jonjon88

[saifahname]

As a queer afab non-binary person who fake-dated their bisexual friend in highschool in order to protect my identity and his relationship with his boyfriend, I shoud watch Wedding Impossible. Only for the fake-dating realness.

[avtrbee]

the prince

✢summary: what happens when your husband brings home a son that is not yours?

✢tags: arranged marriage gojo satoru x reader, reader is a clan kid, she’s v traditional, obvious cat and jon snow references

✢tw: implications of cheating, mentioned abuse, misogyny ig

✢ a/n: i’m not gonna lie to you guys, i know i’ve been a while and im really ashamed that i come back with something that i believe this isn’t my best work at all. i had this prompt in my head for a long time and i have wanted to publish this ever since. always love hearing from all of you and i’d like to get some feedback as well <33

You were a clan kid fortunate enough to be born with the clan’s cursed technique but unfortunate enough to be a woman. Your childhood tutors had drilled the duties of wives in your head, and had made you comfortable with the idea of an arranged marriage. You pride yourself as a good traditional daughter, whose greatest honor would be marrying your husband.

Never in your life did you imagine yourself caring for a child that is not yours.

That was, of course, until you met your husband.

You have heard of Gojo Satoru before and fought him a few times during sister-school events, but never in your life did you think he’d be who you were destined for. Still, he surprised you.

“You are my wife, my equal,” he promises you at the night of your wedding. The ceremony was over and the guests have gone home. You have said your vows in front of the gods and they have bounded you to this man.

He drags you off to bed and makes you sit on the floor with him.

Satoru looks at you with the moon shining on him making him look like an ethereal god. And to you, he was. Which is why you tilt your head at his statement. “Gojo-sama, I do not understand-”

“Satoru,” he says. “I am your husband, you should call me by my name y’know.” His voice is light and teasing, underplaying the reality of the situation. “I don’t want a slave. I want a confidant. A partner. I need someone. Do you understand?”

You nod. Strangely you do. “We must protect each other.”

You were both very lonely people thrust into a union none of you asked for. There are targets on your backs for sins you cannot control. You were alone, but not anymore.

Your husband nods and he takes his glasses off. You realize for the nth time that Satoru is a pretty, pretty man. His blue eyes shine and twinkle like the stars above.

He reaches for your hand- a strange gesture but you allow it anyway. “I will do right by you,” he promises. In his mind he remembers his mother, the one who loves too much but is loved so less. Like her, Satoru’s marriage is arranged by the clan. But he will not be his father.

He is a man of his word.

The next morning you find yourself waking to an empty bed with a smell of burning food. You catch your husband defeated before the stove with burnt scrambled egg on the table. “This is what couples do, right?”

You stare at him, simply horrified that you had failed to wake up first. You were supposed to cook him breakfast, not the other way around.

Satoru catches your expression. “Hey! It’s not that bad!” He pokes the pathetic excuse of a scrambled egg. His mother had always cooked for the family, it shouldn’t have been this hard. “…right?”

You ban him from your kitchen.

He takes you to the school next. You walk behind him, as is the norm, but Satoru makes a face that pushes you to stay beside him. His voice echoes in your head, you are my wife, my equal.

The weather was perfect, but he fusses about the fact that you decided to wear a sleeveless sundress that he deems inappropriate for the wind.

“Are you sure you’re not cold?”

“Yes, Satoru.”

Satoru’s eyes narrow suspiciously, like he does not believe you. He reaches over and takes your hand in his. His face morphs to an expression of victory. “Ha! Your hands are cold. You’re such a bad liar, Y/N.” He spits, but his voice lacks venom. You pretend to ignore his poor excuse to hold your hand. Deep inside you like it. Romance is for fiction and some anime you were lucky enough to watch. A distinguished member of your the Gojo clan does not deserve it, but your husband is a romantic.

He stops you from walking out of the shade of the trees and into the sunshine. He opens his tote bag and points to a closed umbrella. “Do you need this? To protect you from- y’know.”

His points up to the sun.

Against your will you find his needless worrying endearing. He does not know his role as a husband well, but he is trying. When you finally arrive inside the Tokyo school, his hand is still clasped in your. Satoru is loud and proud when he introduces you to everyone, even if you have done nothing to deserve such pride. His co-workers pity you for being married to him and offer their condolences. Satoru protests strongly.

“Y/N loves spending time with me!” he says, stomping his feet like a child. He tugs your hand and looks at you in support. “Right?”

You smile and nod. You do. You wonder if you may love him someday.

-

The night is dark, and Satoru is not home yet. It has been a slow 8 months since your marriage. The ladies from your clan were wrong. Your husband is not cruel. He does not scold you if you use your cursed technique even when you accidentally use it on him.

You have never been someone good with words, so you decide to bake him a simple carrot cake. Your husband has a sweet tooth and he has a penchant of liking things better if it came from you.

You had only just finished adding icing the cake when you felt Satoru’s cursed energy through the door. You take a look at your cake one last time before heading towards the door to greet him.

Traditionally a wife must wait for her husband to enter in the middle of the room kneeling for supplication- a tradition most ingrained in your head more than most. As a compromise, Satoru suggested to have you greet him by the door instead because- “The first thing I want to see when I get home is your cute face. Obviously.”

You dust off imaginary crumbs off your hands by wiping it on your pants before sliding the door open.

“Welcome ho-”

In front of you, Satoru looks cold. You wonder if this is how others see him. He looks down at you with a cold gaze, He does not tremble. There is a child in his arms.

Both child and Satoru looks at you with twin cold eyes. You shiver. “He’s mine.”

You hear maids scuffle from behind you, but you do not care. The child innocently rests his cheek on Satoru’s shoulder looking at you.

There is no doubt the child is his. Your husband’s hair is on his head and dear god- their eyes. They have the same eyes.

In your head you hear the ladies of your clan again. Stand tall, Y/N. They may have their mistresses, but you will always be his true wife.

Of course you knew about Satoru’s womanizer past- present. Are you upset? Are you angry? You do not know, truly. You are simply confused.

Your clan’s ladies have prepared you for worst; what to do when your husband brings home another woman, what to say if they came home violent, where to go if you are too broken and beaten to sleep beside him. But what if your husband brings home a son that is not yours?

There is a pain in your chest you do not understand. This is expected! Men cannot be held down by just their wives. Did you expect him to be different? A cold fury washes over you

“Welcome home.” You finish instead.

-

check out my masterlist, and don’t forget to lmk how i can improve this fic <33

[writing-makes-me-human]

Hi if your still taking requests the can I ask for an aged up story about reader x neteyam or Reader x Ao’nung fic where they are in a secret relationship and an altercation happens between their families and during it or after it is revealed that the reader is pregnant (no smut if ur uncomfortable with it) thus revealing their relationship. Plz hurt comfort is my genre as of late.

The reader is a Sully kid if it’s reader x Ao’nung and if it’s x Neteyam then she is Ronal and Tonowari child.

Of course, you ask for it and you must have it! I love this idea! I hope you like it and maybe I'll do a part two where we continue with the dinner?? We shall see if people enjoy it! (Also I did not take the Sully kid into consideration so I'm sorry if that shows)

I named it: Secret Families

Ps: Thank you for your support!

┍━━━━━»•» 🌺 «•«━┑

Pairing: Aonung x reader

Word Count: 3.8k

A/N: This is my second post of the week so we shall see you next week. Thank you all for your support. I'm setting up tag lists for the x reader series now so if you want to be part of my avatar x reader tag list, reach out, don't be scared! <3

Ronal was a suspicious woman; not much went under her radar for very long, and her children knew that, yet they still did everything they could to keep their little secrets under wraps.

Aonung was no different, well apart from the fact that the nature of his secret would have had more severe repercussions than any profound dark secret his sister was harboring.

To the clan, you and Aonung were the worst enemies since a young age. They all thought that Aonung had  matured dramatically over the years to prepare himself for the role of Olo'eyktan. Still, they thought he still hadn't managed to put out the petty fire you ignited in him whenever you walked past with your usual saunter, making him want to roll his eyes so hard they fell out of his head.

But in private, far beyond the gaze of curious eyes, you two were mates before the great mother in an immortal bond with one another.

The only people who knew about your relationship were yourselves, and while a few amongst your friends had suspicions that you two had feelings for each other, none of them knew how deep the feelings went.

One afternoon after you finished all your required chores for Ronal, who was training you to be a healer, she invited you to dinner the following evening. You nervously agreed while trying not to register any red flags to her attention as you quickly excused yourself so you could get home to your pod before nightfall.

As you wandered back to your quarters, your mind returned to an anxiety that had popped up a few weeks ago, slowly turning from an obsessed overthought to a life-changing reality.

You were pregnant.

You had been a few weeks late on your cycle, so when Ronal left to give her mate his lunch, you quickly ran a test, and it came back with all the signs for positive.

As soon as the herbal mixture had turned a soft blue which confirmed your doubts, a million questions raced through your mind, and now that you had time alone, you dug back into the pile with fresh eyes.

How would you tell Aonung? He had never mentioned wanting kids, as you were both so young. He hadn't even become chief yet, so you highly doubted he wanted to settle down and start a family just yet. He would surely take the news badly.

Would you keep it? You were still at a stage where you knew a few herbal concoctions that would abort the embryo from your system, and you could do so without telling anyone. It would be like it never happened.

Your thoughts were interrupted when you crashed into a solid chest, you stumbled back a bit, but two hands gripped your forearms to steady you.

You looked up, and as if he had heard your thoughts and come running to speak with you, Aonung was there with his usual smirk. He restrained himself to only give you in private.

"What's the rush, servant girl?" He asked while using the affectionate nickname he had given to you years ago from the job that required you to spend a lot of time running after his mother without questioning her.

Usually, you would have smirked at him and spat out an insult, but instead, you could feel the anxiety clog your throat, and you stuck your thumb between your teeth, nervously nibbling on it to stop the gasps of air you knew you would let out without the block.

His comedic attitude dropped, and he immediately dropped his height a little to try and look into your eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?" His voice was quiet and soft as his eyes darted around to make sure nobody was around so he could quickly pull you to his chest.

You didn't know the tears had formed in your eyes until Aonung noticed them slipping down your cheeks and pulled you into his cradle arms to silence you like a small child.

"You know my mother doesn't mean anything she says when she's angry!" His only logical conclusion as to why you could be crying on your way back from work was that it must have been his mother's temper.

Ronal had a tendency to slip up and call you some variation of 'incompetent' as she had done in the past to previous students.

"It's not that", you huffed as you hopelessly wiped one side of your face with your hand to try and rub away the tears.

"I have to talk to you about something", you whispered, still unable to believe what was currently growing in your womb. You pulled back from Aonung and watched as his face fell a bit.

Immediately his mind spiraled to think of the worst possibilities that could have happened. Had you been attacked? Were you sick? Had someone been hurt? Did someone find out about you two and not take it well?

As you saw him flicker from each of your eyes with a hurricane of unanswered questions brewing in his mind, you simply nodded toward your pod at the end of the pathway and led him to speak privately.

He ran after you and quickly unrolled the sail above your door so he could speak without fear of being overheard and having to deal with the emotional crisis of another person.

He watched you pace a hole in the floor for a few seconds, and then you turned sharply and pointed to the floor.

"I think it's best if you sit down", you could feel the air thicken as he resentfully took a seat on one knee while he leaned on the other.

The climate was humid and you could almost feel your mate's brain churning to keep up with his theories.

He was staring at you with his lisp pursed in confusion as you felt more tears form as you started pacing in front of him again.

You were terrified. Starting a family was a huge deal, and it took a lot of commitment, and you knew that with Aonung, you could raise a family together, but that was a fantasy you had toyed around with. Aonung would think it was too soon; you just knew it.

'He is your mate, and he will understand' your mind replayed the statement a few times when you felt like you were about to be crushed by a tsunami of doubt and indecision.

"Ma woman, you are scaring me. What is it?" His voice was soft, but you could tell by the way his hands were clenching into fists on his knee that he was worried for you.

"Aonung", you turned to him once more, letting the tears fall because you knew if you brushed them away, they would just be replaced by new ones. You wrung your hands out in each other, trying to find an outlet for your frustration.

"Promise me you won't be mad, we can talk about this, and we have plenty of options", you held out your hands in front of you to reimburse your statement with a miserable attempt at showing a strong front.

Aonung struck forward like a snake and grabbed your hands before returning to his previous posture. You felt his finger rub a circle over the back of your hand then his warm lips pressed themselves against your knuckles for a moment to let you gather yourself.

"I promise. Now tell me what happened. Has someone done something to you?" His protective flare couldn't help but be shown as your hands trembled in his.

You wanted to laugh at the awkward joke you could have made about the fact it was him who had done something to you, but you knew it was your brain trying to distract from the fear of letting the words spill into your real life because once you said these words you couldn't take them back.

"No, nothing like that…" You looked into his eyes, and everything felt so perfect at that moment, with you two basking in each other's company.

You thought back to the early days of your relationship and the nights you had spent together rendezvoused, visiting places you shouldn't have while cracking jokes. Aonung's eyes widened as you took deep breaths. Your daydreams then drifted to your daily shared glances behind people back's that had been filled with so much adoration. You couldn't stand to see that jeopardized.

"Your mother invited me to dinner tomorrow night", you felt the words claw out of your throat in battle with your mind that begged you to tell the truth but you weren't strong enough to tell him the news.

"Well, that's okay. She always does that to her students; why are you crying?" He was now utterly confused about why the dinner invite had caused such a visceral emotional outburst.

Your lips parted in bemusement as you tried to concoct a plausible reason as to why you would be so distressed.

"It was just a hard day", you slipped your hands from his grip, up his forearms, and slid onto your knees so he could hold you as you took deep breaths to get your bearings.

He pets your hair and gently shushes you while rocking back and forth. You clenched onto him and allowed yourself to be selfish for the moment, and you let his comfort about your decision to keep the secret from him wash over you.

You knew he wasn't convinced that what you said was a complete truth but he didn't push you any further on the matter, and you were very thankful for that.

You knew you would have to tell him eventually. Hiding a pregnancy could only go on for so long, but you decided you would give yourself a week to at least get yourself to a mental place where you could say the words aloud without having a fear of Aonung's rejection claw its way out.

Now all you had left to prepare your head for was dinner at Ronal and Tonowari's pod tomorrow.

The next day flew by all too quickly. The whole time, you felt Ronal's eyes on you as you rushed every chore that had to be done in her presence for fear you would crack or, worse, she would somehow sense your new medical condition.

You worked as quickly as possible, and when Ronal could find nothing left for you to do, she sent you home early and ordered you to prepare for the meal she would be hosting later that evening. So, you rushed home with the thoughts of your womb and the offering for your hosts that needed to be perfected, consuming your mind.

You brushed your hair and clipped on your finest bracelets and your most firm-fitting necklace, but nothing seemed to be able to be just right, and all you could think about was Aonung.

He had to be the first to know, it would only be fair, but you couldn't tell him, and you needed to speak with someone about it because this secret was eating you from the inside out.

"Hey", Aonung's voice made you jump, and you turned on the balls of your feet to see it was your mate, armed with his spear in hand, still damp from his hunting trip.

"What are you doing here!" You hissed as you pressed your hand against your heart, begging it to calm down.

Everything had you on edge; his presence only made your soul cry out with humiliation. He knew you were lying to him about something, yet he still tried to be there for you.

"Relax, everyone's gone home for dinner. I wanted to come to talk to you about something", he stepped further into your pod and closed the flap again, making sure you saw his eye-roll that teased your anxiety about being caught.

Your heart was beating so fast that it could have powered a storm, but you nodded with a nervous nip at your lip and allowed him to step closer to you.

Aonung's presence was consuming and sent a wave of peace over you as his touch gently caressed your face with one hand while the other slowly came to your waist and brushed against your stomach on its way to rest on your hip, which made your gaze turn white for a second as the fear swaddled you tightly.

He knew! He had to have found out from his mother. Of course, she would have known; she is Tsahik! She would have taken one look at your body and asked her son if you were mated with anybody, and Aonung would have fit two and two together.

"I want to tell my parent's about us tonight, after dinner", He slid his head into the side of your neck and kissed it softly. His sweet care for you, that often could have drowned you, was now suffocating.

"Okay", you managed to whimper out. He must know. Was it a fluke brush of his hand?

This was something he wanted, and you would do it. Maybe if you started out small with an announcement of your relationship, another announcement of a child wouldn't take such a toll on you.

"What is wrong? If you do not want to tell them, we can wait," he pulled back from you, his hands dropping to his sides. Your strange act confused him, you were always so outspoken, and he wondered why you had suddenly become so meek.

He knew something was misplaced in your relationship, and he would have left you to stew in your thoughts if it wasn't for the fact that you were starting to worry him with the way your body was handling the stress.

You had been skittish all yesterday evening, and he was worried. You seemed so pale and sickly. His mother had come up to him this afternoon and asked if he could go lightly with the playful teasing at dinner tonight as you were looking fragile, and it confined his doubts that something was grievously wrong.

"No, It's not that, I just can't tell you", you whispered, turning away from him to busy yourself with picking out a hairpiece to curl into your hair.

"You can tell me anything, ma y/n. I am your mate, and we are one", he pushed himself in front of you and grabbed your hands, so you were forced to look him in the eye.

He desperately tried to hold eye contact with you, but you shook your head and withdrew your hands from him, turning again to walk to the other side of the room.

He sighed as he felt his own fears envelop him.

"If there is somebody else… I won't keep you from him", he felt his ears flattened, and his chest heaved with panic that you might turn and accept the comment as truth, but you did no such thing.

You turned with a chuckle as you sniffed to stop the snot dribbling down your face, your arms crossed themselves tightly around your chest, and it broke his heart to see you with such a dreaded shocked look on your face.

"I am pregnant", you slammed your eyes shut, eyes only opening after a few seconds when the silence became unbearable. If they tried, the words couldn't have felt more doomed coming out of your mouth.

Aonung's jaw dropped, his eyes widened, and his ears waved back and forth as he tried to figure out if you were telling the truth. Your tears couldn't have been fake, so you must have been, but why were you so upset with this blessing?

"You-You are with my child?" It was the first time you had ever heard the warrior stutter in your years of knowing him, and you worried that it was a bad omen.

You nodded grievously before your left hand detangled from its hug and flew to your mouth, covering the orifice to stifle a sob. Aonung was unhappy, and this was your worst nightmare coming to fruition.

Aonung's shocked eyes morphed to joy as he closed the gap with a single step, one hand immediately closing around your cheek to bring his forehead to yours. At the same time, the other pressed to your side, his most extended finger storing your belly button to stroke the child-growing within you.

