#i forgot we had a festival thread we never finished so | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

luxmaeastra · 7 months

Note

//I THINK YOUR GOING TO LOVE THIS ONE!!!//

The Daglan had struggled to rebuild after the devasting blow Maeve's army had delt them. They were scattered, holding power they didn't deserve.

They squatted with Valg in lands that didn't belong to them.

Azor stared at the tapestry. It hung over his castle and would never rot or fade. The magic to make it ensured that, countless souls of Valg and Daglan bent to make it. An individual thread took one hundred souls to craft, the tapestry easily had thousand threads.

Here he could hear the Quintessence easily. They all forgot the point of the story.

Ostium fell with its god, its bones scattered in the Wyrd. But it's blood? It's blood had been collected and forged into something else. It held its last breath, it's tears....

Prythian, their ancestral lands had been forged from their Goddess. The last sacrifice to protect Her people.

At least that's how the story went. Prythian had been made after Ostium had been shattered. While yes, yes the Valg claimed their Goddess. The Ilken has always been there too.

They'd been Made, things to hunt and eat when the Daglan and Valg had fled the Four Realms.

The Wyrdgates hadn't opened since, not in the last 1,500 years and his people had been used since. They had just every right to exist and rule as the others. It wasn't his people's fault they'd been seen as little more than dogs, animals.

He touched his horns turning from the tapestry to the boys. They were young, angry. The eldest only 13, but there was a rage that belied his age.

All these years he'd never figured to get the Daglan and Valg to see his people as more than cannon fodder.

But now? He had children, girls pretty enough for a Valg when they came of age. He slid his eyes to Orcus, and tilted his head.

"Do you accept my turns Orcus? We help you take your throne back and one of my daughters, you may choose will become your consort."

Why not use them the way they'd always been used?

Orcus raised his chin, his brothers didn't speak simply waited. The young one, Erewan kept shivering. Azor hoped for his brother's sake he didn't drop dead - he didn't want to deal with Valg Grief anymore than he had to.

"I accept."

Azor held out his hand, waiting for Orcus to do the same. They didn't do blood vows, too messy and convoluted. Their wrists were side by side and Azor brought the brand down. His people may have never been taught Wyrdmarks but they knew how to identify them all the same.

The Valg had gained their freedom but no one had bothered to care about his people. So he would, he'd free them if he had to kill every last Valg and Daglan to do it.

------

Sebastian frowned, looking up from braiding Alina's hair.

"A massacre? In Spring? What ever for? Last I checked they were just revelers."

Eldred sighed and sat back in his chair, rubbing at his forehead.

"And my boys nearly killed each other. Apparently Cassandra had a proxy in that court. She took Princesses from the other courts...it was a bloodbath. Hellas lead the charge and -"

"Of course he did. Just like he did 200 years ago."

Eldred stiffened, looking from the girl back to Sebastian.. Sebastian didn't bother returning the look. He finished the braid and kissed her forehead.

"What do you think? Did Papa do a good job love?"

He turned Alina to the mirror, she was ready for her first full Solstice Festival.

"Sebastian did he -"

Sebastian stood and looked to Eldred. Still so young, even if he acted like he wasn't.

"Hellas told us himself, said it was justified because our families were corrupt and went against the Natural Order of Things. He's a fucking hypocrite...but I'm glad he got his precious baby girls back."

Eldred stiffened, his body paling. He followed Sebastian a few feet away hoping the girl didn't follow. He'd never regretted tying his family to Sebastian and Natalia. His grandmother would be spinning in her pyre. But Mab was dead and his family needed to survive.

"Sebastian did you have something to do with -"

"With Sarai and Thesan? No of course not. I don't use children as bargaining chips. That would be hypocritical, I just mentioned to a few friends their potential."

Eldred didn't push, that darkness..the look in his eyes. He remembered those looks in the Kavalla Prison. Valg who had nothing left to loose and would take down as many people with them as they could.

Sebastian snapped out of it, humming as he turned to find some more jewelry or ribbons for his baby girl. Eldred moved to the window trying to keep his revulsion from showing.

"You know Eldred, if it bothers you that's understandable. It's horrifying, just remember no court helped us when we ran. They still refuse to acknowledge it, sad isn't it?"

He held up two ribbons for Alina to inspect, trying to tickle her neck with one..

"What do you think love? Which do you want? Purple or pink?"

Alina enjoyed spending time with her papa, she enjoyed the moments when he tended to her hair, or they spent time doing things. Even with the heaviness of the topic they spoke about, she sat quietly as her papa braided her hair. She always loved the hairstyles he done for her, she loved feeling pretty once he was done.

She beamed when he turned her to the mirror, her smile growing as saw herself for the first time. She was her papa’s girl, she adored him so much and how he looked after her.

“I love it papa, you done an amazing job!” She responded. She almost felt as if she was glowing from how happy she was. Her attention turned to the reflection of Eldred in the mirror, falling quiet as she sensed the atmosphere in the room. When the adults got like this she knew it was better not to interrupt. There were many things about her parents she didn’t know yet, had been too young to be fully told.

Her smile returned when her papa returned with the ribbons, giggling slightly as she felt the one tickle her neck.

“I like the purple one!’

——————

That was the thing with wars, with raids and massacres. Views were always different depending on the side you stood on, memories varied depending on what each had gone through…And sometimes the more powerful rewrote the truth. Even as he stood in the doorway watching his two baby girls sleep after their ordeal, he felt the throb of his headache return. The push of pain from the division of the truth and what he was left to believe.

He nursed his cup against his chest, watching the steady breath of his girls as they slept. The sign of life, the sign that they were there. To have something taken from you, to have someone tear into your home and take them. Flashed of a darker scene surfaced, the feeling of shear horror tore through his body as he remembered that day. The screams, the terror.

The sight of the other’s face as he stared back at him, the look of hurt and betrayal as the realty of it all came crashing down. The false truth stripped away, this wasn’t some uprising or stop over in an ally kingdom. His men had been told they would have been moving on to another place after this, yet this was the target?

He remembered looking to Rook as the realization hit them both, as they stared upon their ally and friend as the one who lead all of this barked orders to continue on.

The punishment for desertion, his fingers rubbed at the burn upon his wrist. Once he and Rook had put enough distance between them and the scene, after their minds had been warped and the memories changed, they worked together to burn away the brand. The burnt skin a reminder, as was the false memories - Anneith had been the one who helped break through it all. Seeing her had made him realize.

Yet the damage was done, whatever friendship they had was now gone. He and Rook became closer after they had lost their other friend, even if they had attempted to reach out, what could they do?

Endymion cleared his throat as he approached. Hellas’s attention turned away, looking towards him as he gave him a smile. “Fighting with family is not the easier, especially those who you deem as a brother.” He spoke honestly before he looked back toward the girls.

“I would do anything for Thesan and her family, even if my blood and my life started with my father and brothers, where I end up is where I am meant to be.” Endymion responded.

Good, the boy would make his daughter happy. The day their mating ceremony came would be well celebrated in Dawn he was sure, he was sure he would the ideal partner and support. It was clear the love the two shared, it was clear-

He felt a twang of pain though, he knew the prophecies about his children. He knew each were destined for great things, but he also knew how close they all were - even Amaya and Helion who fought like cats and dogs. He knew the day they began starting their own lives some would be left behind, he knew the hurt they would one day feel.

“When the time comes, take care of her Endymion. She deserves a happy life…”

#Muse | Hellas #Muse | Alina #Muse | Endymion

0 notes

revengeisourlullaby · 3 years

Text

Thousand Eyes

Warnings: Pro Hero Au, 18+, smut, unprotected sex, dom/sub-themes, overstimulation, begging, choking, oral (receiving), jealousy, hair pulling, claiming, slight breeding kink, fluffy ending

Shoto Todoroki x Female! Reader

Word Count: 7.4K

a/n: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope whoever comes across this is having a good end of the year and finding the positives in all the craziness. I have a few more fics in the works and will start pumping them out since I’m on break. Maybe I’ll start incorporating hcs, fluff only stuff, drabbles, etc and not just the long fics. Much love <3

You were sitting on the couch, scrolling through your phone waiting for Todoroki to arrive home from work. You had just finished fixing up dinner and he typically came home around the same time so the two of you could eat together. While switching from Tiktok to Twitter, you heard the front door click signaling to you that Todoroki had come home. Bringing yourself up from the couch you walked over to the door to greet him with a hug. You barely left any room for him to remove himself from his shoes before you wrapped your arms around his neck and nuzzled into him. Todoroki looked down at you, smiling.

“Hi, baby.”

Dropping his work bag off to the side he returned your hug, squeezing you a little tighter than normal. Pulling away from him, you moved back a bit to finally let him all the way through the door.

“How was work today?”

Grabbing his duffel bag up from off the floor and bringing it into the bedroom you heard him respond from the other room.

“Not too bad. Actually, it was pretty calm today, mostly patrol over anything.”

“Well, that’s nice to finally have a break of sorts.”

Walking back into the main room, you saw him towards the bathroom.

“Yeah, it was a nice change of things. Actually, something else came up. I want to talk to you about it but I’m gonna shower first if that’s alright?”

Nodding lightly in response, you waved him off. Walking back into the kitchen you turn the burner back on the stove to give the dinner that you made some extra heat.

“We can talk about it over dinner.”

Hearing him hum an okay and disappear into the bathroom, you hopped back on your phone and scrolled through Twitter again. Mindlessly scrolling, you saw a post reminding you about your childhood. It was a meme regarding the Grinch and you went deep in thought about your life in the earlier years. Thinking about how much you loved the Christmas season, and how that film somehow brought your family together no matter the occasion. The memories sticking with you dearly. You were so lost in thought that you hadn’t seen your phone shut off or Todoroki slipping out from the bathroom. He was standing in front of you and you still hadn’t noticed him standing there.

He walked up to you, placing his arm on your arm and his other hand finding his way under your chin lifting it slightly so you could look at him.

“Hey, my little ember. You there?”

He softly chuckled which brought you back to reality. Staring up into his eyes, you realized once again how beautiful he was. His hair was halfway dried, a few beads of water snaking their way down his strands. His brows were slightly furrowed in an attempt to silently understand what was going on in your head. Even though you guys had been together for a few years now, seeing him in front of you like this after you had zoned out and made the blood rush to your face. Making you heat up instantly.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. I was just thinking about old memories and got lost in them. You uh, you ready to eat?”

“Yeah sure.”

Grabbing two dishes from the cabinets you plated the food for both you and Todoroki. Bringing them to the table you turned back around to grab two glasses you turned around and asked him what he wanted to drink. Bringing the two cups to the table you finally sat down and the two of you began to eat. Swallowing you looked up at Todoroki.

“So what was it you wanted to talk about?”

“Oh! Yeah, I completely forgot.”

Taking another bite of food Todoroki began to speak through his mouth full of food.

“So when I was leaving work today one of my interns informed me of this gala being thrown for all the heroes. I called Midoriya to see if he knew anything about it and it seems that it’s more festive than formal. Like a Christmas get-together. So, this is a long-winded answer of me asking if you’d want to join me?”

Your mind was racing about what you were gonna wear to this gala because the last thing you wanted was for you to feel underdressed.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah! No, I'd love to go. I was just thinking about what I was gonna wear.”

Chuckling softly, you rubbed the back of your neck, kinda embarrassed at yourself for being so vacant of reply for your boyfriend.

“You’re always thinking about how you look...and I don’t understand why because you know you’re gonna be the hottest one in the room.”

“Sho! You’re gonna make my head big.”

“What?! It’s true. You’re too hard on yourself”

Shoveling another bite of food in your mouth you brushed him off

“Yeah, yeah I know but still I wanna look good. I can’t be next to you and then not put out. Can you imagine how that’d look?”

Looking at him incredulously you were waiting for him to respond and when he did you wanted to slam your face in your hands.

“It’d probably look fine because you look fine regardless.”

“Shotoough-”

Exasperating at his response it caused him to let out a small laugh. Following suit with the small laughing fit, you shook your head and regained yourself.

“So you said it’s kinda festive like we’re supposed to dress up?”

“I suppose. I’m pretty sure either way is fine.” he responded flatly standing up to go help himself to a second serving of food.

“When is it by the way?”

“Tomorrow.” he said, turning around to come to sit back at the table.

“Tomorrow?!” choking on your food a bit from the shock of this event being tomorrow.

“Yeah..”

“Well, now I really have to worry about what I’m going to wear. Shit.”

Todoroki stayed silent noticing that you were deep in thought trying so fervently to figure out what you were going to wear to this gala. You didn’t want to disappoint but at the same time, you didn’t want to make it seem like a big deal for Todoroki’s sake.

Suddenly, your eyes widened and you realized that you had the perfect thing to wear.

“Todoroki! I got it!”

“Huh? Got what?”

“What I’ll wear for tomorrow!”

Standing up from the table you walked into the bedroom speaking to him while walking away.

“Do you remember when I was making that Santa outfit but never wore it out because I was afraid it was too obnoxious? The one I based off that rich lady in the Grinch.”

Sliding the hangers to the side you were sifting through all your clothes trying to find this dress that you made a couple of years ago. Sliding over to the side of your clothes that you had your winter wear organized in you saw bright red fanned out on the floor of the closet. Bending down to pick up the fabric from the floor, your backside brushed up against something. Standing up with the dress in your hands you turned around to see Todoroki standing behind you. Holding the dress out to your side, Todoroki wrapped his arms around your waist. Your bright smile plastered across your face

“Look! I found it. I’m gonna have to go get a petticoat tomorrow so it lays right but I think it’ll work well! And I can find you something too while I’m out.”

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, baby. Wouldn’t wanna steal the show from my girl now would I?”

Dropping your arm that was holding the dress you wrapped your other around Todoroki’s neck. Threading your fingers at the base of his hair, massaging lightly into his scalp.

“No, I guess not.”

Smiling up at him, Todoroki lowered his head to meet your lips. Engulfing your lips in a tender kiss that warmed up your entire body. Every time he kissed you it felt like it was the first and you never wanted them to end. His lips were always somehow so soft and inviting. Pulling away and looking back up at him an idea popped in your head.

“Maybe we can just add a lil something to your tux then.”

With a small smile now on his face, he nodded his head in agreement. With a yawn beginning to dawn on him, your body followed suit against your will. A sudden wave of tiredness falling over you both. Stepping away from you, Todoroki began heading toward the bathroom.

“Why don’t we get ready for bed? I have to get up a little early to finish up the paperwork from today’s shift.”

Nodding slightly you followed him into the bathroom beginning your nightly routine. You finished before Todoroki and walked back into the bedroom. You picked your costume up from the pool it was in on the floor and hung it back up in the closet. The cheeky smile that spread across your face was something that didn’t slide past Todoroki when he came back into the bedroom.

“What’s got you smiling like that?” a breathy chuckled punctuated his question.

“Nothing really. Just thinking about how we’re gonna look tomorrow. I’m excited.”

Climbing into bed, you snuggled up into Todoroki as well as the sheets.

“Well don’t stay too excited, you gotta get your rest.”

Placing a kiss atop your head you told each other good night and Todoroki shut off the lights.

Waking up the next morning, you’d had gotten up a little later than you expected. You usually were able to catch him before he left. Throwing the sheets off yourself you stretched and tried to get yourself out of bed. Rubbing the sleep out of your eyes you opened up your phone and when you saw the time the leftover sleep left your body and you started getting ready in a hurry. It was almost noon and you still had to go out and grab a boutonnière for Todoroki and a petticoat for your dress. You got ready in record time and left your home to get said desired items. You wanted to be back in time to do your makeup and get properly dressed up and not be rushed for the event.

By the time you got back home, it was around 2:30pm. Who knew finding a mistletoe boutonnière would’ve been such a feat. Finally settling into the couch you let out a sigh a relief and your stomach let you know for the third time within the hour you should eat something. With a groan, you waddled into the kitchen and fixed yourself something quick to eat. Todoroki would be home around five so you had enough time to screw around a bit. After you finished up you looked at the clock and decided to start to get ready for the evening.

With your speaker blasting Christmas music you were clad only in black lingerie and adding the final touches to your makeup. Stepping back away from the mirror to get a full look at your face you smirked at yourself and went into the bedroom to get your dress and everything on. Pulling up your red fishnets and petticoat you walked over to the closet to grab the dress.

Slipping it on you fastened the belt and then bent over to grab your red heeled boots from the bottom of the closet. As you got the zipper up on the boots you heard the front door open, signaling that Todoroki just got in. You glanced over at the clock and noticed it was about 5:30pm.

‘Just in time’ you had thought to yourself. Todoroki called out for you and with a quick

“In here!”, you let him know that you were in the bedroom. You stood up and straightened yourself out while looking into the mirror embedded on the closet door.

“Wow.”

Turning your head to look at him you posed and smiled at him.

“Ya like?”

“Yes, my little ember. You look amazing.”

You walked a little closer to him wrapping your arms around his neck. You felt heat travel up into your face as his gaze seemed to pierce through you.

“I know what that look means, and you need to get ready, or otherwise we’ll be late.”

Planting a small kiss on his cheek you walked away and heard a small groan come from him which elicited a chuckle from you. While you were waiting for Todoroki to finish getting ready, you were stuck in front of the mirror in the main room deciding whether or not you wanted to add the Santa hat or not. You decided to keep it on hand and just put it on when you arrived at the gala. You didn’t want an indent in your hair to be too noticeable and if worse came to worse you would just have to fluff out your hair in the bathroom.

You heard the clearing of Todoroki’s throat and you looked behind you. He always looked so good in anything he was in. His black tuxedo fitted nicely against his body and his hair was slicked back, a few pieces falling loosely in the front.

“Well, look at you.” A cheeky smile following your words.

“You like?” Todoroki wore a smug smile referencing back to how you greeted him earlier. Catching on you continued the charade.

“Yes, very much. But, I have something to make it even better.”

Walking into the kitchen where you dumped your findings from your outing earlier, you grabbed the mistletoe boutonnière. Going back over to Todoroki you began to pin the boutonnière onto the lapel of his tux.

“I told you I was going to find you something to make it a little festive. So now, whenever I come next to you a part of me will be under you. So I’ll just have to kiss you.”

Finishing pinning it onto his lapel, you looked up at him, his heterochromatic eyes seeming to sparkle with a new endearment to bestow upon you.

“Very funny, now let’s get going.” He pressed a kiss on top of your head and you stretched back to grab your hat and clutch that you left on the counter and walked out the door.

The drive to the venue was quiet but that was nothing out of the ordinary. What was though was Todoroki’s hand on your thigh occasionally squeezing at the plushness of them. You were smirking to yourself trying your best to keep your composure, but he gave your leg one particularly hard squeeze and you pressed your legs together out of habit.

“You alright?”

You could hear the smirk in his voice but you refused to give into him this early, you hadn’t even pulled up yet. Clearing your throat you fixed yourself in your seat

“Yeah, great actually baby.” Moving your hand onto his thigh closest to you you asked him,

“You excited for it?”

“Yeah, I think it’ll be fun for the both of-” You had grazed your hand across his lap, running over his clothed sex to reach his other thigh and give it a squeeze causing his breath to hitch.

“Guess I should’ve known that was coming sooner or later.” An airy chuckled left him but you knew that you had him right where you wanted him. Pulling up to the venue, he parked the car.

Stepping out you grabbed your clutch and hat, staring into the tinted side window to place your hat where you wanted it. While checking yourself in your makeshift mirror, Todoroki came up behind you wrapping his arms around your waist. Nestling his chin into your neck

“You look so beautiful, baby.”

“I know, now let’s go in so everyone can see.” You knew where he was attempting to go with his compliments but at least wanted to experience a little bit of the gala before your makeup would be indubitably ruined. The both of you walked up to the hall this event was being held in and you could hear Christmas music blasting. The doors of the hall were open so you knew exactly where to go.

Stepping in the hall looked like a winter wonderland. There was soft blue lighting throughout, snowflake and icicle decorations hanging from the ceiling. Centerpieces on the tables were filled with snowbrushed branches and accents of green. And of course in looking at the scenery in front of you, you failed to noticed the mistletoe hanging above you and Todoroki’s heads until Midoriya came up to greet you guys.

“Hey! Todoroki, Y/N, how are you guys.”

“We’re doing great, it’s really good to see you Izuku!” You moved to go and hug him but he backed away slightly.

“I can’t step under there with you Y/N, Todoroki is right there.” A nervous laugh left him but the overtone of joy covered it up.

“What do you mean?” Looking up you noticed the mistletoe and then glanced at Todoroki

“Oh, that’s what he means.” Todoroki verbalizing your thought. With a quick kiss to Todoroki you moved back over to Midoriya giving him a hug.

“You’re still such a goofball, I love it.” As you two were giggling you looked over at Todoroki who signaled to you that he was being motioned over with some work friends. Giving him a nod you hung around Midoriya for the moment.

“You wanna grab a drink? They have this killer spiked eggnog, you can’t even taste the alcohol.”

Raising your eyebrow you lightly elbowed Midoriya

“Sounds like my kinda thing.”

While walking up to the bar, you noticed Bakugou hunched over scouring the floor of the hall. He hadn’t noticed you yet so you picked up your steps and called out to him.

“Hey! Kaachan!”

An audible groan left his mouth, cutting through the music that was blasting through the speakers. You knew that nickname pinched a nerve in him and seeing his reaction killed you every time. You came up closer to him and enveloped him in tight hug.

“Oh c’mon don’t be like that. You know I can’t resist screwing with you.”

“Yeah yeah, now get off me.”

“Not until you give me a proper hug you dumbass”

Reciprocating the hug with one arm you stepped back and he finally got a full look at your outfit. Lifting his glass to his face he motioned to you

“Nice outfit.”

“Right! I finally had a place to put it to use to.”

Midoriya had chimed into the conversation now, “That’s the dress from the live action Grinch right?”

“Yeah! God I love that movie.”

Sitting up on the stool next to Bakugou, you asked for some of that eggnog Midoriya was raving about. You spun around so you could face both Midoriya and Bakugou while at the same time trying to spot Todoroki in the crowd of people. You spotted him chatting with Momo and a few other people that you assumed he’d done work with.

You hadn’t noticed that Midoriya had walked over to Todoroki, you were too busy wrapped up in your thoughts at the moment. You sucked your teeth and a small sudden wave of jealousy was flowing over you. While in your head you turned your head to see your drink waiting on the bar counter and you took a big gulp of it.

“God damn Y/N, did you even taste it.” Bakugou teased you.

“Yeah I tasted it. Midoriya was right saying you couldn’t even taste the alcohol. Shit is like juice.” You laughed trying your best to cover up your jealousy with alcoholic tendencies and low rate jokes.

Bakugou noticed the quick change in your behavior and tried to follow to where your eyes were boring holes into. Once he saw Todoroki and Momo sitting a little too close for comfort he understood the current state of upset you were in.

“Stop staring at it, it’s just gonna make you more upset. It’s probably nothing anyway.”

“Staring at what-”

“Todoroki and Momo. You couldn’t hide your emotions to save your life Y/N”

“Guess you’re right about that.”

Sighing you swiveled the chair back around ordering another glass in a piss poor attempt to keep your nerves at ease and not think about the scene in front of you. You trusted Todoroki and never even thought of him having ill intentions with you.

You just felt a little competition with Momo considering they went to school together, she was stunning and he once had a crush on her that you found out not too long ago. It was all too much for you to process in the moment and Bakugou was attempting to figure out what to do to pull you out of your funk. Putting his glass on the counter he put his his arm on your shoulder.

“Look, you’re too pretty and look too nice to be feeling like this.”

Standing up he held his hand out to you and looked up toward the speakers,

“And by the sound of things, seems like it’s the perfect time to share a dance. So, care to dance with me?”

A small smile spreading across your face, you chugged the rest of your glass of eggnog and took his hand.

“I’m never gonna forget that.”

“Oh shut up.” Lightly laughing you trailed behind Bakugou leading you to the floor. Sia’s Snowman was coming through the speakers and you seemed to forget what it was you were upset about while swaying with Bakugou. He seemed to catch onto this and looked down to you only to be met with your eyes looking up at him with that of a doe.

“Thank you.”

“Oh don’t start with that I just didn’t want to sit with someone mopey.”

You nudged him while still swaying to the music

“Oh whatever, I’m still thanking you.” He looked down at you again

“Try not to think about it too much. He’s still somehow ridiculously oblivious to things and doesn’t think about stuff like that too deeply. He doesn’t mean nothing by it. Wanna go get another drink and go over there?”

“Sure why not.”

Getting your drinks you walked over to the group of people you had become acquainted with through Todoroki. Old school friends of his that you seemed to flawlessly get along with. Walking in front of Bakugou you heard him mumbling about something.

