#tam does writing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fandomsareforlife · 1 year

Text

KOTLC soulmate au

So, this is the Sokam fanfic that I have been talking about for a while. It kind of just ends abruptly, but that's because I am so unmotivated to finish. I might finish it eventually, but this is the entire google doc I made of it. I also included my remaining outline, and that is definitely a rough thing. This almost a year old, so I am probably a better writer. But I know that definitely wrote somethings differently than I would today. Also, the formatting is weird since tumblr is so sorry about thatz

Also, this includes some headcanons for me including genderfluid Tam (he/they/she/xe), trans Keefe (he/him), trans Linh (she/her), and nonbinary Sophie (they/them).

So, trigger warnings. This includes things like abuse (of all kinds), violence, suicide, outing someone without permission, hiding injuries and trans/homophobia. More details under the cut. Please let me know if something needs to be tag.

Now, onto the story.

Spoilers: The trans and homophobia thing comes from a term that the lost cities uses, "moonchild," that describes any elf that is LGBTQ+, and it is not seen as a good thing. Forkle, Quan and Mai, Keefe's parents are the most prevalent. Fitz outs Sophie to Della unmaliciously, and Della outs Sophie to Forkle. Also, Tam tries to jump out of a window, but is thankfully unsuccessful.

Tam hated the stories his parents told about how they were soulmates since they were thirteen. He hated the fact that they always told him and Linh that they will never meet their soulmates.

However, that didn't stop him from hoping he had one. Even if he never met them outside of the dreams they would share, it would be nice to have someone else besides Linh to care about.

His life was a mess of thinly veiled insults and threats and comforting Linh after she was hurt.

Ancients, please send me a sign, Tam pleaded as he held Linh through another nightmare.

—-

When he was eight, Keefe had a weird dream. It started out with him being in Candleshade's foyer, a room he hated with a passion. It had one of the few paintings in his home, with a painting of him and his parents. Of course, it didn't show him the way he wanted it to but he couldn't do much about it just yet.

Looking around, Keefe became more and more confused. For one, this dream was extremely realistic, with no detail out of place. His dreams were never this detailed. They also didn't feature him in the wrong body, instead putting him in the right skin, for however long his dream lasted. For another, there were two figures sitting on a set of chairs, one blonde and another black haired. They both appeared to be wearing their pajamas.

Keefe, against his better judgment, walked up to them.

"Hi, I’m Sophie, she and her. This is Tam, he and him. He doesn't talk much,"the girl, Sophie apparently, greeted. I

The boy, Tam, next to her waved his hand shyly. They both looked to be his age. However, something was off with Sophie.

It wasn't until Keefe got closer that he realized why. She had brown eyes. She was a human.

Keefe had to stop himself from gasping. This had to be a really weird dream. While he had briefly entertained the idea of being a soulmate dream, the fact that Sophie had brown eyes removed any possibility of it from his mind.

"You have brown eyes," Keefe dumbly stated. Great going Keefe, now they will never want to be your friend, a voice taunted.

"Oh. You're from the same place Tam is from, then. Um brown eyes are common where I am from. And apparently, mansions are common here. Um, if you don't mind, what is your name and pronouns? Also do you know where we are?" Sophie, who was surprisingly mature for a human her age, responded.

"Um, my house. I'm Keefe, he and him,"Keefe stuttered. He didn't know why but he felt like he could trust these two with his deepest secret, one that he had kept in the back of his mind.

"Um I am sorry but um is this place, um are you guys real?" Tam,who up until this point had been silent.

"Um yes I am real. Although I thought dream sharing didn't start until 13?" Sophie responded.

By now, Keefe had started to get his head around the idea of this being a shared dream. Maybe an elf and a human can be soulmates. That last comment was however the cherry on top.

"Well maybe we are special," Keefe tried to comfort. He really wasn't one for comforting but he was going to try his hardest.

Luckily, that seemed to be good enough for the others, simply nodded.

After a few moments of silence, Tam asked," Can we go exploring?" in a soft voice that if Keefe wasn't listening for it he would have missed it.

"Yeah we can," Keefe responded, his voice just as gently, not wanting to frighten the boy.

——

"Mom, what does dreamsharing feel like?" a young Keefe asked his mother, who was sitting in the kitchen.

"Well, child, it felt like I was in a familiar yet completely new place all at once. It was so vivid yet I had never been there before," Lady Gisela explained, not particularly patient but she didn't snap so that was a good thing.

While Keefe occasionally has trouble differentiating between a vivid dream that was of pure imagination and one from his photographic memory, he was sure he had never seen Tam and Sophie before. Even if he had his doubts at first with Sophie's brown eyes, Keefe figured he was just special.

"I think I dream shared mom," Keefe admitted, gently putting his hand on his mother's.

"She must be so lonely that she's imagining fake friends. Pathetic," was the muttered response to his admittance. "Maybe she is too broken to be my legacy."

While Keefe couldn't completely understand the last sentence, the first shattered him. While he had a habit of making fake friends, he had never made a friend as detailed as Sophie and Tam. They were real, even if no one else believed them.

—-

A while after the first dream, about two weeks, was a second. Sophie was grateful for it, both because the noise of the thoughts people had were not existent and since she got to see her only friends.

Wow, that's sad,Sophie thought.

It wasn’t like Sophie didn’t try to get along with the other kids, but between hearing everybody's thoughts and her intelligence, it was tricky. It had been years since someone tried to be her friend. It didn’t help that she could hear their thoughts and it hurts more than it should. She was just grateful she couldn’t hear thoughts in her dreams, that would make her friendship with Tam and Keefe all the more harder.

She looked around the room she was in. It appeared to be a very luxurious home, almost as much as Keefe's. There was the same amount of crystals it seemed.

"Hi, Sophie," a small voice called out to her. Sophie turned around and smiled.

Standing by the entrance to the hallway was Tam. He looked even cuter than last time, especially with his tired eyes.

"Where are we?" Sophie asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"My home. We're in the foyer right now. Wanna find Keefe and see if he wants a tour?" Tam explained, a small smile gracing his lips.

"I would like a tour but only if you want to do it," came a voice from behind them. Looking up, Sophie realized that Keefe had entered the foyer, a smirk on his lips.

Tam ran up to him, asking,"May I give you a hug?" After getting confirmation that he can, he took Keefe into his arms and squeezed him so hard that Keefe pretended to choke, but the effect was ruined by the fact that he was laughing.

Tam took Sophie's and Keefe's hands and led them out of the foyer, into a glimpse of his world.

—-

Sophie might have almost slipped up during the tour though.

They were sitting on Tam’s bed, when the boys tried asking about her day.

“Oh, it was good. My teacher pretended to get mad at me for being right on something he was wrong on, but I read his mind, and he was impressed!” Sophie cheered, jumping up and down. She was so excited she hadn’t noticed her slip up.

“Wait, read his mind?” Tam asked, leaning forward to look at her. Sophie felt the urge to tug her eyelashes out, but resisted.

“I, um, I,” Sophie stammered, her hands wringing. “I read his body language, and read some of his notes. I didn’t read his mind. I mean how would that even work right?” she laughed, even though her stomach wanted to jump out her throat.

It was clear from Tam and Keefe’s faces that they doubted her, but she didn’t care. As long as they dropped the subject it would be enough for her.

Luck was on her side and they dropped it, although they gave her glances every once in a while.

—-

Tam felt as though his heart would explode out of his chest.

His parents had tried to convince him and Linh that they should pretend that they weren't twins. It wasn't anything new. They've been doing that for as long as Linh had said she wanted to be a girl, and it was easier to pass them off as two siblings with Linh a year older.

However, after the last dream he shared with Keefe and Sophie, he wanted to change something. He was tired of living a lie, like Keefe was forced to.

However, when he brought the idea to Linh, she told him that she wouldn't follow him through with it. While Tam knew she was entitled to her opinion, he could not help but think her opinion was stupid.

Luckily, a few days after he brought up his idea to Linh, he had another shared dream.

This one started in a very basic home. It was the most depressing room Tam had ever been in his short life. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration but it was very sad compared to the, admittedly limited, places he had been in his eight years of life.

Tam suddenly remembers that Sophie didn't live in the Lost Cities. Perhaps this was her home.

"Sophie? Keefe?" Tam called out, wanting to reassure himself that they were safe.

Suddenly, a body came running up to him, and tackled him. Judging by the fact that there was maniacal laughter and a wide smirk, Tam guessed that it was Keefe.

Pushing the shorter boy off of him, and mentally reminding himself to ask Keefe why he had such long hair, Tam smiled at Keefe.

"Hi Keefe. How are you? This is a change. Where is Sophie?" Tam greeted, while definitely not blushing. It seemed he was unsuccessful if the blonde's laughs were anything to go by.

"Hi hi Tammy. I'm fine. Better with you. Yeah no Sophie is weird," Keefe responded, his voice lacking his usual enthusiasm. That alerted Tam, since although he had only known the younger boy for a little while, he had thought that he was a ball of energy.

"Hi guys," a chipper voice behind them yelled. "I guess we're in my house this time."

Standing in what Tam presumed was her night clothes, Sophie was bright eyed and bushy tail.

Forgetting to ask Keefe why he looked so sad, he allowed himself to be dragged around the house that was so different from what he was used to.

—-

Keefe was getting older, almost old enough that his parents were thinking about allowing him to get out of the house. After all, he was 10 years old.

However, there were many obstacles to overcome. For starters, he was considered a disappointment in every way imaginable. Another was that he was known as a girl, not as the boy he wanted to be viewed as.

Keefe knew what people who felt like him were treated. Other people called them moon children, both under breaths and to their faces. Keefe couldn’t choose what was worse, the hatred or the lie.

Luckily, Sophie and Tam knew. They didn’t know the whole story, but that was okay. They weren’t going to learn the truth for a while.

Keefe could not wait to dream share again with the two most wonderful people he knew.

(So what if he didn't know anyone else who actually cared about him. They still were the best.)

Luckily he didn't have to wait long. Only until he fell asleep that night.

Keefe found himself in Atlantis, a place he had never been to but he recognized it from the water surrounding him.

Keefe took a glance around, noting that he was standing in front of the matchmakers office.

(A bitter feeling rose from within him, as he thought about the fact that he would never get a match list.)

Keefe was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realize someone was behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah!” he screeched, confusion filling his core before he realized who it was.

Poor Sophie was so terrified she almost fell. Fortunately Tam was close enough to grab her but it still was a close one.

"I don't need you to fall for me Soph," Tam teased, looking brighter than ever. "I know I am good looking. By the way, we're in Atlantis. It's like New York where me and Keefe live."

Keefe was impressed with the amount of knowledge Tam had, both of humans and Atlantis.

"Oh cool! It's really cool that you guys still have places based off of the legends!" Sophie gushed. Her hands were waving wildly, like they had a tendency to do when she was excited.

Keefe wanted to just soak up the goodness of the interaction, when Tam turned to him suddenly.

"Hey, you wanna go on a tour? I don't know if you've been here before but it's really cool," the black haired boy rushed out.

Keefe nodded, and allowed himself to be dragged along with the two other children into a world he had never known.

—-

Sophie was in complete and utter awe in the way the city, Atlantis, was.

It looked to be entirely made of crystals and the buildings were as tall as could be. There were some strange things here, like the blue fire, but she brushed it off as a very elaborate light.

"My parents took us here for shopping ," Tam explained, his voice surprisingly neutral throughout his sentence, despite the smile on his face. He was the unofficial leader of the group , leading the other two through the city that looked just like it’s namesake.

Entering one of the stores, Sophie was surprised at what she found. Instead of the usual shirts and pants she found at stores, there were tunic and some sort of jacket. It seemed to be made of leather, and had a very medieval feel to it.

"Can I go try one on? My parents won't let me wear anything like that, only dresses," Keefe asked hesitantly. He was fisting his pajama top, not looking up at either Sophie or Tam. While she did wonder why his parents would make a boy wear dresses, she passed it off as a weird parent thing.

After Tam gave the confirmation he could go, Keefe ran towards the tunics, and gestured to Sophie to come follow.

"What kind of fabric are they? I've never seen this before?" Sophie wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Tam stated, looking down at his knees.

Trying to look for a tag, Sophie realized all she could find was some odd sort of lines.

Asking what they were got her a panicked and confused expression, from Tam and Keefe specifically. The dream then suddenly faded to black, and Sophie woke up. gasping. She would later learn that shared dreams could end if one was too close to learning where their soulmate lived before they met. She cried for hours after that.

That was the first time they ended a dream on her.

—-

Tam, after two years, had gotten used to having dreams in places she had never been before.

(She had also gotten used to the knot in her stomach on some days, the days when she wanted to not be a boy, but someone. It wasn't all the time, but it hurts.)

It was a medium sized room, with about 20 of one of the most uncomfortable chairs with a desk in front of them.

Tam then realized that she was also sitting on a rug, with some strange symbols on it.

"Hi, Tam," Keefe greeted, a smile stretched across his face. He had snuck up to Tam when she was distracted with trying to figure out what those symbols were. "Is this one of your places or no?" Keefe's hands were twisting his tunic, a long black one with buttons.

Keefe quickly sat down by Tam and cuddled up to him.

"Hi Keefe," Tam greeted. "No, I think this is one of Sophie's dreams. Do you think it's some weird human thing?"

Keefe had come to Tam with his suspicions that the third member of their group was not an elf about a year ago. While there had been some evidence to the contrary, specifically the second dream shared, the fact that Sophie lived in the Forbidden Cities was enough to cancel out any other possibilities. They had decided to not say anything to her as to not hurt her feelings, since they would never meet, or accidently reveal something was amiss.

Just then, Sophie walked up to them, from somewhere. She then sat on the floor by Tam and gave her a big hug.

"This is my school. We're learning about right triangles and it's really fun!" Sophie chirped, a smile on her face. "Of course the other kids are kinda mean since I am two years younger than them, cause I moved up two grades," she then frowned, obviously upset about that fact.

Tam was still confused. Sophie was only eight, why was she in school so early. Although she had mentioned that she was with kids two years older, that still didn't clear anything up.

"Why are you in school when you're so young?" Tam blurted out, interrupting Keefe's interrogation as to what right angles were.

"We start school when we're five, what do you mean young?"

Keefe cleared his throat. "Well, where me and Tam are from, we get homeschooled until we are about eleven, which we then start school with other kids. Only, I think our school has only one desk in a class, since we have one mentor for a prodigy."

Sophie's expression was so confused it almost made Tam laugh, but she decided to take pity on the blonde girl.

"How do your teachers deal with," Tam quickly counted the amount of chairs,"25 kids?"

Sophie laughed and confessed she had no idea. They laughed, when Keefe started coughing.

"Are you okay?!" Tam and Sophie cried out, concerned about their friend. (Well you want him to be something more, taunted the voice inside of Tam's head).

"No."

"Do you need something?"

"Yeah, for this to get off my chest." Keefe then tugged his tunic off, showing a tight cloth around it, binding his chest flat.

Sophie gasped, and immediately started lecturing him about how unsafe this was, and forced him to take off the bandages. Tam also helped, even though he felt numb. Why would his soulmate do this to himself?

Eventually, they managed to calm down enough that they could get in a comfortable position. They ended up with Tam sitting on what Sophie called a beanbag, Keefe on her lap, and Sophie sitting on the edge.

After some gentle prodding, they managed to get Keefe to open up.

"Because it is just too much. And, And if my mom found out then she's going to start harping on me about being a girl... I'm not a girl. But if I say something I'm going to be in big trouble,"Keefe gasped through his sobs. He was wearing his tunic again, and wrapped his limbs around Tam.

Tam noted that Sophie was at a loss, but he knew what Keefe was talking about. It wasn't a well known fact, but in the lost cities, anyone who wanted to be a different gender was not treated the best. They were almost as bad as twins if they were talentless, but just as bad if they had an ability. This was because they couldn't have children, so they were less likely to be matched. She still remembers the times her parents would yell at Linh about being a moonchild.

Tam pushes those thoughts out of her head, and focuses her efforts on Keefe. She also promised to make sure to punish whoever made Keefe feel like this one day.

-----

Keefe couldn't believe he was going to do this. He was sitting on a plush sofa, across from his parents, in his room. He was close enough to smell his mother's perfume, a lilac scent. Gripping his tunic, he forced himself to make eye contact.

"Well, get with it, love," his father ordered, his eyebrow raising slightly.

Keefe forced himself to take a deep breath, through the tightness in his chest. He wasn't using a cloth to bind his chest, not after the dream he had a few days ago.

"I have something to tell you," Keefe stammered, watching his parents become more and more irritated with how slow he was taking. "I'm a moon child, and I don't care if you hate me, or if getting a match is impossible. This is who I am, and this lie that is my life is getting tiring." Tears were streaming down Keefe's face, as the emotions that were threatening to spill over spilled.

His father sighed, as he walked towards Keefe.

Placing a hand on Keefe's, he sighed,"Well. You seem to not be lying. Well, man up, boys don't cry. I'll have the gnomes make your clothing fit for a gentleman of your stature." Cassius then walks away, leaving his wife to mull over what just happened.

Keefe felt a grin, then a laugh, bubble up inside him, threatening to escape. His mind just couldn't wrap around the idea that his father would accept him with such ease. Little did he know that his father didn't truly accept him, and wouldn't for years to come.

—-

There was a bundle of nerves in Sophie's stomach. Today was the day. The day they told her the two people closest to them, besides their family. one of the biggest revelations in her life. One they haven't told anyone before.

They took a deep breath, eyes scanning the room the dream had started in for them. They were in their home again, with them being in the living room. There was a half-eaten cake, with a few presents scattered around the room. Their favorite blanket was on the back of her sofa, as though their dreams somehow knew what she would need.

A few moments passed, before Tam and Keefe walked in, holding hands. Sophie wasn't jealous of the fact they were together when the dream started. In fact, it was a good thing because it so rarely happened. Usually, Keefe would start his dream by himself.

"It repeated," Keefe stated, in what some would assume was a deadpan, but they knew that they were just giving an observation. Sophie could empathize. It was rare to have a location for a shared dream to repeat. It typically only happened in dire cases.

Tam nodded, then turned to Sophie."What's going on?" he asked softly, his eyes glancing at the cake in front of them. They couldn't blame him.

"Well, today was my birthday so we stayed in and played a lot of board games, and ate cake. Also, I have something to tell you two, but you have to promise to not hate me." There. That was a great way to start this conversation.

Keefe nodded, then asked,"Do you want us close or far away from you?" Sophie thought for a moment, weighing the pros and cons. She then gestured for them to sit on one sofa next to them, which they did.

"So what's going on?" Tam asked surprisingly gently, his hand on their side.

"Um, well I kinda realized something recently and wanted to tell you. You know how Keefe is a boy despite not having a boy's body?" Sophie ventured, desperately hoping they didn't hate them after this. They accepted Keefe, but he fell into a nice neat little box that Sophie didn't.

"Yeah. What does that have to do with this?" Keefe questioned, genuine curiosity in his voice.

Sophie took a deep breath, and started to explain.

"Well, I don't want to be a girl, and while being a boy is kinda better, it's still not okay. Like, I'm in between two water falls, and I need to drink from them once in a while, but drinking from one too long is really bad. I know it is weird but it's how I feel. It's called being non-binary, in the human world." Sophie rushes out, their voice steadily becoming thicker with tears. They were so out of it they barely registered Tam lifting her on his lap.

"Hey, it's okay. We don't hate you. Want us to use different pronouns?" his voice soothed, although there were some tears streaming down his face. Why? Sophie thought.

"They and Them. Why are you crying?" their voice responded, after they crawled out of the mud her mind was in.

"Um, because I kinda feel like that sometimes. But not the same. It's more like I have a closet, with a lot of different clothes, some super similar, but some different. Sometimes I want to put on one thing but the next moment I want to put on a completely different thing. I'm not doing a great job at explaining it, but it's how I feel," he whispered, his hand clutching Sophie tighter. They felt Keefe's hands settle on their bodies, pulling them closer.

Sophie thought they knew what he was going through, but wanted to check first. After getting off Tam's lap, they went to grab their iPod, opening the internet. While Keefe and Tam couldn't see the screen, it still worked in their dreams.

"So, um I think I found out what you might be. It’s called being genderfluid, and it’s basically when your gender changes. I found a quiz that is supposed to help you get a start on understanding it.. There’s a bunch of questions so I am going to read them off to you and you can answer them okay?"

After getting confirmation from Tam, Sophie started reading off the questions they found. After asking all the questions, Tam put his head in his hands, and Keefe, who had been quiet this whole time, stroked his back softly.

"Do I need to make a decision now?" he whispered.

"No," Sophie and Keefe responded simultaneously.

"You can go at your own pace. If you ever want to tell us, you can," Keefe declared, his voice filled with confidence.

"Okay. I'm going to be thinking about this, so I'm going to tell you later. It's kinda sudden, you know?"

"Yeah, that's cool. I get how you feel," Keefe responded.

---

Shortly after the conversation, Tam had come to a decision. Xe were not completely sure of the term gender fluid describing xem , but it seemed to fit how xe felt. Xe were Tam Song, the rowdy spawn of Quan and Mai Song, and Linh Song's twin.

"I have an answer."

"What?" Keefe asked, from his side. They were playing Mario Kart, and he was winning.

"I think I am genderfluid. Use Xe/Xem right now, let you know if it changes,no new name," Tam smiled, feeling freer than ever.

"Okay," Sophie smiled, then proceeded to hit Keefe with a blue shell. Keefe yelled, and pushed Sophie causing them to laugh. Tam chuckled softly as a soft, bubbly filled xem right up.

—-

Linh had manifested the day before her and Tam's tenth birthday, and since then she hadn't been out of Choralmere for long periods of time. It's been ten months since she left her home for more than a few hours, since the twins could convince people that she and Tam were in fact twins. It had been an uphill battle for Tam to get her to tell other people that they weren't twins, but eventually she cracked. It was when he admitted that he told his soulmates they were twins that did it. Linh hadn't realized that he had even begun dreamsharing, and judging by Tam's reaction, he didn't want to tell her. Their scheme was only in motion for two months, up until Linh had stopped leaving their house.

However, today things were looking up. The day before was when she had her Foxfire entrance exam, in which she was able to keep control of the water long enough to impress the examiners. Her parents were so proud they promised to take both twins to a surprise place as a reward.

They had taken the twins to Atlantis, both because they needed school supplies for Linh but also because they knew that the twins were much more subdued in the bustle of the crowds.

Tam had a deathly grip on Linh's hand, as he tried to keep them close to their parents. Despite publicly being the oldest, Linh was more often than not treated as though Tam was older. He was just naturally braver.

However, Tam was holding something secret from Linh. It hurt Linh that her twin would hide something from her, which was definitely strange considering they never did before. Linh was determined to find out what.

Eventually, they made it to the bookstore, which while having a good crowd, was emptier than usual. That was a good thing for Linh's plan.

"Me and your father will get your books while you two go get some books for your free time,"'Mai told them briskly. Linh nodded rapidly, and grabbed Tam's wrist, dragging him towards the children's section, which was not very crowded.

"Linh, what are you doing?" Tam asked, irritated. He was tugging at his bangs, a nervous habit.

"What are you hiding from me?" she whispered, yelling, desperately.

"What?"

"Don't act dumb, you're hiding something."

Tam took a deep breath, as though preparing for a fight.

"You know how you're a girl, despite mom and dad saying you're a boy? I'm kinda like that, but it's different. Sometimes my mind feels like a girl, sometimes it's a boy and sometimes it's neither. It's not fun. Go ahead and laugh," Tam sobbed, almost silent.

Linh was shocked, at the idea that her twin felt that she would laugh at him for something he couldn't control.

"Hey it's okay. Do you want me to use different pronouns?"

"Um, yeah, it's She/Her right now," Tam laughed, his - no her - face ecstatic.

"So they change?" Linh clarified, feeling so much lighter than before.

"Um, yeah, but I'll tell you when they do."

Linh nodded, then grasped Tam's wrist and strolled around the book store, getting a good load of books. Linh was feeling so giddy, she didn't know how to control herself.

When they went back to their parents, they gave the twins a single look and looked away again. It hurt Linh, but she forced herself to keep going.

She should have known that was the beginning of the end.

When they walked outside of the bookstore, Linh almost cried out. The water, which usually was a mezzo forte piano and violin, was now an orchestra playing their loudest most extravagant piece, wanting to draw your attention. It was quickly becoming too much.

Tam, god blessed her soul, tried to help. She forced her shadows around Linh, which made it a bit better, but still wasn't enough.

It happened so fast, in the blink of the twins light blue eyes. Water splashed around everywhere, terrifying people. It shocked Linh's whole body.

Linh could vaguely hear the words of everyone in her ears. The yelling voices of her parents, her twin uncharacteristic soft voice in her ear, the panicking sounds from everyone else that dissolved into anger. She heard it all.

It was all mild nuisances compared to what would follow.

—-

Sometimes it was just a few days between the shared dreams, sometimes it was over a month. However, after hearing what had happened in Atlantis,Keefe wasn't surprised that he shared a dream.

It was in Atlantis. Everything was wrong though. There was water everywhere, and shops were destroyed.

In the middle of a street was Tam and Sophie. They were sitting down, Tam curled up in a ball, Sophie running their fingers through Tam's hair. Keefe walked up to them, making sure to alert them of his presence. He sat down beside them, which got both of his soulmates attention.

"They. I'm sorry, this was my fault," Tam mumbled, their eyes glazed and their voice dead.

"I don't even know what happened, so why should I hate you," Keefe retorted, cursing himself for the joking tone his voice had taken on.

"I caused this," Tam declared, gesturing with the arm that wasn't curled around their knees. They had also started rocking back and forth. Keefe wished

"I tried telling him that it isn't their fault, but they aren’t listening,” Sophie explained, their brown eyes filling with tears. Their hand was still petting Tam’s hair. It was times like this that Keefe wished he could feel their emotions. It would have made this a lot easier. However, your abilities didn’t work in dreams, annoyingly enough.

Eventually, Tam was able to calm down enough that they uncurled himself. Their face was tear stained, but no one mentioned it.

“Want to tell us what happened?” Sophie questioned, their hand still in Tam’s hair.

“No,” Tam spatted out, and turned away from them.

Keefe knew why Tam didn't want to talk about what happened. He had heard, everyone had heard, when Atlantis flooded. It was terrifying, and Tam might not want to relive those moments.

"Soph, maybe we don't force Tam to tell us anything he doesn't want to, okay?"

Sophie gulped, "Okay.”

Keefe then turned towards Tam and tried comforting him again.

"I'm sorry for being such a baby about this."

"You have nothing to apologize for."

"It's just, me and Linh have to go to trial, and we might be kicked out."

"But, your what, ten, eleven?" Sophie gasped.

"Um, ten. Technically, I don't have to go, but I do. I can't leave Linh alone. She's my world, so I need to keep her safe."

"I wish I could do something. Even if it's just changing the dream so it's happier."

"Yeah, me too," Tam sighed, his eyes looking hazy as he took Keefe and Sophie's hands.

