#maybe in the way that apollo is a mirror

[z0mbzii]

Having some thoughts about the difference in the way that Phoenix treats his apprentices. Like even just in the difference that he talks to Athena and Apollo. Is it because Phoenix took on Athena when he was in a better situation, when he actually wanted to VS. Him taking Apollo on as a part of his plan in AA4? There's something in the question of whether or not Phoenix intended on Apollo sticking around as long as he did. I mean its a miracle Apollo even came back after the forged ace situation. Maybe it's the way that Apollo's unrelenting trust in justice and the legal system directly operated against Phoenix's. Maybe something in the way that Nick is characteristically cagey and keeps the fact that he's Trucy's brother to himself, like he's still trying to keep Apollo at an arms length. There's something about Phoenix's character that still hasn't Accepted him and ..... maybe u guys get what I'm trying to say here but (and it could always just be sloppy writing in the way his tone shifts so dramatically between aa4 and aa5)

There's just something in the way that Apollo and Phoenix's relationship is so heavily built upon secrecy and distrust. There is a weird similarity in the way that Phoenix and Apollo's interactions operate so similarly to Phoenix’s and Kristoph's. Idk

#idk if im making this point the way i want to. #but you get what i mean right? #by you guys i mean the voices in my head #i feel like you could really dive into the way that Phoenix treats his female assistants and appreciates vs his male ones #but with apollo being his only male assistant #i think u would need a bigger sample #but i feel like theres definitely something tehre #maybe in the way that apollo is a mirror #i am all you could have been and you are all i could turn out to be #yknow? #ace attorney #phoenix wright #apollo justice #zombchat

[henry-fox-biggest-stan]

Me because the Percy Jackson series is actually about the different cycles of abuse, which include abuse within romantic partners (Sally and Gabe), abuse between “family” (Percy and Gabe, Meg and Nero), abuse from people in positions of power (the gods over the demigods), and so on, oppression than ranges from having adhd in the public educational system to being forced to perform quests for your entire life for people who could not care less about your well-being, how camp is both somewhere safe but also the bittersweet taste of arriving there and realizing you can never escape, you can never be normal your life will never be the same. There’s no turning back. How Luke was right on theory but not on acts, how these kids got around the idea to never make it to 18, and how there was nothing they could do about that. How many of them sat in their cabins, counting down the days until their sibling/friend/partner came back, only for them to not come back at all. Was it ever their turn to leave someone waiting behind? Annabeth, Percy, Grover, Thalia, the whole deal with Nico, Bianca, Silena, and every single demigod. Children of Apollo were the camp healers, was it a choice? A moral obligation? In camp Jupiter there’s Jason, there’s Reyna, Piper’s story, Leo’s story, the way Jason and Piper’s relationship was heteronormativity pushed by Hero because both of them were queer but she wanted a perfect couple. After being gone missing, people searched for Percy, but Jason? The devastation of Leo and Jason’s relationship, how Leo never knew his feelings for him were required, how both Leo and Piper thought they knew Jason but it was all fake memories, how Jason never fully got his memories back. Hazel’s story, Frank’s story, how Nico and Leo’s mutual dislike for each other comes from a place of understatement. How they both see themselves in each other and look away as one looks away from a mirror when they dislike their reflection. They are both so similar, almost the same. They both are also autistic, except Leo is always masking, and Nico never really learnt how to. Neurodivergence, adhd and dyslexia. Being a demigod is a metaphor for neurodiversity. Was Dionysus actual punishment looking over camp? Or was it spending years and years seeing demigods come and grow and die? Knowing there was nothing he could do about it? Knowing than if he was with the gods, he would be causing their deaths, instead of grieving them? Does Chiron feel hopeless? Memory, names, ghosts. Blades, swords, arrows, blood. So many blood, blood-stained hands. Monsters follow you before coming to camp, did they hurt you family? It was all your fault. They don’t want you to come back, you bring danger, you’re more dangerous than the monster, you are a monster yourself, after all the Minotaur was a demigod too. Leo killed his mother, Zeus killed Maria, Sally got taken to the underworld, Tristan was held hostage, Fredrick and his wife and sons got attacked by monsters, and who’s fault it was? You run away you keep on running but you’ll never outrun the danger because the danger is yourself, you are at fault, how do you run away now?

The odyssey, the iliad, the statues in museums, you look at them, do you see yourself? Do you see any resemble? Your nose kinda looks like theirs, the shape of their lips, the width of their hands, but that’s a lie you’re nothing like them, never will be, is that a tragedy? Do you want to be like them? Do you want to be a hero and die a heroic death? Or do you simply wish to visit your family on Christmas and live the life your little cousins will eventually live? Maybe you’ll never see the life they’ll live, maybe you’ll die before seeing it. There’s nothing to be done about that, you just have to accept it. Don’t you feel the rage, bubbling inside of you, making your hands shake? What can you do with it? Not much, remember last time, remember Luke, what did he accomplish? Nothing, blood, screams. You remember the war, you remember the city, maybe it was the first or the second time you set a foot on it, now every single time you do (if you do) in the future, it will be tainted. Look in that corner, that used to be destroyed. Look at that building, my friend died against that wall, that road was filled with blood. Was it ours? Theirs? Is there even a difference between us? Should there be? Why were you on your side? Why were they in theirs? Who was right? Who was wrong? You can go anywhere but home, maybe you’re not welcomed, maybe there’s no home to return, maybe it’s better for everyone if you don’t return. Nico keeps Bianca’s jacket, Leo taps iloveyou on Morse code. Piper was forced to be someone she wasn’t, she thought she was someone she was not, she was forced to think that. Who is she? Is she even who she thought she was? Jason still don’t remembers everything, and him? Who is he? Nico will never get his memories back, he wonders about his mom, did he have more family back then? Grandparents, aunts? Hazel is a walking curse. Silena and Clarisse as Patroklos and Achilles. Apollo seeing the brutal reality of demigods’ life on trials of apollo.

Your hand shakes, the sword you hold moves, you feel it’s weight, do you want to hold it? Do you have to?

The dead come back to haunt us, Nico sees Bianca everywhere, Leo still remembers his mother’s voice, Hazel came back from the dead, Frank holds his life on his pocket, Thalia lost a brother twice, Leo didn’t really die, Jason died instead, Percy wished to drown himself, half of camp still waits for their brother to come back, even if it has been months, even if it has been years. Luke’s mother still waits, was she crazy? The campers who thought to recognize their friend’s face for a second before remembering than it couldn’t possibly be them, were they crazy too? Who was crazier? Luke’s mother who did not remember, or the campers who did? The underworld has no mercy only justice, but the world has no justice only mercy. You might get mercy, but you never will get justice. Was it fair anything than happened to them? You might be spared in a war or in a battle out of mercy, out of pity, out of recognition, but that didn’t stop you from having to fight in it, that didn’t stop you from having to wield the sword. Spare all the people you want, turn a blind eye to whatever you want, mercy? sure, but you were still holding the sword, you were still supposed to fight, you still weren’t in charge of your life. How was that justice? How was that fair? Names had power, even their names had more power than your life, even the letters making up their names were more powerful than your fists, could you ever win? Could you ever win when their names were so powerful they could not be pronounced but your life was so worthless they didn’t even care to learn yours? To learn the names of the ones than died because of them. You can’t say the name of you sister’s killer, but you’re still expected to burn an offering to them each night at dinner.

#ahahah this is my super cool and canon version of Percy Jackson than exits on my head ok #can you tell i hate the pjo gods like #a LOT #*exists #pjo #luke castellan #rick riordan #toa #hoo

[viennakarma]

Evergreen (he tears me to pieces)

Charles Leclerc x Reader

Summary: Your relationship is ending, despite you fighting for it for a while. Maybe it's time to let go.

Word count: 3.7k

Tags: Female reader, established relationship, heartbreak, neglected relationship, fights, cursing, miscommunication, misunderstandings, break up, sad ending (kinda), open ending, not beta read

Relationships: Charles Leclerc x Reader

Notes: this is a bit sad, not gonna lie, but the ending is kinda hopeful (i guess?)

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You didn’t want to believe your relationship had reached a tipping point, but the details were all there. The lack of interest, distance, coldness.

You knew you and Charles were at a complicated point in your relationship. Losing the championship the year before had taken a huge toll on him, even when he tried to pretend it didn’t matter that much.

You were home in Monaco when you came back from shopping and you found Charles dressing up in the closet. You paused.

“Where are you going?” You asked, placing your shopping bag down.

“I’m going out for dinner with the boys,” he said, fixing his curls in front of the mirror.

“Charlie! We had my work dinner to go tonight! Did you forget about it?”

“Shit, baby!” He muttered, turning to you, “I’m so sorry!”

“Can you reschedule with your friends?” You asked, but he shook his head, spraying his cologne.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’ll make it up to you soon!” He reached for his wallet and car keys, “Don’t wait up for me!”

You sat on the bed, stunned. You thought about what you would say when you showed up at your work dinner that was made for the staff to take their partners to meet their colleagues and the work environment.

Alone at the dinner while everyone introduced their partners, you stayed only enough to not be considered rude and tried to not cry the whole drive back home.

Charles had not arrived yet when you went to bed, and you allowed yourself to shed a couple of tears before forcing yourself to sleep.

-

That was a bad day. Charles had crashed his car during the formation lap and you watched it with a heavy heart as he was out of the race and walking completely lost on his way back to the garage.

You waited for him to finish his press duties and after the race started, you went to meet him in his driver’s room. He was sitting on the sofa, a dreadful look on his face.

“Baby, how are you?” You whispered, kneeling beside him.

“How does it look?” He said, sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, that was stupid.” You frowned at your own silliness.

“Really stupid,” he mumbled. You swallowed, thinking he was just having a bad day.

“Can I do something for you?” You asked again, but he rolled his eyes.

“How about you leave me the fuck alone?!” He didn’t raise his voice too much, but the aggression was in his tone, in his coldness, like he was fed up with your existence.

You only nodded, ignoring the flaring pain in your chest as you silently left his room.

The lump in your throat didn’t bother too much as you sat down in the hospitality and watched what was left of the race. You stayed aimlessly around until way past the race ended, thinking about when it was finally time to go back to the hotel. You knew the debriefing meetings were usually longer after messed up races, so when you went back to the garage to look for Charles, you realized his bags weren’t in his room and the staff was disassembling everything and packing it up to leave.

You walked to the parking lot and noticed Charles’ car wasn’t there anymore. Back at the motorhome, you reached for your phone and tried calling him, but it went straight to voicemail. You were getting nervous every minute you passed alone there.

Like a forgotten clown.

“Hey! Are you ok?” You jumped hearing the voice behind you. It was Carlos, your boyfriend’s teammate and close friend.

“Yeah, um-” you stumbled on the words, because how the fuck would you tell Carlos that your boyfriend had left you behind, “I can’t reach Charles, and he left probably thinking I left earlier today.”

“Come on, I can give you a ride,” Carlos shook his keychain, pointing toward the parking lot.

“Thank you,” you managed to squeeze out.

As Carlos drove in silence, only the radio on softly, you tried not to think, because thinking would make you cry. And you didn’t want to cry in front of Carlos. As a sad song started, a single tear escaped, and you quietly wiped it, wishing Carlos was too focused on driving to notice. But as he stopped in front of the hotel, he offered you a tissue from the glovebox, which made two more tears come down before you could stop yourself.

“Thank you for the ride,” you said, and he just nodded.

“Anytime,” he said softly.

You were grateful he didn’t ask a single thing, nor tried to comfort you.

When you got into the hotel room, Charles was fast asleep, so you just got under the shower and cried with a hand on your mouth to muffle your cries.

-

You were finishing up your makeup when Charles got home on a random Saturday that he didn’t have work, and you two were home.

As you finished gluing eyelashes, Charles stood behind you with both hands on your hips.

“Aren’t you too formal for dinner at my mum’s?” He asked.

“I have a work gala tonight, Charles,” you said, impatiently, and moving away so his hands just slid off you.

“Why wasn’t I invited?” He pouted.

“You were,” you opened the lipgloss, applying to your lips, “you just forgot. Again.”

You didn’t look at him to see his expression drop. It was always like this, you were the last thing on his list of priorities. When he had work functions, you were always there for him, making do with your own time and commitments, squeezing him in so you’d never leave when he needed you. Unfortunately he never reciprocated you. Your friends didn’t matter, dinner with your family was optional and your work events, he didn’t even bother to go.

“You should’ve reminded me again.”

“I did. Two nights ago on the plane when we were flying back.”

“I can call my mom, reschedule our-” he started but your scoff cut him off.

“Don’t bother,” you shrugged.

“Amour-” He tried but you just shook your head.

“Just don’t, Charles,” you rolled your eyes, grabbing your clutch, “I don’t want to be late for the gala.”

Despite the sour beginning, the night was actually nice, you caught up with most of your colleagues, and sadly your boss announced she was going to retire. The night had a small award ceremony too, to celebrate the success of the year. Which ended up with you getting an award for your achievements during the year, and with a beautiful speech from your soon to be ex-boss, she announced that you were getting the promotion for the position of editor in chief, which was pretty much your dream job.

The night was one of the happiest of the year, and you only got home past two in the morning, after enjoying the company and celebrating your promotion. Charles was asleep as you placed your award, a symbolic trophy, on the living room bookshelf.

Charles never asked about the gala, and you didn’t waste any time trying to tell him, since he clearly didn’t give two fucks about your career.

When you went to the next race week hand in hand with Charles, you met Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, who were chatting. You and Charles greeted the both of them. Sebastian who you knew from his time as Charles’ teammate and Max who you knew ever since you were a teen karting for fun. You knew Max just as long as you knew Charles.

“I heard about your promotion! Congratulations!” Max said with a smile. You accepted his handshake with a tender smile. But at the same time, you felt the sudden hold of Charles on your hip.

“Oh, thank you!”

“Really?! Congratulations, Y/N!” Sebastian added.

“She’s always wanted to be editor in chief!” Max pointed out, “She was always talking about it when we were like fifteen!”

You smiled softly, remembering that when you were a teen, you were obsessed with 13 going on 30, and you were very vocal about your dream of working on a fashion magazine.

“I’m glad you achieved the dream then!” Sebastian said with great kindness to you.

Charles tapped your hip twice, and you knew the signal when you had to go.

“Thank you guys, thanks! Charles and I have to go, but see you around!” You and Charles waved at them and walked off.

Charles took your hand and, in long strides, led you inside only stopping when you were in a meeting room.

“You got a promotion?! Why didn’t you tell me that?” Charles said, suddenly upset.

“I guess it just slipped my mind,” you shrugged.

“This was your greatest dream! When did it happen?” He asked, looking hurt.

“At the gala you missed,” you sounded unbothered by his sudden outburst of hurt.

“And how did they know?!” He pointed a finger outside.

“From my instagram, I guess. I made a post about it,” you dismissed Charles, ignoring the fact that he hadn’t seen your post, going to sit down and sip some coffee, “I don’t understand why you’re using that tone with me.”

“Because you should’ve told me!” He raised his voice.

“I just don’t see why, my career never really mattered to you, why would it matter now?!” You said, and the more calmly you talked, the angrier he got.

“You got to be fucking kidding me, right?” He shouted.

“Look, you need to chill. I don’t know what’s gotten into you today, but I’m going to take a stroll around. See you in a bit. Hopefully you will have calmed down.” You stood up, leaving his room without letting him say anything else.

Despite getting calm between you and Charles, the distance only seemed to grow, and the only thing keeping you hung onto the love you felt for him were the memories of your five year relationship. You had to do something if you wanted to save your relationship with Charles.

Your fifth year anniversary happened in a day Charles was busy, but sent you flowers, and texted you a sweet message in video. It made you invigorated, and you planned to go all out on the weekend, when Charles was going to come home.

So you planned dinner with a cake, and a romantic getaway after checking his schedule and making sure you could make a quick trip to a very romantic and secluded villa in Positano. You also dressed in very sexy lingerie, and got yourself really pretty to wait for him. So you had everything planned. Dinner at 8, maybe a little love making after, and then you’d drive to Nice to get on the plane at midnight and take off to Italy.

You had told him to come home as soon as he got to Monaco, because you had an anniversary surprise for him. You texted him twice during the day to remind him.

But when the clock hit 8 in the night, the time you had told him to come home, a dreadful feeling placed in the pit of your stomach. He wouldn’t stand you up, would he? 8:17 you texted him a couple of times, but he didn’t read the text. 8:42 you removed the lamb from the oven, setting it on the table. 9:58 Joris texted you talking about how Charles had met the boys and they went out for a drink that turned into a few drinks.

Your face was wet with tears as you packed the food and placed it in the fridge, then washed your face of the make up and changed out of the lingerie. You were unpacking the two bags you’d take on the getaway, when you stared at the silly romantic tickets you had made over the week to symbolically gift him the romantic getaway. You stopped unpacking the bags, changing into a comfortable attire then taking only your bag and driving to Nice.

You turned your phone off and went to Positano alone.

The couple of days you spent only with yourself were good, even though you were crying a lot, feeling abandoned, forgotten and lonely in your relationship. You and Charles had been in a relationship for so long during your early adulthood, and you knew each other ever since you were preteens. It was painful watching life taking you and Charles apart even being so close.

It was weird, you thought you had gotten over the toughest years of your relationship. The year you started dating you were living in another country to attend university, and that had been very difficult to your relationship, but still, you managed.

You mourned the loss of that Charles. The Charles that would align both of your schedules so he wouldn’t miss anything important for you. The Charles that would send you random texts with pictures of things that reminded him of you. The Charles that cared, that asked, that communicated. This Charles was different, you two had grown into people with different goals in life. He wasn’t the same, but you also weren’t the same. Your priorities didn’t align anymore, that was a tough pill to swallow.

But you did.

You went back home again two days later, tanned and tranquil, with your mind made up about asking Charles for a break.

But as you entered the apartment, Charles ran into your arms.

“I’m so sorry, my love! So sorry I forgot about our plans! I was so worried about you!” He kissed your cheek, and you smiled politely, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise! I made a reservation at your favorite restaurant tomorrow night!”

“Charles,” you tried to come up with words, you were so tired, “I’ve got work this week.”

“Yeah, but you leave work at five? And our reservation is only at seven!” He asked, “Please, baby? Let me make it up to you.”

You were so tired of trying to hold on to something that was slipping through your fingers for months now, you didn’t feel any spark at his promising invite. But since he wanted to put in the effort, you would try again at least this once. If you couldn’t find the spark again until the end of the night, you’d have to let go.

So that’s how you ended up changing and putting makeup on at work, in your office. You’d meet Charles straight there since you had to catch up with work.

You had a gut feeling when you got to the restaurant, asking about the reservation under Leclerc. When the hostess took you to your table and you saw that Charles wasn’t there, you hoped and prayed he was coming.

Nursing a glass of wine, you just stared at the empty seat across from you. Your heart finally, fully sinking into the dark deep sea of this relationship. You felt like you’d been swimming against the tide, trying so hard to be the old you, with the old Charles. But this mourning of your relationship was happening inside of you for months now.

You had to let go. 

Charles was 47 minutes late when you paid for the wine and got up, grabbed your coat and left.

You were waiting for the valet to bring your car, when Charles finally showed up, quickly talking to the other valet. Your boyfriend was flushed in the face and had very obviously rushed there. It took him a second to notice you standing outside.

“Amour! What are you-” he paused, seeing the quietness in your face and the lit up cigarette between your fingers, “why are you smoking?”

“That’s the first thing you tell me?!” You scoffed. He finally noticed that you were waiting, dressed in your coat.

“Are you leaving?” He asked, confused.

“Yes, my boyfriend stood me up, can you believe that?!” You said, sarcastically.

“But I’m here, amour. Admittedly, a little late but-” he tried to say.

“Nuh-uh,” you shook your head, with a smirk, “my boyfriend was late. My ex-boyfriend is here.”

“Amour, no, please just-”

“Save it, Charles. It’s time to let go,” you said and briefly thanked the valet as he brought your car out, “I’ll go to your flat tomorrow, pick my stuff and leave the keys.”

“Please, don’t do this. Don’t do this to us,” Charles was teary eyed but you were unmoved. You quietly took a drag, then turned your face to puff the smoke to the other side.

“Us is done for a long time, and I’ve been trying to save it for a while but I’m tired now.”

“Can we talk? Tomorrow?”

“You won’t be here tomorrow, Charles. You’ll probably be doing any of the hundred things that are more important than your girlfriend,” you got into the car and drove away. Charles could see you didn’t want to talk, and maybe it was better to let you cool off for a moment.

He couldn’t believe how cold and detached you were being, the nonchalance in your tone, the finality of it all. Yes, he had messed up a few times, but not to the point of losing you. Right?

You ignored his messages and calls as you spent the next 24 hours in a hotel, only leaving to go to work and back. You had told Charles you were going to pick up your stuff, but you decided to do that two days later, when you knew he wouldn’t be there, traveling for his sponsor's commitments.

But when you got there, Charles was there, looking like he had barely slept.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in Italy?” You asked, bringing a couple of cardboard boxes inside.

“I canceled. Was waiting for you.” He said, low.

You felt like the lump in your throat was going to suffocate you any moment, because that’s what you wanted. You wanted him to put you first once, to care for your career a little bit, to make you a priority. But you wanted that earlier.

“You didn’t need to,” you said and swallowed, starting to pick up your books from the bookshelf, placing them in the box.

“You’re what matters the most,” he said, walking up to you.

“Bit late for that, Charles,” you scoffed. You couldn’t help but feel angry and act petty when you had been begging for his attention for almost a year now.

“Please, talk to me, Amour. Tell me.” He begged, taking your hands from the books, pulling you to pay attention to him. You snapped, pulling your hands from his.

“Did you cheat on me?” You asked, suddenly, because the possibility had been roaming your mind for a while now. It would certainly explain his distance, his misplaced priorities.

“What? What kind of question is that?” He looked so offended.

“Yes or no, Charles. It’s a simple question.”

“No, I would never cheat on you!”

You sighed. Old you would’ve believed him. Present you… weren’t sure. But then, it didn’t matter if he did it or not, anyway you broke up already.

“Talk to me!”

“I don’t know what you want me to say!” You shouted, taking a step back.

“What is going on! What you are feeling! Why are you leaving me?!” He was just as loud.

“Our relationship has been ending for a while now, are you fucking blind?! I’m alone in this! I love you alone. I cherish you alone. I fucking try alone! You don’t have the time for us, and you don’t even try to pay attention to me! You forgot me in the paddock a month ago, and you didn’t even know because you never asked! You missed the gala where I got a promotion, my greatest accomplishment! You missed our anniversary celebration! And when you promised to make it up to me, you stood me up! I’m tired, I feel like you’re suffocating us to death with your bare hands!”

“I didn’t realize you we-”

“Of course, you didn’t! You only care about yourself, Charles.”

“I take responsibility for my actions, yes. I’m so sorry I made you go through all that! But I can fix it!” He said, pleading.

“I don’t believe you anymore,” you said, voice soft and sad, “Who says I won’t get my hopes high only to be met with disappointment again later on?”

“I’m saying!”

“You’ve said that before, I’ll make it up to you, It won’t happen again, We’ll reschedule, I’m done with your excuses, Charles.”