“What’d ya say?”

“Why are you walking in front of me?”

“Seriously?! That’s why you’re making all that noise.” You knew he screwing with you and you just waved your hand and walked over to the group. When you got there you noticed Todoroki wasn’t there anymore. Momo was the first to greet you out the group.

“Hi Y/N! How are you, it’s been so long.” She was also in a Santa dress but less dramatic than yours. She had a cute little santa hat headband to top it all off.

“I’m doing great! And you look gorgeous as always. This is a little off topic but do you know where Shoto went? I needed to ask him something.”

“I think he went to the bathroom. If you go to the back of the hall and turn left that’s where they are.”

“Okay cool, thank you. I’ll be right back!” You announcned to the rest of the group and they all nodded you off, acknowledging your absence. Walking to the bathrooms you went to turn into the hallway but instead turned into boyfriend.

“Oh there you are, I just coming to look for you.”

His demeanor seemed unreasonably sharp and you couldn’t place whether he was mad at you or something else.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing why don’t you go hang up on Bakugou again.”

Your face contorted in surprise and complete shock about how he was addressing the situation. He tried to walk away but you grabbed his wrist.

“Hold on, you’re not gonna jab at me like that then walk away. If it bothered you that much why didn’t you just come up and switch with him. I didn’t come up to you because it seemed like you were enjoying yourself chatting with Momo and everyone and I didn’t want to interrupt. That’s all.”

“It’s a little hard to pay attention to a conversation when I’m focused on you dancing with another man, let alone it being someone I’m close to.”

With that he walked away from you and back to the group from before. You watched him in disbelief, in absolute shock about what just happened. You took a deep breath and huffed walking back to group as well, instead when you arrived you didn’t sit on the couch next to Todoroki but rather leaned on the back of the couch standing over everyone.

Looking up you saw Bakugou coming back with two drinks in his hands. He looked down at the couch and noticed Midoriya slumped out on the couch, unsure if he was sleeping or trying to focus himself on not making a mess everywhere.

“Got this for him, but I think this is that last thing he needs so you can have it.” You smiled a thank you and continued chatting with everyone. You looked over at Todoroki who’s face was blank but his eyes held a fury that was unmistakable to you. You grabbed your phone out of your clutch to send him a text but he didn’t respond, let alone look at his phone. You sighed and excused yourself to the bathroom this time actually having to go. When you left you ran into Todoroki waiting in the hallway.

“Hey…”

“Save it, we’ll talk about it later.”

Mumbling an okay you walked back to the group slightly stumbling, all the eggnogs finally catching up with you. You took a detour to the bar to get a water to try and balance everything out. While sitting up at the bar Bakugou came up beside you.

“What’s up with him?”

“He’s upset with me for dancing with you. Guess he does think pretty deeply about these things.” You rolled your eyes not having the energy to put more thought into your partners antics, knowing that if you did you’d completely ruin the rest of your mood. You looked up towards the group and saw Todoroki giving what looked like his goodbyes to everyone. You swiveled back to face Bakugou

“This blows, but at least I looked cute while it happened.” Shaking your head you took another sip of your water.

“That you did.”

You looked at him through your lashes, unamused knowing that he was part of the reason you were in the predicament that you were in. Chuckling to yourself you spoke one more time

“This will make for a funny memory in retrospect but right now I’m so over it.”

The two of you were lightly laughing with each other when Todoroki made his way up to you too.

“I’ll be taking her now.”

Whipping your head to him you couldn’t believe the way he was speaking.

“I’m sorry who the fuck is her?” The alcohol making you a little more loose lipped than normal as well as bringing your bubbling frustrations of the evening to the forefront. Bakugou snorted at the sight in front of him and got up from the bar

“See ya around Y/N. Call me.”

“See ya man.”

Todoroki was glaring at the two of you and the ending interaction before he turned on his heel with your hand in his. Completely numb to the situation and with the help from alcohol you were almost a blank slate, not really thinking about anything that was going on.

“Can you stop walking so fast, please, baby?” You were met with silence until you got to his car. Mumbling to yourself you didn’t think he’d hear you but to your surprise he did.

“If you’re gonna say something, say it so I can hear it.”

“Oh will you quit the act already. I was dancing with him I didn’t fuck him Shoto.”

“Sure looked like you wanted to with the way you were looking at him-

“-And I could say the same about you and Momo but you ain’t see me throw a fuckin hissy fit about it Sho! All up on her n shit, give me a break. Let’s just go home.”

You grabbed the door handle and let yourself in the passengers side sitting in silence when Todoroki got in and started the car. The tension in the car couldn’t be sliced with the sharpest blade, it was so thick it was almost suffocating. You took your hat off and fluffed your hair out in an attempt to hide that you were trying to get a look at him. His hands were gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were turning white and his veins were jutting out from his hand.

You couldn’t deny that that sight alone was enough to send your mind spiraling elsewhere, but you couldn’t shake the guilty feeling that was beginning to well up in you. Pulling up into the driveway the two of you continued the silent treatment to each other. Walking inside the house you slipped off your heels, your feet relieved to be let out of their cages. You walked over to the kitchen to grab a glass of water but didn’t get the chance to make it to the fridge because Todoroki had come up behind you caging you to the countertop.

“Sho, I don’t have the energy for this right now”

Moving his hand to your waist he spun you around to face him

“So you have the energy to pay attention to Bakugou but can’t give me the time of day.”

“Oh fuck you.”

Moving yourself out from under his arms you moved to go to the fridge but once again Todoroki interrupted you plans. This time it was with his hands around your waist pulling you into him.

“I think you might want to rethink your choice of words baby. It’s not wise to upset me further.”

“What are you gonna do-punish me? Please.” Scoffing you tried to move away from him but his grip on you was tighter than you expected. All of this was too much and you were trying your hardest to keep your arousal at bay. You hated fighting with him but something about the way he was going about this was making your brain spark.

“Is that what you want? Cause I think it can be arranged.”

“Actually what I want is for you to be an adult about this and to stop acting lik-”

“Shut up.”

“What?!”

Catching you off guard he pressed his lips against yours the sexual tension finally dispersing between you too. The frustration and anger of the situation being displayed through the fiery kiss between you two. Todoroki picked you up and placed you on the counter top, his hand trailing up your back and landing at the base of your neck, lacing his fingers into the bottom of your hair.

Your hands planted on his chest pulling at the fabric of his jacket trying to bring him as close as possible to you. He pulled away from your lips and moved down to your neck finding you sweet spot immediately. He sucked on it until it seemed like it would hurt if he did for a second longer. He moved down to the plunged neckline of your dress and attacked the top of your breast that was exposed. With an airy moan escaping you you found yourself giving up on fighting him.

“Sho~ baby please.”

“I thought I told you to be quiet.”

You were almost caught off guard by his response but instead was caught off by him picking you up off the counter and carrying you into the bedroom. When he plopped you on the bed, his boutonnière fell on top of you landing in your lap.

“Now would you look at that. Guess I have to kiss what under it huh? Scoot back for me baby”

Moving back, Todoroki ran his hands up and down your thighs. His lips began kissing up your thighs while he was squeezing the sides of them. When he came close to your heat he breathed on it, pressing his nose into your clit but instead of finishing the job he moved to your other thigh teasing you.

“Shoto please, I need you. You can’t keep teasing me like this.”

Lifting his head up from in between your legs he looked up at you.

“For someone who is the reason why we’re here in the first place, what makes you think you can order me around like that.” Cocking his eyebrow he awaited your answer, but your answer never came because he was teasing your clit. Rubbing his finger lightly up and down between your folds you couldn’t focus on your words.

“That what I thought. Now shut the fuck up and let me do my work.”

With that he ripped at your red fishnets creating a hole right where your panties resided. You went to scold him for ripping your tights but before you could say anything he had used his quirk to singe off your panties leaving you bare in his wake.

“Now, I know you can’t stay quiet for long, but I want you to try your hardest to keep quiet for me baby. Okay?”

You nodded vigorously looking down at him. He took that as his cue and licked a fat slow strip between your lips. Your breath hitched but you kept your silence. When he began circling your clit that when his request became a little more difficult to complete. Picking up his pace he began lapping at your clit making you lose your composure. A moan slipped past your lips. You began bucking your hips into him signaling that you were close to you release, something you should’ve held out on because Todoroki stopped his movements. Bringing his head up to face you he smirked

“See, you can keep quiet. All night you’ve been running your mouth but apparently you only listen when my mouth is on you. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, but please Sho, please I wanna cum so bad.”

“Don’t worry my little ember, I’ll let you get to your release. You just have to listen to what I say. This time make as much noise as you want. I want to know how good I’m making you feel”

With the tip of his tongue he licked a quick strip across your clit, making you squirm on your back

“Fuck!”

Chuckling to himself he began lapping at your clit again. Creating figure eights you lost all your senses. You completely gave into him and couldn’t hold back. Moaning, you were writhing in tempo with his tongue lost in the pleasure he was giving you. Your drenched hole began to flutter and heat started to flow to the lower end of your stomach.

Overwhelmed with your orgasm your body convulsed against Todoroki, but he didn’t stop. He kept thrashing his tongue against your overstimmed cunt. Panting and moaning you grabbed a fistful of his hair trying to lift him away from you but he wrapped his arms around your hips locking you to the bed and his face.

“Shoto, fuck! It’s too much, I-I can’t take it.”

Instead of responding, Todoroki hummed against your pussy the vibrations sending you into your second orgasm. You screamed out Todoroki’s name unable to handle the stimulation running through your body. Todoroki finally lifted himself from your legs, staring at you like a predator does its prey.

“Didn’t know you could do that baby.” A smirk stretching across his face while he removed himself of his jacket and dress shirt.

“Do what-” You cut yourself off suddenly feeling a cold wet spot on the inside of your thigh. The realization of you squirting on his face threw you into a moment of embarrassment where you almost forgot he was in the room.

“Baby, stay with me. Cause I’m not done with you yet. You have a lot to make up for for the stunts you pulled back at the gala. Don’t you think?”

Kissing you, you tasted the tang of yourself fresh on his tongue. You slid your tongue across his lip, asking for permission and he obliged. Your tongues danced a waltz that only you two knew the steps to. The fire from the both of you radiated off each other and fueled the jealousy ridden passion from tonight. Pulling away from you, he trailed his deft fingers down the valley of your exposed breasts and stopped at the belt of your dress.

“I think it’s time for this to go.”

Gently taking your articles of clothing off you sat up from your flattened position of the bed and pulled your arms from the sleeves. You wrapped your arms around Todoroki pulling him back into the bed and flipped yourself onto of him. You heard his shoes hit the ground and you began working on his neck. Sucking a small hickey onto the skin right underneath his collar bone. Grinding yourself into him you felt his bulge begging to be set from the confinements of his pants.

Sliding yourself off of him you fumbled with the button of his pants and pulled them off along with his underwear. Taking advantage of your current position you were going to try your hardest to stay in control of it. Coming back up to kiss Todoroki you felt in between your legs for his length and positioned it at your entrance.

His head was enough to make you go feral, making you want nothing but the rest of him. Hearing Todoroki’s breath hitch was just enough encouragement to push you to fully bottom out on him. The both of you groaned in pleasure at the sensation.

“Fuck you feel so good wrapped around me, baby. Feel good on me. Use me and only me. You’re mine and I’m yours remember that.”

Though you knew what he meant, his last statement almost rubbed you the wrong way and brought back the frustrations from before. He was still bringing it up and you were getting sick of it. Rolling your hips back and forth on him you decided to use him to your full advantage.

Finding your rhythm you bounced up and down on his cock. Focused on your pleasure and also taking out your emotions on him. His moans were so blissful though that you couldn’t help but be intoxicated by him at this moment.

“Y/N, you’re so good, Fuck! Keep doing that ah~”

Feeling a sudden wave of confidence flood through you you decided to see how far you could take this position of control with him.

“Yeah, you like that? You’re the only one that gets it. Not Bakugou, nobody but you.” With a ballsy move, you wrapped your hand around his neck and choked him. It didn’t last long though. Within a second you were flipped over, Todoroki hovering over you with sheer lust adorning his eyes. His hand wrapped around your neck, fingers pressing into the blood vessels on either side of your neck.

“Don’t say his fuckin name while I’m inside you. You think of me and only me. Understand?”

Nodding quickly you recognized your reign of power was now over. Todoroki then slid his length almost all the way out before slamming it back into you kissing your cervix with blatant ferocity.

“Fuck! Sho! Fuck fuck fuck”

Panting you were desperately looking for something to grab hold of. You shoved your hands into the sheets of the bed before slamming your nails into his back. The pace he set was vicious, clearly taking out his frustration on you.

“All night it’s been about him but right now I want all your focus on me. You belong to me Y/N.”

Grabbing your face he squished your cheeks together forcing your lips to pucker.

“Look at me while I fuck you. Burn this into your memory of who makes you feel this fucking good.”

You looked at him and felt yourself about to reach your peak. Your fluttering alerted Todoroki to your climax and he pulled out.

“Sho, please. Please don’t do this to me again.”

“Hush and get on your hands and knees.”

Flipping yourself over, you pressed your face into the mattress and wiggled your ass in the air, waiting for Todoroki to line himself up with your sopping hole.

“There you go, give me those hips. Ahh, fuck baby.”

Again his pace was unrelenting. The fat on your ass rippled with each contact of his hips.

“Come on, you know how to fuck me. Show me you deserve it.”

Todoroki tangled his hand into your hair and brought you up so your back lay flush against his chest.

“I’m gonna dog fuck you, fill you up with so much of me that you don’t even have time to look at someone else without thinking of me. Every time you think of me you’re gonna think about my cum dripping out of you. Now, who do you belong to.”

“You.”

“Who? Sorry I didn’t hear a name”

“You, Shoto fuck! It’s you, it’s only ever gonna be you. Fucking hell.”

“There it is baby. You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you? That’s why you’ve been mouthing me off. Well, fuckin take it.”

Letting loose of his grip on your hair and submissiveness taking full control of you, you began whining into the sheets. His cock attacking your walls was sending you into a space of mindlessness.

“Sho- please, please can I cum. I need to cum so bad.”

“Go ahead baby, squeeze all the cum out of me. I’m gonna make you mine in every sense of the word.”

His thrusts began to falter and became deeper and slower. With one final thrust, you came around him, your pussy dancing around his cock milking him of his seed.

“Fuck! Holy-”

“Y/N shit~”

Todoroki stilled inside you, hovering over your body while you collapsed into the bed, exhausted mentally and physically. As Todoroki pulled out of you, you felt so empty but didn’t have the energy to move anymore.

As if he could read your mind Todoroki picked you up and pulled you toward the top of the bed rest you on a few pillows. He stood up to walk to the bathroom and grab a warm towel to clean you up. Coming back into the room he kneeled down to your core, gently cleaning your sensitive areas.

“Am I hurting you?”

“No, I’m okay, just keep doing that. It feels nice actually” Sighing you let your body fully relax into the mattress underneath you. Todoroki stood up and tossed the towel into the hamper and came back to lay on the bed with you. Giving your poor attempt at grabby hands due to your exhaustion he chuckled and slid next to you. Grabbing your hand in his he rubbed his thumb over the side of your hand.

You scooted closer to him moving his arm so you could lay your head on his chest. With all the attitude having left your body you were completely soft with him.

“Are you still mad at me?”

Instant regret filled him, all of his actions from the night finally catching up with him.

“Y/N, I could never stay mad at you. Sometimes I don’t realize how much I ignore my emotions. I’m sorry for having you be at the receiving end of my frustrations. I just can’t bear the thought of losing you. You mean so much to me.”

“It’s okay, at least the sex was good. I would just hate you ever truly being mad at me and I wanted to make sure.”

“Y/N. I am thoroughly and undoubtedly obsessed with you. You’re my little ember and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I couldn’t ask for anything more in life because you’ve given me everything I could’ve ever wanted.”

With a smile across your face and sleep beginning to take over your eyelids, you tried your best to stay up with him while he confessed himself to you.

“You know I’ll love you forever Sho.”

Todoroki looked down at you with a dubious gaze trying to pick apart your affirmation.

“Forever?”

“Forever Shoto.”

“Good, because I could use a bit of forever in my life.”

#my hero academia x reader #my hero academia smut #todoroki x reader #todoroki smut #shoto todoroki x reader #shoto x reader #my hero academia

388 notes · View notes

sisterspooky1013 · 3 years

Text

Only One Choice, Part 2, Chapter 21

Read it here on AO3 / Tagging @today-in-fic

“Hi,” she greets him as he walks in the door, “I have something for you.”

She’s perched in the armchair, a smile that’s coy and playful curling the corners of her mouth. He gives her a curious smirk as he slips off his shoes and overcoat.

“Okay, like a gift?” he asks, crossing the room to plant a kiss on her lips, stealing another to enjoy the warm feeling of her mouth against his, which is chilled from the wintery air outside.

She shakes her head as he goes into the bedroom, changing into sweats and a T-shirt.

“You’re going to have to find it,” she calls from the other room, and he smiles to himself.

This is his favorite version of her; playful and flirtatious, quick to smile and laugh. He loves all aspects of her personality, but the rarity of this one makes it feel special. She almost never acts this way in front of anyone else, even her family; it feels like it’s just for him. He moves to stand at the threshold of the living room, leaning against the wall.

“Are you going to give me a hint?” he asks, and she considers the question with a thinking man pose.

“Well, I will tell you that right now you are very, very, cold,” she finally says.

His eyebrows lift in understanding and he walks back into the bedroom.

“Colder!” she calls, and he moves to the kitchen.

“Still cold.”

He walks to her desk.

“Mmm, slightly warmer.”

Next he steps close to the fireplace.

“A little warmer.”

He turns to look at her and narrows his eyes. He takes a step towards her.

“Oh, warmer.”

He stands directly in front of her chair.

“Getting hot,” she says with a playful lilt to her voice.

He drops to his knees between her legs.

“Very, very hot.”

He slips his fingers into the waistband of her pants.

“On fire,” She says with a smile.

He moves to pull her pants down and the tips of his fingers meet with something foreign near the top of her thigh. He quirks his head quizzically, fitting his whole hand into her pant leg and pulling out two long strips of cardstock. Airline tickets.

“How do you feel about a California Christmas?” she asks hopefully, and he looks at the tickets to see that the destination is San Diego, December 22nd.

He knew that she and her mother had been talking about flying out to see Bill for the holiday, but he’d assumed that he’d be left at home.

“What about Priscilla?” he asks, both touched that she wants to include him in her family’s celebration and nervous about meeting her older brother, who he understands will hate him by default.

“We can ask the Gunmen to look after her,” she offers. “Unless you don’t want to come with me?”

He can tell by her tone that it’s not meant to be a way for him to opt out, but a test of his willingness to go. She clearly wants him to.

“Of course I want to go with you,” he replies, moving close and wrapping his arms around her waist. “I will admit to being a little worried about meeting your brother, and in his home, on his turf.”

She gives him a sympathetic smile. “Don’t worry too much about Bill. Missy and Charlie are going, and Mom of course, and they love you. I know Tara will too. So even if he does pull the big brother card and give you a hard time, we have strength in numbers.”

“Is Byers going?” he asks hopefully, and she shakes her head. “Missy only just barely told Mom about him. It’s too soon for them.”

“But not for us?” he asks with the smile he reserves for the times when she alludes to the seriousness of their commitment.

She shakes her head slowly. “Not for us,” she says.

———

“Oh my god, I’m going to lose my mind, Mulder.”

She’s pacing around the apartment, putting things into different piles and open suitcases, her level of stress palpable in the air.

“Honey, stop for a second,” he says, grabbing her by the shoulders and dipping his head to meet her eye. “Take a deep breath,” he instructs, waiting as she does so. “We don’t need to leave for the airport for another twelve hours,” he says, keeping his own tone calm and level to counter hers, “we have plenty of time to pack.”

“It’s not just the packing, Mulder, this entire week was a nightmare. Everything I was hoping to accomplish before this trip was waylaid in one way or another; I missed my doctor’s appointment because of an emergency autopsy and forgot to reschedule it before they closed on Friday, Trudy was out sick half the week so I had to absorb her workload, the dry cleaners lost the dress I was going to bring for Christmas Eve mass, Priscilla is out of food AND litter, and I can’t find my earplugs for the plane,” she rattles off.

He pulls her into a hug, feeling her relax a bit with the contact.

“I will go pick up cat food, litter and earplugs,” he says, pulling away to look at her again, “and I’ll remind you to call the doctor tomorrow and reschedule. Wear that blue dress with the little flowers on it to mass, it looks beautiful on you. And try to breathe,” he finishes, giving her a sympathetic smile.

She forces a small smile onto her mouth and takes another deep breath. “Thank you,” she says quietly.

He pours her a big glass of wine before bundling himself up against the cold and venturing out into the December night.

———

She glances at Mulder intermittently, watching for signs of overwhelm. She knows that coming from a small, dysfunctional family means that he’s not accustomed to the type of gathering they are currently entrenched in; the entire Scully clan plus Tara’s parents and brother, and several members of their church. He seems to be faring okay, sipping a beer while talking sports with Charlie and a few others.

As nervous as he’d been about meeting Bill, he was well prepared. Scully directed him to speak highly of the Chargers while eviscerating the Patriots, and to go easy on the PDA. While they aren’t exactly best friends, Bill doesn’t seem to actively dislike him, and they are calling that a win.

She’d fully expected them to be set up in separate rooms given Bill’s traditional family values, but the number of people who needed to be housed made that impractical. They ended up relegated to the guest room and a single twin bed, though the enormous stack of pillows and blankets arranged on it suggest that one of them is expected to make a bed on the floor. They don’t do that, of course, instead sleeping nested together like spoons, Mulder continuously making half-hearted attempts at getting frisky while she laughs and slaps his hand away.

They are dressed for midnight mass on Christmas Eve, Scully in her flowered blue dress and Mulder in one of his typical weekday suits. They sit in the pew between Mom and Charlie, hands clasped chastely on the bench between them, suppressing giggles as he leans over to warn her that he is at risk of bursting into flame. He traces patterns on her palm with his index finger and she realizes at some point that they are letters. She concentrates, trying to understand his message, expecting it to be ‘I love you’ or something similarly sweet. When she puts together that he is spelling out ‘sex tonight?’ she looks over at him with wide eyes and then purses her lips together tightly to keep from laughing, doing her best to glare at him.

They file sleepily through the door at nearly 2am, quietly going off into their respective bedrooms and pull-out couches, hoping to get some rest before Christmas festivities in the morning. Scully quickly brushes her teeth and washes her face before darting to the bedroom, wriggling under the covers and pressing her back against Mulder, her cold toes brushing against his shins.

“Hm, you’re cold,” he says softly, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

“Thanks for going to mass,” she whispers back, “it meant a lot to my mom to have all of us there.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” he answers, his breath hot on her neck, “it’s nice to feel like a part of a real family.”

She threads her fingers through his where they rest on her belly, squeezing his hand. She tries to go to sleep, but his chest rising and falling against her back and the heat of his groin tucked against her backside are distracting. She wiggles a little bit against him.

“Hmmm,” he responds, thrusting his hips against her gently.

She swore that she was not going to have sex at her brother’s house. She knows that they can go without for the week they are here. But as she feels him grow hard against her ass, the throbbing between her legs suggests otherwise. No doubt it’s exacerbated by the forbidden nature of the situation; the door doesn’t have a lock and the house is quiet and still, though packed with enough ears that the risk of being heard is high. When his lips press against the back of her neck, she knows she’s done for.

She reaches behind herself to slip her hand into his pajama pants, stroking him firmly as he breathes hard into her ear, suppressing the groan that she knows would normally result from her touch. He pushes his pants down to his knees with one hand, then hurriedly brings hers down as well. She emits a small gasp when he slips inside her, simultaneously pushing his hand under her pajama top to squeeze her breast.

“Jesus fuck, you’re wet,” he whispers harshly in her ear, and she wants to make a joke about not taking the lord’s name in vain on his birthday but when he starts pumping in and out deliciously slowly, the thought slips from her mind.