---

The next night, Sophie dreamshared. It was different from usual, with Keefe standing next to them when the dream started.

They were in a spacious area, with what seemed to be thrones all around the room. There was little light, and benches everywhere.

In the middle was Tam, with silver bangs and a sweet lilac smell. Sophie and Keefe were wise enough not to comment, especially since there still were tears stains on Tam's cheeks.

"This was where the trial took place," Tam whispered. "They banished Linh, and I'm going with her." Sophie didn't know what happened but they felt Tam's shirt under their fingers. They felt Tam's chest heaving, with soft sobs escaping from Tam. Sophie wished that their ability to read minds still worked in the dreams.

"Will you be okay?" Keefe questioned. Sophie cursed themselves for not realizing that was a valid concern. Tam and Linh were only 10, they needed things like food and shelter and clothes. They couldn't get a job or anything. They hadn't even started school.

"Yeah. Linh and I get our own place, and we will interact with whoever brings us our food, at least for the beginning,” Tam admitted. Sophie felt their shoulders relax, and Tam started to calm down.

“So, it’s not as bad as it could be?”

“I guess, but the place me and Linh have to go to is a place for bad kids,” Tam muttered, eyes cast on the floor.

“Well, do you think you are bad?” Keefe asked.

“No, but most bad people don’t realize they are bad, so am I a good judge?” Tam whimpered.

Sophie took Tam into their arms again, “ I know I don’t like where you and Keefe do, but I want you to know that I think you are not evil. Everyone who says otherwise is wrong. Okay. They are wrong.”

Tam gave them a watery smile,”Thank you, Sophie.”

Sophie wished she could believe Tam fully but she knew Tam didn’t fully believe it.

—-

Tam was not in the greatest of mental states.

No, wait, scratch that, his mental state was worse than Exilium. At least that had some predictability. Tam was just wild.

If one were to ask him when his mental degradation started, he would have said their first day of Exilium. However, it had started much earlier than that.

It had started the appointment with the doctor the council had hired.

Tam still felt his hands on him, his hands ghosting his body. He felt the tears filling his heart, which was still filled with them.

He remembered everything.

Tam tried to be strong in front of Linh. However she wasn’t fooled. She kept trying to get him to talk. Tam was grateful for her attempts to show she cared, it was just...

Talking would make it real. It would require it to be in the front of his mind, forcing him to confront it. No, Tam could ignore it, that would work.

It wasn’t until the next shared dream that he realized that plan wasn’t perhaps the most sane.

It started out in Keefe’s room. Due to both their age and the amount of time they had been dreamsharing (almost 3 years) the places had started repeating.

Tam was on Keefe’s desk, not an unusual place for him to start.

Sophie was on Keefe’s bed, their eyes looking at the ceiling as they kicked their legs.

“Hi Tam!” they cried, when Sophie realized that Tam was on the desk. “How ya been?”

Tam shrugged, as a soft click filled the room from his fingernails against the desk.

“Are you and Linh okay?”Sophie prodded gently, walking towards Tam. They grabbed his hands, startling him as he realized he had been scratching at them again.

“We are as fine as possible, given our situations. It’s tiring though, because our new school makes us do a lot of exercise,” Tam replied. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

Sophie nodded, then turned around. Standing behind them was Keefe, in his new tunic and smelling like pine trees.

“Hi Tam, Sophie,” he greeted, walking over to them. “How are you two?”

“Good,” Sophie replied, leaning into Keefe’s gentle touch as he petted her hair. Tam couldn’t believe he was so gullible once upon a time to allow someone to touch him like that. It only hurt him.

“I’m as good as my situation allows me to be,” Tam replied. His throat was closing up, and he eyed the window across the desk he was still on.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just jump? To let go of everything? To let go of this pain?

It was the moments after that cracked Tam’s mask. It should be noted he has no intention to blame Keefe and Sophie, as this might have happened with anyone else.

Keefe tried to take him into a hug, and Tam jumped away from him. When neither Keefe or Sophie tried to touch him again, anger and desperation clouded his mind.

“Why aren’t you touching me? Is it because I am used goods? I didn't want it, okay!” Tam roared. He felt his nails digging into his hands, and barely allowed himself to register Sophie and Keefe’s gasps.

Tam ran towards the window, and pried it open. He could still feel his soulmates running towards him, but he was quicker.

Tam sat on the windowsill and pushed himself off.

What happened was not what he expected.

Instead of hitting the ground, Tam felt a gentle pull, almost like a rope on his stomach, pulling him back towards the window.

When he got back into Keefe’s bedroom, he felt both of his soulmates hand all over him, with one of them whispering sweet nothings in his ears. It was too nice for him.

“Why?” Sophie whispered, making Tam shudder with how innocent she sounded.

“Because it’s too much,” Tam muttered, causing Keefe to force Tam to look him in the eyes.

“What can you do to make it not as much?” he asked , his eyes softening as he grabbed Tam’s hands in his own. Tam resisted pulling them away.

“I don’t know. It’s, like, touch is hard. Even now it is. It’s dumb,” -Tam wiped his eyes -“but I can still feel his hands on me.”

Keefe and Sophie didn’t say anything, but Keefe does squeeze Tam’s hands harder.

“Maybe,” Sophie started,”we could start small. Asking you if touch is okay, making sure you are still here, stuff like that. Is that okay?”

Tam couldn’t believe it when he started crying. It was just...

The way Sophie looked so sincere when they said that made Tam’s heart flutter. They weren’t saying it to be polite, they meant it.

“Yeah, that’s okay,” Tam replied, trying to push the darkness away and bask in the light.

In Keefe and Sophie’s arms, he felt slightly lighter.

——

Fitz didn’t get Sophie.

It wasn’t personal or anything, it really wasn’t. It was just little things about her that quelled his interest.

For one, when anyone made references to her being a girl, she cringed. Not enough to be extremely visible, but it still was noticeable. For another, her reaction to different locations. It almost was like how Biana reacted when she started her education at Foxfire. Both girls were in awe at the sights, but weren’t shocked. Fitz figured she must have seen the places from his memories. She also seemed more curious as to how things work than the fact that elves existed.

Little did Fitz know that the mysterious girl was actually a lot more different than his predictions made her to be.

—-

Keefe's dream was shared that night.

It was in Everglen, but he didn’t go to it today. So why was their shared dream there?

Keefe had started in front of the gates, in all of its shining glory.

A few moments later, he felt a pair of arms grab his shoulders. He didn’t even need to look up to know it was Sophie.

“Hi Sophie,” Keefe greeted, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Hi,” Sophie smiled, but it wasn’t like usual. It was the smiles from when Tam was at their worst, when they didn’t really get how Tam could feel so hopeless.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Tam greeted, limping towards them.

(Keefe wanted to curse the silver banged teen, but recognized that Tam might not have the proper medical care he needed available. It wasn’t unusual for the blondes to patch Tam up, since anything injured or healed in a shared dream is mirrored in the real world. They had been able to do this more often after Linh was informed of their bond, shortly after they were banished. From what Keefe could gather, she had taken it surprisingly well.)

“Nothing,” Sophie replied. “Pronouns?” they questioned, grabbing Tam’s hand and helping them sit on the ground.

“Xe,” Tam replied, wincing as Sophie removed xer shoes (xe must have slept in them.)."Also, you are totally hiding something, so fess up.”

Keefe saw Sophie’s face fall, and heard Tam’s quick reassurances that if they genuinely didn’t want to say anything they didn’t need to.

“No, you’re right, I’m hiding something,” Sophie confessed. “It’s kind of a big deal, and it could change the entire way you look at me and I'll Understand If Hatemepleasdon't,” Sophie rushed out, chest heaving as their hands trembled around Tam’s ankle. Tam started stroking their arms, trying to get them to calm down.

“Okay, so how familiar are you two on unnatural things?” Sophie asked.

“Pretty familiar,” Tam groaned, as Sophie tried moving her ankle.

“Okay,” Sophie took a deep breath, moving their hands away from Tam. Keefe scooted to be by them, just in case.

“I’m a telepath. I have been since I was five years old and I just met another telepath today, and it turns out I’m an elf. Please don’t hate me!” Sophie rambled, hands flailing as they tried to calm themselves. Keefe grabbed their shoulders and started soothing them, eventually calming Sophie enough to have this conversation. It’s at that moment Keefe realized something. He could feel Sophie and Tam’s emotions. He decided to put that thought to the back of his mind, instead calming the others down.

“Well, you’re not the only one who is hiding something,” Tam blushed, then Keefe felt a sharp cold on his back. All of the shadows were surrounding them, covering them. He’s a Shade. Tam was twisting and flicking his wrists in such a pattern Keefe couldn’t help but be awed.

“I’m a Shade,” Tam spat out, sending the shadows back to wherever they came from.

“I don’t have anything as cool, but I’m an Empath,” Keefe confessed, shame trying to peek through but pushed down quickly.

Sophie was wide-eyed, and questions were running a mile a minute, as she patched up Tam’s ankle the best they could.

(Keefe could still remember the first time that Tam hid an injury from them. There were cuts all over xe’s arm, not all of them unwilling. Sophie would cry for years after, as would Keefe. It was also a recurring nightmare, as were many others.)

“Do either of you know Fitz? He’s the one who introduced me,” Sophie wondered.

“Um, funny story. He’s my best friend,” Keefe chuckled. With that response, he was bombarded with interrogations

“Wait,” Sophie suddenly paused. “If it’s not too hard, can you tell me what happened that day in Atlantis?”

Tam sighed, which made Keefe think xe wasn’t going to tell the story. However, xe began.

“It was technically my fault what happened in Atlantis You know how there’s force fields around Atlantis? Well, I can break them or weaken them using my shadows. That day in Atlantis was also when I came out to Linh as gender fluid, so I was letting my emotions and instincts take control and I weakened the force fields. If I didn’t, then Linh couldn’t flood Atlantis. I’m sorry,” Tam whispered, the last bit so soft if Keefe wasn’t so close he might not have known. Tam was feeling powerful emotions, but the main one, which was a cause of concern, was guilt and shame.

“Hey, listen. Tammy, you’re not allowed to blame yourself for stuff that you don’t have control over. It won't help," Keefe comforted the silver-haired teen. Tam sniffed again, but nodded, xer movement jerky.

"Sophie, if you want, me and Keefe could try and explain things to you about the lost cities. I mean, maybe I'm not the best person, but I could help with the basics," Tam offered.

"That would be great. Like, do you either know Fitz? He's the elf who brought me to the lost cities, we're at his house right now," Sophie stated. Keefe couldn't help but snort at the fact his best friend outside of the two in front of him met his soulmate before he did.

"What?" Keefe questioned, "it's funny how Sophie met my best friend before they met me."

"Fitz is your best friend?" Sophie questioned.

"Yeah, it has been for a while. I mean, we're both kinda outcasts," Keefe chortled bitterly.

Then, Sophie started laughing, which made Tam and Keefe laugh, which made Keef think that would be okay.

---

Adjusting to the Lost Cities wasn't as hard as Sophie anticipated. It did have its ups and downs, though.

For one, the elves kept preaching about how amazing they were. However, Sophie knew some of the many unfair things that the elves did with no one calling them out. They knew about how they treated anyone who wasn’t up to their high standards, and didn’t care at all about anyone except a select few people.

There were a few good things though. For one, Sophie and Keefe finally met in real life, and it was just as hysterical as they imagined. Getting accused of ditching was always fun.

“I’m Keefe,” the blond boy, who had accused them of ditching, introduced himself.

“Sophie,” Sophie replied, then mentally slapped themselves. Of course this blonde, seemingly popular boy, would have heard of her.

“Do you have a sister named Amy?” Keefe suddenly blurted out, eyes widening. Sophie was shocked at his question. Surely this wasn’t the Keefe they dreamed shared with, right? Sophie sighed, realizing there was only one way to find out.

“Yeah. Is your soulmate a Shade named Tam?” They asked, preparing for a no.

“Yeah,” Keefe whispered, realization flooding his features.

The two stared at each other, until Keefe grabbed their hand.

“What happened?”

“Accident. Had Alchemy and burned Lady Galvin’s cape and my hand,” Sophie blushed.

“No way! I Wish I could have seen it!” Keefe cheered, until he realized he was making Sophie feel bad. He then took Sophie to the Healing Center, and refused to leave until they were let go by Elwin for their next session.

Sophie was also gaining other friends, like Dex, Biana, Fitz, and, yes, Keefe. It did hurt, however, to not have Tam with them and Keefe in real life. They had been dreamsharing less and less, but Sophie wasn’t too sure of why at the time. It wouldn’t be until later they realized that the nightmares and not sleeping would affect it all.

It seemed like the elves wanted the lost cities to be perfect. They were not successful. They had so many issues, from their treatment to the Talentless to the LGBT+ community. Keefe and Tam were not sugar coating anything when they told them issues that plagued, although they were holding back some information. Sophie didn't particularly care though, since they did tell them the truth, and not a filtered down version of the truth.

It was hard, but having people to rely on was good.

----

Tam was livid. Plain and simple.

She had just been informed that Sophie and Keefe went to the Black Swan (why did they still trust them, they had done nothing good?) for a chance to heal Sophie's abilities. Of course, it went as well as expected for a bunch of dumb idiots who thought abandoning two twelve year old in London was a good idea.

“Let me make sure I have this right. You two idiots decided to go to a random island, to a weird old guy who made Sophie take an ounce of limbium, which she is allergic to, to reset their abilities. Then you two were attacked and now you get to heal Alden’s mind?” Tam questioned, hands gesturing rapidly.

The soulmates were in Sophie’s room at Havenfield, with Tam on Sophie’s lap and Keefe next to them. During her rant, Tam wasn’t paying attention to her soulmate's feelings. Now, she realized that she might have gone too far. Tam started to apologize, but Sophie spoke up.“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault you’re super overprotective of us, especially because you only have Linh otherwise. We knew the risks, and I wanted to have my abilities fixed. Also, we both knew that the Black Swan might not be all bad,” they stated, running their fingers on Tam’s arm.

“I guess, but you are still idiots," Tam mumbled, curling into Sophie.

"Yeah, but isn't everyone?" Keefe pondered. Tam shrugged, her pride still a bit hurt.

"So are you going to heal Alden's mind?" Tam asked.

"I guess," Sophie mumbled,"the council wants me to."

Tam was still mad at these two idiots, but hearing the crack in Sophie's voice made her a bit less mad, and she decided to comfort them first then deal with her anger at them later.

----

(Dex Finds Out About Keefe Being Trans)

Dex was completely and utterly baffled at the situation before him. It wasn’t the situation itself that confused him, but the fact he had gone through it twice.

Dex had gone into Keefe’s changing area during physical education to check up on him. While Dex wasn’t entirely sure what Keefe and Sophie’s relationship was, he knew having Sophie wear an ability restrictor definitely affected Keefe somehow.

However, when Dex walked into Keefe’s changing room, the only thing he could do was shut the door and stare at Keefe.

Around Keefe’s chest were layers of bandages, tightly wrapped. While it might have been an injury, Dex was sure someone would have told him Keefe was injured.

Dex was reminded of an incident when he was younger, with Rex in Keefe’s position. The technopath decided to try the same approach this time.

"Wanna tell me what's going on, or what?" Dex tried to joke, but he really wasn't the jockey type with something this serious.

Keefe slammed his shoulder into his mirror, breath erratic. His eyes were panicked, and Dex had a bad feeling that he was one of the few people in Keefe’s life who wouldn’t hate him.

“No, thank you,” was the cold reply Dex got. It was an out of character move for Keefe that Dex didn’t realize the other elf had put his shirt on.

“Okay, fine. You’re not going to answer my questions verbally. How about I give you yes and no questions, and you just have to nod your head? Sounds good to you?” Dex hopes that the prospect of not needing to talk would convince Keefe to answer more honestly.

Keefe hesitated, but eventually nodded. Dex hopes they won’t be noticed for being late.

“Have you done this before?” A nod.

“More than a year?” Another nod. Shot.

“Do you always do this?” Nod.

“Even while sleeping?” Dex whispered. Thankfully, Keefe shook his head.

Dex took a deep brea and asked the question he knew Keefe was dreading

“Are you a moon child?” Keefe didn’t move for so long, Dex almost repeated himself. However, Keefe nodded, but it was as though he was weighed down by a bag of rocks. Tears fell from Keefe’s eyes, but the other boy made no movement to remedy that. The blonde’s chest heaved, as he tried to keep his sobs silent.

(Dex cursed whoever it was that forced Keefe, his soulmate's best friend, to learn how to keep quiet when he was in pain.)

Dex hesitated, but walked towards Keefe, taking him into his arms. He felt Keefe tense, but slowly relaxed. His breathing even out, as did his sobs.

“‘m sorry,” was the first words Keefe spoke in ancient times. Dex was surprised no one came to find them. “Don’t tell anyone. You and Sophie are my only friends who know.”

Dex was shocked. It wasn’t just at the fact that Keefe thought Dex truly hated him that much to out him, but the fact that he also considered Dex his friend. Keefe always was teasing him and pranking him.

“Is that why you are always pranking me? Because we’re friends?” Dex asked, pulling away. Keefe’s cheeks turned pink, but nodded softly.

Dex laughed, and gave the other boy another hug, then realized something.

“Why does Sophie know?” In response to that, Keefe backed up against the sink, and shook his head.

“It’s personal, isn’t it?” A nod. That made sense actually. If it was personal to either Sophie or Keefe, of course they wouldn’t share it without the others permission.

Eventually, a knock was heard from the door.

“Okay, listen, I get you two are in love with each other, but session is over. Get out,” came the smooth accent from Fitz Vacker.

“Fiiine,” Keefe sang-singed, pulling his shirt back on.

They exchanged one last glance, and left.

------

(The gang is at Alluvetere (The common room in the boys' treehouse is decorated like a campsite, complete with indoor trees, a ceiling glittering with stars, and an enormous fire pit in the center with flames that burn in every color of the rainbow along with a few boulder shaped bean bags.))

Keefe was scared and he wasn't afraid to admit it. After all, he had come out of tricker situations.

Of course, none of them involved him going on the run into the forbidden cities cause his soulmate did something completely unforgivable in the eyes of the public.

He didn’t blame Sophie, it was just that he wished they didn’t have to deal with all the stuff that they had to.

Of course, it wasn’t like Keefe didn’t also have some emotional trauma from his mom being evil. That would be fun to unpack whenever the next shared dream may be.

Currently, he was in the treehouse he was supposed to share with Dex and Fitz. Keefe silently thanked whoever gave him the luck to not be in the girls’ treehouse.

“This is so cool!” Dex cried, circling around the fire. “You guys never had to live with my siblings. It. Was. Torture,” Dex singsonged. He was leaning on the bean bag, his head tilted back.

“Hey, I call shower first,” Keefe yelled, walking towards the bathroom door. He got an affirmation from both Dex and Fitz that it was okay as he walked into the door.

Keefe leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. Or, as deep of a breath as possible. His chest ached, from the tight bandages around it. Keefe knew it wasn’t safe to wear any sort of binders for more than 8 hours, but he couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t risk having Fitz find out. It was bad enough Dex knew. If anyone else found out, Keefe thought he would die.

The empath covered up the mirror and turned off the lights. He had dealt with this enough to know that the inability to see himself would make the whole situation that much more bearable.

Quickly taking a shower, Keefe walked towards the trees. He was debating on whether or not forcing someone to cut his hair would be worthwhile.

He then paused, almost falling backwards. What was in front of him made his cheeks tingle.

Dex was kneeling on Fitz’s lap, and he was sobbing into the teal-eyed boy's shoulder.

Keefe backed away, wary of the branches.

It wasn’t his business. They probably were going to tell him in their own time, and Keefe wasn't going to pressure them.

------

(Sophie freaks out to Tam And Keefe about becoming Cognates)

When Sophie was given the reveriebells by Calla, she was dishearted at the idea that they wouldn't get to dream share that night. While they had stayed up all through the night before, they tried to avoid it at all times.

Thankfully, the reveriebells didn’t affect their ability to dream share.

This particular dream was in Alluevetere, and Sophie was on top of the table in the communal dining room.

“Will you read it?” came a voice from behind her, accompanied with footsteps. Sophie turned around, and felt her heart quickened.

Tam was currently getting a piggyback ride from Keefe; with Tam in his Exilium uniform and Keefe in a red version of her green fuzzy onesie.

“Why?” was Keefe’s reply to Tam’s begging.

“Cause you’re sooo good at it,” replied Tam, a grin on his face. The Shade then leaped off of Keefe’s back and climbed onto the table with Sophie.

“Hi, Sophie. Xe,” Tam whispered into their shoulder, as xers arms wrapped around Sophie. Sophie felt relaxed for the first time all day. Tam and Keefe’s hugs were the only ones they could stand for more than a few seconds. They had this way of hugging Sophie around their shoulders and slightly squeezing to make them feel secure but not surrounded. Most other beings struggled with that.

“Temperature on the feelings thermometer?” Sophie asked, gently pulling away from Tam. They sat down on the table, and guided Tam to lay on her lap.

The feeling thermometer was a technique Sophie’s old councilor used with Sophie. She had a picture on her wall of a thermometer, and every time Sophie was in her office, the first thing she asked was their temperature on the feelings thermometer. One was the best mood ever and ten meant Sophie was going to boil over.

While Sophie disliked their councilor, they could acknowledge that the feelings thermometer, while cheesy, was a good idea. It was specially helpful for when one of the trio was nonverbal, or on the verge of collapse.

”I’m a 5,” Tam mumbled, grabbing Sophie’s hand. They rolled their eyes, realizing that they wanted to be petted. This wasn’t an unusual request from Tam, as well as other touches. While xe apparently wasn’t as touchy during the day, xe was during the dreams. Sophie’s heart warmed at the idea Tam trusted Keefe and Sophie enough to relax.

“Can we do anything to help?” came Keefe’s voice, startling the other two.

“No, but maybe you can help yourselves by asking whatever you’re not,” Tam replied, pulling xer head onto Sophie’s shoulder.

Sophie felt their faces heat up. Keefe gave her a glance, one that comforted Sophie more than they wanted to reveal.

“Fitz and I are cognates,” Sophie blurted out. “I mean, the Black Swan said we could try training to become Cognates.”

Tam’s eyes widened as he wrapped xemself around Sophie.

“Do you want to be Cognates? It requires you sharing everything with each other,” Tam reminded Sophie, as xe kneeled in their lap, arms wrapped around their neck.

Shoulders shuddering, Sophie replied,”I know. I want to be Cognates with Fitz, but I wanted to check if you two think it’s a good idea.”

Keefe spoke up,” I am game. It’s just that one of us needs to tell Fitz about us being soulmates.”

Tam threw in xer two cents,”Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. Also, he will know about all of us being moon children and our childhoods. Are you sure that’s okay with you Keefe? Because I want Sophie to have this opportunity but if you think it wouldn’t work say something.”

Keefe looked conflicted. “It just that we never get to talk about a lot of issues from our childhood, so Fitz might get the wrong idea about what happened.”

That was a good point, A very good point. Sophie loathed to admit it, but their soulmates had a point.

“So why don’t we talk about it?” Let everything out,” Sophie suggested, not expecting to be taken seriously. To Sophie’s surprise Keefe and Tam nodded.

“Okay, but how?” Tam asked, pulling Keefe to sit next to Sophie. Xe then laid down on their laps. Xer hair was by Keefe, who took the opportunity to play with it.

“How about we ask each other questions?”Sophie replied, mentally coming up with as many questions as possible.

“Can I ask first?” Tam requested, cuddling closer to them. After getting a confirmation, xe took a few moments to presumably deliberate xer question..

“Okay. Got it. What scares you the most?”Tam’s voice trembled.

Sophie had to think about that one, truly thinking about it.

“Trusting my mom again. It’s dumb, but sometimes I miss her,” Keefe whispered, looking at Tam’s side. It was abundantly clear he was ashamed of it. Sophie grabbed the blond’s chin and forced him to look them in the eyes.

“I know it’s a lot to deal with, and I know it’s scary to think that she might make you trust her again. But you are stronger than her. The fact you love her means that you aren’t all bad, okay? It just means your emotions haven’t settled down about it. But you are not your parents. You’re so much more than they will ever be,”Sophie reassured Keefe. It was clear their words hadn’t penetrated through the hard shell Keefe put up, but Sophie was determined if nothing else. They made it a goal: reassure Keefe he is not his parents. It would take a significant amount of work, but Sophie was nothing but determined.

“What about you, Soph?” Tam asked, voice muffled by Keefe’s pant leg.

Sophie felt their heart race, as they tried to figure out something to say.

“We won’t hurt you,” came a voice in her ear. “We’re not the Black Swan.”

Sophie forced their breath to slow down, and reached to pull an eyelash out. Keefe grabbed their hand, and he held it tight. That was something they were trying out, to see if it helped with the eyelash pulling. So far, it had not.

“My greatest fear is of sleeping.” Sophie’s voice was so soft they weren’t sure if they actually spoke out loud.

Tam had pulled xemselves up from their laps, and gave Sophie a hug.

“Why?” was the question. It was said in such a way that it didn’t demand to be answered.

“Because, because every time I try to sleep, except for this-“ Sophie gestured around-“I have nightmares. And I refuse to take Sedatives, I spent enough of my life drugged up.”

“That’s fair,” Keefe responded his hands threading Sophie’s hair. “What about you,Tam?”

Tam’s face paled, and he bit his lip.

“It’s...dumb. I’m scared of adults, but especially authority figures,” the Shade stammered out. Sophie felt xer hands grip theirs.

“Is this something to do with being banished?” Keefe asked. Tam nodded, and xe tugged xer bangs.

“When we were banished, the doctor... touched me somewhere I didn’t want to be touched. I felt so icky that I still have nightmares.” Tam was visibly trembling at this point, and furiously trying to wipe xer tears away.

Sophie scooped up the Shade into their lap, and they made sure Sophie could look into xer eyes.

“As long as I have breath in my body, I will never hurt you.” Sophie’s words were punctuated by a squeeze from Keefe, who was surprisingly quiet.

“Can I ask the next question?” Keefe asked, hands twisting.

“Of course,” Sophie responded.

All of a sudden, a voice yelled.

“Tam, wake up. We’re going to be late!” a high voice yelled.

Tam blushed, pushing xemslf off of Sophie’s lap.

“That’s Linh, it’s time for Exilium to start,” xe explained, running off into the distance.

Sophie closed their eyes , bracing themself for the inevitable nausea that came from ending a shared dream before it naturally ended.

When Sophie woke, they forced their tears to fall silently.

——

(Cognate training. Fitz finds out about Sokam)

Fitz had to admit he thought Sophie would be more excited for Cognate training. After all, it was an amazing opportunity and they would have an even better chance of beating the Neverseen.

Of course, her unenthusiastic response might have been caused by everything she must be going through. She had the stress of being a member of the Black Swan, Keefe, and a lot of other things. She also probably recently started dreamsharing. Fitz knew that when you started dreamsharing it could feel a bit embarrassing admitting who you’re dreamsharing with. Especially if your families didn’t get along.

Like me and Dex.

