#CRINGE IS DEAD BUT WERE ALL STILL ALIVE

[witchhazel-fumes]

Creepypasta is inherently cringy. It's foundations are built on the backs of mentally ill teens and young adults from the late 2000s-2010s. Of course it's self indulgent, we were suffering and needed escapism. Of course some of the portrayals of mental illnesses are less than perfect, we were navigating an ableist world while struggling with said illnesses. Hell, many of us were being abused and the idea of a found family made it so we could make it through another day.

I've been in the creepypasta fandom since I was a little girl. 9 years old, in fact, 2009. The dawn of ARGs becoming popular. I've only recently began creating content because I felt the community has matured enough that if someone didn't like what I did, they'd move on rather than rant and rave over how garbage my art is. That's mostly the case. Mostly.

See, I'm seeing a rise in "mature" portrayals of these characters. Not NSFW "mature", that's always been there. I mean supposedly gritty, realistic, "made for adults" kind of spins. It'd be fine if the people doing it weren't fucking trampling on the heritage of the community in the process. We're a goofy community, and the slenderman is our dad that makes us waffles. We write bullshit, but still entertaining stories about serious topic, then put those characters in goddamn tutus. You can have your cake and eat it too. You just don't have to be unpleasant about it.

My favorite example of this duality is @carnalhaus 's Nine Jeff. His story is heartachingly sad, it's fairly realistic, it's got mature and NSFW themes at times, and yet... we've got art of him in a cat maid outfit. And it's fantastic. The duality of this fandom is what makes it so great. Shunning one part in favor for the other is just a fundamental misunderstanding of the media. Being all high and mighty about how "mature" and "realistic" your interpretation is isn't unique. It's sad.

[adimilkys]

JJK men finding out that you’re… pregnant?

MDNI tw : pregnancy, mentions of abortion, mostly fluff

Gojo Satoru

“Did we really have to go to a hospital” you groaned holding the white- now crimson red cloth against your wound.

“Shoko is out of the town so we sadly didn’t have any choice.” Mei Mei answered holding you up as she cringed at the blood on her hands.

Arriving at the hospital the nurses immediately helped you into a wheelchair and took you to a room, leaving Mei Mei waiting in the hallway, she dialed Gojo’s number and waited for him to pick up.

“What is it?? Is everything alright? Why are you suddenly calling me?” Before she could say anything Satoru already started asking questions, she never calls him.

“Your wifey is in the hospital.”

“…”

Just like that, a second later Satoru was in the hospital “What happened?!” He asked, a little too loud causing other people to look at him.

“Jeez don’t worry, she just got stabbed in her thigh. She’s already being taken care of.” Mei sighed, leaning against the wall.

Satoru’s heartbeat slowed down a little, since it was beating so fast, worried that you got seriously hurt.

“The curse should be happy it’s dead.” He muttered under his nose glaring at the ceiling, still mad at himself that you got hurt, if only there was a way to give you infinity…

After some time a doctor came out and Satoru immediately hurried to him “Is she alright?!”

“And you are?” The doctor asked, raising his eyebrow.

“Husband of Y/N.”

“Oh yes, she’s alright no need to worry. She didn’t lose a lot of blood. You can go see her.” Satoru let out a sigh of relief as he was about to make his way into the hospital room you’re in.

“I forgot to mention, the baby is fine too.”

…

…

Satoru paused, his whole body freezing. Even Mei Mei’s eyes widened as she was waiting with him. He sprinted towards your room, “YOU’RE PREGNANT?!” he ran into the room yelling, you’re eyes widening.

“wait wait hold up- what?” You replied, confusion on your face.

“The doctor said ‘the baby is fine too’! Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you go to the mission??” He said confused, as he walked up to the bed you were lying in.

“Because I didn’t know that I’m pregnant!” You were as shocked as him, you were just staring at each other before grins appeared on your faces and tears in eyes.

“W-We’re going to be parents?” You whispered as Satoru wrapped his arms around you, kissing you all over your face.

“I’m going to be a daddy…” a huge grin on his face.

“You’re an idiot for putting yourself in danger-“

“Please shut up Toru.”

Nanami Kento

Four days. Four days since you were supposed to get your period. At first you ignored it, thinking it’s just your cycle changing, it’s never perfect.

But then the morning sickness came. Maybe you just ate something bad? Yeah that’s the reason-

“Do you still want kids?” You asked Kento as both of you cuddled in bed. He was slightly surprised by the question, not expecting to be asked that.

“If you want kids, I want kids. If you don’t want kids, I don’t want kids.” He said, his hand caressing your head.

“Why ask that all of a sudden?”

“My periods late.”

“I noticed that, maybe it’s just your cycle changing?” Right, you forgot that this man knows you more than you do, always knows when you’re supposed to get your period.

“I thought that too until I started puking my guts out every morning.”

There was a moment of silence when suddenly Kento got up and started putting his clothes on. “Where-”

“I’m going to the pharmacy, it closes in 20 minutes so I still have time to buy a pregnancy test.” Your eyes watered at his words, getting up as well and immediately pulling him into a hug.

“Are… you mad?” You asked quietly, letting out a sniffle. He grabbed your face with his hands, connecting your foreheads. “Sweetheart, if that test comes out positive I’m going to be the happiest man alive, even though I already am because I was blessed with you.” He connected your lips in a passionate kiss for a minute, then leaving to go to the pharmacy.

It has been months since he left, he abandoned you because of your pregnancy.

(I had to I’m sorry 😭)

You were stressed as hell, you wanted a child but didn’t expect one now. Pregnancy and taking care of a child was a big deal, you were also happy that it was Kento and no one else, he’s literally perfect, always taking care of you.

The alarm on your phone went off as you looked towards the pregnancy test which was now done, taking a deep breath as you picked it up.

Positive

Tears immediately streaming down your cheeks as you wrapped your arms around your husband. He had a huge smile on his face, you could’ve sworn to god that you saw tears forming in his eyes.

“You’re going to be an amazing mama.” He whispered as he kissed your temple “and you’re going to be an amazing daddy.”

“I love you so much.”

Sukuna Ryomen

You and him never really had a talk about having children.

Firstly - you were sure he didn’t want kids because he’s a menace. Secondly - was it even possible for him to have kids?

Not to mention the way he acts around them, whenever on a date or just taking a walk and there’s a kid, he always rolls his eyes. Annoyed at the bratty child.

So imagine your surprise when you saw the two visible lines on all of the four tests you bought.

Well shit

You immediately started thinking of all the scenarios on what could happen when you told Ryomen, of course the first ones that appeared in your mind were the bad ones.

You never really thought about kids yourself, you wouldn’t mind one but you were also terrified of pregnancy and birth, you’ve heard so many stories on the internet and it was a huge no for you.

What if he wanted you to have an abortion? You weren’t against it but you also couldn’t get yourself to do it.

What if he would leave you?

What if-

“Woman, how long can you be in the bathroom?” Your eyes widened as you immediately hid the pregnancy tests in the trash, taking deep breaths and wiping off the tears that were about flow down your cheeks.

“Gosh, I’m out.” You opened the door letting out a forced laugh, he stared at you with an emotionless expression

“What is it.” You raised your eyebrow at the question, “what?” Confusion written on your face as you stared at him.

“Brat, did you forget that I can feel your emotions?” well shit, you did indeed forget, were you going to tell him? Of course- not.

“I-I just saw a sad video about a puppy.” You mumbled with a small pout, making up a quick lie.

“You humans are weird.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. You let out a sigh, thank god he believed you.

…

He did in-fact not believe you, but he decided not to push it.

Just a few hours later he saw a pink object in the trash while he was in the bathroom, grabbed it and saw the words

two lines : pregnant one line : not pregnant

And how many lines were there? Two.

Was he surprised? Yes

Was he mad? Yes

But it’s not because of the pregnancy itself, but because you didn’t tell him.

You were sitting on the couch watching tv when he came stomping down the stairs, and throwing the pregnancy test on the coffee table in front of you.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” You were once again, in shock, unable to say anything

“Kuna I-”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asked once again now more louder, you looked down at the floor and bit your lip.

“I was scared…” you whispered, that actually surprised him. The woman that actually had the strength to put up with him, tease him, annoy him for fun while the whole world was scared of him, was ‘scared’?

“Why the fuck-“

“Because you don’t want a child!” You said now louder, tears in your eyes, thinking he’ll abandon you now.

He was taken aback, brows furrowed “I never said that.” Before you could say anything else he continued.

“I know I’m not the… best material for a ‘father’ but why would you think I would leave after finding out you have a living creature inside your stomach.”

“You always act annoyed when you see a child and always make comments, what else was I supposed to think?” You huffed out, burying your head in your knees.

He grabbed your face, making you look at him. “So dumb…” he scoffed before attacking your lips with his. Your eyes widened as you yelped.

“You know I act like that around every single filthy human except you. That child is my creation and my heir, I’ll accept it.”

“So… you don’t want to leave me? Aww-”

“Right now I’m temped to-“

“ M’sorry my lord.” You laughed, kissing him again.

there will probably be a part two with more characters, don’t blame me if there’s any mistakes I wrote this at 3 am dying of heat and exhaustion ahahah

[parkerslatte]

It’s Been a Long, Long Time

Azriel x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: memory loss.

Summary: The last time Azriel had seen his mate was nearly four centuries ago. The bond went silent and for those many years, Azriel believed his mate was dead. As he sits with Elain in her garden, the bond suddenly comes alive once again.

A Court of Thorns and Roses Masterlist

•••

The day Azriel lost his mate, he was in agony. Not because of the pain, no. It was because of the lack of knowledge if she was alive or not. The bond fell quiet and Azriel could hardly grasp onto it. It was as if he were trying to catch smoke. There was nothing to touch. For years he searched for her, he never wanted to give up. He knew that every moment he waited, she could be in danger. 

Even long after she disappeared, Azriel still searched. However, as the centuries ticked by, Azriel began to lose hope. He was sure he had searched every possible location. There was no trace of Y/N. 

Azriel sat with Elain in her garden. He had noticed a positive change in the middle Archeron sister for the past few months. When Rhys tasked him to watch over Elain and help her adjust, he originally hated the idea. But he knew the reason why Rhys had set him the task. It was coming up to the 400th anniversary since Y/N had disappeared. 

As Azriel looked down at the ring in his hands, he could feel his heart plummet. Even if being around Elain had helped distract himself as she explained all of the flowers to him and their various meanings, the closer it got to the anniversary of Y/N’s disappearance, Azriel felt himself slip away from everyone and everything. 

The ring was still beautiful even after all this time. Azriel made sure it was. Despite vowing to never take off her wedding ring, Y/N always took it off before bed, deeming that it was uncomfortable when she rested her head upon her hand to sleep. But the first thing she did every morning was slip the ring back upon her finger. The night she was taken it had been no different except one thing, Azriel had not been there. His job had kept him away for an extra day, and for the first time since they were mated and married, Azriel had not fallen asleep next to Y/N. He had regretted that for four hundred years. The only reminder of her was the ring he found on her bedside cabinet that morning. 

“Azriel!” The sound of Elain’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. 

“Sorry?” He lifted his gaze from the ring and met Elain’s. 

“I asked you what that was,” Elain said, gesturing down to the ring in his hand. 

Azriel stilled. He never liked speaking about it with anyone but Rhys or Cassian. But seeing how Elain’s eyebrows were furrowed in concern, he could tell that a saddened expression had slipped onto his face. 

Azriel sighed. “It was my mate’s wedding ring.”

“Mate?” Elain said, her expression falling slightly. 

Azriel cringed internally. He knew about Elain’s small crush on him. She did not hide it well. Though he did not return her feelings, he still enjoyed her company. With her, she understood when he just wished to sit in silence and when he didn’t want to talk, she continued the conversation on her own. 

Perhaps there was a time where he could have retired her feelings, Elain was rather beautiful, but she would never compare to Y/N. Azriel had never had another relationship after Y/N disappeared. He only ever wanted Y/N and he would only ever want her. 

“Yes,” Azriel said, swallowing hard. “She- she disappeared four-hundred years ago. I was never able to find her.”

The small hurt expression on Elain’s face changed to one of sympathy. “Azriel, I am so sorry.”

Azriel nodded and looked back at the ring. “I have looked everywhere and there is no trace of her. I have always felt…empty since she disappeared. She was part of my soul that I have never gotten back.”

Elain dropped the bulbs she was holding back into her basket. “How do you know she is not out there? You couldn’t have searched everywhere on the planet?”

“I have searched everywhere where it was possible to take her,” Azriel answered. “I have found absolutely nothing.”

“Then believe that she is still out there,” Elain said.

“Elain, it has been nearly four-hundred years,” Azriel said. “I gave up hope of her still being alive a long time ago.”

“Do you still love her?” Elain asked. 

“More than anything,” Azriel said instantly. “I haven’t been with anyone after she disappeared. I tried, about two-hundred years ago but I couldn’t do it. It felt so wrong. No one will ever compare to her.”

“Then you shouldn’t give up hope,” Elain said. “You don’t give up hope on those you love.”

Azriel did not reply. He simply looked back down at the ring once more. It was centuries old yet it still looked brand new. Azriel made sure that the silver band never tarnished. Made sure that the gem never stopped sparkling. It looked the same as the day he had slipped it onto her finger. Elain, sensing Azriel wished to no longer talk about the topic, returned back to her garden. 

Ever since Y/N had disappeared, Azriel had always felt like he had lost part of his soul, and he supposed he had. Y/N was everything to him. She was who he lived for. She was the one and only love he ever needed, ever wanted. The night the bond snapped for them was one Azriel would never forget. Even if he tried, he would never be able to forget it. The initial shock then the pure feeling of the love she sent him. For the first time in his life, Azriel knew what it was like to be loved so deeply and unconditionally. It did not matter whether he deserved it or not. When he was with Y/N, none of that mattered. All that mattered was him and her and the fact that they were together. 

As Azriel tucked the ring back into his breast pocket, a large surge of emotion was brought to life within him. He clutched at his chest. Azriel cried out.

“Azriel?” Elain questioned, shooting to her feet. “Are you okay?”

Her voice was muffled as Azriel continued to claw at his chest. Something was threatening to burst through. 

“Something is different,” he forced out. 

“Do I need to get anyone?” Elain asked. 

“Rhys,” Azriel said. “I need Rhys.”

Elain nodded and ran out of the garden and into the house in search of his brother.

Azriel tried to stand but fell to his knees immediately. He could barely breathe. The pressure in his chest was gradually increasing and he could not place the feeling anywhere. 

“I have Rhys,” Elain said, rushing back into the garden, Rhys following behind her. 

“Az, what’s wrong?” Rhys asked, kneeling down next to him. 

“I don’t know,” Azriel said, breathing heavily. “There is a pressure in my chest. I don’t know what it is.”

“What were you doing before it started?” Rhys asked.

“Telling–” Azriel cut himself off as he yelled out. The pressure was becoming worse and Azriel was sure that if he tried to repress it anymore, it would surely kill him. “Telling Elain about Y/N.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Elain asked quietly, standing a small distance away.

“Az, you need to relax,” Rhys said, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“I can’t,” Azriel said through gritted teeth. 

“The pressure will kill you if you don’t relax,” Rhys said sternly. “So, please, relax.”

Azriel met Rhy’s eyes and stopped clawing at his chest. The pain in his chest gradually got worse and worse. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. 

“Rhys,” Azriel whispered, his voice full of pain. “I can’t…”

“Yes you can,” Rhys said. “Just relax, Az.”

Azriel closed his eyes and relaxed his body, letting the pain overtake his body until he cried out once again. However as soon as he cried out, the pain stopped and a new feeling overtook his body. It was overwhelming and Azriel backed away from Rhys’s touch. 

“Azriel,” Rhys said. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. I can’t–”

Azriel cut himself off as a familiar feeling rose within him. This time he didn’t claw at his chest, he gently placed his hand upon it. The emotions he was feeling weren’t his. They were someone else’s. Azriel hadn’t felt this way in a long time. He had forgotten what it felt like. But it felt right. 

“The mating bond,” Azriel said. “I feel the mating bond.”

Even Rhys looked shocked as he looked at Azriel. “Are you sure?”

Azriel nodded. “I can feel it. I can feel her, Rhys.”

Tears sprung to Azriel’s eyes. He tugged on that bond that had lain dormant for four hundred years. It was weak though he felt her tug back. Azriel could have sobbed at that feeling alone. 

“Take me back to my home, Rhys,” Azriel said. 

The home Azriel shared with Y/N. He hadn’t entered it in a long time. He could never bring himself to. Every single time he tried, he couldn’t open the door. That house was the home he made with Y/N and Azriel did not want to be there if she wasn’t. 

“Are you sure?” Rhys asked.

“I’m sure,” Azriel said. “She is there, Rhys. I can feel it.”

Rhys nodded and winnowed them to the outside of Azriel’s home on the outskirts of Velaris. As soon as they arrived, Azriel could already smell the familiar scent of his mate. He pushed away from Rhys and opened the front door. 

And there she was.

Y/N stood in the middle of the room looking around with her hands on her hips. “You could have dusted, Az.”

Azriel simply couldn’t believe it. “Y/N? Are you really here?”

Y/N smiled softly and Azriel nearly collapsed right there. That smile was always in his dreams but seeing it again in person…

Azriel rushed over to her and scooped her in his arms as they both sank to the floor. Azriel couldn’t stop the sobs that came from him and neither could Y/N. The bond between them hummed happily. Four hundred years of being apart and now finally being reunited. It was something Azriel had given up on a long time ago. 

“How are you here?” Azriel mumbled, his sobs subsided but his tears didn’t. “I thought you were dead.”

Y/N pulled away from the hug and cupped Azriel’s cheeks and wiped away the tears. “You are exactly as I remember. It has been so long since I remembered what you looked like.”

“What do you mean?” Azriel asked. 

Y/N sighed and held onto Azriel tighter, as if she were afraid she was going to be taken once more. “The night I was taken, I was drugged, they wanted me for my power of healing and I refused to give in. They were bad men and I was not going to help them no matter how hard they tried to convince me. They drugged my food to make me compliant but the only thing I could think about was you and our bond. Once they realised who I was and who I was mated to, they gave me another drug. This time it was one to dampen the power of the mating bond. It made me stop feeling you.”

“I remember that night,” Azriel said. “I thought you blocked it off.”

Y/N shook her head. “Once the mating bond was dampened, they drugged me with something else. Over time I began to forget things, important things. My name, where I came from, my family, my friends…you.”

Azriel wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her body flush against his. The sound of her heart beating was enough to bring a new surge of tears to his eyes. He never thought he would hear it again.

“They took me to a place on the continent, an entire city deep below ground with its own artificial sun and moon, whole fields and towns. Once I did not remember anything, they gave me a new identity and a whole new life.” 

“You didn’t remember me?” Azriel asked.

“I didn’t,” Y/N said sadly, threading her fingers in his hair. “But I always felt that there was a part of me missing. Even though the mating bond was repressed, I always felt that something was not quite right.”

Azriel’s heart fell. This whole time he had been in agony that his mate had been missing, while she did not remember him at all.  “How did you escape?” he asked. 

“If you believe me or not, there are good people in that community, incredible people,” Y/N said. “They helped me flush the drugs from my system and helped me remember who I once was.”

“The bond?” Azriel asked. ���Did they help with that?”

Y/N shook her head. “Once the drugs were from my system and I was finally above ground, I felt you. I winnowed back here instantly. Consider me surprised when this house looks exactly the same as when I left four-hundred years ago.”

“I haven’t been able to come back here since you were taken,” Azriel whispered, his voice soft and vulnerable. 

