Tumgik
#but ive already written like two chapters after that
ikyw-t · 4 months
Text
good evening everyone!! it is midnight and I have just submitted the final project of my final class of my bachelor's degree! tell me why my heart was actually beating out of my chest when I saw the clock turn to 11:50 and I was still editing the table of contents for my 20 page report lmao. but I turned it at 11:57 so we're all good 😊🤠
3 notes · View notes
daisybeewrites · 1 year
Text
what if i wrote some toh hunter eating disorder angst
5 notes · View notes
15000bugs · 7 months
Text
gaslighting myself into believing i can write 5000 words in the next two days and get this chapter up before tuesday
1 note · View note
halfvalid · 6 months
Text
the blade daughter, pt. 2
Tumblr media Tumblr media
ABOUT
pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3
alternate title: dracule mihawk cures your daddy issues!
rating: mature
characters: live action!roronoa zoro | fem!reader | live action!dracule mihawk | live action!straw hat ensemble
pairing: live action!roronoa zoro x fem!reader
word count: 23.6k total | 8k this part
description: after joining the straw hats on board the going merry, you're confused as to what to do with your life from now—and you can't help but get closer to zoro.
tags: mihawk's daughter!reader, female reader, canon-typical violence, cursing, no use of 'y/n', pet names per mihawk ('dear', 'darling', 'sweetheart', 'little hawk'), emotional hurt/comfort, slow burn, patching of wounds
author’s note: second chapter! i hope you like it <3 out of the three this one's probably my favorite personally, i really like the wound-stitching scene & i think it's one of the best scenes ive ever written. i'm suchhh a slut for the patching up of wounds trope.
Tumblr media
You rose before the sun, careful to pack your belongings all in one sack. Considering the very little amount you’d brought, it was a relatively easy task—leaving the sloop would be fine, too, as you paid for the slip for a few months longer at least. Your father had so many ships across so many seas it hardly mattered much anymore. 
You double-checked that you had all of your things before shutting down and leaving the sloop, consulting some of the dock men to transfer a boat lift under the berth. You moved carefully across the east port, making quick time as you returned to the Straw Hats’ ship in slip fifty-two. 
There were apparent signs of life when you reached the ship, even with the sky cast over in dark hues of navy. All of the dead bodies had been removed, for one, and dock men were loading barrels up on the deck while Sanji watched over them. His expression brightened as his gaze fell across you. 
“Lady Dracule!” he called out, slipping off from the barrel on which he’d been perched to meet you at the pier. You gave him an unimpressed look. 
“I have a name, you know.” 
“Oh, I wasn’t aware of that,” Sanji answered, a lopsided grin pulling up the side of his face. You rolled his eyes and introduced yourself, which only prompted a brighter smile and a steady pat of his hand on your back. “A fine name, for a fine woman.” 
“Sanji, stop flirting with the crew.” You glanced up to see Nami, one hip cocked to the side with her hand on her waist, staring down with an exasperated glint in her eye. “Welcome aboard the Going Merry. Sorry I was a little grouchy last night. I don’t like having my sleep interrupted.” She leaned down to offer you her hand, and you took it, climbing aboard the ship. 
“The Going Merry?” 
“Fits it, don’t you think?” Sanji asked from behind you. Nami eyed him again, volume dropping as she tilted her head towards yours. 
“He’ll quit with the sweet talk eventually. I’ll give you a tour once we’ve cast off. We’re just waiting for Zoro to get back from town, and then we’re all set.” She turned to bark out another few orders to Sanji— “Finish up with the crates already!” 
“Anything you want, madam,” Sanji said with a little bow. Nami let out a long-suffering sigh. 
“Luffy already prepared a room for you. I’ll show you to it.” She led you below deck, back towards the ship’s aft. There was a collection of rooms all crammed together, one beside the other. “These are the women’s quarters. Men’s’ are all the way at the front of the ship.” She nodded behind her. “You get this one here. Sorry, it’s small.” 
She opened the door to the very last room, and you stepped inside, surveying your surroundings. It wasn’t much; the cabin barely scraped by as a room, consisting of only a wardrobe, a hanging bed, and a small table and chair stuck in the corner. A round window at the very edge of the room revealed the water just a mere few feet below. 
“It’ll do fine, thank you,” you said. Your room back at home was far more ornate, but you’d never been picky. 
“You can sleep for a few more hours,” Nami said, lingering by the cabin mouth. “Come find me when you’re ready for a tour. We should be setting off in a few moments, if Zoro’s back.”
You gave her a smile, and she left, the patter of her footsteps dying off as she walked further and further away. 
It didn’t take you long to get arranged, and afterwards, you gingerly sat down on the bed, the rope tied to the ceiling causing it to sway under you. You were still uncertain about boarding the ship, but you couldn't exactly return to your sloop now. And it wasn’t the worst idea in the world, you tried to convince yourself. 
You felt the ship start moving just a few moments later, and you stood up, walking across the rocking ship to get up to the deck. You were making fast time, Loguetown’s silhouette rapidly getting swallowed in the gulp of the horizon. 
Nami was bickering with Zoro and Luffy when you found her. “What even took you so long? We were due to leave a half-hour ago.” 
“I was getting new swords,” Zoro said calmly. Nami eyed him, then yanked something out of his hand. A wallet, it looked like, stuffed with bills of berry. “You can’t be mad at me. I spent less than half of your budget.” 
“They scammed you,” Nami scoffed, eyeing the katanas at Zoro’s hip. Zoro simply shrugged. “A sword for free? It’s probably made of plastic.” 
Zoro snorted. “I’d be able to tell.” 
Nami cast him a look, gaze unimpressed under the line of her eyelashes. “You can’t tell the difference between a ship mast and a tree.” 
“Yeah, but I know swords.” 
“Oh, hey!” Luffy, who’d seemed tuned out of his crewmates’ conversation, said as he spotted you. “Glad to see you here. Officially part of the crew.” 
“Oh, well…” you hesitated. “Not so sure if I’ll be joining you forever.” Luffy looked confused by that, but not particularly offended—Nami and Zoro had turned to watch you, too, argument dying on trembling legs. “Right now the plan is to help you get to the Grand Line. From there you can drop me home. And then we’ll part ways.” 
“If you change your mind…” Luffy trailed off, then patted you on the shoulder. “Nami, were you going to show her around?” 
“I was, but I’ve got some mapping to do.” Nami glanced over at Zoro. “Hey. Make yourself useful.” 
“I hate you,” Zoro muttered. He brushed past you, just barely motioning with his head for you to follow. “Afterdeck.” 
You stepped into the small space. It was easily the most secluded place on the ship deck, decorated with three young tangerine trees in white boxy planters. “I like your trees.” 
“They’re Nami’s trees.” Zoro gestured with his head again, and you followed him. The tour was brief; Zoro didn’t have much to say, generally just showing you a room before telling you what it was and departing for the next area. 
You were about halfway through the tour when Zoro spoke again, the words abrupt in his throat. He spat them out rather than spoke them, and you got the impression he’d been mulling over talking for a while— “You ever beat your dad in combat?” 
You snorted. “No.” 
Zoro didn’t look at you, opting instead to push through the next doorway and gesture vaguely around him to show you the surroundings. “Gotten close?” 
“Never.” You shrugged. “He taught me the basics, but I wasn’t the best student. He’d try to be strict and everything, but… sword fighting isn’t really my thing. You’re probably better than me.” 
Zoro gazed at you skeptically. “He taught you.” 
“Yeah.” 
“Do you—” He paused, mouth open for a moment before resuming his sentence. He didn’t sound particularly hesitant, but the pause had you stifling a smile anyway, knowing he was at least a little bit flustered. “We should train together.” 
“Was that a question?” 
“Not really.” Zoro’s lip quirked, one side of his mouth tugging upwards in an odd semblance of a smile. He didn’t seem the type to smile often, though, so it didn’t look out of ordinary on his face. “Have you seen enough of the ship yet, or do you want me to show you the bilge too?” 
“I’m good, thanks,” you answered primly. “Now did you want to fight me or not?” 
Zoro actually smiled at that. 
You decided to train on the main deck, in an area wide enough to not bump into anyone else. You shed your jacket, pulling Hiru out of its scabbard. Zoro winced as the sun hit the silver blade, reflecting a blinding gleam off its surface. “That a stylistic choice?” 
“I polish things when I get anxious,” you answered. “So not really.” 
“Right.” Zoro untied a black bandana from where it was fixed on his bicep, fingers working fluidly against the knot. Once he got it untied, he wrapped it around his head, tying it carefully around his head. Afterwards, he slid one of his swords out of its scabbard, holding it with his fingers to follow with the other. “How low should my expectations be?” 
“I don’t know, you tell me,” you answered. Zoro let a soft sound out through his mouth, but he said no more, transferring one sword to each hand. He moved carefully, arms arching over his head to lower to each of his sides. You lifted Hiru up, more casual in your movements than Zoro was. 
You paid more attention to Zoro than the actual fight when you started moving. You figured you’d have time to genuinely practice later—you hadn’t kept a close eye on the swordsman in the battle against the pirate hunters, and your curiosity was eating at you. Zoro was all angles when he fought, elbows lifted and limbs pin-straight. That wasn’t to say there was no flexibility in his movements, though—he dodged your oncoming attacks easily, sidestepping with a light twist of the torso so your blade cut air instead of flesh. 
Just a few seconds in you could tell Zoro was far, far better than you. You parried one of his attacks, gasp ripping from your throat as you just barely managed to block off a slash from his katana with Hiru. He spun towards you, careful not to actually cut as his blade came for the throat. You managed to dodge just in time, moving backwards with a quick patter of your feet against the wooden deck. 
There was barely anything skewed in his motions, you were soon to realize. He was perfect in every sense of the word. Your styles were vastly different, of course—Zoro mainly relied on his blades, and his physicality was carefully practiced, no curves or bends apparent in the straight lines and slants of his body. In comparison, you were much more slippery, focusing mainly on your agility to carry you throughout a fight rather than your strength. 
“Your elbow,” Zoro said. You barely managed to respond, letting out a grunt of effort as you blocked Zoro’s oncoming attack. 
“Hm?”
Zoro’s katana came from the left. He used the other one to knock your arm up, nearly gentle in his movements, and you were reminded of how Mihawk used to train you—stopping mid-fight to reposition your limbs, using his sword to carefully push your hands in the right places. “You’re dropping it.” 
“I don’t care much for angles,” you answered, ducking under Zoro’s incoming blade and sliding off to the side instead of trying to shove against it. Zoro seemed startled by that, struck off-balance as he stumbled, turning to face you. 
You jerked your sword towards him, one leg coming up to shove against his torso whilst doing so. You managed to knock him fully off-balance then, and he staggered against his feet, teetering precariously backwards. “Your center of gravity is screwed.” 
“You dad kept flinging me around the pier,” Zoro said. You raised your brows, the phrase nonsensical to your ears. But it did sound like Mihawk. “It run in the family?”
“Very funny.” You dodged another slash of Zoro’s swords. “The only thing I picked up well in our lessons was about keeping balance.” 
“And dodging, apparently.” You snickered at that, parrying another one of Zoro’s attacks—but it was getting harder and harder, what with the immense strength of his body you simply couldn’t keep up with. As flexible as you were, you weren’t quick enough this time, and Zoro swept you off your feet so you fell to the ground, wind bursting out of your chest all in one rush. Hiru clattered a few feet away, your fingers unfolding from their grip and letting it move freely.
Zoro slid his swords back in their sheaths, letting them close with a satisfying click. “You fight too defensively.”
You lay there for a moment, trying to gather air back into your lungs. “Never found a point in attacking others, really.” You got up, straightening your shirt before bending over to pick Hiru up from the floor. “Good fight.” 
“Yeah,” Zoro said, but his voice was weak, tapering off to blend in with the wind. He had an uncertain look on his face, big brown eyes all fuzzy around the edges, like there was some cloudlike film covering him from seeing properly. You frowned at him. 
“Is that because I’m worse or better than you expected?” you asked, gesturing vaguely up at his expression. Zoro blinked, the fog over his eyes clearing as he glanced down to meet your gaze. You waited expectantly, but he didn’t say anything. “Zoro?” you prompted. 
“Sorry,” Zoro said. “I’m—I’m going to go to my cabin.” 
You watched him leave, growing more quizzical by the second. Well, you’d gotten what you’d come there for, anyway. Roronoa Zoro was a great swordsman. And he certainly had the potential to be the greatest in the world, too—a realization that shook you a little, heart trembling from where it was fixed in your chest cavity. You swallowed hard, mind replaying the firm motions of his body from the fight. He’d been confident, sure of himself. You had even forgotten he still hosted Yoru’s slash along his torso from just a week or so prior, he’d been so… perfect. 
“He’s good, huh?” 
You startled, turning to see Usopp sitting atop a pile of crates like a king on a throne. He was picking at his fingernails. “Zoro,” he clarified. “Best swordsman in the East Blue.” 
“Yeah,” you said, glancing over at where Zoro had left. “He is.” 
Usopp eyed you for a moment. “Your shell phone is ringing.”
You startled, patting down your figure before finally unearthing your phone from where it was tucked safely away in your pocket. You opened it, pushing the den den mushi in your ear as it vibrated, little mouth making soft rumbling sounds to catch your attention. Usopp clearly didn’t know a thing about privacy, though, because he kept watching even as you picked up— “Hello?” 
“Back home yet, darling?” Mihawk asked over the line, and you relaxed, your entire body going slack with comfort as you heard the familiar low hum of your father’s voice. “I figured you’d go back as quickly as possible.” 
“No, actually,” you said. “Luffy roped me into coming aboard his ship.” 
You could practically see Mihawk’s brows lift up in surprise. “You joined the Straw Hat pirate’s crew?” 
“No. They’re bringing me home. I’m helping them get to the Grand Line,” you corrected. Mihawk hummed, the sound a crackle of monotony through the den den mushi’s mouth. 
“And why, pray tell, would you do that?” 
You chewed at your bottom lip, glancing off the side of the Going Merry to the East Blue. The sun had risen fully, fixing itself in a warm beam in the sky. “I was curious about Roronoa Zoro. You never told me why you left him alive. Or why you let Luffy go.” You could still feel Usopp’s gaze on you while you spoke, and you just knew he’d be telling the rest of his crew this after your conversation finished. “So I wanted to figure out your reasoning.” 
“Ah,” Mihawk said. “Has he healed from Yoru’s wound yet?”
“It’s not like I tore off his shirt to check, dad,” you muttered. Mihawk barked out a laugh, and you startled at the sound before settling down again. “He walks fine. I saw bandages.” 
Mihawk seemed pleased by that. “Wonderful. He’s a hardy one. You should fight him.”
“Already did,” you answered. “He beat me.”
Mihawk considered that for a moment. “Eh, I saw that coming.”
You scoffed. “You have no faith in me. Where are you now?” 
“South Blue, still,” Mihawk replied. “Are you at least enjoying yourself there? It’ll be good for you to make friends, sweetheart. You don’t get much social interaction other than me and the villagers, after all.” 
“I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to get a ride home,” you said insistently, but your voice was weak, and Mihawk clearly didn’t believe you. Your mind wandered back to Zoro—the firm muscle of his body, the hushed tone he spoke in, and you found your face pinkening. “One of them—one of them wants to kill you. That’s his entire life’s purpose. To murder you.” 
“I think you’re being a tad bit broad, darling,” Mihawk said with a click of his tongue. “You seem rather enamored with this particular young swordsman. Something to say?” 
“I—” your words fumbled in your mouth, and you were certain you were entirely pink now, the sun’s glowing rays only making your face warmer than it was rapidly turning. “Stop. I’m hanging up now.”
Mihawk’s voice was tastefully dry when he responded. “I’m sure.”
“Shut up, old man,” you grumbled. 
“Right. Remember the rule, dear,” Mihawk trilled, and despite his voice being as monotone as ever, you could still identify the undertones of it—laced with syrupy mocking, all teasing and dramatic. “No dating unless he can beat you in combat!” 
You actually did hang up this time, practically tearing the den den mushi out of your ear. You huffed out an irritated breath, rubbing a circle into the shell of your snail as an apology just a moment later. “Sorry,” you murmured. “My dad’s a bitch.” 
The snail just let out a little grumble in response. You tucked it back into its case and snapped the phone shut. 
“Aw, we’re not allowed to say hi?” You spun around at the new voice, glaring upon seeing Sanji and Luffy having joined Usopp in his eavesdropping. Sanji bore a gigantic grin on his face. “Sounded like an interesting conversation.” 
“None of you know what boundaries are,” you muttered, but it was light-hearted. 
You didn’t see Zoro until suppertime, a fact that rang odd in your head. It seemed like he’d completely evaporated from the ship, disappearing around every corner as you spent the rest of the day getting to know the rest of the crew better. Something had happened, but you weren’t exactly sure what—and you weren’t exactly sure if you were close enough to him to even ask, yet. 
Sanji had cooked up a dinner so fine you doubted it could even quality as ship food. From your time traveling with your father, rations on-board hadn’t been much of anything—a few scraps of bread or dried meat, old apples, perhaps some fish if you were lucky. Mihawk hadn’t the biggest priority on eating well, but the Straw Hat crew seemed to have the exact opposite opinion. You were served a bowl of miso soup along with a bowl of rice, and dishes of tofu and oyster sauce stir-fried vegetables were carefully laid out all across the table. 
“Bon appétit,” Sanji said, taking a half-bow before slipping into the last seat around the table. “I hope it’s to your liking. Yours especially, Lady Dracule.” He gave you a little wink at that. You just stared at him. 
“I thought I told you my name.”
“Well, you did, but I thought Lady Dracule had a nice ring to it.” 
“It doesn’t,” you said. Nami stifled a snort, the hand not holding her chopsticks coming up to cover her mouth. Sanji didn’t look the slightest bit dissuaded. You turned your attention on Zoro, who hadn’t spoken a word throughout the whole meal. He was rather studiously focused on his bowl, eyes picking apart the grains of rice like they’d reveal the world’s greatest secrets. 
Carefully, you leaned towards Nami, voice coming out in a hushed whisper. “Is he okay?” 
“He gets like that sometimes,” Nami answered, her words drowned out by Usopp and Luffy’s cheerful conversation. “Nobody can crack him except for Luffy. I’d just leave him be.” 
“You don’t know why?” 
Nami just shrugged. “Hell, we’re all depressed sometimes. Not within my rights to question him.”
You nodded, but your gaze didn’t move away from Zoro’s figure. There was a particular squeezing sensation deep in your chest—a little flip-flop thing, a sort of panging you couldn’t quite place. He glanced up, dark eyes meeting yours for just a fraction of a second. But he didn’t flinch away. He just returned your gaze, strong and unblinking. 
To your surprise, Zoro was the first to look away, craning his neck to study his bowl again and continuing on like your extended bout of eye contact hadn’t even happened. You watched him, dumbstruck, until Nami nudged you in the shoulder. The rest of the group’s idle chatter had died down, and Usopp and Sanji were staring at you, low murmurs falling out of their mouths. You cleared your throat, finally dropping your gaze from the green-haired swordsman and attempting to ignore the fact everyone had caught you staring. 
You didn’t do much of anything after supper—you just returned to your cabin, carefully walking across the creaking boards of the ship. Luffy assigned you mid watch, so you had a few hours to sleep before waking up at midnight to look out for any enemies. 
You couldn’t find yourself falling asleep even after you’d slipped into bed. You’d changed, a loose blouse light against your skin, black silk shorts grazing your thighs. It was cold out, so you shrugged on a robe as you headed out into the darkness of the Going Merry. You emerged out on the deck, taking in a breath of the night air as you glanced to see who had the night watch. 
Just your luck. It was Zoro. 
He seemed tranquil, lounging across a hammock with his white sword—the Wado Ichimonji—cradled in his arms. In the dim light you couldn’t see if his eyes were open or closed, but as you got closer, he cracked one of them open, a gleam reflecting off his right iris. “Hi,” you said, moving over to the side of the ship to watch the waves on the water. 
Zoro didn’t deign to respond, so you just stood there, watching the sea lap at the side of the ship until eventually the hour struck twelve. Zoro left soundlessly. You stayed awake all throughout your watch until Usopp came to relieve you of your duties. 
Zoro was avoiding you. 
A few days had passed since you first boarded the Going Merry. They hadn’t been of much interest—just days of practicing with your sword and chatting with the crew, for the most part. You helped around the ship, completing various tasks apparently none of the members knew or cared enough to do. You were just emerging from the bilge, having done basic maintenance to ensure everything was working properly, when you bumped into him. The man was apparently taking a nap, though you couldn’t figure out why the storage area was a very good place to sleep. Still, he seemed comfortable enough, long body splayed along a grouping of crates. 
“Hi,” you said, for what seemed like the hundredth time over a few days. Zoro just averted his gaze and let out a little grunt in response. You stared at him for a moment. The realization had dawned on you ever since the first day, but it was growing more and more apparent, and you were baffled as to what you’d done to incur the silent treatment. 
“Hi,” you repeated, more purposefully this time.
“Hey,” Zoro said, though the word was clearly bitter in his mouth. You propped your hands on your hips and stared down at him. 
“You’re avoiding me.” 
Zoro closed his eyes, expression not even changing. “You’re not that special.”
“Ever since we fought that one time, you’ve been ignoring me,” you barreled on, entirely ignoring his quip. Zoro cocked a brow, eyes still closed, and you glared down at it. “I’d like to know why.” 
“Why do you care? We’re not friends.” 
“Isn’t it natural to want to know why someone is mad at you?” you demanded, perplexed. Zoro sighed then, shifting around on his boxes. 
“I’m not mad at you.” You heaved out a sigh even more irritated than Zoro’s. Your experience in the realm of dealing with close-lipped men’s personal issues was, unfortunately, rather well-seasoned. You’d had to coax situations out of your father, one hand pressed against Yoru’s hilt to prevent Mihawk from lashing out his frustrations rather than explaining them. But that didn’t mean you were all too fond of it. 
“Okay, well, why else would you be ignoring me then?” 
Zoro’s response was annoyingly frank. “It’s not really any of your business.” 
You pursed your lips, trying to suppress the irritated noise that threatened to burst from your throat. “I don’t like being on bad terms with people,” you started. “If I did something to piss you off, I’d very much like it if you—” 
The floor slipped out from underneath you before you could finish your sentence. You fell with a graceless clatter, lurching forward into the stack of crates Zoro was leaning on, words dying on your tongue. The entire boat trembled, quivering from side to side as if the ocean waves had suddenly propelled a thousand more ripples at its surface.
Zoro sat immediately up, one hand pushing you off of him as he scrambled off the crates. “What was that?” 
“I don’t—” Just a moment after regaining your balance, there was another dull thud and a row of quivers. You remained steady this time, glancing carefully around you before you and Zoro were both hurrying up towards the ship deck. The Going Merry was in chaos when you emerged, Nami at the helm while Sanji was firing up a cannon beside her. 
“What’s going on?” you demanded, the tails of your coat lapping around your calves as you hurried up besides Luffy. 
“Pirates,” Luffy said grimly, nodding towards a ship that was quickly gaining on you. “They blew through the stern railing. Do any of you recognize the jolly roger?” 
You glanced up, taking in the billowing sail boasting a pure-white jolly roger with a top hat and mustache. “Nope. These things are getting more and more ridiculous,” you muttered. 
“Yeah,” Luffy agreed, affronted. “Ours is way better.” 
You turned your gaze up at the Straw Hat crew’s aforementioned jolly roger. “...No comment.” 
“We can’t outrun them!” Nami shouted from her place at the helm. Sanji had successfully nailed a cannonball into the railing of the oncoming ship, but they had a dozen more men. “I’m going to try to get closer. Best chance we have is one-on-one combat.” She turned to fix the small grouping with a glare. “Don’t just stand there. Get to it!” 
You launched into action, hurrying to climb up the rigging to get a better view as Nami veered hard to starboard. The enemy ship had dropped their cannons, and you could see them preparing to board the Merry, grabbing onto loose ropes of rigging. “They’re going to swing over,” you reported, watching as the ship tilted in your direction, gaining on you. “I see maybe two or three dozen men.” 
You hesitated, glancing around at the rather stationary crew around you. Your lip tugged between your teeth, and you stood there for a moment, unspoken words heavy on your tongue. You could see the captain yelling out orders on the ship across from you, and you turned abruptly, fixing Sanji with a look. 
