#but here they are taking a break to rest and bathe in a pond

[shark-bark]

A short break from ace attorney posting for my OC Aster :3

Give that creature a break

[bullet-prooflove]

The Pool House: Alden Parker x Reader

Tagging: @kmc1989 @mandy426 @caffeinatedwoman @nbtfran @toheavenwmydrms

Companion piece to:

Pillow Talk - Alden realises he's a shitty husband.

Two Points For Honesty - Alden makes a confession about his time on the run with Viv.

Wild Flowers - You confront Viv about what happened with Alden.

The Duck Pond - You try to tell Alden how you're feeling.

WIshful Thinking - You realise Alden isn't coming home tonight.

Guilt - Alden realises he needs to confront his guilt.

You aren’t in the hotel suite when Alden arrives, he says suite because you upgraded yourself upon arrival, the concierge tells him. You’ve splashed out on a space with a view of the lake and a bathtub with the jacuzzi jets. All those couples activities you’d had booked have been cancelled, the money instead going towards the most expensive spa package the hotel has to offer.

Alden doesn’t even flinch when he was told the cost. In a way he’s glad that you’re thinking of yourself for a change. One of Alden’s main concerns has always been how much of yourself you give to other people, through your work and the marriage.  

“I’m guessing she slipped you an extra fifty so she could use the pool after hours.” He asks the concierge when he comes back down from dropping his stuff off.

It’s something you do at every place the two of you have stayed in the past because you enjoy the tranquillity of swimming at night. The concierge neither confirms or denies Alden’s assumption, he simply hands him a spare towel, leaving him to find his own way to his destination.

It’s dark when he steps inside the pool house. The low lights have been switched on so there’s a dim glow along the edges of the room. The pool is illuminated by the underwater bulbs set into the base of the structure. You’ve left your towel draped over one of the lounge chairs, along with a pair of flipflops and a robe.

His chest tightens when he catches sight of you. You’re wearing that navy blue bathing suit, the one he’s become intimately familiar with from your trips away. You're floating on your back in the azure water, your hair fanning around you like a halo, your eyes closed as the water carries you.

You look relaxed and Alden realises he hasn’t seen that in you in a while, not since before the Raven.

He doesn’t want to intrude on your peace so he sits on the lounger instead, listening to the dulcet lull of the water as it echoes through the pool house. The drive down here has left him feeling fatigued, it’s a symptom of the doubles he’s been pulling on this case, trying to get Viv out of your hair. He must fall asleep because he wakes up to the sensation of water splattering across his face and the sound of splashing.

He grabs the towel, wiping the droplets from his features before he finds himself meeting your gaze. You’re still in the pool, your arms resting on the tile that lines the edges as you stare up at him.

“I didn’t think you’d come.” You tell him, using your palm to push your wet hair way from your face.

“I know.” He says quietly, looking down at the silver wedding band on his left hand. “There’s no excuse for my behaviour. I just...”

The words, they lock in his throat because there’s this other secret he’s been keeping from you since his time on the run and that’s where this guilt comes from, this horrible crippling feeling he feels every time he looks at you.

“Alden.” You say softly and his gaze flickers up to meet yours. “Get in the pool.”

“What?” He rasps, his eyes stinging.

“Just take your clothes off and get in the fucking pool.”

It’s the most commanding you’ve ever been with him and fuck if it doesn’t have him taking his clothes off in record time. The garments fall away until he stands in his underwear at the edge of the pool before diving straight in. That moment of impact, the rush of the water as it hits him before he surges up for air, it’s liberating.

You’re waiting for him when he breaks the surface, the edges of your mouth tipping up into a smile as he bobs in front of you, trying to catch his breath.

“Better?” You ask.

“Yea.” He whispers as your hands come to rest on his shoulders. His arms wrap around your waist holding you close as you float together in the darkness.

“You should tell me now.” You say, your fingertips linking at the nape of his neck, brushing over his damp hair. “That thing you’ve been hiding, you need to tell me because it’s killing us both.”

His forehead comes to rest upon yours, his breath catching. That feeling is back, that agonising sensation in his chest but he forces his way through it because you’re right, his guilt it’s murdering the marriage, it’s the seal on the box he’s trapping you in.

“The day they took Viv, it was meant to be you.” Alden tells you. “They knew you went swimming on Thursdays, that you like to go before the pool opens because the owner gave you a key. They were waiting in the parking lot for you but when you never arrived they moved onto Plan B.”

“I went to Norfolk that day…” You recall and his grasp on you tightens because if you hadn’t made that choice, you wouldn’t be here with him. “My witness worked in a diner, she could only do before the breakfast rush so I skipped swimming that day.”

“It saved your life.” He tells you, his thumb chasing over the apple of your cheek. “Lisa, he wasn’t just going to kill you, he was going to torture you. He was going to send the video to NCIS…”

Seeing that video it would have obliterated him. You know it, he knows it. The nightmares he has, they’re the real reason he’s been avoiding coming to bed with you. He sees the horror of what could have happened in his dreams, he feels the devastation as he listens to your laboured breathes and agonised cries. He feels the loss so fucking acutely that when he wakes up he’s clawing at the air, staving for oxygen.

“I think about it everytime I look at you.” He tells you, his voice breaking. “I see what that monster could have done to you because of me and it eats me alive Lisa.”

He chokes then and there you are holding him close, sheltering him from the storm that rises up deep inside him.

“Alden, you have been carrying this all alone for so long.” You say softly as you look into his pained eyes. “If you keep holding onto this, you’ll be doing more damage to yourself, to us. It’s time to let go now.”

“I want to Lisa.” He whispers as your nose trails along his until your lips are barely parted. “Christ I do, but I don’t know how.”

“I’ll help you.” You promise him, your lips brushing over his. “I won’t let you drown Alden, I'm going to make sure we get you some help.”

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[ol-files]

The full story of Island of Wakfu

The introduction sequence shows an egg-like planet, the color of Stasis, from which a large meteor is seen shooting through space, hurtling toward the Eliatropes' planet.

A Thousand Mysteries

"The joy of a sweet summer afternoon for our Mysteries. rejoice, Eliatropes! The day has finally come!" - Pulva

These sacred rites, bathed"s with solar flares, complete our work in honor of your glory, Goddess." - Mina

Chapter 1: The Sanctuary

Stook

Sent to look for Waki Wa on the sacred Goddess island, Nora and Efrim meet Stook on the way, a "former Eliacube" who tells them that Master Qilby has disappeared and that something is going on between him and the king (Yugo). They then meet Glip for their Wakfung trial, after which he sends them on their way to the Goddess Shrine.

At the shrine, Mina announces that the Goddess has called them. The statue of Eliatrope beseeches them to pass her three Veils in order to meet her in her abode. To begin, she requests an offering for her face – a feather from a blue Tofu –, one for her tears – a cup, made of the bark of a singing tree – and one for her hair – a comb made of a silver scale from an Oracle fish.

They gather the first two items without difficulty, then meet the Oracle fish at the pond:

«  I need to show you something; in a distant place, across dimensions... On an island in time, your fate hangs in the balance. I need you to understand how to change it. — Oracle »

He warns them that everyone's Wakfu will be eaten by an unknown force, that they are their last defense, and gives them "the dream power to fight." To hand them a scale, he introduces them to the mighty Platypus, who will assist them later.

Having collected all three offerings, they present them to the shrine. The Goddess warns them that doom is already upon them. They must pass the three Veils and are sent to the forest to learn teleportation with Glip.

Chapter 2: The Forest

« Learning is a game. When you play a game, you learn the rules and logic, while trying to be the most creative and free under its constraints. This, my children, is the true way to learn ». - Baltazar

« We are not the only inhabitants of this world. The Goddess is at the origin of everything. We are all brothers and sisters, but we must not stagnate. for Wakfu is movement, and stagnation sin. » - Chibi

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Glip teaches Nora the basics of teleportation, but as they progress through the forest, they find Prespics. This link will take you to our sister Wikia, Dofus Wiki made aggressive by the Stasis that has fallen in the forest. Nora and Efrim fight their way through and rejoin with Glip deeper into the forest, near a Stasis meteorite. Glip explains that Stasis was forbidden by Chibi the prophet, but that this rock is somehow different. For now, he will only tell them that Stasis is "anti-Wakfu." A little further, they find Chibi's Great Hall, a sanctuary where Stasis is forbidden.

« Chibi was the first to cross the third Veil. This is where he died. His body is here, a tiny spark of Wakfu still trapped in his bones. » — Glip

Inside, a skeleton rests on a rocking chair. Nora's Eliacube comments:

« Stiff, smelly... Yep, seems like a corpse, all right... Look closely. Is it real? I wonder how the prophet REALLY died... And aren't Eliatropes supposed to be immortal? Chibi was our Prophet, but he was also a great poet. He left many poems, known as Mysteries, behind in this world. This Iwak is a plug-in allowing me to decode Chibi's Mysteries. » — Nora's Eliacube

A tooltip adds that "Mysteries are pages from Chibi's secret Herbarium. Each mystery tells a long-lost tale."

Chapter 3: The Meadow

« These flowers that we call Manolia, each of them is an individual, a singular being. Their roots feed on the core of Wakfu: the heart of our, a whirling vortex, breaking its waves on our shores. » - Mina

« All Manolias are linked to a network called Wik-Fi, a precious gift. We, Eliatropes, use it to connect our Eliacubes and communicate. And so we talk with flowers, and through flowers. » - Chibi

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"He has no time for the dark roots at his fingertips; the buds on the roots, their promise, not time. It is the most beautiful flower of the field he desires." - Shinonome

Back in the meadow, Mina shows Nora and Efrim how to interact with Wakfu creatures and flowers using Wakfu and Stasis. She then sends them on their way to Vili Summit for the ritual of Chibi's rebirth. The ritual is a symbolic representation of Chibi's resurrection in his Holy Egg. There is a legend that says maybe, one day, the Prophet will be reborn... and this may be the day. There is a large egg and a Dragoturkey This link will take you to our sister Wikia, Dofus Wiki, which according to Mina is too weak to crack the egg. Efrim forces the egg open, but "as always," the Prophet is not reborn. They proceed higher up the mountain to find Tina, their "most precious flower."

« It is Chibi's soul, his gift, an heirloom for us to tend. We must see Tina bloom. Then, perhaps, Chibi will come. «  — Mina

Efrim breathes on Tina to make her bloom, to no avail, and Grougaloragran calls out to Mina, saying he must speak to the initiates at once. Mina opens an Eliatrope path (similar to a trail of successive portals) to the lake for them.

« Something has happened to the King's Palace. Qilby has betrayed his people! We're at war with invaders from the sky. Soon the threat will be upon this Sanctuary. The King is dead... but all hope is not lost. He will be reborn in his Royal Egg, his Dofus, along with his Dragon, Adamai. The King's Dofus is in the forest, in the hands of our ancestors. » — Grougaloragran

Badly injured, the Dragon sends them to retrieve Yugo and Adamai's Dofus. Before they can leave, a rain of Stasis stones falls from the sky and Mina takes the other children to the temple. From the craters, Rozens sprout, Stasis-charged flowers that corrupt their surroundings and damage characters who get too close. The Goddess speaks to Nora and Efrim:

« An ancient galactic threat coming back to haunt us. They want our Wakfu. They will drink it all. The threads of this world unravel, revealing the truth of our Origins. My children are doomed by mistakes of the past. I am sorry. I am so sorry. Something... draining my soul... My voice... fading out... » — Eliatrope

Fighting through the Rozens, spiders and Prespics, they make their way through the forest and defeat a large, corrupted Prespic. Grougaloragran contacts them through a Drake Stone, beseeching them to secure the king's Dofus right away. The twins take down the protective field around the Dofus, and thus pass the first Veil.

Stasis Rising

« A secret Lab ? What kind of accusation is that ? How can I keep a secret from the King ? I am honest and truthful ! I would never, never, ever do something behind your back, your Majesty. » - Qilby

« The smell of the dark Rozen de Stasis is a breath of tartar, do not be seduced by its beauty. - Grougaloragran

Chapter 4: The Crater

As more meteors hit the planet, Orgonax is seen walking in the distance. The Goddess speaks once again:

« Our people were cursed, long ago, in another world. We escaped a terrible doom, and we built a new world. Who amongst our people betrayed us and awakened the past? My... voice... is running out... Help me, I'm disappearing... But not fast enough... Pain... » — Eliatrope

Nora and Efrim rush back to the Sanctuary, but passing through Chibi's Great Hall they find the skeleton has fallen off the chair and down the stairs, and the room is dotted with Stasis. Nora's Eliacube makes an intriguing comment:

« Well, look at that... It actually doesn't look like a real skeleton. Why would someone place a fake Chibi here? Why would they lie to us? «  — Nora's Eliacube

They find a trap door on the floor and head down, while the Eliacube warns them that this place is sacred and forbidden. They find an underground laboratory, with a replica of Mount Zinit in the center. The Eliacube recounts that Chibi heard the Goddess's voice when he was napping on the summit and that the Council has forbidden access to the mountain ever since. On the replica, Nora finds a way to activate a hologram of Qilby:

« Qilby speaking. I'm afraid time has already run out. I can't stand it anymore. Someone has to unveil the secrets, the taboos. The King doesn't want to listen to me, the fool. All he wants is a false heaven. I want to go back. I want to avenge our fathers and our sons. Nothing can stop me now! I leave this message for history. I will climb Mount Zinit, into the forbidden zone. I will open the gates of Wakanu. I will expose the parody that is our Eliatrope Goddess. I will save us all. I will make us true warriors again. «  — Qilby

Coming out of the lab, they find more craters and the tracks left by Orgonax. Reaching the lake, they see Lu-Fu invaders tearing down the Goddess's statue while she calls for help. By the time they get to it, the statue is already in shambles, but the Goddess leaves them musical notes to invoke her beyond the Veils. A tooltip describes the Goddess Song as "a devastating Hymn from the First Veil. None but Eliatropes can hear it without instantly being consumed." She begs Nora to use the Song against her (the statue), as she can take the pain no more. As the initiate complies, she thanks her and tells them that this soul, this voice, are gone only for now, and to find her in Intiwakana, her abode.

Chapter 5: The Temple

« Qilby? Ah, the poor fellow... if only he’d listened to me doing what he did. What was it? Uh... Look... You’re so young. You might one day understand. » - Glip

« Yes, yes, yes, I passed away a long time ago, by Chibi himself, when he created our technology here in this earthly paradise. According to Chibi, his inspirations were divine, the Goddess had helped him create his wonders. If that’s true, and I’m convinced of it, then I’m of divine origin. So that’s not cool? » - Stook

------

In the nearby forest, the Treechnid This link will take you to our sister Wikia, Dofus Wiki Amalami's voice and song are being corrupted by "the song from space," sung by Rozens. He becomes Amalama:

« GIVE ME YOUR SONG! LET ME TAKE YOUR TONGUE! I WILL FREE YOU FROM YOUR ABSURD GOD! I AM THE TRUE MAESTRO! I AM THE PRIMO UOMO! ELIATROPES ARE LIARS! DO YOU WANT ME TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH? YOUR GODDESS DOES NOT EXIST! HAIL, ORGONAX! » — Amalama

Unfortunately, defeating the corrupted tree also kills Amalami.

