#you blog about fearless a lot

[essperrion]

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but.. Despite how I present myself to be brave and fearless, I actually do get scared, a lot..—"

"But when I met you, suddenly it all became.. More bearable?.."

"Well, until tonight, the entire time you were gone, I felt more.. Scared, and I've kinda forgot about that feeling ever since we met.."

"Listen, my point is, everything just feels, y'know.. Better when you're by my side, so I HIGHLY doubt I'd leave you for those worker drones.."

"Look, comforting words aren't my strong suit.. So to prove my word, I promise that I will never leave you, okay, N?"

"And I hope you can do the same thing for me, you're actually quite fun to be around.. And I.. Want you to stay with me too, promise?"

Fanart of Serial Designation Z / Uzi from @lumineary-arts Swap AU!! This AU really cured my art block lol, and it's really interesting too! Go check out her art on her blog :] (I'm so sorry if this is far from S/D Z's actual personality)

#murder drones swap au #murder drones uzi #murder drones au

[faintedlcve]

Hey babe! Absolutely adore your writing! Do you have any recs?

Thanks! And yes! I'm so glad you asked. There's a lot though so it's gonna be a bit long x

Theodore Nott

@cassiopeiasdaughter : an exceptional writer, their Theodore Nott fics based on midnight songs are the best! Wish them good luck on their uni exams and check out their awesome blog xx

Here are some of my personal favourites from their blog:

August: Theo asks you to be his fake-girlfriend but you understand the assignment a little too well.

Fearless: Based on the song fearless by Taylor Swift.

Maroon: A diary entry written during the War based on the song maroon by Taylor Swift.

Check out their other midnights collection entries!

@avalynlestrange: another great writer! one of the best angst writers on this platform in my opinion x they also write mattheo Riddle fics

These ones are my favourite:

@the0doreslover: in love with their Theo fics!

Foolish one: In which you know you’re being foolish in liking Draco but will you finally learn your lesson? Theodore certainly hopes you do.

In my head: In which Theodore Nott is the man of your dreams. Literally. Who is his?

My favourite one is Cooking class xx

Here are a few Theodore Nott fics from writers who's blogs aren't all about Theo xx

I think he knows: you had fancied the mysteriously quiet slytherin boy for as long as you could remember (since first year), and, quite frankly, your best friend was sick of you going on about it without ever making a move

Now, I did some digging and @dreamcubed writes about other hp characters as well based on songs by Taylor Swift! Their work is amazing so go check them out! Sorry for the late mention, I just checked and realised that they have like a blog that revolves around hp characters xx

Electric touch: a cute guy stumbles into the coffee shop you work at and it alters your brain chemistry.

I thought you knew:“i thought you knew?” “you thought i knew we were dating?” “yes!” “how would i know that, nott, you never told me.”

Want you: Based on the following prompts: Why do you always look at me like that?” “Like what?” “Like you… Want me.”  and "he doesn't even deserve to be breathing the same air as you"

Butterfly Love: Despite witnessing the death of his mother and being forced to grow under the watch of his Death Eater father, Theodore Nott is living proof that love and care bloom even in the most barren conditions. Maybe, they flourish even more.

Mattheo Riddle

@suugarbabe: their fics are absolutely magnificent. I recommend their saving grace series x the rest parts can be found on their blog x

These are some of my personal favourites:

Always: You & Theo have been best friends since year 1. Everyone things you and Theo are going to end up together but both of you like different people.

Drawings: based on prompts 'i never knew that about you...it's cute' and 'i can't believe I've never seen this side of you before'

Oblivious: contains smut Based on prompts "Are you really so oblivious?" And "Can I kill him now?"

@happilykrispypirate: another fabulous writer! Their mattheo angst fics are like the best x the mistake and don't touch her are my favourite xx

Some of my favourite mattheo fics are listed below x:

Black Quill: You never liked Umbridge, but who did? The woman was miserable and cruel. Her power in the school grew day after day.

Mattheo finds you crying alone: Imagine crying alone in the Astronomy Tower, hoping to escape everyone but Mattheo finds you

Torment : Reader is constantly bullied. Mattheo saves her from the bullies.

Everything and nothing: 1 2: where mattheo brings along a girl none of your group is fond of. Especially you. And the timing of it all is horrible.

Draco Malfoy

@talesofadragon: they have amazing fics and their fluff stories are the best! Check them out for Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes fics as well if you're interested xx

These are my favourite Draco fics by them. Their Draco masterlist is here.

Even if it's dark: Summary: Despite being raised in a traditional pureblood household with an overly abusive father, Y/N Y/L/N teaches Draco that light can exist even in the darkest of places.

Mittens: When Draco is in a foul mood and unwilling to disclose his problems, Y/N resorts to her animagus form to get him to talk. 

@fallingforfictionalcharacterss: whenever I feel like I'm going to go back to my Draco phase I read their fics! Another really good angst writer x Their fics are so cool and I love them xx some of their fics I love:

Falling: Where you are falling for the one boy who is known to break every girl´s heart.

False friends and true love: Where you get into a fight with your best friend and she reveals your feelings for a certain boy in front of everybody.

Ruin your life: Why would you kiss out of all the people the boy you hate the most in this world?

@dreamingonfilm: another great writer! Their fluff fics are my favorite! These are some I love by them:

Pretending: in which you watch Draco as he falls out of love with you

Cramps: In which Draco takes care of you whilst you’re on your period.

Bruises: 1 2: After years of being bullied by Draco, you finally stand up for yourself. However, you left him with more than a bloodied cheek and a bruised jaw.

Some other fics that I love:

Amortentia: the rest parts can be found on that post. Summary: Pansy forces a secret out of you, and you’re strongly debating which curse/jinx to use on her.

Unforgivable: Where y/n gets poisoned because of draco's behaviour

Taylor Swift

This is random but if you want someone to talk to Taylor Swift about, check out @annaisabookworm. They're super sweet and supportive and their blog is about Taylor Swift xx I love their posts x

#fic recs #theodore nott x you #theodore nott fluff #theodore nott x reader #theo x reader #theo fluff #theodore x reader #mattheo riddle fluff #mattheo x reader #mattheo riddle x y/n #mattheo riddle x you #mattheo riddle x reader #mattheo riddle #draco malfoy x you #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy #mattheo riddle angst #taylor swift #theo nott x reader #mattheoxreader #mattheo x y/n #mattheo x you #draco lucius malfoy

[lettersfromaphrodite]

«it's high tide, baby.»

― pairing : Minho x fem!Reader ― content warnings : fantasy au, pirate au, angst with a happy ending, enemies to friends to lovers, soulmates (I know you saw it coming), isekai, LOTS of pop culture references (two aldo giovanni and giacomo’s references italian readers this is for you), magic au,  mention of murder, mention of drowning, unprotected sex (wrap it up y’all), fantasy au  ― word count : 24k ― notes : I sure do hope you’ve read Chris’ merman fic because I’m feeding on my own lore // Ananke is meant as the greek goddess of fate // extra kudos to Black Desert for having an amazing map and kudos to me for using the videogame aesthetic because I don’t have enough creativity in me to come up with a fantasy world // I have one (1) fear and that's I'll keep adding more and more everytime I read this story because it's just so dear and precious to me // yes, yes "The Bitter Dahlia" is exactly the one mentioned in «Protect Me, My Aurora.»

― notes : this fic looks familiar?it is! I’m reposting ALL my works on this brand new blog and therefore please, bear with me! as always, askbox is always open and feedbacks are always welcome 💌

― summary : 

«I think I’ve never missed Cleo so much.» you quietly sniffled. «Your lover?» Minho questioned immediately. «My cat.» you clarified without hesitation.

“«Everything is over, now.» the Captain spoke in a confident voice, «I won’t let anyone else hurt you.» he added, before capturing his lover’s lip in a gentle kiss.” «Oh, holy fuck,» you blurted out as soon as you read that sentence, closing the book out of instinct, «holy shit, finally!» you added to yourself, almost closing the book out of excitement, completely aware about the fact that you were smiling like an idiot at no one but the now finished book in your lap but well, you couldn’t help yourself.

It was a book you’ve randomly found in the book-store next to your workplace, its cover had nothing special that immediately jumped to the eye: it was relegated in leather, some golden details that recalled the title written in beautiful handwriting. Actually, if you had to be completely honest, the detail that convinced you to buy it was the small golden stone embedded right under the title, instead of the actual plot – plot that in the end you came to adore.

«You are really lucky, this is the only copy that has been sent to us.» had said the old lady working there, making you furtherly curious and giving you another reason to buy it.

It was a love story, but it contained just the right amount of adventure as well. Christopher, a young, handsome and fearless pirate, was not only the Captain of the Golden Fleece – who was capable of intimidating anyone who saw its sails in the distance, but he had become the head of the entire commercial network that passed through all the known seas. Chris had at least 200 fleets under his command, each of them committing various raids in the name of their Captain - or some might say "the King of Pirates", and now was able to sail wherever he wanted without getting his hands dirty as he had done in the past.

During his adventures, he eventually fell in love with a girl – Leana, who was originally engaged with a navy’s soldier; after an awful lot of vicissitudes and obstacles in the path of their happiness, Christopher eventually stole her away – he’s a pirate after all, making her a member of his crew and finally allowing each other to live their so craved love story.

Of course, the Captain would have never made it alone; his seven long time friends had always been more than ready to help him and support him in every case of need.

Among his crew, you definitely had a personal favourite: Lee Minho, a young former bounty hunter enamoured with the feeling of freedom he felt while sailing that definitely made your heart race more than once. Not only he was described as handsome, with black raven hair that would almost always be tied up because he "hated the feeling of having hair in his face while being on deck" - but also not wanting to cut it short, a captivating and hypnotic gaze that let you wonder if you could reach the bottom of the sea if you ever took a dive into them, but he was also straightforward and sarcastic, a reason why Christopher found himself asking for Minho’s advice the most; despite his strong personality, he truly cared for his friends, and he considered them like a family. Chapter by chapter, you found yourself admiring his character so much that you anticipated every one of his appearances, eager to read more about him.

«Oh, Cleo, can you imagine a love like this?» you sighed dreamily, absently running your fingers through your cat’s thick fur, Cleo simply mewled at you, a faint noise that you interpreted as a proper answer, «or a life like this.» you added, your voice suddenly turning a little more hesitant, a little more lonelier. During the last few months, your life had fallen into an incredibly boring and obnoxious loop: go to work, finish your shift with an incredible amount of stress spreading through your body just to stop in order to buy groceries on your way home, see some friends once in a while, take care of your cat and repeat, repeat, repeat.

Of course, you would have felt a lot lonelier if it weren’t for Cleo: you found her sitting in front of your apartment complex on a random day two years ago and since then she started living with you, as if she had been expressively been waiting for you to find her that day.

«You always look angry, don’t you?» you cooed at her, hoisting her into your lap as to cuddle her a little closer. «Just like your mom.» you referred to yourself, shortly drowning your face in her soft fur, loudly smooching her a few times while adding some incomprehensible praises; Cleo mewled, as if she was exasperated at your behaviour and you quietly giggled, your soft laughter shifting into a sigh as your eyes fell on the book once again.

“I was really lucky to get the only copy of this,” you definitely had loved everything about the story, to the point to start fantasizing and wondering what could their next adventure be now that the crew gained a new very special member. Did Chris and Leana got married in an actual chapel or did they ask someone in their crew to randomly marry them just like Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner did? At the same time, what if they ended up recruiting more women? The thought of a stereotypical girls night on a pirate ship made you snort, but at least, Leana wouldn't have felt lonely, since living among men must have been boring at some point.

Engrossed in your thoughts, you didn’t realize that you ended up drifting off on your couch – still uncomfortably wearing your jeans, and therefore, you definitely could not notice about the strange events occurring as soon as sleep overcame your senses.

The book you were holding in your hand seemed to be woken up by a curious kind of magic, as the golden stone began to glow in a faint light; the book opened by itself just as if it possessed personal will, and its pages quickly turned back and forth by themselves, as if it was deciding which page to read first.

The book’s golden glow gradually seemed to shine brighter and brighter, and it eventually woke you up.

«What the-» you mumbled, confused, when you felt as if someone or something was harshly tugging at your soul and all of a sudden, you felt like you couldn’t breathe anymore.

The book had closed once again, politely placing itself on your coffee table; the glowing had completely disappeared, and the golden stone returned to its original plain looking appearance.

However, in what has always been your home, all traces of your presence seemed to have vanished altogether.

Suddenly drowning was definitely not something you expected to happen on a Thursday evening, moreover, how could you be drowning when you’ve been reading on your couch until few seconds ago?

At first you thought of it as an extremely vivid dream, but as soon as you tried to breathe and water started to fill your lungs, you realized that your only priority was to get to the surface as soon as you could; thankfully, you were barely beneath the surface, so you managed to get your head out of the water soon enough, while finally breathing and coughing due to the salt water you had unintentionally swallowed.

«What the fuck?!» you shouted in disbelief, quickly glancing around yourself; first of all, judging by the sun burning up in the sky, it was the middle of the day, and moreover,  everywhere you turned, you couldn’t see anything but water, except for an enormous galleon blocking part of your sight.

«Man at sea!» you heard many voices shout from its deck, and soon enough, a rope was thrown in your direction.

“What kind of rescue is this, where is the coast guard?” you thought to yourself as you swam towards the rope which was peacefully floating above the surface, unsure about how you were supposed to climb up there in the first place.

However, the answer to your thoughts came pretty fast, in the form of a boy dressed in typical piratesque clothes, urging you to grab his hand; you quickly pondered your options, and between dying from hypothermia caused by the cold water or probably being abducted and eventually killed by a boy with a strange taste in clothing, you considered the latter to be the safest.

«Everything’s fine now, don’t worry.» the boy reassured you with an unexpected friendly tone, and as soon as you locked eyes with him, your heart seemed to stop; his eyes were a deep shade of blue, while his hair, eyebrows and his eyelashes were as white as fresh snow.

Although you were completely certain that you’ve never met him before, you couldn’t help but wonder why his appearance was extremely familiar to you.

«Are you okay?» «How did you end up so far from land?» «She’s trembling like a leaf, poor soul.» «Let’s just throw her back in.» «Shut up, Minho, go fetch a blanket before she freezes to death.» «Can’t you see she looks shocked? Let her breathe!» «What in the bloody hell is she wearing?» The various voices overlapped in the exact moment in which you and the snow white boy had safely climbed on deck; however, everything you could do was to look around yourself in complete astonishment.

A large group of men was working on the ship, while only seven of them and a young girl were paying attention to your arrival; your eyes quickly took in both the strangers and your surroundings, and you definitely noticed that not only they were all dressed like pirates, but the ship seemed to be built exactly like one of those you generally saw in movies, historical re-enactments or museums.

«Oh no, roleplayers.» you whined in complete deject; they exchanged a confused glance among themselves, but eventually, only one of them spoke.

«I believe you’re confused, we’re pirates.» he clarified, and once again, his features seemed to be incredibly familiar, «I’m Chris, the Captain. She is Leana, my wife, and these are my friends.» you watched with dismay as Chris ended up naming his friends just like the characters of the novel you have been reading all afternoon.

«Oh holy shit, it’s even worse, cosplayers.» you nervously rubbed your eyes, shivering every now and then because of the wind mercilessly blowing on your soaked clothes.

«Poor thing, look at her!» Leana suddenly cooed, immediately rushing at your side and taking her jacket off in order to place it on your shoulders, «She’s freezing, let’s save the introductions for later, huh?»

«What if she’s a spy?» Jisung questioned, but his option was immediately silenced by Leana’s glare.

«In the middle of the ocean, Han?» she quickly retorted with sarcasm dripping from her tone, «What if it was mutiny?» she scoffed, gently pushing you to what seemed to be the Captain’s quarter, just to quickly make you sit in front of the small wood burning stove.

The following events seemed to happen in a confusing haze, you vividly remembered Leana commenting about her unfamiliarity with both the style and the fabric of your clothes as you allowed her both to undress you and to dress you up in fresh, warm clothes that belonged to her. Of course, now you were dressed like a pirate as well.

«What do you mean, you’re from Europe?» Chris had calmly repeated your words, «What kind of place is that?» you felt like crying out of frustration at his words. Under the Captain’s request Leanahad brought you into the ship’s interrogation room, and now you were sitting there, the whole room definitely smelling like blood – the strong scent more than enough to give you a headache, with nine pairs of eyes studying every single one of your moves.

«I don’t really feel like joking right now, I really want to go back home.» you repeated with a tired voice, not really understanding what was happening; it was like you had casually walked in the set of a movie, however, a terrifying feeling of dread creeping in your soul was suggesting you that there was definitely more to it. What if these people were real, and you had managed to shift inside the book you loved so much? No, that definitely couldn’t be the case, right?

«I don’t really feel like joking either, little lady,» in an impatient tone, Minho spoke out of the blue and quickly walked next to Chris, who was sitting in front of you at the other side of the table. If your heart picked up pace in happiness at the sight of your favourite character, it started hammering in your chest in pure dread as soon as Minho harshly planted his dagger in the wooden table, right in front of your folded hands. «next up is your tongue.»

«Nice work on terrifying her, Min Min.» Felix sarcastically commented his friend’s action, noticing how you started trembling once again, but this time everyone could easily figure out that it wasn’t because of the cold any longer.

«You cut her tongue, she can't talk, it's not that hard,» someone added, and if you weren't mistaken, he must have been Hyunjin, «see why I'm the one that usually handles the interrogation part?» he added with a sinister yet smug smile, and you had to force yourself to swallow that little bit of saliva you felt in your mouth, trying to avoid eye contact with both the pirates who were so casually talking about torture and interrogations.

«What if she drank too much sea water?» Seungmin chimed in, after he had been studying your behaviour with concern, «You know, in my medical books there are plenty of examples of people suffering from amnesia due to a huge amount of shock.» he suggested, and everyone seemed to consider that it could have been your case, with the only exception for Minho, who was staring at you with a look that you could swear that had probably killed someone at some point.

«We are currently sailing the Margoria Sea,» Chris spoke again, his voice a little kinder now that he had considered Seungmin’s suggestion, «and you’re on our pirate ship, the Golden Fleece.»

“Margoria,” you thought, “of course, in this universe, she's the goddess of the waves” you bit the inside of your cheek in frustration as you tried to convince yourself not to cry, recalling the exact moment the same goddess had been mentioned in the novel.

The more you thought about it, the more the surreal possibility of you shifting inside a book seemed to be the only possible answer to your list of infinite questions, especially because if those people really were cosplayers or actors, they would have eventually broken their act due to seeing you in the verge of having a panic attack. Moreover, the author had always been extremely descriptive in every single detail of the story,  and therefore you found it a little bit too much of a strange coincidence for these people to naturally have the same somatic traits as the characters you had just finished reading about. It was undeniable that the people standing in front of you were the stark copy of the ones described in the book.

Few hours later, Chris’ authoritative voice filled the Captain’s quarters, and your eyes eagerly wandered through the room; you’ve read about this moment a lot of times, Chris would summon his long time friends in his quarters and they’d discuss what to do because he valued their opinion as if it was his own.

«Just, what is she doing there?» Minho spoke suddenly, clearly referring to your presence in the quarters; due to your first meeting, you were extremely wary about meeting his gaze, let alone the possibility of crossing his path by accident.

Actually, it’s not like destiny was working in your favour, since you were nervously standing in front of the wooden wall and next to Minho. Everything about your body language exposed how nervous you were about it: your arms were crossed in front of your chest, and you kept your legs spread just a tiny bit – enough to have a slight chance to attempt to sprint away if he randomly started to chase you in order to throw you off the deck.

«I swear Chris entrusted her to me literally two seconds ago,» Felix replied, eagerly waving his hand as if it could make his point even clearer, «pay attention when the Captain is speaking!» he snapped his fingers, admonished his friend, and you found yourself exhale the faintest trace of the hint of a brief laughter through your nose.

However, much to your dismay, you quickly realized that Minho’s hearing must have been otherworldly, since the barely audible noise you made did not go unnoticed by his ears, consequently making your face turn blank as soon as you felt his gaze burning into the side of your head. Hesitantly, you slowly turned your head to your right, confirming that Minho was most definitely staring at you; out of reflex, you immediately looked away, just to glance back at him for a short second.

Minho, who had been staring at you, secretly pleased about the fact that you seemed scared enough not to try some stupid tricks on them, shortly uncrossed his arms from the front of his chest, just to slightly lean towards you: he quickly mimicked the gesture of grabbing something with his hands, while mimicking a bite with his mouth at the same time. Instinctively, you rapidly tilted your head back as you followed your survival instinct, but you heavily slammed your head against the wooden wall behind you.

«Ow!» you winced in pain, grabbing the back of your head with both hands; you were certain that the impact you just felt was more than enough to give you a headache for days, and still, despite Leana immediately rushed at your side to see if you were okay, and despite the fact that you were crouching on the floor massaging your head, Minho kept his original position, staring in front of him as if nothing had happened.  

Seungmin was right behind Leana, attentively cradling your head to see if you actually managed to hurt yourself; unbeknownst to you, Seungmin was actually holding back an amused laughter, since it has definitely been a while since he met someone as clumsy as you.

A couple of days later almost everyone seemed to have accepted you as a new entry of the crew; actually, you considered yourself lucky since most of the pirates on board seemed to not even notice your presence. Of course, you ended up going along with the amnesia excuse because the whole “you look like you all popped up from a book I’ve been reading and I’m trying to understand if I’m having a very vivid dream or I ended up shifting on accident but I actually didn’t really mean it and now I want to go back.” would have been definitely too troublesome to explain. Most importantly, you didn’t feel ready to process what could have happened to you but also, you didn’t want to face the realization that you had suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere, without a real possibility to get back home safely.

Honestly you were pretty much useless on a pirate ship, and therefore you ended up in the kitchen, either helping Felix and the other cooks in their task of preparing the food or just cleaning and preparing the room where the pirates formed small groups and took turns to have their meals.

If the truth was that you really ended up in a novel, you had to admit that everyone beside Minho acted accordingly to their character. Chris and Leana acted as two lovebirds, completely smitten with each other; you rarely saw them – let’s guess why, but they overall seemed to act friendly towards you. Leana had eagerly helped you decorate the room that had been assigned to you, it was a little small and right next to the storage room – the window was wide enough for you to escape just in case, but it was perfectly okay to you, since you were hoping that you wouldn’t have to remain on the ship for too long.

Since Leana seemed to trust you, so did Chris; despite the fact that you’ve interacted only a handful of times, he seemed as reliable as he had been portrayed in the novel.

Felix and Seungmin were definitely the ones you’ve seen the most. Felix was literally acting as your keeper, paying attention to you as if he was a concerned older brother and not someone who you had met few days earlier. Still, you could expect this from him, since he had always been described as the kindest one out of their group – beside Jeongin.

Seungmin had examined your head a concerning amount of times by now, if you were to ask him; actually, he had quickly realized that you were pretending to have headaches only when Minho was around, and he simply got along with it. He treated you with respect, even if he seemed to be a little wary of your presence. «Let’s hope you can get your memories back soon,» he would say, «so that you can return home safely.» you never answered, his words always making your heart tighten as a reflexive answer.

Changbin, Jisung and Hyunjin were almost always nowhere to be seen; thanks to the author you knew that they had a gambling addiction, however, the only times you saw them they were joined by the hips, always joking around with each other – and Minho, always looking too busy to pay too much attention to you.

Jeongin was basically the miniature version of Chris: you knew that the Captain had saved him when he was still a little kid, and since then Jeongin had always followed Chris’ lead. He was the one that seemed to respect you the most, he was also absolutely certain that you must have been a Princess of a faraway land. «I’m really no one.» you would answer every time with an apologetic smile, earning a sad pout from the younger boy.

Minho, however, was openly against the idea of keeping you on board, and often suggested to throw you off the deck as soon as you started being too annoying. You couldn’t understand why he was so mean to you, and you weren’t definitely the only one to notice; more than once, the others had admonished his behaviour, reiterating the fact that he should have been a little bit nicer to you, especially after what you have been through.

«That’s exactly the point, Chris, we don’t know! She could be a siren or just a lunatic witch,» you overheard him argue with the Captain one day, «face it, if that were the case, no one would be immune to her spells, not even your beloved wife.» your hands instinctively clenched on the broomstick you were holding to sweep the floor of the corridors, and your gaze was lost somewhere in the wooden floor.

«She might as well be telling the truth,» you heard Chris answer in his usual calm tone, «I don’t want to deny her a shelter just because she lost her memories, because that sure wasn’t her fault.»

«What are we listening to?» Changbin’s voice right next to your ear almost made you jump out of your skin due to the sudden fright; his eyes widened in stupor as you almost dropped your hold on your broomstick – thing which would have definitely expose the fact that you were overhearing a very secret conversation. Luckily, Changbin’s reflexes were drastically quicker than yours, and so he collected the broomstick just in time, before handing it to you once again with an amused smirk. He placed his ear against the door, quickly connecting the animated argument to your sad expression and he gently smiled to you in an unexpected friendly manner.