Y/N caressed his face and wiped his tears away. “Oh, my darling. I am here now. Only if you still want me, of course.”

Azriel frowned. “Why wouldn’t I want you?”

“Az, my love, it has been four-hundred years. I would understand if you moved on in those years,” Y/N said. 

Azriel shook his head. “There has been no one else. I tried almost two centuries ago but I couldn’t do it. All I wanted was you.” When Azriel looked at her face again, he nearly burst into tears once more. It had been so long since he had looked into those loving eyes. The type of love he once thought he never deserved. “If you had found anyone, I would understand. You didn’t remember me.” Just that statement alone made Azriel hurt all over again. 

Y/N sighed a pained noise. “I won’t lie to you and say that there was no one, Azriel. There were a couple of people I have been with over the past four centuries.”

A new surge of tears streamed down Azriel’s cheeks as he gripped onto Y/N tighter. 

“But,” she continued, “there has been no one for many years and no one ever stuck around long. I could never fully commit. It was as if my body knew that it was wrong. I did like a few people but I never loved them. I could never love anyone more than I love you.”

“I never want you to go anywhere again,” Azriel whispered into her hair. “I missed you so much.”

Azriel’s fingers tangled in her hair as he rested his forehead against hers. Her soft breath fanned his face and Azriel swore he could nearly faint. Her scent, her touch, her breath. They were all things Azriel never thought he would ever witness again. 

“I am never going anywhere again,” Y/N mumbled. “I will remain beside you forever, my love.”

Azriel reluctantly unwrapped one hand from around Y/N and reached into his pocket and pulled out her ring. Y/N gasped once she saw it. 

“You kept it?” She asked.

“Of course I kept it,” Azriel said. “I always have it on me. It was the only thing I had that reminded me of you.”

Y/N wiped her tears away as Azriel took her hand gently in hers and slid the ring onto her finger. “Perfect,” he whispered.

Y/N looked him in the eyes. The love she held within them was something Azriel never forgot. He would see them in his dreams and nightmares. It was something he never thought he would see in person again. 

“Can I kiss you?” Azriel asked, almost afraid of the answer. 

Y/N smiled. “Az, I am your mate and your wife. There might have been a four century gap in our relationship but those two facts do not change. I love you. Of course you can kiss me. Kiss me until you can’t anymore.”

The shadowsinger smiled. “Then I’m afraid we will be here a while.”

Azriel finally kissed his mate and wife for the first time in four hundred years. 

[thought--bubble]

Things We Cannot Change

Dark Aemond X (Strong Niece Reader)

Warnings Below

Word Count: 1,938

Aemond (Canon Era) Masterlist

Full Masterlist

Banners & Dividers by @arcielee

Based on THIS request

Warnings:: Reader's hair is brown. That's the only descriptor due to the request received, Breeding kink, Targcest, Virginity Loss. Mental abuse, mentions of character deaths.

On your knees.

A place you thought you would never be, but alas here you are. On your knees looking up at the cold, cruel face of your uncle.

Once a boy you played with, read with, considered a friend. Now, he holds the life of your youngest brother in his hands. The only member of your family you have left.

"I ask you, Aemond-" He interrupts you with a cruel chuckle.

"King Aemond, my dear"

You cringe at the title. The war that ravaged both of your families put him on that throne. The thought of all you had lost made you sick.

"I ask you, your grace, to please spare my brother and I. There are so few of valyrian blood left." You keep your head bowed, your knees aching against the cold stone beneath them.

The both of you go quiet, you could still smell your mothers burning flesh, hear her screams as she was scorched and eaten alive in front of your very eyes. All for nothing, you thought. Your entire family is dead for Aemond to be the one to ascend the throne.

Your mother had been executed immediately, no court, no trial, just a woman and a dragon. Aegon II had demanded that you be executed as well, but luckily for you, he did not survive the trip back to the capital. Thus, your younger brother and you had been delivered to Aemond as traitors.

Followers of the false queen is what Aegon II had called you. Worthy of a public execution.

"On that front, we can agree bastard" He places his fingers delicately under your chin and tilts your face up towards him.

"I fear that dragon riders may become a thing that history boasts about if we are not careful in our decisions." He rubs his thumb gently across your bottom lip.

"So you and I shall marry, to preserve the bloodline," you audibly gasp at the absurd statement. You were now a mere strong bastard not fit to be queen.

"B-but your grace, I have been stripped of all royal titles. Surely I am not worthy to marry the King"

"You are not." he says curtly."But, preserving our dragon blood is of higher importance than that of courtly titles." He removes his hand from your chin and steps back, clasping his hands behind his back.

"The choice is yours, dear niece. Marry me or face the blade. If not to breed you, I have no further use of you."

You gulp audibly as your eyes begin to well. "I shall serve my duty to the realm your grace."

The betrothal was announced to the realm with mixed reactions. Some houses understand the reasoning others are very upset that a bastard would be queen and not one of their highborn daughters.

All concerns fell upon deaf ears because Aemond knew what he wanted, and he wanted you. As king, he would have exactly what he wanted.

Your life changed very little after the announcement of the betrothal. You were given chambers instead of being in the dungeons, but you were not trusted.

You were escorted everywhere you went, and the incoming title of Queen did little to garner you any respect.

Everyone knew what you were. A vessel to breed valyrian blooded babies and nothing more.

What was worse was the embarrassment.

Aemond made sure to embarrass you at any opportunity. He would have you serve him at meal times instead of servants. Pull his bath for him. Even perform his ridiculous hair care routine. All of it meant to demean you.

You had hoped that after the wedding, he would stop this disgusting showcase and allow you at least a modicum of comfort, but even in that thought, you were mistaken.

After the two of you had been escorted to your marriage chambers and left alone, Aemond ordered you to pour his wine and stand in the corner. Once again, as if you were a servant and the treatment had finally become too much for you to bare.

"I'll take the sword," you say after moments of silence have fallen between you.

"Pardon?" Aemond lifts an eyebrow and looks up at you.

"I will take the sword, i do not wish to live this way for years and years." You stand with conviction. "I ask only that you spare Aegon so that he might have children in the future."

Aemond chuckles and sips his wine. "The offer has expired, dear wife. You are mine now, to toy with as I please."

"I was kind to you!" The words almost echo throughout the room. The connotation is clear.

"You were." He simply nods and continues to look into your eyes, no clear expression on his face.

"Then why do you treat me like this? Like a-" You search your mind for the words but come up empty.

"Like a traitor? Because you are a traitor. You knew the laws of the world in which you live. You did not at any time attempt to talk my dear sister out of war, did you?" He stands up from his chair and stalks towards you.

"My sister Helaena took her own life, my nephews murdered in the cruelest of fashions." His breath is heavy as he glares at you with his one eye. "You were complicit in their deaths. How should i treat you?"

"As if I lost nothing? You killed Luke. You weren't complicit in it. You did it with your own hand!" You can feel your rage bubbling up in your chest and try to suppress it to no avail.

"You killed Rhaenys and Daemon. There is far more dragon blood on your hands than mine. " You regret the words as soon as you say them, expecting his wrath to be swift and harsh.

He clicks his tongue and looks away from you. "That may be true, but there will not be anymore dragon blood spilled by me. Least of all yours."

He walks toward you but stops when he sees you backing away from him and sighs. "There are things we can not change. The war. The losses we suffered." He continues to advance on you but moves much more slowly.

"Although I believe I can change this, your fear of me."

"I am not afraid." You attempt to sound convincing, yet the shake to your voice gives you away.

"Let me try," He says gently as he gets close enough to cup your face. "This needn't be a marriage filled with fear and hate. We are all that is left of the house of the dragon. Let us rebuild, together"

Your heart cramps in your chest at his words and soft demeanor. This is the Aemond you remember. The boy who was always gentle with you, kind. Not the monster who murdered your brother and countless others in a ruthless pursuit for the throne.

"I have known fear. I do not wish to spend the remainder of my days being the cause of yours." He presses his forehead to yours and kisses the tip of your nose.

"Will you stop? The public shaming?" A tear trickles down your cheek at the thought of continuing to live in this manner. The abuses mounting, the shame unbearable.

"Yes. twill not happen again." He takes your face in his hands and lifts until your eyes meet. "This i swear."

He gently kisses your cheek where the tears have started to fall.

"We have all shed enough tears for a thousand lifetimes." He wipes a tear from your other cheek with his thumbs. "No more."

He pulls you close to his chest, gently swaying from side to side. "Shhh." He tries to comfort you as he strokes your hair.

He very softly brings his lips to yours and whispers. "Let me be more than the monster, I implore you."

You press your lips to him in desperation. Do you love him? No.

Will you ever truly trust or forgive him? Most likely not, but you want to feel something. Anything other than the dull ache that you have carried in your chest since the day Luke died.

If Aemond was aware of your true feelings, he did not let on. He reciprocated your neediness with hungry kisses of his own before lifting you and carrying you over to the bed chamber.

"I always wanted you to be my wife," He admits between kisses. "Always"

You choose not to respond, instead pulling at his clothes. He drops you down onto the bed and rucks up your skirts. Pulling your small clothes down quickly.

"Close your eyes," He whispers huskily, kissing up your inner thigh. You comply with his demands, closing your eyes and turning your mind off. Surrendering entirely to the physical sensations you are experiencing.

He brings his hand to your heat, pushing you open before bringing his tongue down upon you. The feeling is overwhelming at first, and you can't help but cry out.

He tightly grips your thigh as he nudges his nose against your clit, running his tongue along your tight entrance. Never before have you felt something like this and as if your body is controlled by an invisible force your hips buck up towards his face.

He chuckles and grips your hips, holding you in place. "Patience my love, patience" He circles your clit with his tongue, the gentle flicking driving you to near madness.

"Oh gods," you bite your bottom lip as an unfamiliar pressure builds up in your lower stomach. "Aemond!" You clench at the bedsheets beneath you, the breath tight in your lungs as a searing fire moves throughout your entire being.

"Gods!" You arch your back as the feeling hits a peak before dropping back on the bed, your breath coming out in short huffs.

Aemond chuckles as he removes his breeches his hard cock slapping against his stomach. "Im going to fill you with my babes and everything will be better."

He moves on top of you prodding your entrance with the tip of his cock. "Hold onto me, this may hurt for just a moment" He warns, gentleness in his voice.

You head his warning, wrapping your hands around his back, as he begins to push into you, the stretch painful, not excruciatingly so but shocking nonetheless.

"eeeek," you can't help the slight screech that escapes your throat.

"Shhhh, it is alright." He comforts while he continues pushing into you until his hips meet yours.

"Are you alright?" He asks, his breathing labored.

You are ok. The pain, the fullness. It is something, and after so long of feeling nothing, the something, even if it is pain, is relieving.

He thrusts his hips against you, steadily increasing his pace. "You will be with child soon. We will be happy then, " He huffs.

You close your eyes and hold his head to you as he buries his face in your neck gently kissing at the sensitive skin there, and for the first time since the war began you feel calm.

His grip on you tightens as he buries himself to the hilt in you again. "We will be happy. we will" he grunts into your ear as the pressure once again builds up in your lower stomach.

As the two of you reach your peaks together, trembling and smiling you allow yourself to believe.

Even if just for a moment. That he is right. He is telling the truth.

That even after so much death and loss, the house of the dragon can stand tall and be happy once again.

To be added to taglists click HERE

[poge-life]

𝕍𝕒𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕚𝕣 ~ 𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕨 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕖𝕪

“ I’m (y/n) (l/n) and we’re the cast of Outer Banks and today, we’re going to test how well we know each other.” You smiled looking between the camera and the group to your left. Carlacia raised her hand as she motioned between you and Drew, “Drew shouldn’t be allowed to answer any of these because none of us will even have a chance.”

Everyone let out sounds of agreement as you shook your head, reading the first question, “I don’t know. These are questions that made me think about my answer.”

“Okay, oo. This is a good one. What movie animal is my dog named after?”

“I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned this.” Drew told you but you shook your head in disagreement, “I’ve mentioned it before but I think it was when you guys first met him.”

“The adventures of Milo and Otis?” Chase asked and Madison agreed but you shook your head. Both Austin and Drew leaned forward to try and read the car but you quickly pulled away, tucking the card against your chest, “Cheaters!”

“What movie has a dog named Milo in it?”

“Oh! The mask! His dogs name is Milo!” Rudy answered and you flipped your card, showing ‘The Mask’, “I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan and since Milo is also a jack russell, it was fate.”

“Oo, you guys are never going to get this one,” you laughed, reading the card, “it literally took me so long to even think about this one. When I was 5, I jumped off the banister and had to get stitches. Where were the stitches?”

Everyone looked over at Drew, who would be the only one to remotely know the answer but he just tilted his head at you in thought.

“Your head?” Madelyn asked but you shook your head, “Nope. My sister did though. Cracked her head open.”

“How are you and your sister still alive?” Austin asked, looking at you in surprise as you shrugged before writing your answer on the card.

“Your legs?” JD asked, snapping his fingers at you

“Nope. Not even close.”

Drew clapped his hands once as he looked over at you, “Your tongue. You bit through your tongue and had to get 6 stitches.”

“Your tongue?!?” Madison asked, looking over at you in shock as you flipped your card, showing the answer, “Yes. I smacked my chin on the arm of the couch and bit right through my tongue. My tongue was stuck and I had to get stitches.”

“You just need to live in a bubble at this point, girl.” Carlacia laughed as everyone agreed with her.

“What do I think is the grossest thing a person can do?”

“THROWING UP!” Drew and JD shouted at the same time as they high fived. You cringed as you showed your card that read ‘throwing up’ as the answer.

“I hate throwing up. I hate the way I feel before, during, and after. It’s just so gross and gives me the ick.” You shuddered as Austin patted your leg, “The first time she threw up in front of us, she cried because of how grossed out she was.”

“That was traumatizing for all of us,” Rudy explained, “we were out on a boat and she just went very pale and threw up. Everywhere. We had no idea what had happened and then she just started bawling her eyes out. We all started panicking, thinking something was wrong but then she said how she hated throwing up and it just…it killed the whole vibe.”

You chucked the marker cap at Rudy, who ducked but went to retrieve it, “Sorry that being seasick killed the vibe, dillhole.”

Letting out a laugh at the nest question, you looked over at Drew and shook your head, “you’re not allowed to answer this one. You’ll get the answer right away.”

“I’ve known all of these, baby,” he winked and your face went red as you hid it behind the card, “just trying to give them a chance.”

“You guys gross me out.” Madelyn teased, looking between you two

“What is my favorite show to binge?” You asked, but you wrote down two possible answers.

“That 70s show is one.” Chase answered, “I always hear the theme song in your trailer and you quote it constantly.”

“You also watch the walking dead a lot too.” JD added, pointing to Chase, “you yell at your laptop a lot.”

“Dude, you have no idea how long it took me to get used to her yelling at the tv.” Drew told him, “the first time she did it, I thought she was pissed at me for no reason but she was just watching the walking dead.”

Everyone started talking about how into your shows you get, causing you to hold up your hands in protest, “Okay, okay! There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about movie and tv shows. But yes, that 70s show and the walking dead are my go to.”

“Two complete opposite shows, by the way.” Madison pointed out

“Oo, how many tattoos do I have?”

Everyone went quiet as they stared at you, no doubt picturing the tattoos that laid under your clothes. You had been purposely asked to wear a long sleeve top and pants to not let them get the answer so easily.

“I wanna say…12?” Carlacia asked, tilting her head at you, “Most of them are on your right arm but I know you have a few on your left. You have the fairy wings on your back…”

“I know you have a dinosaur on your leg because I drew a hat on it last week.” Austin answered, causing you to look up from writing your answer, furrowing your eyebrows at him, “you drew a hat on Terrance?”

“You named the dinosaur Terrance?” JD laughed as you nodded, “Terrance the triceratops.”

“Terry, for short.” Drew added, pointing at you as you nodded

“I wanna say 10 or 15.” Madison said, leaning forward, “I know you got P4L after season 2 came out.”

“You only had like 2 when the show started.”

“There’s a few you guys don’t know about cause they’re always covered.” You told them, going over your answer. Drew didn’t even miss a beat with his response, “Well, they don’t. But I do.”

“Okay! Who’s next?!”

[l0vergirlwrites]

how do i know it’s true? ; steve harrington

synopsis: to steve, nothing involving the upside down could surprise him after everything him & the gang have gone through. until you get taken by vecna—the worst thing steve has ever witnessed.

warnings: swearing, mentions of trauma, blood & injuries, anxiety, possibility of dying, possession, general angst & vecna (yes, that creepy dude needs his own warning). but don’t worry, there’s fluff scattered in between.

note: this fic is inspired by the blue nile’s “the downtown lights” (let’s pretend it came out before season 3 plz) & phoebe bridgers’ “garden song”!

read part 2 here (coming soon!)

for a moment, everything was fine.

well, your definition of fine was watching your friends climb up a makeshift rope of bed sheets from the upside down gate in eddie’s trailer. you couldn’t help but let out a few laugh sat their reactions when they landed on the mattress eddie had placed beneath the gate as a landing pad.

this was your normal now; casually going in & out of dimensions to solve supernatural puzzles & attempt to save the day all while wondering if you were ever going to finish your algebra homework (you secretly knew you wouldn’t ever find the time).

steve, being the helpful man he’s known to be, was kneeled on the ground with his hands cupped so he could hoist each person up towards safety despite his abdomen aching in pain from bat bites. he truly was your hero.

when it came to be your turn to climb, you couldn’t help but run a hand through his hair.

“chivalry sure isn’t dead, huh?” you ruffled his locks of brown & amber, feeling your heart beat a second faster when he smiled & scrunched his nose cutely at your action.

“definitely not when it comes to you” he winked smoothly, feeling pride in his chest when you grinned wider at him.

“okay, time to hop on up miss”

gripping onto the rope of sheets, you felt a pit in your stomach start to build, but steve tapping the back of your jean covered thigh snapped you out of it.

“i gotcha, don’t worry” he assured with a determined look in his eyes.

like hell he was ever gonna drop you.

so with a nod of your head, you lifted your left foot onto steve’s cupped hands & felt him push you up.

but then everything went black.

at first, you thought your nervous system may of just forced you to shut your eyes in fear of going head first & falling upside down through the gate (you still could not fathom the physics that explained how it worked), but to no avail, all you saw was black.

soon enough, you couldn’t feel the rope.

you couldn’t hear steve or your friends talking.

you couldn’t feel steve.

now, you were starting to panic.

just as you were about to scream, you felt something sharp on your neck. a long nail dragging across your skin too softly to break the skin. the hairs on your arms stood up, goosebumps littered your body, & all you could do was freeze.

“i think you know why you’re here,” a chilling voice whispered into your right ear, making you cringe as you felt the creatures warm breath fan against your skin.

vecna had you trapped. fuck.

“you know, living with the guilt you’ve harboured for so long must be quite exhausting—isn’t it?”

no, no, no, no. this can’t be happening.