The shame of the predicament was killing you, but the immovable emotion boiling in your stomach was stilled as Aonung's joyous guffaw hit your cheek.

You looked up at him, wondering how he could be laughing at a time like this, but then he shocked you. Aonung pressed a peck to your head and then another and another. He peppered your face with kisses, moving across your head, cheeks, and jaw before he tossed himself down to your floor on his knees and placed a single kiss on your belly, letting his hands encase your stomach.

You were ecstatically shocked, you had been expecting to be sat down, to be asked what the plan was to empty the embryo from your womb, but he was acting even more loving than ever, if that was even possible.

"For how long? Is it healthy? Why are you so upset? Is something wrong with it", his gentle touch increased as he gazed into your stomach, feeling the worry bubble up.

"No, everything is fine, ma Aonung. I was just worried". You quickly dried your tears now, wiping your nose on the back of your wrist and your eyes with your palms.

"Worried about what?" He pressed further, his forehead creasing as he stood again to return to your height.

"I was not sure you were ready," you mumbled, returning to the familiar grounds of fear as the idea that Aonung would be away with his duties as chief in training too much to have a family right now.

"It is a big responsibility," he agreed with you, nodding, but his arms slipped around your waist, and you dug into him, letting his hold tell you that he was about to continue positively.

"But we have been blessed. Imagine how many babies Eywa will bless us with if you are pregnant now!" His eyes lit up as he realized that this quick pregnancy must be a sign of good fertility and, therefore, more children would surely be on the way before you were both old.

You laughed. The scratchiness on your crying caused it to itch, but you were so pleased. It was like someone had just taken the weight of the world off your shoulder now that you had someone to confide this secret with.

"We have never talked about children", you nervously pointed out as you slipped your hands around his slim-cut waist, fiddling with the string that kept his loincloth tied on his hip.

"Well, how many do you want?" Aonung grinned at your touch, and smugness was coming over him as he started the foundation of the plans for his new family.

"I have no idea. How many do you want?" You shook your head with a sharp exhale. Children were a lot of work, and both parents had to be prepared to put in equal work to raise and preen over them. They would all be loved, but it would take work.

"As many as you will give me!" His smile stretched from ear to ear. His tail thumped against his calf eagerly as the idea of a family between you two emerged.

"Hm, three?" You asked hesitantly. It was the number of children Ronal and Tonowari had, so maybe that was a sound system to model the base of your ideal family size on.

"Four is better, more even", Aonung shook his head, disregarding the number with a serious face. You adored how cute he looked as he discussed your future children, and it made you playful as you stood in your hut, plotting away while Ronal was probably cursing you for being late.

"Well, five is a lucky number", you suggested, an eager peek in your tone as you pushed the invisible barrier between you two that kept you both from laying your true thoughts on the table.

"But then someone will be left out. Best to make it six", Aonung's eyes lit up with tease as he hopefully glanced at your face, trying to gauge your temperature as the number increased, but you were in your element.

"Six? You want six children?" You were slightly disbelieving at the idea of six children running around your cramped pod.

"Actually, I have always liked the number ten", that you laughed at. Ten? He must have been crazy.

"Ten? You had better become the best hunter in all of Pandora if you expect me to birth ten children", the thought of your poor body was enough to send your head spinning. Still, the idea of you sitting around a small fire with a large horde of children running around with a much older Aonung kissing your face was enough to make you blush.

"Five girls and five boys, that is good, no?" He had clearly been thinking about this behind closed doors, and it was enough to cure you of any doubts forever that this man wasn't ready.

"Are you starting an army?" You joked around with a laugh, and Aonung was on cloud nine. He felt everything click back into place as you recovered your former happiness with an added glow; Eywa, Aonung questioned how he didn't see you were pregnant sooner.

Aonung sighed and rolled his eyes at your words, using his humor to keep you amused as the conversation about your future panned out before you two.

"You want to have less?" He queried, feeling out exactly how many babies you wanted your mate putting in you. He wanted a large family, as large as you could bless and Eywa could condone.

"Hm, it's best not to say. Eywa will either give me far too many or far too few if I say", it was an old wife tail your mother had told you years ago, and even though it wasn't rested in any science as Eywa took no sides, the power of the jinx held your silence.

"You know, if we were to have ten--" Aonung brought up the number again, making you laugh merrily as a hot warmth spread across your belly.

"Aonung!" You interrupted him with a shy, embarrassed outcry as the picture of a vast family filled your mind.

"I am just saying, if it were ten, you would barely have any chores. They would do them all for you!" Aonung raised his hands in defense, slyly grinning as he thought of the acts it would require to populate his dream-sized family.

"You are trying to grow an army!" Your jaw fell slack in mock shock as you slapped an arm to his chest, giggling as he quickly snatched your wrist before it could retract.

"No, if I were, then I would have stuck with thirteen", He brought your hand to his mouth and pressed it against his face to encourage you to hold his cheek, which you did agreeably.

"Hm, well, you'll have to prove yourself with this one first; you have to convince me", your words were half joking, but Aonung's eyes fell down your figure towards your stomach with a contemplative smile.

"You will see, I will be the best father, and you will want to have all my babies", his words made you blush further, but a deeper part of you lit up with desire.

Everything had gone well. The only part hindering your happy ending was sitting far across the village in her own pod with her arms crossed, cursing her son and her student's tardiness. Unsure if it was connected.

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[sanjoongie]

𝙵𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚏 & 𝙽𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚣

🐍Pairing: Snake Familiar! Seonghwa x Witch! Reader (f) x Cat Familiar! San

🐈‍⬛️Genre: Fluff, angst, adventure

💧Au: witch au, supernatural au, fantasy au, familiars au, shapeshifter au, magical au

🐍Trope: savior love

🐈‍⬛️Rating: PG-13, MDNI

💧Warnings: mentions of familiars bonded against their will, escaping from an oppressed warlock, magical abuse

🐍Word Count: 2,147

🐈‍⬛️Summary: when a seemingly random cat and snake show up at your front door, you're pulled into a whirlwind story that poses you as the hero for the two

💧A/N: to my dearest Haru @stardragongalaxy. I hope your birthday can be a good one. You are my strength when I am feeling down. That's apparent with this tiny plot bunny that's been alive between us for almost a year now. Floof and Noodz have always been there to comfort me and that's because of you. I'm finally breathing some life into that story so that we can both share in the comfort of them. Happy Birthday!

You stepped out of your humble cottage by the sea and breathed in deeply of the salty air. You stretched for a moment, enjoying the tranquil morning before heading towards your tide pool. Inside was coral, kelp and mini sea creatures. You frowned when you saw your seahorse in the top right quadrant. Why did your tidepool project that you were going on an adventure when the most you planned to do was shuck some mollusks?

Then you saw the most peculiar thing while peering over the stone wall of your land. A very black cat was making its way over the black sand dunes surrounding your home. You thought perhaps he was lost but his path appeared very determined. Must be someone’s familiar out and about. You confirmed such when you spotted a pink collar around its neck. 

Satisfied that there was nothing wrong with the world, you went to your shed to acquire your sturdy boots and some strips of cloth to tie back your sleeves and skirts, and grabbed a basket you had weaved of dry grass. 

You made your way to the cliffs that always had a good amount of mussels clinging to the rock, swinging your basket and humming a pirate’s ditty under your breath. Thinking of how you also needed to resupply your storage cupboard of the pretty black mussel shells, you aimed to pick big ones, hoping that the insides provided for a good supper later as well. 

Oddly enough, the black cat you had spotted early chose a spot high above you on the rocks, watching you with dark eyes. You tipped your floppy hat in greeting and went back to your work. You found an awful lot of mussels, huge ones, a better haul than you had ever acquired and started to get suspicious. 

You stared at the black cat, unblinking and licking its paw, a little too casually. Every witch knew black cats were bad luck. You froze in alarm when the pink collar around the cat’s neck began to move but that’s when you realized that it wasn’t a collar. In fact, it was a tiny pink snake that had wound itself safely and securely around the cat’s neck. It slithered until its small head was on top of the black cat’s, tongue slithering out, scenting the air around it.

Curious but well aware the pair were none of your business, you made your way back to your cottage. You worked on the outside water pump, luring fresh water to wash most of the salt water from the mussels you had gathered. You shrieked and fell on your ass when the same black cat from the rock’s was suddenly on top of your pump.

The black cat raised its hair and hissed back at you. “Well, that’s not a very nice hello,” You muttered under your breath. 

The snake and cat exchanged a look. Suddenly, with a poof of golden starred smoke, the black cat changed into a human. “You’re the one that screamed because of me,” the man pouted when he spoke.

The snake was still in snake form, around the black-cat-now-man’s neck still. He was dressed in a flowing white shirt and tight black pants but he didn’t like he was in the best of shape, the clothes quite shabby and bags under his eyes. His dark hair was long and he shook it out of his face. He sported a chain that connected from his ear to his lip, piercings in both parts there. He was quite handsome. You shook your head. That was besides the point. 

You brushed yourself off of sand as you stood up. “And you, sir, are on my land, without permission.”

The man stood a bit straighter at the formality. “Mistress Witch, with your permission, my companion and I are seeking refuge. Would you allow us a day and a night on your land and in your cottage? Allow us to break bread and drink merrily at your table?”

You sighed. It was a harmless but formal request. The fact that he had responded in kind to your language meant that he was definitely a familiar and knew of the laws that governed all the witches and warlocks. 

“A day and a night is granted,” You agreed. You sent a dirty look at your tide pool and you could have sworn your mini dolphin sassily flipped in the water in response. 

The black cat introduced himself as San and the snake was Seonghwa. San immediately hauled the collection of mussels inside, aiding in shucking them while you chattered about a few recipes you contemplated cooking them into. 

The silence lulled and your eyes were drawn to the sparkly eyes of the snake around San’s neck. “Will your companion be joining us?” You wondered.

San ran a fond finger over Seonghwa’s scales. “He’s…shy. He’ll probably stay in his snake form for our visit.”

Seonghwa raised his head off of San’s collarbone and flickered his tongue at you. Then he slithered down San’s shirt, into his sleeve, and stuck his head out from the cuff of San’s sleeve. His tongue flickered again and then he looked back at San.

“Seonghwa says you taste like good magic,” San supplied. 

You laughed abruptly. “Do I?”

San frowned, unsure if you were mocking him or not. “You could say we’re not used to that.”

You tilted your head. “Wait. You’re truly seeking safety? You weren’t just offering a formality?”

San scratched the back of his head, avoiding your gaze. “It’s just for a bit. We won’t inconvenience you longer than we agreed on.”

If San wasn’t going to supply the reason for needing safety, you weren’t going to pry. You’d had your fair share of people passing through. So you cooked up the mussels in a wonderful white wine and ate in companionable silence with San. You were about to wash up the dishes but San insisted on doing that too. He was quite polite for a guest. 

Then as day turned into evening, and there was only the snap and pop of the fire while you sat in front of it, you found yourself lulled into a sense of warmth by the fire and fell asleep. You woke up to shouting from San and it was not a nice way to wake up.

“Seonghwa! Stop eating that right now!” San protested.

You blinked your eyes clearly and found that Seonghwa was three quarters of the way through chomping down on your imbued narwhal horn that acted as your staff. You stood up quickly, magic sparkling from your fingertips. 

San stood in front of Seonghwa immediately to stop you. “Wait, I know how this looks!”

“Like I offered you safety stupidly and now you’re stealing my staff!” You growled.

At this point, there was simply the tip left to consume and you took a step forward. “Either he stops or I’m about to suck you both into such a strong, magical maelstrom you won’t know up from down.”

“He can’t stop once he’s started, I’m sorry,” San apologized, “We’ll help you replace your staff.”

You watched with a heavy heart as the pink snake finished consuming your staff and shrunk back to his teeny tiny size. Then he slithered up San’s leg and found his place back around San’s neck. You narrowed your eyes at the offending creature. 

“That staff has been passed down from generation to generation. I use it to push away big storms or to help wrecked ships! There’s no way--”

“There’s a warlock after us who is looking to suck away all our power for himself!” San shouted suddenly.

It took you a moment to process this information and still it didn’t quite hit home. “What?”

San sighed heavily and took a seat in one of your wonderfully constructed, ‘filled with sea-foam’ chairs. He wiggled until he was comfortable and then began. He spun a tale of how Seonghwa and he were powerful familiars. They had not bonded with any witch or warlock. Then one day they met a warlock with a charming grin. He introduced himself as Hongjoong. The warlock was indeed powerful, but with a familiar already. The hawk Hongjoong held on his arm was Yunho but he didn’t look good; his feathers weren’t healthy and Seonghwa sensed something wrong with the hawk. San and Seonghwa both declined to agree to a bond with Hongjoong but as it turned out, Hongjoong didn’t need them to agree. He was capable of twisting familiars to be his without an agreement. The two had been fleeing from Hongjoong since they fought with the warlock. 

“Is that why Seonghwa ate my staff?” You demanded tiredly.

San nodded. “I’m sorry. It was like an instinct for him. I had fallen asleep too after the yummy meal you made us.” He sent you an apologetic smile. 

You stood up, unable to sit down any longer with the energy inside of you. “I’ll have to cast a spell. Perhaps a magical fog to suppress your auras. That will keep you hidden for a bit, at least. But you’ll have to stay here.”

San frowned at you in confusion. “Why would you help us? Especially when Seonghwa just ate your staff?”

“I… I will not stand for anyone to be bullied,” You said adamantly, “This Hongjoong must be stopped.”

San raised his hand to run a reassuring finger down Seonghwa’s head but found that there was no snake around his neck. You both looked around in alarm but as it turned out, Seonghwa had slithered to your chair and was hovering on the arm of it. You inched your hand forward, pulling back when Seonghwa’s head reared back, but when you offered your hand palm up, Seonghwa slithered until he was coiled up in the palm of your hand. 

You brought him up to your face, still not pleased with your staff being eaten. “You, sir, are going to have to do a lot of apologizing.”

Seonghwa, whether in response or simply to taste if your magic was still good, flickered his tongue out at your nose, almost kissing it. “Seonghwa!” San scolded him.

You glanced towards San. “Did he… say anything?”

“He says the narwhal horn tasted yummy and he was wondering if you had more for him to eat,” San admitted.

You couldn't help but laugh despite the situation. You shook your finger at Seonghwa. “No more magical item consuming, please. If you want me to help you with Hongjoong, I’m going to need all the help I can get!”

You went outside, about to pass Seonghwa back to San but instead, the snake wound himself around your wrist instead. You lifted your eyebrows up at San but he shrugged, not sure what Seonghwa was intending. 

You raised your arms and called upon your powers to summon a fog that could cloak everything it touched. The fog appeared along your ankles and swirled around the sand until finally you couldn't see the sea or anything outside of the limits of your land. When you were done, you looked down to see Seonghwa was shining, iridescent and neon pink. You looked over to San, whose eyes were now shining a bright purple. You checked your inner well of magic and it was like you hadn't cast a very large spell at all.

“Did you help me?” You took a shot in the dark.

“It’s the least we could do,” San smiled, showing some dimpled cheeks. 

That night you slept in your hammock, hanging up a spare for San in the sunroom of your cottage. But when you woke up the next morning, from a tickle on your arm, you found that San had turned back into a cat and had curled up on your chest. You stretched for a yawn, holding San very carefully and depositing him into the hammock where he remained slumbering as a cat.

You moved into the kitchen and found a very tall, pink-haired man standing there. He turned around and shot a pink beam of magic at you, which you very quickly ducked out of the way. 

“Oh--no! I’m so sorry! That was instinct! I didn’t mean to harm you!” The large man’s eyes began to shake in worry. 

“At least I didn’t--” Your mouth shut when you saw the hole that was now in your fireplace. “Oh, Seonghwa.”

The black cat bound into the kitchen, meowing loudly and entwining around your ankles in comfort. Seonghwa smiled painfully, “We’ll help you with that too.”

You rubbed your temples in worry and tried to smile back. It was going to be a bit before the two of them trusted you but perhaps a few fumbles on the way would build a rapport between the three of you. Only time would tell and you hoped you had plenty of that before Hongjoong descended on you all.

[angstigone]

«keep up my game» you had muttered to aki before taking the plate of vegetable soup he had slaved onto, and bringing it to the table, where power was comfortably sat with meowy in her lap, waiting to be served.

it took aki a few minutes to realize your 'plan' as he noticed you lay down the plate of soup right in front of power; he thought that you had forgotten that - under no circumstances - power ate vegetables, but he was quick to understand that you remembered, you just had come up with a plan.

«you must have mistaken your rations with my own, dumb human» the pinkhaired fiend commented with her usual crassness, while you retained an almost seraphic serenity.

«no, power, it's your dinner» and stalling the fiend from throwing the plate, you were quick to add «... it's made of a special kind of meat».

power looked like she didn't believe you fully but the fact that she hadn't yet thrown you off was a sign of growth as both aki and denji stared at you from the safe haven of the kitchen counter.

«how dumb does she think power is?» denji simply said albeit he looked onto your efforts quite attentively.

«... is it?» power asked still diffidently but her hand released the plate, clearly not having - for the moment - the intention to throw the plate right in your face «it smells like veggies».

«it doesn't» you were quick to say, although not quick enough to seem suspicious «... it's... a special kind of meat. it does smell like veggie but it's wholly meat».

«meat of what?» power inquired definitely curious.

«duck!» you muttered taking a good luck at the color of the soup «can't you tell from the color? also... duck is a very... esteemed meat. we were lucky to grab some of it at the supermarket!».

that did it, strangely enough, as power's eyes filled with what looked like a deep sense of utter pride and getting up from the low table - almost sending her own plate flying - she declared raising her fist up in the air.

«ahhh, you finally recognized power's true value! and you are rewarding it accordingly!» she then sat down as fast as she had gotten up and pushed her spoon into the soup, with little to no protest at the taste much to denji's and aki's startlement.

they didn't utter anything, worried that power might catch onto and then that'd be a whole mess that neither wished to deal with; still, the pinkhaired fiend quickly finished her whole plate and sent you to get another one praising the taste and insisting that she could feel the blood of the hunted duck.

dinner, hence, fell into a utter bedazzlement as even the usual awkward small talk was avoided, till denji and power moved onto their nightly routine while you and aki went to clean up the dishes.

«how... how did you come up with?» he asked promptly as soon as he regained his ability talk just to make you lightly chuckle.

«I have been observing power and I did realize that she has been lying, most often choosing which foods she might like or not, so I thought that she wouldn't be able to recognize which type of food is which» you explained and aki couldn't help but think that you had put too much thought into this, especially considering that the fiend's health didn't depend onto healthy human habits «... although in all truth, it was something that my mom said about how she convinced me to eat spinach by telling me it was mint ice cream».

