#duck tales x reader

[toontails]

Toons Quest

Chapter 4: Raise Your Voice

A/N: morning my children, come get your hot and ready update ✨ 

But sorry I left guys, life is busy and hectic!! But I’m pushing for you guys! 

for those using Tumblr this chapter does have music in it, which will be in the links while you are reading, though if you are on a mobile or wild entirely work considering it’ll take you to a different tab and if you would like to really enjoy the full experience of the chapter better, here’s the link to Quotev for this specific chapter so I can enjoy it!

here the link!

-

“Okay.” Cuphead and Y/n peeked from around the corner of the alleyway, so far the area seemed untouched by the hands of their opposing team, thank goodness. 

Y/n eyes scanned the area as well as Cuphead—for the second time. 

“So, here’s the plan.” He removes himself from the corner and back into the alleyway—the human following his exact move as she stood in front of him. 

“I’ll pretend that to catch you, all of our main target is you—“ Cuphead says, which did cause Y/n to slowly stitch her eyebrows together…well…that was good to know..but also very nerve wracking, for whatever reason they were sent after her for, it was actually something she did want to at least find out about. A handful of villains wanting her dead? What the hell for? And why? 

Cuphead could see her sudden change in facial expression as she grimaced at him slightly. “Don’t worry.” He tells her—his tone softened as he gave her a comforting expression. 

“I’m not gonna let them do anythin’ to you.” He tells her. 

Y/n slowly nods, giving her at least something to lean back into and relax, once Cuphead saw that the human had relaxed he continued with the plan he had managed to stir up in his head, this time, Y/n listening and putting on a brave facade even though she was shivering in her shoes—but she had to do it. 

The next thing she knew, she was standing in the middle of the street, Cuphead had left to go get one of his partners—the plan would go he would lead them back to Y/n—and she would basically ambush Cuphead—because he would have the book in his hands when he would return with her. She had yet to spot Bendy and the others and she was only praying that they were okay, a bubbling feeling in her stomach started to boil, she felt she had to vomit, she was so nervous—what if he was tricking her the entire time? What if they killed her before she could get the book from Cuphead. Cuphead seemed fairly confident in the plan he managed to piece together on short notice, the straps of her book bag made her shoulders feeling like they were touching the ground—her heart pounded in her chest before she wandered over to a car parked parallel off on the side near the sidewalk. She wanted to get a good angle to jump on Cuphead, she squats down to the ground, leaning her back against the car, she lets out a heavy sigh and stares straight ahead of towards the buildings, some people walked passed either minding their own business or giving her a concerned expression on why she had her back glued to the car—but she had bigger problems to deal with than a few odd looks. 

“Cuphead will get the book, run to him, snatch it, run off.” She tells herself softly—almost as if she was giving herself a pep talk..which she was..the human slowly nods her head as she lets out a sigh before straightening her back. 

“You got this..you got this…” she whispers, slowly standing up from the ground and turning around to look through the car window to the other side—she spotted Bettigan and Mugman walking over to Cuphead, who was already looking at the two, Mugman immediately was at Cuphead’s side as he started to check him for any wounds, scars or even a crack on his head, which Cuphead immediately started to swat his hand away. 

“Gimme the book.” Cuphead says. 

Y/n immediately drops to the ground, back pressed back to the car door. She can’t do this! Last she checked, Bettigan had a gun! What if he was quicker than her and before she could run off and he shoots at her?! Surely he wouldn’t do it in a town filled with people. Then again, he was chasing her down to kill her so what difference would that make—she was going to take the ladder he would blow her foot off without a doubt. 

“What? What for?” She heard Bettigan’s voice from on the pavement on the other side of the street.  She heard Cuphead speak but she couldn’t open her ears to pay attention, she can’t do this..

“I’m not gonna let them do anythin’ to you.” Was what Cuphead told her, his voice ringing in her ears. She furrowed her eyebrows and moved her gaze to the alleyway across from her—in between the two buildings..she could always just leave..

She slowly shook her head..she couldn’t..she had to get that book back. She slowly stood back up and looked out of the car window—Cuphead was holding the book, his brother Mugman had his arms crossed as Cuphead appeared to be speaking to Bettigan. Cuphead stood a few feet away from his brother and the cowboy. 

“Where’s the girl? I’ve been lookin’ everywhere for the brat.” Bettigan says. Cuphead tilts his head gently. “What about those other toons?” He asks. Bettigan scratched at his arm and let out a chuckle. “M’ sure Mango is huntin’ them down like a dog.” He jokes. Mugman silently shook his head and rolled his eyes, shuffling uncontrollably on his feet as his eye’s traveled elsewhere, Cuphead had noticed before he nudged his brother and winked at him. 

“Doesn't matter, good thing is, we got this baby!” He holds the book out with a proud smile and Bettigan only grumbles before he snorts and looks elsewhere. “I mean it’s whatever..could care less ‘bout the book..” he muttered under his breath. 

He hardly even got a chance to react when he felt a heavy gust of wind swing past him, Cuphead grunts and stumbles slightly at the sudden impact, Y/n had ran from the car and across the street as fast as her legs could go, arms outstretched as she grabbed on the book, and ran straight forward towards the alleyway she and Cuphead previously was in. 

Mugman was shocked that the human managed to zip past him at such speed, his mouth open as he then furrowed his eyebrows at his brother. “Cuphead!” He scolds him. Cuphead slowly blinks before huffing. 

“How was I know she was hidin’ behind the car!” He defends himself almost immediately. Bettigan pushed the two towards the alleyway. 

“Go get her then!” He shouts at the two. Cuphead and Mugman grunts as they stumbled into the alley where Y/n had ran to, leaving a train of water behind—the water that was still leaking from her pants from the sewer incidents. 

Meanwhile, Y/n turned a corner, hopping over trash bags and trash cans, her shoes thumping heavily on the concrete. She hugged the book close to her chest before abruptly stopping, she quickly took her bookbag off and unzipped it, it was wet and heavy but it would do as she needed something to carry the book—despite its look, it was heavy. She placed the straps onto her bag and breathed heavily as she gazed at the locked fense..it was the other side of the town—which she can certainly find another way there and easier way—but she didn’t want to run back to the way she escaped. 

“Gotcha!” She felt hands on her shoulders and she let out a yelp before quickly turning around and shoving the perpetrator, only to reveal Cuphead who had a smile on his face. “Hey hey! It’s just me.” He tells the human. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows and grumbled. “Don’t do that..” she muttered.

“Here, you find the others and leave town.” Cuphead starts as he walks passed her and over to the fence that was locked, the two certainly couldn’t get over it and he was certain with the small section of the town he had already been through, her friends had to be on that side as he didn’t spot them earlier. He points a finger at the padlock, and a beam of blue light shoots from his fingertip, hitting the padlock which immediately falls to the ground, the smell of burnt copper was pungent, her eyes stared down the dark and red hot steel on the ground. Cuphead pushed open the door of the gate and turned to Y/n and motioned her through. 

“You can shoot through your finger?” She asks him as she slowly shuffles past him, he was silent for a moment before nodding. “Yeah..”  he says. 

“I can show ya’ a few t-“ he took a moment to actually look at her before sucking in a smile, realizing that teaching her..magic wasn’t exactly possible considering she was a human. 

“Neeever…mind.” He lets out a nervous chuckle. Y/n steps through the gate and looks around and let’s out a sigh before turning to look at Cuphead. 

“Okay. And you said the church is on the 46th street—20 minutes from here?” She asks him and Cuphead nods. 

“Yes, go there! And get the crystal, and we’ll be as good as a pair of new shoes.” Cuphead says. Y/n nods and Cuphead glanced over his shoulder back into the alley. 

“Now hurry! I’ll be in town whenever you guys get it—please don’t die.” He tells her before backing away and Y/n nods. 

“I’ll try.”  She tells him..which was mostly something she was telling herself.  Cuphead winked at her before he turned and walked back into the alleyway. “Catch ya’ later sugarbelle!” He tells her. 

Y/n watched as he rushed off, she turned around and glanced down the sidewalk—in search of her friends. 

“Okay..” she tells herself as she starts to quickly rush down the sidewalk, hands on the straps of her bag. 

She walked past the citizens of the town minding their business and doing what they do best. She repeated the location in her head as she turned a corner, 20 minutes from town—shouldn’t be that far of a drive. That’s if she can even find her friends. 

She rounded a corner and heard a distance shouting, perking up at the sound she smiled—they were alive! Or..she assumed that was them. The voices were far off—but she followed them, jogging with the intent to find her friends, she started to track down the distant sound like a lost pup looking for their way home.

Her clothes were still wet—yet damp but she was surprisingly proud of herself with how far she made it without dying because of it. She rounded another corner only to be suddenly lifted into the air, she yelped and held tightly onto the bookbag—considering that was what was holding her up.  Her eyes immediately looked ahead to see Mangosteen, standing right beside him was another toon—with a dice head and wearing a pristine purple and lavender suit, he was looking off somewhere else until he looked at Y/n, who had shrunk slightly—not because of his gaze. But who was standing next to him. The Devil. Despite..his name. The Devil wasn’t this enormous guy with red scaly skin and piercing red eyes. He was around the height of the dice guy—still taller than Y/n herself—but a normal height as any person. He held a trident in his hand, his yellow eyes gleaming at Y/n. 

“So you’re Y/n.” He says. Y/n opened her mouth slowly but nothing came out—the bag holding her body in mid air, if they got their hands on the book, she was certain she would have an awfully hard time getting it back—she already was thankful for Cuphead saving her tail and even getting her the book back—which she was certain he would be reprimanded for ‘accidentally’ letting the person they were supposed to kill snatch the book back. No doubt this was Cuphead’s boss. 

Y/n breathed heavily as she looked at the Devil. “Yes..” her voice came out in a hushed tone.

“You know..” The Devil starts. Y/n’s eyes managed to wander away—the streets were empty, she could have sworn there were people walking around just the—only the cars filling in the space to tell her that people clearly lived in the town. The wind blowing through trees, hearing the leaves rustling against each other and a few birds chirping in the distance.

“You don’t have to die.” He tells her. Y/n moves her gaze back to the Devil. His gaze was hard and attentive as if wanting her attention on him—clearly that reason being he was trying to give her a bargain. 

“You give us that book, and we’ll be out of you and your friends' hair. No one will be harmed.” He starts. Y/n remained silent, her heart pounding in her chest as she felt her arms become weak from hanging onto the straps of her bag. 

“But you have to make a deal with me.” He tells her. A deal..he spoke to her as if he were trying to calm down a frightened child that had been cornered. 

“You won’t come back looking for the book if I let you go.”  He finished. Y/n felt herself slowly get placed back onto the ground, the bag bringing its regular weight back onto her shoulders. 

“How will I know you’re not lying?” She cautiously tells him. The Devil rolled his eyes and deadpans. “I make deals for a living, I get something in return, you get something in return—all you have to do is just give me the book.” He grumbled. 

Y/n actually thought about it…did they really need that book..? Then again..it was important..what was she thinking?! Making a deal with the Devil?! That’s the number one thing any human knew not to do. She took a step back and furrowed her eyebrows at him. 

“No.” She tells him. Sternly, Dice raises his eyebrows in amusement. “Hm. Smart girl.” He says. Devil only gleamed at Y/n. The human backs away, her eyes trailing away from the figures ahead of her and down the sidewalk—a free easy escape. 

“You know you humans are very odd, I mean, you’re rather choose death and to keep some stupid book safe you don’t know anything about, than life?” The Devil blew a raspberry and placed his hands on his hips. “You’re no fun honestly, don’t you think Dice?” The Devil averted his eyes to the man beside him but he was busy looking over his shoulder behind him.

“She got away.” Dice says. The Devil was silent for a moment before looking back at the spot that Y/n once stood to see the girl wasn’t nowhere to be found. 

“Wha—“ he quickly turned around and gazed at the ground to see a small trail of water from her damp clothes imprinted on the sidewalk. 

“HOW?!” He shouts. 

Meanwhile, Y/n ran down the sidewalk in search for her friends, her legs were really growing tired the more she ran—but she soon crossed a corner, and immediately was tackled to the ground, despite her wanting it to be someone she knew—she was met with the unfortunate face of Bettigan—who took the time to tackle her, the two tumbled to the ground, Y/n’s breathe as snatched from her lungs upon the impact, but she made sure Bettigan’s wouldn’t get the bookbag. Once the two slowed down in their summersaults, she quickly tried to get up, but Bettigan quickly pinned her to the ground by her shoulders. 

“Gotcha!” He shouts at her. Y/n acted on impulse and latched her teeth onto the closet thing near her—which was his wrist, she quickly sank her teeth into his clothed wrist, and he howled in pain and snatched his body from her, she quickly pushed him away and snagged herself off the ground and ran past him—Bettigan tried grabbing her, but his finger only nicked her book bag. 

He quickly stood up as he held onto his wrist in pain, Y/n quickly fell into the brick wall of the building as she tripped over her shoes—but she spotted a plank leaning against the wall and quickly picked it up and turned to Bettigan. 

“Yeah!” She smiled at him and boasted, holding the plank as if it were a bat. “Got you now!” 

Bettigan furrowed his eyebrows and glowered at the girl. As he rubbed his wrist, Y/n  laughed mockingly as she shook the plank above her head, holding it as some sort of victory token, but boasting seemed to get to her head as the plank slipped from her hand, and fell ontop of her head, the last thing she remembered was Bettigan opening his mouth as if she caught him off guard, and everything cutting out and going black. 

“Y/n..”

“Wake up, kid…”

“Is she gonna be okay?”

“What happened?”

“I think she hit her head.”

“I found her like that when I was tryna find Bendy.”

“Geez..she hit it real good too..”

“Oh…poor girl…”

“Give her some room guys.”

“Who the hell is she again?”

“M/n’s daughter.”

The voices were muffled, a small shimmer of light poured through her eyelids, Y/n’s head felt tight with tension and she could finally feel her surroundings, she was laying on something soft, a what she could assume—a blanket draped over her and a hand gently resting on her head. 

She slowly opened her eyes, squinting gently at the ceiling light. But once her squinted eyes were adjusted and the blurriness subsided she spotted her friends! Bendy, Boris, Alice, Felix, Donald, Oswald, Panchito, Edgar and two other toons she wasn’t familiar  with, stood over her. 

“What happened..?” Y/n muttered. Felix smiled down at her and gently placed the ice pack onto the crown of her head. “Well, I thought someone hit you in the head with a plank that was beside you—thankfully I got there before Bettigan could do anything to you.” He tells her. 

Right…right! How could she forget? The damn plank hit her in the head, via herself. She felt the need to punch herself, that’s so embarrassing, she made a promise, to not even remotely tell them what happened, just push the blame on Bettigan, he’ll be fine, they all hated the guy anyway. 

“Where’s the book?” Y/n asks. Bendy motioned to Edgar with his hand, the spider held her bookbag up and smiled. 

“It’s with us. When Felix found you, you were really the last person we needed to find before leavin’ the area.” He explained. Y/n’s eyes finally glanced around her surroundings, it was the hotel room, Felix’s hotel room, to be exact. Thank goodness..

A sigh left Y/n’s mouth and she furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Ya know, I never knew M/n had a daughter. What a world.” Charley says, his arms crossed as he looked at Y/n, the human moved her gaze  to look at him as Alice slowly rolled her eyes at Charley, but surprisingly didn’t say anything. 

“Well! This was an eventful day.” Panchito says. Oswald nods in agreement. “Yeah, didn’t expect to be chased for…” Oswald silently counted in his head. “7 and a half hours.” 

“Jeez, it was that long?” Bendy asks Oswald, and Oswald nods. “Surprised we didn’t get a public distribution ticket, most definitely needed one with the way we broke almost every window in town.” Oswald muttered. Donald only snickered in the background. 

“Well. Y/n needs some rest and so do you all.” Alice says and Boris had sat down on the ground and rested his head on Y/n’s stomach, similar to what a dog would do, he seemed pretty exhausted himself. 

“Well, she just woke up, and I’m not sure if she has a concussion or not, which I am very certain she does, so it’s best to stay up for the next hour.” Felix placed a paw on Y/n’s head where the plank had hit her. 

“I thought you were supposed to rest when you got concussions.” Donald questions and Felix nods. “Not entirely, that’ll leave a good chance into falling into a coma, you need to exercise the brain first to make sure it’s functioning the right way.” Felix says. Charley looks away from the cat and to Y/n. 

“How many fingers am I holdin’ up?” Charley had held his hand up and held up 4 fingers, and of course Y/n clearly saw how many fingers he held up. 

“Fou-“ and just as she was about to reply he had put a finger down and now it was 3. 

“Wrong. Clearly, something’s wrong with her.” Charley looks at Felix. Alice furrowed her eyebrows and nudged at Charley.  

“Well. Now that we got the book bag, what now? The cup brothers want to kill us.” Bendy asks Felix, the cat thought for a moment, silently contemplating.

“There’s a church that we need to go to.” Y/n points out and Bendy looks at her and gives her a confused expression. 

“Cuphead and Mugman are apart of the book, I found that out earlier today—“

“Oh great..” Donald grumbled as he rubbed his temple—it just felt like problems piled onto each other one after the other.

“And we can’t leave town unless we get them with us—but we can’t do that because the devil has them under some deal bond—“

“Wait, wait, wait.” Bendy had his eyes closed before he opened his eyes and looked at Y/n. “And how did you find all this out?” He asks her. If Y/n could at the time, a sweat drop would roll down her forehead. 

“Uh..Cuphead told me.” She quickly.

“Kid, if your mother found out I let you talk to the person that’s out to kill you, she’ll have me 6 feet under.” Bendy exclaims 

“Well if ma’ found out what we were all doing period she would pop a blood vessel but you don’t hear me complaining so we’re both on the same page.” Y/n told him and Charley laughed and nudged Barley. “Aye, this gal got some spunk!” He laughed obnoxiously and Barley only blinked slowly and grumbled under his breath from being nudged so hard. 

“Continue what you were saying.” Y/n felt Felix gently pat her head to get her back on track. 

“We clearly need them with us, there’s this church in town that has this crystal—or jewel—it keeps the devil away from them and they need it—which means if we plan on getting them to come with us—we need to get that jewel.” Y/n tells everyone and Alice immediately nods. 

“That’s the reason why we came down here.” Alice brings up before motioning to Barley. 

“Barley made a speculation that the cup brothers would go to the monastery to search for the jewel. And no surprise that’s exactly what they’re doing—or—what they were going to do, didn’t exactly expect them to be after you all.” Alice says and Y/n nods. 

“Well, I spoke to Cuphead, and it’s really not their choice—he said if they didn’t get the book then the Devil would kill his brother.” She says and Donald grimaces at that. “Oh man..” he says. 

“That..yeah..that’s pretty bad.” Alice said slowly. Which was a very hard decision if it were Y/n. Kill an innocent person—or let your sibling die? As prude as it may sound—she would have to go with killing the person—but Cuphead seemed to have his ways with thinking and planning. 

“Yeah, we figured that out already.” Bendy says—clearly wanting Y/n to go on, they already knew Cuphead and Mugman were after a jewel—via Felix telling them. 

“Well we need to get that Jewel if we plan on getting them with us anytime soon. Once we get the jewel, we give it to them and take them with us and that way the Devil won’t be able to get to them.” She says. 

“And how are we supposed to get it? I thought nuns were at the church.” Oswald asks and Alice seemed to already have that down. 

“Yes, there is. I'm sure you guys can just go and—I dunno. Ask for it.” She says. 

“That’s if the damn thing even really works.” Charley muttered under his breath and frankly Bendy had to agree with him. 

“Well it's best to try and just go there to get it. That’s our only option as of right now unless we stay back here in town running around.” Felix points out—which clearly no one wanted to do, going to look for the jewel would be the best option. 

“What other choice do we have..” Donald grumbled and Panchito only rocks back and forth on his feet with a smile.

Despite accidentally hitting herself in the head, she could still remember the address bright and clear..thank goodness. 

“I know the address? So that’s good.” Y/n says as she slowly sits up, Boris removing his head from her stomach, the tension in her body was still there but not as intense as earlier, her head felt light and she felt the area the plank landed on her head. Alice handed her a piece of paper and a pen and Y/n took it and wrote down the address. 

“Well. We’ll leave tomorrow morning. So everyone get a good night's rest…” Felix says. 

And that was one thing Y/n most certainly needed. 

-

Leaving early in the morning was hard—forcing herself awake and trudging to the car was the only thing she could remember before immediately falling back to sleep in the car. 

Y/n was placed in the backseat by Bendy after he spotted her trudging back to the couch to lay down—of course he was tired from waking up at 6 in the morning but he never saw anyone that exhausted. At first he thought it was because the small hit to the head stirred her up a bit but then again he had to think, the human body used way more energy than toons and was very fragile compared to his. 

Waiting for the others, Bendy gently placed a hand on Y/n’s head as she leaned against the seat of the backseat struggling to stay awake. “Jeez, ya’ that tired?” 

“What time is it..?” Y/n softly asks, a throw blanket that Alice gave her was wrapped around her shoulder. 

“It’s 6 in the morning.” He replied as he gazed down at the crown of Y/n’s head, making sure the small knot on her head was recovering just fine. 

Y/n couldn’t remember much else before drifting back off to sleep in pure bliss, the 20 minute drive felt much longer—thankfully for her, she wanted and needed all the sleep she could get, and before she knew it she was standing right infront of the wooden double doors to a chapel. 

Everyone stood next to each other as they stared at the chapel—the sound of birds chirping and the wind rustling through the trees was evident. The location was just a few minutes away from town, with nice trees and vegetation around, the dirt pathway had led up to the wooden door, it seemed pretty abandoned considering how quiet it was and peaceful, the sun felt nice too…

“Well, this is it.” Felix announced as they all looked up at the chapel, Barley took a paper from the bulletin announcement board near the path they were standing on. 

“Looks like they’re some well known choir.” He says. Bendy looks at him. “What?” He says. 

“Choir, sing, popular. Jesus, sometimes I think somethin’ is wrong wit’ ye brain.” Barley muttered. Bendy laughs. “Maybe.” He says. 

“Well..I mean it’s good to know that they’re quite popular in town.” Alice says and Oswald slowly shrugs. 

“I dunno, I never heard them before.” He says nonchalantly and Y/n raises an eyebrow. “Uh, because we’re not residents here.” She said as if pointing out the obvious. 

“Oh..” Panchito grimaced as he took another paper from the bulletin board. 

“Oh? Why oh?” Donald quickly asks him as if he knew what that sound meant. 

“Well..it seems that there is a music competition later in this week.” He says—which isn’t exactly their problem so Y/n was confused why he even pointed that out but Charley was a step ahead of her. 

“What does that have to do with what we’re doing?” He grumbled. 

“Well. The thing is, the prize is the jewel.” He turns the paper around and shows it to everyone and Bendy immediately places both hands on his head. “Oh god—you can’t be serious—“ 

“This is exactly why I said, let’s steal it.” Charley emphasized as he gave Alice a pointed look and she only rolled her eyes. “Nobody is stealing anything.” She tells him. 

“Wait. But I thought they had it.” Y/n placed her hands on her hips and Panchito looked back down at the paper, rereading the year date—and indeed the date was up to the year currently. 

“I can only assume that somewhere along the lines the church probably lost a competition and lost the jewel.” Felix says and Y/n ran a hand down her face. What now?! 

“Well I mean. If the town is holding a singing competition, and—clearly the church is known for a good choir, why not just create a short alliance with them to get the jewel?” Boris brings up, which actually was a good idea and Felix smiled. 

“Not a bad idea Boris. This town is heavily known for music and their singing, just latch onto a team and root for them to win and then boom, a jewel.” He says and Donald slowly shakes his head. 

“That’s if they're even willing to hand it over.” He says, which also was—something to think about as well. 

“Which is why I said. Steal it.” Charley muttered under his breath with his arms crossed. “It’ll make everythin’ ten times easier.” 

“I will punch you.” Alice hissed through her teeth, her halo flickered ever so slightly. Bendy motioned towards Alice. 

“Alice, you think of something, you’re the one good with plans.” He says and Alice’s eyes flickered towards the building.

“I agree with Boris. If the town has the jewel and the only way to get it is to win it from a competition, and we have a perfectly good team right in front of us, we better use what we have.” 

“When you all put it like that, that feels so wrong.” Y/n says and Bendy only grunts. “Better than stealing it.” He points out and Charley only rubbed his temple. 

“Life or death. And you choose to sing for it.” 

“Oh! I love music!” Panchito smiled. 

“How on earth are y’all going to get nuns to help you out?” Barley brings up. Alice thinks for a moment. 

“Just say we’re converts.” She says before walking over to the door and immediately knocking on it. 

Charley looks at Bendy. “If this doesn't work. We’re stealing.” 

“What is up with you and stealin?”

Edgar squeaks and shakes his head at Charley as if scolding him. 

“What? It’s easier than this!” 

“I just think you’re afraid of churches.” Bendy teases. 

As the boys stood in the background going back and forth, the door slowly opened, an elderly woman no older than. The age of 60 stood in the doorway. Wearing the signature habit, the woman looks at Alice before her eyes slowly panned towards everyone behind her.

Alice smiled. 

“Hello, we just heard about this..wonderful…” her eyes gazed around the empty area. “Life filled place.” She says and Y/n snorted in the background at that. 

“And we really need a place to stay. You see, we..are..a band—choir. We’re a choir.” She motioned towards everyone behind her.

“We heard about this place and how nice it was and the choir—oh-I heard that was the best part. But, we’re new in town and wanted to join the competition, and we were asking if my by any chance we can stay for a few stays..”  she says. The woman looks at her before speaking. 

“Sister Mary Patrick.” The woman says. And Alice smiles before nodding. 

“Alice.” She says and Mary Patrick nods. 

“I’ve been teaching myself to convert.” Alice brings up and the woman nods—Alice clearly lying through her teeth. 

“And—“ 

“You guys doin’ the competition or no?” Charley rudely interrupted and Alice slowly turned to him and furrowed her eyebrows before looking back at Mary Patrick. 

“Forgive my friends, they are converts as well. They have a hard time..falling back.”  Alice says. 

“We don’t take in any outsiders.” The woman says.

“Oh but please. We can be very useful for you all.” Alice motioned towards the bulletin board. “In fact we would love to team up with you all for the competition.”

“I’m afraid our choir is not up to date for any of that.” 

“But I’m sure that we can help with that. You give us a place to stay for the time being, and we discuss your choir.” 

“I don’t necessarily make propositions.” 

“A hand for a hand.”

Alice didn’t seem to let go of the matter, latching her teeth into the subject and not letting go. 

The woman did seem to contemplate for a moment. If she didn’t let them in, Y/n didn’t know what else to turn to. Other than..stealing..via an idea from Charley.

The woman opens the door and walks in. “Come in.” She says. Alice looks bad at the group with a sly smile before walking in.

“No way.” Oswald says. 

“I’m surprised she’ll let him in.” Charley motioned towards Bendy, Bendy only scratched his back and grunted. “Who could say no to this face?” 

“Me, without a breath.” Charley grumbled before walking past him. 

Following in—Y/n’s eyes examined the chapel, it seemed to be like a regular waiting room—beige carpets, paintings, dingy white walls that use some repainting and the faint smell of dust, this place clearly hadn’t been in contact with life other than the nuns for years. 

There were a few other nuns walking around—dusting or..doing whatever. Once smiled at Y/n and Y/n returned the gesture. 

Mary Patrick had somehow walked behind Bendy and examined him first—prior to Charley’s statement. Bendy’s eyes followed the woman as she looked at him. 

“What are you?'' she asks him. Bendy blinks. “Me.” He says. Alice slowly shook her head and rubbed the back of her neck. 

Mary Patrick placed the tip of a pointer stick on Bendy’s mouth, lifting it up to reveal his cheek teeth in his maw. He moved his face slightly and closed his mouth. 

“You’re an odd creature.” She says. “Thank you, I get that often.” Bendy says bashfully and one of the nuns giggles in the background and cooed. 

“Awww.”

“I can assure you, despite his looks, he is a very kind and gentle person.” Alice says as she walks over to Y/n and gently pushes her to Bendy as if making them hug, which Y/n did wrap her arms around Bendy in a hug and Bendy smiles and returns the unexpected hug. 

“He’s very good with humans.” She says as the two let go of eachother. 

“So, do we have a deal?” Alice asks. 

Sister Mary Patrick sighed before taking a deep breath. She didn’t seem to take a liking to the group. Standing in a line, Y/n, Bendy, Boris, Alice, Charley, Barley, Edgar, Donald, Panchito, Oswald and Felix watch the nun as she gives them a calculating expression. She was contemplating whether they were able to enter the sanctuary..

“Dear god she’s gonna sing.” Charley muttered under his breath in irritation, of course..how could Y/n forget. In a town where everyone sings..and lives their life off of music. Cliche. She’d usually skip this part in films but this was real life and she couldn’t do anything but shut up, sit and listen. 

“Outside, life’s a mess. No one is pure of spirit any longer. There’s no wrong or right, just wrong and wronger. People have amused themselves to death.”  She lifts an arm quickly as she sang—motioning towards the large windows. 

“Outside, life is grim. Filled with smut and scandal to the brim-“ she then landed her eyes to Bendy, almost grimacing.

“I suppose there may be room for him, frankly I don’t plan to hold my breath.” But she closed her eyes and inhaled. Was she..accepting them in? 

“But..” she was.

“Here within these walls days are filled with grace. God is in his place. His wisdom still respected.” She turned around and walked down the aisle. Her voice is sweet and caring and passionate.

“Here within these walls. Life has a different pace from life beyond our doors.” She turns back around towards the group and smiles before continuing.

“And for what it’s worth, this life’s now yours!” 

“Oh thank god..” Bendy sighed in heavy relief. Placing a hand on his chest in pure relief. Alice nudges Bendy to pay attention. 

“Outside all is vice. People now are absolutely shameless. Most including those who shall be nameless. Hardly seem to know or even care.” A nun passed Mary Patrick some folded clothes as she sang. 

“Outside, all is sin! And I won’t have the outside coming in. Trust me . It’s a battle you won’t win-“ she glanced at Y/n.

“Frankly, dear, you haven’t got a prayer.”

“What?” Y/n asks. Tilting her head in confusion. She didn’t do anything though..Mary Patrick only smiled at her.

“Here within these walls…life is sweet and good. Faith is understood. And selfishness rejected.”

“Here within these walls, work, prayer and sisterhood are what life’s built upon. That’s how it will stay-” 

She stepped over to Felix and handed him the pile of clothes. “-Or else you’re gone!” 

Felix fumbled with the clothes and gave her a wavering smile.

“So put aside your gluttony!” She glanced at Charley. Who raised an eyebrow.

“Put aside your pride.” She glanced at Alice. 

“As for carnal lust, you need a break I trust. Put it all aside!” Felix passes the clothes down as Y/n gets hers she was busy watching The nun.

“Put aside intemperance, profanity as well put aside each remnant of your formal wordy shell.” Mary Patrick glanced back at the group. Her eyes studying them all. The nuns were still behind Mary Patrick. As they hummed their hymns. 

“Here within these walls…all is stripped away, surrender and obey. That’s all that is expected. Here within these walls all else is kept at bay, though the world may go astray, here eternal truth hold sway.” 

“Here within these walls, life is truly blessed, here you’re god’s own guest, celestially protected. Here within these walls all’s for the very best. And always shall be thus-“

A nun held out an outfit, a dress for Y/n. As others did the same for her group. All showing tailored outfits. For them. Mary Patrick looked at Alice. 

“And if heaven’s will be done. Here she’ll just be one more nun. Safe within these walls..” Mary Patrick nods before turning around to walk off. Singing. 

“As..one of..us..”

-

“Oh this should be fun! Now. Girls with girls. Boys with boys!” A nun pranced down the hall.  The mahogany floor creaking under the weight of the group. “If I hear one more damn musical number. I might lose my mind..” Charley grumbles. Boris’s tail wagged. “I dunno. I kinda liked it!” 

Y/n trudged down the hall with her book bag wrapped around her shoulders. The girl was yet again tired, in fatigue all she wanted to do was lay down and rest her feet, she assumed all the running and shouting earlier today finally got to her. Alice nudged Charley and glared at him, Charley raised an eyebrow. 

“Stop, or else you’ll get us kicked out…” She whispered to him. Felix stood in front of the nun, as the rest of the group stood behind him. The nun had turned around, it was the end of the hallway. And on either side of her were two wooden doors. The nun lifts a hand and points to her left. “Ladies. This is your room. As for you young men-“ she points to her right. 

“This will be yours.” She smiles. Felix smiled at her and nodded. “Thank you so much.”

“Oh! No problem at all. Sister Mary Patrick rarely speaks to anyone from the outside. You all must have caught her attention!” 

Y/n walked over to the door, the room that was assigned to both her and Alice. She twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. Right when she was thinking of immediately falling asleep she heard the nun quickly something in.

“And once you all are finished getting dressed. Please. Come down to the eating hall. Everyone would love to meet you all.” The nun smiled at the group. The nun walked past Felix before making her way down the hall. Humming a tune to herself. 

“At Least we all have a place to stay?” Panchito smiled at the group. Alice hummed in response. She held up the outfit that was given to her. A black dress from what it seemed. And boy did Alice love dresses. “They’re kind enough to let us in. That’s for sure.” She replies. 

“This is a horrible idea. Alice. You represent nothing of a nun.” Bendy glared at Alice. She only smiled at him before crossing her arms. Giving the Demon a taunting expression. “And you think you do? Tutu gal-“ she teased him in a mocking tone. Bendy’s form went stiff as he gasped in shock. Before he could try and quip something at the Angel. Charley slapped his hand on Bendy’s mouth as he rubbed his temple. “Shut up. Both of you. I do agree with Bendy. Alice, you're the last person that should represent this group as a trustworthy clean nun.”

“Hey!-“

“But that doesn't matter.”  Charley interrupts Alice. Felix nods before turning around to face the group. “He’s right. At Least we’re here. Let’s all get dressed and meet them all in the lunch room.”

-

Y/n stared at herself in the mirror. The clothing was bland. Not that she was really hoping the clothes wouldn’t be too outlandish. Of course she wasn’t making fun of the way nuns dressed. No. It wasn’t exactly her style. The dress reached right to her knees. It was a boring brown dull color. The dress wasn’t sleeveless—in fact she had a brown sweater vest. Under that vest was a white button up. The outfit sort of resembled some sort of private school uniform that all kids hated wearing on a daily basis. Y/n had tossed her tennis shoes by her bed. And wore the black flats that were given to her. Hearing shuffling from the side of the room. Alice was fixing herself up in a mirror that was in a bathroom connected to their room.The room had two beds.  And one bathroom. That was all. 

“This dress is ugly…” Y/n whispered. Alice heard the girl mutter under her breath before she peeked from the bathroom she was in at Y/n. Alice soon slipped from the bathroom and slowly walked over to Y/n. Placing a hand on Y/n’s shoulder. Alice smiled. “You look wonderful. What do you mean?” She asks. Y/n turns to look at Alice surprised. Alice once again smiled at her. A close lipped comforting smile.

Y/n soon smiled back at the toon.

“Thank you..” Y/n mutters. Alice nods before she reaches and fixes the sleeves of Y/n’s shirt. “No problem dear. We won’t be here for long. We entered the event. Get that gem. And leave.” Alice was trying to reassure Y/n from what it seemed. And Y/n very much appreciated it. 

“And trust me. The Devil won’t put a finger on any of us. You saw how badass- I mean-“ Alice covered her mouth with her fingertips. Y/n immediately burst out laughing at Alice’s slip up. But, Alice soon after laughed as well. “I know, we all do make a great team.” Y/n chuckles soon after. And Alice nods.

Knock knock knock

“Hey. Are you ladies done getting dressed?” It was Felix. Alice and Y/n look over at the door. Alice leaned over slightly to Y/n and whispered to her.  “Is it just me? Or is the cat guy handsome? I would love to make some sweet music with him.” She asks. Y/n smiled slowly before looking at Alice. “Ewww..” she laughed. Alice snickers before walking over to the door and opening it. 

“Yes! We’re ready!” 

-

Once making it to the lunchroom, or cafeteria as Y/n would call it. Y/n glanced around the decent sized room. Once king dinner table. With several chairs that she didn’t care to count. The wooden floors were now replaced with a beige carpet. The golden lights on the wall lit up the room. And there were at least four renaissance paintings from artists that were decorated on the wall. The table had a white cloth that covered the brown table. Several plates were

Placed down. And some dishes were also on the table. Sister Mary Patrick was seated at the end of the table. A solemn expression ridden on her face. One empty and almost soulless. 

“Oh! You all are here!” A short-small-nun raised herself from the table and smiled at the group. 

“Hurray..” Donald mutters. Panchito was busy picking at the seams on his dress shirt. He obviously didn’t like his new clothing that was given to him due to him not paying attention to whatever was going on. 

The boys pretty much all had the same clothing. A dress shirt and slacks. Now Y/n could really say the clothing had no taste at all. 

The nun walked over to Alice and took her hand and gently shook it. “My name is Anitoch. But You all can call me Annie!” Her voice was very high and shrilly. Y/n didn’t know if it was because of her excitement. Or that was just the way that woman's voice was.  Alice smiled before placing a hand on her chance. 

“Nice to meet you Annie. My name is Alice.” Alice then turned around to stand next to Annie and looked upon the group. “And these are my friends. We.. all go around.. spreading.. kindness? And..love around the world!” Alice didn’t know what to say. She had to present herself as someone that was spiritually on track, but frankly, the group didn’t pose as anything like it. 

“Oh god..” Bendy grumbles under his breath. His hand running down his face. Felix looked away from Bendy before he gave Alice a smile. “Yes, we do! how about we introduce ourselves. Yes? In fact, I’ll do the introduction for everyone!” 

Felix seemed to steer the conversation elsewhere as Alice didn’t exactly know how to keep hold of it to make them all seem trustworthy and non threatening. Which they weren’t. Felix didn’t want the head nun, Mary Patrick, To think low of them and kick them out so soon. He walks over to Panchito and places a hand on his shoulder. With Felix’s freehand. He gently swatted Panchito’s hand away from the collar of his shirt from pulling at a seam. Panchito quickly looked up and looked at the nun before smiling, finally getting back on track. 

“This is Panchito.” He then walks over to Donald and Oswald. Standing between the two. Donald had his arms crossed as he waited. As Oswald stood by Felix. His eyes mostly glued on Sister Mary Patrick. Who was listening to the conversation as well. “Donald and Oswald.” 

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

Felix then wanders over to Charley, Barley and Edgar. Where he introduces the three. “Charley, Barley and this Little guy is Edgar.” Charley and Barley didn’t speak. Edgar smiled at the table full of nuns before squeaking a sound that sounded similar to a; ‘hello!’

“Awww! Aren’t you just precious.” Another nun cooed from the table. She clasps her hands together as she smiles at Edgar. 

Felix walks over to Bendy. Who had his arms crossed. “This is Bendy.”  Felix placed a hand on Bendy’s back. Bendy only stared at the nuns. Who all didn’t show much interest in him as they previously did for Edgar. 

“Hi.” Bendy grumbled. Felix rubs between Bendy’s horns before walking over to Y/n and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. 

“And this is Y/n.” Felix smiled at her. Y/n smiled back before looking forward and waving at the nuns. Who all smiled at the girl. All expect Sister Mary Patrick. 

“And my name is Felix.” 

Annie claps her hands before she walks over to the table and looks back at the group. “Wonderful! Nice

To meet you all. As said. My name is Annie. That. Is Mary Patrick.” She motions over to the solemn nun. 

The nuns that were introduced. Were

Clarissa, Danny, Lazerous. An elderly woman. Who seemed to have seen better days. But she didn’t seem like a woman to mess with. Clarissa. Was a young nun.  Nothing really much to her—as well

As Danny…now mentioning it. None of the nuns seemed to stand out really..

And Mary Robert. A young nun. Maybe close to her 20s. She seemed shy and steered clear from eye

Contact of the group. 

Once seated. Y/n being seated next to Alice. As Donald sat on her other side. As the rest of the toons sat down at the table. Y/n had counted in total there were 6 nuns in total. Wonderful…

Y/n stirred the soup around with her spoon. Listening to Danny speak about how she had a dream last night about swimming with dolphins? Whatever the conversation was. Y/n didn’t really care for it. They were only there for one reason. “The event for the church..will you all be entering it this year?” Y/n asks. The nuns on the other side of the table looked over at the girl. Lazarus quickly responded.

“That’s if ol Patrick over here wants to get us back on track!” She laughs. Danny, Clarissa and Annie all laughed lightly as well. Felix looks over at Mary Patrick. Who had yet to touch her soup. 

“Is there any reason that's holding you back from entering ma’am?” He asks. Patrick looks over to Felix. “I just don’t see the reason why we should compete. It is a sin to want to win and battle over something that should bring joy.” She replied. Felix had a feeling—that wasn’t the reason…it had to be something more. But he didn’t push.

“Well. It isn’t necessarily about competing.” Alice pipes up. Y/n glanced at Alice. What was she going to say?

“It’s about having fun. As you said. And you ladies look like you all need it—“

“With practice for singing of course!” Bendy smiled. Slamming his hands on the table. His eyes quickly shoot over to Alice. “In  the comforts of the monastery!” He spoke through his teeth. He seemed to be trying to get something through Alice’s head. Boris looked between the two. His claw tapping the table ever so slightly. “Oh goody…” Charley muttered under his breath. 

Alice smiled at Bendy softly. “Of course within the comforts of this chapel. But may I be honest? There is a lack of. Life around here. Surely entering the event to sing will boost everyone’s excitement.” Alice said. Bendy lowered his head into his hands. Frustrated with Alice of course. Alice seemed to be blunt and wanted to get right to the point. Their main objective. As for Bendy—he didn’t want his group to seem as if they were some fun loving party goers. That would quickly for sure get them kicked out of the chapel. And not to mention fail their goal! 

“Oh yes. I agree with her.”  Danny smiled at Alice’s statement. Turning her gaze to Mary Patrick. Who still held a solemn expression. Yet—she seems to be. Calculating—thinking on Alice’s interjection. “It’s been years.” She replied. Alice smiled once more. “All the better ma’am. Taking a step back from something that you once did often only brings more motivation.” Alice says. And Felix slowly nods. 

“Well…Alice is correct about that.” He says. Alice perks up before looking at Felix with a wide smile. Felix smiled back at her.  

“I suppose. Though—I believe I have no time for any rehearsal and leading everyone in hymns.” Mary Patrick said. Agreeing with Alice—and even agreeing that entering the town's event was a good idea. But something still held her back. Alice looked back over at the head nun before she quickly placed a hand on Y/n’s head. “That’s where me and Y/n come into play ma’am.” She said. Y/n’s spoon slipped from her hand. The girl abruptly quickly tried to catch the spoon before it could fall into the ceramic bowl. But she was too late as the spoon fell into the soup. Causing some specks of soup to fly out and land on Y/n’s forehead.  Everyone looks over at her. Awaiting her response. Y/n felt Alice’s thumb gently rub away the speck of soup that landed on Y/n’s forehead.

“Would you and Sister Alice take my place to help everyone get ready for the event?” Sister Mary Patrick asks Y/n. 

“I—Yes—I don’t mind.” Y/n’s eyebrow twitched as Alice smiled at her before looking at Sister Mary Patrick. “Then it’s settled.”

-

“What are you—nuts?!” Bendy shouts. All gathered in the boys room. Alice had her arms crossed as Bendy stood in front of her. “Oh come on. Be lucky that I persuaded the gal’ to enter the event. The more quickly we do this and win that event. The quicker we’ll be out of this chapel and you all can continue on the road.” Alice defends herself. Bendy squints his eyes. His gloved hand lands on his hip as he stares at Alice. 

“We’ve been chased down…twice now…” Bendy raises a hand to rub at his forehead. Y/n sat on the couch in the room. Watching Alice and Bendy converse with one another. Boris sat next to her. His tail wagging slowly. As Charley, Barley and Edgar stood behind the couch. Felix was standing in the kitchen—behind the counter. His elbows on the tabletop as Donald, Panchito and Oswald. Sat at the counter. 

“And this can stop you all from being tracked down. Can’t you see?” Alice raises an eyebrow. Bendy shook his head. “An event?! Do you know what would happen if word gets out that you’re helping nuns win a singing contest?! The brothers already know what we all look like—and it’s already bad enough that one’s gushin’ over little miss forgetful over there—“ Bendy motions towards Y/n. Y/n blinks before rubbing the back of her neck. 

“Hey! It’s not my fault I didn’t expect to run into them so quickly, besides this was the plan from the beginning—“ she defends. Yet—yes. It was partially her fault. She should have known who Cuphead was from the beginning when running into him. But then again. She didn’t have info that he and his brother were out to kill them. From what she thought from the start until he told her otherwise that is. Feeling that familiar tingle in her stomach. Y/n took her mind from the events earlier today. She focused her attention back on Bendy who had his eyes on her. “Are you serious?” He asks.

“What?” Y/n asks. Alice sighs before flicking Bendy’s horn. Who flinched and quickly looked back at the Angel.

“That doesn't matter. At the end of the day. We need that gem. I mean—how hard could it possibly be for us to win this thing? We have the pop to their—pure—hymns or whatever.” Alice moved her legs to walk—more pace back and forth. 

“Are you sayin’  church choirs are bad at music?” Charley raised an eyebrow. Y/n rarely paid attention to the toon until his voice rumbled behind her. She slightly glanced back and saw Charley with his arms crossed. His gaze on Alice. Alice’s halo flickers before she turns her gaze to Charley. “Not bad…just. Something that doesn't fit with today’s genre.” She didn’t want to come off as rude. She has a pure heart and accepts everyone! 

“But we need to stand out at this contest.” She glanced at everyone. Bendy’s tailed perks up before he looks back at Alice. “That’s the problem!” He shouts. He bared his teeth at her. Hands hands shooting up to tug at his horns. “It defeats the whole purpose of why we’re here. To get away from those stupid brothers!”

“No. We’re here to win that gem. To protect us and then from the devil. Because—might I remind everyone. He’s after you all to eliminate you for that book.” Alice stayed calm and collected. Edgar squeaked. Now sitting by Y/n’s foot. She didn’t know what he said. But Alice nods and motions towards Edgar. “What Eddie said.” She said, Whatever it was. The spider probably agrees with her in some way. 

“Okay you two.” Felix decided to break up the altercation between Bendy and Alice. He wandered over to the two. Placed a hand on Bendy’s shoulder before looking at Alice and then back at Bendy. 