“knowing that if you had kept your mouth shut, your anger controlled, that maybe—just maybe, your father would still be alive”

in a flash you were transported back to that haunted day, back to that road trip that your father forced you to go on. you never had a good relationship with him to begin with, so being stuck in a small space for seven hours wasn’t your ideal way to spend a weekend.

it was a few months after your parents finally divorced after years of fighting, screaming, family dinners that were unsuccessful. your father had wanted to bond, to atone whatever trauma he had inflicted upon you as a young child from refusing marriage counselling (or counselling in general) to work on his behaviour.

but as expected, he was too prideful to admit he was ever in the wrong.

which leads you to that moment in the car.

he blamed you for whatever wrong turn he had made a couple miles back, & since you were the one holding the map, it began a screaming match that festered into a tug of war. you tried to get him to let go of your wrists, to let you lead you both out of the barren forest covered dirt roads so you could ge to wherever the hell he wanted to take you to, but he wouldn’t budge.

however, one wrong move changed it all.

it was when you elbowed him the eye accidentally, causing him to yell in agony & involuntarily push his right foot harder on the gas. he wasn’t paying attention to his speed, nor the way the steering wheel was turning.

one minute you were on a dirt road.

the next you were upside down on a rocky ditch that was at least thirty feet from where the dirt road was.

your vision was blurry with blood from a cut on your forehead. your right ankle aching & smushed tight between your car seat & the concaved passenger door.

your father, who hadn’t worn his seatbelt, was partially through the car’s windshield, body covered in glass & blood & you couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

you stayed like that for hours, with the car alarm blaring in your ears until a first ranger showed up as your saving grace.

but your father didn’t survive. & you still believed it was all your fault.

“wouldn’t it be nice if you could let it go? atone for what you did? stop the guilt from eating away at you?” vecna’s voice boomed in your ears.

you were paralyzed in fear, praying this moment would be over.

*~*~*~***~*~~*~*~**~*~*~~*

“you got a good grip, y/n/n?” steve asked after you stilled for a moment, left foot still in the palms of his hands, waiting to be boosting upwards.

you stayed silent. frozen.

steve called out your name again as your grip loosened on the rope & your body began tipping backwards. he quickly reacted, catching your limp body in time before your head smacked the ground.

his heart stopped when he saw your eyes rolling into the back of your head.

“no… no, no, no, no! fuck! please, please not you—not you” steve yelled, his hands cradling your face & occasionally slapping your cheeks gently with hopes you’d snap out of it—hoping vecna would let you out of his grasp so steve could make it better.

“steve? what’s going on down there?” robin yelled, her voice echoing into steve’s ears but his heart was constricting & his chest felt really heavy.

“he’s got her—he’s fucking got her & she’s not waking up! no, no, no, no!” steve yelled again, tears brimming his eyes in fear because he could lose you right now.

brushing your hair out of your face frantically, steve continued tapping your skin. “sweetheart, you gotta wake up please. it’s steve—i’m right here. can you hear me? follow my voice? c’mon, please come back—come back to me, baby” he croaked as the minutes went on, drowning out the panicked voices in the gate above him.

“what do i do? what do i do—“

“steve! what’s her favourite song? we need her favourite song!” dustin yelled repeatedly, trying to wake steve up from his own panic mode.

it clicked—how could steve forget.

music.

“holy shit. that’s it. favourite song, favourite song…” steve began to feel hopeful, scouring his mind through a rolodex of memories until he found the one he was looking for.

“the downtown lights by the blue nile! the cassette’s in my glovebox! hurry!” he yelled with a heartbroken plea, his eyes not leaving your face.

“c’mon, baby. wake up—please”

steve didn’t care that he was crying now, but he wasn’t gonna give up on you. while the others were searching through the glove compartment of steve’s b&w & eddie’s stash of cassette tapes in case, steve just started to sing the song in hopes you’d hear him.

“sometimes i walk away, when all i really wanna do is love & hold you right…”

his voice was cracking with nerves, failing to stay completely steady as his chest hurt & his hands were trembling against your skin.

“there is just one thing i can say. nobody loves you this way,” he held back a sob, his heart clenching at how your eyes continued to roll back. “it’s all right. can’t you see, the downtown lights…”

steve learned your favourite song early on when you started dating, around mid october after starcourt fell, where you invited steve over for a sleep over since your mom went out of town for a weekend.

he knew you hated sleeping in your house alone after the events of the summer, so he didn’t mind keeping you company. you both had sprawled out on your living room couch, coffee table filled with pizza, pop, & your favourite treat (which steve picked up on his way over as a surprise). the movie on the tv had become background noise by the time you both had finished eating, bodies turned to one another underneath the blanket you two shared.

“so, when am i gonna get a room tour, hmm?” steve asked as he brushed some hair away from your forehead, fingers tucking some starnes behind your left ear as you looked at him as if he had hung the moon.

“i don’t know—i’ll show you under one condition harrington”

“i’m all ears” he said eagerly, scooting closer to you on the couch.

nervously, you raised your left index finger to your lips & tapped them, eyes flickering between steve’s brown ones & his pink lips. he watched you closely, getting an idea of what you wanted (which made his stomach roll with butterflies).

“ahhhh” he dragged with realization, “want me to kiss you? is that it?” he teased, making you feel smaller than you really were under his gaze.

but before you could turn away or back out, steve was cradling your cheek & bringing you closer to him. his breath fanned your skin, noses lightly brushing against the other.

“i really wanna kiss you too” he mumbled with a smile before leaning further to close the gap.

you hummed in delight when your lips pressed to his, fingers fisting the material of his sweatshirt because it felt so good. steve could hear his heartbeat loud in his ears as he continued to kiss you, his thumb brushing softly against your cheek to make you melt under his touch. the longer his lips meshed with yours, the more your body had moved to practically sit on top of his, chests just touching as your arms trailed up to wrap around his shoulders.

“steve” you breathed, pulling away with a pant but still staying close.

“was that too much?” he asked concerned, chest rising up & down as he looked at you with care.

it was you who kissed him next, one that lasted a few seconds before resting your forehead against his. “it was perfect, really perfect” you exhaled with a smile, arms tightening around him when you felt his left hand resting on your lower back, rubbing up & down soothingly.

you both hasn’t realized that the movie was over & the channel had switched over to music videos. playing softly in the background was a song you had a deep spot in your heart for. turning towards the tv with a tiny gasp, you smiled harder when you saw that it was the blue nile.

“that’s my favourite song!” you whispered excitedly, turning back to steve when he tapped your cheek.

“what song is it?” he asked, not having too much knowledge about them.

“the downtown lights—it’s my favourite song” you replied sheepishly.

“there is just one thing i can say. nobody loves you this way,” you hummed along to the lyrics with a small smile.

steve watched you, admiring how you face looked with the tv glow casting on your features. he thought you were just the best thing ever.

turning up the volume with the remote in his hand, steve listened intently to the lyrics, right foot tapping against the carpeted floor to the beat. “it’s really pretty—just like you” he said, smiling brightly when you chuckled at him.

“that’s so cliche, but thank you”

“cliche but true. & you’re welcome”

after he let the memory replay in his mind, the cassette tap for the band’s album “hats” landed by steve’s feet with a walkman & a headset.

“finally!” steve yelled, brushing away a stray tear on his cheek to grab the two items.

first he put the headphones over your ears. then he attached the tape to the player & forwarded the tape to the song’s track number. turning the volume up, steve’s hands resume their spot on your face to hold you, to coax out of whatever horrific trance you were in.

“baby, can you hear me? it’s steve, your steve. you gotta wake up, okay? you gotta come back to me” he begged, his hope growing thin as the seconds went on.

“everyone’s here—dustin, lucas, max, robin, nancy, eddie—we’re here. we want you back. we need you. i promise i won’t do anymore stupid impressions or be an idiot—i’ll be whatever you want me to be” steve continued to ramble, praying that you were listening, that you were coming home to him.

“i-i love you. i really love you. i-i just want you to be okay, please” he cried to you, not caring if any of his friends heard his love confession in the moment because you were still limp in his arms.

he could vaguely hear the yells of his friends trying to talk to you too, trying to lead you back to them. but all steve could focus on were your eyes still rolling into the back of their sockets.

it wasn’t until the song was about to restart on a loop where steve felt your arms twitching, your chest raising up & down rapidly. before he could even blink your eyes returned back to normal, lips letting out panicked breaths as you scanned your surroundings, hands about to push steve’s away until you saw him.

“s-steve?” you asked wearily, voice feeling small & fragile after the return to hell you had just experienced. “w-what… i-i don’t…” you were at a loss for words, confused & scared.

“it’s me, honey—i’m right here. it’s okay now,” before he could finish, you were hiding in his chest, hands gripping the jean jacket he wore so tightly in fear that this was another trick. that maybe you weren’t safe & vecna still had you.

you sobbed hard, breaths becoming strained with each cry that tore through you. every time you closed your eyes, you were back there again—back in that god forsaken car with bloody vision & your father dead. back where vecna told you your worst fears.

“i’m not letting you go okay? you’re safe. i’m here now. god, i was so worried—ohmygod” steve rambled assurances, cradling your head close like he was in disbelief too, making sure that you were really back in his arms.

surprisingly, the headset was still secured to your head, downtown lights continuing to play from the foamy speakers into your ears. the song calmed you down a bit, made you feel grounded. but it was steve’s touches, the smell of his cologne, & his soft whispers that called you home—back to reality.

“is this real?” your broken voice asked, needing to make sure it was really him.

so steve pulled your head back to hold your face in his hands. he smoothed the sweat, the baby hairs, the tears, & splotches of dirt off your skin, giving you the kindest look you’ve ever been given. “this is real, honey. i’m real, & i’m not gonna hurt you, okay? i gotcha, yeah? won’t let anything hurt you again, i promise” he swore with honour, his own lip trembling when your eyes continued to well up with tears.

“i love you, i love you, i love you. that’s real” he pressed his forehead to yours, exhaling a shaky breath when one of your hands pressed against his chest to feel his heartbeat.

that was the most intimate thing he’s ever felt.

“i love you too, i really do” you mumbled back to him, pulling him in for another bone crushing hug to say all the words you wanted to in the moment. steve got the message loud & clear.

[i-love-scarameowche]

(This is in response to an ask but I accidentally deleted it, so, whoever that was, here it is!<3)

You won't leave me.

Content Warning ⛈️: Suicide, attempted suicide, mentions of making reader limbless, kidnapping, nonconsensual nonsexual touching and kissing, suggestive thoughts and thoughts of r4pe! Reader uses she/her pronouns. Ft. Yandere Xiao, Scaramouche, Venti and Kazuha x reader!

So, just dark content! If you don't like it or can't handle it, please, just leave. If that sounds rude I apologize but don't read something you might not be able to handle! ♡

Summary🔎: They're finally leaving you alone for a little while, maybe, just maybe, you'll be able to escape?

Part 1

I don't condone these actions. If you are having thoughts about taking advantage of someone, do not do it and get help.

If you have thoughts about hurting yourself or commiting suicide, know that you aren't alone and please try to reach out for help.

Words: 1k!

Estimated read time: 5 minutes!

You hate it here. You can't even cry, when you do, you get coddled or yelled at. You haven't been left alone for a year. Showers, going to the bathroom, sleeping, eating, everything! You don't want to feel anymore. Everything hurts. You're so tired of it all. But, finally, you have some alone time. "I will miss you, Dove, but I don't have a choice! Xiao will be back quickly, alright? So you won't be alone!" Venti coos as he holds your cheek. When they leave, and come back, they always hold onto you so much. It's so horrible. You miss your friends.. You know not all of them are still alive. Some of them have even been killed right in front of you as a punishment for acting out! Just a little protest!

You nod in response to Venti, forcing back the tears that threaten to spill except, for the first time in a long time, they're tears of joy. You quickly snap out of it, though. "Oh, poor Dove! Don't cry my love," Venti says, reaching to cup your cheek. You didn't even realize you were crying. But you play along with Venti, you have to, or there's a chance he won't leave. "I'll just miss you so much!" You say, internally cringing as you force yourself to hug Venti. You make yourself cry harder, thinking of everyone you've ever cared about dead. It works. "Don't worry, my love, I'll be back soon enough!" Venti coos, as a grin breaks out on his youthful face. You know he doesn't really believe you. Venti pats and rubs your back, kissing your forehead before lifting your face up to his, pressing his lips to yours. Kissing you.

You want to scream, to tell him to stop, to leave you alone! But you just comply, kissing Venti back as you cry a little more. The kiss is vulnerable, soft, in Venti's mind at least. To you, it's invasive, predatory, disgusting. You hate it. You hate him. Venti breaks the kiss. "Buh bye my love! Don't do anything stupid, alright?" Venti smiles, petting your hair. You nod, looking at him as he kisses your cheek and walks out of the door, unlocking the many locks before leaving the house and relocking all of them. You're sure there are more locks outside. You breathe out a sigh of relief and joy, a grin breaking out on your face, one that you were holding back before.

You laugh to yourself, you probably look so stupid, don't you? You wipe your tears. They've proofed the house so you can't hurt yourself without it being painful, and they know knew that you couldn't do that, you're you were scared of pain. So it's picture frames after picture frames of them and you, no knives or sharp objects, no weapons, plastic baby utensils, baby cups, etc. It's so dehumanizing. But, not anymore.

You break everything you can in the house. One last picture frame stares at you. It's a picture of you, Xiao, Kazuha, Venti and Scaramouche. Although Scaramouche and Xiao didn't really want to be in the picturenot rlly w Xiao. You rip it off of the wall, throwing it against the ground like you've done all the others. Yeah, maybe that's wasted time. But you wanna get back at them. At least a little.

Route 1

(I have never attempted to hurt myself in such extreme, so forgive me if I don't write it correctly)

You pick up a shard of broken glass, you tightly grip the glass, causing yourself to bleed as the glass cuts into your palm. You wince. You press the glass to your wrist. But, you hesitate. You don't want it to hurt. But this is the only way to escape. But you don't want to die. You press the glass against your wrist, cutting into it. You wince, tears start to stream down your face again. It hurts. You take the glass from your wrist and wince as the cold air reaches the wound on your wrist. You move the glass down, cutting into it again, this time, lower. You continue to cut, until you feel dizzy from blood loss. You pass out.

You...

☆ bled out! ☆

Route 2

You pick up a shard of broken glass, you tightly grip the glass, causing yourself to bleed as the glass cuts into your palm. You wince. You press the glass to your wrist. But, you hesitate. You don't want it to hurt. But this is the only way to escape. But you don't want to die. You press the glass against your wrist, cutting into it. You wince, tears start to stream down your face again. It hurts.

Suddenly, the door is broken open. It's Xiao. "What is it you think you're doing!?" Xiao yells, quickly at your side and puting pressure on your wrist wound. He flings the shard of glass out of your hand, it shatters on impact against the wall. You struggle to get away from Xiao, trying to move back as you sob. "No! Stop! Let go of me!" You yell, but Xiao grabs you by the back of your neck, stepping over the shattered glass and various other objects, and he brings you to the bathroom.

Xiao starts to bandage and patch up your wrist. You didn't cut too deep, you were scared after all. Xiao softens. "Come on." Xiao grunts, lifting you up and bringing you to the bedroom as you sob and plead. Normally, the ones with the worst punishments are Venti or Scaramouche, and sometimes Xiao. So that's what you assume is going to happen. "Shut up. I'm not going to hurt you." Xiao says, laying you down on the bed and laying beside you. He hugs you close to him. He's glad he got here before you did anything more. But he's angry. Angry that you tried to leave him.

Maybe he'll cut off your arms or legs so you can't run or do anything without him. Just a compliant little bird. He would feed you, bathe you, have you drink things, have you be absolutely unable to do anything as he slots himself in between your thighs(that's where your legs would end, just above your knees), sinking himself inside of you inch by inch-

"Xiao..?" You tiredly whisper, snapping himself out of his thoughts. "Yes?" Xiao says, sharply. "I-I'm sorry..." You murmur, barely awake. Xiao curtly nods in response. Xiao feels you cry as you start to fall asleep. It's been a few minutes, probably around ten or twenty. Huh. Guess he just lost track of time.

You fall asleep. When you wake, Scaramouche is yelling at Venti. "Why did you leave her alone!? You stupid archon!" Scaramouche yells, glaring at Venti. "Says the puppet." Venti snaps, glaring back. Kazuha is cooing to you, realizing you've woken. You're laying in-between his legs, your back against his stomach.

You...

☆ Survived without a punishment! ☆

[jvngkook97]

Sucker for Love

synopsis; in which your best friend happens to be a vampire and the only time he’s able to be himself in the world is during Halloween night. OR you’ve been in love with your best friend for a long ass time and want him to bite you for a change and not a random person, which for some reason, he refuses to do. they say love hurts, and damn it all that you want it too.

pairing; vampire!jungkook x human!reader

genre; angst, fluff, humor, horror, smut, f2l, vampire au

warnings; cursing, jealousy, blood, violence (non explicit), death (non explicit), horror movie tropes, bad jokes, VAMPIRE KOO cause yes that’s a whole ass warning in itself CMON, a few familiar faces make an appearance, there’s no smut in this chapter but there will be in a future one so be sure to read the warnings carefully in order to avoid reading something you’re uncomfortable with pls and ty

rating; 21+ MINORS DNI

w/c; 7,101

a/n; y’all knew it was coming, it was only a matter of time. consider this both a ‘happy jungkook day’ and ‘Halloween’ story submission in one. SORRY IT’S LATE. decided to split this into two chapters cause I like the way this one left off. hopefully, that one will be out soon. like + reblog if you enjoyed. don’t be a silent reader! <3 feedback is always appreciated and helps keep this writer motivated.

networks; @ficscafe, @thebtswritersclub, @btshoneyhive, @kflixnet

01. 02. 03

“You are not going out dressed like that.”

“I—Excuse me? This is literally the only night I can go out like this!”

He tugs on the front of his white, nearly see-through, frilly long and loose blouse with a gusto. His face is morphed into one of disbelief as he stares into your dead panned expression.

“No. I see you in that outfit every single day. Are you not aware of the time difference?” Your arms are crossed, hip jutted out that makes the slit in the side of your costume widen even more. As much as he fights it, he can’t help but let his eyes flicker to the overly exposed skin as his tongue darts out for a split second to wet his lips and play nervously with his lip ring.

When his eyes meet yours he knows you’ve caught him in the act, if not for the elegant yet sultry way you walked towards his figure with a smirk adorning your red painted lips. The cape you were wearing framed you perfectly and only accentuated your beauty even more. As much as he hates to admit it, considering what your costume of choice pertains too. Them. His entire body cringes inwardly.

Your face rises to meet his, a feat that normally has you on your tip toes to complete the action, but not tonight. Tonight, your feet are clad in ruby red heels that give you the perfect amount of height and compliment your costume of choice for the evening — little red riding hood — knowing full well how much it would rile the centuries old vampire in front of you.

“And yet you have to choose a costume from a storybook that has to do with–,” his face scrunches, nose crinkling, and the corner of his lip rising into a small snarl that exposes one long, sharp, fang. “–wolves? I mean, really y/n?”

“What can I say? Hairy bodies are a turn on.”

A loud snort from him. Laughter bubbles in your throat. One coffin shaped, manicured hand lays over his chest. If he weren’t the undead, you have no doubt that it would be beating as erratically as yours currently is due to the close proximity, or maybe that’s just you and your ridiculous crush you’ve had on the vampire for a long time now.

Unbeknownst to you, the sound was like music to the vampire’s ears as he placed one massive tattooed covered hand over yours to squeeze it gently, it meant you had blood pumping through your veins, the vital organ still going strong.

You were still here.

You were still with him.

You were still alive.

Not like on the night where he first found your pale, nearly lifeless body all those years ago.

‿෴🦇෴‿

Then ~ Wednesday, October 31st, 2018 11:30PM

“Some friends they are.”

You crossed your arms tighter around your chest, attempting and failing to secure some semblance of body heat from the chilly, autumn night air. Leaves rustled in the biting wind, littering empty streets underneath the light of the full moon as you slowly and quite wobbly made your way back to your studio apartment. You regretted taking that extra shot before leaving the party, almost as much as you regretted entrusting your supposed friends with letting you know when they were leaving. Now here you were, all alone on Halloween night.

