#anyway my brother and i went walking in the woods earlier today and i was so brave about it

[the-meme-monarch]

shirt that says “tick magnet” instead of chick magnet but the font is still styled flirtatiously like in cursive with like maybe heart graphics or something

[ikeromantic]

Into the Lion's Den

A Chevalier Michel fanfiction. Approx. 1500 words. This scene takes place in the prologue and is told from Chevalier's POV. Part 2 of a series.

First: Bravery Becomes Her

After putting in a brief appearance at a festival celebration for nobility on the mayor’s estate, Chevalier returned to the castle. His walk from the stable back was interrupted by a familiar voice. High and sweet and thoroughly annoyed.

“Hang on! Stop talking about me like that, alright? I’m right here. And - and who are you anyway?”

Chevalier stopped and turned. He couldn’t see through the decorative hedges and the high stone wall, but sound carried. It was the girl from town, he was sure.

“You can’t be serious. You don’t know who I am?” Yves’ voice now, sounding haughty as usual.

The girl replied. “That’s exactly what I am saying.”

“She’s not one of mine then,” Nokto chuckled.

“Who cares about that? I can’t believe she doesn’t know who I am! Unbelievable!” The slight, unshakeable burr of his accent still audible in Yves’ speech became more pronounced when he was flustered.

“Your Highnesses, introductions will have to wait. My deepest apologies.” Sariel’s voice, dark as coffee and smooth as silk.

Chevalier wondered how the girl factored into Sariel’s scheming. Four eyes was always up to something. His mind immediately went to the potential uses of the commoner, discarding the more improbable until he settled on the likeliest one. The tradition of the Belle. Of course. He didn’t need to hear more.

He left for the round table room, already adding this complication into his plans. The Belle would be no real obstacle. Not for him.

Clavis was already waiting at the round table. Chevalier sat beside him and watched in silence as his brothers filed in. They were a disparate group, to be sure. Half-brothers, united only in the shared blood of the dead king and little else. It hadn’t taken much time for the two factions to form.

Leon led the opposing faction. A worthy opponent, if annoying. His gentle-hearted ways would destroy Rhodolite. There was no space for compassion when your lands sat between hungry neighbors with large armies.

Jin smirked at him from across the table. A womanizing drunk that disguised a cunning mind beneath base jests. He was the king’s first born, though you would never know it by his actions.

Licht sat beside the eldest of them, his gaze focused on the wood grain of the table. He said little in these meetings, leaving decisions to others.

Nokto and Yves came in together, bickering. They were so loud. Repeating the same arguments, the same insults.

Luke ambled in and fell into a chair. It creaked under him dangerously. The youngest prince had no courtly graces and had fallen into Chev’s faction almost by accident.

Chevalier sighed. This was pointless. They didn’t need a meeting or the decision of some commoner Belle. He was the only choice to lead Rhodolite, if their country was going to survive. He looked up as the doors opened.

Sariel led the girl in like a sacrificial lamb. She looked much as she had before. Startled. Afraid. Her face was pale, eyes wide. If Chev were a kind man, he might have felt sorry for her. As it was, he felt only impatient. The torment of this commoner was frivolous and yet, Sariel insisted on stretching it out.

The princes introduced themselves, starting with Luke. A litany of greetings and welcomes that went around the table. A plague of senseless words. And then it came to the fool. Clavis, laughter on his lips.

“I’m the third prince. Clavis Lelouch. But please, call me Clavis.” He grinned widely, elbowing Chev. “That show you put on earlier today was amusing. You liked it too, didn't you, Chev?”

Chevalier narrowed his eyes. “It was ridiculous.” He was tempted to walk out, but he remembered the way the girl stood up to the drunk - and to him. Despite himself, he allowed a small smile to lift the corners of his lips. “But considering the courage you showed I will at least tell you my name. I am the Second Prince Chevalier Michel.”

For a moment, their eyes held. She didn’t flinch or draw back from the intensity of his gaze. She took a breath, nodded, and then the moment passed. Leon was introducing himself and Chevalier was sorting her reaction. He wanted her to look at him again, so he could see into her. Understand her and how she fit into the orderly world he wanted to build. It annoyed him that he could not easily dismiss her into any of his categories.

“It’s very nice to meet you all. I’m Emma. And . . . I still don’t understand why I’m here.” She smiled thinly and fiddled with her skirt.

Sariel’s smile was wide and his eyes held a dangerous glint. “It is a long-held tradition in Rhodolite that the king be chosen by a commoner. The commoner granted this solemn duty is known as the Belle.”

The girl - Emma - looked thoughtful for a moment. “Wait. Yes, I remember this!”

Chevalier sighed. It was a chore to watch others reach a conclusion he’d gotten to already.

“And they are called that because they have a pure and beautiful heart! That’s why they are able to make the correct choice.” Emma clapped her hands together, excited to remember what a Belle was.

A pure heart. Well, she might have that, Chev thought. Idiots often did. And she was . . . beautiful. Objectively.

“That’s right.” Sariel laced his hands behind his back like a stern schoolteacher.

“Wait! Then . . . I’m the next Belle?”

Chevalier snorted. A few of his brothers made quiet exclamations. Surely it didn’t take this long to draw a line between two clear points?

Ever patient, Sariel nodded. “Yes. And you will be choosing one of these princes as the next king of Rhodolite.”

Despite himself, Chev felt charmed by the stunned look that followed this statement. Emma’s whole body went rigid and her lips parted. Her brows went up and her nose crinkled. She really was expressionate. Like a moving painting or an articulated puppet. He’d never had much interest in the emotions that ran through others before, but this Emma girl was entertaining.

“But . . . why me? This is a decision that affects everyone in Rhodolite! Who am I to decide that?” She took a step back toward the door.

Jin took the opportunity to speak up, still wearing his usual smirk. “Yes, I wondered that too. What was the deciding factor?”

Sariel’s whip-thin smile widened. “The way she slaps.”

“She was that good, huh?” Jin laughed.

There was more chatter, nothing substantive. Chevalier had little interest in reassuring the girl she should be Belle. He settled back in the chair. This decision was already made for him and he was ready to be done with the round table.

When Sariel finally called for a vote, Chev was the first to lift his hand.

“That was quick, King Highness.” Nokto raised a quizzical brow.

Luke nodded. “Yeah. You’re our leader. Should you agree, just like that?”

Chevalier gave them both a cold look. “I don’t care who becomes the Belle. It’s irrelevant.”

Emma looked around the table, still gawping. “Wait, he’s your leader? But I thought-”

Sariel interrupted. “Yes. The princes are divided into two primary factions. Prince Leon’s faction could be said to favor domestic politics. While Prince Chevalier focuses on foreign affairs. The princes in each faction generally align with those goals, so yes. The vote is entrusted to the faction leaders.” His eyes fell on Leon. “And what is your decision?”

Leon gestured to the girl. “I want to know what Emma thinks.”

Chevalier closed his eyes, counseling patience. It was not his strength. Of course Leon would drag his feet. And he did. Asking nonsensical questions, listening to Emma’s idealistic drivel. If this wasn’t a round table discussion, he would have left already.

Finally, Leon lifted his hand.

“Then it’s decided.” Sariel nodded in satisfaction.

Chev stood and walked to the door.

“Leaving already?” Leon tapped a finger against the wood table.

“My business here is concluded.”

Clavis, ever the helpful fool, called out. “Wait, don’t you think you should stay? Woo Belle a bit first?”

“That would be a waste of my time.” Chevalier felt his jaw clench. “Whoever the Belle selects, I will be the future king.”

“You what?” Emma’s timid voice followed his proclamation.

He could feel the weight of her gaze. Her gentle features taut with anxious confusion. She needed someone to reassure her, but he was not that someone. Chevalier let his gaze go round the room, challenging any of his half-brothers to disagree. Then he settled on Emma. He couldn’t help but note the tremble in her hands as she gripped her skirt. “If you get in my way, I will deal with you. Keep that in mind little Belle.”

“Right,” she breathed.

Chevalier left and did not look back. He could care less about Sariel’s machinations, so long as four eyes did not interfere with his plans. There were borders to secure, noble factions to deal with, lands to manage . . . there was no time to think about one frightened girl tossed into the palace with these savage nobles.

The chiefest of the beastly princes ignored how easily his mind conjured her image. Brave little Emma. But even the brave could be devoured by beasts.

Next: Blood and Roses

[helliontherapscallion]

Warmth (Adrenaline Junkie Part 6)

Part 1     Part 2     Part 3     Part 4     Part 5     Part 7     Part 8     Part 9     Part 10     Part 11     Part 12     Part 13     Part 14     Part 15     Part 16     Part 17

Spotify Playlist (collaborative)

Warnings: Self harm scars, mentions of panic attacks and hallucinations

Word count: 2,842

(A/N): This takes place about 6 months after the last chapter. Also, I was heavily inspired by Toothless’ prosthetic, I’m really excited to write more about it : )

You hummed to yourself as you walked down the cobblestone street of the village. The village was probably one of your favorite places to visit; it had quaint little shops and stalls decorating the main plaza that you adored, it was always interesting to see what’s being sold today. Though you always wore your cloak to cover your wings (well, wing and a now-feathered nub) whenever you visited to avoid the stares, you still regularly visited the main plaza for the shops. 

The first time you visited after the incident was about a month ago with Wilbur, you two were looking for something to cook for dinner. You were trying to get used to having your wings out again, so you were wearing the jacket with the slits in the back that you always used to wear. 

The feeling of people staring holes into you was a feeling you forgot about. You always got stares whenever you went into the village because of your wings, but now it felt like more and more people were staring at you as you passed them, probably because of your nub. Though some looked at you in pity, most looked at you with disgust.

You could hear children asking their mothers what happened to you. Their mothers would take one look at you and shield their children away from you staring at you with disgust. You even made one kid cry when he saw your wing; you didn’t blame him, you still couldn’t look at your nub without tearing up. An hour hasn’t even passed before you were asked by a police officer to leave because you were causing a disruption and being indecent in public.

Wilbur was pissed. “They’re fully clothed and they didn’t even talk to anybody, so how exactly were they being disruptive or indecent?”

The officer firmly held her ground, looking up to Wilbur’s tall form. “Sir, the people are complaining and it’s my job to make the public feel safe and comfortable. Look,” she sighed, “I really don’t want to have to ask them to leave, they’re not doing anything to directly threaten people. However, they are causing a disturbance with their,” she wrinkled her nose, “their thing, so I’m going to have to ask them to leave.”

“You have absolutely no right to tell them to leave. They-”

“Wilbur, it’s fine. I’ll leave,” turning back to the officer, you calmly stated “I’m sorry for causing a disturbance ma’am. It won’t happen again.”

She curtly nodded and stood watching you, probably making sure that you left the main plaza. Before you could turn to leave, Wilbur stopped you.

“(Y/n)-”

“No, Wilbur. It’s alright, I can wait outside the village for you.”

He sighed, looking through his leather satchel. “No, you won’t have to wait for me. We’ve got enough food for dinner anyways,” shooting one last heated glare at the police officer, he reached down to grab your hand. “Let’s go.”

He drug you quickly through the village with you having a little trouble keeping up with his long strides. Once you were out of the village, he slowed his pace and walked with his hands shoved in his pockets.

“(Y/n), I’m sor-”

“Don’t be Wil. It isn’t your fault. I honestly was expecting to get kicked out earlier.”

“Still, it’s not fair to you. You didn’t ask for this.” 

“I know Wil, I’ll just wear my cloak next time I visit.”

He didn’t say anything to you after that. The rest of the walk home was shrouded in an awkward silence. 

Another part of the village you loved was the library. It had tall shelves filled to the brim with all sorts of books and various cushioned furniture littered randomly amongst the maze of shelves. Whoever would walk into the library would immediately be hit by the strong scent of parchment and wood as soon as they would walk through the twin doors. You would usually browse books about redstone, but you had a different agenda today.

Today, you were looking for a book about leather working. You wanted to make a leather prosthetic wing so you could at least glide through the air. You weren’t sure if it would work though. From what you’ve read, nobody’s attempted to make a prosthetic wing. It made sense, being a hybrid was rare in and of itself, let alone a winged hybrid. 

You missed flying more than anything. You would give anything to be able to be in the air again. You felt jittery and restless without flight. Sure, Philza took you on some flights with him every now and then, but it wasn’t the same. You yearned for the independence and liberation it gave you to fly alone.

After you found a book and checked it out with the librarian, you hastily set out for home. You were walking with a giddy smile on your face and a bounce in your step. Several people gave you strange looks as you passed them, but you were in too good of a mood to care. You finally figured out a way you could possibly fly again. 

When you got home, you headed straight to your workshop to get to work on your prosthetic. Several blueprints were hung up around your desk, some for your TNT launcher (which you finished a few weeks ago) and others contained ideas for an automatic farm. Your pride and joy was hung up in the center of your bulletin board. It made you extremely happy just by looking at the prosthetic sketch.

Your redstone lamp illuminated the space in front of you as you focused on cutting a large strip of leather in front of you with great concentration. You needed to get the measurements exactly right, equal sized wings are integral for stability midair. The prosthetic was going to be about the same size as your left wing with thin iron rods giving the wing structure. You planned on making it identical to a bat’s wing with a few minor changes in shape to match your other wing. Once it actually was structurally sound and working, you would add proper joints so you could wear it around and decorate it. Until then, you’re making adjustments.

When you were done, you moved on to crafting and melding together the iron rods. Putting on your goggles and thick leather gloves, you used a bit of lava your family kept stored in another room in the basement to fuse the thin iron rods together. You carefully dipped one end of two rods into the bucket before pulling it out at a certain time to hold the molten ends together until they cooled. You repeated this process until you were melding the last piece on.

“HEY BITCH, DINNER’S READY. GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!”

Yelping, you dropped the mold onto your desk. You picked it up in a panic without paying attention to where your arms went. Unknowingly, your sleeved arm was pressing up against the scorching iron of the bucket of lava.

“FUCK YOU YA FILTHY GREMLIN, A LITTLE WARNING WOULD’VE BEEN NICE!”

He started cackling. “FUCK YOU TOO! NOW GET UP HERE BEFORE I EAT YOUR DINNER.”

“YOU BETTER FUCKING NOT. I SWEAR TO- FUCK!”

You felt the nerves on the side of your forearm screaming as you yanked it away, leaving the crisp remains of a part of your sleeve stuck to the iron bucket. Two pairs of footsteps boomed down the steps and got louder as they rapidly approached you. 

Wilbur’s deep voice worriedly called out to you. “Shit, (y/n) are you alright? Let me see.”

Before you could protest, he gently grabbed your wrist and pulled the sleeve of your jacket down. Adjoining the light burn, small horizontal scars and some fresh cuts lined your forearms. Shit, they were never supposed to find out.

Wilbur’s hand froze, gripping your wrist with an iron grip. You hissed at the feeling of some of your cuts reopening, causing him to quickly retract his hand. He now had his hands hovering over your arm unsure of what to do with them.

“(Y/n), wha-” Tommy cut himself off once he saw the panicked look on his older brother’s face. Following his gaze, his wide eyes met with your cuts.

You sighed, prying the goggles off from your face and pulling the gloves off from your hands. You put on a calm exterior, contrary to what you felt on the inside. They were never supposed to know. “Listen, you guys weren’t supposed to find out about this. None of you were. Please don’t tell Dad or Technoblade, I don’t need more people knowing.”

Tommy spoke up with an incredulous look. “(Y/n), what do you mean? We can’t just not tell them.”

“I know. Please, do it for me? Everything’s finally going back to normal and this will just make everything worse again. I promise I’ll stop, I swear.”

The two brothers looked at each other silently contemplating what they should do. On one hand, you were their sibling and you were hurting yourself. They needed to tell their dad that you were cutting. You only had two lives left and you could kill yourself doing that. Philza and Techno could help. On the other hand, they wanted you to feel normal in your own home. You were right in the fact that everything was starting to feel like it did before the incident. Plus, they would gladly help you through it.

They looked back at you with apprehensive expressions, speaking at the same time. 

“(Y/n), we’re not gonna tell Dad or Techno.”

“We’re telling them.”

Tommy whipped his head up to look at his brother angrily. “Wilbur, we need to tell them.”

“Tommy, no-”

“Are you fucking stupid? Of course we have to-”

“Tommy. We don’t because I’ll be taking every sharp object away from them tonight. We’ll watch them and check their wrists to make sure that there’s no new cuts and they stay clean. We’ll help them.”

“But- they,” Tommy gave a frustrated sigh. “Fine. But we at least have to tell Techno about this. He can help us.”

Wilbur glanced at you with apologetic eyes. Before he could speak up, you interrupted him. “...Alright, as long as Dad doesn’t find out. He has enough to stress out about and he doesn’t need to worry about me again. Now, can we go upstairs for dinner? We’ve been down here for long enough already and Dad’s probably wondering why. Tell him that I’m gonna go clean up.”

Without giving them any room to argue, you speeded up the stairs and into your room. Closing the door and leaning your back on it, you let your calm facade drop into a panicked one. Shit, what if Tommy tells Dad? What were you supposed to do then? He’ll take away what little freedom you had left and you’ll be sinking into the depths of your depression again. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock and Philza’s voice. You held your breath as you prepared yourself for him to tell you that he knows your secret. “Hey hun, Wilbur and Tommy told me that you burned yourself,” you let out a relieved sigh. “Do you need me to look at it?”

Panic once again flared in your bloodstream. “N-no Dad, it’s just a little burn. I’ll be down in just a second I’m changing.”

“You sure? I can get you a potion.”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“...Alright,” he sounded skeptical. “Just hurry up, dinner’s getting cold.”

The sound of his retreating footsteps sounded like music to your ears. You closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths before you moved to put on a long sleeved shirt. 

Dinner was uncharacteristically quiet without Tommy, you, or Wilbur talking. Philza tried to carry the conversation with you four, but only Technoblade gave full responses. You, Tommy, and Wilbur only supplied a few words to a conversation when prompted. 

Technoblade was suspicious. Sure, you and Wilbur were quiet sometimes, but Tommy? Tommy’s always loud and rambunctious. Something’s wrong, but what? What could’ve happened when Tommy and Wilbur went to go get you for dinner? They weren’t gone for long. He did hear you screaming profanities at Tommy for scaring you and overheard Tommy telling Philza about how you burned yourself, but how is that something that would shut you three up? He was going to confront his siblings after he finished tonight’s dishes. 

Meanwhile, you, Tommy, and Wilbur were in your room. You were giving them your iron dagger.

“Is this all?”

“Yeah, Tommy. That’s all, search my room if you don’t believe me. I wouldn’t mind, I don’t have anything to hide from you anymore.”

They did just that. Looking under your bed, in your drawers, in your closet, and in the chest you kept for your supplies. You watched them propped up on your bed. While you were angry with yourself that you were so careless, you felt warm that they cared about you. They were great brothers.

After they were done turning your room upside down, Wilbur plopped down next to you and Tommy threw himself over your legs. You three laid there for a while just enjoying each other’s presence. It was nice to spend some time with your brothers, you didn’t get much free time to spend with them because you spent most of your time in your workshop.

The silence was broken by Tommy. “...So, how do you wanna go about telling Technoblade?”

“I’m… not exactly sure. Do we even have to tell him?”

Wilbur pursed his lips. “Even if you didn’t want to, I’m pretty sure he knows something’s up. He’s good at picking up on social cues.”

“Well if that’s the case, I might just wait until he comes to me. It’ll be easier.”

Your door swung open to reveal your piglin hybrid brother. He looked at you with a single eyebrow raised as his ear flicked. “What were you planning on telling me?”

Tommy and Wilbur looked at you expectantly. You shifted your body closer to the wall making room on your bed for him. He walked over and stiffly sat on the edge of your mattress. He gestured for you to talk to him. You slowly slid your sleeve down and showed him your arm. Besides his eyebrows slightly crinkling, he was as stoic as ever when he reached out to grab your wrist for a better look.

On the inside, the voices were almost as loud as when you died. They were nearly incoherent as several angry voices mixed together yelling at him for not noticing anything was wrong with you, the kid he vowed to protect when you first stole his crown and replaced it with a homemade paper one. Outside of the voices, he was furious at himself, he was supposed to protect you. He ran his fingers along the raised lines, gently tracing over every scar and scabbed over cut as if memorizing where every single one lays.

His monotone voice was gruff. “How long? Why?”

“About eight months now. I-I didn’t feel anything for a while after I respawned and I realized that pain helped me feel. It helped ground me when I hallucinated or had panic attacks.”

“...Do you feel anything now?”

“Yeah, I’m getting better Tech. I’m hallucinating less and I’m getting better at managing anxiety attacks. At this point, it's just a habit that I can’t drop.” 

“Do you want to drop it?”

You fell silent. You never really considered stopping before. Before, you would do it to give yourself something to focus on when you were overwhelmed, but now you would do it out of habit. It somehow felt wrong when you skipped a session and it usually threw your entire day off. You would feel drained for the entire day if you didn’t do it. It was one of the only consistent things in your life.

“(Y/n), c’mon you don’t want to keep doing this, right?” Tommy asked before Wilbur reached over and slapped him upside his head. 

“I think,” you breathed out, unsure of yourself, “I want to get better.”

Techno looked at his brothers. “Did you two take their blades?”

Tommy held up the iron dagger and wove it around haphazardly in the air. Techno reached over and pocketed the dagger before discarding his golden crown and placing it on your nightstand. He took off his weighted fluffy cloak and neatly draped it over a nearby chest. He maneuvered his body so that he was laying on your other side and wrapped a lazy arm over your chest. 

With Wilbur on your right side with your wing draped over him, Tommy laying on your stomach with Wilbur reaching down to hold him, and Techno pulling you close to his body, you were pleasantly warm. You were slowly drifting off, being lulled to sleep by Techno’s slow heartbeat. You blissfully fell asleep surrounded by your brothers’ love.

Inspo for the cuddle pile (credit goes to og artist, zillychu): https://zillychu.home.blog/tag/heart-squad-cuddle-pile/

Taglist (comment if you want to be added):

@acecarddraws  @goldenstarofthunderclan  @ravennightingaleandavatempus  @dirtydiavolo  @yeiras-world  @immadatmostthings  @hee-hee-haw  @jackalopedoodles  @m1lkmandan  @vanhakirja  @im-a-depressed-gay  @coolleviauchihadreamerlove  @questioning-sanity  @camisascam

@bongwaterflavoredgatorade  @kakamiissad  @jayistrash  @lifestylesleep  @speedymaximoff  @sun-shark-tooth  @appetiteofapeoplepleaser  @starchildnatalya  @kinismanditory  @dragons-lurk-here  @rinzyx05  @the-wandering-pan-ace  @sparkling-gayyyy  @angelic-scent  @shinipii  @dont-hug-me-im-a-fander  @izzydimensional  @used-avocado

[fallensimeon]

Take Me For A Ride (NSFW 18+)

A spicy F!MC x Mammon smut mixed with a little angst and fluff, my first time trying out writing! Don’t judge too harshly, I tried my best y’know!

Topic warnings: F!MC, angst, smut, fluff, intercourse, car sex, fellatio, rough play (nearly BDSM-ish), biting, blood, curse words, yelling, dirty talking. Read at your own risk! 

Words: 5,419

Y/N has enough of the brothers attacking Mammon, and comforts him when he needs her the most. One thing leads to another, and, well... let’s just say they go for the ride of a lifetime.

18+! MINORS, PLEASE DO NOT INTERACT!

If you like my work, please feel free to like, comment, follow, share, or REBLOG. Thank you for taking the time to read my first piece!

It was a gloomy day down in the Devildom, just one of those days where tensions were high in the House of Lamentation. You were in your room, having just completed your homework so you began studying for a test coming up in the next few days. You had a good feeling you were going to ace it, so you began to organize your books and papers and stash them away in your bag.

You were tired. You had felt overworked as of late, always having work to do, or having one of the brothers drag you into one of their troubles as usual. But today? Nobody had reached out. Everyone had seemed so distant from one another. That wasn’t normal, it was always loud in the house no matter where you went. The fact that it was so quiet for once was shocking.

You finished packing up your school supplies and leaned your backpack against your desk in your room. You just wanted to relax, so you decided to ease your chest and arms comfortably onto your desk and scroll through Devilgram for a while. Looking through the brothers’ profiles always put a smile on your face, because they sometimes posted the most hilarious pictures. However, you found yourself on Mammon’s profile for the longest. 

He was a model, of course he was stunning. Perfectly-tanned skin, luscious snow white locks gracing his head, the most beautiful blue eyes that almost glowed gold. You could never tell him how you really felt, he would just push you away. Plus, there was probably some model out there who was after him already anyways. Why would Mammon want to be with some weak human?

You jumped slightly as a text notification popped up on your screen.

“Dinner is ready, please make your way to the dining hall. You wouldn’t want Beel to get to your plate first,” Lucifer sent. You chuckled and began to make your way down to have dinner. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be as awkward as it was earlier that day.

You make it down to the dining hall, not a single of the brothers making eye contact with you. You froze in your tracks. You can’t lie, that hurt a little bit, you figured at least one of them might greet you.

♡

“Good to see you, Y/N. Come, take a seat. I know you have been working hard up there, you need to eat well,” Lucifer stated, a slight smile on his face. He was glad that at least one of you was focused on your studies that day.

You smiled, finally someone broke the awkward silence. “Thank you Lucifer.”

You made your way around the long table to find an open seat. Your heart fluttered as you walked your way past Mammon, smelling the arousing scent of his cologne waft past your face. You smiled and let out a low but happy sigh, and he looked up for just a second having heard you, a light blush on his face. “Y’know I don’t bite, you can come sit next to me human,” Mammon said lightly, making eye contact with you for the first time that day.

You felt a shudder run down your spine. His voice is so alluring, you could listen to it all day every day. A blush forms on your cheeks as you take a seat next to him.

Everyone around you is surprisingly in their own conversations with one another, which is pretty odd after earlier. Although, you were happy to hear the voices of all of your favorite people around the room. You couldn’t dare to complain, it was nice seeing everyone let go of the awkward tension that had previously filled the House of Lamentation. This, however, was short-lived.

You were almost done with your dinner, only a few forkfuls left, when you heard an argument start. “Oh great, here we go again,” you thought to yourself as you looked up to see Lucifer standing up behind Mammon. You didn’t have a good feeling about this.

“You worthless scumbag, what did you do with my new Ruri-chan figure?!” Levi yelled, close enough to Mammon’s face to spit on him whilst speaking.

“My new perfume went missing too, I bet it had something to do with that idiot,” Asmo shouted across the table at him, a sour glare on his face.

“Come to think of it, my new mystery novel went missing last night, I was going to read it but I couldn’t find it,” Satan added to the fire.

The twins began to spew on about how much of a moron Mammon was, him having done nothing to either of them. Lucifer began to holler at Mammon about every little thing he finds wrong when you realize that was the last straw. You weren’t going to sit there and let everyone torment the demon that meant most to you. You looked over at Mammon, trembling in his seat, trying to hold back tears as his brothers kept pushing him further and further over the edge. He looked like he could break at any second. You know for a fact he didn’t take anyone’s things, he was with you all day yesterday. It couldn’t have been him.

“KNOCK IT OFF, ALL OF YOU! BACK OFF! I THINK HE’S HAD ENOUGH ALREADY!” you shouted at the top of your lungs. The boys all froze in shock and fear, never expecting that out of you. Tears began to stream down your face. You never thought you would see the day that you would have to break up an argument, especially when the only people Mammon trusted were his brothers. Seeing them all treat him like shit made you angry  and upset.

“Y/N...” Lucifer sighed and began to speak, but you weren’t going to give him the chance to continue.

“C’mon Mammon, you don’t deserve this, let’s get out of here,” you gently took hold of Mammon’s hand and dragged him away from the table towards his bedroom. The dining hall fell completely silent once again.

