#I'm baffled as to why THAT fic did so well and some of my short stories with other characters haven't. But not complaining.

[missmomof3]

Deep Regret (shelby sister fic)

Sorry if this is awful, this is my first time ever trying to write a fanfiction. I'm not sure what this would be classified as but probably too long to be a drabble. Maybe an imagine? If anyone reads this, thank you and I am fine with criticism (I'm sure I did lots of things wrong) but please be kind.

Summary: y/n shelby always tried to make her family happy, but they all believed Grace over her and soon most bonds were disintegrating, especially with Tommy, who she'd always loved and looked up to.

TW:character death, not proofread, possibly missing some so read at your your own discretion.

"Y/N get in here!" Tommy yelled from his office at you where you were sitting in Michael's office doing your homework.

"What did you do this time" Michael asked, irritated but fortunately not at you, he hadn't turned on you.

You had always been Tommy's favorite sibling, him more of a father than a brother to you until Charlie was born. Until recently you'd even lived at Arrowhouse with Grace and him. But after Charlie was born suddenly Grace began complaining to Tommy of how disrespectful you were when no one was around. That you called her names, taunted her and even until they married, had nicknamed little Charlie "the bastard". But just to her, not around anyone else. You hadn't ever done any of that and at first were confused when Tommy began yelling at you frequently and you weren't allowed alone with Charlie anymore.

He held a family meeting without you there to discuss your behavior. By the time that happened you weren't friendly to Grace anymore because what was the point when you'd be in trouble anyways. The family had noticed the tension so for the most part believed Tommy when he told them of your troubling behavior and they began being short with you and before long it felt like all you had left was Ada, Finn and Michael. Polly was no Grace fan but was disappointed in you for supposedly insulting a baby and felt like you should be grateful Grace had agreed to let you live in their house. John, Esme, Arthur and Linda took that line of thinking as well, deeply disappointed in how you went from being one of the sweetest people they knew to being so disrespectful and cruel. They especially were disappointed that you'd be so two-faced and only do this while no one else was around. At least have the backbone to own your behavior was their thoughts.

So now here you were, living with Polly because even though she was disappointed you were still her niece, but living with hostility everywhere. You were still polite when you saw Grace, but now you held yourself back from everyone so their accusations and lack of faith in you didn't hurt so badly.

Responding to Michael's question with a shrug, you got up to walk into Tommy's office ready to be told off again for some imagined offense.

"Sit down y/n," Tommy said coldly, "and explain to me why you felt the need to make my wife cry last night."

Family dinner was held at Arrowhouse last night, and even though you hadn't wanted to go, Ada promised she'd be there and insisted you go with your head held high, knowing you were innocent. She never believed Tommy, remembering how it felt when Grace's betrayal took her Freddy away. Remembering you sneaking to her place to help with Karl, and how alone she felt thinking her brother betrayed her. It baffled her how her family could believe Grace over you, but whenever she brought it up they all asked why Grace would lie when she loved Tommy and she knew how much sending you away and practically severing his bond with you had hurt him. So she, Michael and Finn still staunchly defended you but gave up on getting through to anyone. That's why last night you stuck close to Ada, never being alone with Grace, in the hopes this very incident wouldn't be happening.

"Tell me, oh brother of mine, what did I do to Grace now?" You asked, no longer worried abour his reaction to your attitude since you had already grieved the loss of your relationship.

So he started laying out some imagined conversation that happened in the kitchen when Grace went to ask Mary a question. According to her you'd seen her and started criticizing her hosting skills, telling her what a disaster the upcoming charity gala would be.

You smirked at his tirade, because this time you knew you had proof. "Call Ada, ask her what happened last night" you said, standing up and getting ready to leave.

"I haven't dismissed you yet," Tommy clipped, grabbing your arm. "I am putting you on notice, if you do anything to embarrass Grace tomorrow night at the gala, I will have no choice but to completely cut you from the family the minute you turn 18. That means no help, no using the Shelby name, you'll be on your own."

"Bold of you to assume once I'm 18 I'll be sticking around here" you said, rolling your eyes, "I know my place now, at the bottom. When I'm an adult I'll take care of myself. I'll miss the family I had, but I'll make my own." Then you left.

Tommy sat with his head in his hands. You'd never know how much his heart broke to imagine you completely gone from his life. He didn't know how to reach you anymore. His sister, closer to a daughter. He still loved you so much and had hoped tough love would work, but he missed you deeply and choosing his wife and son had felt like removing a large part of his heart. If only you could have stayed the sweet girl you once were, before jealousy had taken over.

When Grace first went to him with your behavior, he hadn't wanted to believe it. But the more she went to him and the more you denied it the more arguments it caused between him and Grace. Until finally she told him he was putting his true family aside for a girl who wasn't his daughter, who would eventually marry and leave him, while his wife and son suffered in the meantime. It became easier to give in, to be angry at the strife in his house that you were causing. Especially when it stopped as soon as you moved to Polly's.

But he couldn't ignore the voice at the back of his head reminding him Grace was an accomplishhed liar while you had always been awful at it. So he called Ada. 30 minutes later he was more conflicted than ever but knew he needed to get answers from Grace. Ada confirmed you had never been alone with Grace, never even went to the kitchen. Then he spoke to Polly who also had never seen you leave Ada's side. Now Polly was beginning to demand he find out if they had been wrong all along, if her niece had been sacrificed for familiy unity. Michael had been chipping away at her beliefs for awhile now and this seemed to confirm it.

That night, Tommy sat Grace down, determined to find out the truth. After a lot of obfuscation and denial it all came out. She'd been feeling guilty for some time now whenever she saw how heartbroken and torn her husband was, but she was petrified he'd love his son less than his sister, and with her standing in the family being only strong because of Tommy's love for her and Charlie, she panicked and in that panic had thought if she got y/n sent away, Charlie and by extension herself, would always be his top priority.

This saddened him greatly for a multitude of reasons. Her lack of faith in him even though he'd never been the betrayer in their relationship, his poor choices, his cruelty to you, the loss of that bond. It all hurt.

The next day, before heading out on business he demanded a family meeting be held. He made Grace come with him and confess all. She did, because deep down she felt awful that she'd ruined the life of a sweet girl that had never been anything but kind to her. She'd seen the loss of spark in your eyes and couldn't deny any longer how horrible her behavior was. Maybe this could be fixed. At least your relationship with your family, especially Tommy. He missed you deeply and maybe the memories of all the years he'd loved and taken care of you could combat the time he'd spent alienating and breaking your heart.

The family was horrified but not shocked. Deeply disappointed in Tommy and themselves they made a plan to begin making it up to you. Tomorrow, after the gala, they'd all individually apologize and set about making things right. Work was cut short so they could all get ready, but at least tonight they'd be knd to you and start treating you like the beloved little sister you'd always been.

Tommy and Grace rode in silence to the gala. Grace didn't know how to bridge the gap and Tommy was lost in thought. Before they got out he turned to her and said "After you apologize to y/n, we can begin fixing us. You're Charlie's mother and I still love you, but you broke my trust and cost me someone precious. So right now, let's just focus on righting the wrongs we both have done." Grace agreed sadly, knowing it would be a long time before she had her husband back, but accepting this as the consequences for her bad decisions.

For you the night was going great! Everyone was suddenly friendly, and even Tommy had a warmth in his eyes at you that you hadn't seen in a long time. Grace had made a point of complimenting you and suddenly everyone wanted to talk to you. It made the night pleasant, but you weren't getting your hopes up. You'd built walls and they weren't coming down because suddenly people treated you like you were family again. You stuck around Ada and Finn.

While everyone had been having epiphanies and making plans to repair relationships today, you'd been doing some thinking of your own. Mostly thinking about how different your life might have looked had you had parents. They maybe would have loved you unconditionally. Maybe your relationship with your brothers, their wives, your aunt would have been better if they hadn't also had to help raise you. For so long, you hadn't felt you were missing anything because you had brothers, a sister, an aunt, and more recently a cousin and sisters-in-law that loved you ahd made you feel protected and like you belonged. As a child you'd had multiple people to go to for love, advice and help, it never occurred to you that that could all be taken away. Even during the war, the letters you got from your brothers and the presence of Finn, Ada and Aunt Polly had always kept you from feeling lonely. Now you knew that could be taken away and now you knew loneliness. Now you felt like the orphan you were.

Tommy was walking away from some duchess when he caught your eye and motioned you over. You went over hesitantly, hoping you weren't about to be chastised for something. As you walked up to him, he was in conversation with Grace about her necklace. Hoping to slip past them without being seen as everyone was moving into the banquet hall to eat, you suddenly heard someone yell out "For Angel!" with a gun in their hand. At once time slowed down and sped up and all you could think of was little Charlie losing his parents and becoming like you. Not even realizing you were moving, suddenly there was a sharp pain in your stomach and you were falling into another person.

Everything became chaos. Tommy was horror stricken as he held his baby sister's head in his lap while Grace was putting pressure on the wound. He yelled for someone to call an ambulance and kept trying to get your attention, because you were still breathing but staring at the ceiling like you could see someone there.

"Please, y/n, please look at me, stay with me, don't leave me" he begged, running a hand soothingly through your hair as tears streamed down his cheeks, all the while remembering years of time spent together, how you would climb into his bed after the war and just lay beside him when he'd have nightmares, grounding him and reminding him he was home, safe and warm, not in a tunnel, no enemy shovels around.

Grace had one hand putting pressure on your wound, the other holding your hand while she cried as well. She was horrified at what her behavior stole from you, while you had literally saved her life. Thinking back on the sweet little girl back when she was a barmaid, asking her to sing because her voice was "beautiful" Soon she was nudged roughly out of the way by John who took over putting pressure on your wound, tears streaming down his cheeks. His thoughts on the girl he used to throw in the air when she was little, her always trusting he'd catch her.

Arthur was beating the man who had fired the bullet, he couldn't make himself stop. All he could see was you in his arms as a baby, your finger wrapped in his and your eyes looking at him so trusting, and how much he'd let you down by not going against Tommy.

Polly was on the phone getting an ambulance, begging them to hurry, trying to keep herself calm as she remembered all the times when you were little and would hold out your arms, confident you'd get picked up and cuddled, she could almost feel the warmth of your head on her shoulder.

Ada was holding Finn, praying silently for her sister, most recently at an age where she was fun to shop with, try on clothes together, the girl who would confide in her because she trusted Ada's judgement and knew she was safe to be herself with her.

Michael stood at the door waiting for the ambulance, doing his best not to cry, thinking of his cousin who, even feeling alone and rejected by almost everyone, would listen as he spoke about his girlfriend, and who would joke around with him while doing homework.

Esme and Linda stood by Grace, quietly crying, both thinking of how welcoming and sweet you'd been when they were introduced to the family. Esme knowing no one and yet you immediately treated her like a sister, helping with the kids and softening some of Polly's harshness during the London expansion. Linda wishing she'd gotten to know you better, but remembering how you'd hugged her when she and Arthur got married and said how you knew she'd make him happy and help him find peace.

Regret and sorrow ran so powerfully through the large ballroom it felt like they were a physical presence.

[tupperwaretub]

Javi Gutierrez x Male! Reader

Disclaimer: this is my first time writing in YEARS so apologies if its not up to great standard or seems rushed trying to get back into writing :)

Warnings: Nick cage (deserves his own warning), established relationship, short fic (fluff i guess??? Can't really define it), reader referred to as Y/n.

Introductions

You and Javi have been dating for a few years now and everything has been great, hes opened up to you about him being a Nick Cage fanboy and showed you his collection of items from movies he's starred in. You originally thought it was quite odd but it became just another quirk you love about him.

Though, when you heard Nickolas Cage was coming to stay with you and your boyfriend you were baffled to say the least, you had questions. How did Javi get THE Nickolas Cage to come HERE? How much money did he pay his agent? Is he going to freak out as soon as he sees Nickolas Cage? All these thoughts were spiralling through your head as you worried for your boyfriends dignity.

"mi amor? Are you alright you've gone quiet." your boyfriend said snapping you out of your trance. "Yes love, I'm okay but i do have some questions. How on earth did you get Nick Cage to agree to come here? Also... Why?" you asked, you needed some answers. "well i just offered to pay him to come here, said it was for my birthday!"