“As much as I agree with you, Bendy. Alice is right—“

“See! Told you!” Alice smiled at Bendy. Her hands clutching the ends of her dress in anticipation. Bendy sneers.

“We need that stone. Not only to protect us. But the brothers as well.” 

“Oh brother…” Donald placed a hand on his beak. He was about to open his mouth to make a snappy remark. But Panchito raised a hand to pin Donald’s beak closed so he could hear what Felix had to say.

“I have to remind you all. The main reason Cuphead and Mugman were on the run—was to get away from the Devil. They didn’t have any intentions working with him. I suspect during the time they were taken from me—he somehow got them to do what he say—“

“Like killing us?” Barley asks. Felix looks over at the eyepatch wearing toon before nodding. “Correct.” He says. Bendy taps his foot to the ground slowly. Well..he supposed Felix was right…

“You want us to still pair with the brothers?” Alice asks. Felix lands his eyes on her and nods. “Yes. I don’t have any plans just leaving them in the hands of the Devil.” Felix seemed very much like a caring toon. A toon that cared deeply for everyone he’s spending his time with. And Y/n agreed with him. Cuphead didn’t seem like someone that would want to harm someone for the fun of it. He was just a regular person. And she would assume his brother was the same. 

“That was the plan the entire time, of course we can’t just leave them, we can’t go around and switch the plan up now!” Y/n exclaims. 

“Okay. So what’s the plan?” Charley asks. Pulling Y/n from her trance. Y/n looks up. “What I said it was prior to us coming here.” She said, she had to admit. She was getting a tad bit irritated.

-

“Alright! Listen up dirtbags!” Y/n stood next to Boris. Infront of her wonderful group of toons she has gotten acquainted with. The wolf held a series of construction paper in his paws. The paper and sharpie was found in the room where Y/n quickly sketched out the plan that she deemed was simple and foolproof. 

Bendy, Alice, Donald, Panchito and Oswald sat on the couch as they watched Y/n. Edgar was seated right by Alice’s foot. As Felix, Charley and Barley stood behind the couch in anticipation.

“Today is Wednesday. The event is on Friday being held at the St. Charles Community Theater downtown. The Choir of Sisters event is obviously going to be what  the town wants to see. Because we’re located in a town where literally everyone sings.” Y/n groans. Charley made a small noise. “Tell me about it..” he muttered. Barley slaps a hand on Charley’s mouth and shushed as he watched Y/n explain.

“We have one day to get ready for this event. We entered late. But that doesn't matter—we’re in the contest now.” She reaches over and moves the blank construction paper in Boris’s hand. Once removing it. It revealed a crudely drawn stick figure sketch of a crowd who resembled nuns. The sketch is poorly made. But everyone could still make out what the sketch was.

“Alice, you have to get the choir ready for the event. As you can see, it has been years since they’ve entered any event—and more than likely sang for a crowd as you can see because the nuns have fallen off and—don’t sound too good.” She said. Pointing to a stick figure of Alice. Who had her arms up and a smile on her face. 

“Oh look—I look so happy.” Alice cooed at the drawing. 

Y/n took the paper from Boris’s hand and tossed it behind her back somewhere in the room. “This church was notable for its winnings in any singing event that was held in town—not only do we have an advantage of winning because these nuns have a potential to sing very well and have a reputation with the town for their singing. But we also have an advantage to gain attention towards ourselves.” She points to the sloppy sketch of nuns scrawled on the paper standing resembling a choir of them singing in front of some more crudely drawn stick figures—which were the townfolkes. Y/n continued speaking—or more so going over the excellent fool proof plan.

“Which potentially would grab the attention of the brothers.” She took the paper yet again and tossed the paper behind her. Pointing to the new drawing Boris held. A stick drawing of Cuphead and Mugman stood next to each other stiffly. 

“Wait—how would getting their attention benefit us?” Donald asks. Raising an eyebrow. Y/n smiled. “We get them on our team.”

“And how do you know we’ll even win this contest?” Barley asks. Alice stood up quickly. “Oh trust me. We’ll win this. And we’ll get that stone one way or another.” She turned around to face the toons on the couch. 

“It’s a risk we’ll have to be willing to take.” 

Boris’s tail wagged. His ears perk up quickly. “This sounds fun!” He laughs. Charley waved off Boris’s excitement before planting his attention back on Alice. 

“Not to be rude or anythin’ but—the nuns fell off. They can’t even sing—-You all heard them when we first came in here. It’ll at the least take months to get them all soundin’ perfect for the event. If we don’t have a good choir—we have no gem.” Charley did make a point. And Y/n agreed with him. If Alice couldn’t fix the nuns up by Friday. Their chance of winning the contest would be slim. 

“Why don’t we just steal it?” Barley asks. Edgar turned around and with a quick squeak. Crossing his

Two arms and frowning at the toon. Barley raised an eyebrow. “What? I mean. If all else fails. That’s what we’ll have ta’ resort to.” He defends.

“Did I not say that 4 times already?!” Charley shouts.

“No one is stealing anything.” Alice got the attention of everyone in the room. She had a look of bravery and determination. A look Boris and Bendy knew all too well.

“I’ll have them ready in one day.” She smiled.

-

Y/n sat down on the bed and sighed. Letting tension out in her legs. What a day..

The day was—eventful. Confusing yes but—exhilarating. Their second chase and they got away again?! Now no one could beat that—she felt like she was in a movie! Not to mention the way Alice and the others came and swooped in! 

“Alright girly.” Alice closed the door to the room. She sighed and wandered over to her bed. Visibly Y/n could see the fatigue in Alice’s eyes. The angel sat down on the bed—already dressed in her sleepwear that were given to her—thank goodness Y/n didn’t have to wear the sleepwear from the nuns as she already packed PJ’s that she had yet to wear.

Y/n crawled in her bed up to the pillow and sat down. Looking back over to Alice who was now situated under the blankets in her pillows. 

“We have a busy day ahead of us—we need to sleep.” Alice spoke. She reached over to the night stand and pulled the metal string to the lamp. And the lights turned off. Little light in the room but Y/n didn’t care—just what she needed as she slipped under the blankets. And stared at the ceiling in silence. Alice’s halo actually let off a peaceful dull golden glow. The Angel already had her back turned towards Y/n. But—something was bothering Y/n. She couldn’t sleep. She spent most of the nights in the company of the boys to sleep with. But it was too quiet. 

Just what she needed.

She didn’t even remember drifting off to sleep. But when she did. She felt as if it were for a second before boom!

“Rise and shine!”  Alice’s voice pierced through Y/n’s ears. Y/n grimaced. Through her eyelids she could see the shades were torn open and the light started to seep through her eyes. Turning the opposite direction of the window. Y/n covered her face with the pillow she was laying on. 

Alice smiled before she turned around to face Y/n’s figure on the bed. Holding some folded clothes in her arms—she was already dressed for the day—the clothes were for Y/n. Alice smiled before she walked around the bed and placed a hand on the pillow before lifting it up. “Come on Lazy. We got work to do!” She smiled at Y/n. Y/n slowly opens her eyes and looks at Alice. Her eyes soon landed on the clothes in Alice’s arms. Y/n huffed before sitting up.

“Do I have to wear that?” She asks. Alice glanced at the clothes in her hands before nodding. “Why yes of course. Why? I think you look adorable in it!” She hands the dress to Y/n. Similar to the one she was given yesterday—in fact…it was the same dress. Y/n took the dress and placed it on her lap. Alice stood up and stretched her arms. 

“Today is the day. First rehearsal for the choir.” Alice seemed  pretty determined and set on to get the choir ready for the concert. Yes there was that small part in Y/n that wanted to face the reality and say there was a big chance in not succeeding in the event. But with Alice’s confidence. Y/n couldn’t help but trust the Angel to feel comfortable with what she was doing. 

Alice was fixing and tidying up her blanket on her bed as she spoke to Y/n. “I can finally be able to prove to Bendy that I am reliable and better without him.” 

So there was something more to it. Y/n turned her gaze to Alice. Watching her finish fixing the blankets on the bed. Y/n spoke up. “You’re using this as an advantage to get back at Bendy?” She asks. She thought that Alice and Bendy had an arc of always ticking each other off and pulling light hearted jokes with each other—but with Alice’s expression. That immediately changes. Looking over at Y/n. She shakes her head. “Oh no, dear. I truly do want to help this church. But my main reason is because I want to prove myself.” 

Prove herself? Y/n raised a hand to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Prove what?” Y/n asks. Alice slowly fiddled with her fingers—almost bashfully. Her halo dimmed down—giving off a dull golden color—almost like a dead lightbulb.

“I’m not exactly the best character that people would be too interested to look at on the show.” She said. Alice wandered over to Y/n’s bed and sat down. Alice glanced down at the white comforter before she found a loose thread on the blanket and gently fiddled with it as she felt Y/n’s gaze on her. Now interested in Alice’s statement and sudden change in demeanor. 

“I’ve mostly just been a supporting character in the show. Well—I am—but…” she raised her gaze and looked at Y/n. Who was still looking at her. “I just thought there would be more to me that people would see.” 

Raising an eyebrow. Y/n spoke up. “What do you mean?” She asks. Of course she’s seen an episode or two of the show. But never paid much mind to it. The show was really funny. Yes. But. She couldn’t understand what Alice meant. 

“The reason why I want to help this choir. Is to prove to Bendy that I am just as good as he is.” 

Now that explains a lot.

“But. You’re already as good as he is. I know some kids out there have so many teddy bears of you.” Y/n smiled at Alice. Yeah. Tons of kids in her neighborhood had small Alice plushies and they walked around with them—adorable to see every once in a while. And if Alice needed assurance. Then Y/n surely was there to give to her. But that didn’t seem to satisfy Alice. Or At Least that wasn’t what she was worried about.

Chuckling lightly. Alice slowly shook her head. “Oh no. I know the kids take a liking of me. It—“

“Is it Bendy?” Y/n interrupts. Finally getting the gist, maybe the two were on bad terms? Of course it would be unfortunate—but it seemed that was what Alice was implying. AndY/n stands correct as Alice nods. Y/n’s expression slowly turns sour. Almost frowning.

“He thinks I’m not as good as him—or smart—or—capable of doing things on my own. Of course I love Bendy to death. But at times he’s a bit much when he’s on his bad side.” Alice reaches a hand up to fix a strand of her hair falling out of place. She looks away from Y/n—almost embarrassed from her confession. 

“I’m always in his shadow. So—I want to prove that I am good!” Her demeanor changed yet again before she turned her gaze back to Y/n. Her halo flickers for a moment before that golden lovely glow comes back—but Y/n frowned—yes of course she only knew Bendy for so little. But she believed Alice. Bendy did at times get—mean? Irritable. But that was all. But with Alice’s raw emotion. She felt for the Angel. 

Taking Y/n’s silence as a bad thing. Alice sighed before standing up. “But. Sorry to toss that all on you hun, I know you’re his friend and a—“

“Don’t apologize.” Y/n interrupts. Looking at Alice. Y/n gave a pure smile. “You’re gonna do great today.”

-

“Okay everyone!” Alice’s voice echoed in the chapel. Rows of pews empty. A red soft carpet beneath. In front of the pews behind the altar stood the nuns in an organized group—standing on risers that were on the altar. 

“Today is our first rehearsal!” Alice cheers. Bouncing on her heels with excitement. The other nuns held excited expressions themselves. Finally! Something good to do instead of wandering around for half their time! Sister Mary Patrick was seated at one of the pews in the middle. Her eyes solemnly glued on the nuns and on Alice. Y/n took notice that Mary Patrick had a lingering atmosphere around her. The woman didn’t seem phased at all or really interested in anything. More so quiet and distant. Unless spoken to of course. 

Y/n heard a squeak behind her as Alice continued talking in the background. Turning around she saw the boys finally waking up and walking into the room where everyone was gathering. Edgar stood behind Y/n. He smiled up at her and Y/n smiled back before looking up and seeing Panchito and Donald standing in front of her. 

“She’s having them rehearse so early…” Donald mutters. He took a glance at Alice who had her arms spread out to her sides. Panchito’s feathers ruffled before he smiled. “I like her enthusiasm.” Panchito responds. Y/n looks away from Alice before she smiles at Panchito. “At Least someone supports her.” She said. Donald frowned before rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Hey! I didn’t say I didn’t support her.” He quickly defends himself. Edgar hopped up and down to get the three's attention—after standing there for a moment with no acknowledgement. Edgar wanted attention from one of the three. The three glanced at the spider and Y/n was about to respond to the toon before Bendy and Charley wandered over.  The two were arguing—from what it seemed. Charley—was trying to wander away from Bendy as Bendy seemed to be running his mouth about something. Charley—didn’t seem  to phased at Bendy’s harsh words. Following behind the two were Felix, Oswald and Barley—who was the last to walk in. Barley in fact seemed as if he had just woken up. 

“Can one of you shut him up?” Charley called. Next to Donald and Panchito. 

“Don’t ignore me Charley—you hear me talkin’ to you!” Bendy snaps. Charley sighed heavily before his eyes trailed over to look to his side. There stood Bendy glaring at Charley. Arms crossed over his chest. Though even with his sour and harsh expression. Charley didn’t falter in his stance nor tremble under his gaze. With his reaction. It could be assumed this was something normal between the two. 

“Hi!” Shouts Sister Mary Clarissa. She smiled at the group that were standing in the aisle of the pews. Alice glanced behind her to see the group had finally arrived—well. Most.

“Where’s Boris?” Barley asks. Seeing his fatigue was slowly going away—and he was paying more attention to his surroundings. He took note that Boris had yet to come from their shared room—which he has no idea how on earth he hadn’t seen the wolf by now. 

Bendy stops his banter with Charley—which was pretty much one sided. He turned his gaze to Barley. “I thought he was in the room.” Bendy said. But. Barley shrugs. 

“He’s finding a bathroom.” Oswald explained. Felix wandered over to Alice who still stood in front of the choir of nuns. “Good morning ladies.” Felix announced with a bright smile. And he was replied with various greetings of ‘hello’s’ and what not. After a moment. Alice turned her attention back to the choir of nuns. “Alright now. I mean business today! We don’t have much time! We need to make sure you all sound perfect!” Alice announces. Y/n smiled before she quickly took a seat at one of the pews. Edgar

Was quick as he quickly scurried and climbed on the pew to sit next to Y/n. 

“She’s gonna teach them to sing.” Y/n lowered her voice so she wouldn’t disrupt Alice and her teaching. Bowing her head slightly so she could closely speak to Edgar. Edgar lets out a soft squeak as he peeks over the pew in front of him—due to his short height. He wasn’t able to see correctly without the pew standing in his way. Oswald soon sat down next to Edgar as he watched Alice. Soon following the rest of the toons In her group. 

“It shouldn’t be too hard for her to get them back on track with singing. They’ve won multiple prizes from the past events they’ve been in. Right?” Oswald said. Donald was seated next to him. Donald thought for a moment before he shrugged. “I dunno. Years of not singing can really throw someone off.” He replied. Charley, Barley and Felix were seated in the pews behind Y/n, Oswald, Edgar and Panchito. Charley reached over and placed his elbows on the head of the bench before looking between Y/n and Oswald. “Speak for yourself. I heard them singing earlier this morning. And it did not sound good.” He grumbles. Y/n sighed before turning her gaze to Charley—so much for team support from everyone. Was she the only one that actually believed in Alice?! 

“They’ll be fi—“ Y/n was immediately cut off by a chorus of shrill voices—grimacing. Y/n slowly turned her head away from Charley—who was visibly cringing. And over to the altar. Alice had her hands on her hips as she watched—more than listening to the nuns sing terribly. Oswald flattens his ears to his head before he squints slowly. Donald covered his ears—wherever they were—Barley didn’t seem phased by the awful noise. Instead sat still on the pew with an unmoving expression. As Felix watched the nuns silently—but he didn’t hold an expression of annoyance or disgust. Instead was waiting to see what Alice would do. Edgar was still seated between Y/n and Oswald. Squeaking slightly at the noise. Bendy wasn’t seated. Instead standing next to the pew Y/n was seated in. He bared his teeth and sighed as the sound slowly died down.

“How was it?!” Mary Lazerous proclaimed. The elderly woman had her hands on her hips with a large grin. Alice shivered in—fear? The noise must have frightened her. With a wobbly hand she lifts one up to fix her halo—which was askew floating on top of her head.

She was about to reply until Panchito cheered as he clapped. 

“¡maravillosa!” He cheers. The cheers and claps echoed in the chapel—some of the nuns giggled at his abrupt cheering. Donald sighed before grabbing Panchito by the collar of his shirt and shoving the rooster back down to his seat. 

Alice looks behind her over to Y/n. She slowly shrugs—did she not know what to do? 

Y/n gave Alice a smile before giving the toon a thumbs up. Alice smiled slowly before she turned back to the choir. 

“She’s got this…” Y/n whispered.

-

She doesn't got it—

NO. Not ONE BIT!!

“This is tiring—I can’t listen anymore of this—-my head is gonna explode…” Donald begged. He was slouched in his seat. A tired yet agonizing expression ridden on his face. Edgar had fallen asleep in Y/n’s lap. An hour worth of hearing the nuns singing—that Excruciating sound that came from their throats! It was horrible! 

Y/n would assume with little time the nuns would get back on track—but it’s as if they never were those award singing nuns with a good background of winning events for singing! It was like this was a brand new group of people. And with little help—Mary Patrick didn’t seem to be invested in singing. Instead sitting in the pews watching Alice stress over the choir. 

“I think they sound a tad bit better..” Felix pipes up. He was mostly silent for the most part. Putting attention on the nuns. As well as Barley. Charley and Donald were the main two making snarky remarks. But Y/n wasn't paying attention to them. She was more focused on Alice and seeing the Angel quite literally stressing over the situation. 

She rubbed her temple with her fingers slowly. Y/n couldn’t see her face as Alice had her back faced towards the pews. But Y/n could tell Alice was not happy. 

“This is a waste of time..” Y/n almost forgot that Bendy was standing next to the bench she was seated in. He had his arms crossed as he watched Alice in silence. Y/n had placed her hand on top of Edgar’s head. The spider was still asleep soundly—but that wasn’t what her attention was on.

“Alice! You’ve been at this for some time. It’s not gonna work!” Bendy shouts across the room to her. Alice sighs before turning around towards Bendy. “We have no other choice—it’s too late to back out.” She replied. Alice turned around to look at her friends in the pews. 

Bendy only sighed before he outstretched his arms—visibly showing his frustrations.

“The events tomorrow—we are far from off!” He shouts. Charley then decided to put himself in the conversation—as he always seemed to enjoy doing. 

“If Sammy were here—he’ll have us all by the ear for that rehearsal.” He jokes. Alice sighed before she walked off the altar over to the group. “Charley—can it. Not now.” She whispers. But. She abruptly stopped walking as she then stiffened like a board. Her halo flickered brightly—as if a lightbulb turned on. An idea!

“You’re right…” she whispered. Her frown slowly slid into a bright smile. 

“Think like Sammy!” She cheers. Barley grumbled. “You Kiddin? Sammy’ll have us re—oh—“ he finally got. Think like Sammy would! 

Y/n looked at Alice and then at Bendy. Who had his gaze on Alice. Sammy? She heard of him from her mother but didn’t know much of the guy. 

“Who’s Sammy?” Oswald asks—as perplexed as Y/n as to what the name had to do with the situation. Donald nods. “Yeah. Who’s that?” Donald pondered. 

“Our music director.” Bendy muttered—more speaking through his teeth. Donald didn’t ask anything else as he watched Alice’s calculating expression. 

“You work better with music…” she said to herself. Her eyes on the floor. And her index finger tapped her chin in deep thought. Bendy tilts his head slowly. 

“What?” He asks. Alice then placed her gaze on Bendy. “You know how Sammy always tells us singing is better with music?” She asks. And Bendy nods slowly. Alice smiled and clenched her fists. 

“All we need is to give these ladies some music they can jive to—to help motivate them into singing!” She shares—and frankly. It wasn’t a bad idea. Y/n was no expert in singing and all—but maybe adding music would help motivate the nuns into getting back on track. 

“Not a bad idea..” Bendy muttered. Charley chuckled. “Yeah. Not a bad idea. But where’s the orchestra pit?”

Crash!

Just as Charley asks his questions. Boris fell through the wooden doors—that were once closed. Everyone moved their attention to the door that led into the chapel—to see Boris laid on the ground—on his stomach. Over his head was a snare drum. The wolf didn’t give a chance to let anyone help him or ask what he was doing before he shot up and quickly tried to tear the instrument from his head. “Hey! Who turned off the lights!” He shouts. His voice echoed in the instrument. Some of the nuns giggled onstage and Alice quickly made her way over to the wolf. She took ahold of the snare drum and snagged it off Boris’s head. 

“Boris. Where have you been?” Y/n asks. Boris looked around and his eyes landed on the girl seated before he smiled—his tail wagged before he looked at Alice and took the snare drum. “Well. I found this nice room with all sorts of instruments so I wanted to play with them! And then a noise spooked me so I tried to run away—but I tripped over a cello and my head hit this drum so I was blindly running around the halls and I came and found you all!” He smiled at the end of his long awaited explanation. Y/n smiled slowly as Boris saw the smile she gave him before he shyly and looked away with a flustered smile. His foot pawed at the carpet shyly. 

“Sorry I’m late—“ he adds. 

“If there’s a band room. Surely there must be a band?” Panchito asks before looking at Mary Patrick. The lady tore her gaze from Boris and Alice before looking at Panchito. “We lost fundings to have a band for our choir.” She said in a rather—nonchalant voice. She didn’t seem bothered at all—if they lost the band because of money—does that mean they’re having problems paying off things? 

“Oh—well that’s bad.” Oswald mumbled. Alice wandered back over with Boris behind her. In her hand she held the snare drum. “So. No band? At all?” She asks. And Mary Patrick shook her head. 

No band—no music…

Alice was silent for a moment before looking back at the stage. A piano….A piano! 

Looking back at Bendy she smiled. “You play the piano.” She ordered before she shoved the drum to Charley—who almost fell out of his seat with a grunt. Bendy grimaced. 

“Why me?” He called after her as she made her way back to the stage. Charley quickly stood up as Bendy then followed behind Alice. 

“We have no band—but we have us! That’s perfect! Think about it Bendy—“ she turned around and looked at Bendy. “Sammy has taught us the hard way of doing things—with love of course—you think just because no band is gonna stop us from performing? We are the band!” She shouts happily. 

“I was afraid she’ll say that..” Barley grumbled. Charley rolled his eyes. Agreeing with Barley. 

“Oh! Oh!” Boris quickly scampered over to Bendy and Alice. Standing next to Bendy as he quickly wagged his tail in excitement. 

“I want to be in the band!” His excitement caused a short giggle from Alice before she nodded. “Of course.” She says. Bendy wandered over to the piano and sat down on the bench. 

Now—it was interesting. From the looks of it. Alice had a plan. And Y/n wanted to see it be put in action. Smiling. She looked over to Oswald, Donald and Panchito. 

“This should be good.” She says. Oswald tilts his head as he looks at the stage. “I agree. She seems pretty set on with her new plan.” He replies. 

Boris quickly slipped into the seat with Bendy and smiled. 

“Okay—change in plan..” Alice looks at the group of nuns. Silent for a moment before she points to Sister Mary Robert. Oh yes…the shy woman who—seemed to have been trying to hide behind the other nuns for half of the rehearsal.

“I want you, Lazerous, Clarissa, Annie and Danny. In the front.” Alice commands. Lazerous, Clarissa and Danny did as told. And moved to the front of the choir as told—Mary Robert slowly took a deep breath before she walked to the front as well.  

“What am I even supposed to be playing?” Bendy asked. Glancing down at the piano. Alice glanced over at the demon and smiled. “A catchy tune.” She replied. Bendy was silent for a moment before nodding.  

“Alright ladies! Listen up!” She smiled. The nuns all turned their attention back to Alice—an attentive look in their eyes. 

“My music director always told me, music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.” Alice recalled Sammy saying long ago to her. The nuns murmured to one another before placing their attention back on Alice. Boris nods enthusiastically and clapped his hands together.

“It’s not about sounding good—well it is. But it’s also about making everyone in the room feel the beat!” Boris adds. Alice smiled at Boris. Watching as the canine scurried off over to a set of drums. 

The nuns watched the wolf to see what he would do. Sitting down at the stool that was behind the drums. Boris stooped behind the drum set. And popped back up with the sticks in his hands. 

“I’m more of a guy that loves woodwind instruments. But I dabble.” Boris lightly tapped the bass with the bass pedal Alice heard Bendy had started a tune on the piano. Smiling, she looked in front of her and saw some of the nuns slightly bobbing their heads and feet to the beat. 

“See? Catchy right?” She asks. Clarissa smiled at Alice. 

“Oh—I remember this feeling.” Clarissa recalls and Alice nods yet again. 

“Well! What are we waiting for?!” Mary Lazerous exclaimed—she seemed excited to get on with the rehearsal—now that music was involved—it finally got her attention and also motivated her. Which Felix noted.

Y/n didn’t expect what would happen next. Her eyebrows felt like it shot off her forehead when she heard Alice had started to sing!

“First rule of singing, get the rafters ringing. Toss everything in—dig down deep inside. When you’ve got a song worth hearin’, there’s one thing to do—“ she sang, raising her hands in the air with a sly smile plastered across her face.

“Just keep your fear from interferin’ and let that sucker burst through!” Alice placed her gaze on the nuns yet again. 

“Raise your vooooiice! Lift it up to heaven—raise your vooooiice! Come on, don’t be shy, if you feel it, why conceal it? Let your soul rejoice—“

She raised her left hand.

“Raise the stakes!”

Then her right hand.

“Raise your game!”

And points to the nuns.

“Raise your voice!”

She placed her hands on her hips and grinned.

“Okay now it’s your turn, who’s gonna step up and make some real noise, Ah—don’t try to hide from me Mary Robert—“ 

Mary Robert shimmed away from the eyes of everyone with a nerve wrecking grin. 

“Why so quiet? Get right up and try it—“

Mary Clarissa soon interrupts with a frown; “it seems so..disobedient.“

“Disrespectful.”

“Loud!” Another adds.

Danny shook her head quickly—disagreeing! 

“No, I hear what you’re saying, it’s the word of the lord. Why should we whisper it?” Danny smiled at Alice. And Alice nods her head. 

“Amen sister—don’t ya deny it, stand and sing with pride!” Alice points at Annie.”Go girl.”

“Ah?” Annie sang.

“Bigger!” Alice commands.

“Aaah!” Annie shouts.

“Brighter!” Alice commands.

“Aaah!!” Annie sings!

“Boulder!” Alice commands.

“Aaah!!!” She sang!!!

“Better!” Alice claps.

“If you want the world to listen, stand up tall and proud, let em’ know what they've been missing and turn that volume up loud! Basses!” Alice pointed to her right. 

“Ah!”

“Altos!” And to her left. 

“Ah!!”

And in front of her. 

“Sopranos!”

“Ahh!”

“Now together!” 

“AAAHH!” They all sang together. 

“Wowzers! Did you hear that? We actually sang!” Clarissa cheered as she jumped up and down. 

“Yeah, yeah, you sang four notes for like three seconds and some of us weren’t even doing that, you gotta work it, ladies! Pray it to the balcony!”  Alice commands, now she is serious! 

“Raise your voooice, push it to it eleven!” Alice then points to Danny. 

“AaaaAAhh-” Danny drawls.

“AaaaAhh!” The rest of the nuns crudely sang after Danny. Alice nods and continues. 

“Raise your voiiice! Turn those speakers high!” 

Mary Lazerous soon joins in; “Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do—easy peasy—lemon squeezy.” Mary Lazerous brushed her shoulder—and the elderly woman chuckled as Alice cheered for her.

“Don’t downplay it stand and say it, like you’ve got no choice like you’ve got no choice--” Alice then points to Mary Robert

“Ah..” Mary Robert whispers. 

“No Ah! see?.” Alice shook her head. 

“Ah?” Mary Robert tried again. 

“No. AAAH!” Alice corrects Mary Robert. 

“Raise your game, raise some heeell!--” Alice was then cut off by the nuns. 

“Raise your voice!” 

“Whoa!” Y/n shouts. How? Just a moment they were horrible! 

Alice cheers and laughs, she did it! She broke through! 

“Okay girls! Lay some pious on me!” Alice shouts. 

“Allelujah..”

“Allelujah…”

“Again..”

As they sang. Y/n was at the edge of her seat watching, what did Alice do to make them suddenly..sing?! 

“Now raise it up!” 

“Allelujah! 

“Raise it up!” 

“Allelujah!

“Raise it up!” 

“Alleluuujaah!” 

As they cheered, Alice glanced around the nuns for Mary Robert. Who had yet to sing. 

“Wait, where’s my girl?” Alice announced before she spotted the nun standing still. 

“Ah, there she is. Gimmie some gloria.” Alice waits for Mary Robert to sing. 

“Gloria in excelsis deo…” Mary Robert mutters. Alice shook her head. 

“Uh, god can’t hear you!” 

“Gloria, in excelsis deo!” Mary Robert raises her voice. 

“Okay, now you join on the third.” Alice points to Clarissa. 

“Gloria in excelsis deo.” They both joined in and sang. Alice claps her hands; “ooh, rock that deo! Now Mary Lass, can you pick things up without getting too winded?” Alice turns to Lazarus and the elderly woman steps up and grins. 

“Winded?! Step back sister! Laudamus te benedicimus te--” Mary Lazerous repeats in the background as Alice looks at Mary Annie and Danny. A thoughtful expression before she points to them. 

“Okay girls. Join in.” Alice was constructing! She was constructing just like Sammy! 

“Gloria in excelsis deo!” 

“Okay now you girls stand up and join in.” Alice commands.

“Alleluuujaah!” 

“Allelujah!” 

“Okay the rest of you ladies, hallelujah double time, let’s go!” Alice raised her hands yet again. 

“Hallelujah!”

“Hallelujah!” 

Alice then turns and grins smugly at Bendy. “And that’s what I call a joyful noise!” She was then brought back by Mary Robert who decided to share her voice. 

“Tu solus dominus, tu solus altissimus, plesu christe in Gloria dei patris!” 

“YEEEAAH!” Y/n cheered and stood up and clapped and shouts for the nun. As the rest of her toon friends. 

“Amen!”

“Raise your voiiiice!” They sang! 

“Get your mojo revvin!” Alice sings. 

“Raise your vooiiice!”

“Let your freak flag fly! Don’t you hide it, why not ride it, like it’s God’s Rolls Royce!” Alice pranced around and sang happily. 

“Raise some heat!”

“Raise some Cain!” 

“Raise it to a higher place!” 

“Raise a ruckus!” Sang Mary Danny

“Raise the devil!” Sang Mary Lazerous. 

“Raise it up another level!” Sang Mary Robert.

And the nuns sang together! “Raise your vooicce! Lift it up to heaven, raise your voiiice! Spread it ‘cross the sky! Blast it blare it, stand and share it! Help the world rejoice! Raise a sweat, raise a cheer! Raise it to the stratosphere!” 

Alice nods her head with a wide smile. 

“Raise your strength!”

“Yeah..”

“Come on, girls!” Alice anticipated. And cheers in the background as the nuns sang. 

“Raise your spirit. Raise it so the angels can hear it! Raise your heart, raise your soul!”

“You guys are gonna be fabulous!” Alice turned to the pews and smiled widely at her friends. She did it! 

“Raise your voice!”

“Gloria in excelsis deo!” 

As they sang their last first. Panchito claps and cheers loudly. As well as Y/n, Oswald and Donald clapped as well. Felix was astonished! How?! Charley gazed at the stage, as well as Barley. Edgar squeaked in cheers. And Mary Patrick had a smile slowly grace her lips. 

“Raise it-”

“Raise it!”

“Raise it!

“Raiiiise!” 

“Your voice!” 

-

Nightfall had come around and surprisingly Y/n…enjoyed the day. She was so proud of Alice In proving—well everyone wrong. The nuns still held that talent of singing like the award winning choir they were. They just needed a little push. And they were right back to normal. Changing into some more comfortable clothes—her PJ’s. Y/n sat on the floor as she plugged her phone into the charger. Alice moved the two into a new room when she saw Y/n didn’t exactly like the room they previously were in—no outlet. No TV, no windows. So—Alice—being the good Angel she was. Asked the nuns if they could move to a room more—modern—to put it that way. 

Alice was off talking to Mary Patrick somewhere in the building. And lord knows what the boys were doing. As she scrolled through her phone. She heard a small clink come from the window. She looks at the window before slowly looking back at her phone. Assuming it was nothing. Until she heard it yet again. Y/n placed her phone on the ground before she stood up and walked over to the window. Peering out she could see into the garden. The lights lightly lit up the area. As she peered down some more. She noticed someone looking up at her. 

“Cuphead?”

It was Cuphead! 

What was he doing here?

“Hey to-“

“What are you doing here? If Bendy finds out, he’ll kill you.” She cuts him off. Cuphead walked over

To the building and placed a foot on a workbench leaning against the brick wall before hoisting himself up onto the ledge of the window—considering they were on the first floor the window wasn’t up too high.

“I wanted to see you.” He smiled at her. Y/n blinks as Cuphead placed both his arms on the ledge of the window and rested his head on his arms with a goofy smile. Y/n blinks slowly forming on her face. 

“How’d you know we were here…?” She absently asked. “You told me. Remember? I walked to every church in town lookin’ for ya.” He said as if that wasn’t the problem. Y/n mouth was agape.

“And..how many churches are in town?” She asks. 

“Bout 20.” 

“Cuphead—“

“It all worked out in the end though.” He gave her a dopey smile. She could see inside his head. As he was still standing outside the window to reach her. She could see whatever substance that was in his head started to bubble slowly. 

“Where’s your brother?” She asked.

“Keepin’ the big man distracted. He had me sent out to search town for you all. That’s what he thinks right now.” She assumed the big man he referred to. Must have been The Devil. Man…she hoped they weren’t too pissed..the team of goons seemed to want to shred her team into pieces for that book. Cuphead could see the silent distant look Y/n gave him. Cuphead lifts the head of his arms. 

“Don’t worry. I won’t let them get to you.” He reassured her. Y/n blinks as she looks at Cuphead. She smiled softly as Cuphead smiled back as well. 

He takes a step down from the workbench before looking back up at the window. Y/n stared at him in confusion.

“What are ya’ waitin’ for? Aren’tcha comin?” He asks. Y/n felt herself raise an eyebrow. 

“Where to? Besides,  I have a lot to do tomorrow, I can’t just up and leave.” She said. Cuphead gazes up at her as she speaks. “I was thinkin’ if me and you can just walk around mainland.”  He replied. 

“Mainland?” Y/n asks. Cuphead saw his error and then explained. “Us islanders refer to this place as the mainland.” He explains. Which Y/n understood as Cuphead wasn’t from the states.

“I’ll get you back in time. Don’t worry.” He lifts his arms out to her. “Come on.” He beckons her with his hands. Y/n contemplated. Surely they would know she was gone—but then again. She says she was wandering the halls of the chapel out of curiosity. She wanted to go with Cuphead. That small feeling in her stomach fizzed and fluttered. But In the end—common sense took its turn. He could be leading her on to kill her. He was an odd person—too odd to want to spend time with her? For what? He didn’t make any sense at all. 

“I can’t.” She repeats. Cuphead stared at her for a moment. “I got a lot tomorrow. Need to help get the nuns ready for the event. That way we could get the crystal to free you and your brother.” She keeps forgetting Cuphead’s brother's name. Mugman—she felt like it was on the tip of her tongue. But with all that’s been going on and her mind being so frantic—she wasn’t surprised she wasn’t able to remember Mugman’s name so quickly.

“Hey. I said I’ll bring you back. Come on. You think I made this walk for nothin?” He jokes. Y/n let’s out one huff—which was a chuckle. “That was your damn fault.”

“Would you come on already?” 

“Too high up. Might fall if I come out this window.” It was an excuse. But then again. It was true. With only being a few feet up. She could safely exit the window— but she would have to hop and land on her feet—much too much work for her at the moment—why didn’t she just say she was just too lazy to move? 

Cuphead walks back over to the work bench and steps back on it to reach Y/n. He raised both his hands up. “I’ll help you down then.” He insists. 

“You really are adamant on killing me, huh?” She jokes. Cuphead blinks in confusion. 

“What? N—“

“Who are you talking to?”  Y/n yelps and shoves Cuphead’s head away—whatever substance that was in Cuphead’s head spilled out and onto Y/n’s hand in the process. But she didn’t think too much of it as she took the curtains and closed them before turning around and was faced with Bendy. Y/n hid her hands behind her back as she wiped her wet hand against her pants.

“Nothing—myself—there was a bird in the tree that kept looking at me—“ she quickly stammered. If anything she would have punched herself for doing so. Bendy stared at her for a moment. 

“Really now..?” He asks slowly. Lifting a hand up to move the curtain back. Y/n thought Cuphead would still be behind it but fortunately he wasn’t. Bendy looked out the window and to actually see a bird—-but it wasn’t in a tree. It was sitting on a bird fountain which could be seen sitting behind a hedge in the garden —not too far away from the window. The water was coming out a red and white straw…wait…That was Cuphead! 

Y/n felt a smile etch into her face. He was quick.

Bendy looks away from the window and looks at Y/n—after not finding anything suspicious. “I was trying to see if you were doing alright.” He mentions. Leaning his shoulder on the wall by the window. Y/n nods. “I’m fine. Just tired. I’ll be heading to sleep—you know—barely got any good sleep these past few days.” She explains. Which was true. Bendy nods.

“Well I’ll leave you to that then.” He says before getting up and walking back over to the door. “Goodnight.” He says. Looking over his shoulder to Y/n. Y/n smiled at Bendy. “Night.” She replied. As Bendy closed the door, she heard his footsteps descending down the hall. Y/n turns around towards the window yet again—to

See Cuphead. He smiled at her as Y/n shook her head. 

“You almost got me caught.” She furrowed her eyebrows—a light hearted joke as she wasn’t really mad at him. “He’s much scarier close up.” Cuphead adds.  He looks at her for a while before removing his hand from behind his back to show a flower he plucked from the garden. It was a tulip. He smiled smugly and handed it to her. Y/n felt her stomach flutter at the action and she felt a smile etch onto her face. She reached a hand over and gently took the flower from Cuphead’s hand. Looking down at the tulip to see the warm orange color that radiates from the pellets. Of course being through High School she knew the feeling of the butterflies whenever she would see someone that caught her interest—not saying love—maybe perhaps someone thoughtful and charming—a crush.

She felt like a school girl all over again as she looked away from the flower and to Cuphead who still had his eyes on her. He leans away from the window before stepping down from the workbench and raising his arms up.

“Come on. I’ll help you down.”

…forget it—he was an interesting guy. She needed to see what he was about! Not to mention. Some fresh air would be good. Y/n placed the flower down on the bed before rushing over to her shoes and slipping them on. She then rushed over to the window sill with a wide grin. She placed her legs out of the window and sat down on the window sill. She was about to jump down herself until she felt Cuphead take her hands to help guide her down. Which was helpful. Once her feet touched the ground. Y/n smiled at Cuphead.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

-

The sun had set and the stars were out twinkling throughout the night. It was chilly out but not enough for it to be cold to the point Y/n couldn’t stand outside. It was perfect weather. Deciding it would be best to leave the bookbag back at the chapel as there were plenty of people that she was sure could keep guard of her bag. Y/n only had herself with her and she felt light as if she didn’t have much to worry about—was she really that stressed? Well…she had been chased down multiple times. Threatened, shot at, threatened with guns, her mother damn near finding out she was running from potential killers, a magic book, dying, and oh yeah…sewer water. She had a lot on her plate she felt could be pushed away—now. She felt relaxed and free.

Cuphead and Y/n walked down the sidewalk of the town. He assured her no one was in town—and that there was a warehouse outside the outskirts of town an hour away where basically the villains (as Y/n deemed them) were staying for the night. 

“So. What exactly did you have planned in mind for

You to be so damn persistent on getting me away from my sleep schedule?” She asks. Cuphead looks away from a display of a store and over to Y/n. “How’s about a movie?” A movie? 

“Oh yeah. That would be fun.” She looked down the sidewalk to see a cinema thankfully on the strip. She motioned towards it. “There’s one down there.” Cuphead looks down the sidewalk and nods before grinning and dramatically holding his hand out. “M’lady.” He mocks. Y/n laughed before placing her hand in his. His gloved hand closed around hers and he started walking down the sidewalk with Y/n to the building. There was a ticket booth and a man sitting in the booth. Looking down at his phone for a moment until he noticed Cuphead and Y/n standing infront of the booth. Placing his phone down the man smiled at the two. 

“Sorry. What can I get for you two?” He asks. Cuphead looks at Y/n and Y/n looks at the list of films being shown throughout the night. There was a horror movie that caught her interest as all the other films were really boring sitcoms she didn’t want to sit through. But the time it would be played was around 9:14PM. And it was only 8PM as of now. Cuphead saw her eyeing the poster before looking at the ticket man. 

“Two tickets for the horror film.” Cuphead let go of Y/n’s hand and pulled out a few bills that he seemingly didn’t seem to count. And placed them on the counter for the man to count. As the man did so. He turned to Y/n and raised an eyebrow. “Hey. What’s wrong?” He asks.

Y/n was caught off guard at the sudden payment seeing she didn’t exactly say if she wanted to watch the film or not but nevertheless she didn’t complain. “The viewing is at 9. I gotta head to bed soon. I can’t be out all night.” She said. As much as she wanted to stay out—she had to minimize her time as she didn’t want to be out for too long just in case someone else who is after the book took notice of her—always suspect the unexpected as she would say. And most importantly. To sleep. 

Cuphead faced her and took both her hands. “Look doll. I won’t keep you out too late. I’ll make sure you catch a few winks.” He reassured her yet again. Y/n nods and the ticket booth guy places two tickets on the counter. “Here’s your tickets for 9:14.” He says. Cuphead lets go of Y/n’s hands and takes the two tickets. He placed them in his pockets before looking at Y/n. “Alright. What else do you want to do in the meantime?” He asks. What? Y/n looks at Cuphead with a perplexed expression. 

“Um..” she glanced around the town. Plenty of stores and shops were open. She assumed he didn’t mean stores so she looked over at a bench on the sidewalk. “The bench?” It came out more of a question. Cuphead blinked before leaning over to glance at the bench a few feet behind Y/n. “What about it?” He asks. Y/n glanced back at the bench—forget it. She didn’t want to sit on the bench for an hour.

“Here. Let’s just walk the strip.” He took a hold of her hand again and started down the sidewalk. Y/n following next to him. Looking at the lights for a moment Y/n soon turned her gaze to Cuphead. “I’m actually glad I got out. My team was pretty stressed.” She told him. 

“Not surprising.” He replies. Soon a smile etched on his face. “What is surprising is I’m calming you down—you gettin’ used to me? Huh?” He teased her . Y/n let out a short laugh and shook her head. Walking past a bakery. Y/n slowed down and glanced at the small shop. “That smells good.” She said. Cuphead slowly stopped walking before looking at Y/n and then the shop. “Well come on then.” He says before walking into the shop. He pushed up the door—and a bell rang afterwards signaling whoever was in the back that customers arrived. “One moment!” It sounded like an elderly woman. The two didn’t say anything and Y/n let go of Cuphead’s hand and walked over to a small table. Cuphead follows behind her. 

“So. How long have you and your brother been in town—or the mainlands.” She asks. Cuphead sits across from her before he thought for a moment. How long has it been again…?” He never was good with keeping up with time. 

“Uh…about half a month now? 2 of those weeks were spent with Felix.” He replied. Not too long. Y/n nods; “so. Where do you live again?” She asks. 

“Inkwell Isle. It’s an island filled with toons. Similar to ToonTown.” She’s never heard of an Inkwell Isle before. That was something new. 

“What’s your brothers name again?” She asks. Cuphead smiled. “You’re askin’ a lot of questions. You want ta’’ be with me that bad? Hell—if that’s the case—I’ll rush down to a jewelry store right now and get a ring—“

“What? Shut up.” She laughs and waves her hands in front of his face. Cuphead smile had widened. “I’m just sayin’…”  he gently took her hand in his yet again when she playfully blocked his face..and was about to say something else until a voice called out from the shop.

“Sorry I’m late sweeties!” The woman—Y/n assumed the store owner. Y/n looked over at the counter. To see a short woman—with round glasses and curly white hair. She was frail and looked sweet. She smiled at Cuphead and Y/n. The woman gasped softly. “Well looky here….” She whispered. The stare Y/n assumed was bad as she slowly tugged her hand away from Cuphead with a bashful look—as if a child that had gotten caught. Cuphead’s smile slowly vanished as he looked at Y/n to search for an answer on why she pulled away embarrassed before looking over at the woman.

“What a beauty…” the woman whispered. Y/n placed her hands in her lap—her expression blank for a moment before softly smiling. 

“Um—hi—we were just…looking around.” Y/n’s index finger to motion towards the shop. The woman smiled—as if knowing she made the girl uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry dear, I didn’t mean to fluster you two.” She says. Y/n didn’t know what to say—letting out a strained chuckle. She tapped her knees and nodded. 

“There’s no need to be ashamed. Young love is always beautiful.” The woman laughs softly. Y/n shakes her head. “Oh. No ma’am. We aren’t dating. No.” She says. The woman smiled and nodded. “Either way. In this world we live in—friends or not. There’s no shame in who you surround yourself with…” that sentence repeated in Y/n’s head like a broken record. Cuphead looks away from Y/n before looking at the lady. 

“Thank you…we’ll be leaving now.” He stood up. Y/n stood up as well. She almost lifted her hands up to her shoulders as if adjusting straps till she realized she didn’t have her bag—right. She left it back at the church. The woman nods. “Come by anytime! I’ll be open!” She smiled gleefully. Y/n trailed behind Cuphead as Cuphead held the door open for her. Y/n stood in the doorway before turning around to look at the lady.

“Thank you.” Y/n says. And the woman nods with a smile as Y/n walks out the shop. Once the door closed behind the two. Cuphead softly tapped his pockets as the two stood side by side. She couldn’t say it was awkward—but more—-of a reality check.

“I forgot things…are different out here.” Cuphead mutters. Y/n looks at him and nods. “Yeah. But it’s okay. There’s some good people out here—I mean. Gotta find them. But they’re out there.” 

“I’ll get told stuff for holding your hand?” He looks at her. Y/n was silent for a moment. She had never been anywhere much with a took to really experience the backlash they would get in public if they were seen with a human in a non platonic way—but she had seen many news segments and heard a lot about what happened to humans and toons who were simply enjoying either their friendship in public or just each other in general. 

