#as someone who's been through that situation in the reverse of losing the opportunity to have a relationship with your child

[roobylavender]

i’m sure you’ve talked about it before but you expand more on your thoughts about talia & jason and how their relationship would be? what are some positives and negatives their interactions would bring? (your talia metas are everything)

thank you! on talia's end i think a lot of it would come down to balance and restraint. because there are a lot of unpredictable factors at play and on top of it her tutelage of jason coincides with her last years under her father's thumb so there's parts of herself that she's beginning to close off out of self preservation and exhaustion. that's why i like the placement of under the hood right after the close of lexcorp era even if it obv wasn't intended because it puts her in a place comparatively to take all of the risks after a year of complete physical and emotional isolation. and even then i feel like there would still be a lot of restraint because of the guilt over her part in jason's various massacres. i could see her reprimanding him but in a very cautious and empathetic way so as not to set him off the way bruce would if he was the one lecturing him. so like.. not quite in the realm of mothering but maybe teetering on the edge of it. and i do think talia would try to maintain some distance out of respect for his history. which may or may not fuck with jason emotionally because as possessive as he is of his own grief i do think he'd long for even the smallest semblance of what he thinks he could get. like guarded as he is he would certainly soften to her over time and abide by her guidance even if he didn't necessarily verbalize the fact. i don't really know that i'd see any negatives between them like at worst it would be awkward and strained because he wouldn't be sure of how to place her in his life and she wouldn't want to overstep

[arcanareads]

For Elain. Not for romance. I want to know more about her (current state and future state), her current and future relationship with her family, and her dreams about herself, her family, and the world around her.

For Lucien, not for romance as well. His relationship with himself, his family, and his friends outside the night court.

Lastly, will these two bring change to Prythian?

tysm!

The cards and I thank you for your questions!

What can the cards tell us about Elain's current state: 8 of wands

What can the cards tell us about Elain's future state: ace of cups reversed, 10 of cups, temperance, page of wands, 4 of pentacles

What can the cards tell us about Elain's current relationship with her family: 5 of swords, 2 of wands, the magician reversed

What can the cards tell us about Elain's future relationship with her family: the high priestess reversed, 9 of pentacles

What does Elain dream about for herself: queen of pentacles reversed, 8 of cups

What does Elain dream about for her family: 6 of cups

What does Elain dream about for the world around her: 6 of swords, 4 of cups reversed, 3 of cups reversed, 6 of wands reversed

What is Lucien's relationship with himself: the magician, 10 of swords reversed, judgment, the emperor, 7 of cups reversed

What is Lucien's relationship with his family: ace of cups sideways, page of wands sideways

What is Lucien's relationship with his friends outside of the Night Court: ace of cups reversed, the chariot, 3 of cups

Will Elain and Lucien bring change to Prythian: 10 of cups

8 of wands: this card brings a vitality of the spirit and encourages you not to hesitate because now is the time to act. This card brings a message that it is essential to complete every task before you move on to the next thing

Ace of cups reversed: this card signals that it is time to curb your emotions so you can see a situation clearly and find the best path forward. This card also suggests that you have repressed your emotions for too long and have become cold or distant as a result

10 of cups: this card denotes a time of utmost joy and can also signal the start of a romantic relationship that will be a lifelong affair. Bask in all the positive energy this card brings and know that good luck will soon enter your home

Temperance: this card represents someone who projects grace and calm on the outside whole actively solving problems and figuring out how to resolve complicated issues on the inside. This card is a sign to take a long-term view when setting off on a journey or seeking a solution

Page of wands: this card represents someone who loves adventure, brings free-spirited energy to situations and is ready to take in all the world has to offer

4 of pentacles: this card denotes an inability to feel secure despite having gained much wealth. A warning that focusing on what you may lose will stop you from enjoying what you have now

5 of swords: this card signals a hard-fought battle that was won, but the cost may be higher than expected. It could be a loss of friendship at the expense of being right or a conflict that will leave you feeling isolated

2 of wands: this card brings opportunities for travel and life-changing decisions and reminds you that each journey offers new experiences. This card encourages you to get out of your comfort zone because destiny is waiting

The magician reversed: this card suggests that you have fallen prey and become a gullible victim. Look inward and ask yourself if your motives are pure of heart

The high priestess reversed: this card signals that your connection to your inner self has been lost and encourages you to take time for yourself and allow for communication to come to you through the quietness of the spirit. Pay attention. There is magic in this world, and you need to allow yourself the chance to experience it

9 of pentacles: this card may represent the near completion of a goal or objective that will be successful. It can also imply a life of wealth and comfort, both materially and emotionally

Queen of pentacles reversed: this card represents someone who is over-bearing and controlling. The energy at this time is fear-based and manipulative which has lead to a lack of harmony

8 of cups: this card asks you to look inward and determine what you want from life and what is important to you. This card suggests that although it will be difficult to walk away, it may be necessary for you to achieve true happiness

6 of cups: this card encourages you to take a break and remember a time when you felt free to enjoy life. It is time to rejuvenate your spirit

6 of swords: this card signals it is time to cut your losses and start anew. This decision will not be easy, and you may feel regret, but once your journey is complete, you will find the sacrifices worth it. Focus on new opportunities instead of the loss.

4 of cups reversed: this card indicates that your hard work has paid off, and any hardships you're experiencing will soon come to an end

3 of cups reversed: this card suggests that you feel like your voice isn't being heard or you feel like you are being bullied by a group. This is a sign to reconnect with faithful friends who may have drifted away

6 of wands reversed: this card is a warning that your project will not be as successful as you've imagined. You may also find yourself in a situation that could risk your reputation. These are merely warnings, how things end will depend on you and your actions. This card asks if you are maybe getting in your own way

The magician: this card brings energy to manifest transformative ideas. This card represents the first steps of generating success and the ability to carve out the desired path through difficulty using life experiences and a pureness of heart

10 of swords reversed: this card suggests that you are focusing on only the negative and looking for reasons to distrust. This card is a warning not to let the fear of betrayal stop you from living fully. If you focus only on the bad, you risk manifesting them

Judgment: this card may signal a recent awakening that has led you to examine any habits or life choices that are holding you back

The emperor: this card brings a solid foundation of order and provides a sense of security and stability. This card brings order to chaos and represents a strong leader who commands devotion through wisdom and integrity and is ready to share knowledge with those around them. Through fearless determination and expertise, will you manifest success

7 of cups reversed: this card warns that you are busying yourself to avoid facing reality, and it is stopping you from realizing your dreams

Ace of cups sideways: upright this card denotes the start of a beautiful and loving relationship, which offers both spiritual and physical fulfillment. You are drawn to those on a similar spiritual path

(For this reversed reading, find it above)

Page of wands sideways: reversed, this card indicates a project that is stuck or can't get off the ground due to unforeseen complications. You may have lost interest. This card may also represent someone entering your life as an aggressive and immature bully

(For the upright reading, find it above)

The chariot: this card is a sign to go forward with confidence and know that your well-executed plan will be a success. This card encourages you to summon your power to fly above barriers and soar through obstacles. Harness your aggression and extract only the positive energy needed to finish your tasks

3 of cups: this card reminds you that play is necessary and we all need to take time to enjoy moments with friends and family

[hyperfixation-or-death]

Okay, so. Very long analysis of Parallels (Disney 2022) ahead.

First part of the analysis: Victor has a tendency to go along with Romane's ideas/plans/decisions. Episode 1, Romane jokingly suggests that they all leave their homes and move to a cabin in the woods. Victor says that he's up for it, and the conversation continues. (This one is joking/lighthearted, so it's less relevant. Just including it so I have every instance of it.) Episode 4, when Romane starts leaving after Sofia told her and Victor to stay in the house, Victor asks what she's doing. Romane says that she has to check on Camille, and Victor immediately offers to come with her. When she declines, he asks if she's sure one more time before she leaves. Episode 4, Romane tells Sofia that they all want to be their original ages again, and turns to Victor to back her up, which he does. Episode 4, when Romane tells her friends that her mom had a heart attack, Sam questions how she knew that, and Bilal reminds her that Sofia had told them not to leave. After Romane snaps at them that it's already done, Victor just asks if her mom is okay, which she confirms. Episode 4, Romane tells her friends about her plan to get Camille away from Herve, Victor is silent as the others briefly argue. He only speaks up at the end, to state that he's coming as well. Episode 4, Victor, upon seeing Romane in danger, immediately uses his powers on Herve. Episode 5, Victor, now facing the consequences of that decision, turns to Romane to back him up. When she stays silent, he is visibly hurt and angry, loses control of his powers, and storms out immediately after.

Second part of the analysis: Aside from everything else going on at this point that added to the tension between Victor and the others, do you think maybe his mindset at this point is like: "I am supporting and going along with my friend's questionable/risky ideas and therefore demonstrating how much I care about and trust her. I am going to have her back in every situation without question or hesitation. Because that's what friends do."

And then the argument happens. And Romane, still upset by what happened with Herve, doesn't come to his defense. (Off-topic, but it just occurred to me: do you think watching Herve age and collapse reminded Romane of her mom's heart attack and death? Because I just thought of that, but it makes sense to me.) And Victor, who has completely correlated Romane's willingness to support his decisions with Romane's care for him as a person, feels betrayed. Because he would have defended her if she had done it.

Third part of the analysis: This mindset of "I am expressing care for my loved ones in the way I want people to care about me. This is a universal thing, right? This is how everyone else is going to prove they love me, and this is how to prove it to everyone else in turn."? It's present in his whole family. And it causes problems.

It's why Sam couldn't successfully talk Victor down in the cabin. Sam tried talking it out, admitting Victor was right. He owned up to a mistake and took responsibility for what had happened. (Y'know, exactly what he had been trying to get Victor to do in episode 5?) Because it's what would have worked for Sam, if their positions had been reversed. Sam had wanted Victor to realize that his actions had hurt people, specifically Sam in the case of the fire. Sam had also wanted to talk through the building tension ever since episode 1, but Victor kept brushing him off. So, when Victor's breaking down in the finale, Sam takes the concept of what he wants someone to say to him, and he says it to Victor, giving him the opportunity to talk things out. It doesn't work. Because they're different people.

And then, to a lesser extent but still present: Alice and Arnaud.

The majority of Arnaud's interactions with Victor involve him demanding Victor be more respectful of his authority, that he control his tone and watch his attitude. Then, in the cabin scene, it's obvious how much Victor is hurting, was probably obvious ever since he snapped that Arnuad had always wanted to hit him. And in the cabin scene, something shifts. Arnaud is suddenly quiet and calm. He rarely speaks in that scene, and he mostly keeps his gaze cast downward. And, listen. It is very possible that Arnaud was treating Victor as a potentially deadly threat in the cabin scene, and that's why he was being cautious. Not denying that. But isn't it also possible that Arnaud has spent a while equating demonstrated respect with demonstrated care? Isn't it possible he's reacting the way he wanted Victor to react when Arnaud was the one with the control over the situation? He's treating Victor with respect now. He's doing what would have worked on him, if their positions had been reversed. It absolutely does not work. Because they are very different people.

Alice explains the reasoning behind her actions towards her kids. She tells Victor about her feelings and her motives. In the same scene, she admits that she never understood Victor. Earlier in the show, she expresses a similar sentiment to Sofia: she feels that she's failing her children, that she can't understand them. Alice, despite her lack of significant effort towards this goal, wants to understand Victor. So she tries to get Victor to understand her. Because it's what she would have wanted. It's what would have worked for her, if the roles had been reversed. Needless to say, this doesn't work, they're different people, you get the point by now.

Fourth part of the analysis: So, it's this recurring issue, of Victor, Sam, and their parents all somewhat lacking the understanding that what they consider a demonstration of caring about someone isn't necessarily a universal constant to prove affection. And it put some strain on Victor and Romane's relationship, and it put a lot of strain on Sam and Victor's relationship, and it almost led to tragedy in the cabin scene.

Fifth part of the analysis: But it didn't. Because, at the end of the day, Romane and Victor understood each other enough for her to get through to him. She hadn't defended him during the episode 5 argument, and Sam hadn't defended him in episode 1, and both instances had hurt because he was viewing that kind of unwavering support as proof of love. But then Romane freezes time and hugs him. And we see the flashbacks of them throughout the season, and we're reminded of how physically affectionate the kids have been throughout the show. And that's an expression of love that they have in common. And that moment is the breakthrough moment, when Victor realizes that Romane's cared about him this whole time and never stopped. And then Sam and Bilal come over, and join the hug, and Victor gets that emotional resolution. It's a wordless communication between the four of them.

Sixth part of the analysis: Then later in the finale, Sam does defend Victor to their parents. He provides the support that Victor wanted, he proves that someone's on his side in the most clear and concrete way possible.

So, Victor realized in that field that the others loved him (despite not demonstrating it in the way he had been waiting for them to) and Sam realized on those stairs what Victor needed him to do (despite it being different from what he, himself, wanted someone to do for him).

We don't really see Alice or Arnaud have that kind of realization, which is fine because they're side characters and I don't like them anyways.

Concluding thoughts: Does any of that make sense? Please let me know. Also I'm very aware this could all be complete nonsense, but. Idk. I feel like I'm frantically gesturing at a conspiracy board right now.

Any thoughts on the analysis?

[celestial-spiritual]

PAC: What the Full Moon in Virgo will Mean for You/Advice!

~*Disclaimer*~ This is a general reading and is done through my own, personal interpretation of the cards. If it doesn’t resonate, that’s okay! Move on, or maybe pick another card! (I wouldn’t do more than two though). I hope this is helpful and fun for anyone participating! 

Now, close your eyes and take a cleansing breath. Let your intuition guide you towards a pile - you already know what is calling you!

Pile One (Betta)   Pile Two (Bunny)   Pile Three (Raven)

Pile One: Betta Fish

Signifier: Two of Swords

Cards: Knight of Swords (reversed), Four of Wands, Page of Cups

Hello my lovely pile one! For this full moon, the phrase that I’m hearing is “two sides of the same coin.” Either you have been, or will be, presented with a decision that will cause an internal conflict between your emotions and intellect. This could be an emotional opportunity, as indicated by the Page of Cups, and you will need time to turn it over in your mind. While you may usually be a “go with the flow” kind of person, you’re going to be in a position of overthinking. You have to remember that your emotions and your thoughts don’t have to be mutually exclusive, they don’t have to fight. There is a solution that your heart and mind can settle on. Meditate, or seek council from those you feel most stable around (family and/or friends).  In your deliberation, don’t let opportunities slip! (Unless you decide that would be the most beneficial solution). Just don’t avoid the situation... You may be prone to insecurity at this time, so have faith in yourself and the people who love you.

Key words: Insecurity, Balance, Idealism, Stalemate/Truce

Pile Two: Rabbit

Signifier: Five of Wands

Cards: The Moon (reversed), Seven of Pentacles, Three of Swords

My dear pile two, you may be up against some overbearing forces this month. The Five of Wands indicates some sort of conflict or competition that is hindering your ability to progress. Try to keep the bigger picture in mind, and keep a calm head through any difficult times. The Moon indicates secrets being revealed and disillusion being dispelled; while this may be painful, try not to shy away from feeling those feelings. I’m not saying let them rise up and cause more conflict, but take time to sit with them and see how you feel. This could be a betrayal from someone in your life, or a realization that you’ve been living in a fantasy land. Remember, what you have control over is the present, and that’s IT. The Seven of Pentacles says you are laying a foundation that will affect you later on, so try to keep a clear mind. This could be a business or school venture that is suffering from conflict and you may have to mediate. All will be revealed in time, just try to lay the best foundation you are able to with the information you have. If you can keep cool and acknowledge your emotions in a mature way, this turmoil has the potential to help set you up for a better future!

Key Words: Conflict, Betrayal, Confusion, Reveal, Results, Review, Patience

Pile Three: Raven

Signifier: The Star (reversed)

Cards: The World (reversed), Kind of Swords (reversed), Nine of Cups (reversed)

Oh pile three! You’ve been having a rough go at it. You may be losing your passion or feeling bitter about a series of hardships. I’m so sorry, love! The Nine of Cups reverses shows that despite achieved some sort of goal, you still feel underwhelmed. Something is lacking. Maybe there's an issue with addiction stopping your from getting full joy out of your life? You have a lot of power in your life, but don’t misuse this! Try to be a bit more subtle with your intellect and ability to control, don’t manipulate those around you. If you’re having an issue with deciding something, look inward. You are rational and SMART, you can find a path through these endearing traits! The World reversed indicates the closing of a cycle. Like the Nine of Cups, it shows something is lacking - perhaps you’re missing closure from a failed relationship? Or a career goal that didn’t pan out? However, you have to make amends with the past so you can continue for the future. I’m not saying to text them, I’m saying you should ask yourself some important questions: Why are you allowing this person/event/goal to affect you so much? How can you find closure on your own? What are small things you can do to respark your passion and get your groove back? Pile three, I’m sorry things have been troublesome, but remember you are a Star!!! Remember all the great things you have accomplished, rather than just scrutinizing any failures. Don’t fall into pessimism, but don’t get too big for your britches either! 

Keywords: Incompletion, Addition, Arrogance, Pessimism, Discouragement, Cynicism, Aggression 

Tada! Thank you for reading; this is my first PAC so I hope you enjoyed! Dividers are from  @animatedglittergraphics-n-more. If any of this resonated and you would like to help a collegiate spirit worker, feel free to drop me a dime on v3nm0 @kiite. Not necessary, but very much appreciated!

[skyborn-reads]

🎆 Message From The Universe

“...for when you hear thunder, it's only the Universe clearing Its throat to drop more tea on you.”

Pictures source

Sky 1 — Pathways

Cards drawn: Eight of Swords, Four of Pentacles

There are mainly three groups who choose this pile. Some of you want to escape the current rhythms of life. Some of you want to stay. Some of you don't know whether you should stay or leave. You stand right where you are but your eyes are darting here and there. I hope this reading helps all of you in your quest, whichever way you wish to go or remain.

To people who want to break free from the past rhythms of life — no longer will you be bound to stagnancy. The worst has passed and you have bore witness to its trials and tribulations. Now the Universe is asking you if you dare to make that one choice to free yourself from the burden. Be aware, as the crossroad is nigh.

To the ones who want to stay — there's something you're holding onto. You won't want to leave because you still feel there's gold to be mined where you are, metaphorically speaking. You still see the benefits of staying where you are, and you're right, but it would take a struggle to mine the gold, and you won't always get what you want. The Universe trusts you to make the best decision for yourself. So whether to charge towards the next stop or lay low in wait, the choice is up to you, always up to you.

To people whose eyes are darting around looking lost — ask yourself what you want and what your priority is. You have many options and it seems like every path bears fruit, but there is one path that is meant for you, and you're the best person to decide which one it is. Good luck, because you might meet challenges on your path that will strengthen you and help you become stronger and wiser than you are now.

To all of you — the next months will be an eye-opening experience for you. You'll see the true face of many people, see your situation from different viewpoints. You'll understand the rhythm of things and even be able to predict how it would eventually lead. You're safe and guided. You'll land where you want to land, but first as already mentioned there will be tests, and fortunately luck will be at your side 🍀

Your journey will be easier if you know what to hold onto and what to let go. You seem to want to hold onto more than you can but some of those things no longer serve you. Do you see their true value? Do you know what's good for you and what will ultimately cause you more sorrow? Release them now. It will be painful, but it will be worth it in the long run. There is an end to everything. By releasing them you will see joy and freedom as never felt. I wish you guys a lot of love and a lot of happiness 💚🍀💚

Sky 2 — Gifts

Cards drawn: Ace of Wands (reversed), Page of Wands

You lose something, you gain something. You've recently let go of something, but you'll be a lot grounded from your experiences and will have an inner knowing of what's good for you and what's not. Imagine waking up from a restful sleep to a cool relaxing morning. You'll feel recharged, there's nothing in this world that you cannot accomplish. You'll gain true inner strength, my dears, but not overnight. The next coming months of your life will be one that your future self will look back to and smile, for you'll transform a lot, you're the mountain in the woods — grounded, serene and wise.

Also, some new opportunities are coming your way 💚 For some of you you'll meet new people who bring you fortune, some of you will receive money, or a new investment. For some of you, your future partner will be stepping into your life in the coming months 😁💕

You'll also have a new goal. This goal will make you feel hopeful and giddy. There's a lot of love vibes here so the goal can be in the romance apartment. Some of you will be going on a date! You'll find your heart overflowing with love and the ecstacy of new love 💖 Congratulations to you!!

For others of you, your heart will be a desert no more and the warmth of self love will flow through you. By showing love to yourself, you're manifesting your future lover into your life. Take it step by step and don't rush. They will enter your life surely, and if you practise self love you will be on your best state to welcome them.

Sky 3 — Blocks

Cards drawn: Eight of Swords, The Star

This pile shares the swords card with the first pile, but unlike the first pile which is active in their quest, there's a very oppressed and stagnant energy here. I hope you guys are okay. Someone doesn't want to move forward, I feel this someone is you. You might fall victim to your limiting beliefs, believing that you are restricted, but your current situation will not improve if you don't actively make a move. I hear “make a different choice”. If you feel stuck in the same situations over and over again, it's time to make a different choice. Stop being passive. Choosing the same doors every time won't bring you to new destinations. I feel you already know that, but there's no action from your part that affirms that you want a change.

I'm sorry to say that nobody will be able to help you if you choose to remain where you are. You must first make a move. When you do, even if the road ahead might be rocky, you'll encounter people who will help you. For some of you you have kept something in your heart for a long time. You want to say it but you fear what would happen if you do. Your current situation is what happens when you don't. You're called to make a decision — which way will you choose?

You might have also recently left a toxic part of your life, be it environment or people. Your heart has tears flowing, but the Universe congratulates you on your decision to leave this situation. Soon flowers will blossom from your tears, and you'll see that they lead you to a happier place, one where you'll feel you finally belong, one where happiness resides deep within your soul ❤️ Pile 3, are you ready to welcome this change into your life? Lick your wounds for however long you need. When you're ready, the stars will shine bright for you, and you'll know where to go.

“Be it rain or blizzard, my heart stays with you.” — someone who loves you.

Sky 4 — Pillows

Cards drawn: Death, Ten of Cups

You feel tired, dears, worn out. What you've been through must be rough. Please take a rest before you continue on your path, and don't argue with me. You need the rest.

