#behold my Merge!AU | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

heavensinhell · 1 year

Text

bad influence.

sophiana drabble, angst, human au.

tw; slight substance abuse, mentions of substance abuse, suggestive.

word count: 2597

——————

it wasn’t always like this. she didn’t want it to end like this. hell, she did everything to avoid it ending like this.

but fate catches up, just as how the rain did, dripping down their skins, merging with their tears. they held each other in their arms, sobbing more than they’d did ever in their life — or maybe it was just her. maybe she was the only one shaking, the only one sobbing. but when sophie held on tight, arms wrapped around her waist, she knew; it isn’t just me.

——————

biana always hung out with sophie now, with their school’s anniversary week over and both of them free to do anything.

it was amazing, really. a week ago, she’d just find out there’s someone else in her grade living in the same suburbs as her — at the same block too! her new friend, sophie foster’s, house was literally just behind hers, and even remembered that she’d always passed, playing with the barking dogs in their small yard. now they’d spent early evenings walking one of the said dogs around the neighbourhood.

she’d met sophie during dance practice for their presentation in the intramurals, but she wasn’t joining; apparently, she was the one representing her class for the pageant, and rightfully so. she was beautiful.

blonde hair in soft curls, tiny ringlets. gold flecked brown eyes that feel like the earth has opened up before you and is offering up their treasures for you to adore. soft, matte red lips. she had asked her for her lipstick ones, but she looked at her confused and said she didn’t have any. her confusion — crinkled eyebrows, narrowed eyes, and lips half a frown, half a pout. how can she be so simply beautiful?

not that biana herself wasn’t a sight to behold. she truly was; her evening’s sweetheart award during their prom night proved that.

sophie nudged her, head tilted. “i don’t think i’ve ever asked, but you have a flare of confidence.” there it was again, crinkled brows, narrowed eyes, and cute, oh-so cute lips, evidence of her curiosity and confusion. “why didn’t you join the pageant?”

biana raised her brows, lips twitching in a smile. “because you would’ve lost.”

the blonde nudged her, now her nose crinkled, too. “i’m serious!”

the brunette had only laughed in turn, but sat down on the grass, letting opera nuzzle into her knees.

it was half past six, the moon and the stars illuminating the soft, early night. soon, the sun rays would disappear entirely, leaving the moon to glow in all its glory. soon, in the turn on the next block, she’d have to drop off her best friend at home. so, she’d tell her short tale seated in the grass in front of an unoccupied house. there were perks in being one of the last phases in their subdivision; no one liked being last. many of the houses are empty, be in because they’re un-bought, or their real owners only bought them to spend their summers. houses too beautiful to be called home, maybe.

“so?”

now it was biana’s nose crinkling, looking over at her friend. “so.”

“so why didn’t you join the pageant!”

the blonde pouted, gently picking her dog back. it made biana giggle. they both liked animals, so when one wouldn’t share, the other would take back what was theirs. whether it was a stuffed, teddy animal or a real one.

“i wasn’t home, remember.”

she’d told the story before — leaving the country a month before, therefore missing so much stuff, like the general practice for their prom.

the blonde laid her head against the other’s shoulder, nose crinkled. “but the auditions for the pageant was wayyy after prom.”

biana snorted, head shaking. “there was also our english project to think about. i was one of the writers, which was a stupid decision,” kicking away a pebble, a pout formed in her lips. “like, i just got home! they were pressuring me to write while my grandparents were telling me to fix more documents. like, wasn’t that why you sent us out the country in the first place? like—“

anger shrouded her aura, her vibes so she gently pushed sophie’s head off, covering her face with her hands. “basically, i didn’t audition because i was too pressured. if i joined, i’d have to win. ‘you’re gonna join, so you gotta win. if you don’t that’s okay, you tried you best — but knowing you, your best would have you winning’ like, gee! no pressure!”

sophie had wrapped her hands around her shoulder, her other hand snaking in to hold hers.

and her heart fluttered with butterflies.