You stared at Javi still in a state of confusion . "So you paid Nick Cage to come here for your birthday? That's all?" he looked down and blushed. "well i also wrote a script... I wanted him to read it and tell me what he thinks." you couldn't help but smile at your boyfriends bashfulness. "well I'll be by your side, i bet he'll love it." you said cupping his face and kissing his forehead.

It was the next day when Nickolas Cage arrived at you and your boyfriend's shared home, that morning you stood at the dock with Javi soothing his nerves and straightening his baby blue suit reminding him he looked incredible. Then as they pulled up to the dock you greeted them, taking Mr Cages bags.

"uhm Mr Cage this is Y/n and y/n this is Nickolas Cage, as you know." he smiled widely obviously very much enjoying the company of his favourite actor.

"hello it's a pleasure to meet you Mr Cage." you greeted him sticking out your hand, which he shook.

"hey nice to meet you, so whats the deal here you a gardener, butler or what?" he asked you without any hesitation, to which you replied with a baffled look. You were shocked to say the least.

"Mr Cage y/n is my boyfriend." Javi finally said breaking the silence, only to lead to another awkward silence. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

"I'll take your bags in Mr Cage" you say still utterly shocked at his rude, degrading question. You grabbed his bags and almost stormed off up to your home, you knew he didn't have a clue about your relationship with Javi but to ask such a question without hesitation? You set his bags down in the guest room as you reminded yourself of how everyone says to 'never meet your heros'.

You were really worried for Javi.

-------------------------------------

A/n: thankyou for reading, again sorry if it's not up to standard I haven't written anything in so long so i thought I'd just try write a short fic to try get back into the flow.

[coneygoil]

It's Cold Outside -- Asta/Harry ficlet

Asta has lived in Colorado her whole life, so how did she not prepare for such a cold evening?

(I know hardly anything about Denver, CO and I just wasn't up for doing research for such a short little fic. I'm assuming it's busy there since it's a big city. Anyways, enjoy another cute Asta/Harry moment <3)

Asta has lived in Colorado her whole life, so how did she not prepare for such a cold evening? She had this spontaneous idea for her and Harry to drive to Denver. She was craving some big city vibes and Harry had never been, so here they are in the big city.

Asta notices the hustle and bustle as they stroll down the street, filled with shops and restaurants, is getting to Harry. He presses closer to her side, glaring at passerbys with reproach in his eyes. Asta sometimes needs to be reminded he doesn’t do well in crowds. When they visit her family on the rez, Harry has a quiet spot designated just for him out in the field when he feels overwhelmed by everyone. Asta spots a park across the street from where they’re passing and leads Harry there.

The park is quiet and nearly empty. Trees lining the path obstruct the sight of the buildings surrounding the area. Tops of the mountains nearby peak out from above the treeline. It’s peaceful. Asta feels the anxiety in Harry dissipate as he relaxes and pulls away from her – sticking close but not right against her.

“Thanks for coming with me to Denver,” she says to verbally show her appreciation for his company, “I know it’s not your scene, but you’ve been a trooper today.”

“I question my sanity when I agree to these excursions. If it wasn’t for you, Asta, I wouldn’t leave my house.”

Asta plants a kiss on his cheek. “See? That’s why you need me in your life.”

“I am happy you are in my life, but let’s not do this again for a very long time.”

“Promise.”

Now that the sun has set, a deep-boned cold begins to set in. Asta had only worn her leather jacket to keep warm and realizes her mistake as an involuntary shiver sweeps through her. The shiver catches Harry’s attention immediately. He turns to look at her.

“Are you cold?”

“A little,” Asta says, trying to keep her breathing regular as the cold tries to steal it. “The temperature must be dropping rapidly.”

“You will become sick if you remain out here, then the whole car ride will be filled with your sniffles on the way home tomorrow.”

Asta stops walking, her brow furrowing at his presumptions. She is about to protest but stops as Harry shrugs out of his heavy winter coat and wraps it meticulously around her shoulders. He pops the hood up and the fur tickles her cheeks.

“Better?”

Asta offers him an appreciative smile, enjoying the warmth the coat already carries from Harry wearing it. “Better.”

They walk through the park and in the direction of their hotel, snuggled against each other. Every day, Harry’s strange way of looking at life baffles and slightly annoys her at times, but he always makes up for it in his strange little sweet ways.

[ihni]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💖

Ooooh, how fun! <3 Thank you! I've gone through my fics and I'm gonna do 5+1, because why not, right? Seems fic approporiate, in a way. So, here goes:

Over the edge, 16K. (Because it's a scenario I've wanted to write for YEARS and I finally did, and I had a blast writing it! Muahaha!) “You’re still on probation. But if you behave this weekend, we might –“ “��Behave’?” Billy snorted. “I’m not a dog, Henderson. What do you want me to do? Sit? Roll around? Be a good boy?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, making Steve snort beside him. Dustin drew himself up to his very unimpressive height in the back seat, puffing out his chest. “Well you can start by not killing anyone!” “Ki– Jesus Christ, kid, I’m not gonna kill anyone!” “Well you almost killed Steve before –“ Here, Billy glanced over guiltily at Steve, who shook his head slightly as if to say it wasn’t a big deal, “– and you have a history of violence. You can’t fault us for making sure!” “Whatever.” “You promise?” “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Yes, kid, I promise I won’t kill anyone.”

Birthday boy, 8K. (Because I've never had so many people telling me a fic made them cry ... don't worry though, there are happier follow-ups!) Neil gives Max a benevolent nod. “You can go.” Max shoots up from her chair, a big smile on her face. “Really? Thank you, I –“ “You can go to the party, but not the sleepover. I want you home at eleven, at the latest.” Trying not to grimace, Max nods. It’s better than nothing. “And of course, Billy will go with you.” “What?”

At least an assist, 8K. (Because it's an alternate first meeting between our boys, and it was fun to imagine an opposite to a meet-cute - also Billy's tied up for most of it, which is always a plus!) “Dude,” he said, more baffled than angry. “Did you just try to bite me?” “I’ll do worse than that if you untie me,” Hargrove growled, as if making threats from the position he was in was somehow normal. “Yeah, because that makes me want to untie you,” Steve snarked back without thinking. Then he sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. He didn’t sign up for this shit. “Listen, yes this sucks, but it’s only for a couple of hours. Why don’t you just chill?” “I’ve been fucking kidnapped, you fuck! I’m supposed to play the finals right now, not kick back and relax while being fucking tied to a chair!” or Steve's teammates kidnap the opposing team's star player to secure a win in the finals. The star player in question is not impressed.

Fast and Frightening, 20K. (This whole fic was born from a chat about possessed cars, and because both me and DearDMVZ quite agreed that Billy would look very fetching tied to the hood of his Camaro while it's racing through the roads outside of Hawkins at night.) There's some seriously fucked-up shit going on. Billy crashed his car, was attacked by some kind of monster, escaped, ran into someone who looked just like him, punched that guy in the face, escaped again, and ended up on a random road somewhere outside of town. And now his own car has turned against him. In short, Billy's not having a good time.

Sleeping Beauty Retold, 8K. (Because I went to town on a fairytale AU and I really fucking like it, still.) Once upon a time, there was an evil king. The king married a woman who had magic, and used her to stay young and strong. To attain true immortality, though, he would have to sacrifice their child on the child's eighteenth birthday. Only, the queen thwarted the king's plans - she stoles the child away in the middle of the night and sent him away, to be raised far from the castle, so that he would be safe. The king never stopped looking. And one day, the child - who had grown up into a young man - was found.

Again and again and again and again, 4K. (Bonus fic, because if I'd had time I would have written 80K of this, I love the concept a LOT. Basically the boys being stuck in a time loop together.) It is Sunday, November 4th 1984, and it’s been Sunday, November 4th 1984 like, fifty-two times now. Fifty-four? Over fifty, at least. Billy’s lost count, which is depressing in itself.

[emyn-arnens]

7–10 🫡

Thanks for the ask, lovely! <3 (choose violence ask game)

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

I'll be crucified by the fandom for this, but.....Sam. I don't truly hate him; I'm pretty neutral toward him on most days, but it's been a long-simmering thing for years with the never-ending "Sam is the real hero" nonsense. But ever since polls* started on here, his fans have gotten that much more aggravating (to me). He's never been a favorite of mine, so it's always been baffling to me as to why people love him so much.

*Yes, my horrific hobbit polls. And every LOTR poll that's been posted since with Sam included as an option has been equally annoying to me. One day I'll stop looking at the notes of polls and be much better off for it.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

"Merry is dumb, only likes to smoke weed, and isn't as funny or interesting as Pippin." It's been 20 years, and PJ's crimes against Merry still have no end in sight. And it makes it so, so hard to find good book!Merry fic—even when filtering for just the books on AO3—because the film characterizations are so prolific.

9. worst part of canon

98% of the Silm? In seriousness, one of the worst parts for me is that mortal lives are much shorter in Valinor than they are in Middle-earth. Ever since I first read about that, it's made Frodo and Bilbo's passing into the west even more bittersweet. Bilbo's days there, though blissful, will be short, and Frodo will be left alone in a new place. He'll have Gandalf and Elrond (and I headcanon Celebrian and Finrod), but it's not the same as family. And I don't know if Frodo would even be alive still by the time Sam sets out for the west. :(( He definitely wouldn't be able to meet Legolas and Gimli again. :( And Gimli's days would be shorter too. :((

It's just all too sad. I try to think about it as little as possible.

10. worst part of fanon

I don't like a lot of the common Fourth Age Gondor fanon (Eowyn and Arwen are besties; Aragorn/Arwen and Eowyn/Faramir go on double dates all the time because they get along so well; everything is blissful and perfect). It's just...not at all how I headcanon the characters and not what canon suggests either, imo.

Aragorn is off at war A Lot, and I can't imagine that makes things easy between him and Arwen; she'd effectively be a single mom most of the time (albeit with support from her handmaidens, I'm sure, but it's not the same as her family being intact, and especially considering she's already given up so much for Aragorn). Aragorn and Faramir have very different views of Gondor's role/position (Aragorn subduing and colonizing the south and east, when Faramir doesn't want Gondor to be a mistress of slaves) that I would imagine put some strain between them. And if Faramir is often at Minas Tirith acting as Steward while Aragorn is off fighting, then Eowyn is likely holding down the fort in Emyn Arnen by herself. I can't imagine she or Faramir would enjoy being separated by duty so much.

That got ramble-y, but tl;dr: I don't have a very cheery view of Fourth Age Gondor, and I'm not a fan of the "everything's happily ever after in Gondor" that's popular in fandom.

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

Crown Princes and Butterfly Wings (3/?)

Chapter 2 : Friendly Stranger

----

Our pair of adventurers becomes a trio, because neither Logan nor Roman have a clue what they're doing. At least now they have an expert on adventuring to help them out.

<- Previous | First | Next ->

@cutebisexualmess :)

----

Sorry about the lack of a chapter last week! It was Christmas, as I'm fairly certain most people are aware of even if they don't celebrate, so I was really busy. Not to mention I mass-posted nine chapters of a fic (go read it if you want, it's on my page) in three days and I didn't want to bombard people, so I kind of skipped a week with this one, haha. Oops.

----

Warnings: Roman is still kinda loopy at the beginning

----

"Roman?" The prince heard Logan yell from across the garden and seconds later the tiefling was in front of him, giving him a once over before turning to the person who had helped him. "What happened to him? Did you do this?" 

"Wha- no! No, of course not!" they cried. "Is- is he your friend? He wasn't looking too good and he said to bring him to the fountain so I just-" 

"Hey Logie," Roman said, only half aware of what he was saying. "I ate'a weird cake mmm- mn- now I'm here…" 

Logan stared at him, baffled,  before sighing, and chiding him in a tone of voice Roman thought made him sound like a dad. "This is why we don't accept random food from strangers, you dunce." 

"'m already feeling better though." Roman shrugged. "Thanks to glasses."

The person giggled. Roman could see them better now, they had curly dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and they weren’t dressed nearly as classy as he or Logan were, but the puffy blouse and bluish-grey overalls made him look rather friendly, so Roman didn’t mind. 

