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satoru-is-the-way · 1 year

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Spoilers for Avatar 2!!

Avatar! Rick Quaritch x Navi reader

"Given Enough "

Series Master List

Tag list: @the-wanderer-2022 @zootsutra @anyzandy @kneelingforvillains @dioriez @mylovelyreblogs @dinobae-replyacc @voodoogoul @freshmoneyalmondathlete @thedumboneforsomereason @world-dominating-kitty @scarletpines

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Angst, Mentions of Dead, Killing in a sort, depression, and maybe some more not sure I'll add it I find one!

Also lowkey not proofread lmao. ..Also this does Include Mayan language and such because me trying to represent my peeps. Love you fam...but low key had to add the flying bison 😭 y'all don't @ me

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 -Flying is lesson one

Quaritch wakes up only to meet (Y/n) beautiful eyes gazing down at him. Yesterday felt like a dream. He never imagined himself to be in this position. But anything to make Jake Sully pay for his sins. “Lik'en,” She said. He looked confused at her. “Get up.” (Y/n) repeats in a more annoyed tone. “We will have to teach you our language. You are like a baby. You know nothing of our ways.” This earned a simple eye roll.

“So I assume we will be going over the language barrier today?” He stood up slowly standing a whole foot taller than (Y/n). Mastering the language would be the hardest part; everything else he figures would be easy. In the marine core, they trained him for many scenarios, but the likes of Pandora had not been one. But how hard could it be? “Unless you have something else in mind, princess.” He grins a flirty tone. (Y/n) looked down.

“No, first we eat and then we ride.” She comments. Quaritch follows her. She tossed him a rather odd fruit-like food. It resembles a dragon fruit but on a much larger scale. “Lesson one is flying.” Quaritch chuckled.

“I already have that down with my Ikran.” He bit down on the fruit taking in its sweet flavor. He truly liked Pandor and could not wait until it belong to them.

(Y/n) chuckled also eating her fruit as they walked through the village. “No, I am talking about another animal. Bigger, stronger, and faster than any Ikran. We use the Ikran for many tasks. But Kamimaljuyú has another way of flight. They are part of our clan and have been since the dawn of time.” She called out for her Ikran who soon arrived along with Quaritchs. “We have many sub-villages in our large domain. However, these creatures live farther out to the east.”

“SISTER!” Called (Y/n)’s younger brother landing beside her Ikran. “The Mamífero Ka’anal’s have just given birth hurry!” Quaritch has never seen anyone this happy before. He took a mental note that these Mamífero Ka’anals could be a weak point in this clan. He nods over to (Y/n) and they both take off flying deeper into the clan’s territory. Quaritch knew he hit the jackpot landing here. If he could mate with the Princess all of this land, people, and warriors could be his to command. “Hurry before the children find their soul animal.” Her brother, Balam, smiled. Quaritch’s eyes widen and his ears go back once the large creatures come into sight.

The humans had very little information about this creature. He could remember the small paragraph written over these ‘Sky Bison’ in human terminology. They were large animals of the sky, they belong to the air clans, every ten years they could be seen on migration, and they would disappear into the mountains never to be seen again. They land next to other Ikrans. He noticed many children possibly around 9 years old gather at the edge with food in hand.

“What the hell are they?” He asked. (Y/n) smiled softly seeing the baby Mamífero Ka’anal’s fly around their mothers.

“They are the Mamífero Ka’anals Great warriors in the sky. Or as your people might call them Sky Bison’s as they resemble an earth creature. They are part of our family.”

“Why are the children here?” He asked, walking closer toward the edge. An animal like this in a war would be unstoppable.

“In our tribe when children turn a certain age they are given more responsibility and utilities before they reach adulthood. Such as this. New Mamífero Ka’anal’s are brought here. The child and the Mamífero Ka’anal bond for life. Much like the Ikran, they will never have another owner. But if their companion dies they can ever fly again.”

“What do you mean by never flying again?” He asked watching the newborns fly down to the Navi children. They were so small and innocent, weak. An easy target. (Y/n)’s ears lay back thinking of the sad times a Navi died before their sky bison. “Did…I say something wrong?” He touched her hand.

“No, it is a very sad time. We bond with the Mamífero Ka’anal for life. It is more than a connection to an Ikran. They become part of our family, we are friends for life on a spiritual level. If we are in danger they can sense it and vice versa. Our bond with them is sacred and blessed by Eywa. If a Mamífero Ka’anal dies we can never choose another. But if a Navi dies before the Mamífero Ka’anal’s…” (Y/n) paused, “The animal gives up their will to live. It’s cruel and unfair how they work differently. They will lose all motivation to fly, live, and be happy. They will not eat or drink. Normally to avoid the torture of starvation we perform a ritual in front of Eywa and kill the animal in a humane way before we return them to her. Then they can live in eternal happiness alone alongside their companion.” (Y/n) whipped the tears which fell from her large (e/c) orbs. He felt bad not for the animals or Navi but for seeing her cry. The colonel shook his head trying to stop feeling sympathy for the enemy. Her beauty meant nothing in the end because his goal is to kill Jake’s whole family.

“Hey, Princess, don't cry. In the end, they are happy, right? They don't suffer anymore. They are returned to their family.” He tried to comfort her which seemed to work. “So…do I get one?”

“Yes, but there are very few adults. Sadly in some cases when a Navi child does not make it to age, there are some who are left over. It is harder to bond at an older age. Mainly catching them but I can help you with that.” She clears her throat. “First be thinking of a unique call.”

“So these Bison respond to a certain call?”

“Yes, they do. Watch and listen.” (Y/n) cupped her hand over her mouth calling out to her bison (this sound). The colonel listened and looked to see the bison come for their master. Soon the large creature called back, flying towards the floating land. “Hurry!” She yelled running towards the edge of the floating rock before jumping off.

“Fucking hell!” He yelled before following the Navi princess. How did she land smoothing on top of the Bison? "SHIT!" He yelled, landing with a thud on the animal's back. She laughed and walked up onto the large creature's head connecting her queue to him. He gripped onto the bison's fur.

"Áramà! My beautiful girl! I want you to meet someone." (Y/n) smiled as the bison flew down to the ground below.

"Was jumping off the cliff necessary?"

"For dramatic purposes…Yes it was." She laughed jumping down. Quaritch follows examining the animal. He looked for weak spots. This creature would be a nightmare to fight. "Áramà this is Rick Quaritch." (Y/n) said. The Bison leaned over sniffing the Colonel.

"Hello there. Áramà is it?" He was supposed to treat this animal like a native. It seemed intelligent. Rick noticed the silent communication Áramà had with (Y/n) maybe their bond is on a spiritual level. "So girl where is the other at?" He asked reaching up to pet the female Mamífero Ka’anal. She looked at Rick before glancing at (Y/n) making a few sounds that sent the Navi into laughter. "What's so funny?"

(Y/n) chuckled," She said she cannot wait to watch you fail." The colonel looks at the bison and huffs.

---

Currently (Y/n) , Rick, Balam, and Áramà are above an unclaimed bison. "So Balam , she is your sibling?"

"Yes I am younger though. Now focus. You have to drop down and make the connection quick." Balam instructed. "Or else it will not work. Just try and think gentle happy thoughts when connecting. Calm and command the Mamífero Ka’anal. When you are done I will help you fly him." Balam said. Quaritch nods looking at (Y/n).

“What do you say, give me a kiss for good luck, princess?” This caused (Y/n) to smirk and move closer lips near his. Quaritch felt his heart race ear going back.

“I said dont call me princess.” She then pushed him off. Quaritch yelped, falling off Áramà and turning around to land on top of his bison. It was quick how much the beast began to thrash around in an attempt to get Quaritch off his back.

“Ts'a a wóoli' yéetel beet le vínculo!”(Hurry and make the bond!) (Y/n) yelled.

“WHAT.THE.HELL.DOES.THAT.MEAN?” He called back. This was much harder than some Ikran. This beast had strength. Quaritch refused to let an animal make a fool of him. He needed to focus on the mission. With one mistake it would all crumble. With a loud war cry, he leaped forward and connected his queue to the Mamífero Ka’anal. The bull instantly settles down. “That’s it, boy.”

Balam dropped down chuckling,” Not bad for a human. I am surprised you didn’t die.” (Y/n) soon lowers her bison so they are riding side by side.

“Now give him a name.” She smiled.

“How about Pup?” He asked, causing the siblings to chuckle.

“I like it. Now come on. Let’s teach you how to fly. They are much different from an Ikran.” (Y/n) smiled.

---

It was now nightfall and Balam returned to the village on his bison leaving Quaritch and (Y/n) alone. The pair lands on the ground side by side before descending from their bison. “So how did you feel about lesson one?” She asked, nudging his shoulder. The colonel had trouble admitting he enjoyed today. Enjoyed being with the Navi princess. Also, her brother was not so bad, her complete opposite.

“I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy myself. Today was a different one for sure. Pup here is rather pleasant. It is so odd how…I understand him even without being bonded I feel him. Hear him. Know what he knows.” Rick did not know Navi could truly be this emotional. Have connections not only with their forest but animals.

“Well, then tomorrow we are going to dive deeper into more traditions and our way. Including our language which you desperately need to learn.”

“So then I get my kiss?”

“Tch, in your dreams.” She blushed.

“I am counting on it, princess.”

Chapter 3

#Spotify #avatar x reader #avatar way of water #na'vi avatar #avatarmovie #jake sully #neytiri #sully family #colonel quaritch x reader #colonel quaritch #Avatar x navi #way of water #avatar x you

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worriedvision · 2 years

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Open marriage (part 3) - tighnari

Part 2 here. Gender neutral reader. Tagged this as cyno x reader bc it gives more cyno x reader content than tighnari lol. Cyno cracks some jokes here

“So, what happened between you two?” The forest ranger asks, beginning to enter the desert land. “If that wasn’t appropriate, I’m sorry, I was just curious. You two seemed to close before you up and left.”

“Well, did you hear the confrontation back there?” You ask, the forest ranger nodding as they start to slow down, clearly not able to deal with the heat very well. “I was in an arranged marriage. When Tighnari eventually found out, his opinion changed of me.” You sigh out, looking up at the sky momentarily. “I knew working with him would be difficult, and I was made aware of the withering zones in the desert.”

“It’s so warm.” The forest ranger whines out. “O-oh, sorry. I’m surprised Master Tighnari never knew of that, it’s almost like he was living under a rock.” The forest ranger jokes, fanning themselves. “We didn’t think differently about you knowing that. Most of us got that neither of you really had a choice.”

“...Thanks.” You trail off, looking towards the withering zones in the distance. “...Can you stop talking about this? I don’t like remembering that.”

The forest ranger nods, following your line of sight and barely keeping up with your walking pace.

Finally cleared the zones, thanks to your temporary assistant, you wipe some sweat off your brow before turning to where the forest ranger was.

“Thanks for the assistance!” You cheer, thinking your forest ranger ally was there. You make eye contact with the General Mahamatra, and you realise your forest ranger friend was passed out. “Oh, General Mahamatra. What brings you here?” You ask, going to bow to him. He holds his hand up, holding back an obvious eye roll.

“I saw you were attempting to clear this zone by your lonesome. After getting closer, I recognised the forest ranger Master Tighnari granted you had passed out. I decided to assist with clearing these zones.” Cyno responds matter of factly. “I was simply taking a walk, looking for clues, and I saw you were in need of a helping hand.”

You nod, smiling softly at the man’s generosity.

“Say, I was going to get some lunch after this. Would you like to join us?” You smile, looking over at the unconscious forest ranger.

“Sure.” He responds.

Though eating with Cyno, you find out he cracks some pretty bad jokes. The way he tells said jokes adds the much needed humor, in your humble opinion. The other forest ranger was too focused on eating to really pay attention, still not fully awake after passing out from the warmth of the desert.

It felt rather nice. Finally, you had some interaction with a person for the first time since your divorce (well, other than the argument with your mother). Additionally, it was nice to treat a man to a meal - even if it was just a wrap. He was grateful for the meal, enjoying the flavour and thanking you for treating him. You insist that it was only right - if Cyno had not been walking by your area, chances are the withering zone would have knocked you out. When you start to yawn, it dawns on you that you haven’t had good sleep. You can’t remember when you took enough of a break for sleep, focusing all your energy on that damn divorce paper.

“Do you have a place to stay?” Cyno asks. You shake your head, and you open your mouth to say your sleeping bag would surely be enough as long as you found a cave, but Cyno stops you. “I know someone who was habitually late. Their doctor recommended they sleep in a herb garden. As odd as it sounds, they always woke up on Thyme.” You groan outwardly, the joke hitting after the initial curiosity of who this person was, and Cyno then explains he was going to get you a room in a nearby inn.

You reluctantly agree, knowing Cyno was stubborn in the same way you were, and you were just about ready to fall asleep.

“An arrogant Gazelle walks up to a group of lions and brags about being better than them.” Cyno starts. “He was consumed by pride.”

Your face drops, realising Cyno cracked yet another joke, but a part of you is grateful. Cyno may not know it, but it put your mind off of Tighnari for a moment. You close the door, wishing Cyno a good night, before promptly falling asleep the moment your body hits the bed.

#cyno #tighnari #gender neutral reader #cyno x reader #cyno x gender neutral reader #tighnari x reader #tighnari x gender neutral reader

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thiswaycomessomethingwicked · 5 months

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3, 9, 10, and 49 for Grima?

Two Grima anons!! Because you all are amazing and know me and the way to my heart

3. Obscure headcanon

Honestly, I feel like I've talked enough about Grima that all my headcanons have been exhausted in the "Grima Thoughts" tag and the "Grima Wormtongue" tag more broadly on my tumblr.

I suppose one that I've never voice too much, and haven't played with (YET. GET READY.**) is that I headcanon him as distinctly Not Cis but he's very convoluted and vague about what that means. The whole seidr aspect I read onto him adds different layers to how you can interpret that, especially given some views that seidr-working might have been viewed as an alternative gender, or an additional aspect to gender, or something in that ballpark of being different from man and woman.

I just enjoy that, aside from Eowyn, he is one of the characters you can make the strongest argument for being Outside the Gender Norms of Their Respective Society. This makes me very pleased and happy.

Grima just wants to be queen. Let him be one!!

**this only applies to people reading What Makes a King

9. Scene that first made me love (or hate) the character

For the movies it was the tear-drop scene in TTT after Saruman sends the uruk-hai off to Helms Deep. So much regret and realization of the scope of the impact of his actions captured in a single emotional moment. And it's fleeting! But so well done. No words are needed. Just dawning horror and that stomach-dropping-out-from-your-body feeling of What The Fuck Have I Done - This Was Not How It Was Supposed To Go.

In the books it's 100% when Grima is sassing back at Treebeard. He is Peak Drowned Rat and a GIANT TREE is telling him: You need to go to Orthanc. It's voer there.

And Grima. Who has been on a horse for two days straight, riding through the night, and probbaly hasn't eaten in 48h, and is now stinking soaking wet becuase Treebeard dropped him in the muck and mire of the waters around Orthanc. That man. That man looks at the Giant Tree, the stuff of childhood legends in Rohan, and his instinctual reaction is to be the sassiest most lie-filled bitch on the planet.

What the fuck Grima.

Grima: Well, since you don't think I was here on behalf of Theoden which was My Quickly Thought Up Plan Because I DID NOT Expect This. I will now just be super sassy at you as my fall back. Seems reasonable.

Tree Beard: ????

Love that deranged bastard so much.

Grima: [sees a being way, way more powerful than him. Gandalf, Treebeard, whatever] What if I just said some sick burns and was a petty bitch for fifteen minutes??

Eomer: . .... ..,, , as a treat?

Grima: As a treat!!

10. Best moment on screen (or in the book)

I loved his seduction scene in the film. That whole speech is masterfully rendered by Brad Dourif and Miranda Otto is also fantastic in that scene. Seeing her tempted, truly tempted, then pulling back like: nope, nope, nope, I can't. Grima's face when she leaves. Absolutely phenomenal.

I also love the "These Men Don't Know What Personal Space Is" scene with Eomer.

Nothing to see here. Move along everyone.

In the book, the best scene is everything in the Scouring of Shire. The wanting to take Frodo's offer of a helping hand. The desperation for that salvation from himself and the situation he is in - yet, he is so trapped in whatever it is he feels for Saruman. That quasi-enslaved state by the time we get to the end of ROTK. It's so fucked up and such a fantastic representation of the push/pull of abusive situations. I want out/I can't leave/I can see a future/I can't see a future. So well done.

(And I think Saruman-Grima dynamic is something Tolkien didn't know he had - at least in terms of the potential that is in it.)

While I have gone on before about Grima's death being a let-down in terms of thematic satisfaction, I do love, love, love that he gets to kill Saruman. He gets to put the knife in Saruman's back. That is so fantastic as a full circle of all the traitors betraying each other. ALSO, of course, Grima gets to kill the man who has spent the last eleven months torturing him for shits and giggles. We love to see it.

16. Deepest darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves

I think Grima is very afraid to look at a lot of things about himself. He cannot look into the mirror straight-on. All truths about himself have to be captured in peripheral vision - which is to say, only ever faintly brushed against.

I don't know what the darkest secret is that he can't admit to himself. I suspect, for him, it's several. He's done so much harm in his life, and he's been also denied so much too, and wants so much, and has broken so much - it's all a tangled mess.

I think for Grima, what drives a lot of his actions post-Helm's Deep is a two-fold sunk-cost fallacy (that's the thing he can't admit to himself - it's not all lost. He can and should walk away. "If it's shit, hit the bricks" was not something he ever learned) and the inability to be able to see a life outside of Saruman. A path away from Orthanc. (Granted, no one was being helpful in that regard until Frodo. Literally no one. Not in any meaningful capacity.)

24. Most annoying habit

Maybe stop stealing things from people?

Probably, though, the sycophancy. The whole "oh my lord" this and "a wise/brilliant thing you said my lord" that. Ugh. Miss me with the verbal dick-sucking there, Grima.

I get why he does it. I 100% understand. I still find it grating. This is something, I will say, that turns up in fanfics more than canon. I've written it, myself, because it works for his character! It's what he would do! It makes sense post-Saruman that he would be like this! If he wasn't it would be weird! But my god Grima, get a spine and a sense of self-worth!

(Grima: shall not.)

For proper canon things, we don't really see enough of him to have specific habits to pick on. Because frankly, I find his thieving delightful and funny, if not a little whimsical. In fact, he should do more. Steal more things! Steal more things!

(Grima: Shall!!! Right now!!)

32. Something guaranteed to make them smile/laugh

Scathing commentary on people he hates. This man is a gossip and a first-class professional Bitcher. He can bitch with the best of them. Hearing dirty things about people makes him so happy.

Also, I think he likes word play and clever jokes. Riddling games and the like, especially ones that are terribly, terribly clever are near-guaranteed to make him smile.

I don't know that he laughs all that much. I think he does that snort/exhale as a form of "laughing" but I don't think he does full on laughing. Save very rarely, and I think it's a shockingly warm sound for someone who is a walking glacier in many respects.

