#Things I Write 12 Minutes After I Should Already Be Asleep | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

builtbykittie · 2 months

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The right side of my neck

J.t.k x f!reader PART 2

See part one here

Summary: after running into your first and probably only love at a party, his scent and the memory of his lips haunt you. Luckily, he invites you to dinner.

Warnings: 18+ mdni, alcohol consumption, SMUT, sweet/soft Jake, oral (f rec), fingering, unprotected sex(seriously do not), multiple orgasms, might be a little corny

Words: 6.4k

A/N: the long awaited part two is finally here. So sorry for the long wait! I've been so busy and so tired recently so it's hard to keep up with writing. Anyways I really hope you enjoy!! Go back and read part one if you haven't already 🫶

You kept yourself up for hours once you got home, wondering if he told his brothers, wondering if he got home safely, wondering how the party went after you'd left. You thought about his hands and his perfect pink lips. But those thoughts weren't even the main thing that kept you up, it was his cologne.

He wasn't lying when he said he's upgraded, he smelled so good. The scent was still on your dress, and you procrastinated taking it off for as long as possible. But even after taking it off, you still smelled it. It also doesn't help that Ana was pressing you for answers until she finally got too tired to keep talking and went to bed.

When you finally fell asleep, you dreamt of him. He's already haunting you.

The rough surface of Jake's fingertips drag up and down along your thighs, sending shivers up your spine as his other hand toys with your soaked panties.

You're startled awake just as it starts to get good. "Girl get up, you've been sleeping all day," Ana shakes you, and you groan as you stretch, realizing you've just woken up. "What time is it?" you mumble groggily, rubbing your eyes.

"Like one! Get up," she continues poking at you, grabbing your blanket and pulling it off your body. You huff and force yourself to sit up, your eyes still partially closed. "C'mon, you look like a damn raccoon," Ana giggles, grabbing your hand and pulling you to your feet.

You draw in a deep sigh once you realize you never took off your makeup and judging by how much you roll around and the number of times you've rubbed your eyes, Ana's probably right.

"uuugh," you draw out the already exaggerated sigh as you stand up, wearily making your way to the bathroom. Wiping off your makeup, you think back to last night. The way his hands moved along your body, the way his lips dragged along your neck, his warm breath on your skin. The thought gives you shivers.

You wash your face and brush your teeth, walking back out to your room, you find Ana waiting on your bed with a large smile. "You should probably get dressed," Ana grins as she holds out your phone, your notifications open and the first one is a message from none other than Jake Kiszka.

Jake: Good morning beautiful

Jake: Dinner?

Your eyes widen at the sight and you snatch your phone from Ana's hands. His use of morning is loose, considering he sent the message at about 12:10 pm. After enough thought, you start to frantically type away.

You: hey rockstar ;)

You: Tonight? What time?

"Read me what he says," you drop your phone on your bed and start to go through your closet. You toss around the clothes for a little less than eight minutes trying to find an outfit before Jake texts back. You hear a ding and whip your head in Ana's direction. "Finally!" Ana grabs your phone excitedly. "Tonight, six. He said that Danny, Josh, and Sam are coming too... oh! And to bring me," her grin grows as she reads and you watch her face light up "Oh my god it'll be like a little reunion!"

Throwing your head back in frustration, you let out an exaggerated groan at the lack of cute outfits you've found. Ana giggles at your little fit "Calm down. Show me what you have." Defeated, you hold up the white sundress you originally picked out with a frown.

"What's wrong with that?" Ana says, her head tilted to the side. You look back at the dress, realizing there's nothing bad about it, you're just picky. "Uh," you try to come up with an excuse "it's boring."

Ana just giggles "We're going for food with a few old friends, nothing fancy. It's cute, I'm sure Jake will love it." She chuckles at her statement and you roll your eyes, but as much as you'd like to say you're not dressing for him, you are. You want to impress him. You want him to lose sleep thinking about you.

"Fine," you say with a huff after enough inspection of the dress.

The day seems to go by painfully slowly. You try to do everything to distract yourself, but all your thoughts just turn into Jake. You and Ana went out to get coffee and a sandwich, but again, you just found yourself spacing off thinking of him. Each and every tick of the clock is a hammer to your sanity, driving you absolutely insane. You thought that version of you that was so hopelessly devoted to Jake Kiszka was gone, but she's thriving. She just needed a little wake-up call.

It's closing in at 5:30 now, and Ana's been watching you with a smug grin as you bounce your leg impatiently and anxiously. You know she's gonna tell Jake, and even worse, you know he's going to love the idea of you being so impatient to get your hands on him. Hell, he'll probably tease you about it even worse than Ana will.

"You think we should get going?" Ana smiles, standing up and singing her bag over her shoulder. The question is like music to your ears. "Fuck, yes, finally," you groan as you stand up, grabbing your own bag. "Geez, I've never seen you so eager," she giggles. You roll your eyes as you quickly check your reflection "Whatever."

On the drive there, your chest fills with excitement and anticipation its almost too much to handle. The feeling shoots through every vein in your body and numbs your limbs. "I never thought I'd see you so giddy over Jake Kiszka again. It's kinda cute," Ana smiles, pulling into the parking lot of what's supposed to be one of Jake's favorite restaurants.

"yeah, imagine how I feel. I didn't think he'd have this much of an effect on me after so long. I feel like I'm in high school again," you run your hands through your hair and pull yourself together before walking into that restaurant and facing him.

The two of you get to the hostess stand and quickly find that the boys aren't on time, as always. It's a habit they've had for as long as you can remember. "All these years and yet they still don't know how to be on time," Ana jests as you're being escorted to the table.

"You know," Ana leans in, her voice hushed "I've only ever seen you act this way over Jake." A deep pink blush instantly finds its way onto your cheeks and a small smile tugs at your cheeks. God, what is happening? He's making you feel like a little girl again and you're not too thrilled to know that you'd do anything for him at the snap of a finger.

"speaking of the devil," you say, and raise a finger to the four bodies striding through the restaurant. The first is Jake, followed by Josh, then Sam and Danny. Ana's head whips over in their direction and you both stand up with large smiles plastered across your faces.

"Hey! Who are these beautiful ladies?!" Josh smiles and grabs your and Ana's wrists, pulling you over to the others. Sam and Danny instantly pull you two in for a hug, and you all exchange compliments before sitting down. Jake appears behind you, his hand on your lower back as he holds his other hand out in the direction of the booth "After you, love." his sends a shiver down your spine and your cheeks become at least two shades darker. "Why thank you, Jacob," you grin and find your spot in the booth.

"You two seem comfy," Sam says with a stupid little smirk. "Don't they?! Hey, you guys should ask what they were up to in the bathroom last night," Ana giggles, already stirring the pot. You send her a look that could kill, but she just shrugs, mouthing 'sorry' with a smile.

"It's about damn time," Daniel joins in, and at this point, it's becoming a competition on who can get the dirtiest looks from you. "We weren't doing anything! I drank a little too much and he couldn't just let me throw up all by myself," You whine, facing Jake and giving him that 'back me up here' look. He chuckles, his hand finding your thigh and he tries to explain further, but you both know they can see right through you.

Everyone looks so incredible. Danny seemed to have figured out his curl pattern which does absolute wonders and he's incredibly confident, Sam has fully grown up, and Josh is truly his authentic self. But despite all the changes, you're so happy to know that they're still the boys you knew growing up.

Sam starts talking to you and Ana about touring and much as you'd love to pay attention, you stop listening when Jake's hand creeps up underneath the skirt of your dress. Your body temperature rises and his thumb starts caressing the supple, warm skin of your thigh.

Just then, Jake leans into your ear, his hot breath against the side of your face sending shivers up your spine. "I hope you weren't planning on coming home tonight," he whispers, his hand moving higher and his grip tightening. Your eyes slightly widen and your breath picks up, a smile finding its way to your lips as you look back at him "I wasn't."

Jake's hand never leaves its spot on your thigh, staying there for the entirety of dinner. He never dared move it higher or lower since then, but every now and then he'd draw circles into your skin. It's incredibly hard to focus on anything and you try your best to keep your composure, but Jake was doing this on purpose and he was enjoying it.

The bill is paid and everyone stands from the table, at this point, you're running out of patience. All you want is to be alone with Jake. All you want is to feel his face under your fingertips and kiss his soft pink lips again. As much as you love the others, you couldn't wait to get out of here.

Everyone walks out of the building, stopping right before the parking lot and talking for a little while longer. You all exchange numbers before hugging and saying goodbyes, swearing to see each other again soon.

As the others get in their cars and start driving off, you grab Ana and pull her to the side. "Ana you can not tell anyone... but I think I'm gonna go with Jake," you say in a hushed voice, and watch as her face lights up. "Oh my god! Okay uhh... Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow?" She says excitedly, holding her arms out for a hug. You giddily accept the hug with a large grin "Yeah, tomorrow. Love you!"

"Love you too!" Ana says before running off to her car. You instantly turn to Jake, who has a large smile on his face "Ready?"

"More than ever," you grin and take his lips in a quick kiss. His hands find your waist and he kisses you some more before forcing himself away from you and leading you to his car. God knows how long you two would've stood there for if Jake hadn't pulled away.

"You miss me?" Jake smirks as he opens your door, rounding the car and getting in the driver's seat. "Are you kidding? I dreamt of you. What the fuck have you done to me, Jacob? It's only been one night," You giggle, throwing your head back against the seat. You don't know how you ever survived without him, and you know damn well you'll never be able to stay away from him after tonight.

"I missed you too," he smirks, his hand returning to your thigh and squeezing it. As his hand kneads the meat of your thigh, your mind starts to wander, and you take notice of the arousal soaking through your panties. You shift uncomfortably, but it doesn't help, and Jake certainly notices this because you can hear him snicker after you let out a huff of annoyance. "Almost there," he says, the rasp in his voice driving you crazy.

You shoot up once you realize he's pulling into the driveway. A nice house and a nice car, would you expect any less from him? He puts the car in park and doesn't wait a second to hop out and open your door. On the outside, he looks nonchalant and composed, but you can tell he's just as restless as you are.

He takes your hand in his and grabs your waist with the other, helping you down from the seat and not letting go as he walks you up to his house. The interior is the best part. Perfectly cozy and perfectly Jake. "Wine?" He asks "It's the good stuff." You nod and hum, a glass of wine sounds incredible right now.

You settle down on the couch as he rushes off to the kitchen. He's back in the living room within less than a couple of minutes, two glasses of red wine carefully held in one hand and the bottle in his other. He hands you your glass and sets his - along with the bottle - down on the coffee table before walking over to a record player, skimming through the countless records until he finds one that makes him say 'ahh' and when the sound flows from the speakers, you know why.

"Oh my god," you laugh, nearly choking on your wine. It's the album you asked to listen to every time you were over. It was yours and Jake's album. He chuckles, walking back over to you and grabbing his glass "You know. I played this record almost every night when you left. Everyone was so sick of it."

"I can't believe you still have it," you smile, fully turning your body to face him. You remember the last time the two of you ever listened to it together. It was the morning you left. You had everything packed so your parents let you go over to the Kiszka's for your last night in Michigan. That morning the two of you listened to it over and over again as you sobbed.

"you don't know the lengths I went to to protect that fucking thing," Jake chuckles, and you both laugh. Then, you watch as his plush lips close around the wine glass, just as you did last night. His lips are addicting. The way they move when he talks, how soft they are, the perfect pink tint.

The room goes quiet except for the music, and you can't hold it back any longer. "Jake," you practically whisper, feeling your cheeks flush a deep shade of red. "Hm?" He hums, throwing back his glass. "Was I ever.. more than just your best friend to you?" You shy from him, embarrassed at the question.

He pauses for a moment, a fond smile pulling on the corners of his mouth. "Y/N, you were never just my best friend to me," he admits, his pretty brown eyes staring deeply into yours. After a moment of the two of you just staring at each other, you finally manage to mutter out a quiet "what?"

He chuckles slightly "It's always been you. I mean, I don't think I realized it back then but... I was so in love with you." Your eyes blow wide, he's rendered you completely speechless. Adrenaline rushes through your veins and the pace of your heart speeds up so fast you're afraid it might stop.

"Are- are you serious?" You mutter with a shaky voice. Jake just nods, his cheeks flushing a rosy pink, "I think that's why none of my relationships ever lasted. Every girl I've ever dated.. they just weren't you. Nobody ever came close to you."

Once again, silence falls over the room and you pour some more wine into your glass. You can hear your heartbeat in your ear, the thumping growing louder and louder with each word he utters.

"When I did have girlfriends I tried and tried to get you out of my head but you never left. But we were young and dumb and I couldn't figure out my feelings, y'know?" His words drove the breath from your lungs. You feel his eyes burning into you, but you can't look up. Your head is down and tears threaten to drip past your waterline and down your hot cheeks. All those emotions from all those years ago suddenly rush over you and it's painfully overwhelming.

"Y/N?" He says softly in a concerned tone, reaching out to cup your cheek. You squeeze your eyes closed, forcing the tears to drip down your hot cheeks. You shake your head, still looking down at your lap, "I- I'm fine it's just..." You find yourself unable to finish your sentence.

He practically forces you to look back up at him, his hand guiding you to face him. "Jake..." You whisper, so quiet you wonder if he even heard "I used every wish on you."

His face flashes with a surprised yet intrigued look for a fleeting second before it is replaced with furrowed brows and a nod. "Every birthday, every 11:11, every shooting star. I only wished you be yours," your eyes study his face as a soft smile forms on his lips, trying to figure out his reaction and suddenly feeling extremely embarrassed.

"I'm here now, Y/N," Jake says softly, wiping away a tear from your burning cheeks. You sniff and take a sip of your wine, tapping the glass with your fingers anxiously. Suddenly, Jake leans in and takes your lips in a soft, tender kiss.

Almost instantly, you melt into his lips, the hand not holding your glass coming up to the back of his neck. Your heart flutters in your chest at the feeling of his lips, and you can't stop the soft moan that escapes your throat. It doesn't take long for the kisses to get needy and lustful, Jake's hand moving from your face down to your thighs and his fingers creeping up under your dress.

His hands slowly move further up the skirt of your dress, leaving a trail of heat where his hands were. He gently pushes you backward with his body, mirroring the way his hands slowly move. As you're blindly falling back, you suddenly feel something cold in your stomach. You brush it off at first until it starts to spread.

You break the kiss, your eyes widening when you realize the wine glass is still in your hand, but the contents are all over your white dress "shit!" You frantically place the glass on the coffee table and scurry off the couch, not wanting to stain it.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry," you start to panic, apologies spewing from your mouth as you look down at your stained dress. "Hey hey hey, woah. It's not your fault, it's fine," Jake reassures you before rushing off to get a cloth.

Luckily, you got up before the wine hit his couch. Jake comes back into the room and makes a pointless attempt at trying to dry your dress with the cloth. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. God, I'm so sorry, Y/N," he puts his palm on his forehead in defeat.

"It- it's fine I didn't even like this dress that much," you giggle, looking down at the damage from the wine. Truthfully, you did like it, but you could always get a new one. "Are you sure?" Jake asks, his tone laced with genuine concern "I- I can buy you a new one."

You giggle, enjoying how cute he is like this. You put your hands on his shoulders, rubbing them with your thumbs "It's fine, Jake, really." He grins at you, his hands coming up to your waist as he takes a step forward, your bodies now touching. Your hands move to his hair and your own smile widens before he kisses you once again.

You lean into it and hum against his lips, feeling him smile against the kiss. You're enjoying it at first, but the longer you stay there in an alcohol-soaked dress, the more uncomfortable you start to get. Eventually, you have to force yourself to pull back. "I need to get out of this.." you giggle, grabbing the skirt of it as you look down.

He lets out a low chuckle as he follows your eyes down to it, taking in the way the alcohol made the dress cling to your body, showcasing the curvature of your waist. Your eyes flick up to his at the exact same time his flick up to yours, and the two of you stand there for a moment.

Jake takes the hem of it in his hands, bunching it up. "May I?" He asks, his voice low and raspy, sending a paralyzing shiver down your spine. A smirk pulls on the corner of your mouth and you slowly lift your arms, silently giving your consent.

You have to bite back the whine that threatens to escape your lips at the feeling of his hands dragging up your body as he pulls your dress up. You let out a soft sigh once he passes your panties, watching as his eyes move up along with your now-red dress.

He slows down to a stop before he gets to your breasts, coming down to kiss your neck. You let out a breath at the contact and feel your hard nipples against the cold, wet fabric. "Jake, please.." you whisper, desperate to get it off of you.

Jake hums against your neck, followed by a low chuckle at the sound of your plea. His kisses travel down your neck and to your collarbones as his hands start to knead your breasts through the fabric, his touch burning on your skin. You tug gently on his hair, letting out a whiny breath.

