it is difficult to explain but it has been a favorite treat of mine since I was a boy. I hope you like it too.” He opens the lid with little ceremony and tilts the bowl to you. Inside were several golfball sized pods piled on top of each other. Even from across the table you could feel the molten heat radiating from the porous black shell. It looked...ugly. Like a hunk of dried lava. You eye it suspiciously as Diavolo picks one up with his bare hands and bits it. The shell cracks under his sharp teeth, a fang catching in a weak spot with a noise that makes you shiver. Underneath the thick casing, you could see a dark red and fleshy core. He hums in delight pulling put the meat of the seed and discard the shell pieces onto an empty plate. He makes quick work of the innards already reaching for another by the time you casually pick up a seed.

The seed itself was dense and warm to the touch. You squeeze it, noting that the porous coating felt like a mass of steel in your hand. “Dia-how do I open it?” No way you could bite it, not without breaking your jaw in the process.

“Allow me.” He takes it from you and effortlessly cracks it. “It is a tradition to break them with teeth, instead of hands or utensils. Something about a show of strength. I just find it fun.” He shrugs, handing you the broken seed.

“Fun!” You marvel at his pearly fangs. “Those are some big chompers.”

“All the better to eat you with my dear.” He chuckles.

You blink in shock, eyes widening. “Would you? Eat me?”

Diavolo’s smile drops. “No.” He lies on reflex, his political nature kicking in. “No-no wait.” He shakes his head. “I...at a time would have without hesitation.” He feels you recoil. “It was common practice back in the day. To the common demon it was a great meal and for the ruling class a show. He looks down at the broken fragments of shell on his plate. Breaking the shell was far too reminiscent of other things. He squashes the unwanted wave of memories coming up. Instead, he looks up at you.

You sit quietly mulling over his words. You haven’t run yet. “Why did you stop?”

He leans back with a loud exhale. Why did he stop? There were many reasons, none he wished to divulge into at the moment, but he had to say something. “I grew up, and began to resent and regret it.” He used to read human stories of demons and his kind. They hurt their characterizations of him and his people. Yet, they had all been scarily accurate. He wanted to prove that they weren’t stagnating beasts, slaves to their desires. Even if it wasn't a popular opinion.

“I see.” You pick up the seed again. “Thank you for telling me. You didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to, and to apologize… such admissions must have ruined your appetite. If you wish to retire-”

“Is it weird if it didn’t?” You cut him off. You felt-not apathetic to the knowledge but close to it. It confirmed a lot of things for you and put certain things in perspective. You still felt safe with him even with this new bit of knowledge. Without a second thought, you pop the treat into your mouth. You gasp in delight. The flavor and texture were not what you were expecting, but was delicious all the same. “Can you open another for me?” You push your plate over to him.

“Of course!”

The food was as wonderful as his company.

Barbatos

You knew he cooked it. He probably knows a million different ways to prepare a human. He is also very blunt about his dabblings in the market.

He doesn’t eat it, hasn’t ever. He sees no reason to, especially since he doesn’t need to eat anyway there is no temptation. He did find the meals he created beautiful though.

Once he lived for the praises of the courts and his young lord. He was a master at all mediums he cared to work with. Time, decorum, or of the flesh.

He is 100% unashamed of his past with the dark side of the Devildom’s history. In fact, he is damn near proud of it. He is a demon and it was a part of his life, if that frightens you, well there is nothing he can do about it.

He’ll entertain your questions and will try to put any lingering worries at ease. Just don’t expect to be coddled when he does.

Mini Fic

Barbatos had very few personal pleasures in his life. His schedule simply didn’t have the space for such things. So why even bother looking for a pastime. It wasn’t until Diavolo gifted him with an old worn cookbook did he find it.

Cooking was a necessity for his prince, but with that little book, it became something he looked forward to doing. Slowly, he began to seek them out, filling his growing quarters with cookbooks and loose-leaf slips of paper. He enjoys reading them. Each book was a little time capsule into the cook's life and memories. Could a mix of spices really remind someone of the arid heat of their motherland? Or does following a certain way of aging meat really honor the writer's late grandfather’s memory? He tries them all, each recipe a little invasion to a happier time.

He wrote his fair share of cookbooks too in his day. Simple modifications to things the young lord liked to the odd machinations of his own imagination. He got good at experimenting with flavors and textures over the years, mastering certain cooking techniques and flavors just for fun. He didn’t share many of them, a lot of his recipes were just too complicated for most. Luke was allowed to look at his pastry books only. The little cherub was enamored with his techniques and wanted to learn as much as he could in the short amount of time he was in the Devildom. Admirable, but he made sure to keep some of his...less savory books away from the boy. He shudders to think what Simeon would do if he scarred the young angel.

You are the only one who has full access to his collections. Whether you liked to cook was inconsequential to him. He simply enjoyed sharing this interest with you. Some nights you would take it upon yourself to be his “sous-chef”. Which meant you sat in the corner of the kitchen and read out the ingredients and steps for a recipe he knew by heart. Sometimes you would add in extra steps in an attempt to stump it. Cute...but ultimately failed each time. So, most nights when you tagged along to the kitchens you just flip through his collection, reading his immaculate scribblings crammed into the corners of the pages or where he scratched out certain ingredients for more demon-appropriate foods and more sustainable options.

You had gone through many beautiful books before you found it. The cookbook was small and inconspicuous compared to most. Just a simple black cover with a well-worn spine. What made you take notice of it was just how dusty it was. That wasn’t like him to do. Barbatos would never let something get so dirty. You wished you never had opened it. You weren’t stupid by any means, but after reading a few pretty graphic recipes it had unsettled you. So you withdrew from Barbatos trying to forget about the book tucked away deep in the bowels of your school bag.

“You’ve been distant.” You choke, hand flying up to your chest as you swear your heart skipped a beat. Damn demon. Should put a bell on him. “What’s wrong?” His eyes are piercing, cutting away at your feeble defenses.

“Nothing…” You fiddle with your bag’s strap. Your eyes drop to the floor taking in the differences between his polished shoes and your scuffed boots.

“Of course not…” You could hear the skepticism in his voice. “I trust that if there was something wrong you would feel safe enough to confide in me.” His words hit like a ton of bricks on your shoulders. He sighs seeing that his words got no reaction. “Please?”

Wordlessly you rummage in your bag and thrust the book into his chest. “Sorry. It shook me up more than I thought it would.”

Ah. He knew this book all too well. For a time it had been his favorite, one to pull out with Diavolo had guests or a deal that needed to be sealed. He accepts the book, noting how much your hands shook. “I understand.” He slips the book into his breast pocket making a mental note to hide it in one of his lesser used rooms. “Would you like to discuss this? In my room perhaps?” You follow with a timid nod.

“Where shall we begin?” Barbatos asks the moment he closes the door to his room.

“You don’t seem perturbed.” You frown. Barbatos shrugs, pulling the book out and opening it. He had a lot of good memories stored here. Some of these were still considered signature dishes, oftentimes a visiting dignitary would lament to him about the good old days when he could show off his craft when flesh was plentiful. He takes pride in that still to this day even. For as much as he loved you, he would not be ashamed of this.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” You shake your head when he says as much. “It just confused me. Do-do you see me as food?”

“I never saw humans as food, no more than I see demons or angels as it.” He picks at an imaginary bit of lent from his pant leg. “As for seeing you as food no. No matter how sweet your lips are, or how honeyed your words can be.” He smiles, taking impish delight in your squirming. “I merely did my job as a butler for my lord.”

“Oh- sorry for not coming to you sooner.” You felt foolish now. Barbatos waves it off, pleased to have this issue put aside so quickly and cleanly. “Wait-" You gasp as his words finally sink in. “Have you prepared angels before?”

He flashes you a mischievous smile putting a single finger up to his lips. “Perhaps~ do you wish to read that too?”

#obey me #om satan #om belphegor #om diavolo #om barbatos #fun request!

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kaylaxwrites · 3 years

Text

Street Kid

Pairing: (platonic!) Frank Castle & Reader Words: 1.9k Request: “hi :) can you do a platonic frank castle imagine where he is in a fight and looses alot of blood and end up passing out in an alley but a street kid (16/17 yo female) stitches him up and saves him and later he runs into him and they develop a father-daughter relationship? thank you so much!” (anon) A/N: I don’t know if this is what you wanted, and my mind blanked half way through when trying to come up with some father/daughter scenarios, so that aspect of it probably isn’t the best. But!! even though requests are technically closed, I’ll also some father/daughter requests for if you have any specific situations/scenarios you wanted to see. Just because I feel really bad that I couldn’t write what I wanted to see so it’s probably not what you wanted to see lol

Warnings: reader has an ambiguous background of being kicked out by her parents and she’s homeless and also somewhat-graphic description of stitching somebody up. but it’s a punisher fic, so you know

You ducked through the alley, taking the shortcut you always took. You stumbled to a halt when you noticed a body laying on the ground. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, you thought as you inched closer to the man, letting out a breath when you noticed the rise and fall of his chest. You hesitantly leaned over him, toeing him with the edge of your shoe. “Buddy…uh, you okay there?” you asked, nudging him a few more times. It wasn’t until the fifth nudge until he finally gasped awake, wildly swinging at you the instant his eyes opened.

“Woah, woah, woah,” you called, stepping back several feet. “Chill, dude, you’re fine.”

It was a few moments for him to calm his breathing and gather his surroundings. “Who’re you?” he grumbled, words almost slurred.

“Uh…Y/N. I was just walking by and I saw…” You noticed his wide away of injuries then. He was so bruised and bloodied, you weren’t sure where one wound ended and another began. Blood obscured his face so you couldn’t make out any details as to who he might have been. But the skull on the chest was a dead giveaway. The Punisher. “I think you need a hospital.”

“No—no hospitals.” He stumbled to his feet but crashed into a dumpster, unable to find his balance.

“Uh, yes. Yes hospitals.”

“M’fine.”

“Uh-huh. Is there…is there anyone after you? You look like you got the shit beat of you. They won’t be coming back, will they?”

“No. No.”

You sighed. “Glad that’s settled. So if no hospitals, you got anyone I can call? You got friends?”

“Look like I make friends?”

“No.” You looked around and sighed. “Well, I wouldn’t feel like a good Samaritan if I left you all by yourself. You wanna follow me or…?” He huffed something that almost sounded like a laugh, but hesitantly shuffled behind you after you started walking.

You kept pace with him as you navigated to your home. No, house? No…place you slept. The abandoned building that acted as the roof over your head wasn’t much, but it was all you had. After your parents had kicked you out a year and a half ago—and your subsequent emancipation—it was the best spot you could find. The shelters were always overcrowded and no landlord in their right mind would lease to a sixteen-year-old, so you settled. At the very least, you were able to spend money earned from your two fast food jobs on things other than rent. Like food. And a nice sleeping bag. And, useful in instances like this, a well-stocked first aid kit.

You held open the gap in the chain link fence for the man to wince his way through. In any other instance, you’d feel hesitant to let a stranger—a grown man, no less—into what acted as your home, but this was the Punisher you were talking about. Even though he…killed…people, you read enough in the news to know that his moral code—however skewed it was—wouldn’t let him hurt women or kids. As you fell squarely into that category, you figured you were safe.

You kicked open the door to your building and led the Punisher up the stairs to the room where you camped out. You directed him to sit on the dusty table at the center of the room. You pulled out the first aid kit you had, as well as a couple clean towels you had nicked from work. You set those on the table next to the Punisher before pulling the 48-pack of water bottles out from under the table. You wet a towel with one of the bottles and handed it to him. He started cleaning his face until he could finally see clearly through the blood.

“You live here?” he asked after taking in the room fully. You noticed his eyes lingered on the sleeping bed and mat framed by battery-operated string lights in the corner of the room. Then he finally took in your appearance. “Jesus, you’re just a kid.” And your age, apparently.

“I’m eighteen!” you tried to defend yourself. Frank arched an eyebrow, eyes sliding to your stuffed animal still propped up on your pillow. You sighed, looking down. “Sixteen. And a half,” you added after a moment. As if it would help your case.

“Where are your parents?”

You crossed your arms defensively. “It’s a long story.”

“Fair enough.” He looked around the room once more. “You got a mirror I can use?” You nodded and slid a half-shattered mirror from behind the door. He nodded his thanks and stepped over to the mirror, sliding his shirt and vest off with a grimace.

You puttered around while he did whatever he needed to fix himself up and clean himself off. You tried to avoid looking over at him, the blood making your stomach queasy. You were able to ignore him until he caught your attention half an hour later.

“Kid,” he called. “Kid. Hey, kid!”

It was the last one that startled you to attention. You jumped and turned to face him. He was cleaned and stitched up. For the most part. He definitely looked a lot better than when you saw him for the first time. But you still thought he should go to the hospital. Punisher or not.

“I need your help,” he continued.

“How am I supposed to help?” you asked.

He turned to show you a gash on the back side of his ribcage. “Needs stitched. I can’t reach it.”

“And you want me to…” You gulped.

“You got anyone else here to help out?”

“Well…no.”

He gestured you over and then pressed a needle and tweezers in your hands. You eyed the curved suturing needle warily. “I’ve already sterilized everything. I just need you to close it.” He braced himself against the wall with his opposite arm.

“I—I don’t know what to do.”

He pulled your hands so they were against the wound. “You gotta pinch it closed then about half a centimeter from the edge slide the needle in and straight across.”

You followed his directions and gagged at the feeling of the needle sliding through skin. “Oh my god! That is disgusting!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep going.”

You gagged again as you pulled the needle through the opposite edge of skin. “Now what?” you asked, breathing heavily.

“Double knot it and cut it off. And then go every quarter inch or so until the end.”

You did as he said until the entire would was sealed off. You raced to grab a bottle of water to pour over your hands. You never wished more for running water so you could thoroughly wash the blood off your hands—and the memory of feeling the sutures pull against skin. “Please tell me that’s the only one,” you said when your hands were the cleanest they were going to get.

“Yeah, that’s the only one.”

“You do that often?”

He chuckled. “More than I should.” He shrugged his bloody shirt back on, seemingly preparing to leave. “You stay here by yourself?”

“For the most part,” you answered. “I mean, sometimes there’s a few kids who hole up downstairs, but for the most part, it’s just me.”

Frank looked conflicted, as if he wanted to leave but didn’t feel right leaving you here alone. After a few moments, he seemed to make up his mind. “I should probably lie low for a little while. You mind if I stay out in the hallway?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. I don’t…I don’t have, like, any extra pillows or anything to give you, though.”

“Trust me, kid, I’ve slept in worse places than that dingey hallway.”

“Oh, okay. Well, I probably should…be getting to bed,” you said. You weren’t anywhere near tired, but you don’t want him to feel like he needed to hang around you any longer. You passed him two water bottles as he stepped outside of the room. “Well, uh, goodnight, Frank.”

He tensed as you said his name. “How do you know my name?”

You almost rolled your eyes. “Uh, it’s not exactly like you’re incognito. The Punisher logo on your vest kind of gave it away.”

“Right. Night, kid.”

“Goodnight.”

You smiled and shut the door, moving to curl into your little bedspace. If you were being completely honest, you felt the safest tonight sleeping here than you’d ever had. Logically, you knew the Punisher was supposed to be some big, scary man, but deep down, you knew no harm would come to you with Frank Castle sitting just outside your door.

The sunlight slowly woke you the next morning. You squinted into the light that poured in from the broken window above your sleeping bag. You turned over and tried to fall back asleep, but it was no use. You rose from the makeshift bed, wincing as your joints popped, and made your way to the hallway. You looked down each end, but Frank was gone. It didn’t surprise you that he left at some point in the night, but you couldn’t say you weren’t a little disappointed he wasn’t there. You shuffled back into your room, freezing when you saw what was on the table.

Breakfast.

A hot, steaming breakfast.

You weren’t sure how you didn’t notice it earlier, what with the smell now wafting towards your nose. Instantly, your stomach rumbled. You rushed over to the takeout container, eager to find what was inside. A sticky note on top simply read “Thanks, kid,” but you set it aside. Your mouth watered the instant you opened the container.

Pancakes.

This was probably the single most happiest moment of your life. You hadn’t had a hot meal—let alone a hot breakfast—in who knows how long. The platter spread before you seemed like a feast. You dug in happily, savoring every bite until it was gone.

That was the last you expected to hear from the Punisher. You stitched him up, he bought you breakfast the next day as thanks, that should be it, right?

Turns out Frank Castle was a man of many surprises.

Nearly every single day from that point forward, you would find a takeout container centered on your table. Sometimes, he left you breakfast like that first day—sometimes pancakes, sometimes omelets, but all from the diner a few blocks down the road. Other days, he’d bring you dinner, leaving Chinese takeout containers piled high on the table or a Tupperware container full of homemade spaghetti. You weren’t sure who made the spaghetti—you couldn’t exactly picture Frank in the kitchen—but it was incredible, nonetheless.

Your favorite days were when Frank lingered after dropping the food off, eventually going as far as to sit and eat with you when he could. Those days left you feeling the happiest. Dinners with Frank happened more and more until he offered you the small second bedroom in his rundown apartment. “I’m never gonna use it,” he said, “and I’m not gonna bust you out of jail if you get caught for trespassing.” You eagerly grabbed the opportunity with both hands—you wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if that horse would get you out of this rat- and cockroach-infested hellhole. Living in an actual apartment would be a dream.

Thinking back on everything, you weren’t sure when the feeling began, but one day, you realized…you felt like a family. By all means, the relationship you had with Frank Castle was far more familial and paternal than any you’d ever had with your biological family. With each passing day, you couldn’t be happier that you’d stumbled across a half-dead Punisher in the alley that night.

#Frank Castle & Reader #frank castle x reader #frank castle & you #frank castle x you #frank castle imagine #tagging x reader bc I don't even know if anyone follows & reader #but it's platonic #so #mine

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delyth88 · 3 years

Text

Loki episode 5 rewatch

It’s been a busy week so it wasn’t until yesterday that I had a chance to watch Episode 5 again. And I was a little worried I might not like it as much as I did on first watch, but thankfully I did still find a lot to like about this episode.