«Don't worry too much about it, Ace, he’ll come around.» Changbin briefly stated before walking away, heading back towards the deck at the end of the corridor without uttering another word; you shortly stood there, speechless, staring at his withering shoulders as his silhouette gradually disappeared in the light coming from outside.

“What the hell?” you thought, incredulous: Changbin had barely spoken to you and now he decided to give you a random and most definitely sarcastic nickname and offer you words of comfort, all of a sudden?

“Something bad is definitely gonna happen,” you quickly deduced, going back to your original task; you were about to start sweeping the floor once again, before an ominous aura seemed to fill the packed space of the corridor.

“There it is,” you announced to yourself, refusing to turn around to confirm the suspicion that Minho had left Chris’ chambers, “oh, divine Xena, mighty princess forged in the heat of battle,please help me with this one,” you instinctively moved out of inertia, backing towards the nearest wall as Minho was walking towards your frame.

“Here we go, it’s him!” you dramatically thought, hugging the broomstick to your chest as if your life depended on it, the only shield between you and Minho, who was standing in front of you with his usual furious stare that magically seemed to disappear as soon as his eyes diverted from your general direction.

«I don’t know what you did to have everyone wrapped around your little finger, but that’s not gonna work with me, princess.» Minho spoke with a harsh tone, cornering you against the wall by placing his left hand next to your head; silence fell between the two of you, and you instinctively clenched your fists around the broomstick, just to be able to attempt to defend yourself in some kind of way.

Could you do self defence while using a broom? Of course. Could you defend yourself against Minho, judging the sheer force he used to plant a dagger in a thick wooden table? Of course not.

Minho spent few seconds studying your face with incredible attention, as if, if he stared hard enough, you would transform into a whole different creature, confirming his theories about you. However, Minho momentarily seemed to have forgotten the concept of personal space, because his nose brushed against yours at least twice as you were doing your best to avoid his piercing gaze.

«Now that I take a closer look, you’re definitely not as pretty as a siren.» he suddenly stated with a sly grin while raising his eyebrow, before detaching from you altogether, just to walk towards the deck’s direction.

«And you had to almost kiss me to find out?» you yelled back a little louder than intended as soon as he was at a reasonable distance; to say that you were outraged was an understatement, you were furious.

To think Minho was your favourite character when you were reading the novel, what were you, crazy?

Despite the fact that you were genuinely doing your best to avoid meeting Minho, the pirate was clearly doing the opposite, neutralizing every single one of your good purposes as the two of you seemed to keep running into each other. It didn’t matter whether you were simply doing your assigned chores or you were peacefully chatting with one of the pirates, he always seemed to find something to do in order to get on your nerves; sometimes he would just accidentally knock random things off the table so that you had to pick them up and clean them again, other times he would interrupt a conversation just to be mean at you.

Minho was definitely getting on your nerves, but you did your best not to pay too much attention to him, since you definitely had more important things to think about. Inside your heart, the growing feeling of homesickness was constantly calling for your attention; you often found yourself on the verge of tears, but it was a side of you that you were determined not to show to anyone, thing that lead you to cry yourself to sleep more than once.

The part of the crew assigned to the kitchen, of course, always had their meal before the others did, and more than once it led to your small group of friend to join, and today was not exception. Walking out of the kitchen, you saw Minho, Jeongin, Chris, Jisung and Seungmin sitting at one of the long tables in the room while eating and loudly chatting, and now that Jeongin was hastily and eagerly waving his arm to let you know that you should have sat next to him to have your quick lunch, you realized that yet another time, you couldn’t escape your fate of avoiding Minho as if he was the plague.

«May I, uh...» you walked next to Leana, who was walking towards their table as well; she immediately tilted her head towards you, listening, «May I approach the bitch?» she bursted out laughing really loudly, immediately understanding that you were talking about Minho; however, that happy and hilarious bubble of joy disappeared the same moment you heard Hyunjin’s voice right behind the both of you.

«What did you say?» never did the simple request to repeat something seem more dangerous; you swallowed, feeling your blood turn cold in the same moment the flashback of him mentioning his “interrogation habits” popped into your mind. However, the few weeks you spent living among pirates were teaching you how to build up your courage – or more like “fake it until you make it”, as someone would say.

«I said “may I approach the bench”,» you answered, pretending to be annoyed with the useless repetition of your sentence, nodding towards the long benches that you were using instead of chairs, «what did you think I said?»

The crew was incredibly hungry that day, you could easily tell from the speed at which they ate and the various groups took turns, thing that didn’t give you much occasion to chat with them as you often did; instead, you were frantically walking back and forth from the kitchen, helping two other pirates to deliver food to everyone.

“Maybe if I find a similar book I can get home,” you thought as you absently piled the dirty and empty plates on top of each other before carrying them to the kitchen, just to come back with clean ones, “where am I supposed to find a book in the open sea?” you sighed in deject, not liking the direction of your thoughts.

«I think you missed a spot, princess.» Minho’s arrogant tone caught your attention, and you watched with total unbewildrement the pirate hit the side of one of the wooden jugs placed on the tables, knocking it to the ground and spilling the water on the floor.

As if you were under a magic spell, all the traces of sadness seemed to vanish from your soul, just to be replaced by sheer anger; you were beyond furious, how dare he? He didn’t trust you, and you could understand his point of view; it pained you to admit to yourself that if you were in his shoes, you would have probably done the same. However, you could endure the teasing, you could endure everything he was putting you through but you definitely drew the line at this kind of disrespect. You closed your fist so tightly that you were absolutely sure that your fingertips would feel momentarily numb as soon as you tried to open your hands, and you were certain that your nails were digging a half crescent moon shape in your skin.

However, you and Minho were not the only one left in the room; Hyunjin, Changbin, Chris and few other crew members were not finished eating and therefore, they saw all the scene unfolding.

«Hey, fuck face!» you loudly called out, claiming both Minho and the other’s attention, «I get you feel powerful because you can swing a fucking sword, but you should learn to respect people who are working!» you stood your grounds, ignoring your heart wildly hammering in your chest and the nervousness you felt as soon as Minho stopped walking, just to turn towards you.

«You’re that interested in losing your head, huh?» Minho replied with an undecipherable gaze, quickly walking back towards you.

If there was a god out there, you were certain that they must have glanced towards your direction in that same moment, because right before Minho could close the distance between the two of you, Changbin’s shoulders appeared in your field of view.

«Calm down, buddy,» Changbin was still peacefully chewing on his food as he stopped him, placing a hand on the pirate’s chest, who tilted his head just enough to keep furiously glance at you.

«If we were still home, I would have get you arrested!» you spat, your chest tightening at the thought of your home town but also incredibly thankful to Changbin.

«Again with those stories? You sure do have flowers growing in your head, princess!» Minho immediately answered, trying to walk around Changbin, who was still pushing against his chest.

However, what no one actually expected was for you to actually try to confront Minho from up close, attempting to walk around Changbin as well; honestly, you were too furious to notice that you were about to face a pirate while completely unarmed and not knowing how to fight.

«Easy there,» Hyunjin suddenly spoke with amusement from behind your shoulders, placing his arms under your armpits just to stop you and hold you back.

«Say that to him, not to me!» you tried to free yourself without success; Hyunjin was very strong despite his slim figure and therefore, even when you kicked both your legs in the air while urging him to let you go, he didn’t move the slightest.

«Don’t you think this is the kind of energy we need on board, Binnie?» Hyunjin laughed, eagerly chatting as he had no trouble holding you back; Changbin scoffed a laugh as well, since it’s been a while since he saw Minho getting riled up that easily.

«That’s enough,» Chris’ authoritative voice seemed to be the only thing that could calm the atmosphere; «you, go back to your room.» he told you in a scolding tone.

«What?!» you whined, «I didn’t do anything!» you added, trying to wiggle out of Hyunjin’s hold once again.

«Don’t challenge my authority,» Chris shortly admonished you, his stern gaze not leaving any room to debate his decision, before turning his attention towards Minho, «you’re going to your room as well.»

«What?!» Minho asked in astonishment, not believing his Captain’s orders.

«I don’t want to see the two of you on deck until at least tomorrow morning.» Chris added, and that was your call to understand that the argument was officially over.

Hyunjin had offered to accompany you to your room, and as soon as you were about to walk out the door, you slightly turned towards Minho: you placed your index finger on your lower eyelid, tugging on the skin as you shortly sticked out your tongue as well. Still, you immediately turned around, so that you couldn’t see Changbin struggling not to laugh, reaching out to stop Minho once again, who was glancing at him with a murderous look.

“I want to go home,” you whined to yourself as soon as you were sitting on your bed once again; you laid down on your back, missing the sensation of Cleo immediately walking up and cuddle at your side. You wondered what happened back home, even though you were certain that your cat had found a way out of your apartment, since the window was still open when you had fallen asleep, however, what about your friends? Was someone worried about your sudden disappearance? Moreover, judging by the amount of days that had passed, you had most definitely lost your job.

«Ah, I hope they choose a nice pic of me if I made it to the news as a missing person.» you mumbled to yourself, your gaze lost in the wooden tiles of your ceiling.

“I could draw tiny lines on the wall to count the days I’m spending on here,” the sudden idea popped up in your mind, only for you to abandon it as quickly as it came. First of all, you didn’t have a knife – let alone a dagger or a sword, and therefore it would be impossible for you to engrave marks in the wall, most importantly, what if they found out and you had to repay for the things you’ve damaged? Those were the basic things happening back home, and although you were unsure about various dynamics of the world you were in, you didn’t want to try your luck. Chris looked scary while pissed off, and you read about how cruel he could be, you definitely needed him on your side.

“I could try to run away as soon as we reach the first port,” you wondered, but that option was discarded as well; although touching land was the only thing to confirm the shifting theory, you didn’t know what could have happened if it was the truth. Abduction and prostitution were sadly pretty much real in that world as well, and once again, you decided that the safest option was to stick around Chris and his crew; after all, what could harm you if he was in charge of basically everything and everyone sailing above the water’s surface?

Minho’s menacious glare appeared in your mind, and you reached out to grab the pillow from under your neck just to slam it against your face, “it’s not like I can throw a meteor at him, I’m not Zhongli,”, you thought, before suddenly sitting up in bed. «Who’s going to do my daily commissions in Genshin Impact now?!» you mumbled to yourself, thinking about all the time you’ve spent playing – time that of course had been wasted due to what happened.

Someone knocked on your door, and you genuinely wondered about pretending to be asleep in order to avoid giving explanation about what happened at dinner; nevertheless, you allowed the person in.

«Hi there,» Felix greeted with his usual cheerful tone, «I heard you caused quite a riot today.» he added, placing a small tray with a glass of water and a plate of stew on the small table next to your bed; you sighed, falling back to the bed and hoping that those blankets could swallow your frame and teleport you back home.

«I didn’t do anything, Felix,» you clarified, «Minho just hates me for no reason.» «Well..» «Please, don’t tell me this is the part where you say things like “he hasn’t always been like this”, or something.» you immediately added, preventing him from talking any further.

«Nah, he’s always been like this.» Felix quickly shook his head, sitting on the small mattress and next to your knees; he tapped your thigh twice, telling you to sit up so that you could eat dinner. «Keep up that attitude though, it’s funny to watch.» he chuckled, his face quietly shifting into a concerned frown as he noticed how you kept playing with your food instead of actually eating it.

Maybe from the outside your interactions with Minho were unusual enough to be considered funny, but to you they were incredibly stressful.

First of all, Minho had always been your favourite character, and you would have never imagined that he could despise your presence so much; most importantly, he had always been described as a whole different person, and you found yourself wondering why you wanted to be accepted by him so much. You were aware that late at night the dining room became the meeting point where some pirates gathered to drink and gamble, both because you had read it in the novel and because some sleepless nights you had passed in front of its door as you were walking towards the deck, hearing the echo of thunderous laughter or the loud chatter of the ones who lost and were unhappy with the rules. Sometimes the door wasn’t even completely close, and as you peeked inside on your way through the corridor, you could see Minho joke around and laugh with the others, thing that always made you feel sad and somehow, lonely.

«Aren’t you hungry?» Felix gently asked, noticing how you went silent all of a sudden. «It’s not that funny, though: he acts like I’m going to annihilate everyone while you sleep and well – he basically adores you.» you ignored his question, instead referring to the fact that he was the only one he didn’t threaten to kill anytime Lix called him “Min Min”.

«I’ll tell you a super secret secret,» Felix started to whisper, and you shifted your gaze on his lips, making sure that you could effectively understand what he was about to say, «me and Minho are half brothers.»

«What?!» you immediately shrieked out of disbelief, that was never mentioned in the novel! You clearly recalled their background stories: Minho was a bounty hunter, while Felix was… Felix… Well, he was…

“Now that I think of it, Felix’s past hasn’t been mentioned, not even once.” your questioning gaze met Felix, who eagerly nodded at the silent questions in your eyes.

«Our mother remarried,» he explained, before interrupting himself, «now that I think of it, mom and Minho’s father weren’t married – well, that’s not important.» Felix dismissively waved his hand in front of himself, and for the next hour, you had eventually started eating as you listened to his stories about him and Minho; despite all the times you wanted to clarify that “yes, I already know this part,” you kept silent, smiling at Felix’s eagerness and at the affection towards his brother that you could feel through his words.

«He’s really amazing,» he praised, «he’s always protected me since we were kids – you know, my… hair colour is a bit unusual.» he admitted, recalling the times when Minho would come home covered in bruises because he had protected Felix from being bullied.

«It’s beautiful, though,» you immediately replied, making Felix widen his eyes in sudden surprise, «you look like you've walked out of a fairy tale... and really, it suits you.» you added, making the pirate smile with a sad smile.

«I often said I could dye it, but Minho was always against the idea.» he said, but your attention was focused elsewhere.

“So, hair dye exist in this world as well?” the gears in your brain started to spin and twirl as you thought; once again, it had never been mentioned in the novel, but you thought that the author didn’t need to, since the story revolved around Chris’ point of view.

«Get some rest, princess,» Felix excused himself, collecting the now empty tray as he stood up; you nodded, the side of your lips curling into a small smile at how different the nickname sounded as it was spoken by the two brothers, «I’ll try to talk to him.» he reassured, and for a second, you decided to believe him.

Much to your dismay, nothing had changed after a week, leaving you to your usual routine; however, you had to admit that you barely saw Minho around, and when you did, you adverted your gaze before he could meet yours. It was as if, unlike the first days, he was keeping his distance as well, and you were grateful to Felix for it. “If you can’t defeat them, become their friend, some said!” you thought, “well, I failed miserably.”

Felix was now basically what you could call your best friend, as he had declared more than once; he always insisted for you to sit next to him when you were eating, and once you were finished with your daily chores, he would explain the most random things to you. Actually, you were incredibly grateful to him because you were finally able to tie a knot on a rope, thing which would have come handy if you ever decided to escape.

Most importantly, you and Felix had something really particular in common, and that was your admiration towards Chris’ and Leana’s relationship. The poor couple could have been simply standing in front of each other talking about the most random things and you would say something like «they’re so pretty I could punch myself in the face,» immediately echoed by Felix that would reply «wait for it, he’s gonna move a strand of hair behind her ear because of the wind,» and the both of you would dreamily coo at them as Chris did exactly what Felix had predicted.

Seungmin was still visiting you every now and then – mostly when you pretended that your head hurt because you saw Minho appearing out of nowhere and he was definitely too close for comfort, but nonetheless he spent most of his days in his study.

Jeongin was mostly spending his time with Seungmin, now, the older pirate insisting that he needed an assistant because he was tired to everything on his own, and Jeongin eagerly following his orders.

Jisung, Changbin and Hyunjin were now seeing you in a whole different light: the day you fearlessly challenged Minho seemed to have made you earn their respect, and they often tried to lure you into joining a gamble match with them. «Thanks, but I don’t know the rules,» you dismissively answered every time, and as soon as one of them suggested they could teach you, you immediately added that you didn’t have anything valuable you could gamble on.

Leana was more or less, an addiction to the piece of furniture in your small room; anytime she wasn’t with Chris, she would keep you company, telling you about the most various and dangerous adventures they have lived while sailing. You eagerly listened to her, often interrupting her to ask for more details, thing that she never seemed to mind, answering your question with the same eagerness. Leana’s stories were a perfect indicator for you to deduce that between what happened in the book and your arrival on the ship, at least three years seemed to have passed; years in which Chris’ domain on the sea had become even more clear.

«It’s like being on of those cruise ships; no one dares attacking us and we can do whatever we want to, I love it.» she confessed, voicing her hopes about you liking being on board as well; you didn’t trust yourself, and therefore you simply nodded.

«Come on, girls night,» Leana had announced one day as she sat on your bed, and you furrowed your eyebrows in obvious reluctance, familiar with the concept of her words; «has anyone caught your eye?» Leana’s eyes seemed to glimmer in curiosity, and you found yourself sigh in deject.

«Yes, I mean, no.» you spoke, unclear, confusing yourself as well. What were you supposed to say? You’ve never looked at anyone under that particular light, after all!

“Well, actually…” you immediately stopped the train of your thoughts: Minho was undoubtedly charming and handsome, but he was behaving like a complete jerk towards you, and therefore you sighed, resigning yourself to your fate as you met Leana’s curious gaze.

«Minho is cute, but don’t tell him I said so, I particularly like my head attached to my neck.» you confessed, panicking as you saw her eyes widen in disbelief.

«I would have bet money on Felix!» she yelled, just to lower her voice mid-sentence, staring at you in complete astonishment.

«Felix is really cute, but everything’s really very… platonic.» you explained, avoiding saying something she would have found too weird and incomprehensible like “he’s always nice andhe gives me really good vibes!”

However, Leana seemed to ponder your words about Minho, confessing that one morning, she saw Felix and Minho talking very animately, as if they were arguing about something. «Now that I think about it, it was the morning after you’ve been both confined to your room.» she added, and she confirmed as well the fact that the pirate seemed to been avoiding your presence as well.

Leana had soon returned to the Captain’s quarters, leaving you in the loneliness of your room; once again, you couldn’t sleep and therefore, you found yourself headed towards the deck of the Golden Fleece.

The night sky was clear, the stars seemed a bright blanket that made you feel a tiny bit less lonelier; you tried to smile at the thought that in your life, you had never seen so many stars due to the industrialization and the fact that there was always a source of light around the city. On your way to the deck you ended up both carrying one of the blankets in your room and stealing an apple from the storage room, and in the end you were sitting alone in a dark corner of the ship, completely hidden from the helmsman’s eyes and from the few pirates who were awake and in charge of taking care of the ship as long as the others were asleep – or gambling.

As your gaze lost itself in the darkness ahead of you, your thoughts inevitably wandered to dangerous places, and you found yourself silently crying because you missed home. Although in the past days you have done your best to avoid even the faintest traces of intrusive thoughts, it was probably time to face the truth; even though it seemed impossible, you ended up in a fantasy novel, and of course the historical period was completely different from the one you were living in, to the point of not having the comforts you were used to have in your everyday life. A phone, internet, a hairdryer, heating, a microwave… Despite the fact that you were slowly getting used to this kind of life, you madly wanted to go back home, and the thing that completely broke your heart was the fact that you highly doubted it would even be remotely possible. After all, the lady at the bookshop had clearly said that you bought the only copy of the novel, copy which was currently still on your coffee table in another dimension.

Completely engrossed in your crying session, you didn’t notice that someone had approached your trembling figure.

«See? I didn’t lie when I said you were probably a thief.» Minho’s voice shook you out of your train of thoughts, but you weren’t in the right mind to answer to his constant teasing; you stared both at him and the apple in your hand – apple that you ended up biting only once, just to wordlessly focus your gaze once again on the darkness in front of the ship.

The moon was high up in the sky, and Minho could definitely see the fact that you were crying, especially because you weren’t doing a good job to hide your occasional hiccups; he has never seen you so vulnerable, after all you’ve been arguing like dog and cat since the day they had saved you, but yet, he breathed a long sigh, before eventually walking closer to you, crouching down so that you were more or less at the same eye-level.

«Are you okay?» Minho questioned, every trace of hostility suddenly disappearing from his voice, and he saw you simply shook your head because no, you were definitely not okay. «Can I sit next to you?» he asked again, and waited for you to answer before he dared to move.

«Why, so you can throw me off deck as soon as I cry too loudly?» you spat with annoyance, and Minho scoffed as a silent answer. If he were to be honest, he wasn’t doing it for you, but for Felix; his brother had constantly told him to give you a chance, but the pirate kept ignoring him; however, for some weird reason he didn’t want to think about, the sight of you curled up against the wall just to cry your eyes out didn’t please him as he originally thought. «Yeah, something like that.» Minho shrugged, before sitting next to you. A somewhat comfortable silence fell on the corner you had been secretly occupying, a silence made of you occasionally hiccuping trying to hide a sob just to wipe your tears with part of your blanket and Minho completely silence as his brain tried to come up with a reasonable question about why you seemed so unconsolable.

«Has something happened in the kitchen? Did Felix say something bad?» Minho gently tried, even if he doubted that was the case, since Felix was the first among the people who seemed to be completely smitten with your presence; confirming his thoughts, he saw you shook your head without voicing an actual answer.

«Have you been having nightmares?» he questioned again, his left hand hesitantly scratching his left thigh; «it happens a lot, especially the first times you sail.» again, you wordlessly shook your head, and silence fell once again.

It went on for minutes, Minho coming up with the most various questions and you simply shaking your head because he never got it right.

«I miss my hairdryer.» you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

«Your… your what?» Minho quietly echoed, confusion dripping from his voice.

«My hairdryer,» you repeated, moving your right hand in the air just to mimic a general shape of one, «it’s made like this, and we use it to blow hot hair on our hair to make it dry faster, it works with electric – oh, never mind, you already think I’m a lunatic witch.» your voice trembled at the end of the sentence, and you ended up wiping more tears escaping the corner of your eyes, as Minho was staring at you with an indecipherable gaze.

«Tell me more,» he gently spoke – almost in a hesitant way, urging you to go on, «about your crazy stories, I want to hear more.»

«And give you extra reasons to make fun of me on a daily basis? No, thank you.» you bitterly answered, and Minho’s gentle smile slowly vanished from his lips. The pirate kept studying your features, pensive, and few seconds later his right hand was hovering in front of your face, his pinky finger outstretched.

«I won’t, I promise. I call truce.» he said, and for the first time you turned your head to glance at him, unconsciously smiling at the sight of a pirate using pinky promises as a way to seal official promises; it was as if you could feel your heart tremble, the sight of the Minho you used to adore while reading your favourite book was suddenly not that unreachable anymore, and something in his determined gaze illuminated by the moon made you trust him.

Unbeknownst to you, while intertwining your pinky finger with his, a little part of your fate had changed forever.

«I think I’ve never missed Cleo so much.» you quietly sniffled. «Your lover?» Minho questioned immediately. «My cat.» you clarified without hesitation.

Eventually, you and Minho shortly ended up bonding over your mutual love for cats. You described her to him, explaining that to you, she was indeed unique and beautiful; her black fur was occasionally painted with ginger spots, and her eyes were a light shade of green.

«She always looked incredibly pissed off, just like me.» you scoffed a laugh, and you heard Minho chuckle softly at your words.

«To think you were going to face me without a weapon, you sure do have some guts,» he commented, and you answered with an exasperated sigh, «you could ask Jisung to teach you a trick or two.» your head immediately turned towards him at the unexpected suggestion. Minho simply shrugged, explaining that you would be more useful on deck if something were to happen.

«I used to have three cats before I choose to sail with Chris.» he admitted then, changing the topic of your conversation, smiling to himself.

«I know.» you answered without thinking about it too much; only when you felt Minho’s inquisitive stare on your face, you panicked. Clearly you couldn’t tell him that you knew a lot of details about his life before he started being a pirate because you read it in a novel, and therefore you simply settled for a simple white lie known as: «Felix told me about it.»

«I miss my hair conditioner as well,» you admitted, «I even got the special edition with keratin – you know with the golden plastic jar and everything, and never got to use it more than twice.» for at least half of the night, you ended up explaining Minho every detail of what life was like where you were living; skyscrapers, air conditioning, electricity, supermarkets, videogames and malls, along with every kind of food you ended up craving, Minho had patiently listened to your rambles, occasionally asking about few clarifications every now and then.

«You know, princess, I still think you have flowers growing in your head.» Minho spoke after the two of you eventually managed to finish conversation topics; your heart sank to your stomach at his words, and of course, you felt like crying again.

«However…» Minho spoke again, his tone a little more firmer than before, as if he understood that his words hurt you, «your stories are a bit too much filled with details to be completely made up.»