“Sanji, trade with Usopp. I want you to nail a cannon at their port stern.” 
“W—What? Me?” Usopp stuttered. You nodded. 
“I want Sanji on the frontlines. That should be close enough now.” You gazed out at the rapidly thinning gap between the two ships. One final cannonball whizzed towards, and you ducked, watching as it just brushed the side of the Merry. The ship rocked, and you tightened your grip on the rigging, satisfied to see it’d barely left a mark. 
“They’re coming over,” Sanji reported, and you nodded, sliding Hiru out from your scabbard as enemy pirates started swinging over on ropes. Luffy was the first to react, an arching, rubbery limb catching one of them midair and yanking them down into the ocean. Boots thudded on the ground as the enemy pirates landed aboard the Going Merry. 
“Time for a fight,” Zoro murmured, barely audible from your left. You jumped down from the rigging, sword coming down to crash against one of the enemy pirates. He reacted slowly, pistol cocking towards your chest—but you just brushed it to the side with Hiru, cutting it straight out his hand and following up with a flurry of sword thrusts. 
Besides you, you saw Sanji sliding into battle, spinning on his palms to deliver a mean right hook to someone’s jawbone. An audible crack pierced the air, and you winced, breezing backwards on your feet as two pirates closed in on you. 
Luffy seemed to have engaged in a one-on-one with the enemy captain, who was easily identifiable due to the gigantic top hat perched upon his head. He had thick black hair tied neatly back in a ponytail, and a mustache and beard to match. A thick cutlass was tightened in one fist, thrusted towards Luffy—but every sweep was dodged with unbelievable bends of the torso. 
You turned your attention away, whipping your sword at the pirates that surrounded you. Hiru clashed with their blades, gleaming silver scraping against theirs. You leaned forward, and the blade before you broke with the pressure, sword snapping under Hiru’s will. 
The sword dropped out of the pirate’s hand, and you took the opportunity to pull your leg up, kicking him squarely in the jaw. The other lunged for you, and your fist dug into their torso, hands gripping tight to their belt. You bent over, twisting into his body to push him over your shoulder in a sweeping throw. 
He fell to the floor all in one, and you landed a kick to his chest just to ensure he wouldn’t get up again. Another man—bigger, this time, probably half your width and inches taller—gunned for you. 
You sidestepped him easily, agility tilting in your favor as you escaped his grasp. It was harder to take this one down—while you could dodge him well enough, and parry his oncoming attacks, he was simply too strong to compete with. Strength isn’t everything, little hawk, Mihawk would always tell you. Everyone has a weakness. Get them off balance. Use your points. 
The man delivered a stinging left hook to your torso, and you gasped. He took the opportunity to grab onto your wrist, grip so tight you couldn’t move your hand. Hiru clattered out from between your fingers. You directed a hit with your elbow towards the pirate’s sternum, but it was oddly-placed, and he just sneered down at you. 
One of his large fists rose to thud against your skull, and you braced for impact, but the blow never landed. A warm squishing sound of a sword against skin made your entire body shudder, and you turned to stare as your assailant’s head slid cleanly off of his neck. 
Zoro was behind him when his body collapsed, sword slick with blood as he spun it lazily around in a hand. “Careful,” he said. 
You gaped up at him for merely a second more before you realized your jaw was ajar. You flushed, bending over to fish Hiru up from the floor. “I was fine.” 
Zoro just thrust his sword cleanly into the torso of an incoming pirate, eyes not breaking away from yours. He slid it out with a sickening sound, flicking the blood off the blade with a motion of his hand. “A thank you might be nice.”
“Behind you,” you said instead, but Zoro was already reacting. You watched him, an incurable sigh perched on the tip of your tongue. He was good. He was really, really good, and you didn’t know how to feel about it. “Is that most of them?” 
“I think—” Zoro cut himself off, glancing over his shoulder as you both hear the familiar yell of Luffy’s voice screaming out one of his final moves. You both watched, soundless, as his foot smashed into the top hat pirate’s face, flinging him all the way across the water straight into the mast of his own ship. Only mere seconds later did the mast crack, the wooden pole falling down in a glorious, wooden heap. 
“...Yeah, we’re fine.” Zoro said. He leaned down, grabbing the shirt of one of the fallen pirates to wipe his blade with before sliding it back in its scabbard. “Let’s get out of here.” 
“On it.” Nami snapped her bo staff closed—when she’d jumped down into the battle, you were unsure, but she was already returning to her place at the helm. “Toss these bodies off our boat, would you, Zoro?” 
“Right.” Zoro bent over, easily picking up the fallen pirate and chucking the corpse overboard without another thought. You watched him the entire time, the strain of his biceps against his skin forming solid ridges up his arms. 
“I can clean your swords,” you said, words a bit too late out of your mouth. Zoro glanced up, brow creased. “While you’re doing that.” 
Zoro looked uncertain, but he unstrapped the scabbards from his hip, handing the twin katanas to you. You took them, glancing over his figure again. He moved with difficulty, and while you’d originally thought that was because of the bodies’ weight, you now saw the real reason. Lines of crimson were seeping through his shirt, a pool by the left side of his lower abdomen the biggest injured site. You took an involuntary step forward. “You’re hurt.”
“I can treat them later,” Zoro said dismissively. “Gotta clean up the Merry first.” 
“No, mosshead, the lady is right,” Sanji said. You startled, not having noticed him slip up beside you. “Usopp and I can manage with waste control, eh?” He winked. “Go clean up.” 
Zoro glared at him, the look dripping with malice, but he didn’t argue past that. “Fine,” he said, chucking another body—this one alive—off the side of the ship before straightening. You heard the hitch in his breath as he spoke, along with the near-imperceptible wince of his face. “You good, Luffy?” 
“A little hungry,” Luffy responded truthfully. He was still watching the other ship. Fire had started aboard it, and soft billows of black smoke drifted in the air. “Can you cook something up later, Sanji?” 
“Got it,” Sanji said. “Tell your first mate to patch up his wound before he bleeds out all over our beautiful deck.” 
“The deck isn’t beautiful, it’s got blood and guts all over it,” Zoro muttered. 
“Well, have a little respect and don’t add to the mess.” Sanji fixed him with a stern look. Zoro bared his teeth at him in a grimace, extracting a sharp little laugh out of your throat. His eyes brushed over yours, a glimmer of surprise dancing in his irises, before he ducked inside. 
“Why are you following me?” Zoro asked flatly, as you entered the cabin he’d gone into. You’d hastened to keep up with him, only a few steps behind before finding the room he’d gone into. Zoro had propped himself up on the hanging bed, loosening the ties of his wrap shirt to expose his bare chest. 
“I was wondering if you needed any help with your wounds.” You deposited Zoro’s swords, along with Hiru, on the table in the room, moving closer to him to survey the scene. “If you wanted it.” 
Zoro’s gaze met yours, and he said nothing for a moment. “First aid kit’s over there,” he finally said, nodding to the table. You moved towards it, opening up the small box to expose supplies of bandages, needles, stitch string, and disinfectant inside. You carried the box over to the bed, sanitizing your hands before carefully parting the folds of Zoro’s shirt. The cloth stuck to skin, coagulating blood making the shirt peel rather than move. Now that his entire torso was bared, though, you could fully inspect his wounds. There were still bandages from Yoru’s cut, all dirtied up now from his other injuries—you’d have to take them off and re-dress them, so he’d be in the bed for thirty minutes at least. 
You turned your attention to the cut by Zoro’s abdomen, deciding it was the most important thing to focus on. The cut wasn’t too deep, but it was gushing a steady flow of blood, and you picked up a towel to press against the wound. “Hold,” you instructed, and Zoro’s fingers brushed against yours as he took a hold of the cloth. “Thanks. I’ve got to take your bandages off, then I’ll clean and dress all the wounds. That one down there might need stitches.” 
“How do you know how to do this?” Zoro asked, watching as you unwrapped the previous bandages from around his chest. You were careful to touch his skin as little as possible, distracting yourself with the blood and gauze. 
“My dad,” you answered. You’d spent too many late nights patching up a wound Mihawk had brushed off as unimportant, only to wind up bleeding out on your couch. Zoro raised a brow. 
“Dracule Mihawk gets injured?” 
“Of course he does,” you said with a huff. “Don’t be stupid. He’s a man, just like the rest of you.” The gash from Yoru had fully scabbed over, revealing a long, trembling crust of dark ochre. You finished peeling off all the bandages, and cast them to the side. 
“You know a lot.” 
“Jack of all trades, master of none,” you quipped. You moved away from the desk to fill a bucket with warm water, dipping a cloth into it and squeezing out the excess. You dabbed around Yoru’s scab with the cloth, careful not to break the shell while still cleaning it of any extra gunk. Then you focused on flushing out the other wounds, wiping across his skin and getting all the little nicks on his chest and arms. Zoro didn’t say a word, but you could feel his eyes boring into your skull, watching you with a hardened intensity that made your insides churn. 
You nudged his hand away, examining the big cut. The rag he was holding had filled up with blood, white cotton dyed red and sodden with liquid. Thankfully, the bleeding seemed to have lessened. You wiped up all the last of it with your towel, swiping it against the pills of blood that had caught along the waistband of his trousers. Zoro hissed as you came into contact with the wound. “Sorry,” you murmured. 
“Why are you apologizing?”
You frowned at that. “Because it hurt?” 
“I thought you were mad at me,” Zoro said stiffly. You raised your brows. “Since… you thought I was annoyed at you, or whatever.”
“Just because you feel a certain kind of way towards me doesn’t mean I reciprocate the same feelings,” you answered, setting aside your towel after deciding everything had been cleaned out well enough. You picked up another cloth, dabbing this one with some alcohol to disinfect the wound. “This is going to sting,” you warned. 
Zoro’s jaw clenched, teeth grinding against each other as you flushed out the wound. His torso clenched, and your eyes fell across his exposed midriff, watching the tight skin that was seemingly sculpted into muscles. You glanced away just a moment later, a dusting of warmth brushing over your cheeks. “On that topic,” you hastened to say, trying to distract yourself from the half-naked man in front of you, “Why were you avoiding me?” 
Zoro let out a sigh, the sound stuttered as he clenched his jaw again when you brushed your towel against his wound. You waited, taking out a fresh cloth to dab at the other nicks on his body. You examined the wound near his left side again. “Stitches.” 
“Great,” Zoro muttered. You ignored him, searching in the kit for some needle and thread. “Can you take the stitches out from your dad’s yet?” 
“Ha ha. You’re going to need those for a few more weeks,” you said, without even looking at the scab to check. “Ask me again later. Yoru cuts are deadly.” 
Zoro let his eyes flutter closed. “It’s a great sword.” 
“Yeah, it is,” you said. You paused from where you were threading the needle, glancing up at Zoro’s face now that you knew he couldn’t catch you staring. He looked so peaceful in this state, eyelashes splayed along his cheeks, dark umber freckles that you hadn’t noticed before splattered across his face. There were dozens of them, skin sun-worn and bearing the marks as proof—constellations of dark brown stars, so similar to his warm, glowing skin it was easy to miss. A five-o’-clock shadow traced around his mouth, and at his left ear, his golden earrings gleamed bright. 
“I don’t feel anything,” Zoro said, and you snapped out of your reverie, fingers fumbling to finish threading your needle. 
“Patience is a virtue, you know,” you hissed. Zoro snorted.
“Yeah, one I don’t have.” You rolled your eyes, tying off the string and bending down to examine the cut again. It wasn’t too wide—maybe five or six stitches at most. You gave Zoro no warning except for the light brush of your fingers against the wound, and he hissed again. 
You glanced up. “Do you want something to bite on?”
“I’m not a toddler,” Zoro sneered. You mouthed his words mockingly, though you didn’t actually speak them, not wanting him to catch you doing such an immature action. You fixed your gaze back on the wound, free hand resting flat against Zoro’s abdomen to steady you—his skin was warm under your palm, and you expected him to say something, but to your surprise, he didn’t even flinch. 
The first puncture came carefully. Zoro hissed, the sound of a low rumble in his throat as you felt his abdomen clench under your palm. You forced yourself to continue, pulling the thread fully through the skin before moving onto the other side of the wound. You did it again, carefully to keep the string untangled as it ran through Zoro’s flesh. 
“It wasn’t because I was mad at you,” Zoro said abruptly, and you paused, glancing up to look at Zoro’s face. His eyes were still closed, brows contorted tight and mouth bared down into a grimace. “Don’t stop. I wasn’t avoiding you because I was angry. Or because of anything you did.” 
“Why, then?” you asked, lowering your head to continue with your stitches. Zoro took in a sharp breath at the next one, the edges of a scream cutting into his breath but not fully escaping from his throat. You were rubbing a comforting circle into his stomach before you could stop yourself—muscle memory from patching up your dad’s wounds. You swallowed hard, but didn’t stop the motions—Zoro didn’t seem offended by them. 
His voice was raggedy when he spoke again. “Fighting against you. It reminded me of—my friend, from back then. I told you about her.” 
Your lips pursed, but you didn’t stall your actions, running the thread through the hole you’d pricked. “The one you made the promise to?” 
“Yeah,” Zoro said, the word falling out all in one breath. You fixed the string tight along the wound, fingers splayed across his stomach warning him for the next puncture. He continued speaking despite it, and your needle hovered over his skin. “We were training together—fuck.” 
“Sorry,” you said again, still running your thread through his skin as he heaved out a long, ragged groan from low in his throat. 
“We were training together,” he repeated. “Haven’t done that in a while with a girl. So it—” His voice tapered off in another breathy groan. “Reminded me of her. I got bitchy.” 
“Yeah, I noticed,” you said. You were getting close to the end of the wound now, but your actions slowed, just to keep him talking—the words came out all harsh and hesitant, and you got the feeling speaking about his past was a laborious task. Might as well let him have the safety of avoiding your eyes like this while he spoke. “Do I look like her or something?” 
Zoro huffed out a laugh. “Ha. No.” 
“Okay,” you said. You pierced his skin again—he took this one better, muscles clenching as he sucked in hard. You waited until you finished the stitch to speak again. “Are you going to keep avoiding me?”
“No,” Zoro said. His words pierced the air, weighed heavy with a gasp of pain and a hiss, but it still rang sharp in your ears. He eased out a breath, long and soft. “It was unfair. Can’t help it sometimes, that’s all.” 
“That’s fine,” you answered carefully. You threaded one last stitch, both of you mute as you tightened the wound closed with the suture and tied it off. You snipped the string with a pocketknife, using another damp towel to clean up any of the excess blood. “I’m going to dress everything with bandages now. Almost done.” 
“Okay,” Zoro said. You reorganized your supplies, tucking away your stitching things to replace with bandages and dressing pads. You washed your hands again, then returned to bend over Zoro’s torso. When you did, you were surprised to see Zoro’s eyes had opened, soft brown irises boring into yours. You swallowed, feeling the burn of his gaze into your skin as you stared at the skin of his midsection. 
“I’ll do the big one first, then everything else,” you said carefully. You worked in silence, pressing a dressing pad along the wound and tying it off with some gauze to fix it in place. You moved around his body, bandaging up any cuts you deemed worthy until you finally were left with Yoru’s cut. 
It stretched the entire expanse of his torso, from shoulder to hip. It’d been well done, the cut deep but not deep enough to kill as long as someone was fast enough with treatment. You recognized the shape of the cut, the very tip of it thin before Yoru’s mouth caught the skin with the center of his blade. “He did it like this on purpose?” Zoro asked.
“Yeah,” you said. “He’s methodical with most things.” You wrapped gauze around the scab, tightening it up and then finally tying it off by his hip. “I’d keep that on for a few days before replacing it. Keep dressing it for another two weeks or so. It’ll probably start swelling soon, so I can help you drain whatever fluid develops.” 
“I’ll let you know,” Zoro said. He was still watching you with those big brown eyes, and a soft shiver traced down your spine. “Thank you.” 
“Thank you for saving me from that pirate earlier,” you said. You surveyed him again, though you were careful not to meet his eyes. A long silence filled the space, heavy with something you couldn’t quite place. You ducked your head, busying yourself with putting away the first aid kit. The words fell from your mouth before you could stop them— “I like your earrings.” 
“Oh,” Zoro said. Nothing else. 
You were pretty sure you liked more than the earrings. You liked the way he fought, even if it scared you sometimes—even if you knew one day he’d probably be able to beat your father. You liked his face; those big brown eyes, soulless at times but holding the world in those glistening irises at others. Those freckles, adorned with the entire galaxy, stars and planets and constellations dotting his cheeks like a mural of life. The way he talked, soft-spoken but utterly real, voice low in his throat, words disturbingly honest. 
You didn’t say so, though. You stuck with the earrings, because those were safer.
Tumblr media
pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3
taglist: @untoldshortsofthefandoms @ellisaworld @yeonieesss @sarcastic-sourwolf @rouzuchan @dashcrashbash @blossomedfloweroflove @ fangeekkk @winuvs @katiemrty @asexualimmortal @fayetheenthusiast @freedom-kitty @ren-ni @je4nc4tb0y @dwcode @albedosfiance @13-09-01 @dimplewonie @cellgore @ shabzy1644 @applepie972 @mayo0ma @smoochesfromlevi @ csmbrainrot @intoanothermind @junieloonie @yourlocalgoose @swthrxrry @lovefooi @dailybrekker @taeriffic @xxemmarldxx @alastorswife63 @butterfliesinthenightsky @mukeovernetflix @wonuskie @mysingularitybts @sorasolarium @chaitea-69 @wishyouwere-sober @mchlist @bibi-bieber-winchester @prowkarma @loveyluv7 @hhighkey @jesssssmaybankk @threadofdestiny @hinata7346 @thevampiricprincess @wreckmyimage @prettyinsatiable @fairygirl18 @idcalol @bangtannie7 @carav4l @kookie-doughs @bluesiebirdie @endeaz @q8852p @addisonwilkins1 @louweasleymalfoy @alelovesmitski
© halfvalid 2023
780 notes · View notes
carpecaelo · 8 months
Text
peace iv. || neteyam
synopsis: neteyam learns more about you and himself tonight.
tags: fluff, slow-burn, neteyam and reader being simps, slight angst, neteyam x fem!metkayina!reader, slight ao'nung x reader, reader lore, straight up ignorance.
a/n: fun fact the story part is the first thing I've ever written for this series. also thank you so much to that sweet anon whose kind words pushed me to finish this, ilysm.
5.6k words (damn).
chapter iii || series masterlist || ao3 link
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I'm a mirrorball, I'll show you every version of yourself tonight.
"You guys are going to love this place," you beamed to the siblings as you led them through the beach.
It didn't take a lot of convincing for Neteyam's parents to allow you to take him and his siblings for a little picnic by the beach. Of course his father was reluctant at first since his two boys did just get into a fight. But after seeing Tuk jump up and down in excitement and his mate's glare, he relented.
There was also the added fact that this picnic meant that they could avoid the clan's communal dinner. After what happened they definitely didn't want the extra tension. Your mother shared this sentiment after you had gone back to the healing huts and gave her a rundown of what happened.
So she helped you pack a picnic basket and set you on your way with the Sully siblings. After she scolded you on how you could've gotten hurt running into the middle of that scuffle that is.  
But was it really scolding if she had a smile on her face the entire time?
You all were now on your way to one of your favourite picnic spots.
Neteyam had taken the duty of carrying the basket because Tuk insisted that she hold your hand. And who were you to say no?
"Are we almost there?" Tuk asked, drawing out the syllable of her last words making you chuckle.
"Yes almost, just a few more minutes," you smiled down at her, swinging her hand in yours as you all looped through the people who were also walking along the beach. It was shockingly easy to do so. Especially considering that this time the beach would usually be bustling in preparation for dinner.
The crowd seemed to part instantly as you walked, and although it made things easier, the reasoning behind it brought a foul taste to your mouth. But you tried to spit the taste away, right now was supposed to be a happy time.
"You know you didn't need to do this for us," Kiri's voice rang before your thoughts could get too muddled, and you turned to her with a grateful smile.
"But I wanted to," you repeated the same words you said to Neteyam.
"It's the least I can do after how my friends have treated you."
"You don't have to feel bad," Lo'ak spoke this time. You turned to him and your eyes immediately found his wounds that you had tended to right when Neteyam had found him.
He noticed this as he continued to speak.
"I already made peace with Ao'nung."
Now this makes your eyes go wide. You had known him all your life and it took at least a week for him to forgive you that one time you accidentally got fish blood in his hair.
Like it was your fault he was tickling you when you were tasked to throw the fish guts away.
"We're actually going to meet tomorrow," Lo'ak added, making your shock grow tenfold. You were about to voice your concern before Neteyam popped in.
"Look at you, making friends," he chuckled, bringing his free hand to pinch the back of his brother's neck. 
The sight brought warmth to your chest, but you were still a bit cautious.
"That's nice to hear," you said, giving him a tight smile as you matched Tuk's movements when she continued to swing your hands.
"As much as I love him, Ao'nung isn't very forgiving, hopefully he doesn't act up again. I swear that boy," you began, about to go on a full on tangent before Tuk's voice stopped you.
"Wow, is this it?" She exclaimed, tugging your hand in the direction of the sight.
You turned your head and were met with the sight of your favourite picnic spot. 
The greenery surrounding it had become more lush this time of year. More stray vines had begun to climb up the lantern poles that were now glowing in soft hues of orange as eclipse was now upon you.
You smiled as you glanced down at the sandy ground that had little tufts of grass growing in random spots. 
"Yes, it is," you smiled down at her, pulling her towards the middle of the area.
"Come on everyone!" You hollered from over your shoulder, and the three other siblings followed.
"It almost looks like the forest," Neteyam said as he stood in one of the tufts of grass, wiggling his toes in it as he did. 
He met your eyes with a smile, and you returned it knowingly.
"This area is far enough from the beach to allow some of these to grow," you explained, gesturing to the tufts of grass, the small patches of flowers, and of course the vines.
"But it is close enough to the village that it was still deemed safe. Many prefer the beaches however, so my family and I tend to get this spot all to ourselves," you smiled as you remembered your grandfather as you stepped into a tuft of grass.
He had found and maintained this spot long before you were born all the way up to his death. You and your remaining family members take care of it now.
"You all are welcome to come here whenever you like," you told them as they continued to look over the greenery. 
"Now," you clapped your hands together since Tuk had pulled away from you in favor of poking at the fauna on the ground with fluttering petals.
"Let's begin shall we."
You took the picnic basket from Neteyam and pulled out a large rattan mat and laid it on one of the clearer parts of the ground. Everyone chipped in from there, helping arrange the seemingly never ending amounts of food.
Once everything was out and you were all sat the Sullies looked like they didn't know where to start. So you of course suggested your favourites of the bunch
"You should try this first, it is starberry jam that my friend Kyuna made, and this is a kelp biscuit," you grinned, picking up a wooden spoon so you could spread the jam on the biscuit before handing it to Kiri.
"Don't be afraid, it's very good," you tell her, taking in her hesitant gaze.
"The jam even has medicinal properties," you added, and that seemed to convince her as she took a bite.
Her eyes widened upon tasting the jam, and she covered her mouth as she spoke between chews.
"Wow, this has medicinal properties?" She exclaimed, making you chuckle as she took another big bite.
"I know the sweetness may try to tell you different, but we use it as a remedy for headaches and sea sickness," you explained, picking up another kelp biscuit and spreading jam on it as well.
"And of course, sweet tooths," you chuckled, opening the pouch of sea salt you got earlier.
You sprinkled some atop the jam covered biscuit and handed it to Lo'ak this time. 
"Here try some too, the sea salt helps bring out its flavor," you said about working on another biscuit for Tuk. Before you did you gestured to all the food that laid on the mat with a smile.
"Don't be shy everybody, dig in."
A comfortable cacophony of chewing, clinking, and chatter filled the air as eclipse finally settled in. It didn't take long for everyone to take a bite from all the dishes and treats before them. 
Lo'ak in particular seemed to favor the fish fries, and you made a mental note to tell your mother about it. 
Your heart felt so full as you watched everyone interact with each other and the food. The events from earlier today now seemed to weigh less on you as you took it all in. 
*****
Neteyam watched with fond eyes as you offered Lo'ak your remaining fish fries after he huffed in disappointment when Tuk snatched up the last ones. He liked how patient you were with his siblings, he knew first hand of course how difficult they could be.
His siblings seemed to mirror his sentiment as well. Especially Tuk who was currently looking up at you with stars in her eyes as she munched on another kelp biscuit you prepared for her. 