that was one of the things that were so painful about sophie. she’s loving, she’s sweet, and she’s friends with a lot of people. so she’s caring — loving, even — to a lot of people. and it was ok! you’re supposed to love your friends. she was amazing for that. but sometimes, she’s so stupidly oblivious. sophie would hold their hand, cup their cheeks; like now. people trust her a lot, vent to her a lot. and she doesn’t mind it, doesn’t mind comforting people. she treats people right, the way you should. a basic human with basic human decency and basic human sympathy. but that was rare. so people end up mistaking their platonic feelings for romantic, and biana was no lesser a victim.

but still she melted into the hug, crying into her friend’s shoulder, her hands fisted, fingers entangled with the other.

a cough had made the brunette jump, moving far from her friend. if her fear was right and true, it would be sophie’s overprotective father. but no, it was way worst — her boyfriend.

vien had flirted with biana once, and, of course, being a stupid 13 year old, she’d let him. it was the beginning of her mental decline. how someone like him had pulled sophie was beyond her.

maruca stood beside him, looking far, far away from her. obvious that the both had them had been looking for her together, or, if biana was being really, really honest, vien was pulling some shady shit. not that she hasn’t warned sophie about it. she’d been crinkle brow’ed then, when she found out sophie and vien were classmates in the eighth, and started spitting insults left and right, slipping multiple times and calling him some things. warned her, “he’s a cheating, lying fuck. oh, and guess what? he smokes! he drinks! i do, too — but i don’t overdo it!” sophie had agreed, but somehow, to her horror, they’d ended up together.

the ravenette, eyes narrowed, had his distance. horridly scared of dogs, he was. but when sophie met her eyes, head tilted, her lips twisted into a soft, pleading smile, she sighed and took the leash, walked it home, sophie’s home, and came back, an eye’s distance away, maruca leaning against the car, smoke escaping her lips, her breath hitched. biana shook her head, opening her palm, before taking a puff of the vape for herself.

“gonna kill it again?” the blue-streaked brunette muttered, slipping to her knees, head against the others legs, breathing slow.

“gonna kill him, matter of fact.” she hissed, watching him bury his head in her neck, arms tight around her waist.

he demonised her: gave her a short temper, horribly emotional overall, and made her do impulsive things. him and his horrible friends, maybe that’s why they’d kept preying on her.

she hated it, but it was no more a horrible situation than what she felt earlier for sophie. a mere human, with humane needs, sophie gave her love, and those blasted boys gave her attention. poor biana vacker, with the poor life choices, teenage hormones, and human needs. wow.

she’d taken another hit when maruca stood up, leaning towards her, inhaling the smoke that left the brunettes lips. her breath hitched, the brunette gently laying her head against the other’s chest.

“let’s go, bia,” the girl whispered, hands slowly wrapping around her waist, as if she was scared. scared she’ll shatter. “she knows how to go home safely.”

she hated that, but she hated watching them even more. it made her sick, genuinely.

maruca had dragged her back to her house, head bowed as she greeted her parents. “lord and lady vacker,” with the slightest amusement in her voice.

it was kinda embarrassing, really. being the daughter of royals. or maybe that was because she was raised in a simple life, the way her parents wanted. look at how pressured she was when her grandparents got involved, the reasons they left the country, the reason they were practically royalty. thank the gods for her parents.

they hanged out in her room a lot, but the air was awkward. biana knew maruca longer, loved her longer, but never once did she cry to her, opened up to her. it was obvious she was hurt by that, but she wasn’t gonna bring it up. the darker girl gave her a cheek kiss, their way of goodbyes, and left for home.

and biana stood there. wondering how she’d ever work out her feelings.

maybe she stood for hours, because it was dark out, and that’s when jolie, sophie’s elder sister, had knocked on their door, looking for sophie.

