#because i finished the art a couple days after the final chapter went up | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

silvermaplealder · 5 months

Text

Follow the Leader: Chapter 1

I wrote this because I love body-switching trope stories and I decided to share this one.

Story Summary: David switches bodies with a stranger, Michael Emerson, after a motorcycle accident. Michael has to take on the role of a vampire gang leader while David has to adapt to a domestic human life until they can figure out how to change back.

Chapter Summary: David has to deal with the stresses of being the lead vampire of his pack. There is more to making life run smoothly as a vampire besides existing and looking cool

Word Count: 3165

David stood just outside the cave, taking a drag of his cigarette. His eyes scanned the horizon, watching the last rays of the sun disappear beyond the water. Food, he thought to himself. Fuck, we need gas… he adjusted his gaze to his hands as he mentally listed off the chores for today. Eating, refueling, mending part of his jacket. The list went on and on.

The thing about being the leader of his crew was having to keep track of everything happening. His boys were demanding when it came to lifestyles. He had to keep track of getting fuel and repairs for the bikes. He had to keep up with all of their little hobbies. Buying the cigarettes for himself, the weed that they shared, the alcohol, the art supplies for Marko, the list never ended.

Being a vampire came with a lot of responsibilities.

He finished his cigarette and headed back into the cave. The other three boys were finally awake. When the bleach blonde arrived, the boys sat up and gave him their attention. “Breakfast?” Marko asked immediately.

“Yes. There were a couple of those assholes from the other day-” David began.

“Dewy and Martin, right?” Paul cut in quickly.

David inclined his head. “Yes. I expect we’ll find them on the boardwalk. They’re our target tonight.”

“What about that chick Donna?” Marko asked.

David shook his head. “No, not yet. Later this week.”

“But what if I’m still hungry?” the youngest whined.

The leader sighed softly, looking over the curly haired vampire. He hated having to ration food. It wasn’t fair. “We can grab a snack on the boardwalk later,” David promised. “Let’s head out.”

The crew followed David obediently to the bikes. The vampires mounted the motorcycles and headed to town.

How’d the stalking go last night? David telepathically asked Dwayne over the sounds of their engines.

Just fine. Dewy and Martin should be heading to the arcade tonight if nothing’s changed, Dwayne responded.

Good. Let’s hope they’re there. David led the pack straight into town towards the main parking lot of the boardwalk.

We could go after Donna as a plan B, Dwayne responded as they rolled up to park their bikes. It’s Tuesday and last I checked she had a spinning class that ends at nine.

David sat back on his bike as he cut the engine. He fished a pocket watch out of his coat to check the time. Then we don’t have much time. Those brats better be at the arcade. David was quick to lead the way onto the boardwalk. He couldn’t risk missing out on the potential meals. Grabbing someone random was always a huge risk.

The pack of vampires stalked down the boardwalk. David kept his eyes ahead of him, never faltering from the entrance to the arcade. He brought the rest of the pack up behind him as he slipped into the largest arcade on the boardwalk. Fan out, let’s find them, he demanded.

The vampires scattered quickly. David’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s. He scanned the tourists, searching for the two late teens who had harassed Paul almost three weeks ago. The teens were quickly added to their menu, but David didn’t want to snatch them right away. They were young and foolish. Someone would be looking for them if they didn’t come home. But he waited and watched. Last week, Dewy got kicked out of his family’s house for attacking his younger sister. Martin was housing him at his folk’s house, but Martin’s family was away in Los Angeles this week. Two boys, all alone. No one would know they’re gone for days.

The bleach blonde carefully admired the people he passed. He felt compelled to start stalking them. Tourists were so curious to him. He loved following them and figuring out their lives. He’d watch them from the windows of the hotels. He’d follow them on the rooftops across town. He’d listen in on their conversations and find out who they were and what they did. There were plenty of perfect meals wandering the boardwalk. He just had to find the right one and strike when the time was right.

Found them! Paul’s voice cut through the leader’s skull.

David sensed his companion and snaked through the crowd. The four vampires surrounded the teens without their knowledge. David’s eyes scouted through the crowd. The arcade was busy this evening. He could start a scene and provoke the teens into a fight. But then security would be called and tourists would remember their faces. Loss of good prey.

Marko, Dwayne, wait outside by the river. Paul and I will lure them there. Dwayne and Marko were quick to follow his orders. David liked to keep Marko out of potentially heated encounters since the young vampire had a temper.

The bleach blonde approached the teens. “Well,” he stated, alerting them to his presence. “Dooby, right?” His tone was drenched in mockery.

The hot headed Dewy whirled around on David. It took him a moment to recognize the older boy and his companion that he saw a few weeks back. “Oh, it’s you,” Dewy remarked. The teen looked David over before giving a sneer. “Couldn’t find anything else besides your grandmother’s dress to wear today?”

David gave a small mockery laugh. “It’s called having class, kid. Something you’ll never have.” The vampire looked the brat’s outfit over. He lashed out a hand and snatched the boy’s chain around his neck. He yanked it off harshly, resulting in hatred flashing across the kid’s face. “Only dogs wear chains,” David teased.

“Oh you’re on pal,” the boy hissed.

David turned on his heel and shoved through the arcade. Get to the edge of the boardwalk, and quickly, David instructed.

Paul nodded and quickly disappeared among the crowd.

The boys weren’t interested in his taller companion. Dewy and Martin stayed on David’s heels as the vampire brought the two straight out of the arcade building. He paused just enough to rile up Dewy enough to lunge for him. David sidestepped the teen and then ran towards the river.

Paul stalked just out of sight. He followed the chase past the roller coaster and down towards the river. Dwayne and Marko stood their ground in the darkness, waiting for the ambush.

David brought the teens towards the river bank and paused. He looked over to Paul who came behind the boys. “You want this piece of junk so bad?” David taunted. He tossed it over their heads to Paul. “Then come get it.”

Dewy shoved the bleach blonde backwards. David took a short stumble back and scanned the surroundings. The boys turned to Paul who stood his ground with the necklace held over his head.

No watchful eyes. The coast was clear. Go. Feast.

Marko and Dwayne were quick to swoop in from the shadows. Paul threw the chain to the ground before latching onto one of the teens.

The three vampires tore the boys apart before they could make a sound. David kept a few steps back to watch his pack feed. The scent of blood forced his fangs to slide out. His stomach cramped in hunger, but he kept his distance. Marko pulled at one of the boys, trying to get more than his fair fill. Dwayne and Paul shared a glance but they tugged the second boy closer to them.

David turned away from the carnage to get away from the blood. When the boys were finished they washed up in the river. Marko splashed Paul with some of the water, causing the two of them to start wrestling playfully.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Dwayne whispered to David softly.

David glanced over to the playing blondes. He exhaled. “I’ll grab a snack later. You’ve seen how Marko gets when he’s still hungry. I can handle my hunger.”

“That’s fair,” Dwayne commented.

David let the dark haired vampire break the two fighting blondes apart while he turned his attention to the bodies. He scooped them up easily and admired the work that his boys did. Teeth and claw marks all over their bodies. David grabbed at Dewy’s arm with his teeth trying to get a taste of his blood. There wasn’t much left, but he managed to get a couple swallows in. He took to the sky and dumped the bodies into the ocean.

He rejoined the other vampires on the boardwalk. The three of them anxiously waited for their leader to return. The second he did, Paul headbutted the bleach blonde playfully. David grunted and Marko gave the taller vampire a smack. The two of them started nudging each other until David clicked his tongue for them to cut it out.

“David, can we go back to the arcade?” Marko begged.

“Got no money for arcade tonight, boys,” he replied. “Why don't you and Paul put those quick fingers to work and snatch some cash, hm? Bring me back a pack of cigs.” The blonde vampires playfully saluted their leader before charging off into the sea of people. “How's Veronica?” He asked to his last companion.

Dwayne shrugged. “Haven't seen her in a week or so. Not since Tony showed up not long ago.”

“Put them on the menu for tomorrow,” David ordered. “Get an idea for where they'll be.”

Dwayne nodded. “You want to come with?” He offered.

David pulled out a cigarette and lit it carefully. “I wish, but I have to meet with Max. We'll all catch up at the bikes later. We'll need to fuel up and then we can get back to the nest. Hopefully the blonde terrors can get a good stash tonight. We could use the money.”

Dwayne gently put his hand on David's shoulder. David leaned into the touch to show his appreciation. “I'll bring you home something to eat,” he promised. David gave him a warm smile. He trusted Dwayne picking something safe for him. Dwayne was always his rock. The man could steady David through any storm. “Got my eye on this kid down by the docks. No family. No friends. Real loner.”

“You're quite the hunter,” David praised. “Tell you what. Let me finish up with Max and then I'll meet you by the docks. We can grab the kid and then stalk Veronica.”

David made quick work of his chores knowing that he'd get something to eat when he was finished. As Max's oldest boy, David took the role of being second in command. He met with Max regularly to discuss the town and what plans they had for it. Max wanted to expand his reach into the local government whereas David wanted more freedom. Max didn't mind what the boys did, as long as it kept the city on their toes, but didn't have the locals with torches and pitchforks searching for them. Max liked the uneasiness of the town. He could use fear to control the local population. And since David and his crew were the root of the fear that drove this town wild, Max had more control than anyone realized.

After their meeting, David returned to the docks to meet Dwayne. The poor man's boat dock, as the boys took to calling the smaller one, had fishing boats and was the main launch for canoes, kayaks, and other small boats. For the rich who had nice luxury boats, they were stored on a separate dock with security cameras and a regular patrolling guard.

But on this dock, a young boy sat at the edge of the dock. David had seen him before but sorted him into a “starvation” category on his menu. The boy was barely in his early teens, but clearly running on his own. Scars coated his visible skin showing signs of abuse over many years.

The boys didn't typically eat kids. Kids didn't have nearly as much blood as their adult counterparts. They weren't as filling and oftentimes would only result in angry parents. Of course during the off season all humans were game, size and age no longer mattered. But when the summer was full swing and thousands of new meat hit the streets each night, there was no need to feed on the young.

But tonight David's hunger was gnawing at him hard. The kid had no one to go home to. No one to love him. The vampire saw it more as a mercy killing.

Dwayne watched as his leader swooped down onto the child and quickly ended him. There was no fight. David knew when it was appropriate to play with his food and when he just had to go for the kill. When he was finished, the two vampires returned to their bikes to refuel and regroup with Paul and Marko.

David and Dwayne sat on their bikes in the parking lot as the blondes came barrelling from the boardwalk. David held his hand out as Marko dropped a pack of cigarettes in it. It wasn't a brand that he preferred, but it didn't matter when it was given to him. He examined the pack seeing that they must have lifted it from someone's pocket. “Good work boys,” he praised, resulting in a happy noise from the smallest.

“Got two hundred dollars today, David!” Paul bounced over to his bike excitedly.

David gave him a warm smile. “That's very good. Why don't you two grab some gas on the way back and meet Dwayne and I at the nest later? We're stalking tonight.”

“Can we come?” Marko pleaded. He gave David his big, puppy dog eyes.

David propped his wrists up on his handlebars. He liked having the younger two learn hunting skills, but they tended to get in the way. “If you want to do some stalking, why don't you two check out that motel on Edmund? Watch the residents and see if you can get a running list of who's there and who'd make a good meal.”

“Got it!” Paul cheered.

“Remember, it has to be low profile. Figure out their check out date so we can figure out when to grab them.” David started up his engine. “No snacking.”

The blondes, given their new orders, excitedly got onto their bikes and headed off to complete them. The motel on Edmund was a good mark for fresh blood, but it wasn't in the best shape so the place was never fully booked. Even with it's low prices, people liked to avoid it. It was a common motel to hide from one's spouse while hooking up, or a cheap place for drunken men to bring women they met at the bar. But every once and a while, a good meal would stay for a few days.

David pulled out of the parking lot with Dwayne at his side. They had to make sure dinner was still on for tomorrow.

Veronica lived outside of town. Dwayne had met her several times on the boardwalk. She was young and excited to get his attention. But it turned out she had a fiance. While Dwayne was looking for an easy mark, it got easier knowing that the fiance returned and was pissed at the situation. Tensions aside, the two lived together in a small home with next to no neighbors. Tony was her high school sweetheart, but she started to see other men on the side while Tony would go on “business trips”.

Tonight, neither were home. David and Dwayne parked their bikes down the street and flew to the house. David picked the back door open and they started pawing through the place. David only cared about finding a schedule or calendar that would have their plans safely jotted down. And it didn't take him long to find one. He found a small notebook at the kitchen table. “They're having dinner with some friends tonight,” he commented. “Must be out late.” He flipped through the handheld planner.

Dwayne stalked around the house. “Washer and dryer here,” he commented.

“Great, it's about time we did laundry,” David grumbled. He hated domestic duties, but when you're a stinky vampire you have to maintain a healthy relationship with hygiene to keep living alongside humans. “They've got no plans for tomorrow. We can swing by after dark.”

“Sounds good.” Dwayne continued to go through the house, examining all the knickknacks that he considered taking.

David left the planner on the table as he found it. “Let's go back.” He waited for Dwayne at the back door.

It took the brunette vampire an extra minute before he returned to his leader. In his hand was a little trinket. “What's this?” He asked, passing it to David.

The bleach blonde took the spherical trinket from him and examined it. “No idea.” He couldn't read the engraved words on the little bell-like thing. David played with it in between his fingers before sliding it into his pocket.

The two vampires turned back to their bikes and began to head home. They took the winding back roads at a speed no human should. The two teased each other with a little race.

Nothing got them more competitive than a race.

David swerved onto a side road, cranking up his speed to try and cut off Dwayne up ahead. Adrenaline raced through his body as the boys couldn't see each other and tell who was winning. David didn't want to lose. He was the leader and he had to prove his mettle.

He popped back up onto the main road. Dwayne wasn't ahead of him, though he could hear the engine of the other bike. He turned his head over his shoulder, barely seeing the headlight of his companion through the winding trees.

He looked behind him for a fraction of a second too long. He snapped his attention back in front of him when movement caught his eye.

Movement from an SUV.

The vampire was blinded by the headlights of the vehicle. His vampire eyes were too sensitive to such lights in the darkness. His entire world went bright white. He was so overwhelmed with the race that he hadn't heard the sound of the car coming towards him. He tried to close his eyes and use his other senses, but it was too late.