Y/n didn’t reply—but Cuphead took the lead on that. “Inkwell doesn't have humans on land.” The two started to walk down the sidewalk yet again. “We get visitors from time to time that are humans. But I’ve never really stood next to one face to face.” 

“So if another pretty human comes around you’re leaving me?” She jokes. Cuphead snorts. “Oh not for the world. It’s too late now, doll. You gots me around your thumb.” He grins triumphantly. Y/n laughed and shook her head. “Okay. We’ll see about that.” 

“If you let me. I’ll show I-“

“No.”

“Just sayin’—it’ll still be on the table—hell. This might be foreshadowing! What luck I may ha-“

“Shut the hell up.” Y/n softly shoved the toon. He laughs before rechecking his balance. Soon—Y/n finally thought of the plan that was manifested from earlier. And seeing Cuphead was there. It would be best to maybe tell him about the plan. “Oh yeah. So. We found out where the crystal is.” She told him. Cuphead looks over to Y/n. “You have it?” He asks. 

“That’s the problem. It’s held by the state for this event. The church that we thought had the crystal, lost it years ago, for whatever reason.” She said. The two walked down the sidewalk. Cuphead contemplated for a moment. “That’s what you meant about the nuns?” He asks. She nods slowly. “Yeah. They used to sing for the contest—Which I’m assuming is a yearly event. But at first they couldn’t sing—but now they can because of our friend, Alice. She sort of got them back on track.” She said. Cuphead nods. 

“So. You aren’t from here?” Cuphead asks. Y/n shook her head. “No. From the west coast. You said you’re from an island, right?” She asks. Cuphead nods yet again. “Yeah..I am..” he says. Y/n glanced at him as she walked. Before she could ask what was wrong he continued speaking. “We really actually came because we were searchin’ for someone.” 

“Ay! Pay attention!” 

Y/n heard that voice shout in her head. Her thoughts of course, this was something new that she felt she should listen to. Maybe it could be useful. She slowly stopped walking and looked over at a table with two seats. And walked over to it and looked over at Cuphead. “Come on.” She said. He walked after her and watched her sit down and soon he did the same, sitting in the seat that was next to her. The table was for an outside patio of a diner from what it seemed, but it didn’t matter seeing the two weren’t ordering anything to eat anyway. 

“Go on.” She said before leaning back in her chair.  Cuphead watched her for a moment before chuckling. 

“Why did we have to sit?” He asks.

“Because I said so, besides, if we’re working together, it’s best we know about each other.” She told him Cuphead was silent before a moment passed as his gloved finger tapped the table. “My brother and I originally came here looking for someone.” He reached down and dug in his pocket. Y/n watched as Cuphead then slipped a piece of paper from his pocket. He flipped it around and smiled at the photo—which she noticed was a photo he had pulled out. He leaned over to her so she could see the photo. “See?” He quietly said as he pointed to someone in the photo, when Y/n got a good glimpse. She could see Cuphead and Mugman, standing on either side of an elderly kettle.

“That’s me and Mugs, and that’s our caretaker, he raised us when we were kids. Sorta like our father.” He says gazing down at the photo, the two cups seemed much younger, wearing a dark long sleeved shirt and shorts and a few knicks and bruises on them. 

“This was after we fought the Devil for our souls.” He said it so nonchalantly Y/n’s mouth slowly fell up as she stared at him. “Dude, you and your brother fought the Devil as when you were kids?” She asks and Cuphead lets out a laugh as he gently rubbed the back of his neck. “Haha..yeah..not somethin’ I really like to flaunt about, wasn’t you to no good when I was younger and that’s how I got caught up.” He says before placing his hand back into the table and placing the photo back into his pocket. 

“But, he went missing, and the reason why we’re here was because he made a deal—well, I made the deal with the Devil so he could help us find him, the only thing he told me was he was here in the mainlands.” He said..it was actually pretty sad. Losing a father figure you had no idea where he went only to seek help from the guy that damn near killed you the first time. 

“Oh man..” Y/n says. First his brothers life being threatened to be taken in front of him now his missing caretaker, the guy had a lot on his plate already.

“But it’s no biggie? If I could kick the devils ass one I can do it again.” He smiled and Y/n huffs. 

“You should be careful about that. Especially with you talking to me, we’ll both be killed.” She said and Cuphead chuckled. 

“Wouldn’t let that happen. The guy’s a huge crybaby, yannow that?” He laughs at the reminder of that, something Y/n didn’t know, she would think that was a lie—-but the way Cuphead laughed was pretty genuine, she would take the ladder that that was true. 

“So..if you’re gonna be working with us, how are you going to find your caretaker?” Y/n asks and Cuphead soon sighs before shrugging. “I dunno. Just been takin’ things as it comes. Which no biggie—I guess.” He was silent for a moment as he stared off. “You should meet my brother.” He seemed to want to steer the conversation away from that subject, which Y/n didn’t bother with anymore. 

“I would, if he doesn't kill me.” She laughs softly and Cuphead huffs. “Oh please, we won’t hurt a fly, he’s always been like that growin’ up, gotta admit though, got more brains than me.” Cuphead chuckled and Y/n smiled at him softly before looking at the table. 

“Well I’m sure Mugman is a lovely guy.” She says and Cuphead nods. “Think the hardest part will be trying to get you introduced to my people.” She said—referring to Bendy and the others. 

“Still afraid of that Bendy guy.” Cuphead says and Y/n laughs. “Don’t know if he’ll bite, but he sure does have a mouth.” 

“Hell, if he finds me out here I’m sure we’ll both be 6 feet under.” 

“Man—just like Bettigan. The guy never is off my head.” 

Y/n laughs as the two shared small stories under the moon with Cuphead sitting beside her, chatting the night away, finally the problems dissipating into the air. 

#toon quest #toons #batim x reader #cuphead x reader #ducktales 2017 #duck tales x reader #bendy #oswald the lucky rabbit #felix the cat #panchito pistoles #donald duck #yakko wakko and dot #jose carioca #mickey mouse #king dice

[fragrantpines]

Thinking about kissing food men 💕

Yangzhou rice's face explodes into a blush whenever you kiss him. People who know that he is a food soul but don't know exactly what kind of food soul he is will easily mistake him for a ripe tomato from how incredibly red his face would become. 

After dating for a long time, his blush never truly disappears, it only lessens as time goes by as he gets used to your kisses and sudden bursts of affection, even reciprocating them in his own loving way after he gets over the embarrassment. Oh, but don't think that he'll become immune to your affections one day. All you have to do is kiss him once, slowly pull away while twirling his hair in your finger before saying "I love you" with your whole heart and– man down man down!! Someone get Dumpling right this instant!!!

Kissing Meng Po Soup is like falling into a sea of spider lilies. His lips are as cold as snow but are also as soft as silk, tempting you to deepen the kiss and allow him to wrap his arms around your waist, letting him pull you into a tight embrace before he falls asleep again with you in his arms. Even if you try to pull away, his scent is incredibly toxic, a deadly poison that pushes all thoughts to the back of your mind and whispers at you to fall asleep with him, to accompany him to a dreamland where both of you can stay and live happily ever after together. 

"Hm… don't go, stay with me…."

It's hard to tell whether he was awake or asleep when he said that as your mind was already on the brink of unconsciousness. 

Perhaps a little nap will help….

If you get caught trying to kiss Toso Wine, he will immediately give you a bombastic side eye. Maybe even a criminal offensive side eye. 

"What do you think you're doing? Have you finished memorizing all the common herbs used in medicine yet? You haven't? Then don't think of moving an inch from that spot until you can recall them all!"

In the blink of an eye, he turns his wheelchair and leaves the room at record speed, leaving you dumbfounded but too scared to move unless he comes back in and demands you to recite all the herbs right there and right now. 

Unbeknownst to you, Toso Wine will be just outside the door, covering the lower part of his face with the back of his hand as his eyes glare holes into the floor below him. He doesn't need to look into the mirror to know that his ears look as if they were on fire, making the blush spread across his face turn even darker. 

"Stupid." He curses under his breath, pondering on how to approach you and ask you to kiss him again without being too obvious about how much he craves your touch. 

Kissing Taibai Duck depends on 3 factors: time, location and how drunk he is. 

The last one is especially, especially important. Drunk Baiya and not drunk baiya were two entirely different people so proceed with caution. 

Depending on how drunk Baiya is, he'll either tease you about it or not even realize that you've kissed him. The latter only happens when he's incredibly intoxicated but if you try to go in for another kiss, he'll grab you by the wrist before swiftly placing his lips over yours, engaging a fiery kiss that ends with you feeling as if you were as drunk as the charming man smirking down at you. However, if he teases you and you try to move away, he'll panic and pull on your sleeve, asking you to stay for a little longer. If you agree, he'll grin and kiss you lightly, thanking you for staying by his side.  

On the rare occasions when Baiya isn't intoxicated, your kisses become his new form of intoxication. His kisses aren't limited to just your face. Your hands, your legs, your neck… anywhere that he can possibly reach on your body is a place that he will kiss on. If you ask him to stop, all he'll do is chuckle and kiss your lips briefly before continuing– but not before cupping your cheeks and gazing into your eyes softly.

"If time could ease its relentless march when we’re together,

and hasten its plodding pace when we’re apart,

I could spend an eternity in your arms,

to savor love everlasting in my heart."

The poem in Baiya's part:

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/short-love-poems_00697479/

18. Mi Amor

- Benjay

I was going to put in a romantic chinese poem for Baiya's part but all of em were too long for my liking so I took one from another website :') Got to brush up on my poetry skills if I were to write more Baiya stuff in the future

Update: Changed Taibai -> Baiya, changed Toso Wine -> Tusu Elixir

#taibai is slowly becoming one of my faves but not good enough for me to pull him #i'm sorry taibai i'll get ya when ya have a rerun #gotta see if i can get both stuffed carp and toso wine in their debut banners first #as always yangzhou my love ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ #his new skin is absolutely gorgeous and i adore him as much as ever #beautiful gorgeous showstopping #and as always if tof devs decide to call meng po soup as meng po tea then I will RIOT #tale of food #the tale of food #tale of food x reader #the tale of food x reader #yangzhou rice #yangzhou fried rice #yangzhou rice x reader #meng po soup #meng po tea #meng po soup x reader #toso wine #toso wine x reader #taibai duck #taibai duck x reader #▪︎ writings #sad that I didn't get to display how good shifu is at rapping this time #shifu please teach me how to rap as good as you #.... I can already hear him yelling at me for saying that ww #tusu elixir #tusu elixir x reader

[absolutelysmittensimp]

Me, seeing a character who's chaotic and probably dangerous to be with:

#klarion bleak x reader #that magician duo in duck tales #if i had 10 nickels for every crush i had on a magician/witch I'd have 20 nickels.

[scuderiahoney]

In From The Rain

Oscar Piastri x plant nerd!reader

Masterlist

Summary: Oscar’s looking for an easy to care for houseplant. You have just the solution. Check out the moodboard here!

Word Count: 7.1k

Warnings: none

The greenhouse is quiet in the early morning. It’s one of your favorite things. Before the customers come in, looking for flowers for their porch or vegetable plants for their gardens, it’s just you and the plants and the sun streaming in through the glass. So when somebody interrupts your morning solitude, you’re not exactly happy about it.

Sure, you’re technically open, but nobody ever gets here this early. You’re watering plants in your rain boots, a mug of coffee in your hand, when the front door swings open. You turn to look, the noise startling you.

The man who walks in looks sheepish when his eyes meet yours. He ducks under a hanging basket, nearly trips over your garden hose. His cheeks flush red. You’d be more irritated with his presence if he wasn’t being so cute about it.

“Sorry, the- the sign said open,” he says, backing towards the door.

“You’re fine. We are open,” you affirm, flicking off the sprayer before you drown the petunias in front of you. “I was just surprised to see someone in here so early.”

He laughs. It’s a nice sound. Almost as nice a sound as his voice, with an Australian accent. He stops backing away. You should probably point out that he’s standing in a puddle, but you’re not sure if that’s really your place.

“Can I help you find something?” You ask.

He takes a step forward. A thick band of sunlight shines down on the top of his head, like a halo. He brushes his floppy hair from his face.

“No, that’s okay. You’re busy, I’ll just have a look around,” he says.

You nod. “Let me know if you have any questions.”

You turn back to the flower trays in front of you. They’ll need pruning, soon. And some of the hanging baskets are getting a bit unruly- it’ll likely be time to put them on sale in the next few days, to open up space for new plants. You can hear the man walking around behind you, peering at the plants. His footsteps are hesitant, and when you look, he has his hands held behind his back. He leans close to read the signs, brows tightly wound.

He obviously has no idea what he’s looking for.

You put the hose away and set your nearly empty coffee down at your workstation in the back of the greenhouse. Then you make your way back up to the front, where he’s standing near the succulents.

“Sure you don’t want help?” You ask.

He looks up with a sheepish grin. “Is it that obvious that I’ve got no idea what I’m doing?”

“A bit,” you say, and he laughs again. “That’s okay, though. It’s what I’m here for. What are you looking for?”

He stands up straight, eyes dancing over the greenhouse. “So. I’ve been told my apartment is boring. A friend suggested a plant to liven up the space.”

You nod. A tale as old as time. He’ll either kill the plant within a week or fill his whole place with them.

“But I’m gone a lot for work,” he says. “Like, a lot. So I need something that won’t wilt the second I’m gone, you know?”

You nod. “Does your apartment get good light?”

He laughs. “I don’t know what good light means.”

“Which direction do your windows face?”

“South,” he says, confidently. “Google said that was good. Right?”

You fight a laugh. He’s a bit adorable. Trying very hard to get it right. Like this is a test with right and wrong answers.

“Yeah, south facing is great.” You gesture towards the succulents. “You could get a succulent. They can go weeks without watering, but they need lots of light.”

He nods in understanding and purses his lips. “I thought these were cactuses. Or cacti?”

“Close,” you tell him, and he smiles again. “Cacti are the ones with the spikes.”

He nods in understanding. He crouches down, then, eye levels with the little plants. Your heart is melting. You scuff one of your rain boots against the ground. You could stand here and watch the way his long eyelashes flutter as he blinks all day, but that would be creepy and you have a job you’re supposed to be doing.

“How do I know which one to get?” He says, quietly. “Like… there are so many different kinds.”

Your face breaks out into a huge grin. He’s so endearing. “I think you’ll know when you see it.”

He appears at the front cash register ten minutes later, a succulent in hand. It’s a little one, the perfect starter plant. He’s eyeing the decorative pots next to you, brows furrowed again.

“Those are too big for that plant,” you tell him, and he breathes out a sigh. “There are smaller ones on the other side of the display.”

He moves to look. You hear him shuffling, hear him pick up pots and then set them down. Then he appears again, a little pot with black and white checkerboard print on it in his other hand.

“Perfect,” you say softly. “Have you got potting soil?”

He clears his throat. “Um. No, but I’ve got a courtyard at my apartment with a garden… but I’m sensing from the look on your face that that won’t do.”

You roll your eyes playfully. Then you reach under the counter and grab one of the small sample bags of potting soil you keep on hand.

“Here. On the house.” You say. “So you can put that plant in the pot.”

“Wow. Thanks,” he says. He sets the other items down on the counter. “Thanks for all your help, actually.”

“Just doing my job,” you say with a shrug.

You bag the items carefully, making sure the plant won’t be squished. You put a care instruction sheet in the bag, too. Then you slide it to him with a smile.

“There’s a care sheet in there that should help. Enjoy your new plant,” you say. “I hope it works out.”

“Me too,” he says.

He leaves, then, and you’re left with your quiet greenhouse once again. It’s odd. Usually you breathe a sigh of relief after a customer leaves. But this time, you almost want him to come back.

…..

Two weeks later, you’re back at your workstation re-potting a sad looking philodendron. You look up from it when you hear the bell over the front door ring. The watering is already done, the hose put away, so there’s nothing for the man to trip over this time. But it is the same guy, and he ducks under the hanging basket the same way. You should maybe move it, but he seems to be the only one who’s had an issue with it. You stand up, wiping the dirt from your hands on your apron.

“You didn’t kill that succulent already, did you?” You call out.

His eyes dart to meet yours, and he laughs. “No! Promise.”

“Good. That would be a new record,” you laugh.

You let him wander the store on his own for a few minutes as you get the philodendron correctly in the new pot. Then you give it some water and take it with you to set it back out on the shelf. He’s still the only other person in the store, and he’s currently eyeing the flats of flowering plants.

“It’s actually going really well,” he says as you walk by. “He has a new leaf.”

That’s when you know the guy is hooked. He has a new leaf. The plant is no longer just a plant to him. Absent-mindedly, you wonder if he’s the type to name his plants. You set the one in your hands down on the table in front of you, your back to him so he doesn’t see your wide grin. When you turn around, you tone it down.

“That’s great,” you say encouragingly. “So I’m guessing you want another one?”

He nods, rubbing his finger over the leaf of a fiddle leaf fig. “Yeah, but I’m thinking something different this time. Something bigger.”

“You don’t want that one,” you say, and he backs away from the fig tree slightly. “Fiddle leafs are notoriously dramatic. If you left her for a week she’d drop all her leaves.”

He sighs and stands up. “What would you suggest?”

You wave him over to another area of the store. He follows eagerly, footsteps splashing in the leftover puddles from the morning watering. You lead him to a section of spiky, tall plants.

“Snake plant,” you say, pointing at them.

He’s standing next to you, and your shoulders just barely brush. A shiver runs down your spine. You try to hide it.

“Snake plant,” he repeats. “The name makes sense.”

“People also call them mother in law’s tongue,” you add. You fight the urge to check his ring finger. “But if you’ve got a mother in law I’d suggest avoiding that name.”

He laughs, and his shoulder bumps into your again. “I don’t. But snake plant sounds cooler.”

You nod in agreement. “They do well with very little water. And, they can do okay in pretty low light, too. So if you’ve got a darker area that needs a plant, it would be a good fit.”

He’s up at the register ten minutes later, plant and a pot in hand. This one is plain terracotta. You like that he’s the type of person to buy the pots, too. Some people just leave them in the boring plastic, and it makes you sad to think about. All plants deserve a nice home. You say that to him as you ring him up, and he laughs. He’s also grabbed a small bag of potting soil this time.

Your repeat the process, same as last time, and hand him the bag. He takes it, and then he hesitates.

“Thanks again,” he says, juggling the bag until it’s held in one arm. He sticks his hand out to you. “I’m Oscar, by the way.”

You tell him your name, though you’re sure he could read it off your nametag, too. When you shake his hand, you swear the warmth of it runs all the way up your arm. He thanks you again, and then he disappears out the door once again. That ache is back in your chest. You find yourself hoping he’ll be back soon.

…..

He does come back. Multiple times. He buys more succulents on one trip, asking you to help him choose between them, and then he ends up buying all three instead. Another morning he comes in and you show him a ZZ plant you’ve just gotten in that you think will be perfect for him- you don’t tell him you’ve been saving it for him at your work station. It’s just… you know it’ll look great next to the snake plant he bought.

Each time he comes to the store, he hangs around a little longer. You chat about the weather, about the plants in the store, about his plants at home. You tell him funny stories about other customers and complain to him about the rude ones. In return, he tells you about his coworkers, specifically one named Lando who he seems to get into a lot of mischief with. He hasn’t said what he does for work. You field weird about asking, so you don’t.

The 4th time he stops by, you suggest a pothos. He eyed the leaves and vines skeptically.

“The other ones looked tough, you know? Like they’d survive even if I fucked up.” He tugs at one of the vines. “Are you sure about this one?”

You nod encouragingly. “You can handle it. I promise. Plus, the cool thing about these is you can cut parts of the vines, like this,” you say, holding up one you’d taken from the workstation. “And then you stick it in water for a bit, it grows roots, and you’ve got a whole new plant.”

He raises his eyebrows. “That’s cool.”

“I know,” you laugh.

He joins you up at the front to buy the plant. You go through the same routine. This time, he’s picked out a pretty blue ceramic pot for it. It compliments the leaves well. Then he leans on the counter and the two of you start chatting. You’d had a shipment that came in last week with a bunch of dead plants, so you regale him with the story of trying to deal with the company’s customer service. In turn, he tells you a story about his family back home- one of his sisters had a dance recital, his mother tried to videotape it for him, he received a video of his mother’s face as she watched the recital. You don’t realize how long the two of you have been talking until Jane, the next person on the schedule, walks in.

You stand up straight, face growing hot suddenly. “Hi, Jane!”

“Hi, hun,” she says, walking past the two of you. “Sorry I’m late. Bet you’re dying for your lunch break.”

She’s late? You and Oscar must’ve been talking for… forever. It had felt like only minutes. He smiles sheepishly and pushes away from the counter.

“Well, I should be going,” he says, taking the bag in his arms. “Thanks again!”

You watch him walk out the front door, unsure why it feels like you’ve been caught. It reminds you of the feeling you’d gotten years ago, when your teacher found you and the boy you had a crush on in the hallway alone. You hadn’t been doing anything wrong, but it still makes you feel strange.

“Friend of yours?” Jane asks when you walk past her to take your break.

You blink, shrugging. “I think he might be.”

…..

Oscar always comes in on Tuesdays. You avoid taking Tuesdays off and won’t admit to yourself that he’s the reason why. But when you wake up with a raging fever and a pounding head, you know you have to call in. Jane, always a sweetheart, takes your shift. When you see her two days later, it’s after you’ve already done the opening shift.

“Did you see your plant?” She asks as she breezes through the greenhouse.

You shut off the hose you’d been using to water a particularly thirsty chrysanthemum. “What plant?”

“The one your friend brought,” she says, and you only feel more confused. “He dropped it off Tuesday, said he was looking for you. It’s on the desk.”

You walk over to the workstation. Sure enough, in a tiny plastic pot- likely one from one of the succulents he’d bought-there’s a small pothos vine growing. You pick up the little plant, knocking over the piece of paper propped up on it in the process. You reach for it, finding a note written in rushed, messy scrawl.

I know you’ve probably got tons, but it felt right that you would have my very first propagation. Learned that word from the internet. Feel better soon! -Oscar

You turn to look at Jane. She’s at the register, not paying you any attention. You cradle the tiny plant close to your chest and do the same with the note. Then you tuck the paper away for safekeeping.

The plant, however, you carry with you all day. You place it in a sunbeam at the front register. When it catches your eye every so often, you feel a warmth in your chest.

…..

The next time Oscar comes in, he eyes the little plant at the register. You’ve stuck a little stake in it and tied a bow on top. He smiles softly and turns back to the display of pots. He chooses a tiny one with checkerboard print, the same as his very first purchase. You ring him up for all his items, but when you go to put that one in the bag, he grabs it and shakes his head. He slides it towards your tiny vine.

“For your plant,” he says, smiling softly.

You break into a face splitting grin. “You’re too sweet.”

His fingers brush against yours when you take it from him. You swear you feel sparks. You wonder if the red cheeks he sports as he leaves the store means he felt it, too.

…..

Another man comes into the shop early in the morning. It’s a Wednesday this time. You know it won’t be Oscar because of that, but you still look up eagerly. The guy nods, waving politely. You smile and go back to your watering. He walks the aisles, looking at the plants and never picking them up.

“Excuse me?” He says, after you’ve put the hose away. You turn, trying to hide your surprise at his American accent. “Um. Could you tell me where the succulents are?”

You grin and nod, walking over towards the area. You point them out.

“These right here,” you say. “Anything I can help you with?”

He stares at the tiny plants. “I have no idea what I’m doing. My friend, he’s gotten really into plants, and he talks about this shop all the time. Figured I’d see what the hype was all about.”

You tilt your head. He’s probably not, but it almost sounds like he’s talking about Oscar. You try and shake the idea from your head. Oscar is just a customer, he’s not going around and telling his friends about the greenhouse he goes to. He’s definitely not telling them about you.

“Succulents are a good place to start,” you say.

He sighs. “I don’t have much of a green thumb. I don’t think I’ll be very good at this.”

“Well, it’s worth a try.” You say with a shrug. “You might surprise yourself.”

He ends up picking out a little succulent. He doesn’t go for a decorative pot. He seems wholly unconfident in his ability to keep it alive for more than a few days. Still, he smiles as he’s leaving. He pauses in the doorway.

“You know, I thought Oscar was exaggerating when he told me about you,” he says. “But I get it now.”

He’s out the door before you can even form a syllable, let alone a word or a sentence. You think about chasing after him and asking what the hell that even means, but you stay rooted there. Oscar talks about you. To his friends. You swear your heartbeat doesn’t slow all morning, and the heat in your cheeks stays there all day.

…..

Oscar comes rushing into the shop the next Tuesday. He has a brown paper bag in his arms, and his eyes are wide. He’s breathing heavily, like he’s been running. You stand up, setting the garden hose down. He nearly slips on a puddle as he rushes over to you, and you reach out to steady him.

“I just got home last night,” he rushes, “and something’s wrong with- with Greg.”

“Greg?” You ask, leaning to peer into the bag.

“My succulent,” he says. His cheeks have gone red. “I name my plants. Is that weird?”

You laugh. “No, it’s not.”

You don’t tell him you’ve named your tiny pothos vine after him. You take the bag from his arms and walk to the back of the store, towards the work station. You reach in and pull out the succulent. It’s a little withered, a bit droopy. It’s also doubled in size since he bought it.

“I’ve been watering him when the soil gets dry,” he says, “and he’s still getting sunlight. I’ve tried everything- I left music playing for them when I left, so-“

Your eyes flicker up to him. He plays music for his plants. He’s the cutest man you’ve ever met. You want to take his face in your hands and kiss his forehead. Or his lips. He has these cute little freckles and moles- you’d like to draw constellations between them. Your face feels hot again. You direct your attention back to the plant as he rambles on. You frown, tugging slightly to see the roots.

“Osc, babe,” you interrupt, and he stops and stares at you. “He’s just a little root bound.”

You don’t dwell on the fact that you’ve just called him babe. It’s too late now.

“What’s that mean?” He asks, the panicky tone still in his voice.

“It means,” you start, nudging his side softly with your elbow, “that you’ve taken such good care of him that he’s outgrown this pot. He needs more soil. More room to spread out.”

His shoulders drop. The panic melts off his face. “Oh.”

You laugh. “God, I can’t believe when you came in here the first time you had no idea what a succulent even was. And now here you are, all panicked over a little wilting. You’ve become a true plant nerd, haven’t you?”

He shrugs sheepishly. “Maybe.”

“It’s cute,” you tell him, just to watch the blush creep up on his cheeks again. “Come on, let’s get him a new pot and some fresh soil.”

You lead him up to the front. He starts to pick through the display, holding the succulent up to the different options until he finds the right one. It’s a light orange.

You nod in approval. “Now you’ve got an empty pot,” you say, pointing at the original pot for the succulent. “Which means if you want, you have an excuse to buy another plant.”

“You’re so smart,” he says, eyes wide.

He rushes over to the display of succulents. While he’s picking one out, you carefully re-pot the plant into its new home. He takes his time, like always, indecisive to the very end. When he makes it up to the counter, he grins widely at the sight of the plant in its new pot.

“Thanks,” he says, softly. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

…..

When Oscar comes into the shop on a particularly rainy Tuesday, you’re trying hastily to hide your tears. He doesn’t come in every week, but it’s just your luck that he’s here today of all days. You wave and turn your back to him, sticking to the workstation. You hear the soft fall of his tennis shoes, though, even over the sound of the rain against the greenhouse roof, and you know he’s making his way towards you.

“Everything okay?” He asks, voice low.

You turn and find him with his hands in his jeans pockets. You wipe at your cheeks hastily, hoping he can’t tell how upset you are, but knowing you look a wreck. Your hair is soaked in rainwater, and your eyes likely red rimmed and puffy. It’s confirmed when his soft smile drops into a frown.

“I’ve had a shit morning,” you tell him with a sigh.

He pulls one hand from his pocket. “You, uh. You have dirt on your cheek.”

You groan and try to brush it away. Oscar chews on his lower lip. Then he reaches out, his fingertips sweeping against the skin of your face. His hand is warm, despite the chill in the air. Tiny sparks seem to spread across your skin, following the trail of his touch. Your face grows hot.

“There,” he says.

“Thanks,” you reply.

He nods. “What’s going on? If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to, but…”

You sigh and turn away slightly, back to the plant in the pot in front of you. His gaze is so warm that you can’t stand to look at him, afraid you might start crying all over again.

“Just. Woke up late, so I was in a rush. And then I locked my car key in the car because I forgot something in the flat, and my mum has the spare key and she’s not even awake yet, so I had to walk here in the rain. And I couldn’t find my umbrella.” You brush a wet piece of hair away from your forehead. “And I slept like shit, and haven’t had any caffeine because I was late. So, yeah.”

“Shit morning,” Oscar agrees.

You nod. You finally turn to look at him again. There’s a soft look on his face, one you can’t quite place. He reaches out, places his hand flat on the counter next to yours. If you shifted your thumb just slightly, you could touch his. You want to, but you don’t.

“Sorry, I- Can I help you find anything?” You ask, blinking at him.

“You don’t need to be sorry, I asked,” he says. He rocks back on his heels and pulls his hand back. “I actually just remembered, I’m- I have to- I’ll be right back.”

He turns around and walks quickly to the front of the store. The bell dings as he walks out through the front door. You stare at the spot where his hand had been for just a moment and feel your heart shatter in your chest. You’d gone and over shared with your favorite customer, the one you thought might actually be your friend, and now you’ve scared him off. Yet another tally to add to the shit morning. You collapse into the chair behind the counter and rest your head in your hands, trying to will the tears away.

You’re not sure how long goes by before you hear the bell over the door again. And really, nobody comes in this early, so why are they choosing today of all days? You hastily wipe your face on the sleeve of your sweatshirt and stand up, plastering a smile onto your lips to greet whoever is in the store.

Your heart stutters in your chest. It’s… Oscar. He’s walking towards you, though he’s not looking at you. He has three takeout coffee cups balanced precariously in his hands. His hair matches yours now, soaking wet and hanging over his forehead. You burst into laughter as he sets them down.

“Oh my god, I thought I scared you off,” you say, brushing a stray tear from the corner of your eye.

“No,” he says, eyes wide. “You said you needed caffeine. There’s a coffee shop just down the road.”

You laugh and press your hands to the counter, leaning towards the cups. “Three cups?”

He smiled sheepishly. “I got you coffee, but I didn’t know if you wanted cream or sugar. So,” he points at the smallest of the three cups, “this is cream,” he says while digging in his pockets. Then he places an assortment of sugar packets on the counter. “And here’s sugar. The other cup is mine.”

You grin at him, shaking your head. “I knew you were my favorite customer for a reason.”

The smile he gives you in return is bright enough to make up for the lack of sun, to wash away the rain clouds, to warm your cold hands. You open the lid to the coffee and pour a bit of cream in, and then add two sugars. Oscar watches, nodding.

“I’ll know for next time,” he says.

Your heart flutters in your chest. Next time. You like the sound of that. You wrap your hands around the paper cup and let the warmth seep into your fingers before you take a sip. You sigh happily, meeting his eyes over the lid. The cup in his hand has something written on it in messy pen. You wonder if the barista tried to give him their number, and you fight back the jealous feeling at the thought.

“Thank you,” you say, softly.

“It’s no biggie,” he insists. “I owed you anyway, for saving Greg.”

He hangs out for a while that morning, leaning on your counter and chatting. You re-pot some plants and then bring them out to the displays, and he follows along. There’s something about his presence alone that warms you up from the inside out. By the time he looks at his watch and curses, muttering about having a meeting, you’re feeling much better. His hand brushes your shoulder before he leaves. You call after him to thank him again for the coffee.

He stops in the doorway, rain falling on his arm that’s extended to hold the door open. “I’ll see you soon!”

Then he disappears into the storm.

…..

You don’t see him soon. It’s not abnormal for Oscar to go a couple weeks without stopping in, so at first you don’t think much of it. Each Tuesday, though, you look up eagerly when the bell over the door rings, and your heart sinks when it’s not him. Maybe you really did over share, maybe he did get scared off. You try not to think about it.

It’s just… he was cute, and kind, and fun to talk to. He brought you coffee. You wonder how his plants are doing, if he’s still playing music for them while he’s gone. You have fleeting images in your brain of him watering the plants, taking the time to look for new leaves and check the roots. You almost wish he’d have another plant emergency, just to give him a reason to stop back in.

Eventually, after a month goes by and he hasn’t been back, you give up almost entirely. You’ll move on eventually, find a new favorite customer. You couldn’t have expected him to keep coming around forever, after all. To him, you were just another retail worker.

You do end up seeing his American friend one more time. He comes in on a Wednesday morning, just like before. He doesn’t stop and look at any of the plants, instead beelining for you. You’re working on bagging some potting soil and watch him with wide eyes.

“Hi,” you say. “Can I help you find something?”

“No, I just-“ he cuts himself off, shaking his head. “I super killed that succulent.”

You laugh, shaking your head. “You’re Oscar’s friend, right? He didn’t help you?”

The guy shakes his head. “He made fun of me, though. Said I overwatered it.”

“How is he, anyways?” You ask.

Logan frowns. “He’s good.”

You nod. “Well, d’you want to try again?”

“No, that’s not why I-“ he sighs, rubbing his temples. “He won’t shut up about you, you know.”

You cross your arms over your chest. “Find that hard to believe, since he hasn’t been here for almost a month.”

Which is maybe a little mean spirited. And probably not something you should be saying to his friend. You wince.

Now it’s his turn to blink wildly. “So you miss him too?”

You squint at him. “Why are we having this conversation? I don’t even know your name.”

“It’s Logan,” he says. “You haven’t like… reached out to him or anything?”

“How would I?” You ask. “I don’t even know his last name, let alone his phone number.”

“His last name’s Piastri.”

“That feels like information you shouldn’t be giving away to strangers.”

He’s not listening, though. Something seems to have clicked in his head. His eyes go wide and he starts to back away.

“I have to go,” he says. “Thanks!”

You’ve had a lot of strange interactions while working retail, but that one comes in pretty high on the list. And it leaves you wondering about Oscar, which is something you’re trying desperately not to do. All in all, not a great day.

…..

Two weeks later, you clock out of your Tuesday shift around lunchtime and head down the street. It’s raining again, but at least this time you’re armed with a raincoat and an umbrella. Your car is parked nearby, but you’re in the mood for coffee and warm food, so you head to the cafe nearby. You try not to think about the time Oscar had brought you coffee from there. You can’t help picturing his soft smile, eyes trained on the cups balanced precariously in his hands.

You make it halfway to the cafe before a gust of wind hits your umbrella at just the right angle and snaps the metal supports. Then, as if the universe is playing a cruel trick on you, a car speeds by on the road next to you, hits a puddle, and sprays you with muddy water. It soaks through your clothes and onto your skin nearly immediately. You fight the urge to ball your hands into fists and yell dramatically at the sky.

“Shit,” someone says, and the sound of his voice makes your breath catch in your chest. Then he says your name.

You turn, coming face to face with Oscar. Well. Okay. He’s studying you with a pained look on his face and standing under an umbrella.

“Yeah, shit,” you mutter, shaking water from your hands. “Oh my God. Hi, by the way. It’s been a bit.”

“It has,” he agrees, shuffling closer to hold the umbrella over you. “Here. Um. You okay?”

You shrug. “S’just water. I won’t melt.”

Oscar laughs- god, you’ve missed that sound- and nudges your shoulder. “You’ve got bad luck with rainstorms, huh?”

You nod. You’re trying not to freak out at the fact that he’s here. Oscar is standing next to you, holding his umbrella over your head. He’s here and he’s talking to you and he’s feeling sympathetic, which maybe means he doesn’t think you’re completely crazy.

“S’what I get for trying to go get coffee,” you say over the sound of raindrops on the umbrella. “And lunch. Now I’ve got to drive home like this.”

Oscar frowns, his whole face crumpling with it. “Hey, you know… I live just a block down. If you want, you could come and change into some dry clothes.”

Your mother would kill you for even considering it. You can practically hear her yelling in your head. But god, it’s Oscar. It’s Oscar and you haven’t seen him in a month and you might never see him again. There’s something about the soft look on his face that makes you trust him.

“Okay,” you say, quietly. “That would be… really nice. But only if you’re sure.”

“Of course,” he says.

Your shoulders brush as you walk, the umbrella over both of your heads. The two of you are nearly silent on the walk there. It’s like neither of you quite know what to say. You know you don’t. You worry he’s regretting inviting you to his place. But he lets you in the front door, leads you to the elevator, and all the way up to flat. When he opens the door, warm air pours over you like a river. You step in and toe off your boots, wincing at the squish of your wet socks.

Oscar winces, too. “Here, the bathroom’s right there,” he says, pointing at a partially open door. “I’ll go grab you some dry clothes. There’s towels in there too.”

You nod and step into the room. So far, the little bit of his apartment that you’ve seen matches up with what he’s told you. There are no shoes sitting out in the entryway. The bathroom is nearly spotless, which makes you feel a bit guilty about the dirty rainwater you’re dripping onto the floor. Oscar’s only gone long enough for you to take off your jacket.

He knocks on the door. “I’ve got clothes for you.”

You open the door, and he’s standing there, eyes squeezed shut. The clothes are held out in midair, like he’s trying to keep his distance. You laugh and take them, murmuring out a thanks. As you go to change, you hear him walk away.

You shuck your wet clothes off and drop them in the tub, shivering when the air hits your bare skin. You wipe the rainwater from your skin. Then you pull on the clothes he gave you- a t-shirt, a hoodie, and a pair of sweatpants. Plus a pair of thick, warm looking socks. All of them are baggy on you, but luckily the pants have a drawstring so you can pull them tight around your hips. You wring the water out of your hair with the towel and then wrap it around your shoulders before you step out into the hallway.

You can hear him moving around in the next room, so you head there. He’s standing at the kitchen island, which is open to the living room. He looks up when he hears you walk in, and a soft smile spreads across his face. His living room is neat and tidy, too. His plants are all lined up on the windowsill. You recognize them all from your store, and you smile.

“D’you have a plastic bag I can put my clothes in?” You ask, and he tilts his head at you. “I don’t wanna get more rainwater on your floor. Or in my car, really.”

“I mean, sure,” he says with a shrug. “Or… you could throw them in the washer. Hang out for a bit.”

He’s not looking at you anymore. You’re glad, because you’re sure you have a dumbfounded look on your face. It’s then that you notice the coffee machine running on the counter behind him, and the snacks out on the counter. Your mind is racing. He hasn’t stopped by the shop in nearly a month, but now…

“I don’t want to be a bother,” you say, unsure what else there is to possibly say.

He shakes his head, still not looking up. “You’re not.”

You cast your eyes to the window. It’s raining harder now. And god, you’ve missed him. You didn’t realize just how much until you were standing here.

“It’s been a while,” he says, turning his back to you when the coffee maker beeps. “We have some catching up to do.”

You think about letting it go. Maybe it’s enough to be here. Maybe you just shouldn’t bring it up. But really, you’re confused about the fact that he stopped coming to the store.

You tilt your head at him. “Yeah, you stopped coming in.”

“Well, you never texted me,” he says. “So I figured I’d freaked you out or something. But then Logan said he stopped by and you asked about me-“

You stare at the back of his head, bewildered, and you break in. “Oscar, I don’t have your number.”

He freezes, hand in midair, reaching for a coffee mug. He turns his head over his shoulder, and his eyes meet your again. He looks just as confused as you feel. Suddenly, your heart is racing in your chest.

“I wrote it on the coffee cup,” he says, voice quiet.

You stare at him, wide eyed. “There was nothing on my coffee cup.” He shakes his head, opens his mouth, but you keep talking. “I’m sure of it. But there was writing on yours. I know because I wondered if the barista was trying to give you her number.”

Oscar just stares at you for a moment, his lips barely parted. “Shit. I gave you the wrong cup.”

Shit, you repeat in your head. He tried to give you his number. He thought he gave you his number, and then you never texted him. He thought you rejected him. No wonder he stopped coming in.

“You could’ve just asked me for my number, you know,” you tell him.

“Yeah, but this was cuter,” he says. “It was- it was my number and this cheesy ass pickup line that Logan helped me think of and I- I really thought you just didn’t…”

“Pickup line?”

“Looking back it sounds stupid,” he admits. “But yeah. I was trying to ask you out on a date. And so when you didn’t text me…”

You cross the room, walking right up in front of him. His hands have fallen to his sides. His eyes trace your face as you smile up at him. He’s chewing on the inside of his cheek, brows slightly furrowed. You can smell the coffee now- it reminds you of when he brought you the coffee weeks ago.

“You should ask me now,” you tell him, smiling brightly.

He nods. “Without the pickup line, though.”

You pout up at him. He grins. One of his hands comes up to the side of your face, fingers cupping your jaw. His thumb prods at your cheek.

“Will you go on a date with me?” He asks, voice low.

You pretend to think about it. Pretend it doesn’t make your heart melt just to hear him say it. “Hm. When?”

He shrugs, looks around. “How about now?”

“It’s raining,” you remind him.

“We can have a stay at home date,” he suggests. “Coffee, lunch, a movie, maybe.”

You tilt your head. “Sounds nice.”

“Yeah?” He says, sounding a bit like he doesn’t quite believe you.

“Yeah,” you agree. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out since the day we met.”

Oscar laughs and leans closer. “I’ve got a lot of time to make up for, then.”

He presses his lips to yours, and your eyes slip closed. You reach up and tangle your fingers in his hair to keep him close. He tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear- it’s still wet from the rain, and both of you giggle into the kiss. His hands drop to your hips, shoving the sweatshirt out of the way to hold onto you. You could kiss him for hours, you think. It’s all you’ve wanted for months now.

The coffee is growing cold on the counter. Suddenly, though, you don’t need caffeine.

He pulls away slightly, looks you up and down. “You look cute in my clothes, you know.”

You giggle and tug on the sweatshirt, pointing at the orange logo on the chest. “Thanks. Big McLaren guy, are you?”

Oscar laughs and brushes his lips against your temple. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

Then he goes back to kissing you. You’re not complaining. You’ve got all the time in the world to learn all about him.

…..

Weeks later, you corner Logan at the British Grand Prix. Oscar’s distracted by interviews, but Logan’s not busy.

“What was the pickup line he wrote?” You ask, arms crossed over your chest.

Surprisingly, he needs very little convincing. He just laughs, eyes darting to where Oscar stands behind you in the media pen. His gaze is full of amusement.

“I be-leaf we’re meant to be,” he says in a teasing tone. “He was down bad.”

You laugh and turn over your shoulder to look at your boyfriend. He’s grinning watching the two of you talk. Later, you tease him for the cheesy line, for hiding behind coffee cups and scribbled pen when he could’ve just told you. He teases you for the same, for not telling him how you felt, for not making a move. And then you look at him, knowing your gaze is terribly soft.

“I believe it, too,” you tell him.

When he kisses you, you draw constellations between the freckles on his face with your thumb. Outside, it starts to rain.

a/n: can you tell I am a big plant nerd? anyways live laugh love oscar piastri I want to help him pick out plants :)

taglist: @4-mula1 @celestialams @struggling-with-delia @lovekt @i-wish-this-was-me

#oscar piastri oneshot #oscar piastri x reader #oscar piastri x you #oscar piastri fanfic #formula one oneshot #formula one fanfic #formula 1 fanfic #f1 fanfic #formula 1 oneshot #formula 1 x reader #oscar piastri #honeywrites #op81 #if you’ve made it this far in the tags somehow hi

[lisired]

where angels fear to tread

pairing: jaehyun x (f) reader

genre/warnings: fwb to lovers, fluff, implied smut, angst

summary: Three years ago, you had a summer fling with Jung Jaehyun, and what was simply sex turned into more after you caught feelings for him. Then, you find out he has a girlfriend, and decide to call it quits. Three years later, he's back in town, trying to come back in your life, and most importantly trying to come back into your heart, but you're a little hesitant to let him.

word count: 14.5k

a/n: i think this was my first jaehyun fic? LOL… as always, feedback is appreciated!

“Not fair.”

“It’s very much fair, Jaemin.”

“How come the blueberry head gives you shit on the house? I asked him for a free coffee and he told me the only way I was getting coffee for free was if he splashed it on my face. Very unprofessional. I demand the manager.”

You want to tell him that the manager would just suck up to Taeyong in private because the customer is always wrong, but something in you tells you to be quiet.

“Saved his life,” you shrug, digging a fork into your pie.

“Saved his life?” Jaemin repeats, wide-eyed, “you just said that like it was the most normal thing ever.”

“I don’t think he would have actually died,” you mutter, but decide to tell the tale anyway, “You remember when I told you I was taking a two-week vacation out of town because Yeri invited me and some of her friends to her stepdad’s beach house?” Jaemin nods, “Well Taeyong was one of those friends. Saved him from drowning in the pool, and ever since he thinks he owes me his life, so he gives me a lifetime worth of stuff on the house.”

You consider Jaemin your best friend, although him not physically being with you for the past two years was the reason why he’s unaware of some minor details of your life during those years. Of course, he knew about the vacation—you had so much fun that you told him nearly every damn detail of it—but there was still some things you kept to yourself. Such as how you saved Taeyong from drowning. You thought that you’d look like a praise-seeker for bringing that up anyway.

You scan the room for Taeyong (the blueberry head) and once your eyes find him, you wave and wink. He waves back and smiles bashfully, before tending to one of his customers. You also think that Taeyong might have a little crush on you, but that’s not relevant at the moment.

“Oh wow. I guess not all heroes wear capes. Some heroes wear pie crumbs on their mouths.”

You wipe the corner of your mouth with a napkin then squeeze it into a ball to throw at Jaemin, making him gasp dramatically and start rambling about how you shouldn’t treat the best friend you haven’t seen in two years like this, but the chime of the cafe door distracts you. Your face falls in horror, and you’re still as a statue as it all races back. The pain, the memories, the emotions, everything you gave him that you can’t take back.

“I have to go,” you say, but Jaemin grabs your wrist.

His voice is filled to the brim with concern, “What’s wrong?”

Where you do even start? You sigh, ducking your head on the table in an attempt to cover your face the best that you can. The past is intertwining with the present and you do not enjoy it one bit. Fortunately, he sits away from you and doesn’t seem to acknowledge your presence in the room, but it’s just your luck that for the first time you’re seeing him in almost two years, he chooses to show up right here, right now.

“See that guy that just walked in?”

Jaemin nods with reluctance, subtly scanning said guy with his eyes, “Yeah, what about him?”

