#i made this like.......a while ago n never posted it its been in my drafts cause i was unsure??? theres different vibes u give off/how i see

[yuutx]

ೀ ׅ ۫ . 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 ? ! (𝐼𝐿 𝒟𝒪𝒯𝒯𝒪𝑅𝐸)

il dottore x f!reader ﾉ 18+ content. ﾉ nsfw + unprotected sex / raw sex ﾉ female masturbation ﾉ test subject x mad scientist ﾉ degrading kink ﾉ clit play ﾉ dirty talk ﾉ size kink ﾉ mdom + fsub ﾉ not proofread ! ૮꒰ྀི ◡ ˶ ◡ ꒱ྀི১

i wrote this a while ago 'n i just found it in my drafts 2 day so i figured i should finally post it ! i wld srsly do anything 'n everything 2 be dottore's test stubject he is soo perfect. art credits go to the lovely @/lllOhara ! ♡ + ↻ are rlly appreciated ! !

Piercing red orbs scanned the room, scrutinizing every detail. His lips curled into a slight smirk as he saw your figure curled up, encapsulated within a metal cage, and suspended by thick ropes. You looked so small and frail, like a little bird locked away in its gilded cage. The man could hardly suppress a laugh as his eyes trailed up your naked figure, stopping when he saw your head hanging low. It was obvious you were still unconscious, but it wouldn't be long before you awoke. Your breathing had evened out, and the wounds you'd received were beginning to stitch themselves back together. It would seem that you had more fight in you than he'd initially anticipated, and for a brief moment he'd been afraid that he'd made a mistake by attempting to bring you here. But alas, his worries were unfounded. The Doctor was always right.

"Y/N," the man spoke, his voice a deep baritone. His words hung in the air as he waited for you to reply. When you didn't stir, his smirk only grew. "I know you're awake, pet," the Doctor spoke again, this time more clearly, "You're a terrible liar, my dear. Now, stop playing pretend and look at me."

His command was sharp and commanding, yet soft and inviting, and it forced you to comply. Slowly, you raised your head, eyes fluttering open, and met the Doctor's gaze. As your eyes landed on his form, you felt a rush of emotions wash over you, ranging from anger, to fear, and even a sense of longing. You couldn't help but notice the way the light reflected off of his ruby red irises, making them shine like the most brilliant of gems. It was then that you realized just how handsome the Doctor was. His features were sharp and chiseled, his expression serious and brooding, yet his mouth was pulled into a devious smile that made your heart race. The man's appearance was nothing short of regal, and he commanded respect from all who were lucky enough to meet him.

The mask he usually wore was gone, revealing his face in its entirety. You noticed how his lips were set into a thin line, and the way his nose curved downward towards his pointed chin. He was tall, much taller than you were, and his shoulders were broad and powerful. You found yourself mesmerized by the man before you, unable to take your eyes off him, even as your heart pounded wildly in your chest. It was a strange sensation, this mixture of fear and desire, and you had no idea what to do with it. Were you attracted to the Doctor? Perhaps… perhaps not, but something inside of you wanted him, that was for certain.

Your body betrayed you as you shifted uncomfortably beneath his gaze, drawing his attention to your nudity. Your nipples had hardened, and your core throbbed with need, aching for release. It wasn't right, you thought to yourself, you shouldn't feel this way about someone who'd captured you, imprisoned you, and planned on experimenting on you. But the longer you stared, the more you wanted him, and the more your mind seemed to lose focus on anything else. Your vision swam as a haze clouded your thoughts, leaving you completely intoxicated with desire. And just like that, you lost control. Your legs parted instinctively, and your hips bucked upward, grinding against the bars of your prison. It was almost as if your body had a mind of its own. You'd never felt anything like it before. The sensation was overwhelming, and you couldn't stop yourself. It was like you'd gone mad, your body reacting on its own accord, no longer caring about consequences or rational thought. And the worst part was, you loved every second of it. Your cheeks flushed crimson as you writhed beneath him, the cool metal of the cage rubbing against your sex, sending shivers down your spine.

You could feel his gaze upon you, watching as your breasts bounced and jiggled while you rode the bars of the cage, grinding yourself against them. Your moans grew louder, and your breathing became labored. It was so good, you thought to yourself, too good. You couldn't help but wonder, had you really gone insane? Were you really willing to sacrifice yourself just for the sake of pleasure? And yet, here you were, doing exactly that. And the man watched, his expression unchanging, save for the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes. His lips twitched, fighting back a smile as he enjoyed your performance. Your moans echoed throughout the laboratory, drowning out the sounds of the machines and equipment around you. It was beautiful, he thought, how could something so lewd and vulgar be so breathtakingly gorgeous? You were like a living work of art, and he could watch you for hours.

You felt your climax approaching, and you tried desperately to stave it off, not wanting the Doctor to see you in such a state. However, you were powerless to stop it. Your orgasm tore through your body, causing your limbs to spasm uncontrollably. Your head lolled forward, and your jaw fell open, letting loose a series of breathy whimpers. Your hips bucked upwards, slamming into the bars, forcing your body against the cold metal. The pleasure was indescribable, unlike anything you'd ever experienced before. It was intense, raw, and powerful, and it left you panting heavily. You could feel the slickness coating the bars, and the smell of your arousal permeated the air. You were completely spent, utterly exhausted from the force of your orgasm, and yet somehow you felt invigorated. You couldn't remember the last time you had came so hard, and the intensity of it took your breath away.

A low rumble reverberated throughout the laboratory, and you could feel the vibrations travel up your spine. The machine beside you was whirring to life, and a loud clicking sound filled the room as its gears began to turn. You couldn't understand what it was doing, or what it meant, but the Doctor seemed pleased by whatever results were displayed. He walked over to you, his eyes never leaving yours, and knelt down beside the cage. He placed his gloved hands against the bars, gripping them tightly, and leaned in close. "That was quite impressive," he murmured, his breath tickling your ear, "Now, let's see what other noises I can pull from that pretty little mouth of yours."

Dottore pressed a button, and the cage was lowered to the ground. You looked up at him, and your eyes met his, and his hand moved to the lock, sliding a key inside. The door opened with a loud click, and he stepped back, allowing you to crawl out. Once you were free, the Doctor grabbed hold of your hair, yanking you forward. You stumbled slightly, and fell into his arms. He wrapped his arms around your waist, holding you firmly against him, causing your dripping cunt to rub against his groin. A moan escaped your lips as his erection pressed into you, and you felt him twitch in response. "Ahh.." he breathed, his grip tightening around you, "I'm afraid I can't wait any longer."

With one fluid motion, he lifted you into the air, and carried you across the room. He set you down onto a large, cushioned table, and began removing his clothes. You watched him closely, taking in every detail of his muscular frame, admiring the way his muscles rippled under his pale skin. The Doctor's gaze remained locked on yours, and his pupils were dilated, filled with lust. You noticed the prominent bulge in his pants, and your mouth watered as he unzipped his trousers, revealing his swollen member. His cock was massive, thick and long, and it stood proudly at attention, leaking precum down the shaft. He stroked himself lazily, and a deep growl rumbled from his throat. "Do you see what you've done to me, pet?" he asked, his voice husky with desire, "This is all because of you."

You swallowed hard, and nodded, biting your lip as he stroked himself faster. He continued pumping his fist, until his cock glistened with precum. His hand traveled lower, and he cupped his balls, massaging them gently. "Such a naughty little thing, making me hard like this.." he purred, his voice low and husky, "You'll have to pay for that.." The Doctor grabbed hold of your wrists, and forced you onto all fours, getting on the table behind you. "I'm going to break your fucking mind, pet." He growled, "You'll be too fucked up to think straight when I'm done with you." His words sent shivers down your spine, and you whimpered softly as his cock brushed against your slit. He pushed inside of you, and you gasped at the sudden intrusion. His length stretched you to the limit, filling you completely. You cried out in pleasure as his cock slammed into you, burying itself inside your wet cunt. Your walls clenched around him, and his hands gripped your hips tightly, digging into your skin. His thrusts were slow and steady, his pace leisurely, and his eyes never left yours. Your head rolled back, and your body shuddered beneath him, overwhelmed by the sensations coursing through you.

Dottore's heavy balls smacked against your clit, all while his cock reached places inside of you that hadn't been touched in a long time. He groaned as he bottomed out, pushing deep into your depths, making sure his full length was seethed inside of you. His movements were unhurried, but firm, cock swelling with need as he fucked into your cunt. Your hands clawed at the table, nails digging into the leather, leaving long scratches across the surface. You moaned loudly, unable to contain your sounds of pleasure. "Fuck.." he cursed, "Your pussy's so damn tight.." Your walls squeezed around him, pulling him deeper, causing his hips to stutter. He grunted, and began pumping his hips, pistoning into your core with renewed vigor. His cock slammed into you over and over again, until he finally released a torrent of hot cum into your womb, coating your insides with his seed. His grip tightened around your hips, and he pulled you closer, pressing his chest against your back. "That's it," he growled, his breath hot against your neck, "Take all of it." His words were like music to your ears, and you did as he commanded, letting him fill you up with his thick load. Your body shook, and your eyes rolled back as you fucked yourself onto his dick, slamming yourself back against his groin. He growled low in his throat, and began thrusting harder, using you like a living fleshlight. Your moans grew louder, echoing through the laboratory, filling the air with lewd, obscene sounds. Your juices flowed freely, mixing with his cum, creating a sticky mess between your legs. He pounded into you with such force that the table rattled beneath you, causing it to shake violently.

"Ohhh..oh fuck…fuck, mm-! L-Love it, I love it so muchhh..!" you gasped, tears stinging your eyes as he fucked your brains out, your walls milking his cock, "'m gonna cum..c- h-haahh…so-so close…w-wanna cum on y-your cock…" Your words were slurred, and incoherent, and your body trembled uncontrollably as you neared your peak. "Mm? Is that so?" the Doctor questioned, "Are you gonna cum for your dear Dottore?" You nodded frantically, a hand jumping to your clit, pinching the sensitive nub between your fingers. "Y-Yes…please…p-plea- please make me cum.." you begged, voice strained and shaky, "C-Can't wait..need to…n-nowww..!!" Your words were cut off as your back arched, body trembling as your squirted, splattering him with your juices. Your body went rigid, and your mouth hung open, a scream escaping your lips as he pumped another load of his thick cum into your used hole. "Oh, you little slut," he laughed, his cock still buried deep inside you, "What a mess you've made, Y/N." He held you in place as his seed seeped out of you, dribbling down the front of the table. You couldn't move, your legs had given out, and you collapsed onto the table, panting heavily. Your body was covered in sweat, and your cheeks flushed red, and you could barely keep your eyes open. The Doctor chuckled, and kissed the back of your neck.

"Mmh, don't go falling asleep on me now.." he chided, "We're far from finished."

#୧ ‧₊˚ ☆ athena's creations ! #genshin impact #genshin #genshin smut #genshin impact smut #genshin x reader #genshin x reader smut #genshin impact x reader #genshin impact x reader smut #dottore smut #dottore x reader #dottore x reader smut #dottore #il dottore #il dottore smut #il dottore x reader #il dottore x reader smut #fatui harbingers #genshin fatui #fatui #genshin impact fatui

[nghtwngs]

while you fall (i’ll be there to catch you in my arms)

description: dick grayson comforts you on a lonely night as you pour your heart out to him.

pairing: batman!dick grayson x vigilante!reader

genre: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, friends to lovers

word count: 0.8k

warnings: trauma dumping, loneliness, dick grayson is batman, minor reference to detective comics #877

a/n: i’ve been reading the black mirror and dick said something that made me go “i’m gonna write this”—i totally forgot this was in my drafts (it’s been a year), but i just reread it, and wow this is actually good enough to post, especially since the new season has started airing. i hope you find comfort in this as much as i did.

“I’ve always been a people-watcher, Dick,” you murmur. Your arms are curled around your knees as you stare blankly into the abyss of the city below from your room.

The midnight black buries the buildings, but the bright neons light up Gotham a little even at its darkest hour. It’s the only source of light in here, bathing both you and Dick in its glow. He’s taken the spot next to you on the floor where you’re both leaned against the side of your bed. It rains again, a soft pitter-patter against your windows.

“I watch people too,” he says, but you know he means it differently.

“Not the way I do.”

You feel his intrusive gaze on you and the way he tries not to analyze you like he does everyone else. He’s failing, but you appreciate it anyway. He tries to understand without seeing you as another case he has to solve. Like he’s still Detective Grayson even after his time in Blüdhaven became nothing more than a memory. It’s instinctual though, a habit that he couldn’t get rid of. Neither of you could after all these years jumping city skylines.

Your eyes never shift away from the little dots moving outside. “Analyzing people is one thing, watching them is another. And I’ve been watching them for as long as I can remember. I watched them play games with each other on the playground, laugh together at lunch, click in a way I never could.

“Then, I started watching them in a different way. We read them. We can calculate their every move. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized how different those two things were. I always watched people enjoy life instead of living it. I never say what I want to say. I hesitate. I always hesitate, but never when I’m wearing the mask. Never when I’m out jumping rooftops in Gotham. Those moments… you can’t hesitate.”

Dick is used to being watched. He’s always going to be one of the main acts of the show whether or not it was a circus performance. He always knows how to put on a good show. That’s what he does best. And you would always be the one watching from sidelines as the audience. Sometimes, in the back of your mind, you’d be wishing that it was you falling off that trapeze.

You exhale, rubbing your eyes. “You’ve always been in the middle of everything. I’m not sure if I’m jealous of that or what. I don’t think I am? It seems… like a lot. Sometimes though, I wonder what it’d be like to be the center of things for a while.” You blow out a shaky breath, blinking away the water in your eyes. “I don’t even know what I’m trying to say. It all sounds so stupid coming out.”

You realize your mistake now. You’re letting someone take a glimpse of you, the you behind all the sarcasm and blank eyes and silence. Your eyes squeeze shut. You are being too much. No one likes too much.

“No,” he answers softly. “It doesn’t.” A few moments of silence pass, followed by his voice again. “Can I… hug you?”

You stare at him like he’s just asked you if the moon is really made out of cheese. But his eyes are so earnest, so caring, and so warm that you find yourself landing in Dick’s arms right away, burying your head in his shoulder. His arms wrap around your torso. You don’t even realize you were shaking until his voice comes out in small whispers.

It’s okay. You’re doing great.

It only manages to make you cry harder, your sobs being muffled by his skin. It feels good to let go. Pretending is getting tiring.

Your throat is hoarse now. It sounds like sandpaper. Feels like it. Your eyes lock onto the wall behind him. All the emotion is being drained now, seeping through the cotton of Dick’s white t-shirt and into his warm skin.

The next words that escape your mouth are unexpected by the both of you. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt loved.” You feel him stiffen underneath you as you continue, “I want to feel seen, heard.”

“Can I love you then?” he murmurs without missing a beat, hand rubbing your back gently. “Can I make you feel loved? I’ll make you feel so loved.”

He makes it sound like such an honor. Like loving you is the single most important thing he could be doing, and you know that to not be true. But the way he’s holding you makes you feel differently. It makes you feel like everything would be okay with him.

You guess that it’s just the Dick Grayson effect. He could make you feel like falling out of the sky is completely safe because he’d be right there on the ground to catch you.

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t think I’ve been more sure of anything in my life,” he answers. Dick presses a chaste kiss to your temple.

“Never?”

“Nope. Never.” He holds you tighter and smiles at you. He looks like an angel. He looks like your savior. “I’ve always been sure about you.”

#dick grayson x reader #dick grayson imagine #nightwing x reader #nightwing imagine #titans x reader #titans imagine #batman x reader #batman imagine

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Writeblr Re(rere)intro that's a year late!

Hi! I'm Pax, and I write Big Books that keep getting darker and darker in subject matter 🎉🎉

Basics about me:

he/him or they/them, Mid 20s

Favorite genres: Fantasy, SciFi, Horror, Mystery

Favorite authors: N. K. Jemisin, Tamsyn Muir, Brandon Sanderson, Pierce Brown, Samantha Shannon

Other things I do: Digital art (including commissions!), Twitch streams (usually art or writing sprints, occasionally video games), digital art assets and fonts (PWYW on Ko-Fi!)

Basics about my WIPs:

THE MILLENNIUM SAGA

High fantasy/Steampunk epic, 8 books planned. Book one: Firebreathers (160k words; ~700 pages) Book two: Echoseers (148k words; ~600 pages) Book three: Goddess-Touched (15k as of posting; 3rd attempt at drafting) First person, Multi POV What starts as a simple rebellion against their local Citylord becomes a flight - and fight - for their lives, as Ember Timber, their family, and their newfound friends are forced to flee overseas from the vengeful general who will stop at nothing to earn her Eternal King's favor, and will in fact relish hunting her own son and grandchildren for sport. But along the way, the crew learns that the Eternal King's immortality was not granted in return for his success as the Chosen One long ago, as they have always been told - and the sacrifice for such a thing is not only paid dearly in blood, but on its way to being repeated.

WHISPERS

Dark fantasy Noir. Currently with beta readers. 172k words; ~750 pages. First person, Dual POV. Set in the same world as Millennium Saga, ~5 years after the series concludes. Marika Swiftfoot owes her life to the Shadow of Fowden, the sorceress leader of a terroristic crime syndicate based in the north pole. When the man she once loved finally comes to collect on that life debt ten years later, she plans to kill him the moment it's safe. Too soon, after all, and everyone else she's ever loved will join him beyond the Veil. But hate isn't the only feeling that lingers between them, and when they're offered another way out of their debts, the lives of a few innocents looks like a bargain compared to the life of cruelty ahead of them. Lorelei has been hunting the Shadow for twenty years, and looking for the sister who disappeared for thirty. And here, names are legacies: she wants to earn Hopebringer before her legs give out for good, to erase the stain her father's name has left with Vowbreaker. And for that, she sees one way forward: she must never break her vows, no matter how small. The Shadow must die, and the Whispers with her. Her sister must be found, even if all that's left to find is a story. She must find answers for every case she takes on, even if she doesn't know so much as the name of the man who's gone missing.

THE LOST

Space opera webcomic. First scene fully illustrated; will release once the first chapter is complete, a week after Patrons receive the final scene. In the far reaches of space, the term "Media Empire" is quite literal; the Watchers have extended their influence throughout their galaxy filament with the help of their beloved Coliseum, and the Champion therein. After all, having a shapeshifter capable of replicating anything leads to some gruesome, spectacular fights, made all the more heartrending when they are the last of their kind, trapped in the ship molded from their kin's corpse. But while the Watchers have total control over what happens in the pit, they cannot predict the audience. And they certainly cannot predict the malfunctioning psychic implant of an assassin in the front row, and the loss of both opponents and a long-time prisoner of war to the escape.

I also post art of all of these semi-regularly, including in-progress stuff, as well as excerpts and rambling braindumps!! I'm also a huge worldbuilding nerd, so if you ever want to learn more about the worlds I'm writing, don't be afraid to ask!! I love talking about them :D

Boosts are appreciated <3 tell me about your own WIPs in the tags/replies/wherever!! I love learning about what people are working on!

#writeblr intro #aboutthewarlord #writeblr #writblr #wip intro #??? idk how else to tag this

[angelsunoo]

A BAD BOY AU — Y.JW one shot

PAIRINGS badboy!jungwon x fem!reader(reader's last name is Choi)

GENRE romance, fluff, bad boy au, slightly suggestive, short.

wc.

WARNING slightly suggestive, kissing, swearing, pinning, weird grammar, and probs spelling mistakes ykyk not proofread sorry²(i think that's all!!)

a/n: hi!! Chapter 5 in stay with me fic will take longer than expected,,, i wanna just post this bcs its been in my drafts for quite a while 😵‍💫

"L-let go." You say, as you try to pry open from his hold. He playfully smirks, and his grip tightens.

"Why would I, when you seem to be enjoying this, Ms. Choi." He teases, pinning your wrists on the wall.

"Enjoying this?!" You whisper-yelled in disbelief, "you jerk! You must think that all girls are in to you!" His eyebrow raises in amusement.

"Well you're wrong!" You screamed at his face.

"What makes you think I'm wrong, Ms. Choi?" He pushes further against you. He's now closer. You feel his hot breath fan your forehead. You feel heat start to radiate from your cheeks.

He wasn't as tall as his friends, but tall enough to tower over you. He made you feel so small under him.

"Because....Because I'm not into you!" Pfft. Y/N, are you sure? "I'll never be!" You added. What you said seemed to amuse him more.

"Oh really? That's not what your eyes said earlier..." Amusement lacing his tone, he chuckles, angling his head to your ear. He whispers, "Admit it." his breath tickling the sensitive skin of your ear.

"Fuck, eyes don't talk— just let me go!" You squirm from your position.

"Ah-ah. Where's my 'please'?" His finger lifts your chin up, letting go of your other arm.

"Ugh! Yang Jungwon, I don't need to say please— mmmph!-" you were harshly cut of when you felt his lips press to yours. You shut your eyes, feeling the soft flesh of his lips come in contact with yours. He pulls away, "you taste sweet, Ms. Choi... Do you use flavored lip balm?" He casually asks you, as if he didn't literally kiss you seconds ago.

"What...." you mutter out in utter shock. What. The. Fuck. Was. That.

"Yang Jungwon, what the hell was that?! Why would you- why would you kiss me?! What if someone saw us—"

"Ms. Choi." He says,

"What?"

"Shut up, will you?" He rolls his eyes at you and walks away, leaving you utterly shocked.

You frown, slowly lifting up your fingers to caress your lips.

Did.... Yang Jungwon.... Just kiss me?

"He did what?!" You friend's voice echoes throughout the whole café.

"Shh! Lower it down will you?" You scold your friend. Looking around to see if anyone was looking, most likely annoyed. "Yeah. All of what I said is true," you sigh, wishing it was all a nightmare that you had to wake up from.

"Then that idiot casually asked me if I used lip balm after he..." your face cringes, you shook your head, unable to say the word 'kiss'. "Anyway, can we stop talking about this? We literally have to finish this." Placing your hands once again on the keyboard.

Your friend nods slowly, stifling a laugh seeing your serious face. Lips tightly clasped together, and furrowed eyebrows.

The next day arrives, you do your usual routine. Wake up, take a bath, brush teeth, change clothes, go to school, and go to your rightful class.

Except that today... you were not in your designated class. You were with Jungwon, getting cornered on the wall of the school's storage room. Memories from yesterday start to flood your brain, causing your cheeks to flush.

Will..will he kiss me again?

That little echo in your brain annoyed you to the max.

Thr reason you ended up here was because of that stupid little note. With a heart. And a smiley face. You assumed that he wanted to apologize for being a fucking tease yesterday(and for kissing you), however truth hit you like a truck. You knew Yang Jungwon wasn't one to apologize, so you should've known better.