“You don’t love me anymore? Is that it?”

“Stop, Charles. You’re being unfair.” 

“Yes or no?” He pressed further.

“I don’t know!” You shouted, exasperated, “I don’t know. My love took many hits over this year.”

“So this is it?” Charles opened his arms, flailing them around, “we’re done?”

“Yes. It’s for the best,” You finally said. Weirdly, you probably made peace with the fact your relationship was ending when you were crying alone in Positano.

It washed you with a surprising sense of relief, like a weight lifted from your shoulders. You probably had been emotionally checking out for a while. His absences and the coldness had been taking such a toll on you and your mental health, that the prospect of not having to deal with it anymore made you feel at peace.

That, or you were still numb after a rollercoaster of emotions.

“No, I don’t want it, I love you. So much.” he shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

A tiny part of you still wanted to comfort him, to hug him and say he’d be fine in the end. But nobody offered you the same kindness. Charles would have friends and family supporting him. You couldn’t do that. Not when he had caused you so much pain, constantly.

“I’ll, um-” you paused, putting the books back, “I’ll go. I can come back another time, when you’re not home. It will be better this way.”

You started walking to the door, but Charles intercepted you, blocking your path. His eyes were red, cheeks wet, and he looked absolutely hopeless.

“Please, let me try! Is there something I can do to change your mind?” He begged.

“No,” you dodged him, going to the door.

You left, without looking back. And despite the pain of ending something that at some point was so beautiful and such a source of happiness, the day was sunny and beautiful, and something in the way it warmed your face told you that you’d be alright.

NOTE: I'm considering writing part 2 with reader moving on, and as I'm feeling petty, I want her to move on to another driver, teehee. Opinions on which driver?

#f1 fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fic #f1 #formula 1 #charles leclerc x you #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc #Spotify

[triptuckers]

capture the flag - leo valdez

Request: nope Pairing:  leo valdez x apollo!reader Summary:  during capture the flag, no one gets stuck in leo's traps and he wants to find out why Warnings:  none Word count:  800 A/N: this has been sitting in my drafts for a while and now that I'm back in my pjo era time to finish it! enjoy :)

capture the flag is always fun. it's a nice way for people to train together while it feels like a game. even though sometimes people get too competitive.

it gives leo the chance to litter the forest with traps, and to test new inventions. of course, he could test them in the bunker or on his friends. but this is the real deal. no one knows where the traps are, how many there are. it's the perfect conditions to test them.

he's made a new batch of them but for some reason none of the traps work.

whenever he goes to check on them, they're all disabled. no one's activated them, or he would have found a fellow camper near one.

and leo is absolutely sure he activated them. they didn't blow up so there's nothing wrong with them.

and yet they're disabled.

rather than trying to capture the flag, he decides to hide in the bushes near one of his traps to see what - or who - is disabling them.

he listens to the sounds of the woods around him and pulls stuff out of his tool bel two mindlessly build little machines.

after a while, he spots movement out of the corner of his eye.

whoever it is moves quietly and gracefully. so definitely not an ares kid, leo concludes.

the person slowly walks over to leo's trap, careful where they put their feet down on the forrest floor.

leo watches as they walk around the trap, examining it. he shifts to get a better look at who it is.

he frowns slightly. he would have expected someone from the hermes cabin. maybe piper because he's spent a lot of time trying to explain his machines to her.

but he didn't expect it to be a daughter of apollo.

to be fair, leo thought the apollo cabin didn't know anything about traps or machines in general. their skills were mostly archery, medicine and music. not traps built by a hephaestus kid.

leo's eyes follow your hand movements as you carefully prod around the trap. surely you wouldn't be able to- and you disabled it.

smiling to yourself, you straighten your back and us your foot to slide the now useless trap aside.

when you turn around, you hear leaves rustle behind you.

instinctively, you knock an arrow on your bow and turn on your heel.

you are met by leo, who is frantically waving his hands in front of his face.

'don't shoot, don't shoot! I come in peace!' he yells.

you lower your bow. 'leo! gods, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!'

'that's alright.' says leo, lowering his hands. 'I was the one hiding behind you.'

you frown. 'why were you hiding anyway? usually you like to be in the middle of the action.' you say.

'can't help the fact people start fighting over me wherever I go.' says leo, making you chuckle.

'yeah, right, valdez. as if anyone could come near you with the amount of traps you're setting.' you say.

'speaking of which.' says leo, walking over to his trap and picking it up to examine it. 'how did you know where the kill switch was on this?'

you shrug. 'that's a tactical secret I can't reveal.' you say. 'for future capture the flag purposes.'

'or you just got lucky.'

'23 times?'

'yeah, that seems unlikely.'

you smile. 'there's a window in the roof of bunker nine.' you say. 'it's actually a two way mirror. it doesn't let any light through. gives me a perfect view of your workspace, though.'

'so the tactical secret is spying.' says leo.

'can't win if you don't play a little dirty every now and then. plus it's cool to see all the stuff you create.'

you shoulder your bow. 'good luck activating all of the traps again.' you say. 'I need to get back to my cabin.'

you start to walk toward the noise your fellow campers are making, to see if your team is winning and how you can help.

'hey!'

you turn around to see leo is still standing in the clearing with the trap in his hands.

'if you want to, I could show you how to make these? then you will be able to do more than just disable them.' he says.

you smile at him, you've always liked leo.

but you are surprised, you know leo is kind of protective of bunker 9 and usually only Hephaestus kids go inside. it must be a huge deal for someone from another cabin to be invited into the bunker.

and Leo wants you here.

'sure.' you say. 'I'd like that. but first we have to steal your flag.'

'oh no, you won't.' says leo.

with one last smile, you disappear into the woods, leaving leo to reactivate his trap before coming after you.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rulesHere’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit/Max

#first time writing for leo <3 #pjo #pjo fic #pjo fics #pjo fanfic #pjo fanfiction #pjo fanfics #pjo oneshot #pjo oneshots #percy jackson #Percy Jackson fanfiction #Percy Jackson fanfics #Percy Jackson fanfic #Percy Jackson fanfictions #Percy Jackson fic #Percy Jackson fics #Percy Jackson oneshot #Percy Jackson oneshots #Leo valdez #Leo valdez x reader #Leo valdez fanfiction #Leo valdez fanfic #Leo valdez fanfics #Leo valdez fic #Leo valdez fics #Leo valdez x apollo!reader #Leo valdez oneshot #Leo valdez oneshots

[mediumgayitalian]

At around half past one, Nico gets a Feeling.

He gets feelings a lot. Nothing he can quantify, just something telling him that something is up, somethings wrong. Or something’s about to be. At this point, he’s learned to trust his intuition, based purely on the number of times it has saved his life; a number he’s long since given up counting. (He’s only ignored his gut feelings three times in his life: when Bianca went on her quest, when his father promised not to hurt Percy before the Titan War, and when he went looking for the Doors. He has learned his lesson.)

So when something at the bottom of his stomach tells him to get up, to check things out — he does.

He knows it could be nothing. (The last time he had a Feeling, it turned out that he had placed a book precariously on the edge of his desk, and it had been about to fall. Not exactly world-saving stuff.) But regardless, he steps out of bed, shoves his feet into his shoes, and creeps out of his cabin.

Camp is kind of beautiful at night.

There’s an eerie calmness to it without so many human disasters running about, and the quiet reflects that. All Nico can really hear is the hooting of owls in the distance, the chittering of nocturnal animals and monsters alike, the distant screeches of curfew harpies, and the pleasant crashing of the waves. The air is clean, when he inhales, and he takes the time to hold it in his lungs for a bit, imagining the sweet breath is healing his burned lungs, turning the scar tissue back to something flexible and normal. Whether or not it actually works, he doesn’t know, but it feels nice.

Under the light of the brightly shining new moon and billions of stars, he starts his patrol. Around his own cabin first — there’s nothing, as he expected, the warning doesn’t seem overwhelming like threats tend to be — and then he makes his way around the circuit, checking behind gardens and shrines and inside braziers. He hums quietly as he walks, something preppy and bright the Apollo kids have been hollering for days, and waves to Lady Hestia, sword heavy at his waist.

“Come sit,” she calls, patting the seat next to her.

Nico does.

“Haven’t seen you out at night in a while.”

He hums, toneless this time, leaning back on his hands and mirroring her gaze at the sky.

“Been sleeping, for once.”

“I’m glad.”

He smiles, knowing that she means it. He watches out of the corner of his eye as she picks up his sword, sliding it from his belt loop, and uses it to stoke the flames. She doesn’t seem afraid of it, or wary. To her it’s just a stick of metal. It’s nice.

“You have you been, my Lady?”

She pokes at the embers a few more times, scooping a few to balance at the tip of the blade for a while. It glows with the heat, and he knows he’ll have to sharpen it tomorrow, but he doesn’t mind. Maybe he can do it while Will is in the archery range. It’ll give him an excuse to be at the armoury at the same time, anyway.

“I’ve been well.” She breathes deeply, small smile pulling at her face. “It’s calmer, and more people wave to me. I like it.”

“Good.”

She dismisses him a few minutes later, sending him off with a promise to chat again soon. She doesn’t need to worry about him promising — he makes a point to sit with her at least once a week — but it’s nice to know someone wants his company, so he appreciates it. He leaves with a wave, walking towards the eastern half of the cabins.

Nothing’s amiss. He can hear campers snoring, and see the odd reading light. Malcolm catches his eye as he walks past the Athena cabin and winks, sending a cheeky salute when he sees the sword held loosely in his hands. So far, everything seems fine. He’s beginning to think the Feeling might have simply been about Lady Hestia, so he decides to do one last check around the Big House and then head back.

Of course, that’s where the issue is.

The infirmary lights are always on. They’re dimmer in the night, more of a glow than anything, but there’s an extra brightness streaming out from the windows, and when Nico peeks inside, he sees Will, standing with his back turned at the nurse’s station.

He takes a moment to check his strength, making sure he has the energy for it — dinner last night was pho and he had three bowls, he most definitely does — and sinks into the shadows by the door. He materializes back in the little alcove by the bandage & wraps cabinet, lurking silently while he blinks the dizziness away.

The first thing he registers is soft singing.

He’s facing Will, now, and can see the glow coming from his hands, enveloping a bowl of some kind. He has both hands coated in some dusky pink substance, massaging and gently pounding it against the sides of the bowl, working it through with great care. As his voice gets higher, the glow gets brighter, fading as he dips lower. He sings something about hills and meadows and the breeze, about wing-song, about the sound of flower stems bending in the wind. For a while Nico stands, listening to the melodious ancient Greek, swaying with every pitch and hold. It’s captivating.

Will is almost haunting when he heals.

There’s a divinity in him — in all of them — but he glows when he sings. Not just his hands, and sometimes his head if he puts enough power in his words, but there’s an almost shimmer to the air around him, a shining warp. His skin gets clearer, and his hair goes more metallic, almost, like spun gold rather than blonde. His freckles make his skin into an inverse replica of the night sky, dark specks surrounded by bright empty between them. His long fingers pluck through bright strands of light like a harpist strums their chords; lightly, carefully, skillfully; like a braider weaves their hair. There’s an undeniable age to his magic, a practice that’s visibly replicated millions of times over thousands of years, as if every healer who has come before him links their arms with his, breathes their strength in his lungs. Sometimes, when he does something truly unbelievable, amazingly beyond reason, he flickers — his orange camp shirt fades into a white chiton, or long robes, or a white coat, or a blue tunic. Watching him heal is like watching the sunrise — breathtaking and unique, every time, but powerful in its cyclic archaism.

It takes Nico a long time to realise Will is swaying.

Snapped out of his trance, he begins to notice Will’s long, slow blinks, the unsteady way he stands, the weight he has leaned on the counter. Even his face looks plainly exhausted under the glow, face pillow-creased and eyes bruised, hair mussed, limbs leaden. Footsteps as silent as he can manage, Nico creeps over to the schedule posted by the door, scanning through the scrawled pen ink.

He curses quietly. Will is not supposed to be awake.

There are really only three people who can work the infirmary to its fully capacity, barring Chiron. Kayla, Austin, and Will are the only ones who can magically heal, as much as the volunteers are imperative, so when the camp is in full swing one of them must be stationed at all times. That’s how Will sets it up. A bit of a waste of time, he acknowledges, but Nico knows he has memorized every time a camper who should have been saved. He carries far too much guilt to ever let it happen again, as inconvenient as his rules may be.

Night shift, though, is a need-be basis. If the infirmary is as empty as it is right now, then there truly is no need to keep one of the three of them awake outside their circadian rhythm, staring at nothing. Instead, they take shifts in the on-call room — asleep, but prepared should anything go wrong, should a monster chase a new camper at an odd hour. It’s Will’s turn for on-call. It’s two in the morning. He should be asleep.

And, yet.

Nico recognizes the look in his eyes. There’s a — frailty, to them, a deep-seated, animalistic fear, one he recognises from the hours after his own night terrors. A single-minded panic that cannot be unseated in any logical way, cannot be comforted with any gentle hands.

Nico handles his fear with slashing swords and bruised knuckles. Will, he knows, handles his fear with obsessive, endless preparation.

Knowing full well nothing is going to drag him away from his focus bar actual cardiac arrest, Nico walks right by him. Will doesn’t move. He settles behind him in the old, creaky leather office chair, curling his legs under him and resting his head on the soft arm. He watches Will, watches the almost machine-like movement to his kneading arms, and falls back asleep to his humming.

———

“…Nico?”

He wakes up warm and a little cramped, in the same position he fell asleep. Sun is streaming on from the many issues, blocked from burning his eyes by Will’s hunched frame, facing towards him now, hands and shoulders shaking with equal violence.

“What time is it?”

His voice is croaky and wrecked from hours of singing. Nico is willing to bet his throat is burned as badly as his hands, cooked from non-stop, sun-borne glowing. The divinity that had emanated from him before has abandoned him and he looks young, lost.

“Early,” Nico says softly. He unfolds himself from the chair, stretching slightly — gods, he is going to ache today — and wraps a slow, careful hand around Will’s wrists. “Probably around six, if I have to guess.”

“I don’t remember waking up.”

“That’s okay.”

“I’m tired.”

“That’s okay.”

His breathing is heavy, laboured.

“I don’t —”

Nico squeezes gently. “It’s okay, Will.”

Will swallows and says nothing.

“Come on.”

Carefully, letting Will’s stiff joints set the pace, Nico guides him out of the infirmary. The sun shines brighter as soon as he steps outside, but he doesn’t seem to notice bar a tiny, almost imperceptible flinch at the change in lighting. Nico switches from holding his wrists to laying a hand on the small of his back, half-worried he’s going to fall over.

Luckily, he makes it to the Apollo Cabin upright, although the stairs take them a while. The hinges of the old screen door creak as Nico pushes it open, and he sees both Kayla and Austin, up and dressed, jump.

“…Will?” Kayla asks softly, eyebrows creased in concern. She walks over to him when he doesn’t answer, frozen still, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

Will leans — almost hesitantly — into the touch. The same blankness from before clouds his eyes, although this time there’s less of the fear.

“Hey.” Nico walks over to stand in front of him, waiting patiently for him to meet his eyes. In the minutes it takes, he hears Austin pad over, standing opposite to Kayla, hands clenching and unclenching like he can’t decide what to do with them. “You think you can sleep?”

Will doesn’t answer verbally, but drifts after a moment to his bed. Nico follows, helping him out of his shoes and shirt. After a beat of hesitation, Austin hurries over, turning down Will’s sheets and helping him crawl in. Soft guitar music begins to play, and when Nico looks over Kayla is fiddling with the CD player, turning the dials carefully. Without much fanfare, Will’s eyes flutter closed, and his breathing slows to something deep and even. His twitching fingers still.

“I don’t think today’s an activity day,” Nico murmurs. “I checked up on him a while after midnight; he’d been at it for hours. He didn’t stop ‘til sunrise.”

Kayla rubs harshly at her eyes. “Fuck.”

“He’ll be okay,” Austin whispers. He runs a gentle knuckle over Will’s forehead, then turns his careful, imploring gaze to Nico. “You kept an eye on him?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

Nico inclines his head. “Had a feeling.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Kayla admits. “He was —” She trails off, staring at something in the left half of the cabin — the empty half. “He was like this after the Titan War, too. I think he spoke maybe two words for the entirety of September.”

Nico almost can’t imagine it. The very thought of it makes something twinge in his chest, clench in his stomach.

“We’ll figure it out.” He nods, to convince himself as much as Kayla and Austin, who look to him with way more trust than he deserves. “We won’t let it — it won’t get that bad. We’ll help, and if we can’t figure it out we’ll get help. It won’t be as hard as last time.”

It won’t be as hard as last time because there won’t be twelve shrouds, Nico doesn’t say, but he doesn’t need to. Both Kayla and Austin nod, looking at their sleeping brother with firm resolution.

“This time, we’ll be there.”

#yeah let’s talk about mental health. huh #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #hoo #heroes of olympus #pjo hoo toa #nico di angelo #will solace #nico di angelo & will solace #nico di angelo/will solace #solangelo #nico/will #will/nico #kayla knowles #austin lake #will solace & kayla knowles & austin lake #nico di angelo & kayla knowles & austin lake #angst #hurt/comfort #emotional hurt/comfort #depression #depressive episode #catalonia #anxiety #my writing #fic #longpost #mental health issues

[itsss4t4n]

Hello can I please request a Leo Valdez x reader where maybe they’re having to go up against a monster together and Leo or reader gets hurt and then there’s a really cute confession

I really like you - Leo Valdez x Child of Apollo

Warnings: mention of injury, slight angst, confession/ happy ending, , not set in a specific time, bad spanish (curses), this was my first time writing a fight scene so i apologize, probably butchered what ambrosia can do for plot purposes, No use of y/n, kith, characters are 16+

a/n: i made the reader a child of apollo bc it made for a cute taking care of the injury moment, all of the spanish is from google and english is not my first language, THIS BECAME WAY LONGGEER THAN PLANNED, this was a challenge to write but i also had a lot of fun

Going on a quest with Leo Valdez sounded pretty easy at first. He can literally make fire and is able to pull pretty much anything out of his magic toolbelt.

What you had not considered however, was how much that guy could talk. Not just talk, he flirtet. like his life depended on it. Constantly.

 Since you met him he took every oppertunity for it. Will had tried to tell you that Leo liked you multiple times but you were sure the flirting was just part of his personality.

Its not like it bothered you. It was flattering. But sometimes it hurt, just a little, to know that you were nothing special to him. Just another friend to flirt with. 

And now, in the middle of fighting against a Gryphon, it was more distracting to you than anything. 

You had walked next to each other through a forest, talking when, just as you reached a clearing,  the almost scrawny looking creature appeared. 

Its hind legs those of a lion, but with dark, almost black fur, while the front part of its body was that of an eagle, again almost black, with big wings on its back. Despite being half lion it looked closer to a hyena. The Gryphons Talons and beak glinting dangerously in the fading sunlight, as its red gleaming eyes were trained onto your bodys. 

For a few seconds it simply stood infront of them. Not attacking. You and Leo mirrored its stillness. Hoping against all odds that it would just leave. 

But of course its never that easy.

Within a split second it had launched into the air, just to swoop down towards you, talons streched out infront of its body. You quickly shoved Leo aside, both of you tumpling to the ground as the gryphons talons plunged into the earth where you had been seconds before.

As you scrambled to your feet, the gryphon flew upwards in preperation to dive down again. Within seconds you had pulled your bow of your shoulder and an arrow trained on the flying monster. 

Next to you Leo had pulled a sword out of its sheath on his belt. He had rebelled against it, saying he was gonna be fine with his 3 pound club hammer and fire, but you had forced the sword on him incase of emergency and he was pretty glad for that now.

You started firing arrows at the creature, the first few not hitting anything as the gryphon was really quick and managed to dodge them easily. The fourth one hit its hind leg but the gryphon showed almost no reaction to it. Another arrow hit the gryphons left wing making it tumble towards earth slightly. It was still in the air but was clearly struggling to do so. 

At this point the winged monster was close enough to the ground for leo to lunge at it with his sword, ducking under a talon before dragging his sword along the chest and belly of the creature, making it turn to dust.

"Well, that was easy, dont you thing princesa?", Leo turned to you with a grin, his swordarm losely hanging at his side. 

"Yea, it was." You looked away from him, because gods did he look good like that. "Too easy", you started looking around, "Usually Gryphons are in bigger groups." 

As you slowly turned towards leo again you quickly pulled up your bow, and shot the gryphon tht was about to attack leo, luckily hitting its heart dead center, making it fall to dust.

Leo had flinched slightly as you shot, but whipped around just barely catching the eyes of the monster before they disapeared.

"La Concha de tu Madre", he quietly cursed. You didnt speak a lot of spanish but this one was pretty easy to interpret as 'motherfucker'.

He slowly walked back towards you, while looking around in search for more monsters. "Okay you're right there are definetely more."

"Okay I'll try to take out as many as i can from the sky, you need to handle any that come to close." You instructed as you spotted one Gryphon above you, shooting it.

"Aye Aye." Leo lifted his sword. "I'll protect you dont worry, Hermosa." 

Again, you didnt know what exactly he just called you but considering it was Leo and his tone of voice was very obviously flirty, you assumed it was some sort of petname.

Hearing his voice as he said it made you distracted for just a split second. But that was enough for the arrow you were shooting to jerk slightly to the left, missing the Gryphon.

"Fuck", you cursed under you breath as you pull out the next arrow and aiming it at the gryphon that had almost reached you now, but Leo had already jumped in attacking it. After a few seconds he had killed it.

This went well for a minute or so, but when you had almost all of them killed , the last four attacked all at ones. Why they mostly attacked solo before you coudnt say.

You managed to shoot one, but Leo had to fend of three of them at once. You aimed at them but couldnt shoot without risking to hit leo. Leo managed to kill one but was immedeately hit with the talons of another against his side. 

He let out a sound similar to that of a wounded dog, before swinging around too face the gryphon and cutting of its head as you finally had a clean shot of the last winged beast.

They turned to dust at the same time. 

You and Leo stood in complete silence for a few seconds catching your breaths. But then Leo let out a little whimper, dropping his sword and bringing his hand up to hold is side.

"LEO!"

 You ran towards him, dropping your bow in favour of helping him towards a fallen tree on the edge of the clearing. 

"Sit and take of your shirt" 

You pulled of your backpack and knelt infront of him, taking out healing supplies as well as a small plastic bag filled ambrosia and a bottle of water.

"Wow, at least let me buy you dinner first, cariño", he flashed you a quick flirty but pained grin as he started to pull of his shirt, grunting in pain in the process.

Deciding to gloss over that comment you wait for him to get off his shirt. 

"I'm really sorry..." 

"For what?" ,He looked at you confused as he laid his shirt on the tree next to him.

You hand him a little square of ambrosia. "I probably could've shot that Gryphon before it attacked you. But I was to scared that I might hit you instead. If I would've just shot, you wouldnt be hurt now." You avoided lookin at his face but could see him eating the piece of ambrosia as you opened the waterbottle, pouring some water on a piece of cloth.

Leo chewed for a few seconds in thougt before swallowing. "That wasnt your fault. Not shooting was the right decision. I'm fine really." He tried to catch your eyes but you purposfully put all your focus on his wound. 