49. Favorite toy as a child

Oh gods. This is hands down the toughest question. If only becuase I have only ever envisioned Grima's childhood as fairly toyless. But he would have had toys - even in the bleakest versions he would have had toys.

I can see little Grima, as a four/five/six year old, being partial to a small, carved cow. He likes the gentle eyes and is familiar with cattle and they smell like home. I can see him also having a small wagon as a boy and he would go out to a small copse and pretend to be a runaway who has joined up with a band of robbers or highway men. In the wagon he'd pack food and water and such, also his bow and a small knife.

Practicing a quick get-away since he was eight.

----

Thank you both so much! <3 <3 <3 This got long but 0 regrets. Grima deserves it.

#grima wormtongue #lotr #lord of the rings #eomer #lotr ask #ask meme #ask game #anon #reply #Grima Thoughts

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themaladaptivewriter12 · 3 days

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Title: "He is Me, and So Are We."

Part 7 of my “Cray-Cray for Cater” series! Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 can be found here!

Parings: Cater Diamond x Twisted Wonderland Male OC (Mirai Yuhara)

Summary:

When Cater begins to distance himself, Mirai can't help but feel he is to blame. Instead of facing his problems head on, Mirai cowers from his self-inflicted fear of rejection, and now it's too late.

cw: Angst, Hurt/comfort, arguing, use of Cater's signature spell, self-worth issues, self-esteem issues, Cater has trouble seeing his own worth, making up

a/n: It's been a while, but Ima make up for it! Promise! I can't believe this series has 7 parts already! Part 8 will be a long one!

a/n: I missed my own anniversary. IMA RIOT!!! Late anniversary post soon.

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do! (─‿‿─)♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

“Chamomile, Jellyfish Stingers, Scales of a Coral Snake, Mandrake Root,” Mirai listed, writing down the inventory for Professor Crewel once more. He always got sad when he saw the mandrake root.

Per usual, Mirai was helping out Professor Crewel with sorting and organizing his supply closet. Mirai liked helping out when and where he could, but also, he liked Professor Crewel, he could trust him. But unfortunately, much to Professor Crewel's chagrin, he couldn’t make Mirai a personal lab assistant.

“It’s unethical, it shows favoritism,” Professor Crewel said in a mocking tone, face twisted.

Mirai tried to hold in his laughter.

“Yeah, you wanna know what’s unethical? How uptight that old geezer is! I swear he hasn’t changed at all since my school days,” Professor Crewel scoffed, with a sneer.

Mirai giggles as the memory, as he continues his recording. The school, namely Trein, wouldn't allow Crewel employ Mirai, much less pay him, so instead, Crewel overlooks his mistakes in class, well, not all of them, adds an extra point to his grades where he could, gives him access to pretty much anything in the lab, and gives Mirai the harmless little leftover gems and potions from his classes.

“What’s so funny, Little Papillon?” Professor Crewel asks from where he was leaning against the doorframe. A hand on his hip, the other was holding his pipe, its contents unknown.

“N-Nothing,” Mirai stammered.

Crewel smirks, leaning his head against the wooden frame, his gaudy fur coat sliding down his shoulder even more than it already was, “You thinking of that orange haired pup?”

“Orange haired…?” Mirai thought before it dawned on him, face flushing red, “N-No!”

Professor Crewel laughed, “I jest, I jest. But on that topic, how is it going, your relationship, that is?”

Mirai flushed, mumbling, “Isn’t that a little too personal for you to ask, being my professor and all?”

“Oh? And here I thought we were quite close.” Professor Crewel teased.

“You’re almost old enough to be my father,” Mirai deadpanned.

“I’d have to be sixteen to be your father,” Professor Crewel said with a disgusted face.

“You’re four years shy.”

“Your father had you at twenty?”

“Nah, he was your age actually.”

“Huh.”

“You could be my older brother?” Mirai jokes.

That made Crewel burst into a fit of laughter. Mirai snickered.

“Okay, I can be your adopted older brother, and I wanna give you relationship advice,” Professor Crewel said with a smirk.

“Alright, no. Adopted father sounds better.” Mirai laughed.

“But I thought you didn’t like that. Now tell big brother about your boy,” Professor Crewel laughed.

Mirai broke out in a fit of laughter, “Pl-Please don’t say that ever again!”

“Father it is.”

“Ugh, that still sounds horrible.”

“Ima say it every time you act up in my class.”

“No! Please don’t!”

“Watch me.”

“But honestly,” Mirai said after his laughter died down, “I’d say we're fine. Being with Cater is new, it’s fun, and I couldn’t ask for anymore.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah. He walks me home, and to class when he can. He’s always so caring and nice,” Mirai said with a happily little dreamy smile on his face.

“Well aren’t you a little lovesick pup?”

“N-No,” Mirai pouted.

Professor Crewel chuckled.

“You sound like Sam. He always calls us lovesick Imp, and every time I come in for work, he always tries to read my fortune, but I won’t let him,” Mirai chuckled.

“Wait,” Crewel said, “You work for Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“And he pays you?”

“Yeah?”

“Why isn't it unethical for him?!” Crewel shouted, throwing his hands up.

Mirai laughed at Crewel.

“You laughing at me, Little Papillon?” Professor Crewel asked, whipping his head around to his student.

“N-No,” Mirai chuckled.

Crewel smiled. “I guess you don’t need my help after all,” Professor Crewel laughed.

“I mean, I guess there is something that has been bothering me,” Mirai said, mood dropping a bit.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“He’s been distant lately,” Mirai started, eyes downcast. “I can tell he’s forcing himself, I mean, like, I don’t know, I can’t describe it, but he just feels…off.”

Crewel looked surprised at his student’s confession, “Have you spoken to him about it?”

Mirai shook his head, “I don’t wanna, I don't know, spook him? Scare him into hiding even more? I just can’t figure out what would cause him to act this way. He was fine a while ago, but now, I don’t know, he just seems distant. I want to give him the space to work it out, but I don’t want him to ya’know, shoulder it all.”

Crewel genuinely looked stumped. He thought for a moment before speaking again, “The safest route to go about this is communication. Talk about it, tell him how you feel.”

“I don’t wanna seem pushy or nosy,” Mirai confessed quietly, “I don’t want him to get mad at me.”

“Has he ever gotten mad at you for caring?”

“No.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about,” Professor Crewel scoffed, “and if he has, tell me, I’ll handle it.”

Ignoring the threat, Mirai sighed, “I know that there’s no reason for me to be so edgy, but I just can’t help doubting myself. Like what if he doesn’t like me anymore.”

What if our “I love yous” were fake? Mirai thought.

Professor Crewel got into Mirai space to look him in the eye, “If that boy likes you, then he will stay. If he doesn’t and breaks your heart, I’ll fail him.”

“Professor, you can’t do that!”

“Maybe I can, maybe I can’t, but he does have a few missing assignments,” Professor Crewel smirked.

“I really need to get him on top of those,” Mirai sighed.

“So, will you talk to him, Little Papillon?”

Mirai nodded meekly.

“Speak,” Professor Crewel commanded.

“Y-Yes, Professor Crewel.”

“Good boy!”

Mirai flushed as the praise.

“Whacha talking about?”

Mirai looked behind his Professor and saw Cater leaned up against the doorframe of the closet, a sly smile on his face.

“Cater?” Mirai called, confused, “Is it that late already?”

“Hm,” Cater nodded, “I called and you didn’t answer, so I went looking for you after you didn’t show.”

“You called?!” Mirai gasped. Mirai dug into his pocket and found that there indeed was a missed call from Cater.

“I’m sorry, it was on silent,” Mirai apologized, “I got caught up sorting this out.”

“Go ahead, Little Papillon, I can finish up myself,” Professor Crewel said, waving his student off.

“Are you sure? I didn’t-”

“Are you disobeying me?”

“N-No?” Mirai stuttered.

“Good boy,” Professor Crewel praised, petting Mirai on the head, “Now shoo, out. Remember your homework and to study for your quiz”

“I will! See you tomorrow, Crewel,” Mirai said, waving.

Mirai hurriedly shucked off the spare labware he had on, handing them to Crewel, and made his way to Cater.

“Let’s go,” Cater said, taking Mirai's hand.

Mirai happily took Cater’s larger one, swinging it as they walked.

“Oh and little pup,” Professor Crewel said with a smirk, “I wouldn’t want to forget those overdue assignments. I’d be a pity for you to suddenly fail my class.”

Cater glared hard at Professor Crewel, grating his teeth, as he shut the lab door behind them. Crewel laughed as they left, shaking his head and went to finish organizing his storage closet.

The next day, Mirai had his shift at Sam’s, and of course he slept in. Mirai rushed around his room, throwing on his designated work outfit, which consisted of a black button down shirt, black jeans and black boots. He grabbed his shoulder bag, throwing in his phone, wallet, and other things he might need and rushed downstairs. In the lounge grim was sitting on the floor eating a tuna bagel, which Mirai gagged at.

“Why didn’t you wake me?!” Mirai cried trying to find his key.

“I did, and you went back to sleep,” Grim deadpanned.

“I’m late!”

Finding his key on the mantel, where it wasn’t before, the ghosts no doubt, Mirai ran to the foyer, then suddenly there was a feral screeching sound. Mirai gasped in fear, jumping back a good couple of feet, and looked down at the floor. Grim was glaring at the Prefect, the direbeast holding his tail, bagel forgotten on the floor.

“I’m so sorry,” Mirai cried, feeling horrible.

Grin didn’t say anything, but he continued to glare holding his abused tail, ears flaming a bit higher. Mirai felt bad, really, but he didn’t have time to try and coax the cat from his angered state.

“I’ll make it up to you, promise!” Mirai called, rushing out the door, locking it behind him, and started his way to Mr. S's Mystery Shop.

Mirai shoved the door open, an apology already on his lips. “I’m so sorry,” Mirai cried, “I overslept, Grim didn’t wake me, the Ghosts hid my key, I stepped on Grim’s tail, I-I-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Sam said surprised, “calm down, Little Imp.”

“But I, but I’m-”

“Yes, you’re thirty minutes late, and it’s fine.”

“But-”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Sam tutted, “It’s just the opening shift. No has even come in yet. Put on your apron, grab a snack, and go calm down.”

“Thank you, Sam! Sorry again,” Mirai rushed out, heading to the back.

Mirai put on his apron and grabbed a blueberry muffin and a bottle of water. As he ate, he watched Sam write the day's sales on a collapsing blackboard in colored chalk, and once he finished, Sam went outside to set it up. Mirai finished his muffin, brushing the crumbs off his clothes, and checked his appearance in the small hand mirror Sam kept under the counter, making sure he was presentable as he waited for their first customer.

It was a slow morning. A few students came in looking for a snack or two. Jack and Ruggie came in some time after, buying ingredients to make some steak.

“Leona’s in a meat mood again?” Mirai asked, laughing at the absurd amount of meat in Ruggie’s hand basket.

“Ugh,” Ruggie groaned, “well, at least it’s not my money I'm wasting.”

“That will be three hundred and fifty marks.”

Jack looked flabbergasted. Ruggie dug through the battered brown leather wallet and gave the exact amount.

“Thank you,” Mirai chirped, putting the marks in the register.

Jack stepped up next, putting some protein shakes on the counter and the exact amount needed.

“Thank you,” Mirai said, taking the marks.

“You must buy those a lot to know the price,” Ruggie commented.

“Don’t you?” Jack asked, “Surely you must have all his favorites memorized with how many times you come here for Housewarden Leona?”

“Of course. That way, I know how many Marks I will get to pocket in the end.”

Jack sighed, but he knew not to try and lecture the Hyena, this was Ruggie we were talking about.

“Thanks guys, come again,” Mirai called as the two walked out. The two gave their own waves in return.

A little while later, Deuce and Ace came in asking for an absurd amount of flour, eggs and milk. Sam handled that one, “poofing” everything on their list onto the counter.

“Unbirthday party?” Mirai asked.

“Yep, and Trey forgot to go shopping yesterday,” Ace answered.

“Trey did?” Mirai asked.

“Well it was more like he got caught up with his Vice duties that it slipped his mind.”

“Oh,” Mirai nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s gonna be a pain carrying all of this back,” Deuce sighed.

“I’d help, but I’m currently on the clock,” Mirai said sadly.

“Why do you work anyways?” Ace asked, looking around for Sam before saying, “Sam is very picky with his workers.”

“I didn’t have a Mark to my name, and I needed extra food funds, supplies funds, and clothing funds,” Mirai sighed.

“Sucks man, I’d help if I also wasn’t getting money from my mother,” Deuce sighed.

“I wouldn’t have asked y’all to help in the first place.”

Deuce and Ace looked taken aback.

“I don’t like taking money from others without working for it,” Mirai supplied.

“Oh,” Ace said.

“Guys, enough chit chat, you have an unbirthday party to attend!”

“Oh yeah,” Ace and Deuce shouted in unison, “Bye Mirai!”

The two rushed through the shop and out the door. Mirai shook his head fondly.

“So, Little Imp,” Sam pried, sitting on the edge of the counter, “How’s it going with that boy?”

“Not you too,” Mirai whined, getting a sense of Deja vu.

“Oh? Who was the first?”

“Professor Crewel.”

“You two close?”

“I help him organize his potions closet on Friday’s.” Mirai explained.

“Huh. Anyways, how’s it going?” Sam asked.

“It’s fine, great even, but I feel like he’s distanced himself,” Mirai huffed.

“Distanced?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how to explain it, he still walks me to class, he still walks me home, he still holds my hand, but somehow he feels off.”

“Sometimes in a relationship, you feel like giving each other space, to keep from going too fast,” Sam explained, “Maybe he feels like he’s rushing things?”

“Too fast? Do you think we’re going too fast?”

“Hmm,” Sam thought, “Maybe he’s losing the feel of the honeymoon phase.”

Mirai sighed.

“But you could always talk to him, Little imp, it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“That’s also what he said.”

“See, us wise old men know what we’re talking about,” Sam laughed.

Mirai snickered a bit, “You’re not old,”

“But you’ll never know unless you try,” Sam said softly.

Mirai nodded.

The rest of his shift was a little busier, but nothing to really work him to the bone. And when the clock struck three, his shift was over. Mirai was uniting his apron when a familiar voice rang out.

“Heyo!”

“Hey Cater,” Mirai smiled, “Just let me put my apron away, and I’ll be right there.”

Sam was sitting on the counter again, sandwich in hand as he read the paper. “Hey, Little Imp,” Sam greeted, not taking his eyes off of what he was reading.

“Hey Sam,” Cater smiled.

Mirai came back out, with a smile on his face, “Okay, let’s go.”

“Bye Little Imp, see you tomorrow,” Sam waved with a smile, “Remember what we talked about.”

“Bye Sam, and I will,” Mirai said with a wave.

Mirai and Cater walked in silence. Mirai looked at Cater as they walked, his face was blank, his usual smile nonexistent.

“Cater?” Mirai called.

Cater seemed to snap out of it, face flashing from surprise to a forced smile. “Yes Hon?”

Mirai thought about what he and Professor Crewel, and Sam spoke about. “Those overdue assignments? Wanna talk about that?” Mirai asked instead. The Prefect was berating himself in his head for chickening out. He’ll wait a bit longer.

“It’s fine,” Cater said, laughing nervously.

“Clearly not if your assignments are overdue. So Ima help you.”

“Aren’t you just so sweet,” Cater crooned.

“I mean it, Cater,” Mirai glared up at him, “You’re lucky Riddle hasn’t caught on yet.”

“Yikes,” Cater flinched at the aspect of Riddle finding out.

“So, are you busy right now?” Mirai asked.

“No,” Cater said, shaking his head.

“Good. Off to Heartslabyul we go.”

Mirai and Cater entered the mirror to the Heartslabyul dorm. Mirai thought he could never get used to the feeling of going through the mirrors. It felt pulley and pushy, and it made his stomach feel funny every time. When they entered the dorm grounds, it was quiet.

“Where is everyone?” Mirai asked curiously.

“There was a Croquet game today,” Cater explained, “They should’ve wrapped it up by now.”

“Ah.”

Cater led Mirai inside the dorm and through the lounge and when they entered, there were a bunch of students occupying the lounge. Some were reading, other’s playing cards, one of the tables had several students doing their homework, and in the far corner, at the tea table, Ace, Deuce, Trey and Riddle were having tea and cookies. Trey perked up at the two entering the lounge.

“Hey Mirai, what brings you here?” Trey greeted the prefect.

“I’m here to help this dummy over here study,” Mirai answered, cocking his thumb at the redhead.

“Hey,” Cater gasped, but he didn’t sound offended at all.

“Where’s Grim?” Deuce asked.

“Home,” Mirai supplied, “I accidentally stepped on his tail before work this morning, so I’ve been avoiding him.”

Ace snickered.

“I seriously don’t get how you hang out with that man,” Deuce sighed.

“Me neither,” Cater huffed.

“Guys,” Mirai laughed, “He’s not that bad, nor is Professor Crewel.”

“Cater,” Riddle called, “remember to serve your guests tea, it would be very offensive not to.”

“Y-You really don’t have to,” Mirai stammered, “We’re just here to study.”

“Nonsense,” Riddle dismissed, “It would be rude not to. You’re a guest and a friend, but most importantly, it’s a rule.”

“It’s okay Riddle,” Cater chuckled, “I was getting the tea anyways. I was just gonna take him upstairs first. Black tea is fine, right? It’s only three o’clock.”

“Upstairs?” Ace asked with a smirk.

“Yeah?” Cater asked, “Why? Is there a rule against that?”

“Why upstairs?” Trey asked, a sly smile on his face.

“‘Cus I can’t play music down here,” Cater whined, “It ruins the study vibe.”

“That’s probably why you can’t concentrate, you’re too busy singing,” Mirai chided.

“Am not!”

“Fine, we can play music, but it's gonna be the instrumental version.”

“No,” Cater whined, “Guys! Mi-Mi’s being mean.”

“Suck it up you big baby,” Mirai laughed, smacking Cater on the arm.

The room erupted in snickers. Ever since Cater announced his relationship with Mirai, they became the talk of Heartslabyul. Everyone wanted the latest update on their relationship, and how they were doing. And even with Ace and Deuce’s threats to anyone who opposed, that didn’t stop the playful teasing that Mirai and Cater were subjected to.

“So you're just studying?” Ace asked.

“Yes, studying,” Mirai gruffed, putting a hand on his hip, “something you should be doing after the state of your last pop quiz.”

A bunch of ‘oohs’ rang out in the room, and Ace had the nerve to look embarrassed.

“Hey,” Ace shouted, face red.

“What quiz?” Riddle asked Ace.

“It was a pop quiz,” Ace rushed out guiltily.

“Have fun studying,” Trey teased.

Cater and Mirai finally caught on to what they were implying, faces growing red. The room erupted in laughter. Even Riddle was chuckling.

“It’s not like that,” Cater whined, face flushed.

“Oh, yeah, like I haven’t heard that excuse before,” Ace cackled.

“Hope you learn a lot of things together,” Trey laughed.

“Lets go,” Cater said, pulling Mirai out the lounge, tripping over his own feet.

The pair walked up the stairs, through the diamond archway, and down the hall to the wing that held the upperclassmen rooms. Cater shoved the door open and shut it behind him. Mirai liked Cater’s room, it was very “Cater-esque.”