You've seen lots over the past few months of your lives, things that made you question loyalty of people who you once loved. You are starting to have doubts whether you've made the right choices all along. You have, you're just going through setbacks but the sun still rises at the darkest times. Tomorrow we'll rise and try again, shall we?

The Universe advises you to spend time in solitude to reassess your life. Don't take everything in one go, try to adopt a slow and peaceful eye to your inner thoughts. Immerse yourself in your hobbies, this time not to make money or stress yourself out, but to take the time to enjoy them as only hobbies that are meant to bring you joy. They will make you feel so loved, and you'll start to see that there's warmth to every melting candle, there are things to appreciate in every low point in life. The Universe will be gifting you a change of perspective, my dears. Because in order to grow one must first see that there is more to life than how it used to be. Soon, you'll grow wiser in mind.

But a change of perspective isn't all that the Universe will offer you. You'll soon receive an offer, an invitation if you will to make a choice. This choice will pave the way to your future family, a loved one who will adore you like the diamond you are, and most importantly, true emotional connection. For some of you this person is a soulmate. Please note that this is only the beginning towards meeting them. This path will have its own challenges, challenges on you, on your future spouse, and on the connection between you two. So take my advice and rest up first my loves, you'll need it for what's next 💖💤💖

[rwrights]

WE'LL BE OKAY - NAT.

summary : nat and you never got along. reasons still unknown, but it was affecting the whole team. steve assigns you both to a mission, with natasha acting harshly. she said something to you before heading off. she got in your head and the aftermath wasn't so pretty.

contents : angst (??) / fluff

warnings : mentions of blood, guns, bullying, cursing and just occasional marvel fight scenes.

NOT PROOFREAD. a/n : my first fic aaaahhh !! i was inspired by a lot of similar fics like this, but mostly by this WANDA FIC WRITTEN BY @/maximons - i suggest you give it a read BCS ITS SO GOOD ARRGH <3

you don’t know how the feud started between you and natasha. you couldn’t tell if it was because of your age or because you were new.

you had quite an age gap with the former assassin, being a striking 24 years old, but according to the russian - you might as well have been 12 years of age.

unlike most of the avengers, you had a decent childhood. it wasn’t filled with trauma, and death, and basically what some of them unfortunately went through. you grew up in the suburbs with your mum and two older siblings. you got all the toys you wanted and everyone loved you! because of that, you were always polite and cheery - it’s what made people like you. you were funny and usually managed to put a smile on people faces ; usually.

natasha found your positivity irking and unnatural. how could someone be so, happy? she felt as if you were shitting rainbows down her throat, and god, did she hate it. how could someone like you even have the guts to be an avenger?

she enjoyed picking fights with you out of nowhere, and as fun as it was at first - the hostility only progressed and became a disruption to the whole team, including you. you tried your best to really become friends with natasha - or at least be civil with her. but the more effort you made, the worse she treated you. all you wanted to do was make it a little easier for the team, you all have enough crap to put up with and the quarreling between the both of you was definitely not needed.

─── donk.

“nat! y/n! conference room one, now!” steve’s loud voice called out through the speakers placed throughout the compound.

you set your book aside before running down to the conference room as you were told. you walked passed natasha, already giving you a sharp glare from afar. she adjusted her speed and basically ran to where away from you. you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at her as you trailed behind.

you entered the room, greeting everyone politely before sitting down next to wanda, who saved a space for you.

“alright, now that we’re all here..” cap began, walking around the table where you were all sat. “we’ve got a mission for two of you,”

“did you call us here to compete for it? because i am so getting this mission.” natasha stated, pointing at everyone as if she was threatening them. “uh, no.. not exactly. we’ve already assigned the mission to two of you..”

“who?” she asked, wanting to leave the compound immediately and get some action (not the peepee way).

“you and y/n,”

hearing your name, you just froze. you couldn’t help but stare at steve as if he was out of his mind.

“what?!” natasha squeaked. “i’m sorry, but there is no way i’m going with her. it’s probably best if i go on my own!”

“that’s just mean..” you replied quietly, in your seat. you weren’t in the mood to argue, so you tried to contribute as little as possible into this conversation. “cap, if natasha doesn’t want to do the mission with me, i’m totally fine with sitting this one out.”

“oh, don’t suck up and use your y/n reverse psychology on this. it’s not gonna work,” she spat, obviously mad about the whole situation. “nat, i’m being serious. i know how much you’ve been dying to go out, so please. just take it.”

“no, y/n, you’re going with nat. we’ve decided this already.” steve stepped in, trying his best to set his foot down. “steve, i think you know this isn’t going to happen.” natasha glared.

“you either go together or y/n takes someone else.”

“steve! i swear i’m fine!” you argued, seeing how natasha’s ears were practically steaming from anger. “i-”

“no, you know what? fine. enjoy your mission, y/l/n.” she growled as she stormed out of the room. you couldn’t do anything but watch as she slammed the door shut. as much as you wanted to chase after her, you and everyone else in the room knew you’d probably make the situation a thousand times worse for natasha. you sighed and slammed your head on the table in exhaustion.

“we’re sorry, y/n. we thought her need for a mission would make her say yes even with the partnership.” bucky said from the other side of the room. your head shot up almost as quickly as you blinked. “what do you mean?”

“we thought sending you two on a mission together could… make the arguing stop - even by a little.” steve explained, sighing. you laughed at them, did they really think that would work? did they know the obstacles you went through to try to get on her good side? your first few weeks were HELL because of it.

“it’s alright.. clint? what do ya say?”

“always up for a mission, y/l/n.” he smiled, giving you a fistbump.

─── donk.

clint knocked on natasha’s door after the meeting. “nat? it’s me,” he called, nat opening the door a few seconds after.

“can you believe them? they know how much i dislike her and they’d send me on a mission with her? Bozhe mo! (oh my god!)”

“nat, y/n is awesome. it’s been months, it’s getting tiring.”

“oh, please. it took forever to get any of you guys to trust me. doesn’t mean it has to be the same with her.”

“nat, she’s a kid!”

“ugh, don’t say it like that. it makes my thoughts uneasy..” nat replied, mock-gagging. clint glared at her as he playfully shoved her. “you’re so stupid.”

“and oh, i’m going on the mission with her.”

“wait what?! but you’re my best friend, why would you take it!” she exclaimed. “i never say no to a mission, nat. you and i both know that. i thought you did, too.”

“i would’ve taken it, but.. no! i’m not losing this fight.” she huffed as she fell on the bed. “turn the tv on, i need to distract myself.”

he did as he was told and decided to stay and watch with her until dinner.

─── donk.

it was the day of your mission and you were making your way to the hangar. to your surprise, you saw natasha waiting there. you smiled at her only to receive another sharp glare. yeah, what a surprise. you looked away and decided to wait for clint.

not long after he arrived and said his goodbyes to natasha, just as you were going to aboard the ship, she grabbed your wrist and whispered in your ear.

“you’re gonna trip and get yourself shot, y/l/n.”

“what the hell? i’ve barely left and you’re already telling me i’m gonna fuck up?” you retorted, angrily. you weren’t in the right state to panic or stress. especially not before you were leaving. “have fun, y/n.” she smiled, dripping in faux kindness.

you followed clint onto the ship and couldn’t help but shake in fear. great, now you were worried. you didn’t want to fuck up. you weren’t planning to.

“you’ll be okay, y/l/n. i’ve got your back.” clint reassured, seeing the panic clouding on your face.

“thank you..” you mumbled, but natasha’s words never left your head.

─── donk.

“something seems off, clint.” you whispered, looking around and keeping your guard up. “i agree, y/l/n. it’s too quiet.. too easy.” he replied.

just as you were going to reply, someone charged at you from behind, getting a hold of your throat. by instinct, you kicked his shin and flipped him around. “clint!” you called out as you knocked your attacker out.

suddenly, groups of people were coming towards you - fully armed. “clint!” you screamed, pulling your gun out and shooting as many of them as you could. “shit!”

“y/n, it’s a trap!” clint finally replied, making you roll your eyes as you threw your fist at a guy’s temple. “yes, clint, i’m aware!”

“keep your guard up, y/l/n. you can do this!”

“there’s-” kick. “too many-” elbow. “of them!” shoot.

“try to hold out for as long as possible! i’m on my way,”

you looked up to see more men charging at you. “ah fuck,”

you grabbed one of the guns from the guys you managed to knock out and aimed. “clint, i can shoot right?” you asked for permission, not knowing if you were supposed to kill them or just simply knock them out.

“yes, y/n. you can shoot.”

“thank you!”

you silently thanked god for the gun you chose and started shooting at the guards. you quickly threw it away as they ran out of bullets and grabbed two pistols and continued to run and shoot away.

as you focused on getting a certain guard, one of them slid under you, quite literally slipping you off your feet - probably making you twist your ankle, giving one of them an opportunity to get a clean shot of your thigh.

the bullet went through your thigh, making you scream in pain. “fuck!” you shot back at him immediately and slid up onto the wall.

well great, another thing natasha was right about.

“y/n?!” clint called, hearing you scream. the worry in his voice was evident, it managed to make you smile for a second until you dodged another bullet.

“i’m okay!”

no, you weren’t. you could barely stand with your fucked up ankle and the hole in your thigh, but you continued to shoot and fight.

“just.. hurry up, please!”

you used your bad leg to kick a guy down and use him as a ledge. you cursed as you ran out of bullets. there were guns scattered across the floor, thanks to you. you just grabbed the nearest ones and looked back up.

as quickly as you did, a shot went through your shoulder and your abdomen. “gah fuck!” you collapsed on the floor as you tried to control the bleeding. you got up for a second to shoot back at the closest people and went back down. “clint, hurry up!” the pain was too much, the bleeding wouldn’t stop and your ankle looked like a fucking bean. you started to get nauseous, but tried your best to stay up.

“i’m here!” he yelled as he aimed at a few people in front of him. he ran towards you, finally seeing your state. “oh my god!” he kneeled down, putting pressure on your wounds to help with the bleeding, but the blood just kept seeping through “you just said you were okay, idiot!”

“i know, i didn’t want to worry you..” you mumbled. “no, no! y/n, you have to stay awake. come on!” he picked you up and started running away to go back to the ship. “you’re okay, y/n. tell me you’re okay right now.”

“i’m okay.. i’m okay, clint.”

“yeah, yeah, you are.”

you tried making it to the ship, but you were already so tired. “i’m gonna nap, clint..” you said before passing out.

─── donk.

clint alerted steve about you right when you passed out. they were rushing you out to the med bay to perform surgery on your injuries.

“she told me she was okay, steve. i thought she was okay!” clint screamed, he blamed himself for what happened to you. only if he arrived a few seconds before. you wouldn’t have been in the situation you’re in now.

“no, no. this isn’t your fault. neither is it hers, it happens, okay? we put ourselves at risk every time we step out of here. y/n was brave, alright?

wanda rushed down to the medbay, reaching for the door before pulling her back. “wanda, we have to let dr cho do her job right now. she’ll be okay.. y/n will be okay.”

she cried into steve’s shoulder - her best friend was being operated on. you were being operated on! the thought of you getting hurt never crossed her mind because she knew you were strong.

the team soon heard about the incident and let their worries out, obviously caring about you. natasha was confused about the whole hassle.

“vision!” she called out. he turned around and walked towards natasha. “how may i help you?”

“what’s the hassle about? everyone keeps whispering,”

“mr barton and ms y/l/n have returned from their mission, but ms y/l/n has suffered some major injuries and has been in surgery for about an hour now-”

hearing that, she sped to the medbay, thanking vision quickly. she saw wanda, steve and clint waiting around. “no, no, where is she?!” she yelled, making the three of them look at her in shock. “she’s still in-”

she tried running into the room like wanda did, getting pulled back by steve. “natasha, we have to let dr. cho do her job.”

“i need to see her!” she exclaimed, not being able to breathe. “what happened to her? what major injuries?!” she demanded.

“broken ankle, shot through her thigh, shoulder and abdomen..” clint recited, looking down at his feet. “where were you!? how could you let this happen?!” she roared, genuinely shocking them.

why did she suddenly care about you? well, yes, you suffered major injuries, but why was she getting mad?

“natasha! enough!” steve scolded. “this isn’t clint’s fault, and you know it.” he said, sternly. she didn’t reply as she panted. wanda held her hand as support, needing it for herself as well.

─── donk.

an hour later, dr. cho finally walked out of the room. everyone stood up in eagerness.

“is she okay?” steve asked, immediately.

“y/n suffered major blood loss, but we are lucky none of the three bullets hit any major arteries. she has also quite definitely broken her ankle, so i’m putting her on bedrest for at least 6 weeks until you get her up and going again.”

“main point, yes. y/n is okay.”

a smile broke out in all of their faces. “thank you, doc!”

“you may see her now, but she hasn’t woken up yet. don’t be too loud.”

they all walked into your room and stood beside your bed. “she looks so peaceful,”

“she definitely looks better right now than earlier,” clint joked, earning a soft laugh from the three of them. they stood by you for a while until natasha spoke up.

“um.. could- could i be the one who stays with her until she wakes up?”

they looked at the red head in surprise, “are you sure, nat?” steve asked.

“yeah.. i just want to be here.”

“alright,” they smiled softly at her before leaving.

she held your hand and stayed with you, waiting for you to wake up. it took for a while so she managed to fall asleep, holding your hand.

you slowly started coming back, groaning from the late pain you experienced. natasha jumped in shock and saw that you were awake.

“you’re awake!” she whispered, making you turn to her. “natasha? what’s happening?”

“you passed out during your mission. i know i told you you’d slip and get shot.. but i didn’t actually mean slip and get shot, idiot!” she scolded, flicking your forehead. “gah! it was an accident, i was doing fine,”

“no, you have three holes in your body. and not the good ones,”

“nat??” you replied, shocked. “did you just joke around with me?”

“no..”

“you’re holding my hand.. what did they bribe you with?” you asked, quickly getting suspicious. you tried pulling your hand away, but she only held onto you tighter. “nothing! i.. i volunteered. ask steve and wanda! and clint!” she replied, defending herself quickly.

“well, if you volunteered.. what do you want from me? i’m not gonna be leaving the compound for at least 2 months, so you can have all my missions-”

“no, y/n. truthfully, i just really want to apologize.”

“huh”

“i know i’ve made your first few weeks really hard and even after being here for months, i still managed to.. you know.. make it hard for you. in full honesty, i genuinely don’t know why i’ve been so horrible to you. i had a hard time opening up to people - and.. you were just so welcoming and i got scared. not an excuse for my actions, by the way! i was horrible and i’m so sorry.”

“thank you for your apology, i forgive you, nat.” you smiled, squeezing her hand. “i also.. have feelings for you.” natasha added, avoiding eye-contact with you. “you whAT?!”

“i-”

“i like you too! but are- are you serious?”

“yes, y/n… i like you. guess that’s why i was so defensive about.. literally everything.”

“nat.. thank you. for opening up to me. it genuinely means so much - especially after all this fucking time, you asshole.”

“are we okay now?” she asked, hopeful.

“yes, nat. we’re okay.”

[eclectickss]

Make Me Feel Special (1/2)

Pairing: Milf!Agatha Harkness x fem!reader

Warnings: Mommy issues/kink, sexual implications, major age gap (reader is of age)

Summary: You are angry at your best friend for turning down the opportunity for something that you would give your life for: a mother.

Word Count: 3K?

Link to Part 2

A/N: Not grammar checked at all! A blurb gone big!(still at writers block on PGATW) But requests are open! I’ve never done one before but i’m willing to try. <3

-

-

-

You entered the apartment and placed your keys in the dish and jacket on it’s hook, making your way into the kitchen to place your to-go food in the fridge. Jane sat at the island on the computer you shared, and you smiled.

“Hey, I picked up sandwiches for dinner. Hope that’s cool.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

Your best friend didn’t look up, but it didn’t really bother you. Well, she was your only friend, but still.

You and Jane had been sharing the apartment for years now, The two of you working a good job to afford it and making a livable income. You had been close since high-school, due to your similar social status, but beyond the two of you, nobody was too good at making friends.

From what she had told you, Jane’s mom wasn’t around much when she was growing up. Jane was a teen pregnancy, and ever since she was born, her mom made no time for her daughter. Agatha, was her name.

Agatha came from a wealthy family, though. Her parents (Jane’s grandparents) wouldn’t allow her to use the family money for her child, much less anything else. She struggled with Jane, and therefore the two of them were ever close.

Agatha’s parents died when Jane was in high-school, so her mom inherited their wealth, but their relationship was past salvageable. At least in Jane’s eyes, it was.

Jane was always telling you about how bad of a mom Agatha was and about how you were lucky that you didn’t have to deal with someone like her. Jane didn’t understand though. You would had given anything to have someone like Agatha. Even if she wasn’t around to much, it was still better than nobody at all.

-

-

-

You were now setting the table for two as you pulled the sandwiches out of the fridge, also finding some strawberries to place at the table. You now were looking through the pantry for chips when you heard a knock at the door and Jane moving around to answer it.

“Mom?!” You heard at the door while you still had your head buried in the pantry. Your eyes widened at the name, never expecting to hear it in your life (in that context, at least). You thought Agatha was out of the picture. “What are you doing here?” You stayed silent as you listened from around the corner.

“Well, I think it’s long overdue that we had a talk, Jane, honey.” She sounded a little more raspy than you were expecting, but that doesn’t say much about someone who used to be an addict.

“We don’t do that, Mom. Anyways, now isn’t a good time.” You heard your friend sigh. The woman was your literal mother... you could at least give her five minutes, you thought.

“I want to start, honey. Please just let me in?”

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“C’mon, kiddo.” She begged, and you felt a little bad for how Jane was acting. You know her mom wasn’t a great person, but she was still her mom.

You never got to have one of those.

“If this is just you on another one of your sobriety stunts...”

“I’m really trying this time, Jane! I know I fucked up, baby, but please.”

“Fine.” Your friend grumbled. You heard increasing footsteps and your heart raced as you were about to meet the source of Jane’s complaints and drama.

You hurried to sit at the kitchen counter before the two women caught you snooping, but your gaze snaps up just in time to see Agatha Harkness walk into the room.

Jane might have always mentioned that her mother was any and all variations of a bitch, but she failed to mention how attractive the woman was. Her messy brown hair sat on top of an old purple cardigan and worn out jeans, followed by a pair of well-used slip-on shoes. The look together was not extremely flattering, but Agatha somehow pulled it together in a way that made your stomach turn. Your eyes raked her down, but you think she caught you when you met her gaze again. She smirked softly.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had guests!” She says as her own eyes follow your figure, and you wonder if she’s just doing it to mock you or flatter you. She looks back up with a glimmer in her eye, and you decide on the latter option. Your face goes red, but you try and brush her actions off, not wanting to mistake it for anything else.

“Didn’t I say that this was a bad time?” Jane grumbled.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Harkness. My name is YN.” You smiled as you held out your hand.

“Call me Agatha, darling.” She stared into your eyes. “It’s so nice to finally meet one of Jane’s friends.” You panic under her gaze.

“We were just about to sit down for dinner, if you want to join us. We don’t have any food for you, but-“

“Oh, thank you... I was hoping I could talk to Jane in private, though.” She walked over to the table and took a seat.

“Whatever you have to say to me, you can say it to YN, too.” The two of you joined Agatha at the table.

A long moment of awkward silence passsed between the three of you before your guest finally spoke up.

“I want you in my life, Jane. For real this time.”

Nobody says anything, and dishes stop clattering.

“I know I shoulda done this earlier... hell, I shoulda done this when I got claim to my parent’s money, but I want to look after you. I never got the chance to do that when you were young... cause of all the drinking and working... but I can do that now. I’m ready.”

Jane sat with her mouth open and a half eaten sandwich forgotten on her plate.

“No, Mom, you shoulda done this from the moment I was conceived. You don’t get a second chance with me. I’m not giving you a second chance, or a third or a fourth or whatever number you wanna give yourself. You wanna know why? It’s because I already did that. And you let me down every single time.”

Agatha looked a little speechless.

“Fine, then.” She sighed. “I won’t bother you again.” But it hurt you to watch a daughter turn away her mother, when that was an opportunity that you wanted so badly. “Is it alright if I stay the night, though? It’s a long drive back to my place.”

Jane rolled her eyes, knowing that her mother was being dramatic, but didn’t want to put up with any more of her antics. “I better not see you in the morning. YN can get blankets for the couch.”

-

-

-

“Hey, Jane,” You sighed as you entered her room.

“Hey, YN. I’m sorry you had to deal with the shit show that is my mother. I can’t believe she just walked in here and expected me to accept her pathetic invitation.”

“No, it’s ok. She’s not that bad with me.”

“Well she just met you. I just don’t understand why she thought showing up unannounced would magically make me want a mother again. It’s fucked up.” Jane said, but you couldn’t sit there and watch her tear down something that you wish you had.

“Yeah,” you mumbled and rushed out of her room before she could say anything else.

You walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, then headed over to the sink for some tap water. The cool liquid rushed down your throat as you held down your tears, thankful that nobody was around.

“Hey, Honey,”

Shit. You forgot that Agatha was on the couch.

You turn around to see her meeting your gaze, although her eyes quickly found the way to the rest of your body.

“You doing alright, babygirl?” The nickname made you heat up. She spoke with concern and care; something that Jane chose to ignore, which made you feel bad for Agatha. You wish that Jane wouldn’t take for granted what her mother was trying to offer her.

“Uh... yeah... I guess.” You sigh, hopping up to sit on the counter as you watch the other woman fill her own glass at the sink. “Jane is just... being a little hard right now.” You chose your words carefully, not wanting to lose the trust of your friend but also wanting to gain the trust of another.

“What do you mean?” You realize the situation you have put yourself in.

“It’s just... I didn’t have a mom at all growing up. Or a dad. I had my shitty uncle... until he tossed me into the foster system. I had it real rough... and it still kinda is... but Jane has been helping. That’s why we’re friends at least. She might view me as a charity project, but i’m desperate, I guess.”

“What does all of this have to do with Jane being hard, hon?” She leaned onto the counter across from you.

“She didn’t really have a mom, either... growing up. No offense.”

Agatha shrugged. “I know.”

“But now that she’s given an opportunity to have one, she turns it down... and it makes me jealous. Mad. Angry.” You pause. “I know I’ll never get the chance at a mom, but she has one. And fuck, I would give so much to have that.”

“To have someone like me? A recovering drunk who treated their teen pregnancy like a joke?”Agatha sighed into her hands, but her words meant so much more to you than she may ever know.