«please tell me that you didn't fall into that as power» aki pleaded with a laugh at your offended look.

«I absolutely didn't! I clocked it out at the first taste and required some mint ice cream as compensations» you shot back promptly before joining aki's laugh as well «... still, I thought that it might be easier with soup and meat, especially with the little I gathered... mmh, wonder whether I can use it for something else...».

«we could brainstorm later» aki joked as you took him seriously before realization settled into you «... oh, c'mon, I do have to admit it was ingenious, alright?».

«you don't apprecciate me enough, hayakawa» you turned your back to him, crossing your arms over your chest, obviously pouting your fake displeasure. aki couldn't help but huff, although his heart filled with tenderness and endearment.

there was something downright domestic about the way you bickered with him. with how you cared about denji and power as if they were humans. as if they were your children.

the thought startled aki, as he gently went to hug you from behind, if not to truly ease you to ease his swifly moving mind which pictured a whole other scenario: you were still pouty, with swollen ankles and an heavy belly, blaming him for something that hormones made you feel.

"it's alright, just a few more months, sweetheart" he'd say instead of apologizing for not seeing your brilliant genius.

«you better apprecciate me!».

«I do, sweetling» he said softly, gently kissing the back of your head, as he tried to shun away the thought of you acting this way with children, your children.

you had always agreed that you were better off without children in your professions, neither wanting to leave behind any orphans.

still, it was tickling aki at how well you handled the manchildren that you had been tasked with; it wasn't just forcing them into good habits. it was the way you genuinely cared for those two even though you shouldn't have because they were liabilities.

«mmh, I don't know if I am convinced» but you were smiling, even turned aki can tell yo were smiling and suddenly he thought for a moment of a life where it's your children that you trick into eating vegetables and it brought some pricky feelings to his eyes, not that he'd define them as tears.

no, this isn't a life that he can have.

even with you.

so, he'll have to make this one last.

[ffxiii-et-al]

Jote: Your grace, please excuse me for asking, I know that you're tired and weary from your trip to Drake's Head, but I believe that you have something on your chest.

Joshua: Oh, do not mind that Jote. It's just a bruise.

Jote: [concerned] were you stuck my lord?

Joshua: [getting dodgey] In a manner of speaking...

Joe: [growing suspicious] And what sort of manner would that be, my lord?

Joshua: You know that old god, Ultima, that we've been reading about?

Jote: Yes...

Joshua: Well I might have bumped into him last night.

Jote: Ultima?!

Joshua: Yes, the very same.

Jote: Well, I am at least relieved that you had three other dominants with you.

Joshua: [feigning relief] Yes, absolutely.

Jote: [catching onto him] So the four of you faced Ultima?

Joshua: [has a horrible poker face] Yes... Yes we did.

Jote: What are you not telling me, your grace?

Joshua: Well, Cidolfus Telamon... Um.... Passed.

Jote: [clearly shook] Ultima killed Ramuh? So it was just three of you against a god?

Joshua: Well... Torgal was there too.

Jote: Remind me who Torgal is?

Joshua: He was our puppy! He's really big now, though.

Jote: So it was three dominants, and your large dog, against Ultima?

Joshua: Well-the thing that matters is that we beat him.

Jote: The Lord Marquess and Lady Jill were unconscious, weren't they?

Joshua: ...

Jote: YOUR GRACE?

Joshua: Yes, okay, fine... They were! But Torgal was there.

Jote: [dryly] What an incredible comfort, your grace.

Joshua: I'm still here, aren't I?

Jote: Your grace! You are lucky that you escaped with only a bruise! Please try to be considerate of your safety in the future!

Joshua: Yes... So about the bruise.

Jote: Yes?

Joshua: Well, you know how I can absorb the essence of another creature to heal myself?

Jote: [already afraid of where this is going] Into your heart? Yes.

Joshua: Well, I might have-

Jote: You didn't!

Joshua: I won't lie, Jote, that is exactly what I did.

Jote: [yanks his scarf off and pulls his shirt open, sees the Purple wound starting to split his chest and spread]

Joshua: Oh, hello. AH! Cold hands!

Jote: Your grace this is a god! He wasn't killed when you did it!

Joshua: Nope, doesn't seem that way. In fact, rather than healing me, it hurts... quite a lot, I've healed myself five times already this morning.

Jote: [screaming internally] Alright then, how do we get him out?

Joshua: Get him out? Jote, I must keep him as far away from Clive as possible! If I release him, he'll take Clive! He tried to do so last night!

Jote: But your grace, he's locked inside of you. Won't you need to avoid your brother to keep Clive out of Ultima's reach?

Joshua: ........Fuck.

[noodyl-blasstal]

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate - Chapter 6

It's @blupjeansweek day 6, today's prompt is: Loss

You can read on Ao3 or below. Missed yesterday? Catch up here.

-

Barry tries not to hear Lup and Taako’s conversation, he’s glad the internet is finally up and running at the house, but he doesn’t want to invade her privacy by listening in. The only problem is that Taako’s talking loudly, and Lup’s talking loudly to be heard over him, and Barry’s walls are thin. He studiously tries to ignore it, but can’t help but be a little heartened when he hears that he was her competent knight in shining armour. He flees to the bathroom when Taako asks if they ‘boned down proper style.’ Nothing in him wants to hear Lup’s disgust at the prospect.

His mind’s too busy to dwell on that though, because Barry is suspicious. Deeply suspicious. The twins' teaching reviews haven’t been good, either from students or peer reviewers. He knows for a fact they’ve been dragged (after multiple ‘missed’ appointments) into Lucretia’s office on a few occasions to discuss complaints, student requests to move, and unmet session goals. He doesn’t like that they were the ones looking after Lup’s bag when it disappeared, nor that the only things missing were ‘just’ lesson plans and her room keys - which would be no use to anyone who didn’t know where she lived. Surely they’d take her wallet if it was just random and opportunistic? The theft of her research was, understandably, a touchy topic (he was already formulating ways to punish her old mentor, mostly via very specific questions asked at a conference in front of a large audience) so he didn’t want to bring it up with her yet. There was no need to add anything else to her plate. That said, going with her should help him figure out what had happened. If only he’d actually taken that Cleric class he might even have a deity to pepper with questions about it… nevermind though, he just needs to see whether anyone has visited the apartment. If they have, well, it will only serve to bolster his hypothesis.

Lup’s lounging on the sofa when he heads to the living room. She’s wearing a pair of his jeans with the legs rolled, the hair scarf she was using last night keeping them tight around her hips, and one of his old, faded college shirts tucked artfully into the waistline. She looks gorgeous, how could she not? But there’s a special thrill seeing her here, so comfortable in his house wearing his things, at ease, and happy. He wants that for her always, not an ill fitting wardrobe, but comfort and safety. It’s what he wants for all of his friends of course.

“Hey.” She says, smiling at him. “Sorry about ‘Ko, he was just worried. I hope we weren’t too loud.”

Barry nods sympathetically. “I don’t have siblings, but I can imagine it was scary to hear you got robbed. I would have been worried too, I mean, I was, but you know…” He tails off.

“He was glad to hear my knight in shining armour was around to look after me.” Lup winks at him and Barry can feel himself flushing red. “Thanks for looking after me, Bear.”

“Hey, it’s… uh, anyone would have.”

“They didn’t, though, did they?” Lup says, rolling artfully off the sofa and onto her feet. “You did.”

“Er. Yeah. I guess that’s true.”

“So, shall we go see if they managed to get in?” She smiles, but it’s tight, forced.

Barry nods, tries not to ruin the happy front she’s putting on by fussing. He’d hate for someone to break in here and go through his stuff, it must be awful not to know if that’s what she’s going to walk into. “After you.”

–

“You really should be more careful with your things.” The woman behind the accommodation desk slides her glasses down her nose so she can glare at Lup harder.

Lup’s mouth twitches.

“She got robbed.” Barry says quickly.

“I wasn’t talking to you, Mr…”

“Dr, Halwinter.” Barry says. He hates using titles, but if she’s going to be awful then so can he. Plus, as much as he hates to admit it, sometimes it gets you further.

“Oh… well, er…” She sits up slightly.

“Dr Tacco here was robbed last night and is obviously very distressed about the occurrence, so if there is any way that you could speed up the process of getting her back into her room so she can survey it and see if anything else has been taken…”

“Fine.” The woman slowly levers herself out of her seat, glaring at Barry now instead. Good. He’d rather have that than her making Lup feel any worse.

“I’m sorry.” He says as soon as she’s gone. “I didn’t mean to jump in, I know you’re capable, but I also thought you’d probably be concentrating on trying not to…”

“... fireball her ass.” Lup finishes. “You do listen to me, I’m touched.”

Barry chuckles, then quickly rearranges his face back to stern disappointment when the woman rounds the corner again. “Here.” She slides a master key across the desk, far too fast to be done with anything but the hope they drop it.

Lup snatches it up. “Thank you for being so kind and helpful during such a difficult time.” She says sweetly.

Barry can’t help but snort out a laugh as the woman looks ready to combust.

The world’s slowest lift only seems slower as they inch up. “We should have taken the stairs.” Lup says, pacing, agitated.

“Potatoes are the best vegetable.” Barry says in reply.

Lup stops pacing. “What?”

“They’re nutritious, full of vitamins, they make chips. You don’t need anything else.” Barry shrugs as if it’s obvious.

“I know what you’re doing.” She narrows her eyes at him.

“Okay, well if you agree.” Barry smiles as innocently as he can manage. (Not very, Lup sees straight through him.)

“But there’s so little flavour! What’s going to make all your soups and stews taste nice if you’re just out there housing potatoes?”

His dedication to the humble potato carries them through to Lup’s floor.

“Thank you.” She says as she slides the spare key into the lock. “Even if you do like potatoes more than anyone should.”

“They’re perfect and I stand by it.”

You’re perfect.” He thinks she mutters as she opens the door and steps inside. He can’t be sure though. Maybe he’s mistaken.

He follows her inside and waits patiently while Lup inspects.

“Someone’s been here.” She says, simply.

“I’m sorry Lup.”

“My marking is in a different order and my student reports have moved.”

“Ah.”

“I’m going to have to report this to Lucretia. Whoever it was might have gotten personal information. It was just the worksheets, but sometimes they put stuff on there, you know.” Her voice shakes very slightly.

Barry nods stiffly. “Do you want me to wait here while you go in case they come back?”

“I guess they’ve taken everything they wanted to. At least my laptop’s still here.” She nudges a pile of clothes beside the bed and a laptop slides out from underneath.

“Smart.” Barry admires the ingenuity.

“Er… yeah, sure. Planned… But no, I don’t want to take up any more of your time, Barry. You go, I’ll let you know what’s going on later.” She tries to smile reassuringly and fails.

Barry waivers. He wants to scoop her up and fix everything, but knows that isn’t the answer. “Sure. Message any time, I’ll be on standby with coffee or, you know, rum. Whatever works best.”

“Maybe both.” Lup grins.

“Aye aye, Cap’n!” Barry salutes her and moves towards the door. “Seriously though Lup, if you need me, I’m here.”

“I know, Bear, you’ve shown me that.” Lup says quietly.

Barry lingers a second longer, then lets himself out. She’ll be fine. But who won’t be fine, is the fucking twins. He can’t go straight to Lucretia, Lup will be there soon, so he detours to his office to check the course admin folder for any new requests.

There’s four.

All of them from, surprise surprise, Lydia and Edward.

They want resources for their courses, for ‘new ideas.’ New ideas they had overnight.

Barry asks them in for a meeting.

–

“Could you tell me a bit more about why you’d like the golf balls?”

“To teach the children.” Lydia says and rolls her eyes as if Barry’s being ridiculous.

It’d be charming if Lup did it. There’d be no malice behind it if Lup did it.

“Of course, but which lesson is this for?”

“Tomorrow’s.” Edward says. “That’s why it’s an urgent request.”

“Okay, and tomorrow you’re teaching…?” Barry prompts.

“The lesson we need the golf balls for.” Lydia replies quickly.

“Sure. Okay. Well, fill out the form and pass that on to The Director. You’ll need a health and safety officer, depending on the planned usage.” Barry relaxes very slightly, he clearly doesn’t need to do anything but wait for them to fuck themselves over here… and hope they don’t injure any children in the process… he’ll warn lucretia.

“Do you make Lup do this every time?” Lydia adds.

“Come on now, sister dear, it’s obvious she’s getting some…” Edward raises his eyebrows suggestively. “...very special treatment. We don’t need to press the issue.” Edward laughs and begins to stand.

“Are you making an accusation of preferential treatment? I can give you the complaint form for that as well if you’d like.” Barry refuses to rise to the bait. It wouldn’t do to give them the satisfaction. “In fact, I’ll add it to the stack.” He sets the printer going, takes it calmly and adds it to their pile of forms, smiling as sweetly as he can manage the entire time. “Have a wonderful day now.”

They leave quickly, scooping the forms on the way.

Barry pulls up the academic misconduct form and begins typing.

–

“Madame Director…” Barry knocks on her door.

“Come in Barry, I thought I’d probably be seeing you today.” Lucretia says.

He stands nervously in the threshold. There’s no need for him to feel like he’s going to be in trouble, but the anxiety is in his bones.

“Take a seat.” Lucretia gestures to the spare chair. “And tell me what the fuck is going on.”

“What do you…?” Barry tails off.

“Cut the shit, Barry. I may be the director, but I see things, I know things. Lup comes in to tell me that someone stole her stuff and rifled through her room but only took lesson plans and student details and now suddenly there’s a barrage of forms from Lydia and Edward? I wasn’t born yesterday.”

Barry sits back, at least it’s not going to be as much of an uphill battle as anticipated. “I think they stole her notes and then her keys and went through her room.”

“That seems most likely.” Lucretia nods.

“So what do we…” Barry asks.

“We do nothing.” Lucretia says. “You, go and check in on Dr Tacco, I believe she’s rewriting at least 10 lessons worth of notes while also worrying that I’m going to fire her for data protection breaches. Obviously I’ve reassured her and printed off the information we had on the system for her so she’s not completely starting from scratch.”

Barry’s relieved to hear that Lucretia has reassured Lup.

Lucretia continues. “That said, we all know what happened, but right now we can’t prove anything. However, despite the fact those two seem to thrive on nothing more than other people’s misery, there’s not much they’ll be able to do in their necromancy class with notes on Lup’s magic science. They’re too lazy to consider that.” She smiles, a thin, firm smile, then asks. “Have you started the academic misconduct form?”

“Yes.”

“Good. It does well to be prepared. We don’t take kindly to theft.”

–

Barry knocks on Lup’s door, not sure if his presence is going to be a help or a hindrance.

“Who is it?”

“Barry, I just came to see if I could help.”

“Come in, it’s open.”

Lup’s on the floor surrounded by paper, she doesn’t look up.

“How’s it going?” Barry asks, slowly lowering himself to the floor as well. His knees crack on the way down, but she’s worth it.

“Uh…” Lup looks up for the first time since he walked in. “Not great, but it’ll be fine.”

“Can I help?”

“Maybe… Uh…” Lup mixes the papers round. Then scatters them again. “I keep trying to find things and it’s…” She gestures at the papers and rubs her eyes with her fists.

“Okay, would it be useful for me to do some organising? You know I love figuring out a system…” Barry smiles at her, hopes it’s reassuring.

“Yeah… yes. That would actually be… thanks Barry.”

“While I do that, I think you should grab something to eat and drink. Go to the Davy Lamp, the walk will do you good - clear your head.”

“I should…” Lup protests weakly.

“Hey, hey Lup.” Barry holds her shoulders. “You don’t need to do all of this today, just tomorrow’s. You already put your orders in for stuff, you already have the rough outline, and all of this came from here.” He taps her lightly on top of her head. “You’ve got this. But you need to look after yourself. I’m here to help, let me.”

“But…” Lup tries again.

“What would you say if it was me?” Barry asks quickly.

“What?” Lup scrunkles her brow in confusion.

“What would you say if I was in your shoes and you were in mine?”

“That’s not…”

“What would you say?”

“I’m not you.”

“But you deserve care and looking after and I bet there’s not a chance that you’d let me do this on my own, is there?”

“No.” Lup sounds defeated, but not upset about it.

“So you look after yourself and I’ll look after these papers, and between us, we’ll get this sorted.”

Lup unfolds her legs and stands easily. Barry vows to move off the floor before she gets back so she doesn’t see the creaking, wobbling, and joint popping that goes into getting him upright. Friends don’t need to know everything about each other.

“Thanks Bear.” She says quietly before she walks towards the door.

“Oh, Lup.”

She turns back.

“Is there any chance one of your sessions involved golf balls?” Barry asks nonchalantly.

“Oh gods… yeah, I’d forgotten about that. One of the ‘pie in the sky, wait, fuck, that’s terrifying, back to the drawing board’ ideas… they can’t all be winners! I thought we could do something using the golf balls to make powder by just spinning them round really really fast with other stuff using a control elements tornado or something, but yeah… even for me it was a bit out there.” She laughs to herself.

“Of course, of course.” Barry makes another mental note to email Lucretia, maybe she should attend that particular class with back up…

By the time Lup returns with two coffees and four pastries (‘necessary fuel’), Barry’s fairly proud of the organisation system he’s bodged together. He also made it off the floor without Lup having to see.

“Woah. It looks better!” Lup grins. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, we’ll see how it works in practice, consider me your librarian for the day. I don’t have any meetings so I’m yours.”

“My personal sexy librarian? I’ve peaked!”

Barry laughs so hard he coughs. Yeah, Sexy Sildar the Librarian. That’s him. Ridiculous.

“Do you have the approved draft for tomorrow’s class, please?” Lup asks.

“Here you go.” Barry hands it over.

“You included the notes too?” Lup’s voice wobbles slightly.

“I just paired up the things that seemed to correspond.”

“Barry, I love you.” Lup looks up at him with watery eyes, but she’s smiling wider than he’s seen since they were singing.

He didn’t anticipate being told he was loved by someone (who wasn’t his Mum) because of his excellent organisational skills, but hearing it from Lup, even if she was emotional and tired and frustrated, hearing it from Lup was magic.

“I love you too, Lup.” He says it with all of the sincerity in his breath and bones.