Nora and Efrim reach the temple and find the Wakfu Fountain encroached by Stasis flowers, draining its energy. They destroy the flowers and find Stook hiding underground. He gives Efrim a power-up and as they return outside, Baltazar calls for them and asks for immediate help. They head to his rescue but are caught in the middle of rampaging beasts running away from some unseen threat. They escape and fight more Lu-Fu with the young Redmo, who is killed by troopers. They then come upon Glip facing off against their leader Odo, but he is quickly struck down. Odo thirsts for Wakfu and orders his troops to set up the "Extractor" to take samples from this world. He then returns to his Frigate, letting them handle the busy work. Before passing away, Glip begs the twins to save the children hidden in the temple.

Chapter 6: Vili Valley

« Our library is the memory of our people. Everything we have done is here. Books are precious, they are life, and our memories. We need them, without them we could not survive with abstract information. We need to give them substance. » - Chibi

« As the invader approaches, our way of life is threatened. This paradise we called home is gone. The king is dead, his palace on fire. Everything seems lost. We were betrayed, but we could have done something. It’s my fault... it’s... » - Glip

----

Nora and Efrim fight more Lu-Fu in the temple and rescue the young Kiri. They find an Eliatrope path to the upper levels and come across Chibi's testament.

« Chibi left his belongings to his lover, Mina. And he crowned Yugo our King. Oh boy... Master Qilby must have been so angry. » — Nora's Eliacube

Trivia: One of the children to be rescued is Zora from Wakfu: Les Gardiens, and freeing her unlocks the achievement Guardian.

Once all the children are rescued, Baltazar calls for a meeting in the Dragon Hall. Since the children cannot yet teleport by themselves, he takes them "to a place where [they]'ll be safe forever" – the timeless dimension Emrub. He leaves after imparting another power-up to Efrim, after which the Eliacube comments:

« Those kids you saved... Baltazar's children, we call them... They are younger than anyone else, but no one remembers their births. Where did they come from? » — Nora's Eliacube

It is likely that they were the children sent to another dimension during the first Mechasm attack on the Eliatropes' original planet, but it is curious that no one else seems to be aware of it.

Later, Mina says she must make a sacrifice, now that Qilby has betrayed them. She must find the Pow Wow, their most secret place of ritual, and needs their help. They must go to the Zaap portal outside the library. But before they can follow Mina, Orgonax appears and destroys the portal, forcing the duo to head to the beach and find the backup Zaap suggested by the Eliacube.

On the Beach

« You talk about education. Well, I think education is the responsibility. We cannot drown our children in the news. They have to use them to get to where they can. We’re just watching them, so they don’t get hurt. » - Mama Conch

« Time will be born from the hourglass, a grain of sand after another. Cause and consequence, brothers jumaux from the will to change the world. » - Goddess

Chapter 7: Pliyi di Bili

Nora and Efrim reach the beach and see Prissy the Conch being attacked by crab-like creatures she calls bad krabbies. They rescue her and she asks for their help finding her sisters – Ellie, Evvy, Kelly, Marcy and Mary –, who were affected by "red fumes" that made them say bad words and terrible things. Near the beach, they find another of Qilby's holograms:

« Ah... If only the Council were honest people, I wouldn't have to do this... The truth? So simple: The Eliatropes are not what they seem to be. This society is not our first. This planet is not our home world. A long time ago, we escaped. Now, we must pay the price. I will be the redeemer. I will make things right once again... Because I'm the only one who can understand Chibi. » — Qilby

After all the Conch sisters have been found, Lu-Fu arrive on a ship and storm the beach. Nora and Efrim dispatch them, then pay a visit to Mama Conch in a nearby cave. Pleased that her girls are safe and did not pick up any bad words, she gives Nora one of her pearls, which will allow her to reflect projectiles.

Chapter 8: Club Platypus

“Many Eliatropes were disappointed by the Goddess. They joined cults to forget her. She and her Veils. It is a tragedy, because if no one believes in Her, then she will leave this plane of existence. It is a fact." - Baltazar

“I don’t understand. Why walk away from the Goddess? She is gentle and caring. What reasons can justify such an affront?” -Glip

-------

A little farther on the beach, they meet Yama, who says a giant flower (a Queen Rozen) is sucking the light away and driving everyone mad in the nearby village. Nora and Efrim immediately provide assistance but are stunned by the cry of the dying flower. They awaken in Yama's hut, where he tells them that his leader probably won't be happy even though the flower has been taken care of, and will probably still sacrifice his sister Zoe to his "stupid Egg."

In the village, they see the Shamipus, local leader, proclaiming that the sacrifices are working since the light has returned. To continue to receive protection from the Platypus Egg, he commands more sacrifices, as expected.

Attached to a totem surrounded by dancers, they see a Dofus protected by a force field and start looking for a way to deactivate it. Sneaking into the Shamipus's hut, they deactivate the force field and Nora dresses herself as another Shamipus. The villagers are confused and Efrim uses the distraction to cause the egg to hatch, freeing the Platypus. All the villagers immediately rally to him and therefore to Efrim and Nora. The Shamipus teleports away, promising to have his revenge. Immediately after, more Lu-Fu arrive and destroy the gate to come after the Eliatrope and Dragon. They drive them back and Yama thanks them for saving his sister and the village, then reveals the location of the secret Zaap on the beach.

Ancient Questions

« Wait a minute! There’s nothing logical about it!" - Stock

"Pow Wow is a special place. An ancient place where Chibi came when he was old. He went there to die, it was his choice; offer his soul to the Goddess." - Glip

Chapter 9: Pow Wow

Mina warns Nora that the Stasis is disrupting the Wik-Fi and making teleportation unstable. Because of this, Nora must reach the Pow Wow through a secret path below the canyon. Finding the place by herself will be her last initiation rite. Mina also says that she has a very hard decision to make, but not to judge her, as it is their only hope.

Islands of Wakfu - Mina's sacrifice

Mina's sacrifice

Finding their way through a bamboo forest, they find a Lu-Fu excavation site. They kill the invaders and find an Eliatrope path to the Pow Wow. Mina tells them that she needed privacy for the hardest decision of her life: she offered her Wakfu in this holy place in order to create a bridge to Chibi's soul. That was the only way for Nora to pass the second Veil. Activating a Zaap, Nora and Efrim reach the heart of the Pow Wow and find Mina dying. She tells them that Qilby has betrayed them and brought back Stasis. Her Wakfu has gone into a flower that Nora must plant in the temple of Wakanu, atop Mount Zinit, in order to find Chibi's island and save the Dofus.

Making their way to Mount Zinit, they find another excavation site where the Lu-Fu are forcing moles to do their labor. After fighting numerous foes, they are told by a mole that the entire mountain is collapsing, but they head into the mines, driven by necessity.

Chapter 10: Rizi

"The heart of our world is a heart of Wakfu, blue as the yolk of a timeless egg, before the cosmic omelette occurs." - Glip

"Beebee loves wakfu. Mmmm, you love wakfu..." - Beebee

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They quickly come out of the mines and fight their way up through more ranks of Lu-Fu, all the while feeding their new companion Beebee the bee with Wakfu to make her glow. With her help, they navigate through dark caverns and continue to make their way up. They find a Wakfu-extracting machine, pumping tirelessly to feed Odo's insatiable appetite. They destroy the machine and face Odo's general in battle.

On Top of the World

Chapter 11: Mount Zinit

« Why all these secrets? Something is wrong. Would the council have lied to us? Does the Goddess really exist? What would be the point of inventing such a story?" - Eliacube

"O ancient mountain, venerable spirit presiding over the material plane, you will not weep. Like insects, we cling to your sides. We dare not look upon your summit. Our eyes fall when we cross the path of your deep caves, and the intimate and dark secret of your origins." - Qilby

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Climbing ever higher, they make their way to Wakanu as Orgonax climbs Mount Zinit. On the way, they find a new hologram from Qilby:

« Mount Zinit is a place of corridors, of dark corners. Here lie the secrets of our kind. Halfway through my journey, I rest in this tomb to contemplate my choices. I may doom our way of life, our dreams, but I cannot endure the lies we tell ourselves. Eliatropes were born of the Stars, and we came here to escape our Fall. We need to confront ourselves with the truth. We need to avenge our people. The King is a liar and a coward. I will not stay silent. Not anymore. May you who find these words forgive me. » — Qilby

In the same room, they find schematics and drawings that resemble Orgonax, and the Eliacube comments that he is big enough to walk inside, and that there seems to be a hollow spot in his right hand.

Chapter 12: Wakanu

"Why did I do this? Because the king did not want to do anything! He wanted to stay here with his lies. We are supposed to move forward! We are supposed to feed on other systems to progress to the end of time. That is the real reason for Wakfu." - Qilby

"It seems unreal. Like we’re in the bowels of a whale perched on top of a mountain, like an ark from a distant past." - Eliacube

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Nora and Efrim undo the seal to the temple Wakanu and find Lu-Fu already inside. The temple is a maze designed by Chibi, and the Eliacube suspects that he may have a flower nearby, since according to Mina he performed the Pow Wow ritual. Inside a strange machine, they find the Oracle of Waki Wa. They wake him up and he tells them that he is not real, not really there. He used to be Chibi's personal assistant, but he is only a projection reactivated by Qilby when he was last here. Nevertheless, he has the power to activate a Zaap leading further inside the temple.

There, they find Lu-Fu that have drilled their way into the mountain, as well as Stasis deposits. They dispatch the creatures and reach the first chamber, first part of Chibi's puzzle. They are met there by Modo and Podo, Lu-Fu leaders looking for Stasis for Odo, who has gone to the top of the mountain to meet Orgonax. The Lu-Fu attack the characters, hoping to use them to force their way inside the Inner Sanctum, but they are no match for Nora and Efrim.

The next puzzle is a large room filled with tubes carrying Wakfu. Using the Platypus, they deactivate the force field that blocks the exit and proceed to the next room after collecting the original Eliacube. The last chamber contains statues of the Eliatrope Council, and strangely, a Rozen grows in front of Qilby's. They find Chibi's flower in front of his statue, proving that he sacrificed his Wakfu at the Pow Wow, and plant Mina's flower before her statue as she asked. Solving the last puzzle, they find an Eliatrope path to Mina's island.

Chapter 13: The Islands

"Chibi, my love, I am by your side now. I can see your face beyond the waves, like a lighthouse, which attracts me. We will be reunited in this world where souls are connected. I will be the bridge that joins you." - Mina

"Islands? You mean paradise? You really think there’s something after death? Do you think what we are looking for is a holiday? The islands are a lie, the Goddess is a scam. The Platypus is the one and only god." - Chamipus

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On Mina's island, they meet with the Oracle, who explains that her soul came here when she sacrificed her Wakfu. Since the Wakfu of Council Eliatropes and Dragons return to their Dofus upon death until their reincarnation, it may be that these islands are small planes of existence contained in those Dofus, where their souls remain conscious.

According to the Oracle, "to get to Chibi's island, you must uncover Mina's secret love for him." They find fragments of her soul, and open the way to Chibi's island. Grougaloragran meets them there for the Ritual of Ages, and to take the king's Dofus to another dimension where it will be safe. He instructs them to find the Goddess Beacon atop Mount Zinit.

« Pray for her to take you with her. In her womb, children, you'll live forever. Your soul, protected. » — Grougaloragran

*The Eliacube picked up in Chibi's maze appears on a pedestal while Grougaloragran takes the Dofus from Nora, but no mention is made of it and it simply disappears after the scene. In the animated series, Grougaloragran does however mention that Nora entrusted him with both the Dofus and the Eliacube.

Odo's Frigate appears in the sky, and as the Oracle instructs her that letting go will be the quickest way to reach Intiwakana, she lets the Lu-Fu take her aboard without resistance. There, Odo demands the king's Dofus, but Nora and Efrim attack him and his crew and gain the upper hand. Before it is too late, Odo drinks a full jar of Wakfu and becomes an even more powerful beast with the ability to teleport around the ship. But ultimately, he is still defeated, along with the rest of his crew.

Chapter 14: Intiwakana

"It’s not a lie if you believe it." - Glip

"Well, it’s time to go home now!" - Stook

-------

The Frigate crashes near the top of the mountain, where Nora and Efrim must face a Crackler guardian appointed by Chibi, who decreed that no one was allowed to pass. They then make their way to a small cave where they consult the Oracle one last time:

« You have saved the last Eliatrope, now this world is coming to an end. These invaders you've fought were once like you, innocent. They were seized, enslaved, brought to despair. Behold, this is their world, still alive in their dreams. » — Oracle

He shows them a vision of the Lu-Fu's world, of their Imperatrix giving up the fight after so many of her people have been taken away. In their last hour, they send a warning in dreams:

« Don't fear the loss of the material world, but embrace the pure bliss of dreams. In dreams, invisible waves become vessels. To believe is to feel. Sailing an endless ocean... to surf, but never to sink. Believe in the invisible. As it believes in you. »

— Lu-Fu Imperatrix

« This world is doomed. Mount Zinit is waking up. If you reach the top of the mountain, the Goddess may take you with her. Close your eyes, let yourself go. »

— Oracle

As they reach ever higher, Orgonax catches up with them and they are forced to fight him off to buy some time. They find a weak spot in his right hand and blow it open, creating an opening for the Platypus. Inside, he uses drops of Wakfu to tinker with the giant's internal mechanisms, making him lose his grip on the rock face. They quickly reach the top of the mountain and find a large flower that speaks with the voice of the Goddess (her last words are not transcribed for the player). Nora communes with it while Orgonax resumes his ascent. Channeling the Goddess's power, Nora launches a devastating attack against Orgonax, an explosion seen from space that wipes all life from the planet for millenia.

*The final attack against Orgonax had cataclysmic proportions and destroyed all life on the planet, and several millenia later, when the gods of the World of Twelve discovered the barren planet and recreated life on it, the process also involved highly destructive forces. Yet, mentions of Eliatrope artifacts abound in the world, such as Zaap portals, Eliatrope ruins and the book found by Karibd and Silar (mention in Dofus mmo and Dofus manga.

Source :

* https://krosmoz.fandom.com/wiki/Islands_of_Wakfu

* https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe_N8_H2VbTULBoBL65OY7VYRIUbC-fU7&feature=shared

[moccahobi]

A Fae's Brew To Take You Away [Chapter 25]

Summery: Photography: Taehyung loves it. Specifically he loves film photography. He even spent an entire day hiking and taking photos in a meadow (there was a woman there at first but she left soon after). For Y/n though, Taehyung’s trip to the meadow was the start of something bad. Something real bad.

Pairings: Taehyung (BTS) x Reader, Yoongi (BTS) x Hoseok (BTS)

Rating: Teens and up

Chapter warnings: injury, character death

Series warnings (I update as I figure more stuff out): horror, injury, threats, character death, major angst, emotional distress, alcohol, verbal fight, anxiety

Word Count:  773 words

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fae AU!, College AU!

Tag list: @youarejesting, @i-am-moonchild, @oddinary4bts​

Chapter 24 >> Masterlist << Chapter 26

The world faded in and out of focus slowly, everything shrouded in some sort of fog or haze, dulling all your senses.You were drifting slowly in a sea of black nothingness, a soft haziness caressing you gently like pond water gently holding and lapping at a bathing fae. In the haze, you felt safe, like nothing could hurt you. Nothing ever could. 

It washed over your aching body, blanketing you in a warmth that you wanted to stay in forever. In this fog, you were safe from everything. 

