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thebettybook · 2 years

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Slices of Leona’s Life Vol. 2

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Strawbetty’s notes:

🍓 Characters: Leona Kingscholar x gn!reader. Other characters are Cheka Kingscholar, Grim, Ruggie Bucchi, and Jack Howl. Leona and gn!reader are in an established romantic relationship.

🍓 Warning: None, all-fluff short stories, enjoy~

🍓 Special note: Happy Valentine’s Day! 💝💐 The Valentine’s Day short story is at the end :)

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The convenience of it all

🍓: I want to go to a convenience store with Leona :’) Also this mini fic was heavily inspired by an Inuyasha episode where Inuyasha went to a convenience or grocery store (I forgot which lol) with Kagome for the first time

🛒 Even though Leona was raised as a prince with people taking care of his meals, he knew that grocery and convenience stores existed and how they worked.

🛒 However, he’s never been inside of a grocery or convenience store before. Sure, Mr. S’s Mystery Shop counted as a convenience store, but it was more of an on-campus one. Plus, Leona always had Ruggie go to the Mystery Shop for him.

🛒 So when you took Leona to Sage Island’s convenience store with you because you wanted to check it out, Leona’s reaction was funnier than you would’ve ever imagined.

🛒 At the entrance of the convenience store, with the sliding doors and upcoming Valentine’s Day discounts ads, Leona’s nose immediately picked up all the different scents of snacks and food products in the store. He smelled something with meat, and he wanted to find out what that particular scent belonged to.

🛒 “I smell something good,” Leona took your hand and led you to the snack aisle, where the particular food product’s scent grew stronger and stronger for him.

🛒 Leona’s sharp emerald eyes scanned all the chips’ packages of all the colors of the rainbow displayed on the shelves before his eyes landed on a potato chip package that read “Kobe-Beef-Flavored.” He stared at the chip package with huge cat-like orbs for a minute before he turned to you and declared, “I want fifty of that.”

🛒 “Leona, you can’t buy all of them,” you tried your best to suppress your laughter as Leona grabbed all the bags of kobe-beef-flavored potato chips in stock and hugged them in his arms like he’d never let them go. “You don’t even know if they’ll taste good.” Leave it to Leona to gravitate towards an ✨expensive✨ flavor of potato chips.

🛒 “My instincts are tellin’ me they’ll taste good,” Leona protested, the black wrappers of the potato chip bags crinkling in his arms.

🛒 “Alright, well tell your instincts that getting one or two would be more realistic and if you end up liking them a lot, we can come back in two weeks and get more,” you put your hands on your hips, yet you had an amused smile on your face. You’ve never seen Leona be so down bad for a snack before (unless it’s you *COUGH*), so you couldn’t help but grin at his antics.

🛒 “Fine, you have a point,” Leona conceded, putting back all the potato chip bags in his arms except for two. “But I’m telling you, they’re gonna taste amazing.”

🛒 As you and Leona left the snack aisle and walked throughout the convenience store, he’s kind of unamused by everything else besides some other snacks and ready-to-eat sandwiches. You turned your gaze away for a just second, yet Leona managed to slip five packaged ready-to-eat pork katsu sandwiches into your cart. Leona also snuck in a pack of earl grey milk tea drink boxes (he loves them).

🛒 “What? I simply can’t live without them,” Leona protested when you told him that the Dining Hall literally gives out early grey milk tea drink boxes for free.

🛒 You decided to go off on your own for a bit to find things like a ramen brand you and Leona both love, so Leona pounced on the opportunity to fill up your and his cart with your favorite snacks and drinks since you haven’t gotten a chance to get them yet. He noticed them in the aisles you two passed earlier so it didn’t take him long to find and get all of them.

🛒 So when you returned to Leona and your cart, you noticed that your cart was filled with your favorite snacks and drinks that weren’t in the cart before.

🛒 “When did these get here?” you peek into the cart, delighted to see your favorite snacks and drinks.

🛒 “I saw the stuff you liked and got it for you,” Leona crossed his arms behind his head, trying to appear nonchalant.

🛒 “Thank you, Leona,” you kissed on him on the cheek, which made a grin erupt on his face and some elderly women shopping together nearby go, “Awww, how wonderful young love is.”

🛒 On your way to the cash register, Leona picked up a few donuts and energy drinks for Ruggie, Jack, and Epel.

🛒 “What a kind and caring upperclassman you are, Leona,” you teased, noticing how Leona took some time and thought into picking different flavors of energy drinks for Ruggie, Jack, and Epel’s individual tastes.

🛒 “They’ve just been workin’ hard in Magift Club,” Leona denied as the two of you reached the cash register and unloaded all the stuff from your and Leona’s cart (the cashier’s eyes widened at the sheer amount of snacks and drinks from your and Leona’s cart, and then the cashier’s eyes widened even more when Leona whipped out his luxury credit card). “As their captain, I gotta reward them for their hard work.” This was all true, but it was also true that Leona cared about his underclassmen (he wasn’t going to admit that out loud though, Seven forbid).

🛒 After returning to Ramshackle with all the bags, Leona immediately opened a bag of the kobe-beef-flavored potato chips. Of course he’s had chips and junk food before throughout his years at NRC, but he never tried unique-flavored snacks from a convenience store before.

🛒 “So what do you think of the convenience store we went to today?” you settled down in a seat across from Leona at the wooden kitchen table. Leona was already making a list of things he wanted to buy at the convenience store in two weeks.

🛒 “Loved it,” Leona set down his Magical Pen and reached into the bag of potato chips. The chips didn’t have any beef or meaty flavor to them at all, and they tasted pretty mid to Leona, but Leona still wanted something to munch on. “The way there’s just so many options…the convenience of it all.”

🛒 “Honey?” you prompted Leona as if the two of you were an old, married couple.

🛒 “Yeah?” Leona didn’t look up from his list, but his lion ears perked at being called “honey.”

🛒 “That’s why they’re called convenience stores,” you joked, to which Leona let out a loving “pfft.”

🛒 “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Leona waved his hand, beckoning you to come over and sit next to him. “Now come over here and help me think of other things to add onto the list, honey.”

🛒 “Only if you help me unpack all the stuff we bought first,” you glanced over at the bags with snacks and drinks inside of them still sitting on the kitchen counter.

🛒 “Alright, honey,” Leona put down his convenience store list and went over to the grocery bags.

🛒 Before you joined him, you peered at the list Leona made so far. Your smile grew even more when you noticed that he started the list with all of your favorite snacks and drinks.

A sunny-side-up smile

🍓: Fried eggs/sunny-side-up eggs are probably one of my most favorite childhood memories associated with food, so I thought it would be nice to make a story where Leona made fried eggs for Cheka and also taught Cheka how to make them :)

🍳 “Oji-tan, wake up!” Cheka tugged on Leona’s arm. “I’m hungry!”

🍳 The cub stayed over last night after being dropped off to you and Leona at Ramshackle for an impromptu weekend stay. Snug in a fluffy sunflower-yellow onesie, Cheka looked like a ball of sunshine. The cub’s current outfit contrasted with his uncle’s, who wore a dark-grey long sleeve pajama shirt and black sweatpants.

🍳 “Tell Y/N to make you breakfast,” Leona turned to the other side of your springy bed with his eyes closed, reaching out to snake an arm around your waist. Instead, he was simply met with air.

🍳 “Y/N and Kitty aren’t here!” Cheka pounced on Leona’s side, referring to Grim as “Kitty.” Leona opened his eyes, and sure enough, you weren’t there.

🍳 Leona sat up, your quilted blankets falling off his chest as he ran a hand through his disheveled dark-brown mane. He reached over Cheka for his phone on your night stand, seeing that it was only 9 a.m. and seeing a text message from you saying that you and Grim went out to run some errands on campus. “Y/N and Grim are out for errands,” Leona yawned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his fist.

🍳 Cheka climbed up Leona’s back and sat on his shoulders. “When will they come back? Will Y/N make breakfast?” The cub patted Leona’s ears and mane.

🍳 Leona patted his own stomach, which greeted him with a rumble. “Considering how early it is, I doubt Y/N and Grim will be back anytime soon. C’mon, I’ll make us something.” Before Leona could get off the bed and take Cheka with him to the bathroom so they could both brush their teeth, Cheka interrupted him.

🍳 “YAY! Oji-tan’s gonna cook!” Cheka sang, still sitting on Leona’s shoulders. Leona reached up to grab Cheka, bringing Cheka down to carry the cub over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Wee!” Cheka squealed, kicking his feet in the air behind him. The cub almost kicked Leona’s jaw by accident, and Leona dodged in the nick of time.

🍳 After brushing their teeth together, Leona and Cheka made their way down the rickety wooden stairs of Ramshackle and into the tiny, worn-down kitchen. Leona opened the white fridge, taking out butter, eggs, and thick slices of bacon.

🍳 “Can I help, Oji-tan? Pleeease?” Cheka jumped up and down as Leona put on your apron, which was a bit small on him.

🍳 “Sure,” Leona went over to the stove and set down the butter, eggs, and thick slices of bacon to the side.

🍳 Leona then found a little stool you used for Grim and placed it next to him. “Here.” Cheka hopped onto the stool while Leona took out a charcoal-colored non-stick frying pan from the pantry.

🍳 “I’m gonna help Oji-tan cook!” Cheka raised his hands in the air, almost toppling over from the stool. Leona reached a hand behind Cheka’s back to steady him.

🍳 Leona then turned the stove on to medium heat and placed the frying pan on it. “Don’t touch the stove, ok? It’s hot and you’ll get hurt if you touch it,” Leona pointed to the stove and advised Cheka, who answered with an eager nod. Leona then sliced a piece of thick, slippery butter and plopped it onto the pan.

🍳 The slice of light-yellow butter melted immediately on the pan. “Whoa, it’s melting!” Cheka leaned forward a bit to sniff the butter, but then leaned back as he remembered Leona’s advice.

🍳 “Mhm,” Leona hummed. “Now watch me crack the egg, Cheka. I’ll crack an egg and then I’ll teach you how to crack one, ok?”

🍳 “Ok!” Cheka beamed. Leona took a brown egg in one hand and tapped the egg gently three times at the edge of the pan as if he was performing a magic trick. Cracks formed in the middle of the eggshell until the eggshell was ready to open. Leona then used both hands to bring the egg on top of the pan, and dug his fingertips into the middle of the eggshell to pull it apart and release the egg’s contents.

🍳 Plop! The egg’s slippery white-and-golden contents spilled from the eggshell and onto the pan, which created a sizzle as the egg whites and yolk began to cook.

🍳 “It looks like the sun, Oji-tan,” Cheka pointed to the golden egg yolk circle in the middle of the opaque egg whites.

🍳 “That’s probably why they’re called ‘sunny-side-up’ eggs,” Leona lowered the heat as the egg yolk began to firm more from the heat.

🍳 “Sunny-side-up eggs!” Cheka repeated the name of the eggs, his smile as sunny as could be.

🍳 “Now it’s your turn,” Leona reached into the carton to grab an egg and handed it to Cheka. The cub held the brown speckled egg in the palms of his tiny hands like it could hatch at anytime, and rubbed it against his cheek affectionately.

🍳 Leona shifted to stand behind Cheka. With his hands holding Cheka’s, Leona guided Cheka’s hands to the edge of the pan to crack the egg. “Tap the egg against the pan,” Leona moved his and Cheka’s hands down to tap the eggshell against the edge of the pan. “Not too hard, or you’ll end up getting egg everywhere.”

🍳 Cheka simply responded with a fierce and enthusiastic nod. With the help of Leona, Cheka was able to crack the eggshell. “Ok, now with both hands, open the eggshell above the pan like this,” Leona moved both of Cheka’s hands, positioning them above the pan. He moved his and Cheka’s hands to open the cracked eggshell, and the egg’s contents plopped into the pan.

🍳 “We did it!” Cheka cheered, his little lion’s tail wagging behind him. “Can we make some more sunny-side-up eggs?”

🍳 Leona ruffled Cheka’s hair. “Alright, let’s make some more.”

🍳 The two Kingscholars ended up getting a bit carried away, making ten more sunny-side-up eggs. Leona also toasted slices of bread and fried some bacon on his own, letting Cheka watch him do so. Leona’s ears perked as the front door of Ramshackle opened and he heard the familiar sound of your footsteps.

🍳 You emerged into the kitchen with Grim on your shoulder and an NRC black tote bag on your other shoulder. “Somethin’ smells good!” Grim rubbed his furry grey tummy.

🍳 “Welcome back,” Leona turned off the stove. Cheka swished his head to your direction. “Y/N, look, look! Oji-tan and I made sunny-side-up eggs!” The cub pointed to the stack of sunny-side-up eggs on a plate.

🍳 “You did, Cheka? They look delicious!” You gushed, giving the cub a hug and a kiss on the head.

🍳 “Hey, I taught him how to,” Leona grumbled with his arms crossed, wanting a kiss from you too. “How ‘bout a kiss for the cook?”

🍳 “Yes, yes,” you giggled at the sight of Leona wearing your apron. You gave him a quick kiss on the lips and his faux-grumpy expression melted instantly like butter on a hot pan.

🍳 You then pulled away from him to open the fridge’s freezer. “I bought ice cream from the Mystery Shop,” you reached into the tote bag and pulled out a tub of vanilla bean ice cream.

🍳 “Ooh, I wanna eat ice cream!” Cheka hopped down from the stool and hugged your leg.

🍳 You placed the tub of ice cream into the freezer and shut the door of the freezer. “How about later? Let’s eat the yummy sunny-side-up eggs you and Leona made first.”

🍳 “Ok!” The cub zoomed to the small dining table in the kitchen. Grim was already seated there, while the Ramshackle ghosts Ramsey, Joe, and Allen floated into the kitchen and began setting up the table with plates and utensils.

🍳 “I wanna sit next to Kitty!” Cheka climbed the cushioned seat next to Grim’s. Cheka was very fond of Grim, and Grim wouldn’t admit it, but the cat demon had grown very fond and protective of the cub as well.

🍳 “For the last time, kid, the name’s GRIM. The GREAT Grim,” Grim sighed, yet he didn’t move as he let Cheka engulf him in a hug.

🍳 “Grimmy!” Cheka nuzzled his cheek against Grim’s.

🍳 “Close enough,” Grim sighed, moving his paw out from under Cheka’s grasp to pat the cub’s head. He perked up when Leona placed the stack of fried eggs onto the table. Leona settled into a seat across from Grim and next to you, while the three Ramshackle ghosts took their seats around you, Leona, Grim, and Cheka.

🍳 You put a sunny-side-up egg on Cheka’s plate and then Grim’s. Before you could reach for an egg to put onto your plate, Leona beat you to it and placed an egg onto your plate.

🍳 “Enjoy,” Leona winked. He rested his cheek against his palm and gazed at you expectantly, the morning sun’s rays creating gold flecks in his green eyes.

🍳 “Aren’t you going to eat, too?” you raised an eyebrow as everyone else dug into their bread, eggs, and bacon.

🍳 “I wanna hear what you think of my cooking first,” Leona’s eyes didn’t leave yours. Before you could eat your sunny-side-up egg, however, everyone else interrupted you.

🍳 “Yummy!” Cheka cheered. “Delicious!” Grim grinned. “It’s superb, well done, Leona and Cheka!” Ramsey raved, and Joe and Allen nodded in agreement.

🍳 You bit into the egg, which had crispy egg-white outer-edges and a slightly-soft egg yolk. “Mmm, it’s amazing,” you put a hand to your cheek, your face lighting up at the simple yet comforting flavors of the sunny-side-up egg. You had yet to notice that Leona’s own face lit up at your remark. “Thank you, Leona.” You reached for an egg and placed it onto Leona’s plate.