He instinctively swerved, but the SUV collided with his back tire. The vampire was thrown from his bike, crashing down onto the asphalt. For any human it would have been severed limbs and instant death.

David couldn't feel anything, but he knew he wasn't dead. He wanted to open his eyes and get up, but he couldn't feel where his arms were. He knew for certain he hit his head and that his senses were gone for a duration of time. The only thing he could do was lay there and wait. There was no pain though. Maybe it was shock but he knew that consciousness was slipping away and fast.

#the lost boys #lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #tlb 1987 #tlb #vampires

49 notes · View notes

zarvasace · 11 days

Note

It’s “appreciate yourself” hours! Pick five pieces of writing/art that you’ve done that you love and talk about them! ❤️❤️❤️

Ahhhh okay, thank you!! 💜🌻 I finally have a free moment (aka work is slow) so I'm going to work on drafting this out :) I have far too much art I'm proud of—I'm at a stage in my progress right now where I think my art looks pretty awesome. So this list will be stuff from my Greatest Hits collection on AO3. In order of oldest to newest, I think:

incandescently happy

An LU post-adventure work, one of the first longer fics I posted. I released one chapter a day over the summer of 2022, so a lot of the notes have something about my day in them. It's about 30k all told.

I absolutely adored expanding on what the boys might do after the whole LU adventure happens (though I did forget about the fact that I think Time and Malon have a kid during this time!) This work features some proto-Shatterproof stuff, like Wind having a prosthetic leg and Four starting to specialize in crafting prosthetics/disability aids. I gave Hyrule longer hair and a job making maps for the royal family. Legend got another adventure but also started a magic garden/orchard, which pulls in more business than Ravio's stuff. Four and his grandpa adopted a single mother and her two kids. Man I went off with some of these headcanons. I've always considered writing more in this world, but I think it stands very well on its own. Maybe someday I might revisit and rewrite it with some of my new skills. :)

Rise and Shine and Fall

Whumptober 2022, focused entirely on LU! Guys this thing is almost 78k. I realize now that most people pre-plan or pre-write for things like Whumptober, but I wrote these one by one every day, which was extra-hard because I had both college classes and a day job at the time. I came up with some fun AUs, learned a lot about writing (especially whump), and proved to myself that I can do hard things like this!! I've adored doing daily challenges since, though I haven't done it in a while. I look forward to this year's whumptober though!

I really like the table of contents in the first chapter—it makes things easy to find. I know individual works are probably more accessible, but I was still getting to know AO3, and those big numbers are fun. XD I have a hard time picking favorites, because I really went off on these, but I'd say a couple of them are:

Chp 3, "Right Here" about Sky

Chp 7, "Proof of Life" about Four and Shadow

Chp 18, "I'm onwy a babey :(" about Wind

Chp 21, "6:13" about Hyrule and Time

Chp 26, "Silence is Golden" about Wild

Chp 31-32, "The Worst Thing About Earth" about Legend, but kind of more specifically the rewrite/expansion I did last year... haha...

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band or Maybe-Human Heroes

It's been a while since I updated this story (56k, 6/8 chapters), but it's constantly on my mind. I've started chapter 7 twice, and I know what I want to happen, but I am easily distracted by the siren call of some other whump fics. XD

I freaking love this story, though. I really want to finish it. It's kind of an... experiment? I guess? I want to get published someday, and I picture myself writing middle-grade novels. This story is sort of my attempt to hit that tone. Also I just love Wind so so so much. Let him be cool!!

Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School

56k Four Swords completed story! I wrote this in a frenzy of like two or three weeks, then took another two to edit. It takes plot points from a vampire novel I enjoyed and twists and applies them to a story about Shadow and the Four Swords manga boys. I'm very proud of what I accomplished here, and that it's a complete story! I think it worked out really well. I learned a lot about plotting and handling larger stories, and it helped that I had the half-remembered structure of an existing novel to use as training wheels.

I love the worldbuilding in this story! The premise is that Shadow is an evil soulless vampire from a (rather abusive, not that he sees it) family of the same, but then he gets the ability to walk in the sunshine. He's assigned to go to high school for a while to get a feast for the vampire gala, but meanwhile he's developing a conscience and getting very attached to these human boys. I think I did a good job. I love rereading this, every scene is just so fun! :)

Counterbalance

55k exactly of a stupid LU darks AU. This started life as a series of oneshots and then the plot progressively got more and more convoluted and I love these stupid boys so much. The plot is very much not tight, in contrast to Blood-Sucker's Guide, but I learned a lot about how I write and how I like to plan with this one, too.

The characters are stupid and the plot is just kinda silly and there is both a bathhouse scene AND a spa scene. Legend blows up multiple things, my lovely nasty little Dark Links need smacks and therapy, and Prince has a legitimately emotional moment at the end. I love how it turned out, it's like an ugly little stuffed animal I made and hug until the eyes pop out.

That's five but I would be extremely remiss if I did not also mention something from Shatterproof:

The Incredible Shrinking Chain

About 10k, this is entry 31/68 in my series Shatterproof, which is a close-canon AU in which each of the boys has a different physical disability. This series also plays into my publishing ambitions, because whatever I publish will very likely have some disability representation. I'm rather passionate about it, actually! Shatterproof is close to my heart, and I'm so honored that so many people seem to love it too. :) I need to work on the next entry again!!

This entry in particular is so much fun. In it, the whole Chain sans Four is stuck mouse-sized, and Four has to travel out to Twilight's castle with them to get Dusk to help break the curse. They all have to figure out how to navigate while tiny, and Four pulls some very silly stunts. I love them.

Anyway, there's my list!! I've written a lot over the last like two and a half years, and I'm so so glad that I get to be here and part of this community. The LU fandom as a whole (or at least the parts I've seen!) is so welcoming and positive and I try to give back where I can! I'm going to suggest looking through my bookmarks and ultimate rec list collection to find some new favorites from some very talented authors! :) (oof I need to update the collection soon!! I've been seeing some awesome stuff!)

#my writing #<3 #fic rec

20 notes · View notes

steamberrystudio · 9 months

Text

31/12/2023 Devlog

Hey everyone! Time for the bi-weekly tumblr update for Steamberry stuff! Except I skipped one because I can't remember why.

I half-wrote it but I think I just wasn't feeling up to finishing and posting.

I haven't been doing extremely well health-wise lately but still powering through.

Summary

Finished writing Chapter 5.5 (the new chapter in WSC)

Finished editing Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Asher's path

Finished all the profiles for the GS lore book

Have started wrapping up the "side stories" and additional content for the GS lore book

Ramble

Okay so in my last update I was in the middle of editing chapter 5 and was nearly to the start of chapter six in editing Asher's route. I finished up chapter 5...

At that point when I was looking ahead, I started feeling like I wanted to add in a transition scene to move between Chapter 5 and Chapter 6.

As I started plotting out this scene, one of my ideas took on a life of its own and I realised that it might be better to interject a new, fleshed out story incident that would allow me to slow the pacing as well as flesh out the setting and universe a little more. This incident would also let me tie into some earlier events and connect them to something that occurs in chapter 6, also foreshadowing the chapter 6 incident.

Ultimately, this became too much to call a "scene" and I decided to branch it off into a supplementary chapter (IE a chapter a bit shorter than the others and meant to be released along with another chapter.)

Then that chapter ended up being 30,000 words.

So that happened.

After finishing that I went on to finish editing chapters 6, 7, and 8. I am currently on chapter 9. I only have a few more chapters before I'm finished editing Asher's path. As always, during my edits, one of the main things I do is flesh things out.

So obviously the word count has grown from that (and, you know, the 30k extra chapter I invented).

Currently the word count is 468,000 words.

Other Stuff:

I have received several new BGs and a new BG sketch. BGs are continuing to come in at a fairly steady pace.

I now have all the BGs for The Ophelia and the artists are working on other locations finally. OwO

I've also been, here and there, doing small tweaks to the sprites, small additions and fixes.

Gilded Shadows:

As I mentioned, I finally got through all the character profiles. There are so many more characters than I remembered in this game.

Then I got halfway through and realised that I forgot five. And had to insert them, which...meant rearranging pages, which is a pain in the butt. However, that is now complete.

What I'm working on now is finishing up some of the short stories and drabbles I have planned or partially written out and getting them into the lore book.

As well as gathering any other content. The lore book is currently about 350 pages. And I am really hoping to wrap it up soon.

Upcoming Weeks:

Next couple of weeks I will be trying to wrap up the lore book and wrap up editing Asher's Path.

When I finish editing Asher's path I'll be moving on to finish drafting the end sequences for the four remaining characters. I'm starting to have an idea of where the word count is going to end up but will have a better idea for sure when Asher's edit is complete.

I have written over 100,000 words since mid-August, just plugging away and trying to hit at least 1000 words a day.

I hit my year end word count goal of 466,000 words for When Stars Collide but unfortunately did not finish the draft because the draft has grown in size.

But I am really hoping to finish it early next year so we can fully move into phase 2 of When Stars Collide.

I am also hoping to get the final KS stuff resolved for Gilded Shadows early next year as well (the lore book, art book, and some residual art and stuff).

For now, I shall just keep plucking away at it until it's all done.

And that is all for now. I will see you all next year.

#gilded shadows #whenstarscollide #amare game #indie otome game #updates #devlog

69 notes · View notes

ink-and-dagger · 1 year

Note

Hiii inky, this is for the directors cut ^^

I’ve always been curious; during the time astrid was fired from the last drop, did jinx say to silco while he was in heartbreak? Did she try to comfort him? Did Sevika comment on anything? We’re there any other characters that witnessed him a miserable mess? lol

Oh and I almost forgot:

GET BACK HERE AND FINISH THAT KISS WITH TONGUE YOU COWARD

(Putting this art in my serotonin folder hehehehehhe thank you sweet one kissing you back real sloppy 😘😘❤️)

Oh you bet your ass a ton of stuff went down in Silco-land over those three months, and one of these days I will post the entire timeline I will goddammit. But for now I’ll shall answer your question and give you a glimpse into Silco’s misery…

Jinx

Silco’s fall out with Astrid definitely affected his relationship with Jinx for a while, with the first week or two being the worst. When Jinx wasn’t outright ghosting her dad, she was cold and distant with him. For a few days she even refused to help him with his eye treatment, until Sevika bribed her with coin. After that she reluctantly assisted in frosty silence.

It isn’t that Jinx couldn’t see how much he was hurting – it wasn’t even that she didn’t feel any compassion for his heartbreak – it’s simply that her anger with him was great enough to blot out everything else. To her mind, her family had been torn apart once again, bringing all sorts of painful memories to the surface. Only this time she wasn’t the one ‘at fault’. And because Silco is maaaaaybe a teensy bit of an enabler when it comes to Jinx, her only real frame of reference for how to treat someone at fault was the way she was treated by Milo and to some extent Vi. So she defaulted to that.

However, after the first failed assassination attempt of this time period Jinx did go to him to check on his welfare (even though she acted very aloof and teenage about it). At this point Silco did at least manage to initiate a discussion with her about what happened, and although she remained displeased with him, they did manage to agree to a shakey truce.

Silco never held Jinx’s feelings against her, even though he was going through a lot of pain of his own he always remained patient and lenient. And when she gradually began to warm up to his company again, he didn’t make a big to-do; just quietly accepted the love and affection he was given, and reciprocated it unconditionally, without any need for apology or explanation.

Not to say it was smooth sailing between them from there on out. Whilst Jinx did try to comfort him in her own way, she also often attempted to convince him to make things right with Astrid. Silco was always quick to shut these conversations down; gently but firmly. Jinx even tried to orchestrate a couple of ‘accidental meet ups’ between Silco and Astrid, although neither of these was successful. In fact, the second attempt went so badly wrong that it led to a big fall out between himself and Jinx; which sent the teenager spiralling similarly to how she did at the start of chapter 12.

It was this breakdown (paired with a well timed dream) that prompted Silco to finally seek Astrid out.

Sevika

Sevika commented on the whole Silco x Astrid breakup situation exactly two times during those three months (and neither of those times was particularly because she had much choice in the matter).

The first occurrence was the second Friday after Astrid was fired.

For months, the unspoken rule amongst Silco’s staff had been that Friday nights were off-limits; The Eye of Zaun was not to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary, and even then only Sevika truly had the guts and authority to do the disturbing. After news arrived that one of their topside agents had gotten themselves arrested, Sevika had gone up to his office to find him… not there. He hadn’t been in his bedroom either. But a quiet bump from his en-suite had prompted her to check the darkened bathroom. Sevika found the Eye of Zaun, absolutely plastered (like, one drink away from blacking out) laying in the empty bathtub, fully-dressed (though extremely rumpled), clutching a near empty bottle of bourbon.

She lost a bit of respect for him that night.

Still, their history runs deep, and despite his vicious protestations Sevika managed to haul Silco out of the tub.

“Get up.”

“Get out.”

“No. Lay s’much asa fimger on me an’ I’ll havey’u dead. I’ll fucking— Don’t— You’re fired.”

“Been chucking that phrase around a lot lately, haven’t you.”

He went quiet after that clap-back.

She managed to get him onto the bed and into a comfortable enough position to sleep off the booze and not choke on any that found its way back up. She’d intended to just leave it at that, but found herself speaking halfway out the door.

“I’m sorry things didn’t work out between the two of you. But what happened tonight cannot happen again. If you crumble, then so does the city, and I won’t let it happen. Zaun is my first priority. Not you.”

[quietly] “I understan’. G’dnigh, Sevika.”

“Night. Silco.”

To his credit, it didn’t happen again.

The second time Sevika comments on the whole thing I’ll reveal in more detail when I finally release my timeline of events. But what I will tell you now is that it occurred a couple of weeks after she and Astrid went for drinks (so about a month and a half into their 3 month separation) and involves a nightmare, a business meeting, and a pretty brothel boy.

Misc

Silco is highly adroit at concealing his hand. At appearing cold and uncaring. But the more attentive members of his team will have noticed a few changes in the man, even if they didn’t know the cause nor reason behind it:

During those three months Silco was quicker to anger. Not only that, but where his wrath had previously been icy, controlled, and calculated, it was now more akin to a hot flash in the pan. Hearing the raised voice of the Eye of Zaun suddenly wasn’t such a rarity anymore.