“Uh, you can sit anywhere, I’ll, I’ll get the tea, uh brb,” Cater stammered, standing in the doorway.

Mirai nodded, sitting on the bed. With that, Cater left.

Mirai spent the time scrolling through his Magicam, when there was clatter outside the door, and Mirai jumped at the noise.

“Uh, I need a little help, my hands are kinda full,” said Cater’s muffled voice from outside the door.

Mirai opened the door for Cater, who was balancing two beautiful covered porcelain trays, one in each hand. One had pictures of cakes on it, and the other teapots.

“Lemme…” Mirai mumbled taking the tray with the cakes on it.

“Thanks,” Cater smiled, walking in the room, closing the door with hip.

“Why didn’t you just use your signature spell? Extra hands ya’know?”

“O-Oh, yeah, I guess I could’ve done that.” Cater cleared a space to set everything down on a folding table. “Welcome to casa de Cater!”

Mirai laughed, “It’s nice as always.”

Cater removed the lid with the teapots on it and placed it down, “I hope I did it right, it’s your favorite after all.” There was a beat of silence, and when Mirai didn’t answer, Cater grew concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“S-Sorry, sorry,” Mirai said, snapping out of his stupor, “I-I, it’s just, it’s just, it’s very pretty.”

The teapot and teacups were clear glass, the saucers looked like shattered glass. The pot handle was gold, it was swirled and twisted, and where the handle met the pot, there were porcelain lilies, trimmed in gold, their centers were yellow. The lid handle was a couple of lilies and a bud, and on the saucers was a lily and a gold twisted stem. The cups were like mini versions of the teapot, and the spoon was long and sliver with a lily on the top.

“What about it has you so quiet?” Cater asked, voice just above a whisper, like as if he spoke louder than that, whatever this mood was would shatter to pieces.

Mirai swallowed hard, trying to compose himself. “It looks just like the one my mother had.”

“Oh,” Cater said, eyes going wide, “I, uh, I’m sorry. We, we uh, we don’t have to use this one. I-I can-”

“N-No!”

Cater halted, not sure what to do.

Mirai took a breath, trying to calm the sudden panic that rose through his body, before speaking again, “No, it’s okay. I'd really like to use that one, if that’s alright.”

“Okay,” Cater whispered.

Cater took a second before carefully flipping the cups over and poured the dark tea into the cups. As the tea was poured into the cup, its warm and rich scent permeated the air, and Mirai could immediately tell what it was.

“How did you know this was my favorite?” Mirai asked quietly.

Cater smiled softly, “I heard from Riddle that you like Earl Grey, so I brewed you some.”

“Thanks,” Mirai smiled.

“But you can add the sugar and stuff. I wouldn’t want to ruin your tea.”

Cater moved the bedside lamp and placed Mirai’s tea cup, spoon, and saucer, and a glass pot of honey and a bowl of sugar cubes on the bedside table.

“It’s pretty,” Mirai said in awe.

“It’s been my favorite set, for a while now,” Cater said sheepishly, “It reminds me of you.”

Mirai flushed, “It’s far too beautiful to be compared to me.”

“I’d say you're even more so,” Cater teased, poking the Prefect on the nose, “but it fits you more than ever.”

Mirai flushed and busied himself with putting the sugar in his tea. Once it was to his liking, Mirai cradled the warm cup in his hands, staring into the deep colored liquid. Taking a sip, Mirai sighed, content.

Cater lifted the lid of the tray with the cakes decorated on, and underneath was a smattering of little tea cakes and cookies. “These are for you,” Cater smiled.

“If you’re trying to butter me up so that we won’t do your overdue work, you're sorely mistaken,” Mirai smirked.

“Me?” Cater gasped dramatically, “Butter you up? I would never!”

“Okay, okay,” Mirai laughed, stirring his tea, “But we’re still doing them.”

“I know,” Cater sighed.

The next two hours were spent in each other's company. Mirai oversaw as Cater did his work, and of course that didn’t go smoothly. More than once did Cater zone out and stare out the window, then he would periodically check his Magicam, which ended up with Mirai taking his phone, sticking it in the bookshelf. Cater whines dramatically at that. Then Cater changed the song that was playing a bunch of times, saying it either didn’t fit his mood, or match the vibe. This then led to Cater picking his favorites to sing along to, then he started dancing in his seat, and then he went on a tangent on his favorite singers and the gossip around them as of late. Mirai had to get him back on track after that one, well that was until Cater got up to “use the bathroom” for the fifth time.

Mirai really couldn’t help Cater other than keeping the third year on track. They had different lessons, different classes, and different requirements being in different years and all, but Mirai tried to support and help the best he could. And once Cater got focused he didn’t stop, and not long after he finished all his assignments.

“Done,” Cater sighed, dropping his pencil and stretching his arms above his head.

“Good job,” Mirai praised, eating yet another teacake. Mirai honestly didn’t know how many he’d eaten since they’d started.

“That was so boring,” Cater whined, “A total #snoozefest.”

“I’m proud of you though. I really am.”

Cater looked stunned, and as he went to say something, there was a knock at the door. Cater took the opportunity to take the attention off himself and answer it. It was Trey.

“I came to see if you two wanted dinner,” Trey smiled.

“Oh! Can I invite Grim?” Mirai asked, suddenly remembering the cat back at home. “I’m sure he hasn’t had actual food all day.”

“Of course.

Trey left with that and Cater followed shortly after he started up a conversation with the Vice. Mirai sighed. Oh well, he’ll try again some other time.

Days passed and Mirai was kicking himself for not asking Cater earlier, because now, it seemed it was too late. Something had happened after that day Mirai helped the third year with his homework. Mirai knew he was hiding something, but something about that day became the tipping point for Cater, and now it all was just…wrong.

It started with Cater disappearing every so often. Mirai brushed it off until he didn’t show for one of his classes. Riddle had gotten him for that one, but Cater brushed it off saying he went to the infirmary for a stomach ache. And Mirai asked him if he was okay, he seemed to freeze up before kissing him atop his head, telling him not to worry.

Then Cater stopped stopping by to walk him from classes. The first couple of times, Mirai didn’t mind, he wasn’t a two year old in need of a hand to hold lest he get lost, but after it continued after the fourth and fifth time, it began to hurt. Was Cater busy? Had Mirai annoyed him? Mirai couldn’t find an answer, nor did he have the courage to ask.

And then when he saw the Heartslabyul third year in passing, he just wave like nothing was wrong. Cater talked his ear off like he always did, not that Mirai minded, but he wouldn’t touch him, or at least not directly. He’d wrap his arm around Mirai’s waist, pat him on the shoulder, but he wouldn’t hold his hand. And oh how Mirai craved to feel Cater’s lips against his own. Mirai couldn’t remember the last time Cater kissed him, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt Cater’s warm breath mingling with his own, the slide of Cater’s tongue against his, or the taste of his cherry chapstick. What about his touch? When was the last time Cater touched his skin, hugged him, held him close like he never wanted to let go when he stayed the night?

Mirai wanted to be angry, to yell, scream, but he couldn’t. He wanted to be mad at Cater, he wanted to confront him, chew him out, but that wouldn’t be fair, because he was to blame. He was too afraid to communicate, to ask for himself, and now look where that got him. And today was his breaking point.

Mirai noticed it the moment he saw the strawberry blonde that morning for breakfast. Cater had entered the cafeteria with the rest of Heartslabyul, a smile on his face as bright as the sun, ready to take on the world. He was chatty, filling Trey in on his newest Magicam gossip, but something was off.

“Good morning, Babydoll. Sleep well?” Cater asked, happily.

“Meh,” Mirai said, staring intently at Cater.

Mirai reached across the table to hold Cater’s hand, but Cater’s eyes flicked to his hand, and in a split second, he dropped his fork.

“Oops,” Cater said, reaching to pick the silverware up. “Ima go get another fork. Brb!”

Once Cater came back, he kept his hands off the table for the rest of breakfast.

It was safe to say Mirai skipped over the stage of dejection and went straight to irritation. What had he done to make Cater not want to hold his hand? And to go as far as making a show of “dropping” his fork to avoid him? Mirai grumbled to himself, the moment the last bell rang, he was gonna confront Cater. The bell rang, signaling the start of classes and Mirai sighed. It was gonna be a long day.

Throughout the day, Mirai caught glimpses of bright orange waves, but not once were those green eyes on him. But the was something that Mirai wanted to confirm, to see if the inkling in the back of his mind was just anxiety.

“You guys think Cater’s being weird today?” Mirai asked as he did his Potionology worksheet.

“What ya mean?” Deuce asked.

“Isn’t he your boy-thing or whatever?” Grim muttered out. “Shouldn’t you know?”

“I don't know. He just is.”

“I don’t know man,” Ace said, “Maybe you’re looking too far into things?”

“Maybe,” Mirai said looking back at his work.

It was their free period and Mirai and the other freshman got together to work on some homework.

“Yall get inna lovers spat or somethin’?” Epel asked curiously.

“Nope,” Mirai said curtly.

“Sure sounds like ya did.”

“Why do you ask anyways?” Jack asked.

Mirai looked across the courtyard where Cater was with a gaggle of third years. He was talking animatedly, his smile wide, his voice light and playful. But his eyes, from here he couldn’t see them, but he knew from earlier that despite his happy attitude, his eyes didn’t show that at all.

“He said he didn’t feel well, earlier this week,” Mirai half lied.

“Well, now that you mention it, he does seem a little unwell,” Sebek mused.

“His vitals are coming back positive,” Ortho chimed in. “Maybe he’s tired? Idia gets like that sometimes.”

“Maybe,” Mirai muttered, turning his attention away from Cater.

Classes ended and just when Mirai thought he was gonna make yet another trek home alone, Cater was waiting for him outside the door.

“Ready to go, Baby?” Cater asked.

“Ya sure you’re not too busy?” Mirai asked, a little more than annoyed.

“How could I be too busy for you?”

Mirai raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as he began his walk home. Cater followed happily, as he typed and scrolled away on his phone. Mirai tried to ignore it, but really? Was he not gonna pay attention to him? Not even tell him of his day? Maybe Cater really was getting tired of him?

“Well, will you at least hold my hand?” Mirai asked, voice harsher than he intended.

“A-Ah, sorry,” Cater said, panic coloring his face. “Sure.”

Well, why wasn’t he taking his hand? Mirai stared at Cater as he seemed to panic, like he couldn’t figure out how it worked?

“Cater?” Mirai asked.

Cater suddenly looped to Mirai left and switching his phone to his left hand, he reached and took his prosthetic hand into his right. Why?! Mirai let go and stepped into Cater path.

“What’s going on with you tha-”

The third year suddenly stopped in his tracks, and while trying to avoid a collision, he dropped his phone, the device luckily falling to the grass.

Mirai muttered a curse, “Sorry, lemme-”

Cater gasped, “N-No it’s-”

They both reached for the smartphone and as their hands collided, Mirai reeled back, trying not to let the surprise, no fear, show on his face. Cater’s hands were cold. Cater looked up at Mirai, knowing their hands touched, trying to gauge if Mirai felt it too, but Mirai said nothing, his expression unreadable.

“Sorry,” Mirai muttered.

“I-It’s fine,” Cater stuttered.

The two just stared at each other, and Mirai tried to fight the tears that threatened to fall.

“Well I gotta stop by Sam’s to pick up some breakfast. Text ya after clubs?” Mirai croaked.

“Of course,” Cater smiled. “Later, Babydoll.”

Mirai watched Cater’s back retreat back to the school building, no doubt going to his club meet. And Mirai’s hunch was right, the theory that had been burning in the back of his mind for the better half of the week was true. This Cater was a fake. He needed to find Cater.

Mirai stopped by Heartslabyul. Most of the guys were at their respective clubs, so it was easy to slip in a claim that he was here to drop something of Cater's off. Mirai followed the hallways that led to the upperclassmen wing, and making it to Cater’s room, Mirai stopped at the door and knocked. No one answered. Mirai knocked again and waited, and still got no answer. Mirai sighed, hoping Cater wouldn’t be too mad as he tried the door, and to his luck, it was open.

Mirai pushed his way into the dark room, and slowly tipped his way to the bed.

“Cater?’ Mirai whispered. “Cater?”

Mirai looked at the bed and it was empty, the sheets immaculate. Mirai’s stomach dropped.

“Okay, okay, this doesn’t mean anything,” Mirai tried to convince himself as he exited the vacant room. “So he wasn’t here, cool, that’s fine. So now we just gotta find him.”

Mirai checked the rest of the dorm, the balconies, the croquet field, and when Mirai couldn’t find him in the rose maze, he began to panic.

“Where are you?” Mirai muttered.

Cater sat in the observatory, looking up at the stars. He was tired, his brain wouldn’t shut up, and now he didn’t have his phone to distract himself. But then again, maybe it was for the best. Because now he didn’t have to see the hateful comments on his feed, now he didn’t have to see all the things he envied, all the things he hated himself for. No he couldn’t compare himself to the thousands of others who he doom scrolled across, now he didn't have to see the cringe photos his double posted in his stead.

Cater sighed, feeling the pull of magic tingle in the back of his mind. His clone was still out there, filling in as him for the day. Just as it had been for the better half of the week. He could do this, he’d been keeping it up this long and no one noticed. Not his freshmen, not Riddle, not Trey, not Kalim and Lilia. Not even Mirai.

Cater chuckled to himself. Not even his lover could tell the difference. He was just that replaceable, wasn’t he? Just another faceless being, just another unoriginal internet personality, just another poser. The sound of the doors sliding open, made Cater startle, and then irritation washed over him. So much for some peace.

“Getting so extra studying in?” Cater asked, trying to sound like his usual self. “I feel ya. Someti-”

“Ya’know, if you don’t wanna do this anymore you could’ve told me.”

Cater whipped his head around and instead of seeing one of his fellow third years, he was looking down on his angry lover.

“I will not be your plaything,” Mirai shouted, eyes watery, “I-I will not be y-your, your latest trend! So if I’m tiring you, say it to my face and we'll end it now!”

“He-hey, wa-wait! I-”

“And the clone! Really?! I know you know how dangerous that is! How long have you been doing that?! Where are your blot levels at?”

Shoot. Cater hadn’t even checked how much he had accumulated. Cater’s eyes flicked over to his pen. He could still see red, but it was awfully cloudy, black beginning to take up around the edges.

“Clone? There’s no clone,” Cater lied with a smile, “I don’t what you-”

“Boss, I’m back. I took notes on what-”

The clone stopped dead in it’s tracks, it’s green eyes wide in fear much like it’s owners. The double looked between Mirai and Cater, not sure how it could salvage this situation.

“Mi-Mi, I-”

“Dismiss him,” Mirai said, voice devoid of emotion as he ignored the clone.

Cater stood from his spot on the floor, “Mirai, I-I-I didn’t-”

“If you’re gonna explain yourself, I'd rather hear it from you,” Mirai huffed. “Not, not, not from him, and not with him here. ”

Cater sighed, taking his phone from the copy before dismissing him into a burst of playing

cards. There was silence between them, neither of them looking each other in the eye. No one knew who’d break the silence first.

“Fine. Let’s just say I’m totally wrong, which I’m not, why were you here all day, and not in your classes?”

“You know,” Cater said playfully, “sometimes Cay-Cay’s brain does a silly and-”

“Cater,” Mirai called, cutting off the strawberry blondes rambling.

“Y-Yeah?” Cater smiled.

“Stop smiling.”

Cater faltered, but when Mirai’s gaze didn’t let up did Cater finally drop the act, and it was like a flip switched. His green eyes were void of their usual happiness and gone was his smile, an irritated sneer in its place. This wasn’t the Cater Mirai knew, but it was one that Mirai wanted to know, as crazy as it sounded. Mirai could count how many times he’s witnessed this side of Cater on one hand. He’d seen it twice during Riddle’s Overblot, and the other was a mistake.

“That’s better,” Mirai smirked snarkily.

“So now you’re here to tease?” Cater sneered.

“Not tease, scold is more like it. Do you know how dangerous that little stunt was?”

“I can handle it,” Cater huffed. “I’ve done it before, I can do it again.”

“Oh come on! You and I both know that’s not a smart idea.”

“So how’d you know?” Cater asked, ignoring that last statement. “How’dja figure it out, cus I honestly thought I was doing pretty good sending those copies. It worked for the better half of the week.”

“To be honest I didn’t know at first,” Mirai admitted, “But then you wouldn't touch me.”

“‘Course. Their body temperature isn’t exactly human.”

“Also, not sure if you know, but the longer your clones stray away from you, the less “normal” they look.”

Mirai thought back to earlier in the day when he’d been watching Cater. The clone looked a bit pale, sick even. And it’s eyes, they were dull, void of life and emotion.

“Noted.”

“No, not noted,” Mirai grit out. “What’s eating you so much that you’d endanger yourself like this?!”

Cater didn’t say anything.

“Are you that repulsed by me that you’d send a clone in your place?

“Repulsed is one word for it.”

“If you’re mad at me, then tell me why! Yell at me, get in my face, I don’t care! Anything beats the way you-”

“Do you actually love me, Mirai?” Cater asked with a finality that made Mirai’s hair stand on end.

“Wh-What?! You’re asking me that after all of this?!” Mirai asked, “I should be asking you that question!”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do! Even if you’re really making me question everything we’ve been doing these past few months.”

“You sure it’s me and not Cay-Cay?” Cater smiled.

“Wha-What?”

“Oh come on Mirai! You saw it today! I’m replaceable! I’m just another soulless personality! Just another smiling face! No one! Not a single person realized that I wasn’t me! All I have to do is smile, take a pic, make a dumb joke, and act like the next unintelligent trend chasing magicammer out there, and boom! What do you have?! Cater Diamond!”

“That’s not true and you know it,” Mirai shouted back.

“Ya’know, I started thinking about us after our break. I realized how much has changed, how much I have changed since I’ve met you. And I started thinking about how our relationship might look in the future.”

Mirai was taken aback at his confession, but stayed silent in favor of letting him speak first.

“It then got me wondering if I would ever be able to bring you home to meet my family? And I already know how they see me, but I don’t know if they truly accept us. And then I began to wonder, who is Cater?”

“I-I-I don’t, I don’t follow-”

“Is Cater me or the me I created in response to my sisters? Is Cater the Cater I created in response to my life as the kid who moved every year, as the kid without a real friend in Twisted Wonderland? Is Cater the Cater who overshares to keep people close, that they think they know me, but far enough to have a real connection? And I began to wonder, which Cater you are dating, and if you love the actual Cater, and not the one I created.”

“Of course I love you,” Mirai growled. “I told you before, I’ve never been in a romantic relationship before, so it’s def not a word I throw around lightly.”

“Then who am I to you, Mirai?” Cater asked coldly.

“You already know the answer to that. You’re my boy-”

“Nuh uh. Who am I to you?”

Mirai swallowed, taking a breath, “You are kind and caring, selfless, always putting others first. You are attentive, always knowing how someone’s feeling, always the one to lift the mood. You are you. You don’t have to be smart, or athletic, super pretty, and you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be Cater, and that’s enough for me.”

