#Also taking over and under bets about how many times I failed to make/drink tea today. It's very sad.

[averbaldumpingground]

“How come I always end up calling you when I can’t fall asleep?”

Maybe he wouldn't pick up this time, she tries to tell herself. Maybe it would just go to voicemail. And then they could pretend that she never called.

Except he wouldn't, probably. Pretend that is. But she'd hold on to her dignity, maybe enough that the next time she saw him, saw that horrible smile on his face, she could meet his eyes for long enough to get through the lecture. Get through the three hours of supervising the undergraduate lab section. Get through the door.

She doesn't want him to pick up. Not when it's two a.m. Again. Not when she's still half drunk, and she can't see the stars beyond the storm clouds on the roof that Darcy left her on somewhere between her second and fourth wine cooler.

She didn't even want to go with Darcy anyway. She's not sure why she did, but the music that she can still somewhat hear from across the quad is starting to give her a headache.

Or maybe it's the long, drawn out seconds between the first ring and the third, or now the fourth. She could just hang up. She could.

But she's not going to. Not until she gets his voicemail.

Because...

Because it's been a crappy night. Because her piece of junk computer crashed while she was mid-compiling.

Because doing her postdoc when she's barely older than most of the seniors has never endeared her to anyone, her weirdly outgoing roommate excepted.

The call connects.

"It's 2:37, Foster."

So much for the small mercies of his voicemail.

The comically put-upon sigh helps dampen the nauseous feeling in her stomach though. She's mostly pretty sure she shouldn't call him.

"The weather forecast lied."

A click. What sounds like blankets shifting.

Oh. He's never been in bed before.

"I could be on a date," he'd said, the last time that she'd called him.

"At four in the morning?"

"It could be a very good date."

She'd hung up on his obnoxious laughter.

But maybe--

Maybe--

"Foster, it's a Tuesday. Why are you drunk on a Tuesday?"

Is it? She probably knows that, but the frustration and the article edits and the lack of sleep are finally starting to catch up with her. The crappy alcohol still working its way through her system is probably not helping things either.

"Were you asleep?"

More blankets shuffling. An over-dramatic sigh.

"Some of us are covering a 9 a.m. lecture this morning, Foster." A beat. "Do you need me to get you?"

He's probably not on a date then. Not that she cares. Not that--

"--Foster? Jane?"

Oh. Had he been saying something? "Huh? What?"

"You're usually a lot more sober when you call me in the middle of the night."

"I don't call you in the middle of the night."

A laugh. The slide of a drawer being opened.

"Of course not, Foster. Where are you?"

She doesn't though. Not really. He's just an assistant professor whose lab sections she's usually stuck babysitting. And maybe she stops by his lectures sometimes. But only because the theoretical framework--

"--Jane?"

"Why are you calling me that?"

"Because it's your name, Foster. You do still remember your name?"

He sounds less asleep now, less soft. She's not sure that she likes it very much.

"Now, Jane, are you going to tell me where you are?"

Why would he--

"The roof," she tells him, almost despite herself.

"The roof. Alright. Which roof?"

She didn't bother checking when she and Darcy climbed up here. One of the residence halls. She'll figure out which one when she sobers up enough to climb down though.

"Jane?"

“How come I always end up calling you when I can’t fall asleep?”

She isn't sure she really meant to say that.

A pause.

"I do hope you aren't trying to sleep on the roof, Jane."

"You're not very good at conversation and you're pretty much always a jerk."

"...I see." She thinks there's something off about the way he says it. She doesn't think she likes the way it sounds. "Should I call campus security instead?"

"No."

"Will you at least tell me where you are, Foster? I've got 300 freshma--"

"--I like that you pick up."

She really doesn't mean to say that either.

"I--Okay?"

"Um. Yeah."

Maybe the wine coolers were an even worse idea than she'd thought. She--

"Okay."

At least he doesn't sound upset anymore. It shouldn't-- the feeling in her gut is probably from the questionable guacamole she'd had. Or those tasteless little cocktail sausage things.

"Do you want me to come get you, Jane?"

It's 3:14 a.m. He'd said he has a class.

"Why would you?"

She hears his car keys. She knows he lives a decent drive off campus.

"The same reason you called."

Edit: I wrote a follow up.

[bwbatta]

The one where you get together (1)

Abstract: Y/N and Sirius have been friends since they first met on the Hogwarts Express, so when they do get together, they decide not to tell their friends straight away. (Friends AU)

Pairing: Sirius Black x Lupin sister!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, talking about sexual content

Word Count: 3.5K

A/N: To celebrate reaching 500 followers, I'm dropping another mini series as a thank you to everyone who has shared and supported my work! Add yourself to my taglist here 

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

You could still vividly remember the first time you met Sirius Black.

Boarding the train to Hogwarts the first time, you managed to find a compartment with your brother, Remus, before it was descended upon by two rowdy boys with large grins.

James Potter and Sirius Black had, with no hesitation, introduced themselves to you and you quickly became friends, especially when you pulled your money together and bought a various selection of chocolates from the trolley. When the sorting hat placed all of you in Gryffindor, it only reaffirmed your friendship.

It wasn't just the four of you in your little group though, the boys were placed in a dormitory with another boy, Peter, and you shared a dorm with two other girls who also became fierce friends of yours; Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon.

Of course, growing up together through Hogwarts had it's arguments and fall outs, though somehow you always seemed to remain friends.

It wasn't until your seventh, and final year of Hogwarts did the surprising pair of Lily and James get together which solidified your friendship group even further. Between Sirius and you, the bet you had made in your fourth year regarding when the pair would get together, finally came to an end where you had happily took your winnings with a smile and paid for a bottle of Firewhiskey to celebrate.

After graduating, you ended up moving in with Marlene, finding a perfect two bedroom flat for you to share, close to Diagon Alley. The boys had taken a page from your book with Sirius using some of his inheritance from his great uncle and buying a flat directly across the Leaky Cauldron.

Whilst he had invited Peter to also live with him and Remus, the boy politely refused with the intention to stay with his parents for a while.

James however, had asked Lily to move in with him almost the second they graduated and the pair had moved to a little cottage in Godric’s Hollow. It wasn’t long afterwards that James had proposed to Lily which led to the current series of events.

About an hour before, you and Marlene had walked down the aisle in the gardens of Potter Manor in your bridesmaids dresses, while Lily had donned a white dress and followed you. Standing opposite your brother and Sirius, the latter caught your eye when your friends said their wedding vows.

With a wink, Sirius had your attention and you weren't exactly sure what it was that felt different, but something definitely did.

As the reception started, you watched Lily and James take some of their wedding photos together. The smile on your face was something you couldn't help as Remus appeared at your side, a similar expression on his own face.

"Remember when Lily hexed James so hard he vomited out of his nose because he proposed to her?"

"I'm pretty sure it made him like her even more to be honest, James is weird like that." You snickered, accepting the drink from your brother. "Who would've thought we'd be here not even four years later?"

"Tell me about it. If you plan on getting married anytime soon though, please give me some warning." Remus joked, nudging his shoulder against yours.

"I think I need to actually date someone before I marry them, but thanks for being so optimistic about my dating life." You grinned at him before seeing Sirius making his way over to the two of you.

"Well well, if it isn't the Lupin twins." Sirius laid an arm over both your shoulders. "How long do you reckon it'll be before Lily's creepy uncle makes a move on Marlene?"

"At least after two more drinks." Remus chuckled. "Which reminds me, I promised I'd save her from any men tonight who wanted to dance with her that, and I quote, looked like they had to use a stamina charm in bed."

"Good luck with that." You snickered, waving your brother off as he disappeared in the direction of the blonde.

Sirius didn't say anything else as he took a seat at one of the tables and pulled you down into his lap. It wasn't uncommon for the two of you to hug or cuddle, having done so numerous times in the Gryffindor common room, much to Remus' annoyance. This only really resulted in Sirius being more affectionate.

Being twins, the two of you were naturally closer than normal siblings which resulted in Remus being protective over you since the only blood family you both had left was each other. Your parents, especially your father, had grown fearsome and disgusted at what Remus was, despite it not being his fault when Greyback bit him all those years ago. Your father began to resent you after you constantly took Remus' side and played his constant advocate.

"Hey, what're you thinking about?" Sirius nudged you, grabbing your attention. His expression was unreadable as he watched you watch Lily and James interact with each other.

"I don't know, it's nothing." Sirius nudged you again, looking for a proper answer. "I look at them and I just wonder if I'll ever have that, you know? Someone who looks at you like you're their whole world."

Sirius didn't say anything at first, but pulled you closer. He wouldn't admit it but he often had the same thought cross his mind.

"You'll find them."

"Are they fucking hiding from me?!"

"If they've already met you, then probably."

Smacking his chest, you couldn't help the contagious laughter that bubbled from you, echoing that from the wizard.

"Being serious though," Sirius grinned at the pun he just made, "who wouldn't want you?"

You smiled at him warmly, not knowing what to say. It wasn't often that Sirius was, well serious. The boy loved a joke, but he also loved his friends and knew exactly what to say to them to cheer them up, especially you.

"Thanks, Siri."

"Hey, James and Lily are about to head off for their honeymoon." Remus said, knocking on Sirius' bedroom door at Potter Manor, stepping inside to see Sirius rush back out from the ensuite bathroom only in his shirt and boxers. "What happened to you? You disappeared from the reception."

"Uh, dropped cake down myself, had to come and change." Sirius told him quickly.

"You do realise you're a wizard right? You could've just vanished the mess?"

"Ah yeah, of course, how stupid, sure could've. Anyway, I just need to put on some clean trousers and I'll be right down."

Remus frowned. Something was off but he couldn't work out what it was. Putting it down to Sirius drinking too much, he waved the man off, exiting the room.

"Alright well, hurry down, James was asking for you."

Remus exited the room and Sirius quickly closed the door behind him. Turning back to the bathroom, he watched as you opened the door with a tentative expression, trying to zip your dress back up but failing.

"Do you think he knew I was here?"

"Don't think so, here, turn around, I'll do it." Sirius turned you around, quickly zipping up your dress before resting his hands on your waist. "So, we haven't done that before."

"That is correct."

It was slightly awkward between the two of you, why was it awkward? Oh, maybe because you were both fucking like rabbits not even moments before your brother knocked on the door. It had never been awkward between you before though and you didn't like it.

"Why is it so awkward?" Sirius chuckled as you spun around before him.

"Right! It's like I don't know what to say!"

"We're just two friends who've had sex one time, there doesn't have to be anything awkward about that!"

"Exactly, it doesn't have to be a big deal, it was a one time thing, we can just go back to the party and no one will know!"

"Yes, good plan, lets go!" Turning towards the door, Sirius started towards it with a new determination, completely forgetting one issue.

"Sirius?" He paused, looking back at you, "maybe you should put on some trousers before we go down though."

"Good idea."

Waving James and Lily off, you stood alongside the rest of your friends as Marlene appeared, pulling you towards her by your waist.

"Ugh, please tell me we're going to get some good booze and continue to get fucked up at ours?"

"Is that an open invite?" Remus asked with a grin, "Think I spied an extra bottle of Firewhiskey knocking about near the top table."

"100%," Marlene grinned at him, "after all, it's the least I could do after you saved me from so many creeps tonight. I will thank you in the form of hosting a small afterparty with the inner circle. Right, Y/N?"

"I'm up for it, I'll go see if I can grab that extra bottle you mentioned."

Taking off towards the top table, your eyes scanned the tables one by one until you felt a presence behind you. Already knowing who it was, you didn't bother looking back at them.

"I've got a fresh bottle stashed under my bed upstairs if we wanna grab that one?" Sirius said lowly in your ear.

"That sounds like a plan," you said slowly, "though I thought we said it was only a one time thing?"

"Weddings don't count, right? I swear that's a rule somewhere."

"...How long do you think we can be before the others get suspicious?"

"10 minutes?"

"Sounds good, lets go."

The pair of you said nothing more the entire night on the matter and ended up just having a good time with your friends. The boys ended up sleeping on your sofas, not trusting themselves to apparate safely considering the amount they each had to drink.

It wasn't until mid morning when everyone started to rouse, that you offered to make everyone a cup of tea to help with the hangovers that had started to form.

"Hey, make mine extra strong, will you?"

You laughed, turning to face Sirius.

"You need the caffeine that much?"

"That answer is a strong yes."

Pouring the boiling water into the mugs, you passed Sirius' over to him as he smiled at you in thanks.

"So, yesterday was something." You smiled, taking a sip of your own drink.

"Yeah... something stupid, right?"

"Yeah, totally stupid." There was a brief silence between you as you weren't exactly sure what to say next. "Look as much as I enjoyed it, I don't want us to become awkward or ruin our friendship or anything because of it."

"Good, because I was going to say the same thing." Sirius nodded, leaning against the kitchen counter top. "As good as the sex was, and trust me it was good, it's not worth making our friendship awkward or anything not knowing where we stand with the other."

"Right, yes, that makes a lot of sense." You both took another sip of tea as you listened to Marlene and Remus in the living room laugh about something. "Unless... wait no, it's nothing."

"No, what it is?" Sirius asked.

"Unless... I don't know, we keep fucking in secret and just don't tell the others?"

You stared at the tea in your cup before raising your eyes to meet Sirius' grey ones which were wide, a grin on his face.

"I guess that would work too?"

"Yeah... anyway on a totally unrelated note, Marlene's visiting her family tomorrow night at like 7."

"Noted."

"Where's my bloody tea, Y/N!" The blonde in question strode into the kitchen sluggishly. "I swear you've been in here for 4 hours making it."

"If you were a little more patient, Mar, I was just about to bring it out for you." You rolled your eyes but handed the mug over to her anyway.

"Thanks, how're you two feeling this morning?"

"Rough." Sirius grunted out as the three of you headed back into the living room. "But what's new there, really?!"

"You should really try cut back on your drinking, Pads." Remus mentioned, taking the cup of tea from you with a smile.

"You should cut back on your chocolate."

"Chocolate doesn't give you hangovers." Remus countered with a smirk causing Sirius to just roll his eyes as he sunk down into an armchair.

"Either way, I hope Lils and James are having fun." Marlene stretched out on the other sofa, placing her legs over your own. "I know James will be with the things Y/N and I packed as a surprise in Lily's bags."

You snorted into your cup as you remembered the countless lacy items you'd snuck into Lily's normally conservative wardrobe.

"Well, James might be happy about what you packed, but he certainly won't be happy with what we packed." Sirius snickered as Remus held back a laugh.

"What did you do?!"

"We might've exchanged his entire bag of clothes for an entire bag of Cornish Pixies." Sirius grinned. "I'm already expecting a howler from Lily at some point in the near future."

Sirius didn’t have to wait long for Lily’s reaction as only moments later he heard an angry shout through his two way mirror he shared with James.

As planned, Marlene visited her family the next day and no later after she flooed away, Sirius appeared at the front door of your flat. The same happened after Marlene was picked by Dumbledore for an order mission and Sirius happily flooed into your flat only moments later. You were convinced he’d bugged your flat somehow.

James and Lily returned from their honeymoon a week later, effectively surprising you as they flooed into your flat with no warning, causing you to stuff a naked Sirius into your closet. It was safe to say he wasn’t impressed after Lily insisted she make a pot of tea to ‘catch up’, and ended up staying round for several hours. 

You barely managed to hide the snicker which escaped your lips when James asked if you knew where Sirius was.

With the newly married pair being back, the two of you decided to come up with a plan as how to sneak around without the others knowing.

Somehow, it didn’t really go to plan.

Sirius insisted that you should come over and take a bath with him one night, especially as Remus was due to be out. You couldn’t help but agree to the idea, mostly because you got to spend time with your very sexy male friend who looked very good in bubbles... and also the fact his bathtub was a lot better than your own.

The bathtub in question was a massive claw-foot tub which could fit the two of you and your two roommates if you so desired. Compared against the shitty little tub Marlene and you had in your flat, it was a no brainer.

Which is why as you sat in between Sirius’ legs, your back against his chest, you couldn’t help but feel more relaxed than you had done all week. 

Sirius was leant back against the tub, his arm around your waist with a glass of Firewhiskey in his other hand. The two of you had nicked this particular bottle from James’ ‘secret stash’ which everyone knew he hid under his cloak, under the stairs. It was all too easy for the two of you to sneak in and borrow it for the time being. 

“You know, Prongs must be real blind if he can’t see how many people actually know about his hiding spots.” You snickered as you took the glass from Sirius and took a sip.

“I think it might be all the brain damage after getting hit in the head so many times.” He grinned.

“How long do you think it’ll be until he notices the actual bottle being gone? A few days?”

“Give him some credit, it’ll be at least a week.”

The two of you chuckled before you heard the fireplace roar with flames. Footsteps quickly made their way towards Sirius’ room before heading towards the bathroom.

A panicked look between the two of you was exchanged as a knock was heard on the door. 

“Pads? It’s me, I’m coming in.”

Sirius quickly took the glass of Firewhiskey back from you as you dived underwater, praying the bubbles would cover up the fact you were there. 

The door opened and James stepped in about to say something, before he stopped and observed the scene before him. Sirius was sat covered in bubbles with candles lit around him. Despite the calm expression on his face, the fact you were lying between his legs in the water had his heart racing. 

“Did you need something, Prongs?”

“Uh, yeah, have you seen the bottle of Firewhiskey which I was given as a gift for my wedding?” James asked, very obviously looking at the opened bottle on the side of the bath. 

“Didn’t even know you got given one, mate. This was from Y/N.”

“And if I ask her, will she give me the same story?”

“Positively. Anything else?”

“Yeah, you want to order some Chinese?” 

“I mean I- NO!” 

His outburst was a surprise to both James and himself after you had pinched him underwater signalling you were running out of air.

“Really? Lily’s got me on this diet and-”

“James! Get out!”

“Fine! Okay! No need to shout at me, I’ve seen you in weirder scenarios.”

James left and shut the door behind him just as soon as you jolted up, gasping for breath. 

“I’m sorry, he wouldn’t leave! He wanted to ask me if I fancied some Chinese.”

“Chinese?” You asked, turning to look at him over your shoulder with a contemplative look on your face. “I could go for some chow mein.”

“Prongs!” Taking a deep breath, you disappeared underwater again just before James appeared once more. “I’ll have a large chow mein, sweet and sour chicken, some of those prawn cracker things and the spring rolls.”

“Spring rolls? I swear only Y/N likes them.”

“Thought I’d try them out since as she’s always yapping on about them.”

“Alright, back in a bit.”

James left and shut the door again. You emerged from the water, leaning back on Sirius again as he relayed off what he’d ordered. 

“You ordered me spring rolls?!”

“Yeah, I remembered you liked them.” Sirius shrugged, wrapping his arm around your waist again. “Even if they taste like arse.”

The group had gathered at Marlene and Y/N’s for an evening where despite Lily’s constant health kicks, she relented into ordering pizza for the group. 

“Hey, you guys will never guess what I found out today.” Marlene grinned.

“You’re secretly a guy?” Sirius snickered from the armchair, only to receive a cushion being thrown at his face by the blonde. 

“No,” Marlene scowled at him, “Alice and Frank got engaged!” 

“What?! How’d you find out?” Lily asked as she cuddled up to James in the other armchair. 

“I ran into Alice at Headquarters earlier and she showed me her ring.” Marlene leant back into the sofa as she brought her legs up to lay them over Remus’ lap. “We best be getting ready for another wedding soon.”

“I’m sure we’ll hear more at the meeting tomorrow.” James said grinning. “Who knew Longbottom had it in him?!”

“Alice certainly did.” You snickered, leaning onto Remus’ other shoulder. The comment got another round of chuckles from everyone present as Lily shot you a less than impressed look. 

“Alright, I say let’s call it a night if we have to be at the meeting early tomorrow morning.” The redhead rolled her eyes at you all before standing up and brushing her dress down. 

Everyone else seemed to follow her lead as Marlene and you stood to show everyone out. 

“Yeah, I need to sleep as much as I can with Moony’s snoring keeping me up all night.” Sirius grinned, stepping up beside you and Remus. 

What no one expected to happen was for Sirius to dip and find your lips in a kiss, his hand wrapping around the back of your neck to pull you closer, just as he had done for the last few weeks. 

The rest of the group stood with slack jaws as they took in the scene before them as they watched Sirius kiss you. Pulling away, you caught each other’s eyes as realisation set in and your own eyes went wide. 

“Marls,” Sirius shook off his slight hesitation before heading straight over to Marlene and pulling her in for a kiss of her own. “Lily.”

Stepping forward to give Lily a kiss goodbye, Sirius couldn’t help but notice the wide eyed look from both James at kissing his wife and Remus at kissing his sister. 

“Pleasure to spend time with you all.” Sirius grinned at everyone’s expressions before entering the fireplace to floo back to his own flat. 

“What the hell was that?!” Remus asked with wide eyes, securely on you. 

“Probably some leftover greeting from Lily and James’ wedding. Lils did have some french cousins, perhaps he picked it up from them?” You chuckled, trying to play down the laugh you so wanted to let out. 

“Yeah, it did feel french.” Marlene snickered. “I’m not sure if I feel happy about saying that I’ve kissed Sirius Black though.”

“Well, he can keep his lips to himself and not on my wife.” James scowled at the fireplace where Sirius had disappeared moments before. 

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[emilycollins00]

I saw your requests were open so I 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 I’m not sure if you do Guy but if you do, maybe a scenario where the reader is dancing under the rain and having fun but Guy is worried for their health and is trying to coax them back in but the reader manages to pull Guy with them and start dancing together. I personally think Guy wouldn’t understand the concept or the appeal of dancing under the rain until he sees you and is dancing with you and just goes “oh” yknow 😔✊🏼 if you don’t do Guy or aren’t comfortable enough yet you could replace him with Juza/Tasuku

THIS REQUEST WAS EVERYTHING. I've wanted to write Guy for a while so this was absolutely wholesome to do, thank you Ever!