"I'm Patton!" he said with a smile. "Always happy to help!" 

"Are you familiar with this area?" Logan asked him. "I believe it would be the best course of action to find somewhere to stay after this… incident.” 

"Um- well I only just got here myself! But I need somewhere to stay too, so I'm sure we could look together?" Patton said, with a blinding grin. "There should be some kind of inn nearby, there always is!" 

“Alright…” Logan said slowly. “I will- concede that you likely know more about this process than we do, so I will agree to going with you.”

“Um- cool!” Patton said, his smile not faltering in the face of Logan’s slight strange way of words.

“Logaaaan- your words are loopy,” Roman whined, “Talk normal for once.”

“I am simply talking formally, Roman, and you should aspire to do the same,” Logan chastised. Patton giggled.

“And you’re the one who’s loopy, mister,” Patton said before standing up and shifting a big backpack that Roman had completely missed before onto his shoulders. It was a pretty big pack, almost as big as Logan’s, this guy must be travelling too. Roman thought, “Anyways, c’mon, I think I saw an inn on the way over here.”

Roman tried to stand up before tripping over his own feet. The only reason he didn’t fall face first onto the paved path of the garden was Patton’s quick reflexes. He quickly righted Roman again, but this time he slung one of Roman’s arms around his shoulders and let the—much taller mind you—man lean on him.

“I can take him,” Logan offered as he watched Patton- not struggle, per say, but he did look slightly off balance.

“Don’t you worry.” Patton smiled. “I’m stronger than I look! And besides, you’re already carrying that big ol’ pack! I wouldn’t want to put more weight on you!”

“You calling me dead weight, glasses,” Roman slurred, while Logan muttered about the fact that Patton was also carrying a similarly sized pack. 

“Of course not.” Patton laughed again, it almost felt like they were already best friends, like they’d known each other for years. “But you are pretty tall.”

“Comes with the high social class,” Roman giggled with a lopsided smile, obviously finding his own joke way more funny than it actually was in his state.

“Well that would explain why I’m so short,” Patton said. “Come on now, buddy, we gotta go.”

Together the three of them found the closest inn and Logan paid for Patton’s room as a thank you for rescuing Roman from his own shenanigans before they parted ways. Or, so they thought as Logan forced Roman to take a nap in their room while he busied himself studying the maps they had brought in an attempt to work out where they should go next.

—-

“Are you feeling well enough to discuss our journey?” Logan asked him as they waited for their food to be brought out. They were eating at the inn, because Logan didn’t trust him when he said he was fine enough for them to go and find somewhere nicer to eat.

“Yes,” Roman nodded. “I’ve told you already, Logan, after that nap I’m feeling better than ever!”

“Good, but please keep in mind your volume, we are in an unfamiliar space and I am not yet sure I have quite figured out the etiquette,” Logan told him quietly.

“You worry so much, Logan,” Roman said, rolling his eyes, but he did lower his voice, much to Logan’s gratitude.

“Thank you, now if you’re willing to be quieter about it,” Logan said, pulling out one of the maps he had been looking at before, “I would like to discuss the route we should take.”

“We have no idea where he’s going,” Roman said, looking at the map and then at Logan, “There are- hundreds of towns and villages in this kingdom, we can hardly search all of them.”

“No, you are correct we cannot,” Logan agreed. “It would take us years.”

“Then… what do we do?”

“I don’t suppose you remembered to bring anything with you that belonged to him, did you?” Logan asked slowly, “If so, I could perform a fairly simple tracking spell…”

Roman felt a little sheepish, why the hell hadn’t he brought something? It was obvious they needed a way to actually try and find Remus! It was true that it had been on the list Logan had given him and he just… hadn’t. Roman knew they had to find Remus—the Kings of this land may be his fathers, but that didn’t mean Roman could disobey orders—but then again… Remus was his brother, and he couldn’t just- do that to him. So… he’d just keep playing dumb, dumb was safe and didn’t want him to answer any complex moral problems.

“No I… forgot about that,” Roman said slowly, shaking his head. Logan sighed.

“Of course you did.” Logan shook his head. “There are more complicated spells that could be used, but almost all of them require an personal item… We may have to find somewhere that I can read up on magic spells. I know there are some that can do what we need… but I am unfamiliar with them.”

“H-hey um-” Roman jumped, looking up at the voice only to find Patton lingering a few steps away from the table, wringing his hands. He looked so nervous, looking down at the floor, Roman felt a little bad. “Sorry for- um- overhearing, but- but I heard you were looking for someone…”

“That’s true, though it is a private matter,” Logan said, eyeing Patton without turning his head, clasping his hands over the map that was still spread on the table. 

“Oh! I completely understand!” Patton quickly assured, raising his hands. “I just- it’s… kinda obvious that you’re new to this- or you wouldn’t be talking about something private in a bar- but I’ve been travelling for the last- um- eight? years? So I thought I might have some advice you guys could use…”

“...Alright.” Logan nodded. “You said we shouldn’t be talking here… is there somewhere better?”

“Aboslutely, if um- if you don’t want people hearing about whatever it is you’re doing, this is probably one of the worst places to be talking.” Patton chuckled. “Taverns and inns are the number one spot for gossip. If you want information, you come here, if we want to have a secretive conversion, we should go to your room, or mine- either way.”

“If that’s so,” Roman said, “I suppose we should continue this conversation once we have finished eating.”

“I didn’t mean to intrude on your dinner!” Patton yelped, stepping back. “I’m so sorry! You didn’t have any food, so I just assumed- I’m sorry for interrupting!”

“It’s alright,” Roman said immediately, and he noticed Logan relax from the corner of his eye, “You’re trying to help us, and you helped me earlier as well, I owe you.”

“No- no you don’t.” Patton shook his head. “I don’t expect anything in return! I just- I like helping people.”

“Still.” Roman shook his head with a smile. “Feel free to sit, if you’d like.”

Logan gave him a skeptical look and Roman just shrugged with a smile. He knew trusting strangers wasn’t a good idea (Logan had lectured him on it for fifteen minutes after they had left the castle) but Patton… Roman couldn’t help but like him. He was just so… friendly. But not just on the outside—Roman considered himself a fairly good judge of character and there was absolutely nothing about Patton’s niceness that seemed off in the slightest.

With an awkward smile, Patton pulled over a chair from the next table and sat down with them. Logan put away the map just as someone brought over their food and they ate in silence, with just the sound of other people having their own conversations in the background. 

When they finished, Logan led Roman and Patton up the stairs and to the room they had rented for the night before taking out the map once again and laying it across the small table in the corner of the room. The three stood around it. 

“Ok! So,” Patton started, looking at the map, “You’re looking for someone?”

“Yes.” Logan nodded.

“Can you, um, tell me who?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be a secret,” Roman said with an apologetic smile. Logan glared at him.

“Of course it’s supposed to be secret, Roman, that’s the whole reason we’re here and not someone much more capable.”

“Alright, um, not knowing who we’re looking for might make things more difficult.”

“My brother,” Roman said slowly. “I can’t tell you much more than that, but we’re looking for my brother.”

“Does he look like you?” Patton asked, tilting his head.

“They are twins,” Logan said with a sigh.

Roman nodded, “But he has a silver streak instead of gold, and green eyes instead of red.”

Laughing made Patton’s eyes crinkle at the corners and Roman couldn’t help how it made him smile. “So you’re… opposites?”

“Pretty much, yes,” Roman said with a shrug.

“Ok, so if you’re looking for information, you’re going to want to go here,” Patton told them, pointing at the map. The town his finger pointed at wasn’t that far away, though it was distinctly separate from the capital. “Mirefeld is known for its gossip, they have a pretty big trade and travel route going straight through the village, if anyone knows something about your brother, I’ll bet it’ll be someone there.”

“Mirefeld…” Roman said slowly, before lighting up. “Oh! I’ve heard of that, aren’t uh- aren’t they known for being a big meeting place for crooks and thieves too?”

“I believe so,” Logan said, nodding, before looking suspiciously at Patton. “Why would you wish for us to go somewhere with such a reputation for crime?”

“They’re the ones with all the gossip,” Patton said with a shrug, “And usually they’ll leave you alone, especially if you’re careful. I go there often and I haven’t had a single penny stolen yet… It’s kind of like a safe haven, I guess. I’m not trying to trick you, I swear.”

“This town is at roughly a three days walk from here,” Logan said with a sigh. “We’ll have to set off early tomorrow if we want to head in that direction.”

“Walk?” Patton blanched.

“I am unable to ride a horse,” Logan deadpanned, gesturing to his own legs. “I am not built for such an activity, and I’m fairly certain we don’t have the funds to buy a carriage.”

Patton flushed and looked away. “R-right- um- yeah that makes sense, sorry.”

“There’s no towns between here and Mirefeld,” Roman pointed out, still looking at the map, “Where will we stay for the nights we’re on the road?”

“Well sometimes there's outposts…” Patton said, “but I don’t think there’s any on the way to Mirefeld.”

“I suppose that means we will have to sleep on the road, then,” Logan said, eyes narrowing. “Which means we’ll need to allow time to buy some equipment, which means we will likely not be leaving until the day after tomorrow.”

Patton burst out in laughter. “Wait- wait- you don’t- you don’t even have camping equipment? What on earth have you got in that big bag of yours?”

Staring, Roman watched as Logan’s cheeks went purple—the guy was blushing. Roman was pretty sure he’d never seen Logan blush, Roman could barely keep down a laugh. Patton didn’t seem to have the same control.

“I… have brought with me multiple spellbooks and supplies for said spells,” Logan said, his tone carefully steady. “As well as a few others that I have been meaning to read for recreational purposes, and of course I brought a few journals to write down everything we learn on our travels.”

Roman stared at him. “You brought a library and have the audacity to call me the dumb one?”

“Excuse you, I am undoubtedly smarter than you,” Logan said.

“Yeah well at least I thought to bring spare clothes.” Roman rolled his eyes. Patton laughed again as Logan went even more purple, and his- literal- constellation of freckles dimmed slightly.

“It’s alright,” Patton said. “We can go on a shopping trip tomorrow- um- that is- if you’re both ok with me coming with you? I don’t- mean to be presumptuous-”

“Patton,” Roman interrupted, “I understand you seem to be nervous around us, but we’ve already proved multiple times that neither of us have a single clue what we’re doing. I for one would be delighted to have someone who actually knows travelling etiquette with us for this journey, Logan?”

“I believe… your company would be… beneficial,” Logan said eventually, after seemingly much consideration.

“Ok! Great- um- I guess I’ll leave you both be, then?” Patton said, already backing away from them. “I’ll- I’ll see you both downstairs in the morning?”

“Indeed!” Roman said with a nod of his head. “Sleep well, friend.”

“Um- you too!” Patton called, before bolting from the room.

It was a few minutes after Patton left before one of them spoke. Honestly, Roman was surprised it was Logan.

“He is… odd.”

Roman couldn’t help but burst out laughing against “Oh my- goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush so much! I need to get him to reveal his secrets!”

“Respectfully, your highness, shut up,” Logan said, before walking over to one of the beds and sitting down. Roman just grinned and winked at him. “Go to sleep, you fool, we have a lot to do tomorrow.”

“Yeah yeah, got it, Mr. ‘I’m going to bring a library on a travelling expedition,’” Roman said, before lifting his bag onto the bed and removing the nightclothes he had brought with him. He heard Logan scoff, but he was fairly sure it was fond.

Roman couldn’t help but smile as he settled down for the night. The bed was nowhere close to as comfortable as the one he slept in back at the palace, not even to mention that it was a single compared to his usual bed which was likely large enough to fit five people at a squeeze, but somehow he found that it really didn’t matter. He had spent the day in the city, hell he’d even made a friend—he was fairly certain he’d never made a real friend by himself since he’d befriended Logan, and even that wasn’t really his own doing. Logan was two years older than him and Remus, so they’d basically grown up together anyway. 

His thoughts were getting off topic, but he’d made a friend, which was… amazing, in itself, and Patton was going to help them with their journey! So now their party was of three instead of two. 

All things considered, this journey was shaping up to be an incredibly good one.