🍳 Everyone at the dining table who ate a sunny-side-up egg had smiles as bright as the sun on their faces. Their smiles and cheery faces were illuminated by the morning sunlight coming in from the worn-down white window curtains.

🍳 Leona swore to himself he wasn’t smiling over something as simple as cooking a sunny-side-up egg, but teaching Cheka how to cook a little bit and eating breakfast with his loved ones around him couldn’t help but make Leona have a sunny smile, too.

Bonding over BBQ

🍓: I like to think/headcanon that during big exam weeks, the Savanaclaw dorm members have a dorm-wide meal after studying, and these meals serve as a bonding time for them (gym bros are for-life bros amiright pfft)

🍖 Ruggie flipped the browning piece of steak over, humming along to the sizzles from the grill. His eyes flicked over to the light-brown portobello mushrooms and viridian bell peppers grilling on the side, making sure that they weren’t burnt.

🍖 “Done, Ruggie?” Leona came up next to Ruggie’s side. Leona inhaled the smokey scents of the meats. Yum.

🍖 “Almost. In two minutes, give or take,” Ruggie leaned back a bit to lower the grill’s heat to a “low.” “What lesson are you all going over now?”

🍖 “We just finished goin’ over History of Magic for the freshmen. We’ll go over Alchemy for you and the others after dinner,” Leona yawned and stretched his arms over his head.

🍖 It was midterms week, and Leona and some other Savanaclaw upperclassmen were holding a dorm-wide study session for Savanaclaw students who were struggling with certain subjects. Savanaclaw as a dorm never really prioritized grades before, but after a recent warning from Vargas that if their grades kept slipping, Savanaclaw as a dorm wouldn’t be able to participate in the next interdorm Magift tournament.

🍖 “Ruggie, Leona! Should I tell everyone to start setting up?” Jack ran up to Leona and Ruggie. Jack stopped in his tracks, the heavenly smokey scents of the barbecued meat as well as the sweet scents of the charred veggies hitting his nose. “That smells amazing.”

🍖 “Sure does, and it’ll all taste even better after all that studying,” Ruggie clicked the grill’s buttons to turn the grill off. “And yeah, tell them to start setting up.”

🍖 A few Savanaclaw students carried a long oak table and placed it in the outdoor dorm lounge. Other students covered the table with a marigold-yellow table cloth with a green leaf pattern and set the table with plates and napkins.

🍖 Ruggie, Leona, and Jack set down plates stacked with meats and veggies at the center of the table and sat down in their seats—Leona at the head of the table, and Jack and Ruggie on either side of him.

🍖 It wasn’t long before every student in Savanaclaw dug in. “I skipped leg day for today’s study session!” one Savanaclaw freshman, a jackal beastman, laughed as he tore into a piece of beef. “I’ve never studied so much in my life.”

🍖 “Same here,” a Savanaclaw sophomore, a horse beastman, wailed. “I can’t afford to get another F in Alchemy. But after today’s study session, I’m confident I can do better in that class! Those study tips like the mnemonics the Dorm Leader gave us really helped!”

🍖 “Of course my study tips helped,” Leona, the king of Savanaclaw, answered as he properly cut his piece of BBQ chicken with a knife and fork. “Remember what I told you, think of it like a game. Your opponents are the academic subjects you find difficult, but if you study and find ways to improve your study habits—like finding strategies to defeat your opponents—you’re gonna come out on top.”

🍖 “I’m surprised you weren’t going to teach us shifty methods to cheat on our tests, Leona,” Ruggie half-joked, piling his plate high with various pieces of barbecued meats and grilled mushrooms and bell peppers.

🍖 Jack nodded, making sure he had equal amounts of meats and veggies on his plate. “Knowing you, Leona, you would’ve told us to find a way around our opponents, aka telling us all to cheat. N-not that I’d be ok with that, of course.”

🍖 “You all think so little of me,” Leona let out a dramatic sigh, turning his nose to the plate of veggies Ruggie offered him. “On a serious note though, if Trein or Crewel caught a whiff of any of you cheatin’, they’d just give me an earful since I’m the dorm leader. And cheating would definitely disqualify us from future Magift tournaments. The only ‘strategy’ we have is to go on the straight and narrow. So don’t get any bright ideas about cheating on your exams, got that, everyone?”

🍖 Leona glared around the table, making sure each and every student of Savanaclaw understood the importance of not cheating on their exams. His glare softened when all the members, including Ruggie and Jack, answered with a hearty “Yes, boss!”

🍖 Leona never cared much for school rules, and while he could see why some people would think he would see cheating as a strategic shortcut, Leona actually didn’t condone cheating nor did he cheat on his own tests.

🍖 The “kids” sitting before him had potential for bright futures, and as uncaring as Leona might’ve seem towards his Savanaclaw dorm members, he wasn’t going to let their potential and futures go to waste. Also, Leona viewed cheating on exams as a troubling waste of time and energy. Sure, Leona never attended his classes, but he always made sure he took his exams fair and square.

🍖 Ruggie, of course, noticed that there was more to Leona telling the students not to cheat on their tests. “Shishishi, it’s almost as if you actually care about us and not just Magift, Leona.”

🍖 “Who said anythin’ about caring?” Leona narrowed his eyes at the hyena, who Leona knew was always sharp as a tack. “All I care about right now is the steak. So pass me some more, will ya?”

🍖 Jack passed Leona the plate with only a few pieces of steak left. Leona grabbed the tongs and placed only one piece of steak onto his own plate, and then placed a piece of steak onto Jack’s plate. Jack’s eyes widened at Leona’s action.

🍖 “What? You need energy for the studying we’re gonna do after this, so eat up, Jack. That goes for the rest of you, too.” Leona stood up and leaned across the table to pass the plate of steak to students in the middle of the table so they could pass the plate down to the students at the end of the table.

🍖 “See, you do care about us!” Ruggie snickered, holding out his plate to Leona. “Say, Leona, could you put some chicken onto my plate?”

🍖 “Tch,” Leona grumped, yet he grabbed the plate of chicken near him and the tongs. “Anyone else want chicken?”

🍖 “Me!” Everyone in the dorm answered at the same time before they erupted in laughter. Leona sighed, yet a small smile rested on his face as he gazed with pride at all the faces of his Savanaclaw dorm students around him.

2 halves of a heart sandwich

🍓: Happy Valentine’s Day! 💝 A perfect Valentine’s Day for me would be dressing up and having a picnic with Leona in the sunny Botanical Garden :) 💐

🥪 If Leona had to name two things he loved most at that exact moment, it would be you and the peace and quiet of the Botanical Garden.

🥪 Sure, the Botanical Garden was usually quiet, but it was more so today since most of the NRC students went to the Mostro Lounge (Azul was capitalizing on Valentine’s Day specials), the Dining Hall, or cafes and date spots off-campus.

🥪 Leona swore to himself a few hours ago that he had enough of all the Valentine’s Day hullabaloo and commercial mushy-ness, especially when all the Savanaclaw students made a stampede to the dorm kitchen last night to make last-minute desserts and chocolates for their crushes or partners.

🥪 But Leona couldn’t fight off the mushy grin on his face as you gave him a white box wrapped with an emerald ribbon as the two of you stood at the entrance of the Botanical Garden. Inside the box were his beloved, all-time-favorite menchi katsu sandwiches. He didn’t open the box, but he could smell the juicy ground meat cutlet breaded with crunchy panko and the slices of milk bread that sandwiched the meat cutlet. He took another whiff…no veggies in the sandwiches, just the way he liked it.

🥪 “You know the way to my heart, herbivore,” Leona comically lifted his eyebrows and widened his eyes slightly to act surprised as if the two of you didn’t plan a romantic picnic in the Botanical Garden for Valentine’s Day together.

🥪 Before you could lovingly scoff “Oh, please,” Leona transferred the box to one hand, using his other hand to wrap an arm around your waist and pull you closer to him. He leaned down slightly and peppered your lips with light kiss. You threw your arms over his shoulders and leaned in as if you were going to deepen the kiss, but then you teasingly pulled away from Leona. Your action earned a disappointed grumble from Leona. “Don’t tell me that a kiss was gonna be your Valentine’s Day gift to me,” you arched an eyebrow at Leona.

🥪 “That would still be a pretty great gift, wouldn’t it?” A smirk danced on Leona’s lips, to which you replied with a smile and loving eye roll. “I’m kiddin’, your gift is up ahead.” Leona offered his free arm to you, which you looped your arm through as he led you into the Botanical Garden.

🥪 The two of you walked past the potted plants and flowers dotted along the Botanical Garden’s grey wooden walkway. You noticed that most of the flowers present in the Botanical Garden were red, white, and pink—from the candy-red roses in the bushes to the blush-pink garlands hanging across the glass ceiling. The Science Club worked hard to cultivate those flowers yesterday afternoon for Valentine’s Day.

🥪 You and Leona reached the back of the Botanical Garden, right in front of two giant leaves that hid a spot of the garden where sunlight eternally crowned the grass with its fairy-like golden light. It was Leona’s self-proclaimed spot ever since his first year at NRC, but now it became your’s and his spot.

🥪 Leona held back a grin as you stepped through the leaves with him. Your eyes immediately landed on the sight before you: an expensive orange-and-brown rug Leona hardly ever used was spread out on top of the lush green grass, and a silver champagne bucket filled with ice and your favorite juice/tea and Leona’s favorite earl grey milk tea sat on top of the rug to the side. Next to the champagne bucket was a tan wicker basket with a bento cake box in it and a bouquet of blue forget-me-nots, golden daisies, pink roses, and white baby’s breath.

🥪 The arrangement of everything on the rug wasn’t the most Magicam-worthy when it came to picnics, but you appreciated the love and thought Leona put into setting up a picnic for the two of you (it was his first time setting up a picnic, too).

🥪 “Oh, Leona,” you sighed in content as you sat down on the rug. “This is absolutely perfect.”

🥪 “Wait till you see what I made for you,” Leona practically glowed with pride as he sat down beside you. He reached for the wicker basket and took out the disposable bento cake box.

🥪 “Ooh, did you cook something?” your eyes sparkle, wondering if Leona cooked some type of savory dish for you.

🥪 “Something like that,” Leona handed you the box. You untied the neat ribbon string at the top, and open the box, expecting to find pasta or something. Instead, a cute little heart-shaped bento box cake greeted you. The cake was covered in fluffy light-pink frosting and on top, a message piped in matcha-green icing read: “I’m forever yours, herbivore.”

🥪 “I’m forever yours, too,” you whisper, glancing up from the cake to look into Leona’s emerald eyes, which stood out against all the greenery surrounding the two of you. “You know the way to my heart, Leona.”

🥪 “I was worried all of this wasn’t enough,” Leona admitted, laying down and plopping his head onto your lap. You closed the bento cake box and set it down next to you on the rug. “I thought about makin’ a reservation to that restaurant you’ve been wanting to go to in Port Jubilee, or take ya somewhere equally as nice…”

🥪 “Well I love the picnic we’re having right now,” you stated, running your fingers through his mane. “Plus, we can’t really go out anywhere tonight because I have midterms to study for and you’re still tutoring your dorm mates for midterms. It sucks that Valentine’s Day is on a school day, isn’t it?”

🥪 “Yeah, it sucks,” Leona closed his eyes in content at the calming feeling of your fingers in his mane. “I was gonna make you your favorite dish after helping the guys study last night, but then they all went to the kitchen to make cakes and chocolates for today. One of them ended up messin’ up the measurements for a cake and made way too much, so the others and I got to make little bento cakes.”

🥪 “For a dorm mostly known for its gym bros, that sounds pretty wholesome,” you chuckled, wishing you saw the Savanaclaw students bake cakes and make chocolates; that would’ve been a great memory to capture for your Ghost Camera.

🥪 “The kitchen was and still is a mess, herbivore. I’ve seen enough heart-shaped chocolates and cakes to last me a lifetime,” Leona groaned. “But I had fun makin’ yours. Ruggie and Jack were surprised I decorated it myself. Tch, is it that hard to believe?”

🥪 “Well, are you still up for heart-shaped sandwiches?” You nodded at the box of menchi katsu sandwiches that Leona still held in one hand.

🥪 “I can never say no to a sandwich, ‘specially if it’s made by you,” the cheeky lion beastman winked up at you like a true heartthrob.

🥪 And he was a heartthrob, because every romantic gesture he made for you, from the heart-shaped bento cake to the choice of flowers in the bouquet, to the gaze of love and adoration he had for you…it all came from Leona’s heart and made your own heart flutter and skip a beat no matter how long the two of you have been together. And everything you did, from the heart-shaped sandwiches to even just the way your lips quirked into the smile Leona so loved to see everyday, made Leona’s heart pound more than he could’ve ever thought possible.

🥪 Leona unfurled the emerald ribbon and opened the box. “Huh? Why are all the sandwiches cut in half?” Leona sat up, holding the box and peering into it with slight confusion.

🥪 The sandwiches were cut and shaped into half-hearts, and you placed them in the box in a way that two sandwiches created one heart.

🥪 “I thought it would look cute that way,” you took out two sandwiches, giving one to Leona and keeping another in your hand. “And look, my half and your half connect to make one heart.” You held up your sandwich to his, and they connected to make the perfect heart.

🥪 “Cheesy, herbivore,” Leona teased, yet he didn’t move his hand holding his sandwich away from your sandwich. “Absolutely cheesy.”

🥪 “Says the one who loves this cheesy herbivore,” you countered with the most cheesy and loving of smiles, leaning in to the point where your face was just a few inches away from Leona’s. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Leona.”

🥪 “Happy Valentine’s Day, Y/N,” Leona leaned in as well, capturing your lips in a kiss sweeter than any Valentine’s Day dessert.

🥪 You and Leona set the sandwiches in your hands down into the box while not breaking your kiss. Coincidentally, without you and Leona even planning it as the two of you collapsed onto the rug in each other’s arms, the two sandwiches you and Leona set down connected to make a heart in the box.

💐 Flowers I chose in this mini story and their meanings:

Forget-me-nots: true love and respect

Golden daisies: friendship, joy, cheerfulness, well-wishes

Pink roses: gratitude and admiration

White baby’s breath: everlasting love

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Important:

🍓 I don’t own any of the characters I mention or write about; they belong to their original and respective creators.

🍓 All content on this blog is created by me, @thebettybook (excluding posts I reblog that aren’t my own posts and unless I state otherwise). Do not modify, claim, repost, or translate my work onto this platform and any other platform.

🍓 Reblogs are appreciated :). Want more Leona romance fluff? Check out my masterlist

=============================

#leona kingscholar #leona kingscholar imagine #leona kingscholar x mc #leona kingscholar x reader #leona x reader #twst #twst wonderland #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #savanaclaw #cheka kingscholar #twst grim #ruggie bucchi #jack howl #Strawbetty’s OCs

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undercovergamer · 1 year

Text

✨Silliest Way to Relax✨

⚠️This fic focuses mainly on tickling. Do not read it if that upsets you.⚠️

Ayato introduces Itto to one of those head massager claw things and “accidentally” finds out he’s very sensitive.

This is actually the first Genshin fanfic I’ve ever written. It’s also probably my highest quality one. My crown jewel 🤌💎✨

Also I have no idea how the inside of the Kamisato Estate looks :))) I forgot, so if anything seems out of place, I’m sorry :,)

Word Count: ≈4900 (jesus actual christ- 💀 messed up the count while editing lol)

Kamisato Ayato is, naturally, a very busy man. He’d always have so much work to do, but today he had finally gotten some well-needed time off to just relax. This was at the request of a mildly worried Thoma, not wanting the clan leader to overwork himself. At first, Ayato wasn’t sure how to spend the day. But then he remembered a certain crimson oni, Arataki Itto, who had been pestering him for days about hanging out. So he decided to fulfill that request and invited him to come over.