He felt so at peace in that moment that he decided to turn his brain off just for a while. He shed his warrior skin just a bit as he got lost in the plants, in the air, in the chatter, in you as you spoke silently with Kiri about one of your other dishes with medicinal value.
Neteyam only snapped back into his usual role when Tuk's voice cut through the air.
"Why are your eyes the same as ours?" The little girl asked, batting her eyelashes innocently at you, not noticing how her older siblings stiffened at the question.
It wasn't that it was bad, they just didn't know how you would react to such a question on your appearance.
"Tuk," Neteyam scolded gently, and Tuk's face crumpled in confusion.
"What, I just want to know?" She defended, looking at you again, and Neteyam did the same to gauge your current expression.
He was met with a smile and the wave of your hand.
"It's quite alright, it is an honest question," you told him before placing a hand to your chest and addressing Tuk.
"I am Omatikaya by blood," you said, and the family let out little gasps, including Neteyam.
So is this why you felt so familiar? 
"My grandfather was a part of your clan."
"You are Omatikaya?" Lo'ak asked with so much disbelief that Kiri slapped him in the back of the head.
"Yes," you chuckled.
"That's why my eyes are the way they are. And that's why my mother's skin is the way it is."
Neteyam then added to the conversation, all the while sounding more gentle than Lo'ak.
"Why didn't you two tell us you were Omatikaya when we first met?" He asked with genuine curiosity.
"My mother does not like to speak on matters she deems obvious, and she taught me to do the same," you answered truthfully.
"She wears her skin proudly on her back and does not need to talk about it. She lets her actions speak for herself, she takes care of her own," you smiled gently, looking over them all with kindness. 
Kindness you had given them ever since you met.
Neteyam hummed in response, returning your smile. It all made sense to him.
"Wow," Tuk exclaimed before asking.
"But if your grandfather is Omatikaya why hasn't he come to say hello too?" 
Your smile faltered slightly.
"My grandfather is in the arms of Eywa now," your voice peeped.
This earned another bounce of silence as the little girl looked down sadly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," you waved her apology away, stroking her hair gently.
"You didn't know."
Silence came once more, only to be broken when Lo'ak cleared his throat.
"Um, I have another question, if you don't mind," he said, rubbing the back of his head that was still recovering from Kiri's hand.
"Oh please, ask away," you grinned.
"Nothing brings me more joy than curing curiosity."
At that moment Neteyam prayed that his brother wouldn't ask anything stupid.
"How did your grandfather make his way here?" Lo'ak finally asked after taking a breath.
"Our clan is far from here, and probably even farther than before the war caused the people to move," he explained his curiosity and his older brother realised that his prayers weren't in vain.
That was actually a good question, and Neteyam found himself leaning in as you answered.
"Well," you sighed.
"My grandfather's story is a grand one. It is  quite long, it may bore you."
"Please tell us the story, please," Tuk begged.
"Yes, I want to hear it too," Kiri added.
"I'm a bit curious myself," Neteyam agreed, inching closer from where he sat across from you.
You locked eyes with him and chuckled, he felt his chest tighten at the sound.
"If you insist," you relented with the clear of your throat.
You straightened your posture and that just had everyone huddling closer if that was even possible. You then began speaking with a grander tone, a tone that just drew Neteyam more to you.
"It was long ago, before the sky people set foot on Eywa's land. My grandfather, Maratu, came from a renowned hunting family of the Omatikaya and was the third of five sons," you spoke, gesturing as you did so. 
You reminded Neteyam of the many storytellers in his clan at that moment.
"His father was a fierce man, one of the warleaders of the clan. He treated his sons like warriors rather than children ever since they took their first steps."
Your words had Neteyam stomach churning.
"But for reasons my grandfather never knew, even till his death, he was given the brunt of his father's anger," you went on.
"Day in and day out he was ridiculed for the way he held a bow, for the way he ran, and for the way he fought against other Na'vi. He was broken down till he felt like he was an outcast."
Neteyam frowned at your words, especially when he noticed Lo'ak hang his head low as you continued.
"His brothers were no help, only concerned with pleasing their father. And his mother had died giving birth to his youngest brother. So with no one on his side, my grandfather decided to flee from the clan and search for a new life, his own purpose."
As you spoke there was a sad sheen in your eyes, and Neteyam felt the urge to comfort you. But he was too far from you to do it the way he wanted, so he gave you an encouraging smile that you nodded at.
"With a bag packed with food, water, and his most trusted weapons my grandfather set out on his ikran in the dead of night," you told them, gesturing to the night sky as you went on.
"He did not know where he was going, only that he wanted to leave so he decided to follow the brightest stars that Eywa would shine every night. He travelled for a total of seven nights, only stopping to eat and sleep."
Your tone then became solemn.
"Soon his supplies started to dwindle to the point that on the seventh night of his travels he lost control of his ikran and fell into the water below and that water was the same that surrounds us now."
Neteyam watched as Tuk let out a gasp at your words, clutching her hands as she looked at you with wide eyes.
"What happened to him next he did not remember," you shook your head before smiling.
"The gaps were only filled in by my grandmother, Syanan. She saw him fall into the water that night and called for the Metkayina warriors to rescue him. She was tsakarem at the time so she took it upon herself to heal him," your smile only seemed to grow as you spoke.
"She watched over him that entire night, even when she was sure the water in his lungs had left and she had treated every scratch on him."
"In her words," you placed your hand on your chest.
"She felt drawn to him, like the waves to the shore." 
Neteyam felt his heart grip at that, he didn't know why, but it did.
"The next morning my grandfather remembered very clearly. He awoke to the tsakarem wiping the sweat from his brow. She was looking down on him with what he described was the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen."
Neteyam watched as Tuk swooned at your grandfather's story.
"They fell in love?" Her little voice asked.
"Yes," you grinned, playing with her braids.
"They did, Tuk."
"Wait a minute," Kiri joined in this time, confusion etched into her soft features.
"Your grandmother was tsakarem, does that mean-,."
It seemed that you knew exactly what she was going to ask.
"Yes, she was already promised to another. The future olo'eyktan at the time. The great Tonowari's own father."
This revelation had another round of gasps echoing in the small group, even Neteyam was on the edge of his seat.
"But she did not love him," you shook your head.
"Their union was arranged since birth as their families were close friends," you paused for a moment to lick your lips. 
"This is where it gets interesting."
Neteyam saw a small glint in your eyes.
"When my grandfather was finally well enough, he told his story to the elders and despite being wary, they pitied him. He had basically nothing after all. So my grandmother was tasked to teach him the ways of the water. And with all the time they spent together, they fell deeper in love."
The siblings couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with your words. The romance was not so different from their parents' story.
"They fell to the point that it was obvious to everyone in the clan."
Your voice then grew solemn again and a frown crept onto your lips and your eyes narrowed.
"Tonowari's father, although he did not love my grandmother, only accepting the union to please his parents. He felt like his authority was being threatened."
Neteyam watched your frown turn into a scowl.
"Because of this it was planned that my grandfather be exiled from the island, to keep the peace. My grandmother was not happy, but she kept silent, not wanting to bring shame to her family."
Your features softened ever so slightly at your next words 
"She herself was already being shamed for falling for an outsider when she was already promised. And my grandfather loved her so much that he did not fight his punishment."
Sadness was evident in your tone which had the siblings frowning along with you. But your voice suddenly burst with energy, you were now at the story's climax.
"But on the day he was supposed to leave, a great tragedy struck. He was already mounted on his ikran when an akula had snuck into the reef and was attacking a group of children who were swimming."
Neteyam's eyes widened at this. He remembered being warned by Tsireya about akulas. They were some of the terrors found outside of the reef.
If it was possible, you had earned more of his interest. Towards your story, that is.
"My grandfather was the first to see the commotion and flew his ikran towards them and jumped into the water."
You had gone from sitting down to kneeling high on your knees. Your gestures had also become more dramatic at this point, perfectly matching your words.
"He reached the children before any other warrior could. There were a total of three, two were panicking while one had his arm trapped in the jaw of the rogue akula."
You gripped your wrist with your other hand as you spoke, and the sudden slapping of your skin had the family jolting back a bit.
"He surveyed the situation and quickly took both sides of the akula's jaw in his bare hands."
Neteyam watched with his full attention as both of your hands came up gripping at nothing as you pretended to push a strong force apart.
"He showed strength that no Metkayina has seen before as he pried the animal's jaw open."
Your hands dropped dramatically at your sides, signalling the stop of the force.
"Thankfully, the child's arm was mostly alright. Only a few puncture wounds. But it's been said if my grandfather had come a second later his arm would have been chomped clean off."
There was a wild look in your eyes as you went on that had everyone almost shivering. Even Neteyam felt on edge.
"Once free, my grandfather instructed the three children to swim back to shore together. And as they were leaving my grandfather dove into the water and began wrestling with the akula from beneath it."
Both of your hands were now clenched into fists as you spoke.
"He knew that he had to take the animal's life before anything else was to happen. So he looked for just the right spot on the akula's stomach and stabbed it."
Your hand jolted up and back down as you mimicked a stabbing motion. A quick silence filled the air, adding to the tension.
"It all happened so fast that he did not need the help of the other warriors. My grandfather emerged victorious," you said, and the group let out a collective breath of relief.
"People say that the water around him had turned purple with blood. None of which was his own."
Your voice had calmed at this point as you sat back down.
"Everyone in the clan saw this, and knew that it was not worth it to exile him. No Na'vi blessed with such strength and bravery from Eywa herself should ever be exiled, the clan leaders had said of him."
Pride was practically dripping from your voice at this point.
"So they decided to reward him, and the clan leaders asked him what he wanted from them. They stated that no ask was too large, especially with his feet."
Neteyam suddenly found himself speaking.
"He asked for your grandmother's hand?" He asked, hands clenched as he held on to your every word.
"No," you shook your head, a smile now creeping back onto your face.
"He asked that she be given a choice of her own, and that no matter what she chose she would not be shamed nor be treated differently."
The older boy felt his heart sigh at this, and he could see that even Lo'ak was trying to hide an audible reaction. 
His two sisters didn't bother hiding anything. Tuk was clapping, and Kiri who was usually so reserved had her hands clasped together and resting against her cheek.
"My grandmother of course chose him in the end," you finally tell them, and Neteyam smiled as your eyes briefly glimpsed at the stars.
"They lived together on this very island and had five children. None more loved than the other. My mother is the youngest of those children, and I am her only child."
You let out a fond sigh, looking at the ground before speaking once more.
"That is how my grandfather came to be here," you rested your hand on your heart.
"Thus why my eyes are the way they are."
"Woah," Lo'ak let out with wide eyes, he didn't know that his question would lead to this.
His family shared his reaction as they all let out their own sounds of amazement.
"I told you it is quite the story," you chuckled at their awed expressions before picking up a piece of fruit.
As if you hadn't just told them one of the best stories they ever heard.
*****
You relaxed your posture and took a bite out of the slice of seabutan you picked up. You only spoke again after finishing the tangy treat.
"This story is a big part of why I do not agree with how my friends treat you, how the other clan members look at you" you added, taking them out of their shock with the reminder of the day's prior horrid events.
You observed as Neteyam's tongue jutted out to lick the still healing cut on his lip. Even when scarred, his lips still held a supple irresistible quality to them.
You quickly looked away once those thoughts invaded your mind, cheeks slightly heated as you continued to speak to him and his siblings.
"It is already wrong to be so cruel, but their reasoning disgusts me even more," your nose scrunches at the thought.
"There is no such thing as a freak, as an outsider. Even with the blood your body holds. At the end of the day we are all made by Eywa, we are all Na'vi, we must all protect our own," you said, voice raising in a way that was different from earlier at the beach.
Your voice held more passion than anger.
"Like what my grandmother did for my grandfather. Like what my grandfather did for her and those children."
"That is why I see you," you smiled at them, locking eyes with Neteyam momentarily who seemed to be giving you the biggest smile back.
"I see all of you," your smile grew as you brought your free hand to your forehead before gesturing to them.
"We see you too," Tuk giggled, mirroring your gesture as her siblings echoed her sentiment while doing the same gesture.
Your smile only grew from there. Especially when you locked eyes with Neteyam for what felt like the millionth time that night.
He mimicked your expression, making your heart skip a beat as he said the very same words you did. The very same words his siblings did, but somehow, it held more weight.
The smile on his lips only made your muddling thoughts worse.
"I see you," he whispered, in a way that seemed to be only for you.
*****
The night ended just when Tuk began to yawn and Kiri had started rubbing at her eyes. You had stood up and suggested that they go ahead and get home while you cleaned up.
Neteyam protested this, saying that he could help you. 
You argued and one thing led to another and Lo'ak was now carrying Tuk, yelling a goodbye from over his shoulder as he led a tired Kiri home. You couldn't help but roll your eyes as he gave you a look that said 'I told you so.'
You both watched them leave until they were all but blurs in the distance. Going straight into cleaning right after.
As you placed empty plates into your basket you realized that in one way or another, you and Neteyam would always be left alone. Not that you were complaining, the serendipity of it all just intrigued you. 
Yeah, that was it.
With the dishes put away, Neteyam brought it upon himself to roll up the rattan mat and place it in the basket. 
Now ready to leave, there was another argument about who was going to carry the basket. An argument that was settled by Neteyam suggesting you both each take hold of one of the baskets handles.
You agreed and began your trek homeward.
Comfortable quiet filled the air as you and Neteyam walked along the beach. The only sounds that were heard were the ocean and the wind. 
Halfway through your walk you began seeing his gaze flick toward you in your peripherals. It happened a few times before you called him out.
"You seem like you are not saying what you want to," you tell him, turning to head towards him.
He seemed to look down in shame from getting caught, his ears twitching as he did so.
"What is it, Neteyam?" You tried to push him a bit.
"I can't imagine any words coming from you being bad, so you might as well spit it out."
"Thank you," he responds, finally looking back at you.
"You think too highly of me."
"No, I think correctly of you," you smiled, swinging the basket that hung between you playfully.
"Now just speak away."
He returned your smile and took a breath before speaking.
"It's just that, your grandfather's story has touched me in a way I cannot begin to comprehend," he expressed, and you feel your heart grip at the slight sadness in his tone.
Your eyes urged him to continue.
"He sounded like such a great man, thank you for sharing his legacy with me," he smiled.
"With us."
"I don't need to be thanked," you shook your head, looking up at the stars that reminded you that your grandfather and grandmother were still watching over you.
"His story is one I enjoy telling, it makes me feel closer to him now that he's gone."
You lock eyes with him.
"You know, he would've liked you."
"Really?" He asked, brow bone shooting upward.
"Yes," your eyes softened at his humble tone.
"You're strong, kind, and you take care of your own. All things he tried to be, all things he was," you said, truthfully so.
He looks down momentarily with a smile.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me," you hummed.
"Thank yourself."
For a moment, you both just stood. It was as if nothing else was around you but soft smiles and understanding. 
Till a voice cut through the air.
"Ma'ite, what are you doing?" The voice yelled, and your and Neteyam's head snapped in its direction.
It was your father, his towering figure was standing with his hands on his hips in front of your marui. You and Neteyam had stopped just before the bridges that connected your homes.
"Who's that?" Neteyam asked, looking between you and the figure in the distance.
"That's my father," you answered simply.
"Your father?" He asked again.
"Yes," you sighed, yanking the basket handle he was holding out of his hand and running forward.
"Come on before he loses his head."
Neteyam followed after you and soon you were both now standing before your father. You didn't notice how stiff Neteyam had gotten beside you.
"There you are," your father greeted you, bringing a hand to rest on top of our head.
"I was beginning to worry about you, paskalin," he said before directing his gaze towards Neteyam.
Your brow crumpled as you noticed the glare behind your father's eyes.
"And you," he nodded his head at the Omatikayan boy next to you 
"You are Jake's eldest son, am I correct?"
"Yes I am," Neteyam nodded stiffly, showing your father's scare tactics were actually working.
"It is nice to meet you sir, I see you," he said with a respectful bow of his head and the accompanying gesture.
Your father seemed pleased with this as he copied the gesture.
"I see you too," he nods, before his tone suddenly goes deep.
"But you keeping my daughter out late better not become a common occurrence."
"Papa," you groaned, seeing Neteyam's eyes widen and his ears pin to the sides of his head.
"He only helped me clean up," you explained.
"He didn't need to, but he wanted to."
"As he should," your father nodded, seeming to let down his facade.
"Thank you for helping her," he grinned before gesturing behind you two.
"But you better get going now, your family is waiting."
You and Neteyam turned to see his mother waiting patiently at their door for him.
"Of course," Neteyam agreed, giving your father another respectful bow of his head.
"It was nice meeting you again sir," he said, before turning back to you.
"Thank you for tonight," he said gently, with a smile that reflected his tone.
You beamed at him, giving him a nod before he turned around and began his short walk home.
When he was a good distance away you turned back to your father with a glare.
"Papa," you huffed.
"Why must you scare him like that?"
"I only joke paskalin," he chuckled, looking down at you with a teasing smile.
"It is Eywa's great balance," he explained.
"Your uncles made my life horrible when I was courting your mother."
"We aren't courting though," you argued, making him throw his head back in a laugh.
"I know that, but you know me. I like getting a head start on things," he gave another teasing smile that had your eyes narrowing.
First your mother and now him. This was a strange occurrence indeed, they had never teased you about such things before.
"Papa," you warned.
"Hey don't give me that look," he stroked your hair before his features suddenly became serious.
"I need to talk to you actually, I heard there was a fight on the beach."
Your eyes widened and your body stiffened at his tone, so you jumped quickly to defend yourself.
"I wasn't involved in that fight I swear," you exclaimed.
"I only broke it up,"
At your panic, a smile broke on his face. A smile that had your eyes narrowing again.
"I know," he chuckled at your fast changing expression.
"It's just that I heard those boys were practically shaking when you got to the scene." 
His features seemed to soften with pride.
"Is that true?"
You mirrored the smile he gave you, maybe a little more smug, but a smile nonetheless.
"Maybe they were shaking a little."
He threw his head back in a hearty laugh before placing a hand on your shoulder.
"That's my girl."
*****
Neteyam watched your father throw his arm around your shoulder and lead you into your marui. He only turned away when you were out of his sight.
He set his eyes back on his own marui that was now only a few steps away. His mother was still standing by the door waiting for him. Her expression was unreadable and fierce, like it always was.
Behind her he could see the figure of his father who seemed to be leading his siblings to bed.
When he got to his mother's side her hand went straight to his head to play with his braids. A gesture that fought with her expression.
"Did you enjoy yourself tonight ma'itan?" She asked, her features finally softening as he was met with a smile from her eldest son.
"Yes, I did sa'nok." He answered truthfully, his head turning towards your home for just a second.
"I did very much."
Tumblr media
chapter v.
let me know what you think!
taglist: @pxndorasdream @y2unagiz @melsunshine @noom147 @kiri-tuk @cupidddd-d @marshallowy @jkeluv @riatesullironalite @earthling55 @innercreationflower @loser-lover0527 @bdudette @anangelwhodidntfall @netedoongie @c-h-i-l @celi-xxmoon @sussybaka10 @hao-ming-8 @jamie-poopoo
570 notes · View notes
lovelyglares · 7 days
Text
To Love, To Heal | BTS
Chapter One: Confrontation
Tumblr media
BTS ot7 x fem! reader ; neighbor!au
Healing is layers. Healing is time. Healing is excruciating. Once you think it’s done, it’s not. – Mary DeMuth
You’ve thought you’d healed from the pain. The feeling of insecurity, the pain of knowing you’ve given you’re all for it to all blow up in your face, making you the fool. After the antagonizing heartbreak from your ex- husband, you’ve found it hard to open up to anyone since. It’s been years since the breakup, and you’ve thought you’ve moved on and in a way you completely did. You may not harbor any feelings for your ex-husband anymore, but you’ve found that your heart isn’t as open as you initially thought- especially when seven kind and handsome men are striving for your love and affection next door.
Warnings: f2l , slowburnish, tense topics in future chapters such as; cheating, insecurities, betrayal, manipulation(not bangtan), etc, and eventual smut
A/N: well, well, well. Its been awhile, my darlings and I’m finally here to deliver. this series is something that i hold very dear to me, and something ive spent a longggg time on. I already have ten chapters written for this, so i will be posting them every two weeks. I wont make this note too long bc everything i wanted to say it on the previous a/n (that will be posted soon), but I hope you learn to love this series like i did. enjoy, my babies and mommy’s home again!
Masterlist
Tumblr media
‘’Wow, I’m starting to think you guys have better tastes than me, such a great request Amelia sent in! I’ll have to add it to my own personal playlist later!’’ You can’t help but smile a giddy smile, playing with the long chord that’s attached to your microphone, your incredibly large and expensive headphones rest over your ear, blocking you out from the outside world and tune in to your loyal listeners. You’ve been blessed to have a successful career as a virtual reality radio host. You absolutely love your job, it’s something you’ve only dreamed of having and here you are, through blood, sweat, and tears , you’ve finally reached the peak of your career, all 20,000 regular listeners and growing every day, you can finally say you’ve made it. If you could see yourself now three years ago, you’d never believe the you now could achieve something like this.
‘’Alright my lovebugs. It’s that time.’ You laugh at the comments being spammed under your live chat, under your lady VR character, all spamming to not end the live. ‘I know, I know. I hate it too, but!’ eyes flashing to the bright neon lights that flash the time, 2:20 A.M. You clap your hands, your VR character copying you with your hands and big grin.’ I’ll be here bright and early at the fresh start of 10 PM later tonight! So, you won’t miss me for too long! I’ll play one more song to end this evening and I’ll see you guys later. Send in more requests and I’ll get to them first thing! and stay strong and beautiful, bunnies! Love you guys.., Ciao.’’ Your cute anime VR character winks and blows a kiss to the listeners, hearts being spammed in the chat. You play , ‘Easily’ by Bruno Major and set your stream up to manually end at the end of the song. You turn off your mic and sigh as you take the headphones off your head. You rub your ears, as they had become sore from the hours of leaving the headphones on. You stand up, yawning and stretching your stiff limbs from staying up too long.
You navigate through your huge loft apartment and make your way to the kitchen, pouring you a glass of water to replemish your dry throat from talking for hours. Like you said, you love your job but you’ll never get used to the wear on your body. Who knew sitting down for hours, and talking to people for hours on end could be so exhausting. As you finish your water break, you hear a sharp ding  from your phone, just from inside your room down the hall. You leave the kitchen and head to your room, throwing blankets around trying to find your phone. You find it buried in your sheets, completely forgetting you left it in here during your stream. You grab your phone and notice new text messages and missed calls.
Most of them are from Taehyung and Seokjin, the two closest to you out of out of seven men who live in the huge penthouse next door.
You can’t help but laugh and blush at the text messages you get from Tae and Jin. All of them reminders of the movie night you all planned weeks ago, them threatening you if you decide to cancel again.
Multiple missed call from Taehyung and Seokjin
Taehyung- ’Y’NNNNN, what are you doin rn? Come see me!’
Sent: 6:30 PM
‘I’ll even buy you those frosted cookies you like! Oh and I’ll give you one of those backrubs you like!’
Sent: 7:14 PM
‘’ Y/nnn flowerrr , why aren’t you answering me!! ‘
Sent: 9:30 PM
’You’re either at work or asleep but you better answer me when you’re awake! I haven’t seen your pretty face in three weeks! How is that  even possible! We’re neighbors
 Anyways,  I miss you and call when you can jagii~~.
Sent: 9:45 PM
Seokjin - ‘My angel! It’s been awhile since we spoke. How are you?’
Sent: 7:47 P.M
‘ I have these new pastry rolls that are calling your name. Oh! And I got this new recipe I want to try out and you know I need my professional taste tester!’
