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minerva-is-sleeping · 2 years

Text

I didn’t mean it baby -Steven Grant X Reader

NOTES: SPOILERS MOONKNIGHT EP 5, CHARACTER DEATH.

Y’all. I haven't written ANYTHING since 2019 and this episode brought me back for a singular One-Shot. I really have missed writing for y’all and if this does will I’ll continue for the Summer. This one shot is based off The One’s I Love by Olivia Rodrigo (the bridge specifically) . Anyone else as devastated as I am? Also please use your suspension of disbelief idk how y/n got there, y/n does a lot of things I can’t explain. Also y’all I started a BookTok called Ellie_ExLibris please go follow for Book Content! Also extra brownie points if y'all see the other song references in here. Enjoy!

WORD COUNT: 2355

Fluff, Trauma, Character death and angst, reader uses the pronouns She/Her

PLOT: You have managed to get trapped in the asylum between life and death with Marc and Steven after getting killed by Harrow. After discovering Steven was entirely made up by Marc you have to come to terms with the fact that he isn’t truly real but he is a trauma response. All you want to do is talk with him but how could there be time for that now?

“I’ve never seen the gates to the world above so close” Taweret said in disbelief, looking out on a sea of sand, rolling waves of hot air and the dead. The gate stood tall towering over the ship Steven, Marc and Y/n swayed on.

“How do we open them?” Marc asked

“I’m so sorry, your scales never balanced” Taweret said griefstrikenly as she turned her eyes from the gate, Marc and Steven flashed their eyes to the scale that sat at the center of the deck it’s black marbling and gold beaming as if even in this dark place there had been a spotlight placed on it. “Our journey’s come to an end, I cannot stop the inevitable” said the goddess “I was really rooting for you guys but the unbalanced souls of the Duat must claim yours” she sighed, bracing herself to leave. The scale wavered back and forth and Y/n’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Our Journey’s come to an end?’ she thought. We’ve only just started? The ship creaked and tilted moving faster towards the gate.

“Taweret! Wait!” Y/n called, her eyes searching for the goddess but she had already gone, “Taweret!” she yelled as a hand came over the side of the boat, grasping and climbing and pulling itself on board,

“Marc… Y/n… they don’t look very friendly” Steven said, taking steps backwards toward the head of the ship, his eyes frantic as the dead appeared all around him.

“Hide.” Marc commanded them both, Y/n hesitated turning to glance at him, if she could just get a read on him she may see the outcome of this situation. Marc looked nervous but he was ready for a fight. “Hide!” he repeated looking at her directly in the eyes. Her heart wavered for a moment and his fear struck her deeply, she knew this wasn't going to end well. She drug her eyes straight back to the fraying wooden planks of the locked door and she pulled with all her might.

Y/n pulled on the door they had only come through moments ago but it seemed to have completely locked the trio out. She yanked and yelled in frustration “Steven! Marc, help me!” She had turned to see both men, well, one man, both looking completely terrified as the dead came on board and for a moment Y/n caught his eyes, it was brief but there were plenty of words trapped behind them that would have to wait.

⇻

“I can’t wait to tell my mum about you” he said as the two walked on the cold wet London pavement, coming back from a night out on the West End, eating dinner and watching a show. This was the third of many future dates to come. She had met Steven on the bus after he had accidentally fallen asleep on a particularly aggressive man, she pretended he was her husband that had narcolepsy, and saved him from a potentially very nasty fight.

“Oh really? Your Mum? I’ve never had a boy talk about me to his mum before” She laughed trailing slightly behind him.

“Really? Never?” he said in laughable disbelief

“I can’t tell if you are being sarcastic right now Mr.Grant”

“Oh no, I would never. I’m just shocked, if I were any boy you’ve ever been on a date with I just don’t understand how they couldn't talk about you to everyone they meet for eternity” he laughed sheepishly while twiddling with the bag that carried both of their leftovers. She stood there for a moment just taking in the sight and letting the compliment just seep into her bones. He was there underneath a streetlamp on the glazing street wet with light rain that illuminated his face, the chill in the air making his nose slightly pink. Not even two feet away she stood taking in the look and the feeling that is Steven Grant. He. He who felt inevitable and real.

I didn’t mean it baby, I didn’t think it all through

⇻

“Gabon, New York, Dubai..” Marc said witnessing the lives he took face to face as a mercenary.

“Watch out!” Steven cried. One of the creatures swung a rope around Marcs neck as Steven was becoming cornered

“No!” screeched Y/n as she watched Marc slowly being dragged toward the hull of the ship by his neck, Marc swung his arms beating the man, no, the thing that was coming at him. The man became sand the more Marc hit him, he wasn't truly physical. “Marc!” Y/n yelled as her eyes widened, she frantically started looking for something, anything, to beat these creatures with, “Steven! Do something!” Steven was at the rudder of the ship in pure shock, his eyes darted between Y/n and Marc.

“Taweret!” he shouted to no response, the goddesses ears had fallen deaf. “Hold on Y/n!” he shouted and she braced herself realizing his plan. Steven pulled the rudder with everything he had in him to tilt the ship. Slowly and then all at once the ship jerked and Marc was thrown towards the center, Y/n clung to the railing and as she started to adjust her grip she felt grainy cold hands slip around her waist.

“No!” she croaked as a hand slipped around her neck, everything suddenly moved in slow motion, her chest became tight but not because she didn’t have air, it’s cold dead hands were taking everything warm from her body. She felt her skin raise up and her extremities start to go numb. “Steven-” she choked. Her eyes searched the deck and Marc was trying to catch his balance after almost being thrown overboard and when he stood his jaw was met with the body of a baseball bat. Steven clasped a hand over his mouth, his eyes trained on Marc, meanwhile he hadn’t heard Y/n’s distress calls. Marc was now being dragged to the ledge of the ship once again.

“Marc… you’ve got this.” Steven whispered to himself “But… if I’m you then that means I’ve got this too” he said going for the bat that now lays on the ground. Y/n’s breathing now slowed, her heartbeat seizing to the cold and the soft rock of the boat seemed to be lulling her she was still standing but she could not will herself to move,, she could hear Steven shouting, and through the blurriness of her vision she saw two of the creatures dissipate before Marc.

“Six!” he exclaimed, “I’m coming for you Y/n!” and Steven started swinging and shouting as if it was his first American Little league game. “I’ve always much preferred cricket!” he shouted adrenaline pumping. Y/n suddenly felt sweet relief as if she could breathe again, like the tight hand that had been around her, squeezing her had disappeared. She gasped and fell to her knees coughing and fighting to breathe. When she looked up Steven had fallen down and was now face to face with her.

“Are you alright?” he asked gently cupping her face in his hands, she nodded vigorously.

“I was so cold” she said, a shiver traveling up her spine “Steven I was so cold, it’s like I wasn’t here” she said her voice trembling. Despite her bravery, she had never experienced fear like this, it was true and utter despair.

“It’s okay Love, everythings fine now, yeah? I promise” he said, and just as he finished making promises that will fail he watched as panic spread across her face and she began to yell.

⇻

“You know as a gift shopist, I can’t exactly give you a life of plenty” he said pacing his room. The last few days had been a lot for him, one of Y/n’s friends had gotten engaged and had thrown an extravagant party and Y/n looked like she was on top of the world and a wave of guilt had crashed over him, what if he couldn't provide the life she wants? “I can’t promise an easy road, or safety, I’m sick, I’m weird, I wake up days later and lost” he ranted chewing on his fingers dragging the sand laid around his bed across his floor. “I don't even have a ring for your finger, I don't regularly grocery shop, bloody hell my entire apartment is just garbage collected junk” she watched him intently as he paced his room. She knew about his ‘Illness’ and Marc, Marc had agreed to stay away from her, he promised Steven that he would try to make their relationship relatively normal. She had met Marc, once. Marc had surfaced during Steven and Y/n’s first argument. It was brief and it was just for a second but she knew it was him. He had raised his voice at her which Steven would never do. She had kept asking when she was allowed to meet his mom and when they could have her over and Steven seemed to be becoming more confused and distressed. Marc finally surfaced and yelled “Stop asking him about his mom!” and that was all it took. Y/n never brought up Steven’s mom again.

I didn’t mean it baby, always ruin good things like you

She now watched the gift shopist pace the splintered floor of his bedroom as she sat criss cross applesauce on the end of his bed. She took a breath and leaned forward “Steven, I don’t want you to promise me a fair sky above or a kind road below. I just ask that you walk beside me my love. Anyway the wind blows, just be with me” she said outstretching her hand. If there was anything he could love more about this woman it’s that she wears her heart on her sleeve for all to see. “Steven, I love you. All of you” she said looking deeply into his eyes. He left out a deep sigh and he took her hand, he brought it to his lips and he gently kissed it.

“I love you too. I promise to stay with you. Anyway the wind blows” he said, kneeling at the foot of his bed in front of her.

“Anyway the wind blows” she repeated.

⇻

Another one of the creatures had come up behind Steven and it towered over the two of them but Steven retrieved the bat from where he had set it down and he began to ferociously swing it repeatedly, he didn’t stop even after he was sure it was dead. Y/n was still on her knees with her hand clasped over her mouth in shock as she watched the love of her life go absolutely feral in killing a monster. He took a deep breath and stood back shaking his hand. “Ow” he said and then gave Y/n and Marc a thumbs up. Marc began to laugh and Y/n felt a sigh of relief break through her lungs. Suddenly a horrid screech pierced through the air and a creature grabbed Marc by his neck pulling him down and over the ledge.

“No! No!” Steven screamed as he ran for Marc.

“Steven!” Y/n cried and for a brief moment his gaze met hers, his feet were still moving, his arms were outstretched and his decision had been made and there was nothing she could do to stop it now.

Steven went directly overboard taking the creature with him

“No!” Y/n screamed “Stop the boat!” she yelled to no one.

“Steven!” Marc yelled, he cried Steven’s name over and over his voice straining, Y/n pulling her tired limbs up, still feeling the after effect of whatever that creature did to her, she threw herself against the side of the ship to look over the ledge. There Steven lay coming to his senses only to see a distant ship with his best friend and the woman he loves onboard.

“Wait- Wait!” he cried pulling himself up, his footsteps becoming heavier with every step.

“Stop the ship! He’s coming! Please!” Y/n cried to no one.

“Stop the boat!” Marc said, slamming his fists on the hull to alert anyone that was listening.

“Wait!” Stephen cried, his voice becoming weaker “Wait!” his steps becoming stiffer the more he moved “No!” he sobbed his feet were becoming stone. He was unworthy, he couldn’t pass through the field of reeds. “No no no” he cried. The same coldness, the same nothingness overtook his body while Y/n and Marc watched completely helpless. “Marc!” he yelled, his face becoming stone, his breathing became labored and with one last push he let out a cry “Y/n!” his face suddenly became still.

I watched the light drain out of your eyes and it’s no surprise. It’s no surprise.

“Stop the boat please” Y/n begged, clutching the side of the ship. Taweret suddenly reappeared and she left out a gasp.

“Your scales.. They are balanced” she said in shock.

The ground becomes soft and golden. Y/n and Marc had found themselves in the field of reeds and without their person. Their hope.

#steven grant #moon knight #steven grant x reader #marc spector #moonknight #booktok #fanfiction #marvel imagines #marvel x y/n #oscar isaac #olivia rodrigo #jake lockley #poe dameron

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theyreonlynoodlesmike · 3 years

Note

i have a mad thomas x reader request where reader is forced to marry thomas (idk how just-) and is disgusted about it but eventually ends up liking him.(? idk how to explain myself:’)

No one look at me,,,,,,,,,,also this is heavily inspired by the Scarlet Letter and was supposed to be a tad darker but I copped out (also someone asked for a pregnant reader recently so this + that = this fic)

A Lie They Would Believe (Mad Thomas x Fem!Reader)

Warnings: dark themes, 1600 standards, values, and laws, affairs/cheating, ex-relationship with the pastor is mentioned, Thomas is Thomas, mentions of drinking, webs of lies, public humiliation, AFAB and Fem reader, pregnant reader, pre-marital pregnancy solved a la shotgun marriage, twisted win-win situation turns into love?, slow burn(?),

Word Count: 3.7k

You could accept your punishment with a turned cheek, you told yourself over and over again.

You could stare out at the audience of towns people, even as the sun beat on your face. You could stare out into the angry faces of the elders, into the pitying faces of your friends. Into the ashamed faces of your parents. But, you could not look at Cyrus Miller.

You'd missed your blood two months ago. You'd begged, prayed, everyday that it would come. But, the only thing that came was the morning sickness. You'd tried to hide it, tried to think of what to do. But, when you placed your hand over your stomach, you couldn't bring yourself to find the hag in the forest. And, when your mother held your spotless, white sheets in your face, you'd crumbled. You confessed in the privacy of your room as if you were confessing in church. You told her everything.

Well, almost.

"Tell us his name!" Cyrus said, a voice that you couldn't force to fall into the background. "Tell us the name of your accomplice and you shall suffer no more." He said, and you wanted to believe him. You let your eyes close for a moment, but your lips did not move. Your mouth did not open. "Tell us the father's name, so that your baby will not be born a bastard!" He said, and his hand reached out to grab your arm. His grip was strong and tight, unlike the caresses you'd become so accustomed to with him. While his words begged you to say the name, his name, the action spoke differently. You peeled open your eyes and looked up at him, at his raven hair and kind face. His dark, soft eyes. Tears pricked the corners of your own eyes, hard and glassy as you looked up at him. But, you were silent. Even as some of the townspeople yelled for you to confess.

But, how could you tell them that it was your persecutor who was the father of your child? That your pastor, the leader of this town, had sinned so egregiously? He had a wife, a daughter. You'd known both of those things when you'd fallen for him, but it was harder to ignore in the harsh sunlight. When both of them stood in front of you.

You knew you'd have to face punishment. Sex before marriage was a crime after all, completely forbidden. To think they didn't know you were an adulterer also. You didn't know what it'd be, but you knew you'd have no option but to accept it when it came. You'd already made your peace with it, made your peace with whatever God could condemn you to. Perhaps, you'd have to live alone, wear a scarlet letter on your breast. Perhaps, they'd cast you out completely, and you'd be shunned. Perhaps, they'd hang you. You touched your stomach at that thought. Perhaps, there were certain punishments you couldn't bear.

Your lips only fell open when a voice yelled,

"It was I." And a gasp fell from your mouth. Your head turned, snapped towards the voice. Towards the sea of faces that was the crowd. But, you knew that voice. "It's my child." He said, and your eyes fell on a face you knew all too well. And, at that moment, you knew exactly what type of punishment God had set out for you.

Mad Thomas.

***

The day had gone by in a blur.

Over and over in your head, one question repeated itself. Why? It was almost loud enough to drown out the constant whispers, the stories being spun by every person who seemed to have a tongue.

Union couldn't seem to stop talking about it. Of when it started, how long it'd been going on, when the pair of you had even had time to sneak off. You'd even heard a young Constance Berman whisper about how she'd always known something was going on between the two of you, only to be shushed by her older sister as you passed. As you'd been let free of the top of the church steps.

You'd been left outside, left out in the sun. Inside the church went your father, the pastor, and Thomas. You had no idea what Thomas was going to say, what lies he was going to spin.

You couldn't bring yourself to leave, to speak. You felt as though a blanket of white noise had covered your ears, covered your mind. You were surprised, to say the least. You'd thought a wave of devastation had washed over you the first moment you'd realized you were with child, but this? It made it seem like ripples in a pond. The only thing you could do was stare at the church door and wait for them to come out. But, you felt a warm arm wrap around your waist and you turned to see the face of your mother.

"Come," She said, and you looked back at the door blankly. You didn't want to leave. You wanted to be there when they came out. But, you couldn't find the words to say or the strength to keep your feet firm. So, you let her guide you away from the crowd, and towards your house.

It was only later that you were told you and Thomas were to be married by the end of the month.

***

You and Thomas were never allowed a moment alone. You didn't know whether to be relieved or not, but Thomas, a man who you quickly found was far more confusing than you thought, was playing a charade. He brought you flowers, carried your water pail for you, and even took you on chaperoned walks. You, however, were stony and stiff, barely able to contain your disgust for him. It was on your first walk that you whispered,

"Why? Why are you doing this?" And, for a moment, the incorrigible man seemed to pretend not to hear you. He glanced over his shoulder, as if the wind was at his ear instead, and you saw him cast a sly glance to the man behind them. It was one of your father's friends, walking only about two yards behind you. Finally, when he decided he was far away enough, he responded,

"Would you rather I had let them cast you out? Let you and your child starve in the woods?" Thomas said back, the most sober you'd ever heard him. It seemed that apart of your father's deal with him was that he cut back on the drink. He didn't even stumble as he walked.

"Don't pretend you did this out of charity. Why, Thomas?" You asked, and you, for only a moment, reached out to touch his arm. You pulled it back just as quick, hoping that your chaperone hadn't seen. Thomas looked down at the action, before he smirked and shook his head.

"Aren't we a perfect match?" He asked, and you gave him a look of confusion. He continued with, "You think I don't know what people say about me? Don't you see, girl? It doesn't matter if your father is the best woodworker, or the richest in Union anymore. No one would have you, or your bastard child. Except me." He said, and you almost couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. He continued, his words a whisper now, "Besides, it's a lie they would believe." You stared at him, flabbergasted by his words. Flabbergasted by how right he was.

Thomas had, well, a reputation. It wasn't out of character for his wedding to be one out of necessity, and perhaps it earned you some pity from the townspeople. How many women had Thomas seduced? And how many of them could truly judge you? Not to mention, his words left one thing clear.

So, it was my dowry, you thought. It wasn't an unheard of reason, and it made sense given the man you were talking to. Your father had been avoiding selling you off, even as you reached far into your womanhood. And, surely, your father would never have considered him under any normal circumstance, but now...You didn't seem to have much of a choice.

Thomas paused, picking up one of the wildflowers and handing it to you. You took it, knowing now that you had to play along. That you had to act as if he truly was the father of your child, and not someone as foreign to you as the land outside of Union.

"Your father was going to start building us a house. I was thinking right here," Thomas said, his voice only slightly louder for the chaperone to hear, but you barely paid attention. You were staring down at the yellow flower in your hands, before you glanced up at the man in front of you.

He was tall, but his hair was lighter. His cheeks were stubbly and his eyes- They were a clear blue. Almost the same shade as the sky above you. You watched as he talked, as he laid out his plan. And, while the idea of being married to anyone that you didn't love sickened you, you tried to tell yourself that it wouldn't be as terrible as you felt it would be.

***

You and Thomas sat out in the sun, where you were making a flower crown and he was rambling about one thing or the other. You'd gotten very good at pretending to be in love, even in the span of only a couple of weeks.

You gave him smiles and laughter, and he gave you gifts or stole a caress. It was enough to stir the people of Union so no one would be the wiser. And, with your father at his station a short way across the field, the pair of you could be somewhat alone. But, still within viewing distance.

"You're not listening." Thomas said, and you smiled to yourself for a moment. You looked at the finished crown, before you looked up and reached over to where he was laying on the blanket. He was half-sitting up, and you placed the flower crown atop his head as you said,

"Yes, I was." You replied simply as you adjusted it, and Thomas stared at you and gave a small scoff. He caught your hand as you went to pull it away, his grip loose. He held it almost gently, and said,

"Then kiss me." And your brows drew together. A quick,

"What?" Fell from your lips, and you watched how Thomas smiled. He laughed, letting your hand go as he said,

"So, you weren't listening-" But you were quick to interrupt him.

"Why would- Why?" The idea- the simple idea was preposterous. Why would you kiss him? In broad daylight no less? The suggestion made you nervous, made a weird feeling start in your stomach. And, you ignored how this feeling wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

"They're going to expect us to kiss on our wedding day, girl. Shouldn't we have some practice?" He said, and you thought perhaps the first time he proposed it had been kinder. You stared at him, thinking over his words. Thomas waited, reaching out to touch your skirt. It was only to pick at it for a moment, before he drew his hand away.

You couldn't tell if that was the only reason Thomas wanted to kiss you, if there wasn't some ulterior motive somewhere. You wouldn't put it past him. But, really, he was right. Not to mention, while the pair of you had been affectionate, had you been affectionate enough?

That's what was so aggravating about Thomas. He was always right. He saw clear through whatever facade anyone put up, and saw the truth. Perhaps, that's why he was such a good liar.

Perhaps, that's why he was staring at you.

"Fine." You said, before you looked over your shoulder. You were in the field, but you were more or less a public spectacle. You could hear Thomas draw closer, feel the warmth of his hand reach for your arm.

"Let them look." He said as he gave a tug on your arm, and you turned back to face him. It was strange to hear him say that, such a stark difference from what you were used to. To have him so close was different than before, but Thomas didn't close the gap. You supposed he was waiting for you to do that. He whispered, "Well?" And, finally, you did. It was a short kiss, a quick stolen one. Still, it made Thomas smile. "So chaste." He let out a small laugh, and it was your turn to scoff. "Are you sure-" And you could guess what he was going to say. You kissed him again, if only to silence him. It was deeper, firmer than your last had been. And you hated to admit that you didn't hate it. Thomas was well-practiced, and the feeling of his thumb grazing your cheek was nearly as warm as the feeling of the sun on your back. It made another feeling start, one that you tried to stamp out that very second. You pulled away again, cutting it short. Thomas, for just a moment, tried to follow you before he pulled back. He had a small smile on his face, one he didn't try to hide as he pushed his hair back.

"You're practiced." You said quietly, the closest thing to a compliment you could give him. You'd heard rumors of him galavanting with the likes of Abbi Berman and some of the others. Perhaps, there was some truth to them. Thomas glanced over, and returned the words,

"Aye, so are you." When he smiled and glanced down at your belly, you knew the jab had been intended. And, unfortunately, he'd managed to make you laugh.

***

You knew it was coming. You had prepared yourself for it. Before the wedding, the pastor would counsel both of you. And, he was going to counsel you first.

You stood in a dress your mother had made, with your corset done loosely as not to press on your stomach. You'd been staring out the window, at the cloudless day and the happy faces of your town. Why shouldn't they be happy? It was the day for a celebration.

You'd even caught glimpses of Thomas. Your mother was fussing over him, and Issac had swiped his pouch. He looked- Well, you could tell he'd been scrubbed down. Most of his teeth were still black, but in clean clothes and with a clean face...Perhaps, he didn't look terrible. You tilted your head, and, almost as if he could feel you staring, Thomas' head turned. He caught your eyes, and reflected your posture with a tilt of his own head. It made you smile, something you found was less forced the more time you spent with him. Your head turned from him when you heard someone come in.

"Wonderful day for a wedding." Cyrus said as he closed the door to the chapel, and you tried to manage a smile. "Sit." He said, and gestured to one of the pews. You did, and you both kept your distance. The chapel was dim, only lit by the light outside. The pair of you were silent for a moment, before Cyrus said, "The magistrate is here. He seems eager to start. Do you," He paused for a moment. "Do you have any doubts?" And you felt that the question was not quite as empty as anyone else would think.

You'd been staring at your hands, and you finally lifted your gaze to him. To his deep, dark brown eyes. After a moment, you found your voice.

"None at all. Thomas is- He shall be the father to his child, and he shall be my husband. I shall do my duties, and, I- I love him." It was hard to say, at least when Cyrus sat in front of you. "What is there to doubt?" You asked, your question equally as heavy. While none of you would say it plainly, you knew from the way he looked over your face that he understood you perfectly. The pair of you would never confess your secret, and you'd let the hatchet be buried. Forgotten.

"Does he know?" Cyrus asked, and you knew what it sounded like. In case any of the others were listening. Like he was asking if your soon to be husband knew you loved him. The question couldn't be more disguised. Really, his eyes said, Does he know about us?

"Yes. Or, I think he does." You replied, and you watched how Cyrus reached to touch his clean-shaven face. His face was half hidden by his hand, but you could see his eyes were disturbed. A secret was harder to keep the more people knew, but you said, "And he loves me. He'd do anything to keep this union." You told him, and you hoped he got your meaning. When Cyrus glanced at you, you guessed he did. Silently, your eyes said, If he does, Thomas won't tell. And, after a pause, Cyrus let out a sigh.

"Then, there seems little I have to counsel you on."

***

"Have you thought of a name?" Thomas asked you, and you hummed.

You were picking at your sheet, looking towards the window. It had been months, five if not nearly six. Your baby was due in only a few weeks now, and you still hadn't decided. Your husband, a word to describe him that didn't seem so weird now, laid besides you facing up towards the roof.

Thomas, well, he was not what you thought. He had a good, if not sometimes strange, sense of humor, and did not bruise easily from even the harshest words. He could take care of himself, after years of doing so, and, subsequently, you as well. Your mother and the mid-wife still came by to make sure you were in good health, but Thomas had most of it handled. He was a little lazy when it came to work, especially the work your father tried to give him, but he seemed to find that the work that came with having his own house agreed with him. The pair of you had become- Well, familiar. That was the word you would use. You couldn't say, nearly six months later, that it was still just pretending.

Still, Thomas didn't touch you in any way you wouldn't want him to, and you had to lift your head to throw a glance back to him.