With a deep breath, you brace yourself for uncovering a part of your past that you’d rather keep ancient history, “Remember that fling I told you about from the vacation? That was him. And I never told you this, but we didn’t exactly end on the best of terms. I called it quits when I found out that he had a girlfriend.”

Another one of the vay-cay details that you kept to yourself. Technically, you did tell him about the fling, but it was nothing too specific aside from the fact that you were getting dicked down. You never told him about the way things abruptly ended, and you sure as hell never told him that you caught feelings for a cheater.

Jaemin’s face falls, and you’re not sure why. You think that he’s offended because you never told him about something so huge (and he is, but the two of you have bigger fish to fry at the moment so he decides it best to complain later).

Eyebrows furrowed, you ask, “What’s wrong?”

“Jaehyun is…” he pauses, and your lips part to ask how he knows his name until, “Jaehyun is my roommate.”

If you had the energy, you would sigh. Of course, Jaehyun also happens to move back in town and ultimately transfer back into your college for the second semester. You had to be a criminal in your past life, what else could you have possibly done to deserve something like this?

Taeyong walks over to your table, wearing a discontent frown, “Jaehyun’s here, do you want me to distract him so that you can leave without him noticing?”

“No way the blueberry head knew about this before me.” Ah, there it goes.

Taeyong glares, but he doesn’t say anything, instead locking his eyes on you to catch your response and his face softens when he does.

“Please,” you sigh in relief, “Thanks Tae, you’re a lifesaver.”

Taeyong smiles at the weight of your words, “It’s the least I could do. Now you two get out of here.”

It isn’t something that you need to be told twice, Taeyong goes to distract Jaehyun and you two bolt the fuck out of there. Though even out of sight, Jaehyun isn’t out of mind. In the beginning you knew it was nothing serious, Jaehyun had other girls that he fucked. But the fact that he was cheating on some poor, innocent girl was more then you could handle, and it would be selfish of you to risk getting caught up in that mess.

For a while, you and Jaemin ride in near silence. It’s your car, but he claims you aren’t in the right headspace to drive and you didn’t argue. You don’t feel the best at the moment.

“Is this a bad time to invite you to my roommate’s Summer Break Kick-off party this Friday,” Jaemin asks over the radio, his voice cutting through the SHINee song playing lowly.

“Kinda,” you snort. “Is he coming?”

“Probably, yeah. I mean, he was invited. But my roommate’s other house is pretty big it’s been forever since we last partied.”

You blink. Why does your roommate…

“Don’t question it. I don’t know either.”

You fight the urge to laugh. Instead, you weigh out the pros and cons. Technically, you and Jaemin could always find another place to party if you wanted to so bad, and even if the house was big, there’s still a fair chance of you running into the one man you dread ever seeing again. You aren’t too sure if that’s something that you’re ready to risk right now.

You sigh again, pressing your face against the car window. “I’ll think about it.”

You haven’t stepped foot in a place this expensive-looking since Yeri invited you on that little summer vacation to her stepdad’s beach house (two years ago.)

Jaemin somehow managed to convince you to show up by pinky promising to do a week’s worth of your assignments next semester, and you’d be a fool for turning that offer down. It isn’t clear from the outside, but academically Jaemin is sharp. So now, you’re searching for Jaemin in a sea full of red plastic cups. He was right, the house is humongous, and now you’re really beginning to question why someone with this kind of fortune at their fingertips lives with three presumably broke college students.

At least they’re playing SHINee. That way you can sing along to your favorite boy band while you simultaneously search for your best friend.

It might be harder for him to spot you. You chose to wear something dull, deciding against standing out too much just in case Jaehyun wanted confrontation, so looking for you is like searching for a needle in a haystack. You two could have just spent the night karaoking with Jaemin in your living room just like the good ‘ole days, for heavens sake.

Na Jaemin, when I find you, you groan. He doesn’t answer your calls or texts, and just for this you should make him do your homework for two weeks. Three if you bump into Jaehyun. You stop at an empty spot to catch your breath.

“God, what are these guys’ parents? The CEO’s of Samsung?” you mutter, to yourself.

“Aw, so close.”

Not expecting an actual answer, you jump and turn in the direction of the voice. You find a tall, handsome man smiling at you. His teeth are so white that it looks like he eats Colgate for breakfast.

“Kai, I’m the host of the party,” he grins, yet then his expression falters, “do I know you from somewhere?”

“I was thinking the same thing!” You laugh, analyzing his face. He does look a bit familiar.

You tell him your name, and the way he repeats it once more then blinks a few times concerns you a little. It’s not that you have a bad reputation, but did he know you from something bad?

His eyes widen. “You’re Johnny’s ex-girlfriend.”

That, you are. Back in high school you and Johnny dated for some time, broke up after a while since you drifted apart from one another, but agreed to stay friends so you’re both cool. You’re relieved that’s all, but you still don’t remember where you know Kai from, and you’re almost one-hundred percent sure it isn’t high school. You don’t even think you went two to the same high school.

“That’s me,” you confirm with a nod, “I still don’t know where I remember you from, though.”

If this were a cartoon, Kai would have a thought bubble above his head, and moments later it would transform into a lightbulb, “Are you friend’s with Yeri?” he guesses, and you nod, “she’s my step-sister. She probably told you about me.”

Oh. Well now the dots are connecting. Yeri did in fact tell you about him, mentioning that his family is the one her mom married into when explaining how filthily rich she became—because her brand new step-dad is indeed a CEO.

You make an O with your mouth, “Small world.”

“I know, right?” Kai, or as you know him from Yeri (also why you didn’t recognize him immediately), Jongin, laughs, “Care to dance?”

At that, you frown, “I’d love to, but I should really find Jaemin. He’s my best friend and we’re supposed to be spending time together because he just moved back in town recently.”

Kai looks a little sad by the rejection but handles it well, nodding in understanding, “Good luck. Last time I saw him he was over there,” he points, “losing a drinking game.”

That could mean nothing good. That meant wherever he was, Jaemin was more than likely going to be shitfaced by the end of the night. You sigh internally, almost wishing he’d go back to being the shy and introverted boy you knew in high school.

You met Jaemin in your sophomore year, at a party his friends forced him to go to, and you had a couple of mutual friends, but until then you two were nothing more than strangers. Speaking of which, that’s how you bonded, even though it was a fight getting him to say more than five words at a time. You were sure your friends Sicheng and Yuta had a thing for each other, whereas he hadn’t suspected a thing. So you made a bet, and only a couple minutes later, they were found making out against a wall. He owed you 50 bucks.

When Jaemin is still no where to be find, you’re ready to cave in to defeat. You feel like you’re in a maze, walking around in circles and it shows in the ache in your feet. You’re about to give up and turn around, until you walk into something, or someone, and all audible to you is the sound of splashing before someone yells shit, I’m sorry!

Oh, you’ll make sure they’re sorry. You’re not sure what you should focus on. How your top is now soaked, or how familiar their voice is. Until you look back up and see a walking, breathing and unfortunately talking, nightmare.

He calls out your name.

Like before, you turn and walk away.

He says it again, louder, and follows you.

“I don’t want to talk to you, Jaehyun.”

Still, he tails behind you like a lost puppy, despite you obviously trying to stay far, far away, “Can’t you hear me out? It’s been two years.”

“Two very peaceful years,” you stop dead in your tracks and finally turn to face him. It hurts you to look at his face, because the memories wash over you like waves, yet you do it anyways. You want to show him that you’re strong without him, not weakness and vulnerability, “and I told you two years ago that I want nothing to do with you.”

Jaehyun’s no good for you, you know that. You know that all he’s ever wanted to do is get inside your pants, that he’s never cared for you. So why are you tempted to hear him out?

No, you refuse, you will not let nostalgia win you over. That’s all it is. You miss what you had, but you don’t know if you miss him as a person.

“At least let me help you dry your shirt, it’s my fault that it’s ruined,” he tries again, but you’re hell-bent on making him feel as miserable as he did you.

“No.”

“Y/n—”

“No means no, Jaehyun,” another voice cuts in, and while it isn’t the one you’ve been looking for, you’re thankful nonetheless. Beside you stands Kai, tall, angry, and intimidating, “you gonna make her tell you to fuck off?”

Jaehyun glances at you, and you see the emotion in his eyes, but you don’t fall for them. Not anymore. He’s already caused your heart to feel enough pain that you can’t bother to try and carry the burden that is his own. So he gives up and walks off, finally leaving you alone.

And you let out an exhausted breath.

“Show’s over, mind your business,” Kai tells the audience you hadn’t even known formed, and not willing to risk going against him, everyone returns to their previous activity. He looks at you, and all the anger is washed with concern. “You okay?”

Are you okay? You don’t know anymore. Nostalgia is kicking your ass, and though you try not to think about him, you can’t help but reminisce.

“Yeah,” you say, but you’re not too sure. “Thanks. A lot.”

Kai shrugs, “No biggie. Do you think you and Yeri match sizes? You can use the bathroom in my bedroom to change because no one’s dumb enough to go in there.”

You sigh in relief. Chivalry isn’t dead. “Yes. Thank you.”

Kai leads you upstairs to Yeri’s room, or at least the one she stays in when she’s here, and let’s you choose a shirt. It isn’t an easy decision with Yeri being the epitome of fashion, but you pick quickly to spare Kai’s time, even though he tells you that he doesn’t mind. He then takes you to the bathroom in his room because according to him, Yeri’s one is under repair.

Even though Kai is guarding the door with his life and you know he wouldn’t just barge in there without your say-so, you lock the door. You meet your gaze in the mirror, eyeing yourself closely. Everyone is insecure sometimes, but after things ended between you and Jaehyun, you were extremely self-conscious for months.

To anyone who had never been in your shoes, it might’ve made more sense than anything for you to feel better about yourself knowing that even though Jaehyun had a girl, he kept coming back to you. Yet who’s to say you were the only one? To this day, you’re still convinced that the only reason he keeps trying to win you back is because him losing you plus you being the one to end it put a major dent in his ego.

You hate that he had that kind of power over you, to the point where he made you hate yourself. You hate that a man like him made you cry so many goddamn tears and now he expects you to dry his own.

Reminding yourself that Kai is waiting, you tear your gaze from your own before tears have the chance to spill, and wipe yourself dry so that you can put on your - or Yeri’s - shirt. Now that you think about it, it’s too cute to return. You might take it. She’s too rich to notice, and even if she does, she’s still rich. She can easily replace it.

Kai greets you with a smile as you step back inside his room, and you find yourself smiling back at him. He’s been treating you so kindly this whole time, and now that you think about it, you’ve never heard a single bad thing about the man. Yeri clearly doesn’t mention him very often, but it’s never been anything bad when she does, and even when Jaemin was telling you about his roommates, he described Kai as “the funny one that called his mom a lot.”

“Ready to join the party?”

And then you frown. “I don’t know.”

Kai quirks a brow, “Well don’t tell me you look this good just to not show yourself off.”

Amused, you scoff. Kai’s been smooth from the beginning, yet now he’s unabashedly flirting with you. “Are you flirting with me, Kim Jongin?”

Confusion spells itself out on his face. You have never once said his name tonight, and the one time you do, it’s his government. “How do you know my name?”

“Yeri,” you shrug, “but if you want me to just call you Kai then I understand.”

“Well, usually I reserve my real name for my close friends and family,” he grins, and God he looks devilishly handsome when he does, “but it sounds so nice on your tongue that I’ll make an exception.”

It’s painfully obvious that you don’t know how to react, eyes a little round and your lips parting, yet nothing coming from in between. It makes Jongin laugh.

“And yes, I was flirting with you,” he winks, “but anyways, if you really don’t wanna go back out there, which is totally fine, we can just chill in here. You seem like a nice person, and I’d like to get to know you.”

“Get to know me?” You quip, finding enough balance to play into his game after being knocked down by his charm briefly, “or my body?”

He arches a brow in amusement. “That feels like a trick question.”

You shrug. “Be honest. I might feel the same way.”

Maybe it’s a good thing that tonight didn’t go as planned. Kai’s had you since the moment he introduced himself, and it seems every five minutes he gets better.

“Well, I don’t see why I can’t multitask,” He purrs, taking your words as an invitation. An invitation that he was accepting.

You giggle. He eyes you gently, noticing the way you slowly inch closer to him, “I like you.”

It’s an initiation, turning the keys and putting the car in drive, and you want to see if Jongin will take the wheel. And it seems that to your fortune, he does.

“Guess it’s a good thing I like you, too.” Jongin chuckles, and he’s so close. You can feel his breath on your skin, tickling your neck, and it makes something in you crawl with arousal.

And the gap between you closes.

You already liked Kai last night, but you definitely like him this morning.

You woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon, and not just any kind of pancakes, but chocolate chip pancakes, your favorite. If anything can make you like someone, it’s chocolate chip pancakes.

“How’d you know chocolate chip was my fave?” you giggle, not expecting a serious response, but after the whole scenario with him yesterday, you should have already known he would have one.

“Yerim’s told me about you, too, you know,” Jongin replies, “It wasn’t even too long ago, it was winter break. We were all staying at my dad’s house for a couple of days, and she invited you over one morning. Everyone was gone but me and her when I went downstairs, and I saw her making chocolate chip pancakes. It blew me, because she’s an avid hater of chocolate. Then she told me they were for her best friend, because you love them, and after last night I learned that the best friend in question happened to be you.”

You and Jongin learned a lot about one another last evening. After you had sex, you didn’t expect to hit it off like you did, yet you spent a great deal of the night talking on his silk sheets. For starters, he’s a wonderful man. Funny, polite, respectful, thoughtful, caring, and he has an amazing personality. The sole flaw you could find in him was that he likes Hawaiian pizza. What kind of sick person enjoys Hawaiian pizza?

And you fell asleep in his arms. It was perfect, almost too good to be true. You considered the possibility of a relationship with him, you enjoyed his company and he was shameless to admit that he enjoyed yours. And yet still, you couldn’t help but think of Jaehyun.

The way he had also made you feel the same way, all those years ago. How he never fucked you and then shoved you away, but he talked to you until the sun came up, or spooned you to sleep. It was ridiculous, and you can’t believe that one encounter with Jaehyun had you acting like a teenager in love for the first time again. Not to mention the encounter in question was horrible. Jaehyun isn’t good for you, but for some reason your heart seems to still want him.

“If you want know so bad, just ask.”

“What?” Kai blinks, unaware that you’ve noticed the way he looks at you, not just now but ever since that encounter with Jaehyun. The longing in his eyes to say something, yet he resisted.

“I know you’re curious about me and Jaehyun,” truth be told, it isn’t just for him, but for you. Maybe if you remind yourself of what Jaehyun’s done to you, hear it aloud, you’ll snap out of it and shake this weird feeling. “So go ahead. Ask.”

Jongin’s surprised at how well you read him, and you can only hope that he doesn’t read you just as well.

“I figured you didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t want to overstep my boundaries.” How utterly Kai of him. And honestly, he’s right. You don’t want to, but at this point it’s a need.

“It’s okay,” you assure.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then that’s okay, you know. I understa—”

“Kim Jongin,” you say, and he pauses, a part of being because he still hasn’t gotten used to you calling him by his government name, yet he loves it when you do, “I am not about to beg you to ask me. I promise you, it’s alright.”

Jongin hesitates, but gives in reluctantly, “Okay, so… what happened for Jaehyun to be so intent on talking to you last night? Break-up?”

“Not really,” you say, trying to keep your voice level and flat. You weren’t the girl Jaehyun was in a relationship with, “It wasn’t a romantic relationship. Just sex, no strings attached.”

Jongin nods, “Ah, so a fling?”

“Mm-hm. I met him when Yeri invited her best friends to your dad’s beach house for a fun summer vacation during break. We hit it off well and it wasn’t much longer that he had me in his sheets. It really was fun, so we agreed to keep fucking around. And then some months later, I found out he had a girlfriend the whole time.”

He makes an understanding face, familiar with Yeri’s Pal-Cations (as she likes to call them.)

“Yerim didn’t tell you he was dating someone?”

“No one knew about us. He wanted to keep things secret,” you chuckle softly, “and that’s when I found out why.”

Silence falls over Jongin, and you sit there and let him ponder. Being able to say it all like this makes it seem so simple, and perhaps it should be. Jaehyun fucked up, and you owe him nothing. If he broke up with his girlfriend, maybe things would have been different, but he didn’t and that’s why he should leave you alone.

“Do you think he’s changed?” You shouldn’t ask. It doesn’t matter what Kai thinks, he doesn’t know Jaehyun like you do and he hasn’t known him for nearly as long. His opinion doesn’t matter.

Kai blinks. “I mean, you know what they say. Once a cheater, always a cheater.”

“But I’m asking for your opinion.”

You’ve never seen Kai so speechless. He’s always had something on the tip of his tongue, always. That’s when you consider that you’re probably dumping a shit ton of unwarranted info on him, especially since you had to practically coerce him into even asking you about Jaehyun. Before you have the chance to apologize, he answers.

“I don’t know him nearly as well as you probably do, but from what I’ve seen in the past 2 weeks, he’s nothing like some stupid, immature fuck boy. He carries himself well, cracks his jokes but he’s respectful and doesn’t push his limits, and I’ve never seen him with a girl,” Jongin says. “Come to think of it, he’s single. The boys discussed our dating situations and relationship statuses just so that we wouldn’t be surprised if we got up in the middle of the night and saw some stranger. Said he was single and wasn’t looking for sex.”

And you sigh in defeat, because the only thing that’s changed about Jaehyun according to that description is that he’s apparently single now and isn’t looking for sex.

Or maybe he was some stupid, immature fuckboy. You don’t know. And ever since you found out about her, you haven’t been sure if you’ve ever known him like you thought you did. You haven’t been sure about anything.

“Do you want him back?”

The questions catchs you off-guard. It isn’t exactly new, but you’ve never had anyone ask you this other than yourself. It’s all that you can think about. Do you really want him back? Or do you just miss what you had? What if it’s both?

“I don’t know,” you answer. And trust, you’ve been thinking about it since that whole ordeal at the café Monday. Even if you do, you shouldn’t. You don’t know Jaehyun’s motive, and there are plenty of other guys that can provide you everything he was giving you. One is literally looking you dead in the eye. He’s replaceable, you tell yourself. You don’t need him.

But that sure as hell has nothing to do with you wanting him.

“You don’t know?” Kai lifts his brow, “Or are you simply in denial?”

You feel like he’s your therapist, and the thought almost makes you laugh. Everything reminds you of Jaehyun. How sometimes, you’d play therapist for each other after you had sex, either directly afterwards or in the morning like now. It was so much more than sex, you think. To you, anyways. And that’s likely how you caught feelings.

Oh, dear god.

Even after two years, maybe those feelings you had for him still linger.

“I realized something,” you really don’t have to say anything, it’s written all over your face.

Jongin makes the conclusion, “You want him.”

Slowly, you nod. You think that you shouldn’t, but you do, and Jongin was right about you being in denial. You guess he really does read you just as well as you do him.

“I’m not gonna sit here and tell you what you should or shouldn’t do because it’s your choice to make at the end of the day, but let’s take everything into account,” Jongin starts, voice sterner than it’s been all morning, “I’m not saying age is an excuse, but he was eighteen. All eighteen-year-old boys are stupid. Take it from someone who’s been there. But he’s twenty-one now, and it’s been years. That’s plenty enough time for him to grow and change.”

You nod along. That’s true, and while you could never be too careful because who’s to say he’s changed, who’s to say he hasn’t?

Kai adds, “If you want to take the risk, take it. If you don’t, then don’t. He made an inexcusable mistake. But he’s human, and all humans make mistakes. You dont owe him anything, especially not forgiveness, but be a little open-minded.”

The decision is yours. You can hear Jaehyun out and try to salvage your relationship, or you can continue to shut him out. You don’t owe him a second chance, but god, you must admit that you’ve always secretly longed to give him one, just so that you could go back to what you had.

Whenever you contemplate giving him a second chance, you think about her. You try to put yourself in her shoes, wondering how she must’ve felt, if she ever knew that the man she loved was fucking around with another woman. Maybe that’s how they broke up. Days ago, the thought would have made you run further and further away from him. But now, it’s almost like you’re rooted in place, bumping into dead-ends.

If you were her, you’d be unforgiving. But you’re not her, you never will be her, and that makes you want to be a little more selfish.

That makes you want him.

“Thanks, Kai,” you say, truly grateful to have his unbiased opinion. Usually you wouldn’t trust people you met less than twenty-four hours ago with your personal business, but all the shit you and Kai exchanged last night makes you willing to permit an exception. And then, you feel bad because even after the kind things he’s done for you since last night, he’s still sitting here advising you on your complicated you-problems. “And I’m so sorry for dumping all my problems on you, you’ve been so sweet and the least I could do—”

“Hey, no worries. If you ever need to talk, I’m here,” Kai interjects, “and if you want me to do a bit of snooping around…”

You shake your head. “No way. You’ve already done enough for me, and I don’t want you to get caught up in my drama. I can handle it.”

“Sure, you can. But I don’t want a girl like you to wind up heartbroken, especially over a possible jackass, and at very least you should see if you can trust him before you, well, trust him,” As though he can sense you about to object, he adds, “No buts. I’m going to keep a few tabs on him and alert you if there’s anything suspicious.”

You sigh, and don’t argue because it’s obvious he isn’t changing his mind. You’re grateful.

You smile. “Thank you.”

“Of course. And if he breaks your heart, I’m here.”

You scoff, “Flirting with me again, Kim Jongin?”

“Oh, baby,” he growls, “Keep saying my name like that and I’ll make you forget he ever existed.”

Ten minutes ago, that would have been tempting. But now you know what you want, and you’re determined to have it.

Yeri thinks it’s a bad idea.

Taeyong thinks it’s terrible idea.

Jaemin thinks you’ve had better ideas, but he’s willing to cooperate nonetheless.

“I don’t get it,” Taeyong shakes his head, “That guy broke your heart.”

“He wasn’t trying to,” you mutter.

“And he still did, that’s the crazy part.”

“It was two years ago. To be fair, all of us were stupid at eighteen.”

“Not all of us were cheating on our partners with a girl we met on summer break, though,” Taeyong quips, incredulous that he’s even having this discussion with you. You’ve always been on the same page, what changed?

You groan, “God, Taeyong. Sure, he cheated. Duh, he was in the wrong. But it wasn’t me that he cheated on and it’s not like we were ever in a relationship. He couldn’t have known how I felt about him when I did everything in my power to hide my feelings. And what if he’s changed?”

“And what if he hasn’t?” Taeyong retorts quickly.

The silence in the room is deadly. Taeyong can’t believe that he’s having to talk some sense into you, all while your other two friends sit quietly observing your argument. Is he the only one thinking around here? Why aren’t they helping?

Then, Yeri speaks up from the other side of the room, “Instead of arguing, let’s just put Jaehyun to the test.”

“And how do you plan on going about that?” Taeyong grumbles.

“Letting her talk to him, dimwit, how else?” Yeri rolls her eyes, “I know that you probably think that allowing him within a ten-foot radius of her is going to break her heart, but you’re greatly underestimating my best friend’s strength. She isn’t stupid, she can identify red flags.”

“Ease up on the fighting words,” Jaemin chuckles, “but I dunno, Yeri’s right. The only way she’ll know if he’s changed is to see for herself. If she notices anything odd, she can give him the boot. It’s not rocket science.”

You glance at Taeyong. Truthfully, you don’t need his permission, and both of you know that. But it would be nice to feel validated by your best friends, especially the overprotective one.

Taeyong glances back at you, and his expression softens. He’s always had a soft spot for you, and it’s hard to tell you no. Plus, he doesn’t want to be the token villain when everyone else is telling you to go for it. To chase what you want.

And in all honesty, Taeyong wishes he could chase what he wants. But the last thing he is is selfish, so maybe now is the time he lets you go.

Finally, he groans, “Alright, fine. Whatever. Talk to Jaehyun, see if he’s really ready to commit. But if this guy breaks your heart, I’m going to quote-unquote accidentally spill the hottest coffee on his face, just to give him a taste of the fire that is hell, where he will burn for eternity.”

Jaemin shivers, having flashbacks to the first time he spoke to Taeyong, “You love a good coffee threat, don’t you? So many fighting words.”

Taeyong doesn’t reply, just glares at Jaemin sharply.

“Hostile, but I’m with him,” Yeri nods, “Mark my words, that man will die a slow, painful death if he makes one more mistake.”

“Yep!” Jaemin agrees, “Don’t worry, babes. We got your back.”

At that, you smile. Your friends are on your side. Now, here comes the real trouble.

Mustering the ability to talk to Jaehyun.

Fortunately, Yerim’s annual Pal-Cation was right around the corner, and would extend until the end of the week.

Last year, Jaehyun didn’t attend.

Correction: he wasn’t invited.

Yeri and Jaehyun haven’t been on amazing terms since she became aware of everything, which put a dent in their relationship. This year, she’s invited him in favor of playing Cupid.

You’re a little nervous, anxious about being in the same space as Jaehyun for more than three minutes after all these years. You’re scared and you’re not sure of what, because if Jaehyun’s really as changed as he implies he is, the result should be predictable.

Then again, you don’t really know Jaehyun’s reason for wanting to talk to you, and that makes you all the more panicked. Of course, he wants you to hear him out, but what does he want to come out of that? A second chance? At what?To you, your relationship was so much more than sex. But what if it wasn’t to him? What if he just wants to get inside your pants?

“Girl, please,” Jaemin scoffs, crashing against your hotel bed like he owns the place. He’s in comfortable awe, and probably wouldn’t think twice if someone told him the beds were made out of marshmallows, “you were defending his life choices like yesterday—god damn, these beds are soft—and now you’re having second thoughts? Since when do you back down from things?”

You throw a pillow at him, “I was not defending him!”

“I talked to him earlier, when he asked me if I was sure about wanting him here,” Yeri states, sitting on the seat in front of the mirror. “Told him that there’s no way in hell he’d be here right now if I didn’t want him to be. He laughed and promised me he wouldn’t do anything stupid, and I told him know, because if he does do something stupid it’s off with his motherfuckin’ head.”

Jaemin smiles, satisfied, “Yeah, that should do it. I’d be scared half to death, you could probably pay someone to kill him and no one would suspect a thing.”

“Enough about killing him,” you grimace, “I’m just, I dunno, nervous, I guess. What if he just wants to get in my pants?”

“Guess you better go found out, and tonight is the perfect opportunity. I reserved the pool, so we have the entire area to ourselves until midnight.”

“Yeah, and that wouldn’t be too bad anyways. When was the last time you got laid?” Jaemin adds.

You sneer and flip him off, “For your information, I got laid at that party Friday night when you left me for dead to go get drunk. And that’s why your ass was hungover. And Yeri, you never told me that your step-brother was so fucking hot.”

Yeri exclaims, “You slept with Jongin?”

“You slept with her brother?”

And that’s where you conclude that you’ve overshared, and it’s time for everyone to have some time to themselves, “Alright, everybody out,” you push and pull them both out, until they’re standing outside your door, “I’ll see you guys tonight.”

Then you shut the door, and lie on your bed, sighing with comfort. Jaemin’s right, the beds really are comfortable. You’re feeling drowsy already and decide to rest your eyes. There’s hours until it’s Pool Time.

Pool Time comes faster than you wished.

You’re antsy, but Yeri has SHINee’s Punch Drunk Love playing, so you feel more at ease. It also serves as a reminder that you’re going to need a drink or two to get through the night.

It doesn’t help that you had a dream about Jaehyun while you were trying to rest your eyes, about the night when you first you met him. You were at Yeri’s step-father’s beach house, and the dream was specifically when you made out in the middle of the pool. I’ll never let you drown, baby. You shake the memory away.

You glance around, and see everyone’s here. Yeri’s talking to her friend Mark who obviously has a crush on her, Jaemin’s engaging in conversation with Taeyong who for once doesn’t look like he wants to rip Jaemin’s head off, Yeri’s other friends are playing in the pool, and—Jaehyun.

Jaehyun’s seated at the bar, looking dead at you, which is exactly where you need to be but your lunch and your stomach seem to not be getting along suddenly. You tear your gaze, and glance back at Yeri. You need her help, one last push or words of encouragement, but you’re not selfish enough to interrupt Mark’s attempts at flirting with your friend and getting some.

Well fuck, you groan. You’re all alone this time, and deciding you look stupid standing there by yourself, you march to the bar and hoist yourself on the stool beside Jaehyun, ignoring the increasing speed of your heartbeat. It doesn’t help that this place only has two barstools.

“What can I get you, sweetheart?” The bartender asks you. She’s pretty, got long dark hair and a nice face. You wonder if Jaehyun flirting with her is the reason she’s been smiling so hard since before you sat down, trying to stifle a giggle.

And you frown at your own thoughts. Leave it to you to automatically assume the worst.

“No idea. Suprise me,” you sigh, and with a nod she gets to work.

It’s difficult, more like impossible to ignore Jaehyun’s presence beside you. He isn’t saying anything, isn’t doing anything as far as you can tell without looking at him, but the knowledge that he’s there has you on your toes.

The bartender brings back your drink, tells you to enjoy and you say thank you before having a taste. You need this before you dare say a word to him.

And then he dare speaks, “Hi.”

You can feel your heart racing and you don’t know why, but you do know that you don’t like it. There’s no reason to feel like this, you heard Jaehyun talk at the party. You somehow manage to chirp back quietly, “Hi.”

“Aren’t you gonna look at me?”

It feels like he’s challenging you, almost to say you’re too much of a pussy to look him dead in the face, and you know you’re more than likely making that up but Jaehyun’s the first person to know that you’re last person to back down from a challenge, so you do turn to look at him.

It takes everything in you to stay rational when you do. You get the chance to look at him, to really look at him, and you’re taken aback by his features. He looks the same, but different all at once, obviously a little older.

Beside you is no longer the teenage boy with the cute, high-pitched voice, but a man with a deep and matured sound to his voice. He’s smiling a little wildly at you. It’s the first time you’ve seen him smile in years.

You take a sip from your drink so that you don’t smile back and say, “I’m looking.”

“See something you like?”

“Nope,” you lie, as though you weren’t obvious checking him out seconds ago, “just you.”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” Jaehyun grins playfully, “smile a little, won’t you?”

“Let’s cut to the chase, Jaehyun,” you change the subject. You refuse to let his little games work on you. “Didn’t you want me to hear you out? Hop to it or I’m leaving.”

He blinks. “Here?”

Well no one can hear you other than the bartender, but it’s a personal issue that deserves the utmost privacy and it’s not like you’re willing to share your personal business with a stranger, so you agree to walk around the pool with him. Close enough so that you’re not bumping into walls, distant enough to not be overheard.

You glance at him, “So?”

Jaehyun sighs, “Rather than defending myself, I think I should apologize. For not telIing you I was in a relationship, for risking dragging you into drama, it was selfish. I was selfish.”

It was selfish. He couldn’t have been thinking of your feelings, or even her feelings.

“There’s no excuse for what I did, and I can’t imagine how belittled it made you feel. You don’t have to forgive me, and I know you’re probably gonna hate me forever for this and I don’t blame you. But I want you to know that I’m sorry,” he gives you those emotional eyes, the same dejected gleam in them, “Sincerely. And if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you…”

“Tell me why,” you want the answers that you’ve been searching for all these years. Not exactly closure, but you don’t want to live in doubt, wondering maybe you were never enough, and that’s why you were always the side piece.

“Why I did it?”

You nod, and he’s silent for a moment.

“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know why eighteen-year-old me did the shit I did, but I know that I did it and I can’t take it back. I’ve looked back so many times and I still can’t fathom…” Jaehyun trails off, then starts shaking his head, “you know what? Maybe I do know why.”

Don’t cry, you tell yourself. You’re stronger than this. You’re blinking back tears, attempting to keep your voice level as you whisper, “Why then, Jaehyun?”

“It’s not the shocking, life-changing reason I always thought it would be,” he chuckles sadly, “it’s because I was stupid. And careless. I wasn’t thinking, but at the same time I thought I had the world at my feet, and I guess I did but then I…” Jaehyun stops to take a breath after he realizes he’s rambling. “But then I lost you. And that’s when I realized that this, the lying, the cheating, the going behind your backs—it was stupid.”

“It was stupid,” you agree, and he laughs a little more. “But let me ask you one more thing…” you say. He doesn’t reply, but his eyes tell you to go ahead. “Did you love her?” Or did you love me?

Jaehyun nods lazily. “At one point.”

You bite your lip, unsatisfied.

“Did you love me?”

That catches him off-guard. You almost expect him to stop walking the way he’s frozen, and you feel your stomach churning in regret.

“Nevermind, forget I asked that—”

“When you first left, I was unaffected,” Jaehyun interjects. “Like I said, I thought I had the world at my feet, so I thought you were replaceable. I tried replacing you. But it wasn’t the same, no matter how many times I tried, it was never, ever the same,” his eyes muse at you, “No one looked at me the way you did, no one talked to me all night and made me laugh like you did, no one ran circles through my mind like you, no one was like you. So I knew I needed you back, but by the time I realized you were already gone. And that’s when I knew I had fucked up.”

He adds, “So, yeah. I did love you. Maybe it was at the wrong time, maybe it was too late for me to love you, maybe I wasn’t supposed to, but I did and I don’t think I’ve ever stopped.”

Jaehyun’s thumb runs over your eyes, wiping a string of tears that you hadn’t even know you cried. He doesn’t say anything about it, just pulls you closer to his chest.

“What about you?” He asks.

“What about me?”

“Did you love me?”

Now it’s your turn to freeze, and then you almost laugh. Of course, you loved him. You were in love with him. Hopelessly.

“Can I be honest?”

Jaehyun nods. “Mm-hm. That’s what this is all about, right?”

You exhale a sharp breath, preparing to tell one of your deepest, darkest secrets to the one person that was never supposed to know, “When I told you the reason I wanted to end things was because of you cheating on her, that wasn’t the whole truth. It was part of it, and though I’m no homewrecker, there’s another reason. I was in love with you—hopelessly, helplessly, utterly—and I couldn’t stand the thought that you never felt the same, that I was just a plaything to you.”

“Y/n—”

“Let me finish,” you order, “I left to take care of me. I thought it would have been disrespectful towards myself to stay in that position, when from my understanding, I loved you yet you loved her,” you feel another trail of tears coming, and wipe them away before they have the chance to spill. “At that moment, when I found out you already had someone, I felt like I didn’t know you anymore. I thought that maybe you never really cared, and I was the only one that felt it.”

It, the love. The spark. The connection. The butterflies in your stomach when he held you close, or called you cute pet names. The emotion whenever he was deep inside you.

“It felt like I had given my heart to a stranger,” you laugh humorlessly, “because for all I knew, who’s to say I was the only one you were fucking behind her back? I felt so, so stupid. Like I was never enough. And when I first saw your face again after all these years, all of that hurt came back. But at the same time,” you look him in his eyes, “all my feelings for you came back, too.”

It’s silent for a moment, but it isn’t awkward. You’ve just confessed your feelings for one another, not only now, but for the you of two years ago. For the you of eighteen who never thought you’d ever have this chance.

And you can’t believe Jaehyun’s actually had feelings for you, too. It always seemed like some fairytale thing, but hearing one another out like responsible adults instead of immature teens changes things.

“Wow,” Jaehyun whispers in surprise, “Wow. I was such a fool. I made a simple thing so fucking complicated. Imagine where we’d be if I would have just broken up with her and realized my feelings sooner.”

Together. You’d be together, as one.

“Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve, didn’t,” you say lightheartedly, “There’s no use in worrying about that. You’ve apologized. And I forgive you.”

“You forgive me?” Jaehyun gawks. “Why? I thought you’d hate me forever or something.”

“I kinda still hate the you of two years ago, he’s an asshole,” you giggle, “but the you standing next to me right now, today, is a changed man who knows his mistake and won’t do that shit ever a-fucking-gain. Or else.”

Jaehyun snorts. “Of course not. I wouldn’t dare.”

You smile, “Good.”

“Good. So do we address our relationship too, or…”

“Later, please,” you groan. “Come sit by the water with me.”

Jaehyun agrees, and so now you’re sitting at the edge of the pool, your head resting on his shoulder.

“Is SHINee still your favorite band?” He asks.

“Yeah,” you mumble, heart warming at the fact that he even still remembers that.

Then he teases, “Do you still swoon over Lee Taemin?”

You give him a very, very icy glare, “Shut up. I’ll push you into the pool right now.”

“You wouldn’t,” Jaehyun challenges.

Wrong move, you smirk. You love a challenge.

So in one swift movement, you do push him into the pool, and the sound of him yelling and the water splashing is like music to your ears. You giggle, watching as he comes back up, hair heavy and soaked as it sticks to him like a second skin. You also take notice of his white t-shirt, or his abs through the soaked cotton. Six pack. Toned. Stupid dumb crazy hot. Damn, sometimes you forget why you kept coming back to him.

He sneers, unamused. “Not funny.”

“It’s a little funny,” you disagree with a smile.

“Oh yeah?” he says, “Look, Lee Taemin!”

You turn without fully processing his statement yet, “Wha—agh!”

In an even swifter motion, Jaehyun’s pulled your ankles, and now a distracted you falls into the pool with a splash. Not to mention, your bikini cover-up is still on. This, unfortunately, is karma. Inconvenience aside, you’re getting deja vu, a distant memory seeping back into your mind.

You whine, “Not fair.”

“It’s a little fair,” he mocks, and you can’t help but roll your eyes.

“You’re lucky I know how to swim,” you wringe out your hair, “You would have had an lawsuit against you if I didn’t.”

You wonder if he’s taken the hint, if he’s gonna say it. You remember that exact moment, being so close to his face and feeling so warm. I’d never let you drown, baby.

And like a rehearsed line, he says perfectly, “I’d never let you drown, baby.”

“You remember.” Your tone is like a question, but it’s a statement.

“I remember a lot of things about you,” Jaehyun states, and perfectly timed, the current song fades into your all-time personal favorite—SHINee’s 1 of 1. “For instance, is this still your favorite SHINee song?”

One glance in Yeri’s direction confirms your suspicion that this is all her doing, as you see her giggling at you, phone in hand. It was already suspicious of her to play SHINee when she’s an Ariana Grande girl, but now you definitely see her her crystal-clear intentions.

“Yeah,” you mutter, but as you turn back around you notice he’s definitely close enough to hear you. Your noses are almost touching, and you can feel your heart racing. You feel like a teenager in love all over again, blood pumping, your heart beating in your ears. Deja vu.

Jaehyun must be feeling it too, because he asks, “Can I kiss you?”

Yet again, you blush. “Sure.”

And on cue, his lips are against yours. Jaehyun’s still an amazing kisser, he feels gentle yet he’s so fierce, gripping your waist as your fingers tangle in his hair. You know for a fact he’d be even rougher if you weren’t inside of a pool.

His lips feel better than you remember, and then he bites your lip. You moan, lips parting and he darts his tongue in your mouth. You can taste his drink on his tongue, faint remnants of whatever he had in his cup.

Fuck, you forgot how high kissing him makes you feel. It’s like an addictive drug, and you can feel nothing but your heartbeat and his lips on yours. You don’t want him to stop.

And then, to your misfortune, he does stop. You whimper, not really taking notice of how out of breath you are as you’re overcome with greed.

“Why’d you stop?” You frown.

“You need to breathe, babe. You wanna almost drown in the pool like Taeyong?” He laughs.

Speaking of Taeyong, you check on him with your eyes. To your surprise, he’s still talking and laughing with Jaemin, the pair obviously hitting it off and super into one another. It makes you smile. That boy’s had a huge crush on you that you both know you can’t reciprocate for years, and it’s time he lets you go.

“Hello… Earth to y/n? You look like the cute puppy eyes emoji.”

Your eyes snap at Jaehyun, “Shut up,” you reply, “And kiss me.”

“Bossy,” Jaehyun teases, but he must like that about you, because moments later he’s kissing you again, even more passionately than before.

“Oh, c’mon!”

Yeri giggles, “Sorry, y/n. The majority rules!”

For the second day of your California vacation, Yeri’s decided to take everyone to an amusement park an hour out from the hotel. You asked her why she didn’t do Disney Land this year, but she said it was reserved for her first Bae-Cation.

You roll your eyes. What happened to chicks over dicks?

The point is, you wanted to separate into groups, considering it would be easier to keep up with everyone. However, everyone else wanted to do pairs, arguing that there was more freedom and it’d be easier to come towards a mutual decision instead of arguing over what to ride.

So everyone grabs their partners, and you’re shocked when you see Jaemin and Taeyong step beside one another. You’re incredulous. Jaemin’s just been abandoning you left and right ever since he came back.

“You two in love or some shit now?” You fold your arms, eyes pointing at them accusingly. “What happened to those coffee threats, Yong? I thought you said Jaem was annoying. And Jaemin? You said he was scary!”

Jaemin shrugs coolly. “He was, but then I realized something. Taeyong’s like an egg, he has a hard shell—” Taeyong glares, “—nevermind, he doesn’t like that comparison very much. Taeyong’s like a smore, hard on the outside yet warm and soft on the inside. Oh, and very deli—ow!”

Jaemin holds his stomach dramatically, looking at Taeyong who stands with a satisfied grin on his face. Perhaps, Taeyong still is a little scary.

“Jaem! Yong!”

“Ooh, that reminds me,” Jaemin eyes twinkle, “I think our ship name should be Jaeyong.”

Taeyong disagrees, “No way. It should be Taemin.”

“First of all, you two will never be Taemin,” you interject with a scowl. “Anyways, you two figure that out. I’ll go be with my partner.”

And you stomp away to spot Jaehyun waiting for you with a cheeky grin. You’re optionless, you suppose. Yeri’s with Mark again, Taeyong and Jaemin are obviously a thing now, Seulgi’s with Winter and Jennie’s with Nayeon.

It’s not even like last night ended poorly. Last night couldn’t have been better, you spent your time making out and drinking with Jaehyun in the pool until midnight. It was too good to be true, you felt like Cinderella, having to slip back into her normal life by the time the clock struck twelve.

Now though, you have to be alone with Jaehyun. Okay technically, you’ll be surrounded by hundreds of people, and depending on where you go your friends may or may not be accompanying you, though still. It isn’t that you don’t trust him, but isn’t it natural to feel uneasy?

Jaehyun calls, “C’mon, princess! Let’s go get hotdogs. I’m hungry.”

“We ate at the hotel,” you snort.

“So? That was an hour ago. Plus the time it took for us to get through that crazy ass line. If you’re not hungry, I’ll buy you a lemonade or something.”

A lemonade does sound good, you ponder. It’s summertime, and no amount of sunglasses and mosquito-repellent sunscreen is going to help you beat this heat. It’s ninety-something degrees.

“Fine,” you give in, and an eternity later (curse these never-ending lines) you’re sitting down at a bench, you sipping on your humongous cup of lemonade and Jaehyun eating a hotdog.

To be honest, you really didn’t need the largest size that they had. You were just testing his reaction for the fun of it, expecting to have a giggle or two, but he totally surprised you, buying it and insisting you should have it even after you told him that you were just playing.

The Jaehyun you knew three years ago was many things, and rich was not one of them.

“Let’s talk,” he says after discarding his hotdog in the bin. Oh of course, Jaehyun’s brain cannot function when he’s running low on food.

Playing dumb, you ask, “About what?”

“Us,” he answers simply.

“In the middle of an amusement park?”

“It’s important,” Jaehyun grins, “You don’t trust me.”

Perplexity is written all over your face. You trust Jaehyun on the basic level, you feel safe around him and in his embrace. But you’re not sure if you trust him with your heart just yet, and after everything he did, you have the right to be scared.

“And I understand why. I hurt you once, you’re scared I might do it again. So let’s start over,” he concludes, and you blink. “From scratch. Past aside. I want you to get to know me, and I wanna get to know you. I’m sure there’s plenty of things I don’t know about you now.”

I mean, you know the gist. You didn’t say that aloud, of course. Through a discussion last night, he still knows your favorite color and your undying love for pie and SHINee, especially Taemin, your birthday, your mom’s birthday, even your dog’s birthday—okay, maybe he knows too much. Or you overshared. Who knows.

And you still remember a lot of facts about him, but at the same time, there’s still so much you don’t know about one another.

“Right,” you agree, “So by starting over, you mean…”

“Completely,” he answers quick. “Let’s re-introduce ourselves.”

Your lips don’t quiver, drawn into a line. “You gotta be kidding.”

“I’m serious!” Jaehyun claims. “C’mon, I’ll even go first.”

“Jaehyun—”

“Aht, aht! You’re not supposed to know my name,” Jaehyun chides. “Hi, my name’s Jaehyun, I’m twenty-one, and I like Cigarettes After Sex. The band, I mean. I don’t smoke.”

You roll your eyes. There was no need for him to explain, because literally everybody knows Jaehyun likes Cigarettes After Sex, the same way everyone knows you like SHINee. But for the sake of placating him and getting this over with, you refuse to make any comments.

“This is so corny.”

“The longer you wait the longer it takes.”

Reluctantly you give in, but not without a groan. “Hi, Jaehyun. My name’s y/n, I’m also twenty-one, and I like SHINee.”

Jaehyun claps dramatically, “Bravo! Was that so hard?”

“Yes, actually.”

He giggles, tells you to stop being dramatic and you two begin your mission to ride every ride that you can within the span of a few hours. You get more snacks in between, sharing a container of butter-y delicious popcorn and double-dating some rides with the other pairs (which unfortunately happens to lead to you witnessing Mark throwing up in a bush).

Unfortunately, time flies by fast when you’re having fun, and when Yeri texts the Pal-Cation Pals group chat to meet up by the first popcorn stand in fifteen minutes, you know you have little time remaining, enough for one last ride.

The Ferris Wheel.

Last but not least, the Ferris Wheel. You and Jaehyun have been saving it for last, agreeing the full experience is at dark night, when the colorful lights illuminate the indigo sky.

“Let’s go!” You pull him into a cart, and he laughs at your enthusiasm.

When the ride starts, Jaehyun holds your hand and you rest your head on his shoulder. It feels nice and comfortable, and you quickly realize you miss having him like this. Close to you. And it’s silent for a moment. You and Jaehyun have always had these moments together, where you’re not talking one another’s ears off, but holding each other in warm silence. You have always valued the other’s company.

You watch as the world gets smaller underneath your feet, how the Ferris wheel lights twinkle in vibrant colors, and shine on its surroundings. You see how the other rides glow in the dark, appearing so close yet so far away.

