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last-herondale · 1 year

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Always In Front of Me

Jacob Black x FemReader

T/w: Mentions of blood, violence, death

Hurt/comfort, fated lovers

A/N: heyo! A few people have asked for a perspective from Jacob’s point of view from my wintered series! This is after Honesty and before Wintered!

Expect at least 2 more fics for this series in the future 💙

I’ll link the master list here!

Enjoy 🤘🏼

Jacob sat at your beside, watching the even motion of your chest rising and falling. The two of you were in one of the Cullen’s rooms. Jacob wasn’t sure whose, maybe Alice, maybe Jasper? No definitely Alice. She had insisted after… Jacob shook his head at the memory. He looked over you, making sure you were alright, to see if there was anything he could possibly do. He had been there for days on end, refusing to leave your side as you recovered.

Months earlier you had done the same for him after the battle with Victoria’s newborn army. Jacob remembered how you accepted the role as his gentle nurse, aiding him as he healed from his wounds. How minor his injuries seemed now. He winced as he looked at your neck brace— the bluish bruises under your eyes. The sight of you made his stomach churn. How could he have been so blind? How could he have not known until that night?

The world seemed to be moving in slow motion. So much chaos had ensued in such a short amount of time that Jacob wasn’t entirely sure what was real anymore.

Bella had gone into labor. He witnessed her body jerk and contort, breaking and snapping with haunting echos as the creature inside her yearned to be free. The Cullens had sprung to action, or at least those that had remained. A plan had been devised to allow some of the Cullens to break through Sam’s patrol so that they could feed, and get more blood for Bella.

Seth, Leah, and You had agreed to help with the plan. Jacob had distracted Sam’s pack long enough to allow the Cullens to escape, and for a moment you all thought you had won a victory. The Cullens could feed, Bella would be safe, and no one would have to die.

But then all hell broke loose. While The Cullens rushed to save Bella, Sam’s pack decided to launch their attack. You had sounded the alarm to Jacob, ripping out a guttural howl into the night sky. Leah and Seth had already sprung into action, blurs of fur clashing into the night. Alice and Jasper joined the fight as well, battling the wolves that were once their allies.

Jacob’s mind had been a jumbled mess. His fear for Bella tore his heart in one direction, but his worry for his family tore him in the other. His heart pounded in his chest as he stared in horror as Edward pulled the baby from Bella. The smell of blood burned in Jacob’s nostrils as he watched his best friend lie lifeless on the table. His head was ringing. He couldn’t register Edwards words as he began to preform CPR on Bella. Jacob felt his legs move him on his own accord, as his body left the room in a tranced state.

Bella was dead. He had expected it. Tried to mentally prepare for it, but now that it was here… his chest felt empty. What was all of this pain for? Why did Jacob love Bella if he knew it would always end in death? Was this how love was supposed to be? Constant pain? Unending torture?

Jacob collapsed outside of the Cullen’s house and began to sob. The battle raged on around him, his pack and the Cullens fighting Sam’s pack. You were grappling with Embry and Quill, keeping them from reaching the house while Leah and Seth were out of sight. Jacob looked at the scene before him as his body broke out in heaved sobs. You heard his anguished cries and felt your soul tug. The desperate need to be there for him roared in your mind as you fought.

The imprint bond, the tether that seemed to shape your heart sang out within your blood. You felt a surge of strength return to your body as you flung Quill against a tree, hearing a whimper escape his wolf form. Embry lunged at you again, but you were able to sidestep him and sink your teeth into the back of his leg. Once he too fell, you spun around to Jacob. Guilt flashed through your mind for a moment, these were your friends— your brothers after all. As much as it pained you to admit it though, Jacob came first. Always.

The brokenness of his face told you all you needed to know. Bella was dead.

Your heart ached with the thought of your friend. Bella had been a kind soul. The kind of person you only encountered once in a lifetime. You knew the likelihood of her passing, but you held our hope for her. Maybe there would be time for the Cullens to change her. Maybe she would make it after all. You always held hope, not just for her, but for Jacob as well. You dreaded this day. The day Jacob’s heart would shatter beyond repair.

You began to sprint towards Jacob, to protect him from the battle as he sat there out in the open, but you heard a scream to the right of you. Paul had Alice pinned underneath him. The small vampire had her hands gripped on either side of Paul’s jaw to keep back his sharp canines. She could have easily beaten Paul if her strength was up, but she had needed to feed for days now, and you could see the struggle in her eyes.

Perhaps it was stupid to care for a vampire. Everything you were taught went against what your heart told you. Alice was your friend. She seemed no less human to you than Seth or Leah. And she needed help.

Suddenly you were pounding towards Paul. You slammed into him with enough force to knock the wind out of yourself. You snapped at him, gripping a chunk of his fur as the two of you tumbled in the dirt. You saw a pale flash if movement, and hoped it was Alice escaping into the house. Paul seems to support this theory as he let out a horrible snarl. His claws dug into your sides and the pain was enough to cause you to release him. He pinned you down easily enough, his strength had always overmatched yours. You looked into his dark eyes as he plunged his teeth around your neck. The crunch was horrific. You tried to scream, but the wind seemed to leave you as soon as your lips opened. You wanted to say his name, one last time. Your mind glazed over with pain as darkness quickly swept over your consciousness.

That was when everything snapped into place. Jacob felt as if his heart was being ripped from his chest as he watched Paul snap your neck. Suddenly, all of the memories of you flooded through his mind, but it was as if a lens had been removed. What had once been simple memories of one of his best friends, now became something unimaginably more important. The first day he met you. Jacob was struck by how beautiful you were, how sweet your voice sounded in his ears. The echo of it now was sweet music. He had been muted to it for so long. The memories of the two of you training together, how you both had leaned on each other for support as you navigated through these difficult changes. You had always been there, he realized. How had he never noticed until now?

Realization struck home, like a blazing sun clearing through the darkness. Jacob felt as if his whole world had shifted back into place. He had been wandering aimlessly in the world, trying so desperately to find his purpose, his meaning within the chaos. He tried to find it in loving Bella. How silly that seemed now. Now it was as if there never was a world where he did not belong to you. Where you did not spark his soul into a million burning fires.

My imprint… my soulmate.

Jacob’s thoughts were scattered and racing through his mind a million miles a second. He didn’t have time to sort through his emotions, all that mattered was you. And you were lying motionless on the ground, your body shifting back into your human form as Paul tossed you aside.

Jacob shifted in an instant and charged Paul. The force of the collision caused the tree they knocked into to snap at the base and crash into the Cullen’s yard. Jacob felt a primal rage course through his body. He dug his teeth into Paul’s shoulder and threw him into another tree. Paul yelped as Jacob went in again, snapping at his arm until a sickening crunch echoed into the night.

Jacob stop!

Seth’s voice echoed through Jacob’s mind, but Jacob did not relinquish. He would make Paul pay for what he did to you. For taking away his chance at happiness before he could even…

Jake, stop! You’re killing him!

Seth begged through his mind. Paul laid limp underneath Jacob, his fur a bloody mess as Jacob continued to thrash him. He was taking it too far, he knew, but he didn’t care.

“She’s alive!”

The voice was real. Not just a telepathic whisper. But a real, high pitched sounding yell. Jacob stopped in his tracks and spun around to see Alice leaning over you as the others watched him in horror. Alice had her head over your heart, listening to the faint beating.

“She’s alive Jacob, please, stop this.”

Jacob took a good look around to see that the chaos had stilled during his rage. The packs looked horrified, Sam especially as he ran to pull Paul away from him. The eerie quiet of the forest chilled Jacob’s back as he hurried himself beside your body. His anger refused to let him shift back into his human form, so he just stood there, watching as Alice carefully picked you up to carry you into the house.

It was Leah that shifted back first, looking at your body then at Jacob in disbelief.

“You imprinted on y/n…” she said. Jacob’s wolf just panted, his eyes locked on Sam and his pack in case they tried to make a break for the house. Leah turned to Sam, his wolf looking at them with fierce uncertainty. Sam couldn’t read Jacob’s thoughts anymore, but Leah could. She recognized what an imprint felt like, knew what kind of bond that was. She knew Sam did too, and in that she saw their salvation.

“Jacob imprinted on y/n!” She yelled loud enough for all of the packs to hear. Sam’s eyes widened at Jacob, and for a moment his resolve finally wavered. Leah took notice and pointed at Sam. “You know our laws, all of you! If you kill her, you kill Jacob. Is this what you want Sam? Your friends— your family dead? Over what? A baby?” It had been the first time Jacob had heard Leah refer to Bella’s baby as such. It was enough to calm Jacob down enough to shift back into his human form.

“It’s true Sam. This has gone on long enough. I don’t want this… but I can’t lose her, please. We have to stop this fighting.”

Sam remained still for a moment as he looked at Jacob’s face. He tried to find the insincerity in Jacob’s voice, his expression, but he found none. It only took one glance at Paul for Sam to realize that only an imprint would cause that sort of violence from Jacob. They might have had their little fights in the past, but this was different. He thought of Emily being attacked and a chill ran down his spine. They were right. Enough was enough.

Sam turned to his pack, speaking a silent message through their minds. Quill and Embry helped Paul to his feet, leaning him up against each other as they limped out of the forest. Jacob waited in silence, half expecting them to return and finish them off.

“They won’t return,” Edward’s voice rose from behind Jacob. Jacob turned to face Edward, and was surprised to see him away from Bella. Edward just nodded at Jacob, and it was enough for now. “Let’s get her inside. Quick, Carlisle is on his way.” Alice carried you inside, Jacob and Edward close at on her heel. Everything else after that became a blur to Jacob. Carlisle and the rest of the Cullens arrived minutes later, and Carlisle began quick work on you to heal your wounds. Jacob stood by your side the entire time. Once you were stable, Carlisle moved you into Alice’s room, and kept you on fluids and a monitor as you slept.

It was a waiting game. Carlisle feared that there had been damage to your brain, but that he had hope you would wake up in your own time. Jacob thanked him as he left. Then it was just the two of you. Jacob sat next to you as the monitor made soft beeps. He held your limp hand, and ran his thumb over your skin.

There was a knock at the door, and Leah and Seth slipped into the room. Seth knelt beside the bed and put his hand on your forehead. A small gesture of love, as he whispered a small prayer. Seth’s eyes were watering and he sniffed as he rubbed his eyes.

“She’ll be okay, Seth,” Leah murmured, “She’s strong. She’s a fighter.”

“Yeah,” Seth said in a small ragged voice.

“Jake,” Leah said, “She’ll make it.”

Jacob just gave a small nod. His throat felt clogged. He felt warm tears fall down his cheek as he rested his head in your hand. He felt his pack put their hand in his shoulders. “Why did it take so long?” Jacob finally choked out, “why now?”

Leah gave a bitter laugh. “One thing I’ve learned is that this ability can be cruel. There may not be any rhyme or reason, but it’s what we have to survive. And she will, she will survive this. You both will.”

Jacob let himself cry as he held your hand. He whispered into your palm, begging for you to wake up. He had so much he wanted to say to you. Things he wished he could explain, apologize for the time he had wasted chasing false dreams. Sense left him, and finally the pain and sorrow was all he felt. He was surrounded by his family and let their love warm the fractured pieces of his tired weary soul.

Your eyes fluttered open two days later. Disoriented, you struggled to raise your head up to look around, but got caught up against the breathing tubes and neck brace. You raised your hand to remove them but a strong hand gently gripped your wrists. The touch was familiar, beautifully familiar.

“Steady there speed racer,” Jacob’s husky voice warmed the side of your face. You let him guide your hand back down as you blinked away the rest of your drowsiness. “Jake…what happened…?”

“Shhh shhh,” he cooed, his hand stroked the side of your face. You thought you were still in a dream state, his touch was warm and comforting. “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters.” You resisted the temptation to lean your head deeper into his palm, the scent of him was intoxicating.

You scrunched your brow in confusion. Not matter? Your mind struggled to recall your last memories. You remembered seeing blood on the living room floor, then the green forest just outside of the Cullen house, then a large black wolf lunging towards you…

“Paul,” you whispered. The memories came crashing back in a torrential wave. You tried to jerk up on bed again, but the brace and tubes kept you back.

“What happened? Is everyone okay? Did Alice— oh my god, Bella??”

Jacob put his hands on either side of your face to calm you. “It’s okay, everyone’s fine. Everyone’s fine.” You tried to calm your breathing, but the memories of that night stormed in your mind. Jacob’s presence calmed you; his touch was enough to bring you back into the present.

“I don’t… understand. Jake…”

Jacob explained away the time you missed, careful to leave out the imprinting. He was waiting to see the change in you too, to see if the bond had reshaped your life as it had his. But to his dismay, he saw no change. How could he possibly bring it up to you? Would you even believe him? Just days ago he had been fighting so hard for Bella, the girl he though he loved. How could he ever begin to explain?

Little did he know that your life had already been reshaped. That the bond had formed for you the first moment you saw him. Jacob swallowed his disappointment as he finished his story.

“So, Bella’s gonna be okay? Edward saved her in time?” You asked.

Jacob nodded. “It seems so. Carlisle thinks she should wake up in the next day or so.” Your shoulders relaxed a bit at that bit of information. You hadn’t lost a friend after all.

“But wait, I still don’t understand…, how did Leah convince Sam to leave again?”

Jacob blanked for a moment. She had hoped you wouldn’t notice how he skimmed over that detail, but of course you hadn’t. Jacob opened his mouth to try and craft a delicate lie, but luckily he was saved by Carlisle knocking on the door.

“Ah, good, my favorite patient is up.” Carlisle gave you a warm smile as he approached you. You were happy to see him, healthy and alive. His eyes had returned to a golden brown, and his overall mood seemed happy compared to the last few months.

He began to check on the monitors and tubes, noting your heart rate and oxygen levels. He turned to Jacob.

“Would you mind if I spoke with y/n, alone for a moment?” Jacob wanted to protest, he hadn’t left your side at all while you were under, but that was when he didn’t have to hide anything. He looked at you for a moment, letting himself have the satisfaction of seeing you awake, alive and well, before peeling himself from the chair.

“Of course Doc,” Jacob said with a small smirk. You watched him as he left, giving him a smile as he turned back to look at you before closing the door.

Jacob descended the stairs, his emotions a swirl of confusion. At the base he ran into Leah and Seth, both of whom looked excited. “Edward told us the news. Is she finally awake?” Seth asked, his eyes alight with excitement. Jacob nodded, but he put his hand on Seth’s shoulder. “She’s awake and well. The Doc is talking with her now, but I need to talk with the two of you.”

“Sure, what is it Jake?” Seth asked. Leah just stood there with her arms crossed. She seemed a bit more relaxed after hearing you were okay, but being in the Cullens house was still tough for her, and Jacob appreciated her effort.

Jacob took a slow, steady breath. “I don’t want to tell her about the imprint.” His voice was low and steady. Seth began to protest while Leah held a straight face.

“Listen, this is how it needs to be. Whatever happened the other night seems to only have happened to me. I don’t want to force her into something like this… for her to feel obligated to feel something for me that she doesn’t. She’s kind hearted, and too gentle. I can’t do that to her. And I know I can’t keep it from her forever, but just for now… until I figure out a way to tell her. Please.”

You too Cullen. Please, if you could spread the word to your family… I would appreciate it.

Jacob knew Edward would be able to hear their conversation. He only hoped Edward would play along, for your sake more so than his.

Seth gave Leah an uncertain look, but Leah just nodded in response. “We won’t say anything, but Jake,” Leah began, “we don’t want your heart to break anymore either.”

Jacob just gave a small smile. The images of you flashed through his mind. All of the memories of you in his life, and how much those moments had meant to you, even then. Now they were everything. The breath of life sustaining his soul. He had a purpose now. A reason to always fight, to always be there.

You, and only you.

“It’ll be worth it this time, no matter what happens. Believe me, everything’s different now. Everything.”

Tag-list

@steverogersgirlfriend-blog @milesquaritchh

#twiligh x reader #twilight fic #fem reader #twilight #jacob black x reader #jacob black #Jacob black twilight #fated to love you #fated mates #hurt/comfort #twilight love #werewolves #werewolf #fanfic

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replaycamera2 · 9 months

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Flowers I Associate With Redacted Characters

Davey - Honeysuckle The canon choice. His mom’s honeysuckle are a core memory for him. They mean “devoted affection” for the person you love. In addition, honeysuckle flowers are commonly planted near the home to evoke feelings of nostalgia and honor those who have gone before you, and draw happiness and positive energy into your life.

Ash - Daffodil Sunflower is a little too big for Asher’s character. Daffodils are smaller, but no less energetic with their bright orange and yellow colours. They symbolize hope, joy, good luck, and new beginnings. Daffodils are the March birth flower and are associated with the coming of spring, thus optimism, positivity, and vibrancy.

Milo - Rose I toyed with the idea of something more representative of self-sacrifice like poppies but they didn’t feel like they represented Milo’s entire character, that’s just one tiny facet of him. I went with rose because that’s absolutely how Casanova sees himself. Deep red roses in particular represent not only love and passion, but also deeply held commitment to a romantic partner.

Sam - Blue Hydrangea Blue hydrangeas specifically symbolize feelings of remorse and apologies. I thought that was fitting given Sam’s role in Frederick’s turning having not been paying attention that night. But they also signify feelings of deep understanding, gratitude, and sincere emotion which he’s found in Darlin’ in that they both have similar backgrounds of abusive partners and understand one another deeply on that level.

Vincent - Rain Lily These tiny, delicate flowers only bloom in the rain. Contrary to what one might expect, they can also survive periods of drought, though they won’t bloom until it rains. They represent the cycle of life, death, and rebirth: they bloom, die, then come back with the rain. They also remind us that even in a storm, growth is possible.

Gavin - Iris In Greek, the word Iris means Rainbow. This has come to represent diversity, acceptance, tolerance, and inclusivity in modern times. Traditionally, the Iris also represents courage and faith.

Damien - Ixora A lesser known tropical flower with many tiny red flowers making a larger head, these flowers hold a meaning of burning passion (and that includes the bedroom). They’re also known as “the flame of the woods”.

Hux - Sunflower Tall and huge, these well-known flowers not only represent happiness, but red sunflowers specifically represent strength and positivity. Sunflowers are known to always look at the sun as it crosses the sky throughout the day.

Lasko - Pansy Ignoring the negative connotations of the word, pansies represent love, both romantic and platonic. The French word “pensee” means “to think” which Lasko does a lot of (a little too much at lighting speeds lol) and so pansies are also associated with thoughtfulness, consideration, and free-thinking. They are also linked to feelings of nostalgia and remembrance. Blue pansies specifically symbolize devotion, honesty and loyalty.

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betweenbreaths · 1 year

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something to get used to (zoro x reader)

Summary: Both you and Zoro are afraid to lose each other and take too long to finally admit it.

Rating: G

AO3 link is in the replies to this post! I am a complete sucker for character A getting angry and avoiding character B at all costs, so here is an entirely self-indulgent fic and I hope you enjoy :)

***

Zoro had screwed up. Royally.

It wasn’t exactly new for him, but this time, even he could tell it was a big one, seeing as it had been days since she had last spoken to him.

At some point, Nami, who usually kept her nose out of things like this, had snapped at him for being an “insensitive ass”. While he certainly hadn’t appreciated the brutal honesty or choice of words, he knew she was right. Even Robin had intervened, telling him in that usual nonchalant tone of hers that he should probably do something about it soon.

The thing was, he was trying, okay? It wasn’t like he was sitting on his ass and doing absolutely nothing. He had been trying to approach said crewmate for days now, but each time he tried, she would deliberately avoid eye contact, ignore his calls of her name and would be out of his sight within seconds of him spotting her. How big was this ship, anyway? It was starting to get ridiculous, the fact that it was this difficult to track down a single person, even if she didn’t want to be found.