A voice drifted in and out, sailing over to you but all you managed to hear was “will” and “up”. It was vaguely familiar. A call from a past life. A past life with a face and name that you couldn’t even place. Who were you? What was this past life like? 

“I don’t know.” 

Someone else's voice buoyed over, calling to you strongly. You’d held this person in high regard in your past life. Though you couldn’t place who they were, you could smell damp earth after rain and mushrooms that swirled around you and mixed with the haze. It was an odd thing to smell and made you stir, trying to move away from the smell. It was calling to you. Beckoning you back to the previous life that had left your body in so much pain and your heart breaking. Returning to it wasn’t something you wanted and yet the smell was starting to become more aggressive with its beckoning. It was yanking at your arms and legs, pleading for you to return to this past life and leave the comfort of the fog. 

You wanted to refuse, to scream, and plead with this smell to leave you alone or To let you rest. No matter how hard you tried though, you couldn’t speak or move. You were a victim to its will.

“I don’t know how much longer the village will let us stay here.”

Seokjin.

Sen. 

The fog cleared. You were drifting along a murky, black river, its water unnaturally still. With shaking limbs, you slowly stood up, the water lapping at your ankles and the bottom of your feet. Despite you not touching the bottom of the river, your feet wouldn’t go deeper and you didn’t want them too, an unnatural fear of what lay beneath the water growing. You started walking, cautiously setting your feet down in hopes that if your next step wasn’t stable or the water decided to swallow you up again, you could step back and avoid that spot. With great care, you made it out of the river and collapsed on the river bed, covered in sweat and wheezing heavily as you tried to rest. 

You’d left the earthy smell of Sen behind in the river but Sen’s voice, his words, his lessons lingered in your mind, pulling you in a direction that you didn’t quite know. It pulled you across a field and into woods where you tumbled over branches and tripped into ditches. Though you’d walked the ground of forests many times before, the ground felt too far away from you and too foregin. The whole world felt foregin. 

Your body felt even worse than before, battered and tired from all the walking and falling, yet you had no energy to try to use your wings. The time with… the humans, Jungkook and Taehyung, had also led to you not using them as much. Something had happened to them and you couldn’t. Even now, you could barely feel your wings. 

“They’re getting nervous.”

“Of course they are. You both will need to leave as soon as she wakes up. Pack valuables you can sell. Bring it here.” 

*here*

Their voices pulled towards wherever “here” was, the forest growing darker and darker all the while. You needed to get to them. 

“We’ll be human though. How will we be able to make a living? They track births and citizenship. We won’t have that.” 

“Become hermits or something. I don’t know. You’ll figure it out. It isn’t safe here.”

Seokjin wasn’t safe? 

What was happening? 

Why wasn’t he safe? 

You surged forward, pushing into the dark forest even as it started to lose its definition. You kept pushing even as it became pitch black, even as a pinhole of light came into view. You kept walking. To Seokjin. You had to protect him. Similar to how he tried to protect you. 

The light grew like a fading vignette and along with the light came Sen’s earthy smell once again. Embracing you welcomingly as you walked into the light. 

Fresh air graced your lungs. 

[scnsualforalphas]

@alphascnsual

It was a mixture of hesitation and fascination at once that was reflected in Juniper's gaze. This entire place was so incredibly foreign to the nymph - which he very much considered himself to be, despite the human side of his bloodline. They were strange creatures to him as much as Juniper was one to them, or would have been if they had bothered to look beyond their own horizon. But he knew that most of these non-magical beings were not even aware of the nymphs that dwelled within their forest. Few ever dared to venture far into the woods, much to Juniper's dismay, as his curiosity and a primal yearning deep within himself lured him further and further out of the safety of his mother's realm.

It was strangely mundane what had triggered his timid curiosity enough to stray too far from safety. A young couple he'd seen sneak into the darkness of the forest a few times before, always observing them from a distance, hidden from view. Juniper would see them fornicating, much like the beasts of the forest, though looking strangely closer to a nymph than an animal. The woman somewhat resembling his sisters, his mother, all the other nymphs... While there was another one, a man, looking more like Juniper than anybody he'd ever seen before - with one major difference. Observing them had the young nymph fascinated, and he wandered off further each time in search of the humans - until one day, humans found him. Away from his mother's domain, he was helpless against his captors, quickly intimidated by the foreignness of this world beyond the trees. He did not know why they had taken him as their prisoner, if they needed a reason at all. He only gathered they were to gift him to a man they clearly revered and feared at the same time. Duke Alaric Falconcrest, a name that meant nothing to him. Not yet.

Even after barely leaving the forest for all of his life so far, Juniper could tell the luxury and lavishness of the place he was brought to. His captors travelled with him through areas of poverty, villages covered in dust and ash, but this - what did they call this place? A castle, a palace, a mansion? Either way, it was the starkest contrast to the world he was used to. He barely had time to admire the Duke's home, however - a herald was sent to announce the arrival of a gift as his captors made sure Juniper was presentable for his new owner, and it did not take long for the messenger to return, sending him to the stranger's chambers.

Two knights led him to his destination, not speaking a word just like the guards who stepped aside as they arrived, sending Juniper through the door and closing it silently behind him. For a moment, the nymph believed himself to be alone in the Duke's living quarters. Nobody came to welcome him, nobody was here to let him know what was going to happen next. Was he supposed to know? Timidly, he stepped forward into the room, glancing around a corner, only to have his eyes widen and his jaw drop for a moment. The nymph's gaze fell upon what could only be described as... a man. It sounded terribly mundane, but Juniper had never seen one this close before - besides the male woodland creatures, and of course, himself. Being a man was what made him so starkly different from the rest of his people, and yet, he knew he was unlike those human men as well. He had noticed it with the young stranger he'd observed in the woods, and now... there was no missing it. Juniper's eyes were glued to the nude frame of who must have been Alaric Falconcrest, taking in each muscle, each sharp curve in his physique... and stayed focused on the mighty beast that was between the man's legs.

Was he getting dressed? Undressed? Taking a bath? Juniper knew there were not any ponds or rivers to be seen, but who knew? The young slave stared, only reluctantly breaking eye contact with the other's mesmerizing frame. Lost for words, the nymph stepped back cautiously, unsure if he was meant to disturb the Duke or was interrupting whatever rites the humans had. He was suddenly pulled out of that worry, however, as he stumbled backwards against a table, flinching at the noise he caused that undoubtedly had pulled the other's attention now. "A-Apologies", he mumbled, feeling his heart race with nervousness as he couldn't take his eyes off the other's enticing frame.

[yellowgreendinno]

Purple Hues

A/N: I made my first Nozessa fic everyone!!! I just got in in my head and had to get it out. Tagging @vilandel because I'd like your opinion on this, as a fellow writer and one of the biggest Nozessa fans I know! <3 Please enjoy, love n' sparkles everyone! 💗✨

!Recommendation! Listen to "Willow Tree" by Rival & CADMIUM

"Your people skills need a lot of work"

She supressed a giggle, already having expected him to say that.

"So do yours!"

"You don't know enough people to judge on that." Responded the young man, with that classic stern expression on his face. His eyes searched her gaze, the same shade of lavender colliding in the silence. She always noticed that - even though her eyes indeed matched his - on him, that gentle lavender tone that adorned her eyes turned a stern metallic liliac.

It was beautiful to her all the same. Vanessa felt that if those eyes of his were gazing at her from the bottom of the Deadly Ponds, she would be long gone.

It was a little staring contest of theirs. One that the pink haired witch always lost - it was hard to hold eye contact with him for long; his intense irises pulling her so deep in she feared there might be no way out.

The same happened now; she tilted her head down. If because of fear or embarrassment, Vanessa didn't know. She kept her head hanging, uttering the words neither of them wanted to hear - or say.

"You shouldn't be here, Nozel"

"I know"

Silence fell over the big - but claustrophobic - space they stood in. The both knew this was, in more ways than one, wrong. Forbidden, may be the word they were looking for.

This - whatever it is they had - started a not so long time ago. For them, if felt like years. Years, since the life-changing day when Nozel Silva had stumbled into the Witch Queen's highest tower, and consequently, into Vanessa's pitiful excuse for a life. He was looking for a place to hide from Fuegoleon and Mereoleona's twisted games, and somehow luck made him stumble into the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Vanessa grimaced. Looked down. Clenched her fists. Because that's all it was, was it not? On a lucky day, the young witch had gotten a visit from the handsome prince thanks to luck, to the dice rolls of the Gods. Thanks to the one thing she hated.

She had met him because of something as dark and twisted as fate. And she hated herself for thanking fate.

Nozel easily noted her discomfort, and reached out to her with both hands - one lifting her chin up for their round lavender gardens to clash again; the other one grasping her hand and enveloping it in his. Vanessa lifted her gaze at last, and she almost wished she hadn't; as she was met with the young prince's silvery locks and ivory skin bathed in the golden hour's glow, reflecting on her as if he were some sort of divine creature whom had come from Above to save her. His eyes now shone like stars, and she fully hoped that beautiful glow in his gaze wasn't only from the light - she hoped some of it was because of her.

"Do you want me to leave?" And oh..., what his deep, soft voice could do to her. The stitch witch would move mountains only to hear the knight's voice whisper in her ear as he was now.

He shouldn't be here, taking her hand in his, holding her chin to meet his stare. She shouldn't be there, falling for his every sincere move. Despite her words, Vanessa hoped and prayed that he wouldn't listen to her, for him to stay. Finally, she mustered up the courage, got the words out of her throat.

"No- please. Don't go. I'll miss you terribly if you do." She said in what was a mere whisper, loud enough for it to reach Nozel's ears.

The hand that held her chin gently moved to cup her cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb. The other one, that rested enveloping her hand, moved to her waist to pull her close - closer than she already was.

Oh, how she would do anything to get out of that damned cage. But, she had learned to appreciate it, in a strange way.

For she knew Nozel would break the bars over and over again to get inside it, just because she was there.

"Vanessa, you know I would never leave if you want me to stay with you."

And there it was again- that stare, that look that drove her crazy. She was mesmerised by the way stars danced in his irises whenever he looked at her, and how those stars would shine with the light of a whole galaxy whenever he smiled. She was mesmerised by the way he walked, the way he spoke, the way he dressed. The way he held her. It was then when Vanessa realised, - under the bars of a cage inside a tower, the golden hour's light reflecting in Nozel's figure, she didn't admire him. She wasn't mesmerised by him. She didn't care for him.

Vanessa was hopelessly in love with the graceful royal that was Nozel Silva.

The realisation fell down on her as he leaned in closer, his right hand's fingers, that rested on her cheek now slowly intertwining with the rose coloured strands of her hair, as his left hand's thumb rubbed delicate circles on her waist.

The metallic lilac was now entirely focused somewhere else. His eyes had slipped down from her own, now looking down at her pink lips with a soft expression still, bringing her nearer to him until she was pressed flush against him.

Vanessa's eyes closed almost on instinct as she felt his fresh but warm breath on her lips, their noses brushing against each other.

"And why wouldn't you?"

"Because I would miss you terribly as well, Vanessa"

Those were the last words he whispered with a now husky voice before throwing all caution to the wind, and finally pressing his lips against hers.

Vanessa let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in the form of a small sigh as she draped her arms around his neck and brought him down to her when he tried to disconnect their lips; that were now moving against each other in perfect harmony.

The witch reached a hand up to his hair and buried her fingers gingerly in his soft, silvery locks, her face flushed in the need of air she refused to take. Nozel started to pace forward, trapping Vanessa against her table - the only piece of furniture she owned. Getting the message he tried to get across, she quickly sat on the it, now caging Nozel's waist between her legs; at the same time as he licked a small stripe across her lower lip, asking for an entrance she gladly allowed. Their tongues clashed while her hands desperately held onto his shoulders; his own holding her hips tightly though lovingly.

They finally broke away, panting, allowing the same hues of soft lavender to collide in the heated air of the cage.

Nozel slowly and hesitantly let go of her, and moved to the new hole he had made to enter the cage, summoning his mercury eagle. Vanessa still sat on the table, confused, as he chuckled softly. As he turned around and crossed the cage once more in three long strides, grasping her waist and neck. He connected their lips, in a rougher way this time, letting his tongue to plunge into her mouth with a soft hum. Vanessa once more ran her hands through his moonlight hued hair, letting a shy mewl escape her lips. When they, once more, pulled away, a string of saliva joining their lips, he smiled, softly pecking her lips once more before muttering against them.

"See you tomorrow?"

She rested her forehead against the crook of his neck, hugging him tightly.

"See you tomorrow, Nozel"

He moved back, and walked to the mercury eagle that awaited him. Jumping on, he weilded his mercury to fix the hole he had made in the bars, blowing a kiss to Vanessa before flying away.

Vanessa smiled to herself.

The "I love you" could wait until tomorrow.

[team-pokefriends]

[After much traveling and going down small paths that the sibling pair dearly recognize, the two arrive at a flowery walkway leading up to a small, glowing waterfall.]

[Numera] "Been a while since we went here, huh?"

[Denomi, nervous] "Yeah. It's been years…"

[Scarlet] "You don't come here to clean yourselves?"

[Numera] "What? No!"

[Miss Inferno] "No. You do that?"

[Scarlet] "What? The water here's more refined than anywhere else."

[Miss Inferno] "You can't just use the sacred grounds as your personal bath!"

[Scarlet] "And what's stopping me?"

[Brick] "Ahem!"

[Everyone looks at Brick.]

[Brick, serious] "Weren't we all here for a reason?"

[Numera] "Yeah, let's not get sidetracked."

[Numera lifts her back up and bumps Denomi off of it. The Togepi bounces and rolls on the ground for a bit before sitting up at a complete stop.]

[Numera] "Come on, little bro. Get under there!"

[Denomi shakes his head and stands up. In front of him is the small wall of rocks that neatly surround the pond leading to the waterfall. He climbs up onto the rock wall and peers down into the pond.]

[Denomi, thoughts] "(Is that even shallow enough for me to stand on?)"

[Meanwhile, Scarlet goes up to Numera and leans in to talk privately.]

[Scarlet, playfully, quietly] "I dare you to push him in."

[Numera, quietly] "If he doesn't go in, I will."

[Denomi reaches a nubby hand in, but he's not able to reach the water.]

[Denomi, thoughts] "(Can't tell how deep it-)"

[Suddenly, something slams into him and launches him spinning into the pond. He screams before he hits the water and rolls slowly. Seconds later, he gasps out of the water and starts flapping his arms crazily.]

[Denomi, scared] "Too deep! Too deep! Too deep!"

[Scarlet begins to laugh.

Numera shakes her head and then swoops in to pick Denomi up and throw him into the waterfall. The Togepi screams again before he splashes into the waterfall and is then pushed down into the water.]

[Denomi, thoughts] "(What's- Huh? Am I in the waterfall?)"

[Denomi feels his body tingle, not from the waterfall, but from a mysterious force. He shivers.]

[Denomi, thoughts] "(Is this really what happens? Am I evolving?)"

[Denomi waits a couple of seconds, holding his breath beneath the waters. Then, he feels a small buzz throughout his body and he is shot up to the surface in front of the waterfall, where he promptly floats towards the rocks surrounding the pond.]

[Numera, disappointed] "No evolution?"

[Denomi reaches a shallow area and stands up.]

[Denomi] "That wasn't how you evolved, was it?"

[Numera lands on the rocks behind him.]