«So?» you questioned him, glancing at him while leaning your head against the wooden surface behind your shoulders.

«So,» Minho echoed, mirroring your actions, so that you were staring at each other, «I think that somewhere in that flower field, there’s a little bit of truth.» a relieved smile erupted on your features, and you felt genuinely happy about the fact that finally Minho decided to take you seriously.

Despite the fact that you had managed to calm down, neither of you dared to move, and as you kept talking about your life, you ended up sharing your blanket with the pirate, whose hands were now as cold as ice.

Somewhere during the few hours remaining before dawn, you ended up falling asleep, unconsciously leaning against Minho’s shoulders, who didn’t move in order not to wake you up. However, as soon as the pirate saw a small glimpse of light starting to illuminate the sky as a signal of a new day, he gently picked you up just to carry you to your bedroom.

«Fucking finally, Min Min,» Felix’s groggy whisper called out from Minho’s shoulders; the younger had just woken up, and to be honest, he was convinced about being still asleep as the first thing he saw were his brother – who claimed to hate you, carrying you – who claimed to hate him, bridal style and soundly asleep towards your room. «Not a word, Lix.» Minho had simply answered, not bothering to stop.

Few days later, everyone was aware about the drastic change of Minho’s behaviour towards you, since the pirate went to completely ignore your presence to greet you occasionally. You found yourself smiling anytime it happened, your smile vanishing as soon as you could feel two different set of piercing gazes on your face; on one side, Leana was looking at you with pure excitement in her eyes, as to say «did you see it?» while on the other side, Felix was following the scene with a knowing smile, happy about his brother’s eventual change of heart.

Moreover, you had to admit to yourself that your mood was significantly better since you didn’t have to constantly watch your back, to the point where you found yourself thinking that if things kept going like this, you could have definitely got used to this new life. To be completely honest, you could already picture yourself trying to introduce some of your modern technology into this world, becoming the cliché mad scientist holed up in her laboratory, shouting a loud «it could work!» followed by a manic laughter as soon as you managed to create something useful.

Taking a small break from your daily chores, you decided to take a stroll on deck, enjoying what seemed to be the last days of summer; the days had already begun to shorten and in the back of your mind, you wondered how cold could it get on a pirate ship during winter, but you weren’t sure you wanted to know an actual answer, when out the corner of you eye, you saw them.

At first, you thought that either your mind was playing tricks on you or you were hallucinating, but once you turned your complete attention to the sea, you distinctly saw that there was a small group formed by seven girls not too far from where you were, casually sitting on some random pieces of wood – most definitely what remained of a sunken ship, while brushing their luscious hair; you narrowed your eyes as if trying to get a better view, because you could swear that all of them had a long fish tail.

“Mermaids?” you wondered; after all, you didn’t know how this world worked in the first place, and based on Minho’s accusations to you, for all you knew, they could be more than a superstition.

«Sirens!» the loud shout from the crow’s nest seemed to alert everyone, confirming that you weren’t hallucinating, but you weren’t sure what you were supposed to do in this situation; you saw some pirates running back to their quarters, as if it was a desperate attempt not to be lured by their voices.

Few minutes later, the situation was definitely taking a drastic and terrifying turn: some pirates were throwing themselves off deck just to try their luck swimming towards the sirens and therefore swimming towards their death, while the others kept soundlessly walking toward the railing as if they were possessed, their eyes void of any emotion.

Quirking a brow you stared at the group of sirens once again, silently admiring their beauty and their pretty tail. However something wasn’t adding up: you could clearly see their lips move, but you seemed to be the only one who couldn’t hear their chant.

Leana’s shoulder harshly bumping against yours was what made you wake up from your silent daze; like anyone else, her eyes were unfocused, and she had already thrown one leg over the railing.

«Wait, no!» yelling at her to stop, you covered her ears with your hands out of instinct, when the unthinkable happened: the fog that seemed to cloud Leana’s gaze had vanished as soon as you touched her, and she looked at both herself and you with a puzzled expression.

«What’s happening?» she questioned, confused, «why can’t I hear them?» at her question, it was as if your thoughts began to align, quickly forming a more or less clever answer; could it be that it was because you were from another dimension? You immediately tested your wild guess, wrapping around her wrist the hair tie you always kept on your wrist.

«Still nothing?» you asked, helping her safely climb back on deck, so that no one else could drag her in the water out of accident.

«I can see them singing, but I can’t hear them,» she confirmed with astonishment, glancing at the small elastic band now adorning her wrist, «is this some sort of talisman?» she questioned again but you kept silent, not sure about what you should have answered.

“Wait, if this managed to help her, this means that…”

«Leana, where are my clothes,? You know, the ones I was wearing when you found me in the sea?» you immediately questioned her: if things really were what they seemed, maybe you has a chance to save everyone.

«Come with me.» Leana immediately replied, and shortly after you both raced to the Captain’s quarters as if you were running against time.

«I have an idea, but that will make me sound like a lunatic witch» you quoted Minho, before explaining yourself, «we need to shred them in as many pieces we can and stick them inside the other’s clothes.» you kept your jeans in your hands, handing her both the cotton t-shirts you were wearing at home; however, there was no sign of mock in her eyes.

«You already saved my life, I trust you, witch or not.» she encouraged, and after nodding and each other Leana grabbed two of Chris’ daggers, and after handing one to you as well, you both ran back on deck.

“This is so wrong,” you thought, “I’m about to act like a typical heroine and I don’t have a catchphrase to say!” adrenaline was running trough your veins to the point of making you delirious, and you mentally tried to come up with an outstanding idea as fast as you could?

“How about “for Frodo”?… No, that would be plagiarism,” you kept thinking as you and Leana closed the Captain’s quarters room behind your shoulders, “I got it, “Geronimo!”… Nah, too corny.”

«I’ll take the right side and you take the left side?» Leana urged, already cutting some fabric out of your t-shirt with her dagger; she snapped you out of your thoughts, and your eyes immediately went back on the scenery in front of you.

No more than thirty pirates were left – a quarter of the crew, and much to your dismay, you noticed from the corner of your eye how Chris, Seungmin and Changbin were already in the water.

«Hey Leana, you know what we say in Europe before doing things like this?» your heart was hammering in your chest to the point you were certain it was trying to escape your body.

«Uh... May Margoria have mercy on us?» she tried, as the both of you started walking in opposite directions.

«No, no, it’s even better,» you chuckled at your own thoughts, before encouraging the both of you with a short and simple: «it’s Britney, bitch.»

From that moment, you and Leana were running like two desperate women on a mission, and you tried to ignore the pain that your heart was feeling as you were repeatedly cutting your pair of favourite jeans.

“It’s for a fucking good cause,” you thought motivating yourself, urging your legs to move faster.

Actually, if you and Leana were feeling like two heroes out of an adventure novel, the sight from the outside looked really bizarre: the deck was completely silent as the pirates were walking like zombies, and the only noise was the one made from your heels as you frantically ran back and fort, not to mention that you were occasionally screaming «tag, you’re it!» before running towards the next pirate.

Moreover, as soon as someone of the crew managed to wake up, nor you nor Leana ever stopped to explain what was going on; you just pushed a few pieces of uncommon fabric against their chest just to shout an order for them to follow.   You could feel your lungs burn, and although you desperately wanted to stop and catch your breath, you saw that Minho was in the same position Leana had been in few minutes earlier and you quickly urged your legs to run faster, somehow.

“Why the fuck I never did jogging while I was home?” you internally cursed yourself, but the most important thing was that you managed to stop Minho by a harsh grip on his strong bicep. Minho’s eyes increasingly focused, and he looked at you with bewilderment; you didn’t give him time to ask anything, because you thrusted the only piece of fabric you had left in his hand.

«See this? This was my favourite pair of jeans,» you spoke, your breath ragged due to the fact that you had been running without stopping for more time than you were used to, Minho was about to question why he couldn’t hear the sirens anymore, when you interrupted him again, «let go of this damn denim fabric, and I’ll kill you.»

«What’s going on?» Minho finally questioned, swooning his leg over the railing so that he was once again safely on deck, but before you could answer, Leana had quickly walked towards you with Felix, Jisung, Hyunjin and few of the pirates who had managed to wake up, still clutching the piece of fabric as instructed.

By now, you had managed to save everyone who was still on deck, however, you still had a big problem: the majority of your crew – including the Captain, was still swimming towards the sirens.

«What now?» Leana questioned, her concerned eyes locked on her husband.

«I don’t know.» your shoulders fell as you admitted disheartened, your trembling hands still desperately holding Minho’s hands over what was left of your favourite pair of jeans. «Aren’t you still wearing that thing underneath your shirt?» Leana questioned, and your right hand reflexively touched your bra over your linen shirt. “Not my Victoria’s Secret…” you thought, but Leana quickly dismissed her own idea. «It’s not like we can throw ourselves down there, we’ll never reach them in time.» she added, and a nervous silence fell once again. The pirates kept silent, not daring to interrupt your conversation with Leana; no one knew what was happening but for all they knew, they owed their life to the both of you. However, the sirens have been focusing their attention on your presence for a while, and as you were considering some stupid and wild idea out of panic, the sirens had stopped singing; the pirates in the water woke up immediately from their daze, immediately yelling to each other to swim back to the Golden Fleece, and your head started to spin with confusion.

Apparently, for whatever reason, the sirens decided they weren’t hungry anymore, and therefore decided to leave, disappearing under the surface of water. Unbeknownst to you, those sirens knew about travelers like you, for it was not the first time that someone immune to their alluring voices had defeated them.

The pirates were now climbing on deck, and if it weren’t for Minho’s arms quickly wrapping around your waist, you would have fallen on your knees as the rush of adrenaline left your body altogether.

«What a week, huh?» you joked, your voice low enough only for the pirate to hear.

«It’s monday morning, princess.» Minho absently replied, studying your exhausted features and actually concerned about the state you were in.

Needless to say, less than an hour later – as soon as everyone had changed out of their soaked clothes, you found yourself in the Captain’s quarters with nine pair of eyes studying you once again; however, this time, the atmosphere was completely different.

«Although we are grateful to you, I believe we need an explanation.» Chris simply questioned; even though his voice remained polite, you could easily notice that he was demanding the truth.

«Are you really a witch?» Hyunjin suggested curiously and without hostility; you shook your head no, and your gaze briefly locked with Minho, who gave you a short nod, as to encourage you to tell them what you had told him as well.

«I’m not a witch, I.. » you sighed, what were you supposed to say? You definitely couldn’t break out the news that they were characters from a novel, but you could definitely tell them part of the truth, «I’m from another world. Or just another dimension, I don’t know. The thing is, at home everything works very different from here and… I really don’t know what to say. I ended up falling asleep in my house and waking up in the sea, right before you saved me.»

The room was silent for some seconds, before they eventually started discussing your explanation, but overall, everyone seemed to believe you.

«We are in your debt.» Chris announced, standing up from his chair, and you felt nervous all of a sudden; you loved his character and how reliable he was despite being a pirate, however, you always thought that he was a little bit too dramatic, especially in these kind of situations.

«No, no. We’re good buddy, really.» you anxiously waved your hands in front of you, as if to shake away the thought of having a whole crew of pirates indebted to you, «besides, you saved me first, I returned the favor, we’re even.»

«At least, allow us to help you!» Leana insisted, reiterating the fact that if they were alive was exclusively because of you.

«Do you remember how you ended up here?» Seungmin added, agreeing with Leana.

«I bought a book – a very specific one, and somehow I ended up shifting.»you had shortly explained; the information sent them into another brief discussion among themselves.

«Maybe fate is really on your side,» Chris commented, «we’ll be arriving to O’dyllita in few days; the capital – O’draxxia is known for having the biggest and best-stocked library of all known land.» the Captain explained that you could try visit there, to see if you could find anything regarding shifting dimension.

«Of course, if you don’t, you’ll be welcome to stay with us!» Jeongin had quickly added, and you found yourself nodding at his eagerness, thanking everyone else as well.

«Another thing,» Leana suddenly spoke, as if a thought had suddenly came to her mind, «who is that “Britney” you mentioned earlier? Is she a goddess from your world?» she innocently questioned, but you couldn’t help but find yourself laughing at the absurdity of the situation you got yourself in.

«More or less.» you admitted, and she seemed content with the answer.

The day had eventually fallen back into the same routine rather quickly, making you realize that this kind of situations weren’t that uncommon; however, every now and then some of the pirates would greet you, thanking you for saving their life before going on with their day.

«Excuse me, princess,» an unfamiliar voice called out, and you immediately turned your head. One of the pirates was standing not so far from you; he was definitely older than you, even if despite his youthful appearance his beard and his hair was almost completely grey. He hesitantly outstretched his hand towards you, and you curiously examined the small necklace in the palm of his hand. It was definitely plain looking, a thin looking chord with a too much familiar charm attached to it; without thinking, you took a step forward to take a better look.

Turns out – for the second time that day, that you weren’t hallucinating things: the small charm was indeed a piece of fabric from your clothes, now neatly braided together as to form a tiny charm.

«My old man was a tailor, so I learned a thing or two from him,» you patiently glanced at him, waiting for him to explain himself further as you glanced back and forth from his face to his hand, «I ended up making a talisman for everyone out of the fabric you gave us, since the Captain and Leana explained to us what you did fpr us,» you kept silent, not understanding why he was handing one to you as well, «I know you don’t need one, but we want you to have one as well.»

«“We”?» you echoed; glancing around, you noticed that few other pirates were definitely pretending to do their chores just to curiously overlook the situation, wondering what your reaction might have been.

«It’s a way to tell you that you’re in the crew,» Leana excitedly spoke, appearing out of nowhere and hugging your shoulder, «you saved a whole lot of pirates, you know what it means? You’re a pirate, love.»

«What?» you questioned, hesitantly reaching out to grab the necklace from the pirate’s outstretched hand, who thanked you for accepting his humble gift.

“Holy shit, I’m the hero of the day,” you thought, trying to process the fact that a pirate had just thanked you for accepting a necklace made out of clothes from another dimension.

«For your information,» Felix’s sudden deep voice made you turn around in surprise, since the new information had made your head spin, «it was a unanimous decision.» he clarified; as you happened to lock gaze with Minho, he simply winked at you with a mischievous smile, and you could swear that for the first time, you felt the butterflies in your stomach do somersaults.

The secret escapades you occasionally had with Minho during the night ended up being a habit, and as the weather started to become colder, you eventually decided to move things to your room; more than once, you and Minho ended up falling asleep after nights spent talking about the most various topics and every time, Minho would wake up before dawn just to sneak back to his room.

«Do you still think I’m a lunatic siren?» you quietly mumbled one night, quite scared of the possible affirmative answer. Minho was sitting opposite of you on your bed, your knees almost brushing against each other’s.

«I don’t.» Minho honestly answered after what seemed to be an eternal silence; he was still staring at you with an indecipherable gaze that made you feel extremely small, but it was significantly softer now. You were certain that something in your relationship with Minho had drastically changed since the night he found you crying alone, and somehow, even if you didn’t want to be seen in such a vulnerable state, you were happy he was the one who found you nonetheless.

Above all – most importantly, since Minho’s behaviour towards you had changed and gradually started to become softer, you could swear you felt your feelings drift towards him at a slow but steady speed. To state the obvious, he was handsome, and you often found yourself looking at him as he was talking with the others on deck, the wind blowing through his hair and his clothes making him look like a runaway Prince from a fairytale; he was also funny and an extremely good listener, and the more you spent time together, the more your heart would fill with feelings for him, just like a slow tide at noon.

«Do you believe me, then?» you mumbled, as if you were trying your luck; despite you told everyone that you came from another dimension, the topic of your conversations with Minho were a secret, and he was completely aware about that. Even though you desperately wanted him to believe your words, you couldn’t help but trying to imagine how you would react if you were in Minho’s shoes and of course, you had to admit that you would have your good doses of suspicions as well.

«I’m not really sure I can understand everything you tell me,» he admitted, «but I really want to try.» you found yourself genuinely smiling at his words.

A comfortable silence fell once again, and you searched for Minho’s eyes in the partial darkness of the place; three small candles were lightning up the room, creating an intimate atmosphere while allowing you to see each other just enough. «Thank you, Min Min.» you quietly mumbled, now definitely trying your luck; you knew that the only person allowed to call him like that was Felix, and although your relationship was completely different from how it started, you were certain that he would admonish you, telling you not to call him like that.

However, Minho’s reaction was definitely unexpected; his eyes met yours in less than a second, and despite the little lighting in the room, you could clearly see a sudden blush adorning both his cheeks and the tip of his ears.

«Wait, did you just…? No, nevermind,» Minho quickly dismissed, his unexpected flustered state was more than enough to make your cheeks flare up as well, «let’s suppose you ended up coming here from another dimension, why do you think it happened?» the conversation took another bittersweet turn, and you went back staring at your knees.

«I have no idea.» you confessed, disheartened, since you had wondered about that a concerning amount of times as well.

«Do you want to go back?» Minho questioned out of curiosity; he had immediately noticed how you eventually managed to find your place among the crew, and how you got along with everyone.

«I can’t even explain how much I want to.» you admitted, and before you could actually realize it, tears had started to escape your eyes.

«Hey, don’t cry, I’m sorry I brought that up,» Minho seemed to move towards you as if he had been hurt by a sudden static, «I didn’t want to make you cry.» he mumbled again, wiping your tears away as gently as he could, touching you as if you were made of frail glass despite his usual roughness. Eventually, he placed your pillow over his lap and you let him adjust your position enough that you could lay your head over it.

Minho kept gently stroking your hair with clumsy yet gentle movements – clearly unfamiliar with intimacy, lulling you to sleep while mumbling that «it’s okay, I’ll help you find a way,» or even «don’t cry, pretty princess, you’re safe now.»

That night was the first time that you and Minho willingly got so close physically, and you never expected for his touch to feel as comforting as it did; although you had stopped crying few minutes after you were laying on his lap, you didn’t want for that interaction to stop, and therefore you laid there, greedily taking all the unexpected affection Minho was showering you with.

Two days later, you were officially touching land; two days later, you were completely certain about the fact that you had shifted dimension – since there was a tiny part of your heart that still hoped you were having a really weird dream.

The port was large and full of people busy working; you looked around in amazement admiring everything: the small stalls of the market a little further on, people’s clothes, the type of architecture of the houses… However, something didn’t add up once again. There were various wooden signs hanging on the stalls, price indicators or more simply indicators of what could be found in each one of them, and despite the fact that the alphabet was a strange combination o weird symbols you’ve never seen in your life, you could understand them; fabrics, groceries, swords, you could read everything, was it another special ability you gained while shifting? “This is crazy,” you thought as you kept looking around yourself, “it’s like I chosen a default language in a videogame.”

Minho seemed to have noticed the puzzled expression on your face as you were glancing around, and quickly got to your side. «Not like it’s important for us, but can you read and write?» he questioned, watching as you hesitantly nodded at him.

«I’m not sure about the writing part,» you answered, looking around and not quite believing your eyes, «but it turns out I can read!»

«That’s good,» Minho’s sudden gentle smile made you feel incredibly flustered, and you shortly played with your fingertips since you didn’t know what you were supposed to answer, «I’ll see you tonight, then.» he added, making you furrow your eyebrows.

Before you could question his words, Leana and Chris had joined you, the latter informing you that he had already booked a carriage for both you and Leana.

“That’s it? They’re going to leave me here?” you met Minho’s gaze, just to switch it quickly towards Leana, who had reached out to hold your hand, gently tugging you towards her.

«I believe someone forgot to tell you,» she said, admonishing Minho with a stern gaze, «O’draxxia, the Capital, is a city in which men cannot enter, meaning that we have all the day for ourselves!»

The carriage ride lasted a little more than an hour, and both you and Leana kept staring out of the window, amazed by the scenery surrounding the two of you; it was the first time for Leana as well to venture into O’dyllita, and just like you, she was overly excited to finally visit O’draxxia, since she had often heard about it.

«From what I know, almost everyone in the city is a priestess,» she had explained, the two of you never looking at each other since your attention was completely engrossed towards opposite directions, «and they say the library is so huge that there are pillars as big as towers that are used as bookshelves!»

Despite the dense and rich vegetation, the landscape seemed to have a tremendously lonely air; in the distance you could see ruins of old structures that looked like castles or fortresses, clearly uninhabited and reclaimed by vegetation. Overall, the landscape almost seemed fiabesque, even if you couldn’t glimpse a trace of a living soul for kilometres. Just as Leana had said, O’draxxia was entirely populated by women, and all of them looked mesmerizing and stunning; some of them greeted you and Leana with a court nod, just like they did with the other women that were visiting the city. Despite the fact that the city was populated and animated by the priestesses and occasional tourists, the city gave you a serene yet lonely feeling. The houses were simple and elegant, made of grey bricks with bright green plants growing along the walls, covering some parts with elegant red and orange flowers. Both you and Leana followed one of the priestess’ indications to reach the library, as the two of you kept glancing around in utter wonder as you were walking.

«I’m really glad we get along,» Leana spoke out of the blue as you were strolling around town, headed towards the library, interlocking her arm with yours; you sent her a glance, only to start once again to focus on the unfamiliar scenery in front of your eyes, «we tried to let other girls on our ship, but it didn’t end well.»

«Why not?» you questioned out of curiosity, your gaze still focused on the unfamiliar flowers decorating the streets; the novel you’ve read ended as soon as Chris and Leana got their happy ending, so her words were definitely something you didn’t know about.

«They ended up liking Chris a little bit too much, and you know…» the innocent smile on Leana’s lips was a stark contrast to the gesture she made: she ran her index finger over her neck horizontally, and you suddenly widened your eyes, gulping nervously.

«You… did you kill them?» you whispered, only for her ears to hear, not quite knowing how to feel about it.

«And threw them in the sea,» she proudly clarified with a wink, «for all I know, they could be the sirens that attacked us.» her tone was as nonchalant as if she was talking about the weather, and you furrowed your eyebrows, familiar with what she was implying, since you clearly recalled the author mentioning it once.

Apparently, mermaids – or mostly known as sirens, were the women thrown off ships because of the common belief about “having a woman on boat brings bad luck”, and therefore, as those poor women sank to the bottom of the sea, they committed themselves to their rage and their desire of revenge. You clearly remember how that paragraph made you quite uncomfortable, empathizing with those women as they rightfully wanted to take revenge on the people that killed them without reason. Moreover, the author described how they started to change underwater, their lungs adapting to the water until they could breathe and their tied legs eventually became a tail over time. They drowned sailors and pirates in revenge, but especially, they seem to target the crew that did them wrong, until they could see the remaining of their ships at the bottom of the sea.

All of a sudden, one of your first conversations with Leana came to your mind. «So, what do you think about Chris?» she had questioned with an earnest smile, the both of you sitting on deck as you watched him ordering the others around.

«He’s awesome,» you immediately answered, excitedly, «Felix told me he’s in charge of each route of the whole sea, and he’s basically around my age. He’s really awesome for that!» you had excitedly explained, avoiding to mention too intricate details you read in the novel.

«He really is, don’t steal him from me though!» she had laughed back then, gently nudging your shoulders with hers in an almost friendly gesture.

«I wouldn’t dare,» you immediately scoffed, «you’re basically the perfect match! moreover, he’s not really my type.»

Only now you realized all the things that could have gone so incredibly wrong if your interaction had gone wrong back then, and you glanced at her once again. Leana was now gazing around the town in amazement, since you knew that she had never been here as well; you instinctively scoffed a laugh, to thing that you believed Minho was the biggest threat among the crew.

Not to mention that the surprises were definitely not over; shortly after, Leana asked you if you believed in soulmates. 

«I think I do,» you confessed; it was definitely one of your favourite genres to read about, but you couldn’t admit that to her, «why?»

«I’ve been thinking about it lately, but I never had anyone to talk about it…» she admitted.

“I wonder why,” you silently commented, but kept silent.

«Sometimes I have the feeling that me and Chris were meant to be, you know?» she fondly smiled, her gaze lost somewhere in the scenery around the two of you as she was probably recalling one of the various memories she had created with her husband; you were about to answer something encouraging and motivational, when her next words definitely made your voice die in your throat. «I mean, I didn’t even like Chris when he brought me on the ship, let alone if I could imagine myself falling in love with him or even marrying him.» she admitted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wait a fucking minute now,”

«What?» you asked in complete disbelief. Once again, you perfectly recalled you read that Chris and Leana were in love before she got romantically and dramatically stolen away from him; to be precise, Leana was engaged to another man, who she didn’t love.

However, Leana was standing in front of you, telling you a completely different part of the story, making you question if the things you’ve read on your couch were correct in the first place.

«I was engaged with an officer of the navy, and I loathed pirates at first; I accepted to go with Chris because I agreed with my fiancée that I would have made Chris vulnerable in some way.» Leana hesitantly confessed, and you couldn’t bring yourself to find an actual reply, «in the end I fell for him little by little, to the point where I couldn’t imagine my life without him.»