Frankly, the whole thing was starting to grate on his nerves too. How was he supposed to apologise to someone who was clearly not interested in being in the same room as him? Just this morning, he had spotted her in the kitchen talking to Sanji, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t get annoyed at how she was chuckling at the love cook’s shitty jokes and bad pick-up lines. He’d tried to approach her, but before he could even get close it seemed she had sensed that he was there, and before he knew it, she was already on her feet and scuttling out of the room with her head down. Sanji could only stand there, stunned by the abrupt end to their conversation.

The cook had promptly shot a glare in Zoro’s direction, which the swordsman returned evenly.

All in all, Zoro was at his wit’s end here, and he was running out of ideas. And patience.

A sudden jerk on the boat had him nearly losing his balance, and shouts coming from the deck snapped Zoro out of his thoughts. From the crow’s nest he looked out the window, where a huge fleet of navy ships had gathered and which were quickly approaching the Sunny. Looking down, he noticed that the entire crew was gathering on the deck, including her.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he rushed out of the crow’s nest and leaped down, landing smoothly on the deck with the rest of the crew, right next to her. Again, she didn’t acknowledge his presence, her eyes fixated stubbornly on the enemy in front of them.

A small sigh escaped him as he readied himself for what was coming. He supposed the apology would have to wait for now.

***

You were being petty, and you knew it.

You should have already known the kind of person Zoro was by now: strong, fiercely loyal, and brave in the face of danger. He may be rough around the edges, his words often curt and harsh, but otherwise you knew that he was really a softie at heart and would do anything for his crew.

And it was precisely that part of him that worried you to no end. If it came down to it, you knew Zoro was prepared to sacrifice anything, including himself, as long as his friends were safe.

That was why you had ended up losing your temper at him, after the crew barely managed to get away from Kizaru and Akainu after a recent brush with them. He had suffered severe burns in his attempt to help the crew escape, and because you hadn’t managed to duck out of the way in time. You should have been the one to suffer those injuries, but instead Zoro’s right arm had nearly been burned all the way through. It would have been worse than that if Franky hadn’t managed to refuel the ship just in time for a coup de burst then, that allowed all of you to narrowly escape.

Thankfully, Chopper was able to save Zoro and fix his arm — the little reindeer had told everyone that if the injury had been any deeper, he wouldn’t have been able to use his arm like before.

You had stayed behind in the men’s quarters to wait for Zoro to wake up. You had thought carefully about what you wanted to say, to ask if he was doing okay, to thank him for saving you or you might have been dead.

But when he woke up and relief flooded you, your thoughts went haywire and the only thing you blurted out was:

“Why did you save me? You shouldn’t have done that.”

You hadn’t meant for it to come out that way, or to sound that angry or frustrated with him. Zoro had done you a huge favour, but you were reacting as if he had wronged you somehow.

It was no wonder the swordsman had responded the way he had: frowning, his tone frigid as he snapped at you to leave him alone and that he could do whatever the hell he wanted.

By then you weren’t thinking anymore, moving and speaking entirely based on the emotions you felt: a storm of worry, regret, frustration, anger coursing through your veins. You had never been one to be able to hide your emotions well, and it all showed in your voice and tightly clenched fists that shook by your sides.

The argument rapidly escalated, and it didn’t take long for the crew outside to hear the raised voices. By then the both of you were going at each other without restraint, and Usopp and Chopper had to hold you back while you yelled at Zoro for being stupid and senseless in battle, for thinking that he could protect the crew all by himself.

That seemed to trigger something in him, and you could see his eyes turn dark as he went livid. You knew you had gone too far then, and you were about to apologise, except that you were swiftly interrupted by his next words:

“That’s my business, not yours. Just stay out of my way.”

Silence. A deep, heavy silence filled the room.

You knew that it was just Zoro mouthing off in the heat of the moment, but it didn’t change the fact that the words had cut you deeper than any blade could. The inexplicable pain that bubbled up deep within your chest had you flinching, your words dying instantly on your tongue. You knew what was coming when you felt a familiar lump in your throat and moisture gathering in the back of your eyes.

At that moment, you didn’t really know what else you could do, other than run. So without another word, you had shrugged Usopp’s grip off your arms and fled the room, the sound of the closing door cutting off the cries of your crewmates for you to wait.

A few days had passed since then, but you still couldn’t bring yourself to look him in the eye, or even be anywhere near him. It felt like you might burst into tears if you did, and crying was the last thing you wanted to do in front of him.

Deep down, you knew that Zoro was right. What happened to him wasn’t your business at all, and if he wanted to protect his crew at the cost of his own body, it was his choice and you couldn’t change that. Nor was it your place to tell him what he could or couldn’t do.

The rest of the crew obviously had their share of concerns for him as well, but it seemed they had already come to accept that Zoro wouldn’t change. The stubborn swordsman had his own set of values that were pretty much set in stone and he wouldn’t budge on them.

So fine. You would stop caring. You would stay in your lane and not give a shit about what he did with his life. After all, that was what he wanted, right?

Except, you couldn’t, and you knew damn well the reason why.

Zoro may be dense, but you were no fool. You knew what those butterflies stirring in your abdomen meant whenever you saw that trademark, cocky smirk of his. You knew why you would find yourself breathless and lightheaded when you got a bit too close while training with him in the crow’s nest. And you knew perfectly well the reason you had been so deeply hurt by his words, by the implication that he wanted nothing to do with you, or you with him:

You had fallen hopelessly for this man.

…and you didn’t know what the hell you should do with these feelings.

For now, burying it was the only answer you could come up with. It was clear enough that romance was far from Zoro’s mind. From what you could observe, it looked like the only things he really had any interest in was training, getting stronger, protecting his friends, and his ambition to become the strongest swordsman there was. That, and drinking lots of booze.

Romance? It would only slow him down, no doubt. Serve as nothing more than a distraction from his dream. And even if romance was on the cards, Zoro clearly felt nothing for you; that much had been made clear by what he said to you a few days ago.

In any case, you had no time to dwell on these things. It was only distracting you from the huge fight at hand. A whole fleet of navy ships had finally caught up to the Sunny, and from what you could tell, Kizaru and Akainu were back, fully intent on achieving their goal of nabbing the crew after failing once already.

You were occupied with fending off a whole crowd of marines. While they were lower-ranked, their numbers were slowly but surely pushing you back, and before long they had already encircled you, trapping you in.

No one else was free enough to help, each of them engaged in their own battles at the moment. From the corner of your eye you could see Zoro, struggling to keep up with the pace of Kizaru’s attacks. His movements were duller than usual, no doubt because he still hadn’t fully recovered from the last battle. It was clear that Zoro was losing ground, however, and all you could think of was that you had to back him up as soon as possible.

Just as you fought off another few dozen marines, sending them flying into the sea with your sword, a bright gleam of light caught your attention.

You turned in that direction, and instantly the colour drained from your face when you saw Zoro on his knees, bleeding out and his swords nowhere in sight. Kizaru loomed over him, his raised foot glowing with a blinding yellow light.

Time seemed to move in slow motion then, and the cries of your crewmates of Zoro’s name faded into the background, muffled as if you were underwater. Mustering strength you didn’t know you possessed, you knocked back the rest of the marines in your way, clearing the path towards Zoro.

Your body acted on instinct, moving before you could even think or register what you were doing. All you knew was that you had to get to him, before it was too late. You couldn’t lose him. You just couldn’t.

Even the thought of it was too much to bear.

Zoro was the only person in your line of sight as you surged forward, bolting through the air with such speed that the wind fiercely resisted in your face. You dove for the floor then, shoving Zoro out of the way as far as you could. He was heavy, but you managed somehow.

The next thing you knew, you felt a sharp pain in your abdomen, which quickly spread to the rest of your body and you couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from your lips. You had been hit, your body breaking through the wood of the deck and the sheer weight of the force knocking the wind out of you.

It felt like an eternity before you finally took in a sharp gasp of air, and when you did, a white hot pain surged through your body and you had to bite down on your lip to keep from screaming again.

You couldn’t muster any strength to move, only able to let out a pained whimper when you felt a pair of strong arms grabbing you, dragging you out of the broken wood and holding you against a warm chest.

Your vision was blurry now, everything a haze, but you could still make out green hair, and that annoying face that had occupied your mind for days now. It looked like he was shouting something at you, but you couldn’t really hear him. Your consciousness was fading, and you tasted the metallic tang of blood before spitting a mouthful out onto your shirt.

There was a hand on your cheek now, and Zoro was shaking you to keep you awake. The jerk was only making the pain worse. Still, it worked for a few seconds.

Then the exhaustion came like a tidal wave, and you found yourself rapidly succumbing to it.

Just before your eyes slipped close, through the small slit of light left you kept your gaze on him, offering an upward twitch of your lips — hopefully that would make things right with him, after you had chickened out of a talk with him for so long. He deserved better than this, but this was all you could offer.

A final cry of your name rang in your ears, and then your world turned black.

***

It had been two days. Two days since they managed to get away from the navy, and she was still in a coma, showing no signs of waking up. Chopper had to do a blood transfusion for her seeing as she had lost a lot of blood, but for some reason she still hadn’t woken up.

Zoro was practically losing his mind from worry, and resentment at the fact that he had been stupid enough to give Kizaru the chance to attack him like that, and that she had nearly been killed while trying to save him.

For all that training, he was still too weak to protect the people he cared about. All he could do was stay by her side while she rested in the women’s quarters, hoping that she would wake up soon. The rest of the crew was worried too of course, but they seemed hopeful enough that she would recover in no time. One by one, they had taken turns to tell him the same thing, and while it quelled his anxiety just slightly, it didn’t take away the heavy, suffocating weight on his chest each time he looked at her sleeping face.

“Staying here and not eating isn’t going to make her wake up faster.” Nami’s voice came from the doorway, and Zoro frowned in her direction.

“Later. I’m not hungry.”

He heard her sigh, and then the sound of her approaching footsteps.

“She’ll be worried if she sees you like this too, you know.” She stopped by the other side of the bed, placing her palm on the sleeping woman’s forehead. “I’ll watch her for now. Go get some air, and take a bath. You stink,” she added as an afterthought.

Any other day he would have barked right back at her for that, but Zoro didn’t have the energy to argue with Nami right then. Knowing there was no way he could out-argue her, he got up and left the room, but not before casting a lingering stare at the sleeping woman over his shoulder.

He supposed he would have to wait a while before making things right with her. He just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.

***

When you woke up, you were greeted with the familiar sight of the ceiling of the women’s quarters. Your head throbbed with a dull pain, and you winced, trying to recall what had happened.

The last thing you remembered was passing out in Zoro’s arms after taking one of Kizaru’s hits. How long had it been since then? Were the rest of your friends okay?

Was Zoro safe?

Remembering the state that Zoro had been in just before you dove and pushed him out of the way, panic seized you and you rushed to sit up. You weren’t able to get up all the way though, pausing when you realised your hand was caught in something.

Your eyes dropped down, widening in surprise when you realised that your fingers were interlaced with someone else’s fingers. Your gaze trailed upwards, and found Zoro resting his head on the bed, sound asleep while seated in a chair that he had placed next to your side.

What… What was he doing here? And why the heck was he holding your hand?

You tried pulling your hand out of his grasp, but found that his grip was a little too tight. Had Chopper assigned him here to make sure you didn’t get out of bed?

You didn’t want to wake the man though; suddenly your bravado from before had vanished. Without the adrenaline, you were back to your pathetic, cowardly self who was too afraid to talk to him, in fear that he might discover your feelings for him. Not to mention, you didn’t want to cry; at least not in front of him. It would only make him feel bad for something that wasn’t his fault.

Carefully and gingerly, you tried to lift his fingers and extracted your fingers from his hold, one by one. With each finger that you lifted you noticed how calloused and rough his skin had become, no doubt from the countless battles and hours of gruelling training he would subject himself to every day. You were already smiling to yourself without realising it, chest swelling with the hope that he would one day be able to achieve his dream. If it was Zoro, you knew he could do it.

It took a few minutes, but you were eventually able to get most of your hand free without waking the swordsman. He looked exhausted, and was probably recovering from his own set of injuries as well.

It was just when you were about to get your last finger free that his hand suddenly grabbed yours again, and then you found yourself staring into a pair of piercing brown eyes.

Your breath caught, and you practically forgot how to breathe when Zoro sprang up, the sleepiness completely gone from his eyes. His eyes were on you, and his grip on your hand had become tighter.

“Zoro—” You could barely get a word out, before you felt his arms encircling you, and crashing your body to his chest.

He was warm. Big. And everything felt right.

His hold on you was tight, caging you in completely and leaving no room for you to wriggle away. Your hands were on his chest right next to either side of your face, and against your palm you felt his strong pulse, beating about as rapidly as yours was.

“I’m sorry,” was the first thing he said, and it was the first time you had ever heard his voice waver. Zoro, the man who was always confident, sure and brazen, had never sounded more raw, more vulnerable to you in that moment, and for a while you didn’t know how to react other than to stay still and listen to his shaky breaths.

“I didn’t understand until you took that blow for me,” he went on, and as he did you felt his arms tighten around you, pressing you closer to him. “I shouldn’t have said that to you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s… It’s not your fault,” you replied, as tears gathered in your eyes. Damn it, this was why you didn’t want to talk; you just knew this would happen. Thankfully, him holding you meant he couldn’t see your face, but it did mean that he would easily feel your tears through his shirt. It took every fibre of your being to hold them in.

“I overstepped, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way when you just wanted to protect us, and I didn’t have the guts to talk to you about it until now, even though I know you were trying. Sorry.”

“Quit saying that. I’m trying to apologise to you here.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Zoro was just as grumpy as ever.

“Why’d you do that? I could have taken it.” He was referring to Kizaru’s kick.

You could only shrug in response. “I don’t know. My body was moving before I could think. I just… didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“The same goes for me, you know,” he said, and those words filled you with some kind of hope. Hope that maybe he had the same feelings for you. But that was instantly crushed when he followed up with, “We’re nakama. I don’t want you getting hurt for me either.”

It was like getting a bucket of cold water to the face. Of course, you had known it all along: Zoro only saw you as a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. At least now you knew, so your feelings could stay buried until they eventually disappeared with time.

“But, it’s not just that.”

You felt him pull away then, to hold you by your arms and look you in the eye. His expression was serious, and you felt your face begin to heat up under his intense stare. Instinctively, you looked away.

“Look at me.”

His words were commanding, and you obeyed, meeting his gaze once more. They were burning with an emotion that you couldn’t quite identify.

“That day, when I saw you nearly get cut down, I… was afraid.” His fingers dug into your arms, and he looked downwards briefly. “I was afraid of losing you.”

You swallowed, not quite sure where this was going. In your head, this was easy enough to rationalise. “Well, that’s because we’re nakama.”

Zoro shook his head, the skin on his forehead crinkling with a frown. “I’ve been with the crew for a while now, and each time we had a close shave like that, I was afraid of losing them too. But this time, it was different.” His eyes returned to yours, locking onto your gaze and your parted lips. “It was different, because it was you.”

You didn’t know what to make of that. Or rather, you knew, but you were afraid to draw that conclusion on your own, lest you get disappointed once more.

“What… are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is,” he responded, his lips turning up into a gentle smile, one so tender that it made your heart melt, “I have feelings for you.”

Your heart may as well have stopped then. You blinked at him, doing a double take as you tried to register his words. Feelings? You? But what about nakama—

“I don’t expect you to return them, so don’t overthink things,” Zoro continued, cutting off your frenzied train of thought. He must have been able to tell from the confusion written all over your face. “Nothing’s going to change.”

A beat of silence passed, with neither of you saying anything.

Eventually, Zoro found it awkward enough to clear his throat and to release your arms from his grip. “Anyway, I should get Chopper in here. He told me to let him know when you woke up.”

The sound of the chair legs scraping against wood was the only sound in the room as he got up to leave, but he was swiftly halted in his tracks as your hand grabbed his wrist to hold him back.

He watched wordlessly as you got off the bed, and you held back a grimace at the pain throbbing in your abdomen. You’d be an idiot if you allowed him to walk away after saying all that. His confession had been short and straight to the point, exactly the way Zoro was.

And, just like Zoro tended to do, it had also pissed you off a little, and that anger was stirring up in you a boldness that you couldn’t muster before.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

He seemed to be taken aback at the sudden ferocity in your tone, and didn’t seem to expect to be manhandled when you grabbed him by the collar without warning and yanked him towards you, until your noses were barely touching. His eyes were blown wide, and you could see his face begin to turn red from the proximity. Up close like this, you could feel his warm breaths on your face.

“You didn’t ask me what I think,” you told him in an almost-whisper, and you watched as he swallowed, uncertainty swimming in his eyes.

“What do you—”

You pressed your lips to his then, cutting off whatever stupid excuse he had to say in his defence. He always did this, assuming things on his own and jumping to his own conclusions.

Then again, you had gone ahead and done the exact same thing, so you were probably being a hypocrite.

Not that you really cared; all that you could focus on then was his lips against yours, gentle and tender and soft. You had released your grip on his collar by then, instead resting your one hand on his hard chest while the other wrapped around his neck to pull him closer.

Zoro didn’t show any resistance; in fact, he quite eagerly leaned into you, arms snaking around your waist to press your curves against his body and to deepen the kiss. Things slowly grew bolder, more daring as you felt his tongue sweep across the seam of your lips. You obliged, parting your lips for him and your knees nearly buckled when his tongue entered your mouth, sliding against your tongue and swallowing the soft moan that had unwittingly escaped you.

“Zoro…”

You felt his fingers in your hair then, and with a soft pull he tipped your head back, angling your face so that he could deepen the kiss with renewed vigour. You couldn’t help but be swept along with his pace, allowing him to kiss you over and over and over, each kiss an affirmation that his confession was real, that he had wanted you just as much as you had wanted him all this time.

The realisation had your chest swelling with joy, and there was no stopping the big smile that your lips spread into, which forced him to pull away from the kiss. Breathing heavily, Zoro rested his forehead against your head, allowing your noses to touch.

“So tell me again, nothing’s going to change?” you taunted, licking your lips and smirking at the man.

“Heh.” With a chuckle and a devilish grin that made you almost forget how to breathe, Zoro lowered his lips towards yours once more.

“I guess this is something I could get used to.”

#one piece #roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro fanfiction #zoro fanfiction #one piece zoro #zoro x reader #my writing

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factual-fantasy · 8 months

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I haaaasss 27 asks :}

Yes. Yes it does.

Thank you! :DD And yeah canon Gregory is just not my vibe man XD

(Traffic cone in question)

Thank you so much! :DD And yeah I try my best to get up and do something productive/different when I'm feeling down like that. My thought process is "well sitting here and sulking isn't making me feel any better so I should go and do something else" Which just so happened to be breaking out the old sewing kit and making a traffic cone?? XD Well to be fair I've made like 10 of those before but still an odd choice on my part-

Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked my cars artwork! :DD

And yeah I would draw cars stuff more often but they're just so hard to draw :(

Idk why they decided to jump into a DLC before fixing the base game, but man I really wish they wouldn't have. 😔

I'll do my best! :D

@tallchest13-blog

Yes :} or at least I've been trying to-

Thank you so much! And I did use a pattern to make him. Credit for the patten goes to Tammy Hallam, heres her video on how to make your own too! :}

@montygatorshusband

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :DDD

As for Glamrock Bonnie,, ehh, its a bit odd to me. Not a huge fan of the color pallet but its not the worst I've seen. I'd give it a 5.5 outa 10

ALSO! I believe Octonauts is streaming on Netflix, but I've also had some luck finding full episodes on YouTube :0

Thank you! And oh yeah, I feel you on the fandom part. XD That's why I'm still kind'a on the fence and haven't dove head first into my usual angsty stuff. I'm kind'a testing the waters with every post I make to see if I'll collide with the uh, other side of the fandom :x

Thank you! :DDD

Also Google is a search engine. :0 If you search for Octonauts fanart, its gonna do its job and search for fanart and likely find some of the stuff I made. Notice though that all of my artwork shown on Google links directly back to my blog. Its because Google isn't stealing it, its parting the branches of a bush and pointing "Look! Over there is some Octonauts fanart like you requested!" XD

@pinkbomb08

There isn't really anything Gregory can do for Bonnie..