Itto, of course, had no idea where they were exactly, but he didn’t mind since his dear friend was there with him. He wanted to have fun outdoors, but it started raining shortly after the two met up, so they had to go inside. Who knows, they could’ve caught a cold!

“Whoa… pretty fancy place here, bro!” Itto said, looking around in awe and curiosity.

“Hmm, yes, indeed. I’ll ask Thoma if he could prepare some tea for us. Do you drink tea, Itto?” Ayato replied, still a little cold from the sudden rain outside.

Itto nodded at the question, shaking himself dry and saying “Yeah, man! I- Wait, is Thoma here too?! That’s awesome! Where is he? Ooh! Maybe the three of us could hang out together?” He was full of excitement.

“I’m afraid he’s too busy for that today, but perhaps I could check in with him just in case. Please, follow me. I’ll show you the room we’ll be, er, “chilling” in, as you’d say.”

“Haha! Nice! Let’s go!”

Once the two men entered the “chill-room,” Ayato asked Itto to wait for him there while he went to change into something more comfortable, since his coat was wet.

Unfortunately, Thoma didn’t have time to hang out, but he did prepare some tea and towels for them to warm up. He didn’t get to leave before receiving a tight bear hug from Itto first, though.

After the remaining bros had finished their tea and chatted for a bit, Itto was growing quite restless. His original plan to hunt beetles together was off the table due to the sudden rain and he was getting bored. He enjoyed the chill vibes from simply co existing, but…

“So like… do you have any uh… other fun activities we could do in here?” Itto asked, fidgeting impatiently.

“Hmm, I believe so. What do you have in mind?” Ayato replied while looking around for ideas himself.

“Eh, I dunno. I thought we could like.. go for a walk outside or something, but with all this rain we’d just get cold and sick.” Itto sighed.

Ayato thought for a moment, observing Itto’s body language. “You seem a bit restless. I think I have an idea for what could calm you down.” he said, standing up.

“Pfft, what? I don’t need to calm down, I’m just kinda bored to be honest.” Itto replied as if he wasn’t bouncing with his leg.

“Maybe not, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?” Ayato replied with a smile, walking over to his desk to fetch a strange-looking cylinder box. Itto looked at it with curiosity in his eyes. Was it a party popper? No… Ayato opened it and pulled out… something..?

“Whoa, what’s that thing?” Itto asked in confusion. He had never really seen this item before. It looked like some kind of weapon… maybe a kitchen utensil? Some kind of metal spider thing? What the heck was that?? “It looks kinda dangerous.” he said.

Ayato chuckled at the comment and explained, “This is a head massager, it’s not dangerous at all. Just like the name suggests, you use it to gently massage your scalp. It’s great for relieving stress and just relaxing.” He used it on himself to demonstrate. “See? It’s completely safe.” He said with a warm smile.

“Whoa, no way! It looks so weird.” Itto replied, getting up to take a closer look.

“Would you like to give it a try? I highly recommend it.” Ayato tried handing it to him, but he looked at it, puzzled.

“I mean, I guess? I uh, I don’t know how to use it…” he said, scratching his head.

“No problem, I can help you. But first I think you should sit down.” Ayato went and pulled out a chair for him.

“Why? Oh, wait, it’s to like relax more or something, right?”

“Certainly. You are also quite tall which would make sitting more optimal.”

Itto laughed and sat down in the chair while Ayato put the box aside and stood behind him, head massager in hand. There was a hint of mischief in his eyes, but Itto didn’t notice that since he wasn’t facing him.

“Now, just sit still and relax. Let all your worries melt away. Are you ready?” Ayato asked calmly.

“Pff it’s just a massage, of course I’m ready! Ready to relax.” Itto replied with confidence, stretching for a moment to relax his muscles and prevent restless stimming.

“I must warn you, though. It could feel rather… strange the first time.”

“I’m ready for anything! Bring it on!”

Ayato chuckled and gave Itto a headpat for the funny before gently placing the massager on his head, trying to position it so that his horns wouldn’t be in the way. But upon making proper contact, Itto jumped a little and let out a surprised yelp.

“Oh my, are you alright?” Ayato asked, surprised at his sudden reaction.

Itto sat straight and cleared his throat before replying. “Y-Yeah! I’m fine. Just- uh, j-just felt a little strange like you said. Yeah.” But when the massager made contact again, Itto jerked away.

“Oh, do you not like it?” Ayato asked, raising an eyebrow.

Itto straightened up again and said “I-It’s fine! I just- uh, I’m just not used to the, uh... sensation, I guess?”

“Try to hold still, please. You could get hurt if you move too quickly.”

“Gotcha! I’ll be as still as a- uh… um… I’ll be as still as a tree! Yeah. Hahaha!”

Ayato smiled and began to properly massage Itto’s head with the thing, slowly moving it around with ease. But to his “surprise,” Itto wasn’t relaxed at all. He twitched as if he was struggling to sit upright, a leg quickly bouncing up and down while his hands were clenched like fists on his lap.

“Itto, you seem rather tense. Is something wrong?” Ayato asked after a few seconds, with a mischievous smirk on his face as he kept massaging. Itto seemed to have trouble responding. “Are you alright?” Ayato asked, leaning closer to try to look at the oni’s face.

Itto snickered before replying “*snrk-* y-yeah I’m f-f-fine.” He shut his eyes and bit his lip as if trying not to smile, which didn’t work. Ayato angled the massager back a little, which made Itto let out a chuckle, raising his shoulders on reflex. It was clearly difficult to sit still. Hmm, wonder why…

“You know, you don’t seem very relaxed. Are you having trouble sitting still?” Ayato smiled as he sped up the massage a little bit. Itto flinched, trying to contain himself. “*pfft* I’m p-plehenty relaxed- *mpff*” he stuttered, eyes squeezed shut and snickering at the sensations.

Ayato chuckled at his reactions. “Hold still, Itto. Isn’t it relaxing~?” he teased.

“I- mhmhm- I cahan’t- *snrk*” Itto was getting more and more giggly as time went on, but why? Hmm… what a mystery.

“Hmm.. do you want to do something else? You seem stressed.” He slowed the head massager’s movements so Itto would have an easier time answering.

“N-No, it’s fine! Really!” he said with a slight giggle.

“Are you sure?”

“Y-Yeah..! It feels nice! It’s just-…” Itto stopped himself.

“Just.. what?” Ayato asked.

“Just- uh… n-nevermind. It’s nothing.” He replied, suspiciously avoiding eye contact.

“Hmm… I get the feeling there’s something you’re not telling me.”

“W-What do you mehehEEHEahahAHA!?!”

Itto jumped and burst into laughter as he suddenly felt a pair of hands tickling his sides. Ayato had put the head massager aside so he could tickle Itto “on purpose” to prove his point. Itto squirmed away from the chair and ran a few steps before turning around, looking confused and a bit embarrassed.

“Hey! W-What was that for?!” Itto asked, still giggling a bit from the sudden attack.

“Well, you seemed to be struggling with quite the build-up of giggles. I simply felt the need to help you laugh.” Ayato said with a chuckle. Itto felt an embarrassed blush spread across his face. “The thing is, head massagers often tickle really bad the very first time you use one. If you’re ticklish, that is…” Ayato gave him a smug smile.

Itto gasped dramatically. “Waitwaitwait, so you KNEW that would happen? Why didn’t you warn me?!”

Ayato couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction. “I’m sorry, I do admit I was quite curious to see how you’d react to the massage. I actually didn’t think you’d be so ticklish.”

“Wha- me? T-Ticklish? Psh no way.” Itto tried to look serious, as if he hadn’t already revealed it.

Ayato raised an eyebrow, eyeing him up and down. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah! I was just uh.. surprised! Yeah. Surprised.” Itto crossed his arms and tried to act tough.

“Is that so…” Ayato crossed his arms as well and narrowed his eyes. That look sent shivers down Itto’s spine.

After some seconds of silence, the oni huffed and said “Ok- ok, fine. You got me, I’m uh… I’m ticklish. BUT!” A playful grin grew on his face. “I bet I’m not the only one!”

“Hang on, let’s not ahead of ourselves. Um.. how about a game of cards?” Ayato looked a little nervous.

“Nuh uh, I wanna know if you’re ticklish too, pal! C’mere!” Itto quickly approached the commissioner as he made a failed attempt at getting away in time. “Ha! Gotcha!” Itto laughed as he captured his friend, arms wrapped around him from behind. Ayato gasped, trying to free himself without hurting the oni. Itto held him in place with one arm and used his other hand to tickle his side. “C’mon, laugh! Tickle tickle tickle~!” he teased, smiling brightly.

“Ah, Itto, y-you’re mistaken.” Ayato said, trying to keep his posture straight.

“Why aren’t you laughing? Come on!” Itto tried to tickle his ribs instead.

Ayato chuckled lightly. “Itto, I’m not ticklish!”

“WHAT?! No way, I don’t believe you!” Itto started to tickle with both hands instead, but to his surprise Ayato still barely reacted, simply smiling softly. Itto let go and stopped tickling once he realized it wasn’t working.

“That’s so unfair!” He whined. Ayato turned to him with a mischievous look on his face. Upon making eye contact, Itto’s face went from frustration to wide eyed concern as he somehow knew what that sly man was up to.

“You know, I think I have another idea of a “fun activity” we could do.” Ayato said with a menacing smile, slowly approaching the oni as he became nervous and backed up.

“Aha, uh, bro, A-Ayato, w-wahait! W-We can talk about thihis! I- I- uh-” Oh, he was right. He knew exactly what Ayato was planning.

“What’s wrong? I thought you said you were bored earlier?”

“M-Maybe it stopped raining! W-We could, uh- g-go outside instead! R-Right??”

Itto soon realized there was a wall behind him, quickly looking around for an exit. Ayato simply smiled at him. “Looks like there’s nowhere to go, hm?” He said teasingly. Itto quickly eyed the door before attempting to make a run for it, but Ayato swiftly grabbed him, somehow wrestling the now rather flustered oni to the floor and straddling his waist.

“Hehe, you’re not getting away that easily~” he teased, smiling down at his catch.

“W-Wahait! B-Bro we- pfft- we can talk about thihis!” Itto could already feel the giggles bubbling up inside him as he realized he couldn’t escape.

“No can do, I’m afraid.” Ayato playfully wiggled his fingers above Itto to tease him, smiling mischievously.

“Wahahahait! Dohohon’t!” Itto began squirming, already giggling in anticipation as the commissioner grinned.

“Oh my~, laughing already? You must be in for quite the ride, huh?”

“Sh-Shut up-” Itto tried to contain his giggles, which immediately spilled out anyway as Ayato’s wiggling fingers sped up and came closer. “W-Wait! Wahahait do nahahahat! Dohohohon’t!”

“Don’t what?” Ayato smirked mischievously.

“Tihickle mehehehe! W-Wahait-” Uh-oh.

“Well if you say so…”

“WAHAIT- NOHOHOHO!”

Oopsies. He fell right into his trap! Ayato began playfully scribbling his fingers around on Itto’s sides and ribcage. “Tickle tickle~”

“Pfft- hwahahahahAHAHAHA!! NohoHOHO!! Y-Yohohouhu t-tricked mehehehEHEHEHAHAHA!!” Itto immediately burst into laughter and squirmed underneath his bro, trying his best to defend himself.

“But isn’t this what you asked for, you silly oni?” Ayato asked with an amused smile.

“Ahahahaha!! I-ehehehe! I sahahaid dohohHOHOHON’T! AHAHAHAHA!!” Itto’s laughter changed volume every time Ayato’s tickles changed intensity. He often switched between quick and playful scribbling to sudden clawing and squeezing, driving the poor oni crazy as he laughed and kicked uncontrollably. Of course, the kicking wasn’t doing anything, but there wasn’t much else he could do other than laugh and flail.

Ayato chuckled and started playfully tickling all over the gang leader’s tummy and abs instead, watching as he threw his head back and laughed louder than before. “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! IT TICKLEHEHES!!”

“Of course it does, silly. That’s the point, isn’t it? Is this your most ticklish spot?” Ayato smiled and began rapidly poking at Itto’s abs. He flinched and laughed with every poke and tried to swat Ayato’s hands away. “N-NahAHAhahah! Noho it’s n-nahahahat!! EhehEHAHaha!”

“I’m quite curious… would you mind telling me?” Ayato stopped tickling for a moment. Itto was still giggling, but shook his head at the question. “I’m n-not telling you that!” He said through his giggles.

Ayato smiled and started tickling him again. “I guess I’ll just have to find out, hehe...”

Itto covered his mouth, trying really hard not to laugh, which quickly stopped working as Ayato began vibrating claw hands into his midriff, sending him into another fit of loud laughter.

“PFFHWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“Tickle tickle, little oni~” Ayato teased, chuckling to himself. What a silly situation!

“NahahahHAHAHAHA!! Thahat tickles sohoHOHO BAHAHAHAHAHAD!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!” Itto cackled his head off, squeezing his eyes shut and desperately kicking as if that would help. Shielding himself wasn’t working either!

“My, my, you’re quite sensitive… are you ticklish here too?” Ayato asked innocently, rapidly squeezing his waist. Itto arched his back and squealed mid laughter, trying to grab Ayato’s hands. He couldn’t believe he just made such an embarrassing noise, but he didn’t have much time to think about that before Ayato’s tickling fingers began climbing up his sides.

“AHAHAHA! Wahahahait! Wait dohohon’t! Hahahaha!!” Itto’s arms practically glued to his sides as a defense mechanism.

“What do you mean?” Ayato kept tickling pretty much any area left unprotected while the oni scrambled to try to defend himself without moving his arms away.

“Ehehehahahaha!! AhaHAHAHA!! Nohohoho!! Ahahayahatohoho!!”

Ayato pulled his hands away, stopping the ticklish torment. Itto’s laughter died down as he tried to catch his breath, still giggling from all that.

“Ah, I might have gotten a little carried away. I’m sorry, Itto. Are you alright?” Ayato asked, feeling a bit concerned.

“Ahaha…! Hehe…! Y-Yeah…!” He still had a giddy smile on his face.

“Are you sure? You seem rather tired.”

“Nah man, I’m full of energy! J-Just wait.. Hahaha…” Itto caught his breath surprisingly quick. Ayato saw an opportunity to bully him a little bit.

“You know, I couldn’t help but notice you never asked me to stop tickling.” he began, smiling smugly as a blush spread across Itto’s face. “Could it be that you like being tickled?”

“Eheheh... busted. I uh… I actually don’t mind, y’know?” Itto replied, still blushing a little. He usually wasn’t embarrassed about being ticklish, but for some reason Ayato just had this vibe that made him feel a bit shy.

“Really?” Ayato asked, raising an eyebrow. Itto laughed and said, “Yeah! I’m having lots of fun!” with a big grin on his face. “Tickling is just another way for me to laugh. Like.. it feels funny, it makes me happy, and uh… it’s just so much fun!” Ayato wasn’t really expecting such an honest answer. “…we are having fun, aren’t we?” Itto asked innocently.

Ayato had an amused look on his face before asking, “So, do you want me to tickle you more?” Itto began giggling in anticipation. “Uh-um m-maybe? I mehean if you want t-tohOHOHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Ayato promptly began tickling all over Itto’s ribs and abs, occasionally poking at his bellybutton, which made him jolt and squeal in surprise every time. Truly adorable.

“ThahahaHAHA!! Thahahat’s nohot fahahahahair!! I wahahAHAHAHA!! I w-heheheEEK!! Hahahahaha!!” Itto laughed.

“Pardon?” Ayato asked, smiling at the giggling oni.

“I wahahasn’t reheheheahaha!! I w-wasn’t readEEHEHEHEHAHAHAHA!!” Itto let out a playful scream and threw his head back, cackling uncontrollably when Ayato had started scribbling around on his abs and bellybutton with one hand, while using the other to vibrate into his lower ribs.