“sorry,” biana frowned, slipping into their living room, staring at her sleepy eyes. “ but i’ve not seen her since noon, ms ruewen.”

but jolie pulled her for a hug, how edaline had, when they’d met. and despite being adopted, sophie hugs like the two of them. she would’ve melted if she wasn’t so embarrassed, but not to fret; jolie had let her go, smiling and thanking her, “i’ll let you know when we find her,” her smile was so genuine, she couldn’t believe she lied. she gave a respectful bow, and left.

she’d kissed her mom’s cheeks in a daze and gave her dad a hug, before slipping back into her room. sophie was missing. oh my gods. what did they do?

it was friday — three days before she could go to school. not that it mattered, honestly. but if something had happened, oh no. she couldn’t stop worrying, sitting in her bed — how did i even get here? — worried, worrying. the running-hands-through-hair-when-stressed? apparently she got that gene, too, because by the time she’d fallen asleep, she’d had a tangle of brown for hair. and those three days made her sick. jolie never came, never chatted. she was left worrying, worrying, worrying. and worst, she’d blamed herself.

if she didn’t leave them alone, would sophie be missing still? if she didn’t let maruca whisk her away, would she still be in her room, pacing, worried? no one messaged her about it, too, god, now her mind was running faster than her family’s cars. what would she do, what could she have done? oh god, oh gods —

and it was monday. the weekend passed like a blur of her worrying, waiting, being ignored. fuck, did something happen?

she was scared. she didn’t want to go and see, so she listened to music in her classroom, hidden under her hoodies, stressed, so stressed, what the heck.

but somehow, her other friends were able to coo her into the canteen, and vien, fucking vien, was okay, cackling with his friends. it took all of her will power not to jump at him, claw at him, where’s my best friend—when she’d noticed a head of blonde hair, ruffling brunette. sophie and amy. or… keefe and amy? either way, there was sophie’s other sister.

coming closer, she’d stopped dead in her tracks. there, back facing her, was sophie foster, hair cut short, her curls embracing her ears, jumping lightly as she laughed that heaven-given laugh. amy’s eyes had met hers, and the soft green turned steel, and when sophie turned, heaven, oh heaven, she was still so beautiful. the brunette wanted to break down, cry, hug her — she was alright, it was alright.

but when her eyes weren’t glowing with happiness, they were scared, in despair, before giving off the same steel gaze her little sister did, and the foster sisters walked away without another word.

old biana would’ve thrown a tantrum, eyebrows creased, nose crinkled, an expression of “who does she think she is, defying me?” but this biana, this new biana, just stared at where she stood, before regaining her posture, ignoring the gazes on her back, staring at her, what the hell just happened? she left, eyes on the floor, unblinking. she knew if she did, they’d know there had been tears.

it went like that for days — how many, she didn’t know — seeing sophie in the halls, the cafeteria, the streets. and that sophie was ignoring her, giving her sad eyes. she blamed her, too, biana decided. to her, it was her fault. and now, maybe, just maybe, maybe it was her fault. maybe she was to blame. maybe that was how their friendship would end.

the girl kicked the poor, innocent rock in front of her. it’s been weeks — maybe two, fuck it, she didn’t care. and it was so painfully obvious. dragging herself out of bed, rat tails less of tails, more of bird’s nest, tangled under her puffed hair. clothes messy and mismatched, unlike the trendsetter she knew herself to be. maybe in the future, she’d be horrified to see herself in this state, that she had let herself go to that hole. really, it was bound to happen. her life went to shit when she landed from that airplane — god, i wish it just crashed. it was selfish, wishing a group death, so she wouldn’t be all alone in her misery, but that’s what she’s become, it seems.

the rain had gotten stronger, sprinkling her uncovered skin. just as when she didn’t bring a goddamn umbrella, it was bound to storm for hours on end. as if things could get any worst.

and it did. damn you, universe.

there, blonde beauty herself, had run into the bus station. how silly, fate was, stringing them together, just the two of them, under a storm.

she looked at her phone. half past six. oh, nostalgia! oh, universe! oh, fucking destiny!

biana had an oversized hoodie in her bag, she just remembered. how amazing, the human mind was. when the self had been hurt, it cared not. i’ve been through this a lot, it’s okay! but upon the sight of another, the other being someone it cared about, it remembered something, something that could’ve helped the self as well. maybe it was proof that the self lacked care for itself.

she took it out of her back, awkwardly walking closer. sophie looked up at her, but biana had looked away, focusing on putting the hoodie on the other girl.

“biana.” she said it so simply it hurt, like the weeks of hanging out didn’t mean anything. like the weeks without each other was nothing.

“biana,” her voice hitched now, locking her hands in the other’s, but she quickly pulled it back, still looking down.