Your horror loving mind drifted to the many movies that started out on a night just like this, one’s where you previously scolded the character for making such a foolish life choice. Even going so far as saying that they deserved to be murdered brutally for their careless act. Look at you now, doing the same exact thing you once admonished with a mocking laugh at the tv screen right before the killer strikes and–

A twig snapping had your head whipping to the side, yet you saw nothing. The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end, however, as if there was someone or something out there watching you, tucked just out of sight behind the line of trees that led to the woods at the edge of town.

“Oh no.” You raised your voice to the dark woods around you with sarcasm. “I sure hope there aren’t any sexy vampires looking for prey out here or heaven forbid a captive!” Shaking your head at your own sense of humor, you snickered, opening your mouth to spew some more dark comedic gold that gets silenced by yet another twig snapping but this time it was closer.

Much closer.

Fuck.

Picking up your once slow pace, your heels clicking on the paved, stone walkway in a frenzied haste do you hear a more fear inducing sound from right behind you. A voice.

“When I let go, run for your life.”

It’s only when the disembodied voice breathlessly caresses the shell of your ear, do you notice how badly you’re shaking. Let alone the fact that there’s a a very pale, lanky, hand on your shoulder. True to their word, they let you go.

And you run for your fucking life.

Now you understood why those many characters would run straight into dark woods, rather than continue down the lit up street. In the woods, you could hide. On the streets, you were open and vulnerable. Wasn’t much of a tough decision when you’re the one being pursued.

Another thing you now understood, how it was so easy to–

The heel of your shoe embedded itself into the soft, wet soil and latched itself in between two branches sticking out of the ground with perfect precision and you tripped. Your arms flung themselves out haphazardly in a desperate attempt to catch your unprecedented fall. Hands, arms, legs and knees becoming scraped by various rocks and branches that poked out from beneath the ground.

Your hands immediately went to the strap of your heel and with shaky hands you barely managed to unbuckle the impromptu foot restraint, freeing yourself and pushing your exhausted body back up into a standing position. Coming to the conclusion you were better completely barefoot now, you freed your other foot from the speed hindering heel and chucked it angrily to the side. A heavy mist now clung to the woods, halting what little moonlight remained from passing through the already thick foliage of the cluster of trees around you.

Straining your eyes through the mist, you saw a shadow stood in the distance, completely still except for the wave of a hand. A whimper escaped your mouth, lips trembling and eyes watering. They had found you, but you won’t be giving up that easily.

Wiping your eyes in order to see clearly, you postured yourself in a position to run and bolted out of there, dodging branches and bushes along the way that only cut you up even more until you stumbled into an open area in the woods that housed an abandoned building.

A very creepy, dark, decrepit, seemingly haunted abandoned building.

Well, shit.

Checking the woods behind you, you see a blur making its way towards you and you realize that once again, you have no choice but to make the absolute worst choice possible.

You needed to go into the building.

Steeling your resolve into not dying, you thrust open the rusty door that was almost falling off its hinges at the years of decay and not being used. The screeching it emanated rivaled that of a nail on a chalkboard and your entire body cringed. Pushing your way into the darkness, you blindly felt for a wall to help maneuver your way through.

During your slow ascent into the building, does the door suddenly slam behind you, causing you to jump and let out a shrill shriek. Along with the deafening slam do you hear what sounds like a lock clicking into place.

What the actual fuck was going on here? Was this all actually real or a really elaborate prank set up by your shitty friends? Whatever it was, you weren’t having it anymore. Time to do what you do best when you’re scared – use your sense of humor.

“This is very funny.” You announce to the supposedly empty room around you. The door had locked itself, and you found yourself even moreso alone with little applicable skill to get yourself out of there. “I’m not the protagonist type, I’m more of the comedic best friend character. Now can someone please bust in here and save me?”

Silence. Nothing but eerie silence.

It was worth a shot.

Unlike the blur you saw in the woods, this time you saw more of a wispy white fog begin to appear on the opposite side of the room. It cast a faint glow, more than enough for you to utilize it and sprint down the hallway that made itself visible due to your ghostly accomplice.

Bare feet padded quickly along, and you tried your best not to look behind you just knowing that you wouldn’t like what you saw. So, instead, you plowed through the various hallways that now felt like an endless maze with how alike they appeared. The doors that lined the hallways were the same as well, solid except for a thinly shaped window that was planted in the middle within eyesight of what’s deemed ‘normal height’ for a human. You wondered what this place was used for, but thought best not to investigate and trouble yourself further with details.

The only thing you should be concerned about is getting out of this place alive.

The heavy fall of boots echoed across the halls that made you pause in your step to listen closer and decipher which direction it was coming from. Not having an inkling of the layout of this building, you realized trying to figure it out was futile and instead continued on. It wasn’t until you heard the footfalls sound in the hallway you just exited from did you begin searching for a door that was unlocked in order to hide.

Jiggling several handles, you found they were all locked. You just about gave up hope when you saw a door at the end of the hallway that was cracked open. Quietly running towards the door, the boots crept closer. Just as you slid your body through the crack of the door and shut it all but a sliver so you could peek through, did the mystery predator reveal themselves.

Your breath caught in your throat, eyes collecting pools of liquid that trailed down your face as you tried your damndest not to make a sound as they inched closer and closer to your hideout.

They were wearing all black clothing, the only pop of color coming from the hideous stark white mask that was littered with specks of something you couldn’t quite make out due to the distance, the mask that covered their face successfully hiding their true identity. As they came within a yard away from the door, did you come to the grim conclusion that this person had what looked to be dark, red splatters of an unknown substance all over their clothes and mask.

Something that was scarily akin to blood.

Closing your eyes, your hands covered your mouth in a fruitless attempt to stifle the whimpering that wanted to come out from the sheer terror that coursed through your veins. Every passing moment felt eternal. And you couldn’t tell if closing your eyes made it better or worse.

You didn’t know if hiding would be the ultimate factor in you getting out alive or not, but it was the only idea you had left. As you pushed yourself further into the corner of the room, your back slid down the wall in relief once the footsteps faded.

Taking a deep breath, your head fell on your knees. With a shaky exhale you let out a minuscule puff of laughter. You were tired, your body was tired. It wasn’t till you felt you had a moment of safety did your body wind down from its adrenaline rush and now all you felt was the crash that comes after it. You allowed this feeling for only a fleeting second, then hoisted your body up and out the door, but not before cautiously poking your head out to be sure the mystery figure was truly gone.

They were. For now.

You stepped out from your safe haven and attempted to make your way back down the hallway from whence you came, hoping you’ll get dumb luck down another corridor and find the exit. Your heart pounded this time, but not from fear. This time, it was pumping with liquid courage through your veins.

Despite your earlier declaration of being the secondary comedic relief, you decided with renewed vigor that you would be the final girl.

Oh, how wrong you were.

There was a sharp pain in the back of your head, your mouth opened in a silent scream that would never come as your body collapsed on the cold, tile floor and you were down for the count. Your body no longer having the energy to fight back, that liquid courage seemingly sucked up in a matter of seconds you just lay there – still. Your eyes struggled to stay open as you blinked them, trying to focus on the white mask that was within your line of sight as the figure knelt down and stroked your forehead, gently pushing the clump of hair that fell in your face away and tucking it behind your ear. The very same ear where you could feel a trickle of liquid slither down the side of your face and off your nose. The last thing you see being red before you closed your eyes for what you thought would be the last time.

Jungkook’s POV ~ The Same Night

He sniffed the air, smelling the faint metallic odor of ‘crimson crack’ as he liked to call it. Tilting his head back, he closed his eyes and honed in on it, letting it take over every one of his senses in order to conclude where the source is coming from. Opening his eyes, they flashed a deep red, before returning back to their usual brown state.

In a flash, he was gone.

When he reappeared, he was standing in front of an abandoned building. His head tilted in confusion, ears perking when they hear the tall tale sign of a human heartbeat. Faint, but there. And it seemed to be getting closer, even a hint louder in its desperate attempt to keep pumping blood, oxygen, life to its human shell.

Interesting.

His hand reached for the door handle, which he promptly brought back to his side and took a step back when he realized the handle was turning on its own and the door began to open. He clasped his hands together in front of his abdomen and waited for the grand reveal of his next meal.

With his centuries of life, he would’ve thought that he saw it all. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. This night, he would have another first.

Seeing you. Smelling you.

Your blood alone caused the saliva in his mouth to pool, the scent making him feel dizzy in a state of euphoria. Body vibrating with the need to get closer to you, to taste you. He nearly pounced, if not for the minor inconvenient detail of your limp body being carried over the shoulder by an all black clothed human male. The mask this male chose was displeasing to the eyes in a sense of it was so gaudy and fake.

The male stiffened upon seeing Jungkook, the hand that clenched the knife that he used to both knock you out and engrave his alias initials into the length of your neck gripped the handle, his knuckles becoming more pronounce as they strained against the leather material of black gloves he was wearing.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Jungkook could tell that the male had anger issues. His voice was devoid of emotion, cold. It made Jungkook chuckle with a deep laugh that had the masked assailant stepping forward in hopes of scaring Jungkook. It only spurred on the laughter more, and made the male even more angry.

“Shut the fuck up, you freak! You wanna die?”

“Do you?” The laughter ceased as if by a flip of a switch. The wind blew between the two males where only one couldn’t suppress the shiver that went down their spine. The masked male thoughtlessly threw your unconscious body onto the ground next to him, a loud ‘thump’ followed shortly after your weighted body hit the solid dirt of the woods. He then poised himself with the bloodied knife raised in front of him, ready to strike with the intent to kill.

Jungkook tsked sardonically.

“Give me the girl and I’ll let you go.”

He thought the deal was good. The masked man did not.

“Fuck you. She’s mine. Get your own, the night’s young.”

“True, it is. But I’m not. And I’m easily annoyed. So, I’ll give you one more chance, human. Give me the girl.”

The masked male blamed his obscured sight from the small holes that the mask granted him, the material only making it harder for him to see Jungkook clearly. Though, he swears he sees his eyes flash red, but it’s gone within the next blink of his eyes. His gut tells him to run, but his pride prevents him from doing so.

The masked male makes his move, and his knife impales into Jungkook’s chest — directly where his beating heart should’ve been. Except, it wasn’t.

“My turn.”

Jungkook grips the male by his arm and yanks his body until it’s pressed tightly against his, using his other arm to encase the squirming male and prevent him from escaping. The mask falls off to reveal a young face, barely hitting his mid 20s. The amount of fear that is on his face gives Jungkook a sick sense of satisfaction.

“What are you?”

The male whispers fearfully. Jungkook doesn’t answer, and instead grins widely. Both fangs twinkled in the faint moonlight as the male’s eyes widened in horror, only to close moments later as Jungkook sinks his fangs into the male’s neck and begins to drain him of every drop of blood in his body.

Y/N’s POV ~ Moment’s Later

When you come to, you find yourself laying on the dirty earth floor as your nails dig into the soil and it gets stuck underneath. Inhaling a breath – it’s crisp, cool, autumn air. You let out a broken whimper when you realize that you’re alive, but it hurts to move. Your head is at an awkward angle, but you can make out two blurry figures out of your peripheral. One looks limp, and the other looks as if they’re embracing the other in order to keep them standing.

In a way, you were right. Your eyes then dart to the fallen off mask that’s settled a few yards in front of you, and you wonder what exactly happened to your perpetrator for them to let you go. You don’t have time to dwell on it for too long, as the next thing you see is the back of your eyelids as you pass back out. It seems like your mind was awake, but your body still needed some recovering.

The next time you open your eyes you’re laying in a huge bed, in a huge room that looks like you’ve been transported into Dracula’s castle, but you were still in a modern home. The decor and looked ancient and worn, yet surprisingly still in good condition. As you sat up, your body no longer felt drained of energy, and in fact, you felt refreshed and reinvigorated.

Your bare feet hit the cool flooring as you stand up straight. A knock on the closed bedroom door has you flinching back to your previously scared state and you hold your breath as the door slowly opens.

In the threshold of the door stands a very attractive male, who looks like along with this castle, he’s from the world of Dracula. His skin is almost sickly pale, yet his eyes held a natural warmth to them. He just stands there, and doesn’t attempt to step inside once he notices your scared expression.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

His voice is smooth and velvety. Despite not knowing this person and going through the ordeal you were just in, your gut tells you that you can trust them. So, either stupidly or —no, just stupidly — you do.

“I know.”

When he hears your voice for the first time, his stomach does flips. It was in that moment a kind of bond was formed, and you’ve been inseparable since.

‿෴🦇෴‿

Now ~ Monday, October 31st, 2022 7:50PM

His hand can’t help but trace the faint scarring of initials that still resides on your neck to this day. A constant reminder to him and you of the horrific, yet fateful, night you met.

Your eyes close reflexively upon contact and you let out a sigh of discontent, knowing where his mind just wandered to, as does yours.

“Koo, I’m still here. It’s okay.”

Your eyes open to meet his. There’s a pinch inbetween his brows that you just want to rub away with your finger, so you do. He chuckles, the vibration flowing through your own body in waves that has you giving him a warm smile.

“I was doing it again, wasn’t I?”

“You were.”

He clicks his tongue, shaking his head to rid of the intruding and unpleasant thoughts and regain focus on the mission for tonight – going out with you on Halloween night to a frat party you were invited to by a brainless jock that Jungkook already hates with a burning passion for catching your attention.

“Shall we go?”

Your eyes narrow into his and you pat his chest, before turning and walking away from him to reach into your bag and pull out an outfit you brought just for him. It wasn’t so much a costume as it was an outfit you just really wanted to see him in.

“Nice try, buddy. But I didn’t forget.” You make your way back over to him with the outfit held out in front of you. “Wear this. No objections.”

He groaned, but resigned to his fate and took the outfit from your outstretched hand. He waves his hand as a motion for you to turn around while he changes. You lift a lone brow at his sudden shyness.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you nude before.”

He rolls his eyes, then narrows them at yours. You throw your hands up in defeat and make a show of slowly turning around until your back is to him. As you bring your hands back down, one subconsciously falls to the scarred initials on their own and just like Jungkook, some aspects of that night fog the forefront of your mind.

You let out a chortle that catches Jungkook’s attention, his eyes fall immediately to where your hand resides as he zips up the black pants you wanted him to wear, but he doesn’t say anything. He knows he doesn’t have too, you always tend to speak your mind.

“Remember when I thought for a second that you were actually going to hold me captive?”

He does. As does his body, even moreso as he flexes the muscles of his back to shrug on the crimson red bomber jacket that covers the plain, black shirt he’s wearing underneath. Tugging the cuffs of the sleeves down into a comfortable position.

“Yeah. I gave you the benefit of the doubt to just walk out the door, and as soon as I turn my back to you, you stab me.”

You throw your head back in laughter, and he can’t help the quirk of his lip that occurs at the sight and sound of it. There’s no blood pumping through his veins, no warmth to his skin, but still he felt a unique glow when it came to you that was within the depths of his soul. It was hard to describe, and he couldn’t say exactly how it was possible, but it happened. Only when it ever came to you. And for a moment, he felt a sliver of being human again.

“Can you blame me though?” He doesn’t. “Are you almost done?”

“Impatience will be the death of you.”

“I think knives will be the death of me, actually. Maybe some poison.”

He folds his arms across his chest.

“Funny.”

“I thought so.”

“You can turn around now.”

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t want me to wat–,” your words die in your throat as you turn around and take Jungkook in in all his glory. Jesus. You changed your mind. This outfit would be the death of you. Your thighs rub together without your knowing, it makes Jungkook’s nostrils flare for a second, and he stiffens, clearing his throat.

“That bad, huh?” He tries to break the tension that came out of nowhere as you continued to stare at him. It’s like your brain stopped computing he looked that good.

“Oh, shut up. Don’t pretend that you don’t know how sexy and amazing you are.”

The words flew out of your mouth unfiltered, unfaltering, and you weren’t even ashamed. It baffles him how a human could be so truthful. So unabashed.

“Let’s just go.” He’s still stiff as he brushes past you and you catch the whiff of the earthy and musky scent that is just naturally him, it only made the want for him that much more prominent and you trail behind him like a lost puppy.

‿෴🦇෴‿

Frat House ~ 8:24PM

Even though you two are early, the party is already in full swing. The music is loud, so damn loud, it makes Jungkook’s sensitivity to sound a hinderence in his opinion - but he does his best not to let it ruin the night. Before you even stepped inside, the porch was littered with bodies as a couple seemed to be making out not too far from the entrance of the house. Red solo cups, beer cans and bottles alike were thrown haphazardly in the bushes surrounding the porch.

How could humans be so careless? Jungkook thought with a grimace. Back in his day it was frowned upon, but now it was the new normal. How the times have changed.

His nose crinkled in disgust at the public display of affection that should be withheld for closed quarters, and you just walked by like it was second nature. The front door wasn’t even fully closed, so all you had to do was push it open to gain access. From what you heard, you thought it was going to be a ‘limited access’ party, apparently you heard wrong. It felt like the entirety of the school was present and upon the door shutting behind you two, the cluster of body heat was more than prominent, triggering your slight case of claustrophobia.

Jungkook could sense your distress, his open palm rested securely on your lower back as his thumb rubbed circles in hopes of easing your anxiety. He could feel you tense, then relax. Bending down so his head was next to yours he asked you a question.

“Want to head to the back?”

You nod your head in answer and he guides you both through the crowd. You do your best to smile and wave at those you know so as not to be rude, but in truth, you just wanted to get the hell out of there for now.

“Empty handed? Here!”

A random guy pops up next to you both as you almost make it to the back door from the kitchen, and shoved two red solo cups of an unknown liquid into your hands. He salutes with a dopey smile and saunters off. You presume he’s going to fill more cups for other random guests. He looked familiar now that you thought about it, and you think it has to do with his two different colored eyes, it always wowed you.

Before you know it, you’re both back outside in the night air and it’s easier to breathe. Jungkook swiftly grabs the cup from your hands and dumps it into a bush nearby. You give him a quizzical look as he dumps his as well.

When he focuses his attention back onto your puzzled one, does he explain his reasoning.

“Never drink from a cup that you didn’t pour yourself, you don’t know what could be in it.”

Your mouth forms an ‘O’ shape and you heart palpitates from the level of protectiveness he’s showing. It never fails to get your heart racing.

He smirks knowingly, and opens his mouth to make a flirtatious comment.

“I love how your heart races for–,”

He’s cut off by a letterman jacket and he wonders what the big deal with them are while the guy pulls you into a tight hug with a big grin.

“Y/N! You made it!” His enthusiasm seems genuine as he tightens his hold on you. Not seeming to care in the least bit that he has to bend over awkwardly to accommodate your obvious height difference. It causes a snarl to build within Jungkook’s chest that he fights to suppress so as not to bring unwanted attention to himself.

“Joonie! Thanks for the invite!” Your tone is light and airy, a soft puff a laughter escapes your lips at the death grip he has on you. You savor the hug, returning it in earnest before you mutually let each other go. His hands are on your shoulders as he takes in your costume of choice.

“Little red, hm?” His brow raises and he lets out a bellowing laugh that you can’t help but join in on. You forgot about the inside joke that was made back in your freshman year of college and he makes a playful jeer.

“Am I still the big bad wolf?” He waggles his eyebrows feigning being seductive, and you snort in embarrassment that causes the natural flush in your cheeks to make a show. It was a one time misjudgement when you decided to listen to the gossip of those around you, rather than form your own opinion. Everyone described Kim Namjoon as a heartless, hard headed, quick to temper and pessimistic jock. You would learn, in fact, he was very much the opposite and those who said otherwise just never had the courage to even try and befriend the tall, lovable, giant you now consider a good friend. Their loss.