There’s a moment, a brief moment, where he thinks about what would happen if he tried to kiss her no. Just leaned down and took her hand instead of handing her more notes, pulled her towards him, cupped her face in his hand, and leaned in… But now’s not the time. He doesn’t want to be the guy that misreads a situation. Even still, something bubbles between them, there’s a current of something, something electric and fizzing and he could reach out for it he thinks, but Lup doesn’t need that right now. There’ll be time later, time to tell her how he feels, ask if she feels it too. Right now, though, right now? There’s a lesson plan to write.

–

“Are you absolutely sure about the bees, sister dear?”

“It’s in the notes!” Lydia says, brandishing them at Edward. “Do you want to keep being mediocre, or do you want to excel?”

–

Dear ‘Ko,

Okay, so I know you saw it on the news, and I know you rang, and I know we talked about it and then talked about it again. But what a fucking day! Turns out they were too engrossed in cheating and being complete dickheads to actually consider what the fuck they were doing. They just took all my notes and picked at random - apparently they included the ones I discounted because they were unhinged.

Anyway, updates you didn’t have when we last spoke today: the bees are dispersed now, I think we got all the golf balls, and none of the kids are hurt. The clerics said it’ll take a while for Edward’s swelling to go down, and honestly, good. It’s what he deserves. Lucretia zone of truth-d Lydia after it all kicked off. It was brilliant.

Miss you, love you, see you soon,

Lup xxxxxxx

P.S. I think I might be in love with Barry???? Okay bye!

--

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Find the final chapter here.

[it-happened-one-fic]

Hours in the Moonlight: Guileful Nightfall - 3. I Must Insist

Summary: Getting a tour of the Scarabia clan hardly seemed like a bad idea, and while Jamil seemed wary of you, he also didn’t seem like an all bad guy. But then, there is always latent risk in spending time with an unfamiliar vampire. Especially when you didn’t know what all said vampire was capable of.

Series Type: Gender-neutral reader/ Vampire AU/ series/ romantic/ angst/ angst with comfort/ fluff/ sfw/ platonic interactions too!

Trigger Warning: Vampire

Word Count: 2081

Hours in the Moonlight Master-List

As soon as we were out of earshot of where we’d left Kalim, Jamil spoke. Sighing slightly as he shook his head like an exasperated parent, “I’m sorry about Kalim. You shouldn’t feel pressured to stay. Though, if you want to, you are certainly welcome since it may make your job easier.”

I blinked in surprise at the young man who strolled along just as ahead of me. This had hardly been what I’d expected from him since he’d seemed like the more wary one of the group. But I’d misjudged people before; perhaps I’d misread him too.

I shook my head as I spoke, a slight smile on my face as I reassured him, “That’s okay, he wasn’t really bothering me. But I probably won’t be staying here. I’ve got all of my stuff back at my place, and I don’t want to take up any room here.”

Truthfully speaking, in no way did I want to stay here. Not when I’d already noted that some of the vampires here were staring a little too pointedly at me with an interested expression that went beyond mere curiosity or friendly greeting.

Jamil nodded at my words, as if I’d said exactly what he’d expected, “Kalim will probably just tell you that we have plenty of rooms and that we can have your stuff brought over.”

His words weren’t even tired or amused. They were just very matter of fact, making me wonder if that was what the sunshiny young man would say.

Before I could respond, though, he was glancing over his shoulder at me, an odd sort of expression on his face, “If you don’t mind my asking…..”

He trailed off, and I found myself speeding up so that I was walking alongside him as I looked at him expectantly. Waiting for him to finish whatever it was that he was going to say.

“Why does head-vampire Crowley have you evaluating Scarabia first? Wouldn’t the Savanaclaw clan make more sense?” I felt my eyebrows raise at his words. Evidently enough word hadn’t spread about my evaluations, but just as surprising was that he’d mentioned Savanaclaw specifically. But then, they had apparently been losing larger numbers of their members to insanity than other clans.

My thoughts drifted back to the people there. I’d only really just started to get to know each of them well before Crowley had shifted me to another clan. 

Some small part of me had hoped, against all logic, that Crowley was going to let me stay there for a little while longer after I’d given my report to Trein.

But I sighed, shaking my head slightly to clear my thoughts before I answered Jamil. Reminiscing and pouting about it wouldn’t do any good now, and, like Leona had said, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t go see them anymore.

“I’ve already evaluated them. The cause of this entire insane vampire mess doesn’t seem to be there, it’s just that they’ve been hit a bit harder than most. But their clan is also quite large, so it isn’t surprising that they’ve lost more members than other, smaller clans.”

I wasn’t able to entirely keep myself from defending them, as I explained to Jamil. I had friends there now, and, even if it did make sense to be suspicious of them due to the rumors and numbers, I couldn’t help but feel at least a little bit defensive about them.

Especially since Leona was, in his own way, trying to stop his members from fully losing themselves.

I didn’t know if he’d ever actually succeeded though, and neither had Vil when I’d asked him. In fact, Vil had seemed surprised that Leona was trying to help the vampires who had lost themselves and bring them back from the brink.

“That does make sense.”  At his soft murmur, I glanced over to see Jamil nodding thoughtfully before he looked back toward me, “Have you had any luck in figuring out anything about the insanity?”

 I paused, wondering if I should tell him about the current theory or keep it to myself. I couldn’t really see why it would be bad to tell him, but…. Something about his behavior seemed off to me for reasons I couldn’t quite place.

He’d seemed so wary when Sam had first explained my purpose here, but now… Now he seemed oddly welcoming and almost friendly, if in a quieter way than Kalim.

Bluntly put, it didn’t make any sense.

I glanced at him, and, all at once, I remembered what Vil had said back at the ball. It was the first time I’d heard the name ‘Jamil’ and it had also been a warning. Almost like Vil had been warning me about interacting with him.

Crafty. That was how Vil had described Jamil.

The mere memory of Vil’s words made me even more worried about sharing any findings with Jamil, even though he also had a right to know considering he was a vampire himself and would doubtless be affected by this in some sort of way.

I pressed my lips together, making up my mind in a split second decision. I didn’t really see what it could hurt to tell Jamil my theory, so I would be honest, even if I’d also be careful at the same time.

“The current theory is that there might be a vampire somewhere that is spreading the insanity like a disease. But we don’t have enough evidence yet to fully say that’s the case,” I finished carefully. Watching the young man for his reaction.

Jamil only nodded though, apparently understanding the theory itself and seemingly not worried about any possible suspicions from my person. And it almost made me feel bad for even being suspicious of him.

He had every right to be wary of me, a vampire hunter, when he was a vampire himself. But then, didn’t I have every right to be wary of him too when it came to my experience with vampires and their strange fascination with me?

He paused, opening a door we’d just come up on and silently gesturing for me to enter as if he’d done this a million times.

I stepped through quietly, idly pondering the young man next to me before my eyes widened as I immediately found myself staring at the lavish decorations that surrounded us. 

The entire building had been fancy from what I’d seen so far, but somehow this area seemed more so for reasons I couldn’t quite understand.

“This is usually where we receive guests and is where the feast will be held tonight,” I nodded as Jamil explained, continuing to glance around in awe at everything in the room. 

In no way was the use of decor or gold understated. Rather, the decorations seemed more like they were making a statement of how rich this clan was. 

And I could only assume that they were quite rich. Sam had said that Kalim and Jamil had originally come from another clan and that Kalim’s father had paid for this building. Perhaps the almost overwhelming lavishness was a statement of sorts. 

Jamil twisted, looking my way with slightly raised eyebrows, “Speaking of the feast, what would you like for me to prepare for you?”

 I twisted at his question and smiled awkwardly as I met his gaze and raised my hands. Waving them as I spoke as if I could wave away both his question and the awkwardness of my denial, “Oh, there’s no need to prepare anything. I’ll probably head back to my apartment before you guys have your feast anyway. Besides, I don’t know what you're celebrating or anything anyway, so it might be awkward if I stayed….  Thank you though!”

I’d barely even finished speaking before he was shaking his head, utterly unbothered by my words, “We aren’t celebrating anything, and since Kalim instructed me to, it is my duty to prepare you some food.”

I shook my head again, still smiling slightly, if awkwardly, “Oh, no, it’s alright. If he says anything, you can just tell him I couldn’t stay and-”

He cut me off, leaning forward with a smooth smile that held a confidence that was at odds with his otherwise quiet demeanor. But far more concerning was the way that there was something slightly off about that smile as he spoke. Smug, and like he knew something I didn’t.

My eyes widened as one of his hands landed on my shoulder and twisted me so that I was looking him directly in his eyes, which I could now tell from this close proximity were a deep charcoal grey color, “Please, I must insist that you stay. Kalim will be most upset otherwise when I tell him.”

His voice was velvety smooth and cajoling, but also surprisingly soft, even though it was just the two of us in this room. 

Despite myself, I found myself relaxing and thinking that perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to stay for a feast. Kalim had invited me after all, and Jamil acted like he would get in trouble if I didn’t stay. And I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. Perhaps it would be best for me to stay….

Somewhere beyond my hazy thoughts, I could feel confusion lurking. Why was I suddenly agreeing to stay? It made no sense, but it was like I couldn’t stop myself.

I nodded, feeling oddly like I was beginning to drown in Jamil’s gaze and lose all control over my own actions even as I spoke in a sleepy voice that sounded oddly distant even to my own ears, “I guess I could stay for a meal then… But you don’t have to make me something special. Just anything will do.”

He tilted his head, his smile taking on an even more pleased look as the beads in his hair jingled with the slight motion, “How about some curry then?”

I nodded, still feeling oddly detached. Like I was watching our interaction from a distance without actually having any control. More of an observer than a participant. And an oddly sleepily, relaxed observer at that.

“That sounds nice….” My voice was strangely soft, and he smiled. A victorious expression on his face as he nodded and stepped backwards before turning was with a slight gesture for me to follow.

“I’ll make that then. You can spend today getting familiarized with our headquarters while you wait,” There was a smug amusement to his tone that had me frowning.

As soon as my eye contact with him was broken, I found myself blinking in confusion. That hazy feeling was gone, and I felt like I was in control of what I was saying and doing again, but no less confused as to why I’d suddenly agreed to stay.

It wasn’t like Jamil had been that convincing. But I found myself trailing along behind him nonetheless into yet another room. Idly listening to him even as I puzzled over what had just happened, “This is the library. You might find some useful books, such as histories, here to help with your looking into the insanity issue.”

I looked around, nodding slightly and wondering what this room had been originally. There was no way a hotel would have a library this nice.

Jamil watched me for a moment before glancing towards a clock and sighing, “I’m afraid I must get back to Kalim to remind him to prepare for tonight and then go and start preparing the meal.”

I nodded understandingly as I turned to look back at him, only to find him looking towards me uncertainly. I smiled, pasting on the fake expression and pretending like nothing was amiss, “Of course, go ahead. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll stay here and start researching.”

He looked beyond relieved. Nodding in an almost grateful fashion, “Very well. I’ll come and get you when everything is ready for the feast then.”

I watched as he left, with the door shutting softly behind him before I looked towards the rows of books with a frown. What I really wanted to figure out right this second was what had happened back in that other room just a few moments ago.

Was it something that Jamil had done, or was I really just that out of it? Either way, the idea of not having total control of myself while being surrounded by vampires of an unfamiliar clan was hardly a comfortable thought.

If you would like to read more:

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[peachymilkandcream]

Fraud | Part 15 | Yandere All Might x Hero!Reader

(A/N: Hope you enjoy and comment to be added to the taglist!)

WARNINGS: noncon, dubcon, manipulation, domestic abuse, yandere themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, stockholm syndrome, graphic depictions of violence, mind breaking, misogyny, power imbalance, age difference, cheating, forced orgasm, suicide, etc.

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

All Might's fourth victim had what he would call a perfect life, family, kids, a husband who made decent money as a pro, the white picket fence dream. In fact, so much so that she wasn't the one he was originally after. She was not a pro nor pretended to be one, however her husband had focused all of his efforts on investigating All Might himself. He said publicly many times that he believed the women All Might associated with went missing for a reason. That there had to be more to the story after all.

At first, All Might had tried to be civil, not wanting a whole scandal and backlash if he could just calmly explain to him that there's no need for an investigation and everything would be fine if he just quietly left well enough alone. Toshinori fully believed that if he could convince or even bribe one of his accusers that there was nothing to see here, that all would go away and he could get back to his normal life.

But when he met with said pro for a conversation, it turned ugly rather quickly.

"I'm sorry All Might but I can't do that."

"What do you mean? C'mon now, we can come to an agreement can't we? Something where everyone's happy?"

"I'll be happy when you've been exposed for the crimes you've committed against these innocent women."

"Accusing me without any proof is a pretty bold thing to do."

"Proof? I have plenty, how many women get involved with you and end up dying, disappearing, or killing themselves. Each one is the same, you and I both know there's a pattern there."

"You're jumping to conclusions based on coincidence. I was cleared as a suspect in all of those cases years ago."

"And why is that? As the Number One hero, I'm sure you have connections, if not a substantial amount of funds to buy your way out of trouble."

"I don't appreciate what you're insinuating. I am a hero, the Symbol of Peace and Justice, why would I go against the very thing I strive to uphold?"

"To use it as a cover to do whatever the hell you want. You're above suspicion because of what you do and your work, while innocent women left and right lose everything by just coming near you."

His teeth grit in anger, he could kill the man right this moment. But that would be too suspicious, people would start to question why someone investigating All Might would disappear except if it meant that All Might was guilty.

"Very well, dig if you must, but you won't find anything, I assure you."

"We'll see about that."

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

"Find him."

"Excuse me?"

"Find out everything about him, I want to ruin his life. Make him regret he'd ever been born."

"And what am I looking for exactly?"

"His family, friends, a path of opening. Hateful social media posts, nudes, cheating scandals, illegal purchases, gambling, addiction, something! Anything that would discredit him!"

Nighteye sighs, tapping away at the computer, all of the Symbol of Peace's messes were his job to clean up, and it was getting exhausting. However that is what he signed up for in the past, might as well keep his position as All Might's only sidekick for a little while longer.

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

All Might had approached the young wife and mother with the appearance of simple help. From what Nighteye had said she was a stay at home wife since her husband made enough to support her and their children quite comfortably. However that meant that he was gone throughout the day and the day to day care of the home and children rested upon her shoulders. And what would be a better time than to help a poor woman carrying heavy groceries? He was a hero after all.

They started talking, as she was in awe that such an accomplished and acclaimed hero would help her of all people do such a lowly task. To which he naturally assured her that no job was too small if it meant helping those in need. It seemed like his charms with women hadn't gone away, even after all these years. Women still found him the most fantastical man on the planet, all because of this inherited power of his.

Simple chatting turned into venting on her end, when he asked what her husband did she began to pour out how stressed and lonely she had been since he dedicated himself to his current case. She willingly offered up the details of how far his research had come and how he had less than what he let on. In order to find more he had often been away from home, neglecting his wife and family to pursue this goal of bringing All Might to justice. A cause, she believed, to be ridiculous since Toshinori had been nothing but an angel to her.

As always, he listened, never saying a word to sway her thinking, except that he understood and felt sorry for her. Throwing in lines about how much he wished to be married but had to wait since it was not in the cards. How if he was married, he would treat his wife like she were the only thing in life that mattered. The city could be burning but if his wife needed him he'd be there.

The fool melted.

And she was lonely. Riding him until her legs gave out, but still begging for more. It was like she hadn't been touched in years, and all she needed was him. To which he was always happy to be of help.

There was something about fucking the wife of your current enemy that just brought him so much satisfaction. This man had pushed and pushed to get All Might to slip up, but in pushing so hard he allowed a crack in his family unit, which All Might snuck in and took what was left over. And from the look on her face when he filled her, she was never going back to her old life.

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

The spite she had toward her husband for leaving her in that house by herself led her to telling All Might exactly where he had stored all of his evidence in his case against the Symbol of Peace. Telling him to take it so that finally her husband would come back to her.

Naturally he had to agree to such a desperate woman.

Although the destroying of the evidence didn't stop, she still made regular visits to see him, needing that hole of affection filled somewhere. And if it was All Might, all the better.

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

Eventually she told her husband of her affair, but made sure not to mention who it was with when All Might had sworn her not to do so. All of his evidence had already been taken from him, his life's work meaningless, and now his wife was leaving with his children.

All because he tried to cross the Number One hero.

That was the last All Might or anyone had heard of him, and eventually Toshinori got tired of the constant pestering from her to meet her kids and take over a fatherly role so he killed each one of them, from her, down to the youngest. Never to be seen of again, and no questions were asked since the husband believed they had moved hours away to be with her lover. There was no investigation, nothing. They had just disappeared and were forgotten about. Even by All Might.

Especially when he met her.

Taglist:

@toomuchdabi

@i-love-mommy-wanda

[samieree]

Dawn of the North || Game of Thrones

Robb Stark x OC

(masterlists in the end) -> Prologue + description

Chapter I ''Beginning''

Since they ran away from home, they planned to save enough money to sail by ship to Essos and settle there, in one of the Free Cities. Their plans changed when it turned out that earning money was not that easy. Especially when you feel guilty when you rob someone.

When Amalthea thought about the situation that took place two years ago and their stay in the North, she would not have thought that her and Ryledia's lives would take this direction. She didn't think they would return to the North, it seemed to her that they would be best off in the lands of the Reach or the Riverlands. After all, they grew up in the Reach, this was the area they knew best. But after two years they found themselves back in the Kingdom of the North, and quite far in it. Okay, earlier, they had gone further, to some village between Winterfell and Dreadfort, but then they told themselves that they would not want to come here ever again. It was cold, they had to buy warmer coats and shoes, stay in inns at night... It was simply unprofitable.

But something brought them back here. More specifically, just south of Moat Cailin. They began their journey there when they learned of King Robert's death and that the North had called the bannermen and declared war on the Lannisters.

"We should buy some good wine from Dorne and have some fun." that's what Ryledia told her when they heard about the change on the throne.

After all, King Robert had always been the greatest threat to Amalthea's life - although his death didn't mean she would suddenly be completely safe. She had no doubt that there were still plenty of people who hated Targaryens and it made sense to hide her true identity.

It would certainly be easier if they were able to go to another continent. No one would have paid attention there if Amalthea hadn't put on her dark red wig and just let her silver waves down. In fact, their story would have gone in this direction if Ryledia had agreed to Amalthea's proposal. Namely, it was about selling hair. Long, silver, light curls would be very expensive. The girl wanted to cut it as high as possible - she was wearing a wig anyway - and sell it for at least enough to get them both across the sea. But then she heard:

"No. You will not sell yourself."

Amalthea didn't see it that way. For her, it was just her hair, a beautiful but at the same time annoying part of her appearance. Especially since the longer they were, the harder it was to stuff them under the wig.