“biana, my gods,” she’d moved closer, and biana felt her cup her cheeks, tilting her head up to meet her eyes.

there were tears dripping down her cheeks — or was it the rain? no, they fell from her own eyes. biana was crying, too. the tears falling in silent grief, but when sophie pulled her close, running her fingers through her tangled hair, whispering softly, i missed you, i’m sorry, i love you so, so much. she broke, holding on tight, broken, breathless sobs leaving her lips.

stay with me, i don’t want you to leave.

she’d thought it, maybe whispered it, sophie holding her close, dear to her heart. the storm raged around them, and she could feel herself getting wet.

she’d gone with no explanation, but that didn’t matter — she was here now, she was in her arms now, they’d fix this. they’ll talk it out, like they always do.

but right now, all biana wanted was to suffocate in her embrace, drown in her affection. god, she gave the best hugs.

3 notes · View notes

wondrouswendy · 2 years

Text

Top 10(ish) Friendship Moments with Zath

So today is the 10 year anniversary of me knowing @rangerzath (formally ijaat on Tumblr).

This is a compilation of my favorite moments/experiences shared with Zath over the years. Some of these moments are funny. Some involve mistakes on my behalf, but Zath had my back. What do all of these moments share? They're heart-warming reminders that sometimes you can meet people online and form a friendship with them that survives the test of space, distance, timezones, ups and downs, and grief.

It's hard to believe 10 years have passed since we've known each other, but here's to 10 more years of more laughs, more jokes, and more joy. Thanks for being a great friend!

1 - Zathran's People Needed Him (SWTOR)

This is one of those memories that we often refer to amongst ourselves. The comedic timing between our comments is great.

1.25 - Gaerwen Aurell and Zathran Ijaat (SWTOR)

This was the friendship dynamic duo that started it all. Countless AUs spawned from these two, countless stories, and eventually, we both took the dive and merged our SWTOR legacies/families together into one universe.

1.5 - Zath Finally Gets Nightmare Brontes Wings (SWTOR)

Zath was one of the last people in the guild to earn the NIM Brontes wings lmao -- but when they did, it was great!

1.75 - Barsen'thor Buddies (SWTOR)

Barsen'thor Buddies was created as a guild for Zath and I originally. We were just a two person team until we decided to recruit people raid and pvp with us. We recruited people from the server and from tumblr in the olden days. We used to raid regularly and achieved many raid oriented goals. Some highlights include discussing whether this scene from National Treasure could be considered iconic to talking about OCs to labeling bad pugs as the proverbial "Steve."

2 - Almost Instant Regret (Overwatch)

Throughout our Overwatch 1 career, Zath often played Zarya would use the Graviton Ultimate to set up team wipes for me while I was playing Hanzo. I got really cocky in this game, but Zath had my back when someone tried to spoil my play of the game...

3 - Zath Becomes Superman (Overwatch)

The Iron Giant has nothing on this.

4 - Zath Panics When I Scream (PUBG)

Notoriously, in my early days of playing battle royale games like PUBG and Apex, I would get jumpscared easily by enemy players. I tend to scream/panic first, shoot second, give Zath information third. Not really helpful for your teammates! But this has become kind of a meme between us even though I no longer get jumpscared (as often).

5 - Check Your Corn-- (PUBG)

Zath doesn't get jumpscared often, but when they do... Well, make sure you're prepared with backup clothes. Sound warning on this one.

6 - Hacksaw Ridge (Apex Legends)

In this epic, thrilling match from the early days of Apex, Zath played Lifeline and learned the hard way what it takes to be a field medic in a battle royale game. I love this memory because it features some of Zath's funniest one liners, Zath saving the day countless times over. It also features a good old instance of me getting jumpscared.

