#also i just saw this and it made me very happy

[defrosted69]

My Hype Boy P.4 (Kim Minji)

............................................................................

A/N: The last and the end of "My Hype Boy" series. It took quite a long time but here it is. and be sure to be ready because this is ANGST and not fluff (Or is it?). Hope you guys have enjoyed this series and happy reading. I suggest you guys to listen to the song "Only" by LeeHi or some good heartbreak music.

(9k words)

.

.

.

"He's mine! Let go!"

"Sorry little kid, But he's my boyfriend~"

"Why I attah-Yah! Minji say something!"

Hanni was pent up in wrath as Minji jerked slightly, shocked and surprised by her companion. She hadn't seen Hanni so enraged in a long time, and her mind was bewildered by Hanni's statements. How would she communicate if she couldn't speak? As Rei and Hanni glanced at you, you couldn't help but giggle at her raised eyebrows.

"What’s so funny Oppa?"

"What got you giggling Y/N?"

You sighed, a little smile on your face. Although both of your arms were very much occupied and tied up by Rei and Hanni, you can very well explain why you laughed.

"You're really telling a mute girl to talk about this? Really Hanni?"

Minji grinned and giggled cutely as she heard your comments, covering her lips beautifully with her palm. Rei, on the other hand, couldn't help but smile and laugh when he realized what you had said. Hanni, on the other hand, was as red as a tomato with humiliation since she had not considered the words she had just spoken.

"Well at least I got to make you smile. That's an additional points for me right?"

Hanni grinned before squeezing your arm even more, expressing her want to be with you. Of course, this simply fueled Rei, who had an idea that neither Hanni nor Minji could match. Her face lit up with a mischievous smile. Pulling away from your arm, you gazed at Rei with relief and confusion written over your face. Because you know Rei wouldn't let Hanni win that easy, right? What she did next, however, surprised you.

With her gentle fingertips, Rei began unbuttoning her top blouse. Your eyes widened as Rei realized she had captured your undivided attention. With a smug look on her lips, she entirely removed one button, leaving enough space to see the slice of pie in her gold mounts. As she returns to holding to your arm, her gentle mountains envelop your arm in between, and your heart and mind race.

"Did she win a point Y/N? Hehe~"

Rei said with a hint of seduction on her voice. Her eyes stared at you full of mischief and eagerness as the tension between you took a different jump.

Minji blushed and hid her eyes, ashamed by what she was witnessing, since her cute soft Squeak reaction had the potential to alleviate global hunger and prevent world conflicts.

Hanni, on the other hand, appeared horrified by Rei's tactics. She knew it was wrong, but in love, everything can be utilized, so instead of becoming irritated, she devised her own scheme. She let go of your arm, pretending to trip in front of you. Of course, your attention was drawn to Hanni, whose health was also a concern for you. Minji opened her eyes and gasped gently as she seen her companion trip and stagger in front of you. She kneeled down to assist her. But the instant Rei saw Hanni's trip, she rolled her eyes since she knew exactly what Hanni was planned.

"Hanni, you alright?"

As you reached down to assist her, Hanni abruptly raised her behind, bringing your face nearly entirely into contact with her behind. You don't know whether to applaud or despise your reflexes since the longer you lay on the floor, the more your eyes feasted on the treasure you were witnessing. Hanni began wiggling her ass seductively while fixing herself up. Not only that, she was aware that she had already captured you with her own advantages, so she took advantage even further. She bended her back as if to stretch it out, but it just made you gaze at her behind even more as she fully exposed them to you.

Minji shielded her eyes again and let out a lovely Yelp when she noticed what her buddy was doing in front of you. She felt sorry but yet proud of Hanni for attempting to counter Rei's advantages over you.

"Ahh, My back hurts. Mmhpph."

Hanni was making noises you were familiar with from the adult world, which caused your eyelids to flicker faster than normal. The voices in your brain were warring about what to do. Rei opted to exacerbate the situation as she stood behind you, hands sliding down your chest and a pair of soft squishy cushions massaging your neck. Her voice caused a tickle on your neck as she breathed hot air.

"You wouldn't want that right Y/N? You would rather choose BOOBS than ASS right?"

"I-I... I... I..."

"Oppa~ this ASS will clap for you only~"

"I. I-I..I..I.."

"Choose me Y/N~"

"Choose me Oppa~"

Everything was going nuts for you. The ideas in your brain were fighting demons about what to do, and it seemed that the demons were winning. The devil's offer was something you'd never get again, and it was an opportunity that every man would give anything for. But with one component separating everything, you latched onto that resolve and came to a conclusion.

"Out!"

"What?"

"Huh?"

Rei and Hanni froze for a few seconds, unable to respond to your unexpected demand. Your voice was not as warm and compassionate as they had become accustomed to. Your voice not only froze the two but also stunned Minji, who stared at you with horror in her eyes.

"I want all of you out of my apartment now. No butt-I mean No considerations. OUT! now!"

You stood up and pointed your finger out your door as Rei and Hanni was shocked to this side of you. It was new and in their eyes,

It was Attractive.

The way you dominate them and assert authority makes them adore you even more than before. They no longer see you as a golden retriever, but rather as a wolf hunting in the forest during winter.

They hurriedly cleansed your apartment room so as not to offend you. For once, you felt relieved as the pandemonium dissipated and the environment calmed down around you. You slumped to the floor with a thud, mentally and physically overwhelmed by everything that had transpired. 

"God I'm so tired..."

As you spoke those words out of your mouth, Minji came in running towards you with a cup of water and an angelic smile that will brighten up anyone's days.

"Thanks Minji-wait, why didn't you leave too?"

You asked her as you stood up and drank the cup of water off her hand. She smiled and wrote on her note showing you her answer.

"I wanna spend more time with you Oppa. Should I leave already?"

Her query and her eyes expressed confusion as you sighed and shook your head, almost unintentionally at this point. Despite Minji being one of the three people orbiting about you, you haven't had much time to spend with her, unlike the other two.

Minji's narrative began far longer than Rei and Hanni's combined, as she was the first lady to fall in love with you. Although there had been a brief break in her journey due to circumstances beyond her control, the situation had now flipped. She was finally reunited with you after a long time.

"It's fine. You can stay for a bit here Minji. It's quite late and dark now anyway."

You stated as Minji grinned enthusiastically at your suggestion. She ran towards you, embracing you in a warm and caring embrace you had missed so much from her. You smiled slightly as you patted her head back.

Recalling how you saw her again, it was pretty amusing how she came in your dreams, able to communicate, just to wake you awake. Although the dream appeared to be true, it was not; yet, the similarity between your dream and reality was quite near. 

Her appearance also had you marveling at her marvelously, as she resembled a deity who had come on Earth. The fact that you and Minji never spent time together after meeting was a crime.

But maybe with her in your arms, you can finally have the reunion you both wanted.

"Ah, hold on Minji, I think I have something special for you. Wait."

Pulling away from her, you went to your kitchen refrigerator. There was that tiny box of cake you bought the other day to celebrate Minji's reunion with you. But that didn't happen since Hanni and Minji ended up competing to see who could prepare the finest food.

You've never been able to contact Minji for a quick celebration since then. However, with things appearing to quiet down, there was no better moment than now. As you opened and drew out the box containing her cake, Minji's eyes shone with love and genuine surprise at seeing you present her with a cake.

"What? You really think I didn't have time to celebrate our reunion Minji?"

Minji could only react with a nod because she hadn't expected anything like this. She knew you were a kindhearted person since that occurrence, and she was delighted it had continued till now. Your real care allowed her to discover things she would not otherwise encounter due to her illness. But with you, she finds the strength to carry on. 

You were her light through the darkness.

You were her Medicine to her headache.

You were her guardian against the world.

And you were her first love.

She was amazed at how quickly her heart beat following the event. She felt free to appreciate and make you feel cherished because, in her opinion, you deserved the attention and affection you were given. And her desire to be the perfect woman for you was only strengthened by her separation from you.

Her heart broke in a thousand pieces when she realized she had to leave you. She grieved all night, knowing that she would never see you again, and her heart's notes would never be known to you. It almost shattered her, so she considered never leaving her room and staying at your place to be with you, but she knows you wouldn't like that either.

So, after learning that the separation was not the end of your relationship, she made it her mission to be better and more deserving of you. Her desire was to be with you again, not as step siblings, but as lovers. 

But just when she believed she had a clear path, two roads arose, blurring her finish line with how much they express their feelings to you. She was envious of Rei and Hanni for publicly showing the world how much they loved you, and there she was, just watching it all happen as if she were a bystander rather than a contender for your affection. 

"Tadah! I bought your favorite flavor cake! A strawberry cake!"

As you opened the box, the cake was still untouched and looked amazing. You gotta hand the baker for making this amazing cake. The way it was presented was eye catching and elegant. Minji smiled upon seeing the cake. She wrote on her notebook the words

"Thank you Oppa but strawberry isn't my favorite flavor"

"Eh-Eh? It wasn't? Oh no should I return it back?"

You panicked as you completely ruined the moment by not picking her flavor for this cake. You were sure that her flavor on the cake was strawberry but perhaps, as the time moved forward, her preferences also changed.

"I'll go get a new cake for us-"

Minji interrupted your statements by clutching your hand and shook her head. She smiled warmly, relaxing your fears slightly, but when you looked down at your hand, you realized how small and lovely they were in comparison to yours.

Minji smiled affectionately as she entwined her hands around yours. She felt so calm being thus close to you. All she ever wanted was to be someone unique in your heart. At this point, with two other competitors, she didn't mind losing if it meant seeing you pleased. Because that is how love works for her. 

Her Father's happiness with your mother was love. When she witnessed her father cry with your mother, she realized it was love too. Finally, as her father cries as he takes them to the airport, she realizes that your mother is the one he actually loves. 

It was then she learned that Love comes with sacrifices.

Happiness needs a sacrifice.

True love needs a sacrifice.

Minji loved you so much that she regretted that she hadn't forced you to love her. It crushes her heart that you had to pick between her, Hanni, and Rei, and there's a chance she'll lose because she hasn't done anything major to capture your attention.

All she's ever done is ease the tension between Hanni and Rei. From another perspective, she felt more like an enforcer between the two than a rival for your attention. The fact that you appear to be focused on the two of them rather than her crushes her heart. It felt like she was simply a shadow, out of the competition. 

She couldn't keep back her tears, and you noticed right away. Grabbing a nearby tissue, you moved closer to her face, wiping the tears that were pouring down her cheeks. But your hand was still clutching onto her.

Seeing how much you care for her made her weep because the way she wants to leave you hurts so much. She needed to let you go because she understood herself.... 

She wasn't enough.

She wasn't your ideal woman.

She wasn't what you desired.

She wasn't what you love.

This might be her final memory of You, and all she'll remember is the misery and her sobbing in front of you. She no longer knows if she has the power to speak what she has to say since you make her feel so weak.

"Minji, what's wrong?"

Your anxious words almost caused her to burst into tears in front of you. She was losing her will to let you go, so instead of responding, she had to do what was necessary.

Cupping your cheeks with her free hand, she smiled affectionately at you, peering into your eyes, which had once aspired to be hers alone. This was the final time she'd have the opportunity to be so close to you. 

With her feet raised and tip-toeing to reach your height, she leaned in and kissed your forehead with love and remorse. This is all she can do now as she surrenders in her quest to win your heart. She smiled sadly, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she drew her hand away from your body. She noticed you staring at her with a stunned and perplexed face, and she realized she needed to explain. She grabbed her note book and wrote the words she needed you to see. 

"Goodbye Oppa..."

.

.

.

"You have 3 girls?!"

Yeonjun spoke with his chest after hearing the words you had just uttered. You've decided to take a break and see your two old buddies from high school. Because at this time, you needed all of the assistance you could get in addressing your issue.

"So It's Hanni, Rei and Minji? But didn't you say Minji looked like she surrendered?"

Soobin inquired, taking a seat and holding his hot coffee in hand. You groaned and nodded in response to his comments since they accurately described how you felt. After kissing your forehead, she let go of your hand, loosened her grip on yours, and went by you as she left your apartment. All you could do was watch Minji turn her back on you and disappear.

You froze on the spot not knowing what to do and right now, you're regretting it. Minji left and was right at your grasp but you couldn't even let her stay.

You groaned and lowered your body to the seat. Yeonjun and Soobin observed your look and realized you were distressed over what to do. They understood that relationships are difficult to grasp, and having three females fall for you just made things more complicated.

"Listen man, you have to choose one of them. You have to accept it."

"I know but I can't just choose that easily! Two will get hurt. And I don't want that."

With you raising yout voice, you have expressed your worry for three dear females in your heart. They are not only realistic prospective life partners for you, but they also play a significant role in shaping who you are as a person. Each had an influence on who you are as a person, both positively and negatively.

Yeonjun finished his drink as you covered your face with your hands before providing a solution to help you with your problem. 

"Listen up Y/N. I want you to close your eyes and listen to what I need to say okay?"

"Why would I-"

"Just do it."

Whenever Yeonjun turned himself into a serious person, it's when you know he isn't fooling around anymore and was locked in. So despite having questions on what he's demanding of you, you obliged to it. Closing your eyes, all you saw was darkness and the ambience of the cafe is all that you heard.

"Great. Now listen to my voice and visualize who I'm pertaining to got it?"

"Yeah okay."

"Good. Now Visualize Rei in front of you ready to confess her feelings on a place both of you were familiar with."

Hearing his remarks, your imagination subconsciously began to envisage a future in which you and Rei would constantly spend time together. The howl of the winds at that location blended beautifully with the grass in the region. Despite the fact that you were simply using your imagination, it seemed like you were there with Rei in front of you, reaching her hand out. 

"You imagine it now Y/N?"

"Yeah I do.."

As you responded to Yeonjun, you grasped Rei's hand as she brought you closer to the tree at the top of the hill that overlooks the city. The sky was painted orange, as afternoons were the finest time to visit that location. A wave of nostalgia poured over you as Rei's lovely grin beamed in the orange light of the sky. 

"Now Rei is confessing her feelings to you on that spot. What do you say?"

As Yeonjun finished his words, Rei began to lean towards you. With her eyes never leaving yours, she touched your cheeks, and your heart raced quicker than usual. You know it was all only a visualisation, yet everything seemed so genuine.

"Y/N, You have been there for me ever since we met, you have become my wall and support in life. I want to be more than just a wall of support or a friend to you. My heart beats whenever I see you now. In my eyes, You have become a man I admire and grew to love. So Y/N. Will you accept my feelings?"

As Rei confessed her feelings to you. You stood there shocked and unable to come up with an answer. Everything just felt so real and you began to feel anxious and worried that this would eventually happen in real life. But despite all Your feelings, Rei still remained genuine asking you that question waiting for an answer.

"Open your eyes Y/N."

Without hesitation, you opened your eyes and returned to reality. You gulped for oxygen as your heart raced unevenly. Soobin shook his head as you felt your breath shorten. He wasn't sure whether what you saw there was romantic or a nightmare. 

"Looks like you couldn't answer her huh?"

Soobin inquired as you remained mute and glanced at the table, with no response. You could have simply responded yes or no because it was all in your imagination, but you froze and couldn't respond to her question.

"Alright. Close your eyes again Y/N."

"What? Were returning back to Rei?"

"No idiot. We're going to your 2nd girl, Hanni Pham."

Sighing at his words, you adjusted yourself one more before shutting your eyes. As you relaxed, the Café's noises were muffled, and Yeonjun's speech was all you could think about.

"Alright, just like Rei, Imagine the place you and Hanni liked to hang out with. Or a spot you two always go with."

Although there weren't many recent places you and Hanni did go through because of all the drama between the three, that didn't mean there wasn't any place back in the past.

As you recalled and reminisced, the familiar beauty of the park from your high school emerged in front of you. Your brain seemed to have recalled every element of the park just as you had anticipated. But it wouldn't be complete without Pham Hanni, the person who inspired you to visit parks in the first place. 

"Now, I want you and Hanni to go to that one place both of you call your spot."

Upon hearing Yeonjun's voice, Hanni immediately grabbed your hand and dragged you to the park. Just like Rei with the previous experience, it felt real as Hanni's small hand intertwined with yours. Her hands felt soft and warm. It felt like it was made for you.

When you arrived to the Park's water fountain, you grinned as memories of you and Hanni came flooding back. You couldn't help but smile as you remembered Hanni's attempts to date you every afternoon, doing everything she could to keep Minji away from you two. 

"Now, Just like Rei. What will you say to Hanni's confession?"

As Hanni turned to look at you, she blushed lightly as she closed the gap between you and her. Despite having such a fiery personality, she had always had a soft spot in your heart.

"Y/N Oppa, I know I had been skeptical of you and Minji's Relationship. But in honesty, I was jealous of her. Because you are a wonderful, amazing, kind hearted person. I wished that I was in Minji's position instead of her. I wished I was your number 1 rather than her number 2. My love for you isn't just admiration Oppa, I genuinely love you. Oppa, Can I be the girl you are looking for?"

When she finished her statement, your heart started beating again as your thoughts collapsed beneath her confession. Yes, it was just a mental vision, but why did it effect you so much? You had no idea what to say or do after hearing her confession since your body seemed glued to the floor.

Her eyes expressed true adoration and affection for you, but you said nothing. Nothingness was the most appropriate term to describe it. 

"Open them."

With Yeonjun's words, you opened your eyes and caught your breath again. Your heart was racing quicker than usual, similar to the incident with Rei before. It was strange because, despite the fact that you were seeing their prospective confession, you couldn't say anything.

Soobin seeing your reaction for the 2nd time, only made him sigh knowing you have no absolute answer to the two girls whatsoever.

"Looks like you don't understand your own feelings huh?"

You turned your head towards Soobin who gave you a blank stare as if he was right. But he was somewhat right because being unable to answer them, only justifies what's your true feeling between them.

"One last girl Y/N. Come on, let's do this."

Knowing it was Minji, you calmed yourself down first before closing your eyes and clearing off the noise around you. Since this was your third time, you immediately got the gist on what to do as you didn't spend much time focusing on what to do next.

"Just like the other two, try to imagine the place that you and Minji always loved to go to."

As your thoughts wandered to a spot you and Minji enjoyed, you were astonished to see that it was your apartment, with a strawberry cake on the kitchen table, and everything seemed so identical to what had happened the night before.

As Minji appeared in front of you, her eyes were sorrowful and brokenhearted, and tears streamed down her cheeks. Despite your want to approach her, your body felt like frozen ice, unable to move. 

Everything that happened last night was replaying right in front of you again and just like last night, you can't move and do anything to stop Minji.

She kissed your forehead, wrote the words

"Goodbye Oppa"

And went by you, ready to go for good. If last night's uncertainty and sorrow weren't enough, your imagination repeated it right in front of you, and even though you knew what would come next, you couldn't do anything. But, unlike the original, you wanted her to stay close you. 

To be with you.

To be close to you

To not let her go again.

Pushing everything what you were feeling on your body, you willed through freeing yourself to say the words

"DON'T LEAVE!!"

"Y/N! What the hell?!"

Yeonjun shouted as you opened your eyes, surprised that you had woken up without being told to do so. Soobin grinned sheepishly at the people surrounding them after the minor incident you had just made.

As you looked around, you realized that others were gazing in your direction, but what surprised you was that your right arm was extended as if you were clutching something that did not exist. 

But did it not exist though?

Because you should have done what you couldn't do last night: reached over to stop Minji from leaving. Pulling your arm back, Yeonjun gazed at you, surprised and impressed that you managed to have a reaction with Minji, unlike the other two..

"So Minji left?"

"Yeah.. Instead of imagining our favorite spot, my mind recalled what happened last night, and that's her leaving my apartment, saying goodbye to me with tears in her eyes as I just watched her leave."

"You a bum!"

Soobin muttered as he groaned and shook his head, disappointed with your conduct. Despite his harsh statements, he was correct. You acted like a real bum by letting her stroll and simply watched her do it. Now you are experiencing remorse from your actions.

"So answer me this question Y/N, among the 3 girls, who are you afraid to lose the most?"

Yeonjun's question caused you to sigh and ruffle your hair, as if this problem had finally reached its height. Because the three females visualized their confessions three times. An response quickly sprang to mind.

You couldn't help but laugh since you must have been insane given how slowly you received your response. Yeonjun and Soobin grinned because they knew your response was rapid and didn't take long since you knew the answer straight away; it was only now that you recognized who it was. 

"So, what will you do now Y/N after all, you already have a girl on your mind."

You looked at Soobin as He and Yeonjun looked at you with curiosity trying to learn what's your next move. Knowing that you needed to end this story already. You grabbed your phone and texted two particular girls who were familiar with each other.

"Let's meet up later on."

.

.

.

Hanni saw the unintentional grimace on her face as she prepared to greet you. Her instinct told her something was wrong with the message you sent her, and it gave her the chills.

Whenever she has those kinds of sentiments, something horrible generally happens, and she ends up with the tail end of that bad situation. And right now was no different from the last time. She had just grabbed her handbag and was ready to go when she heard a knock on her door. 

She was confused as she didn't recall any delivery today or her parcel being shipped towards her apartment. Nonetheless, she took her steps and checked her door and what she saw was something she clearly didn't expect.

"Minji? Are you okay? What's with the tears? And bags?"