"Your not fine." You mumbled through gritted teeth as you started to clean the wound with the cloth. The Gryphon got him good. Three long gashes starting about an inch to the left of his belly button stretching to the side of his ribs, each almost 6 inches long. Luckily they werent as deep and only flesh wounds, not hitting any organs. 

Leo hissed as you carefully wiped away blood, the ambrosia having stopped the bleeding already. 

The wound now clean, you put the now bloody cloth aside and inspected the gashes further, carefully running your hands over them. You squinted a little as you concentrated.  

You see, your dad bein Apollo made you lucky enough to be blessed with healing powers. Nothing crazy. You definetely wouldnt be able to fully heal this, but it would be much more managable.

Concentrating on letting energy flow through your hands into Leo, you watched the edges of the wounds shrink. The whole thing going down to almost half its orinal size and depth. At this point he wouldnt need stitches.

"Wow, you can fuckin heal?!" You finally look up into Leos eyes, a shocked but excited expression on his face. 

"Yeah.." You say confused. You thought he knew that. Clearly he didnt. But to his credit you didnt do it often, as it was exhausting.

"Thats awesome! It feels all warm and tingly" He grins. His expression reminding you of a child on christmas. It made your insides feel all warm and tingly too.

You quickly looked away, clearing your throat, after realizing that you had just been staring at him for like 30 seconds like a lovesick idiot.

You could feel how his eyes stayed glued to your face as you looked through your stuff for a gauze pad and a roll of bandages.

As you looked up to put on the pad and bandage, you could see his smirk out of the corner of your eyes. He had noticed your staring. You bit the inside of your cheek as you continued to wrap the bandage around his torso. 

The proximity of it made your mouth dry and your stomach turn in nervousness. Your head was racing in thoughts. You had never been this close to him, and him bein shirtless certainly didnt help you either. You were sure your face had one slightly pink, it certainly felt like it.

When you were done you cleared you throat again and began to put away your stuff to avoid looking at him. 

"You should be fine now. Uhm... Might be a little sore but uhm.. yea.." Gods this was embarrassing . Really. 

"Hey Princesa?" He said softly, making you turn towards him with a hum in reply. "Thank you."

A soft smile adorned his face. Not a grin or smirk. The kind were his lips curled up in the corners, lips closed, no teeth showing. The kind that made the skin at the outer corner of his eyes crinkle ever so slightly. Eyes that looked so adoring, instead of their usual almost crazy look. It was an expression he didnt show often. 

Your own face softened at his expression, eyebrows rising just the tiniest bit in surprise.

"No problem." A soft smile matching Leos grew on your face. You forced yourself to not look away from him this time. You watched his own gaze observing your face, before moving back to your eyes. He swallowed, his adams apple bopping slighly.

Leo mumbling your name snapped you out of your daze sligthly. Your real name, not some flirty spanish nickname. Just you. 

"I really, really like you." He sounded really nervous. His eyes kept shifting from one of your eyes to the other before looking away for a second and then back to your eyes.

Hearing those worlds made your brain go into overdrive. Did he really just say that? Did you mishear? Is he making fun of you? He must be. But leo wouldnt do that. But there is no way he liked you right? Sure he flirtet with you. a lot. but he did that with everyone right? Why is he looking at you like that? 

You realize you've just been staring at him, not giving him an answer, and hes starting to look anxious at your lack of response.

"Me? You like me?"

"yea..."

"I- ...."

You couldnt think of a proper response. It shouldve just been a simple i like you too. Bu you still hadnt fully comprehendet the situation. 

"You know what... Just forget i said anyhing. I'm sorry I didnt mean to make things awkward or anything-" Leo started to ramble, interpreing your silence as rejection and shifting his eyes to his feet.

"I like you too!" You blurted out in panic, making his eyes snap back up to meet your gaze. "Like a lot. I like your stupid flirting and i hate it when you flirt with other people. I like when you use tha stupidly soft smile that you barely show. I like your dumb jokes even when they're not funny. I like how you always manage to calm me down no matter how scared i am. I like he way your hair falls into your eyes all the time." You look into his eyes, reaching up to grasp his hands in yours, as your expression softens. "I really like you Leo Valdez."

"really?"

"Yes, really" you laugh slighty never breaking eye contact, making Leo grin slightly.

You just look at each other for a few seconds before Leo quietly asks.

"princesa?"You hum in reply. "Can I kiss you?"

"Please."

Thats all it takes for his lips to crash into yours. Its soft, but intense. Your eyes are closed as his lip move against yours. His hands moving to cup your face as yours move around his neck, fingers sinking into his brown curls. 

When he pulls away you keep your eyes closed for a few seconds. Leo rests his forehed against yours, his thumbs lightly stroking your cheeks as both of you catch your breaths. 

You lean back in to kiss him again. A quick, small one this time.

You finally open your eyes to look at him. Both of you have goofy smiles stuck on your faces.

"You dont even know how long ive wanted to do that."

"Hopefully at least as long as i have, mi  sol."

(translations: Princesa: Princess, cariño: Darling, mi sol: my sun )

#pjo x reader #writing #fanfic #reader insert #fluff #heroes of olympus #fiction #leo valdez x reader #leo valdez

[luke-o-lophus]

In Your Image, In My Eye

Marc Spector x Reader (Minors DNI)

TW: Allusions to child abuse and neglect, and to past eating disorders (nothing descriptive), body image issues, very minor talk of food controls, mentions of sexual activities and some innuendos

Prompt by @apollo-enthusiast: Imagine settling down with the moon boys, just living a calm and stable life without khonshu to bother you. You bake and cook a lot, and are really good at it. As a result, Marc gains a bit of weight and now has a little tummy. You catch him judging himself in the mirror one day, maybe fighting over it with steven and jake, maybe they're feeling the same way, and find out he's feeling insecure about it and needs some love

Word count: 1541

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

"For the thousandth time, Steven, we have the same body."

Marc sounds exasperated. He looks exasperated. Just out of shower and towel wrapped low on his hips, he usually doesn't spend this long in front of the full length mirror in your shared bedroom. But today, Steven got his attention. "You still look handsome", he'd muttered. And refused to budge when Marc pointed out the obvious.

"You don't get it. I've got this...ugh", Steven hides his face in their shared headspace. "This thing. I have a..a pooch belly."

Marc mentally groans and pinches his forehead. "Steven I can assure you we're doing fine", he grunts.

"Are we though Marc, are we?" Steven throws up his hands. "Look at this." He incredulously points to his midsection. Marc tilts his head with a raised eyebrow. Steven's fashion in the mindspace is similar to when he's fronting. All Marc can see is the body swimming in a shirt three or four sizes too large, in a pattern that hurts his eyes.

"Steven I literally can't see anything", he sighs and turns to remove his towel and start getting dressed. That's when he sees it. A soft..chunky roll in his belly as he bends to pick up his t-shirt. He slowly turns back to the mirror, shirt in hand, and pokes his finger in his belly. Nearly two segments of the finger sink in easily, and the flesh springs back as he removes his hand. Marc's never seen anything like it on his own body.

Here's the thing. Marc Spector in the past has never really eaten. He's consumed food in order to sustain. In the army and as a merc, he had standard rations and a standard body type he had to maintain. And before that, he had always been a skinny kid. It's no secret he wasn't exactly nurtured at home. And he's even starved himself to points where Jake has had to step in to take care of the body. Until quite recently, actually. Until he met you. Or rather, three months into meeting you.

You'd brought a tupperware of chocolate cupcakes to your fifth date. You were meeting after nearly a month, a month of thinking Marc is going to ghost you. That day Marc came bearing a harrowed guilty face, and you came bearing cupcakes. Who does that? Marc wondered as he bit into one. And almost forgot to chew. It already tasted so, so good he stared at you with wide eyes. You giggled bashfully, a shy finger wiping away ganache from the side of his lip. Later that night those same lips had devoured you over and over until all the tension of the month prior was forgotten.

It had never even occurred to Marc it is possible for the body to gain some stomach fat. And it damn well had never crossed his mind, that would be what's bothering him when he looks at his reflection. But here he is. He can almost hear Jake groaning somewhere in the depths of the mindspace. A groan of "Here we go again".

They moved into your apartment a month later. Steven still kept his, and turned it into a library slash workspace for them. Your place was home. With your warmly lit study, kitchen that always smelled good, the eclectic wooden chandelier in the living room, and the twelve pillows on your queen bed: it was a better home than marc had ever seen himself living in. And then there was you. Who had given him so much love, so much grace, so much understanding. Because of him, you had moved away the large full body mirror to your study the day before he had moved in. The men liked having mirrors around, mirrors made it easier to communicate, but just...smaller ones. It took Marc a long time to be able to look at all the scars and marks on the body without feeling sick in his stomach. The day he asked if you could move the mirror to the bedroom to make dressing up easy, you'd hugged him and kissed him silly. And later baked a batch of apple tarts as a treat.

"Maaarc what's taking you long?" your call sounds impatient. He can hear faint muttering coming closer and your head appears in the doorway. Marc's instinct is to quickly cover his torso with the t-shirt in his hand, almost letting loose an embarrassing squeak.

"You haven't dressed? We gotta do a grocery run quick or we'll get very late for lunch!" you whine with your hands on your hips.

"I don't want lunch", Marc mumbles and you pause in the midst of your woeful rant of delayed lunches.

"What..why? Is your stomach upset? I told you that fish tasted funky, Marc, I swear.." you immediately start fussing over him, coming close and checking his forehead for a temperature.

"No..no...I'm fine. Just ... not hungry" he shakes his head away.

You were familiar with Marc's 'not hungry'. It could mean a lot of things, but very rarely the fact that he actually wasn't hungry.

"Everything alright, bubba?" you ask, hand moving down to caress his cheek. Marc sighs and smiles wryly,"Yeah..yeah don't worry. It's just...it's silly..."

You raise your brows in question, egging him to go on. "It's just...I have this thing.." he rubs his neck and moves the tshirt from his torso slowly, as if revealing the deepest darkest secrets. You blink owlishly at the display, then back up at him. "Honey...uh..I'm sorry but....what am I..looking at?" you ask.

"This!", Marc almost whines, poking indignantly at his belly. You look just as lost, helplessly staring. "Does it..hurt there or something?" you offer with concern.

Marc doesn't look convinced so you prod a little further, asking if that's something that feels uncomfortable or just...looks different to him. "I..I've always been skinny...before the army and the...Khonshu." he sighs, head hanging. "Didn't really have someone cooking me a three course meal every time."

"No...I'm...I have...this..." he bends over to a side and pinches his tummy roll between his fingers. You stare at that for a few moments before it clicks. "Oh honey", you call with adoration, gently prying away those fingers and kissing the tips. "But your tummy looks so nice. So healthy. You look so nice and healthy"

You take a cautious pause at that, almost hurt for a moment. Marc catches onto it quick, and stumbles directly into an apology. "No..no...that came out wrong. I love that you cook, I love everything you make, I'm so grateful. You're..., baby..please..."

It always breaks your heart when Marc apologizes, because of the way he does it. He says sorry for a simple slip of tongue as if you'd be packing your bags and running off before he had a chance to finish his sentence. So you smile at him, a cheeky little smile.

"You like my cakes?" you ask him innocently, a playful glint in your eye.

"Huh? Of course I do...yeah? The...the one you made on my birthday, and...and.."

"No no no...", you stop him, moving closer. "I mean, do you like my cakes" You give your butt a playful wiggle. Marc stops in his tracks, then groans at that awful joke. "Babe!" he groans. You giggle and wrap your arms around him. Your head nestled in the crook of his neck with practiced ease, you mumble softly,"You look great. If you feel healthy, and enjoy what you're eating....you're good. Okay?" You pause a bit then sigh. "I...I can't see you starve yourself again, bubba. It...hurts to see you like that." You still remember when Marc had showed up on your fifth date with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, looking like he's missed half his meals the past month. It's an image you can't get out of your head: him standing with a small souvenir clutched so tight in his palm the packaging was ruined, looking all shades of tired and starved.

Marc stays quiet, but he holds on to you tight, kisses the top of your head. "What's for lunch?" he mumbles meekly after a while. You pull back and smile wide, eyes shining, and continue your grocery run rant. From the increasing price of eggs to the doubtful durability of milk, this new meatball hack you want to try, and a vegan substitute idea you'd just gotten. You follow Marc around the room as he gets dressed, talking a mile a minute. He takes a last glance at the mirror and rakes back his curls, then swiftly pulls you closer. You squeak and hold him on instinct, and he laughs softly while nuzzling the side of your face. "So...remind me the plan. We...are getting groceries, making lunch, so...after eating.." He pauses but you can hear the laugh in his voice. The laugh and the shyness.

"What, Spector?" you tease. "What do you want after lunch?"

"Well maybe you....you can show me how good you think I look?" he says hopefully. You turn around to kiss him, nodding excitedly. "Deal", you whisper, before pulling back and giggling. "I thought you're about to ask me to have you for dessert"

Marc facepalms with another groan.

#moon knight x reader #marc spector #steven grant #moon knight #marc spector x reader #steven grant x reader #luke shares #luke fic recs

[nebbyy]

Lester Papadopoulos/Apollo x reader - It's Over, isn't It?

A/N: okay so a few weeks ago I was listening to the song “It’s Over isn’t it” form the Steven Universe series and this scenario came to my mind, so I thought I’d just make it a fic! For this piece I didn’t see a point in assigning a gender to the reader, so we go with gender neutral all the way😎😎(neither your godly parent is specified since it doesn’t really add anything to the plot, so you can choose whichever you prefer)

PART TWO IS HERE

Warning: insecurity, jealousy, angst (WITH comfort tho), mentions of suggestive activities

Word count: 3209

You kinda hate yourself right now, and you hate yourself because you are so angry right now.

Well maybe angry is an exaggeration, but still, you’re really, really upset.

And you know you should be anything but upset right now. I mean, the love of your life finally has the chance to go back to his home in the Olympus, regain his honor and his status as a god. Those were all good things that you should be ecstatic about, right?

Well, wrong.

Just thinking of it made you feel like you could throw up at any moment. Thinking about the fact that Apollo. Because, what will be of Lester, your Lester?

Your whole relationship had started because he wasn’t Apollo. He wasn’t the tall, tan, handsome and all mighty God of the Sun; he was just a normal teen, whose only things that made him stick out were his acne, his clumsiness and a somewhat nice voice. His mortal condition didn’t even give him a single chance to act in his usual exaggerated, narcissistic self. He had to start off from the start, build a personality that wasn’t based on his godly qualities, but on something more real.

And in that situation he found himself in, with his new eyes he had seen you, and you truly seemed like a deity to him. 

How could you be anything less to the rest of the world, he thought. You were your godly parent’s greatest hero, you were liked and admired by most campers both because of your victories and your looks. And he spent oh so many nights fantasizing about taking you back with him in Olympus, giving you the godly status that should be rightfully yours. But hell, with the body he’d found himself in he’d barely the courage to come up to you to talk.

He told you so many times how absolutely surprised he was when he found out that you actually liked him back, even if he looked like any 17 year old loser, his actual words. And you remembered too, how his voice was so shaky as he tried to muster up a coherent sentence, how his cheeks shone a bright red, how his hands were trembling as you took them into yours and his palms sweating. But in your mind, that was more beautiful than any sonnet, any haiku, any poem, any grandiose, Apollo-like gesture. Because that was Lester, not Apollo; and in your eyes, Lester’s awkwardness was what made him stand out, because it was purely genuine.

Now ever so often you wonder, if he used to feel like you’re feeling right now, like you’re no match to the person you love. You look at your reflection in the mirror of the bathroom, and the mean joke that played your mind made you highlight all the flaws you could spot in yourself. All things that a god could never accept in their lover. You feel so wrong, so flawed that you just wish you could turn yourself into mud and reform your appearance completely.

Gods, you’re being ridiculous right now, you think, you just want to slap yourself in the face and yell at your reflection to get a grip goddamnit! You’re one of the greatest heroes of your time, you survived two wars, you can’t possibly draw the line at a failed relationship with a god. 

At one point someone might think: but why are you so opposed to the idea that your boyfriend is finally becoming a god once again? How ungrateful can you be??

But the point is, you know damn well that the whole point of the creation of Lester was forcing Apollo into a form that would’ve been the total opposite of who he is.

Because Apollo is naturally flirty and superficial, he loves to love and be loved, and he pursues anything and everything that he finds beautiful. But he got bored easily of his love conquers, hence why he has so many kids. So in your mind, it was only natural that as soon as he was back to normality, he’d grow tired of you and move to the next mortal that piqued his interest, maybe even leaving you a single parent to a new demigod.

That’s why you couldn’t stop that nagging feeling deep into your core, as you walked out of your cabin, hearing all the girls already speculating about how beautiful, handsome, shiny and dashing Apollo will be once he goes back to his form. “And who knows, maybe he’ll set his eyes on some of the friends he made in here” squealed a girl, from which cabin you did not know nor care. Her friend replied: “Yeah I mean, ain’t no way he’s gonna keep staying with the same partner forever. I mean, come on, he’s Apollo!” They both giggled like school girls, then kept gossiping about something else, but you did not care enough to keep eavesdropping their whole conversation.

You really hated yourself for being like this right now.

Of course, you know that those two girls meant no harm, it wasn’t their fault if they knew just as much as you did about Apollo’s tendencies. And about that you’re already came to terms with, but there’s something else you hate yourself for…

You stopped reaching out to him. Or even worse, you even started to avoid him. 

Not also him, but your friends and siblings as well. You closed yourself off of everyone else in your life, opting to spend your free days in Camp by yourself, whether it is in your cabin, sparring or all alone in your favorite spot in the forest.

Which is exactly where you’re directed to right now, as you put your headphones in your ears, wasting no time to press play and then abuse the volume up button to muffle any sound from the outside. You walk past the two girls, past another group of guys that were training with one another, and past your friends too, who you didn’t noticed as they were calling and waving at you to join them for a quick snack, leaving them rather confused and preoccupied as it seemed that you were stuck in a trance, locked out in another dimension of your own.

You didn’t even see Lester excusing himself from the group to subtly start following you wherever you were going.

It’s a quiet place, the one in the forest, protected by a thick layer of trees and bushes that makes it hard to reach it; but it’s worth all the climbing and scratches for the beautiful sight of a clear waterfall that fell right into a circular body of water, surrounded  by a rather big field of moss, so soft and fresh to lay on during the hot summer nights.

And so you did, letting yourself fall on that natural mattress, then closing your eyes to feel the light breeze on your exposed skin, and let the words of the song that’s blasting at full volume at the moment fill your ears, although you can barely focus on what they’re saying

It really seems unfair, all of this. That you thought you had fallen in love not with a god, but with a boy. Somehow forgetting that boy and god mixed in Lester, two sides of the same coin.

And maybe he forgot too, because every time the two of you were together, he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to think of the responsibilities that were waiting for him. With you, he forgot about his lost and very much missed abs and tan, he forgot about his chariot and his comfortable place in Olympus. Hell, you even made him forget about all his old lovers. It was really only you in his eyes, just as he was in yours. If only he’d ever told you all of this though…

Your mind keeps swirling in a million thoughts, until it fixates on one memory in particular.

You and him, alone on that very same spot in the forest. In a similar situation as you were now, too, with your crappy phone playing music softly in the background, as the the two of you laid together, one next to the other. You turn around to look at him briefly, only to find him already looking at you. “What, do I have something on my face or..” he just shake his head with the most lovestruck eyes you’d ever seen, batting his eyes slowly before looking at you once again, “I just really want to kiss you right now”.

Your eyes widen. His eyes widen. Did he really just say THAT?

Neither of you were sure how or why, thinking back to it, you wonder if it was his godly charm poking at the back of his head. But that didn’t matter at the time, the future in which he came back to his godly state seemed so far from you, it wasn’t even an option in your head.

Nevertheless, after the initial shock from his words, you silently answered him with a slow, almost numbed movement of the head, nodding slightly, almost scared that if you moved to fast you would’ve whisked him away, or that he could’ve changed his mind already.

But that nod was all that he needed before crashing his lips against yours, one of his hands flying to grab the side of your head, while the other stayed put on its place against the ground to keep him from falling on top of you.

The kiss was an absolute mess: teeth clashing, nose bumping against each other,... but it was perfect that way to you. You broke away from each other for a brief moment to catch your breaths, and you just look into each other’s eyes. With chests heaving, breaths mixing, you both started laughing, if only for a moment, a laugh of disbelief at what had just happened.

But that laugh didn’t last long before he moved his head closer once again, this time more slowly, more confidently. The kiss was in fact much less messy, your lips found their place against each other, the panic from before had morphed into pure butterflies in your stomach and fireworks in your eyes.

After a minute at most, you broke apart once again, but only for Lester to reposition himself on top of you in a more comfortable position. Your bodies closer than ever, you could feel everything of him….

What happened after still makes your cheeks flush red at the mere thought, but it also causes a frown to form on your face. Those times, when it was just the two of you are over. Maybe it was just a time of crisis that brought you two together, the shock from a morta perspective might have caused him to cling onto the closes person he could find. You can’t help but imagine Leste- Apollo in that moment, laying in the clouds of Olympus in a much similar scenario, maybe with a beautiful nymph or a smaller deity, or a mortal he laid his eyes on while he was on this earth-

“There you are! I should’ve known that if you’re not around you’re definitely in here.” If it were a normal, mortal voice, you wouldn’t have been able to hear it over the deafening high volume of the music blasting in you ears. But it wasn’t a mortal voice.

It was loud, it was melodic, it resonated in the air like the echo of the most beautiful of songs,…

You wouldn’t even need to turn around to know that that voice came from no other than Apollo. That’s right, he probably came back to his true form already. You can’t even imagine what a scene that would’ve been, to see the handsomely perfect god walking around Camp Half Blood, how many boys and girls had probably followed him around drooling over the sight of him. 

You wish you could just stay put, coldly dismiss him and let him go for what probably is the rest of your life and his eternity. But, curiosity gets the best of you, and you can’t help but turn around tentatively, eager to see what your boyfriend really looks like.

Your mouth quite literally hits the floor at the sight. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve always found Lester really attractive, but this.

This was something beyond the concept of handsome or beautiful.

This, him, was beyond what humans can perceive and comprehend.

Yes, you knew that his skin was tanned, but as he stood in front of you it seemed as if his body was made of bronze.

And yes, you also knew that his hair was blonde, but that didn’t make them justice. They flew, like rays of sun through a clouded sky.

Of his eyes you knew nothing about, but you were pretty sure at this point that no description could really depict just how deep, bright, captivating, alluring, even, they really were.

Your mouth quite literally hit the floor at the sight. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve always found Lester really attractive, but this.

This was something beyond the concept of handsome or beautiful.

This, him, was beyond what humans can perceive and comprehend.

Yes, you knew that his skin was tanned, but as he stood in front of you it seemed as if his body was made of bronze.

And yes, you also knew that his hair was blonde, but that didn’t make them justice. They flew, like rays of sun through a clouded sky.

Of his eyes you knew nothing about, but you were pretty sure at this point that no description could really depict just how deep, bright, captivating, alluring, even, they really were.