“Yeah. To have someone like you. Someone who cares.” At that, she looked up with a new light in her eyes, but you don’t meet her gaze. You don’t want her to see the blush or desire written on your face, so instead, you pull a cigarette out from your jacket pocket.

She watches you as you hop down from the counter to get the lighter out of the junk drawer, paying attention to the way your body moves. You notice how her eyes follow you, but you don’t call her out on it, knowing you would do the same if the roles were reversed.

“You want a hit?” You lift your eyebrow as you raise the smoke to meet her gaze. A glint of humor is caught on her face, and you smirk.

“Sure... why not.” She says as you join her in leaning up against the counter. You bring the cigarette up to your mouth and click the lighter.

“So,” Agatha starts again, both of you a few puffs in. “How did you end up here with Jane?”

“Uhh... we met senior year of high-school. I was fucked up. Shit grades. Wasn’t going to graduate. Drug money to pay off... no job. Jane used your money to pay off my debt. She found me a job. Tutored me. Like I said, I felt like a charity project. But at least I graduated. We both work now and pay for this place together. Maybe it’s not great but we’re both better off than we were a few years ago.”

“Why didn’t she accept anything I tried to give her? Did she tell you?” Agatha was prying, but you didn’t mind.

“You mean after high-school? She didn’t want any help from you. In her words exactly... ‘She wasn’t there for me for the first 18 years of my life, so why should she help out now...’”

“And what do you think about that?”

“I didn’t grow up poor, Agatha. I grew up with nothing. I would have taken any of your offers in a heartbeat, no matter how guilty they made me feel.”

“Good girl.” She nearly whispers, and you turned to face her, but you couldn’t make anything out of the expression written on her face. Your own skin was hot and something was burning in your core, and you didn’t know what to think.

“I’m sorry... what did you just say?” You watched as she put the cigarette out, now giving you her undivided attention.

“So tell me, honey, do you have a boyfriend? I’m assuming a pretty thing like you would have one. Tell me about him.” Part of you wondered where this conversation was going, but the other part assumed that she already knew which direction you leaned in.

“Uhh... not my type.” You stared at her with curiosity.

“So you got a girlfriend, then?” Her new confidence shocked you a little bit.

“Uhh... no.” You tilted your head, and she seemed to pick up on your confusion.

“Good girl.” Your mouth was dry. “You see, mommy doesn’t want you having a girlfriend... no, she wants you all to herself.”

Your eyes widen in shock, but your core aches and cheeks burn. You stare at the woman next to you as a hand slides onto your thigh.

“Oh come on, darling. You said you wanted a mommy, baby. I wanna take care of you. I see the way you look at me. Don’t deny you want me too.” She spins around and pins you to the counter, and you audibly gulp.

“But- Jane.” You whine, already being driven crazy by the proximity of Agatha’s body.

“Jane is kicking me out, baby girl. And you can come live with me. Mommy has a pretty house, honey. I can feed you, clothe you... make you feel good. I can make you feel special.” And God, your soul was ready to leave your body. You wanted this. You could hardly think as her soft lips grazed over the skin on your neck, and a soft moan escaped your throat. Her tongue and teeth pulled at the skin just below your ear, trying to pull a response out of you.

“Mom!” The both of you jumped at the third voice in the room. The two of you turn to Jane in shock. “What the FUCK are you doing!” She rushed over to the two of you, pulling Agatha off of your body. “You can’t just come into my life and try to fuck my friends after someone rejects you!” She pushes her mom back and turns to you.

“Oh my god, YN, are you ok? I cannot believe that she tried to touch you. God, that makes me sick.” She hugged you, but you still couldn’t say anything.

“Jane, honey, you don’t know-“

“Shut up! I can’t even look at you! Get out of my house, mom. I never want to see you again.” Jane’s face turned red with anger.

“Honey-“ Agatha met eyes with you, but you didn’t know what to do.

“Leave! Now.” She seethed and stomped back to the bedroom, expecting Agatha to be gone when she got back.

The woman in front of you moved silently while you still processed what just happened. When she returned with her belongings, she gave you a note, but headed out without saying a word.

After a few minutes, you finally looked at the piece of paper in hand.

If you ever make up your mind...

1286 Lincoln St NW

(673) 867-5309

-Agatha

-

-

-

“YN, are you sure you’re alright? I really never would have expected my mom to touch you or even make you feel uncomfortable. I’m so sorry.” Jane sighed as she sat on the bed.

“I’m fine, J. You don’t have to apologize on her behalf.” You replied, sitting on the chair opposite her.

“I mean what even happened. Why did she do that?”

“Umm... I don’t know. We were just talking and then she started that.”

“What we’re you talking about?”

“Oh, I was just explaining how we met.” You tentatively answered.

“YN you didn’t have to tell her that. I know it’s personal for you, I can’t believe she forced you to talk about it.

“I uhh- actually didn’t mind. I wasn’t forced.”

“Then why would you trust her with something like that? You know how she is.”

“Because...” You thought about your next words carefully. “She cares.” Jane scoffs.

“That must be a different woman we’re talking about, YN. My mom is a selfish bitch who only cares for herself.”

That tipped the iceberg for you.

“You know, Jane? I understand that you and her might never be besties like she wants you to be, but that doesn’t mean you get to fuck her over now that she’s trying.” Your friend looks up at you in shock.

“Well she fucked me over my entire life, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same.”

“Because! Jane! She’s changed! It’s only right that you give her one more shot in your life!”

She took a pause.

“I’m sorry, YN, are you defending my MOM? After everything she’s done to me, and everything i’ve done for you?!”

“Yes. It is sick watching you throw something away that I can only dream of.” You spat angrily.

“Geez, YN. Just- get out of my fucking house. Keep your rent money for the month. Pack your shit and get the hell out of here.” She nearly ran out of the room.

But you weren’t surprised. In fact, you expected this the moment you chose your side.

-

-

-

The knocks resonate through the large door attached to the even larger house. Agatha has money.

You thought Jane was over exaggerating a little bit, but now you understood that she wasn’t. You sighed as your cab sped away, and now all you could do was wait.

Agatha opened the door, slightly shocked to see you, but nevertheless happy.

“Hey baby, what is it?”

You took a deep breath, taking in the sight of the woman who stood in front of you.

“I want you to make me feel special, mommy.”

-

-

-

link to part 2

[yjwhatif]

Ok let’s do a quick post on Kaldur and Objectivity before the new episodes drop…

While there’s M’gann and Zatanna who show a certain lack of objectivity, Kaldur is arguably too objective for his own good. He’s made a habit of often making/agreeing to decisions based on logic and ultimately disregarding the emotional impact said decisions have on others and himself. Especially himself.

Kaldur has been involved in two major secret operations which manipulated his fellow heroes and friends into situations designed to hurt the Light. Great for The Mission. Not so great for the friends hurt in the process. He’s very much a product of Batman’s guidance - putting all personal desires aside to ensure full focus is where it needs to be - to ensure maximum success. Even if it means playing by the other side's rule book.

Kaldur is a soldier and his duty is to protect those in need - even if that means sacrificing part of himself to ensure others don’t have to suffer the burden themselves. After the traumatic experience that was Failsafe, Kaldur’s first instinct when talking with Canary was to step down from his role as leader - all because he let himself get ‘killed’ saving the life of another and ultimately abandoning his team. The only reason he revokes his resignation is to protect 13yo Robin from having to carry the “burden” of leader whilst being still so young — despite Kaldur himself only being 16/17yo at the time. Logically Kaldur is the best leader - but given the fact he describes the role as a “burden” illustrates pretty clearly his emotional opinion of the role.

Kaldur’s choice to prioritise logic over emotion can be just as harmful as the reverse — especially when it’s his own emotions he’s disregarding. After Tula died and he discovered Black Manta was his father, Kaldur never grieved or took a timeout to come to terms with these major life changes, instead he saw a logical opportunity to further their mission by going undercover to tear the Light down from within. A plan which would also isolate him from those he cares about - at a time he should really have support around him - and paint him as a dirty traitor to all who knows him. That is not a good way to process your grief - in fact, he essentially commodifies it - making it into a believable reason why he’d switch sides instead of an emotion that comes after suffering a loss. Then there’s what happens after Wally's death… Kaldur loses one of his closest friends and what does he decide to do? He carries on leading. After everything he’d been through undercover, the experiences he had to face, the deception he had to embody, and it all ended with the death of someone else he cared about. He cannot go through all that and just be ok - all things have a breaking point whether you want to believe it or not.

S3 may have shown some of those cracks starting to reveal themselves when Kaldur struggles to accept the praises of his king and mentor regarding the Outsiders mission the Anti-Light manipulated. The logic of lying for the sake of the mission finally shows its weight as it tugs on his conscience and causes his emotions to slip into view. This is the first instance of his losing a bit of composure - the emotional side he’s been neglecting for 3 seasons is finally catching up to him and is ready to tip the scales. As I said in my Random thoughts post, all things have a breaking point and I strongly feel like Kaldur’s is coming very soon. In what we’ve seen of him in 4a, he couldn’t even speak when Artemis asked what had happened and he’s been spending time at Conner and Wally’s memorials - those emotions are getting stronger. Something major has got to happen in Kaldur’s arc that causes that change in design seen in the trailer, and whatever it is I think that will be the thing that finally breaks him… (sorry but he is overdue some form of emotional breakdown after all the stuff he’s been through)

Anyway, I don’t know how his actually reads. I just wanted to get the basic thoughts down before I see what actually happens in 4b. I love Kaldur and I’m so excited to see what the show brings us with his arc and the rest of the show… Guess I’ll find out tomorrow!

Happy YJ watching everybody!

LB

[eirikaanemo]

Can You Keep A Secret?

Warnings: imprisonment, mentions of starvation and sickness

Note: I haven't actually played Dvalin's quest but I tried to keep it as close to canon as possible. Feel free to leave a comment or message me if you see something wrong.

Venti x GN!Reader

1.9k Words

Your soulmate is secretly Barbatos... now what?

Everyone has a soulmate. And everyone is born knowing your soulmate's biggest secret. For most people it’s really unhelpful, but for some people it helps them find their soulmate. You’re in the latter group, because yours gives you a name.

You've known your whole life that your soulmate is secretly Barbatos. It's… interesting, to say the least. Of course you'd never dare to tell anyone. Thankfully, asking someone what their soulmate’s secret is isn’t very common. It’s considered to be very rude, so no one asks you what your secret is. They'd think you're crazy!

Barbatos hasn't been around for centuries and you're a mortal. This is the sort of thing you would read about in trashy romance novels! But even though it’s crazy and kind of overwhelming, you know it's true. You don't know if he'd ever accept you or want to be with you, in fact, you’re pretty sure he won’t, but you want to try.

Once that’s settled, you just have to find him. If he's anywhere, it's probably the city of Mondstadt. That’s where he seems to have shown up the most in the past, after all. So you move to Mondstadt. It’s a nice place and the people are friendly. Finding a job with the Knights of Favonius was fairly easy and it paid pretty well.

Unfortunately, the 'Storm-terror' problem starts shortly after you move. He throws the whole city into chaos the first time, and then proceeds to keep doing it regularly. The fear is all encompassing, but that's fine, you try to convince yourself. It will all be worth it when you find him. ‘If you find him’, your traitorous mind whispers.

It's been months, a year even, and you're starting to lose hope. How were you expecting to find Barbatos anyway? Shout from the rooftops for him to reveal himself and whisk you away? He hasn't been around for a long time and you knew that. And to be honest, at this point you've given up.

Going home is the logical thing to do, it’s where your family is after all. But you stay because you made yourself a home here. You have friends: Jean, Lisa, and Kaeya. You have come to love the city: music, freedom, and camaraderie. Well, you love the city except for the 'Storm-terror' attacks. Those aren't very lovable.

What concerns you the most though is that 'Storm-terror' is a dragon. And dragons trend to be important (like, archon important). But no one seems to remember this one. So you research. You visit the cathedral and speak with some nuns. You dedicate some time to listening to bard’s tales, asking them if they know any songs about dragons. One does, and it's surprisingly informational. You spend time at the library, pouring through book after book. And after all this investigation, you've come to the conclusion that 'Storm-terror' is actually Dvalin of the Four Winds. Not that anyone actually believes you

It didn't stop you from telling people your theory though, and being more respectful in how you refer to him, despite all the damage he's caused. Eventually they do start considering it and the city starts catching on. If you keep doing this, you may be able to change the city's perspective of and reaction to Dvalin.

The abyss mage catches on to this, and he just can't let that happen. It could compromise the whole plan. So one day he has Dvalin abduct you and locks you up. And true to your luck, this happens out of the blue while you’re taking a walk that you’d finally convinced Jean to go on with you. Which, of course, reverses all your progress and makes the situation even worse than it was before. Incidentally, this also does the exact opposite of what you’d been trying to do by stressing out poor Jean more.

The abyss mage doesn’t care about anything other than making sure you’re not able to go back to Mondstadt. The mage does not care about human necessities. Who cares if you die? Not him. He hates humans. It's kind of part of his job description.

Your prison is where Dvalin retreats to when not attacking. And the mage has to go report to someone else sometimes, giving you opportunities to speak with Dvalin. He never responds to you, but you can tell he eventually starts listening. You start by rambling about various subjects; then talking about how you know he's Dvalin, and that you're sorry he was being treated like he was, once you know he is listening. Because while you don’t know the whole situation, you know that he feels hurt by how humans have treated him.

After several days of talking to him, he slowly starts warming up to you. It’s a strange sort of bond that grows stronger as time goes on. He starts responding and the two of you actually have conversations instead of just you talking. Eventually you even mention how you know your soulmate is actually Barbatos and that you've kind of given up finding him.

He gives a thoughtful hum, lets you vent out your feelings, tries to think of an appropriate response, then allows you to drop the subject once you’ve worn yourself out emotionally. It’s becoming obvious that your health, physical, mental, and emotional, is degrading faster as time goes on.

One day Dvalin and the mage both disappear for longer than usual. After the mage makes sure you won’t be able to escape, of course. It’s not like you would’ve been able to leave anyway. At that point you’re not able to do much at all.

Little did you know that only Dvalin would be returning. They ended up facing the traveler and their companions in battle, and Dvalin was freed from the mage’s influence. The first thing Dvalin does is take them to help "the one decent human, that he actually cares about". You're in bad shape at this point, starving, sick, and weak. But you’re aware enough to hear Jean call your name and feel someone gather you in their arms before blacking out.

When you wake up you're at the cathedral and are feeling much better. Certainly you are not fully recovered, that will take weeks. That one bard who was able to play you a song about Dvalin is always there. You vaguely remember him being there when you were found. He doesn’t really interact with you much, he’s just kind of there, but he does play peaceful music that helps you fall asleep when you’re struggling to rest.

Then the day comes for you to go home. They’ve done all they can for you and you’re past the worst of it. But you’re well enough to be out and about. “Now you take care of yourself,” Barbara lectures you. “Don’t push yourself, get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and eat three square meals a day, got it?”

“Got it,” you confirm. “Thank you for taking care of me, I really appreciate your help.” She smiles, wishes you well, and returns to the cathedral. You take a moment to breathe and just appreciate being back home, free of your prison and the small cathedral room they’d kept you in while treating you.

Taking a deep breathe you start on your way home. “Hey!” You hear someone exclaim behind you. “Could you hold on a second?” Turning around, you see the bard quickly excusing himself from a street performance before running to catch up to you. Once he’s caught up, he gives you a smile.

“Hi! I’m Venti the bard! Would you be willing to speak with me about something? It’s kind of private so we would need to go to windrise or something, but you’ll want to hear this, I promise.” He says. “Alright,” you agree, “but I can’t make it all the way to windrise. Would my home do? I live alone so we’ll have privacy.” He nods, “that’ll work great!”

The walk home is quiet but comfortable. The bard’s content to hum a tune as he follows you through the streets. Soon you’re home, unlocking the door to let you and your guest in. You lead him over to the couch where you both sit down. “So,” you say, “what did you want to talk about?”

“Well, I was talking with Dvalin a day or so after we freed both of you and he said you mentioned you came to Mondstadt searching for your soulmate. And that you said your soulmate’s biggest secret, the one that you know, is that they’re Barbatos,” he explains. You feel a pang of betrayal at Dvalin’s actions and some guilt for sharing your soulmate’s secret in the first place.

It probably showed on your face because he quickly spoke up again. “He didn’t just tell me for no reason though. You see, I am Barbatos. I’m your soulmate.” Your head, which had been drooping with the weight of your emotions suddenly shot up as you fumbled for a response.

Apparently that showed too because he continued, “And I’m sorry I made it so hard for you to find me. I’m sorry I almost made you give up on me. Most of my waking time is spent incognito so I can watch over everyone while not being put in a position of authority. I didn’t anticipate meeting you ”

There’s a moment or two of silence as you gather your thoughts. “It’s okay,” you assure him. “I understand why you did what you did and I’ll never hold it against you. How were you supposed to know I was even born yet, not to mention that I’ve been in the area searching for you.”

You take another moment or two to gather your wits. “I will also understand if you don’t want to do anything about this,” you state. “I don’t want you to feel forced into having a relationship with me if you don’t want to. The last thing I’d want to do is be responsible for making you miserable. And that’s not to mention how you’re an archon and I’m just a mortal.”

Your talking speeds up as you start rambling, losing control of the conversation as you feel more and more nervous. Once you realize you’re rambling you shut your mouth with a click. “Sorry about that,” you mutter. “I do that sometimes when I’m nervous.”

When you chance a glance at him, he honestly looks a little offended but mostly just really sad. “Is- is that really what you think I think about this?” He asks softly. “Because it’s not. I absolutely want this. I absolutely want you. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for millenia and I wouldn’t give this up for the world.”

He reaches over and slowly, hesitantly, so as to give you time to escape if you want, gathers you into his arms. You realize that he’s the one who picked you up to bring you home. Your ear rests against his chest as lean against him, and his heart skips a beat as you gently grab one of his hands and kiss it. “I’m glad,” you breathe. “I’m glad too,” he voices softly.

You yawn, feeling the exhaustion from your journey home and the rest of the day hit you. He pulls you close and whispers in your ear, “Sleep well, my cecilia, I’ll be here when the sun comes up and when you wake up.” You fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

[starshipsofstarlord]

Okay rockstars, settle down

rockstar!bucky barnes x assistant!reader x rockstar!loki laufeyson / masterlist

summary; having previously worked for loki, it causes a heat to burn within bucky’s already accumulated hate towards the musician / warnings; threesome, smut, mxf and mxm sex, mentions of sex with other characters, oral sex (male and female receiving), creampie, unprotected sex, double penetration, degradation, swearing, orgasm denial, cum eating

“Can’t believe you worked for that wanker.” Snarked Bucky as an image of the well known, musically spread, and acoustically acclaimed, Loki Laufeyson was shown on the screen of the dressing room television, as the other artist stretched his clothing bare arms across the back of the couch. “Come here sweet cheeks.”

At his command, you dismissed the paper work for a moment, trailing over and straddling the inked hunk’s chain belted lap, digging your manicured set of nails into his shoulders, as you seated yourself over his crotch. “I’m happy I work for you now Buck, you treat me so good.”

Punctuating your words, you pressed your teeth into your bottom lip, giving it the appearance of being more plump, as you batted your dark eyelashes up at your employer. “I do, don’t I?” He rhetorically asked, skimming his fingers across the length of your arms, before moving them to sloppily cup your jaw, ensuring that you would not look away from his wild and dilated pupils. “Tell me what I do better than the lead singer of the god of mischief.”

At his words, a small yet peaceful contortion of uncomfortableness split a skin grafted line through the centre of your forehead, stating that you had no wish to do so. And thus, as punishment for your self aversive silence, Barnes braced his knuckles into your skin, causing you to keen out, and tap his shoulders in verification for surrender.

In turn, you lowered your hands, dragging the tips of your nails, absentmindedly running them down the expanse of his waxed chest, conveniently passing the silver hoops that were attached to his nipples on the trail to a less dominant ground. “I prefer the way that your songs have a heavier bass and-“

“Uh uh uh, not the music. Think of something that has you, let’s say, screaming, but definitely not in a crowd. Though, we may have to try that one sometime; show the world how hungry you are to assist me.”

“You, James Bucky Barnes,” he loosened his grip to your relief, which lead to you hugging in spite, “are the best fuck I have ever endured. Loki has nothing on you, he deems himself a god of the arts, but he doesn’t see how you paint me so perfectly with your cum, nor how you bend my body to your whim, as though I am a tool in the midst of your creations, useful, but disposable.”

“I like the sound of that doll. Disposable, now that really does you make you sound like my personal cum dump.”

“That’s was certainly interesting to listen to...”that voice had your body jolting in shock, and it appeared that Bucky too was surprised by the presence, though, he steadied his well versed hands on your hips, claiming you to the intimate spot.

“What the fuck are you doing in my dressing room you greasy haired weasel?” Bucky sneered, his nose turning up at the sight alone of his competition in the lyrical world. Loki, he had graced you with his presence, and you had to look away; he admittedly looked good.

His shirt was open chested, leaving you with the memorable impression of all the times that you had left crescent marks upon that particular surface, a few times you had even drawn blood, but that had only fuelled his mission to fuck you into a propeller of urgency.

“Our new album Laufey has just been released, I can confirm my dear, you shoulda stayed around and knelt in our success. The records are certainly going to have more sales than what was it called again? Ah yes, the red star. I could tell it was about this one, so much passion, a sultry tune, that did little to justify what it means to be with her.”

Loki’s hands waved around as he spoke, and you could only picture the past whence he penetrated your with those long and talented fingers of his. He had drawn orgasm after orgasm out of you, resulting you to be nothing more than a withering mess, as he digressed the option to simply stop. There was nothing simple about him, nor the time that he demanded that he shared you with his brother.

That thought alone had you mindlessly grinding upon Bucky’s covered cock, plucking at your lip with the keys of your teeth, though Bucky’s voice brought you back to reality, causing you to pause your movements embarrassingly, venting a clear out of your head to process the situation that was before you. The two were bickering like two teenage girls, and it was quite exhausting to listen to.

“Answer the question trickster, else I’ll have you fed to the infamous black panther, and let’s just say that he is the best bodyguard I have ever hired. So, are you going to speak, or will I have you dragged out of here like a damned serpent with a noose around its neck?” Bucky threatened, gritting his teeth together, his nose straining in frustration, drawing more attention to the small stud on the right side of his nose.