He continues to tease you for just a little longer, pressing his body gently against yours so that you can feel his hard cock through his pants. You moan softly at the feeling and pull harder at his hair, throwing your head back. He peppers a few more kisses to the base of your neck and collarbones before pulling back and continuing to rid you of the wet fabric.

He groans softly, seeing you so exposed and vulnerable like this feels so wrong yet so incredibly right. He pulls your dress over your head and drops the fabric to the ground, his hands instantly returning to cup and knead your breasts. "So," kiss "fucking," kiss "beautiful," kiss.

Unfortunately, you're unable to stop the desperate, needy moan that flies past your lips once he starts to roll your nipple between his fingers.

"Jake..." you softly moan, squeezing your eyes shut as he starts to suck the skin around your breasts into his mouth. "Jake, please.." you whine, though you're not sure what you're pleading for, trying desperately to hold back whimpers and moans out of embarrassment.

"hmm?" Jake hums against your chest, his lips dragging across your burning skin. It feels like he's leaving a trail of fire behind with his lips and you're loving every second of it. Jake's lips are like a drug, the feeling of them on your body giving you a high that you may be chasing for the rest of your life.

"I need you," you whisper defeatedly as you hold onto his hair for dear life. As if you'd float away if you let go. He hums again against you before he comes up and kisses you again. This time with more fervor. More need. More hunger.

His hands start to wander down your body and he breaks the kiss, shivers running up your spine at the feel of his warm breath against your neck when he peppers kisses to the area. He finds that soft spot behind your ear and sucks the flesh into his mouth, marking you, making you his after not being able to have you for so long.

You draw in a loud gasp at the action and feel yourself getting weak in the knees. His hands wrap around your waist gently and he pulls you impossibly close to him. You whimper as you feel him against your thigh, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. Without breaking contact with your neck, his hands find the back of your thighs, effortlessly lifting you as he did last night.

You let out a quiet giggle and grasp harder onto him once he starts to blindly carry you off to his room. He moves so that he's supporting your ass with one arm and opens the door, his lips never breaking away from your hot skin as he reaches behind him and closes it.

Jake lays you down softly on the bed, his lips exploring the surface of your neck and chest. Letting out a whiny breath, you dig your fingers into his hair, his lips moving further down your body with each kiss.

His lips leave a trail of sparks wherever they go, dragging down your torso until he eventually reaches your navel. You support yourself on your elbows to look at him, it's a view that makes you take your bottom lip between your teeth and you feel your arousal pool up at your core.

A shiver creeps its way up your spine at the feel of his calloused hands on your skin, dragging slowly along every inch of your torso down to where your thighs meet your hips. Your shaky hands gently stroke his soft brown hair, your brows furrowing upwards as he gets closer and closer to where you so desperately need him.

His kisses continue to move downwards until they stop just above the hem of your panties and he smiles up at you. You can't help but giggle softly, the soft flush of your cheeks deepening in color. "Jake..." You muse as his fingers start to dance along the soft white lace of your panties.

"God, you're perfect," he coos between kisses, slowly starting to pull the fabric down your soft skin. "My pretty girl, you wore these for me?" He asks softly, his warm breath fanning over your hot flesh and goosebumps cover your body. His hands move down to ghost over your core, placing a featherlight touch to your heat through your panties.

You let out a shaky sigh and nod, your cheeks somehow turning even more red and your grip on his tightening. Jake hums and puts more pressure on your aching heat, drawing a hot line of wet kisses along the hem of your panties and then down to your clit.

You suck in a loud gasp once you feel his tongue press against you, lapping at your clit through the lace of your panties "Oh.." He doesn't break eye contact, continuing his sweet torture to your aching core. "Jake... Please.." you whine, gently tugging on his hair as you buck your hips against his mouth.

Jake chuckles softly against you and his kisses start to move back upwards, sucking the flesh of your hip into his mouth as his hands slowly pull your panties down. He slides the lace down your legs at a painfully slow pace, drawing a line of kisses down your thigh. You feel the pounding at your center grow worse and worse the further down he moves, your arousal starting to drip past your entrance.

Eventually, he slides your panties off your feet and drops them to the floor beside his bed, instantly returning to his spot at your core. You watch his eyes darken at the sight of your glistening heat, his fingers coming up to drag themselves through your folds. "So pretty," he practically whispers, his voice as sweet as honey and he places a soft peck on your clit "So wet for me."

"Only you, Jake," you giggle, cupping his hot cheek. The fond, content look on your face is quickly replaced with what can only be described as euphoria once he slowly slides two fingers inside of you without warning. "Jake.." you whimper as his tongue slowly slides through your folds, matching the almost uncomfortably slow way his fingers slid into you just moments before.

Jake's fingers start to slowly pump in and out of your entrance and his lips latch around your clit, causing you to throw your head back with a moan that almost sounds like his name. You practically hiss as his fingers curl up into you, hitting a sweet spot "Oh fuck-"

His tongue prods at your clit, rolling over the sensitive bud and making you cry out his name. His free hand reaches up to cup your breasts, kneading the supple flesh behind his rough hands as he continues his attack on your cunt. You can almost feel his smile against your core as he revels in the sounds of your moans and the feeling of you squirming and writhing against him.

"don't stop, baby, please," you blurt with a choked whimper, your hips trembling and bucking against him and you feel yourself already getting close to the edge. He chuckles against your clit, the vibration of it sending shock waves throughout your body, and his fingers speed up. You mewl as his fingers move quicker in and out of you, curling up as they go deeper and hitting a soft spot every. time.

The sensation of his tongue flicking over your clit, his fingers pumping inside you, and his hand toying with your breast drives you absolutely mad. Your back arches off the bed, crying out his name and incoherent profanities as you feel a pressure rising in your stomach. "Jake I'm gonna- oh God," you moan, the words and the way you said them were almost pornographic, and he ate it all up, loving the way he could make you feel like this so easily.

His lips break away from your clit, but his fingers don't slow down as he looks up at you with a look of pure sweetness and love. "Cum for me, sweetheart," he coos, his tongue almost instantly returning to your swollen clit. With a few more curls of his fingers and swirls of his tongue around your clit, that band of pleasure snaps.

His fingers slow down and his soft words coax you through your orgasm, but your senses are far too blinded by the sublime pleasure of your high that you can't hear him. You can't hear or feel anything, really. Anything other than overwhelming euphoria.

"there you go, baby," Jake purrs, placing pecks to your clit as he slowly pulls his fingers from you. You huff a giggle and collapse onto the bed, your chest heaving and your thighs trembling. "Fuck.. where'd you learn to do that?" You huff a breathless laugh, trying to catch your breath. "Guitar fingers," he snickers.

You giggle as Jake slowly climbs over you, holding his fingers to your lips. You don't have to fight it or question it, simply parting your lips and sucking his fingers clean, never breaking eye contact.

Jake comes down to kiss you, tasting you on your tongue as you grant him access. You hum into his mouth, that pounding at your core returning when you feel his hard cock against your thigh. "Jake.." you whisper between kisses. "Need to..." Your hand moves from his hair to the waistband of his trousers "Need to feel you..."

He lets out a low chuckle, his lips traveling down to your neck. His hands meet yours at his waistband, unbuckling his belt and practically throwing it across the room. He props himself up with one hand and the other comes down to caress the soft skin of your hip, letting your frantic hands fumble the button and zipper of his pants for a moment before they finally get them undone.

You push both his pants and his boxers down just enough to free his cock from the jail cell that was the fabric. You almost instantly take him in your hand, letting out an almost inaudible "oh" as you feel his thickness and length in your hand.

Jake lets out a low groan and his hand moves from your hip to your cunt, putting soft pressure on your clit. You gasp and move his cock to line up with your slick entrance, your free arm coming up to sling itself around your shoulder. "Jake..." You whine, looking up at him with the best 'fuck me' eyes you can muster up and moving your hand from his cock to frantically unbutton his shirt, making quick work of ridding him of the fabric.

He smirks, and you can't bite back the moan that escapes your throat as his tip prods at your entrance. He takes your lips in a hot kiss before slowly sinking into you, stretching you out and filling you up so perfectly, he feels as if he was made just for you. Only you.

"Fuck," Jake groans, bottoming out inside you. His hand grasps your thigh and his other presses harder against your clit, sending a shock throughout your entire body. He stays like that for a moment before pulling almost fully out of you, coming back down to hit a soft spot deep inside of you. "Oh my god," you moan, grabbing the sheet harder and tightening your hold around his shoulders.

His hand at your thigh moves to prop himself up before coming down to rest his forehead on yours, setting a sweet, intoxicating pace as his fingers start to rub slow circles onto your clit. Jake groans your name as his hips start to roll into you, your eyes rolling back into your head and pornographic moans rip through your chest at the feeling.

His hips start to speed up slightly, staring into your eyes as he rubs quicker, tighter circles to your clit and sends waves of pleasure through your body. "Oh god- Jake," you cry, digging your fingers into his back as he hits a new sweet spot with every single thrust.

"yeah, that's it, baby. Just feel it," he purrs, taking your lips in a kiss. You're being completely and utterly consumed by him, he's drinking up every bit of your being. Your words, your breaths, your moans. They all belong to Jake.

His name falls from your lips over and over with breathless moans, feeling every inch of him fuck you so sweetly yet so sinfully. "You're doing so good, sweetheart, so good. Fuck. Just take it, baby," Jake coos, and you feel his hips falter. You know he's close, and you're definitely not lasting any longer than him.

"oh fuck, Jake!" You mewl as his fingers press harder against your aching, sensitive clit and his hips roll so sweetly into each and every soft spot buried deep within you. Your walls quiver around him and your vision starts to give out, your moans growing louder and louder until you're all but shouting his name over and over like some kind of dirty prayer.

His cock twitches inside you and he's struggling more and more to contain his whimpers and groans. "You gonna cum with me, love?" He rasps, fucking deeper into you as his fingers speed up against your swollen bundle of nerves.

You nod frantically, feeling your orgasm creep up on you as you clench and quiver around him "Oh fuck- please..." His face comes down to bury into your neck sucking the hot, sweaty skin into his mouth and groaning against the skin. Your entire body is trembling, bucking your hips against him and fucking yourself onto him.

"Give it to me, baby. That's it, fuck. Oh god- cum with me," he rasps, his thrusts becoming more and more sporadic and faltered until he paints your insides with one final movement. The feeling of his hot release inside of you is the tipping point, crying out as your orgasm washes over you like the wild waves of an ocean crashing against the shore.

Neither his thrusts nor his fingers stop or slow down, overwhelming every one of your senses and sending shocks of electricity throughout each and every limb. "Oh fuck- Jake!" You moan, your fingers digging so hard into his back you're sure that you broke the skin. "Fuck- I can't... Can't stop," Jake groans, his words causing your eyes to roll all the way back into your head "God- you feel so fucking good."

Tears prick your eyes and your entire body trembles and shutters at the overstimulation, your entire body on fire. It's almost painful, hot tears rolling down your cheeks as you practically scream strings of inaudible profanities and cries.

But it doesn't take long for the overstimulation to subside, replacing itself with overwhelming pleasure. "Fuck Jake I'm gonna-" you sob, grinding against his hand and fucking harder onto him. "Just feel it, sweet girl. Let go, baby," he rasps, his sweet movements driving you right to the edge for the third time. No man has ever made you feel this way, it's addictive.

Once again, your pleasure robs you of all your senses and feelings, white-hot fire spreading throughout your entire body like a forest in the summer. Jake's own orgasm rips through him just moments after you, the sinful feeling of his hot release spurting into you yet again driving you absolutely, devastatingly insane.

"oh my god," you whimper breathlessly, your entire body shaking. "So good," he whispers, his thrusts slowing to a stop "So.. fucking.. good." You start to giggle, your breaths coming in gasps as you try to reclaim the air stolen from your lungs "I didn't even know I could..."

He chuckles before moving your damp hair away from your face, a cocky smile playing on his gorgeous features "Yeah, well.. you've never had the pleasure of a night with Jake Kiszka before." You giggle, taking his lips in a tender kiss, "Yeah and who's fault is that?"

He snickers "you got me."

You suck in a hiss as he pulls out, and your arms move to wrap around his body, pulling him down onto the bed beside you. "I love you," you whisper against the hot, sweaty flesh of his neck.

"I love you, Y/N," Jake whispers, wrapping his arms around your body.

92 notes · View notes

taevbears · 5 months

Text

Magic Shop - 12

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

⤑ pairing: OT7 x witch!reader, Namjoon focused ⤑ genre: magic au, romance, angst, hurt/comfort, found family, domestic/slice of life, action/adventure ⤑ rating: 18+ ⤑ word count: 11.2k ⤑ warnings: lol idk what it is about namjoon that makes me so feral but explicit & implied smut (penetrative, 34+35, face-riding, daddy kink), description of body horror, mentions of death & past traumas, pet names (baby). ⤑ note: lmao bc the way i've been working on this chapter since the end of last year, and it's FINALLY being posted. i've been in this weird slump with my writing, so i hope that this is ok lol. enjoy, and i'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter! :)

Chapters: Series Masterlist | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

“You’re so annoying,” you complain, shutting the door behind you. Your next lecture is in half an hour, but Hoseok will be looking for you soon.

The two of you have about fifteen minutes.

“I’ll be fast,” Namjoon promises, already pulling off his top. His roommates aren’t in. They’re most-likely hanging out in the common rooms and won’t be back for a while.

It’s just you and him.

And the paramour secret that hangs between you two.

Your back is pressed against the door as you eye him. In just his slacks, he looks like sin. Tall and muscular, sun-kissed skin, broad shoulders and long arms. Blessed with the perfect body proportions. The hunger in your eyes grows the longer you stare.

“We shouldn’t keep doing this.”

It’s what you tell him every time, but you lift your skirt. His gaze automatically locks onto your thighs as he unbuckles his belt, and his cock twitches with interest when he catches a peek of your panties.

His voice is husky when he asks, “Should we stop?”

He already knows the answer. It’s the same as it always is.

“No,” you reply, tilting your head slightly. A daring gesture as a coy smile dances on your lips. You slowly loosen the buttons of your blouse one by one. His gaze lifts to your face as you whisper, “Want you, daddy.”

Namjoon wants you more.

Without another second to waste, his long strides close the distance between you two. Strong hands impatiently yanking at the fabric of your clothes as he leans down to kiss you at last.

Namjoon wakes, sticky with sweat.

The bed he’s on is bigger and more comfortable than the cheap bunk at his dorm. The white duvet – kicked to the floor at some point of the night – is thick and weighted; a godsend compared to the thin, itchy blanket he was given when assigned to his room. The bedroom itself, curated to his taste, is woodsy, minimalistic, and bold: favorite art pieces hang on the walls and decorate the space that reflect his current moods, a private library with books that frequently changes to new titles whenever he finishes reading some, and bonsais that he’s been taking care of are starting to bloom flowers.

It takes him a moment, but he realizes he’s no longer a student nor an enchanter at Blackstone Castle.

A sigh falls from his lips as he runs his fingers through his damp hair.

Another dream about you.

He’s been doing that a lot lately. Dreaming of you.

You, sneaking into his bed after lights out and everyone else is asleep. You, taking his hand and leading him into secluded places between classes and when things at the shop are slow. You, climbing over his lap with your hands steady on his shoulders as he holds your waist, loving the way you look on top of him.

Once upon a time, when all this initially started, Namjoon thought it’d never go beyond a physical affair. The two of you were clearly attracted to each other. When the stress of exams, a looming Harrowing, and the competitive streaks between you two became too much, you often sought each other out.

But at some point, Namjoon realized it was starting to mean something more to him.

At some point, Namjoon realized it was because he was falling in love with you.

And somehow, at some point, you started to fall in love with him too.

You, dedicated and hardworking, quiet and serious with your studies, and burning with a hunger for knowledge and an eagerness to test your limits. You, also kind and caring, loyal and protective of the people you love deeply, and who’ve dreamed of opening this shop of comfort to help people. You, who carries the warmth and radiance of the sun, beautiful in the way that starlights compliment the night sky, and yet look to the shadows of the moon at him.

Love to Namjoon is still… a new concept.

There are days where he isn’t entirely sure what he’s doing or what the future holds with you. There are days where he questions why you even love someone like him when the others could be much better lovers.

It’s like fire. Pretty to admire, comforting to feel its warmth; a guidance of light through a dark and harsh world, but never to touch. Never his to claim and hold as the shadows of loneliness and insecurity grow around him. Love burns as fire does, leaving nothing but scalding embers and ash as its remains.

He loved his family, but they had easily given him up after he awakened his magical powers, even though he desperately ran away from towers and fortresses to beg for their forgiveness. He loved his hometown in the countryside, but he still remembers the look of hatred on the villagers’ faces once they found out what he was and deemed him a monster. He loved his friend, Ignis, and his untimely death by the cruel hands of hunters is still a burden Namjoon is forced to carry with him.

But there are days where love just feels… nice.