Sent: 8:01 PM
‘ I see you’re probably busy but when you see this, call me so we can schedule a coffee date again,.Oh! And respond to Tae too, he’s drivin us crazy lol
Sent: 9:45
You smile at the stream of texts you get from your two best friends. Don’t get it wrong, you’ve grown close with the Bangtan squad but those two were by far the closest to you out of them- and the most needy. You can’t lie and say you haven’t missed them. The past year you’ve lived here, they were the first to knock on your door and introduce themselves. You invited them in, and you all bonded over some small talk and wine. You’ll never forget Jin’s windshield wiper laugh and how he laughed so hard that wine flew out of his nose, or how Taehyung’s sweet boxy smile made you feel right at home. You’ve been attached to the hip ever since. They always make sure to show how much they care for you by even just the small things. Jin makes it a habit to provide you with all the new pastry recipes that we plans to use for the café they all own together, he brings you flowers once a month because ‘a lovely lady like you should always be gifted flowers, it’s a crime otherwise’, enforcing Taehyung to get wind of it and started to gift you flowers aswell, along with always taking your trash out when you get too busy, or fixing any housework that is damaged or broken, or even coming over every Saturday with two glasses of wine and sushi, and that’s only because ‘you’re so much nicer to spend time with Noona, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else silly!’. That is except until three weeks ago, you haven’t seen them, and you could blame it on many things but the biggest thing is that you willingly started to basically ghost them. You’ve grown attached to them these past view months. Too attached. You’ve started having certain feelings for the two men, scaring you to bits and making you attempt to run away from them- avoiding them every change you get, making up any and many excuses to not see them. What makes it worst is trying to hide it from them, you feel like it could all spill over any minute now. As if they’d like you anyways.
Not only do you have interest with one guy, but two of them. The two being so close to each other- they’re practically family. You would hate to cause any conflict and possibly ruin yours and their close friendship. What a messy situation to be in. And one you want nothing to be do with. Especially since your last ex-husband, love for you is not something you’re interested in at this point in life.
You’re unsure about messaging the both of them, not wanting to come up with another lie to avoid meeting up with them. You sigh to yourself, heart and mind conflicted. Your heart wants to do one thing, but your mind says to do another. You decide to ignore the texts for now, deciding to answer them when you wake up with a fresh mind and not while you’re half comatose. You feel a pang in your heart, but you push it aside. Deciding to deal with those complicated emotions another day. The only important thing to your mind right now - is sleep.
You wake up at about noon, to loud banging on your door. Loud voices and arguing carry from behind the door and you instantly make out three voices.
‘’Just open the door! It’s not like you haven’t before!’’
‘’Oh shut up! She’s not talking to us for a reason! I can’t barge in and it make everything worst!!’
‘’We..We could just go back to the penthouse and just call her..I don’t think she’d want to see us any—’
‘’No! We’re not just going to leave! We can’t just run away. We’re not like you Jimin.. you’re just afraid that she won—'
Oh boy, here’s to talking to them with a fresh mind.
You can’t help but groan out loud, not wanting to move from your comfy sanctuary of blankets and head to the still banging door. You huff out, showing the door open. Causing the three young men to stop they’re yelling and pause to look at your grumpy, wakeup face. You scowl at them, annoyed for waking you up from a pretty good sleep, completely missing the roaming eyes that go down your figure- the tight tank top and sleeping shorts not leaving much to the imagination. Jungkook, Taehyung, and Jimin stare at you – looking like he’s going to bolt away like a scared chicken.
‘’Why are you guys banging on my door like animals, you ruined my perfectly good sleep.’’ You can’t help but to grumpy snap to them, followed by a yawn. They clearly know you hate to be woken up, especially by loud noises. Taehyung can’t help but scoff and step closer to you, only about two feet away from you. You wake up a little bit from the close proximity and arch one of your eyebrows at him.
‘’Well sleeping beauty, if you at least answer one of my texts every now and then. I wouldn’t have to bang on your door now, would I?’’ He says sassily, looking you square in the eye. Daring you to deny him or look away. You scoff and roll your eyes. Opening the door, signifying to let them in. You sigh, knowing there’s no sending them away this time- no matter what excuse you come up with.
‘’Fine, come inside. I’m cold and need to put on normal clothes anyway. Make yourselves at home as you usually do.’’ You say, brushing his comment aside and you hope he falls for it. Thankfully, he seems to drop it and gives you a huge boxy grin, stepping inside the place like he owns in, an equally giddy Jungkook follows along with a shy and hesitant Jimin- this being the first time he’s ever stepped in your place. Jungkook has been over a few times now, sometimes by himself or sometimes with the others. He enjoys spending time with you and tries to as much as he can. Jimin is the one you’re least close to. He’s the only one you’re sure of that harbors no feelings for you at all- if anything he seems to avoid you like the plague. He seems like such a kind, and pure soul and sometimes It bothers you how he doesn’t seem to like you or your presence much and you don’t really know why he’s even here to begin with, but you won’t ask, you’re just glad he doesn’t seem to be as uncomfortable around you right now like he typically is.
They all immediately flock to your kitchen like a pack of hungry wolves, raiding your fridge and taking out your leftovers. Immediately heating them up and fixing them a fair share of your yummy leftovers. You can’t help but laugh to yourself and shake your head as you make your way to your bedroom to get dressed in appropriate clothing- quite used to this behavior from them.
You can’t help but momentarily freak out as you make it to your room, it now kicking in that you must face one of the men you hopelessly have a crush on. Shit, what do I do.
Calm down. Everything’s fine. Pretend that everything is normal, and that the thought of Taehyung doesn’t make your heart race. You got this.
You take your shower quickly, speeding up your normal routine down half its time and you chalk it up to wanting to get this over with quickly but you know better. You miss them. Especially Taehyung, your partner in crime.
You look in the mirror, you hair falls down your shoulders and you have a simple oversized beige sweatshirt on with a pair of black leggings, you don’t put your shoes on but settle with your favorite black fuzzy slippers, hoping it brings you some comfort with the slow simmer of nerves rushing through your system. You close your eyes and take a deep breath when you put your hand on you bedroom door knob.
You can do this. Just say you're busy and you’ll make it up to them… That is if you can make these stupid butterflies disappear.
You swallow your nerves and open your door and make your way to the kitchen. You enter your kitchen, and you can’t help but gape at the sight.
The three maknaes, stand there with aprons on their waste, plates of food lay on your dining table, foods from some of your leftovers, to some new kimchi rice and fresh entrees, beautiful colors and a feast lay before your eyes… You were only gone for thirty minutes, how?...
Taehyung turns around and he must see the confusion on your face, because he takes his apron off, washes his hands under the sink and then stalks to your shocked figure. You can’t help but blush as he takes your hands from your side, kissing the knuckles on your face with a determined smile on his face. You can’t help but gulp, ‘’ If youre wondering why there’s so much food, that’s because we have missed four of our regular dinner dates… and I can’t go longer without having another one…This is for us all to enjoy and catch up, yeah? We have some talking to do, don’t we pretty flower?’’
Shit.
You blink rapidly, Taehyung’s face is too close to yours and you can’t help but be mesmerized by how breathtaking he truly is up close. You’ve always been aware of his good looks, even a blind person could tell, but it’s so different seeing it so up close. His beauty rivals some of the greatest muses off all time, you could picture a sculpture of him in the world’s greatest museum, you could see painters begging to paint his beautiful face on a canvas, you can see ladies and men alike falling at their feet for just a taste, and you can see how easily someone could fall for him…It’s like playing with fire that won’t be squelched, once you’re already so deep in – there’s no possibility of escaping it.
‘’I know Hyung is pretty, bunny but the food will get cold, and we don’t want that, do we?’’ You hear Jungkook before you see him, and you gasp in surprise as you feel his hand on your forearm. You break Taehyung’s hypnotic gaze, completely aware of the pleased grin and look in his eyes that you can’t help but feel in it your stomach. You flush as you look at Jungkook, avoiding his eyes and nod. You walk to the kitchen, sweating from the intense staring match and you sit down, momentarily forgetting the embarrassment as you see the array of delicious smelling food.
You all sit down as your table of four, Jimin and Jungkook sit beside you, while Taehyung sits directly in front of you. You all pile food of your plate, savoring and inhaling the food and you almost forget about the conversation that is about to be had. That is until Taehyung opened his big mouth. Taehyung clears his throat and then utters you name to get your attention. He takes a sip of his wine as you struggle to meet his gaze, but when you do- you’re nervous. He has that look in his eyes- mischievous but determined. like you’re the treasure he wants to steal and keep.
‘’So, flower… Do you want to tell us why you’re ignoring us, or do you want me to?’’
Huh?
‘’W-what do you mean? I wasn’t ignoring you.’ Lie. ‘I’ve just been busy lately and times have been more demanding.’ More lies. ‘I’ll make it up to you, I promise.’’ Hopefully, not a lie. ‘I didn’t want to burden you with my issues.’’ Truth.
Taehyung tsks, swallowing his wine in one gulp, placing his napkin on the table and then pulls his chair out. You sit up straight, afraid you said something wrong and he’s going to leave you, but you’re stunned as he moves around the table to stand in front of you. You’re about to ask him what he’s doing but he carefully moves your seat out to face him, protests on your tongue but it dies as he steps in your space, dropping down to his knees at your feet. You’re speechless for the second time tonight due to this man and you nearly have a heart attack when he puts his right palm on your cheek, caressing the soft skin.
‘’Oh sweet, silly, naive flower. I’m not blind..’’ He moves closer putting his hands on your knees so he can sit up straighter and meet you eye to eye. You can smell his cologne and natural musk, making you want to close your eyes and savor it, but you’d rather save your dignity and you’re not going to allow him to talk to you like a little girl. You’re not any of those things he tells you that you are. You squint your eyes at him and move closer, nose to nose with each other. You see him grin and you can’t help but roll your eyes at him.
‘’First of all, I’m not naïve so get that image of me out of your head. Secondly, If I even chose to ignore you, it’s for a reason. You don’t know anything so don’t pretend you do.’’
Jungkook can’t help but chuckle, ‘Careful Tae, the claws are out. I’d be careful if I was you.’’
You go to make a comeback to the young man, planning to scold him but you can’t open your mouth when you hear Jimin’s next words.
‘’Y’nnie…I know I don’t have the right to say anything,...  But we’re all coming at this the wrong way. We just want honesty, and we’ll give it back in return. And to do that someone has to take a leap of faith first. We can’t ask for honestly, when we’re not being honest ourselves’ He sighs, copying Taehyungs move earlier and chugs the wine in one go, then looking up to look at you and for the first time, you see Jimin’s full face, and he’s beautiful., ’I guess I’ll be the first to spill the beans.’’
Jimin moves out of his seat to stand in front of you. You can tell he’s nervous but he’s putting on a brave front. You can’t even imagine what he’s about to say. Now, you’re surrounded by three men, each having they’re full attention on you, and you feel like they’re about to drop a heavy bomb on you.
‘’Before I say this, I know what I’m about to say will be hard to believe, so please try to have an open mind… but…’
‘’Wait, Jimin. Are you really doing this? Here? Right now?’’ Taehyung asks, looking at Jimin like he’s lost his head. Jimin nods, meeting your eyes and you see something in then. Something you feel every day, but never thought you’d see on him. Longing.
‘’…Y/nnie, I’ve been in love with you for three years..’’
And just like that, your world was never the same again.
Tumblr media
©lovelyglares (2024) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.
DO NOT REPOST, TRANSLATE, PLAGIARISE OR REPURPOSE.
94 notes · View notes
yuan4i · 4 months
Text
10. practice
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
“lynette!!” you shouted, waving to her in the distance. you run up to her, noticing her brother; lyney, standing next to her. “yn! hi-” “hello, yn. how was your morning?” lynette asked, standing in between you and lyney. “i woke up before lumine did!” you said, grinning. 
the three of you guys chatted about the upcoming festival while walking to your school’s building. “oh! yn, you should totally visit lynette and i if you get the chance today!” lyney brought up, arriving at your destinations. “mhm. we’ll maybe even do a magic trick for you.” “oh yeah! i’ll definitely try to visit you guys. i’m gonna go to the music room now, okay? see you guys later!” you smiled, waving goodbye to your two friends. you made your way to the music room, hearing instruments play before opening the door.  
“scara?” 
“oh kuni, they’re here!” a boy with white hair and a red streak called for your boyfriend. kazuha. you knew him, but not to a personal extent. scaramouche would usually talk about him, and you’ve seen kazuha with him from time to time. 
“you must be yn! scara told us about you so much about you!” a short green-haired braided boy came up to you. “i’m venti! and this is kazuha! that’s xiao, that one’s heizou and i’m sure you already know aether! scaramouche is in the back storage room trying to tune the guitar you’ll be using!” 
“oh yn! you’re here. come, sit down with me. i’ll teach you how to use the amplifier.” your boyfriend walks towards you, holding an electric guitar. “there’s not much of a big difference between the acoustic and electric guitar, but the stringers are definitely heavier. try not to press too hard when you slide.” 
you ended up spending around an hour or two practicing songs navia wrote for her new album until aether came up to you. “hey yn! how’s the electric guitar so far? having any problems with it?” 
“aether! hi! it’s fun but my fingers are getting sore haha… it’s really tiring.” you nervously chuckled, looking over to your boyfriend. he was with kazuha. “i totally understand! you’ve been playing for quite some time, feel free to take a break whenever you feel like it!” aether said, handing you a bottle of water. “thank you! um, do you mind if i take a break right now? i think i’m gonna go visit my friend in the auditorium if that’s okay?” you asked the blonde, then you look over to the other side of the room, seeing xiao with venti and heizou. “yes yes! of course, but before you go i think you should tell scara.” “yeah.” 
you walk over to him, telling him that you’re going to go visit your friends. “yeah sure. i’m going back home in after this song, so i may not be able to drive you home. is that good with you?” “mhm! i think i’ll walk home with lynette.” 
Tumblr media Tumblr media
ANGEL EYES ✿ prev ❀ masterlist ❀ next
lyney x reader SYNOPSIS you’re at a bar, drinking your heart out after another having a feud with your boyfriend of 2 years. you later stop at your friend’s house to stay the night but… the one who opens the door isn’t her but instead, her brother…?
notes : hii! i haevn't updaed in such a long time omg :( MB GUYS IVE BEEN REALLY BUSY WITH SCHOOL LMFAO i used play with electric guitar (i also used to play acoustic) but then i ended up stopping because my fingers were being cut really badly LOL this and the next chapter will be partially written shshsh happy reading &lt;;3
197 notes · View notes
unwritten-collection · 2 months
Text
Melting Point
Tumblr media
Part IV- Intimate
Warning: This is an 18+ series with Call Of Duty adjacent content. This may include blood, violence, language, death, and any topics that might be offensive/triggering. This story will also include smut. Do not read if anything of the sort might cause an unpleasant reaction, thank you!
MATURE STORY 18+ MDNI
A/N: I swear I’ve rewritten this chapter half a dozen times, it’s short but to the point and sweet, maybe too much. (I’m writing this because I want to read it and no one else has written it- so sue me for being sappy.) Hopefully, the next update will be soon…
Chapter Warnings: Ghost × FemReader. Blanket warning for violence, language, and gore. Another for cliché, inconsistent writing. This chapter mentions extremely briefly a weapons dealer- other than that there is no outstanding content needing a warning. Ghost and Reader attempt to lay down boundaries- that they’ll end up breaking, of course.
Word Count: 3.2K
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"How many secrets are you keeping from me?"
Simon looks up from where he's sitting, cleaning his boots with a small container of leather conditioner and a rag. His mask is discarded, leaving his face exposed to you. The confusion in his eyes is quickly defused when you sit on his bed, hair still damp and smelling of his soap.
"I wasn't aware you'd care." He says, shaking his head with a ghost of a smile on his lips.
"Of course l'd care. I've been sharing a bathroom with countless other women. I'm tired of wearing shower shoes and only having fifteen minutes max to get clean."
You pull your legs up underneath yourself, reaching for the coffee cup sitting on his bedside table, it's already cold, but you don't regret abandoning it. Taking a shower in a bathroom without stalls for the first time in a long time was much more important than coffee.
"Is that why you're here?" Simon asks, pulling on his boots before standing up, tucking his shirt into his pants. He reaches for his belt, which happens to be laying on the bed next to you. "Using me for my shower."
Nodding, you take a sip of coffee, the taste stale and unappetizing. "You're a smart man."
After fastening his belt, he leans over, lifting your chin gently. The kiss he presses to your lips is soft and warm, tasting of coffee and sugar. It lasts only a few seconds, still it makes your heart race and warms your skin.
When he pulls away, you fall backwards onto the bed, quietly watching him finish getting ready for the workday. While you had decided to take your leave without leaving, he chose to work through the holidays.
You're dressed but have no intention of doing anything for the day except take Fur out for an extended walk and catch up on some reading.
"What time will you be back?" It takes for a few minutes to decide and ask him, not wanting to sound too invasive.
While this unspoken connection between the two of you is pleasant, there are still lines that have yet to be drawn. Neither one of you have brought up the idea of a relationship- which, while desirable on your part, would be difficult to achieve with the eyes of your professional life. If anyone had found out about your prior involvements, it wouldn't matter either way, the fact of the matter is fraternization is forbidden.
That aside, it seems like a purely physical relationship isn't something you're completely sure you'd like to partake in.
"Before you're asleep." He meets your eyes, the way he holds your gaze tells you that he hopes, maybe expects, that you'll see each other tonight.
"Good." The twisting anxiety in your stomach makes it difficult to speak your mind clearly. "We'll have to talk, then."
Despite your fears, he doesn't brush you off or make a single complaint. Instead, he steps back towards you, running a finger over your cheek before nodding, eyes staying on yours with quiet intensity and understanding.
"Alright." He runs his thumb over your bottom lip, then leans all the way down to kiss you again. This time longer, promising he'd be back without having to say a single word.
When he leaves the room, mask pulled over his face and gloves shoved into his pocket, you close the door behind him and settle back on top of his bed. You couldn't wait in this room forever, but you'd soak in as much of him as you can, worried that you might lose it soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's too cold for that." You say to Fur as he noses the hose, clearly wanting to play in the water.
It's high noon, the sun not doing much of anything to warm you as you walk out of the Kennel with your companion on your heels, his lead clipped around your waist. The dog nudges the water hose connected to the building once more before you use the silent heel command and begin your midday walk.
Usually, you'd take him to the designated areas to get his exercise in. Where there is an agility course set up, as well as the dog pool- though you wouldn't allow him to jump in while the weather was still so cold. Today, you decide to take him back into the dormitories. Not enough people would be present in your wing to care.
Besides the fact that part of the agreement when you signed onto 141 was that you'd have full access to Inferno and clearance to take anywhere, you just haven't yet tested it. Price is on speed dial, should you run into any problems.
Fur walks along side you with his head held high, eyes forward, never distracted by whatever noise the others are making. You're proud of him, proud to be his handler. Though, you'll never be completely used to having such a well trained dog compared to the ones you had growing up. Little and yappy things that would pee on the carpet and bark at any passing being.
A half hour later, you and Fur are lounged in the common room, his head in your lap while you read a book on the floor with your back resting against the sofa. You've just gotten to a part where the main character is in a knife fight with the enemy, and unlikely love interest. It's at that moment that your phone decides to ring, forcing you to glance up from the pages to answer.
"Hello?" You put the phone on speaker, setting it on the sofa while you look back down at the book.
"Mantis." Simon's voice filters through the device, the single word immediately making you drop the book and reach for the phone, taking it off speaker and pressing it to your ear. "Got a call from Johnny. He had some interesting news."
"Did you?" You pick at the fabric of your clothes, wondering how much Soap had told him about your new callsign.
He hums into the receiver, the sound of paper being shuffled around muffled behind his breath. You listen, waiting for him to ask you about the name.
Instead he repeats it again, slowly, testing out the feel of it before making a noise of agreement.
"You'll have to tell me how you earned it." He decides, making you smile at the ceiling. "That's not the reason I'm calling."
"I'm listening." You reach for your book once again, frowning when you realize you'd dropped it harder than expected, bending the corner of a page. "You know, you're not that far across base. We could have this conversation in person."
"Tempting." Amusement melts into his tone, you can imagine that smile on his lips. "It's only a question, not worth making you walk down here. Have you seen Inferno today?"
"He's right here beside me." Resting your hand on the dog's head makes his tail pick up off the ground and begin to wag, happy for your affection. "Was that the question?"
The sound of clicking keys, then more paper. "No. How's he feel about flying?"
"I can't imagine he enjoys it, but I haven't had an issue yet." You scratch Fur's ears, he rolls halfway over, stretching to get closer. "What are we looking at and how soon?"
"Recon." His voice becomes further away, the background noise coming in louder. He's put you on speaker now, working in what you assume is an office. "Information on a weapons dealer. Not the weapons, those are being taken care of. We need to figure out where he's been and who he's been in contact with. If we do it right, then we won't need the Inferno's services."
"When?" You pull the phone back to look at the date displayed across the top of the screen. "What about the rest of 141?"
"The Captain's contacted them. Soap called a few minutes ago for more information." A drawer closes, more paper moves around, then again the sound of a keyboard. "We move out in a week. Are you on board?"
"The contract I signed says I'm on board with any mission."
"Let's hope so."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's already dark when you decide not to take Inferno back to the kennel. You keep him with you, returning to your room for the first time since early this morning. He makes himself comfortable on your bed, and you don't have the heart to point him towards his own.
The room is warm, and you're grateful that someone had decided to raise the temperature in the building, the snow that's falling outside growing more intense by the hour.
Time eats away slowly at your energy, your bones turning tired and your mind moving slowly, content with winding down even after a day of rest. However, the worry in your chest never seems to lessen when you think of Simon. You've grown an odd sort of attachment, your fondness to the man making it difficult to easily forget. You're worried about what he might say, when you tell him you're never meant to enter into some casual relationship.
Did you enjoy your time with him? Of course, and while it was your decision to move forward with him, the idea of using a man solely for physical needs seems to go against your morals.
What worries you, is that he'll argue.
That he'll say he regrets it all together, or that you put yourself into that position and should have known better. If he were to tell you that he wants nothing more than sex, you wouldn't know what to do with yourself. Ending it would be easy, but what wouldn't be, would be working alongside him until your contract expires.
And how would you nurse the heartache? Severing the attachment wouldn't be cleanly done, not when you've known since the first night that it's a risky game to play, letting yourself take things this far with a man you harbored a certain amount of desire for.
Your affection never came without a cost, which is why you've never been for one night stands or friends with benefits.
In short, you're fucked, whichever way this goes.
Fur hears him before you do, his ears perking up and his head lifting off the comforter to look at the door, eyes locked in and waiting. You give him a heavy handed pet on the back, then stand up to walk across the room just as Simon knocks on the door.
"Mantis." He greets you with the same smiling voice you heard before, then looking over your head at Inferno as he jumps off the bed to stand at your heels. "Dog."
Fur stares up at him with unsettling focus. You send him back to bed, which he obeys, dropping back into his spot near the end. Simon shuts the door behind him, and you in the way he looks. The jacket he wears is particularly unzipped, a dark blue thermal shirt beneath. His gloves are on his hands, mask well in place, paint around his eyes has faded a little, where the edges of the cloth run.
The tightness in the way he holds his shoulders indicates tension from a long day, but he doesn't move away to sit in the chair or on your bed. Instead, he leans back on the desk with his arms bracing his weight. He rolls his head to loosen in his neck, eyes half shut.
"Tired?" You ask, stepping in front of him to run your hand over his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin through the thick fabric.
"Always." He says, voice matching the quiet tone of yours. One of his hands raises, running down your arm until it covers your hand entirely, holding it against the center of his chest. You can feel his heartbeat faintly against your fingertips, slow and steady, unlike your own. "But this is nice."
Nodding, you close your eyes and drop your head to his shoulder. The desk creaks quietly under his weight as he sits, both his arms slipping around your waist to pull you closer.
Comfort like this is little and far between, it's only natural to be a bit selfish and take as much as you can. The warmth of his embrace makes it easy to bury yourself into him, your face against his shoulder, your arms pushing up to wrap loosely around his neck. Even the smell of him is comforting, easing you into contentment.
"Perfect." He says, his face pressed to your hair, arms tightening around you a fraction, a hand rubbing small strokes up and down your back.
Humming in agreement, you close your eyes and take a deep breath. Despite the comfort, the impending conversation you've worried about the entire day has yet to come. It makes you nervous to think about, dampening your enjoyment of the moment.
"Simon." You say it so quietly that you aren't sure he heard it at all, until he makes a sound for you to continue. "Is this too far?"
His hand stills, and for a moment your stomach drops. It sinks so far that you begin to pull away, but he only lets you go so far, his hands fitting firmly into your waist.
"Talk, precious." He uses the same phrase you use with him when you need to hear what's on his mind, though where your tone usually comes out stern or exasperated, his is soft and genuine. "Explain it to me."