Its hard to explain,, but I'll try. Bonnie is missing his leg from the middle of his shin down. So he cant stand up right like Foxy because- well duh, he's missing a whole foot.

So order to fix Bonnies leg so he can stand/walk like Foxy does, he would need an entire replacement foot with a working joint. This would also mean that the wires in Bonnies legs would have to be replaced and hooked up so that he can control said new foot.

Currently there are no spare parts around that fit Bonnies model.. and even if they did, Gregory wouldn't know how to properly re-wire an animatronic foot. He's smart but not THAT smart <XDD

The only thing Gregory could do is make Bonnie a weird peg leg that makes his current leg longer. Currently Bonnies half leg is shorter than his good leg. But in all honesty Bonnie doesn't really want that.

Having Gregory ducttape this weird goofy peg leg to him would be more embarrassing then what he already has. He'd probably want to salvage what ever dignity he has left and say "ah give it a rest. There's no point. My legs good enough for what its for." <:/

@taizarack

If I remember correctly... Sometime ago my tablet pen broke. And it took like 2-3 weeks for a new one to arrive. In the mean time I tried to make an art doll of sorts. That doll was Bibi!

I ended up making a lot of goofy posts with Bibi and I as I waited for my pen to arrive. Once it finally did and I went back to drawing comics, I ended making Bibi a reoccurring character. And he's been around ever since!

Now Jangles is a Halloween prop that I bought because I thought it was funny. I was practicing making quilts one time and I made a small blue one that just so happened to be the right size for him. So I put it on and then I thiiink I got the idea to add Jangles to my blog as a joke.? I gave Bibi a "new friend" to celebrate hitting 10,000 followers. The new friend was a cropped png of jangles XD

Eventually down the line I wanted to give Bibi an proper friend. So for Bibi's birthday I drew a comic where Jangles came to life and here we are XD

@pinkbomb08

Currently I am getting none of those things :x I have a cold so sleep and food is hard :( Thank you though! :D

@notsoliyah

:D AW!! Thank you! I'm so glad to hear how I've inspired you! :}}

@ur0neand0nly

XD Thank you so much! And don't worry, I'm pretty confident I'll draw him again someday

XD Thank you. To be honest I'm kind'a going back and fourth on this fandom. I don't really wanna be apart of the fandom, but the characters are the only thing I'm interested in drawing atm soo-

@ardent-38

Ooo these are interesting! Although absorbing power ups isn't about digesting them. Its something about being human specifically that allows them to absorb the powerups.. 👀👀👀

@maddiethehatter2192

My advice would be to use references religiously. That's what I did!

Also thank you! :DD

Barnaby for sure.

Well, my interpretation of him really-

@taizarack (Post in question)

@funky-frankie

No there's no SpongeBob comic, I just felt like drawing Mr. Krabs XD

Also THANK YOU!! :DD That means so much!! :}}}

@elegysonnet

<XD thank you. So far I have some pretty basic ones I imagine. Wally's house is alive and evil, Julie is actually a scary monster but has drastically altered her appearance to look less scary.. Sally is very celestial in nature because she's a real star, Eddie used to be a real human and bleeds and has a heart beat and what not.. uuuuuuh what elseeee,,, I liked to imagine that Sally and Julie came to the neighborhood when they were really young and Poppy kind'a adopted them?? Although I don't know how wide spread that idea is XD

Thank you! And yeah I'm not very fond of that portrayal either <XD As for your questions..

1: I'm sure there would be somethings that would push his anxiety to the surface. I'm not sure what they'd be but still- I imagine if Luigi was around to see it he would try to get Mario out of what ever situation he's in. If he's in a crowd he'd try to help him slip away unnoticed.

2: I'm not familiar with the giga bell, but if I did add it I'd imagine those would be the side effects yeah <XD Really sore and tired and cant really move for like 3 days :x

Remodeled or not, I wont be adding any of those animatronics to the Pizzaplex. I already wrote the entire past of this timeline, and those bots all already have a story in my AU. And with their given stories it wouldn't make sense for them to be added to the Pizzaplex.

Of course I cant spoil what those stories are, just know that I have my reasons-

Oh yeah I forgot to add the colored eye lids to Wally and Barnaby in that trampoline drawing <XD

And yeah! I wanted Wally to be much more expressive so I gave him eyebrows-

@cudlycorncornsworthcoberson

Aw, thank you so much!! Its so cool to hear that you've shared my name with your friends!! :DD

#my response #fnaf security breach dlc spoilers #fnaf security breach dlc #fnaf security breach #ocotnauts #bibi and jangles

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imtotallyokandnormal · 6 months

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I am so sorry to the anon that requested this but as I was writing it I accidentally posted the unfinished thing and lost your request BUT IT IS NOW DONE SO I HOPE YOU ENJOY AND I APOLOGIZE!

Read the warnings on this one especially just in case

Reader: gn reader

Warnings: BIG TW FOR MENTIONS OF SH, this is meant to be after the reader hurts themselves so nothing graphic, but there are mentions of cuts and bruises

Image link: where did ya go

》☆John Doe Caring for You After Self-Harm☆《

- It doesn't matter how or why it happened. Whether you told him how or why didn't matter. All John knew was that you were vulnerable. Possibly scared, possibly angry, there could have been many emotions going on at once, maybe you couldn't even name them. But out of all of those things, he knew you were hurt.

- The moment they learned about it, they did everything in their power to keep calm. He knew you had to be in a vulnerable state, so it was imperative that he stayed calm. The first thing they asked was if you needed anything, and whatever it was they swiftly went to carry out the task.

- In all honesty, John was scared. More than scared. There wasn't a word to describe just how much fear and guilt and worry came rushing into him at once when he learned about what was happening. But that wasn't important to them right then, and their feelings were not your fault. Your safety was what mattered, more than anything else.

- If you were injured he'd take the time to properly patch you up, reciting instructions to himself under his breath. He learned some basic first aid in order to help you in case you ever got hurt. It was partially for self-assurance, hoping that he could fix things if he ever hurt you by accident again.

- They would be trying to think of what to say afterwards. In an attempt to engage your mind in something else he'd talk about anything and everything he could. The weather, things they saw that reminded them of you, the things they picked up (stole) from the store. Anything to keep your mind on something. Honestly, it also was a way to keep himself regulated too.

- If you didn't want them to talk they'll keep quiet, but they would still ask you if you need anything in order to help you feel comfortable. All they want is for you to feel safe.

- Any thoughts, feelings and questions they'd have in those moments would be kept to themselves. They wouldn't want you to see their worry, especially not since you were already going through so much. Their focus would be entirely on you, and they would prefer it that way anyway.

- They would offer to give you a bath or shower, knowing that humans do that as a form of self care (John doesn't get it because he literally turns to mush if he has to be in water and it's a sensory hell of an experience). If you took him up on it he'd gladly stay and wash you, just not in the water with you. His hands would be gentle, studying your body for any other cuts or bruises that he might have missed while patching you up.

- If you ever mentioned feeling like a burden to them at all, John would look at you with such a tender expression you could almost feel their heart grow soft. They'd wrap you in their arms or take your hand, maybe both, and assure you that as long as he could help keep you safe it was more than worth it to him. Nothing you could ever do would burden him.

- That night you and John would watch any movie you wanted, curled up on the bed. They may even turn into their Doe ball form for you to pet if you requested it. Anything at all, and they'd do it for you. Anything and everything, just for you.

- After you fall asleep, John will gaze at your sleeping form so lovingly, stroking your face. He's just happy that you're now safe. He'll do anything in his power to keep you safe, no matter what.

#normal headcanons!#i hope anon enjoys this and is doing well!#john doe visual novel #john doe x you #john doe x reader #john doe #house hunted game #house hunted visual novel #f/o #f/o community #f/o imagines #imagine your f/o #gn reader

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agent-grey-fics · 3 months

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Who we are | Paul Lahote | Part 2

Paired: Paul Lahote x reader

Wordcount: 1116

Summary: Haunted by the imprint that binds him to you, Paul struggles in silence . The weight of his secret and the fear of your reaction build as he contemplates confessing. Memories of a life-altering moment and a pack urging honesty propel him into the night as a wolf, leaving his internal dilemma echoing in the moonlit forest.

Writers note: Here is part 2 of 'who we are', you can read part 1 here. It's a shorter transition part, better be readey for part 3 :p Part 3

The whole ride he didn't speak a word to you. As you closed the car door a sigh escaped his lips. He didn’t realize that he had been holding his breath. Shaking his head, he started his drive home. He was lost in his thoughts. How was he ever going to tell you what he was a part of? What you were part of because of him. He thought back to the moment when everything changed.

The boys had organized a birthday party for Emily almost two years ago. Everything had been arranged: they had cooked, there was enough alcohol for an entire army, and Embry had arranged a music system for a house party. Everything was going according to plan until you walked in. When the two of you locked eyes it was as if the earth stopped turning. Gravity pulled him toward you while a glowing heat filled him, and everyone and everything else in his life became secondary. He stood rooted to the ground, he never wanted this in the first place and now it was you. The two of you didn’t say a thing and his brothers shared meaningful glances. They knew. You walked towards him, feeling the universal pull and a smile formed on your lips. Confusion clouded your head, all you knew was that you wanted to be close to him. All he could do was turn around, he couldn't get out of the house fast enough.

Since that moment he avoided you like the plague. Ignoring the bond made him even more volatile and his anger outbursts spiralled out of control. Sam had reminded him several times that he needed to embrace the bond, that it could ground him but he would have none of it. He couldn't commit to one person for the rest of his life and depend on her to keep him sane. He simply couldn't, he didn't want to. He never truly loved someone and he didn’t love you before the stupid imprint. There had been a chemistry between the two of you, he couldn’t deny that but it wasn’t love. It was sexual tension, you put him in his place and didn’t take his shit.

He had considered his options. He could be selfish, tell you everything and knowing you, you wouldn’t run. You would stay if you knew that staying away from him made him go mad. but he didn't think that was fair. For years you had told him you wanted to start over somewhere new, under the sun. But he knew that it wasn’t fair. For years you had told him you wanted to start over somewhere new, under the sun instead of the shitty weather of Washington. He couldn’t be selfish, not when it came to you. Before he realised it, he had left his car on his driveway and shifted into the silver-furred wolf. He started running as fast as his paws could carry him. The night air rushed past Paul as he ran through the dense forest, the rhythmic pounding of his paws against the ground echoing the turmoil within him. The pack's voices buzzed in his mind, each one urging him to confront the truth, to face the consequences of his actions. ‘Dude, what did you do?’ ‘Where did you go?’ Quill and Embry asked through their mind link. ‘Leave me the fuck alone, I need to think.’ He was angry. ‘No, what you need to do is man up and tell her. She’s your imprint for fuck’s sake. Just tell her, you guys got along before, you even liked her. How things are now is awfully painful to watch.’ It was Jacob, he had enough of Paul chickening out all the time.’ Deep down, he knew they were right. He couldn't keep avoiding it. The bond he shared with you, the imprint that connected him to your very soul, demanded honesty. He needed to come clean, no matter how difficult it might be.

As Paul's wolf form darted between the trees, he couldn't escape the memories of the times when things were different between the two of you. The laughter, the shared dreams of a new beginning under the sun – all of it played vividly in his mind. He realized he couldn't let fear and uncertainty tarnish those precious moments. Finally slowing down, Paul found himself in a familiar clearing deep within the forest. The moonlight filtered through the leaves, casting a silvery glow on the ground. He took a moment to catch his breath, feeling a mix of frustration and determination coursing through his wolf form. ‘I can't keep running away,’ he thought to himself as if trying to convince his own conscience. ‘She deserves to know the truth.’ His heart pounded in his chest, and his mind became a battleground of conflicting emotions. The rhythmic beat of his paws on the forest floor became a drumming soundtrack to the turmoil within. The decision to stop running felt like a weight on his shoulders, and he couldn't escape the haunting question: Was he ready to expose you to the supernatural world that had forever altered his existence? What if you couldn't accept the truth? What if the revelation drove a permanent wedge between you two? These questions clawed at Paul's thoughts, creating a web of anxiety that threatened to ensnare him. The realization that he couldn't predict your reaction loomed over him, casting a shadow on the determination that had brought him to this point. The cool night air carried the scent of pine and damp earth, but even the familiar scents couldn't drown out the internal debate. His wolfish instincts urged him to protect, to shield you from the complexities of his supernatural existence. The internal debate raged on: Was he being selfish by unburdening his truth upon you? Would it be kinder to spare you the knowledge and allow you to pursue the new beginning you had always dreamed of, free from the entanglements of the supernatural?

A part of him longed for the simplicity of the past, the time when you two had shared laughter and dreams without the weight of secrets. But another part feared the irreversible consequences of laying bare the reality that lurked beneath the surface of their seemingly normal lives. With a deep, primal snarl, Paul pushed forward. The decision had been made, and there was no turning back. The moonlit path stretched out before him, and as the silver-furred wolf sprinted into the night, the echoes of his internal dilemma lingered in the rustle of leaves and the distant howls of the pack, intertwining with the secrets that the forest held.

He was going to tell you.

#paul lahote imagine #paul lahote x reader #paul lahote x y/n #twilight fic #wolve pack fic #jacob black #edward cullen #twilight #bella swan #imprint fic

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kryptznnn · 10 months

Text

♛- PLAY-HARD III

1st part / 2nd part / 3rd part /

Series Masterlist ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

➸ INTERESTS; - olo'eyktan!jake x fem!omatikayan reader

➸ BACKGROUND; - working alongside Moat has helped you and your family in various ways, as a way to repay her for your free working she pairs you along side Toruk Makto to aid him in small departments he needs assistance in, but more importantly to find a Tsahik suitable for the Olo'eyktan, but he isn't always cooperative.

➸ WARNINGS; - wc. 2.7k slight age gap (25 & 21), takes place after the great war, slow burn, injuries, kissing, teasing, flirting, confessing, intimacy, sexual tension (really heavy), masturbation (fem), fingering, stalking? (barely), mentions of fem!receiving pleasure, some cock-blocking, p!play, nipple play, lmk if there’s anything else I missed.

➸a.i; - 3rd chapter!! (first two chapters are linked up top) NOT PROOF READ, yes i love cock-blocking enjoy being edged and thank u guys for all the love ❤️, i’m currently working on different master lists for all avatar characters so just flood my inbox or my dms :))) also smut warning ahead

*na’vi translation will be provided*

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The entire time Jake patched you up you remained silent, you found it a little humorous, the olo’ektyan being the one helping a healer who was harmed, but none the less his delicate care and comforting smile warmed your heart. He even made sure you ate a little after helping you, when you finished, you thanked him.

“You didn’t have to” You said, slowly placing a hand on the side of his neck, smiling sweetly, he shook his head and placed his hand on yours. “Yes I did” He says softly, closing his eyes and smiling. You rolled your eyes and laughed softly, “you sound like i’m your muntxate” [wife] You giggled, he opened his eyes just to look at you, his ears lowering slowly.

“I sound like someone who cares about you, which I do.” He said, soon taking your hand into his and kissing your fingers softly, you looked away immediately feeling your face heat up. Taking a deep breath to face him again, this was wrong, you thought. You guys can’t be doing this, he can’t be doing this, saying these things to you and making you feel this way, he probably doesn’t even-

“Can ya help me peach?” He asked, now kissing your palm softly and massaging your bruised wrist. Your ears perked up immediately, sighing softly. “What is it?” You asked, your head cocked softly to the side to which he eyed you up and down, slowly pulling you closer to him.

“Help me understand how I feel about something” He stated, and you nodded in response, your entire focus set to him as he looked down at your hands. “This something is very special to me, yeah? I care about it more than anything right now, even my place as the clan leader which means I love this something, more than anything right now. I’m constantly thinking about this something all the time. I’ve had close moments with her and she’s just-“

“She’s mated already.” You spoke, looking down at your lap and retracting your hands from Jakes, tears welling your eyes rather quickly, you couldn’t believe how foolish you were. Of course he was confessing his love for another woman to you, and that other woman being Ninat. In some ways you began asking yourself if Za’yukto was right, how you were dumb enough to believe that anyone didn’t just want to use you for their own personal issues. Jake, your ruler, your boss, and the man you’ve been in love with since he first stopped by in the healers tent a year ago had just sat here and-

“What.” He asked? his voice hoarse and dripping in disbelief, in all honesty when you said those three words his heart nearly leaped out of his throat, he just spoke with you yesterday and you clarified nothing had happened with your friend. Since when were you mated? Did he read the room wrong did he not understand the signs you gave him?

“Ninat, she’s already mated, I bumped into her and her husband yesterday, she introduced me to him and I figured I should’ve told you I just forgot because of what happened back home with Za-yukto. I mean she’s obviously the one you’re talking about so” You said, your voice quickly trembling, a tear quickly rolling down your cheek that you immediately wiped. After the evening you just had this was the icing on the cake.

“I don’t want Ninat..” Jake spoke softly, cupping your face with his hand, kissing your wet cheek and grinning ear to ear, eager for your response. “But you’re in love with someone, you just said-“

“It’s not just someone, it’s you. Nga yawne lu oer y/n” [I love you y/n] He said cheerfully, your mouth hung open, not being able to process or respond to his confession. “Jake..” You gasped softly, moving in closer to him and cupping his face with both of your hands and kissing him softly.

Without a second thought he kissed you back, neither of you being able to keep your hands off of one another. Your short sweet kisses soon became long and rough, making you pull back gasping for air. Jake however saw this as an opportunity to kiss your jawline and neck, leaving small love bites and kisses where Za’yukto hadn’t marked, smiling to himself and humming in response to hearing your moans. You quickly removed your left hand from Jake’s face to trail down his body, soon wincing and pulling away taking a pause. Seeing Jake’s immediate change in behavior reaching out to gently hold your hand, checking your bandages.

“I’m okay, m’sorry.” You said, not wanting to worry him, but continue earlier’s events. He shook his head, squishing your cheeks softly, “You should get some sleep, it’s late” He spoke, before you could even respond a yawn broke its way through your lips, further proving Jake to be right as he just laughed at you.

“It’s okay, i’ll take you to be-“

Three sharp pounds at the tents entrance quickly cut Jake off, startling you, but seeming completely normal for him. He told you to sleep in his bed tonight, and he would be there shortly having to answer the unexpected guest at the door, mumbling the words “cock-block” before leaving.

Soon after you found yourself laying on Jake’s bed, enjoying the comfort of his room, smiling softly to yourself. Eventually Jake made his way to the room to talk to you, sitting beside you and watching the way you rolled around to face him. “Hi” You said with a large smile, “Hi” he sighed and smiled as well, bending over to kiss your forehead. “One of the generals at the door asked for my assistance so I won’t be with you tonight, I’ll be coming back late but you’ll see me in the mornin, that okay?” He asked, caressing your cheek and moving his hand down to your hair, you only nodded, your eyes feeling too weak to open. You felt a soft peck to your lips before drifting to sleep.

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You slowly rise from your sleep, sitting up in Jake’s bed to see him sleeping beside you on the floor, you giggle softly, careful to not wake him. Figuring you had a valuable amount of time on your hands before he woke up you decided to go wash up and do something with your hair, it was definitely time to wash that too.

After making your way to Jake’s bathing lake you quickly set your large cloth to the side and removed your top and bottom, sighing with relief as soon as your body touched the water. You let yourself walk further and further down to the depths of the water until it reached around waist length before bending your knees and completely submerging yourself in the water for a few seconds before quickly rising back up, gasping shortly.