Fitz had to admire how collected she was in the face of all this stress.

The young telepath shook his head, for he was suppose to focus on the Cognate trust exercise Sophie and him were supposed to be doing.

Fitz looked at the list of questions that Granite gave them. He seemed very conflicted about giving it to them but eventually gave it. It was a short list, with only two questions. Both pertained to soulmates, and that was a topic they had never discussed before.

Fitz asked Sophie for permission to enter her mind which she allowed. There was more resistance to his entering than usual, but it was brushed off as a side effects of nerves.Although, they had been doing this for a while so Fitz wasn’t entirely sure why she was nervous.

“Do you want to ask first or should I?” Fitz asked with the respect he knew Sophie deserved. Even before he had started dreamsharing with Dex, Fitz always tried to give Sophie a good deal of respect.

“You ask first.”

“If you have started dreamsharing, describe your soulmates.”

Fitz felt a surge of panic flow from Sophie, and was about to call off the question. It wasn’t like he was completely thrilled about this question either.

“Fitz, I need to tell you something. And I need you to not freak out,” Sophie begged.

Fitz assured her that he wouldn’t freak out. The panic Sophie was feeling ebb and flowed as she gathered her thoughts. Fitz gave her time.

“I’ve been dreamsharing since I was eight years old. And I have two soulmates. One is attending Exilium and the other one is Keefe.”

Fitz wouldn’t lie. He was not expecting that.

He also wasn’t as mad as most people expected. There had been some theories bouncing around regarding Keefe and Sophie’s relationship.

“If it makes you feel any better, my soulmate is Dex.”

“Are you freaking joking?” Sophie yelled, as her emotions became much more positive.

“Nope. Are you?” Fitz shot back.

“Unfortunately no,” Sophie stated. Then, she proceeded to read the next question,”What’s one thing only your soulmate knows?”

Fitz felt his insides squirm as the image of bruises on his shoulders as Dex tried to help him arose.

“Wow,” was the only thing Sophie said, as she pushed energy towards Fitz.

An image of a younger Sophie and two boys formed. Sophie was handing the two boys bracelets. One bracelet was blue, pink, and white while the other was (insert colors of gender fluid flag). Sophie has a similar bracelet, but it was in (non-binary pride colors)

“What are you guys doing?” Fitz asked softly, as the levels of panic ebbed and flowed.

“Humans have this thing called Pride, where they honor the lgbt community. The bracelets were in the pride flags for our gender identity,” Sophie explained, although she was incredibly anxious.

“What is the lgbt community? And what are gender identities?” Fitz questioned, for his curiosity was peaked.

“Gender identities...they’re basically are what gender you identify as. For example, if you might have parts that are assigned female at birth but feels like a boy. That’s called being transgender, trans for short. Or someone doesn’t feel like a boy or a girl, and that’s non-binary. It’s massively more complicated, cause there’s genderfluid, agender, demigender, bigender,, and a lot more, but that’s a crash course, "Sophie explained.

“So it’s like being a moon child? Are you one too?”

”It’s kind of being a moon child, I guess. And yeah I am a moon child. Nonbinary specifically, and I use they/them pronouns. Are you going to blow up now?” Sophie got incredibly defensive at that last part.

“No, no, no I’m not going to hate you. If you want me to I won’t say anything,” Fitz promised. Sophie calmed down at that and exited his mind.

“Thanks Fitz,” she told him. “Just know if you hurt Dex I can and will prank you to the max.”

“I expect that and will reciprocate if you do anything to harm Keefe,” Fitz promised, and he walked back towards the boys treehouse.

He had a lot to think about.

Fitz walked towards his mom's room. He should definitely tell her about this. Maybe she could help Fitz with coming to terms with this.

Della promised to tell Forkle, and thank Fitz for telling her.

——

(Keefe with fathomlethe)

Keefe couldn’t keep up with the influx of thoughts coming into his head. His hand was sore from all of the writing, but he forced himself to keep going.

Keefe didn’t know how long it had been since he took the fathomlethe, but he knew it had been days. Days since he left the room he was undeserving of for more than meals. Days since he had seen the walls of said room.

Keefe knew he should leave. Leave the madness of everything, and allow himself to recuperate. But he couldn’t allow himself to. To do so would be admitting weaknesses he tried to hide.

A harsh knock startled Keefe.

“I’m not leaving until you talk to me,” a voice yelled. A voice Keefe was so painfully familiar with it hurts. Sophie Foster.

Keefe rose up on unsteady feet and made his way to the door. Sophie ducked under him, and froze.

Keefe wished that he didn’t know why they froze. The reality of the situation was that his room was like Tam and Linh’s room at their parents house only this was slightly more disturbing. There was notes with questions everywhere not drawings. He also had very little belongings scattered around, unlike Fitz and Dex, so that just made the room even more impersonal.

“So...wanna tell me anything?” Sophie asked, their voice so even, if it weren’t for the unease flowing off of them, Keefe would have been fooled into believing they weren’t disturbed by this.

Keefe mumbled,”I got a surge from the fathomlethe, but almost everything was me just fooling around.” Sophie nodded, and they walked towards one of the walls, and Keefe had to restrain himself from yanking them away.

“It’s a lot to go through. Photographic memory and all,” Keefe stated, even though it was super obvious, because he needed to fill the space. Sophie, thankfully, didn’t comment but just kept looking. They were so furious but determined at once Keefe couldn’t keep his eyes off them. He was about to tell Sophie that he wouldn’t be made if they left when they spoke up.

“Can I help?”

Keefe couldn’t help the warm feeling that shot through his heart. But he had to shake his head.

“I don’t know how. It’s my memories, and you got a sanitized version of my childhood,” Keefe replied.

“So? I’m a telepath. Wouldn’t it make more sense to use a memory log so it is all in one place? Not that scraps of paper with scattered ideas don’t have their benefit,” Sophie countered. That was a good idea.

Unfortunately.

Keefe shook his head, but Sophie wasn’t having that.

They pulled Keefe into their lap, and whispered,”Let me help you.”

“I can’t. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“You know, that’s what I used to say. Until someone forced me to include them,” Sophie teased, but it had a glint to it that removed any bitterness in Keefe. Keefe breathed in trusting that it will be okay for a moment.

“Sounds like a genius? Are they shockingly good looking even with dumb bangs?” Keefe asked. He knew that Sophie liked Tam more, but he would take what he could get.

“No, but he is good looking but also pretty stupid. I’m talking about you, Keefe,” Sophie gave him a confused look.

“Why?”

“Because you were there for me when I had to heal my abilities, and when I was going to kill myself about Alden. You and Tam are so important, and I am trying so hard to get to Tam. But I want to help you. May I?”

Keefe couldn’t help it, and a sob forced itself between his lips. A broken cry escaped his lips.

“Please. Don’t. My head is not in an awesome place right now,” Keefe admitted. Shame filled up in his head, but he knew that it needed to be said.

“So? I’m used to not great minds. Remember all the times I had to go through broken minds? And Lady Galvin?” Sophie tried to convince him. They pointedly did not mention King Dimitar.

“Great, I have a mind like a psycho.”

“I’m saying you can’t surprise me.”

Keefe distantly felt him being put down, and Sophie got up to look at the wall. His chin was suddenly tilted up. Sophie was holding a piece of paper, and on it was Who am I. “Easy question. You’re Keefe Sencen. Prankster extraordinaire. Master of mischief. The elf embodiment of Hermès. The best boy a non-binary and gender fluid messes could ask for.” The statement was said was with so much conviction that Keefe felt compelled to believe with and let down the weight on his shoulders. “You and Tam are not messes,” Keefe protested as he was hauled up to his feet. He couldn’t stay upright by himself , however, so he collapsed onto Sophie. “I don’t know about that, but I do know that you need to sleep,” they chided, as they guided him to bed. “I don’t know if I can,” Keefe whispered. Sophie nodded, and silently made their way around the room tearing paper down. Keefe took a deep breath before closing his eyes.

Maybe it won’t turn out okay, but he wanted to be the best soulmate he could before his time ran up.

-----

(Tam realizes Sophie and Keefe are at Exilium) Tam had a feeling about this day. It wasn’t clear if it was good or bad. The last time xe had felt this was when the plague struck. The day had started with Tam shaking Linh awake. Xe normally didn’t need to go wake xer twin, but today she had been dreamsharing with her soulmate, Biana, so she slept in. Thankfully, they were able to get to Exilium in time, but they couldn’t even get to the torture because of there being a Dividing for five kids. Five. How they managed to get five kids at once was a question in its own right. It was a standard Dividing test, albeit with five people, for Tam at first. It only got weird when one of them talked. It sounded exactly like Keefe. The Keefe voiced one fell down with his pants still attached to the rope along with his boot. He took it such good stride Tam felt like he was hallucinating. Another one fell, and then one shouted. “It’s Biana,” Linh whispered, her voice trembling. She sounded so sure of herself Tam had to believe her. Another one got free by backflipping and went to help the last one. When the last one spoke, Tam felt xer breathing freeze. That was Sophie Foster. Xe would bet his birth fund on it. “I think our soulmates are here,” Tam shadow whispered to Linh.She was trembling so much she looked like she would pass out, but she gave a shaky nod. “Why didn’t Biana tell me?” Linh questioned, through the shadows. “I don’t know.” There was a fire raging in front of them, and the last one, presumably Sophie, was in the center. “Oh, no you don’t,” Linh whispered out loud as she flung her hands up. Water flowed according to her directions, and it formed a bundle of protection around Sophie. Gently setting Sophie down, Linh grasped Tam’s arm. Xe couldn’t blame her. If it weren’t for the fact xe had to be brave xe would have been grabbing her arm first.

Two of the five were led away to the healing tent while the twins and everyone else were to stay standing.

------

(Keefe, he is taken to meet Linh and Tam for the first time)

Tam couldn’t believe Linh and his soulmates had been at Exilium for over a week. He had believed that they would have managed to get out of it either by willingly leaving or being ejected. He had hoped not, for even though it was grueling work for them they were still there.

Tam knew that today was going to be a bad day as soon as he saw the tents and lake.

Gently, he broke the news to Linh, and she took it better than expected. She just nodded and shakily went to go change. Coming out of the tents, the twins walked over to the water. This time…wasn’t as bad as usual. Nothing had been destroyed, at least, like last time.

Of course, it was still bad. Linh could barely tolerate being even sitting in the water and still having the ability to breathe. Putting her face in the water was to much.

Tam had no idea how long it was until Sophie reached out to them. Their offer to help Linh made Tam internally laugh. The obliviousness needed to not realize you are literally talking to your soulmate was hilarious.

Eventually, Tam felt himself being lifted up from the water, and the coach shouting there was a new record. Tam helped a shaky Linh out of the water as he worked up the nerve to ask her a request.'

“Whatever it is, spit it out,” Linh admonished.

“If I was to ask Sophie to come to Wildwood with us, would that be okay?” Tam shadowed whispered. He couldn’t say why them and not Keefe or Biana, but he knew it wasn’t be the right choice.

“Okay,” Linh replied with no hesitation. Her easy response made Tam want to melt into a pile of happiness. He restrained himself though, for it would not be proper for him to fall apart before asking a pivotal question.

When Tam asked Sophie if they wanted to come with the twins, he didn’t believe they would. Just goes to show how nice they were. Foot steps came from behind him, and there was a figure behind him. “Are you taking Sophie with you?” the figure asked. Tam’s breath caught . That was Keefe.

Linh nodded, as she stepped up. “Yes. You can come with us,” she whispered as she grabbed Keefe’s hand.

Sophie came running up to them. Tam grabbed Sophie and Keefe’s shaking hands, as he whispered, "Are you sure you’re ready?” He felt their hands still. “As we’ll ever be,” Sophie whisper back. Linh held up the leaping crystal that had been theirs for so little time, but it felt like eternity. Stumbling as they landed, Tam guided Linh away as Keefe and Sophie reoriented themselves.

“Where are we?" Sophie asked. "Introductions first," Tam stated, pulling off his mask and lowering his hood. Shaking his head, Tam waited for Sophie, Keefe, and Linh to do the same.

"Are you Tam Song?" Keefe blurted out, and shock filled his features. Tam smirked as he stalked up to the blondes. "Maybe. Shouldn't you know? You are supposedly his soulmate," Linh shot back as she walked up to them again.

"In our defense, Tam never mentioned he was in Exillium. Although we probably should have guessed from the fact you always wore the same thing all the time," Keefe tried to defend him and Sophie, but he was so pathetic Tam took pity on him.

"And before you ak, yes, this is where me and Linh stay. Don't blame yourselves for not doing something about it. I never could tell you because then we would have been woken up and we couldn't talk about it," Tam stated. He knew his soulmates. They tried to take the task of everyone being safe, healthy, and happy very seriously. "It used to be beautiful. We felt so lucky to find it. But that was before the gnomes fell ill," Linh whispered, twisting her hands so hard Tam thought they would break.

"This was the wildwood colony, wasn't it?" Keefe asked, his voice so soft that Tam wanted to scream at him to be quieter. "Yeah. It was nice when they were here. They brought us dinner everynight and I fell asleep to their songs," Linh whispered as she brushed a vine. "Do you two know what happened to them?" "They're in quarantine and alive," was all that Keefe offered. "Were you two the teenagers they found footprints of?"

"Who's they?" Tam questioned, eyes instinctively narrowing. He couldn't truly allow his guard down even if he trusted everyone here. "The council. They're investigating after the frst gnomes came to at Lumeneria."

“Well, they didn’t do a good job at it. They just poked around a bit and left. They didn’t even ask us about the lights,” Tam shrugged. “We’ve been seeing white flecks for a while now, before the plague. They come from across the border, so investigations are hard to do.” “The ogres? Like in Ravagog?” Keefe questioned. He looked pained, and Tam had to fight the urge to wrap him and Sophie in a hug so tight they’ll never get free from it.

“Yes. The pass to it is through there,” Linh stated, pointing towards the mountains.

“Do you think the lights are connected to the plague?” Sophie asked. Tam was surprised at how openly curious they were being. Tam figures Sophie tried to hide her curiosity from others usually. “Maybe. We don’t know,” Linh replied. “Are you always this curious?”

“Is that a bad thing?” Sophie questioned, getting defensive. “Maybe. You’re trying to help the gnomes though so I can’t say. Kind of like you helped me. You must think I am so dumb, by the way. I’m a hydrokinetic afraid of drowning.”

“Abilities don’t mean everything,” Sophie started sagely. “Says the one with four abilities. How exactly did you guys get banished?” Linh questioned. Her voice sounded perfectly neutral. Tam knew how confused she was, however. She still was his twin, after all.

Keefe shrugged. “We finally gave the council a good reason to.” “Did Tam tell you why we’re banished?”

“Kind of. He told us that everyone blamed you for flooding Atlantis, but it was really him destroying the force fields,” Sophie explained. They were fidgeting with their uniform. Linh raised an eyebrow, and she leaned back. “I’m impressed you three trust each other enough to-“ Suddenly, the branches bristled making them all freeze. It was just the wind, though. “This way,” Linh grabbed Tam’s wrist and she led them towards the river.

Grabbing the quilt they had made, the twins settled down on it. So did Sophie and Keefe. “I’m sorry,” Keefe rushes out. “I’m sorry for not realizing how bad it was for you two. I’m sorry for not getting help for you two. I’m so sorry.” By the end of his confession, Keefe looked like he was on the verge of tears.

“Why? You two didn’t do anything wrong. I couldn’t tell you about how bad it is, for if I did then we might not have dreamshared again for weeks, maybe over a month. You two know how much we tried to tell each other, but it doesn’t ever work. I can’t blame you guys cause I made sure to not tell you anything.” By the end of his triad, Tam felt Linh gripping his arm, but he forced it off.

“Tam,” -Linh gripped his arm even tighter this time-“Are you sure you are okay? Can you trust them?” Tam knew she was only trying to help, so he pushed his anger down.

“I know I can. If you don’t trust them, I’ll read their shadow vapor again,” Tam reassured Linh, but something in him revolted the idea that he had to do that again. Last time, it did not go well. Keefe seemed to remember the same particular accident if the way he paled was any indication.

“If you have to check our shadow vapor, I give you permission to do so,” Sophie stated, fierce authority in their voice. Back straightened, they reminded Tam of when he first met Sophie. They were loud and grabbed his hands despite how scared they were.

“Okay,” Tam whispered. He raised his hands and forced the shadows through their minds. Surprisingly, neither of them reacted as terribly as before. The results were also the same. “Now, you two need to know what I’m about to tell you is treason. If you want to leave, I won’t be offended,” Tam explained.

““When the Council was here gathering samples, they didn’t think I could hear them. But I used my shadow to carry my consciousness to where they were working. I couldn’t tell which Councilors it was—only that it was a male and a female. And the female Councilor said, ‘We should’ve warned them this could happen.’ Then the guy said, ‘No one can know.”

Tam braced himself for the yelling and the tears, but he did not expect a single gasp.

“How could they?” was the only thing Sophie said. “If the Council knew what was going to happen, why didn’t they say anything?” “We all know the Council is good at cover ups. They didn’t even try to make sure all the banished kids would be safe. They don’t care,” Tam growled. “Because they don’t care, no one else will either.” It was a sad but true thing in the world that they all were aware of.

“Doesn’t this violate the treaty with the gnomes? The Council is supposed to protect them, but they are just hurting them by withholding information,” Keefe stated wisely.

Tam had no happy response to that. Keefe was unfortunately right. The Council was not the perfect leader and never will be. “Is there anything else we need to say to each other?” Linh asked, perfectly poised.

“Linh? Can you move like four meters that way?” Tam whispered as he gestured towards the trees. He couldn’t risk her stopping him or his soulmates during this next part. Linh looked apprehensive, but she quickly made her way towards the trees.

Tam forced xemself to take a deep breath and wipe xer hand on xer pant leg. This was the moment of truth. “Hey guys. Nice to meet ya in person,” Tam chuckled awkwardly. Sophie let out a soft squeal as their eyes widened. (Tam still remembers how bad they felt about not having blue eyes.) “There’s the elf we love,” Keefe teased. “Hug?” Tam grinned softly as xe moved closer, and allowed Keefe to wrap his arms around xem.

This. This was good. Xe didn’t know how long it had been since xe felt this secure in the real world since xe been banished. “Your feelings are all wiggly,”Keefe mumbled, and he just squeezed Tam tighter. Tam felt xer soul soar. It had the softness he expected to have when the soulmates met in real life.

Tam felt fingers running through xer hair, and xe just let them. “Are you okay?” Sophie asked. Their voice was filled with concern for xem, and Tam could find it in xem to care. “I’m okay. Just tired,” Tam admitted.

“I bet. I can feel it rolling off of you like waves,” Keefe stated. The trio sat like that for a few moments, for they just wanted to gather their thoughts. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you,” Sophie started, but was shushed by Tam.

“Don’t. It’s not your fault. Shadows change how your voice sounds, and you can't see my face. That’s out of control.” Tam let that sink in for a moment. Xe knew both of xer soulmates were stubborn when it came to forgiving themselves. Tam then started to maneuver xemself out of Keefe’s and into Sophie’s.

“This is nice,” they gasped. “You’re so warm?” Tam had to chuckle at that comment. “Yeah, I am. So are you two.” “Are you and Linh going to be okay if we leave?” Keefe awkwardly asked. Tam knew he noticed the setting sun and how the elves they were staying with would be worried. “Yeah. Go,” Tam nudged xemself off Sophie as they got up. “Do you need a cliff?”

Sophie shook their heads as they held up a crystal. “We’re good.” “I guess this is goodbye.” Keefe looked detested as he uttered those words. “No It’s just a see you later,” Tam amended. It had to be, was unspoken.

Sophie grabbed Keefe’s hand and leapt away. Tam tried to ignore how xer heart fell. —— Linh liked to think she was a pretty serene person in most cases. This was not one of those cases.

“You met your soulmates!” she cheered. Tam was blushing so bad that she chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah, keep it down,” Tam chuckled as Tam scooped Linh into a hug. “Xe.”

Linh nodded as she backed up. “How do you feel?” “Kind of overwhelmed. But not bad,” Tam nodded. “How do you approve of my soulmates?” If one didn’t know Tam as well as Linh did, they would have thought that xe were being snarky. However, Linh knew that xe were just really nervous.

“I like them. Are they scared of me because I’m your sister or because of what I have done?” Linh inquired.

“They were probably terrified of the idea you would disapprove of us being soulmates.”

“Probably?”

“We had a lot on our minds!” Tam defended xemself as xe put xer hands in the air.

“Fair point. Next time you see them, ask,” Linh conceded. She wasn’t honestly that disappointed, for she thought that if she met Biana she wouldn’t bother asking if she liked her brother.

“They were blaming themselves for not recognizing me,” Tam stated after a period of silence. “Oh?”

”Yeah. It’s not really their fault because they know my face better than my voice,” Tam elaborated. There was a clear defensive tone to it as xe waved xer hand frantically.

“Tam. I’m not going to blame them for not recognizing you. That’s not fair to anyone,” Linh reassured. “Now tell me. Did y’all do anything?” Tam’s blush simultaneously made Linh feel both bad and giddy. It was always fun to find new ways to embarrass Tam. Tam replied,”No. They traded me between their laps, but then they had to go back.”

Linh shook her head, and she grabbed Tam’s hand to drag him back to the tree they called home. Maybe someday she would be able to meet Biana. --— (Forkle, meeting Linh and Tam/Confronting Sophie about it) Forkle couldn’t help but be wary of taking the moonlark and her friends to meet two banished twins. He had done significant research, but he took all of his findings with a grain of salt.

Walking into the forest, Forkle did not expect a boy running out of some trees behind a river and commanding shadows to come out. “STOP!” he shouted as the shadows gathered around him. “We won’t hurt you,” Keefe stated as he strode up to the front. “They’re with me and Foster.”

The Shade flicked his wrist, which sent the shadows across the river, as he growled,”I didn’t say you could bring people here.” Forkle took a deep breath as he realized that there needed to be some damage control done.

“There is no need for your darkness tricks, child,” Forkle tried to calm the Shade down. “We just want to talk.” “These are not tricks,” the Shade responded. “Unlike your disguise .” The last part was said in such a scoffing tone that Forkle felt almost a bit offended. However, he could understand where the Shade was coming from. The council was not kind to the poor children.

“Anyway, it’s not like anyone besides blondies over there are getting by without reading,” he declared. “Um, what?” the Vacker boy cried out. (Fitz was his name. It’s Fitz.) “Don’t worry, Fitzroy. It doesn’t hurt. It’s really cold but not painful,” the Sencen boy soothed. “Well, even if my brother is being a baby, you can do your reading on me,” the Vacker girl declared as she stepped closer to the Shade. A foolhardy move, Forkle mused, but a sign of a leader. However, he needed to get this meeting back on track.

“If you must, Mr.Song-“ Forkle started out, but he was cut off once again. “How do you know that name?”

Forkle massaged his temples as he wished for lightning to strike him. It would make his life significantly less complicated.

“You’re not the only one who likes to make sure they can trust someone before talking with them. I know that your sister was banished after flooding Atlantis by accident. A foolish choice on your parents' part.” Forkle tried to refrain from calling others foolish, but the Song parents were an exception. They were idiots through and through. “What do you mean, foolish?” the Shade questioned, as he tensed up. While he wasn’t obvious, there was fear radiating off of him.

“To bring a fledging Hydrokinetic to Atlantis and expecting it to not be flooded is as bad as bringing a guster to a hurricane and expecting them to leave the wind alone. No one sensible would. It is also to my understanding clear that your father had no love for the fact you two were twins?” Forkle knew that his facts were straight, but he wanted to learn the child’s opinion on the matter.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much to say. He simply muttered, "If the pretending that Linh is older than me doesn’t say something, I don’t know what will.”

Forkle nodded, trying to seem wise, and decided to try and speed the meeting along a bit. While they weren’t pressed on time, he needed to gain some more control over the situation. “If you don’t mind, where is your sister?” Forkle was truly more interested in the girl than her brother. While they were both incredibly powerful, it didn’t mean anything if they weren’t willing to work with him.

Suddenly, the shadows around the trees shifted slightly to reveal the Hydrokenetic.. Interesting. It seemed the boy had enough skill to preform some of the more advance Shade skills. Most Shades took a few decades to achieve that much control.

The Vacker girl made a comment on ‘how cool’ that was, but Forkle ignored her in favor of examining the Song girl. She seemed slightly more fed then her brother, but she still looked malnourished. Her hair was longer than either of the other girls, but she seemed like it was not well taken care of. The same could be said of her uniform. It wasn’t as nice of quality as the others, but it still looked presentable.

She shyly introduced herself as Linh, and Forkle was glad he refrained from calling the Shade any sort of first name. He had known that the girl’s name was Linh, but not her brother’s. Now he knew that it was Tam.

“So, who exactly are you guys? And what do you want?” Tam demanded. He had been doing an admirable job of keeping his cool, but Forkle knew that every teenage boy had their breaking point. This was Tam Song’s, apparently. “Well, you know me and Sophie. Brown hair princess is Biana, inferior blond is Dex, brown hair idiot is Fitz, and Forkle is the old guy,” explained the Sencen boy. It was a surprisingly effective way of introducing people. It reminded Forkle of Prentince.

“I love your hair,” Biana told the Song girl. She blushed, but she still gave a polite nod.

“So, why exactly are you here?” questioned the Song boy. “You still haven't told us."

Forkle nodded. "Ms. Foster has made it a point to tell me how useful you two would be for the Black Swan. Should I assume that you don't know about the Black Swan?"

The Song girl looked at Forkle with a confused look. "First of all, doesn't Sophie use they/them pronouns? Also, we know what the black swan is."

Forkle felt a headache coming. The insistent nature of moonchildren were always draining. "I assure you that is just a phase. After all, moonchildren are just like the moon. They change. But the fact that that you two know what the black swan is very helpful. Would that be something you are interested?"

Tam glared at Forkle. "I don't know."

-------

(Sophie, telling Tam Keefe betrayed them in person {Keefe betrayed them because they threatened Tam and by the time they met Tam it was too late to back out})

(Tam,Shared Dream, this is when Sophie and Tam learn why Keefe betrayed them {Where? Alllueverte?})

(Grizel finds a journal in Keefe's room at the Neverseen base describing all of his dreams with his soulmates, but due to presuming they are just his imagination, throws them away.)