Cater was stunned into silence, and Mirai took the chance to continue. “Cater, Cater I, Cater I want to be someone you can rely on, someone you can trust,” Mirai said looking down at his feet, “I’m worried about you, and I’ve been thinking of ways to go about this, but I was scared I was pushing you away. I’ve never been in an actual relationship before, and I really didn’t want to mess this up, well, I guess I already have, but I don’t wanna mess up anymore than more than I already have,”

Mirai sighed, looking up at Cater, “I don’t want you to face your problems alone if you don’t have to. If you really don’t wanna talk, then we don’t have to, but I’m here for you. I always will be. And if you want me to leave, I’ll go.”

It was the quiet sob that had Mirai climbing the stairs to Cater, and when he saw the rivers of tears falling down his cheek, his heart broke in two. “Oh, Cater,” Mirai sighed, “Come here.”

Cater fell forward, and pressed his face into Mirai's chest and sobbed. Cater gripped the Prefect like a lifeline, fingers white knuckled in his shirt. Mirai let him stay there as he cried, holding him tight, and steady. The Prefect let Cater cry, rubbing his back as his breathing grew between sobs. Mirai would always be there, as long as Cater would allow him to be, he’d be there.

“I-I-,” Cater stuttered.

Mirai sat up and gave Cater his full attention.

“I feel horrible, I feel like I’m lying to you. And I don’t know how to fix it,” Cater babbled.

“You are more than what you think, Cater. You are more than your Magicam account, you are more than what you post, or how many followers you have. You are more important than how others perceive you, you are braver then your darkest thoughts. You are irreplaceable.”

Cater was sobbing into his sleeves, shoulders shaking.

“I’m, I’m sorry,” Cater hiccuped, sniffling.

“Don’t be,” Mirai reassured, “But I really am proud of you Cater.”

Cater slowly sat them down and pressed himself into Mirai hold. Mirai slowly fell back onto the cold floors, sighing as Cater smushed his face into Mirai’s neck. They stayed like that for a while, Cater lying on Mirai's chest, and Mirai, combing his fingers through Cater’s soft orange hair.

“Thanks,” Cater croaked after a while.

“You’re welcome,” Mirai said softly.

Sometime after they both calmed, the two of them ended up laying on the observatory floors, looking up at the bright night sky. Cater was dozing, lying halfway on Mirai’s chest, and Mirai laying there, combing his fingers through Cater’s hair.

“You’re soft,” Cater mumbled after a while.

“Am I?” Mirai asked quietly.

Cater nodded.

“I love your hair,” Mirai whispered, scratching his nails down into the roots, “It’s so soft, so thick, and so vibrant.”

Cater hummed, turning his head into the scratches. Mirai chuckled, scratching down Cater’s head, and onto his nape. Cater sighed shakily.

“I love how bright your eyes are, and I love your freckles.”

Cater whimpered, turned his face into Mirai’s chest, and visible flush coloring his cheeks.

“I love you, Cater.”

“I-I love you, too,” Cater whispered.

Mirai smiled, kissing the top of Cater’s head and Cater leaned into it, silently begging for more, and obliged with a loving chuckle.

Cater yawned, “‘m tired.”

“Well we can’t sleep here, but we can go back to Ramshackle?” Mirai offered, “We can make some quick instant Ramen and watch a movie?”

Cater smiled, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Together the two of them left the observatory, and headed to Ramshackle, the weight of their troubles seemed to float up into the stars as those heavy metal doors slid shut behind them.

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lavenderdreams22 · 1 year

Text

A Court of Dawn & Dusk - Azriel x Reader (part 4)

Summary: An unexpected reaction from Azriel causes Y/N to second guess his feelings for her. The Inner Circle prepares for Amarantha's visit.

A/N: This one is a long one! If you'd like to be tagged in this series in the future, please let me know and I will add you to the taglist! Comments and feedback are always welcome! ❤️

Warnings: A little cursing, angst, jealousy, quickly edited... I think that's it!

*****

“You sent for me?” I asked, closing the door to my father's office as gently as I could.

“Yes, please come and sit with me for a moment.” He waved me in with one of his hands as he cleared a section from his desk so that he could see me over all of his paperwork.

I took my spot across from him in one of the overstuffed chairs he always kept for visitors.

“I hate to make this a short visit, but I’m meeting Alana in about twenty minutes for drinks in the village.” I grinned, settling back into the chair.

“Of course, my dear. I won’t keep you long.” He eyed me for a moment. “I wanted to talk about your friend.”

“Which friend?” I asked, “Alana? Did something happen?”

“No, nothing like that.” He held his hands up to stop my panicking. “I’m talking about Azriel.”

“Oh.” Was the only response that I could think of.

I knew my father had always felt a certain way about the people I kept in my company. The thought of him wanting to discuss Azriel made me defensive. I bit my tongue as I waited to hear what he would say.

“I just wanted to hear the story from you.” He said, “It sounds as though the two of you are getting rather familiar with each other.”

“Familiar?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “What makes you think that?”

“I’m not going to ask for details about your intimate life, Y/N.” He glanced out the window for a moment, steadying himself and selecting his next words carefully. “Ian told me that he’s seen the two of you come out of your rooms the past couple of days together.”

“Ian.” I laughed, but it sounded bitter and angry. “Of course he ran straight here to tell you all about it.”

“And I told him that your personal life was none of his concern. But he seems rather worried that this male is… dangerous.”

“Yeah, he made that claim unbelievably clear when he came to my room two days ago and woke both of us up.”

“I’ll tell Ian to steer clear of you for however long you are in the palace.” He said. “But I have to ask… Do you like this male?”

“Father, please.” I asked, a blush creeping to my cheeks.

“We used to talk about these kinds of things.” He smiled at me. “Is it so bad for your father to want to know what’s happening in your life?”

“He’s just a friend.”

“A friend.” He leaned forward. “A friend that you care for.”

“I do care for him, yes.”

“And he cares for you.”

“I think so, but we are just friends.” The word friends… It felt heavy and wrong as it left my mouth.

“Then the only thing I will say to you is to be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“I won’t. We’re just friends.” I repeated as I stood. “Now, I’m gonna head out, unless you had anything else?”

“One more thing.” He said. “Do you think he’s dangerous? Or do you feel safe when you’re around him?”

“He makes me feel safe.” I replied, cringing as the blush deepened in my cheeks.

“Good.” He nodded, satisfied with my response. “Now go! Have fun, dear.” He said with a smile.

When I got to the door, I paused. We had always talked about this in the past… He usually knew exactly what was happening in my life. I felt guilty that it seemed like I was hiding things from him.

“Father?” I looked back at him over my shoulder.

“Yes?” His eyes looked almost sad as he watched me.

“If anything changes I’ll let you know.” I said, offering him a small smile. “Between Azriel and I, I mean.”

His smile widened into a grin, and I shook my head fondly as I stepped back into the corridor.

*****

The pub was full, which wasn’t unusual for this time of day. I craned my neck, looking for Alana’s usual mess of red curls. I pushed through groups of people, searching, when she seemed to materialize in front of me.

“C’mon! I got us a table.” She grinned as she gripped my wrist to lead me to our seats.

“How long have you been here?” I asked, following after her as she weaved through the crowd.

“Five minutes.” She winked at me over her shoulder. “I had to flirt with a few males to get them to give it up.”

I snorted in response. Alana was charming and sweet, and she could usually get anything she wanted from any male. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to me at all that she had flirted our way into one of the best tables in the entire pub.

When she practically shoved me into the seat, passing me a glass of amber liquid, I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me.

“Tell me everything.” She said, propping her elbows on the table.

“About?”

“Everything! You’ve been gone for what feels like forever, and I want to know what you’ve been up to.” She grinned. “What about the new job?”

“Yeah, sorry for leaving without saying goodbye.” I grimaced.

“Enough of that. Tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“The job is nothing glamorous, but it’s nice to be able to travel.” I shrugged. “The people in the Night Court have been the best part so far.”

“And the male that you brought home with you... Is he one of those people?”

“He is, yes.” I smiled down at my glass as I swirled the ice around. “He is a big reason that I have liked the Night Court so much.”

Alana eyed me for a moment, her face stern. “So, is that why you disappeared?”

“No. Why does everyone keep asking me that?”

“Well, you ran away in the middle of the night... And then, the next time anyone sees you, you’ve got this male glued to your side. What were we supposed to think, Y/N?”

“I left because I needed time… and space.” I shook my head, “Not because of Azriel.”

“So, you left because of Ian?”

“Yes.” I took a sip of the drink, making a face. It was strong, and I couldn’t tell what type of alcohol it was.

“Gotta be honest. I have no idea why you said no.” She shrugged, “he’s a catch.”

“Then you can marry him.” I rolled my eyes.

“How long have you known Azriel?” She asked.

“I met him the night I left.”

“Oh.” She paused for a moment, seeming to search for the right words. “That couldn’t have been why you said no, then.”

“No. I said no because I don’t love him.” I said, trying my best to keep a hold on my temper.

“Really?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “You could have fooled me. The two of you were inseparable. And he’s a good male… He would be good for you.”

“We were friends!” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

I was getting so fucking tired of explaining the concept of friends to people.

“Don’t you think you owe it to him to try?” She asked. “I mean, he has been pining after you for ages.”

“I don’t owe him anything of the sort.” I snapped. “Why are you pushing this so hard?”

“I don’t think you made the right choice.”

“Well, Alana… It wasn’t your choice to make.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you right now.”

She let out an exasperated sigh, as if I was the one questioning her. “I just don’t think… I don’t think Azriel is good for you.”

“Why’s that? You don’t even know him.”

“I saw what he did to Ian.”

“He was protecting me.”

“Gods, Y/N. You can’t honestly be that delusional.”

I felt a familiar white-hot anger making its home in my chest.

“No, I’m not delusional at all, actually.” I hid my hands in my lap to hide their trembling.

“Fine. If you don’t care about what he’s done to Ian, think about what he’s doing to us!” She shouted. “We never fight.”

I stood, slamming my hands down on the table, drawing the curious gaze of a few other patrons. Baring my teeth, I leaned across the table. “You know… I’m starting to think that you had no intention of catching up with me at all… If you wanted to interrogate me, you could have found me in the palace.”

“I’m not interrogating you!” She scrunched her face up in anger, and I rolled my eyes.

“And he isn’t doing this to us.” I hissed. “You are.”

With that, I shoved my chair back and stalked back towards the door leading outside. I was aware of the sound of her voice calling out for me, but I ignored her. I found myself wondering whether Azriel was back yet from wherever he had gone.

*****

I stormed back through the palace as servants threw themselves out of my way. I wasn’t sure what my face looked like, and I didn’t care. I had never been this angry before. How could she sit there and act like she knew what I wanted? Like she knew what was best for me?

Pushing the door to my suite open so hard that it smacked the wall with a crack, I stalked into my sitting room. I didn’t bother to shut the door behind me. I had no intention of being here long.

Azriel looked up from the book he had in his lap, the perfect picture of calm and collected with his feet on the coffee table. I nearly scoffed at the sight.

“When did you get back?”

“About twenty minutes ago.” He said. “What’s wrong?”

It felt like the world was closing in on me, like everyone had these ideas about who I should be or what I should do. It made me want to rip my hair out and scream. It made me want to hit something. Azriel saw the storm in my eyes and sat up straighter.

“What happened?” He set the book aside.

“Train with me.”

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I need to get this energy out somehow.”

“What about-” He started, but I held a hand up in a silent plea for him to be quiet.

“Please.”

He said nothing else, just stood up and gestured towards the door. I blew out a breath of relief.

“Let me put my tunic on.” I said, already making my way to my bedroom. “I won’t be but a minute.”

When I emerged from my bedroom five minutes later, he was leaning on the wall by the open door, examining his nails.

“Ready?” He asked, turning his hazel eyes onto me.

I nodded and he reached for me to fly. I shook my head, stepping out of his reach.

“We’re going to walk up to the sparring rings.”

“After you, then.”

The walk up was quiet. I could feel him assessing me as we went, wondering what the hell had brought on this mood. I ignored his gaze, keeping my eyes trained forward. I realized after a moment that the looks of fear that were being cast in our direction had nothing at all to do with the Shadowsinger behind me. I let myself feel guilty for a moment as yet another servant stepped into a different corridor to get out of my direct path.

When we finally reached the sparring rings, I turned to Azriel.

“Teach me something new.” I said through clenched teeth.

Azriel turned his gaze to the equipment that was provided.

“Grab a couple of those wooden rods and come back over here.” He said as he pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it into the dirt.

I did as I was told, grabbing two of them and moving to stand in front of him. Each rod was my height, if not a little taller than me. I held one out to him.

“Both are for you.”

“What will you use?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow at him.

He smirked at me. “You’re going to try to block and counter each of my attacks with those.”

“You won’t have a weapon?”

He shook his head. “I’ve seen your training. You are very talented with your right hand, but your left could use some work.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “We’ll try it this way first, and if I catch you relying too heavily on your right hand, I will tie it behind your back.”

I gulped, my eyes wide, and gave him a nod to let him know I had understood. Maybe training with him was a bad idea.

“Now take your stance.”

*****

Training Azriel was so different from every other version of him that I had met so far. He was unforgiving and critical, but he was patient and kind, too.

I plopped to the ground in the grass next to him, my chest heaving and my body covered in sweat.

“So… Are you ready to tell me what put you in such a mood?”

I only shrugged, staring up at the clouds as they drifted past.

“We should talk about it.”

“This coming from the one who refuses to talk about anything?” I countered, shooting him a halfhearted grin.

“I’d like to talk about this. But only if you want to.” He laid back, hands behind his head. “Not many people can keep up with me in training. Especially not once they have an arm tied behind their back.”

I rubbed at my wrist and shot him a look that I hoped conveyed how utterly annoyed I had been for the last two hours.

“I had drinks with Alana.”

“Aren’t you two friends?”

“I’m not so sure anymore. She told me today that I owed it to Ian after he spent so many years pining after me to at least try… Said that he would be good for me.”

He snorted. “What? You owe him your body because he had a crush that wasn’t reciprocated?”

“Yeah…” I shrugged. “Sometimes it feels like everyone expects something from me that I’m not willing to give. And I am so terrified of being trapped.”

“Trapped where?”

“Anywhere. In a loveless marriage. In a place where no one cares about what I want and how I feel.” I shrugged again, feeling defeated.

There was a pause as he seemed to think something over. I glanced over to him as he continued gazing at the sky. He was always so hard to read, but I found myself trying anyway. I searched his eyes for something to hint as to what he was thinking about.

Before I could say anything, he sat up and turned to me.

“That’ll never happen.” He finally said.

“What will never happen?”

“You’ll never be trapped.” He took my hands in his, his eyes boring into mine with an intensity that made my stomach flip.

“How do you know that?”

“Because you have me. All you have to do is send word, and I will find you. No matter where you are, or what is happening, I’ll come for you. You’ll never be trapped.”

“Please don’t make empty promises.” I wanted to take my hand back, to move away from him, but he tightened his grip.

“None of my promises are empty.” He responded. “And you deserve to get everything you have ever desired.”

Everything that I have ever desired. I nearly laughed at the thought.

“What if I can’t have what I desire?” I asked, forcing my face into one of nonchalance.

He shook his head. “I think there is very little that you couldn’t have if you asked for it.”

*****

Two nights later, we stood on the very same veranda that we had flown into when we had arrived. This time, my father joined us.

“You’ll write more often?” He asked, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of my head.

“Of course.” I wrapped him in a tight hug. “And I’ll be back soon to visit. Promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He said, holding me at arms length.

“We’ll come back to report our findings when Amarantha comes to the Night Court.” Azriel said, stepping forward.

“I look forward to hearing it.” Thesan said, offering Azriel a warm smile. “Please take care of my daughter.”

“She will be safe with me. I swear it.”

Thesan only offered a nod as he seemed to size the Shadowsinger up. I let loose a breath as he gave an approving nod at whatever he sensed in him.

“Goodbye, father. We will speak soon.”

“I love you.” He smiled, pressing another kiss to the top of my head.

“I love you, too.”

I turned away to hide the tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sure why I was crying, why leaving this time felt so much more permanent than the first time. Azriel held his arms out for me, and I stepped into them.

“You alright?”

“I will be.” I offered him a smile. “Try to find the same mountain, and I can winnow us the rest of the way back.”

We didn’t say another word as he launched himself into the sky.

*****

When we finally made it back to Velaris, both of us were exhausted. I had brought him to my favorite bridge over the Sidra, hoping to watch the sunrise before going back. I grinned as the sun creeped over the horizon, casting shadows and vibrant oranges and reds across the sky. I couldn’t help but bask in the beauty that was Velaris.

“What’re we doing here?” He asked, leaning against the railing.

“I just want a minute to ourselves before we go back.” I whispered.

“Of course.” He replied, his voice soft.

He and I leaned on the railing, watching the Sidra under the rising sun.

“I’ve always loved a good sunrise.” I said.

“I suppose that fits, considering.” He joked, gesturing to me with a vague wave of his arm. I groaned as he shot me a playful grin.

I shoved his shoulder lightly, laughing at him. When I met his eyes again, they had softened. He was watching me in a way that a lover would, all fondness and soft edges. I reveled in the fact that in the very recent past, the male before me had been a complete and total stranger.

But now, I couldn’t picture my life without him. He had become this strong, constant source of laughter and happiness, and even though he was supposed to be dark and cold, he always seemed to be so warm with me… Comforting in a way that no one else in my life had ever been.

I turned my attention back to the sky for a moment, letting the smell of Velaris wash over me. This city had felt more like home than the Dawn Court. Maybe that was why this time felt more real… More permanent when I had left my father on that veranda.

When I turned my attention back to Azriel, the softness in his eyes remained.

“What’re you thinking about?” He asked.

“Just.. How happy I’ve been since coming here.” I smiled again, “And how much of that I have you to thank for.

“I… I’ve been happier, too… Since you came to Velaris.” His confession seemed to take him by surprise.

He turned his body towards me then, and as he stood there, watching me, darkness against the dawn, softness and sharp edges all blurred into one, I couldn’t stop myself from surging forward and pressing my lips to his.

He froze for a moment before pushing me away from him and stepping back.

“Shit. Azriel, I’m sorry. I… I shouldn’t have done that.”

He stared at me, his eyes wide and his lips parted, before shaking his head. His eyes had gone entirely vacant as he stared at me.

“Don’t…” He cleared his throat. “Never kiss me again.” He said, his voice no more than a rasp, before he disappeared into his shadows, leaving me alone.

*****

I winnowed to the townhouse. It was the only place I could think of to go. But, before I could even knock on the door, Rhys opened it, his brow furrowed as he realized who was standing there.

Gods… He hates me.

“What's wrong?” He asked, but he didn’t move from the threshold, a silent refusal to let me into the townhouse.

They must all hate me. Shit, shit, shit… The panic was rising in my chest at the thought.

“Is Mor here?” I asked, trying to peer over his shoulder. “I need to talk to her.”

He nodded, shutting the door. My stomach dropped as I heard his footsteps retreat from the door.

When it opened again, Mor was pulling her coat over her nightgown, bleary eyed and confused.

I internally smacked myself. It was so early… Rhys had probably woken her up.