Spoilers below...

Firstly, I think it’s taken this long, but I’ve finally gotten used to this new variant of our Loki. To this overly emotive, sweetly stupid at times, often bewildered version of the character. Let me be clear, he is absolutely not being presented in the same was at the first three films, Infinity War, or even Ragnarok. But I’m finding him easier to watch now that I have no hopes or expectations that he will be the Loki I was hoping we’d get to see again. Sure, I’m sad they didn’t give us a continuation of the Loki we’re grown to love, but this guy seems to be starting to find his feet, and I’m curious to see what his potential is now.

I was again struck by the increased sense of purpose (no pun intended) of this episode. It seems to be going places more so than previous episodes were. And again I loved the opening sequence and the music as we travel through the TVA and then out into the Void. It did make me wonder whether the destroyed city was actually a version of the timeline where Loki/Thanos win the Battle of New York, and that’s as far as the significance of that set goes. My hunch is that we won’t see that long shot of Loki from the trailers in post-apocalyptic New York. They opted for the mirror of the Avengers scene instead as the way Loki finds himself in this place.

I laughed at Loki’s little rant this time too. Particularly the line “plus an alligator, that I’m heartbroken to report I didn’t even find all that strange!”. In fact there were a few moment when I felt we were getting a little bit of Loki’s old humour. Such as, his “Delightful.” In response to kid Loki talking about cannibalistic pirates, “This is a nightmare.” and “Don’t die isn’t a plan, it’s a general demand of living”.

I do wonder though if this is just about comparison with the other Lokis? Like they’re all so very much more on the extreme end of comical that it makes our Loki seem the straight guy in comparison? *shrug*

After several days I am still taken by Old Loki and his story. And on watching it again I was able to appreciate the little moments leading up to his fighting Alioth. He gives the impression of being just so Over It and his crazy comics outfit also directs the audience away from how much he actually cares. For example he is really quite upset at Lokis in general and presumably also himself after the betrayal by Boastful Loki. He says “We cannot change. We’re broken. Every version of us. Forever.”

And he seems quite affected by Mobius’ offhand comment that “it’s never too late to change”.

And then that look back towards Loki and Sylvie as Alioth approaches.

Gah! This is the kind of thing I wanted for our Loki. I don’t have the right words to describe it, but it’s partly the back story, partly the change of heart, partly the stakes, the emotional depth. I’m really quite sad that we won’t see more of him. :(

@scintillatingshortgirl19 you asked me what I thought of Loki’s response when Sylvie asks, “How do I know that in the final moments you won’t betray me?”

“Listen Sylvie, I…” Loki pauses and takes a deep breath “I betrayed everyone who ever loved me. My father, my brother, my home. I know what I did, and I know why I did it. And that’s not who I am anymore. Okay? I won’t let you down.”

To be honest on my first watch I think I just let it slide over me as yet another one of those lines where they keep telling us what we’re supposed to think of Loki (whether it’s true or not). I think Episode 4 might have broken me – I didn’t even blink an eyelid. I think I’ve just heard so many people saying things that I think are absolutely wrong about Loki that I’m just… used to it now? I dunno. Maybe it was just my mood, or the fact that there were enough other things I enjoyed in the episode that I could ignore it.

But since you pointed it out I’ve been thinking about it and after my rewatch I kinda think Loki has been a little bit influenced by recent events and conversations. He’s just watched with embarrassment several different versions of himself strike bargains and then betray each other, in such an extreme example of this behaviour that it seemed absurdly comic. Boastful Loki even says “I betrayed you, and now I’m king.” And as they leave the Loki fight behind Old Loki says “We lie and we cheat! We cut the throats of every person who trusts us! And for what! Power!” So I can kinda see why betrayal is on his mind.

And perhaps this is something he’s been thinking about for a while now. Since he tried to strike a bargain with Sylvie before he even really knew her. Old Loki ask if Loki trusts Sylvie and he says” “She’s the only one [of the Loki variants] I do trust! “

But I guess the way I interpreted it is not just literal betrayal like he just watched with the other Loki variants, but also letting people down. Letting himself down. In this context betraying his father would be the events of Thor 1 where he betrays his father’s trust by letting the frost giants into the weapons vault (I think he’s talking about Odin here, not Laufey), and then by not being able to be a good king in the eyes of his father or even his own standards while Odin was in the Odinsleep. I don’t think he would be thinking of the moment where he lets Laufey into Odin’s chamber because he always intended to betray Laufey and save Odin. Although maybe he feels guilt for that too, in terms of lying to his father. In regards to his brother, I’d consider any of the times Loki is acting against his brother’s interests, in a serious way such as the times that he was evading and fighting against Thor in Avengers, or when he sent the Destroyer in Thor 1 as betrayals of a sort, and the frost giants at the coronation again. And in regards to his ‘home’ I assume from his perspective this is again about the coronation and the events that led to the destruction of the Bifrost and as far as he’s aware war with Jotunhiem. Perhaps he’s thinking of the moment when Odin says to Thor “... you are unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed!” Potentially he’s also thinking of Ragnarok and his actions in causing it after what he read in his file in the TVA. Personally I think he knows it was necessary but still feels a ton of guilt about being the one to actually do it. In this case it’s a betrayal in action but not in heart.

So I think he’s kinda focusing on the guilt he feels. And I think this is why he feels it could extend to Frigga, although he doesn’t mention it I think we as the audience are meant to assume it. But again, this is in terms of the guilt he feels at a future version of himself inadvertently causing Frigga’s death – as he’s heard this story second-hand from Mobius. You know how if you start feeling bad about something it’s very easy to expand that to a whole bunch of other things you’ve done? These are the times he feels guilty for his actions in hindsight.

I also think he’s kinda lumping a bunch of things together under the umbrella of the wording of the question that Sylvie has asked. I think if she’d used a different word he would have echoed that back to her too.

I also think he starts of with “Listen Sylvie, I..” because he was about to defend himself, refuse to acknowledge that he would do such a thing and minimise it, by saying some version of “I would never do that”. But he catches himself and takes the opposite approach of laying all his faults out plain. Admitting in a slightly exaggerated way that he has betrayed people in the past and he knows it, which he considers is more likely to be believed, and that he won’t betray Sylvie because he’s changed since then.

So I don’t know if I really have a conclusion to draw from this, but I think Loki is exaggerating out of guilt.

But this is also one of those lines that where the character is telling us not showing us. Which seems to have started in Ragnarok and is being continued in this series. It’s frustrating, I don’t like it, but it seems this is what they do now. :/

***

So, it’s taken me a whole ‘nother day to get to finish writing this, and I’ve realised that this is the first episode in a while that has been on my mind since I watched it. I’m actually invested again! Which I was very much not after Episode 4.

This episode had another piece of Loki’s story, in the form of Old Loki, and that was wonderful, and tragic. And we’re starting to get somewhere with the plot now.

And unlike in previous episodes where it looked like they’d left hints of things to come but that turned out not to be the case, I actually feel like we might get payoff for all those comments about Loki’s magic. Probably not in a way I’d prefer, but at this point I’ll take any sort of change that gives Loki a bit more control over his life.

I’m also feeling again like this story matters. With episodes 3 and 4 I wasn’t really feeling it. I hope I’m not too disappointed. lol

I still don’t like the romance, but having resigned myself to the fact this is what they’re doing last week I was better able to watch this. The fact that Sylvie is as utterly incompetent at personal relationships as our Loki does make it more tolerable to me, and if I take it as some weird AU (which lets be fair is exactly what this is) it is kinda cute. In a way I like that they’re both late 30s/early 40s in appearance, not teens or twenty-somethings. It adds this extra layer to their awkwardness and I think brings home how weird tit is that these thousand year old beings don’t know how to be friends if you can do the mental jumps required to believe this in the first place. I still want it to be platonic or at least not taken any further. I will gag if they kiss in the finale.

#loki #loki series #loki episode 5 #spoilers #my review #loki series negativity #loki series positivity #a bit of both

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iclaimedtobethebetterbard · 3 years

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the sky’s open wide, i’m running with the wolves - chapter 1

Fandom: Sanders Sides Characters: All the sides, background Remy, background c!Thomas Rating: Teen & up (see Warnings) Relationships: Platonic/brotherly Virgil with Logan and the Creativitwins; platonic/parental Patton & Virgil; platonic/brotherly Logan and the Creativitwins with each other; platonic/parental Janus with Logan and the Creativitwins; background endgame Moceit. Warnings: Probably some language; references to Christianity; non-graphic violence. Word count: 1570 Notes: Wolfwalkers (2020) AU! You don’t need to have seen the movie to enjoy this, though.

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Summary: When Patton is charged with hunting down the wolves in the woods, he believes he is protecting his young son Virgil. But Virgil is afraid to watch his father vanish into the woods, and sneaks after him. When Virgil runs into three wolf cubs who hold the secrets of the forest, he has to make a choice: obey the rules he’s known all his life? Or try to help the three shapeshifting boys find their missing father—even though Virgil's always been taught that the only safe wolf is a dead one? As Virgil explores the wonderful world his new friends show him, and uncovers the lies his town is built on, he may be too late to realize that his choices will cost him more than he ever bargained for.

Chapter 1

Remy would never have particularly considered himself a God-fearing man. Oh, he said his prayers and went to church, of course, but it was more a comfortable habit woven into the fabric of his life than something he devoted much thought to. Even at nineteen, he preferred to occupy his day-to-day thoughts with such matters as the tending of his sheep, the comfort of a nice dry pair of woolen socks, the avoidance of wolves, and, most of all, the brewing of a good cup of tea.

Remy was good at his job. He tended his sheep; he stayed well away from the woods. Everyone knew you didn’t mess with the woods. Stay away from their territory, and keep up the deal of old, and always be safe. He had never put much thought into this, either; it was much more important, in Remy’s eyes, to consider the fine taste that a brew steeped just right could carry.

He never expected his thoughtless respect for the woods to pay off.

The first time Remy saw a Wolfwalker, he was twenty-five years old and had started to wonder if he even believed they were real. But after that day, he never doubted again.

After all, how else could one explain the way the huge, snarling gray wolf, poised to deliver a killing bite to one of Remy’s finest sheep, had heard that commanding howl come from the woods, and put its tail between its legs and run back home in response?

Remy had watched the wolf run, standing frozen in fear and shock—and then he’d seen the Wolfwalker. A tall, tremendous wolf standing at the edge of the treeline, easily twice the size of the largest man, with dark gray fur and eyes gleaming yellow, a jagged scar running down one side of its face. Lean and powerful. Remy instinctively knew this was no ordinary wolf.

Remy had never considered himself a God-fearing man, but staring at the Wolfwalker and the way it commanded the pack of ordinary wolves surrounding it, he thought to himself that perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to pray a little harder.

“Thank you,” he croaked out when the Wolfwalker turned its eyes on him. “Thank you, m’lord—bless ye—I’ll never cross your territory, you may be sure of that—thank you for protecting my sheep—” He barely even knew what he was saying, babbling out his thoughts in more than a little healthy terror.

He wasn’t quite sure if the way the Wolfwalker bowed its head was a nod of acknowledgement, but the next moment, the Wolfwalker was leaping away, the pack of wolves trailing in its wake. And not a single sheep of Remy’s had been harmed.

Remy didn’t see the Wolfwalker often; over the next decade or so, he crossed paths with—him? Remy somehow got the feeling it was a him—perhaps half a dozen times. Every time he came away filled with awe and fear and a renewed sense that though the Wolfwalker was terrifying and fearsome, Remy would far rather live under his odd protection than whatever farce could be provided by all these guards the new Lord Protector kept bringing around.

Before he knew it, Remy was nearly thirty-seven and his appreciation of a good cup of tea had only strengthened over the years. He went to church and said his prayers with gusto, and every night he glanced out to the woods and gave a little nod of respect. For the Wolfwalker and, these last few years, the little cubs that followed in his wake.

As long as the people kept themselves to themselves and stayed out of the woods, Remy knew there was nothing to fear from the wolves.

***

“I don’t want you to go!” Logan clung to Janus’s wrist, digging his heels into the ground and trying to physically hold him back.

Janus lifted his powerful arm and picked the near-teen right up off the ground with almost no effort at all. “This is terribly grown-up of you,” he informed his eldest son dryly.

“There are too many humans,” Logan insisted, dangling from Janus’s arm, the little claws of his hands pricking at Janus’s skin. “You said only the forest was safe!”

Janus drew a long breath. “And that has been true for time immemorial. But things have changed. I like it no more than you do. But I need you to stay here and look after your brothers, you understand me, Logan? I will find us a new forest, a safer one, without any humans who want to cut and burn the trees or trap us with iron. And then I will come back and get you three, and we will go there.”

“But this forest is ours!” Logan protested. “No other forest will be ours like this one is.”

“Logan,” Janus said, and his voice bore an undercurrent of a warning snarl now, “I am doing what I must to protect my cubs.”

He didn’t know where to go, only that they couldn’t stay here. Not with the way the humans kept getting bolder and bolder and venturing deeper into the woods. Between Logan’s poor eyesight and the twins’ recklessness, and the way all three of them were only cubs and couldn’t defend themselves well yet, Janus was getting twitchier and twitchier by the day.

Logan stilled, an unhappy look on his face. “Can I come with you, at least? I can help! I’m very good at figuring things out! We could find a new forest together!”

“No,” Janus responded at once, his heart rate quickening at the idea. “I don’t—” He broke off and reconsidered what he was about to say. “I need you to look after the twins,” he said at last, striving to keep his voice casual.

Not casual enough. Logan stared at him, a look of dawning horror on his face. “You think you might not come back!” he accused.

Janus refrained from speaking the curse he wanted to let out. Logan had always been far too observant. “Of course I’ll come back,” he lied through his teeth, running a comforting hand through Logan’s tangled hair. “I only want to make sure the way is safe for my little ones first.”

Logan had spoken the truth a moment ago: there were too many humans these days. Janus wasn’t sure it was possible to safely venture past the borders of the forest anymore. He wasn’t sure there was anywhere left to take his little ones.

He wasn’t sure he would survive this search.

But it wasn’t like there were any other options left at this point. “Logan,” Janus said, kneeling down and putting his hands on the boy’s shoulders. He focused on making his voice honey-sweet and sincere. “I’m going to keep you safe, you understand? I would never abandon you. You are in charge of keeping your brothers safe until I return, but I will be back in a month or two.” Janus held the little boy’s brown eyes and tried not to think of humans with their traps and spears and guns and the way that once Janus left the forest he would have nowhere to hide.

“I will come back,” Janus told Logan, and he put his whole heart into his lie. “I promise.”

***

“I don’t want to move to some stupid village.” Virgil kicked his feet against the edge of the wagon petulantly, poking a piece of straw through the bars of his kestrel Thomas’s cage.

Patton sighed and reached back to ruffle his son’s hair, not taking his eyes from the winding dirt road. “I know, kiddo. We’re going to have a better life there. The Lord Protector offers a handsome salary to Hunters who can bring down wolves. They say the town is terrorized day and night, and they need to rid the forest of these pests so they can safely harvest the wood and expand the borders of the town.”

“But I hate when you go hunting!” Virgil crawled up to the driver’s seat beside Patton and clung to his arm. “I’m always so scared you’ll get eaten up! Or step in a trap! Or fall off a cliff! Or drown! Or—”

“Hey, there. Hey, now.” Patton wrapped an arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Breathe, child. Breathe for me.” He murmured soothingly for a few minutes. “Now, come on, tell me: who taught you to draw a bow and arrow?”

“You,” Virgil mumbled.

“Good lad. And who taught you to track?”

“You did.”

“And what do you think? Am I a good Hunter? Haven’t I always kept you safe as can be?”

“Yes, but—”

“Virgil,” Patton interrupted, gentle but firm.

Virgil fidgeted for a moment. “It only has to go bad once, and you’d never come home again!”

“It’s a good thing I’d never do that, then,” Patton said, chucking Virgil under the chin and chuckling. “I mean, I have a sturdy little lad to look after, I must always make sure I hasten home to him at the end of the day.” He drew Virgil close and gave him a protective, reassuring hug. “Nothing’s going to get your Papa. I promise. I will always protect you, Virgil, you hear me? And today, the best way to protect you is to find ourselves a new home out here. We’ll make do, never you worry. I’m sure you’ll have lots of new friends in no time!”

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iliveiloveiwrite · 4 years

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Reunions

Request: Hi! Can i request an imagine where reader is Sirius daughter, and older than Harry and she’s like an older sister to him, She promides Sirius that she’d always protect him, as he couldn’t when he was away. Probably she gets hurt all the time by doing this, but she doesn’t care. If you want, can you make her date Fred or something, and you can add some angst, or whatever. Develop as u wish, hope u like it! Sorry if it’s not very clear! xx

A/N: Here it is @play-morezeppelin ! Thank you for your request, I hope you like it! I really enjoyed writing, I’ll admit I struggled to start it but once I got into, I couldn't really stop. I hope I’ve done your request justice - I had to have a reunion between Sirius and the reader!

Pairings: Fred Weasley x Reader (romantic), Harry Potter x Reader (platonic), Sirius Black x Reader (familial).

Warnings: swearing, angst, some violence

Word count: 3.3k

A letter from your father, that was all you had left of him. A letter asking you, begging you, to watch out for baby Harry.

For the first fourteen years of your life, you are unable to due to Harry being raised by his muggle aunt and uncle, but also being far too young. You needed to be raised yourself.

Your arrival at Hogwarts introduced you to the Weasley twins. Fred and George quickly became your best friends from the moment you were sorted into Gryffindor. You also had to be honest with yourself, this last year you had been catching yourself looking at Fred in a different light; looking at him as more than a friend. It felt natural with Fred – to go from a friendship to a relationship, as if it was always meant to be. You only hope that he felt the same way.