Where, in the early morning, when he’s getting ready for a run by the river, you’d stumble down the stairs shortly after him with your hair still a bit messy from sleep and your eyes barely open, and simply ask if he wants coffee and breakfast with you now or when he comes back.

Where, more often than he’d like to admit, a spell backfires and instead of changing the temperature of the shop, he ends up casting a sleeping spell on all the patrons, and you end up fighting your drowsiness to set things right, never once berating him or making him feel bad for any harmless accidents.

Where, after a long day, the two of you wind down together, sprawled in his library nook downstairs, not really talking to each other – too caught up in your own readings for conversation – but finding each other’s presence comforting nonetheless as he uses your thighs as a pillow while you absently run your fingers through his hair, or when you’d prop your legs over his lap as he gently massages your calves.

If Namjoon could write a million poems to describe how he feels around you, it still wouldn’t be enough. With you, he feels safe. With you, he feels comfortable. With you, he feels accepted, despite all his flaws and mistakes.

Namjoon loves you more than anyone he’s ever loved before. From the days you two were just students in Blackstone Castle to now. He loves the shop, the family it has brought together, the freedom of being himself – an ordinary man who likes books, nature, and art – without being condemned for his affinity to magic.

But like his family, his hometown, and even Ignis, he’s afraid that one day, you, the home you built with him, and the family you both found will all disappear.

And it’ll be his fault.

With a deep, frustrated sigh, Namjoon forces himself to sit up.

Before, he used to dream a lot about all the things he’s loved and lost. He recalls every detail of it: the day of his awakening, the fires that destroyed his home, how often he ran away to apologize to his parents, the screams of agony when he had to leave his only friend behind.

Now, Namjoon dreams about you.

You’re everything he loves.

You’re everything he’s afraid to lose.

“I’m heading out now!” Seokjin calls out, putting on his shoes by the front door.

“Okay, be safe,” you tell him, coming to the entryway to see him out. Seokjin promises he will and pulls you in for a kiss.

Behind the counter, Namjoon finds himself looking away.

Recently, Seokjin started his own guild with his friends from the Freelancers. After a mission involving mages went awry, they left their old organizations and started calling themselves the Oathkeepers. As a newly-established guild, most of their work comes from notices placed on the town’s community board, or word-by-mouth from people who’ve hired them before.

Things have slowed down a lot compared to how busy they were in their former guild. Seokjin was hardly home, and when he was, he was exhausted. While it’s nice to see the former warden around the shop these days, Namjoon can tell that the thrill of excitement and adventures are sorely missed, as well as the amount of coins he was able to collect after each successful quest they’ve completed.

“Can we go too?” Jungkook asks, already slipping a rucksack over his shoulder.

“Please,” Taehyung tacks on, honey-colored eyes wide and pleading as he stares directly at you.

Your lips part with an almost-spoken answer until you catch yourself, and helplessly look toward Namjoon with a face that’s just about ready to give anything the raven familiar desires.

Namjoon sighs. He can’t blame the two youngest for wanting to go with Seokjin. Whatever adventures he has planned today are far more appealing than being stuck in the shop all day. Even though, at the shop, Taehyung normally follows Hoseok around, and Jungkook quietly admires Namjoon doing mundane work.

“Sure, why not?” He decides with a shrug. “Be careful and listen to Jin-hyung, though.”

“Yes!” Taehyung and Jungkook cheer and high-five each other.

“Okay, okay. Let’s go. The others are waiting for us,” Seokjin urges before turning to you again. He kisses you one more time and adds, “We’ll be back before dinner.”

“Bye, hyung. Bye, kids. Look out for each other,” Hoseok reminds them, standing beside you with Yoongi in his arms. The black cat looks comfortable in Hoseok’s hold, pointed ears twitching as he turns his head to look at the others.

“We will,” Jungkook promises, nearly bouncing on his feet with excitement. A sheepish smile spreads on his face as he caresses your cheek and kisses you sweetly. “We’ll be going now.”

“Don’t miss us too much, darling,” Taehyung teases when it’s his turn, tilting your chin up and diving in for a goodbye kiss as well. He smirks at the flustered look on your face as Seokjin calls for them to hurry up.

As you watch them leave, Hoseok nudges you. There’s a knowing look on his face when he comments, “You look tempted to join them.”

“It does seem fun,” you acknowledge with a small sigh. Seokjin makes his quests sound so thrilling and perilous, even if you know he exaggerates a bit just to impress you most of the time.

Namjoon frowns and speaks up. “I’d rather you stay here.”

You turn to him, a bit defiant, and place a hand on your hip. “Why? Think I can’t do it?”

“Ooh,” Hoseok utters with a smile. He and Yoongi look between you and Namjoon with mild amusement.

“It’s not that,” he retorts, nearly rolling his eyes. He knows that you’re perfectly capable of becoming an adventurer and would be a great asset to the Oathkeepers. “What Jin-hyung and the others do is dangerous.”

“I can handle danger,” you tell him. Hoseok nods his head and agrees you can. Without looking away from Namjoon, you give your best friend a high-five.

“Here is safe,” Namjoon argues with a finality in his voice. He frowns when he looks at you. “And I don’t want you to get hurt.”

It occurs to you and Hoseok that Namjoon is being very serious.

“Namjoon, we’re just kidding,” Hoseok quickly assures him. “Neither of us are going anywhere. The shop is our responsibility.”

“Yeah. And even if I did go on a quest with Jin, you don’t need to worry about me.” You walk up to Namjoon and take his hands in yours. “I can handle myself, Namjoon.”

Words you’ve told him repeatedly, even before the night of your Harrowing back in Blackstone Castle. In the library where he’d always run into you.

“I know you can, baby.” He brings your hands to his lips and kisses your knuckles. “If it comes to that, just promise you’ll come back to me, okay?”

Before Jungkook was turned into a toad by an evil witch, he was an adventurer. He joined a guild with some same-age friends, traveled far from home, saw rare sights, fought challenging beasts, and visited beautiful places. Excitement and wonder were at every corner.

But this…

“Your grand task today,” Seokjin informs as he unceremoniously hands a stack of fliers each to Taehyung and Jungkook, “is to pass these out and put them around town.”

This isn’t it.

Jungkook glances down at the posters. Since the Oathkeepers are still new, Seokjin and the others have been trying to promote their guild and ask around for work. The neat calligraphy and the print of their symbol is a way to do just that.

“Actually, I think Hoseok-hyung might need my help at the shop after all,” Taehyung tries to back out. This isn’t the kind of quest he had in mind either.

“You’re already here. Just help out a little,” Seokjin pushes, holding out a flier from his own stack and handing it to someone who curiously grabs it. “This will help attract people to our shop too.”

Taehyung pouts, but relents. “Fine. But I want to go on a real adventure next time.”

“Hyung, I think I can finish my stack faster than you,” Jungkook suddenly challenges.

Taehyung’s golden eyes light up with a competitive streak. “You’re on.”

“Wait,” Seokjin begins, suddenly feeling left out. He starts to shove his fliers in the arms of people passing by. “This isn’t a contest. You guys…”

Without waiting for Seokjin to finish, both Taehyung and Jungkook dart off to opposite directions. His hands work quickly as he slides the fliers under doors, sticks them on the walls, and hands them out to whoever he sees.

“Please come to our shop,” Jungkook says, handing one of the last ones to a guy in a cloak. Most of the people he had passed them to merely glance at them without another thought, but this stranger stops and reads through it.

“Kim Seokjin?” he reads out loud, as if the name is familiar to him.

Jungkook pauses and looks at the mysterious stranger. The cloak covers most of his face and body, but he meets his eyes with a look of curiosity. With a tilt of his head, Jungkook asks, “You know my hyung?”

The stranger nods. “Hey kid. Do you happen to know a guy named Kim Namjoon?”

When Seokjin and the others return to the shop, they aren’t alone.

“Well, well,” a familiar voice says as he steps inside. He pulls down the hood of his cloak, revealing his handsome face. “I knew you’d be together, but I never thought I’d find you all here.”

“Jackson?!” Namjoon’s mouth drops, knocking over the chair he was sitting on as he rushes to greet his friend. The two clasps hands and pull each other into a quick hug.

Hoseok laughs in disbelief, welcoming him as well in a similar manner. “Hey, man! It’s good to see you!”

“Likewise,” Jackson replies with a big smile. He looks around the shop, in awe as he takes it in all. “So, this is where you guys have been hiding.”

The walls are painted bright, vivid colors. There’s a mix-mash of furniture, from old antiques and oddities to more modern pieces. The cozy entrance where you all stand divides the parlor and the tavern, and upstairs are the private rooms of the residents.

Perhaps to regular humans, it’s just a quirky shop. But for a mage like Jackson, he can feel the magical energy: the warmth of it on his fingertips, the whimsical lightness that eases his worries away, the safety from the protection spells cast in every room.

A kind of place that’s easy to overlook, yet brings in a strange sense of comfort that he hadn’t felt in quite some time.

“Like it?” you ask with a bright smile, shoulders rising with pride. “This is our home.”

“It’s incredible,” he tells you, thoroughly impressed. His voice softens as he adds, “I didn’t think I’d ever run into a place like this.”

“Who is he, babe?” Jimin asks you, curious of the newcomer. Taehyung and Jungkook share the same wonder, coming to stand next to you and Yoongi. All four of them are new faces to Jackson, even though he had already met Yoongi in his cat form.

“He’s a friend,” you explain as Jackson politely introduces himself to them. “We all went to the same school.”

Some time has passed since you’ve all escaped Blackstone Castle and found your place in this town. A lot of things have changed since you last saw Jackson as well. After that night, you haven’t seen or heard from any of the other mages.

Until now.

Jackson stands before you all, travel-worn and exhausted. His face is thinner and more sunken. Dark circles are beneath his tired eyes, as if he hadn’t properly slept in days. There’s a scar on his cheek that hadn’t been there before.

“We ran into him in town,” Seokjin informs, coming to greet you with a quick kiss. Jackson arches an eyebrow when he sees a former warden kiss a mage. “He said he needs to talk to Namjoon.”

“Me?” the man in question asks, surprised.

“That’s right. Although…” Jackson trails off as he turns his attention to you and Hoseok. “Maybe this is something you guys could help with too.”

You and Hoseok exchange glances with each other. Then, curiously, you ask, “What do you mean?”

But Jackson hesitates. His eyes flicker to the others, suggesting that the news he’s about to share must be spoken in private. That its details require the use of magic, and Jackson doesn’t know who among your group already knows the truth about you, Hoseok, and Namjoon.

“Have you eaten yet, Jackson?” Hoseok suddenly asks, easing into a bright smile. “Stay for a while. We have a lot to catch up on.”

It feels like old times.

Jackson and Namjoon share a drink. Their glasses clink together before they chug down the golden liquor.

Hoseok’s loud laughter is carried throughout the room, more amused by Yoongi’s reaction to Seokjin’s joke than the punchline itself. Despite that, Seokjin attempts to make another. His face burns red from the tips of his ears down to his neck as he desperately tries to refrain from laughing at his own joke. And when he fails at the delivery, he smacks Yoongi in the arm as if it’s his fault. Hoseok, somehow, laughs even harder.

Jimin pours another shot, cheeks flushed a rosy pink and barely able to see straight. The clear liquor misses the glass entirely and spills mostly on the table. Some of it drips to Jungkook’s pants, who barely registers it. Instead, his round eyes are locked on you, lovestruck as he watches you and Taehyung drunkenly slow dance together.

Taehyung spins you beneath his arm and catches you when you stumble forward. The both of you are clinging onto each other’s arms, in fits of giggles as he presses his forehead against yours. It’s like no one else is in the room except you two. Not even any of your other lovers, who seamlessly take turns drinking with you and passing you around from one to another throughout the night.

Seeing everyone around him relaxed and having fun reminds Namjoon of the parties back at Blackstone Castle. It isn’t unusual for apprentices to sneak away at night to hook up, drink with friends, and celebrate small achievements and occasions. With the wardens constantly watching them, the heavy burdens of exams and Harrowings on their shoulders, and a strict system followed by the staff to keep magic restricted, it’s sometimes the only way the students could let loose.

Jackson was fond of going to these parties. He’d go to as many as he could, and made lots of friends with his outgoing and funny personality. Your old roommates were too, and they’d drag you along with the promise of Hoseok attending a party as well. And Namjoon – who’d patiently wait and catch your eye when you’re alone – would sneak you out before anyone would notice you’re both gone.

“I knew she’d end up with you or Hoseok,” Jackson comments, drawing Namjoon out of his thoughts. They watch as you end your dance with Taehyung with a curtsy before he guides you to Hoseok, who easily gathers you in his arms. “But it looks like she got both of you and more.”

“She’s our girl,” Namjoon agrees with a fond smile.

Namjoon used to be a little jealous of Hoseok. After all, Hoseok loved you first. He still loves you now.

But when you feel Namjoon’s gaze on you from across the room, you meet his eyes and smile. With the same sincerity you had back then, when you had first said those words to him during your birthday, you mouth the words, “I love you.”

It’s not words you often say to each other – even though you clearly do, and he loves you just the same – but it still takes his breath every time. You love him. Someone as precious and beautiful as you chooses to love a guy like him.

“Who would’ve thought?” Jackson muses, sipping on his drink.

It feels like old times, but things have changed.

Namjoon certainly has. Without the vigilant gaze of the wardens and the suffocating confinements of the fortresses, he is a free man in this town. He can run along the river every morning, read books beneath the shade of a tree at the park, and go out with you and the other guys when the shop is closed. No one knows that he’s a mage here; no one looks at him like an abomination or something Wicked.

Here, he is just Namjoon. And as himself, he’s learned to enjoy his life a bit more. He’s learned to cherish those he holds so dearly, and savor those precious moments with gratitude. He’s learned to love, even when sometimes, he wonders if he deserves it.

For Jackson, however, his experiences after Blackstone are entirely different.

Since that night, he’s been on the run. He barely had time to grieve and process what had happened for a while, running before the nightmares caught up to him. He never stays in a town too long, never reveals too much about what he is or where he came from. In Blackstone, the threats were contained within the castle: power-hungry wardens, missued spells, Harrowings, and the nightmarish realm of the Veil. Out here, anything could happen. Anyone could become a potential threat.

“You’re always welcome to stay here, Jackson,” Namjoon offers after a few more drinks, just as Taehyung and Jungkook help carry a drunk Jimin upstairs into the spare bedroom. He grimaces, unable to take back what he said.

The eighth room doesn’t belong to Jackson anyway.

“I appreciate it, but it looks like you have a full house,” Jackson replies as he looks around the shop again.

Everyone seemed to have passed their limit. Hoseok is zoning out, sitting quietly with a blank expression on his face. Yoongi was the opposite, cheering loudly and running around when he won a card game you were all playing, but now his energy has died down as he patiently waits for you to go to bed with him. Seokjin is sober enough to clean up, putting away the empty bottles and picking up the cards that were thrown on the floor. Neither Taehyung nor Jungkook have come back down after they took Jimin upstairs, so they must have fallen asleep as well. No one is paying attention to them.

Now is as good a time as any to reveal why he’s here.

“What’s that?” Namjoon asks, seeing Jackson pull out a couple fliers. One of them is one he received from Jungkook earlier that day. The other one has a bit more wear and tear, creases showing that it’s been folded and re-opened over and over.

“I think I might have a job you and your friends would be interested in,” he tells him, showing the flier that the Oathkeepers were passing out. “I ran into a couple mages you guys helped out a few towns over. It’s rare to run into others like us, let alone a group of mages and humans who are willing to help each other out. When they described you guys, I had a feeling I knew exactly who they were talking about. Turns out, I was right.”

Namjoon remembers them. Seokjin’s former guild wanted to bring in mages to the frontlines of their quests, but at the expense of abusive power and enslavement to control them. It was a controversial stance that eventually divided the guild and led to Seokjin and his friends separating from them altogether after all of you helped the captured mages escape.

“That’s why you were looking for me?” Namjoon asks, remembering Seokjin had mentioned that Jackson wanted to speak with him.

“I was looking for everybody. You. Hoseok. Your girl. My old roommates. Any of our old friends,” he lists with a frown. It doesn’t seem like he had much luck finding anyone else. Jackson then pushes the second paper – the worn and torn one – toward him. “While looking around, I found this.”

Without reading it, Namjoon asks, “What is it?”

“It’s the job,” Jackson reminds him, carefully watching as Namjoon picks it up and unfolds the paper.

“Help wanted,” Namjoon reads out loud. “Every night, the undead wakes from their eternal slumber and attacks our small village. No one knows why or where they are coming from, but our farmers suspect a necromancer is to blame.”

Necromancy?

Magic, as beautiful and wonderful as it could be, is also dangerous and deadly. Certain magic is forbidden for a reason. Messing with the afterlife is considered one of them.

“Keep going,” Jackson urges.