If he moves too quickly the bed squeaks, so he keeps a languid pace as he pinches her nipples and kisses her neck, then slides his hand down to play with her clit in the tight space between her legs, which are still pinned together by the pajama pants around her knees. It feels incredible, and yet the necessary slowness and need to stay quiet make her wonder if she will be able to come. As if intuiting this, Mulder withdraws momentarily, sitting up and freeing her top leg from her pants, then lies back down and hitches her ankle behind his knee; her favorite position. He pulls the blanket back over them for warmth and modesty, though if anyone were to walk in now they’d have no chance of plausible deniability. With more room to move, he resumes his slow strokes and pairs them with hard and fast circles around her clit, murmuring little affirmations into her ear so softly she can barely hear them, much less anyone else. The vibration of his voice, the slip of his cock, the rough brush of his fingers, all come together in crescendo as she stiffens in his arms, turning to muffle her cries against his mouth as she comes. Now able to focus on his own release, he continues to pump slowly, pressing his face into her neck and letting out a low growl as she feels him throbbing inside her.

He slips quietly out of the bed, retrieving one of his dirty T shirts and swiping it between her legs before he pulls her pajama pants back into place. They get comfortable again, the sexual tension that had prevented them from relaxing before now dissipated.

He kisses her cheek softly, murmuring “Merry Christmas, Scully,” into her ear just before she drifts off to sleep.

In the morning, they sit around the lit tree, drinking coffee and eating pastries as they shake off sleep.

“Is your house haunted, Bill?” Charlie asks, and Bill gives him a doubtful look. “I swear I heard some weird noises, like creaking and whispering, I felt like I was in a horror movie,” Charlie defends.

Scully hides her face behind her coffee cup, glancing over to see Missy giving her a pointed look.

“I’m sure it was just the Christmas spirit,” Maggie says jovially. “Who wants to open presents?!”

#the x files #txf #dana scully #fox mulder #gillovny #msr #sculder #x files fanfic #alternate universe

40 notes · View notes

bibliocratic · 3 years

Text

tread softly

S4 Canon Divergence + Mythological Creatures AU Mermaid!Sasha, Pheonix!Tim, Selkie!Martin

cws apply - see tags

Peter Lukas has always prided himself on the timing of his entrances.

He is not there, then he is. The ward slips colder, down into single digits. Martin gives a jerking shoulder-hunch motion when he notices his unexpected arrival, coupled with an intake of breath. No noise this time, no jumping, no explications of suddenness or surprise. Martin Blackwood takes well to both shock and silence with a delightful sufferance, and Peter is indulgently proud.

The lad is, as expected, by the Archivist’s bedside. Crone-backed, ringed with an satisfying corona of misery. It’s after visiting hours, but Martin likely hasn’t even realised that the gaze of the ward staff and orderlies has simply grazed past him when he came up, when he took his traditional post, when they do their rounds. Martin has not wanted to be noticed, so he won’t be.

Peter idly watches the machinery and tubes threaded though the Archivist like mechanical embroidery. This one seems eminently more worse for wear than Gertrude ever was. Stronger, though. Peter watches Elias’ chosen as he lies still and sedate for all he stalks the landscape of dreamers, and wonders if he might see the Eye’s favoured come to fruition in a way Gertrude never did.

All the more reason to talk to Martin, it appears.

“What do you want?” Martin says. Dulled, thick-throated. He’s wiping his face free from damp with his baggy jacket sleeves, glowering at Peter with a delayed annoyance, as if he’s interrupted some no doubt tender petition for waking. The antiseptic stench of the hospital worsens the tension in his bones.

He is perfect for their God. Peter’s so pleased the Archivist wasn’t so careless to have lost this assistant like he nearly lost both of the others. Elias told him that the Corruption had already sought to burrow into the debris of this lost soul, that Martin has taken the mantle of archivist well, while Beholding’s chosen was indisposed. And it is true that Martin’s gaze is more assessing than he would like. But Peter knows that Forsaken has long laced Martin’s lining with mist and dew-damp cold, filled his stomach with fog far longer than those petty chancers have tried to have him in their maw. That his God’s touch has been settling like thronging, subdued snow in place of Martin’s sealskin.

“I wanted to see if you’d thought about my offer,” Peter replies genially. Pushing his hands in his pockets, ignoring Martin’s radiating desire to be left alone.

Martin has. Peter doesn’t need Elias’ pretty little parlour tricks to know that Martin has likely thought about little else.

“I’ve been a bit busy.”

“Oh right!” Peter says after a moment’s pause. It visibly annoys Martin that it didn’t come to mind faster. “That spot of bother with the Flesh. All sorted now, I’m sure!”

“Why didn’t you do something to stop them?”

Peter crinkles his face in a deliberate confusion. Casting out his line.

“Why, what should I have done?”

Martin takes the bait with ease.

“It’s your job, isn’t it?” His voice pitches with accusation. His hands ball into fists, and he moves to standing, the chair complaining as it’s pushed back. “It’s your responsibility! You’re in charge now Elias is gone.”

“Thanks to you,” Peter replies smoothly. “And your companions seemed to do a good enough job. A few bruises here and there, a few near misses. Nothing they won’t heal from.”

Peter slides closer. Just a step. It makes his skin sing discordant at the proximity, but Martin stiffens, an anxious intake of air despite himself, and Peter knows he’s paying attention.

“I could ask you the same question,” he says.

“What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you do something to stop them?” Peter doesn’t sound judgemental. He doesn’t have to, Martin will paint on layers of meaning without overdoing this particular nuance of his game. “It was very impressive, watching you all. They all held their own very well. Except you. You could argue I suppose, that it’s not the same. That you’re not like the mer or the firebird or the sphinx, no added little genetic extras, and you don’t get any boost from any old helpful Power like that police officer, or the angry one touched by the Slaughter. You’re just Martin. And that’s… that’s the problem, isn’t it? Just Martin. Nothing to offer in the fight, no way to protect them. Holding them back. They could have been hurt, and you wouldn’t have been able to do, well, anything at all.”

“I…” Martin says, and Peter takes another step.

“The Extinction is a pressing threat. There isn’t time for me to wait while you finish your grave-side widow routine. I need you to help me, and it would be only fair, in return, for me to help you.”

“Oh, what, you can fix me then?” Martin snaps.

“Not at all,” Peter says. Smiling, because he is so funny, with his rage sputtering in a fog that seeks to tamp it flameless, stumbling headlong and blinded into the conversational pitfalls Peter’s dug behind him. “No, no, I’m afraid you’re broken, Martin. I speak from experience when I say you’ll never grow your skin back.”

Martin freezes. He looks Peter up and down like he’s expecting to see something different, the scales fallen from his eyes, but this is the only skin Peter has worn for so long now, and he endures the slightly prickling gaze of Martin’s Eye-touched observation.

“You… You were – ?”

“A long time ago. Before the Lonely granted me a better shroud to cloak myself in. It is not a selfish God, Martin. It offers gifts, or payment, if you prefer that way of understanding it, to those who work in aid of its ends. Benefits that could protect your friends, should something as unfortunate as the Flesh’s assault occur again.”

“And what about Jon?”

“He’ll wake up. Or he won’t.” Peter replies cheerily. “Either way, you can’t do anything for any of them like this.”

Martin gives him a scowl. Peter lets it pass over him. He knows, before Martin even opens his mouth, that he’s won.

Sasha avoids the sea.

She does not know why. Its pull is no lesser through her absence. She has dreams of sinking and never coming up for air, and she does not know if it is serenity in the ceaseless drop or despairing surrender. She marks the high days and festivals of her people alone and unremarked upon, speaks to her landward kin infrequently and vaguely. She needs to be here, she tells herself harshly. She can’t go off when there’s so much to do, when she’s in the process of losing so much. One of her family cold and vanishing, one breathing through a machine, and one… he died, died properly, and although he came back purged of something poisonous, the shrapnel scarring of collapsed masonry on his skin and the reddest, warmest wings sprung from his back, this does not settle her terrors.

She cannot leave. Not when she could lose sight of her splintering shoal so easily. Not when she’s unsure the temptation to dive down and out, deeper, further away, wouldn’t ensnare her to cowardice.

She finds the first scales in the shower. It’s a myth that any water will have the skin of her legs go slick, then bumpy, fusing into one muscled tail with her scales folding outwards. She can have showers and baths without impact. It’s the sea, that is the essential component. The same for most deepwater kin. Not the sea, maybe, or exactly, but what it represents in the change. It’s something about floating out into endless space clad only in human skin and human lungs and trusting not to drown. The letting go of one form with the tide and permitting the waves to bring forth another.

Her scales are dimmed, like they’ve smudged. Their colour diminished.

It’s not a molt. Her people don’t. Tim does, normally annually. Before they travelled to Yarmouth, he’d been dropping feathers around the office almost continually with stress. Nesting, and growing in new and painful sections of wing, snapping with a yo-yoing temper.

Tim notices. Maybe because he’s the only one left. Basira is holed up somewhere of course, as is Melanie, but it’s not the same. They weren’t here before, they don’t have the context for how much their group is diminished, falling to pieces slowly like her own skin is.

They’ll be visiting Jon later. She hasn’t seen Martin in weeks.

Tim approaches slowly. Looks at the flakes of blue in her hand. Understand flowers gently in his eyes, and he reaches out and touches her arm, and she forgot the world could manifest in ways other than hurtful.

“You OK there, Sash?” Tim asks.

“I don’t know,” she replies. “I don’t… I just… When did it all go so wrong?”

“I dunno,” Tim repeats, and he doesn’t move away and she doesn’t want him to. “God, I – I don’t know, Sash.”

Jon’s clothes are dirt-clotted, ripped up by the grind of rock, and holding him tarnishes Tim’s feathers grey, smudges the pattern on his t-shirt into obscurity. His teeth are chattering, goosebumps bobbling up his arms and making the dark hairs up his arms stand on end. Tim suspects it’s more shock than cold.

Sasha brought him a glass of water, holding her palm under it because Jon’s long-fingered grip is so shaky it’s sloshing the water up the sides.

“Told you the rib was a shit idea, huh?” Tim says. Played as a joke and deliberately shorn of any accusation. He breathes in-and-out and Jon follows the rise and fall, and it benefits both of them. Tim’s getting better at control. He’s had to. His anger grows in like pinfeathers but so does his grief these days, a full plumage of emotions he is learning to deal with.

Jon coughs up something that could be agreement, but is mostly dirt and grave soil over Tim’s shirt.

You should have waited for us, Tim thinks but does not say because there would be too much teeth in it, and Jon’s skin is already whittling down to skeletal. We asked you not to go, we wanted a better plan, why didn’t you wait.

You could have died, down there in the dark, and we wouldn’t have even had a body to mourn, he does not say.

We love you, you idiot. We love you and even that wasn’t enough to stop you leaving, he does not say.

We’re already losing Martin, he does not say.

A room full of looping, chattering, overlapping tape recorders. Neither Tim nor Sasha stacked them, and Jon would not have thought to.

It should be a reassurance, that Martin’s been here.

God, Tim hopes he knows what he’s doing.

Sasha rubs at Jon’s back, helps him sip another small trickle. Tim’s wings, voluminous and unwieldy, knock over recorders in a clattering collapse as he scoops them around to shield them both. Against the balmy heat Tim’s throwing out, Jon’s shivers gradually subside.

“Daisy?” Jon murmurs. His teeth are grimy with soil.

“She’s with Basira,” Tim replies.

Sasha’s picked up the rib that’s dropped out of Jon’s clenched palm. Wiping the grime off it and staring at it without clear expression.

“Why, Jon?” she asks.

“I wanted to help,” Jon says. His words small, like he’s embarrassed that he even thought of it. “Even if it was one person. I wanted to be able to do something good for a change.”

“You could have died,” Tim says.

Jon’s horrible flat chuckle scrapes over his lips.

“I’m not sure I can anymore.”

“Yeah…” Tim replies subdued. He glances at the red daggers of his feathers and thinks he understands that.

“I wonder what it would take,” Jon says idly, slurring with exhaustion, and Tim grips him closer and hopes he never finds out.

Martin doesn’t react when Sasha sits down near him. The breeze, a vicious snagging chill tussles his hair, some wisps twisting into nothingness like smoke from an extinguished candle. She is still getting used to this Martin, or perhaps the Martin he never let others see. The toned-down stillness of him, the undisturbed waters of his expression. His skin not quite solid, the patches that have returned pale, sickly-pallored in the softening dim of moonlight. The rest of him is a coalition of fog, a hazy motion to his image like he’s wave-rocked, smoked out.

Long minutes pass. Sasha sits down cross-legged. The waves ripple up the stones that make up the strip of beach surrounding the loch, and they’re hard and uncomfortable under her.

“I can’t swim, you know,” Martin says finally. The sea is louder than he is, and he can make himself so quiet these days.

“No?”

Sasha keeps her tone light, inquisitive without intensity. Martin shakes his head, and his image lags, skipping disjointed, like his connection is poor.

More silence. Sasha doesn’t know what she should say, where Martin’s thoughts are at. She scratches behind the base of her gills, rubs at the dorsal fins sitting mostly flat under her sleep shirt.

“I didn’t live too far from the sea,” Martin continues. Looking at the wavering mirage of his hands without comment. She doesn’t even know if he recognises her presence. “We had Liverpool about an hour away. Even Blackpool, I guess. My primary school had a swimming club, where they’d pack them off to the big leisure centre on a coach afterschool. Kids’d get these little medals for managing like five metres, or ten, fifteen. But there was a small fee, and Mum said…” He snorts out a dismissive breath and his face twists, and neither of these actions suit him. “Doesn’t matter. I never went, and I never learnt, and that was that.”

“You could always come swimming with me?” Sasha proposes slowly. Lost in the swell of this conversation, why Martin’s talking about the sea, what this has to do with anything. She wishes he’d look at her.

Martin doesn’t answer immediately. He might not have even heard her.

“I told Peter, and he said that made it even better. That it was a such a – ” he says the word with a sneer, the words sharp-toothed in his mouth “ – gift, that I’d never even had the opportunity to know what I would miss, not even a memory to embellish or to sour. That there was so much that could root in absence. He said I should be grateful.”

“Peter Lukas said a lot of shit,” Sasha says.

She shuffles closer to him. Puts her hand on his knee.

“Whatever he told you was bollocks, you know that right?”

Martin blinks. After a moment, his hand joins over hers. His image grows denser, less likely to be stolen by the midnight air.

His eyes, fixed out on a horizon point in the slick dark of the loch, are still distant.

“I just wish I understood why she did it,” Martin murmurs.

“Who?”

“I did some research. After Elias… after I found out. I couldn’t have been the only person, and it’s rare enough but there are – help groups… you know, therapists that specialise in that kind of stuff. But I didn’t… I couldn’t face going to one. I thought that… knowing what was so wrong with me would make it easier, but it didn’t. All my life, I…. I was stupid enough to think it might be something I could fix. If – if I changed myself enough, if I said the right things, loved the right people, then I might… that someone could fix me. But it can't be fixed. That’s what all the leaflets said. That it was best to think of it like a permanent injury. Like having a stroke, or some sort of brain damage or something like that. Something irreparable.”

“Martin, sweetheart…” Sasha starts. She doesn’t understand. The flotsam of Martin’s speech grows erratic and he’s started shivering, and it’s no wonder, dressed in a t-shirt, pyjama trousers and some thick socks.

“Do you know much about selkies, Sash?” Martin powers on. Chattering teeth and goosebumps and it’s like he’s drawing something out of himself, some infection long done its damage. “Not many of them left, and they don’t usually venture landward like some of the other deepwater species. They mate for life apparently. Staunchly social communities, and some of them can’t… can’t cope, if they lose their group, or their partner. They take off their pelt, and just swim off to drown. A-and those help groups and therapists, those people who had theirs stolen, or destroyed… they’re, god, they’re all terminal. They last six months, maximum. Because it kills them, losing it. They waste away and they die. And here’s me…” Martin’s face twists again, and it’s bitter and angry and despairing all at once, “and I just get to keep going.”

“Selkies…?” Sasha says. “Why are you….”

She trails off in a gradually dawning horror.

“Martin?”

“She burnt it,” Martin says, his tone stringing higher now, distress sweeping in like a squall to break up the unnatural apathy in his voice. “I don’t think she knew what it would… I mean, I don’t know, maybe she did, maybe she wanted me gone just like dad, I don’t know, and I’ll never know because I can’t ask her why. I didn’t even… it was so long ago. I was sick and then I got worse and it was awful and I didn’t understand why I was so ill, why everything hurt just so much… and after, when I was better, Mum said it was appendicitis. I believed her. Course I did, why wouldn’t I. I didn’t know… not until Elias, and I’ll never know what I’ve lost, or why it didn’t kill me, maybe it was because I was so young, or because it’s only from one side of the family, I don’t – I don’t know! I’ll never know! It’s a whole part of me that she just… she just took a-a-and…”

Martin’s back bows like whalebone. He takes long shuddering breaths like his words are keelhauling across his lungs.

Sasha’s never heard of a selkie with only half their soul. She can’t imagine, what it would do to someone.

She moves in front of Martin and he moves forward against her like a wave crash. He’s taller and heavier than her, and the impact pushes her back momentarily before her arms catch him.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” she says, “You can do it, breathe.” She holds him so surely, and she always will. And he starts crying then, the first time since Jon was in hospital, and he won’t or can’t stop shivering, and it is horrible to hear every emotion inside him claw itself back from the brink.

She keeps telling him to breathe, and he keeps following that instruction through sniffling and sobbing and broken-voiced confusion, and she counts it as a small victory nonetheless.

Jon’s mouth cannot scream.

Tim’s in the next room, the kitchen, drying plates and bowls and cutlery, within shouting distance, and he’d be here in a moment – he’d help if only Jon could speak a word other than his unbidden, unwanted recitation.

Jon’s mouth doles out its terrible missive, and he doesn’t not feel like a person as Elias rolls out the triumphant red carpet of his plotting and scheming, the self-satisfied weave of his grand finale. And no, he’s not a person, not for a long time now; he’s a catalogue, a testimony, an archive, and he would never have chosen this.

His hands scrabble at his throat, and his eyes are blurred with tears, his vision obscured, but it does not seem to matter, for his skin ripples and sloshes like an inkwell and a hundred eyes swell and pop and inflate again like bubbles against his skin.

Someone else screams. And the multitude of Jon’s eyes are newborn, fractal-imaged, gummed up with a feast of far-reaching horror all witnessed by him, overseen and devoured in his sight, and it is hard to translate what his original set of open, weeping eyes see. There is motion. Commotion. There are apologies being spoken in his ears, fervent, petitionary, but he is hearing the rising insistent thrum of the summoning and it is as sickening as it is beautiful. Someone is holding a hand hard over his mouth, the grip painful and punishing but even then the words burble out through the cracks. Another hand clamps over his eyes, and he shrieks and thrashes as his words gather to a crescendo.

A hand tears the paper from his grip. There is an acrid whoosh of smoke. Jon drops like the rigging of a ship being torn down. The hands at his mouth and eyes lower quickly to loop around his waist, catch him and hold him up.

Jon sees Tim, wide-eyed and shimmering with terror even as his skin burns gold and his feathers shine and there are only sooty flakes left of Jonah’s statement, scattering down from his palms.

He thinks it’s Martin behind him. Jon folds further, all his weight pitching forward and Martin’s forced to come down with him as he retches the leftover words in his mouth; king of a ruined world, he vomits up with bile and ink, and it splashes with a disgusting slop over the living room floor.

Sasha’s partially webbed hands are holding back his hair as he hacks and gags, his lips stained black, his stomach heaving as he chokes on everything that comes up, his stomach roiling with an overwhelming nausea. Conduit of fear, he brings up, dribbling from his lips like paper pulp.

After a long while, it’s over. Sasha carries him to the bathroom, and helps him clean up, although Jon has little memory of it.

He wakes, feeling like a shipwreck, and Tim is there. Sat nearby, his head in his hands. His fingertips stained with ink and soot. He can hear Martin and Sasha talking in low tones nearby.

They're still here. Even now, he’s surprised that they haven’t left him.

And Jon has no words remaining, so his body betrays him with airless, silent tears, at all he could have wrought upon this world, at all the suffering he could have brought to their door to still be granted forgiveness for.

It is not the end. It is an interlude, a reprieve. In some ways a kindness, and in others, waiting is its own cruelty.

They’ve bought blankets to the beach in order to cushion the hardness of the stones rounded by tide and time. It’s the first time they’ve gotten Jon to come outside for more than a few minutes. The scratches up the column of his throat healing. His voice still damaged, scratchy and scraped from misuse.

They’ll have to be moving on soon. To make plans for whatever future they need to avoid.

She sits up, and stretches out from where she’s been lying against Tim’s thigh. Glances at Jon, barely four metres away on a separate towel. Grey-haired and tired-eyed. Martin’s holding his hand, the left one crinkled by burns, as they talk about something treasured for its meaningless. Despite everything, Jon’s face practises relearning its smiles, even as he touches tentative at the marks around his neck, the bruising at the edges of his mouth.

The tension has not faded from Tim’s shoulders. His plumage sharp and strange even now. Her own scales patchy and bare, whole sections that have not grown back.

She considers her battered but striving shoal, and wants to show them that their past is not all there will ever be. That there will be an after-this, whatever that looks like. She wishes they spoke her tongue, so she could gift them names, new names, for the things they have become, this things that they have survived, and all that has survived them.

“Martin!” she shouts over, a sudden inspiration seizing her. “Want to come in the water with me?”

Martin’s expression barrels through at least three iterations before it hovers between wary and uncomfortable.

“I – er… I might just be better off here, actually.”

“No pressure,” she tells him, and she means it, for all she remembers that he has never had the chance to know the sea as she has, to feel his whole weight held up by the water. “But I am a pretty spectacular swimming teacher. I promise I won’t let go.”

Martin, to his credit, thinks about it. Gnaws on his lip, stares away from her and at his knees. Next to her, she can feel Tim bite back an enthusiastic declaration of encouragement for fear of spooking him.

Martin stands gingerly, and she is so proud of him.

“I haven’t got a costume,” he says.

“Your boxers will be fine.”

“We want something pretty to look at, show us those legs, Martin!” Tim says. He times the tone playful, the perfect balance of joking and complementing, and it works, with Martin’s blushing and ‘shut it Tim’ distracting him from the enormity of his decision as he neatly folds up his jeans, and takes off his shoes and socks. Sasha peels off her long skirt, rolls down her tights. She dislikes shoes on principle, and rarely wears them.

The rocks dig into the soles of Martin’s feet as they waddle down to the shore, slow going and interspersed with wincing.

She takes his hand as they stop, stand a foot from the border between land and sea.

“We’ll just go a little way out,” she promises. “The water’s fairly calm but for your first time…”

“I don’t think I can do this,” Martin whispers. He hesitates, and she waits for his decision. And then, he creeps forward, and she follows. He swears vehement as the water hits his toes, and he almost balks to feel the frigid temperature, but he pushes forward, his swearing getting more and more creative the further he walks out against the tide.

From the headland, someone cheers, likely Tim.

“Don’t look at them,” Sasha says. “Come on, this is all you, ok?”

Her legs unfuse into her tail, and she shivers out a feeling like cramp, luxuriating in the sensation against her skin.

Martin tentatively wades out. He’s tall, but there’s a point where he stops, knowing to move forward means his feet won’t touch the ground.

“A little further, yeah?” Sasha encourages, and he nods jerkily, a frantic up-and-down, his expression petrified. “You can do this. Don’t look at the water. Look at me.”

Keeping her eyes fixed on his, she pulls him slowly into deeper waters. His fingers are pressing rounded marks into her forearms. His leg gestures are sloppy, thrashing, and at one point he dips below the surface with the disturbance he’s making, and he splutters as he resurfaces, surging up, eyes bulging in a betrayed panic. She continues to reassure him and doesn’t let go as they stop and simply float, the shoreline easily in sight.

“How does it feel?” she asks.

“Wet,” he grumbles. Clearly concentrating, he treads, kicking out in a motion that gradually finds rhythm.

For a long while, it is them and the sea. The waves rub up against the bare patches in her scales, but the reminder is not painful.

Martin’s breathing calms. His terror recedes, and he looks down at the obscured water under them.

“Can we go out a bit further?”

She’s not doing as much pulling now. She shows him how to use his arms to push himself through water, and stopping and starting, correcting his gestures and posture and breathing as they go, they drift further out before stopping again, hanging suspended above the depths.

Martin smiles at his own unexpected success. He lets out a long, satisfied sound like something’s loosened in him for the first time.

His eyes, completely black, reflect the dour and overcast midday sun.

“Martin, your eyes.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Martin says, but no – he doesn’t say, he barks, and then gasps, and then barks again, stunned, unsettled. He doesn’t look upset. He’s bitten his lip with his too-sharp teeth that now line his gums, and he touches the sharp pain it has caused with incredulity, his still human fingers marking out the sensation of the new.