[Numera] "Yeah it was. You were there, remember?"

[Demomi] "No, I was two when you evolved."

[Numera] "Oh yeah, that's right."

[Numera looks back at Scarlet, who is recovering from a laughing fit.]

[Miss Inferno] "He didn't evolve?"

[Numera] "Nope."

[Numera goes in and brings Denomi onto the rocks before setting him down and landing next to him.]

[Brick] "Is he not strong enough?"

[Numera] "I don't know. If I can do it when I was six, then he should've."

[Brick] "Then how'd you evolve?"

[Numera shrugs.]

[Numera] "I dunno."

[Miss Inferno] "That's weird."

[Scarlet] "Could be stuck as a little baby man for the rest of his life."

[Denomi looked at the ground with a look of fear and dread on his face.]

[Numera] "That's not gonna happen. If our training's proven anything, it's that he's got what it takes to evolve."

[Numera then had an idea and she turned to look at Denomi.]

[Numera] "Bro, let's hit the dojo!"

[Numera patted Denomi on the back, breaking him from his fear-stricken trance.]

[Denomi] "Wha- Training?"

[Numera] "Yeah! Show these guys that you're worthy!"

[Despite Numera's excitement, Denomi was even more scared at the thought of proving himself.]

[Denomi, thoughts] "(I'm done for…)"

[crossedvenom]

Head of Hair

Lord Kuroo Tetsuro x Fem Reader

Grammar mistakes are 100% possible (sorry)~ enjoy

The orchestra softly plays in tune with one another, the melodies and harmonies blending perfectly to raise the hair on the arms of whoever stops and listens. A golden chandelier hung high above everyone's heads. The crystals cause the light to refract and bounce off the walls of the room, making the walls seem like they are gold themselves. Along with the eye-watering smell of so many expensive perfumes mixed in the air is something you've learned to block out. Having been to so many of these parties, the magical effect that once had you so captivated as a little girl wears off. The orchestra that once had you so thrilled, you now realize they only shuffle through the same ten songs. The chandelier that you could stare at for hours before, wondering how many crystals it comprised, now just reminds you it is in place to show off your parents' wealth, taunting the party guests by saying, 'I'm better than you.' The perfumes you wanted to bathe in as a child now just give you a headache; most are too strong, flowery, and sugary. Some forgo the perfume altogether and just let the sweat from their corsets seep out and make them reek of BO.

As of now, you put on your best smile that you hoped was convincing for the lord in front of you who was currently trying to talk you into waltzing with his son. Who you're sure is just another knuckle-headed boy who is more concerned with the size of a girl's rack than her brain. Politely dismissing yourself from the man with the excuse that you were supposed to meet with your father, he simply nodded and turned to leave. Of course, your father didn't have to meet with you. You two have already had the conversation that when a party is going on, you are supposed to be out mingling and searching for a mate. Despite your father saying otherwise, you have tried to find 'the one', but you always grow bored within a couple of minutes of talking with your young suitors. You laugh at their jokes even if you have heard them before, open your eyes wide with curiosity when they tell stories of their hunting trips with their father, but when you take a moment to picture what life would be like for the rest of time with them, all you see is life through a black and white lens. Why would you ever want to live with someone you had no spark with? If your mother heard you talking like this, she would pull your hair. After all, she had an arranged marriage, so the thought of a love-based marriage was foreign to her.

You also know she would give your hair another tug if she knew you were sneaking out of the party like this. Sneaking out through the back kitchens, your destination is the garden in the back. You walk for a few minutes, staring at your heels as you kick a rock along the way until you stop at a bench and take a seat on the far half of the bench, facing the duck pond. Leaning back on the hedge as a backrest, you close your eyes and let a deep breath out.

“Not one for parties, eh?" A gruff voice says from behind you. Your spine tries to jump out from your body as you let out a yelp that you will never admit to. You turn to the half hedge behind you that is short enough to see a tuft of untamed hair sticking out of the top.

"No, the parties are lovely," you lie.

"Sure. That's why you're out here and not in there," comes the reply.

"I just need a break from the smell now and then is all."

A chuckle comes from behind the hedge, it's gone as soon as it comes through. You wish to hear it once more.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who needs fresh air now and then."

You lean back into the hedge, more at ease than before.

"Others do too. None want to admit it like us though. They all just waltz as much as possible. The spinning shifts your focus on not throwing up rather than the smell."

Another chuckle.

"So you don't enjoy dancing either, I take it?"

"I do like dancing actually, it's just hard to find a dance partner who doesn't crush my toes."

"If you think the men stomping on your feet are bad, try getting crushed by a lady's heel."

"That sounds painful," you hum. "It's also the music that makes it so dull. I guess I want something new that excites me. I can't be excited if I already know what's coming next," you admit.

"I get that," says the man behind you who sounds your age.

Curiosity causes you to ask, "Who are you?"

A pause. "Just a simple cook."

"I hope you wear a hairnet when you're cooking then," you clasp a hand over your mouth. The thought came out before you could stop it. A cackle comes from behind you. Not the chilling chuckle you've been hearing, but a laugh that causes you to remove your hand and giggle yourself.

"I'm sorry, that was quite rude of me."

"It's alright, just caught me off guard is all. No one but my close friends has ever taken jabs at my hair," his laughter calms down.

"Really? Do your friends work with you?"

"Work with me?" he sounds genuinely puzzled.

"In the kitchens?" his confusion makes you confused as well.

"Oh, oh no. They are all at home tonight."

"Have you known them long?"

"One of them I've known since diapers. The other we met when we were children. We always cause a ruckus wherever we go, so we normally don't get to attend parties together. But this time, we lucked out, and we got to come together. He is still inside though."

Your tongue forms the next question before you hear your mother's voice. "Y/N!" How you wished your time talking to this stranger in the gardens isn't over. For the first time in a while, you ask questions and restlessly waited for the reply.

"That's my mother. I will go. I don't want to get you in trouble for being out of the kitchens," you whisper hurriedly and stand up. You say this just in time to face your mother who has reached your bench.

"Is this where you've been?" she asks. "You're missing the party."

"Sorry, it was stuffy, so I came to get air," you recite the practiced excuse. She gives you a knowing look before dismissing it.

"Come, you must pick a partner for a waltz," she grabs your hand and pulls you back towards the castle. You look back to get one last look at the mangled head of hair that still pokes out behind the hedge.

Your mother gives you a brush down before she sends you out to the crowd to pick. It's a tradition at these parties for you to pick someone to waltz with. It's in a circle formed by the crowd who are all waiting to see who you pick. Normally, whoever you pick, you are stuck sticking around and talking to them all night, because normally a lady will pick who she favors to dance with. You normally don't favor anyone, so you always pick whoever looks like they have the lightest shoes on.

The click from your heels echoes off of the walls as you walk into the center of the circle. So many unfamiliar faces stare back at you, some more attractive than others, but you are again picking off of the lightest shoes. You smile at those who you make eye contact with and the orchestra already begins playing the overused song you have heard so many times, signaling for you to pick. Your eyes land on a simple pair of black loafers. 'Those don't look too bad,' you think. But before you can extend your hand out for him to take, the music changes and you hear the violins belt out the beginning note of a song you've never heard before. This causes you to look up from the shoes of the people and look at the faces. On the opposite side of the circle, you see a black swarm of hair that has you striding across the room once more. And when you get closer, you're sure of it. The hair is a match, but now you can see the rest of the person. He's tall, among the tallest in the room most likely. Adorned with a black suit that has blood-red accents, and his smirk. That is a smirk that screams confidence and smugness. You finally stop in front of him and smile at the man next to him who also has an interesting head of hair before extending your hand out in front of him. He takes your hand and gifts you a kiss on the knuckles.

"M'lady." If the hair wasn't enough, the voice confirmed it. This is the man from the gardens. He leads you out into the center of the circle and pulls you by the waist as you rest your hand on his shoulder.

"Just a cook, huh?" you whisper. He chuckles before the music picks up and you begin your waltz.

A/N: Let me know if you want a part 2 (IDK) this was meant to be a lot shorter. but I wrote this in one sitting and just kept on adding more and more.

Feedback and requests are always appreciated!;3

[buckybarnesdiaries]

sick headcanon

© @buckypupbarnes

bucky barnes x reader. ⎢ masterlist.

word count: 827 words.

warnings/tags: none. just bucky being overattentive and loving.

author notes: i'm having a cold these days and i'd love to have bucky rn just like that. life isn't fair. none of my stories contain reader’s body descriptions to be inclusive.

Join the tag list here.

At the moment Bucky found you wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, his happy smile for being back at home suddenly disappeared and the concern got installed inside his chest.

He occupied the other side of the sofa, cupping your heated cheeks onto his palms to press his forehead against yours. That was how his mother used to check his temperature when he was sick. And you were on fire, figuratively.

Since then, he didn’t let you do anything more than rest. A n y t h i n g.

Bucky ensured you were comfy enough on the sofa, before placing a tender kiss on your lips. “I’ll be back in a bit. Call me if you feel worse".

He didn’t want to leave you alone, but he should go to buy some things to spoil you properly. One day, New York’s cold weather was going to kill you.

Your boyfriend not only bought some meds to treat your stuffy nose and sore throat, but he also bought the ingredients necessary to prepare a hot soup for dinner, with chicken, vegetables, and rice. A classic that Winnifred prepared for her children, mostly, at Christmas. A recipe he hadn’t forgotten. Not even after all those years.

Bucky came back as soon as the people in the supermarket let him, after some desperate minutes watching an old lady counting penny by penny to pay her groceries.

He left the bags in the kitchen, taking the nasal inhaler along with a painkiller and a glass of water.

You couldn’t help but pout at him. James was treating you with so much care that you thought you could break in one thousand pieces at any moment.

“Take the med and use it. ‘M going to run a bath, okay?” You nodded receiving a gentle kiss on your forehead.

Bucky carried you from the sofa to the bathroom in his arms, helping you later to undress yourself and get in the tub. The warm water felt like resurrecting when it covered your anatomy to your shoulders. He urged you to rest your head against the edge, placing slowly a wet cloth on your forehead.

It was funny because Bucky looked like he was trying to deactivate a bomb.

“Gimme five minutes”. He whispered into your ear with the sweetest tone of voice he had ever used with you.

Were you… going to die?

Letting you in a quiet calm inside the bathroom, he walked out to the kitchen. It took him only five minutes to chop the vegetables and to shred the chicken, adding it to the water boiling with the rice. Over medium heat, he forgot about the soup for the next twenty minutes it needed to be cooked.

He couldn’t help but stare at you a couple of seconds from the door of the bathroom, feeling a little guilty because of your flu. He was your personal stove on the cold nights but the last mission took him a minute more than expected.

Bucky didn’t hesitate to strip himself, caressing tenderly your shoulder to make you sit up and give him some space behind you.

Adjusting himself to you, he laid his thumbs on the back of your neck. You didn’t know where he learned to give massages, but he was an expert. And the contrast of his flesh hand and the vibranium’s one was indescribably pleasant.

A purr escaped your lips unconsciously, causing Bucky to chuckle while running his palms down by your back, adding some more pressure.

This man was a God’s gift.

When you felt somewhat better, he stepped out of the bath before you to find you some comfy clothes to wear. His clothes, impregnated in his scent. And after brushing and drying your hair, Bucky carried you back to the sofa and wrapped you in a cozy blanket.

Sometimes you couldn’t help but think about how someone could be afraid of him, despite what those monsters forced him to do. He was nothing but such a kind and loyal man, a little quiet and who used to push you out of your nerves with that staring thing of his.

But a good man at the end of the day.

Your boyfriend brought two big bowls of soup that smelled delicious, putting them on the coffee table to look for an old movie on TV to watch, while having that magnificent dinner.

“My mother used to say it can raise the dead”.

“What is it you’re hinting at, uh?” You replied playfully.

Your good mood made Bucky curve his mouth into a smile, staring at his blue eyes sparkling again. He knew all of that would work sooner or later.

“Thank you”. You murmured wrinkling your nose, as he leaned to kiss your forehead a little cooler. Which was a good sign that the fever was decreasing.

“Would do anything for you, babydoll, y’know it... right?”

“I do, Buck. I’d do it too”. You sighed in love, with heart-eyes, opening your arms and stretching the blanket to hug him under it.

feedback is appreciated, please, leave a comment to let me know if you liked it and/or reblog it.

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[refinedbuffoonery]

Looking Through A Window (18)

macriley married undercover au

masterlist.

The two major scenes in this chapter—the phone call and the thunderstorm—have been sitting at the bottom of my draft document for forever. I wrote them independently, then spent an eternity looking for the right place to put them. So I did the only logical thing and put them together to make a full chapter of hurt/comfort. Enjoy.

*****

A storm rolls in the following morning, and they push back the plan by a day. Explosions don’t work well in the pouring rain. 

When he calls Conrad to inform him of the plan, the older man is pissed about the change in weather. Honestly, part of Mac is too. He’d rather not go through with this plan at all, but since Matty didn’t give him the option not to, Mac would rather get it over with sooner rather than later. 

His body jitters with that nauseating sort of anticipation. 

The rain lightens a bit by early afternoon, so Mac decides it’s as good of time as any to take Harley for her walk. Hopefully they won’t get too wet. 

Harley eyes the wet stairs suspiciously. 

It’s still sprinkling, so Mac puts his hood up and urges her forward. 

The sky is a uniform shade of dark gray, a blanket of menacing clouds that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The air is warm and thick with the sweet, earthy smell of rain—water mixing with volatile plant oils and ozone. 

Mac and Harley cross the street to take a lap through the park. It’s quiet without the usual weekend commotion of kids playing and families partying. He passes a woman also taking advantage of the lull in the rain to walk her dog, but no one else. Just some ducks in the pond, enjoying a nice bath. 

Harley makes a beeline for the wet grass, sniffing and rolling in it before Mac can stop her. 

When the rain picks up again, Mac breaks into a jog, but his clothes are quickly soaked anyway. 

They return to the apartment complex just in time to see Carrie Ann unloading groceries from her car. Clutching her bags tightly, she sprints from her car to her door. 

“Want some help?” Mac calls. Carrie Ann’s head whips around, clearly not expecting anyone else to be out here, but she smiles when she sees him. 

“Oh, yes. Be a dear and get the rest, will you?” She ducks into her apartment, leaving the door open. 

Her trunk is still open, and Mac grabs the last three bags of groceries before shutting it. He has to block Harley with his foot to keep her from jumping into the car. Meeting Carrie Ann at her door, she looks him up and down with that all-too discerning stare of hers. 

She says, “You’re going to catch a cold walking around in the rain like that.” Her statement is scientifically untrue, but Mac simply assures her he’ll be fine. 

“My wife will warm me up,” he adds, just to please her. 

Carrie Ann grins back at him. “I’m sure she will.” Then, after a brief pause, she asks, “Speaking of your wife, is Genevieve pregnant yet?” 

“Not yet.” 

Mac feels a little guilty knowing that she’ll keep asking, and the answer will still be no. He doesn’t plan on knocking Riley up any time soon, that’s for sure. 

He must be making a face, because Carrie Ann rests a hand on his shoulder and gently says, “It’ll happen. Just you wait. You’re going to be a wonderful father, James.” 