“Looks like she needs me Barnes, perhaps your reputation does not proceed you. But to answer in full, my band have made quite the rise, and I thought it would be... fitting to pay you a visit. Though I had no idea that this wonderful woman would be here, pining on your lap like some feline in heat. I see she’s fucking you now, after all my suspicions are never wrong. Or we’ll, Heimdall’s train of thought always ends up at the right station.”

“Can the pair of you stop, for one goddamn minute!” Your hands obscured a path into your hair, as you glared back and forth between the pair of rival rockstars. “I am here, dammit! Stop talking about me as though I am not here, a part of me wishes that I wasn’t so I didn’t have to listen to your bitching.”

Without any thought, you clambered from your perch on Bucky’s lap, walking towards the raven haired gentleman, pointing your finger in his face as you accused him. “You’ve got your point across, but I’ll tell you something. If you don’t leave, Heimdall will see me putting my foot up your ass.”

“Does she speak to you like this Barnes? I thought she had loosened up in more ways than one when I allowed Thor to stretch her cunt, but it appears that that mouth of hers has gotten a little out of hand also. You should do something about that, or else you’ll lose her to someone else like a did. Who knows, could be Romanoff, heard she has a thing for brats.”

Natasha Romanoff, a diverse woman in her ways and songs. She was the queen of the rock culture, tormenting her workers with her verbal abuse and it would undoubtedly be no different for her assistant. If you were to be under her employment, it was certain that you would not get out alive, nor work for another talented person for the rest of your life. To cross her, was a vow to sign your own death certificate, it was plain stupidity, yet people still hustled with her and her limits, resulting in their chances of ever getting hired for any job, vastly slim to none.

At the lack of defence that Bucky provided you, you felt small, your shoulders slacked as you were tortured with Loki’s cold and silky gaze, more so when the man stood up, pressing his bare chest against your back. You could feel the rings that hung off the buds that adorned his chest coil and dig into your back, shrouding your demeanour substantially.

A part of you wanted nothing more than for Bucky to abuse Loki’s face with his fist, specifically the right, since it was the bearer to a chunky silver ring. It’d leave quite the print, however, the unexpected unravelled as his enquiring tone was aimed not at you, but Loki instead.

“You let your brother fuck her, hmm. Maybe she should learn her manners by being shared, that way her retrospective spattering of bullshit may be contained, to a limit of course.” It was unbelievably, you could not believe that Bucky was conferring with the enemy! And not only that, they were talking about experiences of having you literally become speechless from their unprofessional administrations upon your body. “I’d get T’Challa in here, but I know she’s already fucked him. Can’t quite fire him for it though, because who could ever say no to those pretty eyes, and that mouth, god, it is definitely one of her most persuasive attributes.”

“Bu-“ you didn’t even get to finish imploring his name off your lips, about to defend yourself and your previous actions, though, you were interrupted, starved from the opportunity of coming up with an explanation.

“No.” Loki told you, the roles now reversed as he was the one with his index finger aimed at you. He tapped your nose with it, as he began to pace in the room, his wild locks remaining in their place as he spun, before facing Bucky, a sly tranquility of a truce veining out from the pools of his evergreen orbs. “You don’t speak a word to me y/n, not whilst I’m having a conversation with James here.”

James. It was too far a polite way for him to address your boss. They were all hot and ready to tear out each other’s throats a moment ago, and now here they were, having a silent conversation without your inclusion. It had you reeling your mind as to why, until Bucky gathered your hair in his hand to the side, sliding you y/h/c locks over your shoulder, and finally deemed it acceptable for you to hear his voice.

Though, he still was not directing his tensive words in your direction. “Since you had dealt with this subordinate behaviour from her, perhaps you’d like to join us; help me train her to become more...” His breath fanned your the top of your ear, making your skin crawl by not only his warm and inviting breath, but also the offer that he had supposed to the other man.

“Obedient?” Loki asked in turn of his wispy ended offer of optimism, his leather, sharp tipped boots taking a prominent, heart clenching step towards you. He reached his finger out, grasping a loose strand that had fallen out of Bucky’s grip and before your face, tugging lightly on it, as his lips came dangerously close to your own. “Rules aren’t your forfeit, are they my dear? The best assistant I ever hired, with all those unique ideas floating around in that independent head of yours, but you’ve always been troublesome. I remember the time that you bit my cock that day you had attitude. I reckon Bucky here could do a better job.”

“Then why doesn’t he?” You hissed as said man tugged on his handful of your hair, instantly making you regret your phrase in the moment. To a halting surprise however, Bucky released you, lightly shoving you to cause you to fumble forwards, and away from him.

“Maybe I will.” He dared, earning a nod from Loki, whom seductively began to unzip his loose trousers, as Bucky descended to the ground, his hands running up his rival’s thighs, as the material dropped around Loki’s ankles. It would seem, that he had gone commando, and as Bucky grasped Loki’s shaft, you felt a pull in your chest inherently demanding that you play some part in this fornication.

“Wait.” Your hand shot out, as though you had some force to stop them from continuing with their war path to exact all of their developed spit onto you. “What about me?” You were ss

“Oh no doll, you are not pulling any strings here, if you wanna do something useful, come here and warm my cock, you can watch me blow your old associate.” A slither of a whimper fell from your lips, it wasn’t exactly what you were prying towards, but you sure as hell were not going to refuse the contact that Bucky was obliged to give you.

Thus you wandered towards him, your pinkies curling around one another, as you sashayed to the ground beside him, watching as he paid Loki no mind for a moment, ruthlessly in a desperation fuelled motion, unbuckled his thick belt, and shoved the material of his leather trousers to be held accountable against his lower thighs, just above his tense knees.

He too, as their exteriors supposed, had forgone the extra layer that kept his cock tucked away, though it was exposed as he tugged those tight trousers down, and the sight of both his and Loki’s cocks bobbing in the same vicinity had you close to quivering.

It was somewhat of a dream portrayed in the viscous space of reality, the two men half undressed in then proximity of yourself, it was something that you had always imagined, even before you had left Loki’s side, and opted to work for Bucky, but the idea was definitely short lived. They hated each other, but apparently they were willing to put all their issues aside to prohibit you from freely running your mouth.

Bucky’s cock twitched as he patted his own thigh, ordering you without the aid of his voice to commence it as a servant’s throne, or in your case, a stool for you to rest on as he tended to intimate needs of the man that you had once worked for. Finally, with the decision of better judgement, you allowed your grey jumper dress to slide down your body, leaving you nude, and the aspect of the two men’s unforgiving and locked gazes.

“No underwear, and you wonder why your men have no difficulty in her allowing them to fuck her.” Bucky took ahold of his cock, squeezing his cock with one hand, whilst his other aided you in sitting on his muscular legs, as he lightly growled up at the opposing rockstar.

From the stiff grip that Bucky affirmed around his sceptre, Loki gasped, his pale lips instantly shutting once the sound wantonly abandoned him. The last thing that he wanted was for Bucky to see him in vulnerable poise, though with that said, it’d be rather difficult considering the smutty circumstances.

Bucky took Loki’s long, alabaster prick into his mouth, starting from the primrose tip and descending down, reciprocating the action that you did yourself as you sheathed yourself onto his cock, but instead with his lips. A grunt rendered along Loki’s length as the man bit back a whimper, the vibrations running through his veins like a transpiring pulse of sorcery.

Bucky opted for bobbing his head, as you endured the liberation of his very slightly gyrating movement inside of you. Though, despite him being almost completely still and leaving you full to the brim with his thick length, his balls resting against the partition where he was delved into you, you remained transfixed.

The motion image, recording first hand through your own eyes, of him blowing Loki was sinful, but you were drawn to it. If that made you a sinner, one endorsed by the graphic scene, licking your lips from the sight of Bucky running his studded tongue up the length of Loki, dipping the ball of silver metal into his slit, then so be it.

Your heart raced as you were met with an opportunity. A globe of saliva, strung by the lapping muscle of Bucky’s tongue dropped down; you practically saw its fall in slow motion. It was done before you could register your actions, you had leant forwards, catching the trickle of spit in your mouth, thinking not for a moment as you gulped the subjective liquid down.

Bucky’s pace increased, he gagged lightly as he jolted him further down his throat. Loki hummed, harshly grabbing Bucky’s dark brunette locks, biting his lip as he reimagined your little catch. It had him feeling close, and just as he was about to finish, precum furiously pooling out of his tip, Bucky pulled back, a smirk marking his features.

“You’re not cumming in my mouth, I don’t mind sucking dick, nor swallowing, but I have to practically listen to you jizz over your own talent, and prowl over my girl.” The name he labelled you with had your heart fluttering, but not nearly as much as when he lightly pulled out of you, infuriating you with the lack of any pleasurable esteem. “Don’t you worry babes, you can finish with me inside of you, like always.”

That used to be him, Loki thought with a brewing rage in his chest. Though he instead shrugged out of his dull patterned striped shirt that was already loose on his shoulders. The fabric hit the floor, leaving all of you barren to the subject of nudity.

“Always doesn’t suppose the past Barnes.” Loki stated, referring to all the various times that he had found refuge in your spongey walls, you willingly clenching around him, and pleading for him to hit a deeper spot within you. “And I do not prowl, I don’t need to. The evidence is there between her legs, coiling in juices surrounding her ever so willing folds, that are prepared to endure the harshest of penetrations.”

“What are you trying to do, write a fucking song about this?” Scoffed Bucky, rolling his crystallised orbs at the guts that this man had. If he so much as wanted to, he could stop this passage into a three way all together, but he did not, at least he had yet to. He was enjoying the way that you were squirming to yourself, thinking that he didn’t notice, squeezing the sides of your thighs together in an aroused matrimony.

“A fucking song would’ve the correct term - literally.” Was the affirmed words of Loki, as he shoved Bucky to be sat beside you, tilting his messy brush of crazed hair, his untrustworthy eyes drifting to you. “Who’d you want to fuck you, you fangirling slut?”

It was truthfully a difficult decision. “Both.” You admitted, your bones jumping as Bucky pinched one of your erect nipples, continuing to hold a sturdy clasp of his pads around the sensitive flesh; you couldn’t jut choose one of them. Not when they were both in such close range, bore in nothing more than their birthdays suits, talking about your quivering and diversely accepting cunt.

They knew that you couldn’t possibly refuse one or the other. You were vastly too hungry to be filled like you had never been before, shagged by two of three most well known artists in the industry, earnestly and mindlessly earning yourself a title within the circle of uptight yet simultaneously chill performers.

Perhaps, if Bucky we to ever potentially fire you, there would be another pursuer for your articulating talents on standby, awaiting for the moment that you walked out of his complex door to swoop you up as though they were a predatory falcon, flying off into a stationed sunset, those around seeing you as nothing more than a shadow of the ambient orb, but the one who had employed you finding you to be a sufficing inspiration.

Large hands swallows your hips, firmly controlling their angle as they grasped you in their strong, almost super human hold, lifting you so that you were tentatively tucked in a reverse cowgirl position on Bucky’s lap. It was the third time that you had been this close to him, it would almost be intimate, if your legs weren’t strewn in an open, all revealing splay, so that Loki could see your boss tease his tip around your entrance before sliding you down his length, extracting a strong wail from your churning throat.

Your own hand resented down, applying swirls of pressure down on your clit; it appeared that they were willing you to continue without interruption. Bucky lightly, despite the power that he was promoted to in this position, began to bounce you on his shaft, spewing small mewls out from your agape mouth.

Fisting his cock, Loki approached, Bucky reachin this seen hands down to spread te lips of your pussy, so that the other man was guaranteed a crude glimpse of you being stufffed. Though, you weren’t quite filled enough, for Bucky raised a brow and prompted Loki to allow himself to be pulled closer by your axed and whining aura.

He brushed his tip languidly against your buzzing clit, dragging through your slick and jab i at your delicate fingers before probing at the base of Bucky’s cock, and pushing inside, right along his rival’s length, the pair moaning out in a pleasured union. On the other and, you had tears falling from the crescents of your eyes, the stretch so much that it was a blistering pain to your cunt.

“Don’t go all meek dear, you and i both know this is far from the first instance where you’ve had more than one cock in this nasty, betraying cunt of yours.” Loki taunted, gripping the vulnerable expanse of your throat from behind, his icy glazed skin sending provocative shivers down your spine, making your pussy pulse from the chill that ran through your body.

And then, i a split instant, both cocks began to piston into your walls, as though you were nothing more than a rag doll, meant o be thrown around and handled in a disorderly fashion. They ere ruthless, groaning out symphonies in the cursive air around you, as your walls engulfed their pricks more than snugly.

You felt so wide down there, they were taking a pirating toll on your body stealing every breath that dared wither from your lips, tweezing their nimble fingered around various parts of your body, all in due retrospect or coerce you into fucking them back, making all actions in the mass of bodies a mutual effort.

Loki lowered his head down meeting Bucky for a sloppy, brash kiss. It was clear they were simply doing that part to fulfil a greedy desire in your stomach, but you were not one that minded. It was, like the rest of their frenzy of collaborations, a competitive mess. They nipped harshly at each other’s lips, ravenously all in the meanwhile ploughing your body with their har girths.

“Fuck, that’s hot.” Your tongue dribbled, earning satisfied, lust induced smirks from both parties that were currently penetrating you, making you writhe harder against their lengths a new flow of moisture weeping out from your hole, lubricating their movements further, it encouraging them to do nothing more than continue what they were doing, despite their better judgements.

The truth was, they were rockstars. They had no better judgement, which is why everyone like them needed someone like you. Their thought were clouded with one mission, and for once in their spent lifetimes, it was not to beat the others, at least not to a certain extent anyways. It was their assignment, delivered by their own hands, to bring you to the edge, and that’s physically what they reformed to do.

One of them were groping your nipples, whilst the other confined the same treatment to your ass cheeks. Loki found your Rocky enables of positive feedback to be icicles and they were beautiful, he stared at them, as though they were divine ploys extracted from the mythical kingdom of Jotunheim, their residence in the realm to be the peacemakers of all bountiful creatures, much like himself and Barnes.

A rich euphoric groan exuberated from Bucky as he allowed himself to spoil, but he tutted whence he watched Loki’s features suppose that he was to follow shortly behind. “Not inside of her.” Bucky growled, sufficing Loki to roll his eyes, and pull out, the man behind you furiously replacing your hand, rolling our clit in his grasp until a sinful scream enveloped the air, commencing them all to the fact that you had just came.

Loki found the show to be unfair, and instead, spilled his priceless seed onto the huffing skin of your stomach, you eyes fluttered shut at the warm feeling pooling onto you. You leant back, drawing your neck into a crooked angle as you swiped your tongue wordlessly over the piercing on Bucky’s right nipple, metal providing a relief to the heat that your body was and had been swarmed with. “ Last chance you’re gonna have t taste her sweet cunt.”

“You do certainly have some faith in this one Barnes, but I do doubt that it will be the last instance in which i am todo so.” His silver tongue pried at your cum soaked flesh, drinking up all the essence that you had to offer, onshore the flavour that Bucky had brought to the table, i the form of a succulent drizzling of Snow White cum.

As Loki finishes swabbing his tongue over your cunt, Bucky adoringly kisses you, much sweeter than he has before. It was sort, and almost chaste, but his blue eyes roamed your face, delicately observing the high points of your face, that were covered with a sheen of great force making you as he would put it, glow.

The pair of you weer exhausted, there was still some swollen was to his lips from where he had sucked off Loki. His hands cradled you around your waist, his feet kicking Loki back as you whimpered from opaque sensitivity. “I guess that was you bidding me a dew.” Sneered the trickster, fishing for his clothes, as he spared you a spark filled glare, to which you ignored.

Once he was situated back into his attire, he left the sex scented room,a hollow smirk chapping his lips as he strutted th a purpose out into the hallway, taking a left instead of a right, and creeping into barnes’ studio to see what the man was working on in the midst of his enduring tour/ He was always the trickster, and nothing different was to ever be expected out of him.

“That was good.” You mumbled, rubbing your ode lovingly across the scruff that coated his jaw. His fingers made small circles upon your tummy, humming contently as he remained sheathed inside of you. He had to admit, he preferred it when it was just him, but his lonesome, sheathed within your walls, feeling the small trembles of your walls around him. It was practically heaven, and he would say so if he believed in such a place.

A deliberate knock ruined the moment, as the man entered,he quarrelled with himself where her to casually look in the direction of the pair of you or to avert his sight around, and blankly at the all. “What is it T’Challa?” Grumbled the man inside of you, quirking a thin brow at the timing of his presence.

“Loki; he managed to get into ur data, and he’s leaked a whole bunch of your music.” Of course, Loki would not come here to simply gloat, there was alas something extra up his green sleeve, and now it was revealed.

“Son of a bitch!” Bucky made a move to stand, but instead prohibited a whimper out of you as hi ships jutted angrily tip on instinct. “Get Odin on the phone, we’re going to have a little chat about his slippery hands son!” Barked Bucky, prepared t do anything to bring his greatest threat down, compiling him into the put of hate industry, until he was forgotten about, unable to ever produce new music again.

“Talk to Sif.” You whispered, becoming the image of his assistant once more, even if his cum lathered cock was prevailing within a rut of required stress relief, growing in the conjunction of your wall with his body guard there. “She loathes him, and rightfully so. He got her kicked out and she has dirt on him that nobody else has ever heard. If you want to take I’m down, she is your in.”

The strict tone grammatically supported by your logical information was definitely turning Bucky on again. He could handle you more than fine without Loki’s aid, he was just a means to an end, as it was clearly shown in his priorities.

[a-writer]

Driver’s License - c.b.

Of course i needed to write something inspired in driver’s license cause i can’t stop thinking about it! Hope you enjoy xx

Colby Brock x reader

Warnings: angst, sad

I got my driver's license last week

Just like we always talked about

'Cause you were so excited for me

To finally drive up to your house

But today I drove through the suburbs

Crying 'cause you weren't around

You still remember the day you met Colby. It was spring and the sun was shining bright. You were having a very nice day, until your best friend convinced you to drive her car, even though you didn’t have your driver's license yet.

“C’mon, just to practice!”

You agreed. Dumb decision. You were doing fine until, accidentally, you crashed into another car. A red, old toyota. Both you and your best friend were okay, it was a very small crash, a little bump on the side. Neither one of you knew what to do and then someone knocked on your window. You completely froze when you saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring at you angrily.  Long story short, you ended up crying your ass off begging him not to call the police because you were driving without a license. He seemed angry at first, but surprisingly he agreed not to call the police on you and just asked you one thing in return for your accident: your number.

One month later, Colby and you were dating and were the happiest couple. You never got your driver's license. You don’t remember when things started to go wrong, you just remember how Colby started to avoid you. He didn’t call, didn’t text. You finally confronted him, asked him if he was cheating and he completely denied it. But he said he needed some time. He promised you two would get back together, because he loved you. But he said he needed to get off his mind and put his priorities in order. It hurted like hell. But you accepted, cause you were going to be back together, right?

After nine months of love, you’re alone in your room. You finally got your driver’s license and you immediately thought about him. Colby used to tease you all the time and now he wasn’t around anymore.

And you're probably with that blonde girl

Who always made me doubt

She's so much older than me

She's everything I'm insecure about

Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs

'Cause how could I ever love someone else?

You saw all the posts and stories on instagram. You saw Colby next to that blonde girl all the time. And it hurt to know that the girl you spent all your relationship worried about was where you used to be. You feel a pain in your chest just thinking about it, how his arms are hugging her, his lips are kissing her, his mouth is saying her name, his hands are holding her hands. You know you can’t blame her, but it is so difficult.

You try not to think about it too much, but social media keeps reminding you of the adventures they are living together. Your head tells you to stop looking and overthinking, tells you to stop loving him because he lied. But your heart just wishes for one more taste of his lips. And you know that you just can’t move on, not for now, cause the love you feel for him is just too much.

And I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

Guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

On your first date after the car accident, Colby took you to an amazing viewpoint where you could see all the silhouettes of the buildings in LA. It was beautiful, but you don’t remember the view that much. You just remember his blue eyes staring deeply in your soul and how much you wanted to kiss him, even though you didn’t know him that well. But you both wanted it so bad, it ended up happening. Things with Colby went so fast, it seemed unbelievable. But you felt like you had been friends for years.

It was impossible not to love him, even through your ups and downs. You fought, like all couples do. Especially because of the pressure of the fans, but you always got through it. Now you were completely broken, to the point that you even missed the fights. He seemed fine, at least that’s the image that you got from looking on his instagram.

You never told anyone, but the first day you got your driver’s license you drove up to his house at night. You cried until there were no tears left and then your heart turned black and cold, and even though you still loved him to death, you started to feel an anger towards him building inside of you.

He lied, he said he loved you, he said he would come back to you. The wind took the words away and he left you alone.

And all my friends are tired

Of hearing how much I miss you, but

I kinda feel sorry for them

'Cause they'll never know you the way that I do

Yeah, today I drove through the suburbs

And pictured I was driving home to you

You still talked to Sam sometimes, but you started to lose the relationship with him too. Katrina would still check up on you sometimes and you tried to not make it super obvious how much you wanted to know about Colby, but she knew. You could feel how sorry she felt for you and how bad she didn’t want you to ask for him, but it seemed like the only thing you could talk about was Colby. He was not your business, and both you and Kat knew that. Still, she always tried to be nice, she told you how she thought he was super sad. But deep down, you knew it was a lie to make you feel better.

And I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one, oh

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

I guess you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

You knew too well. He was enjoying life with that blonde girl. He was happy without you and that was what hurt the most. You tried so hard to hate him, but it was impossible. Your heart belonged to him, it had his name tattooed with fire.

You wanted to reverse the situation and you went on dates with other guys. But you couldn’t stop comparing them to Colby, searching for all the flaws they had that Colby didn’t, thinking about how Colby did everything better. You felt like you were going crazy, that you would never get over him, so you unfollowed him on instagram and twitter, you removed his number from your phone and all your photos together. You threw away every little thing that reminded you of him in your house and you decided to start a new life.

Red lights, stop signs

I still see your face in the white cars, front yards

Can't drive past the places we used to go to

'Cause I still fucking love you, babe

It had been five months since Colby asked you to give him some time. You knew he was a 100% with the blonde girl and you still had a hard time understanding how he could do it so fast. For the first time in those five months, you decided to go to this little grocery shop where they sold italian products that you always used to go to together.

