#actually had an excuse to make him pale skinned but decided nah

[vvitchynerd]

first of all i can explain skin color change - in lore people of Nox's clan, so the moon clan, have pale skin due to being active at night only, thus not needing much melanin to protect from sun. But them and sun clan originally come from same people and same lands, so if this to be removed moon clan's skin would be darker

Was experimenting with a brush and decided that drawing Nox in genshin-ish style would be a cool idea(specifically character icons style) First is with my lore thing and other is if fully in genshin world

to add i imagine Nox as electro catalyst from Sumeru if he was in genshin world

[bittenwritten]

Idle Gossip

[Harley Quinn 2019] Scarecrow x [Villain] reader

*reader is gender neutral* [Reposted from my Wattpad account]

It all started with your invitation to the Penguin’s nephew’s Bar Mitzvah coming through the mail slot. Normally, you’d prefer to keep to yourself and not attend any social gatherings. However, on this occasion you’d had a rough week and a fancy get-together seemed to be just what the doctor ordered, and so you decided to bite the bullet and attend. Unfortunately, what you seemed to completely forget, until the day of the Bar Mitzvah, is that you'd actually have to talk to people. Great.

You decided that cancelling now would just be more hassle than it was worth, and so that is how you ended up sitting round a small table with a few of your fellow Legion of Doom members discussing the recent drama that was the JoQuinn break-up. Other than the Joker blowing up the host of Good Morning Gotham, this was the first time you were hearing about the whole drama, so it was all news to you. Well, I say ‘conversation’, it was more so just Scarecrow gossiping at the group about the whole hullabaloo while everyone else was becoming tired of the non-stop gossip coming out of Jonathan’s mouth. Well, everyone but you. You couldn’t for the life of you explain, but you just seemed to hang onto every single word that came out of his mouth as he rambled on.

 You weren't even really listening to what was being said anymore, you were just so transfixed by the way he spoke, there was some kind of devilish charm to it that made you feel weak in the knees.

 You’d only recently realized your feelings for the twig of a man on a collaborative heist, where you had to suddenly drag him out of Batman's sight and ended up pinning him up against the wall. Neither of you even said anything, you just stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time until Batman walked in and caught the two of you like that. It had to be the most embarrassing point in your career, but there was something about that flustered look on his face that made your heart skip a beat.

Back in the present, Twoface looked like he was about to lose his patience before the door to the atrium swung open. Two figures stood in the doorway, the more extravagant of the two had a massive tiger on a lead in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other. You didn’t even recognise her for a split-second but her pale-white skin was an immediate give away to her identity, it was the Joker’s ex, Harley Quinn. Behind her stood the more intimidating figure of Poison Ivy, she seemed to be more disinterested with the whole thing. Harley took a swing from the bottle and threw it over her shoulder, only to stop dead in her tracks as she looked around in horror, you could only assume she mis-read her invite in regards to what type of party this was. Glancing over to your fellow villains, they seemed to be just as confused as you were.

“Well, this is an interesting development” Scarecrow commented, resting his head in his hand as he leaned forward. “You know...” he started “i bet there’s something going on between those two” he used his free-hand to gesture towards the two.

“Y’know what, I’m starving.” TwoFace quickly stood up “Bane, buddy, how's about you and I go check out the buffet?” 

“Sure, sounds good.” Bane said in his usual upbeat tone.

“Yeah, good idea.” Scarecrow added as he began to stand out of his seat.

“Nah, nah, nah.” TowFace cut him off. “Y’know two’s company but three's a crowd-” he clearly just wanted an excuse to get away from the non-stop gossip that was giving him a head-ache.

“You two just stay put, we’ll be back in a sec” and with that he bee-lined towards the buffet table with Bane following closely behind. Scarecrow slowly sat back down and stared in confusion at the two before turning his attention to you.

“Wonder what got into them” he laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, I wonder.” you agreed and took a quick sip from your drink.

His expression turned to a more deadpan one. “Well I mean you could at least try to be a bit more subtle with it.” he scoffed.

“Sweetheart, if I was to be subtle about anything, you wouldn’t pick up on a single thing I was implying” you shot back, leaning towards him and taking another swig from your drink.

“Oh, like your obvious attraction to me.” he joked and raised an eyebrow as you spat out your drink in surprise.

“S’cuse me?!” you managed to sputter out once you recovered from your coughing fit.

“Oh give me a break.” he rolled his eyes. “I know I can be a bit oblivious at times but not to this extent.” he said as a smirk formed at the edges of his mouth.

“What are you talking about?” you laughed nervously, trying to relieve some of the sudden tension that had been created. He looked at you like you’d just asked him who Batman was before answering. 

“I mean, you avoiding me recently, your longing stares.” he put a hand on his head in overly dramatic fashion, which admittedly got a slight laugh from you.

“I mean for fucks sake, just now you were making eyes at me throughout the conversation about the break-up.” he added. Your body stiffens and heats up as he finishes his sentence. God, were you that obvious? 

At this point, your face was as red as a tomato and you were stumbling over your words as you failed to come up with a rebuttal. Luckily you were saved from this hell when Bane and TwoFace returned to the table, stopping him from continuing his accusation. You sighed in relief and looked back over to him, he still had that smug smirk on his face that always made your heart flutter. 

“How's the food over there?” you asked.

“Eh, nothing worth spoiling your dinner for.” TwoFace shrugged, sitting back into his seat.

“Uh-oh, who are these trouble-makers?” Harley walked up to the table.

“Nah, I'm just kidding- I know it’s you [name], Scarecrow, TwoFace, other side of TwoFace, Bane-!” you all laughed at her imitation. “I'm gonna’ blow up this Bar Mitzvah” Bane grumbled.

“Quinn, Great ta’ see ya’! Where've ya’ been hiding?” TwoFace asked.

“On your left side where you can’t see shit!”

You all burst into laughter again but this time you couldn’t help but steal another look at Scarecrow. You loved the way he looked when he laughed, from the way his eyes lit up to his dorky smile, you just couldn't get enough of it but you quickly looked away before he could catch your staring.

“So guess who came up with a plan to kill Batman, uh, ya girl-” but before she could continue a looming shape appeared behind her.

“Look who’s trying to run before she can walk”. Well, as if your night couldn’t get any worse, the Joker was here to completely derail it. Great.

The others laughed and you plastered on a fake smile.

“Mazel Tov!” Bane greeted him.

“Jesus”

“Glad you're here, J-man. Pull up a chair, doesn’t bother me-” Harley pulled out the menu.

“So who’s going beef and who’s going chicken?”

“You are going somewhere else-” Joker demanded.

“-because this is the Legion of Doom table! Why don’t you find the crazy bitch table?”

“Spoiler: it’s not a real table” Bane chipped in.

“That was implied-”

“Oh” Bane frowned.

“Who wants to ditch this jester and tear up Gotham with me?!” Harley yelled, which was only met with manic laughter from the Joker.

“Laugh, laugh with me” Joker ordered. You did your best to sound genuine as you forced a laugh, like the others, but you weren't too sure how convincing you sounded.

“Uhh, you know what, who needs ya’ this table is too far away from the dancefloor anyway!” Harley stomped off.

Joker pulled up a seat and sat down.

“Sorry about that folks, women am i right?” None of you really felt comfortable with that last comment.

“Joker, nice to see ya’, didn’t think you’d make it” TwoFace said, greeting him.

“Well, of course, how could i miss such a big event” he grinned, to you it seemed a bit disingenuous but you let it slide.

“Now, what did I miss?”

“Scarecrow was just telling us how Harley dumped ya’.” TwoFace explained.

“Oh really?”

The smug grin on the Joker’s face dropped as he shot a glare at Scarecrow, who was currently sweating bullets.

“Oh I'm sure you're definitely in a position to talk, Crane, seeing as your single ass can’t even get a date, let alone dump one. And for the record, I dumped her.” you could feel the condescending nature of his tone as he spoke. Jonathan looked down at his drink as Joker continued to talk down to him.

You desperately wanted to say something but were snapped out of your thoughts by a loud voice screaming “assholes-”, you all quickly turned to see where the voice came from, only to find it was Harley bitching about you all to Ivy. Joker shot her a smug grin before turning back to the group. He opened his mouth to speak again only to be cut off.

“But they don’t know shit-” Harley screamed again, shaking their table as she slammed her fists onto it. Luckily, this seemed to distract Joker from his rant long enough for him to forget.

“Now, where was I?” 

Thinking quickly you came up with an answer.

“You were talking about dumping Harley.”

“Ah, yes. Can you believe that, the bitch even blew up my hideout out of spite-” he started going on and on about how he was totally the one who ended it. You looked over to Scarecrow as he sighed a breath of relief and mouthed ‘thank you’. You smiled and nodded at him before facing back to the pasty-white madman in front of you. 

By the time Joker had finished his rant, the food had arrived. It was pretty good, but you and Scarecrow were both too busy stealing looks at each other while the other wasn’t looking to enjoy it. 

“Uuh, my chicken’s rubbery.” Joker grumbled.

 “Ooh, your beef looks good” he said as he slid Bane’s plate over to himself.

“Uh, fine” Bane sighed as he reached for the plate of chicken, wanting at least something to eat.

“Ah-“  Joker swatted his hand away. 

“I might finish that.”

“Well, then, what are we doing?-” Bane protested, but was cut off by a voice over the speakers.

“Hey, everybody, let’s give it up for Joshua’s Bar Mitzvah. Huh?” Penguin stood on stage next to his nephew, Joshua.

“It was very special, for me it was when I realized it was my dream to become a crime lord” he wiped a tear from his eye before continuing. 

“So today, I force that dream onto you.” The crowd cheered as he placed a top-hat, that was identical to his, onto Joshua’s head.

You look out of the corner of your eye and catch Scarecrow staring directly at you. Though he was wearing his mask, you could tell he was blushing by the way his eyes darted away from you as he straightened himself the moment your eyes met, only daring to look back at you to see if you were still staring back at him. You flashed him a cheeky grin as you playfully winked at him, you could swear that you saw his heart completely stop beating inside his chest as you did. 

“Okay, Joshua, get ready for your first caper! Good luck fighting off the guards, also known as Gotham Chuckle Hut’s finest improvisers, and stealing that cash-ola, otherwise known as ‘Joshua Bucks’!” The curtains began to open.

“Go Joshua- Oh my God-”

The curtains opened fully to reveal what seemed to be a massacre. The improv troupe lay in pools of their own blood, you could even see the bone fully stick out of one man’s leg for crying out loud! The culprit stood in the doorway of the vault, after somehow getting it open, and was holding some of the ‘Joshua Bucks’. Judging by your table’s reaction, you could tell who it was. Your suspicions were confirmed when the perp spoke up.

“Hey, Joshy, Mazel Tov!” Yeah, it was Harley. You could get a better view of her as she walked closer and picked up one of the men so it looked like he was standing.

There was an audible gasp from the crowd as she dropped him again, further exposing his bones. In contrast, Joker started laughing maniacally and nugded Bane.

“This is fantastic! You’re probably not laughing because this is sort of how you screw up.”

“You ruined the Bar Mitzvah!” Penguin stated as he walked forward as the crowd booed.

“-and crippled an improv troupe!”

“Meh- oh well”

Bane, TwoFace and Bane quickly stood up, but you and Scarecrow were only now snapping fully back into reality.

“If you two could quit your eye-fucking session and hurry up, it would be greatly appreciated-” Joker snapped at you both as he and the others made their way to the vault room, before you could say anything to defend yourselves. You both looked at each other for a split-second but you quickly pushed down your feelings of embarrassment and speeded after them with Jonathan hot on your heels.

“-and that's our show, folks!” Harley announced and took a bow before darting towards the exit.

“I've got this.” Penguin said, cocking his umbrella gun and taking aim.

There was a loud ‘thud’ as Harley fell to the floor as the tranquilizer dart took effect. You all gathered round to see what was happening.

“Say ‘goodnight, Puddin’.” Joker spoke with a smug grin on his face.

“You think… this is gonna’... stop...me?” her words became more slurred as she slipped into unconsciousness. Joker only laughed at ths threat.

“Hah- She even sounds like you!” he laughed as he turned to Bane.

“Oh- I don't think… Do I sound like… You never hear your own voice I guess.” Bane sputtered out, as two of Penguin’s henchmen picked up Harley’s limp body. You all walked out of the vault room and joined the crowd as the music started playing again.

“I’m assuming this is all you’ll be gossiping about for the next year.” you spoke in a hushed tone as you nudged Scarecrow’s arm. He simply rolled his eyes at you, but did nothing to cover up the dorky grin on his face as he did so. 

“Perhaps.” he said, pausing before he continued.

“When I do, would you like me to leave in the part where I repeatedly caught you staring affectionately at me or no?”

“Oh really, ‘cause I could've sworn that I caught you only a couple of minutes ago doing the exact same thing.” you scoffed, leaning towards him.

 You see a hint of momentary panic in his eyes as he tries to conjure up an excuse and push down the feeling of… warmth?- he got in his stomach as he remembered the part where you winked at him, he couldn’t explain it but it felt familiar. Then it hit him like a brick, he knew exactly where he’d felt this before. He’d felt the same weird, warm, fuzzy, confusing feeling when you had him pinned against that old factory wall and were staring into his eyes. He’d rather die than admit it, but you looming above him, the way your chest rose and fell as you panted, the fact that your mouths were so close that if he so much as tilted his head upward your lips would be touching, might have just awoken something in him.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and saw you still waiting for his answer.

“Guilty as charged.” he shrugged and laughed nervously.

Before you could continue, you both noticed four men carrying Harley, who was tied to a chair and just regaining consciousness now.

“Cut the song- No Horah for Harley” Penguin ordered as the men placed the chair down a couple of feet away from him.

“Hey, it's gonna’ take more than a souped-up parasol to keep me from kicking your ass you fat, flightless bird.” Harley snapped.

“The mouth on her!” Penguin turned to Joshua.

“What better way to become a man than by-”

“-Ohh! Than by touching your umbrella? Whoo!” Joshua snatched the umbrella from his hands. 

“Yes! I’ve been waiting for this!” he stated as he pointed it towards Harley

“Any last words before I kill your dumb, blonde, stupid, smelly-”

“-That’s too many adjectives,” Scarecrow whispered. You nodded in agreement.

“-Idiot ass!” Joshua finished.

“Hey, Joshua, make sure you aim it directly at my head ‘cause you don’t want to miss in front of your friends and family-”

“I won’t miss” Joshua stated as his hand began to shake.

“I don’t know.. That trembly finger’s telling a different story-” she taunted.

“I-it’s not trembly, it’s just- I’ve never shot an umbrella before-”

“I bet there’s a lot of things you’ve never done, like: drunk a beer-”

“-I drunk a beer, like all the time. I always drunk beers” his voice became as shaky as his hand as he looked around the room.

“I bet you still believe in Santy Clause.”

“I-i don’t! I’m Jewish and tonight I’m a man!”

“Oh, that’s right, i forgot that I’m talkin’ to a newly grown man- I mean you’ve already finger-banged somebody.” There was a loud gasp from the audience. Well, this got uncomfortable real quick.

“Wait, what?!”

“I mean you have, haven’t you, you didn’t lie about such an important milestone, right?”

“Y-yeah it happened!”

“Are you sure?” Joshua’s body was fully trembling at this point as he looked over to his uncle, who glared back at him, waiting for him to take the shot.

“I-I don’t… I don’t know… it was dark” he stammered .

“It was at camp, at night… it was me and her and it was dark. I definitely did something” 

“Oh, Joshy, do you really think you're ready to kill someone if you’ve never even finger-blasted a girl?”

“You’re right- I’m not ready” he started to sob as he ran into his mother's arms.

“I told you we should’ve gotten him the dollhouse like he asked, Oswald-” she hissed

“It’s not a dollhouse! It’s an army base with sound  effects of real screams, and it’s the only thing I wanted!” his voice broke half way through his sentence.

“Your dead, Quinn” Penguin spat as he aimed his umbrella at her, but then the sound of glass breaking filled the room and a man fell face-first from the ceiling, followed by Poison Ivy lowering herself down from the newly made hole with a vine. Harley greeted her before doing a front flip onto her back which broke the chair, and something else , you assumed by the way she reacted.

“Uuh, i thought that was gonna be way cooler-” she hissed as the Joker walked up to her.

“Harley, you're not a solo-act, you're a sidekick, an afterthought. No one is ever going to take you seriously. Admit you’re nothing without me and you walk away alive. Or you can die!”

“Welp, easy choice.” the weird green man got up from the floor.

“uh , lovely Bar Mitzvah. Mazel, mazel.” he began to walk away.

“Are you leaving?” Ivy asked him.

“Uh, no-”

“I ain’t admitting shit!” Harley hissed as she picked herself up. Joker only sighed.

“Boys?” he called on the four of you, you all grinned and raced to grab your weapons from the table.

“I’ve got TwoFace.” Harley stated.

“I’ve got [name] and Scarecrow.” Ivy confirmed.

“I have-oh wow- oh God- wow.” Kite-Man stared up to see Bane towering over him, who got even bigger when he started pumping venom into himself.

“You- you’re looming! Um, alright, I’ll take, um… if you don’t mind if you could scootch just a little.” he asked, looking past Bane.

“Boom, onsite coordinator. Looking kind of brittle there, won’t see it-” Bane swatted him to the other side of the room before he could finish.

TwoFace opened fire on the two, but Ivy used her vines as a shield for herself and Harley. Within seconds, Harley was flung over the top of the shield and landed behind you and Scarecrow. You both turn around just in time to dodge the first few swings of her bat but as Scarecrow stepped back Harley kicked his gun right out of his hand and yelled for Ivy to pass her TwoFace’s gun. You spun round to see if Jonathan was alright, only to be met with a bat to the back of the head as Harley snuck up behind you, which caused you to fall forwards. You braced yourself for the feeling of your head hitting the hard tiles but were caught on your way down. You looked up to see Scarecrow grabbing you by the arm, you pushed against him and were able to get back on your feet and tossed him his gun. You glanced behind him to see Harley aiming TwoFace’s gun at his back but fired before you could get out a warning. As the bullets punctured the canisters on his back, the force of the fear toxin rushing out sent him flying. You covered your mouth and ran away to avoid the fear toxin that was already causing people to hallucinate, grabbing your gun as you did. Thankfully, Scarecrow landed a couple of feet from where you were and you rushed over to him. You offered him your hand and quickly pulled him up.

Behind you, Harley continued firing from the stolen gun before Penguin was able to shoot it, causing it to explode in Harley’s hand. As she stepped back in shock, she bumped into TwoFace who pulled out two dual handguns. She began to back away to Ivy as you, Scarecrow and Penguin walked up to join TwoFace, weapons drawn.

“Let’s get out of here!” Ivy yelled. Harley looked behind you all only to see Joker filming the whole thing.

“No, let’s fight! Maybe Kite-Man can help!” They glanced over to where Kite-Man was and witnessed as Bane repeatedly punched him in the head while he had him in a choke-hold.

“Bane, quit dicking around with Kite-Man and get those two.”  Joker snapped.

“But he was attacking me-”

“With what, a kite? Just do as I tell you, you dumb, freakish monster!”

“Bane, why are you letting him talk to you like that?” Harley asked.

“In fact, why do any of you let him talk to you like that?” she began to raise her voice as she looked at the four of you. You all lowered your weapons and looked over to where Joker stood.

“He doesn't even have powers-”  you felt your body stiffen as you shifted your gaze down to the floor. 

“His only power is bullying you into doing what he wants. I should know, he did it to me for years.”

“Don’t listen to her! She’s nothing.” Joker protested.

“She makes a good point, I don’t like how you called me a monster” Bane interrupted him.

“Yeah that was pretty harsh” Scarecrow chipped in and looked to you as you nodded in agreement.

“Oh my God, it’s just an expression-” Joker tried to explain it away before Bane interrupted him.

“Also, let’s talk about dinner-” Bane crossed his arms. “I selected the beef well in advance and you stole it from me, you said you didn’t even want to come to this ‘stupid thing’.”

The crowd gasped.

“My thoughts exactly, this is a monumental night for young Joshua.”

“I’m the Joker, I was joking, okay? Oh my God, I’ll kill her myself.” he said, pulling out his gun and pointing it to Harley’s head, only for Ivy to stand in his way.

“Ivy, if you could just, y’know, just move so I, I can just kill your friend.”

“Absolutely- over my dead body.”

“Uhh- female friendships!” he groaned as he got ready to shoot, but Ivy’s vines suddenly sprouted up behind him and surrounded the three. 

The sudden action caused you to step back and instinctively grab onto Scarecrow’s shoulder, which caused him to freeze momentarily before melting into your touch.

Joker aimed his gun at Ivy’s head but she didn’t move a muscle as her vines closed in on him. High-pitch laughter came from his pocket as his phone rang. He began yelling into the phone about some sort of building issue with his base and ran off, but you weren't really paying attention. You looked down at where your hand was, only to notice a large red stain on his upper-arm, it took you mere seconds to realize that it was blood, his blood even. You assumed he must have knocked into something sharp when he was sent flying a couple of minutes ago. You must have looked fairly shocked, as Jonathan followed your gaze down to the wound and tried to brush your hand away.

“I-I’m fine. -really-” he started, but you only grabbed his arm and noticed a multitude of smaller blood stains all over his right side.

“Jesus, Jon, what did you land on, a pile of cutlery?” you asked, more concerned than anything else.

“Well it might as well have been.” he grumbled, quickly glancing over to the, now, broken table he had landed on.

“Right, well, let’s get you patched up.” you said, lightly tugging on his arm.

“Oh, there’s no need, honestly-” He protested before you cut him off.

“-Jonathan, there is a massive gash on your arm. Now come on, I have a first aid kit at my place.” you began leading him to the main exit.

“A-at your place?” he froze in his tracks.

“Yeah? What’s with the shocked face?” you looked back at him.

“You know I don’t bite, right?” you grinned at him. You said your goodbyes and thanked Mrs. Cobblepot for your invitation before dragging him off despite his insistence that he could just ignore it until the party was over and sort it himself.

“Look, you’ve made it clear that you don’t like it when I help but-”

“That’s not what I meant-”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I… I just didn't want to trouble you, that’s all!” That answer came a little too fast for you to fully believe it but you thought it would be best to drop the subject as it clearly flustered him.

As the two of you walked out into the warm summer night you loosened your grip on his upper-arm and let your hand glide down his arm and wrap around his wrist, not daring to go the full mile and hold his hand, though you could swear you saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes as you did. As the two of you stepped into the parking lot and found your car, Scarecrow cleared his throat.

“[Name]?” he glanced over at you as he got into the passenger's side seat.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“It’s okay if I stay the night, innit’? It’s just that my hideout is on the other side of the city and it’s already really late-”

“Well as long as you don’t mind sleeping on the couch, then sure.” you said as you pulled out of the parking space and onto the main road.

“Cheers, luv.” 

 What followed after that was near miss with an oncoming truck and your face becoming a bright red colour as your brain temporarily short-circuited. You looked over to make sure Jonathan was alright, only to see him gripping onto the seat like his life depended on it. 

“Jesus- if you don’t like me calling you that then you can just say so- Bloody hell!” 

“It’s not that, it’s just-” Your brain was working at 100 mph trying to talk your way out of this because: God- did you love the way he called you that. Unfortunately for you, he quickly caught on and was going to give you hell.

“Oh so you like me calling you ‘luv’, then?” The corners of his mouth curled up into a smirk as he noticed the massive blush on your face. 

“Wh- no- that’s not what I meant!”

“Sure thing, luv.” His smirk had turned into an ear-to-ear grin as he saw your face turn an even darker shade of red. This just elicited a loud, frustrated groan from you.

“I swear to God- do you want me to crash this car!” you snapped at him, smacking your hand off the steering wheel, which was only met with laughter as you yelled a string of expletives.

“You wouldn’t do that.” he stated, still giggling to himself.

“What makes you so sure of that?” You scoffed but you couldn’t deny the way your heart sped up when you saw the dorkiest grin on his face.