(Keefe, at Lumenaria)

(Sophie just breaks down about Amy with Tam and Keefe in a shared dream. She wakes up and realizes she sleep talked, and since she was with her parents, they heard her sleep talking)

(Lady Candence, Tam manages to go to Ravagog, and is impressed with how calm 'he' is)

(Ro, orgres can sense soulmates by scent, but didn't say anything until they are at Keefe's house, with Keefe on bed rest)

(Tam, being in his parents house)

(Bronte overhears a conversation, that will lead into Legacy, that implies Sokam are soulmates)

(Keefe/Tam force Sophie to calm down during Midterms, because yes elves are bad, but you're hurting yourself love)

(Linh, being enhanced and realizing that something must be off with either her ability or atlantis {Cause both times feel similar})

(Biana has a moment with Tam about their shared scars)

(Sophie has a moment with her parents while getting ready for Alvar's Tribunal)

(Tam, w/ shadowflux when Sophie and fitz first get attacked {Think of how this effects him during their visit? Maybe Lady Zillah? Idea: Shades can tell whether or not someone has met their soulmate, she tries to make him say who they are.) —

(Keefe, w/ skills training/ Ro being a pain)

(Lady Zillah realizes that Tam is soulmates with someone, and deduces that they are also a moonchild, which is why he can control shadowflux, at least to her. In reality, any child who experienced childhood trauma can)

(Sophie and Fitz under the tree, only it's Fedex because they're soulmates but can't tell anyone since Alden.)

(Tam, when he has to join the neverseen.)

(Keefe breaks down the fact that Tam is forced to fight against them)

(Sophie decides not to get a match list/ Linh visit)

(Tam being probed, but he manages to not have everything revealed )

(Keefe taking fathomleses, and what the silver journal means is his soulmate dreams)

(Sophie tells the councilors she isn't getting a match list, they are surprised but okay with it. Bronte brings up the idea that Sokam is a thing and Sophie has to come clean)

(Tam has a shared dream and ends up crying because of it)

(Keefe and biscuits.)

(Sophie's abilities are reset much earlier, due to not wanting to know who her biological parents are as much. Similar thing that happens in canon happens here.)

(The final showdown at the king's path. Unlike in canon, Tam is not told what he is supposed to do, Glitter just does it for him. It kind of goes according to plan, but Glitter goes first than Tam, so it kind of backfires and Glitter and Gisela get brutally injured, because Tams hurt Keefe and you aren't supposed to hurt your soulmates so there's a huge backlash. They all escape together, since almost everyone is unconscious)

(Elwin, realizes that they are soulmates by their cells and tells Eda and Grady, who tell everyone else and it kind of spirals. They wake up, and it's like they just manifested {Intense empathy, blacking out from the increased input from the shadows, not being able to block thoughts.)

(Sokam decides to tell the black swan, together. It's a third person omniscient, and that is the climax, with everyone hugging/yelling/slapping them)

({Potential ending}Flash forward, it's their wedding day and they are giving their vows. It's sickeningly sweet. Tam's POV, to end the way we began)

#kotlc #kotlc sokam #kotlc sophie #sophie foster #kotlc tam song #kotlc keefe sencen #tw abuse #soulmates #kotlc soulmate au fanfic #tw suicide #tw homophobia #tw violence #transphobia tw #tw outing #tw injury #if anyone wants to know about the fun facts that I have about this let me know #I know this isn’t great writing but I am proud of it #and if this does well I might come back to it maybe

20 notes · View notes

bigcats-birds-and-books · 2 years

Text

lol tonight writing looks like “what’s out of character for the protective toaster-sized monster!spider” and i’m making gr8 headway, thanks for asking!!

3 notes · View notes

adoptable-fanfic-prompts · 4 months

Text

DP x DC Writing Prompt

For whatever reason, Tim hires Danny as a bodyguard/assistant (unaware of the ghost powers until later). Tim only did it for appearances but hey, Danny is actually really good at his job and understands completely that sometimes, Tim just needs to disappear for a bit and that it just happens to coincide with there being a problem in Gotham. Danny even lets Tim drink all the heavily caffeinated coffee he wants and doesn’t try to limit it like Tam tries to do (considering Danny drinks just about the same amount… (Tam tried to have an intervention, it did not work)). It’s going great…

… then Tim realizes that Danny has been bodyguarding him and secretly assisting him while Tim is out as Red Robin (how does Danny know Tim is Red Robin? Who knows). Eventually, Tim learns to accept it and you know what? Danny is a great partner to have… on the field… behind the scenes, that is definitely what Tim meant…

Then one day, while Tim is drinking the coffee Danny prepared for the both of them, he realizes where they both are and has just one question:

“When did Danny become his roommate?”

3K notes · View notes

dcxdpdabbles · 3 months

Note

Would you ever consider writing out the Alley Boyfriends?

Tim's favorite brand of coffee since childhood- for one could not follow Batman and Robin around without losing some sleep- had always been the Heart Attack Coffee. It was known for its high levels of sugar and caffeine, with the added bonus of being cheap.

Heart Attack Coffee grew from a small family-run booth in Gotham's street market to five stores in Gotham, three in Bludhaven, and even one in Metropolis.

Their menu comprises about sixty percent of various coffees, but there are teas, fruit waters, and even pastries.

They rolled out signature drinks per season, and Tim was always the first one in line when the new menu was revealed. He preferred the winter ones- mainly because they were hot and always had a special kick to his coffee compared to the spring and summer that tended to lean more towards ice dreams like teas or fruit waters.

Tim adored Heart Attack with all his might. He collected their special cups, a book on all the different flavors he tried, and even cried for three hours straight after learning the Heart Attack team had made drinks inspired by the Bats.

He doesn't think he drank anything but the Red Robbin Rush for the three months the promotion ran. Yes, his heart was beating like a hummingbird in his chest the whole time, and he was a bit jitty, but it was worth it.

Then came the terrible day Bruce found out just how much caffeine was inside Heart Attack's coffee. Not enough to shut them down with health violations but enough to worry him.

He forbids the family from Heart Attack, suggesting another cafe that were safer. The thing is, Tim does not drink any other coffee. He tried of course, but unless he was the one that made it, the other coffee never came close!

That was Tim's coffee. His special coffee. He had one every day (that he was in town and not away on a mission) so much so the employees knew him by name and what time he usually showed up.

Sean, the morning cashier at the closest branch to WE, would have an experimental drink prepared for him. Sean would let him test out possible new flavors!

That's how valued he was as a customer.

Don't get him wrong, Tim tried to follow Bruce's mandatory boycott. But by the third day, his headache was killing him, and his hands were starting to get itchy.

Not only that. His whole day just felt off when he skipped out on his morning coffee or his after-work coffee. Tam had caught him re-organizing his office at least five times because his office just didn't feel right anymore. It wasn't balanced.

On the fourth day, he walked into a Heart Attack, and Sean smiled at him. He had a blond expresso Rush halfway made when Tim reached the counter. "Welcome back, Tim."

He placed a fifty in the tip jar grinning at the employee. He took his first sip of the golden nectar and felt his very soul breathe as it settled in his stomach. "Good to be back"

Tim figured that Bruce wouldn't notice because, frankly his adoptive dad wasn't the most observant when it came to Tim's habits. He got away with it for about a month.

Then came the faithful day Bruce reminded him why he was Bartman.

"I'm sorry, Tim, you've been placed on the Do not Serve Coffee list." Sean winces, showing the binder to the stunned CEO.

"I've been banned!?" He chokes, running his eyes over his own face in picture form. "What did I do!?"

"Not banned. You can still order caffeine-free teas or fruit waters." Sean reassures, but it means nothing. His apologies and his explanations mean nothing.

Sean-who he was half sure had been flirting with Tim for months- suddenly meant nothing.

Bruce has bought out Heart Attack was nearest WE in an effort to get Tim to cut back on his coffee intake. The man knew he did not like drinking any other brand, didn't function right without it, and still chose to pull this stunt.

Well, if he thought Tim wouldn't drive ten minutes to the next nearest Heart Attack, he was sorely mistaken. He got up twenty minutes early- and Tim loves to sleep okay. Just because he can't have too much of it with his busy life didn't mean he didn't adore sleep- and drove himself there to make sure he was on time for WE.

The employee gave him the same spiel, holding that dreaded binder. Bruce had also gotten to this branch. But Tim knew that while the branches could be bought out, the name was trademarked, so Bruce couldn't own them all!

He tried the Heart Attack that was thirty minutes away, showing up late to work due to him not planning the traffic for the morning rush, and still did not succeed in getting coffee.

. Then he tried the one that forty minutes, on the complete opposite side of his work, and that one failed too. By this point, a whole week had gone by since he last had a Heart Attack.

Not even on missions did he go this long. He usually bought those take-home packages when he knew the missions were going to be longer than three days at the most. They wouldn't even sell him that anymore!

The packages were just packs of Heart Attack instant coffee. It wasn't even the real deal!

He was feeling withdrawal; his headaches were getting worse, while his body felt slow with fatigue, and he was snapping at everything and everyone.

Just the other day, he yelled at Tam for sneezing. Sneezing.

Thankfully, she can give out as good as she gets. She reminded Tim why she was the one who tended to call all the shots around the office despite what others believed.

His skin was starting to burn, which didn't make sense since caffeine withdrawal did not include itchiness, but he couldn't stop scratching. Tim also hasn't slept in a while because his daily evening routines were all off now that he couldn't have Coco Connect!

He thinks he made all of his executives uneasy with his fidgeting and nasty scowl at the last meeting because he couldn't sit still when all he could think of was Heart Attack.

The last Heart Attack, the one right at the edge of the city, the one that was only a street away from Crime Alley and happened to be a forty-five-minute commute for both Wayne Manor and WE, was his last hope.

Out of all of the branches, this one was the least impressive. It was cramped with only three tables, the walls were painted a dark brown, and the light setting was all low.

It was nothing like the bright and spacious atmosphere of the other branches. It was even squished between two large buildings, the narrow doorway making it hard to even see. Tim was sure Bruce had not found this one yet.

When he pushed the door open, he jumped slightly at the chime from the bells on the door. His anxiety had been climbing to ridiculous levels, he needed his coffee.

At the counter, a boy who looked his age glanced up from his red bulky phone. He quickly slipped it into his pocket, giving Tim a friendly, if slightly bored smile. "Can I help you?"

Tim raced towards him, nearly tripping over his own feet. There was a slight note of deranged desperation in his voice as he responded. "Please, I just want a cup of coffee."

The boy nods, pressing a few buttons on his little cheap register. "What kind would you like?"

Tim's heart swelled with hope. "I want a large Blond Expresso Rush and a-"

The boy stops. He looks up slowly at the time, squinting his eyes as if trying to see into Tim's mind. Then, with a slow movement, he reached under the counter to withdraw a very familiar binder.

Tim's eyes burn with unshed tears as the stranger flips through the binder before stopping on a particular page. "I'm sorry, sir, but you are on the Don't Serve Coffee list. I can offer you some tea instead-"

"NO!" Tim yells, causing the employee to jerk back. He knows he must look like a mess, with tears rolling down his face, but he doesn't care. This was his last chance. He can't make it to the branches in Bludhaven or Metropolis, not daily and certainly not without Bruce noticing. " THIS IS THE FIFTH PLACE. BRUCE CAN'T OWN YOU ALL!"

He places his face into his hands and wails. His body is shaking with his sobs, leaning against the counter because he lost all strength to himself up.

The employee stares at him with a strangely understanding expression. "Does this coffee mean that much to you? Is it.... an Obsession for you?"

Tim can only nod because words are hard to push through his cries. The teenager sighs, running a hand through his hair before leaning forward and whispering. "Look, man, I can't give you coffee under the cameras. Meet me in the back alley in twenty minutes, and I'll get you a coffee. Bring Cash."

Tim snaps his head up at once.

"How much? Five hundred, six hundred, or hell, even a thousand? I'll bring whatever you want." He sobbed, knowing he looked sort of pathetic but beyond the point of caring about his dignity.

" Chill, dude, it's a cup of coffee. Three dollars is fine." The other says with a sort of uneasy smile.

"It's not just any coffee! It's my favorite brand, and Bruce bought them out to ensure they wouldn't sell to me anymore!"

The guy holds up his hands. "Okay, okay, this coffee means a lot to you. I get it. Twenty minutes alright?"

Tim stumbles his way outside, reaching for his wallet. He has no cash, but he says an ATM is not too far down the street. He all but runs there and sprints back with a crispy twenties.

He stopped at a local flower store to ask if they would break it for him and was told he needed to buy something first. Not wanting to meet the coffee angel, he picks out a lovely bouquet of lavender roses.

He gets four dollars as his change and races back to the Alley behind Heart Attack. Just in time, too, because the back door opens and out strolls the cashier with a large travel container.

Tim throws the cash and flowers into his hands to rip off the lid and check the inside. It's a Blond Expersso Rush. Even just a sniff has something in him settling. He takes a sip, and all is right with the world for the first time in a while.

"That good?" The boy asks with a slight grin. Tim hums, smiling back as he takes another sip. "I'm glad. Want your flowers back?"

Huh? Oh yeah, he bought those. He shakes his head. "Keep them. Think of it as a thanks for doing this."

"Cool. Never had flowers as a tip before." He jokes, taking a sniff of the roses with a broader grin. "Name's Danny, by the way."

"Tim. Nice to meet you."

"You too."

Tim tips his head back, letting the coffee burn down his throat. It's hot, but that hardly matters. Danny's mouth drops. "Dude, maybe wait for it to not be so hot?"

"I can't." He whines, downing the cup's contents, and only after it's all gone does he realize he forgot to savor it. He throws it over his shoulder in the direction of the trash can. "I don't know when I'll get a chance like this again."

"Don't worry about that. I'll make you more whenever you want. Here, have my number and text me when you're on your way so I can-"

Tim throws himself onto Danny. The other fumbles with the flowers, trying to hold them and Tim simultaneously, but Tim doesn't care. "You are the best person I have ever met! I think I love you!"

The other laughs, patting his hair. "I'm glad. You've been the first to give me flowers, so you're cool, too."

"When do you get off shift? I'll treat you to dinner."

"It's not a big deal, dude."

"I insist!"

"Well if you insist. I just finished, actually. Where do you have in mind?"

Tim leans back to smile at Danny, unaware of the two shadows that leap away from the still-embraced couple. They arrived sometime after Tim finished his cup, unaware he had drunk it since it was lying on the group near the other discarded cups in the trash.

They only saw Tim in the arms of a boy, holding flowers, which represented "Love at First Sight," and the way they heard Tim offer to buy him dinner.

"See B? Tim wasn't buying coffee. He was just meeting his crush!"

"Hmm. Based on what we saw, it's safe to say boyfriend. No one is comfortable with someone unless they have known them for a while."

"I think your right. I wonder when Tim will bring him over to meet the family?"

"Try not to push too much Nightwing. You know T values his privacy."

They both smile at each other knowingly, and even though Bruce suppresses it right away for his Batman persona they don't forget what they saw.

They pretend not to notice every time Tim disappears or that his GPS puts him back in that alley. They'll wait till he's ready to tell them. Besides, the barista seems good to him; Tim is far more energetic and bright these days.

A month goes by like this, where Tim is back to his normal self, no longer needing coffee to be happy. Bruce pats himself ion the back for his plan to help cut him off working so well.

Even though he seems to be texting constantly on his phone.

Neither Dick nor Bruce noticed the narrow eye stare of worry that Jason aimed at Tim whenever he slipped away to meet Danny. He has theories on what is inside those strange containers, but he hasn't gotten close enough to confirm his suspicions yet.

Jason prays he's wrong.

He waits until he knows Tim is gone (he is not. He likes to hide in the cave's shadows to overhear the latest family gossip) before turning to Bruce and Dick.

"Tim's on drugs! I've caught him trading cash for small containers in a shady alley six times. We need an intervention."

Predictably both men freak out.

"What?! I thought that was his boyfriend!" Dick wails, looking over all the pictures of Tim and Danny standing in an alley trading cash, flowers, and containers that Jason took.

"I also thought that was Tim's boyfriend, but if it's a drug dealer, we have to help him," Bruce grunts, eyes hard as he now sees Danny Fenton in a new, less favorable light.

And Tim, who is still hiding in the cave's shadows overhead, can only whisper a heartfelt "shit."

He rips out his phone to text Danny as the rest of the Bats below begin plotting. Thank goodness they don't know what Danny has been giving him exactly. Maybe they can steal Bruce's and Dick's ideas.

Meanwhile, Danny's tiny apartment across the city is starting to appear like a greenhouse with all the flowers Tim has been giving him. His small slip of loving flowers was all Tim needed to hear.

He's taken it as a personal challenge to always have some flowers for Danny as a thank-you for the coffee he made for him.

It was nice. It helped get rid of the boredom his life had developed. He looked forward to Tim's presence. He hadn't had this much fun or clicked as easily with someone since Sam or Tucker.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Danny grins as his phone dings and Tim's picture flashes on his screen.

If anyone asks you're my secret boyfriend who been making me teas in allies

Danny stares at the screen momentarily, before shrugging and texting back a confirmation. "Who the hell would believe that? But I've had a boring week, so yeah, I'm down to be a pretend boyfriend."

He's never met any of Tim's family, but he doesn't think they will be too hard to fool.

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Alley Boyfrinds #Part 1?#Does the chat considered the first part?#misunderstandings #fake relationship #Danny was bored and this guy who looked to be on crack for coffee is funny #Tim was not aware of the flowers meaning. Neither is Danny #Everyone playing chess while Tim is trying to figure out thumb wrestling #Danny is not aware that Tim is a Wayne

1K notes · View notes

ew-selfish-art · 7 months

Text

DP x DC AU: Tim had heard the phrase 'The wrong twin made it home' a number of times in his life, his parents were always very upfront about how the felt towards him. But... 'made it home' doesn't indicate death, does it? ...Tim ends up taking Danny's place by Sam's side in front of Congress to lobby the end of the Anti-Ecto Acts.

...

Tim has been up for hours passed when he told Alfred he would be resting and he's wrapped up his case files into neat little bows to deliver to Babs and the GCPD/Lawyers to do their jobs. Damian had made a comment earlier in their patrol that night about Tim being the wrong sibling to make it to his rescue and... and it got him thinking about that phrase. His parents were negligent with him, certainly, but they were always very clear about how he stood in their eyes. Praise and criticism were the two options, and very strictly limited passes of 'I love yous' that faded as he got older.

He's run his DNA before in the national databases- it was critical for maintaining his Alias' that multiple people didn't flag- but he's never searched in records before. About his twin. About the one who didn't make it home.

And its definitely the lack of sleep, and definitely the lack of brotherly affection he feels these days, but Tim just can't close the door until he's seen a death certificate. He's hacked Gotham General Hospital a million times for work, but doing it for his own gain feels wrong some how and he works with extreme caution. He finds his own birth certificate and... One Theodore Daniel Drake.

Tim snorts with a short ha, pretentious name alert and goes on to find not a single certificate of death or medical record of atypia. Oh no, what he finds is adoption paperwork meant to be closed to all wondering eyes and one Daniel James Fenton leaving the hospital instead. Tim blinks a few times, retraces his steps and then sure enough, learns for a second time that his TWIN was still alive.

Finding the Fentons was easy enough, their Lab address on all of their patents was seemingly also their home address. Danny had a much better hidden internet presence, it was good cybersecurity he'd have to praise him, but Tim had been trained better. Getting into his brother's files... Raised a number of new questions. Why was he compiling evidence against the government? What the fuck was he doing analyzing policy? Why did he have 'rogue' files???

Then Tim hacks into Danny's phone (he's learned at this point that Daniel was a no-go) and sees the conversations between his twin and his twin's best friends.

Sam Manson has an appointment with a Senator to Lobby for the end of the Anti-Ecto Acts. She wants Danny to join her, demonstrate something Tim can't determine, but he's refusing to leave and let his adoptive parents have even a moment to develop a new weapon without him there to destroy it. Someone called CW warned him about changes coming his way or something cryptic. Tim learns a lot from their back and forth, but stops reading once it gets to their personal squabbles.

Tim gets the meeting details and forwards it to Tam- If Danny can't make it... Tim will. And if Tim can't demonstrate whatever Danny was going to, it would at least help to throw around his name.

Tim writes an email to Danny- It's meant to go out after the lobbying appointment- and it explains that Tim found out about him and wants to connect if Danny does, and if Danny doesn't he at least wants to get him set up with his half of the Drake family inheritance. He includes a few personal facts, including that he too ended up adopted in life and had siblings, that he helped run a company and took on the world too soon. It takes a lot out of Tim to be so candid- but he doesn't want Danny to be too blindsided by the Waynes. He attaches a family photo with the label "you'll be able to tell which one is me'.

...

Sam is tapping her stupid, uncomfortable heels waiting for these dumbass, elderly politicians to get their shit together so she can speak. Sam was resourceful and surprisingly, the second she took on politics as a way to waste the family money, her mother Pamela was all for it. She's wanting Sam to run for president now... At least she doesn't complain when Sam organizes protests.

The door behind her opens, and while she knows its not going to be Danny behind her, a girl can feel a bit crushed. She really thought he would be behind her today, but Danny was being weird about this whole thing. Clockwork had him spooked about something changing today, and Danny wanted to be in Amity Park in case it was another Pariah situation or something. His parents had been on edge lately too...

"Sorry, I'm not late am I?" A voice asks and it's just so close but not- Sam turns her head to see Danny in a nice suit with long hair and eyebags way darker than she'd seen on him in a while. This... Wasn't Danny. She blinks, and then something in her anxiously decides that the universe is fucking with her and she will be fighting back.

"Everyone is late." She glares at him, appraising his every move. The woman behind him is typing dedicatedly on her tablet and the man himself looks like he might fall over while he shuffles his files in hand.

"Well, then I'm on time. My name is Tim Drake, I'm here to help your cause in getting the Anti-Ecto acts repealed and the parties responsible for it apprehended."

"Tim Drake? As in-"

"As in Co-CEO of Wayne Enterprises. And I've done a lot of research, so I hope you'll let me play a supportive role while you speak."

"There's no way you've been able to research if you've been out of Amity, The whole city is under a media blackout." Sam's glare looks like it could cut him.

"Not to brag, but that sort of thing doesn't slow me down these days. I've made physical copies of the things they're most likely to delete and I've sent everything to the Justice League, who in turn are sending it to the Lantern Corps." He states matter-of-factly and Sam finally stops being angry at the world to just be... stumped. What the hell was going on?

"How did you... Why?"

"Tam, tell Ms. Manson how passionate I am about human rights?" The guy sounds anxious, the woman rolls her eyes and says "Very." without stopping her typing.

The doors open and Sam has only a moment to decide that Tim can join her... He proves himself to be an asset, and his name alone gets them further than she had anticipated getting today.

....

Danny is watching Sam walk into the space via C-span, gasping when his own likeness follows behind her. What the fuck???

He can barely drag his eyes away as the clone (?) introduces himself as Tim Drake and proceeds to rip them into shreds for delaying Sam Manson of all people. Danny is transfixed and Tucker is blowing up his phone.

"DUDE ARE YOU SEEING THIS?" Tucker's voice loudly calls out the second danny blindly answers.

"Dude, I just, I don't even know? He cant be a clone right? But he's gotta be?" Danny hypothesizes.

"Nah dude, there's like, a whole lifetime of media presence for Tim Drake since he was like, tiny. This is so weird he looks just like you..."

"This is so weird." Danny dumbly agrees because he can't think of anything else to say.

Sam finishes her points, Tim submits the evidence to the court and they leave. Danny's phone pings with an email notification.

"Danny my guy, you should check that, Sam isn't responding yet. Her phone is probably still off."

He follows Tucker's advise and opening his email... Is a new message from Tim Drake.

"...I don't know what the fuck is going on?" Danny continues to say, and Tucker asks him just to read it out loud, "It's just... Apparently I am both adopted and a twin?"

"...My guy." Tucker sounds just as much at a loss.

...

Sam calls them both after Tim Drake is rushed away by his PA Tam (who she found herself admiring more and more), and is relieved when they dont immediately answer by screaming.

"So Danny, Tucker, you guys are traveling with me next weekend." Sam deadpans.

"Apparently shit gets twilight-zone level weird anytime you leave Amity!" Tucker exclaims.

"...What's next weekend?" Danny asks, hesitation in his voice.

"Your twin invited us, well, mostly you, to a Wayne Family Brunch. We're going cause those assholes have money and political influence, you're going because we all probably need to know what the fuck is going on with that guy."

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #danny phantom #dc crossover #dp crossover #long post #tim and danny are twins #twins au #ehehehe could go in so many directions

2K notes · View notes

ravs6709 · 2 years

Text

Oh god I have to come up with magical girl-esque entrance speeches for all the kotlc kids

#i got one for stina and that alone was too difficult #it doesnt even quite match her but she does say she made it up on the spot ✌️#i feel like tam's would be dramatic. and keefe but like. different flavours #ravi's randomness #I JUST WANT TO WRITE KAM SWORDFIGHTING BUT I NEED THEIR ENTRANCE SPEECHES FIRST

0 notes

amerasdreams · 2 years

Text

I just realized the name Karima is an anagram of Rakima, the capital of Muldavia....

0 notes

shadowandlightt · 3 months

Text

Of Nightmares and Memories /four/ Azriel x reader

Series Warnings: Kidnapping. Mistreatment. Cursing. Pining. Violence. Depression. Talks of suicide. Eventual smut

A/N: We're getting closer to her returning to the IC and I'm so happy about that. I also had a lot of fun writing this part, so I hope you enjoy!

Part One Part Two Part Three

The following days were much the same, watching from a distance as Tamlin worked hard to woo the young Feyre. Your eyes rolled every time he tried to complement her. She didn’t belong here. Just like you didn’t belong here. She was too much of a dreamer to become a High Lord’s wife, or little play thing. Too much of a dreamer to be held down by his endless rules and customs.

She deserved so much more. You deserved more.

Imagines of wings and starlight fill your head every time you close your eyes. You could see all of them, laughing at The House of Wind over dinner, having a grand time without you. They moved on, you know they had. But you couldn’t move on from them, no matter how hard you tried. You yearned for them.

You yearned for Cassian and his brutish humor, the kind that always got him in trouble with your mother, but always made you laugh harder than you should. You yearned for Morrigan and her never ending support when your father was being particularly dastardly. And Azriel….oh how you longed for him. The gentle touches of his shadows, the shy smiles, and rare bouts of laughter. Besides your brother, you missed Azriel most of all.

He was your Az, and yet you had no claim to him. But he seemed to understand that you belonged to one another. Maybe that’s why you made the promises you did.

Where you go I go, but whatever we do we do it together.

You made that promise before you flew for the first time. You were too afraid to fly as a child, but when Azriel came along and had to learn so late in life….well you got over your fear for him. You grasped his scarred hand in your tiny one and led him to the edge of the House of Wind. Why they decided that was the best place to learn to fly, you’ll never quite understand.

But it was then that you looked up at him, tears in your eyes due to fear, that you spoke, “Where you go I go.”

He nodded slowly, hair blowing in the wind, “But we do it together.”

“Together,” You agreed, holding his hand tighter.

And together you leapt from the ledge and let the wind take hold of your wings. Together you wobbled, but still stayed afloat. Together you figured it out, never once letting go of the other. And when you landed back on the roof, you held him so tightly as he laughed. And it was then that you decided that was the most beautiful sound you ever heard. It was then that you decided you would do anything to hear that laugh and see that smile as much as possible.

And it was then that he decided he would always protect you, because you were his just as much as he was yours.

“He’s sending her back,” Lucien’s voice drew you from your thoughts.

“He’s what?”