<- Previous | First | Next ->

[hexenmond]

slowly gearing up to writing again

I want to dump all my thoughts somewhere, and what else did I reactivate this tumblr for? I'm going to ramble about the beginnings of this long form Witch Door fanfiction that has some 90k words already. If you're curious about how a comparatively old, fandom-disinterested, fanfiction-baffled person (aka me) came to do that, there are Many Words below the cut.

I haven't really read much fiction books in years, mostly because it can take such an emotional toll on me, and I've never really been interested in watching anything. I don't have the patience for it. That's just how it was for me, for most of my life. With one notable exception: webcomics.

Webcomics work uniquely well for me because of their format – the updates are spaced out, and while I will readily admit that I've been in agony over some cliffhangers (I am side-eyeing several comics so hard right now), the simple fact that I have at least two days to just, like, integrate the latest page, no matter how hard-hitting, keeps me from getting overwhelmed. And my long-term memory is excellent so I have little trouble keeping tabs on the plots of twenty different comics.

So I've been reading webcomics for 15+ years, and I knew about the existence of fanfiction thanks to my oldest child. I didn't get it though. Never had any desire to read any. Never was so obsessed with fictional characters that I needed someone to share that with. And maybe that was just because I wasn't surrounded by that subculture? (I was on tumblr specifically to follow a small number of blogs religiously, and kinda lost that thread completely sometime in 2019.) It just never was a thing for me.

Then in January 2023 I stumbled across The Witch Door, at the end of chapter 9. Did my damnedest to pace myself but I gobbled it up within a week. And reread it, in parts and as a whole, more than once. One day I wanted to look it up on my phone (as opposed to my desktop where I usually read comics), and I'd forgotten the actual URL, so I did a web search – and the first thing I found was a 22 page bonus/side comic on itch.io. By the actual author.

So that was the most wonderful coincidence since Anni never really advertised the thing anywhere, and then I read and reread THAT comic, oh, dozens of times I'm sure. And one day my brain came up with a short scene (2.5k) of how that comic might have continued. A oneshot, if you will… 😄😄😄

And I also hadn't written any prose, or even poetry, in many years, but I do love it so I thought why not. Wrote it down (on pen and paper!), typed it up, edited it a bit, reread it a couple of times, I was pleased. Proceeded to put it on AO3 because I knew from my child that the platform existed, and was excited to discover there was actually another fic in the fandom (a drabble sequence, a term which confused me back then).

Well, and as all seasoned fic writers know, oneshots sure can be some tricky little beasts. My brain did not stop coming up with the rest of the story. It kept going till the very end! I woke up early one Saturday morning, crying, because I made myself sad with how the story ended.

So that was kind of a wild trip. But the actual writing made me so happy, I was basically flying, for months, returning to my story at every opportunity. (I'm self-employed. "Opportunity" is very relative.)

Then I stumbled across Anni's Dreamling comics on Pinterest, which was another wild coincidence. And those reminded me of the Sandman comics which I'd read, uh, decades ago? and with that came reading Dreamling fanfiction. Which I consumed at a most alarming speed, I stopped writing, I stopped working, basically I fell into a hole and my life got jumbled for a while, back in September last year.

But by now I've dragged myself out of that hole, I'm back to working, and I am ready to get back into writing. This story is still dear to me, and I still love to write, and I will see it finished. Not least because even though I love the Dreamling fanfiction and fandom folks, and I have even consciously and by myself decided to watch Dead Boy Detectives and LOVED it – I do not feel like writing about any of these characters. They just don't tickle my brain that way. Only The Witch Door characters do that for me, and right now this feels like a precious gift.

(Honestly I am amazed at how many people are able to take the same two blorbos and put them in situation after situation without getting boring or getting bored. You are so wonderful 💜💜💜)

Has anyone actually read all of that? Well if so, you're in for yet more words 😜 because all the reading on AO3 has given me plenty more perspective and understanding, and I've decided to put all my original thoughts about wanting to write this story here instead of also on AO3, where I've kept them along with my progress tracker. I'll put some detailed content warnings there instead, for people who would rather have spoilers than no clear idea of what they're about to read. So here are my thoughts from, uh, April last year?

------------------------------------------

My thought processes, in case anyone’s interested

So I found The Witch Door in January this year, at the end of chapter 9 I think, and then by pure coincidence Anni K.’s wonderful side comic about Jousia and Jesse. That ignited a creative spark, and now I find myself adding on to this every day. Originally I’d written one chapter, was pleased with it and posted it, done. And then my brain just said, “guess who knows what happens AFTER that?” and now I’m writing thousands of words.

The thing I am very conflicted about is: I would LOVE for this to be canon compatible. Ideally it would be a side story that happens on all those days where the canon plot isn’t doing anything (or possibly after the current adventure arc). And that worked for the first chapter I wrote, but it just doesn’t work for the rest… partly because there simply isn’t enough canon material yet for me to know some important world building details, but also largely because I quickly ended up writing stuff that has actual plot. And plot means character development, otherwise what’s the point. But Anni’s plot is going to take the characters on a different route, and that’s just how it is.

In short: I am not writing this because I want to change a single thing about The Witch Door. Quite the contrary! I am writing because I so dearly wish there was more of it! And it’s one of those hard facts of life that 2,000 words are written much more quickly than even one full page of comic is completed. :-\ So if you will take the characters as they are at somewhere around chapter 10 in canon, and you find them to be well represented here but just having different adventures, that's all I’m hoping to do.

Addendum:

I decided to fudge the canon timeline a bit, just so the side comic event would fit in nicely with the state of relationships in chapter 10. I'll give an in depth explanation of that in the actual series. And also… I am now entirely happy that this will NOT be canon compatible.

------------------------------------------

Now that I've dumped all that the next post shall contain an actual story snippet! 🙃

[euphoricfilter]

30, 34, 36, 37, 38

-🖤

30. Have you ever written something that was out of your comfort zone? If so, what was it, and how did it affect your approach to writing fic thereafter?

not that i can remember, i guess the first time i wrote smut? because i'd never written it before and had no idea what i was doing? and now look at me, a little whiz when it comes to it (jk i have at least one melt down each time i write smut and come to close to bashing my head against a wall)

34. What aspects of your writing are inspired by/taken from your real life?

probably certain emotions that some of the characters i write about feel, in DTIK i think i wrote about the fear of loneliness once, or something along those lines and i think at that time i felt so isolated from people that it was nice to try and articulate that feeling and i remember someone commenting about that specific part and how they'd felt the same and i just :( that was such a shit time in my life LMAO

i think DTIK is definitely the series that i push some of my negative emotions onto, or take the most of what i feel in real life put down in words

and i really want to go back and rewrite a lot of what i already have because compared to when i started the series i think at in this moment i would be able to maybe write better, even if whats been posted is like the rawest form of emotions that story will ever get

apart from that i think most of what i write is pure luck and imagination, it's a sad life i lead

36. Do you visualize what you read/write?

yes, most, if not all of my fics that i've written play out in my head like a movie or a drama. and that's why when i write i really try to write down what i see so readers can have the same experience as me with room for interpretation. i also have music that i would use as soundtracks for all my writing if they were ever to be a movie/ drama. one thing i'm not good at is character building, for short drabbles its really hard to build super complicated characters with complex emotions and traits but when i see them in my mind they're all very unique

i do the same for reading, even for novels i have to put the book down so i can visualize what my character would be if i were to be in the story, or things i would do different if i were to be the main character

38. Did any of your fics get surprisingly popular (whatever that means to you)? Which ones? Why do you think they were so successful?

the first time almost shat myself was 'Helping Hands' i remember releasing the teaser and it did really well, and i was like damn what if the actual fic is really bad and all these people are liking my sad little teaser, but it became the most 'popular' fic (in terms of notes) on my page at that time, it might still be but i think 'secrets out' is slowly catching up. at this point my posts would average like 100 to maybe 300 ish notes- i think i also only had my two series at that time and i know a lot of people prefer oneshots/ twoshots so for them to even get that many notes i was really happy, and i'd thought i'd made it with TBAH and then helping hands did numbers.

the next one is bully fic, seriously i still don't understand why it did so well and to this day it still baffles me, and then 'secrets out' did even better than that and i was genuinely so surprised. literally all of my morally grey fics, why are they so popular? whoever requested secrets out definitely had unresolved family issues because i remember reading that request and thinking damn that's eerily specific and therapy does exist

[yostresswritinggirl]

Pathological

Writing this at four AM with four hours of sleep to commemorate my monthsary with my lover, marking today's 23rd exactly three months away from what would be our third year anniversary. And what other way to go than to go reminisce on the way he confessed, spoken by the character that matches it best?

Pairings -> Albedo x Reader (implied female reader)

Themes -> Short Fic, Confessions, Fluff

Series -> #Sojourner Specials (600 Followers Event)

Albedo runs on logic and patterns, all calculated and supported by facts. He settles for nothing more than what he knows and guides himself with the knowledge he's always sure about. Logos.

You run on emotions and empathy, all explained by the natural laws of human psychology. Your actions and words are backed by constructs of the mind that are shaped by society or by nurture and nature. Pathos.

Despite how opposite you two are, Albedo wonders how the division in between your set paths always manage to be crossed so easily within the comforts of his workspace. An area that was filled with the sounds of flaming bunsen burners and now mixed with the symphony of your unshackled laughter. A light dust of red had sprayed among his cheeks and he still doesn't understand why. "I, well, I'm sorry I'm not really sure what to answer to that," he pulls up the safety goggles over his nest of blonde hair and you smiled at the way it bounced over it.

Albedo had the pulling urge to replicate such smile.

"Ah, no, it's fine," your lithe smile turned a bit quirky, as the emotions in your eyes changed with a glint. If only he knows things better, maybe he would know what it means. "I guess talking about this stuff isn't really your forte." The concept of normalcy. "Gah, see! My stupidity is latching on to you, this is what happens when you spend time with me!"

His blonde fluff of hair would shake as he nods his head dismissively, an amused smile on his face at the thought. "Now why would you think that?" Your mouth opens to rant about the times he had spent with you and of the moments your ceaseless, 'brain rotting' rants had only managed to confuse and baffle him to no response.

As you continued to talk about the impressions of the scenarios you had stated over the recent week of his sudden stupidity, the Master Alchemist's face would flush harder with vermillion color. His gloved hand strategically placed over his cheek as he listens and watches, your hands moving in motion to better accentuate your points in your little argument over his sudden 'idiocy' over the exposure of you. "I suppose, to some degree, you are right." This time, he hides a bashful smile under his palm, gaze unable to lock with your widened ones.

"See, I was right! Ah, this could have been prevented when you'd told me not to go barging in whenever I want so I can hang around with you!" You threw your hands up with a mocking whine, lips pursed into a pout to go along with your absurd statement. He's not sure if you were half-joking or purely committed. "How could such a thing even happen? A parasitic link?"

"Maybe we can put that conversation into another day." He turns sideways away as a lump on his throat prevented him from saying more, his pulse seemingly heightened at the implications he had now finally understood.

"Alright, I won't pry since you always indulge me when I needed space too," always so considerate and humble with you. "But I'm gonna come up with millions of theories until the day you tell me."

His shoulders then shook with unhinged laughter, one so natural and raw that it felt like a window to his soul. Your eyes widened at the sound, finding it to be your favorite one thus far. "Fine, I shall spare you the overthinking then."

"Wha- No, Albedo, it's fine really-!"

"I assume it's normal for boys my age to go dumb around girls they like, is all."

When he turns back to face you once more, his cheeks now had a tinge of true red that reached the tip of his nose and cheeks. Even from this distance, you can almost feel the intense heat emanating from it, and his gaze fluttered about the room to look at anything else but you.

"I... did not expect that." Your own face warmed at the realization of the intonations of his 'confession,' but the look he gave suddenly changed your way of thinking to that of logic, or maybe in the end it was still in touch with your emotions? "Albedo, you're getting very warm, are you okay?"

Albedo's face scrunched up in a mix of embarrassment and exasperation, a mixture of amusement and bashfulness reflecting on his smile as he locked eyes with you. "Yes, please, that's not the point of this conversation however."

Almost cried while writing this gah- I love my mans so much ywy.