“What’s happening?” he asks and Sasha grins, and says “I don’t know, Martin, I don’t know” and he’s splashing, a seal without skin, something entirely himself, shivering minutely in the cold shock even as his smile shows off his pointed teeth. He barks again, the sound almost jolted out of him as he figures out how it works, and she trills in delight, and it sets him off grinning and kicking. And for the moment, for this moment, the Lonely is banished entirely landbound, and there is only them treading water, surrounded by the endless sea and trusting they will not drown.

They have to go back to land eventually. The waves around them start to wash choppy, the sky colours grey with the surety of rain. They swim back, and sometimes Sasha lets go, bobbing near his elbow as he swims slowly but steadily on his own.

Martin’s teeth flatten when they crawl onto the shore, panting and burbling out the dregs of their laughter. Tim and Jon have come over to greet them, Jon holding the towels and garments like an overladen clothes tree. Tim chucks Sasha a towel to fold around herself into a makeshift skirt before her tail bisects back into legs.

“Tim, Tim, Tim!” Sasha says excitedly, waving her hands and gesticulating. “Did you see, did you see?”

“See what…?” Tim starts, but he glances at Martin, whose eyes are slow to fade from black to blue, and Tim might not realise what exactly has happened, but he senses the tenor of the mood because he’s barrelling in, knocking into Martin, wrapping him in a hug and nearly smothering him with his wings. Once released, Jon approaches slowly, putting his burdens down. Martin glances up at him, almost anxious now that the initial buzz is wearing down, but Jon goes softly to his knees, and his smile spreads across his face like paint in water.

The grey of the sky feels far off as they allow themselves the momentarily uncomplicated gift of being happy.

#the magnus archives #tma #cw emotional manipulation #cw ableism #cw potential suicidal ideation #cw emetophobia #cw being sick #ask to tag #jonmartin #sasha james #tim stoker #jonathan sims #martin blackwood

59 notes · View notes

ecoamerica · 1 month

Text

youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

17K notes · View notes

drunkserval · 3 years

Text

A Fresh Canvas: Incomplete Preview

Quite some time ago I did a silly little thread on Twitter, and I’ve always wanted to take that and actually make something out of it. Well it was a little harder than expected, but it’s coming along!

When I have the entire thing done I will be uploading it to AO3, but for now it seemed seasonally appropriate to at least drop this.

I wanted to have this posted yesterday but festivities kept me busier than expected! Story is below the cut. Keep in mind that this is still technically a rough draft, and will receive its final beta pass before the full story hits AO3.

(Tentative) Title: A Fresh Canvas Fandom: Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by MXTX Rating: G, No Warnings Apply Summary: Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are neighbors in the same modern apartment complex who, despite looking similar enough to be mistaken for each other, couldn’t be any more different. Or so they think.

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

Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan were neighbors in the same apartment complex. They lived on the same floor, in the same hall, and were often mistaken for one another due to this proximity combined with how similar their appearances were.

But there were key differences, as both would readily point out to their neighbors. Shen Jiu’s hair hung shy of his shoulders while Shen Yuan’s was shorter and lighter in tone.

And still the mix-ups kept happening, particularly if they were at some distance or facing away. The misunderstanding would very rarely last past the first glance since Shen Jiu would snap and take immediate offense, and Shen Yuan would just sigh and say, "Sorry, wrong one."

Shen Yuan had no idea why Shen Jiu got so offended over it. Surely he didn’t look that bad, come on!

The neighbors eventually started learning to look at the clothes first--or to at least look for Shen Yuan’s thick-rimmed glasses.

Both men carried and dressed themselves so differently. Shen Yuan dressed in hoodies and jeans--well, if he was planning on going any further than the mailbox, that was. Otherwise why bother changing out of pajamas or sweatpants?

On the other hand, Shen Jiu didn’t touch anything that wasn’t from a known designer.

Shen Jiu spent proudly--and why shouldn’t he? Because he at least earned his money!

That Shen Yuan kid down the hall? Rumor was that his parents were paying his rent and he'd never had a real job in his life.

But because he never went out, Shen Yuan was one of the only people still hanging around the apartment complex when Shen Jiu went around knocking during a major holiday.

In Shen Jiu’s arms was a box containing two fluffy black pups.

Shen Yuan’s eyes widened at the sight of them and he completely forgot to greet his neighbor until Shen Jiu cleared his throat. The dogs were like little storm clouds with feet and stubby tails, staring back at him with big black eyes. One started wagging its tail with such vigor that its whole back end wiggled about.

It took Shen Jiu a moment to find his voice as he followed, such was the state that his neighbor had chosen to answer the door in. Hideous cucumber-print pajama pants, a tacky anime shirt covered in snack crumbs, and unkempt hair had greeted him. But the continuous movement of the box in his arms reminded him of his mission.

“I found... ” Shen Jiu shifted the box in indication as Shen Yuan shut the door behind them, “these, out by the garbage.”

Shen Yuan blinked as the other passed by him, “Have you tried calling any nearby shelters?”

“Of course I have,” Shen Jiu scoffed at the implication that he was so simple. “You try getting a real person on the phone today, though. It’s impossible. I could only leave messages.”

Shen Yuan put a finger to his lips, “Oh, right. Today is…” Glancing at a wall calendar almost as ugly as his shirt he nodded, “Right. Right.”

Did this kid ever so much as leave the building? Shen Jiu was starting to wonder. Shen Yuan dressed like he’d just rolled out of bed in the latter part of the daytime. And he hadn’t realized it was a major holiday. And then there were the countless odorous takeout boxes covering every available surface in his apartment.

Shen Jiu wrinkled his nose but still asked in spite of his rapidly growing doubts, “You don’t know anyone who can take these little mutts in for a day or two, do you?”

Shen Yuan shook his head and heard Shen Jiu sigh. His neighbor set the box down to give his arms a rest… but Shen Yuan couldn’t seem to rip his attention away from one of the pups. It hadn’t stopped staring at him, or shaking its fluffy little behind, for a moment.

“What if we take them in?”

Shen Jiu’s tone was flat, “What.”

Shen Yuan picked up the excited little pup and it immediately started wiggling in his grasp. Not struggling, however--just trying to get closer to his face, paws waving in the air and its little pink tongue darting out to reach for him even though it was still well outside of range. He had to fight back the urge to laugh at the silly little storm cloud.

“The building allows us to have one animal per unit, right?” Shen Yuan shrugged, “so what if we each took one, even just long enough to find them new homes?”

Shen Jiu frowned. Taking in a dog, or really any animal, had never been on his agenda. He liked his nice clean apartment and intact furniture unlike a certain someone. Plus he was more partial to cats. He moved his gaze from the overexcited animal back to the box. Though the pups looked identical on the surface this one was clearly the calmer one. It looked up at his scowling face but put forth no such ridiculous display… thank goodness.

Who knew? Maybe Shen Yuan’s idea wasn’t so bad. And if it was, it was only a temporary arrangement, in the end. He might be able to get rid of the animal as soon as tomorrow if it was truly intolerable.

Tentatively, Shen Jiu reached out to pick up the dog…

And felt tiny teeth close around his fingers.

Jerking his hand backwards, Shen Jiu sneered down at the animal. “What, you ungrateful little beast!”

Shen Yuan finally stopped cooing at his own pup to look over and said, “Maybe he doesn’t like your cologne?”

“And what’s wrong with my cologne?” Shen Jiu snapped, voice raising.

Stepping back, “Nothing, nothing!”

“It was a gift, you know!”

Shen Yuan barely avoided tripping over a haphazard stack of game cases as he kept moving away. “P-perhaps it’s just too strong for a dog’s nose, that’s all!”

This time Shen Jiu moved quickly, snatching up the dog by its middle before it could get its ridiculously tiny muzzle around anything, and he stared directly into the animal’s eyes.

“Do that again, and I’ll put you back out in the cold where I found you. Understood?”

The dog stared back at him, placid and indifferent… until its tongue darted out and licked the end of his nose.

“...good enough.”

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

It was a few days before the two of them crossed paths again.

It’d seem they both had decided to keep their newfound pets and they were both out that day to take the dogs for walks.

The air in the park was warm, so they sat themselves on a bench to enjoy it for a bit longer and soak up some of the sunlight that was so rare that time of year. Shen Jiu’s pup sat like a sentry at his feet while Shen Yuan’s pup curled up on his lap the moment he sat down.

It was through the ensuing conversation they realized they both gave their dog the same name by sheer coincidence.

One was too lazy and the other was too stubborn, so neither changed it. At least they’d bought different-colored collars. But this brought to light a new revelation, and Shen Yuan just had to ask…

“How did you come up with it?”

“It was just the first thing to come to mind,” Shen Jiu had explained, “from something I’ve been reading, probably.”

"Wait, you read that too!?"

As he suspected! That name was from one of the top-rated web novels that year, from its stallion protagonist: Luo Binghe!

Shen Yuan couldn’t imagine someone as outwardly prim as Shen Jiu reading trashy webnovels, but it turned out to be true. It was just a quick, easy way for him to kill a few minutes of downtime at work, Shen Jiu reasoned in his defense.

Whenever they met up from that point forward, Shen Yuan talked his ear off about his various grievances with Proud Immortal Demon Way.

‘Villains that dig their own graves but don’t bother finishing! Women that lead the protagonist on a three-chapter long subplot just to get to their lewd scenes, only to never see them again! And every single character lost all of their intelligence when the protagonist came around!’

And yet he had nothing but praise for said protagonist… almost excessive praise.

Shen Jiu is annoyed at first but he starts enjoying the company. Which is good because the dog turns out to be a menace.

Well, both dogs could be counted as menaces, just in different ways.

Bing-mei (as they come to call him) would start whining so pitifully when Shen Yuan shut the door between them, thus he often just gave up and took the dog with him whenever it was feasible.

Bing-ge, on the other hand, broke his toys within days, climbed around on furniture he wasn’t allowed on--sometimes when Shen Jiu was looking right at him, too--he barked, he scratched furniture, he tore up pillows.

Despite all the trouble he was causing for his master, Shen Jiu would no longer entertain the idea of giving him up. Not after Bing-ge tore up three separate muggers on three separate occasions and growled at the person who kept taking his parking space until it never happened again.

But the biggest takeaway from their conversations, for Shen Jiu, wasn’t webnovels or dogs. It made him start to realize how lonely he'd been.

The only other person he really spoke to was halfway around the world for their work and they only spoke a couple of times a month. Now that Shen Yuan was around, Shen Jiu actually started to have things to look forward to besides the monotony of work--knocks on the door, long walks with the dogs, the occasional cup of tea afterward on colder days...

Shen Jiu was never the sort to be up-front with his feelings, so he found a way to show his gratitude by helping Shen Yuan with his confidence issues. He started encouraging him to go out more, and to put a little more effort into his looks when he did. This morphed into helping clean up his squalid apartment since Shen Jiu could barely stand to look at it when he came over.

Months later, Shen Jiu’s recommendation had helped Shen Yuan to land an entry-level job. That, and a steady habit of going out once a week, gave them something else to do and talk about.

Progress was slow, but visible. Shen Yuan seemed a little less awkward in public with each passing week.

One night they were leaning on Shen Yuan’s balcony. It was a night of celebration, for he’d just earned his very first promotion, and Shen Jiu had brought over wine for the occasion.

He found himself leaning closer to Shen Jiu, telling himself it was just to get a better look at him in the dim light of the city night. His focus wasn’t the best even when he was sober after all. Yet Shen Yuan didn’t stop. And when Shen Jiu turned to look at him in confusion, and their lips met, he didn’t withdraw for several seconds.

Neither did Shen Jiu.

Shen Yuan tried to flee as soon as he realized what he’d done only for Shen Jiu to pull him back saying:

"Don't run, take responsibility. We talked about this."

#svsss #svsss fic #mxtx #modern au #bingpup #shen jiu #shen yuan #jiuyuan

46 notes · View notes

scapegrace74-blog · 4 years

Text

Now or Never Now

A/N Really more of a PSA: drunkenness and unrequited (or unacknowledged) feelings for your roommate aren’t the best of bed fellows.

All other parts of the Metric Universe are available on my AO3 page.

The song by Metric that inspired the title and a few lines is here.

May 1, 2018, The Pride of Spitalfields, London, England

If he were forced to account for his twenty-eight years of life, he reckoned he’d made a decent start of things. It helped to have been born into a loving, boisterous family, cradled in the bucolic nursery garden of the Scottish Highlands. A good education, good values, a strong sense of duty: these he owed to his parents.

Since moving to London at twenty-two, he’d begun to weave the advantages of youth into the intentions of adulthood, with varied results. Failed relationships, the struggles of establishing a career in his uncle’s shadow and the cataclysm of his accident were setbacks, to be sure, but they forged his character in the blast furnace of adversity. He enjoyed the comradeship of a tight-knit group of colleagues and friends. Only three months ago, he’d been promoted to Crew Manager at the Bethnal Green station, and he had his eye on a Station Officer post before he turned thirty-five, his ambition to finally break free of Dougal’s influence. And Claire. He couldn’t count his blessings without numbering his Sassenach among them.

He performed this annual stock-taking as he walked to his local pub. It was his birthday, and he was meeting some friends for a celebratory drink. To absolutely no-one’s surprise except her own, Claire had finished her first year of medical school at the top of her class, and he’d convinced her to join them.

The air was warm and sweet with blossoms as he entered the pub to a rowdy cheer. His mates had secured two tables near the tiny stage where a three-piece band were setting up. The party was well underway, and a pint of lager was thrust into his hand before he’d even taken his seat.

He thought he’d been rather surreptitious in checking the door each time it opened, but Hamish slapped him hard on the back and commented in a voice the whole table could hear.

“Yer Sassenach missus willna get here any faster wi’ yer eyes glued tae the door, lad. Christ, has she got ye whipped!”

He felt the tips of his ears grow warm as the rest of the table laughed and joined in on the good-natured ribbing. When he looked back up, Claire was standing there shedding her coat. He momentarily forgot to breathe. She was wearing black tights and the jean mini-skirt from their first meeting in this very pub, along with a sleeveless, cropped, ruffled confection that he’d definitely never seen before. She was, quite simply, stunning. The momentary lull from the rest of the table told him he wasn’t the only one who thought so. He stood and hastened to greet her with a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Jamie!” she cried. “Happy birthday!” Her arms wrapped around his neck and she leaned in to return his kiss, barely missing his lips. He could smell whisky on her breath.

“Did ye get a headstart on yer celebratin’, Sassenach?” he asked, both amused and confounded. Claire hadn’t mentioned any other plans, and it wasn’t like her to drink alone at their flat.

“Aye, I have,” she giggled. “I had a partner in crime. Look who’s here!”

Claire gestured towards the coat check, where a familiar redhead was flirting with the attendant. His wame plummeted towards his shoes.

“Geillis,” he greeted as she approached. “Welcome back tae London. I didna realize ye were visiting.”

“Aye, we just arrived yesterday. Happy birthday, fox cub. Ye look well,” she commented with a smirk.

“As do ye,” he replied politely, glancing quickly at Claire to gauge her reaction, but she was observing the band, who had just begun to play.

“Och, mince,” Geillis replied. “My arse needed its own baggage allowance, but at least my tits are huge. Ferget about the bairns, I hadta pry Juan Carlos off ‘em so I could join in yer wee festivities!”

It was comforting to see motherhood hadn’t dampened Geillis’ spirit in the slightest.

“I see the lads are all here,” Claire segued quickly. “What are we drinking?”

Jamie slid his chair over to make room for the two newcomers. Before she’d even sat down, Geillis bought a round of shots for the table, to the general delight of his mates. It was going to be an interesting night.

***

“Com’ dance wit’ me!” Claire yelled in his ear louder than was absolutely necessary. Several hours had passed, and he’d lost track of the number of pints and shots she’d consumed. Realizing one of them would need to stay relatively sober, he’d been nursing the same ale for the past hour.

“Claire, I really dinna dance o’ermuch,” he stalled as she dragged him towards the small area between tables where a few other couples were rocking together to a slow ballad.

“Neveryouworry, lad. I’ll lead.” Of course you will, he thought fondly.

Instead of leading, Claire literally fell against his chest, allowing his bulk to catch her. Chilly hands met behind his neck and began teasing his curls where they lay against his nape. He couldn’t’ help it. He shuddered. Drunk, he reminded himself. She is drunk, she is yer roommate, and she trusts ye.

“Are y’ havin’ a good birthday, Jamie?” she murmured into his clavicle, where her forehead was resting. He couldn’t help smiling. He’d once compared her to a lioness, but right now she was doing a fair impression of a dozy kitten, allowing him to sway their bodies side-to-side in complete contradiction to the music’s rhythm.

“Aye. Aye, I am. And ye, Sassenach? Did I mention how proud I am of ye fer acing yer exams?”

The moist air of her chuckle seeped through his shirt. “Only a dozen times. Thanks for keepin’ me fed and caffeinated whilst I studied. I couldinit have done it wi’out you.”

“Twas my pleasure, Sassenach. We make a braw team.”

He said it offhandedly, but Claire stilled in his arms, leaning back to peer up into his face. There was something there, behind her slightly glazed eyes, that he’d given up hope of ever seeing.

“We do, don’t we?” she whispered, gaze flitting between his eyes and his lips, before skittering away. The humid air of the pub seemed to press in on him from all sides, making it difficult to draw a solid breath. A warning bell began to peel somewhere in his mind, alerting him to the fact he was in very grave danger of making an ass of himself.

She’s no’ yours, lad, he coached himself. No’ unless she wills it, and she canna know her own mind when she’s hammered. He tried to divert the conversation to safer territory.

“Tis good tae see Geillis again. Ye must have missed her somethin’ fierce.”

“Mmmm,” Claire hummed noncommittally. One of the hands that had been resting behind his neck began to thread through his hair, fingernails scraping lines of pleasure into his scalp. Christ, that wasn’t helping his cause at all.

“Claire...” he entreated into the scant space between them. Her long legs had somehow become entangled with his own. She was practically riding his thigh. Another few inches, and she was going to come into contact with the only part of him that was enthusiastic about dancing with a beautiful lass.

“I think iz time y’ take me home, James Fraser,” the limpet formerly known as his roommate purred in his ear. Thank Christ. Another few minutes of that sultry upright writhing, and he might have taken her right there on the beer-stained table in front of the darts board.

Navigating Claire’s increasingly pliant body towards the door and the salvation of the cool night air, Jamie ran directly into the diminutive roadblock of her best friend. Pulling him aside, she grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged his head down to her level.

“I ken she’s yer roommate and ye look at her as though she’s the sun after a thousand days o’ rain, but she’s my best friend an’ I love her. She’s scared, but she trusts ye. Dinna fuck it up.”

Without awaiting a reply, Geillis spun around and returned to their table. When he turned towards Claire, she was giving him a peculiar look. He shrugged it off as nothing more than inebriation, and started the short three-legged stumble back to their flat.

“Ye know, Sassenach, this is twa times I’ve had tae practically carry ye home from tha’ pub. Ye’re a verra predictable drunk.” They were navigating Brick Lane with a heavy list to starboard, where Claire leaned heavily into his side.

“First of all, milad, I am. Not. Drunk. You canned be drunk if y’ can shtill walk upright. Thas your rule, may I remind you.” Mid-lecture, the heel of her boot caught between two cobbles. She would have gone down in a heap were he not already bearing most of her weight. “Ooops!”

“An’ second of all,” she continued undaunted, “when didyu carry me again? Since? Fuck! Before?”

He chuckled. If nothing else, Claire was a very amusing drunk.

“Twas the first night we met, actually. Ye were shipping out tae Afghanistan the verra next day.”

They’d reached their front door. He was fumbling for his keys when he noticed Claire had gone remarkably silent. Even in the yellow glow of the hallway, her face was incredibly pale.

“Are ye alright, Sassenach? Are ye gonna be sick?”

What came out of her mouth next was even worse.

“You fucked Geillis. That night. In our shower.”

Golden eyes interrogated him, tearing away any hope of evasion. Gone was the cuddly kitten, and the lioness was on the hunt for blood. Christ, he was going to kill Geillis for sharing intimate details of their one-night stand. Assuming he lived to see tomorrow.

She trusts ye. Dinna fuck it up.

His father had an aphorism he was fond of repeating. Being an adult has little to do with your actions, he would say, and everything to do with living with the consequences of those actions. Any callow lad could stick his cock in a lass, but it took a man to live up to his responsibilities thereafter.

“Aye. I did. Twasn’t planned, nor somethin’ I’m particularly proud of, but thas’ the truth of it. It didna mean anything, Sassenach. Twas jus’ sex.”

They were inside the flat now. He was mentally trying to evaluate whether it was safe for Claire to shower, or if he should simply tuck her into bed with a basin and some Gatorade. She wasn’t moving, though. She stood in the streetlight that illuminated their living space, a disheveled, beautiful mess.

“It’s my turn.” She sounded sober, all of a sudden. He poured a tall glass of cold water from the sink for her, regardless.

“Yer turn fer what, Sassenach?”

“My turn for you to fuck me.”

There was a hollow thunk and the cool splash of water against the cuffs of his trousers as the glass he had been holding hit the floor. His chest felt like he was trying to suck cake batter through a straw. To make matters worse, while he was in the kitchen she had shed her top and was standing in a sheer black bra, the peaks of her nipples cast in silvered shadow.

“Claire...” he breathed out.

She approached slowly, extending a hand to lay over his sprinting heart.

“Don’t you want me?” Asked by any other woman, the question would be coy, but he heard the truth behind her query. She really didn’t know. Either he was a better actor than he gave himself credit for, or she was still seeing him through the filter of her past mistreatment.

“So much tha’ it hurts tae breath, lass. But ye dinna want this, Claire. No’ now.” His body was already protesting his declaration, a pulsing ache centered in his balls, but rooted in his heart.

“It’s now or never now, Jamie. This is all that I have to give. Isn’t it enough?”

She took his hand and placed it over the scalloped seam of her breasts. Without volition, his fingers curled, testing the pliant firmness beneath them. His muscles ached from holding himself in check.

“Tis far more than I deserve, Sassenach. But the answer is no.” He pulled his hand away, his fingertips still tingling from the velvet of her skin. “Ye should get some sleep.”

Her glass face showed every emotion, each more painful to witness than the last: hurt, anger, embarrassment, spite, and finally betrayal. Mumbling a hasty goodnight, she practically ran to her own room. He could hear her there now, sobs muffled by the wall he placed between them.

Dinna fuck it up.

He cradled his throbbing head in his hands. How could doing the right thing turn out so horribly, spectacularly wrong?

***

May 21, 2018, Spitalfields, London, England

It has been twenty days since Claire’s drunken proposition, and they’d barely spoken a word to each other in that time. As much as he was prepared for awkwardness to descend upon their once-easy relationship, he was shocked by how much her avoidance pained him. Couldn’t she see that he’d acted out of affection, and as her friend, ignoring the very great temptation she’d lain at his feet?

His first strategy had been to give her space. He snatched at any excuse to be out of the flat: long runs, a pint after work with the lads, and even a long weekend with his family at Lallybroch. Each day his phone was a constant weight in his hand, waiting for the moment she would text him about something bizarre she’d read, or call to ask where he’d hidden the olive oil. She never rang.

Next he tried haunting their flat, planning to bump into her and force that first, clumsy conversation. He was certain that once they got past that hurdle, they could begin to rebuild their rapport. Almost certain. Desperately certain. She didn’t come home, working double shifts at the hospital and timing her visits for a shower, nap and change of clothes to coincide with his work shifts. One night he fell asleep on the couch listening for the sound of her key in the door. He woke the next morning covered in the plaid from his bed, but once again alone.

He sat in an outdoor cafe, watching London unfold under the warming sun like a rose, and considered what he knew about Claire that would help mend the breach. She was stubborn. The past twenty days were testimony of that. She was proud. She would sooner suffer than accept help. She held herself to incredibly high standards, and hated to fail at anything. She would have taken his rejection in the worst possible light. She’d been badly hurt and deceived. Their relationship had been one cautious step after another across the tightrope of trust strung between them. Fueled by drunken emotion, she’d leapt forward, and he had not been there to catch her.

He opened his phone and stared at her photo in his contacts. She’d been furious with him the day he snapped it. He’d dragged her to a park on her day off to play rugby, only to find out the match had been cancelled on account of the heavy rain. Heavy ringlets hung over a soaking jersey, and her glowing eyes promised swift revenge.

A dozen flowery or flippant texts were considered and abandoned before he opted for the simple and true.

I’m sorry. I know I hurt you, and I want to make it better. Please tell me how.

He pocketed his phone and crossed the road to the fire station for his evening shift. If she hadn’t answered by the morning, he’d try again, and keep trying until she finally responded.