7 - That Was a Mozambiqueeeeeeee (Apex Legends)

It's not often that Zath breaks the sound barrier with their voice, but lo and behold... sound warning on this one :P

8 - Thaeus and Ziael (World of Warcraft)

I think of our WoW OCs, Thaeus and Ziael have had the most development and story-based growth. A druid and a deathknight, who would have thought that they could fall in love? They are one of my favorite pairings because of their personalities and their dynamics. Zath has created a death knight character who subverts many of the typical tropes we see with these kinds of characters. Thaeus is kind, warm (in spite of being a *frost* death knight), and loving towards Ziael and his family. He is Zath's favorite of their large swath of OCs and played characters. It goes without saying that Zath is an excellent death knight and it's been a pleasure to see how Thaeus has grown in both retail as Zath's perpetual tinkered character and now in Classic as one of the guild's highest parsers.

9 - Rated Battlegrounds with Zath Leading (World of Warcraft, Retail)

Zath always was a champ leading our RBG team. This is my favorite game recorded from that era. This game has a little bit of it all. People ribbing Zath playfully. Zath and I bantering over Frost Mage being good, for once! Ultimately, this game was a win where everyone had fun.

10 - Zath Podfics (Control 2019)

Zath has started reading some of my fics out loud. Honestly, this has been one of the greatest gifts they have ever given me. Hearing my stories outloud has helped me overcome some of my own imposter syndrome as a writer. When I hear Zath reading my stories, it shows me that I am a good writer. I hear the cadence, the intended tone of dialogue, the humor within humorous scenes. Normally I'm so detached from what I'm writing because I'm so immersed in it already. Having an outside perspective bringing the scenes to life has been a tremendous gift, one that I know has been produced with love, passion, and care.

#wondrouswendy personal #rangerzath

6 notes · View notes

fitnessbeautyarts · 1 year

Text

Male and female eyebrows often exhibit subtle differences in terms of shape, thickness, and overall appearance. Generally, male eyebrows tend to have a more straightforward and less arched shape, with a flatter brow bone. They often appear thicker and have a more natural and rugged look. Female eyebrows, on the other hand, can be more arched and have a more defined shape. They tend to be thinner, although the thickness can vary widely based on personal preferences and trends. Grooming practices, such as plucking, waxing, or threading, can also influence the appearance of eyebrows in both genders. Ultimately, the ideal eyebrow shape and grooming approach depend on individual facial features and preferences, rather than being strictly determined by gender norms. Raise your eyebrows, folks! Ever stopped to think about how the fuzzy friends above our eyes differ between men and women? Well, hold onto your tweezers, because we're diving headfirst into the world of the "Male Vs Female Eyebrows." Whether you're a brow enthusiast or someone who's simply curious about those arches and curves, we've got you covered. Read on, and let's spill the beans! History of the Eye Brow: A Quick Glimpse Eyebrows have been more than just hair for centuries. They've been a symbol of status, beauty, and power. From the ancient Egyptians drawing them on with kohl to today's Instagram influencers with their #BrowGoals, there's a rich history behind these facial features. Male Eyebrows: Through the Ages Ancient Times: Men often kept them thick and unkempt. It was, believe it or not, a sign of masculinity and strength. Renaissance Era: The wild look faded out. Groomed brows took the front seat. 20th Century Onwards: A mix of styles! Some like 'em thick, others prefer a bit of manscaping. Female Eyebrows: A Historical Roller-coaster Ancient Times: Ladies sported brows so thick; they almost merged into a single one. Unibrow, anyone? 1920s: The trend went polar opposite. Thin, highly arched brows were the cat's meow. Today: A variety of styles, but there's a notable lean towards natural, fuller brows. The Nitty-Gritty of Male Vs Female Eyebrows Both genders have unique eyebrow characteristics. It's not just about the bushiness or the arch but a blend of several factors. Thickness: Men generally have thicker brows. No surprises there! Position: Women's eyebrows are typically higher up than men's. It's believed to give a more open, expressive look. Shape: Men's eyebrows are straighter, while women's tend to have a more pronounced arch. Talk about raising the stakes! The Brow Culture: Grooming and Trends For the Gents Keeping it bushy: Some lads like to let nature do its thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? A bit of trim here and there: A little manscaping never hurt anyone. Cleaning up stray hairs can give a neat look. The whole shebang: Yep, some men go for threading, waxing, and even tinting! For the Ladies Au naturel: Embracing the natural shape and thickness. Keeping it real! Precision shaping: Crafting the perfect arch. It's almost an art! Full glam: Tinting, microblading, and extensions. Oh my! FAQs about Male Vs Female Eyebrows Why do men have thicker eyebrows? Genetics, mostly! Testosterone leads to more prominent facial features, including thicker eyebrows. Do eyebrows make a difference in perceived attractiveness? You bet they do! A well-groomed eyebrow can enhance one's overall appearance. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, isn't it? What's the deal with eyebrow threading? An ancient method using a string to pluck out unwanted hairs. Sounds simple, but it's darn effective! How often should you groom your eyebrows? To each their own! Some opt for weekly touch-ups, while others go months. Listen to your brows and follow your heart! Conclusion Brows have been through thick and thin (pun intended) over the centuries. The "Male Vs Female Eyebrows"