Hope you all enjoy it 💕

One soulful moment it's all it takes (Guy x Reader)

People say monotony kills the heart. Ironically, monotony is what also keeps the heart working.

It wasn’t that Guy enjoyed it per se, it's just that it was proven things got done quicker when you set up a system. It was more productive. More efficient. Waking up early every morning to practice karate was good to improve his health. Making and drinking tea also helped. Going fishing or taking care of Tsukioka’s garden had also become part of what he got used to when he started living in Mankai among other activities.

The only variant he could never seem to grasp was you.

“You should go out more!”

"I believe we are already outside."

"No- I mean, to play around, you know? Enjoy life! Nothing like a good bruise on your leg to remind you that you have a leg."

You always picked on him based on the consistency of his routines, on the rigidness of his answers. And while sometimes Guy had to admit he didn’t quite grasp the full meaning of what you said, he found you captivating, intriguing even.

Everyone around always seemed to have a smile next to you after all, and as you two got closer, Guy found himself wishing he could be half as carefree and adventurous as you.

“Come on!” You made him eat some of the food you had ordered- even though his own plate was more than enough for one person’s fill. “I can’t believe this is not making you smile. If you are not excited when you eat, you are doing something wrong.”

You always loved to try new things, which was why whenever you would suddenly appear at Mankai you would try and drag him all over Veludo. Openminded experiences, you liked to call them. It was also how Guy had gotten used to asking for places others recommended, such as the cat’s café, Veludo main acting street, or this new curry restaurant director and Usui had seemed to enjoy so much lately.

As you finished your meals and paid, you both stepped outside while making light talk. “Ah… that was spicy but delicious! Not Omi’s level though. I’ve only eaten snacks from him but I bet all his food tastes just as good. You guys are lucky.”

“Yes. He is one skilled young man even among other Zahran’s royal court's chefs I know. I have no doubt anyone that would try his cooking would think so as well.”

“Right? Anyway, I didn’t know you could handle spices so well,” you patted his arm happily. Those plates had been no joke, Chikage and Izumi were monsters. “I mean, you finished it all! I believed this was the time I was gonna see you making weird faces."

"Do you want me to?"

"No! I was joking Guy. You always take me too seriously I swear," you laughed as you both left the shopping district.

The winter member nodded, taking a mental note once again. From his early childhood memories he had always been told to be careful about everything, and was made to follow the path everyone told him to. And though there were times when he wanted to step out of the beaten path, he hadn't been much of a rebel- until Citronia left, that is. He would easily put those thoughts aside and go on doing whatever he was supposed to do.

All of a sudden a few drops fell, snapping him back in the present and made him blink surprised at the sky at the unexpected wet contact. He had seen the weathercast that morning over breakfast and it hadn’t said anything about raining.

“We should look for shelter before it becomes heavier.”

“Uh? What are you talking about?”

Guy stopped walking and met your questioning eyes, as if you truly didn’t understand what he had said. People around you both began passing by jogging with jackets, briefcases, or whatever object they might have in hand acting as umbrellas, and for a second he didn’t know how to explain it more clear. “The rain. We will get wet otherwise.”

There was a sound of thunder in the distance, which made people speed up their walking pace. Not you though.

“I know." you shrugged. "Still can’t see the problem.”

As the raindrops started to make their way through you, causing you to get wet, you stepped away from him, welcoming the cool drink from the clouds.

“Y/N? Where are you going?” he called out to you when you started moving around in circles.

The unaware worry tinted in his expression resonated in your mind. In time, you were able to control yourself enough to let out a snort of a laugh. "Nowhere. I'm dancing silly!" you replied, your voice high with joy and arms open up in the sky. "The rain feels good. I love to walk and dance in it. Don’t tell me you’ve never done this."

“But you will get sick.”

“Oh come on, healing rain is real!”

“Is that so.”

“Yeah! It can be physical healing or emotional or whatever you want it to.” You smiled. Your movements were rusty under the slow and endless drizzle, making jumpings and turns here and there. “It washes your sins away.”

Guy kept staring not entirely convinced. As much as he saw you enjoying yourself moving around in the rain, he had seen Tsukioka and a few other members from Mankai get sick just from running under in the rain on their way back home and all in all, he still didn't fully understand the point of what you were doing.

“It doesn’t seem very conclusive.” He looked around, trying to look for any shop that might sell umbrellas. Without any result he turned to you once again, rain getting heavier as you two talked. “If you wish to feel water running under you a shower could work as well, although I admit the space is considerably different if you decided to dance.”

“Oh for the love of-" you ran up to him, grabbing his elbow and forcing him to come out of the somewhat safe roof he had been guarding himself against since you had left him laughing. “Just come here. Now close your eyes and enjoy the music!”

He followed your instructions and stayed in silence for a few seconds, then he opened them. “There’s no music Y/N.”

“Of course there is! Try closing them again and pay attention.”

He followed your suggestion once again.

All was silent as before- All silent save the dripping rain. Then, as the breathful afternoon melted slowly and the cold caress of fresh air lapped up, Guy started to feel the drops around him. And while they were not synchronized, they created a sound worth listening to.

As you had indicated, he tried to let go of his inhibitions, allowing the rain to wash away the thoughts that had been roaming on his mind After a while he opened his eyes slightly, confused at the sudden feeling emerging within him. It was also when he found you still there, not having moved yet, smiling brightly -as the now hidden sun in front of him.

Ah. He didn’t know exactly why or how it had happened, but the connection between you was different from anything he had felt before.

“…I believe I am now listening to the music you spoke of.”

Sometimes one finds joy in the small and simple things. It could be the scent of the rain, the taste of your favorite food... others, it was the sound of a loved one's voice.

“What do you think Guy?”

He never wanted anything so much than to drown in your love and feel the rain, however his eyes trailer over you, before silently stepping back instead. The sudden action made you tilt your head confused. You knew Zahfra wasn't that much of a humid place so it would make sense he might not be as comfortable as it was for other people to stand in the middle of the rain.

“Guy-”

“Y/N-"

You chuckled at how you both said each other names so suddenly. Just like in the movies. “You go first.”

He stared gaze at your figure for a second, before offering his right hand. Rain kept falling under you, no one else in sight. Just you, Guy, and the sound of rain.

“May I have this dance?”

As if it was possible, your eyes lighted up brighter than they had on the whole day, which surprised Guy to an extent. With a beaming smile you nodded, and so he took a step towards you. He wrapped his hands around you and pulled you slightly closer. The thunderbolts made your body shiver while you wrapped your arms around his neck. He could feel your every breath, and with every breath, your own heartbeats pumped faster.

A good lead should be soft yet subtle, stating their intentions by moving themselves, inviting their partners to follow along. Guy was alert, eyes scanning the surroundings ahead of him, watching traffic, other people, but also aware of what was happening right in his arms.

He treated your follow with respect, never forcing any movement. If he led a step or a pattern and you interpreted the movement differently than he had intended, he adapted to you rather than forcing change. He wanted to give you a sense of security, knowing you could fully depend on his lead the way he had learned to dance, however after a few clumsy fails followed by your laugh, he soon discovered it didn't matter how you both danced, just that you did.

“I think you know me better than I know myself.” He broke the silence after a while. You smiled.

“I’m not going to deny that.”

“I wish I could repay you for that, somehow.”

Laughing again you adjusted yourself so you could look up at him. His astonishingly beautiful green orbs finding yours once again, filled with overwhelming love and safety. “You are doing it right now.”

The corner of his eyes softened.

There were many things he had tried to chase away. Things he couldn’t remember, and others he didn’t let himself think about. Right now he was living, and nothing else seemed to matter anymore. He allowed you to take him anywhere you pleased on that made-up dance floor under the rain. You went right, he went right. You sped up, he sped up. Having you there, next to him like this, made him think about just how lucky he had become.

“…You are beautiful,” he whispered, touching your cheek with care, clearing the strands of wet hair that had gotten in the way.

You held on to him tighter.

“You are beautiful too.” You smiled, noses touching. Rain still falling over you both. “Didn't I tell you? That dancing in the rain deserved getting a cold.”

______________________________________________________

Wishing you all a wonderful day! 💕

[writingwhimsey]

The Tiger and the Oda Princess Ch. 2

Chapter 2

I woke the next morning with the sun shining through the window. The first thing that came into focus was my left hand, resting on Shingen's bare chest. I smiled as I saw the wedding ring there, meaning it really did happen.

It was then that Shingen brought his hand up to take mine and bring it to his lips. I looked up at him as he did, my head still resting on his chest. I could see the love and happiness in his eyes. "Good morning my beautiful wife." He greeted me.

"Good morning, my handsome husband." I replied, feeling my lips curve into a big smile.

"That was definitely a much better night than the one before." He said. "And this morning is even better than yesterday morning."

"I much prefer falling asleep with you and waking up with you than without." I agreed, nestling into his embrace more.

"And I will see to it that we never have to part even for a night again." Shingen said, kissing the top of my head.

"Of course, that one night apart was worth it to get to wake up this morning as your wife."

Shingen's fingers were under my chin then, pulling my lips up to his. "You've no idea how happy that makes me." He said, his warm breath washing over my lips.

"I might have an idea." I replied. "Because I think I'm just as happy about it as you are."

Shingen was then capturing my lips in a passionate kiss as he rolled us over so that he was now hovering above me, his strong powerful body enveloping me. I moaned into the kiss and soon we were letting the passion carry us through the rest of the morning.

At some point we finally pulled ourselves from the futon to eat and get ready for our trip. We were taking the entire week to spend together, our honeymoon. We took our trip to a neighboring village where Shingen had gotten us a room at a hot spring.

During our days there, we would explore the village and pick up a few treasures along the way. We picked a few things to send to give to our friends when we returned and a few things for us to remember the trip. We ate some of the best sweets at the local tea shops.

Our evenings were spent in the throes of passions...and our mornings, too. So we really only ventured out of our room in the afternoon hours. Not that either of us minded. We were happy being together and celebrating our marriage. Celebrating Shingen's health and our future together.

We returned home a bit reluctantly after our week together. I leaned into Shingen as we rode from the small village back to Kai. He let go of the reins with one hand and wrapped it around me. "It's almost a shame to have to go back." I said.

"I agree." Shingen replied. "We won't have that kind of time alone together once we get back."

"Is that why you're making sure we go extra slow?" I teased, as the horse was going at a very casual pace.

"Am I that obvious?" He asked with a smile.

"Perhaps only because I feel the same way." I replied with a sigh.

"But we still have the rest of our lives...and we will have tonight in our own bed."

A thrill went down my spine at the seductive promise in his voice. I turned my head and gave a kiss on his neck. "I like the sound of that."

I felt Shingen shiver at the touch of my lips. "Ava..." He breathed, his warm lips at my ear.

I smiled up at him, coquettishly. "Shingen..."

He was then making a sudden turn and stopping once he was satisfied with how deep in the forest we were. The next thing I knew he was dismounting and tying up the horse before taking me down and I was lying back on the grass, my strong, handsome, sexy husband over me.

We were kissing, my lips eagerly parting and welcoming his tongue inside. His hands pushed up the lower half of my kimono before his fingers slipped inside. I moaned into the kiss and arched my back, pressing myself closer to him.

Soon I was consumed by the fire within me and his fingers just weren't enough. "Shin...gen...more...I want...more." I rasped out.

"As my wife wishes." Shingen replied before entering me and filling me completely.

After our forest floor dalliance, we cleaned up and straightened each other's hair and clothes before setting out back to Kai. When we finally arrived, the sun was starting to go down. Yukimura, Sasuke, and Kenshin were there waiting for us along with the maids and a few of Shingen's vassals.

"I told you they would be late." Yukimura said, looking at Sasuke and Kenshin.

Kenshin sighed and passed some coins to Yukimura.

"You guys bet on us being late?" I asked, shaking my head.

"I knew you would be." Yukimura said. "You can't keep your hands off of each other for one minute. I'm really surprised there's not five or six kids running around here yet."

"Yuki, how many times do I have to tell you, I can't help myself. A goddess as beautiful as Ava must be worshipped." Shingen said.

"I think you really failed in his education if he thinks we've had enough time for there to be five or six kids running around." I said, trying to ignore the burning heat in my cheeks.

"It does take nine months." Sasuke agreed, his tone purely scientific.

"Oh, whatever." Yukimura said, his face growing red now. "Just come on. We're having a banquet to celebrate you guys coming back."

"A nice welcome home, then." Shingen said, smiling.

One month later...

I was sitting on the veranda looking out over the beautiful fall colors in the garden. I was sketching a new design, feeling inspired by the colors in the changing leaves. Shingen was inside working on some trade negotiations for Kai.

The fall air was crisp and had I not been borrowing one of Shingen's haoris I probably would have been a lot colder. There was just something so refreshing about fall and the chill in the air, though. It wouldn't be long before winter was setting in though.

Winter would mean much longer and colder nights...though those were perfect for snuggling with Shingen. "I brought you some tea, my lady."

I looked up at the sound of Otsuna's voice and smiled at her. "Thank you. A cup of hot tea sounds perfect right now." I said.

"You shouldn't sta out here too much longer though. You'll catch a cold and I would hate for my lady to be sick." She said. She was then turning to head back inside.

I reached over and picked up the cup of tea from the tray and held it just under my chin. I let the steam from the cup float up over and warm my face. The tea was very aromatic and it soon reached my nose.

Normally, I loved the smell of tea and Otsuna made some delicious tea. However, as soon as the smell reached my nose, my stomach began to churn at the thought of even taking a sip of this tea.

I set the tea cup down and steadied myself, trying to calm my stomach. It was too late however and so I was rushing over to a tree in the garden and emptying the contents of my stomach.

Once I was finished, I steadied myself and then headed inside to get a drink of water and clean myself up a bit. It seemed once I had thrown up, I was mostly feeling better. There was still an uneasiness in my stomach, but it wasn't something I couldn't tolerate.

"Probably just something I ate." I muttered to myself. "I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow."

I decided not to tell Shingen or anyone else. I didn't want anyone to worry. Shingen had enough to worry about with his trade negotiations to prepare for the winter. Then of course we had just about a month until Shingen's birthday. I was working with Yukimura and some of Shingen's other vassals to plan him a big birthday party.

It was the first time we'd be celebrating his birthday together. It was his first birthday back in Kai. And most importantly it was the first birthday he would get to celebrate in health, not wondering if it would be his last. It was definitely a big deal and I did not have time to be sick.

I heard the temple bells chiming, signaling the changing of the hour. I checked my reflection to make sure I was presentable and didn't show that I had just tossed my cookies. Then I headed to meet with Yukimura to discuss the party for Shingen.

"You're running late." Yukimura greeted me when I met him in one of the spare rooms of the castle.

I gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I lost track of time sketching." I lied.

He eyed me suspiciously. "Uh-huh." He said. "You feeling okay?"

"Just peachy." I answered, smiling brightly. "Now, come on we have a party to plan."

We sat down and started getting a basic plan together for Shingen's birthday. We were planning a large banquet with music and dancing. We had also planned to invite Kenshin and Sasuke, "We just can't let Kenshin know about the music and dancers." Yukimura quipped.

"We'll just buy extra sake." I replied. "And get an extra barrel or two of pickled plums."

"And I'll probably have to agree to train with him...again." Yukimura said with a sigh. "But it's for Lord Shingen's birthday."

"You're such a big softie, Yukimura." I teased.

"Am not." He replied. "You vile enchantress."

"Hey, I thought we were past that stuff...you big lunkhead."

Yukimura smiled at me. "Now I know for sure, you're feeling alright."

"What are you talking about?"

"The whole time we've been in here, I noticed something seemed off...but if you're gonna call me a lunkhead, I think you're alright."

I shook my head. "What? Were you worried about me?"

"Only because you're so important to Lord Shingen."

"Admit it, I've grown on you." I said, teasing him again.

"Maybe like a tiny bit...and only because of Lord Shingen."

"Sure." I replied, smiling.

We finished working out more details before parting ways. I decided that if Yukimura had noticed that something was off with me...especially because when it came to women he was as observant as a brick...that I must not have done as good a job cleaning up as I thought. I decided to take a bath, thinking the nice warm relaxing water might help me feel better before Shingen joined me for dinner.

"I really don't want to worry him. He has so much other stuff to worry about right now." I muttered to myself.

I went to our room and gathered up some clothes and bathing supplies. That was when I noticed the little "notebook" I had made to keep track of my cycle. It was quite vital to keep track of in this time period. With the supplies of the times, I really didn't want to be caught off guard.

Picking it up, I looked at it and that's when I noticed it. I was due to start two weeks ago. It wasn't entirely unusual for me to skip a period, especially if there was anything stressful going on, like planning a big event, like our wedding and now Shingen's birthday.

However, the fact that I threw up earlier made me think this wasn't just one of those skipping times. I smiled, knowing how excited Shingen would be when I told him the news. He had been talking about wanting a family with me since we got back from the future. He seemed especially excited about having a little girl.

I looked down at the list in my hand. I thought about the other times I had skipped. I started thinking about the possibility that I was wrong and all of this was a fluke. I could have eaten something that made me feel sick and just happened at the same time I just happened to skip.

"What if I'm wrong? Or what if I'm right and something happens?" I asked myself. "Shingen would be so disappointed." I didn't want to get his hopes up if I was wrong.

I looked at the notes I'd made and saw when my next period was due. It would be before Shingen's birthday. If I skipped this one and continued with the sick feeling, then I was probably right. If I was then that would be the perfect thing to surprise Shingen with on his birthday.

"The only problem will be continuing to hide how sick I feel until then if I am right." I muttered to myself. But I knew I could do it. I would wait and if I was right, I had the perfect birthday surprise for my love.

Over the next two weeks, a I waited for the expected date of my period, I continued to fight the sick feeling. I was also feeling utterly exhausted no matter how much sleep I got. It was getting diffiult to hide how I was feeling, but I did my best. I just stuck with eating light foods, breads, noodles, chicken, light veggies, and a few fruits seemed to be okay.

It was a good thing that Shingen was being kept busy with his work. While I missed him during the day and would have much enjoyed having him hold me when the morning sickness was getting to feel overwhelming, I didn't want him to worry. Him being busy made it a bit easier to hide it from him. Now keeping it form everyone else was getting difficult.

I was on my way to meet with Yukimura and the other vassals to work on planning Shingen's party, when an overpowering wave of nausea hit me. I ran to the most discreet place I could find and was throwing up in a pot, which I made a mental note to clean up when I was done.

"Ava..."

I turned my head then to see Yukimura standing there, having just witnessed me tossing my cookies. I didn't know what to say. I was stunned. I thought I had hidden myself well.

"I'll go get Lord Shingen." He said, which brought me out of my thoughts.

"No! Don't do that!" I found myself shouting at him.

Yukimura turned to look at me surprised. "You of all people are wanting to hide being sick from Lord Shingen?" He asked.

"I just don't want him to worry." I said, sticking as close to the truth as possible.

Yukimura knelt down beside me and pulled out a hand towel, holding it out to me. "Here." He said with a sigh and shaking his head. "He'll kill me if he finds out I knew and didn't tell him you were sick."

"It's nothing." I told Yukimura. "I probably just ate something that didn't agree with me is all."

"Probably trying to keep up with Lord Shingen on how many sweets he eats has gotten to you." He quipped.

"Probably." I agreed.

"I won't say anything as long as you promise to go take it easy for the rest of the day." He said.

"Sure, just as soon as I clean this pot up."

"I'll take care of it." Yukimura said. "Don't be such a dummy, okay...and think about saying something to Lord Shingen. You know he'd take care of you."

I smiled. "I know, but he has other things to worry about. Besides, I'll be back to myself tomorrow."

"Just go get some rest. We've already got most thing planned for Lord Shingen's party anyway. I think the guys and maids and I can finish the rest of the planning, okay?"

"Okay." I agreed.

I headed to the room I shared with Shingen and grabbed my things. I took another bath, wanting to get cleaned up. I didn't want to lay down and go to sleep just yet. I knew if I did, I would sleep until Shingen returned and he would be worried that I was asleep so early.

I grabbed my sewing basket and got to work on the commission I had been working on. It had been the two weeks that had passed and my period still hadn't shown up. I was now two months late. I think it's safe to assume that I really am pregnant. I thought as I continued to sew. Not to mention that my symptoms were continuing to get stronger.

I let out a yawn as I continued to sew. I smiled thinking about how happy I was. I then started to think about how I was going to tell Shingen. We were having the banquet on his birthday. The day before his birthday, I was getting him out of the castle and out of Kai so that Yukimura and the others could get things ready without Shingen knowing...or at least we hoped. It was very hard to keep surprises from the spy master that Shingen was.

I could feel the happiness flowing through me as I imagined his face when I told him the news. I could see the big smile on his face and easily picture him as a loving father. He had such a big heart and he was a true romantic. It was hard not telling him now, but this allowed me to be extra sure and to really surprise him for his birthday.

As I sat there thinking of the perfect way to tell him, I could feel the exhaustion that had started to become my constant companion creeping up on me. "Maybe I can just lay my head down and rest my eyes for just a few minutes." I muttered to myself before letting out another yawn.

I put in a loose stitch to save my place and then set my work aside. I leaned forward on the table, crossing my arms and resting my head on them. I closed my eyes and soon I was fast asleep.

It was hours later I was waking up when I felt my weight being shifted around. "Hmm..." I muttered sleepily.

"Shh, go back to sleep my love." I heard Shingen's deep voice tell me.

I opened my eyes to see that I was in Shingen's arms. He had picked me up and was carrying me to the bed. "And miss seeing you?" I asked.

He smiled at me, as he laid me down in the futon. He was then lying down beside me, pulling me close to him. "For you to fall asleep in the middle of your work like that, you must be tired. Have I been keeping you up too late, my princess?" He asked, his hand lovingly stroking my cheek.

I leaned into his touch and smiled. Well, this is a result of our late nights. I thought, but kept that hidden. "Our late nights are my favorite part of the day." I told him.

Shingen kissed my brow. "Still, maybe I should end my days earlier so I am not keeping you waiting for too long."