Your throat felt tight, your mouth dry, and your whole body gives you this tingly sensation. With all of your strength, you took a deep breath to try and calm yourself down, before mustering all of your strength to speak without a pathetic shaky voice. “I thought you were going back as soon as you got your body back.“

“Ain’t no way that I wasn’t coming to kiss my beautiful partner goodbye.” He grinned as he swiftly took a seat right by your side, propping himself on his elbow, his eyes never once leaving yours. You swore his smile was intoxicating, you’d say contagious even if the thought that this might’ve been your last moments together didn’t fill your mind with sorrow.

You wanted to protect yourself from this, detach your mind and heart from him before he does it first, leaving you with an aching heart and moving on with his eternal life.

You felt a hand come up to your cheek, holding it softly as the sweetest melody came from his lips, “I’m gonna miss you madly once I’m back there, you know?” At that, you can’t help the deep anger that fills you from inside, a feeling that expresses through icy, stinging words, as you turned your head away from his touch, “I’m sure you’ll move on in no time.”

He frowned. That wasn’t the reaction he expected from you at all, but he didn’t really take it personally, it was so obvious that there was something troubling you. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” your voice is louder, a mixture of frustration and anger. But also so much sadness, that can be felt by just how strained the sound that came from your throat is, almost as if you were fighting back tears. You swallow hard, trying to recollect yourself, “I mean that you are a God, I am just a mortal. One of many. I’ve got nothing special to be remembered for, to be remembered by you for the rest of eternity. And Im okay with it, really. Our destinies were never meant to combine, I was just another one of your lovers.” As you spoke those last words you couldn’t help but let the tears flow from your eyes, those who always looked at Lester with a mix of love and mischief, now only filled with a never ending sadness.

Slowly, as to avoid scaring you off, the renewed god took your wet face in his warm hands, pulling you closer and wiping your tears off at the same time. Gently, he spoke: “My love, you couldn’t have said anything more wrong. You are special to me, and I could never forget you. In thousands of years that I’ve existed, no one had ever treated like you did, like I wasn’t a god. Sure, it was temporary and you knew I could’ve incinerated you as soon as I got back to… this.” He looked down, gesturing at his body, a sight for sore eyes that could’ve really made you unfocus on anything were you not so taken by your talk with Apollo at the moment. “But that didn’t stop you from treating me like we were equal. And I hated it, at first. I thought it would be part of my punishment. But as time passed, I realized that being your equal was the highest of honors I could ever get. You’re… you’re crazy strong, incredibly smart, unbelievably beautiful, way too kind for your own good, especially with those brats of the kids in this Camp.”

You giggled at his words, a consistent contrast with your tearful eyes and quiet sobs, “Some of those brats are your children too, genius.” “Well then it must run in the family.” You laughed again while shaking your head, but only for a moment before returning your full attention on the boy in front of you. He took the sign to continue.

“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think I could ever be able to let you go. Over all the lovers I had through the years, which I’m sure you know are many, you’re the only one that saw me and treated me with true love and care. Not with fearful devotion, never fearing what I was capable of. I only ever saw this kind of love in Sally Jackson, and I mocked Poseidon for letting a mortal like many treat him so casually. But now, now I get it, and to be honest I can’t help but think that you’d deserve to be called a deity far more than many others who already are. Maybe even more than me. So I refuse to ever let go of this blessing that fate has given me. And if in order to do so I have to take your soul and put it on the sky above, to rest as a star forever by my side, so be it. But trust me you’re not getting rid of me so easily.”

You crumbled like a sand castle at his words, that he spoke with the very same tone, on the very same spot when you still called him Lester, and you promised to stick by each other’s side for the time you had left, only a few months before this whole encounter. You let your head fall into his broad chest, sobbing softly as you desperately clung to him. Your tears weren’t of sadness anymore, but of relief, for you had just been given the confirmation that your lover was still yours.You spent the rest of the night there, cuddling as close to eachother as possible as you rested in peace. 

The morning after, at dawn, when he had to officially go back to his daily duties, he begrudgingly got up from his place in your arms, placing butterfly kisses on your arms and neck, careful not to wake you. He left a little not right next to you, one that read: 

“I had to go, didn’t want to wake your pretty face this early in the morning.  Meet me here at dusk tomorrow, Forever yours,  A.”

It made you smile, seeing that note as soon as you opened your eyes, almost made you forget the lack of your boyfriend next to you,… and the yelling of your friends and siblings calling for your name in the distance.

You wasted no time walking towards those voices, and when they asked you just where the hell have you been all night, you just smiled and brushed it off, but everyone noticed how your usual bright self had mysteriously came back after days of brooding.

Hours later, you were calmly eating dinner with the other campers, laughing and talking and eating seemingly decent food. You were totally clueless as to where exactly Apollo was, but you guessed he was on his chariot, on his way to let the sun set and go to your secluded spot. But little did you know, he was in neither of those places. He was actually walking up to Zeus’ throne, tall and proud as he respectfully bowed to his father. “Apollo, I see it took you no time to get used to your old life once more. I trust you have learned your lesson.”

“Indeed, father. And I came here to thank you for it all. It was… better than I expected.” Zeus lifted a brow suspiciously, eyeing his son as if trying to make out what’s in his mind just by his appearance. “Mmh I hardly believe that you only came here to thank me for your punishment.” “Heh, you’re not wrong, father. I came here to make a request.”

“Depends. What is it that you desire?”

“How do you make a demigod immortal?”

#lester papadopoulos #my fic #angst #fluff #gender neutral reader #apollo #lester papadopoulos x reader #writers on tumblr #trials of apollo #percy jackson #meg mccaffrey #pjo apollo #apollo x reader #apollo x you #the trials of apollo

[jishyucks]

When the Stars Align — njm

‣ pairing: guard!Jaemin x princess!reader

‣ genre: fluff, royal!au, friends-to-lovers

‣ wc: 2.2k

‣ summary: ❝The stars may seem unreachable, but they have a way of surprising us sometimes❞; In which Jaemin believes that his wish on the stars is absurd 

‣ warnings?: nothing basically, long paragraphs near the end

‣ an: the two songs goodbye. I wasn’t going to add songs but I’ll just keep them there,, anywaysss I wrote this really quick bc I wanted to post something so it might not be my best,, but I honestly still think it’s cute (●'◡'●) also pls ignore the whack title pic for this I might change it later,,, pls enjoy!

‣ tags: @mosviqu @flowerjun

[Songs] A Starry Night in Apollo Bay — RINI | I See the Light — Tangled

Every night that Jaemin was on duty, he always made a single wish upon both the stars that continued to twinkle and those that had long faded away.

His wish wasn’t special, nor was it ordinary—he simply wished for there to be a shift in the stars, one that only he could recognize. 

It started out as a joke he made to himself, a way to alleviate the monotony of gazing at the same sky night after night. Sure, the sky was undeniably beautiful, but when he initially made the wish, he was hoping he’d see something different, like a planet with more prominence, maybe a shooting star, or perhaps even a supermoon. 

However, everything changed when he met you by chance one evening. His wish took on a different significance—that maybe the stars would align themselves in such a way that your feelings would mirror his own.

If that was even possible, Jaemin scoffed at his own thought. He was nothing but a guard. A junior guard at that. Why would someone like you, the princess, consider him in that way when you had your pick of suitors at your beck and call?

The corners of Jaemin’s mouth turn downward at the thought. It wasn’t the hardest thought to swallow, but it still hurt nonetheless. These were his own emotions, ones that he shouldn’t have even developed in the first place. Yet here he was, wallowing in the fact that you might only see him as a friend.

As he let his head fall back, Jaemin gazed up at the night sky he had practically befriended. The constellations were like old friends, ones he knew almost as well as he knew himself.

It was peaceful outside of the castle. In fact, it was so peaceful that he almost forgot that there were people inside of the building celebrating the Queen’s birthday. If he listened carefully, he could hear the music being played. But other than that, it truly doesn’t seem like a party was happening at all.  

With his eyes closed, Jaemin readied himself to make the same wish he had been making for the past year, clearing his mind until only the wish and thoughts of you occupied it.

I wish that—

“Are you sleeping standing up?”

Jaemin’s wish is interrupted by the sound of your voice. He turns to find you, standing in the dress you personally chose for the occasion. He remembers you going on about it a few weeks ago, stuck choosing between dark and pastels. 

The word beautiful was the first thing that entered Jaemin’s mind. You looked beautiful. So beautiful that you made Jaemin’s breath hitch at the back of his throat. But he quickly rids that thought. 

“Y/N,” he counters, “What are you doing out here?”

Jaemin hopes you don’t hear the way his heart is pounding against his rib cage. And if you do, he hopes you mistake it for the music playing inside. 

“I wanted to get some air,” you shrug nonchalantly, “And I wanted to see you.” You find a nice clean spot on the steps leading down and onto the long driveway before sitting down. You turn to Jaemin expectantly, but when he doesn’t quite get your signal, you gesture for him to join you, “Come sit.”

“I can’t,” Jaemin frowns, “I’m on duty.” 

You mirror his expression, but you add furrowed brows, “This is an order.” 

Jaemin huffs. Despite it being his job to serve your family, he hates it when you use your position to coax him into situations like this. He hesitantly makes his way over to you. Sitting down just a few inches away from you. He's unsure of how to position himself, his body sitting up stiff and straight beside yours.

Turning to look at Jaemin and seeing the way he’s quite literally sitting like he has a stick shoved up his ass, you can’t help but laugh. Shuffling over, you elbow him on the side, “Hey, relax a little bit.”

He lets out another deep sigh, but he nods and allows himself to drop his shoulders. Jaemin honestly had no idea why he was being so self-conscious right now. He wasn’t usually like this. But maybe it was because you basically caught him making a wish that was about you. 

Jaemin tries to shake the nerves out of his system. “It’s the Queen’s birthday, you should be inside.” 

Your face contorts into an unreadable expression. You shake your head and groan, “As much as I love my mom, I hate being surrounded by all those people.” 

“Those people?” Jaemin prompts.

“The wealthy, the royals, the people who hold titles they don’t deserve,” you list under your breath. Jaemin hums, “Aren’t you royalty?” 

You roll your eyes, “Yeah, but I’m not insane like a majority of them, and you of all people should know that.” You straighten your legs so that they’re stretched out in front of you. Jaemin does the same.

“Fair point.” Jaemin completely understands. From the conversations he’s overheard, the Queen strongly dislikes half the people she even invited, but had no choice due to their title, “But you really would rather be out here than in there?” 

Jaemin knows damn well that you’re an extrovert and somebody who actually likes big celebrations like the one happening today. 

You nod, “You’re out here so… yes.”

Jaemin tries to pay no mind to what you just said because he knows there’s absolutely no way that there’s any other meaning to it. Obviously you’d be bored without him… you two were each other’s best friend. Jaemin can only imagine having to attend a big party without a friend. 

“What?” A stupid response, but Jaemin genuinely did not know how to respond to that. He looks over at you in anticipation of a response. He can see your eyes moving back and forth, trying to dig out a reply that would make sense. 

“I would… honestly want to be wherever you are, Jaemin-ie.” You reach over to poke his shoulder, “I can really be myself with you.” You try to make it sound not as serious as it actually was. This was basically a platonic confession, something that you’ve never told him before. 

Jaemin’s still in denial that you actually prefer being with him. He doesn’t see himself as anything special, so why do you seem to genuinely like his company? 

“But… you belong inside with all those people,” Jaemin starts, “Not because you’re similar to them, because like you said a lot of them are snobs… but… you’re a princess, Y/N. You’re next in line to rule this place! And… ” 

You know where he’s trying to get at despite his lack of words. “Who’s to say where I belong besides me… I like it out here!” you declare confidently. Then you pause and tap your heels against the pavement beneath your feet, “What if I belong out here, and with you?” 

The question hangs in the air and Jaemin can’t quite piece together what you’re implying. He doesn’t want to jump to conclusions, “Y-you’re just saying nonsense at this point… Are you drunk?” Jaemin leans over to look you in the eye as if this would confirm his suspicions. 

You laugh, pushing him away, and confess, “I’m a little tipsy. But! But I’m sober enough to know what I’m saying.” 

Jaemin narrows his eyes. “Yeah, sure you are.”

And your eyes do the opposite, widening until your eyeballs are bulging out of their sockets, “I am!” You gently hit his shoulder, “I’m sober! I barely drank. Did I seem drunk when I came out?”

Pressing his lips into a taut line, Jaemin thinks of a way to prove that what you were saying was because you were intoxicated. He can’t process your last question—and with you?—what was that supposed to mean? 

“Walk in a straight line for me right now.” 

Knowing that Jaemin’s not going to stop until you prove that you’re sober, you groan and stand up, making your way to the edge of a stair. You prepare yourself, lining your feet one in front of the other and hiking up the skirt of your dress to make them visible to Jaemin. With ease, you walk in the straightest line you’ve ever walked, “See? I’m sober.”

Jaemin has no other choice but to believe you, “But what about—”

“Are you not listening to me?” you huff, cutting Jaemin off before he can complete his sentence. You can already anticipate what he's about to say. “I can’t stand any of them!” You make your way back to Jaemin and settle down in your previous spot. He observes your actions, waiting for you to provide more context before he can respond. 

“You know… that feeling when you’ve been underwater for too long? The pressure building up in your head?” 

Jaemin nods, “Yes.”

“Well…” you continue, “Being with you is like… finally being able to float back up to the surface to breathe.” Then you add, “I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive without you, Jaemin.” 

Jaemin’s heart is knocking against his ribcage. Are you saying…

“Would it be ridiculous if I said I have feelings for you?” 

Jaemin’s afraid to turn and look at you. He can feel your heavy gaze resting comfortably on his cheekbone. Your eyes trace his side profile, and he can sense the tension building in the silence as you wait for his response to your impulsive confession. Your palms grow sweaty while you wait for his answer to your impulsive confession. 

“Me?” Another stupid response. 

“You.”

Jaemin shakes his head, clearly in disbelief. “But—”

"Jaemin," you stop him, frustration creeping into your tone, "Are you going to keep questioning my feelings instead of giving me a real reply?" Your impatience is evident, and you're looking for a genuine response from him.

Jaemin picks at his cuticles and lets himself word his reply properly. You give him time, but the more time Jaemin spends on formulating an answer, the greater your anxiety grows. You didn’t want to ruin your friendship with Jaemin. What if your impulsiveness did just that?

After what felt like forever, Jaemin finally speaks up, “On nights like these, I talk to the moon about you to pass time…” Jaemin keeps his eyes trained at his feet, his voice filled with vulnerability. “And to the stars… I’ve been… wishing on every single one of them… that maybe you’d like me back simply because it seemed so impossible.” He swallows hard before finally turning to look at you, his eyes filled with sincerity. "Do you know why I thought that?"

You shake your head.

"Y/N, you can have anyone, and I'm not even exaggerating!" He exclaims, "The number of suitors I've seen prance into the castle, all hoping to win your hand in marriage or even just one date down in the city? It's countless… And imagine my thoughts when you rejected all of them. I believed I had no chance with you because you rejected all these men that seemed to suit you perfectly…”

His words hang in the air, heavy with the weight of his emotions. Jaemin continues, “When I started developing these feelings for you, I told myself to never get my hopes up because I’m just one junior guard and you’re a princess…” Jaemin sucks air through pursed lips and lets his head fall forward. 

“That’s why I keep questioning your feelings, Y/N,” He concludes, “I know I shouldn’t even be doing so because you’re your own person, but it’s so hard for me to believe this is real. That your feelings are real…” With one final look at you, Jaemin finally gives you his response, “So to answer your question—yes, it’s ridiculous, but it’s ridiculous to me and not in the way you think it is.”

You nod, his answer bittersweet, “It’s like the stars you’ve been wishing on.” 

Jaemin’s ears perk up, “Hmm?”

“They may seem unreachable, but they have a way of surprising us sometimes,” you snort. You let your head fall back to gaze up at the stars, the brighter ones catching your attention. "Jaemin," you continue, your voice filled with sincerity, "I really do like you. I want you to know that."

Jaemin's heart races at your words, his entire body warming with reassurance and anticipation. Acting on impulse, he gently reaches over to hold your hand. It’s not the first time he’s held your hand, but this time feels different. “I… really like you too, princess.” Your hand tightens around his, and the two of you fall into a comfortable silence, letting the night air engulf the both of you. 

As Jaemin tilts his chin up for the second time tonight, his eyes finally catch a proper sight of the constellations he’s wished upon for who knows how long. He can name a few—the Dippers, and if he looks off to the side he can see Orion and Taurus. 

All of it feels achingly familiar to Jaemin... yet tonight, there was something about the sky that set it apart from the others. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was, nor if a change truly had occurred—he can just feel it. 

But with your hand nestled in his, and your synchronizing heartbeats, Jaemin honestly couldn’t care less what the change was. 

Because, somehow, it feels as if the heavens have shifted.

As if the stars have granted his wishes.

That you reciprocated his feelings.

And, at this moment, that's all that truly mattered to him.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Thank you for reading!! (^ᗜ^ ) Pls support my writing by liking/rbing (whatever you're most comfortable with!) Hope this made u feel something hehehehe

#nct #nct dream #nct imagines #nct dream imagines #nct dream scenarios #na jaemin #jaemin #na jaemin imagines #jaemin imagines #na jaemin scenarios #jaemin scenarios #nct dream blurbs #nct blurbs #jaemin blurbs #na jaemin blurbs #nct jaemin #nct fluff #nct dream fluff #jaemin fluff #na jaemin fluff #my writings #my nct writings #kpop #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop blurbs #jaemin x reader #jaemin x reader fluff

[very-grownup]

Ace Attorney game parallels (no, not that one, or that one, or that one ...)

One of the interesting things about the Great Ace Attorney in the evolution of Shu Takumi's Ace Attorney games is the maturation of "Weird Girl Assistant".

Our original trilogy Weird Girl Assistant is Maya Fey (obviously a perfect being beloved by everyone with taste why can't I preorder that Nendroid yet motherfuckers?), who is all heart and ... not so much knowledge, but a conduit to Mia’s knowledge. She doesn’t personally possess any legal knowledge, but she’s integral for Phoenix in accessing knowledge that would otherwise be denied to him due to Mia’s untimely death. She’s fully Weird in her Assisting.

Apollo Justice has Trucy Wright (obviously a perfect being beloved by everyone with taste), who is a lot of heart but not all heart. She has personal knowledge to impart to Apollo, regarding the perceive ability and his bracelet. It’s integral assisting to how the trials in that game will reach pivotal points, which makes it genuine Assisting, even if outside of that Trucy is plenty Weird. I would argue this is distinctive from the Phoneix-Magatama matter in the original trilogy (it’s easy to forget that Nick doesn’t even have the magatama in the first game) because Trucy is, essentially, teaching Apollo to do something he technically can already do, whereas the magatama is something Phoenix is given by an outside source still connected to the mentor (Pearl). Narratively and thematically they’re different, even if mechanically they function similarly.

Years later, the Great Ace Attorney gave us Susato Mikotoba (obviously a perfect being beloved by everyone with taste). Susato is an /actual trained legal assistant/ to the point she can masquerade as a lawyer in the second game's tutorial. She could BE the lawyer as easily at Ryunosuke, save for her sex in the historical setting of the game. She Assists like no one’s business and her Weird is no weirder than Ryunosuke himself, two young people who grew up in a country with recently opened borders, in a foreign country for the first time. 

A reflection of a maturation in Takumi's depiction of female characters, a general wider consciousness of feminism in popular culture in Japan (something I am in no way qualified to discuss), a third possibility? I don’t think it’s fair or accurate to say that the evolution of the Weird Girl Assistant into an actual competent assistant is a sign of the games ‘maturing’. For all their goofiness there has always been a serious, darker tone in the games compared to the adventure game standbys of North America. It’s built into the series from the choice to have Phoenix’ second case involve the solving of his boss and mentor’s murder.

There may also be something in the connection between the tutorial mentor and the Weird Girl Assistant, holding the balance of knowledge between them like the centre of a seesaw.

The connection with Mia and Maya is obvious: they’re sisters and perfectly mirror each other in their relation to what they bring to Phoenix. Mia on a pedestal of legal knowledge, forever older and wiser than Nick, as her death fixes her on that pedestal. Mia and Nick never get to be colleagues, equals. On the other end, enthusiastic but underage Maya, someone Nick will always be older than and always be wiser than in the legal sense. We don’t know how an older Maya might have fit with the disbarred Phoenix Takumi left the series with; maybe it didn’t matter and outside the confines of the Lawyer Protagonist and Weird Girl Assistant, Maya could stop being a mirror for her sister.

Similarly, Kazuma and Susato are sibling-like. Kazuma, like Mia, is the tutorial mentor, but he’s only a mentor to Ryunosuke because he’s a law student and Ryunosuke isn’t. He doesn’t have that much more knowledge than Ryunosuke and I think it correlates that he doesn’t have that much more knowledge than Susato, the girl who expected to be his legal assistant. There is something like equality here between the Mentor and the Weird Girl Assistant when neither precisely fits their role mold. Kazuma is, I think, as weird as Susato is knowledgeable.

BUT WHAT ABOUT --

Bitch, you know I've always got Apollo Justice opinions to drop.

In Apollo Justice, Kristoph is a fully knowledgeable mentor to Apollo. He is an actual lawyer, he is Apollo’s senior, and he is Apollo’s employer. In these ways, he is on all fours with Mia.

Aside from being the murderer.

There is, frankly, an entire other thing to get into with the tutorial mentors and how their stories intersect with death and a turning point in their respective protagonist’s life and career but this is about Weird Girl Assistants.

So.

What is Kristoph Gavin’s Weird Girl Assistant connection?

THE INCIDENT.

Seven years earlier, in Zak Gramarye’s trial, Trucy is used by Kristoph to deliver fake evidence to Phoenix, leading to Nick’s disbarment.

In Apollo’s tutorial trial, for the murderer of Shadi Smith/Zak Gramarye, Trucy is used by Phoenix to deliver fake evidence to Apollo, leading to Kristoph's arrest (and possibly his disbarment but who knows in the world of Ace Attorney and Japanifornia).

I have nothing but love for Trucy, but she's the shifty, deceitful Weird Girl Assistant to follow a shifty, deceitful Tutorial Mentor in a game about disillusionment and broken trust, following a trilogy about believing in yourself, your instincts, and redemption, and preceding two games riding a balance between hope and despair, with part of that balance being a more equal partnership between the Attorney and his Weird Girl Assistant.

#ace attorney #apollo justice #the great ace attorney #parallels #narrative patterns #just talking about ace attorney again #i have an advanced honours degree in saying how one thing is like another thing

[cenviswasteland]

Do you guys ever think about how much Klavier Gavin loses over the course of AA4?

-- Hella spoilers for Apollo Justice (AA4). Go play it, it's a masterpiece. --

Where is Klavier during 4-1? Probably preparing for a show, knowing him. How does he learn about what happens to his brother? Who tells him? Not Kristoph, he's already been taken away. Is it his family? Is it Daryan? Or does he find out from the paparazzi after his set is done, all shouting at him "Klavier! Klavier, do you have a statement on your brother's arrest?"