"I have some ideas. Perhaps, if it's a girl," You paused, a sly grin coming to your face, "We could name her Abigail." And you watched him scoff and roll his eyes, even lift his head off of his arm for a moment as he said,

"Absolutely not." And you snickered to yourself as you went back to facing away from him. It was just a jest, a reference to an old dalliance of his, but Thomas, if anything, was fun to tease. The only issue was that Thomas was just as sharp when it came to his wit. "Y'know- Fine. Then, if it's a boy, we shall name him Cyrus." And you let out a noise of protest. You tried to roll over, declaring,

"No!" And now it was Thomas' turn to laugh. He placed a hand on your shoulder, trying to ease you back down. You let him, and even reached to hold his arm. To pull him closer. He followed, and you guided his hand above your bulging stomach as the pair of you adjusted. "Fine- Neither of those names. But, we must think of something." You told him, feeling as he stretched his fingers over where your baby grew. He held you, his warmth against your back. His hand rubbing your stomach lightly.

It made a strange sense of warmth fill you, one you couldn't blame from body-heat. And, it wasn't so terrible that you tried to push it, or him, away.

***

"She cries like no other child in Union." Thomas said as he climbed into your bed. You were supposed to be resting, healing, even weeks, nearly two months, after your child's birth. You felt like you'd been confined to your bed for so long that you were starting to become a part of it. Thomas was only here for the break your father gave him half-way through the day. Still, you smiled to yourself from where you laid on your side, and said,

"Perhaps, it is your smell that disturbs her." You said, your voice thick with sleep but a cheeky grin working onto your face. You shouldn't have prompted him, because he took the opportunity to drape himself heavily over your back.

"Oh, should I sleep outside tonight then?" He asked, and you giggled when you felt his stubble tickling your cheek.

It was already long into the day, and you'd become lazy from bed-rest. It felt far too nice to have his warmth wrapped around you, to where you nearly wanted to fall asleep. You had grown too used to it now, and you could barely imagine a night without it.

"I never said that." You responded, and turned your face back towards the softness of your pillow. You felt Thomas' hand raise, his fingertips brush against your cheek. He was being brave, especially when you felt his lips brush against your neck. It made you bite your lip, a twinge of something not so unfamiliar swirling in your belly. You wondered if he would continue. Hell, you wanted him to. But, it was nothing more than that.

Thomas, to your surprise, had more restraint than you would've assumed. He kissed your cheek, went to stand, and excused himself with,

"Your father will begin to wonder where I am." And you lifted your head to watch him step away, before you settled back down. He was clean, cleaner than he had been when he'd been sleeping in the outhouse. His hair was softer and longer, tied away from his face. And his arms seemed stronger, perhaps from the days of working with your father. He was, if you dared to think so, a kind sight to your eyes now. "Sleep. I'll be back by the time you wake." He told you, and, as he left, you found yourself hoping he was right.

#fear street #fear street 1666 #mad thomas #mad thomas x reader #thomas slater #thomas slater x reader

286 notes · View notes

arminty7 · 3 years

Text

𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘦

Mermaid!Jungkook x Reader [Part 3]

Trapped in this life of expensive wine and judgemental eyes Y/N met an unusual lady who offered her a job at an aquarium a few towns away. Despite being hesitant and uncertain for the future she decided to take the offer as it was her only way out, not knowing that many dangers might come her way.

Jungkook swam his way through the small tunnel in wonder. He didn’t realise what he was ‘walking’ into as he took the entire night to explore a tunnel. He thought it might lead to you, how naive. It is only when he heard the piercing sound of drilling from the small tunnel entrance did he know what was happening, he was trapped. With that, his instincts took over.

Chapter: #3 Swimming in Wine

Words: 4843

Warnings: Mild Swearing // Fluff // Eventual Smut? Idk maybe depends // Jungkook obsessive // Evil Namjoon (im sorry guys) // It might be a little messed up.

AN - It's been a while. I know.

This work shall not be copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission. In a case where this might happen, legal action will be taken as it would be a criminal act under the law and breaching these terms. Upon reading my work you are acknowledging that this work is mine and that you know the consequences if this work is copied, reproduced, translated and/or modified in any way without my permission.

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It was early in the morning when the sun started to creep its way into the room. You were sitting on your bed and surprisingly enough, you were already awake. You never used to be such an early bird, but throughout these past few nights, you would wake up drenched in sweat. No matter how hard you tried you couldn't stop thinking about the incident on the cliff. Upon sleeping, you could almost feel the arms of the creature wrapped around you, like its haunting touch has placed a permanent mark on you. When thinking about it more deeply, it felt human to you. The arms of a human, but its touch too deeply pressed on your skin: the coldness you felt, reached down to your bones. It was like death was clinging onto you, with you as its life source.

"Hey Y/N? You up?" You heard a whisper and you saw Julie poking her head through the door as she opened it slightly. You look over at her with a relaxed expression and a soft smile.

"Yeah, I'm already up. Did you want to go and get a coffee near the waterfront before dropping me off to work?" You stand up from your bed and start fixing the blankets and pillows.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea, let me go get my bag and we can leave soon." She spoke as she left the room, closing the door but not all the way.

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Looking out onto the ocean, it felt calm today. Although the tranquillity that you felt while looking out onto the shore exhibited a chaotic kind of peace. The calm before the storm. You could feel it, the anger of the waves crashing down and the freeing nature of the water wanting to come out. But it held restraint, it couldn't do anything even if it tried. Something was missing but you didn't know what. All you knew was that the feeling you had felt when looking out towards the ocean, changed somehow. The calm waters seemed too good to be true.

You sat there at the coffee shop across from the beach near where you work. The smell of sea-salt and fish mixed with coffee seemed like a horrible combination, but the locals were used to it. You found comfort in the idea that you might get used to it too. The coffee that you held in your hands was hot against the cool air. You sipped your coffee while waiting for Julie to come back with her usual morning cravings of insatiable sweet pastries.

“So, tell me. Have you made any work friends? Any of them cute?” Julie sat down across from you, taking you away from your thoughts. You looked over at her and chuckled, rolling your eyes.

“I have made some friends, not many but hopefully that will change in time” You smiled slightly looking out at the ocean again, feeling yourself get distracted but not with anything in particular. "Well it’s your first day today so make sure to stay on your toes, but don't overwork yourself," Julie spoke while her mouth is full of sweet dough-like pastries, more focused on the icing coating the top of her lips, not realising that you have been spacing out this entire time.

Thankfully you're good at multi-tasking and you chuckle at her comment, "It’s funny, people keep forgetting that I have worked at an aquarium before you know? It's not that much of a big deal." You sip your coffee but immediately placed it back down on the table, it was too sweet.

You look at your watch, realising its time to go. Plus, you would rather be at work than trying to have a normal conversation with her, you know she's trying but she's not your caretaker or mother, she doesn't need to try so hard.

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As you walk through the entrance of the Aquarium you could immediately feel the difference in atmosphere from the other day. The busy environment that you knew so well back home at the aquarium suddenly felt familiar. The buzzing sounds of life engulfed the reception as many families and residents were chatting away while waiting in line. Kids nagging at their parents and young couples looking at each other lovingly while waiting in line. There were not many people though as it was early, and it wasn't officially open for another 30 minutes.

You walked past them towards the reception and saw Seokjin who looked busy talking to the people in line. He glanced over at you and he made an expression as if he remembered something.

"Ah Y/N, Jimin told me to tell you to wait for him at the food court at the bar. You'll be working with him today. Taehyung is meant to be here, but he called in sick". You nodded, silently chuckling to yourself as Taehyung probably just called in sick because he was "too busy" or had some "emergency". While in reality, he's probably watching a new season of a drama he recently got addicted to.

You head your way to the food court after you say goodbye to Seokjin. It seemed quiet in the food court but simultaneously busy as workers prepared for the day. You could see some workers running around in their little cafes or tourist shops as you walk towards the main bar. You could hear your heels hit the glassy floor, echoing as it bounced off the wall of the gigantic room.

The bar had no one in it. You suppose it didn't open till later in the day. It was weird to you, you have never seen an Aquarium that had a bar before. Mind you, you never really travelled anywhere so you wouldn't know if it's a common thing to have at Aquariums.

You sat on the stool, looking at the giant tank circling the entire food court, acting as a wall around the large room. You tried to look through it to see how far it went but all you could see was the light blue ocean that seemed almost endless. Some small school fish could also be seen swimming in the tank. It felt as though you were in the middle of the ocean. All alone.

In contrast to the light blue colour that is seen throughout the rest of the room, the small tank that was built into the wall behind the bar looked darker and overgrown. It was a very small square tank that resembled a small window. You could barely see through it, a thick layer of algae covering the glass, it looked so dark in there. Maybe it was connected to another section of the aquarium, perhaps it even descended underground?

You shivered and looked around the food court, were you being watched? You could feel the sudden nervousness tingling throughout your body.

It was a weird feeling that came upon you, an icy cold feeling of loneliness like the air had suddenly shifted. The voices of the other workers in the food court were drifting away and you were slowly slipping away from reality. An alluring voice crept into your ear, singing an enchanting but hypnotising harmony. Somehow you could sense that it wasn't one of the workers for the voice sounded too angelic, too sweet to even be real. Your bones were chilled as you sensed the familiar feeling of cold strong arms enveloping around your waistline and chest as if you were reliving the moment by the cliff. You could physically feel it, its touch… his touch. Closing your eyes, you could feel the cold sharp wind from that moment above the water as it brushed against your cheeks. The creature’s hot breath giving you some type of warmth in the moment, yet it felt unknown to you. Mortality was clutching you in its hands, but you felt so safe. Like it was saving you despite drowning you at the same time.

You shook your head, awaking from the trance that you were in. Glancing back over at the tank behind the bar and you saw a dark figure in the water. It stayed there looking through the algae ridden glass. You could only see a face, black and blue scales on its cheekbones and jaw. It looked human, but at the same time, you knew it wasn't. Its alluring golden eyes, shining in the water, staring into your own. Its eyes were soulless.

By the time you blinked, it was gone.

You stood up, wanting to go closer to the small tank behind the bar. Making your way behind the bar, you were stopped by a strong hand pulling your shoulder back. "What are you doing here?" You turned to see a man who held your shoulder with a firm grip, his eyes staring straight into yours.

Oh, if looks could kill.

"I uhh.." Your mind went blank as you stepped back a bit, away from the man. He looked annoyed while you struggled to let the words out. By this time, you forgot what just happened moments ago.

"Answer my question" He spoke quietly but sternly, letting go of your shoulder but moving a step closer to make sure you can't run away.

"I was waiting for-"

"Yoongi-Hyung, what are you doing?? Leave the poor girl alone, you'll give her a heart attack" You sighed in relief as you saw Jimin walk up to the bar.

'You know this girl?" He spoke in a serious tone, you remembered what Taehyung said earlier about the Bartender, I guess this is him.

Jimin nodded, leaning on the bar. "Her name is Y/N, she's the new recruit Hoseok was telling us about" Jimin looks over at you with a charming smile while you take the opportunity to escape the bar and onto Jimin's side.

Yoongi looked at you and then back at Jimin, "well get outta here will you, the aquarium opens up soon”.

You nodded and Jimin just smirks before looking over at you "Come on Y/N, we have a busy day ahead of us" He stands up, grabbing your hand, giving you his signature smile before leading you out of the food court and down the hall.

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Third Person POV

"I can't believe we are opening up the aquarium a day after we caught it, what if it escapes?!" Hoseok looked down at the ground continuously tapping his foot on the ground as he leaned on the bookshelf in the office. Namjoon sat there in the chair in front of him.

"Don't worry, it can't escape" Namjoon reassured him and then continued.

"We have reason to believe it got stuck in an old tunnel filled with water that was built throughout the aquarium. We constructed the tunnel ages ago for the public and we were going to add glass windows to it, so you can look through the tunnel. However, the construction wasn't going as planned and we halted the idea."

"So, it's just swimming in a small tunnel throughout the aquarium walls with no way out? Like a maze? In pitch-black darkness?" Hoseok widened his eyes, he never heard of such a thing.

"You have nothing to worry about, the tunnel that he swam through to get in the aquarium was connected to the ocean, but we blocked it off as soon as we found out he swam in it. He's stuck in there."

"Are you certain? Have you swum through the tunnel yourself? How do you know there's no other way he can reach the other aquariums for the public to see?" Hoseok said, his voice raised. He walked up to the front of the desk, his hands crossed, Namjoon could sense his doubt radiating off of him.

"Before this place was opened to the public, I got some divers to check it out, it has no pockets or windows. It's pitch black down there" he tried to reassure Hoseok again. Namjoon looked up at Hoseok and he nodded, uncrossing his arms.

"Let's hope he doesn't go too crazy down there, we'll have to get him out soon." He continued, "Oh, by the way, Jackson called. He said yes to the deal." Hoseok

"Good. We will prepare the creature for transport soon".

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It was a busy day.

You sat off to the side as Jimin stood in his wetsuit on the platform of the dolphin's tank. He had a big smile stretched across his face as he instructed the dolphins while the crowd watched from the bleachers. With every flick of his hand, the dolphins would jump up in the air and the echoes of cheering would fill the small arena. You had a bucket of fish with you and you watched as each dolphin would come up to you after doing a trick. You sat on the side of the tank, you were visible to the public eye, but they weren't paying attention to you. It was sad really, you knew what went on in aquariums. How ironic that you want to be free yourself when working at an establishment that rejects freedom. You looked at the next dolphin that swam your way, it seemed weaker than the others. You went closer to the tank and sat on the edge. It slowly swam up to you, it was at that very moment that you saw a gash stretched out on its back. It wasn't bleeding, and you could easily see that it’s been there for a while.

You looked up at Jimin in worry although he didn't take notice. He held the microphone as he catered to the audience. You looked back at the dolphin and reached a fish from the bucket. Perhaps it was self-inflicted somehow. You heard that stuff can happen in aquariums. You watched the dolphin gently swim away, back down into the water, following the strict routine that was given to them before the show.

After the show ended, you still couldn't get that dolphin out of your head. Its empty expression in its eyes is still burned in your mind. All the hope and optimism you once associated with dolphins was now gone.

You stood there in the tiny tin room out the back of the aquarium near the dolphin tank, cleaning buckets of fish that were now empty. Jimin left you and went to go help another co-worker and gave you the task of cleaning out buckets that radiated the smell of decaying fish. You remember the innocent smile he gave you when he asked you for this little favour. It was your job, you couldn't say no - and he knew that.

"Thanks, Y/N! I owe you" Jimin yelled out, waving his hand as he ran off.

It was around 4 pm when you finished cleaning. Your body felt tired from the long day and you and Jimin were headed to the bar.

As you stepped into the food court the feeling you had before suddenly crept through your body. You shivered, and a sudden feeling of dread came upon you. It was weird, you didn't even think about the incident after it happened. Like you suddenly forgot about it. But now, as you slowly walk up towards the bar, you felt a chill encompassed around your bones.

Jimin sat down on the stool on the bar and placed a hand under his chin. He looked up at Yoongi with a smirk, "So, how's business?". Yoongi took a glance up at the both of you and looked back down again, wiping the bar down.

"It was pretty slow today. It was weird, I expected more people to come" Yoongi said quietly. You sat down next to Jimin and crossed your arms over the bar, letting your head rest gently on your arms.

"Hey, I just cleaned that" Yoongi looked over at you but after the day you had, you couldn't care less. You replied with a monotone "sorry" but stayed in your current position. He could tell that you were tired and surprisingly enough, he didn't push it.

"So, you remember that key I gave to you right? The one I found?" Jimin straightened up at Yoongi's words and looked over at you for a split second.

"Yeah I remember, what about it?" Yoongi sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well I need it back" Jimin looked confused, "but I thought you found it, that it had no meaning to you. That's why you gave it to me in the first place"

Yoongi sighed, "To be honest it was actually Hoseok's. I was curious to know what it's for, so I gave it to you. I didn't realise you wouldn't tell me after you found out. Still, after all these years, you haven't told me! To think, I was the one who gave you the key in the first place". Yoongi grabbed a glass from under the bar and shoved some ice in it before filling it up with apple juice. He passed it to you as if to tell you that he still remembers that you're here.

Jimin rolled his eyes, "Yeah, you gave me the key because you were too lazy to figure it out on your own".

"The point is, I need it. Where is it?" Yoongi looked somewhat anxious as he wiped down the bar for the third time.

Jimin shrugs, reaching his arm over to take your drink from the table that you haven't touched.

It’s too sweet. He sipped it casually and looked over at you before landing his eyes towards Yoongi again. "I don't know, I threw it away, I found no use for it".

Yoongi crossed his arms frowned, "that's bullshit, you are lying, and you know it, you've always been a bad liar". Yoongi then looks at you, your arms still crossed as you lay your head there, if they didn't know any better, they would have assumed you were asleep. Except you laid there, silently listening.

Jimin then also frowns, "look I don't know what to tell you, it's been years since you gave me that thing. The truth is, I lost it." Jimin looks up at Yoongi but Yoongi scoffs.

"So, you threw it away or lost it? Come on Jimin, just give it to me, I know you have it". Yoongi looked right through Jimin's eyes, you looked over at both of them, you could tell there was tension in the air.

Jimin was silent and Yoongi sighed grabbing the drink that you obviously weren’t going to finish and pouring it into the sink before placing the glass in the dishwasher under the bar.

Yoongi spoke quietly but you could tell that his words held a lot of weight, "Promise me".

Jimin looked up, "I don't get why you are so obsessed with this key, I don't even have it!"

"Promise me that you don't have it" Yoongi looked at him, his facial expression was the look of hurt more than anything. You could tell that there was more to this than what Yoongi was letting on. You sat there next to them, waiting for Jimin to spill the beans about giving the key to you.

Jimin was hesitant for a second before strongly responding, "I promise I don't have it." Yoongi stood there silent before nodding, mumbling a soft "sorry" under his lips before going back to cleaning the bar, even though he already finished.

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"I can't believe you lied for me," You spoke as you walked around the dolphin tank outside, Jimin walking beside you.

"I didn't lie. I don't have it. You do." Jimin smiled at you brightly, although you could tell that something was bothering him. You both kept walking before Jimin looked at his watch, "I'm sorry I got to go, feel free to stay here as long as you want, Namjoon doesn't mind us staying after hours. Although you do realise our shift ended an hour ago, right?" Jimin smiled brightly as he looked down at you, his eyes shining in the moonlight.

You chuckled, "Yes I knew, I just like your company. Thanks for being there for me. I haven't known you long, but you made me feel comfortable on my first day" You smiled, it seemed like you and Jimin were going to become really good friends.

"I'll always be here Y/N... Anyways I'll see you at work tomorrow yeah? Have a nice night" Jimin waved goodbye and walked away.

You sighed, reaching for the key from your pocket.

"Might as well check it out while I still can?" You thought.

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It was late, really late and you found yourself questioning Jimin's earlier statement about being allowed here after hours. You wandered through the halls of the aquarium, following the directions Jimin and Taehyung showed you last time, careful not to make any loud noises to gain any attention.

The halls were cold, and you could hear were the sounds of your heels tapping against the hard floor. While walking, you felt your chest become heavy, looking around you started to hear weird sounds coming from the walls. You shrugged it off however, you've been in aquariums long enough to know that it could be anything and that it's never completely quiet.

Finally reaching your destination you head down the metal steps. You've never been to this part of the building apart from when Jimin and Taehyung took you, you suppose it's for private personnel only. Continuing down the steps you reach the door to the moonpool, the sounds of water can be heard dripping and sloshing from behind. Inserting the keys and turning the metal handle you slowly walked inside. It was darker than the last time you saw it. What was surprising was the glow worms on the roof of the moonpool illuminating the moonpool and stone walls that surrounded it. You didn't see them during the day. They were beautiful.

Walking along the gravel towards the moonpool, you took off shoes your socks and placed your backpack next to the moonpool. You sat on the edge, dipping your legs in as you rolled up your pants, so they don't get wet. You closed your eyes, feeling the water reach up to your kneecaps. The water was lukewarm, and the smell of sea salt radiating off of it.

What a long day.

If you were being honest, all of this was too much for you. You never thought you would say this, but you miss home. You miss Marina's cooking and weirdly enough, you miss your mother. She hasn't called, even texted since you left. You felt like you thought this would be different, the people here are nice but every so often you get reminded about the flaws of this world, the treatment of animals, – the dolphin – the uneasiness you felt about Julie and her intentions. Even Jimin and Yoongi, you didn’t want to cause a fight between them because of some stupid key.

The water had suddenly started to turn cold, starting from your feet you feel a rush of icy water spread to your knees, eliminating any prior warmth you felt. The dripping stopped, the sloshing of the water halted. You opened your eyes curiously to see a figure from the other side of the moonpool staring right at you. You looked right in its eyes. Time stopped, and you could barely see anything else but the wide golden piercing gaze of the creature. You sat there frozen in place. You don't know how long you stayed like this for, but it took a while to realise what was happening. It didn't say a word, but you could tell by its knowing facial expression that it somehow knows who you are. Looking down in the now murky water you could see an outline of a human’s body, his muscles and broad shoulders prominent underneath the dark blue scales that stretched over its torso. You continued to examine the long outline of a tale - a big tale at that - with the front looking slimy however you could guess that the back of the tale was sharp enough to cut through any piece of flesh that it would encounter. One aspect of the creature that seemed almost beautiful were some parts of his scales that were brighter than others, acting as a highlighter around his cheekbones and arms.

You didn't want to make any sudden movements, frightened that the creature would drag you under. Eat you. Kill you. You decided that it was now or never and spoke quietly under your breath, looking back up at its eyes that never left yours. "Hi, my name is Y/N". Your breath was shaky, and your lips were dry.

"It probably can't even understand you," You thought to yourself.

The creature stopped staring into your eyes and lowered its focus to your legs that were swaying in the water. You shivered, the cold air getting to you. Goosebumps appeared on your legs and arms and you could have sworn you sore the remnant of a smirk that appeared on its lips.

You suddenly had an idea.

Carefully, you looked up at the creature, "I'm just going to grab something out from my backpack, okay?" Slowly you stretched your arm out towards your backpack while maintaining eye contact with the creature. The creature stayed still, however you knocked something metal in your bag and it made a loud noise that echoed throughout the moonpool. The creature’s facial expression turned darker and it went full force towards you, grabbing your calves as it didn't let you go. It was close to your face, its golden eyes peering into yours as you could feel its grip and claws on your legs tighten, its body between your thighs leaning in on you. You breathed in slowly, feeling almost petrified, but somehow you knew the creature didn't mean any harm. It looked over at your hand that was inside your backpack. You waited a few seconds before slowly, lifting your hand out of the bag, to reveal a container of prawns that was meant to be your lunch today.

The creature's grip loosened from your calves as it watched you open the container, taking a prawn before slowly reaching over to the creature's lips. One of its hands let go of your calf as it held your hand, guiding it towards its lips before it opened its mouth biting the prawns head off. You looked at the creature, a little startled. Its teeth were sharper than a normal human, like razors. In fact, you looked closely at the details of the creature's face, noticing the similarities to that of a human. Everything was the same except for the scales on the sides of his face, neck and on his cheekbones. The outline of his eyes was darker though, making his golden eyes brighter than usual. It had brown locks of hair, wet but you could see it was starting to dry. He resembled a male in his 20s.

He finished the prawn quickly and looked back at the container, wanting more. You spoke softly, "have more if you would like".

He looked down at your hand and then back up at you as if it was asking you to feed him again. His grip on one of your calves was softer and you could feel his thumb running circles over your calf. You grabbed another prawn, reaching over to his lips as he was careful not to cut your fingers with his teeth as he ate the prawn.

You sat there, feeding him the rest as he grew more comfortable around you. His hand reached out of the water towards the gravel next to your thigh as he spelled out the words "Jungkook" on the gravel.

"Jungkook?" You questioned, "is that your name?". Jungkook looked up at you before placing his hand on your thigh.

"Yes", he answered. Your eyes widen in shock, you didn't think he could understand you. You frowned and asked him curiously, "could you understand me this whole time?".

He smirked slightly, "I'm not the best at this human language but yes, yes I could" He looked up at you, his eyes shining. You frowned, feeling a little messed around with since he could have at least answered you the many times you spoke to him. But then again you understood, he doesn't know you, and you don't know him.

His grip on your calf and thigh tightened as he started to pull you in the water. You freaked, holding on to the edge of the moonpool. "Wait, wait, wait! I can't get these clothes wet and I uhh, have to get going soon..." Jungkook frowned but stopped pulling. He let go of you.

"Promise me you'll come back?" He looked at you with a sad expression, lowering himself in the water.

You looked down at him as you took your legs out of the water and grabbed your bag with your shoes and socks.

"I promise"

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AN: I know I haven’t updated, but I do really wanna update more. I feel like this chapter was a good one, give me some feedback? :)

tags: @mjlock

#bts #jungkook x reader #jungkook #mermaid jungkook #siren jungkook #bts x reader #bts scenarios #masterlist #park jimin #kim taehyung #kim seokjin #jeon jungkook #kim namjoon #min yoongi #Jung HoSeok #mermaids #sirens

85 notes · View notes

draggingthedregs · 3 years

Note

Hello! I love your writing so much! Can you write some kanej with Kaz being protective of Inej? If not that’s completely fine :) thank u!

a/n: okay so I always really struggle with “protective Kaz” things because I feel like he knows that she can most definitely take care of herself and he respects her for that. So this is what I came up with to try and meet in the middle. There’s that scene in Six of Crows where Kaz sends Inej to get rid of Rojakke (is that how you spell it? Idk he was in one scene, his name is not the point) and then when they’re back in his office that night he asks like “Did he put up a fight?” and she says “Nothing I couldn’t handle” and he says “Not what I asked” so thats where the idea for this came from, thank you bye.

word count: 2634

There was something about the floor of the Crow Club that set Kaz at ease.