But, if you knew that it wasn't his intention to apologize, what made you go anyway? Did you perhaps enjoy the kiss...?

"You came." He says, his voice containing a hint of playfulness. As if he was saying that there was a different meaning behind his words.

"I did. What did you wanna tell me?" You ask him, straight to the point.

"Straight to the point." He throws his head back, chuckling. And he looks back at you with that mischievous glint in his eyes.

"As always."

"Jungwon, what do you want?" You say firmly, not wanting to waste anytime. It was only exactly 27 minutes left before class starts. And your never late to class.

Great job, Y/N. You shouldn't have went.

"Heh. I like the way you say my name." He smiles, his thumb slowly making its way to your cheeks, " Can I call you by your name, Ms. Choi?"

Your breath hitches, feeling his thumb rubbing your cheeks slowly. "I.. I— No!"

You slap his hand away, obviously flustered.

"I'm serious, I'm going to be late if you don't stop this bullshit."

"So impatient." He sighs, voice growing deeper, "leave then." He nudges his chin to the direction of the door.

You glance at the door.

#enhypen x reader #enhypen angst #enhypen scenarios #enhypen #enhypen smau #enhypen fluff #jungwon x reader #jungwon ff #jungwon fanfic #angelsunoo #yang jungwon

[starg1rlie]

𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 ㅤㅤPROLOGUE: The Baby | (MLIST)

⟡ rating. slight romance + angst ( adolescent audience )

⟡ summary. ( the re-written version of "better late than never" is finally here! i know some people have asked about it, since i've deleted it but it's BACK NOW!! ) not all fairy tales end in a happily-ever-after. take (Y/N) and ajax for example; they had the love story of a lifetime and yet it's now all water under the bridge. ten years after the two of them split up, it was suggested that (Y/N) spend a summer vacation over in snezhnaya to give their son and the father some time to bond together and enjoy a relaxing break. however, that's easier said than done.

notes. you have no idea how long this post has been sitting in my drafts, oml. hey, yep, this is leo here, formerly known online as tarluscious (or, leo, as my moots know me), here to talk a bit about the remake of this delightful series. ever since i started publishing more and more chapters of this series back when it was still a "fly by the seat of my pants" project, i wasn't happy with the final results. i mean, hell, who's ever happy with the first attempt? and i've been meaning to re-write this series for so long, but i never found the time to. when i took my hiatus a couple of months ago, i was a little sad that i wouldn't get the chance to write BLTN over again. however, my friend, who now runs this blog (hyokkun) with me, suggested that they might re-write it, and we came to a happy conclusion that the both of us should work on this project together. so here we are, with the prologue. yayy. just wanted to say that what this means is, hyokkun has added their own inputs into this series, while i, leo, am the main author of it. so, all that being said, i hope you thoroughly enjoy this re-written version. please note that some things may be different from the last time you've read this series, and that's because changes has been made to fit the new plot accordingly. reblogs and likes are appreciated ! | wc. 1,542 words ( 8,566 characters )

⟡ feat. childe / tartaglia x female! reader ( she / her pronouns are used )

ㅤㅤA cry split through the peaceful silence of the hospital. A baby, swaddled in warm, cuddly blankets had begun wailing, even though he was cradled within the arms of his mother. He kept bawling, even as the mother hummed a lullaby, even as she rocked him back and forth in her arms, even as she cupped one side of his delicate face and whispered 'It's going to be okay' over and over again.

ㅤㅤA new wave of sickness passed over (Y/N) as she stared down at her stomach, imagining what it would be like bigger, pondering over the process it takes for a baby to develop within her. It both simultaneously intrigued and terrfied her. She couldn't imagine popping out a baby from her unmentionables, let alone having it stuck in her womb for months. Yet as she began to wonder, a new question came into light: would she give up this baby? Could she?

ㅤㅤPeople say that you don't really have a choice when you're young; no one's capable of raising a child when they're barely just a young adult, and yet, she could name a few people she knew right off the bat who were doing just fine with parenting. But the real question was if she was ready for this. Be it ready to give it up or ready to endure the consequences, it didn't matter. She just had to know for sure if she was ready.

ㅤㅤShe still remembered the conversation that had went down only a few weeks ago. She refers to it as a 'discussion', but really, it was a full-out argument....A migraine had formed underneath her temple and had buried its heels in deep, causing a resonating pounding to echo within her head, messing with her already tangled up thoughts. And yet, that day's memories remained untouched. If anything, it was tugged free of the mess and pulled into the light.

ㅤㅤ"What the fuck? What the fuck?"

ㅤㅤ"Saying 'what the fuck' over and over again isn't going to make the situation anymore better than it already is, Ajax," (Y/N) interrupted, breathing out a slightly exasperated sigh. She'd been scared out of mind about telling her boyfriend about the news and this was exactly why: he'd take it badly. He always took life-changing news badly, unless it involved travelling, free food, or money. She'd grown used to his childish behaviour ever since the two started going out, but right now was not the time to act like a child.

ㅤㅤ"Then what will make this better? Huh? Please elaborate on that for me," Ajax replied sarcastically, throwing his hands up in the air. He'd been pacing for the past five minutes since (Y/N) had spilled the beans about her pregnancy. Anymore pacing and he'd pace a trench right through their apartment floor. "Because I really don't understand how anything can make this better."

ㅤㅤ"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you're going to be a father? Haven't you been going on and on about wanting to have a son one day?" (Y/N) retorted, patience fizzling.

ㅤㅤ"When I'm thirty, not twenty-four!"

ㅤㅤ"What's a few years early? If anything, you'd get your dream quicker," she mumbled under her breath, absentmindedly flipping through the channels on the cable.

ㅤㅤAjax leapt forward and snatched the remote out of her hands, slamming it roughly onto the glossy surface of their coffee table, one that he'd insisted he put together himself, even though the table had come from IKEA, and he knew nothing on how to read instructions in Swedish. That little memory caused a tiny pang to go through her heart, enough to make it ache just a little bit. Please, she prayed, please let us get through this together.

ㅤㅤ"You're not listening! Do you honestly think that I'm ready for this? That you're ready for this? We're still in college for God's sake, do you expect us to be whizzes at parenthood?"

ㅤㅤ(Y/N) barely managed to withhold a snort at his sarcasm, but politely shook her head. She knew deep down inside that she wasn't ready to be a mother, let alone have a child at such a young age. What would her friends think? What would her parents think?

ㅤㅤ"What, then, I 'spose you expect us to waltz right in and get comfortable in our positions as parents, right? We'll be fine, so long as we manage to balance a baby into our already hectic and crazy lives, right? Just plop it right in between work and college and paying bills, hm?"

ㅤㅤ"Right," she repeated.

ㅤㅤAjax paused his pacing for a moment. "Do you understand the concept of sarcasm?" he asked incredulously.

ㅤㅤ(Y/N) went silent, seemingly contemplating whether she'd been too hasty to cast in her answer earlier.

ㅤㅤ"Whatever. It doesn't matter." His jaw tensed and for a moment, he looked as though he might punch something. Not (Y/N), heavens no, but something. Possibly the fridge (poor thing; it never did anything to deserve this sort of abuse). "What matters is that you're pregnant and we're still in college. We're students, we can barely make it past out deadlines, let alone manage a child." He sounded almost tired, and for the first time in a while, she just now noticed the bags under his eyes, and the tired croak to his voice, taking the place of the usual charming lilt he normally had. How many times had she come home from her part-time job at the laundromat to see him passed out on the exact same coffee table they were currently in front of, drooling all over his calculus homework? How many times had she come back from her lectures to find a pristine sink and an empty fridge? Ajax was incredibly vain and conscious about his self-image, that he took great lengths to make himself look presentable each day. But ever since his senior year in college started, his schedue started going downhill and he never had the time to do any of the things he normally did to take care of his body. He hadn't eaten proper food for days, and has been liviing off of coffee (and her fancy vanilla oatmilk creamer) and Doritos for God knows how long.

ㅤㅤ"What are we going to do?" (Y/N) asked finally, voice timid and quiet, as if anything louder might break the fragility of this scene.

ㅤㅤWhen Ajax looked up, she had expected his face to be sad, almost regretful for saying such things about the situation, but instead she found his gaze hard and penetrating, almost menacing. "We can't look after a baby right now, (Y/N), you know that."

ㅤㅤAnd the truth was, she did know it. She just chose not to believe it. But the way he worded it, the way he said it, seemed to hint at something. Something that made waves of nausea roll through the pits of her stomach.

ㅤㅤ"You're not suggesting...."

ㅤㅤ"An abortion," Ajax finished quietly, gaze trained on a coffee stain on the carpet.

ㅤㅤ"Ajax, no. No. We can't give the baby up before we've even tried. That's just cruel. This is your child, possibly the son you said you wanted, and you're just going to throw him away? Let him die before he gets a chance to play on a soccer team, like you did? Before he even gets a chance to see the two people who made him?" Your voice broke at those last few words and before you knew it, tears were streaming down your face in thick, wet trails. "You might be giving up on him, but I'm never letting go."

ㅤㅤAjax inhaled sharply, air hissing through clenched teeth as he breathed out. "We aren't ready for this, (Y/N)."

ㅤㅤ She knew he was right. She knew it in her heart and in her brain. But some part of her wanted to keep this unborn baby that was developing within her stomach right now. Some part of her wanted to know the happiness of being a parent, a mother.

ㅤㅤShe didn't want to follow through with this. She didn't want to let the baby die. And yet...

ㅤㅤ"Miss (L/N)? You can come in now. Dr. Li's ready for you," a voice called, interrupting (Y/N)'s train of thought. She looked up, one hand resting on her tummy, the other clenched around a cell phone. The screen was still on, a barrage of messages (most likely from her family and friends) lighting up the screen with soft 'pings'.

ㅤㅤShe breathed in deeply, exhaling slowly, a breathing trick she'd learned from online to calm her nerves down.

ㅤㅤFinally, she spoke.

ㅤㅤ"Ah, sorry. I'm afraid I've changed my mind. If it's alright with you, I'll be canceling my appointment."

ㅤㅤThe nurse hesitated for a moment before nodding along. She obviously was not paid enough to barge into patients' lives, so she (wisely) kept her nose in her own business. "Of course, miss. I'll let him know you'll be leaving. Have a lovely rest of your day."

ㅤㅤ(Y/N) nodded along before waddling out of the waiting room, feeling giddy and deliriously light from the weight that had just been lifted from her shoulders. Ajax would be upset over this, yes, but it would be worth it. She could feel it in her bones.

📮 tagging. @kiryoutann, @ajaxstar, @mobiussdarling, @samarill, @dinolvrrr, @messyserver, @xxfrostiee, @enviouspeanut, @ehddsnys, @maaarshieee, @dazaiscum, @mochicurls21, @shinobuko, @iiyumii, @meiraloves2dmen, @retiredmommylover, @electronicphilosopherflower. if your user is highlighted in BOLD that means your current URL does not match the one you inputted in the form. fill out this form if you want to be tagged

#( ﾉ ﾟｰﾟ)ﾉ leeo writes! #[ 🍰 ] 𝙗𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙙 ; completed works ( hyo - kun ! ) #genshin impact #childe x reader #childe x y/n #childe x you #childe genshin impact #ajax genshin impact #tartaglia genshin impact #tartaglia x reader #tartaglia x y/n #tartaglia x you #ajax x reader #ajax x y/n #ajax x you #childe angst #genshin x reader #genshin angst #genshin fic #genshin au #genshin fanfic

[intothegenshinworld]

 💛*₊“𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬”

a/n: this is my first post of the ebg! these can be read as x reader but will have some selfship lore bits hidden in them! || !! tw for the spiders in his cave ig TuT

You have to thank the Acting Grand Master for giving you the opportunity to meet Albedo.

Sure, at first you had cursed her for giving you the task of sending a letter to 'a camp' on Dragonspine (what a vague location), but if you had denied her request you would've probably never met the alchemist.

'A camp' had been an accurate description to describe Albedo's home. 

'Home' would've been a compliment too grand for the dump he lived in. 

Your eyes unwillingly observe the area he occupies. A sleeping bag is spread out on the ground, next to it a makeshift fire, and the remaining space of the cave is filled with lab equipment and books. 

You wonder if all alchemists lived like this. 

"I apologise," Albedo's voice echoes through the cave, "I hadn't expected any visitors."

You force your eyes away from a spider that scurries away from the sudden noise. With a bit of luck, your eyes land on his turquoise ones. 

He is pretty.

"It's alright. If anything, I feel like I should be the one to apologise for bothering you." An awkward chuckle escapes your lips.

You remember the alarmed expression he had moments ago. Albedo had been so immersed in his experiment that he hadn't heard you approach. By the time you greeted him, he nearly made the concoction in his hands explode by mistake.

"Don't worry about it." Albedo puts some wood onto the already burning fireplace, giving it a longer lifespan. "Please, warm up. I'll make something to drink in the meantime."

And while you weren't too happy to sit in the company of god-knows how many spiders, the warmth from the fire wasn't something you were going to refuse. Not after spending nearly a full day climbing Dragonspine on your own.

And with the help of both the fire and the hot chocolate he had given you, your body temperature returned to normal. 

"So," Albedo sits down next to you. "I assume you're here for the Knights of Favonious."

You nod. No sane person would visit Dragonspine without good reason. Of course you'd be here for buisness. 

When you remember the letter Jean had given you, you reach in your bag to retrieve it. 

"The Acting Grand Master had requested me to hand this to you. It seemed important, though, I don't know much aside of that."

His hand takes the letter from yours. 

You observe how his eyes move over the words and his expressions change. Albedo seems to think for a moment, and then he stands up. 

"I'll draft a reply. It's getting dark already, so I believe it'd be better for you to stay tonight."

Your expression sours.

Albedo continues after he carefully observes you. "Don't worry, I have a spare sleeping bag."

"One filled with spiders?"

The snarky comment escapes your lips before you realise you had said it out loud, and your hands fly up your lips in surprise.

And as if it couldn't get worse, 

Albedo laughs.

The sound is warm and gentle, and your cheeks flush in embarrassment.

"You're afraid of spiders?"

"Well. You're obviously not, it seems."

His smile remains on his face. "If it comfort you, I'll give the sleeping bag a thorough check and remove any spiders in the area before you'll fall asleep."

"I suppose spiders are the lesser evil compared to the hillicurls on the mountain." You mutter, remembering how the monster would get more active in the dark.

In the end, you agree with him. 

While Albedo, the chief alchemist, writes a reply to the letter he received, you lay in the warmth of the spider-free sleeping bag while the fire keeps you warm.

© intothegenshinworld. This content above is made for the genshinblr ebg of October 2023, hosted by @i23kazu! Because of this, content like these will contain selfship lore. After the ebg, the blog will return to its usual content!

#albedo x reader #albedo #genshin impact x reader #astronetwrk #Shiro!EBG 10.23 #I hate spiders #no beta we die like durin

[bippot]

Summary: Thanks to his attempt at total domination over the population of Evergreen spectacularly failing, Jeffrey was forced to be confined in his room. The only interaction he gets is annoying David whenever he brings his meals in.

That is until another face appears. A familiar face. A face of someone he presumed had perished in the apocalypse.

Additional Tags: Pinching, Handcuffs, Eventual Smut, Love at First Sight, Post-Apocalypse, Isolation, Post-Canon

Full Masterlist - here

(I have no idea whether people are interested in Jeffrey or not but this has been in my drafts since I listened to Hidden Signal: Evergreen and I thought why not finish it?)

Fin Gorale didn't like to be wrong. He built his career on the belief that he was five steps ahead of everyone else and only paid attention to the data that proved his case. He knew the world was going to end. He'd tracked the asteroid that wiped out most of the earth for an entire decade and didn't tell anyone because he wanted that information in his back pocket, and only his back pocket.

But he was wrong. Because Fin forgot that he might've been one of the richest men in the entire world but there were other rich men that were just as neurotic and focused on an apocalyptic future as he was. The above ground panic rooms of the elite had been wiped out in an instant. Underground bunkers, on the other hand, had a much higher success rate.

Y/N was alive thanks to pure luck. She'd been at a party at her manager's house in Hawaii and was ushered into his doomsday prepped bunker as soon as the sky turned dark. One minute they were sipping on cocktails, the next everyone was huddled as bangs and crashes sounded over their heads. Civilisation was coming to a very violent and scorchingly hot end, and all Y/N could do was listen.

They found out how truly warm the earth was when one unlucky and very stupid socialite that shall go unnamed climbed up out of the exit hatch in search of a phone signal. Her skin melted off her bone structure with every step she took, revealing the flesh beneath it in all its gruesome glory. Her scream rang through the thick metal as the nearest person slammed the door shut. There was no way to save her. She was a goner the second she went out there. They needed to preserve themselves and doing idiotic shit like that wouldn't help.

While Fin had collected some of the most intelligent and capable people from across the globe, the bunker squad was mostly filled with people from the entertainment business. They were mostly actors rather than survivalists and scientists, so they may have pretended to have a useful job once upon a time yet didn't have the actual knowledge and experience to actually be useful.

As time went on, their numbers did decrease. People sustained injuries that they didn't have the proper equipment to care for. Some gave up. There had been 3 purposeful fatalities, and 8 accidental. It came to the point when there were only 4 people left standing - Y/N, married country singers named Betsy and Jon-Bon, and a mechanic called Cal who'd come to fix the hot tub all those weeks ago.

Whenever someone died, they were thrown out of the hatch and, thanks to that, they deduced that the temperature of the outside world had decreased after a few months since there was no more melt-y-ness. The bodies stayed intact until they decomposed normally. But by then the survivors were too tired or hungry or traumatised to give them actual funerals and so, they simply left them there in rotting piles.

On the bright side, all the flies in existence had been burnt to a crisp so that disgusting visual was nowhere to be seen, and would probably never be seen again.

Food was running out and the water filtration system was on its last legs. They'd made their way through the shelves of canned produce. Although it was easier now there were less people to share with, the amount available was dwindling quickly and no amount of rationing would save them. Something needed to be done fast before their supplies ran dry. If Y/N's predictions were correct, they had less than two weeks.

Though it took some convincing, the squad decided to venture upstairs. Where else did they have to go? What else did they have to do? It wasn't as if they had any other options. It was either die in the bunker, die on the surface like the rest of the world had, or somehow survive on the surface and attempt to keep the human race going for as long as they could.

Cal was first out of the bunker. He looked around frantically for something - anything - that could be perceived. That's how low his expectations were. He just wanted something (other than the skeletons of his friends) to look at, and there wasn't much. Sand. The occasional tumbleweed that floated past. Nothing to indicate that this place once had a bustling life.

He held his hand out to Y/N and helped her out. She was clammy and sweaty and clearly concerned about the state of the planet they were trying to preserve, but he knew that if they kept their cool, they had a higher chance of making it through. Jon and Betsy followed out after him while Y/N brought up the rear.

Two shotguns had been locked away in a glass case for the entire time they'd been trapped down there and of course they were going to break into it to have some protection. Cal had one. Y/N had the other. What if there were mutated bugs? Or maybe this had been an alien invasion? Had others survived? And did they form Mad Max-eque tribes that were out to kill each other? What if there were zombies out there? They needed some anchor of safety in order to feel sane, and as redneck as it sounds, a weapon was the only thing that could do that.

Luckily, Cortex was back online and functional at that time. Jeffrey had programmed it to scan for signs of life and notify them when any popped up on the surface, and despite the fact he'd been handcuffed to his bed thanks to his mutiny attempt, Hannah had kept that procedure going. In an instant, the switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. 4 life forms were detected in the Hawaii area and a retrieval team was sent out within the hour.

It was weird. After so long of seeing the same faces, Y/N thought she'd be relieved to come across people she knew or heard of. Their saviours were some of the richest and most influential people of the modern world.

Jeffrey Steinberg and Fin Gorale were both responsible for so many of the biggest developments in technology, artificial intelligence to be precise, in the last twenty years and they'd been down every business avenue possible.

Axel Garcia was competing with Bear Grylls for the Survivalist top spot, though Bear was far more focused on his TV persona than Axel was. Plus, Axel's breathing technique was frequently used as a grounding method by anyone with anxiety so everyone who'd ever been to a therapist knew of his work. It was rather odd seeing him hobbling around and holding his chest every few steps so something must've given him a good shock.

Niko Ishikawa had been plastered all over the news thanks to her experiments. Everyone knew what she did. And Y/N would later come to know that those experiments are what got her killed.

David Yeung had been featured on one of his patient's Tik Tok's - unknowingly - and the Internet had banded together to crown him the hottest doctor alive.

Ida and Dagney managed to stay out of the public eye for the most part, yet you can tell just by looking at them that they were the masters in their field. There was a confidence about each of their movements that screamed 'I survived for a reason.' Y/N and her squad of survivors didn't have a reason. They were just lucky, or unlucky depending on your opinion.

"Oh my lord, look at this place!" Jon-Bon said, gaping at the view that they were presented with.

Evergreen was beautiful, even with all of its flaws that the new arrivals had no idea about. It was sleek and clean, full of light and air and fresh plants. Their bunker had been expensive, that was obvious, but Evergreen exorbitantly more lavish. It was a 10 million vs 1 trillion difference.

No wonder more of them survived. They had everything they could ever want right here. And everything they didn't want, too. Weird clones. Billionaires in comas. A robot's vengeance. An arrogant prick playing dictator. Betas. Their surroundings may have been cushier but their experience had been far more eventful.

After being checked and prodded and examined for any irregularities, the other survivors were allowed to cohabitate. There was still a sense of distrust between the 2 groups - hell, most of the Evergreen squad still didn't trust each other - but it was getting better. Slowly, but surely, things were settling down.

Thanks to his actions, Jeffrey wasn't allowed out of his room. He had no idea that there were new arrivals until one of them entered his room. David usually came in to give him his meals and engage in surface level chatter. Other than that, he didn't have anything to do and spent his time reading books or drawing random doodles onto scraps of paper. This particular day had been slow - most were these days - and his head whipped to the door as soon as it opened.

"I've officially lost the plot," he mumbled to himself. "Am I in V-man?"

"Nope," Y/N replied, leaning against his door frame. Her eyes scanned through his room. It was similar to hers, albeit with more stuff in it, and there was a desk pushed in near the window where he'd scattered a bunch of loose papers. There was an open journal on the nightstand that was covered with scribbles.

He eyed her carefully, completely confused but not willing to show that.

"You're not real," he concluded with a shrug.

Obviously, she knew it was a lot to comprehend if he hadn't been told there were more survivors. As far as everyone else was concerned, messing with Jeffrey was something that would bring immense satisfaction so Y/N had been encouraged to do so. He made their lives hell for so long, why not return the favour?

"I'm not real?"

"You can't be."

"You seem pretty sure of yourself. Though, that's on brand for you."