“That’s too bad.” he said as he sped up the tickling, occasionally letting fingers slip into Itto’s bellybutton. The oni squirmed with more vigor as his laughter went up an octave, kicking more and trying to push Ayato’s arms away. The random clawing and agile scribbling were driving him up the wall.

“EEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHA!! NAHAHAHAHAHA!! IT TICKLES!!” Ayato began vibrating both claw hands below Itto’s lower ribs, giggling to himself when Itto grabbed his wrists in an attempt to pull the tickling hands away.

“Did you lie about tha-”

“PLEHEHEHEASE!! *hic* CH-CHAHAHAHANGE SPOHOHOT!! *hic* BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

“Pardon?” Ayato let Itto pull his hands away so he could breathe.

“Ahaha! Haha! Plehehehease! It tickles r-reheheheally bahahad!” Itto giggled, with the most silly looking smile on his face. Ayato giggled to himself before saying “Did you lie to me? You seem to be very ticklish right below your ribs.” Him pointing out that weakness so casually made the oni blush.

“I- uh, I didn’t lie! I swear! I’m just really ticklish!” Itto giggled, still holding on to Ayato’s wrists.

“Ah, and here I thought I’d struck gold. Would you please let go?”

“No way man! Good luck tickling me without your- wha- hey! How did you-..?” Ayato twisted his wrists in a way that managed to free them from Itto’s grip, promptly making him giggle yet again, full of nervous anticipation. “W-Wait no!”

“Now, how about your sides?” Ayato began tickling up from Itto’s waist before he could react. His arms immediately shot to his sides in defense as he burst into laughter.

“Plehe- ahahahaha!! Please nohohoho!”

“What’s the matter?” Despite his hands being mostly trapped, he found that he could still slowly worm them upwards. Itto’s laughter grew more frantic as he realized where they were headed.

“Nonononohohohoho wahahahait! WAIT! Plehehehease not there!!” Itto shook his head, trying his best to squirm away, which wasn’t working since Ayato was still sat on top of him. Itto pressed his arms against his sides as hard as he could, which seemed to have worked since Ayato couldn’t pull his hands free.

“Itto, could you please raise your-”

“NO! Nohoho! I won’t do that!”

“Why not? Hiding something?”

“Mhmhmhmhm! Pfft-” The anticipation was nerve wrecking!

“Itto, my hands are stuck…”

“Dahahamn, that’s too bad…!”

“I’d give you a break if you’d at least release my hands. If you don’t, I might start squeezing~” he teased.

“Eep! Nohoho!” Itto hesitated, but loosened up enough for Ayato could pull his hands out.

“Thank you. Now, are you still enjoying yourself?” Ayato replied, poking at his abs.

“EEK! Hahaha! Yes I am! Hehehe..!”

Ayato couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How in Teyvat was this man not exhausted yet? The clan leader shook his head and chuckled to himself before saying, “You’re unbelievable.”

Itto laughed at the remark. “Like I said, I’m full of energy! Hahahaha!”

“Though I’m still quite curious… do you think you could raise-”

“Nuh uh, nope, no way! These arms aren’t going anywhere!” Itto was determined not to let him in.

“Really? We’ll see about that.” Ayato smirked.

“Pfft as if! D-Do your wohohorst!”

“Oh? Well, challenge accepted.”

Ayato had a smug expression on his face as he began scribbling all over Itto’s midriff, hearing his boisterous laughter fill the room yet again. Ayato soon realized that this wouldn’t work as well as he had thought. Itto seemed to love being tickled there, which was lowering the chances of him moving his arms. His joyful laughter and lack of protests were evidence of that. Of course, Ayato didn’t mind Itto having fun, but he was determined to win this little “challenge.”

“Hmm, I wonder…” Much to Itto’s surprise, Ayato stopped tickling for a moment.

“Ahehehe...! Is that all you got??” Itto taunted, still giggling quite a lot.

“Not at all, I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.” Ayato replied before lightly tickling his neck. “Are you ticklish here?”

Itto bit his lip, trying not to laugh. “Pfft- n-nope!” He tried to raise his shoulders or scrunch his neck to defend himself, but Ayato was not fazed.

“No? Are you sure?” He smiled, gently tickling Itto’s jaw and under his chin, chuckling at how the oni tilted his head up instead of scrunching up in defense.

“Mph- *pfft*” Itto tried really hard to hold back his giggles, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid eye contact.

“Then… how about here?” Ayato started gently scribbling all over Itto’s ears.

“Pfft- mhmhm- fwahahahahaha!! N-Nahahat the ehehehears! Nohohoho!!” He could not contain his high-pitched giggles anymore. He tried shaking his head to make it stop, but Ayato was persistent, lightly tickling all over those ticklish ears of his. “Tickle tickle tickle~” Ayato teased, giggling to himself as Itto’s face turned red from embarrassment. He had never heard such sweet giggles come out of this man before.

“EEK! EhehehEHEHEhehe!! It tickles so bahahahahad!! Stahahahap!!” Itto covered his ears with his hands and squirmed. Ayato kept tickling around the area so Itto would remain distracted until…

“Gotcha~” he said before suddenly withdrawing his hands and quickly digging into Itto’s armpits. Itto let out a loud screech and immediately clamped his arms back down to protect himself. However, Ayato still had his hands in there, now holding them still for the sake of bullying.

“Looks like I win.” he said with a smile while the oni giggled hysterically.

“Plehehehease dohohon’t!” Itto pleaded, trying his hardest not to let Ayato move his hands.

“Is this your most ticklish spot?” He teased, moving his fingers a little bit.

“EEHEHEHE! Plehehehase!! Ahahahaha!! A-Anywhere but thehehehere!!” Itto tried desperately to squirm away somehow, but he was still trapped under Ayato who would just come with him every time he managed to move.

“Huh, must be a really bad spot if you’re already begging.” Ayato teased, chuckling to himself.

“SH-SHUT UP!! I d-dohon’t beheheg! Pfft-” Itto protested, trying to contain himself.

“Do you admit defeat?” Ayato asked, with a subtle grin. Despite his already uncontrollable giggling, Itto quickly shook his head in response. “Really?” Ayato asked, astonished. “You can’t be serious…”

“EhehehEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA!! HYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Before he could respond, Ayato started mercilessly wiggling his fingers, which immediately sent the gang leader into a loud fit of hysterical laughter. He began struggling even more than before; it was getting really difficult for Ayato to keep him in place.

For Itto, it felt like forever. But in reality it lasted no more than ten seconds in total before his ticklish demise finally came to a stop.

“Ah… you seem to have had enough now. Perhaps I went too far… Are you alright? Breathe...” Ayato said in an attempt to help him calm down. Itto was still giggling his head off while trying to catch his breath. It was clear he had reached his limit. Oops…

“Plehehease..! G-Gehet your hahahands awahahay..!” he giggled, trying to squirm. But he was too tired to put up a fight.

“I can’t, they’re stuck…” If he moved his hands now, it’d just tickle, which none of them wanted anymore. “Itto, I promise I won’t tickle you. Could you please loosen up so I can get my hands back?” Ayato asked calmly, giving him a warm smile to help him feel more at ease. Itto hesitated for a moment before relaxing his arms.

Ayato got off and sat down next to the now exhausted oni, making sure he was alright and helping him sit up.

“I’m terribly sorry if I overwhelmed you. Are you alright?” Ayato asked, genuinely concerned, putting his arm around him for comfort.

“Haha… ehehe…! Phew…! I’m fine.. r-really…!” Itto replied, still giggling while wiping away his tears of mirth.

“Are you sure? Absolutely sure?” Ayato asked, worried.

“Heheh…! I just.. n-neheheed to… huff… catch my breath..!” Itto replied with a smile.

“I’ll go get you some water. Please wait here until I get back.”

“Thahahanks bro.. heheh…! I’m exhausted… haha…!”

Ayato came back with a glass of water about a minute after leaving the room. After Itto finished drinking it, he sighed contently and said, “Phew! Oh man, I haven’t laughed that hard in ages! Hahaha!”

“Itto, are you alright? I-… again, I’m terribly sorry if I overwhelmed you. I must admit I got carried away.” Ayato sighed, feeling a bit guilty.

“Nah nah, bro, don’t worry about it! Really! I’m completely fine.” Itto replied with a bright smile on his face. “That was actually a lot of fun! At least before I ran out of air, heh.” Ayato looked at him in disbelief.

“How- I-… Huh. You truly are something else.” he said, chuckling to himself before standing up.

“What, don’t believe me?” Itto stood up as well. “Then I’ll just show you!” He exclaimed before hugging Ayato real tight, laughing happily. “Trust me man, if I was lying, it’d be obvious. I’m fine! I’m feeling great!”

“Ah, well, that’s a relief.” Ayato smiled and hugged him back. “I’m glad you had fun, Itto.” He was still in disbelief.

“You mean you’re glad WE had fun, right? Hahahaha!” Itto hugged him tighter for the funny, but quickly loosened up as to not crush his bro. “Man, it’s a shame you’re not ticklish too. Otherwise I could get you back right now.” Itto said with a sigh.

“Ah, yes, that’s a shame. But at least y-EEK!” Ayato suddenly jumped after he felt something run across his lower back.

…silence...

“Ah, ahem. B-But at least you had f-”

“What was that noise~?” Itto interrupted, tightening the hug and smirking.

“Ah, er, I th-thought I saw sometHIHING!” Another scribble. A grin full of mischief crept across Itto’s face as he quickly scribbled a third time, making Ayato jump. “D-Dohon’t!”

Itto gasped dramatically before saying “You lied to me, bro! How could you?”

“Aha, I-Itto, wait-” Ayato tried stifling his giggles, struggling to maintain the hug as Itto held him tight and slowly tickled his lower back with both hands. Ayato regretted removing his coat earlier… he had no protection from those tingles!

“Ohohoho I KNEW you were hiding something! I knew it all along!” Itto exclaimed, ready for revenge.

“W-Wahait! I-Itto! P-Please!” Ayato began squirming, fearing what’s to come.

“Nuh uh, it’s payback time!” Itto started tickling faster.

“Ihihittoho nohohoho! Wahahait!” Ayato tried to push him away.

“Tickle tickle tickle~” Itto started tickling harder.

“Ahahahahahahahaha!!” Ayato threw his head back laughing, trying to twist away from the mischievous hands. But resistance was futile, the hug was too powerful! So instead, he tried to tickle Itto’s armpits again to make him let go. Itto instantly jumped and started laughing, but instead of letting go and squirming away, he managed to wrestle Ayato to the floor, successfully pinning him face-down. He was too competitive to literally fall for that trick.

“N-Nohoho, wait! Itto, please! I’m sorry!” Ayato giggled uncharacteristically, unable to crawl away due to Itto straddling his legs.

“Ohoho you’re gonna get it now!” Itto exclaimed before tickling all over Ayato’s lower back, sending him into a fit of laughter. Truly a rare sound coming from the normally composed clan leader.

“Ahahahahaha!! Ittohohohahahahaha! I’m sohohorrehehEHEHEHE!!” Ayato squeaked, laughing his head off and trying his hardest to crawl away. Itto was too heavy to budge, though. The commissioner hadn’t been tickled in such a long time, he barely knew how to react. He wasn’t strong enough to escape, and… was he actually having fun?

“Oh by the way, if you want me to stop, just tell me to and I’ll let up! Promise.” Itto said, giggling to himself while squeezing Ayato’s waist, making the man jolt and squeak. Itto laughed at the reaction and kept tickling.

“Tickle tickle tickle!”

“EEK! WahahAHAIT! N-Nohohot thahaHAHAHAT!! Hahahahehe! Nohohot theHEHEHere!!”

“Aha! A weak spot! Hehe, I win~”

“NohoHOHOhoho!! *snort* PlehEHEHEhease!!”

“You haven’t said ‘stop’ yet~ Hehehe! Kitchy kitchy koo!”

“HahahahahAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Facing the “wrath of the tickle monster” was not exactly what the commissioner had planned for his day off. But it turns out it wasn’t as bad as he’d anticipated.

After Ayato had recovered from being tickled silly, and after convincing Thoma he wasn’t in any real danger, Itto even agreed to try the head massager again. He claimed it “feels really nice and relaxing but also tickles super bad at the same time” and that “it’s a double edged sword” and “not fair.” It did indeed still tickle really bad, but the oni kept insisting it “felt nice.” It’ll take some time getting used to, that’s for sure!

The two really enjoyed their day together and their bond strengthened significantly. Who knew laughing your ass off could be so relaxing? Ah, time well spent.

#lee!itto #ler!ayato #ler!itto #lee!ayato #ticklish!itto #ticklish!ayato #genshin tickle #genshin impact tickle #tickle fic #tickle fluff #genshin tickling #genshin impact tickling #sfw tickle community #my private twashcan

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sandorsubs · 1 month

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Rating shifttok

2020 shifttok era wasn't there but i heard it gave people bunch of limiting beliefs. only if i catch them -10000/10

posts like "maybe you don't want to shift"/"maybe you are not ready or meant to shift" -50/10 who tf are you mansplaining us

supporting gaza/caring community 10000/10 there are so much good people out there. i realized most of the shifters really care about the world and they even script a better world without racism, wars, transphobia, homophobia, sexism and poverty. i deleted tiktok long time ago but it was a supportive community as i remembered

"most of you guys haven't shifted. those were lucid dreams." same creator saying "oh we shift all the time lalala ✨" -666/10 people already struggle, you are not being helpful. maybe being delusional (for you) will help them

shifter grandpa 444/10 I can't remember his name but not peter cackwell nah, the one with the hat i loved that guy

Race changing arguments & malicious dr's -1000/10 i judge but i don't waste breath. I don't find it ethical even you exist in that reality but like i said i simply do not care

dramas -4/10 i enjoyed some shifters cancelled in community but it was boring in general

face claim arguments -10/10 i saw people judging others having face claim or bragging about not having face claim. i feel sad when i see people want to change their entire face, but that's their choice. i don't judge them. i wish i could tell them how much beautiful they are.

There is probably more to rate but i kinda forgot. All communities has its perks and...well shitty sides

#reality shifting #shiftblr #shifting community #shifters #shifttok

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raccoon-wizard · 8 months

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So the Decked Out D&D module project is still ongoing, for those of you who thought I disappeared and/or forgot I ever existed. I have finally gotten around to downloading the world map and started working on taking some pretty screenshots as illustrations, but I've ran into an issue trying to make the map of the dungeon.

You see, my plan was to simply go into Spectator mode and take screenshots from bird's eye perspective and then simply overlay a grid, matching the blocks. Which would have been easy. But you see, I forgot about a very important issue:

✨the ceiling✨

so now I'm stuck in a moral dilemma of whether or not I should just take the ceiling out to be able to make the map. I don't know why I'm struggling with this so much, it's my own private world and I can make as many copies as I want, but it just feels like griefing and I'm not a fan of that. So while I gripe with my own moral code, have some nice shader-rendered screenshots I took of the Citadel.

Honestly obsessed with the aurora.

So yes, I'm still working on it. I think I have the rules down pretty decently, I'll revisit them again in a little bit to make sure they make sense, and once I have a decent prototype I would love to share it with people for general feedback or even playtesting.

#decked out #decked out 2 #hermitcraft s9 #hermitcraft #hermitcraft season 9 #dungeons and dragons #d&d

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imadethisblogtoaskaboutspnmpreg · 1 year

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what is spm mpreg

My friend. My buddy. My pal. My sweetheart.

What is spn mpreg?

I am so glad you asked!

The answer awaits you... right under the cut 😘

Way back when, when the land was lawless and tumblr was a hopeful place, there was a show called

✨Supernatural✨

This show was beloved by many on the still budding hellsite and beyond! It was the show du jur, the universal blorbo. It was the hottest thing and everybody watched it! Nowadays, you will find but ruins of its former glory but I was there, Anon. I saw it with my own two eyes.