Its endless cacophony of coins bouncing from table to floor, the spinning of Makkers Wheel, the laughter floating onto the street, and, his personal favorite, the flipping that only accompanied a deck of cards. Somedays he thought he’d be content to shuffle at a table forever.

It was then that Inej pushed through the entryway, shaking off the rain that rarely ceased to pour over the crowded city. She pulled her hood down, her inky hair braided into a long rope laying against her shoulder. Kaz traced every inch of her, as he often did when she entered a room: the slope of her nose, the smile she flashed to the greetings shouted in her direction, the knives strapped to her hips. He tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head that reminded him he’d also be content to be with her forever.

There were times he hated the things that he would notice, hated how his brain slipped past the innocent intention of watching to a sinister place of touch and consequence. He flipped the thoughts over in his head, studying them from every angle like he would a card trick, trying to mold them into different pictures. But the images froze in place anyway; the feel of her skin against his burned like fire, even in an illusion.

Most of all, he hated that he couldn’t force these delusions into reality, couldn’t touch her how he wanted, couldn’t force the bile down and only feel Inej’s warmth.

As she approached him, nodding to the private game rooms at the back of the club, giving him a clear view of her, he saw that something was amiss. Scarlet bloomed through her vest and onto her sleeve, trailing down to her thigh. He followed her, shutting the heavy door behind them and turning its complex series of locks. She’s upright. That’s all you should care about.

“The Exchange was crawling with Stadwatch. Security must be tight since the incident.”

“Did they see you?”

Inej practically scoffed, leaning her weight against the wooden table. “No. But I’m sure they’ll find someone who fits their bill. You know as well as I do, the council will want this quieted soon.”

Kaz nodded. Two weeks ago, the Exchange had been robbed, and though it was never publicly released, Kaz knew exactly what was stolen. After all, he had all the stocks and shipment papers locked in his safe as they spoke.

Roeder had been the one to pull off the job originally, this being one of the few things Kaz had required a spider for while she was busy at sea. He had done a mediocre job, but he was sloppy with locks and leaving the place as he’d found it. Going back to the scene of the crime seemed too risky a gamble but when Inej returned, she knew she could scrape it. And Kaz wasn’t going to start doubting the Wraith’s abilities now.

He flipped through the file she handed him. To anyone else, it may have looked useless, just pages and pages of numbers and times, scratchy handwritten tables filled with nonsense. But to him, and to a mercher with half a whit, this was key to investing. With the talleys and dates in hand, he would know what shipments to bank on and where to place his shares for the next few months.

“As always, the Wraith pulls through.”

Inej nodded and pulled her hood up once more. “You’re welcome.”

Kaz gave her another once over, slower than intended. “What happened?” He blurted, his voice sounding like a low growl in his throat.

Inej looked down at herself, brows knitted, studying the blood on her trousers. “Bullet or two from a guard just shooting at shadows.” With her brief summary of events, she took her weight off the table, readying herself for the journey back into the wet.

Kaz felt a sinking in his chest at the thought of her walking away from him, even if it was just to her apartment, and he hated himself for it. Now especially with her covered in blood, he couldn’t stomach the thought of her leaving. Without meaning to, he had taken himself back to before she had left.

It had been Inej’s last night before heading to sea when they had tried to pretend they were normal, that there wasn’t still so much between them. Kaz sat next to her on his bed, bad leg out in front of him, avoiding her gaze.

“We don’t have to do this at all.”

But he did. Kaz had to prove that he had come further than this. I can best this…

When she set sail the next morning, the feeling of failure settled deep within him, right beside the feeling that this time, he may never get her back from the sea.

Now, he couldn’t help but stop her. “Inej-” he began.

She turned, her hand resting on the doors heavy handle.

He made up the steps between them to stand beside her. Kaz forced himself to give any semblance of explanation, knowing that he’d promised to give her what she deserved and knowing that he was currently failing. “Let me walk with you.”

Inej nodded, dropping her hand as Kaz unlocked the door and opened it for her. He felt awkward, and quite frankly stupid; opening it as if she was some pretty girl that couldn’t handle the difference between whether to push or pull. She strided through anyway and he followed, silently cursing himself and hoping the grimace on his face looked normal for his temperament. Once they’d made it to the street, she slowed to walk beside him.

At first, neither of them spoke. Then, in her gentle and hushed tone, perhaps to avoid his inevitable questions about her evening, “Am I getting a personal escort through the Barrel?”

Kaz needn’t look down to feel the smile in her voice. “Is that what you’d prefer to call it?”

“It isn’t exactly an evening stroll down the canal, is it?”

“I suppose not.” He cringed at the sound of his own rasp, smashing against the lift of her voice like waves against stone. Though from what he could tell, she didn’t do the same. Inej only shrugged, tugging her hood forward against the drizzle.

“I only meant that I should feel lucky to get the King of the Barrel to myself for the night.”

Kaz thought he might keel over. “I am a busy man, but I still find time to survey my kingdom.”

Inej only rolled her eyes and kept her gaze straight forward. A moment of silence nestled between them, leaving only the sound off the East Stave hanging in the air. After fighting with himself for what seemed like far too long, his gaze settled atop her.

“Yes?”

Kaz swallowed hard, “Did you miss Ketterdam?” Did you miss me?

She considered his question, and to him, the silence stretched through the air like a rubber band about to break.

“I did. More than I thought I would.” Inej finally relented. Her voice had drifted to a somber place, a quiet stillness replacing the humor she’d had minutes before.

They had turned down a back alley, the darkness consuming them in sore contrast to the dazzling lights of the Stave. Their footsteps echoed in a syncopated rhythm, his awkward gait and cane paired with her near-soundless steps.

Maybe it was the high of having her back, walking next to him through Ketterdam as they’d done so many times before, but he hadn’t realized the direction they’d been walking. They approached the Slat, its crooked frame jutting out from the foundation at a welcoming tilt. He glanced down to Inej once more, watching as she took in the building, trying to see it through her eyes, as he wished to see much of the world.

“Is the Captain afraid of her old nest?”

If he had intended it as a jab, she didn’t take it as such. Inej shook her head once, “It just feels like home…”

She moved before he did, taking a deep breath of the stale air inside as she stepped through the threshold. There was movement, as there always was, but the Slat was quiet this time of night and Kaz was thankful. It meant that, selfishly, he could keep Inej upstairs and to himself for as long as he could come up with things to talk about. Perhaps they’d even sit on his bed and she would allow him to make up for the last time they’d found themselves there.

Kaz marveled at her as she took the creaky stairs ahead of him, the steps creaking beneath his weight after seemingly not registering her. His eyes once again wandered to the blood stains that covered her. He felt a hair-pin trigger go off in his chest and suddenly, there was anger.

Stop that. She isn’t yours to save.

Inej waited for him to open the door, sidestepping as they both now stood on the landing. If Kaz hadn’t just been studying her, he might have missed her change in demeanor and the way she shifted her weight to the wall behind her.

“Inej.”

“Hm?”

Kaz attempted to even his tone. “How bad are they?”

“What?”

His voice sounded like stones grinding against one another, “The bullet wounds.”

She shrugged but he could see the stress of the evening in her features. Her limbs seemed heavy and her eyelids fought to open with every blink. With a shove, Kaz unlocked his office door, forcing the warped wood open and, without hesitation, Inej followed him in, taking in the room as she clicked the locks back into place.

He leaned his cane against the makeshift desk and shucked his gloves off as he approached the cabinet beneath his wash basin, digging through its drawers for gauze and shears. Behind him, he heard the familiar creak of his window opening. The smell of rain against the cobblestones wafted toward him.

“Your window seat has felt neglected. Your crows too.”

“Does that mean you stopped feeding them while I was gone?”

No. They reminded me of you. I couldn’t let another piece of you go. “They’re scavengers. I’m sure they managed.”

It was then that Kaz turned to see her standing by his bed. Inej looked up, her cheeks flushing red like she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t have been. He only walked over, setting the bandages on the thin mattress. “So I don’t have to find a heartrender for you.”

“They really aren’t that bad-”

“You’ve bled through your clothes. They’re bad enough.”

Inej cleared her throat as she began removing layers of knives and clothes. Kaz’s eyes roved over her, the pounding in his chest growing louder. He hated it.

Her arms and shoulders were covered in fresh scars, some of them still red and scabbed, and the bruises on her ribs were still deep purple.

“Slavers don’t give up their cargo easily.” Inej’s voice came out with caution, as if she was waiting to see his reaction.

His gaze met hers, voice carving into the air like a rusted blade. “Where are they all now?”

“Dead.”

A sense of pride cracked through him as a rare smile settled on his lips. Kaz nodded. “Good.”

She picked up a strip of bandage, wrapping it around the bullet wound on her bicep, silence filling the space between them. Inej didn’t need to look up to feel the weight of his eyes on her. A flush crept to the tops of her ears. “I didn’t want you to see.”

It was rare for Kaz Brekker to be confused and yet, here he was.

“I thought you might kill someone. Or start to doubt that I could handle myself.”

“I could never doubt you. Only a fool would.” It was only after he said it that he realized it had been aloud.

Inej tied off the bandage then glanced down to the blood on her pants.

“I can-”

“No.” She said, finally making eye contact with him again. “Stay.”

For his sake and hers, Kaz turned his head to avoid staring as she shimmied out of the bloodied fabric.

She sat on the edge of the bed and poked around for any bullet fragments, the muscles in her thigh tensing, the dried blood on her skin looking black. Inej was just as strong as ever; all her limbs built of corded muscle coated in the lithe grace of an acrobat, just as he remembered. Despite his better judgement, Kaz took a long look at her.

It’s shame that eats men whole. He could feel it gnawing at him as he attempted to push away the image of her bare thighs against his sheets.

“Kaz, can you-?” She nodded to the scissors, her hands stuck at an awkward angle around her leg, the apprehension on her face clear.

He picked them up and took a deep breath before sitting down beside her. When he leaned over, he was careful not to touch her. Her breath stirred the hair on the back of his neck. One turn of his head and their lips would have been inches apart. This reminded him far too much of the hotel washroom; he only hoped it would end better.

Kaz cut the bandage gently, taking the end from her and tying it, his knuckles grazing against her skin. Panic hit him before anything else, afraid he had overstepped. It took him a moment to realize there was no revulsion roiling through him.

“Inej-”

“It’s alright… Thank you.”

He nodded, grabbing what was left of the bandages and the shears and placing them on top of his dresser. Then he opened one of his drawers, rummaging through the mess of clothes until he found what he had been looking for.

Kaz handed her a pair of cotton sleep trousers. “I can’t imagine yours are salvageable.”

Inej smiled, sliding them over her legs. They were huge on her. And though they hadn’t discussed her sleeping arrangements for the evening, it appeared she would be staying there.

He sat back down, staring at his bare hands; the hands that had just graced her without trouble or hesitation. She reached over, threading her fingers through his, and studied him, watching for the shift. But it never came.

“Will you lay with me?”

At that, he looked up.

In front of him was a girl who deserved so much more than Dirtyhands. A girl who made the sea cower and made the sun look dull. A girl who could have done anything she wished in life with ease and grace. And yet- she was sat in his bed, holding his hand, and patiently waiting for the semblances of affection he could provide.

Kaz felt himself nod.

She pushed herself back until she was against the wooden headboard. They both moved slowly, carefully placing their limbs so there was no overlap.

Then, he was laying beside her; both of their heads turned to study each other.

“Thank you.” Inej’s voice nearly a whisper.

The minutes stretched into hours, and Kaz lay listening to her breathing. I will have you without armor.

Well after twelve bells, the cadence of sleep seemed to grab hold of him, weighing heavy on his body. As his eyes drifted shut, he hoped that there would be more nights like this: nights with Inej close by his side and stillness in his mind.

He reached for her hand in the dark and promised he would not let go come morning. He would never let go of her again.

253 notes · View notes

doeilovr · 3 years

Text

WAYV’S REACTION WHEN THEY FIND OUT THEIR CRUSH LIKES THEM TOO

request: hi hi can you please do a reaction where wayv overhears their crush talking to another member about how they like them? I would love to see this page grow! so I hope you don't mind this request! have a great day!

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

YANGYANG ・･ﾟﾟ･｡

☆ you brought coffee for all the boys to enjoy during their break, all of them busy learning a new dance

☆ YangYang just came back from the bathroom, silently entering the dance studio, when he overheard something, “he is pretty cute”, you said to Hendery and YangYang was pretty sure this wasn’t even referring to him

☆ “do you really think YangYang would like me too?” And when he heard that it was for sure. You, his crush, the most beautiful person in his eyes, the light of his life.. you liked him back

☆ and suddenly YangYang knew what he had to do. He was gonna ask you out, now, finally.. and he was excited!

XIAOJUN ・･ﾟﾟ･｡

☆ Xiaojun couldn’t believe it when he opened the door and you stood on the other side.. he wasn’t wearing a shirt and on his way to take a shower.. god how embarrassed he was

☆ he was pretty sure he was somehow cursed, because ever since his heart decided it was you, everything went wrong. He was always doing something weird around you by accident and after knowing you for so long he never got a chance to tell you how he felt either

☆ so when he walked past Lucas’ room and overheard you saying “I was so embarrassed”, he was pretty sure it couldn’t get any worse.. but somehow he still stopped and eavesdropped for a bit

☆ “my heart flutters whenever I see him, Lucas”, fell from your lips and Xiaojun suddenly knew that everything had its reasons and the time would come for him to confess. Maybe sooner than expected!

HENDERY ・゜･｡

☆ Hendery was on his way to meet up with you in the park. You often hung out together nowadays, as you shared the same interests and maybe also because he had the fattest crush on you

☆ he wouldn’t confess though.. not yet at least, but maybe one day. He had already spotted you sitting on a bench and walked so he could sneak up to you from behind, but as he got closer, he realized you were talking on the phone

☆ “I don’t know, Kun, I shouldn’t tell him how I feel. I don’t want to lose him as a friend”, you were saying and Hendery stopped in his tracks.. this was exactly how he felt about you.. but wait , did you like someone already?

☆ a part of him wanted to turn around and leave, but the other part of him wanted to stay just a little longer. “You’re right, Hendery wouldn’t hurt anyone. I should confess.” And at that his jaw almost dropped.. you liked him? HIM?

☆ Hendery almost froze in place, but quickly got back to reality as soon as he saw you turn to the side a bit.. threatening to see him standing there. He called out your name, pretending as if he just arrived and felt his heart flutter even more, now that he knew his feelings were mutual. This felt like a dream come true!

LUCAS・．｡･ﾟﾟ

☆ Lucas wasn’t really into clubbing, but since you had invited him to hang out with your mutual friends, he couldn’t say no. It was you after all.

☆ He tried all evening to talk to you and get to know you better, but it turned out to be a lot harder.. the music was just too loud and there were so many people. After getting drinks for both of you, he returned to your private booth in the back of the club.

☆ You were sitting with Sicheng and Xiaojun, and yelling very loudly about how you were in love or something. Maybe Lucas heard it wrong. He walked closer, hearing your words a bit clearer now. “Lucas is so perfect, I don’t know if I even have a chance with him”, you shouted towards your two friends. Lucas almost tripped, what did he just hear?

☆ Before anyone could notice him listening in on your conversation, he walked up to the table, placing the drinks down and sitting next to you. “A pretty drink for a pretty person”, he smiled, handing you the pink cocktail. You accepted it thankfully, looking deep into Lucas’ eyes. “What?” Lucas shrugged, lost in your beauty and the moment. “We should dance”, he quickly said, feeling like this evening was gonna take a different turn than expected.

WINWIN ゜･ﾟﾟ･｡

☆ Winwin’s plan was to bring you to the beach and show you the sea, but as kindhearted as you were you invited Ten and Hendery along, changing his plan a bit a lot actually

☆ everyone was currently gathered outside of a convenience store, slurping on lemonade and coffee, sharing snacks and crazy stories.. WinWin, after using the bathroom, was about to join them again, when he overheard something

☆ your familiar (and beautiful) voice would never not catch his attention. “Shut up, Hendery”, you laughed.. the laugh WinWin fell in love with a long time ago. He stopped in the doorway, eavesdropping on your conversation. “If he finds out I like him because of you, you’re dead!”

☆ oh a threat.. wait. WinWin almost exploded from happiness. Was his dream of you liking him back finally coming true? Would he confess to you and you would say you liked him too? He couldn’t believe it. WinWin inhaled a sharp breath, putting his cool facade back on, before he sat down across from you at the table. You, his crush. His crush that liked him back.

TEN ・゜｡･

☆ ten almost did this unconsciously, yeah, it was kind of a ritual. When he came home from work he shouted “I’m home” (often not getting an answer).. and today he could barely stop himself from shouting out the familiar words

☆ he swung open the door, immediately spotting your familiar shoes and jacket by the entrance.. which could only mean you were in this very same apartment.. right now… and of course he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his crush no

☆ he fixed his hair in the mirror, took off his glasses and suddenly heard your laughter echo through the living room. “YangYang”, you laughed, “you’re so straightforward!” Ten walked closer to the living room, still not visible to either one of you, who where sitting on the sofa

☆”come on, I know Ten has a crush on you”, YangYang exposed him. Oh he was dead. Ten pressed his lips together, holding himself back from intervening, he couldn’t let his friend embarrass him any longer. “You know, I actually like Ten too”, you confessed nonchalantly and Ten aswell as YangYang let out a gasp.

☆ “Then why are we still here, we need to get you to together. Love-“, YangYang announced happily, Ten quickly interrupting him. “I’m home”, he shouted, emerging from the dark hallway. “So”, he sighed, a mischievous smile on his face. “What did I miss?”

KUN ・．｡･ﾟﾟ

☆ Kun blinked his eyes open, did he fall asleep again? This happened way too many times at work lately. But as he opened his eyes and looked around he got reminded why he loved coming here, despite his love for music of course

☆ you were sitting on his chair, talking on the phone with someone. And god, you were beautiful. Even just sitting there like that, not doing much. “Yeah Sicheng. He’s sleeping, why does he have to be so pretty even while sleeping.” Oh, you were talking about him. ABOUT HIM?

☆ Kun almost let out a shocked noise. After all this time of having a crush on you he only just found out now you liked him back? How? How did he deserve that?

☆ “You’re awake”, he heard your voice, a smile spreading on your face. Kun sat up on the sofa, mumbling a yeah. Honestly he was at loss of words (which barely ever happened), but he quickly got himself together. “Hey”, he called out softly, clearing his throat afterwards. He would tell you how he felt. He wouldn’t wait any longer. Finally he could tell you how he felt, how his heart fluttered whenever you were around and how he slept well at night, knowing you were in his life. Finally!

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

a/n: thanks again for the request! Hope you like it! Though I feel like this time I did it wrong :/ idk let me know what you guys think :3

134 notes · View notes

rumblelibrary · 3 years

Note

I'm not sure if you have already done something like this before, and if you did, please let me know, I'd love to read it, BUT I was wondering if you could do a little thing, maybe with Sebastian Zöllner, where he is like totally behind on every fucking deadline, work is just piling up, he got into stress with his ex, the dishes are not done, he should go take out the trash, you know, everything is just piling up and he just cracks under the pressure, severely doubting his worth as a person. And his friend, the reader, gotta try their best to build him up again, telling him all the things they love about him, and it slowly turns into a love confession without them noticing.

Is this too elaborate, does that make sense for Seb? Idk. To me it does? Like he's always very...Seb around other people, but deep down I feel like he's always under this pressure to live up to his own and others expectations, wanting to be big and famous and perfect in a way.

I'm so sorry, brain go brrr.

Never Enough [Sebastian Zöllner x Reader]

Word Count: 4k Warnings: bad habits (heavy smoking and drinking), self deprecation, depression and some fluff in the end. A/N: I loved this prompt, I love to write Sebastian so thanks to you once more for giving me this opportunity

He should have probably realised something was wrong when the ashtray was vomiting cigarettes out from its dooming position beside the laptop.

He nervously used the left part of the one he just ended to scavenge some space and just pressed it along the others.

Or maybe when after another sip of the same cold coffee mixed with cheap gin he felt the walls of his stomach revolting and stirring against him, threatening a much bigger damage.

Or, again, when he felt like calling back Elke because he was so alone and he was hungry and tired, and she might hate him but he could pull some puppy eyes and maybe it would work. It usually did.

The truth was that he shouldn’t have taken up so many jobs, but the bank account was crying and he needed them, he needed the money.

But again: writing about the umpteenth girl- artist performing naked on a famous historic location?

Or do we have to talk about the way somebody splashed some colour here and there on a canvas saying it is the catharsis of his young mind against the social construct?

Please, may God spare him from the man calling himself landscape artist because he takes pictures of naked girls on a field.

Charged up with this amount of nothingness, he could just write and delete, write and delete, words count going quickly up to 400 only to go back at 0 in a snap of his fingers over the buttons, because he couldn’t just tear them down. He had to give them some hope, a glimpse of potential he couldn’t see and he wasn’t even aware it existed. Each of them disgusted him, but he was specifically asked to be entertaining and not a killer with his words.

So he kept swiping up videos and photos of these artists, trying to find one thing, one holy grail to get attached to and finally write one good optimistic line in the middle of the words he had to pull up to keep a moderate tone.

He rubbed his temple running over his hairline, which by the way was perfectly fine, before his hand reached down and he touched his t-shirt pulling on the neckline to gather some air, he was wearing his pyjama still, white stained shirt on blue tartan pants. He raised up the shirt and bowed his head down giving in a long inhale from the inside and just cringed to himself.

He looked around as he couldn’t stand up, if he did then he will get only more distracted and these articles needed to be ready for tomorrow.

He noticed the spray against the mosquitos on the floor, those little bastards always hiding under his desk to bite his ankles, he picked it up and sprayed it over himself like it was perfume hoping to ignore the need of a shower for few more hours.

His eyes scanned the small studio flat he was living now: the dishes sticking out of the sink, the noisy fridge buzzing. The one table that was also his work desk filled with used mugs, stained plates covered in cigarettes and leftovers, empty packages of his favourite brand discarded everywhere: from the bathroom up to the couch and to the small bed he owned. Damn, if he run out of cigarette it will be hard to ignore how he also run out of food.

The space was dark and gloomy, some of his stuff still packed up, the fake pop art panting of him and Elke staring at him reminding him of his other loss.

He didn’t touch the bed in days, he just slept on the seat or on the couch.

His attention was attracted by his phone buzzing.

He sat up straight as it was her, it was Elke.

Did she sense his discomfort?

“Elke” he picked up the call in a second.

“Wow, a quick answer, did you have your phone already in your hand or it happens just so late at night?”

Her sarcasm did’t go past him, but he just thought how long it was since he heard a human voice and not the recording of some idiot calling himself artist.

“No, I was thinking of you”

“Yes, sure, look I have sent you an email with the bills of the time you were here, the ones you have left to pay and it is only fair that you pay at least half of them”

“Sure” he just said it because he wanted to go past the point of money, he wanted her back. Maybe he could crush at her place, feel her hands through his hair, shower, sleep some good sleep and the articles will come around in few types “Elke, I was thinking we might…”

“I just called you for the bills”

“I know, but maybe we could have” his eyes darted at the top right of his laptop screen to see the time “a drink together?”

She huffed a laughter as he frowned lightly “I know you Seb, if it is money or sex what you’re looking for that door is closed and it has been for a long time”

“I know” he murmured as he let out a breathy sigh, a dooming sense of loneliness creeping over him like a giant spider ready to wrap him up and eat him “I just hoped…”

“Don’t hope Sebastian, you’re already an hopeless cause”

She hung up on him and he was left there, he kept that same pose with his phone against his ear. His eyes trailing once again over the empty page of his document on the screen, on the chaos surrounding him.

He nibbled on his bottom lip before running his tongue over the pained area.

He pushed the phone back down on the table with a tremble of his jaw and a shaky hand.

She was right.

What he did of his life anyway? He lost most of his occasions in life, he was now in his thirties and he concluded nothing of what he hoped to be, he failed in all the departments both as an artist and as a critic.

A jack of all trades is a master of none, and maybe only the first type of the famous quote could be applied to him.

He couldn’t even take the trash out or he couldn’t remember the last time he ate something that was vaguely resembling of fruits or vegetables. It is all good when you imagine yourself as a bohemian rooting against the world, when you convince yourself that’s only the proof you needed to know you are fighting well against a system of art that privileges banality and marketing over real artistic value and that, one day, all your struggles will be worth it.

Even Picasso was poor for a long time in Paris.

Damn, maybe to be in a situation like this in Paris would sound more romantic.

But the truth was: he never imagined to have to do it alone, that life would feel so overwhelming, that there wouldn’t be anything but extreme struggle, anger, loneliness and a terrible diet.

For a moment he wished to be a baby again, to be the bright boy he was and let mommy take care of his needs and his dirty shirt and empty stomach. He wished that maybe somebody noticed him before, that somebody saw his talent and helped him to pull it out instead of leaving him to do it on his own only to come late to every step.

And now it is too late, he is lost in the sea of terrible paid jobs and anguishing relationships, let’s not forget maybe he indeed had a receding hairline and he was doomed to get bold .