“You care about me.” He teased, resting his head on the back of his hands.

“Shut up.” You lightly punch his shoulder.

 You tried to cover up the growing smile on your face with your free hand but failed as Jonathan noticed and pulled your hand down from your face, unintentionally encasing your hand in his. It took you both a while to realize it but once you did his hands immediately shot back to his sides and didn’t look at you for the rest of the car journey instead opting to twiddling his thumbs.

“We’re here.” you called, snapping him out of his daze.

You stepped out of your car and into the apartment block. Seeing as you were both still in costume, you darted for the elevator and hit the button. As the elevator began its ascension you  took this opportunity to take a breather, knowing you would have to leg it to your apartment at the very end of the hallway lest someone see you and call the police. You sighed and leaned against the railing while looking at your reflection in the mirror but you couldn’t help noticing the way Scarecrow straightened the noose around his neck as if it was a tie. For fucks sake, if this keeps up you might just lose it. He met your gaze in the mirror and grinned at you.

“I mean, if you want to watch you can just look at me, it’s less creepy.” he chuckled but suddenly stopped as he winced in pain and grabbed his arm. You straightened yourself and rushed to his side. Luckily, you’d reached your floor and as the doors opened you grabbed Jonathan by the wrist and led to your apartment. You quickly looked around before inserting your key into the door, as you fumbled with the key, Jonathan remained eerily quiet compared to his usual gossipy self. You finally got the door to open and the two of you walked into the empty apartment. You felt about for the lightswitch and eventually found it.

“You go sit down, I’m just going to get the first aid from the bathroom.” you gesture towards the couch and walk off. You rummaged around for a bit, eventually finding it at the very back of the cupboard, you checked it’s contents to make sure you had the right stuff. You made your way into the living room and found Jonathan holding a book you’d left out on the coffee table earlier. He looked up at you and then the first aid kit in your hands.

“Right.” you started, taking out a few bandages. “Show me your arm.” After a few minutes of struggling he managed to roll up his sleeve and outstretched it to you. You gently took his hand and sat down next to him. You, deciding that it was probably best to treat the biggest cut first, took out an antiseptic wipe and lightly dabbed the wound Jonathan winced at this but a soft smile from you seemed to help.

“[name]?” He took a deep breath.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for looking out for me. I know I can be… difficult at times -but I really appreciate you dragging me here instead of leaving me to bleed out at the party.” he laughed nervously and averted his gaze from you.

“You're probably one of the closest friends I’ve ever had.” his voice cracked slightly.

You slightly cringed at the word ‘friends’, well, I suppose you better get comfy in the friend-zone. He swallowed and returned his arm to his side before continuing.

“A-and I’d like to be more than that-” he sputtered, beginning to fiddle with the ends of his noose. 

“You… would?” you looked up at him, your heart feeling like it would burst out of your chest if it beated any faster than it already was.

“Yes.” he grabbed your hands and put them between his.

“I like you- a lot! I like your eyes, your face, the way you always know how to make me laugh” he snapped out of his daze.

“-But, I mean if you don’t feel the same way I completely understand, actually on second thought this was a horrible idea and you probably don’t so I’ll just leave and save you the trouble of kicking me out, like you should-” you could hardly keep up with the word vomit coming out of his mouth as he shot out of his seat.

“I’m sorry, I’ve probably wasted your time ‘cause you probably only see me as a friend and I’ve most likely just ruined our friendship so I’ll just leave and I swear you’ll never have to see me again so-” he made a break for the door but you quickly yanked on his wrist which almost caused him to fall backwards.

 He caught himself just in time but was beginning to wish he’d just fallen to the floor instead as he realized he was using you to support himself and had wrapped his arms around your neck. He tried to push himself away, only for you to snake your arms behind his waist and trap him there. You could practically feel the warm air of his breath on you skin as he panted, you could feel yourself melting into his arms and did not stop him as he squeezed you tight. After a few moments, you managed to sit him back onto the couch.

“I want to be more than friends too.” you spoke softly, not missing the ear-to-ear grin on Jonathan’s face.

You leaned onto him, your head resting on his shoulder, he froze up for a split-second before wrapping one arm around your waist and pulling you closer.

“So, how far off was I?”

“Hmm?” you looked up at him.

“Remember earlier? When I said I saw you giving me looks?”

You gave an exasperated sigh and smirked.

“Was it Bane or TwoFace who had to point it out to you?”

“Both.” he answered with a slight laugh.

“But you’re not denying it!” 

“Why would I, you were doing the exact same thing?” you scoffed, giving him a light punch on the arm.

“Oww- okay, okay, fair point.” he laughed as he pulled you back close to him, brushing a strand of hair out of your eyes and behind your ear.

“Y’know, if you were anyone else I would’ve killed you” you only half-joked, tracing shapes with your fingers onto his chest.

“I know” he laughed, placing a hand under your chin and lightly lifting it so you two were making eye-contact.

“-And that's what I lo-” he cut himself off. “I mean, like about you” he smiled sheepishly.

You only smiled before cupping his face and pulling him closer.

“I love you too, you fucking dork” you chuckled before leaning in and kissing him.

He practically jumped out his skin when you did, but as the realization sunk in he wrapped both arms around you and kissed back, eyes fluttering shut. His lips pressed softly against yours, as one of his hands travelled up your back and cupped the back of your head. The kiss itself was very soft and didn’t last too long, maybe only a couple of seconds, but to you it felt like an eternity. Your lips finally parted when you both were in desperate need for air, but that dazed look on his face made you want to do it all over again.

“You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that.” you smiled up at him.

“Same here” he added, before quickly pulling you back in for another kiss.

[awrestlinggirlwholoves80sbands]

Hidden in a corner of a backstage ( Izzy Stradlin x shy!reader)

A/N: This fic is dedicated to @slashscowboyboots because I love her so much and she wanted a fic with Izzy x shy!reader. Also yeah I just self insert because I wanted to ( but I’m like the complete opposite, so freaking introvert so like it’s not really me)

You looked around and asked yourself how you could be in the backstage at a concert of a band that you barley known.

Alessia, your energetic and extrovert best friend, had dragged you to the behind the scenes of a Guns N’Roses concert. From what you get, she totally had a crush on their singer so when they met at a previous concert, he invited her to his next gig and she decided to bring you along.

But you were way too shy to hang out or talk to anybody else before the show, so just stayed quiet and hidden in a corner, looking at you phone, hoping that nobody would have noticed you. However, after a couple of minutes, you heard an unfamiliar voice speaking to you.

“I’ve never seen you here before.” He simply stated and you lifted your gaze to look at him.

And oh boy, when your eyes landed on him, you felt your heart completely going in another dimension: he was so beautiful, with his pale skin and his mysterious aspect, he looked like a total badass and you knew that you’d have kept looking at him during the concert later.

“I- I’m with Alessia. I’m her f-friend.” You said, looking everywhere but in his eyes.

“Oh I see, well you don’t mind if we talk a bit, right? You are too pretty to be here all hidden from the rest!” The dark haired man replied, with a smile.

Please don’t blush. Please don’t blush. Please… but your cheeks were already in fire after he said it.

“I’m not very good at introducing myself, or to talk to strangers.” You admitted, still not looking at him.

“Well, that’s okay. Maybe after the concert we can come here to talk, just me and you, I would enjoy some “alone time”, I don’t like being around too many people either.”

You were about to find a way to replay, but a roadie called him, and he disappeared with a smile and a promise to see you later.

“ His name is Izzy, if you want to know.” Alessia said to you with a smile, and you tried really hard to not jump at the suddenly appearance.

“Good to know! Did you were here from the beginning?” You asked curious.

“Nah, I just heard the last part. You should totally wait for him and talk to him. That’s why we are for!” She replied excited, dragging you towards the curtains to actually see the concert.

“There was no way that I’ll do that”. You thought. It would have involved too much social interaction than you could handle at the moment.

---

The band was very good and their songs were great, but at a point during the evening, you couldn’t do anything but to have your eyes glued on Izzy. Unfortunately the guitarist turned his gaze towards you and your eyes crossed : you felt your cheeks starting to burn, as he smiled at you.

Isn’t that just fantastic, uh!

After that you tried your best to not focus solely on him, but your attempt failed pretty quickly, so you started to think at any excuses to not meet him backstage. Not that you didn’t want to, hell probably you felt crushing on him already, but you were too shy for that, too shy to spend time alone with that gorgeous black-haired guitarist.

The show ended sooner that you expected, but before you could run for your life, you felt someone gently tapping on your shoulder.

“So, how was the show?” Izzy asked curiously, looking in your eyes.

“It was good, you guys have talent” You replied, feeling your cheeks getting red. Again.

“Yeah, I noticed that you couldn’t take your eyes off me, uh!”

Oh great this man wants to murder you.

You decided to laugh nervously and to not answer, hoping that he would just skip on that.

“ So, are you still up to talk a bit, maybe we join the guys into going to the Rainbow.” He proposed casually.

“I think Ale wants me and her to go home soon.” You loved to play the “best friend” card.

“ I don’t think so, just look at her!” The guitarist said, pointing at your best friend sat on Axl’s lap, too busy to do anything but look into his eyes.

“ I don’t like very much being with too many people who I don’t know.” You admitted quietly, scared to being judged.

Izzy looked sympathetically at you, an understanding smile appearing on his face.

“The boys will probably stay to the bar downstairs but I know a diner who’s always almost empty so we could go there, it’s near here.”

You didn’t know where you found the courage to accept to spend a night with an incredible attractive man, and possible your crush, but you nodded at Izzy’s propose, as he gently led you towards the exit.

You were very grateful that his words turned out to be true: the diner was indeed empty and you felt comfortable enough to do some small talks and get to know each other better. The beautiful thing was that Izzy never made silence uncomfortable, you could just not talk for a while and you didn’t feel awkward at all.

After eating, he took you to a park nearby, while you two were holding hands casually.

“So you’re a rockstar but you hate being the center of attention?” You asked surprised, sitting on a bench.

“ I stay in the shadow” He laughed a bit. “ I play the music and I let the others working on our image.”

“ It seems fair, also you don’t need to be under the spotlight to catch the attention, your badassery is so powerful that you just stands out.” You said, cursing that moment of courage because you’ve sounded like a teenager fan.

However Izzy looked you in the eyes, then he gently put his lips on yours; your brain completely stopped, and your instinct drove you to actually kiss him back.

Your phone rang making you two separate the kiss, and you looked at it only to find a message by your friend saying to go at your meet point because you both need to go back home.

“ I’m sorry, I have to go back home, I have to work at the library tomorrow and I have to get up pretty early.” You explained almost pouting.

“It’s okay beautiful, I’ll walk you.” He offered as he took your hand in his.

As soon as you arrived, you look at him a bit sad, almost not wanting to leave him just yet.

“ Hey don’t feel down, you can come to our next concert, I’ll leave you my number. Just this time try to no hide in a corner!” He said laughing and you couldn’t help but smiling and pick up his number written on a small piece of paper.

You spotted Alessia kissing a certain redhead before getting into her car; so you gave Izzy a quick peck on his lips as goodbye, then you thought how lucky you were to actually met someone who understood your shyness and didn’t make fun of it.

[mae-gi-writes]

Deobi Playlist (EP 5) | The Boyz Imagine

Ep 5: in which Kevin says it’s okay to be different 

The Boyz x Hospital Playlist inspired drabble series.

Main Characters: Hyunjae, Juyeon, Kevin and OC (Mae)

Sides: the rest of The Boyz.

Genre: fluff, slice of life, comedy, BROMANCE BRUH

EP 1 | EP 2 | EP 3 | EP 4 | EP 5 | EP 6 | EP 7 | EP 8 | EP 9 | EP 10 | EP 11

----------

“I managed to take out his tumour, but I’ll need him to stay for a few days just so that he can recover fully. He’s under anesthesia for now but he should be up soon,” Kevin flips through his newest patient’s medical file and scans the page for his details. His name is Yeon Hanjo, eight years old, who had suddenly collapsed to the ground a week ago with no indication of an illness whatsoever. An MRI scan of his head and body had shown that the small child had been keeping a tumour hidden within the side of his skull for some time and after some thorough deliberating and research about the best methods to go about the operation, Kevin had managed to successfully draw the tumour out without any mishaps or complications. 

Mrs. Yeon bows before Kevin once more with barely restrained tears coating her eyes. She holds a tissue in her hand, which seems already wet and crumpled into a ball, and Kevin reaches out with another tissue that she takes gratefully. 

Mr. Yeon is at her side, one hand on his wife’s shoulder to provide her comfort, “Thank you, thank you so much Dr. Moon. We--We don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

Kevin lets out a small, genuine smile, “it’s my duty. Hanjo’s life is just as important as anybody else’s, if not more.”

A few hours after the parents have left and Kevin has done his rounds as he is supposed to, he makes way to Hanjo’s room with a box of chocolate in hand. 

Hanjo is already awake, blinking at the night sky from his hospital bed. The child turns his attention towards the door when Kevin pokes his head in with a smile, “hello Hanjo. How are you feeling?” 

The child shrugs, and looks away. 

Being familiar with the way children react when they are forced into an unfamiliar setting where strangers prevail, Kevin steps in, closes the door behind him and takes a seat at Hanjo’s bed. The child is still not looking at him, chin adamantly pointed towards the outside world. 

“I bought something for you,” Kevin opens up his box of chocolates and offers him the box. Hanjo peeks into it for a few seconds of silence, looks up at his face, then pushes the box away.

While Kevin isn’t used to children not wanting any chocolate, that doesn’t dissuade him from trying. He closes the box and sets it on Hanjo’s bedside table. 

“In a few days, you can go back home. Aren’t you glad?” Kevin chats on despite the reluctance in Hanjo’s body behaviour, “what’s the first thing you want to do when you go back, Hanjo?” 

Still, the child stays silent. Kevin sees his lower lip tremble but decides it is better off not to mention it. He takes it as a fact that Hanjo might be shy, unwilling to converse because he’s a stranger. The only solution to that though is for Kevin to keep trying, which he does day after day. Every time he’d bring something different -- a different candy, or toy that boys his age would’ve liked -- but Hanjo refuses every single item without delay. 

When the date of Hanjo’s discharge looms closer and closer, Kevin can’t help himself but urge him to speak by prompting the child with good news, “you must be excited, only three days left!” he grins at the child in hopes of getting a smile back, at least. 

Hanjo, on the other hand, merely blinks. Then, a fat tear rolls down his cheek before he bursts into tears.

“Hanjo,” Kevin’s demeanor softens then, gently tugging the said child in his arms and scooping him close against his chest. The child keeps on crying, his face now red and tears cascading down his cheeks, staining Kevin’s white coat. His parents, having heard the commotion from outside, quickly slip in with mirroring expressions of worry and take the child from Kevin’s arms, who is left confused and slightly concerned at the child’s suddenly sad countenance. He cannot, for the life of him, understand how Hanjo’s mind works. Kids like him shouldn’t be crying like their world is tearing apart, shouldn’t be subdued and silent and just afraid of everything. 

No, there’s something that’s bothering Hanjo. And Kevin finds his answer a few hours later. 

“Hanjo spent most of his life in Florida, where he was born,” Mrs. Yeon says to him. After Hanjo had fallen asleep, she had ushered to buy Kevin a coffee at the cafeteria. She now sits opposite him, coffee cup clasped between frail fingers with skin wrinkled and saggy from years of work, eyes rimmed with blue aprons and mouth tugged down in a tense, awkward line, smeared with a pale chalky lipstick.

“We moved here just a few months ago. He hasn’t told me anything, but his teacher tells me that he hasn’t been very...interactive with the other kids,” she purses her lips as if in discontentment, “he barely talks, not because he doesn't understand. We talk to him in Korean all the time at home. Somehow though, he barely says a word here. It’s like he doesn’t want to make even the slightest bit of effort.”

“Have you tried talking to him about it?” Kevin asks with furrowed eyebrows. 

She shakes her head, “no, well. We’ve tried asking him about school and stuff, maybe mentioned his teacher’s comments once or twice but that was it. We don’t want to push him either.”

He can’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the said young boy, knowing all too well how strange it is to move oneself to another country altogether, a country where the language is different, the people are different, and how it feels like your entire life has just turned upside down because of that mere fact. 

“Oh that’s just like little Kevin when he just moved here,” Hyunjae can’t help but snigger, prompting Mae to whack him across the back of his head.

“Ouch!” Hyunjae throws her a scowl, “why are you even a doctor? You should just become part of the mafia. Seriously! That hurt--”

She proceeds to shove a piece of lettuce in his mouth to muffle his protests. Juyeon and Kevin exchange knowing glances, before shrugging. 

“You should talk to him,” Mae suggests, and though she’s trying very hard to act normal, Kevin can feel the unease rolling off her, how she’s not looking at him and permanently fixating her gaze on her platter of food. He makes a mental note to ask Juyeon about it later.

For now, he replies, “yeah I should. It’s just a saddening thought. Children shouldn’t have so much trouble earlier on in their lives.” 

“Hey touff, we all haff prwabems,” Hyunjae attempts to say with his mouth still full. He swallows before gulping down some water. Slamming his cup down, he jabs a finger in Mae’s direction, “you and I have a problem.” 

“The only problem that I’ll have with you is killing you by asphyxiation, and before you ask, there is food involved,” Mae cooes. 

Hyunjae shivers, “psychopath.” 

“Nu-uh, Sociopath? Probably. But psychopath?” she scrunches her face up as though contemplating the thought, “nah, I’m too kind.” 

“You flatter yourself too much,” Juyeon rolls his eyes.

“Can we focus on the problem at hand?” Kevin waves his chopsticks around dramatically, ignoring Hyunjae stealing his piece of chicken and replacing it with some ginger instead. 

“Kevin, we all know that you’re the wondrous child talker here,” Hyunjae says, “we’re all counting on you to babysit our kids one day.” 

“Excuse me? Is there kindergarten written on my forehead?” 

“You mean, there isn’t kindergarten written on your forehead?” Hyunjae gasps dramatically, “here, let me--” 

“Don’t you dare, Lee Jaehyun.” 

Kevin waits until Hanjo’s parents leave with promises that they’ll be here to watch over him tomorrow morning, before slithering inside the children’s ward. Hanjo spots him, but doesn’t say anything as the said doctor sidles up to his bed and takes a seat on the abandoned chair next to him.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Kevin murmurs. The child watches as he pulls out a box of pocky sticks. His mother had stated that Pocky is the only asian snack he eats. Surely enough, Hanjo doesn’t hesitate to grab it with his little chubby fingers and Kevin gazes down at him with a fond sympathy gripping his chest.

But then, Hanjo glances up at him uncertainly. Kevin puts a finger to his mouth, “can you keep a secret?” 

Hanjo pauses, contemplates him for a moment. Then, he nods. 

“Cool, because I can’t actually sneak in any outside snacks,” Kevin whispers with a soft chuckle at the alarm washing over Hanjo’s face, “it’s okay, don’t worry. This is between you and me, alright?” 

It takes a few seconds for the child to decide that Kevin’s intentions aren’t all that bad, before he slowly pries open the packet and digs into the snack with barely restrained excitement. Kevin just watches him with fondness, glad that for once it seems like he’s done something for Hanjo, when the child suddenly sticks out the packet, urging him to take some. 

“Oh,” Kevin blinks in surprise, before drawing a pocky stick, “thanks, Hanjo. That’s so nice of you.”

Hanjo just nods, before returning his attention to the said chocolate covered sticks. As his mother had stated, it is indeed his favourite snack. 

“Do you often eat pocky, Hanjo?” Kevin asks. 

The child shrugs, urging Kevin to ask, “do any of your friends eat pocky?” 

At this, Hanjo’s mouth pauses as if in contemplation and Kevin knows that he has hit a nerve. Not just any, but a sensitive one. He hurries to continue talking for fear that he might lose momentum, “you know, I never really had any friends when I first moved here. I used to eat pocky because it reminded me of the snacks my mom used to buy for me, back when we were still in Canada.” 

He can practically see the cogs turning inside Hanjo’s brain as he mulls over the newly acquired information. 

“I was shy back then. I didn’t know how to approach people. They all spoke Korean, I understood them. But I was so scared that they couldn’t understand me for some reason. After all, I never spoke Korean back when I was in Canada, just with my parents.” 

Kevin let the information sink in for the child who was now gazing up at him with newfound interest alight in his big brown eyes and it takes everything inside the said doctor not to squeal at how adorable he looks. Instead, he pauses and waits, waits with the hope that Hanjo will react to this, however he wants. 

“How?”

Kevin blinks. Hanjo’s mouth is open, curiosity filling his features as he continues hesitantly, “how...did you...make friends?” 

While Kevin wants nothing more than to punch the air in success, he decides that this is not the right moment to be celebrating that fact. Instead, he clears his throat and allows his arm to rest on the side of the child’s bed. 

“Actually, the pocky sticks helped me. The kids at my school always brought the same type of pocky sticks and then one day, when one of the girls in my class didn’t have any snacks, I offered her one,” Kevin smiles at the memory flashing before his eyes, “I thought she’d laugh at me when she started talking to me because of my accent. I wasn’t completely fluent. Surprisingly though, she was very interested to know what I had to say, despite the fact that I was so scared she’d just turn away from me.” 

“What was her name?” Hanjo asks.

“Her name?” Kevin tilts his head, “actually, she works here too. Her name’s Mae, she’s a doctor from the Cancer department.” 

Hanjo pauses for a few seconds, before he looks down at the box of pocky in his hand, “I don’t like talking in Korean,” his voice is small, barely a whisper, “I don’t like it here. Everything is different. Everyone is different.” 

“You know, Korean is one of the hardest languages to learn. And you know English. Do you know how amazing that is?” Kevin smiles down, one of his hands going to pat his head, “I know how it feels. It doesn’t feel like home, because home is far far away. But it will get better, Hanjo. It’s okay that you’re not fluent in Korean. You’ll get there, eventually. Look at doctor Kevin, see?” he motions towards his own chest, “I was in the exact same position as you were, once. But it really gets better, trust me.” 

Hanjo is frowning at the snack in his hands now, as though there are different thoughts flying about in his brain, thoughts too complicated for him to explain. But he surprises Kevin when he suddenly looks up and holds out his pinky. 

“Promise?” Hanjo asks, “promise it gets better?” 

“I promise,” Kevin hooks his finger with the child’s, “and you know what? You made your first friend right here,” and he pats his own chest with an amused smile. Hanjo’s lips tilt up in a mirroring expression, albeit hesitant, and Kevin’s heart melted right then and there in a puddle of Hanjo goo.

-----------

Knock knock. 

Kevin blinks away the drowsiness as he raises his head from his desk where he’d been napping just a few seconds ago. Rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, he spots Hyunjae and lets out a groan at the mischievous smirk on the latter’s lips. 

Whenever Hyunjae’s in a mood, he’ll have some kind of face that warns people about it. 

“Get lost, Hyunjae. Not in the mood,” Kevin groans while his friend saunters in as though he hasn’t been straight out rejected. Kevin buries his face back into his arms and Hyunjae quickly lays his head just beside him. 

“What?” Kevin asks with his eyes still closed.

Hyunjae merely giggles, before blowing softly on his face. 

Kevin whips his head around, “you’re so annoying. Get lost.” 

“But Kebiiin,” the taller man whines and nestles his face even closer so that Kevin’s soft hair tickles the bridge of his nose, “I have important news!” 

“What news?” comes Kevin’s mumble.

“I’m getting married.”

“To who?” 

“To you.” 

“No you’re not.”

“Okay fine, to Juyeon.” 

“No you’re not.” 

“Okay fine, to Mae then.” 

“Do you know,” Kevin asks slowly, “why is she acting so weird?” 

“Weird?” Hyunjae snuggles even closer, breathes in Kevin’s soft vanilla scent, “like usual Mae kind of weird or weirder than weird?” 

“No, she hasn’t been talking to herself. But she has been avoiding me.” “Oh.” 

“Oh?” Kevin whips around to look at him in alarm. 