Apart from this argument, Ryledia added that it would not be easy for them to find a buyer, and if they found one, he would definitely ask them where they got the hair from. And then what? Would they say they were lying on the ground? And if they admitted that they belonged to Amalthea, they would risk that the merchant would discover their secret.

Returning to their current situation, Amalthea began to become suspicious as to why they had returned. While they were sitting in one of the inns, a few soldiers, rather high-born, came there. Of course, they were looking for the comfort of a normal bed, which they left at home when they went to war. Or women, one of the two. Anyway, this time no one was bothering them - and even if someone was, after politely refusing, he left them alone (unless he was drunk, in which case he needed a little help in the form of a push towards his friends) - it was rather... other way around. Ryledia did so, to be precise.

Amalthea didn't know the true nature of her friend's behavior as she sat and talked with the military men, laughing and drinking with them. Sometimes she kept Amalthea next to her, and sometimes she left her at another table - but then she looked at her discreetly almost every moment to make sure that she was in no danger, that no one was bothering her. The silver-haired girl finally thought that her close friend must have fallen in love. Or more precisely, what pushed her to this conclusion was that when one of the men suggested that they travel with them, from camp to camp - of course not to fight, gods forbid, they were women. It was just about... keeping company. Besides, they knew a bit about tending wounds and cooking, so they could always be useful. Especially since they had their own horses, so traveling wouldn't be a problem for them.

And that's how they ended up in the middle of a war camp. She was sitting next to Ryledia on a tree trunk by a fire over which rabbits were roasting. She didn't feel very comfortable here, much less as comfortable as Ryledia. She wondered if she felt the eyes of others on her as she did and wondered what all these men were thinking. After all, they left their wives - if they had them - at home... She wanted to broach the subject with Ryledia, but firstly: she didn't want to interrupt the conversation, and secondly: she didn't seem like she had the same thoughts. Maybe she hid it well, or maybe she didn't have any at all. After all, some blood divides them.

She sat and stared at her fingers, playing with them until she got tired of it. The conversation didn't interest her either, it didn't seem to be about any topics she could comment on, so she stayed silent almost the entire time.

She sighed and looked around. She didn't expect to see any familiar face, although deep down she hoped that she would see the boy who, together with his father, saved her and Ryledia two years ago. After all, he was the one who called the bannermen and led the army, so he had to be around here somewhere. But the camp with about twenty thousand people is huge. The chance of seeing him somewhere was-

She noticed a woman entering a tent. She did it immediately, after all, she didn't expect many more women to be in the camp. Especially since this one looked much older than her. She leaned a little in her seat, but she still couldn't see anything that was happening in the tent she entered. But now her attention was finally focused on something other than twiddling her fingers and listening to the boring conversation. She stared at the tent for a long time until her suspicions were finally confirmed: the woman she noticed was Lady Stark. She was the first to leave after a dozen or so minutes - yes, all this time Amalthea was staring at one and the same tent - and some time later her eldest son came out accompanied by someone else, his age or at most five years older. She recognized him immediately, even from this distance - and they were about a dozen meters away.

He didn't change much, except he had a beard now. His hair still curled into small curls,  had blue eyes, a warm, thick coat, and the silver direwolf pin adorned the clasp of the coat.

Their eyes met for a moment, completely unexpectedly. She mentally cursed that he happened to look in her direction and notice her, but there was only a faint blush on her face as she quickly turned back to the fire. She rested her elbows on her thighs and placed her hands on her cheeks to hide the pinkness before anyone noticed.

After all, she was what, seventeen? And she had just seen once again the boy for whom her heart had fluttered once before, and whom she had spoken about to Ryledia for so long that she had almost tortured her to death. Now she felt her heart racing again, but quickly calmed down.

At least for a while.

"My Lady?" she almost jumped when she heard his voice behind her. She should have expected it, after all the conversation had died down until Robb nodded and smiled that it was okay, they may talk freely, he came here for only one person. "What an unexpected meeting."

He was only a year older than her, not even a whole year, and he kept reliving that moment when his eyes fell on a beautiful girl and lingered on her a little too long. Then, at the inn, he did everything he could to hide it, but his father still teased him a bit about it later. Of course he noticed. Nothing was as embarrassing for Robb, although now he would give everything to have his father back, even if he had to argue with him that he had absolutely never been seriously attracted to any woman. He could at best discuss this with Theon, although he would prefer to keep it to himself. He would never start such a conversation himself, his feelings were his alone.

But now he decided to approach her. He could have ignored it, thought that he was just imagining it, that it definitely wasn't her. After all, he didn't even know her name. Neither her nor her companion. But he couldn't let go, he never could.

"Unfortunately, not in better circumstances than last time."

"I heard that two women joined in, but I regret that I didn't ask for their name right away. Although I haven't even had a chance to learn it yet." yes, none of them introduced themselves when they had the pleasure of meeting at the inn. "Could I?"

"Amalthea." she replied, smiling gently.

"I'm Robb Stark."

She wanted to say that she knew his name - after all, she was educated, or at least enough to know everything important about the world around her and the most important houses of Westeros, but her voice got stuck in her throat. Why? Because Robb took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it. Maybe it was just an innocent, polite gesture, but her heart sped up, threatening to make her face blush.

"And your friend?" he asked, looking behind her at the brunette who was still busy talking with the soldiers.

She hesitated for a moment before answering, thinking about how his lips had just placed a gentle kiss on her hand, about the warmth of his gentle embrace when he was holding her hand for this short time.

"Ryledia." she also looked at her, but only for a moment, because she definitely preferred to look at the boy who touched her girlish heart than at the friend she was with every day.

"I hope you haven't had any unpleasant experiences in these two years like at that inn." he really wanted it to be that way, even though the chances were slim. After all, women traveling alone are unfortunately often harassed. But they didn't look like they were in bad shape.

If it weren't for traveling alone, he would assume they had family somewhere nearby they could stay with - at least one of them. They didn't look like they could be sisters, but anything was possible. He assumed that since Amalthea hadn't introduced them that way, they didn't have a bond deeper than friendship. Still - ladies traveling alone was like asking for trouble. For that reason, he was glad that they would stay with them, at least for a while. That wasn't the only reason, of course, but he didn't want to admit it yet. For now, he wanted to... get to know her. Just like that.

He couldn't deny it, she was pretty - he had eyes, after all. Who wouldn't like a slim girl with a visible waistline, fanciable breasts, amber eyes and long wine-colored hair? That's why he went so far with politeness as to kiss her hand while introducing himself. A gesture of respect, but at the same time he hoped that he had impressed her and that Amalthea would reciprocate his desire to get to know each other.

It is true that he has his duties, he leads people to war, he wants to save his father, but during the day he also has long moments when he is alone with his thoughts. He would gladly fill it with her, if she agreed to it, of course.

And if not, he would have to try harder than just kissing her hand while looking her straight in the eyes.

"Fortunately, no." it was a small lie on her part, because her and Ryledia's life had never been easy, even before they ran away from home.

Amalthea had always had the same fear as her father: being recognized. Over time, she got used to it and was less careful, no longer touching the edges of the wig to make sure her hair wasn't sticking out - and asking Ryledia about it every now and then, whenever she could do it discreetly...

They were both aware of the dangers their journey entailed, but they didn't feel like they had any other choice now. They could stay somewhere longer and settle down, but it's more complicated than it seems, fitting into a community that already knows each other well and you are a stranger. Traveling gave them freedom, even if it meant risking their health or even lives from time to time.

That's why Amalthea was surprised by Ryledia's quick agreement to the idea of ​​joining the moving army.

"If you don't mind... I'd like to have a few words with you from time to time, my Lady. It's very... relaxing to be able to talk about something other than the current situation."

"Why 'my Lady'? Maybe I'm not of noble birth? After all, I travel from city to city without staying anywhere for long."

"It's obvious." he nodded at her and looked at her from her feet to the top of her head. "The way you talk, how you carry yourself, the way you look. A woman from a humble home is not like that."

"Be careful, my Lord, maybe it will turn out that I am a lost princess?" she said jokingly, laughing with him. She ignored the way she felt Ryledia lightly tugging her skirt from behind to be careful not to say too much. But these are just jokes! He wouldn't take her seriously, anyone would laugh if they heard something like that while talking with her.

"Then I would have to call the Maester to remind me of all the rules of etiquette regarding behavior in the presence of the princess." he replied in an equally light tone.

They continued their banter completely unaware of two things: First of all: Yes, Ryledia, who was sitting on a trunk practically behind Amalthea's back, may have continued her conversation with the soldiers, but at the same time she was listening carefully to her friend's conversation with Robb. Secondly: Catelyn noticed them too, or more precisely, that her son was suddenly interested in some woman - where did she even come from? On the one hand, she was happy because he finally didn't look all tense, but she didn't know her, this probably wasn't a good match for him in any way, and she immediately thought of everything that could go wrong if her son will be reckless.

And that's how he'll be like if he becomes infatuated with her.

~

-> general masterlist -> Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon masterlist

[raventroll80]

Stowaway

Chapter 3: Unprofessional Medical Assistance

Em gets caught, Seth gets bit… a lot. Cracks are starting to form as Em comes to terms with the situation and Seth tries to be nice.

Heads up this chapter contains injuries, mild blood, and possible medical malpractice (Seth’s trying and Em is very, very small… and bitey)

Seth had begun to worry as he searched for the little person, he hadn’t seen any sign of them. In fact, he hadn’t even seen any of the other rodents in the cargo bay either.

 “God, I hope they didn’t use any rat poison,” He thought to himself as he slowly moved about the bay, hoping nobody was questioning how long he was taking.

He was about to give up when he heard a quiet snap followed by a not so quiet cry of pain. A pit immediately formed in his stomach as he turned to look at the source of the noise. There between the fallen boxes was the tiny person, a mouse trap pinning them down.

They started whimpering as he picked them up, Seth tried to calm them down as he limped over to a box.

“Hey there little buddy, it’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said softly as he placed the trap down on a box. He lifted the hammer of the trap and the tiny human scrambled back, he let them crawl off the trap before moving his hand behind them to stop them from falling off the crate.

Carefully he scooped the tiny person up, cupping his hands around them. He could he feel their heartbeat going a mile a minute as the shook in his hands.

“It’s okay, you’re safe, I’m just trying to help you,” He hushed as he tried to comfort the shaking form in his hands. He tried stroking them gently but quickly found that their back was still covered in the peanut butter that was used as bait.

Had they been trying to scrape some off to eat? They must be hungry; I should try and grab them some food on the way out. Seth thought to himself, “I-I’m gonna have to put you in my pocket for a bit, but I’ll take you out once we get back to my room, okay?” He whispered to the injured tiny before depositing them in one of his pockets.

Seth briskly hobbled over to the stairs. As he left the cargo bay, he made sure to pop into the breakroom to grab a bottle of water and a granola bar before leaving. He finished up his report to Dr. Hayden and suggested the tear in the fabric as transport damage and sent the report in. He didn’t want the doctor to ask him a million questions before leaving, as his leg was starting ache again and he could feel the tiny in his pocket starting to struggle more, causing him to gently hold them in place with his hand.

Finally, Seth made it back to his room where he immediately placed the tiny person on his desk before grabbing the first aid kit from the bathroom. In that time the tiny had backed up and was now hiding behind a pencil cup, a fearful scowl was etched across their face as they stared at him as he walked back to the desk.

Seth set the small bag down and the small person flinched away. Seth opened the bag and took out various things as the tiny looked on in suspicion. Seth reached out and gently nudged the small person towards him. They yelped in as Seth brought them closer, confident that he wouldn’t get hurt this time, that was until he was bitten by the small person. Now it was Seth’s turn to yelp as tiny teeth sunk into his finger.

“Ow!” he yelped causing the tiny person to flinch back. He terrible for scaring them as much as he was, “Look, I know you’re scared of me, but I just want to help you,” the scowl had returned to the tiny’s face as he spoke, “Y-you’re hurt, a-and I want to help you, but I can’t do that with if you keep attacking me. I just want to help you, please…” he finished, he was getting frustrated, but he knew better than to help them by force.

The small person looked from Seth, to their legs, to the first aid kit, then back to Seth. They gave him a suspicious look before scooting closer to Seth and rolling up their pant legs, revealing a pair of shin guards. They were thick and a yellowed white colour, but they had been stained red by blood, Seth wasn’t sure if it was theirs or not. The shin guards were badly damaged, presumably taking the brunt of the force from the trap.

“Could you remove those shin guards? I need to see how bad the damage is to your actual leg, please,”

The tiny drew their legs back and undid the shin guards, a soft crickling noise made Seth flinch a little. The tiny winced as they removed the shin guards, some pieces stuck to their legs as they did so, worrying Seth in the process. Once they were off Seth could see that while yes, the shin guards took the brunt of the force from the trap, the tinies legs were still pretty beaten up and bloody. Seth took a cotton swab from the kit and dabbed it in some peroxide and scooted towards the tiny.

“This is probably gonna sting,” Seth warned before he dabbed it on the tinies leg. The tiny hissed in pain as they pulled their leg back. Seth panicked and reached out to the tiny in an attempt to comfort them.

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed at him, recoiling from his attempted touch.

“Sorry!” Seth apologized “Here try and wipe it off,” he said offering her a dry cotton pad which she quickly snatched up.

The tiny wiped their legs off and inspected their wound, picking out bits of the shin guard from it. Once she was done, the tiny tentatively extended her legs out and let Seth wipe the other leg with some more peroxide. The tiny hissed in pain again but refrained from pulling their leg away.

Now that their injuries were clean, Seth was able to see that it wasn’t as bad as it had appeared. As he had suspected the shin guards had protected her legs from most of the damage, but the trap had still left some nasty cuts on their legs.

“Okay so, it looks a bit worse than it actually is, but I still want to put some bandages on them just to be safe,” he explained to her. Seth pulled out a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors, he considered using band-aids but decided not to, worrying that either him or the tiny would struggle to remove them.

The tiny tensed when she saw Seth pull out the scissors, but relaxed a little when he started measuring the bandages. He cut two lengthy strips of bandage from the roll and handed it to her.

“Here, you put them on. It’s clear you don’t like being touched, and I don’t want to make you anymore upset than you already are,” Seth explained as the tiny took the bandages and began wrapping her legs.

Seth watched the tiny as she wrapped her legs, now able to finally get a good look at them while they were occupied. She had had large roundish face with long tangled dark brown hair which matched the fur on her tail. She was rather plump and possessed rather long arms, all in all Seth thought she quite adorable when she wasn’t trying to bite or stab him.

As she wrapped her legs Seth cut her some tape to hold the bandages closed, she took the tape and placed it over the ends of the bandages before pulling her pantlegs down. The two sat in silence for a moment, neither saying a word. The silence was making Seth a bit uncomfortable so he spoke.

“Are you hungry?” the tiny looked away slightly “You probably are, there’s probably not a lot to eat down in the cargo bay,” He continued, opening the granola bar and breaking off a piece for his tiny guest. She eyed him and the food suspiciously before deciding that it was probably safe.

“It’s probably a little stale, I’ll try and find you something a bit more fresh tomorrow though,” he said as he took the water bottle and poured some of it into the lid.

Seth set the lid down next to her before he wheeled his chair over to his bed to grab something. Out of the corner of his eye Seth watched the tiny drink the water before breaking apart the granola chunk and eating some of the oats. She ate and drank rather quickly which concerned Seth. When was the last time she ate? He thought before wheeling back over to his desk.

“You dropped this the other day, I thought you’d probably want them back,” he said handing her the satchel he picked up the other day. The tiny immediately began checking her bag, pulling out various item and putting them back. She pulled out her knife and pulled it out of its sheath and checked it, the tiny made a face before putting it back in its sheath.

“Oh! And I found these in the covered cargo, I assume they also belong to you,” he added digging out the cloak and glider from his pocket.

She immediately snatched the cloak from his hands and wrapped it around herself, when she saw the glider the tiny slumped in defeat. Seth felt bad for her, clearly the glider was important and sticking it in his pocket certainly didn’t help.

“Sorry… about the glider, I-I assume it’s a glider. Uh… maybe I could help you fix it?” Seth stammered, the tiny just shot him a glare before going back to sulking. The two sat there in silence a bit more before the tiny yawned, Seth had to stop himself from cooing at her remembering that she’d probably bite him again if he did.

“Well, it’s getting late, we should probably get some sleep…” Seth yawned as he reached towards her.

Seth hesitated as the tiny curled up into a ball, she was shaking… Seth bit his lip and frowned a little. He felt bad for scaring her, he didn’t mean to but it was hard not to. He was ten maybe even a hundred times her size, how could she not be scared of him. Seth sighed softly before gently scooping her up in his hands and holding her close to his chest, even though it was only a few steps to his bed Seth walked slowly as to not frighten them too much.

He gently set his tiny guest down in the cubby just above his bed before turning back to get her things. Seth placed her things next to her before leaving to get his night clothes on. He took his glasses off and dug out the cleaning cloth from his glasses case and handed it to his tiny guest.

“Here, ship’s heading north it’s gonna get pretty cold at night,” Seth said, “I’ll try and find something warmer before we reach the Arctic Safezone,”

The tiny took the cleaning cloth from him and set up a small sleeping area in the back left corner of the cubby. She removed her cloak and laid it down to keep something between her and the cold metal of the cubby. The tiny hucked her bag into the corner and flopped down with her back to Seth and pulled the “blanket” over herself.

“Oh yeah, I’m Seth by the way, Seth Willems. Thought you’d probably want to know since we’ll be kinda stuck with each other for a bit,”

The tiny didn’t respond.

Seth frowned a little before rolling onto his side and pulling his own blanket over himself. Seth took a few deep breaths, still partially waiting for a response from his guest. A few minutes had past and Seth had rolled onto his back and was now staring up at his ceiling.

“I’m… I’m sorry, sorry for scaring you, sorry that you’re stuck here… you must be terrified. Part of me still doesn’t believe that this is even happening, like any moment now I’ll wake up and this will have been all a stress induced dream or something. I never meant to scare you it’s just… look, what I’m trying to say is that I want to help you, I just hope you’re willing to trust me…”

Em stared at the wall in silence, part of her was angry at herself for getting caught, another was scared beyond belief, but there was one more part of her that believed what this human, Seth, was telling her the truth. She wanted to believe that she could trust this human, but did she really have another option…

The human’s words sounded genuine. He had (mostly) respected her demand to not be touched, and when he had handled her, he had been surprisingly gentle. Maybe, just maybe she could trust this human…

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

Seth woke up the next morning and shut off his alarm. Putting on his glasses, Seth checked the cubby to make sure last night really wasn’t a dream. There in the corner of the cubby was a rather alarmed tiny… he never did get their name; he’d have to ask them later.