“Each night, our numbers dwindle as the undead grows. Soon, there will be nothing left of our village,” Namjoon continues with a frown. “In a desperate plea for help, we are sending our notices far and wide in hopes to find anyone brave enough to take this urgent quest. We will do whatever it takes to save our home. Please, to anyone who finds this, help us.”

Namjoon doesn’t get it. Dark magic is explicitly banned from the fortresses. It’s why they’ve been built and why they contain mages in the first place. Jackson knows this. He’s lived in these towers too.

“Check the location,” Jackson quietly presses before Namjoon could turn it down.

He does, glancing down at the paper again. He nearly drops it when he sees where the quest is coming from.

Hawthorn Village. His hometown.

He’s tried and failed several times to return to that place ever since he was sent away on the day of his magical awakening. Ignis died helping Namjoon on his last attempt to return, and Namjoon swore he would never try again after that haunting day.

Suddenly, it feels like it’s hard for him to breathe. To swallow. He blinks back the sting of tears as he looks at his friend. “That place…”

“We can come with you,” Seokjin suddenly offers, holding some empty bottles and glasses that he is taking to the sink. “The Oathkeepers and I. We have the documents that prove that we’re a legitimate guild.”

No one would question them on the road. Some would be more willing to help and provide information when they see they’re a group on a mission and not just ordinary travelers as well.

“What do you say?” Jackson asks, sounding hopeful. “I won’t be able to do this on my own. They’ll need us, Namjoon. We can help them. All of us can.”

And Namjoon realizes why Jackson mentioned you and Hoseok could help with this quest as well.

His gaze immediately turns to you.

Your arm is around Yoongi’s neck as he helps you stand. You look flushed, cheeks hot and limbs loose from the alcohol. A bashful giggle escapes your lips at your own predicament, and how you feel like a fawn learning to walk as you use Yoongi to keep your balance. And you only laugh harder when you catch a glimpse of Hoseok’s face as he blinks slowly at you, and his mouth lifts into a slight chuckle of his own.

After everything you’ve all been through at Blackstone Castle, Namjoon swore he’d do whatever it takes to protect you.

“She’ll get hurt,” Namjoon points out.

“She’s the best spellcaster we know,” Jackson counters. “And Hoseok makes the best potions. You all have familiars too, and a formidable guild that will have our backs if anyone questions what we are.”

“He has a point, Namjoon,” Seokjin agrees, but in a way that lets Namjoon know that it’s his call. Whatever he decides, Seokjin will support him.

“Jin, last time I… Last time…”

“It’ll be different this time,” he assures him with a small but confident smile. “You’ll have us.”

“What do you say, Namjoon?” Jackson asks, pouring both of them another glass.

Namjoon lets out a shaky breath. He looks over at you again: your pretty smile and the way it reaches your eyes, how the sound of your laughter reminds Namjoon of how precious you are to him, and the endeared look from those around you as how affectionate you are when you’re tipsy.

It feels like old times, as Namjoon admires you from afar.

He knows you. Even if he had no connection to the village, you’d still want to help. Because that’s the kind of person you are. Namjoon is the same way.

But things have changed. Namjoon has changed.

Before, he would stop at nothing to return to his village and see his parents again. Before, he would take on this mission in a heartbeat, no matter what the risks are. But now, doubt starts to fill his mind.

This could be dangerous. Impossible, even.

But this is his home. His family might still be there. He has to try. Right?

“Okay,” he decides as he takes the glass Jackson pours him. The sudden burden in his heart makes it harder to swallow this time.

Namjoon can’t sleep.

He lies back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. His mind restlessly jumps back and forth between a few things.

First, his hometown. What will it be like, stepping into that place for the first time in years? How much has changed? Would anyone recognize him? Are his parents still there? Are they doing well?

Then, there’s the necromancer. He knows very little about necromancy, and he doubts that you and Hoseok know more than he does about it. Where did they come from? What is their goal? What do they want with his hometown? Would he and the others be able to face them? Or are they dealing with something far too dark and dangerous?

Then, of course, there’s you and the others. He knows you’ve braved dangers before: in your Harrowing, the night Blackstone Castle fell, and even recently when you’ve helped Seokjin against his former guild. He knows you and the others are perfectly capable and skilled individuals, and as a team, you’d be an unstoppable force.

But Namjoon still worries. His mind starts to think about the worst. What if something goes wrong? What if you get hurt? He’ll have no one to blame but himself. Maybe this is too risky. Maybe he should tell Jackson and Seokjin he’s changed his mind.

The door to his room slowly opens. “Joon?”

Startled, he shoots up and faces the door. His heart calms a bit when he sees that it’s you. “What is it, baby?”

You shut the door behind you.

It’s just you and Namjoon. Like old times.

“I just wanted to check on you,” you tell him, sobered up after drinking earlier. Even in your drunken stupor, you can tell something has been bothering him. Your voice is a gentle whisper, calm and comforting. It’s a stark difference to the whirlwind of thoughts storming in his head.

He reaches out to you as you step closer, until you’re right in front of him.

When he dreams of you, he always wakes up just when he has you in his grasp. Just when you’re his to hold. As your fingers delicately wrap around his, he’s almost afraid he’d wake up and you’d be gone again.

“I could be better,” he replies to you honestly. His gaze is still on your hand as his thumb brushes against the top of your knuckles. “I have a lot in my mind.”

“Wanna talk about it?” you ask, tilting your head.

He shakes his head. “Not tonight.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

He meant to ask you to stay. To let him hold you for tonight, and keep the fears of potentially losing you at bay as you fall asleep in his arms.

“I love you.”

The words that fall from his lips instead surprises both of you. He sees your eyes widen, the way you catch your breath, the uncertainty on your face, as if you aren’t sure if you heard him right.

But his hand tightens around yours, pulling you closer.

Namjoon loves you. Truly, he does. He sees you in his dreams all the time.

Everything he loves. Everything he’s afraid to lose.

You’re on his bed now, your eyes falling on his broad shoulders and his bare chest. There’s a look in your eyes that he’s become all too familiar with.

He doesn’t know who makes the first move, but suddenly, you’re all over each other. He kisses you with everything he’s got, meeting your lips and tongue with his, as if tonight could be his last time to hold you, to make you his. He grunts when he feels you gently tug on his bottom lip with your teeth. And you whimper when his hand yanks the white fabric of your nightdress, thumb brushing against your nipple.

The second you’re out of your torn clothes, his mouth latches onto your other breast, tongue flicking the hardened bud. “F-Fuck, Joon.”

“Are you going to be good for me, baby?”

Your breath hitches as his fingers slowly trail down your abdomen and slot between your legs. You close your eyes, rolling your hips slightly as his long fingers slip past your wet folds. “Yes, daddy.”

“Good girl,” Namjoon praises, his voice so deep and low, it makes you shiver. “Come here. Wanna taste you.”

You obey, following his lead as he lies back on the bed again and makes himself situated. He guides you over him, and you’re careful of your weight on him as he holds your waist and thighs and eats you out.

He feels your muscles tensing and your hips bucking as the pleasure builds. But he keeps a tight hold on you, preventing you from squirming away as he works you open with his tongue. Your grip tightens around the headboard and your other hand tugs on his hair as his thumb rubs against your clit. “J-Joon, I’m s-so—”

Even without your warning, he knows. He gets you there, drinking you in, reaping his spoils as you start to come down from your high.

But it isn’t over.

Once his grip around you loosens, you turn over. Namjoon props himself up slightly, watching what you’re doing and groaning when he feels your hands and mouth on his cock. His fingers easily tease your entrance before slipping into you again, stretching you out, feeling you clench around them, before he decides to pull your hips closer for another taste.

It starts to feel like a competition. Like you’re trying to get him off first before he makes you climax a second time.

But Namjoon knows your body well, and you feel his tongue and fingers prodding, teasing, and hitting your sweet spot mercilessly. Your muffled moans with your mouth against him are driving him insane, and he barely edges you out – your legs quivering slightly from the intense pleasure – before he shoots his release in your throat.

Namjoon catches his breath as you roll onto your back, breathing just as hard as he is. He sits up to look at you, his mouth and chest wet with your arousal, and as you peer up at him with lust-filled eyes, he thinks you’re the most beautiful thing in the world.

More than what he deserves.

He caresses your thigh and smiles gently. “Tired?”

You scoff, breathless, but stubborn. As if admitting that you are means defeat. “I’m just getting started.”

Namjoon chuckles and then grabs your leg, pulling you closer. He aligns himself to enter you, moving slowly so you could adjust to his size. Your back arches slightly, face contorting at the pressure as your nails dig into his arms. You feel so good to him, he could never get enough of you.

He leans over to kiss you once he’s fully inside of you. “That’s my girl.”

“I’ll always be your girl,” you tell him softly, kissing his cheek.

Namjoon laughs, almost bashful with the way his heart flutters at that moment. You smile back at him, wrapping your arm around his neck as he begins to move.

His lips are on your throat, hands squeezing your breast and hips, whispered curses and grunts against your skin. It feels like wildfire every time. Heated, passionate, all consuming, like every touch and kiss sears his skin. Like every little moan and whine he hears from you compels him to make that fire grow. Then, only in the afterglow, he realizes it’s not the embers and ashes that remain. It’s warmth that fills his chest when he’s around you. It’s light that makes his heart glow with love. And he wants nothing more but to bask in it.

When he dreams, it’s always of you. Seductive, enticing, and tempting. But nothing compares to the real thing. Not even close.

Namjoon’s fingers absently trace patterns along your bare back. Your labored breaths have calmed down, slowly and evenly. Your lashes touch the top of your cheeks as you rest your eyes, and your tongue darts briefly to wet your pretty lips.

He can’t stop looking at you.

“You always do this,” you comment softly without opening your eyes.

His hand stills. “Do what?”

“You always watch over me,” you answer, opening one eye to peek at him. There’s a small, playful smile on our lips. “Even when we first started seeing each other, you always look at me so endearingly.”

Namjoon laughs, a bit embarrassed. He never thought you’d notice the tender, forlorn look on his face after spending a night together. “Stay with me tonight?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re falling in love with me, Kim Namjoon.”

He smiles at that, dimples appearing deep in his cheeks. “I already love you, baby.”

You snuggle a little closer to him, the teasing in your voice replaced with sincerity as you tell him, “I love you too.”

It isn’t often that you two say those words to each other, but it still makes him catch his breath every time you do. His arm wraps around you protectively as he kisses your hairline, and he sighs happily as you tuck yourself under his chin.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he murmurs quietly, closing his eyes. It feels nice to have you in his arms. It feels nice to have you so close. He feels like he can relax like this.

Then, you ask, “What did Jackson say to you?”

His eyes snap open, and he sees the concern on your face. You hold his gaze, curious, but also as if you’re not certain if you want to push for the answers.

“He showed me a quest, and asked if we can help him,” he explains, his grip tightening around you a little. “It’s in my hometown.”

You’re quiet as Namjoon tells you everything. From all the details pertaining to the mission to Jackson heavily implying he won’t be able to do it without you. If there really is a necromancer terrorizing the village, you have the best chance of stopping them. Your skill at spell-casting is unmatched compared to the others.

Part of him hopes you’d refuse it – that you’d realize the odds are against you with this type of Wicked magic, and how stupid and dangerous this could be.

But he knows you won’t.

You know that Namjoon couldn’t pass up on it. This mission is too important to him. He could lose his parents and his hometown for good.

And Namjoon knows, if nothing else, you’d want to do it for him. You’d do anything for him. He’d do the same for you.

When he’s done, he feels you wrap your arms around him in a gentle embrace. “It’s okay, Namjoon. I know you want to help. I’ll do my best to keep your village safe, too.”

Namjoon frowns. His heart doesn’t feel any lighter as he holds you close. He feels so vulnerable as he softly confesses, “I’m afraid to lose you.”

“Lucky for you, I’m not an easy person to take down,” you quip confidently. You push yourself up to look at him, and your hand cups his face. Your thumb gently wipes away the frown on his lips. “I can handle myself, Joon. You know I can.”

Namjoon wants to believe you. But his heart still feels heavy with worry.

The next morning, Namjoon gathers the residents of the shop and tells them the news. As expected, there’s a mixed reaction.

“A necromancer?” Yoongi repeats, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“Sounds fun!” Taehyung exclaims, eyes brightening with the promise of adventure.

“Sounds dangerous,” Hoseok corrects with a frown and crosses his arms. “We don’t really know anything about dark magic or necromancy. How would we know what we’re truly up against?”

“We won’t know until we try,” you reason, glancing over at Namjoon. “As far as we know, there’s only one necromancer, and there are several of us. The people in that village need our help, and we might be their last hope.”

“If we’re not already too late,” Hoseok grimly states.

Taehyung suddenly stands. “What are we waiting for? We need to start packing now!”

“Taehyung, calm down. We should think this through first,” Yoongi points out, but the raven familiar is already taking flight. He transforms into a raven and goes straight to his loft above the library nook.

“I’ll need to start brewing some potions and antidotes,” Hoseok mutters, also standing and walking straight to the kitchen. Over his shoulder, he asks, “Do you think we can stop by the market for ingredients?”

“Can we get snacks too?” Jungkook timidly asks.

You laugh and rub his back. “We can’t have you hungry on our trip.”

“I’ll talk to the others and tell them about the quest.” Seokjin informs, heading upstairs to change out of his pajamas.

“Then, I’ll wake up Jimin. He’s still sleeping in the spare room,” you tell the ones left in the parlor. You glance over at Yoongi, who is already standing up to follow you. “Wanna help me bother him, Yoongi?”

He nods his head, a twitch of a smile on the corner of his lip, as he walks with you up the stairs.

That just leaves Namjoon and Jungkook. The mage sighs and runs his hand through his hair. Everyone took the news better than he thought.

Your party will consist of Jackson, the Oathkeepers, and the shop’s residents. There’s safety in numbers when traveling in such a large group. All of you are diligently preparing to face whatever dangers the roads and this necromancer can throw at you. And Namjoon is certain that you’ll all look out for each other, as you always do.

The only glaring thing is the necromancer. Hoseok is right when he said none of you know what you’re going to be up against. And that makes Namjoon nervous.

“Where are you going?” Jungkook asks when he sees Namjoon start to head to the other side of the parlor.

“I’m going to see if the library will have anything about necromancy,” he answers, though he doubts he’ll find anything useful. Even his magical nook of books might not hold what he’s seeking for. “We’ve never had to deal with this kind of magic before. I want us to be prepared.”

More importantly, he needs to know how he can protect you. It’s inevitable that you’ll have to face a powerful mage that controls the dead, but if he can find something – anything – to give you an upper-hand…

Jungkook is quiet for a long moment. His dark eyes stare at Namjoon in an almost penetrating gaze that starts to make him nervous. Then, quietly, he mentions, “You have to take their bells.”

“What?”

“They use bells to summon the dead and have them do their bidding,” he explains, just when he hears Hoseok calling for him in the kitchen. “Take their bells, and they can’t control the dead.”

With that said, he stands and heads to the kitchen, leaving Namjoon to stare after him.

He knows that Jungkook was previously with a mage that specializes in dark magic. He also knows that Jungkook doesn't talk much about that part of his past, if at all.

But as Jungkook disappears from the parlor, Namjoon can’t help but wonder if he knows more about dark magic than he lets on.

At dawn, you and the other shop residents meet up with Jackson and the Oathkeepers. It’s a long way to Namjoon’s hometown in Hawthorn Village, and Jimin agreed to keep an eye on the shop until you return.

“I’m sorry I can’t go with you this time.” Jimin holds you and peppers kisses all over your face. He wishes he could, but he has his own duties tying him to New Haven this time. “Take care and come home soon, okay?”

“I’ll miss you,” you reply sincerely, wishing he could come as well. Due to the nature of this quest, however, you couldn’t tell him the real reason you’re leaving town.

Instead, you simply tell him that you’re all visiting Namjoon’s family, and that Seokjin and his friends are escorting you all there while they have a job nearby.

It’s not a complete lie, but it’s not the truth either.

Taehyung and Jungkook are excited about going on a real adventure this time. They both look eager to get started, rucksacks on their backs and anticipation in their eyes. It doesn’t matter to either of them what they’re facing, as going on a quest with their hyungs sounds more fun than anything.

Hoseok looks like he’s seconds away from a mental breakdown. He’s constantly checking and rechecking that you guys have everything you’ll need for this adventure. His wand is ready, tucked within reach. His rucksack is full of potions and ingredients. He checks with Yoongi to make sure they aren’t forgetting anything, and Yoongi shrugs and drawls that if it’s something they’ve forgotten, it probably wasn’t that important to bring along anyway.

Namjoon and Jackson stand apart from the others, seeming to be in a deep discussion about something. Since Jackson requested his help, Namjoon has been nervous about returning to Hawthorn Village, even if he tries not to show it. You often feel his worried gaze on you when he thinks you don’t notice.