It’s beautiful. Your eyes flare different colors—red, blue, pink, green—as you gawk in wonder. If you could, you’d stay like this forever, watching this astonishing sight with Jaehyun at your side.

“You look pretty in the light,” Jaehyun marvels, snapping you out of your daze. The butterflies and their flapping wings come back, and he’s always been able to make you feel like this so easily.

Warmth fills your cheeks, and you turn around so that he doesn’t notice. “Don’t I always? Or are you saying I only look pretty in the light?”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes, “You’re still impossible. I’m trying to flirt with you.”

“Then do so,” you smile. “Keep telling me about how pretty I am.”

“Look at me,” Jaehyun whispers, but it’s loud and clear to you. Slowly, you do look at him, noticing the way his lips curl into a soft grin, and how the purple light casts on his gorgeous skin and features. “Your lips are pretty, too.”

Next, he’ll call your bones pretty and you’ll still feel your face flush with heat.

Jaehyun kissed you for hours last night, but when his lips collide with yours again you know that you’ll never get used to the feeling. Your fingers card through his hair while his gravitate towards your skin, cold hands sending a shiver down your spine as they mesh with the evening warmth.

You bite at his lip this time, wallowing in the sound of his moan as it tumbles from between his parted lips. He can feel you smiling, the corners of your lips spreading apart as you stifle a laugh.

It feels like fire consumes you, like you’re melting, melting into his touch, like candle wax as his fingertips trace your skin. Like a bomb’s ignited inside you, like you’re exploding, and the more you feel him the more you desire him. The more you crave him, the more your body yearns for him.

You know you have him when you move for his neck, marking a trail of red lipstick stains that look purple in the light. He takes it as a challenge, retaliating with a bite at your neck that makes you sigh in pleasure, and this is definitely why you get along so well—you’re compatible.

“When we get back,” you gasp, ignoring the complacent look he casts at you, “Meet me in my room.”

“What about the others?”

“They saw us making out in the pool, Jaehyun, literally nobody cares,” you roll your eyes. “No more sneaking around shit, right?”

He smiles, “Right. Can’t anyways, your lipstick is all over my throat.”

You giggle, and bring him back in for another kiss as the ride begins to slow to an end.

The next couple of days are equally eventful, yet fly by far too quickly for your liking. You hit the beach and unfortunately witness a woman being stung by a jelly fish, visit some museums, the zoo, and even hike near the Hollywood sign. You also make sure to spend Yeri’s money on some souvenirs, and Jaehyun buys you matching necklaces. You have his J, he has your first initial.

Today is Saturday—already. Tomorrow you will return home, and you’re not sure if you’re ready or not. You sigh as you scroll through your camera roll. You’ve had so much fun this week, there’s the pictures of Mark’s scared face on the roller coaster, Taeyong buried alive into the sand, Yeri and the girls trying on humongous sun glasses at the mall, and the video of Jaemin and Jaehyun arm-wrestling to determine who’s the better Jae to prove it (Jaehyun won).

Like a normal Saturday, today’s the one chill day. The whole week has been chaotic in a fun way, but Yeri had nothing else planned, so she told everyone to take a day to wind down and feel free to venture out to wrap up the vacation.

Which leads you to now.

Jaehyun and you agreed to visit the park, just walking around and talking, and perhaps doing some making out in between. You’ve been doing that a lot lately, and you’re pretty sure you’re addicted. It’s like there’s crack in his lips that cannot simply be fixed with chapstick.

“It’s hot,” you complain.

Jaehyun snorts. “We’re in California, babe. Imagine Yeri took us to Florida.”

You wince. You’re barely beating the Californian heat, there’s no way you’ll survive down south in Florida. It doesn’t even snow there.

“I thought you were gonna say some fake-romantic shit, like I’ll reach into the sky and throw the sun into the freezer, princess, just say the word,” you mimick his voice exaggeratedly.

Jaehyun rolls his eyes, but laughs nonetheless, “No can do, princess,” he teases, “but I can get us some ice cream from that stand over there. Stay put, I’ll be right back.”

“Wait!” You shout. “You even know what I want?”

He says your favorite flavor, and even your preferred container to consume it in, “Right?”

A smile spreads on your lips, and your heart flutters. He remembers. “Right.”

Jaehyun shoots you a smile then jogs over to the ice cream stand, pulling his wallet from his pockets. You gotta remember to ask him where he’s getting all this money from, this man could be a drug dealer for all you know.

Nonetheless, you sit at a nearby bench and pull out your phone. Nothing beats checking up on your Animal Crossing island while you wait.

You notice the presence of someone sitting beside you but don’t bat an eye, knowing without looking that it isn’t Jaehyun. And who are you to shoo away a stranger if they want to rest their feet?

“You must be y/n,” hearing your name, your eyes snap to the side instinctively.

And that’s when you realize that this stranger may not be as unknown as you initially thought.

Your eyes widen, “You…”

“I am, Jaehyun’s ex-girlfriend,” she, Victoria announces proudly, like it’s some achievement to be clipped onto the fridge.

You never met her, but you’ll never forget her name, or her face for that matter. It’s kind of stupid, how you found out. You were on Instagram, and you saw Jaehyun’s account in the replies of Yeri’s post. You clicked his profile, because you had never exchanged accounts before, and you quickly saw why.

He didn’t post her often, amongst all the flaunting images of himself, but when he did he made it crystal clear that she was his girlfriend, and what sole other woman would he continuously post onto his page?

“What are you doing here?” You ask, an obviously bitter edge to your voice. It isn’t she that you should be bitter towards, but you can’t help but feel slightly defensive.

“Relax, darling, I’m not stalking you on whatever summer vacation he’s had the courtesy to whisk you away on,” Victoria giggles. Of course not, that would be obsessive. “It’s actually a coincidence to see you, but since we’re here, let’s talk.”

Disinterested, you reply, “There’s nothing for you and I to discuss.”

“Of course, there is! You were fucking with him while he was with me, right?” she gives you a picture-perfect smile that makes you want to grit your teeth, yet you compose yourself. She sighs, “You know that, and yet you’re like what, dating him now? I’m telling you now, once a cheater, always a cheater. You might think he loves you now, but I promise you, he’ll stab you in the back the moment you aren’t looking.”

Victoria misjudges your silence as you giving her the go-ahead to continue, “I know that you know, and I know you’re trying to convince yourself that he’s changed, but he’s still the same old bastard he was three years ago. I mean just look at him, he’s even flirting with that lady now.”

With furrowed brows, you turn in Jaehyun’s direction, eyes finding that he actually is flirting with the ice cream lady. You can’t believe your eyes. Really? The fucking ice cream woman? He isn’t trying to be subtle with it, either.

She tilts her head as she speaks in your ear, “See? He doesn’t give a fuck. Not about you, not about her, not about any of us. You’re just yet another notch in his belt.”

And suddenly, all those doubts come back, the ones that you had pushed away and replaced with your growing feelings for him. Yet now that they’re existing within the same space, it’s even more terrifying, it’s exactly what you feared.

What if Jaehyun never really cared? What if all this is just some big act? What if he’s just been playing with your emotions this entire time? What if you don’t really know Jaehyun like you thought?

You want him, but what if he doesn’t really want you?

Jaehyun walks over, seemingly not noticing his ex-girlfriend’s presence, “I got the ice cream. Who’s th—Victoria?”

“Hello, Jaehyun,” she waves, offering him a smile. “We were just talking about you.”

“What the fuck did you tell her?” Jaehyun scowls, taking notice of your silence and the empty, unhappy gaze you shoot him. You don’t even smile, hardly even blink.

Victoria shrugs. “Nothing she doesn’t already know.”

“I’m walking back to the hotel,” you announce, sliding your phone back into your pocket and peeling yourself off of the bench.

“Wait!”

He calls out your name.

For the third time, you turn and walk away.

This time, though, he’s not letting you walk away. Not without putting up a fight first.

“Why are we doing this again?” Jaehyun yells. “Why? Did I do something? We can just talk this out, you know. What happened to no more secrets?”

You retort, “You fucking tell me, Jaehyun! How am I supposed to know that you don’t have secrets?”

“The same goddamn way I know you don’t have any! Trust!” And the realization hits him hard. He knows that it’s only been some days, but what could Victoria have said to make you back out so hastily? “Is that what it is? You don’t trust me?”

Tears sting your eyes. “Trust you? You want me to trust you? With you being the kind of person you are? You’re out of luck.”

That burned Jaehyun. After all of the bonding you’ve done lately, he would’ve thought that you would trust him a little more, but he sees clearly now. He sees that he’s done all he can do, and now it’s time for you to do your part.

“What kind of person am I, y/n?” He asks coldly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

You spit, “You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah?” Jaehyun laughs tonelessly, “Well frankly I think you’re an asshole, too. So when you’re ready to be assholes together, let me know.”

And this time, Jaehyun’s the one that walks away. This time, you understand his pain, as you have those tear-stung eyes and that quivering voice. That empty feeling inside, the pang in your heart. The way it’s killing you inside, but you don’t have it in you to move, to chase him. All you can do for now is let it eat at you slowly.

Maybe Victoria was wrong. Maybe you’re planting the knife in your own back.

Sunday comes slowly, and you’re glad you didn’t ride the same van as Jaehyun. You still have to deal with the curious stares your friends shoot you, but it’s better than confronting your emotions, or at least you think it is.

You’re not ready yet.

When you get home, the first time you do is order Panda Express via Uber Eats so that you don’t starve as you rot in your room. The next thing you do is flop against your bed and and sob.

A few days go by like this, in pure brutal agony. You drowning in your thoughts, the maybes and the what if’s. You feel like a teenage girl experiencing her first break-up, lost and confused and unsure of how to deal with the hurt. It’s no one’s fault but yours though, and it’s your job to fix it or forever hold your peace.

Love is hard. You know that. You accept that. If you couldn’t, then it would be wrong of you to try be in a real relationship. But loving, as a verb, is easy. Too easy. So easy, to the point where sometimes, you don’t realize you’re doing it until it’s too late. What’s harder is accepting the fact that love isn’t a choice, but a feeling. If it was, you would have chosen to stop loving Jaehyun years ago. You would have chosen to fall in love with Taeyong, or maybe even Kai.

But your heart chose Jung Jaehyun, and it must have a mind of it’s own, because no matter how much you tell it to let go, it doesn’t listen.

That’s why as the days go by, they’re slow and empty. Because Jaehyun’s not there. Not with you. And a little voice in the back of your head is saying he’s with another girl, but your heart is telling you to have faith. You are severely conflicted.

Just when you think you might just spend the rest of your life rotting here, you’re quickly proven wrong by the dedication and genuine care and concern of your best friends.

“Hey, bitch,” Jaemin strolls in casually, as though this is his room, “New guy already?”

“What?”

“Some guy opened the door,” he replies, flopping against your bean-bag cough.

You blink, gears turning in your mind as you try to decipher what man could possibly be inside of your house—oh. You roll your eyes, “That’s my roommate’s boyfriend, you dumbass.”

“Oh,” Jaemin mumbles, then his eyes twinkle as he makes a move for your desk, “Ooh, Panda Express.”

Suddenly, Yeri storms inside your bedroom, flickering on the lights inside your very much dim and deprived of life, sunshine and happiness room, chanting vigorously the lyrics to Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s The Light is Coming, “The light is coming to give back everything the darkness stole!”

You groan, yanking the sheets and comforter over your face to block out the light like a vampire, “You guys, please leave me alone.”

“Nope,” says Taeyong, who follows suit after your other friends, venturing into your room. You fight, you tugging the covers towards you while he attempts at pulling them off. It’s a quick battle which you lose, and you soon accept defeat. “You’ve been suffering in silence—and darkness—for far too long. So, fess up. What did that punk do? Do I need to prepare the coffee?”

You sigh, Saturday seeping back into your memory. “He didn’t do anything.”

Jaemin blinks. “What do you mean? Why else have you been sulking in your bedroom for the past four days like a divorced man who’s ex-wife took the kids and the TV? Shit, all you’re missing is a bar and some alcohol at this point.”

You roll your eyes, “I mean, I was the one that fucked up this time.”

“What?”

“What?”

“What?”

They all gasp involuntarily, and if you had it in you, you would roll your eyes at the chorus of what’s.

That day rewinds in your head, how it was so warm then so cold within a matter of moments. Your eyes water as you recall everything that happened, Victoria, your public altercation, walking back to the hotel alone while it felt like there was a rain cloud above your head, despite the piping hot conditions outdoors.

It isn’t like you don’t want to let Jaehyun in. You do, but you’re terrified of granting him that permission, of giving him your heart when he’s broken it before. But this way, you’re only breaking your heart more, and breaking his, too.

“I did something stupid. I assumed the worst when I shouldn’t have, and then I got scared. So I ran,” you want to bury yourself underneath the covers and sink into the earth to be forgotten, but you have to deal with your mistakes. “And I broke his heart. Now I need to fix it, but I don’t fucking know how.”

Yeri thinks you’re dumb.

Taeyong thinks you’re stupid.

Jaemin thinks you’re out of your fucking mind and an absolute fool for letting your thoughts destroy you, but he’ll do whatever he can to help.

“Talk to him, duh,” Yeri says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, and it is, but easier said than done.

“How? I bet he doesn’t even want to see my face.”

“Are you kidding?” Jaemin gawks. “He’s been moping around the apartment like literally all week, and me and Jongin haven’t said anything because we thought it was his fault! He also has divorced man syndrome!”

Oh. You feel extra stupid now, and you can’t believe you let Victoria get in your head. Collapsing onto your pillow, you groan, “I really am an asshole.”

“Maybe, yeah,” Taeyong agrees, “but so is he, you guys are a match made in heaven.”

“Or hell,” Jaemin chimes in.

Taeyong glares. “With that being said—and I mean this in the friendliest way possible—get your head out of your ass and go talk to him.”

And you smile softly at that. If Taeyong’s giving you the push, you know that everyone’s right and you need to do something. Now.

You nod and whip out your phone with a sigh, opening iMessage. Can we talk?

(Delivered.)

(Read.)

Sure.

Antsy, you’re fidgeting. Your anxiety is spiking and you can feel your heartbeat directly in your eardrums, but this time your fears won’t scare you off. You wait for Jaehyun, feet tapping against the ground restlessly, until you see him nearing.

He walks over to your side, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets and you feel your heart wrenching a little when you notice that he doesn’t give you his wild grin he usually shoots whenever he sees you. His face is inscrutable, and you bite back the urge to run, because you know now that no matter how fast you run, you’ll never be able to hide from your feelings.

“Hey,” your voice is giving up on you, but you refuse to let it. Get a grip.

“Hey,” Jaehyun whispers back. His eyes are dark and empty, and that’s how you know you cut him deep. There’s always a gleam to his eyes, whether sad or blissful.

You can do this, you tell yourself. You’ve talked to him about much worse before, this should be nothing. But still, it’s never been quite like this. You’ve never made this bad of a mistake.

“About Saturday,” you begin, still fidgeting but managing to look at him, “I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions instead of asking you, instead of trusting you, and I let Victoria get in my head—”

“Yeah, what the hell was that about?” Jaehyun interjects. “Sorry for interrupting you, but I’m still confused. Did I do something?”

“She pointed out that you were flirting with the ice cream lady. What was that?”

Jaehyun blinks, processing your statement, and when he does he begins shaking his head, “Seriously? You’re telling me this is all over the fucking ice cream? I was only flirting with her to get free ice cream! You know they was trying to charge me fifteen dollars for 4 scoops?”

“It’s not just that!” You exclaim. “Like, yeah, that triggered it, but—fuck, Jaehyun, I was scared, I was so fucking scared. I was overthinking, and all my doubts and fears came back, that what if you never cared, what if you don’t want me like I want you, what if I don’t know you like I think I do? I was scared to trust you, scared that I love you because I don’t want to lose you again—”

If Jaehyun was a dog, his ears would perk up. “You love me?”

“Yes,” you answer boldly. “I love you, Jaehyun. I’m in love with you, and up until now that scared me half to death, because I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to know that you love me, too,” and especially enough to stay. “But now I know. I trust you, Jaehyun. I love you, I want you, and I’m gonna be honest, I’m still a little scared. But that’s what love is, trusting someone to not break your heart. It’s a risk I’m ready to take for you.”

Jaehyun is silently stunned. He doesn’t have much to say, taken aback by your confession and the fact this actually happening. “You mean that?”

You nod, smiling. “Every word.”

In seconds, Jaehyun has you pinned to the wall, his lips against yours. God, you missed this feeling. The feeling of his plush lips against yours, his hands on your body. You miss kissing him irresistibly, every hour of every day, for moments at a time until you were breathless.

Jaehyun seems to have missed it just as much, kissing you with a passion—hungrily; greedily. He kisses you like he can’t have enough, like his lips have an insatiable hunger.

And you can’t believe you’re making out with him behind your apartment, but you’re willing to try new things for him.

Jaehyun taps your thighs, and by now you know that that meets to jump, so you do, shrieking a little, yet he doesn’t let you fall. “I got you,” he whispers in between kisses, breath tickling your skin, “and I won’t ever let you go.”

It’s been five days. You’ve been trying not to think too hard about the label thing, maybe Jaehyun is planning something, he wouldn’t just forget to ask you to be his girlfriend.

You’re walking back to your apartment when it happens.

“Excuse me,” a stranger with an oddly familiar voice calls at to you, and when you whirl around, the last person to see is…

“Taemin?” You nearly scream. He points his index finger to his lips, gesturing for you to be quiet, which makes sense because you’re in public but there’s literally no way the man standing before you is the Lee Taemin. You’re dreaming.

You even pinch yourself, much to his amusement, and come to the realization that this is very much real. You could faint. Taemin? Lee Taemin? From SHINee? There’s simply no way.

“I believe this is for you,” Taemin holds in his hands your all-time favorite SHINee album, The Misconception Of Us. You take it, staring at the album in disbelief. You’re gawking. “And one last thing. Come with me, please?”

Okay, what the hell. He has to be trying to kidnap you or something, it’s perfect bait. Who wouldn’t agree to follow their favorite artist after they randomly pop up behind you and offer you your favorite album for free? You’re lucky it isn’t some kidnapping scheme, because you ultimately end up following him despite your doubts.

He takes you to the cafe, which, to your surprise is empty. At least you think it is, until Jaehyun slips out of hiding, walking up to you with a smile.

“Jaehyun,” you can’t help smile back, “What the?”

“Flip it over,” he says, gesturing towards the album, and curiously, you obey. To the back is attached a sticky note that says, To my 1 of 1 girl, will you be my girlfriend? It’s cheesy, but it has you smiling so hard your cheeks hurt.

“Yes!” Instantly, you crash into his arms. “Yes, yes, yesyes yes—” he has to cut you off with his lips, and you melt into kiss.

You pull away the second you hear the intro to your favorite song, 1 of 1, and look onto the cafe stage (yes, the cafe has a stage for Friday through Saturday night performances) to see Taemin beginning to sing and cover the other members parts.

You’re mind-blown. A part of you is still convinced that this is a dream, because how the fuck did Jaehyun get a man as busy as Lee Taemin to do this? You forgot to ask him who he works for, but do drug dealers have Lee Taemin money?

“How did you—”

“Shh,” Jaehyun pecks your lips, “Taemin’s singing.”

You roll your eyes, yet giggle. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Jaehyun engulfs you in a warm, comfortable hug, “And only you.”

When he says it, you trust him. You believe him. Because the Jung Jaehyun you know and love today is a man of his word, and that means you get to love him with no fears, and no worries.

Love is a challenge. And in this moment and the next, it’s safe to say you’ve won.

#jaehyun smut #nct 127 smut #nct smut #jaehyun x reader #nct imagines #jaehyun imagines #jung jaehyun smut #nct x reader #nct #nct scenarios

[blackbleedingrose]

Long Lost Morningstar - Part Two

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Pairing(s): Charlie x reader (platonic), Vaggie x reader (platonic), Charlie x Vaggie

Genre: Fluff

Warning(s): minor cursing.

Notes: This is the second installment of LLM. This one will be going more in depth in (Y/N)'s life in Heaven and her relationship with Michael and Charlie. I will also be working on another Hazbin mini series (the one I mentioned in my last post) so part three will take a little longer - so, please, bare with me.

Words: 2215

"This is one of the reasons why I wanted to meet you in the first place. . . My full name is (Y/N) Demiurgos. Daughter of Archangel Michael Demiurgos".

(Y/N) Demiugros have lived in Heaven her entire life among the archangels, seraphims, and winners (human souls who ascended into Heaven after they died).

She, herself, was a seraphim - one with very large and beautiful wings; six in total.

Her father, Michael, was one of Heaven's archangel's and one of the Seven Virtues. He was the one who had created her from stardust.

At least, those were the stories she's been told her whole life.

Though, it was strange. . .

Her father had crafted her in his likeness and yet the two couldn't be more different.

Not to say Michael was a complete stiff or was lacking any sense of humor - in fact, all of the archangels had their own strange quirks. (Y/N) loved being around them and often shared their humor.

The problem here was. . . her curiosity.

She was a naturally curious being and would often dream of things most of Heaven would frown upon - like six-winged ducks.

As a child her curiosity would sometimes get the better of her and she would try to venture beyond the archangel's castle (where she lived with Michael and the other archangels).

Of course, Michael was always there to stop her from wandering too far.

It became evident that (Y/N)'s curiosity and wonderous spirit would only get worse if he didn't stop it right there and then.

He didn't want her to end up like her real parents.

What (Y/N) didn't know was that almost everything she has ever known was a complete lie.

Or that Michael was not her real father/parent.

That title rightfully belonged to Lucifer and Lilith Morningstar.

But, of course, no one who knew ever planned on telling her; so, instead they twisted the truth.

Michael told her all about what Lucifer and Lilith had done and how the two brought evil into humanity. An act that got them a one-way dropped elevator ride straight to Hell.

Obviously leaving out the part where Lucifer and Lilith were her real parents, and instead told her they were her estranged uncle and aunt.

He had hoped telling her this would stifle her growing curiosity and wandering enough to keep her out of trouble and from ending up exactly where his twin brother and his lover had all those years ago.

It also helped that ever since Lucifer and Lilith's trial, Heaven has been cracking down on teaching their residents obedience and the consequences of straying too far.

And for a long time it worked.

(Y/N) was one of Heaven's top students and a role model seraphim to all angels alike.

On the outside she was grace, obedience, and perfection personified - just as she was taught and just as Heaven wanted.

But on the inside, she was still that curious and wonderous spirit who would secretly write her dreams in a private journal she had to hide away in a pocket dimension with her magic.

(Y/N) yearned to venture outside of Heaven and explore all the different realms to see what they had to offer. Like the ones she's read from the books in Heaven's restricted section that she may or may not break into in the dead of night (she's a sneaky little sneaker :P).

Tales of archons, unique planets, and realms with distorted human desires would fill her head - her heart yearning to one day travel to those places herself.

But for now, her life was in Heaven as a role model seraphim whose curiosity and wandering was kept in check.

. . . Until she caught wind of the Princess of Hell's meeting by her fellow seraphim, Emily, during their weekly hangout.

(Y/N) was aware Lucifer and Lilith had a child born in Hell, but she never expected her demon cousin would ever be granted permission to enter Heaven.

She couldn't help but wonder what her cousin wanted with Heaven.

Whatever it was, it was big enough to warrant a whole trial with the Head Seraphim, Sera.

Oh, no - there goes her curiosity.

(Y/N) knew her father would frown upon her interacting with the daughter of the ones who damned humanity. . . but she couldn't help it! She really wanted to meet her cousin and see what she was like.

Maybe people in Hell weren't as bad as Heaven made them out to be.

Luckily for her, Emily was quite the chatterbox and told her all about how she and Sera were going to give a tour to the Princess of Hell and her partner, the hotel they were staying at, and the exact room number.

Before she went on her way, (Y/N) managed to get one of her doting simps friends to cover for her and her duties to avoid raising suspicion.

When Emily and Sera had finished talking to Heaven's demon guests and brought them to their hotel room, (Y/N) was hidden away in the hallway waiting until they left.

As soon as she was sure Sera and Emily were gone, (Y/N) quickly rushed to the door.

She silently psyched herself up before knocking.

Charlie and Vaggie, who were skeptical to hear a knock so fast, hesitantly opened the door.

"Uh. . . Hello?".

When Charlie opened the door she definitely wasn't expecting to see a very tall angel with long blonde hair, purple eyes, red cheek circle's, and a big smile on her pale face standing outside. For a moment Charlie could have sworn she was almost looking at her mother.

"Hello! You must be Charlie and Vaggie! Emily's told me all about you - well, the only things that she knew before meeting you. Haven't had the chance to ask her about you after meeting you, but since I'm here now I might as well as you yourselves!".

(Y/N) snapped out of her trailing thoughts and rambling, "Oh, shit! My bad! I got a little carried away and forgot to introduce myself. Sorry. My name is (Y/N). I'm a seraphim. It's so nice to finally meet you!"

Charlie and Vaggie had to recover from the whiplash of the seraphim's personality and onslaught of words. Not wanting to offend her and mess up her chance before the trial, Charlie invited (Y/N) inside. (Y/N) eagerly accepted and walked into the room admiring it - she's never been in a hotel before.

"So. . . why are you here?" Vaggie asked rather rudely suspicious of why a random seraphim would go out of their way to talk to people from Hell. "Vaggie!" Charlie whisper-yelled afraid she offended a potential high authority in Heaven.

"Oh, well, I was hoping to get a chance to meet you both. When Emily told me about how the Princess of Hell wanted a meeting in Heaven about her hotel to redeem sinners, I'll admit my curiosity was peaked and I knew I had to see who you were in person".

Charlie gasped, her eyes shining, "Does this mean you think it's possible to rehabilitate demons?!". Vaggie glared at the angelic being, "Why would a seraphim care to meet people like us?".

(Y/N) gave the two a gentle smile, "Well, I tend to be a naturally curious individual - which I'm sure you can imagine isn't something Heaven is too fond of. As for redeeming sinners - I'm not sure. Personally, I would love to see souls in Hell given the chance to be redeemed and enter Heaven. Especially the ones who truly do not deserve eternal damnation. Which is why I'm excited to see how your trial ends. Hopefully you have evidence to prove your hotel works. I mean, if the Princess of Hell is willing to vouch and put in the effort on giving sinners a better chance at an afterlife in paradise, then maybe not all demons are bad after all".

Charlie and Vaggie were awestruck. Sure, Emily was really nice but (Y/N) was the first angel to actually be willing to give them a chance. Charlie had tears in her eyes, "D-Do you really believe that?". (Y/N) smiled and laid her hand on Charlie's, "I do".

Charlie and Vaggie smiled at the seraphim. It was nice to see that there was one angel here in Heaven who wasn't going to shut them down right away - someone who genuinely supported their cause.

The three chatted some more - mainly Charlie and (Y/N) with Vaggie chiming in from time to time. Now that the three got more comfortable with each other, the conversation was going a lot smoother. Despite just meeting one another, Charlie and (Y/N) felt like they've known each other for years.

"So, what do you do here in Heaven?" Charlie asked (Y/N). "Oh! Well, I sometimes help the archangels with their duties, but I mainly work in court trials", (Y/N) answered. Charlie's eyes lit up, "Court trials?".

(Y/N) immediately caught on. She shook her head, "Oh, no. Not in the actual trials; that's for the higher seraphims. In this case, Sera and Emily. I'm just a stenographer and record keeper. I help keep and maintain the court records and sometimes record the trials in person".

Vaggie raised a brow, "A seraphim as a stenographer?". (Y/N) nodded, "It's actually a very important job. . . but, I won't lie and say it was my first choice for a job. It was my father's idea. His way of keeping me busy, entertained, and out of trouble".

Charlie blinked, "Oh! Who's your father?". (Y/N) bit her lip nervous, "This is one of the reasons why I wanted to meet you in the first place. . . My full name is (Y/N) Demiurgos. Daughter of Archangel Michael Demiurgos". Charlie and Vaggie's jaws dropped.

"Archangel Michael?! A-As in my dad's twin brother?!".

(Y/N) nodded fiddling nervously with her hands. Charlie did a double take, "Woah, woah! Wait! Then doesn't that make us-" "Cousins," (Y/N) confirmed. Charlie gasped placing her hands on her cheeks, "OMG! That's amazing!". (Y/N) smiled in relief, "Yeah. I guess it is".

"Who's your mom?" Charlie asked eagerly. "Oh, I don't have one," (Y/N) said rather casually. This made Charlie and Vaggie feel a bit bad, "Oh".

(Y/N) waved her hands, "Oh, it's not like that! I've never had one! You see most angels are typically created here in Heaven using stardust, which is how my father created me. He used his likeness and the female reference of Lilith - your mother. And thus, I was born".

"Oooh - that makes so much sense! Now, I understand why you look so familiar!" Charlie smiled at her newly found relative. She couldn't believe she had a cousin in Heaven. One so kind and beautiful.

(Y/N) was relieved at how fast Charlie accepted her. She was worried she might not be too fond of having an angelic relative.

Vaggie was a bit nervous to discover that (Y/N) was the daughter of a higher ranking angel, but it quickly went away when she saw how happy her and Charlie were talking to each other.

She's only known (Y/N) for a short while, but she truly believed the seraphim had no ill intentions towards them and genuinely wanted to get to know them.

In fact, (Y/N)'s personality reminded her a little of Charlie.

(Y/N) admired her cousin for her big heart and the confidence she had in her own dreams. She was ashamed to admit she was a little envious.

How she wished she could act on her dreams like her little cousin; but, Heaven would never allow it. Her father always had to remind her not to stray too far, or she might end up just like her uncle and aunt. . . Fallen.

This was why she had to always keep up appearances when she was in public. No one other than those closest to her knew of the dorky, cheerful, and quirky side of her personality. To everyone else she was poised, graceful, and elegant.

When Charlie had asked her about her dreams (Y/N) told her seraphims weren't allowed to dream, or at least have dreams that would go against Heaven's rules.

Despite trying to hide how much that bothered her, Charlie and Vaggie noticed the small shift in her behavior. They felt bad for her wishing Heaven could be more open minded.

(Y/N) quickly waved it off claiming she was okay and that she was used it. She understood her father just wanted to keep her safe and out of trouble.

Soon it was time for (Y/N) to go to avoid making her father suspicious of her whereabouts.

Before she left she and Charlie shared a tight loving hug. (Y/N) wished her good luck in her trial and that she would be rooting for her.

Hearing her cousin support her dream and wish her luck made Charlie feel a lot better about the trial.

Being around (Y/N) made her feel comfortable and safe. She felt familiar, which now makes sense seeing as the two were family.

Her dad couldn't be here, so it felt good knowing there was someone in her family here in Heaven who believed in her.

With those thoughts in mind, she was ready for the trial and positive she would change Heaven's mind and prove the hotel's credibility.

. . . Too bad things sometimes don't go as we hoped.

Taglist:

@soobryu @kyo-kyo1 @miyako-night20 @charliecharlie65 @unknow-sama @myluckymoon @lbcreations-blog @moonchaos18

#hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin x reader #hazbin hotel #hazbin charlie #hazbin lucifer #hazbin vaggie #hazbin hotel charlie #hazbin hotel vaggie #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin lilith #hazbin hotel lilith #hazbin hotel reader insert #charlie x vaggie

[chronicbeans]

Romantic Yandere Lucifer x Reader Headcanons

I've been tossing this idea around in my brain for days lol.

TW: Yandere Behavior, Obsessive and Possessive Thoughts, Panic and Anxiety, Depression, Blood and Injuries, Denial, Overprotective Behavior

• When he first met you, it was when he visited the Hazbin Hotel upon Charlie's request. You were sitting at the table with the rest of the staff and guests, acting the most... Well, normal out of all of them, besides Husk. You smiles and waved his way once Charlie mentioned your name.

• It wasn't like those fairy tales, where it is love at first sight. No, he had to talk to you, of course. After everybody else introduced themselves to him, you walk over to him, shake his hand, and introduce yourself. "Hello, your majesty! My name's (Y/N)! It's nice to meet you!" That's when he falls for you. Throughout the small conversation you both have, you treat him like... well, a normal person. Or, at least, as normal as you can treat the King of Hell, himself.

• The moment he leaves and returns home, he feels extremely guilty for falling for you. Especially since it was so quick, and for such a simple reason. He barely knows you! Why can't he stop thinking about you? He silently vows to never go back to the hotel, not because he doesn't support Charlie, but because he's scared of falling for you even more. However... Calling Charlie and asking about the Hazbin Hotel doesn't sound too bad, yes?

• Soon, asking about the hotel turns to asking about the people there... which, in turn, means asking about you. How have you been doing? Have you shown any interest in the activities and workshops at the hotel? What interests do you have. Of course, Lucifer asks the same questions about everybody else, to not seem suspicious, but he's mostly just interested in you...

• He only falls even more as he hears about you. Lucifer hates himself for it. So, he begins to distance himself, again. He goes back to making his rubber ducks, trying to distract himself from his thoughts about you. However, over time, his ducks slowly began having features that remind him of you. You like drawing? Duckie with a pencil and paper. Singing? Duckie that plays music. His mind can't escape you.

• Once the exterminators show, and the fight with Adam commences, he sees you again. Not in the best condition, either. The dust settles, Niffty absolutely brutalizes Adam, and now everybody is looking for you and Alastor. As Lucifer wanders the area in a frantic search for you, he happens to notice a battered hand sticking out from underneath some rubble. Moving it out of the way, he's now in a panic as he realizes it's you. You're alive, thankfully, albeit heavily injured and hanging on by a thread. That, and passed out.

• The next few minutes are spent with him becoming way too protective over you, holding you in his arms and becoming extremely defensive. His obsessive crush has finally reached more twisted levels, and he's mortified by the thought of letting you out of his sight. Even Charlie is starting to catch on that something is not quite... right about her dad. He's holding you tightly and not letting anybody come near you, despite the fact that you clearly need help. Then again, his angelic powers could probably be used to help you heal, but the point still stands. The only person who's allowed to come close is Charlie, and even then, he's keeping a close eye.

• He's now by your side constantly while you're recovering. He almost lost you! It's a very sudden change in his behavior, considering how he bottled up all of his feelings for you for so long... Nobody even knew he cared about you in specific, much less this much. Whenever you wake up in your bed, staring at the hotel, he's the first person you see. Whenever you fall asleep, he's the last thing you see. He's there throughout the entirety of the day, acting much more like your caregiver than your friend's dad. Bringing you food, getting you water, getting you some blankets and pillows... He's even taking care of changing your bloodied bandages out for new ones.

• At first, you just assumed that he was worried and wanted to help you recover. It'd make sense. You almost died, after all. The behavior doesn't stop after you're fully recovered, though... in fact, it gets worse, somehow. He makes sure that you aren't in danger, be it real or perceived. Somebody who he doesn't know talking to you is just as big of a threat in his eyes as somebody pointing a gun at your face. He's immediately standing by your side, glaring the stranger down.

• He may not be that intimidating, but he's the King of Hell. Many people know how strong he is, even if they don't find him to actually be intimidating to look at. So, they back off, usually. Those who don't get a brief look at his demon form, before getting knocked out. No, no... He doesn't kill them. He can't kill anybody when you are around. He'll wait until later.

• He's a yandere that would never cross any physical boundaries with you. He's spent years isolating himself from people, so as sad as it is to say, he's pretty used to not getting any sort of affection. He doesn't need compliments, hugs, or cuddles ( at least, that's what he tells himself). However, if and when you start showing affection towards him, he's going to need it constantly. He needs reassurance, comfort, a shoulder to cry on, somebody to give affection to... And you are now the only person he feels he's able to do so, with.

• He's going to want to own your soul, so be on the lookout for any tricks he might pull. Well, it's more correct to say he doesn't want to own your soul, but feels like he must. He doesn't like the idea of being in a relationship with such an intense power dynamic, but he's so frightened by the idea that Heaven might take you away, that he feels that he simply must own your soul. He feels that, if he does, it's less likely you'd even be able to go to Heaven, since you're technically owned by him. And he knows he's never going up. Even you just mentioning Heaven throws him into a panic... Don't say that word, alright?

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin lucifer #lucifer hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #lucifer #lucifer x reader #hazbin hotel yandere #yandere lucifer

[thewulf]

Little One || Aragorn

Summary: Request -I had an Aragorn request that I wanted to send you; if it’s something you’d be interested in writing I know it’ll be perfect (but if it doesn’t strike your fancy I completely understand)!! After reading your fic with the orc attack I was thinking about how Aragorn would respond to reader being injured defending the hobbits... Read Rest Here

A/N: Thank you for the request @fluentmoviequoter !! Had so much fun writing this, hope you enjoy :) Kinda angsty but hella fluffy as always :)

Pairing: Aragorn x Female Reader

Word Count: 5.1k +

TW: orcs, talks of blood, arrows, getting shot, yelling, angsty

You and Strider had been Rangers together for the better part of fifty years now. The two of you quickly found solace in the other. The two of you just seemed to compliment the other. What he lacked you picked up for him and vice versa. It wasn’t often he could find somebody who just understood him. So, he decided to keep you close but always safe.

He did what he wanted after all. He had a high enough ranking quickly. You were assigned nearly every patrol, raid, quest whatever the hell it was he did it with you. And you learned quicker than you had ever thought even possible with his aid. He wasn’t brutal on you, but he was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. He wanted you alive, so he trained you to stay that way. He had to be a little mean. A little too much sometime. For that was the real world. You couldn’t go out in the world as freely as one once could.

So, when Gandalf proposed the deal of getting the Hobbits from Bree to Rivendell he had agreed on the condition you could come with them. He wasn’t willing to leave you in some random village town in Eriador. No, he would never do that. Gandalf had agreed without a second thought thinking it was a good idea to have two Rangers instead of one.

You had decided fairly quickly that the Nazgûl was on your list of least favorite things in middle-earth you’d had the pleasure of coming across. You could deal with spiders and orcs buts these creatures were eerily different. Ice cold and terrifying, soul sucking. But you needed to remain stoic in the face of it all to help the Hobbits. The poor things were shaking they were so terrified. You’d tried stories of tales far and wide to shake their minds of their troubles, but it seemed no use as they only looked to the two of you in terror around every twist and turn.

When you stopped for the night to camp you’d noticed that Strider had led you deep into a dense forest. You’d never been the best at tracking, so you often led it to him. You really should’ve paid better attention before as you were often so reliant on his talents.

“I am off to gather a few plants for some tea. I will be back in an hour. Y/N, I trust they shall remain safe in your care?” He asked and you nodded without so much as a second thought.

“Of course.” You smiled to him, “Off you go. I know how mean you get without your tea.” That earned a hearty round of laughs from the Hobbit’s as they laid out their bedrolls for the night. It was nice to hear such a pleasant sound instead of hearing the screeching in the distance.

“I will remember that.” He glared at you with humor in his eyes before ducking into the night.

You turned back to the Hobbit’s with a stupid smile on your face not quite realizing how much you were giving way of your likeness towards the man, “Off to bed we go.” You shooed the silly little smirks right off their faces.

They all nodded quickly falling asleep without so much as a second thought. You were mighty jealous at the way they just did that. It took you far too long to fall asleep these days. Worry kept you up more than you liked to admit.

Thank whatever was out there for that worry that wouldn’t let you sleep as you heard the distant voices and branches breaking far off in the distance. Orcs. Had to be, they were so noisy. Your heartrate spiked as you heard them before you spotted them in the dark night. How in the hell had anything found you all the way out here?

“Up! Up!” You whisper shouted before shaking each of the Hobbits awake, “Abandon the camp we must go. Run” You grabbed for your sword and spare bow and arrow before ushering the small Hobbit’s further into the forest.

They ran ahead confused and disoriented having just fallen into a deep sleep but trusting you nonetheless. You knew you had made too much noise but did not quite realize how much the smaller ones were making as they ran.

You paused for a brief moment knowing your longer strides could catch up. You took a look behind you to see how in danger you truly were. The orcs hadn’t spotted your little group quite yet except one with keen eyes. Adrenaline shot through you as you saw the orcs arrow trained right at the back of Frodo’s head as he ran forward. He’d be dead instantly if the orc shot the arrow before you could stop it.

Panic shot through you as you ran ahead beside him pushing him to the ground with more force than you’d truly meant. You’d thought you were in the clear before the searing pain of being shot by an orc arrow throbbed through your shoulder blade sending you to the ground before you could think. Frodo rolled beside you which sprung Merry, Pippin and Sam into action as they pulled the two of you behind the thick trees of the dense forest. Fortunately for you it was mid-summer, and the forest was coated in dense foliage making it that much harder to find you and the Hobbits hiding in the trees.

Frodo looked more confused than upset before he saw the arrow protruding from your body. He’d understood instantly, “You have been hit miss Y/N!” Merry’s concerned voice only rose a few octaves as he saw the large arrow sticking right outside your shoulder. It hurt worse than it looked but you tried your best to bite back the tears as they were so unseasoned to such horrors in the world.

You looked down wincing at the arrow surely coated in poison. Thankfully you were only a few days out from Rivendell. You’d be fine… Strider not so much. Shuddering at the thought of the man who would be so mad you got hurt, you turned to the small Hobbit’s sitting in fear beside you.

Ignoring the arrow sticking out from your shoulder you sat up from the fall you took, “Listen, for there is not much time before they try and find us. Frodo and Sam run. Go find Strider. He will help end this swiftly.” You nodded watching them run quickly off into the forest. You’d sent Frodo off as he needed to be as far from the attacks as possible.

Wincing you turned yourself as best as you could towards Merry and Pippin, “Now, I need you two to be brave. You must snap this arrow as close to the wound as you can. I will fight these orcs off, but I cannot do that with this sticking out.” You huffed eyeing the rather large wooden arrow searing its mark in your shoulder blade.

Merry only gave you wide eyes as Pippin shook his head answering your request, “I cannot do that.”

“Not can I!” Merry agreed.

You looked behind you a little panicked seeing the orcs moving in closer. Far too close for your comfort. Lowering your voice, you leaned closer to them, “It does not matter any longer. Time is of the essence now. You must or we all die.” You glared at the two of them letting them both know quite how serious this was.

“Aye, turn away.” Merry stood with shaking hands grabbing at the arrow earning a hiss from your mouth. Pippin took his hands in his helping him get the leverage he needed to break the thick wood.

“All right.” You turned your head away clutching your hands into the earth trying to ground yourself. You had to fight back everything that was telling you to pass out as the arrow snapped in two under the hands of the much smaller Hobbits. A quiet whimper left your mouth as you tried your hardest to stay conscious. The orcs were close. You had to do something.

“Miss Y/N” Merry sounded concerned as he saw your face pale out and the orcs move closer, “Please be okay.”

You nodded blinking back the wave of nausea taking over your usually so agile self. This did not feel like your standard orc poison. You knew what that felt like and this was not it. This was moving faster than anything you’d been hit by them with, “I am fine mister Pippin.” You breathed trying to blink back the unshed tears. Pain only reminded you that you were alive. With another small groan you stood from the ground trying your hardest to fight the searing fire in your shoulder, “Stay quiet and hidden. It is best to attack them by surprise. Strider will be back soon. Let us try and wait this out as long as possible.” You whispered grabbing your sword from its sheath at your side.

You waited in silence as the first of the few crept into your field of vision. They must have been lost. No way a pack of orcs were this dumb. Or they were on a special mission. But you could wait no longer as they were likely to hear your breath or any sort of movement for he was a mere step away from you now.

Quickly, you sliced off its head without much of a sound. The loudness of the animals in the night covered up for its lifeless body hitting the ground giving you a second to recuperate and fight back the overwhelming feeling of pain now making its way down your arm.

When you killed the second and third the attention was finally on you. You were not able to be as graceful and let out a cry of pain as you had to use your bum arm to defend yourself. Darting behind a tree you narrowly avoided another arrow coming right for your head this time. But you didn’t have time to panic as the man you had been waiting for finally made his grand entrance. Just as you suspected it was over before it really begun. You were a fine Ranger. But Strider was an expert one.

Leaning back on the tree you let out the breath you were holding in. Never had you been so close to losing someone so quickly on a quest. Never had you been so close to being eliminated. You were usually so much better than this. Strider was getting in your head, and you were losing focus. A Ranger losing focus! That was unheard of. But Strider was your exception it seemed.

“You arrogant fool!” Strider yelled right at you as he came storming over to where you were leaning on the tree. He hadn’t seen the broken arrow in your shoulder nor the way you were holding your arm upright. He didn’t notice the sweat the coated your face or the distant gaze in your eyes. He was mad and he wanted to take it out on someone. That someone happened to be you.

You let out a cry in pain as he grabbed for the arm that you were holding gingerly. Even the smallest movement made it feel like your arm was getting ripped right apart. You had forgotten how painful poison was for it had been nearly fifty years since you’d been struck. The bastards made it as fast and as painful as possible. And whatever this stuff was seemed worse than before.

He moved his hand away from your arm after hearing your strangled cry. Pushing you back up against the tree, avoiding your injury, he felt the sticky liquid coating your outer garments. Blood. Of course, he knew what it was. He had only begun to panic as he saw the deliriousness in your gaze. You were hurt and badly at that. He was not used to this.

Frodo jumped in between the two of you, pushing Strider away just slightly, “She saved my life master Strider! Please have no anger towards her.”

His heart raced as he ordered the Hobbits to light a fire nodding at Frodo that he was done lashing out at you. He knew you needed a helping hand. Not one to hurt you while you were down. Gently, he pushed you down to the ground, “Sit down, nigol.” He’d all but ordered as he helped the Hobbit’s start a small fire. He couldn’t see your wound and you weren’t so forthcoming with information. That and he wanted to see it for himself.

A small smile came to your lips remembering the old nickname he’d given you, “Nigol… you have not called me that in quite some time Strider.”

Brushing your comment aside he asked you, “What happened?” As he sat down next to you waiting for the fire to glow so he could inspect your wound.

You turned towards him holding your eyebrows close together trying your best to bite back the pain, “Orcs happened is all. Caught a poisoned arrow to the shoulder.” Letting out a strangled sigh you sat further back against the tree.

“How did you get hit?” He clarified with more patience in his voice than you were used to. Maybe you looked worse than you felt because he never, ever cut you a break. And you appreciated him for that as you were still alive and usually avoidant of such injuries.

“Ugly bastard was aiming right at Frodo’s small little Hobbit head.” You frowned realizing if you hadn’t noticed Frodo would be sure as dead. You caught Strider’s smile at your crass language for he knew he would never grow tired of your fowl tongue. He loved it about you, “Had to push him out of the way and he nicked me instead.”