I wonder what happens in the in-between. Does he go to Kristoph, demanding the "what happened" and the "why did you do it"? Does he get anything? Or does Kristoph just stare back and give him vague explanations that mean nothing in the grand scheme of it all? Does Klavier beg for the answers he doesn't get? Does he cry? Does Kristoph just stare back, knowing that eventually Klavier will give up like he always does?

Klavier is so flashy in 4-2. I wonder if it's a front. I wonder if it's the hasty bandage wrapped over the aching, still-bleeding wound. After all, he's up against the same defense attorney that got Kristoph arrested. And that attorney is good at what he does. In a way, that's its own loss. It means that Kristoph's arrest wasn't a mistake. There's no way that Justice screwed up. Kristoph killed a man in cold blood, with almost no motive. And Klavier is just expected to move on. His brother is a monster. Move on.

I'm almost certain he starts confiding in Daryan in the in-between. "I dont know what to do." "He wouldn't talk to me." "I need to cut my hair now." "I can't look at myself." "He was arrested, Daryan. He killed someone, Daryan." "I look like him!" "I don't know him at all anymore!" "What do I do? What do I do?!" "I hate seeing him when I look at myself." "I miss him." "I look just like him!!" over and over and over. It's him putting his head in his hands, desperate to block out the vision. It's the "C'mon, Klav, we've got a show soon," as Daryan carefully turns him away from the dressing room mirror.

So what happens in 4-3, when Klavier starts to piece together the case? What happens to Klavier when he realizes, in time with Justice, that the shoulder he'd replaced his brother with did the same thing? What happens as Klavier watches Daryan break down on the witness stand? What happens as Klavier watches him get led away in handcuffs? What happens now that Klavier is completely, utterly alone? He can't confide in his murderer brother. He can't confide in his murderer bandmate. Who else does he even have?

…Justice? Apollo Justice, the man who got them both arrested? The man who pulled every little secret from the cases, who pointed the blame to them? Apollo Justice, the one that remains at the end of the trial, when the dust settles? The one who looks so proud of himself as he tears apart every person Klavier loves?

He can't take it. He can't take any of it. He hates the way he looks at himself in the mirror every morning, shaking off the sudden twinge of fear that he looks too much like his brother. He takes up smoking again, something he hadn't touched since turning the Gavineers into a serious endeavor. But the Gavineers don't matter much now, do they? He stops trying to get answers out of Kristoph. He does his best to not think about Daryan. He just wants to be left alone. He just wants to put his pieces back together. He can't get himself to pick up his guitars-- he nearly considers getting the ones in his office shipped off to a storage facility. Instead, he covers the case with bedsheets like he's a child again, and he starts safety-pinning newspaper clippings and red string to it. Maybe if he does enough digging, he'll be able to find out why Kristoph did what he did. Maybe, if he tries hard enough, he can shove the right evidence in Kristoph's face. Maybe, if he just does more, he'll be able to talk to his brother again.

It consumes him. He talks to no one. He barely goes home-- instead, he stays up for days at a time and collapses in his chair when his body succumbs to the exhaustion. He lives almost entirely off of coffee and cigarettes and whatever snacks are in the prosecutors' office break room. He looks awful. He feels awful. He stops making progress after a certain point, just falling into this awful, awful spiral of hatred and guilt and shame.

And it's nearly a miracle when Phoenix Wright comes to his office, asking him to help test a new trial system. He accepts without a second thought, not even bothering to check what case it was.

Oh, 4-4. Oh, when Klavier realizes with mounting horror what he's gotten himself into. When Klavier figures out that not only is his brother a murderer, he's a serial murderer. Kristoph has a seemingly never-ending web of lies, plots, schemes, and the like. And there's Apollo Justice, and himself, working in awful tandem to tear it all apart. Justice doesn't even realize that he's pulling Klavier apart at the same time, does he?

Klavier keeps looking at Kristoph, begging for any kind of retort. Any truth that can cut down Justice's line of logic. That retort doesn't come. The family closet's been full and shut for a long time, and now suddenly it's all being pulled out to the tune of "Objection!"

It's sick. It's an awful nightmare. He's not waking up from it.

Klavier is stronger than a lot of people give him credit for. But he's not strong enough for all this.

#and it's not like apollo MEANT to hurt klavier #but TWICE hes put away the people klavier loved. #apollo was just doing his job as an attorney. he was just playing his part #klavier just happened to get caught in the crossfire #and as they say... justice is blind #in other news ive been listening to mitski's “i dont smoke” recently chat #this is my first little adventure into posting quickfic character analysis in a loooong time please tell me if you enjoyed #love you all!! mwah mwah thanks for reading xoxo oh and big thanks to my besties who told me to post this here #kristoph gavin #klavier gavin #aa4 #apollo justice ace attorney #ace attorney apollo justice #gavin brothers #ace attorney #apollo justice #daryan crescend #turnabout trump #turnabout corner #turnabout serenade #turnabout succession #aaaj #cenviswasteland #cenviswriter

[harrysmimi]

CEOrry Pt. 4

Synopsis: it's end of new beginnings with new found feelings

Series Masterlist | More of my work

YN had a blast.

Kayla found her perfect dress on day one, she didn't wanted to try anything else!

She was going to get a promotion soon at her first job. That means she doesn't have to beat herself up with two jobs, plus she got a few side projects like writing new textbooks, which was going to make her life easier.

Kayla's getting married at Strouhead gardens, at the Apollo Temple to be specific-- where a scene of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. Kayla's huge fan of that movie. It was perfect for her and Josh, the venue and the dress amd everything. And they were going to go bridesmaid dress shopping the next day. Kayla and Josh were having a small wedding, with just a bridesmaid and a maid of honour by Kayla's side, and a groom's man and a maid of honour, Josh's sister by the groom's side. And a few of their closest family and friends.

It was going to be an intimate ceremony but people were allowed to bring a plus one. Now, Harry had crossed YN's mind a few times but she can't ask him to join her, can she? It would be awkward.

Especially to look at the pictures later on, when she can't see the baby ever again. She inevitably will not be seeing him as well. If he stays out of pictures, she'll still remember her being there and the baby being there.

But she headed to his place after, taking a cab as he kindly asked her to instead of taking a crowded public transport. Walked upto his door and rung the bell, not so scared or nervous this time around. There was a brand spanking new Bugatti Chiron stood in front just out of his garage. She knew, from the green protective coverings on the side mirrors.

She could sell herself a ten times but still won't be able to buy that car. It took her breath away.

She didn't realise he had already opened the door, "what are you staring at, darling?"

"Oh my god, you scared me!" She was spooked.

"I'm sorry, do you want to come in?" He stepped aside so she can get in.

Nothing was new since the last time she came by. She set her bag on the sofa carefully, as someone in the kitchen caught her eye.

It was Harry's chef and house keeper. She was certainly making something familiar to her by the smell of it. But it almost made her sick. Like the late lunch she had with the girls almost wanted to make it's way out from the way it went in.

"Harry?" She asked stopping him on his way to the kitchen.

"Hm?"

"Where's bathroom?" She asked.

"It's down that hallway," he pointed behind her, "you alrigh--" before he could finish she was speed walking towards the bathroom covering her mouth. He found her throwing up there. "Hey, hey it's alright." He assured her rubbing her back.

She said she never got sick. Or maybe this is her first time getting sick.

He didn't had to hold her hair up as she was wearing a braid. But she looked miserable, she started crying as she puked in the toilet bowl. Sobbing, to be exact. She already looked tired and worn out when she stepped in to his house.

"Hey YN, it's alright." He tried his best to assure her there.

YN felt like she was puking her internal organs out, she didn't eat that much!

"I'm gonna die!" YN coughed whilst still feeling like throwing up, But she couldn't anymore. Gagging and she cried and sobbed.

"You're not, you're not." He held onto her, careful to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. "Just stop if you can't anymore, darling." He pulled her away and reached to grab a bunch of tissues to wipe her mouth. She took him by surprise as she clung into him tight, and almost passed out. "You're okay, you're okay!"

Harry sat there patiently with her, still holding her close to his chest and whispered assuring words to her. Until she calmed down and wasn't feeling dizzy anymore, but she still appeared shaken up.

"Was this your first time getting sick?" He asked just to earn a nod from her for an answer, "well, morning sickness doesn't only happen during morning, does it now?" He tried to make light of it but earned no reaction from her, "do you feel like getting up now?"

"No." She mumbled, "the smell of food is making me sick, I'm sorry."

"It's all fine, love," he assured her again, "I'll go ask Lizzie to make something else, okay?"

"I'm not hungry." She shrugged finally pulling away from him.

"Okay, we'll get something later then." He helped her up, "there is everything in the drawer you'd need, I'll go ask Lizzie to put everything away, yeah? You'll be fine here?"

"Mhmm." She nodded and watched him go out.

She panicked and flushed the toilet and put the lid down. It was disgusting!

She found herself a new toothbrush and a clean towel to herself get cleaned and fixed. But Harry came back to her rather quickly for her liking, she in midst of brushing her teeth there. He placed a bottle of water next to the sink for her and left, closing the door behind him to give her some privacy.

YN hated the feeling of throwing up, she always took care of what went down her mouth for the exact reason. It's nothing out of norm for a pregnant person to throw up, and she's certainly aware that morning sickness doesn't always happen during morning.

Trying her best to gather herself before she headed out of that bathroom. It was going to give her nightmares now.

When YN went out she found Lizzie packing up portioned food into some containers as a pot of what looked to be a some sort of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on the dishes.

"Hi, I'm YN, sorry about that." YN introduce herself to the lady. She was about her mum's age.

"It's alright. I am Lizzie by the way." She smiled, "it's nice to finally meet you, love."

"Nice to meet you too." YN smiled, "what are making now, if you don't mind me asking."

"I quickly fixed up some potato, tomato and cauliflower soup, with toasties." She spoke, certainly with a very thick Scottish accent. It took YN a minute to figure out what she was saying.

It's sometimes harder for her to understand even Harry, given the fact he talks really calmly and slow.

"What will you do with this food, I feel so bad. I really can't help it!" YM felt really guilty thinking the food would go to waste, including all the efforts Lizzie had put into preparing it. Probably on Harry's request.

"This will to the homeless, darling, don't worry about it." The blue eyed woman said, "I'm headed out now. You have a great night!"

"You too, Lizzie. Thank you and sorry." YN shook her hand and gave her a hug.

"I said, don't worry about it. I get paid to do this job." Lizzie chuckled, she packed up a little reusable back before she was out the door.

YN found Harry by the door to his backyard, talking over a phone call to someone. The soup smelled amazing and did not make her sick, but she still felt like not eating anything in fear of throwing up again.

"Hey darling, you feeling alright now?" Harry asked as he made his way to the kitchen, stuffing his phone in his pocket.

"A little better." She nodded.

"You want to eat up some fruit before dinner then?" He suggested, "I don't know if you want to eat just now."

"I don't want to eat anything now, I'm going to puke again." She shrugged.

"Doesn't mean you should skip a meal because of that," he shook his head, "now and sit at the breakfast bar for me." He'd rolled up sleeves of his baby pink button down shirt to his elbows as he fetched for some fruits kept next to the fridge and some inside.

He placed a bowl of fresh bananas and grapes in front of her as he washed up some strawberries and raspberries.

"Harry--" she stopped once he gave a deadpanned look, and ate some grapes.

"How was your day?" He asked.

"It was amazing." She she yawned covering her mouth. "Got a good news that I'll be getting a promotion soon at my first job, Kayla found her wedding dress on her second appointment for the day. It was amazing, until now."

"Focus on good things, love." He suggested as he cut off the heads of the strawberries and placed on a place with a paper towel.

She's tired okay!

"Hmm."

"When's her wedding?" He asked.

"In about two months." YN shared.

"I'll ask Jeremy to drive you that day, yeah?" He suggested. Quickly he fixed them both a bowl of soup each and set it on the breakfast bar. He walked around the kitchen counter to go sit next to her.

"Where is your god daughter?" She asked, trying her best to get that one grape down her throat.

"Just called her parents and told them can't take her in tonight." He shared, "you want anything else with this?"

"No," YN shook her head, "why did you do that? I'll go back home, don't feel that good anymore."

"I'll get the guest room ready for ya, so don't worry about it, now eat up!"

Harry ended up somehow convincing her to eat up and they just talked about what she did all day, because his day was nothing much other than attending a meeting. She seemed excited for her best friend's wedding.

"Do you want to lounge on the sofa while I go set up the room for ya?" He asked.

"I think I should head home, but that you for offering." She carefully got down from the chair.

"YN, please." He insisted, "just stay the night and drive you home first thing in morning, yeah? I know your friends are not home mostly, don't want you to be alone. I hope you know what I mean. Saw yoh almost pass out and I'm worried for you, that's all."

YN took in a deep breath, mostly to think of what he said through clear mind and not lash out on him to later regret it, then not apologise and feel guilty for it. She'd rather take time to understand that he's hust trying to help her.

"Okay." She nodded.

"Put on anything you want to watch on TV, and just have a relaxing time, okay?" He suggested, "I'll go get the guest room fixed."

"Hmm," she sounded, "thank you."

She made her way to the living room area. His sofa was expensive but it was very comfortable.

Hella comfy!

The remote was on the coffee table, with her legs tucked under her bum she sat there watching her favourite TV show on a low volume. She text her friends letting them know where she is.

When Harry got the guest room all set up for with fresh and washed sheets, amd everything she might need for the night all set up, YN went to bed. Or did she?

She had her laptop in front of her as she graded paper of her last semester teaching at a highschool. She just wanted a way to clear out her head. She just had so much going on in her head in that moment.

"Why haven't you slept yet?" She heard a deep voice spooking her.

"Oh my god, Harry!" She sighed, slightly lowering the lid of her laptop, "I am not sleepy yet."

"Can I come in?" He asked. Her door was ajar and he had his head peeking through crack, she just nodded for his permission to go in. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She shook her head, "this is just last semester of me teaching at the highschool and I've got a bit of work to do."

"Mhmm." He sounded, not buying any of it, "do you want to talk about it?" He stood by the foot of the bed, his arms crossed around his chest.

"There is nothing bothering me, Harry, it's fine. I'm, I'm fine." She assured him.

"You sure?"

"Positive!" She smiled.

"Hmm." He gave it up for now, not wanting to overwhelm her. "But you can continue working tomorrow, now go to bed. Please?"

"Okay." She agreed.

"Just wake me up if you need anything, yeah?"

"Yeah, I will." She nodded. He almost left room before she called for him, "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind taking me to Josh and Kayla's wedding?" She asked, but soon found the need to make up as excuse. "Instead of having Jeremy drive me there? I, I, I mean he needs days off, too right? And it will be summer."

Harry took a moment gathering himself up from not breaking into a smile. "Sure, he needs a break. I won't mind driving you."

"Okay." She smiled the smallest and the sweetest smile he's seen, "good night, Harry."

"Good night, YN." He left closing the door behind him.

......................................................................

Next morning YN woke up early as if on autopilot, before her alarm went off.

She had the best sleep ever!

On the comfiest mattress and cuddliest blanket and the softest pillow she has ever slept on. In her entire life probably.

That's when she realised she wasn't in her own room, and she really asked Harry be her chauffeur to her best friend's wedding next month and it wasn't just a dream. She shouldn't have done that!

No!

What the fuck!

She got out of bed reluctantly and walked out, the quietest rattling of pot and pans could be heard. But it was Lizzie in the kitchen and not Harry.

YN found him fast asleep on the sofa with one of his leg thrown over the back rest, his arm rested on his forehead to block the sun bothering him, and the same kinda blanket which she had thrown over his torso and thighs. His hair looked crazy curly not styled the way he usually styles them. He had a worn down gray tshirt on and what looked to be black sweater pants. YN could finally see what kinda flower was inked above his elbow. It was a rose!

A name 'Jackson' written just above the rose. He's got many god children, maybe it's one of their names, and a ship on his bicep, a anatomical human heart with three nails above it.

But she wondered why he slept on the sofa all night?

"Good mornin' love!" Lizzie chirped in a quiet voice, YN walked in the kitchen.

"Good morning." She smiled.

"Did you two had a fight last night?" She teased.

"It's not that, I fell sick I stayed the night in guest room. I don't know why he slept on the sofa." YN shrugged. "Oh, I'm about to--" and she back into the guest room and straight to the bathroom feeling the need to throw up.

She felt a familiar warm hand on her back rubbing up and down in soothing strokes. How did he get there so fast?

"Hey it's alright!" He assured her watching her panic all over again. "You're okay."

It was false alarm. She didn't throw up or she can say there was pretty much nothing in her stomach to come out. But she kept gagging as if she really want to throw up.

"Hey, do you want me to take you to the doctor?" He asked to which she agreed immediately. "You want to go now."

"No, no, I'll--" she grasped onto his hand in a bome crushing grip, "I'll wait till tomorrow."

"YN, come on, I'll call in for an appointment after breakfast, yeah?" He wasn't asking, more like telling her the plan for the day. "Said don't try if you can't puke."

"I'm going pass out. Please..." She tried her best to keep herself together.

"Do you mind if I hug?" She nodded. "C'mere!" He sighed and pulled her in for a hug. "It's okay, I'm here. We're going to see a doctor soon, yeah?"

"Yeah!" She nodded clinging onto him. Scared that she'll fall down even though she's sitting on the floor.

"Here, have some water," he gave her a glass of water, still holding onto her so she wouldn't loose her balance.

"This is so bad, I can't, I can't!" She cried, this time she actually threw up. Leaned over the toilet bowl she coughed like there was no tomorrow. It was mostly her panicking over the situation.

"Hey, hey, hey YN." He grabbed onto her arms firmly, "I want you to look around and tell me whatever you see, can you try to do that for me, yeah love?"

That sounded stupid to her!

She's feeling like she's going to pass out and her heart is pounding into her chest as if it's about burst out and keep pumping on the bathroom floor all bloody. It was driving her crazy but he was pretty adamant on making her tell him what she's seeing around. All she could think of was the baby, as she kept a hand on her lower tummy.

"I, I see the shower curtain." She stuttered, seeing everything blur around her.

"Yeah? And what colour is it?" He asked.

"Can't you see--" she stopped a second as the fear of her throwing up came back, "it's, it's gray!"

"Yeah, what else do you see?"

The closest thing she saw was him, "you, you. I, I see you."

"Keep going." He encouraged her, "keep focusing on breathing." Soon she calmed down there. That was the longest hour of her life. She was all sweaty and gross. "It's alright now."

"Yeah, yeah." She nodded, huffing and all tired. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't apologise." He rushed, resting his hand on hers which was on her little baby bump. "You want to go lay on bed for while?"

"I, I need to wash my face. I'm feeling a little better now." She explained.

"You sure?" He asked.

"Mhmm."

"I'll be here." He helped her up on her feet and he just stood there. By the door. Being her personal watch guard as she brushed her teeth and washed up her face. He helped her to the bed.

"I meed to go back home before we go to the hospital." She realised, "I need to change."

"Will find you a change of clothes and wash these off, we're going to the hospital after breakfast." He said firmly. "Don't move, I'll be back."

And she just did that.

Mainly because she was so shocked. She threw up twice since last night. She's never thrown up since she was a toddler and a little bit older than that maybe. She's got no memories of that.

Harry on the other hand, tried to find a smallest one of his hoodie so it doesn't fall off her. But he failed. He can only hope it's ot to big for her, he also picked out a pair of his black sweats which were a bit too short for him so he never wore them. The tag was still on it.

He made sure to cut the tags off before he was headed to the guest room.

"Hope this is not too big on you." He set the clothes by the foot of the bed. "If you want to get changed. Breakfast's not ready yet."

"I'm not hungry. But can I use your shower please?" She asked.

"Of course, love."

Of course she's not hungry. After puking what she ate last night. She slept through the afternoon after calling a day off at work. But later that evening she had gone to see Doctor Wilson, she was finally back, she prescribed her a few medications to help with her nausea and she was good to go.

Later that day she went out with her friends, it was Harry's suggestion that she goes out to get some air and not sit at home. Her friends were very supportive as well, which Harry was grateful for.

She went back to hers after, but he called her twice to check up on her. And the third time before he was off to bed himself.

......................................................................

Harry was miserable the next day. He haven't seen YN in two whole days.

Don't get it wrong, she's in the same situation. She couldn't focus on dress shopping her best friend's wedding and she's the maid of honour!

But after the very next day to her emergency (sort of) visit to the hospital, she decided to call up her dad and tell him everything. Spoiler alert, at first he was a bit disappointed but he understood as she explained the situation.

At the end of the day, her dad's an educated man and he wouldn't tell his daughter what she can and cannot do. He was glad that his wife didn't het the chance to break the news to him, and that YN told him first herself.

And she wanted to talk to him because it was her birthday the next day.

He told her he got a job at the same university again, he can work from home and that he'll help her pay off every penny back to Harry; which YN was already planning to do. Little by little.

"Are you feeling any better?" Her dad asked.

"Yeah, a little. Went to doctors and got some meds." YN shared, "are you taking your medicines on time?"

"I am, I am!" He nodded, "I'm your father you don't need to remind me, I meed to remind you." He's of course joking.

"Ha-ha! Very funny!" She joked back.

"So, who is this guy?" He asked, "you told me he's single and all."

"Not happening Papa. He does not seem interested in me that way, he already friend zoned me." And she regretted the moment those words came out of her mouth.

"What do you want to be his friend?" Her dad chuckled. "True love starts with friendship."

"Oh my god! Can you please be like a regular father!" She whined as he laughed.

Yeah, her dad's cool. He still likes to pull her leg reminding him of her silly crush on this boy in Kindergarten. Which she remembers somehow. She was also best friends with that boy, bht she lost contact once she switched schools in fifth grade.

"Why not, remember the boy from your class?"

"Here we go again!" She groaned.

"You can at least tell me his name you know." Her dad was being very stubborn.

"Harry Styles." YN sighed.

"You said he's like super rich?" She saw him pick up his phone from beside him and she knew exactly what he was doing, "he's decent looking. Along with how he treats you I'd say he seems like a good person."

"I've been mean to him." She reminded herself more than to her dad, "for no reason at all."

"Oh look, it's midnight!" Her dad celebrated and she saw her little brother bring out her favourite cake carefully taking each step. They sang her a little birthday song and cut the cake for her. It was something she craved, to spend her birthday with her family. Which haven't gotten to from past couple of years.

And she talked to her dad for a little while longer before she tucked herself in bed, it was nearing midnight for her as well. Her phone chimed in that exact moment there. It was a message from Harry checking in on her. He sent her same message twice a day:

Harry Styles

- You feeling good?

And she'd reply depending upon how she felt. She did felt good in the moment.

- I'm feeling better now. Thank you for asking.

- Just talked to my dad about this so I feel extra at ease.

He instantly saw her message and started typing.

Harry Styles

- I hope he's doing well too.

She feels too guilty now. Even though half of the time her lashing out of him wasn't intentional. Still.

- Yeah, better now too.

Just as she saw him typing up his response, she heard a knock on her door before her friends busted in her room screaming.

"Happy birthday the mother of our group!" They all yelled at the same time. Julia was holding the cake Josh and Kayla's had a few things in their hands as well.

"Oh my god!" She gasped in surprise, "thank you so much guys!"