Silco’s work ethic increased from obsessive to dangerous. He’d work for days on end without rest; only stopping when he literally passed-out from exhaustion at his desk, and then picking up right where he left off the instant he came-to. He survived primarily on a diet of whiskey and cigars, and only ate when Sevika forced him to. Within weeks of Astrid’s departure, Max was commissioned to craft a pair of suspenders to be worn beneath Silco’s waistcoat, because his trousers no longer fit.

Silco’s routine became erratic, and would flip on a dime. There were some weeks where it felt as though he never once set foot inside the drop, and other weeks where he holed up in his office like a hermit. Towards the end of those three months it was very much the latter – though that could be attributed to the sudden rise in assassination attempts.

His usually razor sharp mind appeared at times… dulled. It took him longer to construct those careful, trademark responses, and even in silence he didn’t always seem 100% present.

He refused to hire a replacement barkeep. His excuse being that budget didn’t allow for a new hire after the losses of the blackout riot.

Anyway there you have it! I hope that answered your question and gave you a bit more insight into Silco’s life during that three month separation. But there’s definitely a lot more to tell there, and I’m politely asking my brain to pull itself together enough to tell you all about it 🥲💜

#inky answers #directors cut ask game #thank you Libs <3 #drink with me #DWM bonus content #Silco’s POV #DWM Silco’s POV #Silco #Astrid #Silco x Astrid #Astro #Arcane

32 notes · View notes

misguidedasgardian · 5 months

Text

The Lifeaters (III.4)

IV. Hogsmeade

MASTERLIST

Chapter Summary: You thought everything was going so so great…

Pairings: Draco Malfoy x Fem!Reader (platonic)

Warnings: Cursing, magical objects, Mugglephobia, classism, charms and curses, might miss some warnings

Wordcount: 4.1 k

Notes: If you see something say something, come on and party tonightttt woooo

You placed your broom on its stand over the common room table, taking advantage of the fact that there was no one there, it was late at night, the next day, you had a free first period so you could have a late night study session with your… muggle studies partners in crime

Theo and Matt

This week was the start of the Quidditch season, and you were so excited you had to give your broom their monthly maintenance

“Alright so… muggles use this…. thing… called electricity”, muttered Theo reading his book, “and that is why they have synthetic light… and something that is called a Television?”, he said with difficulty

“Synthetic? but how?”, you asked, as you were trimming the edges of the bristle of your broom

“What is a television?”, asked Matthew

“Well, according to the pictures… apparently Muggles lock little people inside a box and watch them perform for their entertainment”, said Theo

“How little?”, asked Matthew, rubbing his chin, Theo showed him a picture, “that can’t be right”, he muttered, squinting at the old picture

“No, slavery was abolished in both Muggle and magical world long ago”, you said

“But maybe those anti-slavery laws don’t apply to these little people”

“So… muggles have like… house-elves? but in the shape of tiny humans?”, you asked

You three took long moments to ponder on that fact, and Theo turned the page around

“We are gonna fail muggle studies”, he said, frowning, “apparently there is no such thing as little people locked in a box”

“So what is television?”, asked Matthew, Theo kept frowning, reading forwards

“It doesn’t say”, he said, “but in the course introduction the professor said we were going to watch a… what the muggles call a movie”, he muttered, “and it is perform in a television”

“movie, what is that?”, asked Matthew

“Sounds fun”, you offered

“It’s like a play, only… you watch it in a box”

“That’s odd”, muttered Matthew, you knew he was burning on the inside, but he had kept himself from saying horrible comments of the muggles, he was actually interested, rather than disgusted, or that is what it seemed like.

“But how are we going to watch it, if we need electricity?”, asked Theo

“What was electricity again?”, you asked. Theo kept reading

“It doesn’t say”, he concluded. He kept reading the book you had taken out of the library, and while he do it, you started polishing the handle on your broom, with a big jar of Fleetwood's High-finish handle polish

“Right now?”, he asked

“Quidditch season is about to start”, you said simply, “I have to keep my place in the team”

“Alright we need to choose an Muggle item and do a couple of parchments on it”, muttered Theo, “the topic is… items you can find in a muggle house”

“Professor Burbage gave us a list”, you said, walking to the table to reach your piece of parchment

“What is a.. rubber duck?”, you asked, nobody knew

Things were looking up in school, Defense against the dark arts had finally reached the level of interest that you knew it could reach, you were having so much fun with Professor Lupin and after the boggart that professor Lupin had managed to catch, he had also ACTUALLY showed you Red Caps, that were a small goblin-like creature that enjoyed blood baths. Then you went onto Kappas, actually went into the black lake to gaze upon them, monkey-like creatures with scales instead of fur

You were enjoying it only too much, you had begun to flinch every time Draco would mock how Lupin dressed, until you made him stop. And he did, with grumbles, but he did

There was a lot of things Draco had stopped doing because of you, or in behalf of you

And you felt terribly guilty because of how much fun you were having in Muggle studies, and you will rather be caught dead than admit it, and theo did as well, but you were having the most fun

Not Matthew though, you tried to really get to him, if he was truly enjoying the classes and he really, really wasn’t.

You were curious about muggles and the way they lived but once you started uncovering it, Matthew felt rather… disgusted by them, now hating them with actual “evidence”, that they were weak, and strange, different from us, that they didn’t do magic…

You felt guilty after every class, because you were actually hiding the fact that you were in that class altogether.

There was no way of stopping Draco though, because, Care of magical creatures had become so boring and dull… Hagrid had lost all motivation, and he was scared of introducing you to more creature so he had you looking after the more dull creatures in the land, some worms and whatnot

But luckily, there was always Quidditch

You were on the field, with your Nimbus 2001 and Draco by your side.

It was Marcus Flint’s last year ever, and he seemed truly excited, and determined, to win the cup for Slytherin -again-

“I want Malfoy and Basilik”, he said, determined, you and Draco shared excited looks, he wasn’t even going to put you on “trial” to stay on the team. Adrian will also stay on his position as Chaser alongside you and Marcus , so, there was little change to many’s dismay

For the second year, you were the only woman on the team, even though there were older girls wanting to tryout

Marcus had you by his side on the air as he did actually oversee the tryouts, even though the team was full, he wanted to have spares for each of you, in case something may befall you

“Do you really want me on the team?”, you asked Marcus, he looked back at you

“You score like five goals for match, of course I do”, he said, and you were so relieved that nobody could wipe the smile of your face for the rest of the day

Fall was approaching quickly, and with it, came heavy rains, storms and later the powerful winter, but you were excited for the Quidditch winter gear as last year Quidditch season was canceled due to the attacks by the Basilisk and the chamber and all that, this year… nothing or no one could ruin this season.

Nothing

The team, luckily for you, stayed the same as last year, Marcus, Adrian and you as chasers, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Boyle as beaters, they were both fifth years, and then Draco as a seeker, and Miles Blatchley as the Keeper.

You were feeling confident, you had played together last year, you had a great start.

What concerned you, and also Marcus… was Draco… he lost the snitch last year because he was too busy trying to mock Potter, and he needed to let that go if you were to win against Gryffindor that was your very first match, in around a month or so

Marcus gave you the training schedule, and thanks to himself and Snape, you had very good schedules, three times a week, right after classes.

You were having fun in your classes, you were on the Quidditch team, and now… Halloween was coming soon

And with it, your first weekend in Hogsmeade

“I’m so excited to go to Hogsmeade”, yous aid as you took a seat with difficulty on the common room couches

Your buttocks and thighs hurt like hell, after the first week of Quidditch training, but it was because you hadn't use the broomstick on a while

“Our very own all-witching town”, said Draco with a smirk, “my father was not going to let me go, since Black is at large, but I told him he would never dare to come near us”, he said

“Do you really think he would come here? To Hogwarts?”, asked Blaise, taking a seat on the opposite couch

“You know, they say he is insane!”, said Draco, “The minister himself said that he heard him chanting, “he is at Hogwarts! He is at hogwarts!” he clearly is coming here to murder Potter”, he said so happy.

“Why?”, you asked him, :you never told me the real story”

“Nobody knows the full details”, he said dismissively, “but it's said that he was a spy, for the Dark Lord, against the blood traitors, so, he revealed his true colors by betraying the Potters, telling the Dark Lord about their location”

“So he is a snitch”, you mocked

“For the Dark Lord”, said Draco with a smile, “now he will finish what he started, he will come here to kill Potter, because he is the one that made the Dark Lord go away”

“So a murderous maniac is coming into the castle to kill Potter, and you are ok with that?”, asked Theo

“It seems crazy to me, why would he come to Potter while he is in the Muggle world?”, asked Pansy, “wouldn’t that be easier?”. that made Draco chuckle and Pansy blushed scandalously.

“Anyways, who wants to talk about Potter?”, asked Matthew, “Maybe Black will do us the favor of getting rid of him so he’ll stop ruining every school year”, you all laughed. “What I really want to know is… who wants to go to the shrinking shack with me?”, he asked and he looked at you

“They say is the most haunted house in Europe!”, said Theo excitedly

“But they say it's impossible to get in”, you muttered sadly

“Well, because we have never tried before”, mocked Matthew

“What I want to know is… if Hogsmeade is an all-wizard community, will we be able to do magic there?”, asked Daphne

“No, I don’t think there is a loophole there, I think no underage wizards are able to do magic outside of Hogwarts, ever”, said Blaise

“I can’t wait to get to Zonko’s”, said Matthew with a big smile, “buy some Dungbombs”

“As long as you don’t throw them in here”, mocked Theo

“I want to go and check out…”

“Honeydukes”, answered Draco for you, and you felt your cheeks heated but nodded enthusiastically

“Yes, I want to try the fudge”, you giggled, “but also… the Dervish and Banges”

“Oh yeah, the wizarding equipment shop”, said Blaise

“Yeah, and afterwards, we can go to the three broomsticks and have some butterbeer”, said Matthew

“Yes!”

“Totally!”

Days went by quite quickly, and soon, you were giggling with Pansy and Daphne in your room.

Your boots that even though had heels were really comfortable, and you were so happy with the things Pansy had made you buy when you spend that day together in Diagon Alley, as you put on your new favorite jacket

“You look so cute, but… for who?”, she teased

“Nobody”, you said mindedly, you knew she had

“I bet it’s for Theo”, Daphne said with a somewhat dark tone that sounded a bit mean

“no, not really”

“Matthew?”, teased Pansy

“No!”, you said loudly, “no one!”

With heated cheeks you went to meet everyone outside, the boys were giggling and snickering as you walked to them, and Draco seemed crossed to a blushed Matthew

Draco smiled at the sight of the three of you

“Ready?”, you asked excitedly, Filch was in the entrance, checking names from a list, as it was the first time for you all third-years, you were all in the courtyard

“Remember, those visits to Hogsmeade village are a privilege!”, said McGonaggal with her serious face, “should your behavior reflect poorly to the school, it will not be extended again”

You all nodded for her to just let you go, and you started the walk to the village, you looked away when you walked by the dementors guarding the gates to Hogwarts.

It was already 31st of October, Halloween! you were going to spend all day in Hogsmeade and then the famous Halloween feast! your smile couldn’t be erased off your face

You were a big group, even amongst your friends… the village appeared in front of you and you were so happy, but your group of 10 didn’t split.

First you came across the post office, which impressed you with a hundred owls, of all sizes and color, some of them could fly internationally! you wondered if you could train Umbra to go to France and back

“Let’s go to Honeydukes”, you didn't even realize Matt was this close to you, but the rest of your friends was going the other way

“Oh”, you doubted, you didn’t want to split from the group, but it would be rude if you refused him, so you nodded and started walking with him. Draco and consequently Pansy noticed, so they stayed behind and went with you

Matthew now seemed crossed, but he didn't say anything as Pansy and you stuck your faces into the big showcases filled with different flavored fudges

You bought a box

“I would like a marble, the one with strawberries, mint, white chocolate, and the one with dark currants”, you started picking yours, and Pansy chose her own box

“I’ll pay for that”, muttered Draco

“No, it was my idea, I’m going to invite her”, said Matthew, you and Pansy exchanged looks, “you invite Parkinson’s, I’ll invite Basilik…”

“I ALWAYS pay for Basilik’s treats”, said Draco angrily

“Guys”, Pansy was over the moon, you were even concerned for this weird development, you took out sickles for your box, but Matthew grabbed your hand and payed himself, alongside his own treats, and Drco, with a frown, payed for Pansy and his own

“Thank you Matt, you shouldn’t have”, you whispered

“You are most welcome”, he said with a smile

The group had walked away already, you catched a glimpse of MIlicent and Vince turning a corner

You looked back and catched Draco and Matthew gazing at each other like they were challenging one another to some duel or something

“We can go to Zonko’s”, you suggested, and Matthew then came out of his stupor, looked at you and nodded, and you four directed yourselves there

Zonko's joke shop was brilliant! you had never thought about jokes and tricks before, but you had an amazing time inside it

You could try everything they sold in there, and Matthew bought a bunch of stuff, you yourself even bought a “tempest in a bottle”, it was a glass bottle that contained, as the name entailed, a little storm

It was supposed to be a prank, to make it rain inside a room, once released, it would release a storm for fifteen minutes, but it looked so beautiful inside the bottle that you probably just were going to let it sit on your nightstand

This time, while Matthew wasn’t looking, you paid for his dungbombs

“Only Basilik would but a tempest in a bottle just to look at it”, teased pansy, grabbing into your arm as you walked down the street

“I found it truly mesmerizing!”, you said with a wide smile

“Let’s go to the shrieking shack!”, said Pansy, pointing at a street that led to the outside of town

“Yeah! let’s do it!”, said Matthew, you shared concerned looks with Draco, you were not the bravest of the bunch but you didn’t want to seem cowardly in front of Pansy and Matthew, and well, you were four, and had your wands with you, what could go wrong?

You reached the last barrier of the house, a poorly made wired fence

You doubted, but you were also skeptical, it seemed like an abandoned house, just that, and you had heard that it was the most haunted house in Europe, but not because an awful massacre had occurred there, only because… so… it couldn’t be that bad, right?

But as you were walking down a narrow road, you stopped suddenly as Draco had spotted something in the distance

“What’s that!?”, he asked, pointing, when you saw a huge, huge black dog. he came at you, with a quick pace

“Look!”, you shrieked, “A doggy!”

“Ah!”, Draco screamed, scared, “I don't know what that thing is but it is not a dog!”, Matthew seemed scared, but you and pansy came close to it, and he let you pet him, at least, he looked lke a “he”

“Nonsense, look how cute!”, yes it was true it was an abnormally large dog, but he let you get close enough to pet him, he cooed under your touch, “hey doggy, are you alone? Do you have a home?”