“I heard that miss Y/N!” Frodo yelled back at the two of you shaking his head at you, “Elves are not the only creatures with good hearing!” You only smiled as you watched them feed the small fire with more twigs and sticks. It surprised you that Strider ordered a fire for you’d just been ambushed. Who knew what else lurked beyond the trees that kept you hidden.

You let out a strangled laugh feeling the effects of the poison inch its way through your system. You watched as Strider looked at you with concern. It wasn’t often you were the one on the receiving end to such a look. You’d been under his wing for a better part of half a century. You’d gotten really excellent at not getting hurt. It must have been jarring to see you fighting the pain back with such a force. He’d never admit how much he had grown to love you. He didn’t like to see you in pain. Not a bit.

He sighed seeing the fleshy wound, “You must not be so careless next. I have trained you better than that.” He sighed inspecting the wound closely, “I must remove the arrow.” He spoke slowly feeling his heart drop at your startled expression.

You shook your head with a vengeance for you did not like that statement “We are but a few days from Rivendell. Surely they will have healers who can do that properly.”

He bit back the frown as he looked at your arm, “You will not have a few days if I do not get this out.” It wasn’t ominous but simply the truth.

“Is it not an Orc arrow?” You looked down knowing what his answer was going to be but trying to ignore it in your head was proving to be a challenge.

He gave you a solemn nod, “Aye, but it does not appear to be orc poison.”

All you could muster was a simple, “Oh.” Not thinking that was a possibility. You’d still concluded it was a different form of Orc poison. What could they possibly be using?

“It appears to be something much darker.” His frown only deepened as he was studying your wound. He had ripped your shirt where you had been hit to examine it closer. It was turning black far too fast to be the standard orc poison they’d become accustomed to.

You shuddered knowing the pain would be intolerable. You already seemed to be teetering on the precipice between the living world and the unconscious world, “Do your worst then.” You spoke quickly turning away and grabbing at a stick on the ground. When you tuned back he was just looking at you with such a sadness you couldn’t help but to ask, “What?”

He shook his head breaking the stare he had on you, “Nothing. Bite the stick. Don’t fight me. You know the rules.”. It had been a long time since you were at the mercy of his hands. You were but a young Ranger the last time you’d been caught in such a dreadful position. Back then you had medicine to at least dull the pain. This was going to be hell you thought as you placed the soggy stick in your mouth. Something to bite into, crucial to keep you from yelling too loud.

But you didn’t need to worry about that issue too much as darkness took over only a moment after he begun to tug on the broken arrow embedded in your shoulder. Of course, you didn’t catch the concern or the panic that overtook him when he saw you collapse into unconsciousness so easily. He didn’t waste a second longer after the arrow was removed from your shoulder to pick you up and carry you in his arms telling the Hobbits that they had to get a move on for your sake. With hushed complaints the group was off to Rivendell in the dead of night.

It must’ve been the pain overtaking the adrenaline that had subsided that made you fade out of unconsciousness. As your body stirred awake the sun rose in the sky before you. Strider only cradled you closer to his chest when he felt you squirming beneath him. A rather large sigh of relief escaped him as he looked down seeing you slowly blink your eyes back into reality.

“Did you enjoy your rest then?” Strider smiled most genuinely down to you for as much as he loved teasing you it sure made him happy to see you awake once more.

You cracked your own smile at his sarcastic words, “It was nice, thank you for inquiring.” You hummed squirming once more in his embrace. When he locked his hands around you it was only then that you realized he was carrying you like so and he had no intention of letting you out of his grasp.

He chucked seeing your startled expression. It was also new to him too and he really did not want to admit just how much he had enjoyed holding you close to him. It put his normally anxious heart at ease. He had long since found you beautiful. He knew he had loved you when he first heard you speak your mind to a superior all those years ago. For nobody, not a single man, had the courage to speak the way you did. And you had the skill to back it up. That was why he panicked seeing your injured silhouette in the forest. For if you were to go down he had no idea what he would do. You were so deeply embedded in his life he could not even begin to fathom a life without you in it.

He ran faster than he ever had before when Sam and Frodo found him foraging for plants. When they came in blabbering that you had been hit by an arrow he began sprinting in autopilot. It drove him mad feeling like it took longer to get to you. He was there in no longer than a minute to kill the ten or so orcs that were hunting you, the one he loved. He was a maniac when it came to protecting you. He hadn’t meant to yell so harshly at you but he was scared. Terrified of the thought of losing you, his person.

He noticed the pink beginning to return to your face and more relief flooded his overstressed system, “You are getting some color back.” He noticed as he held you closer, “That is a good sign. The poison must not be spreading.”

You let out a long yawn feeling the effects of it all starting to come over you once more, “That is good. It does not hurt as bad either. Just aches a bit.” Your eyes drooped as you tried to fight off the sleep that was overcoming you.

“Rest. Go to sleep, nigol.” He smiled down to you with nothing but love in those striking eyes. He’d been carrying you for hours already, what was another few anyway?

“Nigol.” You hummed remembering the times he called you that all the way back when you first had met him. He refused to tell you what it meant and by the time you finally met an elf you’d forgotten the nickname altogether, “What does it mean?” You inquired hoping he would indulge you this time as you were on the verge of unconsciousness.

He laughed, throwing his head back and all. You admired the way his dark hair framed his fair face as he looked back down at you. He was truly so handsome. It wasn’t fair he was placed in front of you like this and yet, was so unattainable, “I did not tell you fifty years ago, why would I tell you now?”

“I thought I would try.” You sighed, “Does it mean something bad? You only use it when I mess up.” You asked him once you concluded the worst. He often used that nickname early on when you two had been partnered up. It’s use seemed to fade as you had gotten more competent. Yet now when you had a bum shoulder rendering you useless he used it once more.

He shook his head quickly, “It is not bad. I can promise you that.” He eased your worried face quickly with his words.

“Well, I suppose I can accept that.” You didn’t want to push feeling oddly unlike yourself in his arms. Usually combative and wanting to pick a friendly fight you felt like doing anything but that. You just wanted to enjoy yourself in his embrace as you knew this moment would likely never occur again.

He knew you better than anybody else. He noticed how shy you were suddenly acting. Was it the nickname? Were you tired? Was the poison moving faster than he could? He looked down seeing you continue to fight sleep. Usually so powerful you looked helpless in his arms. His eyes softened as he realized how much trust you had to have in him to relax into him like so. You were always on guard, always ready. Frodo was alive because of that instinct. But now you were at his will and he felt more responsible for you than he had ever before.

“It’s Sindarin.” He admitted wanting to give you something more as you had given him exactly what he wanted, you.

Feeling your eyes getting heavier you replied with tiredness in your voice, “I had concluded that Strider. You did tell me you were raised by elves, remember?” Lazily, you smiled up to him laughing as best as your body would allow you.

“It is Sindarin for little one.” He finally admitted to you, “Or mouse.” He looked down at you nervously hoping you’d have a decent reaction to it.

“Mouse? Little one? I should be offended.” You grinned not taking offense in the slightest for you found it oddly adorable he had given you such a sweet nickname.

“Do not take offense.” He spoke quickly, “I did not mean it that way.”

“Relax, Strider.” You yawned once more feeling your head rest of his chest heavily. Sleep was coming on quick, “I am just teasing you. You are so easy to mess with.”

“Sleep now, little one.” He gave you another gentle squeeze letting you know he had you. It was alright. You could trust him as always. And trust him you did as you found yourself in a quick sleep right back in his arms.

“There you are.” Strider’s voice pulled you from the sleep that had overcome you on the road. When you blinked you were stunned to be laying in front of a fireplace in a rather grandeur room. You must have made it all the way to Rivendell which meant you had been out for days at this point.

“Are we in Rivendell?” You tried to sit up before his hands pushed you back down, gently, into the plush elven bed.

“You must lie still.” He ordered before answering your question, “Yes. You have been unconscious for nearly four days. Lord Elrond was unsure if you were to make it.” His eyes were laced with something you had hardly seen on the man in your many years of knowing him, fear. He looked scared, terrified. Yet almost relieved seeing you awake.

“Four days?” You swallowed back your surprise.

He gave you a quick not, “Almost, you even have Lord Elrond worried.”

You sighed, “I did not mean to do that.”

He moved closer, sitting on your bedside. Taking his chance he brushed your stray hair away from your face, “You always do that.”

You just looked up at him, “What?”

“It is just that you always care for others before yourself. As much as I love that about you. Think about yourself for once. Care for yourself. You are far too kind.” He spilled his thoughts to you for he was too tired. Too scared at the thought of losing you he was not going to hold back his tongue anymore for he knew he loved you. He wanted you. He couldn’t see you with anyone else but him.

You blinked back surprise at his outright confession. Sure, the two of you had danced around any feelings for quite literally years. But you would have none of that, as sweet as it was, “You did not say that when I slayed half an orc army with you.” You spoke with a hint of playfulness in your tone. It was your favorite game to play with the man.

He laughed a full hearty laugh. A laugh so pure, one you’d heard so rarely from the man. He only laughed like that when he was at peace. Happy. Comfortable and relaxed. A sight that you could really get used to.

“For that is true.” His eyes searched your for any sign of pain. Any sign that something was wrong. He could not quite believe you were finally awake and chatting with him like nothing had happened. Like you hadn’t been knocked out cold for that long. When Lord Elrond had started to get nervous. Strider was not dumb. He grew up with Elves and knew their tells. When an elf grew worried he knew things were not boding well.

You felt yourself shrinking under his gaze, “What? Is there something on my face? Because that would be embarrassing. I have been asleep for three days and you let something stay on my face for that long?” You rambled not quite sure what you were doing. He was making you nervous. Strider never made you nervous. But when he gave you that earnest look you completely lost yourself to him. How fickle your brain was behaving.

He bit back a laugh sensing your nerves, “No. There is nothing marking your face. I was simply admiring you was all.”

Was he trying to kill you? Your cheeks were sure to be a bright rosy, red for his second confession was bolder than his first, “Admiring me?”

“Indeed. I would not be the man that I am had you not been by me all these years. I thought I was going to lose you. But now that you are back I get to admire you.” He spoke with that soft voice he only used ever so often. It was fascinating to get to know an entirely different side of the man you thought you knew through and through.

“I deserve no such thing.” You laughed trying to shake off the seriousness of his gaze down on you. He did not find your statement the least bit humorous.

“While I do not agree I also do not wish to argue. How do you feel?” He changed the subject even though he might have enjoyed watching you squirm. Placing a cool hand on your forehead, he did not miss the small jump you had in response to his contact. Touches he had given you so often before had changed. Things had shifted between the two of you and for the first time in a long time he was excited. He had a purpose. His purpose.

You gulped back your argument and nodded in agreement, “I feel fine, will you let me sit up now or must I stare up all afternoon?” You quipped hoping your quick mouth would let him know just how fine you really felt.

Shaking his head, he held out a hand for your to take, “You may sit up, but take it slow.”

“I was shot by an arrow Strider. I did not get my legs cut off.” You took his hand letting him pull you up to sit next to him.

He rolled his eyes yet still held admiration in them, “That mouth will get you in trouble one day.” His eyes traced your face as you too just looked at him. It didn’t feel quite real that he could have admired you just as you him. Had you been blind?

You hummed in agreement not being able to take your eyes off his, “Not if you are there to protect me.”

It was he who broke the staring game going on between the two of you as he collected his thoughts, “Indeed, little one. There is nothing truer than that statement.” Gaining some courage, he took your hands in his giving them a gentle squeeze, “Please never scare me like that again for I cannot bear it.”

“I will try my hardest, as long as you promise to do the same.” You nodded towards him feeling bashful in front of the man you’d grown to love. The man you had only hoped to love you as he did. The man you never could have imagined felt the same. Yet here you were.

Giving your hands a reassuring squeeze, he simply nodded to you, “I promise, little one. I promise with my whole heart.”

Permanent Taglist (Message me or comment below if you want to be added!) : @loving-and-dreaming @kmc1989 @memeorydotcom @matisse556 @buckylov3r @taygrls @ah-blossom @hardballoonlove @rosiahills22 @djs8891

#aragorn lotr #the fellowship of the ring #the lord of the rings #lord of the rings #aragorn #aragorn x female reader #aragorn x reader #aragorn x you #aragorn fanfiction #aragorn fluff #aragorn angst #aragorn au #aragorn one shot #aragorn imagine #aragorn elessar #aragorn son of arathorn #fotr #lord of the rings x reader #lord of the rings x you #lord of the rings fic #tolkien #lotr #lord of the rings angst #lord of the rings fanfiction #lord of the rings fandom #lord of the rings fluff #lord of the rings oc #lord of the rings imagine #lord of the rings one shot #lotr x y/n

[mooshywrites]

~Masterlist~

Fanfic Requests ~ OPEN

Art Commissions ~ Closed

This is not a minor friendly page. 18+ only.

Wont be writing for a while, but I’m going to expand to other fandoms when I’m back! Feel free to recommend shows or books to write about in the next chapter <3

Baldur’s Gate

My Series -

~Fem!Reader x Halsin~ Echoes of Love and Loss ~ complete

Astarion -

~Gn!Reader x Astarion~ Something Borrowed, Something New - Fluff- Both you and Astarion have spent many months searching for something to allow him to walk in the sun again. However, you’ve had absolutely no luck. Who knew that the solution to your problems would come from just a little teasing

~Fem!Reader x Astarion~ Making It Our Own - Smut/NSFW - Astarion has made the incredible decision to settle down, buying a shop to run a fabric business. The place is definitely a fixer upper, but that doesn’t seem to be the Vampire’s biggest problem. It doesn’t quite feel like his own and he knows exactly how to fix that

~Gn!Reader x Sub!Astarion~ Unwind - Smut/NSFW - Astarion has been stressed lately, his embroidery business completely taking off. Between orders and customers, he’s sure his entire neck is full of knots. Luckily, you have something to help him unwind

Gale -

~Fem!Reader x Gale ~ Mage Hand - Smut/NSFW - Gale has been trying out a few new spells now that the world isn’t, well… ending. Ones that he didn’t deem useful in the chaos of his adventure. The latest one he’s learned intrigues you more than him. Doesn’t everyone need a helping hand?

Halsin -

~Fem!Reader x Halsin~ Bedtime Stories ~ Smut/NSFW - Halsin has ran himself ragged with bedtime stories, his charges demanding to hear a tale or two every night. He comes to you for help, hoping you have a few stories to spare. Unfortunately, this simple ask is going to leave the two of you with very little sleep tonight.

~ Fem!Reader x Halsin~ Rutting season ~ Smut/NSFW - After learning as much as you can about your Druid, surely there’s nothing about him you dont know about. Or could he be hiding a kink that you’re just dying to try?

Polyamorous! pairings -

~Gn!Reader x Astarion x Halsin ~ I’ll love you forever ~ Fluff/Angst - Being in a relationship with your pale elf and bear is easy. Coming to terms with how short your human lifespan is compared to yours? Definitely much harder.

~FemOmega!Reader x Beta!Astarion x Alpha!Halsin ~ Cold Relief ~ Smut/NSFW - Your heat is coming, and it’s coming on fast. Much too fast to hide it from your companions

Headcannons -

~ You fall into their laps accidentally

~ Giving and receiving flowers from them

~ Jealousy

~ Teasing them

~ Are we married now?

~ The Gentle Drow

~ Can we have a baby?

~ Can I touch your ears?

~ Tiefling and their Pale Elf

~ Picnic

~ Wedding Day

~ Being a Dad

~ How they like to kiss

~ What makes them blush

~ How they take care of you when you’re sick

~ How to tell they’re falling for you

Blurbs -

~ Bubbles and Ducks - After a long day, every throuple needs a way to relax

~ Ever the Gentleman - Wyll wont get to be the most charming one. Not with you around

~ Serenade - Baldur’s Gate men and their silver tongued bard

~ Revivify - Halsin wont lose you. Not today

~ Secret Turn Ons - What makes the Baldurs Gate men squirm?

~ Sensitivity - Everyone’s got a soft spot

~ Falling asleep on their laps - Naps can sneak up on even the strongest of heroes

#baldurs gate x reader #baldur's gate iii #masterlist #astarion x reader #astarion x female tav #astarion fluff #astarion x tav #astarion fic #astarion x you #baldurs gate astarion #astarion #astarion fanfic #astarion smut #astarion x dark urge #baldurs gate tav #baldurs gate smut #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate halsin #halsin #halsin x tav #halsin x reader #halsin x you #halsin x oc #fanfic #baldurs gate fanfiction #larian studios add karniss as a romance pls thx #kar’niss #Kar’niss x reader #Kar’niss x tav

[toontails]

Toon Quest

Chapter 10: She Ain't Nothing But a Runt!

Y/n stood next to Ruck as the two stared at the wide dirt patch of land—an outdoor building with the contestants walking about, speaking, jogging, stretching and some doing some course that would look similar to the monkey bars. 

They all had the physique of people that clearly had been training since they were kids, and Y/n seemed like she stuck out like a sore thumb. Shuffling on her feet, she glanced at Ruck who had his arms crossed across his chest. She looked back forward and felt her hands become clammy with nervousness. She really wanted to scamper off to Felix and just have him teach her archery, but he wasn’t here at the time. The others had gone to do other duties—which was to finish duties around the town to make a name for themselves. And of course Bendy went off with Lucy, she didn’t get to see everyone else this morning as she had to leave so early. 

The sun was just rising in the sky and the boiling pot of anxiety was bubbling in Y/n’s stomach as she watched the people joke around each other. There had to be Atleast 13 people there in all and Y/n seemed to be the smallest of the pack. Toons and humans speaking together and whatnot. 

Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. 

“You look like you’re gonna vomit.” Ruck pipes up and Y/n nervously glances at Ruck. “So many people.” She muttered. And watched as he moved to walk over to a bench sitting under the shade, Y/n followed after him and he turned and motioned for her to sit down on the bench, which Y/n did and plopped down onto the wooden bench. 

“This is your only chance to get your foot out there. Ain’t nothin’ too bad.” He starts and Y/n nods. 

“Yeah, I know that..” 

“So get your ass up and get over to the barracks—heard that’s where your temporary conductor is. Have a quick meet and greet and come back to me and tell me how it goes.” Ruck orders and Y/n stood up from her seat almost automatically with the tone of his voice. 

“Where’s that at?” She asks him—referring to the room where he mentioned the others would be located. 

Ruck just stared at her and deadpans. 

“Figure it out..” he grumbled before turning away, Y/n sighs and rolled her head as she trudged away from him. Giving a mean side glance before turning around and lifting her hand up to extend her middle finger to him even though his back was turned. Ruck could practically feel Y/n still behind him and turned around whereas she quickly turned around like a frightened mouse and faced the other direction and quickly started to walk off. 

Glancing around the area—she took a step back as two people tumbled by her—one laughing as his friend had wrapped an arm around his neck and tugged him further away—continuing on, Y/n glanced over to a small stand where a man was speaking to another contestee, the stand had pocket knives and arrows for bows. Slowly looking away as she walked by slowly—she looked over to two other people wrestling with each other on the dirt ground. Y/n walked further down the path and looked over to see a contestee sitting on top of a horse—another person holding the reins of the horse as they spoke to the person on the horse—most likely teaching them how to properly tread on a horse. 

So many people were doing various things and there goes Y/n…walking around lost. She felt like it was her first day at school and she was sauntering down the halls looking for her first class. She heard some echoing voices to her right and looked over to see a hallway leading into the open building. Y/n decided to walk down there instead—there were doors lined up—similar to classrooms, but there was only one opened with a man standing outside of it with his arms behind his back. That was the conductor for everyone for the contest. 

She straightened her posture and walked over—the man saw the girl wandering over and looked away from the wall and placed his gaze on Y/n. He had on a uniform on with the badge of the town's symbol on it, standing as straight as a pole with a monocle and slicked black hair, he gave her a look. 

“Name.” He orders and Y/n looks to her side as if he was speaking to someone else with the way his tone was—she didn’t say anything to him and when she didn’t see anyone there besides herself so she looked back at him and placed a finger on her chest referring to herself. 

“Me?” She asks. And he didn’t reply as he only stared down at her. 

“Y/n L/n.” She just decided to just give him her name. 

“Ah, so you’re the talk of the town.” The man spat—almost in disgust and Y/n’s eyebrows twitched as she only just smiled at him with a tilted head. 

The man then circled around Y/n and examined her physical form. He held a wooden stick in his hand—mostly for training purposes no doubt. The stick lifts Y/n arm up and she turns her head to look at him—eyes following as he circled around her like a lion cornering its prey. The man lets out a; ‘tsk’ and shakes his head in disappointment before the stick swacks her calf, causing her to stumble and her knees to buckle but luckily enough she quickly straightened her posture and turned around to the man but the stick jabbed into her abdomen causing her to tumble back slightly. 

“And you call yourself a Vendolez?” The man shakes his head and lifts a hand to fix his monocle. 

“He’s my grandfather, of course I’m a Vendolez, the hell else am I supposed to be? Some damn idiot?” Y/n grew agitated from being probed at and degraded in just a matter of seconds. 

“You have the mouth of him too..” The man grumbled in disgust. 

“I’ll tell you this now. I’m not a fan of Vendolez and I’m certainly not a fan of you.” Well no shit she could see that now. 

“If you continue on to enter this contest, I assure you, you won’t make it. You’re weak. And even the blind can see that.” The man moved past Y/n and stood by the door of the room before he pointed the stick inside motioning her inside. 

“And you’re late. 2 weeks late. Now get in with your other peers. We’ll be starting training soon.” He dismissed Y/n and she furrowed her eyebrows and slowly walked inside, her eyes glued onto the man, fixing the strap of her quiver on her shoulder. She looked forward to see a small room that was similar to a classroom of some sort. Three rows of wooden benches with a few contestee’s in already. 

A group of 5 sat off near the corner of the room—huddled together. A toon skunk had his foot perched on the bench—his elbow resting on his knee as the 4 other toons stood around him as they all spoke. 

The first two toons seemed to be twins as the boys both had brown short hair with freckles—scrawny with fair skin. One had the side of his head shaved in a mullet. 

The next in the small group was a dog toon—brown fur and floppy ears—almost similar to a brown retriever. And the one next to him was a ferret? Or—well he looked to represent one that is. 

They all had the same matching uniform. A white undershirt with a brown vest and brown pants—on the back of the vest was a small symbol of a knife that seemed crudely drawn on with whatever paint supplies they had around. The skunk guy on the other hand has his sleeves rolled up to his shoulders—in a dumb attempt to let off a ‘bad boy’ impression. 

Y/n locked eyes with the skunk and he squinted his eyes and lifted his top lip in a sneer before his finger motions towards her way, and he said something she couldn’t hear as they weren’t close. The 4 others looked in Y/n’s direction and she looked at them for a moment before looking over to an empty spot and walked over to the other side of the room and sat down. Placing her hands in her laps she glanced around the room to see she—honestly was the only human there. Great. 

Sighing to herself Y/n raised a hand to her temple and closed her eyes. If she was going to make a fool of herself she wouldn’t hesitate to just air the place out with her semi improving archery skills. 

Opening her eyes she heard a whistle from across the room and she looks over to see the skunk toon had pushed himself off of the bench with a grin, his lowered arms outstretched as he walked across the room over to Y/n’s direction some of the other peers turning their gaze over to look at the skunk. 

“I think my eyes may be deceiving me.” He starts. The four other toons had trailed behind him. And Y/n pressed her lips together.

“So, you’re Vendolez huh?” The skunk asks, Y/n didn’t reply immediately as she had to think about that. 

“In a way, yeah.” She states and the skunk chuckled before looking over his shoulder to everyone in the room and motion towards Y/n as if saying; ‘Get a load of this guy.’

The skunk turns and looks back at Y/n—his pupils scanning her up and down as if evaluating her. 

“Name’s Stinks. Chief Melbourne’s son—first in command chief down in the castle, I got a winning streak for winning Warrior Falls every year—this is gonna be year 5.” He chuckled, his shoulders bobbing as he did so. The class went quiet and Y/n slowly nodded. 

“Nice….” She says..what was he telling her this for? 

“Just wanted to give you the info, I sure do hate repeating myself.” He removed his foot from the bench near Y/n’s legs and stood there with his arms crossed. 

“Humans such as yourself won’t stand a chance. I surpassed Vendolez—and I’m sure I can pass you too.” He stopped talking for a moment before he pointed to her arm—she had her button up sleeves rolled up. He pointed directly at the bruise on her arm and chuckled. 

“And it seems like you’re just taking baby steps.” He let out a laugh and everyone else in the class did as well. 

Y/n furrowed her eyebrows together. No doubt he had to be some uptown daddy’s boy, snobbish and had an ego as big as his tail. 

“It’s whatever, man.” Y/n said. Bullying wasn’t something Y/n ran into too much—but she surely knew how to diffuse them when it happens. 

“I hadn’t ran into your father yet at the castle so he probably isn't holier than the guy that you're putting him out to be.” Y/n wasn’t trying to make a joke but just say something to the guy that would just make him scamper off, but that made the smile lower on Stink’s face—he grimace and lowered his arms to his side as he shuffled towards Y/n who was still seated on the bench.

The people around the room made murmured hushed sounds of surprisement and giggles. 

Stinks pats the sides of his pockets on his hands before slowly nodding his head. 

“So you are a Vendolez.” He spat. He lifts a hand and points his index finger at Y/n. 

“Your grandfather killed mine. I've been waiting for this day to go up against his own.” He told her in a low tone. Y/n twisted her expression with confusion and surprisement. 

“Two people only make it to the winning stage—and if you do make it. I’ll kill you.” 

Y/n stared at Stinks and lifted her top lip in a sneer and grimace. Stinks leaned back and placed his hands in his pockets. “That’s if you even make it.” He turned around and walked off with his posse back over to the side of the room. Y/n kept her eyes on Stinks before slowly shaking her head and looking forward. 

The hell was that about?

-

The conductor had come into the class shortly after, and the class wasn’t really a class to say—it was more like a small holding room to discuss what was on today's list of things they would be training for. 

With Y/n’s now newfound arch nemesis, Y/n was constantly punching her brain to not make a fool of herself out there whatever their activities may be. 

Standing in front of the jungle gym-like course—wooden bars and handles and stairs—it was certainly an obstacle course. Now if it were like those inflatable bouncy house obstacle courses—oh man, Y/n could tred through it like it were her own home. But seeing the mud underneath and the makeshift rock climbing wall—it all looked so tactical and complicated—it felt like she was in some bootcamp, no not the bootcamp where you had your own personal fitness trainer for gym—no the military bootcamp where they had you crawl through mud, do planks in the raining 40 degree weather, hop over car tires and whatnot. Maybe if she knew this layout beforehand she wouldn’t have such a bad feeling in her gut, she’d even be lucky if she didn’t pass out from exhaustion. 

“Fuck…” she cursed under her breath and shakes her head in dissatisfaction. She felt someone bump her shoulder, and looking over she saw Stinks was the one that did it, his group of friends following close behind him as they moved to go stand in a line next to each other. 

The conductor had motioned over to the course. “You all know the rules, 10 minutes to get across! Or you’ll be mopping the floors with toothbrushes.” He paced back and forth as his eyes landed on Y/n.

“Some of you already have your name written on it.” His off handed comment was most definitely meant for her. Y/n furrowed her eyebrows as the conductor stopped in his pacing before pulling out a stopwatch from his pocket. 

Ruck was on the sidelines with his arms crossed—eyes glued on Y/n to see how she would do. 

The conductors didn’t say anything else as he stared at everyone in line, with a calculated expression, before pressing the start button on his stopwatch—the contestee’s dashed off like a pent up rubber band, the soles of their shoes scraping the dirt ground. The guy didn’t even count down so Y/n was appalled to see everyone starting to run off. She quickly dashed off as well, her legs carrying her over to a ladder in her aligned view, she quickly latched herself onto the ladder and immediately started to climb up it. She was moving so hastily she almost misplaced her footing and fell if it weren’t for her iron grip on the peg of the ladder, fixing her footing she scurried up the ladder, where she reached the top of the wooden platform, it was a decent sized wooden ‘bridge’ ahead of her. The wooden bridge really wasn’t anything she could walk on but more so to balance herself so she could get across to the other side and make it back down the ladder on the other side. 

Y/n slowly walked across the thin wooden bridge, slowly placing one foot in front of the other, she felt her legs shake and she started to lean to one side but she quickly moved her other foot ahead so she could fix her posture, which thankfully worked. Ruck slowly walked alongside down below of the course as he watched Y/n. 

Y/n felt the wooden platform shake and she looked ahead of her to see one of the contestee’s hopped from the other platform and over to hers. 

“Remember! The more hits you get, the more points you get!” Y/n heard the conductor's voice echoing. The contestee ahead of her held a wooden sword—thank god it wasn’t real—Y/n stumbled backwards at the sight of them running towards her with ease as she was struggling to even keep balance, Y/n fell forward onto the thin wooden bridge—the air was knocked from her lungs as she wheezed and felt herself start to fall over, but she hugged the wooden plank and flipped upside down on the other side, the constestee tripped over Y/n’s hands—their foot scraped against her wrist and she hissed in pain but she held on for dear life—gazing down at the mud under her, Y/n wormed a few inches away before swinging herself back up where she hastily crawled the rest of the way over to the platform, she picked herself up and hopped down the ladder instead of crawling down, crouching onto the ground before quickly scurrying up, she heard the contestee land behind her, Y/n sprinted off to see there were were two paths—one was under the deck of the course—it seemed you had to crawl, the other you had to crawl up another ladder, but she didn’t want to crawl up another ladder so she dashed to the ground and quickly started to crawl through the muddy soil—she heard footsteps from above her head from other contestee’s, Y/n spotted a hole in the ground and immediately crawled through it—falling into the ground—she stood up and saw she was in a dirt like tunnel—candels were lit to light the path as she jogged down it, spotting a hole up in the roof she quickly jumped up and dug her fingers into the ground and heaved herself up, she slid back down the slope and felt the soil in her fingernails. 

Huffing heavily from exhaustion already, Y/n took several steps back before running and hopping back up and forcefully digging her nails into the dirt and tugging her form up—back into the outside world, Y/n crawled from off the ground and scampered ahead to see a wooden wall she had to climb, she slowly stopped in her tracks—chest heaving up and down from exhaustion her head tilted up at the wooden wall with indents for climbing—but they were too far apart. The toons contestants seemed to climb it perfectly fine..this again. 

Y/n shuffled frantically on her feet as she tried to wire her brain on what to do. She jogged over to the wall and pressed her foot against the wall to heave herself up like she had done before back when they were climbing the trees. Her hands grasped onto the indents on the wall to anchor herself—Atleast it had something for her—but each space was too far apart!!

Y/n kicked her legs up to hop up to the next indent for her hands. 

“Come on kid..” Ruck hissed in anticipation, locking his lips tight as he watched her. 

Y/n grunts as her hand slipped from the devot as she slide down, the soles of her shoes dug into the wall and she climbed up yet again—her arms were tired and she couldn’t take much more—but her brain was fueling in energy for her as she grabbed onto the higher dent in the wall—pulling herself up she felt her fingers graze the ledge of the wall and she crawled onto the surface—air escaping her mouth as she weakly lifted her body from the ground, she felt her arms shaking and she looked down at her hands to see her middle and index fingernails cracked and bleeding—then blood slowly rising from the cracks of her nails like a broken dam. Y/n rubbed her hands to her side and pinched her lips together to keep in a grunt. 

Y/n’s face was ridden with pain as she continued forward—but was stopped by a figure moving in front of her, Y/n slowly stopped to see it was Stinks—he held the wooden sword in his hand and it was clear his main objective was to get her out. She didn’t even have a weapon with her—but that didn’t matter as he tossed it to his side, he shook his arms. 

“Most hit points.” He states before bringing his arms up in a position to provoke and fight her. Y/n glanced behind him to see the rest of the course and a few ways ahead was the finish line, a red flag dancing in the air—but it seemed Stinks could care less for the win—he had points stacked up already to keep him in the lead and it seemed his eyes were locked on the new guy in town—which was Y/n—especially with her status—nothing but vile intentions were coming Y/n’s way from Stinks. 

Y/n lifted her fists up as well and Stinks tossed a punch and Y/n quickly dodged it as she moved out of the way, she swung her hand as well to aim right at Stinks temple, but he caught her wrist and lifted a foot up and kicked her right in the middle of her chest—she fell to the ground with heavy thud and she felt like all the air was ripped right from her lungs—hissing—Y/n bared her teeth in pain as she felt Stinks grab the collar and back of her shirt—picking her up back onto her feet—Y/n’s knees buckled and she quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him to her side—in which he tumbled—but his leg locked around hers—Y/n felt her leg pivot the other direction and she lets out a shout—he swung his elbow to her shoulder which knocked her back to the ground—landing on her stomach. Stinks removed himself off her—his chest heaving up and down as he tried to control his heavy breathing, a satisfied smile on his face. 

Y/n laid on the ground—a muffled wail escaped her mouth—she twisted her ankle and she could already tell the pain it would be to walk on it. 

Stinks started to walk towards her to finish putting her down as much as he needed—but when he neared her he didn’t suspect Y/n to immediately turn around and swing her arm back—her fist colliding with the corner of his eye—Stinks fell backwards into the ground and Y/n pulls herself up and shot off towards the course, her foot stung but her adrenaline was pumping—blocking off the pain as she hopped off the platform and grabbed onto the nylon ropes to swing to the other side—when her feet landed onto the other side of the platform—Y/n’s knees buckled but she heaved herself up and took a step forward before something swiped her off her feet and onto the ground—Stinks stood up from behind her and towered over her, Y/n quickly scampered up and shook her arms and brought them up—but she felt the stinging pain in her nose as Stinks swung—Damn, he socked her in the face, hard. 

She tumbled, and tried to keep her stance—the warm tickling feeling trickled down her nose, and Y/n lets out a heavy sigh before swinging at Stinks—but he caught her arm and swung his other arm but she caught his arm—as she thought she may have thought outside the box, Stinks throws his head forward and hits her in the forehead with his, causing Y/n to release her hold hold on him. 

Stinks throws a kick at Y/n’s side—which was her rib cage—she felt his foot collide with her side and she fell back to the ground—her eyes clenched closed and she laid on her side and held her side, which twitched under her touch at the harsh impact it had taken. 

Stinks fixed the collar of his shirt before jumping down the platform and finishing the course. 

Her shallow breathing echoed in her ears and her hands remained on her side, the only thought in her head was how she was going to kick his ass if she could even get up! 

She wanted to, but she just laid there, under the hot sun—with dirt and grime over her skin and clothes. 

“That’s a Vendolez for you.”

She heard the voice echo, as some others spoke as well, the sound of a whistle blowing as the race had ended. 

Once she had trudged down the ladder off of the platform, Y/n felt exhausted, sweaty and dirty. The dried blood trickled down her nose as Stinks and the other contestants walked past her. Stinks locking eyes with her. 

“You ain’t making it to the League round, you might as well turn back now.” He gave her the condescending advice before he continued walking. Y/n felt like her shoulders were to her ears. 

“She ain’t nothin’ but a runt!” Laughed one of the contestee’s as they all followed behind Stinks for a good mornings worth of an exercise, they all walked off so unbothered, that course wasn’t a problem at all, easy in their book—but of course a human—such as Y/n, would have a problem completing it. She damn near tore off her fingernails trying to climb the wall. 

Y/n’s eyes glazed over and she felt her throat tightened, she wasn’t upset that she lost…a little, but she was more so upset in herself—getting distracted with whatever vendetta Stinks now has against to stop her from doing the one thing she had to do, complete the damn course! And to think she could do that?! 

She was mopped across the floor by Stinks for crying out loud! Y/n felt her heart sink at the thought of not even being able to complete a simple course—how the hell did she even remotely think that she would save the world? She couldn’t. Her mind wandered back to Pib and she blinked as a shiver traveled down her spine at just the thought of Pib—she…was way worse than anything imaginable. 

Y/n’s nose felt like it was burning but that soon was brushed off when the conductor walked over and gazed down at her. 

“Last.” He tells her. 

“Dead last.” He corrects. And Y/n hesitated before nodding. 

“Stinks is the top tier of every contest, going against him could possibly kill a human like yourself.” He informed her, Y/n’s eyebrows stitched together and her jaw clenched. 

“Tread lightly.” The conductor turns and walks off. Y/n glanced at the ground and placed a fingertip on her nose to touch the blood before wiping it away on her pants. She turned around only to face Ruck—and dread took over. 

She didn’t want to look like a fool to him and here she was. “Sorry.” She mumbled under her breath. 

“You held your own with him.” Ruck starts. And Y/n’s bouncing eyes landed on Ruck. He placed a hand on Y/n’s head, his fingers digging into her hair gently. 

“I say you did mighty fine.” His hand shook her head gently and Y/n’s head bobbled as he did so. Y/n gazed up at him with big eyes.

“He doesn't like me.” She tells him.

“Who the hell has to?” Ruck asks and raises an eyebrow. “Your boys back at the castle like you, who else do you need to? You gave him a few hits here and there to show him that you do bite—not some deer waiting to be shot at.” Ruck pushes her head forward—past him so she could get to walking, which she did as they walked over to the bench they were at earlier in the morning. 

“Prove the bastard wrong that you’re making it to the major leagues, don’t need a damn name to prove anything, you get hit once and lose something you think it’s the end of the world.” Ruck moves and takes her bow and quiver from off the bench and hands it to Y/n, she takes the bow and quiver and looks back at Ruck. 

“Little practice here and there and you’ll be doing just fine on your own, we’re going hunting.” When he mentioned that, Y/n perked up and a smile twitched onto her face as she watched him turn around and start to walk off. 

-

Pulling the arrow back, Y/n gazed down in the water, the water reaching her ankles—she took her shoes off so they wouldn’t get wet—and the cool feeling of the rocks and dirt between her toes was distracting, but she gaze down in the pond—her eyes following a fish swimming around. It neared her foot and she gazed down at it and stayed as still as a rock. 

When it swam a few feet away, Y/n extended her index finger and squinted her eyes down at the fish before releasing the arrow, it shot into the water but missed the fish by an inch, Y/n cursed under her breath and stomped in the water—the plopping sound emits from the water and water splashed her pants. 

“Almost had it, kid. Try it again.” Ruck calls out—standing near a tree with his arms crossed as he watches Y/n. She took out another arrow from the quiver before loading it and pulling it back and locking her eyes on the fish—she was about to shoot it until Ruck interrupted.

“Slow down, you didn’t even give your eyes time to adjust to the damn thing.” He pipes up and Y/n nods. She tended to her nose on the way to the trail—and washed her hands from the dirt and grime on her hands—though her clothes still had dried mud on it that hardened in the hot sun. But it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Her ankle and side was sore but she was mostly thankful that nothing was broken. They left the training house so Ruck could train her instead before heading back off to the castle, and frankly Y/n liked this better than being the odd one out back in the training house—even though she would have to endure that tomorrow, but of course she wouldn't go in a careless attitude, having Ruck there made her feel better. Pushing her to dry her tears and push forward—and ignore the talk from others, Ruck was…hard. But he spoke through steel, something hard and sturdy that he would give to you to be able to learn to use for your own battles. And Ruck was teaching her that. 

“I got a question…” Y/n states as she follows the fish swimming around in the water. 

“Ask me later, pay attention.” Ruck gruffed and Y/n sighed through her nose. 

A few moments passed by before Y/n released the arrow and it stuck right through the fish. She smiled immediately and yanked the arrow from the water and showed the flopping fish to Ruck. 

“Got it!” She exclaims. 

“Good job.” Ruck praised watching as the girl hopped around in the water howling with glee that she finally caught something. 

Over the course of the 3 hours—Ruck led her deeper into the woods—teaching her to use the bow on different targets he would mark out—and cleaning up on her balancing skills that he noticed she lacked back in the training center. 

He walked on the ground under the tree branch he told Y/n to walk on.

“Make sure you bend your knees—place one foot in front of the other.” Ruck orders. Y/n walked along the branch, aiming her arrow over to the tree he told her to focus and shoot at when she felt she could. Two objectives at once were distracting, balancing on the tree branch—which she wobbled ever so often—and aiming off to the three a few meters away. 

She pulled the arrow further back and released it which flew off and hit the bark of the tree. She straightened her posture and looked down at Ruck who looked away from the tree and nodded in satisfaction.

Some time later, he taught her how to climb a tree, minus breaking her fingernails. Y/n hopped up on the tree branch and pulled herself up but soon fell right back down and onto the ground, landing on her back. Ruck looked down at her and motions his head towards the tree. 

“Try again.” He says. 

Which she did.

Everytime she failed at something, either falling off the tree from climbing it, balancing on its branch or shooting at something, Ruck would give the same answer. “Try again.”

At first that would irritate her—but she would bounce right back up and shoot right back at it. And he was shocked to see so. 

As they walked back to the castle, Y/n had played with the bow as they walked down the trail of the woods. She would make it a game for herself to shoot at the nearest tree they were going to pass and take the arrow when they walked past—or if it hit the ground she would pick it up from the ground and continue walking. She did it to help sharpen her aiming, but mostly because she actually found fun in shooting the arrows and Ruck noticed before he hardened his gaze and looked at her when she shot the arrow off to a tree as they walked. 

“Stop doing that, that isn’t a toy—you can kill someone with that damn thing.” He scolds as Y/n walks over and tugged the arrow from the tree and placed it back in her quiver.

“Just sharpening up on my aim so I can show Felix when we go out to train for my aim again.” She lied—well—not fully. 

“You’re getting better at it, so that’s good, don’t go around breaking it.” Ruck furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. 

“Whatever..”  He heard her voice mutter and he slowly shook his head at her statement.

The two continued walking—the leaves and sticks crunching under their shoes. “How’s your nose feelin?” He asks. 

Y/n inhaled dramatically and her shoulders sagged. “I can breathe, so I say, pretty good. Clearly.” She says nonchalantly. 

“Keep that up and I’ll sock you in your nose, you’ll be breathing from your ass the rest of this week.” Ruck grumbled and Y/n cracked a smile and a laugh left her mouth at his statement, Ruck gave a chuckle.

“You aren’t in your prime years anymore Ruck, let it go.” 

“Still got the power to kick your ass.”

“Whatever you say.” 

Y/n felt a smile on her lips, the air around her was clear and wonderful, her thoughts from earlier had dissipated into the the air—she wasn’t worried about Stinks but surely whenever she’s face to face to him, she’s going to drag him up and down the floor until his name was written on it. 

Just her, Ruck and the outside world.

-

Y/n leaned on the couch with an exhausted expression. Oswald stood in front of her with his eyebrows pushed together. He was the only one in the room when she arrived—the other left somewhere in town—Bendy clearly was with Lucy, and Ruck left to go find Meek and Don who had been asked to help inventory check for the wedding—as if there weren’t more than enough people in the castle to help do so. 

“What..the hell happened to you?” Oswald asks. Y/n had a nick on her eyebrow, and right under her left eye, and bruises on the bridge of her nose. Her clothes were dirty and it looked like she survived hell. 

“Training.” Y/n deadpans and Oswald’s eyes scanned her face silently.

“Some guy didn’t like me because of my relations with Vendolez and while we were doing a course he was kicking my ass.” She explained briefly and Oswald’s ears lowered in irritation before he shook head. 

“Not a lot of em like me back there.” She watched as Oswald silently turned around and walked over to the counter across the room and grabbed the first aid kit that they all brought, he walked over to Y/n and started digging through the kit. 

“Here, I’ll patch you up.” Oswald states and takes out the alcohol wipe and band aid, he sits down next to Y/n and places the alcohol wipe on her scared eyebrow, she flinches away at the stinging burn of the bacteria dying. 

“Stay still..” Oswald commands and Y/n muttered. “It burns..” 

After wiping away the dried blood from her scar on her eyebrow and under her eye, Oswald placed a thin band aid on Y/n’s eyebrow. 

“Alright. Just don’t touch it and it’ll be fine.“ Oswald says and tossed the first aid box on the other side of the couch, Y/n quickly grabs her bow and hops onto the couch. 

“You shoulda seen my fire archery skills!” She pulls out an arrow from her quiver and quickly loads it and pulls back—ready to fire. Oswald’s ears perked up and he quickly looks at Y/n—before he could say anything she shot the arrow across the room—the door had opened and Felix walked in, in which the arrow hits the wall behind his head—he abruptly stopped walking and looked at the arrow—Y/n opened her mouth and quickly hid the bow behind her back to hide it before Felix turned to look at her. 

“Hey..now you know not to shoot that in the building..” Felix slowly scolds and Y/n gives him a nervous smile, but Felix quickly smiles and his ears perk up. 

“Not without me!” He shouts and Y/n jumps off the couch and scampers over to Felix and he had his hand out for a high five.

Y/n smacks her hand against his with a bright smile. 

“Good job! That’s good you’re getting better with shooting!”He praised and reached down to bump his head against her temple as Y/n smiled at him. 

“Hey! No shooting that in here.” Mugman’s voice steps in and she looks over to see the cup brothers walking in. Y/n’s eyes locked with Cuphead and she quickly looked away from him and back to Mugman who perked his eyebrows up in shock. 

“What on earth happened to your face?!” He exclaims before grabbing Y/n’s face to examine the bruises to her eyebrow and nose. 

“Some guy didn’t like me down at the training center.” She briefly explained—in all honesty her plan wasn’t to tell them what happened but her bruises spoke out quicker than she could—no doubt they would question it. Mugman removes his hands from Y/n before placing his hands on his hips. 

“Well that’s just wrong.” He scoffs and Y/n shrugs slowly. “Don’t worry about it, I’m good now, where have you guys been?” She quickly wanted to move on to another topic and not how she got her ass kicked again. 

“Well. Some lady wanted us to find her missing chickens from her pen—Panchito and Donald are still in town finding them, I just came to get Oswald.” Felix’s eyes landed on the rabbit who was leaning on the wall next to Y/n. He lifts an eyebrow and shrugs. 

“Who was supposed to be helping us.” Felix finished and Oswald removed himself from the wall. 

“I would if one of the chickens didn’t try to peck my eye out.” Oswald grumbled. So much for making a name for themselves in town. 

“I just got my ass kicked and laughed at by a group of  people at the training center. If they see me getting attacked by chickens I think I just might toss myself off a roof.” Y/n deadpans and Felix pulls the arrow from the wall and hands it to her. 

“Who were they?” He asks. And Y/n shakes her head. 

“Don’t worry about it—“

“Sure, let's not worry about it. She says as she comes back with a split eyebrow.” Oswald says nonchalantly and Y/n rolled her eyes. 