The show itself was about two brothers, Sam and Dean, held together by bonds of trauma formed through shared hardship, who would go on adventures and defeat evils for the good of humanity. Until...

Dean, beloved older brother and sweetheart of many on the internet, perished. The circumstances are irrelevant but oh, was it tragic. Fangirls wept across the planet as one and nobody knew what was going to happen.

But, oh! A sudden change in direction! All of a sudden, Dean was being pulled up by an angelic hand, resurrected like Jesus before him! An impact so strong, so intense it left a permanent mark on his body which the writers never forgot about, ever! Dean Winchester was reborn and all rejoiced for it was Right.

But whoever was the mysterious being that had gripped him tight and raised him from perdition? It didn't take long for the show to explore this and oh my, did it get explored! The answer, of course, was Castiel, and angel of the lord who would henceforth devote himself to Dean and only Dean.

Thus, Destiel was born.

On another platform though, the well respected and important LiveJournal, there were Things abrewing. One of the many things prevalent in the Supernatural (or SPN for short) fandom was the RPF.

As you may know, or you might not, RPF stands for Real Person Fiction, it is similar to the traditional fanfiction but with "characters" who are not characters at all but based on human beings. Despite this, it occasionally features fantastical elements, AUs and other such things.

One user on what we used to call a "kink meme", a place for fans to inspire each other by pawning off ideas, suggested a very particular such RPF. The result took elements from existing tropes such as the heat fic, a longstanding gift from the house of Star Trek, as well as (alleged) wolf behaviour as described in one singular study.

The unholy concoction we were gifted that day is now known as Omegaverse or ABO. Within this trope, there are additional axes to the gender spectrum - but not in a fun, non-binary way! Rather, all humans will fall strictly into one of three categories: Alpha, Beta and Omega.

Alphas are strong and dominant. They can impregnate people regardless of agab and go into ruts. They also have a 💦knot💦 that will fix their penis in a hole after they come.

Omegas are weaker, more pliant. They can become pregnant, once again regardless of agab, and go into 🥵heats🥵 at certain intervals. An omega's heat is what causes an Alpha's rut.

And Betas... well, they're normies, basically. You're a beta 🤷‍♂️

The most common form of ABO fanfic tends to involve the desired characters being an Alpha and an Omega, the Omega going into heat and the Alpha... helping them with it, if you know what I mean 😏

Since the trope makes it so cismale characters can get pregnant (ABO predates the rise of commonly accepted trans headcanons) the community has, of course, attracted many breeding kinksters such as myself. I've seen surprisingly few Omegaverse kidfics tho which is a pleasant thing for me considering I hate kidfics.

And since ABO originated in the SPN fandom (more or less) it is quite popular within it. And before I get a billion asks: yes, there are many other ways to achieve mpreg (male pregnancy) in your blorbos such as oviposition or simply making the character in question trans, but since ABO is the most common Watsonian cause of specifically spn mpreg, I figured I'd focus my reply on that.

Anyway, it's late and I'm getting tired but I still wanna post this before going to bed because my dear Anon, you have yearned long enough!

I hope you've found this explanation entertaining 💜

#destiel #supernatural #spn #mpreg #history lesson #omegaverse

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panthera-tigris-venenata · 1 year

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For the Other writers ask, ✨️🌈💥💋

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Hook-up from Hell, simply because I'm still fascinated by the entire concept, and I must make it everyone's problem.

Or Utopia of the Lost, because it's my longest story, and I haven't been able to update it in forever. I've got half a chapter done but it isn't clicking (tm). And I bet most people forgot it exists xd.

🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?

That would be probably this one, Truth or dare!

Mostly just because it's relationship centric and I can't tell when people are flirting.

But if a story seems too hard to write, I just won't write it. I don't have the space for that kind of negativity in my life.

💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.

The fic that has the least kudos is a collab with @hannahhook, about a set of fairly obscure characters.

It's great if you like these characters that don't really get a lot of spotlight!

We have a lot of fun writing it!

It's in past tense for once which is noce if you prefer reading in past tense I guess.

Anthony gets to be a bitch on main and I love that for him.

The fic that I wrote myself that has least kudos is All my friends are heathens, which, again, fair enough. Central relationships are a friendship of two characters that have never once met in canon and Disaster Threesome, which is a shipe enjoyed by whole five people worldwide. But anyway!

I think I managed to write the atmosphere pretty good!

Anthony and Audrey banter! They're sophisticated and they're bitches. I love them.

Obviously there is Harriet. That counts as a whole point.

💋when you leave comments on a fic, do you want to hear back from the writer?

Yes! I love hearing back, the authors replies are always so fun! And there's extra stuff too!

#disney descendants

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marblekibby · 6 days

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Yet ANOTHER intro post

Yeah here we go again um. HI I’m Marble, you can also call me Fan. I’m 19 years old. This is my main/selfship blog.

I’ve had this blog for two years, but my parents grounded me from the internet for like a year over a commonly misunderstood coping mechanism that they THOUGHT was some weird degenerate kink. I simply refer to that whole ordeal as “THE INCIDENT”.

When I initially came back I forgot how selfshipping works so I did a partial “rebrand” but now im back. So please bear with me.

Do not interact if you are proship or anything of the sort. Yall are nasty. I’m also SUPER uncomfortable with doubles im sorry. If you interact as a double then I cannot stop you from doing so, depending on the f/o I don’t really care, but if I have to block you then I will.

DO interact however if you have one of my platonic/familial f/os as a romantic f/o (or vice versa) and/or if we share a common special interest or hyperfixation. Yall are literally so cool I love having selfship inlaws

ANYWAYS. list is below the cut

Characters that currently have The Braincell:

•Folly (Regretevator) [romantic]

•Carolina Mach (Regretevator) [romantic]

•Sab (Regretevator) [familial, older brother]

• Subspace (PHIGHTING!) [romantic]

Characters I had on my f/o list before THE INCIDENT that I forgot the appeal of and now im waiting for the whimsy to kick back in:

•Black Hole (BFDI/BFB/TPOT) [romantic]

•Remote (BFDI/BFB/TPOT) [platonic]

• Carol (FNF) [platonic]

•Sunday (FNF) [familial, older sibling]

•Lukas (Minecraft Story Mode) [romantic]

•Amelia Euler/“scenty” (HFJONE) [romantic]

•Aradia Megido (homestuck) [romantic]

•Dirk Strider (homestuck) [romantic]

•Jade Harley (homestuck) [romantic]

•YinYang (inanimate insanity) [romantic]

Secret Third Option (both):

•Pico (FNF) [romantic]

Secret Fourth Option (I don’t think about them a lot but they’re fictionkin induced so they’re kinda important)

•Test Tube (inanimate insanity) [romantic]

•MePhone4 (inanimate insanity) [familial, dad]

•Bot (inanimate insanity) [familial, child]

•Paintbrush (inanimate insanity) [platonic]

•Lightbulb (inanimate insanity) [platonic]

The Ship Tags:

⚔️cosmic rivers🐟 - Dirk Strider/Cosmo Inada

🦴nivzadia✨- Aradia Megido/Nivzai Mutara

🐺jadefaun🦋- Jade Harley/Faun Neumann

🔮earthly delights♠️ - Folly/Willow

🥀gardenhammer🔥 - Carolina Mach/Caspian Vines

🏹bowspace💖 - Subspace/Crossbow

💚🌸guns and roses🔫🩵 - Pico/Rayne (I haven’t posted about them in a hot minute but they’ve existed for a REALLY long time and taking the new FNF update into consideration. I probably will soon)

#I have one mutual on here who isn’t exactly up to date on selfship culture #they’re gonna be SO confused when they see this but #fuck it we ball #anywho #intro post #self ship community #selfship community #self ship #self shipping #self shipping community #i dont know how to actually tag things

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mirahuyooo · 2 years

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Stranded (II) | jhs

— But, darling, if you hadn’t fallen, you wouldn’t have met him—the one who’ll render you mad and drunk with his love so much that you’ll never want to find sanity again.

word count: 11,730 (PART II) contents: FLUFF, domestic things, ✨revalations✨, drinking (duh), getting drunk (duh pt 2), hangovers (duh pt 3), yn and hobi being wholesome uwu, people teasing the shit out of them, someone caught the feels 👀💕💖💞, not necessarily accurate (i mixed up a lot of versions and made up some shit), a bit historical?? idk anymore, Greek Mythology AU pairing: Jung Hoseok x Reader Inspired by Dionysus and Ariadne

[masterlist] | check out [Elysian Tales] & [BTS as Greek Myth Icons]!

A/N: I forgot to release a teaser for this lmao but here's part two! hAVE FLUFF BC THE LAST PART IS GONNA BE A ROLLERCOASTER MWAHAHAHA I won't hold you guys back for long 💖 hope you guys enjoyed this! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Stay tuned for the last part next week!~

𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿 ◁ || ▷ 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽

If you must admit, it’s not so bad to be in the company of the trickster stranger and his spotted beast.

In the weeks that followed, the two of them had helped you make a home for yourself, especially as the quiet decay of nature marks the eventual coming of full autumn and winter. Upon finding a little cave near the beach, you have since made turns fortifying it against nature and wild animals. Neither of you were good carpenters, but it was surely an adventure attempting to build makeshift furniture and decor. It cannot compare to the palace you grew up in, but you find yourself not minding the clutter and mess.

(There exists traces of them both around your little cave—fruits and fishes that Hoseok brings with him in his visits for you to eat, that wolf pelt cloak he let you keep, a makeshift bed on the ground for Agrios to lay on, three sets of wooden plates that you and Hoseok tried your hand at crafting.)

Though he no longer has practical reasons to do so—what with you somewhat now settled well in this corner of the island—Hoseok still visits you in your cave, at times, bringing Agrios with him. Sometimes it's a walk along the beach, other times it’s some random trinket he wanted to give you, but most times it’s endless idle chatting.

“I’m beginning to think I’ve seen that face of yours before,” you muse to him one day as the two of you sit on a blanket by the beach, watching the sun set. Next to you, Agrios naps with his tail swinging leisurely against your arm. The seabreeze blows fresh against your face, as you take in the timeless view.

Today’s a beautiful day, you think. Especially with good company.

Beside you, Hoseok seemed surprised himself. “You have?” he murmurs at your sudden thought, but his eyes soon twinkle. “And where might have you seen my dashing looks, princess?”

(He knows of your true identity by now—of your being a princess on the run for a treason committed—and has sworn to not tell a soul of your whereabouts to anyone, but something tells you he calls you princess simply to tease.)

You roll your eyes at his smug expression. “I said ‘I think’, did I not?” you huff, gently running your hand through Agrios’ fur and earning purrs of approval from the beast. “It may have been in one of the palace celebrations, I’m not really sure, but I think I’ve already heard of that boisterous laugh of yours.”

Memories of your time in Crete have become so distant the more you spend your time here. Though a part of you doesn't really mind, you are sometimes reminded of certain moments, and recently, a vague sensation rings through your head of a time where you may or may not have caught a glimpse of him.

“Well,” Hoseok muses with a shrug, catching you off guard. “You might be correct on that one.”

You didn’t quite think your assumption was true. “Oh?” you ask, a surprise now putting you in his initial position. “How so?”

Hoseok eases back, looking at the sky as if it would make him remember previous events more. “I have been to Crete before during my travels,” he hums, tapping his chin as he thought, “though I was most likely drunk off my wits, I think I can recall being in Crete around five summers ago.”

Your eyes are rounded in shock as the notion jogs your memory.

You recall sneaking out of your room, only to see chaos in the palace grounds because your older brother perched himself atop the statue of a stallion in the gardens and slurring nonsense. “Were you the one that got Catreus drunk senseless?” you gasped, scandalized but also very much amused remembering the utter mess your usually stoic and uptight brother had turned into.

Had he been there to spread the influence of his god?

It takes him a minute, but Hoseok seems to remember pulling such a stunt on a young man he came across in the garden, what with the proud grin that takes over his lips. “He seemed to need it,” he shrugs, devilish as he then goes to nudge you. “So do you.”

Though the thought of wine yet again tempts you, you go pale for a moment at the thought of the embarrassing chaos he’ll get you into if you get drunk in his presence. “I refuse to drink anything that comes from the likes of you,” you claim, a laugh leaving your lips nonetheless.

Hoseok drapes an arm over your shoulder, leaning some of his weight on you as he does. “Once you set your soul free,” he mischievously tells you, “you’ll know how fun these sorts of adventures can be.”

Pushing him off of you with a playful squint, you cross your arms. “Nonsense,” you playfully retorted, “one of us has to be the serious one around here, don’t we?”

A dramatic gasp comes to you as a response, along with a poke to the side that makes you giggle. The young man soon throws his full weight all over you, sending you both laying back onto the sand with an ‘oof!’ from your end.

Hoseok simply continues his dramatics. “You wound me, (Y/N)!” he cried, “how could you?”

Your laugh merrily fills the air as Hoseok feigns limp against you, playing to be slain by your words. His upper half intersects over your stomach, forcing you to lay on your back. “Get off of me, you oaf,” you half-heartedly whine as you try and wriggle your way out of his grasp.

His black tresses tickle your arm as he shakes his head. “No,” he childishly insists, as you turn your attention to his old companion for some help. The spotted beast simply stares back in disdain, as if the two of you were rowdy children he was tasked to watch over.

“Agrios,” you call out for the leopard in the midst of your struggle, “help me here, won’t you?”

A second or two passes before the beast trudges forth to nudge at Hoseok’s head, signaling him to get off of you. “You’re such a traitor, Agrios,” Hoseok grumbles, nonetheless shifting his weight a little, so that the only weight on you would be his head resting against your stomach. “No fun, at all.”

A breathless chuckle leaves your lips as you relent with where he settled with, the two of you now staring at the clouds overhead. A comfortable silence settles between you both, but your mind ruins it soon enough.

All so suddenly, you come to think of how different you and Hoseok are—of how you pale in comparison to him. The way he grins and laughs about his adventures brews a conscious jealousy in you. His experiences have made him so happy and carefree—something you wish to be, if it were only that easy.

“Having fun isn’t good,” you murmur underneath your breath—a reminder reigning yourself in. You’ll get ahead of yourself again and get yourself hurt for the umpteenth time.

Suddenly, Hoseok straightened from his laidback bearing, and gawked at you. Sitting up along with him, you realized he had heard you, and, to your shock, he almost looked offended by your statement. “What makes you think so?” he questioned, somewhere in between confused and concerned.

Feeling embarrassed at the realization you’ve said such a thing aloud, you turned your eyes towards the sea as the waves rushed to kiss the sand. “Not to disparage you, Hoseok, but,” you bit your lip as you struggled to put your thoughts into words. “I simply am not one for merrymakings.”

You feel Hoseok shift next to you. From the corner of your eyes, you see him lean over to get a good look at you. His face bared no hint of the anger you expected from him. He, instead, was simply just interested in knowing the reason as to why a person such as yourself wouldn’t be fond of parties. “Again,” he manages a chuckle, “May I ask why?”

Your life was a stark contrast to his colorful escapades. A part of you wanted to have the hunger he has for having fun and wreaking havoc, but in your bones was the foreign princess raised to be obedient and compliant. “I’m not fit for it like you are, Hoseok,” you tell him, “I’m quiet and unfun—”

“Well—”

“—I’ve never even been to a lot of parties,” you cut any of his rebuttals out. “It’s why I don’t have fun in the ones I do attend.”

Hoseok blinks—once, twice—his head taking in your words upon closer inspection. Soon, he jolted to his feet and clapped his hands together in some 'eureka!' moment. “Well that simply cannot do!” he then exclaims with a determined look branding his face.