The arrival of Harry Potter at Hogwarts and his sorting into Gryffindor had made you miss your father more than usual. Your memories of Harry were few and far between, visiting him often as a baby but never seeing him again after the unfortunate deaths of his parents – of your godparents.

A friendship is quickly formed between you and the boy you once thought of as family. Helped along by your friendship with the Weasley twins. Your friendship group starts to blend across year groups and there isn’t a thing you would do to change it, cherishing every single friendship between the trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Through his first year at Hogwarts, you had become somewhat of a rock for Harry. Someone he could come to if he wanted to speak freely about his worries or his parents. You wished you could help him; through every new bit of information he found about his parents, he ended up grieving them all over again. He would come to you when that happened; Harry felt an almost kinship with you – he couldn’t explain it, he just knew that you would understand.

If you had one complaint about Harry and his friends though, it was that they could not, for one second, keep themselves out of trouble. By the end of their first year, you had lost count on your hands of how many injuries you had gotten trying to protect them. Their second year was no different; you had no choice to forgive Harry after had apologised over and over for getting you hurt in the process.

You could only hope and pray that their third year would be different.

“Harry?” You call out over breakfast.

“Yes, (Y/N)?”

“Can you promise me one thing for this year?”

“What’s that?”

“Stay out of trouble for me and my health?”

Harry laughs, “I’m afraid I can’t make that promise. Haven’t you heard? There’s a serial killer after me now.”

You sigh at his answer; you realise that their third year was to be the same. You had heard about the escaped convict from Azkaban; your heart had dropped the minute you saw your father’s face plastered over every single wizarding publication. It was an outer body experience, to see your father again after so long.

You’re snapped out of your reveries by the Daily Prophet being slammed down in front of you.

“It’s like a family reunion for you, isn’t it (Y/N)?” A Slytherin says, snickering lightly.

You freeze; any chance of a reply lost in the tears that start to well in your eyes. An arm wraps around your shoulders, you don’t need to look to know it’s Fred.

“Bugger off, will you? You’re wasting your breath.” He says towards the student; they quickly turn and walk away.

Fred leans into you, whispers into your ear. “Don’t worry, love. There’s an extra-large Dung-bomb with their name on it.”

He frowns when you simply nod; normally, the idea of a prank or revenge gets you smiling and planning along with him.

He grabs your hand, and pulls you up to stand with him, “Come on, we’re gonna talk.”

You let Fred pull you from the Great Hall; he doesn’t let go of your hand until you’re in an empty classroom where he sits you down at a desk. He leans against the desk opposites and looks at you.

You start to rant, wiping at your eyes, feeling slightly foolish, “I just didn’t expect to see him. It sounds silly because of course – of course his face is going to be plastered on every news outlet in the wizarding world. Even the muggle Prime Minister was informed for Christ’s sake, but I didn’t actually think I would see him, or a picture of him.”

“It’s understandable that you didn’t. You haven’t seen your father in twelve years.”

You snort, “I know. He looks so different, Fred. It scared me.”

Fred takes a seat on top of your desk, wrapping an around your shoulder. He rubs his hand up and down your arm in a comforting motion. You can’t help but lean into his side. No words need to be said between the two of you; Fred doesn’t need to offer you words of comfort, simply being there for you through this is enough for you.

“Thank you for the Hall.”

“I’ll always defend you; you know that.”

You sniffle, “I do. You’re too good for me, Fred.”

“I doubt that. I’d like to think I’m perfect for you actually.”

You look at him, an eyebrow raised.

Fred swallows, “This wasn’t the time or place that I wanted to do this, but I’ve had a crush on your for about a year now and I would really like it if you would go out with me?”

A smile breaks out across your face, leaning up, you press a kiss to his cheek, “Yes, I’ll go out with you. I’ve had a crush on you for so long.”

Fred smiles at you, he also starts to blush.

-----------------------------------

Things start to deteriorate in school; Sirius Black enters the school multiple times. You almost vomited when you hear what happened to Ron – he doesn’t seem to be too shaken up by the event, but your stomach turns with guilt regardless. You start to panic over what could happen next; what will he do next? Has he been driven to insanity in Azkaban?

The comments made by fellow students get worse too. It has never been a secret who your father was, and you were never ashamed to be his daughter. You believed in his innocence and that was all you needed; you didn’t need the approval or belief of other students. It was becoming routine for you to receive two or three comments on your way to any class; it was becoming draining, but every single time after every single comment, you thought back to the aged letter from your father that is hidden away in your trunk. Fred stands by you through it all; defending you constantly. George has had to stock up on his Zonko product’s more times than he would like to admit to you.

Through all of this, your weekends have become your favourite times of the week. They are the days where you can spend the whole day with Fred and not have to worry about anything. Comments are still made, but you pay less attention to them on the weekend. Instead, focusing all of your energy into your relationship with Fred, your homework, your friends and Hogsmeade.

Your first date with Fred is at Hogsmeade; the day is spent together, dawdling from shop to shop. Grabbing some new quills at Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop and updating your Honeyduke’s sweets stash. It’s a perfect day, and only made better by the kiss Fred places on your lips before entering the school grounds. Your smile and blush last for days after that.

Time spent with Fred helps to ease the burden and the guilt you feel about what is happening. Fred reassures you multiple times and when that doesn’t work, he kisses you quiet. That works pretty well.

---------------------------------------------

You had known perfectly well that Harry, Hermione and Ron would visit Hagrid with the execution of Buckbeak, the Hippogriff. From the very minute they had shown you the letter from Hagrid telling them of Buckbeak’s fate, you know that they would not let it be. It was sweet, that they wanted to be there for Hagrid, but it was not worth the trouble they would be in if they were caught.

Rushing out of the common room, you could only hope that you could catch them in time.

You don’t. Instead, you see all three running towards the Whomping Willow.

You start running towards the trio the moment you see the great, black dog that you know is your father.

From there, you start to curse whatever luck you have. It is just your luck and your choice of friends that get you into messes such as these. You make a mental note to expand your friendship group after everything passes.

Entering the passage below the Whomping Willow, your breath comes in short pants. Nerves and adrenaline are taking over your system; you know exactly who is at the end of the tunnel. You never thought a reunion would be possible, and all you wanted was for it to be in better circumstances.

You stop short of the entrance. Nerves have overtaken your adrenaline, your stomach turning at the thought of seeing your father again after twelve years of separation. Tears prick at the corner of your eyes; the newspaper clipping flashes before your eyes. Would he even recognise you after so long?

You take a deep breath to steel yourself. Then you enter the room.

Ron lies on a bed; his face crumpled in pain, Scabbers the rat flailing about in his hand.

Harry and Hermione stand together in the corner of the room; Harry’s body partly shielding Hermione. His wand is raised, he looks shocked at your entrance.

“(Y/N)!? What are you doing here?” He shouts.

“Harry, I need you to listen to me. I need you to put the wand down.”

“No! Why should I? He killed my parents, (Y/N). He is the reason I don’t have my mum and dad.”

“Harry, please. Put your wand down. I need to tell you something.”

Harry looks at you; sadness, grief and anger run rampant in his eyes. You frown at him, how many times must this boy relive the death of his parents?

“Okay. Harry, here. Have my wand.” You throw your wand at him; he catches it.

“I’m defenceless now. Will you put your wand down and let me explain to you why I’m here?”

He continues to watch you, but slowly, Harry lowers his wand. You sigh quietly in relief.

“Thank you, Harry.” You whisper. “What I’m about to say, I need you to give me the benefit of the doubt. I need you all to remember that I am only two years older than you all.”

“Why does that matter?” Hermione asks.

“Because Hermione, the man standing behind me is my father.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Ron shouts.

You close your eyes at the shouts coming from all three. You want to look at him, your father, but you aren’t ready just yet. You can feel his eyes on you though; taking in every detail from the twelve years he has been missing from your life.

“Sirius Black is my father.” You start, when their voices have quietened down. “Truthfully, I’m the product of a one-night stand. Sirius got full custody of me when he was told I existed; my mother agreed. I got two years with him, that’s all. Two years with my father before he was taken away to Azkaban.”

“He killed my parents, (Y/N)! Of course he got sent to Azkaban, he should still be there.” Harry shouts, his eyes glistening.

“Harry, no. I’m not trying to erase your pain, Harry. I’m truly not. But it wasn’t just you who lost people that night. I lost my father and my godparents. Lily and James were my godparents, just like Sirius is your godfather.

“He left me a letter, that was all he could leave me. A letter. In which he begged me to watch out for you Harry, and I am so sorry that I couldn’t for the first eleven years of your life, but I am only two years older than you. My befriending of you when you arrived at Hogwarts was genuine, but my father’s words always stayed in the back of my head. I made sure to look out for you, but you have an incredible talent for getting yourself into trouble.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I trusted you with so much.” Harry asks, the slight break in his voice the only evidence of his emotions.

“You never asked. From the minute of his escape, I was petrified of you finding out. It isn’t a secret who my father is, and I am not ashamed of him, so it was never hidden.” The panic within you is starting to rise; the very last outcome of this was losing Harry’s trust – you absolutely did not want that to happen.

Ron grimaces, “Does Fred know?”

You blush, “Yes. Your entire family knows Ron. I was raised with Bill and Charlie through the first wizarding war.”

Ron nods, seeming happy at your answer. His protectiveness of his older brother coming out; he did not want you lie to Fred – he wouldn’t stand for it.

Throwing a small smile in Ron’s direction, you prepare yourself for turning around.

For the first time since you arrived in the shack, you look at your father. His clothes are ruined, his hair reaches his elbows, and he’s far too thin. A sob breaks free of your lips, and he’s at your side in an instant. His hands on either side of your face, getting a good look at you. He hasn’t seen so much as a picture of you in twelve years; he cannot believe that you even recognise him.

“(Y/N)?” Sirius whispers.

You nod, tears falling freely now. “Hi Dad.”

He wraps you in his arms. He hasn’t held you in his arms since you were two years old and you were a delightfully chubby toddler. When he was taken away to Azkaban, you were barely taking your first steps, still needing to be held by your father. Now, you reach his shoulders easily where you wrap your arms, wanting to sob again from the feeling of his bones clearly poking through the skin. Sirius clings to you; savouring the fact that he’s holding his daughter after so long.

“You know,” Sirius starts, “You used to be smaller.”

You nod, “I know. We’ve missed a lot.”

“(Y/N)! Get away from him. He’s still a murderer.” Harry shouts.

“He isn’t. He never was.”

“He isn’t innocent; he sold out my parents to Lord Voldemort.” Both Hermione and Ron wince at the use of the Dark Lord’s name.

“No, he didn’t.” You state, gritting your teeth.

“Then who did?” Harry demands; all he wants are answers, and he is more than entitled to them.

“Peter Pettigrew.” A voice says; one that neither yours nor Sirius’.

Remus Lupin enters the room. After that, even more explanations are given, and secrets revealed. You knew that in the morning, you would have one hell of a headache from all the information you had to process. Your heart went out to Harry, who in the span of a few weeks has had his entire family history almost rewritten. The trust between you had been damaged, and it would take a lot of time to fix.

If possible, the night gets worse. As the group lead Pettigrew and unconscious Snape (who dramatically interrupted) back to the castle, the full moon rises. Taking one single look at Lupin, you know that he hasn’t taken his Wolfsbane Potion and he’s about to transform. All hell breaks loose from that very moment – Sirius transforms, Snape resurrects, and Harry has to follow. He has to follow. You barely get close to him before Snape pulls you back, berating you for being so stupid. You have to repress the urge to scream at him; you fight each step of the way back to castle, only calming when you realise that Ron is seriously hurt and for Fred’s sanity, you help him to the hospital wing.

Once he’s settled and getting treatment, you take a seat on one of the spare beds. The thing you want to do most is go and find your father, but you can’t move. Instead, you start to cry silently. Letting the tears you’ve hidden for twelve years finally start to flow. After what seems likes hours, from sheer exhaustion, you pass out on the bed.

-------------------------------------------

You awake in the hospital wing with Fred comes bursting in, disturbing the peace.

“Thank God, you’re okay.” He breathes. His arms wrap around you tightly, pressing you to him.

“I am.” You say, rubbing a hand up and down his back, “I’m okay.”

Fred pulls away, he looks as if he wants to run his hands all over you, to check for himself that you are truly okay with no major injuries. Fred had never known panic like it, when Professor McGonagall pulled him to one side in the common room to tell him that you were currently lying in the hospital wing. Everything was white noise after that, leaving as fast as he could so he could get to you.

You grab his hands, hold them in both of yours, rubbing calming circles into them. “I’ve got nothing other than a few scratches; go check on your brother, Fred.”

Fred frowns, he doesn’t want to leave you – not for one second. Instead, he shouts to other bed, “Ron! Are you okay?”

Ron replies, “I’ll be fine, mum and dad are already on their way.”

Fred grins at you, “I’ve checked on him. Can I stay with you now?”

You nod, opening your arms for him. The only thing you wanted at this moment in time was Fred’s arms around you. He obliges happily; his arms are wrapped around you and you feel as if you can finally breathe, as if you are finally back on earth after the most dramatic evening on your entire life. His hands rub up and down your back and you hum happily.

“(Y/N)?”

“Fred?”

“Will you tell me what happened tonight?”

“I’m sure the whole school knows by now.”

“I just want to hear it from you; to know that you weren’t in real danger.”

You sigh, “I will. Just not tonight, I need tonight to process please.”

He nods, pressing a kiss to your cheek, “Take all the time you need.”

Looking at other beds, you can see Harry and Hermione laid out in separate beds. Fear starts to flow through your body.

“Fred, what happened to Sirius?”

“He’s been caught. The teachers are keeping him hidden in one of their rooms.”

Tears start to form in your eyes; you don’t even know; you were certain that you had cried yourself out last night. “Oh god, no. I just got him back. I just got my father back and they’re going to take him away again.”

Fred shushes you, not to stop you talking but because Harry and Hermione have awoken, and Dumbledore has entered the hospital wing. They shout for a few minutes before Dumbledore talks to them quietly. Hermione pulls a long necklace out of her shirt and you swiftly realise that she is in possession of a Time Turner; and all at once, it hits you what they’re going to do.

Harry catches your eyes for a second, nods, and then he’s gone. And all you can do is wait.

They’re going to rescue an innocent man. They’re going to rescue your father.

#fred weasley x reader #fred weasley #fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley fanfic #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley fluff #Harry Potter #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter fanfic #harry potter x reader #sirius black fanfiction #Sirius Black #My writing #fluff #angst #fred weasley one shot #the lightning era

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elsanna-shenanigans · 3 years

Text

June Contest Submission #10: Behind Stern Flowers

Words: ca. 1,900 Setting: modern AU Lemon: no CW: fluff

—

Knock. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock.

“Wake up, sleepy beauty. Dad’s home and he brought back dinner.” said Anna.

No response from the other side. She must have been really tired today.

“If you don’t open up, I will be barging in.”

Still no response.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Three, two, one.”

The knob twisted and the door creaked as the door pushed inside lightly. The door opened ajar, just wide enough for Anna to poke her head through. She peeked through the opening just to see a grown female Homosapien lying on the bed. The room is lit by a bed lamp at the far end. The bed is decorated with jasmine flowers placed around the edge of the bed. She wore an alabaster nightgown, which gave out glossy sheen from the bed lamp. Her hands rested on her tummy with a slow rise and fall of her chest. The sensual and sweet scent from the flower evoked the girl standing in the doorway.

Anna tip-toed her on the side of the bed and kneeled. She picked up the flower from the edge and placed it around Elsa’s head. She smiled at the sight of her sister. She looked so peaceful. Anna then bent down and planted a deep kiss on the older sister’s lips.

Elsa opened her eyes with a smile plastered on her.

“Hello, sleeping beauty.” said Anna. “Did you sleep well?”

Elsa chuckled, “I did. Thanks for asking.” She glanced at the door and her reaction turned sour. “Anna! Why didn’t you close the door? Mother could have seen what we did.”

Anna was sad when Elsa got mad. “Sorry. I didn’t ‘cause she’s not home yet. And I was hypnotized by the smell of the flowers.”

She placed her hand on Anna’s thigh, “I’m sorry that I’m mad. It’s just that I’m worried that mother might catch us again. You remember how cross she was when she saw us.”

“I do,” Anna said, pouting.

“Come here,” Elsa pulled her back and planted a kiss on her lips. “Better?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Anna hummed. “More, please.”

“I would but we don’t want dad to wait any longer.”

“Wait, you didn’t exactly sleep just now?”

“Mayhaps.”

For that, Elsa received a tickle on her tummy.

—

Agnarr sat at the dinner table, waiting for his daughters to come down. Some time had passed since Anna had gone upstairs. He wondered what took them so long.

“Perhaps they are having a sisterly moment,” he said to himself.

The wait was over when footsteps raced down the hall and shook the house. Anna stomped her way down on the wooden stairs as she could smell dinner getting stronger. The stomping caught Agnarr’s attention as he chuckled at his youngest daughter’s eagerness to eat.

“There’s my butter cakes. How are you girls doing to—,” he was cut off when the girls stormed towards their old man and pulled him into a giant bear hug. “I love you two.”

“We love you too, dad.” The both of them kissed their dad’s cheek.

“What took you girls so long? Did you two do—”

“No, Dad,” Anna interjected, laughing softly. “You know how hard it is to wake up this sleeping beauty.”

“It’s true,” Elsa agreed.

“Oh, so you didn’t wake your sister up with a kiss?” Agnarr raised a brow, a playful smirk forming on his lips. “Like that movie we watched last night? I know for sure that Anna would have done that.”

“Dad!” the sisters screamed simultaneously.

“Hm, that’s what I thought,” he said smugly.

They settled down for dinner. The sisters sat beside each other.

“So, dad. How was work today,” Elsa asked.