He squeezed his eyes as a soft sob took over his lip, hand running over his forehead as he pulled on his hair justifying his tears with some physical pain. He shook his head as he tried to gain back some composure, hand flung over to pick up his coffee mug and giving in a long gulp of the coffee, the same one he swore before to not touch again, only to almost choke on it, couching it out only to pick up the bottom hem of his shirt to clean his laptop screen.

He fucking hated to write on a computer, the old typewriters inspired him but that damn ink was too expensive now for his sore pockets.

He smirked to himself as he kept doing it, finding good excuses to call himself off any responsibility. But maybe Elke was right, well she surely was, she had two degrees, maybe he was really a lot cause. He frowned as he wiped slowly the screen with his already stained shirt, the wetness sticking then against his skin as soon as he let it go giving him another shiver.

He didn’t have even the strength to cry, he could only accept it was over.

The curse that he shouted out loud when he heard knocking at the door, smashing him out of his thought spiral, generated an immediate anger reaction from him.

“Fuck, shit, if it is the fucking neighbour, I swear I will kill her cat or that rat she has as cat, fucking hell”

He grumbled as he stood up moving across the table not caring about his state, he only wanted to crawl back into a ball and maybe nuzzle a bit somewhere.

When his death glare appeared after the door opened in a powerful swing his eyebrows lifted immediately finding you on the other side.

He blinked, one of those sleepy blinks where somebody closes his eyes and then opens them really wide to make sure it is not made up in their brain, that one.

His eyebrows furrowed as he stared at you

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“You should wash your mouth with holy water Sebastian” you said shaking your head raising your arms to show him some paper bags “I am bringing food and body shower”

He shook his head “Are you calling me stinky?”

“I am” You quickly replied moving past him into his place ignoring his groan.

He stood by the door slowly closing it, he was sure that old bitch was looking through her peephole, only then he stared at you try to make your way into the filthy kitchen. He was really embarrassed about his antics, but surely this time he exceeded some record.

“I am speechless Seb, I helped you with the moving and this place seems to have taken over you” you said as you knew he was in some rut when he kept such a long phone silence.

He was usually always texting, sending memes or one sentence texts.

You cared about him, deeply, you knew he was full of flaws and little quirks, but that’s what made him special. Nevertheless, you were worried about the state of the place, how it showed the way he let himself get dragged through the days. So he observed you, better to say, your back, the way you moved around opening the window to let fresh air inside, turning on a lamp to make some light that wasn’t just the blue one of the screen. Pulling out commodities and food from your magic bags like some sort of Mary Poppins of struggling writers. How you poured soap in the dirty load of dishes and pans, the way you marched securely to his desk to pick up that filthy mug and you frowned just sniffing at it.

“Is that poison?”

“Rat poison” he corrected you.

You shook your head as you cleaned a glass and filled it with water and among the groceries you pulled out a banana.

“Have this now, it will help” you said and he took the glass with one hand and the banana with the other like his brain was shut down.

He stared at you as you leaned your head slightly on side, he went through bad times after the break up but you had never seen him in such a helpless state.

He was chaotic but he always loved to keep up his appearance, to give that handsome and damned kind of vibe.

“Sebastian” you called him as his eyes spaced out and now where back on you “Are you alright?”

He observed you, he stared at your face like he was trying to recognise you, truth it was he kept pushing himself to say yes, say yes, say it is all good, make a joke, a remark, keep it up. You don’t need his burden, you don’t need to hate him like Elke and others do.

Just say yes.

“No” he said as his lips trembled and you watched his ironic mask fall right in front of you as he looked away hiding his tears, real tears, not the ones he can play out whenever he needs.

Just as quickly as you gave him the banana and the water you took them off his hands afraid he might hurt himself by dropping the glass in particular.

"Seb" you called his attention as he sobbed moving like a bird trying to hide his face against his own shoulder.

You took his now empty hands dragging him toward the couch and kicking off the pile of dirty clothes and discarded books on top of it to make him sit down with you.

"Talk to me"

He didn't, the man that was never out of words, even in the times he should have been, was now silent as a tombstone staring away from you as you gave a gentle squeeze to his hands. It pained you to see him in such a state.

So weak, so helpless like a lost child.

"I can't help you if you don't talk"

Sebastian shook his head still staring at the wall.

"You can't help me"

"Is it about writing? I can proof read you, it will be a moment"

He shook his head again making, hair bouncing from side to side.

"No, it is not important if I write or not"

You frowned at that comment.

"What the hell?" you just blurted out "Seb you're a talented writer, you're passionate, funny, witty, why shouldn't it be important?"

He looked up at you shaking his head "I can't write, I can't put together two sentences"

Your eyes travelled onto his side profile, truth to be told he looked worn out but he was still handsome like only Sebastian Zöllner could be. He had that chaotic charm, even with a wrinkled suit he was fearless, strong, poignant. You couldn't avoid him, he owned every place he stepped in and you could feel his gaze run through your bloodstream.

When he asks a question, he meant it, it was a test run into your bones and you loved every second of it.

His lips tightened as he diverted his gaze finally to you. You knew his relationship with Elke was important, he cared about others even if he didn't show it daily like most people do.

"Is it Elke?"

"No, she was just right"

"About what?"

He gulped, his throat dry as he pulled his bottom lip in his mouth grinding his teeth over it like playing something through that gesture.

"About me"

"Breakups are always shit, don't you even.."

"No Y/N" he interrupted you, he was serious, maybe his voice trembled but he wasn't lying or playing some role "I am really a lost cause, I mean look at his place"

His hand waved around the small flat like a drunk orchestra director.

"It is pure trash, I haven't finished unpacking, I didn't have food until you came, I am unable to look after myself, to look after the people that I care about. I worked so hard to be an artist and then I became a critic and now I am so knee deep into my own shit that I have more debts than entries, more failures than successes, more haters than friends"

He gulped down, the waterline of his eyes dangerously red and he sniffled up as he let out a little weak whisper "I just wish I could disappear"

"No"

It came out of you like a lighting bolt, it surged out of you before you could even elaborate. Like an order. A command.

"Seb, you're now in a rough patch of life, but you have always worked hard and well as a writer"

"I am a writer because I failed as an artist"

"You're a writer because you know of what you're talking about, because you're able to see the difference between marketing and passion, between hard work and laziness, because you respect that profession and it makes you the best critic"

"I just want to destroy them all because I am envious, Elke always said I am fuelled by my own envy”

"I have read pieces of yours only encouraging the rightful and bringing down the real frauds"

He shook his head as he was just fixating on the wrong, on the flaws, on the problems.

You huffed cupping his cheeks to force him to look at your eyes.

"Look at me" you said not admitting replies "you are talented in what you do, you are one of the best in your field and you're not on some big magazine only because they know they will have to put up with your shit: with the fact you always meet the people, you look at art pieces in presence, you touch them, you research the colours, you scrutinise everything to the bone"

He took your hands hating to be held like that but he squeezed them in his owns.

"And yes, you're allergic to ironing clothes and washing dishes is your personal nightmare, and yes, you give out many temper tantrums and have a terribly dark sense of humour, you are a failure at time and money management, you love filthy rich stuff and smoke like your life depends on it"

He stared at you, he listened quietly as you knew him from so long and many people, Elke included, wondered what you gained from helping him or just being around him that much. He often teased his ex about being jealous of you and she always said that it was like being jealous of a mortgage.

"So you agree?"

"I agree to say you are flawed like all of us, that you are just the perfect balance to your writing, you're what you write. You're passionate, you give out the two hundred percent of what you can give, you are like this, you go all-in in everything you do, there's no compromise, no mid way, no foreseeable change of direction, you speed up into the darkness and don't look back. You are bold, you take risks, you let people hate you because you do not compromise with who is son of who or who is the director of what gallery, you judge people over their real qualities. Because you talk to them in their face, because you don't hide that yes, you want to be great, because you're handsome and charming and smart, nobody can outsmart you in your field, not even that idiot you hate that much"

"Golo Fucking Moser" he murmured

"Golo Fucking Moser" you repeated with a chuckle "you don't have anything to envy to him beside the bruises he probably has on his knees for bending down to anyone"

He chuckled at that comment.

"And also, you're more attractive, that pisses off Seb, it is unfair to the poor man”

He leaned his head on side as you wouldn't normally shower him in compliments, he had enough ego for that, but you had never seen him like this and you wished to never see him again in such a state.

"You find me attractive?"

"Well for sure you're an eye candy" you joked

"I mean it"

You rolled your eyes blushing a bit and huffing a chuckle "I do, alight? It is universal knowledge"

He looked at you as he still held your hands in his, his thumbs making soft shapes over the back of your hand.

"That I am attractive or that you find me attractive?"

You groaned looking away with an embarrassed giggle “okay, okay, I see you're back in yourself, let's eat now"

You moved to stand up but he didn't do the same remaining sat in his spot.

"Tell me"

"I pumped your self esteem enough, now let me go"

He chuckled softly, he never really thought you'd be interested. He usually shows off so many bad traits that he has to tone himself down and really try hard to attract someone. It is all an effort on his part to appear better or at least less quirky.

And then now look at you, appreciating even his shit show.

"Y/N" he murmured giving you a soft squeeze. You kept silent not daring now to meet his gaze. He bowed his head trying to reach for your eyes with his gaze and he looked up at you, a smile that wasn't provocative over his lips.

You pulled back yanking your wrists off his grip to move straight into the kitchen corner.

You begun pulling ut some fresh vegetables and bread, you also got some cheese knowing he loves it, wanting him to have a good dinner.

He followed you almost immediately and soon you found his arms grasping you once more in a hug, his chest pressed against your back, his forehead on your shoulder.

"Seb, you..."

"I know, I stink, just give me a moment" he said and you obliged him gently caressing his arms around you.

You hated to be in the friend zone, but you wouldn't be able to survive to lose him forever or to have him joke about it.

Now he was quiet, tender like a hurt pup.

"Thank you, you know you can count on me too, right? For anything” he said and you chuckled softly “I know, you’re my favourite avenger”

He nodded brushing his crisp beard against your cheek and after few minutes stuck in that hug he dropped a kiss on your neck "love you”

He pulled back giving you a smile as he picked the shower gel you left on the counter bringing it with himself to the bathroom with a soft hum.

You smiled a bit bitterly to yourself as you guessed it was meant in a friendly way, but today it was alright. You could endure it. Also that kiss, he always did it when he was drunk, at parties or in the taxi back home after a viewing. It was his cuddly way to say things without saying them, without rambling, and you appreciated that silent language.

Maybe now he was drunk over his own feelings.

Just like you.

Tagged @cazzyimagines @lieutenantn @handmaiden-of-mischief @thesunflowersutra @zemomybeloved @fictionlandslanddreams @charistory @greeneyedblondie44 @apparrio @hb8301 @whatawildone @rhymerhymerhyme @thehuiabird @lilith-blackrose @unbeatablecurlgirl @obsidianlaszlo @alindeluce @zemosimp05 @baronesszemo-blackwood @nocapesdahling @everythingbeginsineternity-blog @archangelproperty

#sebastian zöllner #sebastian zöllner x y/n #sebastian zollner x y/n #sebastian zollner x reader #sebastian zöllner x you #sebastian zöllner x reader #sebastian zöllner headcanon #sebastian zollner #daniel brühl #daniel bruhl #daniel bruehl #ich und kaminski #ich und Kaminski fanfiction #tw: depression #tw: self deprecation

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opalesense · 3 years

Text

the last appointment

zhongli & gn!reader

3.4k words • ~25 min. read

summary: as a studious and credible fortune teller in liyue, you discover something about your last client of the week that completely derails your outlook on life.

warnings: liyue arc spoilers, little bit of existential dread, slight mention of family member’s death

notes: might make more parts to this idk? just kinda wanted to dip my toes into genshin writing for the first time!!

LIFE IN LIYUE HARBOUR seemed to be repetitive and mundane. For the past few years, you would wake up, open your fortune telling shop, analyze the futures of your clients using your geomancy, possibly take a stroll around Liyue when you needed to run errands, and then call it a day. You performed the same routine constantly, sometimes travelling beyond the harbor to collect crystals and magical supplies for your shop, but rarely did anything truly change in your routine. If something was off in the slightest, it was never too exciting to note.

As anyone would have suspected, you were tired of your state of limbo in life. Other vision holders seemed to be going on adventures, travelling with companions and exploring the vast mountains and valleys of Teyvat. Other vision holders seemed to be fighting against evil, helping citizens, and saving the world from imminent dangers. You could even recall a recent event where the Qixing had evacuated the harbor to defeat a terrifying sea monster. The Jade Chamber had been sacrificed for the safety of the people of Liyue, and yet here you were, playing with a bunch of rocks for a living. Despite being able to grasp the glowing Geo vision that held your coat together, you could not grasp why you felt doomed to tend to this shop for the rest of your days.

You didn’t know where or how to “start” your life. The small, inherited establishment from your late aunt was located in the small alley of Chihu Rock, practically out of sight from most of the foot traffic in the harbor. Not many people came to visit, though your name was still decently known. In fact, most of your appointments were simply previous clients from your aunt, regulars that relied on her readings for years and believed you were the next best thing after she passed. Especially considering you were the first vision holder in your family, it made your credibility even stronger.

You still remember how you got your vision. The morning after your aunt had passed, the elemental gift somehow made its way into your hand as if the timing was meant to be perfect. You didn’t celebrate such a special and momentous occasion with pride or joy. Your face stiff with tears, you instead reflected on why you received your vision at that moment in the first place. With the shop doors closed upstairs, you gripped your vision and did what you felt needed to be done. With your family’s legacy and tradition on the line, adventuring like other vision wielders was not a priority at the time.

But after years alone of research, a social life consisting only of interacting with customers, and a constant state of grieving the experiences you could’ve had in your youth, you were now in your late twenties and closing the shop for the day. Your last appointment was either extremely late or not showing up at all and you were tired of working today, just like every other day. Regret gripped you tightly as you wondered how you managed to get yourself in such a boring, slow burning loop.

That is until the shop door opened, eliciting a gasp from you at the sudden noise, shattering the previous thought. You accidentally dropped the basket of cor lapis you were refilling and immediately knelt down to pick up the precious pieces that thankfully hadn’t cracked on the way down.

“Hello, [Y/N],” the tall figure practically glided through the doorway, “My deepest apologies for being late.”

He closed the door behind him, “...and for startling you, it seems.”

You sighed, checking for any scratches on the gems and sighed again with relief based on the good results. You grinned to hide the fact you had just been in deep thought. “It’s quite alright, Mr. Zhongli. It’s kind of you to stop by at the very least, even if you’re late.”

Mr. Zhongli was one of your aunt’s longtime clients. Since you were a child, your aunt had always described Mr. Zhongli as a complex yet thoughtful man that had always shown kindness to your family for many years. When Mr. Zhongli learned of your aunt’s death and began to receive readings from you instead, you quickly realized what your aunt meant by calling him complex. Mr. Zhongli was truly a tough nut to crack in every single reading, his sessions taking longer than most other cases. That is why Mr. Zhongli would always offer to take the last spot of the day at the end of every week as to not trouble any of your other clients.

As you took a few of the best cor lapis from the basket, you could see Mr. Zhongli’s acts of kindness and thoughtfulness unfold in front of you. He seemed to carry what was now clearly a gift basket at closer inspection.

“This gift is for you,” Mr. Zhongli took a few steps forward to set the basket on a countertop. “I brought you your favorites. Slow cooked bamboo shoot soup, qingxin, glaze lilies, and all the crystals I could find… needless to say, let this be a token of my appreciation for your patience and hard work from our last few sessions. I know I am not the easiest to read, but you truly have a talent.”

You were speechless at the gesture as your eyes sunk into the intricate detail of the handwoven basket and decorated items inside. No one had ever done something so kind for you in so long. It was astonishing enough that he remembered your favorite soup that you mentioned only once a few months ago, let alone your favorite flowers and crystals as well. “Thank you so much, Mr. Zhongli! I’m at a loss for words – this is so thoughtful of you!”

“I even brought you that Rex Incognito series you had mentioned, although, I am not sure why you would need to read the series when I am fully capable of educating you on the history of Rex Lapis myself,” he flaunted, taking his seat on the cushioned chair in front of the reading table.

“Now, Mr. Zhongli...” you picked out some prithiva topaz from another basket, following the usual protocol you had with such a personalized, frequent client like him. The required materials for his readings were imprinted into your memory like carvings in stone. “You know I don’t want to burden you with my curiosity. And with such an intriguing topic like Rex Lapis... once I start asking questions I’m afraid I will not stop.”

“I have all the time in the world,” he got comfortable in his seat as you sat yourself across from him, “I truly think it would benefit you to discuss the history of Rex Lapis with a learned scholar such as myself. We can even have some tea as we discuss.”

You chuckled at his eagerness. He seemed more forward than usual. “You are too kind, Mr. Zhongli. Perhaps I’ll take that offer someday, but at least let me put those books to good use first. Maybe I won’t need to bombard you with questions if I’m already well briefed on the subject.”

He sighed happily. “You make a good point. And you will enjoy them, I’m sure.”

You settled into your seat as you arranged the crystals between the two of you. “The usual for tonight?”

“Yes, please.”

Your hands meticulously placed the last crystal in its spot on the surface. You closed your eyes and hovered your hands above the rocks, clearing your mind to make way for the usual reading: a reflection on the past, any significant events of the present to focus on, and some insight into the future. You held this hand gesture for awhile, letting the energy from the rocks lift into the air and envelop your gloved palms. When you felt there was enough energy to work with, you opened your eyes to reveal the manifestation of his thoughts in front of you, able to take its physical form using the powers from your glowing vision.

No one had ever taught your this skill, not even your aunt. If you had to bloat your own ego, one could say you invented this Geo fortune telling process yourself. The process indeed came to you naturally, a true display of pure talent.

You slowly lifted your hands to allow the visual manifestation to settle on the table among the gems so Mr. Zhongli could watch his reading unfold in front of him as well.

“Let us analyze the past first,” he spoke, already knowing the routine without you needing to ask him where to start. You slowly waved your hands as if you were digging a hole in sand on a beach, the manifestation displaying ambiguous patterns that wouldn’t make sense to any commoner’s eyes but could be interpreted easily by yours.

Two pairs of focused eyes fixated on the picture as you spoke your mind out loud. “You have recently given up something extremely important to you, it seems. I see you handing over something… small, physically, yet unbelievably significant and personal. I can’t tell what it is exactly, only that it glows like the sun with its energy. But you have handed this important object over to a very... evil... figure?” you cocked your eyebrow, confused. “You seem to be brooding over the fact that its aura is dark with malicious intentions.” You hesitated, “Well, that can’t be right, can it?”

He sighed. “Unfortunately, that is indeed what happened recently. But it had to be done.”

“Didn’t we talk about a similar situation in a previous reading? If I remember correctly, I thought I had advised you to not give up whatever that object was.”

“I am aware of the consequences that will follow. Especially with your future guidance, I’m sure the events following this one questionable decision will unfold in a better way soon enough.”

“I will always be here to help you, Mr. Zhongli. But please be careful in the future with these decisions. The importance of this object seems to be off the charts.”

He nodded. “It is as you say. Please, have faith in me now. I cannot change what happened in the past, after all.”

You hovered over this image of the sacrifice. You couldn’t make out what this object was, no matter how close you tried to inspect it. It had the likings of a chess piece, but surely this wasn’t simply a chess piece, was it?

“Let us move on, if that is alright with you,” his low voice cut the silence.

You wiped the image from your mind and waved your hands again, as if you were slowly putting the sand back into the hole you dug before. If the last image wasn’t enough bad news, this new one that formed was even more painful to witness.

“You have been grieving your losses very recently,” you said gently. “Your mind is currently weighed down by your past. I see you looking out at the sea in deep thought. There are flashes of…”

You stopped as you inspected the graphic images that suddenly appeared beyond your hands. You gasped at the terrifying horrors.

“What is it?” the low voice tried to search for understanding of what you were seeing. Even though the image was clearly laid out in front of him, it was still too ambiguous to tell when he lacked your years of experience.

“There are flashes of war,” your breath stifled as you watched his thoughts splayed out in images of lifeless bodies and destruction. “Very graphic details of war and death. Mr. Zhongli, I believe this image of suffering has been weighing over your mind like an anchor in the sea.”

He paused to process your comparison. “That is... a very good way to put it.”

“Though, I believe that despite the sorrow that emanates in this image, you are in a state of relief and tranquility. It seems you are grieving, but you are simultaneously at peace,” you hesitated again, “Yet I wonder what these graphic images of war are meant to represent. Surely we are not in an actual war, are we? Perhaps you are at war with your past, wanting to move on but haunted by your memories?”

Mr. Zhongli unfortunately knew the images you were seeing were, in fact, real events he had experienced in his life time and the truth was that lately he had been reminiscing on these events. Mortal life is kind to humans for them to be blissfully unaware and carefree of these harsh realities, he internally commented.

He still put your analysis into thought, though.

“I am haunted, indeed. I have been attempting to come to terms with my troubled past, just as you advised me only a few weeks ago. I have tried to follow your guidance, and although they resurface what I have been trying to repress, I believe I am coming to peace with what happened.”

You grinned. “That is very good to hear, Mr. Zhongli. I believe you are currently making good progress when it comes to moving on. Just remember that it is okay to remember your sorrow. Let your emotions pass through you instead of repressing them or rushing to move on. It is okay to take your time and let the thoughts bubble inside of you for awhile.”

He closed his eyes as you continued, letting your advice seep in. You continued. “Imagine the stillness of the sea. Many creatures and lost remnants take their place in the depths of the waters, but on the surface we see constantly moving yet serene waves wash over what is hidden below. Your memories are there to stay, Mr. Zhongli. But your present self, the surface of the water, can peacefully coexist with whatever is hiding deep within. Let these thoughts weigh you down momentarily, but rest assured, you will find balance and acceptance in due time.”

His eyes fluttered open as he reflected over your words. You always seemed to know what to say. “Your words have truly resonated with me, [Y/N]. And you are absolutely correct. I have been fighting these memories to avoid the pain, but it had not dawned on me that sorrow is... what I am meant to feel, not push away. I suppose your advice has put my mind at a bit more ease, and I suppose I am focusing too much on when I will be able to move on rather than allowing my thoughts to coexist for a moment.”

“Now you’re getting it,” you grinned with the relief that washed over his face.

“Shall we move on?” he offered.

You got to work on the last segment of the reading. If manifesting the other images didn’t take long enough, reading one’s future always took the longest. Interpreting an event that hasn’t happened yet always made you a bit nervous with your words. You never wanted to let a client down with an inaccurate reading.

On the contrary, this reading, despite taking quite awhile to appear on the surface on the table, was very clear.

“That is undoubtedly an image of me,” your eyes glazed over the facial features of the person in the manifestation. “I apologize for the delay, Mr. Zhongli, I must have accidentally let my thoughts seep into yours–“

“Do not fret, I believe this is accurate,” he interrupted. “Keep going.”

Your perplexed expression remained as you continued the reading. “I am admittedly stumped. There is nothing left in this image. I suppose it is simply me standing in what looks like some ruins. I am holding a staff, or some kind of long object.” You paused to think out loud. “Why am I in your reading? What could this possibly mean?”

Mr. Zhongli chuckled as you thought out loud. “Perhaps this is a good time to tell you why you are in my thoughts.”

“I’d love to hear it, I have never appeared in someone’s reading in my last decade and a half of experience. This is quite unique.”

He folded his hands in his lap, “For some reason, I have had this strange vision of training you. I’m not sure why, since you don’t seem like the fighting type, but there is some voice inside me that is telling me you are destined for something great and i need to take some part in it. What do you think, now that you see this vision as well?”

Your eyebrows rose in shock. “Training me? I guess this does relate to something I have been pondering as of late. I do not want to lay out my troubles on you though, my job is to interpret your life, not mine.”

“Our lives have clearly intertwined in this vision,” he insisted, “Please do not hold back for my sake. I have the time.”

You thought for a moment. How could you form the words without seeming too selfish? How could you maintain professionalism by talking about your personal problems?

“I am not the fighting type, Mr. Zhongli. Though, lately I have been quite depressed about the fact that I am not doing as much with my vision as other vision holders are. My life is uninteresting. The truth is that I am a simple fortune teller that plays with rocks. I hope you can understand why I am failing to interpret this reading,” you apologized. “It’s because this doesn’t seem characteristic of me at all. And with all due respect, after giving you readings for years, I would have never guessed you were versed in combat to train me!”

He chuckled. “I respectfully disagree. To tell you the truth, your talents surpass the abilities of many other vision holders. Not everyone can read thoughts or tell the future. Now that I mention it, I know of one talented astrologist in Mondstadt, but think about that. You are one in hundreds of thousands in Teyvat,” he reassured. “You did not receive your vision for no reason and I truly believe you are destined for something big. I regret not being able to realize this before.”

“How are you so sure of this? I would love to believe you, but I’m afraid I am not destined for much, really. Again, I am simply a fortune teller. What could I possibly do for Liyue other than read some rocks?”

He sighed and connected his palms with yours, interrupting the reading and wiping the manifestation off the table. The hovering crystals dropped onto the surface, making you gasp at the sudden sound.

“I am not who you think I am,” his amber eyes finally met yours for the first time this evening, which sent a chill down your spine. “Promise me you will not fret, for what I am about to show you may shock you.”

“What do you mean? What are you doing, Mr. Zhongli?” you slightly panicked as he firmly grasped your hands.