“Basilik for Merlin’s sake leave that animal alone, maybe what kind of diseases it has!”, said Matthew.

Caressing unknown dogs was a dangerous thing, even for wizards, but you couldn’t help it, the dog smelled you your hands and face

“Are you hungry boy?”, you asked, but you didn’t have anything with you, and right now, you couldn’t conjure or transfigure anything, as you couldn’t do magic outside of school.

“Basilik, for the last time, please, leave that dog!”, muttered Draco

“it’s hungry!”, you said, you looked into your bag, and you found a muffin you were not going to eat, as you cast a small spell, to turn it into mince meat, small spells were not that detectable, and then you gave it to the dig, who eat it earnestly

“Please, can we go now? we promised we were going to go to the three broomsticks”, said Draco

Taking this huge dog to the school was out of the question, it broke your heart to leave him, until… he left you first, with a last -what you thought was- a sad look, the dog trotted away quickly, so you didn't felt as bad that you couldn’t take him if he didn’t want to go with you

“Let’s go, and please wash your hands”, said Draco, and you and Pansy walked back to town and to the three broomsticks to meet with the others.

You couldn’t stop giggling and talking about what a great time it has been as you walked back to the castle right at sundown

And now it came something even better

You and hold onto the fudge and not eat it right away, because the feast was waiting for you

Halloween was your favorite holiday

The candles in the skies where pumpkins, above them near the clouded ceiling, were bats flying haphazardly, and all around the candlesticks and torches were orange streamers. It looked great like always.

The food, as always, was creepy and delicious, you even managed to get several servings of profiteroles filled with ice cream and bathed in chocolate.

At the very end, the ghosts popped out of the wall, they floated around, and started reenacting their deaths… Even the bloody Baron told your table… how he died…

And nearly headless Nick told gladly the story of his infamous name.

As you were leaving the great hall, you ended up next to Potter, to which Draco couldn’t help but whisper

“The dementors send their regards, Potter!”

You were doing a bit of flaunting the things you had bought to your friends in the common room, when Marcus himself strode inside the room

“That fudge looks good Basilik, give me some?”, he asked, reaching, you snatched your box away and looked at him angrily

“Wanna’ lose a hand there Flint?”, you threatened

“I’m your quidditch team captain!”, he said, entertained

“Try me”, you said, and he removed his hand.

All the Slytherins were in the common room, all too excited by the feast, the sugar and the visit to Hogsmeade to go to sleep, but you didn’t have too

The Head Boy -who you couldn’t name right now- came rushing in, along with the head Girl

“Black has entered the castle!”, he said hastily, all houses have to present themselves in sleeping attire in the great hall

It was mayhem in the common room, and you didn't know if you had to be scared or excited

You all were back in the common room, that was not dressed in Halloween anymore, the tables had disappeared, it stood empty, but the candles and ceiling were still there. Dumbledore stood taller than most

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle," he said out loud, white the big doors being closed behind you, "I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl of each house in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately”, he was set to leave the hall, but then he turned around, "Oh, yes, you'll be needing...", the floor, from one second to the next, was covered with hundreds of very thick, comfortable-looking purple sleeping bags.

"Sleep well," said Dumbledore, closing the door behind him.

Not even two seconds and the hall buzzed alive with giggles, conversations and more, you came together with your friends, feeling so excited.

Clearly Black wasn't a threat to you all, but, this was kind of exciting, having a massive sleepover with your entire house! and well, the other houses were there as well

“Quiet!”, demanded the older Weasley, ever the waterparty

“Weasle relax!”, said your own head boy, which made you smile

You wasted no time in accommodating yourself near Draco, but as Pansy looked at you with pleading eyes, you decided to step back a few paces, sleeping rather than by his side, putting your heads together.

“Boys on one side, girls on the other!”, commanded Weasley, but students started booing him.

You were accommodated in some sort of a circle, Matthew had accommodated by your side, you would have preferred to sleep around your girlfriends, but they were scattered around the group, Pansy seemed all too Happy, and Draco had managed to place himself on your other side.

“How do you think Black entered the castle?”, asked Matthew whispering at you

“Well, a castle this big, has to have secret passageways”, you said, “Black was a student here, he probably knows more of its secrets”

“That makes sense”, said Pansy

“But you’d think that as a Wizard as powerful as him would know how to apparate”, said Greg

“You cannot simply apparate into Hogwarts”, said Draco, “its enchanted, and protected by spells that doesn’t allow apparition and other irregular ways of magical transportation”

“So he could have only walked right through the gates, then”, said Theo

“Yeah, without being seen, or catched by the dementors”, mocked Tracy

“Do you think they would come in here?”, you asked

“Dumbledore hates them, he couldn’t have possibly let them in”, said Draco with a frown

“Well even though there is a murderous maniac running around inside the castle, I think this is kinda cool, like a big sleepover”, you said with a smile

A couple of hours passed as you started to fall asleep one by one, Draco’s stormy eyes found you in the night

“Are you alright?”, he asked, as he saw you couldn’t sleep. You were a bit concerned, a strange sensation in the back of your throat, professor’s trelawney’s “prophecy” played in your mind over and over.

“Yes, yes”, you whispered, you tried to move, but Matthew had rolled over and was stuck to your back

“Don’t you worry, is Potter he wants, not pure blooded wizards such as ourselves”, he said softly, you smiled

“I know, we are not in danger because of Black, is just, Professor Trelawney freaked me out in her first class, she said that I was going to find what I was looking for, and other things that I was going to become complete, and… I think it's because I'm going to find out who my father was but… I’m scared”, you confessed

“Why?”, he asked back

“He is probably dead, or, what if he is not, what if he had done terrible things? what if he was a terrible person?”

“I don’t think he is”, he said softly

“Then why would nobody tell me who he is? everyone seems to know who he is!”, you said

“I don’t know”, he said sincerely

“Do you think your parents would tell me if I ask them?”

“I think they wouldn’t dare cross Cercille”, he said

“You are right”

“QUIET OVER THERE!”, and booing was heard again to shush Weasley

“But I think I feel guilty, I’m having such a good time and this is just looming over me, like, I have to think something is going to go wrong because I’m so happy right now”, you explained softly

“You are right, that’s it”, he said, nodding, “you will find out who he is, whomever it is, and I will be there, and Cercille, and my parents”, he offered.

“Thank you”

“You never told me what class are you taking instead of Divination”, he wondered

“You are never going to believe this”, you said apologetically

#misguidedlifeaters #draco malfoy #harry potter #harry potter fanfic #harry potter fanfiction #matthew gaunt #theodore nott #slytherin house #slyhterin #slytherin!reader

12 notes · View notes

risustravelogue · 2 years

Text

Modern AU Teyvat Alhaitham Headcanons

I started writing this out on the bus home because who tf likes commuting for 2.5 hrs? man, sometimes I wish I'm living in Sumeru City instead. I didn't tag this as x reader because it's very very much self-indulgent and quite specific to my circumstances sldfkjjklsdfjlskfd

utc because of the sheer length. sorry for any errors, I'm sleepy and tired but I just had to post this!

cw: mentions of clinical depression

How we met...

We were in the same programming class back in the Akademiya and we were the students who sat at the back. We ran into each other a lot at Puspa Café when working on our assignments and ended up keeping in touch after I braved myself to ask him something I didn't get because I fell asleep in the class after pulling an all-nighter.

He was a year above me and majored in linguistics, but he took the class because he's an overachiever curious.

He was brilliant. A bit of a recluse, rarely smiled, and honestly an ass, but honest and hardworking and unintentionally funny.

I realized I had a crush on him when I saw him smiling over successfully running his script for the final assignment.

Making a move...

I dropped hints, but they never bore fruit. He's so dense.

He only made a move after my first boyfriend broke up with me, nearly four years into the relationship. Ex didn't want to deal with my... uh... clinical depression.

He realized his feelings after he got jealous whenever I got taken away. Really, it's too bad my ex confessed before he did… I'd pick him over my ex every time.

He confessed when I called him at 2 a.m. after waking up from a bad nightmare about my breakup. After I told him my dream, I said something along the lines of "Haha... who would love a defect like me?" and he went "Me... apparently."

I almost died.

"Did you just..." "I love you." "Even though I have... issues?" "Yes. You're more than your issues. Your ex just couldn't see that." "I..." "I'll visit before I go to work and give you a hug. Is that okay?" "... Yes. Thank you. Oh, and Haitham?" "Yes?" "I love you, too."

He ended up skipping work to cuddle me all day.

Daily life as a couple...

He's in a book club. I'm in a different one. We sometimes read our books together over coffee at Puspa Café, and sometimes at his house.

He reads textbooks while I read fiction and spiritual books.

It's the only appointment he almost never cancels...

He has this smile whenever I ask him to explain the chapter he just finished reading.

He was annoyed the first time I asked him, though (this was before we became an item). "Why don't you read it yourself?" he asked. "I find it easier to understand when you explain it to me," I said, "and honestly, it would take me forever to finish that book." He never complained after that.

What I didn't tell him was in addition to my curiosity, it's because I love the sound of his voice and about the only thing I can do to make him talk for a long time is to ask him about something difficult. Holy archons, that voice drives me crazy. (I told him about it the first time I asked him to do that after becoming a couple, and he rewarded me with a lecture while blushing.)

Our homes are in the same direction from Puspa Café, so when we read there, we'd take the same bus home for half of my trip. Before he got off the bus, he always tells me to text him when I arrived home.

Before we dated, he thought I didn't notice the stolen touches he gives me whenever we were in close proximity (such as when we were on a crowded bus). Joke's on him, my primary love language is physical touch, of course I noticed right away! He blushed furiously when I told him that I knew all along that he touches me intentionally.

He has a recording of me playing the guitar. He smuggled bought a very well-made guitar from Fontaine as a gift, exploiting the loopholes in the Akademiya's regulations on performing arts.

My parents are always happy to see their daughters' men. He's always excited to see them because they treated him like a son from the first time they met. He shed tears after his first meeting with them because he wished I could meet his parents and grandmother.

I didn't move in before we got married because my parents would frown at that in whatever world we were in.

The proposal...

He planned it for half a year. Dealing with causal factors and all that.

When he finally got around to presenting the ring with the view of Mawtiyima Reserve Forest as the backdrop, I wasn't surprised because he always looked like he wanted to say something for the past few weeks.

"Oh," I said, "So this is what you've been planning inside your head." "What did you think I was planning?" "Huh, I don't know, a coup d'etat?" He laughed. LAUGHED. I died a little.

"So, are you willing to be mine for the rest of your life?" he asked with a smile after collecting his composure. "Why, can't you read it off my face?" I teased. He held my hand. "I can, but I want to hear you say it," he said. I replied to his gesture with a squeeze. "Then... yes. In every world, in every timeline, forever, yes."

Marrying him...

The Sumeru coup d'etat happened a few weeks before we got married.

When he came home from his shenanigans, I shouted at him while crying. No fair, I wanted in on the fun!!

I wanted to make him sleep on the couch with my boxes of belongings but I didn't because I craved him so much (and because I just melted when he told me he'd never forgive himself if I lose my job because the plan failed and I was an accomplice).

We got married in a private ceremony. He looked dashing in white despite his aversion to wearing it. Believe it or not, Kaveh was the best man!

We're just getting started! ;)

#alhaitham #alhaitham headcanons #genshin imagines #genshin headcanons #genshin modern au #modern au genshin #genshin fluff #genshin impact fluff #kurisu's headcanons #kurisu writes #haikuri

58 notes · View notes

someone-always-cares · 10 months

Text

chapter 5, page 60

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. the shelf crashes onto schmidt, pinning them. her mask is now fully formed, aside from the growing horns, showing the eye holes surrounded by branching tendrils that match the ones on her shoulder and hands. markings that are easier to view in the close up of her, glaring directly at the viewer, the highlights in her eyes now more like her tendril shapes rather than the wiggly lines they were before. with one hand on the counter, lewis quickly vaults over the shelf and person trapped under it, all that is seen of them is the sparking hand reaching up at him. jade worriedly grimaces downwards at schmidt, one hand on the doorframe she's facing, the one they just tried a few pages ago. end id]

so i didnt finish this page due to stomach pain on monday so it wasnt done tuesday, so i thought, okay, well, lets get it finished on wednesday after i take my bro out for a birthday movie.

and then i got back, took a 20 minute nap so id have a little energy to draw comics! and then i woke up 5-6 hours later, at 3am. 3 alarms slept through (despite being a light sleeper) and lights still on. the 5 hours sleep each day took its toll i suppose, so i went back to sleep, so heres the comic today!!!

speaking of waits for comics! its time for the annual fucking off period! also known as "taking a break" like i do in december, buts lets be honest, i will not be taking a break. like always i will just be working on other things because i cant just not draw for too long.

hopefully this means i will be working on a buffer, finally. i will for sure be working on making chapter 1 book ready! if im very lucky i will get that sorted and ready before next febuary (got a couple large cons there) but thats a very generous estimate and assuming self funded and not kickstarter, but i can do that with some savings if i only get a small amount of books because chapter 1 isnt long. wish me luck.

so yes, this is the last update until january unless i end up making a holiday drawing who knows.

until then, im also going to try and upload more art to my art blogs (@galaxia-art on tumblr and galaxiaprince on instagram) and speaking of socials, shameless self promotion for my etsy because if youre looking to buy something from outside the uk then the last days for doing that and getting it before christmas is the 4th-7th december (depending on country) (or the 18th if you're in the uk). if you dont care when it arrives then all's good whenever!

anyway, thank you all so much for reading my comic, and i hope you all have a great rest of the year!

#sac #someone always cares #webcomic #webcomics #comics

8 notes · View notes

stephaniegaunt · 1 year

Text

The Keeper and The Snake

Original fanfic written by me.

Can also read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46517485/chapters/117133990

Summary: Sequel to Hogwarts Legacy (SPOILERS, lots of them). My original MC Seraphine Vector invites her friend Ominis Gaunt to spend the summer with her.

Fluff, romance, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers, and a whole lot of angst ensues.

This is Chapter 2. You can read Chapter 1 here

CHAPTER 2: The Gift

Time went by quickly in the safe house. During the days your parents found ways to entertain you both. Your father quickly bonded with Ominis, as your dad was fascinated by the boy’s magical skills, and Ominis was fascinated by all the Muggle objects, from the stove to a bicycle that your father was constructing. You also introduced him to Muggle literature, and he got quite fond of Jules Verne’s books.