You placed your hands on top of your hair, smiling to yourself remembering last nights events. You could feel your heart race just picturing it again, the way he kissed you, the way he held you, the way he spoke to you, and the way he touched you. It killed you how you couldn’t have gone farther with him yesterday, or confess yourself how you felt for him, but you loved how open he was with you. Your hand slowly slid down past your hair, lower to your breasts while your other hand reached down between your thighs, your slick quickly coating your fingers. It wouldn’t hurt to mess around just once, right? Besides it’s been so long since you’ve had some time to yourself.

You moaned softly, grasping your breasts softly while teasing your nipples softly, quickening the pace of your fingers on your clit, moaning even louder. “Jake..” You groaned softly, quickly biting your bottom lip afterwards and tossing your head back a bit, imagining him being here with you now, wondering if he was still asleep or awake or what it was that he was doing. Truth be told he was awake, and was watching you right now.

After waking up the first thing he did was go around to look for you, and when he couldn’t find you he began to panic a small bit. He stepped outside, his senses relaxing a bit noticing your ikran was still here, if anything she was cuddled up with his own ikran; Bob. He smiled softly at them, their closeness reminding him of how you and him are, happy of last nights events.

He began cupping his mouth and calling out your name, to which you answered with no avail, obviously because you didn’t hear him. Soon after he sat down outside, before hearing the sound of splashing water around, following his sense of sound towards the source to find none other than you, who had just resurfaced after being fully under the water. He squatted down behind plenty of bushes and watched you carefully, a smirk on his face. If anything with the way he hid there was no way you’d be able to see him, well that would be if you didn’t spot a blue tail swishing back and forth out of eagerness, which he quickly yanked down and held onto.

Soon after hearing you, and seeing the way you pleased yourself, whimpering his name. In all honesty he wasn’t expecting that at all, quickly catching him off guard as his tail quickly hit the bushes in front of him, making a rather noticeable noise, making you stop dead in your tracks, which wasn’t to neither your or his enjoyment. Taking note of how you nearly tipped over in the lake before lathering yourself to leave shortly, taking this as his opportunity to leave. Muttering to himself how he was his own cock block in frustration, truth be told he wasn’t planning on doing anything, just getting comfortable to watch you. Everyone has their own way of pleasuring themselves and he wasn’t going to miss a step when it came to you. Later on you arrived back to Jake’s hut, jumping slightly to find him directly by the entrance, tying the flaps down and greeting you, to which you returned the favor. He laughed at your sudden fear to which you responded how he startled you and you weren’t expecting him to be up so early, especially since he came home late.

“Wanted to make sure you ate something before visiting the Tsahik” He responded, placing two plates onto the table and ushering you to sit, to which you did with a smile, thanking him. He pushed your chair back in before sitting in his own seat, right beside you smiling cheekily.

Normal conversation went against you too, asking how your night was and how each of you slept until you opened the subject of how Jake’s morning was. He quickly flicked his tongue up poking at his fangs before answering, interlocking both hands with one another, resting his chin on them while his elbows pressed against the table. “I was looking for you this mornin’” He started, looking at your face for any expression, you just hummed in response and continued eating, your left cheek now full of food waiting for him to continue. “Couldn’t find you anywhere either, thought you ran away or something happened to you.” He said, watching your brows furrow carefully before swallowing to reply. “But you ended up finding me, I came right back home” You giggled softly, to which he laughed as well. “Yeah but I actually found you before then… at the lake” He spoke, not even attempting to eat his food anymore, shifting half of his body weight onto the table and turning to you, resting his left elbow on the elbow along with his head resting in his hand. You froze a bit, recalling the noise at the bush that caused you to stop in ‘the heat of the moment’ you decided to call it, asking yourself if that might’ve been Jake.

“Were you watching me?” You asked in a mumble, to which Jake looked you up and down, playing with your wet hair. “I left as soon as I realized what you were doin’” He replied.

Of course he was lying, he was there to witness the whole thing, he knew exactly what you were doing, but it’s not like you would’ve ever found out.

“I liked what I saw though” He spoke, pausing with the patterns in your hair and waiting for you to look over to him, which you did only for a brief second, attempting to not choke on your food, obviously flustered, he smiled at your shyness flashing his fangs at you. “Nothing t’be nervous about pretty, it’s a normal thing to do, I do it sometimes too” He said softly, now leaning over and resting his left elbow on his thigh, whispering in your ear, which quickly flicked around and brushed against his lips.

Whatever he was telling you was not making you feel any better than how you felt before. He knew that, he just-

“Relax! I’m just messing with ya kid! You’re so tense and bothered, you’re acting like you were doin’ it ‘cuz of me” He laughed, no longer by your ear and massaging your shoulders to get you to relax, kissing your temple softly to which you just grimaced, forcing a small laugh out of your lips, which anyone could tell was fake. “So funny…” You deadpanned, continuing to eat the meal in front of you that was almost finished, turning to look at Jake’s plate which was still pretty full, looking back up at him and his plate then scoffing.

“But y’ know if you ever need anything, i’m here for you, no matter what it is” He said sincerely, placing his large hand on your thigh, inching it higher and higher slowly. You nodded slightly, looking up at him slowly, bashing your eyelids and exhaling softly, opening your legs a little. “Jake..”

“Shh, shh, It’s okay” He said cutting you off softly, leaning down to kiss you, to which you returned and cupped his cheeks, soon breaking the kiss as you felt Jake’s index finger slowly graze in between your thighs, making you moan softly and shut your eyes quickly. “J-jake, we shouldn’t-“

“You don’t have to do anything kid, i’d be doing all the work” He said softly, kissing your neck softly as you giggled softly, feeling him toy with you through your loincloth. “You should finish eating” You mewled softly, pointing to his plate to which he shook his head. “Not hungry for that right now pretty, m’hungry for this” He said, quickly guiding his hand underneath your loincloth to tap against your innocence softly, all 5 of his long fingers cupping you, making you groan abruptly as you slowly grinded into his hand. “Y’gonna let me taste?” He whispered in your ear, sticking his tongue out to dampen his lips, to which you nodded, holding his shoulder tightly. To your response he nodded as well, now smiling and continuously kissing you, teasing you softly as he slowly stood up to pull your chair in front of him.

Quickly two bangs were heard towards the entrance of Jake’s tent, watching Jake’s jaw clenched as he huffed heavily, clearly upset, possibly more upset than you were. He ushered for you for you to go on with your day and go visit Mo’at, and promised he would finish what he started later, which scared you slightly, but not anymore than it aroused you. Cleaning up shortly and making your way to the entrance with Jake you hear him mutter the words ‘Cock-block’ yet again to which you giggled, finding the word funny, soon after saying your goodbyes to him, but not before grabbing your belongings and passing by the guest who had knocked on the door before, the guest being none other than Za’yukto.

What could he possibly be here for?

⭐️🕷️Taglist🕷️⭐️

@dani111 @igotmajordaddyissues @bunniparadise @shadowmoonlight0604 @bigbootahjudy @innercreationflower @call-me-doll-face @taleiak @ellabellabus07 @anangelwhodidntfall

#avatar 2009 #avatar 2022 #avatar smut #avatar the way of water #jake sully #jake sully dilf #jake sully drabble #jake sully smut #tsyeyk suli #atwow

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miryum · 1 year

Text

Foundling Villa- Chapter 6

Royal!Charles Leclerc x Reader. Princess Y/n is arranged to marry Prince Charles. There will be many ups and downs that the author hasn’t planned out yet, but read along to find out more! (Yes, I know that sounds super cheesy) Warnings per chapter. Hope you guys enjoy!

Tag list: @notleclerc @sunsumonner

Warnings: swearing, open talk of sex, smut (but not in the sweet way you’re thinking of. A better, sweeter smut scene will come later)

ao3 link next chapter>>

“There you go,” Prince Charles mumbled, opening the door to his room. Tucked into the right corner was a large desk in which you could see scrolls of parchment laid out, held down by little figurines. On the left were two doors, one you knew was a bathroom, and the other was partially opened to a massive closet. A third door sat on the right side of the room, angled by a fireplace with a couch and a dark, soft rug. “It leads to your room.” Prince Charles pointed to the door. “They want married couples close by. Though I believe your room will be empty most of the time.”

“What are you implying?” You glared at him, wondering if he meant that you would be spending most nights by his side.

“Your sister told me about a villa.” Prince Charles shut the door and leaned against it.

You peeked back at him, flushing. You didn’t know Prince Charles had found out. But your eye caught something else. “What is that?” you asked, pointing to the wall behind him.

Prince Charles was the one to blush this time, stepping over to join you gazing up at the wall. “It’s you. I thought I should have a painting of my wife.” Indeed, there was a small painting of you in your royal gowns hung on Prince Charles’ wall. It was outlined with an ornate frame. It was one of the few paintings where you were seen smiling. The painter had brought in Ralph to make funny faces at you and joke around to get a genuine smile from you. Clearly, it had worked.

Before you had arrived, a servant had brought in three paintings, one of you in all of your heavy regalia, one with your entire family, and the one that was on the wall now. “I liked your smile,” Prince Charles said.

“Thank you.” You walked over to his desk, ignoring the large bed in the middle of the room. “Really?” You curled an eyebrow up at a list that was laid out. It was a letter written in your sister, Kaitlyn’s, familiar script. “When did you communicate with Kaitlyn?”

“I wrote letters to all of your family members,” Charles said. “I wanted to connect with them.”

Prince Charles, you scanned over the letter.

I’m very pleased, yet surprised to hear from you. I apologise for not being able to come to the wedding. I’m excited to see my little sister get married, especially with the prince of Enza. You asked for my suggestions and input on how to charm Y/n, but there’s little I can say. Y/n is a wonderful, kind, and smart lady with a tough shell. All you need to do is try to crack it. If you wish for brutal honesty, I shall give it. She doesn’t want to marry you. She never wanted an arranged marriage. Y/n wanted to choose her husband through love and hope, not through treaties and flat compromises. At first, she’s going to be phlegmatic and apathetic, and you have to be patient. If you come on too strong or harsh, she will clam up the moment you step into the room. I know it will be hard, particularly with our lineage. We were always handed things on a silver platter, but Y/n will slowly come to you on her own. She is something you can not force.

Think of my sister as a silver fox. She’s whip sharp and elusive. She’ll stake you out for a while, and if she deems you trustworthy, then she will come to you. However, if you try to go to her, she’ll run away, not before biting you.

What am I writing? You could practically hear her giggles. I’m making her sound like a villain. My sister is not a villain. Once you manage to catch the fox, she will stay by you until the ends of the earth and protect you with all her might. Do not let her go. I am putting my trust in you to take care of her. My sister is not one to let her needs be known. Read between the lines, Prince Leclerc, and one day I expect to see you and Y/n make a very happy couple.

Best wishes,

Princess Kaitlyn

You felt a mix of betrayal and pride. Who was your sister to expose you like this? She had no right. Yet it was sweet to hear what she thought of you. Kaitlyn had always been able to worm your secrets out of you, something that made you impossibly close to her. She was an empathic and true soul, so you knew she meant what she wrote.

“I’m trying to take her words to heart,” Prince Charles said. “I want to take this slow. I want to build up a relationship, not just force it upon us. So please, tell me about this villa.”

You sighed and sat down at his desk. Your dress bunched up under you. “I bought a house on the outskirts of Enza. It’s on Williams’ border.” Charles made a noise of acknowledgement. “I was going to move in after tonight.” You cleared your throat, saying, “I didn’t want to be stuck at the palace. I’m going to employ a small staff. It has an expansive field behind it. I’ve already got a stable master. His name is Lando.”

Charles felt a sudden, surprising pang of jealousy towards his man he had never met. You would be spending more time with a stable master than your husband. “Would you be living alone?” Charles asked lowly.

You looked down. “I have yet to decide.”

“Is there anything I can do to urge you in a decision?” Charles felt like a small child, asking for hesitant permission. He had never been as tentative or timorous.

“Yes,” you stood up suddenly. Your heart started pounding and you walked towards your new husband. “Have sex with me.”

“Pardon?” Charles’ face heated up. What were you talking about? Just at the prospect of it, he felt himself twitch to life. He licked his lips and swallowed in order to try and rein in his emotions. He noticed you glance him up and down. “Why?”

“For three reasons,” you stated. “First and foremost, it’s our wedding night and we must consummate the marriage. Second, do you honestly think that the wedding date was picked randomly? Prince Charles, sorry to be so improper, but I was bleeding a couple days ago. They want me to be suitably able and feeling like creating a child.” Charles’ eyes widened and he stared at the ground. “And third, I would like to get it over with.”

“Excuse me? You want to get it over with? What does that mean?”

“Can you please help me?” You turned around and gestured to the back of your dress. “I can’t get it off myself.”

“Um, sure.” Charles paced forward. He started at the very top and unclasped the first button. There was a long line to go; it stopped just below your hips. Charles wanted to curse whoever decided that the more buttons, the better. “Could you explain your wording, please?” he asked quietly, continuing to unbutton your dress. Everytime he popped a new one open, a bit more skin was revealed to him. It was like you were trying to tease him.

“I want to get it over with,” you repeated. “I’m normally not this crass, but I just need you to fuck me and be done. I need to get it out of the way so it’s not this event that looms over me, and I never know when the storm will hit.”

“Do you want to fuck or make love?” Charles clarified. His hands retreated from your back. You tried to struggle out of it, but were trapped by the confining fabric. You huffed and squirmed in the dress.

“Is there a difference?”

“Very much so, yes.” His eyebrows rose. He thought every girl knew the difference. But he knew you had no experience with any of this. For all he knew, this was the first time you had talked openly about sex.

“I want to fuck,” you decided.

“Then I won’t do it.” Charles shook his head and went back to unbuttoning your wedding dress.

Your shoulders slumped. “I understand why you won’t, but why can’t you grant me this one wish? I want to do this so the anxiety and foreboding of it all disappears and I know what to expect. Then, afterwards, maybe I’ll be able to enjoy it.”

“Your first time should be meaningful,” Charles objected. “You should feel a connection with the person; a loving feeling that you both share. A moment of trust.”

“Well, I don’t have any of that with you!” you cried out. Charles stepped back at your outburst. You finally had enough room to shuffle out of your dress. Charles couldn’t help but stare at your back, but managed to look away as you revealed your legs. You kicked off the garb, leaving you in your undergarments which consisted of a corset and stockings. “Oh, damn it! Prince Charles, could you also unlace my corset? I’m assuming that the position of the unattainable ribbons are on purpose.”

Charles exhaled and shrugged off his jacket. He felt severely overdressed compared to you. Now in a loose tunic and pants, coupled with shined buckled shoes, he tried to unravel your corset, silently wondering why women’s clothes were so complicated. “Fine, I will complete our royal duty.”

“And I thank you for that.”

The sex was, in retrospect, uneventful. There was no kissing, no foreplay, and no touching other than what was required. Hell, Prince Charles still had his tunic on. Like you wanted, he was only fucking you. There was no love involved.

You were awed by this new feeling you were experiencing, but knew it could be so much more. It was as if you were a locked door and Prince Charles held the key, but you were forcing him to sit back and watch the door, hoping that it would open without his interference.

Afterwards you were filled with want and the inkling of euphoria, but you would not allow yourself to trust Prince Charles to help you achieve the full feeling. Your legs sore, you fell asleep on the far side of the bed.

Charles stayed awake late into the night, sitting on the couch and staring at the fireplace. Every once in a while, his eyes would flicker to your portrait or to your sleeping figure. He was stunned at the difference. Your painting seemed lively and enthusiastic. He hadn’t seen you smile like that because of him. Charles wondered if he was the reason that you hadn’t smiled. If you were betrothed to a better, kinder prince, would you be smiling for him?

Would you ever smile for him?

#Foundling Villa #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc #charles leclerc one shot #charles leclerc imagine #f1 x reader #f1 fanfic #f1 imagine #lord perceval #smut #charles leclerc smut #marriage night #monarchy #prince!charles leclerc x reader #prince!charles leclerc

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devildom-moss · 6 months

Text

Roses for You (12)

This had all started when you noticed a link between a book on the language of flowers you had borrowed from Satan’s room and the current lessons from your Seductive Speechcraft and Magical Potions classes.

In Seductive Speechcraft, you had just reached a section on the effectiveness of spells using non-verbal communication: enchanting glances, dance, and offerings. Meanwhile, in Magical Potions, the professor had been discussing the significance of using specific quantities when concocting potions; they had spent fifteen minutes just providing examples – including adding petals from two different flowers when using them for a love spell.

You couldn’t resist discussing the use of flower language – utilizing the type, color, and quantity of the flowers – to specify the magical intent of an offering as a form of seductive speechcraft. Asmo and Solomon listened intently. The same idea popped into both of their minds, and before you knew it, everyone was looking into color and number meanings, searching for the perfect combination to convey their feelings for you and try to put you under their spell. The only rule for their little competition to charm you? Only roses are allowed.

Will you be charmed by their attempts?

Twelve Roses - Solomon

Word Count: +800

Be mine?

(Nightbringer specific era)

“You know you don’t have to walk me back to my room, right?” You informed Solomon as his shoulder brushed against yours. It wasn’t as if you didn’t want him there, but Solomon had already planned the entire date – took care of everything and catered to your every whim. He didn’t need to keep it up.

“But I want to,” Solomon grinned at you so beautifully that you felt the need to deflect.

“Hoping to get a reward for such a lovely date?” you teased.

“I’d never refuse a reward from you, but spending the day with you was all the incentive I needed.” Solomon’s smile softened into something more contemplative. “We live together now, and I still find myself wanting more of your time.”

“Aww, do you get lonely?” you teased again, hoping to lighten the mood and brighten his smile.

“Yes.” He was straightforward.

Your face warmed and you were partly relieved to see your bedroom door. His honesty flustered you to a point of wishing to hide from his affectionate gaze. How were you expected to respond? It wasn’t as if you planned your days around avoiding him. The brothers (and to a lesser extent, Diavolo and the angels) just required so much of your effort and time. You enjoyed being with them, sure, but you had to work towards securing your pacts in this timeline – for both your sakes. Solomon understood that. So, at times, he found himself sustained on scraps of your attention, indulging whenever the opportunity arose. This was a bitter sacrifice, but the sweetness in knowing you returned home and laid your head to rest so near his own offset some of that sickening loneliness.

When you touched the doorknob, something felt off – some benign trace of magic. Did you leave a cursed book or magical item in there before you left and simply forgot about it? Maybe Thirteen was testing a trap out on you. If that was the case, you didn’t have much to worry about. Whatever it was, it wasn’t strong or evil, so you opened the door. There was something amiss – or rather, there was something unexpected waiting for you. On your bedside table was a vase of black and red roses that weren’t there when you left for your date with Solomon. You pursed your lips and took a closer look.

Please let this be a magical delivery, you hoped. The thought of someone entering your room while you were out was unsettling – no matter how pretty the flowers were. Upon closer inspection, the bouquet contained six red and six black roses for a total of twelve: a message saying, “be mine,” which only made the sudden appearance of them in your room creepier. Furthermore, black and red was a confusing combination. Red was the color of love and passion, but black was typically associated with death or mourning. Did you have a creepy yandere on your hands or something?

There was a small card tucked into the flowers with a hand-drawn heart scribbled in with a black pen on one side. You reached for it and checked the back for a message. For my adorable apprentice, you read, sighing in relief before you continued, did you really think I wouldn’t throw my hat in the ring, too? It was partially my idea, after all, and I want your affection as much as anyone else.

You shook your head with the tips of your fingers pressed to your temple. The gesture of annoyance was contradicted by your smile and a laugh. “How did you even get this in here? I locked the door when I left.”

“A magician never reveals his secret, my dear.” Solomon beamed.

“You’re a sorcerer.”

“I could be both,” he joked.

“Well, you do pull out magic as a party trick a lot.”

“You love my magical party tricks,” Solomon laughed and let himself into your room. Coming up behind you, he wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder. He lifted one of the red roses slightly, holding the stem between two fingers. “So, what does my adorable apprentice think?”