♡

You make it all the way to Mammon’s bedroom door when he stops you in your tracks, pulling your arm back towards him lightly. You turn around to see his cheeks burning red, the tears that formed earlier finally starting to come down his face. He looked somewhat relieved, somewhat embarrassed at the same time. He just barely lifted his head to look you in the eyes.

“You didn’t have to go and do that for me human, ya know I can’t handle m’self, right? I-I just needed to think of what t’say...” he said softly, not enough confidence in his voice for you to believe it for a second.

He was shaking, more so than when he usually gets yelled at. You gently let go of his hand and lifted your hand to cup his right cheek, brushing away his tears with your thumb. He felt so warm.

“Mammoney, I wasn’t just going to sit there and let them stomp all over you like that. They have NO evidence to prove that you took anything from them, but they kept going anyway. I’m so sick of their bullshit, watch them find all of their things that they misplaced themselves. I hope they hate themselves for treating you like that.” You loosened your hand from his cheek and tucked your body against his, arms wrapped around his warm shoulders, bringing him in for a cozy embrace.

This broke him. He leaned into your embrace, the tears streaming down his face as he sobbed into the crook of your neck. The two of you stood in a hug for at least 2 minutes straight, neither of you daring to break away. It just felt so nice, you never wanted to let go.

“Th-thank you Y/N, I’m glad you trust me enough t’know I wouldn’t steal their boring stuff. Why would I need Asmo’s perfume, let alone Satan’s book? Y’know, I-I wonder if they think before they point f-fingers like that. C’mon human, let’s get inside, I just w-wanna relax.” Mammon explains with the slightest blushy grin on his face. He opens the door to let you in first, and closes it behind him.

You had never been in Mammon’s room before, he’s never let you in before now. Your eyes scanned around the room, in awe of how cozy it was. His plush leather sofa and a mahogany wood pool table beside it, bottles of alcohol and a few grimm strewn across it. He has a projector rather than a television, two speakers beside the coffee table below it. He has an open concept closet, adorned with studio lights, and his bed pressed flush on the other side of the wall. His room has two floors, the only things up there being his entryway door... and a car? How did he get this in here? What kind of car was it? How interesting. Rather than walking down the stairs as Mammon was expecting you to do, you made your way towards his car and leaned against the hood.

“Is this your car? It’s so amazing! I can’t imagine how much money you must have put into this beauty,” you exclaimed, being somewhat an admirer of cars, having been raised by your father who’s life revolves around them. You grazed your hand over the headlights and the grill along the front, a glint in your eyes from the spotlights shining down on you and the car.

Mammon was standing next to the door, choked up to say the very least. He was blushing furiously, gripping into his lush white hair with his hand, head tilted down and giggling. “Y’mean my Demonia? It’s nothing really, Lucifer helped me get it a while back once I got my license. Pretty cool right? Of course the Great Mammon is cool!” he chuckled, barely able to keep eye contact with you. The truth was, the car meant a lot to him and it did cost a lot, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. He was too busy staring you down, lights glistening against your soft skin, looking oh-so-hot leaned up against his car like that. Little did you know you were his treasure, he admired you every second he got, whether you realized it or not. He began to walk over to you, leaning next to you on the hood, resting his hand softly against yours, interlocking fingers with you.

Needless to say, you were surprised. You jumped slightly at his touch, hesitant to move. You returned the favor regardless, locking your fingers between his, the warmth of his body flushing through your veins, instantly calming you. He means everything to you, and now this? How can you not tell him how you feel now? This was the best opportunity you could get your hands on. You let go of his hand and made your way off of the hood of the car, locked his bedroom door, dimmed his lights slightly, and made your way back over to him. You inched closer to him, barely hugging distance away.

He was looking up at you softly, still blushing. He was shaking a little bit, but you were too, of course. Now was your chance. It was now or never. Either you tell him how you feel now, or hold it in and never find out if your feelings are reciprocated. Your heart was ready to burst out of your chest, but you couldn’t hold back any longer.

♡

“Mammon, you know I care about you... more than myself sometimes, if I’m being honest. Any time I see you enter the room or my eyes meet up with you, I get tons of butterflies inside. You make me feel like I’m not just some useless human that nobody likes. You make me feel special, and I just want you to know that... I love you. I’m in love with you...” you paused, too nervous to continue.

Mammon.exe has stopped working. You... love HIM? The moron, the idiot, the scumbag? You deserve better, but he can’t deny how he really feels. His brothers aren’t anywhere around, so now’s his chance.

“I-human I... I love you too. Y’mean everything to me. I can’t stand seeing my brothers eyeing you up and taking all of my time with ya away from me. You’re MY human... my... my treasure. You deserve better than me, I’m just some lousy good-for-nothi-” he couldn’t speak anymore. You held him by his cheeks and pulled his face to yours, kissing him on his lips. The first tender moment shared between the two of you, your first kiss. He sits still for a moment before realizing what’s happening, leaning into your kiss and holding you by your waist. Your chests graze against one another as the kiss turns more passionate. Mammon slides his tongue against your lips asking for permission before you slide your tongue in between his. You felt higher than a kite at that moment, the butterflies seemingly flying out through the top of your head.

Before long, you were straddling his lap on the hood of his car, breathing into his neck as he planted kisses along your collarbone, nibbling at you and caressing your lower back. You both pulled away from each other to look into each others’ eyes.

“So this is really happening huh?” you blush and look down, feeling a tad bit shy. Mammon brings his hand up to your cheek, some of his fingers lacing into your hair. “We don’t have to do anything ya don’t wanna do, but first...” he places his hands lovingly on your hips and looks into your eyes. “I want you to be mine and only mine, ya hear? No mackin’ on my brothers or anythin’... you’re MY treasure. Well, if you’ll let me have ya...” he starts blushing too, barely able to keep his eyes on you. The words you have been waiting to hear, that you’re HIS and only his... it makes you melt. You hold onto his hips, and lean in to whisper into his ear. “Of course I’m yours, and only yours. You can have all of me if you want it, and I mean ALL of me...” you whisper and nibble on his earlobe, a smirk forming across your face.

He can’t hold back anymore. He slams his mouth against yours in the most passionate kiss, moaning against your lips and pulling you in closer, pressing you against his chest. His hands start to slip under your shirt, making their way up your bare back until he reaches about midway. He looks at you as if he’s asking permission, to which you respond by grazing your hands over his upper thighs. You lean in once again to whisper sensually, “So have you ever done it in your car?”

♡

His excitement cannot be contained, his body heats up hotter as the bulge in his pants grows harder. Without another word, Mammon scoots off of the car, grabbing you underneath your thighs and carrying you into the backseat of his car, placing you gently while he pushes the seats back and reclining them back further. The open space has grown larger. He climbs his way into the car and shuts the door behind him, hovering over you.

He doesn’t waste any time before he starts to undress you. He slips your uniform jacket off followed by your tank top, revealing your black lace bralette. You whisper in his ear “You like that? I bet you’ll like it more when you see the panties I have to match.”

You set off a fire in his chest, a low growl seeping out from his throat. He sheds his uniform jacket and tears off his undershirt, a huge ripping noise emerging, making you increasingly wet as the tension increases. His bare chest is a glorious sight to behold... so sexy and strong, so protective.

He pushes you back against the seat and makes room to slide off your uniform pants, whilst you slide your shoes off and kick them into the passenger seat beside you. He makes his way down to your feet, carefully sliding off your socks which he notices have a grimm pattern on them, and slyly smirks. His eyes scan your exposed skin from your head to your toes and back up, revving him up even more.

♡

He begins to kiss you from your feet, up your calves and your thighs, until he reaches your inner thighs. Your black lace panties meet his face, becoming more and more flushed. He slides his hands up to the waistband and toys with the lace, planting his face against the fabric. That smell... the smell of arousal... it’s so strong. He could only imagine how wet you are for him. He looks up at you and you nod, giving permission to continue.

Mammon growls and grabs your waistband with his teeth, the sound of tearing lace floods the car. You moan in response, wishing you could hear him like this all the time. Your hands reach down to your now exposed heat and stroke the lips, shining from how slick he made you. Mammon’s eyes start shining, staring down as if he’s a predator who’s just hunted down his prey. He licks his lips and flashes his teeth, slight fangs showing. You spread your lips for him and make your legs more comfortable, inviting him to take a taste.

“Mn... you’re so perfect Y/N, so wet for me, I can almost taste it,” he leans down and begins lapping his tongue at your clit. Shudders run up and down your spine from the senastion, bringing out a sensual moan from your chest, back arching. Mammon grips onto your thighs and holds them open. He drags his tongue up and down your opening, sliding it inside of you. He moans into you, admiring how you taste, your flavor. He makes his way back up to your clit, the tip of his tongue dancing around it. He looks up and you and smirks, sliding two fingers inside of you, pulsing them in and out at a steady pace, curling his fingertips from time to time. You can’t help but let out a moan, never having felt so stimulated and so turned-on before.

“M-Mammon... p-p-please... k-keep going b-baby...” you moaned out as he brought you closer and closer to your orgasm. Did you just call him your baby? Oh, he heard that. He wants to hear it again. He pulses his fingers inside you faster and faster, sucking on your clit, giving you no mercy. The heat inside of you is unbearable. You begin to buck your hips against his face and grab him by the hair, pushing him against your heat, your other hand gripping tightly against the leather seat below you,

It was taking everything Mammon had to not whip himself out and slam himself into you, but he had to make himself more comfortable. As he continued, he used his left hand to undo his pants, releasing his bulge hidden by his boxers. He was only getting harder as you moaned his name again and again.

“I’m... I’m gonna.. gaaaAAAHH!” you moaned out as you reached your orgasm, letting your grip loose from his hair as your body let go of the tension. Mammon laps his tongue down to clean up the mess you made. He gathers some on his tongue, looking up to you with his tongue sticking out, when he suddenly takes it into his mouth and swallows you.

He notices the flaming blush that adorns your cheeks. He brings himself up, sitting on your thighs, his bulge prominent. You stare down his body, glazed in sweat, realizing he lapsed into his demon form as you came down from your orgasm. His horns were shining, wings folded against his back as the car wasn’t a big enough space to let them free. You were positioned on the driver’s side back passenger’s seat, so you decided to slide into the center seat. You reach your hands to touch Mammon’s back, stroking his wings ever so gently. He moans in response, realizing he’s sensitive there. You begin to help guide them open as he leans into you. They fly open and block the whole view out of the windshield, darkening the space between you.

♡

Your hands come down to meet his waistband, tugging on it carefully. You look up into Mammon’s eyes, he can see the desire written over your face. He makes his bulge dance in response, prompting you to go for it. You drag down his boxers and out springs his length, glistening from his precum. It looks so tasty. You lean back in your seat to where you are practically laying down, gripping behind his thighs and urging him to come forward. He was on his knees, his length shadowing over your chest, his tip just barely against your lips. You hold yourself up by your elbows, turning up to him, teasing him “I bet you want your cock in my mouth, don’t you Mammon? You want to see your fragile human squirm under you, taking all of you inside of them?”

Oh, you did it now. His claws getting ever so longer as a growl comes from deep in his chest. “If you want it, show me just how badly,” your last words as he gripped your hair and pushed your mouth around his length, letting out a choke. He moaned in pleasure as he felt himself at the back of your throat, vibrations coming from you barely fitting him inside you. Mammon begins thrusting his hips back and forth, you sucking up on his length oh-so-perfectly. The smell of arousal and the sound of moans fill the car, enveloping both of you. All either of you can feel is bliss. He breaks the silence. 

“Y-Y/N... y-you’re so warm, ya s-suck me off so well, k-keep going, I’m getting close-” He can’t speak anymore, feeling the surge of pleasure rush up through his thighs as you swirl your tongue around him, bringing him to the edge. You pull your mouth off of his length and put his hand around it, urging him to get himself off. “I would love if the Great Mammon would cum for me, I want to feel it all over my face, I want you to make me yours, show me who owns me,” you moan up at him, pulling down your bra to release your warm breasts, toying with them to tease him.

“Oh f-fuck, y-you’re all mine, my treasure, my b-baby, I’m.. I’m...” he groans out, and he’s pushed over the edge. He bucks forward, letting out a deep deep growl, moaning your name and climaxing all over your face and your chest, his cum hot against your skin. He looks down at you taking his load and lets out another groan, watching as you lap it up with your fingertips, eventually licking them clean.

♡

He pushes you down against the leather seats, his length rubbing against your throbbing heat, aching for you. You let out a squeal from your sensitivity, your chest arching up towards him. You reach your hands down to try to push him into you but he stops you, grabbing your wrists and pinning them down above your head. He pushes his lips firmly against yours, exploring your mouth with his tongue. Your chests are touching, he’s just about burning you with the heat radiating from his body.

He pulls away from your face and looks down to you, it looks like he wants to say something. He looks... nervous? After all of that?

“Mammon, are you okay?” you asked gently, turning your head slightly, a smile on your face. “Y-yeah, I just don’t wanna hurt ya. I tried to open ya up for me but what if it’s too much for your human body to handle?” he sighs and stares away for a moment. He loosens the grip on your wrists and you cup both of his cheeks, whispering up at him softly, “I trust you with my life, Mammon. I feel so safe with you, you’re my protector. The Great Mammon. I promise if it’s too much I’ll tell you right away. It’s okay baby.”

He nods and smiles with a blush in response, he couldn’t be happier to hear you say those words to him, as unexpected as they are.

You spread open your legs for him, situating your body in a more comfortable spot, preparing for the time of your life. You lift yourself up with your hands and whisper into his ear, “Take me for a ride, won’t you?”

♡

He growls and stretches his arms and his back, preparing himself. You want a ride? A ride is what you’re gonna get, and it’s gonna be a bumpy one.

He picks up your bottom half by your thighs, dragging you towards him, putting you in the perfect position. He takes hold of his length and lines himself up with your opening, rubbing his tip up and down your heat. You squirm under him, pleading with him in your head, dying for him to give you what you’ve only dreamed of for nearly a year now. He hears you struggling and lets out a low chuckle, a bit evil. He likes to see you all worked up for him, there’s nothing better, honestly.

He begins sliding his length inside of you, the heat from within immediately making him jolt. He can’t help the arousal from feeling you around him, squeezing him tight. You let out a small whimper and look up to him, concern suddenly written all over his face.

Your wrists had been freed a while ago so you take this opportunity to grab onto his soft bottom, pushing him further into you, moaning right in his ear. It hurts... it hurts so good. He’s so big compared to you. Your eyes roll into the back of your head as he hits the deepest parts of you. You must have awakened something in him, the look in his eyes giving him an almost primal vibe. He leans down and whispers into your ear along with a growl “That’s a good human, take all of me inside of ya, scream my name, ‘m gonna fuck you so hard ya won’t walk for a week...”

He thrusts in and out of you at a fast pace, hitting your core over and over again. You’re both moaning and groaning into each others’ ears. Mammon grips hard onto the headrests of the seats, pounding into you like it’s his last day to live. Your hands grasping at his shoulders, you can’t help but claw your nails down, leaving red scratches all over his back. He almost hisses in response, causing you to moan out louder. He takes his right hand and brings it to your throat, silencing you. Your eyes roll back into your head once again, your back arching and your hands gripping tight against the leather seats, nearly ripping them open.

♡

His thrusts speed up, bringing you closer and closer to the biggest orgasm of your life. Mammon's hand around your throat, you try to let out a sentence, “Mammoney baby, I’m gonna c-cum for you, p-please, d-don’t hold back,” you managed to say. His face goes beat red and wings flutter behind him. 

You stroke his horns atop his head, barely letting out one last sentence. “F-fill me up with your cum, m-mark your t-territory, I’m a-all yours-” your sentence is cut off as your orgasm takes over your body, Mammon releasing your throat, you proceeding to scream his name in pleasure as you gripped his length inside of you, trying to juice him.

He pounds his length into you faster and faster, bringing himself to the edge of his climax. He can’t hold back, can’t speak. He brings his head down to bite your neck, leaving teeth marks and a little bit of blood afterwards, marking you as his. He sucks on his marking and groans out loudly in pleasure, unable to contain himself any longer. You can feel his length twitch as he fills you up inside, heating the inner walls of your core, giving you the most butterflies you’ve ever had.

♡

You both look down and giggle along with deep breaths, you did a number to the seats of his car. You look at him in worry as he sees the condition of the leather. He notices that you look scared so he holds you tight to him, body-to-body warmth between you.

“I can already tell what you’re ‘bout to say, and it’s alright. Y’mean more to me than some leather seats. Now I can look at my seats ‘n remember my first time with ya, amirite?” he says with a smile, placing the most gentle of kisses on your lips, glazed with sweat.

You go to try to stand up to get out of the car but your body is beyond it’s limits. Mammon notices you struggling to get up and chuckles. “I told ya you wouldn’t be able t’walk for a while.”

♡

He pulls his boxers back on and picks you up bridal style out of the car seat, carrying you down the stairs and onto his bed gently. He remembers tearing up your underwear so he dashes to his closet, finding one of his favorite t-shirts and a pair of pajama pants and swiftly bringing them over to the bed.

“Put these on, we don’t need ya walking out with stains on your uniform and no underwear,” he explains with a giggle. He looked up at you to see you looking sad. “What’sa matter treasure?”

“Well, I was hoping... maybe... that I could stay with you for the night?” you ask, nervously waiting for a response. Mammon helps you take off your bralette and get dressed in his comfy clothes, and cups your cheek, looking into your eyes.

“Of course y’can stay with me, you’re my human! My treasure! Who wouldn’t wanna stay with the Great Mammon anyway?” he smirks and chuckles, you smacking his chest in return.

He crawls up into the bed with you, laying you next to him and pulling your back into his chest. He covers you both with his bedspread and begins rubbing your arms, resting his cheek against your ear. He had never felt this way before. He really fell for a human. Does he regret it? Not at all, he wouldn’t have it any other way. The only problem now? Now he feels like he has to protect you forever, all the time. He loves you too much to ever see you get hurt.

“S-so... does this mean... y-you’re my girlfriend?” Mammon let out shyly, almost expecting you to say something negative or reject him.

You turn back to face him, your arm around his waist. You smile up at him, “I would love nothing more than to be your girlfriend... your treasure.” You plant the lightest kiss on his forehead and turn back around as he begins to spoon you again. Within the next few minutes, you fell asleep in his arms, not a care in the world, no thoughts besides the thought of being his treasure forever.

♡

The brothers felt bad about what happened earlier and were worried about Mammon’s well-being. Lucifer approached his door with the brothers, quickly realizing it’s locked. He took his master keys out of his coat pocket and unlocked Mammon’s door. He took a few steps in and froze in place. His brothers glanced with him over his shoulder to see Mammon with his arms around you, protecting you, sleeping next to you.

They all couldn’t bring themselves to make a sound. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Y/N... and Mammon?

“It’s about time he told her how he felt!” Asmo shouted as the brothers all shushed him, not wanting to wake the two of you.

“We can talk to him in the morning, let him have peace for once today. I can only imagine Y/N needs rest as well,” Lucifer explained.

Lucifer and the brothers turned around and Lucifer locked the door behind him, a cheeky smirk on his face. He was proud of his brother for finally being honest with himself and taking pride in what he wanted. Would he ever let Mammon know that? Oh, hell no.

♡

I’ve wanted to see a fic about this ever since I fell in love with Mammon and saw his room, so I wrote it!

 I’m only comfortable with F!MC writing since I’ve never familiarized myself with GN!MC or M!MC. My apologies!

I do NOT give permission to post this anywhere else. I also have this posted on Wattpad, my username is daradoodlebug. If you like my work, please feel free to like, comment, follow, share, or REBLOG. Thank you for taking the time to read my first piece!

[honeyapplepi]

The Knight’s Court

warnings: none

royalty au, in game au,

> As soon to be ruler of their kingdom, Y/N L/N is newly appointed with knights to protect them. Y/N quickly comes to find out it’s hard to fall in love with someone you’re not supposed to especially when you’re betrothed to another.

a/n: I’ve already written the first couple parts so those will be coming out in the next couple days, but after that I don’t really have a schedule.

sapnap x gn!reader, wilbur x gn!reader (later on)

masterlist | part two

You were standing on your balcony looking out onto the kingdom. It was getting late, so dinner would be soon. Your servant, George would come in any minute to tell you. You were slightly nervous since your father told you he had an important thing to discuss. With your coronation coming up in a month it was most likely to discuss that. As much as you loved being royalty, which truly you did, you were nervous about becoming ruler.

The neighboring kingdom, L’Manberg had a new king, and people were beginning to compare his rule to your father’s. Maybe that’s what he wanted to talk about. You didn’t have much more time to think before George came in.

“Y/N, dinner is about to be served,” George said. As your servant, he was supposed to call you “your majesty”, but you didn’t like it since the two of you were actually close. You just nodded and muttered a thank you before quickly going to wash your hands.

After you were finished getting ready, you walked down the staircase and into the dining hall of the castle. Your father was sitting at the head of the table waiting for you. Once you sat down the servants put down plates of salad in front of you and your father.

“What did you want to talk about?,” you asked. You weren’t trying to be impatient, but you were very curious about what it was.

“We’ll talk about it afterwards,” your father answered. You now wanted to rush your entire meal, but you knew that would do no good as your father had to be finished too.

You ate your salad as you usually wood. The servants bringing in your main course, steak, after both you and your father were done with your appetizer. Once you were both done the servants quickly picked up the plates and took them back to the kitchen. They didn’t come back and your father quietly told the butler to leave for a moment.

“Y/N, as you know, your coronation is coming up soon, and with a new rule in L’Manberg who knows what could happen. That is why i’ve hired two knights to be your guards until at least a month after your coronation,” your father said. It wasn’t as bad as what you thought, but you were still very confused by the news.

“What does L’Manberg’s new king have to do with my coronation?,” you asked.

“Well, I’m quite worried. Their king has only been ruling for a month or two now and there are already rumors about him wanting to take our kingdom,” your father said. Your father quickly started speaking again when he noticed the worried look on your face.

“Now, don’t worry. We don’t know if these sources are credible, but just to be safe,” you nodded at your father’s words. Surely the rumors couldn’t be true. The new king was the old king’s son and the old king wanted nothing but peace between the two kingdoms.

“They will be arriving tomorrow afternoon and I expect you to greet them with me at 7pm sharp. I’m also going to be giving you a new curfew. Now, you’ll have to be home by 9pm,” your father continued.

It had been thirty minutes since you left the dining hall. Now you were laying on your bed with George explaining the conversation you had earlier.

“You really had no idea?,” you asked him. Most the time news travelled through the castle quickly.

“Nope. Well, I heard something about the possibility of new guards, but nothing about them being for you,” George told you.

“Did your dad tell you anything about them. They might be cute,” George said.

“No, he didn’t, and I doubt it. They’re probably, I don’t know, thirty year old men,” you answered George. The likelihood of your guards being cute or even your age was very slim.

“Well, we’ll find out tomorrow. Anyways, it’s getting late I better be going to bed,” George said sitting up. You gave him a look before looking at your clock.

“It’s only 9:46,” you told him.

“I need my beauty sleep,” George answered before standing up from your bed and leaving.

You rolled your eyes before saying a goodnight to George. A few minutes after George’s leave you went to un-light all your lanterns besides the one on your bedside table. Before lying back down on your bed you closed your glass doors that led out to your balcony.

The idea of having guards following you around was a little weird. Your father had a pretty chill reign. The servants were allowed to call you by your name, and the only guards were at the front door. You were hoping that whoever the guards were were chill. You really didn’t boring stoic people just following you around all day.

The whole idea of needing guards was kind of scary. Especially because of what your dad had said. You didn’t know too much about L’Manberg’s new king. His name was Wilbur, and apparently you would play with him and his brother Technoblade when you were around 6, but you don’t really remember anything.

No offense to your kingdom, but you couldn’t really see the desire in wanting it. It wasn’t the highest in economy, and it didn’t have a lot of weapons or an army. It wasn’t even that big. You decided to un-light your last lit lantern and go to sleep not wanting your worry to ruin your sleep schedule. 

The next morning your servants woke you up as usual and helped you get ready. Once you were ready you made your way to the dining hall for breakfast. Your father was already seated and waiting for you, and almost as soon as you sat down a plate of food was sat on the table in front of you.

“Any plans for today?,” your father asked which was slightly suspicious since breakfast was usually silent.

“Niki and I plan to have picnic later. That’s about it,” you said before going to take a bite of your food.

“Hmm, well be safe,” your father told you. You responded with a nod.

Once you were finished with breakfast you left the dining hall and went back to your room. You had awhile before you would go to meet Niki and decided to read to pass the time. After a few hours passed, you readied a basket and went to meet Niki at her bakery.

[rimaiahwrites]

Untitled—

Chapter six

Erik slowly pulled his arm from underneath Israel's head without waking her then pulled the covers up to her face, since he had it freezing in his loft.

He swung his Heavy leg over the edge of his bed and stepped on his hard wood stairs that laid up to his bed slowly so it wouldn't creek or crack. He slipped away from the comfort of his bed and made it out of his room without a sound. Even though the sounds of his bare feet slapping against the floor in the hallway was still heard, Israel didn't make a move.

He flicked the lights on in the kitchen, and snatched the refrigerator door open. He mostly had vegetables, fruit and water.  It had been like that since He had started a healthy life style after he came back from the navy.

He grabbed his glass bottle of water and chugged it down. That early morning thrust was real. After he was done he refilled the bottle of water before putting it back in the fridge for his afternoon workout.

Erik went back into the living room and pulled his rug back to reveal his hardwood floors. He pulled one of the wooden boards up and reach up inside to grab his father's old leather Journal. It was slightly beaten up from the many years of his father using it but none the less it was still very beautiful.

his balcony doors blow open from the Wind and he pulled the cream white Curtains back and stepped out. The air was cool but not to cold.

It felt good against his skin. Over the few markings that he had on his  torso- about 400 plus, all in rows around his torso. Some were still healing and sensitive.

Erik was actually still surprised that Israel's nosey ass hadn't spotted them on him yet. He knew that once she had, she will ask him a Thousand and one questions about them. And Erik wasn't really ready for that since he knew he couldn't tell her the real reason he marked himself, at least not yet.

He sat in the big chair that he had hanging to the top of his roof. It swayed from side to side when it was windy or when ever Erik sown it himself. It was soothing though. His balcony was one of the places he liked to meditate and clear his mind. He could look down below, and see businessmen in suits and looking for a taxi, and kids heading off to school with big backpack bouncing against them from running to the bus stop. It was regular city life for him.

He loved the city but hated the memories it came with. He had lost to much in it. First his mother then his father, and so many of his childhood friends had lost their lives to the city they called home. So many time had the city almost taken his life as well, from being beaten on the street by police officers, or being held at gun point at 15, by a local drug dealer that Erik had considered one of his niggas.

The city had done him so wrong but yet here he was, still living in Oakland. Just in a better spot then the apartment that he had spent ten years of his life in.

Erik sighed and sat back down and open his father book. He liked to reread it to keep him motivated and focused on his Destiny. The foreign words of his father language, that he had learned to read over the years, popped out against the old- now brownish- paper. Erik flipped to the page titled, the prince is here.

My son, my prince, my happiness have finally arrived. More Beautiful then I could ever imagine, dark brown eyes like his mother and a head full of thick black kinky hair like me.

The happiness that spread through my body the moment my eyes laid on him I knew I was in love. This was a different type of love, not like the kind of love you have for your mother or your wife it was a kind of love that only a mother or father could have for their child-

Erik read with tears beaming his eyes. Not letting them fall once. Erik slammed the book shut clenching it in his hands, as he leaned forward staring at it. It didn't make him sad, it made his angry. He was so angry at his father and it confused him so deeply since he knew his father had no control over what happened to him.

Maybe it wasn't anger towards his father, but pain that he turned into anger like he always did. And he was tired of it, the anger that had been building up inside him ever since he found his father dead, on his Apartment floor with panther Panther  claw marks in his chest, that came from the man his father called brother.