“Nothing big today,“ Agnarr shrugged nonchalantly. “Got a case today where this kid got caught peeping into the public restroom. Thank goodness that kid was smart to take the offer and paid a grand for the fine. If not, he would have ended up behind bars for the rest of his life!”

He kept a straight face until the end of his sentence. He looked at his girls’ reactions, wide-eyed and completely believed everything he had just said.

“Just kidding,” he grinned, breaking his grave façade. “His sentence was only six months. It’s not long but he will be wasting his time doing nothing instead of growing up like normal people.”

Elsa and Anna breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s great, dad. You’re so kind to help that kid, even if he was a pervert,” said Anna in disgust.

“Nah, he was an idiot, but their idiocy didn’t justify the long sentence. Well, from my humble opinion.”

“Glad you’re considerate enough to give them a chance.”

“Well, I usually give them once, but if they do it again, go straight to the horny jail.”

They all laughed. Anna laughed so hard that she almost hurt her chin, while Elsa closed her mouth with her hand, stiffening her giggles.

The doorbell rang. The girls’ laughter faded because already they knew who was behind that door.

“I’ll get the door,” Elsa strolled to the front door. Once she opened it. She saw the feminine figure stood tall in uniform and with a shiny boot. Her hair is tied into a bang with fringe hair. Her face looked weary, but a slight stern was still visible.

“Elsa.”

“Mother.”

Iduna strutted inside while passing her bag to Elsa and headed toward the dining room.

“Good evening, Anna. Darling.”

“Hey, darling,” Agnarr greeted. “It’s nice to see you. How was work today?”

“Someone files a report of an incestuous relationship between siblings,” Iduna replied stiffly.

Anna froze there while Elsa dropped the bag abruptly.

“Oh, that’s not good,” said Agnarr, brows furrowing with concern.

“Yeah, I know. Thankfully, it was between a brother and a sister. The police will look into it,” she paused as Elsa sat back on her chair. “So, girls. Have you done anything that wasn’t platonic today?” Iduna looked at them sternly.

The girls did not answer.

Iduna looked at them for a few moments before letting out a heavy sigh. “I’ll just- go to my room and freshen up before I head to bed.

“But honey, don’t you want Chinese food?” Agnarr interjected. He flashed her a wry smile. “It’s your favorite.”

“Thank you, but I’m not that hungry tonight,” Iduna waved her hand vaguely. She looked tired, even more so than usual. “Do store the leftovers in the refrigerator please.” Iduna collected herself and climbed the stairs with a slight slump in her shoulders.

“Oh, dear. That’s not good,” Agnarr frowned. “You girls finish up eating. I’m gonna see your mother.”

“Good luck dad,” Anna sent him an encouraging smile as he ran up the stairs to catch up with his wife. Once he was out of sight, Anna sighed softly. “I wish mother wouldn’t be so paranoid about us. We’re already adults.”

Elsa looked at her sister and took her hand in hers. She rubbed the back of Anna’s hand with her thumb as a soothing gesture. “You know how she is. Sometimes working at the station while keeping our secret in mind can be hard.

Anna nodded solemnly. “Yeah… I know.”

—

“Do you want me to help with the dishes?” Anna asked, sneaking up behind Elsa.

“Nope. You can go upstairs first.”

“Aww, thanks, Elsa. You’re the best sister.”

“I know,” Elsa responded with a smile, if not a little smug. Anna rolled her eyes and leaned up to peck Elsa’s cheek.

Anna climbed up the flight of stairs but heard the arguing voice behind the master bedroom door. Her curiosity made her eavesdrop on her parents.

“They still love each other,” said Iduna.

“I see that as a good thing,” her father insisted. “Which one is better? Sisters who hate each other? Or sisters who love and care for each other?”

“Of course I choose loving and caring any day, but there’s a law that does not allow them to be together like that. I can’t stand it anymore. Do you know how hard it is to keep a secret from my colleague about our daughters? What makes matters worse is when someone files a report similar to our daughters’ relationship.”

“Anna, what are you doing?” Elsa’s voice came from behind her, and she couldn’t help but jump in surprise at Elsa’s sudden appearance. “Are you eavesdropping on our parents?”

“Yes, Elsa. Can you please quiet down? I’m trying to listen.”

“Suit yourself,” Elsa strode away to her room.

“Hon, relax. I understand that you’re scared for our daughters. As long as no one reports them, things will be alright. If anything happens to our daughters, you know I could defend them. For free. Besides, people give a pass when sisters act clingy like them. They think they’re cute.”

“Well, that’s true,” there was a pause before Iduna let out an aggravated sigh. “I just want to be safe. I don’t want them to go behind bars because the law is not on their side.”

“Hey, we’re going to protect them. As long as they are with us, they will be safe. That’s a promise.”

—

Anna walked back to her sister’s- or their room now by how frequently they slept together. While on her way there, a thunder’s rumble echoed through the hallway, leaving Anna frightened a bit. Anna instinctively rushed towards the room in hope to take cover under the blanket.

When Anna opened the room, she saw Elsa sat at the head of the bead, glasses perched on her nose as she held an open book in hand. Anna crawled up to the bed and snuggled into Elsa’s chest. A soft, plum breast with her sister’s beating heart soothed her, damping the thunder’s rumble.

“Anna, are you okay?”

“No,” Anna mumbled.

“Aww, what’s wrong baby? Is it something you heard?”

Another thunder came which made Anna planted face deeper.

“Yeah. It’s just … People always see it as an abusive relationship. Instead of it just being like a normal, healthy relationship between two people who love each other.”

“Maybe the law wanted to protect the younger people from going into a relationship at a very young age.”

“That might be true, but nothing said adults consenting into a relationship.”

“That’s true.”

Silence fell upon the two girls, minus the heavy rain outside.

“You know, Anna,” Elsa started. “There’s always a place where incest is legal.”

Anna propped her head up to look at her sister. “Really?”

“Yes. I did some digging and there are a few states where incest is allowed, and family members could marry each other. If you’re serious with this, we could move to a place where incest is legal and live our lives there.”

“Elsa, that’s a great plan!” Anna’s face brightened, though it dimmed just as quickly. “Although, dad would be sad if we leave him.”

“Children will leave their parents someday,” Elsa said softly. She held Anna closer and sighed. “It’s just a matter of time before that happens. Besides, we can always come back to visit him.”

“If that’s the case,” Anna pondered. “It’s a deal. We’re going to do this together.”

“Together.”

Anna leaned in, meeting Elsa halfway into a kiss.

Smooch.

Anna leaned back to see Elsa, how much she adored her sister and how cute she was with all that flowers before. Speaking of flowers…

“Oh, I have a question, Elsa. Why did you decorate the bed with flowers just now?”

“Just want to reenact the scene from Snow White that we watched last night.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet. But weren’t you scared that we almost got caught? You kind of got mad at me for it.”

“Nope, mother texted me that she was going to come back home late. Also, I wanted to see you pout.”

Anna pouted, “You’re a big meanie.”

“I always have been.”

—

#elsanna #submission #June 2021 contest #prompt: storm

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belettewrites · 3 years

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Some mountains and a dog part 3

Part 1

Part 2

Jaskier was snoring in his ear when he woke up the next morning, and Geralt had never felt more at peace.

No, that was a lie. He felt calm every time he got to enjoy moments like that, every time Jaskier reminded him how much he trusted him by simply falling asleep next to him. Geralt was about to get up and start packing up until he remembered that they had nothing to do – he could stay here and enjoy the moment.

He stayed still approximately thirty seconds before he got too restless and had to get up. He woke Jaskier up by doing so, and smiled as the other man grumbled about needing five more minutes. He would get them – they were in no hurry.

Once everything was packed and they had eaten, they started walking again.

The morning passed slowly. They were simply enjoying the warmth of the day, and the landscapes, which Jaskier had been commenting out loud. It was nice to hear the bard’s every thought about the things they encountered; Geralt couldn’t believe that after all he had gone through, Jaskier could still marvel at the beauty of a flower, at the way a bird sang. Geralt had once listened to him trying to whistle like a warbler.

It was…. nice, Geralt thought, to simply enjoy walking like this. No contracts to fulfill, no obligations; only him, Jaskier and Roach. Life would be simpler if every day looked like this one.

“Geralt,” Jaskier started, and Geralt glanced at him. “I’m hungry, do you think we could stop?”

link to AO3

Geralt hummed, looking around them for a good spot to rest.

“We’ll walk until that tree over there, then we’ll eat the things you packed.”

The tree was a big one, its leaves offering shade. It would protect them from the sun – Geralt, with his pale skin, was not protected from sunburn, as he had discovered. It amused Jaskier to no end, that somehow the mutations that changed his hair didn’t add the bonus of not having to fear the sun. It wasn’t a problem most of the time, since the sun wasn’t as vicious in the plains as it was here, but with no trees to protect him Geralt knew it was only a matter of time before his skin turned pink – he didn’t get mean sunburns, only moderated ones, but he still wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

They walked to the tree a little faster, now motivated by the thought of eating lunch.

“I bought dried apricots before we left the last town, I know you enjoy them, my dear. We’ll eat them for dessert, what do you think?”

Geralt nodded. Jaskier was thoughtful like that, reminding Geralt that sometimes life didn’t have to be only made of pain. Though with Jaskier by his side, it wasn’t a difficult thing to remember.

He loosely tied Roach to the tree, trusting her not to go too far – there was more than enough grass here, and she happily started to eat. He rejoined Jaskier where he was sitting; he was carefully pulling out their provisions from the bag he had stored them in. He handed Geralt a piece of smoked rabbit and passed him the waterskin.

A bee made its way towards them, landed on Jaskier’s knee and then took off again. Geralt looked at it as it flew away.

“It’s not so bad, isn’t it? To simply be here. I’d play a little, but to be frank I like being here and doing nothing.”

Chewing, Geralt didn’t reply. They ate the rest of their meal in silence and then they enjoyed the apricots, Jaskier thoughtfully looking at the meadow in front of them and Geralt looking at Jaskier.

“We could stay here,” Jaskier suggested, “until it isn’t so hot anymore.”

“You’re wearing your cloak,” Geralt replied, just because he knew it would annoy him.

“Ugh, Geralt, you know what I meant.”

He did.

“We could- read,” he tried.

“Read? I’m sorry dear, I haven’t taken any book with m-”

“I have,” Geralt cut him before losing his courage.

Jaskier looked at him, surprise coloring his face. Gods, Geralt loved him.

“I- saw you were reading it before we left Kaer Morhen, and it wasn’t finished, so I thought- I bought another one but the opportunity for you to read didn’t come up until now.”

“I- You- Really?”

“Really,” Geralt smiled, “Let me take it out of the bag, I’ll show you.”

He stood up, and removed his clothes from his bag; he had wrapped the book in an old shirt of his, to protect it from shocks and from the rain, should the leather not suffice.

“Here.”

Jaskier took it almost reverently and opened it to the first page, his cheeks still a bit red from the surprise.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged- You did it! Oh, Geralt, I-”

Geralt smiled at him, and came back to sit close to him. He had made Jaskier happy; he hadn’t known whether he would enjoy it, whether it had been a good idea, but to see Jaskier sitting next to the tree, his hands almost caressing the cover of the book, and looking at Geralt like this-

He had made the right choice. But the bard was still speechless, so he nudged him with his elbow before leaning his head against the trunk of the tree.

“Read to me?” he asked, closing his eyes.

He heard Jaskier moving around, probably trying to find a more comfortable position. Then he felt him leaning against his right side, and he smiled, still not opening his eyes. Jaskier tended to do that – getting close to Geralt whenever he could. He didn’t mean it like Geralt wished he did, but it was alright. Jaskier being here was more than enough, he didn’t care if their relationship was platonic or if it was – or if it was not.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” Jaskier started, and Geralt let himself fully relax.

He could hear the smile in Jaskier’s voice as he read on, and here, sitting in the shade of the tree next to the man he loved, Geralt thought that indeed, life wasn’t only made of pain.

***

“Say, Geralt…”

They had set up camp earlier that evening, Geralt not wanting to go on when the night was already falling around them – the mountains were nice, but if he had learned one thing during his life, it was that danger was always lurking and ready to reveal itself when you expected it the least. It wouldn’t have been a problem if he had been traveling alone, but his companion was too precious to risk it.

So settling camp early it was – not that Jaskier would know that Geralt could have gone on; he had started to stop traveling at night when Jaskier first joined him on his travels, first because he thought the bard wouldn’t be able to defend himself against whatever could have attacked them, and then because he didn’t want Jaskier to have to defend himself at all. His hands were made for playing the lute and braiding flowers in Roach’s mane, not for using a sword or his powers against something dangerous. No, that was Geralt’s job, and he was happy to do it if it meant that Jaskier was safe.

Wait, Jaskier had asked him something. He looked at the bard, who was currently lying on his bedroll, face turned towards the stars; Geralt liked to think that Jaskier’s face was illuminated by their light, but it more likely was the fire that was warming them up that was making shadows dance on his cheeks.

Apparently, Jaskier saw on Geralt’s face that he hadn’t heard because he repeated his question slowly, seemingly deliberating about which words to use.

“I said- are you… happy? That we’re here?”

Jaskier bit his lip, an obvious sign of nervousness. Geralt hummed, trying not to think about Jaskier’s mouth.

“Are you?” he asked in return, not to be difficult but because the answer mattered maybe more than his friend would think.

“Am I- You don’t get to do that, I swear, every time I ask something- Yes, you idiot, I am. Now, no getting out of this. Are you?”

If you are happy, then yes, of course I am, Geralt wanted to reply, felt the words burning his tongue as he did his best to hold them back. With you here, how could I not?, he tried to say.

“You’re here, so- yes,” he mumbled, eyes cast on the piece of wood he had been curving. Damn it, he had been so close.

But apparently it was enough, because Jaskier gasped. Geralt absolutely had to look up at that, and here Jaskier was, half-smiling to himself, cheeks red, eyes shining, still lying down but turned towards Geralt.

“Well- I’m glad,” Jaskier said, “I’m glad.”

Silence fell around them - a comfortable silence, one during which thinking about what to say next was not needed because enjoying the other’s presence was enough, a kind of silence that made you want to smile and close your eyes just to be able to enjoy it in its sheerest form.

Sure, there were things that were breaking it – Geralt could hear an animal running a bit far north from where they were, and of course insects were buzzing around them. It would have been overwhelming, but Geralt had found out long ago that focusing on Jaskier’s breath and heartbeat was enough to drown it all out. The very presence of the man was enough for Geralt to feel – well, good wasn’t a feeling, but Geralt had never really succeeded in naming what he was feeling.

Smiling was easier when Jaskier was with him – because Jaskier made him feel happy. Yes, happy, that was the word, Jaskier had had no idea what he had been asking Geralt. It had been like that even before the mountain – though he hadn’t realized how important Jaskier was until he faced the idea of losing him.

Losing Jaskier had always been what Geralt thought about. First he feared that the man would simply grow bored of him, his new fame requiring him to play in courts, away from the path, away from Geralt; then, when it had appeared that Jaskier wasn’t planning to leave, Geralt had feared the man’s mortality. He could defend Jaskier from monsters and at this point would have died to keep him safe, but Geralt couldn’t fight time itself. So when Jaskier had turned out to be as immortal as Geralt was – well. It meant that if Jaskier wouldn’t grow bored, wouldn’t die of old age, Geralt would lose him to his own incapacity of being able to talk.

Ironically, it had been his capacity of being able to talk that had almost made him lose Jaskier.

Jaskier started humming, effectively dissipating Geralt’s dark thoughts. All of that was in the past, he had apologized – no need to think back about it. Jaskier was here, with him, still the same after all these years spent together.

Geralt, on the other hand, had changed; where Jaskier had only lost his boyish features, Geralt had earned new scars. It might have bothered him if each of those new scars didn’t bring with it the fond memory of Jaskier tending to his wounds, frowning like he did when he was really focused on something. Jaskier was in every part of Geralt’s life – of course he was happy to be here with him.

“Geralt?”

He looked at Jaskier. The bard was sitting now, playing with his hands like he often did when he had nothing to occupy them with. Geralt longed to take these calloused yet soft hands in his, but he stayed where he was. He wasn’t allowed to do that, Jaskier was part of his family but- not like that. Which was fine, as they were already physically close – Jaskier would always sleep snuggled against his back, or steal his ale while leaning against Geralt’s side, and that was enough.

“Do you think- Well, I can’t read right now, not enough light, and the stars are just right here, do you think we could- watch them together?”

That would mean lying down next to Jaskier, so close and yet so far, his hands right there to be held – it would feel like torture.

It would also mean making Jaskier happy.

“Okay,” Geralt finally replied, putting down the thing he had been carving. He was trying to make it look like a cat, because Ciri had mentioned that she loved them, but right now it looked like- well, not a cat. But it was okay, he had all year to progress.

He stood up, checking the fire before sitting next to Jaskier, who beamed at him.

He’s smiling as if I have hung the moon and the stars, Geralt thought before snorting. It would make a great joke, if it didn’t reveal a bit too much about what he was truly feeling.

He carefully lay on his bedroll, making sure not to crush anything worthy – Jaskier had once sulked an entire evening because Geralt had inadvertently crushed a flower. How was he supposed to know that the yellow thing next to Jaskier’s bag was a flower and not a weed? Now Geralt didn’t dare to step on any colorful weed either.

Jaskier sighed, before lying back too. Geralt felt him hesitate, before a head carefully rested on his shoulder. It was nice, and Geralt allowed himself one smile.

“I read a book this winter,” Jaskier started, his voice carefully low, “about the constellations and how people had different names for the same ones.”

“Hmm?”

“Okay, so this one-”

Geralt wanted to close his eyes and listen to Jaskier talk, but he found himself unable to stop looking at the constellations Jaskier was showing him with his right hand. The left one was on top of Geralt’s right arm, as if to prevent him from standing up – as if Geralt would ever willingly go away from him. Silly bard.