At his words, your eyebrows furrowed together as you cast a glance at the leopard beside you for any telling sign of his companion's reaction. “What are you planning?” you questioned Hoseok, your voice swimming with suspicion. (You liked to think you were rightfully being so. The last time you allowed yourself to do something bold, you had gotten yourself stranded on this very island.)

Hoseok opens his arms with a grand gesture, as if you could see what he was envisioning. “We’ll go around the island for celebrations!” he boldly declares. "A festival for Demeter and Persephone will be coming soon! A lot of gatherings are bound to take place!"

The big grin that seized his face unflinchingly remained, tempting you to agree with his plans so as to make him happy. Alas, your mind demanded to see reason. Your arms crossed as you defiantly questioned him. “Not possible. I'll be seen by the townsfolk if we do such a thing,” you countered, gesturing to yourself. “I'm a fugitive, remember?”

Hoseok grins still, so bright that it rivals the sun itself. “That is not a problem at all, my dear,” he assures you with a wink. “You have me.”

Your heart swells but your mind scoffs. “That’s hardly any consolation,” you lightly grimace as you idly run a hand through Agrios' fur, thinking of the shenaniganry Hoseok pulls and will pull.

Hoseok, ever brazen, doesn't, at all, seem to take offense in your honest doubt. "Hush now," he all but tuts before beckoning you to follow him. "Come with me, dearest (Y/N)!~"

Your friend stands there, a few feet away from you, waiting so excitedly that a traitorous part of you has already started to give in to his ideas. "Hoseok…" you sigh as you stand on your feet, Agrios following suit. "I really don't think it'd be a good idea for me to be anywhere else…"

For a moment, Hoseok turns somber, taking a step towards you to hold you by the shoulders. "It'll be alright," he assures you, voice as comforting as the squeeze he gives you. "I'll be there and we'll have fun. You don't have to drink if you'd like, but there'll be a feast. I'm sure you'd like to eat something else other than fish and fruits for a change."

A smile is nearly coaxed out of you at the thought.

It took a hint of that intrigue and a second for Hoseok's excited grin to resurface. "There'll be music, storytelling, dancing—it'll be grand!" he says, circling you as he excitedly lists off some ideas off his head. "We can all don on masks if you truly want to keep your identity secret, though I truly doubt anyone would care."

That traitorous part of you grows ever curious the more those gorgeous eyes of his sparkle with delight.

Hoseok half-heartedly rests his hand upon his heart as he lays the last of his assurances. "I'll lead you out of it if it ever gets too much for you. You needn't worry."

At this point, your mind is scrambling for an excuse to keep itself atop your reckless urge for such pleasures. Stay hidden!—your paranoia screeches, thrashing about and clinging onto any bit of sense it could grab ahold of.

Yet, you sigh and sink into the abyss. "You're a man of many words," you tell him as you nonetheless let your arms be linked with his.

The hint of your surrender writes satisfaction all over Hoseok's face. "I intend to keep them," he then croons, hips coyly nudging yours as the three of you make your way out of the beachline. "You'll have the time of your life, I promise."

Hoseok was surprisingly diligent when he wanted to, eagerly at your door (cave?) and ushering you awake in the early hours of the morrow. "Time to rise and shine! I have a lot planned for you today!" he gleefully rips away your bedding and, in spite of your half-awake protests, you are carried out of your abode over the shoulder of your dearest menace.

Eyelids heavier still, you could hardly figure out what on earth your friend was up to. By some degree of capability, you resorted to grasping at whatever slumber was left in you as Hoseok carried you to gods know where.

"Still sleeping, princess?"

You only grunt in response.

In hindsight, you should've been more attentive—should've heard the sound of running water and pulled yourself out of a sleepy haze then and there. Maybe then, you wouldn't have suffered the heart attack of having your legs plunged into cold waters out of nowhere. "Hoseok!" you screech as you jump back into his hold, suddenly very much awake.

Miraculously, he doesn't lose his balance, saving the both of you from instant, wet damnation. "Good morning," the menace grins as he sets you down once again—this time gentler as you become more aware of where he had taken you.

It was another cavern—one larger and more open than the one you made your home. The sunlight peaks through a sizable gap between the rocks above, allowing it to grace a little light inside. In the middle of the cave was a pool, one that likely has a tunnel beneath that leads to the sea outside, considering the faint sound of crashing waves in the distance reaching your ears.

"It's beautiful," you say with barely any thought as you gather the ends of your dress while you peer at the crystal clear water that reaches just below your knees. You stand on somewhat smooth stone, painstakingly carved by the sea through millions of years. It's beautiful.

"It is, isn't it?" Hoseok thoughtfully hums beside you.

Alas, you must put a hold on marvelling at the scenery to kick some water his way. "What did you dip me in here for then?" you grumble and glare—a chance to question why he dragged you out so early in the day for his antics.

Hoseok gasps, scandalized by your stunt in exaggeration. You paid his dramatics no heed, arms by your hips as you continued to squint until he gave you his answers. "I simply wanted to show you this haven of mine!"

You agreeably hum, understanding well how this makes a fine little hideout, but still. You try and pry more out of him, your questioning gaze not dropping.

As you suspected, the mischief returns to Hoseok's face. "That, and the fact that this is where my plans for the day will first take shape."

Taken aback, your arms fall to your sides. "What?"

He all but clapped his hands, gesturing grandly. "You can come out now, ladies," he calls out, his voice lightly echoing back at him.

From the gap above the cavern, two figures came flying in. They gracefully circle you both, and all you could do is gawk.

You could hardly believe your eyes. "Nymphs? How—"

"I have my ways," Hoseok gloats, beaming proudly as your wide eyes follow the nymphs who gave you amicable smiles. You turn back towards him, still incredulous.

"What's that supposed to m—"

There was no one there. That sneaky bastard. Where did he—

"My lady?"

You look back and see the nymphs excitedly awaiting your next move. "I'm (Y/N)," you bashfully say with a little courtesy, earning a delighted laugh from the two of them.

"We know," said the one with the dress adorned with pink and purple petals, her kind green eyes disappearing from her smile. "I'm Alenka," she says, she and the other nymph mirroring your courtesy from earlier.

"I'm Aldora," the more timid of the pair then said, dressed in blue as light as the sky sparkling like scales when the sunlight hit them.

Why would they waste their time here?

Unable to withstand your curiosity any longer, you ask the two beauties. "I'm so sorry," you shyly grimace, "but what exactly did my friend put you up to?"

For a moment, the two exchange a look of shock and intrigue at your words. Alenka speaks to answer your question. "We're here to help you get ready for the festival of course!" she tells you as Aldora nods along. "His hi—Hoseok, asked us to make you the prettiest we possibly can."

Her slip of the tongue doesn't escape you, but at the moment, the notion of your bare body being seen makes you fluster. "I can bathe by myself," you were quick to stammer out. "You needn't worry about that part."

Though hesitant, the two of them eventually nod. "We'll wait for you outside, Lady (Y/N)," Aldora says with the ghost of a smile. "Call for us when you're finished."

A nod from you and you're left to your own devices, water lapping at the ends of your dress as you stand idly. With a sigh, you reach to unravel your dress and shiver as you take a step deeper into the pool, deep enough for the water to rest at your collarbones.

Best to get this over with. Wouldn't want to keep the nymphs waiting…

The silence allows your thoughts to voice themselves to you, and with no one else to keep you company, you find yourself entertaining them. What Hoseok has planned for the day, you have no idea, but it seems more questions than answers reveal themselves before you.

How did he manage to make contact with nymphs and make them serve you, no less?

What lies behind their behavior at the mention of Hoseok?

Why on earth is there so much effort for a damn party?

Hoseok had a bizarre flair to him, one that reeked of chaos and mischief, but your mind itches to know how on Earth he's managed to pull all of his stunts. Followers of Dionysus would be fond of parties—that you anticipated much—but you never thought they'd be able to get the willing participation of nymphs.

From what you've heard, nymphs often prefer the company of their own kin—too many mortals having tried to take their sisters as brides to not meet with other kinds without caution. Outside of that, they'd be in the company of heroes and demigods—even the gods themselves, too.

You freeze out of your own making, almost choking on air.

Does this mean Hoseok is something akin to the likes of those?

Heart racing, you try and put the pieces together.

He doesn't seem to carry himself as a hero—you've seen first hand what one is like.

Would he be a demigod then? Or a lover of a god?

Such were the likeliest of cases, you thought to yourself, but then you harken to the nymphs' behavior—their courteousness, their eagerness to serve, Alenka's slip of the tongue…

What could it have been?

His hi… his highness?

Your fingers pull to free your lips from your teeth, only to have them be chewed at.

Is Hoseok royalty then? What else would 'his highness' impl—no, it can't be…

Becoming a melting pot of emotions nearly turns you crazy, heart racing and unsure of what to do. "Enough," you tell yourself this with a staggering breath, pushing the questions over Hoseok's nature down the recesses of your mind. "Just bathe and meet with the nymphs, (Y/N). Just bathe."

Hoseok can be patient when he wants to, especially for something as near and dear to his heart as this. His unruly dark locks were combed, for once, and swept away from his face. He was dressed in his finest tunic that was a deep wine red with golden thread embroidery around the hem. Not that he needed it, but he also brought along a fur cloak in case the winds decided to blow colder.

Waiting an hour or so was a battlefield of boredom he was willing to march through, slicing through the drawn out hands of time by idly talking with Agrios or going through his plans for the day for the umpteenth time.

In time, he got the just rewards he was waiting for.

“Hoseok?”

There you come in, walking towards the edge of the treeline where he and Agrios waited. Hours of biding his time for this, and all he does is gawk. The sunlight, ever the blessing in his life, has allowed him to take the sight of you in.

The nymphs had dressed you in a gown of deep red that turned purple in some trick of the eye, flowing gracefully where the wind willed it to. The fabric fittingly wrapped around your frame, the neckline dipping to show just the right amount of your decolletage and give space for the necklace he gave them to put on you. Flowers of the same colors were braided into your hair as the rest of your locks were kept to fall behind you, leaving only gentle curls to frame your face.

There was a stupid grin that seized control over his lips. All good things do come to those who wait.

A shy smile rests on your berry-stained lips, nervously chewed on by your teeth as you await his response. The sheer burgundy shawl that was draped over your shoulders also gave itself to be fiddled with by your fingers.

Agrios nudges his calf to knock him out of his stupor. “Is the first of your plans successful enough?” you try and jest upon seeing him break out of his trance, head tilted to the side in what Hoseok could tell was both teasing yet genuinely asking.

Having recovered enough sobriety, Hoseok opens his arms to welcome you. “Very much so,” he muses, as he offers an arm for you to take. A shiver of delight runs down his spine as you take his invitation and link your arm with his as your other hand gathers the ends of your skirt when the three of you begin to walk through the forest. "You look beautiful, princess," he gladly says, voice soft in spite of him mischievously leaning close to nudge your side.

Hoseok's compliment goes responseless, but the telling reddened ears and cheeks you bore was enough to satiate the pleasures he was fishing for. “Where to then?” you instead ask him, looking around at the trees and trying to familiarize yourself with this side of the forest. “Or will that have to be a secret too?”

A chuckle escaped his lips as you came back to look at him with a quirked brow. “I’m afraid so, princess,” Hoseok teasingly lilts, “but if I must admit, seeing as the first of the plan went well, I have gained high hopes for the next one.”

You reply with a mere hum, but your curiosity doesn’t elude Hoseok and it all the more leaves him giddy to see your reaction to the rest of his plans for the day.

Sunlight through trees left a pattern of light dancing across your skin, one that constantly tempted him to steal glances your way. Idle conversation flows between you both with Hoseok being in the middle of telling you the time Silenus, the one who raised him, got so knackered from wine that he went missing for a couple of days and Hoseok had to look everywhere for him.

However much of a chatterbox he may be, Hoseok wasn’t one to keep on talking if his company wasn't at all present with him. He looks at you, furrowed brows and all, clearly thinking of something else. “Is something the matter?” he asks with a light tug of the arm linked with yours.

For a moment, you were startled, looking up at him with your cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “It’s nothing,” you tell him, but he insists.

“Nonsense,” he says, circling around you to hold both of your hands in his as he continues to walk backwards. “It matters if it’s clearly occupying your mind.”

Your furrowed brows persist in your worry of him and his reckless abandon. “It’s silly, Hoseok,” you tell him with a shake of your head, trying to stop him from walking like this.

Hoseok obliges your silent request, opting to stand there before you and idly swing your arms together. Agrios, too, stopping to look at you both. “Try me,” the man before you daringly grins.

Berry-stained lips draw into a pout as you think of his challenge. There is much hesitation in your eyes, stirring more grounds within him for actual concern. Hoseok waits patiently for you to find the courage to tell him what plagues you. For a while, nothing but the faint rushing of a creek nearby filled the air.

"You're not human, are you?"

The swinging hands come to a halt and his very being froze all over. "What?" he all but says, truly not expecting such a question out of you. To know that the very answer of it will upset you dreads him even more, but he decides to conceal any more of what could give himself away and wait for you to elaborate further.

"All of this," you say as your fingers slip from his grasp—a warmth which he instantly misses—and you gesture to yourself. "All of what you've been doing for me. They are not what mere mortals can accomplish."

Hoseok wields his casual and careless shrug. "I have my ways—"

Alas, you were ready with your own points all along. "My wounds were healed in an instant because of you," you say, showing him the skin he had asked his half-brother, Yoongi, to heal.

"Yes, but that wasn't exactly me," he reasons with a nervous chuckle. A half-truth.

You go on to gesture at his leopard. "You tamed a beast like Agrios."

"I raised him!" Hoseok exasperatedly claims, looking at Agrios expectantly as if the beast could speak to confirm support of him. Another half-truth.

Still, you were stubborn. "And you've even called upon nymphs to dress me."

A damning choice, he agrees, but one he still carries to his defense. "They owed me a favor," he says, shrugging it off. And another half-truth.

Guilt bubbles within him as he continues his deceit of you. It’s in good intentions, he tells himself. "These things hardly warrant an interrogation like this, princess," he tells you, almost pleading, really. "I'm simply being a man of my word."

Alas, you could see through him—through the way he couldn't meet your eyes for too long, through the way he was overly sweeping the topic under the rug.

"And a liar," you retort, crossing your arms as you point a finger accusingly. "You're keeping something from me. Are we not friends enough for me to deserve the truth of who you are?"

Such a tone of hurt was an unfair spear to use against him and his heart. "No," he sighs, turning away from you to run a hand through his hair. "I simply think it's of no importance, alright?"

You inch just a tad bit closer—mayhaps you were dreading this too. "It's who you are," you say, ever insistent but in a gentler manner. "Of course it would be important to me."

The wine god nearly buckles, tired with the charades anyways, but every time he’s reminded of your fear of the gods, he’s reminded of why he’s hidden this truth to you in the first place. Hoseok would never want you to look at him that way—that rigid formality and careful walking on eggshells.

"Are you a demigod?" you continue to ask, resorting to listing off prompts of what you suspected. "A god?"

Hoseok curses the way he knocked out of his stupor upon hearing that word—at how it instantly pulled the truth to light, and at how it earned him a shocked gasp from you.

"You are…"

The moment he raised his gaze to yours, he saw the panic flashing in your eyes. With what he had known of you, you were likely frantic of possibly offending or disrespecting a god. Even if you were a bit snarky at times, Hoseok really didn't mind—hardly felt irked at all. He had long understood that there were personal reasons with which your walls were built on.

"(Y/N)—"

Your instincts urge you to take a step back—keep a respectful distance between you both! He's a god!—but you root yourself to your spot. "Who?" you manage to ask, voice trembling and barely above a whisper.

No. No. No.

The confidence he’s been wielding all but escapes his grasp the moment he needed it to cool his nerves. It’s all falling apart. "(Y/N)..." Hoseok says, though his words fall short of anything else.