"Come on, come on, it's midnight now." Julia sat next to her, Josh handed the a wooden knife there. They celebrated and clicked many pictures of her and with her.

They made her open the presents they bought her. Julia got her two Squishmallows she was obsessing over when they went shopping for their graduation dresses, Kayla and Josh got her blanket hoodie with cartoon cats printed on it with a whole ass kit of makeup from Rare Beautiful.

"Oh my god, you guys really didn't had to get me anything!" YN gasped seeing every.

"Come on you get us gifts all the time, it's your birthday!" Kayla gave her a bone crushing hug. "This is just a fraction of what you do for us."

"Yes, remember you stayed up for three nights because I was sick, and once you drove to hospital because I broke my arm even though you don't have a lisence to drive here?" Julia ranted, "yeah that!"

"Yup, and you helped me complete three of my assignments in two days--" Josh was interrupted by YN chuckling awkward.

"Okay, okay..." YN sounded.

Acts of service is her love language, and recieving gifts instead of giving gifts have always been awkward for her.

......................................................................

Next morning, all three of YN's friends were taking her out for breakfast just before she had to go to work.

YN got dressed in the dress she bought for her convocation as that was the only thing which how fits her comfortably. It's not tight around her belly and it's stretchy over her chest. And she won't overheat in it as well. Julia curled her hair, which she didn't wanted but still went for it because her hair was starting to look nicer lately.

She was just trying to put her shoes on which was getting harder everyday, she just hoped there is still one baby there, the door bell went off. YN opened the door as she was sitting right next to it on the little ottoman putting her shoes on. It was Harry, he looked quite worried there.

"Hey!" She was surprised.

"Hi, sorry came unannounced, just wanted to check up on you as your phone is switched off." He explained his unexpected visit.

"Oh!" YN realised and turned moved aside so he can get in and she can reach for her phone.

Last night after the impromptu party her phone just turned off completely, this morning she did put it on charge but forgot to turn it on. She did now!

"Sorry to worry you, it turned off last night and I forgot to turn it back on." She looked at him sheepishly.

"It's alright, just wanted to make sure you're okay."

YN swore she saw the smallest and sweetest smile on his face. He doesn't smile that often, even when he's joking. Which he should, to show off his dimples at least!

"It's on now." She showed him her phone. "Thank you."

"Of course." He nodded, "you want me to drive you to work?"

"It's fine, I'm going--" she was interrupted by an over excited Julia.

"Is the birthday girl ready yet?" The blonde almost yelled from down the hallway, just to notice YN was by the door. With a visitor.

"It's your birthday today?" Harry asked, now he's surprised.

"Yeah." She nodded sheepishly.

"Oh, happy birthday!" He smiled. Actually smiled. The dimples and his bunny teeth showing and all kinda smile.

"Thank you." YN felt her cheeks grow warmer.

WTF!

"We're taking her out for breakfast, do you mind if we steal her?" Julia asked Harry.

"Of course. Why would I mind." He rushed. Though he really wants to do something for YN today. He'll have to see what he can do later. He bid YN for now left, but not before wishing her one last time.

......................................................................

YN was on her lunch break, she had ordered in her favourite takeout for lunch. Though she wasn't hungry, she had to eat to take her daily supplements. And she needs to hearty meals anyway because there is another human growing inside of her in that moment. But smelling the food made her hungry. She was confused with her own self at this point.

She got a call from Harry, which she answered.

"Hi, what's up?" She propped her phone in between her head and her shoulder as she held the take out box in her hands.

"Hi," he chirped, sounding nervous, "when do you get off work?"

"I have extra office hours today," she tried to speak with food in her mouth, "I'm sorry I'm eating. I just have some work to do and help a few students."

"You want me come pick you up after?" He asked.

She'd have to work till at least half past six, check and grade final assignments. She's got three more classes to teach, that means she's got be on her feet. Walking to the tube station seems like a nightmare to her. After calculating her cons, she came to a conclusion.

"Please, if you don't mind!"

"I offered darling of course I don't mind," YN could hear him smiling through the phone call, "just text me a half an hour before, I'll be there, yeah?"

"Okay, I will. Thank you."

......................................................................

YN somehow got herself to outside of the school building. Her legs felt heavy to walk in. She can only imagine how she'd be able to walk when she's nearing full term. It took her ten minutes to walk out and she was already half hour late because she spaced out whilst grading assignments, she was informed by the janitor that she's been here for too late.

But Harry was already waiting for her there by his car outside. Dressed in a different suit from this morning, it was a black suit changed from his sea green one, a white shirt underneath with half of it's buttons undone. The same cross necklace in gold he always wore.

"Hi, thank you for the ride!" YN approached him. "And sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it, darling." He even opened the door for her there. He'd brought his Range Rover today. He took her bag and put it in the backseat for her and closed the door after she got in.

The most he does is open the door for her most of the times.

She put on her seatbelt and said nothing until he started driving. He was going in the direction to her place until he took a left turn instead of taking a rught this time.

"You took a wrong turn." She pointed out giggling to herself because, well, he's acting a bit nervous and unusual to say. Not like he'd kidnap her or harm her. She thought it was an anxious mistake he made. He stayed silent for a few minutes, luckily for herself YN has learnt to really control her emotions around him. Doesn't she can pash out in hik or cry in front of him just because he willingly (he says so) listens to her.

That's a very fucked up way to behave.

They both sat there in silence, in heavy traffic for next god knows how long. The vibe was weirdly calm. At least that's what YN felt.

Harry just rubbed the tip of his nose with his knuckle nervously before saying, "Thought, could take you out to dinner. It's your birthday, innit?"

"It is my birthday, but you really don't have to Harry, it's fine." She said politely, "thank you though."

"Well, we're already here, might as well go in." He search for a spot to park in, which took another five minutes. By the time they were inside it was almost eight.

"Harry you really don't have to." YN felt bad, because he's already spending enough money on her with all the hospital bills and check ups, he's got his personal driver drive her wherever she wants to. That's just more that enough.

"Come on," he opened the door for her but he saw that she was wearing the seatbelt wrong over her baby bump. But kept in mind to show her later as she already took it off before he could say anything at all.

So he helped her out of his car, grabbed her bag in case she needs anything from it or she doesn't have to bother about anything else. He found them a table in the booth by the side.

The restaurant was very pretty, everything was aesthetic with vintage themes and pops of colours here and there. It was a weekday so it wasn't crowded, she bet there was another floor and the floor they're on is very huge. The menu served three different types of Asian foods, it was Indian, Indonesian and Korean, according to Harry.

"It's really nice here." YN commented still admiring the decor and taking mental pictures of the quirky chandeliers.

"Yeah?" YN found Harry smiling at her there. The waitress came over and gave them the menu and took their drink orders. YN went with water and so did Harry because he's driving.

YN looked through the menu and everything was very expensive. She can feed a group of six people, it was that expensive. She noticed Harry had already chose what he was going to get as he closed the folder and kept it aside.

"Fancy anything on the menu?" He asked, watching her flip back to the first page for the second time. YN looked at him nervously and leaned in as if she wants to share a secret, so did he.

"Everything is so expensive!" She whispered exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter!" He whispered back but ended up giggling.

"I can't--" she was interrupted.

"You don't have to." He said knowing exactly what she's going to say, "it's your birthday were celebrating. Take your time."

When the waitress came over so she ordered a Butter Chicken with some Roti whilst Harry ordered a biryani.

"Thank you for this." She smiled.

"You got to stop thanking me now." He warned her.

The rest of the dinner was quiet, just them talking about her day and the next doctors appointment. Harry was asking her if he should remember something to tell or ask Doctor Wilson. He also said he wants to know the sex of the baby just because. Which she was fine with. It is his child at the end if the day.

By the end, before Harry asked for the bill, the same waitress came in with a dark chocolate pastry cake on a white china dish. She placed it in the middle of the table, and left but not before mumbling a little wish to her. YN was shocked.

It said, Happy Birthday YN with chocolate sauce on the dish, and one little candle on he top next to a strawberry cut up up like a rose next to it.

"Make a wish!" Harry seemed more excited than her.

Well, she's still processing. And maybe he wants to eat the cake too. Who knows...

But she did, she closed her eyes and made three wishes like her mother made her do every year on her birthday. She said, the other two wishes are just bonus, at least one of them would come true.

And most of the times. Almost all her wishes came true, or at least one would. She blew out the flame when she was done.

"Happy birthday!" Harry cheered.

"Thank you!"

"What did you ask for?" He asked. He's just curious okay!

"They won't come true if I tell you." She said.

"Just a little curious." He shrugged. YN picked up the fork to take a bite for herself. She's been craving a lot of chocolate lately. They both ended up sharing the pastry cake before Harry paid the bill and he walked her out.

He opened the car door for her again, and waited till she got in. "You wore the seat belt wrong earlier." Be started, "it's just for your safety, darling got me wrong okay? I'm gonna show you how you can wear it properly so you don't hurt yourself." He reached for the buckle of the seatbelt, leaned in buckle it in place first. "You tuck the horizontal part under your belly, instead of wearing it over it."

With that he proceeded to show her exactly how it should be tucked under her belly even though she knows ut wouldn't stay. Her belly is still a little small. She's just entering her second trimester. His hand brushed her thigh which made butterflies in her tummy go wild. And she could smell his shampoo. A single curl fell onto his face.

He pulled himself away too quick for her liking there.

"You good there darling, everything comfortable?" He asked.

"Yeah, yeah." She nodded stuttering and released the breathe she didn't know she was holding onto.

"Okay," he gave her a quick smile before he shut the door and jogged towards the driver's seat around the front of the car. "You want to get some ice cream?"

"Of course, I never say no to ice cream." She agreed and he drove to a ice cream place.

This time Harry got one for himself too. He'd abandoned his suit blazer in the back of his car, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. The white shirt he wore was too sheer, the outlines of his tattoos clearly showing through. He sat on the chair next to hers, instead of sitting in front of her.

"So you're going with someone to your friend's wedding?" He asked, awkwardly shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

"If Noodle counts as a date, then yes." She nodded.

"Would you, would you mind going with me? I really don't know anyone else, don't want to feel left out." He stuttered as his nervous tic kicked in, he rubbed a knuckle under his nose.

"You're going?" YN was surprised because, she had planed on asking him sort of last minute when he'd have more chances of turning her down due to his busy schedule. This was an unexpected turn of events.

"My assistant gave me the invitation this morning." He shared.

"And I thought my friends hated you." She scoffed in disbelief, still stuffing her face with ice cream.

"Especially the blondie." He nodded with pursed lips.

"Hey, only three of us get to call her that!" She warned him, "but yeah, I think they did hated you. Especially for how you dragged me that night I got drunk for the first time."

"Because you were advised not to drink." He reminded her. Politely. "By a Doctor, might I add?"

"I know, I'm sorry about that." She smiled sheepishly, "they just dragged me there because they didn't know about all this. And I gave in because I was feeling too guilty. I never had a drop of alcohol before that night."

"YN, I hope you know that none of it was your fault, don't you?" He leaned in closer, sincerity laced through his tone.

"I know now." She nodded. But she's gonna carry the grief with her because she did wanted those babies, she felt the connection with them. But is it really right to share it with him? Maybe not. "Anyways, I don't mind going with you. Though I'm Maid of honour, you'll have to sit alone for the ceremony."

"I can survive that." He shrugged, "is there any theme, or prohibited colours?"

"The theme is blue and white." YN explained, "blue for the guests, if they can wear that colour and white for the bride and groom."

"Got it."

"I told my dad." She confessed, "last night about all this."

"Hmm, what did he say?" He asked. YN felt at ease because she really didn't need to share it with him, what's he going to do with that information anyway? But he looked interested.

"He was a little, just a little bit mad at first but he understood." She shared, "I was a bit scares to tell him as well. And you probably don't want to hear this I'm sorry."

"No, I want to hear. Never apologise for speaking about what's bothering you." He assured her. "I'm happy he came around, hope that put you at ease."

"It did actually," she agreed. Busy with her ice cream. She's already feeling heartburn, especially when she's stressed or doing something physical, like doing the laundry and other chores where she's got to bend over carefully.

Ice and ice cream is the only thing helping her. She's just too tired of taking the vitamins and heartburn medication prescribed to her. But she gotta do what she gotta do.

Harry on the other hand was awed by her. She had her hair down, in soft curls which looks more like waves now. He knows he needs to keep his feelings in check but the thing is... he doesn't want to.

He also didn't know what to talk about with her, it's like he knows her but at the same time he doesn't.

"Do you want to know what you're having next appointment?" She asked. To his dismay, she only ever talks about the baby and everything related to that with him. He does like to talk about it but he doesn't always.

Well, he won't talk about himself either so that's fair, he guesses.

"I never thought about it." He admitted, "I just them to health that's all, I don't really care. But..." He cleared his throat sheepishly, "I do wanna know."

"That's okay." She assured him, "what are you expecting?"

He felt his cheeks grow warmer, "I want a little girl." He felt a bit embarrassed for wanting one thing where he doesn't have a control. "Sorry. But I'm fine either way."

"That's sweet." She added, "daughters are viewed as goddesses of power, fortune and prosperity. There's nothing wrong with wanting that. There's definitely nothing to be sorry for."

"That puts me at ease." He sighs in relief, "what about you?"

"What about me?" She chuckled nervously, "I don't think I have a say in this. This is your baby."

He didn't know what to say further but he was going to say words before he was cut off with his phone going off with texts. He glanced at her asking to be excused as he looked over the notifications. "It's my sister. Do you mind if I...?"

"No, of course not."

He picked up his phone and swiped on the notification. A look of confusion took over his face as he lowered his phone and looked around. Until he found someone. YN followed his gaze to find find someone familiar. It was the girl from the mall she met whilst shopping with Julia.

"Gemma?" She muttered, but managed to catch Harry's attention. He glanced at her surprised before his sister had finally walked upto their table.

"Am I interrupting a date?" Gemma chirped, "I suspected you were onto something, but I never expected my brother to ever go on a date."

"Gem." Harry stopped her, "it's not what you're thinking. Please have a seat!" So she did. "Let me start by introducing you, this is YN and YN this is Gemma, my sister."

"I think we've already met." Gemma beamed, "at the mall right? Yeah. Dress still looks much better on you."

"Oh, thank you!" YN smiled back sheepishly.

Harry found her reaction adorable but he could feel his sister staring st him as he looked at YN, "I see you have already met."

"Yeah. And this isn't a date." YN chirped in, "we're just hanging out."

"Oh?" Was her initial reaction. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't know that."

"Yeah..." Harry sounded. He seemed disappointed. YN could sense that but she sat there as the sibling duo included her in their conversation. She didn't mind, Gemma is actually very interesting and kind person to spend time with. They talked about what she did for living, and they told Harry how exactly they met the first time around.

He never mentioned to his sister that she's the gestational carrier of his child. Maybe it is something he wants to keep to himself, or he doesn't want anyone to know.

......................................................................

Harry eventually drove YN back to hers. The drive was very silent.

She didn't know what went wrong, but she didn't wanted to ask him either. If he wants, he can share it with her. She just unbuckles her seat belt and grabbed her bag to leave.

"Hey, YN." Harry called for her, his voice soft enough to make her turn to look at him. He undid his seat belt so he could reach for sometime in the back. A white paper bag with a pearl colour ribbon on top. "Your birthday present. Hope you like it."

YN was put in spot right there. It definitely looked expensive as hell but she doesn't want to assume. For all she assumes, there might a three pound teddy bear in it. But it looked heavy.

"Harry you didn't had to get me anything." She sighed, "dinner and ice cream is more than enough."

A slightest smirk threatened to take over his features, "well, I already bought it." With a shrug he placed the bag on the centre console. "Open it."

"You sure?" She was still hesitant.

"The whole point of getting gifts is to get to see the reaction." He explained, "I am sure."

"Okay." She dragged the sound as she tugged the ribbon open. Her hands were shaking as she removed the ribbon off the bag. There were several little boxes in there. She can see four of them to be exact. "You said there is present and not presents, Harry."

"Did I?" He acted surprised. But YN went ahead picked out the first box she could. It was a phone case.

"You did not." She gasped.

"Hmm?" He's still acting surprised, not even trying to put in any effort to make it seem legit. She pulled out the one of the main gift, it was the newest iPhone. In black. He beamed at her watching as she didn't know what to say. "You can't not accept it, darling."

"You've got to be kidding me Harry, this is so expensive. I can't take this." She whined, "I feel so bad already."

"Come on you haven't even got everything." He got her to take a look at the rest of the boxes. She chuckled seeing the charging brick, which hilariously enough, doesn't come with the phone.

"This is ridiculous." She shook her head laughing, "Harry, this is too much, I--"

"There is one more thing in there." He interrupted her. She glanced at him once before she reached in the bag and pulled out the last box. It was a blue hexagonal box, size of her palm. A very familiar swan logo in the middle.

"Harry!"

"Open it, open it." He seemed more excited than her there. She opened it, and it was a Swarovski tennis bracelet.

"Harry I--"

He interrupted her again, "here lemme help you put it on." He took out the bracelet and placed it around her wrist. It was a little looser but not too loose that it would fall off. He missed her eyes tearing up as he admired now she made the already pretty piece of jewelry even more prettier. "Hey, what's wrong darling?"

"It's stupid. I'm sorry." She sniffled, "I still I don't know if I can accept this Harry, this is too kind of you."

"It's not stupid." He said, firmly, "you can share what's bothering you with me."

"It's nothing. I mean there is nothing bothering me." She looked down at her wrist to distract herself from looking at him, "it's just that I haven't been home in last five years. I miss home..." She stopped to take in a deep breath, prevent herself from starting to sob. "I miss my family so much. But just realised I have one here too. My friends are too generous and kind. And you, you really took your time out to take me to a nice dinner. It just means a lot. And this, this is just too much."

He cooed, "this is nothing. In compare to what you're doing." He started, "and we're friends too, right?"

"Right." She nodded.

"Happy birthday!" He said in a sing-sang voice, holding his arms out like a toddler wanting a hug. YN chuckled and hugged him.

"But honestly Harry--"

"Please?" He makes a sad kitten face bht ends up breaking into a big grin.

"I..." She sighs, "okay."

"Yay!" He chuckles, "happy birthday, YN."

"Thank you Harry." She smiles, "really. For everything. And for these. How thoughtful of you." She held up the charger box jokingly.

"Hey!" He whined, "it's sas they stopped giving chargers with the phones."

"Yeah." She nodded, "now you can delete WhatsApp off your phone, eh?"

"I didn't got you that so I can delete WhatsApp off mine." He looked at her with more serious eyes, "your phone keeps dying, you literally keep it plugged to a power bank in your bag all the time. It died on you last night. I just want to make sure I can reach to you, to make sure you're doing fine and well. You're my responsibility. As much as you-- or me, because I know you're a responsible person-- might not like it, that's true."

"Okay..." She sunk of her seat sheepishly.

She thinks about saving up to buy herself a new phone but ends up spending that money somewhere or other. Or send it back home to help her family.

"Don't have to embarrassed, darling." He assured her.

"Yeah." She pulled herself together, "I should go now... I'm very tired."

"Mhmm." He nodded.

YN gathered everything in the paper bag as she watched him sink into his seat next to her from the corner of her eye. Giving him one last glance of hope before she slipped out and waved him bye before she walked into her building.

......................................................................

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[trlvsn]

this long ass trainwreck of a post is about two types of cards and two types of hands in apollo justice: ace attorney. also about beanix. like, a lot. i got carried away.

i have already written a post about phoenix wright in turnabout trump and his decision to make apollo present forged evidence, but i will repeat myself a little for the sake of making sense. before, i have stated three definite motivations for his behavior: teaching apollo to never make the mistake of blind trust ever again, making sure that he wins the case and completely cutting himself off from the law, submitting to the image of himself that others see. "maybe i did, maybe i didn't, but who cares anymore" - phoenix wright, 2019, dear genties and ladymen of the court. but anyway, as fascinating as his character is in aa4, the only way to really understand it is to focus on the bigger picture. phoenix wright has been collecting evidence for seven long years, working on the jurist system, playing the piano, looking in the mirror and seeing the cracks from the big big punch the system landed on him. phoenix wright might still remember how to be a lawyer, but he is no longer part of the current system, in fact, he refuses to be. he frequently says he "quit law", meaning him not going back or trying to was somewhat of a conscious choice. bringing me to my second point and fourth reason of him forging evidence: the rules don't matter to him anymore, because these rules are not the ones he agrees with. he is no longer playing by them.

once you understand that, the point of view shifts. his actions are only wrong from a legal standpoint (aside, of course, from betraying apollo's trust, not excusing that but also not really talking about that right now), he is acting as a man, not a lawyer. look at the forged evidence morally: did it do harm? we know the man who he was trying to frame with the evidence is guilty (kristoph), we know he knows and we know he knows what will happen. what happens is: with the price of a small lie, a bigger truth gets revealed, and millions of other wrongs that the system created break. this action has led to good consequences and was done with good intentions (well, i assume), meaning it was, objectively, good, righteous. it's just that the law is righteous no more.

furthermore, when you look at phoenix's actions overall, we understand that the fire burning inside him has not changed. he is fighting for a better system, one that will never leave an innocent alone and abandoned, as now there are 12 jurists and any of them could be on that person's side, not based on their position or job, but based on reason and common sense. see me making the word job bold? that's for a reason, i will talk about the significance of jobs later. anyway, phoenix's seriousness about the whole thing is really well-demonstrated by sprite.

now. you might notice klavier and kristoph here. that's because, as noted by countless other ace attorney fans, phoenix's expression mirrors theirs. if it was just kristoph's, this expression of phoenix's would frankly concern me: a parallel with an "evil" character is not exactly a good sign. however, this expression gains a new meaning with klavier having it: aside from indicating that phoenix wright remains a sponge that adopts people's mannerism, he is experiencing a similar mindset to the gavin brothers: perfectionism. not in the von karma way, though, a different kind. this perfectionism means "i have poured my heart and soul into this concert/murder/jurist system and everything has to go right. for the love of god". it means phoenix's heart is in it. it means the mask falls.

the make falls, and yet phoenix wright remains in his hoodie and beanie. the mask falls, and yet, by the end of turnabout succession, he says he might learn how to play piano, or, maybe, perhaps, someday, pass the bar exam. weird, isn't it? the system is fresh and just, his honor is restored, but he is embracing the freedom of choice and a chance at authenticity instead of deciding what that authenticity will be for him right away. that, at least to me, is because phoenix wright is no longer defined by his occupation, and neither are any of the characters, really. here is where i come back to the job thing.

a wise tumblr user out there somewhere once said aa2 is about identity, and i completely agree. in the introductory case, phoenix loses his memories and regains his sense of self by, essentially, doing his job, remembering why and how he does it. and, like phoenix, aa4 is much more mature in the subject of identity. (not calling aa2 an immature game, just pointing out the development of identity as a concept). phoenix wright is a piano player slash poker champion, and yet he brings the truth to light and turns the system upside down. klavier gavin is balancing being a rockstar and a prosecutor; despite being a singer, he is factually serious and determined in court, despite being a prosecutor, he sings for thousands and is the most glimmerous of fops. ema skye - and boy will i say a lot about her in a separate post someday - is a detective, and yet she keeps her soul alive with luminol and fingerprint powder, using forensics despite not being a forensic scientist. apollo justice is a successful attorney, and yet he presents forged evidence in his first trial, and, while it wasn't his choice to do so, he also doesn't make the choice to go ruin his career and reveal the truth of the evidence, does he?