“Moving on, we got some duties to do today for the town! Come on!” Y/n pushes past the four and out of the door—the burning enthusiasm to do some chores around town! 

-

“13 chickens! I can’t even catch 1!” Donald shouts, balling his hands up in a fist. Panchito stood next to him with his hands on his hips as he gazed around the town—people walking by—children playing, people trading—but no chickens. 

“She really needs a new pen—do some good deeds around the town and we get stuck doing chicken duty!” Donald complained about the chickens missing, which Panchito had to endure listening to his rants for the last several minutes but—of course he didn’t say anything about it. 

Donald turned around when he heard footsteps to see, Y/n, Felix, Cuphead, Mugman and Oswald finally making their way over to help. 

“Did you guys find anything yet?” Mugman asks and Panchito looks away from whatever he was looking at and shakes his head. 

“Unfortunately, no.” He answered and Donald grumbled. 

“Everytime we get near them they just scatter off.” No surprise as that’s what frightened chickens do. Donald spotted Y/n’s face and raised an eyebrow. 

“Geez, who dumped you in a wildfire?” 

Y/n deadpans and rolled her eyes. “Don’t ask.” She grumbled and Panchito looked at her and it seemed like he was going to say something before closing his mouth. 

“Well, since we’re all here—minus Bendy. I’m sure it’ll be a lot easier to find them now.” Felix responds.

And—frankly it was a tad bit easier. Emphasis on the tad. 

Y/n held a chicken in her arms as she gazed around the town—Mugman was with her—as they all split up and the two ran into each other by accident whilst finding the chickens. 

Now placing the chicken in the pen instead of opening the gate considering they always escaped everytime they tried to open the gate to set them in—so they all just decided to place them in the pen over the fence. No wonder they always kept getting out. 

Mugman placed the chicken in the pen as well. The chicken scurried off with the others who were eating some seeds on the patchy grass. 

“I think that was the last of them.” Mugman says. Panchito, Donald, Oswald, Felix and Cuphead were standing near the pen as well. Donald squints his eyes and shakes his head. 

“There’s still one missing..” he says. 

“What? I caught like 3 of them.” Oswald says in disbelief, overall there were 12 chickens in all—Y/n didn’t know how many they had to find when they were searching for them, she just started searching the area for chickens—which they hadn’t traveled off too far thankfully. 

“There’s 13 in all, one’s missing.” Donald adds and looks away nonchalantly and then squints his eyes. 

“Why can’t we just leave the damn thing out here? She wouldn’t notice one missin’ chicken.” Cuphead sighs lazily but Donald quickly spotted the chicken a few meters ahead. 

“There it is.” He said before turning to wander after the chicken. Following behind him, Y/n also saw the chicken sauntering near the bridge of the town but the second Donald got near it—he scurried off across the bridge—Donald quickly stopped walking before turning around and shrugging. 

“Oh, well, it’s gone, nothing we can do now.” Jeez, so much for helping, Donald. 

“We can still get it, come on, stop being lazy.” Mugman deadpans before walking past Donald and exiting the town. Y/n had a feeling in her chest that it was going to take some willpower to catch this chicken..

-

The chicken pecked at the ground—collecting the worms from the soft dirt—it wandered 20 some odd minutes away from town and the group had tried countless times to catch it but the minute they would get close it would sprint off to an entirely new direction.

Standing behind a tree—Y/n stared at the chicken before turning around to face the boys who were also standing behind her as well, Donald heavily puts his arms out to his side in frustration. 

“I say we just leave it here!” He grumbled and Y/n was really wanting to take the latter on just returning to the lady and saying they couldn’t chase her last chicken down, it traveled way too far from town it almost had Y/n wondering if this wasn't the animals first time running off this far, it’ll explain why no one else wanted to collect her chickens. 

“Yeah, I’d say we just head back and build her a new pen while we’re at it, I’ll be damned if I have to chase down chickens again.” Cuphead agreed, even though he did the bare minimum, she hadn’t seen him collect a single chicken yet or her eyes must have been lying to her. 

“No, we have to catch that chicken! What’s the point in doing all of this if we can’t catch the chicken? We'd done all this for no reason!“ Mugman says in the most frustrated manner—he was mostly agitated about the chicken. 

“Well.” Oswald starts and then looks at Felix. 

“Felix you sneak up on it, don’t cats have great stealth skills?” He asks and Felix’s ears perked up as he silently looked at Oswald. 

“Oh right. I forgot, you are a cat. We should have had you go and sneak up on it to begin with—would have saved us more time.” Donald deadpans and Felix looks over at the chicken. 

“Well, I can try.” He says before walking from behind the tree. 

“We need to corner it, so I can’t do this all by myself.” He tells them—clearly standing around wasn’t going to do them no good so they might as well make themselves helpful. 

He squats down slowly and his eyes focused on the distracted chicken. Donald and Oswald wandered over to the side as Mugman went on another side—practically creating a circle so the chicken wouldn’t scamper off more than what it needed to, because lord forbid they did not need it running off again. 

Y/n was still behind the tree—just deciding to stay there in case they somehow let the chicken go.

Panchito and Cuphead stayed near Y/n as they watched the four slowly close in on the chicken. Y/n hardly spent time focusing on them trying to get the chicken as her mind seemed to have wandered off, her eyes slowly wandered over to the deep part of the forest, she heard muttering from the others as they tried to sneak up on the pesky chicken—an alluring feeling pulled her away from the tree silently. There were tracks off in the direction she had been staring at—curiously gazing up at the trees which had leaves falling from its bare branches. The sun peeking from the trees and down onto the ground—the air had gotten cold—almost like she had wandered into a cold room with a fan that had been on the entire day. 

A brisk breeze gently pushes past Y/n and she lets out a visible shiver. The more she walked the more noticed the air had gotten cold, she could see the small snow landing in the ground. Some snow already littered the ground but it wasn’t enough to where she was trudging through the snow. 

The white puff of air left Y/n’s lips as her eyes danced around the snowy area, completely different from the area she had once been in but after some time on the offlands she noticed how there were different parts of the lands that had different climates, this was just one of the many ones. 

Her eyes landed on a pond, iced over with a thick layer of ice. It was a big pond—big enough for anyone to go canoeing if they wanted to, if it wasn’t glazed over with a thick sheet of ice. 

Y/n’s walk slowly soon came to a stop, the tips of her shoes digging in the ground before landing on the soles of her shoes. Curiously looking at the newly discovered area, she could see mountains a few distances ahead with snow covering its peak—there seemed to be no end of the frozen lake, and she was certain there had to be a ‘No Crossing Allowed’ sign somewhere. 

The flakes of snow in the sky slowly fluttered down to earth, landing in Y/n’s hair and on the ground collecting with an already thick blanket of snow. Spunk slowly stopped behind Y/n and he gazed up at her in curiosity as to why she wandered off from everyone. 

The brisk wind was cold and he could see the human let out a shiver as she moved to walk in the opposite direction to explore the area. Spunk silently trailing behind, small pawprints being left in his wake as he followed after Y/n’s shoeprints. 

“This is weird.” He heard her whisper. Spunk quickly trotted over beside Y/n and looked up at her with big eyes. The human bent down and pressed her hands into the snow—picking it up and balling it in her hands, packing in the snow to be a snowball and dropping it onto the ground. Continuing on she felt the snow deep into her boots from her ankle—the cold feeling pricking at her feet. She glanced back up into the sky to see some birds flying in the distance, as they ventured off elsewhere. The leaves in the trees blowing in the wind—letting out a soft rustling as the clumps of snow fall from its branches and back onto the blanket of snow. 

The sky was a pale grayish white—covering up the once blue sky with its monochrome gradient color. Y/n couldn’t remember the last time she actually sat outside in the cold for more than a few minutes. Most of the time she would just dash right back into the house to warm up next to a heater and sit and watch TV. Last she remembered playing in the snow was with a few of her elementary friends in school. 

Squatting down onto the ground and placing her hands onto the snow—making a small print on it, Spunk walks over and looks down at Y/n’s hands before he moves closer and lays on top of her hands—the warmth from him heats up her hands and gently melts away at the snow—it felt like she was wearing mittens. The pup looks up at her before laying his head on the ground and closing his eyes. Y/n removes a hand from beneath Spunk and placed a hand on his back where he opens his eyes to look at her but his eyes quickly flicks behind her and he quickly stands up and fixing himself to a tense posture—letting out a not too intimidating growl he stared behind Y/n which caused her to quickly stand up and stand beside him to look behind her. Standing next to a tree was an elderly woman. Wearing a dark black cloak. A necklace made of pine wood decorated her neck. She had white curly hair and pale skin, her dark eyes stared at Y/n and her thin eyebrows furrowed for a moment. 

“So we meet.” The woman’s voice prowled. Y/n couldn’t tell if the woman wanted to harm her or just was really weird. Y/n remained silent as she glanced to her side to see if she was talking to anyone else but the woman wasn’t. 

Spunk jumps in front of Y/n and lets out a bark before sitting down between her legs. His body warming up her legs—despite Spunk not being too intimidating he did make great use of being her eyes and ears. She didn’t even know the woman was behind her nor how long she was standing there. 

Y/n’s lips remained closed as her eyes cautiously examined the woman. The woman slowly gives a smile—which in Y/n’s opinion was..a tad bit nerve wracking. The woman turned her head to look off to the side—particularly nowhere but she removed her eyes from Y/n as she could tell how she seemed nervous under her gaze.

“You dislike being stared at.” She states. Which was actually true—Y/n had a pet peeve when people wouldn’t stop staring at her—it was something she developed in school at a young age, something that was so small yet Y/n made a big deal out of it. Her mother had to scold her for having tantrums about it but with the years passing, Y/n grew out of it. A little. 

Y/n felt her shoulders slowly relax and return to its original position—she didn’t know she tensed up so bad but with with recent events with meeting new people that clearly didn’t like her and was out to see her dead—it was to nose surprise every other odd person would make her tense up abit. She felt like every day she stepped foot outside she had to glance behind her back every second.

The woman gives Y/n a sideways glance to see she was patiently looking at her. 

“I knew Hector.” The woman turns her gaze to look at Y/n, in which she continues to stare at the woman. 

“He always spoke about how he wanted a child, someone who he could explore the world with.” 

“Who are you?” Y/n asks. That was really the only question she could think of—some lady randomly appearing and talking about Hector was clearly a bit concerning. 

“Who are you?” The woman asks—whatever that was supposed to mean considering she clearly knew about Y/n. Maybe to an extent. 

Y/n didn’t reply and the woman let out a soft laugh. 

“I’m just joking with you, dear. I already know who you are.” She states and Y/n slowly furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. 

“What?” Y/n muttered as the woman turned around and started to walk down a path that was behind her. 

“I believe you’re still learning, the face print speaks for itself.” The woman starts to wander off and Y/n watches her for a moment and Spunk looks up at her. 

“Follow, child.” 

Y/n couldn’t really sense any danger coming from the woman but she was still hesitant and the woman could sense that. 

“If I wanted to harm you I would have done that already.” She said, Y/n rocked back and forth on her feet before she trudged ahead. 

-

“So, if you knew Hector, does that mean you know about the book? Oh—are you Hector’s friend?” Y/n was already asking the woman a handful of questions as she walked alongside with the woman.

“I met him when he first came to the offlands.” She answered.

“Then how are you still alive?” Y/n asks. She was certain that Hector was alive years ago—anyone his age would be 80 or even 90– minus Ruck and his run-ins with a witch. 

“I’m a mage, dear. I don’t age.” Answered the woman. Y/n’s eyebrows slowly raised—yes she was told they existed a few times but standing right infront of one, she didn’t even know that woman was a witch until she mentioned it. She just seemed like some regular woman—it was odd to see witches in films who were portrayed as these green guys with long noses and a pointy hat. 

“So..you don’t have an age?” 

“Last I checked I remembered somewhere around 80.”

“How do I know you aren’t lying.” 

“You ate a bread crumb from the ground this morning, you strongly believe in the 5 second rule.” 

Y/n grew into a heavy silence. Her eyes flickering off to the side.

…yeah…that happened. 

“Well…how did you know Hector when he got here?” Y/n soon moves on to the next subject at hand.

“Because he came to me, about you.” The woman looks over at Y/n who was already looking at her. Y/n tilts her head.

“Hector and his brother Ruck grew up with only each other. Surprisingly Hector was a family oriented young man. He found out that the book would be passed on to another generation, which is yours. And he was upset he wouldn’t be able to meet you.” The woman started and Y/n could remember back when Ruck immediately seemed to know who Y/n was. 

“He came to me as there were no mages allowed on the mainland…” the woman’s eyes slowly turned to face forward as she trailed off. 

“Who are you?” She asks Y/n. 

“Y/n.”

The woman heard the human answer her question and she looked back at her to see Y/n was holding Spunk in her arms for warmth. Spunk laid his head on Y/n’s shoulder and the woman turned to look ahead. 

“He wanted to see you, and I let him.” 

Y/n smiled and perked up. “How?” 

The woman brings a finger up to her temple and gently taps it. “Through vision. It’s a very strenuous thing to perform. But he was in wonders when he saw you.” 

Y/n felt her smile slowly edge back onto her face—she hadn’t really thought much about Hector viewing her as anything—much less her thinking of him other than some walking star clearly. The woman slowly stops walking and Y/n looks ahead to see a small cottage—a puff of white smoke spilling from the chimney—snow littering the top of the roof and even on the porch. The woman didn’t seem bothered by the cold at all, not as much as Y/n. 

“That is why I came to you. To show you his word he had out for you.” The woman continues down the path and to the porch of the house—Y/n following behind her as she holds onto Spunk like some portable heater. 

The mage opens the door and wanders into the house with Y/n following behind. The warm air caused a shiver to run down Y/n’s spine as she gazed around. There were shelves of books stacked neatly. The wooden floor creaked under her shoes as her pupils danced around with all the trinkets that had their own glow—so witches did make potions! 

The yellow glow of the candle lit up the room and the woman walked over to a table and sits down—there was a chair across from her and she waited for Y/n to come sit as expected but after moments passed and she looked over her shoulder she saw the human staring off at the displays of artifacts. 

“What’s this?” Y/n sets Spunk down and the pup sits on the floor as Y/n leaned to look at a glass display of an arrow—similar to the one she had in her quiver. 

“That’s Hector’s arrow.” The woman responds as she watches the human scamper around the room gazing upon all the things. 

“He had a bow and arrow too?” Y/n asks, not breaking eye contact from the shelves of many books. 

“Yes, he did.” 

“So, you knew Hector for a long time.” 

“For some time now.” 

“You knew Ruck too?” 

“We never really talked.” 

Wow. She asked a lot of questions and that was a shocking thing to see how estatic the girl was over the man. Y/n turns and looks at the mage. 

“Come sit.” The woman motions towards the table and Y/n walks over and sits down—Spunk’s scampering gently tapping against the wooden floor—Y/n sat sideways in her seat as she glanced around the small kitchen before facing forward and looking at the mage. 

“Close your eyes. And empty your mind.” She says and Y/n closed her eyes—clearing it was a tad bit difficult considering her mind was always running with thoughts. She heard the woman shuffling across from her—causing Y/n to gently peek from her left eye—the woman placed a hand over Y/n’s eyes. 

“I said close.” 

“Sorry.” 

The woman’s warm hand got warmer as the seconds passed—like a heated towel laid upon Y/n’s eyes. 

“You watch. And listen. This will open roads for you as a person..and as a hero.” The woman tells. Y/n didn’t know what that meant but remained silent—her head felt light, almost like she was floating from her seat. It was dead silent, she could feel her heart beating in her ears. The room itself felt empty—vague of any life, her eyebrows twitched in uncertainty but she didn’t know what to say. 

The warm feeling was still there but it didn’t feel like hands were on her eyes.

The sound of a muffled voice from behind a closed door reached Y/n’s ears, someone was talking, Y/n cautiously opened her eyes—squinting as if not to get caught opening her eyes again—but she met a dim room—which looked more like a bedroom than a kitchen that she was just seated at. 

Fully opening her eyes, Y/n noticed she was standing up and looked down at her feet before back up to a closed door when she heard talking again. 

“Stop asking stupid shit.”

“It was just a question, Jesus.” 

Y/n wandered over to the door and placed her hand on the doorknob before slowly opening it to reveal a balcony over the living room she had just been discovering around with the mages' antiques moments ago. Surprisingly she hardly noticed the staircase leading upstairs. But what caught her interest were two young men standing in the front door way. 

It was Ruck and Hector, considerably younger though. Y/n placed her hands on the railing of the balcony and gazed down at them. Hector had a brown travel bag around his shoulders—his dark hair slicked—but somehow slightly unkempt—gazing around the area excitedly. Ruck didn’t have a mustache as she thought he would have—but then again she only knew him when he was older—on his left eye was a white gauze and she remembered the eye that he couldn’t see from—she expected that he just couldn’t see from it from birth but now had the nagging feeling something probably caused it. 

Ruck didn’t seem too interested in his surroundings as he looked over at the mage—what was standing in front of the two with the door in her hand—she didn’t seem to look any younger then again she also mentioned she couldn’t age. 

“That..is a very dangerous procedure to go through.” The mage removes herself from the door and walks further into the cottage. Hector and Ruck follow behind.

“Yes..I was told that..” Hector says slowly almost like he knew she would say that, he rubbed his hands against his pants as he looked away from one of the bookshelves. 

“But please. This is the last time I’ll be on this island before I’ll have to leave for Ruby Falls.” He starts as he follows the mage into the kitchen.

“I was told you were the best mage here in the offlands. And that you know about the book, and that you have the power to have a glimpse in time.” Hector states and the mage sits down at the table and gazes at the man who stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. 

“I mean—if that’s possible—“

“Are you here for understanding your journey? I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. The book chooses who it will and I can’t subject it—but I do have other knowledge.” The woman states. Hector falls silent for a moment—he clearly didn’t understand what that meant, he glanced over his shoulder to Ruck who only  slowly shrugs in response. 

“If..it’s about the fall.” Hector looks back at the mage. “I don’t wish to hear it.” 

“But you are the wielder of the book Mr. Vendolez. It’s not wise to shy away from the truth.” The woman prodes and Hector lets out a strained laugh before shuffling on his feet. 

“Oh please! I’m not shying away from anything—moving on—” he quickly moves on the subject at hand he originally came to the mage for. 

“I would like to see if perhaps—maybe in the future, we would have any family.” Hector brings up. The mage was silent for a moment and Hector couldn’t tell if she was debating or just finding his question absurd and stupid. 

“It’s just in case anything were to happen to us in the long run.” Hector says quietly as the mage stares at him. 

“It’s sterenous.” She soon says and Hector perks up when she starts to speak. 

“But I fear you might need it.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ruck asks from the background—Hector glanced over his shoulder to Ruck and quickly shook his head. He would not let his brother destroy this only opportunity he had—after searching through many witches through the offlands and finally finding one who specialized in small future visions, he couldn’t let this moment fall through his fingers. 

“Sit.” The woman motions over to the table with two other chairs in which Hector walked over and sat down. When he did he looked over to Ruck who was still standing before glancing at the seat next to him which Ruck silently walked over to and sat down next to Hector. The mage had stood up from her seat as he did so and she walked over to Hector and lifted a hand to his head. Snapping a strand of hair from his head. Hector flinched harshly and raised a hand to his head and looked up at the mage before she walked back over to her seat and placed the strand of hair on the middle of the table. 

She wandered over to the side of the room where the cabinet was—opening it she started rummaging through the cabinets and Ruck gave his brother a sideways glance. 

“Are you sure about this? I hear looking into the future isn’t too good on someone’s mind..she just basically said you’re going to die soon.” Ruck lowered his voice so Hector could hear. Hector gently placed his hands on the table. 

“Well..this makes this all the better. You know I always wanted a child—“

“Jesus Christ.” Ruck deadpans as Hector chuckled before placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. “We knew something would be bound to come around soon. I’m certain if there is someone in the future to take the book they’ll have better care for it than what me and the others had for it..” 

Ruck didn’t reply back as the mage placed scented twigs on the table, near the strand of hair. She takes a piece of cotton from her pocket and leans her hand over to a wall where it caught fire from the candle lighting up the room. Placing the lit cotton on the sticks and hair strand. It caught the flames and started eating away, she sat back in her chair and the sweet smell of pine wood danced around the room, the flames standing on the table.

After a brief moment of silence, the mage looks at Hector. 

“She’s generations down.” She answered and he immediately smiled at the answer. 

“And she is your granddaughter—“

“Great! I’m going to be a grandfather—who woulda knew!” Hector shouts in glee and frantically shakes Rucks’s shoulders, Ruck blinking frantically at the shaking before looking at Hector who seemed to want to shoot out of his seat. 

“Tell me. What is her name?” Hector asks. 

“Y/n.” The mage answered and Hector’s smile widened. 

“She is a weak soul.” 

“Well—some children go through some devastation—probably won’t learn to ride a bike like I did.” Hector brushed it off but the mage continued on. 

“Where is she?” Ruck asks. The woman placed her forearms on the table. “Close your eyes.” 

The two stared at the mage for a moment before closing their eyes—Hector a tad bit too excited as he peeked an eye open and the mage furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Close.”

“Sorry.” He immediately apologized. 

The mage closes her eyes as well and inhales the room falling into a deep silence—seconds seem to have passed by—and frantic sound of shuffling on the floor emits around the room. Hector slowly opened his eyes at the sound as did Ruck—Hector’s eyes landed on a small hand holding onto the chair of the mage and peeking up at him and Ruck was a child. No older than the age of 6. She quickly dips back behind the chair.

“Here she is.” The mage announced before standing up from her chair and glancing behind it. Ruck and Hector stood up from the chairs and both wandered around the table to look behind the chair and there sat a small child, wearing a brown dress—that seemed a tad bit tattered but that was the least of his worries. 

“What the fuc-“ Ruck was cut off by Hector. 

“Magnificent!” Hector shouts with glee. The e/c eyes gazed up at Hector and a wide toothy smile stretched on the child’s face as Hector quickly kneeled down and picked the child up. 

“Isn’t she just the most adorable thing, ain’t that right? Look at that smile!” Hector held the child in front of him, her legs dangling in the air. 

“Is this really her?” Ruck asks the mage who shook her head.

“A vision. She doesn't exist in this world yet.” The mage explained as Hector walked forward—holding the child above his head—Y/n burst into a fit of giggles as Hector smiled up at her. The child reached her arms out and opened her mouth before chomping down on the air—her teeth clinking together as if she were aiming to bite something. 

“Oh—what is that you’re doing?” Hector cooed at the child before bringing her closer and placing her on his hip—resting his arm under her leg he turned to Ruck and smiled. “Look! She’s your niece!” He exclaims and Ruck looks at the child who was already looking at him. His eyes then flickered back to Hector who moved to hold Y/n in front of him. 

“It’s a shame I won’t be there to see you.” He says and Y/n stared at Hector silently before smiling and covering her face—in which he chuckled. 

He placed the child down onto the ground and she immediately pounced at his leg—wrapping her arms around his leg—similar to a kitten pouncing at something—Hector smiled before moving his leg back.

Ruck looked at the mage as Hector became busy with the time spent playing with Y/n, which was him obnoxiously running around the house with the child. 

“Does she survive?” He asks.

“I can’t see that. As stated, actions from the book affect me, that is something that is determined in time.” 

The child latched onto Hector’s leg and laughed and lifted up a leg and she had a tight grip on his leg —dangling in the air as she stared up at him he let out another laugh. 

“I like this kid!” 

Hector kneeled down to the child who had unlatched herself from his leg, Y/n sat down on the ground as she smiled at Hector, a hand raising up to touch at his forehead. 

“I’m certain she’ll do just fine.” Hector says—the child was busy making incoherent babbling and watched as the man stood up and glanced between Ruck and the mage. 

“Will she survive?” He asks. 

“She can’t tell.” Ruck answered for the mage. 

“Speak to her.” The mage says before her eyes flickered down to the child seated on the floor who was already looking up at the three. Hector looks back down at the child before slowly squatting back down to her level. 

“Yes..let’s see..” he starts. Thinking about what to say as the child silently stared at him. 

“I can’t entirely read the future—well I can’t at all.. but I won’t be there when you’re in the process of your own journey.” He starts. The child continued to stare at the man and he was certain she couldn’t understand him at all—not a thought running around in that mind of hers.

“You win some you lose some—that’s what Ruck tells me. But me personally.” Hector lowered his voice so only the child could hear him. “But me personally I’d rather win them all. But we can’t win everything can we?” 

The child slowly smiled before Hector silently laughed. “If you—at any time would hear this. You are a strong kid. Even if something happens in the line of your journey. You have the greatest bond anyone could ever have.” 

The child’s pupils dilated and a soft sound came from her mouth. Hector smiled once more and placed his hands on her arms. 

“I heard as time goes—people lose touch of where they came from. Me and Ruck don’t have much to offer from our name—but I hope you’re strong enough to put a start to saving mankind.”

“I’ll be glad to be dead and gone if the time even comes.” Ruck muttered under his breath and Hector looked at his brother—before looking back at the child. 

“I might just pay someone to cast a spell on Ruck to keep him here.” Hector jokes with a small laugh and Ruck remains silent, surely it was to get back at the small prank he pulled on Hector a few hours ago. 

Hector was silent for a moment before looking at the mage.

“What do I tell her?” 

“Your discoveries, in time if she has the heart to enter this world to embark on her own journey, that is where I’ll find her. And show her your message to you.” The mage responds finally giving some useful response. 

Hector raises an eyebrow. “How? She’s not here yet.” 

“I will show her this memory.” 

Hector tilted his head in interest—something sparking in him as he opened his mouth silently. “Like—a recording?” 

The mage nods at his comparison.

“Thought she won’t be able to remember this if she isn’t here yet.” Ruck states and the mage looks at him. “She won’t.” The woman glances down at the child still silently sitting on the floor. 

“But when the time comes where she exists in the world—hopefully with no failure, she looks back at it, and if she so happens to come to the offlands where I find her. She’ll be listening right now.” The mage flickers her gaze off to the side of the room where Y/n had wandered from down the stairs to sit on them and watch the four in the living room. 

Hector looked over to where the woman was looking at but didn’t see anything standing there. But to Y/n it was like he looked directly right at her. His gaze didn’t last too long onto her before looking back down at the child who was still silently looking up at him. 

“I would advise you to hurry and tell her your discovery.” The mage points a finger back at the table where the fire was starting to dwindle down. 

“When the fire dies away, so will she. And I’m afraid that is the only time I will be allowed to grant you the wish to see her.” 

Hector slowly nods—quickly tracking through his brain, he didn’t rehearse for this so he didn’t want to fumble too bad. 

“You..I was told—you will be gifted with a gift. A power that no man has ever had before. A mark that will be given to you for the greater good, to not only to protect yourself from the darkness, but to protect the world.” 

The child silently stared up at Hector as he slowly stopped talking. “I couldn’t do it. They wanted me to have it—but I told them to pass it onto you..because the war wouldn’t happen in my time—but yours. I don’t have the others with me, I unfortunately lost them during our journey, and I hope you don’t lose any of yours, whoever they may be.”

Hector sits down on the floor and takes his backpack off, placing it on the ground and soon opening it, scuffling through it he then pulls out the book that Y/n tried her hardest to understand—and clearly not get taken away as so many people tried getting their hands on it.

“This book. Is powerful. Don’t lose it, from what I gathered, it guides you. I don’t really understand the meaning of it, but I did find some pretty interesting things about different creatures—pretty neat in my opinion.” He opened the book and started flipping through the pages, the child looked down at the book to see various picture of sketches and words that she clearly couldn’t comprehend.

“There’s this—cave in the offlands, here.” He flips to a page that seemed to be a drawn map of land—which was the offlands—a circle marked on the map—marking a location. 

“This, is where I found out about the mark. You can go there and there’s these pretty clever women there—they’re goddesses of storytelling and vision. They were the ones that told me about the magic power of it and as well as the shadow realm, which I believe is the problem to all of this—it’s my speculation. But if you have the time, go there. They speak about the world and what will happen—and about the stone to Ruby Falls.” The more Hector spoke the more frantic he got as the fire soon started to fade away—whereas the child tilted her head at him in confusion with his bantering. 

The mage looks at the fire that had diminished into nothing but ashes and golden embers, when she looked back the child was gone and Hector stood up before slowly closing the book. 

“I don’t know if I explained enough.” Hector says before looking at the mage.

Y/n had been standing at the bottom of the staircase, her hand on the railing as she watched Hector then look at Ruck. 

“I’m certain she’ll come through whenever or wherever.” Ruck responds and Hector slowly nods as he wanders back over to his brother to stand beside him. The mage looks over to Y/n in which the human looks back at her. 

“Who are you?” The mage asks yet again and Y/n’s eyebrows twitch in confusion. “Y/n.” She responds. 

The background where Ruck and Hector was standing had darkened leaving only the mage and Y/n.

“I don’t have magic.” Y/n responds, of course she had a million things running through her head. Seeing Hector in the flesh, and Ruck, hearing Hector give her some semi hint—but what stood out the most was him mentioning magic—but she didn’t have any. And she was certain if she did she most certainly would have known that by now. Or at least she thought so. 

“Does that bother you?” The woman asks. And that set Y/n back, did it bother her? 

Y/n remained silent as she stared at the woman. 

“You will be in denial. That is something normal for all living things, follow Hector’s guidance.” 

Y/n shuffled on her feet and gave a strained smile. “Okay…is..that something I’m supposed to be concerned about?” 

“Close your eyes.” 

Y/n slowly nods before closing her eyes as told—this time without peeking. 

When she opened her eyes she felt the cold air nipping away at her. The sound of the wind wisping by and the feeling of snow reaching her ankles. The snowy path from before was in front of her. Y/n turns around to see the frozen lake and looks down to see Spunk looking up at her. 

She was back in the same spot as before. 

A wave of confusion hit Y/n as she scrunched her face up—she had been through a lot of things but that by far was one of the most confusing scenarios she had been through. 

Yet—she was certain it happened. The woman was a witch afterall..

“Damn..” Y/n whispered. Raising a hand to her head before slowly trudging away and back to the path she had first found the frozen lake. Spunk walked beside her as he hopped up and down in the snow to get a better advantage at walking. 

“That doesn't make sense.” Y/n muttered to herself. Not at the fact that she managed back outside. But what Hector said. Some goddess was going to gift him some ability to stop something—but gave it to Y/n instead? Yet she didn’t even remotely have anything magic related to her. Not to mention, Hector unfortunately died, and she had a feeling he knew he would. If he did, and she couldn’t even finish some gym course without tiring herself out—what the hell was she supposed to do with some future Armageddon, she didn’t have magic, that she was certain of, whatever goddess gave him that information was wrong. Unless they decided to just not give it to her, sort of like picky colleges only accepting students that fit their criteria. 

Hell, Y/n wouldn’t even pick herself to save the world- sure let’s give the human magic to save mankind when they can’t even walk across a wooden bridge without falling off of it. 

Spunk barks and Y/n looks ahead to see if he was barking at someone but didn’t see anything, when she looked back down at him he was looking at her. Spunk stopped walking and sat down on the ground. 

“What?” Y/n asks. Spunk gently perks his ears up before standing back up to his fours and pressing his nose Y/n’s leg.

The human stared down at Spunk before reaching down and placing a hand to his head and smiling. 

“Come on..let’s get back to the others.”

-

“It was so weird. She randomly just disappeared out of nowhere.” Y/n says—she was seated on a log with Felix seated on the ground with Spunk in his lap. The others were busy in the background discovering what the land had to offer in the wooded area. When she made it back to the others they were still in the same exact spot—thankfully with the chicken. 

When they returned the chickens back to the lady, she was ecstatic—and of course Donald had to scold her for making a better pen, he did not want to repeat finding those chickens again. But they all decided to pause momentarily in doing good deeds—well, Felix and Y/n did so he could continue to teach her to use the bow and the others were supposed to go off and finish some good deeds but decided to tag along—knowing their full intentions were to be lazy. 

Y/n slowly stopped talking when she saw the look Felix was giving her. His head was facing Spunk but he was giving Y/n a sideways glance with squinted eyes. 

“Which..I didn’t mean to walk off, sorry.” She immediately backtracks. Wandering off from the group and coming back telling a story about how one met a witch was probably not a good look. Especially being out in an area she knew little to nothing of. 

“You know I’m starting to think you may be more trouble than Cuphead..”  Felix chuckled and Y/n smiled gently. 

“Well. I think it’s rather cool you got a glimpse of the past- if you can call it that. Maybe what Hector told you about that goddess is true.” Felix states and Y/n thought about it, he did tell her to go to some cave, maybe that would also lead them somewhere or give them some sort of information? That..was a lot though, they already had a full plate with little time—making rounds to a cave lord knows how long would definitely knock off time but it had to be done if they expect to do anything useful with themselves in finding out all that’s going on. Certainly everyone wouldn’t mind a small trip from the town for maybe a day. 

“Yeah…” she started. And Felix glanced at her as he watched the human gaze off into the trees. 

“So, you’re not gonna tell me why your eyebrow is scratched?” Felix brings up. Y/n flickers her eyes to him in confusion. 

“I did. Some guy didn’t like me earlier today.” 

“You don’t seem too happy about that.” 

Y/n grew silent before bringing a hand up and rubbing at the back of her neck—gently pulling at the small hairs at the nape of her neck. 

“It was so embarrassing..you should have seen me. It was like the entire building didn’t like me. The course was hard and I broke a few nails climbing a wall. Then I got my ass kicked while doing the course and I hit my head—the constructor also doesn't like me.” She stops talking before looking at him. 

“It was awful.” She confessed. Felix stared at Y/n for a moment before looking back down at Spunk who got up from his lap to go wandering off somewhere else—finding something more entertaining. He then moved and sat down on the log next to Y/n. 

“Well you stood your ground just fine it seems.” He starts. The human looks away from him and over to a tree. That Spunk had been sniffing at, her eyebrows twitched and Felix gently tilted his head to look at her. 

“You know you don’t have to win the contest..right?” 

Y/n’s eyes flickered to him. “I’m aware.” That wasn’t her main objective to win..before that was. But with the way things played out earlier this morning, she was really considering otherwise..

The sheer embarrassment of what just happened made her not want to show her face back up in the place, but that small sense of inner turmoil and confidence was telling her otherwise. 

She was still brand spanking new with using a bow and arrow, and she could barely make it out of the course with her skin intact with her body, there was no way she was making it with the finals. 

“If I don’t win, I’m literally going to be the laughing stock of town. I can sorta make a few shots with the bow—but I still suck at it.” 

“Then we’ll sit out here for as long as you’d like so you can learn to use it.” Felix offers. Y/n perked up at that offer—surely Felix still needed rest, she was positive it would take more than just a few hours in the day for her to learn to properly use the bow. But she needed it, clearly. 

“We won’t be going to sleep if that’s the case.” She joked and Felix chuckled before shaking his head. “I can take staying up for a few hours. Besides, I’m sure Ruck would be glad to see you staying up a few more hours to work on your archery skills, shows him you’re at least trying.” 

Y/n slowly nods at that statement, she also wanted to show Ruck she could be serious when the time comes—which to her she was a pretty serious person…to an extent. 

Felix noticed Y/n’s silence and gently placed a hand on the back of her neck. “I promise you before you start out with the contest, you’ll make a hit with an arrow.”

Listening to his promise, Y/n felt a newfound motivation stir in her.

“Can I learn to shoot an arrow with fire!”

“Absolutely not.” 

-

Ruck wandered down the path of the wooded area—the leaves crunching under his shoes was oddly quiet in the serene environment. The birds chirping in the sky and the sound of water trickling from a stream a few feet away was relaxing enough to put a baby to sleep. It was relaxing…

That’s if he didn’t know Y/n was trailing right behind him. 

Y/n had found Ruck in town with Meek and Don—the two were actually the ones who dragged him out to explore the town up until he walked away to get some alone time, which Y/n had followed behind him like a moth to a flame. She had told Felix she was off to speak to Ruck after their short conversation and she was grateful to even find the guy almost immediately when she headed back into town. 

Not to mention she was proud of herself for remembering the trail back into town with the many times they took it now. 

But she followed behind him silently all the way out of town, Ruck didn’t know she was behind him until he heard a twig snap from behind him 4 minutes into walking. And the rest of the 10 minutes was him tossing his alone time out of the window to see how long it would take for the kid to actually speak and not just follow behind him. 

Ruck furrowed his eyebrows before slowly stopping in his walk. Y/n slowly stopped as well and silently stood a few feet behind Ruck. 

The still silence in the air was enough for the birds to stop in their melody for a moment. Ruck moves and turns around to look at Y/n who was already looking at him silently, like some bite sized stalker. 

“Jesus kid..what.” Ruck grumbled. Y/n slowly smiled before placing her hands behind her back. Rocking back and forth on her feet as she stared at him. 

“So…I was thinking.” She starts and Ruck sighed through his nose heavily, like he knew she was going to place some outlandish offer on the table. Which that wasn’t the fact—well to her that wasn’t.

“It’s not bad! Just listen!” Y/n quickly extends her arm out as if she was stopping him from talking just in case he did. 

She stayed there for a brief moment in silence as if waiting for Ruck to say something. Which he noticed before lifting an eyebrow. “Go on..” 

“I was thinking maybe you could train me to be more resilient for the contest.” 

Ruck remained silent as he stared at Y/n and that made her nervous—did he not agree? 

“The contest is in 4 days, you don’t have enough time to train, you know how much time it takes for something like that?” He questioned her and Y/n had no clue. She hadn’t touched a weight ever. 

Y/n pressed her lips together and squinted her eyes at him. 

“C’moooon. Family bonding, it’ll be a neat thing!” She tried to persuade but Ruck remained silent with a nonchalant expression. Y/n straightens her posture and clears her throat. 

“Take it to the extreme, I’ll toss myself off a plane to show you, I can take training days! Felix is helping me with my archery, you help me in agility and all that. Might not be enough time, but I’m a fast learner, I promise!” Y/n locked her hands together and pleads;

“Please! Please! PLEASE! I can’t make myself look like a fool in front of the town. You saw how I got my ass kicked today, if that happens again I’m nothing in the name of a Vendolez!” She cried out. Her demeanor quickly changed to that of desperation, she couldn’t go out like this. 

Ruck slowly blinks as Y/n continues saying—‘Please!’ Frantically in the background. Ruck didn’t have to do anything. But considering how quite literally he couldn't say no to her simply because the kid genuinely was trying to make something of herself, he slowly shook his head at the annoying pleas that kept falling from her mouth. 

“Okay..” he said over the pleases but they kept continuing on and he furrowed his eyebrows at that. 

“Okay!” He raised his voices, Y/n shot up from the ground she once had fallen down from her short tantrum. 

“Yes!” She shouts in glee and wraps her arms around Ruck in a tight hug, in which he stumbles slightly at the sudden action, baffled by her sudden affectionate behavior he gazes down at her as she jumps up and down. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” 

Pulling away Y/n runs around him in joy. 

“So what’s first! Swimming?! Catching fish again? Oh! I can climb the tree much faster now!” 

Y/n was about to scamper off to show him before Ruck grabbed her by the back of her shirt—putting her in a halt. 

“We’ll start tomorrow morning. We can skip the morning classes.” He says and releases her, she gives her a confused look. 

“But, the training is the actual course. And—clearly fighting.” She grumbled about that last part. Her altercation with Stinks left a sour taste in her mouth about him. 

“While you were off prancing around doing whatever, I checked in with the conductor after your first round of training—“ 

“Why were you speaking with the conductor?” Y/n questioned and Ruck squinted his eyes at her. 

“Shut it.” 

“Sorry.” She immediately apologized.

“Like I was saying, I checked in with the constructor with what will be in the contest along with the finals. You’re doing more than some obstacle race.” He says. 

“What does that mean?” 

“You’re in for one hell of a training.” 

#toon quest #bendyxreader #the three caballeros x reader #bendy and the ink machine #cuphead x reader #duck tales x reader #felix the cat #felix the cat x reader #oswald the lucky rabbit #animanics 2020 #panchito pistoles #toons

[infinitystoner]

The Serpent of Sakaar

READ ON AO3 | MASTERLIST

Summary: A handsome stranger complicates your life.

Pairing: Loki x Female Reader

Word count: 1.6k

Tags/Content: Flirting, Humor, Sexual Tension & Other Escapades on a Trash Planet, (Not Quite) Enemies to Lovers, Smuttish

Rating: Mature

The air is unbearably thick tonight. Potent. Sticky.

You slip through the crowd of chittering alien courtiers, concluding the only thing that will grant you reprieve from Sakaar’s never-ending bacchanalia is a nice, long bath. 

Dodging a purring hologram of the celestial who rules this bizarre realm, you wonder if anyone else ever grows tired of it – too much of a good thing or whatever. The unexpected pivot lands you in the middle of the throne room, and your eyes traitorously fall on the charming newcomer standing at the edge of the Grandmaster’s dais. 

The one they call Loki, although you doubt that’s his true name. 

You’re well aware of the rumors, having started many of them yourself. Of course, it has absolutely nothing to do with envy and everything to do with boredom. At least, that’s what you tell yourself as each exceedingly outlandish lie leaves your lips and falls upon greedy ears. 

All you know for certain is that Loki is the bane of your existence after snaking his way into the high order’s inner circle and winning the favor of the Grandmaster within days – effectively disrupting the long con you’ve painstakingly exacted these past years and swiftly replacing it with one of his own. 

And even though you hate that you recognize something familiar in him, you concede he is quite the gifted rogue. Executing each stratagem with ease. Imparting every countermove so effortlessly. 

It’s maddening. He’s maddening. 

His voice carries over the uproarious mix of music and chatter, regaling his audience with an undoubtedly embellished tale. And now he’s summoned your attentions, too. Dark curls rest gracefully atop pewter pauldrons, a garish blend of sapphire and citrine draping over his lean, leather-clad form. Cunning and handsome. The nerve of it all. 

You glance at your own flamboyant attire. Beneath your bodice, an iridescent swirl of vermilion and silver flows to your ankles. You look like flayed salmon. But, if it pleases the Grandmaster… 

Loki’s boisterous laugh shakes you from your thoughts and he turns on his heel, catching your unwary gaze. You ignore the stutter of your heart and the warm tingling in your core, instead focusing on how his regal brow furrows and his forced smile falls. But, as the facade quickly returns and he excuses himself from the revelry, his eyes – never breaking from your own – spark with intensity. 

You have to get out of here. Now.

Ducking behind a group of faceless creatures, you shuffle along the gilded perimeter of the room, adrenaline coursing through your veins. The din of the party echoes off the walls, the unrelenting buzz pulsing in your temples and settling in the crevices of your mind. The discomfort results in a moment of hesitation, and you glance over your shoulder, but Loki vanishes into the crowd. 

A portal to your left beckons with a soft, mechanical hum and you exhale, walking through the opening.

“Leaving so soon? I do hope I’m not the cause of your early departure.” 

It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the glaringly bright corridor, but there he is, just ahead, leaning against the hexagonal archway, a satisfied smirk on his infuriatingly gorgeous face. 

“Don’t flatter yourself,” you lie, squaring your shoulders and continuing your journey to the elevators.

“Things were getting a bit monotonous,” he offers, effortlessly falling in step beside you. “And I always find a nice, long bath invigorating after, well, after anything really.” 

His words cause your feet to falter slightly – surely he can’t… but what if? Thoughts whirring, you frantically push the salacious image of Loki disrobing and stepping into a bath from your mind.

“I take it you agree,” he taunts, opening the control panel next to the elevator. “Which level?” 

“71X-P.” What an ass.

Loki punches the code for the top-level suites, muttering something under his breath. 

“I beg your pardon?” you ask, stepping into the small space as the partition opens. The two of you ascend into the darkened sky – the jagged, glimmering expanse of the city on the other side of the glass shrinking beneath you. 

“Oh,” he says. “I was unaware we reside in the same wing of this so-called palace. How fortuitous.” 

“Indeed.” The word comes out more biting than intended.  

Loki tuts. “I’m beginning to think you don’t like me very much.” 

You perch on the guardrail, refusing to give him more than a playful roll of your eyes before pretending to inspect your nails. 

“But perhaps that’s just another of your machinations?” Loki hums, a mask of feigned contemplation crawling across his face as he stalks closer. Widening his stance, he cages you against the unyielding windowpane with his arms.

“Loki,” you warn, the warmth in your hips flaring back to life like embers reigniting beneath a thin layer of ash. Can he sense how wildly your heart is beating? 

“Ah, so you do know my name. Although I must admit, darling, I’ve grown fond of the Serpent of Sakaar.” 

He knows. He knows, and now what? Will he convince the Grandmaster to order a fight between you and his beloved champion? Or perhaps he’ll have you evicted from the palace? A life out there with the scrappers might be the only thing worse than a life in here under the thumb of a deranged celestial.

Everything is moving too fast, yet time stands still. Such is the way on Sakaar. Your stomach drops, settling somewhere beneath your feet as the lift reverses its trajectory, plummeting you towards a fate you aren’t prepared for. Yet a quick glance through the glass confirms you’re still steadily climbing up, up– 

“You know, you’re quite…” Loki pauses, tracing the pattern of the silver cuff adorning your bicep with his forefinger. The rapid cadence of your breath cuts through the charged air, entwining with the weight of his gaze as it locks onto your parted lips. 

When his eyes flit back to yours, the striking green of his irises is nearly eclipsed by his expanding pupils. “Clever.” 

“I- I’m not sure what you mean.” 

“Ah, but you do. And I must express my sincerest gratitude. Everyone here is so curious about my origins.” Loki raises an eyebrow, his fingertips ghosting a trail up your arm and across your collarbone. “And your crafty little rumors created the perfect illusion in which to hide. Even En Dwi Gast himself believes the stories to be true.” 

“I find the best lies are the ones shrouded in truth,” you retort, regaining a modicum of composure when Loki’s jaw twitches at your subtle accusation. 

“Such awful words from such sweet lips,” he says with an impish grin, brushing the back of his fingers along your jaw before tilting your face upwards — so close, too close, to his own. 

“And do you think me wicked?” you say breathlessly, resting your hands on his shoulders.

“No more so than I consider myself,” he replies, the pad of his thumb tugging at your bottom lip. It’s a lie of omission, but as his cool breath fans over your heated skin, you realize you don’t care if his words hold truth or not. 

Loki’s nose nudges yours, and any lingering apprehension fades away, an unfamiliar sensation enveloping you. It’s intoxicating and comforting and sets your skin aflame in each place his lips make contact – first the corner of your mouth, then just beneath your jaw, down the column of your throat, and back up again. 