I smiled at him, happy that he was willing to adjust his busy schedule just to spend more time with me. "You don't have to do that. I'd hate to get in the way of your work. I know what you're doing is important."

"There is nothing as important to me as you, Ava." He told me, hugging me tighter to his chest. "Besides, I am being a little selfish here on this, too."

I looked up at him. "Oh?"

He gave me a handsome grin. "You see I have this lovely new wife and being with her is all I think about. If I could, I'd spend all of my time with her...every last second."

I stretched up to kiss him. "I love you, Shingen...and your wife feels the same way about spending time with you."

"I would hope so." He said, kissing me back. "And I love you, too."

Read Chapter 3 in the link below!

https://writingwhimsey.tumblr.com/post/656169043293847552/the-tiger-and-the-oda-princess-ch-3

[nanamisflowerfield]

HELLO!I hope you are healthy! Make sure to eat veggies and drink a lot of water! I dunno if I'm doing it right but How about Finnian or Sebastian with a future!Phantomhive reader? Like reader is Ciel's decendant( look like the female version of him) and vert important to the Quenn and England( *cough and almost every other country *cough) They were hunting some witch maybe but teleported back to past. With her cousin who is Elizabeth's male version, constantly asks her to marry her and etc. They landed right inside of the manor and a fight begins( Maybe reader is kinda half demon half human or half angel half human) She uses every kind of weapons but she is especially good at swords. Ciel doesn't believe of course so she basically tells the whole family history and shows him the ring.Oh and also maybe the same things that happened to him also happened to her as well. When she sees Sebastian she is like " Dude you didn't even bother changing yourself?" Before she kills the witch, the witches puts a spell on her, saying that as long as she doesn't fix her ancestor's mistakes, she cannot go back and won't have a future.So reader is stuck in past eith her annoying cousin I would like to see their times together, you know liking then blushing, trying to confess, their first kiss and just some fluff!

Thank you in advance sweetie and take care!

Omg, thanks for the request!!❤️ it sounded very interesting and I just had to write it as fast as possible! (*^ω^*) I had so much fun!~ Thanks again! I coudln’t decide who I should choose... It was pretty hard to decide...

So this is a Finnian x Reader HC... Unfortunately I had work and a every important exam and couldn‘t write it fast, sorry about it! And so sorry for waiting so long for it!!

And thanks!~ I hope that you (and everybody else of course) is taking care of themselves, wears their masks, be healthy and happy!~ ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

Gender: I wanted to write it gender-neutral but it I wrote sometimes she/her in it.... Sorry!

words: 2058

warnings: fluffyyyy! And death

Requests: Open

If somebody ever wants to read a Sebastian Michaelis x Reader with this plot, just ask me! I would write it, because I loved the plot-idea! It was very great! Thanks again, hun!

And some last words: Stay healthy, drink enough water, wear your masks and yes, it is a hard time for everybody but I hope that you all will be happy!~

🗡  “Come on! Go and get that, stupid witch!” You yelled over to your group of colleagues and friends. You all runed as fast as possible to hunt down a strong witch, who wanted to kill the Queen of England and as a good-hearted and well paid Phantomhive, you tried to help her. Unfortunately for you, the emphasis was on the word tried, because the witch was too fast.

🗡  “Sooo…. When is going to be our wedding?” You heard a too familiar voice asking you by your side. “This is no the time to joke around, Elijah! We need to hurry!”

🗡 Thanks to the gods above, you surrendered the witch. But she started to laugh like a frickin’ maniac! “Ohh, you know why I did so many things? Hahaha… I did it for a reason! So many people did so many mistakes and nobody ever tried to help them out or to fix their big problems … So… Why don’t you be a dear and fix the mistakes your beloved ancestors did!”

🗡 Suddenly a light dazzled you and when you opened your (e/c) eyes. No! The witch can’t escape her again! So you did the only intelligent thing and killed her.

🗡 But that damn light came again and out of the sudden your group was gone…

🗡  “Wow… That was strange.” But not Elijah. Your cousin. He stood up and walked to your direction, looking over your body to see, if you have any bruises or wounds. At least one of your group members were there.

🗡  “Yes, indeed. But not as weird as this place here.” You said and looked around you. The surroundings looked like London, the city you used to live in, but everything was so… old? What’s up with the furniture and this crappy paintings? You were to 100% sure that you were in your home. The Phantomhive Manor. But everything was so… weird!!

🗡 Before you could have asked your cousin about his little wound the witch inflicted him with, knives were thrown into your direction!

🗡 Fortunately, you were a skilled fighter. You could practically use every weapon if you wanted to! So you used your great skills and blocked the attacks of some strangers.

🗡 Some of them shot at you, some threw knives but then… You saw something weird. A tree!?

🗡 Elijah pushed you away in time, but only got stretched but a branch of it.

🗡 How in the world, could somebody throw trees around!? That was not possible for any human being!

🗡 Now, when you two were on the ground, you heard footsteps.

🗡  “Who are you?” - “Uhh… If I’m not wrong, people usually introduced themselves before they asked others.” – “You are inside my home. I’m pretty sure, that you know who I am, assassin.”

🗡 Assassin? That was new…

🗡  “What the hell? Hey, kiddo. This place belongs to (y/n)! Afterall this is her home for she is a Phantomhive!”

🗡  “Phantomhive?” The young blue-haired boy raised his eyebrow and did not believed any word Elijah had said.

🗡 So, it was your turn to explain your situation. Who you are, why you are here and so on and on. But the young boy still didn’t believe a word. His household even looked at you in confusion. Until you showed them your ring. The ring of the Phantomhives.

🗡 His eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw it and immediately glanced to his finger. It was the same one! How could it be possible? A young woman with blueish hair, the same ring as his and not to forget a similar past… Is she mayhaps from another world? But no. You retold him everything again.

🗡 When your eyes glanced around, you saw very familiar red eyes. The red eyes of a demon. Sebastian Michaelis. “Ohhh my gosh. Are you kidding me, Sebastian!? Did you really… REALLY attacked ME!? What the hell! I thought that you wouldn’t do such a thing except if we had our training sessions, but this is just…. Oh god, I am really mad right now. And what the hell is wrong with your clothes?” Sigh. “Dude… you didn’t even bother changing yourself? Unbelievable.”

🗡 Everybody was just very confused…. Even Elijah.

🗡 And who knows. Maybe you were unfortunate or maybe not, but you were stuck in the past. At first you though it was your bad luck, but now… Maybe it wasn’t so bad. Afterall… he was here. With you.

 💐 At the beginning you started to count the days since you were stuck in the past or… present day(?)

💐 And Elijah was there nonstop. He would never leave your side, even when you wanted to sleep in one of the guest rooms, you’ve got from your ancestor Ciel Phantomhive. Your cousin just followed you like a lost little puppy, but it was pretty normal.

💐 Everybody thought at first, that he was your fiancée, until you’ve told them that you would never marry him. He was more like a brother figure to you than husband material… (I feel sorry for Elijah D: )

💐 You loved to look around and observe watch everybody.

💐 It was kinda funny how Mey-Rin always slipped and tripped around or how the kitchen nearly exploded whenever Baldroy tried to cook for the head of the household. It never got boring.

💐 But you loved liked to watch one person particular.

💐 “Good day, Finnian.” You smiled at the gardener, who always seems to be happy, whenever he worked with the flowers.

💐 How could somebody so sweet be so strong? I mean… He threw a tree at you!!

💐 “Ohhh… Lady (y/n). H-Hello!” And like always the young blond boy blushed when he saw you. Some might say that he got a small little crush on you, which was so cute.

💐 He was so different and special.

💐 “Oh, stop it with this whole lady-crap, please.” Of course you didn’t wanted to be called as lady by some guy who you were interested in. And that was all. You were just interested in him for his strength and not his cute blushing face… Or how he always seems to bet happy… How he always tries to help you…

💐 Sometimes, you were sitting under a tree, reading a book boringly. When are you going to be in your time and see your friends???

💐 Whenever this happened, Finnian looked worriedly at you. You always looked so sad. So, he went to his friends and asked how he could cheer you up! They of course have told him how he could cheer you up with different ideas!

💐 Mission Number 1 by Baldroy: Show her your strength. Women love strong people!

💐 When you tried to help him with the weed in the garden, you tried to pull some out but it was kind of stuck in there next to the beautiful flowers you loved. The sterling roses. Finnian, the sweet-like angel, walked to your side to help you out. But then… He got so awkward by the closeness of you two, that he accidently pulled the rose bush out of the ground rather than the weed. “OH NO!” – “Oh gosh, Finnian…. Why?” – “I-I… I didn’t… I… NO!” And the blond gardener ran away, leaving a confused but smiling phantomhive alone in the garden.

💐 Mission Number 1: Failed.

💐 Mission Number 2 by Mey-Rin: Bring her something she likes. Like tea! Yes~ She always drinks tea!

💐 Nervously, Finnian walked to you, hearing the voice of Elijah who talked about who knows what until he saw the gardener. “H-Hello… Do you want some tea…? It’s Earl Grey tea… Here…” He said blushing and coming near to the one he fancied so much. But who could have known that there was a small stone in front of the awkward blond. Small enough to be hidden, but large enough to trip over it, which is what the gardener did. He tripped and the tea he prepared for you, spilled over you, making a big mess. Shocked, he ran away after he apologized to you, not hearing a small laugh of yours and the loud yelling of Elijah.

💐 Mission Number 2: Failed.

💐 When Finnian read a romance book to get a few plans, he thought about giving up completely, but he couldn’t do such a thing. The only thing that matters right now is to make you happy… He couldn’t give up! No! So, he did more researches, not realizing that his beloved crush was nearby, smiling at the blonde.

💐  “Okay… What if I-“ – “Finnian!” He looked over his shoulder to see you running to him. “Oh… Is something wrong? You were running… Do you need help?” He asked immediately. “No, silly.” You laughed. “You looked so nervous again and…. You were thinking about something, right? I thought that you might have been upset with something. Maybe the flowers you accidently ruined.” He gulped. Oh no… You remembered it.

“Sooo… Here. It’s for you.” You said and shoved a bouquet of sterling roses and sunflowers into his hands with the brightest smile you could ever give somebody and would make a certain someone very furious and jealous.

💐 That was the day, you both realized that you weren’t just interested in somebody or fancied that one… No. It was a stronger feeling. It was like… love. Yeah, maybe you loved him.

💐 Now, he wanted to confess to you, after that one day, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to do this. Elijah would be mad and you were a phantomhive! That was a big no-no! But you were the only thing that makes him super happy…

💐 You might not have the power of mind-reading, but you sure have a great sense in reading people’s emotions, which is why you were certain, that he had the same feelings you had.

💐 It was time to confess your feelings! But… how?

💐 “Ohh nooo!” You dramatically laid your arm on your head and glanced down. “I am stuck here. I can’t get dooooown! What should I doooo?~ Ohhh, I wish for a strong one to save me!~” – “Here, I am!”

“NO! ELIJAH GO AWAY!! NOT YOU! GOOO!” – “But you need help, (y/n)!” – “Elijah, I don’t need your help!”

And that little argument went back and forth for a while, until he came to you two. “You two are having many arguments…” – “Oh, that is very normal for us. Many say that we are like a married couple, right my beloved?~ Ouch! Why are you throwing your shoes at me!? Stop it, please!”

“But you said, that you needed help!” – “NOT YOURS!! I can come down ALONE! Here!”

And that is what you tried to do. Usually, you were like a cat. Perfect at climbing trees and landing on your feet, but this time, the phantomhive-bad luck hit you hard in your face, which resulted in you making a wrong step and falling down.

💐 And here you were. In the arms of the one you wanted to help you. Finnian. He was fast enough (and strong enough to shove Elijah away) to save you in time. “Ohhh, my hero!~” You laughed and threw your arms around his shoulders, smiling at the still shocked gardener.

“Let me give my sweet knight in the dirty armor a reward!~” That’s what you did. You gave him a surprise kiss-attack on his lips!

💐 Oh gosh…. He looked like a tomato! Totally blushing and asking if it was okay to kiss.

💐 “But of course! I might be stuck here in your time… But maybe it is a good thing I am here… I’ve got to meet you and finally love somebody… It was a long time since I ever trusted somebody… But know I can… I have you. I love you, Finnian.”

💐 Finni being a blushing mess and nearly yelling his reply of “I LOVE YOU!” too loud.

  Bonus:

💐 “…. WHAT!? BUT (Y/N)!! I thought we were going to marry!” – “No! She is mine!” – “Pff…. In your dreams! From now on, you will be my rival!”

“Uh…. I already chose Finnian, Elijah… Gosh, what the hell is wrong with you….”

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Hiding in Plain Sight (1)- Tom Holland X Reader

Word Count-1792

A/N: This was inspired by this wonderful post by @starsholland. Without it this would not be happening. This will be a multi part fic, but I don’t know how many chapters or when it will be posted so if you’d like to be tagged let me know:)  Welcome to Tom being undercover on Tumblr. Quick notes- Y/T/B = Your Tumblr Blog, Y/A is your age :)

“You’re not going to make me go undercover on Tumblr are you?” Tom asks as they hook up the mike to his white t-shirt. “I’ve heard dangerous things about that site.”

“No, no. We’re sticking to Reddit, Twitter, Youtube. Maybe some Quora and IMDB.” The redheaded assistant sitting across from him states as she places the GQ laptop across from him. Tom sees Harrison’s shoulders silently moving up and down, laughing at the idea of him having to go undercover on the site that he had been telling horror stories of for weeks leading up to this interview. “If any of these don’t sound good to you, we can skip them.”

“No, those sound fine.” Tom says. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

“Camera A ready?” She asks the camera man sitting diagonally from where she is. In response she gets a nod. “Tom when you’re ready say something like I’m Tom Holland and I’m going undercover on the internet to answer your questions. It’s actually me. Something like that.”

From across the room Harrison watches as Tom flows through the questions easily, hoping from site to site with better technical luck than he normally has. He can guess that some of the answers will be giffed and blasted around social media within minutes of this interview going live. It would shock him if it didn’t.

“Check it out mate.” On his screen flashes Tom saying I drink tea darling over and over again. “Your fans love it. Which is good, seeing how upset a lot of them are over the Disney/Sony thing.”

“Where is this?”

“Your favorite site.”

“Instagram?”

“Tumblr.” Tom rolls his eyes and falls back into the couch.

“Why are you even on there?”

“Why aren’t you? So many fangirls, so little time.” Tom shoots a dirty look at Harrison. “But in all seriousness, there’s a lot of great reactions and gifs that you can only find on Tumblr. You should check it out.” Tom reaches for Harrison’s computer but he pulls away. “Make your own account. It costs nothing.”

“Ugh, fine.” Pulling his phone out of his pocket, downloads the app and creates an account. Expecting one of the fangirls to have already have taken his common username, he’s surprised to be able to fill out the form with tomholland2013 as his username. Will that seem too much like him? Who knows. It’s not like he’s planning to actually use this site. He just using it to see what Harrison wants him to see. “What do I look up?”

“Just search the hashtag Tom Holland and look under recent for the most recent stuff. Most of it is your undercover interview. Or you can look under the Tom Holland top posts and see what your fans are obsessed with.” Tom is on the main page and sees a suggestion of blogs. A lot of them have his name intertwined in them with his picture as the profile picture. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to follow some blogs while he’s on here? 

The first one he follows is @starsholland who seems to write fanfictions about him but also shares a lot of marvel pictures. By clicking follow it brings up a lot of suggested blogs to follow. He clicks on @tonguetiedholland and sees another fanfiction writer but also a lot of posts between them and other bloggers. “Is this site just fanfiction?”

“No, there’s pictures and edits and stuff too. Why? You only interested in the fanfiction?”

“I only seem to find fanfictions.” Tom replies as he clicks on a blog called @tomhollandsstan, finding a mix of fanfictions, pictures and conversations. However his eyes scroll through one of the fics and find something much more raunchy than he anticipated finding. “Holy hell. What are they writing all of this about?”

“Reading something steamy Tommy?” Harrison teases. Tom feels his face flush with the embarrassment of knowing that there are girls and guys out there picturing stuff like this with him as the main feature. 

“I’m getting off this site. It’s bloody porn.”

“No wait, you’ve just stumbled down the wrong path. Let me send you some blogs to look at.” Harrison pulls up some of the ones that are mostly pictures and reactions. “What’s your tumblr handle? I’ll send them to you?”

“Tomholland2013.”

“Really? It wasn’t taken?”

“Nope.”

“See how long it stays secretive.”

“I don’t plan on using it.” Tom says as he hits follow on some of the other blogs that Harrison sent him, including one that was @Y/T/B. He found himself scrolling through it a little more in depth than he had with any of the other pages he had been on. The posts and your reactions were more what he expected of tumblr. Glee filled, but not thirsty. Hitting follow was a no brainer.

Across the country, your phone lights up as you get a notification from Tumblr. You’re about to swipe it away, since your day is currently going down hill as the recipes you’re in the middle of trying out are turning into pinterest fails. Also you should have checked before you started baking a cake that you had powdered sugar to make frosting, so you’ll have to do another pinterest deep dive for a frosting recipe since you can’t use your tried and true recipe.

However, the name on the notification catches your eye- Tomholland2013 has followed you. Wow someone finally snatched the name. There had been jokes around the fandom for months that someone should snag the name so Tom could have it whenever or if-ever he decided to join tumblr. But it seems someone has decided to be Tom. Whoever it is though seems to enjoy your posts because they’re liking your posts in succession. While your stand mixer whirls, you open to their blog and see there’s nothing there. Not even a banner or an icon photo. They must be a super new blog. You back out of their blog and almost back out of the app when you see a message from this Tom Holland wanna be.

From: Tomholland2013

I really like all your edits of Tom. Can I use one as my profile pic? X

You pause for a second before replying. This person wasn’t the first to ask to use one of your edits as a profile picture. Why does this feel different though? It has to just be because of the name. You click to reply to the ask.

I’m so surprised someone finally took the name. Me and @imanativeofswlondondahling had a bet going on for how long it was going to stay open in case Tom wanted it. Anyway, feel free to use my edits, or if you have a favorite picture of Tom, send it my way and I’ll make an edit for you.

You hit send on the ask before you can change your mind and then you turn back to your cake- which has probably been overwhipped now.

“Do I have a favorite picture of Tom?” Tom mumbles to himself as he reads over your reply. He’d love to see something that was made for him, but that means finding a picture of himself that he wants edited. “Harrison, com’ere mate. Take a selfie with me.”

“What’s this for?” Harrison asks before posing. @Y/T/B wouldn’t know this was just a selfie. You’d probably think he just did a Google deep dive.

“Need a profile picture. For my blog.” Tom teases, before clicking back to his messages on tumblr. There has to be a way to send a direct message instead of an ask like he did before. He had been planning to use an edit you had done of him saying I drink tea darling, but he wasn’t going to toss up having a custom made icon. After fiddling around on the app for a few minutes Tom finally figures out how to send a message and sends the picture he had snapped with Harrison a few minutes earlier. He tacks on a quick message asking her to do whatever she wants with the picture and to take as long as she wants and or needs. After hitting send, he clicks back to your blog's main page, trying to learn more about you.

At the top of your page, simply stated, it reads Y/N, Y/A, Tom Holland Fan. Well that does tell him you’re around his age, so that makes him feel less like a creeper. He wants to know everything he can about you, but all he can find through scrolling is mainly, well him. He can’t explain why, but there’s a sort of pull towards you from what he can find in your messages to other people and responding to anon messages, you seem like someone he’d want to be friends with. You have a great sense of humor and make jokes as often as you can in your messages. 

“Haz, can I turn on notifications for, like a certain blog?” Tom calls across the living room.

“Thought you weren’t going to use it.”

“There’s a couple blogs I like.”

“Sure, let me show you.” Tom passes his phone over and watches as Harrison turns on notifications for your blog. “Oh she’s great. Her reactions when news is posted is great.” A notification pops up on your screen. “Apparently she just posted.”

A cake maker I am not destined to be. Gordon Ramsay will make an idiot sandwich out of me.

A picture of a very sad looking cake appears under her text. “Maybe she should stick to making edits.” Harrison jokes. 

“Mate, that’s rude.”

“But it’s not wrong. Plus it’s not like yours would look much better.”

“Mine would be worse.” Taking his phone back, he clicks on the comment bubble and types out: looks better than anything I would make X His inbox dings a couple moments later. 

How have I never seen this photo of Harrison and Tom? Did it get posted while I was attempting to bake?

I think it’s an old photo. Found it on my phone. X And technically that’s not a lie.

Well I’ll hop on that edit. Any colors you prefer?

Blue or Red would be good I guess. X

I’ll get right on that. What’s with all the x’s?

Oh it’s a European thing. It’s just how we sign off texts and messagesX

If it’s annoying I can try and not do it?X

It’s fine. Just didn’t know why it was there. 

Do you think Tom does it?

Oh most definitely. What kind of Brit would he be if he didn’t?X

Well I’ll go get on the edit, hopefully I’ll have it done in the next day or so

No hurryX

Thanks againX

[thevoidscreams]

“death cannot stop true love. all it can do is delay it for a while” with kung lao?

(Yes. Absolutely. I’m so sorry it took this long. But a lot of things came up.)

Losing the love of your life was like losing your soul. Your whole life came undone, pulled out from beneath you like a rug.

Eyes overflowing you desperately tried to grasp what Raiden was telling you. His words didn’t seem to fully register with you as your heart was wrenched from your chest.

Kung Lao was dead, your husband, the father of the child still growing inside you, he was never coming back. Even though he’d been a monk an exception was made for the two of you. He was your soulmate after all so it was immoral to keep the two of you from being together. Raiden had vouched for the two of you and soon after you were married.

It felt like a lifetime ago even if it’s only been a year. Your first anniversary was in a week but now you would never get a chance to celebrate it. 

You lost your drive to do many things. 

You did pray. It was one thing you did constantly, praying to the elder gods to give you back the love of your life.