“What the hell,” you thought; you had stopped walking altogether, and were simply standing still in silence, a whirlwind of thoughts floating around your head as you were staring at Leana. You never read something like this in the book, but if we had to be honest, the book was following Chris’ point of view, but again, by the way Leana was described, she was meant to be the typical damsel in distress that runs away from an unhappy relationship to find her love.

However, in front of you stood Leana, a damsel that was very not in distress, a damsel who had a concerning series of murders weighting on her shoulders,  whose original plan was to serve Chris’ head to the navy.

«I’m glad you married him,» you ended up blurting out, «you look really cute together.» Leana loudly laughed at your unexpected comment, and as the two of you started walking again, she hugged your arm a little closer to her side.

«Wanna know who’s cute?» her teasing tone made you sigh out of reflex, not sure whether you wanted to know the answer to her question, «You and Min Min.» she chanted, making you whine as an answer.

«I don’t like him like that, let’s just – let’s talk about it another time, okay?» you pleaded, hoping that she would fall for your suggestion so that you could keep avoiding the topic forever.

The moment you stepped in front of the library’s entrance, you couldn’t believe your eyes: it was as if a huge castle had been redecorated just to serve a new and better purpose. Leana didn’t lie when she said about the pillars being huge, and the more you ventured in, the more you felt overwhelmed; you loved books, and for a second, you thought that you could become a priestess just to have a chance to read every single book you could see, even if it would have took literally a lifetime. In the end, you ended up asking to a priestess for help, since you would have taken at least a whole day in order to find some useful information without asking for help.

«Books about teleportation?» the priestess had repeated your words, as if making sure she heard you loud and clear; you hesitantly nodded, feeling incredibly small under her gaze; she eventually nodded at the two of you, asking to follow her. Needless to say, you ended up walking your way on the stairs around one of the pillars, just to reach the highest bookshelf.

«It’s been a while since someone asked for that,» she said, trying to make conversation with the two of you, but only Leana was answering her various questions, since you were way too nervous to speak. As you reached the bookshelf, your shoulders immediately lowered in deject; there were only four books about teleportation, but no one of them were like the one you brought.

«Sadly, we only have these ones.» the priestess excused herself, quickly taking notice of your saddened expression; you immediately tried to smile, shaking your head and answering that it was okay.

«Are you sure you’re okay?» Leana whispered to you, as soon as the priestess begun to walk down the stairs on her own and was now out of sight; your gaze was still on the books, which you eventually tried to examine.

What if the cover was different because you were in a different dimension? However, as your fingers leafed through the pages, you couldn’t understand your feelings; you almost seemed happy about the fact that your task had failed, as if what you really wanted was to remain into this world.

«I am,» you nodded, seeing Leana’s concern vanish from her features, «I really am.»

The fact that your mission had failed meant only one thing: you and Leana were free to curiously look around as you pleased, and that’s exactly what you did. At the end of the day, once you were back in the carriage, you could swear you almost had a headache due to all the informations the both of you had tried to assimilate in your brain.

«What was that one again? Flat parsley and saffron?» she mumbled, massaging the side of her head.

«This planet is not flat was the first part,» you tiredly answered, mimicking her actions, «I don’t know where you got the parsley and saffron thing from.»

«It was the recipes book I wanted to steal.» she urged, trying to give you another hint, as if you hadn’t read an infinite quantitative of books within few hours.

«Oh, that one,» you hummed, recalling the moment where Leana had tried to see if the recipes book would fit under her shirt, saying that Felix would have loved it, «it was the recipe of saffron rice… There was no parsley, though.»

When you got off the carriage, Minho and Chris exchanged a quizzical glance as they saw the two of you look exhausted; both of you were dragging your feet towards them, talking with a flat tone about how amazing your day had been.

«Found anything?» Minho questioned, ignoring how his heart was beating in a silent hope that you didn’t manage to find the book you were looking for; you kept walking, silently shaking your head. Minho didn’t say anything as he walked up next to you; the pirate breathed a soft sigh, swinging his arm around your shoulders and instinctively you hugged his waist, leaning your head towards his shoulder.

«You’ll find it.» you heard Minho’s reassuring tone, and you shrugged in a silent answer.

“I think it will be okay, even if I don’t.” you secretly thought, glancing at the pirate walking next to you.

Out of your sight, Chris and Leana were glancing both at you and Minho, before looking at each other.

«Am I hallucinating?» Chris questioned his wife; he knew that things between you and the pirate had improved, but he didn’t imagine they had improved that much.

«I think we’ll be celebrating another marriage soon.» Leana sighed, fondly smiling at the two of you. «“I don’t like Minho”, my ass.» she scoffed, mumbling to herself as an amused smirk erupted on her lips, recalling the moment you denied liking the pirate.

That night, you found out that Chris not only owned every single soul sailing above the sea, he also owned few taverns scattered around the land as well.

You and the others had ended up in the courtyard of a local tavern – the Bitter Dahlia, the musicians animatedly creating a joyful atmosphere as few people had eventually started to dance. You had let yourself convince to try a whole lot different kind of drinks by Hyunjin, and now you were tipsily strolling around the courtyard with a pint of beer in your hand, and thankfully, Minho had easily noticed it; that’s why as soon as you walked past him in order to find Felix, he reached out, placing his hand on your right shoulder and tugging you close to his body, your back pressed against his chest. You didn’t realize it was Minho at first, you simply pouted because someone was stopping you all of a sudden; when you decided to find out who was attached to the arm blocking your path you giggled as soon as you saw Minho’s face, and let him pull you closer to him.

Minho didn’t say anything, and neither did you – nor did you move away in the first place.

«I think you drank too much, princess,» his hoarse voice – probably affected by the drinks he had, spoke right against your ear, and you instinctively crossed your ankles just to press your thighs together; you let him take the pint of beer from your hand, his arm eventually found his way around your waist, and he leaned his chin on your shoulder.

«Felix!» you giggled, catching a hold of the boy’s forearm as soon as you saw him walk by, tugging him towards both you and Minho, «Look at them,» you excitedly spoke, «look at them!» you urged again, giggling excitedly as you obviously forgot that Minho was right behind you and therefore he could hear everything.

Even if he was in a worse state than you were, it didn’t take a genius for Felix to understand who you were talking about, and he followed your glance towards the small group of couples that were dancing; of course Chris and Leana were there, and of course you and Felix had felt the need to talk about how wonderful and amazing they looked.

«They’re both stumbling on their feet,» Minho had stated from behind you, holding your waist a little firmer, and you suddenly reminded that he had been unconsciously made part of your secret conversations with Felix, «they’re really drunk, like – three sheets to the wind drunk.» he clarified, amused with your behaviour.

«You don’t understand,» you quickly answered, your hand flying on top of the one the pirate had placed on your hip, «look at -» your voice vanished from your throat as soon as you turned your head towards him, and instead, your heart picked up pace at a concerning speed; Minho’s face was millimetres from yours, his gaze burning into yours, «them.» you eventually finished, your voice barely above a whisper. You and Minho had already been close enough to kiss once, but to say that the situation was completely different would be an understatement.

If back then neither you nor Minho would have considered the option to kiss the other – let alone being attracted to each other, to this day things had drastically changed. Even if you blamed it on the alcohol, you were very much aware about the fact that you would have loved to kiss him; the fact that Minho’s gaze kept shifting between your eyes and your lips clearly told you that your desire was reciprocated.

“If this was a movie we would make out while Céline Dion was singing her heart out in the background,” you drunkenly thought, “and all I get is drunk bards play the tarantella”.

«Well, this is something unexpected!» Jisung’s loud voice made you and Minho immediately turn your head towards him, and much to your embarrassment, he wasn’t alone; of course Changbin and Hyunjin were with him.

«She’s tipsy, I didn’t want her to fall over.» Minho had immediately answered, his voice a little bit too defensive if you were to ask Hyunjin, who carefully – and drunkenly, studied his expression with a sly smirk.

«And the empty chair next to you was claimed by a ghost?» Jisung questioned the pirate, who rolled his eyes without answering.

However, the worst still had to happen, because in that very moment, Leana seemed to appear out of thin air, as if she had magically listened to the conversation while she was dancing with her husband.

«You didn’t hear it from me,» Leana loudly announced as if you and Minho weren’t there, «but when we returned from O’draxxia, Minho straight up hugged her.» You felt Minho bury his forehead in the crook of your neck, and you shortly met Felix’s gaze, who was looking at you with a drunk dazed smile: «We better talk about this!» he said.

«And, he also kissed her forehead.» Leana lied, getting drunk shouts of surprise from your friends, and you knew that as soon as you got back on the ship, you and Minho would become the most interesting topic among the crew.

«Want to scoot over?» Minho spoke against your ear once again, and you found your mind drifting towards unholy thoughts before you could stop yourself; his question was sincere, and as he voiced it, he started to move his arm away from your hip. However, you didn’t bother to voice an answer; since your hand was still placed above his, you pushed it more firmly against your hip, purposely intertwining your fingers together.

As you felt Minho’s lips hovering above the exposed skin of your shoulder in a barely perceptible kiss, you could swear that all the noise coming from the loud party around the two of you had been ignored from your brain.

Back on the Golden Fleece, everything seemed to have fallen back to the usual routine, with the only addiction that your friends had decided to constantly tease you and Minho about your almost kiss.

Of course, even if three days had passed since that night and Minho had visited your bedroom as always, no one dared to approach the topic, and you kept dancing on your tiptoes around each other. However, what’s a princess without a fairy godmother?

That evening, right after dinner, Felix had bursted into your room unannounced, somewhat expecting Leana’s presence as well; the two of them were casually sitting on your bed, ignoring the fact that you were curled up under the covers, refusing to get out and face them.

«Well?» Felix urged, lowering the blanket just to expose your face; you hissed like a stray cat, but you quickly understood that neither of them was going to leave without an answer to the same question.

«I don’t have anything to say,» you stubbornly said, and you heard Leana snort.

«Okay, we’ll go first:» she spoke, leaning towards you, «I was drunk but I sure do have eyes, girl.» she spoke with an alluring tone, and you tried to roll over the opposite side in order not to hear her, «and my eyes are telling me that you like Minho, and Minho likes you.» choosing to groan instead of answer, Felix saw an opportunity to chime in.

«You were still dancing when it happened, but they almost kissed – like, kissed.» Felix added, empathizing the last part of his sentence, and Leana almost shrieked in disbelief, her offended voice questioning why you didn’t tell her such an important and fundamental detail.

«Did you tell him?» Felix questioned, just to add the question you didn’t dare to ask yourself, «Oh… Do you still want to go back home?» You eventually threw the blanket off your face hearing that, meeting your friends’ eyes as your face was filled with unsure doubt; you never thought it would have happened, but you had to admit to yourself that you were happy. You had friends,  you felt accepted, and you managed to have fun thanks to your friends, who cherished you. Moreover…

«I don’t really want to hurt your feelings,» Leana suddenly spoke, interrupting your thoughts, «but when we were in O’draxxia and you didn’t find the book, you almost looked… relieved.» your gaze met, and you realized you had a problem: your heart was clearly telling that you wanted to stay there, in that absurd world you’ve read about one random afternoon.

When you met Felix’s gaze, you realized you had another problem, maybe a bigger one than the previous one: you liked Minho. Well, of course you already knew that, since he was your favourite character of the novel; however, liking the real Minho, the one daily standing in front of you, the one who went from threatening to throw you overboard to gently caress your hair until you fell asleep was a different kind of thing.

«I think I need a second.» you admitted with a sigh, staring at the wooden tiles on the ceiling,

“Let’s suppose I like him,” you thought, “I don’t think he actually likes me, he was probably tipsy,” you bit the inner part of your cheek, “what if he likes me and I like him and I find the book?” you scratched the back of your neck out of frustration, ignoring the fact that you wanted to scream, “what do I do?”

«Well, you could start with a simple “I think I have feelings for you and I don’t think I want to go back any longer”» Felix gently suggested, and as your gaze flew towards his, you realized that you had been unconsciously voicing your thoughts all along.

The same moment Felix was heading towards your room, Minho was heading towards the dining room, knowing that he would have found what he was looking for. The heavy smell of smoke and alcohol filled his nostrils, as he approached his friends’ table quietly.

«Loverboy decided to ditch his girl to embrace his old habits?» Chris glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.

«I’m coming here in spite of myself, but I… have to.» Minho spoke in a dramatic tone that made Chris snort, waiting for his friend to tell them what was going through his mind, «I think I might like her.»

«We knew it already,» Hyunjin replied with no interest, his eyes still glued on his cards, admonishing Jisung because he was trying to sneak some of the coins off the table and inside his sleeve; Minho stared at his friend with stupor, but Hyunjin seemed too focused on their match to pay attention to his friend.

«"Like her" as in, “I want to hold your hand under the moonlight”,» Changbin – the only one beside Chris who was listening to Minho, suggested, «or “I want to ravish you until you can’t stand”?»

Minho didn’t answer immediately, choosing to think about it for a while, even if he didn’t really have to; he undoubtedly found you attractive, and over time, he found himself slowly getting incredibly soft for you, to the point where he would glance around at random moments of the day just to see what you were doing.

The more Minho’s silence went on, the more his friends had gradually stopped focusing on their match in order to look at him with curiosity and malice, enjoying how the pirate’s face gradually got flustered.

«As in… both.» Minho confessed, making his friends hum and mumble in acknowledgement.

«Ah! … Well, we knew that already.» Hyunjin replied again, his sharp gaze once again back to the table in front of them.

«What do you mean?» Minho asked quizzically, since it was the second time his friend had mentioned it.

«Yeah, well, remember when Jisung was teaching her the basic of self defence?» Seungmin – who had kept silent until then, asked making Minho immediately nod, how could he forget that day? Jisung had been trying to teach you a few simple movements for what seemed to be hours, but in the end, you kept doing stupid and predictable mistakes because you seemed to be too tense to use a dagger – let alone a sword.

«Leave it, Han, she’ll end up stabbing herself by mistake.» he had told his friend with an arrogant tone, and he clearly remembered the flustered expression on your face. As always, you tried to fight back, but this time it was a little bit different; that’s how you ended up chasing Minho through the deck while screaming «I’ll fucking kill you, I swear!» until Changbin decided to stop you by stopping you mid run.

«What about it?» Minho asked again, not understanding what his friend wanted to imply.

«Felix and few other saw you laughing,» Seungmin added, «therefore, it was just a matter of time.»

Minho placed his elbow on the table and roughly massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to analyse the situation he was in: he liked you, but what happened few nights ago was just a result of the both of you being tipsy, and moreover, he knew that you wanted to go back home. What was he supposed to do?

«I’m not an expert, but try with a simple “I like you, please stay here with me”.» Jisung had spoken as if he could read his thoughts; only then Minho realized that he had never been silent in the first place.

Minho had eventually joined you in your bedroom few hours after Felix and Leana had left, even if you had already stated that he either fell asleep or he was spending the night gambling with the others. You seemed to miss his presence more than you usually did, especially because that night you were freezing: no matter how many blankets you were laying under, you just didn’t seem to warm up.

“It wouldn’t be punk rock for me to die like this,” you thought, breathing in your joined fists as you tried to ignore the constant shivers of your body.

A familiar knock on the door caught your attention, and as soon as you recognized Minho’s voice whispering his greetings, you had to physically stop yourself from asking him to join you under the covers so that he could warm you up.

Unlike you, Minho didn’t seem to mind the cold that much, but nonetheless he quickly walked up to you, pressing the palm of his hand to your forehead just in case you had a fever.

«I’m genuinely wondering how the hell you manage to live like this.» you broke the silence, your jaw trembling because of the sheer cold; although you tried not to think to the accommodation of your original life, your mind couldn’t help but wander to your beloved electric heater, your faithful companions during winter.

«You just ... get used to it?» Minho questioned back, not really able to give you an actual answer; of course, during the first years he spent sailing he was in the same situation as you – everyone had, but he eventually got used to it. Minho sat on the edge of your bed, mindlessly running his fingertips through your hair – a simple yet intimate gesture he had come to love.

«I can hear flowers blooming in that flower field,» he smugly commented the fact that you were keeping silent, and you clicked your tongue, asking what he meant, «what did you use in your world to keep warm?» he curiously questioned, and your heart soared at the realization that he was honestly and genuinely interested in your stories.

However, you were too cold for your brain to function properly, and you ended up talking about the concept of the electric heating in a very confusing way; nonetheless, Minho didn’t seem to mind you words, for his concern had increasingly risen.

«Hey,» the pirate interrupted your explanation, «are you sure you don’t want another blanket?» despite the fact that you were doing your best, he still noticed the occasional shivers and clattering of your teeth as soon as you stopped speaking.

«It’s okay,» you reassured him, «I used all the blankets Leana gave me… I’ll warm up eventually.» you answered hopefully, but Minho didn’t answer immediately; instead, he reached out, shortly enveloping your hand with his just to comment that it was as if you had stuck your hand into ice.

«Come here,» Minho said, stretching over your legs and fully sitting on your bed with his back against the wall, widening his legs so that he could form a space for you to sit in; you kept still in amazed astonishment, not quite trusting your thoughts on the hypothesis that Minho wanted to cuddle.

«Are you gonna kill me?» you blurted out, for your frozen brain decided it was the most likely solution.

«Quit that, princess,» he clicked his tongue, urging you to come closer, «you know we’re past that.» folding all your blankets around your shape, you slowly crawled in the space he made for you, trying not to lose the small amount of warmth you had created; you immediately tensed up, sitting straight and clutching the blankets closer to your body.

Since the night you almost kissed, you had never been so close to Minho, and for some reason, it was enough for your heart to pick up pace as if it was begging you to set it free through your ribcage.

«Come here,» the pirate repeated, his voice a little gentler – a little softer, and you found yourself leaning against his torso. Unlike you, Minho wasn’t using a blanket to keep himself warm and therefore he could move his arms freely; of course he used them to loosely cage you in his hold.

Although you had to admit that the position you were in definitely looked kind of weird, it was extremely comfortable; Minho’s steady breathing was slowly calming your nerves as well, and you found yourself relaxing in his hold.

«Do you want some of my blankets?» you mumbled quietly, embarrassed about the fact that you didn’t ask sooner.

«I’m good.» Minho answered immediately, gently repeating that you should try to sleep.

Despite the fact that you were comfortable, despite Minho’s presence, despite the fact that you were slowly warming up, sleep was definitely your last priority. The pirate’s nose brushed against your forehead as he was trying to adjust his position to get more comfortable, and you quickly noticed that his skin was cold as well.

«Minho,» you called out again few minutes later; the pirate hummed, and you took it at a silent question to go on, «can we please share blankets?» 

«Why?» he chuckled at your distress, and you could feel his soft breath in the side of your face. «You look cold,» you tried to justify yourself, «I have a lot of blankets, we can share.» you insisted.

Minho eventually gave up, and the both of you ended up shifting from your original position; however, this meant that your arms were touching as you were now laying next to each other, and there wasn’t a blanket you could use as an invisible barrier anymore.

Under the sea of sheets, Minho’s right arm snaked under your neck, pulling you to his body; as if you were magnets, you followed his lead, laying on your side and hugging his waist, resting your head in the crook of his neck, nuzzling as close as you could. Your nose was right against Minho’s neck, and you could almost feel the goosebumps he had whenever you breathed; you ended up blaming it on the cold temperature, since you were fond of keeping your mental sanity and you were madly trying to distract yourself from thinking about other ways to share body heat.

«You know, once we got stuck in the middle of an iced part of the sea,» Minho mumbled, talking about one of his adventures as if he was trying to prevent his mind from wandering towards the same sinful thoughts you were trying to avoid.

«What?» you hummed, too tired to try remembering if you read about it in the novel, «How did you get out of there?»

«Ropes,» was his immediate answer, «we ended up pulling on the rope until we could break the ice.»

«Like that “Vikings” episode,» you giggled to yourself in a tired voice; Minho had immediately questioned you about it, and you tried to explain to him what movies and TV shows were.

However, you were obliviously fighting falling asleep, reason why Minho ended up gently shutting you up with a gentle and earnest: «you’ll tell me about it tomorrow.»

As always you fell asleep first, but this time, when Minho moved you so that you could lay on your bed to sleep more comfortably and he could walk back to his room, you weakly grabbed his hand in your sleep.

«I get lonely if you’re not here.» you mumbled, still lost in dreamland. Minho was thankful to the lights being completely off and to you being asleep because the expression on his face was priceless: he was incredibly flustered, his blush was flaring up both his cheeks and the tip of his ears. That night, Minho slept next to you for the first time, and as you randomly woke up in the middle of the night, you found him laying next to you under the sea of blankets; you instinctively snuggled closer to his chest, only to realize that you were partially laying on top of his firm chest. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, you tried to scoot away as quietly as you could in order not to wake him up, just to lay next to him.

However, that was your initial plan, since you soon found out that Minho was indeed a light sleeper; the arm he kept around your waist had tightened out of reflex, harshly pulling you in your original position once again.

«Where do you think you’re going, princess?» he murmured, his voice still groggy due to sleep.

«I, uhm…» you hesitated, your brain was clearly too sleepy to come up with a clever and witty answer. Minho didn’t wait for you to find your words, though; keeping you close to his body, he gently rolled you on your back, partially draping his body over yours instead.

«Go back to sleep,» he murmured again, easing his left leg between yours, and nuzzling his head in the crook of your neck.

“He’s a cuddler?” you wondered in pleased surprise; your hand eventually ended up in his hair, running your fingertips trough it and trying to lull him back to sleep.

However, Minho found it impossible to fall asleep again, judging your wild heartbeat hammering right under his ear; he glanced up towards the small window in your room, and quickly deduced that it was still the middle of the night, meaning that you didn’t get to sleep much in the first place.

If at first he had tried to lull you back to sleep while caressing your hip in a loving manner, he quickly realized that his touch had quite the opposite effect on you; he also had to admit that the sudden proximity of your body and the position that you were in was making him significantly riled up as well.

«Can’t sleep?» he asked, shortly rubbing his eyes with his fingertips in order to get rid of sleep as fast as he could, deciding that you didn’t have to stay awake on your own; you settled for humming affirmatively at his question, and Minho effortlessly pushed himself up, partially balancing his weight on his right elbow so that he his face was hovering above yours. Due to the change of position, his thigh was firmly pressed between your legs, and you forced yourself to swallow a whimper as his knee slightly dipped in the mattress.

Despite the poor lightning, you could feel his gaze on your features, as if he was trying to see through the darkness; you were clearly trying to do the same, and another silence fell as the Golden Fleece was constantly rocking your body while gently following the rhythm of the night sea.

«Do you think the flowers growing in your head are contagious?» Minho blurted out all of a sudden, his left hand mindlessly running up your side in a gentle yet firm touch, «I think I might go back on my thoughts of you not being a siren.» he quietly added; you didn’t answer – your senses about to go overdrive due to all the different kind of constant stimulation added to the comfortable warmth of his body, settling for humming yet again, silently asking him to go on.

Minho ran his left hand from your side to your neck, and eventually started to run his fingertip over your features, delicately brushing over your skin ever so lightly, touching you as if you were some precious treasure he unexpectedly found in the middle of the sea.

«You have completely driven me mad,» Minho confessed with an earnest voice, his fingertips brushing over your cheekbones, «with affection,» he added, his touch brushing over the bow on your upper lip, «with desire,» you found yourself weakly gripping at the front his shirt as soon as you heard his hoarse voice overflowing with the feelings he was talking about, «to the point where I know I should want you to be happy, but I keep wanting – I keep craving, that you could find your happiness with me.» Minho’s confession made your head spin; you wanted to answer that his feelings were completely reciprocated, answer that you didn’t found happiness with Minho – you found a home. However, your voice died in your throat as soon as the pirate had leaned in, his lips hovering barely above yours, yet almost constantly brushing together due to the ship’s movement.

«I am completely enamoured of everything about you,» Minho had whispered then, making you suddenly tighten the loose grip you had on his shirt to the point that the necklace he had been wearing since they day you saved the crew from the sirens’ had fallen out of the collar, now dangling between your bodies, «your body, your personality, the crazy flower field in your head, princess, I – I don’t want you to go back.»

Your heart was overflowing with a different mix of feelings, but the happiness of your feelings being reciprocated seemed to prevail. «I stopped wanting to go back since me and Leana returned from O'draxxia.» was what you admitted out loud, your voice trembling due to all the sudden emotions that were almost setting your soul on fire.

Only then you leaned in – trusting your body more then your words, capturing the pirate’s lips in a timid first kiss, filling it with all the love you felt for the pirate. Minho returned your gesture immediately, kissing your lips slowly, tentatively, over and over again as he was trying to savour you, shortly kissing your lips just to drift his attention elsewhere and kissing your cheek, your nose, your chin, as if he was trying not to lose himself to the lust he was feeling. The kiss had eventually started to heathen when Minho leaned in to kiss you, just for you to run your fingertips through his hair and harshly closing your hand in a fist against his nape, tugging him closer to you and preventing him from running away, so that you could delicately running your tongue on his lower lip.