Seokjin is with his friends, going over the map and figuring out the best routes to take. You see a side of Seokjin where he’s more serious than you’re used to, and perhaps on the surface, this is just another quest for him. But when you see him glance over at Namjoon, you know he’s in it for the same reason you all are.

You’re doing this for Namjoon.

Your heart feels conflicted when you catch Jimin staring at the others. It’s hard to keep things hidden from him – to keep him in the dark about everything – and you have a sinking feeling that he knows that you aren’t being completely honest with him. That you’re leaving him behind with purpose, and that you’re shutting him out from such an important part of yourself.

Maybe he doesn’t even believe your half-truth about simply visiting Namjoon’s family.

You wish you could tell him. You wish you could confide about your own worries about the mission. You wish you could’ve told him stories about Blackstone Castle when you had introduced him to Jackson.

Jimin turns his attention to you, and his eyes lingers on your face, seeing past the neutral mask you’re trying to keep on. “Is everything okay?”

You wish you could tell him the truth about you.

“There’s something I should tell you, Jimin…”

At that moment, Namjoon calls out to you. He has your pack over his shoulder, and a sheepish smile on his face when he realizes he’s interrupting you and Jimin. “We need to get going.”

“What did you want to tell me?” Jimin asks, curious now.

There’s so much you want to say. One day, you’ll tell him about how you and the others aren’t ordinary humans, that the building you all live in isn’t an ordinary shop.

But that day isn’t today.

“I’ll tell you when I come back,” you decide, touching his cheek. You kiss his lips and murmur, “I love you.”

A small, sad smile tugs on his lips before he kisses you again. “I’ll miss you.”

Reluctantly, you part ways with him and join the others. There is a lot of ground to cover between New Haven and Hawthorn Village, and each passing night will just make things harder for the surviving villagers.

“Ready to go?” Seokjin asks, looking at everyone. A unanimous sound of agreement is answered back. The party gathers into the horse-drawn wagons, and thus, the journey officially begins.

Your hand reaches for Yoongi’s – who automatically intertwines his fingers with yours – and you look over at Jimin one more time. He leans against a fence, watching as Yoongi helps you get onboard. When he sees you looking at him, he straightens up and mouths to come home soon before he waves goodbye.

“What were you and Jimin talking about?” Yoongi asks you, still holding your hand.

“I think I’m going to tell him about what I am,” you confess, a little nervous of what he might say. That he might convince you that this is a bad idea.

“You should,” Namjoon agrees, sitting on your other side. He rests his arm behind you, squeezing in so that everyone can fit. “It’s about time he knows about all of us, no?”

Yoongi glances at you with uncertainty, but mumbles, “If that’s what you want.”

A weight lifts off your shoulders as you smile. “Yeah, it’s been hard to keep things hidden from him all the time, you know?”

Namjoon nods and then, lowering his voice and leaning closer to you, he slowly asks, “Was it hard to keep us a secret? Back when we were at the castle?”

“A little,” you admit just as quietly. “Hoseok already knew. He said we were too obvious. My roommates were starting to get suspicious too, and I’m sure Jackson and our other friends would’ve figured out something was going on between us. I think it would’ve all come out eventually.”

“Would you have been mad if it did?”

“Not at all. It would’ve made things less confusing for me if we had been honest with each other from the start.”

In hindsight, neither of you had anything to hide. You both liked each other a lot, and even then, none of the guys were put off with the idea of sharing you. But magic comes with so much secrecy, it seemed natural to keep things hidden. To expect that your enamored feelings won’t be accepted because love is taboo for mages.

“I’m sorry,” he apologizes, frowning at the things he could’ve done differently.

“I’m not blaming you, Joon,” you assure him, using your free hand to touch his cheek. “What matters is where we are now. Not all the things we could’ve changed.”

His lips quirks into a small grin as he takes in your words. “You’re right.”

The two of you share a brief kiss as the horses continue to pull the wagon you’re all on. It’ll take you as far as the roads will lead, but there’s a shortcut through the forest that will cut your traveling in half. That route, however, will have to be on foot.

Conversations between the others overlap as the excitement of the journey is still high. But to your surprise, you see one person is quiet and lost in his thoughts.

Jackson doesn’t say a word during the whole ride.

Traveling down the familiar roads that lead to his hometown in Hawthorn Village brings Namjoon back to unpleasant memories.

He remembers the terror the night promises, as if it’s still fresh in his mind. The low, warning growl of predators and their glowing eyes in the shadows. The way his body shivers from the cold, and how his feet ache from walking. The exhaustion that tolls his small body, but he can’t afford to stop and rest or the wardens will catch up to him, as they always seem to do.

It felt like a hopeless task then. But Namjoon was stubborn.

He wanted to return home no matter what.

And now, years later, he finally will.

Seokjin is right about how things are different this time. Now, he has all of you beside him, instead of having to trek these roads alone. And that makes Namjoon worry.

“Watch out,” Namjoon warns, pulling you away from a green plant growing along the trunk of a tree. “Those plants are poisonous.”

“He’s right,” Hoseok agrees, examining them a little closer. You would’ve had an awful, itchy rash if you had accidentally touched them. He rummages through his pack and happily adds, “Luckily, I have an ointment for this kind of thing!”

“Careful, baby,” Namjoon says with caution a little later on. He holds onto you as he helps you down a slippery slope. “You might fall.”

Nearby, Jungkook is giggling when he sees Seokjin slip on the mud, staining his clothes with the wet dirt.

“Yah, Jungkook!” Seokjin snaps as he grabs the younger male by the ankle and drags him into the mud with him.

All day, Namjoon has been overly protective of you. Whether it’s a branch of a tree that’s hanging too low and blocking your path, a hole on the ground that you could easily trip over, or a mama bear and her cubs just passing through, Namjoon is there to guard you. Even if it means hurting himself.

“Joon, you don’t need to be so worried about me,” you assure him, sitting him down on a log and examining the cut on his arm. It’s bleeding, but it doesn’t look too deep.

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Namjoon answers, wincing as you apply a bit of healing magic on the wound. Warmth spreads from your fingertips as it starts to close.

“I’m not the one with the cut,” you counter, gesturing at his arm. Thankfully, it just looks like a scratch now.

Being on the road isn’t too bad. After getting dropped off at the starting point of the forest, the excited chatter between you and the others lasts a good while, making the morale stay up. You all take breaks when you need to, make sure food and water is passed around, and keep an eye out for bandits, wild animals, and other dangers like low branches, poisonous plants, and pit holes.

After a while, the conversations die down to a mutual, tired silence. Everyone’s paces slow down significantly, and the breaks become more and more frequent. Jungkook quietly mentions that he’s getting hungry – the small snacks between stops aren’t enough for a meal – and Namjoon is certain he isn’t the only one.

No one protests when Namjoon suggests making camp at a clearing he finds. There’s unanimous relief as everyone begins to pitch their tents, make a campfire, and gather resources and ingredients to make supper.

Which leads to you and Namjoon, sitting together as you check the wound he gave himself when trying to protect you. He sighs and thanks you for treating him, barely feeling the sting of pain anymore. Part of him expects you to leave, but you still sit with him, watching as some of the guys play rock-paper-scissors to decide the order of night shifts.

Although you don’t admit it, you’ve been worrying about Namjoon too.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know you can handle yourself. It’s just…” Namjoon begins, rubbing his neck. “After everything that happened in Blackstone, I’m afraid to lose you. To lose everything again. Even now, I’m worried that you guys are putting your lives in danger because of me.”

“We’re here because we want to be, Namjoon,” you tell him with a small smile. “If it was Seokjin’s hometown under attack, or Jungkook’s, or anyone else’s at the shop, I know you’d want to do all you can to help too.”

“You’re right,” he says with another sigh. Maybe he’s worrying over nothing.

Your smile widens as you nudge him. “Are you nervous about going home?”

He chuckles dryly. That, certainly, is an understatement.

“I don’t think I know what to expect anymore. It’s been so long…” He lets himself trail off as his gaze turns to everyone else in camp. Taehyung is demanding a rematch as Hoseok throws his fist in the air and shouts in victory. Their rowdiness catches the attention of the others, who grin a bit at them as they decide to do another round. “My parents might still be in Hawthorn. If we have the chance, I’d like to talk to them. Tell them I’m sorry for burning down our old house, and that I miss them.”

“You could,” you assure him, giving him a comforting smile. “I don’t think the others would mind since we’re already there.”

He smiles a bit at that. Then, his heart flutters nervously as he proposes, “Would you come with me? When I go see them, I mean.”

You look a bit surprised. “I could if you want me to.”

“I do,” he quickly replies, a bit flustered. “It would be easier, I think. If you’re by my side at the time.”

“Then, of course I will.”

His smile widens and relief lifts from his shoulders, grateful you’ll accompany him. “Do you think they’ll forgive me? After all these years? It wouldn’t be too weird if I just showed up, would it? What would I even say to them?”

You laugh, and the sound makes his heart stutter. “I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t love you, Kim Namjoon.”

“Thank you,” he tells you softly, dimples popping at the shy grin. “For everything.”

Suddenly, the guys shout in disbelief and burst into laughter at the results of their game. You and Namjoon smile fondly at them.

“I don’t remember where I was born,” you confide to Namjoon. “I don’t know who my parents are, or if I have family that knows about me. So, when Blackstone fell, I felt like I lost the only place I knew was home as well.”

“Oh…” Namjoon frowns. He never considered any of the fortresses a home. It always felt more like a prison. But perhaps, to mages like you and Hoseok, who’ve been locked away in those towers all your lives, it’s different.

“But you know,” you continue. “I can’t say I’d ever want to go back to it. If we hadn’t run away – if we hadn’t made it to the shop – we wouldn’t have met Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook. Seokjin wouldn’t be happy as a warden. And I might’ve never even had the courage to tell you and Hoseok that I love you.”

“Really?”

“Blackstone was my home. It was the only world I’ve ever known,” you say, your eyes still fixed on the others before you. “But I don’t ever regret leaving that place behind to be where I am now. With you and the others.”

In his dreams, Namjoon sees you again.

Your hand is in his, leading him away from camp while the others are asleep. Taking him to a secluded place in the woods.

It’s just you and him. Like old times.

Your back is pressed against the trunk of a tree. A seductive smile touches your lips as you wrap your arm around his neck. You pull him in for a kiss, and his hands glide up your body in a lustful hunger. He hears you panting as his hand slips between your legs, your lip biting back a needy moan, and your flirty eyes glancing up at him beneath your lashes.

His trousers fall down to his ankles, and he lifts one of your legs. You lean against the side of the tree, shifting your weight against the trunk, and look over your shoulder at him with a tiny nod.

A whistle of an arrow flies toward him, but it hits you. Right in the heart.

The flirty gaze turns to a look of horror and accusation. This is his fault.

You slump on the ground, cold and unmoving. Hunters gather around, pointing their weapons at him. Wearing similar faces of anger, disgust, and terror like the villagers from his hometown the night of his awakening.

Among them are the rest of the guys: Seokjin, Yoongi, Hoseok, Taehyung, Jungkook, and even Jimin. There’s disappointment and sadness in their eyes when they see your body. It turns to looks of hatred and distrust when they look at Namjoon.

It’s his fault you got hurt. It’s his fault things ended up like this.

Everything is his fault.

Namjoon feels so small again, like he’s a kid. Everyone gathers around him, wanting an explanation. Why is he born with magic? What wickedness has he done to be cursed with that power?

Your eyes are lifeless. Your skin is cold.

But with a distant twinkle of a bell, your head snaps toward him. Your jaw falls open too widely as an agonizing scream comes from your throat.

Namjoon wakes with a start.

Another dream about you, but this one is different. This one is a nightmare.

His heart races when he finds himself somewhere he doesn’t recognize. And it takes him a moment to place himself in a tent he’s sharing with you and the others.

Seokjin is at the far end, lying on his back with his face turned toward you. One arm is curled out beside him as his other hand rests on his stomach where Yoongi, in his cat form, has chosen to sleep. Hoseok has his arms wrapped around you and is curled up against your back. Taehyung has stolen his pillow, using it as a nest, as he tucks his head beneath his black feathers. Namjoon doesn’t see Jungkook right away, but he hears his low, steady croaks by his head, settled on the opposite end.

All of you are sleeping safe and sound, huddled together like a pile of puppies.

Namjoon smiles fondly at the sight, relieved to see that you’re unharmed. But the nightmare is still too fresh in his mind. Quietly, he decides to sneak out and get some fresh air.

A couple of the Oathkeepers and Jackson are keeping watch this time. His old friend looks surprised to see him, but doesn’t send him away when Namjoon takes a seat next to him by the fire.

“Aren’t you tired?” Jackson asks.

“I’ll go back in a bit,” he promises, frowning up at the sky. The night feels too long. Dawn doesn’t seem like it’ll break through soon.

For a while, the two sit together quietly by the campfire, lost in their own thoughts. Suddenly, Jackson asks, “Do you still think about that night? At Blackstone?”

The night of the rebellion. When Adriel summoned something Wicked from the depths of the Veil and made a contract with it. Power in exchange for his physical form.

“It’s not really Blackstone I think about,” Namjoon admits. The burdens he carries are longer and heavier than what happened the night you all escaped.

“I think about it all the time. Everything that went wrong. Everything that I could’ve done differently,” he sighs as he stares at the burning fire before him. “Adriel was my friend. I should’ve stopped him. I should’ve realized what he was doing was wrong.”

“Adriel just wanted us to be free,” Namjoon reminds him. There isn’t anything wrong with wanting that.

“And look where that got us,” Jackson bitterly retorts. “Adriel is dead. Most of us have probably been recaptured and sent back to a fortress somewhere. The rest of us are on the run, hiding our magic so we don’t get caught.”

Namjoon frowns. Jackson has a point. Even outside the castle walls, freedom still has its limits.

“None of us could’ve known what would’ve happened,” Namjoon reasons. “I don’t think Adriel even knew when he made contact with that Wicked.”

“But we could’ve done better!” Jackson snaps. There’s an anger in his eyes that Namjoon is all-too familiar with. A spiteful resentment that he, himself, has carried for years. “We were his friends. We could’ve checked up on him. We could’ve talked him out of doing something so goddamn dangerous. We could’ve saved him too.”

His voice shakes, eyes wild with accusation and guilt. You were all at the tower. You’ve all seen what Adriel had become. You’ve seen how Jackson desperately pleaded to his friend to recognize him, and how the Warden Commander ran a sword through Adriel when he did. It’s a scene that’s been haunting Jackson ever since he left the tower.

“Jackson…” he begins, but honestly, he isn’t sure what to say. Namjoon feels pity. He understands how Jackson feels. He’s been in his place, burdening shame and guilt over things he couldn’t control.

Namjoon is lucky to have you and the others to be there for him when the shadows of doubt and resentment become too much.

But Jackson… he doesn’t have anyone to rely on.

“What if that necromancer in Hawthorn is one of us?” Jackson asks, his gaze now steady at the fire again. “What if they’re someone from Blackstone? What if they’re just another Adriel that lost their way, and dipped into forbidden magic they’re no longer in control of?”

Namjoon hadn’t thought of that possibility. He always saw the necromancer as a vague, hooded figure in his mind. Someone that summons the dead and commands them to attack his hometown.

What if that person under the hood was a friend? An apprentice he had a class with? Someone he recognizes from the halls of Blackstone Castle?

“Then we stop them,” Namjoon answers, placing his hand on Jackson’s shoulder. “And we try to do better this time.”

“I hope we can, Namjoon. I can’t have another mage fall like Adriel did.”

Thank you for reading ♡ Comments & reblogs are greatly appreciated!

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#magic shop series #namjoon x you #namjoon x reader #bts namjoon x you #bts namjoon x reader #namjoon smut #bts fantasy au #bts magic au #bts witch au #bts fanfic #bts au #bts smut

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quietplantlys · 1 month

Note

Hello! I've been searching VERYWHERE for a new Harry Hook x reader fanfic and I can't seem to find one that I haven't seen already :')

I was wondering if you could write a Harry Hook x Daughter of the queen of hearts! Reader (who is also in a band btw...Just because) where reader is struggling with everything basically...managing her studying, her band, her time basically and especially trying to learn how to use her cards (similar to the cards that the Queen of Hearts uses in D4) and shes just tired and Harry cuddles with her and comforts her??

Ik this might be a lot so you can take out or add certain elements to your liking! No pressure and I hope to see more from you :3

Stress - HARRY HOOK

Pairings: Harry Hook x Hearts! Reader

Genre: Kinda angst with comfort! fluffy.

Warnings: This is romantic so I hope that's okay!! Fem reader!

Note: Ahh thank you for requesting means a lot! I didn't really know what to do with her being in a band but it is mentioned. hope you like this! It's my second request so I hope you enjoy it.

Everything is stressful. Trying to balance studying, your band, and trying to learn and practice your cards.