They stayed up later than they usually did when they slept outside, Jaskier unable to stop talking about the stars and Geralt unwilling to stop listening to him.

If Jaskier’s hand found Geralt’s at some point, well. It was only because he felt cold. Nothing more to see here.

#Geraskier #The Witcher #Geralt of Rivia #Jaskier #geralt x jaskier #Yes Pride and Prejudice exists in The Witcher's universe #I needed a book and idk imagine Jaskier reading it #mage Jaskier #The author hates 'this' and 'that' and constantly uses one instead of the other

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machine-gun-casie · 4 years

Text

Blood And Water

anon: Hey! I just read your guidelines and I was thinking if you could do a fic in which the reader is Dom's sister and she kinda doesn't like Colson that much because she thinks he is going to "corrupt" her baby brother? Idk, just it can go anyway you want, I'd like to see this hate/love relationship between the two

a/n: it kind of turned out platonic but i still really like it and i hope you do too :)

wc: 4k

Knocking was the last thing on his mind as Colson opened the door. Dom said the first door next to the stairs, but there was one on the left and one on the right. How was he supposed to know which one it was supposed to be?

“Hey!” You yelled out, scrambling to cover yourself with a towel. “You ever heard of knocking?”

“Ah!” Colson quickly covered his eyes as he backed out. “Sorry, sorry!” He closed the door and let out a deep breath.

“Shit.” He mumbled to himself as he walked over to Dom’s bedroom, the one to the left. He grabbed a phone charger from the nightstand and dashed back downstairs. Upon seeing his friend on the couch, he let out a laugh. “Didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”

“What?” Dom looked up at Colson as he jumped over the last few steps on the stairs. “What girlfriend?”

“The girl upstairs?” Colson said, plopping down next to Dom.

“Oh no, man.” Dom laughed. “That’s not my girlfriend, that’s y/n.”

“y/n?”

Before Dom could explain, you came down the stairs. Fully dressed, Colson noted. You didn’t even glance towards the couch and headed straight to the kitchen. You grabbed a glass of water from the cupboard and looked over the island to where they were all sitting in the living room. “Dom, who the fuck just walked in on me naked?”

Colson grimaced and raised his hand slightly. “That would be me.”

“You walked in on her naked?!” Dom asked Colson.

“It was an accident!” Colson defended himself before turning to face you. “Look y/n, I’m really sorry. I swear I know how to knock.”

You were standing in front of both of them with a glass of water in hand at this point. “What’s your name?”

“His name’s Colson.” Dom explained, standing up to come and face you. “Listen, we’re working on a song. You wanna help?”

“I’d love to, Dommy, but I’ve got that thing from last night I’ve gotta edit.” You explained with a frown. You loved helping Dom with song writing, it was your favorite thing. But you needed to show him that you took this job seriously, because it was really no joke. “I’ll come down when I’m done, okay?”

“Alright, but don’t take too long.” Dom said as you walked away.

“I’ll try.” You smiled back at him.

As soon as you were out of earshot, Colson giggled. “Dommy?”

“Oi, don’t start!” Dom pointed at Colson. “You’re the one that walked in on her naked. If she hears you making fun of me, she’ll tear you to shreds.”

“Why?” Colson asked with furrowed eyebrows. You weren’t his girlfriend according to Dom. You were clearly not his sister, both looks and accent showed that.

“She’s my sister.” Dom explained as he sat back down and saw Colson’s confused facial expression. “Adopted. Moved into my parent’s house a while back. Been living with us ever since.”

“She moved in?” Colson asked. “Why?”

“Long story.” Dom sighed and when Colson didn’t stop him he continued. “Her mom’s a piece of work. She was actually living with her here in L.A. before she moved to Doncaster. She found her dad there but one thing led to another and she ended up living with us by the time she was twelve.”

“Holy shit.” Colson raised his eyebrows. “So she’s pretty much blood at this point.”

Dom tsked and shocked his head. “Blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood.”

Before Colson could ask, there was a knock at the door. Dom jumped up with an ‘I’ll get it!’ and ran off leaving Colson with some answers but more questions.

A few hours later, you finally finished editing the pictures from Dom’s appearance from the night before. You had begged Dom for months on end to let you work for him, you told him you’d take anything. You were staying with him in the house his label was renting for him in L.A. and you didn’t want to feel like a leech. He finally caved and let you be his official photographer.

You would follow him to his appearances, whether that be radio shows or late night talk shows, and take some pictures while he was in action. A few masterclasses on how to professionally take and edit photos and you were off.

Throwing your head back, you let out a groan as your muscles finally moved out of their hunched over position. A cup of tea would do you good right about now. You skipped over the towel on the floor and tried to suppress the memory of Colson seeing you naked as you left your room.

The laughter and music from downstairs became louder and louder as you came closer. Once you hit the landing, it was clear as to why.

Dom was nursing a bottle of beer while Colson was guzzling down the last shot from a previously full bottle of vodka. You knew because you saw it on the table earlier that day. In the corner was Travis who was just enjoying the show.

“Hey, it’s y/n!” Colson exclaimed, pointing at you.

“y/n!” Dom smiled. “You took ages! We’re celebrating!”

“Did you guys finish the song?” You asked.

“No.” Colson hiccuped. “We’re celebrating the fact that we’re not done.”

“Yes, yes we are.” Dom agreed. “You see, if we were done, which we’re not, then we would have nothing to do. And then we’d be bored. And being bored is the worst thing on planet earth.”

“I think you just wanted an excuse to drink.” You giggled.

“Hey!” Dom shouted with furrowed eyebrows. “You are absolutely correct.”

You ruffled Dom’s hair and sat in an armchair next to Travis. “Hey Trav, how are you?.”

“I’m good, how are you?” Travis smiled at you.

“Never better.”

“Hold up.” Colson sat up straighter and looked between you and Travis. “You two know each other.”

“Yeah, Ash introduced us.” Travis explained. “11 minutes.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” Colson leaned closer towards Travis, yet he was still very far away. “I saw her naked, you know?” He whispered, very loudly.

“What?” Travis barked out in laughter. “Did you two hook up?”

“We did not!” You snapped. “He just doesn’t know how to knock.”

“I said I was sorry!”

Dom had a radio interview the next day, but he apparently forgot to tell you that Colson was going to be there. He mentioned it right as he killed the engine in the parking lot.

“What?” You hissed with wide eyes. “You tell me this now?”

Dom huffed and shook his head. “Yes because I knew you’d drag your feet if I told you earlier.”

“And you would’ve been right!”

“He said he was sorry!” Dom said.

“But then he told Travis! What kind of asshole-

“He’s not an asshole, he was drunk.” Dom cut you off.

“But-”

“No, no buts. Get out of the car, we’re not fighting about this anymore.” Dom opened the car and slammed the door shut.

“Ugh!” You groaned and followed him out.

Silence enveloped only one minute of the five minute walk to the building. You sighed and reached out to loop your arm through Dom’s. “I’m sorry, I’ll try not to be rude to your friend.”

“Try?” Dom chuckled lightly.

“Do you even know this guy, Dom?” You asked. “I don’t wanna generalize but he’s covered in tattoos, he reeks of weed, and he drank a full bottle of vodka in one sitting.”

“You’re kind of generalizing.” Dom snickered.

You looked down at your shoes and sighed. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you. My Hollywood star big brother. Don’t wanna lose you.”

“Don’t get all mushy on me.” Dom pulled his arm out of your hold and put it around your shoulder, pulling you close. “I’ll always be the same kid you’ve known since forever. Blood is thicker than water.”

“But love is thicker than blood.” You continued the phrase, smiling up at him. “Love you.”

The automatic doors of the building opened when you stepped up to them, leading you into the main reception. You followed the signs with Dom to the third floor where his interview was going to be broadcasted.

When the elevator doors opened, you saw Colson sitting in the waiting area outside of the studio. He got up to greet Dom and you kept your distance.

They spoke for a few minutes before Dom was called to start his interview. You rolled your eyes internally knowing that you’d have to stay outside with Colson until Dom was done. He had told you that the pictures could wait until the end and you told him you didn’t mind waiting outside. Boy were you wrong.

You slumped down on the couch next to Colson and hoped for the best.

“Did Dom drag you up here?” Colson asked. You were kind of glad he was starting a conversation because an awkward silence would be… well, awkward.

“No, I came out with him. Part of my job, you know.” You explained, lifting up your small camera as you spoke.

“Your job?” Colson asked.

“Yeah, did Dom not tell you?” Colson shook his head. “I started working for him like last month. I take pictures of his appearances and edit them for his socials.”

Colson hummed and nodded. “Makes sense, my team is all family too.”

“The best kind of team.” You felt your phone ring in your pocket as you replied. You pulled it out and saw that it was an unknown number, so you declined. “You got an interview?”

“Nah, I booked a recording booth upstairs with Mod for a couple hours.” Colson explained, glancing at his watch. “Got a few minutes before I can head in”

“I’m surprised you don’t look like a zombie after last night.” You chuckled. “With the full bottle of vodka and everything.”

Colon leaned back and chuckled. “I’ve done worse.”

“Like walk in on a girl without knocking.”

“I said I was sorry.”

“But then you went and told Travis.”

“I was drunk!” Before you could reply and make it worse, you laughed at yourself. “What’s funny now?” Colson groaned.

“Nothing, I- I just had this exact same argument in the car with Dom.” You laughed.

“You were fighting about me in the car?”

You nodded. “A little. I promised Dom I wouldn’t start this again. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I know it’s a weird first impression.” Colson laughed. “It’s been good talking to you, but I’ve gotta head up to the fifth floor. I’ll see you around?”

You looked up at Colson as he stood up, noting how incredibly tall he is. “Yeah, see you around Colson.”

The next time you saw Colson was a couple weeks later at a recording studio downtown that Dom dragged you to. The song needed some backup vocals and a few redos in terms of recording before it went into the final phase of production.

You’d helped Dom with the song quite a bit at home, but you never went out of your way to attend every studio session with the rest of the team. And you usually loved helping out, especially with backup vocals, but today just wasn’t it. You liked helping out with songs when you didn’t have to drive for an hour and a half to a studio.

You groaned as your stomach flip-flopped from the car ride. “I’m going to throw up if we don’t get there in time.”

“Oi, hold it! Two more minutes, I promise. Fookin’ traffic, I swear.” Dom mumbled. “Col’s going to be there. Will you be good?”

“Hey, I was civil last time.” You defended yourself. “He’s not so bad, I’ll give you that.”

“So you’ll be fine if you’re stuck with him while I’m in the booth.” Dom asked, pulling up in front of the studio next to a purple car.

You nodded. “I’ll be okay, no need to worry about me.”

Dom chuckled as he unfastened his seatbelt. “I always worry about you, pudding face.”

“I thought Dad told you to stop calling me that.” You rolled your eyes as you opened the car door. Your first introduction to Justin’s pudding as a twelve year old left you with a face full of it. Dom found it to be the most hilarious thing back then and proceeded to honor you with the nickname ‘pudding face’. He loved it, you did not.

“Dad’s not here, is he?” Dom called to you over the roof of the car. “That’s a fookin’ sick car, innit?”

“It is.” You agreed. “Is it Colson’s?”

“Yep, he’s waiting inside.”

You followed Dom into the building where he clearly knew his way. You nodded and smiled politely to everyone he greeted with excitement.

Upon opening a door marked ‘studio 7B’, you followed Dom in and saw Colson on the couch with one other guy. Once all the guys hugged it out and introduced who needed to be introduced, Dom turned to you.

“Boys, this is my sister.” Dom motioned to you.

“Hey.” You smiled. “I’m here to take pictures and do some backup vocals.”

“Ay, backup vocals team!” The guy who was introduced to Dom as Rook reached out a hand for a high five.

“Yeah, but she’s mostly here for emotional support.” Dom chuckled as you high fived Rook.

“That too.” You laughed.

Not long after the introductions, Dom and Colson made their way into the recording booth leaving you with Rook.

“So you’re his sister?” Rook asked, not surprising you.

“Adopted.” You answered and he nodded. “You’re doing drums too, right?”

“Yeah, but only ‘cause Trav couldn’t come today.” He explained. “He’s a fuckin’ god on the drums, that guy.”

“Tell me about it.” You gushed. “Watching him play is insane.”

“That’s what everyone says when I play.” Rook said with a smirk.

“I bet.” You nodded. “Drums are just like that.”

“Mhm.” Rook hummed in agreement before chuckling. “Kells told me about the idiot move he made when you guys first met.”

You chuckled and rolled your eyes. “The biggest idiot move.”

Rook laughed and darted his eyes towards Colson in the booth. “Don’t be too hard on him though, he felt really bad after.”

“It’s alright.” You shrugged. “Only gave him shit for a little bit. Enough to keep him on his toes.”

“Good.” Rook nodded. Before he could continue, Colson popped out of the booth and slumped down on the couch next to you.

“Rook, you good for doing some vocals with Dom?” He asked, voice sounding somewhat pained.

Rook nodded and tossed him a ‘yeah, sure’ before heading into the booth.

“You feeling okay?” You couldn’t help but be concerned.

Colson raised an eyebrow at you and laughed. “What? You don’t hate me anymore?”

“Pfft, you know I had to give you some shit about that.” You said light heartedly. “But seriously though, you don’t look too good.”

“I’ll be fine.” Colson brushed you off. “Got some chest pains. It’ll pass.”

“You sure?” Colson nodded. “Damn, you musicians always got me worried.”

“Why, Dom getting in trouble?” Colson chuckled.

“No, but I gotta keep him in check.” You glanced up through the glass at Dom and Rook in the booth and giggled. “Like right now.”

The two of them were throwing around drumsticks at each other and not doing the backup vocals they were supposed to be in there for. You hopped up and leaned over the control panel and hit the button under the mike and spoke directly into their headphones. “I thought you were supposed to be doing backup vocals, not whatever this is.”

Dom looked up and made eye contact with you and laughed. “Come in and do ‘em yourself if you want ‘em done!”

You rolled your eyes and sat back down, choosing to ignore your brother. Soon enough, the light sound of them singing the chorus seeped into the room through the glass.

As you sat down, you felt your phone in your back pocket start vibrating. You pulled it out and saw the same unknown number that had been calling for a couple days. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion before declining the call.

“You need to take that?”

“What?” You looked up at Colson and shook yourself out of it. “Oh sorry, no I don’t. Anyways, what were we talking about?”

The world was tuned out as you walked around the set with your headphones in. It was the last day for the music video shoot and the vibe on set was pretty relaxed. They were doing a few reshoots and crowd shots, simple stuff. And since your appearance wasn’t necessary, you decided a little walk to that smoothie place down the street couldn’t hurt anyone.

One last turn near Colson’s trailer before the exit and then you heard… screaming? Someone was shouting so loud at the gate that you could hear them through your music. You paused your playlist and listened closely to try and decipher the words.

“My daughter is in there! You can’t be serious!” A voice you almost forgot screamed.

“Ma’am, you can’t be here. You can wait for your daughter outside.” You heard the security guard say.

You stayed hidden behind Colson’s trailer when you heard the door open. You heard Colson’s boots hit the ground as he approached the lady.

“Can I help you?” Colson asked. Ugh, Colson! You knew he was only trying to help, but now? With your- this lady? Of all people, this lady?

“You!” You heard the lady say gleefully, no doubt pointing directly at Colson. “You’re exactly who I need right now! Listen young man, my daughter is on this set and I need to see her. It’s a family emergency. Her name is y/n.”

You didn’t hear Colson say anything, clearly gauging the situation himself. He knew enough to know that this was not your mother. At least not anymore. Before you would have to struggle through a response, you decided to leave your hiding spot and face her before shit got ugly.

“She’s about this tall and she’s got- Oh, there she is!” She gleamed when she saw you. You felt your stomach churn when you laid eyes on her for the first time in years. “y/n! y/n, over here!”

Colson held you back by your shoulder before you approached her, making you look up into his eyes. He seemed to be asking if you really wanted to do this and you nodded, but you didn’t want him to leave. “Stay?” You whispered, and he nodded.

He stayed a few steps behind you as you approached your mother.

“Oh y/n! Look at you, so gorgeous.” She breathed out, sending shivers down your spine. You couldn’t count the number of times she had complimented before you left her because she never did. “You look just like your momma.”

“What are you doing here?” You asked, not playing along with her little act.

“Like I was saying to that fine man over there,” She pointed at Colson and smiled, “we’ve got a family emergency.”

“What do you need me for? I’m not family to you.”

“Don’t be silly, of course you’re family. I’ve been calling for you ages, but you never pick up.” She spoke through gritted teeth. “Don’t cause a scene, stupid girl.” She whispered and leaned forward, grabbing your wrist with a tight grip. She pulled you towards her and reached up to pull at your hair like she always did when you were a kid.

Before she could yank your hair, you pulled your hand away and stumbled backwards into Colson who grabbed you by the shoulders. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

She gasped loudly. “How dare you scream at your mother?!” She walked towards you and slapped you across the face.

“What the fuck, are you insane?!” Colson yelled, pulling you away from her.

“And who the fuck are you, huh?” She spat at him, sickly sweet cover up gone as quickly as it always did.

“I’m your worst fucking nightmare.” Kells seethed. “If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the fucking cops. You hear me?”

“You think I’m afraid of some cops?” She laughed. “Call ‘em. See if I care.”

Colson stared her down before turning to the security guard. “Can you please escort this lady off the premises?”

“Sure thing, boss.” He nodded and grabbed her arms and held them behind her back. Her screams and yells became background noise as you watched Colson turn to you.

“Are you alright?” He asked, pulling your hand away from your cheek and wincing at the sight of your swollen red skin.

“I’m fine.” You sniffled. “Please don’t tell Dom.”

Dodging sweaty bodies right and left, none of them were the person Colson was looking for. He wasn’t expecting you to come to the wrap party after what happened earlier, but Dom told him that you had arrived with him.