You just wanted to make a good pizza, but the universe had other plans for you, because while you were looking for your favourite type of cheese, a familiar voice called your name. You froze in the spot, you recognized it immediately. The voice called your name again and you turned around. There he was, standing right in front of you with a shy smile and his damned blue eyes staring deep into your soul.

“(Y/N), hi. It’s been quite some time.” His voice sounded the same and you couldn’t avoid the butterflies you felt on your stomach.

“Hey, Colby.” Your voice sounded more high pitched than how you’d like.

“You look good”. Your cheeks turned red when the word left his mouth and he smirked.

“You too.” An awkward silence arose between the two of you. “I’ve gotta go.”

You tried to walk away but his hand grabbed your arm and you turned to look at him surprised.

“I’m sorry” He blurted out the words without thinking.

You looked down, your eyes filling with water. Taking a deep breath, you looked back at him, holding onto your strength.

“Me too, Colby.” It physically pained you to say his name again and you could see the sadness in his eyes, too.

You tried to run away, but his hand was still holding your arm. You mentally kicked yourself for coming here, you should have stayed home and ordered a pizza. It would have been way better than this. You tried to speak again, but suddenly you felt a pair of lips on yours. You were surprised at first, but the feeling was so familiar that you couldn’t help melt into the kiss.

After five months, feeling Colby’s hands on your body felt heavenly. He kissed every inch of your skin and whispered sweet nothings into your ear. The feeling of him on top of you, the feeling of him inside of you, felt so good that it was almost like a dream. You went to sleep with his arms around you, hugging you tightly, and it felt like home.

You woke up alone. At first you thought it was impossible. You could still smell his cologne, but his side of the bed was cold. You couldn’t help but laugh at yourself. Of course this was going to happen, of course he saw the opportunity to fuck you and used you. You ended up spending the whole day crying in your bed, the feeling of his hands caressing you still present.

He lied to you twice. He saw that you were vulnerable and took advantage of that. He said how much he’d miss you, how much he’d wanted you and then he left without saying anything. And after all that, you still loved him.

Sidewalks we crossed

I still hear your voice in the traffic

We're laughing over all the noise

God, I'm so blue, know we're through

But I still fucking love you, babe

It had been one month since that night. You cut off everyone that had to do something with Colby from your life, even Kat. It hurt you, but you knew you needed to do it. Now you were okay. At least better. A part of you still loved him, but everyday a little less.

You were aware that Kat tried to get in contact with you, but you never responded. And you knew that eventually she would understand. She sent you direct messages in all your social media begging to answer her calls, to talk to her. One night you did.

“(Y/N)? Omg, finally!! I missed you, i’m so sorry”. Kat sounded desperate.

“Kat, it’s okay. I’m sorry I cut you off… I just needed some time.”

“I completely get that, just please don’t do it again.” You laughed at her words. “(Y/N)... I actually wanted to call you because I’m worried. Sam is too.” You did not respond, you already knew who she was talking about.

There were some seconds of silence and Kat took that as a sign to keep speaking.

“It’s Colby.” Well, duh. “We’re worried about him. You saw him, right? Like a month ago?”

“Yes” Your voice was quiet, but Kat could hear you perfectly.

“I knew it. Look, I don’t know what happened, but I can imagine. He’s been a mess ever since. Sam told me that he came home at like seven in the morning and immediately sent a text to…” Kat stopped.

“You can say it.”

“To her girlfriend at the time.” You felt your chest tighten but you ignored it. “He broke up with her. I think it was because whatever happened with you that night. The thing is that he has spent most of the last month alone in his room. When he’s out he’s always drunk and he’s not taking anything seriously. Not even his job, (Y/N). We’re worried about him.”

“Kat, I… I understand that you’re worried, but that’s not my business anymore. He lied to me, he used me and then he never talked to me again. I get it, he’s having a hard time. But I’ve been suffering because of him during all these past months. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do anything about it. I’m sorry, Kat.”

Before she could say another word, you hung up.

I know we weren't perfect, but I've never felt this way for no one

And I just can't imagine how you could be so okay now that I'm gone

'Cause you didn't mean what you wrote in that song about me

'Cause you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

Yeah, you said forever, now I drive alone past your street

You couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation with Kat. It had been a month when she texted you inviting you over to a party. You declined the invitation, but she told you that Colby was much better and that he agreed on not even talking to you if you didn’t want to. You still said no. Kat begged you, she offered to be by your side during the whole night. She said she was missing you too much. Finally, you gave up.

When you arrived the party was already started, the music blasting and people dancing. Kat was waiting for you on the door, she grabbed you by the arm and she promised that she wouldn’t leave your side. You smiled politely and took the shot she offered you.

Hours passed by and you had to go to the bathroom. Sam offered you to go to the one in his room and you agreed. Going up the stairs the music turned lower and you breathed deeply, already kinda tired. You were about to go into Sam’s room when you heard the door behind you opening. You froze, what a surprise.

“(Y/N)?” That. fucking. voice.

You turned around with your best smile plastered on your face.

“Hello, Colby.”

“How are you?” You didn’t respond, the room filling with awkward silence, one more time. “I actually wanted to tell you that I’m really so-”

You cut him off.

“Save it, Colby.” He seemed surprised. “I’m done with your bullshit. In fact, I’m done with you. You hurt me and I’m just trying to heal and live my life. So please, leave me alone.” You tried to leave quickly.

“(Y/N), wait!” He grabbed your arm and you kept having flashbacks to the last time you found yourself in this position. “I’m sorry, okay. I know I fucked us up. But you can’t tell me that bullshit.” Your eyes widened.

“Excuse me?”

“C’mon, (Y/N).” His face was inches away from you and you could smell the alcohol on his mouth. “You’re really going to tell me that you didn’t come to this party expecting to bump into me? You’re going to tell me that right now you’re not dying to kiss me?”

You wanted to kiss him. You wanted to kiss him badly. But that was not an option, not tonight.

“Fuck you, Colby.”

You slapped his hand away from your body and ran downstairs. You went to your car directly and drove home. You couldn’t help the tears coming down your face when you arrived home. He was an asshole, a liar and an egotistical fuck.

And the saddest thing was that you were still completely in love with him.

[m0srael]

The Fourth King

2k | T Rating | Implied death

This is the second in what will be an ongoing series about H&D as stage magicians, in love and in trouble like all good magical duos. Read the first here! This is for the @drarrymicrofic prompt: King. Thanks to @phoebedelia for the beta!!! Read on Ao3.

“No, no, for fuck’s sake Harry, I’ve explained this a hundred times--”

“You explained it exactly three times, Draco, and each time has been different!”

“Yes, well, I’m trying to find a way that penetrates your thick skull--”

“Fuck off, all the way off, out of England if you can. Sit down, let me try again, I think I’ve got it…”

----

The room was more opulent than any other Potter and Malfoy had performed in. The vaulted ceilings were crusted in elaborate crown moulding, the Baroque frescoes painted there almost blindingly bright. Any surface that could have been gilded, was. The air was warm and still--Harry thought he could hear the distant tinkling of a pianoforte.

They were set up at the front of the room, staring down a phalanx of uncomfortable-looking wooden chairs occupied by even more uncomfortable-looking aristocrats. The ladies were all breathing shallowly, fanning themselves with lacy fans clutched in gloved hands. Harry couldn’t help but notice the way several of them fluttered their eyelashes at Draco. The gentlemen each clutched a crystal glass of dark liquor, their eyes glazed and distant.

Jones had managed to procure them each a second-hand tuxedo, fine enough that they wouldn’t insult their hosts by their mere presence, but not so fine as to suggest they didn’t know their place. Draco thought Harry looked quite dashing in a tailcoat. He might tell him later, if they found one another again.

Potter and Malfoy had been booked for an hour-long performance and judging by any one of the seven ornate clocks scattered about the large room, they had ten minutes to pull off their final trick. It was more than enough time.

----

“Listen to me, Rose got her hands on the guest list, they’ll all be there. We will never have another opportunity like this, Harry.”

“Yeah, I get that, but--”

“No ‘buts’. My love--Harry, please. We’ve gone over it a hundred, a thousand, times! We will not...cannot...fail.”

“You can’t guarantee that, Draco! What if something goes wrong, what are we supposed to do if we can’t get it? What do we do if we can?”

“We’ll get it. Harry, we’ll get it. We’ve been patient for so long. I need you to trust me.”

----

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Malfoy’s deep voice resonated around the cavernous space. “I’m afraid the time has come for our final act. It is a simple, but elegant, illusion. Are you watching closely?”

Potter stepped forward from where he’d been leant against the vanishing cabinet situated on the far left of the low stage, opposite the second cabinet on the right. “We’d like to tell you a story,” he said in a soft voice. The thick blanket of stale air seemed to ripple with the low, wooden creak as the audience leaned forward as one. Potter flicked his wrist and a deck of cards appeared, pinched between the pads of his thumb and first two fingers. A woman in the third row gasped, softly. He fanned the cards out and extended his arm, moving it first to the left, then to the right.

“Your Grace,” Malfoy said, bowing and gesturing expansively at the Duke to invite him onstage, “This act requires your...particular participation.” After a moment, the Duke made his way onto the stage, accompanied by polite applause.

Potter bent at the waist, extending the deck out toward the Duke. “If you please, Your Grace, examine these cards and confirm for us that this is a complete and unaltered deck.” The Duke took his time. He fingered every card, turned them this way and that, counted silently. After a minute he looked at the audience, “Yes, this seems to be a perfectly normal deck of playing cards.”

“If it pleases Your Grace, would you remove the four kings from the deck--yes, hand them right to Potter here--and then give it a good shuffle?” Malfoy asked. The Duke complied, plucking the four king cards out of the deck one-by-one.

“This is a story about time...and greed; about four kings driven by selfishness and consumed by avarice.” Potter paced the length of the stage with the four cards splayed in his hand, slowing here and there as an audience member leaned in for a closer look. He stopped to the left of the Duke.

“You see, these kings,” Malfoy continued, coming to stand opposite Potter, “have stolen something that does not belong to them. Something priceless and very important. They are under the mistaken impression that this item will bring them wealth and influence.” Draco turned to face the Duke, holding his eye contact.

“What would you do,” Potter said as he, too, turned to face the Duke, “if someone took something from you, something precious? Would you...call the police? Confront the thief? Would you ask your neighbors for help, or keep quiet out of fear and shame? Would you do whatever it took to get it back?”

----

“Draco, I know I say this every bloody day, but you’ve finally lost your mind. It’s too risky. We don’t have enough time...the dinner is tomorrow night!”

“Look at me, Harry, bloody hell, stop and look into my eyes--”

“Stop it, you always do this…”

“Yes! Harry! Because someone has to ensure that we...that our family...that we make it back and unless you have a better suggestion--”

“Jones said! He said he’s got a lead on a series of gigs and sure, it will take longer, but it’s better than risking our bloody--”

“A SERIES OF GIGS? You would rather...keep doing cheap illusions for a bunch of drunks who couldn’t care less, getting beer--OR WORSE--poured over our heads every night…”

“WE NEED MORE TIME, DRACO! We need...you haven’t thought this through properly!”

“Hah! More time! Time is all we have, now, Harry!”

“I can’t lose you...again…”

----

Potter and Malfoy walked around the Duke in a slow, tight circle, heads bowed to the floor as if contemplating their own answers to the question. They came to a stop in their original positions, making eye contact with one another. “The kings have learned that the rightful owners of their pilfered treasure are planning to break into the palace,” Malfoy said gesturing with his free hand at the kingless deck he held in the other, “and steal it back. They form a foolproof plan to thwart them.”

“The first king decides to set a guard on the ground floor of the palace, surely the thieves will try to enter through the portcullis,” Potter slid the king of clubs into the deck near the bottom card.

“The second king thinks that the thieves can’t be so stupid as to walk right in through the front door, so he sets a guard on the second floor of the castle. They will scale the walls and enter through a window, surely!” Malfoy slid the king of spades into the deck just below the middle.

“The third king knows that the treasure has been stored in the vaults on the top floor of the palace, he intends to set a guard there and catch the thieves red-handed.” Potter slid the king of diamonds into the deck just below the top.

“The fourth king, however, thinks himself cleverest of them. He sets his guard on the roof of the palace.” Malfoy lifted the final card, the king of hearts, and placed it gently on the top of the deck before holding it out in front of the Duke’s chest “From his vantage point, he can see everything: the portcullis, the palace walls, the windows in the highest towers, the lands surrounding the palace. He will watch closely and raise an alarm as soon as he sees movement in the dark. He can gather his brethren so they can rain arrows, stones, and boiling fat down on the intruders before they ever breach the palace walls.”

“In the small hours of the morning the fourth king hears what he has been waiting for,” Potter nearly whispered, cupping a hand around his ear as if he, too, could hear it, “the sound of hoof-beats echoing through the trees near the palace. The fourth king called down to his compatriots, urging them to hurry to the roof.” Harry tapped the top of the deck in Draco’s hand, hard, with his middle finger. The gentleman sitting closest to him jumped at the solid thud the gesture produced.

Malfoy fluttered the long fingers of his free hand over the deck before lifting the top four cards. A wave of surprise rolled through the audience as they realized that he held all four kings. They began clapping, hesitantly at first, then more enthusiastically.

----

“Draco, please, we can call it off now. We can just do the gig, get our money, and go home. There will be other--”

“There will never be another opportunity like this, I’m not going to say it again. It’s too late, anyways, the triggers have been set and the charms can’t be reversed.”

“That can’t...but you PROMISED! You said, if we changed our minds we could--”

“I know what I said, Harry, I know. I’m sorry. I love you so much. I love you so much and we have to do this. I had to be sure that we have no choice but to go through with it. This is the only way.”

“You also promised you would find me, will you break that, too? How can I trust you to do that now?”

“Because I will always find you, Harry. I always have. It’s the only thing I am ever perfectly certain of.”

----

Potter held up a silencing hand, never taking his eyes off the Duke’s face. He waited until the room fell quiet once more. “What the fourth king failed to consider was that the men--back to retrieve what was rightfully theirs--had been inside the palace all along. They divined the kings’ plan before the kings themselves concocted it.”

“In fact, the men had already taken back their property, long before the kings set their watches that night,” Malfoy felt the right pocket of his jacket sag under a sudden weight. He tipped Potter a gentle wink as he handed over the four kings, then waved his free hand over the deck. Malfoy used both hands to fan the cards, face out. They were blank, every one. The audience began to murmur, ladies’ fans fluttered and men gestured with their now-empty glasses. “Your Grace, I believe this is yours?” Potter said, handing him the king of hearts.

Potter and Malfoy began to walk backwards, slowly, toward the vanishing cabinets. “As I mentioned, this story--like so many--is about greed.” Potter said loudly over the cheering audience, “More specifically, this story is about what happens to men so eaten up by greed that they no longer care who they hurt in their pursuit of power.” The king of hearts burst into flame in the Duke’s hand, drawing another collective gasp from the audience.

They opened the doors of the vanishing cabinets at the same moment. Harry turned to face Draco, his gaze hot and pleading, tears stinging his eyes. Draco nodded quickly at him, his smile watery and wavering, before stepping inside. As Harry pulled the door closed behind him he heard the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor, followed by a high, piercing shriek, before the dark consumed him.

[thenakedgingerwrites]

Gullible Mike

AN: I’ve had a few prompts on my notepad for years that I haven’t fleshed out and finally got into a creative and horny mood today. Prompt below. I welcome any other authors to take it and run with it to make their own variation on the simple idea. I ended up having the POV be the controller but I think my original prompt idea was that the POV would be controlled. If you use the prompt shoot me a message so I can enjoy your mischievous minds :)

Prompt: “Photo or video gets found of a friend and he has to convince his friend it’s not him by getting naked.”

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

The hypnosis show me and some buddies went to a few weeks ago was pretty fun. A few of us had been called up on stage and while it didn’t appear to work on a few invited volunteers, it had certainly worked on Mike.

His instruction was pretty simple: to be incredibly gullible. The hypnotist lady had then gotten him into a number of funny situations by proving just how gullible he was. He had offered a bunch of money to random members of the audience since it was obviously illegal to have more than $2 in your wallet at any time. He talked like a baby to anyone who claimed they were a parent because that was the polite thing to do. And lastly, he had taken off his jeans because the hypnotist thought they were on fire!

The show wasn’t x-rated or anything, so it stopped there, but it was pretty funny to see Mike hopping around on stage in his boxer briefs and polo. The audience’s wolf whistles agreed. Before a heckler’s shout of “I think your underwear’s on fire too!” she had put him back under.

It wasn’t until a few days later that it became apparent to me that Mike was still under this ‘gullible’ command. We had been hanging out just the two of us and watching the Packers v. Steelers game and he was going on and on about how Roethlisberger was going to wipe the field with my team. I jokingly said something like “since you’re clearly in love with him, a good luck kiss might go a long way.”

He somewhat seriously asked me, “you think so?” I figured we were still just razzing each other and so I responded, “Oh for sure. If you plant a big one on the TV when he’s on screen I’m positive that’ll make sure the Steelers win.”

Mike just sat there with a curious face as we continued to watch the game. I thought it was just a weird interaction until the camera zoomed in on Roethlisberger between downs. Mike nearly sprinted to the TV and kissed the image of Ben. “Good luck Ben!” he said, somewhat seductively.

I burst out laughing thinking he was still just trying to be funny. He looked back at me and said, “we’ll see who’s laughing at the end of the game.”

I rolled my eyes and got us another round of beers, but these bizarre actions continued. All through the game anytime Ben was shown on screen, Mike would run up and kiss the TV. Luckily we were at his place so I didn’t care about the lip marks and saliva streaks on the screen but I was flabbergasted. What the fuck was wrong with him?

And then I remembered the hypnotist.

It clicked that Mike was clearly still under the command she had given him. I wasn’t sure what to do about it though. I remembered the bar she had performed at so maybe I could call them to get in contact with her and have her reverse this thing.

Then the Steelers scored and he gloated to me that my team was gonna lose because I didn’t have as much team spirit and loyalty like he did.

“You haven’t kissed Rodgers once and you call yourself a fan? You should be ashamed.”

Really, Mike? That’s how you’re gonna act?

“Well at least I’m not kissing him wrong unlike you. What you’re doing is far more disrespectful. I bet they lose the game since you’re doing it so wrong.”

Mike looked worried, “what do you mean?”

“Everyone knows you don’t fucking kiss the quarterback like it’s your grandma or something. I haven’t seen tongue once this whole game. And your silent ass kiss is probably gonna make him miss every throw from this point on.”

Mike was wide eyed. I wagered that in his warped mind now he thought HE would be responsible if they lost. He looked to the TV in terror. Serendipitously, he actually did botch the pass in the next play. Honestly it was more good defense from the Packers end and less-so a poor throw from Roethlisberger but to Mike, that was the confirmation he needed.

The camera zoomed in on Ben cursing inaudibly and Mike went to work. He was fucking making out with the screen, tongue and all, and moaning a ton. He even ran one of his hands up the screen like he was caressing the dude.

I was filled with mixed emotions. I felt bad that I was taking advantage of the situation, I felt ecstatic because this shit was hilarious and I couldn’t wait to tell the guys, and, scarily, I felt turned on watching him make out with 2D Ben Roethlisberger and moaning louder and louder.

The tent in my gym shorts told me I was feeling the third emotion more than anything else.

We were close to the end of the game and I wasn’t pleased that the Packers had lost but for the first time in my life I didn’t care. The day had made a turn and seeing Mike in this way was a treat I didn’t know I wanted.

He continued to berate me for not caring about the Packers as much as he cared about the Steelers which was an argument I let him win. I was still a bit in a state of shock.

I finished my beer and needed to get home. As I was getting ready to leave, I decided to try something. It was dumb, but at that point I was still thinking with the hard dick in my shorts.

“Alright, Mike, I need to head out.”

“Sounds good Matt. Sorry, I made your team lose. Not!”

I rolled my eyes again, “yeah, well maybe next time I’ll try my own good luck charm.”

He raised his eyes, “What’s that!?”

“Well I’m not going to give you any secrets to let your team keep winning against mine.”

“Ah, fuck you Matt. We’ll win no matter what.”

“Sure, sure. Anyway, should we do the kiss now?”

He looked at me confused and took a step back. “The what now?”

“You know, the goodbye kiss.”

He still looked at me like I was crazy. I started to get nervous but doubled down, hoping it would work.

“When two friends watch a game together, they have to kiss after it’s over to show there’s no hard feelings. Have you honestly never heard of that rule?”

He shook his head, “No I… I guess I haven’t. I’m sorry, Matt.”

“Shit, I hope you haven’t pissed off any of your other friends.”

I could see panic in his eyes as he thought through how many times he had botched this gentleman’s rule before.

“It’s probably fine, Mike,” I assured him. “You didn’t know. I’m sure no harm done.”

“Fuck. I hope so.” He looked up at me, “Well I won’t fuck up from now on, that’s for sure!”

He walked up to me and kissed me.

It was so quick and I was on cloud nine with the realization that it had worked that I just stood there for a second.

He looked at me curiously and asked, “We good?” I blinked away my shock to continue the game, “Is that how you kissed Roethlisberger? I thought we were actually friends, dude.”

“Oh, shit sorry!”

I didn’t even need to coach him on what I wanted. He leaned back in and planted his lips on mine but this time, began to invade my mouth with his tongue. As he did he rubbed my back and began to moan. This time, I kissed back.

My arms also stroked up and down the small of his back and I even risked a single rub down onto his butt. Man, was it hot. If he felt my boner pressing up against his thigh, Mike didn’t say anything.

We kissed hot and heavy like this for a good 30 seconds before he broke away.

“Sorry, Matt. I’ll be sure to give a proper kiss moving forward.”

“Yeah… Yeah.”

I was at a loss for words.

I should leave.

I should.

I didn’t.

I’m not sure why it came to mind but I was running on autopilot at this stage controlled entirely by the dick in my shorts. I wouldn’t identify as gay or really even bi, but I had been curious for a bit what it would be like to be with another guy. Mostly like a morbid curiosity or something, but now that there was a real opportunity on the table, with someone I trusted and who was pretty freaking hot, I couldn’t resist the temptation to get it out of my system.

“Oh fuck, dude.”

I looked down at my phone as I exclaimed that.

Mike looked at me, “What’s up? Everything okay?”