“Hey there little buddy, is everything alright? You look scared,” He asked concerned, they seemed pretty calm last night, what happened?

The tiny jumped at the sudden sound, she blinked a few times before responding, “Your alarm… I wasn’t expecting it,”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I should have warned you… is there anything I can do to help you?” Seth apologized.

“I’m good, I just need to breath…” They replied, the fur on their tail began to lower.

“I’m gonna be leaving for my shift soon, I’ll leave the granola bar on the shelf for you in case you get hungry,” The tiny just stared at him before giving him a slight nod before curling back up under her makeshift blanket.

Seth placed the granola bar near his guest and got ready for the day ahead. His leg felt sore as he walked about his room, each step made him wince in pain. Seth took his painkillers and grabbed his PDA and left for the bridge for the morning meeting.

The morning meeting was fairly uneventful despite the Slayer’s unexpected visit the other day, Seth had though that maybe Dr. Hayden would be the one giving out but he wasn’t. In fact, the doctor didn’t really seem to care about what was going on in the meeting and seemed to be more focused on whatever was he seemed to be working on.

Seth was starting to wonder if he’d be place on bed rest as he hadn’t been given any duties yet, but as the rest of the group on the bridge dispersed on of the commanders motioned him over to Dr. Hayden.

“Hello Mr. Willems, I have been… reminded about your injury. Normally you’d be placed on bedrest until your injury has healed… However, I have a job for you. As you know the Slayer has been, less than cooperative with us. So, that is why you’ll be monitoring the Slayer’s position for the foreseeable future.” The doctor said, still focusing on screens in front of him. One of them containing a map of a city and a red dot labeled DM1-5, the dot was moving about the city before disappearing completely.

“Yes Sir,” Seth replied as the cyborg “sighed” in annoyance. Seth found himself stationed at a monitor close to Dr. Hayden on the top floor of the bridge. As he suspected DM1-5 was tracking ID for the Slayer, Seth also remembered reading that it was the artifact ID given to him when the UAC discovered his sarcophagus.

As for the Slayer himself he appeared to be clearing out a smaller gore nest in London. The red dot moved about the ruined city with great speed, though what exactly he was doing Seth wasn’t sure of. While the ARC could now track where the Slayer was, they couldn’t actually see what he was doing. Eventually Lunch time rolled around and it was time for Seth to take his break.

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

Back in Seth’s room Em was at a loss for things to do, she hadn’t brought anything to pass the time mostly because she would have never anticipated getting trapped on a boat… or getting kidnapped by a human. She could detail her maps, but that would only last as long as her pencil bit, she could also start that engraving project with her mask and use her knife, but that would dull her only means of defense. Out of all the things to come out of getting caught, boredom was the last thing Em was expecting.

Em pulled off another chunk of the granola bar and ate it, at least she wasn’t hungry. She briefly contemplated taking apart the bar and sorting the grains and other chunks of food but decided against it, too sticky, gods she hated the stickiness all over her. She still hadn’t cleaned the peanut butter off of her clothes yet, mostly because she hadn’t brought any extra and she didn’t trust the human enough to leave her in the bathroom to clean them, especially without her hook.

The longer she sat and thought about the situation the more upset and angrier she got. She was upset because she allowed this to happen to herself, and how there little to no hope of her escaping let alone getting home. Then there was the anger, the was angry at herself for not fighting harder, for dropping her bag, for even wanting to try and borrow from this gods damned boat. She was angry and had nothing to take her anger out on.

“Maybe I should bite that stupid human,” She muttered to herself, normally she’d wrestle with Nimbus whenever she got worked up, but once again Nimbus wasn’t here, she was probably back home, doing who knows what.

Em sighed, she felt tired, physically and emotionally, she lied down, stared at the wall, and waited for Seth to return.

The rest of Seth’s day was remarkably uneventful, about an hour after Seth returned from his lunch the Slayer just disappeared of the map. He was informed by one of his superiors and Dr. Hayden that it meant that the Slayer had returned to the Fortress to rest and that it was unlikely he’s return for few hours, but it was best to stay alert and continue to monitor, just in case. And continue he did, just staring at a map of earth, large patches of red signifying the remaining Hellgrowth.

Now that the invasion had ended it seemed that the Hellgrowth had ceased its spreading and in some places had even begun to decay. Seth wondered what was causing this sudden decay, was it the loss of connection to Hell, or was it because the Icon of Sin had been killed? He hoped a report would be filled out soon, he found these sorts of things interesting.

 “Hey!” He thought, maybe he could tell the tiny about the Hellgrowth, maybe having a conversation with her might get them to open up. Eventually Dinner rolled around and Seth left for the cafeteria. As he ate his food someone sat down across from Seth.

They were about average height and were fairly muscular, the person was wearing an off-duty uniform for the guards and soldiers aboard the carrier. they looked really happy to see him which confused Seth until they spoke.

“Hey buddy! How’s that leg of yours holding up?” It was Corporal Willhower, it took Seth a second to recognize the man without his armour.

“Oh! Hello Corporal Willhower, I didn’t recognize you for a second. The leg’s holding up pretty well, it’s starting to get a little stiff and walking around makes it sore… but other than that it’s good,” Seth replied, slightly surprised that the Corporal had looked for him today.

“That’s good to hear, oh and you can call me Asher by the way, no need to be formal off-duty,” Asher replied extending his hand out for a shake, of which Seth obliged to.

“Well in that case you can call me Seth,”

The two talked as they ate their dinners, Seth at some point when Willhower wasn’t looking wrapped a part of his “meatloaf” in a napkin and shoved it into his pocket for his little guest. Eventually dinner was eaten and the two went their separate ways for the night. On the way to his room, he took out the meatloaf out of his pocket so he wouldn’t smush it. Seth entered his room and sat on his bed.

“Hey little buddy, I brought you something other than granola,” he softly said as he placed the food on the shelf, but the tiny didn’t react. “Buddy?” he asked quietly, concern growing in his chest. Were they sick? Please be alive…

Seth nudged their small form, the tiny jolted before they bit him on the finger. Seth yelped and yanked his hand back, fear and confusion blanketing his face. The tiny looked furious, their entire body shaking. A small snarl was growing on their face as the fur on their tail stood on end, and in a shaky voice they spoke.

“I said, don’t touch me…”

Seth stared at her, struggling to find words. The tiny stared back, she looked to be on the brink of tears. She slowly continued to back herself into a corner, body still shaking. After what felt like an eternity of silence Seth finally found his voice.

“What’s you’re problem? Clearly something’s wrong, but apparently, you’d rather bite me than tell me what’s wrong?” His words came out a bit harsher than he had wanted and it caused the tiny to flinch. Seth sighed and rubbed his face.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just…” he sighed again, “Look, I know you don’t like me and you don’t have to, but I’m trying my best to help you but I can’t if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. It’s late, I’m gonna get ready for bed, just… I’m sorry,”

Em sat there, trying to process everything that was happening. She felt bad for attacking Seth and she had worried he’d retaliate but he didn’t, sure he got upset but even then, he apologized. Seth opened the curtain and got into bed, though this time he placed his glasses next to him on the bed. Seth sighed again before turning to face the wall.

While the human drifted off to sleep Em investigated the napkin he had left her. It smelled meaty and warm, peeling off the napkin Em found a large chunk of meat. Em pulled off a piece of the meat chunk and ate it. It was good, Em ate another piece, and then another, she had eaten about five more handfuls before she stopped herself. Seth had given her this and she bit him for it, now she felt even worse for biting him. Em glanced over at Seth who was now fast asleep then back to the meat.

Em grabbed her bag and dug out her knife cut the remaining meat in half. She wrapped the two chunks the napkin which she had separated. Em took the half she’s been eating from and left it next to the granola bar, the other half she left near the case Seth kept his glasses in.

Em walked towards the edge of the shelf and sat down. She watched Seth for a moment, his body rising and falling as he breathed. Em sighed to herself and her tail twitched.

“I’m sorry, I-I’m just… I don’t know, I feel confused, and scared. You’ve been nothing but nice and it feels genuine, but I’m afraid it’s just a ruse, that any moment you’ll gust grab me and not stop squeezing until I stop moving.” She whispered, her voice shaking with fear. “I want to trust you but every single one of my instincts are screaming at me to run. I just want to go home, or to just wake up from this horrible nightmare, but I can’t, because it’s not.” Her voice began to crack and everything she had been keeping bottled up came pouring out.

Em hugged herself tightly as she curled up into herself and cried. She had been keeping everything bottled up over the past few days, trying to prove to herself that she was capable of surviving on her own. But it was too much, she was too overwhelmed by it all, and now it was all coming out.

A sudden feeling of warmth caused Em to jolt and Seth’s hand flinched back. Em looked up at Seth who looked at her with an apologetic look before gently picking her up. Em tensed up as she was brought towards the human, a small whimper forming in her chest.

“It’s okay, you’re okay,” Seth whispered as he tired to comfort the small shaking form in his hands. He had been unable to sleep after his outburst at the little person, he still felt horrible for scaring her. He thought maybe closing his eyes would’ve helped but it didn’t, that was when he heard he start talking.

She had gone on about how she was scared, how she wanted to trust him but that she was too afraid. When she had started crying Seth wanted to comfort her but he couldn’t find the words, he had ended up reaching out to try calm her down, not caring if she bit him. She had jumped when he touched her but that wasn’t what frightened him, it was how cold they felt.

Seth had given her an apologetic look before scooping her up, god she was freezing. Now Seth was sat in his bed trying his best to comfort the tiny crying person in his hand, quietly shushing them as he gently rubbed her back with the pad of his thumb.

Em struggled in his grasp but eventually the warmth of Seth’s hands felt so nice and she had begun to feel exhausted from all the crying, and gentle pressure of his hands felt grounding. Slowly Em gave into the weight of sleep and passed out, little did she know what effects this would have on Seth.

When Seth felt the tiny’s heartrate slow down he had started panicking, fearing that something had gone wrong that was until he looked down. Oh, she fell asleep…

He stared at the tiny sleeping form in his hands, his heart melting at the sight. He watched as she nuzzled into his chest, he tailed twitching slightly in her sleep. Man, he wished he knew her name hopefully she’d share it with him sometime soon, it was getting weird to keep calling her the tiny. Seth took a deep breath before he too drifted off to sleep.

When morning rolled around Seth was awoken to the feeling of something or someone struggling between his hands. At some point in the night, he had rolled over but his tiny guest was still gently held against his chest. Slowly he opened his hands the tiny scrambled out of them. They looked at him in confusion and alarm, trying to figure out how and why they had woken up in the hands of a human.

“It’s okay, you’re not in any danger. Last night you… you were having a hard time, I just wanted to help and then you fell asleep, I-I didn’t want to wake you…” Seth explained as he slowly sat up. His words seemed to put the tiny at a slight ease, the fur on her tail returning to its normal fluffiness.

“Oh… you heard…” She said softly as she clutched her tail. She seemed shocked that Seth had heard her despite what she had said being directed at him, or at least he though.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you’re not ready,” He offered.

“Okay, thank you,”

Seth laid his hand out and she looked at him confused for a moment; Seth was about to explain when the tiny tentatively stepped onto his hand and waited. Seth lifted his hand a little too quickly as the tiny dove for his thumb and held on for dear life. Once his hand stopped moving, she clambered off at lighting speeds, startling Seth.

“Ah, uh… sorry about that, I’ll try and move slower next time,” He apologized as the tiny smoothed down the fur on her tail.

“Try and cup your hands a little next time to, makes it harder to fall off,” she said as she sat down on her cloak turned bedding, still fidgeting with her tail.

“I’m gonna get dressed, I’ll see if I can find or think up something for you to do. Must be pretty dull just sitting here all the time.” Seth mused before closing the curtain and getting dressed.

Em sat there and pondered what the human had said, should she bring up her ideas? Or would it be better to just go with whatever he comes up with. It wasn’t long before the curtains opened again and Seth sat down on the edge of the bed and faced her.

“I’m leaving for the morning meeting, I’ll try and see if I can stop in during my break but no promises,” he said pouring some water into a small paper cup he found in the bathroom cabinet, before getting up to leave.

“Wait,”

Seth paused as he heard the tiny call out. Em took a deep breath to compose herself before continuing.

“Em… my name is Em,”

“Oh, uhh… thank you, it’s uh… nice to meet you Em,” Seth said, fumbling with his words, he honestly had thought she’d never tell him, but she had.

Seth quickly left for the meeting with a warm smile on his face, he was making progress, she was starting to trust him. Maybe, with enough patience, the two could become friends.

[streets-in-paradise]

Best Friends Till the End - Andy Barclay x (Fem) Childhood Friend! Reader - Part 7

Masterlist

Warnings: Chucky doing very fucked up comments.

Summary : Chucky attempts to play his first move against you with one of his classical stalker calls. You know he sees you as the weakest element of the group and his twisted Intervention preys in your biggest fears seeking to destroy your greatest hope. However, a crucial mistake on his part allows Andy to present you with a whole new purpose.

Tags: @barclaysangel ( i finally finished to write this while dealing with my anxiety over the current situation, hope you will like it. Also, i wrote it on the phone so sorry for the mistakes you may find. )

In the peace of your embrace Andy managed to be the first one falling asleep. Judging by the comments you have heard on his insomnia, he must have been too tired or feeling too comfortable with you in order to accomplish that. Confessing your feelings to each other wasn’t an expected part of your childhood reminiscent ritual, but it happened and you were feeling good about that. Finding out you felt the same for him had surprised him the most, Andy was already insisting on saying you needed someone better and you were claiming over and over there was no one else for you. It got to a point where you started to shut him up with more kisses every time he would start bringing up his flaws. The caresses and reassuring whispers must have relaxed him, so you kept doing that even when you began to notice he was getting sleepy. 

It was a perfect moment, you were almost sure nothing could have possibly ruined it until you felt the vibrations of your phone against the wood of your nightstand. Getting called in the middle of the night was suspicious enough already, only your sister in some severe emergency could justify that. Fearing something could have happened to her, you picked up without caring to consider the fact that the number was unknown. 

If she was in danger, her phone could have got ruined and she could be calling you from anywhere else. 

Your doubtful introductory salute found no direct answer, the person at the other side wanted to hear your voice first. Raven would have never done that, not at least at that hour of the night, so it couldn’t be her. 

It freaked you out a little bit, but you tried not to show it. 

“ In case you are wondering, my favorite scary movie is Halloween … Anything else, jerk?”

The Scream reference obtained a chuckle and you didn’t need anything else to understand what was happening. You looked at Andy, still lost in his sleep, and wondered if it was enough to justify waking him up. 

“ Don’t fuck with me, let’s start with that. Shall we?” 

Chucky was ruining everything again, somehow managing to do it exactly the same as the last time. It was only you hearing his voice in the dark while Andy tried to sleep. 

“ This is not what I expected. “ You admitted, then lowered the tone of your voice trying to speak in whispers. “ Of all the shit I could have imagined you say after decades of silence, I gotta say it’s disappointing. This whole thing is a letdown. I get death assholes don’t sleep but, really? A call in the middle of the night? Have you been watching the Scream movies, Chucky? “ 

He noticed the difference and immediately called you out about it. 

“ He is there, isn’t he? Had he already tried to fuck you and found out you are a frigid bitch?” 

The sick insult was vague enough for you to not be able to tell if he was just taunting you or if he had learned private details of your life touching someone who knew you. 

“ Poor babe is too tired. We are too busy keeping every single child in this town aware of you.” Was your strong sounding comeback. “ You reached my kids, they know one of yours was there and news travels fast. Friends, siblings, cousins … neighbors. Organized children are your downfall, that’s what I learned last time. You ain’t going to get a new family anywhere near, I have eyes everywhere. “ 

“ You are so fucking ungratefull.” He interrupted you, his way of complaining sounding too parent-like to not be twisted. “ I let you be, you could have done anything with your life and yet you dare to get in a business that enters in direct conflict with mine. Couldn’t you let it go? With your failed child actress thing and the daddy issues, I have always imagined you would end up in porn.” 

He disgusted you to the core, keeping in mind you were around five the last time he saw you made your stomach churn.

“ I found my call forced to take responsibility for what you left behind.  My mom got into occultism seeking for answers and found in that a passtime to escape my dad. She even tried to convince me that my fear summoned you in the apartment of the Barclays that night and the place was haunted. Her medium was the only one taking real care of me and we raised my sister, so now I’m a kinder teacher who does palm readings.” 

“The cunt inside your mother’s womb, I’m more excited about paying her a visit than the very little thrill I can get from you. “ He cruelly mocked you. “ The name was a very flattering touch. Did the shrink tell your parents to pick it for positive association? Was she left in charge of fixing your screwed mind from birth? “ 

“You will never get Raven, she will get you.” You pridefully recalled. “ She is the Scrappy of my Scooby and she grew up to my tales of Andy. If you would have come back for me, you would have found me running after another little girl who just put on a mask from her last halloween costume to recklessly chase you around the apartment with a butcher knife in hand.” 

“ Meaning literally everyone else in my list is more interesting than you … Do you see now why I never returned? Little bitch, you were just a replacement for someone else. There was a time when killing you would have given me great pleasure, but I got the real thing and I don’t need you anymore. You are becoming a pain in my ass in vain. Face it, no matter how hard you try you will never make anyone care. Your dad never cared, I didn’t care. Every single man in your life has abandoned you, maybe that’s why you couldn’t let me go.” 

The words were like knives stabbing your soul, silent sobbing brought you back to the very same state you swore you would never come back. A lonely, hurted little girl preyed on by a monster. 

“ If I clinged to my memories, if I choose to stay awake … It was never for you. “ 

Despite not fully awake, Andy was giving signs of being listening to bits of your answers. You gesturally reassured him to stay calm, holding him tighter. 

“ You have been waiting for Prince Charming to return and slay the dragon. Even though he had also abandoned you, you have made excuses for him all your life. “ Chucky insisted, twisting your words the way he wanted. “ Andy is not your salvation, he couldn’t even save himself. You have no idea of the kind of man he grew up to be, I raised him. The bastard is a psycho and you are the last thing he remembers fondly;you really don’t want to be on his side. “ 

The card he was playing with was a powerful one, he truly knew Andy better than you. 

“ Bullshit. You may have broken him, but he is still a good man. A wonderful, broken man.” 