@zelos-simp @legionqueensav @dandelion-dreams @snackgod @rxsalinee @albaedhoe @moaa

[bxcketbarnes]

Royal Betrayal

Pairing: Gardener!Ashton Irwin x Princess!Reader

Words: 1800+

Author’s Note: Hello, it’s me again. I’ve got this pretty cute fic here that I hope you guys will like. I feel like it’s kind of rushed but hey, I still kind of like it lmao. Let me know what you guys think, mmkay? Have a good one xox

"I cannot believe that he's trying to sleaze his way into the royal family," you mutter to yourself as you stroll through the garden. A sigh leaves your lips while rubbing your face, trying to calm yourself down.

To think your ex-boyfriend dares to try and please your parents, which he never liked in the first place, just so he can get in on the wealth is astonishing. You wonder why you went out with him. Crazy ass motherfucker.

As you continue to walk through the garden you end up tripping over some tools. A shriek leaves your lips and you lose your footing before crashing onto the ground.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry, m'lady," a familiar voice panics and rushes towards you, getting onto one of his knees. "Are you okay?"

You stare up at the blue sky as a small amount of pain flows through your body. Your eyes meet your gardener's and let out a short sigh. "Physically or mentally?" You question and he raises an eyebrow.

"Let's start with physically since my equipment tripped you," the black-haired man chuckles and you sit up, dusting the dirt off of your shirt.

"I'm okay. It's not like I haven't taken a tumble before, Ashton," you tell him with a giggle and the man lets out a breath of relief.

Ashton helps you up and you dust the rest of yourself off before running a hand through your hair. "That's good because if you ended up getting hurt your mother would kill me," Ash mumbles and you wave your hand, letting out a scoff.

"No, she wouldn't. She'd scold you a bit, but that's it. She loves you too much," you say with a grin.

The black-haired man chuckles in response, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "You seriously okay, though? You seemed… upset?" He asks and the smile falls off of your face, a deep breath coming from your lips.

"Do you remember Jake?" You mumble and Ashton internally groans at the mention of your ex-boyfriend but nods his head.

"Unfortunately, yeah," Ashton mentions as the flashbacks of the two of you making out in the garden play through his head.

He was always jealous of Jake for having your complete attention and at one point you didn't even talk to him because of the guy.

You notice Ashton's jaw clenching and you furrow your eyebrows a bit before shaking your head. "Well, he's trying to sweeten up to mom and dad so he can be in the royal family," you spit angrily while crossing your arms over your chest. "And I don't know what to do about it. I don't just wanna go up to my parents and be like, "hey, don't listen to this fool," you know?"

"I'm sure they'd listen to you, Y/N," Ash tells you, his fingers running through his hair. "You're their daughter. They should listen to you."

A sigh leaves your lips as you direct your gaze back towards the house, nodding your head. "You're right, Ash. Thank you," you smile and Ashton returns it, bringing his hand to your shoulder.

"You got this."

-

Ashton walks into the house to tell the Queen that his duties were done for today when he stops in his tracks at the sound of screaming. "Mom! I'm telling you that he's only doing it for the money!" You scream as you pace in front of your parents, baffled that they're not listening to you. "He never cared about you guys! How can you not believe me?"

Your mother sets down her teacup before sitting back against the couch. "You know he mentioned that you would try to do this," she states and you stare down at her, feeling the tears come to your eyes.

"You know nothing about him. You know what he shows you. I know him. I know how he really is! The fact that you're "siding" with him over your daughter hurts," you whisper as your voice cracks.

Ashton's heart breaks at the sound of your voice, his hand knocking on the door. "I'm… sorry to interrupt," he mentions as the three of you glance over at him. "I just wanted to tell you I finished my duties. I'll be in the guest house if you need me."

You tear your gaze away almost immediately, wiping the tears that fell from your eyes. "Thank you, Ashton. We'll see you tomorrow morning," your mother grins and Ashton nods his head, glancing at you once more before walking away. "Now, your father and I are trying to make plans for dinner with Jake. We'll talk later, sweetheart."

A scoff leaves your lips and you shake your head. "I won't be attending," you spit and walk out of the living room, rushing out of the giant house.

You find yourself heading towards Ash's place that's on the property, just needing to get away for a bit. You run your fingers through your hair as memories with Jake flash through your mind. More tears stream down your cheeks as you step up to Ashton's front door, knocking softly.

The door opens and you immediately crash your body into Ash's. His arms wrap around your shoulders as you cry into his chest, gripping the tank top he's wearing.

"So, turns out I was wrong," he mumbles into your hair, trying to lighten the mood and a short laugh comes from your lips.

You pull away from him, wiping your face before taking a deep breath. "He has them brainwashed. I… I honestly don't know what to do," you inform him, and Ashton strokes your cheek gently.

"I don't know either, Y/N. I thought for sure they'd listen to their daughter." Ashton thinks back to the conversation he overheard, his eyebrows furrowing together. "What did you mean when you said that you know how he really is?"

You dip your head, low-key wishing he hadn't heard that. You run your fingers through your hair and Ash hooks his finger under your chin, making you look at him. "He… um, he used to abuse me," you whisper and the black-haired man's eyes widen, his grip on your chin tightening a bit.

Ashton notices you wince and he removes his hand from your face, muttering an apology. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asks in a hushed whisper, his eyes softening as they meet your vulnerable ones.

"He would threaten me. It's why I distanced myself from you. I'm sorry," you confess to him and Ashton pulls you back into his chest. You take a deep breath and wrap your arms around his waist. "If I hurt you I didn't mean it."

"It's okay," Ashton whispers and presses a light kiss to your head. Your hands move up Ashton's back, nuzzling your face into his chest.

A sigh leaves your lips and you pull away from him, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. "It's not. To know that I hurt you hurts me," you tell him and graze your fingertips along his arms.

Ashton gives you a small smile and brings his hand to your face, gently stroking your cheek. "You're here now. That's all that matters, sweetheart." Your heart flutters in your chest and you lean into his touch.

The space between the two of you starts to diminish when someone loudly knocks on Ash's door. You jump and glance over your shoulder to see a figure standing just outside his place.

"Who's that?" Ash mumbles quietly and you shrug your shoulders as the black-haired man heads towards his front door. You follow him, your hand resting against his lower back as he opens the door.

The smug smirk of your ex-boyfriend stares you in the face and your stomach drops. "Y/N, my love! There you are!"

Your hand grips the tank top Ashton's wearing, swallowing the lump that's forming in your throat. "What are you doing here?" You ask and Jake holds his hand out to you.

"Your mother didn't tell you? I'm here for our dinner," he tells you.

"It's nowhere near close to dinner time," you mumble and Jake's eyes move from you to Ash.

"I thought I told you to stay away from her," he snarls at the gardener and Ashton lets out a scoff.

He crosses his arms over his chest, staring down at your ex. "The two of you aren't together anymore, so I believe that's not in effect anymore," Ashton states coldly and you rest your cheek against his shoulder blade.

Jake laughs maniacally and shakes his head, his dark eyes moving to yours. "Well, the Queen has offered her hand to me so whatever this is," he gestures to the two of you and a sharp gasp leaves your lips.

"No," you whisper and look up at Ash. "No… no, she wouldn't do that without asking me first-"

"Oh, but she did sweetheart. Now let's go," he growls and reaches out to grab your arm when Ashton steps in front of you.

"She's not going anywhere with you. So, you can inform the Queen that she'll see her later," Ashton stands up for you and Jake scoffs.

He walks away from the two of you, mumbling to himself and Ash closes his door before letting out a sigh. "This can't be happening," you mutter and run your fingers through your hair. "I can't fucking believe this is happening."

"Hey…" Ashton coos and rests his hands on your shoulders. You look up at him with tears in your eyes and the black-haired man pushes some of your hair from your face. "It's okay. We'll figure it out. I promise."

You nod your head and Ash brings your body into him. "Thank you," you mumble into his chest as the two of you find yourselves in each other's embrace again.

"What if…" he trails off and you pick your head up, seeing his hazel eyes looking at everything but you. "What if we get married before your engagement."

Your eyes widen at his idea, Ashton's eyes finally meeting yours and you can see the admiration in them. "You want to marry me?" You ask in a whisper and Ash smiles at you.

"I do, yeah. You're such an amazing woman. You're kind, funny, quirky at some times but I've loved you for years," he confesses and your cheeks blush.

"Ash…" you mumble as your heart beats quickly in your chest. "I'd love to marry you."

The Gardener places his hands on your face before pressing his lips to yours. Your fingers run through his hair as you kiss him back, your free arm wrapping around his neck.

A giggle leaves your lips when Ashton pulls away, his forehead resting against yours. "Let’s go get married, yeah?" You grin up at him and his thumb glides across your bottom lip.

"Let's go get married, love."

-

Taglist: @calpalirwin @myloverboyash @sexgodashton @ashxxxirxxx @prettymuchxarreaga @aladyofalbion @philthepegacorn @calumspupils @fallinallinturner @bvbygxrl @suchalonelysunflower @spicylftv​ @marshmallowtraver​ @devilatmydoor​ @jessalyn-jpeg​ @maddz-world​ @everyscarisahealingplace​ @itsasadfishworld​ @talkfastromance4​ @notinthesameguey​ @iwritesiriusly​ @iknowyouthinkimbulletproof​

[wychive]

𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 — 𝙡. 𝙟𝙮. (#𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙠𝙛𝙣)

fic type // oneshot — 3.9k

prompt // when an individual is born, their magic aura makes itself present indicating what magic they would be using. very few were born with a dark magic aura and died within their first breaths, you were one of the two recorded births that made it. now you were searching for the other one

pairing(s) // juyeon x gn!reader (pltn.)

genre(s) // PG18 & adventure, fluff, angst

warning(s) // knives, stabbing (in a dream), nightmares, mention of food, depiction of anxiety, description of smells, being drunk, deceased major and minor characters, blood, corpses

author's note // it's finally here! i've been working on this for a few weeks already and that's why it's so late :'( thank you to @omigogames for proof reading this ily queen 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 this was for @kpopficsnetwork' s halloween event that they held last october <3 please read the rest of the member's works on the event! i recommend listening to wandering and as the world caves in (at the angsty parts) while reading this as it really sets the mood. i hope you enjoy!!

you wiped the drop of sweat off your forehead as you approached the top of a hill. you sat down on the grassy floor and took out a flask still full of drinking water. you downed a quarter of it, feeling your body re energize as you do so. you never thought it would take this long to search for them.

how many months has it been? five? six? you've lost count, having to travel miles across the world just to find the hidden treasure you've been seeking for years. see, you were born with a 'unique' aura. everyone has their own which determines what kind of magic they would be using for the rest of their lives. your family had the common ice or water elementals but you turned out to be the black swan in a ballet full of snowy white ones.

you were born with an aura that was powerful enough to cause a black out, in other words, you had a dark magic aura and somehow managed to survive throughout the years. your mother was no different from the rest but she tried her best to guide you on controlling your powers or even combine your magic powers with hers to make an elemental combo. she died two years before you went on this journey to find the one only other person who successfully survived their own birth of having this magic aura. the only things you knew about them were that they were at least 20 years older and that they were born as a female.

the fact that only you and one other person have this magical ability made you think about them day and night. were you their soulmate? or did they think of you too? were they a kind or evil person? did they ever confuse people like you did? were they affected by society's comments that they're now shut away in some dungeon? you could go on and on for days about this special person even though you haven't met them yet. you were eager to find them, even if it took you years to do so.

as you wondered about the unique person, you stared into the dark abyss with shining dots, not realising your eyelids were shut soon after. that night you dreamt of all the possible outcomes this journey would end, mostly happy endings where you would find the person and be their friend or you get to spend the rest of your life with them. you did not want to think of the sad ones, yet your mind wanted to see you suffer. nightmares were common as they came with your dark powers but you still hated it when they disturb your perfect sleep. with that, you woke up from a nightmare just as the person was about to strike a knife in your chest.

the pain felt so real that as soon as you woke up, your hand clutched onto your chest. luckily (or not so) you heard the uniform paced heartbeat from your eardrums. this caused you so much as you did not even see that the sun was just above the horizon, greeting the earth a good morning. you sighed in relief as you thank the universe for not getting you eaten by a wild animal.

you stood up, stretching your arms and legs after another night of sleeping on a thick cloth. you packed up your things and placed your sturdy backpack on you before starting your trekking journey. you checked your phone for any updates or news of the world that was not so boring as you began to walk south towards a small town. once approaching the main road, you slipped your phone back into your front pocket before following the flow of cars.

a smile appeared on your face, looking at how idle the town was at eight in the morning. it wasn't so noisy as most of the cars had stopped at diners or cafes for a tasty breakfast. the only things you could hear were people greeting each other with a simple 'hello' and the birds that had just been awoken from their slumber.

you checked the amount of money you had left; apparently, it was enough for you to last three days for all three meals and then it was downhill from there. you shook your head, thinking of ways to earn at least a little bit of money before moving to another town (if you needed to). your eyes drifted from the trees to the bakery that was on the opposite side of the road.

you could see the silhouette of a person placing buns in their respective containers. the person was in chef whites, with their sleeves rolled above their elbows. you really didn't want to catch feelings for anyone at the moment, especially in this state of being homeless and short on money. nonetheless, you were hungry and so you decided that you wanted some fresh baked buns on a saturday morning like this.

as you walked into the cozy bakery, you noticed a variety of desserts and buns arranging from croissants to baked pizza buns. the aroma in the air made your stomach growl. you took one of the pick-up trays and a pair of tongs and immediately went for the custard and red bean buns.