The corner of Jeffrey's lips twitched upward slightly. "Well, of course, I know you're a hallucination because my mind is so bored that it's creating you to give me a little bit of excitement." He laughed bitterly. "Of course it would be you."

"I didn't know I made you excited, Steinberg."

"That's a lie, L/N. You were very aware of that fact."

Listening in, Hannah and Dagney made eye contact. Y/N hadn't disclosed that she knew Jeffrey Steinberg, or rather, that Jeffrey Steinberg knew her. Because everyone and their mother knew of the tech billionaire. Y/N was a famous actress but she was B list, known for indie movies, and as far as Hannah could remember, she used to stay as far away from social media and paparazzi as she possibly could.

"I'm aware you liked throwing money in my direction," Y/N countered.

In an instant, Jeffrey's mind went back years ago. Before he was confined to his room. Before he tried to be a dictator. Before the apocalypse. Back when he was at the top of the food chain. He'd been convinced by one of his pals that he should go to this charity gala, not because the prospect of giving a helping hand to those in need filled him with joy but because a number of hot actresses and models were auctioning off their time.

Pay $10,000 for a dinner date with that girl from that fantasy show. $20,000 to go to an art class with a playboy bunny. $50,000 and a renowned singer will feature you in his next video. Hell, $100,000 and the first lady will spit in your face and you'll like it, you filthy capitalist pig.

At the time, none of these offers seemed enticing enough to Jeffrey. He'd been on enough dates with models and even had a total of 3 songs written about him that he didn't consider raising his paddle. All these beautiful people were dressed to the 9's and looking good enough to eat, so why wasn't he hungry?

Was it because his fellow rich people were only willing to help the less fortunate if there was an incentive for them to take advantage of? That old guy in the corner who'd made his fortune in polluting the earth could pay for someone to pretend to find him interesting and attractive for an entire afternoon, and if some kid was given an insecticide-treated bed net because of that, so be it. Helping was an afterthought to most of these assholes.

Betting was an entirely self-serving action - they'd get the prize, be able to boast about how charitable they'd been, and could pay less income tax thanks to that donation - and, in this moment, Jeffrey hated himself and everything he'd gained.

He'd come into the industry to help. He'd come up with tech to reduce carbon emissions. He'd funded the development of bioplastics. Invested in a countless amount of startups to create clean energy. To more effectively manage landfill waste. To implement smart irrigation systems. He'd tried so hard to help, and people still liked Fin Gorale better.

Fin was at that gala. He bid a quarter of a million so that the unnamed socialite that would end up having her skin melted away in Y/N's bunker would cook him a steak dinner. Whether she did make it herself or if she ordered it in through postmates, it's still unknown.

Consumed by disdain for his fellow rich man, Jeffrey found himself walking out of the main hall to get a moment's peace. He arrived at a quiet balcony and let out a sigh as he leant on the balustrade, completely unaware that he wasn't the only one who decided to step outside. He was just about to take a sip of his champagne when a voice asked, "Tough night, Mr Steinberg?" and his drink slipped through his fingers as he jolted.

The glass plummeted towards the garden below and Jeffrey watched as it shattered when it hit the ground. "Shit," he cursed under his breath. He turned around, ready to give whoever had startled him a good telling off, but stopped as soon as he saw the source of the voice. "Miss L/N, hello."

Lounging back with her heels up on the chair opposite her and a cigarette between her lips, Y/N L/N looked nothing short of divine. She wore a tight red dress that clung to every curve that would ever grace her body and the low scoop neckline exposed enough of her cleavage to make a eunuch tight in the trousers. She smiled and blew smoke towards the balcony, watching as it billowed upwards to meet the warm, summer evening air.

"Let's pretend that was someone else." He pointed to the shattered remains of his drink. "If anyone asks, blame it on Musk. Everyone hates that bastard."

She huffed out a laugh, mumbled, "Yeah, he's a cunt," and held her cigarette out to him, which he accepted. Though, if he was honest, he had no idea why he did. He didn't smoke. He thought it was gross. The body is a temple so why would you pollute it with tar? Not to mention, it tasted awful. But, hey, if a pretty girl offers you a ciggy, you're going to take it. And besides, it was a small price to pay for some company.

Thankfully, he managed not to cough up a lung and handed it back to her like it was no big deal.

"This not your scene?" she questioned after taking another drag. Jeffrey shrugged and crossed his arms, leaning on the wall beside the balcony and staring at the stars twinkling above them.

It was a nice night. The stars were bright and the city lights cast a soft glow over his surroundings. It was almost peaceful, apart from the occasional cheer from the party inside, and it gave him a sense of calmness that he sorely lacked at that point. He was exhausted, stressed and fed up. There was barely any time to breathe during work, and work was a 24/7 thing these days.

Tonight technically was a networking event. It may have been disguised as a charity fundraiser but it was a chance to meet with potential investors and keep up his social profile. This was work. And he hated it.

"I don't really care for charity."

"Oh?" she replied, her curiosity overpowering any disgust she should've been feeling.

"It doesn't solve the problem. It just makes the problem more cushy, y'know?" He glanced at the side and noted a faint smile tugging at her lips as she raised her brow for him to carry on his explanation. "You can throw thousands of dollars to buy food for kids in Africa but that will soon be depleted and we'll be having another one of these in 2 years time. Throw money at creating modified crops that can withstand drought and flooding, that will last forever."

He watched as she snuffed out her cigarette and let out a hum. He didn't know whether she agreed with him or not but he continued nonetheless. "Invest in the future, not the now, that's what I always say."

"You always say?" she repeated, a hint of teasing lacing her tone. He rolled his eyes but couldn't deny the smile that appeared upon his lips at the sound of her playful voice.

"I do always say," he laughed. Jeffrey placed his palms on the underside of her ankles as he lifted her feet up and sat in the chair opposite her, and let the tip of her stiletto rest against his thigh.

Was he aware that she was only a few inches away from spearing her very pointy shoe into his prized jewels if she wanted to? Yeah. Did that turn him on? Also yeah. He enjoyed being a human footstool for her.

"Are you prostituting yourself for charity?" he joked while gently rubbing circles on her ankle with his thumb, and when she gave him a look, he felt the need to rephrase that. "Are you offering up your company in exchange for payment tonight?"

"Why? You planning to bet on me?"

"I might throw a few thousand down."

"Only a few?"

"Well," he started as he ran his hand along her bare calf and lightly grazed his fingertips against the smooth expanse of the back of her knee, "Maybe more than that. It all depends if I'm in a giving mood or not."

"And what, pray tell, do you plan to get out of this sudden act of generosity if I might ask?" Y/N replied with mock innocence, placing her chin in her palm and staring straight ahead at him as if she expected him to spill his guts right then and there.

As much as he loved to brag about being a womaniser and a ladies' man, he had never been all that focused on actually picking girls up. He could simply point to his fancy car or how he'd been on the Forbes 30 under 30 list when he was merely 20 years old or bring them to his mansion, and those would do the leg work for him. In lack of better terms, Jeffrey's flirting game was a little rusty.

So, yeah, he gulped rather thickly. His mouth went dry and he cleared his throat as a way to regain control of himself.

"Your company."

"You want to pay for something I'm willingly giving you for free right now?"

Huh. That was something to think about.

"Think of those hungry kids in Africa, Y/N. Let me waste my money for them."

"Oh, I'm a waste now, huh?"

"Wow, typical woman just twisting my words."

Just as he was about to lean forward to add more drama to whatever sarcastic thing he was going to say next, her foot came up to his chest and she pushed him backward in the chair. "So you hate charity and have misogynist tendencies? You're a catch, Mr Steinberg," Y/N said, letting out a chuckle at how obviously he took a big staggered breath.

This woman was going either going to fuck him or kill him and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. And he honestly didn't mind. After all, she was beautiful and witty and knew exactly what buttons to push to drive a man absolutely insane.

If the world ended tomorrow, she'd still have him hooked, he thought at the time and would've been surprised by how right he actually was.

They stared at each other for a moment. Jeffrey's neatly pressed incredibly expensive suit was in direct opposition to how messy he felt. His hair was slightly dishevelled due to running his hands through it too many times before coming outside and he'd undone the first few buttons of his shirt, revealing an appropriate amount of chest hair.

"Well, you seem to like me," he stated finally. "That has to count for something, right?"

"What makes you think that I like you?"

Before Jeffrey could answer, Y/N's agent rushed onto the balcony, immediately warned, "Darling," and stomped over to slap Y/N's foot off Jeffrey's chest. "I told you to play nice, remember?"

"I'm playing nice."

"She's playing very nice," Jeffrey agreed and accepted the way the agent began to swipe away any dust on his chest, ignoring how he heard the older woman scoff under her breath.

"If you'll excuse us, Mr Steinberg, it's Y/N's turn on stage." The agent nodded her head towards the door to gesture for Y/N to follow her, though it seemed Y/N was reluctant to get up and go. "We've already delayed your turn twice already, come on."

Y/N sighed dejectedly and reluctantly got to her feet and followed her agent, shooting Jeffrey a quick grin over her shoulder and mouthed, "I think I hate charity too." He responded by winking at her and followed at a leisurely pace.

Yeah, he did bid on her. And, yeah, he did win 'Y/N L/N will walk your dog for you' despite the fact he didn't own a dog. Thanks to the apocalypse, they never had the chance to take his imaginary dog on a very overpriced walk.

"I hear you've been a bad boy, Mr Steinberg," current day Y/N teased as she sat on the corner of his bed.

"I'm ambitious and it's the apocalypse, hey, why wouldn't I try to become supreme leader?" Jeffrey remarked. He leaned back against the headboard and crossed his legs at the ankles to really try to sell that he was so casual about this whole thing.

Sure, he did think he was hallucinating her. And no, he wasn't going to let Hannah and the others that were watching know that maybe it was affecting him more than he ever wanted it to.

"Why wouldn't you?" she repeated, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she eyed his dark circles underneath his eyes. Her face was painted with concern but the smile was present throughout. "Is your failed totalitarian regime why you're not getting any sleep?"

The man let out a short laugh, shaking his head as he closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. Yes, he was tired, okay? Tired of constantly thinking that he was going to wake up one day and the other survivors were going to push him out into the barren unknown. It was exhausting. Hell, it was terrifying even.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. And now, well, I'm going to spend most of my night trying to preserve whatever sanity I have left."

"There can't be much left, can there?"

"If you're here, I guess not."

It was about time to reveal the truth to him, Y/N thought. He'd been messed with enough. She held her hand out, palm outstretched towards him, and gestured for him to touch her to make sure she was real. He was reluctant at first but eventually complied when he saw the pleading look in her eyes.

His eyes widened in disbelief when his fingers gently touched her skin. "What? How is this possible?" he whispered to himself. Jeffrey clutched her hand tightly in his grasp and brought it closer until it was right in front of his face, studying it closely, almost afraid that his eyesight might fail him at some point and he would somehow be fooled by his own imagination.

An impossibly wide smile came upon his face and, without even realising what he was doing, he raised his other hand and traced the outline of Y/N's face. With careful and slow movements, he brushed along her right cheekbone down the curve of her jaw.

"Holy shit! Wait, are you a -"

"I'm not one of Niko's clones."

"This is crazy."

"You think I'm real now?" she asked, chuckling softly.

Instead of verbally answering, he did something he wanted to do since he met her. There was a reason why he bet on her. A reason why he invested in whatever movie he knew she was attached to after they met. A reason why he sent her an enormous bouquet of flowers every time he had to push back their 'dog' walking 'date' because he was tied up at work.

With far too much gusto, Jeffrey caught Y/N totally off guard with a big smooch to her lips. As soon as she realised what he'd done, she reciprocated it with just as much vigour. Her palms came to rest on his cheeks, cupping his face while he wrapped his arms around her shoulders to pull her body against him.

After what felt like eternity, he broke away for breath and rested his forehead on hers, still holding her in place. "How are you here? How are you alive?" he asked, sounding genuinely stunned and yet also quite relieved at the same time.

"Rich man's bunker."

"Oh, me too." Jeffrey smirked as he leant back in for another kiss, only to murmur "See, I knew you liked me" against her mouth.

"Don't say that too loud, I don't want to be ostracised by my new friends."

"I think the cat is out of the bag, darling," he said, once again tempting her into yet another kiss. It seemed that once he'd started, he couldn't stop.

Yet, Hannah clearly had other plans. A klaxon sounded inside of the room and they both broke apart suddenly at the noise. Cortex opened the door and waited expectantly in the frame.

"Y/N, Hannah would like to see you. If you'd follow me?" it informed in its monotone voice.

"Definitely out of the bag," Jeffrey joked as she stood up from the bed and turned to give him one last peck on the lips. Then, just before the door slid closed behind her, Y/N peered over her shoulder and winked at him with a knowing 'I'm about to get yelled at' smile on her face.

And get yelled at, she was. For the next 20 minutes, Hannah decided to tell Y/N exactly what she thought of what went down. Their relationship should've been disclosed. Jeffrey was a bad man and she should have higher standards than that. It was going to be very hard to trust her now that they knew she was in cahoots with the guy who tried to be a dictator.

That was all true. But in Y/N's defence, she had only met him once before. It had been a very important and impactful meeting for the both of them, but it still had only been 1 conversation months ago. Was that really worth bringing up?

The punishment was that Y/N had to wait an entire 2 weeks until they allowed her to see Jeffrey again and, after hearing her reasoning, Hannah reluctantly accepted to reduce it to 10 days. Once they were up, Y/N was taking over David's dinner role once again and was let into Jeffrey's room.

She was told that they were under strict surveillance and therefore should keep things PG for everyone's sake.

"Long time, Mr Steinberg."

He perked up as soon as he heard her voice and replied, "You can call me Jeffrey, you know? I think we're way past that point" as he crossed the room to stand before her.

"Maybe I will."

"Good."

"Good."

His hands found themselves on either side of Y/N's hips as he scanned her appearance with curious eyes, noticing every little detail he missed the last few days. "You don't really suit this shade of blue," he commented with a playful grin tugging at the corners of his lips. "I prefer you in red."

"I plan on wearing more blue then."

"You're insufferable."

"I aim to please."

Jeffrey snorted and placed a chaste kiss on Y/N's lips. "I'm bored. Entertain me," he whined, grabbing her hand to drag her to his bed so she would sit down beside him. His hand moved slowly over her back, caressing her spine and drawing circles on it with his thumb. "Say something horrible."

To her credit, it took her a minute or so to come up with something. She wasn't a complete asshole. Her mind had to be racked a few times for something horrible to stand out.

"Your dog is probably dead."

"My what?"

"The dog you paid so much money for me to walk?"

Another snort left Jeffrey's mouth, he couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. "I didn't own a dog, I just wanted to fuck you," he admitted shamelessly, earning a half hearted slap across his chest from her. "Hey! You're a moron if you thought I actually had a dog. I spent most of my time in the office so it would've been fucked up if I had a pet and left it alone 18 hours a day, just barking and shitting on my very expensive carpet from dust till dawn. No thank you."

He paused for a second, clearly considering whether to divulge something or not, and before he added, "I always wanted a dog when I was a kid."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm, I wanted a Jack Russell."

"They're yappy, you're yappy, it makes sense."

An incredulous look came across his face. "I am not yappy!" She gave him a pointed look. "I am not!" he repeated in a yappy sort of way.

They continued to make fun of each other for as long as they were allowed to before the solitary part of Jeffrey's solitary confinement kicked back into gear, and this arrangement happened every other day for the next couple of weeks. Jeffrey, as much as he hated to admit it out loud, eagerly awaited her visit and would start to brainstorm ideas about what they would talk about as soon as she exited in preparation for her return.

Then, she didn't turn up for one. Then another. And another. He was beginning to get worried. Not only did he miss her terribly, but he also began to grow very anxious. What if something really bad happened to her? What if she never returned? The possibility of losing the only person close to him, the only person he gave a shit about, was very scary indeed. It was the apocalypse, and maybe Y/N had been its newest victim.

David didn't quell his concerns either. The doctor was very tight-lipped about everything that was going on in Evergreen.

It got to the point Jeffrey didn't even look up when his door opened anymore.

"Why so glum?"

"Jesus fucking christ, never do that to me again!"

With two large steps, he bounded towards her, grabbed her and brought her flush against his broad chest. His arms encircled her waist tightly, keeping her in place and preventing her from getting away from him any time soon. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and let out a long suffering sigh.

Needless to say, Y/N was surprised. Her hands hovered in the air for a short moment before they finally settled at the small of his back to hug him in return. She nuzzled her nose against his hair before pressing her lips to his temple briefly and muttering, "Good to see you too, Jeffrey" against his skin.

For several long seconds, neither one of them moved; they just held onto each other for dear life and savoured the feeling of being near one another again. When he eventually pulled away, he looked directly into her eyes and demanded, "I deserve an explanation."

"Straight onto business, huh?" she teased as she gently stroked the back of his neck with her thumb.

"Spill."

"There was a minor issue with Cortex and they didn't want you to know because you'd try to leverage your skills for freedom or something -"

He nodded. "I would do that."

"They knew I'd tell you and you'd be super annoying about it." She laughed as he made a mock offended face, then shook her head. "Hannah tried to fix it. She couldn't. If anything, she made it worse."

Spitefully, he let out a laugh at Hannah's expense. "They now need you to convince me to save the day?" he asked so, so smugly. His eyes shone with mischief as they flicked down to her lips and lingered there for a while before moving back up to meet her gaze. "What's my prize if I get Cortex up and running again?"

"That's for you and your ex-subjects to argue about."

"What if you're impacted by the prize I have in mind? Would you argue with me?"

"I think you'd really enjoy arguing with me, Mr Steinberg," Y/N stated in a husky tone, smiling cheekily at him when she saw his eyes widen and a pleased smirk spread across his face. "But I think you should be smart. Use your boon selfishly. Don't waste it on something I will willingly give you."

The smirk vanished immediately, leaving behind only a frown upon his lips instead as he studied her reaction, trying to understand why exactly that sentence confounded him so much. So, she explained.

"Instead of asking me on a date that I would've said yes to, you - in your own words - 'wasted' 100 thousand dollars for me to walk your imaginary dog."

"I didn't know you'd say yes."

"You did. There was a very obvious vibe."

She smiled sweetly at him as he stared at her for a whole five seconds without saying anything, completely lost as to how to react. Her foot came out to nudge him in the knee and he seemed to snap out of whatever reverie he was having.

"I...uh..." He cleared his throat and quickly looked everywhere else but in her direction and uttered, "It does sound fucking ridiculous when you say it like that."

"You are an idiot," she whispered, her taunt making him chuckle.

If anyone else had doubted his intelligence, he would've been far more offended than amused but since it came from Y/N, it didn't really register in his brain as an insult. Instead, he was just glad that she was here, that she was alive, and that she had decided to interact with him. He didn't need a 'prize', if he was honest. Just her presence made the apocalypse a little easier to handle.

"Yeah, Hannah is the one who fucked up Cortex but I'm the idiot? Sure, let us go with that."

Y/N cackled before leaning forward to capture his lips with hers once more, kissing him passionately while placing her hands on either side of his face and tangling her fingers through his soft curls. A hand slipped under her shirt, tracing a line directly up her spine with his palm until the fabric covering her back was collected at his wrist. He pulled away and breathed heavily, a content smile forming on his lips.

"Be a good boy and fix Cortex," Y/N urged.

"Tell me how much you need my help and I'll do it."

"Jeffrey Steinberg, we really need your help."

"Nu-uh," he tutted. "Not what I asked. I don't care about 'we'."

Scoffing, Y/N shook her head and tried to hide her amused smirk. He was arrogant and demanding and stubborn and difficult and had an ego as big as the Empire State Building and yet somehow, despite all these, she couldn't deny the fact that she liked him for those exact reasons. Because, damn it all, he was the only person who'd ever matched her energy.

His wit and humour, although sometimes sarcastic and crude, were incredibly intelligent and could cut through bullshit like butter. He had an incredible eye for detail, a need to share information whenever he possibly could, and he had an unparalleled passion and curiosity for knowledge. Even though he could be frustratingly overbearing at times, he had a knack for seeing things that others couldn't, or rather wouldn't.

So, she gave him what he wanted.

"I really need your help."

"One more time? Tell me again."

Like she always did when he was around, she rolled her eyes affectionately then repeated herself and was rewarded with his adorable, lopsided grin.

"I'll go let everyone know -"

"No, no, no, they can wait," he interjected hastily. "Don't leave so soon." He placed a kiss on her jawline. "Please stay."

"I didn't know please was in your vocabulary, darling."

With that, Y/N lay back against his pillow and got comfy, watching him as he took the opportunity to climb beside her until they were nose to nose. Jeffrey reached for a lock of her hair and twirled it between his fingers lazily as he spoke what was on his mind. He talked and talked and talked until the others decided that they'd had enough.

For the first time in months, Jeffrey Steinberg was allowed out of his room. The others were less than ecstatic when he walked around the compound waving like he was the goddamned Queen of England with his one hand. His other hand though, well wrist to be specific, was handcuffed to David as a security measure.

David wasn't happy with this at all. They knew if he had been attached to Y/N, she would've let Jeffrey run amuck for her own entertainment so David was there purely so no shenanigans could take place. And as much as Jeffrey could whine and complain, those handcuffs weren't coming off any time soon and David was determined to make sure Jeffrey understood that.

Cortex took around 6 hours to fully fix and, as expected, despite the fact he'd helped them out, the majority of Evergreen's population was counting down the minutes till he was back in his cell.

"What did he do again?" Betsy inquired, holding her palm to her stomach.

As of 2 months ago, the population of Evergreen was destined to rise by two in the coming months. Having a child was always a dangerous game but having one after the collapse of civilization? That kid was coming into a strange new world, yet, Evergreen was cushy and had the best doctor in the entire world - not that there was much competition these days - to watch their every move so maybe it wasn't as bad as it sounds on paper. Dagney and Betsy were a top priority whenever David did his rounds.

"I hear he reprogrammed that fancy robot thingamajig to try and kill everybody." Jon-Bon got a hold of his wife's hand and brought it to his lips. "That's why he's coming nowhere near you or our little one, my sweet."

"Jesus, Y/N, you really know how to pick em'," Cal vexed, shaking his head as he folded his arms across his chest disapprovingly. He clearly didn't get the response he wanted when Y/N merely shrugged since he stomped away in a huff.

Betsy sighed and rested her head against Jon-Bon's shoulder. "Go say sorry, Y/N," she instructed as if Y/N had done anything. Did Cal need an apology? For what? Y/N hadn't uttered a single word and the only gesture she'd given was a simple nonchalant shrug because why would his opinion matter?

What say did he have in her love life? Why did he care? And why should she care that he cared?

"Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"No, no, go apologise."

"You're bossy today," Y/N chuckled, kicking her feet up on the coffee table and taking a sip from her tea. "I wish I had a cigarette right about now."