You both got to talk more, too, and you quickly grew to appreciate how intelligent, empathetic, and surprisingly funny he is. One of his most endearing habits was his ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. A few times you caught him delightfully snoozing, book resting on his chest, or softly snoring curled up in an armchair. He did explain that not seeing daylight made it a bit difficult to sleep at appropriate times.

You also found out more about his family. Things that so far only Sebastian knew. Gaunts were a cruel family, avoiding Azkaban by sheer luck and connections. Besides aunt Noctua, whose bones you found in the Scriptorium, Ominis also had an uncle who married Headmaster Black’s sister. Through them, Ominis had one cousin, Juno, who graduated from Hogwarts the year before your 5th. You already saw Ominis’ younger, arrogant sister, who he always tried to tease when he had the chance. Not that she didn’t deserve it. But he also had a couple of older siblings, both as sadistic as their parents. Nerona Gaunt was the oldest. A highly capable witch, she was her father’s favorite simply because of her incredible talent for the dark arts. She was twenty years old and engaged to be married to Adolphus Carrow this very summer. Growing up in her shadow was Ominis’ older brother Marvolo. Eighteen years old, he barely graduated from Hogwarts a year ago and, according to Ominis, was “as stupid and cruel as a troll”. Marvolo always felt overshadowed by his older sister, developing views about women that would be considered outdated even by ancient Muggle standards. Because of that, he tended to side with his younger brother, even showing him the Undercroft. Ominis revealed that while Marvolo’s bullying was more physical, emotionally and mentally torturous Nerona was the one he feared more.

You appreciated his honesty and one warm summer evening you decided to finally tell him everything about what happened throughout the school year, and before. Even more than you told Sebastian. It felt great to finally unload.

“Unbelievable…” he exclaimed after you finished your story. “But does explain a lot.”

“I hope you understand why I never told you any of it earlier,” you said apologetically.

“Oh, I do. Don’t worry about it, your secrets are safe with me,” he said kindly, touching your hand, but immediately drew away. “How much does Sebastian know?” he quickly asked.

“A bit less. He knows of my abilities and the whole Ranrok-Rookwood thing, just no details,” you replied.

He sat silently for a bit, deep in thought, then said, “Probably for the best. He might’ve pushed you to help Anne even more than he did.”

“I could never do to Anne what Isidora did to all those people.”

It was a perfect evening for these sorts of conversations. The air was sweet and warm, you could hear the cicadas and the frogs create their symphony, and the rays of the setting sun painted the garden golden.

“I wish you could see what I see,” you said your thoughts out loud and immediately regretted it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult.”

“You didn’t,” he replied softly. “But I would appreciate it if you could describe it to me.”

You did your best to tell him about the golden sunset light, and how the flowers in the garden slowly closed their petals to prepare for the night. How lazy the river streamed, carrying the leaves of the willow trees like tiny boats. And the minuscule freckles of dust and pollen, shining in the sunlight like fairy wisps. When you finished, you both sat in silence, until the sun hid behind the hills and dusk set in.

“I don’t mind being blind,” he suddenly spoke. “I’d say I adapted quite well. Besides, I’d rather not see some things, growing up with my family. But there are some limitations to what I can do. I cannot swim or fly, or apparate. Or be with someone romantically.”

“Well, I don’t know about that last one. There’s nothing about being blind that could prevent love,” you rushed to reassure him.

“You’re still new to the wizarding world, but a lot of young witches see any form of disability as a hereditary curse,” he uttered gloomily.

You were about to say “I don’t”, but managed to catch yourself in time. Instead, you just said, “Any witch would be foolish not to like you, Ominis.”

His expression was unreadable, shielded by the dusk, but you could swear you saw his eyes light up just a little.

July 17th was your birthday and you finally turned sixteen. An owl, sent by Professor Weasley, carried a huge parcel full of letters and gifts from all of your friends from Hogwarts, and a brief but sweet congratulations card from Ms. Weasley herself. Poppy sent a long letter describing her progress of becoming an animagus (yet unsuccessful) and added a Mandrake leaf just in case you wanted to try it yourself. Natty’s letter was brief, but touching, and she sent a Ugandan good luck charm as a gift. Leander complained in his letter about being forbidden to visit you but wished you a lovely birthday and added a never dying rose as a gift. Sebastian mostly talked about his own failed attempts at reconciling with Anne and issues of living alone, sending the stench of the dead as a gift “for your potions”, showing you that he perhaps had more encounters with the Inferi.

There was just you, Ominis, and your parents, but everything was great regardless. Your mom baked a delicious sponge cake, while your dad gifted you the bike that he was working on. But there was one gift that made your heart skip a beat.

“I got you something as well,” Ominis said after you were done with the cake and were lazily enjoying the sunny garden. “It’s not new, so if you don’t like it, don’t worry about it, it’s just that you mentioned wanting to read some wizard literature…” he mumbled.

“Calm down, Ominis, I’m sure I will love whatever it is,” you reassured him as you unwrapped the parcel paper it was covered in.

Inside was a book. Not just any, but the one you saw Ominis carrying while in Hogwarts and mention repeatedly when both of you discussed literature. It was his own, well-read copy of

The Witch’s Astrolabe – an adventure story that was a mix of magic and romance. You touched the worn cover and felt your eyes well up.

“Ominis,” you uttered. “This is a wonderful gift, thank you.”

Worry on his face got immediately replaced by relief, “I wanted to order you a new copy, but…”

“This one is perfect,” you interrupted him. And it was. Ominis didn’t let on, but his family, despite being purebloods, were not well-off. On numerous occasions he himself described their house as a “run-down shack”. Most of his personal money came from a tiny inheritance that his aunt Noctua secretly left him, ensuring that he gets her Gringotts vault key while at Hogwarts, so her greedy siblings wouldn’t take it all. But there wasn’t much, and you knew he had to be frugal about his spending, hardly ever going to Hogsmeade and pretty much never buying anything for himself. Once on passing Sebastian mentioned that Ominis and his siblings got their clothing and school supplies covered by the Black family, especially after one of them became the school’s headmaster. So, for Ominis to gift something so precious, so personal to you… it made you feel something, as if butterfly’s wings fluttered in your stomach.

#the keeper and the snake #sorry for mistakes #not a native speaker #ominis gaunt #fanfic #slow burn #hogwarts legacy #romance #ominis gaunt x reader #sebastian sallow #anne sallow #poppy sweeting #leander prewett #natsai onai #hogwarts #ominis gaunt x female mc

19 notes · View notes

the-east-art · 2 years

Text

Chatting about Trigun

(Both the manga and the new anime)

A couple of my mutuals have asked me about my thoughts, and if yall wanna dm me and keep talking I LOVE chatting, but I also thought it would be fun to write down some of my thoughts for everyone. For reference, I have finished watching Stampede and I'm a little less than halfway through TriMax. There isn't really a 'point' to all of this, just some misc thoughts :3

So first of all really loved Stampede. I read the first manga and got like 12 chapters into Max before giving in to watch the anime, both because I was excited to watch it, and also because the manga is... a little rough to read? I don't watch or read a ton of anime or manga these days, working on art and full-time school and my job make it hard to pick what to do in my little free time. The manga that I've read recently has been Yokohama Shopping Log, Dungeon Meshi, and Witch Hat Atelier. While Trigun is fun paneling and storytelling wise it isn't as easy to read as any of the manga listed. I found myself having to reread some pages a few times because between the words, the paneling, and the art I couldn't tell what it was trying to get across. It is also heavy on the action and fights scenes (much like some manga I read in the early days like Bleach or Naruto) and I'm not about long fight scenes, especially when it's hard for me to tell what's going on. The story that the manga has going on is very interesting, however, it reminds me incredibly of Katekyo Hitman Reborn (or tbh even D. Gray Man) in that the early portion of it really feels like the Mangaka wasn't sure what the entire plot was and kind of made it up as it went, especially leaning into funny tropes quite early on. The manga reads like the mangaka realized that they needed to focus up and iron out the story idea when they ended the original Trigun, and had a better idea of what they were going for when they wrote Trigun Maximum (obv idk if that's true, that's just the vibe)

Stampede feels like they're trying to write the story of Trigun but more focused, if the story had been more put together from the beginning, which I really like. A few of the changes I struggle with, but I'm trying to be optimistic to how these changes can be remedied in season 2. Season 1 of Stampede was both the original Trigun books AND the backstory of the books in a way, which I really like I feel like having the destruction of July being the incident before the two year gap actually works really well, as well as letting us see how some of the characters develop. Meryl in season 1 has been much more naive and soft than I felt like she was in manga, but I think you do get the vibe that in season 2 after the developments of the finale and the two year gap she will be more like the Meryl from the manga, which actually if it is true sets up her character pretty well!

I like the designs for a lot for the characters in Stampede too, although I am a little sad that they leaned more into the generic white futuristic clothing for the people on board the ship. I really like that in the manga, even though they're all like astronauts and stuff they're seen wearing t-shirts and jeans. Also I think Rem has more of the milf vibes like that (someone said that she looks more like a big sister like that and if so I think I like it even more haha, since she was thrust into the position of mom really suddenly). The many wrappings/belts of Vash are also missed, but I also like his new design so they're both good lol.

The last thing I wish that they included or that I really wish they'll add into season two is how Vash when he was still with Nai and Rem was less optimistic. In the manga I just got to the part where Vash acts out after seeing the previous Independent, going as far as hurting Rem. The idea that he became so steadfastly optimistic after his world falls apart is so good. Not that he was pessimistic before, but that he was just a kid that was still figuring things out, and scared.

Haha, it's also a small thing, but in the manga when the ships go down, Nai specifically says that Rem thwarted his plans, but in the anime I feel like it just kind of vaguely says she might have or might not have helped.

Uhhhh if you have any questions though about any other thoughts I might have about things let me know! It was a fun watch and I'm excited to finish reading the manga, even if I do have my critiques lmao.

#trigun #trigun stampede #trimax #trigun manga #trigun anime #trigun maximum

11 notes · View notes

jsab-crisis · 2 years

Note

Hey there

I only found this blog recently and I love it, the story line and the artwork along with it, it's a shame you had to discontinue the comic because I enjoyed it.

There are not many JSAB blogs that I like I'll say, but there's been a decrease in them as the hype went away, I found this in my recommended section after I was going through some hard times myself.

After Afrothunder left the community to fix her mental health problems (she was quite the inspiration and helped me through my darkest hours at one point) there wasn't anything left here in this community a side from a couple of blogs here and there I wanted to start my own blog.

But I ran into a major downfall almost immediately, how do you get people to look at your stuff, I know there are a lot of blogs that don't get noticed and run down to nothing but how did you do it or when did people start noticing your work?

I'm not asking for the sake of followers but for other people who are scared to ask this or have a blog of their own like me.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!

I'm still making JSaB art and I've started making a new JSaB AU centered comic (working on chapter 2 atm. 10 pages, fully colored, background + 6 characters) if that's something you wanna see (on my artblog, @zimcard-artblog ) . I haven't made some crisis-au stuff in awhile due to being busy but I'll get back to sharing more lore and other stuff like short comics and whatnot.

Also, yeah, JSaB has been up for awhile. 2 years or so? Man, back in the early days, there were so many early starting comics that were amazing. I honestly miss it back then and wished I was more active like I am right now. Ya' know, the community is still kicking- especially in different social media platforms from my knowledge. I, personally, do NOT suggest Amino. Safe yourself the trouble and back away from it.

Oh! Afrothunder is back from my knowledge but she is doing it in her own pace for the sake of her mental health, it's a genuine shame to hear how someone so talented and kind is being treated so poorly by a bunch of impatient, immature, and even heartless people over her work. This has happened to a lot of people who make popular comics online, often on their own pace, which they tend to run into a bunch of people who are very disrespectful of their personal lives. I've talked to Afrothunder Waaaaaaay back, made an ask collab once with her regarding Blixer and Cyan in this blog. We don't talk now but I like to think of her as an old friend because she was super nice and welcoming back then when we first started talking on the server, it was super neat. Wishing her the best and hope she's doing well right now <:]

> How did you do it or When did people start noticing your blog?

I think it's a matter of getting recognized enough so you can promote any projects you're working on. I started drawing fanart for JSaB the moment I finished watching the playthroughs, it eventually garnered an audience who are into the same media I was in which I gained new followers.

So, basically; get recognized. Tagging your stuff of said media you're basing your post about makes it easier for people to find it. Share some art, doodles, concepts, whatever you have and what you want to share with the people. Eventually you'll notice the numbers rising.

It usually went on like that for me until I end up having an idea- like, "Oh, I have an AU! I wanna share that AU and make a comic out of it!" And so I started sharing small concepts regarding the AU.

Sketches, doodles, designs, short comics, and explanations. It was like an early beta of the project I was working on and when it got enough people interested; That's when you kickstart the final piece that goes "Hey, I made a comic! Check it out!"

If you're doing it on tumblr, really advise to make another blog as a sort of archive for said comic because it makes it easier for people to find the comic and read back to it whenever they want to. Accessibility is key.

This actually applies for making askblogs as well or any sort of extra blog for something specific.

Then, with all of that, you go on your own pace. It's a hard start but you'll be able to go with your own flow, take your time, and remember to prioritize YOURSELF first before other things. If you receive any sort of hate or just weird messages, just delete them on the spot because you are responsible for your own inbox.

That's my two cents on it, hope this helps! If there's anything specific you wanna know. Just ask :3

#Mun speaks #Ask

12 notes · View notes

fandom-trauma · 2 years

Text

Hello hello! Ive been gone a while. Lots of things have happened, and I'm still in the thick of my final year project, but it's (mostly) coming to an end mid-Feb! Thought Id do a little post (mainly for me and the 4 followers I have) on my current WIPs Ive picked up, and what I plan to be doing. Personal update under the Read More.

First of all, I have like a million art and fic WIPs related to Immortal Desires and Perfect Match 2. No biggie, I just have... lots and lots of thoughts about Poly!PM MC and Poly!ID MC. Yes, this means I do have a fix-it fic about how that end of book confession goes... maybe even a rewrite of the entire last chapter... but hold that thought!