“You’re divine,” he murmurs, and you understand what it is you’re feeling. Intimacy. 

His lips finally connect with yours and you melt into the kiss, curling your hands around the nape of Loki’s neck. Yet he hesitates to deepen it, pulling back each time your tongue runs across the seam of his lips. But, oh, the way he groans when you tug at his hair and take his bottom lip between your teeth makes you clench, your desire making itself evident between your thighs. 

Through whatever alchemy is sparking between you, Loki senses it and slips his knee between your legs, causing you to moan in response.

“Oh, little fox,” he rasps, roughly bunching your skirts up in his fist before lifting your knee to his hip and slowly grinding into you. “Don’t tease me. I couldn’t bear it.” 

If you had lovers before Loki, you can’t recall them – not now that he’s scraping his teeth over the sensitive skin below your ear and bringing you to the edge of ecstasy with each deliberate roll of his hips. He tilts his head, lips parting as his tongue finally slides over yours. It’s tender and warm and you ache for him. 

“Level seventy-one X P. The Grandmaster welcomes you home,” a voice announces as the elevator door whooshes open.

Loki breaks the kiss and presses his forehead to yours, puffing out a laugh. “So, fancy that bath?”

“Mm, sounds delightful,” you purr, grabbing his hand and leading him into the hall. His purposeful footsteps reverberate throughout the space, but you barely make it five steps before he pins you against a cobalt door. 

“Stay with me,” Loki whispers earnestly, smiling when you softly kiss him in agreement. 

You continue to kiss along his beautiful neck as he meddles with a beeping keypad just above your shoulder, drinking in the scent of him for the first time. He smells like earth and bergamot – with just a hint of something familiar you can’t quite place, yet it grounds you. 

Allowing yourself another inhale, you gasp as it finally hits you: He smells of the ancient forests of Asgard. 

Of home. 

But that… that’s impossible. 

“Just for tonight,” Loki says when he feels your body tense.   

“Just for tonight,” you repeat as you follow him into his rooms. 

You always were a liar.

#loki x reader #loki smut #loki #loki imagine #loki fanfiction #loki x you #loki laufeyson

[fragrantpines]

Come on, come on, come on and follow me

We'll swim towards the darkness at the bottom of the sea

His weak grip tells a silent story, one that has been hidden under layers and layers of masks in order to protect what lies underneath– a heart that has never healed, a man who has never cried. 

"You'll stay this time, right?"

The voice that escapes your lips is unrecognizable to your ear, yet you know that it's your voice because of how it shakes, how it speaks, how it wishes to say more than those few words. 

However, you knew better than to push the man in front of you, for he has done that to himself too many times to count until the only thing left at this very spot was a shell of the man you had once fallen in love with. 

Just like the love we hold, let's hold hands and never let go

If you're here let's take it slow

"You know that I want to."

His eyes do not lie. They are incapable of lying to you. Even though he was a proficient liar, nothing hurts him more than to see tears swell at the corner of your eyes because of his lies. 

Yet, even though the truth in his words rang loud and clear, the tears still fell anyways. Not because you didn't believe him (you would never do so), but because of the way he answered you. 

(“I want to stay with you," he says. "I want to stay by your side till death do us apart… but you deserve better. You deserve someone that can stand tall by your side, not someone who can only hide in the shadows and comfort you in the dark.”)

We'll tip and toe along this winding road

While taking off our shoes we'll keep on going with the flow

His other hand raises until it settles down on your cheek, wiping away your tears gently with his thumb. 

"Honestly, is making you cry all that I can do?"

There is a hint of mischievousness inside his tone, if only to encourage you to laugh instead of shedding tears for someone like him. 

He never understood you. After all, people were always delighted to see the sunrise after a long night, while you continued to chase his shadow deeper and deeper into the night until the darkness nearly swallowed you whole. 

So, why were you still chasing after him? Why would you continue to try and make him stay when all his presence would do is invite more danger into your life?

"Then stay," you murmur above a whisper. "Stay and wipe my tears for me just as you are doing right now, forever and ever."

So keep your eyes locked onto mine and don't look away

When you look up, you can see his resolution wavering before your very eyes. 

To seal the deal, you grip his hand and tug him closer to you, watching as he falls into your embrace without any resistance. 

"Since you're here, can you promise you'll stay?"

BONELESS CARP, TAIBAI DUCK, Lianhua Blood Duck, East Longan Pearl, Longjing Shrimp, Tusu Elixir

Italic words are lyrics from a song called Quiet Room

#the tale of food #tale of food #the tale of food x reader #tale of food x reader #▪︎ writings #boneless carp #boneless carp x reader #taibai duck #taibai duck x reader #lianhua blood duck #lianhua blood duck x reader #east longan pearl #east longan pearl x reader #longjing shrimp #longjing shrimp x reader #tusu elixir #tusu elixir x reader #i originally wrote this with a-yu in mind but had nowhere to insert his name #and then i reread and realised “damn this could fit with a lot of food souls” #so i went with that instead #(slaps food souls) Look at all these angsty little fellas #unbeta-ed as always so weeeee

[actiniumwrites]

MISTLETOE

synopsis: one year after your devastating breakup, you and neuvillette find yourselves under the mistletoe

characters: neuvillette x gn!reader

wc: 1.6k

warnings: angst to fluff, a bit of hurt/comfort, exes to lovers, mentions of breakups, the steambird being exploitative

notes: woooo first christmas fic for this year is done! this definitely could’ve been way longer, but i’ve got like four more to write and i’m pretty happy with how this turned out. this concept was also originally going to go to wriothesley but i think neuvillette suits it better :)

The first thing that makes it really set in that the holiday season has arrived in Fontaine is the pesky decorations.

Everywhere you go there seems to be some sort of string of lights, faux presents, and little snowmen. Don’t get it twisted, it isn’t like you’re some Scrooge when it comes to the holidays, but it hasn’t quite been the same ever since, well, ever since it happened.

Your shoes click and clack against the brick flooring of Fontaine’s main city floors. The same ones that are beginning to ice over from the cruel frost of winter air. And it doesn’t exclude you either, not with the way it snips at your nose and makes it hard to breathe even when you’ve barely stepped foot outside.

“Good morning!” Charlotte calls to you as you walk past her, a hand eagerly waving you down with that mischievous glint in her eyes. Part of you wants to duck behind a bush and pretend you don’t see her, but you’re better than that.

You send her an apologetic smile and pull your coat a little closer. You slow your pace a bit but don’t stop moving as you respond, “Sorry, Charlotte. I know I said I’d interview soon, but I really can’t today.”

“C’mon, the whole world wants to know the tragic holiday tale of you and Monsieur Neuvillette! Let it be a present to the subscribers of the Steam Bird!” She pushes your buttons carefully, camera ready to strike incase you change your mind or make any comment on the matter.

If you hadn’t had any reason to turn that interview down beforehand, you certainly do now.

Even though you hate the way she looks so disappointed when you walk away, it serves all of Fontaine right for meddling with people’s private business. Seriously? Did everything have to be entertainment to these people?

You scoff as you walk away, mumbling something about forgetting that interview if that’s what she wanted all along. Naturally, she doesn’t hear it, nor does she get to see your sour reaction as you desperately walk away from her and that stupid camera.

When you finally make it to the Palais Mermonia, you check in quickly and one of the Melusines, Liath, hands you a few letters that had been dropped off for you prior to your arrival. One carelessly slips from your cold hand before you can even register it happening. When you pick it up, your body had shifted ever so slightly and for a second, just a split second, you shoot a longing glance at the doors to your right. The doors that led to his office. To him.

“Is something the matter? Do those letters not belong to you?” Liath interrupts with a puzzled expression as she tilts her head.

You snap out of your thoughts and quickly scramble to compose yourself. You hold the stack of letters close to your chest as you take a step back and awkwardly laugh, “Oh uh no! I just um, got a little distracted, sorry.”

“You got distracted looking at the Iudex’s…doors?”

You hesitate, mouth agape and unsure of how to respond, “I uh, yeah I guess I was.”

“Interesting,” she says suspiciously, squinting her lilac eyes at you, “he asked about you this morning, actually.”

“He did?” you say all too fast, perking up at the mention of his name. It’s pathetic, really. You internally thank the Archons for Melusines not being all too good at understanding human behavior.

“Yes,” she answers simply, crossing her small arms one over the other.

“And um,” you push further, not realizing the way you eagerly take a step forward, “what did he say?”

“Nothing. He merely inquired when you would be coming in today.”

You can’t help the disappointment in your voice as a quiet, “Oh,” slips out. Part of you wants to ask if there was anything else, maybe some sort of expression or tone of voice she caught, but you hold yourself back.

Get it together. It’s almost been a year.

One tragic year since the two of you split. One long, tragic year since you wished you could’ve worked something out, even if it meant you could’ve had a little more time together. It was mutual, but truthfully, you never wanted him gone. You only wish you could’ve realized it at the time.

“Thank you,” you nod and walk away while trying to hide the dismay you felt. She doesn’t say anything else.

As you walk to the other end of the hall, you notice someone had placed some illuminated garland around the frame of your door and a miniature Christmas tree in the corner a few feet away. It isn’t as extravagant as the decorations they had placed around Neuvillette’s door, but you appreciate it nonetheless.

The inside is a lot less spirited and looks like your normal dreary office. You pay no mind to it as you get to work right away, trying desperately to keep the interaction between Neuvillette and Liath out of your head. You even keep the door to your office open a little bit, letting the hushed voices in the main corridor fade into white noise while you scribbled away at some documents for the court.

And it works. You don’t even notice eight hours pass until it becomes too dark to see what you’re writing. Nor do you notice that there isn’t anyone outside anymore and that the only noise filling the space is the quiet holiday tune your phonograph plays from across the room.

You sigh and set down the pen from your cramped hand. It was December 23rd. Two days before Christmas and here you were, alone and with nothing to do for the holidays but working away in a cold office.

It makes you frown the longer you think about it. So you stand quickly, shutting off the lamps in the room and placing everything away in their files for the night. Quietly, you exit the room and lock the doors behind you as you begin to head out for the night thinking that perhaps you could go and at least treat yourself to a meal or some shopping.

You don’t expect to bump into someone the moment you turn around.

“I’m so sorry!”

“My apologies.”

You both rush at the same time.

You freeze when his deep voice hits your ears and you instantly take a step backward.“Neuvillette..?” you whisper, glancing up into the familiar blue eyes that belong to the man you once called yours. The question is more to yourself than to him. Almost as if you can’t believe he’s actually standing in front of you.

He clears his throat tensely and mirrors you in taking a step back, “Sorry, I was unaware anyone else was still here.”

“No, it’s my fault. I should’ve watched where I was going,” you say, eyes not straying from his, “and it isn’t too surprising, I mean, it isn’t like I have anything to be doing for the holidays since…nevermind.”

Neuvillette catches what you were about to say but saves you the headache of having to do any sort of explaining. Instead, he motions in front of him and pulls the keys out from his pocket, “Shall we go? It’s getting rather late. I can lock the doors behind us.”

Us. It’s weird hearing that again.

You wordlessly nod and follow his lead. Like the gentleman he always was, Neuvillette opens the door and lets you out first. You stand a few feet away by the small set of stairs as he locks it quickly. Gently, you reach your hand out from under the overhang and feel small bits of frost falling onto your hands.

“It’s snowing,” you say wistfully, admiring the delicate snowflakes falling upon your palms. Neuvillette turns to look at the sky as he walks up to stand next to you. Peeling off one of his navy blue gloves, he lets the snow reach him too.

“A rare sight for Fontaine,” he hummed with a small but warm smile on his face. Fontaine didn’t usually get cold enough to the point of snowing. It had been a long time since you had seen it either.

He turns to look at you the same time you turn to look at him. A gentle laugh falls from your lips but it stops the moment he points to something above you, “I believe this is mistletoe. I’m sure the Melusines placed this here. One of them mentioned learning about it in a book to me the other day.”

You’re surprised how conversational he is with you.

“We don’t have to,” you say, voice barely above a whisper. There’s hurt in it, and you have a hard time disguising it. It’s evident by the way his eyes soften as he looks at you.

Neuvillette exhales as he looks to the floor and then back to you, “You know I don’t like to break traditions.”

You take a step closer. He does the same.

“Are you sure? It’s been a year since…you know? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable—“

Neuvillette cuts you off by gently placing his lips on yours, interlocking eagerly. They’re warm and soft like a fireplace as they melt away the frost from your body. You reciprocate easily once you get over the initial shock, wrapping your hand around his neck to bring him in closer.

When you pull away, you feel a burning sensation in your throat and a tingling feeling in your eyes. You don’t know why, but the kiss makes you want to cry.

Neuvillette doesn’t distance himself either. Instead he places a gentle hand on your back as soon as you nod, pulling you into his affectionate embrace. You rest your head in the crook of his neck, just like you used to do, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact fanfiction #neuvillette #neuvillette x y/n #neuvillette x you #neuvillette x reader

[targaryen-jpg]

under the weirwood

pairing: jacaerys velaryon x stark!reader

summary: requested by anon: "rhaenyra trying to talk jace into approaching reader:-(shes just so supportive mshdhshs"

notes: y'all when i tell you this made me BLUSH! he's actually adorable i might be perhaps in love no warnings! just fluff

jacaerys velaryon was a learned boy of eight-and-ten, prince of dragonstone and heir to the iron throne of westeros – yet he was completely tongue tied anytime you were near.

you first met the prince when he came to winterfell to visit your brother – lord cregan stark. he arrived on dragonback, sending up plumes of snow when he landed. assembled with the other lords and ladies of the keep, you retreated further into your fine furs. winter had come, and it was a cold one.

“my prince,” lord cregan announced, welcoming jacaerys as he entered the gates, now on foot, “the north welcomes you.”

“i’m pleased to make your acquaintance, lord cregan,” jacaerys smiled, warm and open, “many thanks to your house for such a welcome.”

cregan nodded, then gestured to you, “my younger sister.”

you dutifully stepped forward, curtsied, and introduced yourself, “welcome, your grace. i have heard many tales of your bravery.”

was the prince… blushing?

he seemed to stutter for a moment before he nodded stiffly, “my lady.”

for a feast held in his honor, the prince did not seem to be enjoying it much.

you, however, were in your element. the north was a large place, so cold and empty that you rarely had guests. to have so many of the great houses together? you were delighted. 

from the moment the dancing started, you didn’t leave the floor. you accepted every man who offered his hand, twirling and spinning and giggling with the other ladies until you practically fell over.

when you returned to your seat beside your brother's, you were flushed and panting. he was off somewhere you did not know, so only an empty chair sat between you and prince jacaerys.

“you do not dance, your grace?” you questioned, pouring yourself a cup of wine.

“i confess it is not my forte,” he looked away with a laugh, “and please, call me jace.”

you took a sip of the deep red liquid, “only if you will grant me a dance. jace.”

you held out a hand, and grinned when he took it. he took the lead from there, leading you out onto the center of the floor. the light grey fabric of your skirts swirled around his dark leather, the silver embroidery shining in candlelight.

“i don’t wish to imply you are a liar,” you began, spinning away from him, then back in, “but you are quite the dancer, my – jace.”

he just chuckled, ducking his head, “you are far outshining me, my lady.”

the next day, jacaerys brought news at breakfast, “my lady mother will be joining us tomorrow. she will only stay for a short while, but wishes to make your acquaintance, lord cregan.”

“how delightful,” you smiled, “to think, brother – the queen, here!”

“yes, yes,” he huffed, then looked at the prince, “we would of course be delighted to host queen rhaenyra.”

“will she be arriving on syrax, jacaerys?” you inquired, and when he nodded, you grinned even wider, “i never dreamed i would see a dragon in this lifetime, but to have two right here at winterfell!”

“would… would you like to go see vermax, my lady?” the prince proposed.

“oh, brother, please,” you sighed, “may i?”

cregan only waved his hand and continued eating.

within half an hour, you and jacaerys were standing in front of the dragon. he was sleeping when you arrived, but a huge golden eye opened as he sensed your approach.

you froze as he examined you, but jacaerys held his arm steady at your back, “it’s alright, my lady. he’s – he won’t hurt you. he’s a gentle creature.”

you were so close you could feel the heat radiating off of him when vermax fully awoke, raising his head up.

you stumbled back, but jacaerys put himself in between you and the dragon, “umbas, vermax.”

he helped you move closer, and whispered, “lykiri. this is lady stark, vermax.”

the dragon huffed, almost like a petulant child, but when jace moved your hand to his snout, he didn’t object.

you laughed in amazement, “what did you say to him?”

“it’s high valyrian – umbas means ‘stay’, and lykiri means ‘calm’.”

“lykiri,” you whispered, running the tips of your fingers across his smooth scales, “how do you say hello?”

he smiled, reaching out to stroke the dragon, “rytsas.”

“rytsas, vermax,” the word was unfamiliar on your tongue, but vermax lowered his head. still awake, but clearly relaxed, “he’s beautiful.”

“he is,” jacaerys agreed, but he was watching you.

queen rhaenyra, true to her word, arrived the next day. once again, you bundled up in your finest furs to await her arrival. syrax’s entrance was grand, yellow scales glinting in the sunlight as the queen landed her. she was enormous, bigger than vermax, but seemed docile.

as your brother introduced you, she eyed you carefully. but, you held your head high, smiled brightly and curtsied as low as you could.

“the young lady stark is quite beautiful,” rhaenrya stated to her son, “have you had much chance to become acquainted?”

she was resting on a chair by the fireplace in her quarters, warming herself after the freezing ride to winterfell.

“a bit. i took her to meet vermax,” he sighed, leaning on the mantle, “i confess – i can scarcely speak to her. everytime i do, i make a fool of myself. i’m the prince of dragonstone, and i start stuttering like a child”

“oh my darling,” she smiled knowingly, “you have affections for her?”

he knew before he answered. everytime you smiled at him, it was like dragonfire warming his insides. your touch sent sparks down his arms, the way you moved when you danced entranced him. even vermax seemed to like you.

so, he nodded, blushing creeping up his neck.

“you must tell her then,” rhaenyra decided, leaning back in the chair, “you are the crown prince of the seven kingdoms, but i will give you leave to pursue your own choice in wife. and the lady stark would not be an unwelcome match.”

“what?” he furrowed his eyebrows.

rhaenyra sighed, “jace. if you like her, you must make your affections known. if you wish to marry her – you have my blessing. though i cannot speak for cregan stark, i believe it would be an excellent match.”

after begging his leave from his mother, jace nearly sprinted to your quarters. when he arrived, he found only a servant who informed him you were in the godswood. by the time he found his way through the labyrinth of trees, he was panting and sweating despite the cold.

you heard footsteps and looked up from the tome you were reading by the weirdwood in the center, “my – jace?” you stood as he approached you, “are you alright?”

he could scarcely breathe as he took your hands in his, “can i kiss you, my lady?”

you froze, mouth agape, searching his face. you tried to say yes, yes, please, but no sound would leave your throat. all you could do was nod and his lips were on yours. his hands moved to cup your face so tenderly, while yours curled in the fabric of his tunic. it was breathless and sweet and over all too soon.

jace was nearly gasping by the time he let you go, “i – my apologies. i ran here.” his hands moved to hold your waist.

“wh–,” you laughed, cupping his cheek, feeling the hard line of his jaw, “why did you do that?”

“i wanted to ask you to marry me,” he let out a nervous breath.

you froze once again. a pause.

“you don’t jest?” you whispered.

he shook his head vehemently, “no, no, never. i confess i have made a fool of myself time and again, but you – you are everything wonderful in this world. you are bold and tender and i completely adore you. please,” he breathed, “please, marry me.”

“yes,” you murmured, moving closer until your foreheads touched, “a thousandfold, yes.”

when his lips met yours again, you could feel him smile against them.

#jacaerys velaryon fic #jacaerys velaryon #jace velaryon x reader #jace velaryon #jacaerys targaryen #jacaerys velaryon x reader #jacaerys velaryon x you #hotd fic #hotd fanfic #house of the dragon fanfic #house of the dragon fanfiction #house of the dragon #game of thrones fanfiction #game of thrones fic #game of thrones #asoiaf #stark!reader

[woniedarlin]

A Tale of Crushes and Clumsiness: Yang Jungwon

pairing: crush!Jungwon x clumsy admirer! reader

sypnosis: Jungwon, with his feline eyes and adorable dimples, was the subject of your biggest crush. Who could blame you? So, you frequented the local library, just hoping to catch a glimpse of him. But one day, in a bold move to get a closer look, you ventured closer, unaware of the chaos your clumsiness was about to unleash.

warnings: Jungwon likes physical affection, a little suggestive, injuries such as a bruise and a broken leg.

note: I decided to make this one inspired by a friend of mine who is very clumsy. As you read, remember that the physical descriptions may not mirror to your own, but the essence of the story remains heartwarming. Happy reading darlings!

caution: Reading may cause a sudden urge to visit your local library and fall in love with the nearest charming bookworm.

Jungwon was the kind of guy everyone in your small town admired. He had a presence that was hard to ignore—loving, handsome, humble, and a gentleman. The kind of guy you’d see at an airport, exchange a fleeting glance with, and then spend the rest of your life wondering about. His kindness and the way he treated everyone with respect only added to his appeal. Together with his popular friends, they were somewhat of local celebrities.

You had more than just a little crush on him. In fact, you harbored the biggest, fattest crush imaginable. You’d never admit it out loud, though. It was easier to admire him from afar, to steal glances when he wasn’t looking, and to dream about what could never be. Confronting him and confessing your feelings? It was out of the question.

You’d convinced yourself that he was way out of your league. Jungwon deserved someone who was as poised and perfect as he seemed to be. And you? You were the embodiment of clumsiness. You had a knack for tripping over your own feet, spilling drinks, and generally making a mess of yourself. You couldn’t count the number of times you’d embarrassed yourself in front of others. How could someone as composed and well-liked as Jungwon ever notice you, let alone like you?

Dude, you don’t even know if he knew you existed.

 

One particular afternoon, you’ve found your usual spot in the library, a secluded corner where you can quietly admire Jungwon from a distance. He’s at his favorite table, surrounded by a fortress of books, his concentration unbroken. You watch him with a small smile, appreciating the way his brow furrows in thought or how he occasionally scribbles notes with quick, precise movements.

Today, though, your heart races more than usual. You crouch down beside a shelf, peeking through the gaps to get a better view. Just as you’re about to lose yourself watching him, his eyes suddenly meet yours.

Panic surges through you. “MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!! HIDE! ”Your mind screams. In your frantic attempt to duck out of sight, your elbow bumps into a stack of books. They tumble to the floor with a resounding crash that echoes through the library.

Your face flushes crimson as you scramble to pick up the fallen books, mortified by the spectacle you’ve just caused. You silently berate yourself, wishing you could disappear into the floor.

As if things couldn't get any worse, you glance back up to find Jungwon standing right in front of you, a bemused expression on his face.

You freeze; the embarrassment is overwhelming. Your cheeks are probably an incriminating shade of red. The books in your arms seem to mock you with their titles, "The Art of Subtle Obsession: Hidden Emotions."

You want to sink into the floor right now. He's so close now, his eyes fixed on you. Why does he have to be this good-looking, anyway? And what's with that small smile on his lips?

Jungwon can't help but chuckle, his gaze fixed on you, taking in every flustered movement you make. He watches as you pick up the books and arrange them back on the shelf, each move as uncoordinated as the last. Oblivious to his eyes on you, you continue your efforts with a clumsy haste.

It was endearing, he thought. You were a walking contradiction—equal parts cute and awkward in a way that was undeniably endearing. The way you moved, the way you blushed, and the way you tried to hide your awkward, flustered presence.

Without so much as a greeting, Jungwon extends a hand, a silent gesture for you to stand up. His voice is as melodious as it always was.

“Let me help you with those,” he offers, a hint of warmth in his eyes.

You nod, speechless with nerves. As you accept his hand, a rush of sensations floods through you—the warmth of his skin against yours, the gentle pressure of his fingers, the soft yet firm grip that makes your heart skip a beat.

A moment passes, and Jungwon finally breaks the silence with a soft, melodic chuckle. It's not one of mockery. Instead, it's filled with understanding and warmth.

His eyes sparkle as he speaks, and his voice is gentle. "You know, you could have just come up and said hello. No need for the impressive 'book-falling Olympics' exhibition,"

“What? ”You tilt your head, your heart skipping a beat. Does he know that you were staring at him like a creep?

Jungwon smiles with a knowing gleam in his eyes. "You've been staring at me," he says bluntly, the corners of his lips curving into a wider grin. There's no accusation in his voice, just a casual acceptance.

You freeze, your face flushing an even deeper shade of crimson. It's impossible to deny it. He's caught you. The books in your arms can't hide your secret crush on him.

Amusement dances in Jungwon's gaze as he catches your confusion. He carefully takes the books from your arms and puts them back on the shelves accordingly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You must think I'm completely dense, don't you? I've noticed you peeking at me, you know," he teases, his tone light and friendly. "I've seen you trying to steal glances every time I'm here at the library."

The admission makes your cheeks burn. You feel incredibly exposed, as if he'd pulled back the curtain you'd hidden behind. You stammer, trying to find a coherent response that doesn't make you sound like a total stalker.

“Oh, I’m really sorry. You must feel uncomfortable with the way I stare at you,” you mumble, looking down at your feet.

Jungwon's smile only grew as he gently patted your head. "Uncomfortable? Not at all," he reassures you. His laughter is as melodic as ever. "Quite the opposite. I think it's endearing how much you like watching me. It's flattering, really." His voice is like a gentle melody that washes over you, each word a comforting balm to your nerves. He's not creeped out; he isn't upset. He thinks it's cute!

“I don’t mind your staring. Really. It’s harmless admiration, right? Besides, I understand how hard it is to look away when the view’s so captivating,” Jungwon says, giving you a smile, his dimple showing.

“After all, isn’t it normal to appreciate something beautiful? Like you, for example. You’re quite the stunner yourself. Even when you’re trying—and failing miserably—to fly under the radar.”

“Beautiful? Me? ”You blink at him repeatedly, unable to process his words.

Jungwon chuckles, seemingly amused by your surprise. “You don’t think you’re beautiful? ”He questions you, his gaze roaming over your face. “I happen to disagree. Your skin is radiant, your eyes sparkle like precious jewels, and your lips…” He trails off, his eyes lingering on your mouth for a few beats too long.

“Everything about you. Stunning.”

He pauses, mischief glinting in his eyes. “Should I go on? ”

“I don’t know what to say, to be honest,” you manage to stammer, still reeling from his compliments.

Jungwon grins, clearly enjoying the banter. “You don’t need to say anything. The blush on your cheeks speaks volumes,” he teases, his eyes soft and warm. “It’s nice to know I can make you blush, though. Not many people can do that, you know.”

He reaches out a hand, gently fixing your bangs. “You’re cute when you’re flustered, like a kitten, all flustered and fuzzy.”

You muster a bit of courage and respond, “You look like a kitten yourself, and you should know that a lot of people admire you too. Not just me.”

Jungwon shakes his head, his cheeks coloring slightly under your words. "Flattery will get you everywhere, you know. Keep it up, and you might just win my heart," he says in a half-joking manner, clearly touched by your compliment. "In all honesty, though, I've gotten more than my fair share of attention. But to have yours? Someone as fascinating as you, quietly watching me from the sidelines? That's a different kind of thrill."

His words make your heart flutter, and you feel a smile tugging at your lips. “Really? ”

“Really, really,” Jungwon confirms, his grin widening and his eyes sparkling with warmth and honesty.

“The way you secretly watch me, it’s adorable. The way you tried to hide from me just now with those books and ended up making a cute mess? I could watch you blushing and fumbling all day,” he admits, a playful glint in his eyes.

You can’t help but chuckle nervously at his words, feeling both embarrassed and flattered by his observation.

“Is it weird that I’d love to be the object of your focus? Your ‘fascination’? You’re just different. You see me in a way that makes my heart race,” he continues, his tone sincere and genuine.

He looks directly into your eyes as he smiles, his dimple deepening and his gaze unwavering. “So, how about we get coffee together? I’d love to hear more about you.”

You feel the heat rising to your cheeks as you blush, nodding in a fast manner. “Yes, I do,” you manage to stammer, your voice barely above a whisper.

Jungwon's smile widens into a cheerful grin, his eyes lighting up at your agreement. “Perfect!'' he exclaims, holding out a hand for you to take, ''There's a quaint café not far from here. The coffee's the best you'll ever have, and they bake the most delicious pastries. Let's go; I'll even pay.” He gently intertwines his fingers with yours, his touch light and warm.

 

For months, you get to know Jungwon on a deeper level, just as he is getting to know you. You two would spend time together, often finding yourselves back at the library where it all began. Sitting closely together, it became a habit for Jungwon to hold your hand underneath the table while both of you lost yourselves in books or even shared a book, your heads close together as you whispered and laughed over the pages.

Today, it was Jungwon’s birthday. He had a small gathering planned with his family and closest friends, but he also wanted some alone time with you afterward. You were confused by the request, but since it was his special day, you complied. He wanted to visit you at your house to celebrate another birthday on the same day, in your own space. So, you told him to come at 7 p.m.

Your place was a disaster. Specifically, your kitchen resembled a war zone, splattered with flour and batter. You were in the midst of attempting to bake a strawberry shortcake for him. You knew it was a risky move—having no experience in baking—but you were determined to make something special, knowing Jungwon’s fondness for strawberries. Panic set in as the clock ticked closer to 7 p.m., and you were still adding whipped cream and fresh strawberries on top of the barely baked cake. It was a messy affair, and you felt like a complete novice.

 

Then the doorbell rang.

 

Your heart sank. The cake looked hideous, and you, yourself, were covered in flour from head to toe. You place the cake on the dinner table, putting candles and lighting each. You had no choice; you didn’t want to keep Jungwon waiting. So, with a guilty face, you hurried to the door and opened it, bracing yourself for his reaction.

There he stood, looking handsome in a casual shirt and jeans. His smile widened as he took in your appearance, the mess of flour on your cheeks, and the guilt on your face. But instead of mockery or disappointment, all you saw was affection and warmth.

“Well, don’t you look like a walking piece of art? ”He teased, his tone light and playful. “The artist at work, I suppose? ”

He stepped inside, his grin never wavering as he took in the state of the kitchen and the messy cake on the table before wrapping you in a tight embrace.

‘’…don’t hug me. I’m a mess. Your clothes will get flour,’’ you said, worried, attempting to push him away gently.

Jungwon laughs, unaffected by your warning. Instead of pulling away, he holds you even tighter, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. His laughter vibrates through you, tickling your skin.

“Oh, you sweet, considerate soul,” he murmurs, his voice muffled against your neck.

Jungwon chuckles, his hands gently squeezing your waist. “It’s okay; I don’t mind a little flour on my clothes. Besides, you look adorable like this. A tiny little baker with a big heart.”

He pauses, his eyes filled with warmth. “But mostly, I just wanted an excuse to hold you close, kitten.”

‘’Well, happy birthday, Jungwon,’’ you say softly, feeling a warm rush of affection for him.

Jungwon’s smile widens at your words, happiness shining through his eyes. “Thank you, kitten,” he whispers, holding you close with his arms wrapped around your midriff.

“But I should be the one thanking you,” he adds. “You put all of this effort into baking me a cake, and you look so darn cute while doing it. I’m a lucky man.”

He presses a gentle kiss on your neck, relishing the closeness between you.

You look at the cake, feeling a bit sheepish. ‘’Um.. Wanna blow out the candle? ’’

Jungwon follows your gaze, his eyes landing on the messy, lopsided cake with a single candle on top.

“Absolutely,” he grins, his eyes filled with delight.

He gives you a wry smile. “Let’s pretend I didn’t just see you light it a few minutes ago.”

He pulls away from the hug slightly, keeping an arm wrapped around your waist as he leans forward towards the cake. With practiced ease, he blows out the candle, his breath sending a gust of air that extinguishes the small flame. As he does, he murmurs a silent wish, the corners of his lips lifting into a soft smile.

Jungwon stands back up, his arm still wrapped around your waist. He looks at you with a warm smile, his eyes sparkling with affection. He rubs his thumb over the small of your back, a gentle gesture, before he speaks again.

“Well done, little baker,” he chuckles, a teasing lilt in his voice. “That cake might be a mess, but let me tell you, it’s the sweetest mess I’ve ever seen.”

He reaches forward, gently swipes some batter off your cheek, and pops his thumb into his mouth with a wink.

“And quite appetizing too.”

You giggle, feeling a rush of warmth at his playful antics. ‘’Now you got flour on your clothes,’’ you point out.

Jungwon shrugs with a mischievous smile, his gaze never leaving your face.

“Who cares about my clothes? They’re just going to end up on the floor anyway,” he says cheekily, raising an eyebrow and giving you a suggestive smirk.

“More importantly, I’ve got you, kitten. I’m happy as long as I’m in your company.”

You blush at his words, feeling a flutter of butterflies in your stomach. Unable to meet his gaze, you hide your face in his chest, feeling his warmth and steady heartbeat comfort you.

Jungwon lets out a hearty laugh, the sound echoing through the room. With one arm still wrapped around your waist, he uses his free hand to gently tilt your chin up, forcing your gaze to meet his.

“Don’t hide that adorable blush, kitten. It’s one of my favorite sights,” he murmurs. His thumb strokes your cheek delicately.

“Besides, I’m quite enjoying this hug.”

‘’Well, since I kind of screwed up the cake, is there anything I could do to make up for it? ’’ You said, tilting your head.

Jungwon chuckles, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he looks at you with a fond gaze. “Kitten, the cake didn’t turn out the way you hoped, sure. But it’s still a sweet gesture and the most adorable thing I’ve seen in a while. Besides, you did your best, and I love you for it,” he teases, his thumb rubbing soft circles on your hip.

“Honestly, the sight of you in this outfit, covered in flour and looking utterly cute, is more than enough compensation. But if you really want, maybe you could be mine. That would be the best gift ever.”

‘’What? ..’’ you said, feeling a rush of surprise and warmth.

Jungwon laughs softly, realizing you might not have completely grasped the depth of his words. He gently cups your face with one hand, his thumb tracing gentle circles on your cheek.

“I’m talking about us, kitten,” he murmurs, his voice low and tender. “Be mine. Officially. Be my partner, my other half. I know it’s a bit sudden, but I can’t hold the feeling back anymore. I need you to know how much you mean to me.”

‘’Of course…I..I’d love to,’’ you said, your heart racing with joy and love.

Jungwon’s eyes widen slightly at your unexpected response; the surprise is soon replaced by a wide, radiant smile. His eyes shine with happiness, and his dimples deepen as he pulls your body closer to his, capturing your lips in a deep, passionate kiss. He pours all his emotions into the kiss, the love and affection he feels for you overflowing like a river breaking free from its dam.

He pulls away slightly, breathless but elated, a look of adoration in his eyes.

“I love you, kitten. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

‘’I love you too,’’ you said, feeling like the luckiest person in the world to have him by your side.

Jungwon beams at your words, his eyes lighting up with joy and relief. He presses a series of soft, tender kisses all over your face. He whispers the words “I love you” between each kiss, each declaration punctuated with a brush of his lips against your skin.

 

You two fell deeper in love with each passing day, building a serious and meaningful relationship that brought joy and fulfillment to both of your lives. You reached milestones together, including meeting each other’s parents, a moment that was truly beautiful and heartwarming. Jungwon adored your clumsiness, seeing it as a charming part of who you were, but he also worried about you, especially when you got injured, whether it was a small bruise or a more serious mishap like when you broke your leg after misstepping on the stairs. He was by your side at the hospital, his heart aching with worry and fear, his tears flowing as if he were the one in pain.

Today was like any other day, filled with plans to spend time together. You had decided to bake cookies at your place, but as you prepared to start, you realized you had forgotten the flour. With a sigh, you began to put on your shoes, intending to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Jungwon offered to come with you, his concern evident in his eyes, but you reassured him that you could handle it on your own.

“Don’t worry, baby! I’ll be here in no time. It’s just flour,” you said with a smile, trying to ease his worries as you opened the front door.

As Jungwon watched you open the door, a slight frown creased his forehead. Being protective of you was second nature to him, and he couldn’t shake the worry that something might happen during your quick errand. He tried to suppress his concern, however, not wanting to come off as overbearing.

Giving you a small smile, his eyes still tinged with worry, he spoke softly, his voice laced with concern. “Be careful, kitten. Take it easy and text me if anything happens.”

With a gentle squeeze of your hand, he reluctantly let you go, his heart heavy with worry, until you returned safely home.

Jungwon knew he should trust you, but his worry was overpowering. It had only been five minutes since you left, but he was already getting sick with worry. Glancing anxiously at the front door, he couldn’t shake the images of worst-case scenarios playing out in his mind—what could happen to you on the way to the grocery store, at the store itself, or on the way back home? He doesn’t want his kitten to get more injuries.

After a moment of not-so-careful thought, he immediately put on his shoes and dashed towards the grocery store. His heart raced with each step, the fear of something happening to you driving him forward, determined to find you and ensure your safety.

As Jungwon rushed towards the grocery store, his heart pounded in his chest. He tried to keep his thoughts positive, hoping that you were doing fine and that he was overthinking the situation. But no matter how much he reassured himself, he couldn’t shake the worry that something was wrong. Reaching the grocery store, Jungwon quickly searched for you in the aisles, his gaze fixated on the shelves and the people passing by. He called your name, scanning the place for any sight of you, his anxiety growing with each passing moment.

“Kitten? Kitten? Where are you? ”He called out, his voice tinged with urgency, his heart racing as he desperately searched for any sign of you amidst the bustling store.

As Jungwon’s voice echoed through the store, you were oblivious to his calls, lost in your own world at the back section, scrutinizing the sacks of flour on the shelves. Your focus was solely on choosing the right one, unaware of the worry creeping into Jungwon’s heart as he searched for you.

As Jungwon walked through the store, his eyes darted from aisle to aisle as he called out your name, but he couldn’t find you anywhere. Frustration and worry grew within him, but he refused to give up. He finally reached the back section of the store, and there you were, standing in front of the shelves, completely engrossed in choosing flour.

A wave of relief washed over Jungwon as he saw you there, unharmed and safe. His heart finally began to settle, and he immediately closed the distance between you.

He approached you slowly, standing just behind you and wrapping his arms around your waist, pulling you into a tight embrace. He let out a shaky breath, his eyes closing as he rested his chin on your shoulder, making you flinch at the touch.

“Kitten,” he whispers, his voice muffled by your hair. “You scared me. I was so worried. I thought something had happened to you.”

He tightened his grip, his concern evident in his touch. “Kitten, I’ve been searching for you everywhere. I was so worried. Why weren’t you answering my calls? ”

‘’Baby? Why are you here? ’’ You said in shock.

Jungwon tightens his hold, his fingers splaying against your stomach.

“Why do you think, kitten? I was so worried. I couldn’t stay put, knowing you were out there alone. I had to see you safe,” he mumbles, his voice filled with relief and concern.

He presses a series of soft kisses on your cheek, his breath slightly shaky. “Promise me next time you’ll bring me with you. Or text me the whole time.”

‘’Ok.. I promise,’’ you said, feeling a rush of warmth at his caring gesture.

Jungwon nods, his embrace relaxing slightly, but he still keeps you close, his chin resting on your shoulder. His fingers gently rub circles on your stomach, a soothing gesture.

“Thank you, kitten,” he murmurs, pressing a tender kiss on your neck. “I’m glad you’re safe. I love you, you know that?”

‘’I love you too,’’ you said, feeling the love and warmth in his words wash over you.

Jungwon turns you around to face him, his gaze soft and loving. He cups your face gently, his thumbs brushing over the contours of your cheeks.

“I love you with everything I am; you know that? Seeing you safe has eased my worries. Now, let’s get that flour and head back home. You got anything else on the list, kitten? ”

‘’Well, just the flour. Let’s purchase this first,’’ you said, feeling grateful for his presence and love as you both continued with your errand, knowing that you were always there for each other through thick and thin.

Jungwon nods, giving you another heartfelt kiss before taking your hand into his.

“Alright, let’s grab that flour and get out of here. I can’t wait to get you back home.”

He leads you to the checkout counter, carrying the chosen bag of flour, his grip on your hand never loosening. Once you’ve paid, you both leave the supermarket, walking back towards your home.

“I was so worried,” he admits, his grip slightly tighter on your hand as you walk.

‘’You might be overreacting,’’ you tease him, enjoying the playful banter between you.

Jungwon raises an eyebrow, a sly smile tugging at his lips. He bumps his hip into you playfully. “Am I? Maybe. But I can’t help it. You’re just so clumsy, kitten. Can you blame me for being so worried? ”He teases, his tone filled with affection.

As you both walk, Jungwon rolls his eyes, but a small smile plays on his lips. “Hey, you never know! You’re the biggest magnet for trouble I’ve ever seen. I just couldn’t sit there doing nothing while your cute little butt was out there somewhere. I don’t exactly want to see my wife injured again. The hospital traumatized me enough.”

‘’Wife? ’’ You said, surprised by his choice of words.

Jungwon chuckles at your reaction, his smile growing wider. “Of course you’re going to be my wife someday, aren’t you, kitten? ”He murmurs, his fingers tracing soft circles on your cheek.

“I’ve thought about it a lot,” he continues. “The wedding, the ring, our future. I don’t want anyone else. I’m madly in love with you.” He presses a tender kiss on your cheek.

‘’I’m madly in love with you too, my husband,’’ you said, a playful glint in your eye.

Upon hearing your remark, Jungwon’s cheeks flushed, his heart skipping a beat. “Oh, so I’m your husband now, huh? ”He teases, his eyes sparkling with affection. “Is that so, kitten? ”

He laughs. “Guess I have to live up to the role, huh? I’ll be the best husband ever,” he whispers, his voice soft and tender.

He gently tugs you closer, his lips meeting yours in a tender kiss, full of promise and affection. He holds you tightly in his arms, knowing that this is just the beginning of a beautiful journey together.

 

As you walk hand in hand with Jungwon, you feel like maybe, just maybe, you’re not as clumsy as you thought—you just needed the right person to catch you.

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[themotherofhorses]

When handmaid!reader was pregnant, did Aemond ever suck on her titties? Did Aemond do the thing where the husband is behind na pregnant woman and carried the weight of the baby?

oh of course he did. c'mon, aemond's totally a boob guy (do not argue with me on that). in fact, here is a small drabble over that:

pairing: aemond targaryen x handmaid!reader

warnings: tiddy sucking and simp aemond.

his handmaid's tales | main masterlist

She’s begun to tire more easily as the children grew within her.

Twins, the maesters and midwives alike had declared, while pouring over moon charts and estimations. She is carrying twins- maybe two boys, maybe two girls, or maybe one of both. The latter would be absolutely lovely, she decides.

Prince Aemond’s dismissed her back to his bedchamber with strict commands to rest abed. In truth, a day of rest is most welcoming to her. Her poor feet feel so swollen, and she’s taken to waddling like a little pond duck around the Keep, heavy and aching with her first hatchlings.

The courtiers pay her special attention too, as she feels their eyes on her everywhere she goes. No doubt their comments are much worse. Alas, her Prince Aemond can only do so much to protect her.

So safe within his room, she lays atop the cool, clean sheets, curled on her side and cradling the dragon egg her prince had chosen for one of their children in the hollow between her swollen belly and tender breasts.

It is a beautiful thing, with a deep purple shell, speckled with tiny golden flecks on its scales that shined like gold, and holding it close made her feel a lot better- stronger and braver. Perhaps her babies sense the dragon inside, a siren call only the golden blood of Old Valyria could hear. Or perhaps she’s turning into a dragon too.  

“Oh, but I really am carrying little dragons,” she giggles to herself, brushing her fingertips against the tight swell of her belly. Saying those words aloud makes her feel giddy and proud and beyond anxious to meet them. “Two sweet little dragons…”

“Indeed you are, my love.”

She startles, glancing up to see Aemond looming over her with a small smile. There is a fierce pride in his violet eye as it rakes over her breasts and the curve of her bump. “I sent you back to find sleep, not strike up a conversation with the dragon egg...again.”

“The babes enjoy feeling the egg near them,” she shrugs. “That is why I do it.”

Aemond clicks his tongue, crawling alongside her onto the bed. “Did they tell you that?” he asks, voice thick with teasing.

One hand rests on her bump, fingers drawing small circles as she hides her head within his neck, feeling the children suddenly stirring in her womb. “Ah, seems my babes know their father is now here.” And the other drifts down to her breast, cupping and giving it a gentle squeeze.

She sighs.

Her dear prince, he’s taken quite the fancy to her breasts, now heavy and swelling with milk. Most nights Aemond sleeps with his head pillowed comfortably on her chest, face buried between her tits. They bring him comfort, he says a lot. He enjoys fondling and nursing from them too- as hungry for her soft gasps and moans as he is with her milk and cunt (his words not hers).

She cannot understand why, nor can she ask around for an answer.

A baseborn servant carrying royal babies is enough scandal for a terrible headache, and she can do without that.

She closes her eyes and shivers when he leans to kiss her clothed breast ever so tenderly. “I suppose this is good practice,” he murmurs as he tugs down her neckline, eye darkening at the delicious sight before him, “-for when our little ones finally arrive.” He then blows on her swollen nipple, smirking at the cute little whimper she lets out.  

"Look at you. Gods, you are so fucking gorgeous."

“Aemond-”

Aemond shushes her before taking her nipple in his hot mouth. Her head flings back on the pillow as he suckles, flicking it back and forth with his tongue. “Ach! My prince…!” she cries, hips grinding down on the bed, desperate for some release, while her pretty face scrunches up in sheer pleasure. “Please- please- please…!” Yet all her lurching, to his delight, just brings her breasts closer to him.

“You’ll feed my sons so well, my pretty girl,” and he slaps her breast, “I’ve known you’d give me fine heirs the moment I first laid eyes on you.”

She pants. “-want them, ah, to grow nice and strong like their father. All for you, my prince, tis what you deserve…!”

His other hand squeezes her other breast, tweaking and pinching the nipple until little beads of milk fall and she’s withering beneath him, a putty mess of cries and moans and shudders. Aemond smiles, her tit dropping out of his mouth with a pop.

“My lady- my sweet girl,” he tells her, lapping up the milk around her chest. “Pretty, pretty girl, all mine.”

By the time he's finished, his handmaid is fast asleep, with a sweet smile twisted across her pink lips. Her chest, now bruised and marked, heaves up and down with slow breaths. Aemond lays there, kissing her nipple and listening to her steady heartbeat. He swears it matches his.

"Mmm, works every time," he chuckles to himself.

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