Jon-Bon decided to unnecessarily weigh in too. "Cal's a good lad. He's sweet on you, ya know?"

"...So?"

"He'd be good for you, much better than that evil robot boy of yours that we hear about from the others. It would be nice to see the godparents of our scamp together, don't you think?"

Y/N cackled heartily, making a mental note to call Jeffrey an 'evil robot boy' later on just so she could see the look on his face at the new nickname that had been bestowed upon him. She didn't bother responding to that question, though. If she was honest, she didn't want to be a godparent. She didn't necessarily like these people, but she had put up with them to survive.

Almost as if they'd summoned a devil, a bouncy Jeffrey appeared around a corner with an exhausted looking David attached to him like a child barely keeping their grip on an energetic puppy on a leash. The second he saw Y/N in his peripheral vision, he was bounding towards her.

"Here comes my evil robot boy," Y/N sang merrily with her head tilted to the side and a teasing sparkle in her eyes as Jeffrey skidded to a halt right in front of her. "And look who's finally free from prison."

Jeffrey raised his handcuffed hand. "Handcuffs today. Ankle monitor tomorrow," he announced proudly and, after checking his watch, added, "It's almost dinner and I'm going to be super grumpy if my favourite delivery girl isn't going to show. You following?"

"Can I at least finish my tea?"

He snatched her cup out of her hand and downed what was left in one good swig.

"Asshole."

"Yep, that's me. Come on."

Once the mug had been carefully placed on the coffee table, Jeffrey wiggled his fingers towards Y/N in the universal sign of invitation and she stood up, smiling widely and linking arms with him without hesitation.

They were back in his room in no time. David was allowed to separate from the evil robot boy and let out a sigh of relief that he was finally free of the man's grip. Jeffrey parted from his 'other half' with a flirtatious wave and a "See you tomorrow, Davey!"

"Please don't call me that."

"Whatever, Davey! I'll be awake bright and early for my fitting."

"It won't be me. Axel volunteered for that."

Axel had been recovering when Jeffrey was first confined to his room. Everyone else had made a party out of it. They had found Finn's stash of champagne and toasted to Jeffrey's defeat, but Axel and Finn were stuck in comas in the med bay so they couldn't participate. Now, Finn was still slipping between consciousness and coma every other day, but Axel was up and walking and more than prepared for the next stage of Jeffrey's punishment.

An ankle monitor that tracked his every move and shocked him every time he was somewhere he shouldn't (or whenever whoever held the remote wanted to, really) was the compromise that Jeffrey had come to. He'd get the majority of his freedom back for the low low price of an ugly device around his ankle. That was a pretty good deal. Honestly, he had no idea why the other survivors agreed to this proposal.

Now they were alone and he was free to be as whiny as he wanted to, Jeffrey rubbed at his wrist. The skin was red and obviously sore thanks to the cuffs, and he was quick to point it out to Y/N as she placed their meals down on the nearest surface.

"Look!"

"Aw, you poor baby." Despite her mocking tone, she gently massaged his wrist in order to alleviate some of the discomfort. "Who would've thought that you'd face the repercussions of your actions?"

"I certainly didn't."

He liked being fussed over and pampered but he didn't enjoy being treated like a normal kind hearted person, which is why he liked Y/N so much. Her actions and her words were very different. She was always prepared to put him in his place and remind him that, yeah, he was a little bitch, yet she obviously cared for him in a way nobody else ever had before, and he appreciated that greatly.

Maybe he loved Y/N? Who knows? He never used to have time for feelings, and now that he did, was he going overboard? It was definitely something he was wondering about, even more so now that he was going to be allowed out of his room and interact with the other inhabitants of Evergreen more casually. But, as far as he was concerned, nobody in Evergreen was as fun or interesting to hang around as Y/N and he doubted anyone else would come close to her either.

"Stop staring into space and let's eat. Our food is getting cold," Y/N urged, her voice snapping him back to attention. She grabbed her plate from the table and moved towards the desk that they'd pushed to the middle of the room to use as a dinner table.

The chair on the one side was a lazy boy armchair that was far too heavy for what it was that Y/N always sat in. Opposite that was a gamer chair that had once looked pristine but Jeffrey had scratched away at the armrests until the leather was all ripped up, and it had an accompanying footstool that he often kicked around when he was annoyed.

Dagney had managed to grow an impressive array of produce this season so the survivors had been eating well. Jeffrey pushed his food around the plate with his fork in thought and watched Y/N while she ate.

"Spit it out, what's wrong?" Y/N asked without lifting her gaze from her plate.

"Nothing," Jeffrey replied with a grin and turned back to his food, finally getting some potato on his fork to eat.

"Uh huh, sure," Y/N retorted, unconvinced.

A beat. Then another. A third. That's all it took. "Is your bed a single or a double?" He blurted out suddenly, causing her to stop chewing.

"It's a queen. Exactly the same as yours."

"Ah," Jeffrey concluded like some big revelation had been revealed to him while taking another bite of his dinner. "Well then, you'll be as accustomed to my bed as yours."

"Who says I want to sleep in your bed?"

"Oh baby, you've been trying to get in my bed for weeks now."

She narrowed her eyes playfully at him and rested her head on her palm, elbow propped up on the dining table. "Are you suggesting that you want me to stay the night?"

"I wouldn't be opposed to it."

That was a vast understatement; he would be absolutely overjoyed if she stayed the night after pining for so long. Not that he was going to tell her anything about that. That would certainly lead to his feelings being spilled and he wasn't ready for that just yet. His thoughts must have shown on his face, because Y/N gave him a knowing smile.

"Are you under surveillance tonight?"

"Nope. Thanks to my 'selfish boon', my Truman Show treatment is no more. I'm free for the night, and every night from now on."

"Aw, I wanted an audience," she joked, earning a chuckle from Jeffrey before he took another bite.

His hand reached across the table, his palm facing up, and he wiggled his fingers expectantly, beckoning for Y/N to hold it and give it a squeeze. But Y/N didn't take it. She glanced down at it and pointed out, "I need my hand to hold cutlery. To eat."

"Just use your fork. Y'know, like I'm doing."

"Satiating my hunger or letting you kidnap my hand with yours? I think you're overestimating your importance."

With a playful glare, he opened his mouth in shock and widened his eyes. As soon as he began to pout, Y/N's resolve crumbled and, instantly, she intertwined their fingers together. Jeffrey grinned at his victory. He always liked winning, even the small battles like this one. He felt oh so smug as he brought her knuckle to his lips and kissed it tenderly.

"The couple you were with earlier, the baby, is it a boy or a girl?" he inquired.

"Betsy says it's a boy."

"How many months along?"

"Three."

He nodded slowly in approval.

"It's a good idea."

"What?"

"Raising the population."

"...Right."

"How's Dagney coming along? The baby must be popping out soon."

Y/N's brow furrowed as she stared curiously at Jeffrey. He could see the wheels turning in her head as her mind tried to comprehend why he was bringing this up.

"Dagney is due in 5 weeks," she answered.

"Great."

"Jeffrey..."

"Hmm...?"

"Slow your plans down, okay? We'll get there eventually."

Ah, she'd figured it out. He was preoccupied with the pregnancy going on and there was a reason for that. Obviously, the apocalypse accelerated a lot of emotions and processes with the goal of survival in mind.

"We should make a little army," Jeffrey suggested with a grin.

"Sure, if you figure out a way so that you can push them out instead of me, be my guest."

His smile widened impossibly further at her response and she huffed in amusement, shaking her head with a small smirk on her face.

"What's your limit? 7 babies? 15?" Jeffrey asked eagerly.

"4, if you're lucky," Y/N said with a laugh.

"Only 4? That's not an army."

"Suck it up."

They continued talking, discussing random topics, until their meal was all done and they were both ready to go nurse their food babies and lie on his bed in peace.

Instead of lying the same way, Jeffrey decided that he wanted to use her stomach as a pillow rather than his actual pillow, so Y/N took the opportunity to rest her head against his thigh when he curled his leg underneath her. Jeffrey lifted her knee up so he could hook his arm across her butt and hold her securely in place.

"You are so needy," Y/N remarked.

"You love me," he teased right back.

"I tolerate you, I suppose."

"I know that you love me."

"You're delusional," Y/N insisted, her smile never leaving her lips as she twirled one of his curls around her finger, playing with it idly.

"Not really. Just stating fact."

Silence followed as the two of them gazed lovingly at each other, not saying a word but merely allowing themselves to feel content in each others' presence and bask in the warmth and comfort of one another's company. They knew they were in love. They weren't idiots. They understood the gravity of their relationship but there wasn't a need to get all soppy about it, at least not yet.

"I like your little mole, have I told you that before, Jeff?" Y/N complimented, her forefinger tracing over his cheekbone and circling the mole with such care that it was almost as though he was fragile.

"You, uh, you haven't."

"Maybe I shouldn't have divulged that. It will inflate your ego. It's already big enough as it is."

Jeffrey couldn't help himself from cracking a sly smile, flirting, "It's not the only big thing about me," and manoeuvred himself into a sitting position against the headboard. He patted his thighs and motioned for her to sit on his lap. She didn't. Y/N tilted her head to the side and just studied him carefully for a few seconds.

"Undo your belt," she ordered in a low and sultry voice. He obeyed silently and eagerly, watching as she slipped onto her stomach and positioned herself between his thighs. She was aware that he was power-hungry - hell, everyone was very aware of that - but did it extend to other areas of life as well?

Judging by the shiver he got when she praised, "Good boy," she got her answer.

"I realised that I didn't get a say when your punishment was changed," she stated nonchalantly while her finger found the button and zipper of his trousers and slowly started undoing them. "Maybe I should come up with my own then."

Y/N nudged his shirt up with her nose and began to press her lips on the area right below his navel before sucking on the skin there and licking at the mark she'd left behind. His hands gripped at her shoulders tightly as his head dropped backwards onto his headboard because how the fuck did she guess that the skin of his stomach was sensitive? How did she know?

He whipped his shirt off to allow her to access wherever she wanted and let out a moan when she licked up his abs. "Fuck," he breathed, biting his bottom lip, and tugging at the strands of hair at the nape of her neck. He was attacked with more smooches as they drifted up his chest, over his collarbone and along his neck towards his jawline, leaving goosebumps in her wake. "How are you doing this to me?"

Tantalisingly, Y/N pulled back just enough to catch his eye. "I have you wrapped around my pinkie, that's how." She placed a kiss right on the edge of his lip, lingering for just a split second longer before she returned her attention to his neck, trailing her palm between them until her fingertips came into contact with his hardening cock through his underwear. Her nails scratched lightly against the fabric and he whimpered.

Actually whimpered.

"What was that sound, baby?"

"I didn't - What sound? That wasn't me," Jeffrey lied quickly. He hadn't meant to whine, but he had to admit it felt quite nice to have someone do all the thinking for him. He was a control freak most of the time, but when it was just him and Y/N, he liked letting her take the reins. He could just enjoy himself and forget all his responsibilities.

"Well, it wasn't me. Must've been an invisible third party that's perving on us. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that my hand is on your cock?"

"Nah, maybe Hannah pressed the mic on the CCTV system." Jeffrey snorted at his own joke but his laughter was soon replaced by another whine as Y/N wrapped her hand around his cock and squeezed lightly, causing Jeffrey to bite down on his lower lip and arch up in pleasure. "It was me, it was me! Fuck!"

If only the rest of the world could see him now, see him turned into a subby mess with one touch to his cock. Admittedly, Y/N had riled him up and it had been a lifetime since he last got some action that wasn't his own hand so it wasn't that unbelievable that he was being pathetic.

"I bet if the others knew a hand job would make you compliant, you wouldn't have been such a bad boy, huh?" she cooed teasingly, continuing to move her hand around the length of his cock and rubbing it slowly. Jeffrey let out a shaky breath and closed his eyes at the sensation, trying not to cry out too loudly, lest she'd stop.

His brows scrunched together as he stared up at her, his eyes wide and pleading. Y/N chuckled softly and leaned in closer, pressing her lips against his ear to whisper, "Don't worry, baby. I'm here to put you in your place."

"Shit, I can't think straight with you doing this to me," he panted, his hands reaching to grab onto any part of Y/N he could get a hold off. The sensations were overwhelming, and he was completely lost in the moment.

"Relax, baby," she murmured, biting the lobe of his ear. "I'm just getting started."

As soon as he seemed to be close - his legs shaking, a bead of sweat dripping down his brow, and his hips bucking - she stopped before he felt any sort of release. She left him panting and frustrated.

'WHY? Uh...why? Noooo," he whined, his body tensing up as Y/N pulled away from him. He whined out her name, begging for an explanation as she stood up from the bed. But she didn't give him any sort of answer.

All Y/N did was begin to undress herself, button by agonising buttons, until she was left in a lace bra and panties. She walked towards Jeffrey, her hips swaying seductively, and knelt between his legs.

"What was that for?"

"Punishment." Y/N's voice was low and husky as she leaned in to kiss him deeply. "And it's not over yet."

Jeffrey's eyes widened.

"How many edges do you think you'll be able to withstand without crying?" Her palms rubbed up and down his thighs. "3? I don't think you'll be able to manage 2 without bawling like a baby."

She mimicked him as he went to protest. "I'll let you cum if you're a good boy for me," she purred, leaning down to press a kiss to the tip of his cock. "Will you be a good boy for me, Mr Steinberg?"

At this point, he was far too gone to pretend to be the cold, logistical leader he was pretending to be. "I'll try," he gasped out, his voice barely above a whisper, and when Y/N's face indicated that she was dissatisfied with that answer, he corrected himself, "I will. I'll be good. So good. So, so good."

So, she got to it. He was edged again and again and again and again and again, the pleasure and pain mixing to make a perfect storm in his body. He was lost in the moment, completely under Y/N's control. He was sobbing, he knew that and didn't care in the slightest. The sensations were too intense to process, and he was so far gone that he didn't even care if anyone could hear him be her little bitch.

Surely, he would in the morning. Just not right now.

"Darling, I have a question for you," Y/N asked once she'd removed her mouth from his cock with a satisfying pop.

"Yes, yes, whatever you want. What, Holy fuck, yes," he said, trying to get his breath and mind back.

"How would you prefer to cum?" Y/N leaned in closer, her breath hot against his ear as she whispered the question. "I mean, if you were to choose between hand, mouth or pussy, which would it be?."

"Pussy. Pussy, please," Jeffrey replied, his voice a hoarse whisper.

He was wrecked, completely and utterly wrecked. His hair was a mess. He had a furious shade of pink spread out on his cheeks, ears, and chest. His lips were bitten and his eyes were teary as he watched Y/N's every move with anticipation.

"Yeah? Good choice," she purred, a wicked grin spreading across her face. "I think you've earned it."

A whole apocalypse had happened. He'd wanted to fuck her since he met her. Then, abandoned all hope when he presumed she was dead. Then, they met once again but couldn't do anything that wasn't PG 13 because all of his movements were being monitored by a slew of people that he'd tried to force into subjugation. He'd waited a really fucking long time.

After realising that he'd just been given what he wanted on a silver, no, platinum platter, Jeffrey was hurrying to take the opportunity to completely undress and prep Y/N so the inevitable moment where found his way inside of her was as soon as he could possibly manage. There was no point waiting.

The thought of waiting even 5 seconds longer was unbearable, so it wasn't long before he was buried deep within Y/N, both bodies coming together in a blissful union of flesh.

"Stay there for a bit. Jesus, Y/N, give me a second. I’m so close already, fuck."

Her hand was clamped on his chin as she forced him to look directly in her eyes. "Oh baby, you're so fucking eager," Y/N teased, smirking at his obvious lust filled gaze. Jeffrey gripped her hip tightly and yanked her in closer as their hips moved in sync to each other. "If you cum, I'll just keep going. I bet that will make you so, so whiney. Won't that be fun?"

"Don't say shit like that right now. I'm so close already."

Jeffrey clenched his jaw and groaned, gripping her waist harder as she continued to grind against him. He couldn't contain the moans or or the sounds of ecstasy emitting from his mouth with every thrust.

They fell into rhythm perfectly with the speed of their movements and soon, Jeffrey's mind became nothing more than white noise, completely devoid of any thought, any feeling, and simply focused solely on Y/N. His climax hit him hard, making him arch up as he came with a shout and his arms wrapped tighter and tighter around Y/N.

Y/N felt every inch of the shuddering man in front of her, every tremble of his muscles, every moan echoing through her veins and pulling her right to the edge because of how hot it was. All she heard was the sound of her own laboured breathing and the pounding of her heart in her ears; all she smelled was sex and sweat and blood as her body began to respond to what was happening inside her, pushing harder and faster until finally, she too reached her sweet release and her nails dug themselves deeper into Jeffrey's skin.

Afterward, they both lay still and panting on top of the bed, staring up at the ceiling with heavy hearts. Both of them were covered in sweat, with strands of hair clinging to their foreheads and falling onto their faces. It took both of them a while to calm down enough for either one to speak.

When they finally did talk, Jeffrey spoke first. "Fuck... I am so fucked." He turned onto his side to face her. "You've ruined other women for me, you know?" He gave her a soft smile, letting out a chuckle at the end, before continuing. "But, fuck you, you are something else."

"Aww, I think you've gone soft, Mr Steinberg," she giggled, pinching his shoulder teasingly. "Let's clean ourselves up."

Once they no longer smelt of sweat and sex, the pair were back in bed, curled up together beneath the covers. Neither one of them felt any desire to sleep at the moment, too occupied by the conversation they were having, but eventually, both succumbed to exhaustion and were awoken in the morning by Axel.

With his new ankle monitor, Jeffrey would be able to be a menace to everyone in Evergreen once again, yet this time he had someone to tug on the metaphorical dog leash whenever he was getting a little too out of control or too rowdy. The only person who could stop that idiot was Y/N, because she always seemed to find a way to snap out of those moods Jeffrey had, and for the rest of his life, he never had to go back into solitary confinement ever again.

There had been a couple of almosts, but as soon as his girlfriend told him to "quit it", he was done with the game, for the time being anyway.

#evergreen #hidden signal #Jeffrey Steinberg #Jeffrey Steinberg x reader #hidden signal evergreen

[favefandomimagines]

Sometimes You Just Need Somebody (e.b)

Summary: Everyone had someone at the 118, a place to go, a partner to go home to. And it makes Buck begin to wonder; who’s his somebody?

AN: inspired by the season 3 episode where he meets Red because it’s probably one of my favorite Buck moments

I’m so sorry I’ve been so absent, my personal life kind of imploded for a little bit lol but it is starting to get better. I’ll be working on part 2 of my Ace fic ‘I’m Here’ and chapter 4 of my Tommy Shelby series! This was in the drafts and i felt like i needed to post something.

Buck was coming off a large high after saving a woman from a burning building. He was the city’s hero and all he wanted to do was celebrate with his 118 family. Though sometimes he forgets that they have wives, girlfriends, children, and he doesn’t. The only person he really has is himself.

He had you though. His best friend, person who knows him almost as much as Maddie. It was the cheesiest and most cliche story in the book, but Buck was in love with his best friend. He met you on a call during the earthquake two years ago. You flagged them down because your dog was trapped in your house still when the earthquake hit.

Never has he seen a woman run out into the middle of the street and in front of a fire engine for a dog. Buck and the rest of the team exchanged glances before Buck got out of the truck. You were in hysterics, explaining how your St. Bernard was stuck on the second floor of your home and the stairs were blocked off.

The 118 was on the way back to the firehouse to refuel, Buck thought you were pretty, so he helped you. Two weeks later you and your dog ran into him while on a walk on one of his days off. The rest was history.

So when he was left alone to celebrate his victory, the first person he thought of was you. You probably watched it on the news and waited for his shift to end to call.

And like clockwork, the second he stepped out of the building, his phone rang. He saw your name and picture pop up on his screen and smile made its way to his face.

“Hello?” He answered. “Oh my god! I knew you were good but I didn’t know you were a freaking action hero!” You spoke loudly into the phone. “Well it’s good to hear your voice too.” He teased.

“That was literally something out of Mission Impossible. It was amazing! Reckless and terrifying, but amazing nonetheless.” You said. “Thank you, thank you. It felt really good to save her.” Buck replied. “How about we go and celebrate tonight?” You suggested.

Buck’s smile widened at your words, it’s as if you read his mind. And though he wanted to go out with you, a part of him wanted to live that domestic bliss that everyone else around him had.

“Or, I could come over with some takeout and we can have a night in.” He said. “That sounds even better. I gotta walk Max but after that feel free to come over.” You replied. “I’ll come with you. The adrenaline still hasn’t worn off.” He told you.

“Well look at you, Buckley. First you offer me food and then to walk my dog? Sounds like you’re trying to seduce me.” You joked. “Trust me, Y/N. You’d know if I was trying to seduce you.” Buck said. “Yeah because you’re such a charmer.” You replied.

Buck told you he’d see you soon and the two of you said your goodbyes. As he got in his car after the phone call, all he could feel was butterflies. He felt butterflies every time he was preparing to see you or spend time with you.

You felt the same way. As basic as it sounded you had deep feelings for Buck. He was handsome, he made you laugh, he cared about you, and he was kind even to strangers.

What’s there not to love about Evan Buckley?

Buck met you at your front door as you were heading outside with Max.

“World famous firefighter Evan Buckley at my front door? Well isn’t it my lucky day.” You spoke. Buck smiled down at you before lowering down to pet your dog.

“There’s nowhere Id rather be.” He said. “You flatter me.” You commented. You handed him Max’s leash and the two of you began to walk down the sidewalk.

“So, where’s the rest of the 118?” You asked as you walked. “Bobby is with Athena, Hen is with Karen, Eddie is helping Christopher with a sleepover and Chimney is whooing my sister.” Buck explained.

You could see that the fact that all of his ‘people’ had someone or something to go home to made him feel a bit hurt. You knew that Buck had a bit of a habit of feeling lonely or feeling as if he was by himself.

“Hey, you know you always have me. Any day, any time. I know that sometimes it’s easy to feel alone. But as long as we got each other you’ll never be alone.” You told him. “I know. And I’m glad I have you because sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He said. “Suffer immensely.” You replied.

Buck laughed lightly and you looped your arm with his as you walked. The whole thing felt so normal and as if you had done it a thousand times before. You liked how it felt to just be with Buck in a way that was so mundane. I was the little things that made you appreciate him.

“Y/N, can I tell you something?” Buck asked. “Of course you can.” You said. Buck took a deep breath, afraid of how you’d react. But he was feeling on top of the world and he just wanted you to know how he felt about you.

“I love you. I love you as more than a friend, I guess I have for a while I just didn’t know how to tell you. Everyone in my life has someone to go home to and I thought I didn’t but when I think about that, I think of you. You’re my somebody, the person I want to come home to. And if that freaks you out and you don’t feel the same way, we could just forget it ever happened.” He confessed.