Raiden stopped by a lot to check in on you. Even if he was busy he found the time. You were having tea with him at his temple, the air was warm and still, but most of all it was quiet.

“They do hear you. I think it is only fair that I tell you that they have heard you in this time of strife. They grieve for you and your loss, but there is an order to everything and they cannot give him back to you.”

You sipped your tea, tears pouring down your cheeks. Sometimes they simply began and didn’t stop for hours till you were cried out. 

“I know. I know I cannot have him back, but I feel like I have to at least try. I miss him more and more every minute he’s gone.”

Raiden felt his chest tighten not only at the sight of your tears but at your words as well. He missed his student more than he could say and you were very dear to him as well. Not only as a human, someone he was meant to protect, but also as a friend. You were kind and good, you did not deserve this pain. The lord of thunder felt he had failed both you and Kung Lao. 

Shortly after Liu Kang joined you both and you made light talk about general things, the weather, his training, your friends and plans for the future.

The future. Without him it didn’t feel like a future at all. You hand ran over the swell of your belly and Liu Kang’s eyes became sad. As arrogant and prideful as his friend had been he still would have been a wonderful father. Of that he had no doubts. It was something he would never get to witness.

Raiden dropped you off at home, giving you a reassuring hug. He wasn’t the most touchy feely person but his hugs did make you feel safe and loved. He was like a second father to you, making sure that everything was well and that you were taking care of yourself. You likely would be an even bigger mess without him. When he left you were alone again. Left to your own devices you decided to have a bath and some cake and call it an early night.

It was over a month now. You were showing even more than before, a noticeable waddle now a natural part of your gate.

You were getting frequent calls from your friends and family. Kung Lao's family had even offered to let you stay with them, but you didn’t want to be a burden to them. However you did ask for any little items he might have owned. Being a monk meant he didn’t have much, but there were a few bits and pieces he’d left behind.

The month you had lived was agony and the dull ache in your chest had not yet left you. You had been sleeping with one of his old shirts as a pillow case. His smell had faded but the fabric still brought you comfort. A comfort that was fleeting as it became apparent that you’d never have him beside you again.

The netherrealm was anything but comfortable.

It was full of the dead and evils of the world. Not the most ideal place to set up shop. But for a revenant it was really the only option.

Kung Lao hated it here. He wanted to be with you and your child, he missed you so badly. His memories of your smile and laugh were his only saving graces in this hellscape. Time was different here too, he wondered if you’d given birth yet, if you were holding his son or daughter and telling them about him. He wanted to see if you were well, to see if his baby was well. He loved them more than he could say and he’d not even met them in person yet. Lao did not want to be here, he wanted to tell you he loved you and tell your child that he loved them as well. If he could get out of here he could do just that. But he needed to escape first. He knew Raiden could fix this if he tried. He could return Lao to life and back to normal. The magic that kept him from you was reversible. He just had to find a way out. Then he could hold you in his arms and kiss you. His love, the light of his life, his everything, his wife. He never dreamed he would be able to have a lover let alone a wife. But then you came along and flipped his world upside down in the best way possible.

Could think of one thing but it was risky. As mad as he was at Raiden for letting him rot down here, maybe there was still a way for the guardian to help him.

Kung Lao sat and bowed his head in silent prayer. He hadn’t focused this hard on prayer in a very long time but he needed it to get through. He prayed to every being he could think of and whoever answered first is who’s help he’d take. It didn’t matter to him. As long as he could be with you. Death would not keep him any longer.

It was the middle of the night, dark and peaceful as the rain pelted your windows, falling in sheets that soaked everything.

The worn fabric of your husband’s shirt pressed against your cheek as you watch the water falling down the panes of glass. Your tummy wedge was tucked snuggly under your bump, it was hard to lay down without it now. The little one was restless, moving this way and that, you couldn’t sleep because the tiny boy inside you had decided already that anything to do with kicking was going to be his favorite style. More than once you’d made a mad dash to the bathroom to stop from peeing yourself. You couldn’t be mad though this little person was what had kept you going these past weeks. So lonely and depressed that most of the time you didn’t want to get up. But you had to eat, you had to drink water, you had to be clean and healthy for the little human you loved so much. There were times that thinking about how you would be holding him soon was nearly enough to vanquish the darkness from your mind and heart. 

However the darkness would always find its way back into you like a serpent gliding over the slowly crumbling walls into a sunlite garden to hide in the beautiful plants. Striking when least expected even if you knew it was there.

Your eyes became heavy, drooping and ready to fall asleep. A shadow slipped quickly and silently past your window. Someone was outside your house, it was storming but someone was out and about in the rain. This wouldn’t have been too big of a deal if you lived closer to other people, but your little home was mildly isolated.

You were not as quick as you’d have liked to have been as you rolled out of bed in a panic.

You were beyond spooked. You were terrified. The closet had a little crawlspace in which you could hide. You grabbed your phone from the end table and tried as hard as you could to be quiet getting in. You heard the front door open as you got to the closet. Hadn’t you locked it?

You didn’t know who was there or why but your safest bet was to hide and wait it out.

The house was quiet, even for this time of night. The front door had been locked but the stone turtle that hid the spare key had not been moved from it’s spot in the front garden.

The revenant moved through the living room till he reached the halfway to the back of the house. There was no sound but the rain and it was unnerving. He knew you were here though, where else would you be?

He stopped in the nursery, the crib was empty and the night light was unplugged. His heart sank. The whole house was so awfully still it began to scare Kung lao.

The bedroom was the next room over, the carpet masked any sounds his feet might have made. He missed the feeling of something plush underfoot.

When he arrived in the room the bed was empty, the covers were pulled back and unmade. He frowned and placed his hand against the mattress. Still warm.

You were here, you must be hiding, he must have scared you without realizing. He felt foolish and his hope that the deal he’d made to come back to you would be for not.

His eyes caught his reflection in the full length mirror on the wall by the closet. He was a ghastly sight, his gray skin, once smooth was now cracked and his eye once full of life now glowed eerily. He feared you’d want nothing to do with him the moment you saw.

A soft shuffle drew his eyes away from the horror that stood before him. It came from the closet.

He pulled the door open, his movements slow and gentle in case you were in there.

The door to the crawlspace was ajar and he knew that it had to be where you were hiding.

Though it saddened him to think that you were hiding from him it made sense.

Kneeling next to the entrance to the tiny storage room, his knees crushing shoes that he didn’t take the time to move, Lao cleared his throat and heard a soft distressed sound.

As quietly and as sweetly as he could he called for you.

The room seemed even more silent than before. Anticipation hung heavily in the air as the tiny door creaked open slowly. One wide eye peeked out disbelieving at the sight of your dead love in the closet.

“LAO!” The door burst open and your form crashed into him sending you both tumbling out of the closet and onto the bedroom floor. Your stomach made hugging him a little difficult but it did not stop your lips from finding his the moment he landed on his back.

You peppered his mouth, cheeks and nose with kisses, barely managing to get out a coherent sentence instead simply conveying your overwhelming joy in tears and a barrage of affection.

“H-how? Kung Lao, I thought I’d lost you forever. How did you come back?”

He cupped your cheeks in his hands, enjoying the warmth that he felt from your skin in his cool palms.

“Cetrion. She told me that if I came back and you would accept me then I could stay. That I could have life again.”

“Of course I’ll have you back. I’ll never turn you away, how could I? I thought that we would never be able to be with you and it nearly killed me.’ You placed your hand and his on your large baby bump. “I was so afraid I’d have to live my life without having my true love to share it with.”

Kung lao kissed you sweetly and held you in his arms.

“Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

Once you were both able to pull yourselves apart long enough to stand he guided you to the bed and helped you back into it. The rain was softly tapping on the glass of the window, now much lighter than it was before.

Kung Lao was able to rest with you again, he was able to sleep. But he didn’t need to, his dream already came true. He was with you again.

[hoardcloneheadcanons]

The Season 1 Villain: Mr. Blackwood

Summary [ A time travelling Martin Blackwood accidentally bullies his past counterpart and a young Jonathan Sims into getting together in order to gang-up on him]

 Yesterday Is Here is a time-travel fix-it fic of the Magnus Archives by CirrusGrey found on AO3 that I highly recommend. It helps emotionally cope with the tragedy of the actual series and it’s very well written.

I have my own ideas on what would happen in the fic if the time travel went slightly different and Martin showed up first, which now lives rent-free in my head as an AU to an AU. I’m hoping by writing it down I can free myself of it’s grip over me. If you don’t want spoilers for the fic, or seasons 1-4 of the Magnus Archives, stop here.

 In the fic Jon and Martin from the Archives have been married and survived the apocalypse together. Both use the Helen’s doors to travel back in time to season 1 of the Magnus Archives and prevent most of the tragedies from happening. Jon uses his spooky Archivist Powers to threaten Elias, extorting him for money and preventing the appocolypse. And both Martin and Jon dispose of the main villains of season 1 and 2.

But some shenanigans happened in Helen’s doors that make it so Jon shows up first and Martin doesn’t show up until two months later. Here’s my idea of what would happen if those positons got reversed.

-The Archival Staff call Future Martin Mr. Blackwood to differentiate him from their present-day Martin. I will also be doing so, from here on out.

-Jon is, of course, skeptical, and keeps insisting that this must be some long lost brother of Martin’s who is trying to scam them (Or even his father, despite Mr. Blackwood not looking much older than Martin). Mr. Blackwood proceeds to list small intimate details about each of them (how they take their tea, things that happened their last birthday. Stuff that would be very essentially Martin to know) but also sounds very impatient the entire time. He does not have time for Jon’s feigned skepticism and denial and does not hide it.

-It becomes clear very quickly to the Archival staff that Mr. Blackwood is a lot meaner than Martin. He doesn’t make tea for people unless he’s trying to corner them to talk to them, He’s willing to kill spiders rather than release them. Murder doesn’t seem that out of the question for him. And while both Martin and Blackwood are big people, Matrin Hunches and keeps his voice soft and tries to seem smaller. Blackwood does none of that and will push his way through people and/or loom sometimes.

-As a result Tim starts jokingly referring to him as the Anti-Martin. When Mr. Blackwood starts mentioning that there should be a Mr. Sims showing up, Tim insists on making a list of traits that he bets  Mr. Sims will have based on him being an “Anti-Jon”. The traits include: Wearing only bright colors, not-giving a fig about archive policy, believing all the statements (even the dumb ones), smiling, being nice to Martin, being social and (on a day where Jon was being particularly annoying) being cool.

-A few of them are totally off the mark, but many of them are actually frighteningly close to the truth.

-He ropes Sasha into it too. They decide together that Sims and Blackwood have a one-sided relationship where Sims is absolutely besotted and Blackwood either barely tollerates him or is seducing him for his Head Archivist pay.

(It’s funny because Jon isn’t making much more than any of the Archival Staff)

-Blackwood is fairly nice to Sasha who is reasonable and listens to relevant threats. Tim appreciates him for confirming and advancing the research he’s done on Robert Smirke and the Circus. But Martin and Jon hate him. He bullies them both in different ways.

-Blackwood keeps trying to convince his younger self to grow a spine, make some boundaries. He keeps trying to tell him that he can’t fix things by being nice to everyone. Martin does not appreciate it.

-Mr. Blackwood will occasionally talk like Martin’s Mum and it makes it hurt more. Not exact sentiments or sentiments but familiar phrasing and tones. Blackwood doesn’t know he’s doing it.

-Meanwhile Blackwood takes away all the “real” statements from Jon (the ones that won’t record on the computer) and spreading them out amongst the archive staff. He insists that reading them will turn Jon into an eldritch creature that feeds on human trauma and gives people nightmares. Jon thinks this is a load of absolute bull. (If you must read them, Jon, at least don’t read them outloud. Type them up or something. Don’t be stupid.)

-Jon’s the type of person who needs to know and asks all the uncomfortable questions, so having someone take away the only real information bothers him. Even if Tim, Sasha and Martin have the information it still bothers him to not know.

-Jon is also really insecure about deserving his job, and desperately trying to prove himself. So having a man burst in and tell him how to do his job stings.

-Mr. Blackwood also isn’t delicate when pointing out Jon’s skepticism is dumb. He says all the things Martin thinks but is too polite to say.

(”I’m sure there’s a very natural reason for Carlos Vittery to be wrapped up in spider webs upon his death”

“Are you serious? Jon, if you keep up this ridiculous denial you’re going to walk yourself right into something’s mouth just to prove a point. Or worse, send someone else into it. And you of all people should know supernatural spiders are dangerous.

“What do you mean, I of all people?”

“I think you know what I mean, Jon.”)

-Jon and Martin actually end up hanging out because they bond over their mutual dislike of Mr. Blackwood.

-Jon defends Martin agains Mr. Blackwood and vice-versa.

-The first time it happens, it’s Jon defending Martin and Mr. Blackwood acts surprised.

-(I don’t know why we should trust you. Even if all this supernatural nonsense is true there’s no reason we should take you’re word on how it works! You barge into the archives telling everyone what to do, fear mongering with tales of secret societies trying to cause the apocalypse, you upset Martin all the time “for his own good, you-”

“-wait, wait wait- Martin?” “When did you start caring about Martin?”

“What do you mean? He’s one of my archival assistants, of course I care about him.”

“Jon, you bully him more often than I do.”

“I-No I don’t.”

“You make it very clear what you think of his work and competence, Jon. And you send him to all the worst assignments. He let’s it happen because he knows he’s not the best at research, and he knows you’re under pressure from Elias, and he really tries not to take it personally, but it hurts him Jon. It builds up and it hurts him, even if he never says it does. So yes, forgive me if I think you’re being a bit hypocritical.”)

-Jon apologizes to Martin after that and really tries to be nicer because he does not like the idea that he’s as bad as Mr. Blackwood. He watches what he says around Martin a lot more closely after that, and keeps an eye on Martin’s reactions.

-Jon will tell Martin that he thinks he’s nothing he’s like Mr. Blackwood. He doesn’t see how they could be the same person. Martin is so caring, and helpful, and kind, and warm, and Blackwood isn’t. Jon is so wrapped up in his frustration that he does not know Martin is blushing as he says this. Martin suddenly has to go make a cup of tea. Right then.

-The next time it’s Martin defending Jon against Blackwood. Blackwood is happy that Martin is starting to assert himself but is exasperated that it’s only occuring because of his own failed attempts to get the archive staff to trust him. He suddenly wants his own Jon to come back so badly so he can tell him how ridiculous this entire situation is. So they can laugh together at how Blackwood advanced their younger counterparts’ relationship progress by at least 3 years by accidentally becoming the villain of their story, so Jon can tease him about it.

-The third time it’s Jon once again defending Martin, saying that Blackwood went too far, that he sounds like Martin’s mother and he made him cry. Mr. Blackwood realizes that, yeah he does absolutely sound like his mum and he has to leave and reasses his actions. He hadn’t realized he was picking up her specific way of critisizing-well-himself. It’s just how he talked to himself in his own head- which- well- which wasn’t great.

-Jon is so surprised that he managed to actually get one-up on Mr. Blackwood that he takes everyone out for drinks and insists on paying. Which is a nice distraction for Martin. 

-It also, Blackwood notices, means Jon is getting closer to his archive staff and hanging out with them. It gives him a bittersweet hapiness. He’s so happy that they’re all closer in this timeline, that he managed to force Jon into socializing and Martin and Jon to get close. But he realizes he did it by being the outsider and interloper that they’re defending against, and he’s not quite part of this new group of the archive staff. He’s happy for them, just lonely. Even Sasha and Tim, who he gets along with more than Jon or Martin, are wary to trust him. He’s not telling them everything. He has to fight against Elias without the aid of spooky Eye powers and he’s unsure of when Elias is listening, so he’s not mentioning everything. He’s not telling them who killed Gertrude Robinson. He’s being evasive on the reasons he does not trust Elias, and about what power succeded at causing the apocalypse.

-As the days go by with no sign of His Jon/ Mr. Sim’s coming back his old connection to The Lonely intensifies and he becomes able to turn invisible and go by unnoticed again. The archive staff notice that he becomes spookier and sadder and- slightly less human and it decreases their trust in him.

[Check My Blog for a Part 2. I am writing this in one sitting, but this particular document has become long enough.]

[megatraven]

What weird pregnancy cravings do you think Astoria MC would have in each LI route and how would they handle middle of the night cravings?

HMMMM well we have a couple canon ones already and i admit i dont know much about what a pregnant person might crave, but i hope this is fine anyways! :)

With Hades, she had a thing for pickles. He says she was putting them in their smoothies for a week straight (poor guy). She was also baking up a storm of, I imagine, very funky tasting items. Some came out fine, I’m sure-  pumpkin chocolate chip, apple oatmeal, raspberry banana crumb muffins. But then you’ve got the chocolate zucchini ones, the bacon-and-orange ones, the white chocolate and spinach ones. (Hades couldn’t look at spinach for an entire week after those batches.)

When it came to midnight cravings, MC always felt bad about waking Hades up when he already attended to her the entire day. She’d try getting out of bed herself, without disturbing him, but he was either always wrapped around her, or she just couldn’t get out of bed quietly enough, even with her aura muffling the sounds. Hades would always get up and hold her closer to him, kiss her on her cheek or forehead or neck, and ask what she wanted. When he gets it out of her (because she does try to resist most of the time, wanting to do it on her own), he goes and grabs whatever she wanted and a glass of water. He stays up with her until she’s fallen back asleep and he’ll rest easier after that.

For Astraeus, she had a thing for junk food. Astraeus makes a few jabs about her eating those weird little pickled fish that she used to hate, but she can’t stop eating them. What tips her off to being pregnant at all is when she reached for a bottle of soda, which she never drinks. Her cravings here are probably a little less weird since it’s more of a pain to go and get ingredients/snacks when you live in Tartarus than it is if she lived on the surface or Olympus. (She can only ask Astraeus, Selene, or Helios to get her a bag of chocolate covered potato chips so many times before she starts feeling bad about it-)

Midnight cravings are easy- Astraeus is so in tune with her and very attentive. She usually doesn’t even have to ask before he’s gone and gotten whatever it is she was craving just then. He’ll gently sit her up and let her eat, and rub soothing circles on her back that drain any tensions leftover from the day. He often takes time after she’s fallen back asleep to watch her and listen to her heart until he’s dragged back under sleep’s embrace as well

For Alex, she bakes just as much as she does in Hades if not more. All her food combos are weird, and honestly she’s just very lucky that Alex will eat just about anything if it’s made by her. They do draw the line, though, when she tries making orange mint chocolate chip cookies. They shudder at just the thought of them. Other than that, she’s simply got a sweet tooth and Alex often brings her a ‘surprise’ slice of cake from a nearby bakery they’re both fond of. (’Surprise’ because it stopped being one when it became a near-daily thing)

MC knows how hard Alex works, so she does her best not to wake them whenever she wakes up in the middle of the night with some odd craving. Sometimes it’s pickle ice cream, which they unfortunately have in their freezer, sometimes it’s pasta with chocolate sauce, and other times it’s something like cereal with whipped cream on top. Whatever it is, she can almost always successfully get out of bed and to the kitchen without disturbing Alex. However, in spite of her carefulness and quiet, Alex always wakes up before she’s finished and comes out to be with her. They might have a bite to eat too, and when they’re both done, they insist on carrying her back to bed, where they snuggle up with each other and fall asleep.

For Hydra, she becomes more obsessed with Hydra’s terrible cup ramen than he himself is. She hates it, too, but god she can’t get enough of it? Hydra thinks it’s hilarious at first because she’s finally seen the light, but it gets to a point where even he thinks it’s too much. That’s when you know it’s bad. At the very least, this is also a time where macarons are plentiful in the apartment. She learns a lot about making them and practically perfects her technique during her pregnancy. She always makes a few normal batches with flavors she knows Hydra likes, but the rest are.... not to be tasted by anyone else. (She makes a batch of cheeto-flavored, cheese-dusted macarons one time and suddenly her macarons are Not allowed to leave the house).

Midnight cravings with Hydra are a little frustrating, if only because every time she tries to get out of bed to get herself something, Hydra stirs and pushes her back down. It’s sweet, but it happens Every Singly Time without fail, and she always feels so bad that he has to get up. But he insists, and he’s incredibly loving as he does it. He teases her a little and she’ll tease back. Sometimes he’ll bring her back a little of her current craving and smirk when she starts eating and say something like, “If you wanted a snack so bad, I was right here.” She’ll try (and fail) to shove him out of the bed, and ends up laughing into his chest. He laughs with her, and gets up one more time to throw away the trash before settling into bet with her again.

For Medusa, she’s a little more tame in terms of food cravings. She still bakes a lot, but it’s more normal stuff than weird. She’ll ask Medusa about any older Greek recipes she can try to make, much to Medusa’s joy. She’ll maybe add a few little twists to a recipe, but nothing too bad, really. The worst she probably gets with Medusa is when she tried to incorporate bacon into her tea cakes which was a disaster, really. (She ate all of them, though. Medusa’s tea didn’t deserve that.)

Medusa is very affectionate when MC gets a midnight craving. Before anything, she’ll sprinkle kisses all over her face, smiling when MC does. She’ll ask if MC wants to get up with her, or if she’d like to stay in bed. Regardless of which she chooses, Medusa gets her the food she’s wanting and will sit down with her after making both of them a cup of tea. MC will rest her head on Medusa, and Medusa will card her fingers through her hair, whispering sweet nothings and ‘i love you’s. She’ll also grab a book she’s been reading to MC and read a few more passages, until MC has fallen back asleep. If theywere in the living room, or garden, or kitchen, Medusa carries her back to bed.

For Cerberus, she can eat all three of the brothers under the table. And that is saying something. Cerberus basically encourages her to try whatever weird food craving she’s having, and he’ll try it too! He’s not particularly picky and he likes pretty much anything she does. He and his brothers are totally on board with her cravings, even when it’s something like peanut butter cheeseburgers topped with ice cream. They went nuts for that.