Her words are meant to be reassuring, but they feel like a knife to the stomach. Pairing discussions of fatherhood with the use of his own father’s name as an alias is too much to handle. He wants to punch whoever built this cover identity. Carrie Ann’s words only serve as a reminder that James MacGyver turned out to be a shitty dad, all things considered. They made amends in the end, but that doesn’t take back all the years Mac needed him, and he wasn’t there. 

And how does Carrie Ann know he’d be a good father anyway? It’s not like he had a role model. Plenty of father figures—his grandpa, Bozer’s dad, even Jack—but not the one that really mattered. 

His father left after his mother died. If his wife died, would Mac do the same to his own child?

He left before, once, when he ran away to Nigeria. Proof enough that he’s capable of leaving without looking back.

Nausea stirs his stomach at the thought. 

Despite that, Mac manages to smile and say, “Thank you.” 

“Come by for a pep talk any time, young man. And tell Gen I say hi.” 

“Will do.” He makes it three steps down the walkway before Carrie Ann is calling his name, having forgotten to say something. 

“One more thing. Put a pillow under her hips. It’ll make everything better, trust me.” 

Mac’s cheeks heat, turning what must be a brilliant shade of red. He does know to do that. 

Carrie Ann’s laughter follows him all the way to his own apartment. 

Once his face has returned to its normal color, Mac opens the door but doesn’t go inside. Blocks Harley too. Riley’s name—her real name—catching in his throat, Mac calls out, “Hey, can you please bring us a couple towels?” Oddly, there’s no response, but Mac spies two towels hanging off the arm of the couch that definitely weren’t there when he left. He smiles, silently thanking her. 

“Sit,” he tells Harley. “Stay.” She whines, but obeys as he darts inside to grab the towels. Hopefully the apartment won’t smell too much like wet dog. 

When he finally lets Harley go inside, she goes straight to the kitchen in search of any crumbs that may have fallen while she was out. 

The bedroom door is half-shut, but Mac doesn’t think anything of it until he hears the telltale sniff of Riley crying. He pauses, keeping out of sight. 

Part of him knows he should leave—give her some privacy. But a bigger part of him wants to know what’s wrong. So, he stays, listening. 

Whatever it is, maybe he can fix it. 

“I don’t know why I’m here,” she says, clearly on the phone. “This op doesn’t need me. Everything I’ve done, I could’ve done from the war room. Matty should’ve sent you, not me.” 

Harley pushes past him, opening the door wider and exposing Mac’s hiding place. For the second time in the last five minutes, his cheeks burn—not in a good way—as Riley stares him down. He sees the plea to stay away in her eyes and takes a step back. 

To his surprise, she puts her phone on speaker, letting him listen from a distance. 

It’s Desi on the other end of the line, and she’s already mid-rant. “—bullshit. Sure Matty sent you instead of me because we all know Mac and I would’ve killed each other by now, but that’s not the point. Your skills are the ones this op needs, and I’m not talking about fancy computer stuff.

“You have this way with people, Riley. From what I can tell, this op is just as much about social warfare as it is anything else, and I’m definitely not the person for that. You can charm anyone, but you’re not a people pleaser. Don’t you get how hard that is? People trust you. People confide in you. Which is exactly what you need to dismantle a terrorist organization from the inside.” 

Confident and no-nonsense—a classic Desiree Nguyen pep-talk. 

“Thanks.” Riley sighs. “I know I’ve been doing this for years, but I still feel out of my element when my job is more James Bond than Nerd In The Van.” 

Mac never knew she felt that way. Right from the start, she fit in so well, was so good at her job, that he never questioned how she felt. Now he thinks maybe he should have. 

“Fuck that. Your job is to be Riley, who is brave, kind, and, more often than not, the smartest person in the room.” 

Picking at her nails, a sign that she’s uncomfortable, Riley says, “You sure that isn’t Mac?” 

“Mac is a dumbass who happens to be good at math and science, and you can tell him I said that.” 

Riley bites her lip as she looks at him, clearly trying very hard not to laugh at his expense. Still, amusement and agreement shine in her eyes. “Oh I will,” she promises. 

“Good. And seduce him while you’re at it. All this dancing around each other is getting ridiculous.” 

Riley’s eyes widen and she scrambles to take her phone off speaker. Mac’s face burns even hotter. It’s moments like these when he almost misses the days when Desi resented him for his feelings for Riley. Now she gets entirely too much joy over torturing him. 

“Speaking of Mac, he just walked in the door,” Riley half-lies. “I’ve got to go. Thanks for the pep-talk.” 

Despite not being able to see or hear her, Mac can picture the wicked smirk on Desi’s face clear as day. She taunts, “Go get 'em, tiger.” 

Riley, on the other hand, looks like she wants to die as she hangs up on their friend. But she quickly banishes that expression, and in a stunning display of pretending the last few minutes didn’t happen, she teases, “Enjoy the rain?” Mac rolls his eyes. 

“Totally.” 

She pushes past him, heading for the laundry room. But after what he just overheard, Mac isn’t about to let her off that easily. 

“Are you really that uncomfortable with field work?” He can’t explain why, exactly, but her answer to the question is important. Really important. 

“No,” she says, moving clothes from the washer to the dryer. “Well, sometimes.” 

“I had no idea.”

Her back is to him, and suddenly Mac wants nothing more than to turn Riley around and hold her.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, but the things we see and do are terrifying if I let myself think about them for too long.” Mac can’t disagree; she has a point. But that doesn’t answer his question. 

He rephrases, “Are you uncomfortable on this op? With me?” Has he been wrong about everything? Has she been miserable this whole time and he’s just too stupid to notice?

Finally, she faces him.

It’s both a blessing and a curse that she can read him so well; she always knows exactly what sort of conclusions his brain jumped to. “Of course not,” Riley reassures. “I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else. I had a moment of weakness, that’s all.” She sighs. “Honestly, I’ve felt kind of useless this week watching you build the bombs.” 

“Nonsense.” A part of him aches, learning she feels this way. “You’ve helped so much more than I can explain.”

What he can’t say is that just her presence is enough. Staying with him, grounding him, reminding him that he’s not alone in this. That she makes him stronger. Braver.

And maybe even a little less careless with his own life.

There’s a protest waiting on her tongue—Mac can tell—but she quietly accepts the praise. He continues, “I, on the other hand, keep making our apartment smell like wet dog, which is clearly the worse offense.” Riley laughs at that. 

“I’ll be sure to make a note in your file.” 

Mac feigns outrage. “You wouldn’t.” 

Riley smirks. Try me. 

Without a shadow of a doubt, Mac knows that she absolutely would.

*****

Mac jolts awake sometime between the bright flash of light and the loud boom echoing through the apartment, rattling everything from the windows to his bones. Automatically reaching for either of his bedmates, he hears Harley’s frightened whine and the low timbre of Riley's sleep-rough voice as she tries to comfort her. 

Another flash of lightning reveals Riley sitting up, clutching Harley tightly to her chest. "It's okay, honey," she murmurs. "I've got you." Quivering in her spot between Riley's legs, Harley whines again, flinching as the next peal of thunder rolls through. Afterward she licks Riley's face, and Mac's heart melts at the scene. 

Through his sleep-heavy eyes and the bedroom window, Mac watches a bolt of lightning hit the ground somewhere in the distance. Its accompanying thunderclap comes almost immediately, loud enough to make Mac flinch. "I'm awake," he groans. 

He can't see very well in the dark between flashes, so Mac can only imagine Riley's worried expression when she says, "She’s not handling it well."

He's awake enough now to haul himself upright, sitting beside Riley so he can comfort them both. One hand goes to Harley's favorite spot below her left ear, the other rubs Riley's back before pulling her close. Breathing slowly, Mac focuses on grounding sensations—rain pouring steadily outside, the feel of Riley's skin beneath his palm. He has empathy for Harley; thunderstorms are hard for him too. 

Shaking, Harley climbs out of Riley’s lap and into Mac’s. It breaks his heart to see their brave dog like this, whimpering and terrified. Arms around her and squeezing tightly, Mac tucks her furry head under his chin. “How much did I sleep through?” he asks. Maybe he’s lucky this time, and he slept through part of the storm. 

The next peal of thunder is too similar to the sounds of the Sandbox. Mac flinches. 

“Only the first two,” Riley says, rubbing his calf with a cold foot. “Sorry.” 

He swears. Whimpering, Harley licks Mac's face, and in a low, hopefully reassuring voice, he murmurs, “It's okay, Harley. We've got you. You're safe with us.” 

It’s easier, somehow, to ignore the memories each thunderclap dredges up when he’s occupied with reassuring Harley. His mind stays focused on the present issue instead of spiraling into the past. 

When Riley falls back against the pillows, he’s faced with yet another issue. With her hair fanned out and her lips slightly parted as she watches him, all Mac can think is that she is the most beautiful being he has ever laid eyes on. And the most kissable. 

There’s nothing really stopping him from leaning down and pressing his lips to hers—only that implicit promise of finding the right time. As much as he wants it to be, Mac knows this isn’t it. Confessions are easier in the dark, when one doesn’t have to be seen with damning words falling from their lips, but a truth of this magnitude deserves to be shared in the light of day. 

That and the fact that Riley’s night vision is so shitty that if he did lean in for a kiss, she’d never see him coming. No doubt her self-defense training would kick in right before he made contact, and Mac would more likely find himself with a split lip than a kissed one. All by accident, of course. 

The next peal of thunder is softer, the storm moving further away. 

A few more minutes pass, and Harley calms as the sound of distant thunder fades behind the heavy rain. Extricating herself from Mac’s arms, she jumps off the bed and wanders into the other room. Mac misses having someone to hold the second she’s gone. 

He flops back down beside Riley, close enough that their shoulders touch. He’s debating how to go about asking her to cuddle when she asks, “What are you hearing, instead of thunder?” 

Grateful she waited until that part of the storm passed before asking, Mac replies, “Gunshots. Explosions. Specific moments from the Sandbox, before I got used to those sounds.” Even now, all those years removed, it’s the best explanation he can bring himself to give her. 

“Why is it so much worse in the quiet?” Her voice is thin, and Mac gets the feeling they’re not just talking about him anymore. 

For her sake, he pretends that they are. “Adrenaline muffles things. It’s harder to think about all the past times those sounds meant imminent death when I’m actively trying not to die. There’s no room for it.” He sighs. “But when I’m safe. . . there’s entirely too much room.” 

She laughs bitterly. “Government jobs really know how to fuck you up.” 

As much as he believes in his job, it’s impossible not to agree with that. 

Nudging her with his knee, Mac asks, “What are you hearing?” 

“Just thunder.” 

There’s a weight to her two-word answer, one that tells him there’s a lot more to it, but he’ll have to coax the explanation out of her. Mac gets it, gets her. He’s not the most forthright person either. He tries, “What are you seeing?” 

Her silence tells him that is the right question. A brush of her fingers across the back of his hand tells him to wait, that she’s working on an answer.

“The lightning is what gets me. I catch myself holding my breath between strikes, waiting to see where the next one will hit. I have this constant feeling that the next one will be it, the next bolt will strike our roof. And just like that, we’ll go from thinking we’re safe to being trapped in a burning building.” 

Always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Mac understands that better than most. 

Sometimes he wishes he didn’t. 

“I wouldn’t mind being trapped in a burning building with you,” he jokes, attempting to lighten the mood. “Actually,” he reconsiders, “I have been trapped in a burning building with you. More than once.” And he’d like to forget all of them. 

She doesn’t laugh. In fact, she’s so quiet that Mac wonders if she fell asleep until she breaks the rain-soaked silence with a single, desperate word. “Mac?” 

“Yes.” Not a question. A statement. An answer. Whatever she needs, he’ll give. 

Riley curls into him, and he draws her in close, rubbing her back. “I’m so tired, Mac.” His own words, mirroring the first heart-to-heart they had in this apartment. One of many. 

“I know, Riles.” 

For a while, they just lay there listening to the rain. When Mac’s mind starts to drift, it’s brought back by the weight of Riley’s head on his chest. He’s grown accustomed to the sweet scent of her shampoo, now finding it more soothing than arousing. There are times when it feels like his skin is burning by just being in proximity to her, but lately there are just as many times when skin-on-skin contact with her is steadying and helps him think more clearly. Such is the control Riley has over the state of Mac’s neurons. 

When Harley re-enters the bedroom, she pauses in the doorway and simply stares at them, head cocked slightly left. Then without further adieu she pounces on the bed and lays behind Riley. It’s like she took one look at Riley’s exposed back and decided that wouldn’t do at all. Now she’s keeping watch as the barrier between them and the door. 

Mac’s eyes close, resting, even though he’s far from sleep. 

“I’ve started thinking about what I would do if I quit field work,” Riley says randomly.  

He’s surprised enough that his grip goes slack, and when Riley’s whole body tenses and starts to pull away, he knows she’d bolt from his arms entirely if she wasn’t trapped between him and Harley. “Don’t leave,” Mac whispers, rubbing her shoulder in a way he hopes is reassuring. 

She doesn’t relax. In fact, she sits up entirely. “It’s not a done deal yet. I’m—” Riley misunderstood him; that’s not what he meant.

“No,” Mac corrects, “lay back down. Let me keep holding you.” 

“Oh,” she breathes, sounding a little stunned. Mac racks his brain to figure out what he must’ve done to cause that particular reaction, that doubt. So he can scold himself for it later. Riley settles back into his side, and together they take a few deep breaths to release some of the tension that permanently lives in their bodies. 

Brushing a curl behind her ear, Mac asks, “What would you do?” 

Yet another deep breath. Then Riley explains, “I think I’d like to help girls like me—the old me. Give them a place to use their skills for good before they end up with rap sheets. Like Matty did for me.” A lump forms in Mac’s throat just thinking about not having her as a teammate anymore. Somehow realizing that, Riley reassures him, “That being said, I won’t quit field work until you do. We’re in this together.” 

“Just don’t make me have to explain to Jack how I got you killed. In this life or the next.” 

“No promises,” she taunts. Mac groans. 

In a rare moment of bravery, Mac hooks Riley’s leg over his hip, bringing her even closer. It’s his favorite way to cuddle; he likes how easily two bodies fit together this way. She nuzzles her face into his neck, and Mac decides this is how he’d like to fall asleep every night. He presses a kiss to her forehead.

I love you, Mac says in his mind. Because he doesn’t dare say it out loud.

Tomorrow night, they won’t get any sleep at all, no matter how efficiently they plant the bombs. Nor does Mac expect them to sleep well any night afterward; he has a feeling blowing up the capitol will only accelerate the Patriots’ plans. So just for tonight, he banishes those thoughts from his mind and focuses on the comforting weight of Riley above him. 

He needs to tell her how he feels, soon, before this op takes that opportunity away from him.

.

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[lightvsdark18]

(I had to write a story on this art piece by @babylemonart )

Alice walked through the open and lush forest behind Briar Valley castle. She was visiting the to-be king like they originally scheduled, but Malleus was of course busy with royal duties so she decided to explore for a bit. She heard from servants about the forest and how it's a need-to-be seen area from how luscious the greenery is.

She listened to the rules of the forest like not taking anything from it before heading off. The smell of flowers and freshness of nature, the sound of leaves crushing under her heel, the sight of healthy trees felt soul cleansing.

She moved through the hanging vines to see a pond in the distance, but it seemed like someone was in. She hid behind a tree and squint at the individual to make it out their appearance. It was Malleus... Wait, is he naked?