Twelve hours later, dawn was just cracking the sky as he prepared to walk home. The station alarm rang out, but the day crew would take the call. Even now, they were throwing on their gear and firing up the engine.

“Corbet Place. Isn’t that your neighbourhood, Fraser?” the driver commented as he hastened past.

Ice water flushed into his veins. There were exactly two buildings on Corbet Place, and one of them contained a flat where a beautiful Sassenach was currently sleeping off a double shift. A beautiful Sassenach who could sleep through a fire alarm.

He hoisted himself into the cab of a departing engine.

“Hey lad, this isn’t a taxi!” one of old hands joked, but sobered when he saw Jamie’s face.

The streets were empty. They made the trip in record time that felt like an eternity to his racing heart. As they drew near, the reek of a burning structure filled the air. A half dozen other engines were parked haphazardly in the adjacent lot, their booms extending like insect antennae towards a cruelly familiar five-story brick building. Flames licked the corner of one of the lower levels, punctuated by the pop of shattering glass and the skeletal groan of old beams giving way.

Grabbing a spare coat, hat and respirator, he ran towards his building, ignoring every professional protocol and ounce of common sense he possessed. Claire was in their flat, and there wasn’t a power under the sun that would keep him from getting to her.

“Jamie!”

He spun towards her voice, thinking he might be hallucinating. But no, sitting on a picnic table, wrapped in his Fraser plaid, was his beautiful Sassenach. His knees turned to water and he sank to the bitumen at her feet.

“Claire...” he wheezed, adrenaline still coursing through his limbs.

“Were you on your...”

“How did ye...”

They both spoke, then lapsed back into stunned silence.

“Ye’re safe.” He said it as much to himself as to her. “Ye’re here. I thought.. when I heard the call... Christ, Sassenach. I’ve never been sae scared in my entire life. How did ye get out?”

“I got your text. I was dozing on the couch, waiting for you to come home so we could talk. The fire alarm woke me. There was already so much smoke. I used your plaid to cover my nose and mouth and ran down the fire escape. Oh Jamie, I’m so sorry.”

Claire’s chin fell towards her chest, a lone tear streaking through the soot that marked her cheek. He ran a shaking hand through her unbound hair.

“Why are ye sorry, Sassenach?”

“All your things. Your memories. They were all in that flat.”

He tilted her up by the chin.

“Claire, look at me. There isn’t a feckin thing in tha’ flat that I care about that isna sitting in front of me right now. Jesus, woman, do ye no’ ken the thought of losing ye tears out my guts?”

She looked deeply into his eyes, peering into his very soul. For once, he did not think to hide behind a mask. Let her see how she utterly destroyed and remade him. All around them, the world faded to smoke.

“You... you love me?”

Nownownow.

“Aye. I do.”

#my writing #outlander

56 notes · View notes

alwaysmychoices · 4 years

Text

Today, I had this idea for the ending of another project I’m working on, and I couldn’t sleep until I had written it out.

Because I am nowhere near finished with this project and wanted to share it, here it is. It has absolutely nothing to do with Ethan Ramsey (sad), but it is my ending to a story I came up with that mirrors Ethan x MC.

You may not know Ellis and Ben’s story, but here’s their happy ending.

I thought about turning back at least a hundred times.

I imagined running through the airport during my layover, demanding an outrageous ticket back to London. I imagined catching a cab and walking back into his apartment only to find him reaching for his keys to come after me.

That image got me through the eight-hour flight, but when I landed in New York for my layover, I didn’t book another flight. Instead, I bought a cup an overpriced cup of coffee – strong, black, and secretly sprinkled with sugar, just like he liked it – and posted a picture to my Instagram story. For the rest of my layover, I checked to see if he had seen it yet.

He hadn’t.

I don’t know why I was surprised.

I gave him every opportunity for him to ask me to stay, and he never did. Instead, he wished me luck, kissed my cheek, and waved my cab off as we drove to the airport. He made it very clear that he didn’t want me to stay. Instead, he wanted me to go off and have all the adventures I could. He wanted me to remember the last year as one of those great stories you share in crowded bars, when your European escapades feel particularly exotic. He was a stamp in my passport, and I was a pleasant surprise.

Benjamin Clark didn’t mean for me to look back. He gave me no reason to hope, yet I did anyway.

I almost turned back before boarding my flight to Charlotte. I let myself have one last fond daydream of returning to him and spending the fall by his side, but at the end of the daydream, I still knew that winter would be a mystery.

Benjamin Clark wasn’t the kind of person you run out of an airport for. If you did, you would only be disappointed in the end.

We weren’t a grand romance. We were, at best, a humorous coming of age film with an exotic locale.

So, I flew home. For a few months, I lived with my parents and applied to every job I could find. While I waited, I hit up childhood friends and visited my old haunts. Sometimes, I would post photos and watch my notifications to see if he liked it.

He did once or twice.

He even viewed my story a handful of times, but he knew better than to message me.

In October, I got a job in D.C., and with two suitcases and a lively early 2000s playlist, I drove up alone. I rented a small bedroom from a friend of a friend, Jessica, in Alexandria, and as soon as I met Jessica, I decided we would be friends. She helped me unpack, and to celebrate my first night, we went to a nearby bar.

It took me four tequila shots for me to message Ben.

He didn’t reply until my sixth.

I didn’t realize it was five in the morning in his time zone. Even if I had, I don’t think I would have cared.

In the middle of a crowded bar, I told Benjamin that I was going to unfollow him and that I wanted him to unfollow me, too.

I don’t know what he felt when I did that. I like to think he was just as heartbroken as I was. Because I don’t know, I get to tell myself whatever I want. Some days, I need to think that he was devastated and enjoyed the remaining connection as much as I did. Some days, I need to think that he was just being nice.

Whatever it was, he messaged me back that he understood.

After a minute, he added that he would miss me.

I didn’t respond to that.

Instead, I unfollowed him. I deleted our DMs. I unfavorited his contact. I deleted our text thread.

I never thought about flying back to London for him after that.

I still harbored the fantasy that he would come to me, though…

I kept all the pictures. I even put one on display in my room. His back was turned to the camera, so I could tell myself that it didn’t mean anything when I taped it to my corkboard. I said I just liked the view.

Of course, Ben was an integral part of the view. Maybe even better than the view.

I lived in that apartment for a year. I went part-time at my job and started grad school. I wanted an apartment closer to campus, and Jess moved with me. I took special care of packing that photo, but when I got to my new apartment, I never displayed it. It lived at the bottom of my desk drawer, safe but out of sight.

I started dating someone that semester. His name was Daniel. He was a classmate, and everyone in my life loved him. We were together for six months, and in that time, I only posted one photo of him. When I posted it, I watched to see if Ben would like it. He never did. I took that photo down when Daniel and I went our separate ways.

In the year following, I cut four inches off my hair, repainted our kitchen, and made new friends. I started drinking gin, and I changed my coffee order. I was close to finishing my masters, and I was already looking for jobs all over the city. I even flirted with the idea of leaving DC, though I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I didn’t think about Ben much during that time. I doubt he thought of me either.

If I was a woman who believed in fate, I might think that there was some grand plan that brought me to that dive bar in April.

But I don’t believe in fate. I believe in coincidences, and it was one grand coincidence that I accepted a friend’s offer to meet at a bar downtown. It was also a coincidence that my friend was late and that, while waiting for her, I took a seat at the crowded bar.

It was even bigger coincidence that the man trying to get around me to order a vodka tonic was Benjamin Clark.

Three years after Ben kissed me goodbye in London, he looked exactly the same…

And even more startling, he looked at me just like he had all those nights before in Sarajevo, like he was astounded how much he liked me standing beside him.

“Ellis?” he was so happy to see me that I instantly forgot the last three years I’d devoted to moving on from him. I was happy to see him, too, if just a little more wary than he.

He was thirty now, and I could see the age on his face when he stood close. Experience etched his skin around his eyes, but after years of frowning and scowling, his smile lines hadn’t been touched. He was still infuriatingly handsome, even more so now that his hair was longer.

“Ben?” I couldn’t erase the amazement from my voice, nor could I do anything other than stare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

He invited me back to his table, and against my better judgement, I joined him.

There was a woman waiting for him. She couldn’t have been much older than me, but she had a bronze, sultry glow I had always lacked. I immediately worried she was his girlfriend, but she was so friendly to me that I soon let the thought go. Either she wasn’t his girlfriend and didn’t care who he brough to their table, or their relationship was so strong that she wasn’t intimidated by me in the slightest. Either way, there wasn’t much I could do.

He introduced me as an old friend, one that was “one of the best” in our field. It was a complete lie, and I called him on it. He met me when I little more than an intern at an NGO he didn’t even work at. If he wanted to brag on anyone, it was himself, because he was the one who trained me.

He rolled his eyes and ordered a vodka tonic and a mojito for me.

Mojitos had been my favorite drink when we knew each other.

“You’re being too critical,” Ben corrected me with the same voice he used to use when I made a mistake at work.

“You’re being too generous.”

“You were full of potential, even when you couldn’t work a coffee maker to save your life,” Ben scoffed, and not for the first time, I was offended.

“I didn’t burn your fucking coffee,” I asserted forcefully.

The first day we met, he said I burnt his coffee, and I hadn’t.

“Yes, you did,” Ben insisted.

“No, I didn’t!”

We argued for a while.

At some point, my friend arrived, and sensing I didn’t intend to leave this table, she introduced herself and took a seat next to the beautiful tan woman. They talked among themselves as Ben and I disagreed.

He argued that I had been the one who messed up the paperwork for the festival in Belgrade. I called him a liar.

We made peace when he offered me a drink but said we had to stop fighting if I took it.

I seriously considered not accepting that mojito.

But I did.

And he asked what I was doing in D.C.

I told him my story – the job, grad school, my impending graduation, and my tiny apartment at the end of the metro line.

“And you?” I asked, already half-done with my mojito. He had hardly taken a sip of his vodka tonic. Always a slow drinker.

“Moved here a few months ago,” he explained, taking one tiny sip that made me hate him, “I took a job downtown.”

I raised my eyebrows accusatorily, “Downtown?”

“I didn’t sell out,” Benjamin stopped me before I could even suggest it.

I raised my hands innocently, “I didn’t say you did.”

“You were thinking it.”

He was right. I was.

“Well, whatever it is, I hope you’re happy,” I was telling the truth, but I also hoped he would give me every detail so I could finally decide whether or not he had actually sold out.

“I am,” Ben watched me, rightfully suspicious.

“That’s great.”

“You’re judging me,” Ben accused.

“I am,” I boldly confirmed, “I distinctly remember being warned time and time again not to sell out, but look at you…” I shook my head like I was ashamed of him. I wasn’t. I really was happy if he was happy. I just liked to torture him a bit to make up for all the times he had judged me.

As I predicted, Ben was outraged.

He spent the next hour justifying his career and his decisions.

Our friends left us at midnight. I honestly had forgotten they were even still there.

Near one am, I was convinced and gave him my approval. He knew he didn’t need it, but he seemed happy to have it.

It was surprisingly easy to be with him.

I always thought that, if I ran into him again, I would be awkward and pained. I thought that, once you loved someone like I loved Ben, you could never encounter them casually again. I was wrong about that. Sitting and talking with Ben felt like the most natural thing in the world.

I only stumbled once.

That was at 1:30 am, when he checked his watch and told me that he would need to get home soon to check on Porter.

I recognized the name. It was a name we came up with together. It had been a blisteringly cold winter day, and from the comfort of his kitchen, we dreamt up ridiculous, silly names for the dog Ben dreamed of having. At the end of the conversation, we settled on Porter, short for Portobello Mushroom. Ben poured me a second cup of coffee, and I asked him why he didn’t just get a dog if he wanted one.

He told me that he wasn’t ready. As long as he kept moving across the continent every year or so, he couldn’t take care of a dog. His career wasn’t stable enough for a dog, nor was he.

When he got a dog, he was ready to settle down.

Now, he had the dog…

I didn’t mean to, but I did it again.

I dreamed up a future with Ben. I allowed myself to hope for him. I began to long for his attention and affection.

I was scared when I realized it. One night had erased three years of work.

But I didn’t stop doing it.

When we parted that night, I wanted to ask him to come home with me, but I didn’t. He kissed my cheek, helped me in my Uber, and waved me goodbye from the pavement. It was exactly the same scene as when I last saw him in London.

I felt ridiculous for hoping for more.

He followed me on Instagram that night.

He texted me the next morning.

I met him in a coffee shop after class, and I stayed so long that I had to cancel dinner with Jessica.

I would love to say that I never saw the rest coming, but that would be a lie. I knew.

I knew that coffee would turn into dinner, and that would turn into nights in his apartment. Playful texts in the middle of the day would turn into celebrating our first anniversary. My drawer in his apartment turned into dominating half of his closet, and playing with his dog would turn into claiming Porter just as much as Ben did.

Two years after our grand coincidence, I got a job offer in New York, and I walked home slow that day. I didn’t know if our sweet little fairy tale extended beyond the District of Columbia. The first time, he hadn’t asked me to stay. But this time I asked him to come with me.

Three months later, we packed our life into a U-Haul, and from the passenger seat, I looked over at Ben and had the distinct feeling that I might just get to look at him for the rest of my life…

#writing #short story #couple #happy ending #non choices

7 notes · View notes

malakhai-ozera · 3 years

Text

Oh, Christmas Tree 🎄 || Khoman

Discord text thread featuring: Khai Ozera and Roman Beckett

When: December 8th 2020

Mentions: Landon Davies

Description: Khai and Roman get drunk and put up their Christmas tree.

Trigger Warnings: - Feels 🥺

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ “Oh Christmas Treeee, Oh Christmas Treeee!!! I really don’t knoooooww the words to thee!” Roman sang out as he pulled the cookies from the oven, far from burnt since Khai had been the one closely watching the time. “These smell fabulous.” Of course Ro had on a nice green Christmas sweater, only underwear paired with it, and Santa sock booties. It was definitely a fashion statement, but at least this time he didn’t feel like he had to wear an apron. “Baaaaaabe!” He called out while reaching for his wine glass, and stumbling with it over to the counter so he could get yet another refill. They were both already buzzed, and enjoying some Christmas music while putting up their first tree together. Exciting. Ornaments were next after they tried some cookies.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ Khai could hear Roman singing from the living room and he laughed to himself. God, how was this man this adorable all the time? His smile was stretched from ear to ear as he placed their box of ornaments onto the couch and headed to the kitchen. His Santa hat sliding down on his head practically covering his eyes as he pushed up the sleeves on his red candy cane sweater. God, they were so gross, but they just had to be festive. “Yes, love?” he grinned as he saw Roman practically gliding across the kitchen into the counter for more wine. “Those smell delicious” he chuckled. Making his way over to his roommate and booping his nose before leaning against the counter to keep himself sturdy. “Should we cheers to our first tree together?” he asked. Looking around for a moment to try and find his glass. “Ah, shit. I forgot my glass” he laughed. Pushing off the counter and stumbling to the living room to grab his glass before coming back and crashing into Roman with a giggle. “Okay. I’m ready” he laughed again.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman sat his wine back down while Khai ran to get his own glass, using the opportunity to start waving a place mat over the tray of cookies in and attempt to cool them off. He then took a spatula, and moved them one by one to a plate so they could firm up. “Okay, okay — I’m ready as well.” Roman nodded, and then grabbed his glass to hold it up in Khai’s direction. “To us, our amazing apartment, our friendship, and our first tree.” Roman toasted with a wide smile, looking into the other male’s eyes while he clinked their glasses together, and then took another sip of the dark liquid. “Okay. Wanna try a cookie??” The taller asked, full of excitement.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ There was no way he was ever gonna be able to stop smiling, not tonight. He had been so excited for this all day, and now that they were finally doing it. He was just so ecstatic. Lifting his glass he clinked it to Roman’s with a nod. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, babe” he beamed. Sipping from his glass before nodding his head again. “Mmm, yes. They look so good.. and look at you getting them all set up.” His cheeks were actually starting to hurt from how much he was smiling, but luckily the wine kept him from caring. His hand moving to rub the center of Roman’s back as the other sat down his glass and reached for a cookie. “You want the first bite?” he asked. Holding the cookie out toward Roman’s lips before licking his own as he watched him.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman let out a low moan of satisfaction when he felt Khai start to rub his lower back. God, that felt nice, and the smaller knew it too. After all, he had to live with Ro complaining about his back pretty consistently anyway. The actor smirked when he was offered the first bite of cookie, eyes darting from Khai’s caramel colored eyes, down to the baked good by his lips. These were pretty strong in THC, they really only needed half per person, but Roman leaned in to take a giant bite anyway, throwing a tight lipped grin as he chewed away with a happy hum.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ Listen. Khai absolutely loved making Roman feel good. In fact, he got highly jealous when he wasn’t the one doing so. Which only made him want to pamper and take care of his roommate even more. His fingers rubbing small tender circles along Roman’s spine as he watched him take a bite of the cookie. “Is it good?” he asked, lifting his brow curiously as he licked his lips. Just hearing the way Roman hummed was enough incentive for him to pop the remainder of the cookie straight into his mouth though. Damn, that was good! His whole body felt so giddy, but maybe that was just because he was with Roman. How could he not be giddy in his presence? He leaned forward and pressed a soft peck to Roman’s lips and then picked up his glass of wine again. “Come on, baby. Let’s go decorate the tree” he smiled. Lacing their hands together and leading him into the living room.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ "So good." Roman admitted while chewing slowly, giving Khai a tight lipped grin as he swallowed his bite, and watched his roommate eat the rest of it. That really shouldn't be something that was attractive...watching someone eat, but alas, Ro felt extremely hot just from observing things entering Khai's mouth. God, that was weird to say out loud, wasn't it? The taller smiled when he was given a quick kiss, and then followed his lover back to the Christmas tree, ready now to finish decorating with both of the combined ornaments they'd managed to find tucked away in their storage boxes in the hall closet. "God, I haven't seen so many of these in so long. I've moved around so much, I haven't really been able to do a tree." He admitted while opening his box of old ornaments, and pulled out one Landon had made him in grade school. It actually made him tear up a bit, remembering that this had been his first gift from a friend, one he had desperately tried so hard to take good care of.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ This was such a coupley thing for them to be doing. Decorating a Christmas tree together and sharing their old memories. It warmed Khai’s heart to say the least. It was like he couldn’t even take his eyes off his roommate as he watched him pull out the first ornament. “I know, it’s been so long for me too. I mean, my dad always put one up for my sisters. But he never let me help” he shrugged. Then after getting kicked out at sixteen everything just seemed to go downhill from there. His eyes lit up as he watched Roman though, and he offered him a genuine smile. “What’s the story with that one?” he asked, pointing to the ornament in his lovers hands. Resting his chin on Roman’s shoulder as he stood behind him and took in all the detail and love that was put into making it.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman smiled when Khai walked up behind him, and asked about his ornament. He smelled so good, like aftershave, wine, and weed. What was better than that combination? There was a also a scent that was just purely Khai, one that made him genuinely want to melt into the ground like butter. That was cheesy, but oh so true. They’d both been through so much, and still managed to bump into each other, like a missing puzzle piece. “This one was made by Landon actually.” He informed the smaller, holding it up so that they could both see it better. “As you know, he was my first ever friend, and this was the first ever present someone gave me outside of my parents. I’d never known what it was like to really have a friend before.” He admitted before turning to smirk, and press a kiss to Khai’s cheek.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ Sharing moments like these with Roman were rare and far between lately. So it was easy to say Khai was melting right into the tone of his roommates voice as he explained the ornament. A soft smile outlining his features as he felt the kiss being pressed to his cheek. “This one should definitely go up first” he nodded. Reaching for the ornament and taking it from Roman’s hands. “To lasting friendships that turn into family” he said softly as he turned to hang the bulb on the tree. Smiling widely as he found the perfect spot and then turned his head back to Roman for his opinion. “It’s perfect right?” he asked. Opening his arms out wide as if to praise the tree having its first ever ornament on it. “I love it” he beamed proudly, before accidentally knocking the ornament off the tree when he brought his arms back down. “Oh fuck!” he gasped. Dropping to his knees in hopes of finding it still in one piece. No such luck though. The bulb had shattered and so did Khai’s heart as he stood back up to see the expression on Roman’s face. “I’m so sorry.”

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman smirked as he watched Khai put up the ornament after saying it should be first, nodding with the other male said it was perfect. “Yea-“ Ro began to respond, his mouth dropping as soon as the ornament did, watching as the blessed keepsake shattered on the floor. His chest started to rise and fall, feeling like it was becoming harder to breathe, even after Khai apologized. It was just an ornament, he knew that deep down, but it didn’t make the fact that it wasn’t replaceable any easier. “Fuck, Khai...” Roman ran a hand over his face, trying not to get irrationally mad despite all the liquor he’d drank.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ To be honest, it quite literally felt like someone had punched right through his chest, and was now squeezing the life out of his heart as he watched Roman’s reaction. He knew he had just broken his heart into a million pieces, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. “Babe... I’m so sorry. Fuck, I’m such an idiot” he shook his head. Leaning back down to pick up the pieces and trying to piece them back together in his hands. “Look, I can fix it” he tried to encourage him. But it was obvious there was no way of fixing it back to the way it was. “See, I can fix it” he repeated as he moved closer to Roman. Reaching out with one of his hands to squeeze his lovers shoulder reassuringly. “Okay? It’s gonna be okay. I’ll make it better.”

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman sniffed as he felt tears start to prick at his eyes, something that made him almost angrier than the broken ornament. He hated crying in front of anyone, and now it was about so much more than Khai breaking something he loved. He was being vulnerable, somehow a level of transparent that he’d yet to be with Khai. He didn’t like showing signs of weakness, and the way the smaller was trying to make him feel better about this was even more overwhelming. Anyone could have made this mistake, especially Roman, who was the world’s biggest klutz, but he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Don’t.” His voice broke, lightly pushing the other male away, because he could feel his anxiety rising to all new levels. He was drunk, now also high, and he probably looked like a giant baby.

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ The last thing Khai had expected was for Roman to push him away. He stood there kind of dumbfounded as he just looked at his best friend for a moment. “Roman, it’s okay. I promise, I’m gonna fix it” he tried to reason with him again. His own eyes glossing over now as he could see the hurt all over Roman’s face. Honestly, he didn’t know what to do. He had never seen Roman cry before, and this whole situation was just breaking his heart. All he wanted to do was hold Roman in his arms and make it better. But he couldn’t do that, and now Roman didn’t even want him touching him. “I...” he went to speak again but just shook his head instead. “I promise I’ll fix it” he kept repeating. Pulling his bottom lip between his teeth to keep himself from crying as well. This was supposed to be a happy night together and here he was ruining it. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me” his voice trembled. Trying once again to pull Roman into his arms.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Genuinely, Roman could feel his heart breaking even more at the way Khai was completely breaking down in front of him. It was enough to snap him out of whatever little meltdown he was having to reach out, and cup the other’s face in his massive hands. Why had he been so fucking mean over an ornament? Clearly there was a lot there he needed to unpack, that he’d yet to really discover about himself, because he refused to look at it. Khai was the closest person to Roman right now, so of course the actor was going to take everything out on him. “No. Don’t be sorry, I’m sorry.” He said firmly, and then dropped his hands to Khai’s shoulders. “It’s not even about the ornament, I jus’...I guess I’m a little more fucked up than i thought i was...” he looked into the smaller’s eyes with an apologetic expression. “I was being an asshole, and you don’t deserve that.”

ღ 𝕂HAI ღ When Roman reached up to cup his face, Khai instinctively flinched. He didn’t mean to, because he knew Roman would never hit him. But his emotions were raw, and he knew he fucked up. He wouldn’t blame his best friend one bit for hitting him. He broke something very dear to him, and his heart right along with it. Once he realized Roman was apologizing though, he shook his head. “No, it’s okay. This meant a lot to you” he replied. His eyes shifting up to meet Roman’s as he continued to speak. “Then what’s it about?” he asked a bit confused. Setting the pieces of the ornament down onto the coffee table before placing both his hands around Roman’s cheeks. “You know you can always talk to me babe. I’m here for you” he assured. Pulling Roman closer and wrapping his arms around him in a loving embrace. “...and I promise I’ll be more careful” he added as he stroked Roman’s hair.

❝𝓡✮м𝕒𝐍 ❜❜ Roman wrapped his arms around Khai, and buried his face against the side of his neck when he was pulled into an embrace. He was so embarrassed, and wished desperately that he could just rewind a bit, and pretend like everything was okay. He was so good at doing that on the daily anyway, so why was he struggling so bad now? All he knew for sure, was he really didn’t want to talk about all the reasons he was fucked up right now, not when tonight was supposed to be special. “I dunno, I’m jus’ — I know you know how I feel.” The taller’s pulled back just enough to look into those intensely warm eyes he loved so much. “We’ve both been through a lot. It’s bound to catch up sometimes, right?”