“Your brother came,” Lucien says, face pale, “Took her mind, threatened to crush it. It isn’t safe for her here anymore, time is almost up. So Tam is sending her back.”

“He’s a damned fool,” you hiss, “She’s in love with him, it’s plain as day to see! All he has to do is get her to admit it, but he can’t do that, can he? He’s giving up, all because my brother decided to come and scare him?”

“You weren’t there.”

“No, I wasn’t, but when does the brutality of the Night Court surprise Tamlin?” You question, “He’s seen it first hand, he knows what we’ll do to him. Why do you think he keeps me full of Faebane? Huh?”

“Y/N-”

“He knows I could shred all of your minds so easily,” You nearly laugh, “I could make Rhys look like child’s play if I really wanted to. You think he is vile and violent? See what happens when I have all of my powers, Lucien. There’ll be nothing left to bury. I could raze the Spring Court to the ground and not feel a thing about it.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I’m a prisoner here, don’t think that I wouldn’t take the first chance to escape,” You shake your head, “No matter who I have to kill. I might still be a child compared to the rest of you but I’m a child of the Night. Brutality is in my blood.”

“You aren’t like them-”

“Oh? Am I not? Just because I’ve been docile so far doesn’t mean it isn’t inside of me. I am a wolf in sheep's clothing. I always have been, dear Lucien. I am the most dangerous person in this manor, and he’s a fool to forget it.”

His face contorts into something that you aren’t quite able to read. Pride wells in your chest knowing you’re doing your job. You want to feel sick about it, want to feel sick about the role you’re playing. But if it brings you one step closer to your brother then you can’t bring yourself to feel bad about it. All you want is to go home again. You just want Rhys to hold you and tell you everything is going to be alright again.

“Tamlin deserves what's coming to him,” you hiss, “You all do.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Oh but I do. I hope Rhys enjoys breaking every single one of you. And if he doesn’t, I will,” You take a step closer to Lucien, “By the cauldron I promise you, I will break this court apart piece by piece and I will laugh as I do it. And I won’t stop until he’s the only one left standing, and all he has to claim is rubble.”

It rises up in your chest, and you feel it escaping through your fingertips, the darkness you used to run from long ago. You smile at it, feeling it wrap up your arms and cascade down towards the floor. It took a lot of energy to conjure it. You would be exhausted afterwards. But it would be worth it.

Lucien took a step back, and then another. Head shaking. You knew what you looked like. A vile smile on your face, darkness twirling all around you. You looked like your big brother. You felt the power flowing through your veins, what little you had left of it anyway.

“Don’t underestimate me, Lucien.”

Tamlin sent Feyre back to the human lands the following day. You watched from your window with a scowl on your face as the carriage took her away. Tamlin was giving up and damning all of you in the process. Amerantha would come for him soon enough, and then there would be nothing left for you but to run.

Maybe you could make it to the Night Court, maybe you would be lucky.

“Once she comes, you’re free,” Tamlin spoke over dinner that night.

“Perhaps,” You do your best to sound bored.

You had to control your heart, so you didn’t give away how scared you truly were. If she found you, you would be dead in an instant. Or maybe she’d use you as a toy to get Rhys to do her bidding some more. He was already her whore, but perhaps she wanted more. She wanted him on his knees for her. And even you knew that he bowed before no one but his court.

“Maybe I’ll stay here, I’ve grown quite fond of this place.”

“Liar.” Lucien bites out.

One look from you though and he stands down. What he doesn’t know is you slept for almost twelve hours after your little display earlier. It took everything you had, all of your energy and what power you had. But it was worth every second to see the look on Lucien’s face. To know that you were still able to scare him enough.

“Something you add, Lucien?” You question, venom dripping from your words.

His head shakes, swallowing deeply. It only makes you smirk. You were so close to going home, to any semblance of home. Maybe your brother wouldn’t be there, but you’d be free. The Court of Nightmares had to be better than living here.

“You should hide,” Tamlin says slowly, “They’re coming.”

“Now?”

He only nods, and reaches for more wine. He seems too calm. But then again he’s already given up. He gave up the second he sent Feyre back across the wall to her family. You can’t help but scoff as you rise to your feet. You expected him to fight back, maybe even for Lucien to fight. But you didn’t expect them to just lay down and roll over and let Amerantha march her cronies in here and take everyone.

“You’re a coward, Tamlin.”

“So you’ve been saying for hundreds of years.”

“You should have just killed me.”

“Heard that too.”

Your eyes roll, “I hope you have fun as her dog.”

“Enjoy your freedom, Y/N.”

You scoff again, “You best hope I never get the chance to kill you, Tamlin. I won’t make it as quick as my brother made your family's death.”

Tag List

@historygeekqueen @wallacewillow0773638 @sstrohma @saltedcoffeescotch @hnyclover @thelov3lybookworm @queerqueenlynn @minnieoo @maddybraps @mariahoedt @witchymomfrien

#acomaf #acotar #acotar fanfiction #azriel #azriel x reader #azriel x you #acotar fic #azriel acotar #azriel fanfic #azriel shadowsinger

282 notes · View notes

hella1975 · 2 days

Note

I love your work - twice as many stars! I was just wondering if you're planning to continue it :0 No negative intentions! Im just really invested!

hi omg thank you that's so lovely to hear!

i have 3 updating fics atm and ive given myself a schedule with them that has the first of them (taob) being updated in the next few days, and then tams will come after. rn im saying i want tams to update by the end of april :)

#tams doesn't usually have months-long breaks like taob does but it's my last semester at uni atm and im sort of drowning in assignments lol #but i graduate soon! so hopefully ill finally be able to prioritise my writing over anything else <3 #ask #tams asks #if u want to keep up to date with how the writing of tams is going i will very likely be bitching about it on my blog very soon #so keep an eye on the 'tams' tag bc i'll just put it all under that :)

12 notes · View notes

agentstarkid · 9 months

Text

SERENDIPITY ✦ DR3

“Serendipity is an unexpected and very lucky finding, that is, a coincidence that fills us with happiness. Serendipity in love implies the feeling that the universe conspires in our favor, bringing that special person into our lives at the right time and oh boy, did the universe send her everything she ever needed in the form of a 5'10" man with a built-in accent, a love for Tim Tams, adrenaline-fueled spirit and a smile that could light up a whole town.”

✦ pairing: daniel ricciardo x famous!latina!reader

✦ type: social media au

✦ face claim: becky g

✦ warnings: female!reader, covid-19 & quarantine mentions, age gap, language.

✦ pit wall live: HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY BESTIES! 🤗💗 I've been working on this for a month, honestly I thought I was gonna finish it fast but tbh that was really naïve of me 🥴 the amount of times I ended up changing almost every little thing is insane lol but today I sat down and commited to finish and post this! this is my first ever smau or any kind of 'x reader' really, so please be kind 🤍 and of course it was going to be about the love of my life!

— oh btw, my idea is to get to present time and make it angsty so let me know what you guys think! I really hope you enjoy!

─── The Joker & The Queen (Masterlist)

JANUARY 01, 2020

yourinstagram and danielricciardo added to their stories!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

danielricciardo has followed yourinstagram!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

yourinstagram

♡ liked by anitta, danielricciardo and 6,546,214 others

yourinstagram 2019 was full of happiness, pain, healing and growth. I loved a lot, I cried a lot and I laughed a lot. I'm grateful for a lot of things in life, but I'm specially grateful for you guys ❤️🥂 I LOVE YOU! ❤️

tagged: selenagomez, fioamato, iamdannaschwarz, itsvittoriasousa

View all 17,321 comments

fioamato It's out with the old and in with the new ⏭️😜

iamdannaschwarz this could be the start of something new indeed 😏🤭 yourinstagram 🙈 user yourinstagram girlieee does this mean you found your Troy Bolton tonight? 👀👀👀

iamdannaschwarz what a year it has been! Through the ups and downs you prevailed. So proud of you! Cheers, amiga! 🥂❤️

itsvittoriasousa u deserve the whole world, i wish everyone knew ur heart 🥺 love you biiiiiiig ❤️

user1 can we talk about that dress!!!! jaw dropped 🤯

user2 Mami 🔥🔥🔥

selenagomez ❤️🥂🎆

user3 danny ric you ain't slick baby we can see u 👀

user4 words on the streets that they were seen pretty close the whole night 👀

user5 girlies do we think the writing on the napkin belongs to mr. ricciardo? 🧐

user4 what about the last pic?? could it be about a nod to him???

user3 somebody call the fbi and the cia we need to decode this 🔎🔎🔎

sebastianyatra una locura de año 🚀 happy new year penguin!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

JANUARY 25, 2020

justjared

♡ 9.075 Likes

justjared New couple alert?! YN LN, 21, and Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, 30, were spotted on a walk and getting cozy during a night out in New York. More photos now on JustJared.com #YNLN #Daniel Ricciardo Photos: Backgrid

View all 214 comments

user1: well that's a couple nobody saw coming 😶 good for them tho

user2: These pictures are so creepy as to get these they literally have to stalk these people and are probably hiding in bushes or wherever to get the shots

user3: he's a full-grown man in his 30s messing around with a teenager how shocking 🙄

user4: how is she a teenager if she's 21??? she is a consenting adult and has been for a while...make it make sense user5: it's a 9-year age gap not 25 😑 y'all should learn to mind your own fucking business

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

FEBRUARY 05, 2020

danielricciardo added to their story!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

yourinstagram added to their story!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

yourinstagram

♡ liked by danielricciardo, greeicy and 7,452,325 others

yourinstagram starry nights, sunsets, little moments, deep conversations & special feelings 💖🃏

View all 19,358 comments

iamdannaschwarz pov: you were there to witness the first conversation 🤣

itsvittoriasousa never knew a person could blush that hard 😂 yourintagram you are both getting blocked 🙅‍♀️

fioamato 🃏🃏🃏

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

michaelitaliano and scottyjames31 have followed yourinstagram!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

MARCH 11 & 12, 2020

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

yourinstagram has added to their story!

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

APRIL 09, 2020

yourinstagram

♡ liked by danielricciardo, jbalvin and 5,723,498 others

yourinstagram Quarantine with an aussie boyfriend: turns out, 'G'day mate' is the only greeting you'll ever need. Who needs handshakes anyway? Also, you get to excessively use the word 'mate' without being judged. It's basically a linguistic free pass 🤷🏽‍♀️😂🇦🇺

View all 22,395 comments

user: OMG OMG IT'S FUCKING HAPPENING!!!! EVERYBODY STAY CALM!!!

user: Dan-Y/N nation how we feeling today? 😍

user: wasn't she dating sebastianyatra tho?

user2: nah they've been friends for years

user3: «cristina» is lowkey about her tho 🤭 "you were 19, i was 23"?? and there's a 4 year age gap between them?? they deffff had something going on a few years back AT LEAST 👀

user2: who knows maybe they did, but they refer to each other as "like-a-brother" and "like-a-sister" so as far as we know they are only best friends 🤷🏽‍♀️

fioamato what do you say titi yourmomsinstagram does it get the seal of approval?

yourmomsinstagram 🤔🤔🤔 yourinstagram she face-timed me and told me to pass the phone so she could talk to him. They talked for an hour. They are besties now, she's just trying to play hard-to-get 🙃

danielricciardo and 5,345 other liked it

fioamato 😂😂😂

jbalvin encantado de verte feliz hermanita ❤️

danielricciardo tell your boyfriend he's really lucky 🤙🏼

yourinstagram thanks will do, mate 🤙🏼

user OMG??? you guys are so unserious 😭

user2 MOM??? DAD???

user3 danielricciardo yourinstagram i'm glowing, flourishing and thriving 🥰😭

michaelitaliano shitty accent though

yourinstagram I love my haters ❤️ you guys are my motivators ☺️ btw don't you have a kangaroo to fight?

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

APRIL 29, 2020

yourinstagram

♡ liked by michaelitaliano, danielricciardo, lewishamilton and 6,498,498 others

yourinstagram Spanglish country…we’re doing it!! Watch kanebrown_music and I blend sounds, languages and dance moves in #LostInTheMiddleOfNowhere (Spanish Remix) 😜 song and video OUT NOW 🔥

View all 11,598 comments

iamcardib OKAAAY MAMAAA 🧊🧊🥶

lali ALTA DIOSA 🔥

user she 👏 never 👏 misses 👏

itsvittoriasousa BRO U ABSOLUTELY ATEEE

user jaw drops to floor eyes pop out of sockets hearts out of chest 😍

danielricciardo wow caliente 🔥

user the amount of unwell I am in this exact moment

user2 daniel is right. muy caliente 🥵

user3 i'm losing my mind over 2 words + emoji okay

user4 daniel stop being a cunt and make an appearence in one of Y/N's ig lives

user5 user4 you could totally hear his voice in the last one lmao

°。°。°。°。°。°。

°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。°。

MAY 03, 2020

danielricciardo

♡ liked by pierregasly, jensonbutton, iamdannaschwarz and 710,610 others

danielricciardo Just a bunch of life 🤠🚜🇦🇺🇺🇸

View all 1,097 comments

yourinstagram awesome taste in music mate 👍🏼

danielricciardo big fan of hers 👍🏼 love finding new underground artists ☺️ user imagine calling THE yourinstagram an "underground artist" lmaooo user2 they're both such little shits i love them your honor 😭

kristenanniebell ❤️❤️❤️

scottyjames31 I see you're in good company mate

corey_wilson goodness I miss the ranch so much

user daniel said lemme give you thirsty bitches a few droplets of water

user2 there's so much to unpack here omfg

iamdannaschwarz you're welcome 😌 also there's a no-return policy in the contract ok bye

fioamato you're welcome 😌 x2 itsvittoriasousa you're welcome 😌 x3 danielricciardo nah i think i'm gonna keep it for a long while thanks. i'll rate you guys with 5 stars 👍🏼

user3 THE LETTER ON THE LAST PHOTO ???? I'M SENDING Y'ALL MY THERAPY BILLS

user4 THE MATCHING RINGS PLEASE!!!!!!! 😭😭😭

user5 all this soft launch shit is killing me guys help somebody let them know that we already know so they can stop playing!!!

yourinstagram but where's the fun in that babes? 😌 user holy shittttt!!!! y/n ???? i- 🤯 user5 OH MY GOD!!!! HI MOTHER AJKFFLAHDASD user2 it's a fucking confirmation!!!! dan-y/n nation we got it!!! it's crumbs but we got it!!!!!

user6 we stan a suportive bf ☝️🤩

user7 999 for grammy's best album of the year ✨manifesting✨

°。°。°。°。°。°。

─── Please don't forget to reblog & comment! ♡

#daniel ricciardo x reader #daniel ricciardo x you #latina!reader #famous!reader #daniel ricciardo imagine #daniel ricciardo social media au #daniel ricciardo instagram au #f1 x reader #f1 social media au #( agentstarkid's works )

569 notes · View notes

helloalycia · 4 months

Text

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐓𝐎 [𝐎𝐍𝐄] — 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐃

summary: after you hear about Lucy Gray's breakup, you wonder if you'll finally have a chance with her. Of course, your father, the head peacekeeper, can never know you like the 'troublemaker' from the Covey.

warning/s: none i don't think?

author's note: okay so after a million years i finally got this one written, an idea that came to me like a week ago and took forever to write because life lol. I hope you all like it anyway, it’s a three parter and was fun to write :)

something to note - Y/BF/N = your best friend's name and Y/D/N = your dad's name

two / three / masterlist / wattpad

"...and I told him that he shouldn't say stuff he doesn't mean, especially when it's just plain old rude, but of course he didn't care..."

I hummed, nodding along as my best friend, Y/BF/N, rambled about an encounter she'd had with one of her neighbours, but I was also glancing around the hallway casually. It was the end of the school day and I was waiting for Y/BF/N to collect her books from her locker so we could go, but she easily got distracted.

Apparently so did I though, as my eyes fell upon Lucy Gray Baird, a talented musician and outsider in my grade, part of a group called the Covey that everyone either tended to avoid or fell in love with for their musical charm. I always found her fascinating, beautiful, as many others did, but she had a boyfriend which pretty much meant there was no chance there. Still, it didn't hurt to admire her.

She was talking to another member of the Covey, Tam Amber, when she accidentally walked into none other than the mayor's daughter, Mayfair Lipp. It wouldn't have mattered so much if there wasn't a clear tension between both girls.

"If only you could open your eyes like you open your damn mouth," Mayfair snapped at her, making passers-by glance their way, listening in.

"Was an accident," was all Lucy Gray said, and she didn't seem very apologetic.

Mayfair scoffed. "'Course it was. A lot of things with you seem to be, don't they?"

Lucy Gray rolled her eyes as Tam Amber tugged her away, the two girls going their separate ways. Y/BF/N, who had stopped talking to observe the argument with everyone else, tried to stifle her laughter.

"Wow, their hatred for each other does not seem to be going away, does it?" she commented to me.

"Do you know why they don't like each other?" I asked, curious.

Y/BF/N shrugged, closing her locker. "Mayfair's jealous, I think. Dunno why, since she's literally the mayor's daughter and the Covey are just a bunch of weirdos singing for their supper."

"They aren't weird," I corrected her as we walked outside. "They're talented. A little different, is all."

"Same thing," Y/BF/N mumbled. "Don't go saying that to your dad. You know how he feels about them."

I tried not to laugh. "He feels like that about anything fun."

Y/BF/N cracked a smile, before chuckling. "Very true."

My father was the head peacekeeper of our district, a very strict man who was a little too overprotective for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the hard work he put in which meant I could live in the nice part of town and never struggle to have a meal on the table. That was something not everyone in District 12 could count on. But it also meant he hated anything that wasn't to his standard.

He had high hopes for me, hoping I'd land a rare but possible job in the Justice Building when I finished school. It wasn't too far fetched considering I was a straight A student. But he also thought I was a goody two shoes who followed the rules – oh, how that couldn't have been far from the truth. If he ever found out how I snuck out at night to visit the Hob and flirt with most of his unit, I was certain he'd have a heart attack.

Being the head peacekeeper's daughter meant that it was out of my hands when he had to attend something important and I, too, had to be present. For example, today was Mayfair's birthday and the mayor had thrown a formal affair in her honour, of which my family had been invited to.

I tolerated Mayfair, but despite our similar stance in society, we didn't share anything else in common. She was too snarky and easily irritated and always killed the mood, so I remained polite with her and that was it. Her party was as boring as she was, full of the mayor's friends, the odd Capitol resident from her dad's circle, and their kids whom I wasn't sure Mayfair even spoke to. If she had any real friends, they weren't here.

Her home was pretty big, for a District 12 house anyway, which made sense since the mayor was the richest in the district, though poor by any other Panem standard. I kept to myself during her celebrations, occasionally chatting with my mum and her friends or picking at the snacks table. That was until a special performance, dedicated solely to Mayfair from her father himself, was announced. An amused grin fell on my lips when I saw who it was.

The Covey.

"Ladies an' gentlemen, how are we feelin' this afternoon?!" Lucy Gray said into her mic at the front of the space cleared in the huge dining room.

Everybody began to clap as I saw the mayor tugging his daughter to the left of the makeshift stage. To say she was angry was an understatement. But if Lucy Gray had any qualms with the arrangement, she didn't let it show.

"This one's for the birthday girl," Lucy Gray continued, smiling widely at the glaring girl in question. "Happy birthday, dear Mayfair."

After the count of three, the Covey were plucking their strings, banging their drums and joining together in a melodious rendition of 'Happy Birthday', and I tried very hard not to laugh as Mayfair was forced to endure it all. To be fair, the Covey were great, and when they performed several songs after that, half the party were cheering them on, either drunk or genuinely amazed by their talent.

Once they'd finished performing for a moment and took a break, Mayfair stormed off with her father in tow, who was attempting not to draw attention to the mishap with his party guests. Again, I couldn't help but stifle my laughter at the turn of events.

Lucy Gray caught my eyes again though, as she was approaching the snacks table I was sat at the edge of, in search of something.

"You guys performed great out there," I said to her when she was close enough, and she glanced up at me, before recognition flashed across her face and she began to smile.

"Why thank you."

"Bet you loved the gig," I said lightheartedly, and it took her a moment to realise what I was implying when she began to laugh.

"It wasn't ideal," she said in a low yet amused voice, "but a job's a job. And technically Mayfair's daddy hired us, not her."

I chuckled to myself. "Hey, it was pretty funny to witness. I'm not complaining."

She shot me a disapproving look as she tossed a grape into her mouth, but a playful smile was breaking out on her lips.

"I didn't know you and Mayfair were so close," she said with intrigue, flipping the conversation to me.

"We're not," I corrected. "Kind of a package deal when my dad's invited to these things. But your performance certainly made this whole thing worth it."

She began to smile, cheeks turning pink slightly. "You've seen our performances enough times now. You ain't sick of me yet?"

I gasped sarcastically. "Lucy Gray, I could never be sick of you. What nonsense are you talkin' about?"

Her smile widened with amusement, before her eyes flickered behind me. "Your daddy's coming. I should go. Wouldn't want him to find out about your sneakin' out and blame it on me."

"As far as he knows, you're a stranger," I played along with a teasing wink, before straightening up and turning around to face my dad.

I heard Lucy Gray walking away behind me just in time for my dad to smile down at me.

"Y/N, how are you enjoying the party?" he asked.

I smiled innocently. "It's great, dad, thanks for bringing me."

He nodded. "Good, I'm glad."

I glanced over my shoulder as he began to talk about what the mayor was saying to him earlier, searching for the Covey girl. Then I spotted her, talking to her family across the room and also shooting me a glance, her cheeky smile on her lips, mirroring mine.

A little flirting didn't hurt anybody, right?

With my father's job came many responsibilities that meant he had a lot of late nights at their base camp, including the weekend when I sneaked out the house to meet Y/BF/N at the Hob and have some fun. It was difficult at first, making sure I timed it right so my mum would be asleep when I left and also generally sneaking downstairs and out the back door. But the more I did it, the easier it became, and soon enough it was second nature.

By the time I reached the Hob tonight, everything was in full swing. The Covey were performing as usual and everybody was up and dancing. I found Y/BF/N at a table, flirting with some boys from our grade. It didn't take long for me to join them, and between the two of us, we landed free drinks just because we played our cards right.

It was so freeing at the Hob, not having to worry about my dad breathing down my neck or about being such a goody two shoes in his eyes. No, here I could do whatever I wanted. The night was always young and nobody could stop me from having fun.

I found myself dancing around with a peacekeeper, Terrence, who had finished his shift for the day and always happened to be around when I did. He'd been flirting for a while and it was easy to play along, have a little fun.

"It's too bad I can't be lookin' for a wife," he said with a boyish grin as he spun me around. "You'd be my first choice."

I tried not to laugh as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Yeah, that's too bad for you."

"Your dad would kill me if he knew what I was doing," he said, leaning in close for a kiss.

But I tilted his head and pressed one to his cheek instead, before saying in his ear, "Good thing he won't ever find out, right?"

He snorted. "Right."

I smiled contently, before letting him spin me around some more. It was always so easy to do what I wanted here without the fear of it getting back to my father because either everyone was scared of him and what power he held, or they knew it was my word against theirs and my father would never believe them. Besides, I was doing no harm. Some people just wanted a dance and a little flirting, which was exactly what I gave them. What was the big deal?

After finishing my dance with Terrence, I joined Y/BF/N's side again, grabbing her hands and pulling her onto the dancefloor for one final dance for the evening. She laughed, letting me, and we began to chat as we swung about gently.

"How was your dance with Terrence?" she asked with amusement. "You still leadin' the poor boy on?"

"It's not leading him on if he knows it's just a dance," I reminded her. "Besides, it can never happen. He's in my dad's unit. And I don't even like him like that."

"You just flirt with him for fun," she said sarcastically, but I grinned anyway.

"Duh."

Laughing again, she let me spin her around, and then my eyes found sight of Lucy Gray beside the stage. She was talking to her boyfriend, Billy Taupe, the two of them looking awfully cosy with one another. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing it was just an irrational jealousy, nothing more. I'd never even hinted that I'd liked her, and she'd been taken for a while now, but it was easy to wonder what if.

"You're staring," Y/BF/N noticed, before following my gaze. "Ooh, Y/N, you've gotta let that one go. She's trouble, I heard."

"I didn't even say anything," I defended myself.

"You don't need to," she said knowingly. "Your face says it all. And I'm warning you now. It's not worth it."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly. "Yeah, yeah, just keep dancing, idiot."

She stifled a chuckle and we got back to it, but not without me stealing one last lingering glance at Lucy Gray.

Of course, after that evening, news of her and Billy Taupe travelled all around school. Rumour had it that he'd cheated on her with Mayfair and, as a result, they'd broken up. Of course it was horrible to hear, but admittedly, the first thing I wondered was did I finally have a chance?

Almost two weeks after hearing the news of Lucy Gray's breakup, I was at the Hob again. I'd been watching the Covey perform all evening, though this time without Billy Taupe who was permanently out of the band it seemed. I'd been waiting for Lucy Gray to be free so I could attempt to make a move.

And after what felt like forever, she finally took to the bar to have some water, and I sucked up a breath before approaching her with a skip in my step.

"Lucy Gray," I started with a smile, earning her attention. "You okay?"

She took a sip before nodding at me. "Yeah, just havin' a break."

"Just a break from singing, right?" I asked, making her quirk a brow. I continued, "Because I'd love to ask you to dance."

A smile grew on her lips, matching the sparkle in her eyes. "I've seen you around, Y/L/N. You probably ask everyone that, don't you?"

I resisted the urge to laugh. "Without sounding big headed, they ask me. So, no, not everyone. Just you. I'd like to dance with you, if you'll have me."

She pursed her lips, eyes flickering between mine considerately and in a way that purposely left me waiting, hoping she'd say yes. Finally, she sighed lightheartedly. "Well, I suppose if you'd like it, who am I to decline?"

My smile widened as I put out my hand and she gladly accepted. The rest of the Covey were playing a song slow enough to have us swaying to the melody, joining the other dancers on the floor.

"You're pretty good at this," Lucy Gray mumbled with amusement, hands wrapped around my shoulders and her head looking over it so I couldn't see her expression.

"Can't be stepping on your toes now, can I?" I said quietly, as to not interrupt the momentary peace that had washed over the Hob. "What sort of impression would that make?"

She snickered. "And why would you be tryin' to make any impression, darlin'? It's just a dance, ain't it?"

A smile crept on my lips. "That it is. But you never know."

She pulled back for a moment, honey-coloured eyes glancing between mine as if trying to decipher my words. I thought I was pretty straightforward, but she clearly didn't agree. Finally, her smile mirrored mine and she leaned her head on my shoulder as we swayed to the song.

It was only a few minutes long, of which, despite my apparent calmness, I was a little nervous to be dancing with such a beautiful girl. I hoped she couldn't feel my heart racing between us. It certainly didn't help when she began to hum lowly, clearly knowing the words to Maude Ivory's ballad, and the deep reverberation of her humming echoed in my ear.

When the song came to an end, everybody parted and applauded the band for their song. Meanwhile, Lucy Gray pulled apart, hands moving from my shoulders and to my hands, squeezing them gently.