You stopped walking and looked up at Buck with an expression he couldn’t quite read. “A-And I definitely freaked you out. I’m sorry I just I needed to tell you and-“ He started before you cut him off by pressing your lips against his. He was taken aback at first but he realized what was happening, he kissed you back.

“I take it you feel the same way?” Buck questioned when you parted. “I feel the same way. No matter how cliche it is.” You laughed. “How long?” He asked. “Do you believe in love at first sight? Because I think it was when you scaled the side of my house to save Max.” You answered. “Really? Because for me, I think it was when you ran in front of a 20 ton fire truck.” Buck said.

“Definitely not my finest moment but I’d do it again.” You spoke. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” He replied.

Before you could say anything else, Max started to whine, wanting to continue his walk rather than standing still. “We should probably get going. You still owe me some take out.” You said. “On one condition,” Buck started. “Say you’ll be my girlfriend.” He finished. “Evan Buckley, I would love nothing more than to be your girlfriend.” You told him.

“Oh and I love you too.” You added. “I’m never going to get tired of hearing you say that.” Buck commented. “Good. Because I’ll never get tired of saying it.” You said.

Buck smiled at you before leaning in to kiss you once more before heading home.

He always thought that he never had his somebody. The person he goes home to at the end of a shift, the reason he strives to make it back after tough calls. But that person had always been you, it just took him some time realize it.

#imagine #imagines #911 imagine #911 lone star #911 fox #evan buckley oneshot #evan buckley x reader #evan buckley imagine #evan buckley

[averyauthorship]

Different fanfic writers as colors

I made this a while ago and posted it on the social media site formerly known as Twitter. I deleted my account because of... You know. So anyway, I'm reposting this here now because it's funny. Feel free to respond with which you think you are. (I think I'm a mix of pink and blue.)

Black: Can only write smut or angst (preferably some ultra-to-mildly-disturbing combination of the two. What's a happy ending? Leaves their readers on unacceptable cliffhangers and then goes on hiatus for eternity.

White: 110% dedicated to their carefully planned update schedule. Finishes all of their WIPs before moving on to a new idea. Actually, this person doesn't really exist. We all just wish that this is who we were.

Red: PWP. Doesn't know how to use tags and doesn't really care. Really wants to write hurt no comfort, but can't ever seem to bring themself to commit. They just don't have the stomach for it, even though they pretend to be very edgy.

Orange: Writes exclusively about crack ships (the stranger the better) but also does it very well, for some reason. Only publishes when they feel like it, if at all. Most of what they do end up writing exists exclusively in their drafts.

Yellow: "My brown orbs rolled in my head as Harry Styles tangled his long, pale fingers in my messy bun." Their work seems cringy, but they write what they like and they're not ashamed (and cringe culture is cringe). Y/n is the star of almost every single fic.

Green: Exclusively writes gen fics, fix-it fics, or extremely canon compliant fics. They are not at all in it for self-indulgent shipping, which is admirable in its own right. They just like filling in the gaps that canon leaves open.

Blue: Soft, weepy angst. An obscene amount of thinly veiled self insert and/or OC usage (OC/Canon characters, OC/ OC, anything goes). No fic ever has a happy ending because they never actually get around to finishing anything.

Purple: Has been writing on fanfiction.net since the age of the dinosaurs. They probably have a super wildly popular fic that they wrote for a specific, now-long-dead fandom that haunts their nightmares. They take their writing VERY seriously.

Pink: Fluffy, fluffy, FLUFFY. They can't handle smut at all and claims that they don't like writing angst. In reality, their characters are always trauma dumping before kissing or crying in each other's arms. They're just here for the shipping.

#writing #creative writing #writers #writer things #writers on tumblr #fanfiction author #fanfic writing #fanfiction #fanfiction writer #fanfic

[mygif2u]

Washed on Your Shore

Pairing: Karenatalie Character(s): Karen Gaffney/Natalie Jones Rating: T Warnings/Tags: Alternate Universe - Selkies, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Infidelity, Forced Relationship, Natalie x Tim and Karen x Jeff is present but not endgame

"I had something stolen from me a long time ago. Ever since I have felt...empty. Like a whole other part of me is missing. Coming here is like a balm to my soul."

It was then that she chanced a look at Karen. The other woman had inched closer to her, their shoulders almost brushing.

"It has been my only source of comfort. Until you."

or

The Karen/Natalie Sealwife AU you never knew you wanted or needed.

Read it below, or on AO3.

A/N: So this has been sitting in my drafts basically since the movie came out, but I never got around to actually finishing it until now (thanks to the WIP Big Bang for the motivation to get it done, even if it ended up being over a month after it was originally meant to be posted!). This fic was inspired by phoukanamedpookie’s post on a potential seal-wife take on the movie.

Thanks to loopyloo2610 for beta-ing this! It is a far cry from the raggedy draft I resurrected all those months ago XD

Mind the tags (though nothing too far out of the ordinary for a selkie story.)

Hope you all enjoy :)

"Hey Nat, have you seen my new suit?"

Natalie sighed as she rifled through Tim's side of the closet before pulling out a navy suit still covered in its plastic packaging. Why her husband hadn't pulled it out the night before was beyond her.

“It’s here.”

He looked towards her while putting on his tie in front of their mirror. She held the suit out to show him, and he gave a small smile.

"Thanks honey, you're a lifesaver."

Natalie nodded before hanging the suit on the bedroom door knob. She made to leave the room before Tim stopped her. Again.

"Sweetheart, do you mind giving me a hand with this?"

Natalie turned around to see Tim continuing to fiddle with his tie, vainly trying to adjust it to sit flat on his chest. She stepped in front of him and batted his hands away before fixing the knot herself. In all the time they had been together, Tim had never done up his own tie for work. It was something that had always confused Natalie, since it was not a hard thing to do. When she had asked Tim about it, he had remarked that the tie “always looked better when she did it.” A comment that she used to find flattering but was starting to become irksome as time went on.

Once she was done, she made to step away from him, but was stopped by his hands on her shoulders.

He grinned at her, before moving in for a goodbye kiss. Dread curled low in her stomach as he drew close, and she turned away from him, making his lips graze her cheek instead of her mouth. She tried not to grimace as she felt the short hairs he had missed shaving scratch her skin.

Tim froze.

Hurrying to dispel the suddenly tense air between them, Natalie quickly rubbed her hands up and down his arms in reassurance.

"You're going to be late for work, babe."

She flashed him a quick smile before darting from the room and down the stairs to prepare his lunch.

It was easier, before. The few months after Tim had seen her on the beach. Their whirlwind romance and marriage. Talks of children. Now it seemed that any passion that had existed between them had fizzled out and died.

Physical affection between them used to be so much more common, but as time drew on, Natalie became more reluctant to seek out or accept Tim's touch. This morning, however, was the first time that she had so blatantly refused his advances.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoing down the stairs made Natalie quickly wrap Tim's lunch in a paper bag.

"Have a good day at work."

Tim gave her a tight smile, before taking the bag and striding out the door.

Natalie breathed out a heavy sigh, muffled by the ignition of Tim's car revving to life. When was it that she had started feeling like this? This feeling of dissatisfaction and discomfort – was it a new feeling that was to be expected at a certain point in a relationship? Or had it always been there, simmering under the surface of their entire time together, only now making itself known?

Before she knew it, Natalie found herself walking out the back door, stepping off the porch of the house and padding down the well worn trail. Tim wouldn't be home until later in the evening. She made her way along the narrow path, not stopping until she reached the shoreline of the beach behind their house. The wind whipped up her hair, and she welcomed the sensation, along with the cool water swirling around her feet.

A flock of squawking gulls flew overhead, their calls accompanying her as she continued along the beach until she reached her destination: a hidden grotto scoured from the cliff face. Smooth sand eventually gave way to rocks and gravel as Natalie picked her way further inside, until she came into a cavern that had long since been carved from the sea beyond.

Walking towards the farthest wall of the cavern, Natalie settled against the smooth stone ground.

Running her hands along the stone beneath her, she shut her eyes as she laid her head against the rock wall, the distant sound of crashing waves filtering through the craggy entrance and echoing around the cavern.

The taste of salt was sharp and tangy with her every inhale; it lingered on her tongue, and the itch to feel water sluicing over her body pulsed within her very being.

The waves seemed to echo louder, to the point where it seemed to reverberate around her. The phantom pull of her skin tugged at her; the silken mahogany pelt stolen from her years ago.

**

It felt like an age had passed when Natalie summoned the strength to leave the cavern. It never seemed to get any easier no matter how many times she had done it in the past, although with the sun now shining directly above her, it seemed that she had left earlier than she usually did.

She had just stepped foot onto her porch when she heard the sounds of voices and several car doors slamming. How strange; she never expected visitors, and the neighbours usually kept to themselves.

Curiosity piqued, she walked around the side of the house towards the sounds, and found them coming from next door. An SUV and a large truck were parked in the front yard, and a ginger-haired woman was directing two men carrying a sofa into the house.

"I think that's the last of the heavy stuff, guys."

A football soared past the woman's head, followed by two boys bursting out of the house, both shrieking in laughter.

Natalie watched as the football hit the ground and skip one, two, three times, before rolling to a stop in front of her.

Before she could move, the two boys dove for the ball, spraying her jeans with a wave of dirt.

"Mike! Patrick!"

Trying to dust off the dirt streaks on her jeans, Natalie looked up to see the boys' mother striding towards them, a disapproving frown on her face.

"I told you two to take it to the backyard!"

"No, Mom, you told us to take it outside. This is outside."

Natalie tried to hide a smile as the eldest child spread his arms out and gestured around him. The quirk of a lip she got in turn from the boy's mother told her the gesture hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I think Daddy's all done putting your boxes in your rooms. Why don't you go and unpack all your toys?"

The boys didn't need to be told twice. They both bolted back into the house, leaving the football in their wake.

A rueful sigh came from the boys' mother, before she moved to pick up the ball still laying by their feet. A sudden urge to help the other woman propelled Natalie forward to get to the ball first.

“Here.”

A flash of surprise swept across the other woman’s face, and Natalie could feel her own heating up as the woman stared at the ball in her hand.

A grateful smile broke out across the other woman’s mouth, and the warmth across Natalie’s cheeks lingered for a different reason entirely as the woman took the ball from her, their fingers brushing as she did so.

"Thanks. Look, I'm sorry about that. Boys will be boys and all that, you know?"

Natalie didn't know, but she smiled back at the other woman anyway.

"It's no trouble."

And then, the same urge from earlier returned, emboldening Natalie to step forward, hand outstretched.

"I'm Natalie Jones. I live with my husband, Tim, over there," she said, tilting her head back at their house.

The woman moved forward to clasp Natalie's hand in her own. It was warm and smooth to the touch.

"Karen Gaffney. You've already met Patrick and Mikey, and my husband Jeff is - "

" - right here."

A man just a little taller than Karen sidled up next to her, slipping his arm around her waist.

"Oh honey, this is one of our new neighbours, Natalie Jones."

Natalie sent a smile Jeff's way, but her eyes were drawn back to Karen almost as soon as they left her.

"Do you need any help?"

"No thanks,” Jeff replied. “Everything's been put in the house already."

"Are you sure? I'm not doing anything exciting at the moment, so if you need an extra pair of hands..."

Natalie could see Jeff about to decline again when Karen interrupted him.

"Wait, Jeff, if Natalie's offering, why not? We've got a lot of stuff, and this is a big house."

Jeff looked between them, his eyes lingering on Natalie as he pondered Karen’s suggestion. Natalie felt a tinge of unease under Jeff's gaze – he wasn’t scrutinising her, but she felt as though she was under some wordless assessment that wasn't entirely borne from a decision to accept help from a kind neighbour. Natalie tried not to let the relief show on her face when Jeff finally nodded in grudging assent.

"Well all right then."

Karen beamed at him, then at Natalie, who found herself a little taken aback by Karen's brilliant smile, but couldn't help a small one in return.

Karen took that as an invitation to grab Natalie's hand and whisk her into the house.

"Come on this way."

**

It was hours later when Natalie got back to her own house. She huffed a quiet breath as she shut the door behind her and slumped back against it. The Gaffneys definitely had more belongings than she had expected; when they had finally finished, the sun had long set over the horizon, and her muscles ached in a way that told Natalie she would feel it in the morning. It had been nice though; the house had been filled with talk and laughter, and the Gaffneys had thanked her for her help with a delicious lunch. It was a welcome change to her usual routine of cleaning her already spotless house and cooking until they ran out of space in the fridge, waiting for Tim to come home.

Who probably was home by now.

Natalie pushed herself away from the door before padding down the hall into the dining room. She saw Tim standing by the dining table, his phone to his ear.

"Hi sweetheart, how was work?"

Tim looked up, and held the phone away from his mouth as he answered, "Ah same old, same old. Ordered Chinese for dinner; I got you your usual."

A complex mix of emotions swirled in Natalie’s chest — annoyance that Tim hadn’t taken something out of the fridge to reheat instead, and dull warmth at his preparing dinner for them at all. It wasn’t often that Tim demonstrated his thoughtfulness — there were times where it felt like she was a prized possession rather than a life partner, and such acts of consideration had become rarer the longer they had been married. And even though Natalie’s excitement at such acts had faded, she still held some appreciation for when Tim did these things for her.

He smiled at her.

"Where'd you go earlier?"

"Oh, I was helping our new neighbours."

Tim raised his eyebrows at that.

“Huh, so the Mortimers ended up selling the place after all.”

“Seems so.”

Tim opened his mouth to reply, before he stopped to listen to the other person on the phone. He pointed at it with his other hand, a contrite frown crossing his face.

“Sorry, it's Dan — you know how he gets. Let me know when the food gets here, alright?”

Tim slid his hand across her hip and kissed her cheek before retreating to his office.

Natalie sighed — another meal spent eating alone.

Still, her disappointment at missing out on spending a dinner with Tim didn’t sour her mood too much as she still felt the heartening effects of her day with the Gaffneys. Karen, in particular, was quite the conversationalist, regaling her with stories of the boys, and the chaos that surrounded the move from the Gaffneys’ old place.

They had only known each other for a few hours, but Natalie could already tell this woman was going to be an exciting new part of her life. Probably the most exciting part of her life.

She couldn’t wait to get to know her more.

**

Fortunately, Natalie’s next encounter with Karen came sooner than expected.

It was just a few days later when the other woman invited her over for coffee while Jeff was at work and the kids were at school. Natalie deliberated over what to bring for her new neighbour – Natalie had known from the other times she and Tim had guests over that it was a common custom for people to bring gifts when visiting each other, but she really wanted to give Karen something she would love. Natalie turned the thought over and over in her mind, trying to glean from the one day she had spent with Karen the sort of gift that she would appreciate. Natalie dismissed buying anything from a store, since Karen loved homemade things, as Natalie had seen from the various items she had helped the Gaffneys unpack. And given Karen’s excitement over the dessert they had after lunch, she would probably appreciate something sweet.

Natalie eventually settled on baking a cake for the other woman, who welcomed her in with the blinding smile that had dazzled Natalie the first moment they had met. She had never come across someone so disarming before – granted, she had met few people after marrying Tim, and none of her sisters had ever had the same effect on her as Karen, as though she was the sun that broke through the clouds after a storm.

But she was – she could reel Natalie towards her like the fishermen with their catches once they had cast their nets and lines out to sea.

“Hey Natalie!”

Karen looked down at the almond cake Natalie had brought, and if anything, Karen’s smile widened.

“Oh, and you brought cake! That’s very sweet of you.”

Natalie looked down at the cake in her hands in confusion.

“Well, it does have honey in it, but I don’t think it’s that sweet.”

“I meant that you’re sweet, Natalie. It was thoughtful of you.”

A lightness filled Natalie’s chest at Karen’s compliment – the woman’s initial reaction was a promising start.

She gave a small smile back as Karen ushered her into the house.

Natalie was led into the Gaffneys’ kitchen, and they both set about preparing everything, Karen on the coffee and Natalie on the cake. Once they were done, Karen brought her to the Gaffneys’ back porch, where they sat at the outdoor dining table to see the ocean over the bushes marking the edge of the Gaffneys’ property.

Natalie waited and watched as Karen took the first bite of cake.

The other woman closed her eyes and hummed appreciatively.

“Natalie, this is so good! And it’s just as sweet as it needed to be.”

Natalie couldn’t help but smile, pleased at Karen’s reaction.

“That’s great! I’m glad.”

“Are you this good at everything? I mean you’re a handy removalist, a great baker…”

Natalie’s smile faltered for a moment. Tim’s lack of attention recently – or was it not so recently? – had made her start to question herself. And the strength of their relationship.

“No, I guess I’m just a woman of many talents.”

Karen looked up at her from under her lashes, a conspiratorial twinkle in her eye.

“Well, I look forward to discovering those other talents.”

The conversation flowed between them easily after that. Karen revealed that she and the rest of her family had moved from the leafy suburb they had lived in as they wanted to have a ‘sea change.’ Natalie had never heard the term before, but she deduced that it must mean that the Gaffneys had wanted a change of environment. The boys loved being so close to the beach, and Jeff loved being able to hike through the greenery along the shore. Karen loved it since she no longer had to live next to horrible neighbours who were only interested in competing with each other to have the newest cars and clothes, and being as involved as possible in something called ‘the PTA.’

In turn, Natalie shared the things she usually told Tim’s friends and business associates; that she had been visiting the area when she and Tim first met, and that they had been drawn to each other almost instantly, leading to their marriage and Natalie staying permanently. Which was the truth, but left out many details Natalie never shared with anyone.

It was hard, though, to omit the details she usually did, since Karen’s attention never wavered from her – something that couldn’t be said about Tim’s guests. Karen’s dark brown eyes would hold hers, and would make words flow where usually they would be punctuated by vague statements and terse, yet polite, comments. It was hard, both since Karen would ask Natalie questions she didn’t have to answer before, and because Karen’s gentle words and warm smiles made Natalie want to tell her everything.

They were only interrupted when a ringing sound emanated from inside the house.

“Ah, shoot, it’s time for me to get to work.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “Work?”

“Yes, I work half days on Thursdays and Fridays so Jeff can get a bit more time with the boys.”

“I see.” Natalie tried to contain her disappointment; she had been enjoying the time she had spent with Karen, and it was coming to an end sooner than she had expected.

Karen, seeming to sense this, said, “Oh, you can stay here if you’d like? I’ve got a bunch of books you could read, or the TV if that’s what you’d prefer. We have everything on there.”

Natalie’s immediate thought was to jump at the offer, eager to prolong the time she had with Karen. But working while guests were over is difficult to balance, and the last thing Natalie wanted was to overstay her welcome.

“Oh no, I’ve already taken so much of your time. I should let you get to work in peace, and –”

“Natalie,” Karen placed her hand over Natalie’s and squeezed lightly. Zips of electricity travelled between Karen’s palm and Natalie’s knuckles.

“It’s fine – I’ve really enjoyed your company, so don’t worry, OK?”

Natalie’s eyes dropped to Karen’s hand over hers, and caught sight of the gold band wrapped around Karen’s finger. Natalie had a similar one in a box in her bedside drawer – Tim had given it to her when they got married. She hadn’t worn it in months.

“Still, I would feel bad if I stayed.”

Karen gave a wistful sigh, but nodded in acquiescence.

“Well, alright. But if you ever change your mind, you’re always welcome here.”

An odd feeling fluttered through Natalie. She couldn’t put into words exactly what it was, but the invitation comforted her more than she would admit.

“Thank you, Karen.”

**

That was the first of many days spent in each other's company, and soon enough, they settled into a routine.

On the days Karen wasn’t at work (and on some of the days she was), Natalie would find herself at Karen’s place. She would go after her morning visit to the grotto – once the kids were at school, and Jeff had left for work. Karen would then welcome Natalie into her home and invite her for coffee.

It was on one of these mornings when Karen first asked her about her past. It was almost inevitable that this would happen – the topic was going to be raised at some point, considering how much time they had been spending with each other. While it set Natalie’s nerves on edge, it turned out to be easier than expected to open that part of herself up to Karen.

"So you must travel a lot, huh?"

Natalie raised an eyebrow at that. She couldn’t think of anything she had said that might have revealed that to the other woman.

"How can you tell?"

"That's quite an accent you've got there. "

Ah, that explained it.

Natalie hesitated before responding. She and her sisters had indeed travelled far and wide, roaming the world’s seas and oceans, for years at a time, but how to explain that to Karen without revealing the true nature of their kind?

“Yes, I used to.” Natalie said finally. “With my family – we saw many different places, many different people. When my sisters and I were younger, we would often play by the shore, chasing schools of fish and racing each other among the waves.” A smile tugged at her lips at the memory. “Our mothers would always chide us for getting too close to –” Natalie paused, trying to think of the best word to use, “– strangers.”

She had almost said the word “humans.”

Karen frowned.

Natalie felt her stomach drop – Karen must have caught her mistake when she said –

“Mothers?”

Relief settled Natalie’s nerves.

“We were not sisters by blood exactly, but we knew each other since birth.”

“That’s so nice that you got to have such close friendships.”

There was a hesitance with the way Karen said that last word, and there was only one direction Karen’s thoughts had to have turned.

“Where are they now?”

Natalie grew quiet. The truth was that ever since she had been shackled to the land, she had not seen hide nor hair of her sisters. No doubt they had now heeded the warning their mothers gave them so many years ago. Wanting to escape the fate she herself had been trapped in.

“We don’t see each other anymore.”

Karen’s face fell.

“Oh.”

Natalie nodded mutely.

It was then that Karen reached over and curled her fingers around Natalie’s.

Natalie looked up, and Karen squeezed her hand. The feeling of their hands intertwined once more was just as familiar as the first time, although now it seemed to last longer, the weight of Karen’s fingers resting heavy on Natalie’s hand. The smooth metal of Karen’s ring was the only thing that separated Natalie from feeling every inch of her skin.

“I haven’t heard you mention having other close friends."

Natalie tensed up, which Karen must have noticed, as she had started to rub the pad of her thumb along the back of Natalie’s hand.

“It’s strange to me because you are so well travelled, you’ve gotten up to so many adventures, and you're gorgeous to boot."

Natalie’s face burned at the compliment even as she shrugged. How would she be able to explain to Karen that there were no other friends at all, let alone close ones? The only other person she had in her life now was Tim, and, well, they had never been friends. No, it was better to sidestep the topic entirely.

“Well, I may not have those friends with me now, but I have you.”

Karen looked up to meet her eyes, the surprise that had flashed there giving way to affection. A soft smile that Natalie was beginning to see more and more of graced Karen’s lips.

“You say the sweetest things, Natalie.”

“I mean it Karen,” Natalie said earnestly, wanting to impress upon the woman exactly what she meant to her.