That's where his real anger was towards, his family. Erik couldn't even call it anger, it was rage. He knew that once he met his uncle all hell was going to break loss. All the pain and rage he had inside of him was going to be released. As soon as he got to wrap his hands around T'chaka fat ass neck, and hear that satisfying crunk that came after he squeeze with all his might. And then his cousin t'challa, was next because he knew that once he killed T'chaka his son was going to go after him. But he was going to prepared.

Israel rolled over on the bed and look over the loft bed. Erik wasn't in the living room or kitchen. She had thought that maybe he had left, until she saw the balcony curtains blow up from the door being open. She smiled slightly and peeled the thick blankets back and headed down the stairs. The little cracking sounds the wooden stairs made as she tip-toed down  sparked Erik's interest, he closed the opened book again, and sat it behind the pillow he had on his swinging chair.

He leaned back into the door frame and spotted Israel on the stairs with a grin on her face. "Hi." She whispered softly so her voice didn't sound raspy from not talking for hours at a time.

"You always wake up in a good mood?" He asked getting up from the balcony ground and walking up to her. She chuckled and shrugged. "When I get a good night of sleep, yeah." She said looking down at him into his eyes, that were still slightly red from earlier. Since she was about three stairs above him, She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned towards him. "Um...Thank you for last night, I had fun. It was the first time in a long time that I have felt like someone actually wanted to hang and spend time with me..." she admitted, looking down at his chest as she fiddled with his shirt. He rested his hands on her waist and squeezed lightly. "You don't have to thank me princess, I enjoy hanging wit' you." He spoke softly, brushing her face with his knuckles. Slightly pushing her face to the side.

Her gut felt bubbly with happiness, and her cheeks were starting to hurt with how hard she was smiling. And Erik only made it harder for her to stop from the way he was looking at her.

That look he gave her. The one were he would title his head like a puppy and lick his lips while keeping Direct eye contact.

The thigh clenching look if you will.

"You hungry?" He asked, picking her up and swinging her off the stairs to the bottom. "No not really, I don't like to eat breakfast that much because I'm never that hungry." She said sitting at the kitchen counter. His eyes raised and he turned to her.

"You gotta eat breakfast Israel, that's the most important meal of the day." She rolled her eyes because she had heard it so many time before from her mother. "I know I just don't like breakfast-"

"I'm making you breakfast, and you gon' eat it." Erik said turning around to the refrigerator to grab the stuff he needed.

And A word wasn't said as Erik handed Israel the plate of two prices of Turkey bacon one pancake, and a small glass of a mango kiwi and strawberry smoothie that he sweetened with orange juice.

He tried not to give her much but she still felt like it was to much food for right now. It he gave it to her at like 12 am in the afternoon she would most likely still be hungry afterwards.

She stared at the plate and then back at Erik, a pout on her lips. He nodded his head, as if telling her to go ahead and start eating. She sighed and grabbed a fork and began to eat, Erik as well. But his plate was stuffed. Three pancakes, three prices of bacon, and the rest of the plate was taken up by the four scrambled eggs. He was a big boy and needed all the food he could get.

"Is it good?" He asked, month full of food.

"Yeah, it's good even though your Force feeding me it." She chuckled taking another small bite. Erik gave her a close month smile, chewing his bacon aggressively.

"You'll get used to it, eventually your body will want to eat in the morning, anyway your parents call you yet?" She shook her head, taking a sip of her smoothie. "No, I don't know what's going on but hopefully my mother calls soon to fill me in and let me know they made it there safe." She said her thoughts wondering off a bit.

After they were done eating Erik decided he wanted to workout at his favorite boxing gym. So they both got dressed quickly, Israel just put on a white oversized t-shirt and a pair of gray leggings and her white nike sneakers, while Erik wore black baseball shorts a dark gray workout shirt and black running shoes.

Once Erik grabbed his bag they were at the door and headed to the gym.

Erik turned into the parking lot Of his boxing gym named the home of Apollo Creed. Israel raised her eyebrows but she went with it. Erik opened her door while he throwing his gym bag over his shoulder. "A boxing gym?" She questioned following him inside the cold building. There was about ten different sweating men hitting at punching bags or at their couch Gloved hands.

"Yes, that's what the sign says right?" He chuckled dropping his bag on the floor. She rolled her eyes at his slick reply and plopped Down on the bench near his gym bag, "you didn't tell me it was a boxing gym but k, smart ass." She mumbled, watching him watch her while he put on the thin black gloves that fighters put on before the actual boxing gloves. He was clearly not new at this because he wasn't paying much attention to his movements, he was staring at Israel. Something she had noticed he tends to do a lot. But they were even because she caught herself staring at him today more times then she'll like to amid.

"Come on," he smiled pulling her across the gym catching some of the busy men eyes, there was a couple of "damn Erik who dis?" And "this yo new girl?" Erik only grinned, winking at them. While Israel tried to hide herself behind him. Erik noticed and chuckled softly before hugging her to his side.

"You bout to get a couple of boxing lessons for free, by thee Erik Stevens." He sang playfully making her crack a smile. He turned around to look in the big box of gloves and found some pink ones from the little 15 year old girl that used to box here. They looked like they could fit. "Come here, gimme your hand." She slide both her hands in the glove and smiled at how cute they looked on her. "Tiny ass hands," Erik mumbled jokily making her roll her eyes and giggle. "Big ass hands...hulk smash face ass 'I'm Wreck-It' neck ass-" She shot back. he laughed loudly throwing his head back before telling her to "shut the hell up before I knock you out." She just rolled her eyes.

" Ok we're gonna start with a simple, 1,2." He explained taking jabs at the air, making his Biceps and man Titties bounce, In the form fitted workout shirt he changed into in the car. She copied the simple move but aiming at his hands this time. "Ok we gonna do that same move but with a duck added to it," he beamed, excited that she was catching on so soon. "Hit, hit, duck." She moved fast dodging his hand. "This is kinda fun but-" Israel began but was cut short by a high pitched voice and a light skin girl with long loss curls came walking to Erik.

"Erik?! Is that you?!? I haven't seen you in so long," she was so tall that she was almost Erik's height. Israel felt like a child standing next to them.

"This is my homegirl from back in the day, Erie." Israel smiled and waved shyly. "Aw is this your little sister?" Erie smiled sarcastically bending down a bit sticking her hand out for Israel to shake, Israel's smile dropped and things got awkward quickly when Israel didn't grab her hand and only stared at the girl.

"Um Nah this is a good friend of mine, but uh it was nice seeing you Erie." Erik chuckled while dismissing the girl trying to hold in his laughter.

"Oh...well I'll see you later I guess, you should Dm some Time so we can really catch up without..." She tailed off glancing at Israel before smirking at Erik and walking off, making sure to make her ass bounce with every step she took. Israel tore her eyes from her and rolled them. While Erik was busy starring at her ass Israel began to take her gloves off, using her teeth to undo the Velcro on her gloves. The tearing sound brought Erik's attention back to Israel. "What are you doing we still-"

"I'm not really feeling it anymore plus my arms are already getting tired." She huffed swinging her arms back and fourth trying to shake the 'soreness' out of them. Erik mumbled a "yeah already." knowing why she wasn't really feeling it anymore, he left her to sit on the ground while he went and found his trainer, RJ. Erik had been working with Him since he was 15, RJ was one of the only people that Erik felt like care for him when he was Foster care. RJ had found Erik fighting a boy a little older then him outside of a gas station and praised him for how good of a fight was and encouraged him to get into. Erik was definitely hesitant about it at first but RJ eventually convince Erik to do it especially since he was going to be training him for free. It was a way for Erik to blow off some steam with all the Pent up anger he had for the world, RJ was just happy to keep him off the streets. He knew the kid was A genius, he was too smart to end up in jail or dead.

-

It had been two hours since Erik had been training and two hours since Israel been sitting on the hard floor but she barely noticed the numbness in her butt and legs because she was to busy drooling over Erik's delicious body, it was shiny in sweat and his movements were Swift and fast. The faster he hit the punching bag the more his muscles jumped and bounced, Israel don't know how many she licked her lips or clinched her thighs together but she knew her lips were going to be raw and she would have to take a shower as soon as she got home, she didn't care though it was Worth it. She'll sit here all day and night if that meant she could watch him. She wasn't the only one enjoying this whole situation so was Erik. he knew she was watching his every move, she tried to act like she wasn't but she made it very obvious that she was checking him out, but he liked the attention. He liked how easily he can drawl women's attention without even trying. He had her eyes glued to him, not only hers but Erie's too. He caught her staring at him multiple times but instead of scaring away whenever he caught her she locked eyes with him, giving him very seductive look. Erik only chuckled at her Poor attempt and backed over to Israel to grab his ice cold water bottle. Her breath hitched as he reached over her, his hot body almost pressing against her. The scent of his sweat and actual body odor mix with his deodorant made her mouth water. She wanted so badly to reach up and touch his torso but held herself back, sparing herself the embarrassment of rejection. "Are you done?" "Yeah Come on someone wants to meet you before we leave," he said grabbing her hand to help her off the ground. The feeling in her legs started to come back finally as she made her way over to the punching bag. "Israel this my nigga RJ, we go way back." RJ smile brightly at the girl and extended his hand out to her. "Nice to meet you." She beamed at the handsome older man, holding his hand longer then she intended to. RJ didn't mind at all though. They both broke apart when Erik cleared his throat real obnoxiously eyeing the both of them like they stole something from him. "Nigga Y'all tryin' fuck later or what? The fuck." Erik hissed bluntly more so towards RJ, he was way to old to be looking at Israel any type way. He was in his early 40s and Israel was in her late teens, that shit didn't really sit right with Erik. Israel became tense and RJ just dismissed Erik's out burst rolling his eyes and punching him In the arm with the foam glove.

"Shut yo dumb ass up Erik, anyway it I was just trying to see what your name was and shit for later..." Erik's face scrunch up in discussed as he pulled Israel behind his back. "Nigga you old as dirt still trying to flirt with young girls....grow up." Erik chuckled grabbing his bag and Israel's hand pulling her behind him. "Ok and? I'm aging like fine wine, ain't that right baby girl?" He raised a eyebrow at Israel making her turn her face away to hide her smile from the both of them knowing that they'll probably just clown her. "More like milk, anyway I'll see yo old ass later." Erik dabbed him up and left making sure Israel was right behind him. He opened the door for her and she climbed in, putting her Seatbelt on without him having to tell her too this time. Erik got in next making the car bounce a little from how big he was. "Don't pay that old ass nigga no attention, he do that to all the girls that come in to the gym. He swear he's charming-"

"Welllllll......" Israel tailed off

"Woooooow....." was all Erik said before slumping down into his seat. "He fine." Israel laughed widely shrugged her shoulders. "Hell Nah He could be your dad or some shit he's like that old ass uncle at the cookout that get drunk before the party even start." Israel giggled wildly because she does really have a uncle that showed up to the family events already drunk. After their laughter died down things got quite. Like it always seemed to happen when they were by their selves. It wasn't necessarily a awkward Silent just a little uncomfortable, the type when you don't know what Else to say to keep the conversation going but Israel still enjoyed his company.

It was nice finally being around a man, it felt familiar to her. She was always only around boys and men growing up most of the time since she had no younger or older sister in the house, plus the girls that she did have In her family like her aunts and older female cousins were rude and bitchy for no reason so she stuck with just hanging around the boys. it was what she was used to and most comfortable with.

Erik's deep voice shook her out of her train of thought and now her eyes were staring into his trying to focus on what he was talking about. "Huh?" She said trying to process what he said. "I'm gonna drop you off at home."

She pouted and huffed out her breath before mumbling "I don't want to go home, why can't I just stay with you?" Erik chuckled dryly. "Because I got other shit to do Israel." The sternness in his voice jumped out and Israel was just about to let her bratty personality show but quickly caught herself.

She was really quite the rest of the ride this time, extremely quite. Erik only chuckled at her for being mad that she was going home instead of with him, but he didn't give a fuck. He had other shit to do like he said.

"So you not gon' talk?" She shrugged before turning on the radio. Erik turned it off. "Don't touch my radio, answer my question."

"What?" She asked as if she didn't hear him the first time round. "You wanna stay with me?" She nodded with puppy dog eyes. He almost melted. Almost.

"Mm." He hummed pulling up to her house. She pouted And huffed, annoyed with him playing with her.  "Whatever." She snapped before grabbing her phone out of his lap and slamming his car door shut. She heard Erik's annoying laugh loud and clear as she stomped her way up the steps to her door. Erik's slowly pulled away making sure she got in safely and when she did he speed away.

Soon as he stopped at a red light he grabbed his phone and went to his new contact: Israel (with the pleading face emoji) since it described her best. His fingers work at the speed of light as he tried to send the text before the lights turn green.

Good night, princess. Imma see you soon so you don't gotta pout and shit alright? He sent and almost instantly she read it. The gray dots appeared and vanished then reappeared and then her rely popped on his screen. Ok :) it was simple but it made him smile.

He almost sent her a text back but decided to just leave it at that. She was happy and fine now so there was no need to reply back.

_________

Sorry about the weird spacing in some areas Tumblr be weird sometimes with that. 

[batarella]

3 birds 1 stone - chapter 12

‘Dick, Jason, and Tim. Supposed brothers 'till the end, until all three fall in love with you. Who wins your heart?

The man who earned it, the man who stole it, or the man who always had it?’

A/N: We continue the three perspectives!!! AND we got special appearances from a few characters today eeeeee we’re so close to the finale. Hope you guys enjoy this one!

WORDS: 12,068  WARNINGS: violence, arm dislocation, muscle injuries, alcoholism, mentions of coffee addiction and insomnia

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST

-----

Dick:

That day, this all ends.

Telling himself he got into this mess because he hadn’t a choice, that he hadn’t already stopped because it was all just too riveting and captivating and not at all within his control, was nothing short of a lie.

He had every say in it.

But not even his fucking conscience could convince him to stop. He wanted this mess. Dove right into the lava. He knew every bit of the heartbreak he’d have to endure and he willingly brought it to himself. To get lost into the deep dark woods, with nothing more than an oil lamp, to be pricked by the many thorns and suffocated by the leaves and trees that crowd about much like a bush. To get lost in her, and never want to climb out of any of it. He knew how slippery the road ahead of him was and still he kept going, kept driving, sped up a little even when he thought he’d actually get to where the stars pointed him to.

But so profoundly was his loss of himself, without much effort at all to escape from those grasps even when he told himself he did; going to another woman, wanting the same arrest of his heart to hopefully take him away, but without halting those thoughts of Y/N and how her smile that he’d seen earlier that day would last until dark, maybe even beyond that. Those flares of her face and her voice and how he let them speak to her every night, change them into burning whispers against his ear when he’s memorized her voice too much to make her say anything he wanted her to, even when they only last in his head.

Dick never tried to stop her from taking her heart like that, even when he had to watch her be with another.

Tonight, it all ends. Every bit of this torture that he brought only to himself, it all comes to this sorry halt.

Dick, standing atop a roof of an office building in Dresher, knew that at that moment, he had to sit this one down. He had to be alone and in the darkness to make this as painful as it possibly could, hoping that if all that pain were to be felt now, compress them into this little tub of static blackness, then perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad the next day, and the day after that. Even when he knew this would backfire, he had to.

No one, especially not Y/N, would want him to end up with her. Tim deserved her. Hell, even Jason’s done a lot more for her sake than he had. He can't hope anymore. He can't let this go on.

All this would have gone better if he’d known this sooner.

So with him on that rooftop, sitting on the ledge fifty stories above as if not at all was he a push away from death, Dick let his finger scroll across his phone’s screen moist from his sweat. The battery was going to run out soon. He’d been there for hours, staring at that same picture of her from the day in the nursery, when the sun had been kind to her, touching the surface of her skin so perfectly, it showed more of the little details that he’d already memorized. Those exact images would be thrown out by the end of tonight. Pack their bags. Scram them out the door.

It had, as expected, proven to be difficult.

The thirty-seven pictures he took that day, he’d already heartly remembered by the end of it. Countless of times, he pulled them out of his pocket just to take a second to look, even at the worst. Another month had passed and nothing had happened much since, nothing out the ordinary, which meant their friendship was back to how it used to be. They were friends.

And that was why it ends tonight. Because if he doesn’t fight these thoughts, if he doesn’t fight her, he loses her. He loses this friendship.

Are you sure you want to delete this photo?

Confirm.

Confirm.

Confirm.

Thirty-six times, he let his finger do the talking. Not his heart. Not even his brain.

At the last one, the screen was too distorted by a fallen tear that had seeped out of his domino mask for him to go on. It was the only hindrance he needed to give up and stop. At least for a second.

But he couldn’t even dwell on it too much, or let himself cry, let it burn his skin off enough so it wouldn’t hurt any more afterwards. He couldn’t even let himself have that luxury when he heard the thudding noise of his brother’s boot-cladded feet, a Bo staff that hit the ground, and a black cape that enforced a gust of wind to blow against the back of his head.

Dick just closed his eyes, and just after that, Tim walked over to stand right behind him.

Greatest Detective in the World. But even an idiot would know what he was up to, sitting in the darkness crying while his feet dangle off a rooftop’s ledge, eyes to his phone like he was reading the saddest sob story in the whole world or that he’d just received a text that one of his loved ones’ lives had been taken away from cancer.

The way Tim was silent, he knew.

And Dick just let him believe it, without even a word to explain himself, he did. He let Tim’s mind do the figuring out and the explaining because not even his own words would be half that truth.

Tim’s voice that night wasn’t the kind he heard often.

“You think this is the right time for that, Dick?”

A crack on his knuckles, his throat sounding rough and beaten, Dick didn’t know what to even say.

“We called you fifteen times over at the bridge. We needed you-“

“Sorry-“

“And it turns out you’ve been at your phone the whole time-“

“You handled it without me.”

“That isn’t the fucking point.”

A month of silence, since that deathly night after they took Y/N home. Several minutes, together in one car, had proven to be one of the most insufferable moments of his life. And not surprisingly, it went on for even more days after that.

Dick turned off his phone, but Tim snatched it away from his hands and walked away so Dick couldn’t grab it.

He stood from the ledge. “Come on, Tim. Not cool.”

“Hmm. Cute,” Tim faked a smile and swiped around the screen, at the last picture of Y/N he had. “Could have sent it to me. And Jason.”

“Tim-“

“But it’s cool,” Tim said. He threw the phone back at Dick and he caught it just before it hit the ground. “All good. Finally, you have something of her all to yourself, right?”

Tim was Tim. Not this. Not someone so angry and grievous and someone who was looking at him that way with so much disgust when he used to be that young boy of fourteen who looked at his older brother like a god. How long, he thought, must he have kept all this frustration bundled up inside, where not even he could reach into. Someone who’s so calm, so in control of what he says, had finally given in and let his annoyance flourish about. He wondered, as anyone would, at what point Tim had finally had enough of all of this.

“Tim, please-“

“You,” Tim pointed his gloved finger right at Dick’s face.

“You were supposed to be my brother.”

.

Tim:

Of course, he’s had enough.

He’s had enough of all this a lot longer than anyone else, even he, would have thought.

It might have been since that day Y/N was crying over an argument they once had, over something he can't even remember, that almost pried them apart, only for Dick to come along and console her without telling Tim where he was, and he only knew because Y/N told him what happened. If she hadn’t, Tim wouldn’t have known.

He wouldn’t have known Dick had long been pining over the love of his life, never mind how she was in his arms and kissing his lips and calling for his name.

Dick, who could have literally anyone he could possibly wish for, just had to want her.

“What do you want me to say?” The asshole started after a moment’s silence, of nothing but a helicopter’s whirl from far above, the lack of light from everywhere around them, and their footsteps against the empty cement.

He couldn’t even look at his brother in the eye with his mask on, but he knew enough to know what he felt. It didn’t matter if he was sincere. It didn’t even matter that he cried.

“Nothing,” Tim said. “You’ve done your damage.”

“Damage?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Enlighten me.”

Tim scoffed and faked yet another laugh. It annoyed himself at that point.

“You are unbelievable-“

“I’m not trying to do anything with her anymo-“

“Don’t even start with that, asshole.”

Tim’s hands were shaking, and subconsciously he tried to repress those tremors, hoping they’d go away if he clenched them enough, but they only got worse.

“She was mine,” he cried. “And you just couldn’t handle that-“

“I never tried anything with her when you were together.” Dick tried to step closer to him but he just backed away.

“So you weren’t just waiting for us to break up so you’d swoop in and be the hero?” he scoffed. “I asked you to make sure she was okay, not take advantage of her hurting just so you’d have your chance.”

“And why did you break up, Tim?” He had the audacity to ask. “You didn’t love her anymore-“

“You knew I still did-“

“Then why hurt her?!”

“Because I was hurting her anyway!”

Never. He’s never been this angry. Not that he could recall.

“I was 17. Everything about me changed. Wayne Enterprises. Red Robin. Fucking Bruce dying and coming back to life. She was there but I was about to lose my fucking mind. I thought she didn’t have a place in all that mess anymore so I broke it off.”

Finally, he stepped close enough to Dick, almost to leveling with his height. His brother had his lips hidden, hands falling to his sides.

He looked terrified.

“Two seconds after that, I never regret anything more my whole fucking life. I thought talking to you would make her feel better, but you just couldn’t help but bat your pretty little eyes at her when she was vulnerable. I wanted to go back but I couldn’t ‘cuz you were already there!”

He was snarling, and a growl escaped his throat by the time he backed away. Tim didn’t even get to hear himself until he saw his own reflection in the white of Dick’s mask.

But Dick. He didn’t even take it as a hint to just shut up and take his rambling.

“I never meant to keep her away from you-“

“I went to you, Dick.” Tim wiped his lips with the back of his gloves, watched over to the next building to avoid his brother’s face. “I always went to you for help. With her. You know how long I’ve wanted her. And I went to you because I thought you were my brother and you’d help me.”

“I did help you!”

“You were helping yourself!”

His hands slammed against Dick’s chest, and it was a good thing he didn’t fight back. He would have just taken that as an excuse to keep hitting.

“Tim,” Dick held his hands up. Tim backed away. “Just go to her-“

“THIS ISNT ABOUT HER ANYMORE, ASSHOLE!”

Hands shoving his chest once again. This time, Dick had caught them, held them by his wrists enough so Tim couldn’t pull them away.

“THIS IS ABOUT YOU AND ME, GRAYSON!” Tim screamed. “WHAT HAPPENED TO HAVING EACH OTHER’S BACKS!”

“YOU THINK IT WAS MY CHOICE TO GET IN BETWEEN YOU!?”

It was from a whip of strength not even he had known prior, but it hurt when he finally could take his hands off of Dick’s grip, and with that, he backed further away, though his eyes couldn’t stray from looking straight into his brother’s.

“IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER IF IT WAS-“

“THEN I’M SORRY!’ Dick swallowed. “IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED TO HEAR?!”

“No,” Tim’s knees hit the railing and so close did he fall, but he kept himself up, rubbed the bottom of his chin with his gloved hand. “You're not sorry…”

Dick’s silence. Even more so did he want to just lunge at him and strangle his vocal chords. No matter how far-fetched, Dick was supposed to tell him all the things he wanted him to say. So far, he’s said none of that.

Dick just watched when Tim turned around to rest his weight onto his palms, looking out into the open seeking for just about any kind of help there was that he could call out from the wind, but there was nothing.

“You're right,” Dick said, and Tim felt the cement crack from beneath his palms. “I’m not sorry.”

“Fucking bold of you-”

“What would have happened to her if I hadn’t stepped in?” He heard Dick’s voice louder and clearer, which meant he was walking closer towards him.

“I would have come back. I always wanted to come back, but by then she was all over you. I couldn’t-“

Tim looked at his own hands. “I had it coming. I can't blame her.”

Another whiff of air, and it blew the strands of his black locks right onto his eyelids. They stung, but he didn’t push them away. He just kept his eyes locked onto the blankness of the gray, the dark that went all the way into his spirit.

“But I do blame you-“

“Tim, you hurt her-”

“AND YOU HAVENT?!”

Dick caught his Bo staff, which Tim had thrown right at him as swiftly as he turned around. His mouth was as dry as his palms were sweating. His teeth were close to breaking. And his eyes dangerously drifting off into some unknown nowhere just so he wouldn’t have to look at such betrayal.

“Tim-“

Tim was shaking, or at least his hands were, when he gave into his impulses and moved so fast, grabbing Dick by the collar and standing him down.

“You stand there blaming me for all that hurt when here you are-“

“What the hell do you want me to say to you?!”

He was strong, stronger than any one of them would have thought. Dick couldn’t even move, much less out of shock than it was out of his hold on him too overwhelming to counter.

“Tim, this isn’t like you-“

“You have no idea what I’ll do,” Tim growled. “Why do you think I became Red Robin?”

To separate himself from the likes of what it used to be. To not be Robin anymore. To stray away from his ideals, ideals and morals no longer his.

Because he was, in his truest capacity, capable of much darker things than people seem to know. Even his own brother.

“I hate you-“

Dick, who took that second to take advantage of weakness, grabbed him by the wrists and pushed him off with the soles of his feet, not enough to send him to the ground but enough to almost topple him. And when he looked up, immediately, Tim’s fist headed for his brother’s head, but again it was caught by Dick’s palm.

“HEY, HEY, HEY, ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU!”

A much deeper, louder voice, the third one to be heard that night. It was that, and two strong arms that grabbed Tim by the shoulder and Dick by his suit’s back. Even when it wasn’t even to much effect, they stopped.

At least, for a second they did, before Tim started for Dick’s neck and he had to be held back with a strong hand right against his chest. “Let me go!”

“What the hell is going on with you two!?”

“Stay out of this Jason!”

It was easier for Jason to stand right in between, just to stop either of them from going after their skin. Dick had stopped. Tim, on the other hand, had to be held back by the shoulders. “Tim, calm down!”

“I said stay out of this!”

.

Jason:

“One of you pinheads tell me what’s going on!”

“Are you really gonna let Jason fight your battles, Dick?!”

Tim tried to push Jason out of the way. He was lucky, in fact, that none of them could see the irate look on his face hidden behind the safety of a red helmet. Otherwise they might have started for him too, just at how disgusted he looked at them both. And he had every right to be. He knew exactly why they were fighting. It was the devil in him who felt like asking.

Jason held him back with his cape. “Hey, KNOCK IT OFF-“

“Let go of me!”

“You don’t think I wanna bash this asshole’s brains out everyday, Tim?!” Jason hauled him to the floor. “Trust me. You can hold back.”

“Oh, fuck you, Todd.”

“You shut up.” Jason pointed at Dick. “If this is about Y/N I know exactly why Tim wants you dead.”

“And why am I the one you two’re ganging up on?!”

“If I was, Dick, I’d just let this one have at it with you. Thank me later.” Jason said, nodding over at Tim. Tim shrugged off his brother’s hold on him and frowned.

“You were never the one to trust, Dick,” Tim gulped. And Jason knew Dick would have thought the same. His flaring eyes, the burn that was almost never there from someone so usually calm. It was unnerving seeing Tim this way. “Look at everyone you’ve hurt. Y/N. Kori. When are you going to stop?”

“Don’t you fucking start with me, you little-“

“Hey! Knock it off!” Jason pushed Dick again with a shove of his hand. Dick stepped back.

“Jason, just get out of here -“

“I don’t know, man; Feels like I have to be the responsible one. For once.”

Tim grabbed Jason’s hand and hauled him to the side so he could step closer to where Dick was standing. “You don’t want to be a part of this.”

Jason, if not at all wanting that to be true in the slightest sense, didn’t fight back and took Tim’s shoving. But, as he’d thought, Dick was the one who looked at him so slyly he wanted to grab his lips and use them to haul him over the building.

Suddenly, every part of his skin wanted to burst, blood beating through every inch of vessel and flesh so much it burned him. His mouth sewed shut, ears hurting at the redness. Again, if not for the helmet, it would have been a dead giveaway.