Suddenly, the room was engulfed in golden light that emitted from the seat across from you. Scattered, distorted images of a mystical dragon, a devastating war, and seven seats in Celestia flashed across your eyes as you stared at the beams of light. Death seemed to swallow you, but not take you. The baskets of crystals around the room shook with the surge of energy. The world seemed to destroy itself then remake itself over and over again within fleeting moments. These thousands of years of memories made your body tremble. It all happened within fleeting moments, and after a few seconds of your senses being overwhelmed, you finally pulled yourself together and connected the dots.

His expanded knowledge of Liyue’s history. The sudden gift of your vision immediately after your aunt passed. Grieving his losses and having flooded thoughts of war and death. Offering combat training. Remembering your favorites the same way he would remember Liyue’s customs and traditions. His glowing amber eyes alone.

Mr. Zhongli was the God of Contracts and overseer of Liyue. Rex Lapis, a being that lived for millennia, sat in the seat across from you. He had been posing as a mere mortal for years, taking readings as if he were any normal customer. The realization shook you to your core as you sat there bewildered, grateful, and horrified at the same time.

He let go of your hands after seeing that the information successfully processed in your mind. He saw something in you that was yet to be awakened, where the sky was the limit under your own expectations. This daydream of his was no simple vision – it was a calling. Internally, whether you agreed to it or not, he vowed that he would not leave your life until your true destiny was fulfilled.

He would see this vow fulfilled by offering you a contract that would change the course of your life forever.

#zhongli #zhongli x reader #genshin impact #rex lapis #mine #boom #genshin impact x reader

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whump-a-la-mode · 3 years

Note

🍳 - Breakfast in bed

Idk all you characters are great.

It took me a while to decide on a scenario for this-- there’s so many good ones for a prompt as cute as this one! I eventually decided on Villainsicle, kind of a spiritual successor to the Nurse Me prompt. Some prologue caretaking for our good good boy.

Thank you so much for the ask! Sorry I haven’t been posting much these last few days, I have been stuck doing So Much Overtime. But my inbox is full of comfort prompts, so hopefully I’ll have some more cute stuff written soon!

For this ask game.

CW//Past pet whump, dehumanization, low self esteem, speech difficulties

Villain didn’t understand beds.

For the Henchmen, that hadn’t been an immediate realization. Not quite as immediate as their confusion over plates and silverware and cups. When the drenched stranger had shown up, bedroom arrangements had been the last thing they’d thought about. They were far too busy frantically drying off their new ward and trying to get food down their throat.

After they were dry and had stopped their frenetic shaking on that first day, Henchman had laid them upon their own bed-- and they had been far too exhausted to refuse. Hell, they had been asleep before they hit the mattress.

Once Villain had recovered to the point of no longer needing constant attention, Henchmen had set up a spare room to accommodate them. With the difficulty involved in procuring a bed on such short notice, they had instead acquired a simple sleeping pad for their dependent. Villain had never seemed to use it, but that hadn’t proved to be too strange.

When they decided to continue sleeping on the floor instead of on their newly-arrived bed, however, that is when the two Henchmen took notice.

“They have to have used a bed before, right?” Henchman2 absentmindedly tore a napkin between their fingers, creating a small pile of the ripped paper. “They’re our age. There’s no way they haven’t.”

“Well, they’d never seen a cup before, either, to be fair.” Henchman nodded. “It does seem weird, though. They’re pretty clearly from Organization, like us. And our dorms had beds.”

“Shitty beds.”

“Yes, shitty beds. But still beds.”

Henchman2 nodded, arranging their pile of napkin scraps for a moment, before speaking:

“We should probably do something about it, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“If our goal is to, y’know, help them act like a person, sleeping in a bed is part of that, right?”

“I guess so. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Have you tried, like, talking to Villain about it?”

“Not really. I helped them into the bed once, and when I came back they were back on the floor.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah... But, what can we really do about it?”

“If you want to help them act like a person, you’re going to have to talk to them like a person.”

“I don’t want to scare them.”

“You’re going to make food about it, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m gonna make food about it.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The sun looked different when it wasn’t shining over the water.

On the water, the bright rays never allowed themselves to be ignored. They did not simply provide light, but bright glimmering spots on the black ocean surface, rippling on splashing drops, glistening on the ship’s wake.

On land... Sun was a source of light. Subtler. Not making itself known-- only being visible in the few dew drops where scattered liquid made its way onto dry ground.

Villain still hadn’t gotten used to that. Nor had they truly gotten used to the ground itself-- the world beneath was meant to be a fluid thing, shifting and rolling with the tides. The stillness felt as odd to them as the sea once had.

In a way, they missed the sea. The glare of the dawning sun threatened to make them flinch away, but they resisted, standing in front of the window, staring out over the rolling hills outside.

Were they near the sea? They searched the horizon, but saw not its whistling white waves.

The nice people-- Henchman and Henchman2, they had names, Villain reminded themself-- kept offering them activities. Books, board games. Things that perhaps they should have been interested in. Some of them were scattered across the room’s floor, even now.

But, they couldn’t bring themself to pay mind to those things. They were far more interested in simply looking out the window. Looking for the sea. They had yet to find it, but they could not help but feel that, if they looked for long enough, they would eventually spot it.

Soon. It was getting light, now. They’d tried staring out the window all night long, but had seen not the slightest glimpse of water-reflected moonlight.

Their legs shook, and their eyelids were terribly heavy. But they wanted so desperately to find the sea.

“Villain?”

They perked up, though stayed in their position, not so much as averting their gaze. It sounded to be Henchman-- the more cautious of the nice people. The softer one. Perhaps they wanted to play another game, though Villain knew they would be far too confused by the rules and the little pieces to get anywhere.

“Villain, is it alright if I come in?”

“Come in yes okay.” They nodded. Words still felt so thick on their tongue, but they made the nice people so happy. It was more than worth it, to see the way they smiled when Villain stuttered out a few sounds.

The doorknob turned, door creaking on its hinges as Henchman walked in, backwards, hands seemingly occupied by something. Villain turned, looking back to the nice person.

“Oh-” Henchman looked up. “I didn’t think you’d be awake.”

“S’rry.”

“No, no, it’s fine. But... you look tired. Did you sleep at all?”

Henchman frowned. Villain could not help but do the same-- they had messed up. They had made the nice person sad.

“No.”

“Were you looking out the window?”

“Mhm.”

“Well... I brought something for you. And I thought maybe we could talk.”

“’kay.”

Villain looked to the item in Henchman’s hands as they sat on the bed. It had been shoved into the room a few days ago, even though they didn’t entirely understand why. There was no one here to use it.

Henchman patted the space beside them on the bed-- one of the new command signals for ‘Assido.’ Villain obeyed, sitting down beside the nice person.

“Want to talk about what?”

In response, Henchman picked up the platter they held, handing it to them. It was a plate-- they’d remembered that word yesterday. The food on it was familiar-- and it was food, if Henchman brought it, it was always food-- though the words escaped their mind’s grasp like eels. Something like bread, but with square holes, took up most of the platter, with something yellow and speckled with salt curled about the sides.

“About your bed.”

Villain blinked.

“This?” They pointed to the piece of furniture on which they sat.

“Yes.” Henchman’s brows raised in surprise. “You know about beds?”

“Yes?” It was a silly question to ask.

“Me and Henchman2 have been worried. You haven’t been sleeping on the bed. You’ve been sleeping on the floor. You can do what you want, of course, but... you don’t have to sleep on the floor.”

More confused blinking.

“No one here for sleep in bed.”

“You’re here. It’s your bed.”

What? Villain was certain they had heard right, but the words confused them nonetheless. They still struggled to make words with their own mouth, but other people’s words were easier. Fuzzy sometimes, but simple.

“I do not sleep on bed.”

“Oh. Do you not like it?”

Villain felt completely lost. They must have misheard something at some point.

“Beds for people.”

“Beds are for people?” Right. Verb. Need a verb.

They nodded. “Beds are for people.”

Henchman frowned, though the way their brow furrowed showed an emotion other than disappointment. It almost appeared as... fury.

“Villain, you are a person.”

“Asset.” They corrected.

“No.” Henchman laid a hand on their shoulder, making them shiver. “Villain, you are a person just as much as I am. Just as much as anyone else.”

“Why?”

“B-Because... Because you are? Because you’re a human being. And people sleep on beds. This is your bed, if you want it. Do you want it?”

Even just sitting on it made them comfortable enough that they felt, at any moment, about to fall into unconsciousness. The floor was fine, but...

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Henchman smiled. “How about, you have some breakfast in bed, and then get some sleep, okay?”

“Thank.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

For a reason beyond Villain’s comprehension, Henchman leaned forward, wrapping their arms around their body and squeezing.

What was that called again? A... A...

A hug.

#villainsicle #whump #whump community #villain whumpee #ask game

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maysbanks · 4 years

Text

are you bored yet. (jj maybank)

hey everyone ! basically this is my first time writing for jj, or anyone from obx in general. this is a side acc from my main acc that i made purely bc this fic idea came to me when watching obx and after listening to the wallows on repeat for weeks. idk i just thought the song was kinda fitting for jj, and im a sucker for soft ! jj with a friends to lovers arc, so here this is. it's quite a long one btw, the words just kept flowing so i apologise in advance. also i have a few more fic ideas based off some songs so if you like this and are interested in more pls let me know ! im probably gonna be writing a lot more for this boy bc i adore him. anyways i hope u enjoy !

warnings: features swearing, mention of sex, underage drinking, drug use and violence.

summary: based lightly off the song 'are you bored yet?' by the wallows ft clairo, reader and jj delve deeper into their relationship, taking the steps further into becoming something more than best friends. however worries and doubts begin to plague their minds, as they fear their relationship of becoming just a memory.

( gif isn't mine! please let me know if it's yours so i can credit you. )

"What are you doing later?" You looked towards Kie who'd directed the question towards you, her eyes squinting from the sun that was grinning down at your forms from where you were both seated on the sand.

"Dunno," you shrugged your shoulders. "Probably hanging out with J or something."

Kiara scoffed, a mocking look taking over the features of her face as her head turned towards yours, your eyebrows raising at the sly smirk on her lips. "What?" You questioned, narrowing your eyes when all she did was laugh. You shifted in your place, body moving from laying on your back to on your stomach, figuring it was about time to switch positions for your tan anyway. "Seriously Kie, what're you laughing about?"

She shifted along with you, only laying on her right side so she could face you head on, her hand propping her head up from the ground. She was still grinning. "JJ," she said simply. You raised your eyebrows at her once more, seemingly not understanding what she was trying to get at. "What's going on with you two?" Kie pushed on when you didn't respond, her own eyebrows inching further up her forehead.

In the distance you could hear the boys' screams, their commotion coming from the water you had passed on entering. You could hear JJ taunting John B from where you lay, Pope laughing along, and the splashes that you could only assume were also coming from them. You never spared them a glance, though from the corner of your eye could see their figures and indeed the loud splashes of water were coming from them, and you were certain JJ was holding John B underneath the water.

"Nothing's going on," you said in response to Kie's question, rolling your eyes playfully at her exclaim of 'oh c'mon!'. "What? It's the truth. Nothing is going on, not really."

Kie furrowed her brows. "What do you mean by 'not really'? Did something happen between you two?" She prodded.

You shrugged, because in all honesty you couldn't say much of anything about your relationship with JJ. You were just as unsure about it all as Kie and more than likely the rest of the gang were (because if Kie had picked up on it than surely Pope and John B had too, and you were kind of freaking about it.) and had no idea what to say in her line of questioning. Of course you wanted to talk about it, you and the Pogues never kept secrets from each other - but was it really a secret when they technically knew about it anyway, and was it really a secret when you and JJ hadn't even spoken about keeping it a secret too? Your mind raced, and you figured it was easier to just shrug it off for the time being. Kie would no doubt ask again, and you hoped you had the answers by the next time she (or someone else) would.

"He's my best friend," you'd decided on saying. From the corner of your eye, you could see the guys approaching. "We've been close since we were like, ten. We've always been the same."

Except now the two of you held hands under the table and kissed in the safety of your rooms, among other things. That part of your relationship was fairly new though, and so you decided against saying anything until you could work out exactly what was going on between you and JJ - because you had no clue, and weren't even sure that JJ knew himself. It just sort of happened, the line being crossed over from friends to lovers in the blink of an eye. One minute you'd never dare to give in to the temptation of JJ Maybank's heavenly sinful lips, and the next the pair of you were sharing a bed almost every night.

Nothing much had changed though, in regards to your friendship. JJ and you had always been close, always intimate in your touches. Always beside each other, rarely without the other. You were an unstoppable duo from the minute you met. Just somehow, along the line, over the years, your friendship had turned into more. Each touch became longer, each glance would linger, and something had shifted. It was inevitable, you supposed. Nobody was ever really that close with someone without feelings getting involved at some point.

The guys were a lot closer now, and Kie spared them a glance before looking back towards you. "Friends don't look at each other the way you two do." Was all she said before the sun that was earlier shining down on you was blocked by the trio of tall guys that smiled at the pair of you. Kie sat up, smiling as Pope took a seat beside her on her towel. "Have fun out there?"

"Oh, tons," came the voice that belonged to the person you were talking about not a minute ago. JJ smirked down at you, blonde hair dripping wet on his forehead and golden tanned chest on full show. You admired the view behind your sunglasses and sent a grin in his direction when he seemed to notice. "You checking me out there, babe?"

You laughed as he did a little shimmy, rolling your eyes as you looked at him over the rim of your glasses. "What would you do if I was, Maybank?" You played along, smirking when you heard John B let out a gag from somewhere beside you. JJ smiled back, and squatting down in front of your form he'd grabbed hold of your feet, laughing when you squealed. Tugging so that you were laying on your back rather than your front, his sea blue eyes gazed down your body, unknowingly leaving a trail of fire in its wake. The feeling you shared with JJ was unlike any other, nothing or nobody could come close to topping it. It was unexplainable, the feeling of absolute longing for him to just be there forever. You couldn't ever imagine a life without him in it, and that thought both scared and excited you.

JJ stared down at you, tongue peeking from his mouth to wet his pink lips as he looked. You felt hot all over and you knew it wasn't because of the sun. "Things only you could imagine sweetheart," he taunted from above you, knowing fine well that what you could imagine he'd probably already done to you. You smirked back, feeling a thrill shoot through you because the pair of you knew this and the remaining three of your group had no idea, or so you believed. This new relationship, this unspoken thing between the two of you was simply yours, and somewhere in the future you feared you'd both come to regret it, whatever it was, but in the moments of the present you knew neither of you could find it in yourselves to actually care.

And so you both smiled at each other like the world around you didn't exist, and for a couple of seconds you could pretend it didn't, JJ moving so he was seated behind you with your body seated between his legs and your back against his chest. Sat there, surrounded by your friends though almost oblivious to their presence as JJ's hands rested on your skin, his breath on your neck. You leaned into him, and smiled when he placed a discreet kiss to your shoulder.

Locking eyes with him, you grinned. The burst of happiness and content when he grinned back was almost unbearable, and in that moment you knew you never wanted whatever it was that you two shared to end.

It was a few days later when JJ showed up at your window, his face bloody and bruised, his form weak as he pulled himself into your bedroom. You didn't need to ask twice about who'd caused the damage, your body and mind going into autopilot as you hurried from your bed and grabbed hold of him, JJ grunting as he fell into you, his hand clutching desperately at his side.

"Shit, JJ," you'd cursed as you helped him land on your bed, hands instantly grabbing at his face and assessing the damage that had been left by his father. There was cuts along his brow line, his eye was bruised and already swollen shut, his bottom lip bust open and oozing blood. Your thumbs swiped along his cheeks, being careful of the injuries, and you felt tears pricking at your eyes at the sight of him. You blinked them away as quickly as you could, he didn't need to see you being so upset in that moment. And besides, you had bigger issues like getting him cleaned up like you had done too many times before. "Stay here, okay. I'm gonna go get the first aid kit."

JJ only grunted, and you pressed a kiss to his forehead before leaving the room to get the kit, your mind reeling. It was no secret about JJ's father and his years of abuse towards his own son, and you'd seen him beaten so badly so many times before, but it never got any easier. Each time it happened JJ would wound up at your house, and each time you would clean him up, making sure his wounds were tended to and making him as comfortable as possible as he slept next to you, most nights with his head resting on your chest as you soothed him to sleep with whispers of reassurance that you were there and that you loved him. He would fall asleep with tears staining his cheeks and you would cry yourself to sleep afterwards too, wishing that could just take away all his pain, wishing that you could do more, wishing that JJ had a better life than what he was given, because there was no-one that deserved it more.

You sniffed and forced your tears away, trying to focus on the task at hand. It didn't take long to locate the first aid kit and within a minute you were back in your bedroom, where JJ lay, staring up at your ceiling with his chest moving up and down in a motion that proved he was trying to hold his own tears in. Your heart broke at the sight, and you bit down on your wobbling lip as you moved towards him. His eyes met yours when you were close enough, stood in front of him on your bed. You smiled softly.

"Hey, honey," you soothed as he slowly sat up, grimacing at the obvious pain from his side as he did so. Despite his pain, he smirked back at you.

"Hi, baby."

Stepping closer, effectively between his legs, you smiled as his hands wound around and grabbed at your legs, almost as if he was grounding himself, focusing all his attention onto you. You took a moment to take him in as you pressed the wet rag you'd also grabbed on his face, beginning to clean the cut on his eyebrow. It wasn't too deep, thank god, you thought. You feared for the day where one cut might be too deep and one blow too strong, and the thought of JJ, strong and hot headed and impulsive and passionate, might not being able to drag himself out of the house of hell and getting to anyone for help, to you, to John B, to Pope or Kie, scared the shit out of you to put it simply. JJ was so strong, but there was only so much he could take, and you dreaded the day when that would come. You could only hope it never, and in the meantime do your best to prevent it. You let out a shaky breath as you continued to clean the blood from his face, gently dabbing at his torn lip as he hissed. "I'm sorry hon," you murmured, feeling your gut twist at the sight of him in pain.

"I'm okay," he breathed out, only it was shaky and you both knew it to be a lie. You said nothing though, not wanting to start an argument that night. You'd had countless in situations like these, where you'd tell him he needs to get away from his dad and he'd tell you its not that easy and that nothing fucking is on this island, and you'd try and tell him you understand that but you hate seeing him like that, beaten to a pulp, sometimes barely even able to move, and that you were scared to lose him. He'd tell you that you were too good for him, you deserved better, you deserved more, and you'd cry and tell him to shut up, that he was your best friend and all you ever needed and you'd always be there for him, and he would shake his head and deny it all with tears streaming down both your faces until you collapsed into each other and fell asleep with your limbs intertwined whatever mood you'd gone to sleep in. There was something about that night that told you not to argue, not to push him, just clean him up and hold him and let him know that he wasn't alone in this world. His eyes met yours once more. "I'm okay." He repeated, as if you hadn't heard him the first time.

All you could do was nod, and wiping the last bit of blood from his face, you quickly went over the cuts with disinfectant, JJ's grip tightening on the backs of your legs as you continued to tend to every last bit of him. Finishing on his face, you placed a kiss on each and every cut, bruise or scrape that was etched into his skin. He let out a shaky breath, one hand moving up and landing on your back, rubbing up and down as his forehead rested on your shoulder. Running your own hands through his blonde locks, you pressed your nose to the top of his head as you held him close to you. It wasn't long before you felt the tears soak through the material of your shirt (which was technically JJ's shirt, but that didn't matter much.) and his body started to shake against your own, chest heaving and hands shaking.

"I hate him," you heard him mutter. You closed your eyes, wrapping your arms around him tighter, one hand clutching the back of his neck as the other rubbed soothing patterns onto his back. JJ shook against you, hands clutching onto the sides of your shirt as his lips brushed against the side of your neck as he let out a sob. "I just - I fucking hate him! Why does he do this, why does he -? Why, why, why?"

He was muttering the word over and over again, all sense of himself lost as he sobbed into your neck. In that moment, you felt so useless, so powerless, and you knew that JJ did too. You wished you could take away all his pain, make him see that he was so loved, that you loved him entirely and surely, but all you could do in that moment was hold him tight and screw your eyes shut as you cried along with him.

"He doesn't deserve you, J," you whispered into his hair. "He doesn't deserve you one bit. You're the best son, okay. You're the best friend, the best goddamned person on this island, on this planet! You're so loved, you hear me? You're so loved, babyboy. We all love you, I love you okay. I love you more than anything."

You'd said the words a million times before, but somehow in that moment, wrapped up in each other, JJ sobbing into your chest and you holding him like a person would a child, his ear resting against your heart where he could hear every little beat, his own matching the rhythm soon after - in that moment, _you both knew it meant more. That the friendly shared 'love you's' from so many times before were different to the ones now, and yet still neither of you spoke about it. You focused on JJ, giving him the comfort he so desperately needed. And JJ focused on you, focused on your heartbeat and the sound of your breathing and the soothing words you were whispering to him, and you had no clue as to what he was thinking; that he loved you, so fucking much. JJ Maybank didn't know what to do with that, to love someone so completely and honestly like he loved you, beyond the point of friendship and into the unknown territory of _in-love _absolutely _terrified him. But he knew it to be true, he was in love with you.

And as you forced him to take his shirt off so you could inspect the bruises surrounding his stomach and chest, laying a gentle kiss onto each and every one of them as he started at you with pure adoration in his eyes, he thought about your relationship - fears of you getting bored of him, wanting more than the island life and more than him, fears of you leaving him for something or someone simply more. Realising that he was no good like he'd always said, always suspected. But then you gazed at him with a certain glint in your eyes that he knew was reflecting in his own, and you were pressing your lips to his in a soft caress that dimmed all thoughts from his head and the question of 'are you bored yet?' fell flat on his lips as you ate them, chewed it up and spat it straight back out.

That conversation could come later, he supposed.

JJ's jaw clenched as he took in the sight of you, skin glowing in the late night sun that was slowly fading in the moons advance. The kegger had begun only an hour or so before, and yet the beach was filled with people already - varying of Pogues, Tourons and Kooks.

Among them all was you, red cup placed in your hands as you laughed at something the guy in front of you was saying, a small smile on the boys lips as he watched you. JJ felt something twist in his gut, suddenly feeling nauseous as he was stood a bit away from you, taking in the sight with malice in his blue eyes. He didn't know the guy that much was for sure, which could only mean one thing; he was definitely a Touron. That also probably meant that he was one of the few people at the party that didn't know JJ or anything of his reputation for being a bit too hot headed. JJ couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

"Dude," John B slapped a hand on his shoulder, effectively snapping his trance at the pair across the beach. JJ turned towards his best friend, a smirk on John B's lips as their eyes met. "You're gonna poke holes into that guys head the way you're glaring at him man."

JJ rolled his eyes, his head once again moving to look back towards your figure. You didn't look mad at the attention the guy was giving you, and that sent a trail of fury in JJ's veins. "Who is that guy, man?" He asked instead of replying to John B's playful taunts. John B seemed to take note of that and simply shook his head. Fucking clueless, he thought.

"Dunno," John B replied as he took a swig of the beer in his hands. "Some Touron, probably." He glanced at his best friends face and noticed the glare darken in JJ's eyes. He suddenly shifted, blocking his view of you and the guy, ignoring JJ's grunt of displeasure at his move. "Don't start anything, J. Alright?"

JJ scoffed. "Me?" He chuckled darkly. "Nah man, you know I'd never start anything," he patted John B's chest twice. "I'm not the fighting type." JJ knew that John B could make out the sarcastic drawl to his words, and looking away from the brunette's eyes JJ was glancing back at you. His features shifted dramatically as he saw the guy take a step closer to your body, and despite the somewhat uncomfortable smile on your face you never seemed to object to the move. JJ felt the anger in his veins grow. "Fuck this!"

John B stopped him before he could take another step, shoving his chest so that he stumbled backwards. "Don't even think about it," JB warned. From afar, Pope seemed to take notice of the two and began to walk towards the seething blonde and his brunette best friend. "Pope, man tell him," John B practically pleaded as the most level headed of the group arrived at their side. It didn't take long for Pope to realise what the source of JJ's anger was, spotting you and the guy, completely oblivious to what was going on. "What are you planning on doing, huh?"

"He's all over her," JJ simply said - as if that was enough of an excuse for his anger. Pope and John B shared a glance. "I'm just gonna go over there and see if she's alright, alright?"

"Why do you care if he's all over her?" Pope raised his eyebrows. "You're not her boyfriend."

That faltered JJ's stance, and for a split second he looked away from you - still laughing, both hands gripping the cup in your hands, bikini clad top on full show for unwelcome eyes to wander. He clenched his jaw tighter, teeth clashing in his mouth, as he thought about Pope's words. Was it technically true; wasn't he your boyfriend? He didn't know - neither of you did. You hadn't spoken about anything, the changes in your relationship coming almost naturally so that neither of you cared to at first.

First, there was the no Pogue-on-Pogue macking rule. Second, there was something so deliciously thrilling about keeping your relationship from everyone else - no room for drama or prying eyes, or so he thought. But the unknown was beginning to scare him, and all he wanted was answers.

It was as if putting a label on what you both were would potentially put an end to everything, all the kissing, cuddling, secret touches, lingering looks, whispered endearments. The pair of you were too young for this shit, JJ thought. Thinking so hard about what you are or weren't. And god forbid you'd both come to regret it all; JJ couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't.