With Cerb, midnight cravings are a little bumpy because he never knows how much to bring her. He’s always bringing too much and get’s flustered when she says so, but it’s very endearing that he cares so much and wants her satisfied. She shares with him when he’s got too much, of course, and at some point Cerberus says that he’ll miss their midnight snacks when the baby is born. To which she says, they’ll probably still be able to have them anyways since the baby will keep them up. He smiles wide at that. When they finish eating, they lay back down and cuddle against one another. He’ll talk about their future together and how excited he is to meet their little one until they’ve both fallen back asleep

For Chimera, she’s very adventurous with her tastes. Chimera will try anything once, even though half of what she ends up making or wanting is just straight up Bad. His own dishes (that somehow always have hot dogs as an ingredient. How? No one knows) are always right up her alley though, so he does a lot of the cooking when she’s pregnant. She has a particular craving for hot sauce during this time and puts it on everything. Every. Thing. Her cereal? Yep. In her coffee? Yes. Ice cream? Definitely. 

Midnight cravings with Chimera are a little silly, because he’s a silly guy. He’ll wake up when she does,even when she tries to keep quiet. He goes and gets her something to eat but on the way back in, he’ll be flirting up a storm, pretending to be her waiter or the chef himself. It always gets a little laugh out of her, which keeps him smiling, too. She’ll flirt back, or say how cheesy he’s being, and then he’ll crack a joke about cheese. They both go back to sleep with smiles on their faces.

[sorrydearie]

I really love your writings of scrubs JD/Cox! Just *chefs kiss* perfection! If you’re still taking prompts how about some hurt/comfort surrounding something happening to one of their kids? Who holds up the brave face and who breaks down in the hallway? Or is it both? I dunno I just think they’re both fantastic dads and supporting each other through the worst brings out the best. But no worries if this isn’t your cup of tea! Just thought I’d try to provide some inspiration. You’re awesome

Read on ao3

I.

JD almost walked past the room. Truth be told, he had expected more: heavily-armed guards and a handpicked team of on-call nurses, each trained in a top-secret government facility that specialized in the medical care of children. But Jack Cox’s hospital room looked remarkably like any other – except that it also looked like someone had robbed Sacred Heart’s hospital shop and dumped its merchandise all over Jack’s bed and nightstand.

Leaning against the doorway, JD took in the glowing nightlight, the assortment of teddy bears, the many get-well-soon cards. And the little boy in the hospital bed, looking lost and forlorn. Jack was still awake, nursing a mug of hot chocolate. His hair was all sticky-uppy; Dr. Cox must have ruffled it in an attempt to cheer him up.

When Jack noticed him, he gave him a small wave. There was a redness to his eyes that tugged at JD’s heart.

“You okay, Champ?”

“My tummy hurts.”

“I bet it does,” JD said, his voice warm with sympathy. “Mine hurt a lot when they removed my appendix.”

“Janice?” Jack looked at him with big eyes. “Were you… were you scared?”

“Can I tell you a secret, Jack?” He asked in a conspiratorial whisper. “I was very scared. But I didn’t need to be. The doctors here are the best and your dad is making sure that you get the best care in the world. Plus, you’ll have a super cool scar! The other kids will be jealous!”

The corners of his lips twitched, and soon enough Jack was smiling shyly up at him.  

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. And then, a moment later, “JD.”

II.

“Psssh, Carla!”

He watched as Carla whirled around, her eyes flying over him – once, twice – before they widened in realization.

“Dr. Cox? What are you wearing?”

Perry drew the hem of his fishing hat lower, almost knocking off the pair of tinted sunglasses in the process.

“I don’t want anyone to see me.”

Carla rolled her eyes. “Because you don’t want the interns to pester you?”

“Nnno, because-” He cut himself off and clenched his teeth, looking furtively around to make sure that the coast was clear. He didn’t have the time to deal with any witnesses. “I need your help.”  

He hoisted Sammy further onto his hip. In a truly desperate attempt to disguise him, Perry had dressed him up in a lion’s costume. It was the same onesie Jennifer Dylan had worn to Halloween the year before.

“Oh, hi Sammy. Don’t you look adorable!” Carla cooed as she reached out to ruffle the fluffed-up lion’s mane.  

“We were on the playground and he fell over.”

Carla blinked at him.

“He fell over, Carla.”

Still no reaction. Was he speaking in tongues?

“Carla, Newbie is going to kill me,” he said slowly. “He’ll file for custody and - because he isn’t an emotionally-crippled narcissist with a drinking problem and three restraining orders to his name - he will win. Which means I’ll be forced to sneak around the playground, hanging back in the bushes with the perverts if I ever want to see Sammy again.”

“Okay wow,” Carla said, shaking her head as if she’d just come out of one of Newbie’s patented daydreams. “There’s so much to unpack here, I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about you start by helping me fix him up?”

“He looks fine to me.”

“Fine?” Perry said, his words coming out a bit high-pitched. “You call this fine? His cheek is all scraped-up!”

She rolled her eyes but leaned in to examine the damage anyway.

“You mean that teeny-tiny scrape on his cheek? This one here?”

“I’ve disfigured him, Carla.”

“I’ve seen worse scrapes on Jack.”

“Yeah, but that-” He cut himself off, realizing how stupid he sounded. It wasn’t that he loved Jack any less than Sammy. It was just that… well, Newbie had trusted him. Trusted that he would look after Sammy and return him in one piece. And he had failed.

Carla sent him one of her looks – stern and judgmental. It made him feel like an insect caught underneath the cellophane glass of a microscope. Vulnerable.

“JD isn’t going to take Sammy away from you because – believe it or not – you’re as much a father to Sammy as JD is. Now take off that stupid hat and help me find the Spiderman band-aids.”

Perry grumbled under his breath but followed her anyway. “Do you have any Frozen ones? Sammy likes those better.”

III.

A cup of coffee entered his view. Coal-black and steaming, and just what he’d needed.

“Thanks, Newbie.”

JD plopped down in the chair next to him, legs stretched out and shoulders brushing up against his. Somehow his presence was enough to weaken the ache in his chest, the coiled tension in his shoulders.

It gave him enough strength to voice the worst of his thoughts.

“What if-”

“She’ll be fine,” JD said with such confidence that – for the first time – Perry understood how worried parents felt when they talked to a doctor. How much they needed the constant reassurances, the coddling and the consolation. The hope. “She’ll be back to adding new crayon masterpieces to our bedroom wall in no time.”

A strangled laugh escaped his throat.  

“Yeah,” he said, allowing himself to believe it. To believe that just this once, everything would work out in his favor.  

With a sigh, he slowly reached out to entwine their fingers in JD’s lap. It stopped his hands from shaking, and even managed to calm the frantic racing of his heart.  

And, he supposed, it was good to know that he wasn’t alone.

[stoopsbookstore]

Stress Relief -M-

Synopsis - Doyoung is rethinking his decision to give Jaehyun's cousin an internship. He's constantly messing up the shipping orders, he spills coffee everywhere, he takes too many breaks, but Jaemin is his best friend's cousin, so Doyoung deals with it. One day, Doyoung has been stressed out so much because of Jaemin's bullshit, he freaks out. His maid offers a source of relief.

Warnings - Office sex, Window sex, Phone masturbation (it's on speaker while they're doing it), mentions of a pregnancy/breeding kink, Power dynamic (CEO/Maid), Soft Dom!Doyoung (probably could've written him more dommy, but I was feeling a bit soft)

"I know he's your cousin, but holy hell, Jay, Jaemin can't do shit right," Doyoung held his head in his hand as he talked to Jaehyun about his cousin's daily antics, "he fucking ordered 500 tons of printer paper, we only needed 50."

"It's a simple mistake, I promise. He's just a ki-"

"He's 19 and he's a dumbass. This isn't the fuckup he's done," Y/N came over to Doyoung, handing him a peppermint tea and a croissant to Jaehyun, "Thank you, Y/N. I know you're related and I'm doing this as favor, but shit, dude, you couldn't given him an internship? If his parents wanted Jaemin to get experience, why not just do it with family?"

Jaehyun wiped his mouth as he took a bite of his pastry, "Blatant favoritism. Since we are related, the company would see it as a conflict of interests. It was either ask you or have him clean vomit up at the carnival with Yuta's younger brother, Yuto."

"Baking soda or corn starch," Y/N started wiping down the trophy case, full of Doyoung's medals and awards from years past and present, "Dries it out, that way you can easily vaccum or sweep it up. No smell as well."

Doyoung nodded towards Jaehyun, a smug smirk on his face, "See? No smell."

"Ok, asshole," Jaehyun threw a napkin at the older male, "I'll talk to him, tell him to shape up or clean up. Y/N, always a pleasure. I wish you could come clean for me, but what from I've heard, sounds like Doyoung gives you a hell of a paycheck."

"3 year contact, full benefits, an pet-friendly apartment with half-priced rent as well as Holidays off? I sure hope that's a hell of a paycheck," Doyoung stood up, shaking Jaehyun's hand.

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

"Jaeh-" Doyoung was standing in his office, pants soaked in various caffeinated beverages, his phone on speaker.

"I know! I know! He accidentally spilt coffee on your pants in front of Mr. Park and his son, Jinyoung! Just send him ho-"

"We were so close to a possible merger! A small startup was in my grasp! He even flirted with Y/N as she was cleaning up his mess!"

"Listen, I'll knock some sense into him, just one last chance, please?"

Doyoung ran his fingers through his hair, Y/N taking Doyoung's jacket as she attempted to clean, "Fine. One last chance, but if he fucks up again, he's out."

Before Jaehyun could say his thanks, Doyoung hung out, slamming the speaker, a piece flying onto the floor. His head pressed against the desk in annoyed anger as Y/N stopped cleaning his jacket to grab the disjointed speaker piece. Doyoung noticed as Y/N bent down, her skirt rode up, a sliver of her black cheeky panties showing. He quickly diverted his attention when she straightened up, placing the small object on his desk. Doyoung fiddled with his tie as he continued to watch Y/N cleaning his office, poorly hiding the thoughts in his mind.

"Y/N, you're always so hard working. Don't you have a social life? Any friends or boyfriends or girlfriends," Doyoung tried to talk in his smoothest voice, concealing his speech of any suspicious tones.

"Nope, I'm single and I don't really go out. Honestly, Mr. Dongyoung," a strain in his pants emerged as Y/N's voice became more sensual to Doyoung, maybe a sip of water would help, "I just kinda stay home, watch some Netflix or Hulu and play with my cat."

Doyoung choked on the water a bit, his mind dirtying up Y/N's sentence, "your cat?"

Y/N grabbed the feather dust out of the office closet, her movements much more fluid than Doyoung has ever realized, "Yeah. She's a little puffball, only about 2 years, her name is Mimi."

"Oh," Doyoung let out a relieved sigh, a hand reaching under his desk while his free hand continued scrolling mindlessly through a document, hovering the mouse over his two screens, "I bet she's really cute."

Y/N chuckled, "She's an asshole, but a great cuddler. So basically it's like having a boyfriend, except the cat knows how to take care of itself."

Doyoung palmed himself through his pants, continuing to watch Y/N as he pretended to be interested in the annoying numbers that appeared on his screens. Y/N smirked, feigning innocence as if she hadn't noticed Doyoung craning his neck when she bent over again to fluff the couch cushions.

"Is there anything else you need help with, Mr. Dongyoung? I know you're stressed, so I can stay if you'd like," Y/N subtly bit her lip at the growing tension, walking over to fill his mug up with more tea, "maybe help with some stress? I know peppermint tea can help."

Doyoung chuckled at the question, "we have very different ideas of stress relief, Y/N."

"What's your idea of relief?"

"Call me forward, but bending you ov-"

The phone rang, Jaehyun's number appearing on the caller ID. Doyoung breaking out of his melodic way of speaking and answering it with anger and annoyance, Y/N hiding her surprise at Doyoung's bluntness.

"What, Jaehyun?" Doyoung almost growled, a shot of hotness going to Y/N's core, "I'm sort of busy."

"So I talked to Jaemin," a groan out of Doyoung's mouth as Y/N placed his tea on the desk, rubbing his shoulders, "Don't groan. He says he's sorry for messing up the order, he said Ten's handwriting was atrocious and he misread it. He also said he wasn't flirting with Y/N, he was just trying to be nice."

"I think he was being more than just nice. Talking to Taeyong about how he would love to make out with her in the 15th story hallway closet?" Doyoung heard a little giggle from Y/N, a sense of annoyance coming over him. Doyoung pointed to the couch, Y/N thinking he meant to clean it, but as she went to grab the lint roller, he signaled her to just sit on it. He scooted his seat from out under the desk, turning it to face Y/N, the bulge in his pants noticeable, "that's not being nice, Jung."

"He said that? The little shit told me Taeyong said that!," the air started to grow hotter between the two, Doyoung pointing to the door and making a locking motion with his hands, Y/N making her way, locking it as Jaehyun continued to defend his cousin, "anyway, he just became an adult this year, we did stupider shit when we were his age."

"Name one time I fucked up by ordering 10 times the amount of product needed or I tried hitting on my boss's employee," Doyoung motioned Y/N to take off her panties, Y/N sliding them down her legs as she walked back to the couch, throwing them at Doyoung, the fabric landing on his black suit pants, "Seriously dude, one time."

Jaehyun stammered as he failed to register one time that Doyoung had fucked up as badly as Jaemin, "there was that one time at Cube Cafe where you spilt coffee o-"

"On Y/N. Who, if I remember correctly, said it was her fault, we exchanged numbers and three years later, in a cruel twist of fate, became my employee," Doyoung unzipped his pants, his free hand going in his pants, the sight entrancing Y/N to start teasing herself, "The defense being one situtation was two college students being dumbasses on campus while the other is a college intern being a dumbass towards a CEO."

"Fuck, I hate when you're right. But you know you did that on purpose so you could 'talk to the pretty girl with the caramel frappuccino', don't even lie" Jaehyun sighed over the phone, Y/N unzipping the back of her uniform, exposing a matching black bra, Doyoung finally pulling out his cock as he started pumping, "I'll talk to Yuta, see if he can give a job to Jaemin that doesn't involve vomit. I'll call you in a bit, bye dude."

"Alright bye," the line went dead as Doyoung let out a growlish moan, his eyes watching Y/N push in one finger, "God, I needed this release."

"So you were saying?" Y/N pulled out one of her breasts from her bra, rolling the nipple with her free hand as she added another finger, "how do you relieve your stress?"

"Where was I before I was interrupted?" Doyoung kicked off his pants, pulling his boxers up as he walked over to Y/N, pulling her fingers out of herself as he helped her up to her feet, "I think I was talking about bending you over my desk, in your maid outfit or even naked. But I like the outfit better, it just reeks of desperation, so hot and passionate, I couldn't wait to strip your clothes, so I just said fuck it and started fucking you."

The two walked over to Doyoung's desk, him grabbing at the papers and files, moving them out of the way, Y/N playfully swaying her hips. Doyoung pulled down his boxers again, this time taking them off as he leaned Y/N over his desk. He flipped her skirt up and pulled her bra all the way down as he reached in his desk junk drawer to pull out a condom. Rolling it on, he rubbed his cock over Y/N's core, gathering some of the wetness that had occured.

"Of course, a condom for safety. As much as I'd love seeing you with a swollen belly and covered in my cum, we can't do that right now. You'd look so beautiful carrying my kids, then I'd get to spoil them as they grow up," Doyoung pushed into Y/N, a moan escaping her lips as her breasts pressed against the glass table, the coldness bringing a new sensation against her warmimed body, "we can talk about that later, if you'd like. To be honest, I've thought about you and I doing this ever since I spilt that drink on you."

"Was it in purpose like Jaehyun said?" Y/n questioned as Doyoung kept thrusting, the glass desk moving in rhythm with the pair, "needed a reason to talk to me? It seems like you got a bunch of more confidence."

"Could you tell? Becoming a partial CEO with your brother of a multi-million clothing company can do wonders," Doyoung admittedly regretfully pulled out, bringing Y/N to his chest as he became nibbling on her neck.

"Why did you pull out?" Y/N arched her back and started rubbing her thighs together, "do you have a meeting?"

"No, hell no, not until later. I would cancel it if I did," Doyoung walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk, opening the curtains as he looked over the 6th story pane of glass, "come here."

Y/N walked over to Doyoung, his hands finding their way to her hips as he turned her around, unzipping her top the rest of the way and throwing it aside, leaving Y/N in just her bra, skirt and stockings, Doyoung slipping off her kitten heels as he kissed up her legs.

"So gorgeous, so beautiful," Doyoung kissed Y/N's back, shivers spreading throughout her body as Doyoung reached her neck, light bites accessorizing her skin, his long fingers tangling in her hair, pushing into Y/N, "I don't think you've seen my house in the few years we've known each other, we should change that, show you some of my toys I have, maybe get you some."

The sharp, calculated thrusts and smug taunts from Doyoung made Y/N hum in ecstasy, Doyoung's free hand reaching down Y/N's skirt to play with her clit. Y/N grabbed at Doyoung's forearm as he started at a fast pace, his fingers rolling the small bundle as he kept up fucking Y/N into the window. Doyoung pulled out for a second time, spinning Y/N so the duo is now face to face, Y/N biting Doyoung's lips. Slipping in one more time, Doyoung lifted Y/N's leg to rest on his hip.

"I want to take you on a date, I want to make you mine, years of seeing you in those skirts and shirts that my brother has designed," Doyoung leaned down to kiss Y/N's breasts, his thrusts starting to be more sloppy, "your tits peeking out of them, your skirt raising up everytime you reach up to clean the higher shelves."

Y/N leaned down to bite down on Doyoung's neck, her moans muffled and vibrating against his sweaty skin. Doyoung felt his high coming on, his thrusts slowing down, milking every drop into the condom. He pulles out, tying the condon and throwing it away. Noticing Y/N didn't get off, he dropped to his knees, spreading her legs apart, kissing her thighs.

"Doyoung, you don't have to do that, I'll be fine, I should get back to work, the 4th floor needs to be done and I have a vibr-"

"It's the gentlemen thing to do," Doyoung kiss her clit as Y/N leaned her head back on, the pleasure spreading through her body, "I'll have Hongjoong do it, don't worry."

Doyoung sucked and lightly nibbled on Y/N's clit, pushing 3 fingers into Y/N as he thrusted them in and out, working to Y/N's high, he would feel bad if he got off and she didn't, even though he's her boss and this started because he need some sort of release. Y/N's thighs started to shake as Doyoung continued licking at anything he could find, his fingers going at a merciless pace once he found the spot that made Y/N go high-pitch in her moans. Y/N didn't even notice her high had came until Doyoung stood up and brought her in for an intense kiss, her essence on his lips as she could taste herself on him. Doyoung helped Y/N over to the couch, taking off his jacket and giving it to Y/N as he gathered her clothes.

"I can't believe I just screwed my bo-"

"The next word out of your mouth better be boyfriend," Doyoung kissed her forehead as he walked over to his desk, looking for a specific piece of paper and calling the front desk, "Hey Ms. Sana, can you cancel the rest of my appointments for the rest of the day, Ms. Y/n isn't feeling well, so I think I'm going to give her a ride home and make sure that she's okay. Also, ask Hongjoong to clean the fourth floor, I'll give an extra 1,000 dollar bonus this month."

"Ok, Mr. Kim, I'll do that right away."

The phone hung up with a click as Doyoung texted the valet to bring the car around to the back, Y/N putting on her shirt and Doyoung's jacket. Doyoung helped Y/N up as he slid her shoes on.

"Where's my underwear, those are kinda my favorite pair."

Doyoung took them out of his pocket with a smirk, "they're mine too and I think I'm going to keep them with me. I'll get you more pairs, one in every single shade, hue and color."

The pair walked out of the office, Sana looking concerned and shouting an admittedly adorable "Y/N fighting!" as Doyoung and Y/N made their way down the hall to the back elevator. They waited for the elevator to come to the 6th floor, Doyoung's hand gazing over Y/N's.

"So, I assume we're going to your house."

"Like I told you, I've known you for a few years and I want to show you my house."

Y/N sleepily groaned, "I kinda want a shower and a nap first."

"Fine, a shower and a nap first," Doyoung put his arm around Y/N's waist as they stepped in the back elevator, her head resting on his chest as she curled up into him. Then with one last devious smirk on his face.

"But then, I'll give you a tour. Maybe show you some of my playthings."

[in-tua-deep]

What if Klaus managed to hit Five with fire extinguisher? A) Five wanted to came back much earlier but got knocked back and all siblings see is his hurt expression B) he actually managed to stay but his face was messed up

adsfSDAFGHF an au that’s just everything the same except Five is walking around looking like the poster child for abuse thanks to a well aimed fire extinguisher to the face

i mean you could go down so many rabbit holes with this kind of ‘of want of a nail’ sort of things lmao like hey maybe Agnes doesn’t notice the tattoo on Five’s wrist because she’s too busy staring at his black eye and wondering if she needs to call CPS for this black coffee drinking child in her store 

which would mean that Hazel and Cha-Cha don’t track down the Umbrella Academy as quickly, which means that Klaus wouldn’t have been kidnapped wearing nothing but a towel or maybe even kidnapped at all, which means Klaus never met Dave, which means Klaus wouldn’t be motivated to get sober in order to see his dead bf, which means he wouldn’t discover he’s able to manifest Ben

I mean you might even think that maybe Agnes doesn’t go in the back because she doesn’t want to leave this potential-abuse-victim with his father-whatever she thinks the tow truck driver is to him, which would mean Agnes witnesses the time travel assassins and either a) dies (bad ending) or b) witnesses all of this and considering how well she took Hazel’s bullshit in stride just immediately adopts this tiny time travelling assassin and decides to help him out on his crusade which has the potential to be absolutely HILARIOUS like I bet you good money that sweet Agnes would absolutely be able to figure out the info on the eye?? 