“I’m not sure what you mean to say with the black roses. Were you just trying to be mysterious? Or am I dying, and this is how I find out?” you half-joked, earning a gentle sigh from Solomon.

“You know how the death tarot card signifies changes and new beginnings? Black roses are the same.” You felt Solomon nuzzle into your neck before he continued. “Being back in time like this – it’s a new beginning for us, in a way. I got to start in this time, already loving you – and with you already loving me, I hope.”

“I love you,” you interrupted his uncharacteristic self-doubt. Maybe he shouldn’t have had a second glass of wine with dinner.

“Good.” Solomon left a kiss on your neck. “I want you to be mine. I want you to trust and love and rely on me. I want you to choose me when it really counts. . . Did you notice that there are six of both colors? That’s because I’m yours.”

“Solomon.” You squirmed away from his grasp just enough to turn in his arms and hold his face in your hands. “Do you want to stay the night? Maybe we can do something about that loneliness of yours.”

#solomon #gn!mc #obey me series #obey me #oh no only three more characters left #obey me solomon #solomon x mc #solomon x reader

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abitohoney · 6 months

Text

Hustle - CH4: Piltover

AO3 link

CH1 || CH2 || CH3 || CH4 || CH5

Sevika x female reader

Rating: Explicit, MDNI, NSFW

Tags: Sevika/Reader, Ran & Reader, Established Relationship, assassin reader, Fluff, Smut, Porn with Feelings, Porn With Plot, horny idiots in love, Dom/sub, Dom Sevika, sub Reader, Humor, Banter, Choking, Spanking, Teasing, Light Sadism, Begging, Strap-Ons, Lesbian Sex, Aftercare, Gambling, Smoking, lack of understanding card games, totally winging this shit, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood, Praise Kink, Vaginal Fingering, Semi-Public Sex, Rough Sex, Hair-pulling, reader is not the most graceful creature, but Sevika adores reader all the more for it, Jealousy, Marking, Orgasm Delay, Cunnilingus, Multiple Orgasms, Hurt/Comfort, a Yordle OC that we will likely never see again but I had entirely too much fun writing, 69 (Sex Position)

Word Count: 11.3k

Summary: Looking to make your nights with Sevika a bit more… exciting, you suggest making use of your shared talent for playing cards. Together, the two of you take the Undercity, and even Topside, by storm. And what’s more exciting than the thrill of winning, or watching your opponents whine and gripe in defeat, or earning far more coin than the two of you could possibly spend? The release of pent-up sexual desire that seems to come with each and every win, that’s what.

AN: This is already in process over on AO3.

The following days leading up to the tournament absolutely dragged by. Silco still had not given you an assignment, while Sevika and Ran had more than ever, leaving you to sit alone in your room with nothing to do but think. And the only thing you could think about was the damn tournament.

Ran had, by no surprise to you, selected your fake identity to be that of a princess. A fucking princess. But that was in all honesty the least of your worries. What plagued your mind the most was what you and Sevika would be wearing.

Would Ran have put Sevika in a dress? A suit? Something revealing? What color? And what probably took over most of your thoughts– what would she think of your very different than usual attire?

You’d never been one to care that much about your appearance before- only that you were clean, covered, and unnoticeable. Yet since you’d started seeing Sevika it suddenly became an unwelcome worry. Not because of anything she said or did. You were just fully aware of the types of girls she frequented at the brothel before you two became an item, and you knew you were nothing like them. But the dress you’d be wearing that night certainly could pass as above and beyond that.

So what would she think of it?

Both wildly nervous and excited, you found yourself struggling to focus as Ran helped you into your dress. They didn’t seem to mind though, lifting your arms and circling you as they fastened and straightened all the tiny and intricate pieces. It wasn’t until you felt them tug at the back of your bra that you realized they were done.

“Gonna have to lose this.” They slipped a finger beneath the waistband of your panties and gave it a little snap. “These too.”

Your wide eyes flicked to Ran’s grinning reflection in their floor-length mirror. Then, to your very visible bra and panties beneath your ‘dress’.

Right.

“Okay,” you said softly, heat rising up your neck and into your cheeks.

Ran removed the clasps of your bra and watched with blatant interest as you slipped it off and set it aside.

Slowly, you slipped your panties down, bending over and stepping out of them before setting them with your bra. The warmth flooding your cheeks reached an intensity close to burning, and you could feel Ran’s gaze on you from where they stood entirely too close. You straightened up just in time to catch Ran’s gaze roaming up your body in the mirror, their lips curling higher the further their eyes traveled.

“Very pretty,” they said softly, running their metal fingertips along the back of the gold piece around your neck.

Your body visibly trembled, goosebumps spreading across your bare skin. You swallowed hard, the lump in your throat threatening to take your voice away. “Thanks,” you managed to get out.

“Sevika will be very pleased.”

God did you hope so.

“This way,” Ran instructed with a nod towards the bathroom.

Brows furrowed, you turned to them in confusion. “What now?”

“Makeup.”

Oh no. Please no.

Reluctantly, you followed them to a small sink cabinet where they pulled out a rather large container just chock full of various makeup. At least everything seemed to be shades of black or dark gray. No sign of pink.

Ran directed for you to turn towards them, and as you did, their black-painted lips curled into an amused grin.

Why did Ran and Sevika both seem to have this obsession with seeing you flustered?

While Ran silently worked on applying some foundation, your eyes darted around their bathroom, desperate to avoid making eye contact. As if that would somehow prevent them from seeing how your face burned red hot.

You've known Ran far longer than you and Sevika have been an… item. You're not even sure what to call what you and Sevika are to one another. You two fuck like you just met, cuddle like you're in the honeymoon phase, and banter like an old married couple. So whatever that's called, that's what you two have together.

But you’re almost less sure what you and Ran have. It used to seem platonic, but with every passing day, you get more of the feeling that Ran, and maybe even you, might have something more going on.

“Hey.”

Ran’s quiet voice finally drew your attention to them. And oh did you regret that.

Ran pursed their dark lips.

Your breath caught in your throat.

Were they going to…?

Then they leaned forward.

You froze. Caught like a deer in headlights. Awaiting the inevitable, which you honestly had no clue how to feel about it.

Oh fuck.

Your heart hammered in your chest and you quite honestly forgot how to breathe.

Oh shit.

And then, just when your eyes had fluttered shut and their lips were close enough to feel their warm breath fan across your dry lips, they suddenly pulled back.

What- just- happened?

Ran’s lips curled into a knowing smile as they held up the lipstick they had just retrieved from the container behind you.

And somehow your cheeks burned even hotter still.

You laughed awkwardly, then pushed your lips out for Ran to paint with what you noticed to be a dark red very similar to the color of the gems on your dress and jewelry. Which you also realized was quite close to the color of Sevika’s cloak. Likely intentional.

Heartbeat still not quite normal, you watched Ran’s lips quirk as they focused on applying the lipstick.

Fuck, you had almost kissed them.

What would they have done?

Would they like it?

Would you like it?

Would Sevika murder you both?

"Close your eyes," Ran instructed as they swapped the lipstick for some eyeshadow and eyeliner.

You did as asked, grateful to hide behind your lids while you regained what you could of your composure.

And pride.

“Done."

You examined your face in the small mirror above the sink, hardly recognizing yourself. But you had to admit, you actually felt really… pretty. Hopefully Sevika would think so too.

Your thoughts were interrupted when a sudden wet spray hit your neck and chest.

Ran grinned at your scrunched nose as they continued to all but douse you in perfume. One that had notes of cinnamon and vanilla.

At least it smells good.

“Here.” Ran held out a tiny black, sorry excuse of a purse. “Makeup is in there.”

Your gaze flitted between the tiny purse, your very bare legs, and then finally to Ran’s face. “Where the hell do I put my dagger?”

“You won’t need them,” Ran insisted while they left the room.

“But I’ll need makeup,” you mumbled sarcastically to yourself.

You followed Ran, not feeling entirely too convinced that you wouldn’t need daggers while sneaking into a fancy Piltover establishment to swindle every poor sap up there and from other prestigious nations out of every last coin in their possession. Hopefully Ran’s fake identities were convincing enough and nobody would recognize either of you. Sevika wasn’t exactly stealthy. Not to mention that augmented arm looked nothing like the tech topside or from any other lands that you knew of.

Ran set your heels in front of you.

As you stepped into them, you did not have a good feeling about that night.

Not.

At.

All.

The lift ride up to Piltover was excruciatingly long despite being only a mere two minutes top. Your body felt as if it was about to spontaneously combust despite being clad in such a skimpy dress. Hundreds of thoughts flooded your head about tonight. But one thought still remained at the forefront.

Sevika.

You still had no idea what she would look like. Or what role she’d be playing. Ran insisted it all be kept secret to help make the act of being strangers more believable. You glanced down at the ring adorning your finger, reminding yourself again of your fake name and persona.

Princess Ameya of Noxus.

Somehow your feet- your high-heel clad feet- managed to bring you all the way to the large, ornate marble stairs that led up to the equally massive and opulent establishment where the tournament would be held.

You scanned the area, nerves fried as your gaze traveled over the massive crowds of people making their way towards the stairs and into the building. Apparently your memory was not as good as you thought. It was a far bigger event than you recalled seeing as a child. How would you ever find Sevika?

After several long, calming breaths, you started to ascend the stairs, staying as far away from the crowds of strangers as possible. Rather than focus on your feet, you foolishly continued to look around for Sevika, only to trip on the front of your dress.

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath, barely managing to catch yourself before you went completely down. Your cheeks flooded with heat.

So much for being graceful.

In a pathetic attempt to make your fumble look less absurd, you knelt down to adjust the straps of one of your heels.

Deep breaths.

The sudden appearance of a pair of large, shiny black shoes on the step in front of you had your breath catching in your throat. A large shadow loomed over you, nearly blocking out all the light from the lamps lining the stairs.

Gods no.

But then a very familiar scent reached your nose. Smoke and spices you knew all too well. A welcoming, comforting mix. And yet, your body temperature skyrocketed and your stomach lurched all the same.

Your eyes slowly trailed up from the shiny black dress shoes to the black slacks that hugged deliciously thick, strong thighs– ones you could never get enough of. A black leather belt wrapped around curvy hips– a thick gold clasp front and center.

As your gaze continued to rise, you slowly stood up, eyes catching the dark red suit jacket that- to your dismay- covered beautiful arms, both flesh and metal. But something gold caught your eye. The prosthetic hand poking out from the end of the sleeve had been painted in shiny gold, with bits of dark red on just the tips of the claws.

Fancy.

No.

Sexy.

And then came the pièce de résistance- A silky, black blouse with the most knee-weakening plunging neckline you’d ever seen. It started wide at her shoulders, revealing delicious collarbones, then slowly angled into a V the further down it went, leaving you with an equally tantalizing view of cleavage, toned abs, and a sliver of her tummy before the fabric finally disappeared beneath her pants.

Holy fucking sweet Janna above have mercy on my gay ass.

Your gaze shot back up to where a gold choker with a dark red gem that matched yours hugged tightly around her thick neck. Examining her face you found her hair to still be tied back, but several strands lay loose to frame her face. Her makeup was also the usual palette with the exception of a hint of gold painting her dark lips. Lips that you realized were hung open, her cigarillo threatening to fall out at any moment.

Your gaze continued higher and that’s when you caught her wide gray eyes on you. She was just as stunned as you were.

You swallowed hard.

When had your heart started racing so fucking fast?

You stood frozen, completely transfixed on Sevika.

She broke free of her own daze first, removing her cigarillo and tossing it beside her feet to stomp out without taking her eyes off you. She held her flesh hand out, presumably for you to shake, and it took you a solid four seconds to even realize it and finally place your hand in hers.

“Warband leader Shakti of Noxus,” she introduced herself.

Well, that was not surprising, except that Ran had chosen the same region for both of you.

“Princess Ameya, also of Noxus.”

Sevika’s brow arched at your fake name, the corner of her mouth twitching– an almost smile.

Then she did something you never expected. She brought your hand to her mouth and pressed her lips to the back. Lips you could feel curl into that familiar smirk.

Your knees threatened to give out.

She released your hand, smirking at your stunned expression as she leaned in, bringing her mouth dangerously close to your ear. “Tell me, Princess Ameya, why I shouldn’t just fuck you right here and now,” she whispered huskily. And then, to make matters worse, she inhaled deeply before releasing a deep, long, sigh. “You smell good enough to eat too.” Then she pulled back to watch your expression.

You struggled to swallow, your throat tight and dry. Tilting your head back to peer up into her lust-filled eyes, you shakily whispered. “I- I could say the same to you, Shakti. But we- we need to control ourselves and get inside if we want this to go as planned.”

“Hm. Should have thought about that before showing up in that dress.”

You were about to retort when you heard the familiar sound of the hexgate activating not far from where you stood. Glancing up, you watched in reverence as one of the airships disappeared in an instant.

“Would love to fly in one of those one day. See some faraway place,” you murmured, more to yourself than to Sevika. When your attention fell back to her, you found her giving you a rather odd look. “What?”

Ignoring your question, she nodded towards the building. “After you, princess.”

Despite being tempted to press her further, you opted to brush that one off. Learning from your previous mistake, you gathered up the fabric on the front of your dress and started back up the stairs with Sevika not far behind.

At the entrance, that damn churning feeling in your stomach returned when you handed one of the doormen your ticket, fake name and signet included. His eyes shifted between you and the ticket several times. Somehow you managed to not only keep your expression cool and collected, you even flashed him a small flirty smile which earned you an instant- and gut-wrenching- smile in return.

“Enjoy your evening, ma’am,” he said and handed the ticket back.

“Thank you,” you replied as sweetly as you could manage before walking through the massive doorway.

The building was as you expected based on the exterior. Damn near everything was made of white marble. Large, opulent pillars lined the perimeter, rising up to the tall ceilings from which hung an absurd number of large glass and crystal chandeliers. Intricate details of gold wove around every pillar, every handrail, every light, every table, and even the large stained glass windows that lined the back of the building.

People from all over Runterra filled the massive room. Mostly men, but some had what you assumed to be wives or paid companions with them. All of which were dressed to the nines. At least you wouldn't stand out too terribly among them.

Sevika stepped up beside you, her eyes scanning the room as well. As she turned away, you realized her hair was not tied back with her usual band. Instead, she had a gold clasp with another matching dark red gem that looked lovely against her dark tresses.

“Lot of enforcers here,” she murmured out of the side of her mouth.

You made another visual sweep of the area, and sure enough, there were enforcers scattered everywhere.

“Shit,” you cursed under your breath.

Most of them looked rather preoccupied and off guard, apparently not expecting any problems that night.

“They aren’t even paying any attention to their surroundings. We’ll be fine.” Though you spoke to Sevika, you were more so trying to calm yourself than her.

“Better be.”

Better be indeed. You had the sinking feeling Ran may have been wrong about you not needing your daggers.

The first game, despite a crowd of what you guessed to be around a few hundred competitors, had you playing against Sevika and six others.

Before you could take your seat, one of your opponents- a middle-aged man wearing entirely too much cologne- pulled your chair out for you.

“Ma’am,” he leered with a wink.

You inwardly cringed, but offered him the same fake smile you’d given the doorman. “Thank you.”

Sevika sat directly across from you, her eyes on you but expression cool and stoic as ever. You could only hope you looked even half as collected as her, but the presence of enforcers had you on pins and needles. You may not be a recognizable face, but Sevika was a bit more noticeable, even with a majority of her augmented arm hidden beneath her suit jacket. The lack of other female players didn’t exactly help the situation either. But everyone’s attention seemed to be drawn to you, which did not help ease your nerves whatsoever.

Probably the fucking dress.

While the dealer distributed the cards, another member of the house staff, a young, skinny woman in a skimpy dress- albeit less so than yours- handed out cigars to the men around the table. You could practically feel Sevika’s rage as the woman passed her up.

“Think you forgot someone, sweetheart,” Sevika drawled before the woman could walk away.

Sweetheart?!

Your right eye twitched, and the way Sevika was watching you intently from the corner of her eye did not go unnoticed. Nor did the way her mouth curled into a small lopsided grin when she saw you flinch.

Ass.

“Oh. I- Well-” the woman stammered as she turned to find Sevika staring up at her expectantly, “So sorry ma’am. Would you care for a cigar?”

Sevika took one from the proffered box, her eyes on you again as the woman cut and lit the cigar. She took several quick drags, smoke billowing from her mouth and nose as she spoke, “Thanks, sweetheart.”

Your blood damn near boiled. She was clearly doing that on purpose to provoke you.

The woman pulled out a small ashtray, but before she could place it on the table Sevika’s flesh hand reached out to stop her. Sevika said nothing, but pulled out her own ashtray from her jacket pocket- the ashtray you had carved and gifted her long ago- and placed it on the table.

Your heart swelled with pride, teeth clamping down on the inside of your lip to keep from smiling.

Maybe you could forgive those earlier attempts to make you jealous.

The woman then looked across the table to you, her unease plainly written on her face. You nodded for her to bring you a cigar as well. Everyone at the table, including Sevika, watched with open interest as you took one of the cigars and allowed the woman to clip and light it. Apparently it was not only unusual for the ladies to gamble Topside, but also to smoke.

Ridiculous.

You took several careful drags, which were surprisingly smooth, and you wondered if it was comparable to the imported ones you had also given Sevika as a gift. No wonder she liked them so much.

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

The first game went fairly smoothly. Most of the opponents seemed to only be casual players. Much of them even had obvious tells, making your collusion with Sevika that much easier. Only problem was, that you two seemed to be distracting each other just as much as you did the other players.

You eyed your hand. It was shitty. Nothing but low-rank cards. Useless. You considered bluffing, but you were pretty confident Sevika had the best hand based on her previous signaling.

Your gaze rose with the intention to meet hers, but you found yourself pausing at the sight of her exposed chest.

Good god this was going to be a difficult night.

You managed to pull your attention away from that delightful swell of dark, soft flesh to make eye contact with her just before her turn. Then, with a deliberate show of blowing smoke from the left corner of your mouth, you silently told her to go all in.

Her eyes remained on your lips.

Shit.

Did she even realize you'd given her the signal?

You cleared your throat, thankfully drawing her attention back up to your eyes again. You took another drag of the cigar, repeating the motion of blowing from the left side of your mouth.

Once it came to her turn, she pushed all her chips to the center.

And sure enough, when it came to the remaining players showing their hands, Sevika had won.

If there was one good thing you could say about the players there, it was that they were much better losers than those of the Undercity. There were no threats of cheating, no groaning, no whining. Just congratulatory words, handshakes, and pats on the back.

Probably because they have an absurd amount of money to lose.

Money that by the end of the night, would certainly be yours and Sevika's.

For much of the remaining games, the two of you ended up separated. Not that it mattered much. Even alone, you both had no issue staying in the game. And where it did matter, near the last games, you two ended up ‘against’ each other more and more frequently.

However, when the second to last round put you two back at the same table and across from each other, you both found yourselves struggling to deal with the… distractions.

Before you could take a seat, one of your male opponents not only pulled your chair out for you- a common theme of the night- but also took your hand into his to kiss it, much like Sevika had on the stairs. Only he did not have you swooning. Rather, he had you fighting back the urge to smack him.

“Tell me, did a pretty lady such as yourself come alone tonight because she is… procurable?” he drawled in the most obnoxiously privileged tone.

That urge to smack then became the urge to full up annihilate. But you refrained, only for the sake of winning that damn tournament without getting thrown out or worse. Though if you’d had your daggers, there’d be no stopping you from putting a few extra holes in the man after the tournament ended.

Your gaze flitted to Sevika’s, just in time to catch the way her stormy eyes narrowed in on the point of contact. You were certain if it were possible she’d have set the man’s hand and face ablaze with only her eyes if she could. Your attention back on the man still holding your hand while you sat awkwardly beside him, you gave him a fake smile and a sharp, “I’m taken.”

“Oh? And he let you go off gambling? Alone?” the man asked, finally releasing your hand when you all but yanked it away.