"Please," your voice pulls him back to you. "Tell me who you are."

Despair fills him as he realizes this has passed a point of denying, the last of his chances at redemption only being him finally telling you the truth. "Dionysus," he says, a name that’s become so foreign in your light. "I'm Dionysus."

Shock befalls you even more, your mind reeling to take the truth in.

The thought of it had existed in your mind, but you were still not prepared for it to have been the truth. You had figured there must've been something different about Hoseok, but to think the endearing menace you've been bickering with was a god all along.

“Is that really the truth?”

The wine god lightly scoffs. "No one would dare lie about such a thing," he says what you both know aloud. No mortal would dare to, lest they intend to be struck down by the gods for their fraudulence on purpose.

Tentatively reaching forth, certain relief passes through him when you let him take your hands into his, and form them into a cupping motion. He anticipates your reaction as he fills your palms with wine out of thin air, watching the way your breath hitches at the sensation in your hands.

Hoseok finds himself grasping at straws. He’s no mighty god of Olympus—just another child of his father, born with divinity more than some heroic brute strength like the rest of Zeus’ bastards. He was just a relatively unknown god cast away from the pantheon because his divinity wasn’t worthy enough to grant him a place there and cast away by many mortals for representing insanity and lack of control.

Perhaps, that would be enough to satiate your worries—enough to make you let him stay.

Rivulets of wine drip from the crevices of your fingers, emptying from your grasp just as Hoseok attempts to empty out his heart. “I’m no great god. Just one that fancies wine and shenanigans,” he weakly jests to you, leaving no room for any of your upcoming protests as he gets to his main point. “I’d like it very much if I remained as Hoseok to you.”

It was almost hilarious to see you more upset and frantic about all of this than he was. “I can’t possibly just—”

“It wouldn’t be any different from before,” he told you so carelessly that you would’ve thought him a fibbing mortal had it not been for what you’ve seen him capable of doing.

You look at him, incredulous still.

“You’re a god,” you remind him, fumbling with your wine-stained hands as you willed yourself to not lean any more into his warmth. He’s the god of wine—naturally bound to be more chaotic than others, but he was a god, nonetheless. Surely, there must be lines that a mortal like you cannot cross.

The wine god shook his head. Here on this island—with you—he was free to be no one else but himself. “I’m Hoseok,” he ardently insists, “I’m your friend.”

Your silence from a loss for words he took as hesitation that needed more assurance. "No curse or anything of that sort will come upon you," he reassures. "If you had done me any great offense, I would've already done something about it before."

The thought of yet another divine curse plaguing your life sends shivers down your spine, but the better part of you knows he tells the truth. He may be a god, but this was the same man who passionately guided you through making wine, regaled you with his travels, and encouraged you to share your mundane palace life.

This was the same man who you’ve bickered with to and fro, rough-housed with more times than you could count, and bemoaned about tackling you in hugs.

Gods! This was the same man who saved you from the beach, helped you make a home for yourself, and have nymphs dress you for some merry-making he had planned out for you.

He is Hoseok—always will be Hoseok to you, no matter how hard you can try to deny yourself otherwise and paint him in the divinity all the gods have. This notion elates yet dreads you all the same.

What will become of you?

Compared to him, you were a mere mortal—a princess, yes, but a princess on the run.

You are feeble—easily hurt, easily damaged, easily slain. If he or any of the gods so pleases, your life could be over in an instant for mere amusement. Will you be cursed like your mother? Will your life be taken for angering a god?

Perhaps, what truly terrifies you is that you are nothing—no hero, no favored child, nor a wife to one. No one knows where you are. No one would know what becomes of you. No one would mourn.

You have nothing to your name, even at this very moment. The fabric that's draped over your body, the flowers woven into your hair, and the remnants of wine that drips from your fingertips—all of them were courtesy of Hoseok; of the wine god, Dionysus.

In a brighter light, you suppose this might just be your new purpose in life—to be in his company, not simply because he was a god, but because he himself had done you great favors and changed your life for the better. Fear mustn't take hold on the foundation of what you and Hoseok have built, because it shouldn't have any foundation for itself in the first place.

Hoseok has nothing to gain from a runaway princess like you, and yet here he was, afraid of what will change with the truth. A god begging a mortal—what on Earth have you done?

You turn your back to the wine god, walking towards the creek to carefully crouch and wash your hands anew—free of the stains the wine left on you. The fresh start to your bond with the no-great-god friend of yours begins here and now.

A soft nudge to your arm demands your attention—Agrios, as it turns out, softly noses your side, eventually willing you to pet him in assurance. Right. You, too, have gotten used to the spotted beast, one of the many things that made Hoseok so bizarre.

Behind you awaits the young man—young god—so tensely eyeing your every move, heart racing a mile a minute. His lip might as well bleed with ichor from how hard he bites it. However, the moment you come back to face him with a smile on your lips, Hoseok felt he could breathe again.

“Well," you gingerly begin, feet taking steps towards him and stopping at an arm's length. "What are we going to do now, Hoseok?”

You still worry, he notes, remnants of your hesitation bleed in the way you anticipate his next move. Nonetheless, warmth begins to bloom in his heart once more, hearing his true name from your lips a bliss to bask in.

“Follow me,” he warmly invites, opening a hand for you to take. The plan may have gone through drastic changes, but it's salvageable, he thinks—he hopes. At the very least he wouldn't have to hide the strings he intended to pull.

A moment passes and an outbreath escapes your lips. You take his hand once again, unsure of where he’d take you.

As it turns out, Hoseok planned to take you to the nearest town. There were a lot of people, their distant chattering and regaling was loud to you in spite of the distance. The town is more colorful than you had thought, a celebration clearly happening—a harvest festival in honor of Demeter and Persephone, just as Hoseok had told you.

Still, that doesn't explain everything.

In an instant, you drape the shawl overhead and shrink into the obscurity of the forest, hoping it would mask your identity. "Hoseok, what is the meaning of this?" you squeak in a panic, stepping back into the treeline where Agrios remained. The wine god, on the other hand, excitedly steps out towards the festivities and waits for you to join him. "I told you," the man sweetly beams, walking back to you to place an assuring squeeze on your shoulders. "We're here to have fun."

The fabric atop your head slips away at Hoseok's will, his careful touch tingling against your skin. "Let's not hide such beauty, hm?" He coyly chastises, earning a nudge to the rib and an eye roll from you. His laugh comes out stifled, looking down at you still amused.

"Insufferable," you half-heartedly grumble under your breath as you dare to walk into the paved road that led to the town, tightly gripping Hoseok's arm in some attempt to soothe your nerves.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

The two of you have been having your fair share of escapades all day—spectating games and sports, sneaking around to watch the enactment of Persephone's abduction, going around stalls of food—and a big grin takes its place on your lips, delighting the wine god. Throughout all of that, however, you were constantly moving and fairly hidden amongst the crowd, which is why the next of his plans earned yet another skeptic frown from you.

The night had fallen and as the wind became chillier, Hoseok had draped his fur cloak over you, laughing as it swallowed you whole. The three of you—Agrios having his own fun time strolling about in the forest while you and Hoseok were in town—walked into the forest, and to your surprise, Hoseok had brought you to a clearing in the woods, with many people, a small feast, and a bonfire—another gathering.

And so here you were, standing at the outskirts of the merrymaking and clutching Hoseok's fur cloak around you tighter, unsure and hesitant as always. Jolly music fills the air as you follow Hoseok's figure going around. He holds a goblet in one hand as the other animatedly moves along with his dramatic gestures.

"Have fun!" he had urged you earlier before he greeted the welcoming crowd, introducing you to some of them as his good friend—but, in spite of assuring him you would, "have fun" you did not.

Disappointment of yourself clashes with the paranoia gnawing away at your brain. When you two were in town earlier, you were constantly moving from one place to the next, and so, for you, the chances of getting discovered would've been slim then. You feel bad for wasting part of Hoseok's plan, but at the same time, you fear lingering among the crowd for too long and leaving an impression on them enough to recognize you as the runaway princess of Crete.

"I thought you were a giant bush for a moment."

You jolt at the sound of the wine god's voice, but soon grumble when you process his words. Hoseok stands there with an amicable grin, still nursing a goblet of wine. You, on the other hand, had been cocooning yourself in his cloak like it'd make you disappear from this place. "You take your cloak then," you snippily say, shrugging the mass of fur off only to earn yourself a chuckle from the wine god.

Hoseok shakes his head, hands guiding the cloak back over your shoulders before he goes to assess your expression. "Shall we get you home?" he kindly asks, and it makes you feel worse, because you didn’t quite know what you wanted.

"No! I—"

The wine god's brows raise at your hesitation to leave, brows knitted together in your torn sentiments while a frown rests on your lips. Hoseok resides himself to stand closer next to you and wait for you to compose yourself. "What troubles you, hm?" he asks, the thumb of his free hand easing the crease between your brows.

With a sigh, you look towards the merrymaking, the beginnings of envy blooming from within you. "I'd really hate for this to go awry in the end," you admit to him, "in case someone from here recognizes me."

Hoseok tuts, half-heartedly shaking his head. "Look at them," he tells you, gesturing to the crowd before you both. "They're all lost in their own worlds."

All around you were people lost in the music of the bard, dancing and drinking to their heart's content. "No one here knows who you are right now, princess," Hoseok urged like a demon on your shoulder—all in good intentions, of course. "What else is there to hold you back?"

You can't help but digest his words from where you stand.

You were forcibly shaped into the mold of a perfect, obedient princess for your kingdom. You were a scapegoat. You were a tool.

Then, you became an accomplice to a murder, an enemy on the runfrom your own kingdom, and a forsaken bride, too.

And now… Now what?

You have nothing but yourself to your name—no more titles, no more labyrinths needing sacrifices, and no more promised marriages. You are no one in this sea of strangers—of people looking to festivities to forget their troubles.

Dare you say it, Hoseok is right.

What need did you have to be who you were before?

A wave of spirit emboldens you to take hold of the goblet Hoseok was about to put to his lips, your fingers grasping his wrist to guide the drink in his hand to your mouth. Gulp after gulp, you down the whole chalice before a wide-eyed wine god, shivering a little at the foreign taste you've subjected your palate to. You've never tasted wine quite like Hoseok's before.

You finally turn your attention to your dear friend, somewhere between coy and sheepish. "Dance with me?" you ask, taking a hold of his other hand.

Such words pull Hoseok back to the waking world. He grins as his finger wipes at the corner of your mouth. "I'd be delighted to," he merrily muses, letting you drag him into the circle gathering around the bonfire.

Around you, people cheer, welcoming the both of you to the joyous dance.

The party's just begun.

Many often get themselves into trouble when drunk, their inhibitions set loose by the wine pumping in their veins. It loosens lips and control—reveals one's nature in some shape or form—which was why Hoseok adored the unpredictable madness of it all.

He's seen the many ways people behave when under the influence of his creation, and many were like you, who have the drink open the heart and unleash rivers of tears.

First, you had just been humming—a folk song from Crete, if he understood your garbled notes correctly—but then you had started nuzzling your head into his neck. The motion tickles him, makes him chuckle, but it was the sound of sniffling that followed that made him stop in his tracks.

See, by now he had been carrying you in his arms back to your little cavern, the stench of wine mixed with your floral scent hitting his nostrils. The wine god, for once, had controlled his drinking to ensure he could get you home safely. With your arms wrapped around his neck and your face buried into the crook of it, however, it was easier to hear your crying—easier to feel the wetness of your tears on his skin.

"Why the tears, princess?" He dares to ask, continuing his trek.

This was followed by a tighter hold, and another sniffle. "'m nothing without you," you all but whimper, voice small and meek but enough to grab his heart by the neck and squeeze it.

Hoseok tuts, chastising you like a child in the hopes you would hear it and scold him about that instead. "Nonsense, princess," he says, "That's not true at al—"

"'Tis true!" you whine and insist, shaking him by the shoulders as if it'd knock sense into him. It almost makes him laugh—had it not been for your next (drunken) choice of words. "I'd be dead by now."

Hoseok's frown was instant, but he waited for the rest of your words to pour in, walking down a path he’s gotten so familiar with in the past few weeks. The wine god doesn’t quite know if he’d want to hear this or not—if he’s worthy enough to hear it.

Nonetheless, he’s subjected to hearing it anyway. "Would'a gotten myself killed," you blubber, tears endless as you whimper, "but now I have wine, and a cave, and a pretty dress!"

Part of Hoseok beams with pride to have been able to bring such things into your life, to know that you found joy in the chaotic moments you’ve trudged through together, but a part of him also boils in a flurry of heartache and rage to have heard of this from you. Something in Hoseok burns.

The two of you arrive at your cave, the wine god intending to lay you down on your bed before lighting a fire to keep you warm through the night. Alas, your arms around his neck don’t let go, forcing him to hover over you with his hands on either side of you to keep himself up. “(Y/N),” Hoseok quietly whispers, one hand lightly tapping at your arm and the other guiding the back of your head. “We’re home.”

A hum comes to him as a response, you shifting only to press a sloppy, barely there kiss on the corner of his lips, catching the wine god off his guard. “Hobi?” your lips move against his skin as you speak, sending his very being ablaze all the same.

Hobi? The wine god thinks to himself in confusion. Is that meant to be me?

“Yes?” he dares to respond anyway.

Just as Hoseok thought his mind wouldn’t get any worse, your words strike him through the heart yet again. "You 'n Agrios," you sniff, voice falling softer and softer, "mean so much to me… Don' leave me, alright?"

You pull away from him, noses merely inches apart as you were looking up at him with heavy-lidded eyes that shone like gemstones with tears. There's a furrow in your brows as you struggle keeping your consciousness just to wait for his answer.

Hoseok could only smile, mustering the courage to plant a kiss onto your forehead, your worried brows unknitting themselves at the sensation of his wordless assurance. With that, you drift off to Morpheus’ realm, head finally falling back onto your pillow and leaving the wine god alone to his loud, frazzled thoughts.

You mean so much to me, too.

The next morn comes and you awake to an outstanding pounding in your head, a hiss slithering past your lips as you try to recollect yourself. It's a near similar ache to when you woke up at the—no, this is different.

At the very least, this one didn't have the dread and confusion seizing your entire being—just hilarious regret that you, at the same time, don't regret.

As your reason slowly but surely comes back to you, you become aware of a weight in your right hand. With one eye open, you peek around to see the familiar rocky walls of your abode, and looking some more, you see a hand from the bottom of your bed intertwined with yours—a sight that very much wakes you.

Beneath a familiar old fur pelt, you were lying on your side, curled up near the end of the bed much like you would as a child. You muster the strength to lean over, your left arm coming over in front of you to serve as a resting place for your chin as you look at the person attached to the hand in yours.

Hoseok, the wine god and absolute menace, sleeps on the cold, rocky earth next to your bed with nothing but his cloak from last night to give him some sort of cushion. Like you, he slept on his side, curled towards you with a hint of a pout on his lips that almost tempts a giggle out of you.

The sight shocks you, really, and for a few minutes you can't help but stare, unmoving and unknowing of what to do. His touch sends tingles up your arm and all throughout your body. Your headache doesn't do much to help you either.

How does one wake a god that also happens to be their friend?

You settled for a squeeze and a light shake to the hand in your hold, his fingers tightening around your hand little in response. His dark curls, which frame his face and brush over his eyes, tousle as he shifts into consciousness. With a groan, he squints up at you, eyes adjusting as he wakes.

"Morning," you idly greet, the first to speak between you both. "Comfortable?"

It takes a second or two for your lighthearted sarcasm to register in his head, the wine god's hand slipping from yours as he stretches from his place on the floor with a groan, the motion showing you a sliver of his naked chest. "My back hurts," he whines in a mumble as he sits himself up, your eyes following him as he did even as you remain in your position. His voice is deeper, you note, and a bit hoarse.