You have been practicing with your cards, but no progress has been made. because school tests are coming up. And your band is something you also had to practice, for which you're trying to find time to smuggle it in.

You've been trying to do multiple things at once, and you haven't realized that you're burnt out.

Trying to stay awake during the last class of the day was hard. Luckily for you, you now have more homework. which now means you can't practice for anything, not your band or your cards.

Once you are in your dorm, you put all your homework on the table and in your head, trying to decide if you should just practice your cards or just practice for your band.

After a while of just staring off and trying to keep your eyes open, you decided to work on homework.

20 minutes later, you're still working on your homework. And after a couple more minutes, you hear a knock on the door. You turned your head slowly and began to stand up from your chair. and started walking over to the door.

Once you reached the door, you opened it to see your boyfriend standing at the door. "Oh, hi Harry, how are you?" you asked with a tired voice.

"I'm alright, love. You look pretty tired. Have you slept?" Harry asked with some concern in his voice. "Don't worry about me, I'm just super busy. I have to finish my homework, then practice for my band, then practice my cards." You said it quickly, trying to explain yourself.

"Okay, I think it's time for a break," Harry said, coming into the room and shutting the door behind him. He grabbed your hand and guided you to your bed.

"Wait, I have to finish my homework, then Pract-" You began saying this before he cut you off. "You can finish that later; besides, that's not due until Friday. And your band doesn't play till next month."

He sits you on the bed after moving some blankets down. "Lay down," he tells you, and you listen, not wanting to argue since you feel your eyes dropping.

He sighs, watching you fall asleep, and puts the blankets over you. He begins to say softly, hoping not to wake you, "I just wish you didn't overwork yourself."

He watches you softly snore and then shuts off your light on the nightstand. Once he turns it off, he begins walking to the bathroom to change into sweatpants and no shirt.

Once he finishes, he shuts the bathroom light off, walks over to your bed, and lays down next to you. You shift to your side and wrap your arms around Harry's shoulders.

When your arms are wrapped around him, he holds a side of your waist, and he closes his eyes. And began to feel his eyes drifting off.

A/N: I hope this is good I'm writing literally all of these fanfics at 12-3 am. 😭 also if this is bad please only give kind feedback!!

#descendants x reader #harry hook x reader #harry hook #fanfic #blog #fanfiction #descendants

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k4shixe · 1 year

Note

Prompt 4 with nanamiiiiiiii pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

BabySitter

CW; reader is 17, character is 28, age difference, strictly platonic, complements said to character, type of flirting (its teasing/joke tho), shouting at reader, kinda swearing

Pairings; rich!fem!reader x bodyguard!nanami (platonic)

Summary; After getting caught too many times, your father decided to get you a body guard. In an attempt to get rid of him, you go it the mall with your best friend.

Word count; 3k+

Prompt: “that’s enough.”

A/n; aaah here it is! Worked 2 days on this and ngl I never did watch the anime so he might be a little too formal. BUT I did enjoy writing this so please send any requests along! And I hope you enjoy! :)

12 minutes.It took them 12 minutes to find where you were. It’s worse that there are things that you shouldn’t be having at the party, especially at a party with teenagers. And you thought escaping to go to the party was easy. Oh how you knew you were going to get it. Your father stood in front of you with guards blocking the way out.

“Y/n I expected better. I told you that, you, explicitly, couldn’t go anywhere until we finish the meeting. You could’ve been kidnapped or worse”

“But dad I was bored! What was I meant to do wait?”

“That’s exactly what your meant to do! You leave me no choice but to take your credit card and get you a bodyguard”

“Okay fine my card is understandable but a bodyguard! That’s crazy! I don’t need to a baby sitter! I’m 17 for god sake!”

“It’s too late. My decision is final. Now go to your room, your grounded until you show me you can behave.”

You left for your room, sitting on your bed and sulking over the fact your going to have a babysitter. Or as your dad called it a “bodyguard”. You wished your mum was here, but tragically she died in a car accident when you were still a toddler so you knew how precious you were to your father. He loved you but you couldn’t blame him since you managed to get past everything he tried but that also didn’t change the predicament you got yourself into. You decided to texted your best friend telling her about what happened.

Bestie <33

I got caught ;(

Now my dad got me a babysitter

Oh cheer up,is it a guy or girl?

And are they hot?

Oh shut up.

And he didn’t even tell me so idk

Ok fine, how about

you just try getting rid of them?

Ooo, now your talking!

Just come to the mall tomorrow,

I need more outfits

Didn’t you buy some last week?

Yeah but I already wore those

Okay whatever you say

After chatting with your friend you started realising that you actually didn’t know who it was going to be. It could be some scary homeless dude your dad found on the street. You started praying it was atleast a girl, maybe you 2 could be friends. And with that you fell asleep.

“Honey wake up. Sweetie please get up” Your father shook you lightly.

“So early in the morning though” You slowly sat up on your bed,rubbing your eye to try get the tiredness out. You squinted your eyes seeing a tale, well-built man who was wearing a suit with blonde hair styled with a neat part next to your dad.

“Dad who’s this?“ you say visibly confused as you regained your eyesight.

“This is Mr Kento Nanami, he’s your new bodyguard.” Your dad sounded oddly proud for his accomplishment of finding such a well groomed bodyguard.

“But Dad he’s like 50! People are gonna think I’m dating this weirdo!”

“That’s no way to talk to your bodyguard y/n!”

“Im 17 I shouldn’t have some babysitter! I should be able to make my own decisions!”

“Sneaking out to go to a party at 3am shouldn’t be one of them!” He took a deep breath to calm himself down “Y/n, you are having him as a bodyguard and that’s final. Now if you need me I’ll be in my office” Your dad walks off leaving you and this “weirdo” in your room.

“So… your what now?”

“As your “dad” stated I’ll be your body guard. I’ll have to watch over you and make sure you don’t do anything reckless”

“Okay old man, I know my dad told you to do this but aren’t you annoyed you have to babysit me? You can just quit right now and blame it on me. I won’t mind.”

“Nice try but I already got paid so orders are orders until said otherwise. And I’m not your babysitter, I’m your bodyguard”

Man, this guy was going to be hard to convince. You thought as you looked at Nanami who was looking around the room, analysing it.

“Okay mr bento ninja could you leave my room?”

“It’s Mr Nanami to you, and I can’t just ‘leave’ I was ordered to stay”

“So what your going to watch me change then?” You say raising your eyebrows while starting at him awaiting his answer.

“Of course not, don’t be childish. I’ll leave if you had told me why.” He says as he left the room and closed the door behind him.

After getting changed into a sleek bodycon dress that really complemented your look, and with some makeup,heels plus a matching purse, you were all good to go. Now to only convince your dad. Shouldn’t be hard right? Walking down the staircase with Nananmi behind you (you couldn’t help be a little disgusted), you went to your fathers office and opening the door when hearing a “come in” by him.

“Dad could you please give me my credit card back? I promise I won’t spend much” you say with a pouting face and batting your eyes. You knew he couldn’t say no.

“Sorry sweetie but rules are rules. Until I can trust you again no credit card until then.” To say you were shocked was an understatement.

“But-“

“No buts,ifs or ands. Rules are rules.”

“Can I atleast go out with f/n?”

“You can but you must take Nanami with you. He must know anything and everything you are doing, and he can and will be able to check your phone if necessary. That’s the only other rule”

“Fine.” You groan and glare at Nanami who couldn’t care less and walked off, after he nodded to your dad he followed after you.

You pull out your phone, making a quick call to your driver when you heard Nanami clear his throat. “You do know your under my care, so I should be a able to do everything for you. Ms l/n.”

“Ugh don’t call me l/n, brings back memories. Just call me y/n. And I’m just calling my driver, I need a lift to the mall.” You have gotten your mother’s last name when you were born, since your parents felt like you’d like it more, especially when you’d become someone of more importance.

“If you insist Ms y/n, and you know I can drive.”

“Yeah…no thanks I’d rather take my own driver.”

“Very well. Whatever you want.”

The car ride to the mall was quiet. Too quiet. You wanted to listen to music but kind of over thinking that the music would be too loud and Nanami would judge you. He sat on the opposite side of the car, sitting still and quiet. Why are you overthinking something you would never think twice about? Is this bento dude that intimidating? I swear he’s staring at me from the side of his eye. Ugh snap out of it. You leaned your head back and let out a small groan. This was so nerve wracking. You pulled out your phone and just opened it to check the time. The lock screen showing a picture of your mother, father and you just a happy family. You stared at it with a small smile, the picture always made you calm and relaxed. Nanami noticed and decided some small talk would be better then silence.

“Is that your mother?”

You jumped a little at his words. First not expecting him to talk and second to ask that question. “Oh uh yeah…”

“Where is she? I never seen her around before”

The fact that sentence stung was a whole different type of pain. It felt like he was making fun of you just like the kids did to you when they found out in middle school. You tried putting a fake smile up but it hurt a little too much and an ich in your throat to cry came. You quickly tried wiping away the forming tears but just opted to looking the other direction when that wasn’t working.

“She uhh, died when I was younger”

And for the first time you got some emotion out of Nanami. Surprise and more of a regret for asking that question. “Oh, sorry I wasn’t aware.” He noticed the tear on the side of your face still visible to him and got a handkerchief from his suit pocket and handed to you.

For the rest of the car ride it was more awkward and silent then before. You managed to calm down but now you were thinking what Nanami thought of you. Some spoiled brat? Probably. I mean he isn’t wrong. You zoned out looking at him and didn’t even realised till he looked back at you. “Is everything alright”

“Oh sorry! I zoned out! I tend to do that a lot.” You looked back out the window blushing from embarrassment. He shook his head and went back to his seating position.

Finally you had made it to the mall and the drive opened the door for you with Nanami fixing his suit while walking up to you. You entered the mall looking for your friend and found her at the Gucci store shopping for some shoes.

“Hey! F/n!” You quickly walked over to her giving her a hug like always.

“Who’s the old guy?” She whispers to you looking behind you to exactly point him out.

“It’s the dumb babysitter my dad got me remember?”

“He is kinda hot though.” You hit her lightly.

“Shut up. Now let’s go to Sephora, I heard there selling a new makeup pallet!”

“Quickly then! We need to get it!” She grabbed your hand as you both rushed off with Nanami keeping an eye on you both, mainly and specifically just you. You reached the aisle with just a few pallets left when you realised.

“Crap, I wasn’t allowed to get my credit card. I can’t pay for it.” You say disappointedly.

“It’s fine just take my emergency one. It has a budget of like 50k though so just be a little mindful.”

“Omg did I ever tell you that your the best?”

“No but you should start” you and f/n laughed as you went to pay before

“Not so fast. Do you think your father would let you pay with your friends credit card? There is a reason he took yours away from you.”

“Yeah but this is different. So don’t try put your reason into this. Besides if he doesn’t know then who cares.” You say and your friend nodded her head in agreement.

“Fine. If you really don’t care, I’ll call him right now” He says getting his phone out his pocket.

“Hey! Wait! I won’t use her card” you mumble quietly as you put the make up pallet away upset about it.

“Let’s go to the restroom I got to tell you something.” F/n whispered and you nodded. You both began walking, Nanami close behind. When you reached the door you both quickly entered saying something to Nanami about fixing your make up and hurried in.

“That was easier then I thought.”

“Yeah but what would he do? Enter the girls bathroom?”

You both burst of laughing, Nanami could definitely hear you both from how echoey the bathroom was but you didn’t care right now.

“We need to get rid of your babysitter. Even though he is kinda hot at all”

“Agreed, except for the last part. But atleast we know we won’t be fighting over the same guy in the future.” You say as you both laugh.

“Ok we could go clothes shopping next and since we’re basically the same size just look for everything you want and pretend it’s for me.”

“Got it, now let’s try the make up pallet you got”

“Yess!” Let’s just say you guys spend at least half an hour in there just gossiping and doing each others makeup. F/n was telling you the juiciest gossip ever when it was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Who would be knocking to enter a public restroom?”

“Beats me” you shrug.

“Are you ladies done in there?” Of course it was Nanami who was standing the whole time just waiting for you to leave.

“Would’ve thought security took him away for being a perv”

“Same!” You both burst out laughing again before another knock stopped you. “Well let’s just go clothes shopping!” You both get up and leave the restroom after packing up. Entering the first clothing store and looking for clothes, you both went to the swim suit aisle and poor Nanami had to stand there looking at the ground while you both giggled and tried them on. You swear you could see a tint of pink on his cheeks from the embarrassment. You smirked, your plans working. Now just a matter of time. I mean what would people think of some grown man following two girls trying on bathing suits. After picking out a few you headed to the dresses and picked out a few to try. Finding one you particularly liked but didn’t know if you should get, you decided to play a little joke on Nanami, and your friend encouraging it just built up your confidence.

“Oh mr Nanami~”

“Yes Ms y/n. What is it?.”

“Do you think this dress looks nice on me?” Expecting some sort of reaction, you can certainly say you were disappointed when he just nodded and looked back to where he was looking. You frowned and rolled your eyes, “whatever”. Your friend and you finish shopping and managed to get Nanami off your back about you trying on the clothes even though your not supposed to buy anything. “It’s just for fun! It’s not like we’re hurting anyone. Besides shes going to buy them anyways” your friend agreed with you.

Of course you guys went a little overboard and bought way too many clothes to hold them all. After a good 4 hours you waved your friend goodbye and she gave you half her bags insisting you “hold them” for her and she’ll pick them up next time. Your friend secretly handing you a credit card, not having as much but enough to get you a few extra things. Nanami still swift and quick to catch up with you, you decided to try something on him. With a little bit of a dramatic effect (thank god you took acting classes).

“Oh Mr Nanami sir. Could you please hold my bags? My arms are sooo tried, I don’t think I can hold them anymore” you say looking up at him with ‘puppy dog’ eyes.

“No. I’m your body guard, not a mall porter”

“Oh Pretty please~”

“Fine.”

“Thank you!” You say delightedly as you hand him your bags and quickly rush off to another store. Using the card your friend gave you managed to buy at least 3 more bags worth of clothes, 3 with shoes, 2 with purses and accessories and that was just the starting. You kept handing Nanami bags, and he was just silently taking them and holding each one. You could tell he was getting tired and fed up with you though. Slowly and surely you noticed him getting slower from carrying all those bags and the anger was just building up. The last straw was when you showed up with another 2 bags just hanging them on his arm when suddenly

“that’s enough.”

To say that didn’t scare your soul out of you was an understatement. You were mortified.

“Enough?…”

“Enough. You are going home this instance and you will carry your bags on your own.” He was practically death staring you, leaving you speechless.

“Yeah okay…” yeah okay? Why did I say that? I should’ve told him to shut it and listen to me. What am I doing? A little too scared to say anything back, you picked up as much bags as you could, struggling to pick up some as the weight of them was way more heavier then expected. Nanami sighed and picked up the rest, escorting you out of the mall. After following you for around 6 hours and having to go through the most embarrassing things ever. He still took your bags and watched over you, maybe because it was his job, but maybe, just maybe, he actually did care.

Nevertheless, the car ride back was silent like before, even being able to hear a pin drop was possible. You got your phone out and opened a food delivery app, scrolling through the food options. Yes, you did have a personal chef at home but you wanted to eat out today. Especially being forced to eat a models diet was tiering. You felt a little bad for Nanami so you sucked up your pride and turned your head to him.

“Uh Mr Nanami, would you like to eat something?” He looked over at you before shaking his head.

“thank you Ms y/n but no.” And with that the car when quiet again.

Getting home with all those bags was a trouble waiting to happen. You should of thought of it, oh how your brain was mentally screaming at you. But thanks to mr snitch, he called your dad beforehand telling him about everything. Your were no longer allowed to hang out with your friends, they could come over but that was it. After a shouting match with your dad, you slammed the door to your room with tears in your eyes. Your almost an adult and no freedom. What was the point? Nanami on the other hand, probably doesn’t know what a slammed door means and knocked on the door before opening the door. You quickly composed yourself, opting to just wash your make up off instead of looking like a clown you and went off to your bedroom’s bathroom. You had to push Nanami out of your room to change as he wasn’t believing you, thinking you’d run off. You began doing some homework, being homeschool was easy but the homework you got was something else. Struggling on one question in particular, you didn’t notice Nanami leaning over your chair looking at the question.

“No, your doing it wrong. Here.” He scribbled a few things on the paper which somehow made perfect sense to you. You mumbled and quiet thanks “Thanks…” which he simply acknowledged with a nod.

“Mr Nanami could I tell you something?” Nanami nodded his head for you to go on.

“I’m sorry about today, and thank you for watching over me. Even though it’s your job and everything but uhh…” Here comes your dumb phase! You were sure he though you were as stupid as you sounded.

“What I’m trying to say is thank you.” You keep your eyes on your homework, scared he’d just look at you with disappointment. But you looked up and you swear you saw a teny tiny smile on his face. You smiled back as you noticed he wasn’t mad at all. Maybe things with a body guard wouldn’t be horrible after all.