"I'm not gonna do anything," he said simply, and shoved his way past his friends before they could do anything else. He approached you, your eyes immediately catching his and a large grin overtaking the features of your face as he came closer. The guy seemed to notice your shift in attention and he turned too, eyes widening a bit at the sight of the blonde stood in front of him. JJ tried to smile naturally, his too sharp teeth secretly grinding together. "Hey," he chirped as if he was talking to an old friend. "How're you doing, man? I'm JJ."

You hid a laugh behind your hand, having no clue as to what JJ was trying to achieve but finding the obviously fake enthusiasm rather hilarious in that moment. Over his shoulder, you noticed John B and Pope watching with careful eyes, and everything seemed to click in your mind. _JJ was obviously planning on starting something. _You decided to get yourself and your somewhat boyfriend slash best friend out of the situation before anything could happen, the poor Touron didn't have a clue that you were kinda taken, to a fist throwing first ask questions later, tall blonde named JJ Maybank after all.

"It was nice talking to you, dude," you told the guy, his face dropping at the word dude. God, had he seriously wasted all that time flirting with you? You grabbed JJ's hand, only for him to tug it out of yours and place it around your shoulders, blue eyes sending daggers to the nervous boy on front of you. "We're gonna go now, I think."

And with that, you led the way away from him, not missing the way JJ's eyes swooped over the guy in an almost warning manner before smirking at him. Your hand reached up and fingers intertwined with those of JJ's that were sat rather comfortably near your breast. JJ's fingers squeezed yours in response, his arm tugging you closer before he leaned down and pressed a hard kiss to the top of your head.

Once you were a good distance away from the party and its occupants on the beach, you turned in his arm, hand letting go of his to wrap both your arms around his waist. He kept the same arm around your shoulder and placed his other on your bare back between the high waist line of your shorts and the knot of your bikini, long fingers spacing out and rubbing soothing patterns into the skin.

You sighed as you looked at him. "What was that about?" You questioned, a small smile tugging on your lips regardless of the seriousness in your question as you demanded answers.

"That guy was all over you," JJ grunted, his eyes leaving yours to glare at the space where you stood a minute before talking to the said guy. "He was practically drooling all over you. I saved you, y'know. You should be thanking me, babe."

You laughed, and rolling your eyes you reached up to touch his face, thumb smoothing over the still darkened skin under his eye from the confrontation of his dad earlier that week. Leaning up on your toes, aware that nobody could see the action from the distance you and JJ were stood from the kegger, you pressed a kiss to the bruised skin, JJ's eyes closing at the feel of your lips against his skin, a soft exhale leaving his chest.

"Were you jealous, baby?" You teased gently, chuckling at his scoff in response to your accusation. "Relax, J. You don't have to be. I've only got eyes for you."

That seemed to catch his attention. JJ pulled away from you a bit, blue eyes suddenly serious and pink lips forming a tight line. For a second you worried you'd said something wrong, suddenly afraid that he would pull back completely and distance himself from you like you feared one day he would - it was only a matter of time before he realised what you had was a mistake, you worried. That he'd get bored of you and realise there was so many other people he could have. The thought alone made you sick, and you forced the intruding thoughts to the back of your head as JJ's eyes trailed over your face.

"What's wrong?" You couldn't take it anymore. The silence was deafening, even with the music and chatter of the teenagers behind you lingering in the night air. JJ seemed to get hold of his bearings at that moment, shaking his head and leaving a hand from your body to run through his hair. You watched him all the while, lip between your teeth. "J, what's wrong baby?"

JJ wished he had an answer, but he simply didn't. He had no idea what was wrong, no way of telling you the thoughts that were running through his mind. JJ had never been good with words, or emotions, or anything much like that at all. And so he just shook his head, sighing deeply as his hands caressed your face. You welcomed the touch, head leaning into his hold as he smiled down at you. You knew there was something he wanted to say to you; you had known him for so long, felt like all your life, and you could see right through his lies. However you never said a thing, once again. In that moment, it felt enough to just be by his side.

"Can we go?" He muttered quietly, despite no-one being around you. You smiled softly, eyes staring into each others there on the beach. "Just wanna go to sleep with you," he murmured that time, leaning down and kissing the side of your lips, not completely which had you grumbling quietly.

"Course, baby," you whispered as you looked at him, feeling nothing but adoration and love for the boy in front of you. "Let's go."

And so after kissing him under the moonlight, feet sunken in the damp sand as the sea splashed around you, the kegger still going strong in the distance, JJ took your hands and led the way back to the Chateau, where despite both your similar thoughts you crawled into bed in the spare bedroom and fell asleep together, your head resting on his chest with his cheek pressed against your head, arms wrapped around forms and legs intertwined.

It was hot, blistering heat panning down on your form as you lay on the hammock outside the Chateau, eyes closed with one arm resting over them in a fleeting attempt to block the sun out. Despite the unbearable temperature of the day, JJ lay in between your legs, perfectly muscular arms wrapped around your waist as his head rested on your stomach that was covered only by one of his infamous cut-off sleeve shirts, only a bikini underneath it keeping you modest.

One of your hands played with the hair on the back of his neck, twirling the strands in between your fingers and repeating the process over and over again, JJ letting out a low him as you did so.

It was just the two of you, the quiet and peacefulness welcome on the hot day as you cuddled as close as you could and as much as you wanted, nothing off limits away from the prying eyes of your best friends. Both Kie and Pope were working, John B having traded your company for that of Sarah Cameron's for the day, and so that only left the pair of you to do anything and everything you pleased. JJ had let out a joyous whoop when you'd discovered the fact, and you'd only managed to get out of bed half an hour before as he took full advantage of having the Chateau to yourselves for the morning. The original plan was to go surfing, but as soon as you'd stepped out of the house the both of you seemed to come to a silent mutual agreement that lounging around in the sun on the porch was a much more welcoming idea instead.

And so that's what the pair of you had done; there was barely a word uttered between you both as you lay there, JJ's skin slightly sticky and damp on your own due to the heat, but neither of you seemed to mind as you simply closed your eyes and basked in the quiet, content with doing nothing with your favourite person.

JJ's hands had moved so that he was caressing your side, your skin revealed with the low cut of his shirt as his thumb rubbed patterns into your skin. In its wake it left goosebumps, JJ's touch never failing to make you shiver even in all the years you had known him. He knew what effect he had on you too, he smirked as you shivered, his other hand squeezing the flesh of your hip.

You trailed your own hands down from his hair and onto the exposed flesh of his back as he lay shirtless, and you could feel the muscles under your palms clench as you let out a small giggle. JJ chuckled along, although he'd had no idea as to what it was you were laughing at in the first place. The sound of your laugh just made him happy, he supposed.

"What're you laughing at?" He murmured quietly, chin propping on your stomach and his eyes squinting up at you. He'd moved a hand down to your thigh, now kneading the flesh there as his other remained on your side and wrote unknown words into the skin there. You grinned down at him lazily, the sun and his charming aura making you feel high. Then again, you probably were high; the blunt you'd both shared a couple of minutes earlier taking its toll.

"Nothing," you hummed. "Just really, really fucking happy right now s'all."

JJ laughed, laying a kiss onto your stomach and loving the way you giggled at the action. He pressed more there, letting out dramatic sounds of various 'mwah's' as he trailed them up further until his lips were on the skin on your collarbone, continuing his assault onto your neck. JJ's tongue darted out, and your giggles had soon turned into breathy moans of approval as he sucked on the skin, his sharpened teeth sinking into the flesh not long after. You gripped the back of his neck, fingernails digging into his hairline as your sounds of pleasure rippled through the air surrounding you without a care in the world. In that moment you couldn't care less if anyone had caught you - all that mattered was JJ, all that ever mattered was JJ. He sucked gently on your flesh, adding to the bruises that already littered your chest, stomach, thighs, anywhere he could get his mouth earlier. You both knew questions would be asked from the others, in the high temperatures of the Outer Banks your skin was almost always revealed. But again, neither of you cared.

Not when JJ's mouth left your skin with a satisfying pop, his eyes taking in the sight of the freshly bruised flesh, a content smile on his lips. He leaned down and peppered a kiss to the lovebite, soothing his tongue over it afterwards. You let out a sigh, suddenly breathless under his heated gaze.

JJ shuffled his body up and closer, one leg in between yours as his right hand came up and held your face tenderly in his palm, the rough skin of his thumb swiping along your brow as he grinned cheekily down at you. "You're fucking beautiful y'know that?"

Your cheeks blazed, an almost embarrassed laugh leaving your mouth and you shook your head at his words. JJ looked offended suddenly, his brows furrowing as he nodded furiously. "Um, yes you are. Don't you dare say that you're not because you're, fucking, beautiful, okay," between each word he left lingering kisses to your lips with his own, and you knew it was probably the weed in his system that had spurred him to such a romantic confrontation, but you welcomed it regardless, giggling against his lips as one leg hooked around his waist. "Fucking god, you keep doing that and we won't be moving from this hammock all day."

"I'm not complaining about that," you replied and pressed your lips harder to his. JJ let out a groan, his body impulsively pushing down further onto yours, his hips directly on yours, chests pressed close together, his arm holding him up enough near your head so he didn't suffocate you completely, his other kneading the soft flesh of your bikini bottom clad ass. Your own hands caressed the skin of his abdomen, fingers sprawled and feeling his abs tense underneath the tips. You pulled away only slightly, taking in the sight of his flushed face, his eyes bright and yearning, flashing with something you couldn't quite place and his lips swollen and so very red. "Thank you, by the way." You whispered as you reached up and pushed the hair from his face. "You're pretty beautiful yourself, hon."

JJ seemed to understand what you were getting at then, his chest heaving with a chuckle as he shook his head at you. He leaned down and placed a kiss to your nose, returning his head to snuggle into your neck as you were once again wrapped around each other. "Thanks, I know," he joked (possibly) as his hands resumed their pattern of soothing shapes on your ribs. You hummed a random tune, the calming atmosphere returning around the pair of you on the porch. It was quiet for a few more minutes, your eyes closing involuntarily and almost falling asleep right then and there before JJ spoke up again. "You're my best friend, y'know."

The words were so quiet you almost missed them, but with the silence surrounding you, you'd heard them loud and clear. Your eyes opened and you glanced down at the boy laying atop of you, his face hidden in the skin of your neck.

"I would hope so," you laughed slightly, having no clue as to where JJ was planning on going with the fact. "You're my best friend too. I'd be lost without you and the guys."

"No," JJ shook his head. He shifted in his place, eyes connecting with yours as you sent him a questioning look, quirking your eyebrow. JJ sighed deeply, sucking his lower chapped lip into his mouth for a second before releasing it and allowing your finger to trace the outline of it. "You don't get it. You're like, my best friend. I know it sounds stupid and I'm probably a selfish fucker for saying it, but I'd put you above everyone else. You are above everyone else. And like, I don't know how else to explain it but you mean the fucking world to me. Without you, I'd be nothing. If I lost you, I'd fucking die."

His voice broke at the end, and it damn near broke your heart as you hushed him gently, arms circling around his head and holding it close to your chest. You kissed his forehead, hearing him sniffle before he raised his head and met your eyes, the sea blue crystallised by unshed tears.

"I feel like I've known you my whole life, and I just - I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm scared honestly, shit fucking feared of losing you, or you realising that I'm just a no good low life and you could do better, and honestly you could and I don't even know what the fuck you're doing with me," JJ chuckled darkly and you shook your head, feeling tears prick at your own eyes at his words. "And I don't even know if you want to be with me, or if what we're doing is some mistake you're gonna regret, but you're my best friend."

The earnest in his voice made your heart clench in your chest. You'd seen JJ cry numerous times, seen his facade break and his world around him to crash, seen the emotions pour out of him with so much force whether they be happy, sad, fucking hysterical or ecstatic; and you'd loved him through it all. The realisation of just how much you loved him, that went beyond friendship and into pure, earnest and genuine love for the boy in front of you, made your head swirl and butterflies in your stomach to clash heavily against your ribcage. Something warm spread throughout you, and you welcomed the feeling with open arms. You loved JJ Maybank, purely and honestly, with every fibre in your being.

"J," you murmured carefully, gripping his damp cheeks and forcing him to look at you. His face was unreadable, but you could see in his eyes what he was feeling in that moment. "You're fucking crazy, alright? Everything about you is so damned chaotic and I love every bit of it. I love every bit of you, so much. Do you know how scared I was that you would take all this back? Regret it all, leave me for someone better. I was scared shitless, because I cannot lose you. You're my best friend, and all I wanna do is spend all my time with you."

"I've never felt like this before," you whispered as JJ's gaze softened, hands gripping your hips and squeezing gently. You traced the worry in his brows, easing it away, traced the bottoms of his eyes, the slope of his nose and the outline of his lips. He breathed against your fingertips, the soft exhale making the hairs on your arms raise. "I love you, J. And if you think you're ever gonna get rid of me, you're terribly fucking mistaken."

JJ chuckled at that, blonde head falling on your chest as he breathed in and out, seemingly catching his breath at your confession. "Thank god," he breathed, cheeky gaze raising to catch yours as he grinned, suddenly surging forward and catching your lips with his own in a deep and passionate embrace that had you feeling dizzy at the pure feel of it all. "I was scared you were gonna tell me to fuck off, thought you were using me for my body for a minute there, babe."

You full on laughed, breaking away from his eager lips to let it out, your hands clutching his cheeks and your legs squashing his body atop yours from where they were wrapped around his waist. "You're such a fucker, J." He kissed along your jaw in response, biting down softly. "God, that weed must have been some new level shit."

"Nah," JJ shook his head and grinned. "You just drive me crazy, babygirl." His hands wandered from your ribs higher till his fingertips just slipped under the material of your bikini top. He pressed a further series of tender kisses to your chest, trailing them down and then back up to meet your lips once more. He gazed lovingly at you, looking golden in the sunlight. "I love you too, by the way. Just so y'know."

You grinned softly, catching his bottom lip with your teeth when he began to pull away, pulling a delicious groan from him. "I know," you echoed back to him, lips raising on their own accord to match JJ's almost shy smile at your declaration. "Hey, can we stay home today? Wanna watch the sunset with you later."

JJ snorted, laying one last lingering kiss to your lips before snuggling back into your neck, his eyelashes brushing against your delicate skin. "Whatever you want baby," he chuckled, breath warm. "Whatever you want."

Yours and JJ's (now established, thankfully) relationship only progessed from there; it was in the little things, spending every moment you could get with each other, always touching in some kind of way whether it to be hands curled around one another's, fingers dancing on skin, shoulders and arms brushing, legs squished beside each other. It was all new, and it was all so exciting, and any worries that the two of you may had shared earlier vanished and in their wake came new thoughts of the future, of which you'd spend together.

If the gang had noticed the change, they hadn't mentioned it. Though you already knew Kie suspected something a long time ago, and probably Pope and John B too, due to JJ's little episode at the kegger that time. But you and JJ rejoiced in the unknown, relationship growing stronger each day all the while. You weren't trying to hide it - god forbid, you'd both been waiting so long for it, but you hadn't officially announced you were boyfriend and girlfriend either. There wasn't anything to say, you thought. The relationship came naturally, years of close friendship gradually turning into something more for the pair of you, and you'd both agreed it would be way funnier for the gang to come to their own conclusions and confront you about it themselves. However long that would take them.

The Pogues had driven the HMS Pogue out to the marsh, planning on drinking, swimming and simply hanging out for the day. Sarah had joined you on that particular day, body pressed close to John B's as the group lounged around on the boat, you and JJ wrapped around each other as usual.

His muscular arm was wrapped around your shoulders as you sprawled out close together, your legs thrown over his as your body angled towards his own, head resting on his shoulder. Your hands held the one thrown over you, absentmindedly playing with his ring adorned fingers. His other gripped your knee laying over his, thumb rubbing gentle patterns into the tanned skin there.

Nobody had mentioned your closeness - it was nothing new, the pair of you had always been so close, always touching even before becoming a couple. But Sarah wasn't as close with you as the others, and though she was aware of how close you and JJ were, she wasn't as up to date with everything like everyone else. You'd had no idea that she always just assumed the pair of you were dating, until that day.

"So, you guys are like, a couple right?" She'd asked out of the blue, eyes directed onto you and JJ. Kie suddenly sat up straight, sunglasses raising to rest atop her head rather than on her nose, Pope beside her seemingly taking as much interest, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees as he listened.

From beside Sarah, John B laughed and shook his head. "Everyone thinks that," he grinned, looking to you and JJ who shared a knowing glance. Sarah looked at him in confusion. "They can't help it though, their sexual tension is through the roof."

Sarah looked even more confused. "Wait, so you guys aren't together?"

JJ cleared his throat, arm tightening around your shoulders. You squeezed his hand as you stared up at him, smiling softly at his uncertain gaze. Once he'd met your eyes, the uncertainty faded away and in its place came a cheeky kind of look, mischievous and so attractive that you had to hold yourself back from kissing him right then and there. You knew it was time to come clean; and you thought it would scare you, your relationship suddenly becoming so real, but the thought only made your insides twist and churn with nothing but excitement.

You looked back at Sarah, who's gaze was still on the pair of you, as well as everyone elses. You noted the almost giddy expression on Kie's face, the barely suppressed curiosity on Pope's, and the suddenly confused one of John B's. You almost laughed, but held it in to say, "Actually, yeah. JJ and I are together."

JJ squeezed you gently as the reactions from your friends began. Kie grinned smugly, Sarah smiled at the two of you, John B raised his eyebrows so high they almost got lost beneath his hat, and Pope slapped his knees before he lurched backwards with his arms raised above his head.

"I knew it, man," Pope shook his head, though a smile was growing on his handsome features. "I knew something's been up with you two."

You laughed as Kie scoffed, "You knew? I had it figured out from the very beginning, I could tell something had changed." She eyed you. "And I was specifically told that nothing was going on, you big fat liar!"

"I'm sorry," you chuckled. "In my defence, when you asked me about it then I actually didn't know if we were like, together together. We hadn't spoken about it yet."

JJ grinned and pulled your body closer, leaning down and pressing a sloppy kiss to the top of your head as your face was mushed into his bare chest. "Yeah, and who can blame her for wanting to keep my Sex God body all to herself?" He asked rhetorically, laughing when you slapped him on the chest with a playful eye roll.

"Wait, so are you a couple now?" John B questioned, puzzled. He looked between the pair of you, your arms wrapped around his waist, one of his still around your shoulder and hand resting between your boobs. The other brushed hair from your face, JJ's gaze loving and soft as he looked down at you before looking back towards his best friend. John B scrunched his face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't tell anyone man," JJ shrugged carelessly. His fingers had began to play with your hair. "Figured it would be funnier for you guys to find out yourselves," he grinned. "So congratulations, you guys now know. Your reward is the knowledge that we fuck now!"

The gang groaned at his ludicrous words, and you slapped his chest with more force than you had before, just slightly as you scoffed and attempted to raise your head and move position to get a good look at him, but all JJ did was grab your hand and pull it upwards to his lips, kissing each of your knuckles instead.

You rolled as your eyes as you turned back to your friends. "We're sorry about not telling you," you said almost sheepishly. "We only really figured out what this was between us a few days ago, and by that time we just kinda forgot to mention it. This whole thing just kinda happened, we didn't know if it would last or become serious."

"And it has become serious now?" Pope voiced everyone's thoughts, glancing between the two of you. "Like, you're together as a couple. You love each other?"

You and JJ shared a look, the pair of you smiling softly as your hand raised and brushed the blonde strands of hair that fell over his brow, his own reaching up and holding the side of your jaw, his thumb swiping along your cheek lovingly. The others shared glances, unknown to you and JJ as you seemed to be lost inside your own little world for a moment.

When you came to again, you never turned from his eyes, watching the sea blue irises light up at your words; "Yeah, I love him, the fucker."

You heard a collective round of replies, but the feel of JJ's lips on yours for a second forced your attention on him and only him, your hands on his cheeks as you held him there for a full minute before pulling away, leaving a couple more little pecks on his lips. He whispered, "I love you." before he turned his attention to your friends, your smile so bright.

"I thought she'd get bored of me," he revealed unexpectedly. The Pogues (plus Sarah) all looked to him with various expressions of confusion, your own face matching theirs for a moment. JJ felt a smile tug on his lips as your hands massaged his scalp, nails scraping gently against the skin beneath. "But of course she couldn't, I mean I'm the fucking best am I not?"

The gang rolled their eyes as his normal cheeky expression returned, though they all smiled at the pair of you cuddled close together on the seats of the HMS Pogue, realising it was the happiest they'd ever seen the both of you. John B let out a sigh, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, it's about time anyway."

And just like that, everything went back to normal. You knew they'd have more questions in the future, prepared to answer any and every one of them when they came. But your little group swayed their attention elsewhere sat out on their little boat, laughing and joking at the next topic of conversation, bright eyes and giddy smiles on every face as you drank, swam and sunbathed out there on the marsh. JJ was only looking at you though, skin golden and blue eyes shining. You loved him, you thought. How could he ever think you'd get bored of him, with his charm and quick witted words, sarcastic drawl and tendency to get into trouble, his obsession with weed and putting others before himself always, his beautiful mind and ridiculously good looks to match. He was yours, all yours. And you loved him. JJ grinned. "Are you bored yet?" He asked, just once, loving the sound of your giggle as you shook your head at his antics. "No? Good, because I'm never gonna get bored of you."

#jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x you #jj maybank imagine #jj x reader #outer banks x reader #outer banks x you #outer banks imagine #obx imagine #obx jj #jj obx #jj outer banks #jj one shot #john b routledge #pope heyward #kiara carrera #sarah cameron

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sunleaffe · 3 years

Text

Lanterns

Xiaolumi (Xiao x Lumine)

A/N: this is like the first fic ive ever written OTL so forgive me if im just garbage at formatting. idk the rules of fics so im just throwing it out like this ahaha

He sat there, alone, feeling the light breeze carry with it the scent of mortal delicacies and faint traces of laughter. The lanterns that filled the sky before him would have been thought to be a subject of his scrutiny. After all, he had told that naive traveler that they were nothing but trash filling the sky, bound to fall back to the earth and clog the waterways of Li Yue. Still, as he sat there, bent slightly and hugging his knee close to his chest, Xiao revered the sight of the thousands of lanterns floating higher and higher as if to touch the moon. How many ancient legends flowed through his mind in that moment, one could never be certain. The tales of Skybracer and the other adepti, all of whom were being celebrated as the night stretched on. He had a pit in his stomach at the thought of the celebrations never being meant for him, and yet he felt a certain lightness and childlike wonder at the spectacular sight.

He noticed one lantern begin to float closer, which at first he brushed off as a change in wind direction, but it soon hovered close enough for him to reach out quizzically and bring it down to the grass. Who was releasing a lantern this far outside of the city? Even if Li Yue Harbor was within full view from where Xiao was perched, it was still bizarre for any civilian to trek or climb their way up here to release a lantern. Besides, who would ever wish for him, Conqueror of Demons?

Xiao’s curiosity was too much to contain and he decided to retrieve the piece of paper rolled up inside of the lantern, being careful not to blow out the flickering candle that kept the lantern lit. He removed the plaustrite ore as well, so he could set the lantern down on the grass carefully.

As he read the handwritten note, Xiao almost scoffed to cover up the burning sensation creeping up on his ears. Whoever had written this clearly had no formal practice in Li Yue calligraphy. The red ink was messy and the strokes were too harsh in some spots. Still, the words etched on the small piece of paper caused Xiao to flush slightly, something he quickly forced down and tossed the paper away with another scoff.

“Traveler, you really are not slick,” he muttered, looking away, knowing that Lumine was hiding in the bushes behind him. He should have known it was her who sent the lantern up to him. No one else would have been so foolish to scale bare rock like she was. There was a rustling sound followed by Paimon’s telltale giggle as Lumine walked over to where Xiao was sitting.

“Surprise!” Paimon exclaimed, waving her hands excitedly.

“Hardly a surprise at all, knowing only two fools out of the whole of Li Yue would be so keen to disturb me,” Xiao muttered. Paimon pouted and turned to Lumine who wordlessly took a seat next to the adeptus. He watched her as she made a gesture at Paimon, which only deepened the floating child’s pout, probably to wave her away, which she did so indignantly.

When the two were alone, Xiao observed Lumine warily. She tucked her knees close to her chest as if to mimic his position and sighed, her voice light and airy yet weary.

“I thought you two were going to go to the festivities down in Li Yue,” Xiao said. He could see the reflection of the lanterns in Lumine’s golden eyes. There was a wistful nature in her expression as she watched the lanterns float by.

“We were,” she admitted. “But even with all the lights and crowded streets, it still felt lonely.” All sarcastic comments that Xiao had been thinking of throwing at the naive traveler suddenly died in his throat. Seeing her sitting there in an almost fetal like position, talking like that...it made him wonder if the two of them weren’t so different after all.

“You know,” she said quietly. “That was the second lantern I released.”

Second? Xiao watched as she slowly turned to him and smiled sadly at him.

“Watching those lanterns fly away with everyone’s wishes and desires made me feel as if I was the only one whose wish wouldn't be answered,” Lumine said. There was a slight tremor in her voice as she spoke. “I understand what it’s like to feel alone.” Her eyes now grew misty as Xiao realized with a start that there were tears in them.