#chats:roman #chats:discord #ft.roman #ft.landon #{Roman Beckett;; my peanut butter chocolate cake with Kool-Aid}

3 notes · View notes

pocket-luv101 · 4 years

Note

So for days I've been meaning to ask if you can do a sequel to another fanfic you did last year. Apple blossom is literally one of my favorite one shots! So like Kuro asking mahi to marry him and the wedding! *Q*) and tsurugi walking her down the aisle!!! -////-) thank you!! You the best!

KuroMahi {Apple Blossoms} Fem Mahiru

“The kingdom has been peaceful lately. I hope this continues and we can enjoy more quiet nights like this.” Mahiru sat on a horse with Kuro sitting behind her. He had arms wrapped around her so he could hold the reins and lead the horse down the countryside. “The most I have to worry about is Hyde and Licht getting into an argument.”

“They’re like two children who tease their crush to get their attention. Can’t deal. I can talk to my brother for you.” Kuro offered. She started answer but a yawn escaped her. Mahiru quickly covered her mouth but he could see an embarrassed blush appear on her cheeks. They had been travelling throughout the day so he understood why she was tired.

Since she was an ambassador for the sorcerers, she travelled to different kingdoms to speak with their leaders. Despite how tired she was, she looked over the notes she made for the day. It was night so it was difficult to see her own writing and she had to hold up the paper to the moonlight. He admired how hard so she worked but he hoped she wouldn’t push herself too much.

“Licht is a great leader but politics and negotiations aren’t her strongest skills. When the griffon’s ambassador requested a political marriage, she threatened to send rainstorms to their mountains and cause landslides. I don’t know how I managed to de-escalate that argument.” Mahiru sighed as she leaned back against Kuro’s chest. “I can’t blame Licht for her reaction though.”

She recalled when she almost accepted an arranged marriage for the sake of her kingdom. Mahiru was grateful that she stopped the wedding. The experience made her realize that she had feelings for Kuro. He was her guard and he protected her throughout their missions together. They had been through a lot together and there was no one she trusted more than Kuro.

“I hope I didn’t keep you from the apple farm too long. The apples will be in season soon and your siblings will need your help to harvest them.” He was the vampire king but he always made time for her. Kuro didn’t answer her and she tilted her head back to see his expression. He had been quiet during the ride home and she assumed he missed his family.

Mahiru wrapped her hands around his on the reins and gently pulled the horse to a stop. “Your family’s orchard is nearby so we can visit them. It’s late so we can also stay the night. It would be nice to say hello to your siblings as well. My uncle knows I’m with you so he won’t worry if I arrive home a little late. He knows you won’t let anything happen to me.”

“I was planning to visit the apple farm tomorrow but this is a good time too.” With a flick of his wrist, he changed direction and took them to the apple farm. They were already close to the farm and she could see the trees in the distance. Kuro stopped the horse next to an apple tree and he dismounted.

He held up his hands to help her off the horse but she was looking up at the night sky. She rose onto the saddle so she could reach the tree branches. The blossoms were still beautiful in the night and she carefully broke off a branch of the flowers. She cradled the apple blossoms in her hands and then jumped into Kuro’s arms. He caught her and held her against his chest.

“You’re the most reckless woman I know, Mahiru. You should’ve told me that you were going to jump at least.” He said but he had a subtle smile.

“I knew you would catch me.” She told him confidently as he lowered her to the ground. “I’ll send a message to your siblings so they’ll know we’re on our way.”

Mahiru took out a small paper airplane and blew magic onto it. The airplane flew away and they walked after it. She took Kuro’s hand into hers and threaded their fingers together. With her other hand, she held the apple blossoms to her nose and breathed in their subtle scent. She moved closer to Kuro so she could lean her head against his shoulder. He let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist.

“There will be a festival next month to help bring the kingdoms together. We’ll have food, fair games and there will be a tournament. The vampire clan is invited but you won’t have to participate in the competition. I hope you’ll still come and enjoy the day with me.” Mahiru looked up at him expectantly and he could never disappoint her while looking into her brown eyes.

“I’ll be there. I’m your guard, afterall.” His answer brought a smile to her lips. Since Kuro was a vampire, he could see her clearly in the night. He was certain that her smile was bright enough that he could see it without the ability. Kuro noticed her shiver and placed his cloak over her shoulders. He traced the stars embordered on the cloak. Mahiru had the created the cloak and it protected him from sunlight. “My siblings will enjoy the festival, I’m sure. That’s because of you, Mahiru. Thank you.”

“You were the one who helped me find the spell. I wouldn’t be able to help so many people without you, Kuro.” She pulled the cloak together around her and lifted the fabric to her lips to hide her blush. Kuro’s scent mixed with the apple blossoms and the two things were comforting to her. “You won’t participate in the tournament but will you dance? I’ll save my first dance for you.”

Before he could answer, a bat flew in front of them. There was a scroll tied to the bat’s foot and she assumed that it was a response from his siblings. Kuro untied the scroll and scanned the writing. “Wrath says that she’ll prepare a room for us. She asked us if we could find a ring for her. She lost it while she was tending to the farm this morning. It belonged to our mother.”

“Did she say where she might’ve lost it? If she hasn’t, I have a spell that will help us find precious metal. We can locate the ring with it.” Mahiru was quick to offer her help. She took out her spell book to cast the spell but Kuro pointed to the bushes near the entrance of the apple farm. She nodded and knelt in front of a tree. “I’ll start here and you should search over there. I’ll make a light to help us.”

She cupped her hands and fireflies gathered over her palm. The light they created was enhanced by her magic and it was enough for them to see the area easier. Mahiru began to shift through the bushes and searched for the ring. She was slightly surprised when Kuro said: “I found it, Mahiru.”

“That was quick, Kuro. Where—” Mahiru stood and turned around to face Kuro. She let out a small gasp and her hands covered her mouth in shock. Before her, Kuro was on one knee with a ring in his hands. “Oh my god, Kuro. Is this what I think it is?”

“Mahiru, I love you. I’m not the best with words so I’ve been practising what I would say to you a thousand times a day. But, I’m so nervous right now, I can’t remember a word. I’m sorry.” Kuro bit his lip but then he felt Mahiru’s warm hand on his cheek. The fireflies circled them and he could see the tender love in her brown eyes. He turned his face into her hand and kissed her palm.

He took a deep breath and started again. “Mahiru, I love you. You brought sunlight into my life when all I knew was the night. You accomplished that by simply smiling at me and I’ll be forever grateful for you. I can’t believe someone as brilliant as you would choose me for a lover. I thought I could repay you by being your guard and protecting you. But then, those feelings grew and I want to stay by your side as more than your guard or a lover. Will you marry me, Mahiru?”

“Oh, Kuro, I love you too. Of course, I’ll marry you.” Mahiru fell to her knees in front of Kuro and circled her arms around his neck. She clung to him as she kissed him. Her heart was racing with happiness and excitement so much that she wondered if he could feel it. Kuro took her hand and squeezed it gently before he slipped the ring onto her finger.

The last time Mahiru wore a wedding dress, she vowed that she would only wear it for Kuro. Mahiru was happy that the promise would be fulfilled in an hour when they’ll trade their vows. She sat in front of the mirror and her friend helped clip a veil into her brown hair. On her lap was a bouquet made of hydrangeas and apple blossoms. Mahiru held the flowers to her chest where her heart was racing. She thought she would feel nervous yet nothing but joy filled her heart.

“Your hair is finished, Mahiru. I’m so happy for you.” Licht hugged Mahiru tightly. She was careful not to disturb the delicate flowers she had just finished weaving into her hair. However, she was so happy for her friend that she almost forgot her strength. They had been friends for years and she had seen how happy Kuro made Mahiru. “I was getting tired of waiting for you two to get married. For someone so smart, you can be oblivious.”

“You’re not one to talk, Licht. When I toss my bouquet, you better catch it and give it to Hyde.” Mahiru laughed when a flustered expression appeared on her friend’s face. There was a knock on the door and Licht went to answer it. They still had time before the wedding began so she wondered who it was. She stood when her uncle stepped into the room.

“I wanted to see you before the service started. I have something I wanted to give you. These belonged to your mother.” Toru showed her a pair of earrings and Mahiru took the box into her hands. “You look beautiful like your mother. I can’t believe you’re going to get married in an hour. I wish I could walk you down the aisle.”

“You’ll be officiating the wedding.” Since he adopted her when she was young, Mahiru thought of him as her father. She put the earrings on and smiled at him. “Tsurugi was happy when I asked him to walk me down the aisle.”

“Did someone call my name?” Tsurugi entered the room with a silly grin and Mahiru chuckled at how animated he was. He held out a pair of white gloves to her and said, “You uncle got you something old so your brother bought you something new. It’s tradition.”

“Thank you. Both of you.” Mahiru was happy that her family and friends were so supportive of her marriage. She searched for a place to put down her bouquet so she could slip on the gloves he bought her. Then, she noticed a branch covered with apple blossom was resting on her window sill. “May I have a moment alone? There’s something I want to check. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

“Okay. We’ll be outside if you need anything.” Toru said as he ushered Tsurugi and Licht out of the room.

Mahiru waited until they were gone before she walked to the window. She picked up the cluster of apple blossoms and carefully slipped them into her bouquet. The curtains were closed but she could see a shadow cast onto the translucent sheet. Without opening the curtain, she lifted the window. “Kuro, you know it’s bad luck to see your bride before the wedding.”

“I wanted to hear your voice.” Kuro was still surprised that Mahiru had accepted his engagement and he thought that it was a dream. She slipped her hand through the curtain and blindly reached out to him. He gently took her hand and kissed her wrist.

“You need to wait until we say our vows before you can drink my blood.” She peaked through the curtains to see Kuro in his suit. “Wait for me at the end of the aisle.”

#servamp #kuromahi #sloth pair #servamp kuro #mahiru shirota #fanfiction #fem mahiru

24 notes · View notes

fullmetaldevil-blog · 5 years

Text

Stitched AU: Halloween Birthday Bash

OK, Ladies and gentleman it is that time of year where not only will my boy Benny be celebrating his 1st birthday, but also Halloween in right around the corner. I wrote a short story to go along with this festive time of the year as I’ll be releasing it in chapters since it is rather long.

Characters (either mentioned or appearing in this chapter):

Shadow the Ink Cat belongs to @zanzaflux , SINdy the wandering demon belongs to @trashboatprince , Bendy the ink devil belongs to @soniccrazygal , Beast Bendy belongs to @doberart , Angel Henry belongs to @inkspottie , Fate belongs to @vespavespa

Benny belongs to me

Without further delay.

On with the show~!

The summer days had slowly dipped down to cooler days where the sunlight was warm, but the air had a cool crisp feel to it. The trees had all put on their best displays of oranges, browns, reds and yellows with each leaf trying to outdo the other before they danced to the earth below. Lawns were covered in the fall leaves like snow only waiting for a grumbling individual to come along to rake them up.

The older man wore a heavy flannel shirt and long jeans as the crisp air was a bit colder then his preference, but was still too warm to wear a sweater. He grumbled as he raked up the leaves into a pile mentally cursing the trees for shedding their growth before the winter months as he was tasked with cleaning the yard. All the while he worked a pair of eyes watched him with little snickers drifting in the air as two figures hid out of sight and waited for the leaf pile to be sufficient size. Thomas pulled the last of the leaves into his huge pile and gently set the rake aside to grab a can to rake them into. Just as he reached for the can with his back turned to his pile a loud 'wheeee!' was heard followed by a series of loud crunches and laughter. Thomas whirled around to see Benny's head barely floating above the leaf pile with his body completely submerged and Allison next to him half buried laughing.

"God damn it I just swept that up." Thomas loudly groaned while rubbing his hands down the sides of his face as he walked to the edge of the pile earning a few chuckles from his wife.

"Oh lighten up Tom." she snickered "It's time to kick back and enjoy the fall."

On cue Benny's threads wrapped around Tom's ankles and tripped him up sending him crashing face first into the leaf pile with a loud crunch and a yelp from the older man. When he raised his head out of the pile of leaves with a good collection of them stuck in his hair, he glared at Benny before a smirk grew on his face while the toon grinned mischievously.

"I know you put her up to this, c'mon here!" Thomas lunged for the demon who practically swam away in the leaf pile laughing.

Allison laughed as she watched her husband chase Benny all through the leaves trying to catch him with the occasional light hearted taunts from the demon. It was like watching a real life cartoon as the demon kept popping out of different parts of the pile while Tom was steadily in pursuit. The toon taunted no more when Thomas finally secured his body and tickled him till he fell apart at the seams from his laughter. Satisfied, Thomas laid Benny's wheezing body down next to the can so he can pull himself together while he retreated towards the house with Allison stopping before he reached the door.

"Hey, I saw these at the market and thought we can try a little idea." Allison held up a roll of orange trash bags.

Tom lifted a brow while taking the roll from her examining them. "What exactly do you want to do with the bags?" He looked back at the bags in hand.

"I think we can fill them with the leaves and paint faces on them like Jack -o- Lanterns since it's too soon to carve a pumpkin." Allison sheepishly grinned.

Her answer was met with a raised brow from her husband along with the hint of a scowl "I guess."

Allison couldn't hide the small frown that formed on her own face. She gently grasped onto Tom's sleeve and nudged him towards the house, but stopped when Benny lightly tugged on her pant leg.

"Are we still going to fill the bags?" He looked up at her noticing her small frown.

Allison bent down wearing a small smile as she rested her hands between Benny's horns. "Can you start filling them for me while go inside for a minute? I'll join you once I'm done."

Benny looked up at Tom before looking back at Allison worried before nodding and gathered up then roll of bags from Tom. He opened up a bag and started stuffing them with leaves while Allison followed Thomas back into the house.

Once inside the house Allison nudged her husband gently "Hey, what's wrong? You've been very quiet lately and you tickled Benny till he fell apart which you normally don't do."

Tom sighed heavily before leaning against the wall. "Sorry, it's just that this time of year reminds me about the time the studio fell. I still get nightmares about it and building that damn machine. Seeing the yellows and browns reminds me of that damn place." He covered the sides if his face. His mind drifted to the time where the halls were echoing with the screams of trapped staff followed by the inky monsters. Ink swallowing the halls and the studio as a whole. His thoughts were disrupted by warm hands placed over his own and had gently directed him to look forward to be met with Allison's soft sympathetic eyes.

"We all have things we regret and still endure the nightmares from that place. A lot of good people died that didn't deserve it, but at least we are alive. You may believe building the ink machine was a mistake and it's your fault, but it's Joey's." Allison gently hugged Tom "He put the monster in the machine, not you. Besides, you did finish the machine at this time of year and with your efforts it helped give birth to our little toon. Benny's birthday is coming up and it's just in time for Halloween."

Allison's words made Tom's eyes go wide. He completely forgot that he finished the machine and made Benny before Halloween. He remembered he had finished the machine in October but couldn't remember when. A small smile graced his face as he leaned his head onto Allison's shoulder. While he always felt guilty about building the machine and the events that followed Allison had bluntly pointed out the fact that he didn't put the magic into the machine, joey did. That his boss is responsible for all the lives lost, not him, and that at the end of the day they made it out with their lives and the lives of their toon companions. Despite the hell they've seen, Benny and Bendy both were the lights in their lives and that one of them would be celebrating his first true birthday alongside a fall holiday.

"Sorry for that. I-" Tom silenced when Allison put a finger gently over his lips smiling warmly at him.

"There is nothing to apologize for. We are all human and have our crosses to bare. We will have our tender moments and we are entitled to them, but we need to have the strength to keep walking. Not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well. Now c'mon. Benny doesn't know about his birthday and I want to combine it with Halloween since they are so close together. Put on a smile for him, he's already looking forward to Halloween." Allison gently grabbed Thomas's sleeves and tugged on him pulling him outside to join Benny in stuffing the orange trash bags.

The family spent half an hour stuffing all the bags to the brim to make the nice round uniform shape before tying them off. Once they were done and they made sure the bags wouldn't open, Benny's stomach grew teeth as it took on a smaller version of his 2nd mouth as Ragdoll. He opened his 'mouth' and allowed the ink to pool at its base before taking a small cup and scooping out a cups worth of the accumulated ink before closing back up. He got a few concerned looks from his parents, but told them it was completely safe and that it was only excess ink. After some persuasion Tom and Allison finally grabbed 3 paint brushes and dipped them into the ink. Allison showed Benny how to make a basic Jack-o-lantern face as she carefully painted one on one of the bags getting a nod from the demon.

Benny dipped his brush in the ink and looked at the orange bag before him. He wanted to paint his own design and asked Allison if he had to repeat the face she had drawn earning a 'no'. A small grin grew on his face, he wanted to draw his friends! He carefully started outlining his best friend SINdy's face on the bag before carefully filling in the black along with the dripping ink from SINdy's eyes. He liked how it turned out. While he started painting then other Bendy he knew, both Tom and Allison looked at his Jack-o-Lanterns with increasing concern. Allison was dead certain something was wrong when Benny painted a strange looking cat with a large grin, a cat she remembered had once appeared in her yard along with an Ink demon she did not know.

"B-Benny?" She approached the little plushtoon.

He looked up at her just as he finished painting an outline of a Bendy that wasn't filled in with black and had round eyes instead of pie cuts with little bags making it look sleepy. "Hmm?"

"Umm… what are these?" She gestured to the various bags the toon painted. Depictions of beast Bendy on one bag, a strange eyed Bendy leaking ink from his eyes, an orange bendy, another with a white in the pie cut, a humanoid toon with a halo and the inky cat she remembered.

Benny looked at her worried with a small frown forming on his face. He wanted to paint his friends, but forgot that his parents never met them and after the incident with Shadow it left his mom shaken.

"Ummm…. Can we talk about it later?" He nervously fidgeted earning a raised brow from his father.

Allison bent down and gently rested her hand on his head. "Fine, but for now let's finish up and head inside for dinner." Her comment earned a small nod from the toon.

Benny went back to painting leaving Allison and Tom to watch. Allison suspected that the images Benny was painting were other characters he somehow knew. If that was the case, how? When? Where? Benny didn't go out unless he was with her or her husband and Tom would have mentioned something if they bumped into another demon. Especially if it was like the one that looked like Bendy in his ink demon form that came for the ink cat and kitten. She pondered over many possibilities while Tom silently watched with equal concern.

Tom knew he only made two Bendy's with the ink Machine and after Allison's explanation of her encounter with another Bendy he couldn't help but question how many there were. He could have sworn the accursed machine had been shut down till Henry accidentally started it up again 30 years later. God he hoped that Joey didn’t somehow make more of them. IF that’s the case where are they? How did one suddenly appear at his home after all this time? His mind raced with thoughts and potential scenarios before he glanced at Allison. He knew his face must had betrayed him as she lightly smiled and rested her hand on his shoulder whispering 'I'll handle it' before urging him back inside to get ready for dinner. Truth was he didn’t want to leave her, but Benny was the only one that would know of any other demons as well as to be able to fight back if need be. He’ll have to trust her to find out what’s going on from their little plushtoon.

Allison watched his husband reluctantly retreat towards the home occasionally glancing back before going inside. She knew he was concerned and truth be told, so was she, but the last thing she wanted was for him to fly off the handle at the toon in fear. It wouldn't solve anything. She took a deep breath and walked back to Benny who had just finished the last strokes on his bags.

"So Benny" her words caused him to flinch before he looked up at her "Do you want to talk about it?" She bent down and sat in the grass patting the ground next to her.

The toon looked at her with concern, but knew there was no getting out of it. Benny let out a sigh in defeat before setting his brush back in his hammerspace along with the excess ink and sat next to Allison. He felt warm hands gently lift him up setting him on her lap hugging him. They stayed like that for awhile with the toon completely content at her warmth while she lightly rocked back and forth before he heard her speak.

"So." Her voice was soft. "Who are they?" Allison put on a soft smile trying to mask her concerns. Being gentle with the toon was the only way she knew she would get a straight answer from him, unlike her husbands breaking down the front door approach.

Benny could tell she was anxious but was trying to hide it. His friends can be a bit energetic but they mean no harm. He took a deep breath before sighing and gestured to the first bag he painted with an oval eyed Bendy with an iris and pupil whose eyes were leaking ink along with his widows peak. His best friend that stumbled into his hut one day and since then they hung out at every opportunity. "His name is SINdy."

"Sin...dy?" Allison lifted a brow while following Benny’s gesture to the bag.

"He's my best friend and is really nice and fun to hang around. He can't speak though, and has a cardboard sign he carries with him that writes what he wants to say. He accidentally fell through a portal in his world that lead him to ours" Benny watched as a look of horror flashed on Allison's face "But only he can come through the portal." He quickly explained. "Nothing from his studio can follow him as its an ability unique to only him." He watched as Allison looked at him and then back at the bag concerned. He could tell she didn't like the idea of a demon coming and going without her knowledge.

Allison looked at the bag mulling over Benny's explanation. It did concern her that another strange Bendy had just popped up in their home or somewhere nearby without their knowledge. Then again it was a serious question as to how Shadow and Cloudy ended up in her yard that day, a question that never got answered. What was more baffling was the 'his world' comment. Did that mean there are other worlds similar to theirs? Did Shadow and the intimidating Bendy come from another world? How do the Bendy's just come and go without anyone noticing? Before she got too deep into thought she felt a small tug on her sleeve making her look back at the little devil in her arms.

"He is still stuck there." The toon spoke softly as turned his head towards the bag "He is stuck at another version of the studio with his father and a demon. They haven't been able to escape despite their best efforts so far and they have a horrible demon there trapped with them and I can't help him other than to let him stay here for brief moments."

Benny's words tugged at a painful string in Allison's memory. The pain of confinement and inability to obtain freedom from a living hell. Seeing Benny's concern over another Bendy who can only get a fleeting taste of freedom before having to go back was heartbreaking. If Benny called this 'SINdy' his best friend then SINdy must be similar to him. A little sweetheart who is trapped in hell on earth.

"What about the other one? The one with the odd horns?" She softly spoke gaining the toons attention once more.

"Oh he is Bendy" Benny looked at the bag. "He has a 'reading room' where not only does he have a library but also portals to other worlds. To him our world looks like a book that he can enter." Benny looked back at Allison and wore a small smile "He and SINdy are the ones who's been helping me read. SINdy will sit with me reading and will help me break down the words while Bendy provides books as helps out as well. Bendy loves bringing over adventure books to where we sometimes make little toys out of either his ink or my fabrics to play with. He is really good at making sculptures. Though occasionally if we have a bit of a problem with some of the reading or if we get a bit too loud Confessional will come out to either help us read or to tell us to tone it down so we don't get into trouble."

Allison lifted a brow "Confessional? Which one's that?" He sounded like he was older than the small group as she looked around trying to see if any of the images on the bags could be perceived as an older figure.

"Ummm admittedly I didn't draw him" Benny mumbled making her look back at him in surprise. "He lives inside SINdy and only speaks on occasion, SINdy did a few drawings of him but he doesn’t come out."

Allison raised a brow "Inside SINdy?"

"Benny reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a piece of paper and a bit of ink. "SINdy is like me except he was a cardboard cutout instead if a doll." he explained as he drew a rough outline of the toon, Allison nodded as he listened. "SINdy wears his heart out in the open and if he's in trouble he can remove it allowing Confessional to come out.” Benny drew a small heart in the outlines chest and then a ghostly figure that wore a mask with teeth. “Confessional watches over SINdy kinda like a big brother, but he is a real demon. He is pretty nice, but if we mess up too much we get a lecture." Benny sheepishly chuckled.

Allison listened to Benny's description of Confessional's relationship with the toons as well as another Henry whom was turned into an Angel toon in his world. Both man and demon oversee the younger toons and provide support or words of wisdom as needed. He admitted that they liked to visit the Angel Henry as often as they can and all of them have been learning sign language from him since he is mute. Uncle Henry as the group calls him has a Bendy as well, but he gets a little clingy to his father figure and can be a bit standoffish at the other toons wanting to spend time with their uncle. The description of the other Bendy being clingy to his father nearly made Allison laugh since she remembered that when they got out of the studio Benny was almost glued to her. It was amusing to see that many of the little demons are somewhat clingy to their parental figures.