“I think your ex leaked dick pics of you.”

“What?!” Mike shouted and ran over to my phone to try and get a look.

I hid my phone from him quickly and covered myself by saying “wait, Mike. You don’t want to look at these in case it’s not actually your dick. That would make you gay if you did.”

He quickly backed off, “I’m not gay!”

“Right, right. Me either. But I didn’t have a choice, I had to look at them but you don’t have to.”

“Okay, yeah. How the fuck would she have done that though? I don’t remember her even taking them!”

“I’m not sure, Mike,” I said. “Maybe she took them when you weren’t paying attention.”

“Fuck, are you sure it’s me?” he asked nervously.

Gotcha.

“Well, I’m not sure. The only way I could know for sure would be to see your dick to compare.”

Mike looked confused, “Well that would be pretty gay dude. I don’t want you looking at my junk and I’m sure you don’t either.”

“Well of course not, but chances are I’m already looking at it right now. But I’m willing to do this as a friend, and that wouldn’t be gay. And if it’s not actually your dick then you don’t have to worry. If it is, we should report them and try and get them taken down.”

“Fuck. Fuck! I don’t want dick pics of me out there on the internet!”

“I know! Think about if your work found them, or your family! That would be so embarrassing!”

“Shit shit shit.” Mike was freaking out. “Okay… Okay, are you sure you don’t mind helping me out?”

“As a friend, I have to do everything in my power to confirm whether these pics are of you or not.”

“You’re such a good friend, Matt. I’m sorry you’re in this position though.”

Oh, no worries.

Mike hesitantly started to undo the button on his cargo shorts. He didn’t strip in any sort of sexy way but a second later his cargo shorts hit the ground. I was staring at a similar image as last week: Mike standing there with nothing but a shirt and underwear. This time though, his hands were reaching for the waistband.

“I’m sorry,” he said to me one more time.

I went to say ‘no problem’ but got caught off by the shucking of his boxer briefs. As he stood back up I finally got to see it. The whole package.

Mike clearly didn’t manscape much and honestly neither did I, but that didn’t hide what he was packing. His soft cock was cut like my own and pretty thick. I knew not to judge a guy based on his softie but wagered he was large. And as a double bonus the balls below, while tight to his body, looked pretty big too.

I stared.

“Well?” Mike asked me cautiously with his palms extended, miming ‘what do you think?’

“I… I’m not sure.”

“What do you mean?” he asked me.

“Well, Mike, this is awkward… but the photos here are of a hard dick. It’s difficult to know for sure if this is you or not comparing the two.”

“Fuck man! What are we gonna do?”

“I’m not sure,” I replied.

I wanted him to come up with the solution. Somehow that made me feel less like a terrible person and friend.

“I hate to ask…” he started. “But, would you be willing to look at my stuff if I went and got a boner?”

“Man, Mike… I mean. Like I said, as a friend I basically have to. It’s my duty, as everyone knows. So yeah, I’ll compare your boner to the pictures.”

He sighed in relief. “You’re the best, Matt.”

He looked around, “I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get it up though given the situation…”

Time to test this hypnosis. I planted a seed. “Well, I heard that in this situation I’m supposed to be the one to get you hard.”

“What? Where did you hear that?”

“Greg, my buddy from work, told me a year or so ago. This same thing had happened to a friend of his.”

“Fuck, really?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And I asked him if that was gay or anything.”

“That’s what I was wondering too.”

Mike was falling perfectly into my made up scenario. “Yeah, but Greg assured me that it isn’t. Literally anything I have to do to make sure you’re good isn’t gay. It’s just being a good friend. But he told me that his friend couldn’t get himself hard because boners look different when you get it up versus when someone else does.”

“Really, I’ve never noticed before.”

“Me either, but I guess that’s because I don’t really notice dicks, you know?”

He nodded his head eagerly. “Right, right.”

“So, I guess, I’ll have to get you hard. That’s like the only way I’ll be able to tell for sure.”

“Damn. I’m so sorry, Matt.”

“Honestly, don’t worry about apologizing. I’m just happy I can hopeful help to confirm you have nothing to worry about with these photos.”

“Thanks man!”

He looked around the room a bit awkwardly. “Should we uh.. Sit down or something?”

I pointed to the couch. “Yeah, why don’t you sit there.”

He did as instructed and spread his legs out. He hadn’t bothered to cover up at all this whole time and as he sat down and reclined a bit, his soft dick fell to one side of his thighs.

I timidly knelt down in front of him. He watched me. Now just inches from me was the first dick I had really ever seen up close besides my own. Gym showers don’t really count. This was entirely different.

I reached my hand out. I was no longer nervous that I would get caught or something because it was clear I could do anything with Gullible Mike at this point. I was just nervous about how much I was going to like this.

My fingers touched flesh. The soft skin of Mike’s cock was warm and spongey. I sort of just played with it in my finger tips for a few moments before palming it. As I started my slow strokes to bring Mike Jr. to life, I looked up at Mike Sr.

He was watching but was clearly embarrassed. He was blushing profusely. I probably could have spared him with some command, but I decided against it. It was fun to watch him squirm a bit.

He slowly began to inflate and as he did I took note of his balls with my other hand. They were indeed large. Larger than mine at least. Mike clearly didn’t shave them but there wasn’t much hair. Mostly up near where they met his body. I lightly massaged them, earning me the first moan from Mike.

He had leaned his head back, no longer watching the action. Perhaps he was imagining some girl doing this to him. Perhaps he was just enjoying the experience as much as I was.

My hand was now grasping onto firm meat. His cock was at full mast. Finally I had him beat somewhere. His dick was probably only about 6 inches hard, maybe a little smaller actually. However, he still had me beat in girth. I continued to stroke him for a bit when Mike finally spoke up.

“I think I’m fully hard now. Can you tell if the pics are of my dick or not?”

I pulled out my phone, letting his dick fall back onto his belly with an audible ‘smack.’ I pretended to compare the imaginary pics up against his dick.

“Hm, mind if I take some photos of the same angle so I can compare them side by side?”

“Umm…” he bit his lip.

“I’ll delete them obviously.”

“Oh yeah, sorry, that’s fine.”

I took a myriad of photos for my own personal entertainment. Some close up, some showing all of Mike including his face which was still flushed. I even took a secret video of me holding his dick upright and stroking it a bit.

“So, I’m feeling more confident that it may not be your dick.”

“Oh thank god!”

“But, there’s a few things that are still off.”

Mike was worried again, “like what?”

“Well… the photos of the dick are kind of… wet.”

“Wet?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Like, your ex had just given you a blowjob or something.”

“Fuck. Is there that much of a difference with a bit of saliva on it?”

“Surprisingly yeah. It’s hard for me to know for sure. Unless…”

“Unless you…?” He asked.

I feigned hesitation. “I think I have to blow you.”

“Matt, no, that’s too much. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“Mike, you don’t have to. You’re one of my best friends.”

“Seriously, Matt. I’d rather just have my dick pics leaked. I would feel so bad asking you to do that for me.”

“No, I’ve made up my mind. This is for you, Mike!”

Without letting him try and talk me out of it, I brought his dick to my mouth.

“Oh fuck! Mmmm” Mike no longer protested.

Being the first blowjob I’d ever given, I didn’t get much in at first. Maybe two inches of his thick cock. But as I continued to bob on it, I got past the halfway point.

Mike’s dick tasted great. There was a fleshy, salty taste that I’d expect from skin like when I’ve licked my fingers in the past after getting food on them or something. But there was also an extra flavor that I realized must be his pre.

In under a minute, Mike was moaning loudly. He even placed a hand on the back of my head. Not forcing me down his dick or anything, but he kindly rubbed and played with my hair as I sucked him.

I hate to admit it, but I loved it. I don’t think I could say I wasn’t bi anymore.

I continued to nearly gag on his thick tool when he interrupted me to say, “Matt, I think you should stop. If you go any further I might fucking cum.”

I stopped to look up at him and deliver my last line, “I didn’t want to mention this, but the pics also had a video of the dick cumming. I think that’s the only way I’ll know for sure.”

“Matt…”

Mike was fully flushed both from the seemingly great blowjob I had been giving but also the idea that he was asking his friend to make him cum. He was so embarrassed.

“You don’t have to ask me, Mike. I want to. You’d make me into a bad friend if you didn’t let me.”

“Well, you are a great friend.”

“So it’s settled.”

I went back to work.

“Fuck, Matt…”

It honestly didn’t take long. I hadn’t gotten to the point where I could take his whole dick in my throat; I’m not sure how gay guys do it. But I got probably 4 or 5 inches down when I felt his ball sac start to tighten up.

“Matt, I’m gonna cum.”

I wanted to taste it but I also got a little gun shy and scared. This was maybe too much for my first gay experience. I released his dick from my mouth and began to stroke him instead. Eight strokes later, his thighs flexed and he grunted.

Mike wasn’t a shooter like myself but fuck did he cum a lot. The first spurt actually shot out a couple inches onto his abs. The next four were just gushes that flowed out and down his dick onto my hand but it was a ton. Then he dribbled more and more for a minute or so as I continued to stroke his slowly deflating cock.

“Wow, Mike. That’s a lot of cum.”

“Haha, thanks. I feel terrible for putting you through this though. I’m a fucking asshole.”

“No you’re not! And, now that I’ve seen you cum, I’m positive these dick pics aren’t of you.”

“Really?!”

He shot up in excitement which caused his semi-hard dick, covered in cum, hit me the face. I fell back in shock and he quickly knelt down to make sure I was okay.

“Shit, sorry Matt! Oh fuck, I got my cum on your face.”

I could feel the warm liquid on my cheek and bit on my mouth.

“Well you know what they say,” I said with a laugh.

“What?”

“You know, ‘if you get cum on a guy’s face, you have to clean it off with your tongue.’”

“Shit, I had no idea. Matt you seem to know so much.”

“Oh I do. I’ll be sure to keep teaching you.”

We shared a laugh before he leaned in.

[mrs-hatake]

here comes the bride: chapter one

pairings: levi x female!reader + minor zeke x female!reader.

genre: alternate universe, illegal car racing, suggestive themes, arranged marriage, strangers to lovers, slow burn, falling in love, eventual smut, heavy make out sessions, hurt/comfort & fluff.

Prologue

A/N: aaannnddd we're back!!apologize for the delay but I've been super busy with japanese and suffered from a writer's block but we're here now so it's all good!

a huuuuggee thank you for my tumblr friend @petrichor-writes for brainstorming and proof reading this chapter :(

trigger warning at the end for a traumatic reaction due to the loss of a loved one.

this fic can be found on ao3 under copycatshinobi

“I can’t believe she’s doing it at a hospital of all places.”

“I think it’s nice of her to be so considerate.”

“Still, I can’t believe she’s doing it here.”

Y/N ignores the hushed whispers as she gracefully makes her way to her mother’s private suite.

It’s not like she isn’t aware of what they were talking about. Everyone working at the hospital has gotten wind of the spontaneous wedding occurring today in one of their few V.I.P rooms. And, frankly, Y/N doesn’t blame them. It isn’t unheard of nor is it uncommon for people to get married at weddings but to arrive at the hospital in a wedding gown while her groom, the priest and her family are all waiting for her in her mother’s quarters.

If the roles were reversed and Y/N was working at the hospital while some rich heiress was going to get married, she would probably be gossiping with her colleagues as well. She might even feel empathetic towards the girl if she discovered the truth behind her marriage.

Y/N glances down at her wedding dress.

She is wearing a pearl white sweetheart cut wedding dress with tiny specks of diamond embedded into the bodice of the dress. The dress is maxi in length and hugs her snugly, accentuating all of her curves. The train of her wedding dress is held by one of the nurses attending to her mother so that it will not stain. Not that the hospital floors are dirty, this is one of the most prestigious and expensive hospitals money can admit you in, nothing but the best for mother, so it is unfathomable for it to be dirty. Nonetheless, it is still a hospital and anything could happen.

Her make-up is minimalistic yet simple and it highlights her natural beauty, making her pleasing to the eyes.

Outwardly, she appears calm, collected and elegant but her heart is beating erratically, badum badum badum it goes, louder than any drum heard in a rock song. Her palms are sweaty and if she releases the colorful bouquet, sweat stains will be seen on the wrapping.

She is shaking like a leaf threatening to fall on a windy autumn day. Her throat is so dry that she wouldn't feel hydrated if she chugged a whole gallon of water. She feels lightheaded, as if walking on clouds and her stomach churns with the threat of unleashing all of its contents of buttered toast and milk upon her beautiful dress.

Click, click, click, goes her high heels, in perfect harmony with her booming heart and they both stop when she reaches the door to room seven seven zero two.

Y/N closes her eyes and inhales shaky puffs of air with great difficulty. The comforting hand on her shoulder from the nurse accompanying her goes unnoticed by her as it does nothing to ease her nervousness. A fleeting thought goes through her mind, she could turn around and she would run, lungs on fire, to the safety of her bedroom and would magically travel back in time to when she was a child. Her mother is healthy and Y/N’s existence is unchained.

Badum, badum, badum, badum and the door handle is twisted downwards.

-

When Levi was informed by his father that he is to be wed to  the chairman’s oldest daughter and the heiress of Hoken, their partnering company for the past twenty five years, he felt conflicted.

Levi had been infatuated with Y/N since the day their fathers had introduced them to one another. The world around him melted, only Y/N appeared in the blank void he was floating in. She had a charming smile on her pink lips that made Levi’s ears heat up in embarrassment.

With time, he had noticed Y/N personality despite their brief interactions. She is polite, soft spoken yet confident and detrimental. She isn’t scared to back down from an argument yet never once did she seem rude with her eloquent vernacular.

Achingly, Levi is reminded of his mother back in her prime. When she ran Sicherheit , the insurance company his father is currently in charge of. He doesn’t remember much of his mother as she had been taken away from them in a tragic accident, what Levi does remember, is her fiery spirit whenever he had the opportunity to visit her at work. Though, unlike his mom, Y/N seemed tamer in comparison, kinder. However, that only peaked his interest in wanting to get to know her and see what she is truly like.

This is where Levi’s conundrum comes in. He wished he would form a relationship with Y/N through traditional practices; being friendly with each other, sharing contact information, going on dates until they slowly fall deeper and deeper in love, so deep it feels like they’re falling to the cold and dark abyss, though, it’s not cold and it’s not dark, for on the other side, is the most beautiful place they’d ever witness, a place built from their love.

However, after listening to his father’s explanation of this instantaneous wedding, Levi understands that he does not own the privilege to live out his fanciful daydreams. Levi must carry out the duties as the acting CEO of his retired father until he fully inherits the company through the merging of the two companies by marrying Y/N.  His heart bleeds for Y/N, he knows the chairman’s wife is a beloved woman who is cherished by her two daughters. And Levi is quite familiar with the pain of losing one’s own mother.

Still, regardless of the order of how they came to be, be it in the traditional route of them flirting, dating and then finally falling in love or skipping all of the steps, Levi can’t say that he isn’t pleased with this spontaneous wedding as he will be marrying Y/N, the woman he had been infatuated with for two years.

Y/N is ethereal, is what his brain screams at him as she steps into the private suite in nude colored six inch heels and a long wedding gown. Levi’s eyes are instantly drawn to her shoulder length hair which she has it in a semi-up hairdo; one half is pulled up and the second half cascades down her shoulder blades in elegant waves, two locks of hair framing her face giving it a more youthful appearance.

And as Y/N steps further into the room, her father hooks his arm with hers and leads her to where he is currently standing, right in front of the edge of her mother's bed, and Levi hears the chairman's wife choking back a sob and he really can’t blame her because he honestly feels the same way. After two years of yearning and pining after the woman of his dream, he is finally able to marry her.

Chairman Masamune parts with his daughter leaving a delicate, yet lingering kiss on her hand. And if Levi had been paying attention to the chairman instead of his breathtaking bride, he would’ve noticed the tears collecting in the corners of his eyes. The chairman returns to his place next to Tsukiko who is currently filming the private ceremony on a handheld Panasonic video camera with a wide stretched grin.

The two of them silently listened as the priest began the ceremony, Levi is certain that chairman Masamune’s wife is joyfully weeping as she is finally witness to her daughter’s wedding.

Levi’s heart is beating louder, drowning out all of his senses. Suddenly, it feels like everyone in the room has vanished, save for him and Y/N. The beeping of the monitor, the chairman’s wife’s tiny little sniffles, the whirring of the ventilators, all of them were gone.

Only when the priest had announced, “It’s time to recite your vows.” did Levi feel everyone around him teleported into their little universe.

When they are asked to recite their vows, the ever attentive Levi doesn’t miss Y/N’s despairing tone of voice, a battle she had terrifically lost before she could even put up a fight.

“You may now kiss the bride.” The priest announces and an electrical jolt brings Levi to life.

He glances at the priest, as if to confirm what he had just heard, and the man subtly nods his head in encouragement for him to proceed.

Levi doesn’t allow his anxiousness to show on his face as he lifts his hands with firm steadiness to unveil his bride. Though, he fails to hold in a gasp once Y/N’s beauty is fully revealed to him.

She has her gaze cast downwards, but when she hears his gasp, as if he were strangled by some deranged man demanding him for any valuable items he has on him, she lifts her gaze up and locks it with his.

And what Levi sees in those eyes that he had admired so dearly, is the reason he hears a sharp crack onto his erratically beating heart.

Y/N’s eyes are soulless, as if this is the last place she’d rather be in and Levi is the last human being she would rather marry, like their wedding is the last thing she wanted, and he wasn't wrong in making that assumption nor does Levi blame her.

But god does he wish she wanted him.

He is in a similar situation as her where he is forced to marry someone he is barely an acquaintance with, though, the glaring contrast between them is that he is in love with her and she isn’t in love with him.

Levi didn’t expect Y/N to possess enamor when she stood before him on their wedding day, however Levi hoped that she would appear a bit more bashful towards this whole ordeal. Though, he supposes one of the reasons he had fallen for her was her honesty.

Circumspect in his movement, like a predator trying not to scare off its prey, he leans in and does not overlook the way Y/N’s muscles tense up and her eyes shutting tight.

Pain plunges deep into his abdomen at the reaction, however, he does not blame her. He sees the way her eyelashes moisten, a silent prayer for him not to kiss her lips.

A soft coo could be heard from his left side, where Y/N’s mother is resting on the bed, as he plants his lips on her forehead in a gentle yet affectionate kiss, which he hopes conveys all the love he actually felt for her.

-

After the ceremony, Levi and Y/N made their way to their new apartment that chairman Masamune had gifted to the both of them.

The drive there was silent, eerily so, though it did not unnerve Levi. His attention is focused on the road as images of their little wedding replayed in his head. After Levi had kissed Y/N’s forehead, soft cheers erupted and Levi could’ve sworn chairman Masamune had been silently crying.

Tsukiko had bought a small wedding cake, only two tiers, with orange blossoms scattered here and there. Levi took a mental note to look up the meaning behind that particular flower that Y/N’s sister had chosen specifically for the both of them. Though, he has an inkling that it has something to do with love and prosperity.

They arrive at their apartment complex and Levi is aware how deafening Y/N’s silence was during the ride. He kept glancing at her from time to time, to make sure that she was okay, and he wasn’t surprised to see her blank expression still intact.

Even when he parks the car and kills the engine, Y/N is as quiet as a mouse.

“Do you...Need help?” Levi asks with a small voice - it felt odd to use his normal voice when his wife is in such a state of silence - and gestures to her train.

Y/N's pout deepens a bit and she shakes her head no, exiting the car with the train of her dress bunched up in her hands and she closes the car door  with her hip- a bit loudly and perhaps in irritation though Levi but said nothing quirking an eyebrow - and goes to wait for him at the lobby.

Their new home is on the eighth floor and lights were switched off when Levi unlocked the door, allowing his wife to access, without bothering to switch on the lights.

Levi holds back the sigh that’s threatening to break through and flicks the light switch. To both of their surprise, their apartment has already been furnished in a modern-esque design with a dash of color.

The living room is located at the end of the entrance hall on the right and when Levi rounds the corner, he sees Y/N hunched in front of the coffee table, where a bouquet of red roses is on the centre of the glass top, and is reading a card in her hand.

Levi contemplates coming up behind her to read the card, though, he instantly dismisses the thought when he remembers how invasive that would be of him.

He leaves her be for now and continues to explore his new home.

As Levi wanders around the apartment, Y/N glances down at the card in her hand and rereads it again, a heavy and anguished sigh silently escaping her lips.

Congratulations on your wedding, Y/N. I’m sorry I couldn’t attend, i bet you looked gorgeous as always.

Your bags have been packed for your trip tomorrow. I’ll watch over your apartment while you’re gone.

Have fun!

With love,

Yukiko

Yukiko was Y/N’s nanny while growing up. She had been charged with her care for as long as Y/N could remember. Both her and her sister had their own nannies that watched over them while their parents were busy. Yukiko and Mei were like mothers to Y/N and her sister.

Her mother had informed her before her wedding day that nanny Yukiko would be staying in the same apartment complex as her and Levi, just one level below, and she will be taking care of their home during the day and will return to her own kids at night.

Placing the card on the glass table, Y/N sits up and guesses her way to her bedroom, dreading the night ahead.

The new home that Mr. Fujikawa has provided for them is luxurious but it has that oddly homey feel to it. As of now, his favorite place is the kitchen. He doesn’t know how to cook but the lavishness of it bubbles his blood with excitement, bringing a slight smile to his face as his head fills with images of him cooking his and Y/N’s meals.

He opens the fridge and it fuels the excitement within him even more as it is filled with all sorts of food and drinks. The cabinets are filled with colorful spices, plates and glasses in different shapes and sizes and some had coffee and an assortment of cereal. Levi scrunches his nose at the boxes of wheat and artificial honey flavor.

Levi easily spots the guest bathroom, glancing in, he is impressed by the size of it. It’s so big it has space for a shower stand, a bathtub,  a state of the art toilet and a porcelain sink with a very large mirror above. If this is the guest bathroom, he can’t imagine what the bathroom in the master bedroom would look like.

Overall, the apartment is spacious, furnished and most importantly; clean to Levi’s relief, though his inner germaphobe urges him to clean it himself as soon as he is able to. He subtly nods his head.