Request here ;)

#nanami jjk #nanami x you #nanami kento #kento nanami #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #x reader #bodyguard Nanami #jujutsu kaisen nanami #nanami #jjk nanami #alternate universe #bodyguard au

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toomanystoriessolittletime · 2 years

Text

Kinktober 2022 - Prologue

Summary: Max and you had been married for 12 years but after stressful years in his company that left you, frankly a little neglected you decide it's time to spice things up, hacking into his outlook calendar to make sure he had time for you every single day through out October.

Pairing: Modern!Maxwell Lord x Wife!Reader

Wordcount: 670

Rating: E

Warnings: guilt, neglecting, discussions of kinks, flirting

Masterlist Kinktober 2022

Prompt List by @absurdthirst

He frowned as he scrolled through his outlook calendar.

Max had a long day at the office. Not the first long day at the office. He couldn’t remember the last time he went home at a reasonable hour.

His guilty conscience came back full force whenever he thought of you, waiting for him at home.

Maxwell and you had been married for almost twelve years.

You had started out as his secretary (what a cliche right?) but now you were a businesswoman on your own with a very successful jewellery brand that made millions.

He was beyond proud of you.

But things had been hard in the last couple years. Black Gold was struggling and Max did everything in his power to save the company. And finally it seemed that his efforts were paying off.

Black Gold was number three state wide in the renewable energy sector.

But he had to admit. It was hard to pull back from working 15 hour days for years to getting back to normal working hours.

And he could finally afford it. To take time for himself. To take time for you.

But there was always something left to do. Always something to take care of. An email to write, a phone call to make.

He had to seriously change his priorities.

He wanted to cancel the meeting with Carter tomorrow morning to have the whole day free to spend with you when he found that the meeting was already cancelled. He scrolled through his calendar, noticing several hours blocked in red, marked with private, everyday throughout the month of october.

He was about to ask his assistant what this was about when an email arrived from you.

Mr. Lord,

In my position as your wife (and former assistant, you really should change your passwords honey) I took the liberty to block time throughout the month of october to spend with me, your wife. You may ask yourself, why october? Why different amounts of hours? Why on different day times?

Well first, because these times worked best with both of our schedules.

And…

Can you remember the last time we had sex? Because I can’t and I’m getting tired of using my hand. So to save my sanity, libido and get some… spice into our marriage we will try something called kinktober where we try out a new kink everyday throughout october.

I love you and I want to be with you and not just sleep in a bed next to you when you come home after work exhausted. I love you for what you accomplished with your business in the last years, but now it’s time to take some time for us.

I already chose the kink for tonight but we’ll decide together for the rest.

Your safe word is strawberry. Mine is peach.

I’ll see you when you get home. I’ll be naked.

Your wife

Max couldn’t stop the small tugging on his lips as he read your message.

It seemed like both of you wanted to spend more time together. And you were right, he could not remember the last time the two of you had sex.

Real sex.

Not the rushed five minutes before he had to leave or you being so tired at night you fell asleep beneath him (his ego had taken a while to recover from that)

He clicked on the list you added, his eyes getting big as he read through all the kinks you had already marked your favourites from.

You also had added some notes and he smiled, adding his own notes.

He looked at the clock, noticing it was almost midnight already. He had spent the last three hours writing back and forth with you instead of going home.

Leaving the office now he texted you.

I’ll be waiting for you naked in our bed you texted back.

He chuckled to himself, grabbing his stuff before he made his way out of his office.

October was going to his new favourite month.

#my fic #kinktober 2022 #maxwell lord #Pedro pascal #Maxwell lord x fem. reader #max lord x reader #fanficiton #fanfic #fan fiction #drabble #prompt #max lord

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nightlight-writes · 2 years

Text

Caffeine (Sonny Brisko x Dense!Reader)

Coffeeshop AU

Warnings: none

Notes: I should really write something happier next time, seeing as it’s only a few weeks until Christmas…

DISCLAIMER: This story is meant to be a work of fiction. Any resemblance to the real streamers is not intended.

Tonight was the coldest, chilliest night you had experienced at your shift. Moderate winds blew through the air, carrying along with them the cries of crickets and the croaking of toads. The streets slowly grew dimmer with every streetlight that went out. Your last customer had left you a generous tip, which was sitting on a small, circular tray on the counter. After a few minutes fiddling with your pen, you decided it was time to close shop.

However, it seemed that it was a bit too soon to do so. A figure could be seen beyond the glass door. His bright blond hair stuck out among the relative darkness of the surroundings. Icy, indigo eyes peered through the glass door, silently asking to be let in. You unlocked the door and watched as they made their way towards the bar.

“Is there anything you’d like to order, Sonny?”

“Just the regular.”

Each night, the young officer would come and request a black coffee with chocolate donuts in the shape of a lion’s mane. The order was quick and easy to prepare; it only took a few minutes to complete.

“Your order is ready.” you said, “I assume you know the price already.”

After paying for his order, the policeman ravenously savored his meal.

“Y’know -munch-, it’s rare to see nobody else -slurp- here at this time.”

It was a running joke among those few customers that bothered staying after closing hours that one could see his soul simply by looking into a cup of black coffee. Of course, some would take the jokes seriously and claim that the esteemed policeman had secret connections with the local mafia.

“Considering what they say about you, I’d say it’s a good thing.”

Sonny laughed. “You don’t understand, hearing everything they come up with is funny as hell.”

He then pulled out a notepad. Scribbled on it were various quotes from customers poking fun at him. Only a few pages were left unmarked.

“I really like this one that says I’m a time traveller from the future.” He sighed, “If only I was that cool in real life.”

Those people must be crazy, you thought. Time travel was something you’ve only heard of at the movies; you had never witnessed someone pull it off in person.

“But if you were a time traveler, how would that change anything? I say you’re still pretty cool without it!”

Sonny kept silent for a few minutes, contemplating your answer.

“Well, it’s not that serious to me.” His laugh had quieted down to a mere chuckle, “Normies just don’t understand those who are different.”

You could only nod in agreement.

Sonny regained his composure, “Well, according to my watch, it’s time for me to go now.”

“Thank you for coming by!”

Just before Sonny had walked out the door and disappeared into the night, he said some words in a sweet tone.

“By the way, that movie we talked about last night is premiering tomorrow. Should we go together?”

Oh god, you DID forget about that movie! You didn’t know why Sonny wanted to see it with you specifically, but you were in no mood to decline. It was already 12:00, and you needed to make sure you didn’t fall asleep halfway through, so you called it for the day.

#nijisanji #nijien #sonny brisko #sonny brisko x reader

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rexc0re · 2 years

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‘A fools price to pay’ - star!ranboo

A/N: Hello dearest leia rexcore enjoyers and welcome to the proper star!ranboo writing!! This is a more silly writing (like VERY silly) I will admit but I’ve gotta get in that flow ya know :) anyways featured in this story are the lovely @allhugs4ranboo @cgl0wduo @genderationloss and @kashleytaylor !!! Wonderful friends i love them all smile

WARNINGS : slight description of blood and car crashes

Summary: Lately Atsraeus has been getting a little too annoyed with Ranboo and their shenanigans. So as punishment, Atsraeus has taken away lusa (sad face) and banished Ranboo to the earth until he finds a way to help 4 humans. Stuck on earth, Ranboo finds a way to be helpful in a way that seems to always go wrong…

Sad. Boring. Full of losers.

That’s how Ranboo describes Earth. He never enjoys going here it’s full of a bunch of humans who are never fun. The suitable punishment for someone who may or may not have dyed a titan gods hair highlighter pink…

But that’s besides the point. It was a silly prank! Astraeus should have a better sense of humor in their opinion. There’s always a plus side, the pink compliments the a blues of his astral robes!! Kind of …. Maybe….not really. Well anyways here he is now. On sad, boring, full of losers earth. Lusa isn’t even here!! Maybe he should’ve listendes to her and NOT dyed Astraeus’s hair..

Looking down at the scroll they’re already looked at maybe a million times Ranboo decides to finally get along with his task and get off this sad planet sooner rather than later.

As punishment, Astraeus has banished Ranboo to earth with the task of helping 4 people. (and also to get hair dye.) So here Ranboo is signing up for a car service. Driving people around shouldn’t be too hard. I mean what? It’s not like their car is going to flip. This will be a breeze. In and out if you will.

Or so he thought.

Under the name of Alvis Ontos our dearest star boy is officially the newest car driver on the block! Patiently sitting in the dingiest car the company gave them, Ranboo patiently waits for someone to call upon his services.

DING

Well would you look at that! His first request and conveniently it’s a 4 passenger request! In and out, just like they thought.

Wait.

Oh no.

The location these HUMANS want to go to is conveniently a nice and short 12 HOURS AWAY. Get a plyn at that point!! plane? pane?? whatever that thing is called. But alas. Ranboo has no other choice but to accept. I mean it’s probably shorter in the long run than driving 4 separate people to multiple places.

After a short drive Ranboo finally picks up their 4 clients. A small group of humans who look particularly nice actually, they introduce themselves. Max, Feña, Kash, and Arc. Interesting names. (Loser names) Ranboo introduces themselves in the nicest and most normal way, they were very awkward. Max in the front, Feña on the left, Arc in the middle, and Kash on the right. It’s an awkward silence for the first 20 minutes.

“Sooooooo you guys doing good?”

Silence.

“Not much of talkers are you?” An awkward laugh slips out of Ranboos mouth.

More silence for the next 10 minutes then all of a sudden Ranboo swerved off the road and INTO A RABBIT. Swerving back onto the road as their passengers are looking at him with a shocked face. Ranboo calmly turns on the radio and starts humming along.

A couple of hours later the sun is setting, and Ranboo abruptly pulls over in the side of the road and declares:

“Time for sleep!! Goodnight everyone <3”

Sitting calmly back in their seat he falls asleep. The passengers look at them for a moment before Arc gets out and hops in the trunk. The other three sigh and relax in for the night. The next morning, after being forcefully awaken by Ranboo chasing a bunny, they continue on their way.

It’s a mostly calm drive for the next 3 hours and look at that they’re 7 hours in! Suddenly Ranboo swerved out of the way of a rock and conveniently into a tree.

“If you’ll excuse me…(he walks away)…CAN I HAVE JUST ONE GOOD THING HAPPEN??? THANKS GOD!!….(he walks back)….alright just had to get some thoughts out let’s get back on the road shall we!!”

Max nods awkwardly, Feña drops their head into her hands, Kash sighs, and Arc is still in the trunk.

On hour 10 our lovely road trip crew is starting to get exhausted. The last rest stop was 2 hours ago and Ranboos teeny tiny car is not helping. Not to mention the 3 bunnies they have hit in those past 2 hours. As the drive goes on Ranboo seems to be getting more and more….silly?

He seems to be talking nonsense? Like who is Lusa and why is she a star??? Our 4 amigos in the car are talking amongst themselves to figure out a plan to get away from this silly person.

And it’s almost like the gods above are smiling upon them as their conversation seems to drag out more and Ranboo seems to be losing their mind a bit more, suddenly Ranboo seems to lose grip if the wheel as a rock on the road scares them and the car crashes and suddenly they flip and flip and flip and…flip.

When the car finally lands they look over at Ranboo and….oh boy. Their face and the windshield is covered in blood. His nose looks rather crooked and they’re just staring off into space. The passengers take it as an opportunity to run off! Bursting out of the car with their belongs they run off!

Ranboo jumps out of the car yelling “YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!! I AM A GREAT DRIVER!! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IVE WORKED FOR THIS POSITION!!! IM ALVIS ONTOS AND I AM AMAZING!!!! GET OUT OF HERE!”

“RANBOOOOOOOOO”

Uh oh. That’s the sound of Astraeus. Ya know, that titan god who he works for that he pissed off and probably pissed off more by ruining this road trip.

Oh boy.

A/N: RAHHH!!! hello everyone i hope you enjoyed thsi absolutely SILLY writing I had so much fun <3 also thank you to RAN FEÑA ARC AND KASH!! Yes, they survived the road trip so proud of them!! Anyways i will be making an actual serious writing Abt silly guy Star!Ranboo soon I swear and Nyona!! Okay bye bye everyone I had so much fun!!!!!!!!! (reblogs always appreciated por favor)

#ranboo #ranboolive #starranboo #star au #Star Ranboo best loser ever #writing

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grumpygreenwitch · 2 years

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The Fairy and the Prince #1 + #2 + #3 + #4

Part 1 - Part 2 - Parts 3 & 4 - Part 5 - Part 6, 7 & 8 - Part 9 & 10 - Part 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16 - Part 17, 18, & 19 - Part 20, 21 & 22 - Part 23, 24, 25 & 26 - Part 27, 28, 29 & 30 - Part 31, 32, 33 & 34 - Part 35, 36 & 37 - Part 38, 39, 40 & 41 - Part 42 & 43 - Part 44 & 45 - Part 46 & 47 - Part 48, 49, 50 & 51 - Part, 52, 53 & 54 - Part 55 & 56 - Part 57, 58, 59 & 60 - Part 61, 62, 63, 64 & 65 - Part 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71 & 72

Originally posted 9/1/2022, 9/14/2022 and 9/28/2022. Celebrating the FINIS of this story, I’ll be reposting it in its entirety once a day through February, starting today. It’s queued so that both the original posting and the reposting will come together for the final piece.

Again, thank you to all that read it, that liked it, that let me know so. I never expected to get as long as it did, but well, here we are.

If you’re new to the party, please bear in mind this was originally a speed-writing exercise. Editing has been minimal. Concurrency was a seat-of-the-pants thing, and if the spelling for names and titles matches from one chapter to the next I’m gonna be the first one surprised. All of that is getting cleaned up in post, and this is a story I’m definitely considering self-publishing, if only to see how that goes.

Prince Adam met Linden while escaping his geography lessons.

Geography is one of those things everyone should know and no one wants to learn. The Queen Dowager had commanded that it be taught to the mob of prospective heirs to the throne that she’d gathered in the Royal palace, among with many other sciences and arts. Then again, the same august and childless lady had also commanded that they be taught the finer points of fencing, wrestling and knife-fighting, so everyone had a good, if resignedly terrified idea as to how she meant to solve the matter of succession without actually making a choice and angering a niece or nephew. However, these were also the same people who’d agreed to drop off their kids at the palace and under her supervision.

In any case, Adam had no more fondness for his geography studies than any other of the Princes at hand. He was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough that, the youngest of the candidates at nine years, by the time his geography lessons rolled around the teacher, a dour old priest of the Tree-Father, was either already asleep, or nearly there. All he had to do was read quietly, peeking up, until the man started snoring.

Which he’d done.

He’d only meant to slip out onto the balcony and sit on the ornate stone railing. But the day was lovely and still young, and he’d realized that one of the gutters ended not too far from the balcony, the spout carved like a horse’s head. He’d leapt lightly onto it and charged into many a battle on his moss-painted steed before a nearby cornice had caught his eye. From there he’d climbed several fashionable false arches, like a great explorer over vast mountain ranges. Then he’d leapt and caught an old arrow-slit by his fingertips, and climbed further up, until he could tip-toe along a gutter made slick by decades of rain-feed moss.

By then he was nearly six stories off the ground.

He stalled after having raced along a lip of brick, mortar and stone barely wider than his fine leather slippers, which he’d already thrown off at some point between mountain-exploring and harpy-fighting (there had been three particularly angry swallows with nests under another balcony). The gutter there ended in a fish-head spout, and there the palace itself turned in a sharp corner, rather than a round tower curve.

Adam glowered at the lack of further road in impotent anger. After a few minutes, however, anger grew boring with no one there to look upon it, and he put his mind to more practical concerns. He was a clever young man, forced by circumstance to become even cleverer, struggling to leave childhood behind just to survive the deadly competition he found himself in. He was a lovely child, a little on the slim side, with his father’s curly black hair and his mother’s (and grand-aunt’s) narrow, firm features, black brows and deep blue eyes, pale skin quickly growing pink because no one could keep him out of the summer sun for long.

A decorative ledge above him caught his eye. It was a mirror of the one he was standing on. On his tiptoes, he couldn’t reach it, his fingers just shy of the goal. If he leapt, though…

He glanced over his shoulder. Far below he could just see the tops of the trees, swaying in the afternoon breeze like fretful nannies. Beyond them were the muddy grounds of the expanding Royal Gardens, and beyond that was the dark green smudge of the Hunting Woods. But there was no one to tell him no, and so he leapt.

He caught the ledge, and almost immediately his right hand slipped. The ledge was, he realized belatedly, much larger than he’d expected, and at a slant, meant to shed water off from whatever might lie beyond it. Years of rain had left it as slippery as the gutters.