You can't help the soft laugh that leaves you. "Why'd you sleep on the floor then?"

Still drowsy, Hoseok rubs the sleep from his eyes as he grumbles. "You wouldn't let go of my hand when I tried to leave," he tells you, playfully squinting at you with an accusatory glare as his statement sends a furious blush across your cheeks.

"Oh."

You did what?!

Truth be told, you don't recall much of the night that transpired after you brazenly chose to forgo all your inhibitions and join the fray in the dancing and drinking. What sort of ridiculous things did you get yourself into?!

The wine god watched as a flurry of confusion, mortification, and embarrassment passed through your face in a matter of seconds. A part of him, he must admit, is disappointed you don't remember the words you told him last night on your way home—of the kiss you planted on the corner of his lips that still lingers if he lets his thoughts wander too far.

For his sake and yours, Hoseok directs the conversation forward. "So," he quips, leaning in as if to gossip. "Did you enjoy the merrymaking, princess?"

He watched as a smile instantly made it to your face, one you try and fail to bite back. Your hand reaches to cover your mouth as if it'd fare against the grin that was hurting your cheeks. “That was the most fun I’ve ever had in my life,” you eventually admit, the words as shy yet elated as the giggle that stifles through your lips. You recall the addicting feeling of thrill—the carefree laughter, the silly dancing, and the sweet, sweet wine.

Hoseok's grin is instant, his heart full and beating quickly at the successful fruits of his labor. He is right after all. Happiness looks gorgeous on you. “Oh, look at you, you poor thing,” he jests as he beams. "I told you we would have fun and you wouldn’t believe me!"

You roll your eyes at his teasing, sitting up from the bed. “Here I was,” you jokingly sigh and shake your head, “about to thank you for what you did.”

The wine god crosses his arms over your knees, leaning forward to comically wiggle his brows at you. “I don’t need a thank you,” he coos in a ridiculously suave manner. “Your smile is enough.”

Biting back a grin, you resort to pinching his cheeks. “You’re such a sap,” you tell him, pushing him off your knees and falling back to the sheets as you feel another wave of headache coming to hit you.

Hoseok only grins, lifting himself up to take a seat on the bed next to you. Without much thought, he reaches forth to brush away the stray hairs that flew over your face when you laid back.

Whether or not you minded his gesture, you don’t make note of it, simply letting a quiet groan past your lips. "My head hurts though," you whine, eyes falling shut.

"It happens," Hoseok hums, partly apologetic. Mortals get drunk more easily than gods, and you were drinking enough to be slurring confessions to him in the late hours of the night.

For your sake, the wine god decidedly stands to help you with your hangover, hands brushing down your arms to seize your hands and encourage you to get up along with him. "Fortunately for you," he sings, pulling you up onto your feet—only to have you crash onto his chest. "I know someone who has a remedy for that."

You squint at him, somewhat suspicious, but nonetheless loop your arm around his, heavily leaning against his side as the two of you leave. Anything to gladly get the headache over with.

As it always is with Hoseok, this was another surprise.

(You suppose it’d be best for you to get used to such things, now that Hoseok has revealed his true nature to you. This, undoubtedly, would only be the beginning.)

Someone begrudgingly opens the door to a dwelling carved into the mountain, quite a bit far from your cave which led to Hoseok carrying you on his back halfway through. Peculiarly, faint yet janky music comes from inside, but even more peculiar is the pale man before you.

His presence definitely sobers you just a little bit more. He has the same ethereal, otherworldly glow as Hoseok tends to pose, and yet also different. His golden locks nearly shine in the sunlight—almost as if the sun focused solely on him.

Next to you, however, Hoseok also seems to be taken aback, but his was more so a bewildered shock. "Yoongi?"

Feline eyes that had been drenched with sleepy exhaustion and glaring at Hoseok turned confused and alarmed at the name used to address him. It was only when the stranger's eyes landed a good look at you as you stepped down from the wine god's hold that a flicker of understanding crossed his face. “Got yourself drunk again, hm?” Yoongi then amusingly says, “and with a friend too.”

Hoseok simply grins, so amicable with the stranger that it eases you enough to give him a timid smile and a small bow in greeting. "You seem a little intoxicated yourself," the wine god muses as you bashfully address his friend. "I suppose that means the remedy is at hand already?"

Yoongi simply sighs in defeat and wordlessly invites the two of you in, leaving the door open for Hoseok to guide you inside. The inside is definitely much better than your measly little cave with the house carved deeper into the mountain than you initially thought. Intricately chiseled furniture and decor fill the spaces in between, and before a fireplace lay… a satyr fiddling with a pan flute?

Suddenly, your headache was the last thing on your mind.

"Silenus!" Hoseok's gleeful laughter booms and startles you out of your stupor, watching as the wine god opens his arms wide to the delirious satyr. Silenus, finally registering the wine god's presence, grins and gets up, nearly stumbling over himself.

"My boy, welcome!"

It was only a matter of time before the satyr's eyes landed on you—they twinkle with mischief and amusement.

"Good morning," you could only greet, standing idly.

You couldn't help the fidgeting brought by your awkward and wary nature, doing your best not to rudely stare at the hooves he had for feet. Like the nymphs, you've never seen such creatures in person before, only heard of them from the stories of servants, or from the scholars in the palace who frowned upon the wild and lustful life these beings lived.

"She's the princess," a voice from behind you knowingly informs him. Yoongi, you realize, stands not far from you, leaning against a wall as he watches the whole scene unfold.

You can't help the startled confusion. How does he know you?

The words, however, do click in Silenus' head. "Ah! The one you've been blabbering about?" he smugly jests with a nudge to Hoseok's side, earning a flustered look of shock from you as he offers you a nod of acknowledgement. "You are a pretty one, if I must say, my lady."

You nearly choke on your own spit. "Thank you," you stammer, as you steal a glance at the wine god next to him. Hoseok speaks of you in such a way?

Hoseok gladly took over the conversation then, not meeting your eyes as a blush came to his cheeks. "Alright, that's enough," he hurriedly grumbles, pulling out one of the nearby chairs of a table as he addresses the blond. "Yoongi, you know well what we're all in need of, yes?"

Silenus simply chuckles, raising his hands in mock surrender as Hoseok gently ushers you to sit on the chair. "It's quite fortunate Yoongi here is around for us, aye?" he boisterously laughs, ushering Yoongi to follow him. "Come along, boy. Let us make breakfast, too."

You watch as the old satyr and the pale stranger moves about into the makeshift kitchen of his abode. "He's the one that raised me," Hoseok, next to you, leans in and whispers as he takes his seat at the table. "Don't mind him and his silly teasing. He simply wants to embarrass me."

A hum leaves your lips as you nod, faintly recalling the tale he shared with you yesterday. Silenus took the wine god in as a babe and raised him to be the rambunctious man he is today. You certainly see the resemblance between them action-wise.

In spite of the satyr's sleazy mannerisms and faint stench of wine and ale, you see the hints of his fatherly care in the way he brought out barley bread, cheese, fruits, and leftover meat for breakfast onto the table. He places a kind, grateful pat on Hoseok's back as the wine god lays out plates, and thanks Yoongi when he comes to the table with the remedy you've been hearing so much about.

(Envy festers within you. You were used to a different sort of a father.)

Even in the way he gingerly hands you three your respective wooden chalices, did you feel soft yet numb. "Here you go, princess," Silenus grins at you, "Yoongi's specialty."

"Thank you," you say as you gratefully take the cup from him, still timid as you look over to Hoseok for some guidance on what to do next. With everyone now sat at the table, the wine god simply downs the cup he was given, grimacing a little as he does, but ultimately finishes it all.

Silenus notices your reserved nature. "No need to act stiff, princess," he warmly assures you, "Yoongi here is a skilled healer that works wonders."

The words catch your attention, eyes flitting to the blond next to Silenus who simply acknowledges you with a small nod—just as reserved as you, it seems.

Healer? Is he the one Hoseok asked to heal me?

Nonetheless, you simply give them a bashful smile, finally bringing the cup closer to inspect it. The smell of it is an odd mix of spices and things you can't quite put your finger on, and, frankly, you think it better for you to not know. Brazenly, you bring it to your lips and—finally—drink. Like Hoseok, you wince at the strange concoction, but eventually manage to gulp it down.

Oddly, you do feel a bit better already. You take a sip of some more, eyeing the reclusive blond quietly making himself a sandwich. A skilled healer, hm?

"So," Silenus suddenly claps his hands together, knocking you out of your stupor as the satyr addresses both you and his fostered son. "When are you two getting married?"

You sputter out some of the tonic in your shock, and in panic of that, you almost choke trying to salvage any more of the drinks from falling from your lips. Hoseok, too, panics, handing you a nearby towel to wipe your lips with as he rubs circles onto your back.

"Silenus!"

The blond stranger and the old satyr only laugh and smile.

Silenus turned out to be a cheeky man fond of jokes, teasing, and drinking—one with a booming laughter that you've now known very well to hear and always seen with a smile on that bearded face of his. Perhaps, that is where Hoseok got his mischievous nature from, after all.

Yet, the old geezer also has a penchant for wisdom from his long years—a comfort, really, as his words of optimism do away with your worries the same way Hoseok's does. Silenus also tends to regale with stories, especially that of a young wine god under his care—much to the chagrin of Hoseok, himself.

You find yourself fortunate to have met him, even if it had been under hungover circumstances.

As with Yoongi—or should you say Apollo?

(The gods have many names, but only one remains precious to them—or so you were told.)

You didn't think you would ever live to witness the presence of two gods, and yet you've dined with the sun god, danced with Hoseok to his music, and passed out drunk with him and the others at some parties. When Hoseok confirmed that it was indeedYoongi who healed you that day, you truly began to ponder whether there was something in your bloodline that gave you and your family such an affinity to gods.

Yoongi was quiet—similar to you, in a way—but brilliant as a god of music and arts like him is meant to be. The harmony he produces is unlike any other, and the words he writes for his verses drip with so much soul and heart that it makes you weep.

He would often complain that Hoseok was often a child he had to look out for, but you knew better than to only see those grumbles and not his genuine fondness for his half-brother's bright, carefree nature.

Hoseok is a stark difference from the rest of the pantheon, he once told you—being a relatively minor deity frees him from the heavy burdens and responsibilities a fully-fledged god is bound to, even if it does deprive him of his full potential to power and prestige.

The sun god continues his visits once in a while, sometimes to drink away his heartache or exhaustion with you, Hoseok, and Silenus, but sometimes to simply idle around the fireplace and bask in the small, hush conversations of travels, memories, and tales.

You, yourself, have taken to setting loose along with them—making wine with Hoseok and Silenus, attending more gatherings in the woods and towns, meeting Agrios' sisters and brothers, and befriending nymphs, satyrs, and followers alike. Every night leaves you tired yet blissful, while every morn begins with you waking next to the wine god that brought you along these merriments.

Something, too, seems to have changed with Hoseok.

Though you can pretend not to notice, you are not saved from the restless nights you spend lying awake in bed thinking of the wine god’s lingering touches—of how he constantly treads the line between innocent and intimate. Hands on your waist as you two dance, a guiding hand on the small of your back, a passing brush of fingertips to your arms—such instances occupy your thoughts, making your heart skip a beat and leaving your senses to fixate on everything else he does.

Unwavering attention to your talking, a gaze feeling like they linger on your lips.

Fingertips always unconsciously reaching out for yours whenever you’re close by.

Eyes almost instantly searching for yours once you lose one another in the crowd.

You find yourself liking this game, letting him come closer and anticipating the next of his actions, in spite of knowing how easily you can be cast aside by someone like him, a god who can get everything he wants. You indulge in this delusion every once in a while, but ultimately leave it to Hoseok's unpredictable chaos.

As winter approached and the days got colder, however, most of the adrenaline died down as you and Hoseok forgo the gatherings to prepare for the harshest days. Silenus had welcomed you and Hoseok to his home during the season, which was definitely much better for the harsh cold than the cave you and Hoseok tried to make use of. (Though you don’t exactly know why a god like him would want to bear the brunt of winter when he can easily go to Olympus or elsewhere.)

“There.”

Broken away from your reveries, you come to see Hoseok inspecting the thick wool scarf he had wound around you. There’s a concentrated furrow in his brows as he thinks whether the knot was secure or satisfactory enough.

“She won't die so easily in the cold, boy,” Silenus, who had been occupied with cleaning his pan flute, mused from his seat before the fireplace. A giggle escapes your lips as Hoseok half-heartedly rolls his eyes at his mentor’s words.

The two of you plan to gather firewood on your way back after visiting Aldora and Alenka in their part of the woods, and Hoseok insisted on the thick scarf. “It’s better to be safe,” he murmurs under his breath, as you roll your eyes and grab his arm to head out the door, ushering Agrios to follow suit.

“We’ll be back soon, Silenus!” you bid goodbye, waving warmly as you’re greeted by a cold gust of wind. Your breath forms a faint smoke of air as the icy sensation tickles your exposed skin. At the shiver that seizes you, Hoseok smiles as you bury your face into the thick scarf. “As I’ve told you,” he says as he lingers closer, “you needn’t accompany me.”

Stubborn, you tighten your hold around his arm, playfully glaring up at his smug grin. “And as I’ve told you, I want to go out and see Alenka and Aldora,” you quip, pushing him slightly as you turn your attention to the forest you’ve become accustomed to. The towering trees that had been a canopy of greens and oranges were now barren, their dark bark and branches a stark contrast against the snow and the blue sky.

There are moments where you’ve quietly reflected on the months you’ve been here, on how much things have changed since Theseus le—

Something cold hits the back of your head, a shocked gasp leaving your lips as you whip around to see where on Earth that came from. The culprit, of course, is Hoseok, who was forming balls of snow in his hands. “I’m hurt, princess,” he dramatically sighs despite his eyes glinting with mischief. “Here I thought you wanted to spend time with me.”

You dodge his next snowball in time, wide eyes now squinting at him. “Insufferable,” you grumble, taking a quick duck behind a tree and gathering your own projectile, landing a hit on his shoulder as he was trying to flee for cover. “Aha!”

An unamused leopard stares at the two of you, waiting for the two of you to quit giggling and running around with eyes of judgment. “Agrios, help!” you squeal, squealing as one of Hoseok’s snowballs struck your leg.

“Don’t you dare, traitor!” the wine god immediately retaliates.

You look over your shoulder and see him fully running after you at this point, and just as you are about to strike back, a root ensnares your foot, sending you crashing forth. Arms wound around your waist, pulling you back in time for Hoseok, who caught you at the last minute, to take most of the fall.

The two of you fall on your knees, a grunt and a hiss leaving you both as you recoil from the impact and the cold ground. You look at your companion, his dark curls much more unruly and his tunic and cloak disheveled from all the running you two did. In spite of that, he was looking over at you and assessing your state, adjusting your scarf yet again. “Are you alright?”

Hoseok watched as you started breathlessly chuckling and failing miserably at hiding it. This, however, was a sign to him that you were alright, beginning to smile, himself. “Truce?” he asks, watching as you grin back at him.

Your hands were cold with what remained of your previous snowball as you grabbed at his cheeks, doing well to squeeze it about as he gasps and shrieks at the icy touch. “Truce,” you finally affirm, laughing at his dramatic pout of defeat.

Funnily, even in the chill of the winter morn, all you could feel throughout was warmth.

𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿 ◁ || ▷ 𝓷𝓮𝔁𝓽

𝓽𝓪𝓰𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓽: @dreamamubarak @unknownwalkingobject @park-jimin-isnt-real

#bts au #bts greek myth au #bts greek mythology au #bts imagines #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts writing #jung hoseok imagines #jung hoseok fluff #bts jung hoseok x reader #jung hoseok x reader #jhope x reader #jhope imagines

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