Now that I'm a little bit more versed in Twinery (see second point below for why), I'm a little bit tempted to make my rewrite interactive as well. Just text tho lol, but either way, an ending rewrite is a ways away, and also I kinda wanna wait till Bk2 is released to really start working on it. (I didn't realise ID was GOC so you bet I binged it within three fuckin days when I did. It's a bloody amazing book. I also finally finished my playthrough of PM2, so that explains why these books are giving me immense brainrot.)

SECONDLY, 'A Date with Bryce Lahela' is about halfway done! I'm not exactly sure if I've ever shared the idea publicly to the fandom, but this is the basic gist of it: Date is an attempt on my end of trying to recreate those TF Date Specials, but with the one and only Bryce Lahela. Cool, right? Unfortunately, it's only in text format, bc I'm learning Twinery Harlowe.

What's left of Date? When can I play it/a demo? Pronoun choices, smut scenes and equipment variations, a whole activity is uncoded, trackable achievements, load/save functionality, and after that it's just making sure the whole damn thing works. As for a demo... ;) .. ... Joking. The entire predicted gameplay is short enough to not really need a demo, so there won't be a public one. I aim to have this done by, god, hopefully end of the year? This damn thing's been sitting in my WIPs for two whole years, so I would really like it done and over with, haha, but it's a lot of work for one person.

THIRD, I have a 1.2k word rewrite of Foreign Affairs Ch12 Tatum diamond scene that has been in the making, and rotting away in my WIPs, since 2 April 2021. Honest to god, it's a little bit of a vent fic, and I've been slowly chipping away at it whenever I've been stressed. The rewrite isn't because I see the scene as bad, but I do wish there was a liiiiiittle more hurt/comfort in it lol.

FOURTH, well... I have a few Bryce x M!MC smut fics that, uh, really should be finished and see the light of day. Or, at least escape the WIP folder and experience the cool damp corner of my tumblr blog.

So, that's my WIPs so far! Personal stuff under the read more.

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

My 3D animation final year project wraps up a couple of weeks before my graduation. I knew the workload was going to be larger than what I've had with my previous 2D animation projects, but boy it really hits different when you're actually working on it. I won't go into it too detailed, but if you're curious, feel free to ask about it!

My 2023 started off as a... mixed bag. Low lows and high highs, I guess. Won't go into it, but yeah, not great.

Me having Date in semi-working condition is purely because of a NYE group gift exchange and my hubris at making a working product within 2 weeks. It was... yeah, no, I've been humbled, but man was the result such an endorphin rush.

I've also got really into making custom content for The Sims 4, so that's where the bulk of my free time went, really. I'm active in a few TS4 discord servers, so if you see mothy-simmie, say hi :P

#aaron speaks #my ask box is open #if you wna. yknow. send something #tbh it's perpetually open lol #anon is on if youre curious

2 notes · View notes

nightscapepersona · 2 years

Text

Fly V to the Moon - Ch. 22 (mini bonus scene)

“The one where impatient friends want to know how it went”

Hello again! Here is a mini bonus scene of the morning after the date… This was supposed to stay on my head but I wrote it down to try getting into the writing groove again and defeat that writer’s block. And why not post it? So here it is! :) Leave a like if you enjoy it... it genuinely means a lot! :)

Pairing: Taehyung x OFC

Genre: Fluff, Idol AU, Coffee Shop AU, Café Singer OFC, Slow Burn

Warnings: Light swearing, but it’s all for banter. Again, this is fluff.

Word count: 670 (Super short chapters, so there will be a lot of chapters.)

Recommended Songs: Boy With Luv — BTS

Summary: She’s a foreign elementary school teacher by day, a charming singer by night. Taehyung and company discover her at a small garden jazz café where she had a gig one night, only to find out from Jin that she was an arts teacher at a local school in Seoul — Jin's nephew and niece’s teacher, in fact. Taehyung finds himself on a surprise adventure to the moon.

Masterlist

✻ ✻ ✻

Fly V to the Moon — by Nightscape Persona

Chapter 22: “The one where impatient friends want to know how it went” (mini bonus scene)

It was just a few minutes after she finished texting Taehyung. Finished, because she couldn’t find it in herself to text him more even though she was craving to keep on chatting—on maintaining any type of communication—with every inch of her body. The nerves were just too much, okay???

So she giggled through her shower and through breakfast thinking of him and of Wednesday which was soon but not soon enough, ignoring her phone, long forgotten in a corner of her apartment.

She had to come back to real life eventually, though. Back to her phone. And the million chats waiting for her. So putting Taehyung in a little corner of her mind for the time being, she tapped her phone.

Well shit.

Her lock screen unlocked to a string of 13 magnificently incoherent texts in all caps sprinkled with a couple f— and sh— words from none other than Jihyo.

Another 4 texts from Siyeon, 3 from Gayeon. Both demanding for her to tell them everything next Monday during rehearsals.

And 40 from the band’s chat. A quick glance let her know it was just full of banter from her bandmates aimed towards herself. Yeah, she could skip those. Why dignify the apparent children with an answer, you know?

Lia answered Jihyo with a plain smiley face.

Aaaaand soon her phone was ringing with the face of Jihyo plastered across the screen and she could simply not take the call lest she wanted a petty, resented Jihyo for who knows how long.

“SOOOOOOOO?”

“Morning.”

“HOW DID IT GO??”

Lia sighed. This Jihyo.

She started debriefing the date for Jihyo, following up with their conversation from that morning. Jihyo who hummed and squealed through the line, reacting to every little thing while Lia’s own embarrassment got her blushing soon enough.

“He wants to meet on Wednesday again.”

“Oh my god.”

She did not tell her why, though.

There were some beats of silence as Jihyo processed everything Lia told her and Lia processed everything that happened for a new time. So much had happened in less than 24 hours. Crazy, innit?

“I can feel your dumb smile all the way through the call.”

Lia spared a giggle for Jihyo. A serious thought crossed her mind, though, and she decided to just tell her friend. Why not?

“I think… I think I’m falling.”

Silence.

“I’m so down.”

Jihyo stayed quiet on the other side. Then, a sigh made it through the line. From the way she sighed, Lia expected for her to give her some deep, motherly line about life or, who knows, the thrills of young love.

“Fi—fucking—finally.”

Anything but that.

Lia broke down in laughter.

“She realized, y’all. Finally.”

This Jihyo.

“Okay, okay, I’m gonna go squeal for you off-call and see if that works to wake up my family by scaring the shit out of them at nine o’clock in the morning on a Sunday for no reasonable reason. You go have fun before that single life is over for you and you’re like me, a responsible grown-up.”

“Hey!”

“Love you. Text him. See you tomorrow. Bye.”

She hung up.

This Jihyo.

She always managed to make Lia laugh.

She shook her head and prepared to answer a new string of texts from Siyeon and Gayeon complaining that she still hadn't replied and how was her date and what had they spoken about and had she spoken to him again.

These girls.

Lia knew they’d never make it til Monday to hear all about it.

Such an eventful morning already.

And yet….

A new text appeared.

tvh: so

Okay, okay, okay. Keep cool, Lia.

tvh: what did you have for breakfast?

tvh: tell me all about your morning

She giggled like a schoolgirl, her face and her body buried deep into the couch. One unlucky couch pillow got thrown across the living room. Her heart, too, hummingbirded its way across the room and out the window.

Keeping cool? What’s that?

✻ ✻ ✻

Masterlist

✻ ✻ ✻

All chapters: Chapter 1 — Chapter 2 — Chapter 3 — Chapter 4 — Chapter 5 — Chapter 6 — Chapter 7 — Chapter 8 — Chapter 9 — Chapter 10 — Chapter 11 — Chapter 12 — Chapter 13 — Chapter 14 — Chapter 15 — Chapter 16 — Chapter 17 — Chapter 18 — Chapter 19 — Chapter 20 — Chapter 21 — Chapter 22 — Chapter 23 — Chapter 24 — Chapter 25 — Chapter 26 — Chapter 27 — Update on Part 2 — Part 2 Preview

#v #v fluff #taehyung #taehyung fanfic #taehyung fluff #taehyung x oc #taehyung x ofc #v x oc #v x ofc #bts fluff #bts coffee shop au #bts jazz #bts slow burn #v fanfic #bts fanfic #bts idol au

5 notes · View notes

fenimores-book-nook · 9 months

Text

Focusing on myself ~ Day 15

December 17th, 2023, Sunday 9:18 pm

Good eveningggg. :) I thought it was appropriate to have that photo as my "opening" because that's the thing I've been doing the most these past couple days: reading. And guess. What. Book. I. Finally. Finished. Iron Flame. GaAKFNnSKJdnkmfkmKAMk. That's how I feel about it. Like. Just. AHG. The ending BROKE MY HEART. I won't give anything away, but if you're reading it- READ. Just read. I also started another book that I might've mentioned in my last post: The Last She by H.J. Nelson. And when I tell you I haven't read a book like that as quickly as I am right now...just believe me, I am zoomin'. It is SO GOOD. If you love dystopian apocalyptic with a twist of romance books...READ THE LAST SHE. It's a duo series, so there's just one more after this one: The Last City. And I fully plan on grabbing it at the library this week. At the rate I'm reading it at, I should be able to finish it before we leave for our Canada trip on Thursday. Then, I'll work on the second one. ;) I'm also reading one of the older Babysitter's Club books too, one that I've read the graphic novel version of it so I guess I'm technically re-reading it but it's a good comfort/break read. :) Good-bye Stacey Good-bye, is what it's called. Then, I also read a chapter earlier tonight of the romance novel I'm working my slow way through: Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. So, lots of good reads happening right now. :)

As well as good progress at being better at focusing on myself! I've had trouble with saying no to friend hangouts, mostly 'cause I wanted to spend time with my friends and this was an opportunity but also because I didn't want to feel left out. But, I decided to chill and stay home and I see that as a step forward into the whole reason why I do these writings! So, I'm proud of myself for that. <3

Speaking of friends, I did hang out with them recently (what I was talking about was future plans) and me and one of my besties went to the book/coffee shop I work at and got iced coffees and books! :) We got this latte called the "Barn Owl," lavendar and white chocolate, super good. The books that we got are: Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton (the one she got), and mine, Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake. I've been wanting to buy one of that author's books; we've had three that seemed similar that all looked super cute at the shop so I finally went for it. BUT- I got an idea from a customer the other day, he was picking up a book that he ordered and told me that he's going to wrap it and not open it or read it until Christmas. So it's like a Christmas gift to yourself! And I loved that idea. I've also loved wrapping presents lately, so it was great to wrap this too! ;)

I even set it under my baby Christmas tree in my room! (lookat how nice that wrapping is ;) ) I also made two illustrations for myself and tucked them in there as well. So, I'm planning on bringing that to Canada and when it's Christmas night, I'll open it and maybe catch a chapter or two. :) I think it's such a fun idea!

Focusing on myself things I've done lately:

I've spent a lot less time on my phone lately, ever since I deleted Tik Tok and Instagram. It has definitely helped my focus shift!

I spend more time in books or in my notebooks, doing things that I really love doing, that I can continually get better at or better at loving my type of art. I've done a couple illustrations and I'm loving them. Plus, I have included some in my focusing on myself practices that have made the whole process more enjoyable and easier.

Like I talked about earlier on, I said no to a hangout and allowed myself to just have future time to myself. Or just feel a little less stressed. (my brain has been shoving things in one after the other with the trip coming up, but this helped calm it down a bit)

Owl House gif 'cause look at how cute young Eda and Raine are. <3 And you should be able to be happy and twirl like that. :)

Until the next one, you lovely person,

Thalia <3

#journaling #blog #focusing on me writing series #books #day fifteen

0 notes

morganofthewildfire · 2 years

Text

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

Same Time Thursday - part 30

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

masterlist

~7k words

CW: brief implications of pedophilia, brief mentions of domestic abuse

an: it's here everyone, the last chapter 😭 there'll be an epilogue coming but this is officially the end of STT. Thank you to everyone who's been on this journey with me, it's been such a remarkable and angsty ride and I'm grateful to everyone who stuck it out and is now here with me.

I couldn't have done it without you all ❤️

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

Aelin Ashryver Galathynius was tired of the stupid work events her parents made her go to. All she wanted to do was stay at home and dive back into the book she’d been reading, about an assassin who was secretly a lost princess, and the lonely prince who helped her find her way home. But - her parents had a different idea of what she should do with her day, particularly her mom.

She’d already told them multiple times she didn’t want to do anything with real estate, but they’d brushed her off, pretending to accept her decision. Because she still had to go to these mind numbing events.

They barely paid attention to her at all, but when they did, it was always something about work. Work, work, work. Was there nothing else in life?

At least she got to show off her new hoop earrings. Her mom had finally relented, and for her fourteenth birthday, she’d finally gotten a pair. It’d taken long enough. Most of the girls at school already had multiple piercings, and she’d only just gotten her first a couple of years ago. Not that she really cared what they thought, though she knew that was a lie.

She was already an outcast because of her family and her money, however backward that seemed. But the end of the school year party she was going to throw was going to change that. She’d use her money to make them like her.

That would show Kaltain. And maybe be just enough to get the attention of a certain black haired blue eyed boy in her language arts class. Dorian was going to the same high school as her next year, so maybe then things would change.

“And this is my daughter, Aelin,” her dad was saying in front of her, and Aelin pasted a smile on her face, ready to be introduced to the hundredth coworker of the day. It all went completely over her head, she didn’t remember a single name of a single person she’d met, but it didn’t matter anyway. They were all old people, closer to her parents’ age. And after she was passed around and chatted about, she’d never see any of them again.

“She’s about to finish up middle school, but it’s never too early to get involved in real world business, right Aelin?” Her mom said, gesturing her forward a bit with her hand on her back, and she forced herself to keep her smile up.

“Right,” she muttered, trying to sound pleasant. There was clearly some sort of businessman in some sort of generic suit in front of her, but she was watching the photographer snap a picture of a few people conversing at the food table, wishing she could be over there. Aelin wasn’t sure why the convention had a photographer, but she guessed it was just some marketing thing.

Whatever.

“This is Arobynn Hamel,” her dad said to her, and she looked over at him, blinking once. Did he actually think she cared? She just wanted to go home. “Mr. Hamel worked at our company for a few years, but now has his own.”

“Cool,” she said, not knowing what else he wanted from her.

“Aelin,” her mom admonished under her breath. But a deep chuckle just filled the awkward silence.