Hands still intertwined, Natalie drew Karen into her arms. She held in a soft sigh at the feel of Karen settling comfortably in her long arms. The thought that Karen was a better fit than Tim’s bulkier frame flitted through Natalie’s mind.

"I am so, so glad I met you."

**

That conversation brought them closer after that. Too close, Natalie realised in hindsight. Having spent years with Tim as her only company had made Natalie crave the time she spent with Karen, but it also meant that Natalie had to re-evaluate every boundary she had put in place since setting foot on shore.

It was a day that started off like any other, and nothing seemed too different, until Karen said –

"Is it all right if I ask you something?"

Natalie peered over the rim of her coffee mug at Karen. She had never felt the need to ask that question before – there was an edge to it that Natalie found odd, a hesitance there that was a touch stronger than what Natalie was used to from her. But then, they had been constantly learning new things about each other. It wouldn't hurt for Karen to ask. Natalie nodded.

"Where do you go every morning?"

Natalie froze. She hadn’t realised that her morning walk had been under observation, but clearly it had. Natalie searched Karen's face, trying to deduce her intentions behind the question.

“Nowhere in particular.”

Natalie’s dismissive tone couldn’t quite hide the firmness behind the answer, and Natalie saw how

Karen caught it the minute the words left her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I ask because I see you leave your house when I get the kids ready for school."

Natalie nodded as she took another sip from her mug. For all that she was slowly becoming accustomed to sharing parts of her life with Karen, this was one thing that she wanted to keep for herself. No-one would know how she spent the first few hours of her mornings. Not Tim, and not a friend, no matter how close they were becoming,

"I promise not to ask you again."

**

Natalie did not visit Karen the next day, or even the day after that. She heard no word from Karen either, but on the third day, the pull on Natalie to check on the other woman roused her enough to go to the Gaffneys’ house.

It had been empty during the day, and when Natalie tried again later that evening, it was Jeff who opened the door, only to tell her that Karen had left on a work trip and would be back the next week. It was strange, but the keen awareness Natalie had of Karen’s absence rivalled only that of her missing coat. However, rather than a soul-deep ache that was ever-present but could (at times) fade into the background, Karen being away was like an acute pain lodged in her chest, like when one remains below the waves for too long and desperately needs to resurface.

She had taken to watching the Gaffney’s house every morning, and had even started to cut her time at the grotto short just to see when Karen would reappear, sending off the rest of the Gaffneys for the day. Natalie’s patience was eventually rewarded, as a few days later, she found herself leaning against the frame of her front door watching Karen wave Mike and Patrick goodbye, Jeff in the driver's seat.

As the car vanished into the distance, Karen turned to go back into her house when she caught sight of Natalie.

The sharpness lodged in Natalie’s chest shifted slightly – they had spent too long away from each other, and Natalie decided that enough was enough.

She pushed herself off her door frame and walked towards Karen.

Natalie took in the nervous look on the other woman's face, and the tentative smile she sent her way. The sharpness in her throat dulled further.

"Natalie, I'm sorry about the other day. I didn't realise that might be a sensitive topic for you. Will you forgive me?"

Natalie bit her lip at the contrition she heard in Karen's voice. The woman had – inadvertently – hurt her, yes, but that paled in comparison to the misery that had been the previous week without Karen’s company.

Unbidden, a small smile slipped onto Natalie's face as she stepped closer.

"It has already been forgiven, Karen."

A look of relief passed over Karen's face, and the familiar beaming grin Natalie had forgone radiated back at her. The last vestiges of pain dislodged itself from her throat.

"Oh, that’s good."

And then, before she could think twice about it, Natalie said,

"I want to show you something."

**

"So this is where you go every morning."

Natalie nodded as she watched Karen run a hand along the cavern's rock wall. They hadn’t said much on the way there, but it had not been an uncomfortable trip, as Natalie had offered a hand to Karen at some of the more difficult parts of the walk.

"I have been coming here ever since Tim and I have lived in that house."

The words spilled out unthinkingly, something that Natalie seemed to be doing the more time she spent around Karen. Which should be cause for concern, especially since it was also something that was becoming increasingly harder to stop once she started.

"I had something stolen from me a long time ago."

Natalie stared up into the sky above them through the hole in the rock face, taking care to avoid Karen's eyes on her. It didn’t stop the warmth rising in her cheeks as she felt Karen’s gaze on her.

"Ever since I have felt...empty. Like a whole other part of me is missing. Coming here is like a balm to my soul."

It was then that she chanced a look at Karen. The other woman had inched closer to her, their shoulders almost brushing. The careful look Karen directed at Natalie didn’t hide the questions that burned in her eyes, but she did not voice any of them, to which Natalie was grateful for.

She hesitated before saying her next words – she wondered if they would be too revealing, but then, they had gotten past that point the moment she had decided to bring Karen there.

"It has been my only source of comfort.”

Karen tilted her head consideringly, and Natalie looked away again.

“Until you."

Natalie didn’t dare look at Karen. Tim’s face flashed in her mind’s eye, and an ugly feeling flared in her belly at the thought of him.

"I have never brought anyone here before."

Natalie's heart swelled as she breathed out the confession. It hung suspended in the air between them, filling the space around them. Natalie wasn’t sure if it would force them apart or wrap around them, bringing them closer than ever.

It became too much for Natalie to resist. She needed to look at Karen. Her heart simultaneously settled and soared when she saw Karen looking at her with a gentleness that soothed her nerves.

"Thank you for telling me, Natalie."

**

What had been empty days, and sometimes empty nights, had become ones filled with the warm companionship Karen offered her. Whether it was at one of their houses, or down at the beach, the hours that Natalie whiled away with the other woman were some of the happiest she had in a long time.

Even if it was just in Karen’s living room, with Karen working away on her laptop and Natalie reading a book, the silence that hung between them whenever they were together was more companionable than the loud dinner parties Natalie would host for Tim and his friends.

However, such ease would vanish whenever Jeff came home. Like a stone sinking in Natalie’s chest, an oddly unpleasant feeling – guilt Natalie’s mind would whisper to her in her more honest moments – would settle over her when he walked through the front door.

Or when the light would catch on the ring on Karen’s finger. Or when Natalie felt the hard metal edge of it when Karen would hold her hand or squeeze her shoulder.

Surely, there was no need for it? It was not like she and Karen were doing anything wrong; in fact whenever they were together, everything in the world seemed right.

But this guilt that was becoming a more frequent companion for Natalie was further compounded every time she would return home to Tim. It was fine when she came back to an empty house; it gave her time to ready herself for Tim’s arrival from work. But when her husband (and when did that word start to fill her with such dread) was home before she was, it felt like she was caught doing something she shouldn’t.

It was dangerous, really, what she and Karen were doing. It was only a matter of time before her heart was no longer her own, and would leap willingly into Karen’s hands. Natalie wouldn’t, couldn’t, dare to think of whether the other woman would catch it or not.

But it couldn’t be helped – whenever Karen looked at her with that twinkle in her eye, whenever she laughed at something Natalie had said, whenever she would reach out to squeeze Natalie’s hands in comfort – she just couldn't bring herself to stop...whatever this was.

The pull this woman had on her, the one that had made her throw caution to the wind, tugged at something that her mother had once told her when she was just a pup. It had not been something Natalie had thought much about – why would there be a need to? – but with just how much Karen had a hold over her, it was one that Natalie was starting to think of more and more. It wasn’t as though it was true, right? Just a story that mothers would tell their daughters to lull them to slumber at night.

But the more time stretched on, the more likely it appeared that the old tale held more truth than Natalie first believed. And just like everything else when it came to Karen, it was something that Natalie revealed eventually, though not in a way she had anticipated.

It had started on one of the mornings when Karen joined her at the grotto. Karen had been animatedly talking about some of the new design concepts she was creating for a client, and Natalie had taken her excitement in with silent awe, lips curled in fondness. So caught up was she in Karen’s enthusiasm that it took her a moment to realise that Karen had stopped talking and was looking at her bemusedly.

“What?”

It took Natalie’s mind a moment to think of an answer.

“If I had known I could have met someone like you here, I would have made more of an effort to befriend people.”

Karen let out a small laugh, before she sent Natalie a teasing smile.

“Oh, but what about those people that visit you and Tim?"

“They are Tim’s friends, not mine.”

It slipped out without further thought, and with more seriousness than Natalie intended.

The joking lilt to their conversation disappeared, and Natalie instantly missed it.

She looked away from Karen, wanting to recover the lightness from moments before, but the change that came over Karen immediately after Natalie said those words was apparent.

Natalie toyed with the edge of the picnic blanket they had brought down with them – it was up to her to say something.

“In fact, you are the only part of my life that is truly mine.”

There it was again, one more thing she could not keep from Karen. As if she could keep anything from her – after all, Natalie had never been very successful when it came to keeping secrets from Karen.

Maybe it would be better to lay everything out for the other woman once and for all – Natalie was growing tired from carrying this burdensome weight on her own. She just hoped this would not cost her the closest – the only – friend she had.

"There's something you need to know about me, Karen."

When she looked back at Karen, Natalie fell into the other woman’s warm, doe-eyed gaze, and it coaxed out the words that had lodged themselves in Natalie’s throat.

"I haven't always lived like this.”

Karen’s brow furrowed in endearing confusion.

“What do you mean?”

Natalie sucked in a breath, before she pushed herself off the rock wall and started to pace.

“This life, in this place, with Tim. I – I am, I’m not – ”

Natalie closed her eyes. This was it – if she could get the words out then that would mean –

“I am not truly human.”

Natalie re-met Karen’s gaze, and found the confusion had deepened. The hard part had been done, but clearly further explanation was needed.

“Do you know of a creature called the selkie?”

Karen shook her head slowly, “It rings a bell, but I don’t know anything about it.”

“A selkie is a daughter of the sea; a being that can shift between that of a seal, and that of a human. This is made possible through the selkie’s fur coat; when she wears it, she assumes her seal form, and when she takes it off, she assumes her human one.”

Natalie turned to face the ocean, tides ebbing and flowing in time with her heartbeat.

“The coat is the most precious thing to a selkie, as it grants freedom, the ability to live outside of man’s world. If it is taken, the selkie is bound to the land, to the world of men. And bound specifically to the one who takes it, as they, according to the magical laws of their kind, will be joined in matrimony.”

Natalie turned to face Karen again, and could see understanding slowly cross her face. Other emotions were also appearing; disbelief and sympathy warring on the other woman’s face.

“So what you are saying is - ”

“I am one of those selkies.”

And there it was. The admission that had been stuck in Natalie’s throat, on the tip of her tongue, for years, leaving her mouth with the same ease as diving between the waves. A relief that this woman was hers.

Skepticism and – was it pity ? – crossed Karen’s face, and Natalie felt an urge to address it.

"I know you are finding it hard to believe me, but know that I'm telling you the truth. I haven’t told any human about who I really am. Until you.”

Karen eyed her warily.

“Not even Tim?”

“No.” The response was bitter, and would have been curt if Natalie had not continued, “I have tried, but was never able to tell him.”

Because he is not my destined one, Natalie thought to add, but stopped herself from voicing it out loud. Perhaps she had confessed enough for one day.

Natalie noted Karen’s wariness had faded slightly to give way to contemplation, written in the lines of Karen’s brow. And then she asked the one question that Natalie had tried not to think about – the one that defined her relationship with Tim.

“Do you love him, Natalie?”

Natalie remained quiet. The question that had lingered in the back of Natalie’s mind for some time now, casting a shadow she had not truly noticed until Karen voiced it. What was there she could say but –

“I, I don’t know. I thought I did, at the beginning, since he was a handsome, kind man. He still is. I – ”

I hold love for someone else.

Natalie faltered, searching for the words to explain how everything she had shared with Tim paled in comparison to what she shared with the woman before her.

“If there is more, you can tell me.”

And oh, did Natalie know that now.

“It is bizarre. Well - ” Natalie paused in thought, “ - you probably think this whole thing is already bizarre, but this is something that even I did not believe until it happened. ”

“There is a story my kind has, one you may be familiar with.”

Natalie drew closer to Karen before dropping to sit beside her on the picnic mat.

“Some selkies are blessed with soulmates. It is said that when a selkie meets her soulmate, it is as though a calm has settled over the selkie, as though a kind of peace has been granted to her. It is not immediately obvious, and so it can take some time to notice.”

“Once the selkie and her mate get better acquainted, however, the signs become more apparent; difficulty from being apart from one another, the inability to hide troubles from each other.”

Natalie’s eyes flicked over Karen, dropping to her lips, before looking away quickly. “Desire that gets stronger the longer it goes unsatisfied.”

Natalie clenched her jaw and shut her eyes at Karen’s sharp intake of breath.

“I have never told Tim this.”

Natalie tried to remain motionless as she felt Karen shift beside her. The fingers sliding along her arm to rest on her wrist wasn’t unexpected, but it made Natalie shiver anyway.

Turning to face the other woman, Natalie opened her eyes. It didn’t prepare her for the heart-aching tenderness she was met with. “Oh Natalie, I – ”

Natalie smiled sadly at Karen.

“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted – needed – to say this to you.”

For a heart-stopping moment, Natalie thought Karen would leave. Rejection she could handle – painful though it would be – but total withdrawal from this, from her, would be nothing short of devastating.

“Come here.”

And then Karen gripped her wrist and pulled her into her arms. Natalie sighed, allowing herself to fall fully into Karen, the other woman’s slight build against her own willowy frame fitting like the pearl in a clam.

“Please do not tell anyone.”

**

Things become different after that. It was like the shift in temperature as one swims from shallow to deep water, from a comfortable warmth to a sudden chill. Natalie felt it all the same, felt Karen slowly pull away from her, out of her grasp.

They didn’t stop meeting, and Karen never brought up that conversation again, but she didn’t linger the way she used to, didn’t spend as much time with Natalie as she used to. It felt as though Karen had put a barrier between them, and Natalie found herself wishing she had never confided in the woman, if only to have her the way she used to.

It was probably for the best though – she had been neglecting Tim, and it would do no good to long for a woman who did not want to be hers. No matter how right it felt whenever they were together.

So she buried the feeling behind the strained smiles she sent Karen, hoping it wouldn’t appear in her eyes. How she would let Karen go as soon as the other woman moved to leave her embrace, no matter how much she wished for her to stay in her arms.

**

It ended up happening out of nowhere. Natalie had wondered, for more times than she could count, exactly how the situation would play out, and how it would end.

Never had she ever thought it would go like this.

It was a weekend, nothing out of the ordinary. On those days Natalie would wake and leave for the grotto earlier than during the week, wanting to be back at the house before Tim woke.

Karen used to accompany her on some of the days, but those were coming so few and far between that Natalie no longer waited for a message from Karen to say she would be going.

When Natalie stepped off the path and made her way towards the back door, she found it ajar.

She frowned; Tim was normally still asleep at this time, and she never usually left the door open.

Approaching it cautiously, she could hear voices echoing from the direction of the kitchen. As she followed the sounds, she came upon a rather strange sight; Tim and Jeff were mid-conversation when she stepped into the room. That in itself was unusual, as she had never heard Tim talk about Jeff, or that they were in any way friends. But, she realised, as she took in the suddenly tense atmosphere that she had, indeed, stumbled into a conversation between two not friends.

They looked at her, and then each other.

“What is happening?”

“Natalie, I - ,” Tim began.

“Tim knows where your coat is.”

That knocked the wind out of Natalie’s lungs. It felt like the ground beneath her was going to give way. Jeff could not know anything about the significance of that, unless…

“What - ?”

“Natalie, I’m sorry. Karen told me about it.”

The sight of Tim and Jeff turned blurry as a tidal wave of hurt and rage washed over Natalie. After everything she had told Karen, she couldn’t believe that –

“She’s gone to find it.”

That redrew Natalie’s focus immediately.

“What? Why did no-one tell me?” she snapped.

“We didn’t get a chance until now,” Jeff replied.

An ugly heat crawled up Natalie’s neck and cheeks as she struggled to tamp down the fury that roared under her skin.

Through gritted teeth, she uttered, “Where did she go?”

And it was Tim, one of the biggest targets of her ire now who answered.

“She’s gone to the beach.”

And Natalie, with the strangest, knowing feeling in her gut, did not hear the rest of what Tim had to say. The feeling tugged her out of the house and back down the path she had just trodden, well-worn from the daily ritual she had engaged in all this time.

She took off down the path through the underbrush, bursting out onto the sand, just as she felt the alien feeling of someone holding her pelt. She pushed on faster, cursing at how slow she was on land compared to if she were swimming beneath the waves.

She found Karen in their grotto, next to a hole as deep as Karen was tall, holding the mahogany pelt her heart had been searching for in what felt like eternity. She saw Karen cradling the coat, marvelling at the glossy shine of it, undulled from its time underground. She shivered as Karen ran a hand over it, as though she was touching her very soul with her fingers.

“Karen!”

The woman whipped around at the sound of Natalie’s voice, and before she knew it, Natalie was standing in front of her, unable to tear her gaze away from the coat in her hand. Her heart was rabbiting in her chest and she struggled to catch her breath enough to cry out, “Why did you tell him?”

“I’m sorry Natalie, I just didn’t know how to do it without his help - ”

“It was not your secret to tell!”

“Yes I know, I’m sorry. I - ”

At this Karen choked on a sob, “I just wanted to see you free, even if it means I lose you.”

Natalie’s heart clenched at the admission. The truth laid bare cut deep in the light of day. All this time she had thought she had been wrong, that her affections had been one-sided, that Karen had been trying to spare her from heartbreak. But now she could see in the desperation in Karen’s gaze, the anguish dragging at the corners of her mouth, the unconscious trembling of Karen’s frame, that the woman was holding herself back from throwing herself into Natalie’s arms.

“Here.”

Karen held the coat out to her, and she had to choke back a sob.

Karen had no way of knowing what she had just done, the gesture one few of Natalie’s kind ever received, but one that was cherished and held sacred. It was something she had dreamed of, what her sisters dreamed of, and yet Natalie couldn’t look past Karen’s betrayal, couldn’t look past what Karen had done.

And so, with tears brimming in her eyes, she asked Karen, begged her, to place the coat on the sand between them.

“Please.”

Karen looked back at her, agony twisting her own face. With trembling fingers and a worrying mouth, she placed the coat on the ground between them gingerly. Natalie shivered as she felt the hands of her beloved pass over it one last time. Karen stepped away, making Natalie feel like she could breathe.

“Thank you.”

The words passed from her lips as Natalie stepped forward to pick up the coat. As soon as she took it in hand, it was like a piece of her heart had been returned to her. Every day that had been spent listlessly pacing the shore, every night being reeled back to Tim’s side fell away as her own hands smoothed over the pelt.

The tug of it pulling her back to the ocean was stronger now given all the time she had been separated from it, impossible to resist. And there was nothing to stop her any more.

Save one thing.

She looked up at Karen, the other piece of her heart, and knew she must heed the call, or she never would.

“I…I have - ”

Karen quirked a tremulous smile at her, a watery sheen covering her own eyes now.

“It’s OK, Natalie. Go.”

Natalie looked down at her coat, the deep mahogany of it. She had seen this shade elsewhere, and she didn’t know how she had missed it then. She looked back into Karen’s eyes, marvelling at how the colour of her coat was reflected in them.

“Goodbye Karen.”

And before she could let herself see Karen’s tears fall, she strode away, slipped the coat on and dove into the waves.

**

Natalie swam and swam and swam. The tides washed over her body in a way it had not done in years.

She found her sisters, who welcomed her back, relieved at her return. And though their company somewhat soothed the ache of loneliness inside her chest, Natalie’s mind couldn’t help but turn to the red-haired woman she had left on shore.

She refrained from seeking her out, though, refrained from returning to the place she had been shackled to for more time than she could ever get back. Even still, the memory of the other woman was not one that ever readily left her mind.

She gave in only once, just to see if the houses they had once occupied had gone, and though she saw the one she used to live in stood empty, Karen’s still held life. She caught a glimpse of the woman herself on the beach, but did not see if she was seen in turn, as her sisters were quick to sweep her away and back to open water.

**

It was somewhat inevitable that she ended up at this point. The call of a mate, a true mate, was one as hard to resist as that of the sea. Natalie did not regret answering the ocean’s call, only that it had drawn her away from the woman she loved.

But the sea doesn’t always claim things forever, and it can return things in the most unexpected times and unexpected ways.

The lone figure sat waiting by the rocks, a shock of red hair covering their face.

Natalie slipped off her coat, limbs lengthening, back straightening until she had assumed her human form once more.

Slinging the pelt across her arm, she made her way towards the figure, who looked up at the sound of skittering pebbles, and stared unmoving as she drew closer. Karen was looking at her with a cautious hope, not unlike a sailor lost at sea that had just sighted land, but who had been fooled by mirages in the past.

As Natalie came closer, she saw how Karen’s eyes widened at the sight of her, staring into her eyes even with the temptation of every part of Natalie present for her gaze. Karen’s mouth opened, breath catching, and Natalie revelled in hearing her name fall from Karen’s lips.

“Natalie…”

Natalie stopped before her, trying to stop herself from moving further into Karen’s space so that she could say her piece. Karen deserved that much at least, even if she did not feel the same.

“You returned my coat to me. I’m so sorry I couldn’t accept it at the time. But I hope by giving you this in turn - ,” Natalie held up the ring she had kept on her finger for the past few moons, “ - we can be married according to human custom as well.”

The ring was one fashioned from a diamond found at the bottom of the sea, hidden from view – it had glittered in the darkness when Natalie had brushed the silt on top aside.

Natalie’s gaze flicked over Karen, and honed in on her hands, fingers now free of the gold band that had haunted Natalie so thoroughly when she was still living on the land.

Natalie saw the moment it dawned on Karen, saw how her mind’s eye replayed her own offering from all those months ago, and how it mirrored Natalie’s in that very moment. A watery sheen welled in her eyes and her mouth quivered in desperate hope.

It was all the warning Natalie had before Karen surged to her feet and launched herself into Natalie’s arms.

Their mouths crashed together as the waves just beyond the cavern do. Natalie could taste the salt between their lips, but whether it was from the sea she had swum in, or the tears on Karen's cheeks she couldn't say. In that moment, all Natalie knew was that this must be what freedom truly tasted like.

A/N:    And it is done! Egregious amounts of sea-related metaphors and similes and all!

#karen x natalie #natalie x karen #karen gaffney #natalie jones #keeping up with the joneses #writing

[narwhalandchill]

Tag game: Current

got tagged by @begaydoalchemy !! thank u !!

- Current time: 9:45 (AM for you US peeps smh)

- Current activity: finished up prefarming blades traces to 6/8/8/8. double calyx drops events is a godsend. was listening to a video essay on the bg but the favorite song section made me go listen to stiny on repeat again bc i love inflicting emotional damage on myself so i guess thats what.