" She trusts me and knows I can handle myself." You glanced over to Sevika again, pleased to find that subtle smirk of hers had returned.

“I- see,” the man replied awkwardly before taking a seat in the chair to your immediate left.

You were certainly going to enjoy seeing his face when he inevitably lost the game.

And that he did. Granted not as easily as you would have liked. Not only were the players more experienced, both you and Sevika found yourselves a bit too pent up after watching each other all night. Both of you were clearly dressed to tease the other. Ran had obviously thought it would be great to fuck with both of you, knock both of you off your game even though you had promised Ran a hefty share of the winnings.

And to make matters worse, the constant attention from the men had Sevika filled to the brim with jealousy– possessiveness. Despite her clear effort not to show it, you could easily tell she was losing patience. But so were you.

Once the round had ended, you two successfully colluding your way through it, you decided to take a short break before the final round to attempt to cool off in the restroom.

Thankfully the restroom appeared to be empty, aside from the nervous looking towel boy manning the door.

While you were checking your hair and makeup in the mirror, you heard the door open. You weren’t exactly surprised to hear Sevika’s deep voice as she spoke to the towel boy. However, you were surprised to hear the absurd excuse she used to get the boy to leave.

“They’re out of soap in the men’s restroom,” Sevika said gruffly, her expression stoic.

Curious to see how that could play out, you turned to lean back against the counter and watch the poor young man cower beneath Sevika’s towering presence. Your lips curled into a grin. Nothing better than seeing Sevika intimidate some innocent sap who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And you knew what she was there for. She was going to have it no matter what.

“Oh. I- Okay. I should- I should get more,” he stammered, shrinking away from Sevika and her threatening presence.

She hummed in affirmation, intentionally standing too close between the poor guy and the door, forcing him to have to turn his body sideways and shimmy his way out. The moment that door thudded shut, you heard the familiar click of the lock. Sevika turned to you and that stoic expression immediately devolved into a cocky smirk. She strode toward you in slow, deliberate steps while her eyes raked up your body, lingering over your chest, which was pushed out considerably with how you rested your forearms against the counter behind you and arched your back. Then she locked eyes with you.

“Fancy meeting you here,” you teased as she stood in front of you, the toes of her polished shoes touching the tips of your equally shiny black heels. Tilting your head back to keep her gaze, you flashed her your own cocky smile, one that could certainly match hers. “Just can’t stay away from me, can you?”

“Had to make sure nobody was making a move on my girl,” she replied.

“You do know this is a women’s restroom, right?” you asked. “Those men aren’t allowed in here.”

Lifting a single brow, Sevika played along with your obvious foolery. “Gotta worry about more than just the men trying to steal you, Princess.”

“You mean like that poor towel boy you just scared away?”

“Towel boy? That’s a fucking job?” she scoffed, “This place is fucking disgusting.” Her eyes left yours for a moment as they scanned over the pristine counter, golden faucets and sparkling sink bowls. “Too fucking pristine.”

“We could make it dirty,” you replied suggestively as you straightened up to hook your fingers through the belt loops of her slacks. Her eyes momentarily dropped to your hands as you pulled her closer before rising again to meet your gaze.

“You okay with being late to the final game?” she asked, doubt in her tone.

“Good point. You’ve been lacking in… efficiency lately. Might take you too long to get me off.” Your lips curled higher, simultaneously with the arch of her brow. Egging her on felt so damn good. Especially when you knew you’d be ‘paying for it’ eventually.

Allowing you to keep pulling her closer, Sevika slipped her hands behind you, ghosting down over the curve of your ass before grabbing, rather harshly, at your thighs. Hoisting you up onto the counter and spreading your legs in one swift motion, she brought her lips to your ear and chuckled at your startled yelp. “You’re going to be eating those words,” she husked.

“Maybe you should be eating me so we can get back out there on time,” you taunted, voice faltering just the slightest as heat spread through your body.

She pulled back, brows raised and eyes wide, but only briefly before that smug grin made its way back. “Not sure how I feel about this cocky attitude you seem to have picked up since we’ve been hustling.”

“You talk too much,” you taunted. You adjusted the spread of your thighs and decided you would thank Ran later for selecting a dress with such scandalously high slits. It provided no resistance, simply allowing your legs to move freely.

Giving Sevika's belt loops one last good tug, you pulled her closer before wrapping your arms around her neck. “Are you going to fuck me or not?”

Sevika’s smirk broadened as she raked those deliciously sharp claws up your back and into your hair. Cocking her head to the side as if considering something, she grabbed a fistful of your hair and tugged. Hard.

The gasp that left your parted lips was quickly replaced with a soft moan as the pain in your scalp became a pleasurable tingle. Eyes towards the ceiling, you felt her mouth latch onto your exposed neck. Teeth, tongue, and lips roamed down the column of your throat, biting, licking, and sucking until you were left clutching her shoulders in unbridled bliss. But her mouth didn’t stop there. Your toes curled in anticipation as she dipped lower and over your cleavage.

Pulling the top of your dress off to the sides- a bit too aggressively, you thought- Sevika sucked into the skin of one fully exposed breast before taking the hardening peak into her mouth and teasing it with a roll of her tongue.

Breath hitching, you pulled her closer and attempted to grind against her waist where it met the apex of your thighs. “Fuck!” you gasped when her teeth clamped down on your nipple and tugged. Your back arched, pressing your chest closer to her delightful mouth. You could feel her lips curl into a smug smile against your breast as she chuckled lowly.

Still gripping your hair tight, she licked her way clear up your chest, throat, and jaw until her lips pressed against your ear. “I’m going to take my fucking time with you, Princess, and you’re going to be a good girl and take it,” she purred.

So fucking cocky.

You opened your mouth to retort, but whatever you’d had ready to fire was lost as she perfectly timed a sharp nip at your lobe and a pinch of your neglected nipple. “Sevika!” you hissed, nails digging into the suit jacket covering her shoulders. Your protest was just as lost on her as your unspoken retort when she released another deep, throaty chuckle into your ear.

Cocky, but so damn sexy.

The hand in your hair loosened enough to allow you to look Sevika in the eyes. Those alluring gray eyes were filled with the same lust and hunger as yours. And those damn sinfully full lips were pulled into an arrogant smirk that put yours to shame. You could already feel your confidence waning. Replaced with want. Need. You both knew it wouldn’t be long before you completely lost your ability to keep up the air of superiority. She’d have you submitting, becoming putty in her hands.

Just as she always did.

Sevika’s flesh hand slid down the front of your body towards your spread thighs. She stepped back to allow room for her hand to dip lower. Gray eyes watched with unabashed self-satisfaction as your expression faltered and you squirmed when her fingers skirted just outside the perimeter of your clothed heat.

As her hand traveled back up, she finally allowed her middle finger to press just the slightest bit between your slit. And fuck, you could feel how that saturated your dress. Pulling your bottom lip between your teeth, you attempted to bite back a moan. Why you even bothered, you didn’t know. You were clearly going to lose that battle.

“Where’s that arrogance now, Princess?” she taunted.

“I-” Words failed you again as she continued to toy with you through your clothing, her fingertip teasing over your clit with just enough pressure to have you keening.

“Look how easily you fall apart for me. From just a simple touch,” she taunted, voice low and husky. She flipped the top of your skirt off to the side. “Hmm. Thought so,” she hummed at the sight of your completely nude lower half. “No bra. No panties. Were you anticipating this?” she asked, slowly running her finger through your wet slit.

“No I- I just- couldn’t- Oh fuck, Sevika…” Your thoughts drifted away as she slid the pad of her finger over your clit. Your eyes fluttered shut and your hands gripped her shoulders tighter, silently urging her to stop with the teasing.

“Couldn’t what?” she taunted, following with another, deeper, slide of her finger through your entrance before circling your clit. “Just couldn’t wait for me to fuck you?”

You said nothing, only focused on your breathing, which was getting heavier by the second. There was no sense in trying to speak. She’d just use those skilled fingers of hers to empty your head the moment you opened your mouth.

She must have been feeling generous that night, as she let your lack of reply slide, just as she let her finger slide slow and deep inside your cunt.

Bottom lip caught between your teeth, you fought back a moan. Not that it mattered much as she wasted no time in dragging her finger back out and along your walls, and with it a soft whine from your throat.

It seemed she wasn’t being entirely truthful about taking her time, because she no more than pulled that finger out only to sink a second one in alongside it. And she wasted no time working up a fast pace, sinful fingers curling and scissoring until you were no longer able to contain your sounds of bliss.

The moment she ran the side of her thumb across your throbbing clit you nearly clamped your legs shut, seized only by the strong grip of her metal hand on one of your thighs. Her sharp talons sunk into the soft flesh, leaving tiny indents in their wake.

In return, you dug your own nails into her shoulders, not as a means of retaliation, but as a means to ground yourself as your body thrummed with pleasure.

Her hot mouth returned to your neck to bite, suck, and lap at the sweat collecting there. Her fingers pumped faster. Thumb rubbing over your clit with a precision that left you bucking and whining pathetically. She chuckled, low and sinister against your throat, making that burning, tight knot in your belly draw even tighter.

You slid one hand down to grip her bicep through her sleeves, her wild thrusts threatening to turn every muscle in your body to liquid. The feeling beneath your hand- that strong muscle flexing, twisting, straining with each pump of her fingers- only served to work you up further.

“You’re close, aren’t you?” Sevika rasped against your neck.

“Y-Yes!” your soft moan turned to a cry as she sank her teeth into the side of your neck.

Oh, you were beyond close. You were on the fucking edge.

And then–

She slowed her fingers, her thumb disappearing entirely from your aching clit.

“Fuck! No!” Your eyes flew wide open. “Sevika!”

Her deep, cruel laugh reverberated against your throat, pulling a wanton moan from your chest despite your distress. She dragged the tip of her tongue up along your neck until she reached your ear. Hot breath wafted over your sweat-slick skin as she purred sadistically, “So sorry, Princess. Seems I’m lacking in efficiency tonight.”

Your heart sank.

You should have known that earlier comment would come back to bite you in the ass.

Your grip on her shoulder and arm tightened as you desperately tried to grind against her hand. It was useless though. You could never match her movements, her touch.

“Sevika, I- I didn’t mean that!” you whimpered.

She lifted her head, a wicked grin plastered on her face.

Gods, how could she be both infuriating and hot as fuck at the same time?

She raised a single brow. "So you were lying to me?"

The panic, the pleasure from her still slow and deep thrusts, had you hopelessly searching for the right answer. Anything to get her to finish you. “No! I- I was- I was just teasing you.”

"Hmm, I dunno Princess. You hurt my feelings. Not sure I want to reward you for that,” she taunted, but there was not a single sign of sorrow or hurt on her face. Only pure, sadistic, unadulterated pleasure.

“I’m sorry. Please, Sevika,” you pleaded.

"Think I'm gonna need more convincing than that."

You tugged at her arm, acting entirely on instinct, but froze the moment you felt Sevika’s fingers still inside you and saw her brows downturn into a scowl. The metal claws on your thigh sank in deeper. You swallowed hard, breaths coming in ragged and desperate.

“I was- I was just teasing you. I didn’t mean it. You’re efficient. You know exactly what you’re doing,” you babbled. “Please Sevika.”

“That’s right. I do know what I’m doing, hmm?” she hummed, her fingers starting to pick up the pace again.

“Yes,” you mewled, eyes blinking away the tears threatening to spill over.

She stepped further between your legs until your near-naked chest pressed against hers. Gods did it feel wonderful, but it only got better from there. With her hand pressed between your bodies, she rocked her hips with each slide of fingers, as if she was fucking you with her strap.

Your gaze drifted from her soft smirk to her eyes sparkling with mirth and adoration.

“That’s my good girl,” she purred, her thumb returning to circle your clit.

“Oh god yes,” you keened. You wrapped your arms around her neck, pulling her closer as her pace increased even more and you felt that familiar sensation quickly start to rebuild.

With each roll of her hips, she pushed her fingers deeper before dragging them out harder. Her metal hand snaked up your back before wrapping around your neck, sharp tips digging into your chin and forcing your head to tilt the side. Her head dipped lower, mouth returning to suck and bite along the taut skin.

Soon enough your moans and the obscenely wet sounds from between your legs were echoing off the tiled walls and high ceiling. You heard none of it though, far too drunk on Sevika’s touch. Every muscle in your body tensed and you pulled her impossibly closer.

“Pl- Please don’t stop,” you begged.

“You gonna cum for me, baby?” she rasped into your neck before licking the mark she’d just left there.

“FUCK YES!” you cried out just as you were hit with the euphoric feeling of your orgasm. Your body spasmed, the walls of your cunt squeezing those thick digits. Without knowing, your hands buried into her hair, grabbing handfuls and yanking.

Sevika’s growl was a mere hum in your head as you rode that high. Her teeth clamped down hard on your neck, but all you could manage to vocalize the pain was a breathless gasp.

The moment you released her hair, body fully collapsing against hers, her fingers stilled inside you. When she pulled back to inspect you, you slouched forward more, burying your face in her chest. To your surprise, she let you rest there, cheeks cradled by the soft sides of her breasts. Somehow, even with your breath coming in loud, erratic huffs, you could hear her heartbeat, racing nearly as fast as yours.

She moved her prosthetic hand down to your back, the cool metal welcoming against your hot skin. Contrasting to how she’d been gripping you with those sharp talons just moments ago, she traced gentle patterns along your spine. “You look fucking beautiful tonight,” she murmured into the hair at the top of your head.

Your lips curled into a weak smile, heart fluttering in your chest. Maybe wearing that damn dress wasn’t so bad.

“You look beautiful every night,” she whispered- so softly you weren’t quite sure you heard her right.

You sat up, arms wrapped loosely around her neck, and gazed blearily into her gray eyes. She wore a surprisingly soft expression, her lips in a lopsided grin, but one that looked a hell of a lot less arrogant than usual. It just looked– adoring.

Fuck.

“Sevika,” you whispered softly. You weren’t even sure what to say. You’d known her for so long, yet she always seemed to surprise you at moments like these. Your big, strong, fierce teddy bear. “That’s so-”

She looked away from you, her metal hand ceasing its ministrations and her smile faltering.

Your heart sank.

She still struggled with her vulnerabilities, even around you.

Gently, you pulled her down by her neck, guiding her lips to yours. You kissed her softly, tenderly, and although she didn’t return it immediately, you did feel her metal fingers start to run along your back again.

When you pulled back, she reluctantly met your gaze.

“I’m having a great time tonight,” you said with a sweet smile. “But only because you’re here with me.”

The corner of her mouth twitched. An almost smile.

Just as your smile started to grow, you caught a flash of something in her eyes. You realized all too late what was going on.

She pulled her fingers out quickly, and with it- a startled yelp from you. You shot her a nasty glare, but didn't bother reprimanding her. It only ever fueled her smugness anyway.

Sevika stepped back, a crooked grin on her face.

Your hands dropped to the counter and you closed your legs, thighs warm and wet with your slick. "Fuck," you cursed softly, "I'm a mess."

"You're not the only one, Princess."

Your gaze fell to Sevika's fingers as she raised them in front of you. They were coated, clear down to her wrist. Heat rose from your neck to your cheeks.

“Tell you what,” she started, a devious look in her eyes that told you she had something in store for you. Something you weren’t sure you’d be entirely game for. “...you clean me and I'll clean you."

You swallowed hard, watching as Sevika’s eyes dropped to watch the bob of your throat. There couldn’t be much time left until the final round. It was too good a deal to miss, but you also couldn’t deny the lure of her proposition.

Turned out she was going to decide for you anyway.

“Tongue.”

You hesitated, eyes darting between her heated gaze and the locked door. Desire coiled tight in your core as she brought her hand closer. You gave into her demand, your desire, and let your tongue slip out to drag a long, flat line up from her wrist, over her palm, to the tip of her two fingers.

“That’s my good girl. Get it all,” she husked.

You parted your lips, allowing her to sink those two thick fingers deep inside your mouth. You gripped the side of the counter, eyes falling shut. The moan that rose from your throat was needy as the taste of your own release filled your mouth.

Sevika hummed appreciatively, pushing her fingers clear back to your throat before pressing down on your tongue. Once your lips wrapped tightly around them, she slowly dragged back out, the tips of her fingers lingering on the plush of your bottom lip for a moment longer.

Cold metal and warm, wet flesh fingers gripped your thighs, forcing them to open again so she could step between and bring her lips to yours. Her tongue swiped inside your mouth, chasing after the taste of you.

When she pulled back, you met her gaze through hooded eyes.

“Turn around. On your hands and knees,” she instructed.

“What?” you asked, brows furrowed. You looked to the floor, then the counter.

Where the hell did she expect that to happen?

“On the counter?” you asked incredulously.

One brow arched.

“There’s not enough room.”

Sevika remained unmoved, impatiently watching you shift nervously.

Hesitantly, you repositioned yourself, shimmying onto your knees first, then moving them as close to the front edge of the counter without falling off. With one more glance over your shoulder at Sevika, you bent over, arching your back into a sharp curve to take up as little space as possible. Even so, you had to turn your head, crane your neck, and smash the side of your face against the mirror to get yourself into position.

Despite the less than comfortable position, you were grateful for the contact against the mirror and counter, the cool materials a welcoming sensation to your quickly overheating body.

With the way your head was positioned, you could see most of Sevika within your periphery. She flipped the back of your skirt off to the side. Her smile- sinful and hungry- grew wider when she placed both hands on your thighs to spread them further, fully exposing you and all your wet glory. She stepped closer and your stomach pulled tighter, core clenching in anticipation. Her hands slid up to grip the bottom of your asscheeks, spreading them wider.

Your legs threatened to buckle the moment you felt her press the flat of her warm tongue against the inside of a thigh. A soft whimper pulled from your throat as she licked clear up, stopping just before reaching your dripping center.

Sevika hummed in appreciation, the vibrations traveling through your body from where her tongue pressed to the inside of your other thigh. She licked another long stripe, again pulling away just before reaching the point you were aching to have her.

Your reverie was temporarily interrupted by an unexpected sound at the door. “Sevika,” you whispered, “Someone is trying to get in!”

“Better clean you up fast then,” she purred before dragging the tip of her tongue up through your folds.

Your muscles tensed, core clenching and body instinctively pushing back into her face. Sharp pain radiated from where the tips of her fingers dug into your plump flesh. You knew that was her warning to sit still, but between the tantalizing drag of her tongue, the discomfort of your position, and the distraction of someone attempting to open the door, your body simply refused to cooperate.

“Sevika,” you whined when she pressed her tongue further between your folds. Pleasure radiated through the lower half of your body. Another swipe and you were squirming– teeming with desire.

“Sit. Still,” she growled against your cunt.

You clenched around nothing, body aching from the sound of her deep voice, the rumbling feeling of it carrying straight to your core. Another pathetic whimper fell past your parted lips.

Fighting the urge to push back again, you took your bottom lip between your teeth. Your toes curled as the tip of her tongue swirled around your clit. She knew exactly what to do to get you worked up quickly. It wouldn’t take much for you to reach that blissful pinnacle for the second time that night.

She started licking in earnest, tongue rapidly working between delving deep inside, to circling and flicking across the sensitive bundle above.

Your body rocked gently with each swipe of her tongue, face pressing further against the mirror. You placed a hand against the cool glass, trying to steady yourself. Your breath came in erratic gasps between wanton moans and mewls. Each sound you made only urged her to go deeper, faster, her nails sinking further into your skin.

No longer did the sounds coming from outside the restroom door reach your ears. Only the sloppy, wet, obscene sounds of her mouth and your desperate cries of pleasure.

Gods, it felt so good. Downright intoxicating.

The moment she placed her focus entirely on your clit, you knew you’d be done for in a matter of seconds.

“Fuck, Sevika,” you sobbed, hardly able to take all she gave you. You were still overly sensitive from your first orgasm, and still wildly wound up from all of the night's excitement.