Hanni had a lot of questions as her eyes tracked all she could see with the girl. This wasn't the typical girl she grew up being best friends with. Minji was the cutest and most gorgeous girl she had ever set eyes on, and with her nice and loving personality, any male or girl would want to be with her. She seldom shows her vulnerable side to anyone other than you and her.

Despite having seen her defenseless before, Minji was rarely so crushed. The last time she saw Minji this devastated, she had to say goodbye to her as they were going to go somewhere else. That recollection went through Hanni's head as she prepared for what was about to happen. 

"Sit down first and explain to me everything. Like everything."

Minji weakly nodded her head as she entered Hanni's residence and took a seat in the living room. Hanni had to place all Minji's stuff near her door and she got irritated that 2 of her luggage was heavy and felt like it was carrying rocks.

"Alright, what's with the stuff Minji?"

Hanni didn't waste time, getting right to the core of the talk. She offered her a glass of water to sip, and Minji moaned. Her shoulder glanced down, which reflects her current sentiments. Minji grabbed her notebook and jotted down the words she needed to say.

"I'm gonna leave..."

Hanni widens her eyes upon seeing the words in her notebook. She knew something bad was going to happen because her stomach was uneasy since morning. And that bad news came from the form of Minji, as she once again will leave.

But unlike before, Minji had a choice to stay or not because she now dictates her life, no longer can her father decide what she needs to do. It's her own free will to choose what's best for her, and it comes down to leaving? It didn't make a single sense.

"Again? But why? I thought everything's already settled with your family? Why are you leaving again?"

Despite considering Minji as a rival, She was still her best friend. So her priority will always be Minji and your number two in her priority list. She also felt like this was unfair on Minji's part.

"I have to help my dad with the business.."

"Bullshit!"

Hanni's words startled Minji as she jumped a bit on her seat. She knew Hanni had some anger issues but they were never pointed at her. But right now, Minji felt like Hanni was drilling a hole in her chest.

"You're gonna leave just like that? You're gonna leave Y/N asking where you'll be and you'll just leave the competition just like that? Aren't you embarrassed of what you're doing Minji!"

Hanni felt her heart crack more than ever seeing her best friend look down in shame. She knew Minji through and through and this was her attitude since the moment they left. Sure her speech impairment could have also affected her ways of viewing everything but this, this was complete surrender of Minji.

"I'm sorry..."

The apology was what all Minji could write as this only made Hanni so angry at her. Whenever she has the chance to live forwards, she always takes 10 step back for the sake of others and watches them shine. Her own selflessness was making Hanni angry because unlike her, She knew she was selfish.

She wanted you for herself and imagined a life with you together. She didn't realize that what she's losing was what she was holding so dear to her. Instead of spending time with Minji, catching up, she was blinded by her love towards her and she has forgotten what is so important between the two of you.

Their friendship

Hanni began to sob realizing how much of a selfish person she has become just because of love and that itself, was her own heartbreak.

Seeing Hanni break down in front of her, Minji couldn't help but shed a tear too as she gave her one warm hug. A hug that was so overdue since the start of their reunion. Their little rivalry was what blinded them from the true love they have.

And that's how much they love each other as best friends.

"Minji, I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry for being so selfish. I'm so sorry for trying to steal your happiness."

Hanni spoke as tears didn't stop flowing down her eyes. Minji saw the brokenness and genuineness in her voice and face as she hugged her again. She knew Hanni did nothing wrong as all she did was love someone. Loving someone never was a crime to begin with.

"Please.. Forgive me Minji."

Hanni looked down with tears, unable to raise her head towards Minji. She felt so terrible by what she has done to the person who has been with her through thick thin. But once again, Minji proved why she was the kindest soul to ever exist.

Lifting her chin up, Minji smiled brightly and showed a note on her notebook with the words..

"I'm sorry too... Can we still be friends?"

It was such a simple question yet Hanni's heart resonated with those words as she jumped into her arms hugging her tight. She has never felt so free after it felt like she was holding onto something so heavy on her chest for such a long time.

Laughter and smiles were now up in the air unlike the heavy tension that was in the room. Although one issue was resolved, another one was still lingering on the head of Hanni.

"So, are you leaving Y/N behind again?"

Hearing your name really breaks Minji's heart even further. Despite coming to a conclusion of leaving everything behind her once again, her heart still screams your name wishing it wouldn't have been this way. Her mind has already settled in that she wasn't the girl that you would choose.

"Minji. When's your flight?"

Minji showed the number 4 on her fingers as her flight was only a couple hours away. Hanni checked her clock, and the small hand indicated the number 2pm while the bigger one pointed at the number 7. She didn't have much time left before she leaves but Hanni had a plan that popped into her head.

"Minji, Trust in me and believe in me. You won't leave with a broken heart."

Minji looked at the girl with a confused face. This was the unpredictability of Hanni that she knew off and sometimes, it can be beneficial for her but sometimes, it wasn't and would usually leave a bad fragment on her memory. So she shook her head because she didn't know what she was completely planning.

"Minji, trust in me okay? I'll make sure you get the happy ending you deserve."

Minji's expression looked shocked yet she also found it amusing to see Hanni so determined. For Hanni, she was Challenging destiny and faith. If the story truly ends here, then she wants to rewrite it.

"Trust in me Minji, I'll show you why I'm the best friend you choose."

Feeling a little entertained with her words, she decided to give all her faith with Hanni as she nodded her head at her. She doesn't know what she's trying to do but all her faith has been given to Hanni. A smile appeared on Minji's face which was all Hanni needed.

.

.

.

"I'm surprised you're the first one to come here Rei."

"Well like the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm."

Sending Rei the same text message from Hanni earlier, you expected Hanni to arrive at the cafe you mention but to your surprised, it was actually Rei who even beat you at arriving first at the cafe.

Taking your seat opposite of her, you felt nervous because this was something very important for you. Your decision and words spoken here will determine what relationship you will have with Rei moving forward. But seeing your anxious self, Rei chuckled as she held your hand startling you a bit.

"Relax okay? I'm here for whatever you wanna say. If it hurts me, It's alright. If it makes me happy, it's alright as well. So just relax."

With those words spoken out of her mouth, she removed her hand on top of you making you sigh. Relaxing your nerves was the best thing to do right now since you have to think a lot of stuff, and you won't be able to think straight if you're overwhelmed.

"Thanks Rei. I needed that."

"No problem."

Taking a deep breath, you decided that perhaps it was better to say the words first with Rei since she's here already. You didn't want to waste time as much as possible because you already want closure to this drama.

"Rei, I just wanna say, you have been such a great friend and I wanna thank you for all that. You showed me what it means to be hopeful and that's something I truly will forever thank you for."

"Yeah."

"And.. Rei, I.."

Just when you have to say the most important part, you collapse and your brain stops you in your tracks. You have never done this with anyone and towards your friend of all people? It's gonna be very difficult and hard to say the words.

You're not sure how you would phrase these words out without looking like a complete fool. So seeing the distress in your face, Rei couldn't help but chuckle at it as she finds it funny. Although it was just a brief second, Seeing Rei laugh and chuckle at you made you at ease and relaxed.

"Rei, I just wanna say, Thank you for admiring me. But I-"

"It's Minji right?"

Even before you can fully give her your answer, Rei already finished it for you. Your heart began to race and your eyes widened upon hearing her words. The stunned face you showed her was enough for Rei to smile knowing she got the pieces right.

"I'm not blind Y/N, I see you look at her everytime me and Hanni make a move on you. Every time we do something towards you, your head and eyes would always look at Minji. Perhaps you denied it before but your heart already knew from the start, am I right?"

You simply nodded at her. She was in fact correct with her claims. Your heart was only searching for Minji the entire time. Your mind just played some fickle games with you and blinded you from what your heart was searching for.

Right from the start, the first person that came towards you was none other than Minji. Despite it being a dream, you can't deny the fact that Minji was still the girl you were searching for.

And Rei noticed it all. Whenever she would make a move onto you, your head and eyes would briefly look at Minji. This pattern continued on and it didn't stop. As painful as it may sound, Rei knew that from the beginning, she already lost the competition.

"Yeah, It's Minji. I'm sorry Rei."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong. That's just how love works. And I just happen to not be the girl you're looking for."

"Rei.."

"Y/N, just as much as you thank me as a friend, I do am thankful to be your friend as well. You brought me to many wonderful memories I will never ever forget. You were my first love. That's something I can always remember and be proud of."

Rei calmly smiled towards you as the heavy burden on your chest felt like it was lifted. The way you breath out a hot hair just feels so right upon hearing what Rei spoke off. As much as your anxiety tried to sell you the idea that Rei would hate you, it ultimately didn't happen because Rei understood that your happiness and love is better enjoyed by the person you truly loved.

BANG

The doors of the cafe splitted in half with a loud thud that made everyone look at the person in the entrance. You turned your head to see a familiar face who looked exhausted and at the same time, worried.

"Y/N! I need you to head to the airport right now!"

Hanni rushed towards you as you looked at her with a little bit of worry. Unlike Rei, who was dressed properly, Hanni looked like she rushed her way towards the cafe. Which she really did.

"Wait, hold on. Why? Why should I go to the airport."

"No time to explain. All you need to know is that She's at Terminal 6, her flight is at exactly 4:30 pm. Run! Go! Now!"

"Wait what about-"

"Yes I know! It's not me!"

Hearing her words made you stare at her for a while, as you noticed the visible pain on her voice when she said those words. Obviously, Hanni had already had enough heartbreak for one day but to say that to the person she loved, it still stings.

"Hanni.."

"I know I'm not the girl you will choose. The right girl is about to leave. So if you truly did love her, this time, you wouldn't let her go."

Her words went straight to shoot right into your heart. Although you have more questions than answers right now, your body began to move right before you can tell you moved. Right now, your heart wants to see one person one last time. And if you're fighting against time, you know every move counts.

As your figure dashed out of the cafe, Rei chuckled, making Hanni turn to face her with a raised eyebrow.

"What's so funny?"

"I just find it hilarious that the two girls that liked him ended up giving him the biggest confidence of his own feelings to the girl he liked. And it wasn't us."

Hanni chuckled before taking your seat from earlier as her legs were tired up from running. Checking her watch, there was only 43 minutes left before Minji board her flight and truly disappear from your life. If traffic didn't happen, she would have warned you earlier about Minji's departure. But it seems faith and destiny really was challenging the two of you.

"Do you think he'll make it in time?"

Rei asked as she handed Hanni your supposed drink. Her question was met with a laugh from Hanni who didn't hesitate to drink first.

"Believe me, He will. He always has that timing anyway."

Rei chuckled before taking a sip from her hot caramel coffee.

"Indeed he has."

.

.

.

You sat anxiously as the taxi hasn't moved from its initial position since arriving on the highway towards the airport. The traffic today was killing you as 20 minutes have elapsed and precious time was being wasted with every second that passed by.

Knowing that the traffic wouldn't move for another hour, you decided to take the road by foot. Even though the airport was at sight, it will still require some time to reach there by foot.

Looking at your wrist, you saw that you only have 17 minutes left before Minji's flight is about to take off. With every ounce left in your body, You started running for your life heading to the airport. You didn't care if people were looking at you as if you were running away from something.

Meanwhile, Minji sat anxiously at her seat waiting for the gates to open to her plane. Trusting the words of Hanni, she believed in her and waited for something to happen but as the time of her plane got closer and closer, her confidence in Hanni began to shrink as well. The chocolate she packed and the drink she bought earlier was already empty and this anticipation made her stomach grumble in distress. She was beginning to get anxious if something were even gonna happen.

As the loud voices in the intercom continued to announce flights, Minji continued to look around as the giant LED TV showed her plane had just arrived and nobody familiar had caught up to her. Perhaps Hanni's words were just words of encouragement as a coat to her sadness that she soon will be filling.

Clutching onto her passport and plane ticket, the gate for her plane had finally opened as she sighed and took one last look at the door knowing she had made memories that she will forever cherish despite it only being short.

"Sir, Where's terminal 6?"

"At the east wing of the building upper floor 3rd."

Hearing the words of the security, you rushed inside the airport seeing so many people with luggage. Finding Minji with this many people was gonna be hard. Nonetheless, despite your legs burning up, you still have one last push and time wasn't at your side because.

You only have 3 minutes left before Minji's flight.

Following the words of the guard security, you pushed past the people on the escalator bumping into people and apologizing along the way. But after that escalator, was a long and spacious hallway with so many people around. It was so hard to find one bunny at this place.

Nonetheless, you dashed through the crowd with time ticking leaving you with less time left on the clock. Your eyes were on look for the number 6 that was hanging on the giant lamp post like. And as your vision gets from 1 to 5, the final number was 6 but even before you can reach number 6, airport security stopped you as one tackled you to the ground gripping your hands and legs making you immobile.

"Stop. You have caused enough chaos in the airport young man."

The large man spoke as he towers above your body. Despite having two guys pin you to the ground, you still managed to move your arm a bit and saw how much time was left and it only had 30 seconds left. It also didn't help that people at the departure lounge in Terminal 6 are suddenly standing up and leaving as the gate has opened up.

"Please let me go. I need to see her one last time sir."

"Sorry Young man, but you have caused some issues here in the airport with your constant running. You have made people mad about-"

"Let this man go right now!"

A booming voice from behind made the security team frozen shut on their feet. It was such a demanding female voice as your hand and legs suddenly were freed from the strong grip of the security. So standing up you looked behind you and saw a familiar person walking towards you.

"Miss Kim Chaewon?! What.. Huh?"

Chaewon smiled cutely towards you before giving you a wink.

"Just doing Felix a favor. Now Go and catch her tiger!"

You could only nod your head at her because that would save you a few seconds to catch up to her at the entrance of the gate. But as you nearing the gate doors, your legs have collapsed from all the running and it just gave up on you. You fell down with your hand trying to extend to stop the gate from closing.

You watch in horror as the glass door closes right in front of you. With just a few inches left, your watch had alarmed you that it had struck 4:30pm and Minji's flight was inevitable.

All that chasing and running, only for it to end in this way. Your heart begins to tear itself apart as the reality has set in for you.

You let Minji leave once again.

For the 2nd time in your life, you just saw and watched Minji leave your life with you doing nothing to stop it. The circumstances may have changed but history once again repeated itself.

"GOD DAMN IT!"

You shouted, slamming your hand against the concrete floor. Tears welled up in your eyes, the pain of failure washed over you like a tidal wave, leaving you feeling helpless and alone.

Regret started to kick in for you as you couldn't help but replay every moment leading up to this devastating conclusion - moments when you could have moved faster, made better decisions, or simply paid more attention to the time.

You had promised yourself that you wouldn't miss another chance to see her after that painful separation 5 years ago. But here you are, laying on the floor, alone in the cold large spacious area, watching helplessly as the love of your life slipped away once again.

Perhaps Minji just isn't reachable for you.

Out of nowhere, a pair of warm familiar arms engulfed you in a hug as it immediately calmed your shaking frame. It felt like time had stopped when you realized who's pair of arms they were.

"Minji? Is that you?"

Without even answering you, you felt your shirt getting soaked in her tears as you heard her voice crying for you. For the first time in forever, you heard Minji's voice and it was a painful cry towards you. Your heart ached at that thought but you immediately brushed that off as the girl you have been looking for stayed.

Pushing through the pain in your legs, you kneeled down and turned to face her and there, you saw that angelic face you wished to see since the day started. Her tears were falling down her cheeks as you cupped them wiping it clean but Minji held your hand as you cupped them. It felt like the world stopped spinning and was watching the two of you share this special moment together.

"Minji, You stayed.."

All Minji could do was nod her head as she continued to sob and state at you lovingly. Your heart was calling out for her and to see her this devastated really made you want to give the world to her. And you wanted her to feel like she is your WORLD, so you had to do what you wanted to do to express your love for her.

You kissed her.

Minji widened her eyes in surprise when she felt a pair of warm lips connect on her own. She didn't realize that You had leaned forward and pressed her lips against hers. The kiss was tender yet urgent, filled with the emotions they both had been struggling to express.

For a moment, everything else seemed to fade away as your hearts connected through this intimate gesture. When the two of you finally parted, both were breathing heavily, your eyes locked in a gaze that spoke volumes about the depth of emotions bottled inside your hearts.

Minji smiled through her tears, resting her forehead against yours and letting out a heartfelt chuckle. You returned the gesture by a wonderful smile that was full of love and genuine admiration for her. It felt so wonderful knowing that Love prevailed between you two and this time, History didn’t repeat itself anymore.

As Chaewon went to check on you, what she saw was a sight of you being helped up by Minji as she became your support to walk as your legs still felt numb from all that running earlier. Chaewon smiled happily knowing she had done something for Felix, a fan she had fallen for too.

"Say Minji, did you really leave your flight?"

You asked her genuinely as Minji looked down and started writing on her small notepad that was around her neck. That was very convenient for her since she's traveling and it's easy to use and write on.

"Yes and no."

That answer confused you as you looked at her with confused eyebrows.

"What do you mean Yes and no?"

"My stomach was in distress so I had to take a number 2. I think the chocolate I ate and the drink contradicted each other. And after I was finally done, I rushed to the gate. But then I saw you and my heart just wanted to be with you so I immediately ran towards you."

You laughed at her explanation because it was an accident that she managed to miss her flight. But at the same time you couldn't help but feel like destiny and faith had planned this because cupid gave you a chance to make up for her.

"I guess you can call that faith huh? Honey~"

Your words caught her off guard as she turned red in an instant as she looked away trying to hide the smile that was forming on her face. Your heart couldn't help but feel at ease knowing the girl you wanted and loved is with you and no more trials will be set for you.

This time, you'll make the best out of the chapters in your life with Minji. 5 years of affection was needed and you wanted to start right now.

So pulling yourself away from her, you hand held intertwining with her own. Minji's cheeks turned red as she looked at you surprised but she can't deny her heart beating so happily with your gesture. But the words that you spoke next made her heart explode in pure bliss.

"I love you Minji."

Despite not being able to speak, she returned your gesture by pulling herself closer to you, placing her arms around your neck and kissing your lips full of love and admiration. All the years of just being able to hug you and be clingy to you has finally paid off as she can finally kiss you freely as she was yours. Her dream had been achieved.

She was finally your girlfriend.

Pulling away, both of you smiled knowing that a new chapter had just opened in the book of your lives. A chapter full of love, sadness, laughter and understanding that will soon change to memories to look back into the future. But right now, the present is what's the most valuable right now.

Grabbing her notepad, she reciprocated her feelings for you by confirming what she said about you.

"I love you more Honey~"

.

.

.

[haikyu-mp4]

Congrats on the milestone I love your work😸.

Applying with Sakusa, I am organized and a problem solver

thank you very very much, love!! I'm happy to hire you<3

Human error

Sakusa is a regular and finally asks you out, for the now hiring! event

word count; 1087 – f!reader

Every time you got to see Sakusa, the mysteriously handsome volleyball player was accompanied by one or more of his fellow jackals. Their training facilities just so happened to be around the corner from the cafe where you worked and you had recognised him from the posters one of the first times he stopped by.

Sakusa wasn’t sure he’d ever have a chance with you, but he told himself it was even less likely if his teammates were to get involved. No doubt, they would try to play Cupid and ruin his already slim chances as if the prospect of them knowing he had somewhat of a crush wasn’t already embarrassing enough. So he put some effort into little ‘schemes’ that would allow him to talk to you without them.

One time, he left his MSBY jacket on the counter after he picked up his coffee. As he and Hinata left the shop, he put on what he felt was quite the acting performance, telling Hinata “I left my jacket, you go ahead,” before turning around to do so.

He had walked right up to the counter and you perked up when you spotted him, pulling the jacket up from behind the bar in a neat bag. You always wore a mask at work, which he greatly appreciated, but you pulled it down for a second to smile at him after he took the bag from you with a brief ‘thank you’. “You’re lucky I know you jackals and your uniforms by now,” you teased. “Someone tried to tell me it was theirs after they saw you left it.”

“Lucky me,” he agreed, completely abandoning the whole script. Instead, he just bowed and walked away.

Let’s just say, most of his schemes didn’t work out. Human error, one might call it.

Sakusa wouldn’t say he gave up, but he took some time trying to come up with a new plan to approach you. The next time he saw you, it was with the full squad of Bokuto, Hinata and Atsumu alongside him. They were talking loudly, not even lowering their volume when they got inside, which made Sakusa look away from them in embarrassment.

But then you laughed. And it annoyed him so much because he loved that laugh, but he never got close to being the reason for it. There’s one guy in line in front of the four volleyball players, and Sakusa was trying to tune in to your conversation. By now, one or two of his friends had caught on to where his attention lay.

“Would you let me take you out sometime?”

What did that guy just ask you?

Sakusa loudly cleared his throat and didn’t even realise he was moving until he stood in front of you, eyebrows furrowed as he turned his attention to the apparent competition. “Are you done ordering? There’s a line back here.”

You glanced at Sakusa and huffed out another short laugh, then looked back at the guy who had asked you out. “Sorry, I’m not interested. Remind me, did you want whipped cream on that?”

After a deep breath and watching the rejected guy step away to wait for his coffee, Sakusa was happy to find your attention back on him but not as happy about the playful glint of your eyes, even though it suited you painfully well. “Hello there, Sakusa. The usual?”

After confirming with a shy nod, Sakusa looked over his shoulder hesitantly. Atsumu was covering his mouth with his hand to contain his commentary, Hinata gave him a thumbs up, and Bokuto looked happily at the menu boards hanging above them to decide what he wanted to try today.