His hair was combed back to reveal his crown, sitting in the water with his arms resting on the ground and his legs crossed, his tail moving sticking out of the water, and a smile painted on his lips as he looked towards the forest.

She should leave. She turned around to head back from she came when she was suddenly standing in front of Malleus. He teleported her to him. Crap, he knew she was here.

"Already leaving without greeting me?" He teased.

"Well, to be fair, you're kinda in a middle of something." She gestured towards the pond and crossed her arms.

"You're welcome to join me. And what I mean by you're welcome to join me is I want you join me. We haven't been able to talk for awhile."

"I can sit on the ground and talk to you."

"Hmm, but you found me in a vulnerable state, it's only fair if I see you in such a state as well." A smirk danced on his lips.

She turned away and headed through the path just to appear in front of him again. "Oh, F you." He chuckled. "Do I have to strip?"

"It would be fair to me."

"Then look away." He turned his face away, even covering his gaze with his hand as she embarrassingly removed her dress and other clothing before sinking into the water.

It was surprisingly warm, feeling like bathwater. She curled up and sat closer to the end of the pond. Malleus looked over at her and chuckled to himself, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him, then draping an arm around her shoulders.

The two talked, retelling how their days were going when they parted ways during the few days she was here. She eventually asked why he was bathing in pond in the middle of the forest. He responded he needed a break from his duties and chose this pond from the beautiful scenery and clean waters; though he had to use magic to heat up the water.

"What if someone else were to find you here? It wouldn't end well for both parties," she questioned.

"No worries, I placed a barrier here before I undressed. No one can enter the barrier without my permission."

She side-eyed him as he did the same and smirked. "How dare you." He laughed softly at the comment.

"We finally have a moment to talk and have no interruptions. Is it really that bad?"

"We're both naked."

"That's just a plus." She gently smacked him on the chest to which he laughed.

He took one of her hands and pressed a kiss of the back it, then nuzzled against it as the wind blew through and carried some leaves and petals with it. Alice took one of the flowers in the pond and placed it behind Malleus's ear. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek before blowing on it and making her laugh.

The two eventually exited the water and dried off with the towels Malleus summoned before heading back to the castle.

[fleur2pint]

bath time

pairing: narcissa malfoy x fem!reader

summary: narcissa bathes you like a child than fingers you :)

warnings: honestly fluffy till the end, fingering

word count: 2k+

a/n: this was requested! you guys like the other one so here’s part 2 kind of? idk... BUT KEEP SENDING IN REQUESTS! 

After the night Narcissa and you had shared, it seemed there was never a moment where she wasn’t dancing through your head. In a way, she was your addiction, but a loving one rather than a carnal one. When you thought of her, you thought of the deep, unconditional love, a mothering love, but, the thought of her between your legs in the night made your body ignite like nothing ever has before. You knew she felt the same way about you; she thought of you like her one and only daughter, the one she never had. This gave her more reason to take care of you. After that night, there was obviously an established relationship between the two of you. During the day it comprised things like pulling you from your work and having tea with her and some chit-chat, the continuous gifts that progressively became more pricey at a time, and the gratifying nights you two shared.

You were working outside in their backyard garden, struggling in the filth and dirt under the warm spring sun. Draco was back at Hogwarts for the rest of the school years and Lucius was out-of-town doing who knows what. This left you and Narcissa the only ones in the manor. You lifted your arm from the soil to wipe the thin layer of sweat off your forehead. You continue pulling weeds from the earth until you stop for a quick water break. You rise from your hunched position and walk down the brick path to the miniature patio where your water sat for you. You slide off one chair and plop down in it from exhaustion. You sit for a minute just taking in the divine view of the garden and small pond that laid off to the right of the backyard. The colors and patterns on all the unique plants could leave anyone breathless. While you were lost in your head, you didn’t even notice Narcissa step out onto the patio. You turn your head to see her looking down at you with raised brows. You squint your eyes at her in confusion. “What happened to you, dear?” She said moving towards the small patio table you were sitting at, she drew out a chair to join you.

“What do you mean?” You questioned, letting out a small chuckle with it. “You’re absolutely filthy just look at you! Your clothes, your face. You have dirt everywhere!” She emphasizes leaning over the table to try to wipe some dirt off your face with her thumb but failed from the thickness of it. She sighs and leans back in her chair. You could tell she was thinking about you by the way she was staring at you. “You need a bath, and some fresh clothes, darling. Come now.” She says while standing from her chair, she holds out her hand to you to help you from your chair. You look up at her to see her smiling at you, you flashback the same smile then look down at her hand before taking it. She pulls you into the cold house, you almost melt at the temperature change. You both trot up the stairs and make a left to the bathroom. She pushes the door open softly and flicks on the light switch. The grand bathroom lights up with a soft golden light that highlights the small accents of red and black that were spread through it. Out of all the rooms in the mansion, this one had to be your favorite because of how diverse it is to the rest of the house. All the black, grey, and silver became a bore after some time, but this variety of colors in this one room gave you delight. She parted from you to walk over to the large bathtub that oddly sat in the middle of the room.

Narcissa perched on the edge of the tub to turn the water on. The sound flooded the room as you wandered in. She glanced over at you and flashed her nurturing smile. She shifted her eyes to your clothes. “Undress and get in the tub, I’ll be back. I’ll fetch us some washcloths and towels.” She said ascending from the tub and strolling out the door. You look over to the filling tub, then over to the enormous mirror that took up an entire wall of the room. You strip, first with your shoes and sock, next your shorts, then your shirt, and lastly your bra and panties. You felt the cold air hit you in spots you never thought air would hit. You felt conscious of your exposure, your body on display for even only yourself to see. You weren’t uncomfortable, just aware. You set your attention back to the tub and make your way across to it. You boost one foot and dip it into the water, wincing at the heat. You then slip your opposite foot into the tub as well and sink down into the water cautiously, making sure no liquid spills out. You breathe in, taking in the fresh fragrance of the bubbles Narcissa had put in when she didn’t have your attention. You exhale with an audible sigh and lean back on the backside of the tub. You felt every muscle in your body unwind, your eyes flutter shut in satisfaction.

You bask in the bathroom's ambiance, the golden light highlighting the bubbles in the water. As you were soaking up the little features you liked, Narcissa returned with a washcloth, two towels, two robes, a bar of soap, and some shampoo and conditioner. You peered over to her, but she didn’t look back at you. She marched over to the vast counter and placed the towel and robes down first. She then turned in your direction and advanced towards the tub. She set down the rest of her finds on the little bathtub tray in front of you. You bend your knees up a bit to try to hide yourself from her as well and immersing further into the water to hide your breasts. She glances over at you and knits her eyebrows together. “Honey, I’ve seen the human body before. I live with two men, and one of them I had to change their diapers,” She says with a small giggle, “I’m also a woman.” She concludes while grasping the washcloth. She scoots over closer to where you were reclining in the tub on her knees.

She leisurely dips the rag into the warm water, letting it absorb up as much of the liquid it could. She then places it on your left shoulder, the warmth of the water causes you to let out a short hum. She then squeezes the rag and lets the water run down your arm and chest, watching it go down the valley of your breasts. She does the same thing on the other shoulder before grabbing the bar of soap and dips it in the water to lather it up. She spreads the lather across her hands before bringing them to your face to wash the soil off. You close your eyes as she did so to avoid anything getting in your eyes, you feel her soft thumbs rub little circles in your cheeks as the rest of her fingers work the rest of your face. She then grabbed the damp rag and delicately whipped the remaining dirt and soap off your face.

You open your eyes and gawk at the ceiling while she wrings out the rag. She sighs which causes you to then glance over to her, she’s looking back at you with pursed lips. You could tell she was thinking, you always knew when she was thinking because she would always wear the same face while she did it. “I think the best way for me to wash your hair is for me to join you in there,” She says tilting her head a bit as she looked down at the water, “just so you don’t have a mess to clean up later with the water spilling out. We don’t want that, do we?” You shake your head at her question. She smiles down at you as she stands from her knees to undress. She walks behind you to remove her clothing to keep your mind on the question of her figure. You lift your back from the back of the tub, knowing you’ll have to adjust for her. She grazed her fingertips on your neck gently as a sign for you to scoot forward for her to sink in behind you, goosebumps form on your legs as she does so. You comply and make the right modifications for her.

She dips her feet in and drops in behind you, inducing the water to ripple. She promptly cups water in her hands and brings it up to your head. She lets the water trickle down your head and onto your shoulders. She repeats this a couple more times once it was wet enough. She opened the shampoo, squirting some into her palm before massaging it into your scalp. Your eyes closed as your entire body seemed to relax. You appeared to be at peace, soft sighs escaping your lips as her fingers served your scalp. Once she was convinced that all the dirt had been washed away, she turned the water on again and rinsed your hair. She made sure that all the suds were gone before applying the conditioner, repeating the rinsing process, before shutting off the tap. You felt complete at this moment, tranquil with your surroundings, one. As you sit in silence, Narcissa places her hands on your shoulders gently and pulls you towards her chest. You slowly sank your back onto her, feeling your bare skin on her sent shock waves through you.

She took her hands off your shoulders and wrapped them around your waist, her embrace leads you to rest your head back on her shoulder. You set a hand on your chest to feel the warm water on your skin once more. “I love this, Cissy.” You murmur as you sketch little circles into your collarbone. “I do too, baby.” She endorses. You could feel the rise and fall of her chest behind you accompanying her steady heartbeat, the feeling comforting you like a newborn baby. As you felt yourself drift into sleep, she snaked one of her hands lower until it became dangerously close to your cunt. The feeling of her fingers this close to your heat made you shudder. You took a deep breath in to stabilize yourself from whining. She knew what you craved, and she was going to give it to you, but the anticipation was key. Her hand moved lower until she cupped your delicate area, the feeling catching you off guard. You buck your hips towards her hand in response, almost in a jittery manner.

“Cissy, please?” You rasp out, lips parted for breath support. “Shhhhh… let mummy take care of you, little one.” She says as she plants a light kiss on your wet shoulder. Her skilled fingers part your folds, letting one run over your slit and up to press into your clit. You let out a small whimper at the contact, you could already feel your body tensing up under her touch. She placed two fingers on your clit and gently rubbed the bundle on nerves in an up and down motion. A soft mewl rolling off your lips as she stroked you. The touch she placed upon you was so light, almost nothing, but since it was her who placed it, the one person you’ve wanted for weeks, made it astronomical. “Is this it?” Narcissa asked, slowly rubbing circles onto your clit. “Is this what that angelic, graceful little soul of yours has been yearning for?” All you could do was whimper in answer. Your mouth agape as her fingertips dug into your clit, massaging tight circles into the skin.

You knew you would cum in no time with the added sensuality of the setting and situation. Her fingers quickened in pace, a pace you could feel deep in you rubbing relentlessly at your clit. You writhed, arching against her as you felt your orgasm approaching. “Pleas- mmm fuck!” You moaned as her fingers worked you, lust clouded your eyes leaving them hazy and half-lidded. “Tell me how I make you feel, baby?” She urged before placing kisses on your neck and behind your ear. “So fucking good- Shit!” You cried out once again. Your body twitched convulsively as she continued the fast pace on your clit. Broken moans and cries filled the bathroom, possibly even the whole house. “Please cum for me, honey.” She orders, with no hesitation you release with a squeal. Your body convulses on hers, your chest heaving as you saw stars. Coarse moans and shrills left your chest as she slowed her pace. Your body felt like it was floating with no resistance as you came down from your high. You were too lost in your post-orgasmic bliss to take notice that Narcissa was already out of the tub and in her robe. You looked at her as she grabbed your robe and held it open for you, waiting for you to accompany her. You steadily rise out of the water, trying your best to keep stable since your legs felt like jello from your orgasm. You wring out your hair before stepping onto the marble floor and towards her.

You put your arms into the armholes of the robe and tossed it over your shoulder. You wrapped the front in front of you and tied off the little rope. You spin around to see Narcissa smiling at you, that damn nurturing smile once again. She made you want to melt into the floor right then. She grabbed your hand and laid a gentle kiss on it to pull you closer to her. She then lifted your hand up to her forehead and just indulged in the atmosphere of your touch. “You’re perfect, y/n. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Whoever you end up in life, whether they be male or female, grand or lesser, you deserve everything. I can sense goodness in you, in a way I’ve never sensed in a person before.”

[foodieforthoughts]

Ok I’m all soft again, so here’s a fluffy, blanket of fluff resting over sleeping bunnies ... ok maybe not that soft but ...

Henry loves you. Like, loves you, loves you, but he hasn’t told you yet. You’ve been dating a few months and every time he tries to tell you, you’re interrupted by someone or something, or he’s filming and he really doesn’t want to tell you over the phone. So one day you’re cooking and baking and you look absolutely adorable to him, although you think you’re a mess, and he can’t help but tell you exactly how he feels.

Extra points if somehow Kal running through a big puddle or swimming in a pond is a distraction once.

Gurl! That gif is doing things to me 🥰 you asked for fluff, here's it! Enjoy babe ❤️

Title: I found you

Henry watched you grumble under your breath about the mess that you were making. You had the entire island counter occupied with different types of cookie cutters, a recipe book, flour bags and other things Henry wasn't even familiar with. He knew you were stressed about an upcoming project at work and when you were stressed you baked, even if it was almost half past midnight and you had to get to work tomorrow.

"Henry, I'm going to lose my mind." You cried, pushing your hair back from your face and smudging flour on your cheeks in the process. You quickly understood your mistake and with a groan began wiping your face with the edge of the apron. "I'm gone mad."

Henry felt bad about chuckling as you hunched over the counter with your head on your folded arms, but he couldn't help it. You looked enchanting to him even though your hair was up in a messy bun and your black apron had flour dusted all over it. He had to get to work early in the morning, but he couldn't let you wallow in your misery alone.

If he were to be asked to answer honestly, Henry would want to be there for your stressful baking days for the rest of his life.

On many occasions he had tried to let you know how much he loved you. In the beginning he thought it was too soon since you guys had only been dating for a month and a half. But he had known ever since then, he had found his better half. Only eight months of your relationship and life had gotten in the way.

Henry had been away filming for almost four months, which had proved to be a real test for your relationship. He had been worried this was going to scare you away, the long distance and the inability on his part to be there for you when you needed him. But you had powered through and he had fallen in love with you even more if it was possible. He had come so close to telling you he loved you one night when he was feeling lonely in his trailer and wanting nothing but to bury his face in your arms. But he had thought otherwise. He wanted it to be special and so he waited.

When he came back home and saw you in the lawn, watering the plants wearing his oversized tshirt, Henry almost ran up to you and declared his love. Your smile, when you spotted him standing at the gate of the compound, dumbfounded and entranced by your beauty, it had brightened up his day by ten folds. Henry had just taken a step towards you, finally feeling like this was the moment for him to profess his love, when Kal had bounded towards you happily and jumped up with joy, knocking you over on the wet grass. The better part of that day had been spent with you laughing about the whole ordeal and giving Kal cuddles after a bath.

But now that he was back in London and getting to spend time with you, not a moment went by when he wanted to smother you with his love. Standing up to walk towards you, Henry felt a flutter in his chest. He gently made you look up to him, taking you in his arms and started cleaning the remnants of flour on your cheeks.

"I look like Pillsbury dough boy." You mumbled, wounding your arms around Henry's waist. Pouting when Henry chuckled, you looked up at him to only be met with his hypnotizing baby blues. He was smiling softly at you with his fingers caressing your cheek.