Hyunjae draws back to stand, leaning against the opposite doctor’s empty chair as Kevin straightens to look at him with growing concern, “what do you mean by ‘oh’?” 

“She did ask me something weird the other day.” 

“About?” 

“About who you were crushing on.” 

“WHAT?” Kevin’s eyes grow wide, “what did you tell her?!” 

“That I had no clue.” 

“Oh thank god,” Kevin visibly slouches in relief. Then, his eyes grow wide, “wait--Does she know then?! That I--” All it takes is for Hyunjae’s face to take on a suspicious air for Kevin to realize that he is not out of dangerous waters yet.  He scrambles up and holds onto Hyunjae’s sleeve, “what?” Kevin demands like it’s a life or death situation. Which it is to him, “why do have that look on your face?” 

“Look Kev, mate, I definitely did not do anything.” 

“But?” 

“I never said there was a but.” 

“You implied it!” 

“Okay fine,” Hyunjae huffs, “but, someone seems to have leaked this information to her, like it or not--” 

“What?!” 

“--and we all suspect that it’s the Neurosurgery resident, the one that comes from Toronto--”

Kevin sucks in a sharp breath, “Jacob Bae?” 

“If anyone asks, this did not come out of my mouth,” Hyunjae is quick to defend while raising his arms in the air in mock surrender, but Kevin is too preoccupied at the thought that his secret is now out in the open for everyone to dissect and digest. How in the world does Jacob know about this? He barely even talks to him! 

Unless...unless it’s that obvious? 

His head snaps up so suddenly, eyes dark and so vividly intense on Hyunjae’s that the latter can’t help but yelp in return, “Hyunjae,” Kevin says slowly, “you’re sure...you’re sure you didn’t say anything?” 

“Are you implying that I lied to you?!” Hyunjae gasps mockingly, “Kevin, I’m--”

“Shut up and be serious for one second.” 

“Of course I didn’t! Who do you take me for?!” 

“Shit,” is the only thing that Kevin has to say, “Shit. Shit.” 

[thegreatestwaffle]

Trigger warnings:

Death, mild swearing, blood

Valentine's On The Beach

What's the most romantic thing you can think of? Is it a dinner date at a nice restaurant? Enjoying the sights in town? Perhaps it's a lovely evening at home, snuggle next to the one you cherish most. For me, it was walking on the beach during the sunset. Walking with someone you adore while the sunshine glistens down on the two of us. The calm waves and warm breeze leaving you relaxed and happy. No need to worry or panic as you're left with the feeling of romance as the two of you embrace each other. 

It was something I had dreamed of since I was a little girl. I didn’t need a prince charming to sweep me off my feet, or a queen to arrive at my door promising me a life of ease and beauty. All I wanted was to be with someone who would stand on the beach and watch the sunset with me.

After years and years of yearning, well, I finally got that magical moment on the beach. I was seventeen when it happened, I was young, hopeful, and full of these romantic ideas. It was February- if my memory serves me correctly, it was the seventh- of my Junior year, and my friends and I were hanging out at our local beach. It was a cool evening as we all lounged around making small talk. 

I had three close friends at the time; Jannet, Kevin, and Aaron. That evening, Jannet and I were each sitting on one side of Kevin as he played his guitar. As we waited for Arin to arrive, we relaxed and watched the sunset. I was daydreaming of being held by a faceless figure when I heard Aaron calling out to us. Kevin paused his playing as we all turned in Aaron's direction. My gaze was immediately drawn to the girl next to him. Her hair was long and wavy, a light brown color that swished with the breeze. Her skin was pale and creamy as it glistened in the sun. She wore a jean jacket over a white tank top with a black mini-skirt and leggings. My breath hitched as I took in her beauty. I continued to stare, not even realizing that they were standing in front of us. 

“Hey, guys! I planned to be here sooner, but I thought I'd bring a new friend along. This is Marissa, she just moved here.” 

Aaron gestures in the direction of Marissa who waves shyly. I was the first to greet her, awkwardly I might add. As we shook hands, we locked eyes for a moment before looking away quickly. I sat back down and invited her to sit next to me, which she accepted. The rest of the evening went on, all of us gathered around the campfire Jannet had started earlier. Night came and we all kicked back, listening to the soft crashing of the waves as Kevin lightly strummed his guitar. Jannet was the first to speak up.

“So, where you from?” Jannet inquired, resting her head on the palm of her hand. 

“Oh, um, I’m from a few states over, uh, Utah to be exact,” I noted how Marissa ducked her head slightly as she spoke.

“Jeez, that’s a hell of a ways from California. Speaking of which, how are you liking it down here so far? Settling in alright; got to see any sights yet?”

“Oh, I’m doing fine, thank you for asking. Um, I actually haven’t got to see much yet, but based on Arin and you all here, I can say that I definitely enjoy the people here.” We all chuckle lightly, and once again Marissa and I lock eyes for a moment.

We quickly look away, and I blush a bit this time. Arin begins to chime into the conversation, " Yea, actually, Marissa's my new neighbor. I saw her caring staff and I stopped by to help. We chatted for a bit and asked if she wanted to come to hang out with us at the beach."

"Well, we're glad to have you here. We're always excited to see new faces," Kevin said as he looked up from his guitar.

" Yeah, and I could show you the best spots on the beach to find shells or we’ve got this great spot where we go swimming. That's only if you like that stuff of course," I ramble and stutter, trying to hide my nervousness. I flushed slightly at the chuckle Marissa gives, but it soon turns into a blush as I realize she smiles softly at me.

"Yea, that sounds nice, thank you, " Marissa shyly looks at the ground as she speaks, a soft pink appearing on her pale cheeks.

We continue talking for a bit, but soon decide to retire home. Aaron offers to walk home with Marissa While Janet gets in Kevin's car so he can take her home. My day is fall as nurses every move as she stands up and prepares to leave. Erin and her both say goodbye to me, and Marissa gives me one more smile before she leaves. I was left standing alone on the beach as I wrapped my arms around myself. I closed my eyes and let the moonlight wash over me as I thought of Marissa and her beautiful days.

A few days go by and discover that Marissa has a lot of the same classes as me. On her first day at a high school, I showed her around the campus and invited her to sit next to me during our classes together. At lunch, she sat with me, Jannet Kevin, and Aaron. Since I didn't have any classes with my other friends, I spent my free class time with her. We grew close, of the sorts, I learned about some of her favorite things and found them to be the same as mine. Each day that passed, the more and more my feelings crew for her. And no time, I had invited her to my house, using the excuse that we could study for our history test the next day. 

That day, it was warm and sunny, as well, I was positively glowing as I rushed home. I expected her to arrive at 4, so I frantically began picking up my house. And the short amount of time between getting out of school and before her arrival, I'd cleared out all messes in the house. My parents are out of town on "Valentine's Vacation", so I have the house to myself. Just as I was fiddling with a vase full of fake roses, I heard a knock at my door and I quickly ran over to open it.

A white smile spread across my face as I greeted Marissa. She gave me a small but polite small smile as I welcomed her inside. I led her into my kitchen and turned to offer her a drink.

"You want anything? Soda, water, chips, whatever I can grab it for you," I try my best to keep my town casual as I leaned against the counter.

"Oh, no thank you. I appreciate the offer though!" Marshall spell case she pulled books out of her bag. She neatly laid out her laptop and notebook on the table as I grabbed a soda from the fridge. Sitting down next to her, I began pulling out my stuff for my bag. For a while, we do not work in silence, my day is occasionally glancing up to watch her. Finishing my homework and sitting there awkwardly, I worked up the courage to start a conversation.

"So the Valentine's Day dance is coming up this Saturday, you, uh, going with anyone?"

Marissa paused in her writing and looked up at me, "Oh, uh, yeah, well no, I mean, I am going, just not with anyone. I figured I might drop by and try to talk to people. I might just end up standing alone in a corner like I normally do, but hey the social interaction might be good for," she laughs nervously as she goes back to her homework.

"Well, you can come with me if you want," at this, her brown eyes light up as she looks at me in surprise.

" I mean, like, we can hang out together. With the others, I know Janet excited, and Kevin playing on a stage that night, though, I don't think Aaron will be there." 

"How come? Does he not like dances? I figured he would since he seems like a social butterfly."

At this, I sighed some, "Yeah, he is, it's just that he went through a pretty bad breakup. He and his ex work together for like what now," I throw my brow and concentration, "four or five years now."

Marissa set aside her homework, the concentration shifting to the story.

 "That's so sad, what happened? Is he doing okay?"

" It's been pretty rough, but I think you'll manage. He's a strong guy so I don't doubt he won't bounce back."

Watching Marissa Brown at this, I decide to change the subject.

"So, you got a dress yet? If not, we can go looking for one tomorrow."

Once again, she looked at me surprised, yet blush blushing as she did so.

"Oh, I really have one, but thank you! That's very kind of you."

" Yeah, no problem, anytime you need anything I'll be here,'' I replied awkwardly.

 "Well I guess it's time for me to go," she gives me a small smile as she stands up, "my parents might get worried."

"Thanks for coming over, this has been nice," I said as I get up and head to the door. In the living room, I open the door for her and as Marissa steps out she turns to me.

"Thanks for today, I'm really excited about the dance now. I really can't wait to see you there."

"Yea you too! I'll see you tomorrow," I cheerfully say as she leaves. As I closed the door, I could feel my face heat up. The rest of the evening was then spent picking out the "perfect dress and makeup" for the dance.

The rest of the week went by, both simultaneously feeling like the fastest and slowest week. Before I knew it, Saturday it arrived. I spent the day preparing for the dance. Hours and hours were spent making sure I looked nice. I wore a pine green formal dress that had a fleece skirt and gold flower pattern on the torso.

Despite never being any good with heels, I wore open-toed, platform heels that were the same color as the dress. My heels made me feel tall, my dress slender, and the dark green eyeshadow making my eyes light up. To say the least, I felt stunning and beautiful. 

The dance was to begin at six so about five-thirty I walked out of my house and got into my car. I drove to the flower shop in town and picked a bundle of tulips, Marissa's favorite flower. Then, I headed to the high school. A few of you people were already there as I arrived. I saw Kevin's van in the parking lot and figured the others were here already.

"Hey guys, need any help with anything?" I said whole climbing on stage.

"Nah we got it, thanks though- Oh! You look so pretty!" Jannet excitedly exclaims as she envelops me in a hug.

"You too! That purple looks awesome on you. Jay's gonna love it." Jay was Jannet's at the time and eventual husband.

"Aww, thanks," Jannet looked at my hands and gasped some, "Who’re the flowers for?"

My face heated some as I stumbled to explain myself. 

"Oh, well, Marissa said that she was coming tonight and didn't have anyone to come with so I thought she might like them."

Kevin looked up from his guitar, a smirk on his face as he spoke, "You're smitten with her aren't you?"

"No, well yes, but really no. You understand what I'm trying to say right?" I spluttered as I spoke.

"Oh yea I do," he said as he looked back down at his guitar, " you adore her."

We all laughed a bit, then I realized, 

"Hey, where's Aaron?"

"Oh, he said he refuses to come. To heartbroken, because tonight he planned to do something special with Erica," Jannet said exasperated as she looked around.

"What did he have planned?" Kevin asked, his eyebrow quirked up at Jannet.

"He said he was going to go take her to our swimming area and set up a "romantic dinner and swim" night or something. Now, he's going to sit at home on his ass and sulk."

"That sucks, I wish he was here so we could cheer him. I talked to him before I felt the house and he seemed happy about something. I asked what was up with him and he said he'd tell me later. So, I think he'll be good, if not a little heartbroken," Kevin gave me a reassuring smile as he spoke.

"Alright, if you say so," I smiled. The evening went on and more and more people arrived. We grabbed a table and ate finger foods as others danced around us. Jay had arrived so he and Jannet gushed over each other while I looked around for Marissa. Finally, she walked through the door, looking as stunning as ever. My breath hitched as I stared, her long, brown hair shimmered under the gym lights. Her red dress, which fit snugly around her, showed all her curves, and her bright red lipstick against her pale skin made her glow.

Jannet nudged me, causing me to turn away. She thrust the bundle of tulips into my hand and told me to go greet Marissa. Quickly, I got up and walked over to her as she peered around.

"Hey, glad to see you made it!" I said politely.

"Thanks, oh, where did you get those?" Marissa pointed at the tulips in my hands.

"Oh, um, there for you actually. I figured without having anyone be with you, you might want them. I mean everyone needs something for Valentine's Day," a blush crept into my face as I spoke l. Marissa stood there surprised for a moment.

"You remember, oh my god. Thank you," after saying this, she embraced me in a hug. 

One I took, and gave, with no hesitation. We lingered for a moment, my heart racing as the seconds went by. Parting, we laughed nervously and shyly looked away.

"Shall we go to our table?" I asked, finally looking back up.

Locking arms together, she looked at me, "Why of course, lead the way." 

At the table, I introduced her to Jay and Kaleb, Kevin's boyfriend, and we all sat around talking. After some time, they were ready for Kevin on the stage. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Marissa and asked,

"Do you wanna dance?"

She paused, a glass of coke lying on her lips. Jay and Jannet looked at us excitedly. Noticing them, Marissa snapped back to focus and turned to me, "Um, sure, I'd love to."

Taking her by the hand, I led her to the middle of the gym floor. Kevin began to play a cover of Joji's slow dancing in the dark. I slipped a hand around her waist, my other related gently on her shoulder. Her hands did the same, and as she did so a tingle danced up my spine.

Our eyes locked, as they did so much it seemed, and we danced. Slow movements and nervous shuffles as we made a slow turn in a circle. Our gazes never broke, and the longer we danced, the more I wanted her close to me. Those bright red lips on mine and my hands tangled in that soft, brown hair. I wanted to hold her and be held by her. I practically yearned for it with my pleading gaze until finally,

"Do you wanna get out of here? I'd love to talk to you, in private." My voice was heavy and low, my heart racing.

"Yes," her reply was soft, airy, and if I guessed right, excited. We walked to the table and grabbed our stuff, not even waiting to say good-bye. We quickly left the gym and headed to my car. She didn't question anything, just climbed in as I fumbled with my keys.

I pulled out of the school and began to Dr. My head was spinning with the thoughts of her and all the things I wanted to say. My Daydreams were interrupted when I heard Mercy speak, "Where are we headed?"

Her words were still soft and Airy, and as I looked at her, her gaze was glossy.

"Somewhere special, I think you'll like it," I replied as my heart began to race more. 

Headlights of other vehicles through light on us, reminding me each time of Marisa's brilliance. Finally, we arrived at the beach. She stared at me, puzzled but amused nonetheless. We got out, and hand in hand we walked.

The sky was clear, giving us a perfect view of the moon as its light shimmered down, illuminating us and the ocean. I looked over, and I felt my knees go weak a little. Marissa was practicality luminescent, a shining star all on her own.  We reached the middle of the beach before I turned to her.

"I wanna show you something, down by our swim area. There's a place where only I know," I held her hand lightly as I led the way. Past clusters of rocks and dense areas of trees, we made it to our "secluded beach". Only my friends, I and then Marissa knew of it. We stopped briefly to admire the place and its beauty before moving on. I approached a series of clustered rocks, more jagged than others, and took my heels off, setting them down, I began to climb. I turned around to find Marissa standing hesitant while she stared at the rocks.

"Don't worry, take your heels off and me. The path I'm taking is safe."

She did as I said without question, and began following my lead. Finally, we reached the top and found ourselves staring at a small beach surrounded by beautiful shrubbery. I helped Marissa as we climbed down, reaching the bottom with a huff. I led her to the middle of the beach and gazed up at the sky. Marissa looked at me, and I gazed back at me. 

Before I knew it, I had her in my arms; I think I was just as surprised as she was. I tried to apologize and pull away, but she held on, and so I held on. Together, we stared at the beautiful night sky. Yet, it felt like we were the only stars that mattered. For seventeen year old me, I felt as if I had leaked and found Nirvana. 

I held her tight, feeling a wave of joy because it was the closest I had gotten to my dream. Even though it was night, I could still feel light dancing all around us, illuminating and making us shine. Taking a deep breath, I began to spill all of my thoughts and feelings. 

"Marissa, I," pausing, I took a moment to gain my composer, "When I first saw you, I was stunned. You are magnificent, a dream to me. From the first moment we looked locked eyes, I was captivated. Your beauty, charm, everything you do amazes me. I know, it's only been a few days but something about you crossed me towards you. You're wonderful, everything that I could have asked for."

Looking back, it was stupid to conjure up so much for someone I'd only known for a week. I thought I knew her, so I guess that's why I continue to put on with my speech.

" I adore you, Marissa, all of you is wonderful. Your voice sets me at ease, your eyes Dazzle like light and guide me to you. When I see your soft pink lips, I want them on mine, and every time we're on this beach, I want to hold you near me. I like you, Marissa, a lot, and I want to spend each day holding you as the sun sets on the speech, I love you."

By the time I finished, my heart was pounding and my breathing was Heavy. I'm on my past, then a minute, and Dunn Canyon on without a word spoken from her. After a few minutes, I spoke up,

"Marissa, I'm sorry I said something wrong, but can you tell me if I did? Please, just say anything. I just need to know what you're thinking, please."

I finally turned to look at her, and I was startled to find her staring at me. Those beautiful eyes that were once so bright seemed so dull and empty. Shocked by the side, I began to pull away but was suddenly pulled toward her again. Before I had time to say anything, she slammed me to the ground. I could feel the wind being knocked out of me, and all at once, I was met with shock, confusion, and fear. 

Marissa's hands, which I had yearned for her to hold me with previously, or now wrapped tightly around my throat. Now, my heart was racing for a whole new reason. I struggled, squirming in the sand like an upturned crap. A pressure group in my head as streaks of light appeared in my vision. She sat on top of me, keeping my legs pinned. My arms though were free and in my panic, I had a moment of clarity. I punched her in the nose, the contact making a sick crunching noise. This startled her for a moment, causing her to lose her grip.

I took this moment to hit her square in the chest, causing a gasp to escape her throat as she let go of me. Shoving her off of me, I started to gasp and pant as oxygen flooded my lungs. More colors appeared as I got up. Stumbling, I got to my feet and in a rush of adrenaline and kicked at Marisa's head, hoping this would buy me time to getaway. At that moment, all romantic feelings had faded and were replaced with anger, fear, and an overwhelming sensation of despair. 

I took off, only taking a glance to make sure she wasn't following. In my rush I hadn't focused on where I was headed, my only thoughts being on escape. Releasing my mistakes, I stopped, I was in unfamiliar territory, a place, not even I had. I was on a deserted beach, and I was struck with terror, realizing that no one would know where I am. I stayed quiet, hoping to hear voices or cars, but it was to no avail. Instead, I was met with a new terror, Marissa calling my name.

Her voice was friendly and playful, it made my stomach twists and I thought I was going to puke. Looking around the area frantically, my eyes landed on some dense Shrubbery surrounded by rocks. I hurried over and climbed inside, finding to my horror, a stream of water and in it, pressed against some rocks, with Aaron's body. He floated there, only a few feet from me. I shoved my fingers in my mouth and bit down, trying to suppress my screaming in tears. I closed my eyes, but it was no use, I could – and still can to this day-  picture his glassy gaze and the deep gash that lied on his forehead. For the rest of my life, I will see that image every time I think of him I see those eyes like dead fish.

A sob escaped me, and I laid my head on my knees as reality hit me. Marissa was going to pick my friends and me off one by one that day, or at least kill me and flee. At that moment, I was furious, not just Marissa, but at myself. I should have never told her how vulnerable Aaron was after his breakup. It made sense now, it was a game of pretending for her. Faking feeling sorry for Aaron, getting his hopes up at the promise of love, and luring him out here to kill him, and then she was going to do the same to me.

I didn't have any longer to think about it before I was shoved to the ground again. Once again, Marissa climbed on top of me, this time a large Rock in one hand, the other against my chest. Her legs held my arms down, rendering them useless. I didn't want to die, I was afraid, afraid that I'd have the same glassy gaze as errands. The mental image of his body floating in the water was enough to give me the push to fight. Add Marissa's Armstrong down, I used all my might to jerk my body sideways; she lost balance and missed.

I took that moment to jump on top of her. This time, using all my weight to keep her hell down. Like prey becoming Predator, I have the upper hand. As much as I hate to admit it, it felt good, to take control, to have power over her. My legs pinned hers and one of my arms held her shoulders in place. I used my other hand to fight for dominance over the rock. As we struggled, our faces brushed against each other. That pale skin I once thought of as warm was cold like ice, fitting for a cold-hearted killer.

Finally, after several minutes of struggling, I got it. I have the jagged Rock firmly in my hand and turn back to Marissa. Our gazes locked once again, beautiful brown eyes that I once would have gladly drowned in appeared cold and dark. They reminded me of the depths of the ocean, crew and threatening to pull me under Into the Depths where light didn't shine. In my hesitation, Marissa said nothing in their face held no sympathy. She seemed bizarre, like an alien, for she had no emotion at all as she laid under me.

That's what drove me over the edge, her lack of remorse soon became mine. In one fluid motion, I smashed the rock against her right Temple. At that point, I could have dropped the rock and fled for help, but my Fury had a hold of me. Again and again, I smashed the rock against her skull. Hearing her wine and groan as her head crushed, chunks of bone hair and brain smeared on my face and hands, even the pool of blood that formed underneath us didn't satisfy me. Not until her face was unrecognizable and her body went stiff in the lamp, that a deep and cruel part of me was satisfied.

With deep and heavy breathing, I sat up, the rock tumbling from hand. Trembling, I climbed off of Marisa's body and laid in the sand, curling into a fetal position. I closed my eyes and laid there as I listened to the calm ocean waves and let the soft Moonlight cover me like a blanket. I believe it was an hour or so later before I got back up, I don't remember, what I do remember, was the exhaustion I felt. My mind wasn't on as I followed my previous tracks in the sand. It's a blur, really, and unfortunately, I don't remember all the details of my way back. However, I do remember some things in a general sense.

After getting off the beach, I got into my car and drove back to the school. There, Janet and Kevin had been looking for Marissa and me because they believed Aaron to have gone missing. As they approached me, their faces were flooded with terror and someone let out a scream. The next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance and being taken to the hospital. There, I told the cops all that had happened, though at that point all of it felt like a dream. So much so that it took me three days to tell my story, this was due to the hysterical laughing and or crying I faced each time I spoke.

On the fourth day, an officer arrived and sat down next to my bed. I looked at him puzzlingly because I told him everything already.

" I'm detective Smith, there's something I want to talk to you about. During our investigation, we learned some disturbing details about Melissa," he paused for a moment, giving me time to speak, I said nothing and waited for him to finish. Realizing this he continued,

" when going through her home, we discovered she lived alone. Everything seemed normal until we reached the basement where we found a substantial amount of evidence that incriminated her in several murders across the country."

At this, my eyes widened, but I did not speak.

" in several different states, murders appeared each with one thing in common, all bodies were found floating in a body of water. We call these the Adam's Ale Serial Killings, and you appear to be the only survivor."

"How do you know," my voice was hoarse as I spoke.

"We found a series of documents detailing each crime, the victim, and method of the murder." 

At this, I turned away from him and stared at the ceiling. It was heartbreaking to know I was right deep down. I tried to justify Melissa's actions as a mental break or someone forced her to do this, but deep down I knew she was just a monster.

"Also," I glanced at the officer as he spoke, " all charges against you have been dropped since the discover of Marissa being a murder and you were acting in self-defense."

I shrugged his comment off, not caring if I went to prison, and continued to stare at the ceiling. At some point, he left and a nurse arrived to tell me my friends had come to pick me up. I changed into the clothes Janet had brought me the first night that I was there and gathered my belongings. As they drove me home, Janet and Kevin attempted to make small talk with me, which fell flat on my part. As we drove by the beach, I couldn't help but stare in wonder.