Sakusa could not believe his luck. Not only did he have to stay late at practice, meaning he couldn’t stop by your cafe before you closed as he planned, but his car also decided to give up on him and stay in the parking lot. He called the repair guy, who said he could be there in the morning, and Sakusa begrudgingly agreed before hanging up. Taking public transport home was not an option if he could avoid it.

Might as well start walking. He stared at his feet while walking to make sure he didn’t step on anything gross, but the slam of a door in front of him made his gaze sharply turn upwards. His feet stopped moving and he stared as you locked up the door.

Is this... destiny- no. Sakusa didn’t want to entertain such childish ideas, but at least it was an opportunity. He hesitated. Should he finally talk to you? None of the other volleyball players were there to snicker or make teasing comments and no other customers could rudely ask you out right in front of him.

You were closing up the shop and it had been a long day. Working at the cafe was amazing, but even you were susceptible to bad days. It didn’t help either that Sakusa hadn’t stopped by, so you did your hair all nice for nothing.

Speaking of the devil, you heard someone clear their throat behind you, making you startle and clutch your key like a weapon. When you saw those brown eyes, you calmed down slightly before tensing up again.

Your mind went back to earlier that day when Bokuto, Atsumu and Hinata had come into the cafe and the trio leaned their elbows on the counter.

“Between us girls, what’s your type?” Atsumu had asked, followed by Hinata adding,

“We’re asking for a friend!”

“Who might be interested,” Atsumu continued after realising that Bokuto had gotten distracted and forgot his line.

“Someone might call him the silent dark type, do you like that?” Hinata added like Atsumu had told him earlier.

“A friend?” you asked, pulling up the top of your mask a little to hopefully hide your cheeks more. They looked at each other and smirked, not giving you a proper answer.

“Could I get a raspberry refresher?” Bokuto asked with his sweet smile, and you clicked your pen more times than necessary before finally getting back into what you were doing.

Now, you looked at Sakusa and the blush seemed to be back. Your mask was hanging off one of your ears and you thought it might be too obvious if you put it back on now to hide it.

“Fancy meeting you here,” you said.

Sakusa seemed to consider his words. “I was going to get something to eat. Would you join me?”

“Gladly.”

masterlist

[trashnotfound]

As much as I also would have liked more polin scenes I still feel like what we got was enough !?

I understand people wanted to see them happy but we have many more ( hopefully 5) seasons of happy married polin to watch and look forward too? I’m glad they gave us the angsty hard hitting scenes they did because we aren’t gonna get anymore! I’m a sucker for angst and I’m very with the amount we got. Plus it’s not like their arguments and Colin’s disappointment was for something stupid. It was a needed part of their story to understand each-other better and to really start their joined life’s. People are acting like the the main couple of each season don’t have their issues and then by the next season their purely in love.

To me polins disagreement was the most serious and sensible of all the couples this far. Of course Colin is going to be hurt and betrayed that the woman he loves is LW, of course Pen is going to be angry at Colin for not supporting her. But we saw them fix it, we saw them get through it together, and now they have the rest of their life’s to be happy and in love

Of course I’m disappointed they got rid of some scenes but I hate how people are acting like this is the worst season purely because we had some angsty episodes. We got plenty of lovely moments between them before and after the LW reveal.

I’m glad they gave Colin and pen the time and the development to work through it and explore their characters more. It would have made no sense if they just brushed past it. This is the same man who was weeping in bed because Pen was gonna marry another man. He’s dramatic, he needed time to figure out how he felt! It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love Pen if anything it shows how devoted he is to her. He got there in the end and his realisation made him and stronger and better man

[maevelin]

The entrapment thing.

So...did I like that scene? No. As a book reader I liked it even LESS.

I won't even get to the point where it was Colin who actively did his best to 'trap' Penelope, by consistently exchanging letters with her, dancing twice in balls, no chaperones over and OVER, demolishing her chances with Debling, 'ruining' her in a carriage LOUDLY with open curtains, having all sexual power over her because sure she is giving consent but she does not exactly know what she is consenting to, creating an engagement before she can have time to actually think about it and without the permission of her family and only presenting said engagement to her mother as a matter of fact and taking her daughter away to their new house without chaperone. I mean...my sweet summer child you are a chaotic TRAP in a human form.

However as a show-viewer I understand it and it kind of makes sense given Colin's background. Given his Bridgerton pride and his "I am a gentleman" attitude but most of all...his past traumatic experience.

The Marina thing has been a great shock for Colin. Colin has always been sensitive and on a certain level innocent and naive compared to his brothers. The shock he had with Marina shaped a new world view for him. It hurt his pride, his feelings and it shaped his character forward.

So we have a male character that has had his own trauma and insecurities and those can manifest at any time.

When he accuses Penelope of trapping him it is like...his worst insecurities coming to surface and he can't control them because he is hurting given how what he feels for Penelope is far greater that what he ever felt for Marina.

However we also need to see how Colin views his worth. At this point he is like...two out of two lied to me. Used me. 'Trapped me'. That alone is a massive hit to his self-esteem and we already know he had issues with that (given how he actively changed his personality to be able to function inside society).

When Colin lashes out to Penelope "then what I good am I to you."...It is basically all his insecurity coming out in waves. Because for Marina he was only good enough to cover for an unplanned pregnancy. She quite made it very clear to him even in S2 where she basically rejected him by telling him that he was not needed at all.

So that was his worth.

For Penelope, he has PTSD flashbacks of entrapment but then she is like...No, I do not need you to fix my problems which is contradictory for him because what good is he to Penelope then? She has power. He has not. She does not need him in THAT way (thus the conundrum of the trap). What other worth could he possibly have? It is unfathomable to him to be loved in such a a degree that his worth would be just that...being himself. Being loved not because he is there to serve a purpose but because he is worthy of love by being himself.

I am not even pointing out how at this point he even gets to the altar and when Penelope falters he is the one smiling encouragingly to her and is the most happy man to every be trapped (like he is one step away from: TRAP ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE I BEG OF YOU LOL)

Colin also sees himself as a protector and before he saw all layers of Penelope he viewed her with his own rose-colored glasses that saw her as a virginal damsel in distress needing of his constant protection and care. She was the shy, innocent wallflower he got to save at each ball, and the girl without any protector he had to save from Jack Featherington and after the Marina fiasco that gave him worth. Self worth and he felt as if that was stripped away from. Again.

So even though I hated that accusation I could see where he was coming from and it was growth for him in the end to be...I am in love with a BRAVE woman that has no need of protection and she only needs me to love her and she...loves me. That's it. She loves me. I am loved. No strings attached. I am loved.

Penelope telling to Colin that "I LOVE YOU", that I can live without you, you gave me more confidence and pleasure but I will solve my own problems and what matters is that I am CHOOSING YOU, because I LOVE YOU.

That is something Colin didn't even know he needed. So his was hurt, his behavior reflected that hurt but in the end he grew and got to appreciate having a woman with which they could be equals and he could be himself without pretending to either be a rake or to be the "protector" society has deemed very woman needs as a damsel in distress. It was different sides of the same coin and something both Colin and Penelope needed to work with.

[brn-t]

Thermotropism

TAGS:

eyy where my plant fuckers at? 👀🌱🌿 you can read it on AO3 here

I don’t think I should have taken this plant home…

Like, when I saw it baking in the sun in that alley outside my building, it’d looked like it had a lot of potential! It was all shriveled but the leaves branched out from a thick basal stem like a monstera almost and there were these bright red blotches on its roots that looked super cool!

When I brought it in (heavy!!) I could tell just by looking how root bound it was, so I popped it out of it’s cheap decorative planter (poor thing was probably never repotted) and yup, there were more roots than dirt.

I had no idea what the hell it was. Inatural had no frickin clue. It looked like a tropical plant with it’s broad green leaves and knobbly aerial roots, but the ground roots were so thick they looked like tubers!! 

I have to admit I was fascinated, but I should have gotten rid of it then…

It spent uh, a couple weeks underneath my shitty little plant light, the one in my room. I was quarantining it in there until I knew it didn’t have any critters on it, but it seemed happy with its repotting and daily soakings for the most part.

The thing really liked water

Like, I started off watering it once a week, and it did perk up, but it didn’t really change much until I started dousing it every morning before work.

And man when it started goin off, it really went off.

It seemed like every time I came home it had sent out a new aerial root or new leaf! The thing was voluptuous as hell! When it got too big for my pathetic little plant light I moved it to the window sill next to my bed. 

It was kinda nice! Like a natural blind or something once it got its runners going up the screen.

I didn’t mind, it was always hot as hell in my little apartment and my landlord couldn’t be arsed to install an AC. I just had to be careful not to accidentally crawl over the little shoots it was sending out all over when I got into bed.

I guess where I fucked up is when I found out about.. its uh.. nutrient preferences

I swear it was a complete accident the first time!! 

I had just gotten home from another 10 hr day and I was tired and smelly and needed to jerk off pronto. I hosed myself down and threw myself into bed, still steaming from trying to scrub off the smell of fried food from my skin, and cracked open my laptop.

Now, fun fact, there's this thing that plants do where they move towards things. Most of the time its towards light, but they can also be attracted to heat! It’s called thermotropism. So I dunno if it was the heat from my ancient laptop or the steam off my skin, but just as I'm about to nut I feel something brush against the head of my dick.

It took me so much by surprise that I came right there, frickin coating a leaf in my jizz. The thing had turned completely around from facing the window above my bed to nearly touching me with its broad soft leaf.

Even for a tropical plant that’s shockingly mobile.

So I cleaned it off as best I could but I guess some of my spunk got absorbed into the soil, I dunno, I passed out shortly after that. I didn’t wake up until nearly nine o clock the next morning because the room was still completely dark thanks to the density of the wall of leaves covering my window. The plant had frickin doubled in size and the terracotta pot I had repotted it in had some fresh cracks in it where the aerial roots were exploding out through.

I didn’t have time to freak out about it since I was once again late to work, but I gotta admit, I was digging the jumanjI vibes it brought to my otherwise very dull room 

So.. I may have started jerking off into it every night?

What! It’s like, natural fertilizer, or whatever!! And the plant seemed to like it? 

I even got it to flower!! It started putting out these crazy flower stalks that closed up during the day but unfurled at night giving off this crazy floral fragrant scent.

It made me remember being a kid and running around in the woods behind my stepdads rental cabin, so I let it keep spreading.

I realize now, this was not the smartest idea, but fuck it, my landlord all but explicitly told me I wasn’t getting the deposit back unless I sued him for it so when it started putting its roots into the drywall, I let it.

It was nice honestly, coming home after seeing nothing but concrete grey for hours and then throwing myself into my little tropical nest. And the smell of the flowers really set the mood when I was jerkin it.

Embarrassingly I think my mind started associating the smell with orgasm because I swear I walked past a florist shop the other day and had to walk bowlegged to the 7D train.

The trouble really started when it started sending its roots in my direction .

Now, I ain’t proud of it, but I more often than not just sleep on a bare mattress. Its got one of those memory foam layers on top and I just couldn’t be bothered to put a fitted sheet on it half the time.

So when I started feeling a bump underneath me as I lay in bed, I just thought it was like, a sock  or something that had gotten shoved underneath there, nbd, until that night… 

I was feeling particularly pent up and kept grinding my ass against that spot on the mattress. I don’t know why I did it, I just wanted more friction and the blooms on the ceiling above me were gettin me wound up with their heavy fragrance. Anyway, it feels like there's a soft tear below me and suddenly something hard and Wide and cold is pressing right against my gooch.

I kinda jump (because it’s cold!!) and look down to find that the frickin plant has grown into the mattress !!

And it was a fat root too, no idea how I didn’t notice it more earlier.

It was kindof freaky to be honest how fast it had grown, the thing really must have liked my semen, but at that point with how humid the room was and how dizzy the flowers were making me feel… I went with it.

 I ground my ass into it and when the thick ridge popped in past my ring I swear I came harder than I ever have in my life dude

I felt like I blacked out a little at the end there because the next thing I knew, it was morning and I'm absolutely painted in my own cum. I guess at this point I should have realized what was going on but I think the pollen those flowers were putting out were scrambling my brains a little. When I woke up, there was a network of thin bright red roots crisscrossing my body, sending out these feathery little things, absorbing the frankly ludicrous amounts of cum I had shot out last night. They pulled at my skin a little as I tore them off but part of me was still a little horny. So I cleared them away and and pulled out my phone.

Fuck it, right? It was my day off and I had no responsibilities that day anyway.

I just rolled over and started going to town on my morning wood.

My ass twitched around something and that's when I noticed...

The fuckin root was still in my ass from last night!!!

I'm trying to use one hand to milk my dick while the other one shoots down in between my legs and sure enough, that fuckin root had buried itself who knows how deep! I tried in vain to pull the thing out, but it was rooted in the mattress after all and didn’t budge. So, humiliatingly, I had to pull myself off of it.

I have to admit, I came a little just from feeling how much of it was inside of me, there was a good 7 inches of thick knobby root dragged out of me, grinding against my prostate as I pulled myself off of it.

I just lay there breathless, staring at the root, sticking straight up out out of my mattress now that it was no longer buried in my ass. My inner walls twitched and contracted, trying to close around the space it had carved out in me.

I guess I still had some sense then because I did actually prune the plant after that

I pulled the root out of my ruined mattress and trimmed all the stalks and roots near my bed. I started jerking off in the bathroom and yea the leaves wilted a bit but that was too much for me, you know?

Well, I don’t know if plants can get pissed but I must have pissed this one off because it responded to me suddenly not “fertilizing” it by sending out these little sticky climbers that got everywhere.

I woke up one morning to the fuckers wrapped around my tiny nipples. I went to sit up and yelped because they got yanked by the fuckin things, pulling my chest to the side. I tried to pull it off as delicately as I could, but the thin stems snapped in half, bleeding a reddish sort of liquid all over my chest!

It sort of burned but I just yelled at the plant, wiped it off and got dressed for work.

Now, I don’t know if I was allergic or something, but for the rest of that day my nipples stayed hard and puffy, poking out visibly from underneath my thin uniform shirt and earning more than a few snickers from the girls up front.

Good thing I had a vacation week coming up.

It had been asked for months in advance, and was the first one I’d had in a decade. I was supposed to drive out to the lake across the state to hang with a buddy of mine at his parents bougie lake house. Well, that night was the night before I was due to head out, and I went to bed in my travel clothes so I could just pop out of bed in the morning. Not wanting to ruin my clothes, I watered the Plant like usual and saved the jerking for when I got to my buddies place.

I was just on the edge of unconsciousness when I felt something moving up my shirt sleeve. I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming it or not so I just laid there, feeling the thing slowly snake its way up to my chest, resting on the sensitive swollen bud there 

I only really tried to react when I felt a second tendril branch out from the first and start oozing that same irritating sap over my OTHER nipple!

Groggily I straightened up, falling for the same headphones on the doorknob trap as last time, but this time it felt a lot better.

My nips hadn't really gone down since that last time so when they got yanked I thought a yelp of pain was what was gonna come out of my mouth, so imagine my surprise when a full bodied moan slipped out instead.

I immediately got super red in the face and yanked off my shirt.

This, unfortunately, snapped the thin tendrils stem, causing it to bleed more of its spicy sap all along my side and chest as I shucked off my shirt.

It left an angry red trail of raised sensitive skin, swelling my nipples far beyond what was normal, and they stuck out of my chest like two puffy toilet plungers out from my swelling pecs.

I tried to pull the tendrils off of them but they were too tight and my nipples were too big now.

I looked up from groping my chest to see how many of the plant’s flowers had opened up above me, showering me in who knows what.

I couldn’t take it anymore, I was openmouth panting, inhaling the perfume and palming my shorts which had at some point started to fill out. I ripped my shorts off too, and only after a few strokes realized how deeply I had just fucked up

If you guessed “that idiot just smeared a sap he’s clearly allergic to all over the most sensitive part of his body” you would be correct...

I was howling in pain as it started to burn, but after a minute or two I was thrusting into the air and moaning like a whore, the fire had turned into an electric storm of pleasure.

My dick was swelling way past normal hardness and I could only continue to try and fuck the hell out of my hand.

It was entirely too humid in that room, everything felt wet and sticky, so when I came finally, I barely even felt it on me

I screamed so loud the neighbors probably thought I was dying I probably did die a little... I think I shot into my own mouth at one point??  I collapsed immediately after, and when I woke in the morning, the whole plant looked shiny and glossy, like it was gloating over the fact it’d gotten me to come for it yet again.

I know it was just a plant but I got mad

I jumped out of bed, completely ignoring the tendrils still wrapped around my nips, put a thick jacket over my shirt and left the room with my suitcase while flipping it the bird.

I felt bad that I would be gone for a week but I’d set it up with a slow release watering pitcher, so I figured it’d be fine without me.

What I didn’t plan on was how I would do without it.

What should have been a great vacation turned into the worst case of blueballs seen this side of the Mississippi.

Not only did my nipples constantly pulse and throb against the tendrils, but I found out later when I went to go use the bathroom that one had slipped around the base of my dick as well, which had also refused to recede back to its normal size. The woody chord was a bit thicker and it wrapped around the base and balls, completely blocking any and all attempts to even get hard.

So instead of focusing on the boat ride or my friends stupid alcohol choices, I was stuck in a constant struggle of being aroused by my throbbing nipples and being unable to address it at all. I was actually filled with relief when the final day came and I was saying goodbye to my hosts.

I flew home after that in my tiny little beater car, shifting uncomfortably at my seatbelt rubbing directly against my chest. I practically kicked the door in, shedding all my clothes in a line to my bedroom and threw myself into bed.

I yelped when I landed on several thick somethings beneath my body creak under my weight, poking me through the thin layer of foam.

The Plant was the worst I’d seen it since I brought it home, with several dead leaves deposited on the bed and an explosion of fuzzy white runners running the length of that bedroom wall.

The roots jabbed into me like it had planned this.

“Ow!” I’d said, “ I'm sorry ok? I just needed a break!”

As a response, I watched a giant cream white flower slowly expand and burst open, sending a shower of shimmery yellow pollen floating down directly over my face.

Things uh, got a little out of hand after that…

The tendrils had finally loosened enough around my dick to where I could pull them off but that just led to all my pent up semen literally dumping into my balls as soon as the tie was removed. I moaned as I could physically feel them growing heavier as a weeks worth of pent up jizz dropped into my balls. They felt like leaden weights.

It was almost painful how quickly I got hard, and it didn’t take more than a stroke or two before I was yelling and releasing said load all over myself and the plant.

You could visibly see it perk up, opening up more buds, showering me with pollen and dusting the bed. The two substances got mixed by my frantic motions and soon I was lightly cheeto dusted with the stuff,

My skin was on fire but it also.. uh, felt really good somehow... So once the high of the first orgasm died down, it wasn't long before I was rarin to go for a second round.

I palmed my recovering erection and was just about fully hard when I felt it.

Again, at my ass!! Was one of the plant’s thick basal roots!! Except this one looked a little weird..

First off it was tremendously thick, about the width of my wrist, and secondly it was covered in all these little backwards facing ridges, like a drywall sink

Man, I don’t know what wires go crossed but between the way my ass was twitching and the pollen I was huffing, I put my ass right against that thing

It must have reacted to my bodyheat because it felt like as I was pressing down on it, the thing was pushing into me as well.

It was intense, there was no give to its turgid walls, so I had to stretch myself out around it to get it past my ring.

Once it was properly seated inside me I started going to town on my dick, which at this point was leaking like my kitchen sink maintenance had refused to address for weeks.

I swear I could feel the root get deeper and deeper inside me as I jerked and spasmed around it I was panting and moaning like a bitch, I can’t believe how horny I was

at some point I felt something at my mouth and wouldn’t you know it, an equally thick tuber had been drawn to my hot breath and was poking at the corner of my lips

I was way past the point of rational thoughts at that point, I just leaned forward and let it creep into my mouth.

The further it got the hotter I felt. My tongue swiped across the underside and that’s when I tasted something sweet

Was this root leaking sap??

Turns out the itchy nectar tasted amazing so I ended up suckling it as I frantically jerked my dick. The root inside my ass had reached my prostate at that point and thats when things got really hazy for me.

I remember exploding all over myself, I would have been screaming if not for the thick root tunneling its way down my throat

I was jerking and spasming to the best of my ability but the roots were getting a little out of control, they were budding from the base of the main roots and expanding all over my body, and every couple of inches they would plant a sticky little node like a command strip onto my skin and keep going, until I could barely move.

The only part that hadn’t been covered was my right arm, which was moving too fast jerking myself off for the tendrils to colonize.

The root in my mouth seemed to expand further, and suddenly I realized that I could still breath despite it feeling like it had reached my guts almost.

My tongue felt a small hole on the underside and sure enough, I could breath just fine.

Good thing too because that’s when I noticed the two thinner roots making their way up my nose, expanding into my nostrils and plugging them completely.

The root in my ass must have had the same idea...

At this point I was slowly starting to realize, like, “oh shit, I really can’t move” and started trying to pull things off of me to escape bu t I honestly couldn’t budge. My left arm was completely rooted to the mattress and my right arm couldn’t be lifted above my waist, just enough to reach my dick but not enough to reach my face.

Leaves were starting to branch out from the tendrils, and with them came more flowers.