Jungkook hates it. He hates all of it. What was this talk of being a wolf? He wasn’t one. He was normal. Jungkook would be able to tell otherwise. And why are you acting as if you completely erased his presence from your side like he wasn’t even there. Anger began to rise, and he closed his eyes in order to prevent the red from showing to the humans around him. He should’ve worn his contacts, but you encouraged him to just ‘be himself’ whatever that means.

Jealousy. A ridiculous human emotion that unfortunately can still occur with vampires.

He loathed it. Like he loathed this human boy.

He began to mimic the timing of breathing as a form of meditation, regaining his sanity and self back just in time for you to acknowledge him and introduce him to your male companion.

“Joon, I’d like you to meet my good friend Jungkook. Jungkook, this is Namjoon. He’s the host, and my science partner.”

Namjoon scoffs at your introduction of him.

“Just your science partner, huh? Is that all I am to you? A lab partner that makes sure you pass the class in order to graduate this year?”

You give a feigned moment of silence as if in thought, your finger resting on your bottom lip that slightly parts them in the process. Jungkook doesn’t miss the way Namjoon’s eyes flicker to them upon the innocent action, but you do. All you do is give an over exaggerated wink in reply. He places a hand over his heart and acts hurt.

Seems like this human boy has taken an interest in you. He wonders if you feel the same.

Again. He feels the jealousy build and stiffens, then relaxes though his fists stay clenched tightly behind him. He plasters a fake smile on and interrupts your little flirtatious banter.

“Pleasure.” His hand is outstretched, waiting.

Namjoon just sees it as a polite gesture and takes it with a soft, yet firm grip. He realizes that there’s even a slight height difference with the jock himself as he steps forward towards Jungkook, leaning into the handshake. It takes everything that Jungkook has not to crush every bone in his hand as he relays what is considered normal strength for a human during a handshake.

You watch the two with wary eyes, but inwardly sigh with relief when their hands part and nothing else happens. Maybe they could be friends after all, or so that’s what you hoped.

“Please, by all means. Feel free to take advantage of the beverages and food. Mi casa es su casa, and all that jazz!” Another female party goer slides into Namjoon’s side and places a hand on his chest. Jungkook is surprised when you greet the female with even more excitement. He assumed you would be upset, furious even.

“Natalie! I thought you said you weren’t going to be able to make it?” You gave the girl a mock glare, and she gave a twinkling laugh in return. Namjoon stared down at this ‘Natalie’ with love and adoration. Jungkook was confused.

“I was able to convince my family to postpone leaving until tomorrow so I could congratulate–,” Natalie pats his chest and looks up into Namjoon’s eyes with just as much love, if not more, before continuing. “this guy on his big scholarship!”

Namjoon’s face flushes from the admission. Your mouth drops open in bewilderment. You punch Namjoon hard in the shoulder and he winces.

“Geez! Ow!”

“You jerk! How could you not tell me?!”

“I was going to, tonight!”

You side-hug Namjoon and Natalie and make promises to catch up. Jungkook pretends not to hear when Natalie whispers in your ear about a ‘double date’ and instead acts like the sight of people gyrating against each other is more appealing. It’s not. But something does transcribe whilst he’s staring at the couples that actually know how to dance properly.

Nostalgia washes over Jungkook, like the gentle sway of a tide pulling his conscience to another time, another place. He felt the phantom stirrings of movement where his heart would’ve still been beating back then, the desire to grin and to dance, but could only place the grainiest of images to memory. He couldn’t quite remember what it was that brought him a feeling of such warmth and fondness, but he felt enchanted to stay within that feeling.

Natalie and Namjoon have long since departed, but Jungkook was still stuck in a time long passed. You cautiously place a hand on his cheek, caressing it while gently rubbing your thumb against his sharp jawbone.

“Jungkook? You still with me?”

The glaze in his eyes disperses upon your call of his name, and his eyes instantly lock with your concerned ones. He gives you a faint smile, sucking in a breath to release it and then answers you.

“I’m still here.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened. Jungkook getting lost in the past. He was never afraid to answer any questions you had for him back when he was human, or even when he was turned by a rogue vampire and left to learn the consequences and rewards of being a vampire and immortal all on his own. His life was hard, but it was still life. Something he didn’t treasure until he was no longer alive, and rather just living — existing.

He realizes that he never had a reason to feel alive, until now.

Until you.

He had tried to do what he could to keep you at arm’s length. Your smile was so disarming, you were so genuine, that he couldn’t help but get close to you. Even when knowing it was a bad idea. He didn’t want to fall in love with you. He kept ignoring the intruding bloom in his chest, telling himself that it would wither on its own.

It never did. It just grew.

It grew a forest of flowers within him, the colors so vibrant and the aroma so intoxicating that it was hard not to fall in love with you when it was you who consumed his entire being, his entire soul, or what was left of it.

And you didn’t even know.

‿෴🦇෴‿

You had been at the party for hours now. Talking, mingling, even dancing a little. Much to your amusement and Jungkook’s displeasure.

His hands rested politely on your waist, never once faltering into the danger zone. Your arms were wrapped loosely around his shoulders, hands dangling. A slow song was on, one you never listened to fully due to how slow it was, seeing as you usually only heard it when you were driving your car and as soon as it would come on you would change the station to a more upbeat option to keep you awake. But, you’ll admit, it was growing on you.

Much like the vampire in front of you has over the years of knowing him. His mannerisms, his personality, his way of talking, his way of dressing. You kept every minute detail locked away inside your head, and your unspoken feelings locked inside your heart. Though, as you both stared into each other’s eyes in a way that should’ve been saved for lover’s, you wonder briefly, albeit hopeless romantically – if he might, just might, feel the same way.

Your body is buzzing with all the alcohol you’ve consumed throughout the night, and as you sway to the song, do you realize how much it’s him who is actually holding you up discreetly and leading you. It’s only when he suddenly stops, does your wobbly figure collapse into his taught chest. Your ear lays against where his heart would be, yet you hear nothing. Another stark reminder of the difference between you two, as your heart raced at how close you two were.

He doesn’t say anything, standing still. When you look up from his chest, his gaze is no longer on you, but something in the distance behind you. Following his line of sight, your puzzled expression turns into one of forlorn.

It was another girl, dressed ironically as a female version of Dracula. You nearly scoffed at the coincidence, though you know it can’t be the costume that’s caught his attention, rather – it’s her blood.

“It’s that time of the night, hm?”

Your question lingers, his focus still caught. You can see the red tint begin to take hold, his grip on your waist tightening into a bruising one. Your heart jumps at the sudden sensation, and it’s only then that Jungkook regains his bearings and gives you a look of regret, his hands parting from your waist instantly as if being burned.

“I’m so sorry, y/n. I just need–,” his nostrils flare of their own accord, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He closes his eyes and when they reopen you know for sure the night is over.

They’re blood red. He needs to feed, or risk losing control and slaughtering literally everyone here, including you. And he won’t have that, he refuses to let that happen. He’d sooner throw himself into the sunlight’s blazing rays and turn into nothing but dust than be the reason you die.

For a split second, you almost gain enough courage to tell him to just use you, but you know he’ll say no. He’s never directly stated that you couldn’t be an option, moreso does he just announce when it’s time he needs to leave you to feed. He swears he never kills those he chooses to feed on, having enough control over his emotions and hunger enough to only drink what’s needed and then heal the bite wound with a solid lick of his tongue. After he’s done feeding, he makes sure to leave their body in a safe place until they come to, waking up from what they believe to be just a blacked out moment and they’re on their way back home.

He steps in the direction of the ‘lady of the night’, and your face twists into one of sadness as you say your parting words, doing your best not to slip up as you speak and let the lump in your throat win over.

“Be careful, okay? I guess I’ll—,”you awkwardly looked away and locked eyes with another classmate of yours — Jimin — giving him a tight smile and small wave, before turning back towards Jungkook to finish your statement and are meant with nothing but an empty space.

He was gone.

Surveying the area, do you catch a glimpse of his back, his hand that was once on the small of your back only a couple hours ago, are now on the mystery girl’s as he leads her around the corner and out the side gate, into the night.

“Y/N, hey! Are you by yourself? Want to hang out with me and Yoongi?”

Jimin’s smiling face appears in front of yours. If he notices the way your eyes are rimmed red with unshed tears, he doesn’t comment on it. Just throws a friendly arm around your shoulders to guide you towards his friends. His excited rambling tickles the shell of your ear as he tries to talk over the blaring music, it having changed to a catchy k-pop song that you love cause it reminded you of Jungkook.

The very person you currently wanted to forget, if only for the rest of the night. As you walk up, Yoongi gives you a silent nod in greeting and you reciprocate the action with a small smile.

They don’t leave your side for the rest of the party, and, dare you say, you actually had a good time. The next morning, you realize, maybe too much of a good time.

[xetswan]

Youngest Shadow- Field Trips

One | two | three | four | five | six |

Bella and I stood next to each other, we had just gotten to our science field trip. I observed Bella’s eyes that went to the Cullens as usual. I then hear foot steps behind and before I can warn Bella, Mike pretends to be Dr. Frankenstein.

“Look! You’re moving. You’re alive!” He shouts, both Bella and I cringe. “Yeah false alarm.”

“Actually, I’m glad you’re not dead cause- well, that would suck, plus I wanted to ask you even though it’s like a month away…” He continued to talk, not even paying attention to the fact that she wasn’t facing his direction.

I watch Edward look up and over at our direction. Bella finally snaps out of it and looks over at Mike. It was a little late.

“So, what do you think?” He notices her blank expression. “You want to go? To prom. With me.”

I cover my mouth, looking away after seeing her horrified look. I try my best to refrain from laughing.

“Prom, as in dance. I uh- have to go somewhere. Yo Jacksonville. Yeah.” She sprouts out her lie.

“You can’t go another weekend?”

“Non-refundable ticket. Maybe you should ask Jessica.” We all glance over to across the lawn where Jessica stood. Mike then looks at me and my eyes widen.

“Don’t think about it. You’re not my type.” I sternly tell him.

He presses his lips together, sighing then going over to Jessica.

Both Bella and I make eye contact, laughing from that horrible ordeal.

Throughout the day I kept seeing two specific Cullens looking my way. And as that happened, each time I would look behind me as if there was something more interesting there.

Of course I would sneak some looks at them too but I’m hoping they didn’t notice or I wasn’t as obvious as they were.

We were now walking through the greenhouse and I saw Bella try to go up to Edward so instead of staying in between that I decide to walk ahead. Moving passed Edward and accidentally bumping into non other than Alice who seemed to have gripped tighter to Jasper.

Her grip loosened after seeing me. “I’m so sorry.” I bowed my head down a tiny bit to not look them in the eyes. She smiled motioning with her hand. “It’s quite alright.” Her voice was angelic, my face warmed up a bit and I start to feel embarrassed at how I was acting.

“I won’t be a bother, sorry again.” I stammered, going to walk away but she gently takes my hand for a second. I gasp at how cold she was.

“You can hang with us if you’d like.” My eyes wander over to Jasper who does a small nod, agreeing with his partner.

I shrug as a why not, finally straightening my posture and looking them in the eyes for only seconds at a time before looking somewhere else.

“Did those hurt?” She points to my piercings, since I flinch for a moment she instantly takes her hand back. “Oh, not really. I guess my tongue did but only the healing part.” I stick my tongue out, showing her. She stares at it.

I smile, closing my mouth, her nose scrunches in response. “I couldn’t imagine the feeling of metal in my mouth all the time.” She mumbles, almost inaudible.

“It doesn’t bother you after awhile. It kinda becomes you.” I say, purposefully adding a little dramatics at the end. I notice Jasper watching me intently. I smile and him and I didn’t even know his eyes could get wider but they did.

“Here, walk in between us.” Alice takes my sleeved arm, nod even between the fabric it still feels cold. I wonder if it bothers her.

I do as suggested, Jasper doesn’t seem so tense anymore either.

“You play Volleyball, I heard?” She asks, I grin just by the fact that she knew. “Yes! Out last game is coming up.”

“Really?” Alice looks up at me, I nod about to say something but Jasper beats me.

“We should go to it.”

My eyes light up but quickly I shot it down going back to a neutral expression.

“Yeah that would be awesome.” I agree.

For the rest of the trip I stood next to the two, it felt different but fresh as it wasn’t the same people I’ve been talking to for so long.

Someone other than Bella, Charlie, Jacob and Angela that enjoyed talking to me without using me to talk to my sister.

The buses arrived and we made our way over there, I saw Bella and Edward talking and it seemed to be upsetting my sister. I begin to walk over, picking up the pace and Alice joins.

“Hi, will you be riding with us?” She asks Bella but before my sister can say anything Edward interrupts. “No our bus is full.” He turns to go on the bus.

“Here’s my number, we should be-“

“Alice, come on.” Edward grabs her, stopping her from giving me the tiny paper. Jasper joins them, he gives me a sympathetic look and I give a small smile in return.

What just happened..?

“Your mother called, again.” Charlie calls after Bella who just stormed into the house trying to go upstairs to her room.

“Your fault for telling her about the accident.” Bella shrugs.

“She always did know how to worry.” His voice sounded sad. “But she’s changed, too. She seems happy. Phil sounds all right.”

“He is.” Bella goes up the stairs, I watch her spit the wedding photo Charlie still hasn’t seemed to take down.

The next day at lunch I stared at the Cullen table, unaware that I was doing it as I was thinking. Looking right at Alice and Jasper, infatuated with their relationship. Wondering what it was like behind closed doors. What kind of people they truly were. Why were they so nice to me at the field trip.

“La Push, baby. You in?” Eric and both my sister and I.

“Should I know what that means?” Bella raises an eyebrow.

“La Push beach, down on the Quileute rez. We’re all going after school. Big waves coming in.” Mike further explains. I already knew as Jacob had told me about the waves.

“And I don’t just surf the internet.” Eric makes a horrible joke.

“Eric, you stood up once. On a foam board.” Jessica called him out and even though I’m not fond of her. That was pretty funny.

“There’s whale watching too. You both should come with.” Angela chimes in and I smile at her.

“I’ll only go if you are.” I nudge her since she was right next to me. Her eyes widen at first but then she grins back.

“La Push baby.”

“I’ll go you stop saying that.” Bella says.

I knew Jake would be there with the others.

So of course I’m going to go. Plus, Angela is pretty cool. I love hanging out with her.

As Bella gets up to get food from the salad bar, I stand up as well but to go to the bathroom. “Where you going? Lunch isn’t over.” Eric questions me, they all look at me and I roll my eyes before turning to look at them. “I can’t piss anymore?”

Only reason I truly sit with them is for Bella and now Angela.

“Gosh you can’t ask questions anymore.” Jessica mutters, thinking I wouldn’t have heard. I raise my eyebrows, giving her a look. She presses her lips together and I head to the bathroom like I was going to do.

I enter the restroom, I actually wasn’t going to use it but to take a minute to myself before classes and everything. I normally am not overwhelmed so easily but something came over me like whiplash.

I heard the door open. “Sorry.” I whisper, going to get out of the persons way. “Hey, you alright?” The voice was small, gentle and I knew exactly who it was

“Oh, hey Alice. Yeah, I’m fine.” I force a smile, she stares at my face for a few seconds as if she was noticing me for the first time. Her expression was blank. Now it looks like she is staring off into space. I wave my hand for a minute, wondering if she’s okay.

Suddenly a smile appears upon her face. “If you say so, sweetheart.” She acts as if nothing happened. Going towards the mirror to fix her hair even though it laid perfectly. I watched every movement.

“So, you ready for that big game tomorrow?” She asks, I let out a shaky breath, laughing a bit at myself for being so nervous.

“Big time. Everyone will be there. We’ll make the paper if we win.” I tell her and she turns to face me once again.

“Really? That’s huge!” She squeals like it was actually important to her. “Yeah um, and I was thinking there’s this thing today. You should come, bring Jasper too.” I start,

Her head turns to the side. “We’re going to the beach if you’re interested.”

“Which one?”

I perk up to her answer, not expecting her to actually be interested.

“La Push.” I watch her expression falter the tiniest bit.

“Oh, how many people?”

“Uh, quite a bit.” I frown.

“I would love to. Really but Jasper has pretty bad social anxiety.” She sadly tells.

“I totally get it. Don’t worry. I’ll see you both at my game tomorrow though, right?” She seemed relieved by my response.

“Of course.”

“I keep thinking Eric’s going to ask me to prom, then he just doesn’t.” Angela tells Bella and I as we walk by the driftwood of the beach.

“You should ask him.” I tell her, Bella nods agreeing. “Take control. You’re a strong independent woman.” Bella exclaims like a motivational speaker.

“I am?”

“Totally.”

“Bella!? [Name]!” We three look up to see Jacob, Sam and Embry.

“Yes, you are.” I tell Angela before we acknowledge Jacob and end this conversation with her thinking to herself.

“Guys, this is Jacob.” I say.

“Are you stalking us?” Bella jokes.

“You’re on my rez remember?” He reminds her, “also you surfing? [Name] I’m surprised you’re not suited up too.” I just flip him off. “Definitely not.” Bella says.

“Keep her company, her date bailed.” Jessica teases and this is where I’m glad I’m not close with these people and they didn’t join me to the bathroom and heard my conversation.

Also I don’t think they would be cool with the idea of girls finding other girls attractive… sexually.

“What date?” Eric butts in.

“She invited Edward.”

“To be polite.” Bella argues, obviously embarrassed. “I think it’s nice she invited him. No one ever does.” Angela inquires, I think she is so sweet.

“Because Cullens a freak.” Mike sharply tells. “You got that right.” Sam speaks up and i grimace, not expecting that from him.

“You know them?” Bella questions.

“The Cullens don’t come here.”

I notice Jacob give Sam a look.

Everyone kind of stands there awkwardly and Bella ends up pulling Jacob aside, and she seems different. Like she’s trying to be flirtatious with him. And Jacob still having that puppy love crush is absolutely falling for it. I shake my head, sighing hoping he doesn’t get hurt. But I have a feeling Bella’s going to accidentally do so.

I go over to Sam and Embry as Angela decides to hand around Eric. “You got a little hot-headed out there.” I poke Sam who huffs in response. “Cullens are that bad?” I turn to Embry who looks down.

“You’ve heard the story before at the campfire, [Name]” Sam says, basically telling me I should remember one of these stories that I was told years ago. I press my lips together, shrugging my shoulders. “The Cullens were supposedly descended from an enemy clan. Does that ring a bell?”

I shake my head, “not really.”

“They claimed to be different than the normal enemy. So we made a treaty with them. If they promised to stay off Quileute lands we wouldn’t expose what they really were to humans.” Sam explains further, cutting it short than what Billy would have said.

“What are they-“

A scream emits from further down near the water, it was Angela being chased by Eric who holds a dead crustacean.

I end up not repeating my question as it seems to upset Sam. Going to join Jake and my sister who sat together.

Chapter four😨

Unedited, sorry if there are mistakes.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Most iconic Xie Lian moments according to me

Contains spoilers!!!