Knowing why you didn’t want Dom to know, Colson promised you he wouldn’t say anything. Dom was letting loose and celebrating the end of their hard work. If he had seen what happened a few hours ago, he wouldn’t be as carefree and happy as he is now. Colson sent him a nod and a smile from afar as he continued his search for you.

Every room, bathroom, corner, nook, and cranny was searched, but to no avail. His house was packed with people, but not to the degree in which he couldn’t find a specific someone anywhere at all. He pulled out a joint and lit it in frustration. He puffed out the smoke as he bound up the stairs two at a time. He needed a breather, and the best place for that was his balcony.

The party was almost completely shut out once Colson shut his bedroom door, yet he could still feel the bass of the speakers in his feet. He stepped over piles of clothes and dodged three suitcases from his last three trips to the airport. Pushing open the balcony door, he felt the fresh air hit him.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and stepped out into the moonlight.

“Hey.”

His bedroom balcony is not where he expected to find you after everywhere he looked.

“Fuck dude, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Colson sighed, coming to lean against the railing next to you.

“Sorry.” You said softly. “Needed a breather. After what happened.”

“Me too.” He said before taking a drag from his joint and letting it out from his nostrils. “That was fucking heavy.”

“Tell me about it.” You chuckled darkly. “Glad it’s over.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” Colson turned to you.

“I’m not really sure.” You mused. “I think I was eleven.”

“Holy shit.” He said, eyes wide.

“Yeah.” You nodded. “There was the court stuff when I was thirteen, but I don’t remember much of it.”

“I get it.” Colson said. “Mine came over every couple of months after she left, but I don’t remember any of it. Good thing, too. I don’t wanna remember that shit.”

“Blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood.” You said the phrase out of instinct, not really thinking of it. It was the catchphrase of the Harrison family as soon as you moved in with them, everyone said it at least once a day.

“Why do you say that all the time?” Colson asked.

“What?”

“You and Dom.” Colson motioned to the back where Dom was downstairs. “You always say that. I’ve heard it almost every day since we started writing this song together. Blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood. Why?”

“It’s this song. Dad would play it for me every night for the first year I stayed with them.” You smiled and recalled the lyrics. “Our family never shared the same last name, but our family was a family the same. And they say blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood. Kind of turned into our catchphrase.”

“It’s a good catchphrase to have.” Colson nodded. “You don’t just get to be called family, you earn it.”

Colson held out his joint towards you and stood up a bit straighter. “To our fucked up childhoods.”

You laughed and took the joint from between his fingers.

“To our fucked up childhoods.”

#machine gun kelly #mgk #colson baker #machine gun kelly fanfic #machine gun kelly x reader #machine gun kelly fluff #machine gun kelly imagine #mgk fanfic #mgk fluff #mgk imagine #mgk x reader #colson baker fanfic #colson baker x reader #colson baker fluff #colson baker imagine #richard colson baker #request

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gladiatortale · 3 years

Text

My DEPRESSION BEATING, fandom obsessing, shit-tastic FANTASTIC year in review!

TL;DR: I’m fixing my mental health and figuring out WHO THE FUCK I AM one fandom filled day at a time! Thank you to everyone who’s been there for me along the way. xoxo

what’s up HEATHENS.

stating the goddamn obvious here, it’s been a HELLUVA YEAR. One emotional rollercoaster after another but we’re ALMOST DONE. I know things aren’t gonna magically get better the second it flips to 00:01 on January first, but I’m excited to put this year behind me, and (SHOCKINGLY) a bit sad to see it go.

It was a year where the whole world completely stopped, we realized what is really important, what is really worth fighting for, and took a GODDAMN SECOND to just breathe.

For me personally, the year (which I’m counting off from November 1st) started out UNBELIEVABLY SHIT. I had just been kicked out of the country I called home for the last four years (thank you Brexit), I had ZERO job prospects, my depression was the WORST it had ever been, and I just didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. And in the beginning, the pandemic felt like salt in the wound, an extra kick in the teeth to my early twenties that had already “failed to launch.”

But I tried to embrace the madness, really take advantage of the world (that I always thought moved to fast) properly slowing down, and take time to try and become myself again. I wanted to figure out what I loved and try and become a bit more like the person I was before my depression got so bad.

I often say I became that Manic Trash Planet Lady™ you see in sci-fi adventure films; a bit zany to say the least, with a million ideas and a very eclectic fashion sense, but embracing the insanity as it comes...

*cough cough* audrey, get to the goddamn point!

Right. lol. THE POINT IS!

I’m not 100% “healed”, I’m not sure if I think depression is a “oh look you’re officially cured! hooray!” type of disease, but this year I let myself ENJOY SHIT for the first time in god knows how long. I still don’t know “wHaT i WaNt To dO WiTh mY LiFe”, but I’ve got a better idea and I’m heading in (what feels like) the right direction. And most of all, I can look back and say I am better than where I was a year ago.

So I wanted to say T H A N K Y O U to the mad lads on this website that introduced me to the fandoms, shows, movies, fics... THE SHIT that made me happy this year and were there to be one (BIG) piece in my healing journey.

AND SO, with out further rambling ADO! Here are the highlights of the year marked by my ridiculous hyper-fixations and OBSESSIONS. Thanks for putting up with me ya fiends, xoxox

November 2019 The Arcana (Visual Novel)

I had just gotten home and I was in a LOOOOOOW place. Randomly decided to download this app when it came up and it proceeded to ruin my life (and my bank account...) for pretty much the rest of the year. It was exactly what I needed to get me through a tough time and I was thoroughly, horse-blinders-up-to-the-rest-of-the-world, OBSESSED. These gorgeous magical fiends ruined me and all I could say was thank you.

Joined the fandom: November 2019 Obsession peaked: Late November Obsession faded: December 2019; I started a new job AND my bank statement came in and I realized I had accidentally spent over SIXTY BUCKS on this stupid app. No ragrets, but I definitely started to phase out at that point. Fandom friends: Velma, (@lanavxds on insta) miss you girlie xx Fanfics you NEED to read: ‘Second Mistake’ by DeathBelle on AO3, because DAAAAAYUM SON. Favourite moments: Basically the whole of the Julian arc. That gangly himbo OWNED my ass for a month.

December 2019 Hazbin Hotel (TV Series)

Y’ALL okay here me out. Am I proud of this one? No. Is the show crass as hell? OOOOOOOOHHHH YEAH. Did my angsty ass love it at the end of last year? DAMN STRAIGHT IT DID. Goes without saying, but this is NOT FOR EVERYBODY, but it definitely helped me along the way to becoming more comfortable with myself and being open about being the massive geek that I always was, and watching things I enjoy regardless of what people say about it.

Joined the fandom: December 2019 Obsession peaked: Shortly there after. Fandom friends: None. Dipped one toe in fandom discourse and then promptly YEETED the fuck outta there. Obsession faded: January 2019. Still curious to see the full series if A24 actually ever does produce the whole thing, but I have def moved away from it. Fanfics you NEED to read: Haven’t read any. Maybe I’m a pussy baby piece-o-shit, but I DID NOT want to go down that rabbit hole, NO MA’AM. Favourite moments:

Discovering the Hunicast podcast. These guys are a riot and Ashley is a flustered GEM. Even if you don’t watch the show, go watch an episode of these fucking LADS just dicking about and your day will get better.

Watching the first episode with my partner and watching him realize his girlfriend is a total freak.

January 2020 Lore Olympus (Webtoon Comic)

*Officially* discovered this one thanksgiving weekend in 2019, but my Arcana phase was still raging pretty strong at that point so I didn’t really get in to it until later. EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER NEEDS TO READ IT. It has everything and handles the reality sexual assault and it’s aftermath EXTREMELY well.

Joined the fandom: Late November 2019 Obsession peaked: January 2020 Fandom friends: KELLEY. MA GIRL XOXOXO Obsession faded: June-ish 2020. I’m like 10 chapters behind now, but I still love this story so much. Fanfics you NEED to read: SO MANY ON MY ‘MARKED FOR LATER’ LIST AAAAAH. I have to get to that... NEW YEARS RESOLUTION lol Favourite moments: Having a drunk conversation on New Years Eve in 2019 with one of my oldest friends from high school about how much she loved it too. Helped me see how popular fandom and fandoms, are especially after feeling like I needed to hide my enthusiasm through high school and uni. (THAT WAS A MISTAKE BUT I’LL GET THERE IN A MINUTE).

February 2020 Versailles (TV Series)

SO FUCKING GAY Y’ALL. Oh my god everyone in this show is so gay. Even when they’re not they still are a little bit. AND BEST OF ALL!! it’s very historically accurate (except for the demon satanic nonsense in season 3, what was that???)

Joined the fandom: February 2020 Obsession peaked: Like??? The SECOND I finished episode one. Fandom friends: none... WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU??? Obsession faded: March 2020. It was a fast and passionate love affair, what can I say? Fanfics you NEED to read: IF YOU HAVE RECS, GIVE ‘EM TO MEEEEE. Favourite moments:

Showing the first episode to a friend of mine and the *ungodly GASP* that came out of her throat was... PRICELESS.

The ENTIRE throuple(???) relationship between the Chevalier, Philipe, and Palatine. PLATONIC/ ROMANTIC LOVE G O A L S.

March 2020 Yuri!!! On Ice (TV Series)

*deep breath* ...y’all knew this one was coming.

Was I ready for this show to ruin my fucking life? No. Am I so glad it happened??? FUCK YEAH.

NEVER IN MY LIFE have I fallen off the deep end so quickly with a fandom. HOLY SHIT. This blog didn’t have much of an “identity” before, but I you said that this is a Yuri On Ice blog now I wouldn’t even be mad (nor could I really defend myself to the contrary... bc??? like??? just go LOOK at my archive). Craziest thing is I watched the first two episodes like?? a solid TWO YEARS ago, but I didn’t continue watching because I was just not in the right head space for all the love and silliness and positivity.

I could do a whole separate post about how much this show and how this fandom has changed my life (DON’T TEMPT ME I JUST MIGHT). But I’ll stick with the highlights for now ;)

Joined the fandom: March 2020 Obsession peaked: Has it peaked?? Went straight up and it still going lol Fandom friends: Sandra, my mentor, my queen @aeriamamaduck, my fandom ride-or-die. Thank you for taking this internet bby under your wing. RACHEL @idancewiththefairies I TRAPPED YOU HERE. MUAHAHAHA xxx Obsession faded: ON GOING. CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP. Fanfics you NEED to read: jfc, SO MANY.

‘Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches’ and ‘Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts’ by Reiya @kazliin -- Rivals AU companion pieces. Longest fics I’ve ever read and JESUS CHRIST these two fucking SENT ME. Most popular YOI fics on AO3 for a REASON.

‘Tell Me Where Your Love Lies’ by @aeriamamaduck -- Royalty AU, trope-breaking ABO. Ah sweet, TMWYLL, how you’ve killed me over and over again. This BEAUTIFUL wip has SUCH amazing world-building idk where to start (Congrats on passing 50,000 hits!) EVERYONE GO READ IT.

‘Blackbird’ by sixpences -- WWII/Coldwar Spy Fic. I don’t have enough words to describe how amazing this is. It’s elevated to a higher plane beyond fanfic. Just go read it. Thank me later.

‘Zanka’ by rinsled05 @dreaming-fireflies -- The geisha fic that ruined me. *deep breath* AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH *gasp* I’m fine. lol I sooooo not ready for this fic. Holy hell, Aoyagi had my heart in his hands from the first chapter. “’Please’ [...] ‘Don’t give me hope.’“ FUUUUCK.

‘Echoes’ by Reiya @kazliin -- Future fic. First fic I cried at... BOI. I was NOT ready for this. Shouldn’t be surprised given the author, but MAN. “‘A love like that, a love like what they had together, it never leaves completely.’ Yuri spoke again, eyes still staring out onto the ice, lost in memory. ‘There are always echoes.’” JUST FUCK ME UP.

Favourite moments: Oh good lord, where do I begin??

Having two (count ‘em TWO) main characters with mental health issues (Yuuri and his anxiety and Victor with burn out and depression) and NOT MAKING IT THE ONLY ASPECT OF THEIR PERSONALITY. CLAPS FOR KUBO AND YAMAMOTO!!

Everything about Yurio (ESPECIALLY HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH YUUKO AND HIS GRANDPA), that tsundere motherfucker is too pure for this world.

THE KISS. THE PROPOSAL. MY HEART WASN’T READY. AAAAAH!!

This fandom *properly* introducing me to smut on AO3...

Thinking I was going to get Rachel to like the show... NOT being prepared for her to fall off the deep end and START LIKING REAL SKATING TOO!!

Staying up waaaaaay too late waaaaaay too often to plan out plot points for TMWYLL with Sandra. Love ya dearie.

The warm fuzzy feeling I get every time I think about Victor and Yuuri.

April 2020 Bungou Stray Dogs (TV Series)

I had a hunch I was gonna like this show considering ALL of the characters are based off of famous classic authors from around the world... what I was NOT prepared for was just HOW MUCH I was going to love it. HOLY SHIT. The art style? Love it. The plot?? Bonkers, but so fun. THE VOICE CAST??? AMAZING. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to get in to anime, great place to start.

Joined the fandom: April 2020 Obsession peaked: Probably this summer? But we have DEF plateaued in a VERY high place. Fandom friends: FIJI. MA BOIIIII @lil-1nsane Obsession faded: Hasn’t. Hope it doesn’t Fanfics you NEED to read: So so so many. The smut in this fandom is *chef’s kiss*, but here are a few...

‘He Works Hard For the Money’ by CataclysmicEvent @cataclysmicevent2019 -- Sugar Daddy AU. FUCK MAN. I was not expecting to like this one, but bloody hell. This fic grabbed me by the throat and WOULD NOT let me go. Praying for chapter 16! But the author is working on another STELLAR fic so I’m okay for now.

‘Everything or Nothing’ by CataclysmicEvent @cataclysmicevent2019 -- University AU. FUCK THIS FIC. Started reading it as I was waiting for HWHFTM to update and BOI, this fic ROCKS. The alternating POV fits so well with the enemies/idiots-to-lovers vibe. Solid 10 outta 10.

‘The City Where Wind Blows’ by @raven-rein -- Cancer Death fic. *pained shriek* AAAAAAGUUUUUUUHHHH *gasp* aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, FUUUCCCCCCCCCKKKK MEEEEE. THIS FIC. Only the second fic I’ve ever cried to but I BAWLED MY GODDAMN EYES OUT. FUUUUUUUCK. I was not ready, never would have been ready. This is so tremendously well done, it killed me so beautifully,

‘Haunted by Hatred’ by DeathBelle -- Canon compliant Soukoku. It is a CRIME that DeathBelle doesn’t have more BSD fics on her page, but this one is still brilliant.

Favourite moments:

THE CHUUYA-DAZAI MAFIA REUNION TEAM UP WHEN THEY FIGHT LOVECRAFT. Ooof. BOI. We love it.

The first three episodes. Soooo many break neck plot twists.

Every insane hypothetical conversation with Fiji.

Every time Atsushi or Tanizaki is on screen bc I LOVE THESE LIL BEANS.

June 2020 Trash Taste (Podcast)

Goddamn I love these chaotic lads so much.

As I became more and more comfortable with myself and my love for anime I stumbled upon these three goons, -- Joey, Connor, and Garnt, -- best known for there SUPER successful (mostly) anime YouTube channels. Even if you don’t watch anime, WATCH/LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST. The focus is mostly on their lives and the overall expat/immigrant experience, with a bit of anecdotal anime references sprinkled in.

This show is both wholesome and heathenous in equal measure, and after having lived abroad for a significant portion of my (admittedly still quite short) life, it was such a breath of fresh air to hear people talk so openly about how living outside your home country is both wonderful and terrifying. They’re wonderfully candid about the fact that even if you love a place dearly, no where is perfect, and you WILL hate somethings about your new home even if the majority of the experience is fantastic. I cannot rate this show highly enough.

Joined the fandom: June 5th 2020, loved it from the first episode. Obsession peaked: July maybe? I was RELIGIOUS about watching the episodes as soon as they came out. Still watch every week, but less “on time.” Fandom friends: None :( but I have tricked my partner in to listening several times :) Obsession faded: It’s dimmed from where it was, but still going strong. Fanfics you NEED to read: NONE. NEVER PLAN TO. Hard and fast rule, I don’t read fics about real people. Characters played by real people, even that’s a maybe for me. But real-real people? FUCK NO. (some of my) Favourite moments:

Any time Garnt and Connor get into a big-brain-monkey-brain argument and Joey is just LOSING his GODDAMN MIND in the corner.

Bringing a retired Japanese porn star in the show for an honest conversation about consensual sex work and showing people can have more than one career in life.

Everything about the, ‘Are Online Friends Real Friends?’ episode. GO WATCH IT, it’s brilliant.

Garnt making “chotto-THE-FUCKING-matte” an expression

August 2020 Great Pretender (TV Series)

Spent most of the summer marinating in my BSD and YOI bubbles, until THIS BAD BOI came up on my Netflix recommendations. HOOOO BOI. This is some Anime Of The Year shit right here. Has a pretty original concept (Catch Me If You Can by way of Oceans 11-ish) but generally starts out like most other shounen (sans the super powers). AND THEN EPISODE FIVE HAPPENS. Not gonna spoil it but they TOOK THAT SHIT UP A NOTCH. Brilliant, even with a bit of an insane ending. GO WATCH THIS ONE.

Joined the fandom: August 2020 Obsession peaked: Pretty much as soon as I started watching it. Fandom friends: What’s up Fiji ;) @lil-1nsane Obsession faded: Naturally faded, but so glad I watched Fanfics you NEED to read: None so far! Little scared about this one, heard mixed reviews, but maybe someday. Favourite moments:

Edamame’s “madness arc” at the end of season 2. HOOOO BOY.