They were visibly crawling all over me now, moving fast enough for me to track with my eyes, and I watched in horror as several thin tendrils spiraled up my cock.

I wish I could have broken away but I was quite literally rooted to the spot watching these tendrils poke at my leaking pisshole and worm their way inside.

I screamed and cried but the progress was unceasing, it steadily tunneled into my dick until it hit the base and pinched my prostate against the root in my ass, which at this point must have reached high up into my guts.

I screamed against the root as I came, but no semen escaped my completely plugged dick.

I could feel it making its way inside my through my internal passages, rooting itself straight into my balls, 

At that point I really did pass out, whether from lack of oxygen or overstimulation I couldn’t tell.

Well, I'm awake now and I am utterly fucked, the roots have expanded into nearly every available orifice, even trying to fill out my belly button and uh.. they might have broken through the skin...

I can see ridges beneath my skin.. little hard lines were they’ve penetrated me.

I'm being constantly milked and I can’t even move as they constantly grind against the inside of my cock

I'm not even thirsty or anything, the liquid being drip-fed down my throat fills me up and I'm just kept in a constant state of bliss.

I dunno what to do bro, I have my phone but even texting is getting hard with one hand and roots slowly crawling down my fingers…

you’re the only one close enough to me, theres a key underneath the mat..

you gotta help me man before it's too la

[pht-art]

Eloise Bridgerton : my thoughts

I don't know how to feel now that I've watched Bridgerton because at first I was so happy to have finally found a character that I relate to and thatseems like me, but I see a lot of people hating her and never liked her since season 1. They doesn't like her because she seems to be rude and selfish and only cares about her well-being and is arrogant but I absolutely don't find her like that and I still adore her. So now I feel like if people find me, they just wouldn't like me. 😂

Here's my thought about Eloise :

I'm sure deep down Eloise wants a relationship with someone, like a real connection, a soul connection. She sees the true picture of society and doesn't want a relationship based on lies, the hypocrisy, the arrangement and forced meetings. She is bored and does not feel in harmony with this society.

With Theo, she wasn't bored, he was a great positivity for her and she felt accepted by him for who she was and not for who she wasn't, when he told her all those bad things, she was hurt because she's not like that.

Lady Whistledown harmed something that made Eloise feel good outside of Penelope and her family. She needed something that would change her from her daily life, that would make her feel alive and Lady Whisltedown took that away from her, insulted and humiliated her.

Of course, when she found out it was Pen, she felt deeply betrayed and hurt. What she did to her really hurt her deeply, she was lost, betrayed.

What Eloise did with Cressida was because she wanted to hurt Pen, she got to know Cressida and realized her situation, she tried to help her but the moment she saw that her brother could have been even more hurt than herself, when she understood that Colin loved Pen to the point of asking her to marry him, she focused on what was most important to her, her family, but she also felt betrayed by Colin, everyone lied to her.

I remind you that she is the only one who went to those who are not like everyone else, Theo, Cressida, which shows that she cares about everyone but no matter who you are, her family will always comes first. She didn't said anything to colin about Pen not because she is selfish but because as she said " I was too brokenhearted to speak of it". In fact it's the fisrt time she is that honest and show her vulnerability. You can see it on Colin's face.

The fact that she is the only one crying during Polin's wedding is a proof of her loyalty and her deep love for the few people she lets enter her heart. She was happy for her friends and her brother after all, she is loyal and a very deep person but her anger and sadness took over and she listened to Kate's advice indeed.

Maybe, and I INSIST ON maybe, she would like to experience that too. When she says "and one's again I am left with the fact that everyone eventually pairs off" I see it more as "why everyone else and not me", it's subtle.

When she says "Just tears from losing another friend to marriage or maybe it was dust", that's HER HUMOR, she is happy for them, she stays true to herself , she may not want to show even the slightest hint of her thoughts.

Benedict told her "Love is not finite Eloise, the friendship you have with Penelope is a lucky thing, as is the one you have with Colin," Benedict is the one who knows her best. She limits her love to what she already knows and the unusual scares her.

I have the impression that Eloise acts like this not because she hates love but because she refuses to love and I think that's because of her father's death and the betrayals she had. She don't want to lose control over her emotions and she is selective (it's not being selfish). She doesn't want to suffer.

Eloise is VERY witty but behind this mask, she is REALLY reserved, very sensitive and does not like to show her emotions and feelings, ( that's why she is disgusted when she sees couple showing love to each other) which is why she uses sarcasm, black humor, ironic phrases and humor at any time.

When they start talking about her feelings, Eloise looks away and changes the subject, always talking about Gregory, so we can no longer focus on her.

Benedict understands her very well, that's why he talked to her during the wedding reception. She is absolutely not childlish, it's her personality and it's her strong shell to not show she feels lonely.

I am so much looking forward to her season just to see how she would be and how it will turn out and to know if I was right. 🙃

It’s quite funny because after Eloise my favorite character is Benedict. The character which I identified the most with has the same favorite as me.…

[pinkorchidsinspring]

Liverpool Night 3 Surprise Song ✨Breakdown✨:

A lyrical breakdown of course…

Let’s get started on the sheer importance of this combination of songs- CAUSE WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THIS

Carolina + no body, no crime

Carolina as in KARLI-e??

Anyway, she had that smirk on her face and called this the “murder Mash-up”?!!! Murder of what darling? Possibly Taylor Swift™️? I digress, lyric time:

Lonesome I'll always stay / Carolina knows / Why for years I roam / Free as these birds, light as whispers

Translated to: Karlie knows why Taylor roams from man to man and is so “lonesome” in the public eye. After all she’s just as free as any musician right…?

And you didn't see me here / No, they never did see me here

Translated to: the fans didn’t see her there with Karlie, no they never really saw her with karlie. Most of them never saw the intent behind Taylor’s eyes when she looked at Karlie, and vice versa. :(

And she's in my dreams / Into the mist, into the clouds

Oh, Carolina knows / Why for years they've said /That I was guilty as sin / And sleep in a liar's bed /But the sleep comes fast

Translation: Karlie knows why the fans have said for years that she’s gay and sleeps in another liars bed (aka Karlie’s), however she lives peacefully when she’s alone with her lover, and simultaneously lies to the public weekly about her real lover.

No body, no crime as in if there’s no evidence than it never happened??

Much like how she emphasized “infidelity” when she sings

Her husband’s actin’ different and it smells like infidelity.

How very telling of whether or not the same muse in the first song (Karlie) has a ‘faithful’ husband (-when you’re in a lavender marriage it is different morally, but to the public it is disloyalty to even consider he is with anyone other than her)

I think I’m gonna call him out

Maybe as in… I don’t know… 🏳️‍🌈call her husband out of the closet… coughs in coumingoutlor*

ALSO just an added bonus is the sheer amount of times she emphasizes the word “SHE” in the performance… there’s way more than just this short clip 🏳️‍🌈✨💅

The manuscript + Red

The Manuscript as in the ENTIRE torrid affair?!

Whilst reading this part of the analysis keep in mind that I believe that the manuscript is most likely from Karlie’s point of view in the future, it may be from Taylor’s, but it makes the most sense as Karlie’s POV.

Now and then she rereads the manuscript / Of the entire torrid affair

Now and then Karlie remembers (aka rereading) a time (a manuscript) full of ‘difficulty and tribulation’ (the definition of torrid), that was her lavender marriage to Josh.

They compared their licenses

I believe that this could possibly be about Taylor & Karlie in the way that Taylor has a drivers license but Karlie has a Marriage License in the era of this memory.

He said, "I'm not a donor but / I'd give you my heart if you needed it"

Gay best friend offers to give Karlie his heart, or at least his legal (-and for show) heart if she needs it.

And the years passed / Like scenes of a show

From there the marriage begins, and much like a show, Karlie and Josh are constantly performing.

Then the actors / Were hitting their marks/ And the slow dance/ Was alight with the sparks / And the tears fell / In synchronicity with the score

This is her looking back at the lavender marriage/ bearding time of their public relationship. The actors (aka the girls and their men) truly were hitting their marks and convincing the public of a romance worthy of a small Nicolas sparks novel. Obviously this isn’t a happy thing to look back on, and with the pretend comes all the times she wished she could just be done with the agony of pretending all the time. The agony that caused her so many years at the time.

And at last / She knew what the agony had been for

At last, present day (the future) Karlie knows why they did it, she looks back and knows they made the right decision because something good has clearly come from it.

The only thing that's left is the manuscript / One last souvenir from my trip to your shores

The only thing that’s left are the memories of this time.

Now and then I reread the manuscript / But the story isn't mine anymore

Now and then she remembers, but she’s out now. The story isn’t hers anymore. She isn’t in the closet anymore.

Red as in

Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes / Tell myself it's time now gotta let go/ But moving on from him is impossible / When I still see it all in my head

IF you have read this, tell me how I’m wrong when this entire combination of surprise songs so obviously has an invisible string CONNECTING THEM all together. (not so invisible now 😉) Because no I didn’t pick and choose what lyrics from red Taylor sang night 3. She did that herself. AND THESE WERE what TAYLOR Alison SWIFT chose to play directly after the manuscript.

Happy pride month people 🏳️‍🌈✨💗

[breakingstanding]

I am actually devastated over Michaela… not because I care about Michael or the book, but if they’re making Francesca queer, there’s no way they’re making Eloise a lesbian (which she SO clearly is!). I saw the spoiler of Franny and thought okay they can make 2/8 queer, and then I watched and saw they made Benedict queer too! I just can’t see them doing 3, especially 2 women.

It’s so disheartening because so many people have been rooting for sapphic eloise and I think hardly anyone was wanting Franny.

I think i’m more upset with this than if none had been queer because like ugh we were SO CLOSE. We could’ve had it all. like imagine how happy we could all be right now. 😭

they’ve been setting up queer benedict and eloise since season 1 so I just don’t understand why they would do this. (sorry for venting to you- none of my friends that’s watch are caught up yet)

Always happy for a vent, and I definitely feel you! I'm personally really excited about Francesca's storyline because I really liked her this season and Michaela is EXTREMELY hot lol - but I'm also frustrated that it's the sister we've had as a side character for one season who will be getting a queer love story, and not the one we've been invested in for three seasons.

Ultimately I think the frustration we are feeling is more because this is reflective of larger issues that always pop up in fandom than being upset about not getting a storyline we wanted for a character (although I'm not going to pretend that's not a factor too!) a) There's such a pattern in fan spaces for queer people to see themselves in a character and to recognise clear queercoding, and then to have straight people come in and condescendingly say "not all characters with x trait have to be gay" - as if we have an overabundance of queer characters and are trying to get our grubby gay hands on more. So much of the discourse around Eloise amounts to people saying "not all feminist characters have to be lesbians" which is crazy to me because WHERE are all these shows that are supposedly full of feminist lesbians?? Please tell me I would love to watch them!

b) Straight fans will get all different types of characters and plotlines for the heterosexual couples and then act like queer people are being greedy if we ask for more than one for us. Just within Bridgerton there have been three straight main couples already - and of the queer siblings we've also gotten to see a cute romance between Francesca and a man, and will likely see Benedict fall in love with a woman (this is not to diminish their queerness, obviously bisexual stories are incredibly important regardless of the gender of the love interests, more just pointing out the sheer quantity of m/f love stories straight fans get to enjoy).

It absolutely sucks that we exist in a TV landscape where instead of being excited about what looks to be a delightful relationship between Francesca and Michaela we are instead mourning the loss of other another character's queer potential. It's absurd that we are so rarely allowed to have multiple sapphic characters (who aren't each other's love interest) on the same show - particularly because in real life queer people tend to flock together!

The feeling reminds me of being part of the 100 fandom nearly a decade ago. I distinctly remember when it was leaked that Clarke and Lexa were going to kiss. The sapphic side of the fandom were definitely very excited - but there was also this strange sense of dread too. I saw countless posts of people bemoaning that now that she was gay they were definitely going to kill her off - and they were right! Bury your gays was such a common trope that we could see it coming a mile off.

This has felt like a very similar reaction. Queer fans spend a lot of time dealing with subtext and are very good at recognising tropes and patterns, and we know that the chances of Netflix allowing one their tentpole shows to have two sapphic main characters is slim to none.

I hope we are wrong and things are changing for the better, I really do.

I think the best thing we can do now is swallow our disappointment and make sure we support Francesca/Michaela fiercely to prove that there is an audience for sapphic stories.

[dyns33]

The Big Nice Punisher

I never gave love to Frank and Frank only in a story so I decided to change that

Y/N should have gotten used to it, now that she was friends with Matt, Foggy and Karen.

It had happened several times that the devil of Hell's Kitchen had knocked on her window to ask for a medical kit since she knew his secret, even if the fool preferred to die in a trash rather than ask his friends for help.

It had taken everyone's intervention to force him to admit that he had a problem, and that he could count on them if he wasn't being chased by an army of ninjas.

More than stubborn, his priority was above all to ensure that he did not bring any danger into their home.

Karen wasn't Matt.

She didn't want her friends to be in danger either, but her moral compass was visibly broader, and allowed her to do more things.

Like coming to Y/N with the Punisher losing a lot of blood, asking if she could hide him for a few days and make sure he was still breathing.

Y/N had followed Frank Castle's trial on television, like the whole city. She had heard about all the people he had killed, but also the people he had saved. She had heard what happened to his wife and children. And above all, she had read in all the newspapers that he was dead.

“Can you explain to me or are you going to tell me it’s better if I know as little as possible ?” she asked as she helped Karen place him on her couch.

"Actually, I don't know. I found him like this when I came home from work. Your apartment was closer, excuse me. He doesn't want a hospital, for obvious reasons, and I was afraid he wouldn't manage to get to my place."

"Okay. Just promise me he won't jump on me when he wakes up."

“Frank is very nice, don’t worry.”

'Nice' probably wouldn't have been the first word Y/N, or anyone, would have used when talking about the Punisher, but Karen was pretty good at judging people, and that was out of the question to leave him to die anyway.

Even if she managed to see the good in him, it still seemed a bit exaggerated and even very optimistic that Karen would decide to leave Frank Castle unconscious in a stranger's house. She took the time to write a little note, telling Y/N that she could show him if he didn't trust her, but repeating that everything would be fine.

If he didn't have a reason to hurt her, he wouldn't hurt her. Really very reassuring.

Sure enough, the Punisher woke up in a panic as Y/N was making dinner, looking around with wary eyes and grimacing when he saw her. His first instinct was not to attack her but to try to flee, but his injury did not allow him to reach the door, his path ending in the middle of the living room.

“Karen warned me this would happen.” Y/N sighed, hesitating to put down her knife.

"Who are you ? Where am I ? Where is Karen ?"

“In order, I'm Y/N, you're at my house, and Karen had a job emergency so I'm babysitting for her.”

“I don’t need a fucking babysitter.” he groaned, holding his leg.

"Look, you don't want to be here, I'm not really happy about it either, but if you let me help you, you can leave quickly."

"I'm leaving now."

"Oh, no way ! I promised Karen I wouldn't let you die and I feel like you're just as stupid as Matt, so you're going to rest your ass on the couch, you're going to eat, then I'll see if you haven't reopened your wound !'

"… Yes Ma'am."

The terrible Punisher then began to look like a little lost dog, speaking little and accepting the plate that Y/N offered him, thanking her with a nod, his big black eyes following her as soon as she moved in the room.

He insisted that he could take care of his leg, but just one look made him shut up again, letting Y/N do what she wanted, since he obviously had no choice.

"I'm not a doctor, but between your broken ribs, the bullet that was in your leg, and the other marks on your body, I will say that it would be best for you to rest for a few days before you start punishing people again."

“No time to wait.”

"That wasn't a suggestion, doctor's orders."

“You just said you’re not a doctor.” he said with a smirk.

“I’ll tie you to the bed if I have to.”

“I’d love to see you try.”

In the end, his leg was causing him too much pain and Karen had forbidden him to move over the phone, it was decided that Frank Castle would stay with Y/N ​​for at least a week. He seemed to be the most annoyed by the situation.

Both women were right about him : he was nice, and he was like Matt. He didn't like asking for help, and he was afraid of putting innocent people in danger by his mere presence.

Yes, he had tried to find Karen when he was injured, but Karen knew how to defend herself, and he would have found a way to convince her to let him go. He didn’t know Y/N. He didn't like the idea of ​​intruding into her home, into her life, into her world, even if Red wasn't far away.

"I also know how to defend myself if necessary, Mr. Castle."

"Of course Miss. And it's Frank."

“I can do the dishes by myself too, Frank.”

“I have no doubt about that, but I’m squatting on your couch, it’s the least I can do.”

A week might not seem like much, but aside from her colleagues and the trio, Y/N didn't see many people. This daily proximity to Frank made the atmosphere strange.

He always spoke little, almost never about himself, hiding his wounds like a proud animal, but being interested in her, not missing an opportunity to help her around the apartment as a sign of gratitude, and listening to her talk about her days with patience and sympathy.

It was almost difficult when his condition allowed him to leave. They had gotten used to each other and the separation gave them as much pleasure as their meeting.

Still looking like a puppy who didn't know how to behave, Frank gave her his number, just in case, taking hers if he needed to check on her. He wouldn't call her for a favor, it wasn't like him.

Obviously, his style was to stop giving any news at all and to completely disappear from people's lives.

Y/N could try to understand. He was dead in the eyes of society, he had a complicated past, his main occupation was murdering criminals… But all the same, a little message from time to time wasn't complicated.

The worst part was that he was in contact with Karen. Her friend seemed surprised that he hadn't contacted her. According to her, Frank loved her very much.

"He's shy, that stupid man. I'll tell him to call you."

"No, that's not necessary. I'm glad to know he's okay."

"Don't be ridiculous, you want to talk. He also asked me about you, I should have known he would do that."

Y/N probably should have too, but because in hindsight she didn't see why someone like Frank Castle would want to keep in touch with her. She had been useful, nothing more. Next to Karen, beautiful, intelligent Karen who he had known for a long time, Y/N didn't stand a chance.

There was also his family, for whom he had sacrificed everything. If he was only "friends" with Karen, there had to be a reason and that was because he refused to betray his dead wife.

This enchanted parenthesis of a week had been nothing other than a parenthesis.

It was stupid to be so sad for a man she had only seen for a week. And yet, Y/N was sad. So sad that she didn't pay attention to the time while having a drink at Josie's.

No doubt she forgot that despite the presence of Daredevil, Hell's Kitchen remained a dangerous place. Matt couldn't be everywhere.

So it wouldn't have been a surprise when she was followed by two guys, who cornered her in an alley and threatened her with a knife so that she would give them her bag. Then one of them looked at her with a funny look and licked his lips, and she tried to run away.

Before they could touch her, the first one had his head smashed against the wall. The other screamed, trying to defend himself with his knife, but the weapon ended up in his leg, and he was knocked out with a punch.

Slowly so as not to frighten her further, Frank helped her up, checking her for injuries and returning her things.

"Are you alright ?"

"Yes. I was careless."

“Not your fault, sweetheart.”

"I guess we're even now." she tried to joke, while sobbing. Y/N hoped he would think it was because of the shock, and not because she thought she wouldn't see him again afterwards.

This didn't make him laugh. He looked at her with his sad, worried eyes, shyly rubbing her shoulder as he listened to her breathing, waiting for her to calm down.

Then still without a word, he took out his coat to put it on her shoulders before walking her home.

There, he only left her when she was sitting on the sofa, to go get her a glass of water, letting go of it when he was sure she was holding it well, and remaining kneeling on the floor right next to her.

"… Karen said you were angry. Because I didn't call." he whispered, his eyes stopping from staring at her for a second.

"Karen is talking nonsense. I'm a big girl, and you owed me nothing. Nothing at all. I was happy to help you, and stupid to think that… Thanks for saving me. You don't have to stay."

Silence returned, but Frank didn't move. He stayed until she finished her glass, then until she was done shaking and crying, his hand never leaving hers.

But he still didn't move. And in that moment, Y/N wondered if he too had been disappointed when their week together was over.

Maybe Karen was right, he was shy, and he didn't want to put her in danger by staying in contact with her. As stubborn and insufferable as Matthew. And also nice. Why else would he have been there to protect her ?

"It's not a good idea." he suddenly muttered, closing his eyes.

"What ?"

Frank sighed, seeing that she might cry again. He could have left right away, because he didn't think his presence was a good idea, and probably he was right. No doubt it was ridiculous to love the Punisher.

But continuing to mutter, he stood up slightly, pressing his forehead against hers. Now he held both hers hands, looking desperate, opening pleading eyes.

He couldn't stay, but that didn't mean he didn't want to more than anything in the world.

"It's not a good idea." he repeated, however, as if to force himself to move, to remember his course of action, and he was quickly on his feet, ready to leave.

“Frank…”

"No."

“Frank…”

The door was closed as quickly as it had been opened and in an instant Frank was there again, kissing her like a thirsty man who had just found an oasis in the middle of the desert.

But the moment was furtive, almost a mirage, because the soldier quickly shook his head, swearing and saying again that it really wasn't a good idea, before fleeing the apartment.

Y/N could have been mad at him for that. But she was too busy touching hers lips, thinking that if he had kissed her against his principles, maybe Frank Castle loved her enough to come back.

This idea stayed with her, after she received a message just before going to sleep. Simple message, which made her smile.

"I was happy too. You're not stupid. Good night."