Benny then proceeded to describe a familiar sight to Allison. Beast Bendy. This Bendy has escaped his studio with his Henry (Allison couldn't help but notice the steadily growing Henry count) but he was stuck in his beast form for a long time. He was eventually able to revert back to normal and is pretty good at domestic chores as he was showing them how to properly fold clothes and clean. His mother listened to the tales of this Bendy chuckling at the mere thought of Beast Bendy folding T-shirts while looking totally pleased with himself. Despite his looks he was a good boy at heart and had a strong desire to help his older parents.

A look of nervousness flashed on Benny's face as he looked at the last bag, the bendy with only with an outline and round sleepy looking eyes. He chuckled as he pointed at the bag. "He is Fate. He's technically a god who looks like a Bendy at the moment. He's pretty funny and can shape shift into many animals. Sometimes if we are wondering what an animal looks like he'll turn into it to show us. Though he is a prankster through and through his friend Goldy who is another Bendy but much taller, keeps Fate somewhat in check. Both of them are funny when together as Fate likes to play with Goldy."

A fond smile crept on Allison's features as she listened to the remainder of Benny's stories of his friends. He told her that occasionally another Bendy named Ben drops Shadow off on occasion where they play for a little while in his hut. Cloudy can’t come over as Ben doesn’t want the kitten traversing the dark puddles with him for fear of losing him which is understandable. Shadow loves to sit and listen to the toons read or will play with some of Benny’s yarn. He described all the times his friends came over and they mostly kept to his little hut playing or working on little craft projects. Allison realized that the common denominator was that small stone building that they decided to let Benny use.

"Benny" the toon stopped talking and looked up at her. She put on a warm smile. "Can I see your hut?"

The toon looked nervous but nodded. He slid off her lap allowing Allison to stand up and she followed him to the stone hut towards the back of the property.

Allison remembered when they first moved into the home they didn't know about the hut till Tom explored the backyard and discovered that what they thought was just a wall of weeping willow trees was actually a ring of them and in the center was a small stone shed large enough to be a single room. The roof if the shed needed a little work, but the building itself was sound and Tom decided that it should be a playroom for Benny for on the off chance that people come over and he can't be seen. She had a hard time believing that this was a gathering place for other Bendy's until Benny opened the door.

The interior of the room was well kept with a small pile of pillows beneath a what looked like an ink stain on the wall. A small table had been set up with a small pile of books and a few papers along with a few drawings. On one side of the room was a bookcase filled with books and some of the titles she did not recognize at all. As she paced about the room Benny watched her nervously. She asked about the stain on the wall learning it was a portal for SINdy, the strange book with a stitch pattern being something similar for Bendy. She asked about the various little projects the toons had been working on together all the while Benny answered her nervously.

"You're not mad ... are you? He wrung his gloved hands together.

His inquiry was met with a smile and a gentle hand on his head. "Sweetie. I'm not too mad and I wish that you were more comfortable with saying something sooner. I admit when Shadow showed up along with the other Bendy I was scared, but if I had been warned about the possibility of toons hopping from one world to the next I could have been better prepared. You do know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

Benny nodded in understanding with a small smile gracing his features, she wasn't mad at him. Next thing he knew Allison scooped him up lightly tickling him in her arms earning a small fit of laughter from him.

"C'mon let's go eat some dinner" his mother cooed.

Allison carried Benny into the home and set him down at the table only to have Thomas give him the miniature stare down before Allison threatened to muzzle her husband before he got started. Benny was uncomfortable eating next to his father especially after their earlier episode with him, but Allison reassured him that nothing was wrong and that she'll talk to his dad later. The toon ate his dinner before excusing himself to his room to read before bed.

While the toon was disposed of Allison took a moment to explain to her husband as to what Benny told her for which the man naturally got angry. He calmed when she bluntly told him that the reason why Benny never said anything was because the visiting demons were his friends and didn't want to cause any harm and kept to only the hut and on the rare occasion the backyard.

Thomas let out and exasperated sigh while rubbing his temples "So you're telling me that there are more of them and that they can somehow hop from their world to ours. That somehow the stone hut outback is a meeting place for them and they can communicate with each other." His statement got a nod. "And you're telling me you want to invite his friends over to spend the night and then go Trick-or-treating as his Birthday present? Personally I don't think it's a good idea" he crossed his arms in a huff.

"I figured you didn't, but Benny has no reason to lie about his friends let alone his best friend. He was scared to tell me the truth, but fully admitted to everything he and his friends have been doing. I think things will work out as they sound not all that different from him. Plus it's a night to where they can openly run around and not have to hide their horns." Allison wrapped her arms around her husband. "I'll handle things so you don't have to worry."

Toms shoulders sagged as he rested his head on her shoulders returning the hug "You know I will anyways."

His statement was met with a chuckle and a peck on the cheek. "I know, and I appreciate it."

Allison broke the hug from her husband and finished washing the dishes before cleaning up the remainder of the kitchen. Tom retreated to Benny's room to check on him and to make sure the toon was tucked into bed. Allison snickered when she heard Tom's shouts as Benny was roughhousing with the man as the toon clearly wasn't ready for bed and was in a playful mood.

A thoughtful expression graces Allison's face as she heard Benny whoop in triumph over defeating his father before his cheers turned to cries of 'nooo'. Since both were disposed of she quickly retreated to her room and dug around her dresser. Her grin stretched wider when she grasped her prize and quickly retreated to the kitchen seeking out any spare stationary. She set a small watch down and made sure the time was correct and that Am and Pm were correct before carefully writing out a small note.

Dear. Mr Sindy

I would like to invite you to my son Benny the stitched demon's first birthday party. His Birthday is actually on the 27th which is 2 days from now, but I'd like to celebrate it on the 30th and 31st with the 31st being Halloween. If you are able, I would like for you to come over on the 30th in the morning and to stay with us until the evening of the 31st. Room and board will be provided. I hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

Allison Connor

The letter was carefully folded and placed inside an envelope along with the watch. Allison double checked the watch to make sure the day and time were accurate before sliding it in and sealing the envelope. She wrote the SINdy's name on the front before pulling out several other pieces of paper and wrote out similar letters, but requesting for the toons to arrive on the morning of the 31st. She carefully addressed the envelopes to Bendy, Fate, Beast Bendy, Angel Henry and Shadow. She paused briefly at Shadows letter as she wasn’t completely certain the ink cat could read but suspected it could, if not the other Bendy, ‘Ben’ as Benny called him, should be able to.

With the last stroke of the pen Allison grinned at the finishing touches on the envelopes on the letters before gently sealing them. She carefully grasped onto her treasures before slipping out the back door and made her way towards the back of the house where Benny's hut was concealed.

The hut wasn't so welcoming at night as it was during the day. The willow trees cast eerie shadows consuming the structure they guarded, almost as if they were warding off any intruders. Allison slipped between the trees and felt around the wall of the structure making mental note to have Tom install a small light so they can at least see the door. Her fingers finally grazed the border of the door before she felt around further until her fingers felt the smooth metal of the door knob. A triumphant grin graced her face as her hand eagerly grasped onto the door knob and twisted before pulling on the door. The door didn’t budge. She looked at the door baffled as to how Benny simply opened it for her earlier with ease. She tucked the envelopes under her arm and used both hands to try and open the door. A small twist and a few tugs later the door finally gave way granting her access to it's interior. Her fingers immediately sought out a light switch that cast a warm soft glow on the room.

'Great. Now how do I get this to them?' Allison pondered as she paced around the room. She ravaged her memory on Benny’s commentary about how he communicates with his friends. She noticed the book on Benny’s table that had an elaborate cover with the characteristic outline of Bendys head. Benny commented about how this was to the other Bendy, the owner of the reading room which should be the easiest to contact. She looked at the envelope addressed to the first toon and carefully lifted the cover of the book and slid the invitation under it’s pages. God she hoped this worked and that she wasn’t grasping straws. While she waited to see if there would be some sort of response or if the letter even go through she turned her attention to the large ink stain that was on the wall. SINdy's portal and the one she needed to contact the most.

Allison studied the ink on the wall wondering how exactly she was gonna get the letter to him. Benny said it was a portal to the toon for which Henry’s Bendy had commented on the dark puddles being like a tunnel. However that wasn’t helping her now as she didn’t want to ask for help from her toon as it is supposed to be a surprise with his friends coming over. Allison lightly pouted with her growing frustration as to how the ink worked for the demons. She recalled Bendy walking out of the ink and Benny reaching into himself to pull out what he needed. Maybe she could just copy them and put the letter in the ink as well. She paused her thoughts and looked at the letter. ‘Gotta test the theory first.’

A quick search later and Allison held a small piece of paper before the ink spot and she steeled herself before gently folding the paper vertically to give her hand and the wall some distance before gently placing the edge of the paper to the ink. Must to her annoyance the paper looked like it was only covered in ink until she felt a small pull and the paper disappeared into the ink soaked wall. She waited with baited breath wondering if it went through before another piece of paper emerged from the wall with a note written on it.

'Hiya! How are you?' There was a little happy face drawn on the side of the paper.

Allison chuckled at the note. She couldn’t believe it worked! This must be SINdy that Benny spoke of. She looked at the envelope and carefully placed it on the ink spot and gently pushed it through along with a reply written on the note. 'Please read this, I would like to see you soon.'

---------- On the other side ----------

SINdy was getting ready for bed and was passing by the recording booth and was shocked to see a piece of paper emerge from an ink stain in the booth. It had to be Benny! Setting his sleepiness aside for a moment as his dad could wait a bit before bed, he quickly picked up the paper and carefully ran the tip of his finger under his eye before scribbling his message and passed it back into the ink.

His grin stretched wide in anticipation from his friends response only to get an envelope with a paper attached to it saying 'please read this, I would like to see you soon.' His face morphed to confusion as he plucked the envelope out of the ink feeling that there was a small weight to the parcel. He carefully pulled the envelope open and slid the watch out looking at it confused as to what was the purpose of the time piece before his eyes landed on the invitation.

His eyes grew wide at the invitation as he was instantly excited about it being his friend's birthday. Worry quickly replaced his excitement as he realized that the sender beyond the portal was Benny's mother, that somehow his family found out about him. A small frown formed on his face as he reread the letter. She wanted him to come over to play? Would she be ok with someone like him?

SINdy grabbed a black piece of paper and thought for a little while before carefully writing a response.

Dear Mrs. Connor,

I would love to come, but are you ok about another demon like me there? Benny told me about shadow and Ben. I don't want to scare you since I don't look like a normal 'Bendy'.

He carefully folded the paper and slid the note back through the portal and waited. SINdy had to admit he was excited about being in Benny's home for the first time, but was also wary. Benny had told him of his mothers very concerned reaction about Shadow and Ben whom showed up out of the blue one day. Benny's father his world's Thomas Connor reacted even worse given his history with the Ink Machine.

SINdy fidgeted while he waited for a response. God he hoped Benny's mom would allow him over. He would really like to play with his friend without fear of being seen, let alone the possibility of being told to never come back.. A little piece of paper emerged through the ink, he slowly reached and plucked it out of the puddle and began to read with his eyes growing wide.

Dear Mr. Sindy,

Regardless of how you look I'd still like for you to come over. How a demon looks on the outside doesn't attribute to how they are on the inside. Looks don't matter. Benny said you were his best friend and that is more than enough for me. The backdoor will be left open on the morning of the 30th. Please be there.

Ps. I don’t know how to contact the remaining guests. If you are able, can you please send these invitations to them for me?

A grin stretched itself across SINdy's face. He couldn't believe it. Benny's mom really wanted him over regardless of his nature and how he looks. He hastily grabbed a paper to reply.

'Thank you, I'll be there. I will gladly deliver them for you as a thank you for inviting me.’

Once the letter vanished into the inky void, SINdy grabbed the invitation and carefully looked at the watch. He waited patiently for the remaining invitations to come through the portal for which he quickly stowed them in his hammerspace. The little cardboard demon could hardly contain his excitement and practically skipped down the hall to his father’s side eagerly showing him the invitation for which earned a chuckle from the man and a promise that he would be careful. He was going to a party! The little wandering demon leapt onto his father's lap leaning into him while his gloves were on his back, it was the best he could do to hug his dad since he has no arms. Now all he had to do was wait. He looked at the watch hoping for the day to hurry and come before he was tucked into bed. Sammy turned off the small light they had in his office while SINdy looked at the little glowing hands of the watch. SINdy vowed that the first thing he would do in the morning was to send off the invitations to the rest of his friends.

----------- Benny's world----------

Allison chuckled at the thank you note and quickly pocketed the page before checking the other Bendy book. To her pleasure the invitation was gone and had 3 simple words; ‘I’ll be there’. She could hardly contain her own excitement but decided to brush it aside for a touch of caution and determination. She had never met these toons before and truly didn’t know what to expect from them. She could only hope that she wasn’t getting in over her head, but there were 2 older figures that act like guardians so it won’t be just her and Tom watching the demons.

The cool night air welcomed Allison giving her a small chill as she left herself out of Benny's shed and quickly retreated back towards the house. The woman made a mental note to get extra blankets since the nights were cooler now and with them have a guest sleeping over they needed some extra covers. Allison reentered the home to find it quiet and still unlike how she had left it a few minutes ago. Assuming that Tom had finally wrangled Benny into bed she gingerly strode down the hall to her bedroom. Much to her surprise, the room was empty as there was no grumbling figure in the bed as Tom is usually worn out after playing with Benny. Lifting a brow, Allison back tracked to Benny's room to locate her missing husband. She stopped in the doorway smiling at the sight before her. Tom and Benny were both tangled up amongst the blankets on Benny's bed and both were out like a light, looks like their little game ended in a draw.

Allison chuckled and turned off the light singing a small ‘good night’ as she closed the door. It was a relief to see that the two boys made up after their little tense moment earlier, though she could already see a tickle torture session in the morning since Tom is too big for Benny’s bed. If Benny was already this excited then she couldn't wait to see how his Birthday unfolded.

#batim stitched au #Allison Connor #batim allison #thomas connor #batim thomas #benny the stitched demon #benny the stitched devil #benny the stitch devil #benny the stitch demon #SINdy the wandering demon #wandering sin bendy #wandering is a terrible sin #bendy the ink demon #other batim Ocs are mentioned and will come later

54 notes · View notes

timelord-winchester-22b · 5 years

Text

Hugs from the Doctor Advent Calendar: Day one

Prompt: Holiday Decor

AN: I am so freaking slack on posting these Christmas things, omg, I haven’t posted Sadie’s writing challenge fic that I’ve finished, and I almost went to bed without posting this one! I honestly suck, geez. Anyway, it’s not mindnight yet, so I haven’t failed this yet. That’ll be another day. Enjoy the beginnings of the Christmas season you lot, I am mad for holidays, if you hadn’t already worked that out, so I certainly will.

Anyway, enjoy this fluffy cuteness!

(This series will be written with Ten in mind but I don’t think I put that much specific stuff in there so... I dunno, think of who you wish)

(Y/N) Was humming a tune that sounded suspiciously familiar when the Doctor found her in the console room. A quick look at what she had been doing in there by herself had him quickly realizing it was ‘deck the halls’. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor and fiddling with something in the box in front of her. The Doctor stepped as close as he dare without alerting her to his presence. She was untangling Christmas lights and tinsel, sorting a few tree ornaments to the side as she organized everything. The Doctor frowned a little. He had been hoping she wouldn’t notice it was getting close to one of her holidays. But here she was with the decorations on the her time’s first of December. How had she been keeping such good track? He’d have to double check she didn’t have a calendar in her room…

“What are you doing?” The Doctor questioned suspiciously, making (Y/N) jump. She turned and sent him a quick glare over her shoulder before settling into a smile again.

“I found a box of Christmas decorations in one of your storage rooms a couple weeks ago. Figured it’s about time to get them out and make the console look a little festive” She suggested happily.

“No, absolutely not” The Doctor shook his head. (Y/N)’s smile faded a little.

“What, why not?”

“This is very delicate and high tech machinery, it doesn’t need tinsel and lights tying it up and getting in the way” The Doctor argued, stalking over to the console and pushing a lever down sharply. He moved towards the other side of the console and the lever moved back into it’s original position.

“Don’t know how much Sexy agrees with you” (Y/N) teased lightly. The Doctor glared at the item and moved back over to shove it down again.

“No decorations in the console room, no exceptions. You can decorate your own room”

(Y/N)’s smile fell completely and she dropped her head, looking sadly down at the tangled decorations in their dusty old box. The Doctor hesitated.

“Okay” (Y/N) muttered sadly, placing the tree ornaments carefully back in the box and picking it up from the floor. She was up and out of the room before the Doctor could think of another thing to say. He sighed, leaning back against the console. The Tardis hummed disapprovingly and the lever snapped upwards again.

“Alright, I’m sorry” The Doctor said reluctantly. The Tardis hummed more insistently, her consciousness nudging at the edge of his. “Well what am I supposed to do?” He sighed, leaving the console to slump down on the chair at the edge of the main platform. “What’ve I done?” The Tardis hummed a little softer this time and the Doctor suddenly remembered the decorations shoved in a corner of the secondary storage room that (Y/N) didn’t know about. He sat up a little straighter, smiling slightly at the console. “Good idea…”

(Y/N) sighed as she dropped herself on her bed, grabbing the closest pillow and picking at the threads. She had decorated her room for Christmas, like he’d suggested, but she couldn’t look at it the same way after he’d refused so harshly. So she packed it right back up and left the box where she’d found it, buried under old space relics in the back of the storage room. Maybe she should just forget about Christmas this year. After all, they were on a time machine. The Doctor probably never celebrated holidays, let alone silly human ones. What was she even thinking?

“(Y/N), could you come help me with something?” The Doctor called from down the hall. (Y/N) sighed, dropping the pillow back on her bed and getting to her feet.

“Coming” She called back, making her way down the hall and trying to work up a believable smile on the way.

“What did you- …need…” (Y/N) forgot about the idea of a smile when she entered the console room, completely astonished by what she was seeing. The column of the console was wrapped in tinsel and baubles hung from parts of it. The outer edge of the control panel was wrapped in tiny white lights, as were the coral struts around the room. The metal bars around the platform were wrapped in tinsel and there was a tiny Christmas tree sitting on the edge of the console. What she couldn’t see, however, was the Time Lord she had expected to see.

“Doctor?” She called eventually.

“Up he-ah!”

Before (Y/N) could look for the source of his voice he was suddenly on the ground in front of her. She shrieked in surprise at first before cursing quietly, helping him to his feet.

“Are you alright?” (Y/N) questioned worriedly, trying to find where he could’ve even fallen from.

“Yeah, I- I’m fine” The Doctor insisted, clearing his throat uncomfortably. “I’m good. Do you, um” He ran a hand through his hair, looking a little nervous as he glanced around the room himself. “Do you like it…?”

“Doctor, you did this…?” (Y/N) asked quietly, glancing around the room but betraying no emotion.

“Uh… yeah…?”

(Y/N) Looked at him for a moment, watching him rapidly get more nervous.

“So…?”

(Y/N) grinned suddenly, throwing her arms around him and very nearly knocking him over. The Doctor let out a little ‘oof’ sound, catching her and gingerly hugging her back. She laughed a little, looking around the room again over his shoulder.

“So you like it?”

“Oh, Doctor, I love it!” (Y/N) confirmed, pulling away to look at him again. “You did this all, and fell from the ceiling, for me?” She laughed. The Doctor cleared his throat a little, embarrassed when she brought up his fall again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did. Sorry I didn’t have a proper Christmas tree” He frowned a little as he glanced at the miniature decoration on the console.

“That’s okay” (Y/N) laughed. “We could get one together. Oh, we could set it up in the library, and we could go shopping at those asteroid markets again and get each other presents! We could find some Christmas lights to go look at, and we should get a gingerbread house to decorate! Oh, I bet I could make one!” (Y/N) turned and ran off down the halls, continuing to shout out Christmas related ideas despite the fact that he wasn’t following. The Doctor blinked a moment before sighing.

“What’ve I done…”

#Alex's 2018 Advent fics #advent calendar fics #doctor who #doctor who x reader #tenth doctor #tenth doctor x reader #x reader #reader insert #doctor who reader insert #christmas fic

46 notes · View notes

darkmindsthinktwistedthoughts · 5 years

Text

Festive Treat

This is a Secret Santa gift for the wonderful Peony @sevenswifey I sincerely hope you enjoy it. - Aerion x

Warnings: a bit of festive fluffy sweetness from a certain caring warlord.

Masterlist

---

Festive Treat

It was one of the biggest events of the season and you loved it. For just over a month the city was covered in lights and colours galore. It made it feel like you had stepped into a Hallmark Christmas movie and you found you couldn’t help but smile. One thing you didn’t get just from watching a movie was the feeling of the buzz in the air from all the excited visitors and shoppers around you, the smells from the food and drinks stalls that lined the streets as they held their annual festive food market. The happy cheerful voices as couples, families and groups of friends drifted from location to location taking in the products for sale and the attractions all around.

You checked your watch again. Guess he’s running late. Almost as soon as that thought crossed your mind you heard the sound of rushing feet.

“Sorry, Sorry. The train was delayed, I know it’s a terrible excuse I should never keep a lady waiting.”

Turning to the voice behind you, you can’t help but smile at the usually effortless composed man who now had a worried look on his face as he tried to regain his breath from running from the subway.

“It’s ok I wasn’t waiting long. You ready to go?” You smiled, happy to finally see your dates face. You had both planned to visit the festival on your next day off and it had been a surprisingly long couple of days waiting.

“Of course. As if I would pass up the opportunity to go around the festival with the prettiest girl in the world.” He reached out and held your hand in his. You could feel the warmth of it and suddenly remembered your own forgotten pair of gloves sitting at your home on the coffee table. “I thought you said you’d only been waiting for a short time; your hands are freezing.”

“Oh well… er…” You stammered a little embarrassed by your own forgetfulness. You had just been so happy to finally go on this date you forgot to do your usually double check of things before you ran out of the house.

“You really are a handful you know that?” He gave you a warm smile. He dropped your hand momentarily and removed his own gloves placing them on your much smaller hands. “There that should do the trick. I’ll make sure I find you the thickest softest pair of gloves later until then you can wear mine.”

“But that means your hands will get cold.” His kindness and generosity were always so touching and as happy as you were for his kind actions you still wished a little that he would think about himself a bit more.

“Then…” He tilted his head making his sandy brown hair sway as he took your hand again and shoved it in his jacket pocket along with his own, lacing his fingers with yours. “I guess we’ll just have to go around like this and you can be in charge of making sure I stay warm.” He gave you the brightest smile you could imagine and then gave your hand a light squeeze. “Come on let's go grab some food and then you can tell me what you want to do after.”

---

The further you went into the lights the more you became aware of. There was the faint sounds of Christmas music playing out over the crowds. The smells of all the delicious food became much stronger and as you looked around your date guided you expertly to the perfect stall. The smell of the sweet batter as it sizzled in the cast iron flippers caught in the air and made your mouth water.

“One for the lady please.” He ordered the Belgium waffle then bent down so he could hear you as he asked “What do you want on it?”

Standing close like this to him holding hands was enough to have your heart race as it was but having him whisper in your ear and be even closer to you had your heart doing summersaults, you were secretly glad of the loud noises around you, at least you could be sure he couldn’t hear your erratic heart.

“Erm… Chocolate sauce is fine.”

“That all? You could have anything you like you know? My treat.” His desire to make you comfortable is one of the things you loved about him. He was always so considerate and that was a massive comfort to know that no matter what kind of day you had he would always listen to you and show you support and try to find a way to comfort you.

“Are you not getting one?” You take the offered waffle in the paper cone and take a bite. The rich warm chocolate sauce and sweet dough fill your mouth and you can’t avoid a small sigh at the pleasant flavours.

“Not really a fan of sweets.” He smiled at the sight of you enjoying your food. “Besides I already have the sweetest thing at the festival.” He wrapped an arm around your shoulders and guided you to another stall and brought two cups of spiced cider.

It was such a great relaxed feeling and you both drifted from stall to stall picking up different foods as you went until you came to the edge of the food market and looked at the attractions.

“Where would you like to start Princess?”

“I have no idea.” You glance around everything looks magical with all the lights. Even the duck pond had tiny lanterns floating and bobbing around on the surface of it. Some fairground rides were playing music and crowds of people had gathered around them.

“In that case how about we try the maze?” He takes your hand and guides you to a less crowded area and you see a new grove of trees laid out before you.

Each tree is around seven-foot-tall and lit up from projector lights placed at the base of them. The fine lights cast over the fir trees made it look like millions of fireflies were dancing in the frost. It was stunning. You walked slowly together hand in hand around the maze until you came to the centre.