All that there is for him to see is the master bedroom and a guest room. He peeks his head into the guest bedroom and is satisfied by the sheer simplicity of it. Though, he takes note how bare the guest bedroom is and is conflicted by whether it being unfurnished is a good or a bad thing. On one hand, it’s good that it’s in such a state so that their guests could decorate it how they see fit. Yet on the other hand, it’s bad because what if they had an emergency where someone needed to stay and they didn’t have any blankets or pillows to give to them? Levi makes a mental note to purchase extra blankets, bed sheets and pillows to keep inside the closet for future reference.

Stepping out of the room, he almost runs into Y/N but he quickly steadies himself and gestures for her to go right ahead. He rubs his temple when she walks by, Levi had seriously underestimated the difficulties of a one sided love marriage. Well, it’s one sided to him as Y/N is mostly likely unaware of his true feelings. She probably believes that this whole marriage is loveless and is nothing but a business transaction, though that brings a deep frown to his face.

Levi refrains from sighing and follows after his wife… until he accidentally bumps into her. He ignores the annoyed look thrown his way and peers into whatever thing that has his wife standing in the middle of the doorway.

Ah yes, one bed.

Glancing at his wife, he doesn’t miss the way her shoulders are tense and apprehensiveness glimmers in her eyes.

Clearing his throat to bring attention to himself, Levi smoothly says, “I’ll take the couch until they furnish the guest bedroom.”

The way Y/N instantly relaxes, shoulders sagging, fills Levi with disappointment. He understands why Y/N feels uncomfortable sharing a bed with him, he is a stranger to her after all. Though, Levi had that glimmer of hope that maybe Y/N would be okay with performing the basics of marriage.

He brushes past her, he could practically feel Y/N’s eyes on him as he walked, her intense stare is burning him alive and it makes his skin crawl as he collects his nightwear that he had sent to the apartment as per Mr. Fujikawa’s instructions. This time, he silently sighs.

Once Levi leaves the bedroom and makes a beeline to the living room, Y/N let’s go of a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. She closes the bedroom door and leans against it, head tilted backwards until the top of her head brushes against the wooden door.

She should feel guilty that her husband will be sleeping on the couch but since he was the one who offered it, then it’s not her problem.

So, why did she feel a sharp pain in her heart when she glanced at the empty bed?

-

The hotel they arrive at - after taking a two hour flight at nine am sharp - is small in size and is designed similarly to traditional Japanese houses with a genkan entrance hall and Shōji partitions, no doubt an ideal lodging for foreigners who romanticize Japan.

The soft thud of the tatami floors as the bellboy places their luggages is deafening.

It was eerily silent and Y/N briefly wonders if the young adolescent is aware of Y/N’s distaste in Levi and the fact that she isn’t quite satisfied with the marriage. She bets that he’s going to gossip about them in the staff room.

Y/N leaves the unpacking to Levi and heads straight to the window which overlooks the hilltop the hotel is built on. The red leaves of the forest below stretches for miles into the horizon. If they hadn’t driven  through that very forest in the minivan the hotel provided to pick them up from the airport, Y/N would’ve believed that the hotel was sailing through a sea of blood.

Rummaging through her purse for her phone, she snaps a couple of snapshots and sends it to the family group chat.

Instantly, she received a reply.

What a breathtaking view!!

Send us pictures of you and Levi!!

Read her mother’s messages, probably written and sent with the help of Tsukiko.

Withholding the urge to roll her eyes and sigh heavily, Y/N responds.

We’re a bit tired from our flight 😔 but i’ll make sure to send some pics later 😊

-

Levi and Y/N have their first lunch together as a married couple at the garden located behind the hotel. It is dangerously close to the cliff edge but there are railings for people’s safety and, honestly, the view is just breathtaking.

Their menu is the standard Japanese cuisine, it is quite expensive but considering their honeymoon expenses are paid by her father, the cost didn’t concern them.

Levi and Y/N are seated at the honeymoon table, under the shade of a large Rowan tree. The wind passing through the branches made the red leaves seem like they were murmuring.

Once the two had placed their order, their waiter politely smiles at them and asks, “May I take your picture?”

Y/N is going to refuse when Levi beats her to it and agrees. She would’ve thrown a nasty stare his way if the waiter wasn’t there.

The tall waiter holds Levi’s iPhone and angles it how he sees fit...only to frown and glance over the device, “Scootch a little bit closer, please.” He motions with his hand for the two to lean in.

Working a corporate job where Y/N had to meet countless clients everyday and hold meetings with several businessmen had taught her how to excel a fake, yet authentic, bright smile. She makes sure to fake a look of affection as she can feel Levi lean silently into her.

The camera clicks and the waiter coos for another picture because they looked absolutely adorable. “Put your arm around her and ma’am, please show me something. You’re too beautiful to have a closed lip smile.”

Y/N’s eye twitched at the requests of the waiter and she thought about complaining to the manager but she did as told and allowed for Levi to hover his arm over her shoulder. She is certain that he could sense the way her body tenses in response to his close vicinity but she ignores it.

Y/N isn’t doing it for appearance sake or to be considerate of Levi’s feelings, on the contrary, she doesn’t give a flying fuck what other people, especially Levi, would have to say about her. They could call her ungrateful for all she cares.

The only reason Y/N smiles into the camera, allows for Levi to be near him and pretend that the two are having a good time rather than the awkward atmosphere they’re in, is because of her mother.

Her mother who had given her the world on the palm of her calloused hands. Her mother had screaming matches with her father for her daughters. Her mother who had sacrificed so much for their future.

So, she slaps a smile on and poses for the camera.

“Gorgeous!” The camera man smiles after taking two more snaps and returns the phone to Levi. “You two make a lovely couple.”

The rest of their day goes about in a similar manner. Her mother had booked a trekking expedition with a group of tourists for their first day and they would constantly stop to take pictures. Y/N could feel the muscles in her cheek throb in pain for constantly stretching her lips for nearly five hours straight.

Seriously, she doesn’t understand why they had to take so many pictures and in so many places. They took ten at the temple hidden in the forest (She counted them herself), took a couple by the river (some with Levi), under the trees (Levi mostly took pictures of her which irritated Y/N but she couldn’t do anything about it as she is in a public space and going to jail is not worth it) and they eventually took a group photo at the end of their trek with Levi’s arm barely making contact around her waist.

She dreads to know what else her mother had planned for the two of them for the next three days, she groans.

Later that night, after the two had their dinner and Y/N sent all sixty five images to her family group chat - that Levi is now a part of- -and her mother blows up her phone with messages of how cute they were together and how glad she is that they are having a good time, Y/N encounters a dilemma- scratch that, two dilemmas, that she had forgotten during her busy and exhausting day.

Dilemma number one is that her nightwear consists of flimsy and see-through babydolls in pinks, purples and baby blues.

Y/N closes her eyes, sighs heavily through her nose, and curses silently at Yukiko for packing her luggage. Of course she would pack something like this. She had been practically praying every night and day for Y/N to get married so it is only natural to let herself get carried away by whatever assistance she believes she’s delivering.

Irritated, Y/N grabs the purple one as it is the darkest shade and rushes to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Levi had gone to the lobby to take an important phone call and felt like she’d rather be flung over the cliff than have her...husband see her in such a ludicrous piece of attire. If you could even call it that.

The second dilemma is that since they are residing at a traditional Japanese hotel, they have to share the smallest tatami bed Y/N has ever seen.

Actually, the tatami bed is large and spacious but to Y/N who is going to be sharing her first night in the same bed with Levi, it feels like the bed is small and it will force her to press against Levi. She feels a shiver rush down her spine at the idea of having Levi holding her in her sleep.

She would’ve cried at how her life turned out, but Levi would notice and he would ask her questions. Something Y/N did not want, thank you very much.

Just as she slips under the covers, their door opens and in steps Levi, who pauses at the doorway when he notices the bed and lack of furniture in the room. He says nothing and makes his way to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Nearly half an hour later, which felt like mere seconds to Y/N, her heart thunders in her ears when Levi opens the bathroom door and stands at the edge of the bed.

She schools her expression, not allowing for any hint of nervousness to slip through. Though, her breath hitches and her heart won’t stop beating loudly.

And just as Levi sits on the edge of the so-called bed, Y/N swears that her heart stopped beating entirely and she feels like she's about to pass away.

“I know this makes you uncomfortable.” Levi starts and Y/N resists the urge to raise a single eyebrow in surprise. “I can call the front desk for an extra bed if you’d like but I doubt it would fit.”

Despite the two staying in the honeymoon suite, it is still a bit cramped. The only privilege is that they have their own private bathroom and onsen. Other than that, the room is nearly the same size as every other room in the hotel.

Which is why Y/N shakes her head, surprising both herself and Levi.

Levi instantly recovers from that moment of shock and nods his head. “Okay. I promise I won’t touch you.”

Y/N nods her head in return and watches as Levi switches the lamp, engulfing the room in complete darkness, and slips under the sheet.

He leaves enough space between them, enough to let Y/N feel comfortable, but also without having Levi to worry if he is going to fall over or not, the fall wouldn't be too much, but he'd rather not.

It takes them a while, both holding their breaths in anticipation for the unknown before they slip off to dreamland.

Their honeymoon vacation goes on in a similar manner. The two of them would eat breakfast, engage in whatever activity Mamiko had planned for them, take pictures together and send them to the group chat, and end the night by the two of them going to bed, without uttering goodnight.

It’s their last night at the hotel and the lovely couple would depart in the morning.

Y/N is spending her last night in the private onsen - an activity she regrets not engaging in much sooner as it would have helped soothe her aching muscles- and stares at the clear night sky.

She feels a bit disappointed as she was hoping she would see a sea of stars since she never had the privilege seeing them living in the city but not having any light pollution from towering buildings is still something she is grateful for, the pictures of the night sky in her camera roll attest to it.

A rush of air escapes her lips as she submerges her body deeper into the onsen until the water covers her mouth. Slowly, her eyes flutter shut at the tranquilizing atmosphere.

Y/N is so relaxed that she doesn’t hear their hotel room door unlocking and Levi shuffling into the room.

He briefly glances at the bed and is surprised to find it empty, the sheets still made. He stands outside of the bathroom door, leaning his ear against it and listens for any movements. When he hears none, he frowns.

What if she finally built up the courage to run away?

He thinks but then quickly dismiss the thought with a shake of his head.  

Just as he is about to call her, he spots the sliding doors which lead to the private onsen in his peripheral vision and pockets his phone.

He slides the door open, and somehow manages to stifle the slight gasp that was about to rip through his lips at the sight he is greeted with.

Y/N.

Naked.

And in the onsen.

Levi licks his lips, suddenly feeling them dry.

Y/N has her shoulder length hair in a messy bun, a few strands framing her exposed shoulder that is littered in moles and freckles, some big, some small, dark brown, light brown, they were endless.

There’s a tingling sensation in his fingers, overtaken with the urge to trace over every single mole on her body.

As if in a trance, Levi’s feet quietly move to the edge of the onsen, and he crouches down, hand stretched out ready for his fingers to lean in and poke the mole on her neck, when his phone buzzes in his back pocket and Y/N emits a terrified shriek.

She glances over her shoulder, and sighs in relief when she spots Levi standing behind her. Though, her relief quickly melts into anger and she hurries to turn around, back facing Levi, and undoes her bun to shield her exposed neck even a bit and wrap her arms around her frame.

“Pervert.” She enunciates loud and clear.

“I-I’m sorry.” Levi apologizes in vain.

When Y/N doesn’t respond, Levi rubs a hand down his mouth and chin and excuses himself to the lobby.

-

Y/N is angry. That much is clear.

She doesn’t take any more pictures the next day during breakfast before their departure, and doesn't even bother hiding her displeasure.

And Levi can’t really blame her.

He did step out of bounds the previous night. He broke what little trust Y/N had in him because he was consumed by a foreign and powerful spell, her skin called him like a siren and he ached to touch her.

He knows he deserves every glare thrown his way but Levi can’t help but to long for Y/N faking her joy during their short honeymoon where they pretended to be the happily married couple Levi had been fantasizing over since the day he had met her. It wasn’t true but at least it’s a thousand times better than how Y/N is currently treating him. Like dog shit she stepped on.

The second Levi and Y/N step foot into their apartment after a two hour plane ride and a thirty minute ride to their new home, Y/N rushes to her -their- room and is out of the front door faster than Levi could blink. He stares blankly at the door, sighs and plops on the couch with his head in his hands.

“Give her time.”

Startled, Levi lifts his head up and is met with an elderly woman that he had failed to see, too busy watching the angry storm that is Y/N.

“Who are you?” Levi asks, emotional exhaustion finally slipping into his tone of voice.

“Yukiko, Y/N's nanny.” She replies with a charming smile. She places the towel rag on the kitchen island and stares at Levi with kind eyes.

“Would you like some tea?”

-

The boiling anger inside of Y/N slowly cools down as she recklessly drives her way to the hospital. She is aware that she is being irrational with her anger, knows that as a couple they will have to see each other naked eventually, but she wishes it was a different situation. She sacrificed her own happiness for her mother and agreed to be in an arranged marriage.

She understands that Levi did not see much of her nakedness yet she still feels extremely uncomfortable with the idea of having a strange man laying his eyes upon her naked frame. She felt violated and scared that he would somehow lose himself to his animalistic nature and be consumed by lust and desire to take her then and there.

She knows that she is valid in what she is feeling and is having a rational reaction.

Y/N arrives at  the hospital parking lot and stares into the mirror to fix makeup that was ruined by the tears of frustration collecting at the corner of her eyes. When she is satisfied with her appearance, she smiles at her reflection and makes her way to her mother's private suite.

“Y/N!” Mamiko greets with as much joy as she could possibly muster. Even though she is extremely tired and Y/N can see the life slowly draining from her eyes, Mamiko won’t allow them to hinder optimistic spirit. She and Y/N know that she is a fighter and won’t give up so easily.

“Where is Levi?” Her mother asks when she fails to see her son-in-law.

“He’s home.” Y/N replies. “He’s feeling a little bit tired.”

Her mother’s lips forms into a silent ‘o’ and nods her head in understanding.

Y/N takes a seat next to her mothers hospital bed and holds her wrinkled hand in hers, her thumb running across her knuckles and asks, “How are you feeling today? I've missed you.”

The soft pitter patter of the rain outside is drowned by joyous laughter emitted by the two women in the hospital room.

Mamiko is in the middle of telling the story about how she nearly set the temple on fire on her wedding day because she was so nervous that she accidentally knocked over a lit candle and watched with horror as it rolled around until the hem of her aunt’s dress caught on fire, the plump woman was screaming loudly enough to be heard from miles away. Everyone had panicked and Mamiko just wanted to crawl into a hole and die in embarrassment.

No one was hurt as, luckily, someone was smart enough to put out the Fire.

“Mom, you're such a klutz!” Y/N  giggles. “How you manage to get this in life is a mystery I will never know.”.  

Mamiko wipes a single tear as nods her head in agreement. “Honestly I mostly winged everything. It is some miracle you and your sister have reached this age without any major injuries.”

This makes Y/N laugh harder, her stomach twisting in knots but in a good way.  She hasn’t laughed like this in a very long time and she misses her mother's stories.

Sadness threatened to rip the happiness from within her and nestle itself deep into her heart at the known future that is coming their way, a future where her mother is no longer in it. She is sure she would have been overcome by it had it not been for the nurse to knock on the door and open it to inform them that visiting hours are over.

Y/N leans in to kiss her mother's forehead and just as she leans back, her mother cups her cheek and caresses the smooth skin.

“You’ve made me so happy.” she says.

Y/N gazes into her mother's eyes, confusion clearly written in them. “What do you mean?  I didn't do anything.”

Her mother smiles that motherly smile and replies, “I got to live long enough to see you married and I hope I live even longer to see myself as a grandmother.”

Instantly, tears gather at the corner of her eyes and Y/N chokes back on a sob.

“You’re going to see it happen, I promise.”  She ignores the fact that she is lying to her mother but she can’t tell her the truth, that she is unhappy with her marriage to Levi. Can’t possibly imagine herself being sexually intimate with him and bless her with a beautiful child. She let her mother be blissfully ignorant.

“I love you.” Her mother sniffles in between sobs.

“I love you too.” Y/N shifts her face to the side and kisses mother's palm.

“Say hi to Levi for me.” Her mother smiles up at  her, “He's a good man, give him a chance.”

All that Y/N could offer in return is a small smile.

-

Y/N returns home to her apartment and spots Levi sleeping on the couch with his arm covering his eyes.

A small voice inside of the back of her head tells her that she wishes that Levi had stayed up to wait for her return yet another voice, a louder one, is glad that she doesn't have to see Levi awake; she did not want to deal with him after the events of the previous night.

Opening the fridge, Y/N notices a plate of rice and curry that is wrapped up for her to heat up, no doubt that nanny Yukiko had made for her.

She contemplates on having dinner but ultimately decides that she isn’t hungry enough, still angry about what happened with Levi and feels a cloud of melancholy looming over her after visiting her mother.  

She is happy that she had the chance to visit her mother after the honeymoon but seeing her mother weak and frail on the hospital bed ripped her heart into tiny little pieces.  Her once strong mother is now a shell of her former self and her beauty is a ghost in the past that can only be seen in pictures.

Y/N unlocks her phone and scrolls through the photo album until she finds the picture she is looking for; the one had taken on her wedding day where she was hugging her mother and kissing the top of her head.  She brings the phone closer to her lips and presses a long kiss.  

“Goodnight.'' She whispers. “I love you.”  

Come Morning, Levi is awoken by a loud scream.

He falls out of the couch, and bumps his head on the tile floor but when he hears that heart wrenching screaming coming from his wife’s room, he scampers to his feet and clumsily makes his way to their bedroom.

What he sees when he opens the door has his heart coming to a sudden stop.

Y/N is clutching a fist-full of her hair in both of her hands, tears rolling down and her face red as she continues to wail loudly at the top of her lungs.

Levi’s breathing quickens and his thoughts are clouded with confusion as he is unaware what he should be doing. Should he crouch next to her, gently un-fist her hands and hold her face in his hands and ask her what was wrong. Or does he remain by the door, wait for her to calm down and see if she would tell him what had happened.

Luckily, Y/N’s phone ringing made the choice for him.

He hears the melody of an upbeat song and follows the source of noise and finds the phone under the bed. He fishes it out and sees that Mr. Fujikawa is calling.

Glancing at the bed where his wife is still wailing, he answers her phone.

“Hello?” He greets, his voice shaky.

“Levi, is that you?” Mr. Fujikawa asks. Levi nods his head but remembers that the other man can’t see him so he gives a verbal response.

“Good. I was calling to ask how Y/N is fairing, but i think you also deserve to know. Listen, I'm not sure how to say this so I’ll be direct. Mamiko passed away early this morning.”

[heyitsani]

A Dream Ripping at the Seams

@damianwayneweek fic Reverse Robins

Word Count: 5024

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings: Referenced past child abuse, canonical character death mentioned

Pairing: None

Summary: He had planned the whole thing out.  The moment he had seen the notes in Richard’s file on the computer, he had known he needed to get him out of there and away from Batman as soon as possible.  He refused to lose another brother.  

Saving Richard because he failed to save Todd was his only priority.

Notes: Guess what! IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! And it also happens to be Reverse Robins day for Damian Wayne week!  So to celebrate, I wrote this fic to give to all of you lovely people.  But especially those in the RR Discord who are always willing to encourage me to run with an idea that comes up last minute.

Also, this fic ends abruptly and that’s the point.  I might continue it, I might not.  But it’s supposed to feel sudden and full of questions.

To clear up confusion: Dick was 10 when adopted, Jason died when he was 15 and Dick 11, Dick is 12 (nearly 13) when the story starts, and 13 when it ends.

You can also read it on AO3 here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian waited until he had the opportunity to get Richard away from the manor for the afternoon before he approached the subject with the boy.  He hadn’t been certain he would need to, at first, but the longer Richard was in the house with his father the more he saw the signs he had seen with Jason. And that meant he needed to act.

So he had asked Richard if he wanted Damian to pick him up from school one Friday in February so they could go for ice cream before dinner.  Richard had, unsurprisingly, agreed enthusiastically like Damian had known he would.  With the kid’s sweet tooth, he never turned down things like ice cream.  Especially since it wasn’t something the circus really got much of apparently.  Traveling in trailers didn’t allow for too many luxuries like freezers.

“Richard,” Damian started once they were seated on a bench in a local park, not far from a playground that the child was eyeing.  When the sapphire eyes turned on him, Damian took a deep breath and looked directly at him. “I know you have figured out what Father and the rest of us do in the night.”  Richard nodded, smiling as he licked his cone.  “Has Father approached you about training yet?”

The boy nodded again, and Damian pressed his lips together.  Twelve years old.  Twelve.  None of them had been that young outside of himself, but his situation was different. Being born into the League of Assassins made for a different upbringing.  “Is that bad?”

Shaking his head, Damian made sure his face was neutral before speaking again.  “No, but I have concerns.”  The boy blinked at him, but remained silent as though he was waiting for his brother to tell him what it was he was concerned about.  “You do not know of my childhood, but it was far from…pleasant. I was raised in a place called Nanda Parbat that trains people to be the kind of people Batman fights against.”

“But you were a kid?” Richard sounded confused; ice cream forgotten as he tried to sort through what Damian was saying.  And what he wasn’t saying.  “Why would you train a kid like that?”

“Because that was the way things were done there.”

“Then they were done wrong.”

Damian let out a soft laugh, corner of his mouth raising just slightly at the thought of this twelve-year-old child telling him that he had been raised wrong.  “Be that as it may, you are correct that I was a kid and that should not have been my childhood.”

Richard hummed and went back to his ice cream, looking out at a pair of dogs playing in the grass. Damian observed him as he watched the dogs, wondering what he was thinking.  He wasn’t sure how to ask the boy to do what exactly he was thinking, but he just hoped Richard would go along with it.  That he would agree to leave because this was not the life he should be living.

“Dami?”  Richard looked back to him, and Damian raised his eyebrows.  “You don’t want me to train with Batman.”  Damian shook his head.  “Ever?”

And wasn’t that the real question?

Damian wasn’t sure if he wanted Richard, the purest of them all, to be exposed to how ugly the world was the same way the rest of them had been.  It would ruin him.  It would steal the innocence that Damian found himself desperately wanting to protect. It would tear out everything good in him and leave him a shell.  

“Never,” he admitted quietly.  Richard dropped his gaze again and chewed on his lower lip.  “I want you to understand why.  My childhood aside, I do not want to see what happened to Todd happen to you. I do not want you to lose yourself the way I have seen Drake do.  I do not want you to realize the ugly truths of the world long before your time the way Cain or Brown have.  I want to protect you from all of that.”