She hummed appreciatively– deep, low, and resounding.

Your breath hitched, then held tight in your chest as you froze, sensing the impending bliss.

And then you were falling.

Trails of fire raced through your body, through every muscle and vein. Her name fell from your lips in a choked sob. Your hand- fingers curled- slid down the slick mirror while she worked you through waves of pleasure.

When your body finally went limp, nearly collapsing along the counter, Sevika pulled her mouth away. Her grip on your ass released so she could rub soothing circles along the sweat-slick skin of your thighs and back.

You weren’t sure how long you knelt like that, slowly catching your breath and coming back to reality, but a muffled voice just outside the door finally knocked you from your reverie. Blinking several times, you attempted to sit up. Unfortunately, the moment you put any weight on your legs, they trembled and threatened to give way,

“Need help, Princess?”

You could hear the smirk on her face. Despite the desire not to give her the satisfaction of knowing you needed help, you knew there was no way in hell you were getting off that counter on your own. At least not without falling on your ass in the process.

“Please.”

She chuckled, but wrapped her arms around your waist and pulled you against her as she backed away. After placing you on your feet, she held you for a moment, your back pressed to her front. Slowly, she pulled her arms away, but as soon as you took your hands off the counter and turned to face her, your wobbly legs gave way.

“Shit!” you cursed under your breath, but she had caught you, her arms beneath yours and pulling you back to your feet. Your own hands flew up to her shoulders to steady yourself. Heat flooded your face yet again, only this time for a different reason.

“These stupid fucking heels,” you muttered, both of you knowing damn well that wasn’t really the problem in this case.

Sevika released another low, taunting laugh. She didn’t release you though. She kept her augmented arm wrapped firmly around your waist. Her human hand moved to gently grip your chin between thumb and forefinger, tilting your head back.

You peered up at her, surprised to see her face go from smug to concerned the moment she got a good look at you.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked, voice raspy, almost broken.

“What? No. I-” You paused, noticing her eyes darting across your face. Her grip loosened just enough for you to turn and face the mirror. And you found not only your answer, but quite a bit more. Your skin was stained where tears had run your mascara clear down your cheeks. Not only that, the mirror was fogged over, a small area clear from where your cheek had rested. A handprint smeared down alongside it as well. Your gaze raised to meet the reflection of Sevika’s, a smile pulling at your lips.

“These,” you pointed to your cheeks, “are from tears of joy.”

And there was that signature smirk again.

And oh was her mouth a mess! Your lipstick and her own was smeared all around her mouth.

You, however, were far more of a mess than her. Lipstick stains, bite marks, claw marks, bruises, and hickies littered nearly every exposed bit of your body- which was nearly everything. You brought your fingertips to one particularly bright mark along the side of your neck. Out of your periphery, you caught the way Sevika’s smile grew at the sight.

Sevika stepped closer to you, letting her own fingertips trail along the marks decorating your neck and shoulder.

“It’s not fair that all you have is makeup stains to clean up,” you pouted, eyes narrowed on her reflection. “I can’t clean or cover these up.”

“Needed to mark my territory,” Sevika drawled, ghosting her fingers down your bare arm.

You shivered, goosebumps following in the wake of her touch. “Did you forget nobody is supposed to know we're together?”

She didn’t reply, merely chuckled as she strode over to a nearby sink to wash up her face.

You rolled your eyes and set to work on cleaning up what you could of yourself.

Your gaze fell to your purse sitting on the counter and you actually felt grateful that Ran had given you the make-up. You opened it up, surprised to find a small piece of paper tucked in with the cosmetics. Curious, you pulled it out and flipped it open to find a small note written in Ran’s handwriting.

Hey Princess, Knew you’d need this after you two inevitably fuck in the restroom. -Ran

How the fuck did they know?!

You scoffed, rolled the paper up, and stuffed it back inside your purse.

After both you and Sevika had made yourselves presentable again, or at least as presentable as you could given how you looked as if you’d been ravaged by a… well, by a very strong, hungry woman, you both made your way to the door.

Sevika unlocked and opened the door wide, a smug grin plastered to her face as she walked past a small line of women as well as a very flustered-looking towel boy.

You followed after her, heat flooding your cheeks yet again as you received a host of wide eyes, gasps, glares, and looks of disgust.

It appeared as though the two of you had made it back just in time, the other two opponents for the final round already seated and exchanging uncomfortable glances when they noticed your marked skin and Sevika’s arrogant grin.

And Sevika’s cocky smile remained in place as she took her seat diagonally from you. She tucked a fresh cigar between those curled lips and lit it up, acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world that she had very obviously just fucked her supposed opponent. She was downright proud.

You couldn’t be more flattered for it either.

After the dealer passed out the cards, you both got your heads back into the game, but not for long.

Just as things seemed to be looking your way, your attention dropped to Sevika’s mouth, expecting her to signal the next move with how she blew the smoke of her cigar. Instead, you not only found her lips curling into a cocky smirk, but also the tip of her tongue teasing along the plush of her top lip.

That was definitely not one of the agreed-upon signals.

You cleared your throat, shifting in your seat as heat spread between your thighs. Your gaze rose to meet hers and it became immediately clear that she was intentionally toying with you. Distracting you.

Who are we competing against here?

Two could play that game though.

You leaned across the table, intentionally pressing your breasts together and out more as you drew a card. Peering up through your lashes, you found Sevika’s heated gaze focused right where you’d intended it. But the moment she caught sight of your little victory grin, she mirrored your action, deliberately leaning forward to draw her own card, teasing you with a very clear view of her soft curves.

Fucking tease.

Somehow you both managed to stay in the game long enough for the other two men to fold, leaving just the two of you to compete for first place. Though that meant you as a couple were assured the win, that didn’t stop either of you from trying to outwit the other– or out-distract the other.

Cards in one hand, but your eyes not-so-discreetly watching Sevika, you grabbed your drink with your free hand and slowly downed the rest of your drink, tilting your head back to make sure you left that long stretch of neck on display.

Sevika’s gaze dropped to your throat, watching it bob with each swallow of your drink. The corner of her mouth twitched, but she kept her head in the game, pushing the rest of her chips into the center.

Then she did something so fucking devious, you found yourself completely out of your own head. She adjusted her suit jacket and shirt, smooth enough for it to look to others like nothing more than a means to cool herself off, but to you, from your angle at the table, it revealed more than just a tease of that supple flesh.

You swallowed hard, shifting in your chair again and unintentionally rubbing your thighs together.

As if to really drive it home, the moment your eyes drifted up to her face, those damn sinful lips of hers curled into a cocky smirk.

“What’s it gonna be, Princess?” she sneered.

Fuck.

And that was it for you. Without even thinking, you folded.

“Rotten luck,” she sneered as she laid down her cards.

The place erupted into cheering, finally knocking you from your daze. Your attention fell to the cards on the table. You had the better hand, but she had played you. Bluffed and you fell for it so easily.

You slouched back in your seat, defeated and deflated, and just locked eyes with your smug partner as a large number of players and house staff congratulated the both of you. You heard none of it though, nor did Sevika, both of you too preoccupied with each other’s reactions.

It wasn’t until the both of you were being pulled away from the table by the crowd that you finally snapped out of it completely.

You followed Sevika to a large wooden counter at the back of the establishment, presumably where you’d both be collecting rewards.

Once enough of the crowd cleared away, you leaned toward Sevika to whisper, “You just got lucky.”

“Yeah?” she hummed with a smirk as she took her winnings from the woman behind the counter.

“Lucky Ran picked such a distracting fucking outfit for you. Threw me off my game.”

“Your outfit is just as distracting, Princess, and yet I still beat your ass.”

You were about to retort when you noticed her gaze set sternly on something in the distance. You followed the direction to find two young Enforcers talking suspiciously amongst themselves, their attention very obviously honed in on you and Sevika.

“We got a problem,” Sevika said through the side of her mouth.

“What's wrong?” you asked. But you were pretty sure you knew the answer.

“Those two are the ones who saw us fucking in the alley several weeks ago.”

Oh shit.

“Fuck,” you cursed under your breath, “What do we do? There’s way too many Enforcers here and I don’t have any of my fucking daggers.”

“We need to get your winnings and get the hell out of here. Fast.”

You turned back to the woman behind the counter, forcing a smile as you anxiously waited for her to count out the money.

“Here you go! Congratulations you two! This is the first time we’ve had not only one, but two female winners!” she chirped as she slipped your winnings across the counter.

“Ha. Yeah. Thanks,” you said in a rush, grabbing the money and stuffing it in your purse.

“Will you be sticking around for the after-party?” the woman asked.

You didn’t even bother to answer as Sevika had already started hurriedly moving towards the exit. You took off after her just as the Enforcers started to make their way through the crowd towards you.

“Hey! Stop!” they called out.

Sevika started to book it, and you immediately took off with her, or at least as well as you could given the stupid fucking heels Ran had you wearing.

“Stop them! They’re imposters!”

Oh fuck. Oh Fuck.

Suddenly everyone in the building was watching the two of you sprint for the large doors, Enforcers from every corner now running at you.

Sevika, even in all her girth and large stature, was quickly getting too far ahead of you.

Stupid fucking heels.

You made it out the doors, just barely missing a random ‘hero’ trying to grab at your arm, but then you were faced with the dreaded stairs. Stairs that Sevika had already long ago descended.

“Fuck,” you cursed again. After a quick glance behind you and sizing up the distance between you and the nearest Enforcer, you could see there was no time for you to take your heels off. So down the stairs you went, holding your skirt up to the best of your ability.

Somehow, miraculously, you made it almost all the way down the stairs.

Almost.

The moment your left foot hit the second to last step though, you slipped and toppled forward. A startled yelp pulled from your throat as your body skidded across the pavement. Panicked, you peered over your shoulder to find several Enforcers gaining on you. And to make matters worse, your heel broke in the fall.

“Shit. Shit. Shit!”

Before you could even try to get to your feet, you suddenly found yourself being lifted into the air and thrown over Sevika’s shoulder.

“Fuck, Sevika!” you screamed.

Sevika clung to your barely covered ass as she sprinted toward the Piltover bridge, your body bouncing with every stomp of her large feet.

You wrapped your arms around her torso, holding on for dear life. Lifting your head, you spotted a large number of Enforcers closing in on the two of you, and fast. “They’re gaining on us!” you cried out.

“Shit,” Sevika cussed, but she kept her attention in front of her. Where exactly she planned to run to, you weren’t sure. The lift would never be fast enough for you two to escape, and the Enforcers could easily stop it even if you’d managed to get on it and start the descent into the Undercity.

And then, the next thing you knew, the pavement beneath you suddenly disappeared.

You two were airborne,

“Holy fucking shit, Sevika!” you cried out in terror. Eyes squeezed shut tight, you prayed to any deity listening that you would somehow make it out of this alive. A sudden loud thump, followed by your face smashing against Sevika’s back had you opening your eyes again. There was something beneath you now as Sevika continued to run, but it wasn’t pavement. It was a rooftop.

Good god she was seriously going to fucking jump all the way down with you slung over her shoulder.

As an assassin, you had yourself done that plenty of times. Descended from Piltover to the Undercity via jumping from rooftop to platform to rooftop. But never had you been at the mercy of someone carrying you while they did the jumping.

“Sevika!” you whined again when she leapt down to another platform, slamming hard enough against the metal beneath her feet to have your face smacking against her backside.

Sevika said nothing, just grunted and huffed as she continued to descend further into the darkness and smog that covered the Lanes.

“Sevika, there’s no way they are still following us. They probably stopped the moment you jumped. Put me down. Please!”

It wasn’t until her shiny black shoes hit the pavement and she made her way into a secluded alley that she finally set you on your feet. She looked you square in the eyes, her own narrowed and threatening as she attempted to catch her breath.

“What?” you exclaimed. “I should be mad at you!”

Chest still heaving with her labored breaths, she stepped into your bubble, glaring down at you. “You screamed my name. Multiple times,” she ground out, nostrils flaring.

Oh.

Yeah.

Oops.

“Well, you startled me! No warning at all. Just threw me like a sack over your shoulder!” you argued in your defense. She was right though. That was a pretty stupid move. Her name wasn’t exactly secret. Somebody would know her ties to Silco and come looking for her.

“Next time I’ll leave your useless ass there to get thrown into Stillwater,” she growled.

Your brows furrowed and you stuck your chin out defiantly, meeting her steely gaze. “You wouldn’t really leave me there.”

She arched her brow.

“You need me,” you continued.

“For what?” she spat, taking a step closer.

You took a step back, only for your back to hit a wall. “To fuck!” you spat back, then your voice dropped to a weak murmur, “and cuddle.” You recalled how mad Sevika had looked when Ran had mentioned exactly that to her the other day. Probably not your best choice for arguing when she was already peeved.

Your gaze fell, drifted to something on the pavement, nothing really, just away from her heated stare. “I’m sorry,” you said softly.

Sevika sighed, long and loud, and then you felt her take your chin between her thumb and forefinger, gently guiding you to look up at her again. Her features had somewhat softened. She looked frustrated more so than furious, but you still felt awful for your fuck up.

“I know,” she sighed.

“We won though,” you said quietly, hopefully searching her eyes for a sign of forgiveness.

“We did,” she agreed, the corner of her mouth twitching.

“A lot. Like a shit ton of money,” you continued, your own lips pulling into a small smile.

“Yeah.” A small smirk appeared.

“Those fancy pants idiots had no fucking clue what hit them.”

Her smirk grew.

“Thought there was no chance to be beaten by a couple of women,” you added, your smirk matching hers.

“Thought they could have what wasn’t theirs,” Sevika added, but you were pretty sure she wasn’t talking about the money, not with the way she looked at you.

“But they couldn’t. They’ll never take what belongs to you.”

“Hmm,” she hummed, eyes dropping to your mouth as her thumb swiped across your bottom lip.

Your lips parted and eyes fluttered shut as Sevika slowly leaned down.

“No. They won’t,” she whispered just before pressing her lips to yours. Both her hands fell to gently grip your waist, contrasting cool and warm smoothing over your bare skin.

Your hands slid up her torso, over that widening expanse of exposed skin until you reached the collar of her jacket and pulled your bodies closer.

As impractical as you thought your dress to be, you’d definitely have to thank Ran. Between your wide-open front dress and Sevika’s plunging neckline, you could feel so much of her warm skin against yours, including those lovely, soft breasts of hers. You sighed into her mouth, mind emptying all previous worries and succumbing to the soft touch of your otherwise rough lover.

After several blissful moments, Sevika finally broke the kiss.

You peered up at her adoringly through half-lidded eyes and she returned the gaze with a crooked grin.

She slowly stepped back, leaving you feeling cold without her touch. Her eyes traveled down the length of your body, catching sight of your skinned, bloody knees and broken heel. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up, Princess,” she said before scooping you up into her arms bridal style.

You wrapped your arms around her neck, wearing the biggest grin as you pressed a kiss to her scarred cheek. “Does this make you my prince?” you teased.

She shook her head as if disgusted, but you saw the little smirk still playing on her lips.

“Or maybe my Queen?”

She raised a single brow. “Wouldn’t that make me your mother?”

“I could call you mommy, if that’s what you’re into,” you joked.

She openly smirked. “Would rather you call me daddy.”

Oh.

CH5>>

#arcane #sevika #arcane sevika #sevika x reader #arcane sevika x reader #fanfic #honey writes #ran #arcane ran

84 notes · View notes

wingzie · 26 days

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Hi Lovely!

You are the G.O.A.T Jikook historian and I love, love, love your threads on Twitter. I also love your posts you’ve been doing here on your thoughts and perspectives all things Jikook, jikookers and the fandom.

I have a question. I’ve already talked about it a while ago but I wanted your take. What’s your opinion on people feeling like Jikook haven’t been the same post-2020 and the fact that EVEN MORE feel like since chapter two Jikook are not in a ‘relationship’ anymore. I use ‘relationship’ as it’s the easiest word to use for them for this ask, whatever people believe the labels for Jikook’s jikooking should be.

Do you think that:

a. There IS a difference in Jikook of the past and Jikook of now?

b. Do you think that if they once had something they no longer do?

c. Do you think that Jikook are no longer close after chapter 2.

We know Jikook are currently serving together and used the buddy system but apart from that, if you were to answer the above with evidence as the Jikook historian you are, what’s your take.

Thank you for your part in making Jikook spaces fun and informative 😉

💜

Hello! Thank you for your kind words and for sending in the ask. Let’s get into it with some honest truths: I don’t see a difference and I don’t think anything has changed. I am very much aware of what people are saying, but this is a pattern that repeats itself every single time there is less content to “feed” those who are less patient. Or, even worse, those who want to control Jimin and Jungkook.

On 8th March 2020, BTS were told that their April concerts in Seoul would be cancelled. As we know, this later included the cancellation of their entire tour. Both the members and entire fandom were very upset about this, but I remember very vividly reading takes on the Jikook side of Tumblr saying: "but what about our Jikook content?" When, in all honesty, that should never have been the main focus when the entire world was experiencing a pandemic. I've seen this complaint several times. This happened during their vaction in 2019 and it's even happening now whilst they are in the military. It is incredibly selfish. I may be a Jikooker, but I understand that Jimin and Jungkook are their own people.

Hindsight is also a wonderful thing. There are a lot of times that we don't know about something, until it is revealed later on. We didn't know that Jikook ate dinner together after one of their concerts until the docuseries was released. This goes for 2018 AND in 2022. There are certain things that Jikook do because it is to heavily engrained into their routine together. We just won't always witness or hear about it.

How is this all linked though? There has been a change in content releases. We were used to Memories being released every summer and a Run episode every Tuesday. Episode 155 was the last weekly episode, released in October 2021. The last Special Episode was released in February 2023. They would have been filmed years apart, but they still show the same closeness and loving spirit. Both of these episodes also included some Jimin butt loving from Jungkook!

When chapter 2 began, it was obvious that Jimin and Jungkook were focusing on their own things. They do not have a persona in BTS to explore with, so this was their chance to share their stories or experiment with other music. Though busy, they still supported each other massively with social media posts or hyping each other on Lives. This is another pattern which has maintained over the years.

We also know that they have been on several trips together. They may have been on many more that we don't know of. I personally don't worry about it, I just support them as much as I can without putting any pressure on them. That would be unfair. I just think that whenever we do see anything from them, we are very lucky.

I know this response is probably what you (and others) weren't expecting, but I think those saying these things are probably too involved in Jimin and Jungkook's lives. That also goes with the amount of leaked photos and videos lately that I have seen on all platforms. Respect goes a long way and some are abusing it. (And thank you for always showing it in your own posts!) I am working on a "Jikook during Chapter Two" post, coming soon!

#wingzie #wingzieanon

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georgiacooked · 4 months

Note

🎭 for any of the Gallifrey characters

HEADCANON MEME

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

(Sticking to characters I haven't written for in the series for obvious reasons, but oh man the Headcanons I could write for my boy the General.)

NARVIN

Narvin has lost so much in the process of becoming the man he is today, but something even he's not entirely comes to terms with his most intangible loss: his ability to lie.

As a former member of the CIA, lies and falsehoods should have remained second nature in his new role of Renegade Timelord. But with newfound courage comes newfound honesty. Something about the horrors of war have stripped them all away.

Narvin can really only lie in the moment now, and only ever small lies. His honest truth- what he thinks of the coming horrors, how little he truly believes he can impact the future of Gallifrey, the full scope of what they stand to lose- bubbles to the surface like boiling oil, threatening to spill over and destroy everything he clings to on his travels across the stars.

ROMANA

Romana considers lies a necessity both evil and kind. She must lie to protect her people, she must lie to protect those she loves. She lies to herself so she can keep going, even in the face of everything she's lost, and she must lie as a weapon to fend off the universe. Such is the role of President.

LEELA

Leela is fundamentally incapable of lies. She may dip her toe into the weaponised diplomacy of Gallifrey from time to time, but it sits uncomfortable on her skin, like tar. Hers is an honesty wielded with brute force, another link in her armour against a planet she both loves and despises. A reminder that she is, despite everything, despite the years behind and ahead, always Leela.