debate isn't just about looks; it's deeply intertwined with history, culture, and personal expression. Whether you're a dude rocking a bushy brow or a lady flaunting a sleek arch, remember: eyebrows are the silent powerhouse of our facial features. So, next time you look in the mirror, give a nod to those unsung heroes framing your face! Key Takeaways: Male and female eyebrows have distinct differences in shape, thickness, and grooming techniques Factors such as genetics, facial structure, hormones, and age impact eyebrow appearance differently between genders Grooming techniques for male eyebrows typically involve trimming and shaping for a natural look, while female eyebrow grooming trends focus on shaping, filling, and defining for a polished appearance Regular maintenance practices such as trimming, shaping, and using suitable products are essential for both genders Avoid common eyebrow grooming mistakes such as over-plucking and over-trimming, which can result in an unnatural appearance Understanding Male Eyebrows When it comes to eyebrow shape and thickness, there are distinct differences between males and females. Male eyebrows are typically fuller and straighter than female eyebrows, which tend to be more arched and thinner. Understanding the typical characteristics of male eyebrows is essential for effective grooming. One of the key features of male eyebrows is their shape. Male eyebrows are typically straighter across than female eyebrows, with less of an arch. While there can be some variation in shape, most male eyebrows are relatively uniform in thickness from end to end. The thickness of male eyebrows is another distinguishing characteristic. Males tend to have fuller eyebrows than females, with more hair growth above and below the brows. Thicker eyebrows offer a more masculine look, but it's important not to let them become too unruly. Understanding Male Eyebrows: Examples and Tips If you're a guy looking to enhance your eyebrows, there are a few grooming techniques to keep in mind: Technique Description Trimming Regular trimming keeps your eyebrows looking neat and tidy. Use scissors or clippers to trim any long hairs that extend beyond the natural shape of your eyebrows. Shaping While male eyebrows don't typically require much shaping, it can be helpful to remove any stray hairs that disrupt the natural line of your brows. Use tweezers to pluck excessive growth. Embracing a natural look Male eyebrows generally look best when they appear full and natural. Avoid over-plucking or over-shaping, as this can create an unnatural appearance that detracts from your masculinity. By taking care of your eyebrows, you can achieve a polished and well-groomed look that enhances your facial features. Whether you're shaping your eyebrows to create a more masculine appearance or simply maintaining their natural shape, consistent grooming is key. Understanding Female Eyebrows While male eyebrows tend to be fuller and straighter, female eyebrows have a distinct arch shape and are often thinner and more defined. The thickness of female eyebrows can vary throughout the brow, with the thinnest point typically towards the tail. The arch shape of female eyebrows can be influenced by factors such as genetics and facial structure, resulting in a unique and individualistic appearance. To enhance this natural arch, many women choose to shape their eyebrows with grooming techniques such as tweezing or waxing. In addition to shaping, filling in sparse areas and defining the brow with product can also create a more polished look for female eyebrows. Popular techniques include using eyebrow pencils, powders, gels, or pomades to achieve a desired shape and color. Factors Influencing Female Eyebrows Hormonal differences between males and females can also play a role in the thickness and growth of eyebrows. Estrogen, a hormone more commonly found in females, can lead to finer and more delicate hair growth, including the eyebr