point is, the characters make choices, no longer identifying themselves solely with their jobs. they do what they do, and what they are is what they put out into the world. while aa2 is about identity, aa4 is about actions, making a change. no longer is it acceptable to stand by and observe - you either build a new system brick by brick and break the old one with your bare fists, or you're a victim slash pawn of it. or you're kristoph gavin and those like him - the one who the old system relies on, and the one who relies on the old system.

either way, the matter of actions, well, mattering, is really well-demonstrated by the importance of hands in aj:aa. i already talked about hands for a bit in this post, reblogged from @/phantommarigold. what inspired this line of thought was phoenix's tendency to hide his hands in almost every sprite of his, except for the objection one (which is stated was for the reason of hiding his true intentions, aka his "hand" as in hand of cards). the other reason, however, was the significance of hands in aa4 overall. kristoph gavin's hand has a devilish scar on it, showing his true identity and being a tell of his; apollo's perceptive powers are enhanced by the bracelet on his hand, which he so impolitely points at other objection-style, and so does phoenix in turnabout trump. klavier is a guitarist, so hands are quite literally an important part of his; but they are also very detailed in general, drawn with rings and great detail. in moments of weakness and confusion, he uses his hands to cover his ears, subconsciously desiring to ignore the truth (but choosing not to, of course. eh, that's for another post). machi tobaye holds lamoir by her hand at all times in order to guide her. things such as letters, written diaries, handwriting and fingerprints play a crucial part in multiple cases. i am confident that if i tried hard enough, i would find even more examples. point is: hands are important. hands symbolize action, creation and ruin, hands are our instrument, which we use to leave an imprint on the world. again, choices and actions.

but let's go back a bit. this will be a little niche, and yet i am compelled to point out the possibly unintentional tarot symbolism in character design. kristoph gavin has a devil on his hand, and frankly, that is very fitting for a name of the fifteenth major arcana. the devil traps, conceals the truth and holds immense power, which is essentially what kristoph does. the card is also associated with manipulation, which is also undeniably what he does to klavier at the very least. the card suits him, frankly even more than the descriptions of the devil as a mythical being.

before i point out the most obvious tarot reference, bear with me while i talk about the more far-fetched ones. first and foremost, trucy wright as the magician, the first arcana: someone who holds all the tools (the necessary (and forged) evidence, two times throughout her life) but isn't exactly at a point of bringing them into full action, someone who motivates and powers (her being phoenix's light), and, well, literally a magician. apollo justice as the sun - named after the greek god of the sun, bringing light and joy into life (by assisting with the downfall of the dark age) and possibly being childish (the naive behavior of accepting forged evidence in turnabout trump). are my descriptions of the cards fully accurate? no, give me a break, divination may be in my blood but it's not in my brain. anyways, lamoir as the star - constellations on her clothes, divine-looking, and the seventeenth arcana, following the tower - a symbol of a wreck, a disaster, a change (losing memories, in her case, and ... well, being shot does resemble the lighting that strikes the tower). this might seem insignificant for those not familiar with tarot, but the major arcana are famous for telling a story of life if put in the correct order, so it made sense to me.

now, the most important tarot reference of all is the one at the start of case 2. take a look at the transcript/description of the intro from ace attorney wiki:

Intro

The camera slowly zooms away from a wheel that is turning.

As long as we draw breath, the Wheel of Fate turns...

There are brief scenes of Phoenix Wright about to get hit by a car, Trucy Wright chasing someone, and a man playing on his harmonica. Afterward, it is shown that the wheel is part of a stand being pulled by a man late in the rainy evening. Everything except the wheels is silhouetted in darkness.

Spinning big crimes and little crimes together.

The man suddenly stops.

And when the Wheel stops...

The camera pans to another man blocking the stand-puller's way. As the camera begins to zoom away, there is a flash from a gunshot. The camera accelerates, showing part of a park before obscuring the scene behind some city towers.

You die.

the wheel of fortune is the tenth major arcana, and it's meaning is quite obvious.

fate is an uncontrollable force, one that is the most powerful in the universe as it is the universe itself. in this case, it spins a complicated tale, connecting small and big crimes, unintended consequences and failed plans.

in the end, what's done is done, no matter what you originally intended. you may not have wanted to present forged evidence, but you did. you may not have wanted this job, but you have it. you may not have known and you may not have seen, but now you do, and what you do next is what matters.

so you better be careful. tomorrow is a new day no matter what happens; time is inevitable, and so is change, but if you get your hands dirty and play your cards right, then, perhaps, the sun will shine on that day and the day after that.

#ace attorney #aa #apollo justice: ace attorney #ajaa #aj:aa #beanix #ace attorney spoilers #aa4 spoilers #aa2 spoilers #apollo justice #klavier gavin #kristoph gavin #ema skye #trucy wright #ace attorney games #aa theory #game thoughts #ace attorney theory #tw manipulation #apollo justice ace attorney #aa apollo justice #aa apollo #ace attorney apollo justice #beanix wright #turnabout trump #turnabout corner #turnabout succession #aa phoenix wright #phoenix wright #raystextpost

[minhosimthings]

Icarus's Lament: A Hyunjin oneshot

Synopsis: A siren falls in obsessive love with a human, and it mimics the story of Icarus and Apollo

Pairings: Hyunjin × Fem!Siren!Reader, includes rest of Skz, and an original character

Warnings: fluff to angst, fem!reader, just suggestive towards the end, don't read if you don't want your heart broken, ANGSTY AT THE END, forbiddened love, one sided love, obsessive love

A/N: Kay, finally finished this and I AM OBSESSED. look im a simp for mythology and lore and all that stuff, so yeah writing this was very theurapeutic. im sorry I haven't posted in a long time, but i've kinda been busy with work and stuff so i couldn't find time to write. BUT this baby's out so simp on this while i work on some of my other wips.

PLEASE READ: So this fic is based off of the myth of Icarus and Apollo. you should probably read a bit about it if you want to understand why it has a significance to this fic. And by Icarus and Apollo, i mean the romantisized version of the two forbiddened lovers. Also also also shoutout to my darlings @iutdwae and @1-800-shedevil who are as obsessed with mythology as I am.

Mythology is so pretty isn't it? It's amazing how humans have made stories out of deities whose existence they made up simply because they were too afraid of being authoritarian of themselves. The Gods were made up to fulfill human desire, to tell them that someone is always watching. And the people who defied the existence of a robed man, carrying a cross or some other wooden thing, were burnt to death, no matter if God was watching or not. All so paradoxical isn't it? The Gods were greedy beings, or atleast that was your philosophy. You had Aphrodite, greedy for love, so greedy that the roses were stained with her blood when a lover was shot. Then you had Zeus, greedy for his women, so greedy that he couldn't notice his wife's burning wrath. You had Kore, the flower girl, so greedy for freedom, that she became Persephone for a man who took her from her flowers. Yet you questioned why they weren't reprimanded for their greed. Why were the beings below them scolded for wanting more than they could salvage, while The Gods had statues built of them, overflowing with wine and bread? Why must there always be a punishment for greed, no mater human, selkie or dragon?

"My sister, what are you doing near that mirror again?" Your older sister, Menthe's voice broke you out of your stupor from staring at a jewel encrusted mirror. It was a pretty one indeed, filled with magic and glitter near its seams. "Are you looking at the humans again, darling?" Menthe scoffed and wrapped her arms around your waist, her tail colliding with yours, sending a bolt of electricity through to your scales. "Menthe let me go." You fidgeted in her tight grasp, but you knew you couldn't win. Menthe wasn't the Queen's best soldier for nothing after all. "Stop looking at the humans and maybe I'll let you go." Menthe chuckled, seeing you give up and sink into her hold, feeling the seaweed coat the scales in her arms, protecting them. "Sister when will we be going up by the way? You said we could go together today." Menthe finally let go of you and swam away from you as fast as she could. "Menthe! Don't you run from me!" You chased after her, silently summoning the water to take you faster. Of course the ocean obliged. It always was sympathetic to you. To a siren who got turned when she was pushed into the water, by a man who was jealous of her love. By a ruthless human who hated her for something she had no control over. But still, it confused your sister and the entire mermaid population as to how you didn't remember anything about the incident or that you used to be human. You had woken up on a bed in the castle of the Mermaid Queen, surrounded by a bunch of beautiful tailed creatures. Amnesia, was how they explained. Menthe had taken you in, calling you her own sister and spoiling you rotten, because apparently you were too adorable. Your love for humanity remained though. Every day you would get your magical mirror out, a girl from the Princess of Mermaids, and stare at the humans passing on the beach above. They were fascinating, with how they could jump and run so easily. Even though you could turn into a human and walk on land, you could never jump or run like they did, lest you accidentally rip your beautiful tail, embroidered with glittering scales and the prettiest gradient of colours. You rarely took trips to the land, and whenever you did, you were always sent heavily guarded. The fact of why exactly you were special was still unknown to you, as no one ever had the courage to tell you that you used to human. Humans who were turned into mermaids or sirens, to be more specific, were always special, having the power to control the sea with the mere notes of their voices. But the only problem was that they never knew that, courtesy to siren rule being that the special ones couldn't be told that they were special. Weird rule, you always thought, not knowing that you were one of the special ones.

"Menthe come out from there I can see you hiding." You called out to your sister, who was trying to hide behind her wardrobe. She groaned and came out from behind, flipping her hair behind her, and dusting her tail. "Y/n why do you want to go today?" She whined, pouting. "I cannot take you, you know that?" "I'll go with Chan then." You said, firmly, trying to end the conversation. You hadn't been up on the beach in a long time, four months to be exact and you were greedy. You were greedy to go up there. And greed never exactly suited you because when you wanted something, oh Lord, give everyone around you strength and patience.

"Fine you can go with Chan." Menthe finally gave in. "But, if you even try to run away, I will seriously kill you." You giggled at her sentence, knowing that she couldn't even lay a finger on you if she tried to.

"Chan! It's so good to see you again." You swam up to a stout Siren with broad shoulders and the most adorable dimpled smile. "Y/Nnnie!" He swam over to you and engulfed you in his arms, giving you a sense of warmth from the surrounding cold water. "Going up today? You ready?" You balled your fists up and nodded frantically. To say you were excited would be an understatement. You were basically a hyperactive squirrel today.

"Be safe alright?" Menthe hugged you once last time and gave you a conch shell. "You know what the shell does right?" She quizzed you. You rolled your eyes at her, knowing that you've gone through this routine every single time you wanted to go up to get high by the beach. "It calls you incase I run away and you have to get me because I am a careless incompetent brat." You grumbled. "Well atleast the careless brat part is correct." Menthe chuckled before pulling you in for another hug and finally letting go of you.

"Why can't the sunlight reach down to the water Chan? I love this warm feeling so much." You and Chan stepped out from behind some moss covered rocks completely dry, despite having being submerged in water just a few seconds ago. The secret entrance to what the humans called 'Mermaid land', was known to only a few of the Sirens. It was a bunch of rocks and a humorous piece of driftwood which invoked curiously in the humans, although they never went near it. It was funny, you thought, how humans were scared of just driftwood. It was funny how humans feared everything and that they made up myths to explain their fears. Menthe had very patiently explained to you how humans weren't very smart but you didn't believe her much. If they weren't smart, how would they have invented so many things which made their lives easier, like fire?

"Do you want to go to the market first Y/N?" Chan asked you as you set foot on the warm sand on the beach. You loved the feeling of sand. It was like having a thousand needles prickle the bottom of your feet, except that the needles massaged your feet instead of pricking them, to make them bleed your precious blood. "Sure." You said to Chan. "We can go to the market first and then we can come relax on the beach before going back down. Is that alright Chan?" Chan nodded and smiled again, showing those adorable dimples to you. The people of the town knew Chan, since he came up more often than any of the other sirens. The people knew him not as Chan, but as Christopher, the mysterious stranger who could come down to town often to give remedies for human illnesses, since, to be frank, the creatures of the deep had much more knowledge about medicine than humans did. They didn't question him or ask anything since the dark plague when he basically saved every single child in the town, and the townspeople pledged their loyalty to him. Chan was peculiar to them, not saying a word to anyone but the children who would laugh and go after him, calling out 'Uncle Chan!'.

"The marketplace has gotten more prettier since I last saw it." You let out a breath of amazement at seeing all the trinkets and food being sold in the market. It was a wide lane, flanked with stalls, selling seafood, vegetables, mirrors, cloth, jewelry and tiny trinkets. "You saw it about four months ago Y/Nnie." Chan chuckled softly, as you tried to keep up with his pace. He was more used to walking on two legs than you were, and as you walked slowly behind him, he kept a protective arm around your waist, ready to catch you incase you fall. "Ooh Chan what are those?" You excitedly pointed towards a brass thingamabob. It was like a pillar, with many open top, where something was carved into it. It also had a tiny painting of a rose on it. "That's called a candelabra Y/N." Chan responded calmly. "Humans use it to light fire, in order to bring light." "Can-de-lab-ra." You pronounced the foreign word slowly, making Chan chuckle again at your cuteness. "Can I have one pleease?" You pouted to Chan, who you knew couldn't refuse anything when you asked for it. Two minutes later, you strolled deeper into the marketplace, holding the candelabra and a flower in your hand. Chan had a medical job he had to do in town, so he suggested you come with him and wait outside while he finished the job. "Menthe would kill me if I left you alone, but it wouldn't hurt to tell her." He shot you a mischievous smile. You didn't mind being left alone. You knew enough about humans to interact with them, without Chan's knowledge so you were excited.

"That's the house!" Chan called after a few minutes of walking. He pointed to a brick mansion, which looked like a palace. It was beautiful, with ivy coating its walls and lavender growing in the garden. You could smell the roses and herbs too, and you could hear the meowing of a cat. The mansion was far away from the main town, so you assumed it belonged to some rich family. That's how human society worked, as Menthe had told you. The richest lived far away from the common folk, merry making and drinking wine while the poorer ones starved under a candle. The humans who invented this system of society were cruel and unfair, you thought. Every siren in your universe was always treated fairly, no matter where they came from. And that's how you thought everything worked until you found out about humans, not knowing that you were a human yourself.

"Y/N-" Chan stopped you before you two knocked on the iron gate, guarding the house. "When we go inside, you need to bow when I bow okay? These are some important people according to human society so we need to respect them. And put on your hood to protect your identity. To them, you're my little sister alright?" You listened intently to all of his words, wanting to impress the first humans you would probably see up close. "And also, don't talk too much. I know you love talking, but these people don't really prefer it, okay?" Chan stroked your hair gently before kissing the top of your forehead.

"Ahh Mr Christopher wasn't it?" Most of the humans you'd see everyday seemed kind and lively and approachable but this man standing in front of you definetly wasn't. He had a bulging stomach, smooth, flattened greying hair and a magnificent, protruding moustache which made him look very much like a fat, angry walrus. "Your grace." Chan bowed to the man, surprising you. No one was addressed by 'your grace' except for the princess! It took you a second or two to realise that this was human land. Their rules were entirely different from yours, maybe even worse, you thought as you curtseyed to the walrus man. "And who is this beautiful young lady?" The man looked you up and down, eyes full of hunger. Chan stood slightly in front of you, shielding you. "She is my sister, your grace." His firm voice rang through the humongous hall. "Now I believe your niece and wife are the affected people in the household whom I was summoned to treat?" The walrus man looked slightly furious at Chan's words, but he didn't let his anger flow and instead said, "Yes. Yes they are. I shall guide to upstairs where they are resting. Meanwhile, your sister-" he shot you a look again. "-can explore our house perhaps? I shall send a servant with her." Chan looked at your pleading eyes, and gently smiled. He kissed the top of your forehead and whispered, 'be safe, don't do anything out of line.' and went off with the walrus man.

Was this what freedom felt like?, you thought as you strolled around the huge courtyard of the house, with a servant following you. She didn't talk much, instead preferring to cough every now and then, to remind you that she was there. Sand felt really good on your feet, but grass felt better. You had taken off your shoes, much to the disdain of the servant, and felt the dew-filled grass tickle your feet gently. Butterflies were flying here and there and they reminded you of the starfish that would accompany you whenever you and Menthe would go explore sunken ships and other ruins.

You were about to take a whiff of the lavender bushes you had so excitedly run up to when- "Oh where did you come from?" There was a strange creature tugging at your dress tightly. It had black and white fur and the tiniest paws you had ever seen. A dog. This was a creature called dog. Chan had told you about them on your second trip to the surface and you had always wanted to meet one up close. You bent down to pet the dog, seeing as it was tugging on your dress so tightly, when suddenly it ran away at the speed of a lightning bolt.

"Hey!" You shouted, quickly picking up your dress and running after it. "Come back here!" You ran after the dog, who seemed to be running to a more kempt part of the garden where weeds weren't growing and the grass was trimmed, and as you tightly clutched your skirt so as to not trip over it, you couldn't hear the servant behind you screaming at you to not go there. You could spot a figure in the distance holding something in his hand, and the dog was running up to the slender figure.

"Hey!" You called after the dog. "Wait for me! I'm not used to running!" "You wicked wrench stop right there!', a rough voice called after you and as you finally stopped running and looked back, a stout man jumped onto you and pinned you to the ground. You shouted out in pain, in response to your head roughly hitting the ground. You could feel the man's horrible breath against your ear as he said, "got you now you wrench!"

"What is going on here? Martin get off of the young lady." You heard a silky voice say, on whose command, the man on top of you, got off quickly and stood up straight. The man with the smooth voice extended a had towards you and helped you get up. He was handsome, with black hair framing his face perfectly and the most attractive eyes you had ever seen. His lips were smooth, and cherry red, like an octopus' and his figure was carved by the Gods themselves. He had a strong yet soft grip to his hand, which threatened the shredded appearance of his skin.

"Are you alright Miss?" He asked you, mesmerising you with his voice. Being a siren meant that you had the power to understand the most random. Whether it was the chirping of a bird or the clacks of the claws is a crab, it all meant something to you. It was basically music, or whatever the humans called it. But there was something about this man's voice, that you couldn't decipher. It was silky yet cracked, smooth yet with a tint of roughness to it. It was.... beautiful.

"Uh Miss?" The man said again, waving a hand infront of you, which made you realise that you were probably staring at him. "Oh I'm so sorry! Yes I'm quite fine, thank you." You said, keeping your tone calm. "Ahem Sir." The man named Martin gave a cough. "She was trying to enter the private garden sir. Surely you must punish her." The way he said all of that with a widening smile on his face disgusted you, but the man next to you spoke before you could. "Martin hasn't anyone taught you manners? You mus'nt ever touch a lady, leave pouncing on top of her! Would you like to be out of a job Martin?" Martin looked down at his shoes and shyly shook his head muttering the word no. "Apologise to her. Now." Martin bowed to you and apologized before hastily leaving.

"Im sorry about that Miss." The man bowed. "By the way what were you doing chasing Kkami like that?" "Kk-ami?" You slowly pronounced the word, trying hard not to keep staring into the man's beautiful eyes. The man chuckled softly as the dog you had been chasing ran up behind him, intertwining itself between his legs. "His name is Kkami. If he perhaps bit the seams of your dress, please forgive him. I really do not know why he does that, Miss- uh?" "Y/N. My name's Y/N. And Kkami's forgiven." You smiled at him, as he pronounced your name, spelling out syllable and syllable in his smooth honey voice. "My name is Hyunjin." He introduced himself. "Hwang Hyunjin. May I ask what you are doing in my house?" "I-"

"Y/N! We need to go!" You heard Chan's voice shouting your name loudly, and as you turned around in the direction of his voice, you saw him hurrying down to you and Hyunjin along with the walrus man. "Ahh my son." Walrus man sighed out. "I see you've met the sister of the man who had just saved your cousin and mother." Chan slightly blushed as Hyunjin extended a hand towards him, slightly leaning to shake hands with the shorter man.

"Nice to meet you. Well we really must get going. Thank you for your hospitality Mr Hwang." Chan bowed to the walrus man and hastily took your arm, leading you out of the big iron gate as the walrus man and Hyunjin stood there, blinking at the both of you leaving.

"He was sooo handsome Menthe! Like Apollo himself." You were currently brushing Menthe's long black hair and telling her all about your trip above, especially mentioning Hyunjin atleast a hundred times. "You have only talked about his features, my Y/N." Menthe chuckled. "What of his persona?" You thought for a moment and came to the realisation that you didn't know anything about this man. Just that he was the son of the walrus man, a dog owner and he was pretty kind. You shrugged your shoulders to Menthe, who chuckled again. "Ahh my sister." She sighed, with a smile imprinted on her face. "You're so innocent you are."

"By the way-" she added. "Chan's going up again tomorrow to check on that fat human's wife again. Do you wish to go?" She raised an eyebrow at you, as you jolted out of your shared bed. "OH COURSE I WANT TO GO I LOVE YOU MENTHE." You shouted, startling her as both of you giggled under your breath and went off to sleep, with the water floating calmly around you.

"Y/Nnie come on! We're going to be late!" Menthe shouted at you, as you delicately brushed your hair, making sure each strand stood as perfect as carved stone. "I'm coming!" You yelled back, as you took one last look in the mirror and went off to see Chan and go up to the heavens again.

"Whaat are you two up to?" You peeked your head out of the front door to see Chan and Menthe whispering to each other, about God knows what. Once they took a glimpse of you, with your eyes all curious and your head wrapped around the door, they immediately got away from each other's tails and stood awkwardly with their hands behind their back. Chan's ears got redder and Menthe fiddled with her fingers, a common thing they do whenever they were shy or embarrassed, or hiding something.

"Let's go Y/N, we're already late." Chan said, adjusting his satchel and ruffling his hair as he always does. "You know humans don't like tardiness right?"

"Chan why did you take me up again?" Chan stopped in his tracks as both of you walked up the path to the mansion again. He looked at you, with glassy eyes, and sighed, and then led you to an empty lane. "Y/N, I need you to listen to me very carefully." He sternly said. "The Hwang's eldest son, Hyunjin, the boy you met yesterday has asked for you again if I were to come to treat his mother one more time. He said he would like to talk to you. But I'm telling you-" his voice became deeper. "Do not, in any circumstance, reveal who you truly are. If he asks you where you and I are from, just say we are from a neighbouring village alright? Humans do not like beings like us. So if he finds out about what we hide under the waves, we're done for." He finished his impromptu speech and led his way along to the mansion again, with you meekly following behind him. It was scary to see Chan all serious like that, since he was probably the smiliest siren in all of the Kingdom.

"Mr Hwang." Chan bowed low to the walrus man, who was donning a velvet suit today, making him look like a fat plum. Behind him, stood the beautiful figure of Hyunjin, who eyed you up and down a number of times. "Well Mr Christopher-" Mr Hwang clapped his hands together. "My son wishes to spend some time with your sister for as long as you treat my wife and niece, if you allow. I promise that no harm will come to her." Chan looked at you, with what looked like pitiful eyes and bowed again to Mr Hwang. "I allow it, your grace. But please. I hope your son will be respectful to my sister." Mr Hwang waved his hand carelessly and muttered words of 'yes' and then left with Chan up the staircase, leaving you alone with Hyunjin.