"Thanks for the dance," I said to her with a suppressed smile.

"Thanks for askin'," she replied.

My smile was permanently fixed on my face as I watched her walk away, back to the stage for her next number. It wasn't until Y/BF/N appeared out of nowhere, patting me on the back, that I was pulled from my Lucy Gray-induced stupor.

"Someone's crushing," she teased, and I simply ignored her as I glanced back at the brunette onstage.

I was lucky she was giving me a chance at all.

After that initial dance, it became almost tradition to dance with her every time I could, and she always accepted, for some reason giving me the time of day. Visiting the Hob had a new, exciting meaning now, and not just to have some fun fooling around.

Getting to know her more, hearing her talk about her love of performing or something that happened to her that day, meant we were growing closer. Not quite friends, but not anything less either. We'd see each other around school and greet each other, or she'd walk past me in the markets and flash me a smile. Y/BF/N thought I was insane to like her, but I couldn't help it.

A few weeks after that initial dance, she was rambling about some frustrating things before her show, including her shoes not tying quite right, or the step on the stage being a little dodgy and making everyone trip up. One of her complaints was about her red lipstick, which had officially ran out and was her favourite one to wear for performing. Lipstick and makeup in general were rare finds, and she must have searched around a lot to get it, but now she couldn't replace it, not for a while anyway, and it was upsetting her more than she let on.

I couldn't help it, of course. I had to rectify the issue. So, I found a way to trade some meaningless things at the markets in exchange for a red lipstick, one that looked fresh from the Capitol and that I knew Lucy Gray would love. Later that evening, after sneaking out of my house, I headed straight for the garage behind the Hob that the Covey had claimed, where they prepared for their shows.

When I entered, everybody was doing different things, from tuning their instruments to fixing their hair.

"Lucy Gray, Y/N's here!" someone shouted in a teasing voice, and I didn't get chance to see who as Lucy Gray suddenly appeared, stealing my attention.

"Hey, darlin', what're you doing here?" she asked with a bright smile, looking as beautiful as ever.

"Just wanted to wish you luck," I told her, returning her smile. "And of course, bring you a little something."

Her dark brows knitted together above confused eyes, and I took the lipstick from my jacket pocket before holding it out to her.

"You were saying how you felt weird performing without it," I explained as she curiously took it to inspect it, "so I got you another one. Can't have the iconic Lucy Gray without her iconic red lipstick, can we?"

An amazed smile grew on her lips as she looked at the colour, and I couldn't stop looking at her.

"Y/N, this... how did you get this?" she asked with a laugh, meeting my gaze.

I shrugged, and she rolled her eyes before hugging me.

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully, pulling back to grin at me. "I... I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything, just wear it," I said.

She laughed again before going up to the mirror hung on the wall, applying the lipstick as she always did before every show. And when she turned around, I knew I'd made the right choice. As always, she stole my breath away.

"You look beautiful," I told her truthfully. "But you always do."

The pink tingeing her cheeks was contrasted to the deep red of her lips, but she remained confident as she stepped towards me knowingly.

"There's only one way to truly test it," she said, and I didn't get chance to ask what she meant before she pressed a slow but firm kiss on my cheek.

I was dumbstruck, not expecting that at all, and she pulled back with a satisfied smile. Her hand ghosted my cheek, thumb rubbing gently on the inevitable lipstick stain on my face.

"I'll see you out there," she said, dropping her hand but not her smile. "Thanks again, Y/N."

Still reeling at the sensation of her lips on my cheek, I couldn't find the words to reply. She laughed before returning to the Covey, and somehow I found myself walking to the Hob to sit with Y/BF/N. As soon as she spotted the lipstick on my cheek, the laughing and teasing began, but it didn't mean much when Lucy Gray walked out onstage, her matching red-painted lips curved into a grin.

It was easy to fall quicker and harder for Lucy Gray after that, so much in fact that the only thing I wanted to do was kiss her for real.

No matter how much time we spent together, the shameless flirting and banter wasn't enough. I didn't want to be platonic, I wanted more, and I was sure she might have wanted it too.

One evening at the Hob, we were both sat at the bar chatting. Well, she was chatting and I was very much distracted by the sharp curve of her jaw and the curly ringlets of hair that kept spilling into her eyes and the way her mouth moved with each word she spoke and–

"You're not listenin', are you?" she asked lightheartedly, humoured smirk on her lips, matching the quirk of her brow.

That seemed to be the final straw for me, and I couldn't help but lean in, kissing her. Only as I did it did I realise the insanity of my actions, the carelessness, and I pulled away just as quickly. Before I could even scold myself for acting so recklessly, endless apologies on the tip of my tongue, something caught my eye from behind her.

My eyes widened when I recognised the person who had just walked into the Hob. It was my father, the head peacekeeper who hated coming in here because he believed it was a distraction and a bad influence. He was here, and he'd just walked in with some of his peacekeeper friends.

And I was sat in here, a little too close to a girl he also deemed a bad influence. Oh, shit.

"My dad," was all I could get out, before I forgot everything that had happened with Lucy Gray and immediately threw myself over the bar, hiding behind it.

"What are you doin'?!" Lucy Gray leaned over, looking down at me with a puzzled expression.

I couldn't have hunkered down anymore if I tried. "Dad. Doorway. Now!" I whisper-shouted, as if he'd suddenly hear me from all the way across the room.

She must have looked and recognised him as her shadow disappeared and she was no longer trying to talk to me. As I formulated a plan to escape, hoping the full house and loud music would be the perfect distraction, I heard a familiar voice nearing.

"Commander Y/L/N!" Lucy Gray exclaimed loudly, and my heart sank at the possibility of getting caught. "Hi!"

He hesitated, before responding, quite literally just above me. "Lucy Gray, right? The Covey. You performed at Mayfair's birthday a couple of months ago."

I could practically picture the grin on her face as she answered enthusiastically, "The one an' only!"

Sounding a little more laid back than usual, he said, "It was an excellent performance."

"Why, thank you, sir," she replied kindly.

It was quiet between them for a moment, as he ordered a drink with the bartender who thankfully seemed to understand why I was hiding right next to his feet, but he mustn't have left afterwards, as Lucy Gray spoke up.

"Oh, they'll bring your drinks to your table, sir."

"It's fine, I'll wait," he said dismissively, and Lucy Gray merely hummed in response, but I didn't hear her leave.

My heart was racing as I didn't dare move a muscle. My father was stood right next to me, only a bar between us, and I was sure he'd kill me if he knew I was here. Why the hell was he even here?! This was so unlike him!

But no, I couldn't think about that right now. I could only focus on leaving before he discovered my presence.

"So, are you performing here?" my dad asked Lucy Gray in an awkward attempt at filling the silence. He was never good at small talk.

"Uh-huh," she responded just as awkwardly, and I appreciated that, despite my previous mistake with her, she was still willing to keep my secret.

"Nice," was all he said. "I look forward to it. The officers say you're really good."

She didn't reply, must have smiled or nodded or something, because the conversation ended and I was back to hearing the blood rushing in my ears.

After what felt like forever, I heard the bartender serve my dad his drink, and then the latter wished Lucy Gray a good evening before leaving. I didn't dare move, not until I was certain, but Lucy Gray banged the top of the bar to get my attention.

"He's on the other side talking to some officers," she assured me.

"I need to leave out the back," I said, not showing my head just yet. "He'll kill me."

"Okay, just wait," she instructed, and I did just that until I realised she had rounded the bar and was holding her hand out to me. "Come on."

Accepting her hand, I let her keep a look out before she dragged me through the back and out the door, away from my father's prying eyes.

A sigh of relief escaped me as I was in the clear, and Lucy Gray was laughing at my expense.

"That was close," she said between laughter, glancing back as the door closed behind us.

Straightening up, I nodded in agreement. "It was. Thanks for the assist."

She settled on an amused smile before her eyes met mine and her expression softened. "You know, you were in the middle of somethin' back there."

And just like that, the mortifying realisation of kissing her returned to memory, and I was instantly about to apologise.

"Yeah, I–"

She cut me off with a kiss, just as abrupt as mine, but unlike me, she didn't pull away, and I was left to melt into her lips, savouring the warmth of her skin pressed to mine. Her hand cupped my cheek, fingertips pressing down gently, and I sighed into her lips as she began to pull away for air.

"That was... unexpected," I muttered, lips still tingling.

She tried not to laugh. "As unexpected as you kissin' me before?"

I exhaled, slightly embarassed, and she licked her lips before taking my hand and squeezing it gently.

"You should probably head home before your daddy finds you out here," she said, a hint of humour in her voice.

"Home, right," I agreed, before meeting her eyes. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

She grinned. "See you then."

I smiled softly before kissing her hand and leaving. It was safe to say I couldn't sleep the rest of the night, my only thoughts of the curly-haired Covey girl who'd stolen my heart.

#the hunger games imagine #the ballad of songbirds and snakes imagine #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #lucy gray baird imagine #lucy gray x reader #lucy gray baird x reader #lucy gray baird #rachel zegler

224 notes · View notes

writingmuses · 1 year

Text

Love Potion

Request: Based on a request for an IC x Reader, either a sex pollen fic or a magic potion fic (I may or may not do a sex pollen fic in the future 👀)

Elain x Reader, Nessian X Reader, Azriel x Reader, some mentions of Lucien X Reader (maybe I’ll do a prequel?) → a little bit for everyone.

Warnings: SMUT, 18+, minors do not engage. Self-pleasure, fingering, grinding, breast play, p in v, biting, mentions of being under the influence. 100% consensual. ANGST.

Use of she/her for the reader. The reader is Rhy’s sister.

Literal Porn with plot for the sake of porn but there is a lot of potential angst to turn this into an actual fic if anyone's interested by the end (so much drama to unpack).

Synopsis: Reader accidentally drinks a love potion. As desire courses through Y/Ns veins, and her inhibitions lower, she encounters the different members of the Inner Court.

Word count: 15.7K (WHOOPS)

-MOR-

“What is it?” Mor asks, gently tapping on the side of the glass pitcher. She brings her hands to her knees and lowers herself down to eye level with the fluid inside. She watches the plum-coloured liquid swirl within the glass, glimmering with tiny flecks of gold, dancing around one another to music that does not exist, suspended in infinite motion.

She must admit that it is beautiful. That, however, just makes her all the more suspicious. Mor blows an annoying stray curl out of her face and swivels to meet her cousin’s eyes. Rhysand’s violet gaze is clouded and dark, full of irritation. That means, Mor notes, that her dearest cousin is already aware of what’s inside the pitcher that has been gifted to her High Lady.

“Yes, Lucien, do indulge my cousin and tell everyone about the swill you have brought into my home," Rhys voice clips. Lucien had arrived at the River House mere minutes ago, holding a large oak tray. On that tray sat the pitcher containing the mystery liquid, one ridiculously bejewelled challis, a single red rose, and, a note addressed to the High Lady:

Dearest Feyre,

I hope you are well and safe.

I apologize for my dismissal of your title as High Lady earlier this year. You are more worthy than any other female I have come across in my many centuries.

I understand now that you would make a wondrous High Lady in any court.

I am sending this note with Lucien along with my finest tea as a token of peace and as a toast to you in your new role. I would love for you to sample the wine and write me back letting me know how it made you feel.

Please do not tell Rhysand of my gift to you, for I fear he would not understand this gesture between friends.

I count the seconds to your reply.

All my love,

Tamlin

Lucien is quite pale. His normally bronzed skin looks ashy and his eyes are sullen. “Rhys… I-I know what you must be thinking.” The male clears his throat, worrying his bottom lip,“I’m sure he just wasn’t in his right mind - or maybe he didn’t know the properties of the liquid. Tam-”

Darkness begins to creep out from behind Rhys, his face stony.“Do not mention that name in my house right now, Lucien. I have half a mind to winnow over to Spring and gut the coward where he stands.” Rhys holds the note in his hands and quickly crumples it into a tight ball. “Do not make excuses for that vile creature.” His eyes burn with fury as he sends the balled up note careening through the air, and right into the roaring fireplace.

Almost all of the inner court was gathered around the two males, standing tense and mystified at this interaction. Everyone is dressed in fine clothes and gathered at the River house for family dinner. “I’m confused,” Mor queries again, “Rhys, please tell us what is happening?”

Feyre approaches her mate, resting a gentle hand on his bicep. He turns to look at her. Their eyes locked in a way only a pair of mates could. The two converse internally, and after a moment, Feyre gasps aloud. “A love potion? Rhys, truly?”

“What the fuck?” Cassian chimes in, brows furrowed, attention turning to the ginger male. “Why the fuck would you bring this to us,” Cassian takes a lumbering step towards Lucien. Mor takes a step forward as well, gripping the General's arm, not in the mood to have dinner ruined just yet. “Were you in on it?” Cassian barks to the son of Autumn.

“Cauldron no!” Lucien slinks back a step, eyes glued to his worn leather boots, trying to dissipate some of the tension in the room. “I brought it here to show you that Tamlin is desperate - and not above resorting to such vile means.” He clears his throat and looks up to Feyre, a small, apologetic smile on his lips. “I brought this here to warn you that Tamlin will likely try again and that you need to be on your guard.”

It is Mor now, who takes another step forward, rage simmering beneath her skin. “Likely story you prick. I’ll-” she starts, but she is cut off by a hand on her shoulder. The High Lady had made her way over to Mor, now gripping her shoulder with a delicate hand.

“He’s telling the truth,” Feyre concludes. She eyes Rhys, another one of their private discussions taking place within the confines of their own minds. “Lucien showed us.”

“Feyre darling is correct," Rhys sighs, "Our dear friend Lucien here, while foolish - meant well.” the anger in his eyes disperses as Rhys nods a brief thanks to the ginger fae. “Besides,” he ponders, “ this love potion would have no ill effect on our dear High Lady.”

“Now how’d you figure that Rhys?” Mor raises a brow at her cousin.

“Because the High Dunce of Spring still believes I have Feyre under my evil spell.” Rhys wiggles his fingers at his mate, dry humour dancing in his eyes. “You see, the particular love potion good ol Tam picked out is called Affectus Revelare, also known as Feelings Revealed." Rhys gestures at the pitcher. "The potion itself is quite rare and rather ancient even by fae standards, which is why I'm not surprised none of you recognized it. Even you Az.” Rhys nods to the shadow singer in the corner. Azriel, who prides himself on his diverse knowledge of poisons, spells and potions, nods in thanks, upset with himself for not having been able to place the potion immediately.

“I think I've heard of it,” Mor muses, all eyes on her now. “It works to remove inhibition. To allow those who drink it to reveal their true feelings? It is strong, and able to cut through most other potions or spells. Which is probably why Tamlin selected it." Her cousin nods in agreement. She continues, "However, to my knowledge, it went out of favour a long time ago because of the side effects.” She turns back to her cousin and he nods in agreement.

“What side effects?” Cassian asks.

“Think of it as a magic truth serum. However, this truth serum removes any suppression of morals and makes its drinker uncontrollably horny.” Rhys says in a strained voice. “Unstoppably so. The only way to get the urges to dissipate is to have a way with the object of the drinker’s strongest affections.”

The jaws around the room hang low. Cassian lets out a startled cough. Azriel is the first to recover from the uncomfortable silence, his shadows flying around his head as he quickly mutters to them. Some of his shadows disappear into thin air, Mor assumes they are presumably off to keep further tabs on the High Lord of Spring.

“So Tamlin thought what? That I would drink this so-called love potion, break the “evil curse” you’ve trapped me under, again, and then come running back into his arms?” Feyre was full-on laughing now and it was contagious. She wiped her eyes as tears formed as she fought to control her deep belly laugh.

“And right into his bed.”

Rhys slings an arm around Feyre’s shoulder and starts to turn her away from Tamlin’s ‘gift’. He kissed the top of her head, a signature smirk returning to his face. His eyes were clear and bright once again. “All that potion would have done is make you find me even more irresistible than I already am," he coos.

“I don’t know how that could be possible.”

“Oh Feyre darling, please, we have company.” Rhys groans and nuzzles deeply into his High Lady’s neck, laying kiss after kiss along her pulse point. He pulls his lips from her neck with great effort, and only after poor innocent Elain clears her throat uncomfortably. “Let’s bring this up to the House of Wind for now, we can further investigate the source of this potion tomorrow. I would be very interested to find out where Tamlin was able to source such a thing.” He nods to Cassian who scoops up the tray and heads towards the door. “Everyone meet back here for dinner in 10.”

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

-CASSIAN-

“I’ll drop this off, I need to pick up Nes anyways. I’ll be right back.” Cassian walks out the door and spreads his wings wide. With powerful strokes, he is up and into the air. In a few short minutes, he touches down on the stone balcony of the House of Wind. Not a single drop of the potion has spilled, and he smiles triumphantly. Nesta sits at the table, a smutty romance novel gripped in her hands. She looks up at him with a smile but worry quickly crosses her face and her eyes drift to the tray in his hands.

“Don’t worry Nes,” he reassures her. “I didn’t get you anything. This was a gift for your sister, I wouldn’t dream of such a sweeping gesture. I know that you much prefers other methods of celebration,” Cassian says with a wink.

“Who’s it from?” Nesta closes her book, and rises from the table.

“From Tamlin, of all males.” He sets the tray down on the tabletop, the bejewelled challis rattling against the pitcher at the sudden movements.

“A gift? From Tamlin?”

“It’s a long story. Let’s head down to dinner, I’ll tell you on the way.” With that, Cassian scoops his beautiful mate into his arms. Her arms lock around his neck as he shoots off into the sky and back towards the River House. The love potion left on the table to be dealt with tomorrow.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Y/N-

You winnow out of the sky a number of feet above the House of Wind and begin to make the unceremonious crash down to the balcony. You quickly generate a tiny cloud of sparkling night with a single thought to slow your descent.

I am so running late.

You had been away in the Summer Court for three weeks visiting your dear friend, Tarquin. The High Lord of Summer and you had bonded over your shared love of the ocean, gossip and fruity drinks many decades ago. He now invited you every couple of months for a visit to his vacation villa, where you would swim, eat and share the juiciest, most jaw-dropping tidbits from your respective courts. You are the only one of the inner circle ever to be invited. This, of course, made Cassian infinitely jealous.

You loved your visits with the High Lord of Summer. The weight on your shoulders would slip away, even if it was just for a few days and you would both be free of responsibilities. However, this visit had been mostly diplomatic and unfortunately, you had found yourself roped into weeks of dinners and meetings. Working on updating trade agreements between the courts, while important, had been dreadfully boring. So much so that as you had left, Tarquin made the promise that this trip didn’t count and that you would meet up again in two months' time for a redo.

You feel dead tired. What you truly need is a hot bath and good long sleep. But tonight is family dinner and you are excited to see everyone. No work talk, that would wait until tomorrow, but it was rare to have a moment where we were all together, wine flowing and laughs ringing through the River House. You wouldn’t miss it for the world.

You pass into the dining room and drop your large satchel on the table beside one of Nesta's books. Beside her book, sat a pitcher of tea you assumed Nesta had made for herself during her afternoon reading session. You giggle at the rose laid out next to it. Nesta truly was a romantic at heart. You scoop it up and admired the luscious red of the petals. It was just like Nes to indulge herself in the finer things, especially amidst one of her reading frenzies.

You twirled the delicate blossom in your hand and inhale the scent deeply, when suddenly you hiccup in pain. Looking down at your hand you realize one of the thorns had sliced your finger. You quickly drop the flower and bring your finger to your mouth, sucking the coppery drops of blood. The cut is shallow and heals instantly, the tiny pink scar disappearing right under your gaze. With the flower now forgotten, you turn your attention to the tea.

You quickly scan the room, as if Nesta would appear out of thin air at any moment and berate you for taking what wasn’t yours. The thought made you let out a nervous chuckle. If Nes is putting out fancy flowers with her drink, then the tea she selected must be simply divine.

Don’t mind if I do!

You grasp the gaudy bejewelled challis in one hand and picked up the crystal pitcher with the other. You pour yourself a large cup. As the liquid pours from one vessel to another, you can’t help but admire the way it sparkles and shimmers, almost like stardust suspended in liquid - not unlike your own magic.

With a little cheers in the air, you take your first taste.

A low moan erupts from the back of your throat. Never have you tasted anything so divine. Hints of rose and lavender, honeysuckle and almond, rose and hibiscus. But also something deeper, and tangier, a musk of dark earth and fresh rain. It tasted of desire and warmth, of friction and longing. The flavour overwhelms your senses, and becomes all-encompassing.

You take a second small sip. Another groan involuntarily passes your lips.

Then a third and fourth sip, both larger, more eager.

You take a fifth, and down the rest of your cup.

Now, in a frenzy, you refill the challis and drain it all in one gulp.

Again. And again. And again. It is as if you are in a trance, unable to stop yourself, needing to feel the sweet nectar pass your lips, and slide down your throat. The mesmerising liquid burns deliciously as you drink and drink and drink until the pitcher is empty.

As quickly as it had begun, it was over. With the pitcher empty, your desire to consume was gone. Your hands shake as you place the challis and pitcher back onto the tray. Your memories of what has just transpired are hazy. In one breath all memory of drinking the tea was gone. In the next breath, you remember it is family dinner. You quickly grab your bag and shuffle up to your room. Throwing the bag into the corner, you turn to the mirror to address your appearance. The dress you don is a light sea foam green, a slit running all the way up to your hip bone, and a low V neckline descending down almost to your navel. As it was currently winter in Velaris, you would need to change into some warmer clothes. As you reach around to unclasp your dress, you are suddenly hit with an intense feeling of warmth. Your face flushes and in the mirror you see sweat form at your temples. It lasts only for a second before your temperature begins to regulates, but it was enough to convince you to stay in the cooler summer garment. I must just be tired.

You head back out to the balcony ready to go meet your family. You leap off the ledge and as you enter a free fall, you sigh in relief, letting the chilled air cool you down as you let out a blissful sigh. You catch yourself on a cloud of starlight, pulling out of your free fall and making your way towards the River House.

You land just outside the border of the River House. As you pass through the boundary and up the front steps you are hit again with another wave of heat. This time it is stronger. You brace yourself on the handrail. Did I spend too much time in the sun? you pondered, thinking back on your time in the Summer Court. You had not spent more time than usual.

I must just be overtired from my long trip. Right as you reach this conclusion, the heat rapidly dissipates, returning your body to normal once again.

There was no further time for contemplation as the front door swung open and Cassian comes into view. "Oh, mighty adventurer,” he mocks with a salute, “welcome home!” He bellows loudly. You jump up the last two steps and he immediately pulls you in for a deep hug. Your face buries into the side of his neck. You had missed him dearly while you were away, but of course, you would never tell him that.

But, what starts as a friendly welcome home, quickly changes course.

Suddenly, the smell of sandalwood and crackling embers surrounds you, invading all of your senses. This was Cassian’s scent, something you smelt daily for 400 years, and have never thought twice about. But now all of a sudden, he is the only thing you want to smell. You huff in his scent and feel your body warm and tingle. What the hell? you cry internally. You know you should pull away. But instead, you have the irresistible urge to lick the thick, long column of his neck, and you nearly do. That’s not the only thing that’s long and thick I want to be licking, you muse, and your core throbs. You have no idea what is happening. Cassian, Cassian, Cassian your mind repeats over and over. Lick him, bite him, claim him. You bite your lips, teeth surely drawing blood. Anything to keep your mouth from latching onto him. You need him. You take a shuddering breath, his scent dancing in your lungs as you-

You’re pulled out of your twisted mind as Cassian adds, “Now, get the fuck inside before you catch your death.”

You quickly pull away from the General and look down. You had forgotten that you were still in your summer attire. An outfit that while gorgeous was not equipped to handle the Velaris winter you were currently experiencing. You risk a glance back up to Cassian, he smiles gesturing inside the house. Luckily he didn’t seem to notice the massive loss of judgement you had just experienced. You do not have feelings for Cassian. That much you know to be true, at least not anymore. Right? You reassure yourself once again that you must just be tired, that your brain was playing tricks.

You shake your head to clear your thoughts as you step through the door. You failed to notice how Cassian’s nose flared as you passed him.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone greats you as you enter the dining room. Luckily, your head seems to remain on straight, as no further desire of Cassian clouds your brain. Your brother and his wife offer you both a quick hug, with the promise to debrief tomorrow, you all take your seat at the dinner table. You have strategically placed yourself as far from Cassian as possible, sandwiched in between Feyre and Mor. You hear the chair across from you slide out and you look up to meet the shadowsinger’s eyes as he slips into the chair. You had not seen him when you arrived. But now you see him - more clearly than ever before.

He offers you a small smile. “How was your visit to Summer, Y/N?”

You don’t hear his question. You are too busy staring at his mouth. Plump lips, tinged slightly red from the cup of wine he’s been sipping out of. His tongue darts out, coating his lips in a glossy sheen. You wonder how those lips would feel against yours… against your breasts… against your core. You blink slowly, noticing his lips are still moving. Oh, the things those lips could do. Suddenly, you feel a hand squeeze your elbow. You yelp and turn to see Feyre grasping your arm.

“Are you alright Y/N?” She frowns softly, concern dancing in her eyes.

“P-perfectly” You mutter, blinking rapidly, looking anywhere but towards the shadowsinger.

“Are you sure? Azriel’s been trying to talk to you for a good minute.”

“J-just tired.” You assure them. “Think I spent too much time in the sun.” You raise your shoulders in a shrug, mumbling.

“I’m relieved to hear you’re not intentionally ignoring me,” Azriel quips trying to meet your eye once again.

“Never.” You say, still not meeting his eye, picking up your wine glass and drinking deeply. “Never.”

And it’s true. Normally, you would never ignore the shadowsinger. You had known him for over 400 years and loved him for 200. Being 80 years younger than your brother Rhys meant that you had grown up with the three of them as your primary moral figures. Rhys was your brother who acted like a father, Cassian your best friend, and Azriel your fiercest protector. And you loved them all for 200 years until something began to change. You had developed a crush on Cassian from an early age. With his broad and muscular chest, and his lushes locks, he sure knew how to make a female swoon. But he was your best friend, and that came first. Your bond with Azriel, now that was even more complicated. He had an uncanny way of being able to see you, to truly see all of you. You loved him as something more, something different than the infatuation you felt with Cass. You yearned for Azriel, and for a time you thought that maybe he desired you too.

But nothing ever came of it. Maybe it was because he had watched you grow up? Or perhaps it was because you were Rhy’s little sister? You didn’t know. But you’ve been a grown female for four mortal life cycles, and both of those excuses didn’t hold any water as far as you were concerned.

After 150 years of you pining away while he pined away for your cousin, you finally thought he was seeing you as you are, the female who could obliterate enemies with a thought, the female who held the court together while Rhys was under the mountain, the female who was not just her brother’s little sister, but an equal.

Then the Archerons arrived.

And you loved them all dearly. Feyre making your brother’s heart sing, Nesta having Cassian wrapped around her little finger, and Elain. Elain, who was a gentle breeze on a warm night. A breath of fresh air amidst the fog. Elain. Who was gorgeous and talented and funny. And while you may have thought those things, so did Azriel. You could only assume as he never did confide in you, but his glances lingered. Yours lingered as well, but more so in appreciation, in lust. Not in love as you suspected the shadowsinger’s did.