“Y/N?” She took in my current state and perked up a little bit, glancing over my shoulder. “What happened?”

“I…” I glanced up at the living room window. “Can we go somewhere else?”

“Of course we can.” She reached out her hand. I closed my eyes and took it, trusting her to take me anywhere. “Whatever you need.”

*****

Mor had brought me to a cabin. Apparently it was one of Rhysand’s other homes. It was cute and quaint, and as Mor and I sat in front of the fire, wine glasses in our hands, I felt as at home as I could considering the circumstances..

“And then I just… kissed him.” I buried my face in my hand. “Gods, I’m such a fucking idiot.”

“No, you’re not.” She said as she rubbed a soothing hand on my back.

“I should have known he didn’t feel the same way about me… I should have known better than to just kiss someone like that.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“I can never face him again…” I let out a broken sob. “I should have just gone home.”

“You’re always welcome here.”

“You didn’t see the look on his face, Mor.” I lifted my head and rubbed my sleeve across my face. “He doesn’t want me here anymore.”

“Well, Azriel be damned. I want you here. You’re my friend. Cassian adores you.” She pulled me closer to her, letting me rest my head on her shoulder. “You are welcome here. You have friends here.”

“I can’t stay, Mor.”

“Sure you can.” She smoothed my hair down. “We can get you an apartment.”

“What?”

“You should have one anyway as the emissary. We’ll get you an apartment, and you can stay.”

I let out a tired sigh. This wasn’t an argument that I had the energy for at the moment.

“Maybe sleep on it. You can make a decision once you’ve calmed down.” She said, her voice so gentle that it brought new tears to my eyes.

“Sleep sounds nice.” I agreed, my eyes closing on their own accord.

I only hoped that my dreams were kinder to me than my current reality.

*****

Mor stalked into the townhouse where the three males were sitting by the fire. Azriel had a far off look on his face as he stared into the flames, and Rhys and Cassian were watching him with wary eyes.

“She wants to leave.” Mor said in greeting. Two pairs of eyes shifted to her.

“What?” Cassian said, brow furrowed.

“Y/N. She wants to leave.” Mor turned her gaze on Azriel. “Because of you.”

“He won’t tell us what happened.” Cassian said, casting an inquisitive glance to Rhys.

Rhysand shrugged. He won't let me in.

Mor scoffed. “She kissed him.”

Another glance between Cassian and Rhys.

“She kissed him, and he ran off, and now she thinks all of us hate her.” She turned her body towards Azriel. “Even if you’re not interested in her romantically, you should have talked to her… Especially since you’re supposed to be her friend.”

His hazel eyes finally shifted to her, his mouth open as if he wanted to reply. She shook her head before turning back to Rhysand.

“And you… Don’t give me that bullshit. You knew exactly what happened. We all know that she isn’t the best with her mental shields. You saw… You knew exactly what happened. You knew that when you turned her away, she thought we all hated her.”

Cassian’s stare turned icy then as he stared at his feet, trying to make sense of everything.

Rhys shook his head. “I got the basis of what happened, but I didn’t realize…”

Mor held a hand up, silencing the High Lord. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I’m sorry.” Azriel mumbled from his spot.

“We aren’t the ones you should be apologizing to.” Mor snarled. “Now, if you’ll excuse me… There’s a heartbroken female at the cabin, and I am going to try to put her back together.”

Mor stomped back to the door, letting it slam so hard behind her that the pictures on the wall rattled. Azriel flinched at the sound.

Cassian turned his stare back to Rhys.

“Did you know?”

“Yes.”

“And you let her believe that we didn’t want her here?”

“Yes. At that moment, Azriel was my first priority.”

He furrowed his brows, glancing between his brothers. “I’ll be at the cabin, as well.”

Cassian stood, pausing to glance at them both one more time, before scoffing quietly and following after Mor.

Azriel waited until he was gone before repeating, “I’m sorry.”

“I know, Az.” Was Rhysand’s only reply.

*****

“Y/N.” Mor shook me, trying her best to be gentle. “Y/N, wake up. I’m making some soup.”

I grumbled, trying to push her away and pull the blanket over my head.

“Should I even trust the food you make?”

“Soup is pretty hard to ruin. Even for her.” Cassian chuckled from the doorway.

I sat up then, so quickly that the room spun a bit.

“When did you get here?” I asked, blinking to try and right the room.

“Last night.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “I wanted to check on you.”

“So, you don’t…” I sniffled, “You don’t hate me, right?”

“I couldn’t hate you, Y/N.” Cassian shook his head.

I felt so dramatic being this torn up over a kiss. In fact, I felt like a fool. I had been nothing but dramatic since I met Rhysand. I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to force myself to calm down. I could feel them both watching me closely, carefully, waiting for another breakdown.

“Suppressing your emotions isn’t healthy.” Mor said, pointing at me with the spoon in her hand.

“Shouldn’t you be making sure you don’t ruin the soup?” Cassian asked over his shoulder.

“Shit.” She turned and hurried down the hallway.

I chuckled a bit at that, and Cassian smiled.

“There we go.” He pulled me into a hug. “We got you to laugh. That’s a start.”

*****

It had been nearly a week. An entire week that Azriel had been wallowing, his own self-pity and self-hatred getting the very best of him. Even now, as he was meant to be getting ready for the ball in the Court of Nightmares, he couldn’t bring himself to think, to focus on anything.

It had been years… years since he had felt so lost… hopeless… utterly devastated by something as trivial as a kiss. Trivial… Did he really believe that the kiss with her had been nothing?

No, he thought, it definitely meant something. At least for him. But he had fucked everything up.

“Azriel?” Rhys poked his head into the Shadowsinger’s room. He must have knocked, but Azriel hadn’t heard anything over the roaring in his head.

He grunted in acknowledgment, letting his brother know that he had heard him.

“We’re setting out soon. Are you ready?” Are you ready to see her? He didn’t need to add the last part for Azriel to catch the meaning behind the words.

He managed a nod as he stood, straightening his leathers.

Gods, he needed to get it together. He knew that. He had to be on his guard tonight, and had to make sure he didn’t let Rhysand down. But she would be there.

The feeling of her lips was still burned into his skin. He touched a scarred hand to his own lips, letting his eyes flutter shut at the memory of the way she had felt against him. So soft and delicate.

She would be there and he would have to face her. He would have to face what he’d done, how he had hurt her.

A flash of her face in his mind, her eyes clouded with confusion as she reached out to him. He had disappeared into his shadows, ran from her like a coward. And then there was the tremble in her voice, the pain he could hear, when she had come here looking for Mor. When Rhys didn’t let her in, she had practically crumbled to pieces on the steps.

Then there was Cassian. The anger that radiated off of him as he had gotten to his feet, the weight of his stare as he announced he was going to check on her… Something Azriel should have done.

Cassian, thankfully, hadn’t stayed angry with Azriel for very long. He had forgiven him and Rhysand both within a matter of a day and a half. He had not, however, given in and told them anything about how she was doing or feeling. He had begun changing the subject any time either of them so much as thought about her.

Mor had stayed away completely since the incident. Cassian had taken to running her errands so that the blonde didn’t have to venture into town, so she could avoid him.

Azriel heaved a heavy sigh, rolling his shoulders in a vain attempt to relieve some of the stress, some of the tension, that he was harboring in his body. All of which is deserved. He couldn’t help the thought as it crossed his mind.

With one last glance at himself in the mirror, the bags under his eyes just as noticeable now as they had been all week, he started for the door.

Pausing with his hand over the knob, he squeezed his eyes shut, forcing his mind to quiet, bringing forth that otherworldly focus that had always made him so useful.

No matter how much he was dreading this, no matter how much he wished to sit in here and wallow for another few weeks, he had a job to do. And he would not let his brother down.

*****

I stood in the entryway of the townhouse, pulling at the satin of the cobalt blue dress that Mor had given me. It was so low cut, the neckline plunging nearly to my navel, and there were two slits on either side of the skirt, exposing my legs up to my mid-thigh. It was beautiful, but it made me so self conscious.

“Stop pulling at it. You look beautiful.” Mor grinned, looping her arm through mine.

“I just feel so exposed.” I whispered, smoothing a hand over the bodice… Or what was left of it.

“You will fit right in.” She winked, giving my arm a quick, supportive squeeze.

I glanced down at myself, refusing to let my mind wander. The color reminded me of him, I had already struggled with that as I was getting ready. But I was going to have the best night that I could tonight. I wouldn’t waste any time thinking of him. Not when he had made it very clear that he did not think of me in that way, that he did not want me. Not when I had a job to do. I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me.

Rhys finally appeared at the top of the stairs, descending towards us as everyone turned to look at him.

“He’ll be down in a moment.”

Mor squeezed my arm in a silent promise. I am here, everything will be okay. I made a mental note to tell her how much her friendship meant to me once this night was over.

When Azriel appeared at the top of the stairs, taking the place Rhysand had left moments before, the air caught in my throat.

I met his eyes for a moment., and his eyes shone with something I could only describe as hope, but before I let myself offer him a smile or a reassuring nod, I turned away from him, letting Mor lead me away.

Cassian took his spot on Mor’s other side once we were on the lawn. When he caught my gaze, he offered me a small smile. He had worried about this, the first time that Azriel and I would see each other, and he had said as much before we had come back from the cabin.

“I’m fine, Cass.” I reached out, touching his arm gently. “Promise.”

“Let me know if you need to leave, and I will escort you myself.”

“We need to keep up appearances. I can survive one night.”

Even as the words passed my lips, I wasn’t sure I believed them.

*****

Azriel ground his teeth as he watched them together. Cassian and Y/N could talk so easily… As easily as breathing or flying… He had always chalked that up to them being friends, but as he watched her touch him, watched him not recoil from her, but lean into her gentle touch, he wasn’t so sure. She was always so gentle. And the way Cassian’s eyes softened as he looked at her… He wanted to hit something. He had to force himself not to snarl.

“They seem… Close.” He ground out, not taking his eyes off of the pair.

“They’re friends.” Rhys replied, clapping him on the shoulder.

Azriel wasn’t stupid. He knew that Cassian had been interested in her from the very beginning. He had stayed away, fallen back, because he had seen the feelings Azriel had for her.

“I’m sure.” Azriel all but scoffed, grabbing Rhysand’s hand to prepare to winnow. Rhysand stood there, stunned at the hostility lacing each of Azriel’s words. How in the hell was he meant to deal with this situation?

Taglist: @mis-lil-red

#acotar #azriel x y/n #azriel spymaster #azriel x you #azriel shadowsinger #azriel x reader #acomaf #acowar #azriel angst #azriel

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strawberryscorner · 1 year

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Forgotten Sins Chapter 1

Tags: Amnesia, Stockholm Syndrome, Drug Use (Bliss), Religious Cults, Fluff and Angst, Car Accidents, Family Member Death, Manipulation, Emotional Manipulation

Note: Hey, I just wanted to let you all know some things before reading this story, This is a reader-insert and it is written in the second person but she has/you have amnesia from the events in the first chapter so when asked your name, you can't respond with the "Y/N" answer so you'll get the name Dawn.

Also, I'm not from America so if British words slip in, forgive me because the character/you are meant to be American since it's Far Cry 5.

Other than that, have fun! (also, let me know if I missed something in the tags at any point of the story!)

Series Masterlist

Almost as soon as your dad drives past the Welcome to Hope County sign, the radio started playing a song about letting the water wash away your sins.

"What is this garbage?" he asked, going to turn the radio off but your mom smacked his hand away.

"It's what you need with that gambling addiction of yours," she said, returning to her phone, "no signal." She put the phone down and looked out the window.

"It's pretty cute here," you said, looking out your window.

"Pretty cute?" your dad asks. "There's nothing here!"

You roll your eyes and keep focusing on what's outside your window. Your dad always was a bit grumpy on these road trips, yet it was always him who insisted on taking them, good for family bonding. Now that you were an adult and had moved out long ago and your brother was going off to college, it was time for another road trip. While your dad and mom argued about the quickest way to your destination that your parents kept secret to add to the fun, you started humming along to the radio.

"Where even are we?" your mom asked.

"Holland Valley, well, just left it according to this sign," your dad said.

You see a shirtless man with the words greed and wrath tattooed on his torso running from a group of people, they're all shooting at each other.

"Is that real?" your brother asked, hearing the gunshots.

"Look away!" your dad yells at us as the shirtless man fell to the ground. You turn to look out the window on your brother's side but there were people with guns running towards the car, most likely to fight the people on the other side of your vehicle.

"Oh God, what is that?" your mother asked, pointing at a man with a beard and a red shirt that had been cut into a vest held up what looked like a rocket launcher, though you couldn't be too sure, you'd only ever seen them in video games. You see a rocket heading towards the car, no one has time to get out before it hits.

__________________

You wake up, one hand handcuffed to the railing of the bed you're laying on. The other hand goes up to touch your pounding head, only resulting in more pain so you quickly remove your hand. There isn't much in the room with you, just the bed you're laying on, a table and a chair.

"Ah good, you're finally awake," a man with long brown hair and a bushy beard said, pulling the chair closer to the bed before sitting down.

"Awake?" your throat was painfully dry and your voice came out weak, almost as a raspy whisper.

"You've been out for a while, a few weeks," he said, "weren't too sure you'd make it, no one else did."

"Made what? Who else?"

"What's your name?" he asked.

You thought about it for a while but couldn't remember, "I don't know," you answer honestly.

"Guess the accident messed with your brain more than we thought," he mumbled, "how about we call you Dawn?"

You don't know what to say, that's probably not close to whatever your name was but you couldn't remember so arguing against it seemed pointless. Eventually, you just nod your head, accepting your new name.

"Well, Dawn, you and what we assume to be your family were in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "You see, we got somewhat of a war going on here, a cult leader who calls himself The Father is trying to take over Hope County. Save us from what he calls The Collapse that he knows will happen because God told him. My people were captured by fucking Peggies - his followers. Now is the part that affects you, you and your family got in the crossfire between my people and the Peggies, well, they had a rocket launcher, fired it at you. We pulled you out of the car, but your family all died, your mom was already dead in the car, and your dad and brother died here later. I'm sorry."

You tried to remember it but you couldn't, you couldn't even remember your family, their names, faces, voices nothing.

"Why don't I remember?" you ask.

"You hit your head pretty hard, you might remember at some point but you may also never get your memory back," he shrugged.

"What's your name?" you ask.

"I'm Eli."

He stood up and took out a small key, "Am I right in assuming you won't be a danger?"

You nodded. While you had no memory to be sure, you didn't feel dangerous. He unlocked the handcuff.

"You can stay in here for a while, Hurk is right outside this door. Hurk get in here," a man with a beard and a red shirt walked in, he seemed familiar but you couldn't remember why.

"Do I know you?" you asked.

"No," Eli answered for the man, "but Hurk here will help you if you want to walk around."

With that, both men leave you alone in the room.

You stayed in bed for a while, thinking about everything Eli had told you, trying to remember anything from any point in your life but you couldn't. You were thankful you seemed to remember your language and how to talk. Now, you needed to see if you were strong enough to be able to walk. Don't fall flat on your face, you thought to yourself before sitting in the bed, your feet touching the ground. You closed your eyes and held your hands out in front of you as you slowly stood up, when you did instantly fall, you slowly opened your eyes. You take a deep breath before attempting to take your first step, it was wobbly, and you fall forward but you're able to catch yourself on the chair Eli was sitting on earlier. You thought about calling for Hurk to help you walk but you wanted to do it on your own, your legs just needed to wake up, Eli did say you were out for a few weeks, naturally, your legs would be weak like your voice was. After a few seconds, you dare try again, letting go of the chair and pushing it a bit in front of you so you can use it to catch yourself again if needed. Which you did.

"Shit," you say to yourself, but it comes out more of a whisper. "Hurk?" you call out as loud as you can but it doesn't come out very loud and he doesn't come in so it's safe to assume he couldn't hear you. Well, I can still stand, you thought before getting up from the chair and throwing it at the door.

"Dude, are you okay?" Hurk said, throwing the door open, holding a gun, "whoa, sorry about calling you dude, I don't want to assume nothin' but I call everyone dude so I don't mean no disrespect or nothin'-"

"I can't walk," you interrupt him, not really caring to hear more of this odd apology when you just want to walk.

"What do you mean you can't walk?" he asks. You take a step forward and fall, he catches you and helps you back to your feet.

You make it outside with Hurk's help, he's pointing to everyone who walks by, telling you their names, what they usually do around here and how fun they are to talk to on a scale of "better to talk to Monkey King than them to actually a good listener, they're fine" as you drink a glass of water.

"Where are we?" you ask.

"We're in Whitetail Mountains," he answers.

"Where are my family?" he looks to his feet when you ask that, "I know they're dead. Eli told me. But what happened to their bodies?"

"I'm not really sure," he scratched the back of his head, going quiet. You hadn't known him long at all but hadn't known him to do that.

"Well, what about the Pennys?"

"Pennys?" he looks confused for a while.

"The cult?"

Hurk laughs, "you mean Peggies."

"Yeah, Peggies."

"They're followers of the big guy, not Monkey King, the other big guy. You know, I almost joined 'em. They had guns, food, fine ass women, why wouldn't you join?" he paused, looking at you and when you didn't say anything, he continued. "Well, I didn't join because o' all these rules you have to follow, no partyin', no fornicatin' - that means fuckin', didn't sound so fun after that so I went home."

He was going to keep talking until a radio started making noise. He excused himself and took a few steps away.

"You want to know about the cult, sweetheart?" an older lady in jeans and a pink blouse asked.

"Yes," you said.

"I'm Adelaide, you are?"

"I'm Dawn," you said, remembering Eli's name for you.

"Well, Dawn, the cult has pretty much taken over Hope County, brainwashed everyone into believing the world is going to end and only Joseph Seed can save their souls. They take you in, make you confess your sins through torture then continue to torture you either by forcing you to make that Bliss shit until you lose your damn mind or by training you to be a soldier, ain't been many survivors to tell us how it goes but we can assume it's not pleasant."

"And people join willingly?" you ask, thinking back to what Hurk said.

"They do, some completely willingly, either with or without the knowledge of what the cult does, or some join willingly but after some tough persuasion.

And some join because they're idiots like my boy," she moves her head towards Hurk.

"You're Hurk's mother?"

"I am," she smiled.

"Come with me, we got a job," he said, interrupting our conversation.

"Me?" you asked, seeing him looking at you instead of his mother.

"Yeah, don't worry, it's not a big job, just collectin' some meat then droppin' it off," he got in a truck.

"Collecting meat? From where?"

"We're going huntin', you been huntin' before?"

"I don't know."

"I can teach you."

On the way to where he wanted to hunt, he spoke about his relationship with his father, it didn't sound like a very good one. It made you wonder what yours was like, maybe you'd remember one day. Instead, you smiled and hummed when it was appropriate. He didn't give you much time to speak.

"Here we are," he said, stopping the car and handing you a gun. "There's a lot of Caribou here?"

"Caribou?"

"You'll know it when you see it, they're hard to miss."

"Why are we hunting this thing?" you ask.

"For food, we gotta eat, don't we?" he laughed as you nodded.