Yes, they would probably see each other again. In secret, at times when she wouldn't expect to find him in her apartment. But she was a bit used to Matt, Foggy and Karen. This wouldn't be a problem at all.

[valiantstarlights]

[Loving You is Cherry Pie] How It Started

Featuring doting father Alpha!Hob (43) and his son, recently presented Omega!Dream (20).

Not me looking for something appropriate(?) to post on Father's Day and finding this in my notes. 👀

The title is from the song, "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga. While it could mean that loving someone sweet is as easy and enjoyable as eating cherry pie, knowing that Lady Gaga is allergic to cherries changes the meaning of the lyric drastically.

CWs: Aside from the dead-dove-ness of the premise, there's also toxic family dynamics (Dream's mother and her side of the family) and all the unfun stuff that goes with it, like verbal abuse, gaslighting, etc.

Important: This is (hopefully) going to be a series of non-linear oneshots. Maybe even a series of 'what if' oneshots. Who knows what I'll do? Certainly not me. 😂 Oh, and because this is an omegaverse fic, it's going to be on AO3 for public consumption. Anyway, Happy Father's Day, everybody! 😉

--

The Missus

"Talk to your son, Robert."

"And a very good morning to you as well, Nyx. May I ask what happened?"

"I merely requested, very reasonably, I might add, for him to call you 'Father' instead of his childish nickname for you, and he slammed the door in my face and called me a bitch."

"I see nothing wrong with Dream calling me 'Papa,' though?"

"You see nothing wrong with it. But everyone else is telling me how they think Dream is a spoiled, immature--"

"Everyone else, huh?"

"Yes! Look, I'm just concerned because the boy's birthday is coming up, and everyone on my side will be at the party, and--"

"Wait. A party? Nyx, you know Dream hates parties. And--"

"(scoff) That's your argument? 'Dream hates parties?' (laugh) And so what if he does? It's a family tradition--"

"Be reasonable. Dream is going to be presenting on his birthday, and he's overwhelmed enough with crowds. What more when--"

"Destiny is an introvert as well, and he did admirably at his presentation party. And besides, we both know Dream is just being dramatic, so you need to stop encouraging him. He's almost of age, Robert! He needs--"

"You're right. He's almost of age, and I think it's high time for you to start treating him like he's an adult who can make his own decisions. Have you even asked him what he wants to do on his birthday?"

"(scoff) Lock himself up in his dorm room and read his silly books, no doubt."

"So let him do that."

"Not a chance in hell. The party will be good for him. And besides, when was the last time he interacted with the right sort of people? Ever since he started at that no-name university you stupidly let him attend, he has been meeting all the wrong sorts! No wonder his attitude is becoming worse. He should spend more time with his cousins, especially the twins, who always ask when they'll see him next."

"Ha. Right."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Are you kidding? You know Desire and Despair are only asking when they'll see Dream next so they would know when they'd be able to bully him again."

"Bully-- How dare you! The twins are absolute angels!"

"Yeah. Because knocking Dream unconscious and locking him up in a closet in the attic for almost an entire day when he was nine years old is absolute angelic behavior. If I hadn't found him--"

"My god, when are you going to let that go? It's been…what, a decade? And the twins have already apologized. You were there. You saw that Dream has already forgiven them."

"Okay, one, the twins did not apologize. You made Dream apologize to them, and he only did so because you threatened to throw all his books out of the house."

"That is not--"

"No. You know what? I'm not going to argue about this with you anymore. Dream is going to decide what he wants to do for his birthday--"

"He is going to alpha the fuck up and go to his own presentation party that MY family is so graciously throwing for him--"

"--and you can decide whether or not you want to support his decision. Goodbye. (hangs up)"

--

Dream

"Hey, baby. How are you?"

"…Good."

"Everything okay? How'd you do on your paper? That was due this morning, right?"

"…I am not calling you 'Father,' Papa."

"(sigh) I never said you had to, baby. But you can see where you went wrong, yeah?"

"No."

"You called your mother a bitch."

"She is a bitch. And a hundred other worse things. She's lucky I stopped at bitch."

"Dream."

"Fine. I will apologize to her. For you."

"Good boy. And speaking of, your birthday is coming up."

"I already know what I want."

"If it's hardbound volumes of the complete works of Shakespeare--"

"(laugh) I know you hate him, Papa, so I won't torture you and make you buy things related to him for me."

"Well, that's a relief. Because I was just about to say that I was talking to your mother, and I told her that you're old enough to decide what you want to do for your birthday. So…you know, if you just want to have a pizza party with your closest friends at that gaming cafe you all go to--"

"Oh, Papa, really?"

"I know you hate the Endless's unnecessarily lavish parties, baby. So yeah, really. Consider it an additional birthday gift from me to you. If you want it, that is."

"I…Yes. I would love that. And you will be there as well, right?"

"It's your call, Dream. If you'd rather just celebrate with your friends, I could just pay the gaming cafe in advance and leave you young people--"

"No! I…I would love for you to be there. And you're not that old, Papa. But if you're busy on that day…"

"Me? Busy on my son's birthday? Never gonna happen. I would move heaven and earth and all my meetings so I can share with you all my hard-earned wisdom via dad jokes--"

"Papa--"

"--and now all your friends shall suffer the same fete!"

"Papa!"

"Get it? Fate and fete?"

"…"

"Regretting inviting me yet?"

"…Never. I was just--oh, Jessamy just arrived with our food. Hey, Jess."

"Take-out again?"

"This will be the first time this month. (muffled) Yes, it's Papa."

"Well, just be sure to limit eating take-out meals. I bought you all sorts of kitchen stuff for your dorm so you two could use it for cooking, not for decoration."

"Yes, Papa."

"Don't roll your eyes at me, baby."

"How did you--"

"Ah, hold on. (muffled) Yes, a moment, please. I have to go, baby. But enjoy your dinner and say hi to Jessamy for me."

"Yes, Papa. I'll send you a picture of our food in a bit so you may suffer for your fete joke while you're in your meeting."

"(laugh) Evil. I like it. Well, send away, baby. I'll talk to you later. Love you!"

"I love you too, Papa."

--

Jo

"Hypothetically speaking, if the house is in my name and Nyx barely resides here, can I charge her with trespassing and destruction of property?"

"Jesus Christ. What has the bitch done now?"

"(sighs) Just…we had an argument--"

"Surprise, surprise."

"--and after Dream told her he wouldn't be attending her family's presentation party for him, she has been…"

"A fucking psycho? As usual?"

"Basically."

"How's my cute nephew, anyway?"

"Thriving at university and making friends with equally brilliant people. He was home this weekend, telling me all the updates on his group's DND campaign when Nyx burst in and…well. You know."

"Yeah. And how many times have I told you to divorce her?"

"About as many times as when you pranked me when we were kids. But--"

"No. Dream is almost an adult, and he fucking hates her. There is literally no need for you to suffer her and her crazy family anymore."

"(sigh)"

"You know I'm right."

"You almost always are. So…what, do I need to lawyer up or something?"

"I mean, I already have a list of lawyers for you to choose from, if you're not fucking around anymore."

"(laugh) Hold on to that, then. I'll talk to Dream first and see what he thinks."

"What he-- Hobs, who the hell do you think gave me the list of lawyers?"

"Dream did?"

"…You know, sometimes I wonder if I actually did hit you too hard with that plastic shovel on the head when we were five and you lost all your brain cells that day."

"Alright, that's enough. I think I'm losing more brain cells just by talking to you."

"You can't lose more if you already have none, stupid. But yeah. Think about it. Divorcing Nyx, I mean."

"Been thinking about it more and more, to be honest. But keep that list ready, yeah? Just in case."

"Yep. Bye, Hobs. Tell Dream his favorite aunt says hello to her paleo mushroom bean."

"I still don't fucking understand why you call him that, and why he doesn't mind you calling him that, but yeah, sure. Bye, Jo."

--

Dream

"Happy birthday, baby! I'll see you in a bit. Just gotta get your super secret birthday gift from my super secret lair--"

"Take your time, Papa. And leave the dad jokes at home, please?"

"Mwahahahaha!"

"…That does not bode well."

--

Papa

Papa? (Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.) Papa, please pick up. I need you.

--

Dream

"Hey, Dream."

"Papa!"

"Dream, I--"

"I'm so sorry, Papa. I suspected, but I didn't really know for sure. I… Do you hate me now?"

"I just need some time to process this. But I'm okay. And no, I don't hate you. This is very much not your fault."

"But…you're not mad at me? I love you."

"…I love you too, baby. I'm just…I needed to breathe for a bit. Sorry for suddenly walking out. How did the rest of the party go?"

"(wet sniffle) It was okay. Matthew ate most of the cake, and I think Lucienne won the most games so she got the chicken dinner crown."

"What do you mean, 'I think?'"

"I wasn't really paying much attention to what was happening after you left. Sorry."

"Oh, baby."

"I just…(quiet sob) I missed my Papa."

"Fuck. I'm so sorry, Dream. I promise I'll make it up to you. We could…I don't know, rewatch your favorite series over an unlimited amount of pizza, or see a Shakespearean play at the Globe Theatre--"

"(wet laugh) But Papa, you hate Shakespeare."

"Yeah, but…I love you more. And I'm willing to put up with that bastard's--ah, hold on. Jo's calling."

"You should take Aunt Jo's call, Papa. I'll be okay."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Jessamy's here. We're rewatching Legally Blonde. Say hi, Jess."

"(muffled) Hi, Mr. G!"

"She says hi."

"Yeah, baby, I heard. So you're sure you're okay over there?"

"Yes, Papa."

"And you don't need anything else? Pizza? Blankets? My secret hot chocolate recipe?"

"No, Papa. All I needed was for you to call me."

"Oh, baby."

"I'm really sorry."

"Dream. You have nothing to be sorry for. And I'm not mad, nor do I hate you. I just…(sigh) It was…and still is, honestly, a bit of a shock. But I will always be your Papa, even if we're not blood-related. Okay?"

"Yes, Papa."

"Alright. I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay. …And Papa?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I still…(deep breath) Am I still welcome to go back home?"

"Of course, baby. You're welcome to come back home any time."

"And…And you promise you don't hate me?"

"I promise. I can never hate you."

"Okay. I love you, Papa."

"…I love you, too, baby."

--

Jo

"Shit. Sorry, Hobs. Jet just landed. Why the fuck were you calling me 27 thousand times? Are you okay? Is Dream okay? What's--"

"Dream isn't my biological son."

"I…What?"

"You heard me. I just found out when he presented as an omega and I reacted to his scent."

"You reacted-- Oh, fuck."

"I had to get the hell away from him as soon as I caught his scent. Calmed myself down a bit. A lot."

"Shit. You're compatible with him?"

"Yes."

"Jesus fucking Christ, Hobs."

"Fucking tell me about it."

"Have you talked to him yet?"

"Yeah. Just now, actually."

"How is he?"

"Worried that I hate him. Or if I'm mad at him. He wanted to know if he could still come home, Jo."

"Why the fuck would you be mad at him or hate him?"

"That's what I thought as well. Because right now? He is the last person on this earth who I will ever be mad at. But that's not what I was calling you about."

"Oh? Dream not being your bio son isn't the reason why you were calling me repeatedly like a fucking lunatic?"

"Yeah. I need you to give me that list of lawyers, Jo."

"Oh, hell yeah. Let's destroy this bitch."

--

The Missus Nyx Endless

We're over.

Excuse me? (Missed call.) Pick up the phone, Robert. (Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.) You're acting like a child. (Missed call.) (Missed call.)

Stop calling me. Can't you read? We're over. Done.

And do I get to know why you're so callously filing to annul our marriage a day after our son's birthday, when he didn't even have the decency to show up to his own presentation party?

Yeah, okay.

Well? Go on.

Imagine this, Nyx. Imagine my shock and mortification when Dream, MY son, presents as an omega, and I, his supposed biological father, react to his scent. You know, in hindsight, I can see why you so desperately want him to present as an alpha. Why, if Dream did the 'proper' thing for once and became the alpha you always wanted him to be, then I would never know of your infidelity. In fact, I seem to remember a couple of nurses remarking that Dream looks healthy for supposedly being born premature. But was he really? Or was he born right on schedule? I mean, did you even pay attention in your required Secondary Gender classes? Because an alpha reacting to an omega's scent means that they're not related by blood to them. So yeah. We're over.

(Missed call.) Look, can you just pick up your phone so we can talk like actual adults instead of you suddenly accusing me of infidelity, as if you're some faultless saint who has never lusted after loose omega whores?

Funny. I'll have my lawyers contact you.

(Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.)

Yeah, I'm still not gonna pick up and let you scream and gaslight me like you always do. I can fill in the blanks well enough by myself. All those work trips before our wedding? Not exactly rocket science. All I need from you right now is for you to sign the goddamn documents my lawyers are going to send.

And if I don't?

Gee, I don't know. I mean, it's not like my family owns an entire media company and has a lot of connections. Surely I wouldn't destroy you and your family's image, right? Because you've been such a good wife to me and a good mother to Dream, and you have never, not once, cheated on me with another alpha. Kronos, was it? What? Nothing to say? Fucking thought so.

--

Bean

"Aunt Jo?"

"Yeah, Bean?"

"Thank you for earlier."

"Nah. I should've fucking decked the cunt years ago. Glad I got to do it now. Seriously, don't mention it. It was my pleasure. How's your cheek?"

"Papa put an ice pack on it as soon as he could. Mother didn't draw blood, but Papa hasn't calmed down yet. He's calling even more people as we speak."

"Good. Keep that ice pack on your cheek. I'm coming over in a bit. Just gotta finish up here. You want anything?"

"Maybe vanilla ice cream for me and fish and chips from Cain and Abel's for Papa?"

"You got it."

--

CEO of Gadling Corporation Annuls Marriage to Estranged Wife

Robert Gadling, 43, annuls marriage to wife, Nyx Gadling (nee Endless) on grounds of infidelity prior to their marriage. (more on page 6.)

--

Lucienne

"Hey. I just heard the news. You okay?"

"Yes."

"Dream."

"I'm fine."

"But?"

"I don't like that I have to go by Dream Endless now. But I'm glad I don't have to see anyone from that side of the family anymore. I don't like that people whisper about me everywhere I go. But Papa doesn't hate me and I'm welcome to stay with him for as long as I want. It's a mixed bag, but I actually prefer this to how it was before."

"I mean, obviously. I met your mom once and all I could think of was hitting her with a chair. No offense."

"None taken. I wish you had. That would have definitely made last year's Halloween party more exciting."

"Alas. I was too worried about getting arrested in my Uhura costume. You were dressed as Morticia Addams, right?"

"I was. Mother was supposed to be Morticia, but she claims her costume shrank in the dryer and so foisted the costume on me. She went as the Bride of Frankenstein instead. Something about being the wife of a monster."

"Yikes. Thank god your dad had a late meeting and didn't arrive until after she had passed out from drinking most of the alcohol in the bar."

"...Mm-hmm."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Dream."

"It's nothing, Lucienne. I just remembered I have a paper due on Monday that I have yet to do, what with all the...drama."

"Oh! Yeah, of course. Sorry for suddenly going off on a tangent. I really just wanted to see if you were okay."

"And I appreciate you calling to check up on me. Truly."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll leave you to the tender mercies of your academics then, Dream Gadling."

"Thank you. I much prefer that name over the one I have right now."

--

Papa

"Hello? Papa?"

"Hey, baby. Is everything alright? It's one in the morning."

"Yes. I'm safe in my dorm. I was just thinking…Can I still call you 'Papa?' Or do you want me to call you something else now?"

"'Papa' is fine, baby. I mean… (pause) Yeah, I think it would be strange if you suddenly called me 'Robert' or something."

"You don't have to sound so disgusted with your own name, Papa. I think 'Robert' is a perfectly lovely name."

"Aww, thank you, Dream. (paper rustling)"

"Are you still working, Papa?"

"Ha. I wish. No, baby, I'm looking through profiles right now."

"Of employees?"

"(sigh) Of omegas."

"Omegas."

"Yep."

"…"

"You there?"

"Why."

"What do you mean, 'why?' For marriage, of course."

"Marriage."

"(sigh) Yes, Dream. Marriage."

"You and Mother just got your marriage annulled barely a fortnight ago."

"Yeah, well, your Papa's not getting any younger, and the Board is breathing down my neck trying to get me to get married again."

"What do they care?"

"Well, baby, it turns out that I don't have an heir yet."

"What do you mean? Am I not your heir? Did you not raise me to run the company competently one day? I'm good at the job, Papa. You know I am."

"You are. And I said the exact same thing to the Board. But they still want me to have a biological child to inherit the company someday. You know. Far into the future."

"So you have to marry again. And have a biological child with your new omega spouse. Children."

"Look, Dream, it's not like I'm having the time of my life right now."

"And me? Am I…Am I expected to just step aside for this new family of yours?"

"Baby, no. You're still my heir. Even the Board acknowledges how brilliant you are. But--"

"But once I have outlived my usefulness, I will be replaced by someone who shares your blood."

"Dream--"

"I'm suddenly feeling drowsy, Papa. Good night. (hangs up)"

"Shit."

--

Dream

No one will ever be able to take your place, Dream. You are my son, no matter who your biological father is, and I will always love you. (Missed call.) (Missed call.) (Missed call.) Can you please at least let me know if you're safe? I'm getting worried.

I'm safe.

Okay. That's good, baby. Thank you for letting me know.

--

Jessamy (Dream's roommate)

Jessamy? Is Dream alright?

Hey, Mr. G! I mean, yeah? He's quieter than usual, but he's going to classes and eating and sleeping normally. Is everything okay?

Not sure, actually. Look, can you please keep an eye on him?

Yup, sure thing! Anything in particular you want me to look out for?

Just strange behavior, I suppose. The two of you have been roommates for a couple of years now, so in a way, you know better than I do what to look out for.

--

Eleanor

"I'm sorry. I don't know what has gotten into him."

"Hey, it's okay. It's totally understandable that he'd be very protective of you."

"It's just… I've never seen him act like that before. He's usually so well-mannered."

"Seriously, Robert, it's fine. Sure, he glared at me the entire night and interrogated me like I'm a criminal, but given what you both have been through, I get it. If I were in his shoes, I would totally do the same thing."

"I don't think you would 'accidentally' spill a glass of red wine over another person's clothes, though."

"Pssh, please. I have 'accidentally' spilled many an alcoholic drink when I was in uni as well. Granted, I spilled them mostly on handsy alphas."

"I'm really sorry."

"And I really don't mind. It's a dress, Robert. I can get it dry cleaned. If anything, Dream has provided me with the perfect excuse to go shopping."

"You don't have to be so understanding about this. He was a right little hellion tonight."

"Trust me, I've dealt with worse. Oh, hold on. (muffled) Oh, thank you, Chris. I just got home."

"Good. Great. I'll see you soon?"

"(laugh) I'll see you during our business lunch on Monday, Robert. And don't worry, it will take more than a glass of 'accidentally' spilled red wine on my dress to scare me off."

"(relieved sigh) Thanks, Eleanor."

"Ellie. You've dabbed enough napkins on my person to call me Eleanor."

"Ellie, then. Good night."

"Good night, Robert."

--

Dream

"Dream. Care to explain your behavior tonight?"

"Not really."

"Dream."

"Robert."

"…Okay, I'm going to give you time to calm down, but I still expect that explanation from you. And an apology to Eleanor."

"…"

"Dream."

"(hangs up)"

--

Jessamy (Dream's roommate)

Um, Mr. G? Dream came back yesterday at around 3AM, and he was really hungover this morning. Please don't tell him I told you.

Alright. Thank you, Jessamy.

--

Dream

"I said no, Corinthian."

"…Corinthian?"

"…Papa."

"Anything you need to tell me, baby?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Right."

"…"

"Well, I just called to tell you I won't be home this weekend."

"Understood. I am to let no one in, and all exterior doors must be locked at all times. Should an intruder somehow get past security, I am to hide in the safe room first and call you and/or Aunt Jo second."

"(sigh) Dream…"

"Is there anything else?"

"I miss you."

"…"

"We've barely talked since I started meeting with potential omega partners, and when we do talk, I get the sense that you'd rather do anything else than talk to me. What do I have to do? I feel like I'm suddenly doing everything wrong where you're concerned."

"If I ask you to stop meeting with other omegas, would you do it?"

"Baby…I have to."

"Then there's nothing left to talk about."

"You know you're one of the most, if not THE most important person in my life. I want you to be a part of this decision too. Anyone I choose must also have your approval."

"And if I choose no one?"

"(sigh) Baby…"

"You say I'm important to you. But--"

"Hold on. (muffled) What? Now? Goddammit. (sigh) Listen, baby. I have to go. But I'll call you later, okay? Just before my plane leaves, as always. I hope you answer. I don't like leaving on a plane without talking to you beforehand. You're my good luck charm, you know?"

"Fine. What time shall I expect your call?"

"(muffled) Yes, it's Dream. Just one more second, Ellie. What was that, baby?"

"Nothing. I said I'll pick up when you call. Is that Eleanor?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. We're both attending the same international conference, so I invited her to just fly with me on the jet."

"...I see. I have to go to class now."

"Oh, of course. Sorry for keeping you. Have a good day at school, baby. Love you."