Minho’s kisses started to get less cherishing and more passionate, occasionally leaving a path of open mouthed kisses on your neck, his knee digging further in the mattress anytime he moved and creating the kind of friction you were honestly about to beg for. It was as if you were a small ship adrift caught up in a sudden storm; Minho kept worshipping your body and all you could do in that moment was to take, take and take, hoping that as soon as the storm had passed you wouldn’t have completely fallen into madness, wishing to stumble right in another one because you felt addicted to the rush of adrenaline. As your kisses grew hotter, so did your bodies and eventually, the sea of blankets you were covered with was progressively being scattered either on the floor or in a corner of your bed.

On deck, the sight of the sun about to rise in the distance was in stark contrast to the light drizzle that had started to fall, the sound of rain echoing on the wooden tiles and absorbing the faint noises of the pirates waking up for the morning shift; in your bedroom, Minho’s hair felt like gentle rain falling on your body everytime the pirate leaned down to kiss your skin as he was undressing you.

“Well, fuck,” you thought, admitting to yourself that Minho was definitely both a good and experienced lover. He had patiently took his sweet time to pay extreme attention to your body, studying how reacted to his different touches as if he was making up for all the lost time, occasionally showering you with praises as his head was nestled between your legs and he was lapping at your clit, making you quicklytumble on your first orgasm of the night. It had definitely been a long time since you had sex with someone, your boring routine had never actually given you an opportunity to meet new people – let alone think about a relationship, but you weren’t expecting Minho to act so smug about it.

As your bodies were finally connected,Minho had sneaked one arm under your waist while steadily moving his hips against yours, harshly pulling it upwards so that your back would be a little more arched and your naked bodies would be pressed together even more; once again, you were greedily taking everything Minho was giving you, helplessly running your fingernails on his back deep enough you would leave marks, beaming yourself in the feeling of his low moans and the goosebumps erupting on his skin out of reflex.

«Going dumb on me for this little action, princess?» Minho’s hoarse voice was filled with desire as he spoke, his hips gradually slowing until his movements came to a stop; you immediately whimpered loudly at the lack of friction, trying to move your hips in circles because you were desperately to create it on your own. You wanted to feel more, you wanted for that moment to never end. As you kept your movements slow and rhythmic – you had to admit that Minho still hoisting you up was doing half of the job, you grabbed the necklace sill dangling between the two of you with your left hand, harshly tugging it and therefore bringing Minho’s face closer to yours.

«Do you ever shut up?» you answered instead, the nails of your right hand – still gripping at his shoulders, were most definitely digging half moon shapes in his skin, and you felt proud of yourself for not ending up whimpering with need somewhere along your sentence; even if it was probably dawn already, you couldn’t see him clearly yet, but it didn’t take a wild guess for you to know that he was smirking at your words.

«I don’t know, do I?» he challenged, shortly capturing your lips in a passionate kiss, starting once again to move his hips to meet your movements.

«Ruin me, Minho,» you urged, keeping him close to you with your grip on the necklace, «I want to be yours,» you confessed then, your body slowly about to lose itself to the momentary euphoria of another orgasm, «I don’t want you to be anybody else’s but mine.»

«Do you think we can sleep in?» you mumbled, tired; you could both clearly hear that it was raining, and you desperately wished for your alone time with Minho to continue for few more hours; you were now laying in bed, lovingly cuddling in your post orgasm bliss.

«I’m on duty this morning,» Minho replied, caressing the bare skin of your shoulder, and admitting that he would have loved to spend the day like this; eventually, you and Minho woke up, washed up and got ready for your day.

Of course, during the day, the pirate had used any excuse to drive you in a corner of the Golden Fleece and kiss you as desperately as if it was your last time. Of course, you couldn’t escape a certain pair of eyes.

“Oh no, here they come, Sauron and Sauron jr.” you thought, chuckling to yourself as you saw Felix and Leana approaching with big and quick steps; you found it hard to contain your laughter, since they were lightly pushing and pulling each other as if both of them wanted to know first.

«Congratulations on the sex!» Leana had mischievously commented, and you immediately reached out to press your hand against her lips in a vain attempt to let everyone on the Golden Fleece know about your early morning activities, «you have hickeys everywhere.» you heard her mutter against your skin.

«Are you finally official?» Felix questioned, secretly happy to have you as a sister in law; you didn’t immediately reply, since you and Minho didn’t clarify it out loud.

However, as your gaze shortly wondered to your lover, who was continuously walking around on deck while changing his destination every now and then as he was trying to avoid Hyunjin’s Jisung’s and Changbin’s teasing – they were literally tailing him and occasionally trying to widen the collar of his shirt just to see «where do these scratches on your nape come from? Is there a stray cat on board or something?», you found yourself smiling gently at the sight.

«We are.» you confirmed, a smile on your face as you finally felt happy.

A month later, you and Minho were definitely official: he moved to your bedroom, and you managed to fit in your small bed nonetheless. You both spent your days doing your chores, and your nights enjoying your affection, either making love until you were exhausted or talking until you were on the verge to fall asleep.

Minho wanted to know everything about you, every single detail that you didn’t consider important, and you felt cherished, since you knew that no one had ever loved you like that. Actually, you wanted to know everything about Minho as well; although the author of the novel had paid enough attention to his character, there were a lot of things you didn’t know, and you found yourself listening to his stories, silently wishing that you were already in his company so that you could have experienced those memories together.

«You’re a pirate,» he had chuckled at your comment, «I’m sure you’ll get to experience your dose of adventures, too.» Minho was completely smitten with your presence, and so were you; slowly, you found yourself occasionally forgetting about your life before you had shifted into this dimension, admitting to both your lover and your friends that you didn’t want to find a way to go home any longer. Needless to say, they were all more than happy with your choice.

However, a month later, your destiny gave you an unexpected choice.

The Golden Fleece was now docked to a port for your usual restock of supplies, and as everyone was busy with their commissions, you and Minho decided to wander through the nearby marketplace, since everything about that world was new to you. You ended up buying a matching necklace, since the both of you were too scared to lose a ring in the middle of the sea, and you kept playing with it as you were strolling around, your fingers loosely intertwined together.

The marketplace was filled with the most random people, but what captured your attention was a small stall that seemed to be packed with books.

«I’ll check this out for a second.» you told Minho, who had simply nodded at you, answering that he was going to check out the stall right next to yours.   As soon as you quickly approached it, a certain book seemed to catch your eye in a magnetic hold: it was relegated in leather, some golden details that recalled the title written in beautiful handwriting. Honestly, a small familiar detail was the one that caught your eye, making your heart rapidly hammer in your chest: a small golden stone embedded right under the title was quietly reflecting the sunlight.

Immediately, you found yourself fanning the pages with anxious fingers, and you couldn’t believe what you were reading; the book was talking about your life, the life you were leading before finding yourself in the novel you had been reading. What the hell was happening?

Quickly, you jumped to the end of the book to read the summary, and you felt as if you couldn’t breathe: it was a short novel about a girl – who coincidentally had both your name and worked exactly where you used to work, who spent her quiet life in a small home town, occasionally meeting her friends.

Of course, it sounded rather plain and boring, but the description was perfectly matching your life; anxiety was slowly clouding your emotions as you opened the book at a random page.

“«Cleo, don’t sit on the window sill!» the girl had yelled from the kitchen, worried about her cat’s habits.”

You closed the book immediately, recalling the scene a bit too vividly; your cat had the habit to sit on the window sill anytime it was open, therefore worrying you to death, and every time you ended up picking her up in order to give her some extra cuddles to refrain her from climbing there yet again.

A whirlwind of thoughts were occupying your head; if this book was talking about your life, that meant you could go back to your ordinary life and keep living your days as you used to.

Going back meant not having occasional nausea due to living on a ship and not risking to die of hypothermia; moreover, all of a sudden, you were definitely craving to eat some junk food.

«Are you interested in purchasing the book, young girl?» an old lady called your attention. She was probably the owner of the stall, and you squinted your eyes at the familiarity of her face; to be honest, you were almost certain that she was the same person that owned the book-store in your original time, but that couldn’t be the case, right?

«Hey princess, if you don’t hurry up, we’ll leave you here!» Minho’s voice interrupted your thoughts, and your head seemed to clear just like the wind clears the sky after a heavy storm; you turned your head to look at your lover, who was looking at you with his hands on his hips, a smug yet enamoured look on his face. The Golden Fleece was about to sail, you reminded yourself, you had simply stopped in town to get some supplies, water and enough provisions for the next trip.

Out of instinct, you hugged the book to your chest, as your eyes remained fixed on Minho; you didn’t know anything about how you managed to end up in this messed up reality, and at this point, you didn’t care.

The chance to go back was right in your hands, but as you watched Minho scoff a laughter at your indecision, every trace of doubt vanished from your heart; you and Minho definitely had a rough start, but you had to admit to yourself that you wouldn’t want to live in another dimension without the pirate who was looking at you as if you were the centre of the universe.

Going back meant not having Felix waking you up in the morning, or Leana bursting into your room looking for cuddles because «Chris is busy with stupid pirate stuff.». It meant not seeing both Seungmin and Jeongin incredibly proud about the latter’s progresses in writing and reading, or Changbin, Jisung and Hyunjin restlessly trying to lure you into their gambling circle.

Going back also meant no more Minho; no more walking up in the middle of the night just to cuddle closer to him, no more having quiet sex on deck in the middle of the night, no more laughing among yourselves because of a stupid inside joke you created, not having him gently chuckling at your unconsolable face anytime he was drying your hair with a towel as you kept whining about your limited edition conditioner.

Most importantly, it meant no more Minho telling you that he loved you, his eyes full of love and sincerity.

«Thank you, but I prefer adventure books.» you honestly answered at the lady, and with a content smile you placed the book exactly where it was; you quickly walked towards Minho, who hugged your shoulders out of instinct as the two of you walked towards the port.

«Saw anything you liked out there?» he wondered curiously; you sincerely seemed interested in the book you were holding, why didn’t you buy it?

«Yeah,» you answered honestly, «you.» the pirate scoffed a flustered breath, and you circled his waist as you kept walking.

Unbeknownst to you, the lady was looking at you and Minho with a some sort of fond smile on her lips; as soon as you were at a reasonable distance, the book seemed to vanish, as if it had completely disappeared from this world. In a blink of an eye, the old lady seemed to have disappeared as well, and in her place was standing the original owner of the stall, a man who was selling every kind of jewellery shining brightly on the table in front of him.

Few meters away, a cat with a very unique appearance – black fur randomly dotted with ginger spots and light green eyes, was quietly roaming the port, satisfied with her task. She recalled being called in a different variety of names during her immortal life, “Ananke” was probably the most used among different cultures; however, she will always cherish the memories she had made with a very special human who had randomly picked her up on a rainy day, giving her a shelter, keeping her well fed and gifting her with a brand new name: “Cleo”.

Walking towards the Golden Fleece, your attention was caught by some pirates who were carrying a dozen crates on board that looked quite heavy.

«Did we have so little supplies on board?» you questioned Chris, as soon as you and Minho joined the others on the wharf.

«We had plenty!» Leana answered instead, «Me and Felix decided to fill your wardrobe with new clothes, as a welcoming gift!»

«But… I don’t have a wardrobe in my room…» you answered, wondering how could a wardrobe fit in there now that you and Minho were sharing the bedroom.

«Not yet!» Felix answered, mirroring Leana’s euphoria; you were about to answer him, when Hyunjin had asked you whether you had decided to stay with them.

«I did, Captain said it’s not a problem.» you nodded, imperceptibly pushing your body against Minho’s side as if to look for an invisible shelter; what if the gambler trio was against the idea?

However, Hyunjin had simply nodded, while Changbin and Jisung seemed to be genuinely happy about it.

«Well, that’s great!» you said, clapping your hands once, «Chris said that I could chose the first thing to do, and so I decided we’re about to raid a merchant ship!»

«Are you sure you’re okay? Did you perhaps hit your head again?» Seungmin wondered, instinctively reaching out in order to touch your forehead, as if checking if you had a fever. However, you were already walking towards the Golden Fleece with confident steps, as if you were meant to be there.

«Come on, scallywags!» you eagerly announced in a loud voice, as if you were impersonating the Captain, «Let’s go, Min Min.» you added then, your voice definitely more softer and a smile on your lips.

«Wait!» Jeongin halted everyone, his hands hovering in the air, «Did she just call him-»

«You heard the lady!» Leana interrupted Jeongin, quickly pulling the palm of her hand on the younger’s mouth. «Let’s go!»

“Ah, I really shouldn’t have wasted the Britney quote like that,” you pouted, “now I have to figure out another iconic thing to scream as we walk on the merchants’ ship.” you sighed, instinctively leaning towards Minho as soon as you felt his arm circle your shoulders.

«You seem lost in thought,» he pointed out, noticing your eyebrows furrowed.

«Does “it’s high tide, baby!” sound scary and menacious to you?» you wondered out loud, thing that made Minho burst out laughing, «Why are you laughing? It’s not like we can crash against their ship screaming “vibe check”!» you pretended to be offended, but you found yourself laughing along with your lover.

«“Vibe” what? Where did that come from now?» he asked, already knowing that this was just another one of your weird figure of speech.

«My flower field.» you proudly answered, tapping your temple twice, Minho rolled his eyes, and leaned in, shortly kissing your temple.

Everyone was busy on deck, the Golden Fleece had sailed once again; your gaze lost itself in the vast sea in front of you, and you found yourself recalling the question Leana had asked you when you were on your trip to O’draxxia.

«Do you believe in soulmates?» she had questioned you, and back then you uncertainly answered that you thought you did.

“What if me and Minho are soulmates?” you wondered, unconsciously wrapping your fingers around your matching necklace - both the one you bought at the market and the talisman made out of your precious clothes; you found yourself recalling the unpredictable change of your relationship, and you breathed a content sigh, for the first time in your life feeling completely at peace.

«Yes, we must be.» you softly mumbled to yourself, your voice barely above a whisper losing itself in the wind.  

all works © lettersfromaphrodite

Do not modify, repost, translate or plagiarize my stories. I only publish my works on tumblr & AO3.

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[ruggiezz]

bby ya que somos del mismo rancho :3)/ entenderas mejor este pedido esque queria saber si podrias hacer headcanons para los lideres de dormitorio, reaccionando a la costumbre de aqui de saludar siempre con un beso o dos en la mejilla o aveces incluso abrazar cuando son más amigos ^^ y yap, graciaaaas y agradecida por haber encontrado tu blog *beso en la frente*

— KISS ON THE CHEEK : twisted wonderland

[synopsis] them reacting to reader giving them a kiss on the cheek as a greeting (a latin american and hispanic tradition/custom) and them being hugged a lot when being friends (also a latin american thing). reader is yuu

[characters] housewardens (except for vil since i don't write for him)

[extra] YO TAMBIÉN HABÍA PENSADO EN LO MISMO ANON, tienes mucha razón, necesitamos más headcanons así. also, me hace muy feliz de que te guste mi blog 😭

★ RIDDLE ROSEHEARTS

He invited you and Grim to the next unbirthday party as the guests of honor. So when he arrives everybody has their eyes on both of you and Riddle approaches to where you're seated and greets you, what he wasn't expecting was you getting out of your seat and greeting him with a kiss on the cheek.

Is flabbergasted pt.1 and he gets as red as a tomato. Inmediately begins screaming "Off with your head" and is only stopped when Ace and Deuce run towards you both and try to explain the situation.

He gets more relaxed now knowing that's just how people back in your world greet eachother, but please, don't do it in front of everyone again, or at least without warning him, Cater took a picture and posted it on magicam and Trey teased him for it. Apparently both of them knew and were eager to see his reaction.

Low-key really embarassed the rest of the unbirthday party, he can't stop thinking about it. Riddle makes a mental reminder to ask more about your culture now, just in case you surprise him out of nowhere again.

Also finds out about the hugging aspect when you two were studying for finals, when you hugged him excitedly when you passed a test thanks to his tutoring. He gets red again, but doesn't do anything to stop you from hugging him. Riddle can get used to it, but he won't probably ask for hugs unless you both are in a relationship, so ask him out already.

★ LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

Leona, for once, decided to eat at the cafeteria since Ruggie was sick that day and couldn't bring him his lunch. He sat alone on one table and nobody dared to approach him because if looks could kill, everbody that dared look at the housewarden would drop dead. That was until you spotted him and went to greet him. The whole cafeteria got dead silent when they saw you giving him a kiss on the cheek. THE Leona Kingschoalr being KISSED by the magicless human.

"Oi herbivore, you're really bold, aren't you? Daring to kiss me in front of everyone?" Leona looked at you with a grin, if it was another person that dared to do it and not you, he wouldn't have let it go, but it was you, so he is going to let it slide. Are you interested in him then?

Disappointed but not surprised when you explain that is a way of greeting people back in your world, but hey, at least he is in a better mood now, so you better sit and eat lunch with him (in silence).

When he overhears a first year Savanaclaw student, that doesn't like Leona, make fun of him, for going "soft", and you, for being "shameless" for that kiss, he's furious. The next day that student had to run an extra kilometer at morning training.

Regarding being hugged a lot, he doesn't mind, but he won't say that. He calls you "bold" and "fearless" for doing it, but doesn't stop you. Ruggie even saw you both asleep in the botanical garden while hugging. Maybe he has developed a soft spot for you after all.

★ AZUL ASHENGROTTO

I know I made headcanons of Azul being chilean, but Yana Toboso hasn't made it canon (smh octavinelle being latino in canon when) so I'll go with how he would react in canon.

Azul invited you to Mostro Lounge to taste the new menu he carefully planned as a way of raising the daily income. He greeted you at the entrance with Floyd and Jade behind him, when you suddenly gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"..."

"..."

"Shrimpy! I want a kiss on the cheek too! Why is only Azul getting one?"

Flabbergasted pt.2, give him a moment, he needs to sort out his thoughts. What just happened. Did the prefect just kiss him on the cheek out of nowhere? This wasn't part of the plan.

Jade interrupts his thoughts when he starts laughing at him, and Azul goes back to the real world and demands at explanation at you over what you just did.

He is still flustered even after you explain that's just a custom back in your world, but has to compose himself for the sake of the rest of the customers that are staring at him. He won't mention it again the rest of his life, unless you greet him like that the next time. Needless to say, Azul got teased by the tweels after who just wouldn't let it go.

Azul is also very flustered when you hug him out of nowhere when he helps you out with an assigment "on the house". Is this also a custom of your country? It is? Oh, he's a little dissapointed you "don't mean it" in a romantic way, since he's been interested in you for a while. Just don't hug him in front of Jade and Floyd, because: (1) They will make fun of him (2) Floyd will squeeze you.

★ KALIM AL-ASIM

Kalim organized a huge party celebrating that he passed his finals exams and every dorm was invited, which meant you were invited too. While Jamil was running around Scarabia trying to make sure everything was in the right place and making sure there was enough food, Kalim was waiting excitedly near the entrance for you to arrive.

When you arrived and gave him a kiss on the cheek, he stood there shocked for a second while Jamil had a heart attack right then and there. After like 5 seconds of Kalim thinking about what just happened, he gave you a kiss back and greeted you with the biggest smile you've ever seen. You didn't even explain what it meant, he just ran with it, excited that you gave him a kiss.

Kalim doesn't care whether it's a greeting or a romantic gesture, he's just happy you're here. He's whipped for you and will accept anything you give him. Jamil agressively disagrees, he is the heir of a wealthy family, someone could see this and misinterpret the situation, but Kalim doesn't care either way and will now greet you with a kiss on the cheek, if this makes you feel more at home then he will gladly do it!

He eagerly accepts your hugs, his love language is physical touch, so he's sooo happy when you hug him, even if it's out of nowhere. Give him all the hugs you want, no need to warn him. Kalim will make it an habit to surprise you with a hug from behind, be free to do it too!

★ IDIA SHROUD

The only one that isn't getting kissed in public. He invited you to his room to play this new videogame that just dropped. Idia had bought some snacks and brought some blankets so you wouldn't be cold when you suddenly arrived and kissed him. Idia.exe has stopped working.

Flabbergasted pt.3, he couldn't even utter the word "hello" he was going to say. He's literally that "what happened to hello? how are you? my name is?" audio on tiktok. He stands there looking at the wall behind you for around 2 minutes, in total silence. So you're both standing there in silence, even after you explain to him that it's a way of greeting someone where you come from.

Idia's soul probably left his body and had to come back because he just couldn't throw you out of his room to have a minute of self-reflection and to think about the meaning of the universe and why we're all here and-

His whole hair is pink and he just fiddles with his videogame controller the whole afternoon, only replying with short words. If you apologize to him he will get even MORE flustered and start panicking over what to do.

It's the same thing regarding hugs, his hair will turn pink and he will scream internally, give him 5 business days to recover, please. It's not that he hates you or doesn't respect your culture, it's just that Idia isn't used to physical affection by other than his brother and ocassionally, his parents. But he low-key likes it, just give him a few weeks to get used to it.

★ MALLEUS DRACONIA

He visits Ramshackle's garden every night, it's his favorite part of the day since you're the only one that doesn't care much about him being "royalty" and isn't walking around eggshells with him. But he's surely surprised when you greet him with a kiss on the cheek.

"You're certainly bold, child of man. You surprise me every day"

Were you trying to court him? Was this your way of telling him his feelings were mutual? No? It's just a human way to greet each other? He needs to cancel the wedding he was already planning then, a shame. What a disappointment, and you can see he's upset over it because you catch him pouting when he thought you weren't looking.

Sebek almost has a heart attack when he sees you greeting Malleus with a kiss on the cheek when you arrive to Diasomnia. He has never screamed so loud, the glass on the windows almost broke, people in Heartslabyul say they even heard it. Lilia stops him from separating you from Malleus, thankfully.

Malleus enjoys your hugs, they are warm and it makes him feel fuzzy. He even asked Lilia what was this feeling was. Please give him more hugs, he deeply enjoys it. He just assumes it's another human custom, and he's eager to learn more about your culture, please do tell him more. Now you have another topic to talk about in your night walks.

#riddle rosehearts x reader #leona kingscholar x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #kalim al-asim x reader #idia shroud x reader #malleus draconia x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #riddle x reader #leona x reader #azul x reader #kalim x reader #idia x reader #malleus x reader #twisted wonderland #twst fluff

[jabbage]

You're right, being allo is exhausting. And sometimes I think other allos lash out at ace and aro people because it feels so unfair that other people could be happy without a romantic partner and/or having sex. Because being single is honestly miserable and sometimes I find myself quietly resenting people who don't have an emptiness from that so I can imagine people who are less self aware and more willing to take their problems out on others turn that into aphobia instead of doing some soul searching to understand why they're upset.

I'm afraid I don't specifically know what this is in response to, which makes it a little difficult to know what you want from me. I've had this blog over a decade and I've never been good at tagging. I might have joked about allosexuality seeming exhausting - I think whenever you come across someone who structures a lot of their life around something which has no or little part in your life, it seems 'exhausting'

But here are my thoughts to what you've written.

I think that people who feel the way you describe fundamentally misunderstand what asexuality and aromanticism are.

They're not a magical inoculation against the effects of allo and amatonormativity.

Being ace or aro definitely does not mean that you innately feel happy and content without a romantic or sexual partner.

We live in a world which ties emotional vulnerability, sexual pleasure, financial stability, security in old age, social success and many, many other things to sexual and romantic connections. I can assure you that it can feel very, very empty and very very lonely to live in a world where everything from your education, the media you consume, the legal and social structures around you, are telling you that the bonds you have with others will never be as important as those which are romantic or sexual, and where a very common and frighteningly accepted response to your sexuality is that you have something deeply wrong or missing on a fundamental level. That is exhausting, and lonely, and scary.

For what it's worth I don't actually think my asexuality is the thing which makes me content with being single. I think it's just been the catalyst for figuring out a happy shape for my life which doesn't require a romantic relationship, because I HAD to.

Perhaps for you, you feel that emptiness, but you think perhaps one day you'll find a relationship which will solve it.

If I felt that way, I would potentially feel empty forever. I had to, very slowly, and with luck and privilege playing important roles, create a life for myself where I don't feel an empty space without a romantic or sexual partner. And I'm still scared, because it is scary when you're living in a way that society is not kind to, socially, financially, legally, etc. I'm happy now, perhaps I won't be one day. I don't know.