That evening, I got into my car and drove to the beach. No one was there, most likely due to it becoming a crime scene. I came upon the cluster of jagged rocks and began to climb. Without thought, I made my way to the secluded beach. I stood there, unconsciously wrapping my arms around myself, watching the sun dance across the water as it set. I thought about everything that had happened thus far and wondered what would happen after.

Soon, night approached and I stared at the Moon as it hung low in full. Eventually, I let go myself and headed back to my car. As I drove away, I didn't look back at the beach, in fact, I never went back. Something changed in me that night, I didn't feel broken or in pieces like most. Instead, I felt something shipped in my subconscious, telling me that I'd be all right.

That night, as I laid in my bed and drifted off to sleep, I was at peace. Despite everything, I knew I would be all right, and that I would move forward each day. As I slept that night, I did not hear Marisa's soft voice or see her bright brown eyes in my dreams. Instead, my dreams bore nothingness as the moonlight glistened down on my figure, promising not just the next day, but for me as well, a new tomorrow.

[chrichri-chan-18-love]

A lover’s curse (Yandere thin male Ursula x female reader x Yandere male Morgana) Part 2

You had been waiting patiently outside the throne room for Ariel. It had been a while since you two returned and the King ordered his son to come immediately. You could hear all the way outside... you decided to just enter and see if you could save the poor prince. You gently knocked the door and after receiving permission you entered, the king looked at you with a mild expression.

“My apologies for interrupting but... Ariel promised to help me sort out a few things of mine, if we don’t begin now it will take another day to finish it all. I would like to ask his majesty to allow the prince to help me.” You said in a calm, relaxed tone, Ariel smiled at you relieved that you took action.

“Very well, go... and Ariel, I hope I never hear that you went to the surface again!” Triton said to his son and the prince sighed, clearly not in the mood to drag this conversation out. You, him and Flounder left the room in silence, once you were out however...

“You really had to tell him that we went to the surface?” Ariel asked Flounder.

“ I didn’t mean to... it slipped.”

“Everything’s fine now. Anyway, what do you want to do now?” You asked the red head and he sighed.

“I’ll go to the Grotto... want to join?” He asked and you shook your head.

“Nah, I have a few plans of my own. I’m sorry for not interefering sooner.” You said gently.

“It’s not your fault, my dad... he just doesn’t try to understand me... humans are such weird and incredible beings...you’re so lucky to actually have legs. You can go anywhere, wether it’s the sea or the land...”

“ It’s not something amazing... besides... it’s not exactly the way you think. Many of mermen and mermaids still look at me with disgust... like I am a mistake.” You said and he seemed annoyed.

“ Don’t mind them, I think you’re amazing.” He said and you smiled.

“Thanks, anyway I’ll be going first... see you later”. You said and waved at your friends before heading out.

You swam for a while, aware of the fact that you were being followed. You groaned in annoyance, with a quick turn your gaze fell on two eels, both having one normal and one golden eye. They seemed shocked by your sudden action and hadn’t manage to hide. Your cold glare made them shrink, just because you were half god didn’t mean you couldn’t look intimidating... well, in comparison to other gods you looked more like a mad puppy but there were times where you could become scary.

“State your buisness! Why are you two following me?!” You said and their surprise soon became amusement.

“We simply came here to deliver an invititation.” One of them said, slowly swimming towards you. You didn’t move an inch, keeping your cold expression on.

“Someone truly incredible wants to meet you.” The second one said as it followed behind it’s companion.

“Someone who can make dreams come true.” 

“And I’m supposed to listen to those who don’t even introduce themselves?” You said, clearly not in the mood for mind games.

“We are Flotsam and Jetsam... we are here to help you meet someone who can change your life.” The first eel said and you smirked.

“My life is fine as it is, tell this mister incredible that I won’t be needing their services.” You said and the two eels seemed surprised.

“Perhaps you can say that, after you meet him.” Flotsam said and you frowned.

“It seems you two won’t take no for an answer.” You replied and they smiled at you, the moved ahead, sparing a single glace at you, as if telling you to follow them. You knew that they were talking about the villain of this story, the one who was plotting against King Triton and you knew that this could be a trap... but perhaps... you could ensure that Ariel would find another way to become human... and if not, to at least ensure that the terms he’d sign would be more... favorable than what you knew they would be when the time came. As you swam behind the eels, you felt something strange, like something far worse than what you were expecting would occur. 

As if to reassure that negative feeling you had, your gaze fell on what seemed to be the remains of a see monster, now the lair of the one being even you should fear. As you entered your blood run cold... on the floor you could see thousands of deformed, green creatures, they seemed to be in agony, though they were stuck on the ground they stretched their bodies, as if trying to catch you, to pull you away from this place. One of them almost managed to grab your arm when you heard humming from further inside. The creatures on the floor instantly stopped and it looked like they were trying to hide.

“Come in, dear. I’ve been expecting you.” A voice said, it was deep, sultry and somehow... alluring. You took a deep breath and moved ahead, entering a new chamber, your attention was drawn to the eels who swam around you, watching you as you kept using a brave face.

“Isn’t it a bit rude for a host not to come out and greet a guest?” You asked and there was a light chuckle from your left, as you turned you saw a tall male, smirking at you as his back touched the wall. He had pale lanvender skin that somehow suited his well buitl body and seemed to make him charming, his hair floated above him, their pure white tone intrigued you and his, his grey eyes were sparkling with excitment, your attention however went to his lower half, his tentancles seemed eager to grab you and pull you closer to him.

“Are you checking me out, dear?” He asked and you scoffed.

“You’re certainely someone I don’t know... and you can be sure sir, you’re not my type.” You said in a calm, collected tone. There was no denying that he was handsome, almost god like in appearance. Yet something about him made you feel fear, he seemed mad... he seemed so very creepy, his looks were doing nothing to ease your tense state.

“You can call me Ursul, angel fish.”

“I am (Name), nice to meet you, Ursul.” You replied, tone steady and your (e/c) eyes never leaving his, Ursul smiled and approached, his gaze now taking in all of you. 

You were a pretty little thing, clearly. Your (h/c) hair charmed your face and those fierce (e/c) eyes, strong and clear and so very magnetic. And that attitude... now that’s how a ruler should act, firm and determined. Ursul chuckled, he couldn’t deny that he was drawn to you, however he had to work on your honesty.

“Now my dear, I am sure you’ve noticed I’ve been keeping an eye on you.”

“Quite rudely too, spying on others... if I didn’t know any better I’d say you are interested in something related to me.” You replied and he chuckled.

“I am not interested in something related to you... I am interested in you. my dear. In that very short while I’ve been watching you... you’ve managed to enter my mind and conquer my thoughts. So the least you can do, is take responsibility and let me indulge in you for a while.” He said and one of his tentacles took a hold of you, pulling you by your waist towards him till your chest was against his, your faces inches away from each other.

“Sorry but as I said earlier... you are not my type. Now please, let me go.” You said and Ursul smirked, oh he liked a challenge. Many mermaids had played hard to get but by the end of the day they would end up in his tentacles, their fates his to play with. Ursul began swimming towards a large seashell, he threw you inside and got on top of you. You immediately began fighting, your eyes filled with rage, the sight enough to make him shudder in delight... he had never been this turned on before.

“Easy there, sweetie... you’ll need your strength... and if you can still say that you don’t want me by the end of it all... then maybe I’ll let you leave.” He whispered in your ear before smashing his lips on yours... and it was perfect. Ursul moaned as he kissed you, his tentacles slowly creeping up your legs and towards your warm center. Though you weren’t responding to his kiss, he felt that little flame of yours, deep within you he could feel an insane passion... one he planned to have for himself. Suddenly there was noise from the entrace of his lair. 

“Ursul!” A new unfamiliar voice said, the male above you stopped kissing you and turned around, his tentacles tight grip faded and on that moment you instantly jumped forward, pushing the sea wizard away and swimming with all your strength, as you got out however you came across another half octopus male, this one wasn’t as muscular as Ursul with similar white hair, his skin was light green, green eyes stared at you in awe.

“Excuse me, I have to go.” You said as you heard noise from behind, suddenly the stranger took your hand and said.

“Follow me, I can hide you for a while.” He said and you nodded, though he seemed as dangerous as Ursul... you could tell he was no where near as strong as him. The two of you began swimming away in a hurry but you decided to at least have a proper introduction.

“Nice to meet you, I am (Name), I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you.” You said and the stranger chuckled.

“My name is Morgan. Trust me dear, if you cause Ursul trouble, then you certainely aren’t causing any to me.” He said as the two of you kept swimming... hopefully this time your luck wasn’t as bad as the first time.

[kitten-keith]

Horrid Self Indulgence

Wrote this long thing and now it’s gone cause I posted it to the wrong account and copy paste didn’t work so /fuck me/ anyway.

The whole following fic is purely self indulgent garbage, thus the name (it’s even called this in my google docs because I HAD A PLAN for what I was doing and it was supposed to be insanity) though as usual things get derailed and Idk. I had wanted to get into the hijinks of this concept but lost steam after starting the second bit. But the first bit can stand alone. ish. I guess.

Idk. It’s all completely ridiculous though so idk have fun.

Klance, slightly intoxicated, sharing a bed, Keith is uncomfortable AF and Lance is trying to be chill about it. Weird head shit and accidental rituals. You’ll see. Seriously. Horrid self indulgence.

-----

It was a pleasant moment between comrades that went horribly, heinously, horrifically wrong. 

And if that’s what bonding with Keith friggin Kogane gets him then absolutely not, never again.

It was such a simple stupid fuck up. How was he supposed to know?!

They were at a dinner, stumbling awkwardly through an alien planets customs, trying unsuccessfully to pretend they were okay with the garbs they’d been forced to wear and that the food didn’t make them nauseous when Lance had made the biggest mistake ever and looked at Keith. 

See, because he was the leader his attire had to display this-this—nobility. And god, Keith was anything but noble. He was sitting to the right of the planet’s leader, Allura across from him, and he looked like they might as well have sat him at the kids table with how his brows furrowed and he looked at the ground like he was trying not to cry.

His face was red enough to match the silk scarf loosely clinging to his shoulders and his thumbs rubbed absently over his ungloved hands. He was bare aside from the scarf and a darker one wrapped around his waist for modesty that he’d had to fight for. Apparently this planet had no concept of an external penis or whatever and needed to be educated on human biology before they gave in to Keith’s demands. 

The whole thing was about respect, leaving yourself bare to show you had nothing to hide, but to remind everyone of his station the locals had him decked out in jewels from head to toe. They were braided into his hair, dangling from thin chains across his chest, Lance was positive there was some sort of jeweled sandal decorating his tiny delicate toes too. 

(And not because he paid attention to that sort of thing. Just. Ya know. Shiny shit.) 

Allura was actually dressed about the same though being a woman with no external penises she was actually way nakeder than Keith. And, as she was a full on princess they’d given her a whole slew of silver that had strategically covered all necessary bits that Lance’s mother might have flinched at. 

Not that Allura seemed to give a fuck in the slightest and even seemed to enjoy it as she spoke animatedly to the world leaders, the jewels on her body making small clinking noises with every movement. 

Lance had spotted perfect (and he means perfect) dark nipples exactly 16 times since they’d all sat down to their meal and absolutely couldn’t take it anymore so that was when he’d turned his attention to Keith. 

And somehow had been unable to turn away from him since.

The other Paladins were stripped some and given a few shiny baubles. Lance himself was wearing flowy pants slit up the sides over the dark boxers he’d thankfully been allowed to continue wearing. A couple gold plated necklaces and an arm band and he was good to go. Lance has no issue being topless and actually kinda liked the style. Hunk was a bit more uncomfortable, same pants, same boxer treatment (his were white with yellow suns on them, Lance clapped him on the back for unintentionally matching.) 

Hunk had the same kind of jewelry too but try all he might he couldn’t drop his hands from where they were wrapped around his chest.

He said he was cold repeatedly but lance figured he was just self conscious and offered him plenty of wolf whistles back in their dressing rooms because “man hunk you wanna bench press me later cause those arms are making me weak~!” 

But sadly it didn’t seem to work. 

Pidge was an interesting sell. Same bottom situation in her signature green but she’d also managed to get away with a pair of socks that she was no longer wearing on her feet.

They were providing just a hint more cover for her chest after she’d wrapped Lance’s, Hunks’s, and her own scarf around herself like a makeshift halter top. The locals hadn’t liked it and Allura had tried to explain that female breasts were nothing to be ashamed of but Pidge’s size and thus assumed age had granted her the “let the child be” excuse. 

And sure, Lance was a grown man who was all for equality and free the nipple and aaallll that jazz but if they had forced his pseudo baby sister to go topless he might have lost his absolute shit and gotten them all sent back to the castle. 

Not that that would have been the worst thing at this point because then he wouldn’t be staring at Keith like this— to avoid staring at Allura! Of course— and then he wouldn’t have gotten elbowed in the side by the Pidgeling and gotten the funny look from Hunk and nah man okay. 

Lance wasn’t ogling the leader of voltron. 

He wasn’t. 

He was just. 

Uh. 

Worried about him. 

Yeah, that’s right. Worried. 

Which was what lead him to follow Keith’s retreating form the second they were allowed to adjourn for the night. 

It’s what compelled him to bump his shoulder and wave a hand in greeting. 

And maybe that pout had something to do with Lance’s laughing, throwing his arm over his shoulders, and ushering him to his room for the night. 

“Come on dude, I've got something for you, stashed from that one planet with the abomination? You know the one… Kell? Krell? It’s good okay, better than what they just tried to feed us. Take the edge off.” 

Take the edge off. 

Famous last words? 

Keith groaned and wrapped his arms around himself tightly but nodded and willingly turned off course from his own room. Lance wondered if this was so easy because he’d been so beaten down by the day or because he actually found solace in Lance’s company. 

He didn’t have the nerve to ask and instead simply sauntered into his room, leaving Keith to stand idly by the newly shut door. 

“It tastes better than nunville but it’s a little stronger so you’re gonna wanna sip at it okay?” 

Keith nodded but his eyes looked glassy, like he wasn’t actually listening. 

Lance moved to his temporary rooms vanity setting and shuffled through his bottles of toiletries. When they’d decided to indulge the locals in their customs and stay a few nights basking in their hospitality Lance had been told to pack quickly but he hadn’t forgotten anything important. This included the little silver pouch that he’d somehow barely touched since keeping it with him all this time. 

He opened the pull top with his teeth to take a small sip before offering it to Keith who was still standing right against the door as if he was afraid to move. Considering how loose the scarf around his waist looked, he might have been. 

He did look… good though. 

Remarkably so. 

Amidst the finery and the sheer and silk fabrics, his hair in a loose braid over one shoulder and that almost permanent flush across his cheeks, he was beautiful and adorable and stunning all at once and it was doing ridiculous things to Lance’s chest. He almost regretted taking the sip that he did because he worried about what he might let slip aloud, looking at Keith like that, but as the alien substance travelled down his throat and warmed his body he kept his wits. He felt the buzzing under his skin but retained his sense. He was here to offer Keith a moment to relax. Nothing more.

He walked over to Keith and instead of handing him the pouch he resealed it and held it softly under one arm as he reached out with both hands for Keith’s waist. 

Keith flinched so hard his back hit the door, “what are you doing?!”

Lance rolled his eyes, pushing closer and grabbing on to the scarf around his waist tugging and tightening it for him. 

“Looked like you were having trouble.”

Keith’s flush was so hot Lance could practically feel it.

Poor thing. 

“Right… thanks…” he stayed against the door but took the pouch when Lance offered it. 

Lance turned to walk over to his bed and make himself comfortable and by the time he turned his attention back to Keith the boy was swallowing.

“You remembered what I said about that stuff being hard hitting… right?”

Keith shrugged.

Took another sip. (This one looked more like a sip at least. Maybe Lance wouldn’t have to carry him back to his room later.)

He sealed the stopper and looked around the room briefly before walking in the straightest line imaginable to sit on the foot of Lance’s bed, holding the pouch out to him again. 

Lance considered it, wondering if it would help or hinder his case to not make a fool of himself with Keith looking like that and decided why not. Besides, he could pace himself, unlike some people. 

When he finished taking his last sip, feeling the warmth and the contentment sitting in his stomach as he leaned back on his elbows on his bed, he hummed to himself and shut the top, putting it to the side. 

Keith shuffled around so his back was to the bed post and he placed his hands over his lap uncomfortably.

“So uh. Was—was that it?”

“Chill Keith. You’ve been looking so tightly wound today I figured you could use a break.” 

Keith visibly paled and moved to curl in on himself but thought better of it. His thumbs started to track back and forth over his fingers though. Bad sign. 

“Relax!” Lance demanded, stretching the vowel sounds to make it more playful. 

Keith neglected to heed this order and instead looked away. 

“Look, I doubt it’ll cause any problems, everyone knows their customs made you uncomfortable. Here, if you want you can go ahead and get under the covers.” Lance reached behind him and pulled up the bed sheets. It would help his own situation too. Cover Keith and that pretty skin of his up. Put that beautiful body away because his own was starting to get ideas he didn’t need. 

He remembered Allura looking just as beautiful if not more so and it helped for a second to feel better mentally but he was still fighting not to be turned on next to half naked (that was being generous) Keith. 

“That might actually be… are you sure? I could just— leave. I could leave.”

Lance rolled his eyes. 

“Would you chill if you left or would you stay up all night worrying about the kinds of impressions you’re leaving?”

Keith was silent. His thumb disappeared behind his pointer to dig his little blunt nail into his middle. 

“Get in the bed. Let me tell you stories.” 

Keith’s eyes lit up at that and for a moment he started forward to crawl across the bed toward where the sheets were up, but he stopped himself again. 

Lance sighed.

“Feeling exposed?”

Keith nodded.

“You know we showered together back at the garrison right? I’ve seen you naked. Completely naked. And lathered.”

Of course, this was before Lance’s full sexual awakening and before Keith had filled out like he did with those abs and thighs for days but uh— that wasn’t a necessary addition to the conversation it just wasn’t. 

Keith still flushed like a tomato and it made Lance’s little traitorous heart do a flip.

“Right right. I forget you didn’t even remember me from the garrison.” Lance offered sardonically, trying to shift the mood. 

Keith bit his lip. Man, even that looked good. Lance wanted to bite that lip. He could just see it. Lip to lip with Keith Kogane groaning out. Lance’s hand on his shoulder pushing him back on the bed, the other reaching beneath him to get a nice big handful of that round perky ass—

Okay. 

Okay maybe Keith shouldn’t get under the covers. 

Maybe he should leave. 

He should leave. 

He should—

Keith started to mumble something when Lance turned away and shut his eyes. 

“Alright you have ten seconds, go on princess.”

It was silent for a moment. 

Lance squeezes his eyes shut tightly because this was the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing.

“10.” 

But he was doing it.

“9”

There was the sound of Keith shuffling behind him, pulling up the sheets more and crawling into bed. He was getting comfortable by the time Lance reached 3 and Keith spoke up telling him he could stop. 

Lance nodded and turned around so he could face Keith, continue conversations, see if he could find a relevant story in his brain about his family or something simple back home that would help Keith unwind. 

Instead he was struck a bit dumb by Keith snuggled under his (always color coded) blue bed sheets, his inky black hair splayed out on the pillow. Lance had always thought Keith’s eyes were this remarkable shade of blue but surrounded by all the blue in his bed Lance realized he was wrong. They were clearly more of a violet, wide and staring at him under lashes that were too long and too elegant for a guy who made a living kicking furry alien chinchillas in the face.

And with that thought came the image of Keith kicking ass, those muscle toned legs under skin tight space suits…

Now basically bare and in his bed. 

Naked. 

Naked Keith in his bed. 

Naked Keith in his bed staring at him expectantly like— like—

Right. Right he was waiting for a story. 

Okay. 

Lance flopped onto his side, too close to Keith but in an effort to remain comfortable and casual it had to be done, and went back to racking his mind for an idea that didn’t involve pressing his body as close to Keith’s as physically possible. 

Something jingled as he went down and he remembered the abundance of jewels that had been decorating Keith’s body. 

There were still a few left in his hair that he seemed to not care about but it looked like the little jeweled sandals were there, as were the ones that had decorated his arms.

It took him a second but Lance scooped them up and put them on the bedside table before getting comfortable again. 

“Oh okay so, let me tell you about the time my big sister Veronica brought home the biggest stupidest “boyfriend” she could find…” 

Lance could see Keith smile just beneath the blanket. 

He reached out and started to pick the jewels out of Keith’s hair as he spoke, occasionally running his fingers through it. If Keith had a complaint he didn’t voice it. Besides, just because it was styled stupid didn’t make it any less soft.

By the time Lance got to the big reveal of the story, the part where Veronica had hired the guy to piss off their dad over an argument they’d had about Veronica’s openness to bringing a girlfriend home (maybe, in the future), Keith had completely knocked out.

And for some reason, Lance thought that was alright.

They could totally just. Sleep in the same bed. No problem.

With Keith wearing nothing but a silk scarf.

He thought this was a perfectly good idea as he showered and put on a fresh pair of boxers and crawled under his sheets to the sound of Keith’s light breathing.

He was a little dizzy, but forgot that the biggest after effect of inebriation was poor judgement, and easily curled up next to Keith.

Keith, who was just awake enough to take Lance’s hand.

Lance thought it was adorable.

Because Keith was adorable. 

And Lance wanted to be touching his skin like this (sort of) anyway.

It worked for him. 

He was sleepy too.

So sleepy he lapsed almost instantly into dreams.

Dreams of Allura dancing just out of his reach. Of her nonchalance at his flirting and efforts to be noticed by her. Making him feel useless. Undesirable. Unworthy.

He was so pathetic.

Keith’s voice was in his head. 

Telling him how kind he was. How sweet he was.

“I couldn’t do any of this without you Lance.”

“I need you.”

“I hope you know that. I hope you know that—if you could see yourself how I see you…”

“Lance you’re so…”

“I want…”

“I wish…”

Keith was at his side. Mumbling those nothings into his ear in little breathy sighs. 

It felt nice. 

It was nice to hear. 

Nice to feel Keith pressing in beside him.

“I wish you could see what I see in you… love yourself as much as I do...Lance, I…”

Well this was awfully self indulgent of him. Dreaming of a Keith who would say those kinds of things. As if the real Keith capital L Loved him. 

Like Lance hadn’t spent years trying to get his attention the same way he had with Allura too. 

As if he hadn’t gotten shot down with every attempt to—

“I liked you then too! I was just… afraid to let anyone in…”

“Liar, you didn’t even remember me.”

“That was the lie…”

“That was…?”

“You were so cute… always trying so hard… always going the extra effort to make people smile or laugh… I always thought you were…”

“You liked me back at the garrison? Like... one smoothie two straws, like-like…?”

Keith turned away, rolling onto his side. Face probably flushed a deep crimson again. Man he was so cute…!

“Like write your name in my notebook with a bunch of hearts, like-like… yeah.”

Extremely self indulgent dream. 

But Lance was gonna take it.

He squeezed himself close to Keith’s body, wrapping an arm around his chest as Keith jumped.

“And now you…?”

“Now I…”

It was silent. 

Lance tried to ignore how perfectly Keith’s ass cheeks felt pressed to his crotch.

He felt naked.

Naked Keith in his bed. Saying all these pretty hopeful things...What a perfect dream…

Lance gently bumped his hips. He couldn’t help it, and it was his dream after all right?

Keith was silent, but reached a hand back to slide down Lance’s waist, breathing loud.

Was that how Lance’s mind worked? Show me a love confession followed by an immediate bone. 

Lance’s wet dreams were clearly things of substance.

“Do you love me?”

He bumped his hips again. His dick hardening fast.

Keith’s fingers dug into Lance’s boxers, applying just enough pressure to drive him forward, keep him pressed to his ass.

“I do… do you…?”

“Hmm… never thought about it before.”

Keith made a low unhappy noise.

“I def love your face… your so fucking pretty face…” 

Keith went silent again. Lance ground his hips against him and his hard cock was finding a very comfortable place right between his cheeks. 

“And I love this body...your ass is heaven, Keith, wish you could feel this...” 