Meeting his eyes is the next difficult task, but when you find them giving you his full attention, the tightness in your chest eases a bit more. His eyes, maybe your favorite of his features, when they are pools of honey, sweet and warm.
"Were you looking for someone to warm your bed and nothing else?" Before he can reply, you squeeze your eyes shut and shake your head. "That's not exactly what I mean. I've enjoyed it, but being a substitute for lonely nights is not what l intended. It's not fair to either of us to use each other like that."
He stays silent, nodding once to acknowledge your words, listening when you explain further, trying your hardest to put into words your thoughts.
"I'm not the type to have casual sex, Simon. I don't regret what we've done, and I'm not asking you for a relationship, but...how far is too far?" Your hands are both pressed to his chest, feeling the way his heart beats and trying to calm yours to the same rate. It's a continuous effort. "If it's only sex, then I'm ending it now, Simon."
"And if it's not?" He speaks slow and carefully, the sound soothing, his thumbs moving against your waist in small circles.
"I'm not that far, yet." You meet his eyes again, and they are no less kind than before. Attentive to your minor distress, forgiving your anxious words. "If it's not just sex, then I'm not sure where the boundaries lie. What we can and cannot allow ourselves to do."
For a long moment he's quiet, though he continues to offer you comfort. It takes long enough for him to speak again that you're able to lower your heart rate and even out your breathing. And when he does speak, he does so with a sort of gentle finality that washes away any lingering self doubt.
"Think it's clear enough that it's not just about sex, sweetheart. Said it yourself before, we're fucked. It's whatever we make it out to be, but for now-" He pauses, searching for the right word, his eyes darting down to his hands, then to yours. "It's intimate."
"Intimate." You repeat, the word unimposing but completely correct. "We're intimate."
"We can warm each other's bed and hold each other, or anything else behind closed doors, but there won't be family dinners and public displays." He lays down a few lines, then waits for you to draw your own.
"Behind closed doors is good." You run trace circles onto his chest, hoping it does the same for him that it does for you. "Intimacy, without names or labels, only for our eyes."
"Exactly." He nods. "Any rule you make, we'll follow."
"Rules..." It doesn't take long for you to compile your list- you've been thinking about boundaries for the last few hours. "I'd rather we don't sleep with other people while we're intimate, to avoid any future conflict and health risks."
"I don't share well." He squeezes your waist to emphasize his words, you fight the first flicker of a smile in hours.
"No overbearing attitudes. We aren't in a relationship, no checking phones or pestering each other about who we're with and where we are." You would have set that standard in a real relationship, hating the insinuation of untrustworthiness.
"Obviously, keeping this a private affair. If anyone found out, we'd be facing serious repercussions."
"I've committed war crimes, love." Nonetheless he nods. "Respect and privacy."
The conversation has progressed well, now you're nearly completely relaxed, no longer anxious. You move your hand to rest over his heart, finally glad to feel that yours matches perfectly. "And your rules?"
He takes a slow breath, pulling you closer again, just enough to wrap his arms around your waist. "No sharing, respect, privacy. And dog can't be in the room when I fuck you."
That makes you laugh, a real, heartfelt laugh. He raises his brows at you, and even under the mask you can tell he's smiling.
"M' serious." He says, putting on a stern tone, speaking over your laughter. "It's not happening."
"Alright, noted." You sigh, a smile still on your face as you pull back and shake your head dramatically. "I guess that means l've got to make new plans for tonight."
He narrows his eyes at you, which only makes you grin wider, finding a new enjoyment in teasing the massive man.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bed feels smaller than usual, an oversized man and space invading dog taking up the majority.
Simon has an arm wrapped around your body, his unmasked face pressed against your hair. He's got you tucked into his side, one of your legs tangled between his, your head resting on his bicep. Inferno is behind you, occasionally standing to turn around and settle into a new sleeping position.
Being in and out of sleep is common for you, however every time you wake, Simon is still not asleep. He mindlessly traces his fingers along your back or your arm, never breaking the silence. Come morning, you wake up to him combing a loose bit of hair out of your face. You blink up at him, eyes blurry with sleep.
"I've work to do." His voice comes out with the gravelly sound that tells you he did in fact, at some point, slept.
"I'm sure I should be productive too." You press your face into his chest, his hand running down your spine in a slow motion.
"Five minutes." He says, tightening the arm around your waist and hauling you to lay completely on top of him. "Then I'll leave."
It takes twenty.
97 notes · View notes
starry-bi-sky · 3 months
Note
ive been hesitating to ask this bc youve been on a roll with the clone^2au (which i am frothing over) but could i poke you for some childhood friend au? bc GOD i wanna see how danny reacts to reuniting w jason or how the rest of the batfam react to learning jason never told danny of his resurrection or wondering if dannys gonna put jokers dead body on a display/offering to jasons grave. i havent been normal about this since i first read it and was wondering. thank you for your writing.
RAAAAHHHH DON'T BE HESITANT I AM JUST AS FERAL OVER MY CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AU AS I AM WITH CLONE^2 I AM DELIGHTED BY THIS. Like.,,,, i literally love them,,, so much. I can't listen to The Crane Wives without thinking of them.
(which is my fault - the ao3 fic of them has literally only crane wives lyrics for each chapter title and summary (posted AND the ones not written) so of course im gonna associate with them.)
(if you wanna listen to some of their songs while thinking of cfau here are my recommendations: "Once & for All", "Here I Am", "Hollow Moon" is a Danny AND Jason song to me, this would be my go-to song for an animatic of CFAU if i had the skills for it. "Tongues and Teeth", "Curses" and "take me to war" is a heavy cfau danny song to me, and of course, "the moon will sing")
Like they're BEST friends dude, they're two sides of the same coin and when they were kids they would do this thing where their 'fingers crossed'/'double-crossed' was them hooking their index fingers in the fingers crossed gesture.
and i'm actually currently rewriting my original post into a more fic-like format, and when I'm done I'll post it on here under the cfau tag - with the original post still in tact. But its,,, gonna be so long dude,,,, the original behemoth was just over 9000 words,,, and I've written 3k words already of the new one and we haven't even reached Jason and Danny reuniting at the gala yet,,, i need to get back to that,,,
and then to answer your questions!! god im almost hesitant to answer because i dont wanna spoil the little fic i had planned for it but also like,, its not like im gonna spoil everything, right? and answering the questions isnt the same as writing the scene down so!!
i love danny and jason's reuniting, like i've thought about it SO much and I've thought about it happening after Danny kills the Joker. I know the reveal could have been before that, and it could have been equally just as dramatic but like??? Thematically, doing it after danny kills the joker is SO good. To me at least.
Because like?? Jason's been in somewhat denial about danny's plan to kill the joker for months. ever since danny told him that he wanted to at the gala. And from Jason's pov its not even technically a plan. He sees his best friend for the first time after five years and his best friend still isn't over his death. He hasn't stepped foot in Gotham since his funeral and now suddenly he's here.
And he's still so full of grief over his death that he tells a masked vigilante that he's going to kill the guy that did it, who lives in said masked vigilante's city. And danny's got that look in his eyes that Jason knows so well that means he's being serious. And yet he still doesn't know if he should believe him or not.
And then he does. Danny kills him. And Jason can't fucking believe it. And when he goes and sees Danny, Danny's hands are still covered in blood. And that reunion? God like a fucking firework show. Danny's so fucking angry, and pissed, and hurt, and so goddamn overjoyed that he's alive and here that he sends them both to the ground, and if he doesn't calm down he's gonna take out the power in a five block radius.
there's just so, so much yelling on Danny's end. And then so much crying, first from Danny and then them both. because god, you're alive. you're here. i've missed you so much. i'm never letting you out of my sights again.
and Joker's death! God I don't want to actually say too much about that, but the way I have it set up thematically makes me actually not want danny to take any part of the joker with him as an offering. and he may actually forego that particular ghost etiquette and offer something else as an offering to Jason in substitute to not bringing him the Joker's heart/head/ritualistic body part.
Because you know what the last thing a man whose been spending the last two decades of his life building himself up to be larger than life would want? A death that's unremarkable. :) and that's all i'll put on the matter for now.
and the batfam!! they technically already know that jason hasn't told danny he was resurrected, and plenty of them have mixed feelings on them. largely bruce and dick i think, considering they saw firsthand how close jason and danny were when they were kids.
Dick was honestly surprised at first when he found out that Jason hadn't told Danny he was alive - and on one hand he understands the reasoning for it, and on the other hand he isn't sure if it was such a good idea. Especially after he sees Danny again after he arrives back in Gotham and sees just how badly Jason's death was still affecting him. But it's not like he's going to try and convince Jason to tell him - he can make his own choices, even if Dick has questions about them.
Bruce has much the same thoughts as Dick, so there's not really much to add here other than he might bring it up once or twice to Jason like, vaguely. And then immediately drops it when Jason shuts him down. He might actually somewhat...?? prefer that Jason hasn't told Danny because that raises a lot of questions and could jeopardize their identities. However, again, Jason can make his own choices and there's not much Bruce can do about it other than disapprove from afar.
Tim who knew of Danny from stalking the Wayne family shares similars sentiments of being surprised that Jason didn't tell Danny, but again, yeah, understands the thought process to some extent. Doesn't bring it up ever.
Everyone else who hadn't seen firsthand how close Danny and Jason are don't really have much opinion on it -- Jason didn't tell his best friend he was alive, great, he also didn't tell them either so it's not like its that much of a surprise. It would've been more of a surprise to them if Jason had told Danny before he told Bruce and co. Damian may make a comment or two about Jason not telling Danny, but its not about how he can't believe he didn't tell him or anything like it.
#dpxdc#dp x dc#dp x dc crossover#danny fenton is not the ghost king#cfau#childhood friends au#danny and jason are such best friends i love them so much#BUT YEAH ASK ME MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT CFAU I'LL SCREAM#AND THEN TRY AND ANSWER THEM TO MY BEST ABILITY#like i could go on RANTS almost SPECIFICALLY about rath (dan) and then about jason and danny#and their friendship like i've thought about this au with a combined soulmate au and immediately hated the idea because no!#no! i can't call them soulmates. i can't it doesnt fit. their bond goes DEEPER than that. its *better* than that#this wasn't written in the stars it was forged in the back alley streets of gotham with all the broken glass under their feet#and the smell of nicotine weaving itself into the fabrics of their shirts. their souls aren't intertwined because the universe said so#they're two balls of yarn tangled together because they batted it at each other and decided to play cats cradle. and then never bothered#to untangle the string from one another. you'll never know where one ends and the other begins#i actually have a cfau miscellaneous facts post in my drafts that i need to finish too and i might do that today because of this ask <33#the fastest way to starry's heart is through her ask box#asking me questions about my aus is the fastest way to make me make more content about them ajshld#see: clone^2 (i've been coasting off the fanart i got from them for the last two days) and now this#i need to stop more before i start waxing more poetic about jason and danny's bond with one another.#also also jason is equally as feral about danny as danny is about him (see: him plotting joker's demise since he was 14) its just not#showing as much since a lot of this is from danny's pov. like dw this isn't one-sided obsession its mutual.#see: jason seeing danny's scars and immediately wanting to find out who caused it and getting murderously angry about it#its not a starry post unless its long#idk maybe im just obsessed with the idea that relationships are chosen and forged with time and that the bonds we have arent because they#were predetermined but because we made them to be. Like how clone^2 said 'i choose to be brothers' and how danny and jason said#'i choose you. i will always choose you. you're my other half. the one who watches my back. i choose you.'
77 notes · View notes
jeanboyjean · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
PART 1: First Impressions
a/n: guys doing a chaptered fic is so hard bc u have to plan everything. ive outlined this one + written some of the next parts so this is part 1/10 (I think). see masterlist for synopsis + each part as they get updated. wc: 4.5k MASTERLIST | AO3
Tumblr media
A warm breeze tickles your skin as you step onto campus, the atmosphere thick with the restless buzz of first day jitters. The sun is well and truly shining today, clear blue skies with not a cloud in sight. You have to admit, it’s a gorgeous day. 
Of course, it hadn’t started out that way. The first thing you had heard in the morning had been the unwelcome sound of your alarm, jolting you awake at the pleasant hour of six o’clock. It had taken all of your willpower to drag yourself out of bed after giving yourself a half hour leeway to snooze. It’d been two months since summer break first started and you really had gotten used to having the free time to laze around and relax, going to bed late at night and waking up whenever you pleased. Now, it’s the first day back at Uni, back to reality and it’s like being splashed by a bucket of ice cold water over your head.
The morning is a blur as you rush to get ready and leave on time after staying in bed a few minutes too long. This year you’re living with your childhood friend Mikasa again. The two of you had moved together from your hometown of Shiganshina for University two years ago, along with Eren and Armin, the other two in your tight knit friend group. You’ve managed to snag a small two bedroom townhouse close enough to Uni that you’ll be in close proximity to everything you need for the year. Even better, you’re lucky enough that Eren and Armin have managed to sign a lease for another unit right next door. It just feels right that all of you stick together, their presence a slice of home that you hold near and dear to your heart. Unlike you, Mikasa is a morning person. A note on your kitchen bench tells you she's already up at the gym and she'll be home later for dinner. You shake your head and make a face - that could never be you.  
You decide to take a detour on your walk to campus and the first thing you do when you leave your place is stop by your favourite coffee shop. There’s just no way to avoid it. You're going to need some caffeine today, something to breathe the life back into you. Honestly, you had been dreading this day since the start of your break, a persistent doomsday countdown always nagging in the back of your head. At this very moment, there’s nothing you want more than to be still in bed, dreaming away the morning with no responsibilities or stress. 
You have fifteen minutes until your first class starts by the time you make it to campus. Although the sprawling buildings are a familiar sight, a small knot of dread ties itself in your gut. You always forget how much you associate with a place until you’re back. Now that you're here again, you can't help but relive the past trauma. You pass by a bench you remember you sat on when you got your grades back for that one assignment you spent hours and lost years of your lifespan for, only to be rewarded with a sad B minus. A shiver rolls over your body at the memory - that was not a good day at all. The old faithful library where you’ve spent countless nights staring at your notes, willing the information to absorb into your brain, is ever present in your peripheral vision as you make your way across the great lawn. 
Laughter erupts from a group of students sitting on the grass a few metres away from you and tinny pop music blares from a small speaker next to them. Reunions are happening around you, arms being thrown around shoulders and chatter bubbling away as your peers catch up with each other after the weeks apart. Despite the apprehension of being back at Uni, you're also excited to finally reunite with some friends yourself. You glance down at your phone lock screen - five minutes to go. A light breeze rustles your hair as you hurry your pace towards your destination, the science building. 
You’re out of breath by the time you make it up the steps and push open the doors to the building. It’s your third year of being a biomedical science student at the University of Mitras and it never ceases to amaze you how large the campus can feel sometimes. There are always moments where you start getting used to the expansive grounds and then you’ll be caught off guard by a towering building with grand architecture and you’re reminded not to take things for granted. 
You bring your phone up to your face again to quickly check your room in your timetable. Room 201. A sigh of relief escapes you; you’ve had classes there before. Despite almost having lived in this area of campus for the past couple years with the number of hours you'd spent here, it’s still a maze of corridors and you know from experience it’s not hard at all to find yourself getting lost. You race up the stairs to the second floor and, always a creature of habit, you take your seat in the same spot as you always had - third row, furthest to the left. 
Voices chatter away in the room and your fellow students gradually pour in in a steady stream, taking their own seats. You exchange smiles and waves with the faces you recognise. Most of you have shared multiple classes with each other since by this point in your degree, you’re all pretty much on a similar track.
A warm smile, bright as sunshine, greets you across the room and you straighten in your seat, waving enthusiastically. Your friend, Historia, who you had met as lab partners last year hurries over to you. Grinning, she stops short in front of your desk, dropping her bag down on the seat next to you. 
“Oh my God! I missed you!” She squeals, arms flinging open wide to capture you in a hug. 
You get up and squeeze her tight in a warm hug. “It’s so good to see you again! How was your summer?” 
“It was great,” she sighs wistfully. “I wish it wasn’t over yet. How about you?”
She pulls her bag off her shoulder and sets it down on the desk next to yours. Sitting down, she begins pulling her laptop and iPad out of her bag to get ready for class. The two of you jabber away, catching up on the events of the past few months. Every summer since you moved to Mitras, you’ve gone back to your hometown to stay with your parents. Meanwhile, Historia had stayed in Mitras with her girlfriend Ymir and they’ve finally moved in together.
“Ymir let me decorate the whole place,” She giggles. “Even the bedding and couch cushions.”
“I bet it looks amazing,” You say sincerely. 
“You should come over and visit! We were thinking of doing a housewarming party now that everyone’s back in town.”
Excited by the idea, you eagerly nod in agreement. A party sounds like a great way to start off the new year. The lecture room looks like it’s finally filled with students and when you look towards the front, you see the short stature of your lecturer Levi Ackermann as he finishes getting set up for class. Silence falls across the room when he gently taps on the microphone, signalling for attention. 
“Alright class. This is Biology 310. It’s 9:00 am now so we’re going to get started. Anyone who’s not supposed to be in this class please leave now.” 
Levi carries on, outlining the content the course would be covering for the rest of semester. It all sounds pretty standard to you, having been in his classes before, but it's a definite step up in terms of course load. You’re already dreading the amount of study you’re going to need to do to make sure you don’t drown in stress by the time exams roll around. Straightening up, you make sure to pay extra attention when he starts explaining the grading structure, starting with a weekly pop quiz, followed by four tests spread out throughout the term.
“You will be pleased to hear there is no final exam for this course,” Levi’s low, gravelly voice travels across the room. 
Your eyebrows raise in surprise and you turn to Historia. No final exam? You mouth at her and she shrugs. 
“Instead, you will have a final project that will be comprised of findings from your labs over the next few months and a final presentation. This will be a group project in pairs of my choosing.” 
Dread fills your body at his words and you try not to sigh as you slump down in your chair. Group projects have got to be the worst thing ever, a torture form created by the gods of education just in case you weren’t already struggling enough in your academic pursuits. Even better is the fact that you won’t even be able to choose who to partner with. In every piece of collaborative work you’ve ever done, there’s always been that one asshole that refuses to do their part and you’ve always been the one to pick up the slack. 40% of your grade , you hear Levi say and you groan inwardly, already fearing for the worst.
At the podium, Levi presses a button on his laptop and the projector screen lights up with a chart filled with names, grouped together in twos. 
“This is who you will be partnered with for the rest of the semester. I don’t want to hear any whinging and moaning about this because I’ve planned everything deliberately. I’m going to call out your names, put your hand up when you hear yours so you know where they are. When I’m done you can move over to sit together.”
He starts listing off the names with haste, barely looking up to confirm the pairings have identified each other before moving on to the next. You’re tense with anticipation as you wait for him to call out your name, eager to find out who you would be working with. Finally, you hear him say your name into the microphone and you perk up.
“... you will be with Jean Kirstein.”
Hand in the air, you turn around searching for his location. Your eyes fall on a man with light brown hair in a shaggy mullet, sitting a few rows behind you in the middle. His eyes meet yours and his hand lifts to give a small wave. You point your finger at yourself then around to him, signalling that you would move back to him.
Quietly, you pack up your things into your bag and wait. When Levi finishes rattling off the names, you push back and scurry over to Jean’s desk, plopping down next to him. 
“Hey,” you begin, smiling warmly. You introduce yourself to him, holding out your hand for him to shake.  
He just blinks at you blankly before the edges of his lips lift in what honestly looks like a small grimace. “I’m Jean.”
“Nice to meet you, Jean,” you reply, smile a little strained now with his chilly reception. You drop your hand awkwardly and wipe your clammy palms on your thighs. “How exciting that we’re going to be partners, huh?”
Ice runs through your veins when Jean winces at your words, actually groaning out loud. “Yeah, great. We’re partners.”
What the hell? Although his reaction stings a little, you try to shake it off. You're a natural people pleaser and one of your fatal flaws is that you always want to give off a good impression and give people the benefit of the doubt. You clear your throat and reach for your phone. “Guess we’re going to be spending a lot of time together now. How about we swap numbers so we can get in contact with each other?” 
Jean gives a small nod and accepts the phone you’re offering to him. As he enters in his digits, you shift in your chair, a little uncomfortable with his cold demeanour.  
"So, what’s your major?” You ask, cautiously. 
“Biomed.”
“Oh, cool! Me too.” 
His eyes flicker up to meet you and he wordlessly hands back your phone. 
“You also pre-med?” You ask him.
He just nods in response. Your fingers tap a restless rhythm onto the desk surface, about ready to take flight. The low hum of voices fill the room as your fellow classmates get to know each other and prepare for the upcoming semester. The silence between you and Jean, however, is thick and unrelenting. You wonder what could possibly be his problem. Sure, you’ve seen him in classes before but you've never had the chance to interact. There’s no reason why he should be acting like such a dick towards you. It’s just your luck to be paired with the one person who seems to have something against you. Fuck group projects.
You sneak another glance at Jean sitting next to you. He’s leaning back in his chair, legs extended in front of him between his desk and the seat in front, taking up the walking space as if it belongs to him. He’s tapping away at his laptop keyboard and curiosity gets the better of you as you lean in a little closer to see his screen.
“What are you doing?” You ask, leaning your weight half off your seat as you crane your neck towards him. 
At your words, his head snaps to you and your eyes meet. Your breath catches in your throat. Somehow, you’ve ended up face to face with him and up close you feel like you’re really seeing him for the first time. His eyes are locked on yours - amber with flecks of light honey. The world seems to slow for a moment as you stare at him, all of a sudden a deer trapped in headlights. You blink and clear your throat, leaning further away from him until you feel safe enough from the magnetism of his presence. 
“Jean?”
He straightens. The faintest hint of pink tinges the tips of his ears. “W-what?”
“I asked you what you’re doing?”
“Oh.” He turns back to his laptop, shifting the screen slightly so it’s easier for you to see. “I was just making an outline for this class … so I know what assignments we have and when they’re due and stuff.” 
A quick glance reveals a tidy table with colour coded headings and columns, half filled with empty spaces yet to be filled. You can’t help but feel a little taken aback. True, you don’t know anything about him but from first glance with his worn jeans and scruffy shoes, table empty except for his laptop, no notebooks or stationery in sight, he doesn’t really seem like the organised, neat freak type to you. He must be able to read the surprise on your face because his lips tug down and he lets out a scoff. 
“What? Didn’t think I would be someone to take my studies seriously?”
Huh, the fuck? 
You recoil. In an instant your body becomes as rigid as ice while your wide eyes snap to him in shock. “No! Why would you say that?” you question him, completely flabbergasted.
He just shakes his head, the displeased expression remaining on his face. “Whatever.”
You just sit there dumbstruck, completely lost by what’s just happened. Did you miss something? Did you do something? Why does he hate you so much? Possible scenarios race through your mind of potential ways you could have offended him, but nothing sticks. There’s honestly nothing you can think of to warrant this reaction from him. 
In your head you try to hype yourself up (It’s just one project - you can do it!) but the unease remains as you slump into your chair and groan internally when you remember that yes it’s one project, but it's worth 40% of your grade. As a pre-med student, you feel the weight of every percent and you’re barely holding on as it is. A memory of your father lecturing you about the importance of your grades flashes in your mind and you wince. If your grades drop even slightly this year it's going to be all over for you. This predicament had the potential to well and truly be the straw that broke the camel’s back. 
At the front of the room, you watch as Levi leans forward into the microphone again. Your peers quieten around you when he speaks, his amplified voice booming from the speakers. 
“Alright guys. That’s all the time we have for today. First lab’s on Wednesday. Any problems, just email me.” 
At that, the tables around you burst in a flurry of movement as you all pack your things and get ready to move to your next classes. You shove your laptop into your tote bag and sling the straps over your shoulder. You’re about to get up when you pause, remembering Jean sitting next to you. Stiffly, you turn towards him and open your mouth, unsure of what to say to him. 
“Well … I’ll see you in the lab,” you manage awkwardly.
Jean shoots a quick glance at you and nods once. “Yeah, see you.” 
Alright then. You turn away with a grimace. A gut feeling tells you this semester is going to be a real shitshow. As you walk away, you try to conjure up happy thoughts in an effort to erase the dark cloud currently hanging over you. Ahead of you, Historia waves to get your attention as you make your way to the doorway and she waits patiently for you to catch up. 
“Bio 320 next?” She asks, linking arms with you and leaning her head onto your shoulder. 