He tried to find the ledge below his feet, but he was just high enough that his questing toes couldn’t reach it. He tried to grip the ledge once again, but couldn’t find a place that wouldn’t spit out his fingers. His left hand was slipping, and for the first time it occurred to prince Adam that he might have been a mite unwise in his choice of entertainment for the afternoon. Grunting with effort he tried to lift himself up one-handed onto the ledge.

His left hand slipped.

Adam was weightless for a single, fragile moment, the tiny space between his heart beating and his breath catching.

Then he realized there was a small, strong hand gripping his left wrist, and looked up into the face of the most extraordinary creature he would ever meet in his life.

The stranger laughed, a merry and carefree sound, the ringing of cheerful bells. “You’re not very good at this, are you?”

They were wearing mismatched clothing, pants too big and tied with twine around the waist, folded many times over at the leg, shirt worn so thin the sun shining at the edge of the roof behind them showed skinny arms and a slender, graceful neck. Their hair was white and fine, tipped in dark gold, a halo around a fine-boned, acorn-brown face. But their eyes…

Their eyes were shattered glass.

Adam blinked, enthralled. They were brown and green, blue and hazel; it was as if someone had taken chapel windows and made them into eyes, glorious and random and full of lights. He fought to grip the ledge with his right hand, and finally found a spot willing to meet him halfway. “It’s my first time climbing this high up!” he protested.

The stranger, brown and lithe and mismatched in every way, laughed again, glad and guileless, and helped Adam scrabble onto the ledge.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” the Prince asked.

The stranger jerked back in surprise, blinked pointedly, and then squinted at Adam. “Nothing. What’s wrong with yours?” they challenged.

“Nothing,” Adam replied, flopping onto the ledge, which was far larger than he’d expected, the slate and stone of it sun-warm. “Other than they’re boring, I suppose.” He rolled over, trying to catch his breath. The blue sky above him vanished behind that white-haired face, far too close to his. “Gah!”

“What’s boring about them?” the stranger demanded. “I think they’re lovely. Like a bluebird’s feathers.” They reached out to try and pry at Adam’s eyes, and the prince swatted that hand aside.

“What are you doing? It’s rude to touch people without their permission!”

Fine white brows went up. “Should I have asked permission to catch you when you slipped?”

“That’s different,” Adam sat up, and his new acquaintance, kneeling by him, leaned back on the heels of their bare, muddy feet. “Of course you don’t ask someone if you can save their life, you just do it. But when it’s not important, you should always ask. It’s good manners.” The young prince flopped back down again. “Thank you for catching me.”

“You’re welcome,” the stranger seemed to be mulling on Adam’s words, and once again that fine-boned, brown face filled his field of view. “I don’t think you’re boring. I liked how you fought the swallow-harpies.”

“Have you been watching me all this time?!” Adam burst up to a sitting position again.

“Yes,” his savior admitted blithely. “It was much more exciting than me just climbing to catch the sun.”

“Catch the sun?”

“Yes, see?” The stranger reached into a pocket of their oversized pants and pulled out something that gleamed too brightly for Adam to really see, something warm and golden like fat drops of honey held in the cup of that muddy, small hand. “It’s not a lot.”

“It’s more than I could ever get,” Adam replied, intrigued. “I didn’t even know you could catch the sun like that.”

“Well, it is tricky,” they admitted, a delicate fluster on the brown and high cheeks revealing faint green freckles as they pocketed the sun drops again.

“What do you even do with it?” Adam asked curiously, examining his feet and finding them incredibly filthy; for some reason this pleased him immensely.

“I bring them into the woods, where the normal sun doesn’t reach.”

“Oh, that would be so helpful to everything there!” Adam exclaimed, and his companion flushed even deeper, all unnoticed. By the time the young prince turned to face them, they were sitting cross-legged next to the boy. “By the way, I’m prince Adam Lestrelle. But it’s fine to just call me Adam.” He offered his hand, trying to make the gesture very grand and grown-up.

“Oh, Adam’s a good name. Better than Prince, anyways, there’s too many Princes here, it’d get confusing really quickly. I think you might be the only Adam.”

“I am,” he admitted. “I’m also the youngest. And you?”

“Ugh.” The stranger took Adam’s hand; their grip was strong, dry, warm, like wood softly polished by age and use, and warmed by summer daylight. “Me too. I hate it. There’s nothing good about being the youngest.” They licked their lips in thought, and then nodded, seeming to have come to a decision. “You can call me Linden.”

“Like the tree?”

“Yes.”

Adam considered. “It suits you.” He leaned closer a bit and sniffed, making Linden look at him curiously. “You smell like them, too.”

Linden shoved him. “Of course I do!” They sprung up to their feet, and offered a hand. “Come on, then. Palace won’t climb itself!”

There was a challenging, welcoming grin on Linden’s face, as bright as the white of their hair. Adam grinned back, took their hand, and let them help him to his feet.

***

By the time someone noticed the youngest prince in the palace was missing, it was suppertime. By the time he was found, seven people had been fired, three had been threatened with beheading, and the Dowager had written increasingly scathing letters to the monastery that provided her with teachers. Adam was dragged into a bath, sunburnt and windburnt and eyes full of wild glee, soot-black from where he’d made his way into an unused chimney and climbed down and out through the hearth. Linden had shown him the chimney, and watched him begin his descent. “Be careful, Adam,” they’d warned the prince, those shattered eyes gleaming in the setting sunlight. “I can’t catch you if you fall here.”

“There’s steps, it’s fine. A baby could climb this. Will I see you tomorrow?”

“Maybe.” Linden had laughed. “You know where to find me.”

He was grounded, and quickly forgotten once again. The problem with that, of course, is that it’s hard to keep a young boy in a giant palace grounded if you start ignoring him. He slipped out through the cellar once, when he’d been given punishment duty there. The master-at-arms lost track of him in the training yard, busy with the older boys whom he actually had faith in. He climbed up the beams in the stables when he was supposed to be doing punishment detail shoveling hay, and slipped out through the open shutters where hay bales where shuttled back and forth. Twice he climbed out of windows, his own and the one in the secondary library. He nearly fell once.

Linden was always there to catch him, with a merry laugh and those shattered, many-colored eyes. The palace rooftop and the cool dark woods were their playground, and they went everywhere together. In shallow cisterns and tiny pools carved out of the stumps of fallen forest giants Linden showed him impossible fish that spoke in tiny strings of bubbles, like pearls from a spilling necklace. They fought with imaginary swords, back to back, defending against savage barbarians and wicked pirates and murderous raiders, legions upon legions of them. It was always his ideas that they chased after, but Linden never seemed to mind falling in with the young prince’s wild imaginings.

In the end, with summer growing heady and sweet and hot, he got grounded for good, his windows barred shut while the sour-faced, pinched-mouthed man that handled the princes made “other accommodations”. His door was barred and there was a guard set upon it, and he couldn’t force the windows open even a little bit. He’d tried to climb out of his hearth, but it shared a chimney with something that had a fire going at all hours of the day.

So he’d hid in the laundry pannier.

The staff panicked. How had their charge slipped out? How had he made it past the guard, the barred windows, the locked door? People dashed in and out, but no one thought twice of the laundry basket, least of all the burly-armed maid that carried it down to the boiling pools of lye water. Someone shouted when Adam squirmed his way free, but in the vast forests of laundry hung to dry hardly anyone could see him, let alone catch him. He scrabbled over a stone wall and raced along the top, leapt onto the low eaves of the kitchen, sprinted away and clambered up a gutter, thanking each water spout he passed by name, as Linden had taught him. He was almost to the top when his feet went out from under him and he slammed against the edge of a steep roof with punishing force, blowing all the breath out of him. His grip slipped.

A strong, tiny, brown hand caught him by the wrist. “Are you ever gonna get any better at this?” Linden accused him cheerfully.

“I hope so,” he admitted, groaning.

“That took forever!” Linden helped him onto the roof, and Adam flopped down on his stomach to catch his breath. “What happened, where have you been?”

“They locked me up.” Adam sighed.

“Uuuuugh!” Linden dropped to sit next to him, playing with the black curls of his hair. “Are they even allowed to do that? You’re their prince!”

“I’m one of, like, fifty princes, Linden.” Adam felt himself relax at last under that familiar, friendly touch, like a bird making a nest of his hair. “And I’m the youngest. I’m never gonna be king, so they don’t care.”

“If they don’t care, why’d they lock you up?” Linden sprawled on their back next to him.

Adam turned his head to look at them, frowning a little as he put his words together; that, he’d learned from no teacher in the palace, but from his mother, who hadn’t wanted to leave him behind. “Because I made them look bad,” he explained at last. “When you’re a prince, they have to know where you are and what you’re doing, always and always. And if I told them about you, they’d say it’s too dangerous and wouldn’t let me do any of it.”

“That’s so dumb.”

“Right?” Adam was silent for a long moment. “What about you? What does your family think of me?”

“They think I’m very silly for spending time with you,” Linden tucked their arms under the gold-tipped burst of their white hair. “But they’ve always thought I’m silly.”

“You’re not silly!”

“Well, of course not.” Linden looked pleased at Adam’s staunch and immediate defense. “But they think everyone that’s young is silly, and I’m the youngest, and you’re the youngest. So we’re twice the silly.”

“Ugh.” Adam was very familiar with that sort of thinking, and kept as much distance between himself and it as possible.

“And who cares what they think anyway.” Linden whipped upright. “Now come on, I found a stork’s nest!”

Adam sprung up to a sitting position. “With storks?!”

“How else would I know it’s a stork’s nest? Come on!”

***

He came back, of course, he had to. Hunger brought him back.

“Are they going to lock you up again?”

“Probably,” Adam admitted as they meandered over the narrow edge of a high partition, soaring high above a private courtyard on one side and a small kitchen’s garden on the other. “It won’t be forever,” he told Linden when his friend’s face fell. “I’ll find some way to get out, I promise.”

“What do they even want from you?” Linden demanded. “If you’re not going to be king, why can’t they let you be?”

Adam found that an excellent question and, when he was dragged once again before Master Leminy, after the sour-faced, prune-mouthed man was done with his shouting and berating, he asked it. The Master of Scions swelled up like an angry toad. Adam would know, he’d recently made the acquaintance of several of the creatures.

The truth of the matter was, Everidge Leminy had tried to get Adam sent home. Repeatedly. But he couldn’t very well explain to the Dowager why he wanted the boy gone without admitting that he was balking the entirety of the palace staff and, mostly importantly, master Leminy himself. Admitting to such a failure might well cost the Master of Scions his job, and the rank and power that came with it. The first time he had excused it as the teacher’s failing. There wouldn’t always be someone else to blame, and the Dowager would not eschew even one boy. There was talk of a prophecy, of a fairy curse that she was trying to escape, ergo there being no children of her own. But master Leminy was too busy a man to believe in fairies.

He did believe, however, that the shameless, reckless brat before him would keep on vanishing. No one could watch a child every moment of the day; no one should have to, which made it all the more infuriating, because Adam was forcing him to do exactly that, and falling behind in his studies to boot. The latter wasn’t terrible, it could be readily excused by his youth, by having to compete with peers who in some cases more than doubled him in age. But eventually someone would make a comment to the Dowager, and she would start asking questions of Master Leminy.

Faced with uncomfortable risks and unwanted variables, Leminy shifted tacks. He clapped his hands and pressed his laced fingers to his mouth. “Prince Adam. It occurs to me that your life in the palace must be unbearably boring.”

Adam, who knew grown-ups never speak to a child with that sort of make-believe respect unless they want to set a trap, was instantly on his guard. “It’s alright,” he admitted neutrally, wary.

“You’ve no peers,” Leminy replied. “No one to do childish things with. I believe Prince Rickard is… thirteen?”

“He’s twelve,” Adam replied. And a bully, he didn’t add, but gosh he was thinking it very loudly.

“Just so.” The Master of Scions kept from gritting his teeth at being corrected, but it was a close thing. “I will make you a deal. I will find friends for you. I will set aside time from your schedule so you can do,” he flapped a hand, “whatever it is children do. But in exchange you must attend your lessons without fail.”

Adam nearly cried out agreement in delight. But as his many escapes made clear, he was a clever young boy. “How much time?”

“Three hours every day before supper.” Which were hours Adam would have had free anyway, until new teachers could be found from the monastery; the Dowager’s letters had not impressed them. “But you will have to make them up; no more free mornings during the end of the week.”

Adam chewed on his lip restlessly, his hands in his pockets. In one of them Linden had thrust an empty snail shell, and he ran his fingers restlessly over the rim. Was it a good bargain? It sounded like one to him, but the source made him nervous. And would the Master of Scions stick to it? He had no reason to. He could throw Adam up in a high tower cell and leave him there forever, until his hair grew as long as his nails and he forgot what the green world looked and felt like. “I don’t need paid-for friends,” he murmured.

“Of course you do! Every young boy needs friends!”

Adam saw the trap then. They wouldn’t be friends; they would be Lemony-Leminy’s spies. That made much, much more sense. And so, as graciously as he knew a prince should, he agreed. They both left the meeting quite satisfied, even if Adam was being marched off to another punishment detail in the kitchens, and Leminy was off to wrangle an impossible little urchin’s schedule into something suitable for a would-be king.

***

Summer quickened into fall, and then into winter. Linden warned Adam that they wouldn’t be able to come once the snow fell, and the young prince spent the time after their last parting forlorn behind the glass-paned windows of the palace. For lack of anything better to do he applied himself to his lessons, half forgotten during the golden warmth of better days. He found in himself a surprising aptitude for things he’d learned with half an ear and a tenth of the interest they should have been originally given. His teachers didn’t question their good fortune; they merely rushed to catch him up while they had his attention.

The ‘friends’ Lemony-Leminy had promised him had come the day directly after his talk with the Master of Scions, and they were no better or worse than Adam had expected. Older, of course, he’d expected no different. Unfortunately for master Leminy, when you might grow up to be a king, the politics of getting people to do what you want them to do take up a good part of your education. Adam made it clear to the three boys that if they left him alone and asked no questions he would return the courtesy, effectively getting them paid for doing whatever they wanted with their afternoons. All they had to do was meet with Adam briefly after his lessons so they could agree on a likely tale to tell anyone who asked, and not get caught the rest of the time.

Two of the boys had been thrilled with this agreement. The third tried to stick to his purpose, until he discovered that it entailed trying to follow the young prince as he climbed up walls and raced along roofs like a squirrel. After falling one time too many, he wisely gave up before he hurt himself irredeemably, and contented himself with scowling at the young prince every time Adam took off through paths best suited to cats and thieves.

Winter left him stuck with the boys, and while they weren’t bad sorts, Adam couldn’t forget that they weren’t his friends. They were paid to stick around, paid to tell master Leminy what he did with his time, paid to try and keep him busy. He’d offered for them to accompany him in his lessons, but while all three had agreed, it quickly became obvious the only one with a real interest was Beliwick. To the other two boys it was just time spent away from unwanted chores with a valid excuse.

“Is she pretty?” one of the boys asked one afternoon, his voice just this side of a taunt.

Adam jerked back to reality. He’d been staring out the window at the snow-choked grounds of the palace, willing spring to arrive faster, hoping for just one sprig of green, one touch of color, to let him know his best friend would come back soon. “Who?” he asked in confusion.

The two boys, Dane and Oliver, where sprawled by the hearth playing dice. Beli, who’d been painstakingly reading one of Adam’s math primers, a gift of the prince to him, glanced cautiously at them and then ducked his head low.

It was warning enough for Adam, who dragged himself with an effort to the present.

Oliver, the oldest of the boys, snorted. “Whatever girl you’re pining after.”

“Ugh,” Adam made a face to go with the groan. “You’re getting too old to be my friend if you think I’m interested in a girl, Oliver.”

The smirk went right out of their faces, and Adam saw Beli hide a grin.

“I’m waiting for spring. I’m tired of being inside forever and forever,” he explained.

Dane flopped on the warm slate before the hearth. “The whole world is,” he agreed easily enough. Dane was not a bad sort; he was simply lazy. He would always agree with whatever was easiest. “Winter’s dragged on this year.”

“Well, it needs to drag away faster,” Adam groused.

Winter, of course, would be rushed away by no one, but it eventually did give way to spring. By then, much to his teachers’ astonishment, Adam had caught up with and surpassed a few of his peers in his academic studies. It didn’t occur to most of them that it was because he had nothing to do but read.

Rain fell on the day of his birthday, rather than snow, and he took comfort from it. He was invited to tea with the Queen Dowager, who asked the questions expected of her station and his studies, and seemed distractedly pleased over a boy from whom she expected very little, if anything at all. Just before supper he was dragged before the Master of Scions, along with prince Rickard and four more miscreants, one of them Dane. Everyone ended with punishment duties to go along with their black eyes and bloody lips, but since it was the first time Adam had landed a punch on the older boy, he counted it an improvement and the best birthday gift so far.

#the fairy and the prince #linden and adam #linden the fairy #adam the prince #fantasy #fantasy writing #writing #original writing #my writing

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