- Currently thinking about: so theres this person in the hsr leaks subreddit megathread doing daily renheng insanity ponderings since blades trailer dropped and ive been just losing my mind ever since reading them. anyway i wanted everyone here to get to see them too but didnt wanna repost em bc its just kinda ehhhh to do so. here u go!! suffer with me!!! click the links theres all 3!!! (spoilery warning tho. idr how many leaks refs there are in there exactly but expect some at least)

- Current favorite song: spotify most listened to top5 currently looking like NEON by raon, kissaki by reol, wildfire, cha cha cha (we will never forgive xx swedes watch out) and stiny from KALUSH & jerry heil.

but like let me be clear the only reason reol isnt number 1 is bc the full version of the song only came out like 2 weeks ago and the earlier released shorter anime ver of kissaki is literally 7th on the list.

- Currently reading: ...i mean mostly just renheng fanfic but uhhh. i did read where the crawdads sing from delia owens (just plucked it out from the bookshelf randomly bc i was bored) a month or so back. it was neat but no like particular strong feelings abt it. it was very well written and i liked the flow of the prose a lot. also waiting for crooked kingdom to get a finnish translation bc i got six of crows in finnish and i dont do book series as mixed language sets generally. (also the translation work itself was just like an absolute fucking banger with the imagery and metaphors used like chef kiss)

- Currently watching: no particular show (last thing was when i rewatched fmab a couple months ago) going on but like. random video essays or informative stuff on yt honestly and its mostly for bg noise.

- Current favorite character: gee i wonder. dan heng (past editions included), blade, (big gap here bc i tunnel vision on characters), bailu, luocha, jing yuan i think for specific ones from hsr for now. am looking out for jingliu and fu xuan too i need to study them. in genshin its like. yeah its mr childe ajax tartaglia all the way but i kinda just havent been feeling it for the game much so eh. tighnari, kazuha up there too n arlecchino obvi.

- Current WIPS: what kind of productive person do you take me for??? ig i like. opened word this week to type out some random passage drafts for a ficlet type thing relating to the post i made a while back abt belobogs temperatures wrt dan hengs potential terrible, horrible, no good, very bad scalie time with it but do Not expect any results from that or anything i s2g. ive finished one fic in my life and that was half poetry half madness full one sitting and be done with it type deal

im sorry i have no idea who to tag so like. anyone who wants to do it feel free, mutuals or followers!!! :]

#rambles #this was my first tag game thing ever would u believe. it was fun :]

[moodboards-galore-dahling]

· ° * ° ·

@thatoneemobooknerd themed aesthetic moodboard ~ ▫〰▫

· ° * ° ·

#i made this like.......a while ago n never posted it its been in my drafts cause i was unsure??? theres different vibes u give off/how i see #you and i went w this version i hope u like it 😩. im making no changes n just posting as is so #my moodboards #moodboards #moodboard #black aesthetic #black #black moodboard #grunge #grunge moodboard #grunge aesthetic #witch aesthetic #witch #music aesthetic #music #books #book aesthetic #artist #artist aesthetic #voidcore #void aesthetic #demon aesthetic

[coollemonsaresour]

Promising Hands

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x Child reader x Romanrogers  

Warnings: blood, Injured child, violence, angst, but fluff. THIS SUCKS, it was a rush job, and is not edited 

Summary: One Red-head Russian, One Cool Ranch Dorito, and a mission that can change their lives forever.

Word count :1458

A/N:  Spare me I have not written in awhile.  this has been in my drafts i have just be to S H Y to post them. oh, and request are open.

Request?: NAH!!!!!!!!!!! DIS WAS ALLLLLL MEH .  Spare me i have not written in  awhile. 

“Steve this floor is clear, I'm moving to  Sub-level one.” The Russian spy said, pressing and releasing the button on her earpiece. “Okay, be careful.” She then rolled her eyes with a scoffed and pressed her earpiece. “When am I not?” She said, continuing down the flight of stairs. “I can think of a couple of times,” he said in a seductive voice. “You know what Rogers, I have work to do, you should do the same. “Whatever you say” she then turned “Mmhmm'' she said with her guns raised starting down a hallway. She then came in contact with two hydra agents but shot them down effortlessly, each three times. Head. Chest.Stomach. She then saw a light flicker in a room down the hallway with its’ door cracked open.

 She walked down the hallway and pushed the door open with her gun ready for any danger. The room looked like a messy lab, things were everywhere, the computers were destroyed, chemicals and serums spilled on the table as if they were in a rush. 

 An agent then came behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck, making her drop her gun. Nat countered by elbowing him in his face and then kicking him in his chest through a glass table, then grabbed her gun. When he attempted to get up she shot him twice in the stomach. 

She then heard a gasp and snapped her attention toward the sound raising her gun once more. She then slowly proceeds toward the table. She leaned over the table and looked under it to see a little girl about 3 or 4 with her knees curled up to her chest and her head buried in her crossed arms. 

 “Hello,” Natasha said in a calm and friendly tone, which is very unlikely for this assassin. The child then looked up and flinched trying to scoot back farther. When she backed against the wall, she snapped her focus back at the women. 

 Her e/c eyes were met with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes, which were comforting. She gasped when she saw Nat’s gun. “H-hey, it’s’ okay, I won’t hurt you,” Nat said, putting her gun into the holster.  “What is your name?” She asked the girl “Y/n” the child responded barely above a whisper.”That is a beautiful name, I’m Natasha, now let's get you somewhere safe.” 

 “N-no more b-bad people?” The little girl asked, voice is full of insecurity. “No more bad people,” Nat said reassuringly. “You promise?” “I promise” “How can I trust you?” “We promise to protect you from bad men always, and if you give me your hand I promise to never let it go, Okay?” “Okay,”  

At the moment, Nat knew that she was immediately attached to the wounded girl. What wounded girl!?! Nat was too distracted by the girl to realize the blood-soaked shirt and the growing crimson pool around the girl. Without hesitation, Nat grabbed the little girl and rushed out of the room.  “ Hey Steve I found Hydra’s project and she needs medical help.” “She?... It’s a person?” “Yes and she needs medical evac, keep up Steve.”  

The little girl wrapped her arms around Nat’s neck and her legs and her waist. When they got outside the little girl buried her face in Nat’s neck to avoid the blinding light in the sky that was unknown to her, Nat could help but think of how cute the sight was.  

Nat felt the body go limp and started to run faster. When she reached the quinjet, Nat carefully laid the unconscious girl on the floor and then examined the little body. The little girls were very pale, hardly breathing, and had lost a lot of blood, multiple cut wounds, a very big and deep stab wound. It looked like someone tried to kill her, in the mist of their base being invaded.

 Nat found a cloth and started applying pressure while Steve flew the jet as fast as he could. With one hand Nat tried to stop the bleeding, and in the other she held the child’s hand, keeping her promise.  

 When they arrived, Nat ran with the little girl straight to med bey, there she found Bruce, who was talking to Dr.Cho. “Hey Na- who is that?” he asked immediately getting a gurney. “Hydra’s project, and she needs help,” Nat stated, placing the girl on the bed, still holding her hand. “Bruce, help her please, she stopped breathing like a couple of seconds ago.” she said still holding the girl’s hand, following the gurney down the hall toward the O.R. when they reached the doors of the room nat was stopped by a nurse, the sudden action causing her to let go of the girl's hand.    

“ No I have to stay with her.” she said, trying to push past the doctor.“ Ma’am you should let the doctors do their work.” the nurse said, trying to block the doorway. Nat was getting angry, and trust me you do not want to make Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow angry. “ No she needs me. I have-,” “Ma’am, please, listen to me-” “ NO! You listen to m-” “ Sorry nurse, I’ll take it from here” Steve said, cutting off Natasha and pushing her away from the door  to a wall in the hallway.   

“Steve, babe, no, I-i h-have to be in there, I-i need, i need to hold her hand,” Steve looked at her with a sad expression “She was scared, and I know what it is like at that age, when your in a situation you don’t want to,  a-and have horrible people do bad things to you and make you do bad, bad things.” she stated with worry.  

Steve gave her a small smile and then pulled her into a hug. He knew that she was referencing the red room, and how she hated what they did to kids at such a young age and how it was scarring. “Nat, everything will be fine,” he said, stroking her hair, all she did in response was give a nod. “Why don’t you go take a shower and get something to eat and come back down, and I will be here when they finish with her in the recovery room.” he said pulling away from the hug, she just nodded again and walked down the hall.   

When Nat came back down to MedBay, (y/n) was out of o.r., and in recovery. She walked into the room to see the girl connect to all different monitors, an IV, and a breathing tube in her nose. Steve was asleep on the armchair next to the bed with one of his hands resting on top of one of the girl’s. That made Nat smile softly. 

 She was walking around the room reading Bruce's analysis, and that's when Steve woke up. “You look refreshed” he said stretching, his voice still groggy.  “Yeah after showers, eating, and debrief, I was really tired, and took a cat nap,” she said, kissing his forehead. “How’s she doing?” Nat said, holding the girl's other hand. “M’kay, but my tummy hurts.” the girl said with a small smile, Nat and Steven happily returning  it.  

That a was 4 and half months ago 

 Y/n woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavy, and tears streaming down you  face. A bad dream. The small girl got out of bed and walked down the hall.  Three doors down, make a left, first door on the right.   

Being the trained ex-assassin/spy she is, as soon at the door opens she lifted her head to see who it was. “Y/n, hun, why are you up?” she said concern taking over her face.  “I had a bad dream” she whispered.  “M’sorry babes, do you want to sleep with me and daddy,” she asked giving the little girl grabby hands. The girl gave a small smile, and nodded her head, walked over to Nat’s side of the bed and climbed in. the girl got under the blankets and and cuddle closer to Nat and she held you tight, and buried your face in her chest.   

“я люблю тебя, детка” she planting a kiss to the girls forehead. “I love you too mama” the girl replied with a small yawn. Steve then rolled over, moving closer to the pair, wrapping a protective arm around Natasha and y/n.“ I love you y/n/n” he said. “I love you too daddy.” “My two favorite girls,” “Good night babe” he said to the redhead, giving her a kiss. “Good night baby.” she said, returning the kiss. “Good night y/n” they said at the same time, kissing your head. “Good night”. 

я люблю тебя, детка~ I love you Baby

FIN                                                

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x daughter!reader #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x child #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff x child reader #natasha romanoff x fem!child reader #x child reader #romanogers #hydra child reader #mom!nat #mama!nat #steve x natasha #steve x natasha x reader #natasha romanoff x toddler #natasha romanoff x toddler reader #steve rogers x daughter!reader #steve rogers x child reader #avengers x child!reader #avengers #avengers x reader

[stayarmytinyzenmoa-l]

Prominence [WCh. 2.36]

Social Media AU ; Idol AU ; Added Unit AU CW/TW: Language Genre: Comedy, Romance Pairing: NCT x Idol!Reader, Seonghwa x Reader, ft. NCThree (Mark and Yangyang), Jeno, and Jaemin Y/N Pronouns: Female (She/Her) Word Count: 2.2K

(36/80) [First] | [Previous] | [Next] [NCT Masterlist] | [Other Groups Masterlist] | [Prominence S1 Masterlist] | [Prominence S2 Masterlist]

Notes: Just cuz :D I forgot to post it way back when so fuck it here it is. This is what I get for having too many drafts, this was supposed to be chapter four. Also, here's your prize for dealing with my post spam yesterday AHAHAA Disclaimer: Please remember that this is an AU and a work of fiction, obviously the idols mentioned/written about in this story would never partake in these actions. The idols mentioned in this work are meant to be seen more as face claims rather than the actual idols themselves.

Feedback is greatly appreciated!! Thank you for reading!

January 12, 2022

[You chased Seonghwa out. Great.] It was awkward, and it was your fault. God, you hated this, all of it. You wished you could take everything back but, for whatever reason, your heart still raced. And you didn't know if it was out of pure anger or out of heartbreak, both of which you were responsible for but too stubborn to admit out loud. You just couldn't believe he had the audacity to just barge in, like you didn't have a pride of your own. Not to mention the scene it made, god, that's the most embarrassing part. You'd just finished apologizing to everyone for the noise, especially Doyoung who looked the most irked. You'll never forget it.

"We never had a problem with you dating, despite the horrors it did to our image. But you do not drag anyone else into it."

You never knew that was how Doyoung viewed it.

Taeyong apologized for him, saying that he was just tired, but tired minds tell the truth, or so you always thought. Though, he didn't have to be so harsh about it. You understood where he was coming from, regardless, and you couldn't fault him for it. You felt like you'd be pretty annoyed yourself if any of the other members brought drama to the dorms, the one place everyone was supposed to be relaxed. No wonder he was so shocked when Seonghwa knocked on the door for the first time, but it's not like you were the first to bring their significant other to the dorms, there has been many a time Taeyong, Johnny, or Yuta brought someone over with them, granted, they were never the same people each time, but still. You'd say it was unfair, but you knew the truth.

You sighed as you slid the Jenga block out of its place, the tower wobbling only slightly while you placed it on top of the tower. Stop thinking about it, it's not entirely your fault.

"Dang, (Y/N), how are you so good at Jenga?" Mark gasps, struggling a little to remove his chosen block. You could tell he was just trying to alleviate the mood, one you set, great. You felt horrible for making everything so awkward. Every single person who has walked through since the whole event has caught onto the mood rather quickly and, yes, that includes the resident "happy machine" Chenle. If it wasn't for Yangyang suddenly slamming Jenga on the table, you would've locked yourself in your room to deal with this all on your own. "You've got steady hands," Mark speaks again, holding his hands to his face and watching them tremble, probably from lack of sleep combined with caffeine.

"Just practice, I guess," you shrugged, it was all you could get out before your voice started wavering, "I like doing things that require careful handiwork," you muttered. It was true, oftentimes Saeron would invite you to do crafts with her and, hey, they were a great way to relax. You glanced over at Yangyang, who was seated across from you. He was studying the tower carefully as he made his choice. He takes the safer one and removes a side block. "Since when have we had Jenga anyway?"

"I think Hendery bought it a while ago," Yangyang hums. He looks off toward the door, which was locked tight. You reached for another block that was slightly sticking out, result of Mark's intersting choice of block to remove.

"Hey, uh... you doing okay, (Y/N)?" Mark finally asks. You could tell he genuinely cared, well, of course he did, it's Mark you're talking about. Maybe it was because of your slight tear-stained cheeks and mussed hair, but it was mostly because you were so close. Or at least, you'd like to think so.

"Hm? Yeah... I'm alright," you said as you successfully removed the block, this time with some difficulty. "Why?"

"I mean... you know... your boyfriend-"

"Ex," Jaemin corrected Mark from his spot in the kitchen. You whipped your head back, shooting him a glare, but he just returned you in kind, except with a quirked brow and a knowing look. You just rolled your eyes and returned to your conversation.

"Sorry, ex-boyfriend just came in here and, you know, tried to fix everything but ended up kind of making everything worse and rubbing it in and really just sounded like he was making excuses, but that's just my opinion, but at the same time-"

"Mark, please drop it and grab a block already," you rested your chin on the edge of the coffee table while you shook your head. You didn't want to think about it.

"Oh... sorry," Mark averted his eyes for a moment and cleared his throat. He took a block and carefully placed it on top. "I just-"

"Mark, I'm fine," you cut him off again. You didn't want to talk about it. Seonghwa had to have some audacity just marching in here like he was still in your life after that stunt. You didn't want to even see him right now or else you'd just blow up and start spilling out all the shit you'd been feeling since he'd broken up with you. You didn't want to hear his excuses. He broke up with you first. He lied to you first. What he did now didn't concern you.

It did, though. Because it's on you to reciprocate. Just, you couldn't do that right now. You just finished NCT U promotions, you're finishing up NCThree prep, right after and overlapping slightly is NCT ANiMA prep for the group's first full album, there's just too much going on right now, and as much as you hated to admit it, the relationship had to wait, any kind of relationship had to wait. It had to wait until you were done with everything so you could focus on it. That wasn't you being rude, or petty, or anything. It was you being realistic. You didn't even have time for yourself at this moment, when was the last time you relaxed and did something for yourself?

Maybe this was worse though, shouldn't you be prioritizing your relationship over work?

This sucks.

"(Y/N)?" Yangyang spoke up this time.

"Yeah?"

"It's your turn," he says.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that," you sighed again and picked out a block. As soon as you touched it, however, the tower came toppling down. "Oh no... it toppled over... like my relationship," you slammed your head against the coffee table and groaned. "This sucks! God, I feel horrible, how could I have said those things to him? He just wanted to explain what happened that night and I told him to leave... isn't that what I wanted in the first place? Why'd I chase him out like that?" Your voice was muffled by your hands.

"So you're not fine," Mark mutters.

"Mark!" Yangyang gasps. "In your defense, (Y/N), you're allowed to be upset, you know? Don't be so harsh on yourself."

"I'm such a horrible girlfriend, he must feel terrible," you cried.

"Uh, no, you're not a horrible girlfriend," Mark almost sounded offended. "(Y/N) you used to bundle up in the hottest summer days just to visit him and bring him and his friends ice cream. Not just anyone does that!" Mark says and hands you a tissue. "You'd literally rush out of practice to go meet him, (Y/N), don't put yourself down. You did great, anyone who knows you knows that. It's just him being shitty and keeping you out of the loop for so long with no actual reason," Mark speaks up, he wasn't the kind to get heated like this.

"Plus, if you were a shitty girlfriend," Jaemin takes a seat and places a glass of water by you, pushing it in your direction. "This guy here wouldn't have been so head over heels for you," he says nonchalantly. Yangyang clears his throat and looks away. "I'm pretty sure he knows you better than anyone else will, I'm surprised you're still friends."

"It's more like a hostage situation," Yangyang teases.

"You've got a point there, Jaemin. And, to be fair, it's a double hostage situation. We have too much shit on each other to stop being friends," you sighed into your hands. "Still, everything just feels... kinda lame, you know? Like I don't want to do anything..."

"Hey, (Y/N)," Yangyang starts setting up the Jenga tower again.

"What?"

"Why isn't a koala considered a bear?" You looked up from your hands, your face scrunched with confusion. Where did that come from?

"Why?"

"They don't meet the koalafications." You stared at each other for a moment before processing what he just said. A small smile rose on your face and you snickered quietly.

"No way," Jaemin's jaw drops. "(Y/N), you really are a lost hope."

"What did the police officer say to the button?" Yangyang continues despite Jaemin's comments.

"Oh god, what?" You were almost afraid to find out.

"You're under a vest." You didn't know what it was, your tired brain, Yangyang's straightlaced expression, or the mess of emotions you were going through right now, but somehow for some reason you found it funny.

"Stop, they're not even that funny!" Still you couldn't help the ridiculous grin on your face, something that Mark and Jaemin were astounded by. Mark in shock and Jaemin in denial.

"Why did the bike fall over?"

"... why?"

"It was two tired."

"Oh my god," you wiped the tears out of your face.

"Why are you still crying?" Mark handed you the whole box now.

"The jokes are just so bad," you hiccuped.

"Wait, I have one more," Yangyang leaned back on his palms. "Why did the man get attacked by a bike every day?"

"Why?"

"He was stuck in a vicious cycle." The sound of someone laughing behind them caught everyone's attention and you spotted Jeno holding bags of McDonald's.

"That was good one," he laughs and places the paper bags on the table. "Anyway, I got everyone chicken nuggets so eat up."

"Why McDonald's?" Jaemin inquired, grabbing a box anyway.

"It's like (Y/N)'s favorite comfort food."

"McComfort Food," you mumbled, a small chuckle rising from your mouth.

"Mc what?" Jaemin remarks.

"You wouldn't understand," you just shook your head. You looked over at your phone. Seonghwa's number was still blocked, something you had reluctantly decided to do after more than a week of him ghosting you. If he didn't want to talk to you then you shouldn't want to talk to him, right? "Jeno, pass me a McNapkin, please." You held your hand out and Mark almost choked on his food.

"Damn, you're really crazy about this guy, huh?" Jaemin points at you with a nugget.

"I should go to him," you sighed. A chorus of "No!"s chimed around you and you looked around surprised. "Why not?"

"(Y/N), no offense, but what he did was so shitty, like, literally, he kept you in the dark for so long and now he expects you to just forget about it? You deserve better," Mark says. He had a point, and you thought so too.

"I think I should at least hear him out..."

"Maybe not right now," Jaemin sighs. "Wait for a bit, just till the tensions go down. One of you might make things worse."

"You're right," you shook your head. "Let's just go back to Jenga, yeah?"

"(Y/N)?" Saeron stuck her head out of the ANiMA side.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything alright? Hongjoong called-"

"Everything's fine!" The other boys answered. Saeron narrowed her gaze, but slipped back in, phone pressed against her ear. You could just barely make out a 'Yeah, no, she isn't fine. How's Seonghwa?' You sighed again.

"Hey, why don't we go out on a date?" Jeno offers.

"No," Jaemin shakes his head. "Why would you do that?"

"Okay, ouch," you sat up, pulling a block from the tower and making a move to toss it at him before Jaemin holds his hand out.

"You just broke up with Park Seonghwa of ATEEZ, imagine what people would do if they saw you with Lee Jeno from NCT Dream," Jaemin rationalizes, picking out a block and ignoring Mark's expression.

"It was my turn..." Mark mutters. As he makes a move to grab a block, Jeno reaches for one instead and Mark just folds his arms.

"Yeah, you've got a point," Jeno frowns. "Just wanted to help you feel better, (Y/N)," Jeno nudges your leg with his. "Hey, let's all go out then. Let's bring Yeseul so it's not sketchy. (Y/N), we can do that one thing you've been wanting to do!" Jeno adds with a smile.

"Shopping?" Mark asks.

"Pottery?" Yangyang adds next.

"Axe throwing," you and Jeno answer. Mark's expression immediately drops just as fast as Yangyang's jaw.

"Oh you are so on!" You grinned.

"There we go! That's the spirit!" Jeno stands up and pulls you with him. "Let's get ready, I'll call ahead of time, Jaemin, you coming?"

"To make sure neither of you bust your heads, yeah," Jaemin gets up slowly.

"Hey, wait for us!" Mark scrambles up. "Yang, come on," he urges. "We can just watch, or something..."

"Axe throwing, Jesus, how do they even come up with that?" Yangyang laughs pathetically. "One of us is going to end up in a hospital, huh?"

"I'll make sure it's none of you two, don't worry," you waved your hand, rushing to get ready.