“Yup. We’re lucky it’s just down the hall. Let’s go,” 
As you start walking, the phantom weight of a pair of eyes on the back of your head urges you to turn around. When you glance over your shoulder, you catch Jean staring at you. From the distance, you can't make out his expression, but he has his head resting in his hand with his arm leaning on his desk. His eyes lock on yours and you can tell there’s no smile on his face. Your legs root to the ground as you both freeze momentarily, eyes wide. He's the first to break, quickly snapping his head away to look down at his phone. You watch the way his hair falls to hang in front of his eyes and his leg bounces restlessly as he feigns interest in whatever is on his screen.
Historia tugs your arm, shaking you from where you stand frozen with your head pointed towards his direction. There’s a slight pinch when she pokes a sharp nail hard into your shoulder. You reach up to rub at the sore spot and shoot her a look.  
“Ow, what the hell?” You yelp, glaring daggers at her.
She rolls her eyes and pulls your arm again. It causes you to stumble a little in her direction. “Quit staring and let’s go.”
“I wasn't staring,” you grumble, but your feet finally unroot themselves and you follow her lead towards the next room. 
“Yes you were … and I don't blame you. You got so lucky getting paired with Jean Kirstein. He's so smart, you’re going to have such an easy time with this project.” Her eyes light up and there’s a cheeky lift to her lips when she speaks her next words. “Plus he's not bad on the eyes right?”
You make a face at her. “I don't feel very lucky right now. I think the guy has it out for me or something. What’s the point in being smart if you’re a righteous dick” 
Historia snickers. A hand comes up to cover her mouth when she sees your disgruntled look but it’s to no avail because she can’t stop giggling. “Trust you to get on his bad side already,” she says between her tittering. “I talked to him last year once in a lab and he seemed really nice.” 
You huff and pull away from her, crossing your arms in front of your chest. Great, so it’s personal then. For some reason, this Jean guy must actually genuinely dislike you. Whatever. It doesn't phase you. He can glare as much as he wants and do his best to intimidate you or whatever it is he seems to be trying but it won't matter. At the end of the day, you're here to do the work and get the grades and he can continue being his miserable self if he pleases.  
The two of you walk into your next class and take your seats. You sigh as you pull out your laptop again, settling in for another lecture. It's only the first day but you're already counting down the hours until you get to go home. 
By the time you get home after your first day, you’re exhausted. It always takes some time for you to adjust to the routine of sitting in hours of classes and labs when you first get back from break. You kick off your shoes and drop your bag down on the floor as you shut the door behind you. The aroma of cooking spices wafts around you, getting stronger and stronger until you see Mikasa standing in the kitchen. A pot filled with a thick liquid bubbles in front of her as she slowly stirs it with a wooden spoon.
“It smells delicious in here,” you tell her enthusiastically, waving your hands towards your nose as you do an exaggerated inhale. “Whatcha making?”
Mikasa looks over her shoulder and smiles. “Japanese curry and rice. Is that okay?”
“Of course! I’ll eat whatever you make, Chef.” You lean next to her and peer into the pot. “That looks good. Need any help?” 
She nudges your shoulder and slaps your hand away playfully when you reach for the spoon. She waves her hands, as if shooing away a fly hovering over a plate of food. “No, I’m fine. I’m pretty much done - just need to plate this up.” 
You put your hands up in mock surrender and back away. Reaching into the cupboards above you, you grab a couple plates and pass them to Mikasa. She accepts them gratefully and begins scooping enough food to satisfy your appetites.  
“How was your day?” You ask her as you both sit and dig in. Steam wafts from the curry, fresh off the stove and you’re careful to not let the hot food burn your mouth. “Mmm, this is really good Mikasa,” you say between mouthfuls.
She smiles. “Thanks. It was okay. Nothing exciting.” 
Like you, Mikasa had started off as a science student too, but had soon realised halfway through her first semester that it just wasn’t for her. With her natural talents in athletics and martial arts, she had chosen to change to physical education instead. A part of you always feels a little jealous when you think about how easily she had made the change and stuck to it once she had made up her mind. If only you could change your major too, or drop out altogether. The dark cloud is back as you think back to the day you've had today. Without meaning to, your shoulders slump and you sag a little as you pick at your food. A bit of curry splashes out of your bowl when you scoop a little too forcefully. 
Mikasa cocks her head to the side, looking at you with mild concern. “How about you?”
You roll your eyes and groan. “Where do I start … Got to my first class only to be told we have to do a stupid paired project and then of course my partner turns out to be a fucking weirdo who hates me for some reason.” 
“Yikes … What do you mean by "hates you”?” She asks, fingers coming up to form air quotes.
“I don’t know!” You exclaim. “I’ve literally never met the guy before but he was acting like I killed his cat or something. I’ve never had someone be so hostile towards me before.”
“Would he be anyone that I know?”
“No, I doubt it. His name’s Jean and he’s a biomed major like me. I don’t think you would have ever met him.”
Mikasa shovels another spoonful into her mouth and hums in thought as she chews. Her eyebrows furrow slightly and her chewing pauses momentarily. “Jean … kind of sounds familiar” she mutters. “But you’re probably right, I doubt I would have met him.”
You shrug and pull a face. There’s a clang of metal as your spoon scrapes the bottom of the bowl. “He’s an asshole that’s for sure,” you grumble. 
You finish off the last of your food and sit back, folding your arms over your chest. Across the table, Mikasa scrunches her nose at you as she eats. She’s scolded you in the past for eating too fast but it’s a bad habit picked up from having to fit in feeding yourself between cramming for exams. Her eyes study your sour face with humour as she swallows her mouthful. 
“Wanna watch something? I can ask Eren and Armin what they’re up to. Would that cheer you up?” 
Despite feeling a little like a child being given a new toy to distract from throwing a tantrum, you can’t help but brighten up a little at her proposal. A smile forms on your face and you nod enthusiastically. 
“Yes! Might as well since we have nothing to study yet anyway.” 
She claps her hands. “Okay then. Let me send a text to the group. I'm sure they're free.” 
new notification in the 3 musketeers + eren 
mama mika: where are you guys rn    eren 😎: Just got done at the gym.    Armin ☀️: How was your first day guys?   mama mika: come over? movie marathon    Armin ☀️: Oh no bad day?   You: im stuck with an asshole all semester :/// i’ll tell you more later You: only a binge session with my faves will save me    Eren 😎: K we’ll come.  Eren 😎: Do you have food though I'm starving    You: yeah mikasa made curry and it's chef's kiss   Eren 😎: oh sweeeeet that sounds good Eren 😎: When are you cooking again?   You: tomorrow :D why?   Eren 😎: Cool. Remind me to eat before I come over tomorrow    You: what the hell You: my food is great wtf you would be lucky to eat it   Eren 😎: [sent a photo] Eren 😎: Why you lyin   you: i hate you so much You: not like i offered anyway 🙄   you have changed the group name to eren hate club    Eren 😎: why   eren has changed the group name to eren fan club   you have changed the group name to eren hate club   Armin ☀️: Guys don't fight. We'll be there in 15   You: he started it  You: yayyyy :)))) can you bring snacks?   Eren 😎: We don’t have any   You: :(((( you: wasn't asking u, dickhead   Armin ☀️: We’ll grab some on the way!   You: :DDD you: ok then see you soon 😘 you: i wanna watch fast and furious
Eren sent a photo of a pot with spaghetti on fire from when you last cooked for the team. It's only happened once in your life but he won't let it go.
Why does jean hate reader so much? 🤔 Surely he’s not someone that would intentionally be a dick for no reason. Stay tuned!!!
taglist: @honeybleed @cptnleviackerman @310802 @milky-aeons
66 notes · View notes
lavenoor · 1 month
Note
Hi Noor I loved the new chapter! It was amazing, I don’t know how you do it, it takes me ages just to write 800 word papers, I admire you so much for the effort you put into iaptbap! I have a few questions however. Feel free to answer at your discretion! 💗
1. Since Alistair’s tale is already written does that mean that his arc takes place after his tale? Like this is him grown up after his story? 12 years, after his tale took place if I’m right, since Alice was 7 in the book. Probably meaning that his tale got reset 12 years prior.
2. In the future will we get more moments with the princes friendships with each other? Obviously not all of them are meant to be friends and all, but I really liked Jasmir and Eli’s friendship.
3. And lastly on a scale of 1-10 how punchable are each of the princes in your opinion?
aw thank you so much! now i will admit that it also takes me forever to write academic papers/essays. writing my own stories where i get to shart out the most random bullshit is like eating junk food for me lmao
also, idk if yall remember me mentioning this (and it was probably a while back lmao) but i have said a few times that alistair's arc will inherently be a lot different from the other arcs so far. one of the reasons is because his tale ofc isn't part of the princess tales book, making it way harder to enter to begin with. but the other reasons are 1) it takes place in his imagination, and more importantly 2) the MC enters his tale through a single page, not through the whole book itself. (this was the spoiler i refrained from mentioning before)
so that begs the question: when the mc pops up in the tale... will she even appear at the very beginning of the plot?
and will the princes be able to enter the tale? (spoiler: they wont. - it's actually a huge deal, lore-wise, that even the mc got in. many bookkeepers haven't been able to enter it.. bc alistair is a bitch /hj)
now, onto answering your specific questions:
ive made a lot of modifications to the tales, including their original circumstances before mc even entered them. for example, most of the characters (like winter weiss, aurelio, etc) were always adults in the og tales - not because the mc changed the tales. it was just a writing choice i made so i could introduce mature topics more organically and seamlessly. in other words, in iaptbap lore, alistair's always been 19 in his tale.
yes, more friendships between the princes will definitely develop ! some have been hinted at slightly (between two of the yandere princes, for example), and im super excited to write about those in detail
i sat at my computer for a while, trying to assign rankings to each prince, but they're all just such a mess that it's difficult to summarize my opinions on their punchability with just one number 😭 i would say sen atm is the #1 punchable character imo and jasmir ofc is one of my favorites because he keeps it real. rampion might be the least punchable tho, not only bc i adore him but also because he'd find a way to make the punch seem like it was meant to be 💀
Tumblr media
yall will be replacing...
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
dw... this is what ramp's up to
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
frfr. writing aurelio in the recent chapter kinda took away my former detestation for aurelio lmao.
and as for alistair- *a bus hits me before i finish*
Tumblr media
omg congrats, ur aurelio theory ended up being correct (i am mildly spooked). jasmir, eli, arien, beau all did verbally end things before going after mc. (yea even beau has his own warped moral compass lmao)
Tumblr media
although the last chapter shed some light on his backstory, the rest of arien's backstory is gonna reveal how arien truly got fucked up and how/why he's far from some sweet innocent guy. and that ties into his fixation with loyalty and his relationship with one of his sisters (she was name-dropped in the last chapter actually - tineke)
Tumblr media
probably. when exactly? only florida man knows...
Tumblr media
ofc, ofc! jasmir accepts hugs :^)
Tumblr media
"if MC Was able to choose what character she became and chose someone who is a girl (like her) would the gender swapping have still happened with the princes and other characters?"
bruh omg yall are literally predicting the plot 😭 howw
but to answer your question: nope. the only reason the gender swapping happened is because the mc replaced a male character. if she replaced a female character, no gender swapping would have happened.
also, something that hasn't been heavily hinted at -- most people in mc's hometown believe the princes have always been female, like snow white, cinderella, etc. however in the actual lore, gender swapping has occurred a few times in the past. yes, all the princes have mostly existed as women throughout the existence of the tales, but at certain points they were male before switching back to women (each time someone entered the tales -- usually a bookkeeper -- and potentially caused the gender swapping to happen)
Tumblr media
omg best compliment <3 yeah, most of that shit i just come up with on the fly and type it up before i regret it lmao
but honestly i have a few people to thank for that. i used to think i could write top-tier comedy until my best friend came along, and she would always absolutely destroy me with her own jokes -- they were always (still are tbh) a thousand times more odd and creative than anything i could possibly come up with. now whenever we make jokes, it's always lowkey a ping pong game of trying to make it even more ridiculous until one of us taps out of creativity. idek if that even makes sense lmao.
the other people i have to thank are these two youtubers - kubz scouts (gaming youtuber named jay) and anncy twinkle (mostly makeup/lifestyle vlogger). they are total opposites but somehow have the same bizarre sense of humor? granted their humor consists of a LOT of sexual jokes/innuendos which i avoid relying on as much but they're still hilarious and inspire the weird shit i come up with.
example of anncy's humor (and this lmao)
example of jay's humor
now granted they arent always PC so i dont look up to them as the ultimate role models, but yeah they def inspire the way i approach a lot of my humor
57 notes · View notes
psychedelic-ink · 4 months
Text
We Fall Like Snow ║ Part IV
Tumblr media
series summary: After the events that took place at the Cliff Beasts set, needless to say as his bodyguard (and friend) you became overprotective of Dieter. You have all your worries under control until you accidentally flip over a young fan by grabbing her wrist, causing the media to stir with speculations as to why. Luckily Dieter's family arrives in the nick of time, scooping you both from New York to their cozy cabin; however winter wonderland can't last forever and you need to face the consequences of your actions sooner or later.
pairing: Dieter Bravo x bodyguard!ofc; Amina Addams, written in reader format
chapter summary: labeling your relationship with dieter as romantic one was never an option.
word count: 4.9k
chapter warnings: morning oral sex (giving), dirty talk, mouth fucking, little bit of cum play, lot of holiday fluff, adaline breaks out the karaoke machine; dieter is not amused, tinsy bit of angst, secret relationship, fluff fluff fluff
**dividers by the amazing @saradika
Tumblr media
The winter sun filters through the window, casting its warm glow upon your face as you awaken. You hear the soft breathing of Dieter beside you, and turn to look at him. His face is peaceful in sleep, his hair a disheveled mess that you can't help but gently brush away from his forehead. He stirs, waking up with a sleepy smile, his eyes slowly flutter open. The way the corners of his eyes crinkle makes you want to lean in and kiss each and every line individually— You really have it bad for him, and you're not sure if it's a good thing.
He wraps his arms around you and pulls you closer, his nose nudging into the crook of your neck. Dieter hums at the warmth of your skin and you shudder at the feeling of the cold tip of his nose. The morning feels fresh and new. Your mind still lingers on what Shannon told you last night. You take a mental note to tell Dieter when the two of you are fully awake. 
“‘Morning,” he says, voice deep with sleep. “I can’t believe you’re actually here. I was scared that I dreamt it all,” 
“Nope,” you answer with a chuckle. “I’m afraid it was very much real. You’re stuck with me now,” 
“You work with me, we were already stuck together.” 
Dieter's hands slide down your waist, his fingers grazing your skin before they come to rest on your buttocks. He cups your asscheeks firmly, his touch sending shivers down your spine as he pushes your hips into a slow, sensual roll. Your chest heaves at the feeling of his cock hard and bare against your thigh. Swallowing, you place your hands on his shoulders for some sense of stability. 
“D-Dieter,” 
“Yeah, baby?” 
His lips touch your forehead and you bite the inside of your cheek. You can’t ignore the way heat pools between your legs, you’re still wearing one of his shirts from last night. Dieter’s hand moves to your sex, dragging his fingers between your folds. The way he groans makes your heart nearly leap from your throat. 
“Still wet,” he hums. “Can I fuck you?” 
Your head falls back, your body arching into his touch. You close your eyes hoping to clear your mind. Before he fucks you senseless, you have things you need to say. You two worked together, which meant any semblance of a decent relationship is thrown out the window. You breathe in through your nose and exhale from your mouth. His fingers circle your clit, forcing a moan to drop from your lips. 
“Before you do,” you say, opening your eyes to meet his gaze.  “I need you to promise me not to tell anyone about this,” 
“About what?” 
“About—” you avert his gaze, gesturing vaguely between the two of you. “Whatever this is. This can’t be a regular thing, at least not when we go back. They already have pictures of us,” 
“Pictures?” 
“From yesterday when we were ice skating. They got a shot of us skating together,” 
“So?” 
He sounds agitated, which in turn annoys you. Of course, he doesn’t understand, Dieter understands nothing when it comes to responsibility. 
“Shannon called me last night, she doesn’t want this to snowball into anything bigger. People are going to think I attacked that fan because I’m in love with you or something,” 
“And that would be bad because…?” 
“Because I’m not in love with you. And that’s not the reason I accidentally threw that girl over my shoulder,” you snap, the tension between you growing thicker with each passing moment.
“Ah,” he says dumbly. “Okay. Yeah, that makes sense.” 
You’re not a fan of the way he’s looking at you; his eyes glossing over and dropping to your neck to avoid looking at your face. You’re not sure what it is that makes sense to him, but you let it go. This is harder than you thought. Dieter had multiple one-night (or two-night) stands, and you want him to treat you no different. 
At least that’s what your common sense is telling you.
You continue to lay in his arms, and your heart steadily beats, the sound of it filling the silence. 
The sadness on Dieter's face makes you feel uneasy. You can see it etched in the lines around his eyes and the downturn of his mouth. He withdraws his fingers, they now lay on your hip, leaving wet streaks on your skin. Your eyes frantically search his face, and a beat later you wrap your fingers around his softening cock, squeezing it lightly. 
Dieter jumps, a garbled moan dropping from his lips. He squeezes his eyes shut, and his hips stutter forward. 
“What—” his voice trembles and he gulps. “What are you doing?” 
You can feel the warmth and pulse of his arousal. You’re not sure what you’re doing either. The only thing you do know is that you wanted to wipe that sad expression from his face. It's a small gesture, but it's enough to chase away the shadows from his eyes. You swipe the pad of your thumb across his slit, a bead of precum caught against your finger. With a smile, you lazily begin to move your hand up and down his hardening length. 
“I was just thinking I should return the favor from last night. Is that okay?” 
“It’s more than okay—” his breath hitches as you disappear underneath the sheets, your lips ghosting the length of his cock. “If your pretty mouth feels half as good as it did in my imagination I’m in for a ride,” 
Dieter pushes the sheets down enough to free your head, you look up at him between heavy lashes. You drag the tip of your tongue from the base of his cock to the tip, he whimpers. 
“Did you think a lot about my mouth?” 
“Every time you opened it,” 
The words send a ripple of arousal through you, you press your thighs together, ignoring the slippery feeling of the skin in between. You tentatively give the tip a kiss then swirl your tongue around the fat head of his cock. Now that the fog of your near-death experience has been lifted, he seems and feels bigger somehow. It’s hard to believe last night he was inside, drilling into you like there was no tomorrow. 
His cock twitches when you wrap your lips around the head and push forward, taking half of him in. Dieter groans with need, hips thrusting into your mouth. You choke and swallow as your mouth fills with saliva, precum coats your tongue, the taste bitter. 
“Fuck, sorry sorry,” he breathes out a chuckle, hand finding the back of your neck and stroking it. “You’re taking it so well, sweetheart. ‘Look so good down there, lips spread with my cock.” 
An involuntary moan rattles in your throat and you slowly spread your fingers across his thighs. Dieter takes a sharp inhale through his nose, his fingers tightening around your nape. You take him all the way and your chin aches at the pressure, you swallow repeatedly, mouth filling with the taste of him and spit. A bit of it trickles down the corner of your lips and you feel the pad of his thumb swiping at your skin. 
“So pretty,” he says, voice hoarse. “I kinda wanna ask you how it feels but your mouth is full,” 
You roll your eyes at that, a ghost of a smile tugs at the corner of your lips; barely noticeable as you begin to bob your head up and down his cock. Your tongue slides along the length of him, teasing until he breaks and moans out in pleasure. Your hands slide up along his hips, thumbs softly caressing the curve of his stomach, you feel him trembling underneath you. 
The effect you have on him is intoxicating, blinding, and deafening. 
The sounds he makes grow louder, deep down you want to tell him to be quiet, that his family might hear, but some other twisted part of you screams the hell with it—You want to hear his moans. You want him to scream your name when he inevitably comes in your mouth. 
With a gasp, you tear away from him, and his sharp whine cuts through the silence as you wrap your fingers around his length. Stroking him, you kiss the skin right above the base of his cock. Everything feels so wet. 
“Dieter,” you hum and press another kiss into his skin. He shivers. “I want you to fuck my mouth,” 
A line of precum drips down the head of his cock and you swipe it away with the flat of your tongue. You groan at the taste. 
“Oh god—fuck—are you serious?” he looks down and you nod, your hand leisurely moving along his length. “You’re going to be the death of me,” 
He breathes heavily through his nose, both hands cradling the back of your head, thumbs gently stroking the skin. 
Dieter gives you one last look before indulging himself completely. His hips thrust up with vigor, nails biting into your scalp as he buries his cock all the way down your throat. Much to your surprise, he holds you there, your nose buried in his soft curls as you breathe heavily around him. Your throat convulses and he groans, pushing himself deeper. You can barely breathe, your lungs burning. But you can’t bring yourself to pull away, not when his cock is twitching so deliciously on your tongue. 
Your eyes are fogged with tears when you look up. Dieter’s lips are parted, the most sultry noises falling from his lips. The back of his head is buried in the pillows, his back slightly arched off the bed. 
“That’s it, take it just like that,” he groans. “I’m going to come down your pretty throat, and you’ll swallow like the good girl you are, right?” 
As soon as you give a barely perceptible nod, Dieter starts to pull back his hips. The sudden movement catches you off guard and you're momentarily taken aback. You feel a rush of oxygen fill your lungs, a sense of relief washing over you as you take in a deep breath. It's a fleeting moment, however, when he rams his cock back in, drawing a strangled moan from your throat. 
You quickly flatten your tongue against the underside of his cock, savoring the taste of him and the warmth of his skin. You hollow out your cheeks, spit and cum dribble down your chin and down your neck. 
“Fuuckkk—You’re doing so good— I’m so close. So so fucking close—Shit—”  
Dieter spills into your mouth and your nails dig into his burning skin, a weak attempt to ground yourself to reality. You swallow him down, desperately fighting the urge to pull back in a coughing fit. 
The most sinful sigh leaves Dieter’s lips as he holds you there, your nose touching his skin. His cock throbs and lays heavy on your tongue, you feel your own arousal dripping out of you. Your chin starts to ache as you continue to swallow him down, he rolls his hips one last time before pulling out, softening cock falling onto his stomach. 
“Come here—” his hands reach down, helping you move up his body. “Come here right fucking now,” 
The way Dieter kisses you is intoxicating. He licks into your mouth, tasting the remnants of himself. The same hands that roughly pulled you up now slide down your back, firmly cupping your ass. He stifles your moan by sucking your tongue. At this moment you swear that you’re the only one occupying this earth, you and him, dancing within time and consuming one another. The room around you spins and spins—It spins until you’re gasping for air. 
“I want you to sit on my face,” Dieter says, wet lips touching your forehead. “Wanna see how wet you got while sucking my cock,” 
You heave out a laugh, heat licks the bottom of your spine. “I don’t think we have time baby boy,” 
Your eyebrows raise with amusement when he shudders, his eyes fluttering closed. 
“Call me that again,” 
“Hmm baby boy,” you start grinning like this moment is going to last forever. “We have work to do,” 
His face drops, eyes immediately opening wide. “What work?” he pouts, his brows knitting together in a cute frown. “I’m on vacation, and so are you,” 
“God, do I really scare you that much?” you ask with amusement. “Look, you’re going to be wrestling Everrett tomorrow and I refuse to eat my own words. You’re going to beat him,” 
Dieter sighs and starts to draw lazy circles on your hip bone with his thumbs. "I hate to break it to you, but I've never actually beaten him. You betted on the wrong horse." 
“I most certainly did not.” 
Tumblr media
The air is crisp and fresh, with a slight hint of frost. It's invigorating but also makes your skin feel dry and tight. You pull your jacket tighter around you, trying to shield yourself from the cold. Despite the chill, you feel a sense of exhilaration as you take in the cold air.
You take a few steps onto the snow-covered ground and feel the chill of the frozen earth beneath your feet. You can see your breath as you exhale, white puffs of steam in the cold air. You turn to Dieter and give him a nod, signaling that you're ready to begin.
"First things first," you say, "We need to get our footing right. See how I'm standing with my feet shoulder-width apart and my weight evenly distributed on both legs? That's called a neutral position. It's the starting point for most wrestling moves."
You demonstrate a few different footwork drills, moving around the snow-covered ground and showing Dieter how to shuffle his feet and change direction quickly. As you move, you can feel the cold rushing past your face.
"Now let's work on some basic offensive moves," you say. 
You stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, fists raised in front of your face as you watch Dieter mimic your stance. But as you begin to demonstrate the first punching combination, it becomes clear to you that Dieter is struggling. His punches are weak and unsure, and he keeps fumbling as he tries to follow your instructions.
You can see the frustration and disappointment written all over Dieter's face, "Come on Dieter, don't give up now," you say, trying to sound encouraging. "You’re doing great,"
But Dieter shakes his head, "You’re lying. I absolutely suck at this," he says, looking up to the sky. "And it’s not surprising considering the only workout I've ever done is... well, you know." 
"Don't sell yourself short, Dieter," you place both hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look at you. "How about this, you’re an actor. I’ve seen you do similar stunts, just think of this something you have to do in order to land the part."
He groans but takes a fighting stance anyway, you tackle him but much to your surprise, Dieter manages to get the upper hand. He takes you down to the cold, hard ground, his weight bearing down on you as he straddles your waist. You can feel his breath on your face, hot and heavy. For a moment, you think he's going to lean down and kiss you, and your heart races.
Despite the chill, you feel a warmth spreading through your body. Now regretting not taking up Dieter’s offer to sit on his face earlier this morning— You feel alive and electric, every sense heightened and alert.
Dieter hovers above you, and you can feel the cool breeze on your skin. You're lost in the moment, completely focused on each other.
Just as you think Dieter is about to lean in and close the distance between you, you hear a voice calling out from afar. Reality comes crashing back, and you reluctantly break apart, both of you laughing awkwardly as you stand up and dust off the snow.
“I don’t care how much you two train, there’s no way he’s going to win,” Everett calls out with his trademark grin. “Anyway, we’re decorating the tree. Adaline told me to call you two inside,” 
“Sounds to me you’re nervous,” you say, walking up to the door with Dieter. “And you know what? You should be,” 
The three of you step inside, you sigh happily at the warmth hugging your body, a small shiver running along the sides of your body. 
When you take another step, you feel a pair of nimble arms hugging you tight. Shocked, your hands hover in the air momentarily before returning the gesture. 
“Dieter told us what happened last night when you were sleeping,” Adaline says, her voice filled with worry. “I’m glad you’re okay. It must’ve been scary,” 
When on earth did he tell them? 
“That’s kind of you but I’m alright, thanks to your son,” 
Adaline reaches out and pinches Dieter’s cheek, “He has his moments,” she answers with a wide smile. “Anyway, come on in, get cozy and hang an ornament,” 
Dieter rolls his eyes and grumbles. "Geez, Mom. You sound like an infomercial. 'Get cozy and hang an ornament! Order now and receive a free tinsel strand!' "
“Oh, hush.” 
You’re not immune to the way Dieter looks at you when a snort cheats its way through your laughter. You clap your hand over your mouth but he only smiles. 
You stand back and observe as Dieter's family bustles around the Christmas tree, hanging ornaments and stringing lights. Adaline hums along to the festive tunes playing on the radio as she carefully hangs a delicate glass angel on a high branch. Claus, grumbles good-naturedly as he struggles to untangle a string of lights. Everett playfully teases Dieter as they both hang shiny tinsel on the branches.
The scent of gingerbread fills the air, making your mouth water. Adaline must’ve been busy baking while you and Dieter were wrestling in the cold—You do feel slightly guilty for not offering to help. 
Dieter notices you standing off to the side and beckons you over. "Come help us instead of just staring," he says with a grin. You smile and join them, picking out a bright red ball ornament to hang on the tree.
As you hang the ornament, you feel Dieter’s heat right next to you. "We always used to put the angel on top of the tree," he explains. "And my mom would always hide a pickle ornament somewhere on the tree, and the person who found it got an extra present on Christmas morning."
“Oh that’s adorable—” 
“Ask him who always found the pickle,” Everett chimes in. “He cheated constantly,” 
“I did not!” 
Everett sticks his tongue out and from the corner of your eyes you see Dieter’s mom smiling from ear to ear, something tells you she has a pickle ornament hidden somewhere in the tree. She catches your gaze and her smile widens into a grin. 
The tree starting to take shape, you can't help but sneak glances at Dieter as you work. The soft glow of the lights and the happy chatter of the family has you feeling like hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on top. If everything could stay like this forever you wouldn’t have any objections whatsoever. 
You stand back and admire the fully decorated tree. It's a true masterpiece, filled with sparkling ornaments and twinkling lights. Dieter's face lights up as he points out his favorite ornament, a hand-painted wooden nutcracker.
You smile at Dieter and squeeze his hand when no one else can see. 
Tumblr media
“Absolutely not.” 
“Pleaseeeeee--” 
“No.”
“Why not?” you whine. You’re sitting on the floor with Dieter’s mom next to you and between the two of you sits an old karaoke machine. “It’s just one little song,” 
Dieter looks down at you from the couch, the crease between his brows deep. 
“I don’t sing, sweetheart.” 
Claus cuts in, eyes rolling at his son, “You’re really going to make your mother and friend sad just because you might look silly?” 
“I’m doing you guys a favor. Your eyes will bleed as soon as I start to sing,” 
Everett waves his hand, “I’ve heard you plenty of times in the shower. You’re not that bad,” 
“How about I sing with you…like…like a duet?” you say, the living room falling into silence as soon as the question leaves your lips. 
In response to the silence, you hold your breath and look down. You feel his eyes moving across your face— a curious yet warm gaze that makes your pulse quicken. 
After a moment of contemplation, Dieter sighs and nods. "Fine," he says with a smile. "But you have to promise to never tell anyone about this."
With a grin you stand, Dieter takes his place next to you, uneasy as Adaline plugs in the machine and hands you both the dusty microphones. Dieter touches your shoulder and gestures for you to turn your back to the rest of the family, he does the same.
“What are we going to sing anyway?” Dieter grunts, his eyes fixated on you. 
“First give me your hand,” you say and he does so with a raise of an eyebrow. You start to trace his name into his palm, slowly. His eyes widen, his breathing quick as his eyes drop to your fingers. “Feeling better?” you ask when you’re done tracing the R. 
“Baby It’s cold outside.” he says suddenly. 
“Uh, what?” 
“We should totally sing that! Baby, it’s cold outside. It’s perfect!” 
He promptly turns around and you follow, albeit your turn done more hesitantly. He leans into you, breath ghosting your skin. 
“You’re the one who got me into this so you better not be getting cold feet,” he mutters quickly, then turns his gaze to his mother. “We’re going to sing baby, it’s cold outside,” 
“Ohh, good choice,” Adaline nods, turning on the karaoke machine. 
The cozy living room aglow with the soft light of the Christmas tree, you can't help but feel a flutter in your chest as Dieter approaches you. You’re absolutely dreading the fact his family members are watching you intently from the couch. You try to push your insecurities to the back of your head. 
The music starts to play, you and Dieter look at each other a spark flaring between you two. He shoots you a wide grin and your heart sinks into your stomach when he starts to move, his demeanor reminiscent of the famous scene. He truly is a great actor, being able to change his entire being so effortlessly.
Hesitantly, you start to sing, your nerves getting the best of you as you try to decide whether to move or stay rooted to the spot, staring at the Christmas tree. You can feel the eyes of Dieter's family on you, and you feel self-conscious.
Dieter takes your hand and starts to sing along with you. Your voices blending together perfectly as you playfully flirt and tease each other through the lyrics.
You can't help but laugh as Dieter playfully tries to keep you from leaving, pretending to be the charming yet persistent suitor. You play along, teasing him and pretending to resist his advances.
When the song starts to come to a close, you and Dieter stand close together, gazing into each other's eyes. The tension between you, electric and charged.
You know that you should step back, but you can't resist the pull you have to him. You lean in closer, your lips inches away from his.
In that moment, everything else fades away. There's just you and Dieter, caught up in a moment of wishes and dreams. 
But then the song ends and the moment fades along with it, excited and eager claps fill the room urging both of you to pull away from the other. Dieter smiles sheepishly as he scratches the back of his head, his eyes glued to the floor. 
“Happy?” he asks, voice only a beat above a whisper. 
“Very.” 
Tumblr media
You’re already outside on the patio when your phone rings. The soft light coming through the window warms your back, and you watch the soft flakes dance down from the sky. Dieter said he would join you in a bit with a glass of mulled wine; His father’s specialty. 
Absentmindedly, you fish out your phone from your pocket, and without even looking you press the cold screen against your warm ear. 
“Hello?” 
“Hello is this Amina Addams?” 
Regret of not checking the caller ID starts to sink in, “It is,” 
"Hi Ms. Addams, my name is Sarah, and I'm a reporter with the Hollywood Insider. I'm just following up on a story we received about you and Dieter Bravo. Can you confirm that you two are in a relationship?"
You take a deep breath before responding, trying to keep your emotions in check. "I'm sorry, but I don't see how my personal life is anyone's business. I'm not going to comment on my relationship with Dieter or anyone else."
"Oh, I see," Sarah says, undeterred. "Well, maybe you can tell me how you met Dieter then? Is it true that you attacked that fan because you were jealous?"
You can feel your annoyance rising. "W–What? No! It was an accident and again, I'm not going to discuss my personal life with you or anyone else. I think it's inappropriate for you to be asking me these kinds of questions."
"I understand your concern, Ms. Addams," Sarah says, her tone turning more conciliatory. "But as a public figure, Dieter's relationships are often of interest to the public. Can you at least tell me if you're enjoying your time together in the ski resort?"
You can feel your temper flaring at this point. "I'm going to end this call now. I don't appreciate being harassed about my personal life. Goodbye."
With that, you hang up the phone and let out a sigh of frustration. You can't believe the audacity of some reporters, trying to invade your privacy like that. The peaceful Hallmark movie bubble that you formed bursts, reality hitting your skin in the form of cold shards of glass. 
“Who was that? Are you okay?” 
You jump at Dieter’s voice, when you turn you see him looking uneasy, two steaming cups of mulled wine occupying both his hands. You pinch the bridge of your nose and shake your head. 
“It’s nothing. A reporter called, interrogating me about our relationship,” 
Dieter walks up to you and hands you the glass, you take it with a smile and you both turn towards the view, elbows resting on the wooden railing. The snowfall is gentle and peaceful, a soft blanket of white covering the world around you. The flakes dance and twirl in the air, caught in the soft glow of the patio lights. The temperature is just below freezing, a crisp chill in the air that bites at your cheeks and nose, but the mulled wine in your hands is warm and comforting.
You and Dieter stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, both of you gazing out at the beauty before you. The trees are heavy with snow, their branches bent low beneath the weight. The ground is a pristine expanse of white, unmarred by footprints or tire tracks. 
“How did they even get your number?” he asks, taking a sip. 
You let out a soft chuckle, “I should’ve asked. I have no idea,” 
“It’ll die down soon enough. You worry too much about it,” 
You worry too little, is what you want to say but you bite your tongue, taking a sip of your wine instead. 
“I wish I could go back in time and slap myself before doing something so rash,” 
“You regret it that much, huh?” 
You pick up hints of sadness in his tone, your gaze moving toward him, his face doesn’t give away much but once again the need to comfort him engulfs your very being. 
“I don’t regret coming here,” you whisper. “I am enjoying meeting your family and getting away from it all,” 
You feel relief when you see traces of a smile, “That’s good,” he says nodding. “Speaking of, why did you do it anyway?” 
“Do what? Attack the fan?” you blink heavily when he nods again, your mouth goes dry. You’re not sure what to tell him. You can’t tell him that you’ve been afraid something will happen to him ever since the Cliff Beasts Set fiasco, he’ll think you’re crazy. 
A forced chuckle drops from your lips, “I don’t know, reflexes I guess.” 
“Some reflexes,” he mutters, his eyes briefly glancing up. 
Minutes pass and the snow continues to fall softly around you. Unexpectedly, you feel Dieter's arms slip around your waist, pulling you close. His lips brush against your ear, his warm breath sending shivers down your spine. "Look up," he whispers, his voice low.
You do as he asks, and your eyes meet a sprig of mistletoe hanging above your heads. You can feel the heat rising in your cheeks as Dieter grins at you, his eyes twinkling.
"Well, I think tradition dictates that we have to do this," he says, before leaning down to press his lips gently against yours.
The kiss is soft and sweet, a perfect blend of tenderness and something more and honestly could stand there forever, wrapped in Dieter's arms and lost in his kisses, but eventually, you reluctantly pull back, both of you smiling and breathless. He cups your chin and pulls you so your foreheads touch. 
“You taste like cinnamon,” he whispers. 
“And you like oranges.” 
You know that all of this, the snow, the mistletoe, the warm glow of the patio lights, is only temporary. Soon enough, the snow will melt and you'll have to say goodbye to…whatever this is.
But in this moment, none of that matters.
71 notes · View notes
nhularin · 1 year
Text
WHATS AFTER LIKE ?! y.jw
Tumblr media
୨✩୧  O3. WHOS YUNJIN?!?!
SYNOPSIS Life is not easy as a rookie and you know that! After going viral with your fancam you have gained not only the attention of the public but also that of Enhypens cat like leader. What happens if you wake up one day with your names trending on twt ?!
DISCLAiMER this SUCKS i havent written a proper chapter in ages so its kind of dry and borderline cringy 😭😭 i hope it doesnt ruin the fic... im not good at putting my thoughts into words UEUEUEU also there are many grammar errors IM OSRRYYYYY not proofread!
Tumblr media
Today was the day both of you have been dreading.
Jungwon has never felt this nervous before. Sure, he almost lost his shit at their debut showcase but hell, meeting the girl his members fanboy over makes his heart beat uncontrollably. Why am i like this he thought, trying to ignore the foreign emotions bubbling inside him.
The sound of the AC was faintly audible in the background as he paces around the practice room, waiting for the blonde girl's arrival. Maybe coming here earlier was a bad idea.
"Jungwon sit down no need to be nervous" his manager scolded him.
He sighed and pulled out his phone.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
He immediately turned his phone off as he heard the door open, you, your manager and the choreographer entering the large room. His eyes immediately widened. Sunghoon was right, you were indeed prettier in person.
You looked around nervously, taking in the details of the room. As you and Jinhyuk (your manager) went up the stairs to the practice room, you couldnt help but grow more and more nervous.
Hybe is enormous, Jungwon is a global superstar, hell, the leader of the most promising group of this generation, and that at only age 18
you? You're merely a rookie who debuted not even half a year ago, still trying to figure out your place in this industry.
Once you entered the room, you saw Jungwon straighten up his posture staring at you with a blank expression. This definitely makes me feel better
You and your members have spent all evening searching up things Jungwon liked, from his hobbies down to his favorite food. You thought it was ridiculous, borderline creepy but wonyoung and Leeseo insisted that this would make you seem 'cool' and 'likable' (not that you arent already).
You were too busy worrying and overthinking that you didn't notice your manager speaking to you
"yn?" he called out, snapping you out of your little daydream,
'cute' Jungwon thought, looking down and slightly smirking. You looked like a deer in headlights, just more adorable.
'cute!?' he couldnt believe his thoughts could betray him. He'd rather die than admit that you, the reason why his names been trending EVERYWHERE , ARE attractive. get a grip jungwon he cheered himself up furrowing his eyebrows and puffing his cheeks.
You stood up, straightening your back. "Hello! I am IVE's Y/N its nice to meet you! I hope we will have a great time together" putting two thumbs up and smiling, your prominent dimple showing
Jungwon blinked repeatedly, flustered by your cuteness.
He tried to look anywhere but your face when he introduced himself, too scared to feel the same weird emotions again.
weird you thought.
"Its nice to finally meet you guys!" the choreographer exclaimed happily, opening the meeting with a grin on his face.
"As you guys already know, KCON LA is three weeks from now and fans are very eager to see IVE and Enhypen and whats better than seeing them separately? Together of course! Your managers have suggested a collab stage for each day since IVE is performing on the 3rd and enhypen on the 4th" he explained.
"the head of KCON has approved the stage and requested two different genres of songs which i think is amazing" he flipped open his binder, taking out four sheets.
"this is the schedule for the next two weeks. the collab stage will take place after IVE's Love Dive stage. You will perform LOVESONG by your seniors TXT. Y/N, you will open the stage with a short solo vocal performance, singing Taehyuns lines in eternal" he handed you the paper with the lyrics.
"then, Jungwon will join you, rapping yeonjuns verses. this will show your potential as a rapper! After that, there will be a small dance break and Lovesong will start. I have forwarded the choreography of the dance break to your managers.Are there any questions so far?"
You both shook your head.
"moving on, on the next day things will be a lot more relaxing. You both will be singing Polaroid love by, you guessed it, Enhypen!"
everyone laughed or smiled, you didnt know why though so you put on your best fake smile. Jungwon noticed this and rolled his eyes internally what a fool
"a cute little love song. This will also be the last performance of the event. Do you think you can handle this?"
As you were about to answer his question Jungwon was ahead of you "of course we can, i have faith in Y/N and i'm one hundred percent certain that we will be amazing"
You were shocked at how professional he sounded being a leader at such a young age really makes you grow up fast huh?
a few minutes passed and your managers seemed to be having an engaging conversation with the choreographer, leaving you guys sitting awkwardly in front of the mirror.
"Hey" you started. Getting a small hum as a response, he just looked at you blankly. Does he know about me and Sunghoon...? I swear it's not that serious...
You looked away in embarrassment. It kind of hurt a bit that hes acting so cold towards you. So far, you've been nothing but nice to him and this is what you get?
nice job y/n
"So...."
"So.." You bit your tongue, slowly regretting starting the conversation.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
"i think we should exchange numbers..if there are change of plans of course! and i think it'd be better if we get to know each other before the show to make things more comfortable!" you said with a big grin.
Jungwon looked conflicted. He tried to hide the fact that your smile affected him more than he wanted
After exchanging your numbers, Jungwon was about to leave out of the door when you stopped him
"i just wanted to say that i admire you a lot! we dont know each other but i've heard nothing but great things about you! it must have been really hard being a leader at yoour age and uhm... i dont really know why im saying this haha...hah...anyways let's have a great time together and make the best of it! We can do it!"
oh
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
prev ✩ masterlist ✩ next
AUTHORS NOTE #ynwon? or...not!
TAGLiST req here if u want to be added! (italics cant be tagged)
@mytearsricoshey @lovelypitasworld @luvdokja @thaaiss89 @flower-lise @woneulz @itznotshy @smiles4jungwon @dimplewonie @novalpha @enha-writes @nyfwyeonjun @mintydayeon @ilovewonyo o @hoonswhore @jiheonies-moved @love-4-keum @mitsukifilms @calumsfringe @yenqa @elsoleil @notdrunkbutdazed @ahnneyong @s00b1nsworld @ritsusakumasgf @jnwonily @4vonly @sunooselca @emwonx @alderiasamantha @hrtsforbeomgyu @kkalechip @vatterie @mydearestbunnyiee @btwimmel @yjwsimp @thiccy-kawa @ak1e@jajjajas @rosabella1009 @dreamenvi @siamiese-y @i-yeseo @ksphnrk @i-kai @soobsdior @shinsou-rii @luvdaehyeon @myjaeyunn @urfaveuserlana @hoonieswrld @sunghxxnie @flwrsforriki @indelicate-macalino @seesaweun
515 notes · View notes
15000bugs · 9 months
Text
just four 1k word scenes left 💪 tbh thats not so bad. but i will probably end up >1k for two of the scenes.. and maybe <1k for one of them.. just based on content idk!!!! anyway sorry i keep rambling about my self-imposed deadline that means nothing anyway bc the stakes are nonexistent LMAO
1 note · View note
atlabeth · 1 year
Text
everything happens for a reason part 21 - zuko x fem!reader
Meet me in the afterglow
part 20 | masterlist | part 22
a/n: wowwwww we're finally in the happy part of this fic lol. it feels so good to write zuko and yn together after 100k words of them being on opposite sides and hating each other. it was actually kind of hard to write this because it was a lot of chill fluff and it has been a long Long time since ive written that. very sorry this took so long
wc: 5k
warning(s): some discussions of yn and zuko's pasts but overall very fluffy
chapter title comes from afterglow by taylor swift!
Tumblr media
Silence.
That was what Y/N woke up to.
No nightmares, no guilt, no flashbacks—just… silence.
And the arms of another around her. Zuko. She reveled in the warmth he provided, sighing contentedly as she shifted to look at him. 
She’d always thought Zuko was beautiful, but he was even more so when asleep. His features relaxed rather than rageful, no longer tainted by her own incessant anger. Pools of gold met her when his eyes flickered open, a gentleness held within them she’d missed dearly. 
“Hi,” she whispered, a smile already tugging at her lips.
“Hi.” His voice was just as soft, his own emerging smile enough to make her melt. “Did you sleep well?”
“Better than I have in months.” Y/N moved her hand over his, and Zuko turned his over to entangle their fingers. “And it’s all thanks to you.”
“It’s the least I can do,” he murmured, and he drew her in for a soft kiss. That was what made her melt. “You know I’m never letting you go again, right?”
A light laugh spilled from her lips. “I don’t want you to.”
“Good.” 
Though she wanted nothing more than to nestle back into Zuko’s embrace, she mustered enough strength to sit up, a small yawn escaping her. “When do you think we should go back?”
Zuko sighed as he sat up next to her, running a hand through his rustled hair. “We have time, Y/N. We’re in your village, the place you grew up. We don’t have to go back until you want to.”
“We are on a timeline though—”
“A timeline that isn’t close to being up yet,” he countered. “Aang doesn’t have to fight my father for a while—a few extra days out here isn’t going to hurt us.” Zuko shrugged. “You deserve a break after all you’ve been through lately, and besides—I’m sure your people wouldn’t mind hosting the savior of the village for a little longer.”
Y/N laughed and pushed him lightly, eliciting a little half-smile from Zuko. “Okay, I get it. Another day would be really nice.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay longer?”
She shook her head. “The rest of today will be enough for me to help get things moving on the repair front. We’ve already been gone two days—any longer than this and Katara will think we’ve died.” 
Zuko chuckled. “Alright.”
“Besides,” she said as she stood up and stretched her arms out, “after all of this is over, I’ll be able to come back anytime I want. And,” Y/N looked at Zuko, “I’ll be able to properly introduce you. As Zuko my boyfriend, and not Zuko the evil prince.”
He grinned. “Your boyfriend? Is that official?”
Y/N groaned and swatted at him. “Get out of here. I have to get dressed.”
“Anything for my beautiful girlfriend,” Zuko said as he got up, still wearing that ridiculous grin while he walked out.
Y/N rolled her eyes as he shut the door, but she couldn’t help but smile. It felt good, joking around like this. Having a lazy morning—waking up with him in the first place. 
And yeah—hearing Zuko call her his girlfriend was pretty nice too. 
She’d been longing for it for a greater time than she knew, and now that she’d worked through her anger, let it go, realized that this was what she wanted? 
It was too great a feeling to put into words.
That small smile remained on her lips as she began to rifle through her belongings, the minuscule amount she’d packed for this trip in a tiny satchel. She wanted to change, but the only other clothes she had were the tunic and pants she’d worn for months in prison. They were sort of the only clothes she owned now. 
The smile faded as she shoved them back into her bag. Maybe she could ask Leya to borrow one of her dresses for the day. That particular memory didn’t need to be resurfaced right now. 
She blew out a loose sigh as she sat back down on the bed, allowing herself a moment to really take it all in. 
Though Y/N had initially planned to get in and get out, the whole ‘taking back the village’ thing really threw a wrench in her hasty excursion. After last night—after the fight, the general, the grave—she was well and truly exhausted. Lao and Leya had immediately offered up the second bedroom of their home to her and Zuko, claiming it was ‘the least they could do after all she’d done’, and in the moment, Y/N wasn’t one to deny it. 
She didn’t realize how worn out she was until she laid down on the bed—true exhaustion and the warmth of Zuko’s arms around her was a deadly combination—and she was out before she knew it. 
It was the best she’d slept in a long time. 
Because she didn’t have a new outfit, she opted for smoothing out the black fabric and her hair, and nodded to herself before she left the room. She was surprised to see Zuko leaning against the wall next to the door, his arms crossed as he stared off at nothing in particular. 
“You waited?”
“Obviously. Life-threatening fights don’t have to be the only time we stick together.” She chuckled a bit as she slipped her hand into his, pleased at how familiar the motion felt.
“Of course.”
“Besides—” Zuko cleared his throat as his eyes darted away for a moment— “I’m kind of scared of Leya and Lao. I don’t think they really trust me.”