Keith was definitely naked. Naked enough that Lance was desperate to get out of his boxers. 

How could his dream provide him perfectly naked love confessing Keith and not leave Lance equally perfectly naked?

Sense, where was it?

“I love how brave you are… stupid and reckless and it drives me insane with worry. But brave.” 

Keith backed into Lance’s lap, rolling his hips and made Lance’s mind stutter.

“I love how—how much you care about things even when you don’t show it… I love your laugh…”

He could feel Keith’s entire body against his front, a single useless silk scarf around his waist, the rest probably lost somewhere in the bed. His hand found one of Keith’s nipples and he started to slowly rub his fingers around the nub causing Keith to raise his chest into the touch a bit more with a small high pitched sound.

“I love how you hum during flight simulations and I always leave coms open so I can hear you…”

With Keith raising his chest for Lance’s hand it gave him a moment to slip his other hand underneath him. He pinched his nipple between his thumb and forefinger once before sliding that first hand down the span of his body. Feather light touches over the ridges of his abs, loving the way Keith twitched and rocked harder back into Lance. 

“I love how unbelievably dense you could be sometimes, you’re such a mess you’re perfect—” Lance moved his head so he was right against Keith’s ear for the word “perfect” but lost his nerve when he dropped his face into the back of Keith’s neck, “What am I saying… of course I love you.”

Did Lance have feelings for Allura? Yes. Did he wish she’d reciprocate? Yeah. 

Did Lance feel guilty about indulging himself in a dream with someone who he also had some very strong (possibly stronger) feelings for? No, not at all. 

Because real talk? If Keith had said half of this in real life Lance’s heart would have combusted and he would have kissed the life out of him by now—

Because that was just what Keith did to him sometimes. 

He just… blew his mind with how much he could make Lance feel. 

Christ.

Good lord.

He hadn’t taken advantage of the opportunity to kiss him yet. 

He reached up with the arm that was beneath Keith, his hand spreading wide over his neck to grab his jaw and tentatively guide him to face him. 

“Can I kiss you?”

Keith’s hips ground back hard as he laughed, “you’re asking that now?”

He was right. 

Besides, kinda stupid to ask permission from a dream right? 

“Stupid stupid me, right?” 

“Stop that.”

“Right let’s get to the smooching.”

“Yeah alright I take it back.”

“If you love me you have to love all of me.”

Lance could practically hear Keith rolling his eyes. 

“Hey it’s my dream—“

And it was absolutely superpowered. Maybe there was something in his drink that had different properties on this planet because when Keith parted his lips and lifted his head they had never looked so inviting in his life. He had to stop himself mid sentence to dive for those lips.

Smashed up his nose a little bit on Keith’s cheek which he was sure he would have felt too if this wasn’t a dream but Lance didn’t care because he was kissing Keith Kogane.

And yes. He’d had plenty of dreams where he’d kissed Keith. Plenty of dreams where they’d made out on the rec room floor or the garrison showers or had sex in reds cockpit. 

But they had never ever felt like this.

His brain practically fizzled out. 

He felt Keith’s tongue against his and then suddenly it was gone.

Felt like he was falling, disoriented. Someone (Keith?) reached out to catch him. Dug little blunt nails into his arm in panic.

“Lance—what—“

The dream shifted. Lance was alone, floating in an empty pool, naked and confused and annoyed.

The water was cold but didn’t make him shiver. 

There was a splash in the distance, and Lance hoped it was Keith but he couldn’t see anything. Time passed and he started to lose sense of where he or the water began. 

He’d have given anything to be back with Keith. 

What a shitty way to end his dream…

When he woke up his throat was dry, like he’d had too much to drink the night before and his head spun a bit. 

He sat up and found he was on the far side of the bed where Keith had gone to sleep. Didn’t even see Keith, so maybe he’d gotten up earlier and Lance had managed to settle into place where his body heat had been. 

Of course that was for mere moments before he glanced to the opposite side of his bed and found… himself?

He also realized very suddenly he was buttnaked with only a silk scarf tied loosely around his hips and his hair was long enough to tickle his shoulders.

He looked down at himself and saw the expanse of absolutely flawless Keith body, down to the little dark hairs just under that useless scarf.

Lance wasn’t sure why he did it, but he reached down to grab himself in his palm (Keith in Keith’s palm??) And was immediately overwhelmed by the sensation of it. He had to bite his lip to keep quiet and fell back on the bed hard as his hand tightened to seek out the feeling. He was partially hard already and from the feeling of it he must have been suffering all night.

But excuse you Lance. This isn’t your body what are you doing? 

Dreaming? Still? Could have sworn he was very much awake now…

He forced himself to stop, noting quietly that he was absolutely not going to forget what it felt like, and looked over at his own body. 

Had to be a dream. 

Had to be.

He shut his eyes, letting his finger tips graze over the inside of Keith’s thighs because dream or no there were so many nice things about that he was gonna keep doing it.

Well until someone shook him awake (again?) 

It was strange seeing an expression that was so clearly Keith, puzzled with furrowed brows and tight lips, on his own face. 

But there it was. 

Staring at him like he was the strangest mystery in the known universe. Which, to be fair, if he was still wearing Keith’s face he kind of was. (And kind of had to be considering he definitely wasn’t the one wearing his own face.) 

Keith (you know, it felt like Keith and acted like Keith, but he really didn’t know if that was Keith) was the first to register the shock of the mornings revelation. Lance actually felt kinda slow and confused. Maybe he’d drank too much— no wait, Keith did. 

Anyway.

So. 

Keith started screaming. And Lance started screaming. 

And maybe that wasn’t a great idea while guests on a diplomatic mission in another world palace with your comrades in arms down the hall while you’re both pretty naked and in bed together. 

But uh. 

Fun morning.

[fairiesherefairiesthere]

Fraxus Anastasia au #5

Here’s the ao3-link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23144866

Summary: “Does anyone have a map?" "Nah", Freed says in a blasé manner. Maybe the bastard doesn't care about dying all that much, but Laxus would like to live a little bit longer, thank you very much. "We don't need it", he continues and Laxus scoffs. "Hey man, control your hubris." 

Chapter under the cut!

When Laxus comes to, it's not in a nice, warm and cosy room with blankets wrapped around him. Instead, it's with his face or rather his whole body half-buried in the snow. Some confused part of him thinks it's quite cosy and warm anyway. He debates closing his eyes and going to sleep, but a brutal twack to the head bars him from doing so. "What do you think you're doing?" Freed yells before lifting him on his feet.

With his brows settled in a frown, Freed brusquely dusts of Laxus' poor excuse for a coat. "Dumbass", is all he says before tugging him along to meet up with Bickslow and Evergreen. Those two greet them with varying degrees of enthusiasm. "Babes!" Bickslow yells before throwing his lanky arms around both of their shoulders. Ever opts to punch the nearest one of them (unfortunately, Laxus) and pout. "Don't do stupid shit like that again. Why did you guys wait that long? "

"We we're enjoying the scenery for a little while longer", Freed says before Laxus has to go and explain himself. "The snow, the crumbling bridge, the utter drama of it all." He bats his ridiculously long lashes at that and Evergreen moves over to give him a punch to the shoulder as well. "Of course you dragged this poor man into your ludicrous schemes", she grumbles as Freed laughs her concerns off.

Looking around, Laxus can't see anything but a white wasteland. Snow surrounds them from all sides and there are no indications of where they could possibly be. He starts to fear that they only postponed their deaths and that they would encounter a slower, more agonising one. The others haven't seem to have realised this, caught up in bickering over something or other. "Guys?" When they turn their attention to him, he waves at the white surrounding them. "How are we going to find our destination? Does anyone have a map?"

"Nah", Freed says in a blasé manner. Maybe the bastard doesn't care about dying all that much, but Laxus would like to live a little bit longer, thank you very much. "We don't need it", he continues and Laxus scoffs. "Hey man, control your hubris."

"It isn't hubris", Freed counters and squats down to write something in the snow. Very quickly Laxus realises that he isn't writing, but drawing. Soon a map appears and Laxus has to admit that the man knows his stuff. It's meticulously detailed and he raises his hands in surrender. "You win, just get us out of here please."

"I will", he promises, "and I wasn't trying to brag. You looked a bit worried and I wanted to alleviate that feeling a bit." It's surprisingly thoughtful coming from Freed. As Laxus is about to give him his reluctant gratitude, Freed slaps his arm hard and grins obnoxiously. "Also, if I were trying to brag, you'd instantly know. My dear Laxus, my hubris could move mountains."

Instead of being irritated, Laxus can't help but be amused at Freed, standing knee deep in the snow, proclaiming that he would fistfight God if given the chance. Interrupting Freed's passionate speech about his own arrogance, he throws his arm around the man and gives him a noogie. "You're nothing but a loser with a big vocabulary, ain't ya?"

"That's blasphemy!" Freed protests and Laxus rolls his eyes. "Whatever, whatever. Let's go already, it's not getting any warmer." With a confidence that's completely unfounded, Laxus turns into a direction, striding away, hoping that it'll inspire the others to finally move already. It doesn't. "Laxus darling?" Freed calls out in that tone of his that spells annoyance for Laxus. "Sweetie, you're going the wrong way. You should know that, the defective bridge is in that direction. You know, the one we were unfortunately heading to?"

"Just lead the way and shut up, please."

"Since you asked so nicely."

Surprisingly, they reach a town around the evening. Although it's not very grand, a quick look through the windows of some shops tells Laxus that the place certainly is expensive. He whistles as he sees a particularly outrageous price for a dress and Evergreen comes to stand next to him to see what the fuss is about. When she spots the price tag, she shrugs. "It's normal. This is a tourist town, famous for its fashion, quaint panorama and terrific food."

"Shame we won't be enjoying it", Laxus muses, "We don't have the money for it. Hearing those words, Bickslow turns around with a big grin. "Laxus, Laxus, Laxus", he tuts, "Money is no issue for those with fast fingers." Although Laxus certainly doesn't disagree, he does wonder what their grand scheme is. "Should you guys really be dragging a royal into the criminal life? No offense, but you guys are a little bit shady."

"A little bit?" Freed's voice sounds disbelieving. He turns to Bickslow and Evergreen. "Would you look at that, we we're doing better than I expected!" Evergreen hides her smile behind her hand in an attempt to save Laxus' dignity a little bit. "We're doing so well that he nearly promised us his first born", she giggles and Bickslow holds out his hand. Unsure of what he's supposed to do, Laxus takes. Suddenly Bickslow's face turns serious as he pulls Laxus close. "Baby, you just signed a contract by taking this hand", he says, voice uncharacteristically grave. "Seeing as you trust us that much, from now on I'll entrust something to you as well."

With his free hand, Bickslow reaches behind him, grabs an unsuspecting Freed by the collar and unceremoniously shoves him against Laxus. "Here you go, my own firstborn child." Dramatically, Freed blinks and stretches his arms out towards Bickslow. "Mommy, please don't give me to the strange man! He reeks of sweat and he looks like a mountainboar! He'll eat me for sure!" Laxus rolls his eyes. "Yep. I'll swallow you whole", he says interrupting their inpromptu theatre.

The phrase makes Freed choke on his spit, his cheeks flushing a deep red that's very visible on his pale skin. Bickslow outright guffaws and Ever lets out a little "Oh my". The exact phrasing of his own words hit him at that moment and he shoves Freed away. "You are all nasty. Mainly you", he says and points at Freed. "Nasty, nasty gremlin boy."

"I am not a gremlin boy!" Freed yells back, getting a bit heated. "Getting called nasty, I can live with, but I am no gremlin! I refuse to be adressed as such." Laxus tauntingly pats the man's head. "But you can't refuse. Here's a royal order for the two of you." Evergreen and Bickslow listen in amusement. "You are to call him nasty gremlin boy at any and all times. For all you know, it is his name now. Amen."

"Amen", they chorus and as per royal order, he-who-was-formerly-known-as-Freed is getting pestered by all three of them until he tells them that he'll leave them to sleep out in the streets if they don't knock it off. Since this implies that he-who-is-now-again-known-as-Freed can actually get them a room somewhere, they promptly shut up and bury the nickname for later use.

Once Laxus is laying on the bed in the room Freed's managed to score for him, he wonders how Freed had done it. Looking around, he can see that the room (and the whole inn) had been made for people with a lot of money and he doesn't think that any of the people he's travelling with have that. The bed he's laying on is so comfortable and soft, that it's very likely that he'll never move from there again.

"Sup buddy", Bickslow whispers as he tiptoes into the room. "We decided that I'd be your roommate for a couple of days, I hope you don't mind." Laxus shakes his head. "It's fine. Ever would probably like her privacy and if I had to room with Freed, one of us would have killed the other before dayrise. It would've been a gruesome scene."

"Not if Freed was the culprit", Bickslow winks and Laxus is too tired to think about the implications. He gives a simple thumbs-up instead. "You mind if I use the shower first?" Bickslow asks and Laxus blinks slowly. "Don't care", he mumbles before yawning. "I'm going to stay here forever."

"You do that baby", Bickslow laughs before disappearing into the bathroom. Curling up into a ball, Laxus makes himself comfortable. It's easy with the soft mattress, although it is very warm. He drifts off regardless of the heat.

When he wakes up, the heat is unbearable, but the cold he's simultaneously feeling doesn't allow him to put the blanket away. He's deeply uncomfortable, but too sleepy to think about what his next course of action should be. His thoughts are a muddled mess and unable to make sense of them, he tries to fall back asleep. Instead, he keeps toeing the line between being awake and slumbering and it doesn't make his feel any better.

The door of the bathroom opens, bringing forth a warm gust of steam that does nothing to help relieve him. "Babe, you can use the bathroom if you want", Bickslow calls out and Laxus merely grunts in response. He doesn't think he could leave the bed even if he wanted to. Hearing Bickslow approach, he painstakingly cracks open a single eye. A moment later, he feels a very warm hand on his forehead and he swats it away. "Stop that", he murmurs and Bickslow complies. The sound of his footsteps removes itself from Laxus' vicinity and he barely hears the "Be right back!" before the door opens and closes again.

By the time the door reopens, Laxus is a sweating, shivering mess. His teeth are chattering violently and he's confused whether he's cold or not. Three sets of footsteps approach his bed and Laxus wished Bickslow hadn't made a public spectacle about him being sick. He should protest, but he hasn't got the strength nor will for it. "You guys should go eat, I'll handle this", one of them softly whispers and soon, it's only the two of them in the room. At this point Laxus is too far gone to recognise them and too far gone to care about any of it. He falls back asleep.

The hours? that follow are confusing to him. Between waking and slumbering he registers someone cooling him down with wet towels, their cold hands patting his head from time to time and the sense of calmth that comes over him when they do it makes his whole body unclench. Sometimes he can feel nightmares threatening at the edges of his mind, but his caretaker waves them away with a simple hand on his forehead or sweet, nostalgic lullabies hummed under their breath.

The time he spends awake is becoming longer, Laxus notices. Now, he's able to form somewhat coherent thoughts and the first thing he does, is try to pull himself upwards. Immediately, someone's pushing him back down. "I wouldn't do that if I were you", someone advises him and after a few moments Laxus recognises him to be Freed. "How are you feeling big boy?"

He tries to answer, but no sounds escapes his mouth. Seeing this, Freed offers him a cup of water and when Laxus takes a sip, he suddenly notices how parched he is. With big gulps, he downs the whole cup while Freed watches in amusement. "You don't do things in moderation, now do you?"

"Moderation makes life boring", he rasps as soon as he's caught his breath and Freed gives him a wink at that. "Well would you look at that, seems like there are things we can agree on." Between coughs, Laxus manages to get out: "We'd probably agree on a lot more if you weren't such a bastard."

"But where would be the fun in that? We just established that neither you nor I do things in moderation. Keep up with the schedule, my dearest Laxus." Freed draws himself closer, placing a familiar cool hand on Laxus forehead and keeps it there for what can only be a short while. It feels infinitely longer though and Laxus can feel himself heating up under his studious gaze. "Your fever had broken, but now it seems to be coming back." Then he looks Laxus right in the eyes, smile devious. "Or might there be another reason for your lovely red visage?"

Determined to not let Freed have the last laugh, Laxus reaches for the sweat-ridden pillow supporting his back. With one hand he quickly draws Freed closer and simultaneously he smushes the drenched pillow right into the man's face with his other hand. Instantaneously Freed starts yelling in absolute disdain and after he's wrestled himself free it turns into laughing as the two of them grapple for a while.

It shouldn't be as tiring as it is, but he's sick and Freed picks up on his weakening arms immediately. "Looks like playtime is over for this patient. I'll call Bickslow over and leave you to him."

"You aren't gonna stay?" He hates how vulnerable his voice sounds and how obvious it must be to Freed. "Nah, you stink", Freed answers seemingly completely oblivious to Laxus' little moment of weakness. It's probably for the better. "Goodbye, I'm going to take a nap", Freed says before waltzing out of the room.

Not even five minutes later Bickslow appears and the first words that tumble out of Laxus' mouth are: "Do I smell?" He suppresses the urge to facepalm at his own words. Frowning, Bickslow asks why he thinks so. Moping like a child (he chalks it up to being sick), he explains that apparently Freed's reason for leaving is his smell. As he's explaining Bickslow's face changes from concerned to amused until he's barely able to suppress his giggling.

"Is that what he said? If he was truly bothered by the smell of a sick person, he wouldn't have been taking care of you for the past seven days. That man has a flair for the dramatic, but I think he just needs a nap. He wouldn't allow himself to properly sleep before he knew you were okay though, so he must be walking on his last legs."

Now that he says that, Freed had been looking a bit pale himself and Laxus thinks he remembers dark circles under his eyes. He does wonder though, why the man was so adamant about taking care of him, seeing as Laxus mainly seems to be a form of entertainment to him. His hands had been so careful though when nursing him back to health and his voice oh so sweet. Laxus decides to not dwell on it anymore, but he does fall asleep with the soft sound of Freed's voice in his mind.

[kimjongdaely]

Mismatched Destinies [Chapter 3]

Fantasy!AU, Royal!AU, Arranged Marriage!AU

Pairing: Chen x Reader

Warnings: Language, violence, maybe future smut

Summary: Your kingdom has been invaded. While trying to run from your pursuers, you accidentally fall down into the “Monster’s Realm.” But they might just be your only hope to fight back.

Prologue│Chapter 1│Chapter 2│Chapter 3│Chapter 4│Chapter 5

When you enter the lobby the next day, you see Jongdae leaning against the wall, humming pleasantly to himself. He has quite the pretty voice, you note.

“Good morning.” You greet.

He looks at you, his smile growing. “Morning. You ready to head out?”

You nod, though really you don’t have much to prepare for. You have no personal belongings, just yourself.

Jongdae continues humming as he begins heading for the door, only for it to slam open, revealing a seething, man. He has small antlers growing out of both temples, a deer-like tail swishing behind him vigorously and the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen. He too, wears a guard uniform (more formal than Jongdae’s with actual armor). “Kim fucking Jongdae, where the fuck are you?”

“Hi, hello.” Jongdae greets, giving the man a friendly wave. “What a pleasant surprise to see you here this lovely morning—”

“You.” The man cuts him off, jutting a finger into his chest, eyes narrowed angrily. “I leave you for one day, and when I come to check up on you, you’re fucking gone from your post and—”

“Hey, hey.” Jongdae raises his hands in mock surrender, trying to calm the man down. “I’m working, Junmyeon.”

“Working?” Junmyeon raises his brows and voice in disbelief. His anger seems to increase. “Working? I don’t see you fucking working—”

“Calm down.” Jongdae says pleasantly, gesturing towards you. “I’m escorting the human princess to meet the king.”

Your heart stops.

What?

You stare at him in both shock and horror, wondering how the actual fuck he knew who you were. He doesn’t look at you though, just smiling like a gentleman. 

“I—You—” Junmyeon struggles for words before he chokes out, “Human princess?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Jongdae says, voice smooth like silk. “Princess Ruby.” He adds an emphasis to your ‘name,’ making you believe he knows you lied about that too.

“I, um,” Junmyeon’s anger dissipates immediately, his face paling. “I-I’m so sorry for my rudeness, Your Highness. Please forgive me.”

You struggle to think of what to do. You hear murmurs behind you from the residents of the inn. Bon’s voice breaks your thoughts, “You’re a princess?”

“Yeah.” Jongdae answers for you casually. “Did I not mention it?”

“No you fucking did not.” Bon exclaims, only to cover her mouth immediately. “Am I not allowed to swear in front of a human princess?”

You feel frustration grow within you as you glare at Jongdae with all your might. Way to go! Blurting it out for everyone to hear. Might as well parade around town with a sign around my neck saying ‘I’M A FUCKING HUMAN PRINCESS!’

You didn’t want the attention, which is why you lied. You didn’t want the monsters thinking differently about you just because you’re a human royal. You didn’t want them discriminating or hating you because you’re sure as hell the humans would have discriminated against monster royals. The humans would probably cheat or steal some money out of them, probably sneer at them and call them names. People would give them mock respect and admiration only to slit their throats when they aren’t looking.

It’s the kind of threat you don’t want. And even saying you were a noblewoman was risky, but your dress couldn’t lie.

You sigh. “Please, don’t apologize...er, Junmyeon. And Bon, you can swear. I don’t fucking care.”

Bon gasps as the profanity leaves your lips, as if a princess isn’t capable of such a thing. Her face lights up into a grin immediately afterwards though.

“So, uh, what are you doing down here, Princess Ruby?” Junmyeon asks politely. “And, er, how did you get down here?”

“I—” As you begin to answer, Jongdae quickly jabs you in the ribs with his elbow, effectively shutting you up.

His smile is still dazzling and calm. “She wanted to request an audience with our king. Something about an alliance, I think.”

“Oh,” Junmyeon nods, surprise on his face. “I suppose...an alliance with the humans can be beneficial...” He sounds uncertain though. Even scared.

You frown at Jongdae, wondering why he won’t let you say a word in this.

“Yes,” Jongdae says, pulling you along as he inches towards the door. “And you know how far the castle is from here. I want to get her there as soon as possible, so please excuse us.”

“Alright.” Junmyeon huffs. “I’ll take your post while your away.”

“Thanks, Myeon. You’re the best.” He beams, already shoving you out the door before you can even get a breath in.

Once out, he grabs your wrist, pulling you along, hissing under his breath, “Come with me.”

“What are you doing?” You finally manage, scowling at him. “How do you know who I am?”

Pulling you into an alleyway, hopefully out of earshot, Jongdae sighs. “Listen, there are a lot of things I can’t answer right now—I don’t even have answers, honestly.”

You frown, crossing your arms. “What does that mean. You just...knew? Intuition? Sixth sense?”

He narrows his eyes, his smile sharp like daggers. “You sure ask a lot of questions, princess. So how about I ask you a few?” He leans in, eyes glowing so brightly you can hardly look at him. “How did you get here?”

“I—What?” You stutter, your throat closing with fear.

“How did you get here?” He breathes out, a low growl hidden in his words. “How did you get past the barrier?”

“I-I don’t know.” You answer honestly, a mere whisper under his threatening aura. “I just...fell.”

He hovers over you for a moment, and you wonder if he might hurt you. The way he’s looking at you...light pouring out of his eyes, his smile wide and malicious.

Then he pulls back, expression softening into his usual carefree attitude. He shrugs. “If you say so, princess.”

You try to take a breath, your heart pounding wildly against your ribcage. What the hell was that?

“Listen,” he starts again, rocking on his heels, hands in his pockets. His red cloak is pulled back slightly from his movements. “I’m going to bring you to the king. I’m going to protect you. That’s my job. But hey,” his tone drops, “if you try anything funny, you won’t like what happens next.”

You nod silently, no longer finding words. He smiles. “Good. Let’s go then.”

He moves, his cloak sweeping behind him as he turns. You glance around, wondering what you should do. Sighing, you follow him. It’s not like you have much choice down here, in a foreign place filled with monsters that could probably rip you apart if they wanted to.