But I think everybody deserves to feel secure and loved and fearless and free and successful without requiring romance or sex in their lives - even if they do participate in those things, even if those things are very important to them, even if they want them very much.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, and I wish you lots of happiness in your future <3

#asexual #asexuality #aromantic #aspec

[peaky-shelby]

NEW ROMANTICS | MBAPPÉ [9]

» summary: in which an arrogant and talented football player (the best of his time as some say) and a focused and harsh critic of a journalist are gonna have to find a way to co-exist.« previous chapter

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Taylor’s instinct was to dive in the water without saying anything at all. Kylian watched her as she tied herself around him so she could stay underwater. He heard the guard getting closer and looked up.

“Mr. Mbappe?” All Kylian could do was gulp and nod. “Party is inside sir. Pool Is closed”

He was struggling to come up with actual words, opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, distracted by the skin to skin contact and her closeness to dangerous areas but this was not the time.

“my daughter’s a fan.”

“Really?”

“You don’t happen to have a shirt do you?”

“Not right now I don’t.”

Taylor pinched his thigh, not at all in a sexual way but only to remind him that she was about to run out of breath if she didn’t do anything. She closed her eyes trying to focus on her heartbeat, which echoed in the void of the water and would get quicker every minute that she didn’t let out the air. She could see her time running out right in front of her eyes. None of this was a good idea, definitely not for her weak heart which had already been through a lot.

“but give me five minutes I’ll get one for you.” Taylor could feel his entire body vibrating as he spoke. She couldn’t hear a response by the guard. Feared that if this took any longer she would loose all consciousness but suddenly she felt his hands underneath her elbows, pulling her up. She gasped for air, the second she reached the surface and jumped off the pool, getting up on marble and walking back and forth. Her hand always placed in her chest, over her heart while she was hyperventilating in attempt to stay calm. She put on her heels, quicker than any time before and picked up her phone as well. Kylian got off the pool reaching for his pants, jumping on one leg while walking so he could put them on at the same time. He wore his white t-shirt and snatched his jacket from the ground, attempted to put it over her but she slapped it away.

“are you ok?” he asked, kinda worried, kinda confused. She didn’t answer him, which only made him more anxious than before, trying to get near her and failing each time. He had followed her on the railings of the marine, for a second be thought she’d jump over them and into the sea. “taylor?” he tried again.

“this ends here!” it came out as an order. She was shaking in the cold while she said it and he thought she should be the one going inside. He attempted to put his jacket over her again, to warm her wet figure. She turned around abruptly, making him step back. “enough Kylian !” she yelled. “no more staring, no more insinuations, or jokes or following me. There are more than 20 reporters in that venue and im--” she laughed at herself, rubbing her face “what am I doing?”. If stars could speak they’d be doomed, both of them. It was the first time he noticed the sign of fear in her eyes, a woman fearless in most things was standing scared in front of him. Did he feel bad for her? Being the reason of the fear? “please.” She whispered “enough.”

He nodded, pressing his tongue on his teeth. “ok.” He raised his hands in defeat, still holding his jacket in one and made a step back. “I’m done. I promise.” He lowered his hand again, holding out the jacket for her “but take the jacket” Her eyes fell on it, looking at it like it was a gun that she’d put on her head later on. Like accepting would be accepting something worse, something like a curse. She snatched it away from him and put it on, leaving as far away from him as possible.

He started buttoning his shirt, looking up at the sky while doing so. Funny thing about stars, they see everything and don’t tell a soul.

“Ky!”

He turned around in the sound of his name, Hakimi standing behind him. There was this kind of disapproval in his eyes like he had seen everything but was too kind to say anything. He took off his jacket and gave it to Kylian.

“Go back inside.” He said “before people start adding two and two together.”

Taylor got back in her room. Changing away from her wet clothes as quick as she could. She had used Kylian’s jacket to hide how wet her dress was when going up to her room. She threw it on the couch across the bed and made herself a warm bath, her body sinking in the high temperature. Her heart finally finding a safe place to calm. No sort of shampoo could erase his touch from her inner thigh, another invisible tattoo by him. But she kept telling herself that’s all they were, tattoos. A simple addiction, she’d eventually get over.

Later, she laid on her bed, wrapped herself in her cozy robe and tucked under the blankets. She couldn’t sleep and she knew she wouldn’t. Not unless she found a way to get her mind off his dark eyes. Hey eyes were stuck on the ceiling, imagining thousands of stars starring down at her. Her phone buzzed on the table, the noise disturbing her but also giving her a way out from her thoughts. She sat better, reading the name on the screen. A sense of calmness she hadn’t felt in a while washed over her.

“Dad?”

“Hey lion. I saw your call from earlier is everything alright?”

She hesitated “yes. Just missing you.” It wasn’t a complete lie.

“Ah I was talking with Beth about that. I was thinking I’d fly to you next week. Stay for a couple of days.”

She smiled at the thought “that’d be good. You sure you can travel though? How were your exams?”

“they were fine, don’t you worry about it.”

“you might as well tell me, I’ll call Beth otherwise.”

“sweetheart. I’m ok. I promise you. What about you? You sound troubled.”

“The match against AL Nssr is gonna be the first that they know I’m assistant coach. Guess I’m scared about that”

“Mbappe still giving you a hard time?”

Her eyes searched for Kylian’s jacket, she looked at it like it was actually him. “Sometimes”

“don’t think about it too much. Keep being yourself, doing what you know best.”

“thanks pa.” A pause between the two then she asked “do you think I have a tendency of self destruction?”

“why would you ask that?”

“I fear I might be doing it again.”

WELCOMING EVENT VENUE – NIGHT

Kylian stayed on the even a while longer. He didn’t really talk to anyone or attempted to even look like he was enjoying himself. Taylor’s disappearance was talked about a lot. The boys would make theories about it and all the while he could feel Hakimi’s eyes staring at him. Still, he had made a promise to her to not talk about it with his friend, ever. He was going to keep it.

He Found himself close to a group of a couple reporters, it wasn’t intended. He just kept zoning out and unconsciously joining conversations, while being pushed around by members on the PR team or even Galtier himself. Hearing her name is what got him out of the zone.

“Taylor Wilock. She was on Chelsea.”

He made a step closer to the group, listening.

“she left very early on. Don’t you think?” asked one of the women. The man standing next to her laughed.

“Have we counted the footballers to make sure they’re all here?”

Kylian gripped tight on his glass. He didn’t like what the unknown man was suggesting.

“haven’t seen Neymar in a while.” Said the woman, laughing “god if I were her, I’d sleep with half of them as well.”

“Any other way for a woman in her 20’s to get that kind of a job?”

Kylian was fuming. He stepped in front of the two journalists, his posture strict and unwelcoming.

“She was 5 when she played her first game. She so good that her coach had to keep her benched in some games because she made all the other kids cry. When she turned 7, Birmingham city academy had already started making offers for her to stay and join the under 16s team. She would have, except she was picked out by Chelsea, as you also pointed out. Full scholarship. She was 10 at the time by the way. Starting eleven in every game and approached by national team for the world cup. She would have joined them at 16 years old, the contract was even signed. She could have had a bigger career than you could ever dream of if it wasn’t for her illness. But even then, she built a website from zero, with detailing and analyzing articles about player performances in ways that coaches in their 40s envied. That’s how she got the fucking job.”

Kylian was surprised of how much he had listened and remembered the things that Jude had told him about Taylor. His mind had kept all of the information without even realizing it. Perhaps, overhearing the things they said about her made him understand how much there was on the line for her, meanwhile he had been treating this as a game. A few weeks ago, and maybe he would have said the same things about her but now he knew she wasn’t underqualified, no matter how much he wanted to pretend like she was. Maybe this was a way of redeeming himself for the things he said and done after a much-needed wake up call.

“Do your fucking research.”

He left them after that. Didn’t stay to see their surprised or baffled expressions. He bumped on a few people while exiting the venue and going up to his room. He locked the door, changed into more comfortable clothes and started searching in his suitcase. He took out his tablet, sitting on his bed and opening his gallery. Scrolled down until he found the pictures he had taken of Taylor’s report. He stayed up reading that night. The taste of her skin lingering on his lips.

KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM – OPEN TRAINING SESSION

Taylor was surprised when she realized Kylian was keeping his promise. During breakfast they sat on different tables, keeping their eyes on the ones around them instead of each other. The only time he got close enough to her was when he asked to speak with Neymar. Only for a couple of seconds before the two of them left to go talk alone.

In the bus Taylor sat on the front next to Galtier, repeatedly checking on her phone to keep herself occupied. She hoped he couldn’t see through her performances. Truth was that since the night before she had this constant ache in her chest and a sort of dizziness. She thought both things would die out after taking her pills but the exhaustion seemed to be getting bigger. She ignored it.

The team dressed in their new yellow and black kit, photographed in the hall and then out on te stadium. She watched in awe as the people that had come to see the training screamed and yelled when the team walked out on the pitch. Turns you never get used to that feeling, the thrill of listening your friend’s names yelled in celebration. It didn’t take long before she was approached by the first reporters, asking about her experience in the team so far. She gave short answers and excused herself, saying he needed to work. She spent most of the time studying attitudes and performances. She noticed Kylian training alongside Neymar, the two of them passing the ball to each other. Galtier had assigned her to mostly watch for this training and get back to him with a starting 11 and a final strategy for the next day’s game while the other coaches took the lead in the training. She’d walk in between everyone, writing on her notebook and sometimes blow her whistle when she thought the boys were getting out of control.

Sometimes she’d get this feeling on her fingertips like she needed to type out the thoughts on her mind. A article like the ones she used to write. She’d ignore it the same way she’d ignore the growing ache on her chest. She was in the middle of the field when Neymar kicked a ball at her and she realized that she had zoned out.

“You good?” he asked, getting near her. “You look pale.”

“Yeah.” She said quickly, she showed him her notebook and started pointing on her notes about him. While she spoke, she kept missing a couple of words or dragging out sentences. Ney noticed it, his head cocked to the left while watching her. He was listening at her pointers but also examining on her features.

“You sure you’re good?” he asked.

She closed her eyes nodding “I just need water.” She exited the field, looking at the benches for her water bottle. she went inside the building when took it so no one from the team would see her. She leaned against the wall and started drinking slowly, fearing that her stomach might not take kindly on the liquid.

“Ms. Wilock?” She opened her eyes to see one of the medics standing in front of her, a kind smile on her face. “I’m jo. Are you feeling alright?”

“Do I look that bad?” she tried to joke.

“Mr. Mbappe told me you might need help.”

Her expression softened, she cleared her throat as to not show her guilt and turned her gaze at the floor so she wouldn’t be able to see her eyes. “I’m fine, really. This is normal.”

“Could I check your blood pressure?” she asked, holding a monitor in her hands. Taylor nodded and held her arm out. The medic wrapped it around her arm. Taylor leaned her head against the wall, looking up at the ceiling “are you diagnosed with a condition?”

“Inherited Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.” She answered, biting the inside of her lip “like I said. This is normal for me.”

The medic was focused on the monitor, watching the numbers getting higher. She shook her head “I need you to take a few deep breaths for me—”

“I need to get back on the field.”

“In a moment. Please, a couple deep breaths.” She obeyed; this was routine for her. Deep breaths and counting to 7. She had been doing it for most of her life. “You said inherited?”

“my father’s side.” She explained.

Jo unwrapped the monitor from her arm “you should take a break. Eat something.”

“I’ll take a break when the session is over.”

“Something wrong coach?” Kimpembe came in, jogging towards her. Taylor turned and looked at him, a little annoyed that this was turning into a scene.

“I’m fine—” “she needs to eat.” They said it at the same time, Kimpembe looking between them, confused. He narrowed his eyes.

“Well I was gonna go get a snack. You’re welcome to join.”

“Not necessary—”

“I think I’ll listen to the doctor!” he slipped his head around her arm and winked at the medic before dragging her with him to the cafeteria. She groaned, trying to move away but he was stronger. He had his signature smile plastered on his face while they walked and he was ignoring her threats and complaints. He ordered her a toast, since it was the only thing, she was willing to eat. They sat on the corner, the two of them. She’d cut small bites from her bread and chew on them slowly. Kimpembe laughed at her.

“You eat like a chipmunk.”

“I said I wasn’t hungry.”

He took a full bite from his banana, keeping her eyes on her and when he swallowed, he said “should have stayed longer last night.” She gazed at the toast, all of a sudden swallowing the whole thing in one go and chocking on it seemed tempting. “People were looking for you.”

She coughed on her own breath, looking up at him “who was?”

He shrugged “just people.” He laughed at himself “journalists are begging for an interview with you.”

“only so they can be sexists and annoying.” She bit on her toast.

“Kylian took care of that last night.” She stopped chewing. She lowered the toast, her big eyes focusing on the man across from her. “Someone made a comment about you and he set them right. Gave them your whole biography to shut them up.”

She blinked a few times, second time today that Kylian had tried to help without making any actual contact with her. “Why would he do that?”

“Trying to get on your good side? I don’t know.”

She thought about it. Imagined Kylian supporting her in a dispute, for some reason that sent a shiver in her heart, a shiver she couldn’t quite explain. She took another bite from her toast, zoning out while chewing on the food.

Taylor got back on the field with Kimpembe next to her. Kylian was occupied with a group of kids that had circled around him, asking questions and taking photographs with their idol. He had this smile on his face for the whole time. She remembered the first time he saw him with that little girl on campus. It was like he was a different person. He raised his head and looked at her, all of a sudden, he was pointing at her while talking to one of the little girls. Taylor looked behind her to make sure he wasn’t pointing at somebody else. When she looked back at them again, they were closer, walking towards her for some reason. She stood awkwardly while waiting for them.

“Hi—” she exclaimed when they got close enough. Kylian smiled and knelt next to the girl.

“She wanted to meet you.”

“Me?”

The girl nodded. Seconds later and she had tied her arms around Taylor’s feet. Hugging her. Taylor gave Kylian and a questioning look. She knelt so she’d be on the same height as the girl “what’s your name?”

“Sia.”

Taylor smiled “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Kylian says you’re the strictest coach they have.”

Taylor laughed “that’s true, I am.”

“I think you’re cool.”

“I am that too.”

Kylian took a picture of them together and the girl ran back to her parents. Before Kylian could follow her, taylor grabbed his arm. He stopped on his tracks turning around to face her. She let go of his arm quickly “I wanted to talk to you” she said and he nodded.

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you as well.” Taylor expected him to go ahead and tell her about the events that followed after she left the venue or about what happened in the pool but what followed, left her with her mouth open “I checked your report again last night. There are some pointers, if you have the time, I need you to go through them together.” She thought she was hallucinating, that maybe her heart had really given up on her and now she was watching some weird dream. “I have some ideas for tomorrow I want you to speak to Galtier about if that’s alright.” She pressured her lips together, narrowing her eyes. She rubbed her head—

“Wai—wait, what?” she snorted “since when do you have a copy of the report?”

“I took pictures of it when I took it”

“Stole it” she corrected him. “And of course, you did.”

“Does it really matter?” he asked, letting both hands fall on his sides like he was tired “Do you have time to help or not?”

Her mouth hangs open while she was processing his request. She had to shake her head to get back on reality. “Yeah—” she murmured “of course—I—that’s my job Kylian.”

“Thanks.”

“That’s not what I wanted us to talk about though.”

“Why? Is there anything else?”

His question hurt but he wasn’t trying to be offensive or dismissive. If anything, he was keeping a promise that she had made him to, so she had no reason to be mad at him. Why did it still stink though?

She shook her head, puling up the corner of her lips “I guess not.”

He gave her a sympathetic smile and he left.

RESTAURANT / FAIRMONT HOTEL – AFTERNOON

“Why am I here then?” asked Hakimi, looking at Kylian, who was scrolling on his iPad to find the picture he was looking at last night. They were sitting on a circled table next to each other,

“Back up.” Mumbled Kylian.

“In case she tries to kill you or kiss you?” he picked one of the welcoming nuts the waiter had left on the table, smirking at his friend.

Kylian gave him the side eye and let down the tablet, ones he opened the pictures he needed “don’t make any jokes when she’s around. I don’t want her to think it was planned,”

“Since when do you care?”

“I really want to win tomorrow. If working with her is what it takes then so be it.” He glanced at the entrance of the restaurant and then back at his friend “I don’t want this to look like an ambush with you here.”

“she’s here—”

Kylian looked at the entrance. Taylor came in, holding her files and smiling to the waiters. She stopped for a second when she saw Hakimi sitting next to Kylian but then went and sat next to him, using him as a wall of separation from Kylian.

“Achraf,” she mumbled, while drawing the chair closer to the table. Hakimi smiled at her and gave her a quick wave “couldn’t take all the heat by yourself, Kylian?” she asked, opening her files on the table. Kylian leaned closer on the table so he’d see better at her writings.

Hakimi reached for his water, moving carefully in between them and staring at table, avoiding their gazes “this is gonna be fun” he mumbled and drank from his glass.

They ordered. They talked. They fought.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” complained Kylian

“that’s because you’re dumb!” she mumbled.

Meanwhile Hakimi was trying to enjoy his dinner in between their yelling. He was cutting bites of his dessert with his spoon, his eyes describing all the desperation he was feeling while being stuck between them. Papers were being pushed back and forth, he watched them with an empty expression until he reached his limit. He stood up abruptly, both of them watching him. “I need to go to the restroom.” He explained, any excuse to get away from this war zone. He pushed his chair back and walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

Taylor looked away from Kylian when Hakimi left and snatched a piece of paper that didn’t really say anything at all. She just wanted to pretend like she was reading something. Kylian started tapping on the table while looking at the screen on his tablet. “What about defense?”

“What about it?”

“you’re saying it’s weak.”

“Because it is…” she murmured. Kylian’s head shot up at her, he bit on his tongue. He slid on Hakimi’s chair, moving the tablet with him. Taylor glanced at him, a little worried for his intentions but all he seemed interested in was to make sense of her writings. She couldn’t understand where all this came from but she kinda liked it.

“Where are you gonna place me tomorrow?”

“I don’t have the final say, you know that.”

“What are you going to suggest?”

“What do you think? Forward. Alongside Neymar and Messi.”

“What do you know about Ronaldo’s team.”

She looked at him. She took out a pen from her folder and started writing on one of the papers while talking “You’re basically going against Vincent Aboubakar. He’s forward and he’s good. Neymar will have his eye on him—”

“Why?”

“He was on Cameroon team when brazil lost this year. Make sure Ney doesn’t get carried away. Konan plays left back and his style is mostly dribbling and shooting from a distance. He is threat number two but he’s weak at finishing.” She paused, writing all the information she could remember about him on the paper “And then of course there is your favorite.” She wrote Ronaldo’s name on the paper “do I need to write his stats?”

Kylian smiled “no. I think I got it.”

“Listen. I don’t think it’s a hard win, which is why I’m gonna be extra disappointed If we lose. They’re not even a team yet. I doubt they’ve found a way to communicate with Ronaldo so quickly.”

“You think he is a liability?”

“I think he is a big change. And a sort of change like that takes time to adjust.”

Kylian moved slightly, his knee under the table unintentionally bumping on hers. Both of them freezing at the contact for a moment. She looked away without moving her leg away from him. “It wasn’t necessary to send the medic after me today.” She said.

“You gave me a scare last night.”

“I was fine” she whispered.

He nodded. He knew she was lying. He had spoken with the medic himself, but he didn’t pressure her. He lowered his head, his knee still laying against hers.

“do me a favor.” She hummed, getting a little closer “keep up the good kid act or whatever it was that got you so focused today for tomorrow.” He scoffed, smiling. “I saw you trying with Ney. It was pretty darn great.”

The waiter interrupted them, leaving down the bill for the dinner. Taylor went to reach for it, Kylian grasped her hand before she could even touch it. He dropped her hand seconds later, opening the envelope with the bill and putting in his card in a slick movement. The waiter left with it.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Just keeping up the good kid act.” He told her. She smiled and started collecting all her papers back on her files. Hakimi returned a while later, only then did they move their knees away from each other. Sitting straight on their chairs. So, touch deprived, both of them and it was coming out in the most sinful way possible.

“The boys are in the bar. You guys gonna join?”

“What the hell are they doing in the bar? They have a game tomorrow!”

The waiter returned with Kylian’s card and Taylor got up. She was pissed. Hakimi bit on his tongue, rubbing his forehead.

“I’m sure they are not drinking, right Haki?” Asked Kylian, standing up next to taylor. Hakimi filled his cheekbones with air, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m gonna murder them—”

“Wai-wait!” Kylian stepped in front of her before she could leave. “They are adults. You’re not their mother, if they wanna fuck up, it’s on them, right?”

“I’m sure they are responsible enough, not to wake up with hangovers.” Added Hakimi.

“Fine. I’ll go back to my room. Give them a warning though that if I see anyone with sunglasses tomorrow, I’ll shove them so far up their asses they are going to taste them.” She walked past Hakimi. Kylian snorted at her comment, for ones able to appreciate her evil remarks because they weren’t aimed at him. Hakimi glowered at him and his laughter came to a quick halt.

“You know I think I’ll go to my room as well.”

Hakimi was still glowering.

“See you tomorrow bro.” he patted Hakimi on the shoulder and followed behind taylor. He reached her as soon as the elevator doors opened. Both of them walking inside and laying on opposite sides.

“You’re not gonna drink?” she asked, scratching on her nails.

“Good kid act” he reminded her and she laughed, closing her eyes.

Silence. Their kind.

“You sure everything was ok with the medic?”

“don’t ask me again Kylian.” She ordered.

The elevator doors opened again and they walked down the long hallway. Kylian stopped in front of his door while taylor continued. She stopped, turned back around to face him. He could feel her eyes on him, so he turned at her direction.

“I know you are scared playing against Ronaldo. I know what he means to you.” Her voice trailed off while she walked back to him “but you’ll do great as long as you remember the things we talked about today.” She smiled “the fact that you came to your sworn enemy JW for help, says a lot.”

He laughed. She reached for his hand, squishing it two times. He wanted to turn his hand and take hold of hers, pull her to him and kiss her, fulfill his addiction. But she slipped it away before he could hold it and she walked to her room, opening and closing the door while he stood outside his own. His body aching to be next to her, to make her angry so she’d yell at him. He was used to it.

She shut the door, a part of her staying on the other side. She realized his jacket was still laid on her couch. Tempted to return it to him, she traced the expensive fabric with her fingers. She left it there and fell asleep looking at it, a reminder of why she should keep away from him.

KHALIFA INTERNATIONAL STADIUM / LOCKER ROOMS – GAME DAY

Chaos was one word to describe it. Yelling, heavy steps, thousands of people walking around the stadium, outside, in the halls, and in the seats. Taylor was just a small figure among them and if it wasn’t for her id card, security would probably have kicked her out already. She got down the stairs to the locker room, meeting Galtier in the middle, giving his pregame speech to this team. She closed the door slowly so she wouldn’t interrupt him but he turned to her anyway.

“Ms. Wilock. Wanna do the honors?”

She was caught unprepared. Looking around for some sort of hint of what he meant “the what?”

Galtier motioned towards the boys, who seemed to be waiting for something. She slowly began to understand, a soft ‘oh’ escaping her lips. She moved closer, studying their faces. Some of them still had little belief in her. One of them of course was Verratti. She went to him first. Knelt in front of him.

“I know you hate me so if you could use that hate into scoring tonight that would be helpful.” Verratti scoffed “for the record, I think you are one of our best advantages for this game. I always have. So, kick that ball like it’s my face if that’s what it takes. Ok?”

He nodded, half smiling at her. She stood up and looked at Messi.

“Let’s not kid ourselves half the stadium is here to see you against Ronaldo. Please don’t let me getting benched when I was 13 for punching a girl that said Ronaldo was better stand for nothing.” They all laughed, even Galtier cracked a smile. It went on like this for all the players but she very noticeably ignored Neymar and Mbappe, like she was saving them for last.

Galtier gave any last motivation he had, clapping for his team. When they were all out, Taylor called for Neymar and Kylian. The two of them turned at the same time to answer to the woman, she held on their shoulders. Looking in their eyes.

“Whatever you did at training, keep doing it here. Please.” She looked at Kylian “or I’m gonna bury you both. Get it?”

Neymar smiled and leaned in, pecking her cheek “don’t worry Princessa.” He left. Ones again, Kylian and taylor stayed looking at each other. She pulled on his sleeve before he could turn and leave.

“The only number 7 I wanna see lifting that trophy is my number 7— Our seven.”

“You will” he reassured her. Half smiling at the way she called him. Repeatedly reminding himself of the promise he made to her, to stay good and appropriate.

“Prove me right.” She requested “prove me right for all he the time I’ve spend analyzing every single detail of your playing and critiquing it. Prove me it was worth it.”

He had never though of it like that. That the time she had spent on him meant something, that it wasn’t just an excuse to be mean to him but an excuse to write about him.