You walk behind Hurk, he was telling you about the parts of the gun and how to shoot it. You had a hard time following what he was saying but he assured you it would come easy when you had to actually take the shot. You walked for a while without seeing anything more than trees but eventually, Hurk stopped you.

"There, see it?" he points towards a big animal with horns.

"That's a Caribou?" he nodded. "We're meant to kill that?" he nodded again. He really was crazy.

"Won't it attack us? With those horns?"

"What? Nah, 'course not. They ain't predators, they'll just run away."

You nodded, watching as he raised his gun. Part of you wanted to stop him from shooting the animal but he was right before, you do have to eat and you saw quite a lot of people to feed at the bunker. He shot the animal, but it didn't die.

"Shit, I missed," the animal ran off and Hurk chased it, not knowing what else to do, you ran after Hurk. Eventually, the Caribou slowed down near a lake. Hurk managed to kill it there.

"You stay here, I'll go get the truck." You turned your back to the animal, not wanting to see the corpse. The lake and trees were beautiful so you focused on them until you heard tires. You expected to see Hurk but were surprised to see three men with tattoos that said Wrath, Lust and Pride on each of them.

"What are you doing here, sinner?" One of the men asked, pulling his gun out but keeping it by his side.

"Nothing," you said, backing away, "hunting."

The men laugh at you but stop once you hear more tires, before anyone can react Hurk drives over the two men in front of you. One of the men flew over the truck while the other one is trapped underneath. The third man makes it back to his car and drove away. The man under the truck was probably already dead or at least it seemed that way since he wasn't moving or making any sound. The man who flew over the truck tries to get back up but is shot by Hurk.

"Alright, let's get that thing on the back and head off," Hurk said, lifting the animal. All you can do is watch. He just killed a man; sure he had a gun but you didn't expect Hurk to be so okay with killing two people. Even if he did kill the animal, that was different, that was to eat, this was for nothing?

"Why did you kill them?" you ask.

"Well, they're Peggies," he said, getting back into the truck after loading the corpse onto it. They're Peggies, that's the only reason. Based on what you had been told, it was Joseph that was bad, the Peggies were just brainwashed but apart from that, you hadn't heard much. What Hurk did seemed worse than just not partying or training. Adelaide did mention torture as well but if Hurk could kill a man so easily, maybe they weren't telling the whole truth or maybe they just weren't any better than the Peggies?

"You gettin' in or what?" Hurk called from the driver's seat. You didn't want to but felt you had no choice; you didn't want to be left out here.

"Where are we going?"

"Chad Wolanski, he's a cool guy but can't understand him for shit though," he said. He speeds there, explaining he doesn't want to bump into any more Peggies.

"We're here!" Hurk calls out, getting out of the truck and you hear a man grumbling. Hurk lifts the Caribou out of the truck, sort of dragging it around the house. "Hey Chad, got a new member with me."

Chad mumbles something that sounds like hello.

"Hello, I'm Dawn," it felt slightly less strange to call yourself Dawn this time.

Chad and Hurk started talking while helping each other with the meat. You weren't sure how Hurk understood what Chad was saying, only one word per sentence was said loud and semi-clear enough to make out and the rest was mumbled and jumbled together. You kept yourself preoccupied with looking at the scenery. The radio was on and started playing a song about letting the water wash away your sins, it felt familiar and you easily hummed along. It made Chad mumble something angrily to Hurk.

"I don't know, I never had the radio on," Hurk answered, also raising his voice at Chad.

"Hey," Hurk called for you, "how you know that song?"

"I don't know, it just sounds familiar somehow," you answered, unsure what the problem was, neither man said anything, just mumbled something to themselves.

"Let's head back," Hurk said, saying goodbye to Chad.

Hurk was awfully quiet while driving, you reached for the radio, tired of the silence and not knowing how to fill it. Before you could turn it on a car drove in front of yours, making Hurk have to hit the brakes.

"Whoa, shit," he said, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine, you?"

"Yeah," he took his belt off and picked up his gun, "fucking Peggies. Come on."

You got out of the car with him. You stayed crouching behind your open door, Hurk moving forward. It was going well for him until, "Hurk, behind you!" You yelled but he didn't react on time, a Peggie from behind him hit him on the back of his head with their gun, knocking him out. You notice it's the Peggie who escaped after Hurk ran his friends over.

"Are you going to come with us willing, sinner, or are we going to have to make you?" the one from earlier asked you.

"I'll go," you said, standing with your hands up, scared of what they'd do if you didn't go willingly since two of them had their guns pointed toward you.

"Good choice," he said, his friends putting their guns down.

#far cry 5 #john seed #joseph seed #jacob seed #faith seed #hurk drubman jr #adelaide #eli palmer #far cry 5 fanfiction #john seed x reader

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space-writes · 11 months

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six sentence sunday

tagged by @sam-glade, thank you!

Rules - Writers: post (approximately) six sentences from something you’re working on. If you aren’t ready to do that, add six sentences to your WIP.

i finally managed to sit down and poke at some more backstory scenes for Aliyne this week, so here is a little bit from that (slightly more than six sentences, but the section starts with a six, so it feels fitting nonetheless)

They’d been waiting at the docks, six of them. Six bhahan, six brothers of the Zarahmin, waiting for them to get on the boat bound for Ashen-Rir come high tide at dawn. Aliyne grabbed her knife in one hand, Isit’s arm in the other as the dark-clad figures appeared on the deck. “You’re a long way from home, sha’ahkti,” one said. “I’m not your sister,” Aliyne spat. Isit was a terrible fighter, she’d learned that much in their time together. She pushed him behind her, knowing she couldn’t take six of them—one, maybe, if she kept her head, but not six. “When I say, you run,” she whispered to him. “Don’t stop, just go.” The Zarahmin who’d spoken chuckled. “So protective. You sure you’re not family? Get over here, sha’bhan.” Little brother? It took her too long to realise, and in that time Isit slipped from behind her to scurry into the ranks of the Zarahmin crowding the boat. Her heart turned to stone and then sank. “No,” she breathed. “Isit, no, we were out!”

This is one of Aliyne's key backstory scenes (part of her third rail development, if you've ever read Story Genius). It's a bit rough, but the intention is to help deepen and solidify her character, and for that it does it's job. Also it gave me an excuse to play with the handful of Mohaade-Common conlang words I invented!

no-pressure tagging @revenancy @serenanymph and @zmwrites

Renegade Prince | Valloroth taglist: @cherrybombfangirlwrites @memento-morri-writes @foxboyclit @lawful-evil-novelist (ask to be +/-)

#valloroth blogging #writeblr #tag games #six sentence sunday #writing #snippets #c: aliyne #aliyne has a non zero amount of trust issues #it's what makes her and lucian's dynamic so fun

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invisibleraven · 7 months

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20 questions writer meme!

I wa tagged by my beloved @bananakarenina <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3? In total across 5 fandoms, 124, 84 of those are JatP, and 5 of those are prompt fill compilations.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 1,674,136 uploaded as of right now, and I know that over 1 million of those words are JatP.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently just Julie and the Phantoms, but in past I wrote primarily for Glee/Glee RPF, and Teen Titans. There's no other fandom really interesting me enough to write for it at moment.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm going to limit this to my JatP fics, but if you wanna check out my stories in my previous fandoms, well here's my AO3

And giving yourself to me can never be wrong my collection of smut prompt fills with 235 kudos

I Know Who I Want To Take Me Home the first installment of my Semisonic Sunset verse with 192 kudos

But came the dawn the show goes on (and I don't want to say goodnight) my PeterPatterLina soulmate AU with 169 kudos

Maybe this news can wait Part three (and the only non smutty part) of Semisonic Sunset with 124 kudos

Better walk the line my single dad Reggie PeterPatter fic with 124 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Honestly no I don't. I tried, once upon a time, but I just felt like no one really cared what I had to say, and then I didn't have the spoons for it, so I stopped. I know I should though, my brain just doesn't seem to like letting me.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hands down it is Haunted by the moments of what we used to be because every comment I got on it was some variation of how very dare you.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Generally I try to give all of my stories a happy ending, but for this one, I'll go with Yellow Wood because it gave everyone a happy ending, no matter the path taken.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Currently no, but when the blacklist was a thing that happened, my name was second on there, so that kind of sucked.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Out of my 84 JatP fics, 24 are rated E, and my smut prompt fills are currently sitting at 80 something chapters, so you tell me. In honesty, I don't write smut as much anymore, as I find it a little more difficult to write and the response to anything rated above a T is vastly lower than anything else. But when I started in this fandom, it was what I was known for; see my point regarding the black list.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I actually kind of hate crossovers? If I'm looking for a fic to read on AO3, I always click the Exclude Crossovers choice. I'll write any and every AU I can, and I might add minor characters from said AU, but that's rare, and that's as close as I get.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Unfortunately yes. There was a person on WattPad who went and stole a bunch of different smutty JatP fics over a year ago, and one of mine was amongst them. They were reported, and the fic was taken down. This is why now my fics on AO3 are only available to registered AO3 users.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No, but if anyone ever wants to do a translation or podfic of any of my stories, they have my permission as long as they credit me and send me a link afterwards!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, and no one has ever asked. It's something I'd love to try if the chance ever came along, and had the right idea.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship? I mean I can't pick just one, I've been involved in fandoms since I was a teenager. Like for Teen Titans Raven/Beast Boy will always own a piece of my soul. In Glee, Kurt/Blaine was such a formative part of my life. And even with Jatp I don't think I could choose between Rulie and PeterPatterLina, they both mean so much to me. And those are just the fandoms I've written for!

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? *looks at my GDocs which is a WiP graveyard* Oh gosh there's so many.

16. What are your writing strengths? My brain is not being kind to me ATM, so I don't think I have any? Like maybe how much I write? Does that count?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Everything. Editing especially.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I have done this quite a bit, even if it's just plugging what I want to say into Google Translate. So I know it's not entirely accurate, but I think I have been getting better about it.

19. First fandom you wrote for? The first fic I ever wrote that wasn't done like on a dare was a smutty fic for the anime Trigun that still exists on my ff.net page if you find it (no I'm not linking it) that I wrote in high school. It is Not Good.

20. Favorite fic you've written? I give the same answer to this question every time: But came the dawn the show goes on (and I don't want to say goodnight) and I don't think that will ever change.

Honourable mentions

-For better or for worse (Even if it's just tonight)

-So Close To Reaching That Famous Happy End

-Yellow Wood

-Dress You Up In My Love

Not tagging anyone, but if you wanna do this ask game, go to!

#answer time #tag games #my writing

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thequeenofthewinter · 1 year

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Fic Friday

Hello fine gentlepeople of TESblr! 'tis I, Winter, peddling off my fic again as it is Friday, and I have updated.

In a review by the lovely @oblivions-dawn it is: "Excellent . . . Emotional . . . Effervescent . . . . . . Yes"

The author herself describes it as, "Politics, some boats, emotions, and metaphors. Please someone take this chapter away from me so I don't add any more to it."

A random person I found on the street has said, "Eh? Who are you, and why are you bothering me while I am eating my lunch?"

So, there you have it! Reviews are generally positive! Go read it now!

Rating: E (canon-typical violence, explicit content, check the tags)

Genre: Romance, action, adventure, drama

Pairing: Dahlia Wintersnow (OC Dragonborn)/Ulfric Stormcloak

Link to AO3: An Invincible Summer

Snippet:

While the news is no surprise to Lydia, this is the first time Dahlia has opened up to her personally. It is only logical for gossip like this to spread quickly, especially with Dahlia and Ulfric’s frequent visits to a small grave which bears no name—only a sad inscription. Loose tongues and morbid curiosity did the rest of the work to assure that it has been publicized across the population. How else would Elisif been able to hit Dahlia where it hurts the most?

Both Dahlia and Ulfric had expected it to catch up to them at some point in time; however, at least on her part, Dahlia did not expect the cruelty which came with it—the speculations, the rumors, and the pointed digging. For the most part, she has tried to ignore it as best she can while finding solace in Ulfric’s arms. But, no matter how much she runs and tries and ignore it, it always come back to her, haunting her like the hazy nightmares which leave mentally and physically tired, even if she refuses to show it.

Slowly, Dahlia is learning better than to expect kindness from any but those who are closest to her. She’ll shut herself away and patch up all the exposed holes on her leaking ship if she must to preserve herself.

Lydia smiles at her sadly as Dahlia looks at her with uncertainty in her gaze. She isn’t sure what hurts her more: the fact that her friends has been suffering with this information and the weight of it for weeks or that she thinks that she would judge her for it.

“It’s okay, Dahlia.” Her housecarl sighs, “I mean—no, it isn’t okay. That isn’t what I meant. What I mean is that you’re safe here, and I know you wouldn’t ever intentionally do anything to hurt anyone, and it’s not your fault and—“

Tears make their way down Dahlia’s face. How long had it been since she had spoken to Lydia? And how long has she been holding this in and putting on a brave face for the rest of the world?

“I—if we are talking about technical blame, it is my fault. I was the one who—”

Lydia stops her yet again. She has heard so many versions of what had happened: Dahlia sacrificed their child to Sithis to bring Ulfric back, she dabbles in necromancy, she speaks to Talos directly—that she can make a pretty good guess at what actually happened, but with better results. “You didn’t know, and you had a choice. One that is unspeakable, impossible, and one that no one should ever have to make. They don’t understand you, and they are not you. Only Akatosh can judge you, and it seems to me he has deemed you worthy, so you should forgive yourself.”

For a moment, all she does is blink. Dahlia isn’t sure what she expected, but it should not have been anything less than this. Lydia’s own thoughts echo Ulfric’s.

I cannot pretend to know what you felt, and I was not the one in your shoes. I cannot tell you what was right and wrong, and while it hurts me just as much as it hurts you, I would have made the exact same choice if I had been in your situation. We can try again when you’re ready.

And isn’t that what life is all about? There is pain, but there is joy. Darkness and light. Winter and Summer. You cannot have balance without both. Fus ro dah. You will push the world harder than it pushes back. Now is when she should push because after the rain is when the plants start their new growth.

#skyrim #skyrim fanfiction #ulfric stormcloak #ulfric x dragonborn #dahlia wintersnow #who I guess has actually been Dahlia Stormcloak for two chapters now #winter writes #fic friday #tw: pregnancy loss

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scoonsalicious · 1 month

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Unwanted: Chapter 22, Untold - Pt. 2

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, rudeness to animals, Pocket and Tony committing adorable crimes.

Word Count: 364

Previously On...: Just another night at the strip club, until you met the one and only Tony Stark.

A/N: Super short section, which is why you're getting two today! Yay! Also, I don't remember if they had 24-hour Walmarts in 2002 yet or not, so don't come for me. Let's just say Earth-518 absolutely did. Please enjoy the use of printed directions off of MapQuest. That was a fun mental flashback -_-

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Sadly, tag list is closed; Tumblr will not let me add anyone new. If you want to be notified when I update, please Follow me for Notifications!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43

Tumblr will not let me directly tag the following: @marcswife21 @erelierraceala @jupiter-107 @doublejeon @hiqhkey @unaxv @brookeleclerc

Twenty minutes later, you and Tony were pulling out of the parking lot of a 24-hour Walmart, a pair of garden shears in the back of Tony’s Audi A8 and directions to the nearest sheep farm that you’d printed out from MapQuest in the club’s office in your hand.

You had changed into an oversized MIT hoodie and pair of ultra low-rise bootcut jeans before leaving the club, and you were grateful, as the pre-dawn air was cool. You’d been driving for over an hour and a half and were nearly at your destination.

“Okay, make a left right here,” you told Tony, pointing toward a lonely dirt road. The Audi bumped along until you smacked Tony on the arm. “There!” you shouted. There was just enough light from the car’s headlights to make out a clump of shadows meandering near the fenceline. “The sheep!”

Tony put the car in park and got out. “Let’s do this,” he exclaimed, grinning like a lunatic as he got the shears from the backseat. Cautiously, the two of you climbed between the wires of the fence keeping the sheep from the road, Tony using his suit jacket to prevent the barbs from catching on you.

“Ok, now what?” he asked once the two of you had made it into the sheeps’ pasture.

“Now,” you said, rubbing your hands together with glee, “we catch ourselves a sheep!”

It was much easier said than done, and before you knew it, the two of you were running around like madmen, trying to corral just one sheep into position so you could grab it. But the little rectangle-eyed bastards were on to you, and they weren’t giving up without a fight. Soon, you were both in fits of laughter after the third or fourth time one of you fell into the mud.

You were having so much fun that you didn’t realize you weren’t alone, until a bright spotlight was upon you. “Hold it right there,” a gruff voice shouted.

You and Tony immediately froze and threw your hands in the air at the sound of a gun’s safety coming undone. “Don’t move,” said the voice behind the spotlight. “The police are on their way.”

<- Previous Part / Next Part ->

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x you #bucky x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes #bucky barnes fanfic #bucky x female reader #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes fanfiction #james bucky buchanan barnes #james buchanan barnes #mcu bucky barnes #james barnes

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nirikeehan · 1 year

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wip wednesday

Thank you for the tag, @melisusthewee!

This week, in honor of @wolfs-dawn's birthday, I have put her OC Alora Lavellan and my OC Thalia Trevelyan into a spooky Situation™. They've gotten lost after one of their horses lost a shoe and they can't find their way back to Caer Bronach in Crestwood.

---

Thalia took a breath and let it out slowly. The threads of panic she’d been ignoring for hours began to seep in. Above the tree canopy, the sky was fading from pink to a navy blue; soon the stars would be out. It had all seemed so simple at lunchtime. Alora had arrived in Crestwood unexpectedly, sent to tend to the new retinue of horses operating out of Caer Bronach. Thalia and her field team were still in the region, sweeping the area for any lingering undead since closing the Fade rift under Old Crestwood. Now that the weather had improved, it seemed the perfect opportunity for a forest ride.

They were without any camping supplies, having assumed they’d have a quick jaunt and be back at the keep by dinner. They’d gone without any escort or security detail, because that defeated the purpose of stepping out on work to spend your afternoon with a friend. It also meant no one knew where they were, or how to reach them. And the “shortcut” Thalia opted to take had only gotten them more lost.

“So. What are our options?” Thalia asked, putting on the voice she used at the war table.

“Er. Well. We could keep going,” Alora said. “Hope we find the main road again, or at least a village or crossroads inn that will take us for the night. Hope they have a farrier for Puck. I’ve got a few sovereigns in my pocket.”

“Right. Or…” Thalia glanced at the grove of trees straddling the path. “I guess we could try sleeping here and set out again by the morning’s light.”

“No offense, Your Worship,” Alora replied, “but I’m not keen on sleeping on the ground and foraging berries for our supper tonight. I know the Dalish have a reputation, but bad conditions favor nobody.”

“All right, all right. We’ll go a little longer. But if it gets fully dark I think we need to reassess. These woods aren’t safe at night.” Thalia almost added that they were barely safe during the day, what with the reports of Red Templars out in the hills, but she didn’t want to add to Alora’s worry. That had barely been a consideration earlier in the day.

The two continued down the desolate country road, the twilight deepening. Before long, the trees grew ever thicker, and a low mist rolled in along the ground. Ambient animal sounds drew nearer: crickets, hooting owls, and a fluttering of wings that might be bats.