General Tag List: @vickylamore @chxngyunie @sehunnies-hunnie96 @yangsrose @bat-shark-repellant @cloudreads @raeincitizen @here-aeth @lune1897 @gaiyofanfiction @jaeminsespresso @umbralhelwolf @morningsunandnightsky

NCT Tag List: @cherrylovr @eggoyu

Prominence: @nuoyii @leesalts @jiheonie @naphthalene-ball @thejungjaehyun @eggoyu @minimochi24 @mythicalamphitrite @zwiehe @uzumakioden @billboard-singer @shinyddeonghwa @kibblesnbites @simpery @dear-dreamie @marsophilia @samsemsame @chimmybaek7 @w4yh0me @hyvn-jaeee @stopeatread

Unable to be Tagged: @mizzdivagirl7-blog @elwiwiwi @jwyluver @sunaispretty

If you want to be added to either tag list just send me a reply to this post, and ask, or a DM and I’ll add you as soon as possible!

#nct #nct u #ateez #nct x reader #nct u x reader #ateez x reader #nct social media au #nct u social media au #ateez social media au #nct added unit au #seonghwa x reader #park seonghwa x reader #my writings #prominence #prominence s2 #wayv #wayv x reader #wayv social media au #yangyang x reader #nct 127 #nct 127 x reader #nct 127 social media au #nct dream #nct dream x reader #nct dream social media au

[scummy-writes]

Sebastian reacting to Pregnant Mc

Whenever Sebastian spent his breaks in his room rather than around the residents, it usually meant he was working on his ‘diary’ and completely engrossed in his scribing. You expected him to not notice when you opened the door with a late lunch you had made for him, but as soon as it shuts behind you, he’s already mentioning how much longer it’ll be before he can get to a good stopping place. His desk is littered with papers as you expected, but instead of notes on any new habits he saw, they were filled with patterns and measurements. Sebastian barely paid much mind to them as he fiddled with a sewing machine.

Your response to his mumbling is just a smile, coming up behind him to rest your hands on his shoulders.

“Do you do this every winter?” The words are soft, eying the design drafts he has stacked at the corner of his desk. The first sheet is certainly a sketch geared for le Comte’s tastes, and knowing Sebastian’s fondness of the man, you’re (slightly) surprised his coat isn’t finished first.

“Mm, if I can. I need to do something with all of Lotte’s wool…”

“Ahh…” Your fingers tap on his shoulders, contemplating your next words. “Have you considered making jackets for the children Napoleon and Isaac-”

“Every year, I usually start on theirs first…” As he slows to a stopping point, you bend to plant a kiss atop his head, enjoying the chuckle he lets out. “Le Comte has promised to buy anything our child needs, but if possible, I’d like to make clothes for them often…”

“Hehe, is that something you’ve dreamed about for a while now?”

“Not until as of late…,” He shifts, looking up at you. “I suppose I should plan ahead?”

“...How long ago did you figure it out.”

“The mornings have been harder on you lately-”

You can’t help the sigh that comes out, appreciating the gentle squeeze he gives your hands. “I wanted it to be a surprise, you know! I’m still not even sure myself… It’s harder to know, compared to the future.”

He grins, turning in his seat to peck your cheek.

“Regardless, I’m looking forward to starting a family of our own.”

--

Did you think Sebas, the man who barely hides his extensive 'research' on the mansion’s fools wouldn’t keep track of your period? He needs to know when to cut you a lot more slack during work. Granted, he doesn’t know exactly when you became pregnant, but I’d imagine if he noticed you were late and that wasn’t normal for you, he’d have a Hunch

He sews often, primarily in the winter, but now he’s digging out old patterns he never thought he’d get to use for his own family.

You’re still not sure if it was a joke or not, but the name 'Napoleon' was suggested (and rejected).

If Napoleon ever offers to teach the baby when its older, Sebas will be pulling you aside in private and trying his best not to go on and on about it, and if he slips later on you let him have his Moment, chuckling as you watch the excitement buzz through him

Spoiled by everyone- e v e r y o n e. The whole mansion loves Sebas, and of course you too, but Sebas has taken care of them for a while now, of Course they’re going to take the chance to repay him via baby spoiling/watching. (He cries a little abt it in private-). The more ‘responsible’ ones would be le Comte, Isaac (though skittishly), Napoleon, vaguely Mozart (babies are Messy), whereas while the others obviously wouldn’t be untrusted, they just spoil the baby a bit more via sweets and the like.

God knows you wont be getting any work done during your pregnancy. None of the residents will have it and Sebas enforces it.

-----

I found this buried in my old request drafts. I was looking through them to try and get some inspo, and I can’t believe I just kinda. Had this sitting in there. I think I planned to post it but something came up and I completely forgot about it (probably overtime with work hit pretty hard).

For any Sebas fans still following me from when I started posting these lil scenarios, thanks for being patient. I stopped for a while but here is! Sebastian’s. Short and simple but hopefully a bit enjoyable?

(Arthur, Isaac, Vincent)

Masterlist | Ikevamp Server (18+)

#ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp sebastian #ikemen vampire sebastian

[assassins-and-hidden-blades]

Trust Me -- Part 2

02/06/2021: Wow, uh, wow. This one got me. Almost started crying at the cheesy ending. I will cringe at it in precisely two months from now. Thank you guys SO much for all the positive feedback of PART 1, it really helped me finish this part. Without you guys, this would have been still sitting in my drafts. There's lowkey a bit of pressure in this actually being GOOD, so I'm sitting here with a bit of Imposter SyndromeTM and crossing everything I can cross that you guys like it. I can't tell whether I went overboard or not, though... I guess that's for you guys to tell me lmao.

Also, these commas can be pried from my very cold, extremely dead, fingers.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated! For the first time in almost ever, I'm a bit very nervous to post this -- I hope you enjoy it!!

Tagging: @marshmallow--3 // @yourlocalfrenchie // @rahdaleigh // @sofiewithat /// @iceboundstar // @mythandmagik // @itseivwhore // @pink-polarfox // @missbenzayb // @ct-5445 // @timbreavery // @dacian-assassin // @thepalaceofmelanie // @asilverraven // @huntheimpossible // @eclectic--assassin // @thehistorynut19 // @ta-ka-shi-ma // @roki3chocoa // @fandomsfanman // @le-nottibianche // @bandit-brunsmeier // @starmoji1 // @spocktheestallion // @salty-thembo // @missingfrye // @xdeimos // If you want to be tagged, let me know!!

Warnings: Lots of swearing, a bit of graphic violence, implicit mention of sexual assault (I hope it's not a spoiler to say that this does not actually happen, but the idea is used as manipulation. It's not done well, but I'm blaming that on the character being a horrible liar, instead of me sucking at write arseholes), implied character death.

Pairing: Edward Kenway x F!Reader

Assassin's Creed Mobile Masterlist

Red Dead Redemption 2 Mobile Masterlist

The neighbouring ship was chaotic. The opponents were drunk on victory, so slipping through unnoticed was easy. The hard part was going to be staying undercover until you could free Edward and the rest of the crew without anyone falling casualty. “Strip them of their weapons and take them to the brig!” You heard the Quartermaster yell. Thinking quickly, you moved to Edward; if you knew where his weapons were, escaping could be much easier. People were already pulling out his pistols and cutlasses, fortunately dumping them in your arms. Looking around, you pulled away to hide them in an inconspicuous barrel for later.

You weren’t planning on staying long.

Quickly rejoining the group, you took hold of one of your crew members -- you recognised him as one named Jonah -- at the back of the crowd, keeping your face covered lest they accidentally reveal your identity. You kept your eye on Edward’s tense shoulders the entire time, heading below deck and to the rows of cells at the end of the ship.

As you gently pushed Jonah into the cell, someone slammed the door shut, chucking the ring of keys your way. “Lock ‘em up.” Swallowing, you nodded, feeling uncomfortable under their gaze while turning the key in the lock. Taking them out of your hands, a mop and bucket was shoved in its place. “You’re on cleaning duty, starting upstairs; let’s go.” With one last glance, your eyes scoured for Edward before they all disappeared from view.

----------

Edward

There was this crushing anxiety he just couldn’t shake. It rendered him almost motionless, crouched in the corner of the cell, picking at his sleeves. There was a commotion heading towards them; he was in for company he was not in the mood for.

Heavy footsteps gave away the visitor. “We searched your boat.” His crew parted to clear a view as Charles Marlowe relaxed against the cell bars. “We found your woman.”

Edward’s eyes snapped to Marlowe’s as he clenched his jaw, almost daring him to say more.

With a chuckle and a disgusting grin, he brought out a small knife to clean. “Don’t you want to know where she is?”

“I expect you’d would tell me regardless.”

“I would advise against winding me up, Kenway. I could always take my anger out on her instead.”

It took a second for Edward’s arms to fly through the bars, constricting around Marlowe’s throat. “What have you done with her?”

Although cold metal pressed against his jaw, he didn’t ease up.

“She’s waiting for me very nicely... in my cabin.”

Edward didn’t have to think very hard to infer his meaning.

“I’ll kill you if you touch her. I’ll kill you.” Growling, he held impossibly tighter, for if he was here, he wasn’t there.

“With your actions come consequences, Kenway. And you might not be the one paying for them.”

A dilemma came to mind: delay him to keep him away from you, or risk the consequences of his revenge?

Somewhat luckily, he didn’t need to choose.

Before Edward could comprehend that he loosened his grip, Marlowe slipped out of his grasp. The distraught Captain pressed himself against the bars, anger drenching his expression as he heaved out breaths. His captor laughed. “You’re very good at empty threats, Kenway.”

“It’s not a threat. It’s a promise.” His cold tone streaked through the crew, setting hairs on end. They had never heard their Captain like this before; so angry, so dangerous.

It terrified them.

“That remains to be seen. In the meantime…” With a mocking whistling tune, Marlowe spun on his heels and began to walk away.

“Come back here, bilge rat!” He pulled harshly against the cell door. “Don’t you dare touch her!”

“Then you better stay in line.”

As he disappeared from view, Edward’s emotions overwhelmed him, frustrated tears coming to his eyes. He turned to a solid wall, slamming the side of his fist against it and yelled.

Fear, anger, guilt, and grief echoed around the brig.

Collapsing against the wood, he hid his face in his hands, aiming to either calm himself or hide his inevitable breakdown.

----------

Y/N

“Finish up downstairs.” Nodding affirmatively, you picked up the mop bucket and eagerly headed beneath deck, having to consciously slow down to avoid suspicion. You were glad you were disguised in the uniform of Marlowe’s crew instead of the rags of the common sailors aboard; it would’ve made the job much harder than it had to be.

Keeping a level head, you walked past the cell holding your family and placed the mop bucket against the wall, scanning the deck.

Empty.

Sighing in relief, you realised that you were alone with your crew at last. As you pulled the covering off of your face, you shushed frantically, the cell almost erupting into cheers. You gestured for them to part, eyeing Edward, almost balled up in the corner of the cell. “Hey, Ed,” you whispered, watching as his head snapped up to you, eyes widening.

Scrambling up, he strode to the bars in a second, reaching through the gaps to hold you. “Thank Christ…” he exhaled in relief, bringing your forehead to his lips between the bars. You pulled away after a few moments, sharing relieved glances. “Are you hurt? Did they do anything to you?” he asked, eyes scanning you for any sign of injuries.

“No, no, I’m okay. Are you alright? Did we lose anyone?”

“I’m... fine; I haven’t done a head count yet.”

You didn’t reply, watching as Jonah came up to tap Edward on the shoulder. “Capt’n?”

He turned around, withdrawing his hands as Ryan came into view. “I can’t find my da’.” His voice was barely stable, cheeks stained with tear tracks. For a second, you both exchanged sorrowful glances.

Edward crouched down, ruffling his hair. “He’ll be around, lad. We just have to find him. Maybe he’s escaped and is planning his own rescue mission for us.”

Ryan nodded, wanting to believe him. Meanwhile, Edward stood and brought Jonah close, leaning to whisper in his ear. He withdrew, a willing but uncertain look on his face. Both retreated back into the small crowd.

“What did you tell him?” you asked.

“...That he has to look after Ryan now.”

You squeezed your eyes shut to stave off tears. “Shit.”

His fingers gently grazed your cheek. “Are you sure you’re alright? Does Marlowe know you’re here?”

Frowning, you shook your head. “I wouldn’t have thought so; if he did, I’d be stuck in there with you.”

His expression was nearly unreadable, but you could sense his anxiety. “I saw him come from here a few moments ago. What was he saying?”

“He…” Pausing for a moment, Edward swallowed. “Just Templar bullshit.”

You scoffed at the notion. “Of course he did. Look, I know how to get out of this.”

“I’ll take anything at this point.” Although his tone was sarcastic, you could tell that for the first time, he didn’t know what to do.

“He needs to die.”

Edward froze, brows narrowing, realising your intention. “No, Y/N, no.”

“‘No’ was an option in Nassau, but we don’t have that choice--”

“No, there must be another way -- “

“There is no other way! This is our only chance--”

“Are you hearing me?! He--”

“Do you understand the situation we’re in?!”

“No, Y/N, please--”

“All it takes is--”

“Just LISTEN to me!” He hissed through gritted teeth, grasping your arm to give it a sharp shake to stop you talking over him. The shock threw you into silence. Lowering his voice, he continued. “If you make so much as one mistake, he won’t just kill you; he’ll make you wish you were dead. Please, please, don’t do this.”

You were stunned. You’ve never seen him so adamant about staying your blade. The desperation in his tone threw you off; you’ve never heard him this serious -- this frantic -- before.

Edward grabbed one of your hands in both of his, bringing your knuckles to rest against his lips. “I love you… with everything I have; I can’t lose you. Not if I can help it,” he murmured, closing his eyes. Your heart broke as you watched a tear escape, trailing down his skin.

“Okay, okay.” You rarely saw Edward cry, and when you did, it was usually due to either drinking or laughing. He took a small, shuddering breath, trying to compose himself.

“We wait for Adé. Then we’ll think about Marlowe.”

“Alright, okay. Hey...” you caressed his jaw. “I’m okay. We’ll be okay. Trust me.”

You heard ruckus above the deck. “Someone’s coming.” Both of you broke away like shrapnel, Edward sitting himself on the floor while you mopped, facing the wall.

And that was how things were.

----------

A couple of weeks had passed since the crew was abducted from the Jackdaw. Everyone had been forced to labour on the deck, doing various jobs, from scrubbing floors to adjusting sails to everything in between. Adé was nowhere to be seen; whether he was hidden on deck and still strategising, or God forbid, something worse, you didn’t know.

A few didn’t make it.

Keeping your identity hidden was becoming increasingly difficult as time went on, of both being a woman and lover of the imprisoned Captain. You had, however, been able to gather intel of Marlowe from the crew that despised him. Each day further validated your belief that this man would be much better off dead; the crew have no loyalty except out of fear, and you could work with that.

You understood Edward’s fear, but it would be selfish of you to stand back and not do anything, watching as almost everyone on the ship suffered; if you did nothing, you would regret it for the rest of your days.

One particular morning was extremely hot, extremely dry, and extremely labour intensive. You were almost halfway through your journey, and you knew you were running out of time. Something had to happen, and soon, or you would never make it to the end of the year.

----------

Edward

After the first week, the crew joined the common sailors around the ship, performing average labour over hours. There was barely time to rest, eat, or drink; he could tell that this was wearing him down more than any form of torture.

The sun’s rays beat down on the nape of his neck as midday approached. Orders were to scrub the floor. He had a brush in his hand the size of a polishing brush, sharing a bucket with four other members of his crew. Each time he made eye contact with one of them, he’d give them a reassuring look; they’d all get out of this, he just needed a plan.

Doors were haphazardly flung open, Marlowe revealing himself from his cabin, followed by an entourage of his closest crew. They clumsily made their way across the ship, bumping into those scrubbing the deck, only to send them a look as if it was their fault in the first place.

One of them knocked over a bucket of water, spilling the liquid across the wood. Edward looked up to observe the situation. It belonged to his crew, including Jonah and Ryan. Marlowe stopped, his stare set on the ones kneeling, completely ignoring the real culprit. “You.” He crooked his finger towards Ryan. “Get up.”

With a petrified look on his face, Ryan stumbled to his feet, shaking like a leaf. “It wasn’t--”

Marlowe put his hand up, a warning to shut up. “It was your bucket, was it not?”

“Y-Yes, but--”

“So it was your responsibility, correct?”

“W-Well--”

“It’s a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, boy.”

“... Yes, sir.”

Marlowe turned to call to his second in command. “Get the cat.”

Edward’s heart stopped. By now, the ship had dropped to complete silence. They wouldn’t… he was only a boy. Marlowe was sadistic, but he wouldn’t be that evil, would he?

Before he could stop himself, Edward found himself standing protectively in front of Ryan. The child gripped onto his sleeve as he was pushed behind his Captain by the arm. “Why don’t you give a punishment to someone who deserves it?”

Marlowe held a neutral expression. “You’re right…” With a wave of his hand, arms snaked themselves around Edward’s, pulling him away from the others, restraining his movements.

Edward’s eyes flitted to Ryan for a split second; he was pulled to sit beside Jonah before he gained any more unwanted attention. Marlowe came to stand in front of him, unpinning his cape from around his shoulders. It fell into someone’s arms, who carried it away. Although his limbs were pulled harshly behind him, he held his head high, a hard expression in his eyes.

Undoing his cuffs, Marlowe smirked. “I believe you deserve twenty, in place of that boy…” Without warning, a fist came into contact with Edward’s sternum. If it weren’t for the arms holding him upright, the force would have sent his knees buckling. As he regained his breath, he glared at Marlowe. “Another twenty is in order for disobedience…” Another strike winded him again, this one seemingly worse than before. Keeled over, hair blocking his vision, he almost didn’t notice Marlowe leaning into his ear. “Then, about as many as I deem fit…”

Standing up straight, he shook out his hand. “Get him ready.”

Edward stumbled as he was half-dragged across the deck to the main mast. His chest and face collided with the post, the wood almost burning his skin. His arms were pulled taut above his head, rope quickly entwining itself around his wrists. He gave them an experimental tug, his heart skipping a beat when he found not even an inch of give.

Oh, fuck.

Hands gripped the back of his shirt, swiftly tearing it open. His muscles tensed as the sunlight hit his skin. Closing his eyes, he steeled himself with a breath.

The first strike licked his skin, the force shoving him against the post, ripping open stripes of flesh. Pain shot across his back. Biting a back a groan, Edward clenched his jaw. Sweat trailed down his temples, arms straining against the ropes.

Resting his forehead against the post, he prepared for the next lash.

But the strike never came.

----------

Y/N

Ooh, boy.

You were shocked at yourself for a moment, your hand firmly wrapped around Marlowe’s extended wrist, the cat of nine tails trickling Edward’s blood onto the back of your hand.

“I demand satisfaction.”

Gasps and muttering littered the crowd, and you kept to yourself the true realisation of what you’ve done.

You’ve challenged Marlowe to a duel.

“Don’t…” Edward looked over his shoulder, voice loud enough for only you to hear.

You spared him a side glance, urging him to quiet down.

Instead of the expected anger, Marlowe chuckled. “Alright; who demands it?”

You pulled off your face covering and hat, the sun hitting the skin on your face fully for the first time in two weeks. “Naturally, me.”

He hummed darkly, eyes narrowing with recognition. “Naturally.” He began to unsheathe his sword.

“I thought you were a man of tradition; are pistols not your forte?” You raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

After a prolonged glance, metal clicked back into its leather hold. “You really don’t know what you’re getting into, my dear.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“... Let’s get this over with.”

Your heart pounded. This was such a stupid move.

But it was also your only move.

Hiding your own fear, you held eye contact with Marlowe. With trembling fingers, you drew your own pistol, gifted to you by Edward from your last birthday. It was very much your lucky charm, and you hoped it wouldn’t fail you now.

“Ten paces, on my count.” You had no idea who the voice belonged to, nor did you have the current emotional capacity to care. Pulling the hammer down on your pistol, you turned your back to Marlowe. A blank was fired, the echoing shot a signal to start moving.

1…

2…

3...

It was almost deadly quiet.

4…

5…

6…

This was stupid, this was a bad idea. You won’t make it.

7…

8--

An unexpected shot rang out. You dropped to the floor, a pain beginning to blossom in your side.

“NO!”

Marlowe had cheated. Internally, you scoffed. Of course he did.

Although it stung, you were surprised at how bearable the pain was, given you just got shot.

Or did you?

You lay still, partly in shock and partly to plan what to do next.

“What are you all looking at? Get back to work!”

“Y/N? Y/N/N!” You heard Edward’s voice crack. “You cheating bastard!”

“Now, now, Kenway. Don’t forget the position you’re in.”

Floorboards creaked as someone approached. Pistol miraculously still in hand, you waited for as long as possible. Just a little longer....

A shadow shaded your face from the sun. Without thinking, you turned, aimed, and shot.

Marlowe stared back, glassy eyed, blood trickling down his nose.

A moment later, he collapsed.

No one dared to move, choosing to stare at the body in front of them, not quite believing that he was dead.

The monster of a man was dead.

After the adrenaline ebbed away, you sighed heavily. “Glad that’s over.” A hand came into view, offering assistance to stand up. You locked eyes with someone who should have made himself known a long time ago. “Adé!” Accepting the help, you smirked. “Great timing.”

You quickly moved to Edward to begin untying the knots around his wrists. “What the fuck were you thinking?!” he exclaimed, exertion clear in his eyes.

“I’m sorry for worrying you--”

“Worrying me?” One wrist freed, he deftly moved to the other. “When I saw you lying there, I felt as if I had died!”

You sighed. “I needed to do something, lest you became more bone than back.”

“That was the most stupid plan I’ve ever seen in my life.” His hands free, he paid no heed to his own wounds and immediately tried to inspect yours. “You were so irresponsible--”

Bringing his face to yours, you stopped him talking with a kiss.

He diffused immediately, finally processing that you were in front of him, alive, and Marlowe was the one dead on the floor. Melting into you, the tension in his muscles dissipated, replaced only with relief. He broke apart from you, burying his face in your neck, his arms wrapped around you tightly.

“If the plan worked, it couldn’t have been that stupid,” you remarked.

“I’m so sorry.” His words were mumbled into your shoulder.

“You were looking out for me; I would have done the same if the roles were reversed.” You hugged him back, recoiling when he suddenly flinched in pain. “Oh, God, I’m sorry.”

“Shall we just accept each other’s apologies and call it a day?”

You laughed. “That would be good.”

Turning to the hands on deck, you raised your pistol in the air. “It’s over, lads! We can go home!”

You held your side, the pain greatly subsided under the amount of other emotions you were feeling; joy, relief, but also grief. Not for Marlowe, but for the ones that didn’t see this day.

You made a vow there and then; a vow to live your life the way they would have lived.

With joyful, carefree fun.

With the ability to live in the moment.

With gratitude for what you still have that they lost: For some, love, and for others, life.

#assassin's creed #assassin's creed x reader #assassin's creed x f!reader #edward kenway x reader #edward kenway x f!reader #assassin's creed imagine #assassin's creed oneshot #edward kenway imagine #edward kenway oneshot