With brows drawn down, Richard looked at him again.  He was looking at Damian with that look, the one he had seen Cain look at him with too many times to count.  The look that penetrated all the walls and shields he had put around his mind and heart.

“You want me to leave.”

“I want to take you away from here and hide us both until you are able to stand your own against Father on the subject,” he quickly corrected, not wanting Richard to think he wasn’t welcome in the Wayne family.  “I want to protect you from a fate I wish we all could have been protected from.”

Richard took a lick of his ice cream and Damian waited, worried the boy would tell him no and then tell his father everything Damian had planned.  “Okay.”

“Okay?”

Richard nodded.  “Okay.”

And Damian released his held breath, relief washing over him.  He could save one of them, the best of them.  He could do one right thing in his life, a life filled with so many wrong things.

“We leave in a week.” Richard’s eyes turned determined, and he gave a firm nod before looking over toward the playground again.

“Can I play after my ice cream is finished?”  Damian laughed and nodded, too relieved to deny him anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Who is she?”  Richard asked, tugging on the black chuba Damian had selected for himself the moment they had touched down in Tibet.  The weather was fairly cool, and he hadn’t thought to purchase the proper wears before he had put his plan into motion. But thankfully he had anticipated needing to switch enough money into Yuan to get them by for the first couple of months.  It had made purchasing weather friendly clothing for himself and Richard much easier.

Looking down at Richard, Damian frowned and followed his eyeline to the familiar statue that stood at the top of the mountain, guarding over Nanda Parbat.  “She is Ruma Kushna,” he told Richard, who couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the beautiful stone statue.  He couldn’t blame the kid, he had been fascinated with the goddess when he had been younger.  She had been formidable and even his grandfather had spoken highly of the goddess. “She watches over all of those in Nanda Parbat.”

Richard frowned and looked away from the statue, blue eyes skittering over the various people wandering around the market they were making their way through in an attempt to find lodging.  “She is not kind then,” the boy said, looking up at Damian with a fierce look.

“What makes you say that?”

Richard shrugged and looked away, curiosity stealing the boy’s attention once more.  But Damian couldn’t forget that look for stubborn protectiveness that had covered Richard’s face in the moment.  It had been breathtaking if he were honest.  He couldn’t remember the last time someone had looked at him like that when they weren’t preparing to fight him for one reason or another.

Pausing at a stall with various spices that smelled familiar and distant at the same time, Damian gave the older woman a friendly smile.  “Tashi delek,” he greeted her, giving a small bow of his head.  “My son and I are looking for lodging, do you know of anyone with vacancies in their home that would spare space for us?  We are willing to pay.”

The woman seemed to consider him closely, glancing from him to Richard and then back again.  He knew his excuse of Richard being his son was flimsy when someone considered their age difference, but it was the story he needed to stick to for the time being.  He couldn’t risk someone looking too deeply into their relation if they thought they were merely brothers.  And Damian would be drawn and quartered before someone took Richard from him and returned him to Bruce.

“I have a spare sleeping quarter if you could spare your strength,” the woman finally replied, kindness heavy in her old eyes.

“Tuchi che!”  Richard exclaimed, smiling brightly at the woman who almost looked surprised at his enthusiasm.  Damian struggled to hold back a smile of his own as he gave the woman a firm nod, silently agreeing to her terms.

“I am Damian and this is Richard.  We are grateful for your hospitality.”  The woman chuckled and waved them off, telling them to scout the market for anything they might need since their packs were small and probably did not hold much out of the bare necessities.  “What should we call you?”

The woman’s smile warmed, and she leaned back.  “I am Amala,” she responded.  “Now go find you both some clothing that is not of the city but of the mountain.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You are al Ghul,” Amala stated as she handed over the cup of tea.  Damian froze, eyes wide as he looked at the woman who still looked at him with that same kindness she had since that first meeting almost four months ago.  But he couldn’t figure out how she could possibly look at him that way if she knew who his family was.  “The League is well known in our village, as small as we may be.  They look after their own on the mountain.  But there were whispers of the Heir refusing to return and the Demon Head demanding justice.”

Looking down at his teacup, cradled in both hands to warm his palms from the cool night air coming in from under the door, he sighed before glancing back toward the corner where Richard was sleeping.  Confirming Amala’s words would put them both in danger of being discovered.  He had picked this village because it meant they were right under his grandfather and mother’s noses.  They would never look for him here.

But if he lied, he risked having to run with Richard again.  And the child was finally settling nicely in the village.  He had made friends with some of the other children and he was catching up on his studies.  The last thing Damian wanted to do was uproot him yet again.  His life had been disrupted enough since the death of his parents.

“I am he,” Damian admitted, looking back to Amala.  The woman smiled knowingly before pressing a finger to her lips in a ‘shhhh’ motion and Damian let out a sigh of relief.  “How did you figure it out?”

The woman shrugged.  “You have your mother’s eyes,” she said, as if that was enough to give it all away.  “And your mother used to bring you down here as a babe, just learning to walk the mountain.  I recognized you the moment you approached my stall at market.”

“Has anyone else?”

“Not that I have heard.”

But that didn’t mean they hadn’t.  If someone told his mother or even one of the footmen, Damian would need to pick Richard up and run.  He wouldn’t have a choice.  He probably should do it now before anyone had the chance to come after them.

“Thank you, for trusting us then.”

Amala waved a hand.  “I could see in your eyes that you were running from something.  That you were protecting your son from something.”  Damian held back the cringe at the word son, knowing she had to have figured out that Richard wasn’t his.  “You are safe in my home.  I will not bring harm upon you.  No matter if it is from up the mountain or from far away.”

Damian swallowed, bowing his head against the onslaught of emotion that hit him from her words.  “Thank you,” he whispered, unable to look at her just yet.  “Protecting him is all I am after.”  He looked over at Richard again and blinked away the tears.  “It is my only goal.”

“And that is what makes you a good father,” she said softly, “blood or not.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Baba!”  Richard called out; voice distorted as it came into the house from outside where he had been helping plant some new seedlings.  “Dami!”  That made Damian pause.  It had been a while since Richard had called him by his name, out of habit or fear Damian couldn’t be sure which.  But it made a small sense of panic arise in his chest and had him dropping the piece he had been sketching and immediately run out the front door.

He froze when he saw a man kneeling in front of Richard, black cloak and hood pulled over his head, hiding his face from Damian but not from Richard.  But when the man looked up, Damian felt his stomach drop.

“No,” he whispered, hurrying forward and pushing Richard behind him as he glared at Timothy Drake, his father’s second eldest but first adopted child.  “You are not welcome here, Drake,” he said lowly, English rusty from lack of use since coming to Tibet.

Drake held up his hands and took a step back, but Damian held tighter onto Richard who tried to move out from behind his legs.  “I am not here to cause trouble, Damian,” Drake offered.  And Damian knew him well enough to know the man was being honest.  But it didn’t mean he could let his guard down. “He doesn’t know I’m here.  He doesn’t know I found you.”

“Trackers.”

“Rerouted.”

Taking a deep breath, Damian glanced around before giving Drake a nod and herding Richard into the house, knowing Drake would following them.  “Richard, go work on your schooling.”  Richard looked up at him, frowning at the order, before glancing over at Drake.  “Now, Richard.”  And though Damian knew the child didn’t want to, Richard walked away with a pout to the table where his schoolwork sat waiting.  “How did you find us?”  

“It wasn’t easy, you covered your tracks better than any of us expected,” Drake said, eyes watching Richard as he took his seat and began writing in the notebook.  Damian could tell he was curious, but Damian needed answers before Drake got his own.  “I looked at footage we had searched through a million times and got lucky.”

“And Father doesn’t know? I’m meant to believe you simply didn’t tell him?  You?”

“He thinks I’m off world with the Titans.”

“That doesn’t answer why you didn’t tell him.”

Drake seemed to consider his answer for a moment before shrugging both his shoulders.  “Dick didn’t seem to be in distress in the footage I found. He looked like he wanted to be with you.”

“I explained it to him before we left.  He agreed to come with me on his own.”

“Why did you take him?”

A familiar anger built in his core and Damian had to push it down with a few deep breaths before he could answer Drake without yelling.  “Because I would not let him sacrifice Richard the same way he sacrificed all of us. Because since losing Todd, he has lost sight of the true mission and we have become nothing but soldiers to him. I would die before I let that man turn Richard another glass case bearing a bloodied suit of armor,” he growled, fists clenched tightly.  

Drake watched him with those eyes, the ones Damian had always hated because it always felt like he was a risk and Drake was calculating how dangerous he was in any given moment.  As if Drake was just like his father, with a file of ways to put an end to Damian because part of him was too dangerous to be trusted.

“Your secret is safe with me,” Drake finally said, looking back to Richard with a nod.  “I didn’t believe you could have taken him for anything other than his own good.”  The cool blue eyes looked back to Damian and had lost some of the calculating look.  “B won’t stop though, Damian.  He’s desperate to find you both even though it’s been over six months.  I don’t know how long until he realizes that you hid both of you in plain sight of the League.  Does Ra’s or Talia know you’re here?”

“Not that they have revealed to me,” Damian admitted.  “Our patron, she knows of my heritage and has sworn an oath of secrecy.  But she is League loyal due to their protection.”

Damian watched Drake fully take in the appearance of the home they were in, the simple nature of it all and Damian couldn’t help but wonder what the man thought of him now.  What did he think of the haughty Wayne heir who had loved to shove that fact in every ones faces, telling them that he was the heir to one of the richest men in the world.  That he was heir to Batman, the Dark Knight.  The Damian standing in front of Drake was far from that person as Damian could probably get.

“This has not only saved him,” Drake finally said, looking directly at Damian.  There was no lie that Damian could see and though he wanted to deny what his brother said, his eyes glanced over to Richard and knew it was the truth. He was not who he had been before they had left Gotham.  He had been losing himself in his own grief and it was only the deep seeded fear of losing yet another family member that forced him to pull out of it and take action.

But he couldn’t admit that to Drake, could he?  “I wouldn’t lose him the way we lost Todd.  I did what I had to do.  He never would have listened.”

“No, he wouldn’t have.”

“And has anything changed?” Drake frowned; eyebrows furrowed. And that was enough of an answer for Damian.  “He’s just become obsessed with finding us instead.”

Drake nodded.  “It’s been bad enough that Superman watches Gotham from afar to keep B from doing something he might regret.”  And Damian knew, yet again, that he had made the right choice in getting Richard away from that.  “Can I give you a burner that only I know about?”  Damian’s eyes snapped back to Drake, having drifted back to Richard yet again.  “I want to be able to give you a heads up if he comes your way.  It might not be much of one, but maybe enough for you to get a head start.”

It wasn’t a bad idea, having that option, but Damian also knew it might give his father access to the pair of them without Drake even knowing.  But Drake did know technology more than anyone else in the family. Perhaps it was a risk he could take.

“All right,” Damian relented, giving a nod.  Drake’s features looked relieved, to the point where Damian wondered if he had made the wrong decision.  But he could work on the device later and see if it had been bugged or tampered with in any way.

Drake dug into his small pack and pulled out a small phone, probably a prototype that Wayne Tech had decided wasn’t worth the trouble.  He quickly showed Damian how to turn it on and use the basic features before it was turned off yet again and Damian was tucking it into the pocket of his pants.

“I need to go, I can’t reroute much longer.  But if you need anything, please call me.  I have your back.”  Damian gave a nod before watching Drake walk over to Richard and kneel down to talk quietly with the teen.  He didn’t bother listening in, knowing Richard would tell him what was said later, but he did watch.  He watched Richard listen and nod, responding with his own words before reaching out and hugging the man around the neck.  

When Drake stood and turned to leave, Damian was fairly certain he saw a sheen of tears in his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian knew something was different the instant he walked into the small house, even if he couldn’t immediately tell what.  It caused him to stop short in the doorway, Richard smacking into him because he had been too absorbed in the book of mathematics one of the men of the village had shared with him.

“Baba, what…?”  The child complained but Damian’s eyes focused on the figure in the corner of the room instead, not answering.

“Mother.”

The woman moved forward, like a serpent seeking prey, into the light with a smirk on her face.  “Son,” she greeted, eyes looking over his ragged appearance from his day of labor with a hint of distain before stopping on Richard. “You really do have too much of your father in you.”

Rolling his eyes, Damian shuffled Richard into the house and nudged him toward their sleeping corner. And though he didn’t think his mother meant them harm, he still kept his body between the two of them and coiled his muscles to prepare for a fight.

“What are you doing here? How did you even know?”

“Oh please, Damian,” Talia sighed and came closer before lounging in one of the chairs near the fireplace.  “Do you honestly think we weren’t aware the moment you landed in Tibet?  That we weren’t tracking you from the very start? You have forgotten your roots.”

Damian narrowed his eyes. “Then why did you wait so long to approach me?”

“Because we did not need you.”  That made Damian tense further.  The League needing him would lead to nothing good, he knew that deep in his core.  “I have something in Nanda Parbat that requires your attention before it can be dealt with.  And no,” she held up a hand to stop his question, “it is not your father. But it does have a link to him.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  He couldn’t trust his own eyes in that moment.  It wasn’t possible.  Was it? No, he had seen the body.  He had been there as the coffin had been lowered into the plot and covered with dirt.  He had laid his hand on the tombstone and apologized for not being able to get to him in time.

But that was definitely Jason Todd in front of him.

“How is this possible?”  Damian asked, glad he had put Richard in his old rooms while he handled this.  Richard had known Todd for only a year before he had died. This was not something Damian wanted to expose the teen to before he knew what the point of all of this was.

“We are not certain. We can’t even say how long he has been like this.  He has been dead for nearly 18 months and we have had him here for the past six.” Damian frowned, walking closer to Todd, trying to catch the teen’s eye.  “He is alive and everything is in working order, but it is as though death stole his soul.”

“Of course it did!  He died!”  Damian snapped, looking back at his mother who stood a ways back watching but looked bored.  “We buried him.  We…” Breathing heavily through his nose, Damian looked back to Todd and shook his head.  They had mourned him.  And now he was there, living and breathing but lifeless.  Everything that had made him Jason Todd seemed to have been stripped away.  “What do you intend to do with him?”

His mother’s heels clicked on the marble floor as she moved closer and stopped once she reached the pair. He watched a slender hand reach out and pet the side of Jason’s face.  Annoyed, Damian’s hand shot out and grabbed his mother’s wrist to stop the obscene gesture.  “What do you intend to do with him,” he growled, gripping her wrist tightly and turning to fully face her.  He narrowed his eyes and stared her down, not willing to let her brush him off.  She had brought him here for a reason.

“We will put him in the Pit, of course,” she said, unaffected by the grip he had on her or the look on his face.  “We just wanted to see if a familiar face might wake him up first.”

“Mother,” Damian gasped, releasing her and stepping back.  “We do not put innocents in the Pit.  It is not done.”

Talia raised a brow and Damian glowered.  “There is no ‘we’, Damian.  You made your choice.”

“You cannot do that to him. He had anger before his death.  He was murdered brutally.  These are all things the League has always avoided in resurrections.”  Damian looked over at Jason’s empty eyes and frowned, shaking his head.  “You cannot sentence him to that Madness.  He is a child.”

“He is no more a child than any of you were.  My Beloved has only had one true child in his home and you stole him away in fear of him turning your precious Richard into the same monster each of you fight off daily.” Talia tilted her head, considering him. “You most of all, my son.”

“You created the monster long before he got his hands on it.”

A slender shoulder rose and fell gracefully.  “Perhaps, but you have Demon blood in your veins and you have always been destined for so much more than this charade of a life you have taken up.”

Damian clenched his jaw and looked away from his mother, unable to deny her words.  He knew this farce he and Richard had been living would not sustain them forever, but he knew it was what the teen needed at the moment. If he returned Richard to Gotham, his father would rip the child away from him and Damian would lose him to the fight he desperately wanted to protect Richard from.  The Bat would get into his head and Damian would lose.

No, returning to Gotham would never be an option until Richard was old enough to stand on his own.

“You could remain here. Take up your title again and we could train and teach the boy to be the very best.”  Damian immediately shook his head.  That wasn’t any better than the fate that awaited them in Gotham.  “It is only a matter of time before he finds you. He will exhaust all resources and then call upon me.  He will come to Nanda Parbat and hear the tinkling laughter that reminds him so much of the boy his own son had stolen away from him.  He will follow the sound to a yard where a teen with black hair and sapphire eyes kneels in the dirt, pulling weeds from around the plants that have just begun to sprout.

“He will watch in wonder at the change a year, perhaps two years, has made in the boy.  And then he will see the man who is responsible for the heartache and fear he experienced over that time, standing in the window watching the teen just as he had been.  And he will take him back.  He will threaten them both with everything in his itinerary until there is no choice but to return.”

“And then he will ruin him,” Damian whispered, closing his eyes because he knew his mother was right. It was the fear that kept him up each and every night.  His father would never stop searching and he would eventually get desperate enough to turn to Ra’s for help.  And he would come himself to plead his case because otherwise Ra’s would laugh in his face and behead whoever was foolish enough to come in his stead.

Opening his eyes, he stared into the familiar one watching him closely.  “You win.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian hated that his mother insisted on Richard being in the room with them when Todd was placed in the Pit, but he wasn’t in any position to argue.  He just hoped that nothing happened that would require him to use the sword strapped to his back in order to keep Richard safe.  The last thing he wanted was for the teen to see that side of him, the side that would require him to take up arms against another of his brothers.

But Richard stood just behind him, stubborn look on his face as he watched Todd over near the Pit. The green glow of the waters within gave the room an ethrial look but made Jason look sickly.  With that blank look on his face, Damian felt his heart ache for the boy he remembered.  He had tried harder with Todd than he had with Drake, but it didn’t mean he was the best of brothers.  He hoped the teen knew he had tried.

But emotions had never been his forte.

Thankfully, he was doing even better with Richard than he had with any of the others.  The teen had taught him much more than he ever thought possibly while he had taught the boy what little he had to offer outside of self-defense. Which, he had taught him as well. Just not to the same effect that training to be a Cape would have done.

“Are you ready to witness true magic, Richard?”  Damian frowned over at his mother when she entered the room and moved over to stand with the two of them.  He looked back and down toward the teen, who he found watching his mother with narrowed, untrusting eyes.  Good boy.

Damian had made sure that he always questioned his surroundings and stayed wary of those he didn’t know. Apparently, Talia al Ghul fell in that category.

The woman simply quirked an eyebrow at him before she walked over to where the footmen were getting ready to move Todd to the platform.  Reaching out, Damian tugged Richard closer to him in hopes to shield him from the coming disaster.  His mother might be certain this was a good idea, surely for her own gain, but he knew this was not something that should be done.  But as good of a fighter Damian was, he could not take on the entire League. And he would need to do just that if he wanted to get Todd out of there before he was manipulated and twisted into a shadow of the teen he had been.

“Let us begin,” Ra’s said as he took his place on the opposite side of the Pit.

[lunaleetarot]

March 2022 Tarot Spread- Water Signs- Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces

Cancer

Career: Three of Swords

You’ve got competition. Someone is gunning for your position, and it’s putting you on pins and needles. Steel yourself for the worst, but the results may not be as bad as you think. In money matters, instead of putting a bandage on your monetary wounds, employ long-lasting solutions that can weather any storm.

Love: Magician (Reversed)

Give love a breather right now. Let emotional unrest settle before you go back into the water and make waves in your love life.

Friends: Ace of Swords

There is an underlying conflict with a friend brewing underneath the surface, It may be a topic that’s been lying dominant for a while, you may need to press the issue or confess depending on the situation. The biggest regret you will have is not acting in this case.

Family: The Hermit

Your family may be supportive this month, but they may also be holding you back. Perhaps it’s time to become more independent and make your own way. This is a Virgo card, so you may be dealing with someone else with this sign.

Self: Seven of Cups

Close your eyes and envision all the resources you need. You have the power to summon amazing gifts and opportunities. You have the chance to hone your multi-tasking and management skills. Don’t become overwhelmed by your thoughts, or too distracted by the bustle of the world.

Scorpio

Career: Two of Cups

The health industry is attractive to you right now. You feel the need to help others feel better and excel in life. In money matters, you gain ground on your finances due to a helpful partnership. Aquarius also got this card so you may be dealing with someone of this sign.

Love: Moon

There is a third person involved in your relationship and it’s a big distraction. Find a harmonious way to deal with intrusion, or move away from the love triangle. You may be dealing with a Pisces, as this is their card.

Friends: Seven of Pentacles

This month you will be dealing with a great friendship, This is a great friend or your best friend. If you're wondering if you should go on a trip with them or something of that sort the answer is yes. There’s no time like the present if you have the means to do so. Slow and steady growth with new people is also possible. Be open to new friendships and possibilities.

Family: Eight of Pentacles (reversed)

Long hours at the office make you a stranger at home. Your determination to provide for your family is admirable, but not at the expense of losing connection with those who need you.

Self: Page of Wands

The world is your oyster and you know it. You have a touch of destiny about you. Your creative energies are revved up with high octane self-expression. This is a time in your life when your vision becomes reality. You’re seeking ways to show off your talent. This is achieved through social media, service to others, and higher education. Travel is particularly effective for personal development and getting in touch with your free spirit. This is especially true with that recommended trip mentioned above in Seven of Wands in friendship.

Pisces

Career: Six of Cups

Your career will be focused on giving back and helping people. Your work is a positive influence with far-reaching effects. In money matters, fundraising and charity become a prime interest for you. Consider donating money to worthy nonprofit organizations in your community.

Love: Seven of Wands

A shift in your attitude has suitors lined up at your door. Be selective about who you date or keep relationships with. Say no to anyone who isn’t willing to offer you what you deserve. Virgo also got this card so you may be dealing with someone of this sign.

Friends: Two of Pentacles

Are these friends your true friends? Are you theirs? Is this a one-sided friendship? It might be time to phase out of a friendship.

Family: High Priestess

If you thinking about starting a family, this card is a good sign. This card also means balance within the home, and letting conflicts take their course.

Self: Ace of Wands

This is the time to take positive action and go where no man (or woman) has gone before. Explore new territories. Take initiative. Be fearless. Reach out to obtain your goals, Life is full of unknowns, but they don’t have to hold you back from striving to achieve more.