But Dick wasn’t having it.

“Trust me, Tim. He already is.”

“What the hell do you mean-“

“I said, enough. You two settle this at home.”

Jason tried for Dick’s shoulder just to push him to back away, but he threw his hand off.

“Don’t fucking act like the good guy between the three of us,” Dick said. “What are you gonna say next? That this isn’t what Y/N would want?”

“You think it is?!”

Dick chortled and he turned away. Tim still wouldn’t let his glare away from his brother and if Jason would let him, he’d have mauled him to death.

“You always did think you knew what was best for her, didn’t you?”

“Jason, what the hell is he talking about?”

He never told him. The bastard never told Tim when he was so sure he would, when he basically told him that night outside Y/N’s doorstep that by the end of the hour, Tim would know what he’d done and he’d have found Jason by the next, even when he tries too hard to disappear, which he had tried to do for four months, hiding from his brother, and not long after he’ll never be welcomed into the manor as so much as a guest. It did surprise him, after many months, that Tim hadn’t so much as acknowledged it. Part of him wanted to believe Tim didn’t care, or had already forgiven Y/N and in turn forgiven him.

But, of course, Dick hadn’t told him. The asshole wanted this to drag out as painfully long as he possibly could. Make him carry that burden himself just because he thought it was right, as Tim’s brother, even when he wanted no part of those niceties.

“You wanna tell him?” The blue leotard wearing ass said. “Or should I?”

“Don’t fucking bring me into this shitshow-“

“Brother, you walked right into it yourself.”

“I will kill you,” Jason growled. “One of these days.”

“Tell me what?”

Tim’s voice, the softest it had been since the start of that night.

He shouldn’t.

His little brother, one whose relationship had proven far too difficult to build, if there was ever a chance at a good relationship at all. His brother. An established brotherhood he once despised so much, took too many years just for it to be something tolerable. His little brother.

He never had a little brother like Tim. Perhaps even now, he wouldn’t. Not once he knows.

“Tim, I-“

“Jason, tell me what’s going on.”

Dick no longer even had that smirk on him. He just looked sad for the both of them, as he should be. As anyone should be.

“Just tell him.”

So much did his fist want to just fly and land straight at Grayson’s perfectly chiseled cheekbones, break his face so much he wouldn’t live to stand a day.

But Jason had grown too silent, too guilty.

He couldn’t even take off his helmet and look at either of them in the eye.

Tim stepped right in front of him and on his face kind of worry that often lingered prior to it being the worst rage to ever engulf into.

Was there a way out of this? To counter the impact? Make it so it didn’t hurt so much?

If Grayson had just told him, it wouldn’t have to be this way.

“Jason-“

He looked up, and through the slits of his visor, he knew Tim wanted to look at him in the eye, to find something out of this truth.

“I…”

His throat, it hurt to even breath. And when this happened, he usually takes the helmet off. This time, however, he couldn’t do that. Not when he had so much to say despite him not wanting to.

“I slept with her…”

It was a shame Dick didn’t look too much like an ass right then. If he did, he’d have a reason for himself to just jump at him with a knife. But all he could even see, all he could bring himself to watch, was his feet.

Nothing else. Not when Tim was looking at him that way.

“What?”

“I slept with her-“

Tim.

Was it even Tim anymore? The boy in front of him? Who never looked at him with so much betrayal?

“When?”

“A few months ago…” he said. “Lasted about a month.”

Then, it wouldn’t even have mattered if it were him who broke the news, the asshole that Dick was, or the Gotham Times.

Tim.

No longer his little brother. Never will be again.

Right for the neck. That’s where Tim pounced a second less than he was smart enough to move away.

 .

Dick:

That asshole deserved it.

But if anyone deserved it more than Jason did, it was Dick.

Was it to divert Tim’s attention from himself? Give him a breather and a while for Tim’s anger to mellow down taking it out on Jason so he doesn’t take it out on him so much? Possibly.

But the moment Tim’s hands squeezed the living daylights out of Jason’s neck, he knew he shouldn’t have brought it up. It was wrong. This was all wrong.

He started for Tim’s arms, grabbing them both just to at least give Jason enough time to breath, but this newfound strength certainly wasn’t one he’d expected. When he did manage to pull them off, Tim swung his fist right at Dick’s face.

Then, he went back for Jason, who then took that short time to grab both his fists and stop them for hurling him over the roof.

This was his fault. This was his doing.

And all the more did he want this to end when Jason held Tim strong enough to make him scream, and with that, he threw another punch right for his helmet, shattering the visor beneath his bruised knuckles. Jason tried to kick him away with his knee, but Tim was pushing him.

Jason, who should have been a lot stronger, was not doing much to fight Tim. And instead, he tried talking him out of it.

“Tim!” he coughed. Tim still holding both fists went on to push him. “Tim, stop!”

Head slam against his helmet, and it broke, enough for a part of it to be chipped off and expose his forehead.

Jason finally hurled Tim over to the ground just so he could wipe the blood stain off from seeping down his eyes, but that wasn’t much of a good idea. Not when Tim took that as a chance to jump for his brother, grabbing him by the shoulders, and with the forces of their own bodies flying across the wind, the railing wasn’t enough to stop their fall.

Tim and Jason fell over the building, down fifty stories with one’s hands wrapped around the others throat, and Tim went on to strangle him even as they fell.

Dick, without even thinking much, dove into that same abyss. Did he have a plan? No. Was this going to work anyway? Probably not. But he had to try.

At least, it was all he had to do. When Dick leapt, head soaring straight down for a car so miniscule that wouldn’t be so small the more he wastes time, his brothers thrashing bodies that broke the speed of their fall worked to his sorry advantage and Dick managed to catch up.

He grabbed Tim off, thankfully with the fall lessening his grip but not at all did it change the murderous look on his face. This wasn’t his brother. This can't be him. This was someone who had all his frustrations bottled up in the form of coffee addiction, insomnia, and workaholic tendencies, someone who hadn’t vented out his hurt and anger at him, who he apparently had been hating for a while.

When he had him in his grasps, Dick grappled up to the next building. “Jason, hold on!”

It was, in actuality, the worst idea he’s ever come up with. Other than the fact that Tim weighed a good 170 pounds, Jason was no lighter. Not even in the slightest. And carrying both of them? He might as well be hauling up a whole tank.

That one single grappling hook showed them no appreciation despite it holding on the best it could. And it was to no help that the hook landed on a building too far.

They were just yards up the ground when the rope tightened, and the impact on Dick’s arm he was sure had the bone dislocated. A scream was all he could muster at the shooting pains that went all the way up his neck, but still, he held on, and even when it lasted no more than a few seconds, it was all too agonizing not to feel like it lasted hours.

All it took was to at least break the fall, but that was all he could handle. Dick let go of the grapple gun and they were falling across the whole block, across the street over to an abandoned lot with junkyard cars and probably some broken glass scattered across the ground.

Tim landed on top of one of the cars, breaking the windshield under his weight. Jason wasn’t so lucky, rolling across the cold cement with it hitting his helmet, enough to expose his face.

And Dick, with it not helping his arm at all, landed right against the fenced border and fell to the ground. Some wire sticking out might have impaled his skin.

He was breathing. Was he still breathing? There was throbbing. Redness. Blood that went to his eyes, most probably. He could hear his heart and basically the rest of his senses going haywire.

When he looked up, already Tim could stand, right on top of the cars.

Now lacking his Bo staff, Tim smashed the broken metal beneath his feet and pulled out a slab hard enough to break bones.

 .

Tim:

If Dick were smart, he should have let him die.

This was always how he was, how this was all going to boil down to. His so many ways of dealing with loss, heartbreak, and stress, it was never going to hold him back enough if he hadn’t an outlet. And this, tonight, this was all part of the inevitable. He did what he promised Y/N. He kept off the coffee and had eight hours of sleep every day. But did it mean it warded off his thoughts on her? On his brothers? On their betrayal and how much he’d been holding that all off for months? Not even close. In fact, they grew worse.

Who does he start with?

Dick was all the way over at the fence. Wounded. Dislocated arm. He pulled himself up and went for a wall he could smash his shoulder against just to pull back the bone.

And Jason.

Shit.

Should have went for him first.

Two glocks in his hands. This man wasn’t afraid in the slightest.

“Jason, don’t!” Dick cried. Too late. He already shot one of the cars.

Tim spun about just to dodge at least the shattered glass. He was aiming for his legs, at all the parts of his body that wouldn’t be so lethal. How kind of him.

Which meant, that if it were the vital parts of him exposed, Jason wouldn’t shoot.

So he didn’t even try to hide himself, his chest especially, when he hurled himself over the many car hoods and roofs. Jason kept going, and this time he went to shooting the glass on purpose. Probably to hit him with the shards.

Tim reached the wall and pushed his feet so he’d roll on the ground. Cape up, he looked through the many places to hide, but he didn’t want to hide. What he wanted was to grab one of them, any of them, by the shoulders, pin them to the ground, and have his fist have at it with their stupid faces.

He ran up to Jason, cape protecting his legs and arms, and just as he did Dick had crept up behind him, grabbing Jason by a headlock. Elbow to Dick’s chest, he took that as a chance to grab his guns and throw them over to the side. So close did he miss one of the bullets, if grazing his shoulder was ever a miss. But he ignored that hiss and landed a hit on Jason’s stomach.

But not even that could last long, with Jason practically subdued. Dick set Jason aside to block Tim’s fist from landing anywhere near either of them. He kept hitting, swinging, it was all a blur after the third time he felt his shoulders hurt. And Grayson’s was no better. So he aimed for it.

What was he doing?

Foot landing on Dick’s pelvis. It was enough for his body to skid across the ground. He looked up at his brother, teeth gritting so much that it hurt, Tim didn’t move fast enough before he could move away from Dick’s fist, which landed a good one right to his teeth.

 .

Jason:

This was the most ridiculous fight he’s ever been on. No different from a fucking pellet gun war over at the gardens that one time they were drunk and stupid. This was a game, one he really didn’t want to play. He should have known, and what he thought that time was that somehow, she was worth going through all this chaos for. That moment of bliss, that month of beauty and serenity and peace, was it worth this? With his own brothers?

It wouldn’t have been if it was just a month of beauty and serenity and peace. But it wasn’t just about that anymore, was it?

So this had to be worth it. In every way. With Dick and Tim over a few yards away, Dick holding his shoulder and trying so hard to avoid being hit there and Tim so unruly and angry and being so taken over with his rage, not at all was he anything like this before tonight.

He had the choice. To grab the gun that had skidded over to his side, shoot them both in the shoulder to put everything to a stop, or join in on their rumble to drag this out as long as inhumanely possible. Three different men who knew exactly what the others’ moves will be, this wasn’t going to last very long if it were to be a good way.

But, if this were to be dealt with bullets, he can say goodbye to either of them of ever being his brother again, to never be a part of this family so hard to love but love nevertheless.

He stopped his hand from reaching for the gun, and with that, he started for the two.

Jason grabbed Tim’s ankle just before it would have landed on Dick’s chin, threw him to the side so he’d land on the floor.

Dick’s fist, which would have hit Tim, instead hit Jason right at the nape of his neck. He almost toppled over to the ground, and with that flash of rage, he struck back at Dick right at his bad shoulder. Might have been too far. But he didn’t care.

Tim hit his back, right up against his sharp knee. He cried out at the unnerving bellows that went straight to his head, picked himself up just before he hit the ground.

Another hit for his head, but Dick had stopped it with his own hand, twisted Tim’s ankle so he’d once again lose his balance and fall.

Three different men.

Three different fights.

Three men who knew each other far too well to be beaten so easily.

They jostled and rolled about, around the junkyard over so many of the cars and the broken glass and even the fence that had long blown over. This wasn’t at all supposed to be what they’d spend the night on, but with the slabs of metal being thrown, the cars almost hurled up with their peak human strength, their limbs flailing, some barely missing a nerve on their head and some wrecking a whole tooth out of their mouth, it was not, to even some capacity, ever going to end as well as any of them hoped.

And with them at the middle of the barren empty grounds, Jason dodging Dick’s fist only to meet Tim’s knee, Dick being absolutely smothered by Tim’s head smashing against his, and Tim being pinned to the ground by either of his brothers larger than him that he hated so much.

It all would have ended in death, after the kind of blur that clouded so much of their moral thought and any kind of sense at all to remind them of what they were doing, if not for something far too strong for them to easily swerve from.

Or, better yet, three things too strong for them to swerve from.

At a whiff so quick for any of them to have possibly even sensed, a flash of purple was the first to wave off that blur from their eyes. And it went for Tim.

Stephanie was first to subdue him, holding Tim down with her knee landing right at the small of his back. He cried out both at the shock he hadn’t expected and the pulsing pain that probably went all the way up his spine, but he was done. Steph had grabbed Tim’s head and pinned him down right against the floor.

The next one was Dick, and before any of them could even turn, something so brightly blinding, a figure of yellow, fell from one of the cars’ hood and grabbed Dick by the neck. Duke was smaller, but not at all was that some disadvantage. His huge armored arms, locking Dick enough for him to just flail his hands about, it was enough to make him stop.

And, just as he expected, the next thing he saw after that flash of a second he was spared, was a blur of black so silently creeping up on him, Jason couldn’t move even when he knew it was coming. No one could have seen it. Not even him. By the next second, he was bent over one of the cars, hands to his back, and Cassandra had a taser stuck to his hip.

“NO, NO, NO, CASS DON’T-“

Barely enough to fry him unconscious, but enough to fucking electrocute his skin off so his muscles could barely move.

 .

Dick:

This should all have ended sooner than it even happened.

And the shame crept in, not even when he stopped struggling against Duke’s hold on him, but when Barbara, the last to come into the scene, flew in from the window right across.

She looked like she wanted to murder all three of them by a rope around their necks. One single rope. Having three just wouldn’t be worth it.

She took off her cowl and let her red hair fall to her back, so they’d easily see just how disgusted she looked at them all, at the look on her eyes, at the look on all their eyes.

“Duke, let me go-“

“I’m sorry, Dick.”

“Please.”

“If we could, Nightwing,” Babs swallowed. “I’ll have you tied to that streetlamp for the rest of the night.”

Jason tried to reach for something in the car just to kick Cass away, but she tased him again. Some smoke flew up from his flesh.

“Cass, that’s enough,” Babs said.

Cass glared at them all, then settled to just holding Jason down with his arms.

“Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on with you three?”

“Maybe if you get your foot out of my head, Steph, I’d actually get my brain back and answer her question,” Tim said.

“You lost your brain when you fell down that building.”

“You saw that?”

Steph snorted. “You’re lucky I didn’t jump in until I had all of us on call.”

“Lucky?!”

Steph twisted Tim’s arm and his cries could be heard over to the next block.

Jason tried, again, to break free from Cass’s hold, but her fist wasn’t one to welcome when it landed much like a bat would’ve right up against Jason’s head.

And Tim, who almost pried Steph’s knee from against his back, was just pinned down again not even a second after breaking free.

They were too tired to go up against any of them.

So Dick, knowing there was no other, prettier way out of this, let go of his hands from gripping too hard on Duke’s arm. He didn’t let go, but it had loosened, enough for him to properly talk. Babs went over to him. That dagger-infested glower stuck through, but at least there was some appreciation for his lack of resistance.

“It was a misunderstanding-“

“Was it?!”

Babs clenched her jaw.

“This is about her, isn’t it-“

Tim’s voice echoed. “No!”

.

Tim:

He growled and shoved Steph’s hand away, but they kept on his arms, pushing them down against his spine. She was strong enough to subdue him, stronger now that he was exhausted and his muscles were all strained, but that didn’t mean he was, in any way, going to back down from this fight. This wasn’t over.

He could crane his head up enough to look at Babs.

“This is about these two traitors who lied to my face for months!”

Steph was having too much trouble keeping him down. “Tim!”

“Are you really going to take their side?!”

“No one is taking anyone’s side here.”

Babs eyed Cass at least to make her loosen her grip on Jason’s twisted arms. Cass rolled her eyes, sighed, and still without a word, she grabbed Jason by the back of his collar to make him stand. But it wasn’t without her taser stuck up to his side.

“Cass, I’m not gonna fucking fight you-“

“Just shut up, Jay,” Dick said, and with that, Duke tightened his arm.

“They wanna know,” Tim panted. “Tell them all why we’re in this mess.”

His voice, all broken and rageful and so unlike what anyone would have thought. It turned the heads of everyone around. Steph loosened her hand around Tim’s neck much out of her own disbelief.

“Stabbing me in the back the way you did…”

“Tim, you don’t have to-“ Babs went on, but Tim’s screams were too much.

“Tell them! Say why you’re all a bunch of ass-“

“You’re the one who wanted this to be some shitshow!” Jason’s teeth shouldn’t last long with how much he was gritting them when he hissed and snarled at Cass, who poked the taser just beneath his hip.

“Cass, enough with the taser.”

“Yeah, Cass,” Jason said. “Where the hell did you even get that?”

“Some douchey police officer over at Chinatown,” Duke said to him while still keeping his hands on Dick.

Something so foreign, so unruly and aggressive, it was taking too much control over him. Tim’s eyes were burning, and there weren’t even any tears. His blood pulsed through every vein, strong enough for it to hurt, and loud enough for him to hear it through his bloodied ears.

Tim pushed Steph away and for a moment, he was free. He wasn’t even thinking anymore. He just wanted his hands squeezing the voice out of Jason’s neck.

Babs grabbed him by the cape just as Steph caught up, and again he was on the floor. Still, he screamed, thrashed about because everything within him just yelled for him to finally let it out. He was done being the nice guy, done being the brother they both pushed around, took advantage of, lied to, and picked on because they knew he’d never fight back.

“Tim…” Babs helped Steph holding him down. She looked up at Dick. “What the hell did you do to him?”

“Nothing we can't sort out!”

“Jesus, Dick,” Jason snorted. “You haven’t said one smart thing all day.”

“Like you're any better, you asswipe.”

“Enough!”

Babs stood right between them, otherwise they’d have lunged for each other even if they had a missile launcher aimed for their heads.

“Let me go. Duke,” Dick said. “I’m not gonna fight any of you-“

“Yeah, three seconds ago you were close to running Jason’s head through a windshield.”

“Just let me go and we’ll all calmly-“

“Calmly?” Duke laughed. “I saw you fall down that building from where I stood. None of you know what calm is.”

Duke’s voice was stern and not at all did he sound like he’d trust him enough for that, no different than Steph’s or even just the look in Cass’s eyes. Because, if anything, other than the utter disgust, disdain, and disappointment, everything before them was something not to easily believe.

Not long after, before anything even happened, before Tim heard that first trace of a large black cape and the heavy soles that would have broken the cement floor underneath if he hadn’t purposely landed so swiftly, with the shadow that wasn’t in fact a shadow, but a suit so terrifying, dark, and so close to invisible, it was the night in a physicality no two people could similarly describe.

Tim knew he’d get here first, before anyone else even turned their heads. Because he stopped with his cries and faced his untimely doom. Face to the ground, quiet and unmoving. Everyone else followed but that was after he’d already appeared.

Not even anyone from the likes of the worst villains had seen the look on Bruce’s face as close to the one he had right then.

 .

Jason:

If he were alone, he’d just have snorted. The look on Grayson and Drake’s face. Couldn’t be drawn.

He’s seen that same frown on Bruce every time he shoots a damn gun, which was every night. He could paint it by memory and he wouldn’t miss a detail. The squinted white of his eyeholes, his lips forlorn and flat. His hands, clenched enough for it to hurt, hidden beneath his cape. Oh, Dad. Did I do that?

These guys just needed some getting used to.

And he shouldn’t be amused at the fact that at least, for once, he wasn’t the only one in trouble this time. Tim looked ashamed. Dick looked like he’d seen a ghost. Dick should have known this, at least. He’s steered up a few times of trouble himself. Nothing like what he’s done, that’s for sure. But he shouldn’t be so stricken. Still, he was, which made it all the more inappropriate if he were to smirk right then.

Damian was right beside him. He wasn’t entertained, or intrigued, what he usually was watching his father tell off his brothers. In fact, he looked bothered. Like they’d just taken so much of his time away from what he’d rather be doing, which apparently was more interesting than this.

Ah. Of course. An out-of-town mission. Just Batman and Robin. They left Babs in charge. Probably why she looked just as horrified as Dick, hands to her side and keeping the slight shake of her palms hidden. It seems she prepared for anything to happen on patrol that night, anything Bruce prepared her for being the boss. What they hadn’t prepared for, apparently, was them.

“Batman, I-“ Babs swallowed. “We have this under control. You can go back to-“

“Let them go.”

Chills down everyone’s wobbly spines at his growling voice proved more terrifying under the filter near his neck. Everyone except Jason, of course. But he can't be so relaxed. Cass was getting suspicious. He just felt her hands tighten even more around his wrists.

But perhaps, he should be afraid. He’s gotten into mounds of trouble, but it was never anything like this.

He snorted again. They hadn’t hurt anybody. It was just them three and their lack of brain. They’ll be fine.

He hoped.

“Bruce, they’re trying to kill each other-“

“They can try.”

Babs, right then, might be the one to kill them right after. Maybe with her bare hands. Maybe with a truck. With a deathly, silent scowl at all of them, she nodded.

Duke was first to let go of Dick, and with that a pat on the back. Dick rubbed the back of his neck, stayed put and didn’t even step away. He was relaxed. Ashamed, but relaxed. He just stretched out his limbs and already everyone was satisfied.

Next, it was Jason. With a reluctant Cass finally letting him go, and the taser, Jason tumbled over to the nearest car hood just to keep himself up. That fucking taser robbed him of his knees. How many volts was that thing?

Finally, Steph swung her legs over from holding down Tim’s body and helped him up. She dusted off his back, apologized under her breath. He probably had a lot to say if it weren’t for the seven other pairs of eyes on him, watching him from letting out so much as a twitch.

Tim didn’t shove her away so he could go back to poking Jason’s eyeballs out. He just stood there and stared at him like Jason and Dick were lucky everyone else was around. Which, he probably was. He wasn’t going to deny that.

The last people to be so afraid of Bruce were the three of them, the perpetrators, the reason for this little reunion. So instead of letting out something so cocky and unapologetic, something so at the borders of causing Bruce to have an aneurysm, not one mouth resisted from being kept shut. It was the kind of silence that wasn’t often expected from such an unusual family.

And Bruce looked at the three of them not with anger, or dismay, or even annoyance.

He looked disappointed.

Which, arguably, makes it a whole lot worse. Hell, even for him. He’s been yelled at since the day he came back and all of a sudden a little fight with his brothers is what brings him to shame.

Bruce was unmoving, so his voice startled and shook.

“All this…” he said. “For her…”

No one spoke. Not even a cricket. Even with the horns and sirens from afar, the bustle they couldn’t care less the only noise there was, it was deafening.

“Don’t you think you’ve disappointed her enough?”

Jason ignored the shattered edges of his helmet that poked on his cheek, ignored the blood it drew or the strain on his arms. Everyone did, perhaps.

“Go back to patrol.”

Batman left, as quickly as he’d come. Robin followed right behind him.

Batgirl turned around, nodded at her team, which was all there was out of her, out of anybody. They could see her fists clench, her eyes down and avoiding the others. The Signal flew out of the scene, Spoiler grappled up to the next rooftop, and Orphan disappeared out of thin air, without a word or even a grunt.

Nightwing, Red Robin, and Red Hood left that junkyard lot, and as the brothers they were, and dreadfully still are, they kept out of each other’s ways for the rest of that quiet night.

-----

What was so different about that night, and the many more nights that followed, was how they no longer had each other to turn to, even more now that it seemed they needed their brothers the most. Jason was, in the worst sense, used to the kind of isolation he was forced into after the matter. Dick had to learn to be alone, but it always had been better to have another’s shoulder to lean on and talk to. Tim, not so much. Not when he almost always turned to Y/N. And if not her, Dick. His older brother. One he once looked up to like a being unreachable, now a traitor he’d scoff at if he dared to show up.

So what they did, and what they were forced to do for several nights, was to deal with the cosmos and the whirlwind of thoughts all by their sorry selves. Dick usually could be found in training, spinning about in the uneven bars set up for him at the manor, have the sweat and the strain in his muscles force out whatever it was that bothered him into some physical outlet, how it often had been for many years as he appreciated himself for the care it brought. For the others, however, it wasn’t so much the same. Tim would spend all hours in the office and wouldn’t so much as nap even when his whole body tortured him to at least stop his back from being crouched so much. And Jason, well, had already drowned himself in booze, even more now that the reasons had faded clearer.

Alone in his apartment, over at the nook by the window where he usually spent the day with a book, now his mess of a hair would be plastered against the cold glass and the many bottles that surround him would block the surfaces of the cushion. It never actually got out of hand. He only ever drank to get rid of that noise blaring into his ear the way it was now, the way it was for all three of them.

And Tim couldn’t turn to that same comfort, or whatever it was that caffeine, stinging eyelids, and an unhealthy staring into a computer screen with an all nighter at the office would bring him. That night after the fight, he couldn’t sleep, even when he tried to. Which led to no one’s knowing, a cup of coffee when the day had risen and he was forced to go on with that said day like nothing happened. That cup would turn to two. Three. Eventually it dawned on him that he’d slept what he should have in a single day in a span of three.

Dick’s training, as it turned out, wasn’t so healthy at all. The strain in his wrists began a little over two hours ago. He’d been at the grounds for quadruple that time. For that day alone. Would it kill him if he didn’t stop? Probably not. Would it almost kill him? Probably. But he went on. Kept his hands busy. Forced himself to feel that exhaustion that should be taking his mind out of everything and not amplify it.

But this was only the beginning of what eventually would be that highway to descent, to some slope with no ladder to climb back up to, no guide for them to reverse and no light at the end that would eventually bring some alternative to the truth. They only had the truth to hold on.

Their brotherhood. One so strained. So complicated. One that took far too much time to build and rebuild. They couldn’t, not even if they wanted to, be apart from this family, deny that they were a part of it. They couldn’t escape each other’s presence no matter how many times they’d change their numbers or block out their trackers or find another city to live in. They couldn’t lose something that had grown too strong for them to fight against. That night, they tried. Or rather, the forces tried. The forces run by their bitter rivalry or the want for the same woman.

It was the fifth night after that fight, when Dick let go of the bars, finally giving his hands that rest too many hours overdue. He wiped his sweat, drank from his bottle, and pulled out his phone. That night, he thought it was enough, that this silence and bitterness and sheer negligence over their bond would eventually break for permanence. He knew that this coping was only just the beginning, and that it will, for everything he was certain about, would it become so much more, something so dark, that it would pull the whole family apart. He didn’t want that. For any of them. So that night, he sent a text to Tim and Jason.

Tim’s first account wasn’t on his brothers, though it had crossed his mind many more times than he would have hoped. His first thought, if anything, was how Y/N would have thought if he let himself fall. It’d be in his rule this time, that he wouldn’t let the caffeine get to him or reach to such extremes he’d never otherwise control. But Y/N wasn’t going to believe that, as nobody should. Hell, he probably shouldn’t place that much faith onto himself at all. Even if he does so much as lose an hour of sleep, one for every night until there wasn’t any hours left, if he allows himself one more cup when he had one just half an hour before, he knew it’d be just the beginning.

So, when he got that text from Dick, he realized it wasn’t worth much the risk.

He hated them both like he’s hated no one else, wanted them to realize just how much of a wreck their doings have imprinted on him and Y/N, how the consequences that followed weren’t nearly what they deserved at all. But if he doesn’t fight that hate, if he doesn’t find peace, it’ll be that darkness for him, that same life he hadn’t learned to control, one where he once lost himself to. and in turn, made him lose Y/N. And he’ll lose her again if he won't listen to that conscience. He texted Dick back and told him to meet him at Pauli’s.