And there she was now, sitting beside Azriel, looking perfect as always. Hair smooth and glossy. Eyes big and bright, the richest, most delicious shade of brown you had ever seen. A long slender neck and cleavage that heaved tight against her bodice with each breath, as if her milky flesh was a moment away from bursting-

The sound of breaking glass yanked you out of your lustful thoughts. You looked around for the source of the noise before you realize that it was you. Your wine glass once, in your hand was now in 100 pieces on the floor beside you, a small puddle of red wine at your feet.

“Y/N/N are you alright?” Rhys had made his way towards you in the blink of an eye. He snapped his fingers and the glass, and the puddle of red disappeared. He leaned down to your height, pressing his palm to your forehead. “I think you might have a slight fever.”

“I’m so sorry about the mess, I don’t know where my mind went!” Yes, you do. “ I think I must just be overtired.” You offer a tight smile. “Too much sun.” you offer as an excuse. Yes, too much sun and now you’re a delirious fool.

Rhys only nods fondly, “Maybe you should head to bed kiddo.” You’re so eager to get out of there that you don’t even snark back about him calling you a kid.

“Good idea.” You raise from your chair, and you feel the arousal that had been unknowingly collecting at your core, begin to coat your thighs. You had to get out of there before you were scented. Family dinner nights meant everyone was staying at the River House. Luckily for you, that meant you didn’t have far to go. You turn and hightail it out of there, not noticing how the shadowsinger across from you holds his breath as you scurry away.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once you are up the stairs and out of sight, you kick off your shoes and run. You run down the hallway and around the corner to your chambers. You swing open the door and slam it shut behind you. Leaning against the wooden door, you take a shuddering breath. What is wrong with me?

You were no stranger to love and lust. But you had never had quite such a visceral reaction. For so many different fae. At the same time. You are hot all over now and it is as if there is fire in your veins. Your breath is shaky. You need to get a grip. Blinking hard, you make your way to the washroom, and fill the tub with icy cold water.

Your fingers grapple with the claps on the dress, fighting to release yourself. You give up, snapping your fingers, the dress disappearing, leaving you bare, and still burning. You sit at the edge of the tub before quickly sliding your feet below the surface. The shock of the cold hits your brain and for a moment you stop thinking. But it is not enough as you feel another wave of arousal dripping from your core. You know you are going to regret this, but you also don’t know what will happen next if you don’t. You take a deep breath and fully submerge your body. All you feel is cold. Alll you feel is ice. The fire under your skin tames. The lustful thoughts vanish. It is just you and the cold. Relief floods your bones as your face breaks the surface.

You lean your head against the rim of the tub, happy to be rid of your dirtiest thoughts. You lay in the cold water until the warmth of your body has rendered it tepid. You finally feel in control of yourself again. You heave your relaxed body out of the tub and wrap yourself in a fluffy white towel. Tucking the ends under your armpit, you move back into your bed chamber. The towel drops to the floor as you walk up to your wardrobe and pull on a simple silk nightgown, as dark as the night sky, dressing cool to avoid any future heat spells, hopefully.

You hastily scramble into bed and slide under your silk sheets. Exhaustion hitting you. You lay on your back, eyes closed as you slowly drift off to sleep. With not a single thought, your mind is finally quiet.

And then it’s back.

Heart hammering, your eyes fly open. Searing heat spreads through your entire body. Heat radiates from your core all the way to your fingertips. Your desire is bruning you from the inside. The heat wants to be fed, wants to consume.

Wants to be consumed.

Is it that simple? you ask yourself. Would self-pleasure finally rid you of this torment? It had been a few weeks since you had last found release, the time spent in Summer Court kept you too busy for simple pleasure. But it was not like you had not gone this long before, in fact, you had gone much longer and never with any issue. You craved the touch of another, but you suppose your body will hardly care where the pleasure comes from. Your nipples harden at the very thought. Decision made.

Arousal is now weeping from your core as your thighs clench together. As if with minds of their own, your hands pull the sheets off your body, exposing your skin to the night air. Your nipples pebble even harder, straining deliciously against the silk of your nightgown. You palm one of your breasts, the action causing shockwaves of pleasure to roll through your body.

Your other hand comes up and palms the other, a strangled moan leaving your lips. Your fingers dance along your left breast and encircle your nipple over the glossy material of your nightgown. You were still too hot. You quickly pull the straps down your arms. As your nipples meet the cold air, you could weep with joy. Your hands, finally able to touch your bare skin ghost over the sensitive flesh before your fingers are quickly clamping around your left nipple in a tight pinch. Your thighs clench again, as your core pulses, as if with a heartbeat of its own. You give your nipple another delicious twirl.

Your other hand travels down and down and down until it reaches the hem of your nightgown. Without a moment's hesitation, you pull the material up to your waist. Your arousal coats your thighs, as your hand move closer to your core, fingers disappearing between your legs.

The moment your fingers touch your clit, your hips buck wildly, back straining off the bed. Your fingers swirl around it again and again and again, the friction causing strangled moans to escape your throat, hips thrusting up wildly.

Your skin gleams in the moonlight, the heat building inside of you. Your eyes screw shut in pleasure. This time as your hand swirls around your clit, your other hand, still clinging to your breast, gives your nipple a sharp torturous twist. Pleasure and pain unite and suddenly you’re shaking as release barrels through you, your orgasm so intense your whole body shakes as you ride wave after wave of pleasure.

As you come down from your high, your body trembles with exertion.

But it is not enough.

Breathing deeply, your hand, now coated in your juices slides back down between your legs, and this time, you slide two fingers inside. You thrust in and out sharply. Setting a torturous pace and your fingers sink deep into your cunt, curling expertly inside you. In a matter of moments, you are overcome with another orgasm. Again and again and again, you work your body to climax.

It is never enough.

Your body gives out sometime between the eighth and tenth orgasm, releasing you into a dreamless sleep.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You awaken groggy, and unsure of your surroundings. The fog clears with a couple of blinks of your eyes and you realize you are in your bed at the River House. Looking down you see you are laid out, your nightgown askew and your thighs sticky.

And then it all comes flooding back.

How you pleasured yourself over and over again, the pace never relenting, just like the hunger for release did not relent. You had fucked yourself into oblivion.

But, it appears to have worked. Laying still you realise that your mind has returned to blissful silence once again. Finally free. No thoughts of lust or desire, just calm and slight confusion. Now more awake, you glance out the window and see that the moon is still high in the sky. It was late, but still a long way off until morning.

Confusion still runs through your bones. The intense need you felt earlier had come on so fast and strong, a hurricane of arousal. But it appears that the skies have now cleared, feeling content and more like yourself you huff and slowly sit up. Your stomach growls painfully, starved from the exertion and the lack of dinner. You could also do with a wash. Food first, you decide.

No one should be out and about the house at this hour, but just in case, you slip the nightgown over your head. The material is coated in your slick. Already ruined, you use the dress to clean up the arousal on your thighs. You refuse to think about how good the silken material feels against your inner thighs. You make your way to your dresser, and this time you pull out a pair of plain grey underwear and a long black t-shirt. The t-shirt fell down to your mid-thigh.

You make your way to the door and pry it open slowly, so as not to wake anyone else. Elain also has a room in this wing, and she was a notoriously light sleeper. You begin to pad down the hallway lightly, the marble cold against your bare feet. You feel a cold breeze wafting down the hall. Someone must have forgotten to close the balcony doors, you think. But then again, who would have opened the windows in the middle of winter? Snow had yet to fall, but the cool winter air had definitely arrived. More alert, you slowly make your way towards the open balcony doors, arms close to your sides, fists clenched.

Your arms lower immediately when you see who stands out on the balcony. You would recognize her shapely figure anywhere.

Elain stands with her back to you. She is wearing a blush-coloured pair of wide-legged pyjama pants,a shawl embroidered with flowers covers her shoulders. Her hair is unbound and glows like individual strands of gold. You feel your stomach tighten. She looks beautiful. You shake your head, trying to rid it of any other thought beyond concern. You gently rap your knuckles on the doorframe. Elain, still not fully tuned in to her new fae senses, jumps and spins around quickly. Her hand comes up to clutch onto her heaving chest. You could see her breath slow when she sees who it is, hand falling back down to her side.

You make eye contact with her, deep chestnut eyes meeting your own. And then her chest starts heaving again, and it takes all your strength to keep your eyes from wandering. You look up at the night sky instead.

“Elain, honey what are you doing out here, you’ll catch your death.” She looks at you nervously as you approach. Your feet tingle in protest at the cold stone beneath you.

“Erm- nothing. I just needed some fresh air,” you reach for her hand. She laces her hand in yours, eyes squeezing shut, “and some quiet.”

“But it is-” oh. Oh no. She had heard you. Your cheeks flush scarlett as you try to pull away. “Elain, I am so, so sorry. I didn’t realize I was so…” You trail off. Her hand tightens around yours, rooting you into place. Her fingers are frigid from being out here on the balcony for Cauldron knows how long.

“Loud.” She finishes your sentence. “The walls are quite thin.”

“I am sorry Elain for disturbing your sleep. I’m not sure what has come over me. It won’t happen again, I promise.” Are you happy with yourself? Poor, delicate Elain was awoken by the sounds of you touching yourself. Poor, gorgeous Elain had to escape outside in order to avoid hearing the sounds you made. Poor, delicious Elain- and oh did she look delicious. She wore a thin white camisole underneath her shawl. She wore no bra underneath, her nipples rock hard from the biting winter air. Oh how much you wanted to devour her.

You freeze again and fight against your mind. Not again. Not now. But it is Elain’s next words that have your lustful thoughts winning once again.

“I wasn’t sleeping.” Elain’s eyes met yours again, darker, more intense. “You, pleasured yourself for over 2 hours, did you know that?” Her sentence tumbled out. “Two hours without stop. Two hours of sheer pleasure.”

“Again, Elain I am so sorry but we should discuss this inside, we’ll catch our deaths out here”. You go to pull her along with you, back into the warmth of the hallway. She releases your hand.

“I never have, you know.” Her voice sounded far away now, mind far away.

“Never what Elain?”

“Never-” She trails off again. You finally catch on, and the fire within your belly reignites.

“Never touched yourself?” She lets out a slight giggle at your question and looks down at her slipper-clad feet.

“No, I’ve definitely tried to self-pleasure.” She shakes her head. “In fact I tried just tonight, listening to you.” It is your cheeks that burn red hot now. You swallow deeply at her confession. Did she touch herself to the sound of you? “But,” she continues, “I’ve never been able to make myself…reach completion. Never. I don’t know if there’s something wrong with me. I want to, gods do I want to. But, it just never happens.” Her voice shakes, and as she looks away again, you can see her eyes shining with tears. “I have been getting a lot closer with Lucien. I do think he is an honourable man.. Male, I mean. But I do not wish to saddle him with a mate who does not know what she is doing. He has lived centuries, and I do not even know how to please myself, never mind him.”

“You do not owe him anything, you know? There is nothing wrong with you, and if he is truly a good male, then he will not be bothered by any experience you do or do not have. There is so much more to a relationship than sex.” She is one of the most perfect creatures in existence. That male should be so very lucky for dirt under her shoes never mind anything else.

“I do know that. I do. But, I think this is something I have to do for myself first. Before I look towards a future with Lucien.”

“What is it you need to do?” You lick your lips.

“I want to feel good like you made yourself feel.”

“Do you want me to make you feel good, Elain?”

“I want you to make me feel alive.”

And then she is vaulting towards you, hands grasping your shoulders, and then her lips are on yours.

She tastes of jasmine and honey. A taste you never thought you would experience. But here she is, this perfect female, and Cauldron she was kissing you. Her plump, rosy lips are soft and firm. Her nails dig gently into your shoulders, and you can now smell her arousal, sharp and heady. Your core clenches in response. Your arms come around and encircle her waist, pulling her body tight against yours. You can feel her nipples against your own chest. She is freezing, and burning all at once.

The kiss ends and she pulls her lips away. Foreheads pressed together she looks at you through her brows. Your eyes meet and understanding passes through you. Your heads give a little nod, and she nods her own in response. Your hand finds hers and you gently pull her over to the corner of the balcony, to a long chaise lounge, the cold forgotten. She sits gently, legs swinging up onto the chaise, head tilting back, exposing the pale tender flesh of her neck. Her shawl falls off her shoulders. You now stand at the edge of the chaise, eying her up and down. You can feel the desire within you trying to surge, to consume. But you reign it in. This is not about you.

It is all about Elain. ”Let me bring you back to life,” you say as you gently spread her legs, and crawl up in between them. You align yourself perfectly, foreheads touching once again. “If anything is too much El, you let me know.” She nods again and tilts her head until her lips meet yours. The second kiss is slower, and more passionate. Her lips part and your tongue slides in, dancing upon hers.

After an eternity you separate, a thin trail of saliva connecting you. You pepper kisses to her cheek, her nose, and her chin, working your way down her throat until you arrive at the place just above her collarbone. Your lips clamp onto the sensitive flesh, and you hear Elain moan in response. It is music to your ears. As you lap at her neck, your fingers begin to trace down the length of her torso, eliciting sighs and pleasure. You run your fingertips gently down the valley between her breasts, down past her navel and along her hip bone, stopping at the hem of her camisole. Your mouth comes away and you make eye contact once again. Elain is in control, and you pause, waiting for her consent to continue.

“Please.” Her breath is coming in quick pants as she begs. Your fingers grab the hem and Elain leans forward and lifts her arms. You make quick work of pulling it over her head, tossing it to the side. Her skin glows like the stars in the sky. Her large breasts are firm and aching to be touched.

Elain’s teeth clench at the exposure to the cold, but the moan that follows is enough to spur you on. Your mouth trails more kisses along her collarbone and down between her breasts. Elain’s hands wind into your hair, holding you close. You look up at her and wink, and then your lips enclose around one of her perfect, pert nipples. Elain lets out a breathy gasp at the sensation of your hot mouth upon her breast. Your tongue swirls around her peak, a chorus of gasps and moans spilling from Elain’s lips.

Your lips detach with a pop, and the cold air blows against the wet bud. Elain lets out another sharp gasp and she cries out “More. Cauldron please, more!” Her chest is heaving. One of your hands comes up and cups her other breast, and you slowly slink down the chaise. Your tongue trails against her skin as it follows the same path your fingers had made, down between her breasts, all the way down to her navel. Your tongue swirls around it, the thin trail of saliva igniting Elain’s skin despite the cold. You continue your path down until your lips reach the hem of her pants. You breathe deeply. “You smell so gods damned good El.” Her hands untangle from your hair and go to grab the hem of your shirt, you quickly stop her. “This isn’t for me El, this is all for you. Let me make you feel good.” Elain nods, briefly and her hands relent, moving up to cup her own breasts instead. You pull the tie on her pants gently and hook your thumbs into the waist. You see a patch of wetness on the crotch of her pants and your question is answered as you gently pull them down her legs. No panties.

Her pants and slippers are now discarded and you take a moment to drink her in. She is exquisite. Her hair lays around her like a halo of gold. Her skin shines as bright as a star. Her hands work her supple breasts and her eyes are lidded and dark with desire. Your eyes skim lower, to her round hips, thick and shapely. And then your eyes fall to the patch of dark curls above her core, and then further still to the glistening arousal coating her thighs as she squeezes them together.

You move up to capture her lips in yours once more before you drift lower again. Your hands grasp her thighs and you gently spread her legs. She is so beautiful. You bend her knees and they part, on either side of your head as your mouth approaches her sex. You blow a gentle breath across her clit, and you see her cunt pulse in response. “Gods, Y/N, please. Please!”

Your hands wrap tighter around her thighs and you taste her. The salty taste of arousal pulls a groan out of your own throat. Your tongue circles her clit, and one of her hands finds your hair again, and her hips buck in response. Her thighs clamp around your head, as you suck her clit hard. You pull her even closer, your tongue travels lower, and traces around her opening, before diving in. Thrusting your tongue in and out of her core, she is moaning your name like a prayer, hips gyrating against your face, fucking your tongue deeper inside of her. She rides your tongue hard, in a state of euphoria.

Breathless, you pull your mouth away and you move back up to her lips. “You taste divine.” You say simply and then your lips are on hers again, and she is moaning from the taste of her own slick upon your tongue. One of your hands smooths gentle circles against her cheek. “Still with me?” you ask. She nods and catches your lips again. Your hand trails down her side, giving her hips a gentle squeeze before drifting through the thick soft curls guarding her core. Your hand slips between her legs as your fingers circle her clit. A new wave of arousal drips from her cunt as your hand moves further down. You hold her gaze as your finger slowly enters her. Her teeth clamp onto her bottom lip and she groans.

You start slow and quickly gain speed as her hips rock against your wrist. Meeting you thrust for thrust. You add a second finger and spread her deliciously. Fingers curl inside her, meeting the spongey flesh that makes Elain scream.

“Oh, oh, gods, yes, yes,” you hear Elain gasp over and over again. You lower yourself back down as your other hand grips her pubic hair tight, your thumb goes to her clit, rubbing at a relentless pace and you watch her come undone.

She screams in such pleasure, again and again, her core clenches around your soaked fingers. Her juices squirt and coat your t-shirt-covered chest. You continue to circle her clit, extending her orgasm as long as possible. She comes down from her high, her pants slowing, and you withdraw your hands. You lean up and capture her lips with yours once more.

“Are you ok?” You ask. Looking into her eyes, you see they are alight with pleasure and joy.

“What does this mean?” Elain worries her bottom lip.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything El. This was about you finding yourself through pleasure.”

“Gods, Y/N that was- that was perfect”. A smile now shines brightly upon her lips. “Thank you-” You cut off her thanks with another quick peck on her lips.

“Do not thank me Elain Archeron. Thank yourself for deciding to put your body and your pleasure first. If anything I should be thanking you for allowing me to come along on this journey with you.” Her smile is mirrored on your own face. “Lucien is going to be a very lucky male, El. You are perfect in every way.”

Sitting up now, she throws her arms around you, squeezing you tight. She pulls away and looks down at the dampness coating your shirt. “I was not aware women- I mean females could do such things.” She traces the dark stain slowly, running her fingers along the slopes of your breast.

“Some do,” you confirm, “if encouraged enough. Everyone is different, and I know that if you decide to, Lucien will worship everything about you.” She smiles again and pulls you in for another hug. You knew that this was not the start of a fling or romance with Elain. But instead, it had been a self-awakening, and she had allowed you to lead her through it. You were beyond honoured to help.

“But how do you know that he- Lucien will like it. Like me.”

“I have a confession of my own El.” You clear your throat, praying to the cauldron you weren’t about to say the wrong thing. “Lucien and I are about the same age. When we were growing up, we met on occasion at different events, and quickly developed a rapport.” Elain quirked a brow. “We, well, we fucked. A lot.” Elain’s jaw drops. Your core clenches at the memories. Lucien’s mouth on yours, on your cunt. His member thrusting in and out of you, sloppiness and uncertainty turned to precision and strength as the years went on. You fight to tamper the flames of arousal within yourself. This is not the time or place. “We were each other's firsts and we experimented over the years. But that was well over three and a half centuries before you were born. It was so long ago that I don’t want you to think anything of it! We are friends now, have been for the last 300 years, nothing more, I promise.” And it was true.. The memories you had made together, were definitely special, cherished, and enough to turn your crank some days, but the actual male, was your friend and was now mated to another. “What I am trying to say, is that I can guarantee that you are everything he will ever desire.”

“Me and Lucien both lost our virginity to the same female?” she questions finally. You nod, eying Elain again. Hoping beyond hope that she does not take the news badly. To your surprise, she begins to chuckle, which turns into a cackle, which turns into a full-body fit of laughter, and you find yourself joining in. You both laugh and laugh while holding each other close. Eventually the fit winds down and with a few last giggles, Elain sighs, “I’m not sure why, but it seems very fitting.” You hum in agreement.

Elain’s eyes drooped in relaxation and exhaustion and she lays her head on your shoulder.

The next moments happen in a blur. You help her to her feet, gather her clothes and you both make the quick, and risky walk back into the hall and into her chambers. Luckily the hallway is empty.

You sit her on the bed and start a fire. Heading to her bathing chamber, you wet a cloth with warm water. Returning to find Elain still perched on the edge of her bed, you gesture for her to lean back. She obliges and you begin to cleanse her skin gently. Nothing save for respect and adoration floats between you now. You tuck her naked body gently under the covers and kiss her forehead. Swiping your thumb against her cheek you whisper softly, “Good night El. Sweet dreams.”

Her eyes crack open and you hear her mumble, “Are you sure you don’t want me to try-”

You shush her. “This was a big moment for you El. I expect nothing in return.” She smiles again deeply.

“Thank you, Y/N. Thank you for helping me find myself.” With that, Elain drifts off to sleep and you head out the door and back to your own chambers.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back behind the closed door of your room, you stand frozen. The last few hours of your night running through your head. From the moment you arrived at the River House, something was different. You were different. Less… restricted. You’d felt no such feelings while away in the Summer Court. Your mind races, searching for an answer but coming up short.

It was then that your stomach let out a loud growl. You missed dinner. You had been on your way to the kitchen when you encountered Elain. You scoff at yourself and your forgetfulness. You pull the shirt stained with Elain’s juices over your head, letting it join your previously discarded nightgown on the floor. Your panties were damp, but with the way the evening was progressing, you figured you’d end up just soaking another pair later, and opted to keep them on. Strolling over to your wardrobe for the third time tonight, not bothering with another shirt or nightdress, you pull on a simple grey robe. The material is thin but warm, enough to reheat your body after your outdoor escapade.

Feet still bare, you head back out into the hallway and slowly pad down the empty corridor. You make it halfway down the stairs before you hear it.

“Are you going to be a good boy, for me?” a female’s voice floats from the kitchen. You grip the railing and take a fractured breath.

“Yes, my Lady. I promise I’ll be such a good boy.” Your core clenches as you recognize the low gravelly voice. For Cauldon’s sake. You should turn away, head back upstairs and forget the words you had just heard coming from the kitchen. But some unknown force, the same force that had emboldened you all night, urges you forward. Each step has your stomach clenching in anticipation.

Eventually, you arrive at the threshold to the kitchen and your jaw drops.

In the centre of the room sits Cassian, arms tied behind him to the back of his chair. His wings flare lightly to the sides. He is dressed in nothing but a pair of black undershorts. His bare back is to you, muscles rippling as he squirms, testing the limits of his bindings.

On the counter is Nesta. You take in her figure and decide that they do indeed call her the Lady Death for a reason. Nesta lays atop the counter, body barely covered by a tight blood-red nightgown, garters on her thighs and red stilettos on her feet. Her hair is twisted into a crown of braids. She lays on her side, head propped up on her hand. In from of her sits a bowl of strawberries. Her hand dances above the bowl before plucking a strawberry from the pile. She brings it to her lips, tongue darting out to taste the berry. Staring into Cassian’s eyes she takes a bite. You and Cassian gasp in unison.

Nesta’s head jerks in your direction and her steely eyes lock on yours. Caught in your act of voyeurism, you want to look away, look anywhere but at the female, shame should be bubbling through your veins. But it isn’t. You feel no shame. Only desire. Desire spreads through your body, a familiar feeling over the last few hours. Your cunt pulses with every second you stand there, rooted in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of you.

“Who is it Nes?” Cassian questions, trying to gauge his mate’s response to their intruder. You know he could break his binds easily if necessary. Something glimmers in the eldest Archeron’s eyes. Her nostrils flair and her lips quirk in a smirk.

“I’m surprised you can’t smell her yet.” Nesta answers, pushing herself up and into a seated position. You can see Cassian’s back shift as he takes in a deep breath.

“Y/N.”

Fuck. They can smell your arousal.

“I’m sorry for the intrusion,” you have no idea where the sudden confidence has come from and you surprise yourself as you continue, “I seem to have interrupted a late-night snack.”

The two mates lock eyes again, a whole conversation happening without words. Nesta eventually breaks the stare and returns her eyes to yours. “You’re looking a bit peckish yourself Y/N. You’re welcome to join us.” Mother above. “Come,” Nesta holds her half-eaten strawberry out towards you, “come have a bite.” Your gut tightens.

Your feet move before your brain can fully process what you are doing. It takes you 10 steps to pass Cassian, still tied to the chair, and another 3 to reach Nesta’s outstretched fingers. She parts her thighs so that your body can slide in between them. You gasp as her hand comes up to grasp your chin. Your legs tremble as Nesta leans in and whispers, “you are hungry, aren’t you?”

“Starved.” You manage to choke out.

The tension is palpable as Nesta brings her strawberry up to your mouth. She traces the bow of your lips with the strawberries dripping flesh. “Open.” She commands. You do as you’re told and you take a bite of the tender fruit, its juice dancing on your tongue. It is Cassian now who lets out a low groan. In a moment you are flooded with sandalwood and lust as Cassian’s arousal hits your nose, and surges throughout the room, mixing with your own. You finally look over to the Illyrian, and what you see makes you hold your breath. A male who normally exudes strength, the General and Commander of your brother’s armies, Lord of Bloodshed, reduced to a squirming mess. Lust glows in his eyes and he looks from Nesta to you.

“What do you think General?” Cassian squirms again at the use of his title. “I think she is still hungry, don’t you agree?” He lets out a low whine and his hazel eyes lock back on yours, both a reflection of lust and desire.

“What do you say, Y/N?” he asks, voice low. The innuendos vanish as he probes you for further confirmation. He is making sure you are truly consenting to join in on whatever this was. You lied to yourself when you were shocked by your lust for Cassian earlier this evening, as you did in fact find him incredibly attractive, only more so now that he was entirely whipped by the bewitching Lady Death. It took you less than a second to answer him, the desire you had walked hand in hand with all evening flaring within you.

“Yes,” you say.

Nesta’s hand curls more firmly against your chin, turning your head back to hers. “Delectable,” she says. And then her lips are ghosting yours, breath mingling as your eyes flutter shut. You feel her tongue trace the same path of the strawberry, up and around the bow of your lips, and sweeping across the small gape of your mouth.

Your hands instinctively come up to encircle her waist.

Nesta’s lips leave you immediately, and you feel her arm reach down and give you a sharp smack on your ass. The sounds reverberate through the kitchen. You let out a hiss and your eyes fly open. “Unh unh kitten, no touching,” Nesta says, as she pulls your arms back down to your sides “don’t make me punish you.”

You’re pretty sure your eyes roll into the back of your head at her words, and your thighs clench as wave after wave of desire crashes in you. “Yes, my Lady,” you murmur back. You hear Cassian let out another low groan as he shifts in his chair.