BRAX

Everything. Anything. Brax hasn't paused to take a breath or speak the truth since the day he was born (loomed?) Even his stark honesty is woven with all the little things he won't ever say outright, all the thoughts and observations held tight by his other selves. Brax is a hoarder of lies. He considers it one of his best qualities.

#Not Art #Gallifrey #I think about how much I love these characters and I WEEP #Narvin #irving braxiatel #Braxiatel #Romana #Leela

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twig-tea · 2 months

Text

Love in the Big City Part 3: Kylie Recontextualizes Everything

I have waffled all week about what to write about this chapter. There have been some great essays about HIV and the stigma in Korea by @stuffnonsenseandotherthings here, as well as how antiretrovirals and pre-exposure prophylactics work and when they were available from @wen-kexing-apologist here. This context was all critical to understand everything Young doesn’t talk about in this section of the book.

I’ve been stuck on so many parts of this section of the book. The way stigma holds people back from care, from maintenance, from life-saving treatment and knowledge, from understanding their condition and preventing them unnecessarily from living a full life, which @doyou000me had me thinking about with their comments about Young’s coping mechanisms of minimization and emotional distance that possibly worked in conjunction with the Korean government healthcare policies and social stigma to keep Young from being informed about his own condition. The way Young holds himself back from happiness, and how it’s so heartbreaking to watch him open up to it slowly in this section and then, as @my-rose-tinted-glasses wrote , he let the shame and self-loathing take control again. The way this relationship feels so real; @lurkingshan wrote so eloquently on how this section describes the details of a relationship as it started to settle. The relationship with Hyung was entirely ephemeral, in the liminal period of time between when Young was visiting his mother in hospital and before everything opened again for the day. There is so much that Young and Hyung never talked about–more than was obvious in chapter 2, because he never told Hyung about Kylie. In contrast, as @bengiyo pointed out, his relationship with Gyu-Ho started with honesty and was rooted in the physical presence of their apartment, which as a beautiful metaphor was grounded and improved slowly over time through the work they put into it but was also too small for them.

I keep thinking about how Part 3 is bookended by Young disappointing Gyu-Ho with his absence. How he leaves him at the airport both times, thinking he’s doing Gyu-Ho a favour actually–he characterizes Gyu-Ho’s trip to Japan without him as much more fun, and he imagines Gyu-Ho’s future in Singapore will be better. In both cases, Gyu-Ho was only going because of Young, because Young wanted to, and Young planned it. But our narrator cannot get past seeing himself as something that brings Gyu-Ho down, and so he sabotages his own future. I feel for Gyu-Ho, being shepherded onto a plane alone when he was envisioning his future with the man he loved. It must have been devastating to be pushed away.

This is not related to anything but I just love the detail of Young’s split lip and how he tastes blood when he kisses Gyu-Ho while drunk at the club and not yet knowing his name, and then panics, and we as readers don’t yet know why. Brilliant storytelling.

I can’t stop thinking about how this reveal recontextualizes everything in parts 1 and 2. How the “incident that earned me a medical discharge” means Kylie was already in Young’s life as he took the engineering student he was seeing with him to get an STD check; as he was screamed at by an ex who prophesied that Young would get sick from being promiscuous and called him a ‘dirty rag that could never be cleaned’, which Young took with stoicism. I loved @bengiyo ‘s observation in his post linked above that Kylie’s presence likely coloured his reaction to Jaehee outing him to her fiance.

Kylie was present as he watched his coffee be stolen by Hyung, when he thought about introducing Hyung to his mother, while he was wrestling with how Hyung (and, I think the narration makes clear, how he) was ashamed at how Young couldn’t ‘pass’ and was ‘obviously gay’, when he choked Hyung in his mother’s kitchen and it was seeing his tears on Hyung’s face that made Young let go. Kylie was part of him when he drank pesticide and tried to die, while he sat by his mother’s sickbed and had her head in his lap in the park, when he said “disease can turn anyone into a completely different person”, when he said he would “hope that she would die without having known.”

Mostly, my brain keeps getting stuck on how familiar Young is to me. His choices, his self-loathing, his refusal to take anything seriously because at his core he’s terrified of facing what his reality means. And that fear ironically gets in the way of him understanding that his reality is not as scary as he thinks it is. He functions like he has to be alone, and so much of that comes from his internalized homophobia and his HIV diagnosis. He’s been told he’s dirty, something to be cleaned but irreparable, by so many people in different ways through his life. The man he claims as his greatest love barely even liked him as a person, and didn’t fully know him. I think that’s why he was able to feel more fully with Hyung, because in a way that relationship felt safer..Gyu-Ho, the person who knew all of him, and who wanted to build a life together with that complete and full knowledge of him, must have been terrifying, and I’m not surprised it felt easier to push him away than to fight for their future together. But it breaks my heart.

There’s something rattling in my head about the T-aras that I don’t really know how to get out onto the page. In this chapter it’s revealed that the T-aras have been around the whole time, but they weren’t mentioned in parts 1 and 2. I think the fact that Young’s life feels more rounded, filled in with other people, and rich, than in parts 1 and 2 speaks to his emotional state in this part, as well as to how his time with Gyu-Ho wasn’t obsession but was more grounded in the mundane and the everyday. The T-aras themselves feel like familiar friends. Like with Hyung and JaeHee (at first), Young is drawn to people who he can remain emotionally distant from and who remain emotionally distant from him. People who will buy the story of “ruptured disc” for why he left military service early. People who joke about being poz and won’t ask questions and who hear the news about his new boyfriend as an ‘in’ to their favourite club. People who don’t take things seriously (or in Hyung’s case take things so seriously that Young can’t take him seriously). I was so glad to find out they existed because up to this point Young felt so isolated most of the time, with his world circling around one obsession in each part. But he had the T-aras the whole time; I’m choosing to read this as he just didn’t hold their importance to him in the same way in parts 1 and 2. As was already clear in the narrative but this makes even more obvious, Young’s isolation is not only self-inflicted but it’s in some ways a lie he tells himself to feel safer. He has friends, he just refuses to acknowledge their presence or importance, or to let them in to be more important, because he is so braced for being rejected for core parts of him that cannot be excised.

#litbc book club #love in the big city #sorry i'm so late with this one #this got more florid than i like to be #this Part had me way too in my feelings

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pandorafallz · 4 months

Text

Lest We Rest Upon Our Graves

Alma sat alone.

A common occurrence the last few days and it was…odd getting used to this…sudden change of pace. Her life was…gone. Her avatar was dead and all the freedom it gave her to live in this world and to be a part of it was…simply gone. She felt like she had lost a limb… or worse, it was like she had truly lost herself. A face she knew and loved far beyond the bones she was born with. Seeing the world through the glass of her mask; no longer being able to smell the sweet air or to feel the wind against her eyes…

She had never liked it inside.

Now she was forced to remain in the walls again. Separate. For the first 16 years… she had felt like a prisoner in TAP herself, despite her avatar because of what she had to do for these children. Her options were slim. Stay and help them, the best she could or leave them all entirely to the mercy of Mercer and Harding. She never could stop them but…she could help pick up the pieces afterwards. She was sure Mercer had a contingency plan for her if she tried to bail or something but… that was just conjecture. She had no proof aside from paranoia. A part of her had hoped in their time that…the John she knew would appear or that she could get through to him. Director Mercer had lost himself to his cause and…in a way. So did she.

When TAP was gone…there was relief. She was free. Sure, she had been devastated as the TAP facility was crippled by Mercer after her escape; she had seen the walls collapse and had… assumed that the room where the cryopods were had also been crushed. She couldn’t have possibly gotten the kids out with her; the RDA soldiers had almost shot her but they hadn’t known her alliance shift when she fled so they let her pass; thinking her one of them. There had been…a small bubble of hope—of wonder—that they had survived.

Fear kept her back. Selfish fear.

If they had survived then…there would be that they would find out of her part in…all of it. That she would face their wrath and judgement, even as it was justified for the Sarentu kids to feel.

She just… never thought Nor would kill her. Perhaps even the other kids were just as surprised as her but…she couldn’t know for sure. She was sure her avatar would have survived if the bombing hadn’t already done its dues to her Avatar body. Weakened by injury, it was an easy kill.

It made her shudder still remembering. Her eyes closed briefly as her hand came to her side.

The resin blade felt…so cold. Like ice. The pain was so sharp with each breath that followed and the blood…. So much blood. Even now she felt like her hands were sticky with it, even if her clothes were no longer caked in it in this body. She felt the phantom sensation of pain from the wound still. Pricking below her ribs with her breath. Her fingers now…she pressed into the skin just to make sure she was not still bleeding.

The…sensation of death was…terrifying.

Feeling herself die was…horrible. The taste of blood in her mouth, the dizziness and the feeling of her (avatar’s) heart racing trying to keep her alive despite the blood loss. There had been comfort with Ri’nela and Kìoetey being there through it…but it was so isolating alone to feel her strength fade; they got further away. Alma could feel the lurching, painful moments between her avatar’s heart stopping and the unlinking…to be thrown back into a healthy, able body was…disorientating and painful.

Not many people had died in their avatars.

Nalin was…there beside her link bed just in case her human body had suffered from the avatar’s death. Minor, Nalin had said after she had closed the radio to the two at the circle of Ancestors. Her head hurt with infrequent headaches and a few migraines, and she had the occasional nosebleed but… she felt different now.

Wrong.

Sitting beside her avatar’s grave wasn’t doing her any favours but in all honesty… what would have happened if she had been in her human body when Nor had found out? Would he have killed her? The blade was smaller in Na’vi’s hands but in a human’s gut, it would have been lethal. The Sarentu would have had no answers and…well she supposed her death would have had some catharsis with the Sarentu people. The Resistance would…certainly see her death as justified given her crimes. She was no martyr or anything, just a stain on their record, so to speak.

Everyone looked at her differently now. She could see it in their eyes; how their interactions with her were…different. More different from the times she had been locked out of her link bed by Hajir or Nalin for her own physical, human health. Judgement. They knew what she did. News travelled past between her stabbing to her death. She shouldn’t have been surprised but…she was.

Isolation became her friend as the other people withdrew from her socially. It was business, no more personal. Smalltalk was…painful so she stopped in that regard for all of their sakes when mealtime came around. Kept to herself. It wasn’t easy but she made do. But her leadership was now in question for certain. Who would follow her now with her history?

She hadn’t dared approach So’lek. The sharpness in his gaze when he had seen her after her avatar’s death settled a cold feeling of dread. Just because he…disapproved of Nor murdering her avatar, it didn’t mean she was any better in his eyes. She was…a little scared of what he would do or say to her. Na’vi were so big now…she no longer was eye-to-eye with them. She was small. Weak… and human.

Alma exhaled out shallowly, dropping her hand from her side.

The only Sarentu she really saw now was Ri’nela and Kìoetey with the other two gone. She had…shadowed Ri’nela a little, trying to express her apologies but the girl hadn’t wanted to hear them. No one had. Nor was gone now and…there was relief in her to know that. She didn’t have to watch her back with him or wonder when he’d sunk that blade into her belly again.

No sign of Teylan, which was a concern but Ri’nela was confident he needed time before he came back around. She hoped he’d come back. For their sake.

“Cortez.” Her head turned to see Nalin standing not too far away.

“I’ll be in in a minute,” Alma said dryly. Just…Cortez now. No one was calling her Alma which…was a small thing but it weighed on her a little more than she expected. Non-personal now.

“You shouldn’t be out here all alone without telling someone. It’s not safe, even here.” Nalin said sharply. “Nor it is healthy for you to be here constantly.”

“Thank you for your concern, Doctor Laine.” Alma said, “But you’re a medical doctor, not a shrink so please stop psychoanalysing me. I’ll morn however I like, just like everyone else.”

Nalin sighed but decided not to press it. “If you’re not back in twenty minutes, I’ll ask So’lek to bring you in. We need the base secure at night and everyone accounted for, Cortez.”

Alma just gave her a thumbs up of acknowledgement but her insides coiled a little at the thought of So’lek being the one to do it. Nalin knew her threats well. She listened out, hearing the doctor’s footsteps retreat back until the Doc was gone before she let out her breath.

“Fuck.” Alma rested her face into her hands; not entirely as her hands pressed against the cooler mask doing her best to ignore the distant ringing in her ears.

Another night. Then another day of…this.

Alma took fifteen more minutes in the sanctity of alone beside her grave before she forced herself to move back in before the Doc would act on her threat with So’lek. She only took a small bag of dried RDA rations; her stomach was uneasy and she lacked an appetite but she forced it down to avoid looking like she was waving a cry-for-help sign by going on some food strike.

Sure, she was moping and she knew everyone had seen but… she didn’t want them to think she was… trying to look the victim here. At least not in the way that mattered. She had still been freaking murdered in a fit of rage.

Her eyes scanned around the kitchen as she fiddled with the empty packet and while she met Priya’s eyes as the women passed by, the younger woman dropped her gaze quickly and turned her back to her tablet.

“…onestly, I don’t know what to say to Cortez. I might just…focus on my lichen research. It’s a safe topic.” Alexander’s voice in the distance; his figure passing the open way with Nalin but seemed to hover just down the hallway; not realising she was here.

“Reaching out may be what we need. I’m concerned.” Nalin was saying, “I’m not condoning her part in TAP or anything but…we cannot afford to lose our allies. The more someone is hurt, regardless of who’s inflicting it, the less helpful they become.”

“I’m the wrong person to ask, Nal,” Alexander spoke. “We’ve lost a lot of people, the Sarentu lost everyone and their faith in us. The Resistance. Some things you just can’t bounce back from and… I don’t know if Cortez can come back from that.”

There was a pause. “I know it’s a grey area, Alex.”

“I know, which is why it’s hard. I’m not out for a witch hunt and I sure am not gonna add looking like a sympathiser for TAP by cuddling up to Cortez. She lied to us and continued to lie to us to cover what she did. She dug her grave, Nal. She has to lie in it. I’m sorry.” Their steps echoed away, separating off.

Alma closed her eyes but the bitter truth was raw to her own ears. One of her was certainly in the grave now… she almost wished she was buried in with it.

Dark thoughts like that, she had tried to banish. Trying to see past…that as a solution. Her death wouldn’t be a solution to everything; she couldn’t do anything to help. Couldn’t repent her actions and crimes if she was dead, couldn’t earn forgiveness or find a place of peace with herself or with the Sarentu kids. Killing herself or getting herself killed would look…cowardly. She’d be known for taking the easy way out when things got too difficult. They wouldn’t forgive her for that.

But…

It was so hard. But the little voices back there had some good points.

She was the one who was complicit in genocide, as much as she hated…acknowledging it. Made it real. Once Mercer was dead, and Harding…then she was the last of the three who had a major interest in what happened to the Sarentu clan. She would be the last one. A reminder of their history and loss. A better tale would see the end of that chapter with her death. No more follow-ups.

The resistance stood against the RDA. They had their principles set to ensuring the RDA stopped pulling stints like that; pushing them back. She had lied. Lied again and again in the resistance. She wanted to…keep the past hidden from herself. Life was…easier that way. But…as leader of the RDA with her history…and hearing this; it verified their uncertainly. How could they still follow her? Humans liked to have a cause and… she doubted she could retain her position for long if life continued like this. The resistance lost trust in her leadership. In her. She was marred for life among her…own people for her actions. Death would…probably satisfy those who felt she had gotten off too lightly at the death of her avatar.

Alma felt the pressure rise at the back of her head the more she mulled, spreading around to the front and settling into the left side of her head with a growing intense pulse of pain. She once again settled her face into her hands, dropping the empty packet away and took a few steady breaths to ease herself through this common occurrence. Her fingers pressed into her skull, trying to find the point to force ease, and in part to cover her eyes from the light that seemed to brighten up.

At least, if she had died, then she wouldn’t have to suffer like this. As selfish as it was. Her death would mean that no one else had to…deal with her. Endure her presence.

The distant chatter seemed to start to grate on her nerves the longer she sat and she felt her stomach turn a little as the pulsating got more concentrated. The symptoms were easy to identify, all too familiar. Migraine.

Her’s had only lasted about 5 hours since her avatar’s death but the headaches had come and gone. Another migraine…

Alma flinched as she heard movement entering the kitchen though she peeked through her fingers to see who it was before her stomach dropped.

So’lek.

She closed her fingers, trying to focus on herself but she felt her heartbeat rise…and the pain in her head rise. Her stomach turned even more but she fought the urge of its follow up quickly. There was nothing but silence between them as he lingered about; looking for fresh Na’vi rations that he could have quick and easy. He liked fresh but given the time, she doubted many fires were operational for a quick meal.

Alma wanted to leave. Get up, go to bed, sleep the pain off…but she couldn’t find the strength to move. She felt weak….the worst thing to feel with So’lek around right now.

“Here.”

Alma turned, surprised to see…a small put of Aspirin pills being put down in front of her beside her ration pack. She squinted at it for a moment then up to him, surprised he had…bothered. And that he knew what to look for.

So’lek had returned to his search as if he hadn’t done such an act.

Carefully, she took a moment to gather herself and opened the bottle, carefully picking out two pills and setting them down then slowly got up to put the bottle back onto the shelf where spare meds had been shoved for the convince of their people. She pulled out the small bottle of cold water from the fridge then returned to her seat and slowly washed them down.

“If you are not well, then you should rest. We do not need sickness to spread” So’lek remarked, his voice cold as stone. “The resistance cannot afford that on top of our losses”

“Just a migraine. I’ll be fine.” Alma said tiredly. “Migraines can’t spread. It’s just…a side effect of a severed link.”

So’lek simply nodded. “Good.” He pulled out what he was looking for; leaf wraps and sauce.

Alma took a few more swigs of water but pushed herself to throw her ration pouch into the bin and made her way towards the bunks to rest but didn’t get more than two paces before So’lek’s voice pinned her down.

“Do not expect forgiveness, Cortez.”

Alma’s shoulders sagged. “I know.”

“Do you?” So’lek questioned, his towering frame coming closer as he held his plate so innocently. “There are not enough apologies to make up for your actions. Your regret is nothing to the loss of life you had a hand in taking.”

Alma turned her head away from him. “I know.” Her tone sounded weak to her ears.

“I know you seek penance, and the death of your Dreamwalker is a payment of such. I see your regret but I do not believe you are doing anything to help the Sarentu. You seek to only elevate your own guilt, nothing more.”

Alma flinched a little at that. “I…” She didn’t have the words to say to that, so she didn’t finish.

So’lek seemed to step closer, towering over her. “Until you work to aid them for them, then there is no way forward. Catering to your own needs before those you have hurt will not see a good future. You have caused harm and lied to many of us to preserve yourself. Myself included. I am not happy about your deception you have waved in my face and called it caution.”

She shrunk inwards a little at his shrewd gaze. “I’m sorry.”

“I will not hear it. You are only sorry that you have been caught out. Nor may have been brash with his blade, but his absence is still a loss for the Resistance. For the Sarentu.”

Her hand came to her side, the pin-pricking reminder of that blade. “I…I don’t know what to say.”

“Then say nothing. The Sarentu will need to heal and you’re an inflammation to those open wounds. Stop trying with them. They will reconcile in their time, not yours. If you continue to force yourself into their space, their conversations and attempt to make the wrongs right on the account of your feelings, then we shall have another discussion.” He gave her a hard look, but like that, he was gone and his undertow bushing past her like ice and settled into her bones. His threat was subtle but she understood.

She barely registered the blood coming from her nostril until she felt the warmth of it splash into her neck-scarf.

(if this is well liked, i'm open for another chap XD let me know)

#avatar #avatar james cameron #avatar frontiers of pandora #frontiers of pandora #avatar rda #alma cortez #so'lek #ri'nela #teylan #nor #sarentu #tw suicidal thoughts #tw blood mention

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