“What? Of course they do!” she exclaimed. “You took down the factory with Lao, and you helped in the fight for our village—they wouldn’t have offered you the place if they didn’t.” 
“You weren’t there,” he said dryly. “Lao questioned me the entire way to the factory about you. And he might be okay about me now, but Leya still seems uneasy. They still don’t even know who I really am.” 
“Who you are is Zuko. It doesn’t matter that you’re the prince—you’re Zuko, and you helped them. That’s all they’ll care about.” She gave him a slight nudge. “Things are different out here, away from the Fire Nation. People are tolerant. You’ve seen that while you’ve been away, right?”
It took Zuko a moment, but he nodded. His lips quirked in the smallest smile and he nodded again, as if he was actually starting to believe it. “Okay. Yeah.”
“Yeah,” she repeated. She swung their hands together a bit and started to lead the way. “Now let’s go. It’s nearly noon—we’ve gotta get our day started.”
“If you say so,” Zuko mused, and she just laughed. 
“I do.” 
“It’s good to see the two of you are finally awake,” Leya mused from her cushion as they emerged into the living room. “I was afraid you would sleep the whole day away.” 
“If anyone deserves it,” Lao said, walking over from the kitchen, “it’s them.” 
“Sorry.” Y/N scratched her neck, slightly bashful. “We were exhausted after yesterday.” 
“No need to apologize,” Leya laughed, and she gestured towards the counter. “Help yourselves, please—we made xiaolongbao and egg custard tarts to celebrate. There’s far too much for just the two of us.” 
“Are you sure?” Zuko asked tentatively.
“Of course we’re sure,” Lao said. “We’ve welcomed you into our home. Anything we have is yours, son.” He frowned. “I never did get your name.” 
He paused. “...My name is Zuko.” 
The name struck them like steel, tension immediately thick in the air even if just out of instinct. 
“Like Prince Zuko,” Leya said carefully, “of the Fire Nation.” 
“I don’t think I’m much of a prince anymore,” he frowned. “I did betray my entire country to help the Avatar.” 
Lao glanced at Y/N, the unsaid question obvious. 
“It’s the truth,” she said. “Zuko has been working with us for a good while now. He’s the Avatar’s firebending teacher, and he’s going to help us end the war.” 
“Alright,” Lao said, and he nodded. “Welcome to our home, Zuko. Officially.” 
His brows creased together. “Really?” 
“You’re clearly a good man,” he said. “Not just anyone would do what you’ve done.” 
“That’s not true.” 
“It is,” Lao insisted. “You didn’t have to help free our village, but you fought on the front lines with us.” He smiled wryly. “That makes a man good in my book.” 
“I agree.” Leya’s smile was softer, kinder, but held the same respect. “You’re just as much a hero to our village as Y/N is.” 
Zuko looked like he wanted to protest, but Y/N placed her hand over his and nodded. He deserved the praise. 
“...Thank you,” he finally said, wholly genuine. “You have no idea how much that means to me.” 
“Any friend of Y/N’s is a friend of ours,” Leya said, and her lips quirked up. “Would you like to hear some of the terrible things she did when she was younger?” 
“Leya—” Y/N began, but Zuko shook his head, his own smile growing. 
“Tell me everything.” 
She groaned as he pulled her over to the floor, two cushions already set for them. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks as she sat down next to him, Leya and Lao launching into a story together from her childhood. 
(She had always been a bit of a terror, especially after she discovered her waterbending. That didn’t mean she wanted Zuko to know about it.) 
((“This is no way to treat the savior of the village,” she complained at one point. She was fully ignored.)) 
After spending far too many hours eating, chatting, and laughing (at Y/N’s expense), she and Zuko set out for the day. Y/N asked Leya for a spare outfit and she obliged immediately, so once again she found herself in Earth Kingdom greens and browns. The soft linen was the nicest reprieve from the scratchy prison clothes she’d been stuck in, and she had to admit—it was nice being back in Earth Kingdom clothes. It was just as much a part of her as the North. 
The rest of the day was busy but fulfilling, working long into the night to make up for the damage from the battle. Most of their efforts were spent architecturally, helping to repair houses that had been damaged and to tear down the Fire Nation estates. 
It might have been property, but it was tainted beyond belief. South Zeizhou would never truly belong to her people again if any trace of the Fire Nation remained. 
Y/N and Zuko had split halfway through the day to help with separate things—for some reason, her people were trusting her with designing. She spent the entire rest of the day running around helping various people, sketching up ideas for buildings and statues and everything else under the sun. It turned out that, when you saved an entire village of an eight year hold, they were just a little grateful. 
(She denied the idea every time someone brought up building a statue of her. She was sure she heard Zuko go behind her back and tell them otherwise.)
She was kept so busy that she didn’t see Zuko again until that night, when she pushed open the door to Leya and Lao’s estate to see him sitting on the floor alone. 
“Zuko,” she said, still getting used to the lightness his name brought her. It was more comforting than anything. “What are you doing up?” 
“I should be asking you that,” he said with a slight smile, setting his bowl down. “You don’t have to work all night, you know.” 
“I lost track of time,” she said sheepishly. “What are you eating?” 
“Jook.” A faint blush tinted his cheeks as he gestured back towards the kitchen. “Leya and Lao turned in a few hours ago—they told me to tell you that you had free reign of their ingredients, but I didn’t want you to have to do it yourself after working so hard all day. So I made you something.” 
Her whole expression softened. “Zuko, that’s so sweet.” She crouched down and pecked him on the cheek, warmth blooming in her chest. “I didn’t even know you could cook, being a prince and all.” 
He chuckled. “Uncle taught me some things when we were in Ba Sing Se. I told him I didn’t need it, but I guess some of it stuck.” 
Y/N took his spoon and tried some of the jook in his bowl. Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s surprisingly good.” 
“Surprisingly?” he asked with mock disdain. “Why can’t it just be normally good?” 
“Because,” she said, “I’ve never tried your cooking before.” 
“That just settles it,” Zuko said. “When we’re back in the Fire Nation, I’ll ask the chefs to teach me some things. That way I can really impress you.” 
“You don’t need to impress me, Zuko,” she said, and she stood up and walked over. “Just spending time with you like this is more than enough. We’ve got a lot of it to make up.” 
He managed a soft laugh, but it was bittersweet. “Yeah. We do.” 
Y/N filled her own bowl with jook and then walked back over, settling down next to Zuko. She placed her hand over his, smiling softly at him. “Tell me about your day.” 
“It’s been… a lot,” he said. “I’ve helped tear down a lot of Fire Nation buildings. I melted a lot of metal.” He chuckled. “If only we brought Toph with us. Her metalbending would make things a lot easier.” 
She laughed. “She’d become the foreman of this place. She could probably redesign everything herself.” 
“What about you?” he asked. 
“I did a lot of healing,” she said. “Turns out that sending a lot of middle-aged men and women that haven’t fought in years into battle against trained soldiers results in a lot of injuries.” 
Zuko frowned. “Was it bad?” 
“Not as bad as it could have been,” Y/N said. “Mostly twists and sprains and artificial cuts. One man got his arm broken, and I have no idea why he didn’t ask for help last night.” She shook her head. “No matter what nation I’m in, men always think they have to act tough.” 
“I’m glad you’re able to help them,” Zuko said. “You know you’re amazing, right?” 
She playfully shoved him. “Stop it.” 
“Never.” He shrugged. “Like you said, I have a lot of time to make up for.” 
“I guess flattery’s a good place to start,” she said coyly. 
“It’s easier if you just accept it,” he said sagely, “because I’m not going to stop.” 
Y/N laughed and leaned against his shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her. “What was it like being back and seeing everyone? Did they all recognize you?” 
“Maybe not immediately, but everyone knew my name.” Y/N smiled. “People don’t really forget the only waterbenders in village history.” 
“Do you think this’ll ever be your home again?” Zuko asked.
“It’ll always be my home,” Y/N mused. “It’s where I was born, where I grew up. There’s a part of me in this village, and there always will be. But…” she sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ll ever live here again. I’ve been traveling all over with my friends for the past couple months, and it just feels like I’ve… outgrown it.”
“I understand,” Zuko said. “You’re different than the girl that grew up here. You’ve changed, and that’s not a bad thing.”
“I know. It just feels like betraying who I am.”
“A part of you is in this village,” Zuko said, “and a part of this village is in you. Just because you’re going somewhere else doesn’t mean you’re forgetting who you are.”
“When did you get so wise?” she asked, craning her neck to look up at him. 
“Years of traveling with my uncle,” he said, and she laughed. 
They spent the rest of the night idly chatting and finishing up their meal, and by the time they turned in, the village was completely dark. 
It was quiet as they settled into bed together, Zuko’s arms around her setting her at ease. She felt safe next to him. 
(Spirits, how she’d missed feeling safe.)
-
“Are you sure you have to leave so soon?” Leya questioned, her gaze watchful even as she stood in the kitchen.
“We have a war to end,” Y/N said, only slightly joking. “I’ll be back sooner than you know.” 
“You’re making us all so proud, Y/N.” Lao patted her on the shoulder, and then he pulled her into a hug. “People will tell stories of you centuries from now, I know it. You’ve made history.” 
“I’m just glad our people are finally free,” she said softly. 
“And you, son.” Lao pulled away and looked down at Zuko, respect in his eyes. “Your path hasn’t been easy, but you’ve made it here. You’re welcome in our corner of the Earth Kingdom anytime.” 
“I’m just doing what’s right,” Zuko said, but she could see the beginnings of his pleased smile. 
“And sometimes that is the hardest thing to do.” Leya came over with a large basket, smile beaming down on the two of them as she handed it to Y/N. “This should be enough for your journey back and to share with the rest of your group.”
Y/N frowned. “Are you sure?”
“Of course we are,” Lao said. “Without the Fire Nation leeching off of us, we’ve got plenty to spare.”
“Thank you,” Zuko said. “This means a lot.”
“It’s the least we can do,” Leya said, and she grasped Y/N’s hands. “Promise me that you’ll be careful.”
“We’ll try our best,” she vowed, and she glanced at Zuko with a smile. “I’ve got a lot of good people with me.”
“You,” Leya pointed at Zuko, tone motherly as ever, “make sure nothing happens to her.”
“That was already the plan,” he said with a chuckle.
“So,” Lao said wryly, “what’s the next thing I should expect from our heroes and the Avatar?” 
Y/N smiled inwardly. “Change is coming. That’s for sure.”
-
The ride back to camp was quiet, but different kind of quiet from before. Y/N and Zuko switched off on flying shifts, occasional conversation filling the gaps—more often than not, though, they just sat together. Her head on his shoulder, his arm around her, her fingers rifling through his hair. 
The fresh air invigorated Y/N. She felt like a whole new person, the dread and anger and heaviness she’d been carrying with her for months steadily dissolving.
Zuko’s constant presence was nice too.
Without her inner dread, supremely thick tension, and a week of sleep deprivation, she was actually able to enjoy the trip back home. It went quicker than the ride there, and she never thought she would be so thankful to see an island. 
Tiny specks in the distance turned into her friends the closer they got, and she and Zuko shared a smile. Y/N was going to have a lot of explaining to do. 
“You guys are finally back!” Sokka exclaimed once they were in hearing distance. “Where did you even go?” 
“You’ve got some nerve leaving like that without a word!” Katara yelled, but the moment Y/N slid off of Appa’s side she barreled over and pulled her into a hug. She knocked the air out of her completely, but Y/N laughed as she wrapped her arms around her in turn. 
“I’m sorry,” she breathed. “It was something important.” 
“She’s been worried sick about you,” Toph spoke up. 
“So have you!” Aang piped in. “You were asking about it y—” 
Toph punched Aang on the shoulder, and he stopped. “What was that for?” 
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” Toph said, cheeks flushing pink. 
“You didn’t answer my question,” Sokka interrupted. “Where did you two even go?” 
Y/N let out a long deep breath, and Zuko nodded supportively when she glanced at him. “We… went back to my village. The other day was the anniversary of my father’s death, so I went to honor him.” 
“Oh, Y/N,” Katara murmured, and she pulled her back into a hug. “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell us?” 
“I thought it was something I had to do on my own,” Y/N said, pulling away after a grateful moment. “If I had my way, I would have. But Zuko pushed his way on.” 
“It’s not my fault you’re so stubborn,” Zuko said. “Besides, it was obviously the right move.” 
Sokka frowned. “You guys are being really nice to each other.” 
Aang’s eyes lit up. “Did you two have your life changing field trip?” 
It was Y/N’s turn to frown. “Life changing field trip?” 
“That’s what they’re calling it,” Toph explained. “All the trips that they’ve gone on with Zuko to be his friend or whatever. I still haven’t had one.” 
Zuko stared at her. “I woke up with rocks in my bed every day for a week.” 
“Yeah, but we didn’t go anywhere,” she grumbled at the ground. 
Y/N chuckled, though her expression sobered. “I thought I was just going to remember my father, but it turned out that the Fire Nation was still occupying my village. So Zuko and I pushed them out.” 
Katara’s eyebrows shot up. “Just like that?” 
“It wasn’t that easy—” Zuko said, but he was interrupted when Sokka patted—or rather hit—him on the back. 
“Nice going, buddy! That’s how you get your girl back.” 
He glared daggers at Sokka but Y/N just laughed. “It took a lot of fighting and some haphazard plans, but… yeah. We took my village back. My people are free, and I got to see my father’s grave.” 
Katara’s entire expression softened. “I’m so happy for you, Y/N. That’s— that’s amazing. And… is it back?” 
Y/N nodded with a smile, and she formed a ball of water out of the air. “My bending is officially back.” 
Katara screamed and she nearly tackled Y/N with another hug. “Thank the spirits! I knew you could do it!”  
“Life changing field trip always works,” Aang mused. 
“Well, whatever you did, it worked,” Toph said. “I’m happy I don’t have to see the two of you mope around all the time anymore.” 
Zuko frowned. “You can’t see.” 
“Trust me,” Toph muttered, “some things transcend sight.”
Y/N smiled, and she took Zuko’s hand, tears welling in her eyes. “I really missed you guys.” 
-
Later, once they’d unpacked all their things from Appa and properly decompressed, Y/N found herself sitting on her own by the cliffside once again. This time, though, she wasn’t trying to hide her mourning from her friends or foster the burning inside of her chest. Instead, she played with an orb of water in the air, a small smile on her lips at the effortlessness of it all. Not only were they surrounded by water on all sides, but the Fire Nation’s climate meant there would always be moisture in the air. 
Oh, how she’d missed her bending. 
She didn’t flinch when she heard footsteps behind her, able to see the reflection in her orb—instead, she flicked her hand and shot the water back at her visitor. 
“Hey!” Zuko complained, sputtering as it struck him in the face. “What was that for?” 
She giggled as she turned her head. “I had to make sure you remember who you’re dealing with.” 
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, grimacing a bit as he wiped water droplets off his face, “my girlfriend is super powerful and can take down anyone. That doesn’t mean you have to take me down.” 
“Oh, you’re so dramatic.” Y/N smiled as she stood up and flexed her fingers, drawing all the water out of his clothes. “It was barely anything.” 
“This time,” Zuko said, and he gestured around them with a wry smile. “We’ve got a whole ocean around us.” 
“I’m not that powerful,” she said. 
“Maybe,” Zuko said, “but I don’t trust you and Katara together.” 
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore.” She chuckled as she took his hand. “What’d you come over here for?” 
“You’re not allowed to mope around by yourself anymore,” Zuko said. “We’re having a campfire and digging into some of the food Leya gave us.” 
“I’m not moping,” she complained. 
“Not anymore,” Zuko clarified, and he chuckled at her expression. “Still. You have to join us.” 
“Of course,” Y/N said, and they started walking over together. “I’m excited for some actual food after the past few months.” 
Zuko frowned. “I made you jook last night. That was perfectly good food.” 
“You know what I mean,” she groaned. “Yes, it was perfectly good food. I’m just excited for more of Lao’s xiaolongbao. That man makes miracles in the kitchen.” 
“I’ll have to get him to give me the recipe next time we visit,” Zuko mused. 
She looked at him, slightly surprised. “You want to go back?” 
“Of course,” he said. “It’s the place you’re from. And besides,” he shrugged, slightly bolstered, “I am one of the saviors of the village.” 
She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder. 
“Of course.”
-
“It’s about time you guys got here,” Toph grumbled. “Katara won’t let any of us eat.” 
“They’re here now,” she said, “you can—” 
Katara didn’t even get to finish her sentence before Toph started digging in, and she just shook her head with a sigh. 
“We’re glad that you’re here,” she offered with a slight smile. 
“Katara’s mostly glad that you’re back,” Sokka said, his mouth full of food earning him a glare from his sister. “I think you two have separation anxiety or something.” 
“Can you blame me?” Katara defended. “You were gone for weeks and we had no idea what happened to you. You can’t just up and disappear with Zuko.” 
“To be fair, you tried to do the same thing,” Sokka said. 
“To be fair, you thought Y/N was going to kill Zuko,” Katara shot back. 
Zuko’s eyes widened slightly. “Uh, no. We never went that far.” 
Not with him at least, Y/N thought with the smallest bit of guilt. Not for what she did, but for keeping it from her friends. That was a whole other problem she had to deal with, and definitely not tonight. 
(Maybe not ever.) 
“Let’s talk about something else,” Y/N said, and Zuko put his arm around her, pulling her close. She couldn’t help but smile. “What have you guys been up to while we’ve been gone?” 
“It was only three days,” Sokka said. “We didn’t get up to that much.” But he wouldn’t stop staring at them, and Zuko frowned. 
“What?” 
“Nothing,” he said with a shrug. “I just realized I’ve never been around you two when you actually liked each other.” 
Zuko’s cheeks flushed bright pink as Y/N laughed. “You really haven’t, huh?” 
“Why did you have to say that?” Toph groaned. “Now they’re going to be extra gross.” 
“What, you mean like this?” Zuko pulled Y/N into a kiss, but she didn’t even get the chance to enjoy it before something hit the two of them. 
Y/N pulled away and picked it up, scowling at Sokka. “Is this your shoe?” 
“There are children here!” he complained. “You two really are gross.” 
“I think it’s sweet,” Katara said, and she hit Sokka on the shoulder. “Leave them alone.” 
“I’m just trying to protect the sanctity of this place!” he exclaimed. 
“I’m on Sokka’s side,” Toph piped in.
 As the group devolved into accusations and conversation with occasional pauses for food, she leaned into Zuko’s side and sighed contentedly. 
This was the life she’d been chasing so long. All they had to do was end the war. 
And after everything she’d been through, that seemed like the easiest part of the journey. 
-
Things cooled down after a while, and they began to go their separate ways. Sokka and Suki went off together, Aang went to meditate and clear his mind, and Toph went off to do spirits knows what. Y/N was close to nodding off against Zuko’s side—she was sure he already had himself—when she heard Katara’s voice. 
“Hey,” she said, gesturing away from the fire with her head, “can I have you for a second?” 
Y/N nodded, yawning as she tried to blink the grogginess out of her vision, and the two of them walked over. “What’s up?” 
“This is something I’ve been wanting to give to you for a while, but it hasn’t been the right moment.” Katara grinned. “But it is now.” 
She pulled something out from behind her back, and when she presented it Y/N realized it was a water skin, almost identical to the one she’d given her months ago in Gaoling. 
“Both of ours were taken away at Ba Sing Se, but I was able to get a couple new ones from some of the Water Tribe soldiers when we ran into them. And now that you’ve got your bending back…”
Katara trailed off as she offered it up again, but instead Y/N crushed her in a tight embrace.
“Thank you,” she said, unable to hold back her own smile. “For thinking of me even then.”
“Always,” Katara said, returning the gesture with just as much intensity. When she pulled away, her eyes shone.
“It’s good to see you like this,” she said softly. “Happier. Lighter. You look better than you have in months.” 
“I feel better,” Y/N admitted. “I know that I needed to forgive Zuko, and maybe it was the spirits’ plan to make the road so treacherous. But it feels so good to have him again.” 
“It feels good to not have you two arguing all the time,” she said wryly. 
Y/N chuckled. “Just imagine how I feel.” 
“What do you think is next for you two?” Katara asked. “After the war is over, I mean.”
“I haven’t really thought that far in the future,” she admitted. “After everything, I’m just trying to live in the moment.” 
“I think that’s a perfect idea.” 
Y/N smiled. “So do I.” 
-
perm tags: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77 @simonsbluee @kwyloz @masteroperator @louderfortheback
atla tags: @marianne1806 @brown-eyed-thang @akiris
ehfar tags: @chandies-sideblog @zacatecanaaaa @anzanity @randomthingssssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895 @ilovespideyyy @whats-my-question @selfship-mishaps @ilistentotayswifttocope @i-make-questionable-choices @3leni @thatobsessedreader @lostgreekgod @oriontingz @zerode-unhinged @badpvn @mimi-sanisanidiot @adhdhufflepuff @aquaamethyst96 @hollyismentallyillhelp @holypoetrygarden @islandgayneery @pitrii-petra @jinxed-jk @veras-fanfic-reblogs @cloud-9ine @lucifersidepiece @kiskzawagnerwhore @froggi-00 @eajalova @mrsyixingunicorn10 @xxxxxxdelenaxxxxxx @cafesho @the-natureofme @whoevenfrickinknows @a-bit-late @zukowantshishonourback @settlebackeasy @jemssafespace @wildwallflower24
239 notes · View notes
serenescribe · 6 months
Text
Poll: Help me pick my next TWST longfic! [FINISHED]
Tumblr media
Hello everyone!
As most of you may know, I am quite the avid longfic writer. However, university's been slowing me down a lot, so I've been unable to write as quickly as before. So why not poll some of my fic ideas and let you all decide?
I'll include some brief, rambling summaries of the options below the cut! The poll will run for seven days, and the winner will be the longfic I focus on next! (That isn't to say I won't write other things since inspiration is fickle and some of these are semi-completed, but for the most case, my priority will be whatever wins!)
[Summaries under the cut!]
i. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Locked in a Freezer Epel-focused! I originally started working on this in April but shelved it because I was more focused on writing Diasomnia. That and I also did not look forward to writing Rook... Still, the benefit of this option is that It's already 2/3 finished, with the first two chapters done, so it would be done a lot faster. I'd feel pretty keen on finishing it sooner if there was interest expressed.
ii. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Barely Conscious Silver-focused! A bad end AU of the Fairy Gala remix event... and that's about all I can say about it. Compared to the other options, it wouldn't be as long, so I could see it being done faster. It would not have a definitive conclusion, being a bad end of an event, but if you like Silver suffering, this is the one for you!
iii. Bad Things Happen Bingo: On the Run Sebek-focused, along with the first years! I originally wanted to write this for Halloween this year, but quickly shelved that idea due to realising how much Uni sapped my energy. This is one of the two options here that would be rated Mature, along with warnings of Major Character Death. It was meant to be a Halloween fic, after all.
iv. Bad Things Happen Bingo: This Is For Your Own Good Silver and Lilia-focused. What can I say about this AU without revealing too much...? This is the other option that would be rated Mature. It gets truly fucked up and dark in the latter half, and bad things truly does happen. It would also be one of the longest fics in the BTHB series, as I'm envisioning two very long chapters. All the same, this is arguably the idea I'm most excited to write. So if that means anything to you (trust in my tastes, perhaps?) you might want to consider voting for this!
v. Bad Things Happen Bingo: Hope Is Scary Silver-focused, though Lilia comes in later. This is arguably the least developed of all the ideas here, however it was a really good idea that Olive thought up and gave me permission to write. A lot of Silver suffering in this one! And being alone. The prompt is literally about losing all hope and not wanting to hope again in case it gets dashed.
vi. Reverse Containment Breach AU: Starchild Lilia and Silver-focused. This is based on Olive's Reverse Containment Breach AU, of which I'd previously written a ficlet for here with Malleus and Sebek. Think something SCP-esque with an organisation studying strange subjects. Head Researcher Lilia Vanrouge stumbles upon a boy who fell from space one night, and that's when everything slowly goes off the rails. I actually finished about 1/3 of this? So it's partially started.
vii. PMMM AU: Lilia Longfic Lilia and Silver-focused. What it says on the tin. Mica and I's PMMM AU, which isn't 1:1 with canon but Lilia takes the role of Homura, and Silver as Madoka. Time loops and general suffering and angst. If you know how Madoka plays out, you know how this one's going to go.
69 notes · View notes