Like if Five had anyone else other than Klaus I bet he’d go for it, and failing his mission to get info on the eye and knowing Agnes knows the bullshit going on he’s like “You know what?? you want to help so badly help me get info on this eye” and Agnes is like “hold my apron” as she amps up the ‘sweet donut shop lady who just really really wants to be helpful and she’s so sorry about her nephew, you see, he’s just come to live with her for reasons that should be evident because of his face and he has some behavioral issues and she very much hopes they won’t hold it against them while they’re in this delicate transitional period. in fact, little Fieval showing interest in helping others is really a very good sign for his recovery process and won’t they please help out??’

they walk out with the info they need and Five is just kind of like. hmm. okay. you can help. clearly he underestimated Agnes, master of manipulation and killing people with kindness

Five, walking into the academy with Agnes: okay so I need to work up some probability maps. you and Dolores can hang out, I guess.

Agnes, who actually does have several nieces and nephews and baby cousins who have left her with their stuffed animals and dolls before, very gravely: I would be honored, I’ll be in the kitchen making us some tea when you’re ready to join us.

Klaus, standing there with mouth open: UH actually what the fuck

Five, explaining nothing: ah yes. This is Agnes and Dolores. Agnes, Dolores, this is my idiot brother Klaus.

Agnes, witnessing this scrawny skinny man and activating her inner donut shop grandmother genes: why don’t you come have tea with us in the kitchen, dear. i’ll make some cookies, you look like you could use some meat on those bones. and you, too, Five! Stopping the apocalypse is hungry work, after all.

I fully intended this to be a short post but goddamn i am absolutely enamored with the idea of Agnes being the robin to Five’s batman. Or?? the Alfred? Agnes walking up to the Handler and saying that her behavior is not very nice. Hazel is just. Distantly in awe of whoever is hanging with Five and ends up having a few discussions with her while Five and Cha-Cha fuck something up and he just falls head over heels for her

Agnes: oh, yes. I have plans to visit all these bird sanctuaries. I have a big map drawn up and when this is all done I’ll take a road trip. Maybe I’ll take the kids with me, goodness knows they need to get out of that big old house.

Hazel: i uh. i hate to break it to you but uh. the apocalypse is in like, four days.

Agnes: oh yes that’s why I plan on stopping it. You see, I already went ahead and booked a hotel room for the first stop and it’s non-refundable I’m afraid. I’m going to see a california clapper rail in person, thank you.

Hazel: uh. what’s a california clapper rail.

Agnes, pulling out her book of birds and leaning over: here you see?? aren’t they lovely. they live in california, as the name suggests. they’re about the size of chickens and they rarely fly. how wonderful!

Hazel, absolutely in love: oh man that sounds pretty cool

Agnes, kindly: well if you’d like to join us I’m afraid that this apocalypse nonsense simply has to be stopped, first.

Hazel, already having swapped sides but doesn’t know it yet: UHHH

Five, warping next to them: okay I trapped Cha-Cha in the ball pit let’s get out of here

Hazel: i should uh, go take care of that

Agnes: well it was lovely talking to you, Hazel, I’ll see you next time you hunt us down? Oh! Here, you can hold onto this for now and look through.

Hazel, accepting the bird book and on the verge of tears: yeah that sounds nice

Five: i understand i’m really an old man but from the bottom of my heart i mean it when i say old people are fucking weird.

Agnes: now that’s not very nice, dear

Five: i’m not a very nice person >://

the ABSOLUTE SHENANIGANS and you know that Agnes just gently adopts all the Hargreeves under her downy wings and gives the best hugs?? Vanya: disarmed by the power of hugs and homemade donuts and the power of Agnes giving the whole family a disappointed look when they’re being mean to one another. and also the fact that if anyone says anything bad about Agnes, Five has knives and all the fury of being like five feet tall on his side because Dolores likes Agnes and they’re friends so

how did this au come out of five being hit in the face by a fire extinguisher why can i never stop at like one or two lines i’m a WRECK

but yes i’m calling this the poster child au where Agnes is about 80% more concerned and sticks around and ends the apocalypse by the power of being an ordinary person who is actually well adjusted and sane

[darkpoisonouslove]

I think that I need to bury myself in AU again... So, what about Griffin and Valtor in the Beauty and the Beast AU? If you want to know something about my headcanons too, feel free to ask, I really need to ease my mind😕

First, I’m pretty sure I got this ask just as I started watching the movie which might explain why I felt the inexplicable need to watch “Beauty and the Beast” right then and there.

Second, I already have a BatB AU in development but it is not ready and I don’t want to spoil my twist so I’m going to do another one instead. But don’t worry, there’s a twist here too. I think we can all agree that Griffin fits in the role of the Beauty as perfectly as Valtor fits in the role of the Beast. So I’ve decided to swap those roles.

1. Valtor does not get lost into the woods. He wanders in there very much on purpose, hoping that his mother and her sisters won’t be able to find him even with their magic. He stumbles upon the castle cloaked in clouds and shadows. The cobweb pattern on the windows looks like it is the only thing holding the pieces of glass together and the darkness inside makes it feel more like a tomb rather than a castle but he can feel magic in there so he walks in, searching for the source. Perhaps that will help him get rid of his “family” and their constant nagging. He manages to find the library and even take a peek at a book or two before he sees two golden eyes burning into him. He summons his own magic but the flames in his hand are extinguished almost instantly when the woman flaps her wings. Well, he thinks she’s a woman. A harpy perhaps? He doesn’t have the time to ponder that as he’s pressed into the shelves of books behind him, her claws on his throat and ready to sink in, purple feathers - the color of her hair - going up her entire arm to form something that isn’t quite wings but he’d taken as such in the dark. And with her face so close he can see her nose is long and looks quite like a beak but she has a mouth, too. She looks like a weird hybrid between a bird and a human. “You’re magic,” he says before he can even think about it all that well because she must be. A chuckle escapes her that freezes her blood. “Magic?” Her voice is a horrible screech “I’m cursed.”

2. She lets go of him - she can kill him any moment if she so wishes as she demonstrated already - and tells him about her students who decided she was too strict a teacher and cursed her to become the creature he could now see. Somehow he thinks that he should probably pay attention to the part with the curse but he’s more interested in learning about the magic she used to teach. Maybe she’s his ticket to freedom. The woman - Griffin, and that is a bit ironic but it was probably the point of the curse - tells him that she could teach him but it will be hard work. And she needs to get acquainted with his powers. So he tells her the story of how his mother found him one winter abandoned in the snow and took him in because she knew he had magic in order to have survived in that freezing cold when he was just a baby. To her disappointment, he turned out to have fire powers instead of ice ones like hers but she was still “kind enough” - in her own words - to keep him around and feed him, teach him magic. As if any of that was done in his interest. She wanted his powers to take over Sparx - the city of fire that wouldn’t bend under her frost. And he was done being her soldier when all he got in return was abuse. And she would never teach him how to control his powers to an extent that would allow him to free himself from her. So Griffin was his best bet. She agreed to teach him but warned him that he needs to stay in the castle so that his mother won’t be able to come in if she came looking for him. It was a part of the curse that only allowed one other person to stay with her since the three girls who cursed her claimed she was impossible to deal with when her whole attention was on one person that she’d torture to her heart’s content. He wasn’t sure how successful the whole curse was since she wasn’t completely turned into a monster. But with time it became clear that that was exactly the point and it was far more effective than he could have suspected that first night.

3. “That looks painful,” Valtor commented as he saw her pulling at one of the feathers to smooth it. “It is,” she said and didn’t offer more but he soon learned just how true the sentiment was. The feathers blocked her magic which was why she could do nothing to break the curse. And she could fly short distances with them but she was trapped inside the castle so it was no use. Just like his lessons didn’t seem to give result and only frustrated them both more and more. It was quite the same as it was with his mother when Griffin wouldn’t stop repeating at him that he wasn’t doing enough. But at least she wouldn’t hold back knowledge from him like his mother would so he bit his tongue and let her step over his pride in the name of freedom. Or at least he hope that was where this road was going because he was starting to get antsy trapped in the castle day in and day out but when Griffin told him his mother had found the way there, he knew he had no other choice. So he decided to do more and stayed up one night going to the library to grab some books only to find Griffin there. “Don’t touch them,” she said, startling him like she always did and he hated it like he always did. “Those spells are too powerful to be performed by one person,” she explained before he could snap at her about not giving him access to them. He looked at the book but the title was written in hieroglyphs he couldn’t understand and he wasn’t even sure how she saw them from so far away. “Is your sight enhanced or…?” She walked over to him and gave that chuckle again but her eyes seemed to lose some of their light this time. “Do you think birds can read?” she asked and he felt like she’d pushed a whole shelve on top of him to crush him under it. She couldn’t read. She couldn’t read and he hadn’t realized it because she’d taught him so many spells that he can’t have assumed she had them all memorized. And the books… she knew where every title was which explained why she was so mad when he put something in the wrong place. “Do you want me to read you something?” he asked because he’d seen the way she looked at books, and how she handled them carefully so that she wouldn’t hurt them with her claws. They were a part of her soul and it pushed all of his air out to know she couldn’t enjoy them anymore. Only the way her eyes seemed to light up at that helped him find the breath to read to her the book she pulled out and the tears he saw falling from her eyes at hearing the words for the first time in so long somehow made his fires burn stronger.

4. She joined him for breakfast for the first time the next morning but he almost wished she hadn’t when another horrible realization struck. The way her nose had been shaped by the magic made it impossible for her to drink from a cup or glass. She could only use a spoon to take in liquid and that explained all the dust on that binder with information about tea and recipes. The curse had taken away another thing she’d loved and he felt his throat tightening but he had to ask. “How did you spend your time when I wasn’t here to pester you?” “You’re not pestering me.” And that was enough of an answer because he could see her getting frustrated when a spell failed but it was still better than having to do nothing all day. And he could see how her voice would be so hoarse if the only thing she’d had left to do had been to scream. So he vowed he’d help her find a way to break the curse once he was free from his mother and he started asking questions about her, about what she liked to do. She seemed to open up despite the pain that remembering better days seemed to bring her. She told him about her passion in astronomy that was also sent to hell since she could never operate a telescope with the claws she now had and perhaps her bird vision would get in the way of that too. He wasn’t quite sure how she saw the world now but he knew it had to be very painful for her. And she also told him about the times when the castle had been full of students and she’d loved to see them learn but she’d chased them all away with her impossible standards and brought the curse upon herself. And he could finally see the difference between her and his mother even when their methods were the same. She cared about the students even if her perfectionism came from feeling like she wasn’t a good enough teacher. She cared about them even after all this time. And his mother only cared about herself. So he knew he was right in his desire to want to help Griffin and he tried to do his best in his lessons while she seemed to become more lenient. She even indulged him to a sparring even when she didn’t have her magic but he soon learned he was still no match for her when she had him pinned to the ground and immobilized with a little boost from her wings. She seemed to adapt even to her terrible circumstances and he couldn’t help but admire her. So when she let him roam the library unsupervised, he took the opportunity to read up on astronomy and find out how to operate the telescope to surprise her. He had to sneak out on the terrace to set it up. She did try to protest because they shouldn’t be even out there with his mother knowing to look for him in the castle but he saw there wasn’t a lot of fire in her words and she let him lead her outside, the tears coming out again at seeing the stars through her telescope again. She hugged him before rushing inside to gather herself and he would’ve stood there on the terrace for a long while to do the same if the doors hadn’t shut with a bang behind her, leaving him trapped outside. His mother was in the castle.

5. He didn’t have time to panic or think up a strategy because the doors froze over and crumbled to pieces, his mother’s magic getting even through the curse and he was sucked in by a wind that she could have only summoned if she had her sister’s powers. Which she did. She seemed to have gotten both Lysslis and Tharma’s powers if the way Griffin was clutching at her head and trying to cover her ears was anything to go by. Valtor did his best to defeat his mother but he was no match for her, especially now. And he couldn’t even be happy that he’d managed to make her let go of Griffin when all he could do for her was disappoint her. “I’m sorry, Griffin,” he said when his mother captured him in ice and turned back to her to finish her off. “He’s useless,” she spoke, staring Griffin down, and he couldn’t help but agree as he remembered that time he’d destroyed some drapes and a few books when he’d lost control of his fire and how Griffin had gotten hurt when he’d accidentally summoned a few monsters by mispronouncing a spell that was meant to revive plants. “And so are you.” That certainly had his eyes snapping open for him to see the way Griffin’s were burning with rage as she’d been deeply offended. “He’s not,” she said, surprising him when she defended his pride instead of her own. “He’s a great student, eager to learn and putting so much passion in his work.” That’s not how he’d interpret making a hole in the wall of the castle that had only gotten fixed because it turned out the structure was alive and had a heart pumping magic into its walls but thinking back on it, he remembered she’d scolded him but had never insulted or punished him like his mother had. And he couldn’t understand how he hadn’t noticed that earlier. But he’d been busy sulking over his hurt ego. “I’m proud of him,” Griffin said before a groan filled his ears and he thought it was Belladonna that was trying to kill her for the insolence to oppose her but the light coming from Griffin refuted that idea. It was the curse that was breaking. And there was more light when a portal opened, spitting out three young women - the students that had cursed her. “Girls?” “Miss Griffin. You broke the curse.” They seemed… relieved. And the energy in the room seemed to flow towards them just like it was doing with Griffin. The curse was no longer draining their powers to stay in place and Griffin was getting her own magic back. Enough to get on her feet and conjure a shield when Belladonna tried to attack her. “Miss Griffin, can you forgive us?” “If you forgive me.” They all nodded and joined her but the shield was soon blown to pieces, Belladonna’s powers growing as her rage did. Griffin seemed to focus, channeling all the energy of the castle through herself and her students helped, too, giving her their own energy. A big explosion of magical energy swept over him and sent the three witches to the ground. It would’ve done the same to him if he weren’t pinned in place by the ice. Belladonna was gone and Griffin was barely standing on her feet. He was by her side and caught her in a moment, not even recalling when he’d broken free from his bonds but that didn’t matter. She was in his arms and she was alive, the curse broken, her magic flowing to help her recover when the feathers had disappeared and the claws were gone too, her nose a human feature again. And her eyes were still so golden when she opened them. “Griffin,” he cupped her cheek and she returned the gesture. “Valtor. You’re free now. She’s gone. All her magic and that of her sisters was swallowed by the tower’s heart and will keep charging it instead of doing damage. And all three of them must have unraveled without their powers to hold them together after they kept draining power from the world to sustain their lives for so long.” It was the best news. He was free and she was free too. And she seemed to fix her relationship with her students. They even agreed to stay and study under her again and he would do the same since there was much more to learn and now that neither one of them was trapped, they could go out on the terrace to look at the stars without worrying about anything. And he could listen to her read to him her favorite stories which was more than pleasant, especially when her voice started returning. It was beautiful to hear her pronounce spells that could make the ground shake with the power woven in them but she was controlling them to make sure there wouldn’t be any damage. And of course her suggestion for them all to stay with her as colleague tutors was music to the ears. “We can even open Cloud Tower for students again.” “Cloud Tower?” Valtor asked as he hadn’t heard the name before. “That sounds…” “What?” “Fitting.” “You were going to say stupid.” “Never. Maybe a bit cheesy, though. But nothing you do is stupid.” “You have to promise not to be like that if we’re going to work together,” Darcy said. “Like what?” Valtor asked as he couldn’t understand. “So disgustingly in love,” Icy gave a shudder that was at least partially faked. Valtor gave a shocked gasp. “We’re in love? Griffin, were you aware of that?” he turned to look at her to see her shaking her head at him with an amused smile on her face. “Let me see,” she said before leaning in to kiss him and causing a storm of protests from the three girls before Stormy’s wind lifted them in the air and left them on the terrace where they’d have their privacy and the girls wouldn’t have to watch them. Just in time to see the shooting star that crossed the sky but there was nothing more he could wish for. He had everything.

[bxcksdoll]

Hidden Identities

Pairings: Peter Parker x reader

Summary: Y/N is the daughter of Tony Stark and Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Neither of you know your other identities so you’re both quite confused when you meet each other at one of Tony’s parties.

Request: i just thought about reader and Peter being really good friends and having crush on each other , but they both have like huge secrets. she doesn't know the truth about spiderman and he doesn't know that she is tony's daughter (she has like fake identity so no one at school will judge her because of her surname) and they find out in some silly way (maybe also confess their feelings), do you think that you can write something like this? have a lovely day💜

Warnings: none

A/N: Sorry that this took me so long to write! i hope this is what you wanted :)

“He’s just your friend, that’s all. You can do this, you do this every day,” you mumbled to yourself, in the mirror. “You don’t have feelings for him, okay?” Your statement was more like a question. Every day you gave yourself this pep talk and every day it failed as soon as you saw him. Peter Parker.

Peter Parker was one of your closest friends - a person you could rely on no matter what. You had developed feelings for him over the past couple of months but now they were bothering you to unbelievable levels. When around him, your heart would quicken as fast as the rate of a premature baby’s, your hands would sweat profusely and would, sometimes even shake.

How can I be so flustered around him? you would think to yourself. I’m the daughter of Tony Stark - Starks don’t get flustered! For the record, you thought you were a lot more obvious that you actually were. What you felt on the inside was painful and overwhelming however your features never showed it. MJ told you time after time but you still wouldn’t believe her - you thought Peter would know by now how nervous you got around him.

Only MJ knew about your crush on Peter and she would tease you mercilessly if she caught you staring at him or talking about him in any way. But not even she knew your real identity. No one did. Your dad told you it was too dangerous to let people know your real name. Everyone called you Y/N Anderson instead of Y/N Stark; you hated your identity being secretive but it was normal for you by now. However, your heart ached at the thought that Peter didn’t know your real name - he didn’t know the real you.

“Right,” you breathed, ending your pep talk. Gabbing your keys, you made your way through the living room to the front door.

“Woah, woah, woah!” a voice called from behind you. You groaned, turning on your heels and being faced with your dad. “And where do you think you’re going, missy?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Out,” you answered, bluntly.

“Where? With who? For how long?” Tony interrogated you.

“With a friend at this coffee shop, that’s all,” you answered, rolling your eyes.

“Be back before 7; your mom and I are going out and I need you to babysit Morgan,” he ordered. You nodded your head, silently, opening the front door. “And I’ll be making sure you’re at a coffee shop, young lady! You know I can track your location,” he called after you. At that, you left without saying goodbye.

Tony was always so controlling, so restrictive. He just wanted to keep you safe but sometimes you felt he made you miss out on being a normal teenager like the rest of your friends.

After a short walk, you met MJ at the coffee shop. As you walked in, you spotted her in the corner of the room sat in a booth. She gave you a short wave and then put her middle finger up at you. You laughed in response, making your way over to her. She shuffled back into the booth and began talking to someone. For a moment, you were confused as you didn’t know you were meeting anyone else. The realisation hit you as you saw the back of Ned’s head. You didn’t expect to see him but the more the merrier.

“Heya Ned,” you slid into the booth next to MJ. From the corner of your eye you noticed a taller figure. Snapping your eyes towards you, you felt all the colour in your face double in volume. “Oh, Peter, hi! I didn’t see you there,” you laughed and saw MJ smirking at you from the side.

“Hi, Y/N. I hope you don’t mind that we’re here. MJ invited us,” Peter smiled.

“Yeah, she said you’d be cool with it,” Ned inputted.

“Oh, sure! It’s fine, no worries,” you lied, internally screaming. Under the table, you kicked MJ’s foot as hard as physically possible.

“AHH-alright! Let’s get some drinks or food, hmm? How about I go get some for the table?” she flinched, trying to move past you.

“Uh, yeah okay,” Peter replied, frowning, “I’ll get an iced tea - here’s the money for that.” He reached over and dropped it in MJ’s hand.

“I’ll come with you, MJ,” Ned offered. “You’ll need help carrying everything, anyway.”

“Oh, great! Thanks, Ned,” she replied and smirked over at you - knowing you’d be alone with Peter. You sent her a death glare but that just made her smirk more.

As they left, you turned to Peter, desperately thinking of something to say. Strangely, his attention was focused on something above you. Looking up, you took notice of the TV screen; the news was showing footage of Spider-Man stopping a gang from robbing a store.

“He’s pretty cool, huh?” you asked. Peter’s attention snapped back to you, raising his eyebrows.

“Who?” he asked.

“Spider-Man. I think he’s pretty cool. Secret identity and all that must be frustrating but he does it so well, knows how to not be seen. He’s like Iron Man before Tony Stark admitted it was him,” You gushed.

“Oh y-yeah,” Peter nodded, his eyes quickly flashing back to the TV screen.

“So...who’s your favourite of the Avengers?” you tried to make small talk.

“Uhm, I don’t know - Iron Man I guess,” he replied. “What about you?”

“I like the Black Widow. She’s really awesome!” you answered. You knew Natasha Romanoff extremely well - you’d consider her one of your closest friends. “I don’t really like Tony Stark, he annoys me.”

“What?! Really? He’s so cool, though,” Peter disagreed.

“Meh, he’s irritating. You’ve met him, haven’t you? I’ve heard you have some kind of internship, right?”

“Yeah, I do. He’s a really nice guy - if you knew him you wouldn’t think he’s irritating,” he smiled at you.

“Ha, you’d be surprised,” you mumbled under your breath. Luckily, Peter didn’t hear you and continued the conversation.

“What about you, do you have an internship or any work experience you’re doing?” he inquired, in a genuinely interested voice.

“Oh, not at the moment but I know a few people who could get me a job if I wanted. I’m just currently too busy with studying and homework - you know how it is,” you laughed.

Peter nodded, sighing, “I know exactly how it is.” Then, his curiosity got the best of him, “who-who are these ‘few people’ that could get you a job?”

“Uh, just my dad’s friends - he knows a lot of people,” you tried to make your answer as brief as possible, anxious that you would give anything away.

“I’ve never met your parents before,” Peter remarked. “They never seem to come to any school events or parents evening.”

“Yeah...” you tried to think of a lie. “They’re-they’re just very busy.”