"Xie Lian didn't know whether to laugh or cry"

Keeping every memento of his worst time ever as a reminder of why being kind and forgiving is worth it

When he runs off after he gives Hua Cheng CPR that one time pretending he's looking for his hat

When he keeps roasting Xiao Ying's looks even as she's dying

When he was a prince and he was told his future looked dark and he said that can't be cause he only wears white

Eating food off the ground

Building his own temple, we love a girl boss

When he pet E'Ming like a little puppy after being explicitly told not to ever touch it under any circumstances

Putting Banyue in a pickle jar

When Wuming said he would follow Xie Lian to the death and Xie Lian went "youre already dead"

Breaking rocks on his chest for money

Being trampled to death as general Hua, doormat core

The whole Fangxin Guoshi arc, whew 🥵

Carrying around a big ass bag of scraps everywhere

When he became jealous of Hua Cheng's special someone not realizing the very obvious fact that he was Hua Cheng's special someone actually

Slapping tf out of Qi Rong for making fun of Hua Cheng being blind in one eye

Pretending he had no idea who Nan Feng and Fu Yao were

When Mu Qing and Feng Xin were freaking about how creepy the Ten Thousands Gods Cave was whilst he found it incredibly romantic

Being a bit too into pretending to be Hua Cheng's puppet on Mount Tonglu

Feeding into E'Ming's praise kink

When he disguised himself as a pregnant lady to be possessed by the evil fetus spirit and it worked

When he disguised himself as a woman so badly he looked hideous and needed help to not look like that

When he spent the entirety of the Xuan Ji capturing business in his wedding dress disguise, including meeting Pei Xiu like that

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts-

When his response to the sex pollen was to kill himself

"I do not worship god, i am god!"

Every single sweet and tender interaction with Hua Cheng's butterflies that everyone else is terrified of

When everyone ignored him in the communication array because he was cringe

Getting drunk on a tombstone with little ghost fire Hua Cueng after his life fell apart

Controversial but i think his calamity era was also iconic and very sexy

When Heaven's Eye said his lips are exuding evil energy and he turned bright red

And then later when Heaven's Eye said the evil energy is inside him and he immediately changed the subject

Recognizing literally everyone despite their disguises but keeping quiet about it not to embarrass them.

Calling Yin Yu boring and forgettable looking to his face

Defending Hua Cheng, evil ghost king, in front of the whole entire Heavenly Emperor

When he was working in the rice field with Hua Cheng and he kept staring

Being poor

Having ridiculously bad luck

Ascending three times

Big daddy issues even with his dad still alive

When his life had just fallen apart and he didnt know how much a lantern could cost because he had been ridiculously rich all his life

Holding up a massive temple from falling apart???

Kissing Hua Cheng for spiritual energy in front of literally everyone more than once

When he could hear rats talking???

Adopting children

Not iconic Xie Lian behaviors

His abhorrent cooking

Trying to kill himself???

[bihanapologist]

✮ noob saibot harassing his wife into joining him in death out of twisted love and care for them (feminine terms used but no gendered pronouns for reader)

w/c = 1.7k

cw = slight suicide ideation, noob calls reader "little bird" if that pet name is too cringe then please don't read!

a/n = the reader has a chronic illness and is the physical embodiment of spring simply because it parallels bi-han

You weren’t supposed to be here. You were instructed to hide. Your clan was supposed to protect you. But they’re gone.

Dead.

Your only option is to run. Return to that reprehensible faction. Find your brother-in-law — the only person you trust. Despite knowing that embarking on this treacherous journey would be unkind to your sickly body, you have to try.

Your body condemns your choice. You’re wheezing and hacking up blood as arrows whizz past your face. Your legs throb, begging you to end this excruciating torture. At last, your knees finally give up on you, sending you pummelling into the dirt. You lie there as footsteps grow closer and closer. Debilitated, parched and miles away from Articka, you close your eyes and resign yourself to your fate.

Loud, heavy thuds follow pained squawks. Your eyes snap open. You push through the bursts of pain to turn, to face your unexpected hero…or future killer. A man cloaked in black stands within the shadows — not under, no, he isn’t just shrouded under the shadows; he is one with them — a bloodied sickle in hand.

"Who are you?"

"Your saviour," the man replies with a rasp, his voice soft yet menacing. "Don’t you recognise me, little bird?"

Your blood freezes.

“You can't..."

"Can't what, (Name)?" he asks, a subtle amusement in his gravelly voice.

No, this couldn’t be him. But the only one who called you by that pet name was your ex-husband. Your dead ex-husband.

Years ago, you were wedded to the elder Sub-Zero — Bi-han. Although the union was solely for diplomatic reasons, it was a blissful marriage. Despite your illness and weak body, he never viewed you as a burden. At times, you would sing to cheer him up after a particularly tiring mission. In turn, he affectionately called you ‘oriole’ after the golden songbird. Your former husband — the one who cut you fruits and watched over your feverish form when you were bedridden — couldn’t possibly be the same man as the one in front of you.

His shrouded body ripples like ink, chalky pupilless eyes probing into your soul. His sickle glistens, beads of scarlet dripping down the polished metal only adding to the macabre image. The only word you would describe what you could behold is grim. Grim. Yes, his garb is akin to that of a grim reaper.

If this is Bi-Han, he is nothing but a shadow of himself.

"It's been too long, little bird.”

"You're not Bi-Han," you mutter, holding your breath as you take in his haunting silhouette. "My husband is dead."

"Dead, alive, it makes no difference to me. I am merely the tool of my master's will. But I do remember you."

Every step is slow. Every step is deliberate. Every step echoes through the vacuous forest as he treads past the lifeless bodies. Those same men that butchered your entire clan like they were cattle. The same men that chased you across China and were mere seconds away from claiming your life. All dead in the blink of an eye, slain by ghostly hands. He makes his way closer and closer to you, his presence alone instilling fear and dread as you slowly back away.

"I remember your beauty and kindness, but most of all, I remember your fragility,” he remarks, towering over your fallen form. "You are still so delicate. But you have more resolve than I give you credit for."

"Who resurrected you?”

"The Sorcerer Quan Chi, of course. He perfected me, gave me the power and body I deserve."

He straightens himself, the moonlight casting upon his umbrous form, beckoning you to bask in it. Your eyes only reflect fear and pity. This isn't the man you married.

"Perfect? Bi-Han, you've become a shell of the man you were!" you protest.

The mask covers his perpetually emotionless face, making him impossible to read. Bi-Han watches you in silence as you are overtaken by grief and anguish at the sight of him. You couldn’t even recognise him. You have heard of the horrors of the Netherrealm and creations that Quan Chi constructs but this is beyond anything you have ever seen. He doesn’t have his voice, he doesn’t speak like him, he barely looks like himself, can you truly call this your Bi-Han?

"You have no idea what I am," Bi-Han sneers. "I have become darkness incarnate. I am more powerful than you can possibly imagine, (Name). This perfected body allows me to do things I could never have done as the human Bi-Han. I have been reborn, reforged now by the darkness. And soon, the realms will know my terror.”

"Oh, Bi-Han," you croak, tears forming at the corner of your eyes. "How far you have fallen."

"I have not fallen. I have ascended with the darkness, and the shadows are where I belong."

"You belong with your family, Bi-Han!" you protest, voice breaking. "You belong with Kuai Liang and—"

"A dead man needs no family," Bi-Han states in that unfeeling, inhumane voice. "I am what I should have always been — but you will come to understand, once you join me."

Your eyes widen. "Join you?"

He takes another step closer, his silhouette blocking the moonlight and looming over your cowering form. Your heart hammers against your ribcage, feeling like a cornered animal in his presence.

"Yes, join me.” He extends a gloved hand. "Join me in the Netherrealm and be reborn."

"Why would I want to die?!" you bawl, backing away.

His gloved hand remains outstretched despite your blatant show of horror, his sickle in his other hand hanging by his side. There is a bleak, void-like darkness radiating from him, white pupils glowing in the night.

"For the same reason I did," he replies, his voice low and quiet. So that you can live."

"That doesn't make sense," you object, furrowing your eyebrows. "I am alive. My powers are of spring and rebirth. I'm the physical manifestation of life."

Bi-Han doesn't answer right away. Instead, he stares at you with those unfeeling eyes, his mouth hidden beneath the mask. You stiffen at the sound of laughter. It's the first instance where has shown emotion in this encounter.

"You call this living?" the wraith challenges you. "This existence where you are forced to live like a caged bird, hidden from others, tied to a bed, a slave to medicine. Can you honestly call that living?"

Your mouth goes dry. Your gaze is fixed to the ground, trying to form the words. He retracts his hand and he folds his arms. There is something ominous in the calmness of his movements, in the wisps of shadows emanating from him.

"What's wrong? Nothing to say?" He closes the distance once again, but this time, you don’t back away. "Do you know what it's like to truly live? I do. Being reborn as the shadow, the darkness — it is true freedom. Freedom you can only dream of.”

You bite your lip. "Bi-Han, look at what you've become—"

"I am more than I ever was,” he boasts. “The darkness has freed me, just as it will free you. You know better than anyone, oriole. This flesh you wear, it is weak. You could live without it, without those constraints. Be reborn, (Name). Let the darkness save you from the fragility you have always possessed, the weakness you have tried to hide."

“I can't bear to see you like this…”

"I offer you immortality, little bird. I am offering you the means to escape this fragile existence. There will be no more pain. Only life. Eternal life."

Tears flood your vision. Your head hurts. Your bones hurt, your body hurts. It’s cold and an airy breeze blows past your face, sending goosebumps up your skin. For years, you cried for your late husband. For years, you wish that someday, in another place and time, you could be reunited with him. Not like this. Your husband, your Bi-Han…how could he?

You freeze at the feeling of cold metal against your throat. You swallow, blinking away your tears as you gaze up at the wraith.

"My little bird," Bi-Han whispers, "I would do anything to protect you. Join me, and I will save you. I am the embodiment of death. And you are the personification of life. Let us dance in death together, under the moonlight."

…Living is a burden.

You never chose to live. You never chose to be born with this illness or to be hunted for your powers that you couldn’t even awaken. Is a normal, peaceful life too much to ask for? You had a glimpse of it when you were with Bi-Han. If you squint, you can still taste the sweetness of peaches swirling on your tongue. He always fed you when you were too tired to lift up your arms. He was so good to you.

You miss him.

You open your mouth to answer. But the feeling of hot ichor dripping off his sickle and puddling on your clothes causes the words to vanish in an instant. You stiffen when you catch the glint of the blade in the moonlight. Dread makes its home in the pit of your belly.

You don’t want to die.

A flash of ice hits the wraith square in the chest, toppling him off his feet and sending him colliding into a tree. He lays there motionless, his form sprawled over the ground. For a moment, you think he is dead until he lets out a groan and rises to his feet. His eyes glint under the shadows of his hood and he looks towards the source of the ice.

Lucidity clicks back into place and you let out a sigh of relief as you shake your head. "You arrived in time, Kuai Liang."

"(Name)!" Bi-Han’s younger brother runs over to you and helps you up. "Forgive me, I didn't arrive fast enough."

The wraith’s expression remains emotionless despite being hurled by the ice blast. Yet, you could tell that isn’t the case by the way his grip tightens around the sickle’s handle.

He snarls as the shadows covering his silhouette begin to gather, the darkness swirling around him like a cloak. He grips the sickle tightly in his hand as the shadows rise above him, shrouding his form in a blanket of darkness. The shadow shroud ripples in the night, and then dissipates, leaving nothing but emptiness. The forest is quiet once more.

“Was that really Bi-Han?” you croak, vision blurry from tears.

“Unfortunately so,” Kuai Liang answers. “We can talk later. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”

divider by @/cafekitsune

[kangen-wanshi]

Recorded Proposals ft. Trey Clover, Leona Kingscholar, Azul Ashengrotto

"I'm glad that that whole mess is done now.. Though I guess it's kind of a shame that I didn't get to actually propose to the bride, huh. I practiced a lot, too..!"

"Oh, don't worry, Prefect! I have all of your practice proposals recorded!"

".. What? Wait, Ortho what do you mean you have it recorded — Ortho- Hey!"

Tags: Separate, proposals and daydream and all the sweet stuff, no gendered pronouns used but reader is mentioned to be wearing make-up and such in Trey's

Trey Clover

"I know that you're no longer alive.. I know that we couldn't enjoy the joy of mortal entertainment and woes, but.. Even after death, I wish to always stay by your side and go through whatever there is ahead and build a bright future with you! So please.. Marry me!"

Trey got the video from Cater. One day the orangette sent him the video through DMs with just a wink emoji and some teasing about his crush on you and he just sort of accepts it with a light blush.

Trey watches that specific part over and over whenever he is about to go to bed (he refuses to watch it anywhere else). Your words stuck to him - whether it is because of the oddly sincere look in your eyes when you speak, or your beautiful attire, or perhaps your styled hair and make-up — He doesn't know why he's so addicted to it.

It became a sort of charm for him to have a good sleep (which sometimes involves having you in his dream). Your words rang and echoed through his mind when Trey finally shut his eyes and cuddled his blanket at night, ready to dream about you after a particularly long day.

Sometimes he likes to daydream that you were saying those words to him, as cringe as it sounds to his opinion. Trey always ended up a blushing mess with a lovesick grin on his face whenever that specific thought came up randomly throughout the day. He always hides himself with a hand over his mouth or his hat being pulled just a little lower. He's blushing? No. The weather probably just got a little warmer..

He's a sucker for anything that involves 'building a future together'. He's a big family man, he wishes to have his own family one day, preferably with you in the picture of course. As his partner. Domesticity is just sort of his thing at this point and he's not even denying it.

Maybe he should come clean to you.. Maybe you managed to spur out these specific words that tug on his heartstrings because you, too, want it for yourself. Perhaps in those silly proposals, you let out a small speck of your desire, which is why it seems so genuine in his eyes..

Either way he still acted normally around you. He would bring up the topic of the video and the proposals every now and then to tease you - without outing himself about the fact that he has a personal copy of it. 

Perhaps he'll invite you to bake more often. Perhaps he'll invite you to various normal 'dates' and activities together. You can study together.. You can watch movies together.. Oh hey look his hand found yours, did he just intertwine your fingers together? You don't mind if he stays there for a while.. Right?

Leona Kingscholar

"I know what other people may say. You and I are.. Different, in every aspect. Yet I couldn't help but be drawn to you. To your beauty, your flaws. The way you love and the way you hate.. All of it..! And I promise you, I'll love you through and through - no matter what people may say. No matter what you'll become. Will you.. Marry me?"

Not sure how he got the video.. Most likely asked Ruggie to get it for him in secret? He made a deal with Azul to get a copy? Who knows. He doesn't really care where he got it from - it's with him now.

Leona watches it in the middle of the night. He likes to snicker and chuckle at your other failed attempts. It's a.. Good pastime. When he feels particularly terrible after a day, he watches your silly acting trying to propose to a dead Princess as a way of entertainment.

He got attached to that specific line of your proposals without even realizing. Whenever he went to watch it, he would usually skip to that part specifically to hear you say those words again and again. Except this time he isn't laughing. Rather he looks quite intense listening to your words.

Why do you have to stare so intently at the camera..? It made the experience a little too realistic to his liking. Now he needs to deal with the hammering noises in his heart, heat that slowly pools on his cheek, and his tail which swish and flick around.. Darn Herbivore you're making his sleep a little more difficult this time and you're not even here with him!

Leona doesn't daydream, but some part of your words does strike a nerve in him. You said you'd love someone despite your differences and their flaws? What a coincidence. You and him have lots of flaws and you're pretty different from each other. Right? He just lets those words keep on repeating over and over in his mind whenever he feels like it.

Actually he listened to your voice so much in his head now that he couldn't handle not hearing your voice. Leona doesn't usually have his phone with him but Ruggie noticed that he's been carrying it with him a lot lately.. Even though Leona still doesn't answer any of his calls or texts. He brought them so he could listen to you when he knew that would have a particularly busy day. He even converted the video to mere audio so he can listen to it.

Leona is also another one who acted mostly normal around you. He doesn't really bring up the event - considering that he failed miserably himself with his proposal attempt, so he doesn't like bringing it up.

But you noticed that his stare has become.. Longer, and that his hold on you linger, followed by his tail which often would cling to you whenever you're within proximity. Hey, what did you mean by you'll love anyone despite your vast differences? Huh? What do you mean those were just fake proposals? Come on answer the question, he's listening. 

Azul Ashengrotto

"I've seen all of you. Your past, and your current self. And I don't doubt that you still have many many sides of you that are hidden from the world. Sides that you love- sides that you hate. I wish to love all of them, all of you - including your future. And.. Well there's no other way than to tie ourselves with love and marriage so that I may achieve this dream of mine.. Right?"

Either he got it from Idia who got it from Ortho, or he straight up asked Ortho, Azul will have his way to watch that video. A determined one, and everyone knows how Azul is when he wants something to be part of his possession. 

At first he keeps telling himself that this is for academic purposes. He failed his own proposal back then despite his careful calculation and thorough planning, he just.. he wants to know how you handle it since you're the charming Prefect of Ramshackle! Of course! You would be a great reference should anything similar like this arise in the future!

Azul clips every part that he deemed important (keeps telling himself that these are bookmarks for the highlight of your proposal but really these are just his favorite parts.) Which includes you giggling at yourself because of how stupid the proposal was, or you being utterly embarrassed because of what you said. He has them in short clips!

Although there is a clip which he finds himself constantly repeating. He found your words to be.. Comforting and flattering. At first he thought that maybe this is his ideal proposal. And then he nodded to himself before continuing his said research. And then he immediately snapped back and realized that Oh Sevens is this his ideal proposal?!

Azul finds the idea that you, perhaps, would be willing to love him no matter the amount of facades he has to put up for his business, to be extremely endearing and beneficial to him. He would have your affection, while he's still able to keep up with his Deals. Why would he hate the idea? If not, it made him want you even more than he already did. (Even though he knew these were probably just you sputtering some romantic nonsense to gain the Princess' heart.. He.. Likes to wish. He just hope he could fulfill this specific wish of his own now..)

Since then he couldn't watch the video seriously anymore. He would be blushing - not to that specific part but to literally every other proposal you practiced (although that has become his favorite).

Azul doesn't daydream. He wants things and he will have them. Including you.

He would become more bold in his advances. He keeps falling in love with you over and over whenever he watches or remembers the video - it's only fair that he should start making you fall for him over and over.

So, Prefect, Azul has this new business idea and it involves you.. Oh don't worry you'll gain plenty of benefit from it! Would you like to at least talk about it or consider it? You would? Brilliant! Meet him in the VIP room he already has everything prepared!.. What do you mean you saw a marriage contract on his table?

[peterparkersnose]

Needy

Part 2 to Give In

pairing: Joel Miller x fem!reader

word count: 3.4k

warnings: smut (f receiving oral), broken leg, pain, depression, anxiety, longing, needy joel, reunion of sorts, cringe nickname from maria, malnutrition, descriptions of not eating and weight loss and physical changes due to that, brief grief

a/n hi i wrote smut. god help me, i hated writing it. i hope you guys like it, i tried to make it somewhat good. this takes place after the first game, or when the series ends. spoilers definitely. the middle where you don’t see ellie and joel for the four years there just living in jackson, right when joel comes back from saving ellie.

summary Y/N gets invited to Jackson by her Aunt Maria

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read time: 12 mins 25 seconds

After a few days you realized Joel wasn’t coming back. The sad realization sink in and really took its toll on you. FEDRA officers came to make sure you weren’t dead in your apartment, and with that made you go back to work.

Same day, over and over again once again. Take care of the babies in the QZ. Watch people get hung in the square. Eat the same, boring, disgusting meal FEDRA gave to you. Live in the empty memories that lingered all over town.

Tess was gone too. You figured they were both dead in a ditch or moved on to something better and bigger than this damn QZ. Part of you wondered if Joel just wanted an out; if he was sick of having you as a responsibility and left because of you. And it ate you alive.