"I'll still love you." He whispered, waiting for you to react.

Your eyes widened as you took in his words. You had been on the edge of saying the four letter word yourself, but you wanted to wait and test the waters before diving in head first. Your cheeks warmed under his gaze, spreading down to your chest and ending up till the tip of your toes.

"You..."

Henry's smile turned to a wide grin at finally being able to say it out loud. "I love you, baby." He said before tilting his head to the side and leaning in for a tender kiss. Your mind became blank with emotions over flooding it and you pulled him tight against your body and melted in his arms.

Breaking away from the kiss, you hugged him and felt yourself giddy with sentiments, smiling from ear to ear in his embrace. "I love you too, Henry." You mumbled against his chest, feeling him close his arms tighter around you.

The stress of work was soon forgotten as you and Henry spend the rest of the night, eating cookies with milk while explaining to each other how long you both had been holding the feelings inside and how you were finally relieved to let it out.

[lillywillow]

Rest and Relaxation

Summary: You decide Bucky needs a break from everything and take him for a much needed one

Word Count: 551

Prompt Used: Tranquil

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Bathing, massaging, fluff

Written for @captain-rogers-beard Month of June 2020 Flex Your Writing Muscles challenge (although I’m not sure if they’re still here)

...

Your boyfriend Bucky had been a real grouch lately. He had been snapping at everyone and his nightmares were starting to get worse. Knowing he needed a break from hero work, you decided to take him on vacation for a week (after clearing it with Fury first of course). Bucky was hesitant at first but realising there was no point in arguing with you, he agreed.

 You drove up to one of the safe houses that was located in the middle of the forest. It had electricity and running water but the only way to be contacted was via the satellite phone. You had given the others strict instructions they were not to call for any reason other than an emergency.

 The first thing you did after you unpacked was take a hike. You knew of a place near the cabin that would be perfect to take him. As Bucky walked with you and his mind began to switch off, already he was starting to unwind.

 After an hour of walking, you arrived in a clearing where a gentle stream flowed into a calm pond.

 “Do you want to dip your feet into it?” you asked. Bucky smiled and nodded, sitting down to take off his shoes. You sat down next to him and once you had removed your own shoes, you dipped your feet into the water too. Bucky held your hand, listening to the gentle sounds of the babbling brook, the birds fluttering and singing and the warm zephyr flutter through the trees. He deeply breathed in the fresh woodland air. It was totally serene. Neither you nor Bucky said a single word; after all, they weren’t needed. Not now. The pair of you sat there enjoying nature in all its glory until you made the decision to head back before it got dark.

...

 Once you had finished dinner, you and Bucky had a bath. He was a little hesitant at first but you talked him into it. You used lavender bath oil in the water and put on some calming music. Bucky closed his eyes, allowing the warmth of the water, the scent of lavender to envelop him and the soothing melody to let his mind wander. He felt totally at peace.

 When the bath began to get cold, Bucky allowed you to wash and brush his hair before getting out. The next thing you proposed to do was massage him. Seeing as how your last few ideas worked out for the best, he knew this would also make him feel much better.

 You once again put on some calming music and used lavender massage oil to knead Bucky’s tense muscles both front and back. This was exactly he needed. Just some time to let his mind, body and soul rest and recharge with the person he loved more than anyone else in the world. As he fell asleep holding you, he already knew this was going to be the best vacation ever.

 The next morning, Bucky woke up, having found that for the first time in weeks he had no nightmares disturbing his sleep. He knew that when the two of you got back to the city, he was going to get you an engagement ring. You were the one for him.

[germvity]

RISES THE MOON

leon s kennedy x reader // 7 // wallflower blooming

"that felt really good..." you whisper, and he agrees. "i've been waiting to do that.." he admits with a small laugh. you giggle too, giving him another eskimo kiss as you coddle him close. "trials might start soon..." you say, glancing out the cracked window at the brightened (yet still dark) sky. "nah, we still have a while." leon grins, leaning in to give you a loving smooch. you hum happily, cupping his face as his tongue gently brushes against your bottom lip. "we have at least an hour.." leon trails off, and you catch his meaning immediately. "yeah, we do." you smile.

tags: smooching, a lot of it, relationship development, it aint official yet, leon being a good boy, mild crying

warnings: smexy time, leon giving head :), he just wants to pamper you, very much a people pleaser, me trying to write this as gn as possible without implying any genitalia <3, fingering, semi-public sex?? leon having a praise kink, leon being a sub bc ur welcome, blowjob and handjob for leon hc he's a good boy that deserves love

tag list:

@trinswhimsys , @hex-touchstarved <3

---

you felt safer in trials with leon. a special bond formed between the two of you after that night, and the entity only spawns you both together in trials. you were a team, and a powerful one. with you eliminating totems and any traps and leon pumping out gens and distracting the killer from you. the entity grows amused as it watches the killers scramble to combat your powerful strategies. leon huffs as he finds you at the gate, he left ghostface in the dust after you taught him how to evade them better. you grin at him, and he smiles, leaning in to give you a soft kiss as you open the gate. "thanks for getting rid of noed." he says softly as you grab his hands to pull him through the gate. "no problem, can't have the pretty boy dying." you tease as he rolls his eyes and follows you. "hey.." you say softly before the two of you leave. "hm? what's wrong?" leon stops too, letting you fiddle with his hands, a habit you picked up when you're nervous.

"what... what are we?" you ask quietly, and leon thinks for a moment. "what do you want us to be?" he asks, watching your face carefully. "i... don't know..." you whisper, letting him pull you into a hug. "well... i want us to be a thing, but i don't wanna push you." leon admits, and you nod. "i know.. but... it just doesn't feel real that someone as good as you likes me..." you sigh, resting your forehead against him as he holds you tighter. "nonsense, of course i do." he smiles, giving your forehead a soft kiss as the ground shakes. "c'mon, lets go before we get killed." he says softly, pulling you through the gate and into safety.

the two of you arrive at your shack, and you sigh as you flop down onto the bed. leon chuckles at your exhausted expression as he takes off his new jacket. "you alright?" he asks softly as he sits next to you. humming with a nod, and you take his hands in yours to fiddle with them idly. "what's up?" he asks, watching you play with his fingers. "hm?" your eyes find his, and he gestures to your joined hands with his head. "you normally do this when you're nervous. what's wrong?"

"nothing, just tired." you reply quietly, and leon hums. "alright.." he sounds unsure but lets it go as you pull one of his hands to your cheek. "i just like your hands." you admit, and he chuckles. "alright, i see that." leon's worry melts away and you smile. "what'cha thinking about?" you ask him softly, sitting up to look at him. "just what you said outside the gate." he replies, blushing slightly. "oh..." you huff, clambering into his lap to hug him. leon's arms wrap around your waist as he hooks his head on your shoulder. you nuzzle his neck, rubbing his back gently. "what do you want us to be?" he asks again, voice soft. "i... i do really want to be with you too... but i'm too scared." you admit, and leon hums. "you don't have to be scared." he replies softly, adjusting you in his lap so you were comfy. you sigh, closing your eyes as leon gives your cheek a soft kiss. "i'll always be here for you." the blonde assures you, and you hum. "i know. i'm just scared that i'll either lose you, or you'll change your mind." you say, your arms tightening on him.

"i'll never change my mind, you know that. and i'll never turn my back on you, or think any less of you. i'll be here." leon smiles, resting his head on yours. you sniffle slightly as you nod, "thank you... i just... after everything it feels so surreal that someone cares about me." you say softly, tears wetting his neck. "i know. it's hard to adjust to, but we're making progress." leon says, giving your head soft scratches to comfort you. you sigh, leaning onto him more, pinning him between the wall and your body. "tired?" he asks softly, and you shake your head no. "wanna go for a walk?" you sit back, waiting for his response. "sure, we can avoid the camps and go through one of the realms?" he suggests, and you nod. "the red forest is pretty, can we go there?" you ask softly, and leon chuckles with a nod. "sure, c'mon." he lets you pull him up from the bed and grabs his jacket and an offering on his way out.

your eyes find some fireflies that are floating near the gate. they're peaceful, and leon follows your gaze to the luminous bugs. "c'mon, i think theres a pond in a forbidden area. i used to hide there then get hatch in trails before i got a bit braver." you pull leon along by his hand. "what if it's been blocked off?" he suggests, and you hum in thought. "then we can sit in a quiet area." you smile and leon nods, "alright." the crack in the wall was boarded up, and you try pushing them. the bent nails creak under your weight as leon moves you out of the way. readying himself, his boot goes through the boards. you clap slightly, grinning at him. "that was hot." you tease, pulling the blushing blonde through the crack.

the pond is peaceful, and you sit happily next to the bank. leon joins you, watching you cradle a beetle before it jumps off and scurries away. "this is nice." leon smiles, and you nod. "i found it by accident, luckily it's in the corner so no one knows about it." you shrug, leaning against leon as he admires the clear water. "wanna bathe?" he asks teasingly, but freezes when you nod. "yeah, i'm covered in dirt." you laugh, standing to strip your dirty shirt off. you offer leon your hand, and he quickly takes it. you grasp his hands with both of yours, and it takes most of your weight to actually haul him up, it's cute.

leon lets you take off his jacket for him, and takes off his shirt. you admire a scar on his torso, fingertips rubbing his tender skin. "michael got you good, huh?" you mumble, and leon huffs out a laugh. "yeah, he did. he's surprisingly strong." leon shrugs, glancing to your lips out of habit. you catch his gaze, and lean in slightly. leon takes the invitation, kissing you lovingly as your hand tangles in his hair. his hands travel across the bare skin of your sides, and he deepens the kiss as you hum softly. your other hand stays on his chest as you lean closer to him, letting the officer rest his forehead against yours when he breaks away. "you're a really good kisser." he laughs sheepishly, and you smile, gifting him another soft peck. leon smiles, his finger tips slipping under the waistband of your pants. "can i?" he asks softly, ever the gentleman. you nod, helping him remove his pants as you give him another kiss.

you grin, and leon smiles too, but when you move him back he has to trust you. you giggle as you push him back and he hits the cold water with a gasp. "hey!" he laughs, splashing you with the water as you join him. "sorry, it was too tempting." you giggle, wrapping your arms around his neck as you give him a kiss as an apology. leon smiles into the kiss, his hand finding your back as he pulls you up against him. eventually, his lips find your neck and you hum softly at the feeling. "fuck.. can i make you feel good?" he asks softly against your skin. your thighs shuffle at the thought and you nod. "let me hear you, can i?" he asks again, wanting full consent (hot). "yes, you can." you smile, and leon grins, this time pushing you back to settle between your legs on the bank of the pond. you help him by removing your underwear for him.

he grips your thighs, and your fingers find his hair as he kisses your soft skin, fingers gently stroking your legs. you feel your arousal build, and you whine softly as he nips the flesh of your right thigh. "patience, i want you to feel good." he says softly, moving to pamper your left thigh as well. you huff, letting him lick a soft stripe along your skin and growing slightly frustrated when he pulls away. his teeth sink into your thigh and you moan softly as he suckles a dark hickey onto your skin. fingers tightening in his hair as he licks the bruise lovingly, you cant help but shuffle your hips to him. leon holds you in place as he leaves a bigger hicker further up your leg, before switching to give attention to your other thigh. you moan softly as his fingers begin to stimulate you, rolling your hips into his hand. leon chuckles into your thigh, the vibrations going straight through you as he moves his mouth to your sensitive area. you gasp, trying to push his head closer as he suckles you, fingers slipping to your hole to give you more pleasure. "oh, fuck! leon-" you whimper, grinding onto his face as you pet his hair. "good boy..~" you can't help but moan, and leon smiles against your lower area. "ahh- you're such a good boy, fuck.. that feels really good." you praise and it encourages him to try harder, desperate for your words of affirmation.

"leon!" you yelp, thighs wrapping around his head as his fingers prod that bundle of nerves. leon grins as he breaks away to give you a teasing lick. "f-fuck, please!" you whimper as his mouth covers you again, tongue kitten licking you. "you're doing so well, such a good boy for me.." you keen, back arching as your thighs tighten around his head, fingers gripping his blonde locks. "fuck, you look so pretty between my legs.~" you grin as he flusters, humming against your core. "keep going, you're doing so well." you encourage, and leon drags his tongue along you before going back for more. you groan as you thrust your hips into his mouth. leon hums again, fingers still pumping into you as his mouth does the rest. "you're so good." you moan, still trying to fuck his face as his hands can't find it in them to stop you.

leon whimpers against your pelvis, letting you practically take control as you grip his hair and roll your hips. "oh, good boy. so pretty as i fuck your pretty mouth." you grin, watching the tips of his ears turn red as he moans against you. "fuck, you're so pretty." you continue praising him, hips beginning to stutter as you grow closer. "mm, fuck i'm close. you're doing so well." you huff, using the hand on his head to help continue grinding into his mouth. you moan his name as you cum in his mouth, and leon shudders at the feeling of your fluid gushing onto his tongue.

pulling away, you watch the blonde swallow nicely and pulling you into his lap to coddle you. "good boy, you did so well.." you smile as leon giggles into your neck. "thank you..." he smiles, and you grin as you feel his erection. "want me to take care of you?" you ask softly, shuffling off his lap as he lets out a small hum. "hm? i can't hear you..." you tease as he gasps when your hand presses against his bulge. "yes, yes please!" he begs, letting you remove his boxers. the blonde whimpers as your hand wraps around his shaft, giving him a few pumps before you move down to lick his head.

"a-ah!" he yelps as your warm mouth envelopes his tip, trying not to buck his hips into you. you continue to pump his shaft, tongue teasing his slit. "p-please, i need more- pleasepleaseplease!" leon begs, moaning sweetly as you give him a soft suck. "please i need you!" he whimpers, letting you drape his thighs over your shoulders as he lays back. "shh, let me take care of you." you smile, going back down on him. "ah! you feel so good..!" he keens as your mouth moves down his shaft. the blonde yelps when your teeth gently scrape along his cock, and you hum softly, the vibration driving him crazy. his moans grow loud as his hand finds yours. tangling your fingers with his, you let him slowly roll his hips up into your throat as he whines.

the wind picks up familiarly, you pull off him much to his dismay. "shhh!" you hush him, and he whimpers softly. "a trial is starting, you don't want to get caught do you?" you grin as he shakes his head. "then be quiet, they won't know." you say before wrapping your mouth around him again. leon's free hand clasps over his mouth as he moans behind his palm. the humming of the huntress picks up, and so does leon's anxiety. his hand tightens on yours as you slowly drag your tongue up to his head. "it's okay.." you whisper to him, taking his other hand and holding that one as you go back down on him.

leon whimpers, feeling exposed as he clenches his jaw, trying not to make any noise. "fuck, y/n.." he whines, voice cracking as he tries to keep his noise below a whisper. you rub his knuckles sweetly as you bob your head at a steady pace. leon's back arches, and he whimpers softly, clearly yet slowly getting louder. you squeeze his hand to keep him grounded, and he squeezes back as your tongue teases a vein. leon's breathing hitches as you continue to pamper the prominent vein, popping off his cock to suckle it. "ah!" he yelps, and you pull away to hush him. "be a good boy, and stay quiet or they'll find us!" you whisper to him before lowering again.

the scream of meg makes leon wince, having almost completely forgotten that a trial was going on. "fuck, oh.. please." he mumbles desperately, trying to buck up into your mouth as his orgasm grows near. "ah ah ah, behave." you pull off him, and leon whines with want, not wanting to lose his high. you smile, moving your hand to massage his balls as your mouth engulfs his shaft. he claps his hand over his mouth, loud groans muffled. you tap his hand, and he nods. "so close, so close! please please please!" he keens, practically going feral as he tries to fuck into your mouth again. you decide he's been good, and let him take control slightly. tears of bliss drip from his lashes, and he fucks your mouth desperately, moaning behind his hand as he twitches then suddenly cums into your mouth.