“What are their jobs?” he asked. Your eyes went wide, your heart speeding up. What could you say? Your mind was blank. Luckily, MJ interrupted.

“Hey, you two,” she smirked, placing a tray with coffee and sandwiches on. “Having fun without us?”

“Yeah, we are,” Peter sent you a smile. “I don’t spend enough time alone with you Y/N, we should make an effort to more often!”

Your heart melted in your chest, your eyes lit up at his words and at the adorable expression on his handsome face. “You’re right, we should!”

MJ stepped over you to get into the booth, exchanging another smirk with you as she did so. Meanwhile, Ned patted Peter on the back. “Nice,” he whispered to him but you didn’t take notice of his words. Peter's eyes glared into his, mouthing for him to be quiet.

There was an obvious connection between you and Peter - everyone noticed it except the two of you. Both you and Peter thought the chemistry between you was one-sided so neither of you acted on your crush. However, Peter has come so close so many times; you were completely oblivious to this.

——————————————————————————

“Y/N, come on! We’re leaving!” Tony yelled from downstairs.

“Coming!” you called back.

Your dad was hosting one of his famous parties tonight and you were allowed to go. This was the first one of his parties you were going to; he finally saw you as a young woman and decided to let you go. In actual fact, Wanda and Natasha had persuaded him to bring you along. They promised to stay by you for the whole night, keeping you company and looking after you.

However, the problem in Tony’s mind was someone posting a picture of you at the party. He worried that someone from your school would see a photo of you at his party and that your true identity would be revealed. Therefore, he had ordered that no photos should be taken - under any circumstances.

You were ecstatic, elated, full of extreme amounts of joy. You couldn’t believe you’d finally go to one of your dad’s parties; you planned to get to know each avenger better, mingle with celebrities and have the best night of your life.

After arriving, Natasha and Wanda came straight over to you; you had a catch up with them as they asked you about school, what you had been up to lately and whether you had a boyfriend - everything anyone usually asked you. You told them that school was extremely boring and that you weren’t seeing anyone.

“But I bet you have a crush,” Wanda teased, winking.

“Mmh,” Natasha sipped on her champange, “tell us about him.”

“What?!” you became flus. “I-I don’t have a crush on anyone!” However, it was obvious to them that you did.

“Come on, Y/N, you can trust us,” Wanda persisted.

You were hesitant, not wanting to give in. To your luck, Tony swooped in to save you.

“Good evening, ladies, have you seen the kid anywhere? I could have sworn he was with you earlier, Nat,” he greeted.

“The kid? I thought I was the kid?” you scrunched up your face.

“Yeah, you are but there’s another kid - Spider-Man. Oh, you haven’t met him, have you?” your dad raised his eyebrows.

“Spider-Man is a kid?!” you exclaimed.

“Shhhh! Keep your voice down - if anyone asks, he’s doing an internship for me.”

“And how old do you mean when you say ‘kid’?” you asked.

“Your age - I think. About 15, 16?” You were shocked at his words, unable to process them. Never in your wildest dreams had you thought he was a kid - your dad often talked ababout him with praise but never once mentioned his age. You always thought of Spider-Man as a role model since you both shared a secret identity.

“He’s over with Steve on the couch, Tony,” Nat pointed to the toned super soldier talking to a much smaller brunette. You could only see the back of the boy but his figure seemed somewhat familiar.

“Let’s go get you introduced,” Tony waved you over and you followed him.

“Hey, Cap! Mind if I borrow the kid for a moment?” he asked as the boy still faced away from you.

“Of course, Tony” Steve nodded and sat up from the couch, walking away.

“Kid, I’d like you to meet my daughter, Y/N,” Tony gestured to you.

You stepped foroward as the boy stood up. He finally turned his face into your sight and you both froze is shock. Neither of you said a word and the looks you gave each other made Tony feel unsettled.

“Is something wrong?” he squinted.

“Y/N?!” Peter finally shouted.

“Peter?!” you responded.

“Do you two kno-”

“You’re Mr Stark’s daughter?!” “You’re Spider-Man?!” you both exclaimed at the same time.

“You two know each other?!” Tony demanded.

“We go to school together - he’s one of my closest friends!”

“Your dad is Tony Stark?! You’re Y/N Stark - not Y/N Anderson?!” Peter was trying to get his head around all this. “Is this why no one has ever met your parents?”

“You’re Spider-Man? You’re an actual superhero? What the-”

“Enough!” Tony interjected. “Neither one of you can say a word of this to anyone, alright? Peter don’t you dare reveal Y/N’s real identity and Y/N don’t even think about telling anyone Peter’s.

“Alright, dad.”

“Okay, Mr Stark.”

“Good, I’m glad can agree on that. Now you can go back to...whatever you were doing,” he sighed and left.

For the rest of the night, you and Peter fangirled and fanboyed together. Neither of you could believe the strange events revealed that night. Your new information about each other brought you closer together and you were inseparable through the party.

Your feelings grew even more for him; he was so kind to you, funny, caring and perfect. At the end of the night, he felt he finally had to confess his feelings to you; he didn’t want to hold them back now.

“Y/N...” he mumbled.

“Yes?” you looked up at him, through your lashes.

“You’ll probably just think I’m saying this because I now know you’re Mr Stark’s daughter but...”

“But what?” you grinned.

“I-uh-I...”

“What is it Peter? You know you can tell me anything.”

Your words calmed Peter’s nerves a bit and he proceeded. “I...Y/N, I have feelings for you. I’ve had them for months now but I’ve been too scared you didn’t feel the same way. I understand if you don’t but I think that we work well together and-” finally, you shut his rambling up with a kiss. He was surprised a first, his eyes going wide. But then he finally melted into the kiss, his eyes closing with relief.

“What the hell is going on here?!” a voice ame from behind you. Quickly, removing your lips from Peter’s you turned around to be faced with Tony.

“Uh, hi, dad,” you waved, wincing.

“What do you think you’re doing, young lady?” he demanded.

“Nothing...”

“That damn well didn’t look like nothing! Peter, go home - you’ve had enough partying for one night. And you, miss, I have a lot to say to about your actions-”

Tony continued with his lecture as Peter sneaked away. Before leaving, he gave a goodbye wave and gestured with his hand for you to call him. Tonight really was the best night of your life

[whatareyousearchingfordean]

Kiss From a Rose

The Witch in the Reunion

Summary: Y/n has been hunting alongside the infamous Winchesters for years now, but when an unexpected case pops up in her hometown, she finds herself struggling not only with her feelings for the eldest brother but with the things from her past that she has been fighting to forget.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Plus size Reader

Word Count: 5K+

Warnings: Language, angst, character death

Author’s Note: THE BIG REVEAL! Whodunnit? Also, the Seal song that the reader refers to is exactly the one you think it is... 

Catch up with the series masterlist and check out Alexandra’s Library for more works by yours truly!

The case came to an abrupt halt with no new leads, pushing the hunters into the weekend and much to Y/n’s dismay, the reunion. It was their last chance to keep their cover in town and any hope of talking candidly with those closest to the victim. The huntress had hoped it wouldn’t come to this and that she and the Winchesters would uncover the culprit before she was forced to parade her ‘husband’ around to everyone and everything she had run away from. Alas, she could never have been that lucky. 

The huntress spent her morning huddled under the cheap covers of the motel bed, mindlessly flipping through bad soap operas and cooking shows until she could no longer put off getting ready for the evening. Y/n took her time in the shower, allowing the boiling heat of the water to relax away the tension in her muscles. It also allowed for her time to think of some excuse to wrap up the cases without a conclusion, though she failed to find one that would convince the Winchester brothers. 

When turning the temperature control on the nozzle ceased to continuously heat the stream of water gurgling from the showerhead, Y/n reluctantly pulled herself from its confines, drying herself off and tossing her hair into a towel situated on top of her head. 

The steam from the shower billowed out of the bathroom and into the rest of her motel room as she went for her duffle, humidifying the large space with ease. Pulling out the matching bra and panties she had packed specifically for this occasion, she slipped the pieces on and topped them with a button-up flannel to finish her hair and makeup. 

Y/n went back into the bathroom and started up her hairdryer, focusing on her roots as she began. The huntress was about halfway through when a loud banging nearly caused her to drop the tool in her hand. She shut it off and waited, listening closely for the source of the sound. When it came again, she was sure someone was knocking to come in and she rushed out, pulling on a pair of leggings before going to answer the door. 

The opening of her door brought with it a welcomed gust of the cool spring air from outside and revealed the brothers Winchester standing side by side. 

“Hey, kid. We didn’t hear from you this morning so Sammy and I decided to bring you lunch, figured you might be hungry,” Dean held up the brown paper bag he was holding with a grin that matched that of his baby brother beside him. 

“Come on in,” Y/n agreed, stepping back from the entryway to allow the two giants into her room. The brothers went immediately to the small desk in her room, placing the food and drinks on the glossy wood surface. 

“Picked up your favorite, sesame chicken and fried rice,” Dean explained as he began to pull containers from the large bag. 

“Yum,” the huntress drew out her reply with a hum, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as she realized just how hungry she had unknowingly become. “You know me too well, Winchester.” 

Dean flashed her a cocky smile as he handed over the meal, topped off with an iced tea from Sam. She took it and perched herself at the foot of her bed, crossing her legs before digging into the meal. The oldest Winchester followed and seated himself next to her while Sam stayed in the desk chair. 

“So have you found anything interesting since last night?” The huntress inquired after a bite, trying to hide the hopefulness in her voice that she would get out of tonight’s event. 

“Nada,” Dean admitted around a mouthful of his lunch. “We’ve got nothing that strictly points to anyone, just a mountain of guesses. This bitch knows how to cover their tracks.”

“Yeah well in a small town like this, you learn how to get good at sneaking around,” Y/n pointed out. “When everyone knows everyone, you’ve got to be good at keeping secrets.”

“Is that so?” Dean cocked his head at the woman next to him, a devilish thought occurring to the hunter. “You know from experience, Y/n?”

“Yeah, you bet. All those years spent by myself in my bedroom were great for learning how to sneak around,” she scoffed, unamused that Dean was still riding this train. 

“I don’t believe that for a second. I bet you had your share of nights under the bleachers.” The huntress rolled her eyes at Dean’s insistence, the aggravation building inside her. 

“How many times do I have to explain this to you? I was not popular growing up and I certainly didn’t have any guys begging me to join them for some lame-ass tonsil hockey under the bleachers.”

“Bull,” Dean countered once again. The huntress groaned, tossing a pleading look at the younger Winchester in the hopes he could get Dean to let up. 

“Dean, I don’t think it’s any of our business,” Sam spoke up, clearly getting the hint better than his brother. 

“Just ‘cause you didn’t get any in high school doesn’t mean you have to ruin everybody else’s fun.” Dean laughed at his joke, elbowing Y/n in an attempt to get her to join in his teasing and failing miserably. Sam only frowned at his brother.

“You want to know the truth?” The bubbling in her gut had spilled over, turning into word vomit that she couldn’t have stopped no matter how much she wanted to. “I didn’t lose my virginity until I was twenty-three in the quickest and most pathetic night of my life. And it’s not like I was exactly getting much of anything before that either.

“It’s fine though. I wasn’t ready until I was ready and I’ve so moved on from the nightmare that was my early twenties.” Y/n decided to tack on that last tidbit in an ill-conceived attempt to lighten the admission that had slipped from her tongue. Heat flooded her neck and cheeks as she noticed the brothers staring at her in confused awe. 

She absolutely could not believe that she had admitted that in front of either of the brothers, but most of all Dean. There was now no way after this weekend he would ever look at her without pity, only seeing her as the bullied little girl who never so much as received a look from a man until after college. If the floor could swallow her whole at this moment, that would be great. 

“Right… thanks for lunch, guys, but I need to finish getting ready,” the huntress cleared her throat after an awkward moment of silence, her eyes desperate for them to leave for her to save face in one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. 

“Uh, of course. We’ll just…” Sam coughed out the jumbled words as he rose from the chair and went to his brother, gripping his bicep and tugging him alongside as the brothers stumbled from the room. 

Y/n fell back against the mattress with a huff, mentally kicking herself for everything she had ever done or said in front of Dean. The hunter somehow had this hold over her, always managing to get her to admit things she didn’t wouldn’t even say aloud to herself. If she keeps it up at this pace, she will be on the path to permanently removing herself from the Winchesters’ life if she ever hoped of retaining some sort of dignity. 

Silently, she finished up the meal they had brought her before heading back to finish what she had started. Once her hair was completely dried, she curled the length of it into soft curls and then applied some basic makeup. Nothing too showy for a small town class reunion. 

Once she was satisfied with her look, she returned to the main space and took out her dress that she had hung in the closet last night after ironing out the thin material. It was a dress she had stowed away for undercover work, never taking it out of its bag unless desperate. 

The ruby-red material fell snug against her curves and never failed to make her feel more exposed than she was used to. There was a reason she stuck to comfy and bagging clothes, using them as a way to hide the parts of her body that she had a specific distaste for. However, the job occasionally necessitated she appeared more feminine, and this was one of those nights. 

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, the huntress topped off her look with heels and jewelry as she examined her reflection with a pout. Unsurprisingly, she easily picked out all of her mind's flaws, from her hatred of her flabby arms and the rolls that she subconsciously sucked in when she turned to examine her profile. 

A small knock at the door bounced her out of her thoughts.

“Come in,” she called, giving her reflection one final frown before turning to fetch her clutch. 

“Hey, are you ready to--” Y/n turned to see Dean’s eye’s traveling up the length of her body, his emerald eyes intense in their gaze. Heat coursed through her veins under his leering and she had to clear her throat before he snapped from his trance. “Sweetheart, you look incredible.”

“Thank you, Dean. You clean up nicely yourself,” she smiled sweetly, a stark contrast to the racing of her heart knowing Dean had been so intent on her. 

The oldest Winchester brother donned a maroon button-down that he had tucked into a pair of dark slacks. A few of the top buttons had been left open and he had the sleeves rolled up, revealing his forearms. It was a simple look, but enough to get any living being’s mouth watering at the sight. 

“Just need one more thing,” Y/n noted as she went to her duffle and pulled out her pistol. She checked the barrel and magazine quickly before putting the safety on. Raising her heeled foot to the edge of the bed, she hiked up her dress to her high thigh and tucked the weapon into the holster she had hidden on her thigh. The huntress dropped her leg and tugged her dress back into place. “Okay, ready.” 

There was an unmistakable clench in the muscles of Dean’s jaw as she walked across the room to where he stood. His brow was furrowed into a knot in the middle of his forehead as his eyes followed her movement. “Dean?”

“Hmm?” He blinked a few times as if he just noticed she had moved closer to him. “Oh, shall we go?” 

Y/n nodded slowly, confused by his sudden shift but trailed after him from the motel and into the parking lot. Dean helped her into the passenger side of the Impala and then made his way to his spot behind the wheel. 

Soft music played from the radio as they pulled from the parking lot and headed west. Besides the soft melodies of Bob Seger and Neil Young, the inside of the car was quiet. Y/n was lost in thought as once again as the anxiety over the night ahead began to simmer in her belly. The cheap gold band that encompassed her finger felt like a heavy neon sign flashing at everyone and indicating the blatant deceit she and Dean were attempting to portray. 

“Hey,” Dean spoke softly beside her, placing his palm against her bare knee to get her attention. “Sam will be close by, just in case.” 

“Yeah, I know,” she replied with a soft smile. Dean had picked up on the waves of anxiety rolling off of her, but he had read the situation so wrong. 

“Then what’s up, sweetheart?”

“Just thinking about possibly having to face a monster in heels,” she lied, easily squeaking out a fake laugh for him. 

“Well, I’ve seen you kick ass in heels plenty of times before so I doubt tonight will be any different.” He squeezed his grip on her, giving her a flash of a grin before turning back to the road. 

“I didn’t say I couldn’t do it, just that I’m not particularly fond of it,” Y/n pointed out and Dean nodded with a chuckle. 

Neither brought it up again in the final few miles of the drive. When they pulled into the parking lot, it was filled with far more cars than it had been just a few days prior. The party was already in full swing, the music audible as the pair stepped out of the Impala. 

“Alright, shows on.”

Dean took the huntress’s hand and guided her into the school. The two checked in and filled out name tags before entering. The decorations had the gym looking like a cheap prom. A tunnel of balloons shepherded people into the gym where they were greeted by more balloons and streamers strategically placed all over. There hung a disco ball in the center of the room where a makeshift dance floor already had people swaying to the beat. 

“Oh, you two did make it!” The shrill sneer had the hunters snapping their heads towards the dessert table where Janelle was already rushing towards them with a malicious grin on her face. 

“We said we would be,” Y/n replied coldly, unable to hide the roll of her eyes. Janelle ignored her and drew her gaze to Dean then, her eyes hungry as she set them on the green-eyed man without a care about the woman whose hand he still held. Y/n scoffed and stalked off towards the drink table without a word. 

“Mm, are you sure you and jelly belly over there are working out?” Janelle husked out as she stepped into Dean’s personal space. 

“Slow down,” Dean huffed as he stepped back from the brazen woman. The warning was low but the narrowing of his eyes told her she meant business. Janelle frowned as the hunter turned on his heel and followed where his partner had gone. He slinked silently to her side and put an arm around her waist to pull her close before he left a light peck to her temple. 

“Jesus Dean,” the huntress exclaimed as she jumped from his touch, her instincts ready to fight before she caught his grin out of the corner of her eye. “Warn a girl next time.”

“Where is the fun in that?” The Winchester had fallen back into his usual goofy self with ease, opting to steal the glass of whiskey she had poured herself after she dumped the whole of its contents down her throat in one go. 

“You’re going to have to take it slow there, Mrs. Walker, we’re on a case still,” Dean chuckled as he refilled the glass for himself. Y/n grumbled her dissatisfaction though she knew he was right. Instead of fighting, she pulled him back into the crowd of people to continue their intel gathering. 

Not much came from their hopping between groups of Y/n’s former classmates. The women spent most of their time too busy drooling over Dean to answer any questions beyond small talk and the guys simply acted as if the huntress didn’t exist, instead only talking to her partner for a majority of their conversations. It was irritating as hell for her, to be right back into the toxic environment that had scarred her psyche all those years ago. Not to mention, they were not one step closer to figuring out who their witch was. 

When dinner was eventually served, Y/n was more than ready for the reprieve it would bring from having to put on a show for the last people she would ever care about. 

“So, let’s go over what we know?” Y/n spoke up as they sat at an empty table in the far corner of the gym. 

“Damon still makes my skin crawl, I don’t trust him,” Dean answered as he scanned the crowd for the aforementioned guy. 

“I don’t understand why, we ruled him out already.” 

“I just don’t like the way he looks at you.” Y/n scoffed at Winchester’s insinuation that anyone from her high school would look at her with anything but disgust. “Him or Roger, whom, I might add, we have not ruled out.”

“Roger was just a horny teenage boy,” the huntress countered. “I think Janelle or Kate are our best guesses. They were the two closest to the victim.”

“They were all in a book club together, and you know what that could mean,” Dean insinuated. “That is until Janelle had a falling out with the book club which resulted in the vic almost failing to hire her as the caterer for this shindig. People have killed for less.”

“Damn it, we need proof,” Y/n cursed with a frown. “I want to get back to the bunker already.”

Dean nodded in full agreement to her sentiment. The pair finished their meals in relative silence, watching the rest of her class as they moved about the venue, hoping something might pop out at them. 

“Should we blend into the crowd and see what we can see?” Dean offered as he cleared his plate. Y/n cocked her head at him, unsure of what he was getting at. “You know, head out onto the dance floor.” 

“Oh, I am so not drunk enough for that,” the huntress declared as she adamantly shook her head. 

“Come one, we’ll have a better vantage point out there.”

“Fine,” she sighed, offering her hand to Dean as he stood and guided her underneath the disco ball, placing them in the center of all the action. 

The hunter began to move awkwardly to the music that emanated from the speakers surrounding them. It was far from anything he ever would have listened to and clearly that put him out of his comfort zone. Y/n couldn’t help the giggles that slipped past her lips as she watched, causing Dean to halt his dancing, his hands slapping against his sides. 

“Don’t laugh. If you can do better then show me,” Dean huffed, gesturing for her to go ahead. 

“Hell no,” she yelled above the music as the song switched, knowing that there was only one way she could move to the beat now filling the gym. 

“Do it for me, sweetheart.” Y/n chewed on the corner of her lips fighting with her self-conscious ways before quickly shaking away the fear and stepping up to Dean. 

“You asked for this,” she noted, giving him no time to respond before she began to move her hips. His hands flew to her waist as she rolled the length of her body against his in time with the song. The hunter began to grind with her, slipping one of his legs between her own, pressing the two of them closer together. Y/n pushed down the worries bubbling in her chest, focused on the music, and listening to her body. She spun on her toes and pressed her backside into Dean, who paused his movement for half a second before falling back into the dance. 

It was far closer than the duo had ever been and as much as that scared her, she took the time to relish in the feeling of his hands gripping tight onto the soft flesh of her waist and the heat of his body pressed against her own. The song faded out and with it, Dean snapped himself from her form, much to her dismay. There was no denying his abrupt action tugged on her heart. 

With a deep breath, she turned back to him, ready to face the music of having pushed him too far. Dean stood there rubbing the back of his neck as his tongue darted out to wet his plump lower lip. His brow furrowed before he turned to walk back towards their table. 

“Wait, Dean!” He paused and turned back to her. A sheepish smile formed on her face as the notes of the now much slower song began to grow stronger. “I love this song.” 

“It’s Seal,” he countered as if that was a valid reason to not like the song. 

“Please?”

The hunter relented, offering his partner a soft smile as he moved back towards her. Y/n looped an arm over Dean’s shoulder and took his hand in her free one. Hesitantly he slipped his arm around her waist and began to move the two along with the notes of the nineties song filled the gym. 

“What?” Y/n scrunched her nose as she heard Dean chuckle under his breath. 

“Nothing, it’s just-” Dean shook his head, the grin widening on his face. “Are we middle schoolers?” 