“I used to have someone very dear to me, just like you.” Her voice was now barely above a whisper. She extended an arm as if to reach for the lanterns as if they were a fleeting sense of salvation. “My brother, who I could always turn to, who was always by my side. We would travel for days or months and never feel alone because we had each other.” She curled her fingers as her lip trembled. “But I can’t seem to find him, no matter how far or near he may be. Sometimes it gets hard to even remember his face.” Her arm fell limply to her side as Xiao saw tears glisten on her cheeks.

“I know you’ve lost someone as well,” she continued after a moment. “You must have cared about him very much.”

Xiao glanced down at his gloved hand and then to the mask that hung on the belt around his waist. His hand hovered briefly over it before he stopped himself.

“Yes, I did.” He, like her, could hardly remember what that god looked like now. His kind face, his smile, or the hand he had held out to him all those centuries ago. Rex Lapis had given him a name and a purpose in this life, and now he was gone. The sight of the dragon tumbling from the heavens still caused Xiao’s jaw to clench. How could a spark of divinity ever depart Li Yue? How could he have left Xiao behind after everything he had given him? Xiao looked to Lumine as she sat there, crying silently. In such moments of weakness and vulnerability, he yearned for human touch, to have that sense of reassurance without corrupting them.

“Lumine,” he said. She looked up at him and he felt a strange sensation travel through his chest at the sight of her sitting there. Disheveled, a mess, drowning in her own sea of tears. And yet, the sight struck him as...tender.

“You will find your brother. The fates will align one day and you will see his face again,” he said, surprised at how much he meant his words. Never had he been so honest and truthful to another. Never had he cared so much for another’s happiness. Lumine’s smile sent another wave of emotion through Xiao.

“I didn’t know you had it in you to be so soft,” she teased weakly, sniffling and wiping at her eyes. Xiao scoffed, but this time his tone was light.

“Even I don’t take kindly to sniveling messes sitting so close to me.” He waved her comment off, but he meant it to match her teasing tone.

Lumine laughed now, the sound sending shivers down Xiao’s spine. “You know, meeting you made me realize something.”

“What?” Xiao was keenly aware of her leaning closer to him. She hesitated before their shoulders could touch.

“Even if I never find Aether, the least I could do is stay and learn from Teyvat. I could try to make a difference in this world. I could learn to love and cherish those around me,” she said. Xiao looked down at her, at her blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze and the flowers that were tucked behind her ear. The white ribbons on her outfit seemed to wrap around the two of them and pull them closer.

“I want you to know that you aren’t alone, Xiao,” Lumine said quietly. Xiao’s ears burned at these words as he quickly looked away, just as she looked up to meet his gaze. “If you ever need someone to turn to, I’m here.”

How odd it was, for someone to repeat Xiao’s own words back to him. If you ever find yourself in need of assistance, speak my name, he had told her when he had shooed her away hours earlier, adamant that he had no care for the Lantern Rite Festival.

“Well, I return your sentiment,” he managed to muster, feeling Lumine brush up against his arm and go still. Sighing, he finally turned to look back at her, but to his surprise, found her slumped onto him in a peaceful slumber.

Did all of that crying tire her out that easily…? He wondered. He had no idea if Lumine was truly human or not, but as he examined her peaceful expression, he knew his karmic bonds and energy would not harm her in the way they did to mortals. So perhaps, he could indulge in this little moment for a little bit longer.

Xiao found himself smiling softly at the notion and he leaned down to brush her hair out of her face. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Sweet dreams, traveler.”

He reached over to retrieve the slip of paper containing Lumine’s second wish.

“I wish for the Conqueror of Demons to finally realize he is not alone in this world.”

#xiaolumi #xiao x lumine #xiaolumi fic #genshin impact #xiaolumi fanfic #genshin impact fic #genshin impact fanfic #xiao #lumine

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pillage-and-lute · 3 years

Note

Idk if ur taking promos but here ya go

It takes Geralt “Three Braincells” of Rivia a handful of decades to realize Jaksier isn’t mortal

Hi Anon!

Here we go, its a plague fic technically, but its happy.

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They’re in some shitty little cottage and Geralt has a headache.

It’s actually a very nice, clean cottage, well kept and, according to Jaskier, idyllic. The issue is that they’d gone to the coast, an annual tradition for them, but a plague had struck the countryside and everyone had been ordered to stay at home.

Naturally, Geralt didn’t have to worry about falling ill himself, and Jaskier was a very healthy young man who never seemed to have so much as a sniffle. The issue was that Geralt couldn’t imagine anything more awful than spreading the illness to another village.

Mostly so far people seemed to be recovering, and a message from Yennefer said that she and her peers were searching frantically for a cure. There had been deaths though. Mostly the elderly or the poorly, but tragedies all around. In poor areas, where many people slept all in one room, whole families caught it within the day.

So Geralt and Jaskier had been holed up in the little cottage by the sea for two months now. Geralt was going stir crazy. He mostly rode Roach or went fishing and hunting, dropping the occasional cleaned fish or leg of venison at poorer houses in the little fishing village. Still. He wanted to be on the Path.

Jaskier was writing a book, prose rather than poetry, and so far it was all about love and mystery and betrayal. It seemed rather fantastical to Geralt, but Jaskier insisted that it was what people wanted to read, and who would know better than he.

Tonight it was raining, and after supper as the light grew so dim Geralt sat in front of the fire, slowly losing his mind to cabin fever.

“Remember the last plague?” Jaskier asked.

Geralt did. Perhaps ten years after Jaskier had joined him. It had been awful, but Jaskier and he had stayed well away from that side of the Continent.

“A tragedy,” Geralt said.

“Yes.”

They were quiet for a moment, then Jaskier said, “strange to think it’s been fifty years since then.”

Geralt did some quick mental calculations.

“Fifty?” But yes, fifty years since the last plague, and sixty since meeting Jaskier. So why was his face still the one he’d worn at twenty.

“What are you?” Geralt asked it calmly. Even he could see that taking six decades to figure this out was slow.

“Dear heart, did you only now get it?”

“Hmmm.”

“Oh Geralt,” Jaskier said, not unkindly, sitting down beside him. “I thought you’d figured it out ages ago.”

“Hmmm,” and then, feeling that wasn’t sufficient, “No.”

“I’m half-elven, dear heart.”

“Ah.”

“Sixty years, Geralt. Really. I had a bet going with Yennefer that you just didn’t think it was worth talking about. I’m going to have to pay for a new dress for her.”

Geralt said nothing.

Jaskier chuckled, then reached down and lightly tugged a lock of snowy hair.

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

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descendantofthesparrow · 3 years

Text

old request that has been sitting in my files for.....idek - Harry Hook x Sparrow! Reader - oneshot - My Bonnie Lass

Ok so I have a request Harry’s betrothed to the reader since birth so like there close and she’s the daughter of jack sparrow and he’s like super shy and quiet and he chooses to pretends she doesn’t exist but then he sees some picking on her but people don’t know their like a thing I guess so he gets really angry and they ask him why he’s angry and it slips out

this oneshot has been sitting in my files since before i went exclusively commission writing

@daughter-of-the-stars11 here you go! after...idk how many months but i finally finished ur request!

The isle of the lost, a place filled with criminals and thieves alike, some of the vilest villains had been trapped there as punishment for the crimes.

While the isle was deprived of fresh food, there was no shortage of alcohol. And one night, as Captain James Hook and Captain Jack Sparrow sat in a tavern drinking until dawn, the two had decided that Hook's firstborn son and Jack's firstborn daughter would be betrothed.

Why? No one knows, and Jack or James cannot be bothered to remember why the thought had even come up in the first place.

It would work to their advantage though, at least that’s what they thought, once the barrier surrounding the isle was down and their children would rule the seven seas with their combined power.

Now 16 years later, the two betrothed teens, who neither minded their “secret” engagement, still lived on the isle of the lost under the barrier that prevented them from concurring the seas.

….yes, you heard that right “secret” engagement, only Jack, James, Harry, and (y/n) know about the drunken night that ended in the kids getting hitched.

now if only Harry didn’t pretend (y/n) didn’t exist, the two could rule the docks of the isle. The two had been close all their lives, then suddenly, the son of Hook had decided to completely ignore (y/n).

something the young pirate teen had been burning to try to find out why one of her greatest friends, and her fiancé, had decided to just abandon her.

Now Uma, Harry's best friend, and Captain of the lost revenge, knew why Harry had decided to ignore (y/n).

He liked her….yeah Uma was extremely confused too. The two had known about their engagement since they could think and had been close since they could comprehend each other's existence.

By the time Harry had learned what “feelings” were, specifically the feeling of affection and love….he distanced himself from (y/n).

He always heard the villains go on and on about how love had doomed them, destroyed them, how it would destroy them if they allowed it to grow.

he knew what the butterflies in his chest and stomach meant when he saw (y/n) glance at him, the rapid beat of his heart when she laughed, the stutter of his breath as she smiled up at him.

To protect both of them from destruction, he had to separate himself from her. he knew deep down he couldn’t avoid her forever with their parent's insistence on their engagement, but Harry reasoned with himself that if he pretended, she didn’t exist, soon the feelings for her would disappear.

Yeah, that would be going out the window as one day, as he turned the corner of the main market place and saw a group of vicious Vks surrounding (y/n). he stopped, feeling heat build-up in his body as he saw them poking and prodding at her clothes and skin, one even attempting to take the necklace Harry had given her when they were kids.

He saw red, gripping onto his hook tightly as he stormed up to him, his mind told him (y/n) could easily take care of them herself, that she was one of the best swordswomen on the isle.

His heart screamed to rip them apart for talking to HIS girl like that.

“ello~” he purred, giving an airy chuckle as the group leaped 2 feet into the air and turned to him, fear filling their eyes “wha’ do we have here~ picking on the bonnie lass are yeh~”

(y/n) gave him an odd look, months and months of ignoring her only to call her that? What-her eyes shoot to her feet, confusion bubbling in her mind. “we-we were only putting sparrow in her place Hook; you know how it is-“ the lanky blond male who spoke up yelped as Harry gave a sharp snarl and shoved the sharp end of his hook under his chin.

Harry chuckled darkly at the growing dark color in the male's pants. “I don’ take kindly ta those threatenin’ my lass, I suggest yeh leave her alone from now on~”

“you-your lass?” the redhead muttered, looking at his friends before his neck was grabbed and he was shoved against the wall, knife at his back.

“yes, his” (y/n) seethed, grinning as the redhead yelped as she further dug the knife into his back “but don’t forget I’m not as helpless as you all think, stay away from me or it's your head hanging from the black pearl” the group nodded, running down the market place as soon as the two descendants of legendary pirates released them.

(y/n) glanced at harry for a moment before walking past him, yelping as he wrapped his arm around her waist and hefted her over his shoulder, making his way towards his apartment. “Harrison James Hook you put me down right now!”

“in a moment” he muttered, wincing at the metal rings on (y/n)s fingers bashed against his back as she punched it.

Soon (y/n) gave up her struggle to get out of his grip and simply let herself hang, hands tightly gripping onto his jacket to not fall off.

He carefully lumbered up the steps to his apartment and kicked open the door, he shut it with his foot and set (y/n) on her feet, sighing and leaning against the wall as (y/n) stared at him in heavy confusion.

“what the fuck was that?!” she yelled, smacking his shoulder “you ignore me for months and then call me “your lass”?! the hell?! You better explain yourself hook-Mff!”

Harry dived forward, pressing a soft kiss to the ranting (y/n)s lips, before pulling back and sighing, quickly patting his face to rid of the heat “I-I fuck-I figured shit out and I didn’t want ta ignore yeh any more love, I’m sorry” (y/n) just stared at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open “I-say something…please?” (y/n) closed her eyes and sighed, before suddenly reaching out and grabbing onto the lapels of his jacket and pulling him to her height, pressing her lips to his in a quick kiss. She grinned as Harry just turned red and stared at her.

“you’re forgiven….but, you owe me lunch”

“done” Harry muttered, eyes drifting down to her lips. (y/n) caught the action and snorted, patting his cheek and walked around him to the door and swung it open. “where are yeh-“

“I got shit to do Harry” (y/n) laughed, turning and winking at him as she backed out of his apartment “we can hang out later, bye~” she skipped down the steps and ran out of sight, leaving a blushing breathless harry in his apartment.

He groaned, sinking to the floor and covering his face “I could've done that such a long time ago” he groaned, smiling at looking back up at his open door “fuck yeh da’, shell be worth everything”

-end-

permtaglist

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange

@lunanight2012 @musicarose

@remembered-license @random-thoughts-003

@verboetoperee @rintheemolion

@imtryingthisout

#disney descendants #harry hook descendants #harry hook x reader #harry hook imagine #Descendents #descendants #old reqests #requests are not open still #so pls dont ask #commissions are tho

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quinn-of-aebradore · 3 years

Text

All the secrets I’ve kept

Barely getting this in before the day is up, for Day 4 of @essek-week. Prompt is guilt // family. I’ve only gotten back into writing fics very recently and this is nowehere near perfect, but fuck it. Might put in on AO3 at some point, idk. It’s angsty, it’s soft, the characterization is alright at best, and of course, very self indulgent. Read below the cut!

The Mighty Nein get some much needed respite from the perils of Aeor’s ruin and Essek learns some things about someone he cares for deeply.

The Mighty Nein made their way into the tower’s doorway. Caleb went last, shutting the door behind him. He hoped the spot they had chosen would be hidden enough that if the Tomb Takers came along, even with Lucien’s keen sight, they wouldn’t see it.

He turned away from the entrance, sighing. Everyone but Essek had headed up, but the drow was gazing at the entrance hall in a surprising amount of awe. Caleb stepped up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Would you like a tour, friend?”

Essek didn’t respond immediately, letting Caleb calling him ‘friend’ wash over him. “Yes,” he sounded calmer than he had in months, “I would like that very much.”

Caleb patted his shoulder and stepped forward. “Follow me then,” he stepped under the iris and willed himself upward.

It took Essek a moment to catch on but he was soon floating alongside Caleb. “Clever,” he said, with a slight delighted smirk on his face.

“I, ah, took some inspiration from the Astral Sea,”

Caleb glided out of the center and landed on the second floor. “This is the Great Hall and these,” he gestured at the sliding doors, “well, let me demonstrate.”

Essek moved to where Caleb had been standing as he approached one of the doors.

“Say you needed some alchemical equipment,” he opened the door and pulled out a table covered in vials and such, “Simply think of what you seek, and these rooms can provide it. Within reason, of course.” he grinned. He had wanted to share this with Essek for a long time.

The delighted look hadn’t faded from his face. “I can think of some things,”

Caleb grinned even wider as he put the table away and closed the door. “I have a feeling you will enjoy what is on the next level even more,” he returned to the open iris and willed himself up, Essek following behind.

The drow gasped as they arrived in the salon. Caleb beamed as his companion took in the shelves, the fireplace, the stained glass. “Was my assumption correct?”

“You are a wonder, Caleb Widogast.”

For a moment, Caleb’s pulse quickened and he flushed. “I, ah,” he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that, “I still have quite a bit to learn,” he stumbled over the words. That compliment should not have thrown him this much.

Essek glanced at him, the smirk now a smile, a soft one. “Perhaps,” he drifted a bit closer, “But I am quite confident that you will soon surpass even me.”

“It was not so long ago that you held yourself so far above me,”

He had not meant it cruelly, but Essek still flinched the slightest bit. “I suppose I was wrong,” he sighed, “The best of my capabilities are not far from your reach, Caleb. You are so close. And that is incredible to see.” hesitantly, Essek reached out to put a hand on Caleb’s arm, but thought better of it and forced it back to his side.

“Then, perhaps, you can teach me a bit more,”

Essek smiled, almost to himself, bit his lip. “If you’d have me.”

“We can discuss more after we eat. Now, there is a bit of the tour left. If you wish to continue.”

Essek nodded. “Absolutely.”

They floated higher, into the fourth floor. Caleb landed outside of the iris and mentioned for Essek to follow him. The drow drifted over and stood at his side. Caleb opened the doors leading into the dining hall and stepped inside. “We’ll all gather down here later. To plan, and to eat.”

Essek hovered around the edges of the room, taking it all in. He caught sight of the doors and turned to look at his companion, who was watching him curiously. “What’s through here?”

Caleb smirked, “Have a look.”

Essek gave him a look but opened the door he stood by anyways. The sight of cats and pastries was certainly a surprise. Caleb chuckled at the look on his face. “Is it the same…” his gaze drifted to the other door.

Caleb nodded then laughed again. “They can make anything you’d like,” he glanced back at the door to the central chamber, “How would you like to see where you will be sleeping?”

Essek smiled, nodded, and made his way out of the dining hall with Caleb. The pair floated onto the next floor and Caleb stepped outside the iris again. He approached an unmarked door and smiled at Essek, who had landed outside the central column. With quick glances at the other doors, he could tell they were Yasha’s and Caduceus’, marked with a lilac and a beetle.

He joined Caleb by the door, which he swung open. The pair stepped inside, Caleb staying by the door. Essek almost mindlessly moved deeper in, stunned by the care that had been put into the sitting room. It was all furnished in the same Xhorhasian style as his tower in Rosohna had been, colored in shades of grey, purple, and blue. Above the lit fireplace, the room’s stained glass window sat, depicting the Mighty Nein, all nine of them. Essek’s breath caught in his throat, his heart racing. “Caleb…” he managed, sparing the slightest glance over his shoulder.

He startled as a hand was placed on his shoulder. “It is to your liking?” he could feel Caleb’s breath on the back of his neck, and it took everything he had to not shudder. His touch was so gentle. Essek exhaled and brought his thoughts under control. He turned and smiled at Caleb.

“Yes… it’s... thank you.” there weren’t words for how he felt right now.

Caleb smiled at him, and it was so warm, so kind. Essek could feel his cheeks and the tips of his ears turn a darker shade of purple. He wondered if Caleb could feel how fast his heart was beating from where his hand sat on his shoulder.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he missed what Caleb said next. He only became aware again when he moved his hand onto his cheek. Essek gazed at him, into his eyes, the color of a clear sky. The emotions held inside them, so much sadness but so much care, made his racing heart ache. “Essek, if we survive this, come with us. You are one of us. We can protect you until it comes time we destroy those who would harm you.”

Another bout of breathlessness came to him. He couldn’t fathom how to respond to that. At his lack of response, Caleb pulled back, looking embarrassed. “I apologize, that was… I overstepped.”

Essek caught his arm. “No, Caleb, no you did not. I just… I can’t. I’m putting you into enough danger traveling with you now.”

Caleb shook his head. “Ikithon is chasing us now, chasing me. You are simply a bonus to his prize. We are the ones putting you in danger.”

“Why would… because he knows I taught you?”

Caleb locked up, his open expression slamming shut. Essek pulled his hand away, realizing he had treaded into unwelcome territory. “There’s more for you to see,” Caleb’s voice was jagged, unreadable.

Essek nodded and turned away, heading to the door. Beyond it was half a library, half a replica of his laboratory in Rosohna. It was perfect, and he told Caleb as such, only to get a stiff nod as a response. It was crushing, crossing a line he didn’t know was there. He knew he shouldn’t have expected Caleb to open up to him, not after everything he had done. But that hope, despite his best efforts, refused to die.

He went through the next door, into his bedroom. The same Xhorhasian style was reflected in the four-poster bed and various other furnishings. “Thank you Caleb. All of this… it is more than I could have ever hoped for.”

A slight crack appeared in the armor Caleb had put up. “Of course, my friend.”

Essek smiled at him, but it didn’t reach the delighted look he had held before, even at being called a friend again. It was sullied by guilt and embarrassment. Caleb returned it, his even more pained. “I’ll see you at dinner Essek.” and he turned and left.

As soon as he heard the first door close, Essek collapsed onto his bed. It was as soft as Caleb’s touch had been earlier. He sunk into it, allowing himself to fall into an exhausted, guilty, half-sleep.

Caleb locked his door behind him and he slid down it, knocking his head against the amber-veined wood.

“You’re a fool,” he muttered to himself in Zemnian, “he didn’t deserve that.”

He knew he should have told Essek about Ikithon, about everything he had endured and everything he had done. He had told him that devastating night that he was damned too, that they were the same. But not why. Something about that felt wrong. He knew Essek’s sins. He deserved to know his too.

An hour after dinner, Essek left his room and floated upward, to the seventh floor. He stood before the amber-veined door, taking many deep breaths that did nothing to slow his racing heart. They hadn’t talked after dinner like they’d agreed originally.

That’s your fault, a voice chimed in the back of his head. Essek forced himself to ignore it. He needed to talk to Caleb. With one final breath, he knocked on the door.

“Ja, come in.” he sounded better than he had at dinner whenever Essek spoke.

Essek stepped inside and was surprised by how barebones the sitting room was. His room, and he assumed the rest, were crafted with so much love. This was so simple. “Close the door behind you.” Caleb said from where he sat on the couch.

Essek did as told and approached his friend. Caleb had his spellbook propped up on a knee, his array of components spread on the coffee table. “What are you working on?” he asked, leaning down a bit to peer at the pages.

Caleb turned his head and smiled, the warmth of earlier returned almost in full. “Sit and I’ll show you.” his eyes glittered the way they always did when they spoke about magic, the way Essek couldn’t help but love.

He stepped around the sofa and sat beside Caleb. He leaned over and examined the page, confused at first, then realizing exactly what it was. “How did you…?” he glanced at Caleb, astounded, his own eyes shining.

Caleb almost looked embarrassed. “I liked what I saw when you killed that Scourger,” there was something there, something in those words that made Essek’s heartbeat quicken and his cheeks warm ever so slightly.

You were intimidating. You were strong. That’s all. That’s all he means.

“So you… you what?”

“I reverse-engineered it. It was hard but…” he gave the slightest shrug, “I enjoyed the challenge.”

Essek grew warmer still. He had always been drawn to Caleb, but there was something so magnetic about him now. His hair was loose, his posture relaxed, a wonderful kind of smile on his lips. And there was that damn look in his eyes. He was so painfully beautiful.

Don’t even… the voice trailed off, Essek finally able to quiet it. He wouldn’t do anything, but he didn’t mind the thoughts of his companion for once.

“Have you… gotten the chance to try it?”

Caleb pulled back, not as harshly as before, but the openness lessened, tension seeped into his body, and the look in his eye that made him so bright faded.

“Yes. At the Sanitorium.” there was so much guilt in his voice, there was more.

Essek hesitated for a moment before putting a hand on Caleb’s arm. “What happened that day? Please.”

Caleb sighed, ran his free hand through his hair. “I lost control. I was reckless. I put the plan we had in danger and broke the promise I made to you when you agreed to teach me.”

The pieces of that portion of the puzzle that was Caleb fell into place. That was how Ikithon knew Essek had taught Caleb. He had used dunamancy and Trent could tell. “Oh Caleb…”

Caleb covered his face with his free hand. “I am so sorry Essek. For all of it. Especially,” he put his hand back at his side and turned to look at Essek, “About earlier.”

“Caleb, I was the one asking uninvited questions. How you reacted was well within reason.”

“You deserve to know.” his voice was rough, pained. His eyes were dark, his loose hair that had seemed so messy and beautiful now made him look haggard. Essek, despite his many apprehensions, slid his hand down Caleb’s arm and wove their fingers together. Caleb exhaled a shuddering breath but didn’t pull away.

“You know the darkest secrets of my soul, Caleb Widogast. Whatever you tell me cannot change how I see you.” Essek was surprised at how gentle his voice was, and how honest he had been.

Caleb smiled at him, a slight thing, a sad thing. “That is exactly why you deserve to know.”

“Then tell me.”

“I will. I will tell you the story of how I murdered my mother and father.”

So he did.

Caleb wasn’t quite sure how he came to be held in Essek’s arms. He could tell it had been hard for him to put his hand on his arm, to weave his fingers through his. This… this must have taken so much will. And he didn’t mind it.

He didn’t just not mind it, he loved it. There had been so many times he had wanted to hold Essek but the memory of the first time he touched him kept him at bay. That day outside the Lotusden and how roughly he had pulled away. He hadn’t on the Balleater, but he was broken then. Vulnerable.

A shiver coursed through him as Essek’s fingers brushed the tips of his hair. “Breathe, Caleb,” he whispered, and the kindness in his voice made his heart ache. “I’ve got you.”

Caleb leaned into him heavily, hiding his face in Essek’s shoulder. Something about telling him the truth, all of it, every ugly detail, had cut so deep. When he had told Beau and Veth he had been resigned to it, it had hurt, he had cried but something about telling them felt good, like a weight lifted. When he had told the rest of the Nein, it had been urgent and necessary, which didn’t remove the sting, but it dulled it. This felt like exactly what it was; a secret kept for too long, a wound festering. There was relief in saying it, but it was also like pulling the knife from a wound, freeing the blood to flow and death to come quicker. But this embrace was like the healing hands of a cleric, sealing the wound and making it hurt less.

Caleb let out another shuddering breath and Essek pulled him tighter. “I’ll stay however long you want,” the words were whispered into his ear, “alright?”

He nodded, found the strength to speak. “Thank you,”

Essek murmured something Caleb didn’t catch, but the way he said it made his heart flutter. “We are as alike as you said,'' Caleb could almost sense the sad smile on Essek’s face, “and you were there for me that night. I can only offer you the same.”

He pulled back, not enough to break the embrace, but enough to untangle Caleb from his shoulder and press a kiss to his forehead. Caleb’s heart soared. He almost purred as Essek drew him back in. “You will always be a wonder, Caleb Widogast. So long as you draw breath, I will be here for you.”