"oh my god," a voice exclaimed followed by a bit of coughing. "why do you smell so bad?"

you brought an arm to your nose, smelling yourself. you actually didn't smell half-bad. it only has been a day since you showered properly, how could it be that bad? you rolled your eyes as you looked in the direction of the voice. ah, it was the silhouette from earlier.

"is this how you greet customers?" you shot back, raising one of your eyebrows.

"no, of course not," the person said. "but your stench is unbearable." they scoffed and shook their head, giving a smug expression.

"well, i'll only be here for just a bit. don't worry about it, i'll be out before your regulars arrive," you said, assuring that you WOULD be out before anything else happened.. but you did not. as you didn't expect the prices of food to be that high.

"look at this place," the employee said, leaning his palms against the edge of the counter. "what did you expect?"

he was right, the place looked like it was straight up from a renaissance painting with its mini chandeliers and pink roses on the sides as decorations. it did look like a modern cafe twisted with some hint of the classics.

"is there anything i could do? to pay for this i mean," you asked them, hiding your embarrassment of the lack of money.

"depends… what kind of element do you use?"

"...ice," you lied. no one would want a rare dark element in their place.

"hm.. i guess we could use some ice making help," they thought, then looked back at you who seemed desperate for the job. yes, it would hold you back on a few days but you really needed the money.. and a place to stay if they let you.

"okay, then. you're hired," they said as they lent out a hand for you to shake. it was covered in leftover flour and smelled like yeast. you grabbed his hand and shook it.

"the name's juyeon, and you?"

"y/n… i'm guessing you're a fire user?" you replied. it was obvious as he was cocky, yet a charming fella. you could say a demon in disguise.

"clever, i like that in people," he smirked, his face looked smug and it really pissed you off- but he might be your new manager or boss so you stuck up to it and let out a simple fake chuckle. "any other questions?

"do i get a place to stay along with the job?"

"no but you could stay over at my place," he acknowledged. your eyes dart around the room before they landed on him, as you let out a laugh.

"excuse me?"

"you heard me. i have a spear bed and everything," he said. you were baffled, it seemed like he didn't care if you were a serial killer, plus, he only knew your first name and what 'element' you responded to. what were you going to do?

"fine," you said, already looking forward to the comfort your body was going to feel once you finally sleep on a mattress.

"alright then, let's get to work barista."

as you both get to his apartment, you gazed at your surroundings. everything looked neat, and not a spick of dust were to be seen. you look at the mini hallway in the studio apartment of his and see two doors, opposite of each other and another at the end of it. before you could even step foot in the kitchen, the male pulled you aside. your reflexes almost caused you to punch his stupid face when you remembered that you were just a guest at this comfort place of his.

"rules," he said, in a stern voice. "one, not too much noise between eleven at night to six in the morning. two, don't use too much of the hot water because i'm touched starved too-"

you rolled your eyes at his last remark, acknowledging that it was a cruel true joke. "-three, save some snacks for me if you're planning to eat it all and four, we leave the bakery together and come back together. i'm not sure who your guardian is but, i'll make sure you're in one piece once you return to them"

"i'm my own guardian, excuse you."

"still, your safety is guaranteed when you're with me," juyeon claimed. you thought it was rubbish but still, he had a bigger brother vibe with the way he spoke and so you went with the flow.

"the left one's mine, the last one's the bathroom," he said, referring to the hallway of doors you were staring at. the muffled sound of news reporters from the television drowned itself in the background when you close the door behind you. a smile appeared on your face as you got to have your own room, without juyeon ever bugging you.

you place your heavy army backpack beside the door as you lay on the bed that was neatly made. you smiled, finally having a proper place to sleep. you thank god for the (annoying) co-worker that you met that day. you didn't even have a chance to shower before your thoughts drifted away, causing you to sleep.

the next morning, juyeon woke you up by shouting your name from the kitchen multiple times. you groaned at the sound of his voice at seven in the morning when you were used to waking up at nine. you sat up and started your day from there. thankfully, it wasn't too exhausting.

a morning walk to the cafe bakery was thankfully peaceful with the both of you not being the big social type nor the small talk type. the warm rays of sunlight made your morning so much better. you began working at the bar, where you produced many types of tea and other refreshing drinks. you managed to conjure up ice easily with some tricks your mother taught as a child.

you introduced yourself to the regulars as a new employee at the place and they politely welcomed you to the town and cafe. their smiles were genuine and sweet, they gave off a motherly feel whenever it appeared. yours, too, was genuine. you missed being in a community like this, so dearly that you almost teared up at the sight of a child being kind to you.

the night was better. the walk back to his place was filled with stories about the regulars that juyeon had been told. you had inserted some dull dad jokes here and there, making him let out a chuckle at least once.

once you both arrived at the apartment, you immediately went to get your shower supplies and headed to the bathroom. while showering, you thought of ways you could find her faster. you have tried multiple ways but still couldn't find solid proof of her whereabouts. you sighed scrubbing the bubbly shampoo onto your scalp. you could ask juyeon for help but your identity would be revealed and he might just kick you out for that. maybe, just maybe, you could keep this act up? for a little longer. at least until you get enough money to live on your own.

that was what you did for the next few months, keeping your act up for the rest of the world. you were careful not to reveal too much of yourself, not spreading too much information across to other people, not even juyeon. even if you had secrets, he still treated you as normal as everyone else. though, he did seem weird at times as if he could read your thoughts. this scared you as it wasn't impossible to learn occlumency even if it took time. over time, you and juyeon developed this best friend bond with each other; protecting and having each other's backs when needed. of course, he was the same person as the one you met on your first day around town which left a sense of comfort in you.

a nightmare dressed as a daydream was what you were as you would sneak out on nights before non-working days. you had to let out a piece of your dark powers out somehow. even if you knew how to conceal them, it didn't mean you could control them forever. you found a cave in the far east where no one would hear nor see you, and so that became your little relaxation cave.

not so long after, you found out that there was a man who could find things you couldn't. some say he had connections to the deeper net or even that he was related to some who were part of an underground gang. nonetheless, it didn't stop you from seeing the fella once a week or two. this method made itself a purpose as he gave you more information than any general person could; her hometown, her family members, and so much more.

it seemed like a miracle, though you never thought that she would have children, more than that of a son and a daughter. a fact that surprised you was that she had the same surname as your roommate. that was all the information he had, it was not much but you still thanked him for it. your night-ventures continued on, exploring the town and gathering bits of information through drunken folks at the tavern.

you would get home just before dawn and sleep until noon. of course, the male you lived with would nag you on waking up late but he never really cared either. he loved to see your bite back with your poor choice of words. everything felt right and everything felt okay, you were in peace with the world.

"where are you going?" his voice emerged from the darkness, causing your body to jump.

"i'm just gonna get some drinks," you answered, in a confident tone as you bit your inner bottom lip.

"are you going to go see him again?" juyeon asked, snickering along with his words. "don't think i don't know what you're up to."

his statements and questions made your mind run wild; how did he know? why didn't he ever stop you? did he understand what you were doing? did someone tell him? you became a still worried mess, not knowing what to say nor do. you were stuck in a pose as if medusa were to turn you into stone.

"please, just tell me where you're going tonight, or bring me with you," he said, his voice groggy as if he had woken up from a short sleep.

"no, i'm sorry, juyeon," the words flew out of your mouth as your thoughts re-organized themselves. "you can't"

"why not?" he asked, once again. at this point his questions seemed like an endless stream of cloth.

"because- you just can't," you sighed, relaxing your shoulders and going up to him. you didn't have any excuses because you weren't used to lying so much to someone who you cared for. "it's dangerous if you do, please just listen to me."

he sighed deeply as he always does before he nags. "i want to listen to you, y/n, but you going off in the middle of the night and coming home late isn't… so you. do you need to talk? or something. i know i'm not good with comfort but i'm here for you if you need to let out anything at all."

you felt broken, because you knew how much he longed for this type of relationship. he had told you about his sister that passed not so long ago and how much he adored her. you were about to say something when he placed his hands on your arms and gripped them, as a sign to not leave him.

"could you just tell me? please? i promise it would be a secret," he pleaded, truly worrying about what became a routine.

"you should sleep, juyeon. you have work tomorrow," you tried to avoid answering the question as much as possible but he made it so hard.

"i just want to know-"

"juyeon, you don't need to know. it's nothing important. you don't need to worry about me, alright? i promise i'll be okay," you said, in a sensible tone. you heard sniffles from the male that stood before you, as his grip on your arms loosened. he cracked a smile which held in pain mixed with joyful memories.

"you sound just like her," he said, in a shaky tone. he sounded weak, and you could see the pool of tears around his eyes. in that moment, you felt your breath turn shallow. you closed your eyes and immediately embraced the bigger man into a tight hug. you knew who he was referring to as he would do it so often when you opened your mouth to say anything. "you're like her" or "you act like my mother, you know that?", he always stated these in a cheery manner, but seeing him shatter like this made your heart wrench.

you decided to skip your night shenanigans when you lead him towards his room. you've never been in it but stepping into it, felt so cozy as if it were a cold breeze on a hot summer day. you sat him down on the edge of his bed, seeing his tears turn into a gold-ish colour. you sighed, seeing this side of him. you always saw the bright sunflower yellow but not this burnt out maroon red. you sat in silence as his sniffles calmed down.

the balcony door let in a ray of moonlight which shone on the boy beside you. you turned to look at him, and saw a grin emerge from his lips.

"thank you," he said in a whisper-tone. "for being here, y/n."

juyeon stared at the pale full moon that was on display for the people of the earth. "i'll always be here," you say, holding his hand. it was a nice intimate moment for the both of you. the state of serenity made you think about the things that led up to this right here and it was all because of a person whom you've never met.

"y'know.. she had the same powers as you," juyeon said, sipping his hot chocolate. you both were seated at the kitchen island with hot cocoas and mini marshmallows. it was almost four in the morning and so you both decided to stay up a little bit more, as if the sands of time didn't take precious hours of rest.

"she was a frost user as well?," you asked him, eager to know his family background.

"no," he said, chuckling before stuffing a few marshmallows into his already rich drink. you sat there, with one lifted eyebrow. "what are you talking about exactly?" you asked, warming your hands as it cupped the mug in front of you.

"you know what i mean," he said, holding in a deceiving smirk. your eyes widened and your hand gripped onto the mug handle. it wasn't the fact that he had discovered your hidden powers nor how he had hid the information that he knew your powers but it was the fact that the person that you were looking for all this time had died.

all the traveling and suffering lead you to this moment had been for nothing? you did all of this for her, and yet you turned into a sobbing mess when you visited her grave. juyeon held you close as you weeped when you saw her headstone. it absolutely broke you even if you've never even seen her nor heard her. he stayed strong for you when your head was buried into his chest. he could even feel the mix of rage and sadness as your powers seemed to leak from your tears.