"(hangs up)"

--

Papa

Ppa help In eed you Ith urts

[alientater]

I have so much to say about s3 of bridgerton so I’m dumping it all into one post. Take my dumbass opinions as a writer for what you will 😂

- first foremost thank you my QUEEN Nicola for your confidence and courage (I am no better than a man 👀). I feel like this whole season was a reminder for me, through both Pen and Colin that bodies that look like my own (Pens) deserve love. I can’t even begin to tell yall how much watching people swoon over her body specifically has made me 🥹 blush because my own looks so much like hers.

- I absolutely adored how devoted Colin was to Pen. Watching him realize his love for her in all her forms, with all her flaws was absolutely adorable and wonderful and beautiful, and it, in its own way, comforted me that the more masculine side of my self can be the romantic, the devoted, the loving person that I am as well. Both his little speech in the carriage and his love confession at the end are now living rent free in my brain.

- I know many people think they should have cut some of Benedict’s scenes but I’m against that opinion. I ADORED his character development this season, and I think it served well as a break in the tension of the plot. you will NEVER catch me unhappy to see a bisexual king living his best and horniest life.

- I’m so glad Pen got to keep her Column. The books end with Colin revealing her identity and I’m so glad they changed that. So much from the book was changed to give her more agency and I’m so so so happy about that.

- Genuinely, I’m so excited to see what happens in Scotland with Francesca and Eloise and Michaela and John!! I have a suspicion they’re going to make it another spinoff show like Queen Charlotte, and then we’ll get Benedict’s season (which 👀💕 I have no clue what they’ll do with it but WHATEVER it is I will be parked in front of that TV the SECOND it drops). Whatever it is they have planned I have a sneaking suspicion we’re finally going to get some sapphic romance 👀 so.

- I absolutely cannot stand the hate this season is getting online. I really think it was well done, and I enjoyed every second of it.

- I do wish they’d shown a *few* more spicy Polin scenes (or maybe made the end one a bit longer bc HOOOO boy 👀 I needed about another full 5-10 minutes of her riding him lord GOD almighty I need a glass of WATER). BUT they really didn’t get any more spice than Kate and Anthony did last season (in fact they had quite a bit more I’d say), and I know we’ll see more of it next season hehe 😈 so 😏.

- John dying is literally actually physically going to break my heart when we get to Francesca’s storyline. ALSO I think I really…. I want her to fall in love with him wholly and completely too. I think she has in some ways. I hope in her story, they explore the very real love between them, mostly because I adore his beautiful lil autistic ass.

- I really wish they’d brought back Daphne and the duke a bit more to help violet and Fran a bit. I think Daphne specifically would have really helped soothe that relationship.

- can we get an Eloise Benedict swing scene every season?? Plz? For me? I adore their queer sibling bond so so so much.

- I’m so glad Pen and Eloise are on good terms again. Their friendship breaking just really…

- also, on Eloise, I adore the character growth I saw her go through this season. I think she’s really learning how to see and love the people around her for who they are and it’s so beautiful. I think people were right about her self absorption to a certain degree but… every character has flaws. No one is really infallible. And I think I went through a similar growth, learning how to check and weild my priveledge, and it’s comforting to know I’m not alone in some of the mistakes I made

- I have so many feelings about Cressida Cowper. I know she’s a bully, and I disliked her originally, but something about this season made me…. Sort of like her. First of all, she’s so cunty and I absolutely LOVE that for her. Her outfits are 😮‍💨 every single time. The SLEEVES on those dresses. Like. I really hope she has character growth of her own. Also. You can’t convince me that woman isn’t a femme lesbian. I want to see her set up a nice little estate and live happily ever after with a woman she loves, honestly. I feel like it was really realistic and fascinating to see her schism with her family. I hope she doesn’t take her mother’s advice to heart. That she breaks the generational curse and learns to be both kind AND cunty 😂. I hope Eloise and her make up somewhat too. I just. I don’t want her to be the villain. The pressures of society are their own villain.

- Bring back Edwina Sharma and her Prince can we start a FUCKING petition bro.

- two people in on that show that no matter what they are being paid, are not being paid enough 1) the COSTUME designer and 2) the intimacy coordinator. Every five seconds I found myself saying “god that dress” or “oh man, I need that waistcoat”

- I love that the writers chose to make the featherington sisters more than just… jokes? Philippa especially. She really had some of the best breakout lines of the season “insert himself where” GIRL “Farley, now! the bugs!!” SHES SO CUTE and Mr Finch baby boy so are you and your love for her 🥹 it’s just so wholesome. I love that Shonda really has showed through this show that even with our eccentricities, we all deserve to be loved, appreciated, cherished.

- we stand by Portia featherington. She really made the best of some SHITTY as situations, and we love her for that. It’s so important to me that she’s not the villain either. That she and pen worked things through, learned how to support each other, and that Portia apologized. I think she’s definitely…. Let’s say morally gray but how morally grey really is robbing the aristocracy? 🤫. I honestly? Kind of hope she finds a love match, or finds happiness in her singleness without having to rely on a man. That she learns to live in her power.

- Did I mention how devoted Colin is to Pen? Can we return to that? My FAVORITE moments of this season were the ones where he is so absolutely down bad for her that he can barely speak bc ME TOO baby boy. ME TOO. and that it’s pen. This season was for the girlies who never get noticed, who never had boys crush on them. Who have to make do living vicariously through others, who have to learn to love themselves, because the world does not seem to.

- can we bring back lord debbling? Lowkey…. I kinda liked him. I need him to be Cressida’s beard for real 🤫

- the mirror scene THE MIRROR SCENE 🫠😮‍💨😰🤤 I…. I have so many feelings. I keep hearing people being like “it was so cringe” but? I think I loved it because it felt so…. Realistic? I found myself loving it because it was so… slow and sweet and intentional and it was in every way an extension of Colin’s feelings for pen. He loves her enough that he treats her with only the most kind, most slow and soft touches. He considers her pleasure before his own (which, god is that dreamy I wanna be this man SO BAD). He talks her through. he appreciates in every way she SHOULD be appreciated. I’m just. I’m never going to be over how fantastically luke played him. How fantastic Luke and Nicola’s chemistry was. Can we appreciate the shots angles looking down on Penelope too bc oh man. Oh boy. Jesus Christ she would be walking ME like a dog to if she looked at me like that Holy Fuck. Also the THIGHS the TITTIES (👀 respectfully 👀 RESPECTFULLY). The little sneaky views of Colin’s butt hehe, the way Pen GULPS when she sees Colin (girl SAME). It reminded me so vividly of my own first time. it made me miss being that young and… idk. I feel like sex scenes often feel fake or unrealistic and the ones in this just felt SO real.

- on that topic can we all just appreciate how much Kate sharma is getting her cookie ate bc 😂 lord only knows she deserves it. ALSO. Petition for next season: I ABSOLUTELY need to see Colin on his knees doing the same for Pen 🤤👀 bc you KNow that man is a service top, and she deserves it.

- genuinely genuinely. I’m so afraid of the show now getting canceled because it has openly queer characters 🥺. I’ve fallen in love with it and it’s like there’s this dread, in the pit of my stomach, that it’s all going to end prematurely because people are already acting so shitty.

- I need violet to have her own spinoff with Marcus 👀 and CONTROVERSIAL OPINION (not controversial) I need their sex scenes bc 😳 LORD . I am not. ahem. I am sinning looking at lady bridgerton like this 😂

- I loved lady Danbury and pens exchange at the end of the season and they’re great friends in the books! I hope it develops more!

- how does Jonathan Bailey so convincingly play a man utterly in love/ lust with his wife as a gay man 😂. Also. Anthony’s little “LILACS”? Still thinking about that lol.

- I’m so glad Eloise didn’t tell Colin about pen being whistledown.

- really wish we’d had a wedding night sex scene 😅

- pen wearing a full set of acrylics and riding that man’s dick is….. god. I have been given a gift.

- Need Need NEED more of the Mondriches, just being happy and finding their place. Their ball this season was fucking fantastic.

- the end camera shot of Colin and pen kissing in front of the window she always watched him from 🫠🥹💕 I’m actually sick it’s SO PERFECT

- I knew Penelope was going to have the only boy 👀😏 called it hehe

- I think one of the things I love most about the show is just… seeing women support and uplift each other and work through things. Talk about the hard things. That’s how we grow as people.

In conclusion, I know many people disliked a lot of things about s3 but I, personally, adored it. And I also know why the writers cut what they did, and did what they did. I honestly think if they’d just added a few small things it would have been perfect. There was so much happening this season it felt overwhelming almost, and I think if I were to say if there’s anything to learn from this, it’s that they need to slow down. Focus on and give each plot its share. I wish I could give Bridgerton an infinite budget for infinite episodes to do whatever they wanted bc I know it would be good. ALSO if I have to endure a month wait like that again I’m actually fucking rioting. I liked the anticipation but it felt too long and just…. Idk. I think an episode a week would be a better way to stretch it if they wanted to keep that ploy. Anyways. If anyone’s actually read this far, I’m so sorry 😂. And to all the people griping… get a grip. It’s a beautiful show and the writing was honestly fantastic. just enjoy the media for what it is im actually begging you. If this show gets canceled because of something as trivial as not enough Polin sex scenes and having actual queer representation in fucking coming for ALL OF YOU.

Peace and light

Annika

[thisgirlnamedblusy]

Hey, I really like your story so keep up the good work. Can you do a story about gardener turned maid x Donna. She and Donna were childhood friends, (y/n) always plays with Donna when she was a child. (y/n) also has a hard pass, she was only adopted by the previous gardener but never really took care of her but she sees him as her father anyway. (y/n) is always alone and seeks solace around Donna. When Donna's parents died she shut herself out and which made her feel even more alone. But then the lady got out and asked if she could ve her maid. This is also and excuse to be close to her again because she always admired and loved (y/n) from afar. They got closed again then (y/n) stole a kiss from Donna. Donna got angry and left. They haven't talk for days but she confess to her that she loves (y/n) as well. They were happy until one time (y/n) felt a pain in her chest, it's so painful that she loss consciousness while tending the garden, Donna became worried and took her to her room. (y/n) woke up and looked at herself in the mirror, what she saw is horrible. A giant lump is growing on her chest and some nerves are visible from it to the neck and it's dark. Donna told her it was a cadou. (y/n) demanded answers from her and Donna just told her everything what mother miranda told her during her implantation and that it's been killing her to keep that from her lover. She wanted to confront miranda to get some answers on her own. Donna told her it wasn't a good idea because she will die. Then night came and (y/n) and kissed Donna goodbye while she's asleep because there is was never really a happy ending for the both of them. She confronted miranda to get some answers, they fought while miranda was telling her that she was a failed experiment.

Good ending - Donna found her and treated her wounds and they were together again

Bad ending - Donna found her body the next day dead. Years later she still mourned for her and that she slowly looses her sanity because of it.

Note: I'm sorry it is very long but I trust that you could make a story out of this and also English isn't my first language either. And write both of the ending to give the readers some perspective about the 2 endings. Thank you

Yess!!! It's a very good plot, thank you!!! Well, I don't like bad endings, so I chose the good one. You said that you wanted the two of them and... Well, I'm going to post it later if you're okay with that!!! Anyway, thank you for your request!!! I hope you like it and sorry about the language mistakes!!! :))))

The friend you were used to be

Pairing: Donna Benviento x Fem! Reader

Warnings: angst, dark themes, mentions of abuse, Donna being Donna, fluff, blood, Cadou, Reader POV

Word count: 10,077

Summary: Sometimes life is so unfair...

N/A: Sorry about the language mistakes!! Requests are open, I'm waiting for yours!! I love you all!!! :)))

The pain is almost unbearable. My hands are unable to contain the blood that flows from my wound. I scream, I cry, but no one listens to me, there is no one in this dark place. Thinking that it would be the day of my death does not scare me, I was the one who went to that place. It was me who chose the day of my death, and not her. With an exhausting effort, I manage to turn around and look at the full moon through the rubble of the underground cathedral.

“Such a magnificent view,” I say, closing my eyes, breathing in pain. My bandages are torn and my soul is condemned. How did I get here? Why did my life have to end like this?

Pointless questions when the darkness is so close. I once heard someone say that when you were about to die, you might be able to see your life flashing before your eyes. It's certainly not something I feel like doing. If I have to die, let it be remembering you, my love, the only light that made me keep hope. But I feel the need to go back, to when this started...

20 years ago…

“And then I found a cave with a lot of strange black trees,” I said, talking about that little walk around the village.

“A cave?” My friend, Donna, asked, listening to me curiously while we played tea with her doll.

“Yes, yes, a huge and very deep cave,” I reaffirmed, pretending to take a sip from my empty toy cup.

It was an afternoon like many others, at the house of my friend, my only friend, Donna Beneviento.

My father, or rather, the man who called himself my father, worked for her family as a gardener. We lived isolated on the grounds of the Beneviento estate, almost as long as I can remember. Apparently, I was adopted shortly after birth.

I didn't care much about my origin either, not even that this man, Josef, didn't bother to pretend that he loved me. There was only one thing I liked to do, and that was to spend the afternoons with Donna.

She was four years older than me, she was 12 and I was 8. Despite that difference, nothing prevented us from playing with the dolls, talking, or laughing, like girls, like real friends. I couldn't blame her for seeking refuge in my friendship. She had her own problems. According to my father, she was an isolated, lonely and strange girl, who never left the grounds, who never spoke to anyone.

Maybe it was because of the lack of her right eye, which left a striking scar on her face, or maybe it was because she simply wasn't interested in humans. Whatever the case, Donna and I were friends. She needed me, and I needed her.

“So… What happened to you?” Donna asked, well, Angie, the doll that her father made for Donna so that she wouldn't feel so terribly alone. She was one more friend, even if it was only imagination.

“Well, I tripped, fell on a rock and fainted,” I said, putting my hand to the area of ​​my chest that was still burning.

“You fainted?” The brunette asked, lying on the floor with her hands on her chin, listening attentively to my story.

I nodded, lying down too.

“I was unconscious for hours, until I woke up, outside the cave.”

“That's a lie!” Angie screamed, to which I clearly got angry.

“It's not a lie,” I protested in a childish manner, of course.

“Do you have any proof?” the older girl asked, looking at me suspiciously.

“Well yes, I have proof,” I said, showing the strange scar on my chest. “Look, Donna…”

“Wow... Does it hurt ?” She asked, reaching out towards the scar, changing distrust for curiosity. I shook my head, covering myself again.

“Sometimes,” I said, feeling good about the attention I had drawn from my friend.

“Donna, è l'ora delle tue lezioni,”  Mrs. Beneviento's voice interrupted us, making Donna grimace in disgust.

“Ma mamma, stavo giocando con (Y/N)” the older girl protested, getting up and picking Angie up from its small chair.

“No complaints, Donna, besides, (Y/N)'s father will be worried, it's late,” the adult woman said, pointing to me. I woke up a little disappointed because of how short the afternoon had been. “Go home, it's getting dark and it’s dangerous.”

I protested with my eyes and nodded. After all, my father's job depended on them.

“Yes, ma'am,” I said politely, bowing my head respectfully. Donna's mother smiled tenderly at me, putting a hand on my back to guide me out.

“(Y/N),” the girl called to me, holding Angie in her arms. “Will you come tomorrow?”

“Sure,” I said, smiling as she said goodbye to me with a shy wave of her hands.

I wish I had known. I wish I had known that would be the last time I would play with my friend Donna. The next day I didn't go to her house, she didn't come to see me. That same night, something terrible happened.

Donna's parents died, both of them, jumping off the cliff that was right next to her house. Terrible, unexpected news.'

I remember the funeral…I remember how Donna couldn't stop crying.

A 12-year-old girl didn't have to have experienced that, it was unfair.

The following days were even worse. My father told me that Donna needed to be alone. Alone? A 12 year old girl alone in that big house? My mind couldn't understand it. As Donna's only friend, as an 8-year-old who wants to see her friend smile, I headed there for weeks.

“Donna, let's play,” I said, knocking on the door, waiting for an answer that wasn't a sob.

“I don't want to play,” a broken voice came from inside the house. “Go away, (Y/N)”

“Come on, Donna, please... Being alone is so boring. Look, I brought Mr. Whiskers, Angie's boyfriend. I'm sure she missed him,” I said in a childish, almost pleading voice. I couldn't lose Donna. It may have been a selfish feeling but, after all, I was only 8 years old.

“I don't want to play with you!” Donna screamed, desperate, which made me squeeze the doll tightly in my hands. “Go away!”

It didn't matter how many times I insisted, how many times I cried begging for a little time with her. I didn't see her again. Donna forgot about me, but I never, ever forgot about her.

Little by little I got used to her absence, to my loneliness. The months, the years passed slowly and I grew up alone, next to a man who didn’t take care of me, always leading my gaze to that place to which I never returned.

14 years ago…

“Father!” I screamed, covering my face with my hands. The blizzard intensified and made to walk properly impossible for me. “Hurry, we have to protect the house!”

It had been 6 years since I last saw Donna. She was a woman, not a girl. 14 years was not too many, but it was enough for new feelings to appear to torment me. Envy corroded me...

During all that time, only my father had been lucky enough to get close to the Beneviento estate, only he was allowed to take care of Donna. No matter how much I insisted, I couldn't do it. My father said that she was a strange girl, that it wasn't good for me to be around or disturb her, that Donna was only his responsibility, and not mine.

I tried to escape several times, stupidly thinking that I would be able to see her again, to talk to her after so many years. I didn't do it, I couldn't do it.

But that afternoon there were other problems to worry about. A terrible blizzard hit the place mercilessly, causing us to have to reinforce our house, nailing wooden planks to the windows.

“Stay here!” My father shouted, when he nailed the last plank.

“No, father, don't go!” I said, grabbing his arm.

“I have to see if Miss Donna is safe! Obey, (Y/N)!” He ordered me, breaking away from my grip and causing me to fall to the ground.

“Father, wait!” I shouted, standing up as best I could.

Donna could be in danger. That was the only thing I thought about as I crawled through the snow, feeling thousands of ice blades dig into my skin. I could barely walk for a few minutes. The road was blurry. There was no sign of my father, I wasn't even able to tell where I tripped and fell again, sinking into the snow.

“Help!” I shouted. It was useless. My screams were drowned out by the wind, by the snow, by the nervous crows trying to take shelter.

My vision cleared and then… Then I saw it.

A black figure was walking towards me. It looked like a woman, or something like a woman. Her walk was slow, elegant. She was carrying something in her arms. No, not something, it was someone. When she got close enough, my heart almost stopped.

Mother Miranda, protector of the village, its supreme authority, was right in front of me. The priestess clothing stood out against the snow, the golden tones of her mask made her look like a bird, something similar to a crow. In her arms, there was a young woman. Someone I couldn't recognize until she was too close.

That scar, that black hair… Donna Beneviento.

The one who was once my best friend was resting in Miranda's arms. She seemed unconscious, or something worse.

I tried to move, to reach out my hand towards her, but the cold prevented me to do so. The priestess's footsteps were already distinguishable on the ground. It was impossible for her not to have seen me.

She walked past me, carrying Donna in her arms. The blizzard didn't seem to be a problem for her at all.

"Donna..." I sighed, crawling a little as the figure slowly moved away from me. Miranda paused, perhaps out of pity, perhaps out of annoyance. She didn't help me, I barely felt her gaze on mine. What I did feel was her smile through that golden mask.

Miranda looked at me and I looked at her. Her figure remained completely oblivious to the snow and Donna seemed nothing but a dead weight in her arms.

I could hear her laughter, even today I would be able to swear that a terrible laugh came from the priestess. Slowly, she turned her head away from me again walking down the path. It had been 6 years without seeing Donna and I still wanted to save her, attack the priestess and take her to a safe place.

Miranda was good, or so they said. I never believed it. Seeing her was just a bad omen.

As time went by, I began to believe that this was just a dream, a mirage that the blizzard created for me. I soon realized that it was not.

“Adopted?” I asked, at one of the silent meals with my father. The man who didn't love me nodded, enjoying the food he forced me to make for him.

“Mother Miranda has taken pity on Miss Donna, she is her daughter now,” he explained, already drinking her second glass of wine.

“I don't understand. When I saw her, she seemed unconscious, she seemed...”

“Are you questioning Mother Miranda?” The man asked, abruptly, hitting the table with his fist. I backed away scared. In recent years, the behavior of the man who claimed to be my father had become unsustainable.

“No, father, I'm just saying that...”

“Shut your mouth and bring more wine! Don't dare to question Mother Miranda, (Y/N), not in this house.”

I nodded, with tears in my eyes. I still didn't understand anything. I still had a lot of unanswered questions. At least Donna was fine, better than ever according to my father. That's what he said. It had been too long since I had seen her, too long...

12 years ago…

Life continued its course. I, already 16 years old, had become accustomed to solitude, to the few pieces of the outside world that Josef told me about. That man was never my father. I would no longer call him as such. Hits, screams and beatings those were the summary of my existence, too much for a young girl like me.

I had no news about Donna. I didn't know what had happened to her, why Miranda had adopted her. I didn't know anything and the worst thing... The worst thing was that I cared less and less. Surviving Josef's wrath was the most important thing.

“You are a worthless girl!” The man shouted, hitting me hard on the cheek. “You are worthless!”

“Father, please, please, stop...” I begged crying, falling to the floor.

Alcoholism took away the little that was left of humanity in him. That morning, the idea of ​​getting out of there was more present in my mind than ever.