"ah..!" he sighs, letting you off as you swallow. "good boy. you feel okay?" you ask softly, fingers tracing lines on his outer thighs. leon nods, drowsy from his intense peak. "good, this trial will probably last for a little while longer and i wanna see how many times i can make you cum." you grin as leon whimpers.

[imthatchishiyasimp]

Loses and promises

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hi!!! I'm back hehe

It took me a long time to wrap my head around this idea, but I think I like how it turned out. I've been busy with work and I didn't get to post anything this week, I'm sorry.

Also: BIG THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT, THE LIKES AND REBLOGS AND FOLLOWS!!! I didn't, in a million times, thought you would like this THAT much. I really appreciate it, love you so much.

Without further ado, enjoy the read!!

TW: Blood, death and injuries are both mentioned and described

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I knock on his door, hard and fast. Jumping in one foot, I try to keep my balance while I tie my trainer. I rest my back on the door to prevent the obvious fall, and I finish tying the shoe. Except the door suddenly opens and I fall backwards pretty fast with a little scream.

“What the fuck?” He says, catching me by the shoulders and stepping back. “What do you want?” The question rolls with scepticism as he turns me around to face me.

I arch my eyebrows and point my finger to my wrist, simulating the time in a wristwatch.

“Already?” Chishiya hums and crosses his arms. “I must have lost track of time. Have they already made the teams?”

“Yup, and guess who’s going to annoy you for the rest of the night…”

He makes a face that’s supposed to look bothered. And he sure is bothered, he hates having to deal with me during games. But I can see through that. He’s not the only one that hates pairing in games; I do too. Not only because he’s annoying and always acts like he’s the only one worthy of winning, but because I would hate to be involved in a heart’s game with him. I know he would do anything to survive, anything, even if it kills him. And I would too. And he knows it.

“We are leaving in a few minutes. Get ready, you lazy ass” I turn around and head to my room to finish getting ready. I hear his breathy laugh just as he starts closing the door of his room. I might need something to protect myself, or something to get rid of people. Who knows what we will be facing tonight.

The car is full of people and smells like alcohol, drugs and sweat. It’s disgusting and I try to get my face as far as it can go through the window.

“Will you stop moving? It’s pretty uncomfortable and I hate the smell as much as you, so either you make me a place in that window or I throw you off my lap” Chishiya says, calmly and quietly near my ear. My hair blows as his breath leaves his lips and chills run through my body, keeping me so still that it seems as if I turned into rock.

Indeed I am in his lap, and indeed I have been moving. But just because I want to breathe fresh air. Just because of that. Sure. No reason behind.

I laugh, in silence, but I laugh. There were too many people in need of refilling their visas, so we had to pair in greater groups. And I was so not gonna sit in the laps of the horny people overbooking the Beach. So , after a huge fight, I made Chishiya sit under me, in exchange of looking for white hair dye.

I move just a bit more to play with him and I feel him tense under me, his hands coming to my hips. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop” So I move to the edge and get comfortable on his knees, leaving him a small place on the window to put his face.

We watch as the city moves in darkness, leaving behind flashes of light holding game’s arenas. I can hear distant music and screams, gunshots and creepy sounds. Maybe it’s real, maybe it’s my imagination, but I would swear on my visa that they won’t stop when the sun comes up. It’s been so long that even when I close my eyes I can still listen to the people dying in their games. I try to silence them with other things, and sometimes it works, but I’m getting tired of it.

The doors of a forest garden awaits us as we arrive. It’s a closed part of the outskirts of the city, enclosing a private area huge enough to get lost wandering around.

The tables at both sides of the door have the phones and some weapons. There’s no limit entry and it looks like there might be enough phones for the lot of us. There are five other people alongside Chishiya and I. I only know two of them: Hiro, the cook at the Beach, and Ume, a bookish girl that’s always lounging in the silent rooms. The rest look kind of familiar but I don’t remember talking to them.

I get off Chishiya’s lap with a hop and take a phone off the table. It beeps with the facial recognition and just says to wait ten minutes to close the entry.

“Want to bet on the game?” Chishiya asks, nodding to the doors.

“Probably a physical, given that we are so far from the city. So I would say a spade one” I guess. It looks like we will have a big arena, and probably something to run from, if we take into account the weapons.

“Looks like your brain hasn’t died yet” He moves before I can get him with a punch.

“REGISTRATION HAS CLOSED, THERE ARE A TOTAL OF 7 PARTICIPANTS. THE GAME WILL NOW COMMENCE”

All of us gather at the entrance, some of us already with weapons in our hands. I’ve chosen a blade big enough to protect me and some small knives hidden in my top and trainers. I don’t like guns and they run out of ammo quite quickly.

“DIFFICULTY: EIGHT OF SPADES”

“GAME: LABYRINTH”

“RULE: YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO CONTINUE IF YOU DON’T PASS THE TESTS. YOU MUST START ALONE, BUT YOU ARE NOT FORBIDDEN TO PAIR ONCE STARTED THE MAZE”.

“CLEAR CONDITION: FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE MAZE AND SUCCESSFULLY OPEN THE EXIT DOOR. YOU CLEAR THE GAME WHEN YOU GET THROUGH THE EXIT DOOR”.

“TIME LIMIT: 2 HOURS”.

“AFTER THE 2 HOURS HAVE PASSED, THE MAZE WILL BE SHUT DOWN WITH NO EXIT”.

The doors open and we enter the maze. There are several “starts” written on the floor at the entrance of different passages. The walls are so high that I can’t even try to guess what’s at the top. It’s too dark to see more than a few meters from your hands, and the cold is starting to get annoying.

The seven of us position ourselves one next to each other on the central passages and we wait. No sound can be heard, no light can be seen. It’s creepy as hell. I look sideways and I spot Chishiya lowering his hood and lifting his sleeves. He totally hates running, but you can bet he’s gonna give it all.

“GAME START”

Without hesitation, I sprint into my passage.

I’ve been running non stop since the beginning, and this maze is big as hell itself. People always tell you to stick to the left or right and you will get to the end, and that I’ve been doing. But just when I could. There are so many traps around, it’s like they didn’t think we could survive this, so they threw everything they got.

From knife floors, poison ponds, holes… My feet are done for the day, my legs are bathed in blood from the knives and spikes, and I feel kinda dizzy because of the poison gas. But I keep running. The time is halfway gone, and I don’t think I’m even close to the exit.

I haven’t heard any of the other players since the start. I’m a bit worried, and I keep going back to their faces at the car, at the entrance and the moment I lost sight of them when I started running. Will I see them again? How many of them? Will someone make it?

I turn to the left and get thrown to the floor with a nudge on the nose.

“Holy fuck!” I scream in agony, holding my bleeding nose. I would bet my visa on it, it’s broken for sure. Oh God it hurts too much. My face feels heavy and it stings deep inside.

“Jesus, where the hell are you going without looking? Are you stupid? You could have met some kind of trap, idiot”

I look up and catch a glimpse of white hair. But just a glimpse, because the whole rest of Chishiya is covered in ashes. The bastard just stays there, looking down at me without offering a hand. Totally expected that, to be honest.

I get up and punch him straight in the chest. He howls and gets away looking angry. “You deserved that, you totally smashed your elbow on my face on purpose. You were just waiting there to punch me”

“What the fuck? Why would I?”

I study the situation and try to look for lies, but it’s a lost cause with him. “Shut up and start running, we have a long way to go”

So both of us pair up and keep on running together, helping each other in a few traps to minimize the damage. We still get burned and sliced, but we manage to stay together for a good twenty minutes.

Until we don’t.

We are on an empty corridor surrounded by bindweed. What I thought was going to be a calm and peaceful section turns into a nightmare. From nowhere, ropes start to come out and try to catch our feet, arms and trunk.

Both of us jump and get down to escape from the ropes, sometimes getting too close to the bushes and winning new bruises everywhere. The strength that these things have is incredible and intolerable. It feels as if my bones are breaking under the knots. I grasp Chishiya’s hand to keep from getting sucked into the wall, and he takes me out of it. His hand grips mine with a strength I didn’t know he possessed, and I dwell on the feeling of his cold and soft fingers around mine, enjoying the safety his presence gives anywhere he is.

Lost in his eyes, which are making sure I’m not caught into any ropes anymore, we get pulled away in an instant and Chishiya disappears from my sight into the wall, his eyes not leaving mine.

“No! You bastard! You don’t get to abandon me here! Come back!” I scream into the bushes. I slice the ropes with my knives and get away from that corridor as fast as I can.

My face still hurts from the nudge, and my arm feels funny. Both my legs are covered in bruises and cuts from the ropes and the falls. I’m a mess. Everything hurts. Everything is a mess.

I go back to the feeling of finding him. Maybe I didn’t dwell on it, but I felt safer, I felt relieved to have some company; I felt happy to have him there with me, to back me up and get me through difficult things. Will I see him again? Is he okay? Will he be there?

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. You better be there when I get off this fucking maze, or I will search for you to cut you into pieces” I whisper to the night, running again, looking behind me from time to time to check if he’s behind me, stoping just before a turn to prevent another hit. He totally did that on purpose.

I step into a two paths corridor. Both of them are covered in darkness and I can’t say which one looks better. Not wanting to lose any more time, I take the right one, although it doesn’t take me long to return. The blood covers the floor and gets sticky when I step into it. I bend over to see what’s in front of me and gulp down seeing the body of Hiro full of insects eating him alive.

He’s whimpering in pain and coughing blood, moving just a bit, probably paralyzed. I don’t know when he catches me, but his eyes get full of tears and he mouths a silent plea, tears streaming down his face and mixing with the blood. I remember when I met him, asking for a bite of something after a run through the city and hungry enough to eat whatever. He made me a simple sandwich, but I swear it was the best one I have ever had. He stayed in the kitchen with me, talking about his life and asking too many questions. Ever since then, he’s always been there when I needed to disconnect from the games, from the people, from the world. Always with a smile and a new recipe to try.

Now all that is left is pain and suffering.

Getting as close as I dare, I whisper a silent sorry and goodbye before ending his suffering. I run away and don’t look back at all, his face and pain engraved in my mind.

When I get to the exit I almost scream in relief. It’s a big door made of small bars with a big “EXIT” written in red above it. The time is almost up and I can’t see anyone here. The place where I came from is not the only way of getting here, there are three more corridors ending in this place.

The thing is, the doors are closed, and they have a huge key hole in the middle. I look around and I spot a key shining on the top of the door. It’s hanging by a thread, laughing at me from up there.

I scoff, tired as I can be, and I stop in front of the door. Guessing from the place where it is, I must need to climb through the door and it doesn’t seem dangerous at all, but I still don’t trust it. Checking the time I decide that I can’t risk it on trying to search for another way of getting the key, so I grasp the bars.

The heat burns through me and paralyzes me in the spot. I feel as if my hand is going to come off right now. I let go of the door and caress the palm of my hand, blowing air as kindly as I can, tears streaming down my face of the pain.

“FIVE MINUTES LEFT”

“I hate this. I hate it so much” Curses leave my lips as I get higher and higher, once again at the door and burning my hands and feet in the process. I can’t feel it anymore, I just know it’s painful and it’s going to leave ugly scars. I grip the key and rip it from the thread and throw myself to the floor, not caring to limb down properly.

The floor meets my back and I roll over. I would have stayed there, I swear. I was done with everything. My whole body was hurting, my mind was going blank and kept screaming.

“Tsk” I hear some rustling near me and then a foot nudges me on the back of my head. “Are you alive there?” I moan in response and turn over, glaring at the clever smirk of Chishiya. “Do you mind handing over the key? I’m in desperate need of a shower”.

“I don’t know, would you mind stopping hitting me on purpose?” I mumble through moans of pain.

He sighs and bends next to me, placing his face just above mine, our noses almost touching. I can feel his breath, the quick rhythm it still has, the cold and the smell of sweat and toxic reaching me.

“For the last time, I did not hit you on purpose” He whispers looking straight at me.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” I question. You won't ever know with him.

“Trust me, if I had hit you on purpose, I would have done it a lot harder”. His eyes hold that smart look, the condescending vibes all around him, but I think I can see worry and relief and…

“Oh fucking hell, yes! You guys made it! We are saved and alive and… Oh God, two minutes left, tell me you know how to open that door or I will kill myself right here” One of the guys we came with sprouts from a passage, holding Ume’s limping form and followed by another guy who’s gripping a tourniquet around his arm. I’m glad to see most of us are alive after that hell.

Chishiya takes the fey from my hand with caution to not touch the burnt parts of my palms and fingers. He quickly pushes the key into the lock and pushes the door hard.

I don’t know why, but I was scared of it not opening. Silly, I know, but after so many games with tricks at the end, I didn’t know what to expect. The phones beep immediately, and I struggle to get up to a sitting position.

“GAME CLEAR”.

“CONGRATULATIONS”.

Relief flows inside all of us, dropping to the floor and crying happy tears. Is it really a win? It doesn't feel like that anymore. I think I've lost some things inside those walls and darkness.

I thought I was hurting, but in just a second, all the injuries I have, start to really hurt and the pain makes me close my eyes and shake like crazy. I might need a whole week of rest after this.

Arms come from behind me and take me up. I’m lost in the sudden change of position and it takes me a while to realize Chishiya is holding me in a bridal style. He quickly gets ahead of the rest, not caring to check if they are following us, and heads to the place we left the car.

It’s a long way until we get there and I nod off a few times, resting my head and hiding in his soft tingling hair, taking his scent apart from all the other ones. I don’t dream at all, it’s all blank, but I wake up startled looking for Hiro or Chishiya, afraid they’re not here anymore. I get sad and I cry silently when I remember Hiro’s body and scared face, pleading for mercy; and I sigh with relief when I feel Chishiya holding me tighter after I wake up shaking, crossing our eyes and making me feel safe with just a look.

“Don’t ever disappear like that again. Don’t even dare. Promise me” I angrily say after one of my nightmares. He doesn’t say anything, and I don’t need him to. He just needs to know. I pretend I don’t see the almost imperceptible nod he does once I return to put my head on his chest.

The ride back is a blur. We have more space now that two of us are missing, but it’s heavy inside. I keep next to Chishiya, him holding me while I rest and sleep in between nightmares. None of us has said anything since we left the forest. We are all relieving our paths along the maze, the things we saw and the hopelessness we felt, the fear of being left there forever.

The sunrise marks our arrival at the Beach. People there are waiting for the cars still gone and they welcome us with joy and worry. We are rushed to the medical room to get checked up on, and although I try to walk there, pathetically I must say, I can feel Chishiya is ready to ame me in case I fall. He leaves once An puts me on a bed and starts treating my wounds.

But I know he will be back. He always comes back. He promised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope you liked it!! Give me some feedback and love if you might, I would love to hear from you.

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Be safe and take care!!