Your eyes widened when you saw the bench in the middle of the clearing. There was a thick blanket folded neatly on it complete with a thermos and a wrapped box. You looked from the surprising site to the man next to you only to find he seemed to only be looking at you and not the scene before you.

“Hideyoshi… did you?” You ask breath catching as you take everything in.

“Yeah. I had a couple friends help pull it off though.” Hideyoshi gives a small shrug, giving your hand a light squeeze.

You feel like you are walking through a dreamscape as you are told to take a seat and then the blanket is draped across you both. The stars in the sky are clearly visible above you and you both gave up at them smiling.

“I’m pleased it’s a clear night. It was about the only thing I couldn’t plan beforehand.” He looked up at that sky before turning back to you.

“I still can’t believe you did all this.”

“Of course, I would at least go this far for my precious girl. I had wished to do more.” He proclaimed.

“No, no. Honestly, this is more than enough. This place is so peaceful and beautiful and you’re here and…” Your words begin to tumble over themselves as you speak.

“Now that is totally unfair.” He dropped his head to his chest before turning his body towards you on the bench “Where did you learn to say something so cute?” He cupped his hand over your cheek brushing the skin with his thumb.

“Where did you learn to be so smooth?”

-Chuckle-

He opened up the thermos and produced two cups pouring out a serving each of hot chocolate.

“Be careful now it’s hot.” He said as he handed you yours.

It smelt wonderful and you gladly took it drinking it slowly as you continued to star gaze. The pair of you sit in companionable silence enjoying the warmth of your two bodies sat next to each other under the blanket and the hot drinks in your hands. When you had finished your cup, he takes it from your hands carefully and replaces it with the wrapped box.

“This is for you.”

“It’s not even Christmas yet. Can I open it?” You know you sound a little like an excited child but don’t really care.

“Of course, after all, I will get you more gifts before the 25th anyway.”

You pull on the festive green ribbon and lift the lid on the box. Inside is a new set of soft white Gloves, scarf and hat. It looked like the wool had been threaded with silver as it looked sparkly in the light, and there was a couple of faux fur bobbles on the hat that looked like ears. Your face lit up in a smile and Hideyoshi let out a sigh next too you.

“I’m so glad you like them I worried I had chosen the wrong thing.” He sighs.

“I would love anything you gave me. But I don’t get it, you said earlier you would get me a pair of gloves but you didn’t leave my side all evening so when did you get these?” You tilt your head in amazement. As if the evening wasn’t already magical before he pulled this conjuring trick.

“I picked them up on my lunch break yesterday. I saw them in a window and thought they were perfect for you. I know I shouldn’t be happy that you forgot your other gloves today as your hands became cold but I was secretly happy because I knew I could give you these.” He gave you a lopsided smile “It looks like someone up there likes me.”

“Someone here like you too you know?” You put your hand over his on your cheek bring it to your lips and kiss his palm.

“You really are cute.” He leans forward using his free hand to guide your head closer to him and kisses your lips softly. “I know I’ll say it again but Happy Christmas Princess.”

“Happy Christmas.”

---

34 notes · View notes

breeeliss · 6 years

Text

[Chlonette Week]: What Is This Feeling?

(written for @chlonetteweek )

[Prev: Helpless] [Next: If I Could Tell Her]

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

Day 2: What Is This Feeling? Prompt: a journey into them slowly discovering that the way they feel about each other is different Summary: Chloé asks Marinette for a rather distracting favor, and Marinette isn't quite sure if she's going to be able to survive it.

Day 2: What Is This Feeling?

“Hey! Dupain-Cheng!”

Marinette rolled her eyes at the sound of Chloé’s voice and shifted back in the hopes that Chloé wouldn’t see her hiding underneath the courtyard stairs. It always seemed like it was physically impossible for Marinette to spend her free periods in peace without this girl finding her and distracting her with something ridiculous. She had portfolios to submit for two of her applied arts classes by the end of the week, and there was no way anyone was going to keep her from at least finishing her linework before the school day ended. But Chloé had never been interested in anyone’s problems except for her own, and it was really rather stupid of Marinette to assume that Chloé would notice her panicking and leave her alone.

“Three steps back, Bourgeois,” Marinette called out. “You are not bothering me right now.”

Chloé stopped mid-stride and scoffed. “Well, excuse me, what crawled up your ass?”

“Final assignments,” Marinette muttered.

“Due when?”

“On Friday.”

“It’s Tuesday. You have time to help me.”

Marinette groaned. “I am not interested in getting into another debate with you. For the last time, you are warm toned, and that blue eye makeup makes you look gross and washed out.”

Chloé narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare rehash that. Besides, those are tall words coming from a girl who can’t even do a smokey eye right.”

“Oh my Gooood! ” Marinette threw her sketchbook off to the side and finally looked up at Chloé who must have just come from outside since she was still wearing her peacoat on one arm. “If I humor you, will you make it quick so you can leave me alone?”

Chloé crossed her arms. “You sew, right?”

“Is that a trick question? Do you know me?”

“I mean, do you have sewing stuff on you right now, you ignoramus.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Perfect.” Chloé leaned down, collected Marinette’s things, and pulled her up from her seat on the ground. “You’re coming with me.”

Marinette tripped to catch up with Chloé as she led them upstairs to where the classrooms were. “Woah woah woah, what the heck, where are we going? You know how hard it is to monopolize that spot under the stairs?”

“No one cares about your stupid real estate claims, Marinette, you already agreed to help me, so shut up.”

“If this ends up taking all period I’m literally going to hire someone to kill you.”

“Good luck with that, sweetie. And if you’re as good as you say, this won’t take any time at all.”

She took them to an empty chemistry lab and locked the door to make sure no one came in after them. Chloé dropped Marinette’s things on top of the teacher’s desk while Marinette asked, “Alright. What’s the emergency?”

Chloé didn’t say a word as she let her jacket drop to the floor and held out her right arm. Marinette’s eyes flew open as she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from bursting out into laughter. “Oh, honey….”

“Don’t you start,” Chloé warned. “This isn’t my fault.”

Marinette placed a hand on Chloé’s shoulder and inspected the sleeve of her blouse that was literally hanging off her shoulder by a single thread. It looked like it had been completely ripped out of its seam, but Marinette was having a lot of trouble understanding how Chloé had managed that seeing as how this looked to be a Gabriel brand blouse that probably cost her over a hundred euros. “Do I even want to know?”

Chloé looked to the ceiling. “I….may have been in the middle of yelling at someone….and got my sleeve caught in the locker….and tried to stomp away….and then I heard a rip.”

Marinette gave her a deadpan stare. “You are such an idiot.”

“This is not the time to be focusing on my failings,” Chloé said. “Can you sew it up or not? You can see my bra through the hole of the shirt now. I can’t go to class like this.”

Marinette sighed and stared at the ruined seam. “I mean, it might be easier to just go home and change.”

“I’m not going to have time. I tried calling my butler but he’s busy handling something important for Daddy. I wouldn’t have come to you if I wasn’t desperate.”

“Oh gee thanks,” Marinette sneered. She turned around and started rummaging through her bag for the travelling sewing kit she always carried. “It won’t look pretty, but I can sew it up really quick so that at least the sleeve is attached. To do it properly, I’d need my sewing machine which is at home.”

Chloé waved off the offer. “Attaching the sleeve is fine. Just need to get through the day. I’ll order three new ones when I get home.”

Marinette pulled a face. “Oooh, I’m Chloé, I’m super rich, I’ll just buy three of everything I break.”

“God, you’re annoying.”

“Keep it up or I’ll sew the sleeve to your collar.”

Marinette pulled out a baby blue thread that was the closest match to Chloe’s blouse she could find and started to thread the needle. “Alright, this might be easier if you take off your shirt. If you’re fine with quick and dirty, I can fix it in about twenty minutes.”

Chloé smirked as she unbuttoned her shirt. “Quick and dirty, huh? Interesting word choice considering I’m about to get half naked.”

“Ha ha ha,” Marinette droned. “Get over yourself.”

Chloé scoffed. “Figures the first girl I get naked for in like six months is one that won’t even appreciate it.”

“Tragic.”

“Truly.”

“Shut up and hand me the shirt, you narcissist.”

Chloé pulled the shirt off, rolled it up into a ball, and threw it right in Marinette’s face while she was tying off the end of the thread.. “There! Happy?”

Marinette ripped it off her head and was about to tell Chloé to cool it with the sarcasm before she permanently ruined her blouse. But whatever she was about to say was immediately blown out of her mind as her eyes zeroed in on Chloé and the fact the fact that she was currently standing in front of her while wearing an incredibly expensive looking bra that was certainly a little too….festive for everyday wear.

Now Marinette wasn’t an ogler. She knew how downright uncomfortable it was to have boys staring at her legs when she wore short skirts and trying to get peeks down the front of her shirt in the middle of class. So she always tried to be conscious of not letting her eyes linger for more than a couple of seconds out of respect for the other person because that’s the kind of treatment she would’ve wanted in return.

Except it was really kind of hard not to stare when Chloé’s bra was way too low cut, way too see through, and way too covered in lace to be appropriate. Chloé was all soft skin and round curves, and Marinette didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed at the fact that Chloé’s pride in her looks was very well founded.

Marinette must have been quiet for a while because Chloé had to snap her fingers in front of Marinette’s face to get her attention. She raised a delicate brow and asked, “You good?”

The only thing Marinette could do was swallow and point out the obvious. “You’re wearing lingerie….”

Chloé huffed. “Yeah, don’t remind me. I forgot to hand my delicates over to the maid when she did laundry yesterday so all I had to wear this morning was the expensive stuff. Ridiculous, right?”

Marinette pulled in her lips and nodded. Ridiculous was not the word Marinette was thinking of, but she didn’t trust herself enough to speak. Instead she pulled Chloé’s blouse inside out and started to realign the hem so she could pin it in place. “Let me, uh….get started on this then.”

Marinette still didn’t like Chloé no matter how much effort Adrien put into whipping the girl into shape and teaching her revolutionary new concepts like manners and courtesy. She was still loud mouthed, still annoying, still spoiled, and still dead set on annoying Marinette using any means necessary. Fine, it was mostly harmless now and in a way Marinette sort of enjoyed the banter if only so she could completely humiliate Chloé and get her to feel a little humble for once — but it didn’t matter because she was still a brat and that wasn’t about to change.

Chloé wasn’t allowed to mess that dynamic up by being attractive. Well, okay, Chloé had always been pretty. Marinette’s opinions about Chloé aside, she wasn’t blind and she certainly wasn’t one to ignore an objective truth. But, as shallow as it sounded, it was really hard to focus on how stupid Chloé’s face looked when she was standing in a get up straight out of one of Marinette’s very confusing yet highly enlightening day dreams.

Wow, she was staring again. This was so not fair.

Focus on sewing. Just focus on sewing.

Luckily, Chloé was more interested in standing off to the side and playing on her phone than paying any attention to what Marinette was doing and for that she was grateful. Oxford cloth was something Marinette had worked with dozens of times, and she managed to fix the shirt with a simple running stitch that was good enough to last Chloé throughout the rest of the school day without further incident so long as she was careful with it and didn’t get it caught in anymore lockers. Not her best work, but not bad for only having a ten euro travel kit on her.

Marinette was tying off the thread and cutting the excess when she felt Chloé lean in next to her to observe her work. Or rather, she felt Chloé’s breasts pressing against her arm in a way that would’ve felt intentional if not the for the fact that Chloé genuinely didn’t seem to realize how much of Marinette’s personal space she was taking up. “Wow. You’re kinda not awful at this.”

“Wow, you’re kinda welcome.” Marinette subtly moved two inches to her right and pulled the shirt rightside out again. “Alright. Try it on. Is it too tight?”

Chloé pulled the sleeves on but kept the shirt unbuttoned as she rolled her shoulders and lifted her arms up in the air. “Nope. Feels good to me.”

Marinette cleared her throat and wondered if it was rude to ask Chloé to hurry up and close her shirt already. “Well, I do this a lot. Aspiring designer and all that jazz.”

Chloé was about to start buttoning up her shirt, but she looked down at her chest and gasped at what she saw. “Oh dammit. Wait a minute. Do you have scissors?”

“Did I leave a thread loose?”

Chloé got closer and — oh for heaven’s sake — shoved her chest in Marinette’s face as she pointed to the center of her bra where a dark blue rose was embroidered. “I think there’s a loose string hanging off here. Do you see it?”

“Uhh….” Marinette swallowed and looked down to see a small bit of blue thread hanging right where the flower was sewn in. “Y-Yeah. This right here?”

“Yeah. Dammit, I think that’s because I was fiddling with it during class.”

Yeah, okay, so Marinette was going to do her best to not think about Chloé with her hand down her shirt and fingering the designs on her bra while sitting in class, staring at the board, and not realizing how many stares she was probably catching in the process.

“Do you want me to uh….cut it? I don’t have scissors but I have a seam ripper that might do the job if I’m careful.”

“Wasn’t pointing it out for my health, Marinette. Make it quick. I still need to switch out my books.”

Marinette dug through her bag for her seam ripper and had a little bit of a crisis when she realized that she was going to have to hold on to some part of Chloé in order to hold her steady and cut the thread. Her hand trembled when it reached out for Chloé’s shoulder and pulled her in closer. “I-I’m um….I need to kinda hold onto your….well….so I can cut it properly.”

Chloé got the message without Marinette having to say it and shrugged. “Go ahead.”

Marinette really hoped her blush wasn’t obvious because she could literally feel her cheeks heating up as she grabbed the center of Chloé’s bra. She felt the backs of her fingers brush up against the warm skin of Chloé’s breast as she tried to hook the seam ripper around the thread and snap it off as quickly as she could. This close, she could smell Chloé’s shampoo and Chloé’s perfume which certainly wasn’t helping her concentration and was actually making the warmth from her face start to pool deep in her chest and spread her flush to other parts of her body.

Luckily cutting a thread took a lot less time than fixing a seam, and Marinette backed away from Chloé as quickly as she could the minute she was done. “Alright, better?”

Chloé smiled. “Much. Not bad, Dupain-Cheng. You’re pretty good in a pinch.”

God Marinette really couldn’t get her eyes off of Chloé’s chest this was so freaking bad.

“Yeah, yeah it was no problem. Oh!” Marinette blinked when she saw one of Chloé’s bra straps hanging more loose on one shoulder than it was on the other. “Your straps are uneven.”

“Seriously?” Chloé looked over her shoulder to try and see for herself. “Shoot, could you fix them for me?”

Chloé didn’t wait for an answer as she spun around and lifted her hair to give Marinette access to fix the straps, and honestly, since when the hell were people’s backs attractive? Did Chloé work out? Were girls’ backs allowed to look this toned, lean, and perfect for running your hands up and down? How ridiculous was that?

Marinette tightened the offending strap and indulged herself by drumming her fingers against Chloe’s shoulder blades to let her know that she was done. As a finishing blow, Chloé cupped both of her breasts in her hands, lifted them up a little bit, and nodded as if she were deciding whether she was satisfied with how they looked. “What do you think? Better? Even?”

Perfect? Gorgeous? Smooth? Soft?

“Uh huh!” Marinette squeaked out.

“Brilliant.” Chloé finally — finally!!! — buttoned up her shirt right when the warning bell for next period started ringing through the building. Chloé cursed under her breath and quickly grabbed her coat and her bag. “Ugh, I still need to get to my locker and get my books. My literature teacher is gonna kill me if I’m late to her class again.” She was about to rush to the door and leave without saying a word before she stopped short and slowly turned around.

“Oh, wait a minute. I forgot.” She cleared her throat and spoke as if she were reading from a script. “Thank you for your help. Is there anything I can do for you in return?”

Marinette snorted. “Adrien’s really broken you in, hasn’t he?”

“Shut up.”

Marinette laughed, for the first time appreciating the fact that Chloé was at least putting in an effort. “How about a coffee first thing tomorrow morning and we can call it even?”

Chloé smirked. “I can do coffee.” She blew a kiss in Marinette’s direction and finally slipped out into the hallway. “Nice work, Dupain-Cheng. You’re officially my go-to for all future fashion disasters.”

Marinette let out a huge breath once Chloé was out of the room and slowly started to pack up her things, thoughts of girls and curves and soft things still running through her mind up until the moment she sat down next to Alya during their next class.

“Random question,” Marinette asked out of the blue. “Is it possible for boobs to make you feel all dizzy and lightheaded? Asking for a friend.”

Alya frowned and started looking through her bag. “Aw, are you on your period, babe? I have pain killers if you need them.”

“No, no. Not my boobs. Another person’s boobs.”

Alya furrowed her brows. “Any boobs that I know?”

Marinette covered her face with both hands and whined petulantly. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh.”

#chlonetteweek2k17 #chlonette #chloenette #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #chloe bourgeois #day 2 #what is this feeling #chlonette week #chlonette week 2017 #chlonette fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #my writing

264 notes · View notes

therewillbebeauty · 7 years

Text

quiet nights poured over ice - gou/sousuke

Word Count: 1500 They meet, as fate would have it, on a rainy night.

Gou’s weather app had neglected to inform her of the incoming summer squall, and she is thoroughly soaked. Wet feet slip and slide in sopping shoes as she trudges through the rain. It’s not so far, or else she would wait out the rain in a shop of some kind; as it stands, she’s only a few blocks away from her location of choice when she quite literally bumps into an old friend.

“Sousuke?” she inquires as the figure’s umbrella is held over her head. “What are you doing here?”

Sousuke gives a small smile as the rain pours down on his no-longer-protected body. “Taking a walk. I should really be asking you what you’re doing, given that you’re without an umbrella in this storm.”

Gou pushes some of her soggy bangs out of her face. “I forgot one,” she replies lamely, and Sousuke chuckles lightly. “And my destination isn’t far, so …”

“So you decided to brave the rain,” Sousuke finishes. “I have to admit, that sounds like you. Where’re you headed, anyways?”

“Bar Lupin,” she supplies.

Sousuke raises an eyebrow. “In such desperate need for some liquor that you ventured out in this weather?”

Gou shrugs. “It’s been a rough night.”

“And it’s only,” Sousuke checks his watch, “Seven thirty. I think I’m beginning to understand.” He smiles again, and doesn’t that twist Gou’s insides into all sorts of emotions she’s not up to feeling at the moment. “Shall we go, then?”

Gou blinks. “Are you going there, too?”

“Well, I didn’t have any particular destination in mind, but my umbrella seems to have been pressed into service by a lovely lady and what kind of gentleman would I be if I left you out in the rain?” Sousuke turns and starts down the street. Gou stands there, dumbfounded, until the rain resumes its incessant pounding on her head and she realizes that her refuge is on the run. She breaks into a jog to catch him.

They don’t talk again until they’re safely inside the bar and seated at the counter. Gou had been right; it was only a few blocks more. She orders a Long Island Iced Tea; Sousuke chooses a Whiskey Sour. He waits until she’s half-finished with her drink of choice to ask her, “So, why the rough night?”

Gou swallows. “I got dumped.”

“Ah,” Sousuke replies, ever terse, and takes a sip of his own drink. “Hence, the alcohol.”

“Never hurts,” she agrees, taking another sip.

“Want to talk about it?” Sousuke offers.

“Not really,” Gou declines, and finishes her drink. She waves for another.

“Are you even old enough to drink?” Sousuke teases.

Gou doesn’t take the joke; she glares at him with those burgundy eyes so similar to her brother’s. “I’m twenty-five, Sousuke. Not fifteen.”

Sousuke throws up his hands in mock-surrender as Gou takes a long sip of her second drink. “What was his name?” he asks, and Gou splutters. “I know, I know. You don’t want to talk about it. But I want to hear about it.” She opens her mouth to interrupt him, and he holds a finger to her lips. “Call it payment for the loan of my umbrella.”

Gou sighs in exasperation but obliges all the same. “His name was Kazuki, Minami Kazuki. He had long brown hair and periwinkle eyes and muscles for days, and he dumped me via a text four hours ago.” She rests her head in her hands. “It wasn’t too serious; we’d only been dating for six months or so and four exclusively, but, still …” She lets the sentence hang, unwilling to finish it. ‘I thought we had a chance,’ maybe, or ‘My brother’s getting married soon enough to a guy he’s known since elementary school and I’m twenty-five and still have yet to make it through a whole year with the same guy.’

Sousuke places a steadying hand on her shoulder but offers no words. Gou doesn’t mind. She isn’t sure what she wants to hear.

Sousuke finishes his own drink. “I finished therapy a month ago,” he starts, “But a few days ago, they wanted me to try swimming again. So I did, and promptly undid all of my hard work from the last seven years in the span of a few hours.” His second is placed in front of him; he takes a long sip before continuing. “It was going well enough, but I got excited. I started pushing myself, stopped listening to the warning signs, and then … I’m back to wearing the brace, now.”

Gou lifts her head, face frozen in shock and sympathy. “That’s … Sousuke, I’m so sorry.”

Sousuke waves off her concern. “It’s my own fault. I was being stupid. But you, you did nothing to deserve that insensitive jerk.”

Gou snorts. “No, I think maybe I did. It’s no secret that I like muscles, and I think that, maybe, I let my physical attraction overshadow any emotional connection we might have made. What a mistake.” She swirls the alcohol still in her glass. “He was the most enthusiastic guy I’ve met in a while, and probably ever, save for Nagisa and Momotarou. He was really all-in.” She sips. “What a mistake.”

Sousuke raises his glass. “A toast, then. To mistakes.” Gou looks at him like he’s lost his mind. “Without them, we wouldn’t be who we are today,” he clarifies. “And, where we are today. If either one of us had stopped to use our head, we might not be sitting in this bar this very moment, and it might have been many years before we saw each other again.”

“We would’ve seen each other at the wedding,” Gou counters, but clinks her glass against his anyways.

“Speaking of, are you in the wedding party?”

“Yeah, I’m Rin’s best man,” Gou answers, a light flush dominating her cheeks. “Rather ironic, as I’m his sister, but I suppose my manly name makes up for it.” Sousuke hmms. “What about you? I mean, I know you’re not in the party, but you are going, right?”

“Of course,” Sousuke assures her. “I’d never miss Rin’s big day.”

“He’s being quite the Bridezilla,” Gou informs him. “Which is fine, I suppose, given that Haru could get married in a pool and see nothing wrong with it. Seriously, it’s like Rin’s the only one getting married. Haru doesn’t care about anything other than the groom.”

“Really?” Sousuke questions.

“Oh, totally,” Gou assures him. “Just the other day we went suit shopping, or tried to, at least. Rin wants Haru to wear black while he himself wears white. He had Haru try on at least a dozen suits and there was always something to complain about. This one’s too tight in the leg, this one’s too loose in the shoulders, this one’s not black enough, this one’s too black. I think Haru fell asleep halfway through.”

Sousuke can picture the scene all too well. He supposes that’s a testament to his friendship with Rin through the years, that even when they haven’t spoken in months he can imagine every detail.

They lapse back into silence as each finishes their second drink. It’s comfortable, not imposing, but Gou breaks it anyway. “Y’know,” she drawls, alcohol slurring her speech ever so slightly, “When we were in high school, I used to have a crush on you.”

Sousuke doesn’t show his surprise; he keeps his profile blank as he responds, “What a coincidence. I had one on you, too.”

Gou turns sharply to face him. “What? Why?”

“Shouldn’t you be explaining yourself first?”

Gou huffs. “Well, obviously, it started because of your amazing muscles,” she admits, “But, after a while, I realized just how kind you were to me, and Rin, too. Even when Rin was in one of his months-long funks, you never gave up on him. And that time at the school festival, when Momotarou soaked me with that squirt gun, you gave me your blazer. And, I dunno …” she trails off. “What about you?”

“At first, I thought of you as my own sister, since I never had any of my own,” Sousuke offers, “But then we went a few years without seeing each other, and when we met again, you struck me with how beautiful you were. And not just physically, either. You carried yourself like a young woman: shoulders back, head up, looking me squarely in the eye, a bounce in your step. You looked so sure of yourself that I couldn’t help but fall in love with you just a little.

The air between them is full of unspoken words. Gou, once again, speaks first. “Do you still?”

“Have a crush on me?” Gou nods. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” she returns, indignant. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Sousuke replies, “That I may or may not still have a crush on you. It depends.”

“On what?” Gou prompts. Sure, she’s probably crossed several lines tonight, but she can’t find it in herself to care. Maybe it’s the alcohol. She should probably stop drinking for the night.

“On whether you like me back.”

Gou’s answer comes in the form of a finger trailed lightly along Sousuke’s bicep, of a delicate hand threaded through his short hair, of lips pressed to his in an alcohol-fueled but still clear-headed kiss.

Sousuke kisses back.

#gousuke #sougou

11 notes · View notes