“go” she whispered, coming out like a warning for both. He listened to her and left. The two of them walking on the tunnel. She zipped up her jacket, walking passed him in the tunnel. She stood next to Galtier for the beginning of the game. Rubbing her hands together. To shield them from the cold but also because she needed to keep moving otherwise, she’d explode from her nerves. The teams got on the field, on their respectful side. She felt her knees give out when she heard the whistle for the start of the game. She sat down on the bench basically cuddling herself but it 3 minutes later and she was jumping up yelling. Messi had scored the first goal.

She threw her fist in the air, her entire body shaking in excitement. She threw herself at Ektike who was still on the bench. The two of them celebrating together.

20 minutes later and Kylian scores but the flag for offside goes up and her heart sinks. She kicked on the foot of the bench annoyed. Galtier sat down, crossing his arms. “they’re ok” he whispers to her “they’ll make it through don’t worry.”

Christiano’s penalty was the first hit. Taylor already planned on giving Keylor a hard time for the foul. She huffed and sat on the ground, crossing her legs. Kylian spotted her from where he was. He gave her a thumbs-up and she nodded. The next hit came when Bernat saw the red card raised before him. Taylor stood up from where she was, yelling at the referee. Raising her hands. But minutes later Kylian kicked the ball to Marquinhos and he very easily scored what would be the second goal. The whole game continued in the same rollercoaster style. A win and a loss. A loss and a win. A lost penalty by Neymar before a goal by Sergio Ramos with the help of Kylian. When Sergio kicked the ball in the net taylor ran to him, jumping on his arms. He picked her up, Kylian joining in on their celebration. When Sergio lets her down, she looks at Kylian. She smiled at him, grasping his hand to congratulate him “Keep it up!” she encouraged him and he winked at her, running back on the field.

Perhaps the most scared she felt was when Kylian had to do a penalty, her heart pounding while she waited for him to score. Knowing what it’d do to him if he lost. She dropped herself on Galtier when he scored. Galtier didn’t push her away but he didn’t hold on to her either, reminding her that she had to keep a low profile as a couch. Funny because all she actually wanted to do was write for this game, every single detail. The way each team kept making a comeback, keeping the game entertaining until the last minute. Her fingertips were hurting by the lack of keyboards to press on. She closed her eyes, waiting for the final whistle and when she heard the sound, she opened them and looked at the score. They had won. She ran in Neymar’s arms who picked her up, spinning her around. Everyone else seemed to be celebrating as well. She hugged all of them, but the hug that lasted longer was the one with Kylian. He tied his hands around her waist to pull her of the ground just a little. Her lips brushed against his ear as she whispered “Proof of you.” Leaving him with a gentle peck on his cheek. And he wasn’t so surprised to hear her say it as he was by the fact that it actually meant something to him.

PLAY MUSIC

Taylor was out in the hallway, giving her first postgame interview. A woman holding the microphone for her.

“Do you feel like you had anything to do with today’s win?”

“I’d hope so. Although, I haven’t been part of the team for as long as I’d need to and we still have a long way to go. Hopefully my presence will bring more good moments like this.”

“Is it hard handling these men?”

She looked behind the reporter. Kylian standing behind her, his chest bare, watching closely. She smiled “sometimes harder than others.”

The celebrations continued on the locker rooms, with champagne, mostly sprayed on each other and silly dances around the locker room while they waited for the bus. Taylor was being pushed back and forth, unable to stay still for longer than 5 seconds before another of these big men came to pick her up and throw her back on their little celebrations. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy it. One gesture that stood out for her was Verratti’s, who came showed up in front of her, holding his hand out for her, a sign of truce perhaps. She took it with no question. Smiling.

Moments later and she had an entire bottle of champagne sprayed on her by Neymar. She tried to get away but it seemed everyone was part of the game. At least she got to taste a bit of it. She looked at her clothes with playful sorrow in her eyes but she was laughing at the same time. She chased Neymar, until she bumped on Kylian. His hands grasping on her bicep to keep her upright. She looked in his eyes, the darkness that she’d usually find in them had dimmed. So much so that she had a hard time recognizing him. He pulled on her arm and started dancing on the rhythm of the music, like everyone else had done. The two of them laughing while everyone around them was oblivious of their true thoughts and all their sins. He held on her one hand in a tango kind of pose and his other hand crawled on the small of her back. Moving her right and left and spinning her round, her laughter getting louder. Oh, what a happy picture.

The laughter’s died out when everyone started dressing up to leave, one by one exiting the locker room. She stood by the door, basically counting heads to make sure no one was going to stay behind. She had no idea if he did it, on purpose but he was last to go. Slipped in one of the private showers on the back while everyone else was leaving. She checked there was no one on the hall a couple of times before going to find him.

The door to the private shower was barely open. How ironic, she was the one peaking through doors now. She leaned on door frame, keeping her eyes on the ground.

“Planning on staying here?” she asked, scratching on the floor with her foot. She heard him halting on his movements. Mentally rewarding herself for catching him off guard.

“Are we alone?” he asked from his side of the door.

Taylor checked behind her, scratching the back of her neck. “Yeah.”

The door slowly opened, taylor peaked her head through the wall. He was just putting on his shirt when she walked in.

“You did good” she smiled, leaning on wall of the shower.

“Did you mean what you say?”

“I always mean what I say.” She said in a suggestive tone.

He fixed his hoodie, eyeing her up and down. Biting on the inner side of his cheekbone.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy before.”

“Haven’t been very happy since you came along.”

“touché” she pressed her lips together, accepting the sarcasm. She looked at his bag, motioning at it with her head “do you have another one of these shirts?” she looked at her own, pulling it down “this shit’s been sticking on my skin. I hate it.”

“You know—” he laughed, searched on his bag for a shirt “If you wanted my jersey, you could’ve just asked.”

Taylor snorted dismissively at him, rolling her eyes. He held out one of his jerseys for her. She took it quickly “I’ll use this as a cleaning pad when I get home.”

“Want me to sign it?” he asked, making a step forward.

“No, I’m good. Think I’ll start an eBay account with just your clothes. I still have your jacket on my room.”

He hummed. Stepped back again and hanged his bag over his shoulder. He walked passed her, the kylian she knew would have trapped her in between the wall already—

“Kylian!” He turned to look at her. Holding on his bag “how long do I have left of this good kid act?”

He smiled an evil smile. “Depends how good that shirt will look on you.” With that he left her alone to change. Taylor looked at the shirt, holding it fro each side so she could see it whole, her finger brushed over his name and then his number. She grinned.

FAIRMONT HOTEL – NIGHT

When they reached the hotel, the team was still celebating, singing and dancing in their favorite tunes. Some of them even jumped on the pool with their clothes on. Taylor made sure to stay on the back, she wasn’t in the mood for another dive.

Kylian must have thought the same because while the rest were jumping in, sending the water in all sorts of directions, he looked at her from the other side. Their eyes meeting in the darkness. He noticed she had been wearing her coat, through the whole way back. Being the only one to know that she was wearing his shirt underneath did something to him. It was like a little secret between the two, that she had his name written on her back.

She was first to break eye contact, leaving to go inside the building while the boys were being boys. He watched her leaving, tempted to follow her. Something was holding him back and he couldn’t identify if it was the promise he made or pure fear.

He went to his room, leaving his prep bag on the floor and pacing around. Debating on what his next move should be. He rubbed his face, reminding himself of all the reasons they were a bad idea. Addictions were never healthy. The stakes were taller than LeBron James. Especially for her and did he really want to be the reason for her putting such a career at risk? Then again, would he be the one responsible if it was her that made the choice.

A knock.

Gentle. Low. But confident.

He looked at his door. Did he really have to guess who was on the other side.

His hand hovered over the door knob, his fingers barely touching it. He laid his head on the door.

Another knock.

He opened it. Her small figure standing on the other side. She was holding his jacket on her one hand, her shirt still covered by her own coat.

“Didn’t want you accusing me of stealing.” She said, her voice low. His fingers stroked hers as he took it in his hold. Both of them lingering on the contact, he made a step back and she mirrored his movements. Stepping in the room, both of them still holding on the piece of clothing like it was their lifeline. One last thread before oblivion. Kylian raised his hand over her, pushing the door closed. Hearing it shut while admiring her hazel eyes. Picking out on the details. She flinched at the sound, closing her eyes for a second.

“gonna give me the shirt back as well?”

“no.” she shook her head “I was thinking of keeping that one.”

He grinned finally pulling the jacket away from her and leaving it in one of the chairs so there would be nothing between them. “Does it look nice?” he asked making a step forward. She shrugged her shoulders, her expression indicating cluelessness. His thumb started playing with the zipper of her coat, before slowly pulling it down, revealing the black and yellow shirt more and more. Taylor stayed still while he did that, her eyes stuck on his lips which would slowly form a teasing smile. He let go of the zipper, his hand slipping on the shoulder, pushing the coat of her. So, he could see the whole shirt. He fingers trailed down her arm to her hand, holding on to it and gently spinning her the other way, his arm falling around and in front of her and trapping her in a way. He stood a little far from her only so he could see his number and then made a step forward. His lips ghosting her ear, his chin bumping on her hair, her back sticking on his chest. Her fingers crawled tighter around his. Like she was holding on so she wouldn’t sprint outside. Run for cover the same way that she ran the other night. Touch deprived, that’s all they were. She had to keep telling herself that, to make excuses for her actions.

“Kimpembe told me what you did. Defending me the other night.”

Kylian leaned closer, his lips now ghosting her cheeks that were starting to gain a rosy color. “That why you are here?” he asked.

She had to gulp so he wouldn’t hear the weakness in her voice “I don’t know” and somehow this was the most honest thing she had ever told him. Because she really had no idea.

“Do you wanna leave?”

“no.”

“Do you wanna stay?”

She hesitated “I think if you asked me to, I would.”

“do you want me to be a good kid?” he smiled.

“yes.” She answered quickly. He moved his face away from hers and placed his lips on the top of her head, speaking on her hair.

“Do you really?” he asked.

She closed her eyes. Falling backwards on him “no.”

He spun her around again; her eyes were still closed. His thumb grazed over her eyelids before his hand cupped her whole face from the back of her neck “then will you stay?”

She opened her eyes, he was so close and this was so wrong. Self destruction at it’s best. To hell with it. She got on her tiptoes, her hands finding the back of his neck and she pulled him to her, her lips finding his. He responded to the kiss in seconds, despite how surprised he was that she was the one that started it, his hands slipping under her shirt, fulfilling the skin to skin contact they both were craving while he deepened the kiss. He picked her up, laying her down on the bed gently. This time there were no lies between them, no hidden agendas. They both knew what they were doing, they were both to blame but ones again it didn’t matter. Not when they fit together so well.

She was the one that had come to him. She was the one that kissed him first and she was the one whimpering under his touch. It was different from the first time; first time was just hunger and lust. There was some sort of calmness between them this time. Like both of them had accepted their fate; meant to sink together. So when his lips made a home of her skin under her chin, she held him closer to her and when her hands searched for comfort in his body, he gave it.

Sloppy kisses, fingers travelling around dangerous areas and frictions that ignited electricity between the both of them. And he took care of her the best way he knew how. Taking off her shirt because the only thing better than his name on her back was her wearing nothing. Letting her straddle his waist while she helped him take off his pants. Their eyes meeting in the chaos, reflecting the consequences. Was it the thrill of winning? Was it the need to finish what they had started in the pool, in a room that no one would bother them in? She cupped his face with her hand, studying every line on his face. Like it was the last thing she’d see. “this ends here” she told him, just two days ago. But it had only just began. And there was nothing romantic about it.

We are on the final countdown. Can you believe it? I didn't think this story would reach as far as chapter 9 and still stay as popular. We have about 5 chapters left i think 😭 things we've still yet to find out: why is Taylor using the nickname jw? Is Galtier keeping her after the one month is over ?👀 Where the fuck is Ann? 👀 And is Taylor ok? Y'all always send me messages about how much you like her independence and I wanted to say thank youuu. The fact that you appreciate and love this character as much as me. See you very soon for chapter 10. It's gonna be the funniest one hehe, something @okayymochi has been waiting for a while 👀 i love you all, please keep comment with your thoughts, your comments make me cry laugh and most of all motivate me to keep writing. I adore you ❤️❤️

NEXT CHAPTER (9.1)

#kylian mbappe #mbappe imagines #mbappé #mbappe x reader #mbappe #mbappe x oc #football writing #football imagine #neymar one shot #neymar x reader

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

Hi I’m a big fan of your blog , your a talented writer and I love how write the characters 💗

I was wondering; what do you think the turtles would name their children if their had kids ? (If that’s to many turtles ; maybe 2012 , rise and 2003 version )

I personally like the idea of rise mikey calling one of his kids Ozzy or name them after famous chiefs like Ramsay for an example. Love to hear your thoughts 💗

What Would They Name Their Children? (Headcanons)

2003!Turtles

A/N: I’ve decided to split this up into three, as I think that will be easier for me to keep track of. With that being said, the information about these names was some that I found on the internet. Meanings might change depending on culture, language and country. So this time we start with 2003💚

Warnings: None💚

Leonardo:

Gif by @isitdonproof

Leo would like names that are more traditional, yet with a historical reasoning behind it. Though Leo isn’t superstitious he does understand that giving your child a certain name can have an impact on their life. There he would want to name them after people that history remembered as strong with a lot of power.

For Boys:

Alexander, after Alexander the Great.

Caesar, after Julius Caesar and the many other Roman leaders that would take on the name caesar.

William, both after William Shakespeare and William the Conqueror.

For Girls:

Victoria, after Queen Victoria, the grandmother of Europe.

Elizabeth, both after Queen Elizabeth the I and II.

Catherine, after Catherine the Great.

Raphael:

Raph would like to give his children names that reminded people of strength and bravery. If his partner is from another country, he would love to give them a name from that culture. However, Raph does like names that are somewhat short. He thinks it looks nice when written down, along with having a certain presence when spoken.

For Boys:

Rex, meaning king in Latin.

Storm, a somewhat common name in Scandinavia meaning what it sounds like - storm.

Lev, meaning “lion” in Russian, and “heart” in Hebrew. Little Lionheart.

For Girls:

Lola, meaning “strong woman” in Spanish.

Carla, meaning “one who is strong” is Teutonic.

Binsa, with a Nepali origin meaning “a woman who is fearless”.

Donatello:

Donnie is a smart guy that loves history and mythology. Having not just been all over the world but several places in the universe, and having jumped back and forth in time. Donnie will have a great appreciation of old human history and mythology, and would love to name his children after that, especially after a culture that his partner is from. Examples could be:

For Boys:

Atlas, after the famous Titan from Greek mythology, that carried the sky on his shoulders, keeping it from falling upon the earth.

Achilles, after the famous Greek hero.

Amon, after the Egyptian God/Gods.

For Girls:

Freya, after the Norse Goddess of beauty.

Embla, after the first human woman according to Norse mythology.

Bastet, after the Egyptian Goddess of protection and good health.

Michelangelo:

Gif by @isitdonproof

Mikey will want to name his children in a way that shows just how much he loved them. And what better way is there to show love for your child, by giving them names that literally mean love, or something just as sweet. Mikey also has a love for “special” names - aka, names that are not very common in his hometown of New York City.

For Boys:

Kaipo, is a Hawaiian unisex name meaning “the sweetheart”.

Caerwyn, meaning “love”, “fair” and “blessed” in Welsh.

Oratilwe, meaning “loved one” in African.

For Girls:

Nayeli, meaning “I love you” in the Native American language, Zapotecs.

Settarra, meaning “beloved” in French.

Maitea, meaning “love” in Spanish.

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt leonardo #tmnt raphael #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #tmnt leo #tmnt raph #tmnt donnie #tmnt mikey #tmnt headcanons #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2003 headcanons #tmnt 2003 leonardo #tmnt 2003 leo #tmnt 2003 raph #tmnt 2003 mikey #tmnt 2003 donatello #tmnt 2003 donnie #tmnt 2003 michelangelo #tmnt 2003 raphael

[theresattrpgforthat]

Been on a werewolf kick recently. Any recommendations to scratch that itch? Love the blog btw

THEME: Werewolves

Thank you so much! Heck, have I got some werewolves for you!

Wolf Hounds, by Devin Fortman.

Wolf Hounds is a historical fantasy roleplaying game about the Benandanti, a society of werewolves dedicated to protecting their communities from supernatural threats. Uses a lightweight Apocalypse system based on John Harper's World of Dungeons: Turbo.

If you want a more action-based game about werewolves, then I definitely recommend Wolf Hounds. As members of the Benandanti, you play shapeshifters and magic users fleeing the Inquisition while also protecting your local communities from vampires and other supernatural threats. The game feels very similar to Powered by the Apocalypse games, but in specific circumstances, allows you to roll with advantage, or disadvantage, represented by a third dice. You then take the two best or worst results, depending if the situation was advantageous or detrimental.

The creator for this game has also created a campaign sourcebook, called Let Us Prey. There are some very interesting campaign hooks in there, including one in which a young monk has just discovered he is a werewolf - and is being framed for a recent murder. I absolutely recommend that you check it out!

Bite Marks, by Becky Annison / Black Armada.

The Pack is a deeply intimate and close family; like a family, sometimes it is full of love and happiness and sometimes it is brutal and dysfunctional. But love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it – it will shape you. Fearless Alpha, dedicated foot soldier, pacifist scholar or rebellious cub – your relationship with the Pack is the cornerstone of who and what you are.

In Bite Marks you’ll uncover the story of the Pack, exploring the relationships between Packmates, drawing out their loves, rivalries and betrayals. What are the cracks that could shatter the Pack and drown you in hate, and how much stress can those pressure points take before they explode?

PbtA games excel at examining relationships and the relationship of a werewolf pack can be used to explore a number of different kinds of familial relationships. Bite Marks will push your characters together and pull them apart, challenging them to honour or chafe against the role of a pack alpha. If you want gritty interpersonal conflict and collaborative storytelling, this is the game for you.

Howl at the Moon with Friends, by Litza Brown.

This is a TTRPG about catharsis. This game is a power fantasy. It's about running wild and free and facing no consequences and knowing that no roll is a bad roll.

If you want a game full of intimacy and wildness and freedom, this is probably worth checking out. Yet another PbtA game, you are saddled with only two stats, and given full license to go wild and break stuff. Your characters are encouraged to transform, to go berserk, to lash out, and to be really fucking cool. Litza Brownyn has a number of evocative and interesting games in her repertoire, so when I saw her name on this game, I definitely got excited.

Women are Werewolves, by 9th Level Games.

Women are Werewolves is an ENNIE-nominated card-based story game where players portray nonbinary characters in a family where only the women transform into werewolves. Using a beautiful deck of tarot-sized cards containing roleplaying prompts, players explore their relationships to gendered spaces, family customs, and queer and non-queer family members.

As a GM-less game, Women are Werewolves relies on a deck of carts to give your characters prompts. As a group, you’ll decide the setting as well as the level of bigotry you’re willing to explore in play. This is specifically a story about gender and what it means to be non-binary through a werewolf metaphor, so expect more stories about family relationships and less about dramatic transformations. The structure to the game gives you a lot to work with if you’re unfamiliar with this kind of game or these kinds of themes, and I really appreciate that.

Wolfspell, by Dig A Thousand Holes Publishing.

A prophecy told in your youth dictates that only fang and claw will rend your destiny, so you must be reborn as beast. You gather with friends and transmogrify yourselves into wolves and place your destiny in the hands of the dice of Wolf and Blood!

Wolfspell looks like a game of deep emotions and grand action. You are young people burdened with a heavy prophecy, requiring you to take on wolf flesh to fulfill it. How exactly you became a wolf is up to each player. The storytelling is meant to be very collaborative, so I’d recommend picking this game up with folks who don’t mind providing a bit of their own narration as they play. The rules system is, along with a number of other games on this list, PbtA. This means that your characters will be faced with hard choices and mixed results as part of the process of play.

Games I've Recommended In the Past

Lesbian Werewolves on a Beach, by WhatNames

Silversworn, by fret.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #werewolves

[floral-force]

Can I have "I'll show you how much I love you" with Hunter x reader where he sees reader's scars from her past and he kisses them make it fluffy!

of course you can!! thank you for the request, I hope you enjoy this little fic of protective!hunter goodness.

(requests are open! search the tags #prompt requests or #prompts and send me an ask!)

Healing

hunter x f!reader

summary: You're injured during a skirmish, and your lover, Hunter, takes it upon himself to tend to your wounds--past and present.

words: 2k+

warnings/tags: not explicit, but my blog is 18+ ONLY. protective!hunter, brief mentions of injury (blood, pain, darkening of skin from a bruise (no color mentioned), needle), past scars from battles, gentle!hunter is my weakness!!

read on ao3 | masterlist

The injury had been your own fault. The cost of your amateur mistake led to you getting a blaster bolt to the bicep and a bruised ego—painful, but nothing you couldn’t handle. Luckily, Wrecker had been there to cover for you as you scrambled behind some bushes to quickly slap something over the wound as a temporary field fix. As soon as you’d all made it back to the ship with the chip Rex had asked for, Tech and Echo blasted off into hyperspace, and you set down your rifle and removed your helmet, saying you were going to patch yourself up and denying offers of help. A broad shadow followed you despite your curt refusals.

In the moment on the field, Hunter had kept his cool, remaining the fierce, steady leader of the Batch even when you announced that you’d been hit over comms. In the private, quiet space of the Marauder’s tiny medbay, however, Hunter was a totally different man.

You plopped down onto the tiny bench and winced when your right arm was jostled. The adrenaline had finally worn off, and now you were left to deal with the pain on your own. You were still applying pressure to the area, your palm growing wet as the emergency bacta became saturated with your blood. Part of you worried this was more serious than you’d initially thought, but you shoved that thought away—it’d do you no good right now. 

The shadow had materialized at your side despite your annoyed groans and rolled eyes. Hunter was digging through the cabinet and shelves next to you, pulling out various medkit items and muttering to himself.

“Hunter, I can do this myself.”

“I won’t let you,” he declared, giving you a stern look. “Is it just your arm?”

You shook your head, removing your chest plate. “Think I got a bruise or something, even with my armor.”

He clicked his tongue, that over-protective streak within him bubbling to the surface at your admission. You knew his actions came from a place of love and tenderness, but sometimes it could be overbearing, especially when it was a wound you could patch up yourself. Your fearless lover was a caring man at his core, and he seemed to project that trait onto you whenever he could since his brothers were resistant to it at times. 

Hunter removed your shoulder pauldrons and vambraces, dark eyebrows furrowing when you hissed as he worked on the armor on your wounded arm. “You need to be more careful.”

“I am,” you protested with a roll of your eyes. It felt childish, especially as he began to prep various med items for your injury once your armor sat piled next to you. “Shit just happens, you know that.”

“Seems to happen a lot for you,” Hunter countered, raising an eyebrow.

Heat singed the tips of your ears, and you pressed down harder on your wound. There was silence as his brown eyes looked you over, searching yours and softening when he saw you wince. 

“I have to take your top off.”

“Buy me dinner first,” you teased, trying to lighten the serious mood Hunter had filled the air with.

Hunter huffed and held back the smile that quirked the corner of his plush lips. “Since I don’t want you moving your arm, I’m gonna cut it off.”

Hunter whipped his knife off his tac belt, turning around and crouching in front of you. You had no qualms about it—you didn’t want to move your arm more than you had to—but you were thoroughly annoyed about losing one of your blacks. Cutting the top meant losing the rest of it. Hunter didn’t care even though he knew this; he cared more about making sure you—his girl; his sweet, precious thing—were safe and sound. So, you acquiesced with a nod of your head, grimacing as you heard the blade slice the fabric and rip from the pull of his rough hands. The fabric split open down your front, exposing the chest band you wore under your blacks.

“Let go of your arm for a moment, gotta cut this sleeve off.”

You knew Hunter could tear it with his bare hands and sheer determination, but there was that gentleness again. You glanced at your palm as you set it in your lap, gulping at how red it was. Judging from the way Hunter’s breath hitched after peeling off your cut sleeve, you assumed the bacta patch had done a shit job. At least it had stopped the bleeding long enough for you to make it back with the rest of the Batch, though, and for that, you were both grateful. 

Hunter’s eyes met yours, then flicked back to your wound and trailed down your torso from your neck to your bellybutton where the ripped fabric hung off around your hips.

“I didn’t realize—” Hunter started, then stopped, shaking his head and grabbing a bottle of antiseptic and gauze.

“Didn’t realize what?” you questioned.

He grunted to himself. “Nothing. This might hurt a bit, baby.”

His pet name soothed you for only a few second before the first gentle press of antiseptic-soaked gauze made you hiss in pain. You squeezed your eyes shut when you felt a burn on your arm, tiny pinpricks agitating your angry wound with each dab. He shushed you and repeated your name, his rumbling voice taking on that sweet, velvety tone he only shared with you.

“Kriff, love,” Hunter mumbled.

“Is it bad?”

“Might need a bacta shot.”