“It’s no matter, Mrs. Galathynius,” that same deep voice said, and she finally glanced up at the person in front of her, briefly seeing dark red hair and steely gray eyes. “Not too interested in the business then, Miss Galathynius?”

She blinked, glancing away again before looking back. The photographer had moved, but those chocolate croissants were still calling her name. “I’m exploring other options,” she said blandly.

“That’s a very diplomatic way to say no,” Mr. Hamel said lightly, with a small chuckle. And she didn’t know what to say to that, so she just stayed quiet, letting the adults take the conversation back over, fidgeting on her feet as she scanned the rest of the room.

But she still felt eyes on her and she shivered a bit uncomfortably. And she didn’t look up to meet them. Instead she just eyed the dessert again, wondering if she could sneak off and grab some.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she went to reach for it, wondering if it was maybe Dorian. But before she could look at it, she was interrupted by her mom’s arm scooping around her waist, guiding her to pose for a picture. Guess the photographer made his way over to them.

Aelin leaned into her mother, pasting another fake smile on her face, barely noticing as Mr. Hamel slid into place next to her, politely setting his hand on her back for the photo. She could feel his skin slightly through her thin blouse, and she stiffened just a little bit.

But soon enough, the photo was done. And soon enough, her parents pulled her into conversation with someone else, and the man drifted off to another group himself.

Just another person she’d soon forget.

------

“You think what?” Rowan asked, shock clear in his voice. “Pregnant?”

“Keep your voice down,” she admonished, glancing out the office door. “I don’t know for sure, but it makes sense.”

And she didn’t know how to feel about it. Rowan was already up and pacing around the room, his anxiety making her own spike.

“I’m nauseous and throwing up,” she began listing, “I’m completely exhausted yet I can’t sleep. It’s everything I experienced last time, and I know it’s not just my reaction to things. This is different.”

Rowan paused, looking at her. “When was your last cycle?”

She shook her head, standing up. “It was a while ago, but it hasn’t been regular for years. That’s not a good indicator. But trust me, I know what this feels like. It’s exactly the same.”

“So what are you saying?” He asked, his silver brows furrowed. And she took a deep breath.

“I think we need to go get a test,” she said, and he blinked before nodding, stepping back into action.

“Okay,” he said simply, “Okay, we can do that.” Suddenly, her mind was completely gone from the revelations of the laptop sitting on the desk in front of her, and it was turned completely to what may or may not be going on inside of her body.

She cleared her throat and nodded too, in a bit of disbelief herself as she grabbed her stuff, tucking it into her bag as they headed toward the door. Rowan opened it for her like always, and she smiled thinly at the few people who looked up to see what she was doing.

Most people didn’t even notice, and she slipped out of the building undetected, through the backdoor. Rowan was right next to her the whole time, his fingers laced with hers. And when they hurried into the tiny convenience store right down the street, he didn’t let go. Not as she grabbed a test, bought a test, and walked toward the bathroom in the back.

But neither of them said a word.

The bathroom was only one stall, and Rowan stood outside as she, well, did what she had to do. But she pulled him inside as they waited for the timer he set on his phone to go off. As they waited to see if she really was… pregnant.

She turned the word over in her mind, thinking about what it meant, what it could mean. Pregnant. She could be pregnant again. She could be having another baby, Rowan’s baby this time. It was a lot to process. After all, her first pregnancy hadn’t been exactly smooth.

Crippling nausea, extreme exhaustion, all tied up with a premature birth that had taken everything out of her. It’d been hard as hell, but completely worth it once she’d held Elia in her arms that first time.

It seemed Rowan was going through a turmoil of his own, his face tense but unreadable as the timer ticked away.

She couldn’t blame him, with what had happened with Lyria. Gods, she didn’t know what she’d do if she was him, how scared she’d be.

But apparently there was something else on his mind as he finally opened his mouth and asked -

“Is there any chance this baby isn’t mine?”

“What?” Aelin blinked, furrowing her brows. But he was serious, his face grave.

“I’ll stand by your side either way, of course I will, I just-” he continued, rubbing his forehead with a hand. “If you’re sick now, and you are pregnant, then the baby would’ve been conceived about a month ago, right?” She nodded slowly, staring at him until it clicked. Because yes they’d had sex for the first time a month ago, but something else happened a month ago too.

“Oh,” was all she said. “Well, that doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t it?” Rowan asked, dropping his hand. “It could matter.” She shook her head, a misplaced feeling of defensiveness rising in her. Her arms tucked around her stomach.

“No,” she said flatly, “it doesn’t.”

“Well,” he said, a little exasperated. But she knew it was just from the stress. “How am I supposed to know that? I barely know anything that happened that day. And you don’t have to tell me but -“

“But what?” She said roughly, her voice thick. Rowan looked at her, his face closed off.

“I just want to know if this baby’s mine,” he said quietly, a bit of heartbreak cracking through. “And I want to know what happened to you. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

For some reason, the words nearly made her snap, sending a wave of misplaced defensiveness through her.

“You want to know what happened, Rowan?” She asked roughly, “You want to know what happened?” Unshed tears made her voice that much more emotional.

“Yes,” he insisted, stepping forward.

“Fine,” she spat, her hands clenched in fists, “I’ll tell you what happened. He brought me to that house, he took my daughter away from me, he made me strip in front of him, shower in front of him.” She shuddered, but kept going, gesturing wildly around her. “He paraded me around the fucking office like some show pony for his own gain. And then I found the videos, and he hit me, and kissed me, and -” a sob escaped her, and Rowan looked like he wanted to reach for her. But she shook her head.

“And then he dressed me in that fucking nightgown, and he tried to -” her voice failed her, but she straightened, taking a deep breath, tears streaming down her face. One of her hands clutched at her stomach. “He tried to - gods.”

“Aelin-”

She steeled herself, wiping roughly at the tears. “He tried to rape me, and I thought I’d be ready for it but I wasn’t.”

“I don’t think you can be ready-”

“So I convinced him to wait,” she shook her head, pressing on. “And then we got in the car, and we crashed.” She closed her eyes before opening them, her gaze right on Rowan’s dark green eyes. “So no, there’s no chance that this baby isn’t yours.”

Silence fell over the dingy store bathroom as he processed the news, as she watched him take in not only the revelation that he could have another child, but the revelation of what happened while she was gone.

“Aelin,” he repeated, stepping closer, but then the timer went off and he stopped, both of their gazes moving toward the test on the counter.

“I can’t look,” she whispered, frozen in place. So Rowan took that step toward the counter for her. She didn’t think her heart was even beating as she waited, everything in her stuck as she waited to hear her future. Was she to be another young, pregnant lost girl? At least in the eyes of the public.

Of everyone around her.

It’s what everyone had thought when she was pregnant with Elia, everyone in Doranelle. It’d been a mistake, and she’d been irresponsible, and should’ve just cleaned up the mess. She was a bit older now, but not by much. Two children by the age of twenty one… how the hell had her life turned into this? It was not nearly what she’d expected for her future.

And yet -

“Well?” She breathed, barely able to force the words out.

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

But Rowan was just standing there, his head hung low as he looked at the test in front of him. Aelin couldn’t see his face, so she was left with nervous anticipation as he slowly turned to face her.

Tension hung between them, his face unreadable, but then he was falling to his knees in front of her, his forehead tipping to rest against her stomach, his hands low on her waist.

A sob escaped her, tears spilling down her face even as she smiled. No, as she beamed.

“Am I -” she managed to choke out, and he nodded against her shirt, tears of his own soaking the fabric. But he pulled back slightly to look up at her, his handsome face brighter than she’d ever seen it.

“You’re pregnant,” he confirmed, grinning up at her, his dark green eyes watery. “Gods, you’re pregnant.” He laughed incredulously, kissing her shirt this time, and Aelin dropped a hand to his hair, the other covering her mouth as she let out a disbelieving laugh of her own. She couldn’t even sniff back her tears, they were unstoppable.

“I love you,” she choked out, “gods, I love you so much.”

“I love you, Aelin,” Rowan spoke, looking up at her, before dropping his forehead back to her stomach. “And I love you, too.”

She sobbed again, dragging her sleeve across her face to try and wipe some tears away. “Rowan,” was all she said, all she needed to say.

“Aelin,” he murmured back, just breathing her in. Breathing their child in. “Aelin.”

“I guess the condom didn’t work,” she joked, and a laugh escaped him.

And then he finally looked up at her, the look on his face making her tears run faster. “You have made me a father twice now, in just a few days.” His voice was completely overcome with emotion. “I don’t know what I’m ever going to be able to do to deserve that.”

She shook her head, dropping both of her hands to cup his cheeks. “You already do, Rowan.” She fell to her knees, joining him on the sticky floor. “Gods you already do.” She leaned in, touching her forehead to his. “To whatever end.”

Rowan shuddered with emotion, his breath skirting across her lips. “To whatever end.”

------

They stayed in the bathroom for a little longer, happy and exhilarated, but eventually her nauseous stomach grumbled and Rowan determined it was time to get some food. So she picked up and held the test in her hand, her other hand clutched in his as they headed out of the bathroom and toward the store exit.

Where they ran into a bunch of flashing cameras.

“Shit,” she cursed under her breath as the door fell shut behind her. And she quickly tried to stick the test in her pocket, but it was too late, the vultures were already swooping in on their prey, shouts coming at her from every angle.

“Aelin, is that a pregnancy test?!” “Aelin, are you pregnant?” “Who’s the father?” “Is Rowan Whitethorn the father?”

Even one disturbing “Is Arobynn Hamel the father?”

Was that flying around now? Lovely.

She ducked her head down and kept walking, only pausing when a certain question struck her ear.

“How do you feel now that Arobynn’s dead?” An almost familiar voice asked, and it was such an odd question, such a different perspective than everyone else, that she looked over. And she nearly passed out.

“Sam?”

----

And that’s how they ended up at a cafe a few blocks down, tucked into the middle of a block of stores. They sat in the back, away from the windows, keeping away from the media still on the prowl.

Aelin sipped at her decaf latte, trying to figure out how to break the uncomfortable silence. Rowan was next to her, a protective arm around the back of her chair, and Sam was across from her, looking nearly identical to how he’d been so long ago.

“So,” she said after a few minutes. “You’re a journalist now?”

“Yep,” he said, taking a bite of his croissant. “After I moved to Anielle, I decided to switch things up.”

“Anielle?” She asked, her voice empty. “That’s where you chose?”

He nodded. “I have family there, but after Hamel died, my newspaper sent me here to get the scoop.” She narrowed her eyes a bit, but didn’t comment, just taking another sip of her drink.

This was already awkward as hellas.

“Remind me why we’re doing this?” Rowan leaned over and whispered into her ear, and she nudged him with her shoulder, hoping Sam hadn’t heard.

“So is that what you’re here for?” Aelin asked, not able to resist prying just a little bit. “To get the scoop from me?”

But he shook his head. “I wanted to see how you were doing,” he said, “last I saw you…”

“I was about to get beat up,” she said blandly, “I know.” Rowan’s arm tightened around her shoulder. “But I was able to get away that day, so thank you.”

She made sure to keep her voice sincere, to let him know she really did mean it, and with the way Sam nodded back, she was pretty sure he understood.

“How’s your baby doing?” He asked, and a smile formed on her lips unconsciously.

“She’s doing well,” Aelin answered, taking a sip of her coffee. “17 months old and healthy.”

“That’s good,” Sam said, nodding again. “And your - other baby?” She knew what he was referring to, knew he’d seen the pregnancy test just like everyone else had. Her hand fell to rest on her stomach lightly.

“Healthy as well,” she said, before turning to look at Rowan. “We’re very excited.” He smiled softly at her, before leaning in and placing a light kiss to her lips.

“He’s treating you right?” Sam asked her, and she looked back at him, eyebrows raised just a little.

“Yes, of course,” she said, “I’m very happy.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He looked right in place, like a normal person in this normal cafe, but she still felt out of touch, like she was watching everything through a glass. That’s how she’d felt the whole time in this damned city, like she didn’t belong, like she was an outsider.

But she was happy. She just was pretty sure she’d be happier somewhere else.

“You know,” Sam added, and she forced herself to zone back in, paying attention to his words. Even though they quickly puzzled her. “I always had a bit of a crush on you.”

“What? Why?” She asked, a bit bewildered. “I barely ever spoke to you. I barely spoke at all.” Rowan’s arm was stiff around her.

Sam just shrugged. “I can’t explain i-” his phone rang, cutting him off, and he cursed, pulling it out of his pocket. “This is my boss,” he said, pushing to a stand. “I better take this. But it was nice to see you again,” he said, smiling at her, and she nodded weakly back. “One last piece of advice though,” he added. “Get out and tell your story before others try and skew it.”

Her smile fell a bit.

“There’s tons of people ready to get the biggest hit,” he said. “And they don’t care if it’s true or not. Let your voice be heard.”

And then he was gone.

------

“I don’t like that guy,” Rowan said, a frown on his face as they walked into the elevator in the hotel lobby, the metal doors sliding shut. Aelin just snorted, raising a brow at him. But he wasn’t joking, his face was pinched in a way that told her something was actually bothering him. “He claims to have had a crush on you, and yet sat on his ass while you were being abused until you prompted him to do something.” He shook his head.

Aelin sighed, taking his hand. “I never knew him very well,” she tried to explain, “despite his words I wouldn’t be surprised if he was trying to get on my good side to either get my story himself, or to get some of my money.” She shrugged, ignoring Rowan’s deepening frown. “Either way, I doubt he was being entirely sincere.”

He paused, but then pulled her into a loose hug, his chin resting on her head.

“Well,” he said, “we don’t have to see him again, right?” She snorted again, pinching his side and earning a hiss.

“Don’t be a jealous buzzard,” she joked, smirking up at him. “I’m carrying your baby, I’m not going to leave you now.” Rowan smirked back down at her, one of his hands sliding down to squeeze her ass.

“You get some other perks too,” he said smoothly, his voice dark. She looped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

“Oh really?” She tilted her head. “I haven’t gotten these… perks in a while.”

“I can fix that,” he said, his breath hot against her lips. They got closer and closer until she finally made the next move, kissing him deeply.

And by the time they got to their floor, her hair was mussed up, and both of their lips were swollen. It would be clear to anyone what they’d been doing.

But Aelin didn’t care a bit.

——

Rowan’s thumb was rubbing light circles over the fabric of her shirt covering her stomach, his other hand draped loosely around her waist as she sat in between his legs. Both of them were on the floor in front of the couch in the hotel room, watching as Elia crawled around, playing with Feefu.