Jason, on the other hand, acted as was expected of him. When he saw that text the first thing his lack of conscience told him was to get another phone and forget it all happened, disappear for another few months, show up when it was convenient, and hope that this all blows over before his escapism backfires.

But he never did get to bring himself to throw out his phone and get a new one, much less delete the text before he’s even seen it. A few days after, he let that daft little voice in him to open the text, allow himself a few seconds just to witness its premise. But he’d read through everything in that split second he allowed himself to. Dick didn’t really have much to say. And what else was to come next other than the few days of tussling and fighting and the many more bottles of booze that were not at all helping with those same voices that just wouldn’t shut up.

Was this all worth it? Was anything worth this at all?

Because those few years it took just to have any sort of a conversation with Dick, much more with Tim, certainly wasn’t a few years of a bond rebuilt that he wanted to go through again.

He loved them. In his own, twisted little way. He loved his brothers and actually would go out his way to save them from whatever horrors he’d been forced to face. That love didn’t have to be from occasionally hanging out in the holidays or spent an hour or two in a bar.

At least, in his conscience, if he were to die one day like he’d realize would happen again, knowing life wasn’t exactly his alone to spend and control, he’d know he did whatever was best for the people he loved.

So, despite Dick and Tim not at all expecting so much as a text back, they still had it in them to wait a few hours. In that dimly lit corner of Pauli’s, the aroma of freshly backed pancakes distracting them from their otherwise bland pickup from the rest of their senses. They waited, not hoping for the best.

Jason went into the diner and saw them, ordered a cup, then took a seat across Tim, with Dick in between.

That silence, the same for everyday for the past five, it was haunting and eerie, disturbing, uncomforting, one they knew they’d all have to settle if they wanted to move on and actually bring some light into whatever it was they’ve caused.

Jason didn’t take off his hoodie. Tim warmed his hands with his cup of hot chocolate. And Dick, knowing he’d have to start, cleared his throat and looked up.

.

Dick:

Seeing Tim walk through that door was a surprise enough, much more Jason coming along and not even was he three hours late. Fuck. Fuck. What does he even say? Where does he ever start? Should he even start?

Giving in to his impulses certainly was bad an idea. This was, in every way, what he should have expected when he picked up his phone and thought to call his brothers hoping it was the right thing to do. And, perhaps, it was the right thing.

But was he the right person to start it? Lead this conversation to the direction he wanted so they’d get to a better place? The one that pushed his impulses in the first place?

They were all too awfully silent. Tim’s had his second round of hot chocolate. He doesn’t even like hot chocolate that much. And Jason looks like he’s hiding himself from the cops with his hood down and neck craned to the table’s surface. He’s never been in anything more awkward and uncomfortable in his years. This was just humiliating.

But, he was sure, humiliation should be the first thing they’d have to go through. Setting their prides aside, talk with the other’s stories in mind and hope that by the end of this, it’ll at least be a bit better.

So he started, in the most bland, uneventful way, he tells them both.

“Thanks for coming,” Dick said.

Tim momentarily bit onto his lip, and Jason stayed motionless without so much as a nod. At least Tim glanced over at him, even when it was just a second.

“How are you, Tim?”

Tim’s finger traced over the brim of his cup. He’s finished it. Didn’t seem like he wanted to order another one.

“Alright. I guess.”

“Good. Jason?”

God, this was awful. He doesn’t even ask how their broken bones are healing after a life-threatening encounter in patrol. Hopefully this greyness wasn’t too weird, not when it should be the start of something even more difficult to overcome.

Jason’s order of coffee came into the table and it made Tim shift in his seat, leaning to the back to stay further away from its aroma. Jason took a sip. “Fine.”

As quiet as they possibly could. Dick wished he had something to order, even when it was just a piece of pie they’d displayed over at the counter. But he didn’t want to get up or even call a waitress.

He was, in the most obvious sense, ashamed. Ashamed that he wasn’t either of them, which he wished nothing more to be. He wished he was them so he wouldn’t have to be the man who’d hurt Y/N the most, when he was supposed to be who she’d turn for comfort, because they weren’t the man who’d been in love with her for so long, never thinking he’d have a chance. And when he did finally have her, even for a just a moment, when he finally got to kiss her that one time he’d been waiting for so many years, it all broke down and nearly diminished what he took years to build. Their friendship. Something so great yet so fragile, when their love never could be so easily set aside to make way for a friendly bond.

“I’m sorry,” Tim said, and his voice had gone softer. “I’m sorry I started a fight. And for being so angry. That was uncalled for.”

He did want all this to be right with them. Both of them. Two of his brothers he’s learned to love. And with that love comes many sacrifices.

“You don’t have to be sorry for being angry.”

“Would you like more hot cocoa?” The waitress came in with a pitcher. Tim declined, and she left.

He stared at the empty cup and rolled his lips.

“Yeah, I… I kinda do.”

Further into the day, the less people there were in the diner. And with that came more silence. There were half the people in there than when they’d first arrived. Soon enough, they’ll be the only ones left.

“I’m sorry, too.”

Then, without even a word, Dick and Tim turned over to Jason.

They didn’t expect him to apologize, or even say anything for that matter, possibly for the rest of the night.

But Jason shrugged, looked up at both of them in the eye, and he nodded. It was enough for them both to know what he meant.

.

Jason:

Get this over with. As quick as they possibly could. But he should know by now that this was going to take time. With how difficult it was. This wasn’t going to end any better than when they’d started if they rush through.

Jason took a sip out of his coffee and leaned his arms over on the table. Still, he didn’t take off his hoodie, as if he was going to take off not long from then.

“I don’t exactly know where to start,” Dick said. “But I think we should put this out there now.”

Neither of them looked him in the eye. He and Tim both stared at their cups as if it were any interesting.

“I’m sorry if I’m doing this wrong. I’m just saying what I think is best.”

“It’s okay,” Tim said. “Just go on.”

This was harder than when they had to help out the League face Brainiac. And that certainly was something.

“I love Y/N.”

Okay. Wasn’t what he thought Dick would say. But okay.

“Tim loves her, too.”

Shit. Alright. So that’s what this motherfucker thinks he’s doing.

“And I for sure as hell know, that you love her as well, Jason-“

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jason’s voice was deep, controlled, and as monotonous as he forced it to be. Without a flick of a lie or a speck of truth, as they both would have easily picked up if they listened to him hard enough. That is, if it worked. Which it probably hadn’t.

“We don’t know who she wants…” Dick said. “And frankly, I don’t think she does, too. At least for now.”

“It could be any of us.” Tim didn’t take his sight away from the blankness of the white table’s surface.

He can't take this. No. He never should have opened that text. This was a bad idea.

Y/N will choose one of them. Not him. Not when he was the one who fell in love with her far too late, realized just how perfectly imperfect and how she managed to be this little bundle of happiness for him that he never could find in another. Someone whose presence he yearned for on the days when he thought nothing could be okay. He realized all that when too late, when his brothers already cemented their places and have already gone out of their way to win her love. And, on top of all that, he was the one he didn’t have a close friendship as a ground for something to lean onto. They weren’t close. Not like she was with Tim. Not even with Dick.

“This is ridiculous,” Jason stood up from his seat with his cup half finished. “I’m leaving.”

“Jason-“

“Dick, I want no part of this-“

“You can deny it all you want, but what if she chooses you?”

“She won't choose me. That’s the point-“

“Everyone knows that’s just as much of a possibility than everything else. It didn’t even take much time, and already you’ve wooed her. You think we didn’t notice that?”

Jason stopped and faced the counter, away from his brothers.

“Just sit down.”

“Dick-“

“I know this hurts but what if she actually does choose you-“

“I don’t love her.”

“You do. And she might love you back.”

No. Don’t bring his hopes up like this. This fucking-

“And if she does, are you really going to turn her down?”

Jason closed his eyes. He had nothing to say.

“No matter what Tim and I do, if it’s you she wants, then it’s you who’ll make her happy. Do you honestly think I believe you won't at least take that chance?”

Nothing. No voices whispering into his conscience to fuck everything and leave. Nothing that told him what to do, much less what to say.

He just knew that whatever he was, it wasn’t nearly as strong as that one pull that forced him back on his seat.

This shitshow already hurts as it is. What’s a little more?

.

Tim:

There’s a chance for all of them.

That’s what has always been so hard for him to understand. Never would he have thought it to be true, but it was.

They were both good men, good people, and if he were honest, he’d admit to Y/N being lucky if she were ever to choose one of his brothers in the end. He never, ever wanted to admit that. Not even now.

But for so long, he’s ignored the fact that those choices might be for her happiness, for what she deserves, and that might not always be about Tim. That whatever it was he wouldn’t admit to himself didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Y/N smiles like no other with Dick and no one else understood her like Jason. Even if Tim were her best friend, even if they had together from the very beginning, even if he probably loved her the most. It won't be about that.

So he has to accept all this.

And if it meant her happiness, then that hurt will be a lot easier to deal with.

“He’s right,” he said, and his two older brothers looked up at him.

“I’ve always thought you two… Well, I wish I was in your place. Not always. But, right now I do.”

They were confused to say the least. They didn’t look like they understood. Tim was the one who got to be with her, had years of calling her his love, had her love in return and have her actually show it the same way he did.

But that was just that. He had her. And now he didn’t. Because of him. Because he had her and was stupid enough to let her go, something neither of his brothers would have done if they were him.

And he wanted to laugh at the looks of both their faces. They didn’t have to say anything at all, but he understood. They envied each other in so many other ways, too complicated to map out. Because they’ve all done their own grievances, done so much that they regret.

Which is why this had to happen. Because no one knew what was going to happen next.

“I know it’s hard for all of us…” Dick said. Tim stared out at the window to see the start of the cold evening. “But we’re brothers. I don’t know about you both, but I don’t want this to tear us all apart.”

It already did, he wanted to say.

But it might not be true. It might not be too late. This brotherhood could still be salvaged. And in a way, it might be worth all that hurt.

“The last few weeks have been hard… for all of us… taken its toll on the rest of the family. And we’ve worked too hard on each other. I don’t…” Dick swallowed. “I don’t want to lose Y/N, but I don’t want to lose both of you either.”

It was easier for him to shut his eyes closed.

Neither do I, Tim thought.

“But… Y/N deserves to be happy… We’ve put her through too much.

“And if it means being with the one she loves, one of us, then so be it. We’re done making her decisions. We don’t decide between the three of us. If she wants to choose, then she gets to choose. And we won't have a say in any of it. She decides if it’s one or none of us at all. She deserves this.”

Jason finished his coffee. He no longer sat so stiff.

Tim sat back on his chair and stared out the window.

“And whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. As brothers. We’ll have each other. It’ll be okay. We’ll make it okay.”

That cold night of late November had the first snowdrop of the year. It was light, subtle, and one would have missed it if they weren’t looking out for too long. But they saw it, and never had something so gentle calm what used to be this rageful storm, not since Y/N.

They hadn’t spoken another word in that diner. But for many hours, they stayed.

They continued to wait for many months. They were patient.

October. November. December. January passed.

And on that day of the second week of February, a day Y/N once loved and hated at different times, they put an end to that waiting.

-----

MASTERLIST | 3 BIRDS 1 STONE MASTERLIST

-----

 A/N: I honestly can’t wait for the finale. AHHHH

MAIN TAGLIST:

@idkmanicantenglish​​, @wunderstell​​, @birdy-bat-writes​​, @multifandomgirl-us​​, @icequeen208​​, @offendedfishnoises​​, @arkhamtoddler​​, @elsenthal​​, @lucy-roo​​,  @loxbbg​​, @reclusive-chicken-nugget​​, @l-inkage​​, @http-cherries​​, @river9noble​​, @zphilophobiaz​​, @annoylinglyaries​​, @knightfall05x​​, @hyp-oh-critical​​, @satan-s-ass​​, @1-800-starmora​​, @flowersgirl02​, @nahcho​​, @thatonecroc​​​, @trixie-bb​​​, @daddyissuesmademe​​​, jasonsbitch, @shadowsndaisies​​ @jaybirdbooty​​​ @writing2sirvive​​​

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[lauras-collection]

beyond being friends | part 3

Harrison Osterfield x Holland!Reader

|| Masterlist || Series Masterlist ||

Summary: What happens when you suddenly realise you’re attracted to your brother’s best friend?

When you and Harrison cross the line between friendship and something more, it makes everything more complicated than the average ‘being more than friends’ relationship. Because he’s your brothers best friend and you’re all living together.

Words: 2k

Warnings: tension and cliche moves, smut in future chapters

A/N: I hope you like it!

Feedback is always appreciated ❤️

After taking Tom and Harry to the airport you make your way home in a solemn mood. It’s the early hours of the morning and you’re almost the only person on the road. You decide to make a stop at your parents' house to pick up Tessa for a walk. You don’t feel like going home yet. 

As quietly as you can you enter the house. Your parents and Paddy are still asleep, you don’t want to wake them up and think you’re an intruder. The scratchy sound of Tessa’s paws against the wood flooring pulls your attention towards the living room.

“Hey girl, how are you?” You whisper as you crouch down to pet her silky fur. The staffy lets out a little squeak before nudging her nose against your leg. You shush her with a small laugh, then get up to reach for her leash. A couple minutes later you’re on your way to the park. The sky turns a light pink colour as the sun slowly rises and you can’t help but smile.  

*

You return home much calmer after taking Tessa back to your parents. You hear shuffling from the kitchen when you enter the house and a moment later Harrison is standing across from you in the hallway.

“Where have you been?” His eyebrows are slightly raised as he looks at you.

 You’re momentarily distracted by the way his grey sweatpants hang low on his hips but you quickly shake it off and reply, “I took Tom and Harry to the airport and then I was so wired up that I picked up Tessa and went to the park with her.” You toe of your shoes as Harrison takes a few steps closer.

“I was a little worried when you weren’t here when I got up. Thought you’d be back from the airport by then” He smiles at you a little sheepishly and your heart swells a little at his words.

“I’m sorry” 

He’s standing right in front of you now “Hey it’s okay” He moves a strand of hair out of your face and it feels like your heart stops beating for a second before pounding against your ribcage. 

You’re still confused why you’re suddenly feeling this way towards Harrison. You can’t stop staring at him, the air between you feeling charged with something intense. You lick your dry lips before clearing your throat and forcing yourself to take a step back, dissipating the tension between you. 

“Did you make tea already?” You walk to the kitchen, Harrison following you a moment later.

“I did” He nods with a smile, then pours you a cup which you accept with a thank you. “How did saying goodbye go?” He asks and sits down at the kitchen island. 

You join him and shrug your shoulders, “Not much different from all the other times. It doesn’t really get easier” the corners of your mouth pull down on their own accord as you think about Tom and Harry leaving. 

“That’s true” Harrison sighs, “But hey, now we have the house all to ourselves” You don’t know if you’re interpreting too much into his words, but there’s a certain shimmer in his eyes that makes you think this attraction isn’t one-sided at all. 

*

Throughout the first week of being alone in the house with Harrison you figured out that you both like the same spot on the sofa, so it’s become a bit of a race to get there first. 

Today you’re the one who got lucky. You snuggle yourself into the corner of the L-shaped couch and stick your tongue out at Harrison as he enters the living room and his shoulders slump when he sees you sitting there comfortably. 

“Every time” He chuckles under his breath and shakes his head a little before sitting down close to you, propping his feet up next to yours. He’s so close you’re surrounded by his scent and it takes a lot of strength from you to not close your eyes and inhale deeply. He smells so good. 

“What are we watching?” He asks and crosses his arms in front of his chest, his biceps straining the fabric of his tight shirt. Who allowed him to wear that around you? It should be illegal. “Y/N?” 

“Huh?” As you pull your eyes away from his arms he’s looking at you with a smirk and a glint in his eyes you’ve noticed more and more ever since you moved in. He knows you’ve been checking him out. Your cheeks heat up at the realisation. 

“I asked what we’re watching” He nods his head at the tv, his eyes never leaving yours. 

“I don’t know actually” you manage to say. “I was just about to start that new show I’ve been wanting to watch.” You wring your hands together “You wanna watch it with me?” Why are you nervous to ask Harrison if he wants to watch that show with you? How often have you asked him to join you and your brothers in this same room if he wants to watch something? Countless times. But now you’re alone and somehow that changes everything. 

“I’d love to” His smirk from earlier made way for a warm smile and you catch yourself staring again. Stop it. You need to get a grip on yourself because if this crush on Harrison gets out of hand… it’s gonna be messy and you’re more than likely going to get hurt. 

*

“Hey” Harrison enters the kitchen where you’re currently staring into the fridge, looking for something to eat. It’s been five minutes since you opened it. 

“Hi” You look at him over your shoulder. He’s just gotten back from a run, his hair’s dishevelled and his cheeks are flushed. You have to bite your lip to stop the dreamy sigh that wants to escape at the sight of him.

“You wanna order something?” He must’ve picked up on your struggle to find something to eat. 

“That would be amazing” You let out with a huff and close the fridge, then grab the take out menus that are pinned to the fridge door with magnets. “Chinese or Pizza?” You raise your brows in question. 

“Pizza” Harrison is quick to answer so you hand him the menu.

About an hour later you’re sitting in the living room the show you started watching together on the TV while both of you devour your pizzas. Harrison is freshly showered and the scent of his body wash is prevalent in the room. Despite the pizzas. Or maybe you’re just much more aware of it. 

You try not to think too much about it. You’ve been catching yourself thinking about Harrison way too much as it is. You shouldn’t be thinking about him like that. He’s your brother’s best friend. There must be some sort of social rule that you’re not allowed to be attracted to him, right? Or at least to act on that attraction. Harrison softly chuckles at something on tv and you realise you haven’t been paying attention. Great. You grumpily take a bite from your pizza. Who knew moving into this house would entail so many feelings? 

When even the last crumps of your pizza are gone, you let yourself fall back on the sofa with a content sigh. 

“Good?” Harrison asks, he’d been finished with his pizza for a while.

“Yeah, as always” You turn your head to look at him. Since both of you are basically fighting over the same place on the sofa all the time, you’re sitting pretty close. You notice Harrison scan over your face before he clears his throat.

“You got something right here” He motions at the side of his face with a small smile.

“Here?” You rub at your cheek, trying to get it off but Harrison just laughs. 

“No actually-“ He cups your face with one hand and rubs gently over your other cheek with his thumb. Your breath catches in your throat. You’ve never been this close to him. You can distinctly make out the dark blue ring around his irises and all the small imperfections on his skin. It feels like time has stopped because you’re pretty sure it’s been a couple of seconds since he started rubbing your cheek, the stain must be off by now, right? But he’s still gently caressing your skin. He’s so close you can feel his breath brush against your lips, making your heart rate pick up. Is this really happening? Your lips tingle in anticipation and then Harrison’s lips touch yours in a soft kiss. 

You feel the kiss in every fibre of your body. His lips are warm and smooth and he’s holding your face in his hands and this might be the best kiss you’ve ever gotten. You open your lips slightly and then his tongue presses against yours gently. With your heart fluttering in your chest you place your hands on his neck, sliding them into his silky curls, trying to pull him closer. You’re surrounded by his scent and you can’t think straight, all your thoughts revolving around Harrison.

And what was a soft kiss becomes a little more heated as Harrison tilts his head a bit, his teeth grazing your bottom lip gently, just a bit, before his lips are back on yours. You moan into the kiss and then suddenly his lips are gone.

Harrison’s nose is still brushing against yours when he says “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that” Your mind is still hazy from the kiss so it takes a moment for his words to register. But when they do, you pull away from him, knotting your hands together in your lap.

“Oh,” the disappointment is evident in your voice.

“It’s not-“ He presses his lips together and leans his forehead against yours. “It’s not like I don’t want to kiss you” He looks at you intently and takes your hands in his “But I can’t”

“Why?” 

“Because you’re my best friend’s little sister,” He says it matter of factly and to say that it doesn’t hurt would be a lie. Is that all you are to him? His best friend’s sister? Aren’t you his friend, too? 

You must’ve pulled a face because Harrison is quick to explain himself. “It’s just- it feels wrong” That doesn’t really make it better, but you know where he’s coming from. Haven’t you had the same thought earlier? But you couldn’t help but feel hurt anyway.  

“Yeah, okay. I get that” You shrug your shoulders nonchalantly — or at least it’s supposed to come across like that — and force yourself to smile. You can’t quite shake the feeling of being rejected. You know that kissing Harrison has consequences. He’s not just some boy you can kiss once or twice and then if it doesn’t work out you’ll never see him again. He’s basically a part of your family. 

“I’m sorry” he runs a hand through his now messy hair. “I shouldn’t have kissed you in the first place.” You can see he’s beating himself up about it so you push your hurt aside. He’s not doing it on purpose, he’s just as rattled as you are. 

“Hey, it’s okay” You place your hand on his forearm in an attempt to console him. It takes a lot of effort for you to speak your next words “Let’s just forget it happened, yeah? No one needs to know” 

Harrison contemplates this for a moment and then nods. “Okay” It seems like he can’t really look you in the eyes, so with one final squeeze, you let go of his arm and pick up the empty pizza cartons. You need to get out of here. Your eyes are already burning with tears and you can’t let Harrison see you like this. You can’t let him see how much this affects you. After disposing of the cartons in the kitchen you make your way up to your room. Some space will be good for both of you.

When the door is finally closed behind you, you let your tears fall. You’re overwhelmed with your feelings for Harrison. They came out of nowhere and then suddenly he’s kissing you and you’ve never felt a connection like that with anyone. You know you won’t be able to forget it happened, it felt way too monumental for that. And you also know that you won’t be able to just turn off your feelings for him. With you two living in a house together you can’t really avoid him and you’ll be reminded of that kiss whenever you look at him.

A/N: Eeek!!! I really hope you enjoyed this! Feel free to come talk to me!!  The next part is one of my absolute favourites so I hope you’re excited for next friday :)) 

everything taglist: @spidermanlondon // @averyfosterthoughts // @duskholland // @tutuabby28 // @missevrythingg // @in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh // @thenoddingbunny-blog // @emilykjh // @clara-licht // @hollandfanficlove // @calltothewild // @crybabyalexxx // @hazardosterfield // @calsthomas // @quaksonhehe // @geminiparkers // @thirzaholland // @tombrina // @outshineallthestars // @serendipitous-amor // @soincredible // @trustfundparker // @localfangirlx // @writertoo18 // @r3ader // @viagracex // @skamlover200 // @wonderlandfandomkingdom // @wehavetomakeourheartssitstill // @thearchersupremacy // @itstaskeen // @camimndess // @allyz // @technosoot // @fanficscuziranout // @parker-hollandx // @givebuckyhisplumsnow // @dangerouslovefanfic // @ertherealrose // @i-married-a-pineapple // @miraclesoflove // @bi-girlwrites-2000 // @seasidetom // @katcontrreras // * @determined-overthinker * // @fallingforfics // @destinedbooklover // @parkerpeter24 // @selfcarecap // @moonphoric // @just-a-littlebit-of-everything // @emistrash // @badreputationlove // @turtoix // @haloxmendes

bbf taglist: @m-a-r-i-n-t // @mrs-hollandstan // @unicorn-princess-1999 // @mimisparkle12 // @bearsbeetsbarnes // @annathesillyfriend // @sydsquibbles // @vapingisntmything // @littlebookbengal // @quethekillerqueen // @love-makes-all-things-beautiful // @swiftmind // @pearly-pisces // @cocoamoonmalfoy // @parkersharthook // @hotforharrison // @hopeless-romantic-baby​ // @dreaminsuga​ // @thefallenbibliophilequote​

harrison osterfield taglist: @hjoficrecs​ // @lolychu​ // @hazardosterfield​ // @hollandbroz-n-haz​

series taglist: @softholand​ // @svturtles​ // @cloverrover​ // @goodgirlgonetom​ // @justafangirlduh​

[vibraniumwing]

i’ve got you, always. [1]

an oliver wood x reader wherein oliver tries to bring the walls the reader built because of a past heartbreak down. will he manage to do that or break his own along the way?

WARNING: angst. 

A/N: so @harrysweasleys​ planted this idea into my head about how oliver wood and y/n met and how their love blossomed after her heartbreak with fred (if you do not know that then please read this first before proceeding) this part is more of a backstory as to how the two met.

i have split this into two parts and you can find the second part here.

---

Oliver Wood was an absolute charmer in his days at Hogwarts. He has the girls swooning over him with a simple smile of his— but who wouldn’t be? He’s the Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor.

Because he has only loved and still loves a certain girl, despite her breaking his heart unknowingly, despite him knowing that it was his own fault to begin with.

That was you, (Y/N) (L/N).

---

Oliver had first met you during his fourth year, his eyes landing on the small you amongst the crowd of first years who were just as excited to be sorted into their own respective houses. He watched you silently walk up to the chair and sat down, his fingers crossing immediately as he silently wished for you to be in Gryffindor.

And as if the Sorting Hat heard him, you were placed in Gryffindor. The Scottish found himself cheering along with the students as they welcomed you to the long table. You sat beside Fred Weasley and in front of him, too shy to even look at any of them.

“Hello there! I’m Fred!” “I’m George!” The twins immediately introduced themselves, offering their hands to you, which you hesitantly accepted and shook. “I-I’m (Y/N), though you probably heard earlier.”

The way you spoke tugged at his heart gently, making him smile to himself as he stared at you. “That’s Percy, our brother and that next to him is Oliver Wood, the captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.” Fred continued, motioning to the two boys in front of you. 

The former merely spared you a glance while the latter gave you a rather warm welcome, “Hope ya like Quidditch! I’ll be looking out for you in the stands.” He teased, unable to hold back the smile as you nodded excitedly, looking forward to seeing how he played in the field. Despite not being the sporty type, you enjoyed the certain thrill of watching the game.

“Hey, (Y/N)! We’re on the team too!” Fred suddenly boasted, “We’re the beaters!” George continued, starting to chow down on the dinner that suddenly appeared from the table. 

As you easily fall into the conversation with the twins, a certain captain can’t keep his eyes trained away from you; unsure on how to deal with the feeling brewing within him.

---

“You do know she’s three years younger than you, right?” Percy questioned Oliver as he straightened up his school robes and hat.

He groaned softly into his hands, slightly annoyed that he was constantly reminded of that,  “I know, Percy. I don’t even know how to deal with this myself and you know me, I always plan and deal with things.” 

The ginger just shrugged, really unsure on how to deal with the dilemma of his friend. “That’s up to you to decide, Wood.” He said before heading for the door, off to do his rounds as a prefect.

And with that, he was left to deal with the problem alone.

---

If there was anything that Oliver Wood was good at aside from Quidditch, it was keeping his thoughts to himself. After Percy left him alone in their dorm three years ago, he swore himself to secrecy, to never let anyone else know about his little “crush” and decided to just bury it into the back of his mind.

But despite his best efforts to keep his infatuation at bay, you were making it harder to do so. As he witnessed you slowly mature and come out of your shell, the more he finds himself growing fond of your presence.

Oliver found himself by the covered bridge, staring over the vast amount of green as he pondered with his thoughts. The pressure was slowly growing on him with his final Quidditch season and urge to win the cup, his N.E.W.Ts, and of course his pent up emotions, he felt like his head was about to explode. 

“Oliver!” A sudden voice called out, he looked over to see your familiar (H/C) locks bounce as you walked over to him, a bright smile on your lips, “You seem worried out of your wits. Is there anything going on inside that head of yours aside from Quidditch?” you asked, earning an eye roll and scoff from him. 

He turned around and leaned against the railing, crossing his arms, “Quidditch ain’t the only thing that’s on my mind, lass.” he answered, not even fighting back the smile that was making its way to his lips. “Then enlighten me, Wood.” 

Maybe it was the longing feeling of having someone to turn to that made Oliver cave in, “Just pressure, ya know? With my N.E.W.Ts and the Quidditch Cup lingering, it’s quite hard to bear. Then there’s another thing I have to deal with but it’s nothing that concerns you, really.” He confessed, panic settling in him as he realized the latter part of what he just said. 