"i miss her too," he spoke up, still caressing your weak state. "i'm sure she would have adored you so much, y/n"

your feelings got the best of you and soon every noise stopped, with only an ever-lasting ring in your ears. your tear-filled eyes opened to see a ring of dark purple surround you like a globe with your feet dangling in the air. it was a new, unspoken sight to see but what had happened outside the bubble was a new horror to you.

juyeon was laying on the ground, upon the many other graves. his skin covered with burnt marks of some kind, and his chest area covered with blood spots which may came from bullets. your bubble disappeared as you jumped down on the ground, going over to his lifeless body as fast as you could.

"y/n.." he said, breathless. "i'll be okay."

"but.."

"they'll be here soon."

you were confused on what he was referring to - not until you heard police and ambulance sirens coming from a distance. you cupped his face which managed to give you a small grin even in his hurtful state. "don't leave. don't leave me please."

"you need to run, y/n"

"stop. stop.. saying that," you pleaded, with some of your leftover tears dripping onto his burnt clothing. you could hear his last breaths too, which made it harder for you to ever leave his side.

"i'll see you later.. alright?" he asked, as his final words. his body fell to limp in your arms, when your tears started flowing like a never ending river. the sirens were coming closer at the scene of the crime, and there you sat, clutching onto him with your last hope of humanity. you didn't care about the police nor the property you destroyed, you lost him. you lost HIM.

in that moment, the world stayed still with no promise that it was going to spin again. your head felt dizzy as your limbs felt numb. you knew it only had been a few minutes but it felt like centuries with your silenced screams. you didn't want to be outcast, you were already alone in the world with no one else you could call for help. everyone else had their counterparts but all you had was yourself. you hated the thought of being lonely and so you stayed there, weak, just to feel something worth living for.

[autumnslance]

Hey, I'm gonna need you to give us a short story with Thancred teaching Aeryn how to gunbreaker now, specifically through dueling and close melee range.

((You’re just trying to enable me and get some trope-ridden, indulgent fic posted, huh? Well joke’s on you buddy, I already have a tropey, indulgent draft, though it’s from Heavensward patch era, featuring grumpy Thancred, amused Midgardsormr, and definitely a sparring match. Now on Ao3. So is the follow up.))

——-

“You’re avoiding me,” Aeryn said before Thancred could walk away.

“No,” he answered. “I have been busy. As have you. All of us, preparing for Ser Aymeric’s grand tournament.”

“Then let’s prepare,” she said. “Spar with me.”

“Perhaps later–”

She crossed her arms and glared. “Why? You’re lounging, so please don’t tell me you’re currently busy. I also checked with Tataru.”

Thancred closed his mouth to bite back the ready reply. “Why do you need to spar anyway? We all know you are going to win. ‘Tis what you do.”

She caught the bitterness he tried to hide. “Not always,” she answered. They did not look at each other for a long moment. “Anyroad, I shouldn’t get complacent. And you’re the best sparring partner.”

“Am I?” he asked. There might have been a hint of acid in his tone.

“None better. Absolute taskmaster.”

He snorted and pushed off the wall he was leaning on. “Well fine, if you’re going to be flattering.”

They made their way through the gates and across the Steps of Faith, the wind whipping at their clothes and hair. Aeryn watched him.

“What?” He asked.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asked. “After so many years in Thanalan, and you tend to wear lighter gear–”

“No,” Thancred said after a moment. “It is rather refreshing actually. And desert nights are chilly in their own way. Though I admit, I would not say no to an afternoon lounging in Vesper Bay’s square over crossing this bridge.”

“With overpriced orange juice from the Pissed Peiste?”

He did not reply, though for a moment it looked as if he might. He must have remembered he was angry, and wished to forgo banter. Aeryn suppressed a sigh.

“The tournament will be happening around here,” Thancred said as they reached the open plain beyond the Steps. The road stretched east and up toward Camp Dragonhead, clouds gathering over distant Xelphatol beyond the hills. Down to the west, she could barely make out the glint of Whitebrim’s towers.

“You will want to have a good idea of the ground,” he continued, crouching and peering across the open space. “Wouldn’t do to fall face first at some private’s feet because you tripped over a chinchilla’s burrow.”

“I think there’s a detail coming out to grade the area later today,” she said, drawing her rapier. “But that will just make it easier.”

“Hrmph.” He stood again, stretching as he did, then swinging his arms. “No doubt. Still; let us forgo magic for now. I want to see how you have worked on your swordsmanship these past few moons.”

“You’re sure you’re not cold?”

“I am limbering up,” he said, tone as cool as the air.

Aeryn shrugged. If he wanted to be that way. She was about to start her own stretches when Thancred suddenly dashed at her, blades drawn, making her bring her own up to meet them and immediately putting her on the defensive, forcing her back a few steps.

“Do your enemies announce when they’re ready?” He snarled, testing her defenses. He was mostly using his long Allagan blade, but she kept an eye on his smaller off-hand weapon; he had changed how he fought during his time in the wilderness.

Before, he had fought with a single sword, or matched short blades. His style had been flamboyant, even to the point of showing off, as a way to obfuscate his strikes and baffle his foes. As he pushed Aeryn across the clearing, she noted he still fought with flair and panache not found in most combatants–yet seemed more direct, less reliant on feints and misdirection than in the past. There was nothing wasteful in his movement, for all they flowed like a dance.

She could admit she was a bit envious.

And still on the back foot, godsdammit. She tried a parry Haurchefant had taught her, and gained back a few steps. A few quick strikes practiced with Lucia put Thancred on the defensive, and she caught him briefly grin.

“Mayhap your flirting across Coerthas has done you well after all,” he said, a sharp edge to the teasing.

“What?” Aeryn demanded. How dare he, he knew her better than—

The Echo’s warning came a moment too late as he spun away from her riposte, running his blade along the length of hers until with a flick of his wrist, her sword was caught, her arm twisted back as he stepped behind her, his offhand coming up to rest lightly against her throat.

“You’re easily distracted,” his voice rumbled low in her ear.

Aeryn turned her head to retort, but the words stuck when their eyes met and she was suddenly, intensely aware of being pressed against him, back to chest, their breathing heavy from the exercise and nearly in time with one another. They were close to the same height–he was only perhaps two ilms taller–so their faces were close, his brown eye strangely hooded and his lips were right there as he leaned in and gods why was she even thinking that…

They were close enough she could taste his breath, their lips barely brushing. Her eyes closed of their own accord, in anticipation of further pressure.

“…No,” he breathed, and she was suddenly spun, like when they used to dance to entertain the other Scions in that time Before Ul’dah.

Aeryn and Thancred stood in the snow, staring at one another. “That’s enough for today,” he said brusquely. “If you stay focused, you should do well enough against the Grand Companies.”

“Thancred…”

He turned away. “I apologize; that was an inappropriate distraction.”

She stared at his back for a long moment. Before he could turn his head to look, she cleared her throat. “Nothing to apologize for,” Aeryn said shortly. “All’s fair, as they say.”

“…Quite,” he replied, though sounded strange. “I believe I am rather cold after all, and will retire to the Forgotten Knight for some of Gibrillont’s mulled wine.”

She waited for him to add more, to invite her along, to offer to discuss whatever the seven hells that had been, but he walked on toward the gate. To be fair, though, she couldn’t quite manage to make those offers herself.

Aeryn watched him go, then continued to practice; not as effective as with a partner, but better than nothing, and she wouldn’t be returning to the city with him and the continued air of awkwardness.

“Thou art restless,” Midgardsormr’s voice rumbled from her left. Aeryn paused, looking over to see the small dragonet form of the ancient wyrm sitting upon a nearby stone.

“There is much to prepare for tomorrow,” she answered, returning to her drills.

“Yet there is spare time for courtship rituals?”

Aeryn fumbled mid-maneuver, nearly dropping her rapier. She blinked at him. “What? No! That was…we were sparring. Practicing, for tomorrow’s tournament.”

The dragonet tilted his head. “‘Tis not what it appeared, but mortals are strange.”

She only grunted a response and returned to her ready stance. Feint, riposte, zwerchhau…

“He is strong and skilled,” Midgardsormr continued, in a musing tone. “As I recall, such qualities are sought after, as mortals require physical mating to pass on–

“Midgardsormr,” Aeryn hissed–after stumbling again, her face on fire.

He flapped his tiny wings, and she swore he was grinning. “I was but making an observation, child, and musing on the differences between thy kin and mine own. Draconic mating is a melding of mind and spirit, rather than the flesh.”

“I am aware,” Aeryn said tightly, trying to not snap at the Father of Dragons. This was not helping take her mind off that almost-kiss. She was certain, too, the elder knew that.

There was a shift in the dragonet’s stance, and his deep black eyes now watched her closely, the hint of mirth faded. “Thou hath enjoyed the man’s companionship in the past.’Twould seem since his return, you have been at odds.”

Aeryn sheathed her blade; she was getting no further exercise in today. “…Yes,” she finally answered him. “‘Twould seem that way. I…failed to save the person he entrusted to my care, and then I failed to bring her back.”

Midgardsormr shook his head. “She but followed thy Mother’s call, and made her own choice. There was naught for thee to do upon the matter. Thou shouldst not blame thyself–Nor bear blame from others.” The last came with a slight warning growl.

“I…I don’t know if he does or not,” she admitted. “We’ve worked together, and he was honestly concerned when I was poisoned…And…” Her back pressed to his chest, his eye looking into hers, their lips not even an ilm apart. “…I’m likely imagining things, that’s all.”

That had to be it. A simple distraction, as he had said. She mustn’t read into it.

“Hrmph,” Midgardsormr rumbled. “How thy people have propagated when capable of such self-delusion is one of life’s great mysteries.”

She glowered at him. “Which of us is the expert at mortals, actually being one? You’re mistaken. Thancred is known for his flirtations and distractions; that is all it was. Naught more.”

The dragonet stretched, and made a motion almost akin to a shrug. “Thy protestations are noted,” he responded, before fading out in a puff of aether.

Aeryn rubbed her forehead. She could still sense his rumbling chuckle in the back of her mind. Once she was more or less composed–or at least no longer felt as if her face would set fire to the Gates of Judgment when she passed through them–she made her way back to the city.

—

What in the seven bloody hells had he been thinking?

Thancred ran a hand over his face as he nursed his mulled wine. The problem, of course, was that he had not been thinking. Caught in the rhythm of their sparring match, he had reacted on instinct, and she was right there and…

Inappropriate, he reminded himself. For so very many reasons. He knew at one point he had had a list, the first time he had bucked this ridiculous notion of an interest in the woman who had become their Warrior of Light.

There was one; the champion of the realm could certainly do better than a grizzled, magicless rogue.

There was another; since his misadventure in the Lifestream and being left in Dravania’s wilderness without magic, he now looked and felt closer to his actual age of thirty-two winters. Still young enough to do his job, but it seemed a decent gap against her twenty-six. She was even younger than–

That thought made him slug down a too-large gulp of too-hot wine. It helped focus the pain and gave an excuse for the tears threatening to appear as he coughed, waving away the bartender.

Aeryn had looked him in the eye and nodded when he had told her “whatever it takes” and yet…

That was not fair, and not part of the list, though he couldn’t help the anger, the grief, the shame at lying to F'lhaminn.

He retired to the small room in Cloud Nine that Tataru had rented for him. Laying in bed staring at the ceiling, he found his mind wandering back to the sparring match. How Aeryn felt pressed against him, how she smelled, how her grey eyes had darkened and then closed as their lips nearly touched…Godsdammit.

He could always blame spending time alone in the wilderness for how easily distracted he was by a pretty woman, colleague or not.

That Aeryn had seemed willing did not help; it would have been easier if she had pushed him away, cursed at him, reminded him that she did not experience such base attractions. A voice whispered that did not negate a desire for intimacy, and there were those rumors of her and the knight. He told that voice to shut up as he rolled over. But his imagination continued, conjuring images of furthering that kiss, of pressing closer, his fingers tangling in her fine black hair, the taste of her…

The aftertaste of mulled wine on his own tongue remembered the bite he had smelled in the fallen cup at Falcon’s Nest, her lying on the floor as chaos reigned outside, and the feeling of his heart in his throat at the idea of Aeryn poisoned.