“You will never be my family!” He shouted, stating a truth that I already knew. He had a family, his family died, he adopted me. That was the sum of his demons. I would never be his daughter. He would never be my father.

“I don't want to be your family!” I screamed furiously, struggling with his arms so he wouldn't hit me again. Taking advantage of his obvious state of intoxication, I managed to push him, to throw him to the floor with a thud.

“Stupid little girl...” He hissed, just when I was able to stand up. “You are going to pay for this!”

Josef pounced on me, ready to end everything, to kill me, to make me pay for having had to take care of me all those years. I, for the second time in my life, thought that it was the end, that it was the end of my disastrous life.

Just when his hands were about to make me gasp for breath, his gaze went from fury to bewilderment, relaxing his attempt to strangle me.

“Liza...” He murmured, as if he had heard something, as if someone had spoken to him. “Where are you?”

“What?” I asked, catching my breath.

Josef left the house like a wandering soul, looking for something that apparently only he was able to see.

“Yes... I will meet you,” the man said, walking towards the old estate, with a lost look.

It could have been a good opportunity to disappear from that place, but I didn't. Something strange was happening to Josef.

“Father?” I asked, trying in vain to put a hand on his shoulder, which he pushed away with a grunt.

“I'm coming, Liza…” He murmured again. “Yes, at the waterfall.”

“Waterfall?” I asked, scared by what that meant. “Father, wait…”

My attempt to stop him was even worse. He turned around, pushing me to the ground roughly. The only thing I could do was to watch as that man disappeared into the fog.

I sat under a tree, thinking about why I would want to save my father, who wasn't my father. I guess I was always stupid. I breathed relief and cried at the same time. For some reason, I knew I would never see him again.

When I raised my head from my knees, something scared me. A hand, a pale hand extended towards me. It was attached to a woman's body, dressed entirely in black, from head to toe, wearing a strange veil that hid her face.

The smell of her lavender and the softness of her hands were enough to know who I had in front of me. Donna.

I sobbed and used her hand to get up.

“It's all over, (Y/N)” a hoarse voice that came out of that veil whispered. It had nothing to do with that sweet voice from years ago. She was already a woman.

“What?” I said confused, blinking several times to make sure that what I was seeing was real, that Donna Beneviento, missing for years, was in front of me. “Donna… Is that you?”

The woman nodded slowly, moving away from my arm, which reached out toward her as if trying to fulfill a wish, something I had hoped to do for years.

“My God... Donna,” I sobbed, unable to contain all that torrent of feelings I felt when I saw her again, throwing myself into her arms. “It has been so long…”

She didn't hug me back, she just gasped in surprise, going completely still.

“(Y/N),” she whispered, again with that hoarse voice, forcing me to move away from her. I cried, I cried with emotion, with joy at seeing my only friend again.

“I thought... I thought you had... Oh, my goodness, Donna...” I stammered, remembering all the moments I had lived with her, all the laughter, the games, the teas with the Angie doll. My entire childhood was before my eyes.

“You're safe now,” she said, clearing her throat, with that same stoic pose, without making the slightest gesture to reflect that she was also happy to see me.

After a deep sigh, the woman in black turned around, ready to leave, to abandon me again. I couldn't allow it.

“Donna, wait, wait please,” I said, running after her, grabbing her arm. She stopped, but she didn't turn to look at me. “Please, please tell me, tell me what happened to you, why haven't you come to see me in all these years?”

She didn't respond, she just kept walking, slipping out of my grasp.

“Donna, please... Tell me what...” I said standing in front of her again. That horrible black veil made me shiver. “Why are you covering your face? What is that…?” I asked, taking one of my hands towards the woman in black.

I hissed in pain as her hand clamped down on my wrist, squeezing it too tightly.

“Donna, you're hurting me,” I protested, moving my hand away definitively. “My God, what happened to you? Josef told me that Mother Miranda….”

“Mother Miranda saved me,” the lady in black interrupted, releasing me, moving further away from me.

“What has she done to you, Donna? You don't seem like yourself...” I murmured, confused, surprised and disappointed at the same time.

“You know nothing about me” She said, now, turning around to turn her back on me again.

“You were my friend! My only friend!” I shouted, when she was far enough away.

“And you were mine, (Y/N)” she responded with a dark voice, looking at me over her shoulder.

“So what's going on? Why can't we just...? Wait...” I said, realizing something I had overlooked. Josef, I had forgotten about Josef. “What have you done to him? What have you done to my father?”

“He won't bother you anymore, (Y/N),” Donna responded, speaking naturally, ignoring what that statement implied. “Besides, he was never your father.”

“I... I don't... You don't...” I stammered. I was not old enough to take on all that stuff at once. Donna continued walking, disappearing again from my sight, from my life...

6 months ago…

12 years. 12 years have passed since the man who claimed to be my father disappeared. At first I didn't know what to do, how to act. I was too young to get out of there. I was too young to know what to do.

Donna didn't come back, I never heard from her again. I had two options: get out of there, escape from the village and never look back. The other one was... Different. My other option was to stay there, in that house, on those grounds. Alone, but free from Josef's yoke. I had no job, no family, and my only friend had built a huge wall between us.

In those 12 years I didn't see her, at least not physically. Sometimes, when I was trying to sleep, when I spent time tending the small orchard or the small garden that surrounded my house, I could feel a presence, as if someone was watching me.

I called her several times, knowing that it could only be her, that only Donna could be there. I never saw her, never, in 12 long years of loneliness.

I couldn't complain. I had a house, I could grow my food and I didn't lack the heat of the fire or the water from the old well. A sad, lonely life. Fortunately, I was already used to the crackling of the fire being my only company.

“Come on, come on...” I said grunting, holding the old wooden bookshelf I was trying to repair.

The house was falling apart, but I managed: I fixed cracks, covered windows... I was aware that this whole adventure would end the moment when, like in the story, someone blew and blew and my house would fell down. But it was not the time to accept reality, to assume that my life was never going to improve.

Every night, I struggled with the idea of ​​not continuing to suffer, of ending what would have no solution.

“Shit!” I screamed furiously, dropping the wooden shelf as I hit my finger with the hammer in a comical way. Everything on the shelf fell apart. “Great, great, (Y/N)…” I murmured, leaning my head against the wall, suppressing the urge to tear down the house with my own hands.

 “You keep it...” a familiar whisper made me open my eyes and turn around.

It was her, Donna, her black dress, her black veil, her dark figure before me after 12 years. I had to think if I was asleep or awake. Lady Beneviento remained still, behind me, holding the old doll that her father gave me on my seventh birthday.

“Donna...” I sighed confusedly, with my eyes wide open. “You…”

“What was his name?” She asked, making me shake my head and frown. 12 years old, Donna, 12 years old and all you're asking me what was the name of that stupid doll.

“It was Mr...” I murmured quietly, my hands shaking, not knowing how I was supposed to act seeing her again, just when I had assumed for years that Donna was nothing but a ghost from my past.

“Mr. Whiskers... Now I remember him. He was Angie's boyfriend,” she said, speaking with a tone that made me think she was smiling. 12 years and I couldn't even see her face.

“Yes... You remember it,” I said trembling, taking the doll from her hands, making the wooden limbs move to the rhythm of my trembling body.

“Yes, I remember when my father gave it to you. It was a funny birthday party,” the woman in black confirmed, walking towards the table where I used to eat. “I'm sure Angie would be happy to see him after so long.”

“Angie...” I sighed, shaking my head. I knew that Donna wasn't right in the head. I had known that since I was a little girl. I never gave it importance but... Hearing about Angie in that way, after so many years, from the mouth of an adult woman, made me stay alert.

“Don't worry, I left her at home, she won't bother you,” Donna murmured, sitting in the chair with a melancholic air around her.

“Donna, I...” I said, approaching, leaving Mr. Whiskers on the table. I still couldn't believe she was really there. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to talk to you, (Y/N)” she said with a soft tone, looking around her, observing the place where I lived.

“To me? After 12 years without talking to me, do you want to do it now?” I couldn't stop the fury from leaving my body. If only she knew how lonely I was all that time. At first I was sad, but later that feeling transformed into helplessness, and, over time, into apathy.

“I know it's been a long time and...” Donna started to say, but she was interrupted by my hand hitting the table hard, reminding me of that man who claimed to be my father.

“A long time? It was an eternity, Donna. Do you know how long I've wanted to see you again? Do you know how lonely I was after you locked yourself in that house? You were my only friend, and you abandoned me,” I said furiously.

“I don't...” She murmured, getting nervous, playing with the black fabric of her dress.

I took a deep breath and reached out to her face.

“What is this, huh? Why do you cover your face? What the hell are you…?” I asked while, after avoiding her attempts to stop me, I managed to remove the black cloth from her face, turning pale when I saw it. “Hiding…”

Donna stayed quiet, with a cold look on her face as I took in what she was seeing, shaking my head. The age was already evident on her face. Her features were no longer that of a girl, they were that of a woman... A beautiful woman, without a doubt, the most beautiful I had ever seen. She no longer had anything to do with that girl with whom I used to play hide and seek.

One horrible detail stood out from the rest of her features. That scar, that eye that was taken from her in an accident when she was barely 4 years old was no longer there, nor was there anything similar to that small scar.

A prominent, bulging abscess filled part of her face. I had never seen anything like it. But, although it was something horrible it was not so terrible as to hide or shadow her beauty in the slightest. Beauty? My loneliness was starting to take its toll on me.

“Gods...” I murmured, ignoring her incipient nervousness, her pathetic attempts to retrieve the veil from my hands. “Donna, what happened to you? Your face is…”

“Horrible, I know. Give it back to me,” she demanded, leaning over the table to reach her veil. I, still horrified and enthralled by her beauty, obeyed her, making her cover herself as quickly as she could.

“No, I...” I said, trying to fix the situation, wondering what terrible thing had happened. The answer was hidden in a dark corner of my mind. “It was her, right? Miranda did that to you.”

“You have no idea, (Y/N),” Donna hissed, adjusting her veil. “She…”

“Yes, she saved you. I already know that story,”  I said with a superb tone, sitting in front of her and crossing my arms.

“It's impossible for you to understand,” Donna said in a dark tone, revealing a small embarrassing sob.

“You're right, Donna. I don't understand you, I don't understand anything. I don't know what that woman did to you. I don't understand what you're doing here after so many years.”

“I want to talk to you,” she said, with her hands trembling on the table. My eyes couldn't stop looking at them, at those pale, soft hands, those hands that saved me from death years ago.

“What do you want to talk about? Are you going to tell me why you haven't deigned to appear here in more than ten years?” I asked, tears threatening to run down my cheeks.

“Now I’m a Lord. I serve Mother Miranda,” The lady in black explained, ignoring my questions. I shouldn't have been surprised.

“You mean you sold your soul to that witch,” I corrected, risking seeing Josef's attitude in her. I didn't want to. I didn't want to see her that way.

“I'm not trying to convince you to understand me, (Y/N),” Donna said in a calmer tone, shifting her gaze away from mine.

“So what do you want?” I asked immediately, suppressing the urge to kick the table and throw myself at her neck to demand answers.

“My new siblings think that someone like me needs a maid,” she explained without any problem, without hesitation. That phrase made me burn with rage and laugh mockingly.

“What?”

“I don't know anyone else and I had thought that...” She continued speaking, with a tremor in her voice, probably because of my attitude.

“I don't believe you, Donna. I don't think you're asking me... Do you want me to serve you? It can't be true...” I said with a sarcastic smile, with all my emotions fighting to come out.

“I don't want you to serve me, (Y/N),” she said. “That's just a formality.”

“A formality...” I repeated, increasingly confused. “I mean, you come after 12 years to talk to me, to ask me to be your maid or something... But you say it's just a formality... Donna... You better speak clearly before I lose my patience,” I said, perhaps taking too many freedoms. The idea that Donna Beneviento was now one of the four pillars that supported Miranda's dominance was terrifying, but not enough to overshadow how important she was in my life.

“I don't want to be alone,” she said with her head down, letting her words come out with a sigh, making my gaze stop being so cold. I recognized that tone, that sincere tone that I had heard before, a long time ago.

“You've been alone for a long time,” I said, trying not to lose the firmness of my attitude. “Me too.”

“That's why I want... I want you to come with me, to my house. I will no longer be alone and neither will you,” Donna said, pleading, sobbing almost desperately.

I shook my head, wondering if it was an idea to consider. She was my best friend, the only company I had when I was a child but... But for years she was nothing, not even a shadow, not even the presence that watched me secretly.

“No, Donna,” I answered, avoiding looking at her face, not knowing how much I could last without throwing myself into her arms and telling her how much I had missed her. “I'm sorry, but you will have to find another maid.”

“I want you to be my maid,” the woman in black sighed, angry at your response. At that moment I started to get a bit scared.

“I've already told you that... No. Look, it took me a long, long time to come to terms with the idea that you were no longer with me, that you no longer wanted my friendship. You can't come after so many years and ask me to live with you. I don't know what happened to you, I don't know what's wrong with your damn head to believe that after so much time, I'll still be waiting for you.”

“But, (Y/N)... Do you really prefer to stay here rather than come with me?” Donna asked, her voice broken by the crying I was not able to see behind the black fabric of her veil.

I nodded, letting the tears wet my skin.

“Yeah, this isn't so bad, you know?” I said cockily, getting up from the chair and extending my arms so that she could look at my house. “At least I have a roof, food and water. I don’t need anything else. I don't need your false compassion. I don't need you Donna... Not anymore. I wouldn't go with you even if the roof co...”

A loud creak, a tremor in the house, silenced me. The snowfall of the last few days had been difficult to control. I knew I had to do it, that I had to remove the snow from the roof but… For some reason, I didn't, and part of the roof collapsed behind me.

“Collapses...” I sighed stunned, putting my hands on my head. At that moment I realized that to deceive fate was impossible. We all have a path in life. And mine was hers, next to her.

“Will you come with me?” Donna asked, with her hand on her chest, scared by that noise. That collapse that was very timely for her, of course.

“Shit...” I whispered, shaking my head, squeezing my eyes very tightly, wanting to wake up from that nightmare. “I guess I have no choice.”

I packed everything I needed for several days and followed the mourning woman towards her house, towards the old house where I once laughed with her, when everything seemed easier.

“Hello, hello...” A shrill voice woke me up from the wave of memories that came to my mind when I entered that house. It couldn't be possible. The Angie doll stood up on its own. It almost gave me a heart attack.

“What the…?” I asked, surrounding the puppet, which followed me with its gaze. “No, it can't be... Is it a trick?”

I approached Donna, removing the veil from her face to look for the origin of that bad joke.

“What trick, stupid?” the doll asked, climbing into the arms of its owner.

Her lips didn't move like they used to when she was a child. She wasn't using her ventriloquism. Angie lived, it really lived...

5 months ago…

It was difficult, it was really difficult, but I ended up adapting to that house. That environment was so familiar and comforting. It helped me a lot. To say that I was a maid was an exaggeration. I barely cleaned or cooked. All I did was to be there, to keep Donna company.

At first everything was very cold. I felt unable to forgive her abandonment, her betrayal, but, little by little, we began to talk again, without resentment, with that black veil increasingly absent.

Having someone by your side was a feeling that I had already forgotten. Maybe that's why I started to feel things, things that I was ashamed of. I started to see Donna as a friend again. I started to want to get closer to her, to wait until it was time for dinner to stand in front of her in silence.

Without wanting to, I fell in love with her, without wanting to remember why I liked being with her so much, why I was waiting for her for so long.

“Oh, but the office joke was better...” I said amused, taking a sip from my glass of wine, enjoying a late-night chat. Wine, lavender, Donna. Nothing could make me happier at that moment.

“You mean when we put Angie under the desk?” Donna asked, amused, raising her legs to the sofa where you were lying.

“Exactly... It was fun,” I said with a mischievous look, feeling a strange heat on my cheeks. “Oh, wow, I think, I think I should stop drinking...”

“We're in no hurry, (Y/N),” Donna said, amused, pouring more red liquid into my glass and drinking hers.

“Drink, drink, silly,” Angie said, bringing the glass closer to my mouth. I nodded, taking a sip and putting it back on the table.

“They were good times...” I whispered, with nostalgia being the protagonist of my actions and words.

“Do you remember Mr. Tim?” Donna asked, settling down on the couch.

“Oh, yes, Mr. Tim...” I repeated, nodding with an amused look. “That was the merchant we scared away, right?”

She nodded, laughing sheepishly, embarrassed by her childhood pranks.

“You were a very convincing ghost, Donna. I couldn't sleep that night,” I commented amused, pretending to tell an unspeakable secret.

“You were a little girl, it's normal that you were scared...” The lady in black joked, nudging me. I stuck my tongue out at her mockingly, forgetting for a few hours who I was having fun with, the things I had seen, what she did to Josef...

“I was 7 years old, I wasn't that young,” I protested, pretending to be offended in a fun way. “What was that phrase…? I’m the ghost of the white sheets...”

“You better run if you don't want me to catch you...” Donna continued, faking that ghostly voice from that joke so far away in time.

“You were really scary,” I said with a smile, shaking my head.

“Do I scare you now?” She asked with an enigmatic tone, as if it were a trick question. I immediately shook my head.

“No,” I answered briefly, noticing how my smile was fading little by little.

“You must be the only one,” she murmured, finishing another glass of wine.

“Your doll scares me,” I said, trying to break that small moment of tension.

“Hey!” Angie protested, causing us to look at each other for a moment, before laughing exaggeratedly, probably due to the alcohol.

“I missed you so much, Donna,” I said, catching my breath. She looked at me and sighed, her smile growing weaker.

“Me too,” Donna whispered, with a voice so low that I had to get a little closer to hear it.

“I can't stop wondering why we are so far apart...”  I said, letting my mind speak for me, letting those words come out alone, demanding an explanation that I had needed for a long time.

“I didn't want to see anyone,” Donna said, leaving the glass on the table and looking away from you.

“Not even to see me?” I asked, with a bit of resentment.

“I didn't want... I didn't want to lose you too,” she admitted in a dark voice, getting closer to me. I let her do it, I wanted her to do it.

“You weren't going to lose me,” I said, getting closer to her, just a little closer.

“Well, the important thing is that now you are here, with me. We're together again,” the lady in black said with a serious tone, moving her hand to take mine, which I allowed, which made me close my eyes as I felt her soft skin caressing mine.

Our hands stayed together as our gazes met. I couldn't really say what I was feeling at that moment, but it was something, something that forced me to raise my other hand to her wounded cheek, making Donna start to tremble.

“I didn't remember...” She whispered, taking the hand that was caressing her cheek and holding it in place. “I didn't remember how good caresses felt.”

“I've thought so much about you...” I murmured, sobbing, with the heat of the wine running through my veins, with anything to stop me from confessing everything I wanted to tell her, what I was feeling at that moment.

“I thought about you too...” She said, approaching too.

I couldn't help it anymore, I just couldn't. My hands gently grabbed her face, bringing her closer to mine until my lips landed on hers. I spent a long time thinking about how it would feel to kiss someone. The actual feeling was much more incredible. I kissed her, I kissed Donna, I kissed her softly. I let my body act of its own will, enjoying the taste of the wine on her lips.

She didn't stop me, at least not at that moment. Her lips opened so that mine could continue acting, so there was no distance between us. A sigh, a gasp, that was her only response as we both continued to deepen the kiss, that first kiss that I didn't want to stop.

The salty taste of my tears joined the wine on her lips, creating a wet mixture that only grew closer and closer together. Donna moved her hands to my hair, pulling it gently, making clear that she didn't want to stop, that the heat that was slowly rising through our bodies was a sensation she didn't want to end. At least for a few minutes.

Suddenly, Donna pulled back, causing our mouths to part with a wet sound. I wish I hadn't opened my eyes, I wish I hadn't seen her scared look and her hands on my chest, preventing me from getting close again.

“What are you doing?” She asked, with her eye shining with fear, with anger, with a feeling that was incomprehensible to me.

“I... I...” I stammered, turning away from her immediately, with my face red with embarrassment, showing the mistake I had made, that we had made.

“Why did you do that!?” The lady in black shouted, mad, getting up from the sofa and covering her face with her hands.

“Donna, I'm, I'm sorry...” I said, fighting the feeling of heartbreak that overcame me, against the tears of humiliation that were beginning to soak my face.

“No, you can't...”Donna murmured confusedly, walking from one side to the other. She looked like at any moment she would lose her mind. “How dare you?!”

Screaming and crying inconsolably, she disappeared, leaving a dagger deeply stuck in my heart.

Days, weeks passed without hearing from Donna. After that kiss that she rejected, I never spoke to her again. The veil covered her face again, as if putting it as a barrier between my lips and hers. My soul was wounded, my heart broken.

The love I had begun to feel was just an illusion. I was stupid to fall in love with her, but it was too late. The idea of ​​leaving that place was more and more present in my head.

“Damn it,” I said furiously, kicking a chair, letting out the frustration I felt at losing Donna again, because of me. A terrible idea. “Ah! Shit!” I screamed, grabbing my sore foot from that unfair kick. “Fuck!”

“You always do those things...” A voice that was nothing but a whisper interrupted my ridiculous jumping. Donna appeared behind me, face uncovered and head bowed.

“What? Donna…” I said, awkwardly putting my foot back on the floor. The pain of the kick had nothing to do with what I felt when I saw her again, when I heard her voice coming from those lips that I could never kiss again.