The path out of town is quiet. Uncomfortably so, with Jongdae. He hasn’t said a word yet, and you don’t like that. If you’re going to be with him for your journey, the least you could do is get on better terms with him...even if he seems very hostile towards you.

You find that strange. You’ve never done anything to make him feel that way about you, and his attitude has been friendly at first before making a complete 180° turn.

You clear your throat after a while, deciding to start a conversation. “So...you’re a monster, right?”

“What about it?” He glances at you curiously—or perhaps suspiciously.

“What monster are you?” You hope you aren’t rude by phrasing it so bluntly.

He scoffs, though he doesn’t seem offended. “I’m a dog monster.”

A dog monster? You frown, scrutinizing him. “How come you look so human?”

“Excuse me?” He sounds more amused than offended or angry. That’s good. He seems to have gone back to his previous ‘friendly’ persona.

“Well,” you start, “other monsters had ears or tails or other appearances but you look so...human. Shouldn’t you have dog ears or a tail or something?”

“Whoa, not all monsters are like that. Aren’t you being too generic?” 

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” You mutter. “I was just curious, is all.”

“I get it.” He says casually. “Not every day you fall into a different Realm and find out monsters exist, right?”

You manage a small smile. “Right.”

“Well, I’m pawsitive you’ll get used to it soon.”

You feel your jaw drop. “Did—Did you just say a pun?”

He smirks, a chuckle escaping him. The air feels lighter now, the quiet that follows is gentler and much more comfortable.

Slowly, as you go farther, you begin to grow colder. It feels like the temperature is steadily dropping, to the point you can see your breath fog up. You shiver, hugging yourself as snow drifts down. You look up, barely able to see the high cave ceiling past the tall evergreen trees.

“Cold?” Jongdae asks, noticing. You nod. He takes off his cloak, draping it over your shoulders and helping you clip it in place. “Heh, guess I should’ve thought of getting you a jacket too. It’s pretty cold around this area.”

“How is it snowing here?” You ask, scrunching up your nose at the cold. It feels numb, and you bet it’s tomato red. “We’re underground.”

“Huge underground caves can have its own weather.” He answers, shrugging. “Science.”

“What about you?” You touch the red cloak and eyeing his thin-looking dress shirt. “Aren’t you cold.”

“Nah, I’m ok. I don’t really get cold.” He says, waving you off.

The cloak is warm from his body heat, but it’s not enough. The icy wind is still blowing through it, freezing you down to your bones. How is it possible for it to be this cold? The snow is also heavier the farther you walk, piling more and more until it’s extremely difficult to walk.

Though you’re grateful for your walking shoes, it’s obviously not made for snow and the wet snow is seeping into your shoes and clothes.

You sneeze and sniffle, feeling a headache coming.

“Hey, you okay?” Jongdae asks after a while, seeing how red your cheeks have become and how heavily you’re breathing.

You feel anything but fine. You’re freezing, the cloak already soaked through from the snow, through your dress as well, heavy on your body like a second skin. You also feel alarmingly numb in your limbs, your head spinning. “I—”

Your vision flashes black, Jongdae calling for you in alarm. He catches you as you fall, and your vision returns, though it’s too blurry to see properly.

“You’re freezing.” He mutters, gathering you into his arms to carry you out of the snow. You shiver, feeling the biting wind blow through your very core. “You should have said something sooner if you can’t handle it.”

You try to say something, but your words come out as a gurgle. He shushes you, trudging through the snow twice as quickly as his previous pace. He wraps you protectively against him to shield you somewhat from the roaring wind and snow.

He’s warm, you think, but you’re too numb to really feel it.

You don’t know how long he trudged on, (you might’ve blacked out a few times), before he arrives at a small, cozy-looking cottage. The snow here is much lighter than it was before, only a few snowflakes floating down.

Jongdae sighs softly before shifting you in his arms so he can free one to knock.

You vaguely hear footsteps from behind the door get closer before the door swings open.

The man who greets the two of you has tongues of fire flickering off of his otherwise human-looking body. Even his hair that hangs over his forehead seems to be made of fire. He’s also tall, towering over Jongdae, his skin a warm color.

The man narrows his eyes on Jongdae, a scowl on his face. “You ain’t welcome.”

“Aw, Chanyeol.” Jongdae’s tone is filled with mock surrender, a friendly tone. “I need help this time. Please.”

The man named Chanyeol finally seems to notice the red cloth that Jongdae is carrying contains a person. A very sick-looking person. Alarmed, Chanyeol immediately steps aside to let Jongdae into his house. “She okay?”

“I think she’ll be okay.” Jongdae answers, and you shiver again at the sudden wave of warmth the house offers. “Just need to rest up.”

You hear shuffling, your vision darkening alarmingly. 

Chanyeol’s deep voice says, “Take her to the guest room. I’ll get a fire going.”

You feel Jongdae carry you into a room, setting you gently down on the bed in a sitting position. “Yeol! You got any clothes?”

“Yeah!” He calls back. “Gimme a moment!”

A second later and Chanyeol bounds in carrying thick blankets and clothes. “Do you, uh, need help?”

“I got it.” Jongdae answers and Chanyeol leaves, closing the door shut. Jongdae’s tone is urgent but soft as he speaks to you. “Miss Ruby, can you hear me? Do you think you can change yourself?”

You shake your head slowly, and even that is already a huge toll on you. You feel so, so tired. So sleepy. You’ve been dressed by your maids back in the castle, so this shouldn’t be too terrible.

Jongdae nods, whispering a quiet apology before beginning to peel off your wet, cold clothes. He is careful, fingers deft. You are stripped down to your undergarments, and you feel slightly better without your dripping clothes. He helps you into the clothes Chanyeol offered, a large t-shirt is more than enough to cover your body. He makes you lie down, wrapping you tightly in a blanket.

Once he’s sure you’re all set, you hear him open the door. 

“You come here after ages and the first thing you do is bring a sick human girl to me. Care to explain?” Chanyeol’s voice is sharp, but quiet as to not disturb you.

“Sorry, Yeol. I meant to visit earlier, but you know I gotta do my job back at Flurin.”

Chanyeol scoffs. “Job? Please, you don’t give a shit about your job.”

“Not true.” Jongdae pipes. “Anyways, I’m taking her to see the king.”

“How’d she even get down here?”

“No clue.”

“You still owe me 30 Reds. You ain’t welcome here until you pay up.”

“I’ll pay you next time.” Jongdae sounds way too relaxed and casual.

“If it wasn’t because you have a sick person with you, I would’ve kicked you right out.”

“You love me too much for that.”

Their voices are drowned out as you fall into a deep sleep you’re scared you might never wake up from.

Previous Chapter│Next Chapter

Mismatched Destinies Mini Masterlist

A/N: Next chap will show a little more about Jongdae! I hope you enjoyed the chap 😊

Tags: @skjdln @meryljill-111192 @bloopbloopkai @solarsa @alwayslietohidethetruth @typicalpeople @weirdsofagirls @pastel-kpop @bluepsycopanda @noonaofjungkook

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©kimjongdaely

Talk to me!

[warlock-enthusiast]

Waking up slow

The Wayhaven Chronicles

Adam du Mortain x female Detective (in the future)

Detective Kat Kingston faces a murder, Unit Bravo and her mother. 

AO3link

----

I don't know where to begin But I didn't think I cared I could be your friend But I'm unprepared

Kat looked at the mirror and stuck out her tongue.

Not much to see there. Especially after getting almost no sleep. Dark circles surrounded her eyes, hollowing out her face, and giving her a constant aura of exhaustion. With her pale skin, Kat wondered, if some aspiring filmmaker would hire her for an extra in their horrorfilm. Background zombie vampire number 21. Surely she could throw in some undead moans and shuffling.

She made a note to investigate, if anyone filmed in the surrounding areas.

Dressed in a pencil skirt and blouse, Kat felt a bit more like herself. It hugged her wide hips and concealed her tummy, which she hadn’t been ready to show to the world since her early teenage years. She decided to throw in some jewelry, a long necklace, earrings, nothing special.

A dash of powder and she faced her mirror again. “You can do this. Just take a deep breath and survive the day and make sure that no one else get killed.”

She’d been the logical choice for a promotion, but she started to doubt her abilities. Always the smart one in class, Kat now found herself facing obstacle after obstacle. A killer haunted her town and evidence seemed to be spare, one dead woman, strange blood samples, Verda working over hours to get some results. But nothing made sense. Wayhaven wasn’t known for it’s high crime rate. Most of the days, she investigated neighborhood disputes, lost cats (her rate of finding them was nearing 100%) and drug related incidents at times.

Lately, doubts crawled into her sleep and made her wonder, if she deserved the title of Detective. She saw herself as neither smart nor experienced enough.

Not to mention a whole squad of agents occupied her office and station. With them around her, Kat felt out of place and small. Between the four of them were years of actual agent work and whatever they’d been paid to do.

With them, her mother had also grabbed a part of her life again.

Wonderful.

“No. Not thinking of her.” Their complicated relationship offered too many raw wounds and too many missed birthdays and the vastness of a lonely childhood. At her ripe age of 31, she surely should get over it, but bitterness seemed rooted deep within in herself. All those expensive hours of therapy, just to face the same old shit.

Kat tucked her red hair behind her ears and nodded. “Off we go then.”

Half past seven and her neighbors slowly began their day. She heard laughing children and dogs barking. The pure picture of a quiet, idyllic town. Kat wrapped her scarf a bit tighter around her neck, because the air felt cold and smelled of frost. Though, she’d always liked this time of the year, before it got uncomfortable warm and before pollen attacked her nose and eyes.

She got in her car and found herself relaxing behind the wheel, with the help of Stevie Nicks and her comforting voice. Singing along Seven Wonders worked miracles on a bad mood.

Her shoulders tensed as she noticed a familiar figure in front of the station. Handsome and rugged, Bobby owned too much space in her memories and still too much space in her life.

Kat nodded. “Bobby.” “Hey, angel. Long time no see.” He smiled and stood right in front of the entrance. Sighing, she tried to find a way around him. “Look, Bobby, I haven’t got the time.” “Come on, just some small answers. Wouldn’t hurt you, eh?”

“At this point, I can’t tell you anything. We’re investigating different angles.”

“Please.” Bobby’s eyes were bright and cheerful and Kat rubbed her neck, hoping that she didn’t blush. He’d been charming back when they meet at college and then dumped her, because he couldn’t bring a chubby girl home to meet his parents.

Yeah, that had happened.

Concentrating on how she felt back then surely helped with bringing more distance between the two of them. It also pushed the self-doubts to a new high. Damn. This morning totally screwed her over.

“The detective is needed inside.”

Kat spun around and almost crushed into Adam’s chest. “Detective Kingston.” He opened the door and positioned himself right between herself and Bobby. Her throat seemed suddenly very, very dry with Adam standing so close. Dressed in his usual grey shirt and cargo trousers, he cut an impressive figure.

“So, are you going to answer a few questions.” “No.”

Kat slipped in and ignored Bobby’s protests. She already feared what he would write about her and the Wayhaven police. Probably calling them incompetent and lazy for selling a few more papers.

“Good morning, Douglas.”

His smile looked earnest and cheerful. “Morning, Kat. Everything alright?” “Yes, thank you.” Kat nodded and followed Adam, because further stalling wouldn’t improve anyone's day.

Adam opened her office door and she walked in. “Good morning. You’re awfully early.”

“Couldn’t wait to see you, Detective.” Felix quipped and Kat felt heat rising in her neck and up to her cheeks. Being the center of attention had never been comfortable and Kat tried hide her embarrassment with focussing on anything but Felix.

A hot, steaming coffee waited on Kat’s desk and she found a note from Tina and a smiley drawn beneath it. She liked it with a dash of oat milk and cupped it in her hands as she sat down. Kat would visit her later and thank her for indulging one tired detective. The rest of the team had already made themself comfortable. Mason leaning against a filing cabinet, Felix lounging on the only other chair, Nate crunched over her desk, checking his notes and comparing them to Kat’s.

“So, another day of research?” Felix sighed loudly enough for Adam to stare him into silence again.

Nate looked up, his warm eyes on Kat. “If that is your plan of action.” She looked down to check her mails. “Yeah, we need to find out what’s going on with the blood of the victim and how it fits into all of this.”

Back in college, she’d thought about following her passion for science and enter the pathology course, but it didn't worked out. It still lingered on her mind from time to time and she spent more time than necessary down in the lab with Verda.

Kat read through the file again.

Janet Greenland. Aspiring engineer. Far too young to face such a gruesome fate.

Kat took a sip of coffee. “I’d appreciate it, if you would tell me about your findings. You’ve been tracking him for a while and must know more than me.” Nate and Adam exchanged a glance. Did they really believe themself to be subtle? They’d only known each other for a few days, but often enough she felt left out of the conversation and their secrets.

“You already received all our information.” Adam’s face seemed unmoved and his intense eyes woke a squeamish sensation in her stomach.

Kat stood up and tried to scrap together her last pieces of confidence. “I know that you’re not exactly excited to work with me, but I appreciate your insight into this and would be really grateful, if you wouldn’t leave me in the dark.”

"Detective Kingston…” Nate started, but Adam didn’t let him continue.

Felix and Mason stayed quiet, probably used to the other two butting their heads.

Kat waited for an answer, knowing that red spots started to bloom on her neck, betraying her confident words.

"So?"

"So." Adam's answer held a final note.

Tina knocked on the door, thankfully cutting through the awkward silence that followed their exchange.

“Excuse me.” Kat got up and straightened her skirt. “Time for break. There is a nice bakery around the corner, if you’re hungry. Makes good sandwiches and cupcakes.”

She left with a feeling that no one in Unit Bravo would follow her advice, and with her coffee secured between her fingers.

Her friend slung an arm around Kat's shoulders and whispered. “The blond one is still staring.” “Probably thinking less and less of me and my competence. Wouldn't blame him." Adam du Mortain usually worked with skilled professionals, not some small town Detective that got a bit lucky and who had to be rescued from noisy ex-boyfriends.

"Let's check out, if anyone has repaired our vending machine.” Kat ignored the urge to look back through the glass and just held herself a bit stiffer. “You’re still hoping to get back your money?” Tina guided her towards their break room. “I do or at least that chocolate bar.”

“Always the optimist.” Kat snorted. “Haven’t been called that in a while.”

As expected, the vending machine didn’t work and she positioned herself against the counter. Tina opened their mini fridge and made a face. Douglas had forgotten about his lunch for about a week now and it began to grew a soft pelt. They really should trow it away, but neither of them seemed brave enough to touch it.

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Tina nudged Kat’s shoulder with her own. “How you’re holding up? I mean with the case and with your mother back in Wayhaven?”

“Not that well, if you want the truth. I’m afraid for the people here and I don’t know, if I’m up to the task of catching the murderer. Unit Bravo doesn’t help as much as I thought they would.”

Kat bit her lip. “And Rebecca, hm, you know … I respect her on a professional level and that is as far as I’m thinking about her now.” “It’s a start.” “I guess.” Kat finished her coffee. Dead father, absent mother, didn’t help much growing up. She shook her head. “Enough of my stunted emotions. How was your date with… damn, what was her name? Anna?” “Annabelle.” Tina smiled. “Actually, pretty bad. We didn’t click and after dinner we decided to just accept that and part ways.” “Sorry to hear that.” “Nah, I’ll find the one and at least she didn't throw her drink at the bartender.”

Tina laughed and her eyes sparkled with amusement. Kat found herself smiling too. It seemed hard to not do when her friend was around. She also remembered their horrible double date, back when her guy got so angry about something that he threw his perfectly fine vodka soda at the Bartender. They didn’t arrest him but let him go off with a warning to behave better in the future.

“Here’s to another day in Wayhaven.” Kat raised her empty mug.

“Hear, hear!”

[snarkybluechristian]

Hazbin Hotel: Yandere Alastor x Vaggie Chapter 19

Soon the penguin chauffeur pulled up to Rosie’s Emporium and let his two passengers out of the ancient car.

Vaggie grimaced in disgust at the gaudy store but reluctantly followed as Rosie pulled her inside by the hand.

The store was larger than it looked.  The store contained multiple racks with dresses from every era and an interior that matched the design of the store’s exterior.

“Hello, ladies,” Rosie said to the two lady demons working behind the counter.  “I’m helping Alastor’s fiancée out with her shopping. I hope that’s alright.”

After giving a few nods of affirmation, the ladies went back to their work leaving Rosie to begin looking through the dresses from Alastor’s era humming a merry showtune while Vaggie was standing behind her in absolute boredom.

“So, how long are we going to be here?” Vaggie asked.

“Until we have all that we need, dear,” Rosie replied.

Vaggie realized she could get back to Angel faster if she cooperated so she walked around and started picking out dresses for herself from Alastor’s time period.

After choosing a considerable number of outfits, Vaggie brought the dresses to Rosie who took the dresses from her and began inspecting them.  

“So, you do have a sense of style,” Rosie said with her mockingly sweet voice.  “That is remarkable considering your background.”

Vaggie resisted the urge to chew out Rosie for her racism and classism and looked away.  Her eyes settled on some dresses from more modern times.

After checking behind her to make sure that Rosie was occupied, Vaggie walked over to the dresses and began checking them out as if she were shopping with Charlie.  These dresses were more her taste, but she knew Rosie and Alastor would never let her have them.  

Nevertheless, Vaggie decided she didn’t care.  She took a chance and started looking through the newer dresses on the rack.  There were many beautiful dresses that ranged from sundresses, maxi dresses, prairie style dresses, and sweater dresses.

Vaggie picked a sundress up and held it up in front of her reflection in a mirror.  Unfortunately, that was when Rosie noticed what she was doing.

“Vaggie!” Rosie shrieked jarring Vaggie immediately out of her reverie.  “What on earth are you holding?”

“A dress I actually like,” Vaggie retorted turning towards her overseer and holding the dress defensively.

“Oh, goodness!  No!” Rosie chided.  “That dress is not an option for you, young lady.”

“But I’m the ‘bride,’ right?” Vaggie snapped back feeling the anger inside her rising up.  “I should get something that I want!”

“Well, unfortunately, Alastor has a strict dress code for you,” Rosie said grabbing one end of the dress in an attempt to snatch it away.  “Now give me the dress.”

“Dress code?!” Vaggie asked incredulously pulling the other end of the dress towards her.  “Alastor’s not my fucking boss!”

“No, he isn’t,” Rosie replied pulling the dress towards her.  “He is your future husband!”

“Exactly!  Not my boss!” Vaggie yelled angrily pulling on the dress.

“Ladies, please!” a demoness with pale skin and dark green hair clad in black yelled as she ran up to the fighting ladies from behind the counter.  “You’ll rip the dress!”

She distracted Rosie just long enough for Vaggie to pull the dress away from Rosie.

“I’d like to buy this,” Vaggie said to the sales associate.

“With what money?” Rosie asked with a cruel smirk.  

Vaggie’s face fell as she realized Rosie was right.  Her funds were now out of her reach.  Alastor controlled her finances and she had no choice in the matter.

Vaggie reluctantly handed the dress over to the sales associate and watched her walk away as angry tears blinded her vision.  

Rosie patronizingly placed a hand on Vaggie’s shoulder and said, “There, that wasn’t so hard.  Was it?  Now, let’s go try on these dresses.  If we have time today, we could shop for maternity dresses when we’re done.  You’ll need them for those 8 children.”

“Excuse me?!” Vaggie replied incredulously.

“Then again, I suppose we could just alter the dresses you have now once you are with child…” Rosie rambled.

“Absolutely not!” Vaggie snapped.  “I’m not carrying his kids!”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, dear,” Rosie replied with a condescending smile.  

Vaggie scowled and turned away from Rosie.

“Right then,” Rosie said taking Vaggie’s arm.  “Let’s take you to the dressing room to try on your new dresses.”

Vaggie remained defiantly silent as Rosie escorted her into the dressing room.

“Oh, I’m so excited,” Rosie gushed.  “We’ll make you look just beautiful.  You’ll see.”

Vaggie simply groaned in response as Rosie hung the 1920’s and 1930’s dresses that Vaggie had picked out on a rack in the large, pink, private curtained dressing room where she had brought her.

“Alrighty,” Rosie said picking out a dark blue dotted, long-sleeved day dress with a bow tied on the side of the collar from the bunch.  “Let’s see which of these dresses fit you the best.”

“Hopefully none of them,” Vaggie retorted.

“Oh, Vaggie, it’s not fitting for a maiden to be so grumpy,” Rosie said walking over with the dress. “Especially not one about to be married.”

“I don’t care,” Vaggie retorted trying to hold her temper.

“Nah ah ah,” Rosie chided. “That’s not the right attitude, young maiden.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Vaggie snarled.

“Vaggie, I must ask you to simmer down or there will be consequences,” Rosie reminded her with a condescending smile.  

Reluctantly, Vaggie took a deep breath and said, “Fine.”

“Good.  Now, let’s take off your dress…”

“What?  No.  Not with you watching.”

“It’s alright, dearie. We’re both ladies.”

Vaggie tensed up nervously as Rosie walked up behind her with the new dress draped over her arm and unzipped her dress from behind.

“Oh, Vaggie, don’t be so silly,” Rosie said as she pulled down the other dress and gently pushed Vaggie forward causing her to stumble over the garment on the floor so she could pick up the old dress.  “Now, arms up.”

Vaggie groaned sadly as she did what she was told.  In a minute, Vaggie was in the dress.  She reluctantly had to admit that it didn’t look bad on her, but she refused to give Rosie the satisfaction of a smile.

Rosie stepped back, looked at her assisting penguin familiar, and asked, “Mildred, what do you think?”

The small penguin clapped her flippers and cawed in an excited tone.

“I think the same,” Rosie said with a smile.  “What do you think, Vaggie?”

“It’s okay I suppose,” Vaggie said unemotionally.  “Can we move on to the other dresses?”

“Of course,” Rosie said merrily picking up a long, short-sleeved blue dress.  “We have many more dresses for you to try on before the day is through.”

Vaggie sighed in defeat looking at the pile of dresses on the chair, only a few of which she actually liked.  She didn’t want to be there, but for Angel’s sake, she complied.

Soon, all the dresses had been tried on and Rosie had selected the best ones for Vaggie, who was standing there in a black and white flapper day frock and matching black hat.

“So, are we done?” Vaggie asked.  “Do we go home now?”

“Oh, no, Vaggie,” Rosie replied.  “Now, we have to pick out party dresses.”

Vaggie‘s face fell in absolute disappointment and she sighed in frustration.

“Oh, Vaggie, don’t you want to look pretty for the auction?  Why the long face?” Rosie asked disapprovingly.  “You’re the guest of honor after all.”

“To be honest, I’d rather attend my own funeral,” Vaggie said bluntly.

Rosie frowned and asked, “Vaggie, why should you have such an attitude?”

“I’m being forced to attend this party against my will,” Vaggie said grumpily trying to hide as much of her anger as possible.

“Oh, quit acting so spoiled,” Rosie said picking up Vaggie’s dresses so that she could carry them up front.

“Spoiled?!” Vaggie asked beginning to lose her temper.  “You think I’m spoiled?!”

“Well, you are acting like a spoiled child right now…” Rosie goaded.

“Dios mio!” Vaggie finally snapped.  “Speak for yourself!  You’re forcing a woman who’s already in a relationship to get married to a psychotic kingpin!”

“Oh, please, you could have done much better than Princess Charlie…”

“Hold on!  What’s wrong with Charlie?!”

“Do I really need to go into detail?  Besides, you’re the granddaughter of a high priest while she’s the daughter of the Devil himself.  You belong in different worlds.  She probably has dozens of suitors among her social class that would suit her just fine. You’re better off with Alastor…”

“No, I’m not!  Charlie loves me for who I am…”

“Sure, she does…”

“I know she does, and that’s more than I could ever say for your worthless, soulless, despicable bastard of a best friend!” Vaggie spat back.

“Is that so?” Rosie said in a disapproving tone that let Vaggie knew she had effed up big time.  