You leaned back into the metal wall with a sigh, looking up at the ceiling. “Do what you gotta do, babe.”

You heard him hum and stand up and watched him take a needle out of a black pouch. Without a word, he quickly stuck the needle in your arm and pressed down on the plunger. You looked at him the entire time, his warm brown hand coming to rest over yours once he was finished with the shot, a calloused thumb stroking across the back of your hand. Hunter was a natural at soothing you, whether it was a panic attack in the middle of the night or playing along with you when you ran to him after getting a tiny cut. Even fully dressed in his armor, blaster on his hip, smears of dirt on his cheeks and the tip of his broad nose, he was your gentle lover, the man you’d run to in times of pain and uncertainty.

The burning was soothed by smears of a cool gel, tingling at first before smoothing into soft waves of relief. Hunter gently applied a bacta patch, his hands wrapping around your bicep as he pressed down the edges, making sure it was in place. You smiled up at him, glad when he met yours with his, the tender one he saved just for you.

“You didn’t have to do all of that for little ol’ me.”

He kissed your temple, a thumb stroking your chin. He whispered into your skin, “I love doing it for you.”

“I know you do,” you smiled, the pain from your wound fading with another kiss pressed into your forehead.

“Want me to take care of that bruise?” he asked, gently poking the darkened skin on your left side underneath your last rib. When you hissed in pain, he gave you a doleful look. “I think I have a cooling pack in the cabinet.”

You noticed his eyes lingering on your torso and wandering across your skin, and you swallowed thickly, realizing what he was so captivated by.

“Hunter,” you called, directing his attention to your face and away from the scars littering your skin. 

“How did you get all of them?” he asked hesitantly. You could tell he was hiding his anxiety underneath his stony expression, his dark curls bouncing on his shoulder when he turned his head suddenly to reach for a white pack in the cabinet.

You shrugged, dropping your gaze to your boots as he cracked the pack and shook it. “I’m clumsy,” you said with an embarrassed chuckle. “They’re just souvenirs from my life before I had you watching over me.”

Hunter gently pressed the pack to your bruise, letting you rest your stained palm over the back of his hand. He cared for you in his own way, and you knew he was torn up about your scars. You’d done a piss-poor job of patching them up, so now you carried artifacts of your past life before the Batch barreled into it, ancient relics of a time without the tenderness of your lover, fossils from your time spent fighting alone. You realized he’d never seen them in the light before; only a few were raised, but he’d never commented on them. He just ran his broad fingertips over them as he kissed you in the confines of your bunk, your legs tangled with his muscular thighs. 

You’d felt the scars littering his warm brown skin when he held you at his side, tucked into his arm and surrounded by his protective embrace. You ran your hand over his soft stomach and chest, mapping out the jagged positions, stretching your hand across his collarbone and plotting the coordinates of the splotches scattered on his bicep before diving to his muscular thighs and discovering the ones hidden there. Hunter was a man of action, a fierce soldier, a loyal brother, a tender lover. Your gentle touch lit something within him—you could see it in his eyes when you kissed the raised, discolored scar resting under his right ribs, could see it in his smile when you tended to a new wound of his after a skirmish.

You never asked, and he never asked you, either. All you knew was that he was yours now, and you were his, and he’d protect you with every fiber of his being, every bone in his body.

“And now that I am,” Hunter said, kissing the corner of your mouth, “I’ll show you how much I love you.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” you murmured, head suddenly light.

His hands urged you to press the pack against your bruise with your palm as he lowered to his knees in front of you. You sucked in a breath at the sight of him between your legs, something warm pooling within your chest. Nothing sexual or arousing, something warm and affectionate, something Hunter reserved just for you.

His warm hands gently moved the torn fabric of the top of your blacks, trying to force it back and out of the way. You twitched when his fingers brushed against your waist, goosebumps peppering the skin of your forearms when you felt his warm breath linger above your belly button, lips hovering near an old, nearly faded scar. He looked up at you, a soft smile painting his face.

“I’ll start by kissing this.” He pressed a delicate kiss to the scar, gently placing his hands on your waist to hold you in place as if he was afraid you’d fly away and out of his grasp. 

Hunter’s eyes fluttered closed as he moved to kiss a scar a few inches under the cold pack. “And this.” His plush lips worshipped your sore skin with a delicate kiss. 

“This one, too.” He straightened his spine and kissed a scar right below your chest band, lips warm on the discolored splotch. 

Your throat had grown tight and hot, your eyes starting to brim with tears as he continued his adoring expedition across your scarred skin. When he reached a scar on your collarbone, he kissed it, then stood and bent his head to touch his forehead to yours. Your eyes searched his dark ones, leaning into his warm palm when he cupped your cheek. You’d forgotten almost entirely about the dull throb in your bicep and the sensitive bruise on your belly. All you could feel was Hunter and his love for you as he hovered his lips over yours, gentle breaths coating your parted lips.

“I’ll always take care of you, my love.”

You closed the gap, nodding and kissing him deeply, breathing him in and giving in to him.

He pulled back and smiled affectionately at you, his thumb stroking across the apple of your cheek. “I’ll always protect you, my sweet, sweet girl.”

“I know you will, Hunter,” you whispered. 

“Always,” he murmured, sealing his promise with a kiss to your forehead.

masterlist | send a request

taglist (join here):

@hardlystrictlystarwars @dheet @kalea-bane @sinfulsalutations

#thank you for the request!! #I'm so weak for gentle and soft hunter #hunter x you #hunter x reader #hunter x fem!reader #tbb hunter #hunter fanfic #tbb hunter x reader #tbb hunter x you #the bad batch fic #hunter the bad batch #my fic #floral answers #prompt fill

[yudgefudge]

Footballers I think are/would be Swifties:

christian pulisic: his favorite album is red he knows ATWTMVTVFTV by heart. he got tickets to the eras tour; he went as the heartbreak prince (without a miss americana :/)

erling haaland: he caught it from kdb. he learnt a lot of his English from listening to taylor. his favorite album is definitely fearless

kevin de bruyne: one of those people who’s favs are the popular ones..his fave album is 1989 and his favorite song is shake it off 100000000%, he also really really really really likes lwymmd. no one knows why. he's streaming taylor in the house and eden's like "turn that shit OFF" (he doesn't)

tyrell malacia: are u kidding me that silly little man definitely listens to taylor. I think he’d be a lover and speak now stan and his fav song would be cruel summer... he knows the WHOLE bridge.

jadon sancho: I think during his break he really connected to reputation + folklore (idgaf if the timelines dont match up btw) and now stans taylor. his favorite songs are def call it what you want + this is me trying. he's also partial to champagne problems

gavi: 100% fearless stannie, he sings love story + you belong with me and thinks of pedri ALL THE FUCKING TIME. even after they get together. he also really really likes picture to burn (homophobic version) an unhealthy amount

lewandowski: now you'd think thomas is the swiftie of the couple...nope it's him. he LOVES debut, speak now and fearless. he is currently counting the days till debut tv.

darwizzy: that man does not understand a word but he really likes the musical composition of speak now so

neymar: definitely streamed tf out of anti-hero. a midnights + reputation stan, LOVES lwymmd. "dont blame me love made me crazy" and he's talking about cheating on his gf 💀

calling on @liverpool-enjoyer and @tam-is-blogging my swiftie mutuals to call this accurate or give me the "fake swiftie" axe!!!

#football #taylor swift #shitpost #footballers as swifties #christian pulisic #erling håland #erling haaland #kevin de bruyne #tyrell malacia #jadon sancho #gavi #robert lewandowski #lewy #darwin nunez #darwizzy #neymar

[hathorneheiress]

A little bit about myself.

Hello, welcome to my blog. Grab a scone and find a book (There's plenty of them!) as I take you along for a little ride.

As you know my blog name is @hathorneheiress, but if you wish to call me something else Victoria will do. She/her. I am not a minor so if anyone is uncomfortable with that then please leave. I do not stalk people, but I thought you should know.

I would consider myself a pretty easy going induvial, but disrespectful people will be blocked. I agree we all have the freedom of speech and I resect that, but if you could refrain from swearing when speaking directly to me, I would appreciate that.

An unashamed Christian. If you do not like that, then leave. I won't be beating people over the head with the Bible, but I will take a stand if I feel like it is necessary.

There is a lot of things I do not agree with, but I try very hard not to judge people. That is not my place. We all have our own opinions and choices to make. And I respect everyone's decisions, even if I don't agree with it.

Blaspheming God and being unacceptably mean to others is something I WILL NOT tolerate. If I see it, I will block you. (Giving you fair warning)

Okay!! All the boring but necessary introduction is complete!! Now to the fun stuff.

Things I like to do:

Writing. Reading. Listening to music. Swinging for hours. Working at my job. Sleeping. Enjoying a big bowl of ice cream. (Please don't judge me!) Having alone time. Scrolling through Pinterest and Tumblr. Taking care of my chickens. Talking with my family and my mutuals on here. Having a deep conversation with my besties.

Books I like to read:

The Bible. TIG. The Naturals. The Hunger Games. Murder she wrote. OUABH. Nancy Drew and hardy boys series. Royal diaries. Charles Dickens. The classics. Dictionaries and Encyclopedias. (I know, I'm weird.) Books on Egypt and England. Biographies. Bird books. Magazines. The Librarians. SHERLOCK HOLMES!!!! (I love him so much!!!!)

Movies and shows I enjoy watching:

Sherlock Holmes. Downton Abbey. Murder she wrote. The Good Doctor. The Librarians. National Treasure. NCIS. The Crown. The Titanic. Dr. Quin: medicine woman. Monk.

Artists I like:

Ava Max!! Kelly Clarkson. Taylor Swift. Sia. The piano guys. The classic composers. Beethoven.

Songs that fit me:

"Unstoppable." Sia. "Fearless." Taylor Swift. "Never give up." Sia. ""People like us." Kelly Clarkson. "So am I" Ava Max. "Weapons." Ava Max. "Moonlight sonata" Beethoven.

Random crap about me:

I'm one of the biggest Ava Max, Sherlock Holmes, Librarians, and Grayson Hawthorne fans you will ever meet.

Sherlock Holmes and Grayson are my best fictional friends. They are always there when I need them, and I love talking to them in my head. (I don't care if you find that weird.)

I have hundreds of ideas in my head for stories but I never can seem to get them on paper. I have two books in the works for getting them published.

I'm really weird. Just so you know. I talk to my chickens like they are human, and I have conversations in my head with people that don't even exist.

I'm a Pices, if anyone is interested.

I play the piano and cello.

I'm a loner and tend to keep to myself.

I'm a Librarian in training.

I have OCD and am on the autistic spectrum.

Favorite things:

Holiday: Thanksgiving.

Food: CHOCOLATE!!!

Month: October

Season: Fall.

Color: Black

Animal: Chickens!!!!!

Book: Sherlock Holmes!!

Clothes: Blazers and heels.

Jewlery: My pearls and aquamarine ring.

I have had the honor not only to be here on this site but also meet some incredible people.

My best friends are:

@riddles-n-games. Fanfic Bestie. My best Friend. Ever. I honestly have no idea how she keeps up with me. I am so so grateful she has let me into her life and I will always cherish our friendship. you truly are my better half.

@reminiscentreader. I was so honored to meet this amazing young lady and I know you would too!! I don't deserve someone as kind and caring as her. She deserves love if you haven't already given it to her.

@blocked-zombieartist. Has a gift for writing I would die to have. You make me smile and I love chatting with you about life. You are a wonderful person and I pray you have a better year.

@myster3y. Funny. Caring. Has a wonderful personality. She is so sweet. I love our weekly check ins and you make me feel appreciated. Thank you!

I love talking with people on here so don't be shy to give me a text or send an ask in my inbox!!! I would love getting to know you all better.

And here is a link to my story of Wattpad

Behind those icy blue eyes - A-very-risky-gamble - Wattpad

Please go check it out!!

Mood board for my aesthetics

[ros3ybabe]

Daily Check-in: October 12th, 2023 🎀

Today has been a lazy yet somewhat decent day? There's not much to complain about. Besides the fact that I didn't do a single homework assignment, I'm exhausted, so that's alright. I did do a decent amount of Japanese studying today though I didn't open up my Genki Textbook like I had wanted to but oh well, there's always tomorrow!

🩷 What I Ate Today -

Brunch - Spaghetti with ground Turkey and meat sauce

Dinner - Taco bowl with ground beef, black beans, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, a small dollop of avocado, and red salsa with 1.5 low carb tortillas

Snack - bunny tracks ice cream, 16oz bottle of Dr pepper

Extra - 4? cups of coffee (or 5, I can't remember)

I was not very productive today in terms of academic progress, but I still feel like I did what I could given my energy levels. (and caffiene intake). Did not eat the healthiest, but I listened to my body, and honestly, not every day will be perfect, and that's okay!

🩷 Personal Achievements, Oct 12th -

cooked ground beef (leftovers woooo!!)

washed dirty laundry

put away all clean clothes

did my therapy phone call

video called my boyfriend

morning + night skincare

completed 2 duolingo lessons

completed 1 busuu lesson

completed 3 kanji lessons

typed up one draft for upcoming blog post

I had heard about an app called Kanji that teaches you kanji based on JLPT Levels, and I actually really like it, so I bought access to all levels for 11$ USD!! feel like that's a fair price for over 2000 kanji, and I'm excited to start expanding my Japanese knowledge. Also, I am trying out the LingQ app. It's pretty interesting and seems useful for reading practice! I don't know why I got such a kick to study japanese but I am not complaining!!

No Academic Achievements for Today

🩷 Personal ToDo, Oct 13th -

Review previous 3 kanji lessons

Complete 1 duolingo lesson

Complete 1 busuu lesson

Continue Genki I Lesson one (?)

morning + night skincare

morning + night journal

morning workout (at home)

make bed

read 1 chapter of atomic habits or other self help book

🩷 Academic ToDo, Oct 13th -

Culinary Chapter 10 Quiz

Consumer Debt Inventory Assignment

Chapter 9 Notes Psyc

Chapter 9 Quiz Psyc

Attend Psyc Lab

Attend Anatomy Lab

Using Credit Personal Finance assignment

module notes fitness health and sport

module quiz fitness health and sport

work on component 2 for psyc paper

Giving myself a lot of school work to complete tomorrow but that's okay because I have the day off from work so I know I'll be able to get a lot of it done, if not all of it! I'm hoping I sleep decently tonight so I can wake up ready to rule the world tomorrow. My goal is to wake up early, workout, shower, do some makeup and get ready, and be on campus early to get back into the school mindset because I know I've been slacking these last two days. I work a double shift on Saturday, so tomorrow is really the ideal time to finish everything as much as possible.

🩷 Song of the Day: Fearless, Jp Version - Le Sserafim

This has been my anthem lately. It's catchy, and I kind of prefer this to the original version in Korean, but that's a bit biased on my end as I am studying Japanese at the moment.

🩷 Tomorrow Morning Workout - Pilates

Even if I only finish the first video, I will be proud of myself. It's the effort that counts, and it's definitely gonna be a start! I will be posting an updated current workout schedule with routines soon!!

That's all for now! I will update tomorrow night!

Til next time, lovelies 🩷

#pink pilates girl #pink pilates princess #self care #self development #self love #wonyoungism #health & fitness #it girl #mental health #physical health #it girl energy #that girl energy #that girl #japanese langblr #japanese language #language learning #college studyblr #studyblr #university student #clean girl #coquettecore #coquette girl #wonyoung aesthetic #pink academia #pink aesthetic #pink blog #girl blogger #girl blogging #college student #student life

[joesalw]

I sent these quotes to another blog a while ago and thought it would be a good time to bring them back here. Because a lot of people say they don't understand how or why people like Joe and that we don't know him and only like the person Taylor painted in her songs. A big reason for this is that these people never really saw him as much more than a pawn and Taylor's boyfriend or tried to get to get to know him beyond that. You're not required to do that ofc, but once you make up lies to fit your story that's other thing. My point is these are just a few things people who actually interacted with Joe up close and personal have said about him. Mostly all different people, because everyone who works with him has something good to say about him. Even people who randomly meet him seem to get enrupted right away. So this is to show what people who know him (co-workers, directors, his school teachers) say as opposed to the shitty stuff swifties say without even being in the same room with this man for 5 minutes to make people believe he's some kind of monster. I would even say there's a few things being said that are not very common for people to compliment in a man.

"He's just so gentle and sincere. I felt very safe with him."

"Joe isn't nearly as reserved as Nick, but it's a tendency to let others have the floor. He just tends to be more interested in everyone else, what they're saying, which is a lovely quality"

"he's so sensitive and thoughtful"

"there's something very soulful about Joe as a person. He's very introspective. He's exceptionally kind, as a person. There’s just something gorgeous about him, as a person, and that goes into the acting. He can do uncertainty brilliantly and he can do vulnerability brilliantly."

"Joe’s instinct as an actor is always to push away from the obvious and into ambiguity. He’s very quietly spoken. He’s not brash at all. He’s a gentle, intelligent guy. "

"Joe is such a naturally kind and warm and welcoming human being,”

"I don’t think people will be surprised by just how much everyone loves Joe Alwyn, how much everyone fell in love with Joe Alwyn… he’s a true English gent. I completely owe my heart to Joe Alwyn.”

“Yeah Joe Alwyn does come in and steal the hearts of everyone around. He’s just like the most genuine, kind, present human. Funny too! Real funny.”

"I know Joe a little and like him an enormous amount. Such a phenomenal talent and wonderful human

"He has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met and I know it might sound like I'm saying it to ease everyone's mind, but no genuinely he was the sweetest and he was super worried about me all the time"

"I really liked acting with him. He's really a gentleman. A sweet guy. He's really focused and cares a lot about his work"

"Joe is tremendously warm and winning"

"There was just something very subtle about his reading. You could feel the tenderness inside of him. He just felt real."

"I'll say he is perhaps the top notch talent I ever witness in a reading. He was so directable, so talented, and ofc the look is gorgeous. Like a gift dropped from heaven"

"He has a disarming humility which appears both on and off screen. I spoke to Joe recently and found that the experience of starring in a Hollywood movie had not changed him at all. He will continue to be the person he is."

"Very cool impressive actor. After meeting him I had the opposite thought: Can she keep him?" (This came from a movie director who seems to be a Taylor fan, after meeting him once)

“He’s really nice. Really, really friendly, really good dude.”

When Joe first arrived at the school… “He brought a maturity and intelligence that was of immense benefit to the group. He also had a passion for the work and a conviction within his own artistry that was an inspiration to some of his younger colleagues.” By the time Joe was approaching his final year, he had become… “completely fearless.”

"A brilliant natural actor, especially gifted at quiet emotion"

"He's an absolute pleasure to work with. I became very close to him. I think everybody did"

“He can carry a movie on his shoulders—he has the height, the looks, obviously, the voice, the ability with accents; he is versatile,”

“Joe was gentle and he wasn’t overly pushy, because he knew I’m not good at mushy stuff,” she says. “Boys age differently, they’re f—ing idiots until they get older. But he’s a kind man with good manners.”

“When you’re speaking to him you feel like he’s only listening to you,”

“He’s got…the greatest head on his shoulders,”

‘That very first scene between the tree, he was worried the entire time like, “Are you OK? I don’t want to hurt you. Shall we do it like that? Is this easier for you?” The entire time trying to find out if I was OK, he was so sweet, so gentle, that I knew that I would be safe with him"

'He's very hardworking, very down to earth, very diligent and very gregarious. A very nice spirit to be around.

'Joe was always deeply committed to his craft. He was often very moved by the massiveness of his vocation. 'He saw acting as a necessity. He was serious about it, very committed. He was exceptional in that regard. He's a thoughtful man who cares beyond the frivolity of putting on a show. 'He sees performance as a powerful gift that he has, and that he hopes can change things for good.'We always hoped that this poetic soul would find a place for his vision.'

wow this was such a precious thing to read, he's really such a nice individual it makes my heart warm 🥺

#joe alwyn

[honeybleed]

To the anon accusing Nara of "ruining fics for the black community" and bringing in "aggressive undertones on their dash"(even though an ask that had 2 or 3 notes CANNOT RUIN A COMMUNITY/YOUR dashboard EINSTEIN but sure GO OFF QUEEN I'm sure you had a straight A report card and a gpa of 4.0!!!! ) If you've noticed, Nara is outspoken. It's literally on her byf if you can't read and she is one of the few writers on here who are actually fearless and loud abt her views on the CURRENT GENOCIDE going on in the WORLD rn as we speak also yes if you do support genocide I think you belong in an experimental lab white people have a VERY INTERESTING history of exploiting minorities/pocs (blacks especially)so........

anon i need you to do something useful for society with your fingers that I'm sure you don't wash and your wifi/data or wtv since you're "active" enough to notice the "change in tone of her blog for the past few weeks" here are some fun things to keep your pugdy musty fingers busy!!!!

You're parents would be VERY PROUD IF YOU DO this ANON

I doubt they are right now lol <3333

https://www.tumblr.com/auxwired/739295219187630080/hi-this-is-about-palestine-so-id-really?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/pilloclock/733137937788796928/link-to-donate-to-congo-please-read?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/ibtisams/735231424888717312/today-is-giving-tuesday-please-take-time-today-to?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/leighlew3/736022263307091968/help-save-lives-in-gaza-afghanistan-sudan-and?source=share

Nara, I'M UR BIGGEST FAN GUUURRL❤️

thank you so much anon for sharing these resources!

helping gaza by buying sims to help them keep connected here

feminine hygiene products for gaza here

list of palestinian voices to amplify and follow instead of battling over celebs having starbucks here

gofund me for Adré refugee camp here

other sudanese donations here & here

donations to assist the children forced in inhumane conditions particularly cobalt mining here, follow them on twitter for more info as well as this page

thank you again for helping me bring attention on here instead of just yapping and using these people’s pain and displacement as a talking point when they are so much more than that. i’m a lot more vocal about things to my friends irl or on twitter

#free palestine #palestine #gaza #free congo #keep eyes on sudan #congo is bleeding #congo #sudan

[likeadevils]

Thinking about the deleted scene from the Tim McGraw video... I understand it's not THAT risque, but it feels odd for the time. Do you have any thoughts on that as a TS historian? Because as someone who has done my best to research (mainly with the help of blogs such as yours <3) I feel as though there was a slight push to make her *slightly "cleaner" during the Fearless era.

It feels like she "naturally" gained a good girl reputation during the debut era, and then when Fearless came around, she was REALLY pushing it. Like they talked about it in EVERY interview to the point where it did not feel genuine.

Then a lot of the long-form Speak Now stuff is either "waiting for her to crack" or, "huh, she acts like a normal person in their early 20s. What a novelty." The Vogue, and New Yorker profiles strike me as particularly prooding on the topic of her "good girl" rep. Like that whole part about her asking for cursing to be left off the record.

Red onwards, she definitely started portraying herself as more "adult" in a way that felt natural, and slightly less fixated on the "good girl" thing, until rep of course.

Long ask, I know. But I find it interesting as a topic.

i do think there was a shift in the fearless era where like. she wasn’t courting people her own age as much? like, debut era the narrative was like, “country album made by and for teenage girls” and then during the fearless era it kinda shifted into “america’s older sister taylor swift with her hordes of 8 year olds”. and i think part of that was just how the cookie crumbled (like, a, she is to a certain degree just kinda like that, and b, she dated a jonas brother and that’s gonna come along with some young fans) and part of that was a buisness decision to like, get on radio disney and do hannah montana, and then there’s the kinda in between stuff of inviting a bunch of kids to t-party. and with that marketing to young girls comes a push for a squeakier image.

i think the interesting thing about red is she starts really marketing herself to people her own age again. like, the harvey mudd performance is fascinating to me, because it’s the first time since like, those tour bus shows with debut that she was playing to an audience exclusively her age. and she’s funny as fuck! she’s charming and relatable, but in a way we rarely got to see her— she’s not making long speeches giving advice, she’s telling funny stories about the mistakes she made. and like, i love her long speeches of advice, but the harvey mudd concert has me so paradocial in a different way

i don’t know i could probably talk about this forever but if i do ill be late to work

#asks*

[jacks-metal-trains]

Okay.. So.... This changes everything.

Welcome back to my second installment of the Jack's Metal Trains blog! And welcome to my post about the $400 (aud) lot of, basically pristine Take Along trains! Everyone from seasons 1 to.. 10 (Minus Fearless Freddie)? I think, five playsets, 75 pieces of track (Most of which is the old style), and two destinations! To say this was a bargen/ perfect deal is a massive understatement. Sadly, I did not get a photo of everything layed out... But I did get a video! You can check it out on YouTube (Linked bellow) I'm excited for the futrue of Jack's Metal Trains! And hopefully, you people are too!

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KElrfc3FjZU&t=162s

#ttte percy #ttte #ttte thomas #ttte edward #ttte james #toy collection #toy collector #fandom #fandom things #fandom culture #omg this