“When you get angry, you always hit things,” she murmured, getting closer to me, playing with her hands.

“Yes, well I...” I said, realizing a curious detail. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“I've been watching you for a long time, (Y/N)...” She confessed, confirming my suspicions, the suspicions that there was someone stalking me. “I... I went to your house and looked at you.”

“You were looking at me,” I repeated, blinking in disbelief.

“I wanted to know, I wanted to know what you were like...” The lady said, getting closer and closer, making my body tremble again. “If the idea I had about you was true.”

“The idea?” I asked, noticing how her hands grabbed my waist, pulling my body.

“I love you, (Y/N),” she said whispering in my ear, making me turn away confused. “I have been loving you for a long time…”

“So…. Donna, why did you reject me?” I asked, crying, this time, with joy.

“I... I don't know how to control my emotions... I was afraid that you wouldn't...”

I didn't let her finish. My lips collided with hers again, letting myself go, grabbing her head so that this time she wouldn't dare to move away. She wouldn't do it, ever again.

No more words were needed, just kisses, just whispers, caresses...

That night my world changed, that night when I didn't stop loving her, when the desire that lived inside us was able to come out. Kisses, caresses, hugs, moans... It happened that night, the night in which we both lost our innocence, the night in which we showed that love can beat everything, even the passage of time, even our two hearts, that didn't know how to love until that night.

Two days ago…

Everything was perfect. The relationship we had was wonderful. There were so many things to discover, so much love to give, to receive. Nothing could go better in my life, and in hers. But fortune didn't last in a poor man's house, or so they used to say.

It was an ordinary afternoon, in which I was dedicated to tidying up the disastrous garden outside the house.

“Ah...” I protested when I felt a puncture in my chest, a very painful one.

I tried to continue taking care of the flowers, but the pain became more and more intense, unbearable.

“Donna!” I screamed, kneeling on the ground, noticing how something was beating inside my chest, something that was not my heart. “Donna!”

That was the last thing I could scream before my vision blurred. Then there was only darkness.

“(Y/N), tesoro, please wake up...” A soft whisper made me open one of my eyes. Her dark figure was sitting next to me, squeezing my hand. I felt comfortable, I was in bed.

“Donna...” I said with a dry throat, moving my hand towards a glass of water that was resting on the table. “Water…”

Donna wasted no time, feeding me the drink lovingly.

“What happened to me?” I asked, swallowing all the water, feeling an annoying burning in my chest.

Donna opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't, she simply lowered her head and stood up to grab something from her dresser, a mirror. Without saying anything, embarrassed or scared by something, she sat next to me on the bed again, placing the mirror in a way that allowed me to look at myself.

What I saw almost made me faint. My torso was bare, covered in horrible black veins that ran up to my neck. Where the top of one of my breasts should have been, there was now a dark, throbbing, black lump. I shook my head, touching it. My scar was gone. My chest was far from what it was.

“What is this? What is this?!” I screamed horrified, nervous. Donna didn't respond, she continued to avoid my gaze. “Gods… No, it can't be…”

“You had it when I found you unconscious in the garden. I wanted you to see it before I heal you,” Donna said with a terribly low voice, giving away that she was hiding something with the sweat that glistened on her forehead.

“What is this? What is happening to me? Donna, tell me what this is,”  I said nervously, moving the mirror away so I couldn't look at that horrible deformity.

“I’m sorry, (Y/N),” she whispered, taking my trembling hand. I pushed it away, thinking she had something to do with it.

“What have you done to me?” I asked with dark eyes, roughly grabbing her chin so that she couldn't look away from me. “You… It was you, right?”

“It wasn't me! She screamed defending herself, pushing my hand away from her face, sobbing nervously.

“Tell me what the hell is going on, Donna...” I hissed, getting up from the bed with a dangerous look.

“No, I don't know... No, you shouldn't...” She stammered, scared by my reaction. “It's not possible.”

“What?” I asked, controlling the tone of my voice before the imminent appearance of a terrible crisis.

“What, what you have is... It's...”

“What is it, Donna?” I asked, tired of her babbling.

“You have, you have a Cadou,” the lady in black said, turning away from me, cowering away from my irascible attitude.

“A Cadou? What's that?” I asked calmer, fighting against the anger and the burning in my chest.

“A, a Cadou is a parasite that... Oh, Gods... Why do you have one?”

“Donna, my love...” I said nervously “You have to speak clearly to me, do you understand? Explain it to me.”

She nodded nervously, letting my hand caress hers as I sat back down on the bed.

“The Cadou is the gift that Mother Miranda gives us. We, the Lords... We all have one. She implanted it in us. That's why Angie can move, why my face looks that way. It's... It's...”

“Okay...” I sighed, running my hand over my forehead. “But how?”

“I don't know... If I knew I would tell you but... I'm sorry, (Y/N). I never told you about it because, because I thought you'd be scared.”

I ran my hand over my now deformed chest, trying to remember how something like this could have happened to me. Suddenly it hit me, like a providential revelation. That black lump was not in any place on my chest. I had come out right where I had that strange scar, the scar I got the day I explored that strange cave.

That was the moment when Miranda acted, that was the reason for that sinister laugh when the priestess looked at me the day she brought Donna.

“What will happen to me?” I asked, letting all the emotions come out through a sigh.

“I don't know, tesoro... I... Let me heal that wound and... I don't know what we could do...” Donna said stuttering, running a hand over my cheek wet with tears of helplessness.

I let Donna heal me in silence, let her bandage my horrible chest, hiding that black thing, that horrible thing. My mind wandered to possible causes and consequences. It didn't look good. The sting was terrible, was I going to die? No, I couldn't think about that.

I spent my 28 years practically alone, without anyone, with an abusive father, with a friend who disappeared to return years later, to become my beloved. After years of loneliness, I had finally found my place, the place where I wanted to belong: Next to Donna, telling her every day that I love her, not wanting to live without her kisses.

A feeling of anger coursed through my nerves, making the most dangerous option cloud my senses.

“I'm going to face her,” I hissed through clenched teeth when Donna finished bandaging me. She gasped, shaking her head. “I want to know why she did it.”

“No, you can't, (Y/N). Miranda's wishes cannot be questioned.”

“Do you also have blind faith in her?” I asked with venom in my voice, narrowing my eyes at the woman in black, who shook her head.

“It's not that, (Y/N). She, she will kill you...” Donna murmured, kissing me on the lips, trying to make me reason, something that was difficult at that point.

“I don't... I can't... I have, I have to do something or...” I said confused, with my temples throbbing and the sting clouding my senses.

“No, nothing will happen to you, (Y/N). I'm going to take care of you... I promise.”

2 hours ago…

I began to think about my situation. My chest hurt, it burned, but at least I was still alive. Donna took care of me. She gave me her love every day, every hour. But that... That was no longer enough for my wounded soul. I had suffered so much. I had had so many misfortunes in my life that I began to think that it was my fate, that I could no longer believe that I could be happy.

I turned in bed, where Donna was resting next to me. My hand gently reached out to caress her soft skin, causing her to stir, but not wake up. I smiled tenderly and bit my lip, suppressing the sadness I felt at having made that terrible decision.

“Donna, my love... Forgive me... I have to do it,” I whispered quietly so as not to wake her, approaching her lips, giving her a soft kiss, just for a few seconds, surely the last kiss I would give in my entire life. .

She growled adorably, reaching for her hand towards my body, trying to keep me from separating from her. Her hand losing contact with mine as I stood up was the worst moment of my life.

Covering my mouth so as not to cry, I left the room, getting dressed and taking one last look at what, for a few months, had been my home, my family.

I went out into the cold of the night, searching, wishing that black and gold shadow would loom over me, that it would finish me off, or that it would give me the answers I was looking for. That didn't happen until, after walking for a while, I managed to reach that cave, the cave where, when I was 8 years old, I was a victim of that witch.

“Miranda!” I screamed with all my might, without devotion, without love, with hatred, with anger. The echo of my voice bounced off the walls, where those black trees twisted, as if they had heard my words.

“Oh, (Y/N), what a surprise,” a velvety voice came out of nowhere, Miranda, smiling, without that horrible mask, gesturing for me to follow her.

My fists were clenched tightly, but my common sense told me that I should listen to him.

I followed her, I followed her thinking of a thousand ways to put an end to her, I followed her to a kind of underground cathedral. I remembered that place, Donna had told me about it. It was where they met.

“Why?” I asked when the priestess stopped, looking at me with bright eyes, eyes that were like daggers in my chest.

“What have I done?” She asked sardonically, enjoying my confusion and my anger.

“This!” I shouted, undoing the bandage and showing her the deformity of my torso, which she looked at with a look of satisfaction.

“I see... So it's finally deigned to come out...” She murmured, approaching me like a current of icy air, of cutting wind.

“Why?” I asked again.

“Oh, shut up, your questions are bothering me, (Y/N)...” The witch said, touching the lump on your chest contemptuously.

“You're a bitch,” I said hissing, growling, and putting my life at risk.

“How rude you are... It seems that you have grown up alone, mm? Has no one taught you manners? I was hoping that Donna would have spent her time teaching you how to be a person of worth, but I see that the only thing she's taught you is how to make her happy in bed, right?”

“Shut up!” I screamed, pushing the woman by her chest, pushing her away from me.

“You're playing with my patience, (Y/N)... Don't be dramatic. After all, you are of no use to me,” she whispered, circling around me like a scavenger bird. “What a pity. When I saw that little girl sneak into the cave I thought: why not? Surely the Cadou acts wonderfully with someone so young... But, it seems that I was wrong about you...”

“What are you taking about?” I asked, feeling weaker with every passing second.

“Please, (Y/N). I can't speak more clearly. I put some hope in you but... I'm afraid you are another failure.”

“What?” My voice sounded weaker and weaker.

“A failed experiment if you prefer that way. After so many years  Cadou has not been able to fully develop. A shame.”

“I'm not an experiment, I'm a person,” I said, without taking into account the consequences.

“Yes, yes, that's what everyone says... But hey, you're lucky, maybe you won't die,” Miranda said, opening her eyes in a sinister way. “You might live long enough to die of old age next to crazy Donna, isn't that wonderful?”

“Don't insult her,” I growled furiously. Oh no, not Donna.

“Are you threatening me? How daring...”  Miranda laughed, amused by my obvious weakness.

My hand searched in my skirt pocket, looked for the knife I took from home, the knife with which I planned to kill her. What a stupid thing.

“I'll kill you!” I screamed, lunging at the blonde, who made no effort to dodge my attack, which went straight to her chest.

The knife went deep into her skin, but she didn't bleed, the bitch didn't bleed. Miranda just pulled the gun from her body and laughed out loud.

“Stupid girl...” She murmured, shaking her head. “How easy it would have been for you to be nice to me…”

I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I was scared to death. I was going to die, but deep down, I already knew it.

“But you know what? I think you and Donna make an adorable couple... At least with someone next to her she won't lose her mind completely,” the priestess said amused, playing with the knife in her hand. “You caught me in a good mood, (Y/N).”

A freezing cold passed over my shoulder as her golden claws dug into it, wetting the fabric of my blouse with five thin threads of blood.

“I offer you a deal,” she hissed in my ear, causing me to shiver. “You can go with Donna and live happily if…”

“If?” I said trembling, closing my eyes, waiting for the final blow.

“If you can survive...” Miranda murmured moments before a horrible pain crossed my stomach.

I gasped and looked down. The same knife I intended to kill Miranda with was now stuck in my body, causing me overwhelming pain, causing me to fall to the ground, curling in on myself.

“Oh, come on, it's not that big of a deal... I've been pious,” the priestess mocked.

With what little strength I had, I reached out with my blood-covered hand to grab her clothes, pulling at them with ridiculous force. She kicked it away unpleasantly.

“I'll let Donna know. I think she will arrive in about… 20 minutes,” the blonde said, walking slowly, further and further away from my erratic movements due to the pain. “If you are alive when she arrives, she will have no difficulty healing you. I will not kill you. If you die... Well, I guess we'll leave it in the hands of fate, right?”

The sound of her steps was camouflaged with her laughter, leaving me badly injured, alone, writhing in pain.

And here, on the cold stone floor, contemplating the full moon, I finish remembering how I had gotten there. My life does not pass before my eyes. Donna is the only thing I can see. Her kisses are the only thing I feel on my skin, her whispers are the only thing I hear.

The full moon is horrible if I remember her beauty, her smile. All I can do is think about her. I have no intention of fighting, of calming my pain. I had asked for it and just as Miranda said: it had to be left in the hands of fate.

Deep down I feel the need to scream for her, for her to hurry up and heal me. But the memories that I’m able to evoke tell me that there was never the slightest possibility that I, that we, could be happy. A painful truth that only now, on the verge of death, I’m able to accept.

I close my eyes, feeling my body go numb. I remember hearing Donna's parents talk about a local legend that said that if you died in the village, you wouldn't die completely. But they, they died. They didn't take care of her daughter from a distance. I guess that's what happens when you're about to die, I guess the comfort of a legend that says your soul will live on is normal when you start seeing the light.

For me there is neither heaven nor hell. There is no heaven without Donna, there is no hell without Miranda. I have nothing left and nothing I leave behind. Only one woman, only the only woman I have ever loved.

“(Y/N)!” A scream brings me out of the review of my sins, from my breathing becoming weaker and weaker. It is a strident, desperate scream.

I turned my head so that the moonlight didn't look like the light I should follow. Just a bit more, I have to know whose voice it is. But my body is weak, it is getting weaker. I feel how death is calling me. I feel that this voice is becoming more and more like a whisper...

“Ah!” I scream when I wake up. As if it were a nightmare, I see myself in my bed, in our bed. My chest hurts, my stomach hurts. My whole body is numb, as if I have been sedated.

When I look forward, I see a black lump above my legs and the sensation of breathing on them begins to tickle. It couldn't be possible, but apparently, I'm back home and Donna… Donna is lying asleep on my lap.

I touch my body to check that I haven't died, that the wounds are still there. They are there, hidden by bandages, but they are there. I haven't died, I'm alive, I'm with Donna. I'm in Heaven, my Heaven.

[salty-an-disco]

Hunted for the ask game?

ask game link

• First impression

I saw him first on the Razor chapter. There was a lot going on there, so I didn't have many thoughts besides, "Oh! Another guy! 'Hunted', huh? Wonder what kinda chapter he's from–"

• Impression now

Such a good little critter. I just love how understated its kindness and understanding personality is, and yet still so so effective. The kinda person that can connect to and help out anyone if it has the energy for it. But can also become a source of tiredness as all that emotional awareness can be a lot. High-empathy autist <3

• Favorite moment

Gotta be the Eye of the Needle fight. It's just– it's great. Seeing Hunted so confident and sure of your own victory was sooooo satisfying after seein' how fearful and anxious it was in Beast. And Ada finding satisfaction in your more tricky play and learning something new is just– URGH. So good.

• Idea for a story

There's the Hunted-Primrose focused arc I wanna do for Heathens, ofc. But for something different– I kinda wanna write a story about human Hunted struggling with body dysmorphia and feeling like it's not supposed to be human– maybe I'll do smth like this for Echomirror.

• Unpopular opnion

Honestly? I'm not really into portrayals of Hunted becoming/acting more like a predator (all the power to the people who likes it tho, you do you)– idk, it's just not as interesting to me as seeing a little guy overcome adversity despite the odds. Also don't see Hunted being as intense as some portrayals made it out to be. It's very understated and generally a calm/quiet person, and I like leaning into that while still making it a Cryptid.

• Favorite relationship

Writing Heathens made me really fond of Hunted and Primrose/Damsel's relationship. I just think they'd get each other really well. They're simple people, with simple goals/wants, who just want to livr a happy/peaceful life. And the idea of Hunted helping someone who isn't very naturally apt for fight how to survive is just very dear to me.

• Favorite headcanon

Hunted having a speech impediment– being either semi-verbal or selective mute. Especially in a post-construct scenario where it now has to use its own throat to talk. It's Way Too Difficult at times, and it often prefers non-verbal communication.

[kaybreezy3000]

I just read a Five fanfic where he had a son. The story was nice, I loved it a lot, but now I'm curious what Five would be like as a father or at least how he would treat a small child. That is to say, I can understand what Diego would be like as a father (in the series we were given a glimpse of how he treated Stanley and in the trailer with his daughter, I love that). That is, can you imagine Five Hargreeves as a father? Or how would he interact with his nieces Claire and Diego's daughter? It's more out of curiosity because of how they portray him in some fanfics, I also love the way you portray Five in your fics and I wanted to know your opinion. ps, a mini Five how cute haha.

I love this question, and thank you for reading my stuff and being so kind about how I write Five.

Like you, I think that getting to see Diego with Stan, even in their short time together was great. Diego in dad mustache mode is hilarious but also so real because he's pretty much every dad guy out there, just trying to navigate the craziness of having kids while trying not to lose his shit 😂

I am also all over the idea of Five being a father. I don't want to believe that the horrible life he's had to endure so far is all there will ever be for him.

When it comes to Five and kiddos, I think it would be in the subtle things he does for them that shows just how much they mean to him. His hard exterior is a thing that's just a part of him, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't be soft for them.

Imagine Five talking in a hushed voice over a baby monitor, calmly explaining some exceptionally complex mathematical concept to his little one as he gently rocked them to sleep. 🥹

or...

Five being all grumpy over something that's not going his way (which could be just about anything because he's just that guy 😂) but even if he's upset, he'd still be playing with the stuffed puppy Mr. Pennycrumb he gave his little niece, all because she saw he was sad and gave it to him to cheer him up. He'd even make that stuffy fly around and bark if it made her smile.

These two imaginary moments are very close to things I have written happening in stories I've done, and it's also the kind of stuff I want the show to give us for Five, but I doubt with the time they have left that we'll get more than a few sweet things with him and the kids in his life.

I believe that it's never too late to start over, find love, reignite hope, or find happiness. Some people don't see Five finding these things, but I do. He's not a quitter but I do think he's a bit too stoically resigned to the idea that this is it for him. He doesn't seem to be able to see past the bad things happening around him to imagine the possibly of all the good things he deserves. We can't really blame him for that, not when the world is always falling apart around him, and he also got himself stuck starting over at 13 again. Still, one thing I have learned is that no matter how old we get, in each one of us, there will always be that childlike wonder of limitless possibilities rolling around inside our brains. Even the oldest person can be young at heart.

Despite all Five's traumatic experiences, and blunt edged ways of dealing with people, I see him as a loving and uniquely devoted person. Even if it doesn't always seem that way, Five is all about taking care of the people he loves. How he treats Dolores shows us just how sweet and nurturing he can be. If he got the chance to be a father, I think he'd cherish every second of it. Of course, he'd doubt himself at times like all parents do, but he's also going to give it his all, and I'm thinking with how smart and determined he is, he'd be an amazing father.

I love all Five's cocky remarks and the efficiency of his scarier side, but when the show decided to part from the comic book version and let us see inside his broken heart, that was it for me. The character has everything, which is why I love writing him in all sorts of situations that the show didn't give us.

I have written Five becoming a father, but I didn't go too deep with it because the story was already getting very long and I also wasn't sure people wanted to read much about him that way, but to me, it was seriously the sweetest thing to imagine. In that one, I also had him having some fun with Claire. That awesome version of a very sleepy but happy Five was in my first ever Five fanfic, but those particular parts were not until part 3, starting with him at age 16 in, "Number Five and the Girl."

As for how Five would be with his nieces, I really hope we get to see some of that in season 4 because I think he would be the coolest uncle. I have also dabbled with adorable Uncle Five moments, and I did write a story that we got to see some really cute things with him and Lila and Diego's son. That one is called, "No More the Victim." For that one, it was not my normal pairing for our golden boy, but I wrote it the way I did to make a point and that was that Five is amazing through and through and the world needs more people like him. At the time I wrote that, we didn't know that Lila and Diego were having a girl, but again, just thinking of Five interacting with all these little Hargreeves makes me smile like a fool.

Again, great ask, and I'd love to get the link to the story you read with Five being a daddy in the not so much bossy blowing his top, or murderous ax swinging, kind of way. I do love all things Five being a crazy sort of 'daddy,' but am a big sucker for anything that gives us him and his little look alike counterpart or just being the best uncle ever.

Also, if you like well thought out stories/series that have Five eventually becoming a dad, you might want to check out "A Promise to Kill," by Bad_Kitty. It is part 4 of her 'Halo' series, featuring an adult version of Five. It's got some great moments that explore what it would be like for him being a dad of a superpowered son.

[ricky-mortis]

Howdy hello- guess who made a wings au :)

More to come with this eventually- I’m working on my designs for other characters at the moment, but for now we’ve got Red-Tailed Hawk for Curt and Eagle Owl for Owen.

For DMA I had Barn Owl wings because a) Barn Owls are beautiful and I wanted to draw the wings for them, and more importantly, b) Owen would probably want to disguise his wings, and it would make sense if it was as a different type of owl. I just assume he’d dye his feathers in some way or another. Look- just don’t think about it too much.

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

Ok I know I'm heavily biased here but like I kinda love that Astarion's romance is one of the few in this type of video game where you basically end up canonically unmarried and childfree in his "good" ending? Just travelling the world??

Like it's honestly the millennial dream lmfaoo cannot believe i chose what would undoubtedly be my favorite option, first try