“There’s a good kitten,” Nesta smiles, “now why don’t we give the General a little treat.” You hum in response. Nesta spins you around so that your back now falls against her. Your head falls into the crook of her neck as you eye Cassian once again. He looks up at the two of you through hooded eyes. You tilt your head slightly to the side and inhale Nesta’s scent of steel and pomegranate. “I want you to ride his thigh,” she says and the world stops for a moment. You stop breathing and you’re sure that Cassian does the same. Are you really about to do this with your best friend? The step forward you take is answer enough. You’re only another foot away from the Illyrian when Nesta’s voice rings out from behind you again, “Oh, and kitten,” you can hear the smirk in her voice, “drop your panties.”

“Yes, Lady.” You reach under your robe and slowly slide your panties down your legs. You can see the dark patch made by the arousal now coating your thighs. Panties on the floor, the room is awash with a new wave of your potent arousal. Another low growl tears through Cassian’s lips.

Cassian sits with his legs spread. His thighs are thick and muscular, the tanned skin shifting as you approach. Now standing in front of him, you quickly shift so that one of your legs is on either side of his left leg. Using his shoulders for leverage, you slowly lower yourself down onto the General’s thigh. The heat of his leg causes your breath to hitch. Cassian whimpers as the juices from your bare cunt weep onto his leg. You begin to move then, slow torturous gyrations as you get a feel for the large corded muscle beneath you. As your core soaks the General’s leg, you begin to pick up speed, rocking back and forth as the pleasure builds.

“Good girl.” Nesta approaches you from behind. “Isn’t she being such a good Kitten, General?”

“Mhm,” Cassian grunts, “so good.” His breath is coming out in pants, just as forceful as your own.

“And Kitten, isn’t the General being such a good boy?”

“Such a good boy,” you squeak out, your clit rubbing against his muscle.

“I think he deserves a little treat.” From behind you, Nesta reaches between you and Cassian and palms his engorged member, straining painfully in his underwear. Cassian bellows in relief at the touch. Nesta’s fingers dip below the hem of his shorts and pull them down. Cassian’s cock springs free, slapping his stomach. His cock is massive and rock-hard. Long, and girthy with thick veins running along his shaft, his tip a dusky pink. It pulses in time with your ruts against his leg. Your nails dig into the soft flesh of his shoulders as your pupils blow wide with lust. Nesta pumps his shaft once, then again in rapid succession before her hand releases her mate's member. The General whines at the loss of contact, rutting up into the air, desperate for friction, precum gathering at his tip. You don’t dare indulge him without permission from your Lady Death, but your cunt throbs at the thought of punishment.

Nesta’s hands now travel to your body. Her nails graze up your thighs, against your curved hips, and up to your shoulders. She squeezes them gently before her hands travel further, up your neck and into your hair, brushing it all to one side. Her mouth lowers to your neck and she licks a long strip up your sweat-soaked flesh. She hums in delight at the taste, nuzzling the crook of your neck as she whispers into your ear. “Do you like looking at your best friend’s cock, kitten?”

You let out a breathy moan, not able to form any words as you ride the General’s thigh into oblivion. Nesta tuts and her hands grip your hips painfully, stopping the delicious friction. It was your turn to whine in protest, core aching at the loss. “Use your words kitten.”

“Yes.” you whine, as you try to regain momentum. Nesta squeezes your hips harder.

“Yes, what.” Her tone is sharp.

“Yes, Lady.” And then you are free again, hips moving wildly as you chant Yes, Yes, Yes.

“Good kitten.” Lady Death places a kiss at the corner of your mouth. “You’ve seen his. Now it’s your turn to show us yours.” With that, her hands descend between you and the General once again, travelling to the tie at your waist. With a sharp tug, the rope comes loose, and your robe opens. Your nipples harden at the exposure.

Cassian groans and the tip of his cock weeps at the sight. Your breasts rock back and forth in time with your thrusts. Cassian pulls on his restraints, desperate to touch them, to touch you. “Please.” He moans. The General bucks into the air again and again, “Please, Please Lady, Please”.

Your hips gyrate faster, and you feel your release approaching. Nesta, still behind you, leans down and bites the lobe of your ear. “Come for me, kitten.”

And then you are toppling over the edge. Your orgasm rips through you and you scream in delight. The General is right behind you, wings flaring and release thundering as he cums all over your chest. Your hips do not slow as you ride out every wave of pleasure. The three of you were so lost in the moment you had not heard the approaching footsteps.

“What the Fuck is this?”

Your hips still, and from your position on Cassian’s lap, you open your eyes gaze dragging over the tips of his wings and to the doorway.

And there stands Azriel, shadows swarming around him in a frenzy.

“Az.” you croak, voice horse from screaming. The look of astonishment and anger in his eyes have you trying to stand up, to go to him and try to explain, but Nesta keeps a firm pressure on your shoulders, keeping you astride her mate. Confusion runs through you as you look up to meet her eyes, and youquickly understand her actions.

Cassian’s wings currently shielded your naked body, now dripping in his cum from Azriel’s view. As if in understanding, Cassian’s wings flare a little wider, ensuring full coverage of his mate and yourself.

“Brother,” Cassian replies, trying to keep the fucked out tone from his voice, “I do believe you’ve caught us at a bad time.”

“Y/N? What sort of sick-, Why would you-, You know I-, Y/N, really Cass?” Azriel tries to form a coherent sentence.

It’s Nesta that responds. “She is not your property, shadowsinger. You do not own her.”

“You took advantage of h-” Azriel roars.

You roar right back.

“I wanted this Azriel! I wanted this with every fibre of my being. All three of us chose to be here. Nesta is right, you do not own me. We are three consenting adults. The only one who has no right to be here right now is you.” Your gaze pierces his, and you can see the hurt on his face. “Now, get out,” you spit, and he disappears into his shadows without another word.

With the shadowsinger gone, Cassian’s wings lower, and your head falls to rest on his sweaty chest. "Well, fuck me." Cassian grunts, his nose burying into your hair. You feel his chest rise and fall, the powerful thumps of his heart slowing with your own.

“I believe she just did, my dear mate.” Nesta muses, she slinks around the pair of you, coming up behind Cassian, and resting her head on his other shoulder. Your mixed arousal hangs heavy in the air, a reminder of the dalliance that had played out in the kitchen of the River House.

You want more. You want to feel Cass’s lips upon your own. You want to lick the sweat down his pectorals and taste the cum that was now pooling between your breasts. You wanted to feast upon Lady Death herself, and to have her feast upon you, to feel her sharp tongue against your cunt. This new development in your relationship felt natural. It felt right. You wanted to spend hours exploring the line between pleasure and pain, exhilaration and humiliation, domination and submission. You want more, and you can see in their eyes that they want more too.

But the tone has shifted, and you have Azriel to thank for that.

You sit up straight and push your wobbly legs up into a standing position. Cassian hisses as the air blows across the cooling slick left behind on his thigh. “Y/N,” he mumbles, “that was-”

“Incredible,” you finish for him, “that was pretty damn incredible.” You pull your robe closed and retie the stay at your waist. Nesta leans down and unties the bindings on her mate's wrists, he too rises to a standing position, retucking his spent cock into his underwear. Nesta slides her arm through his and the mates regard you appreciatively.

“I hope you don’t-”, Nesta trails off, words like glue in her mouth, “have any regrets?”

“Never,” you confirm. “My only regret is that we were interrupted.” You stare at the small smile that replaces the concern on Nesta’s features. You lean up and give them both a kiss on the cheek. “Good night my Lady. Good night General”. You stand back and give them a wink, “Let’s do this again soon, yeah?”

Come daylight, there would likely be some serious conversations to be had. But that could wait. For now, you turn on your heels and make your way back to the stairs.

“We’ll see you soon, kitten.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Azriel-

Azriel winnows himself out into the estate gardens. His mind races and his shadows swarm, blocking out the light of the moon. His scarred hands are shaking, and with horror, rage or sadness he is unsure.

Cassian and Nesta… and Y/N?

He is baffled by what he saw transpiring in the kitchen.

He had been out on an after-dinner patrol and had arrived late into the night. He was used to the carnal activities of his brother and his mate and was keen on ignoring their sounds of pleasure when an unfamiliar cry of indulgence had piqued his interest. A third? he had wondered. But as his morbid curiosity had propelled him forward, he had realized that the new voice was not unfamiliar in the slightest. It was the voice of all his desire. The voice that had lived in his mind and in his dreams for the last 250 years. He reached the threshold to the kitchen and his worst nightmare was confirmed.

There had sat Cassian with his back to him, hands tied to the chair behind him. Nesta stood in front of him, a devilish grin on her face as she watched the events unfold. And there, saddled between the two, was Y/N. Her eyes closed, she violently rocked back and forth atop Cassian. He could not see what was happening in its entirety from behind his brother’s wings, but he could smell the heady scent of arousal oozing from every pore of the trios' bodies.

Azriel had watched Nesta lean over and whisper something in Y/N’s ear.

And then Y/N and Cassian were coming undone. Azriel stood, unable to move as he watched the female he loved, cum atop his brother. He couldn’t take it.

“What the Fuck is this?” The question tore out of his throat before he could stop it.

And then you had opened your eyes and whispered his name, and for a moment he allowed himself to imagine what it would have been like to be in Cassian’s place. To have felt you come undone for him…on him…with him.

But she hadn’t been with him. Y/N had chosen his brother and his brother’s mate of all the Fae in the Gods damned Court. He could not recollect the words he had spoken after that, anger and despair had blinded him. He was going to be sick.

He shoots up into the sky and heads to the House of Wind. He needs to be away from them all so that he doesn’t do anything else he would regret. His wings flap hard and fast, the cold air slicing against their membranes painfully. Good, he thinks to himself. He lands on the balcony at the House of Wind too soon, and he drops hard onto the marble floor. He needs to hit something so that he doesn’t hit his brother in the face.

Azriel stalks his way through the dining room with the intent of heading up to the sparring ring, when a shadow curls around his ear. Stop, it whispers, not right. The table. Azriel whirls back around and surveys his surroundings. His eyes narrow in on the table. On the table sits a book, likely left by Nesta, and the tray Lucien brought. The tray that holds the love potion. Correction, the tray that held the love potion. Azriel seizes the pitcher off of the tray. Empty. His mind races once again. Who would have taken it? Why not take the whole tray, the pitcher at the very least? Maybe, Cerrdiwen or Nuala dumped it out? No, they haven’t been up here today. Azriel has no idea what is going on.

His nose twitches as it perceives a faint scent. He turns back to the tray inspecting it closely. The jug and challis were bone dry, with not a drop of the elixir left. The note was long gone, burned to ash by his brother upon Lucien’s arrival earlier this evening. He turns his eyes then to the rose. The rose, which upon further inspection housed thorns coated in a thin layer of dried blood.

Y/N’s blood.

Y/N who was been at the Summer Court until right before dinner,

Y/N who had missed the discussion about the contents of the pitcher,

Y/N who had likely stopped by the House of Wind to drop off her bags before joining the family at dinner.

Y/N, who he had just been riding Cassian into oblivion.

“Fuck.”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Y/N-

You once again find yourself leaning against your bedroom door.

“What the glorious fuck was that?” you ask aloud, letting out a nervous chuckle. You had just participated in a three-sum with your best friend and his mate. Your best friend and his mate. Cassian and Nesta. The General and his Lady Death.

The names alone make you shiver.

The memory of your core ground against Cassian’s well-muscled thigh, Nesta whispering sin in your ear makes you clench your teeth, and your thighs. You let out a frustrated moan. This lustful hunger just won’t LEAVE, and the chance of further ministrations was halted by that winged fuck, Azriel. Azriel, whose eyes you had held as you road out your climax. Azriel, who had looked devastated as he saw you astride his brother. Had he been devastated? You wondered, or disappointed.

He has no right to be disappointed in anything that you do. He held no claim to your body, or to your heart. Well, he held no claim to your body and if he had known about the space he occupied in your heart, after all this time, and still had not acted upon it, well then he did not deserve even a sliver of the adoration you felt. Let him be disappointed, it was none of your concern.

He was none of your concern. Not his thoughts of your activities, nor his distaste for your actions. His glowing eyes did not deserve to behold you. His plush lips did not deserve to taste you. His rough fingers did not deserve to slip below the waistline of your panties, and-

Another frustrated groan tears through your throat as your knees quake, thighs snapping together, desperate for friction. You push off the door with a huff, walking towards your bathroom. You need to wash Cassian’s seed off of your body. You undo the tie at your waist and allow the now cum stained garment to join the others on the floor. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you remember that you had had panties on when you entered the kitchen. You can only hope that Nes and Cass had grabbed them during clean-up.

You draw yourself another ice-cold bath and submerge yourself fully. The cold water distracts your mind as you scrub your body and hair. Once you are thoroughly cleansed, you step out of the tub, wrap yourself in a fresh towel and you make your way back to your damn wardrobe. You pray to the Cauldron that this is your last outfit change of the night. You pull out a blue pyjama set with tight but pliant shorts and a cropped camisole. Not bothering with undergarments you quickly pull your clothes on and flop onto the bed.

You pull the covers up to your chin, mind blissfully blank from the cold bath… Until those glowing hazel eyes and sensuous lips hurtle around the walls of your mind. You think of his toned chest, glistening with sweat in the sparring ring, the curve of his wings as he holds himself with deadly precision. His intoxicating scent of night-chilled mist and cedar is almost upon your tongue as you imagine what it would be like for the shadowsinger to interrogate you like one of his prisoners. Cauldron boil me. Your hand travels to the hem of your shorts, and then lower still to your already slick slit. Your fingers easily find your swollen clit, and begin to swirl around it delectably. Your other hand comes up to palm your breast, when suddenly you hear a knock at your door.

Your fingers still.

You don’t answer, hoping that the nuisance will get the hint. You hear another sharp knock at the door, followed by a muffled voice. “Y/N, please let me in. It’s important.” The slight rise in his tone, has you muttering a quick ‘enter’. The door swings open and the shadowsinger slinks in, a fae light bobbing behind him.

His nose is immediately overwhelmed with scent. The heady scent of your arousal was emanating from every surface in the room. It was intoxicating the spymaster, your scent driving him to the edge of his wits.

An edge he is quickly pulled back from as he smells his brother’s scent intermingling, as well as the scent of another, Elain. He eyes the pile of soiled clothing on the floor, the evidence that confirms his suspicions. “Gods, Y/N.” He clears his throat. “I know you were not feeling yourself tonight, but-” he starts. Your eyes widen in surprise.

“Incorrect shadowsinger,” you stare at him, “I feel more myself than I ever have. Just more-”

“Free of inhibition?” he supplies.

“Suppose I was. What concern is it of yours?” Your lips purse.

“I figured you deserve to know what was happening.” Azriel moves to your bed, sitting on the edge. He reaches into the pocket of his leathers and produces a single crumpled red rose. All of a sudden forgotten memory floods your mind. A pitcher full of plum-coloured starlight. The burn of it on your lips, down your throat. You remember drinking and drinking until there was nothing left. The urge you felt to drink, warped and resurged as the desire for Elain, for Cassian and Nesta, and for Azriel. Your hand twitches at the thought, fingers still primed over your clit.

“So what was that mystery beverage, you all so lovingly forgot to label?”

Azriel snorts before replying, “Affectus Revelare.”

“No shit?” Bewilderment shines in your eyes.

“It’s a love potion of sorts-”

“I’m well aware of its side effects.” And you were, having heard stories of its potency from your brother. “I had just never seen it in person.”

Azriel huffs, trying hard to keep his face void of emotion. “I’d assume then that you know that any intense feelings of pleasure you acted upon while under its influence, were no fault of your own.”

“Let me make one thing absolutely clear, Azriel.” Your voice cut like glass, eyes as sharp as steel. “Anything I did tonight, I did because I wanted to. The bullshit spell does nothing but bring to the surface feelings I already have. I have no regrets about what I have done or will do tonight.” Azriel looks as though he is swallowing a mouthful of marbles.

“Right,” he hastily stands, “I suppose now that you are feeling…better, I should probably let you get some sleep.” He treads to the door, head low, shadows tight against his silhouette.

You should let him go, let you both stew overnight, and then try talking again. It is the smart thing to do. In spite of that, you curse your horny mouth as it opens and words fly out, “Who says I’m feeling better?”

He freezes two paces from the door. Whipping around to face you again, his eyes are alight with panic. You pull your stilled hand out of your shorts and sit up. The blanket pools at your waist, your puckered nipples on full display from underneath your shirt. Your hand, still coated in your slick shines under the fae light. He looks from your face to your chest, to your sex-slicked hand and back again. He blinks and his nostrils flare, likely scenting the new wave of arousal that was coursing through your veins.

In a flash he is back at your bedside, the back of his hand coming up and resting on your forehead. He is mumbling to himself. Cauldron, he’s having more mood swings than I am. “Care to share what the Hell you’re doing Azriel?”

“It must have been laced with something else,” he grimaces, “another tonic or elixir maybe. Something to increase potency,” he swallows. “Did you… finish when you were in the kitchen?”

“You were there, Az… You saw me… You know I did.”

“Well, it’s not a matter of your partner reaching completion. If Elain and Cassian both-”

You were unnerved that he knew about Elain as well. “Az, what are you trying to tell me?”

“Maybe you need to, erm, try again? Or perhaps, it is Nesta and not Cassian you truly desire? Perhaps if you-”

“Azriel. Stop with your nonsense ramblings.”

“No, Y/N. You don’t understand! Something must be wrong. Your desires should be satiated by now. Once you bedded the true object of your affection, the potion was supposed to wear off.” His eyes met yours, and you could see that his mind was running a mile a minute. He was still upset, but now concern sat at the front of his mind.

“I assume you tried with Elain first, and when that didn’t relieve your symptoms, you finally gave in to your basal instincts and realized it was Cassian, not Elain you truly desired.” Anger clouded your vision as he continues to spew utter garbage. “But you should be feeling better after your session in the kitchen. I should wake Rhys, perhaps he-”

You vault up to a kneeling position, shoving him with both hands. He staggers back a step.

“The hell you will! Do. Not. Wake my brother. What would be your plan for that anyways? ‘Oh Rhys, wake up! Your sister can’t stop fucking the other members of your Court! Oh please Rhys, come and get your little sister under control before she gets her horny over us all’ Ya, great plan Az.” Your eyes are burning with rage now, and your cunt pulses with a heartbeat of its own. You were yelling and you couldn’t make yourself stop. “Even so, everything I did tonight was something everyone involved consented to. There was no primal urge forcing me to finger fuck myself for hours, to fuck Elain, to ride Cassian. It was me. I wanted those things, and they wanted them too. And it was beautiful and passionate, and intense. I desired them all, hell I still do.” You take a deep breath. “But, did you, even for one second use your tiny brain to think that maybe Elain or Cassian or Nesta aren’t the dominant object of my affection? You stupid Illyrian brute.”

“Who’s left Y/N? Who? Who could it possibly be? Amren? Lucien?” Azriel’s hands fist into the blankets on your bed, his shadows flying, his words disjointed as his mind can’t stop racing. He doesn't notice that he too is now yelling. “Oh, it’s Lucien, isn’t it? I know you used to fuck but come on-”

“IT'S YOU, YOU INSOLENT ASSHOLE.”

Time stops as you watch the shadowsinger’s mask crack. You see a hundred different emotions ripple across his face, joy, wonder, thrill and love? But then you also see, confusion, anger, jealousy, betrayal, sorrow, and disgust. “Y/N,” he whispers, voice horse and cracked, “Y/N, you don’t want me- you can’t want me.”

“For Cauldron’s sake Azriel, I have loved you for the last two centuries! I wept and pined for you as you obsessed over Mor, and then I agonized over you as your affection turned to Elain. Not that I can blame you-”

“I have no interest in Elain.” He declares, eyes locked on yours. “I never did.”

“Bullshit.” You snort, “I’ve seen the way you stare at her, the way you follow her around-”

“I stared because you stared, Y/N. I followed because you followed. Elain is lovely, but it was you, not I, who obviously fell for her charms.”

You are at a loss for words now. Your jaw twitches. What does this mean? He wasn’t watching Elain. He doesn’t love Elain. Your entire body felt aflame. Sweat was gathering at the base of your neck leaving your hair damp. You wanted to combust, thigh trembling at this admission. Your nipples are taut, pressing tightly against your top. Your breath is shaky, “What are you telling me Azriel?”

“I-I, okay look,” Azriel grinds his teeth, “It doesn’t matter. What I’m telling you is that you are mistaken. It is not me you want.” He takes a step closer to you, his knees grazing the edge of your bed.

“Oh, I’m mistaken?” You lift yourself higher on your knees, edging closer to the Illyrian in front of you.

“Yes.”

You can feel his breath on your face.

“Then prove it.”

His lips crash down onto yours. The kiss is hard and rough, but his lips are as soft as velvet. His hands are at your waist, and he is pulling you up until you are flush with his chest. You gasp, and Azriel’s tongue surges forward into your open mouth, dominating your tongue with his own. Your hands snake up to his hair and pull hard at his black curls, bringing his body even closer to yours.

You pull both of your bodies back towards the bed, lips never separating. You work to unfasten his leathers, as you do. Agile fingers make quick work, and soon his chest is bare and heaving, his tattoos stark against his skin under the fae light. Tiny scars dance across his torso as his muscles ripple, and he pulls you to the head of the bed. He kneels above you now, one knee between your legs, hands resting on either side of your head as he braces himself. He begins to pull away from the kiss, so you nip his lip, a shrill whine leaving your throat. A bead of bright red blood wells on his lip. His eyes open, and you see that his pupils are blown wide. He watches your tongue dart out to lick the crimson ichor. His mouth clashes with yours once again, his body pinning you to the bed, as the coppery tang of blood mixes in your mouths. The elixir in your veins sings at the taste of his blood. Him. The very taste you craved.

You roll your hips against him and you can feel the bulge in his pants. Azriel growls, and he brings a hand down to your hips to halt your movements. His hand then travels up your body, leaving a burning trail up to the edge of your shirt. His hand stills for but a moment and you lift your back off of the bed in answer. Your lips separate once more as his hands pull the thin material up and over your head. He beholds your naked flesh as if he were a male damned to the gallows. As if you would be the last sight he sees. You hear him mutter under his breath, a plea or a prayer, but you can’t quite make it out.

“Az.”

He unleashes himself on you.

His lips devour yours, a battle of teeth and tongues. His mouth moves down your neck, leaving hard wet kisses in his wake. He reaches the crook of your neck, mouth suckling your skin. His teeth brush the bruise that is forming there. And then he is clamping his teeth into your flesh. The force of the bite makes your body tremble. The sharp pain causes a scream to rip through your lungs, your hands fly up to grasp his shoulder blades, your nails shredding against his skin. The pain fades to a deep throb, pulsing in time with your needy cunt.

Your neck stings as his mouth pulls away. He offers you a smirk and you can see your blood in his mouth. He’s on you again, lips trailing down your collarbone to the valley between your breasts. His tongue trails lazy strokes against your dewy flesh before his lips clamp around one of your pert nipples. He groans at the taste of your flesh, his tongue flicking against it. You let out a shriek of ecstasy, your hips bucking up against his groin. You thrust against him, desperate for friction. His hand gives your other breast a rough squeeze in response.

“Please Az. I need you.” You were gasping the words, stuttering with every hard suck, “I need you inside me. Now.”

His lips leave your breast with a diabolical pop. “Patience, little one.” A small smile graces his lips, “Not until I’ve tasted your sweet cunt.”

The weight of his body leaves you, but before you can question him, you feel two strong hands clamp around your ankles, pulling you to the edge of the bed. Azriel’s thumbs hook into the waistband of your shorts, and they quickly join the pile of discarded clothes on the floor.

You lay completely bare before him. He spreads your legs, and he falls to his knees, eyes in line with your dripping cunt. Your arousal has seeped down your thighs and to the bedsheets below. He utters your name in worship as he lowers his mouth to your core.

He feasts like a man starved, drowning in your arousal as your thighs clamp around his head, your core pulsing with the need to be filled. His tongue flicks against your clit, sending shockwave after shockwave of pleasure through you. His scarred hands clamp around your thighs as he pulls you impossibly closer. His tongue thrusts into your hole and you see white. You are so close to the edge, so close to climax.

“Az-. Az! Please, Please Cauldron, please. I’m close.” You’re moaning, pulling at his hair to make him look up at you. “Please, I want to cum with your inside me.”

His fingers lessen their grip, and his mouth leave your sex. His lips are glistening with your juices, as his hands travel to the buckles at his thigh, removing the sheath containing Truth-Teller, next he works the ties of his boots and pants, both are quickly discarded. With a tug of his undershorts, the Spymaster of the Night Court stands before you in all of his glory, and he is magnificent.

His cock throbs against his stomach as he watches you watch him. He fists his rock-hard length and he looks at you with a question burning in his eyes, giving you a chance to turn him away. But you need him, you burn for him.

“I need you inside of me Azriel.” You can feel the head of his cock brush against your folds, your head falling back and you whine at the contact, “Fuck me. Gods fuck me.” His cock rubs against your sex a few more times, your slick lubricating his length, and then he is slowly pushing inside of you.

Your cunt stretches, and you’re not sure if you’re moaning in pain or in rapturous pleasure. He stills for a moment, halfway inside you, letting your body acclimate to his thick member. He leans down and leaves a chaste kiss against your lips.

“Ready?” he asks, voice low, strained with the effort to remain still.

“Yes.”

He pulls his cock out all the way out, and with a buck of his hips, completely sheaths himself inside of you. Again and again, his hips slam against yours, cock pistoning in and out of you. His cock fills you completely, your cunt stretched as far as it can, and each vein along his shaft rubs deliciously against you. The tip of his cock brushes against your spongey tissue and you whail in bliss.

“Harder.”

He complies, his hips fracturing against your pelvis, driving him further inside of you. Your hands reach around and grab his ass, driving him even deeper. The fae lights are flickering in and out, the bed is shaking, cracking against the wall, and you are screaming, and screaming, insane from the pleasure.

You plummet over the edge, wailing his name as your orgasm cleaves you in two.

Azriel follows you over the cliff, his wings flare wide, and he lets out a roar as his thick cum paints your insides. His pace begins to slow as he continues to thrust in and out, prolonging your pleasure. He stills inside of you but doesn’t pull out immediately, taking his time to fully unsheath himself, savouring the feeling of you around him.

“Y/N…” his voice is hoarse. He starts to pull away, but you just lean in and capture his lips with another kiss.

“Let’s talk about what this means later Az. For now,” your eyes shine bright in the moonlight and it takes his breath away, “for now, can you just hold me?” He nods and swallows hard. Shimming up to the head of the bed, you both slide under your covers, he tucks you into his side, arm draped around your waist. Your head rests on his chest, and you breathe in the scent of his sweat and musk.

You can feel his come slowly trickle down your leg.

You feel complete and satiated. The roar in your veins from the potion has gone, left in its place was love. Your eyes feel heavy and you begin to drift off to sleep. “Told you so,” you mumble. You’re fast asleep now, and miss the look of regret that crosses the Shadowsingers face.

Hours later you awaken to an empty bed.

#elain archeron #nessian x reader #nesta x cassian x reader #nesta x cassian #elain archeron x reader #cassian acotar #cassian x reader #lucien x reader #azriel x reader #acotar #acotar fanfiction #love potion

903 notes · View notes