Curiosity got the best of you when he mentioned that he had another thing to deal with, making your eyebrows furrow as you tried to probe around the subject, “Well it is certainly my business now, isn’t it? Since you’ve told me already.” 

Panic settled into Oliver as he seemed to struggle with putting the correct words in, fearing that he might spill something to you. He stood there, silent as he contemplated whether or not to tell you about what he was really pondering on just a few moments before you made your presence known. 

“It’s just that-” He stopped himself mid sentence, looking at you with a hesitant glance before continuing, “I got this girl I like, been that way since fourth year. My feelings were never unchanging of hers yet I’ve never made it known to the public. No one ever really knows who, I’ve turned down multiple people because they’re not like her.” He explained, looking at you expectantly, nibbling down on his lower lip as he looked at you nervously.

Your face turned into one of excitement, smiling at the realization that he’s got a crush. “Oliver Wood has got a crush? And he doesn’t know how to deal with it? Blimey, that’s something very unusual indeed. What’s the catch though?” Teasing him lightly, you motioned him to continue his explanation.

Taking a deep breath in, he continued, “I’m unsure if she would like me back, (Y/N). Besides, she’s younger than me so I highly doubt that she would feel the same.” 

His words made you frown, disliking the fact that he looked at himself so lowly despite him being an actual heartthrob inside the school nor the fact that this was uncharacteristically like him, knowing he would always be sure of his actions, “Oh please, i’m sure whoever that person is would like you back! I mean who wouldn’t? You’ve got extreme loyalty to whatever you’re passionate about, you’re a stellar student and player in the field, I doubt that person would even turn you down!”

The way you hyped him up sparked the little circuit of hope he had, thinking that he might have a chance with you. His worried expression soon morphed into one of determination, the same one he would have during matches. “Alright then, I think I might just do it then. Thanks for the pep talk, lass.” Oliver said, patting you on the shoulder as he walked straight for Hogsmeade, wanting to give a gift upon his confession.

“I’ve got you, Oli! Always!”

---

Your words were burned into the back of Oliver’s mind as he made his way into the Gryffindor Common Room, clad in his hands was a bunch of beautiful parchments, a special quill and a beautiful bottle of color-changing ink, knowing how you loved to do writing in your free time.

As he entered, his eyes immediately scan around for the set of (H/C) hair he knew by heart. Spotting you by the couch, he approached you. However, the sight that followed next was not what he had initially expected. 

It was you, in the arms of another person, laughing your heart out as the both of you cuddled in front of the fireplace; in the arms Fred Weasley.

Your head whipped around at the sight of him in your peripheral view, “Oh Oli! How did it go?” You asked him excitedly, moving a bit to make some space for him to sit down, motioning your hand for him to come over.

He didn’t know what to do, he was stuck in his place as he felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. The girl he wished for, the one girl he turned everyone down, the one girl he looked for inspiration during his darkest times, was never going to be his. 

“Fred just confessed to me earlier today! He had this whole picnic set up by the Black Lake, it was wonderful! How about you though? How did things go with your mystery lady?” You exclaimed, leaning into Fred as you were now questioning how things went.

There were no words as to how pathetic Oliver had felt as you boasted on how sweet and extravagant his confession was. He held his gift at his back and mustered up a small smile, “I opted not to, (Y/N). She has a boyfriend now, didn’t want to be much of a wrecker, would I?” 

“Oli, I’m so sor-” “No, it’s alright. You didn’t know” He answered quite harshly, glancing at a rather smug looking Fred as his hands tightened around your waist.

He approached you both and placed the gift down on the table, using every inch of his power to give you another smile, albeit half-hearted, “You can have these instead, I find it no use to give it to her anyways.” 

You stared at him with wide eyes as you looked at the rather extravagant ink and quill, “Oli, these are so expensive, are you sure you want to give these to me instead?” 

“Positive, have fun with those.” He whispered, unable to hold his heartbreak anymore and made his way to his dorm; the feeling of disheartenment lingering through his skin as he remembered the incident he had with the ginger that held you securely in his arms.

---

“Oliver!” Fred called out, jogging up to him. He noticed that the expression on the freckle-littered boy was rather serious, making him stop in his tracks and raise his eyebrow at the younger. “What is it, Fred?”

He huffed lightly and shoved his hands inside his pockets, “So you like (Y/N) too?” his tone hint with aggressiveness. The younger looked tense as he competed with the intense stare Oliver gave him.

‘too? He likes (Y/N) too?’ he thought to himself, “So what about it, Weasley?” He questioned him, his tone as equally- if not even more aggressive- as the ginger. His arms were crossed, yet his fists were already clenched, knuckles white from holding back; disliking how the former approached him.

“Just back off, She’s mine.” And with that, the red-head left, leaving the older boy confused and angered. “I won’t lose her to a guy like you.” He answered back, obviously ticked off that someone wanted her as much as he did.

Who was he to say such words like that? 

---

Oliver stared at the mirror, cringing at how lifeless he looked. He’s been restless since the night he has seen you with Fred, ripples of pain shooting through his heart at the memory. The smile you had that night was permanently etched in his mind, almost haunting him in away.

You were is ray of sun, the motivation he needed when he felt hopeless; yet in these moments, he wanted nothing more to just wipe you away from his memory.

He has managed to stray away and hide from you for the past couple of days, internally thanking the fact that he had to study for his N.E.W.Ts and Quidditch Practice so he has concrete excuses as to why he was avoiding you like the plague.

“Wood, are you coming? We’re waiting for your speech before the match starts.” Harry asked him, staring at his captain with expectant eyes, unaware of the current grief he was holding so tightly to his chest.

With all of the energy he could produce, he masked up and grabbed his broom, ready to face the match ahead. 

or at least he thought.

There you were, hugging Fred tightly as you whispered wishes of good luck with their match against Slytherin. 

Stopping dead in his tracks, his angered boiled quite quickly and shouted, “Oi Weasley! Get your arse in the tent right now!” His voice dripping with agitation and jealousy. 

The red-head placed a quick kiss to your lips before walking over to the tent, noticing the smirk that was plastered on his lips, Oliver gripped on his broom even tighter as he spared you a glance.

“H-Hey, Oli!” you managed to say before he entered the tent. Oh Merlin did he miss hearing your voice. He turned around and looked at you expectantly, foot tapping in anticipation. 

“Good luck at the match today. I believe in you.” You cheered him on, waving the little flag you brought with you before skipping away to the stands to join your friends.

A big smile suddenly appeared on his lips, a sudden wave of determination washing over him at the cheer you gave him. As much as he hated himself to admit this, you were still his energizer. 

And your cheer was all that he needed to push forward.

---

“And Harry Potter has caught the snitch! The best house-” “Jordan!” “Sorry Professor, Gryffindor has won the match! They won the Quidditch Cup!” 

As Lee Jordan’s voice rung out through the whole pitch, Oliver’s eyes were wide in disbelief, cheering along with his teammates as they have finally won the cup. He was leaving Hogwarts with the Quidditch Cup in their hands.

He watched as his the twins carried Harry on their shoulders, raising the trophy high up in the air as they laughed to their hearts content. Personally receiving a few greetings of his own, he was more than ready to rest at the Hospital wing with Madame Pomfrey all in his ears.

“Oliver!” A familiar voice rung out through the crowd, looking around, he saw you running towards him with the biggest smile. He dropped his broom instantly and opened his arms, ready to accept you in his arms. 

You jumped to his arms, hugging him tightly, a proud feeling swelling in your chest as he wrapped his arms around your waist. Unknowing of the fact that the latter wanted nothing more than his moment to last, “Congratulation on winning! I knew you could do it!”

You broke away from the hug and placed your hands on his shoulders, “How are you though? You took some nasty bludgers to the stomach.” You asked, frowning lightly at the sight of him falling down. 

The older shook his head, a wide smile on his lips, “It’s nothing too bad, (Y/N). Nothing I can’t handle.” He explained, ruffling your hair lightly, which earned him a few punches to the arm. “Thank you for cheering me on though, it meant a lot.” He continued, giving her a smile, his real smile.

 “Like what I said before, Oli. I’ve got you, always! Now, I’ll be off, Congratulations again, Captain!”

And with that, he watched you jump into Fred’s arms, lips locked in a rather brief kiss as you shouted congratulatory words to him.

Oliver couldn’t even bear to look at the sight, smiling once more to his teammates, he headed off and decided not to look back.

To never look back at you and the memories you made.

---

general taglist: @theweasleyslut​ @violetravens​

[kimoralov3]

Love to Hate Me

Requested by: @NuclearPizza84

Word Count: 2314

Pairing: Erik Lehnsherr x mutant!black!fem!reader

Warnings: swearing, fighting, fire, use of mutant abilities, Erik being an ass

(Y/N)'s POV

Picking up my book, I flipped through the pages. Yeah, I'll leave the science stuff to Charles.

"(Y/N), I would like to introduce you to my new friend Erik. He'll be staying with us while I build up the school. Erik, this is my younger sister (Y/N)." Charles said as he walked into the living room. I looked up, waving at Erik.

"Hello, nice to meet you." I got up and held my hand out for him to shake, but he just looked at it then looked back at me. Well that was rude. 

"(Y/N), do you know where Raven is?" Charles didn't seem to notice his new 'friend' being a dick. 

"Last time I checked she was in her room. She might be taking a nap right now though." I explained as I pointed in the direction of the bedrooms. Charles nodded and made his way down the hall, leaving me and Erik alone.

"So do you have any abilities?" Erik finally spoke up. So he does speak. Good to know.

"I can control and create fire. You?"

"Now why would I tell you that?"

"So I tell you mine but you're gonna bitch about me knowing yours? Seems totally fair." I sassed as I crossed my arms over my chest. Erik rolled his eyes, brushing past me and going in the same direction as Charles. Asshole.

----

6 months.

6 months of having to deal with that asshole named Erik Lehnsherr. Surprised I haven't 'accidently' killed him yet. Charles had gotten the school set up to open in the fall, so me, Raven, Hank, Alex, Seth, and him have been perfecting courses for any possible mutation our future students might have. Erik was supposed to be helping, but he spent most of the time complaining about the way things were playing out.

"I'm glad to see that all our hard work has paid off." Erik announced as he walked into one of the training rooms. This specific one was made to withstand high temperatures, so it was perfect for me and Alex to use for practice.

"Your work? You ain't done shit this whole process." I said as I took off my gloves. 

"Like you have? Every time I run into you you seem to just be standing at your desk." Erik scoffed. 

"I'm the one who's been hiring all the builders and chefs, Erik. I'm the one who's spent 20 hours a week contacting parents and trying to convince them that we can properly care for their child. And what have you been doing? Walking around and putting your unwanted opinions in the air. So don't come to me talking about how I'm the one who hasn't done any work." 

"Is everything alright here?" Charles asked as he walked in. 

"Your sister is being a bitch." Erik said calmly.

"I'm being a bitch? Real mature." I rolled my eyes, turning my attention to what I was doing before Erik interrupted me. As I was getting a mannequin from the storage room, I felt a pull on my bracelet. What the hell? I looked up to see Erik holding his hand out in the general direction of my arm. "So you're seriously gonna do this?"

"(Y/N), Erik, enough. Now is not the time." Charles warned. Before he could step in, Erik used his powers to push him out the room, locking the door. 

"That's better. Now, shall we begin?" Erik asked as he took off his jacket and threw it on the floor. I took off my bracelet, throwing it at him. 

"I'm not wasting my time with this, Erik. I have training to do."

"So you're backing out, just like that? That's a shame. I thought (Y/N) Xavier would have more courage than that." 

"You want to fight, Lehnsherr? Fine, let's fight." I huffed out as I summoned a fireball, purposefully missing him by an inch. He dodged it, although it wasn't going to hit him anyway. 

"There we go! Come on, don't hold back." Erik shouted as he slipped my bracelet back onto my arm, pulling me towards the wall. I focused all the heat in my body to my wrist, melting off the bracelet. That was one of my favorites. I made a trail of fire around the room, taking it up and down the walls and around the ceiling. The final curve made a circle around Erik, trapping him where he stood. 

"Is that good enough for you?" I asked as I dusted my hands on my pants. Erik tried to step closer to me, causing it to grow high enough to reach his waist. "Is this what you wanted? For you to be 6 steps away from catching fire? Because if so, all you had to do was ask."

"Oh don't be like that, (Y/N). You know this is all in good fun." Erik gasped out.

"Do I? Because the whole time that we've known each other, you've been an ass. I tried to properly introduce myself, you ignored me. I offered to show you around the grounds, you called me a silly girl and walked off. I even offered to help you train, but you just pushed past me. I have tried multiple times to get to know you, yet everytime you act like a dick. So no, Erik Lehnsherr, I don't know that this is all in good fun, because I don't know you at all!" I shouted. Each word I got closer, and each sentence I became more and more upset. The fire grew bigger, the circle around Erik closing more and more the angrier I got. Erik didn't speak, he just hung his head down in shame. Pathetic. "So now you have nothing to say?" 

"(Y/N), I didn't-" Erik was cut off by the sound of the doors swinging open, Charles and Raven standing there. I extinguished the fire, brushing past the two of them and running to my room.

----

Erik's POV

"Why can't you just get along? What's the point of the useless bickering and fighting? What has she done to deserve this kind of treatment?" Charles shouted as he paced back and forth in front of his desk. 

"Charles, you know I never meant for it to get as bad as it did just now. I thought that I was helping her." I explained as I watched him pace.

"I know that Erik, but you can't expect the woman you've treated like gum on the bottom of your shoe to know that. Why can't you just tell her the truth? (Y/N) is very understanding."

"It's not that simple, Charles. Especially after all this time. She hates me." 

"You'll never know until you try. At least start with an apology. While you're doing that, I'm going to go asses the damage in the training room. I wish you luck, my friend." Charles patted me on my shoulder, walking out of the room. 

This is not going to go well for me.

----

(Y/N)'s POV

"What's going on between you and Erik? I mean, I know the two of you have never gotten along that well, but it's never gotten to the point where the two of you use your abilities against each other." Raven asked as she sat on my bed, handing me a cup of tea.

"There's nothing going on between us, that's the problem. Ever since he's gotten here, he's done nothing but pick at me. I've tried to be nice to him, but he always shuts me down. It wouldn't be so annoying if he wasn't so fucking hot." I grumbled as I took a sip of tea. 

"What did you just say?" Raven asked as she looked at me in shock. 

"What?" I didn't say anything out of the ordinary.

"You just called Erik hot." Shit.

"What? No I didn't." I avoided her eyes, setting my tea on my dresser. Wow, that's very nice wood work. How have I just now noticed this?

"Yes you did! I definitely heard you say it." Raven said as she moved to stand in front of me. I sighed, rolling over so I was facing the window. "(Y/N), tell me the truth. Do you like Erik?"

"Maybe." I whispered. 

"Well why haven't you asked him out yet?"

"Did you not see what happened earlier today? Erik clearly hates me, and I don't think that that's ever going to change. So why even bother." I explained as I rolled onto my back. Raven laid next to me, putting my head on her chest and rubbing my back. 

"I don't think he hates you, (Y/N). I just think he doesn't know how to properly express his feelings. He's been through a lot, so it might take a lot to bring down those walls. Just give him time, I'm sure things will fall into place." 

"You sound like our brother." I mumbled as I closed my eyes. She giggled, patting me on my arm.

"Well, I am the one who has to sit there and listen to his stupid thesis, because somebody just so happens to be asleep whenever he needs opinions."

"Yeah, well you spend enough time listening to Charles and you'll learn how to avoid his 3 hour long thesis."

----

It's been 2 weeks since the incident, and Erik hasn't even attempted to make it look like he hasn't been avoiding me. I went back to helping make final preparations for the start of school, and Erik went back to whatever the hell it was he was doing. 

"(Y/N), Charles said that he wants to talk to you in his study." Alex said as he walked up to. 

"About what?"

"He didn't say, just said that it was urgent." He walked off, leaving me to make my way to Charles' study. Wonder what he wants now. I knocked on the door, pushing the door open slightly.

"Charles? What's up?" I asked as I stepped in. Charles wasn't at his desk, but there was someone sitting in front of the desk. Erik.

"He isn't here."

"Yeah, I can see that. Guess I'll come back later." I said softly as I moved to leave the office.

"(Y/N), wait." Erik called as he softly grabbed my hand. I looked at him, then down at our hands. We've never actually touched before. "I want to apologize for what happened a few weeks ago. And for how I've been treating you ever since we met. You've done nothing to deserve that."

"Apology accepted, I guess. Is there something else you need?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes. I think I just found my new favorite shade of blue. 

"Yes there is. I guess there is no time like the present." Erik said as he looked down at me.

"What are you talking about?" 

"Follow me." He said. He didn't give me much of a choice, he just grabbed my hand and pulled me somewhere more private. He walked towards the stairwell, taking me onto the roof. 

"What, are you gonna push me off the roof or something?" I joked as I looked over the ledge. It is a pretty far drop.

"Why would I ever do that?" Erik asked as he stepped closer to me. 

"I don't know, maybe because you hate my guts." I said nonchalantly. Something flashed across his eyes, but it quickly disappeared. 

"(Y/N), I would never do anything to hurt you." Erik whispered. 

"Really? Why have you been treating me the way you have then?" I crossed my arms over my chest, tilting my head to the side slightly. 

"Because I think I love you." He said softly. My heart skipped a beat, causing my breathing to slow a little.

"What?"

"I said I think I love you. And I think I fell for you the moment that I saw you. That's why I was such an ass; I wasn't sure how to properly show you how I felt. That's not an excuse for my actions, though. You don't have to accept my confession, but I just thought that I'd let you know. I'll leave you alone for now." 

Before Erik could walk away, I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him down so we were eye to eye. I looked in his eyes, then to his lips, then back at his eyes. "If you're going to kiss me, go ahead and do it." I said softly I gave Erik a slight smile. He leaned down some more, our lips brushing. I pulled him down more, our lips finally meeting. I've been waiting for this moment for almost 7 months now.

"Sorry, I didn't realize that I was interrupting something." Charles' voice called from the entrance to the roof. Erik and I pulled apart, turning our attention towards Charles. 

"You're always messing something up, Charles. What was it you needed?" I asked, not stepping away from Erik.

"It's not important. Carry on you two." Charles said as he made his way back into the house. I turned to Erik and slapped his chest lightly.

"You didn't think to lock the door?"

"Well to be fair, most normal people don't go onto the roof when they're looking for someone." Erik explained as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"We both know that Charles is far from normal. He probably used his telepathic abilities to find us." He said as he looked back at the stairwell door. I giggled, turning his head back to face me and giving him a quick peck on the lips. 

"Or he set this up to get you to confess your feelings." I said as I leaned my head against his chest. He seemed to mull over the thought for a second before letting out a scoff.

"That little shit."

[fandomficsnstuff]

Guardian Angel - Part 2

Daryl Dixon x Reader

(Warnings: Angst, but other than that I don't really think there are any, but let me know if there is!)

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You watched Glenn nervously move around Merle to get the tools. Glenn and a small group were going into the city today, with Merle, the thought made you cringe, Merle was impulsive, mean and he didn’t care about anyone but himself, and this was the first time Glenn took a group with him into the city, he had always done this alone,and now his new team had Merle thrown into the mix. You watched Glenn turn to see you watching him, and he gave you a small nervous smile and a wave, trying to tell you he was okay, Glenn was like a brother to you, a younger, stupid and geeky little brother, but a little brother nonetheless. You raised your hand as you waved back, giving him a reassuring smile, you never liked it when he went into the city by himself, and now he went with a group. The city was too crowded, the dead was everywhere, almost quite literally, but before you could get too lost in your head you got up from the stump you had been sitting on, turning around to walk towards the quarry when you were met with a solid chest, letting out a small ‘hmph’ sound as you met is face first.

Stepping back you saw Daryl, and you instantly looked away, both out of embarrassment and also because you didn't know what to say, you hadn’t really talked to him after Merle hit Glenn, that was three days ago, so quite literally bumping into him wasn’t exactly in your plans, even though you missed him. Daryl scoffed seeing it was you, moving to walk around you and further into the forest “watch where you’re goin’” he mumbled on the way and you stared at him in disbelief, he really had the nerve to be like that? Before you even realized what you were doing you were heading after him “hey! Dixon!” you yelled, making him stop and turn to look at you “what? You gonna follow me ‘round like some little puppy now?” you scoffed as you stared at him, your eyes wide, partly in disbelief and partly in anger “excuse me?!” Daryl scoffed at your response “what, you stupid now too?” you barely registered your hand coming in contact with his cheek, but when you did you let out a small huff, realizing what you had just done you slowly lowered your hand, staring at him with wide eyes, tears slowly blurring your vision. As his head turned back to you you quickly gathered yourself, your face now ice cold “you really are like him, you prick” you mumbled, turning around to leave but was caught by the elbow, pulled back and up against a tree, making you gasp as you stared up at him in anger, tears rolling down your cheeks “why you actin’ like this, huh? First you’re all smiles, then you ignore me, then you follow me, then you hit me and then you just walk away?!” you scoffed low “why am I acting like this? Why are YOU acting like this?! Why are you acting like such a jerk? You’ve been mean to Glenn ever since Merle hit him! A-And it’s not like I can just approach you! You glare at me every time I even look at you! And damn it Daryl I hate not talking to you but can you blame me? Glenn is like a brother to me and you’ve been an ass, more than usual! And I put up with it, you know? Because I-” you exhaled heavily, quickly stopping yourself before you said too much, your eyes looking everywhere but him.

“Nah, because what? I’m being an ass, huh? So tell me, because of what?!”

“Because I really like you, you piece of shit!” you hit his chest with the last words, tears having returned to your eyes as you stared up at him, watching his face go from angry, to confused, to sad and then confused again. He took a step back from you, looking down like he didn’t know what to do with himself now, or you for that matter. After a moment of silence you were about to head back to camp but he stopped you before you actually could “I saw a deer the other day and uh… maybe you, you know…” you let out a small sigh as you couldn’t help but smile at him, wiping your eyes with your sleeve “sure” you mumbled, following behind him as he walked back to the spot he saw the deer last.

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Looking up at the sun behind the trees you breathed in the fresh air, you had been out at least two hours, looking at the sun’s position, it was something Daryl had taught you. You looked back at Daryl as he studied the ground, brushing a few leaves out of the way before signaling you to come closer, which you did. As he heard you approaching and kneeling down he lightly brushed a few more leaves to the side, pointing at the ground “see that? That’s the one I saw” you glanced at him “how can you tell? I mean, could it be from just another deer?” he shook his head as he got up, and you mirrored his movement, getting up as well “nah, see how it’s deeper on one site of the print? The one I saw was kinda limping, it shows in the print” you nodded, not actually seeing much in the dirt, your eyes going back to the ground to try and see what he saw, unaware of his eyes on you, studying you “you don’t see it do you?” you chuckled and looked back at him “no, sorry” he shrugged with a smile “don’t worry, in the winter, if it starts snowin’, maybe I can teach you again, it’s easier in the snow” you nodded and followed him as he continued to follow the trail you weren’t able to see, but you tried anyway, “sorry about before, you know… for hitting you and saying the things I did…” you almost didn’t notice him stopping dead in his tracks, and you almost bumped into him, for the second time that day.

You looked up at him, seeing him already looking at you, but this time you didn’t look away, and neither did he, “you were right, I was an ass and I’m… I’m sorry, ya know?” your mouth dropped slightly open and you couldn’t help but fake gasp “am I dreaming? Is the Daryl Dixon apologizing?” Daryl scoffed and looked away, but you saw his smile “don’t make me take it back” he mumbled, making you laugh “alright alright, sorry. But thank you, and what I said… not just the mean things but uh… the other things…” you looked down, you could feel your face burn with embarrassment, what were you even getting at? ‘Hey sorry about just confessing my huge crush on you, we good?’ you scoffed low at the thought, and either Daryl didn’t pick up on it, or he decided to ignore it.

“It’s alright…” he mumbled, looking down, which finally gave you the courage to look up at him, just in time for him to do the same, and while you shied away, he didn’t, once again. “You know… at least you were bein’ honest. Besides, ain’t like I invite just anyone to hunt with me” he looked back at the ground as he picked up the trail again, leaving you staring at him with wide eyes, he smirked at you, looking over his shoulder as he kept walking “you comin’?” you beamed as you quickly caught up to him, you couldn’t suppress the giggle that escaped your lips, making you sound like a little school girl who just got a kiss on the cheek from her crush.

You gasped as you saw a deer, which Daryl, oddly enough, didn’t see. Your hands quickly patted his shoulder as you kept your eyes on it, and once he finally turned around, probably to ask you to stop hitting him, that’s when he saw it. He smiled as he looked from the deer to you, watching you stare at it in amazement “it’s so beautiful” you whispered, making Daryl feel slightly guilty for having his crossbow at the ready, Daryl looked back at it before looking back at you “yeah, it is… but, you know we have to-” you cut him off by nodding your head “I know, she’s just so beautiful, please,” you turned to look at him “just a few seconds longer?” Daryl could never deny those beautiful eyes of yours staring up at him like that, so he gave a brief nod, watching you look back at the deer who was unaware of the two of you. You kneeled down to get more comfortable, being as silent as possible, and Daryl did the same, sitting on the ground next to you and you both just watched the deer, though to be honest he was watching you more. He loved the way your eyes lit up as the deer did tiny things such as twitch it’s ears, or how you instantly ducked your head when it looked your way, it was adorable to him, and after a few more minutes, he gently nudged your shoulder “hey, it’s time” he whispered, making you nod as Daryl moved on one knee, lifting the crossbow, ready to shoot, but having you so close to him, he could feel your presence near him, and being distracted, he pulled the trigger, his eyes on you instead of the deer, and when he realized he hadn’t hit it dead center, he cursed, watching it run away.

“Fuck!” you got up as he moved to go after it “it’s alright, we can still track it” you tried to comfort, but he just scoffed “ain’t no ‘we’, I’M gonna track it, you stop gettin’ in my way!” you stared at him as he went off after the deer, leaving you in the middle of the woods, with no idea how far out you were. You swallowed the lump in your throat as you looked around, your hand moved to your boot where you got out your knife, holding it like Daryl taught you and trying to retrace your steps, watching the ground like he had, but it was only when you noticed how none of the woods looked familiar that you noticed, you were further out, probably further away from camp than you had been before, and the thought made you shiver, looking around you felt your heart rate speed up, you tried to retrace your earlier steps once again, maybe you could get back to where you and Daryl had watched the deer, before he-... you stopped dead in your tracks, Daryl didn’t want you there, of course he didn’t, you just got in the way, he said so himself. You couldn’t help yourself as you sat down on the ground, your back against a tree as you sighed.

Maybe if you stayed for a few minutes, you’d clear your head and find your way back, Daryl wouldn’t just leave you out here, right?

---------------------------to be continued---------------------------------

[talesofesther]

Anchor - Part 6

Five Hargreeves x Reader

Masterlist with the other parts

See part one for important notes

A/N: Woop here I am releasing the new part earlier because I finished writing it and I'm a nice gal. So, I think this part is significantly smaller than the last one, but I wanted it to end where it did. Also, for some reason it was a bit harder for me to write this part, I don't know why. But I hope it's not too awful and you guys like it anyway. Plus, Five has no idea of how to control his feelings, poor boy ksjdkjsd.  If you wanna be added to the tag list, let me know. ♥

“That woman we met before we went to the theater in 2019. She called you an assassin… Is that true?” Y/N asked carefully, trying not to break the almost peaceful aura of the room. A part of her didn’t want to know the answer, unsure of how things would be once she did. But she needed to know.

Five closed his eyes once again. That was the one question he wished she wouldn’t ask.