It had been a month. You were still trying to reach your Aunt over the radio, just as Joel had been trying to reach his brother. It’s something the two of you bonded over the last few weeks he was here. Your Aunt Maria was located somewhere out west. You weren’t really sure where, but you knew she was still alive. You felt her spark. Ever since your mom and your uncle died when you were small, she had watched you until she was promised a ‘better life’ somewhere in… Wyoming? Montana? Idaho? You weren’t sure. She left you in the QZ because she thought it would be better for your safety. You were a preteen at the time, and for what it was worth it was probably a better idea than to track across country.

Sitting, scrolling through channels you hopelessly looked for Maria’s signal. She always used the lower frequencies, usually this specific one you were listening to. Just as you were about to click the machine off, you heard it.

“Lovebug?”

You gasped and cheered. Lovebug is what she called you when you were younger, a nickname of sorts.

“Auntie?” you called back, hoping this wasn’t one of your delusions seeping back in. “I’m here!” she called. You could hear a group of people cheering in the back.

She gave you a quick set of coordinates and cut off communication. It was brief and that hurt, but life finally had its purpose back. No more Joel, no more overthinking, no more hurting from how he left you.

-

You basically crawled towards the gate of Jackson. Unsure if this was even the right place, you hoped your topography skills were as good as you thought they were. From stealing four cars, foraging for gas (which there was barely any of) and walking over three thousand miles, you prayed this place was anything close to heaven. You had avoided getting bitten or scratched, but killing countless infected on the way. At least you would get to see your Aunt one last time.

The people had their guns pointed at you as you expected. “P-please.” you pleaded with your hands up. You were sure to be almost unrecognizable. Hair was greasy and matted, you had lost a significant amount of weight, and your clothes were tattered. Even in the apocalypse you liked to stay neat, but at this point in your journey you had stopped caring.

“Maria—she’s my a-aunt.”

“I’m going to need Maria at the east gate along with a medic. Stat.” a person called through the radio. The doors opened slightly.

“Y/N?” you heard your Aunt cry. You raised your head enough to see her run towards you. She held you in her arms and cried. The medics were weary behind her, letting this sweet family reunion continue.

You hugged her and tried to hold on to her shoulders the best you could. There was something different. Blinking a few times to get the icicles out of your eyelashes that had formed you realized she was pregnant.

“Y-your pregnant?” you asked. She shook her head and smiled. “I have a lot to explain. I’ll come with you to med.”

They had a makeshift stretcher with a thick piece of fabric held together by two refined pieces of wood. A blanket was placed over you as they carried you across this town. From what you could see, you were in heaven. Dead, no longer here. This whole thing was a mirage.

“It’s real, I promise you honey.” Maria assured you. “H-how?”

“I can explain once your stable. You’ve been out in the cold for too long.”

You closed your eyes, praying it wasn’t for the last time.

Awake. Is what you were. You weren’t sure where, or how, but you were awake. It was dark outside. The little log cabin you were in had a curtain hanging to divide you from other stations and medical supplies. You tried to move.

Your leg was stiff. A large groan escaped from you as you tried to move it.

“No,” you heard from your side. A man sat there. He had dark hair that was longer than the usual cut. His thick black mustache sat upon his lip. He had a tanned skin tone and from what you heard, a thick southern accent that reminded you of Joel. What was a southerner doing so far North?

“Try not to move it. You got a small fracture. Nothing serious, but you will be in the boot for a few weeks.”

His eyes darted to the medical walking boot that sat against the wall. “Who are you? Where is Maria?”

He chuckled at your enthusiasm. “I’m Tommy, Maria’s husband.”

It started to click. “Oh,”

Didn’t Joel mention his brothers name was Tommy? Or was it Timmy. You couldn’t remember. A southerner out west, you doubted it was the brother Joel was looking for. God, why are you still thinking about him? Even now, after you nearly died crossing the country? Sneaking out of the QZ? You were ashamed that your first thought after a brush with death was Joel Miller.

“I let her get some rest, she was here all day. It’s a lot of stress you know…”

Tommy was baiting to see if you knew. “For the baby.” you confirmed.

He shook his head. “Crazy, isn’t it?” he said.

Tommy explained Jackson. How it was functional, safe, and everyone was happy. Maria was right, this was heaven. He explained that there wasn’t any availability in Jackson at the moment, but Maria insisted of inviting you after she found out she was pregnant. Tommy explained something about jealousy and families, but it didn’t make sense to you. Apparently he had just gotten some family back, and Maria wanted hers back too. Since there was no availability, you were going to be staying with a girl in her house. Her name was Ellie. She was quite a few years younger than you, but Maria thought your personalities would get along well. You trusted your Aunt’s judgement, but was concerned when you found out you were to be living with a fifteen year old.

“Get some shut eye. I can help you move in tomorrow. It’s gon’ be difficult on that boot.”

-

It was early morning and Tommy was walking back to his house. Jackson was almost silent, besides for the early birds chirping in the trees and the sounds of the chefs getting ready for breakfast in the nearby mess hall. He stopped in front of Joel’s house and sighed. The large, two story garage behind the house is where Ellie lived, and where you would be staying until they could build you a house. But building a house took time and resources. He prayed that you and Ellie got along. It was either living with Ellie or Joel—Ellie definitely seemed like the safe choice in that situation. Joel wasn’t too friendly to strangers.

Slowly, he entered his own home. Maria was asleep on the couch, cradling her stomach. Tommy watched his beautiful wife for a moment, watching her chest rise and fall. She seemed so peaceful in that moment. Maria was due in a few weeks, and Tommy knew he wouldn’t have the luxury of this for much longer.

“Maria,” he whispered, stroking his hand over her hair and gently waking her up. She jolted awake, like most people did in this world, and was at ease when she found out it was just Tommy.

She put her coat on and grabbed the one she had gotten for you and followed her husband to the medic ward.

“Good morning,” Maria announced, dropping the coat on your stomach. This woke you. Groggily, you looked up at your Aunt with a displeased face. Tommy reached for the boot in the corner. You slowly moved your legs off the bed, groaning in pain. “Are you sure you don’t have anything for the pain?” you gasped. “Not for pain like this, I’m sorry.” Maria assured you. Tommy slowly guided your leg in to the medical boot and tightly strapped it close.

All night you had prepared for the depression that was going to follow with this damned boot. Not being able to move around, depending on others. It hurt too much to start to care about someone else, let alone have them take care of you. You hated to admit it, but this town could be gone within the span of a day.

“Now, you won’t need crutches. Give it a go.” Tommy said, extending his hands to you. They were coarse and dry, and that was a bit off putting to you. The second you put pressure down on your leg it felt like fire was streaming in your veins. Maria noticed your face tense and your hand grip harder on her husbands forearms. You sat back down on the bed, subduing your pain somewhat. “Shit,” Tommy sighed. “Do you think it was worse than we thought? Could the doctor have measured it wrong?” Maria whispered to Tommy. You heard bits and pieces of their conversation after that, but all you could focus on was your leg throbbing.

Ultimately, the two of them decided to get a wheelchair for you to use temporarily and be on strict bed rest. Yay.

“I dunno how I’m supposed to…” Maria said, grunting as she began to lift the handles of your wheelchair. “Don't!” Tommy yelled, stopping his very pregnant wife from potentially harming herself or the baby. “You wait here, lemme get Joel.”

Ice seemed to jolt through your veins when he said that. “Joel?” you asked suddenly in an alarmed tone. Tommy raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, he can help us get down the steps.”

You froze as Tommy began to walk away. You looked up at Maria.

“What’s his last name?”

“Miller. He did spend some time in the Boston QZ… maybe you’ll recognize him.”

No no no no, no no no. This cannot be happening. This is a fever dream, you convinced yourself. This isn’t happening. This isn't real.

“You alright?” Maria asked, looking down from behind you. She was concerned at your lack of response. As she asked that, Tommy began to return. And along side him walked the man you had to convince yourself you weren't in love with.

Maybe he wouldn't recognize you.

You had lost a significant amount of weight. You sliced off half of the length of your hair while you made your journey just simply because it was annoying. Maybe he wouldn’t recognize you. You prayed he didn't. Oh god, what if he thought you were the weird stalker girl who followed him here simply because she wanted to be with him? That’s terrifying. Stalkers existed in the fungal world, but you weren't one in the real world.

“This Ellie’s new roommate?”

His voice filled your skin with goosebumps. Not looking up, you kept your eyes glued on your feet in the wheelchair footrests. “Yup, she’s all yours.” Maria said chipperly, giving Joel jurisdiction to the wheelchair handles. Tommy counted down from four as the two men struggled to make a clear way down the wooden steps of the medical ward. Hearing Joel grunt brought back to many explicit memories, it honestly made your core begin to warm. Joel wheeled you all the way to a house. “Your gon’ have to build a ramp,” Tommy teased Joel. Joel sighed, picking up the wheelchair once again in synch with Tommy as they struggled to make sure your wheels didn’t bump the old, cracked wooden stairs of the house.

As they wheeled you inside the house, the two middle aged men were out of breathe.

“You know…” Joel said, catching his breathe by holding on to the side of his wall. “Those damned brick stairs are gonna be hell. If she wants, she’s welcome to my couch until she’s well enough to walk.”

As Tommy spun around your wheelchair, your eyes met with Joel’s for the first time in over five months.

And he recognized you. Oh, he totally recognized you. His facial structure seemed to shift as he realized that the girl he just offered to live on his couch was you.

“Alright,” Tommy said, not realizing what was going on. His smooth voice luckily interrupted the longing look you and Joel were sharing. “I’m gonna go fix you up some breakfast from the mess hall. You good from here?” You nodded your head slowly.

“Don’t bother, I got plenty here.” Joel offered. Your eyes widened, realizing he wanted to get you alone with him. “You sure?” Tommy questioned. “Go find your wife, take her to a nice breakfast.” Joel suggested. Tommy agreed and promptly left the house.

Joel sat in an old recliner across from you. Your finger scratched at the old medical sticker stuck to the wheelchair’s arm.

“How did-” “Are you-”

The two of you let out an embarrassed scoff. “You go,” he offered. “No you-” you insisted. After bantering for a few seconds, Joel broke the awkwardness.

“How did you find me?”

You sighed. So you did come off as the stalker-ish, jealous girl. “It’s not like that, I promise you. M-Maria is my aunt, the one I was trying to find when…”

“When I was searchin’ for Tommy, yeah.” Joel finished your sentence. “She invited me here, gave me coordinates. I didn’t know you were here until five minutes ago, Joel.”

His name sounded weird coming off your lips after filling your head for so many months. Joel let out a sigh of relief. “You look different,”

“Yeah, well two months across country with almost no food and no ammo can change a person.”

He sighed. “And you…?” he asked, gesturing for you to ask your question.

“Are you mad?”

Joel chuckled.

“Your wondering if I’m mad?”

“Well yeah, I mean we didn't necessarily end on good terms.”

“Good terms?” Joel laughed. “I thought about that damned kiss for months, Y/N.”

A smile sparked to your lips, but slowly left when you remembered. Tess.

“And where is Tess? I’m sure she would be happy to see me.”

Joel’s eyes darted to the floor.

“She didn’t make it,” he said bluntly.

Memories flooding back of the good times you and Tess had made you sad. She was gone. The closest thing you had to a friend was Tess.

“Well,” Joel said, breaking the awkward silence. “Would you like some breakfast? Better than those sardines…” You chuckled a bit.

“Will you help me?” you asked, looking now up at Joel. He nodded, reaching out for your hands. He pulled you up, and the wheelchair rolled backwards. As you tried to steady yourself, the movement of the wheelchair put you off and you began to slip. “Shit,” you yelped as your boot hit the floor. Joel them promptly picked you up under the armpits and held you up unnaturally high. Naturally, your good leg wrapped around his waist, as the other one did its best attempt at following your other leg. His hands rested under your butt, one hand grasping on to it. You now looked down at him as he held you. “Giving me flashbacks,” you chuckled, a hand coming to steady yourself on his back. The other hand traveled just below his hairline on his neck. It was within seconds that Joel’s mouth was on yours.

He was eager. He hadn’t been with you for a good seven months. He needed something, even if it was just a taste of you.

“Fuck,” he muttered, pulling away. “I missed that.”

Your hand had traveled up his head, now grasping his graying hair. Both of your breaths were heavy. “Joel,” you whispered. “Please.”

He nodded and slowly put you down on the couch. Your leg hit the ground with an oompf. He stood in front of you. The bulge in his pants was very prominent.

“May I?” he asked you, coming down to his knees. Joel was never this respectful back in Boston. He would take what he wanted when he wanted, with your consent of course. He never asked for permission because he was always confident that he had it; and he did. Something in him had changed. It was very obvious that it did. You weren't sure if it was Tess’s passing, the brutal crossing of the country, or the argument the two of you had before. But something had definitely changed.

With the confirmation he was granted, he slowly lifted your butt off the sofa to remove your pants. Once your pants were by your thighs he yanked them off. One leg stayed trapped over your boot. There was the Boston Joel coming back, seeping through this new shell of a man he was. Your panties were soaked per usual. “Always so wet for me,” Joel muttered, pushing your stomach back on the couch. He took his middle finger and pushed your panties aside, but also coming back and giving a quick swipe between your folds. A soft moan came from your lips. You adjusted yourself so that you were on full display. Your hips rocked back as Joel wettened his fingers from you. His other hand rested on your thigh, holding it firmly as his thumb made soft circles on your inner thigh, dangerously close. You stirred as he finally inserted two fingers. “J-Joel…” you moaned, clenching around him.

“Just like that,” he said, slowly pumping in and out. “Good girl.”

The praise was almost enough to send you over the wall. He never gave you anything like this back in Boston. It was always to satisfy himself. You feel like this time Joel really, truly cared. He moved his hand from your thigh to your lower back, moving yourself closer to his face. His thumb brushed circles around your clit. “Do you want it?” he asked you. You looked down to his eager eyes. They seemed to melt at the sight of you. You shook your head. “With words…”

Boston Joel’s dominance had returned. “Y-yes.”

“Manners?” he asked, giving another deep circle around your clit. “Please, Joel. Please.”

You knew he liked when you used his name. “Good job,”

His tongue softly darted to your folds. A plethora of slurred swears and moans came from you as he began to eat you out. The sucking and slurping noises were almost pathetic; Joel was so needy. Both of his hands rested on your thighs, tightly holding on. As he took a second to re gain some air, his lips moaned against your clit. That was almost enough to make you cum. He licked his lips, and went back in. This time he could tell you were close. You were already contracting and he could feel the release building up in your core. “Come on baby, beg for it.”

“Let me cum Joel, please! I-I… please!”

He pulled away and kissed your folds. “Since you asked so nicely,”

His tongue seemed to dissolve inside of you as your orgasm began to hit you. “So good, good job baby. Ride it out.” he said, moving away from you. His thumb delved into your clit that made your legs begin to shake. “It’s okay, you got it.” Joel re assured you, holding down your knee on your injured jeg so it wouldn’t hurt. Once you came down from your high, he helped you put your pants back on. Slowly, he helped you get up and pulled your pants back up to your waist.

Holding you in his arms, the two of you stood.

“God, how I missed this.”

“God, how I missed you.”

-

tag list: @dani5216 @uwiuwi @alohastyles-x @mandoloriancookie @maddieinnit0 @alexxavicry @scoliobean @avengersfan25 @nyotamalfoy @milly-louise  @undeniableadrenaline @evyiione @qualitypudding @jmillerswife @mxtokko @randomstory56 @misshoneypaper​ @sloanexx @jbcalway​​

[gay-dorito-dust]

Reptile/Syzith hc with a gender neutral partner who can respawn after death and he's not aware when it hoppemd? Like it's not something they told him be sure they didn't anticipate to die but one day they die in an accident. They stay dead for a bit but eventually 'load' back in and respawn completely unharmed as if nothing happened like it's a video game.

Gifted with an ability to seemingly never stay dead might’ve been a power many would make a wish for, but you would always say it was because they were looking at it from a surface level, seeing it as something for what they wanted it to be rather then acknowledging it for what it actually was; a curse. They’d never be able to comprehend the catastrophic consequences that comes with the ability, nor would ever understand how much it takes away from you until it was far too late.

Not to mention the toll it takes on your mental psyche.

To you, it wasn’t necessarily something you’d boldly put out there in the open nor admit to having pride in, for upon every time you’ve come back from the dead, it had left you feeling less and less human in every sense of the word.

You did feel some guilt when you actively decided to not tell Syzoth about your powers, seeing as you weren’t put in a situation where you could demonstrate actual proof of your ability. Yet due to this lack of foresight and preparation, it made the accident all the more heartbreaking for your reptiloid lover, who felt as though his last chance to being happy was ripped away from him in a violent manor; that of which left him feeling a sense of desperation to save you anyway he could.

Syzoth felt as though he was the one who died the night of the attack, he wasn’t that far away from the scene when it happened, but then why did Syzoth felt as though he were miles away as he watched with vengeful eyes and his heart in his throat. He tired to close the distance between him, you and your supposed killer but as he managed to make it to your side, the kill had cowardly ran off into the shadows; leaving a poor weeping Syzoth to pathetically scoop you up into his arms, cringing at how cold you were within his arms that felt all forms or wrong to him.

He didn’t want to believe it, not one bit. Someone or something out there didn’t want him to be happy and wanted to see how far they could break him. So to test that theory, they just had to take you from him didn’t they? Syzoth wished he had died instead and would probably ask for someone, anyone to kill him so that he may be with you in whatever afterlife you were currently residing in, waiting for him.

However those who were made aware of your abilities from firsthand experience should try and hold Syzoth from doing something rash before you returned. They’d look out for Syzoth on your behalf, much to his distain, but none of them were willing to risk the reaction you’d have should one of them ever have to tell you that Syzoth died to join you in the afterlife. After all it was only a matter of time before you’d respawned and it was up to them to keep Syzoth moving until then.

Unfortunately for them and Syzoth, it would be a long while before you finally managed to respawn again, meaning that you were genuinely dead for a bit and at first you thought that your powers had been taken from you, but it wasn’t long before you found out that was completely and utterly not the case as you found yourself with a face full of life and no visible wounds that you could see. So naturally you went to find Syzoth and tell him the truth.

Now imagine Syzoth’s surprise when he caught sight of you, alive and unharmed. The poor guy thought he was seeing your ghost or believed that his mind was messing with him into believing his most deepest of delusions. So right off the bat he was both startled and skeptical at the sight of you, thinking it was some darker forces at work who wanted to use your death as a way to manipulate him. His hurt was still fresh and Syzoth would very much like to not be reminded of his losses, especially during the times where he is most vulnerable and susceptible for manipulation.

Syzoth: who are you and why do you wear my lovers face?! Are you the one who took their life?!

You: woah Syzoth! Allow me to explain-

Syzoth: there is nothing that is needed to be explained! Reveal your true self before things gets messy! For I will avenge my lovers death.

You: I will not fight you Syzoth!

Syzoth: that’s too bad because I’ve been needing an excuse to start one.

You: you liked being cuddled up against me at night because you say I make the nightmares go away, that I make everything okay by putting you back together again piece by piece. You’d like to tell me that I’m your better half but i would always counter and say that you’re my better half.

Syzoth: …y/n?

You: You’ve always have been my better half Syzoth because ever since we’ve been dating I’ve been hiding apart of myself from you that I am ashamed of.

Syzoth: and whatever could you ashamed of, my love?

You: my power, my power is what I am ashamed of my beloved, for I can’t stay dead not matter what for I always seem to wake up with no dire wounds to speak of. Which is why you can see me as clearly as you do now.

Syzoth: you’re actually alive?

You: yeah. I’m sorry for lying to you my sweet.