They’d been sitting there for a while, just basking in each other’s presence, and the presence now inside of her too.

“Classes start tomorrow,” Aelin said quietly, leaning her head back against his chest, but keeping her eyes on their daughter, who had started reaching toward the coffee table.

“I know,” Rowan said, kissing her hair. “Is your laptop all ready to go?” She nodded.

They’d both gotten new laptops a few days before, just to start fresh for the new semester. Rowan didn’t want to go through the hassle of shipping his all the way from Doranelle, and, well, hers was a piece of shit anyway. It was time for a new one now that she could afford it.

Her classes for the spring were a bit more promising than her first semester had been. She was actually starting to get into the business side of things, though she had a literature class as well, as a requirement to graduate. Most people got those credits out of the way in high school, but she hadn’t taken any advanced classes, so she was starting from scratch.

But she was excited for it, and had even begun toying with the idea of picking up literature as a second major. She’d have to see how it went.

It wasn’t necessary for what she was going to be doing, especially now that she had a job already. She really didn’t even need to keep going to college if she really didn’t want to, but she wanted the education. She wanted to give herself the knowledge she’d denied herself in high school.

She ignored the sinking in her stomach that thinking about her future career caused, and instead focused on something else that had been bugging her. Just a little bit.

“When are we going back to Doranelle?” She asked a few moments later, still watching Elia. “I know we said we were waiting until everything is settled here, but what does that even mean?”

“When do you want to go back?” Rowan asked, still caressing her stomach, and she shrugged.

“If I’m being honest,” she said slowly, not looking at him. “As soon as possible. I,” she sighed, “don’t like it here. Too many memories, especially with those videos we found. It’s just - a lot.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked, his voice steady and rolling. “We didn’t get a chance to earlier; how are you feeling about it? About everything?”

“Yeah,” she said, a small smile on her face, ignoring his questions. She didn’t want to talk about how she felt right now. It was time to celebrate their new baby, not morosely discuss how she was being forced back into another box with this new job. How working at the company was everything she’d been trying to avoid her whole life. “We got a bit distracted.”

“Yeah,” her boyfriend said, just as fondly. “Do you think it’s a girl or a boy?”

“Hmm,” she hummed, considering the question, “I think a boy.”

“Well,” he snorted, “you’d be wrong. It’s definitely another girl.”

“Oh really?” She laughed, “and you would know?” She turned her head to look up at him, seeing him grinning down at her.

“Yep,” he said, “I already have two divas in my life, why not add a third?” He poked at her sides, tickling her a bit and she couldn’t help the giggles that escaped her as she tried to escape him.

Elia seemed to be attracted by all the commotion, and used the leg of the coffee table to pull herself up into a stand, something she’d been able to do for a good while now. But Aelin stopped laughing and held her breath as her daughter did something she hadn’t done before: let go of the table and take one shaky step forward.

“Rowan,” Aelin whispered harshly, making sure he was seeing what was going on.

“Oh my gods,” he whispered too, like neither of them wanted to risk disturbing this moment. But their daughter was walking toward them, in tiny little unsure steps, so Aelin held out her arms, inviting Elia in.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” she encouraged, “you’re almost there.” Elia’s face was screwed up in concentration as she stumbled toward her, but soon enough she’d crossed that great divide and she fell into her mother’s arms.

Aelin scooped her up into a hug, showering compliments and praise down on her. Rowan joined in too, until Elia was smiling and giggling, happy there cuddled up with her parents.

She was still young, and would be young when the new baby was born, but Aelin already knew in her heart that she was going to be the most amazing big sister.

------

Today was the day Elia was finally going to get to see the office. Lysandra had a job interview, so she couldn’t watch Elia, and with both her and Rowan having classes that morning, there was nowhere else they could take her.

But it was okay, Aelin had convinced herself the night before that it was time to stop hiding her. She couldn’t spend her whole life hiding up in a hotel. The press would have a field day, but Aelin already had a plan in the works for that too.

If she was going to be stuck here, she had to stop hiding.

One thing she liked about staying was getting to stay with Lysandra. They’d been texting a lot and had already developed a fast friendship. In fact, the brunette was the only one so far who knew about her pregnancy. She was grateful to have her.

Despite the circumstances for the day, Aelin put on a brave face for the media as she carried Elia into the office building, not caring about their questions or their statements or their prying words. Her daughter looked overwhelmed by the whole scene, her turquoise eyes wide at the sight of so many people.

But she didn’t fuss as they rode up the elevator to the right floor.

People stared at her like always as she walked toward her office, but she didn’t pay them any attention, comforted by Rowan’s arm around her waist and Elia’s quiet babbling. Rowan had been almost jittery that day, though she didn’t know why.

It was either anxiety from bringing Elia, or there was something he wasn’t telling her. She wasn’t sure which, and she didn’t know which one she wanted it to be.

But she put it out of her mind as she entered her office, seeing Darrow waiting there, like he did every morning.

But this morning, there were two envelopes lying on top of her desk, her full name on both of them. Miss Aelin Ashryver Galathynius.

“What are these?” She asked the man, taking her seat. Elia stayed on her lap, cuddling close, but was looking up at Darrow curiously. He didn’t say anything to the little girl, he was too stoic for that, but he did smile gently and wave at her briefly, making her giggle.

Aelin deemed that interaction a success, and moved back to her question.

“The one on the left is something the movers found in Mr. Hamel’s house,” Darrow explained. “I figured you would want it back.”

She furrowed her brows, and reached to open it, Rowan coming to sit down next to her. Her eyes went wide as she pulled its contents out.

“Oh,” she breathed, staring at her necklace, with its beautiful fire pendant. The one Rowan had gotten for her. The one she’d thought she’d lost forever. She turned to look at her boyfriend. “Can you put it on for me?”

“Of course,” he said, clipping it around her neck, and she held it loosely, getting used to the feeling of it again.

“Thank you,” Aelin said to Darrow, and he just nodded. The pendant was warm right over her heart, and she pressed her hand against it as she moved on to the other envelope. “What’s in this one?”

“Just open it,” Rowan said this time, and she narrowed her eyes at him, sensing the anticipation oozing from his pores. What did he have to do with this?

But she didn’t question it as she pulled a piece of paper out of the envelope, flattening it against her desk.

It was a legal document of sorts, with a line at the bottom she knew was for her signature. But she didn’t understand what it was for. Was she supposed to know? Because she didn’t.

“What is this?” Aelin asked as she scanned the page over and over, not quite comprehending what she was seeing. Eventually she gave up, sending her questioning glance up to Rowan, who could barely contain his excitement.

“It’s a proposed new branch of the company,” he explained, gesturing to the document. “A charitable branch, a foundation of sorts.” He looked over at Darrow.

“Mr. Whitethorn came up with the idea a few weeks ago, and brought it to me,” the older man continued, “but it’s up to you to sign off on it.” Her eyebrows had shot up at the word weeks, but she didn’t question the timing, her brain already off to the next part.

A charity branch. Something Kingsflame hadn’t had before, but definitely something that could look good for the company amongst all this press. Some good publicity, instead of just drama.

“What’s the charity?” She asked next, furrowing her brows. Rowan smiled softly as he answered.

“The Rifthold Coalition Against Domestic Violence,” he said, and emotion filled her veins, tears pricking at her eyes. But she just nodded, looking back down at the paperwork. “I would help run it after I graduate, but I could be remote and just fly in for meetings every so often. Because I was also thinking -”

He stepped closer to her desk, reaching over to smooth back Elia’s hair. But his eyes were on her. “I know you don’t want to work here,” he said quietly, before looking back at Darrow, “sorry Darrow.” But he just waved him off with a smile. “I know you don’t want to live in Rifthold.” His green eyes held hers intently. “And you don’t have to. You can take on a board position in the company instead, and not be actively involved. Or you can quit entirely. But it’s up to you.”

She closed her eyes, a single tear slipping out as she reached up with her free hand to clutch at her necklace. But he wasn’t done.

“It’s your choice,” he whispered to her, and she nodded, feeling those words settle in her. “We can go back to Doranelle, you can graduate, you can open up your bookstore like you’ve always wanted to.” She sniffed, tears falling faster now. “You can do whatever you want. You’re free.”

She opened her eyes slowly, meeting his, and she nodded. She hoped he understood how grateful she was for him, for everything he did for her.

“I love you,” she whispered, and he smiled.

“I love you too, Fireheart.”

-------

It was snowing as they landed at the Doranelle airport, snowing as they got into a car, driving the thirty minutes back into town. And it was snowing as Aelin walked into her new apartment, completely overwhelmed by how perfect it was.

It was cozy, yet spacious, perfect size for them and two kids. It was within walking distance of campus, walking distance of the grocery store. It was just… a fresh start, a fresh start with Rowan and their family.

It was everything she could’ve asked for and more. And she kissed him heartily for it.

But after settling in a bit, Aelin knew there was somewhere else she wanted to go too.

And it was snowing as they made their way into Mistward Cafe, toting their backpacks and laptops with them to study there after saying hi to the man who owned it. It felt so right to be back, to be home.

She and Rowan had barely needed to discuss it after speaking with Darrow. Aelin was going to take a step back, and take more of a consulting role in the company, and they were going to move back to Doranelle. Rowan was going to work with Darrow on the foundation, but he wasn’t going to do it from anywhere but right there at her side.

Lysandra was even thinking about moving out there, with her niece Evangeline in tow. She had full custody of her now, and was looking for a fresh start. Aelin was ecstatic about it, and ready to help her settle in and start a new life as much as she could.

It was the perfect scenario, better than anything she could’ve dreamed up herself. She hadn’t lost that connection to her parents, but she wasn’t trapped in yet another cage. She could do everything she’d wanted to do, be everything she wanted to be.

She couldn’t stop smiling.

Especially as Emrys finally noticed them, a bright smile lighting up his lined face. He immediately dropped what he was doing, hurrying from behind the counter to greet them.

He hugged her tightly, saying warm words of welcome, before moving to hug Rowan as well, and placing a kiss on Elia’s head, who giggled at the old man.

“Oh it’s so good to see you three,” he said warmly, “I’m so glad to see you’re all okay.”

“We’re glad to see you, too,” Aelin said, smiling herself. “I’m glad to be back in Doranelle.”

“Here, sit down,” Emrys insisted, shooing them toward an open table. Mistward was pretty busy for a snowy day, groups of people taking refuge in the warmth. “I’ll get you some coffee.”

“Decaf, for me please,” Aelin interjected, and he looked up at her. “Because I’m -”

“Pregnant,” he said with a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, I read all about it in the Rifthold news. I’ve been keeping up with it since you’ve been gone.” She chuckled a little bit, shaking her head. Of course he was. “Which is also how I knew about -” he reached under the counter for something, before turning to their table. “This.”

He dropped a Rifthold newspaper down on the wood, and she couldn’t help but grin at the sight. There was her name and picture, printed in bold beneath the words:

Arobynn Hamel: The Truth Behind the Famous Name

It was the article she’d written only a few days before, an article she’d managed to get printed with the Rifthold Reporter. She was finally getting her side of the story out into the world, and all she could do was hope that the world listened.

But it was better than doing nothing, and letting everyone think that a good man died that day.

“I’m proud of you, Aelin,” Emrys said, his voice sincere, and suddenly she felt like crying. But all she did was press her free hand to her heart, trying to keep all the emotions contained.

“Thank you,” she said, “for everything.” He just nodded once, a smile on his face.

“Of course, lass, now get to work, I’ll have your drinks soon.” He waved them away, and she laughed again as she sat down, Elia in her lap and Rowan across from her. By coincidence, or by fate, they’d ended up at the exact same table they’d first met at, and she knew he remembered too, if the smile he shot at her was any indication.

But they didn’t say anything as they both pulled out their laptops, getting to work on their respective homework for the week. Elia was calm, playing quietly with Feefu, enjoying herself, and Aelin idly ran a hand down her hair as she stared at a math problem.

She’d begun her first accounting class, and the first assignment was just a pretest to see what they already knew. She didn’t know much, so she scored horrendously, but it provided an answer key afterward and now she was going back to try and understand some of them.

“Hey Rowan?” She asked, looking up from her screen.

“Yeah?” He asked, meeting her eyes, his green ones as gorgeous as ever, but so much warmer than they’d been months before.

“Can you help me with this problem?” She asked, grinning as he chuckled.

“Let me just put my tutor hat back on,” he joked, and she rolled her eyes. But she didn’t protest as he scooted over his chair to her side of the table, peeking at her screen.

“Dada,” Elia cooed, and Rowan took her and set her on his own lap, cooing back. It was a sweet scene, and she smiled softly before resting her head on his shoulder. He went back to looking at the screen and registered the problem quickly. He began explaining it to her, and she could barely pretend like she was listening, his voice soothing her into a restful state.

The snow was falling down around them, the soft music of the cafe playing lightly in the background, warm coffee seeping into her bones. And the three people she loved most in the world right there with her.

She’d come a long way to get to this moment, and she knew she wasn’t done recovering from the horrors of her past. She also knew that life wasn’t perfect, but hers certainly couldn’t get better than this.

----

taglist:

@shyvioletcat @courtofjurdan @leiawritesstoriess @themoonthestarsthesuriel @westofmoon @mariamuses @cretaceous-therapod @rowaelinrambling @foughtconquered @swankii-art-teacher @rowaelinismyotp @live-the-fangirl-life @sailorsassley @claralady @gracie-rosee @theinfernalbookworm @larisssss @peppermint-fae @charlizeed @llyncooljones @justreadertings @backtobl4ck @wordsafterhours @story-scribbler @mybloodrunsblue @sexy-dumpster-fire @dealfea @whoever-you-choose-to-love @tomtenadia @house-of-galathynius @1islessthan3books @fangirlprincess09 @superspiritfestival @fromthelibraryofemilyjj @rowanaelinn @gwynethhberdara @baxian-argos @thewayshedreamed @aelinchocolatelover @emilyoftheshadows @rhysands-whore @gigglinggummybears @shadowwolf777 @fireheart-violet @firestarsandseneschals @wishfulimaginings @thegreyj @fireheartwhitethorn4ever @rhysandswingspan @poisonous00

#stt #rowaelin #throne of glass fanfiction #rowaelin fanfiction #throne of glass #rowaelin au #rowan x aelin #throne of glass au

162 notes · View notes