“ He is lost, he picked all the tricks in my handbook … Including how to rope the naive woman you got fixated on into opening the door for you. His obsession with you it’s more dangerous than what you think, before you could realize and fight him he is going to make you his new toy. You are going to spend the rest of your life locked in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and he will be telling you it's the only way for you to be together because he has to protect you from me. He will say he had to do it because he loves you, but he is the real danger. 

The grim speech should have been enough to make you hesitate, but it didn't.

" And you expect me to believe you called to warn me? YOU, of all people? "

" I called to offer you a deal, the same I did the last time … Give me Andy and I will let you and the babygirl live."

That time you were the one chuckling.

" If you really want to turn us against each other you are going to need more than that, Chuck."

Apparently, the cocky negatory wasn't what he expected and his persuasive tactics kept escalating in darkness.

" Deny it all you want, but I'm the last hope you have of walking out of this before Andy shows his true colors. Think carefully, little bitch … or you will remember me when you will be tied up begging him to stop forcing his damn dick inside you. In that shitty cabin no one is going to hear your screaming and he is so gone in his delusion that he will think you like it. He will even try to kiss your tears as he is coming inside, so happy that you are going to have his children!! You will wish i was there to fucking stab your growing womb, pathetic slut!!! It's over, you have no choice but doing as i say. DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TO DISRESPECT ME EVER AGAIN. I'M ALL YOU HAVE, BARBIE!"

He hanged up out of sudden, almost as if anger would have made him deviate from his script accidentally.

Andy was awake near the end, your sobbing and the look on your face explained enough.

" He must have found my old therapist, otherwise i have no idea of where he learned so much of me." Was all you could explain. " He called to brag exploiting my traumas. The pregnancy phobia must have made him very proud, he was extra cruel with that. "

Your enamored friend took a deep breath, seeking to contain his anger because you were already terrified.

" You should have woke me up, never let me sleeping again. Even if you can tell he isn't approaching" He sweetly complained, sitting on the bed to hold you in his arms. " Whatever he has told you, remember it's all lies. It's exactly like you told me : he wants you to feel like shit so you won't stand in his way. "

Tears were still falling down your face, but he wasn't going to give up.

" We ruined part of his scheme without having to spill a drop of blood, and that was thanks to you. It's because you are so smart and kind hearted … and you found a usefull lesson in the shit we went through together. One I didn't seen before. Have you heard that ' kill them with kindness' thing? That's you, and Chucky is pissed off that it worked."

The comfort he was attempting to bring you would have worked, making be you all smiles for him, if you wouldn't be haunted by what you heard.

" Andy … Do you have an isolated cabin somewhere? He mentioned that. "

" It's not the most romantic place, but i can assure you it's not the Evil Dead one. " He answered, worried and weirded by you sudden fright. " … No, no, don't give me that look. Fuck, I should have know he would bring that up. "

You released yourself from his grip to stand up at a prudential distance and he let you do it, but the sudden lack of trust seemed to be hurting him.

" I don't know what he said, but I will tell you the truth. I didn't want to do it before because I feared it would scare you away. " He started to explain himself. " The place is a hunter's hideout and i have one of them prisoner there. As far as I can tell, it's the original."

You weren't dissaproving it completely, so you hesitantly awaited for his tale to end.

" I did all kinds of fucked up things to that doll. Kept only the head as a trophy and tried every single method of torture I had available, that's how i discovered the fire trick. You have seen some of that yourself; I can be a bit too trigger happy when it's about hunting him but that's all. "

The mere posibility of loosing you precisely then, ríght after finding himself enjoying a bit of your romantic affection, got him sincerely desperate.

" I would kill protecting you, but I would NEVER hurt you. " He insisted, approaching to round your hips with his arms looking at you with such broken beauty that you could tell he could be about to cry if he wouldn't feel too ashamed of releasing the tears. " You have to believe me, like you always did … Please. "

It was sincere enough for you.

" i'm so sorry, baby. He had spent more time with you than I ever got, made me feel as if he knew better. " You explained, caressing his face. " He said such horrible things, he wanted me to fear you … It felt exactly as when he threatened me as a kid, he even used the old nickname … Barbie, I can't look at one of those dolls without remembering it. "

As you were speaking, and encouraged by your well receivement, he placed a few pecks on your lower belly. The fabric of your nightgown was a barrier to reach your skin, but that wasn't necesarily the point.

It was a reassuring gesture to prove his devotion loving the spot of you that Chucky hurted. His sweet attentions only stopped to the mention of that name.

" Are you sure he said that? "

Only then you realized you have never told him that specific detail.

" Of course! It was an inside thing he had with me. Whenever he would loose his patience, he would start calling me Barbie. I believe he intends to mock my femminity as fragility. Definitely a mysoginistic thing implying weakness and reliance on him. I was this pink lover girly girl, never have been the queen of challenging gender norms, and I guess Barbie was easier to come up with than Daphne. "

Your guesses didn't convince him.

" … Barbarah Pierce. " He whispered to himself, connecting dots out loud despite you could still hear. " Shit, I'm being such a jerk, there is something else you need to know. "

He encouraged you to climb back on the bed with him before starting and held your hand the whole time.

" You were ríght all along, what Chucky told you that time must had been a twisted version of the truth. " He admitted, hesitant to carry on because he feared your reaction even more than before. " There was another family before mine: a woman and her two daughters. The eldest was of your same age and her name was Barbarah. "

The very few things he knew about the Pierces came from what he managed to read online and his failed experience trying to save Nica. Still, he told you all he could and there was no doubt that had to be the true origin of the nickname. In you Chucky found a reminder of another little girl he despised and that was all. You understood why Andy kept silence on the matter, since untill then he couldn't tell for sure if there was a connection and he didn't want to trigger you in vain. That was your worst nightmare, just like he had the memories of each time the doll attempted to possess him. He was being so considerate of your pain and you loved him for that, but there was no way you would let it go. Andy knew it well. He ended up being the one sedating you with reassurance untill you both finally managed to get some sleep.

That didn't stop you from freaking out the morning after. Kyle offered herself to make breakfast, since she was almost sure you had lost your mind because of Chucky's call. The siblings were watching you sip bits of coffee while nervously revisiting a pile of old books, handwritten notebooks, letters and packs of notes.

Inheritance of your deceased medium friend that you revisited with desperation to find anything usefull.

" You must be scared and I completely understand you… Wouldn't you prefer to talk about it?"

You closed the book before replying her.

" I already called Raven and she is fine, but i don't know for how long. I am aware she is perfectly capable of kicking his ass if he tries to kill her, but never stopped to think what would I do if he possesses her. I'm not going to let her alone for him to take and i am not abandoning Barbie's sister either. "

Before Andy could attempt to calm you down, you pointed at the pile.

" Pick one and start digging, we are looking for anything that could work as an exorcism or to possibly prevent possession."

Your serious determination made him chuckle a little bit.

" … This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. You will get as obsessed as i am, only through a different route. "

He checked the things you recommended him and while digging the pile he did a very strange finding.

" The fuck is this ? "

Picking that particular item from the pile, he then showed it arround.

A Voddoo for Dummies book. Kyle bursted into laughter noticing you mixed that with real stuff.

" Remember when I told you that despite i don't appear in the front page of the search, eventually people always find out? Someone gave me that as a phrank gift like a decade ago. " You explained to them." Even if it's not legit, it can serve as a guide for the mythology. "

He gave you a skeptical look, more amused than concerned.

" Whatever you say, gorgeous. "

Curiosity did make him look into it briefly, but he wasn't actually reading it. It wasn't surprising that you found something first because you knew what you were looking for.

" THE HERMETIC PRINCIPLE!!!" You cheered yourself in a language nobody else was understanding. " How did i missed it? Nadia told me about that so many times!!! Ughhhh, i'm such a dumbass!!! "

" English, please?" Kyle mocked you. " If it's good news, how good is it?"

" Maybe not enough for an exorcism, but it may work as a preventive hack. " You began to ramble away. " When I was told about it I would call it the Upside Down Rule, a bassic prínciple bonding things with their natural contraries. Surprisingly, an example of it was portrayed in Pirates of the Caribbean 3. If the theory is correct, we may just have to twist Chucky's chant to turn his words against him. "

The precise explanation was concluded with a pridefull smile. Despite of how strange it was, the idea has still a sense of inside logic that the audience catched.

Amazed as he was, Andy kissed you ríght there and without any warnings.

" Dating isn't enough, i should marry you. " He sweetly joked ríght afterwards. " ... And then you wonder why he did that? He must be desperate! Soon he would be paying us a visit. "

His lovely encouragement did work that time

" Excellent moment to test the theory. "

Kyle remained silent for an instant, untill realizing nobody seemed to acknowledge what just happened.

" So, Chucky called and you both are going to start dating …. Is there anything else that i missed last night? "

[katierosefun]

i just saw the ask game and idk if you still have time but if you 'd like to answer 001 with jwds cause i just love them so much and i always love to read your thoughts, you word things so well ♥

aww thanks for the ask, anon!! // from these asks

001 | jwds edition

when I started shipping it if I did:

i started shipping them probably the second they had their first on-screen interaction with one another. something just very funny about joo won quietly watching dong sik from the second he walks through the door, something also very funny about dong sik introducing himself to joo won (but joo won haughtily moving on), something insane about how joo won and dong sik were both adamantly against the idea of them becoming work partners. i don't really like enemies to lovers, but they had such funny and intense chemistry from the get-go that i think i fell for them immediately.

my thoughts:

i still think that jwds is perhaps one of . . . like .. . the ships that really made me reconsider how i feel about love stories and also what it means to really love someone, period. which perhaps sounds a bit dorky, because i also believe that stories can only teach you so much, but i do think that when i watched beyond evil, i had this idea in my head already of what devotion and love really looked like. beyond evil--and joo won and dong sik's relationship, really, show that if you love someone, you shouldn't want to go to hell for them. you should want to drag yourselves out of hell together, and that means so much in this world we're in.

What makes me happy about them:

i think the fact that they both are willing to admit that they were wrong about each other--and how, because of that, they're willing to defend one another through hell and back. there's something just so wonderful about joo won becoming so adamant about truly understanding dong sik once he realizes that dong sik is not at all the person he thought he was--and alternatively, there's something so painfully wonderful about dong sik going to bat for joo won even when everyone else was suspicious of him. they are the people who understand exactly how much pain the other has been in, and they therefore understand exactly how much heart is in the other person, so that makes me tear up.

What makes me sad about them:

hm, i think this might really just be a headcanon thing but also, it might be steadily based in canon . . . but i do think that while joo won and dong sik are having their happily ever after right now, i still feel like there must be a lot of difficult obstacles for them, just because they both have? a lot of? emotional scars. i think they'll absolutely work through them--they've been working through them together over the course of the show, but i'd imagine it still takes a bit of time before either of them can take a breath and go "okay. we don't have to act like this is going to blow up in our faces."

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

i don't think i've ever seen a fanfic that annoys me!

things I look for in fanfic:

anything that's post-canon related. also, idk, i do like the really long fics that are just a deeper exploration of joo won and dong sik's personalities.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: 

ough that's rough, because i genuinely don't think i'd want them to end up with anyone else outside each other. if they don't end up together, i'd hope that they'd at least have some unspoken "it could've been you" grief going on between them. (which may be a little evil of me, but. cut a girl some slack.)

My happily ever after for them:

living together forever, having a lot of happy days and nights full of good food and good company. they get through the bad days together. they also have a garden, and they also have a cat.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

joo won's the big spoon. man is so touch starved that as soon as he graduates to that level of the relationship with dong sik, dong sik literally can't remember what it's like to sleep and not realize joo won's hugging him from behind.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

cooking together, probably. dong sik swears he's not very good at cooking (he really is actually quite awful), but he probably can work through some of his mom's older recipes. joo won's very good at cooking, as we already know, and he probably gets a lot of joy out of cooking for dong sik. alternatively, dong sik probably really likes making joo won try new things, so i think they probably match each other perfectly in that regard :')

[dramatic-squirrel]

Daminette December Day 9- Tangled

@maribat-calendar-events

The chill of the night air bit at her as she surveyed the city, looking for any suspicious activity. Gotham’s skyline had started to become familiar to Ladybug after a whole month of staking out the city with the bats, yet it didn’t seem like she made any progress at all with her investigation. It would only become more difficult if she failed to wrap up the problem within another month. From the side she heard a tsk from her annoying companion for the evening.

“Are you positive you received trustworthy intel about the miraculous? Or are you just trying to waste valuable time?” On the one hand, they had been staking out the area for hours and there was a high possibility that they wouldn’t see anything at this point. On the other hand, his condescending sneer irritated her.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize your time was such a precious commodity.” sarcasm dripped from her voice. “If you don’t want to be here with me you can leave. I’m fine on my own, it’s Batman that has an issue with this.”

Robin tsked again, knowing that he wasn’t allowed to leave so long as his father insisted that they help the Parisian superhero. Ladybug sighed on the inside as well. Out of everyone of Batman’s partners, Robin was her least favorite. His rude, holier-than-thou attitude got on her nerves, especially because heroes shouldn’t act that way. Even worse though, was the fact that from day one, he seemed to hate him. 

“Just make sure you don’t get any ideas,” Robin mumbled as he shifted to a more comfortable position. Ladybug rolled her eyes. That was another thing she hated about Robin, his insistence that she avoid trying anything funny and not to fall in love with him. Like that could ever happen.

“I told you before Robin, I’m dating someone and we are in a very happy relationship.” She wished she could be with Damian right now instead of with Robin.

“So you claim, but I have no proof of that.”

“Giving you proof would kind of ruin the whole secret identity thing, so you’re just going to have to trust my word.” 

Robin didn’t have anything to say in response so they both lapsed into silence. A few more minutes had passed when something caught her eye. 

“I’m going to check out the warehouse over there,” she pointed towards Gotham harbor. “I saw  something, and it might be from the miraculous I’m after.”

“Or it could be the rogues at their usual nefarious schemes. It’s better if I go to scout out the area first seeing as how I have more experience with Gotham’s villains.” That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“I don’t appreciate you implying that I’m not experienced enough as a hero.” She pulled out her yoyo in preparation. “I’ve had my fair share of practice with villains both inside and outside of Gotham.” She threw her weapon in the direction that she pointed out earlier. “And I can manage just fine on my own, Mr. I’m-better-than-everyone-else. I’ll meet up with you later,” and with that she leapt from the building and sailed across the city. Behind her she could make out a curse from Robin before the faint sound of his grappling gun could be heard as he followed her.

She sped up, trying to lose him, still indignant about what he said. And as she sped up, so did he, until they both aimed for the same outcropping ledge to swing from. Before either of them knew it, they were tangled up and dangling upside down from a building just a block away from the warehouse they needed to investigate.

Marinette couldn’t help the string of French curses that came from her mouth. “Why must you always try to prove yourself better than everyone else? It’s infuriating. I can handle a simple surveillance without drawing any attention to myself, but now look at the mess you’ve gotten us in!”

“The mess I got us in?! You’re the one who rushed off in anger! If you want my respect, then maybe you should get a better handle on your emotions. Rushing in like that is utterly dangerous.”  A headache was building up at the base of Ladybug’s skull and she tried to reign in her emotions. Shouting would solve nothing and only serve to garner more attention on them. And tangled as they were, they were defenseless. 

Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself. “You’re right, I was being hot-headed for a moment.” Her admission surprised Robin, she could tell by the way his brows moved imperceptibly. “But I’m not going to apologize unless you recognize your own fault in this situation.”

Silence greeted her and she just rolled her eyes again when she caught movement from the corner of her eye. She tensed, prepared for a Gotham rogue or her own miraculous villain to show up. Then Red Hood stepped out from the shadows and she relaxed again.

“Thank god. Red Hood, can you help get us down?” The vigilante made his way over to the duo and then stopped. 

“Are you really sure you should be doing that pixie? I thought you had a boyfriend and I’m pretty sure he’d kill Robin if he knew what you were up to.”

Her face turned red, and it wasn’t just from the blood rushing to her face. “Red Hood, I swear to god… just get us down from here already.”

“So you’re dating a criminal,” Robin commented.

“No! He just has a strong personality and an obsession with swords. He’s no more dangerous than my friend in Paris who is the same way.” Robin’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as the puzzle pieces started to click in the back of his mind, but something kept alluding him.

“Hood, if you do not untangle us in the next 5 seconds, I will tell Agent A that it was you who set the kitchen on fire.” 

Red Hood glared at him, getting a knife out. He wasn’t even the one who started the fire, he was not getting blamed for their messes. “I’m going to enjoy getting my revenge on you Demon Spawn.” Then he cut the grappling hook line and began to untangle the duo. It was a few more minutes before they were finally free.

[captainswanapproved]

An Indecent Proposal- Chapter 10

A03,Prologue, Chapter 1,Chapter 2,Chapter 3, Chapter 4,Chapter 5,Chapter 6,Interlude,Chapter 7,Chapter 8, Chapter 9

Daemon x Rhaenyra Multichapter AU:

Daemon leaves Rhaenyra at her wedding feast. Rhaenyra marries Laenor. After a year of trying to do their duty and produce an heir, Rhaenyra writes to Daemon.

She needs a true Targaryen heir.

It only needs to be an arrangement of business, she says. And it would result in Daemon’s child one day taking the Iron Throne.

Daemon accepts the proposal and returns to court.

Only, ventures like these are never simple. As much as they would wish to, Daemon and Rhaenyra cannot let go of the past, or the feelings they once had for each other.

“The Hand would like to see you, Your Grace,” Ser Harrold Westerling said.

Viserys nodded. He was currently fine tuning his model of old Valyria, but he always made time to speak with his Hand. Viserys gestured for his new cup bearer to pour the wine. He was a young boy from Dragonstone.  “He may enter.”

The boy brought poured two cups of a fine Dornish Red.

Otto Hightower entered looking livid.

“What is the matter, Otto?”

“Prince Daemon has been disparaging the Queen and your children in King’s Landing. He was heard giving a toast to countless whores and lickspittles, proclaiming Princess Rhaenyra’s children as true Targaryens, and calling your children ‘filthy half-breeds’. This cannot stand. He must be punished.”

“Did you hear the toast yourself,” Viserys asked.

“I did not, Your Grace. It was reported to me by the White Worm.”

Viserys was aware of this informant, but he was also aware that Lady Misery, as the White Worm was also called, was an old paramour of his brother’s. He could easily see the woman wishing to discredit Daemon.

Daemon had matured since his return to court. He was no longer the man who had delivered the infamous Heir for a Day insult. Nor was he the cad who had tried to seduce Rhaenyra. Now Daemon was her staunchest supporter. He had shown his responsibility in his position on the small council. Viserys would not entertain hearsay about his brother, even when reported by his loyal Hand.