A high-pitched inhuman whine filled the air, distant but disquieting.

Alora gasped, looking about as her horse whickered in fear. “What was that?”

“Wolves, I think,” Thalia whispered.

“Oh.” Alora’s voice trembled. “Right. Okay. Just wolves. Hungry for flesh and blood, probably.” She laughed nervously. “I take everything back. We should have stayed where we were.”

“Wolves aren’t so bad,” Thalia said, trying to keep her voice light. “We could take them. I’ve got my staff and you’ve got your sword, right?”

“Yeahhhh, um. About that…”

“Alora.” Thalia stopped in her tracks. “You didn’t bring it?”

“I didn’t think I’d need it! In my defense.”

“Of course.” Maybe Thalia should have told her about the Red Templars. Or the dragon she’d spied circling the air south of the Crestwood dam. Or the reports of wyvern sightings in the area. “Well. I know this much: when we get back, Blackwall is going to be furious.”

She imagined what the stoic, black-clad Grey Warden was doing in her absence. Probably pacing about Caer Bronach, seething. He misliked letting her get into intrigues on her own. Which, given how dangerous much of the Thedosian wilderness had proven to be, was probably wise.

“Is now really the time to bring him up?” Alora asked, urging Alassa through a particularly dense patch of fog. “Creators, I swear sometimes that man acts more like your babysitter than your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Thalia huffed. “He’s my sworn knight and protector.”

“Ah, I see. So your babysitter and your boyfriend.”

Thalia was about to hotly contest what must be a Dalish cultural misunderstanding of knightly chivalry, but Alora let out a small yelp. “Wait, hang on! I think I see something up ahead.”

---

Tagging, if interested:

#thalia trevelyan #alora lavellan #wip wednesday #blackwall x trevelyan

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middleearthpixie · 2 years

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Seven Days ~ Chapter Seven

Seven Days - Modern Tolkien AU

Firefighter Frerin Durin died in a fire set deliberately. But after he helps his brother, Thorin find happiness, Frerin is offered a second chance. He has to prove himself worthy by righting the one major wrong in his life. Otherwise, history will repeat and he will die for good this time. The catch? He has seven days in which to do this and isn’t even certain what his major wrong is.

At least, he doesn’t know for long.

Syd Prescott has known Frerin since high school. She spent one night with him and then he vanished from her life. Now, he claims he wants to make it up to her, to right was he realizes was his major wrong. But can she trust him? And can he prove to her that she can before it’s too late?

A/N - This story is the sequel to Miss Fortune, but is a stand alone story.

Summary: Frerin confides in Thorin when he shows up at Frerin’s house the next morning

Pairing: Modern!Frerin x OFC Syd Prescott

Characters: Frerin, Thorin

Warnings: None

Rating: T

Word Count: 2,708

Tag List: @tschrist1 @i-did-not-mean-to @lathalea @linasofia @fizzyxcustard @legolasbadass @kibleedibleedoo @xxbyimm @arrthurpendragon @exhausted-humxn-being @rachel1959 @laurfilijames @sketch-and-write-lover @sherala007 @enchantzz @knittastically @notlostgnome @myselfandfantasy @medusas-hairband @guardianofrivendell @jotink78 @frosticenow @quiall321 @dianakc

If you’d like to be added (or removed) to the tag list, please just let me know!

Previous chapters can be found here.

December 6th

Monday

Someone pounded on the front door.

Frerin lifted his head to squint at the clock. It was barely noon.

The pounding grew louder and now Riley began barking to add to the cacophony. With a groan, Frerin rolled onto his back and sat up, then moved to the edge of the bed. More pounding. More barking. Wonderful.

He all but threw himself at the front door. “I’m here, I’m here, knock it off already. I only got in at ten this morning.”

“Yeah?” Thorin grinned at him. “What was her name?”

Frerin came fully awake at that and smiled. For Thorin, they’d seen each other only a few days ago, but for Frerin? It was the first time he could hug his brother in over six months. He flipped the lock on the storm door and slapped at the handle to open it. “Hey, come on in. I thought you were in Vermont?”

Thorin clumped into his house. “I was. Lex and I got back last night. So, who is she?”

“Who is who?”

“The woman who kept you out until ten this morning,” Thorin called over his shoulder as he made his way into the kitchen.

“It wasn’t a woman. It was work. We responded to a fire around two this morning and only got it out at dawn. We went for breakfast, got back to the station to clean everything up and I only dragged my sorry ass in at ten.”

“Here.” Thorin pressed the coffee he’d made for himself into his hands. “I just spent the last week on a ski slope. You need this more than I do.”

“Thanks.” Frerin brought the cup to his lips for a long, much-needed swallow. “So, how was it?”

“It was great. I hit twenty years and I’m retiring to Stowe to be a professional ski bum.”

“You think Alex will like that?”

“Yeah. I think she will.” Thorin took his own cup to the table and drew out a chair. He sank into it, then looked up, a frown creasing his forehead. “What’s wrong? You look different.”

“I look different?”

“Yeah. Like you’ve got something weighty on your mind.”

“Yeah, well… it’s been a busy few days for me. Not all of us get to bum around on ski slopes, you know.”

“What’s been going on?”

“T, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Let’s just leave it that it’s been busy.”

Thorin just stared at him for a long moment, and Frerin braced himself for a barrage of questions. But those questions never came. Thorin just took a sip of coffee and lowered the cup. “So, the fire? Everyone who went came back okay?”

“Yeah. It was house fire and everyone got out okay. Hopefully the family cat did, too, but like I said, I only got home at ten this morning.” He rubbed his eyes with one hand as he contemplated whether or not to tell Thorin everything that had happened over the last few days. Keeping it to himself was enough to make him wonder if maybe he was crazy—especially with the way Tori kept popping in and out on him.

“Are you sure everything is okay, Frer?”

“Yeah… it’s fine…” He lowered his hand. “I’ve—uh—I’ve been seeing someone and it’s just… the beginning of a relationship, you know…”

“So you and Lisa are done for good?”

“Yeah. She found another dick she preferred to mine.”

“I did not need to know that.”

Frerin shrugged, draining his cup. “Yeah, well, it’s the truth. And to be honest, I’m really better off.”

“Well, tell me about the new girl, then?”

Frerin couldn’t help but smile as he got up to fix a fresh cup. “It’s Syd Prescott.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Believe it or not.”

“I believe it.” Thorin grinned. “The Prescott women are pretty tough to resist.”

“T, I’ve already been with her.” He tucked a medium roast pod into the holder and closed it, then pressed the button before adding, “And I fucked it up with her.”

“What did you do?”

“I never called her the next day.” He nodded as Thorin winced. “Yeah. But, she’s giving me another chance. So, keep your fingers crossed.”

“Damn, you sound serious, Frer. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I just… I needed a change, you know? And I’ve had a thing for Syd since freshman year. And now? Now I have the chance to fix what I screwed up and I’m going to do it.”

“Is that it?”

“What do you mean?” Frerin returned to his chair to sink into it.

“Is that all that’s going on?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know.” Thorin shook his head, rubbing his bearded chin with one hand. “It’s just… you seem different.”

Frerin’s gut twisted. “Different how?”

“Again, I don’t know. I just—you just seem different, is all.”

“I’m tired of living the way I’ve been living, man. I had the chance to see if there was something there with Syd and I fucked it up. She’s giving me another chance and I don’t want to blow this one, T. I can’t blow it. If I do, then that’s it. No more chances.”

“So don’t blow it with her.”

“Easier said than done. I’m really good at screwing things up with her. And I don’t have a lot of time to fix them.”

He realized his mistake the moment the words left his mouth and Thorin’s brows lowered as he frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means just that and don’t ask me to elaborate because I’m not so sure I can.”

“Frerin.” Thorin’s voice took on that protective, big brother note Frerin had heard from the time they were kids. Five years separated them and Thorin had looked out for him for as long as he could remember. “What’s going on? And don’t tell me nothing. I know you and I know when you’re trying to hide something and I know you’re doing just that. So give over and spill.”

Frerin sighed softly, tracing a small circle along the table top and when he finally looked up, it was to see Thorin staring him down with the same no nonsense expression he’d seen on their father’s face a thousand times growing up. Shaking his head, he said, “You won’t believe me if I tell you, man.”

“Try me.”

“Okay. You want to know? Here it is. If I don’t convince Syd Prescott I’m in love with her and she can trust me and love me back sometime between now and Friday night, I’m going to die. And I don’t mean metaphorically speaking, I mean, I will actually, literally die. In a fire. Right here. And the next time you see me—and you will see me, T, because I’m going to convince you to get Alex, who you will not be in a relationship with at that point, to help you solve who kills me. I’ll bring you two together next summer, but I’ll be fucking dead. A ghost, man. Mist and magic and not much else.”

Thorin just stared at him for a long, uncomfortable moment, then said, “What?”

“You heard me. This all gets undone come Friday. I’ll bring you and Alex together next summer, but I’ll be gone and I won’t get another chance, T. I have to right this. I have to fix it and win Syd or that’s it. Game over.”

“How tired are you? Because this sounds like the ramblings of a delusional whack job.”

“Yeah. I know. It’s insane and I know I sound fucking nuts. But, this is what’ll happen, okay? Sometime Friday night, someone will set this place on fire, with me in. You and Lisa will hook up for one night and I’ll keep you from drinking yourself into an early grave by forcing you and Al together.”

“Al?”

“Yeah. I call her Al.”

“No one calls her al.”

Frerin bit back an impatient sigh. “I do when I finally convince her she can see and hear me. Look, T, I know how loony this sounds, but I promise you, it will all happen. I’ll die. You’ll fuck Lisa. You’ll finally hook up with Alex and the two of you will be very happy. But I’ll be very unhappy because I’ll be very dead. But, the Big Guy is giving me this one shot to right my biggest wrong and it’s Syd. I know it is. I feel it. And I’m so close to convincing her, but I’ve only got a few days left and I won’t get this chance again.”

“Frer, are you serious? Because this is insane.”

“I know. I know it is, and I swear to you, I’m dead fucking serious. When I was given this chance, I didn't want to see you alone, so I asked the Big Guy to play a little with the timeline of your relationship with Al. I knew you wanted to ask her out last October, so I asked Him to make it so you did. And a few other things have changed. I know Lisa was cheating on me. She and I broke up and I took Syd out the other night and… we’re going out again tonight and I’m trying real hard not to freak out about how quickly Friday is coming up. But it’s coming up fast.”

“And if Syd doesn’t what… love you? Trust you? What happens?”

“I don’t know what she has to do, T. I only know what I have to do. And if it goes right, I’m here. I stay here and with her and everything is wonderful.”

“And if you don’t?”

Frerin’s gut kinked sharply and a sour taste flooded his mouth. “I die sometime Friday night. For good this time. I won’t get another chance to do this.”

He waited for Thorin to burst out laughing, to tell him how completely fucking crazy he thought Frerin was, and how he couldn't believe he expected him to believe such utter bullshit.

But to his surprise, Thorin just stared at him for a long moment. “When did you get sent back, for lack of a better word?”

“Friday. A week before.”

Thorin nodded. “Around eight, eight-thirty?”

“Yeah, I woke up like it was any other day. Why?”

“It makes sense. I had the worst nightmare about you, Frer. I dreamed you’d gone on a call and the building collapsed on you. I woke up in a cold sweat around eight o’clock and Alex thought I was having a heart attack, I was so damn sweaty and out of breath.”

“That nightmare becomes reality if I can’t convince Syd she can trust me, T. And I honestly don’t know how to convince her she can.”

“You said she’s going out with you again, right?”

“Yeah. We went and shot pool night before last and I got her to agree to come home with me and then I had an attack of conscience about rushing her into sleeping together again. I took her home and we fooled around a little, nearly got caught by her grandmother, and now here we are.”

“Ah, caught by Grandmama Prescott would not be wise.”

“You’re telling me. But damn, T, if Grandmama Prescott hadn’t been there? I’d have been begging her to have sex with me. Do you have any idea how hot she really is?”

“No. I find quiet little brunettes are more my type. I leave the redheads to you.”

Frerin smiled. “I’m in love with her, T, and I have been forever. I mean, like I want to marry her and make babies with her kind of in love with her. I’ll throw my little black book down the disposal if she’ll just… I don’t know… be mine… that sounds so stupid and so fucking corny, but I want her. And not just for sex. And I can’t even tell her that. Not yet, because she’ll think I’m fucking crazy.”

“Does she know time has been manipulated?”

“Could you just imagine her reaction if I told her that?”

“Frer, I think you need to tell her.”

“You’re insane. She’ll run like hell because she’ll think I’m batshit crazy.”

“Do you trust her?”

“What?”

“Do you trust her?”

Frerin sighed softly. “I know where you’re going, T, and this has nothing to do with trusting her. She’ll think I’m literally crazy.”

“Then I think you both need to learn to trust each other.”

“Tell me the truth, T, do you believe me?”

He waited as Thorin just stared for a long moment, and relief surged through him when Thorin nodded. “Yeah, actually. I do. And maybe that means we’re both crazy, but I can’t imagine why you’d make this up and it’s not really much in the way of a pickup line, so…”

Frerin sat back, rubbing his face with both hands before raking them through his hair. “Thank Christ for small favors.”

“But you should still tell her. Trust me, honesty is the way to go.”

“Yeah, and she thinks I’m full of shit because I’m trying to get her in bed. I can’t win with this, T, and the stakes are too high to even consider it. I tell her before she sleeps with me, and I’m a jerk because I’m trying to get her to have sex. I tell her after, and I’m an asshole for getting her in bed first.”

“And let me guess, you’re not getting any help anywhere.”

“Not a bit. I’m supposed to figure this all out on my own, but if I make a mistake… I don’t even want to think about it.”

“Trust your gut. And just be honest.” Thorin hesitated and Frerin knew what was coming next “What’s it like?”

“Being dead?”

Thorin winced even as he nodded and said, “Yeah.”

“It’s…” It was his turn to hesitate now because he wasn't entirely sure how to phrase it, mostly because he’d never thought he’d ever have to explain it. Being given this chance came as the biggest surprise ever. “It’s peaceful, T. I don’t remember crossing over, as Ma would put it, but it was like I was in a dark room, and then, I wasn’t. I was able to meet some interesting people on that side, though. And then there’s Tori.”

“Tori?”

“Get that look out of your eye. I’m not sleeping with her—if sex is a thing on that side, I haven’t figured it out yet. She’s more like… not really a mentor but a guide, I guess. She checks in on me, both here and there. She’s a nice kid. Killed in a school shooting a few years ago.”

“Jesus, Frer…”

“I know. Hey, I’ve hung out with Glenn Frey and Bowie, so it’s not all terrible. And I was able to come back and see you and Ma. Pop wasn’t too big on believing her when she’d tell him she thought I was there. And Dís just refused to acknowledge me.” He grinned at his older brother. “You didn’t, either, you big jerk. At least not at first.”

His grin faded. “You were on the verge of becoming an alcoholic as well. That’s why you slept with Lisa.”

Thorin winced. “I would never do that, Frer.”

“Yeah, you would. You did. She came over to your place with some of my stuff, you were half in the bag, next thing you knew, you were in bed with her. You came clean to me, which I appreciated—I think—and you were honest with Al, which is why I forgave you. But, you touch Syd and—”

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Thorin chuckled. “She’s not my type. I’ll leave her entirely for you.” He glanced down at his watch. “I’ve got to get to the station. I’m on at two. When are you seeing Syd again?”

“Tonight. So do not come knocking on my door any time tomorrow, got it?”

“You’re optimistic. Or horny.”

“I’m both, man. She got off but I got shut down.” At Thorin’s wince, Frerin nodded. “Yeah. But it’s okay. I really didn't mind it all that much, once the discomfort went away.”

“That’s the worst, man.”

“Tell me about it.”

#Gerard Butler #Frerin Durin #Richard Armitage #The Hobbit #Thorin Oakenshield #Hobbit Fic #Hobbit Fanfic #Fan fiction #The Hobbit fan fiction #Frerin x OC #AU #Frerin Fic #Is it hot in here?#Romance #Modern AU

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rxgueone · 1 year

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LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG PT. 4

Word count: 4,473

Pairing: Austin Butler x oc

Summary: Austin is told to be a butler once again, whilst being a butler he takes Aurilia (oc) out on a rushed date.

Warnings: physical violence, human fluids, blood, torture, fluff (?), smoking, substance use, angst, manipulation, cursing, knife, branding, and that’s all I can think of.

Tags: none.

Note: LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG isn’t a story that’s meant to be happy. It does have love involved but please don’t get your hopes up for a happy ending whilst reading. PT. 3 PT. 5

—

“Austin Butler,” a voice said, this voice matched the face of Al. Who had a sheik smile on his face, “you came right on time.” There was a suitcase.

Reaching into his pocket. Austin threw out a bundle of 150, as well as three empty pill bottles. Al raised his brows, taking the cash and handing it to Keith to count. “One fifty.” He confirmed, giving fifty to Austin. They kept the rest.

“Those baggies sell quick.” Al smiled, looking up at Austin. This smile was a proud smile. But, he could see through his kid brother. Who seemed to be feeling an indefinite amount of shame. Al got up, sniffling. He rubbed his nose, walking over to his kid brother. “Aus,” he smiled, “Aussie Aussie.” He put his arm around Austin’s shoulder. Walking him down the hall of the basement.

Austin looked around, he watched as the men who worked for his brother were rendering fat. It smelled awful in the basement, but at the same time it smelt pleasant. Soap smelled nice, particularly the soap they were making. Which was strawberry soap made from human fat.

As Austin walked through the basement with his brother. He could see how everyone wore black. In the hands of the workers was pill bottles, they wore masks to hide their faces as they filled the bottles with ten bags.

When they reached the back of the basement. Al slid in front of his brother, keeping his palm on Austin’s shoulder. “Aye, Marado! Pull up a chair for the kid.” He called to a worker. In less than a minute, a chair had been pulled up. Austin took a seat on the metal foldable chair. He wiped his palms on his thighs, trying to keep calm. It was now dawning on him that he was in shit. For what? His outburst.

“Y’know, we depend on you Aus.” Al slipped a bit of desperation in his tone. “I need you to work with me here, man.” Austin remained silent. Al grabbed a chair, kicking it open so he could sit in front of his kid brother. “You’re the best seller! Might I add, the best looking?” Al continued. “But also, you’re the breach.”

“What?” This caught Austin’s attention. “The fuck you mean the breach? Aye listen, I ain’t no fuckin snitch alright?” He leaned forward, his light gray eyes pierced in the deep blues of Al. But, he didn’t seemed convinced.

“I wanna believe you kid. I really do. But after your outburst? Your emotions gettin’ to your head? Man, I can’t.” He sympathized with his brother. He got off the chair, pacing.

“I ain’t no snitch Al!” Austin watched him pacing. “I may have gotten my emotions a little mixed up but I ain’t no snitch.”

“You’re a breach.” Al stopped dead in his tracks, looking at Austin one final time. “So, today we decided to teach you what we do to breachers.” Clicking his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Austin felt two pairs of arms grab him. Another grabbed the back of his head, kicking the chair out from beneath him. He was forced to kneel, looking up at Al. One of the masked men hooked his arm around Austin’s head, forcing it to hold still.