“Mmm,” Caleb was losing himself in the comfort Essek provided, the exhaustion of the day weighing down on him, “you’re incredible.” he rested his head on Essek’s chest.

“Heh,” Essek laid back on the couch they were sprawled on, his fingers gliding through Caleb’s hair, “you have always been so kind.”

Caleb wanted to say more, but the pull of sleep and the warmth of Essek were too great a temptation, leaving his words to echo in his mind.

Because I love you.

#this was a joy to write #essek week 2021 #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #shadowgast #critical role #cr fanfic #essek week day 4 #more caleb POV than i had originally meant #but oh well

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mork-lee-bee · 4 years

Text

Broken lovers 1

Summary: Y/n is a hopeless romantic in love with someone who will never love her back and Jaehyun is helplessly in love with someone who only continues to hurt him over and over again, sounds like a match made in heaven right?

Pairings: CollegeStudent!Jaehyun X CollegeStudent!Y/N X CollegeStudent!Jaemin

Warnings: Cursing, suggestive (possible future smut idk),Cheating, Toxic relationship(s) this chapter gets veryyyy suggestive at the end lol but it doesn’t actually contain smut

Genre: Fluff and Angst mainly

Word count: 3.2k

The room was dark, it was almost 7 pm and the gloomy feeling was hard to ignore the stench even harder. No one was sleeping but scrolling through his phone Jaehyun was going through a wave of different emotions in the darkness of his unshared room.

“Jaehyun,” the voice on the other end of the door speaks, the others had tried to ignore his self-isolation attempts but they had to draw the line somewhere and that happened to be tonight. With no answer to his name, the person attempted to open the door only to find it locked and a groan to follow.

“Jae, open the door you’ve been in there for a week,” The voice is slightly annoying and so Jaehyun lets out a low inaudible mumble but doesn’t budge from his bed he just fips over like a pancake.

“Is he still not out?” a second voice can be heard much quieter than the first.

“No, he’s still sulking,” after that there’s just silence. Jaehyun just assumes that they’ve left him be, but then the voices speak again.

“Jaehyun locking yourself in your room and scrolling through old pictures on your phone isn’t healthy,” in a sense Jaehyun knew they were right but he couldn’t stop himself from doing it as he finally throws the covers off and walks over to the door opening it.

“Shut up,” He grumbled in the doorway, the faces of Johnny and Yuta looking back at him.

“Look this is the third time that she’s done this to you, you need to stop going back to her and treating her like some sort of goddess,” Yuta bluntly states to the heartbroken boy in front of him.

“I think what Yuta is trying to say, is that there’s better fish in the sea and Heejin-” Johnny knew he messed up saying her name and stopped himself.

“And what Johnny is saying is that you need to get out of your room, which is why we’re throwing a party tonight,” Yuta says as if it's a statement not really giving Jaehyun a choice.

“I’m not going,” Jaehyun retreats back into his room leaving the door open as the two make their way in, the room is an utter mess that can be seen as soon as they switch the light on but what hit them first was that horrible smell of old food.

“Jae… at least clean your room, there’s a pile of dirty dishes on your desk and it smells rancid,” Johnny points out but Jaehyun keeps his back turned away from them not acknowledging their presence in his room just going back on his phone.

“Jaehyun. You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself.” Yuta snatches the phone out of Jaehyun’s hands to see the last picture Jaehyun had taken with Heejin on the screen. Jaehyun immediately grabs it from him, anger runs through his veins, a glare on his face.

“Delete them,” Yuta crosses his arms, eyebrows knit together, the both of them can be so stubborn.

“I can’t… she’ll come back like she always does…” Jaehyun tries to say confidently but he has doubts which ring clear in his voice.

“And what will you do if she just doesn’t? What if she never comes back? What will you do?” Yuta pressures Jaehyun who throws his hands in the air.

“SHE WILL,” Jaehyun snaps out of anger as Johnny steps between the two who are clearly on the verge of fighting each other.

“And if she does you should turn her away, she’s done nothing but hurt you, Jae,” Yuta lets out a defeated sigh before leaving the room. Jaehyun goes back to sitting on his bed unsure of when he even stood up in the heat of the moment. He holds his head in his hands looking at the ground.

“Please come out of your room tonight, at least take your mind off things, it’s not good to do this to yourself, and for god’s sake take a shower,” Johnny comments what he feels he must in the most neutral way he knows before leaving Jaehyun alone once again.

-----

“____~” Your roommate Miyoung walks into your shared dorm smiling like an idiot with a happy bounce in her step that makes you feel suspicious towards her intentions right away, she usually comes back from class looking miserable as you raise an eyebrow at her looking from your computer up at her.

“Why are you so happy?” You don’t waste time trying to bounce around the source of her good mood instead you were very blunt with her knowing she’d try to tiptoe around what she wants if you didn’t ask.

“Well, I decided we’re gonna go out tonight!” She wraps her arms around you from where you’re sat at your desk in a hug as if to beg you to join her.

“No.” You shrug her off not hesitating, leaving the girl to pout as you finish the sentence you’re on before you can lose your train of thought.

“But _____,” She whines plopping down on her bed sadly giving you the biggest puppy dog eyes.

“The last time you dragged me out to a frat party if you remember, I was sat on the side the entire time while you got to happily party.” You type away on your computer trying to focus on the paper you’re writing the sound of the keys being pressed is somehow louder than usual.

“It’s not my fault! I tried to get you to join me, You’re completely single I don’t understand why you don’t put yourself out there and puh-lease don’t use your crush as an excuse,” Your friend could call your bullshit better than anyone you know past and present, even your parents. She was too good, especially at reasoning.

“I know…” You mumble to yourself as you stop typing your mind unable to focus on too many things so you turn to look at her.

“And what else are you gonna do tonight anyway? Scroll through Instagram living vicariously through people when you can actually be out there having those experiences? Watching YouTube videos while snacking? Pretending to write an essay that you’ll only end up procrastinating like everyone else?” The thing is that she was right. You always talked the talk about wanting to experience life but when an opportunity came up you never took it. So you shut your laptop and looked at her with defeat she was so persuasive which was good for her, not so much for you.

“Fine! I’ll go out!” You cave-in throwing your hands in the air out of defeat and she’s back to her upbeat mood bouncing out of the bed quickly to get to her closet to find anything to wear. You, on the other hand, didn’t budge staying in your seat. You didn’t want to change out of your normal study outfit which consisted of a pair of shorts and a hoodie.

“______!” Your friend shouts, throwing a dress in your direction which lands on your head blocking your vision.

“HEY!” You shout pulling the dress off your face and sending glares her way.

“You need to get ready!” She argues as you take a glance at the time.

“It’s only 7, and I don’t take as long as you do to get ready, so let me work on this paper for an hour and then I’ll get ready,” You reason and she lets out a long sigh followed by a drawn-out fine not wanting to push her luck.

--------

“Seeeeeee isn’t that better?” Johnny asks when he enters Jaehyun’s room, the plates have been cleared out, there are new clean sheets on the bed and Jaehyun cleaned himself up even, freshly shaved and everything. Well on the outside he looked fine, his mind in actuality is a mess. Jaehyun just shrugs, not very interested as he shakes his damp hair. Getting Jaehyun to leave the dorm would be a task in itself but if there's one thing Johnny is, it's determined.

“Look, Jae, if you come out tonight I’ll stop bothering you about everything but please you really need to leave your room and have some fun, you can sit around sulking for all I care just leave the room,” Johnny pleads hoping to convince his friend to leave.

“If I hate it I’m retreating.” Is all Jaehyun says not even looking up from his phone but Johnny is clearly silently rejoicing.

“Okay, yeah,” Johnny calmly nods before going to exit Jaehyun’s room, closing the door behind him.

“HE SAID HE’LL GO!” Johnny yells out to Yuta and whoever else is listening after leaving Jae’s room causing a smile to appear on Jae's face and his dimples to become visible until he looks down at his phone and his lock screen changes his mood completely, the small smile completely gone.

“I’m fucked,” He sighs before throwing the phone onto the bed thinking for a moment, silence until Yuta appears in the doorway almost like magic.

“Get up you simp, we’re starting,” Yuta walks over spotting his phone before turning the screen on.

“You won’t get laid if your lock screen is still that picture,” Yuta tries to reason but it’s too hard to change it so Jaehyun just grabs the phone slipping it into his pocket.

“I just won’t show it to anyone,” Jaehyun brushes Yuta off walking past him and out of the room, he wasn’t the same wild Jaehyun they had met back in freshman year when he would be having fun and not having any cares, they missed that Jaehyun, but he seemed impossibly gone.

As soon as people start coming Jae grabs a few bottles of Soju and finds a spot where he won’t be bothered.

------

Frat parties weren’t your favorite it’s true but they weren’t the worst it depends on who you’re with, so when you got into the cramped room past the entryway, clearly, they wanted the maximum amount of people they could fit in as you try to stay to the wall of the place, you’re holding Miyoung’s hand tightly so the two of you aren’t separated but Miyoung could clearly care less as she only lightly holds yours and complains.

“____, are you trying to break my hand?” She shouts above the bass booming off the wall. You realize you’re holding her hand in a death grip and let off a bit of the pressure as soon as you both reach the drinks, beer, beer, and more beer.

“Can we just relax?” You ask your friend who lets out a laugh before signaling over one of the frat boys she had been with a few times you can’t quite remember his name but he’s a sweetheart, she knew where to get the real stuff, clearly wasting no time at all to get started, she looks at you before shouting again.

“MAKE IT TWO! Look we came to have some fun, you can stay here for a bit but once you’re sufficiently sad I’m dragging you out to dance,” you nod reluctantly agreeing to her as you usually did.

“Love you,” She blows you an air kiss before she downs her drink, Soju, in record speed as soon as the drinks are down in front of her while you take a bit longer, mid drink though she’s already run off leaving you alone as she drags the drink guy away to dance with the other sweaty bodies. You weren’t in any rush to join her as you look around

“Can I sit here?” You ask timidly as you finish off your own drink and point to the seat next to the stranger after finding a less crowded spot in the room.

“Sure,” He doesn’t really acknowledge you or your presence. You hesitate to talk but you remember Miyoung in her higher than necessary but cute voice telling you to ‘live a little’.

“What’s your name?” You lean over downing the rest of your second drink for a bit of liquid courage to maybe to kick in.

“Jung Yoonoh, but everyone just calls me Jaehyun,” The boy who couldn’t be older than 23 sitting next to you mumbles barely audible over the loud music blasting. He seemed uninterested as he grips his drink almost angrily.

“Jaehyun, I like that,” you smile thinking out loud without a filter, although you’ve maybe had two drinks you still didn’t have much of a filter anyway.

“Why are you so agitated?” You tilt your head to the side slightly as if a curious puppy saw something that interested them.

“I’m not.” He finally meets your eyes but you just roll yours before leaning back in your seat slightly, definitely more relaxed.

“Then tell me Yoonoh, why are you gripping your drink like you hate it? And why are you speaking like I’m the most annoyin-” he cuts you off by attaching his lips to yours. It’s not a light kiss, it’s full of anger and annoyance unsure of if it’s because you or someone else that’s caused his anger but you return the heated kiss before he pulls away leaving you slightly breathless, your lips feel every moment.

“I didn’t leave my place to be psychoanalyzed but some stranger,” Jaehyun picks up his drink before emptying it into his mouth trying to take the edge off as you touch your lips the sting lingering.

“And I didn’t leave my dorm to talk to some asshole,” You roll your eyes finally out of your short daze dropping your fingers from your lips and taking another drink which had, clearly he had friends in the frat since he had some Soju and not a warm beer like most of the other part goers.

“You’re the one who approached me.” He says under his breath clearly wanting you to leave but you simply pout leaning against the arm of the chair trying to get a better look at him in the dimly lit room, your vision slightly distorted but you could still see him, a handsome man, definitely not your usual type, he was much tougher which you admit is attractive but you always were interested in people with a softer appearance.

“This place is packed I saw an open seat-” you try to explain but he mimics your movement resting his arm against the chair leaning forward so that your faces are once again only inches apart but you don’t really register this completely.

“You didn’t have to force yourself to make small talk,” he smirks his eyes looking over your face, you’re actually very attractive and clearly confident in the next words you say.

“I wanted to talk to you, you’re cute,” You laugh before booping his nose with your finger, he’s surprised at first but eventually does laugh with you as your eyes widen in surprise not only at his laugh but his incredibly cute dimples that you had a slight urge to just kiss but held back.

“You smiled! That’s a win for me!” You tease sticking your tongue out at him as you down another sip of your drink unsure of if it’s number three or four, Jaehyun joins you in drinking as well.

“Why are you here?” His demeanor is definitely more relaxed now that he’s had a few drinks and clearly you were very distracting for what was on his mind.

“My friend dragged me out for a good time,” You laugh watching Miyoung having a great time up against a different guy this time but you didn’t really worry a ton she could definitely hold her own and she was only on her first drink, she wasn’t exactly a lightweight.

“What about you hmm, angry boy?” You’re leaning towards him again, the drinks were starting to hit you more at this point but you didn’t care.

“To forget,” He says without thinking as you raise an eyebrow in confusion.

“Forget what?” You question bringing your hands up to your face to feel the heat radiating off your cheeks from the alcohol.

“The paper I have due tomorrow,” Jaehyun lies as he makes sure his phone is facing downwards realizing he really should have taken Yuta’s advice.

“Oop, me too!” You don’t take note of Jaehyun’s movements trying to focus on his face, your eyes are dilated.

“What’s your major?” He raises an eyebrow trying to guess, maybe you’re a bio major or some type of business major but he doesn’t expect what you say.

“Korean Sign Language,” You smile before taking another sip.

“I bet you’re great with your hands then,” Jaehyun smirks as you almost choke before giving him a sly smile.

“I should show you sometime,” You wink placing your drink on the ground next to you.

“Why wait?” Jaehyun asks shaking his hair that falls in front of his face.

“You’re eager aren’t cha?” you ask before a small squeal that only he can really hear leaves your lips when he pulls you to sit on his lap so that you’re straddling him, not that you’re complaining. He wasn’t gentle at all, he definitely didn’t mind manhandling anyone, which makes your heart hammer out of your chest.

“Just a little bit,” Jaehyun smirks before he attacks your neck with his lips, you almost start laughing immediately, your neck is extremely ticklish unknown to him. You bite your lip to suppress the laughter, but as soon as he lips brush over a particularly sensitive part you let out a giggle. Jaehyun pulls away slightly to look at you confusion on his face.

“Not the reaction I was expecting,” He tilts his head slightly and your face heats up further out of embarrassment.

“My neck is ticklish,” You speak softly looking away from his face but he moves your face to meet his as he looks directly into your eyes. Something about his eyes is different the emotion behind them is almost sad.

“Good,” Jaehyun’s lips are on yours again for the second time that night and you get a better feel of his lips that taste almost like bubble gum, your hands go straight to his hair as he deepens the kiss between the two of you, your both frightening for dominance until you hear something.

“AYEEEEE ____, Get it!” Miyoung’s voice makes you falter smiling into the kiss giving Jaehyun the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth, your whole body is on fire at this point. His hands that were previously resting on your waist move lower and you pull away from him scanning around the room, there were still a ton of people around.

“We’re in public,” You point out and he smirks leaning close to your ear his breath on your neck makes you laugh lightly.

“Should we go upstairs then?” and then you put two and two together, he was clearly a frat boy you should have known from the Soju bottles which just made things more convenient.

“And do what?” You tease before Jaehyun stands up, your legs wrapped around his torso as he heads towards the stairs, you could hear Miyoung yelling ‘WRAP IT BEFORE YOU TAP IT!’ after the two of you.

The next thing you know he’s flinging you onto his bed and him pinning you down going back to continue his advances without protest.

Chapter two being released on: 6/13 <3

Masterlist

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sugarless-suki-writes · 3 years

Text

First Lines Meme

Tagged by @nikkxb -- sorry it's taken me so long to get to this, lmao

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!)

See if there are any patterns.

Choose your favorite opening lines.

Then tag 10 authors!

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

I just kinda went to my recents on my google docs, so this is gonna have a mix of stuff, some original stuff too. ye :3 but I'm starting with fics that I currently have posted online. All of them are the first paragraph of the update that's in progress

Favorites have bolded and italicized titles :3

1. Sobriety || KouKag

Kagome had three sessions of therapy so far and she wasn’t fully sure how to feel. She knew it was helping her, but she was left feeling so.... raw and open after every session that she felt like she was just back pedaling and it was hard to cope with. A part of her wanted to just stop altogether and go back to self medicating, but she knew that this was just part of the process. The first couple sessions were going to be hard because there was just so much to unpack, but her therapist was nice and calm and patient with her. She really had to thank Kouga again when she saw him later today.

2. 100 Arms, 100 Years || KouKag

This was the fifth day that an offering had been left in front of Kagome’s door for her. The fifth time she would receive the carcass of a large animal that she wouldn’t accept. The fifth time that Inuyasha found himself in front of her and Kikyō’s shared hut and bringing the carcass to the village for her. His fifth time taking the credit for a hunt he had no part in. He had to admit, this was quickly grating on his nerves. He hated the attention that he was getting from the villagers now. They praised him for shit that he didn’t do. That, and he didn’t want to be praised for anything. It was bad enough that he practically had the Sacred Jewel within his grasp and wasn’t able to use it to become a full-fledged youkai, but now he was being celebrated as a hero by some mere humans? Keh... they’re lucky I don’t tell them what this is all actually about. I bet they wouldn’t be so happy then. He sniffed and scratched at his nose. He talked a big game, but Inuyasha knew deep down that he would never do anything to hurt them. If he did that, that would in turn hurt Kikyō and he couldn’t do that to her.

3. Big God || KouKag

Kagome let out a frustrated huff as she shoved her phone into her pocket. She then plopped down onto the couch, tucking her legs up underneath her and curling into Kouga’s side. “That’s the fourth test we’ve ran, and we just... can’t figure out what the hell that stuff is... It’s so frustrating!” she grumbled.

4. You are the Moon || KouKag

Kagome took care of dinner that night, going out to pick up a few things she would need before returning home and cooking. Her mother tried to talk her out of it, but Kagome insisted, wanting to give her mother a break for the night and do something nice for the family. She missed them, and she wanted to make up for being gone for so long.

5. The Demon of Nabewari Yama || KouKag

Kagome let out a small huff as she looked up at the mountain she was heading towards. She had been traveling for several days, bordering a week now, looking for somewhere to settle. However, all the villages she had come across already had a miko or monk residing there, and if they didn’t, they didn’t want one. To be fair, there weren’t many villages she had come across between her hometown and here, and sure, maybe she should go further out after completing her training, but it was still just a little frustrating.

6. Seasons of Love || ZelGan

Zelda looked herself over in the mirror, and the corners of her lips pulled down into a small frown. Her hair was pulled up into an extravagant updo, several locks braided and pulled into the bun that rested on the back of her head. There were some flowers pinned in as well, all of them white in color. She would have preferred something with a pop of color, so they would stand out against her hair; but she figured that, in the end, everything had to match her dress.

7. Gerudotown || ZelGan -- Title may change for this, idk lmao

Ganondorf let out a grunt as he dismounted from his horse. The beast was large with a jet-black coat and a matching mane. He gave the steed a pat on his neck before handing the reins to a stable boy, holding back a chuckle from the look on the boy’s face. He was certain the child had never seen a beast so big, nor a Gerudo, based on how he was looking up at Ganondorf with wide, disbelieving eyes.

8. Shit, Let's be Pirates || DaveJade

Jade ran down the dirt path leading to a hidden beach. She had just gotten out of class and was eager to go down to the coves. She wanted to find some cool shells and snap a couple pictures for her biology class. She always went above and beyond in that class, but she just had a passion for marine life.

9. Changing Fate || ZelGan

“You can’t possibly be serious about this, father!” Zelda snapped indignantly. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides and her face was contorted in rage. King Rimoll let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. They had been at this “conversation” for what felt like hours. He didn’t expect it to go this badly. Of course, he didn’t expect it to go well in the first place, but this was beyond what he anticipated.

10. Moon Bonds || KouKag

All Hallow’s Eve. A powerful night for witches and magick users alike. A night that better helped connect them to the spirits of the earth and those who had been lost. It was a night that Kagome looked forward to every year. The surge of magick that tingled under her skin and filled her very being... by the goddess it was an amazing feeling. And this year would be even more delightful and powerful.

11. Princess and the Pirate || Amuto

Growing up, Amu had been told many stories about pirates, everyone on her small island had. But Amu felt as if she had heard more than most. Her mother would tell her tales before bed about the pirates on a ship called the Emerald Line. Despite the name of the ship, its hull and sails were completely black. The only speck of color was the pirate flag it flew, which was emerald green and depicted a cat head with crossbones beneath. It was also known to be the fastest ship to sail the seas.

12. The Black Card || KouKag

Kagome paced around her room in her tiny apartment, struggling with picking out an outfit. It was her first day off in a while and she wanted to look cute, seeing as she wouldn’t be restricted by her, somewhat lenient (semi-strict?), dress code at the bookstore. However, she also wanted to be comfortable, so she was at a bit of an impasse. It wasn’t really as big a deal as she was making it out to be, but she was exhausted and she hoped that dressing nice would throw Sango off her trail. With a huff, she finally settled on a nice sundress she had stuffed in the back of her closet, one she rarely wore and almost forgot she had. It was light blue in color with a floral print.

13. Harvest Moon || KouKag

Kagome stretched as she woke up that morning. She opened her eyes and saw the torn-up ceiling and frowned to herself ever so slightly. She had moved into the country several days ago and had only recently started working on repairs that her home needed. It was a pretty large house, but the rent was extremely cheap. The only downside was she had to pay for the repairs, but in all honesty… she wasn’t too bothered by it. Apparently the house had been abandoned for years. No one was really sure how long... but Kagome could take a guess that it had been at least a decade with how worn down and dirty things were.

14. Memories || Original Fic - No Pairing

Lotus looked around at the scene before her. It would be an easy job, simple. She could do it in her sleep no problem. She scoffed and looked at the man beside her. “Really? You need me for this?” she asked. He turned to look at her, a scowl on his face.

15. Any Way the Wind Blows || ZelGan

Zelda woke up to the sun on her face. She grumbled and grunted, rolling over onto her side on her small mat. She opened her eyes and looked out ahead of her, at the grass and flowers swaying in the breeze. Her stomach gurgled and she placed a hand on it, a grimace on her lips. Food...

16. Found || KouKag

When Kouga had heard that there was a disturbance along one of their borders, he had been prepared for anything. He pulled together a team quickly, not taking all the strongest warriors, making sure to leave some behind to protect his pack. They ran off, ready to fight. Ready for anything. Anything except this.

17. Interlude IV (Showtime) || KouKag

O Signore, per amor del tuo nome, perdonami la mia iniquità... Perciocche ellà e grande Kagome sat there in the street, blood seeping through her clothes and soaking her knees. Tears continued to stream down her cheeks in a never ending flow. Her breath kept catching in the back of her throat as she tried to force down her sobs. Her hands were curled up into fists, pressed against the pavement, soaked in blood and in pain from being clenched so tightly and pressed so firm against the rough asphalt. Regret, despair, and guilt crushed her heart. They squeezed tight, holding onto her and keeping her trapped in the moment. A moment she’d rather drink away and forget, only for her guilty conscious to bring it back in her dreams at night, keeping her away from the blissfulness of sleep.

18. Bubblegum & Nicotine || Original Fic -- Astrid/Loki

Astrid opened the door to the apartment and latched her keys onto her belt loop. She then bent over to pick up the bags of groceries she had set on the ground to unlock the front door. Once she had crossed the threshold into the house, she raised up her right leg and kicked the door closed behind her. With a bit of a grunt, she hoisted the bags up a tad higher and made her way to the kitchen. She set them down on the counter with a thud and took a moment to catch her breath. She may be in good shape, but carrying several pounds of groceries up three flights of stairs because the elevator was out? That would wind anyone.

19. We Are Complicated || Bubbline

Bonnibel Kaugummi entered the school and was quick to drop her things off in her locker so she could head straight to the Student Council room. She grabbed a couple of her books out of the locker and shoved them into her messenger bag. The tan colored bag complimented her uniform, which consisted of a grey sweater, a red ribbon tied into a neat bow, which was neatly tucked underneath the collar of her white button up shirt underneath her sweater, and a red plaid skirt. The red accents to her uniform identified her as a Junior, and they complimented her red-orange hair and rosy complexion.

20. The End of All Things || KouKag

Kagome let out a soft sigh as she curled up in her spot on the bench, bringing her legs up to her chest. She was sitting out on the small deck that overlooked the garden in her backyard and watching the rain. It was fairly cool out thanks to the constant drizzle that had begun early that morning. The sound of it pattering against the ground and roof that extended over the deck filled her with a sense of calm, a calm that she desperately needed right about now. Working as a nurse wore her out. She loved her job, of course, but gods if it didn’t have its trials and tribulations. She had been working almost every day for a solid two weeks now, covering shifts for people on top of her own. Thankfully she had a couple of her shifts taken from her after being at the hospital for a full 24 hours at one point in time. Today just so happened to be her natural day off, and she felt pretty great about it.

#ask meme #koukag #kogkag #bubbline #zelgan #amuto #inuyasha #adventure time #legend of zelda #shugo chara #original content

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