Laurent getting fucking WRECKED when Edamame punches him mid way through season 2, kills me every time.

Introducing my partner to anime with this show.

October 2020 Attack on Titan (TV Series)

RETURN OF THE KING. lol

In my quest to find an anime that I can watch with my partner, I turned on season 1 of this bad boi. Holy hell I forgot how much I loved this show, NO WONDER everyone lost their goddamn minds when this show first aired. I NEED to catch up before all the season four spoilers come to get me...

Joined the fandom: Winter 2016 Obsession peaked: Basically as soon as I started watching it. Fandom friends: None yet, but I know you’re out there... Obsession faded: 2017, JUST BEFORE SEASON TWO... I should have stuck around longer I know, but it’s slowly coming back. Reeeeeally need to catch up on seasons two, three, and four. Fanfics you NEED to read: GIVE ME YOUR RECS HEATHENS. Favourite moments:

Watching my partner FREAK OUT about Eren’s “death.”

EVERYTHING ABOUT POTATO GORL! lol

Getting in a conversation with a die hard fan after I hadn’t watched it in three years and saying... “Who’s that blond bitch that cries all the time?”/ “Armin?”/ “THAT’S THE ONE!”

November 2020... kind of. Figure Skating (Sport)

Okay this one is a bit hard to explain.

I have been a DIE HARD figure skating for A LOOOOOONG time. My grandmother got me a hat from the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and I remember watching even then. But I first became consciously aware of different skaters, my faves, etc. from about 2010. I vividly remember watching Plushenko skating in 2014 while on a school trip to Hawaii, and my friends laughing at me as I yelled at the TV.

But I didn’t TRULY get involved in the fandom side of it until this year. I had all this knowledge bottled up, but didn’t have any skating friends to talk to... UNTIL NOW. Super ironic that this happened in a year with almost NO skating, but I’ll take what I can get ;) Also did I stay up until FOUR-GODDAMN-THIRTY IN THE MORNING a few nights ago to stream Japanese Nationals on my phone??? YOU BET I DID.

Joined the fandom: Three times; 2002, 2010, and 2020. Obsession peaked: 2014? 2018? Idk it peaks any time someone does something amazing. Fandom friends: Rachel, my girl @idancewiththefairies, WHY DIDN’T I INTRODUCE YOU TO THIS SOONER??? Obsession faded: Hasn’t. Won’t. lol Fanfics you NEED to read: NOPE. NONE. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. No fanfics about real people. Never gonna change that. (some of my) Favourite moments:

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir doing THAT routine at the 2018 Olympics.

Rachel sheepishly admitting to me that Shoma may have replaced Yuzu as her favourite, and me being SO DAMN PROUD of her for growing and developing her own skating opinions apart from me.

Yuzu’s 2012 ‘Romeo and Juliet’ routine and Worlds. THE RAW FUCKING POWER OF THAT SKATE.

Plushenko, cheeky bastard, changing his 2014 Team Event routine AS IT WAS HAPPENING.

The worlds friendliest rivalry between Yuzu and Nathan.

Any thing the Shibutani’s do, and all they do to break up the stereotype that all of Ice Dancing has to be rOmAnTiC and SeNsUaL to be good.

Watching my early faves become coaches and the D R A M A.

Honorable Mentions:

Coco (Film): I watched this the weekend I came home and I owe this movie a lot. It is so sweet an heartwarming, and it a roundabout way it brought me back to Tumblr (needed somewhere to vent my feelings considering I watched the movie a solid THREE YEARS after it came out, Tumblr seemed like the place to go lol). Watched in again in 2020 and it’s just as amazing.

Jekyll and Hyde (All media): Loved this book from the first time I read it in my first year of uni. But in December 2019, my fandom understanding reached its PEAK. The musical?? The comic?? YOOOOOO.

Dear Evan Hansen (Musical): I have BARELY engaged in fandom discourse, but the MUSIC. She fucking SLAPS.

Sirius the Jaeger (TV Series): This show is such an underrated gem. It literally has so much; "dead” family drama? Eclectic international group of monster hunters? Cowboys and vampires?? Yes, yes, and YES. And the main character has the same Japanese voice actor as Atsushi from BSD!

Studio Ghilbi (Films): My love affair with Ghibli goes back to when I was about 5 and BEGGED my mom to take me to the library so we could rent Kiki’s Delivery Service on DVD. But that love has been FULLY rejuvenated this year when I went to the Ghibli Film Festival in New York City (ironically in the last week in February). If you haven’t seen them, go watch From Up On Poppy Hill, Whisper of the Heart, and The Wind Rises. Spoilers, you’re probably gonna cry.

If you’ve made it this far, THANK YOU FOR READING!

And thank you to all the amazing people that made my 2020 not so horrible. Good riddance 2020, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

#2020 #mental health #appreciation post #figure skating #studio ghibli #coco #attack on titan #great pretender #bungou stray dogs #trash taste #versailles tv #yuri!!! on ice #the arcana game #hazbin hotel #anime #fandom

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retroandreal · 4 years

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Hanging by a Moment (Lucien Rivercrest x MC)

Hey guys, its ya girl with another ficcy fic. So while I was writing this one here, I unconsciously took a massive left-turn and this turned into a “His POV” type of situation. I’m not even mad because I loved when Lovestruck did those little extras for the characters. I was also jumping for joy when they brought them back for Havenfall is for Lovers. Tagging @official-alex-cyprin

AN: Four snippets of Lucien’s POV from when he first met MC to winning the bake off, the most iconic scenes that stuck out in my opinion. Especially that spat with Vallia. (lil biss). This is inspired by the song ‘Hanging by a Moment’ by Lifehouse and this called for major fluff feels. TBH, all my fics have had major fluff feels. Guess it’s time to change my Tumblr banner name…

Sweet Enchantments café; my second lifeline. I’ve basically be annexed from my family after I landed myself in this rehabilitation center. I don’t resent it; I love to bake since it was what my grandmother raised my brother and I with. Now, It seems like my brother doesn’t even know me as well. Once you’re charged with a federal offence, I guess not even your family will back you up. Grandma was really the only one that believed in me. I was meant to inherit the Rivercrest business, but I knew it wasn’t ever going to be for me. Grandma knew that baking was all I had and that’s exactly how it led me to be the pastry chef at Sweet Enchantments. The owner and coordinator, Liora, has been more than welcoming of my desires and use my magic for presentation. Every day done; I would make the daily sweets for the display case but save the dessert acrobatics for the crowds of women that formed my fan-base. They feed my confidence and my ego, I know I’m good at what I do but it’s all on a day-to-day basis, no sustenance or real joy but I know I have to make the most of this second chance.

“Lucien! Pay attention!” Runa snaps at me, she’s the head waitress here at the café. I respect her as a coworker and a friend; we’re all in the same boat here

“Yeah yeah, sorry. I need to prep anyway before we open” I stand up abruptly and the chair that I once occupied screeches across the tiled floor. Another day, another day closer to the end of my sentence and I promise you, grandma, I will make you proud.

The afternoon rush hits; and my pastry counter is the busiest in the café in exception to the main dining floor

“Hello ladies, ready for today’s spectacle?” Met with squealing cries of excitement, I begin my magic-filled performance. ‘Oooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’ overcome my senses as my ego is constantly being fed, this is fine. The temporary bliss of adoration is enough to get me through the day, never more but only just enough. That’s when I see her; lost, wide-eyed, in awe of her surroundings. Like a lost puppy looking for its owner, or maybe in hopes of finding something… or someone. She is probably a first-timer here. I turn my back to fetch one of my enchanted whisks and cast a spell to beat my egg-whites into soft peaks to form the perfect meringue.

I turn back, she’s there

Looking just as starstruck as she did before

Then meets my eyes as I finish the final touches on the tarts just assembled for the crowd in front of me.

The wind subtly shifts around me

“She’s different” I murmur under my breath

“I-I was looking for my scarf and I stumbled across this café! I’m sorry” she stammers, as if she’s in the wrong. I shake my head in disbelief, this girl is so naïve. I hold out the last of the batch of tarts.

“Try one” I offer her

She accepts gratefully and our hands briefly touch, with little jolts of energy travelling between us.

“She’s different”

~~~~~~~

“Lucien! Come join me!” as she pats the bed just beside her energetically. She’s always been one for stories; telling and reading them. Standing still in my place, I debate whether I should join her since, lately, I have been growing some sort of feelings for her. I cannot fathom what these feelings are yet. I wouldn’t say I love her or even have a crush on her, but I’ll say that I do care for her.

“Ok, I’ll take your invitation” I make myself comfortable next to her. God, I can still smell the buttery pastry scent on her from when we were preparing the tart base for tomorrow’s day.

She smells like home, not the home where my parents are.

But the home where grandma raised me.

Surrounded by the same scents.

She smells like home, and I feel the most at ease with her presence here.

The sound of her voice and narration just becomes white noise in my ears as all that I can concentrate on is the engulfing scent radiating off her clothes from today she still has on, refusing to change until we have finished our platonic pillow-talk. She’s constantly pulling me in with how much she eases my incomplete heart with just her being beside me. I have not felt this way in a long time. She’s filling a void within me that hasn’t even been filled by my daily ego boosts but yet she makes me feel like I can conquer the world with just a whisk, oven and a few ingredients.

I’m closer to where I started, I was desperate for changing, but now I’m chasing after you

She swats my shoulder closest to her

“Hey! Get your head out of the clouds! Are you even listening to me?”

I chuckle deeply at her childish whining

“Don’t laugh, Lucien! It’s not funny! How long was I even talking to myself” she complains as she makes a god-awful attempt at an angry, threatening face and burying her face into my pillow

Dammit, is this what I’ve been missing? Comfort? I find myself not missing the presence of grandma as much ever since she’s been appointed my pastry apprentice. She’s made baking for me an enjoyable experience again, not just some monotonous chore just to by myself time throughout my sentence. She’s learnt so much within the past few days, she reminds me from back when I used to learn how to bake with grandma and my brother in the kitchen when I was just a kid. I’ve learnt how to accept and share my love of baking with other people and not just put on a show for my own reputation, to share my love of baking with her.

She forgets all that I’m lacking, how I’m completely incomplete

I’m done living for the tedious days in and days out, I want to make her life as filling as mine has become with her in it. I feel a little bit self-conscious and guilty that her basically being held hostage in Sweet Enchantments is my fault; If I had not shamelessly tried to show off my magic in front of her on that very day I met her, she would probably be home safe and sound. Not stuck here, illegally, glamoured, and awaiting the official response from the government which is, frankly, taking a decade and a half.

I have this need inside me to keep her happiness. Selfish as I am, I hope to wake up to that smile of hers for as many mornings as I can.

~~~~~

Vallia is relentless. Giving her a piece and half of her mind. But she’s not taking it herself.

My headstrong angel. The way Vallia is giving her a threat. Maybe it’s the way she’s looking at her, or maybe how long she’s been tormenting her. She doesn’t back down. Instead, she holds her own against the force of nature which is Vallia. She advances on Vallia, thrusting one of her perfectly delicate fingers towards her.

“I did NOT do anything to you, and I don’t deserve the way you have been treating me”

“Well, it’s not my fault that you are a screw up”

Oh my, Vallia. You couldn’t have said anything else as wrong as that to her. The bickering goes back and forth. I want to defend her. I really do. But I know I have to trust her that she can stand up for herself, because I have full faith in her self-defense as much as her ability to keep up with me; in the café as my apprentice as well as dealing with everything that has been dumped on her… because of me.

My mind is running and not quite sure where to go, so I continue to stand there. Proud of her, and her willingness to stand up for her own rights, self-worth and our relationship that was ungratefully exposed by Vallia herself.

“You’ve pushed and pushed me. I should CRUSH you”

I’m shellshocked by the hardness of her words, usually in the place of words of encouragement and love for me. But now, she’s furious. I try my hardest to hold back a small grin but fail when she catches the corners of my mouth twitching, unable to hold back the proud feeling I have toward this woman at this very moment.

I haven’t stepped in yet. I’m surprised I haven’t, But I trust her with my life. I’m letting go of all that I’ve held on to; my reputation, my image… for her. But I don’t care, I would give up a lifetime of fangirls and temporary loyalty just to make sure she’s the only one standing by my side at the end of the day. If the previous weeks haven’t proven anything to me, at this moment, I know that she is the one that I want; to support me throughout the rest of my sentence and the rest of my life.