“What the fuck are you doing to me Al? This is the most unnecessary thing.” Austin struggled with loosening the grip. Violently thrashing around, he tried freeing himself. Only to get punched in the back of the head. They grabbed his black shirt, ripping it off his torso to expose his bare skin. Chills going down Austin’s spine, the cold air smacked him.

As Al watched him, he couldn’t help but admire his kid brothers spirits. So he does have fire in him. Alphonse came to that conclusion. After holding his hand out, a knife was placed into it. Austin’s eyes widened, this was torture. It was a way of getting him to control himself. If he had another outburst, this would happen all over again. “I’m sorry kid, but this has to be done.” Al kneeled in front of his brother.

“C’mon Alphonse-“ tightening the grip around his face he was forced to look up, tilting his head to the side to expose his neck. Austin’s eyes watched, widening as he felt the heat radiating off the knife. Branding. He was being branded. Feeling the heated knife press against his neck, the shock hit him like a truck. His arms were already trembling. He couldn’t scream from the pain, feeling the knife slowly move against his skin.

The knife went down past his neck, slowly curling around the nape of his neck. The worker behind Austin took the blade, pulling it straight down his back. When he finished, he handed the knife back to Alphonse, who took it.

All the workers let go of Austin. His response to everything was collapsing, his breathing getting heavier as he tried to calm himself down. The pain he felt was incredible, this was worse than the last time he got branded. His nails clawed at the cement floor of the basement, his vision was nothing but a blur. “Aye Keith!” Alphonse shouted. “Give Aussie here a dose of morphine. I want it strong! So strong he passes out.”

“Of course.”

—

Austin woke up on the cement. A stinging feeling wrapping around his body, he struggled to shake it off. Slowly twisting his body, he pushed himself off the cement, sitting up. His head looked up, being greeted with his brother Keith. Who was glaring down at him, without thinking Keith handed his little brother a water bottle to clear up his mind. Austin took it, nodding in thanks before he drank it. “Mornin’ sunshine.” Keith’s husky tone broke the comfortable silence.

“Hey…” sighing, “how long was I out?” Austin meekly looked up at his brother.

“Few days.” Keith answered, the huskiness in his tone wasn’t fading. “If you’re wondering the time, it’s about ten at night.” He filled Austin in on the rest. “Y’know,” Keith began, “Alphonse loves you. In spite of… y’know. All this… pointin’ a gun at you, branding you, beating the shit out of you. He loves you kid. We love you.” Keith was trying to console his little brother.

In Keith’s mind, Austin was the most vulnerable, he was pure in his older brother’s eyes. But, Austin was the most foolish. At times, he had wished Austin was more of them than anything. Austin was naive and starry eyed. Their life was cruel, empty, it was nothing. It was a life where they’d practically speed run death, instead of trying to live as long as possible.

“I know Keith.” Austin muttered.

“Just- why can’t you be more like us?” Keith sputtered out. “That way you wouldn’t have to go through this.”

“I’ve asked myself that already.”

“Just- Aus- just try to-“ Keith shook his head. “-you’re one of us Austin. So act like it, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Austin promised to his brother.

“This is a life where you live fast and die young. Not live slow and die old.” Keith got off from the chair he was sitting on. Going over to a table with pill bottles. He got a suitcase with a black bag. “Listen to me okay, Alphonse wants you to do something.”

“Like?”

Keith crouched down beside his little brother. Un-clicking the suitcases locks, he flicked them open. Austin saw pounds and pounds of white powder. The suitcase’s interior also had a few syringes, needles, bands made of rubber, spoons too. Austin stared, his eyes widening, sucking in his lips he let out a high pitched chuckle. He was baffled by this. “You’re fucking kidding me, Keith.”

“No Aus, I’m not. Alphonse wants you to sell this stuff.”

As he stared at the white powder. He felt anger boiling up in his chest. “Where the fuck exactly will I sell this?!” Austin shouted in frustration.

“That’s the thing,” Keith explained, “there’s a party. Out by The Plaza-“

“The Plaza? How the fuck-“ Austin cut his brother off. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing already. The Plaza was the top of the top. The best of the best, only the richies stayed there.

“Oi listen to me!” He snapped. Pressing his index finger on his little brother’s lips. “Alphonse has connections. And as you know, when it comes to parties. There’s drugs. He was able to convince these people to let him come, to set up the drugs and everything for the party…” Keith slowly closed the suitcase. “Now, you have your clothes and everything. But you need to bring a date with you to not look suspicious.” Grabbing the black bag that had Austin’s clothes. “Listen to me, and listen good.”

“Yeah.” Austin nodded.

“When shit hits the fan, y’know like you get busted by the cops,” from the depths of Keith’s pockets. He pulled out lighter fluid, as well as a zippo lighter, “light it up.”

Austin, who was staring at Keith. Was trying to process everything he just heard. This was going to be the biggest deal he would do. Clearing his throat to clear his mind. “Yeah- okay- sure, yeah yeah, um…” shaking his head and gulping down, “the money? How much.”

“Oh yeah… it’s worth four thousand.”

“Four thousand??” Austin looked like a deer in headlights. Keith cleared his throat, nodding in confirmation. He wasn’t fucking with his little brother. “The price of the drug is always due to how pure it is right? The higher the price. The more pure it is, right?” Austin was growing curious about this. This whole suitcase was worth four thousand. So exactly how pure was this heroin.

“Yes,” Keith nodded, but before he could let Austin continue, “Alphonse has connections Aus.” He muttered under his breath. “This stuff will get you high as shit. It’ll fuck you up.”

“That’s great Keith. How am I gonna fit four kay in my pockets?!”

“Your blazer will have enough pockets. Trust me.” Keith got up, offering his hand. Austin took it, where Keith pulled him up on his feet. Handing him the bag. “Get dressed. The party’s at one.”

Austin opened the door of the basement. Walking out and being greeted with the bar. He tightly held the suitcase, walking over to the bar. “Hey Joe can I get cranberry juice, please?”

Joe opened the refrigerator door, getting a carton of cranberry juice. Ripping the carton open, Austin chugged it. Joe watched Austin chugging the juice, looking at his outfit. It was a black on black suit. With a black dress shirt, a black tie that was tucked behind a black vest, overlapped with a black cotton blazer. “I’ve only seen your brother dress this nice… you taking his place for something?” Joe commented.

Putting the carton down. Joe handed him a handkerchief to wipe his mouth with. “Yeah, unfortunately.” He grabbed two ones from the pockets of his slacks, he handed Joe two bucks for the juice.

Rushing out the bar, Joe caught a glimpse of Austin’s shoes. “That kid chose black Vans??”

—

Austin reached into his pocket, he didn’t even need to think about who would’ve been his date. The name was already in his mind.

Hearing her phone ring. She picked it up. “Hello?”

“Lia,” it was a deep voice, she knew already,

“Hey tin head.” She greeted.

“Do you wanna go out tonight?” He asked, cutting to the chase.

“You disappeared for almost a week. Then call me to go out?” She was baffled by how blunt he was being.

“Listen- I’m sorry about that. I’ll explain to you later. But can you please come out tonight?” For some reason he sounded frantic. As if he was just told he had to kill someone.

She sighed, knowing now wasn’t the time to argue. “Okay, sure.”

“Good. Put on a dress. I’m going to a formal party. So— put something pretty on. Cya in half hour.” He hung up without saying goodbye.

Steph, who was across the room of the dorm. Poked her head up. “Was that Aus?”

“Yes,” Aurilia got off the bed, letting out an annoyed groan, “do you have a white dress? Something like that?”

“Yeah… but. It might not fit you. I’m five-eight, you’re—“

“Who cares.” She cut Stephanie off. “I have half an hour. Just y’know…” she trailed off, not sure what to say.

“Yeah, yeah I gotcha.” Stephanie took no offense to the cut off. She could sense her friend was annoyed with Austin. She wasn’t about to test her.

Aurilia didn’t care much for the dress. It fit her sure, but not really. It was a bit too short on her, however it hugged her curves perfectly. Which were barely there to begin with.

All she did was brush her hair, and that was it. By the time she was trying to put lipstick on, her date was already there. “Boy, it’s been fifteen minutes.” Stephanie who was helping Aurilia wasn’t even surprised.

Opening the door, Austin greeted them. He was holding a suitcase, as well as a rose. “Apologies.” Handing her the rose, she blinked, nodding a bit then took it. Only to have Stephanie take it.

“Have fun you two, y’know? Get it!” Stephanie encouraged.

“Hah,” Austin raised his brows, “yeah shut the fuck up lets go.” He said underneath his breath, pulling Aurilia out of her room. She shut the door behind them.

—

They were quickly striding beside each other. Her hand was holding his tightly, he had a light grip around hers. “Where are we going Aus?”

“To a party.” He answered with a stern voice, clearly focused. She didn’t want to bother him, not now. He looked pissed, but not just that, he was trembling. She could feel it as he held her hand. “Listen Lia,” he pulled to a stop walk, “if anything happens. Scream my name. You understand?”

“Yes. I got it.” She nodded repeatedly to tell him that she genuinely understood. He sighed a bit, his trembling hands worsened. “Hey- you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He brushed off whatever she was asking. She stared up at his face, then looked at his neck. There was a mark on it, a burn. It went from the front of his neck, all the way to the nape of it. It looked awful, fresh, but it had obviously just healed. Was that why he was gone? Was he in the hospital?

Both walking across the street, hand in hand. Now that she was looking at her surroundings. She had noticed how many eyes were lurking towards them. Not them, more of him. In spite of the fresh new burn, he looked great. Looking at the suitcase, she had noticed it was similar to the last one from the last time she saw him with one.

He was in a suit, not just that but he was trembling. It clicked for Aurilia, he was here on his brother’s behalf. Looking up at the building they were walking towards. She had noticed it was The Plaza.

Pairs of well dressed guards stood by the doors. One stood out in the side walk. With their hands behind their backs. Austin and Aurilia brushed past them unnoticed. Holding the door open for her, he walked in behind. “Lovely night.” Austin greeted just before the doors closed.

Aurilia stayed close to Austin. Her hands cupping around his. Taking a short breath, Austin cleared his throat. The lobby of the Plaza was crowded. “It’s packed.”

“Yeah, that’s cause there’s an A Plus celebrity here.” He added to the comment. Pushing his way through the crowd of people. He was able to find the elevator, with Aurilia still holding his hand tightly. His mind was buzzing. “Top floor top floor top floor.” He whispered to himself. Waiting for the available elevator to open, the moment it dinged. The crowd went for the elevator, and luckily, they were both pushed in along.

“Top floor.” Someone had said. It seemed like everyone was going to this party. As Aurilia looked around, she could see gazes upon them. She felt one particular gaze on her. Looking up and seeing Austin, he was looking at her. His gray eyes showing no emotion. He was unreadable.

“You look pretty.” He complimented with a poker face.

“You look pretty too.” She smiled softly.

“Thank you.” His eyes examined her face a bit more, before he looked away to stare at the wall. His trembling had completely stopped at this point. He regained himself by the time the elevator door opened. Everyone poured out like sardines, Austin and Aurilia followed the crowd. Seeing a line outside of a certain room.

Pushing through the line, she could hear snide remarks about how rude they were both being. Frankly, Aurilia couldn’t even blame them. Austin was effortlessly pushing through the crowd, shoving them aside. He was saying ‘scuse me, sorry.’ Every time sure, but it was still annoying.

By the time they reached the front. Austin was breathing heavily, gripping not just her hand tightly, but the suitcase even tighter. In front of them was a well dressed staff member who was holding a clipboard to allow people in. Upon seeing Austin, he spoke. “You better have a good reason for cutting to the front. If not you’ll go to the back and wait your turn.”

“Yeah, apologies.” He sniffles then straightened his tie. Pushing it up to tighten it a bit. “My name’s Austin Butler, I’m here-“

“Butler?” The staffer cut Austin off. “You Al’s kid brother?”

Austin, who had his jaw opened, closed it quickly. “Yes…” he dragged, “yes. Yes he’s my older brother.”

The staffer looked at Austin up and down. Noticing the suitcase he was holding in his left hand. “I see you have the package. Come in.” They nodded, allowing him and Aurilia in.

Walking in quietly, still hand in hand. Austin stood at the entrance, seeing people everywhere. Most of them were women, who were wearing dresses that looked 100x more expensive than Stephanie’s cheap white silk dress.

Austin’s eyes were darting everywhere, he was too focused on something once again. Clearly needing to fine something. “Tin head?” The nickname caught his attention. His head shot to his side. “You seem like you’re trying to find someone… so I’m gonna get a drink. I don’t wanna get in your way.” She let go of his hand.

He gulped down, processing what he just heard. “Yeah- yeah course.” He narrowed his eyes. “Call me.” He ordered as they peeled away from each other. Rolling her eyes, she went to go get a drink.

As he made his way through the crowd. He felt someone tap his shoulder. Quickly turning around. “Hi, you part of the Butler boys?”

“Yes.”

“Great! Come.” They seemed excited. Austin followed behind this complete stranger. They opened the door to the bedroom, seeing a man in black. He also wore black sunglasses. Holding a suitcase in his hand.

“You must be Butler.”

“Yes.” He confirmed.

The man in black reached his hand out. “Boss trusts your brother. So, we won’t check the case. But you check ours. Count the cash.” Austin did as he was told. Handing his suitcase over to exchange with theirs. He kneeled down on the floor, quickly unlocking the suitcase. He was greeted with wads of cash. How the fuck am I gonna fit all this in my suit? He questioned everything there and then. His heart was in his throat, never seeing so much money in his life.

He began counting in his mind. 4k, it’s 4k. Looking up. “It’s correct.” He closed the suitcase.

“Good.” Nodding along. “Aye uh listen, take your shit to the bathroom and set it up. Thanks.” The man ordered. Austin grabbed his suitcase, walking out the bedroom. He knew where the bathroom was, remembering Keith’s debriefing in his mind.

He looked at the bathroom, seeing the door was locked. He pressed his head against the door, listening closely to what was going on. If the person inside was taking a dump, he would wait, if they were peeing, he would wait, but… if they were fucking? It was a different story.

Unfortunately for Austin, it was the ladder. With the ear breaking music blasting in the background. He was still just barely able to hear the woman moaning. Looking at the doorknob, he would have to punch a hole through the door to unlock it on the other side.

Should I be doing this… what if Al gets in shit? Whatever. He concluded, rolling his sleeves up. He put the suitcase down, and tapped around the doorknob. Knocking as quietly as he could so they wouldn’t hear him. He found a weak spot, without any hesitation he punched right through it.

Hearing a scream as well as broken wood. He had punched straight through the door. Reaching his hand further in, he waved at whoever was inside. Unlocked it, then pulled his hand out. Quickly pressing his back on the wall, kicking his foot back, rolled his sleeves down and pulled his phone out. Pretending he was someone who was waiting to use the bathroom.

The door opened, by the corner of his eye. He saw a man who was buckling his belt together walk out. “Ey you, you see where the fuck that guy went?”

“Huh-“ he blinked up, “oh yeh, right in the living room.” He flicked his head back to the crowd. The man nodded thanks before he left Austin alone, a few seconds after a woman who was redoing her hair walked out.

“Thanks- and sorry for the wait.” She put her hand on his shoulder apologetically. Leaving him alone quickly after.

He brushed the apology off, slipping into the bathroom. “How the fuck do I do this.” He hummed, opening the suitcase. He grabbed the packages of heroin. Reaching into his blazer’s inside pocket, he took out a switchblade. The blade switched up, he stabbed into the package, pouring it onto the bathroom counter.

He knew you could snort heroin up, not just snort, but inject it, as well as smoke it. So he just poured only two bags of heroin out onto the sink. Getting the syringe he attached the needle to it, grabbing a lighter and putting it on the sink. He also grabbed a few spoons out the suitcase, as well as bands. Shut the case up, and quickly walked out.

Opening the bedroom door, he nodded in confirmation that he was finished with the bathroom. The man in black took the rest that remained in the case. Whilst Austin began stuffing his whole suit with cash. Not a pocket went to waste, and miraculously enough, he was able to fit 4k onto him without looking too fat.

“Listen Butler, you completed the job, you’re good to go.”

Leaving the bedroom and gently shutting the door. He pushed through the crowd of people to find Aurilia. She was taller than most of the folk around so he found her easily.

“Hey Tin head!” She had been dancing beside a stranger.

“Hey Lia,” he had his hand on her waist to bring her close, craning his head close to her ear, “you alright?” He breathed.

“I’m fine. Just been here with West!” She giggled like a school girl, she had champagne in her hand.

“Good.” He stayed by her side, slowly shifting behind her. He wanted to stay close to her, after all that panic. Aurilia made him feel calm. One hand remained on her waist as she was slowly swaying her body in front of his.

Considering this was a high class party, something was bound to happen. Austin didn’t want to stick around to find out. But his hand that was in his left pocket was fiddling with the cash and lighter he brought on him.

It wasn’t long before he could see people crowding around the bathroom. “We should go Lia.” He suggested, while his eyes stared at the bathroom. She had her hand resting on his, and had turned to look at what he was staring at. The bathroom, and she had known.

“Yeah- yeah we should go.” She agreed, it’s not like she had known anyone there anyways. The whole time she was leaning back on Austin so he could keep his arm around her from behind. His hand slid off her waist where their hands intertwined, he was to walk her home.

—

After dropping her off. He went to the bar to drop off all the cash he was carrying. Keith unfolded a table for Al and Austin. Who was throwing the wads of cash onto the table until it was 4,000. Nik who was waiting behind Austin, was impressed.

“Good job.” Al looked at the cash, letting Keith count the money. “Come back tomorrow for something different.”

Austin pulled away from them both. Nik dropped off 150, in exchange for three more pill bottles. “Ey Nik,” Al said right before Nik was about to get the bottles. Nik raised his brow in response, “ever smoke lucky strike non-filters? I know you like em unfiltered.”

“I’m a camel unfiltered guy.” Nik muffled through the cigarette he was smoking. Al handed him a pack of lucky strike non-filters. “‘Ppreciate it.” Nik flicked his head in thanks.

Austin and Nik walked side by side. Nik had tore into the lucky strike box. Getting the short little unfiltered cigarette, popping in his mouth to smoke. Lighting up a match, the cigarette lit easily. “How’s it taste?” Austin asked.

“Huge body.” Was the first thing he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke. They both sat down on the ground of an alleyway. “Shit hits man.” Nik was relatively monotone. Even now, despite of his excitement, he was still sounding as dead as ever. Maybe cause his lungs are as hard as a baseball glove. Austin concluded. “Shit hits.” He repeated. Austin tilted his head back, his eyes shutting. “Ain’t no way you’re sleeping Aussie, it’s five-am. Sun will rise in an hour.”

“Then I’ll have a one hour power nap.” He responded softly, knowing Nik meant no harm.

The last thing he could hear from Nik. “Golly this shit hits!”

#austin butler #austin butler angst #austin butler fanfiction #austin butler fic #austin butler imagine #austin butler x oc

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