Perhaps that was why he was in such a strange mood, he decided. Fear for his friend’s life, even as he was still grieving Minfilia.

Satisfied, he turned his mind to a mummer’s breathing exercise, a trick to fall asleep quickly, forcing his mind to still so he could rest.

—-

((There’s a lemony solo-Thancred follow-up to this too.))

[atinyidea]

Glitch | Ateez Gang! AU | SPECIAL_ONE

⟶ gang!au, hacker!au, love triangle? poly? female!original character

How curious it is, the fact that the police just gave a media conference, confirming ATZ’s involvement in Kyungri’s families newly-appointed murder, just as she sat down for her best friend, Jaehyeon, to be tattooed by one of the gang members?

⟶ glitch ml! main ml!

⟶ prologue | previous | next

⟶ note! it’s mostly dialogue and it’s quite short but I couldn’t get it out of my head so have this as a teaser!

⟶ taglist: @atinyluna @iis4d @untainted-memories @thegirlwiththedorkydad !! if anyone wants to be on a tag list for this fic just let me know!

⟶ 1000 words

⟶ edited 08.03.2020

Special_One: Warning Signs.

YEOSANG KQ HEADQUARTERS

Sunday 26 October 2025, 03:27,

It was dark, the only source of light coming from the widescreen monitor in the middle of the room. He was… observing the new targets. Well, not targets. Just people of interest.

Pyo Kyungri and Lee Chaeyoung. Well, more specifically Kyungri. The girl who hacked police files in under five minutes right in front of him, and in the middle of a tattoo parlour at that.

San had carried out his task impeccably well, the bug he placed on the girl’s laptop gave Yeosang access to her systems, though they were heavily encrypted. Yeosang had taken almost seven-hour just trying to unlock the device without alerting any kind of security system.

The girl was good, he had to give her that.

He had access to the webcam – even though the picture that came from it was very visible grainy, why the tech-savvy girl worked with such an old computer baffled him – and managed to get separate access to the microphone too, a programme on his own setup recording everything.

Currently, Yeosang thought his eyes were going to fall out as he watched the two girls switch places so the other could attend to the previous one’s hair – which had been going on for almost an hour and a half. His view of them wasn’t straight on, or from behind, watching their backs from a side angle. He could see – albeit not very clearly – what they were looking at on the blank wall opposite them, eyes threatening to close as they paused the video yet again.

When his phone rang, it hadn’t had the chance to ring out fully even once, Yeosang clicking the accept button in a flash. It was Hongjoong.

“They’re back have been for a while, boss.” He told him, eyes flickering back to the two girls.

“What’re they doing?”

“They’re watching some video feed. I think I can enhance the volume of the microphone to hear what they’re saying if you want.”

“Whatever you can do, do it Yeosang.” Hongjoong sighed from the other side of the phone. “Keep me updated.”

Yeosang nodded, though he knew Hongjoong couldn’t see him, “sure thing,” he said and with that Hongjoong hung up. Yeosang clicked a few buttons and slid the volume of the microphone up, catching the end of Chaeyoung’s sentence.

“­–seen, held conversation with and even taunted three of the most prolific members of NCT. They know my face! I got up in their faces!” The shorter girl who had become his co-worker mere hours ago was worked up in a panic, and Yeosang almost felt sorry for her. She now sat on the floor in front of Kyungri, a dark towel around her shoulders as dark hair dye was being applied to her hair – Yeosang couldn’t tell what colour it was other than ‘dark’.

“Calm down, we weren’t talking to them for more than ten minutes tops. The only features they would really remember are your bright orange hair and your sickly-sweet voice. Which is not your usual voice, and we are currently changing your hair.”

“You weren’t looking at them Ri.” Chaeyoung’s voice dropped, Yeosang involuntarily leaned forward towards the screen as if it would help him hear. “That red-haired one, Yuta, he hardly said anything. He was just looking at me. He’s definitely got my face committed to memory or something.”

So they knew who was a part of NCT, by name, or at least the members they had come into contact with. Yeosang took note of that fact to give back to Hongjoong later. He was interrupted by the loudness of Chaeyoung’s voice as she gasped. “Look! Isn’t that Mr Lover boy from your fun escapade in X-Clusive? Wooyong or something, right?”

Yeosang’s head snapped back towards the screen, watching as Chaeyoung pointed to the wall, the video paused at the opening of a door. He watched as Kyungri took out a tablet and zoomed in on the image, his jaw clenching as he made out the distinctive image of his fellow gang member.

It was indeed Wooyoung – or Wooyong as he was known as in public.

“Oh shit.” That was Kyungri.

“Do you think he saw you?”

“I don’t know!”

“What are you going to do if he did?”

“Well, I'm currently bleaching my hair blonde so.”

The girls settled into silence once again.

“Kyungri… Just, have a look at your laptop real quick. I think it may need to be put on charge or something.” Chaeyoung had broken the silence and Yeosang froze slightly. He wasn’t even a proper hacker. He cursed in his thoughts. What if they realised, he’d been listening in? His whole task would be compromised if he was found out. He got to work trying to disable the webcam, but it was too late, Kyungri was already looking straight at the laptop.

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna let it sleep for a while.” She said before almost slamming the lid shut and plunging Yeosang’s screen into darkness. Now all he had was audio.

“How did it get this low?”

“Where even is your charger?”

“It might be in the kitchen, can you check?”

“Can you grab me a coke or something while you're there?”

“Here you go, one glass of coke and one laptop charger!”

“Oh shit!”

And then his connection was cut off. No more sound.

Hongjoong was not going to be happy.

[claroquequiza]

if you were to write a story about gencio or genji/sombra, what would you think that story would entail? like what story elements would be present, if it would be a serious and long fic or a simple and short one? would they be front and center or in the bg? after catching up to Afterdrop, i've been so attached to your characterization of everyone in the story(especially hanzo and mercy!) that i'm curious as to what your approach would be on tackling those two genji ships!

HMMMMMM, WELL I WON’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT GENJI AND SOMBRA FOR NOW HA HA

As for Genji and Lúcio–I think any story of mine for them would be fairly sweet, no matter its length. They’d fall into a friendship fairly easily, I think, and any “drama” would be centered on Genji’s lingering doubts about his capacity to love. His days as a playboy make him think his sense of romance is either non-existent or buried under a shallow desire for physical pleasure that he may not be capable of unearthing. Plus, now that he’s mending, he finds himself craving some of the pleasures of his youth, but he mistrusts his ability to moderate himself.

Lúcio, on the other hand, tends to run himself ragged from trying to take care of too many people all at once by defeating Vishkar and helping the disenfranchised of Brazil. He finds solace in concentrating on the people around him every once in a while, including a certain cyborg who he just knows would kill it on the dance floor. 

Lúcio encourages Genji to go out for a night on the town, and Genji agrees by laughingly making Lúcio his chaperone or designated driver or sponsor or something. Lúcio takes his role seriously, picking the venue carefully and keeping track of Genji as he goes clubbing for the first time since…

And Genji enjoys it. A lot. But more surprisingly, the best part is the companionship…

HMMMMMMM, I COULD GO PLACES WITH THIS.

(Genji asks Hanzo for relationship advice for the first time ever)

“…why me?!” asked Hanzo, baffled. “Surely Ms. Oxton or Ms. Song would be better able to assist you.”

Genji rubbed the back of his head, ruffling the hair and making it stick up in all directions. “Nobody knew McCree liked woodcarving. Nobody. Not Jack, not Fareeha, not even Ana. Nobody would have guessed he would cry over a chisel for his birthday. I need that power.”

“You wish to make Mr. dos Santos cry? A terrible gift will accomplish that just as well as a good one,” his brother deadpanned with a small smirk.

“You ass,” hissed Genji, punching Hanzo’s shoulder lightly. “I’m trying to be serious here.”

Hanzo fixed him with a severe look, which Genji was familiar enough with. He sighed. When would Hanzo learn to dial back the intensity a little? He had hoped that as their relationship improved and Hanzo settled in that he would learn to moderate himself a little, but Hanzo never did seem to do anything by halves.

Which made it a surprise when Hanzo’s face softened, his lips curving up into a small, almost secretive smile. “You are serious,” he murmured, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth.

“Uh,” was Genji’s intelligent reply.

Hanzo laughed, a short, huffed thing, but a laugh nonetheless. He gingerly clapped a hand on Genji’s shoulder, and his eyes almost seemed to shine.

Genji was increasingly terrified.

“Little brother–” and why was Hanzo’s voice so thick, like he was trying to hold back his emotions, but in a normal person kind of way?! “–you might not have my ‘power’, but I do not think you need it. Simply give it some thought, and the gift you think of will more than suffice. I found out about Jesse’s hobby by mere observation, and mere observation tells me this: he will love whatever you get him.” Another pat on the shoulder, and Hanzo was powerwalking away, disappearing out of the common room.

Genji stared after him. What the hell?!

(ask for Gencio, get a bonding moment between the brothers, what the hell indeed)

[wychive]

𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 — 𝙡. 𝙟𝙮. [ 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙧 ]

fic type // one shot - [??]

prompt // when an individual is born, their magic aura makes itself present indicating what magic they would be using. very few were born with a dark magic aura and died within their first breaths, you were one of the two recorded births that made it. now you were searching for the other one

pairing(s) // juyeon x gn!reader (pltn.)

genre(s) // PG13 & adventure, fluff, angst, comfort

warning(s) // mention of food, demons (expression) and food

author's note // hello <3 this was actually for @kpopficsnetwork ' s halloween event! its vvv much after halloween but since fall is basically halloween season, im still gonna post it ;]! this is just a short teaser and the fic is probably gonna come out between this and next week. im not tagging my general taglist since its a special even so pls send in an ask if you'd like to be tagged! well then, i hope you enjoy your day <3

as you walked into the cozy bakery, you noticed a variety of desserts and buns arranging from croissants to baked pizza buns. the aroma in the air made you hungry more than ever. you took one of the pick-up trays and a pair of tongs and immediately went for the custard buns and red bean buns.

"oh my god," a voice exclaimed followed by a bit of coughing. "why do you smell so bad?"

you brought an arm to your nose, smelling yourself. you actually didnt smell half-bad. it only has been a day since you showered properly, how could it be that bad? you rolled your eyes as you looked in the direction of the voice. ah, it was the silhouette from earlier.

"is this how you greet customers?" you shot back, raising one of your eyebrows.

"no, of course not," the person said. "but your stench is unbearable." they scoffed and shook their head, giving a smug expression.

"well, ill only be here for just a bit. don't worry about it, i'll be out before your regulars arrive," you said, assuring that you WOULD be out before anything else happened.. but you did not. as you didn't expect the prices of food to be that high.

"look at this place," the employee said, leaning his palms against the edge of the counter. "what did you expect?"

he was right, the place looked like it was straight up from a renaissance painting with its mini chandeliers and pink roses on the sides as decorations.

"is there anything i could do? to pay for this i mean," you asked them, hiding your embarrassment of the lack of money.

"depends,,, what kind of element do you use?"

"...ice," you lied. no one would want a rare dark element in their place.

"hm.. i guess we could use some ice making help," they thought, then looked back at you who seemed desperate for the job. yes, it would hold you back on a few days but you really needed the money.. and a place to stay if they let you.

"okay, then. you're hired," they said as they lent out a hand for you to shake. it was covered in leftover flour and smelled like yeast. you grabbed his hand and shook it.

"the name's juyeon, and you?"

"y/n… i'm guessing you're a fire elemental?" you replied. it was obvious as he was cocky, yet a charming fella. you could say a demon in diguise.

"clever, i like that in people," he smirked, his face looked smug and it really pissed you off- but he might be your new manager or boss so you stuck up to it and let out a simple fake chuckle. "any other questions?

"do i get a place to stay along with the job?"

"no but you could stay over at my place," he acknowledged. your eyes dart around the room as you let out a laugh.

"excuse me?"

"you heard me. i have a spear bed and everything," he said. you were baffled, it seemed like he didn't care if you were a serial killer, plus, he only knew your first name and what 'element' you respond to. what were you going to do?