“Mysaria has no love for Prince Daemon,” Viserys said. “Should I hear my brother disparaging my queen and children with my own ears, I shall reprimand him.”

“You cannot be serious, Your Grace. There are whispers that your children are illegitimate because of their lack of dragons. This treasonous gossip is encouraged by Prince Daemon. It is disgraceful.”

“There are more rumors than truths swirling in King’s Landing, but Aegon, Helaena, and Aemond are my children. That is what matters. And, if the small folk speculate on their legitimacy, what does it matter? They are not in line to inherit the throne. They will be princes and princess of the realm, make fine marriages, and live in comfort for all of their days.”

Otto scowled. “Aegon should be your heir, Your Grace. It is tradition. The Lords of Westeros will not support a woman taking the Iron Throne.”

“Careful, Otto. I have heard all you have to say on this matter many times before. I grow weary of this argument. Rhaenyra is my heir. And now she has an heir of her own.”

“And what of the legitimacy of her heirs. Do you not find it odd that Princess Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor were unable to conceive for their first year of marriage, and yet, shortly after Prince Daemon arrived at court, Princess Rhaenyra became pregnant.”

“A mere coincidence. And there are many couples that do not conceive within their first year of marriage. Aemma and I did not.”

“Your Grace, we all have heard the rumors of Ser Laenor’s preferences. That, coupled with the fact that Prince Daemon once seduced the princess in an effort to seize the throne, makes for very suspicious circumstances. Who is to say that the Princess has not been seduced again, that those twins belong not to Ser Laenor, but to Prince Daemon?”

Viserys narrowed his eyes. “You care treading very close to speaking treason, Otto. I will not tolerate accusations against my daughter. Princess Alyssa and Prince Jacaerys bear a strong resemblance to Ser Laenor. Prince Daemon has changed his ways. He has proven his loyalty to the Crown. I believe you are allowing an old rivalry to cloud your judgement.”

“And you are allowing your love for your family to cloud yours,” Otto spat.

“I have warned you twice today, Otto. Speak against my Rhaenyra or Daemon again without just cause and I will remove your pin.”

Otto Hightower was many things, but a complete fool he was not. He bowed and departed, slamming the door as le left the chamber.

The wine his cupbearer had poured was still untouched, but now Viserys had the urge to drink both goblets. He dismissed the boy and took to his bed with the wine.

***

His name was Aemon. Daemon was certain that the boy from Dragonstone had Targaryen blood. It was why Daemon had brought him to court and installed him as Viserys’s cupbearer after receiving information from Maester Gerardys. They boy had been grateful, had promised to do anything for him in return. So Daemon chose to use him as a spy.

He was not spying on his brother, per se. It was more that he was spying on those who sought audiences with the king, which often included people who could be conspiring against Rhaenyra.

Daemon was reading a torturous set of outdated laws when the boy appeared. Daemon had taught his spies the various secret passageways through the red keep. They were much like little birds, flitting through the castle and singing songs of secrets.

“My Prince, the Hand just had an audience with the king.”

Daemon set down the scroll, giving the boy his full attention. “And what was the topic of this discussion?”

“Well. . .”

Daemon would have snapped at anyone else, but this boy was so small, and his silver hair was similar to Viserys’s, and the eyes, they closely resembled Rhaenyra’s. Daemon dug in his pockets and produced a wrapped sweet that he knew the boy favored.

The boy took the sweet and swallowed it greedily. Then he said, “Forgive me, my Prince, but it concerned you and the Princess.”

Aemon related the particulars of all he had heard.

Daemon was not surprised that Mysaria was reporting to Otto Hightower. He would be sure to offer her a higher price, and if he could not, he would silence her forever.

He was, however, surprised to hear that Viserys had defended him. After years of distance, the breach between brothers was closing. Daemon had always defended Viserys to those who might speak against him, but the king had not repaid that fraternal courtesy. Until now, apparently.

“The Hand may be a threat to the twins, My Prince, if he thinks they are illegitimate.”

“He is a snake. Tell me, Aemon, do you know how to kill a snake?”

The boy thought for a moment before saying, “You cut its head off?”

Daemon grinned and gave the boy another sweet. “Yes. Unfortunately, in the case of Otto Hightower, we cannot be quite so literal, yet. But there may be something else we can do.”

Daemon quickly composed a letter, mimicking the style of Mysaria, which he had seen often. He sealed the letter only to break the seal a moment later. Then he handed it to the boy. “Leave this somewhere for the king to find, and you will have more sweets.”

“Yes, my Prince, right away!” The boy scurried off and Daemon, his chest swelling with pride at his own brilliance, took caution to the wind and decided to call on Rhaenyra in the middle of the day. It would be some weeks before her could make love to her again, but at the very least, he could kiss her until she was trembling with want in his arms.

***

Alyssa fussed as Rhaenyra wrapped her in a blanket, but as soon as the babe was in her arms again she fell silent. Rhaenyra kissed Alyssa’s downy hair. Little Jace, as she had decided to call him, was already sleeping soundly. Neither babe was disturbed when the tapestry rustled and Daemon appeared.

Rhaenyra was surprised to see him, but it did not follow that the surprise was unwelcome. He had taken to sharing her bed with her in the nights since she had given birth. They did nothing more than kiss and hold each other, as she still had weeks of recovery before they could resume their bedroom endeavors.

It was the crumbling of this final barrier that gave her peace of mind. It was true that they could not marry, but gone was the notion that their relationship was merely a political arrangement. He was her other half, her twin flame. And she loved him more now than she ever had as a younger girl.

Rhaenyra set Alyssa down beside her scarlet egg. It was beginning to crack, as was Jace’s. There was no telling when they would hatch, but it was an auspicious sign.

“What is the matter?” Rhaenyra asked. It was unusual for him to come to her during the day.

Daemon simply took her in his arms and kissed her soundly. She uttered a stifled moan and leaned into him.

After several blissful moments, Daemon said, “The Hand has been careless today. I intend to use it against him.”

Rhaenyra asked him to elaborate. Daemon led her to the settee and pulled her into his lap. One hand buried itself in her curls and he explained what he had learned from his spy, and the steps he had taken against Otto.

When he finished, Rhaenyra kissed him, long, and hard, and deep until she was splayed on top of him, his hard length pressing against her inner thigh. How she wished she could have him now.

Daemon looked at her, his eyes sparkling. “If that is how you respond to my political scheming, I shall do it far more often, Princess.”

Rhaenyra swatted him playfully. “You are brilliant,” Rhaenyra said, kissing him again. “My father is sure to dismiss him.”

“Inspired by the whispers brought to me by my spies. Mysaria is not the only one who trades in secrets.” Daemon said.

“And what will you do to Mysaria?” Rhaenyra asked. She was not threatened by the whore, not really, but they did not need someone reporting Daemon’s interactions with the smallfolk to the Greens.

“Bribery or murder seems like the best choice,” Daemon said.

Rhaenyra knew she ought not to encourage such vices, but she loved how Daemon was willing to do anything in his defense of her and their children. “I would rather be rid of her,” Rhaenyra said.

Daemon nipped at her bottom lip. “If that is your wish, it will be done,” Daemon said. “We will install someone loyal to us in her place.”

***

After dinner, Viserys returned to his chambers. He had not visited his wife today. She had been ill most of the day, but the maesters had assured him of the babe’s good health. Alicent was strong. Viserys knew she would give him another healthy son or daughter. In truth, he hoped for a daughter. He loved his sons, but he did not think they would make honorable men. They were spoiled and foul while little Helaena was almost as sweet as Rhaenyra has been as a girl.

Something peculiar caught his eye, a folded piece of parchment peeking out from a small table.

The seal was broken, and the letter was addressed to Otto Hightower.

My Lord Hand,

You asked me once if I have been sharing the Prince’s bed. In truth, I have not. He has taken a different lover, one with silver hair and a royal title. I always knew he would try to seduce the Princess Rhaenyra again.

I cannot speak to the parentage of the twins, but I heard from the Prince’s own lips that Ser Laenor’s interests were not in his marriage bed.

Would you have me dispose of the twins? Bastards or not, they are a threat to your daughter and grandchildren.  One of my girls could do it. Tears of Lys will leave no trace, and she still has the bottle you bade us to use on the Princess.

I will await your answer.

The White Worm

Viserys threw the treasonous letter on the table. He would not believe the slander against his brother and daughter, but this letter put into sharp relief the true nature of his loyal hand. Viserys called for Ser Harrold

The knight appeared alarmed. “Bring me Otto Hightower. Immediately.”

Ser Harrold returned with Otto nearly a half an hour later.

“Apologies for the delay, Your Grace, the Lord Hand was indisposed. I sent the girl back to Lady Misery.”

“This is the girl to whom you gave the Tears of Lys?” Viserys raged.

Otto did not even have the sense to look ashamed. “I do not have the pleasure of understanding you, Your Grace.”

“Perhaps this will refresh your memory then,” Viserys said, forcing the letter into Otto’s hands.

Otto Hightower’s brow furrowed as he read the letter and then, for the briefest moment, Viserys thought he saw a trace of fear. His faithful hand, however, tore the letter down the middle. “This letter is meant to deceive you, Your Grace. I would never threaten the life of your heir.”

“Would you not?” Viserys asked, his voice cold. “Today you questioned my daughter’s honor and the legitimacy of her children. You have a close working relationship with your White Worm. And, ever since Aegon was born, you have tried to convince me to name him heir in Rhaenyra’s place. I cannot believe I have been so blind. Ser Harrold, remove his pin.”

Ser Harrold obeyed and removed the badge of the Hand of the King.

“Your ambitions have corrupted your service. I can no longer trust you. You will return to Oldtown on the morrow. And if you ever return, you will lose your head.”

“What of my daughter?” Otto asked, his voice low.

“I must believe her to be innocent of this.”

“And who do you expect can take my place? If you appoint Prince Daemon to be your Hand, the realm will fall to ruin.”

“The Small Council is no longer any of your concern. And my brother has proven himself to be the more honorable and loyal man. Say another word against him, and I will have your tongue. Get out of my sight.”

Ser Harrold seized Otto’s arm and forced him from the room.

Then he made his way to Daemon’s chambers. It was early yet. Daemon would not be abed.

***

Daemon stepped out of the copper tub and dressed quickly after a maid informed him that the king awaited him in his solar.

Daemon could not imagine what his brother wanted. Viserys was not known for swift action. Daemon expected the seeds he had sown with his forged letter would not yield harvest for another few days at least.

Life, however, was full of surprises.

When Daemon entered his solar, he found his brother standing before the fire, his hand in the flames. “I have been a fool,” he said without preamble. “For years I put my faith in someone who was not a true dragon. My family has suffered for this mistake. Aemma, Rhaenyra, and most of all, you, my little brother, have suffered because of my folly.”

“What are you talking about?” Daemon asked, even though he might be able to guess.

“Otto Hightower is no longer the Hand of the King.” Viserys showed him the letter and Daemon read it, feigning surprise.

Viserys closed the distance between them. “He is a threat to Rhaenyra. He will return to Oldtown tomorrow and I find myself in need of a new Hand. Will you take the badge, Brother? I should have given it to you years ago.”

“I will, Viserys. The blood of the dragon runs thick. What of the queen? Will she be returning with her father?”

“No. Alicent is innocent in all of this, I am sure of it. She has my loyalty and I will not set her aside for the sins of her father. But Otto Hightower no longer has a place in King’s Landing.”

“You should remove his head,” Daemon said.

“I am not a tyrant, Daemon. He will return to Oldtown in disgrace. If there is further treachery discovered, then I will put him to the sword.”

Viserys was weak, but Daemon had not expected the letter to lead to Otto Hightower’s execution. Having him sent back to Oldtown was more than Daemon had expected. It would be enough for now.

Viserys took his silence for approval and placed the pin through Daemon’s doublet. “Together we will ensure that Rhaenyra inherits a thriving realm. I know I can trust you in this office. You have proven your loyalty to our family a hundred times over. I am sorry I failed to see it sooner.”

“It is never too late, Brother,” Daemon said. He could not forgive Viserys for everything, but no matter what, he loved his elder brother, and would proudly die for him.

Then Viserys embraced him, and Daemon was overwhelmed by a strong feeling of belonging that had been absent since his brother had taken the throne.

***

Otto Hightower stormed into his daughter’s chambers. His temper was only further stoked by the fact that Ser Criston Cole was sitting in his daughter’s bed in only his shirtsleeves.

“Get dressed and get out,” Otto demanded.

Ser Criston did as he was told.

“Are you mad, Alicent? You are carrying your fourth child. You are the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and you are dallying with a disgraced Kingsguard.”

“What does it matter to you who shares my bed? I have given the king three children, just as you demanded all those years ago.”

“And if you have a bastard who bears no resemblance to the king, you will taint the rest of your children. Do not tell me that the child you carry belongs to Cole.”

“It does,” Alicent said. “But we have devised a plan. If Rhaenyra can be so brazen without consequence, then so can I.”

“A plan? Have you lost your senses? I will no longer be here to protect you.”

“What do you mean?” Alicent asked.

“We have been thwarted by that whoreson Daemon Targaryen. He must have his own spies. And my White Worm is a traitorous cunt.” Otto sat at the foot of his daughter’s bed and explained the situation. He was gratified at Alicent’s look of horror.

“Father, I cannot outmaneuver the Blacks without you. I am not clever or cunning enough.”

“You will have to be, otherwise your life and those of your children will be forfeit. We play and ugly game. And you must prove that you are capable of playing. Bed your knight if you must. You will need every capable sword you can muster. But take your moon tea after you have delivered your child. Viserys is blind to the truth. If you can convince him the child is his, he will not suspect your infidelity.”

“I will make you proud, Father. I swear it,” Alicent declared, though not looking utterly convinced.

But it was too late. Otto would be bound for Oldtown by morning.

But first he would give orders for a certain White Worm to be crushed.

***

All was quiet as Mysaria stepped outside of her establishment. It was the hour of the Wolf and most of the city was sleeping. Even her patrons were sleeping with whores draped over them.

A hooded figure approached.

“My establishment is closed for the evening,” Mysaria said.

The stranger said nothing. A gloved hand seized her by the throat, forcing her against the rough stone wall. She struggled but it was of no use. The steel of the dagger was cool against her skin, and then it was embedded in her abdomen. The man stepped away and she fell to her knees.

Her assailant ran.

As Mysaria slipped into endless oblivion she wondered if the hooded stranger belonged to the Greens or the Blacks.

***

The hooded figure continued his way to the dragon pit. The queen was only a few moons away from giving birth. The assassin slipped into the dwelling that housed a score of dragon keepers. A torch and a flask of oil and he made quick work of setting the place ablaze.

Voices shouted as the flames were seen and the hooded figure slipped into the shadows.

While the keepers were distracted, he found his quarry. The golden dragon egg gleamed in the open warmer.

He pressed the egg against his side, concealing it with his cloak.

The hood slipped as the thief made his way to the docks. Criston Cole would hide the egg in Dorne until his beloved queen had given birth. And then his son or daughter would claim the hatchling.

He would do everything he could to ensure a victory for the Greens.

[damienthepious]

KOTS commentary for ‘There," he says instead’ to ‘The last time the Keep built something with anyone besides Arum was before Arum existed.’? Sorry if it’s too long.

OUGH HELL YEAH....... chapter 11.... and hey if it's too long i'll just split it up into a couple reblogs, nbd. I will never miss the chance to ramble, bless.

["There," he says instead, keeping his tone as mild as he can manage. It comes with an edge of petulance, despite his efforts. "You've seen the swamp. Are you content, now?"]

Since this fic technically takes place at least a couple years before canon, i like playing a little bit with all three of them being slightly younger- to varying effects. This Arum is brattier :) He's trying to be a Dignified Lord, but he's too easily frustrated for it to always land.

[Damien looks towards him, and then away again, twisting his hand against the strap of his quiver. Arum pretends not to notice the narrow tendrils of the vines the Keep has apparently decided to grow upon the knight's equipment.]

Damien is UNCOMFY but he is uncomfy primarily because Arum keeps surprising him and he just doesn't know what to do with that! He's also a lil bit lost in his own head, at the moment.

Also the Keep is going to CONTINUE trying to accessorize its new children subjects. Arum is bothered, but not for any reasons he's willing to examine or articulate just yet.

["It was certainly... enlightening," Damien says, after a moment. "I feel that I have been given much upon which to think."]

diplomatic!!! but also he's thinking very specifically, right now. He'll figure out his angle fairly quickly, tho. next chapter, probably. I think y'all will like what Damien is considering :) :) :)

["Hm," Arum says, trying to decide precisely how suspicious he should be of that assertion.]

He should maybe be a little suspicious. just a lil. also good lord he puts a lot of energy into stubborn mistrust.

["You're back!"

Arum resists the urge to snap at the sudden voice, to leap back or draw his blades, but only very narrowly. Judging by Sir Damien's face, however, his surprise must be humiliatingly obvious. Amaryllis either does not notice or does not care, bypassing Arum entirely to toss her arms around Damien in an embrace, squeezing enough to make him squeak lightly before he wraps his arms around her in turn, laughing quietly.]

Damien is very observant, and Arum is not used to sharing space. Rilla startles him!! and Damien sees that, and it... adds to the current stew of thoughts going on up there.

[Arum-

Arum looks away from them.]

ohhhhhhhhhhh boy. Here we go. Arum is not used to sharing space in general, and Rilla and Damien are... sweet, and affectionate, they currently need very much to cling to each other in this new and unfamiliar situation. Arum doesn't know how to look at them. For a few different reasons.

[It is a disgusting display.]

A few different reasons.... ALL of which he will sublimate into EW YUCK HUMANS DOING GROSS HUMAN THINGS. EW. O.O

["I did not think we were gone all that long, my flower," Damien says.]

Rilla has flustered her poet :3c also honestly he's the one who's usually overly exuberant about tiny reunions, which is curious to him. but He doesn't know that Rilla went and gave herself an emotional morning, here by herself effectively committing to the realization that she might never see her brothers again.

["You weren't," she says casually. "That doesn't mean I can't be excited to see you, does it?"]

Rilla is making emotional overtures to make sure that Damien is comfortable. The fact that this is partially because she’s also having a teeny bit of a rough time is irrelevant.

[Another small laugh. "Of course not. How is your leg?"]

Still worried, bless him. He can’t help but worry. It’s in his nature and i love that for him. he’s also very charmed by Rilla being soft at him TuT

aaaaaaaaaand that’s where i’m gonna call break, and I’ll finish up the rest in a reblog because my brain is melting now that it’s NaNoWriMo lmaooooooo