"May we go out into the garden?" Hyunjin asked you, slightly bowing down, his silky black hair falling on his face. "Will Kkami be there?" You blurted out, eyes widened. Hyunjin chuckled and nodded, his eyes calm and collected. He led you out of the front door, letting you be in front while he silently followed behind. The garden felt much more livelier than it did yesterday. However, there was a new addition to the garden. There was large patch of tall, handsome flowers growing over in the spot where you chased Kkami down. They were painted with the hues of dark purple, pink, white and a bit of lilac. "Are you perhaps eyeing the hyacinths, Miss Y/N?" Hyunjin's voice snapped through the air, which made you lose the staring competition you had going on the flowers. "Hy-a-cinths?" You pronounced out, concluding that that was the name of those handsome flowers, which were all huddled together like crabs on the beach on a winter day. "May I touch them?" You tentatively asked him, to which he raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you can. Apparently they're very good poisons, or as my father and the library told me so." "You have a library here?" You had often read about libraries as big rooms with shelves everywhere, stocked with hundreds of books which humans could borrow and return within a time limit. Siren's weren't really that used to borrowing and returning things, so you and Menthe usually had a large collection of books at your own home. Human books had always interested you. How the pages fade with time, how humans like to breathe in their scent claiming it calmed them down, how they used to write stories and make collections of them.

"Miss Y/N?" Hyunjin tapped lightly on your shoulder, distracting you from a butterfly that had landed on one of the hyacinths. "Kkami's here." You looked down to see the same dog, nudging against your foot. Thankfully he wasn't chewing on your skirt and as you bent down to pet him, you noticed how much he looked like Hyunjin. You decided not to voice that thought out loud, sensing that it might be considered rude up here on land.

"He's very pretty." You told Hyunjin, still petting Kkami, who seemed to be enjoying the pets. You had a question burning within you though. Why would this man, who looked like the reincarnation of Apollo himself, ask for you when the only interaction you had with him was mumbled apologies and thank yous?

As if he had read your mind, Hyunjin knelt down next to you, and scratched Kkami's ears. "You must be wondering why I had especially asked for you, Miss Y/N?" God he smelled so good too, like fresh seaweed and the silver coating of Menthe's arrows. The most prominent feature of his, that stood out like a crab in a stingray's nest, was the tiny mole on his nose. It was like a blackhole that you would love to dive into and sleep in. "Well I was wondering about that, Mr Hwang." He smiled softly. "Please, Miss Y/N. Call me Hyunjin." "Then stop calling me Miss Y/N. Just Y/N is fine too." He chuckled at your words and stood up from his kneeling position. "Why don't we take a walk around the garden? I would love to show you the gazebo under which I paint."

The rest of the garden was, in a word or two, simply gorgeous. It was far larger than you had initially taken it to be, and as you took in the sweet scent of nectar, and the lively chirping of the birds, you realised that this house was as big as the Queen's Palace. These people surely weren't royalty. After all royal people have crowns don't they? And Chan hadn't told you anything about their lineage or where their from or if they were someones of importance.

"You look very familiar to me." Hyunjin said, making you slightly jump at his voice cutting through the silence. "As if I've seen you somewhere before." "Is that why you asked for me?" You raised an eyebrow at him, slightly picking up your pace to catch up to him. "If I say yes, would you be mad?" Hyunjin chuckled. "But yes, that is one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you. Secondly, Kkami told me that he likes you, so he wanted you to come over." You looked down at your feet, to Kkami who was walking happily in between you and Hyunjin. You giggled under your breath. Hyunjin was adorable.

"Well who do I look like then?" You quizzed Hyunjin. His eyes faltered for a split second, as he raised his hand and pointed forward. "Let's talk under that gazebo." His hand was pointing towards a beautiful red structure, supported by four gold-coloured pillars. It had carvings all over it which were, from what you could decipher, love letters. You traced one of them saying 'Mea Vita', before settling down on the green bench next to Hyunjin.

"You look like the exact carbon copy of my late wife, Priscilla." Hyunjin sighed heavily as he said that. "I know it is stupid, rude even to summon you, just because you look like someone I used to love, but I need to know who you actually are, and where you're from." He sighed again before continuing. "She was taken from me, kidnapped, when we were 26 to God knows where. And now, here I am, a 30 year old man, lamenting about someone who I don't know even exists. So I need to know-" he leant closer to you holding your hand in his. You could feel his breath against your skin, as he said in a deep voice, "Are you Priscilla?"

Something in you burst. Something in you wanted to scream 'Yes!'. Something in you said, 'if you say yes, you can stay with him'. Something in you told you to ignore your old life and start a new one. Change is inevitable right?

"I-" "Y/N!" Before you could answer to Hyunjin, you heard Chan's raucous voice again, slicing through the air like a horn. "What are you doing with my sister, Hwang?" Chan spat at Hyunjin, who immediately let go of your hand and stood up. "I was not doing anything, Mr Christopher." He stated simply. Chan took your arm and dragged you out of the gate, before you could even say goodbye to Hyunjin.

"Chan why did you do that? I was talking to him!" You shouted at him, when both of you were well out of earshot of the mansion. "Y/N what was he telling you?" Chan said, taking on that stern voice again. Your mind faltered for a bit, wondering whether or not you should tell him about Priscilla. "He was telling me about the flowers in the garden Chan. Nothing else." You felt your stomach sink at telling Chan a bitter lie, but your mind was currently being controlled by your heart, and you were letting it.

"Y/N are you lying?" Chan looked you up and down, as if he could see right through you, but your mind didn't budge. You went closer to him, put your foot down and said in a tone as if to end the entire conversation, "He talked to me about flowers and nothing else."

"So I heard you upset Chan today." Menthe fiddled with a thread and needle, trying to sew her initials onto a handkerchief. "That's not like you, Y/Nnie." You put your own needle and thread down, and let out an exhaustive sigh. "I didn't upset him Menthe." You picked up the needle again, to continue stitching your crab across the handkerchief. "There was simply a misunderstanding."

Menthe sighed heavily and put down her needle and thread on the bedside table, swimming up to you and putting her tail next to yours. "You can't get close to humans, you know that right?" She put a hand on yours and kissed it gently. "I know you love humans Y/N. But under no circumstances, are you to get close to any of them, understand?" You gulped and nodded gently, kissing Menthe's forehead. It was a wild day today, and it was only about to get wilder. If only Menthe knew what was about to happen that night, she would have bound you to your bed right then and there.

Midnight. That was when Menthe usually fell dead asleep. It was a routine for her and everyone in the Siren Kingdom to fall fast asleep at midnight. You didn't know whether this was a spell or just pure habit, but it was weird how all of them fell collectively asleep together. But you weren't going to be on your bed tonight. Tonight, you were planning to do something. Something dangerous. Something that you wouldn't ever do. Something which was prompted by your newly acquired wings.

The moment you heard Menthe's snores rumbling through the sound of the serene water, you kicked off your blanket and silently got the bag of possessions you had packed and silently crept out of your house. There was certain feeling hanging in the air, something which you just couldn't describe. It wasn't guilt nor excitement which you felt. It was a serene feeling, like the ocean wrapping around you, like feeling a fire for the first time and it felt good, as you crept out of the water, leaving your place behind, possibly for forever.

The sand never felt warmer, even as it was bathing in the moonlight. The blowing wind never felt better, even when it was cold and chilly. The night never felt so alive, even though you had just abandoned the only home you had ever known.

You walked up along the dark and empty street, all alone, to Hyunjin's house. It was scary to be all alone, but I guess it was your determination which got you through the night to reach the iron gates of Hyunjin's house.

"Hello?" You called out, screaming at the top of your lungs. You couldn't see a thing in the darkness, but you could hear footsteps coming from afar. "Who's there?" A harsh voice called out. "Please!" You screamed with all your might. "I am an accomplice of Hyunjin's. My name is Priscilla!" For a moment, it seemed like the footsteps had stopped. You then heard more harsher footsteps and rough voices sounding through the air. And before you knew it, the gate was slowly opening and no more than six men ran up to you, one of whom you recognised. "You! It's you!' Martin said, pointing his finger to you. "Please-" you begged. "I need to see Hyunjin."

"How dare you speak the young master's name like that? You wench!" One of the guards grabbed your arm roughly. You roughed around, trying to break out of his hold when- "What is all this?" A familiar voice rang in your ear. Hyunjin. He came out of the darkness, holding a lamp, in a red robe. "Y/N? Is that you?" He asked you slowly as he held up the lamp. "Hyunjin." You said, silently.

"Let go of her, you bastard." Hyunjin growled at the man near your arm, who let go of you instantly. "Y/N, what happened? Wh-why are you here this late?" Hyunjin wrapped his arm around your shoulder.

"Hyunjin, it's me." You breathed out. "It's Priscilla."

"How do we know you really are Priscilla?" You stood before the walrus man and a thin old woman, who you assumed was Hyunjin's mother. She looked like him, the same eyes and the same lips, but she had an air of someone who liked everything to be perfect. "You may test me or ask me anything." You responded, keeping your head high. "Rest assure, I will answer."

The walrus man scoffed and put down his smoking pipe and leant forward. "What is Hyunjin's best talent, which got him into trouble when he was fifteen?" You smiled widely, and put your hand to your chest. "Forgive me my lord, but please. Do ask something more harder. He got into trouble with the mayor because he had painted a picture of his daughter, nude. Well of course the best painted in town needs the best muse doesn't he?" "And do you know, Priscilla? Whose daughter you are?" Hyunjin's mother asked. "Well, you all know I do not go by my family name anymore. I prefer to be the called, the Girl in blue." Hearing your words, the walrus man and the thin woman gasped. The Girl in Blue. That was the name of the painting which Hyunjin had painted of the mayor's daughter. Or more precisely the painting which he had made on Priscilla. Or should I say, you?

"Y- only Priscilla knows who the girl in that painting is." The thin woman said, in a barely heard whisper. "You- oh my! Priscilla!" She got up and hugged you tightly as Hyunjin smiled widely behind you. "Priscilla my darling." She kept whispering into your ear. Her hug was comforting.... Genuine. And it felt good. It felt so good. That a family like this had fallen for a little girl's lie.

"She did WHAT?" Chan screamed at Menthe and the other guards. They were at a meeting, when Menthe thought it would be good it tell them about the current sticky situation. "I don't know how she did it. Or why she did It. But I can see that she is at that boy's house." Menthe sighed. "Hwang's."

"You know how much trouble it would be if she's there." One of the guards, Changbin said. "She doesn't know of her past and it could be her strong point." "What of her past?" A stern voice came into the room. Minho, the chief advisor to the Queen and one of your friends had strolled in, with his strong black tail, decorated with golden scales.

"What of her past, Chan?" He questioned again, glaring at everyone in the room. "I only know that she used to be human, but someone-" he glared at Menthe. "Turned her into a siren. So I ask you one last time-" he leaned forward, putting both his hands on the table. "What of her past?"

"If I may, Minho." Jisung, one of the younger sirens, and Minho's best friend spoke up. "Y/N didn't use to be just a human. She was the daughter of the mayor of the town under whose waters we live in. She had a twin sister, Priscilla, who loved this boy called Hwang Hyunjin. They got married soon after Y/N turned 26. But unfortunately both the sisters got kidnapped one day. You know how these humans are." He let out a short laugh. " So greedy for money, that they would resort to violent methods. Once the ransom was paid however, the man who kidnapped them, didn't let them go. He had fallen for Y/N's beauty." Chan clenched his jaw at that, catching Menthe's attention. "When she rejected him, however, he grew angry and threatened to throw Priscilla and YN off of the ship. And it seems that Priscilla had offered to take her sister's place. But you know Y/N's persona. Headstrong and stubborn. She must have done something to anger the captain, which ultimately led to where we are right now."

Minho sighed heavily as Jisung finished with his speech. The room turned quiet, with a tense atmosphere. "Does she have the normal powers or anything else?" Minho turned to Chan, who looked down at his tail. "She is an extraordinary siren Minho. But she doesn't know about most of her powers, which us normal sirens do not possess. For example-" chan crossed his arms, showing off his veins like lighting bolts. "Mind reading." The room collectively gasped as Menthe held her hand to her chest. "Is-is that how she tricked them? The Hwangs?" She whispered, her eyes filling with tears. Chan simply nodded as Minho's eyebrows furrowed. "We cannot get her back. We simply cannot. If we try to, the entire human population will be after our kingdom. On behalf of the Queen, I cannot risk that." He swam over to Chan, and put his hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Chan." And he left the room, leaving the rest of the Sirens shocked and wounded.

The day was perfect. The day was pleasant. It was filled with flying birds and bells and bouquets. A sprightly day for a wedding.

You had spent a lot of time with Hyunjin after the day you had proved to his parents that you were 'Priscilla'. It was a pleasure to will away the seeds of dead time with Hyunjin, sitting in the garden, painting. He taught you how to paint, joking about how you apparently used to love colours but could never manipulate them as well as he did. You learnt how to paint his favourite flowers, hyacinths and you gifted him many handkerchiefs, embroidered with hyacinths. You learnt how to play something called a piano. You had seen something similar in the shipwreck you and Menthe had gone to last month but never actually expected it to make noise. It was mesmerising to watch Hyunjin play the piano, how his fingers delicately moved across the buttons, creating melodies only your dreams could ever produce.

The people of the town loved you. They never questioned about where you were from or how 'Priscilla' got back to her lover. You never really knew why, but as the Gods watched from above, upon a scene of you singing to the town's children, not knowing about the power of your voice, they shook their heads in disapproval. You learn how to be more human now, slowly taking in their habits and learning how to hunt, run, jump, climb up trees and nurture flowers.

You learnt the history of humans, about wars, battles, bones and bloodshed. That was the part about humans that you hated the most. That they never learnt to co-operate and live in harmony, like sirens did. One thing that did surprise you though was that you never had a day when you missed the ocean or your life there. You knew you couldn't go onto the beach, because if you did, the beautiful scales on your magnificent tail, would start to glimmer again. And a girl's got to keep a lie, doesn't she?

"Priscilla darling!" Mrs Hwang's voice rang through the dressing room. "Oh my! You look so beautiful." Indeed you did look beautiful in the gorgeous blue gown that Hyunjin had given you, reminiscing about the time when you first got married. Your hair was done up into a gentle ponytail, which made you wince every now and then, from the pain of it sticking to your scalp. "Thank you mother." You smiled at Mrs Hwang. "Might I ask, what you are doing here?" Mrs Hwang let out a tiny laugh, and clutched her hand in yours. When she let go of it, you saw that she had placed something on your palm. An ornamental comb. It was beautiful, green glimmers here and there with a giant blue jewel adorning the top. Tortoise shell, you assumed, as you traced the outline of the comb. It looked oddly familiar. "I thought you'd like it dear." Mrs Hwang said, as she fixed in into your hair. "It was you sister's was it not?" You gulped and nodded, not being able to understand anything. "Poor Y/N." Mrs Hwang breathed out. "She was so sweet." She said, before leaving the room, leaving you confunded and slightly scared.

The wedding was beautiful and as you walked down the aisle, accompanied with three girls, who called themselves your friends, you couldn't help but feel something weird. Something like everything was going to come crashing down any second. Something, like disaster.

"My muse?" Hyunjin cooed to you, as both of you sat on his ivory bed. You sat on Hyunjin's lap, still in your wedding dress, as he pulled you closer to him, wrapping his arms around your waist. It was almost midnight, since the walrus man insisted that they pour another shot of barrel wine until midnight. And now as you sat peacefully on Hyunjin's legs, feeling his hot breath hit your neck, there was an overwhelming sense of worry filling you.

"Priscilla? Darling are you listening?" Hyunjin said, cutting you out of staring at the bluejay outside the window. "Y-yes, my love." You stuttered. "What is it?" Instead of answering you, Hyunjin pulled you to him and kissed your lips harshly, biting them. "Hyunjin wha-" "Allow me to do this, my muse?" You nodded slowly, not knowing what the man in front of you, the man you gave up everything for, was about to do to you.

"God you're so pretty, my darling." He chuckled lowly as he moved his hands to your legs, sliding them up your thigh. You moaned out in pleasure, though you didn't know what he was doing. "Hyunjin~" you moaned as he took off your undergarments, and made his way down between your thighs.

"Oh I have been wanting to do this for so long." Hyunjin laughed, taking off his belt and putting you properly on the bed. He kissed you neck softly, all the while keeping his hand between your legs, massaging your privates. "Hyunjin- oh my!" You breathed out as he started moving his fingers faster.

"Priscilla?" Hyunjin slowly got out of the bed. "Priscilla what is this?" He gasped, his face turning into one of horror. "Hyunjin? What happened? Darling are you alright?" You asked him, while he kept staring at your legs. "You-you're not Priscilla." He whispered. You looked at his face, tears forming in his eyes and then looked down at your legs.

Of course. The Gods would never permit a siren and a human together would they? In the joy of the moment, of turning into a human, of getting a man whom you admired, you had forgotten one essential thing. You couldn't stay human, for more than a month. And you had been on land for two months atleast. Lies must always be revealed and yours seems to have come quicker. The scales. The scales of your tail had started reappearing from your thighs. And lucky you, Hyunjin had just saw it, as he bent down to your legs.

"Hyunjin! I can explain! No wait!" You cried as he picked up a dagger from the wall, as screamed for his guards. "Who are you, you wrench?" Pure fury ran through eyes. "What have you done to my Priscilla?" "No- Hyunjin I haven't done anything to her! I don't-" you cried. You could feel everything crashing and burning. You could feel Mother Earth wrapping her arms around you, telling you it was time to go. At that moment, all you could think about, was the ocean, the sea, the fish you would see everyday, Menthe combing your hair, Chan sending you a dimpled smile everytime he saw you. "Guards" Hyunjin commanded. "I want her by the hanging pole by sunset." He spat at you, before leaving the room. "Find out everything you can."

Love is a peculiar thing. We cannot ever exactly define it. It could be obsessive, friendly, or a dying hunger for each other's body. There were nine forms of love too, weren't there? Menthe always told you that you shouldn't ever go after the last form of love. Mania. That it was dark and cold and benefited no one. You would often heard the story of the boy who loved the sun so much that he flew towards it, on melted wings, and scorched feathers. No matter how much he fell, he still flew. And he didn't know that the Sun knew him too.

And the Sun always watched. Apollo watched from his golden chariot. He watched with his eagle eyes, along with Artemis, how Chan destroyed the town that night. How Menthe helped him, to set fire to every house, starting with the biggest one, where hyacinths grew aplenty. How Chan shed heavy tears over a girl who didn't know about him. Apollo watched, and he sighed, remembering the boy who flew towards him, begging for his love. Begging so much, not realising that the Sun couldn't reach him, and when he did, Icarus was all in Persephone's realm, buried deep underneath the sea, hearing the Siren's call one last time.

#hyunjin #hwang hyunjin #Hyunjin fic #hwang hyunjin fic #hyunjin angst #hwang hyunjin angst #skz hyunjin #stray kids hyunjin #stray kids hyunjin angst #stray kids #skz #skz angst #stray kids angst #hwang hyunjin oneshot #hyunjin oneshot #hyunjin x reader #siren!reader #mythology #greek mythology #icarus #apollo #icarus and the sun #icarus and apollo #bye bye now

[presentprompts]

Back on my pjo BS! So I haven’t read the new book but my friend has and she said it was a fantastic way of having Percy say goodbye… Well don’t get me wrong, while a happy mortal life is absolutely what he deserves it’s frankly just not what I (and I think a lot of us) saw as his future.

Throughout the series Percy has always distinguished himself as just… More than every other demigod. While others are definitely powerful, he’s always stood out, and that’s even with his own obviously bias narrative where he downplays himself.

Percy doesn’t want to be immortal, doesn’t want to be a God, and wouldn’t it be a quintessential Greek tragedy for him to become one anyway? Not because of the Gods offering it, but through his sheer power.

So how would I tackle a subject thousands of other fics have also used? Well ‘cos I’m weak for Perpollo, I’d start in the Trials book. Everything in canon until then, but it changes as soon as Percy opens the door. Let’s have him join the quest, let’s have him watch Apollo, a God turned mortal, struggle through his trial and emerge a better person at the end of it. Let’s have Apollo watch this amazing demigod put his life on the line again and again and still stay humble. All the while in the background Percy’s own power is growing dramatically, yet unnoticed by either him or Apollo for varying reasons. Apollo was a God, what does he know as the norm power level of Poseidons children? And Percy is a long time expert at ignoring the obvious. By the end of the story they’ve obviously fallen for each other but neither admit it, convinced it’s one sided.

So I know Apollo becomes a God again without Zeus’ input but I’m imagining this dramatic scene in Olympus where Apollo tries to deny God hood again, after he and Percy finally admit there feelings. Maybe his immortality isn’t definite until he’s welcomed back into the council? Anyway, Apollo tries to tell Percy he loves him and wants to stay mortal cos Percy loved him as a man! Not a God! But Percy won’t let him, hushing him with a kiss and saying how he was a ‘terrible mortal’ and ‘meant to be a God!’ And then leaves. So Apollo becomes a God again, heartbroken as he believes Percy doesn’t love him after all.

Fast forward maybe a year? Later and both are still pining after the other, but won’t admit it as they both think it’s best for the other. When suddenly while on a quest for his father, Percy’s mortality finally burns away. Now where does that leave them? Apollo doesn’t want to approach the new God as he still thinks Percy rejected him due to lack of feelings! And Percy doesn’t wanna approach Apollo as he thinks the sun God must hate him now! Luckily someone has sense, because neither of them do, and assigns Apollo to guide Percy on a quest to find his domains.

I’m imagining this surprisingly slow burn considering they already love each other, as they find their equilibrium again with Percy now a God. His journey to find his domains would take him on a journey mirroring his early quests as he slowly says goodbye to his mortality and the people that represent it.

As for the end I’m thinking Percy having a final goodbye with his mum, where he sees she finally has the safe mortal life, and child, that won’t be taken from her by the Gods. Sally’s backstory always seemed so sad to me and with a lot of opportunity for a story of its own. In Percy’s goodbye I think we could get a really good end to Sally’s character arc, something about finally ending generational curses of bad childhoods. Sally clearly loved her son and was willing to die for him, but ultimately her keeping him with her was extremely dangerous! Not only due to monsters, but that she brought Gabe into their lives, just so she could keep Percy. The end would be as much about her learning to move on as it is about him.

#fanfic promt #percy x apollo #percy jackson #apollo #pjo au #sally jackson #god percy #sorry this is so long

[misterbardman]

I’d love more PJO books similar to TOA, but maybe with the other gods. Doesn’t even have to be the Olympians, just any pantheon, any perspective. It is so interesting to read how they view themselves and their actions in the past and modern world. Just a book of oneshots would be great, don’t even have to be mortal, just for one reason or another they have to solve their own problem.

First idea I have is Aphrodite going through something similar Psyche had gone through? That way it sort of mirrors Apollo’s trials in the TOA books

#percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #pjo hoo toa #trials of apollo #pjo #toa