The boy let out a shaky breath. Why was he so nervous? He wasn't like this when he talked about it with Luther, why is he like this now? Maybe it was the fact that he didn't have to worry about Luther leaving, him being his brother and all. But her, she had that choice. Y/N had the choice to never look him in the face again. And that terrified him for some reason.

But seeing as he didn't have a way out now, he preceded to tell Y/N everything. Five's voice was uncharacteristically soft and cautious. He told her that the woman they had met, The Handler, found him in the apocalypse and offered him a job. He told her how they transformed him into an instrument of correcting the timeline by killing. How this was his only way of surviving until he could figure out his equation and get back to 2019. He told her everything. And all the while Y/N was just staring intently at him. Sometimes she would furrow her brows while processing some information, but other than that, there was no reaction.

"I was good at what I did. But I never enjoyed it". Five added as soon as he finished his explanation. He moved uncomfortably on his seat on the couch, anxiously waiting for some kind of reaction from Y/N. He didn't even realize he was griping his shorts in nervousness like a teenage boy talking to his crush.

"So you really are an assassin" Y/N whispered, more to herself than to him. She looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath, and looked down at her hands. "A hitman".

"I was. Yes" Five's voice was so low that if she hadn't been sitting next to him she wouldn't have heard it. Like he himself didn't want to accept this as his reality.

Y/N let out another sigh as she risked a look up at his face. Five looked troubled, his eyes never left her face and he seemed like he was clenching his teeth in anxiousness or anticipation. For what? She thought. What does he think I'll do? I don't even know myself.

That was true. Y/N had no idea how to react, or what to say to all of this. What do you do when someone tells you they're an assassin? That they literally take human lives?

You run, scared for your own life? But Y/N didn't want to be scared of him. Despite his serious facade, Five was proving to be a sweet person. Maybe a bit socially awkward, but sweet.

Do you go to the police? Because killing is so very wrong? But Y/N knew that accepting that job was the only way Five could stay alive. It was the only way he could get back to 2019, to save his family. And come to think of it, she would be dead too if he hadn't come back to stop the apocalypse.

This was all way too much to process. Y/N's thoughts were starting to get conflicted. She needed time.

"Did you kill innocent people too?" The girl asked him.

"Sometimes" was all Five could answer. He knew there was no reason to lie now.

Y/N almost felt an urge to hug the boy again. He looked so lost right now. His big eyes were looking at her intently, pleading for her to understand, and they were shining. Shining in the yellow light coming from the street. Y/N could get lost in those eyes, and she almost did, but she needed time.

She just nodded at him and averted her gaze.

Five gulped and looked away from her as well. Understanding her silent demand. That was it then. He presumed she was now scared of him or something, but then, who wouldn't? She wasn't his for him to lose her, and yet he felt like he had. She clearly didn't want anything to do with him anymore, right? For the first time, Five acknowledged how broke and tainted he really was. The apocalypse was everything he knew, once that was over, he had no idea what to do with himself. And now he realized that no one would ever care enough about him to help him figure it out. He was a killer, a person that grew up alone and had probably too much traumatic baggage to carry. And no one would want to deal with that.

Ignoring his quivering lip and the annoying tears prickling at his eyes, Five got up and teleported away. Y/N's rejection hurt him way more than he would care to admit.

_________

Y/N woke up the next morning hearing distant voices talking in the living room. The first thing she felt was her back hurting from sleeping on the couch all night.

After Five just teleported away without even saying goodnight, Y/N took the time to think about the things he had told her. She would be lying if she said that Five admitting that he killed people didn't worry her. But she eventually came to the conclusion that he had no other options and she would have probably done the same in his place. So all in all, she accepted it. It was definitely a lot to take in, but she knew that Five was a good person. And she trusted him.

The girl slowly sat up and stretched, her eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight that was coming through the windows. Elliott's place was still a mess, but she soon saw him and Five talking in the corner.

"Can you develop it or not?" Five asked with an impatient voice.

"Sure" Elliott answered while he ate his cereal.

"How long?" Five said as his eyes drifted to Y/N's moving form getting up from the couch. His demeanor suddenly becoming tense.

"Maybe five, six hours" Elliott said as he followed Five's stare to Y/N's direction. "Morning girl". He lifted up his spoon to her.

"It's Y/N" she saluted him. "Morning Elliott".

Y/N got up and started walking towards them. Five abruptly turned away and drove his attention to all the papers pinned to the walls, all of Elliott's theories suddenly becoming very interesting as he did his best to ignore Y/N's presence.

"Um hey Elliott, do you still have some of this cereal left?" The girl asked while she tried to make her hair more presentable, pointing to what Elliott was eating.

"Sure. I'll get some for you" and so he disappeared into the kitchen.

"Thank you" the girl called to him.

Then she turned her eyes to Five, who was standing in front of her, but had his back to her. His shoulders were definitely too tense for this early in the morning.

"Good morning Five, did you sleep well?" Y/N tried to sound as casual as possible. Maybe not addressing the whole assassin thing would be better? She made her way to stay right beside him, their shoulders brushing. The boy became even tenser if that was even possible. His eyes intensely staring into a random newspaper article.

No. Five wanted to answer, he didn't sleep well at all. His night was plagued by nightmares, as usual. He couldn't say he was used to them, he didn't think he ever would be, but he knew they would come every night. But last night Y/N had made an appearance in them, it wasn't a pleasant one, and that's something he wasn't expecting. So no, he didn't sleep well.

He could have said that to her. For a moment he wondered what she would say if he did. But he didn't. Five stayed silent, doing his best to ignore the many questions in his head of why she was standing so close. His fingertips were slowly tracing the wood of the table in front of them.

"Hey, are you okay?" Y/N's gentle voice appeared again.

Why does she always have to ask that? Five thought as he put a distance between them and walked to the middle of the room. He presumed she was just being her usual kind self. Because now his presence probably made her uneasy, right? So despite wanting to be close to her and talk, Five moved away. The last thing he wanted was to scare her away... Even more.

"Fine" he answered in the most emotionless voice.

Why he still has the need to lie to me? Y/N thought as she turned around to look at him once again. Bracing her back on the table and crossing her arms.

"Okay then. Listen, I think we should-" the girl couldn't complete her sentence because the radio cut her off.

'Attention all units, we have a code 3-15 at the Holbrook sanitarium'

At the same time, Elliott entered the room again, a new bowl of cereal in his hands.

"The hell is a code 3-15?" Five's attention was now fully on the radio as he asked Elliott about it.

"Fugitives on the run" the weird man answered as he handed Y/N the bowl of cereal. She took it gratefully, muttering thanks to Elliott as she put a spoonful on her mouth. She was quite hungry.

"Oh, Diego" Five whispered as he braced himself in front of the radio. "Elliott you get started on that film. I'll be back as soon as I can" he said as he was already walking out of the room.

"No no. Wait, Five. I'll go with.." Y/N hurriedly walked after him, almost spilling the cereal on herself "... You" she finished just as she saw a flash of blue. And he was gone again.

The girl groaned, annoyed "I swear, this boy... Is getting on my nerves" her knuckles holding the spoon turned white.

"Is he always like this?" Elliott appeared behind her.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think he is" Y/N sighed. Something was up with Five today, she was going to figure out what it was.

_________

Well, Y/N's position at the moment was... Not ideal. Apparently whatever there was in the film that Five asked Elliott to develop was enough to freak him out to the point where he ended up tying Y/N to the railings that overlooked the bottom floor. She tried to reason with him, but he was pretty insistent. He looked truly scared so she didn't really fight him when he made his way to tie her up, she knew that as soon as Five came back, she would be free again. Poor Elliott had nothing to do with this and was already losing his mind.

And sure enough, not long after, Five arrived with Diego and another woman. Y/N didn't think she would be this happy at seeing Diego, but she was so glad to see that he was okay. And his hair was bigger too, she liked it.

Y/N winced when Elliott's rifle shot the ceiling, Five had easily teleported in front of him making him do so. Diego soon followed and took the weapon out of the man's hands.

Not even a second later, Five was standing in front of Y/N. "Did he hurt you?" His voice was low, only for her to hear. One of his hands came up to lightly touch her cheek. His eyes frantically looked over her entire body in search of injuries, his expression one of pure concern.

"No, I'm okay" Y/N answered him in just a whisper. Her gaze was fixated on him. He was so close, his fingertips lightly brushing her left cheek. Her brows furrowed at his actions as she analyzed his face. What is up with him? In the morning he was so distant and now this?

Only when Five met her eyes that he realized what he was doing. The boy sucked in a harsh breath and suddenly removed his hand from her face. His now slightly shaking hands working on untying Y/N from the railings. Five kicked himself mentally. What was that? He was so worried that Elliott maybe had done something to Y/N that he just... Didn't think. Five would have never invaded her space like that, especially not after last night. But as soon as he saw her, his body seemed to move on his own towards the girl. She was making him lose control and that was not good, he needed to stay focused.

With her hands now free, Y/N rubbed her sore wrists. Her eyes were still landed on Five, and the boy already looked deep in thought. But most of all, Y/N realized that he looked utterly confused. She had no idea why he was acting so strange lately, but now it seemed like he was just as lost as she was.

When Five started to move away from her. Y/N was finally able to grab his hand and stop him. As soon as he felt her soft hand holding his one, he froze.

"Five, wait. I think we should talk"

Five gulped. Everything felt so tender, so real.

"Please don't" his voice was nothing but a whisper. Please don't give me hope that you care. Please don't make me yearn for something that I can't have.

And when Y/N saw the look in his eyes. She let go.

***

Thank you for reading ♥ the next part should be out soon. And if you have any idea about how this story should progress or anything you would like to see in it, please send me an ask or message and I’d be happy to include it. ♥

Taglist

@alexander-hamilhoe​ @noneyeahbusiness​ @anapocalypseinmymind​ @yikes-matey​ @vicfull​ @flowertoty​ @shlokage​ @flaminghotcheetoos​ @moneyyhoneyyy​ @n1ghtsh4d3-67​ @nappinggecko​ @megasimpleplan4ever​ @precious-parkerr​ @greeknerd007​ 

[pumpkinpatchkid]

Late Night Stories

Pairing: Lucifer x G!Neutral Reader

Rating: G (soft fluff)

Warnings: Mentions of death (possible spoilers if you don’t know what happened to Lilith)

Your stomach churned as you felt your D.D.D vibrate in your pocket once again. It felt like the thousandth time today – most likely another congratulatory text on your one hundredth day in Devildom. You knew you should be happy about it, the stay, the opportunity for the exchange, the people you’ve met… But the gut-wrenching hole within your body prevented that. You wanted to go home. Even for just a day. You sighed and put your head in your hands as the lesson dragged on. The last one of the day… Then maybe I can talk to Lucifer.

 You took a deep breath and straightened yourself in your chair, fighting off the blush at the thought of the first demon brother and attempted to busy yourself with note taking. With only a few lines written and your head a blur, the bell finally signalled the end of class, and the day in RAD. Jumping from your seat and haphazardly throwing your belongings into your bag, you practically sprinted from the building.

 Your walk home was the same as usual. Quiet, peaceful and-

“Yo!! Y/N! Slow down, ya damn human!” You heard Mammon call from behind you. You sighed heavily and slowed to a stop and Mammon ran up panting from behind you.

 “Mammon, why’re you so out of breath?” You asked, tilting your head and quirking your eyebrow. Mammon blushed heavily and avoided eye contact, muttering something about ‘dumb human curiosity’ under his breath.

 “I-It’s not like I was trying to catch up with ya okay? Just drop it, ‘kay?” He huffed and grabbed your arm, before joining you on your journey back to the House of Lamentation.

 “Say, Mammon?” You looked over at him after a little while of silence. He hummed and glanced at you in acknowledgement.

 “You... You don’t know if Lucifer is coming home earlier today, do you?” You asked, looking at your feet. Mammon let out a growl at your question.

 “Why would I care where he is? Probably off hiding my precious baby Goldie again.” He pouted and stopped talking, most likely overrun with fantasies about his beloved credit card. You rolled your eyes to yourself. Should’ve known Mammon wouldn’t be any help.

 You both reached home pretty quickly, glad that the now awkward silence was broken as you entered the building. Mammon mentioned getting ready for something and you waved your hand to him before making your way to the kitchen. Unsurprisingly Beel was raiding the fridge, and nearly jumped out of his skin when you brushed past him to get yourself a glass of water.

 “Welcome back, Y/N!” Beel greeted after swallowing a mouthful of who knew what. You smiled slightly at the sweet demon before you and took a sip of your beverage. A slight frown made its way onto the fiery haired male and he tilted his head.

 “Is everything okay? Are you hungry?” He asked. You couldn’t help but giggle quietly and shake your head.

 “I’m fine, Beel. I just need to talk to Lucifer is all. Do you know when he’ll be back?” You asked softly, tracing your finger around the rim of the glass in your other hand. His shoulders slumped, as if disappointed and shrugged.

 “Sorry, Y/N, I’m not sure...” He responded quietly, earning a sincere nod and a smile from you. You patted his arm reassuringly and reached up to ruffle his hair a little.

 “Thank you anyway, Bub. I’m going to take a nap, school was exhausting. I’ll see you later, okay?” You smiled before turning to exit the room.  He bid his farewells as you ascended the stairwell to your room, and you let out a heavy sigh as you shut the door. You slipped out of the RAD uniform and into your sleepwear before collapsing on your bed, nuzzling into the pillows, taking no time at all to drift into a dreamless sleep.

 By the time you woke up, it was darker than black outside your window. You grumbled to yourself and rubbed your eyes, sitting up and looking at your clock. 3:01AM. You groaned internally once again before standing up and stretching. Surely Lucifer has to be home by now…

 You made your way through the lengthy halls to Lucifer’s room and knocked quietly. You heard nothing and after a brief hesitation you knocked once again, a little louder than before. Nothing again. Where on earth could he be?

 You wandered the house in search for the man in question to no avail. You ran your hands through your hair and rubbed your face, about to give up, until a little lightbulb in your head went off. You walked quietly to the stairs of the crypt before pausing. It’s better than nothing, I suppose… You took a deep breath before taking a shaky step down the flight into the dungeon like room beneath the house.

 Candles were lit down the staircase, and throughout the vast room, you’d noticed as you reached the bottom. You looked around the room to spot a tall figure in dark clothing stood by Lilith’s makeshift resting place. Lucifer…

 He straightened his body, signalling he’d noticed your presence, but didn’t move from his spot. You approached him silently and stood next to him.

 “It’s not like you to be up this late, Y/N.” He spoke softly, eyes never leaving the intricately carved stone before him.

 “I just miss home, is all… I’d like to go back soon, just for a day.” You answered honestly, your eyes joining his in the same spot – you knew how he felt about his little sister, and with what he had confessed to you and the rest of the brothers, burdened himself with an inhuman amount of guilt for it. He nodded wordlessly and a thick silence fell over the pair of you. You both stayed like that for perhaps an hour, although it was nice. Comforting, even.

 “Where I’m from… It’s a little village…” You spoke softly, as if not to startle the demon.

 “It was built generations ago, by a stunning young woman. She always helped where she could as the village grew. She learned to cook the most amazing foods for those who weren’t fortunate enough to have meals on the table that night. She learned to heal those who weren’t fortunate enough so seek medical care. She was truly the purest being in that village. She learned how to cut wood and farm to help people lacking in manpower. She took care of children for those who were too busy attempting to provide for their family. There was a young man, new to the village who fell for her beauty, inside and out. She fell for him too.” You looked over at Lucifer, who seemed to have a glint in his eye – you knew he was listening.

 “They married not long after and started a family of their own. He took it upon himself to aid her in protecting and caring for the village and made sure to spare plenty of time for his children. Everybody loved and praised her. Nobody ever said anything bad about her. It stayed that way until she was too old and frail to continue. When her time came, she was surrounded by her loving husband, children and grandchildren, all by her bedside. The village gathered around her house to say goodbye to the woman they adored and cherished… She died peacefully with a heart full of love. At her funeral they erected a statue of her. They did it so that she’d live forever in the hearts of the villagers, so they wouldn’t forget how they prospered. We still talk about her and celebrate her life to this day…” You finished softly.

 “Why’re you telling me this?” Lucifer asked, just as soft. After building your courage throughout the story, you slipped your hand into his.

 “Lilith.” You whispered. “Her name was Lilith.”

 The grip Lucifer hand on your hand tightened, and you felt his body begin to tremble against your own. You felt your heart break with each tear that silently rolled down Lucifer’s pale cheeks and opened your mouth to comfort him. Before anything came out, however, your vision was clouded in black, and a pair of long arms encircled you. Lucifer clung to you as he buried his head into the crook of your neck, allowing his tears to fall freely for the first time in millennia, and for the first time ever in front of someone else. You simply pulled him impossibly closer, running a hand through his raven locks and pressed your face close to his, your other hand rubbing his back soothingly. He gripped at the back of your nightwear as if he were a child clinging to his mother, and his sobs wracked his body, even though they remained silent. You moved your hand from his hair to rest at the nape of his neck and the hand on his back moved to rub small circles on his broad shoulders. Under any other circumstance, you wouldn’t have ever wanted this to end – the Avatar of Pride was showing you his vulnerable side, seeking comfort in you…

 His tears gradually dried, and his shaking frame steadied again, but it seemed Lucifer felt the same way, still holding you close with his head buried into the juncture of your neck. You smiled softly at the heat of his breath steadily fanning across your exposed skin, but instantly flushed a rich pink as a pair of soft lips replaced his breath. Lucifer just… k-kissed me?! Pulled away ever so slightly to take a look at him when he bowed his head to place another kiss on your cheek.

 “Thank you, Y/N.” He whispered, before kissing your nose. Has crying made him lose his mind? What is going on?! Your mouth opened and shut, a few syllables being stammered, but you just couldn’t find the right words.

 “Thank you for letting me know she was still the good person myself and my brothers loved…” He whispered, face still mere inches away from your own. Your heart melted at his thanks and you nodded softly.

 “I love that about you, always knowing the right things to say… And will continue to love you for as long as I can, and thanks for tonight.” He spoke soft and sweet to you, his eyes full of sincerity, as he stroked a strand of hair out of your face. He really means it? He loves me?...

 “L-Lucifer, I…” You started, but he cut you off with his own lips. They were unusually soft, and the kiss was tender, rendering you unable to do anything but melt into the affection and return the feelings, more than happily and with a newfound confidence. Lucifer was the first to pull away, gazing down at you with a sparkle in his glassy eyes.

 “Come. Stay with me tonight. We can get up early to speak with Diavolo of a day trip back to your home.” He smiled and slipped together your hands, intertwining his fingers with yours. It was your turn for your eyes to fill with tears, accepting his hold and followed after him to the stairs.

 “I shall be coming with you, of course. I’d like to pay my respects.” He smiled softly as he led you to his room for the night. You lit up at the proposal and nodded, stopping the pair of you before you opened the door.

 “I’d want nothing more.” You whispered, before reaching up and pressing a soft kiss of your own onto his lips.

 Maybe it’s not so bad here after all.

[cafeinthemoon]

The Leaves of Her Garden - Chapter XIII

Title: The Leaves of Her Garden

Genre: Fanfiction

Pairing: Madara Uchiha x reader

Rating: Mature

Word count: 2901

Chapter (s): 13/?

Read the previous chapters here: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Interlude, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12

Symbols: ⭕ | ➕ | 🖤 | ▶▶

Chapter XIII - Madara and the God of Shinobi

Since you were brought to Madara’s house, you felt like you were under some sort of spell. You’ve been living through the days as if you were inside another person’s dream, following events, hearing conversations and seeing scenarios that could only be experienced through their eyes. Even when you were the center of such events and all eyes were turned to you, you just couldn’t feel them like the real things they were. Being introduced to other members of the clan – elders, women and servants – under your new name only reinforced this impression.

This and the fact that you’ve spent those days without your husband’s company.

The next day after the ceremony came silent in your room. When you opened your eyes and sat on the futon, your first action was to seek for Madara; you did it without even realizing it. He wasn’t there; somehow, the silence of his absence was way different from when he was just quiet, out of your immediate sight. You were left alone and felt a bit anxious for this.

The room had everything you needed to take care of yourself, and this is what you did after leaving the bed. When you were ready, you found a new robe and went to the porch, still tying its straps around your body.

You sat on the wood platform with your feet dangling right above the grass, the warm light of the morning touching your face and everything your sight could reach. Twirling around the place there were rosy petals that just have fallen from the cherry trees, so natural while carried by the breeze that you could think they were living beings; some of them were carried away, and a few ones came to rest upon the grass, close to your feet.

Yes. You have been through so much that you completely forgot that Spring was on its apex. Still, you were glad that you could take some time to appreciate it now. That was the first time you did it the way you should in a long time, without fear, uncertainty or anxiety clouding your thoughts: now you had a family and a house by the side of a man who was able to guide and protect you and two women who acted like true friends, taking care of your needs when you weren’t able to do it for yourself.

After all the things your had to endure, you were finally in peace.

You were thinking of this when you sensed your had company. You glanced at your right and saw him there, standing in the shadow of the closest porch’s columns. He wasn’t using a robe anymore: instead, he had the full traditional clothing of his clan, with its long sleeves and its high collar; however, he was on barefeet. You noticed you were starting to get used to his sudden appearances, even welcoming them.

You stood up from the porch. At first, you thought of greeting him with good morning or something, but you stopped your tongue at the last moment. Somehow you sensed the moment asked for silence.

Madara came and took the place by your side. He held your chin, then approached his lips of your temple and left a kiss there. It was a strange treatment he gave you, that one: you felt it like it was a way to mark you as his property. The gesture didn’t lack gentleness, however: there you had a man who used to take good care of what belonged to him.

He was the first to speak.

- Your look visibly better – and still with his had under your chin, he made you turn from one side to another in order to examine your traits, as a way to confirm what he said – The effects of a good night of sleep cannot be denied when we look at you right now.

When he released you, you felt safe to speak.

- Indeed, I feel better today, Madara – again, you almost said the -sama, but stopped in time – I hope you slept well too.

At first, he smiled at your preoccupation with his well being, but soon that smile fade into a contemplative expression. You didn’t have to wait too long to find out the reason behind it.

- I’ve been waiting for you to wake up, Y/n – he started – It is good to see that you are used to leave the bed in the first hours of the day, even when you do not have to.

- I am actually used to wake up earlier – you replied with modesty.

Your cheeks burned to what he said after that.

- After the last night, I would not blame you for staying in bed for a longer time – he smirked – Anyway, there is a reason for my waiting. I need to inform you about some events you must expect to attend today. The first one is the Todoroki’s farewell by midday, which you naturally will have to watch by my side, so that I will sent the women to prepare you when the time comes.

You nodded, and he offered his arm to you: he intended to take you for a walk in the garden, which you accepted without thinking twice. The morning was too beautiful for you to stand under the porch’s protection for much longer. That time you took the traditional path and reached the garden within minutes. You appreciated the walking: though you wouldn’t complain if Madara took you in his arms and reached the place in seconds, you always enjoyed using your own feet as a normal person, so that you were content to see that he respected this.

In fact, knowing that the Todoroki were going to leave soon brought some relief to your mood: you wouldn’t need to maintain Sachiko’s role for much longer once they’re gone. Only when you had to communicate with other members of the Uchiha, who weren’t aware of the whole story.

What he said next, however, had the opposite effect.

- Now, I am afraid that what I am going to tell you might bring some apprehension to you, and I apologize for that. Y/n, in a few days I am going on a mission with my brother, and I am still not sure of how long I will be away.

Madara was right. Hearing that he was leaving in some days made your heart beat faster with anxiety. Despite not knowing him long enough to say you loved him, you cared for him, as your husband and your protector: you’ve heard about the challenges and dangerous situations in which the shinobi used to be involved during their work.

You tried to contain your preoccupation, but you weren’t sure you succeeded, judging by his reply:

- I know it will not cease the worries you are already feeling, but let me tell you that there is no logical reason for them. Some of our men will be sent to travel alongside the Todoroki, and these ones will only leave in my presence. However, our best shinobi will stay to guard the compound, and some of them will follow me and Izuna in our mission – a smile grew on the corner of his mouth when he noticed you were still worried – As you can easily imagine, I would have to be too reckless, or too stupid, to leave you and the rest of my people unprotected after sealing a treaty with the Todoroki.

You did your best to calm yourself, but you needed to be honest about the situation. You stopped; looking down at his hands and releasing your arm from his, you took them into yours, too small to contain them in their entirety.

- Despite the little time we have spent together, I already trust you and Izuna-sama and the other people. But I cannot help being worried when I hear you say you will be far away, where I cannot reach you. If only there was a way to assure you will be alright… I would not bother you with these silly feelings.

When you said that, you looked into his eyes seeking for another assurance. But the glimmer you saw in them in response made you shiver though the morning was as warm as the Spring would allow it to be.

Madara held your hands in his with the same firmness you sensed when he did it for the first time, in that night you met. Just like that time, you felt fascinated yet overwhelmed by the sensation that he chose this particularly gentle gesture to push his power and unpredictability into you.

His words came only to confirm this impression.

- Maybe my mere words are no longer enough to make you understand it – and with a smile that left a deeper impression than the look in his eyes – I think it is time to show you what the name Madara Uchiha means to the ones who hear it.

With this, the black of his eyes faded, giving space to the reddish pattern of his Mangekyo Sharingan. Was he going to immerse you in another memory? You were still questioning yourself about it when the sight around you changed, and the morning light and the warm weather disappeared.

You saw yourself surrounded by a suffocating, hot atmosphere that seemed to melt at the constant explosions of light and fire you saw and heard around you. It was like being at the edge of a volcano.

When you felt able to look ahead, you spotted high rocks eroding with earthquakes that didn’t last longer than seconds. Upon them, facing each other and separated only by a few meters there were two human forms, dark against the fires.

Two men.

You felt your eyes looking closer at the scene and recognized one of them – Madara. And he was the one who produced all the fire you saw, doing this through his chakra. However, it was the way he was doing it that stunned you: he had his hand close to his mouth with his fingers pointing above in the traditional chakra releasing position used by the shinobi while at combat, and from his lips came out gigantic streams of fire the devoured everything ahead and around. So, that was what your husband was capable of?

You immediately turned to the opposite side, where the other man was standing, to see what remained from him. Because, of course, nothing could survive such attack. It was when you held your breath: the man was alive.

And not only he was alive, but he was also defending himself: with his palms united and clenched against each other, he used his chakra to make colossal branches grow around him. Yes, he was producing pure wood with his power. You soon understood that they were the cause of the earthquakes: the strength with which they opened their way through the hostile ground moved the stones from their place, changing the land’s geography.

It was like the branches surrounded by fire were about to finish the world and leave nothing to tell the story.

You observed that man with more attention and felt like you knew him, but in a peculiar way; it was like you have met him in a dream, or during a moment when you were seeing with someone else’s eyes.

Whether you knew him or not, his presence and appearance impacted you almost as much as Madara’s: his red armor shone at the fire’s light, and around his shoulders’ protectors his long, dark hair floated with the hot winds coming toward him. Just like your husband, that man had a dark toned skin, as if he was touched by the sun the same amount of times as him, only visible through his face and hands; in his traits there was something distinct, softer despite the seriousness of the battle and the fact that he was surrounded by fire, something that made him look even younger than Madara. On that face, however, you saw a courage, a rage that was equal to his.

A sudden change in the atmosphere around you made you shiver. The air became warm, almost as pleasing as before you were dragged to that place, and now you were watching the battle without suffocating with the heat. This change was operated at the same time you felt a pair of known hands held your shoulders from behind. Not wanting to take your eyes off the events before you, you glanced over your left shoulder and whispered:

- Who... is that man? How can he stay alive with everything falling apart around him?

Somehow you sensed when Madara smiled; he seemed content with your surprise and interest. Right after came his reply.

- Look closer. Look at his forehead.