I was living for the only thing I ever knew

But now, I want to live to make her happy

Right beside me

And I don’t intend on letting her get away

She’s taken all of me now, and I’m damn lucky to have her

Since that fateful day she literally stumbled into my life, till even now, I don’t know what I’m diving into. My little firecracker, she ignites a new light within my self to continue, to continue to grow. I want to grow and learn alongside her. Life has become so unpredictable with her in it, from the slight points of contact while we work in perfect harmony behind the pastry counter. To the secret rendezvous in the café storage room. While I run my hands through her hair and place soft, peppery kisses into the junctions of her neck where I know will ignite the most delectable of reactions from her. Those little moment where I can be myself with her in my room makes me proud to stand next to her. Hanging onto these little moments that I’ve had with her urge me to keep going. And I’m going to make sure that she is with me, every step of the way.

~~~~~

“And the winner of the bake-off is…”

I’m nervous. The most uneasy I have ever been in my life, but not for my own sake. For her sake. She encouraged me to compete as a new baker and, frankly, I fear to disappoint the love of my life. The past few days on the island have been the most emotionally tiring time in my life, but I know I’ve grown as a person, for the better… for her sake. Everything up until now I have done for her. To reconnect with my brother, bring myself closure from the passing of grandma… Grandma. I know you would have loved her. She brings as much joy in my life as baking did when you were still here. You would have loved her, maybe as much as I do now. She’s urged me to move on, to become a better man. She’s made me a better version of myself that I, if you would have asked me the same question a few months back, I would have laughed in their faces.

But it’s true

“LUCIEN RIVERCREST!!!”

She’s my rock

Cheer from all around me invade my ears and a seawall of loyal and new fans have gathered around me to celebrate my victory over that vindictive pixie.

I’m closer to where I started

I lock eyes with her from an opening in the crowd

I’m chasing after you

I part the crowd and make a hasty beeline towards her. I could spot her from a mile away.

I’m standing here until you make me move

As I get closer, she starts to push through herself in hopes of meeting me halfway. But I get there first, because I’ve been chasing after her since the beginning.

My new beginning.

My new life.

With her.

But right now, as she barrels into my arms, I lift her up into a Hollywood worthy kiss in front of the floating camera orbs.

I’m hanging by a moment here with you

#Voltage #voltage games #voltage usa #voltage inc #voltage otome #sweet enchantments #lucien rivercrest #runa amberthorne #liora skyheart #emeril everbloom #lovestruck smut #lovestruck fluff #roman tarrenglade

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wolfie-rood · 5 years

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Failure is Not an Option - Vaati x Reader ONESHOT

Wow, this was long as fuck. I really love Vaati, can ya tell? To be honest, this was a bit on the fluffy side, which might be a little out of character for our lovely mage. The reason for that is I wrote this in the same mindset as one of my OC's who is Vaati's closest attendant and friend (Though, their relationship is purely platonic). Her and Vaati get along better than milk and cereal, so they are pretty damn fluffy when nobody else is around. So, I mean, sorry for all the fluff this is my excuse??

Nahhh I'm never sorry for sweet fluffy Vaati!

-----

Limping down the dim candlelit hallway, you swore angrily under your breath. "That son of a bitch... Where is he?" In the far corners of your mind, you could sense a dark aura coming from Vaati's study at the end of the hall, so you picked up the pace to confront him. Then you slammed the door open with rage burning in your eyes. "Hey, asshole!" You yelled, gaining the attention of the sorcerer across the room.

Vaati sighed and looked up from his book. He took notice of your large burn marks and blood-covered figure but said nothing about it. "What now?" He asked with a bored expression. Obviously, he wasn't too happy about being interrupted so late at night.

"'What now'? Your fucking Wizzrobe buddies are getting on my last nerves!" You screamed in response. You could still hear their cackling in the distance "I just killed one of those fuckers, so don't blame me when they all end up dead by the end of the week!"

The wind mage's newly appointed (and extremely irritating) servants were starting to get violent, and even he could see that. Still, they were highly advanced in magic and it wasn't exactly easy getting them to the palace in the first place. Vaati was well aware of how much trouble they were for you, but he also knew they could be useful to him. He was hoping the benefits outweighed the consequences and that his efforts weren't just a waste of time. It was certainly starting to look that way, though. Especially after you barged in with multiple wounds and blood-stained clothes.

But even after seeing his faithful attendant in such disarray, he refused to admit he was wrong. "If you truly hate them that much, just avoid them," Vaati said dismissively. "Nobody told you to watch over them."

"Because nobody had to! They destroy everything in their path and then they think it's funny! When your palace goes up in smoke, you'll only have yourself to blame." You growled. With that, you left the room; slamming the door on your way out.

When you woke the next morning, you took your time fixing the bandages around your stomach and repatch your arm. Then, you downed a red potion just in case. Your wounds weren't as bad as they looked, but they could easily get infected if you didn't take care of them. You were immortal, not invincible. Once you were done taking care of your injuries and changing into clean clothes, you left the bedroom to start your morning.

In the large dining room, only two seats at the table were set for breakfast. A ghost of a smile crossed your lips when you realized Vaati had woken before you. Usually, you were the first to wake up and make something to eat, but it seems your master had you beat that day. "Enjoy sleeping in?"

You turned around to see Vaati carrying two plates of food from the kitchen. "I've actually been up for a while now." Then you gestured to your bandaged arm. "I had to fix these before I did anything else."

The mage walked past you to the table, subtly eyeing your injuries with a hint of guilt. Before you could notice, he turned away and placed your food on the table. You quickly sat down and started eating as Vaati just sat across from you. You were a bit surprised he could even cook since you've only ever eaten food made by you, but you weren't disappointed.

The room was quiet besides the tinking of silverware against the plates. You and Vaati usually enjoyed each other's company, even if neither of you talked (of course, the mage would never admit it out loud because of his deafening pride). But right now, it was almost an awkward silence. After your outburst last night, you were finding it difficult to start a conversation.

Usually, if someone were to even question Vaati's motives, they'd be killed on the spot. But the sorcerer was quite fond of you and would find it unfortunate if you were to die. At that thought, Vaati looked up at you only to find you were already staring at him intently. Great, now it's even more awkward...

Before you could figure out something to talk about, Vaati cleared his throat and decided to speak up first. "How are they? Your wounds, I mean."

"Oh, I'll live." You replied casually. Then you smirked. "You should see the other guy."

Vaati grinned slyly in response. "I did and I must say, it wasn't your best work."

"Oh, bullshit!" You accused with a laugh. You welcomed the happy feeling that drowned out the emotions from last night.

He shook his head with a devious smile. His crimson eyes narrowed at you. "Remember the poor guy from Labrynna?"

"Oooooh, that was the one that got messy. He should've never called for help..." You cringed, remembering just how much blood there was. "How about the chick from Holodrum? That was pretty bad, too."

Vaati chuckled slightly to himself. "That was a fun one."

You laughed and nodded in agreement. "We really should get out more. All the entertainment is out there."

"We'll do something soon. I know how you get when I keep you inside for too long. You're already starting to get... excited."

You leaned back in your chair and crossed your arms. "What, did the dead Wizzrobe by the palace entrance give it away?"

"It might've been a small hint."

The two of you went back and forth for most of the morning. It was nice to just forget about your differences for a few hours. You and Vaati were extremely close, and you only fought on rare occasions. To put it simply, you were his right-hand man willing to take an arrow for him. You really would do anything for him, to be honest. It was certainly a... complicated relationship you two had.

At some point during your conversation - long after the two of you finished eating - you heard a loud crash on the other side of the castle. Now, you were both on full alert. Vaati was the first to leave the dining room, you followed close behind.

Just outside the library was a huge mess of books littered throughout the hall. Some were even ripped up a bit. Pages were hanging on the walls like party banners. In the center of all the chaos was a single shattered vase. What didn't surprise you one bit was the sight of all the Wizzrobes sitting around the mess, giggling like children.

You shook your head, giving Vaati the "I fucking told you so" look. He scoffed at you and went ahead to confront his "servants". "What do you think you're doing?" He said in such a quiet voice, it almost scared even you.

One of the ice Wizzrobes spoke up with a laugh. "Kehahah! We're just having some fun!" It exclaimed, like having some fun was a valid excuse for emptying out the library. "Though if we're pinning blame on anyone, it was the summoner! Kehahahahah!!!"

"I don't care who did it!" He boomed with suppressed rage in his eyes. "Clean it! Now!" Before he could let his anger get the best of him, he vanished with a gust of wind.

As soon as Vaati was out of sight, the Wizzrobes looked at you expectantly. "Well? You heard him! Snap to it! Kehahahaha!!"

"Funny, but I think no." You turned away with an eye roll and began to leave. There was no point in trying to reason with them. It was better to just walk away.

You didn't get very far though, as a fire Wizzrobe thought it would be funny to burn you with its fireball spell. You weren't amused in the slightest, but the others thought it was absolutely hilarious.

You rubbed your burnt arm while giving the fire Wizzrobe your killer glare. "So that's how it's gonna be? Fine." Holding out your hand, a dark rapier appeared for you to grasp with confidence. "I'll play."

At first, you were fighting well on your own, especially against a large group of advanced magic users. A couple of the ice Wizzrobes collapsed onto the ground, dead. It was a good start, but the burns and frostbite, as well as the blood dripping down your arms, was becoming a concern.

That's when the tables turned and a fire Wizzrobe blasted you to the ground. At that point, you really couldn't tell whose spells were whose. All you knew was that it was so painful you could hardly breathe. You wanted to scream. You wanted to cry out in agony, but you knew better. Showing any negative emotion would give them the satisfaction, and you refused to let them have it. Plus, if Vaati heard you, you might as well just throw yourself off the Palace's edge. He could not see you in such a weak position, you wouldn't allow yourself to be a failure in front of him.

Still, you had no way of defending yourself, so all you could do was endure the pain until they gave up. Your vision slowly became blurred around the edges and your body felt numb. All the while, they laughed like there was no tomorrow.

Then it all... stopped.

The pain had ended, and the cackling had stopped. Your eyes cleared up just enough to see a purple cape drag in front of you.

"I think we're done here." He growled. "Leave now."

The Wizzrobes sighed and shrugged at each other. "Kehaha! Whatever you say, my lord!" The ice Wizzrobe exclaimed, its voice dripping with sarcasm. With that, they all disappeared together.

As soon as they were gone, you sighed in relief and relaxed your pained muscles on the ground. You took in a deep breath and tried to focus on anything but the scorching pain across your body. You could feel blood dripping down your neck, but you were too relieved to care. They're finally gone...

Vaati stared at you for a moment, his red eyes filled with regret. Hesitantly, he slid his arm under your knees and back, lifting you from the ground. You leaned your head on his chest as he carried you through the castle. Neither of you spoke while he took you into the bathroom. A trail of blood was made by your scarlet liquid that dripped from your arm, but Vaati didn't seem to care about the mess.

The mage carried you into a simplistic bathroom and gently put you down on the edge of the tub. Then, he removed his cape to keep it out of the way. The water started running behind you, but you couldn't really pay attention to anything. All you could feel was the shattering defeat in your heart. You got beaten half to death and your master had to save you... how pathetic.

Instead of feeling the crushing failure, you decided to feel... nothing. You let your mind drift away completely. That way, you could somehow be at peace with yourself. You hid any sort of feeling or emotion in your metaphorical boat of solitude. There, they would be shot on sight; never to bother you again.

The small part of your mind that wasn't dead was screaming at you to pay attention. Probably because the mage in front of you was quickly stripping you of your bloodied clothes. He wasted no time taking everything off and tossing it to the side. Though, Vaati wasn't exactly worried about your indecency. In fact, it was the last thing on his mind when he picked you back up to place you in the filled tub.

Slowly, he ran his hands through your hair, washing out some of the dried blood. Your locks were clumped together because of the dark red liquid, but you only stared ahead at the wall. You felt almost lifeless, you didn't even wince when his fingers grazed over one of your burns. It was so hard for you to accept the events of today. The two of you understood that you were a servant to Vaati before anything else, so failing in front of your master was such a sickening feeling that you could hardly breathe. A part of you wished you had been killed by the Wizzrobes. It would be much easier than having to deal with the wrath of your master.

As Vaati washed the blood out of your hair, all he could think about was the strange feeling in his chest. It was hard to find a way of describing it, but the word guilt kept coming up in his mind. He knew you were beating yourself up over the failure, but Vaati was more worried about you. He really did care about you, even if he had a strange way of showing it. He was standoffish and too proud for his own good, but he always had time for you.

"Turn around." He said in a surprisingly soft voice. You did as he said and turned to face him. He raised his hands up and started rubbing the blood off your face. You stared at him, but your gaze was so far off into space it was like you weren't even there. Vaati did his best to ignore it, but your pity party was starting to get on his nerves. He sighed irritatingly and stood up. "Finish up here. I'll find you something to wear."

Vaati grabbed his cape on the way out the door, and you were left alone. You let water drain, but you didn't move. You sat in silence with your knees pulled into your chest. Your mind wasn't working properly, and all you could think of was how much you hated yourself at that moment. There was so much self-hate in the corner of your mind that it consumed you.

"(Name)," Vaati called once he returned. "Get up."

You didn't even move an inch. Vaati glared at you even though he knew he wasn't mad. It was just difficult for him to show how he truly felt. He went up to the tub and took your hand. Slowly, you got off the floor and stepped out of the empty bath.

"Get dressed, (Name)." He commanded lightly. You didn't respond but instead just grabbed your clothes and began putting them on. Once you were done, you stared at him almost expectantly, but your eyes were completely devoid of any emotion. He noticed how unsteady your legs were, so he decided to pick you up again. He carried you back to your room without a word.

Shutting the door with his foot, he sat you down on your bed, handing you a bottle of red potion. You turned away from it, you didn't deserve it. It was your fault you were in the situation so you would live with your wounds and scars the way you wanted.

"Take it, (Name)." He commanded a little harsher than he intended. "Take it before I shove it down your throat."

Finally, you grasped the bottle and downed the drink, cringing slightly at the taste. As soon as your wounds started to heal and Vaati knew you'd be fine, you felt a sharp pain across your face. Glancing up, you caught Vaati rubbing the back of his hand, which was now turning red. "Stop that right now!" He yelled, finally fed up with you. "I will not have you sulking around anymore! Stop feeling sorry for yourself, that's an order!"

You stared at him in shock, not really sure how to feel. "I-I... um." Your mouth kept opening to say something, but your mind was still completely barren. Though, Vaati was smart enough to know what he was doing. It was hard to hate yourself when you were so taken aback by his sudden anger.

Vaati looked around with an annoyed expression before crouching in front of you. Even though he sat right in front of you, he hid his eyes with his hair. It was as though he was... ashamed. "I... I need you to stop. As my attendant, you are supposed to give me advice on how I should do things. When you warned me about the Wizzrobes, I... I should've listened to you."

You watched with wide eyes as his hand came up to caress your cheek. "What happened today was my fault, so stop moping already." Vaati finally looked at you with a playful smirk. "You've done worse than this, so just move on."

You wiped a few stray tears away and frowned. "I have not." You muttered like a child.

"Oh, so I guess you forgot the time you set me on fire."

With a small giggle, you rolled your eyes. "I won't apologize for that because it was hilarious."

"Of course it was..." He grumbled.

You smiled at his reaction, and you were actually starting to feel better. Even after what happened earlier, you could still be happy. "Hey, Vaati?" You asked, and he hummed questioningly. "Thank you."

"... Well, someone has to watch over you." He sighed and stood up. "Days like this make me wish it wasn't me... Come on, let's go wreak havoc somewhere."

You hopped up with joy. "Yay!"

You followed behind the Vaati with a large grin spread across your face, the mage hiding a smile of his own. Finally, you could breathe your silent sigh of relief.

#oneshot #x reader #VAATI #Wind mage #vaati the wind mage #SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS BOY #LOVE HIM WITH MEEEE #AHHHHH #loz #legend of zelda #zelda #VAATIII #VAATIIIIII

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zutaralesbian · 5 years

Text

So i've seen from a few viral posts on here that it's becoming a new thing to hate on the Peeta/Katniss relationship in The Hunger Games. (I've also seen some criticism towards the Gale/Katniss relationship that isn't entirely fair, but since that wasn't something I shipped, I won't be going into that). But here's me defending one of my oldest het ships from some of the points people bring up that I don't believe are true.

"Peeta feels entitled to Katniss"

The only time I can think of where this could appear to be true is the ending of the first book and the very beginning of Catching Fire. Katniss spent the last few chapters or so of the first book pretending to be in love with Peeta in order to sell their fake romance to the Capitol and recieve sponsors to help them survive. And when she reveals to Peeta that she doesn't truly feel anything romantic for him, he's hurt and ends up lashing out at her by giving her the cold shoulder.

Now, Peeta was completely wrong in this scenario. He's human and humans don't always react or handle things in the right way, especially in highly emotional situations. Still, it doesn't excuse him for lashing out at Katniss when she was just doing what she had to do in order to get them both out of the arena alive. I agree with that.

But the thing that people leave out or forget is that Peeta eventually realizes and acknowledges that he was wrong. And he apologizes to Katniss.

He takes a deep breath. "Look, Katniss, I've been wanting to talk to you about the way I acted on the train. I mean, the last train. The one that brought us home. I knew you had something with Gale. I was jealous of him before I even officially met you. And it wasn't fair to hold you to anything that happened in the Games. I'm sorry."

His apology takes me by surprise. It's true that Peeta froze me out after I confessed that my love for him during the Games was something of an act. But I don't hold that against him. In the arena, I'd played that romance angle for all it was worth. There had been times when I didn't honestly know how I felt about him. I still don't, really.

"I'm sorry, too," I say. I'm not sure for what exactly. Maybe because there's a real chance I'm about to destroy him.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about. You were just keeping us alive. But I don't want us to go on like this, ignoring each other in real life and falling into the snow every time there's a camera around. So I thought if I stopped being so, you know, wounded, we could take a shot at just being friends," he says.

- Catching Fire, Chapter 4

After this, there's no resentment on Peeta's part towards Katniss for not returning his feelings. Sure it's pretty clear that what he feels for her isn't platonic and he comes off as sad about it at times, but he's completely willing to be her friend and support her anyway. And when Snow makes plans to force them to get married in order to keep up the farce, Peeta is just as upset about it as Katniss is, because he doesn't want her to be forced into something she doesn't want.

"Katniss never wanted Peeta that way and/or has no interest in romance"

It always astounds me that people look at a teenager living in an apocalyptic universe that involves her family possibly starving to death and children being reaped into an event to fight to the death each year and not realize that probably plays a big part in why romance isn't at the top of her priority list lol.

Before the Games, Katniss was the main breadwinner of her family that was living in severe poverty. She was too focused on making sure her little sister and mother didn't starve to death to focus on much else. After she's reaped, her main priority is keeping both herself and Peeta alive. Again, it completely makes sense why romance isn't at the top of her mind.

But there is more than one scene in the books that point out that Katniss DOES grow to desire Peeta romantically.

"No one really need me", he says, and there's no self-pity in his voice. It's true his family doesen't need him. They will mourn him, as will a handful of friends. But they will get on. Even Haymitch, with the help of a lot of white liquor, will get on. I realize only one person will be damaged beyond repair if Peeta dies. Me.

"I do", I say. "I need you." He looks upset, takes a deep breath as if to begin a long argument, and that's no good, no good at all, because he'll start going on about Prim and my mother and everything and I'll just get confused. So before he can talk, I stop his lips with a kiss.

I feel that thing again. The thing I only felt once before. In the cave last year, when I was trying to get Haymitch to send us food. I kissed Peeta about a thousand times during those Games and after. But there was only one kiss that made me feel something stir deep inside. Only one that made me want more. But my head wound started bleeding and he made me lie down.

This time, there is nothing but us to interrupt us. And after a few attempts, Peeta gives up on talking. The sensation inside me grows warmer and spreads out from my chest, down through my body, out along my arms and legs, to the tips of my being. Instead of satisfying me, the kisses have the opposite effect, of making my need greater. I thought I was something of an expert on hunger, but this is an entirely new kind.

- Catching Fire, Chapter 24

This might be the first time Peeta and Katniss kiss without any intention of trying to make a show for the Capitol. And KATNISS initiates it. She kisses Peeta because she wants to. And, on quote, desires more. But sure, she has no interest or attraction to him.

Peeta.

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

Haymitch's grinning at me. "Come on, then," he says.

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

- Mockingjay, Chapter 12

Now other than the fact that this quote absolutely breaks my heart because it happens right before Katniss finds out Peeta was hijacked, it's such a cute one. And a very typical 'teenage girl thinks about the boy she likes' kind of quote. Katniss is literally fantasizing about a romantic reunion between her and Peeta that involves touching him, seeing his smile, hearing his laugh, and kissing him. And after she finds out about his hijacking, the possibility that he might not love her anymore devastates her.

I've always been of the opinion that Katniss fell in love with Peeta during Catching Fire. She cared about him a lot by the end of the first book, but Catching Fire is when the lines between fake love and real love began to really blur for her. And the fandom darling Finnick seems to think that too.

"It's just that I didn't understand when I met you. After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act on your part. We all expected you'd continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta hit the force field and nearly died that I - " Finnick hesitates.

I think back to the arena. How I sobbed when Finnick revived Peeta. The quizzical look on Finnick's face. The way he excused my behavior, blaming it on my pretend pregnancy. "That you what?"

"That I knew I'd misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care about him," he says gently.

- Mockingjay, Chapter 11

It's canon that Katniss fell in love with Peeta. However well done it was is up to a person's own opinion but they've been set up as the main romantic subplot since the moment Peeta was revealed as "the boy with the bread". Suzanne Collins had probably been planning on making them endgame since the first book. (I will never understand how people read these books and were shocked that they ended up together).

"Peeta forced Katniss to have children"

Now, i'll be the first to admit that this quote is by far not the best to come out of Katniss and Peeta's relationship.

They play in the Meadow. The dancing girl with the dark hair and blue eyes. The boy with blond curls and gray eyes, struggling to keep up with her on his chubby toddler legs. It took five, ten, fifteen years for me to agree. But Peeta wanted them so badly.

- Mockingjay, Epilogue

I understand why people take issue with this. I really do. But I think immediately jumping to the conclusion that Peeta forced her to have kids is pretty extreme, with how vague the entire epilogue is. Katniss doesn't say that. She only says that it took her a long time to agree. This could mean that he brought up the idea of having children a few times in the beginning only to be rejected, and Katniss changed her mind years later. Or it could also mean that he never said anything about it but Katniss could just tell from other ways how badly he wanted them. With how vague it is, it's up to interpretation. And considering how much Peeta hated the whole thing with Katniss having to pretend to be in love with him, I can't see him trying to force her to have kids that she didn't want. And there IS evidence to point to Katniss getting some joy out of their children as well.

When I first felt her stirring inside of me, I was consumed with a terror that felt as old as life itself. Only the joy of holding her in my arms could tame it.

- Mockingjay, Epilogue

No one has to ship Peeta/Katniss. I was a hardcore shipper back in the day and I still love them, but even I can admit that there are unhealthy aspects in their relationship. The extreme co-dependency and the fact that they both constantly put the other on a pedestal. But man, I wish people would quit bringing up arguments that hold no weight just for the sake of hating on them.

#everlark #thg #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #peeta x katniss #the hunger games #my post #long post /

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