The huntress cocked her head, not sure what Dean was insinuating. Without elaborating, Dean took the hand she held in his and placed it around his neck with her other, tugging her body closer to him as he was now able to grip her waist with both hands. 

Her body went rigid as she could feel his breath on her face and the warmth of his body seeping through her dress. The length of his body was pressed against hers, firm and unrelenting. Flashbacks to their moment in the janitor’s closet flooded her brain and she could feel her heart rate picking up in response. 

“Sweetheart, you doing okay?” Dean looked down his nose at the woman he held in his arms. Having sensed her sudden discomfort, he asked, though he could guess why she was now riddled with anxiety. “Listen, I know what you are thinking but to hell with all these assholes and their superficial views. None of them know the real you. The smart, beautiful, and badass hunter that can knock me and my giant of a brother on our asses without even trying. They don’t deserve even one second of your thoughts.” 

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over as she refused to look at Dean. Instead, she chose to hold him close, ignoring his words that her mind couldn’t begin to accept yet as she rested her chin on his shoulder. 

“Y/n/n,” 

“Dean, just… stop, okay? I can’t take the pity,” she nearly choked on her words, the emotion building up like a pressure cooker inside her. It was about more than just the nasty comments and glares from her classmates, it was about the man she could never have. Dean had spent the better part of the weekend playing his role as a loving husband so convincingly that at moments she would almost forget that it was all a ruse. He was kind and supportive and flirty, all of it a deadly cocktail that would lead to her ultimate demise, a broken heart. 

“Jesus, it’s not pity, sweetheart. Did these people real fuck you up that bad that you can’t see the effect you have on me?” Dean used his hands on her hips to tug her away from his body, forcing the huntress to look at him now. 

“Yes!” she practically screamed the words, not understanding where the miscommunication was for him. The tears she had been trying to swallow down now traced down her cheeks anyway. “I’ve never exactly been the kinda girl that guys chased after, let alone the kind of girl you chase after. I’ve seen your hookups, Dean. I’m nowhere near the league of women who have gotten to share your bed. So why now?” 

“All those women were nothing but an easy shot. There wasn’t one second about any of those nights that was real. But you and the way you make feel, that’s real,” Dean insisted, his verdant eyes intent on making her understand. “Sometimes I feel like you are my other half. You make me laugh and challenge me in the best ways. Sammy loves you and you love him. You are one of the most selfless people I know and you tackle hunting with the most annoyingly positive attitude that just makes me want to be around you more. Y/n, you are the whole package.”

The huntress stood there, mouth hanging open at his confession. A million thoughts raced through her head but she didn’t get a chance to comment before movement in her peripherals caught her eye. Her eyes flickered towards the back door that led from the gym where Kate was slinking out into the darkness. 

“Dean,” Y/n hissed, nudging his shoulder before pointing towards the door. “Kate just snuck outside.”

“You think?” It took Dean’s brain a second to switch gears, but he didn’t need her to elaborate for him when it eventually caught up. 

“I mean it makes sense, right?” Dean shrugged but it was all the response the huntress needed. She took his hand and slinked through the sea of her classmates to follow their suspect. Once the gym door closed behind them, the pair readied their weaponry. 

“Split up. I’ll go towards the football field, you head that way.” Y/n gestured towards the parking lot. Dean nodded and stalked off in the opposite direction she did. Y/n held close to the building until she hit the corner, moving slowly around the brick to find the space empty. Her eyes scanned the expanse of the open area as she headed swiftly towards the football field. Her heels clicking against the pavement broke the silence of the late-night as she moved. 

As she drew closer, she noticed a light on inside the concession stand. She made herself light on her toes and put her body flush against the dirty brick as she headed towards the open window. Carefully, so as not to reveal her location, the huntress peered inside the shack. 

In the center of the space was a large metal island, the top of it littered with satanic paraphernalia. Kate had her back to the window, but Y/n was able to make out her soft chanting in Latin. 

Without a second thought, the huntress flashed around the side of the building and kicked in the door. 

“Ah, don’t move,” Y/n tsked as she pointed her gun straight at the witch’s heart. “One wrong move and I put one of these witch-killing bullets in your head.”

Kate didn’t seem at all phased by the weapon in her face. “Really, Kate? Witchcraft?”

“Oh, Y/n, you can’t even imagine the world of possibilities I have opened up for myself.” Kate’s lips twisted in an evil smile as she spoke. 

“Oh trust me, I can imagine.” The huntress rolled her eyes, far from amused at the witch’s attempt to make it sound like murder was so glorious. 

“Just eliminating the competition.” 

“Competition? For what?”

“Alec, of course,” the witch laughed. “You see, we made a deal back in high school and Sarah, well she decided she didn’t want to play anymore and it was my turn. So I took care of her. ” 

“Your turn?” Y/n shook her head at the sheer hilarity of it. “God, I have heard some crazy motives but this one, this one tops ‘em all.” 

“I should have known you were a hunter, waltzing in here claiming to be married to that tall drink you’ve had by your side. Well, guess what, we all saw right through it. No way you nabbed a guy like that,” Kate taunted as she took half a step in the huntress’s direction. 

“I swear to god, do that again and I will pull this trigger,” Y/n seethed, emphasizing her intent with a shake of her gun. Her blood was boiling, Kate’s words having the exact effect on her that she wanted. But she refused to give Kate the satisfaction. 

“Do it and see where it gets you, jelly belly.” The nickname rolled off her tongue, and Y/n couldn’t stop the small flinch it inflicted into her bones. 

“Oh, it will get you dead,” Y/n smiled menacingly as she recovered and pulled the trigger. Kate’s mouth fell open as her body shook and dropped to the ground, wasted. 

“Y/n!” The huntress spun around as Dean’s worried scream reached her. 

“I’m okay,” she assured as she stepped out of the concession stand, putting her gun back into the holster on her thigh. 

“Oh thank god.” Dean ran up to her, pulling her to his chest. “You kill the witch?”

“Yeah, the crazy bitch had some sort of pact to share Sarah’s husband back in high school. But Sarah reneged on their deal. So she killed her.” Y/n let out a full-bellied laugh as she pulled away from Dean slightly, though he refused to relent his grip on her. “Can you believe that?” 

The huntress nearly fell over in a fit of laughter. The sheer hilarity of the whole situation hitting her now that she was out of danger. It was like she was in some bad high school drama on the Lifetime network. She supposed she shouldn’t have suspected much from her hometown. 

It took her a second to regain her composure. She stood back straight, wiping the wetness from her eyes when she noticed Dean’s intense stare. 

“Dean, what are you--” her words were stolen from her mouth as Dean captured her lips with his. The huntress smiled into the kiss, her hands gripping Dean’s wrist where he cradled her jaw in his hands. Y/n’s head swam as the Winchester deepened their connection, angling his head just so to open her mouth to him. Their tongues danced together as the pair got lost in the feeling of the other. Only when the need for air became too great did the couple relent their hold on each other, the rapid rise and fall of their chests matching the other. 

“Are you two done? We have a body to clean up.” Sam’s voice startled them both. There was a hint of a grin in his eyes that betrayed the exasperated expression he was trying to portray. 

“Just another minute, Sammy.” Dean turned back to Y/N, a coy smile playing on his lips before he kissed her again. 

Part 6 (Final)

[aria-i-adagio]

Ch. 15: The Marrow of My Lazy Bones

Fandom: The Arcana

Chapter Rating: Teen

Wordcount: 3000

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“Dema!  Are you here?”

I roll over in bed and blink my eyes a few times, the voice calling my name only barely registering.  Morning again.  Those do seem inevitable.  And Asra is gone.  Also inevitable.  I hear footsteps on the steps and sit up.

“Dema?  I just let myself in.  The door was open.”

Portia.  Her voice is welcome; I could certainly use a friend right now.  I sit up and rub my eyes, before calling out that I’m in the bedroom.  She pushes aside the curtain that separates it from the rest of the apartment and pokes her head in.

“I was getting worried about you.  You’ve been gone from the palace for nearly two days.  Still asleep?”  

“Long night.”  I lean forward and bury my face in my hands.  “Really, really long night.”

Portia sits down on the edges of the bed and puts a hand on my shoulder.  “Doesn’t sound like it was a good one either.”

“No.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“It, um, involves your brother.”

“Ilya?  You ran into him again?  Oh -”  She grabs my hands in hers and squeezes them before finding a blanket at the foot of the bed and wrapping it tightly around my shoulders.  “I bet you need some food and tea in you.  Come on, I’ll make you breakfast while you tell me about it.”

Portia finds a mug in the kitchen, fills it with water, and pushes it into my hands.  I settle myself at the table, leaning back against the wall.  I take a sip of the water before remembering how stale it’s become, then cool it off with water.  Better.  Slightly.

“Um, Dema, how do you light your stove?”

“You have to ask the salamander.”

“The what?”

“Open the grate.”

Portia sets the full kettle on the stove and pulls open the grate, jumping back as the salamander pokes his vermillion head out at her.  “Oh, umm, hey there, do you mind lighting the stove?  Um, please?”  

He bobs his head at her and backs into the oven.  He doesn’t light the stove so much as he produces his own heat from the charcoal we fed him.  Portia watches him in wonder then closes the grate back.  “That’s not something I ever thought I’d see.”  She moves the kettle to the rapidly warming burner and then sits down across from me.  “Now, what happened with Julian?”

I tell her about the red poison leaking from the Palace into the city’s water source, then finding Julian at the edge of the reservoir.  Her eyebrows raise when I describe the eel bite and Julian’s peculiar ability to heal it.  I skip the interlude in the garden, landing us at Mazelinka’s after running from the guards.

“Mazelinka!  Mazelinka knew he was in the city and didn’t tell me!  Oh, I’ll have words with her!”  The kettle whistles behind her, mirroring her anger, and she gets up to fill the tea pot, still muttering under her breath.  She turns back, pot wrapped in a towel, and sets it down between us on the table.  “Keep going, sweetie, didn’t mean to cut you off.”

“Well, he had a nightmare.  Said it was about someone he had lost - had failed in some way.  But he did get back to sleep.  The next morning, well -”  I pause while the tea steeps, trying to decide on how much the next day I wanted to retell.  She pours me a cup, and doctors it with more milk and sugar than I would have added before pushes it into my hands.  I take a sip.  The sweetness is more welcome than I expected.  “He kept telling me that ‘we needed to talk,’ then kept finding one thing or another to put it off.  Not that I didn’t help with that.”  I took another drink of the tea.  “Well, at the end of the day, he -”

“Let me guess, he gave you a speech about how he would only hurt you, and you were better off without him.”  Portia’s eyes are sympathetic as she folds her hands around mine.  “Oh, I could just kick his ass right now.”

I finish my tea and pour another cup.  “I’ll help.”  This cup gets less sugar, but just as much milk as the first.  “But what’s happened at the palace?  I still have to finish figuring out what happened, if we’re going to keep the Countess from hanging him.”  

“Are you sure?  I’d understand if you want to avoid him, or thinking about him for awhile.”

“I’m sure.”  If anyone hangs Julian, it’s going to be me, and not for a murder that I don’t believe him capable of having committed.  “But how do we get him to cooperate?”

“Well, if I know anything about my brother it’s that when he gets like this, what he needs is a good ass kicking.”

“So where do we find him?”

“Probably holed up in a bar somewhere.”

“I bet I know which one.”

The Raven in the morning is mellow with light filtering in through the high windows, but definitely open.  A few patrons are gathered around a table, late morning breakfasts of eggs, sausages, and potatoes in front of them.  The perfect food to precede a day’s work.  Or to recover from a full night.

“Oh, my brother would definitely hang out at a place like this.”  Portia grabs my elbow.  “Look at those ceilings!  Is that a bird in here?”

The massive black bird ceiling down from the rafters, cawing softly, to land at table near the back.  A table with a possibly asleep, although most likely just drunk, Julian sprawled across it.  Portia makes a sound of disgust and stomps to the back of the room, pulling me with her.  “Ilya!”  She shakes his shoulder roughly.

He sits up slowly, wincing and looking from side to side, glazed eyes finally coming to rest on me.  “Oh, fuck, it’s you.  Or something that looks like you.”  He bats the not quite empty glass back and forth between his hands.  “Come to taunt me?  With things I want, but I can't have?”

"Julian, it is me."

"That's exactly, uh, precisely what a hallucination would say.  Or what the liquor would say for them."

Portia smacks the back of his head.  "You idiot.  She's here.  In front of you."

"Ow, Pasha!  Wait?  You're not."

"For fuck's sake, Julian!”  I don’t have the patience right now for this.  “And the vast majority of hallucinations are auditory not visual.  Don't ask why I know that."  It hadn't been a particularly reassuring fact, given the last few days and whispering cards, but at least it was good for calling bullshit on Julian's drama.  Something, I suppose.

"Betcha glad you're not, not with me now.  Look at this.  Who but a masochist would want to be with someone like this?”

"Ilya -”

"After all the things I've done - so many - I don't deserve to be loved -”  He flops over, burying his face in his arms, clearly trying to shut us out enough that he can pretend that we weren’t actually here.  Just a drunken daydream.

Portia grabs his hair, jerks his head.  "Have you actually done anything you, fuckwit?”

"What? I mean -"

"Maybe you're feeling guilty for putting me - and Dema - through this nonsense when you're actually innocent?  Thought about that?"  Portia grabs his ear and hauls him out if his chair.  He stumbles, falls back on his ass, and gives up falling the rest of the way back to sprawl on the floor, arms outstretched and laughing bitterly.  Portia balls her fists up and stamps over to the bar.  Barth seems to already know what she wants and passes a bucket to her without a word.  She summarily dumps the contents - only slightly dirty water over her brother’s head.  He stops laughing and flings an arm over his eyes.

“You two aren’t going away are you?”

"Julian, please, just help us - help me - figure out what happened.  Everything seems to converge on three years ago.  The Count, your mark, my missing memories."

He tosses his arm back to the side and looks up at me from the floor, blinking slowly as the water drips off his hair.  "What if you don't like what you find?  About you?  About me?"

"Can it be much worse than this?”  I kneel down beside him on the floor.  "You're a self destructive drunk, and I'm that and a madwoman hearing voices."  Julian may be the drunk in the floor at this particular moment, but I don't think that I've truly been meaningfully sober since the new moon.  "Neither of us have much left to lose."

"Don't say that."

"What?  That we're both at or near the bottom of our respective bottles?”

"That you're mad.  You, you're not crazy."

"How do you know?"

"Just do."  The words slur together t and d eliding into some middle consonant. 

"And I know you're innocent.  Come on.  Pick yourself up.  We'll figure out if we're right or wrong."

"Why do, uh -" he sits up and runs his hand through his hair, fucking droplets of water into the floor.  "Why do you still want to help me, after . . ."

"Because it's the right thing to do.  Even if . . ."  I let my voice trail off, unwilling to finish with even if you don't love me.  What kind of fool falls in love after a day and night?  Even if there is something from the past that neither of us remembers, it's absurd.  Folly.  But not letting an innocent man die.  At least it’s easy enough to make the right choice when faced with that kind of question.  “I’m not going to sit by and feel sorry for myself while you die for a crime you didn’t commit.”

He’s quiet for a moment, blinking at me with his single uncovered glassy grey eye.  “And I thought I was a masochist.”  He sighs and grabs the edge of the table, which from this angle, I can see has been wisely bolted to the floor.  With a single motion that is far too controlled for someone who is as drunk as Julian is, he pulls himself upright.  Lots of practice, I suspect.  Not that I don’t have practice with similar maneuvers to mitigate drunkenness.  “Well, if the two of you aren’t going to give up . . .  What’s next?”

I look over at Portia.  I haven’t thought too much about the possibilities for the next step. She bites her lip and looks from side to side before giving up on outside help.  “Well, we try to figure out who did kill the Count.  There are a lot of folks around the palace who are much shadier than you.”

Julian settles himself back into a chair.  The barkeep appears from nowhere and puts a glass of water down in front of him before winking at me and disappearing again behind the bar.  I suspect this isn’t the first time he's seen Julian fall in the floor.  Of course, the bartender at my favorite drinking spot has seen me in the floor multiple times, so who am I to judge?

“That’s not saying much.  I’ve, um, dealt with a lot of the people who hang around the court.”

Portia slides into the seat beside him and pushes the glass of water into his hands.  “See, that’s the kind of thing it would be helpful for me to know.  What else are you keeping to yourself?”

"It's not actually pumpkins in the pumpkin bread."  He swallowed half of the glass of water.  "Different sub species.  Moschata not maxima."

"The hell, Ilyushka!"

"I was keeping that to myself!”  He looks down at the water, appearing chastened by Portia's disapproving look.  "People are really serious about their pumpkin bread here."

"He's right, at least."  It's not useful information, unless you're deciding what seeds to plant in a garden.  But accurate is something.

"There's more I don't know than I do know."

 "We'll start simple, why were you working in the palace?”  Portia settles into the role of interlocutor easily.

"Well, the plague.  The palace summoned all the doctors in the city as researchers.  Probably not the best use of resources -"  His face blanches, just like he did last night when I mentioned Valdemar.  I almost reach across the table to curl my fingers around his, but I stop myself, unsure if he’d appreciate the touch or reject it.  Or both.  “I don’t want to - I can’t remember that!”

Missing the nuance of his declaration, Portia groans in her hands, just as dramatically as her brother.  "You need to remember something.  What kind of things seem to jog your memory?"

He shrugs, but there’s some color coming back to his face as he pulls away from whatever memories he associates with the idea of research.  "People, scents, places?”

"Places?”  She perks up.  "Maybe you'll remember something if you're at the palace."

"Um, is that a good idea, they are looking for me."

Portia rubs her hands together, grinning like a cat with a cornered mouse.  "Oh, I have my ways.  Drink your water, Ilya.  You've got until I get a mop from that nice bartender and take care of that spill to sober up."

He drinks some more of the water and looks across the table at me.  “You know a glass of water isn’t going to do much.”

I reach in my bag an extract a vial of a hangover remedy and push it across the table to him.  It also won’t sober him up, but it might help with the worst of the aftereffects.  “I came prepared.  Think you’ll be able to keep your feet under you long enough to get to the palace?”

“Huh?”  He uncorks the vial and tosses the contents back without asking what it contains.  “Yeah, I’m used to walking on a moving surface.  Ships, you know.  I like ships.”

“We could still get you on one.”  As much as I want to know what happened three years, I’m not entirely in agreement with Portia’s apparent plan to bully him into total recall.  "Out of here."

“No."  He shakes his head slowly and takes another drink of water.  "Going to see this through.  Now that I've, um, said I would."

I feel the corners of my mouth curling up - just a little - hinting at a smile.  "Julian."

"What?”

"Thanks."

His gaze moves from my face to where his gloved fingers fold around the glass.  He's quiet for a moment, then speaks softly.  "I've done nothing that you should be thanking me for."

Portia sits back down next to Julian.  “Here’s the plan, kids.”  She pushes a steaming mug of coffee to Julian.  “The palace is filled with all these secret passages and portals.  I’ve been, er, exploring in my free time.  And one of the portals near the back garden gate leads directly to Lucio’s wing.  Maybe that’ll jog some memory.  Or none at all because you didn’t murder him.”

Julian takes a sip of his coffee deliberately avoiding commenting.  After my last excursion there, the thought of returning to Lucio’s wing makes me consider asking Barth for one the road.  “Um, Portia.  Just what do the other servants say about his wing?”

“Well . . . we really don’t use it . . .  Just what did you see the other night?”

I didn’t see anything.  Not really.  It was what I felt and heard, and right now, I’m almost leaning toward preferring to believe it was a product of something disordered in my head.  “There’s something up there.”

Portia glances down.  “The word haunted does get thrown around.”

“Might as well go to the source so to speak.” 

“Do you think Lucio’s ghost is in his wing?”

Julian finishes his coffee and cracks his knuckles.  “Lucio was never one to accept death.  I mean, by all rights losing that arm should have killed him.  Even with the best surgeon I know actually in charge.”

“Who’s that?”

“Um, one of Nadia’s siblings actually.  Nazali Satrinava.”

“Nazali!”  Portia perks up.  “You know them?”

“Yeah, uh, learned almost everything I know about medicine from Dr. Satrinava.  You?”

“When I first came to the palace, they came after they heard about the Countess’s condition.”

“What happened to Nadia?”

“She was, uh, asleep, just until the past few years.  Dema didn’t fill you in?”

“It, um, well . . ."  I feel the blood in my cheeks.  We'd been a bit distracted.

Portia rolls her eyes and sighs with enough drama to rival her brother.  She fixes me with a look that I believe translates to: damn, girl, reorder your priorities. Glancing quickly about the room, she lowers her voice and speaks.  "She fell into something like sleep the night he died.  She only woke a couple months ago.  And she's missing most of her memories from her time in Vesuvia."

Julian’s face falls into a pained expression.  “That.  I’m so sorry that happened to her.  And that explains a lot.  Who’s been in charge since then?”

“Valerius, mostly.  He managed to largely keep Milady’s condition under wraps.”

“I doubt that hosting another masquerade was Valerius’s idea though.”  His concerns about the city’s finances alone would lead him away from the idea.

Portia shakes her head.  “It came from the other four, but Milady now sees it as a was to restore a sense of normalcy in the population, or something like that.”

“What do the other courtiers get out of the masquerade?”  Banquets are probably suffice to motivate Volta, but Vulgora’s interests appeared limited to physical violence, and Vlastomil seemed like he was only interested in playing in the dirt with his worms.  As for Valdemar, I didn’t know where to begin speculating on their motives.

Portia shrugs.  “I don’t understand much of anything they do.  And I don’t really care as long as we can show that Ilya’s innocent.  So we’ve got to do something to jog his memory.”  She takes a deep breath and then her eyes particularly start to twinkle in anticipation of what must sound, to her at least, like a fine adventure.  “Who’s ready to go ghost hunting?”

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A/N: chapter title from Devotchka, “Whiskey Breath”