For the first time you noticed that the man was wearing a white protector around his head, covering his forehead. On its front you saw an emblem that answered all your questions as soon as you recognized it: you were a teacher once; you had to spent time surrounded by books and scrolls that told you the history of the land where you lived, and many times your eyes met the symbols of its most prominent clans. That symbol belonged to one of them – the Senju.

So that was…

Madara seemed to read your thoughts even before you verbalized them.

- I think you figured it out by now – you heard him laugh to himself – That man is the head of the Senju clan. His name is Hashirama. You’ve probably heard about him. About the cognomen that was given to him.

Your reply was automatic, as if it wasn’t coming from your mouth.

- The God of Shinobi.

- Yes. It’s good to see that you know part of the story – Madara complimented in a cheerful tone, ignoring what was taking place before you – This sensation you have, that you’ve seen him before, is easy to explain. You’ve seen him in my memories yesterday. Hashirama was the boy you saw at the river with me.

You turned to him to hear more, leaving the battle behind. Its sounds diminished as Madara spoke; what he had to say now was more important than that vision.

- Hashirama and I were friends at some point of our lives. This friendship did not last long, and perhaps it was for the best. Today, we are what you would call rivals. What you just saw is nothing compared to what he is capable of doing. And the same can be said about me, I must point out.

You sensed your eyes widening. What you just saw was enough for you to understand why people called him a god. Madara laughed at your reaction.

- Don’t you see, girl? – his fingers caressed your cheek as he spoke – This is one of the countless memories I have regarding our meetings. In this one in particular, we were not dancing with everything we got. We were just rehearsing.

- Dancing...? – you immediately remembered of your training and felt ridiculous.

- Hashirama is the only person who is able to dance in a way that entertains me. Things use to get a bit tedious when you are surrounded by people who aren’t able to follow your rhythm, so that someone like him is quite necessary. It brings balance to everything.

While those words were said, you felt a slow, subtle change in the environment around you two. The lights and shadows created by the fires and the wood were fading into something constant, calm as a morning sun, and the with it came a breeze that you welcomed with your heart after the intense atmosphere you experienced moments before as it brought delicate rosy petals to fly around you like silent birds.

You look around, at them, and saw that you were back to the garden. The vision was over, and the change in the scenario served as proof. Madara had his arms around you now, and you were grateful for that, for you weren’t sure if your feet wouldn’t fail you after your return to reality. When you raised to eyes to him, his eyes were dark again, and they were turned to you. Only then you felt the impact provoked by what you witnessed.

Just like the Senju warrior, Madara Uchiha carried enough power to transform the maps of the known world inside him. Yet he called the spectacle he just showed you a rehearsal, and your surprise and admiration was a source of diversion to him.

And to think that you were now the wife of such man, destined to sleep by his side for the rest of your life, and that his hands were around you, keeping you close as you trembled before a vision…

You laid your head on his shoulder and he tightened the embrace. You stood there in silence, sensing him breathing in and out; soon your own breath adjusted its rhythm to his. After everything you saw, it was clear that any preoccupation about his integrity was silly, not to say worthless. But you were the one who asked for an assurance, and Madara gave it to you.

You were going to be careful about what you ask from him from now on.

[ladylouoflothlorien]

For your touch I am yearning

Pairing: Haldir x Reader (Gender not specified) Words: 2291 Summary: You are an elf who is skilled at helping other elves figure out their emotions, but you are not necessarily so skilled at figuring out your own. Haldir comes across you trying to figure out why you’re feeling so down, and offers to help in whatever way he can. Warnings: This gets very STEAMY towards the ends. No smut, but lots of steam. It’s kind of like a Kettle.

AN: Can I just say, I’m kind of shocked that it’s taken two years for me to write something set in Lothlorien, when Lothlorien is literally in my name? Anyway! This is based on a prompt submitted to me by the lovely @saviorsong​.

Caras Galadhon, the heart of Elvendom on Earth, chief and central city of Lothlorien. Many Elves of the Golden Wood lived there, as did you.

The Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Their immortality gave them a sense of living outside time. Unlike humans, who must daily strive to understand themselves, their emotions, their place in the world, the Elves may take as long as they wish to discover such things about themselves.

Except, of course, when they can’t. Is it not the way of this world to contrive difficult situations for all? When faced with a distinct lack of time to mull things over, many Elves will find themselves struck with a rather uncomfortable lack of understanding of themselves and their emotions. When such circumstances occurred, many of the Elves of Lothlorien would turn to you.

You were an elf who’d been blessed with three younger siblings – a rare occurrence in a society where children were already uncommon, and when they could be found they often had no siblings to speak of. You had been born early enough that when your siblings had started to arrive, you’d been heavily involved in the upbringing of all three.

For the sake of peace within the family, you had quickly developed a deeper understanding of the emotions of others. This emotional intelligence had been invaluable in ending the feuds between your young siblings, and it was an emotional intelligence that few Elves, despite their general wisdom, shared. Therefore, if any elf was having trouble deciphering their own emotions, you were more than happy to help. Unfortunately, this was not a skill that extended to the understanding of your own emotions.

You all but sank into the bed in your Talan. You were absolutely exhausted, for all Elves are supposed to be tireless beings. There were many things that you had been intending to get done that day, and you had accomplished precisely none of them. It was not necessarily annoying, for the tasks could always be completed the next day, but the Elves around you seemed to be having more trouble than usual. You wondered if it had anything to do with the upcoming festival.

Still, there was something else bothering you other than physical exhaustion, and it was something that you could not quite place. You frowned slightly, wondering what exactly it was that you were feeling, but then there came a gentle knock at the door.

“Come in.” You called politely as you eased yourself back off the bed and into standing position to receive your guest.

The door opened slowly, and in walked Haldir, March warden of Lorien. You were surprised, but managed to bow your head lightly in respect.

“March warden.”

Haldir smiled a little and took a step towards you.

“We are friends, are we not? I have told you before that the use of my title between us is unnecessary.”

You smiled in return and raised your head, though in your exhaustion your smile did not reach your eyes, and Haldir noticed this.

“What brings you to my Talan at this hour, Haldir?”

Though you were always glad to see him – for you had long harboured feelings for the march warden – the visit was certainly unusual.

Haldir made a gesture for you to sit, and so you both settled on top of your bed, sitting a respectable distance apart and not touching, for physical touch is not a thing often practiced among Elves.

“I admit I noticed you on your way up here. You seemed out of sorts, so I thought to check on you. Please forgive the intrusion if it is unwanted.”

Your eyes narrowed slightly, for there was something a little off with Haldir. He seemed to be almost nervous, though you were hardly in a fit state to discover why, not with your own emotional problem to deal with.

“Do not trouble yourself my friend, an intrusion though this may be, it is not unwelcome.”

You glanced sideways at the other elf, who’s eyes widened a little at first in surprise, but then narrowed.

“You are teasing me.”

“I might be. You’re so formal with me – it is no wonder I still call you march warden.”

Haldir had opened his mouth to respond, no doubt with something teasing of his own, but then he paused and seemed to think better of it.

“Come now, do not distract me. I came to see of you are alright. Answer me truly, does something ail you?”

You looked down at your hands, which were resting on your lap.

“I would not burden you, Haldir.”

Haldir frowned at that, and seemed to lean a little closer, though he still kept distance between you.

“You could never be a burden. It is plan that you are troubled. Speak to me so that I might be able to help you.”

There was something in his tone of voice so earnest that you could not deny him.

“Very well. I confess I am troubled, though I hardly know what by. It came upon me earlier today, and I cannot seem to shift it.”

Your hands wrung together lightly as you spoke, clearly uncomfortable. Your mood had dropped rather dramatically, and Haldir quickly sought to lift it again.

“What’s this? The great emotional decipherer stumped by their own emotions? This would be quite the scandal if it got out.”

You tried to fix him with a glare, but your efforts in that department were fruitless, as you could not keep your mouth from twitching upwards. Haldir proceeded then, satisfied that you did not look so disheartened.

“I know your methods – I have seen you work your magic. I may not possess your skill but do remember I have two brothers of my own. Let us work through this, together. We will surely understand what is wrong soon enough.”

The corners of your eyes wrinkled as your smile widened. It was not difficult to consider yourself genuinely lucky to have Haldir as a friend, even if you secretly desired more than that from him.

“You know my methods? Go ahead then, I should like to see you apply them.”

You turned their body to sit cross-legged on the bed and watched as Haldir did the same.

“Think carefully – what’s different than usual that could have made you feel this way?”

Well, that was certainly a question you had asked many a time, and yet now that it was directed at you, you realised what a difficult question it was to answer. After a slightly drawn-out pause, you finally came upon your answer.

“I suppose… with my parents having sailed a few months ago and my brothers and sister now grown and visiting other lands… I have not had as much familial attention as I am used to.”

Internally, Haldir breathed a sigh of relief, for here was a problem he understood well, it was also something that wasn’t too serious. He had been dreading that you might somehow have heard the call of the sea, for if you had you would surely have decided to leave the shores of middle earth. Haldir did not think he could have borne it. It seemed, however, that you were not quite done with your explanation, and Haldir was more than willing to keep listening. Your cheeks had turned slightly pink, and Haldir was certainly curious as to why.

“My family… we are more physically affectionate than most… I must miss being held and touched, as I already missed them before today.”

At that, Haldir’s own face went rather red, for the solution to your problem was rather obvious and he had promised to help, still, it was a little taboo. Haldir swallowed, for it would surely wound his pride as march warden to back out now, but he could not help feeling rather nervous.

“Our solution is clear, then.”

Your eyes snapped up to look at him, wondering if Haldir was really offering himself as the elf for the job, or if he was simply stating that someone was needed.

“H-Haldir, I truly do not wish to impose… I do not wish to embarrass you.”

Haldir swallowed before speaking, though you did not notice this. Part of him felt guilt, for taking advantage of the situation in order to get close to you, but he would not, could not, back out now.

“You are my… friend, and we are alone. There is no imposition, and nothing to feel embarrassed about.”

He paused, holding his arms open slightly.

“Come here.”

You rather slowly and more than a little awkwardly manoeuvred closer to Haldir until you were close enough to him that Haldir could wrap his arms around you. You were stiff at first, but soon melted into the embrace with a soft sound. However, you soon felt better and as soon as you did, you felt that it would only be appropriate to end the embrace. Haldir had done so much for you. It would be wrong to take advantage of him.

“I’m feeling… much better now thank you.”

You said quietly, starting to lean back so as to move away from him. Suddenly Haldir’s arms tightened around you so that you could not get away, and he moved his head to hide it against your neck.

“Haldir, what are you doing?!”

“Do not ask me to let you go just yet, I cannot do it.”

His voice was a little muffled against your skin, but it was loud enough to hear clearly, so there was no possibility of mistake. You felt your pulse quicken and your throat dry as you rapidly tried to go through all the reasons he would say such a thing, and Eru help you, there weren’t many. Still, you could not jump to conclusions.

“M-my friend.” You began. “Do not let me mistake your intentions-”

Haldir looked up then, suddenly, his eyes looking straight into yours with pupils so blown it made his eyes seem black.

“Friends. Must we be friends?” He asked, earnestly, his fingers fisting at the back of your tunic where he held you. You merely gaped at him.

“For centuries I have buried my feelings but now that I have you in my arms I find I can do so no longer.” Haldir’s seeking gaze never left yours, and you could feel the heat of his hands through the thin fabric of your clothing.

“Tell me you do not feel the same and I will walk back out that door behind me.”

Haldir leant in and pressed his forehead against yours. You could feel his breath on your lips, and said absolutely nothing, for you were in such a state of shock that your feelings were returned that you were speechless.

“You say nothing!” He exclaimed, breathless and delighted, one hand leaving its place at the back of your tunic to tenderly – albeit shakily – caress the side of your neck. His voice dropped low, and finally his eyes left yours only to flick down to your lips.

“And yet now you must tell me that you do feel the same, or I can proceed no further.”

You finally snapped out of the dreamlike state you had been in since the first hint of Haldir’s true feelings. You flung your arms around his neck, fingers burying greedily into his thick golden hair, as you brought your lips to his so suddenly he jolted in surprise. Haldir righted himself almost instantly, kissing ardently back as he pushed you down onto the bed. When your back hit the mattress you gasped against his lips, and the march warden – ever ready to seize an advantageous opportunity – bit down on your bottom lip.

Your fingers moved in his hair and found his pointed ears, and you ran the pads of them fingers over the sensitive tips. Haldir’s hips jerked forward at the touch and he let out such a moan into the kiss that your legs seemed to wind around his trim waist all by themselves.

One of Haldir’s hands moved down your body to grasp your thigh. He squeezed firmly as he aligned your hips together, and you could not help but whimper against his lips at the hardness you felt there.

“Such pretty sounds you make.” Haldir’s voice was breathless and deeper than you had ever heard it before, and you writhed beneath him as he finally broke the kiss so that his lips could explore the sliver of exposed skin that your tunic afforded him.

“Have you truly yearned for me as I have for you?”

You were beyond words at that point, but could readily show him with your body, and so you rocked your hips up into his. Haldir’s grip on your thigh tightened deliciously and with a barely stifled groan he pressed his hips down to meet yours once, twice, and then suddenly his body went tense and he stopped all motion. You whined again beneath him, but this time from disappointment.

“Why did you stop?” You asked, panting so heavily the words were more puffs of breath than proper sounds.

He pulled his head up a little so he could look fondly down at his love, a sweet smile on his lips for all they were swollen from kissing. The sweet smile could not detract, however, from the near feral gleam in his eyes.

“I do not think your brothers, nor your sister indeed, would be pleased with me if I were to wed you here and now without any proper courting.”

Haldir leaned closer again, pressing his lips to your ear as he spoke softly.

“For if we had continued any further we certainly would have been married before the hour was up.” Forever Tags: @sweeticedtea @cd1242 @strongandfreedc @pixierox101​ @jotink78​ @luna-xial @underthemoon-imagines​

[cherrycocaineee]

9. Edward Elric - Old Friends

   Soft glowing rays of sunlight slipped through the curtains, touching my cool, pale skin. From downstairs, I could smell the incredible scent of Pinako’s cooking coming from beneath the door as my eyes opened. Winry’s footsteps echoed throughout the hall, each echo getting closer and closer. Within seconds, she was at my door knocking on it then barging in.  “Hinata!” She chirped, happily, “it’s time to wake up!” I pulled my body into the upright position, swinging my legs off my bed and touching the freezing wood with my bare feet. Softly rubbing my eyes, I listened to Winry tell me that she was going to be busy for a while and that there would be visitors coming later today. Normally Pinako and Winry told me who would be stopping by but recently, they’ve been keeping that a secret. I wasn’t sure if to surprise me, not that I had anyone to see anymore, or because they didn’t want me to worry about it. Either or, it was annoying because I didn’t like being kept in the dark. Plus, things between us were already weird for me, I didn’t want it to be weirder.  “Are you even listening, Hinata?” Winry’s voice whined.  I blinked several times, the spots in my eye floating away, before looking at her, “of course, Winry.” The two of us smiled at each other before she left to give me some privacy while I changed. After my shower, I dried and brushed out my long black hair, noticing that it almost reached my butt, then added some chapstick to my pink lips watching myself in the mirror with my grass green eyes. Next, I threw on some fresh clothing; nothing too special, just a light purple, short sleeve, cropped shirt and some black leggings that went to my knees.   As I came down the stairs, I could hear Winry and Pinako speaking to one another while Winry was setting the table for breakfast.  “It’s definitely been a long time, huh?” Winry asked, almost dreamily.  “It sure has,” Pinako whispered, “seeing both of them again.”  “Are you sure it’s a good idea to hide this from Hinata?”  “Her and Ed didn’t exactly leave on good terms. I don’t want to stress her out with a visit from him so suddenly. Maybe the sudden visit will prompt the two of them to remember how good of friends they were.”  “Ed sure has changed a lot, and so has Hinata.” I walked into the kitchen and looked at them. Pinako and Winry greeted me with a warm smile which I returned, despite finding out that they were keeping Edward Elric’s appearance a secret from me. Like Pinako said, Ed and I didn’t leave on good terms. It was complicated really, we were so young that I don’t even think it would be something he would even remember. I wanted to go with him and Alphonse, to train alongside them as Alchemist and help them get their bodies back, however, Ed had told me that I was weak. That there wasn’t anything I could bring to the table, unlike Winry since she was both raised by doctors and completely into automail. The whole argument hurt my feelings and we ended up never speaking again. After Ed and Al left to join the military, I left too, telling Pinako that there was no point in me sticking around since I was useless anyways. Though she tried to talk me out of it, I left anyway.   While travelling, I met an old man named Haru who was incredible when it came to hand-to-hand combat and possessed strong Alchemy. After some begging, Haru eventually took me in and trained me before he passed away. I now had two transmutation circles carved into both my wrists allowing me to use ice and fire alchemy, as well as me being able to do hand-to-hand combat. However, even to this day, Ed’s words whispered to me in the back of my head.  “She’s doing it again,” Winry sighed, dragging me out of my head, “honestly, Hinata, you zone out way too often.”  I giggled softly, “I’m sorry. I was just thinking about Edward and Alphonse returning home.” Both their eyes widened as I shoveled a mouth full of porridge into my mouth. Once I swallowed, I addressed their confusion.  “I overheard the two of you talking when I was coming downstairs.” “You were eavesdropping,” Pinako grumbled, shaking her head while chuckling.  A sweat drop appeared on my forehead as I laughed nervously, wondering how she always knew. The three of us continued eating breakfast while enjoying some small talk about nothing really. Winry, of course, was speaking about upgrading her automail techniques to make stronger limbs. I’ve seen a lot of her sketches and believe wholeheartedly that she would definitely be able to do something like that once she put her mind into it.  When breakfast was over, I started cleaning up the dishes for Pinako so she could relax. Winry was up in her room working. Time passed slowly as I cleaned up, glancing at the clock each minute, before there was barking coming from outside where Pinako and Den sat. I could feel my chest tighten as I heard Winry bouncing down the steps to greet both the Elric brothers, picturing a wrench in her hand as she hit Ed upside the head. Something I had learned from Pinako that she started doing when they visited. I picked up the red and white checkered kitchen towel to dry my hands, not taking my eyes off the freshly wiped down table. From inside the kitchen, I could hear them speaking and even heard another voice I didn’t recognize. For some reason, I started to feel drained.  Thinking I could make it to my room undetected, I moved quickly. Winry, on the other hand, had different plans. Quickly running inside before I reached the steps and snatching up my hand, dragging me outside despite my extreme protest to just go to my room. All of my nerves were shot and I started to feel sick to my stomach, yet Winry kept dragging me out to meet the brothers. Bright rays of sunlight assaulted my eyes as I felt my feet touch the porch. Winry called out to Ed and Al as the spots in my eyes faded away. I was greeted with the sight of Pinako, Den, Al, who was still in his armor, Ed, who wasn’t wearing his automail arm prompting his sudden visit, and a muscular male that I didn’t recognize.  “Ed! Al!” Winry sang, “look who else is here! It’s Hinata!” She had let go of my arm and I saw Ed smile wide. Even Al seemed excited, which I could only tell by him calling for me cheerfully. They both ran towards me, my heart racing as they got closer. Before they could get even closer, I slammed my hands together and touched the ground, shards of ice crystallizing and stopping in front of them making them halt abruptly. Winry and Ed’s eyes widened, but I only turned away and went to my room, locking the door behind me and sliding down. My knees pressed against my chest as I started hearing Ed’s words play over and over in my head. My earlier assumption was correct: Ed didn’t remember the hurtful things he said to me. Hot tears poured from my eyes while I sobbed quietly into my hands.

 Hours passed and the sun was now sitting over the house creating the afternoon heat I was so use to. I had finally stopped crying, tear streaks stained my flushed cheeks, but still remained in front of the door. I hadn’t realized how out of it I was until I heard a quiet tap on the door, noticing that I hadn’t even heard the footsteps approaching. My breath hitched in my throat as I listened.  “Hinata,” Al said, his voice quiet and sweet, “it’s Alphonse. Can I come in?”  Al and I have always gotten along, and even during my fight with his brother, he defended me. Slowly, I climbed to my feet and turned the doorknob, the soft breeze from the hall running into my room as I opened the door. Al stood there with a plate in his hand, the plate holding a single slice of apple pie with a dollop of whipped cream on top just how I liked it. Opening the door wider, I stepped to the side and he came in. The cinnamon aroma piggybacking onto the breeze and entering my nose making my mouth water. With Al inside, I closed the door and sat back down in front of it, him joining me.  “Granny said to give this to you,” he finally said, “thought it might make you feel better.”  “Thank you,” I whispered, taking the plate in my hands, feeling the heat radiating off the bottom.  We were quiet for a moment, but it wasn’t an awkward silence, it was comforting. I decided to ask him about the man I had seen earlier.  “Who was that other guy with you?” I asked, turning my green eyes to meet his glowing pink sockets.  “Oh, that’s Major Armstrong,” he answered, “Ed kind of works with him.”  “You don’t?”  “Not as a state alchemist. I couldn’t become one because they had to do a physical, but you know.” The physical would reveal that Al wasn’t exactly 100% Al, just a soul bound to a suit of armor. Nodding my head, I turned my attention back to the melting cream on the apple pie. Setting it on the ground, I wrapped my arms around my legs. “You’re still mad at Ed, huh?” Al asked. “I’m not mad,” I said, shaking my head, “but I’m not going to pretend it never happened either.” “Are you going to speak to Ed about it?” “How? We both know Ed isn’t one to sit and talk about something, he’s not in tune with female emotions.” “Brother’s changed a whole lot since the last time you’ve seen him. If anything, he’s become quite emotional as well.”  A soft laugh erupted from Al’s metal suit making me smile. For a while Al and I conversated with one another. Him telling me stories of their travels, the search for the philosopher stone, and more; then I told him about Haku and my training, explaining how I learned Alchemy and the different Alchemy I could do. Though eventually he had to go downstairs to see Pinako and Winry, telling me to come join them when I was ready. When he was gone, I sat on my bed with the pie before eating it. My mind was racing with different ideas of what to do. Should I go out there and see Ed, talk to him about the things he said to me or do I just sit in my room until he leaves? I stared at the empty plate in my hand.  “Guess I’ve got to go down there anyway.”  Putting on my slippers, I walked out of my room and headed to the kitchen. All except for Ed, who was standing, were sitting around the table. Den was holding a bouquet of white flowers in his mouth and I knew that Ed was heading to his mother’s grave. When I walked in, everyone looked at me. I placed my plate in the sink.  “Hinata,” Pinako called, “come over here and meet Major Armstrong.”  Deciding it was better not to argue, I walked over to everyone. Major Armstrong held out his hand, a bright smile appeared on his face. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Hinata,” he said, “I’m Alex Louis Armstrong.” “It’s nice to meet you as well, Major,” I greeted kindly. I decided to join them, even if I didn’t talk. Just seemed like the right thing to do. Soon though, Ed was leaving to go to the graveyard. Waving goodbye, he headed for the kitchen door before stopping suddenly, his gloved hand releasing the door as he turned towards me.  “Hinata, why don’t you come with me?” He asked, a small, hopeful smile on his face. “O-okay,” I said, standing up and following him out the house, Den following close behind. Even though I wasn’t looking at them, I could feel the others smiling in satisfaction. Ed opened the door for me and we started off towards his mother’s tombstone. It would be a lengthy walk and because neither of us were talking to one another, it was quiet too. Like this morning, the time seemed to pass at a snail's pace. I noticed that Ed was stealing glances at me the entire time, fiddling with the hem of his red coat sleeve. I raised my eyebrow curiously before turning to face him completely. His cheeks flared up, turning a light pink.  “How long are you going to be here for?” I finally broke our silence because it was becoming too awkward.  “Winry said my automail should be fixed in three day,” he stated, “so I assume in three days.”  “You aren’t going to stay longer?”  “I can’t. Al and I are still…”  “Searching for the philosopher stone, I know.”  I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was disappointed, part of me was hoping that Ed and Al would stay a little while longer. I’d missed them, despite us leaving on bad terms.  “You know,” Ed continued, “when I told Winry and Granny that I was coming home, I was kind of hoping you’d be here. The last few times I’d come, you hadn’t been. They said you left after that day.”  I nodded, “I did. I didn’t want to be a burden on Pinako and Winry like I was on you.”  As the words left my lips, I stared at the gravel beneath my feet. I hadn’t noticed that Ed had stopped walking until he grabbed my arm making me face him. Hot wind caught in both our hairs, brushing my own locks against my face.  “I never thought of you as a burden.” “Considering the other things you said to me before you left, I didn’t think you needed to.”  “Hinata, I shouldn’t have said those things and I should have apologized a lot sooner.” I just stared at him, unsure of what to do or even say. Instead, I just retracted my hand and looked away. Soon the two of us continued walking towards his mom’s grave, making small talk. When we got to the tombstone, I read Trisha Elric’s name on the large stone head piece. Trisha and I hadn’t known each other, she passed before I had the chance to meet her, and honestly, it made me sad because the way everyone spoke about her made her seem like she was the most amazing woman ever.   Ed kneeled down and removed the old crumbling flowers from the grave, and replaced them with the fresh ones that Den had carried all the way here. I knew Ed wasn’t religious, so I wasn’t expecting him to pray, so I went ahead and did so silently. It just felt like the right thing to do. As I was finishing up my prayer, I heard Ed sniffle causing me to open my eyes and look at him.  “Do you know why I said those things to you, Hinata?” He inquired, his voice low and quiet. I just watched him, the only thing I could even think to do. Ed only stood up, not wanting to face me and let me see the tears streaming against his face. I felt a small lump form in my throat as Ed started speaking again, answering his own question since I was unable to.  “I know it was harsh, I know that when I said it there was a possibility that you would never forgive me afterwards. But I couldn’t lose you too.” “What do you mean?” I croaked, ready to let tears spill from my own eyes once more. “I already lost my mom,” he whispered, choking back his sobs, “I lost Al when we decided to dude that stupid human transmutation. If I’d taken you with me, I was afraid I’d lose you. All the things I’ve seen so far in the last few years, they’re dangerous. I’ve almost been killed several times and I didn’t want you to get hurt. So when I showed up here and you thought I’d just forgotten, I didn’t. I had just hoped that you’d understand once you saw me that it was dangerous.”   I had seen him. He was missing half of his metal arm when he had arrived, and he was covered in bruises and scratches. Of course, even before he and Al left, I knew it was going to be dangerous. If I was being completely honest, I didn’t even want them to go, afraid that one day Pinako, Winry, and I would get the word that Edward and Alphonse were no longer with us. That I had lost two of my bestest friends. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to Ed and placed my hand on his shoulder.  “Well, I don’t need to be protected anymore,” I muttered, “even though your words hurt me a lot, and even though I’m still having a hard time getting them out of my head, they’ve helped me a lot. With those words, I was able to find my way to Haru and was trained. I’m more than capable of protecting myself now.”  “If you’re going to ask to come along now, my an-” “I’m not asking your permission, Ed,” I snapped, annoyed, “I’m going. Obviously you and Al need my help. After all, six eyes are better than four.”  Ed and I looked at one another, my hand sliding off of his shoulder as I smiled up at him. He was a bit taller than me, something he always appreciated. Ed wiped away his stray tears then returned my smile.  “You’ve definitely gotten bolder than when we were kids.” “And you’ve definitely become much more intune with your emotions.” The two of us shared a laugh before heading home. All the way home, Ed and I laughed and chatted up about things that have happened to them as they were gone. He told me about all the colorful characters in his life, including who he called a “pain in his ass”: Roy Mustang. When Ed and I got back to Pinako’s home, everyone was standing outside even Winry who had just moved her work outdoors. Den barked and took off running towards Pinako. Ed smiled wide before taking off towards our friends and family. I stopped in my tracks, staring at the sight before me, noticing all of them at once. Though I didn’t know Major Armstrong very well, just talking to him for a few minutes made me feel nice. And as I watched them, I smiled to myself.  This was nice. Being around all these people.  It felt nice to not be alone anymore.