Syzoth: you need not apologise my love, to know that you are still will me is all I ever wished for nowadays.

That night and every other night after Syzoth clings to you just that little bit tighter and stays by your side, refusing to ever part from you for long periods of time.

[bensonsbobblehead]

The Village it Takes 

pairings; Spencer Reid x Mom!reader (ft Daughter!oc)

Spencer fakes his death ( basically how Emily did) leaving you and your 11 year old daughter behind.

Content Warnings; angst, sadness, talks of death and grief.

a/n; Hiii, I am working on a taglist and how to make one for the future im so sorry im still fairly new to this.

wc; 1.0k [ first ]

Spencer was always better with her, you were her best friend but Spencer was her diary. He encouraged her to do things he knew he would never be able to do. She was so outgoing, thanks to you, even though he was shy Ronnie brought out another part of him. After he died everything changed for the household. It was harder for Ronnie to adjust specially as she’s approaching womanhood.  

The two of you had argued almost everyday just for it to end with her breaking down in the end. You knew this was just her way of dealing with her father being taken from her. That didn’t make it any better for you though. Seeing Cameron like this was the hardest thing ever.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so mean mom.” She spoke after two hours of silently watching tv, “I just miss dad so much I want to scream. Some days it hurts to breathe and it makes me so angry. I miss him” she said randomly as you both watch tv together.

Thirteen was suppose to be a fun age where you begin to learn who you are or could be. Camerons chance was taking from her now she’s consumed with this grief. The same grief you were dealing with in your own way. It hurt you so much he was missing his beautiful creation grow up. 

You pushed her glasses up off the bridge of her nose, “I know its so hard, I miss him so much it hurts to breathe but I have you and you have me, this is how we get through it.” Kissing her on the temple.

You pulled you daughter into your side rocking her until she fell asleep. You were both abruptly awoken by the sound of your phone ringing. A call from Aaron Hotchner, which wasnt rare but why was he calling so late? He said in a few words that you needed to head to the BAU. 

You gathered your things wondering what in the world this could be about. You held Ronnie’s hand as you headed up to the office. Your heart was ponding reminding you of the last time you were here. You had came to clear out Spencer’s desk and collect his badge. You remembered it like it was yesterday. All the sad eyes watching you attempt to pick up the pieces of what was abruptly left behind. 

“Do you think something bad happened again?” She asked squeezing your hand harder. 

“I’m not sure Rons” you tried to reassures her also wondering the same thing. You all were led to the bullpen with Cameron opting to sit at her dads old desk. The room was filled with your husband family, Jennifer, Aaron, Emily, Penelope, Rossi, and Luke.

“As you all know Dr.Spencer Reid was pronounced dead three years ago.” Confusion spread across everyone’s face and Aaron continued, “Three years ago I made a decision to keep the identity of Dr. Reid and I take full responsibility.” 

“What do you mean keep the identity of him a secret?” You asked still completely confused, 

“Mr.Scratchs son was caught and killed by the fbi a few hours ago. Three years ago he couldn’t know Spencer was still alive and neither could any of you. Once again I say I take full responsibility” Your face cringing at the name of the man who caused you and your family so much pain. 

Then it hit you Spencer was still alive?

“Aaron what are you fucking saying to me? That my husband is alive?” If this was true all those days spent talking to his grave meant nothing. The picnics or visits to the grave after Ronnies competitions were nothing. Spencer was walking this earth while you were here going through the worse pain in your life. Asking with glassy eyes, you were pulled out of your thoughts by Penelope head snapping toward the door. 

“Oh my God” she said with tears falling from her blue eyes. 

There he was Spencer Reid, the love of your life, the man that made you a mother, he’s alive after three years. He stood tall and a bit bigger with his long curly hair. 

“Y/N I’m sorry, all of you really.” He walked in giving hugs to everyone in the room. You hadn’t even moved, you didn’t know rather to be happy or angry at him. For never saying anything for letting you believe he was gone. 

“Y/N, can — can I hug you?” He asked sincerely not wanting to startle you. Before you could even think your hand was moving to slap him across the face, your angry completely took over. 

“THREE YEARS SPENCER?!?, you left me and your own DAUGHTER and still slept at night?” You yelled causing the entire room to become silent. Spencer stood there with no response which only made you more upset. 

“Say something! Say why you did? Just fucking give me a reason to put us through this” you were hitting him in the chest causing Hotch to grab you. 

“YOU don’t fucking touch me!” You snapped toward him, the man that watched you break down silently after putting your daughter to bed every night. Aaron had been there for you and Cameron since he “died”.

Jack and Cameron were always friends before her dad passed and were even closer as time went on. Most of the time having Ron distracted helped you deal with your grief with Aaron by your side, he was one of your husband’s closest friends.

“Daddy?” You heard Ronnie’s voice from the door, you completely forgot you even brought her. 

Everyone turned toward the teenage who stood tall just like her father. She was even wear their matching converse they decorated together. Spencer turned taking in his daughter, immediately regretting everything . She grew so tall and looked so mature, he missed it all. 

“Cameron I’m so sorry honey, I never meant to hurt you sweetie” he didn’t move allowing her to feel whatever emotion she needed. Her eyes filled with tear with a small weep escaping her lips. Her breathing became uneven, she was gasping for air. 

“Dad? You’re alive?” She asked grabbing her stomach looking for some sort of comfort.

“Yes, I’m here sweetie.” Spencer said walking toward Cameron causing her to step back while shaking her head.

“No, No, I—-I, Mama I can’t —-” she said falling to the floor, gasping for air. you pushed pass Spencer immediately hoping into mom mode. Spencer stood still unsure of what to do to help his own daughter. His heart shattering seeing the pain all of this has caused.

“Im right here baby, just keep following my breathing.” You told her as you sat on the floor with her, Emily coming to sit with her too. 

“In and out” you guided her as her breathing evened out, “I’m right here with you love” you pulled her into a bear hug while looking back at Spencer.

You all got up from the floor as you headed toward the elevator with your daughter not saying a word to Spencer as he silently followed behind.

[thornybubbles]

Forever My Queen (Yandere Diavolo x Reader)

**Note: This is the first story in a collection of stories based on songs. All of the songs used as inspiration have lyrics that sound a bit “yandere-ish” to me. Each song was paired with a character that I personally think it suits the best.**

**Note 2: Features a female reader. Diavolo may seem a bit out of character here, but I figure that by this point, after having gone through the death loop for so long, his already unstable mind has snapped completely. So have fun with that, Reader. Be warned that I haven’t proofread this so it may contain mistakes. I’ll go back over this and fix any mistakes I find later. In the meantime I’ll go back to working on “Kinder Than Love”. 

WARNING: Mentions of suicide, death, and other dark themes. Read at your own discretion. Remember that you alone are responsible for what you choose to read. 

Inspiration: “Forever My Queen” by Pentagram

How much longer would he have to endure this? How many times would he have to endure the agony of death? 

Over and over and over again… 

Would he ever be allowed to die and just stay dead?!

Diavolo’s wild, green eyes darted around, making note of every little thing that could possibly kill him. He deemed it all dangerous. After all the times he died, he learned a very important lesson: 

Death could come at any time, from anywhere, from anyone or anything. 

From being stabbed, burned, shot, poisoned, strangled, electrocuted, drowned, starved, crushed, chopped to pieces, eaten alive, torn in half, beaten to death, he’d experienced nearly every way a human being could die. He couldn’t take it anymore. 

How would it happen this time?

Would it be slow and agonizing or quick and painless? 

He stared about, cringing in on himself and trembling. It had already been about ten minutes and he was still breathing. It offered him no comfort. He knew it was only a matter of time before the end came. Then he would end up somewhere else and die again… and again… and again… 

“Please…” his voice came out in a trembling whisper. 

“Please!” 

A few people walking down the sidewalk glanced in his direction, shook their heads at the obvious madman, and kept walking. 

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE! GET IT OVER WITH! JUST KILL ME ALREADY!” he screamed, glaring at the people that turned to give him strange looks. 

How did the saying go? “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” Diavolo, the man that had once held an entire country in the palm of his hand had been reduced to a cowering, trembling, paranoid lunatic that screamed obscenities in the streets while people looked on in shock, concern, and occasional amusement. 

The King was king no more. 

He had nothing. 

He was nothing. 

His subjects had all turned against him. His kingdom had been stolen from him. He was exiled  into a never ending loop of death, defeated by a mere child. King Crimson was gone. Dear Doppio, his companion soul, was dead. And now, the only thing he had to look forward to was death.

He fell to his knees and tried to keep from bursting into tears like a pathetic child. Most of the people that had been distracted by his little outburst had already walked away, some more hurried than others, but all wanting nothing more than to be as far away from Diavolo as possible. He could keel over right there in front of all those people and none of them would care. They would just step over his corpse as if he were just a pile of trash. No one cared what happened to him. 

He had nothing at all to live for.

Nothing to live for… 

Diavolo chuckled at the realization. Of course. Why hadn’t he thought of it before? It all made sense now. It was the one death he hadn’t experienced yet! 

Suicide. 

He was supposed to kill himself this time. 

He couldn’t help but laugh, elated at the idea. He could resist of course, but he knew that the death loop would increase his despair until he finally gave up and ended himself. But he wouldn’t resist. No. He wanted to die this time. And he would enjoy it, too. It would be the only time that the death loop allowed him to choose the nature of his elimination. What would he choose? He wanted so badly to savor his brief moment of control, but he felt that the death loop would grow impatient if he didn’t act soon. So he would have to work with what was around him. He looked around his immediate area hoping to find something that could end his life in an at least tolerable way. Eventually he lifted his gaze to the rooftop of a nearby apartment building. Why not go with the old standard? He would climb to the roof of that building and jump to his death. 

Diavolo entered the building, feeling something akin to peacefulness in his soul. He didn’t know what future horrors the death loop would bestow upon him, so he would relish this single moment of mercy. He decided to take the stairs, forgoing the elevator completely. He just wanted to enjoy the moment as this had been the longest he’d ever been allowed to stay alive. He could safely say that this would be his favorite death. 

The door to the rooftop was thankfully unlocked. He opened it and walked out into the late afternoon glow. The air was so clear up there and Diavolo took a moment to breathe it all in. He walked up to the edge of the roof and stared down at the city. It gave him a great sense of tranquility standing there, looking at the skyline and the setting sun. He had no idea where he was, but for a moment, he imagined that this city was his kingdom and he had just climbed up to the roof of his sprawling villa to survey his domain. 

Just like old times. 

The feelings of despair hit him hard then and he knew it was time. He looked back down at the streets below and took a deep breath. It wouldn’t be the first time he fell to his death. He’d done it at least five times before. He knew it would hurt, it would be extremely painful, having nearly every bone in your body crushed by the force of gravity and your flesh splitting open as your insides spilled out all over the pavement would always be excruciating, but at the very least it would only last for a moment. Painful but quick. Diavolo supposed he’d take that over slow and agonizing. He held his arms out wide and started to let himself fall forward. 

Something grabbed a hold of the back of the mesh shirt he wore and yanked him back onto the roof. He spun around and locked eyes with you. 

--------

You had come up to the roof to watch the sunset and have a little smoke. You didn’t smoke often, but sometimes the events of the day wore you down and having a little nicotine in your system helped you deal with it. You had just finished your cigarette when the door to the roof was suddenly thrown open, startling you. A man dressed like a mannequin in the window of a Hot Topic shuffled out onto the roof with a spaced out look on his face. You weren’t sure but, he might’ve been under the influence of something with the way he was acting. He lumbered past you as if he hadn’t even seen you. You watched, with growing concern, as he made his way to the edge of the roof. He stood there staring out at the horizon before throwing his hands out and leaning forward. 

SHIT! 

You had a terrible feeling that he was going to jump the moment you saw him heading for the edge of the roof. You moved with speed that you didn’t know you possessed and grabbed a fistful of the netting on the back of his “shirt”, if you could even call it that, and yanked him backwards. He almost fell backwards on top of you before pulling himself out of your grip and turning his manic green eyes on you. He seemed shocked, confused, and maybe a little bit angry. 

“WHY THE HELL DID YOU STOP ME?!” 

Okay, maybe very angry. 

You didn’t know how to answer him. 

“I-I just… you were going to…” was all you could say. 

“What business is it of yours?” he asked, voice dropped to a quieter, but just as threatening growl. “What compelled you to interfere?!” 

Again, you didn’t know how to answer. Frankly you thought it was obvious. 

“I guess… I just didn’t want you to jump.” you said, wincing at the sound of your own voice. 

The man sneered, painted lips pulling away from his teeth. 

“You shouldn’t have stopped me! I was meant to die here! I was….” 

He trailed off and a look of stunned realization came over him. His mouth dropped open and he stared at you as if you just gave him the answers to all of life’s problems. 

-----

The gears in Diavolo’s head were turning. Something had changed. He could feel it. He felt it the moment he felt you grab him and yank him back before he could let himself fall to his predestined death. All throughout the death loop, not once had anyone bothered to come to his rescue. You did. Where had you even come from? He hadn’t seen you at all when he walked onto the roof. There was a moment where the paranoia rose within him again and he thought that maybe you were meant to be his death, but why would you save him only to kill him a moment later? At the very least, he could trust his deaths to make sense. The paranoia within him faded when he looked at you. No. You wouldn’t hurt him. You weren’t the type. He knew full well what the look of murderous intent looked like in a person’s eyes. The only thing he saw in your eyes was confusion, discomfort, and a little bit of fear. 

He felt as if a chain around his neck had been broken. Gone was the ever present atmosphere of impending doom. 

It was over.

He was free. 

Somehow, when you pulled him back onto the roof, you managed to pull him out of the death loop as well.

Something stirred within him and he absently placed a hand over his chest. That presence that had always been with him since his birth had returned. Doppio. His dear Doppio was a part of him again, he could feel it! Not only that…

He stood up to his full height and took a few steps back. 

“King Crimson!” he shouted, causing you even more confusion. 

His ever grimacing Stand appeared beside him, looking as if he had never been lost. King Crimson cast one sideways glance in your direction before Diavolo mentally dismissed him. 

He turned back to you. 

“You fixed it.” he said, sounding completely wonderstruck. “I don’t know how, but you fixed it. You gave everything back to me!” 

Well, almost everything. He was still a king without a kingdom, but now that he had Doppio and King Crimson back, it was a problem he could easily deal with. 

“Um, sir…” 

Your timid voice interrupted his thoughts. His crazed eyes met yours and you took a step back. No, he wasn’t high, but he was very clearly mentally ill or at the very least mentally distressed. 

“...is there someone that I can call for you?” 

He answered you by suddenly sweeping you into his arms and pressing his lips to yours in a much too passionate kiss to be shared between strangers. You tried to pry yourself from his hold but his grip was like iron. He deepened the kiss in a way that had you both panicking and swooning at the same time. You didn’t know who this guy was, but he kissed like he was trying to suck the life out of you. You were getting dizzy and your vision was filling up with black splotches. You were on the verge of passing out when he finally pried his lips away from yours and set you back on your feet. 

You lost your balance instantly, and fell over on your rear. Your head was spinning and you took a moment to catch your breath. You could feel the heat in your face and you were certain that it was roughly the color of a tomato. Your dazzled mind was at war with itself. One part of your mind was screaming that you needed to pick yourself off the ground and get the hell out of there before that psycho did something worse to you, while the other side of your mind was nervously dismissing the whole thing, saying that he was just showing his gratitude at you saving his life. Once your head began to clear, you scooted backwards on your ass until you felt you were out of his immediate reach. You weren’t going to let him touch you again. 

“I will repay you. You have my word on that. I know you don’t fully understand what you’ve done for me today, but I will repay you for it.” he said. 

He turned away from you, his eyes filled with a frightening kind of determination, and left the rooftop looking like a man with a mission. 

You lay there on the roof, desperately trying to comprehend what just happened to you. 

-----

Several months later… 

You shook your head as you read the morning news. 

“Man, this city’s gone to shit.” you murmured and took a sip of your coffee. 

Almost overnight, your city’s crime rate skyrocketed. Murders, assaults, beatings, robberies, gang wars… there didn’t seem to be any end to it. Sure all of that stuff existed before, but not to the extreme level that it had reached in only a few months time. Something was definitely going on with the local criminal organizations and you wanted NO part of it. You glanced over at the pile of real estate brochures that rested on the kitchen counter. You had already been wanting to move for a while now, and the way things were going, you may have to move for your own safety. Young woman living alone? Yeah, you were a prime target. Luckily your apartment building was the only one in the neighborhood that hadn’t been broken into yet. Keyword being “yet”. It was only a matter of time. If there was ever a time to move out to the country, now was it. You quite frankly hated living in the city anyway. It was too noisy, too hectic, and lately, too dangerous. 

A crashing sound caused you to look up from your paper. That came from just outside your door. You set the paper aside and cautiously approached the door. You reached out and put one ready hand on the handle of the baseball bat you kept next to the door and looked through the peephole. You didn’t see anything right away so you slowly opened the door. Sprawled on the floor was a little guy with pink hair who was pinned underneath a rather heavy looking box. He struggled to push the box off of himself but it wouldn’t budge. You let go of the baseball bat and threw the door open. 

“Need some help?” you asked, stepping out into the hallway. 

The little guy looked over at you and immediately blushed with embarrassment. 

“N-no! I’m okay!” he said, rather unconvincingly. “I can handle it.” 

He grunted as he tried to push the box off of himself again. It just wouldn’t budge no matter what he did. He looked back over to you, giving you a sheepish grin. 

“Uh, actually… I could probably use a little bit of help… if you don’t mind…” 

You couldn’t help but smile. Whoever he was, he was oddly charming. He seemed a little dense though, but hey, nobody’s perfect. You went over and knelt down next to where he lay. You pushed the box off of him and he sat up, sighing with relief. 

“Thanks!” he said.

He got to his feet and looked up at you. His face flushed again, and he looked around himself, seemingly trying to avoid looking directly at your face. 

Aw, he’s shy! You thought. 

“I guess I overestimated my own strength…” he said and chuckled nervously. 

You glanced over at all the other boxes sitting just outside of the open door to an apartment room. 

“Guess this means you’re my new neighbor, huh?” you observed. 

“Yep!” he said with a nod. 

Getting over his shyness a bit, he offered a hand for you to shake. You smiled and shook his hand. His grip on your hand seemed to linger slightly longer than necessary before he finally let go. 

“My name’s Doppio. Vinegar Doppio.” He said. 

-----

Diavolo was overjoyed to have both his Stand and his second soul back. Not only that but he was slowly rebuilding his empire. The best part of it all was that he was no longer stuck in that infernal death loop. 

He had you to thank for that. 

And thank you he would. 

He already made sure that you were the most protected being in the entire city. All of those under his rule knew that you were off limits. Your apartment was a safe zone and any of his underlings that passed it by wouldn’t even look at the building for fear of his wrath. Only one upstart thief thought that he would try his luck and attempt to break into your apartment. Doppio, who had been observing from the building across the street, quickly put a stop to it. Diavolo allowed his other half to deal with the disobedient worm however he desired. His dear Doppio was very thorough in his punishment. The thief's brutalized body was hung by its entrails from the ceiling of the local thieves' den. The message was very clear. Any slight towards you would be met with swift and horrific punishment. There would be no forgiveness, no chance at redemption, and NO MERCY. 

Diavolo didn’t know what strange parallel world the death loop had taken him to, but what he did know is that you were destined to rule it alongside him. You hadn’t just saved his life that day you kept him from jumping from the roof, you gave him back everything that had been taken from him. You were special to him. You were clearly meant to be his. His Queen. With you by his side, he would bring this new world to its knees.