But unable to hold herself back, Vaggie continued her rant, “Yes, it’s the truth and you know it.  I know you don’t care what I think, so I don’t care what you think either!”

“I see,” Rosie said with a smug and devious smile.  “I wonder what Alastor will think of this outburst…”

Vaggie simply scoffed and replied, “Alastor already knows I hate him.  What difference would it make?”

“It will make a difference for Angel,” Rosie replied with a sadistic smile.

Vaggie’s face fell in shock. Her big eyes grew wider in horror.

“No…” Vaggie managed to get out.  “I didn’t do anything…”

“Yes, you did,” Rosie said gripping Vaggie’s wrist tightly and dragging her to the counter behind her. “You had your chance to get rid of that attitude of yours and now your behavior is going to cause Angel to be punished.”

“No, please!” Vaggie yelled pulling back against Vaggie’s grip.

“Don’t make this any worse than it is,” Rosies said ignoring Vaggie’s thrashing.  

“No!” Vaggie yelled. “I will not let you hurt Angel!”

Then without another word, she bit Rosie causing her to let her go and dashed for the door.  

Unfortunately, that was when Vaggie heard a snap and felt her limbs get wrapped tightly against her body before falling to the floor.  She looked up in horror to discover she had been literally mummified alive in ribbons with a bow over her mouth to gag her.

Rosie walked over to her as the moth demon thrashed around helplessly like a trapped animal, picked up the hat that had fallen from Vaggie’s head, and sighed wearily before turning to her penguin familiar and saying, “Mildred, will you be a dear and take Vaggie back to the car while I pay for these dresses?”

Mildred cawed and carried Vaggie back to the car while the latter struggled fiercely.

[bw1ove]

werewolf!yoongi au, e2f!, f2l!

warnings: somewhat sexual thoughts, explicit language

a/n: this is my first semi-serious drabble on tumblr skdjsk i wrote ffs a long time ago, but i thought i’d give it a try again and i’m a little rusty. i thought of the whole story in 10 mins and this is wrote the introduction to it. idk if i’m going to continue writing, but i’ll think about it. :)

——————————————————————————

You sip on your coffee cup and eagerly type your research essay in bitter exhaustion. You wish you could focus, but you’ve been noticing that every time you look up, a pale man stares directly at you resting his head on his hand, and you catch yourself immediately panning your eyes back at the computer writing down notes. “Why the hell is he staring at me...” You whisper to yourself in annoyance and try your best to hide your face with your hand. “CRAP-“ you squeal when you peek through your fingers and hurriedly hide with cowardice after seeing his stare intensify.

You hear a soft giggle from the man and you gotta admit, that was the cutest fucking giggle you’ve ever heard. And so, you found yourself doing the same as him, staring creepily at someone you don’t know. You noticed that this man went to your campus but never actually talked to him, much less see him in this much detail up close... kind of. But—not surprisingly—you found yourself noticing other things, because of course these things are very important. Yes details such as the way he dresses with ripped black jeans, a leather jacket decorated with small tears and pins, dirty run down midnight black converse with a gray beanie with an odd poker face in the middle. These are important details, right? You noticed that all these black and grayish white tones contrast his skin almost perfectly, and the blue veins on his bony rugged hands stood out with the silver rings across his fingers on both hands. Perfect to choke with. Oh god, don’t even get started on his face and that jaw. Those pink, doll-like lips made you ask yourself if they would fit perfectly with yours. His ears filled with piercings give you a sense of edge coming from this guy, and oh—is that a fucking dragon tattoo behind his ear?? Despite checking this guy out for a full two minutes, out of all the features you found the most beautiful on this man was his eyes. Every girl in college talks about this dude’s eyes, and because every girl has a crush on this “bad boy” getup he displays himself in. You will admit, he’s attractive. Like, hot. No one in school can top to this man’s looks, and to top it off he’s friends with two of the OTHER hottest guys which makes them even more intimidating. Wait hold on, we missed the entire point of this shit... why the hell was he staring at me???

You catch yourself sighing uncontrollably against your hand and glance at him chuckling once again and probably at you. Then before you know it, he looks at you in the corner of his eyes immediately, which surprised you to the core and his fierce stare gave you shivers. And well, you decided to be bold and stood up from your seat, trying to give him the same dominant energy his eye contact had on you and you make your way over calmly. Now—you didn’t think that when you’d head over he’d STILL be staring into your retinas and looking at how your hips sway when you walk: but here you are, standing in front of the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen.

“Excuse, me... can you stop staring at me? it’s really freaking distracting,” you say as you try and give him the most realistic smile you can. “I’m trying to type a research essay. And unless you’re going to help me type it, I suggest keeping your eyes on your phone or something.”

“Does my staring cause that much of a problem for you?” he asks with a mischievous smile on his handsome face. Fuck, even his voice is hot. This is dangerous.

Now you’ve mustered up the courage to be a little more straightforward. “Yes it does. Now I asked you nicely and I expect you to do what a nice person asks, right?”

“Pff, nah.”

Wait, what? “Wait what???”

“I don’t have to listen to you and you don’t have authority over my eyes and what I look at. And also, it’s pretty hypocritical to say you’ve done the same for about five minutes. I appreciate the offer, but nah.” He waves his hand dismissively and stares back up at you like he’s already tired of this 30 second conversation. You’re taken back, especially at the “hypocrisy” part which it is and you’re starting to get irritated.

“The fuck?? so you wanna stare at girls all day like a fucking creep, and when a girl respectfully asks you to stop you won’t stop? you’re an actual dickhead.” Now, you want answers. “Why are you staring at me anyway?”

He chuckles against the low base of his throat and looks up at you in all seriousness. “What, I can’t stare at a pretty girl doing her homework in a café?”

You scoff as he tries to pull that cheap trick with you, as that’s not the first time you’ve heard stupid shit like that. You push away the fact that you’re taken aback by his smooth words and that your heart indeed fluttered, but you hardened yourself again. “Oh please, cut that shit out. Give me your name so I can report you for harassment. Now.”

“Yoongi. Min Yoongi.” He says with a gummy smile, and your face softened at the sight. “Now give me yours so I can have your number.”

“Ew, go fuck yourself. Have fun getting this report on your record, creep.” You say as you walk off with a certain sternness. You pack up all of your stuff and glare at him while he smiles at you. Yoongi continues to stare at you walking out the café with attitude. You are indeed the cutest little thing he’s ever seen. As you walk out, you kept replaying the conversation in your head, focusing on the way he talked, the way his pink lips moved around his white skin, and his brown eyes how you noticed that when light reflects into them, orange specks appear. Hmm, min yoongi, you thought. So that’s his name.

[bgn846]

FFXV Oneshot Snow Attack

Rating: General Audiences      Archive Warning:   No Archive Warnings Apply      Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Characters:   

Ignis Scientia

Gladiolus Amicitia

Noctis Lucis Caelum

Prompto Argentum

  Additional Tags:             

Fluff

Tickle Fights

Mild Hurt/Comfort

Tickling

           Ignis and Prompto get buried by a snow drift.  Gladio and Noct get them warmed up with a little laughter.

“I think I see a foot!” Noct shouted as he raced towards the edge of the snow bank.

“Who’s?” Gladio hollered back, “Iggy or Prom?”

“Can’t tell yet.” The prince replied as he skidded to a halt and began frantically digging the snow away with his hands.  They were both wearing their crownsguard gear, so it was impossible to tell who they’d found.

“I think you got Prompto!” Gladio huffed as he continued to frantically search for Ignis.  A shiny boot heel soon appeared and Gladio grabbed hold and pulled.  Thank the six the snow bank that had collapsed was mostly powder.  There was still enough to suffocate a man but it could have been far worse.  

Noct had dug into the bank far enough to reveal Prompto’s upper legs.  The blond was kicking trying to find purchase in the ground.  He was alive that was good.  Focusing back to the other member of their party Gladio displaced more snow and found Ignis’ other leg.

Now that he had a good grip on both of Ignis’ ankles he continued to pull.  After a few seconds the snow shifted slightly and Ignis’s body came free.

Rushing forward Gladio flipped Ignis over on his back, “Iggy you okay?”

The advisor was sucking in large lung fulls of air, but he nodded and remained lying in the snow.

Squeezing his shoulder reassuringly Gladio then went to assist Noct.  Prompto seemed to be harder to extract from the bank.  Grabbing both the gunners’ legs he pulled and was able to drag Prompto free.  Breathing heavily he tried to sit up.  Unlike Ignis he’d been stuck face up in the snow.  Prompto’s face had small scratches from the ice and he was clearly trying to get his bearings.

“I used – to – to like the snow.” Prompto sputtered, “What happened?”

“I think our hunt – for a cave entrance – disturbed the area.” Ignis weakly replied as he worked to catch his breath.

“Do we have to try again?” Prompto asked worriedly.

“No!” Noct shouted, “I don’t think there’s a tomb here anyway.  We need to get back to the hotel and rest.”

For once Ignis didn’t complain.  Prompto looked like he was about to cry with relief that they were cutting the day short.

Ignis wobbled slightly once he was standing but held up his hands to indicate he was alright, “I’m fine, I wasn’t expecting to get attacked by a wall of snow today.”

Gladio nodded and motioned for the car keys, “Noct’s driving us to the hotel, you are gonna take it easy in the backseat.”

Groaning Ignis relinquished his keys and plodded along to the car.  Gladio knew Ignis had to be feeling less than okay to not even put up a fight regarding who was driving.  

Prompto seemed to be a little worse for wear.  Gladio looked over in time to see him wincing as he righted himself, “Hey blondie do you need a potion?”

“No, I’ve got a small headache.  I think a hard blob of snow hit me in the head.”

“Be sure to say something if it gets worse.” Noct requested as he stood near his friend.

“Come on, the weather doesn’t look so good we’d best get back to the hotel.” Gladio announced handing the car keys off to the prince.

They got on the road with no issue.  The incoming storm didn’t seem like it would disturb them until after they’d reached the hotel.   However, both Ignis and Prompto were shivering despite the heat in the car being turned up.

Once they’d all made it inside the room it became apparent that their normal routine had been disrupted.  Ignis stalled in the middle of the room and wavered in place.  Prompto looked miserable as he tried to rub his arms to get warm.

Deciding to take charge Gladio steered Ignis to the guest chair and pushed him down, “Relax for a moment kay?” He smiled as Ignis looked up at him.  “Prompto, do you want to take a hot shower or change and jump into bed?”

“Um the bed sounds like a good option, do we have more blankets?”

Noct sprang into action at the request and began rummaging in the closet, “I got it covered Prom, sit down on the bed and get your uniform off.”

Turning back around Gladio addressed Ignis, “Hey same goes for you, bath or bed?”

The question seemed to snap Ignis out of his stupor and he shook his head in protest, “Neither, I must get dinner started for us all.”

“Noct and I can handle that Iggy, you need to take a break.  So hot bath or bed?”

Ignis sighed in response, “I don’t know. I want to do both but the idea of having to get wet and dried off again sounds so exhausting.”

Snorting Gladio gently pulled Ignis forward in the chair, “Let me help you with your coat and boots.  You and Prompto can both hang out in the bed while we get dinner figured out.”

After five minutes Noct had helped Prompto change and he was tucked in under the covers.  The scratches on his face stood out against his pale skin.  He finally seemed to warming up though as his shivers were slowing.  Once Ignis had his pajamas on, he swiftly walked to the bed Prompto was in and jumped under the blankets.

“Wha’s going on?” Prompto mumbled.

“There is warmth in numbers Prompto.” Ignis offered as he burrowed under the covers next to the blond.

“Oh!  Good idea.” he squeaked while trying to scoot closer to the advisor.

“Gladio it looks like they are plotting against us or something.” Noct offered with a raised eyebrow.

A pair of fair haired heads was the only thing visible in the bed.  The covers had been pulled so far up it covered Prompto and Ignis’ noses.   “Are you guys warming up at all?” the shield inquired.

“Sort of.” Prompto offered.

“Same.” Ignis added.

“Huh.” Gladio announced coolly. “Noct I think we may need to help them.”

The prince looked a little worried by his statement, “How so?”

Motioning him over Gladio whispered instructions in Noct’s ear.  Ignis lifted his head up to try and hear better but there was no way he would know what was coming.

“You’re wicked.” Noct huffed.  “I got dibs on Prom.”

“And you say I’m wicked.”

“Wait what’s going on?” Prompto asked confused as he finally noticed something was happening.

Being under a layer of blankets was both a blessing and curse.  It did on one hand provide protection from wandering tickling hands.  However, it also acted as a prison if the person who owned the tickling hands was sitting on you.

Ignis squirmed trying to get away but he was stuck.  Gladio had pinned him in place under the blankets as he tickled his neck.  Being mindful to keep it light Gladio had Ignis laughing and snorting.  He’d made a point to warn Noct earlier to take it easy since their friends did have a tough afternoon.    

The sounds of laughter filled the room as prince and shield tormented their captives. After a few minutes Gladio stopped his attack and leaned back.  Noct followed suit and had a big grin on his face.  “So how about now?” Gladio asked, “Are you both still cold?”

Ignis groaned loudly, but it wasn’t believable since he was still giggling, “NO!  I’m nice and toasty now.  Right Prompto!” Ignis enthused as he nudged the blond with his arm.  

“Oh yeah, uh I’m so good.  Not even thinking about winter anymore.”

“How’s your head feel?” Noct inquired.  Gladio could see the prince was worried he might have pushed his best friend too hard.  

“It’s better actually.  I think the laughing helped.”  Prompto said earnestly, “But you don’t have to make me laugh anymore right now!  I’m still good.” He added with wide eyes.  

“Noct, can you handle making tea or hot chocolate while I go grab some takeout?” Gladio asked.

The prince agreed with a smile and Gladio crawled off the bed to go check out the food stand across the street.  He was pretty sure Noct could handle making a hot beverage.  Trying not to dwell on the thought he ordered the food.  The walk back made it evident the storm had arrived. Gladio barely made it in the lobby before the rain and sleet started.   He was thankful they were inside and not still tomb hunting.

Surprisingly Noct had managed to make hot tea and hot chocolate.  Ignis and Prompto were both cocooned in the bed with their hot beverages.  “Noct, grab the newspaper over there and spread it out over the bed.” The look his prince gave him was so comical, “We are going to eat on the bed.” Gladio instructed with a smile.

Once he understood the idea Noct rushed off to prepare the makeshift table.  The warm food and good company helped create a calm environment.  It wasn’t long after dinner was finished that Prompto nodded off.  His skin had earned some color back and he seemed content.  Ignis tried to stay up to watch TV with them, but thirty minutes into a random travel show he was softly snoring.  

“Do you think the storm will blow over by tomorrow morning?” Noct asked.

Shrugging Gladio grabbed his bag to get ready for bed, “Not sure, but if it doesn’t we can stay one more night.”

“I’d like that even if the storm is gone.” the prince announced.

“Well then you better start thinking of some good excuse to use on Iggy tomorrow morning.”

Grinning like cheshire cat Noct replied, “Nah, we can just tickle attack him again until he agrees.”

[lettersofsky]

There’s a Beginning Here, If Only You Were Brave Enough To Grasp It

Week One of Conciliatory Theme Month for @diamondsandclubsmonth ! Flirtations/Beginnings I’m definitely using this as an excuse to play around with some pale gamruss between working on other things yes I am.

Homestuck Gamzee Makara, Horuss Zahhak | <> gamruss Earth-C AU, Pale Ship, Moiralligence, Fluff, Small bit of background angst?

Horuss… had not meant to pale flirt with the Alternian Makara, he really, truly had not meant to it had just… it had just occurred without his conscious thought or effort. He was not even truly sure how it had happened, he had just…

Horuss did not even know how to start to explain what he had done to imply to the other purpleblood that he had been seeking out their attention and regards in a pale manner, he had just done so apparently.

It had not truly been his intention to fuss and worry over the other purpleblood in the manner he had upon meeting them for the first time, but Gamzee had just been so thin, so skinny and messy that Horuss had just… He just had to fuss over them.

Kurloz had brought Gamzee along to their friend group’s regular meet-up, something about wanting to get the other clown out more without exposing them to their Alternian counterparts for one reason or another and Horuss, had immediately taken to the young clown and tried to get them to eat literally everything he reasonably could. No one had really stopped Horuss, or brought the actions to his attention, not even Gamzee themself, so he had just continued with the behaviour for the rest of the night.

Thinking back on his own behaviour upon that first meeting; trying to feed Gamzee and tidy them up even the slightest amount, and the wide-eyed acceptance Gamzee had reacted to it all with. He had come on so strong, far too strong for a first meeting with someone and it was only natural that Gamzee had assumed he had pale intentions towards them.

Really Horuss was lucky that the purpleblood had not taken offense to his forwardness, he might not have been so lucky with other trolls. And Gamzee was more than within their rights to respond to them however they wished.

And if however they wished was to pale flirt with him in return then who was Horuss to stop them?

It, was not as if he was particularly unhappy about being the recipient of such intentions. It was nice to experience being on the receiving end of messages meant only for conversation and checking in on him, informing him that Gamzee had been thinking about him and just wanted to speak with him for a little while, wanted to converse and learn about Horuss and his interests and share theirs in return.

It was nice.

It should not have been nice, but it was. Horuss knew what the other Makara had done, what they were capable of and with all the warnings he’d been given about Gamzee, he was aware that allowing the pale flirtations to occur and continue might not have been in his best interest.

terminallyCAPRICIOUS started trolling clandestineTECHNICIAN

TC: yO :o) TC: HoW YoU DoInG ToDaY PoNyBrO?

CT: 8=D I am fairing quite well on this hay, thank you for your inquiry. CT: 8=D Hay I inquire as to how you are doing in return?

TC: oH HeLl yEaH PoNyBrO :oD TC: I’M DoIn aLl kInDs a gOoD ToDaY TC: MoThErFuCkEr wEnT An hAd tHeMsElF A GoOd aF DaY GeTtIn tHeIr bAkE On TC: mAkIn aLl kInDs a dOuGh XoD  

CT: 8=D So you are prospering in your current career choice then? CT: 8=D That is mare than good to hear, I am glad that things are working out well for you.

TC: aW BrO TC: YoU MaKiN A MoThErFuCkEr bLuSh yOu iS TC: AlL Up aN BeIn hApPy tHaT I’M DoIn gOoD FoR MySeLf TC: nEaR DoWnRiGhT ShAmEfUl yOu iS ;o)

CT: 8=D I suppose you could hay that, though I would neigh call concern towards you shameful by any meaning of the word, neigh at all in fact. CT: 8=D I am simply very glad to hear that you are doing well for yourself in the occupation you hoof chosen as worthy of your time. CT: 8=D I can only hope that it continues to treat you kindly as time continues to pass.

TC: PoNyBrO’S BeIn aLl kInDs a bLaTaNt wItH HiS AtTeNtIoNs iS He? ;o) TC: ‘NoUgH Ta wInD A MoThErFuCkEr’s pUmPeR Up fOr hE’S TaKiN IfFiN He wAs tHe kInD Ta bE TaKiN It ;o) TC: bUt a mOtHeRfUcKeR HaD A DiFfErEnT ReAsOnIn tA BeIn aLl uP An iN CoNtAcTiN WiTh yA

CT: 8=D Oh really?

TC: MoThErFuCk yEaH I DiD :oD TC: I WaS WaNtIn tA KnOw iF Ya’d bE CoOl wItH Me cOmIn tA ExIsT In yA HiVe a bIt TC: gOtS A ThInG I WaNnA Be gIvIn yA :o)

CT: 8=D A gift? CT: 8=D You did neigh need to acquire anything to gift to me, truly you did neigh.

TC: NaH I AlL Up aN WaNtEd tOo :oD TC: i tHiNk yA GoNnA Be aLl kInDs a eXcItEd tA SeE It! TC: I Be hOpIn sO At lEaSt XoD

CT: 8=D I am sure that whatever you hoof decided to gift me with I will enjoy it immensely.

TC: dAwW! TC: lOoK At tHiS PoNyBrO BeIn aLl kInD ToWaRdS Me TC: sTrAiGhT Up mIrAcLe yOu iS

CT: 8=D Now you are starting to approach acting foolishly.

TC: It’s bEiN AlL KiNdS A TrUe tHoUgH ;o)

CT: 8=D I shall see you soon enough Gamzee.

TC: Be sEeIn yA SoOn pOnYbRo :o)

terminallyCAPRICIOUS has ceased trolling clandestineTECHNICIAN

Horuss did not really care as to listen to anyone else’s warnings regarding the more dangerous of the Makaras. What he thought and his decisions did not really effect anyone but he himself and if he wanted to be the recipient of Gamzee’s pale attentions and give the clown his in return then he would.

This was not the first time he had had Gamzee within the space of his hive, nor did he believe it was going to be the last. He enjoyed having the other within his space, it felt good to have them there, to have them so wrapped up and surrounded by things that were wholly and completely Horuss’ was a very good feeling indeed. Especially when the clown decided to stay for dinner and let Horuss feed them with things he had earned and prepared himself, that was definitely an occurrence that inspired a number of pale feelings in his chest.

He had not had the courage to bring up the flirtations and intents with Gamzee, not face to face as he wanted to he just… was not quite ready to take that final step to tell Gamzee as to what he wanted with their… relationship. He believed that they were both more than aware of what they wanted from each other, that they were being more than blatant with their flirtations towards each other but neither of them were ready to actually talk about it.

They would talk about it eventually, Horuss knew they would it was only a matter of time really, there was no need to rush either of them, none at all, they would get there at their own pace.

Gamzee arrived within the next hour, dressed in clean clothing that pleased Horuss quite a bit to see, a gift held within their hands and a small smile on their face, lips quirking more so when Horuss stepped back to invite them into his hive.

“It is good to see you,” he said as he closed his door behind Gamzee, secluding them both within the safety of his walls. “Feel free to make yourself at home.”

Gamzee nodded and moved with the confident assurance of someone who’d been in the space a number of times before and was comfortable in the space they were in, another thing that had pale starbursts firing off inside the base of his chest. Having someone else so comfortable and at ease within his space, watching Gamzee drop into the corner of the couch and immediately press their spine into it, churring a soft, content noise once they were comfortable.

Horuss blinked, shaking his head a little bit as he realized that he was staring at the clown, forcing himself to move forward and join Gamzee on the couch, attempting to settle on the opposite side of the purple blood in a near-instinctive motion before the clown gestures for him to sit closer, next to him on the piece of furniture. He swallowed once they were both seated and settled, looking down towards the fidgeting clown next to him, looking them over closely.

“You look good,” he said, watching Gamzee’s head snap up towards his, purple eyes blinking up at him curiously before they realized when Horuss had said and a flush of colour became just barely visible under their face paint. “You hoof been eating correctly, hoof you neigh? You certainly look like you hoof, which is mare than good because I GREATLY prefer when you look healthy and neigh like you are about to crumble into yourself at a marement’s notice.”

“Aw you motherfuckin smooth talker, you,” Gamzee said, head ducking and the half-formed fins on their ears fluttering slightly. “Know how ta get a motherfucker inta their pumper cavity, ain’t ya?”

“I suppose so,” Horuss chuckled lowly, raising a hand to muss through his long ponytail. “But you came around to gift me something, did you neigh?”

“Yeah,” Gamzee breathed, turning the plainly wrapped package in their hands for a few breaths before they handed it to Horuss, keeping their attention focused down instead of on Horuss himself. “I be hopin ya enjoy it.”

“Thank you,” Horuss took the package from Gamzee’s hands, carefully starting to unwrap it to reveal what was being held within.

The paper fell away to revealed a round metal tin, cool and smooth under Horuss’ hands. Opening the lid of the tin revealed a number of decorated biscuits in the shape of hoofbeasts, Horuss recognized each one’s colouring as hoofbeasts he’d shown the clown at previous points in time, either through trollian or in their day to day interactions.

“I…” he started, falling silent as he was unable to think of anything in particular to say in response to the gift.

“Do you… like ‘em?” Gamzee questioned softly, shifting closer to Horuss on the couch, a clawed hand reaching out to curl purposely around his wrist, a steady, comforting weight on his skin.

“I do,” he breathed, picking one of them up to inspect it closely, looking over the details in the frosting, the main, the hoofbeast’s face, so much little detail worked on just for him. “Thank you Gamzee.”

[borderlinedennisr]

fic: mac/dennis, dennis-centric

i started thinking about what dennis would do if ur heard that ms kl*nsky had just passed, and i got carried away

warnings: csa mentions, suicidal ideation, self harm mentions, alcohol abuse

.

Dennis is drunk. It’s not out of the ordinary. What is, however, is the fact that he’s wearing a half-buttoned suit, Italian leather shoes, and he’s sat in a waiting cell with three other arrestees.

His head is swimming. Every noise reverberating through the police station is starting to chip away at his patience. Could someone just get him some fucking ibuprofen? He’d happily comply to anything for 400 mg of Advil and a cup of hot coffee.

He tries to focus. He taps a steady rhythm on his knee. His vision is cloudy. He had a lot to drink tonight. And this afternoon. And this morning. His stomach gives a wrench and he involuntarily groans.

“Turn the other direction,” someone hisses at him. “I just bought these shoes.”

Dennis wants to laugh, but everything hurts.

“Hey, this dude’s ‘bout to hurl! Can we get a trash can or something.”

“I’m fine,” Dennis protests. He holds up a hand, but it trembles.

“Dennis Reynolds?”

He points his head in the direction of the voice, but closes his eyes against his blurred vision. He might actually throw up if he doesn’t get it under control.

“It’s time for your phone call.”

Dennis is hoisted upward involuntarily. He’s glad he doesn’t have to think about who he’s going to call. His head is pounding.

.

Mac’s woken up by the sound of his phone vibrating against the coffee table. The sad part is it’s only 9:30 P.M. He’d clearly fallen asleep watching some ... game. His hand grabs the phone and answers it automatically.

“What’s up?”

“Mac? It’s Dennis.”

Mac’s heart stumbles a little. Dennis sounds weird.

“Dude, where are you? Are you okay?”

Dennis heaves a long sigh. “Look - I’m a little bit drunk and I, uh - well - just come to the police station, okay? I’ll explain in person, when ... when I’m more sober.”

Mac blinks. “You got arrested?”

“I’ll explain when you get here,” Dennis insists.

“Dennis, are you okay? What were you doing tonight?”

“Mac, I’m kind of on a tight schedule, here.”

Mac doesn’t seem to register that, because he continues waxing poetic.

“It’s just - you’ve seemed off lately.”

“Mac,” Dennis says sharply.

“Yes?” Mac asks

“Just come to the police station. I have to go.”

He hangs up, leaving Mac listening to the dial tone. Mac sighs.

.

Nobody at the police station knows how to do their goddamn job. Mac just needs to make sure Dennis is okay. He seemed spooked on the phone. In that way that Mac knows to associate with dissociative episodes.

“I’m just looking for my roommate,” Mac presses, pleading with the officer currently on desk duty.

“Sir, you’re gonna have to wait a minute; I’m on in important call,” she snaps out.

“You don’t understand,” Mac retorts. “He’s - he’s vulnerable. I need to make sure he’s okay.”

“Sir, if you just give me one second - “

“I can’t wait a second. I need to know he’s okay. He - he gets in these moods sometimes, and well - I don’t really know what he did to end up here, but he’s usually more of a danger to himself when he’s like that, and - “

“Dietrich?! Get over here, and get this man out of my face.”

Mac watches an officer at least a foot taller than him round the desk. He falters.

“Look, I’m not trying to cause, trouble. I’m just worried about my friend - “

“Mac!”

He turns, a grin of relief spreading across his face. Dennis is walking down a hallway, hands cuffed, being lead by the arm of another, nicer-looking officer.

Mac makes a dash for it, skirting the freakishly tall Dietrich, and heading for Dennis. The officer holding his arm grips tighter.

“Excuse me, sir. Please take a step back.”

Mac does. “I’m his roommate. Just tell me what his bail is, so I can get him out of here.”

The officer sighs. “He doesn’t have a bail yet. We’re on the way to his initial hearing right now.”

“What? What are you charging him with?”

“Indecent exposure - “

“It’s not what you think,” Dennis immediately protests. “I - uh - “

“Disorderly intoxication.”

“That’s just downright - “

“And grave desecration.”

Dennis just purses his lips in respond.

“Not to mention your priors.” The officer tugs him roughly. “Now let’s go.”

“Wait - “ Mac starts.

“Boyfriend! You can come too,” the officer says. “Now, quit wasting my time.”

Mac pulls out his cell phone as he follows after them.

“I’m calling Frank,” he tells Dennis. “We’ll figure this out.”

.

“Mr. Dennis Reynolds.”

“That’s me,” Dennis mutters.

“You’ve been brought to council under the chargers of indecent exposure, disorderly intoxication, and grave desecration. Do you understand these terms.”

“Yes,” Dennis says shortly, “but if I could just explain - “

“You’ll get your chance in a minute. Now, - “

“Ayooooooooo!”

The doors to the room fly open, and through them walk Frank, Charlie, and Dee. Dennis groans. He’s still way too drunk for this.

“Uh - excuse me - who are you?” the judge asks.

Dennis wishes he could break out of these handcuffs. Just to give Frank a good neck-wringing.

“Not. Now.” he hisses through his teeth.

“I’m here to pay my son’s bail.”

“Right,” the judge says. “Well, that is what I’m trying to decide. If you could please take a seat and allow me to do my job, we will get there.”

She clears her throat.

“Mr. Reynolds, when you were brought in, your blood alcohol content was .25.”

Somebody whistles. Dennis doesn’t want to know who, but he has a feeling it’s his dumbass father.

“I was drinking today, yes.”

“That excessively?” The judge’s gaze bares down on him over the rim of her wire glasses.

“It’s been a hard day,” he forces out. His throat is suddenly dry.

“Mr. Reynolds, it would be easy to assume the ramifications of grief in your incident, had we only the public intoxication and the presence of yourself in a graveyard, yet -“ She makes a show of checking the police report. “You were found urinating on a grave.”

Dennis clenches his jaw. “Did you get a name on the grave?”

The judge checks the file. Her eyebrows crease together. She glances to someone off to her right, who then approaches her. They whisper something Dennis can’t hear.

“We did not get a name, Mr. Reynolds. However, the owner of the grave has no relevance to - “

“Klinsky,” Dennis interrupts.

“I beg your pardon,” the judge says.

“Klinsky,” Dennis repeats. “The name on the grave was Klinsky.”

Dennis doesn’t have to look to know that behind him, all members of the gang have become rife with tension. The judge clearly notices it too, because her expression changes. She glances at the members of his support party.

“I take it you know this person,” she says, awkwardly clearing her throat.

Dennis laughs, darkly. It probably doesn’t help his case.

“She was my school librarian.”

He lets the silence ring for a second. He doesn’t know exactly where he’s going. He doesn’t like sharing, but it feels almost involuntarily.

“When I was 14. She - “ Dennis swallows hard. This better fucking emancipate him. “She molested me, several times.”

After a long, agonizing second, the judge takes a deep breath and collapses against the chair.

Dennis feels impatience buzz under his skin. “What, you don’t believe me?”

The judge shakes her head. “Mr. Reynolds, I’m dropping all charges. You’re free to go.”

A couple odd claps ring out. Dennis doesn’t care. He shoves his wrists to his public defender, who motions for the attending officer to join them. He unlocks the handcuffs. Dennis glances at his long-fading scars while he rubs his tender skin.

Mac is the first to reach him, placing both hands on either of Dennis’ upper arms. “Den, are you okay?”

Dennis chuckles. “Why wouldn’t I be? I just got off scott-free. I don’t even know why she believed me.”

“Because you’re crying, Dennis.”

His eyes snap up to meet Mac’s. An involuntary hand feels his face. His fingers come away with tear stains.

“Oh.”

Mac wipes a fresh tear from his cheek.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Dennis shrugs. “It was just a chance I saw that Facebook post. Everything after that was rage.”

Mac cups his jaw with one hand, keeps the other on Dennis’ bicep.

“Let’s go home, get you sobered up.”

Dennis doesn’t really like the idea of sobering up, but at least if he’s with Mac, there’s a silver lining.

.

Dennis falls asleep with ease, lying comfortably in his bed. Pleased, Mac passed out beside him, foolishly reassured.

It’s still dark outside when Mac wakes up to an empty bed. Panic floods Mac’s bloodstream. He unceremoniously de-tangles himself from the blankets and stumbles upward. He hears a violent fetching sound and hurries to bathroom.

Dennis is pale-faced on the floor, and in the fluorescent light from overhead, Mac can see the excessive damage he must have done to himself in the past 24 hours. He makes a mental not to keep on eye on the state of the wounds while Dennis regains his composure.

“I drank . . . a lot.”

Mac eases himself to his knees.

“How much are we talking?” he asks, placing a hand on Dennis’ clammy forehead. “Should I be worried?” He grabs Dennis’ chin and forces it up, trying to get a better look at Dennis’ eyes.

Dennis clears his throat. “Nah. I always thought alcohol poisoning was pretty much how I would go anyway.”

Mac frowns. “Don’t do that - “

Dennis laughs, darkly. “It’s not like I have a history or anything.”

Mac’s expression flips, and he looks at Dennis with glassy eyes and a trembling mouth. “Were you - ?”

Dennis shrugs. “Who knows.”

Mac grabs his neck, almost roughly, and cradles his hand against Dennis’ skin. “Talk to me,” he begs.

A warm, disruptive tear slips down Dennis’ cheek. He sighs. He’s tired of involuntarily crying. He’s still blasting chunks, but god does his hand itch for the bottle.

“What do you want me to say, Mac?” he asks, voice low and gruff, barely above a whisper. “That I’m angry? That I’m sad?” He offers a crooked smile. “That I’m furious at that bitch for fucking me up beyond repair? And maybe I wish I could have gotten even just a word in edgewise before she decided to croak? That now I’m so fucking depressed that I want nothing more than to just kill myself so I can stop feeling this horrible and endless hurricane of emotions?”

He spits into the toilet. “Because I’m fine. I’m glad that perverted old bitch is dead. I’m ecstatic.”

Mac heaves a deep breath. “Dennis - “

He’s saved the trauma of continuing the conversation by another wave of vomit forcing its way out.

.

When dawn breaks, Mac hears his name in a soft voice. It takes him a moment to register that Dennis is awake in the bed beside him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks earnestly.

Dennis’ voice trembles. “If our situations were reversed, I would remove everything sharp from our apartment.”

Still a bit bleary, Mac takes a second to digest the words before fully realizing what Dennis is saying. Then he’s on his feet.

“Is your secret blade stash still in the loose floorboard under the sink?”

Dennis blinks. “I - “

Mac nods. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

By the time Mac has packed every knife, blade, and vaguely edgy kitchen utensil in a plastic bin and dropped it off at Dee’s, Dennis is asleep again.

Mac doesn’t disturb him.

.

It happens when they’re eating breakfast. Mac looks up to discover Dennis crying into his eggs. He makes a move to get up, but Dennis shakes his head.

“Den?”

And he laughs. He laughs and he wheezes and his eyes start to water even more and Mac just stares, confused.

“Mac, you should have seen everyone’s faces when I walked into the funeral home drunk as shit and grabbed the mic. I made up a touching story about how I babysat her cats once and may or may not have stolen a family heirloom in a crime they cannot prove.”

Mac stares at him, half horrified, half amused. “You crashed funeral?”

“And I flirted with her grandson. Sorry, babe.”

“It’s fine. Clearly, it didn’t work out.”

Dennis heaves a stuttering breath the tears starting up again.

“I always hated you guys for bringing her up, but you were always right.”

“Dennis - “

“And, I know I’ve done a lot of bad things, and - “

He presses a shaky hand against his chest. He might be hyperventilating, but he can’t stop babbling now.

“Dennis, you don’t have - “

“Sometimes I think - sometimes I think I deserve it.”

“ . . . Dennis.”

He smiles at Mac. “You can’t argue that, and you know it.”

Mac shakes his head firmly. “You were a kid - “

“And look at me now.”

“Dennis Reynolds, stop being fucking stupid. You were a kid. You did not deserve that, and you still don’t. And I’m sorry.”

Dennis looks up, curiously. “For what?“

Mac shrugs. He’s crying. Dennis doesn’t comment on it.

“That that happened to you, man. It’s like - you know how you and everyone else kept trying to get me to come out of the closet and admit who I was to myself?”

Dennis nods, uncertain where this is going.

“It was killing me. Keeping everything bottled up, not letting myself feel things, forcing myself to live in fear everyday - it made me hate being alive. Dennis, you’ve been suicidal since we met. You have to let go of everything you’re holding inside, and this is the start. I know it hurts now, but it’ll change.”

Dennis looks to the ceiling and squeezes his eyes shut. A sob chokes it’s way out of his throat.

“I don’t even know where to start, Mac,” he whispers.

“Anywhere,” Mac tells him.

Dennis wishes he has the energy to smile, but he’s so tired. He pushed his plate away. He wipes at his eyes and sniffs.

“Can we call in today?”

[complicatedandstained]

The Other Day at Hot Topic: Something Pretty

“Find something pretty for me, Roxas?”

Roxas recognizes the voice instantly, which would be less embarrassing if the sound of it didn’t resonate in his ear like a musician hitting a note just right, or if it didn’t turn his stomach into something like grape jelly.

Kneeling on the floor of Hot Topic, Roxas sits beside an open plastic display case of piercings, intimately acquainting himself with products he’s never given a second glance before, as he tries to remember Aqua’s instructions on what goes next to or in front of what, and on which display.

Which is to say that he does not remember.

She had promised to answer any questions he had, and then promptly left on her fifteen-minute break.

Despite the excitement with Vanitas, it’s still pretty early in the morning, and with his fatigue catching up, it takes Roxas a moment to cobble together his five-star response. “Axel, hey.”

Setting a short stack of neon colored plastic balls on metal rings back in the box, and internally telling his stomach to chill the fuck out already, Roxas glances up.

It is a huge mistake. His eyes have to climb a pair of metallic gold jeans, hugging calf and thigh muscles, before they can skim the hard lines beneath a black V-neck, pass over pale, sun freckled skin, and settle on the shock of loose, unstyled red spikes and amused green eyes.

So, he didn’t sleep off that crush thing, like, at all, then.   

“Putting out some new ear thing-a-ma-jigs,” Roxas explains, lifting one to get the jade gaze off of him before something in his chest decides to implode.

“Well…” Axel leans forward, the metallic denim flashing in Roxas’ peripheral. “Actually.”

Roxas is pretty sure no one has a right to look that damn good in a pair of pants. You know, legally speaking.

Axel tilts the piercing in Roxas’ hand toward him with his fingertips. “That’s a tongue thing-a-ma-jig,” he smirks lightly, “but I appreciate your enthusiasm.”

Roxas fights with a smirk of his own. “Shut up, I’ve had a rough morning.” He can’t resist sticking out his own tongue. Does Axel have to be good at everything? “Know-it-all.”

Axel’s smile brightens. He must bleach it. “It’s literally my only job.”

Roxas laughs and returns to rooting through the box, pulling out another slip of cardboard and plastic that had caught his eye earlier and setting it in Axel’s palm. “There.”

“Yes, good. Plugs,” Axel teases as he flutters the package in front of Roxas’ eyes. “These are for ears.”

“No, I mean,” Roxas’ brow furrows, and he turns his attention back to the box, “ah, fuck it.”

But Axel doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. “Mean what, Roxas?” his needling lilt would be grating, Roxas decides, if it didn’t seem to serve as a thin paper wrapping actual concern.

“I thought you’d…” Roxas looks up, you know, like an idiot, and gets stuck again on curious green eyes, until the next words come out more a mumble, “maybe like those.”  

“Oh.” Axel leans back on his heels, twisting the packaging between his fingers and drawing it up to examine. “Shit. Yeah?”

Roxas rubs at the checkered cuff along his wrist, offers a half smile. The plugs were black, like Axel’s own, with a mandala cut out revealing a whirl of purple, green, and pale yellow. “They’re little stained-glass windows.”

Axel runs his thumb across the plastic. “How about that?” he muses softly, scarlet brows rising.

“It’s dumb.” Roxas’ face feels stretched, sunburnt, his thumb fumbles at the joint of his glasses. “I just liked them, and I thought—”

“I’ve always liked stained glass windows.”

Roxas shuts his eyes. “You’re just saying that.”

“Nah,” Axel waves off Roxas’ second-guessing. “I’ve never seen anything like these, and I’ve seen a million of ‘em.”

“Yeah?” Roxas shifts purposelessly through the befuddling contents of the box, unwilling to look up in case his flush has burnt through the golden tan the islands gift him when he’s home too long.

“Yeah.” A toe prods at Roxas’ side until Roxas swipes at Axel’s boot, grinning up at him in spite of himself. “Thank you, Roxas.”             

Chastising himself as he realizes his temperature rises ten degrees every time Axel drops the hard R in his name, Roxas returns to his work, nods. One shoulder lifts. “Sure.”

In his peripheral, another mirage-like shimmer of gold as Axel leans forward like he’s got something clever to say, and then decides against it. “Hey, if you’re doing okay, I gotta,” Axel fingers the silver hoops lining his helix and winces, “go be responsible.”

“Oh,” Roxas blurts, before he can stop himself. “Right, yeah.” He shrugs. Fistfuls of piercings occupy both hands, and a couple drift to the floor. “Do that.”  

“Don’t miss me too much.” Axel chuckles. “I’ll be right back.”

Roxas’ shoulder lifts again and he misses the frown he earns in response.

Axel takes a few steps forward, pauses, doubles back.

“You know.” Axel halts, just a step past the blonde on the floor now, facing the opposite direction. Nostalgia thickens his voice, as he raises the plugs to eye level again. “When I was younger my grandma used to drag me to church every once in a while, trying to save my little heathen soul.”

Confused but intrigued, Roxas stills, cringes a bit.

“And Grandma wasn’t fucking around…”

Roxas snorts and sees a grin pull at Axel’s lip as the redhead turns to bear witness to the sound.

“…Went to this big-ass Gothic cathedral in the heart of Radiant Garden.”

Roxas lifts his chin to see Axel’s sweeping gesture, up and toward the ceiling, as if his spindly fingers could paint pillars in the aisles of Hot Topic.

“And that was a brand-new word for me. Soul. That’s how hedonistic my parents were.” Axel’s fingers swish fondly, and Roxas has a sudden desire to know what kind of people had resulted in this.

“And I was a literal sort of kid, so sitting in that rock-hard pew, staring up, I kinda always figured souls must look something like those huge stained-glass windows, y’know? Mosaics of color and light, pictures of people and things that really mattered…Sometimes beautiful, sometimes all clouded up, sometimes blinding.”

Roxas’ throat dries. He can almost see them himself, a million kaleidoscopic crystals of light weaving together.

Words seem insufficient—unnecessary. He nods.

Axel looks a bit sheepish, unleashing words Roxas gets a sense he’s never said before. Rubbing at his shoulder, the underside of each forearm reveals a tattoo, black V’s blossoming into single, fully colored tongues of flame pausing a few inches before wrist and elbow. Roxas imagines Axel’s window might look like that. Sharp scarlet, electric orange, soft yellow: fiery, expressive, bright, and just a little dangerous.  

“I used to try and draw them,” Axel admits, “way back when, but I could never quite…” he grasps at the air like he’s trying to catch fog, the black leather cords around his wrist slipping down. He matches his eyes to Roxas’ again, but once more the words don’t come. Axel shakes off the memory. It seems to evaporate from his expression like smoke from a shaken match and the wry smile returns, as he turns away. “Anyway,” Axel says. “Bet yours would be pretty, all that gold in the sunshine.”  

With this final swordthrust through Roxas’ crushing heart, Axel picks his way around Roxas’ set up and saunters toward the back room where Vanitas is hiding out, blue eyes trailing after him.

“Yours too,” Roxas murmurs lamely, but if Axel hears him, he doesn’t react.

*          *

Axel wonders dimly what it is about Roxas that makes him feel guilty every time he leaves his side. Thoughts of crumbling white pillars and an ocean blue window with sand golden ridges spiral in Axel’s head as he pockets the plugs he’ll buy later and shifts the door marked ‘Staff Only’ open, offering it his usual grin for the sake of irony.

Axel finds Vanitas sitting at the desk in the back, beside a computer and a set of security monitors. He has his chin resting on his arms, his headphones hugging his neck and his eyes straight on Roxas in a security frame. He’s watching Axel’s new friend layering packages of piercings on a display shelf, a step off from where Axel had just been standing himself. In other words, playing I Spy: Hot Topic Edition.

And yeah, sure, Roxas is pretty fucking adorable, but that’s not exactly an excuse.

“Slacking off again, V?” Axel teases. He can feel the teeth behind his words, sharper than the ones he jabs at Demyx’s lazy bones.

Only a flicker of Vanitas’ eyes acknowledge Axel’s presence.

“Overcompensating again, Ax?”

Axel wonders if Vanitas is referring to the silent conversation he’d been snooping on, or Axel’s metallic gold pants.

Probably the pants.

Axel can feel his mouth drop into a scowl before his lazy smirk reasserts its dominance. “No need,” he purrs, pocketing his hands and striding right up behind the prickly douchebag. “Break’s over. Out.”

Vanitas is not one to hide his scowls. “Technically, I have more right to be back here than you do.” He relinquishes the chair anyway.

Axel sinks into black pleather, spinning around to face the monitor, fatigued at the prospect of fast-forwarding through hour long segments of Hot Topic employees unloading boxes at paces that would put sloths to shame. “Technically, you should have been fired by now.”

Vanitas shrugs.

If Vanitas were smart, he’d leave it at that and get to work. Axel won’t be awarding him a scholarship any time soon. He can feel the shadow lingering just past his shoulder, watching him load the security footage.

“You probably don’t want to watch that,” Vanitas sings, too fucking close to his ear, and Axel snaps the chair back around sharply.

Axel’s assessing glare must chill even Vanitas’ soul, because the guy unconsciously runs knuckles over the glossy blazer buttons above his abdomen and backs off a couple steps.

“Why?”

Vanitas regroups, sneering at his informational upperhand, and gestures to the blonde bedhead still shifting around on-screen, trying to reattach a plastic door to the piercing display case that he likely has no idea was already broken to begin with.

“Yeah, okay, sure.”

Roxas is sweeter than a slice of strawberry shortcake with cream, Xigbar complains in Axel’s head.

Vanitas flutters a hand over his heart, facial features and voice softening eerily as he tries to feign innocence, “Wouldn’t want anything to come between you and your precious new bestie.” Vanitas chuckles, flipping up a palm in consideration. “I mean, aside from the obvious.”

Axel has too much pride to ask what the fuck that’s supposed to mean.

Scoffing, Axel continues booting up the program on the computer, waving Vanitas in the direction of the salesfloor. “If you’re not going to tell me what you did, get lost.”

If something had happened, Roxas would have said so. Right?   

But as much as Axel wants to believe Vanitas is spouting absolute bullshit, the voice of experience is tying Eagle Scout level knots in his stomach.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Vanitas takes up a fully loaded rack of hanging clothes, (maybe he really had been working?) and rolls it out of the cluttered backroom and onto the floor.

Axel mentally runs through his conversation with Roxas again, chastising himself for oversharing, though Roxas hadn’t seemed to mind, had almost seemed to get it, even.

Nothing weird from Roxas, though, other than the new hipster vibes his thick rimmed glasses and khaki pants had given him. That, and his, frankly tragic, lack of knowledge about tongue piercings.

Shut up, I’ve had a rough morning. The Roxas in Axel’s head smirks and parts pouty pink lips to stick out a pretty pink tongue. Axel chides himself for zeroing in on that, but shit.

Shit.

Axel adjusts the settings on the security program and hesitates only a heartbeat before pressing play.