ows. Age can also impact the appearance of female eyebrows, with thinning and sparse areas becoming more common as women age. Proper grooming and maintenance can help combat this natural thinning process. Factors Influencing Eyebrow Shape The shape of eyebrows is influenced by various factors, including genetics and facial structure. However, the impact of these factors can differ between males and females, resulting in distinct eyebrow shapes. Genetics: Genetics is one of the primary factors influencing eyebrow shape. The genes we inherit from our parents determine the thickness, length, and curvature of our brows. While males tend to have straight, thicker eyebrows, females typically have more arched, thinner eyebrows. However, there can be variations within each gender. Facial structure: Another factor that can influence eyebrow shape is facial structure. The shape of the face can affect how the brows are positioned and arched. For example, someone with a round face may benefit from arched eyebrows to elongate the face, while someone with a long face may need flatter eyebrows to balance their features. Factors Influencing Eyebrow Thickness While eyebrow thickness varies between individuals and genders, there are several factors that can influence the thickness of eyebrows. These include: Hormones: Hormonal changes can impact eyebrow growth and thickness, particularly during puberty and menopause. Age: As we age, eyebrow hair may become thinner and sparser due to a decrease in collagen production. Interestingly, the hormonal and age-related differences in eyebrow thickness between males and females are not as pronounced as those in eyebrow shape. However, males generally have thicker eyebrows due to higher levels of testosterone in their bodies. If you are looking to enhance the thickness of your eyebrows, consider incorporating eyebrow growth serums or oils into your daily routine. Be sure to also maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle, as this can impact overall hair growth and thickness. Grooming Techniques for Male Eyebrows When it comes to grooming male eyebrows, the goal is to maintain a natural, well-groomed appearance. Here are some tips: Trimming Trimming is essential for maintaining the shape and length of male eyebrows. To avoid over-trimming, use a small pair of scissors and trim a little at a time. Comb the hairs upward and trim any that extend beyond the natural eyebrow line. Shaping Men's eyebrows typically have a straighter shape compared to women's eyebrows. Use a pair of tweezers to pluck any stray hairs below the brow line, but avoid over-plucking. Keep the shape natural and avoid creating a high arch or any other feminine shapes. Products Use a clear eyebrow gel to keep hairs in place and define the shape. Avoid using heavy products or dark eyebrow pencils, as these can create an unnatural look. By following these simple grooming techniques for male eyebrows, you can enhance your natural features without looking overly groomed or feminine. Grooming Techniques for Female Eyebrows When it comes to grooming female eyebrows, there are a variety of techniques to consider. Different methods may work best for different individuals, depending on the natural shape and thickness of their brows. Here are some popular grooming techniques to consider: Shaping To achieve the perfect shape for your eyebrows, start by identifying your natural arch. From there, use small scissors or tweezers to remove stray hairs that fall outside of the brow line. Avoid over-plucking, which can lead to an unnatural and uneven appearance. Filling If your eyebrows are naturally thin or sparse, filling them in with a pencil or powder can help create a fuller, more defined look. Choose a shade that matches your natural hair color, and apply in light strokes to mimic the appearance of individual hairs. Defining To further enhance the shape and definition of your eyebrows, use a brow gel or pomade to keep hairs in place and add tex

ture. A clear gel can help tame unruly hairs, while a tinted product can help fill in any gaps or inconsistencies. Remember, the key to achieving a polished look is to maintain a natural appearance that complements your facial features. Experiment with different techniques and products to find the right combination for your unique eyebrow shape. Grooming Techniques for Both Genders Regardless of gender, maintaining well-groomed eyebrows requires regular maintenance. Here are some general grooming techniques that apply to both males and females: Technique Description Trimming Use a small pair of scissors to carefully trim any long or unruly hairs, keeping the length and shape consistent with the natural eyebrow shape. Shaping Determine the ideal eyebrow shape based on facial structure and natural eyebrow shape. Use tweezers to gently remove any stray hairs outside of the desired shape, being careful not to over-tweeze. Products Use eyebrow gel or wax to keep hairs in place and add definition. For those with sparse eyebrows, consider using an eyebrow pencil or powder to fill in any gaps or add thickness. When grooming your eyebrows, it's important to avoid over-trimming or over-plucking, which can result in an uneven or unnatural appearance. Stick to your natural eyebrow shape and use techniques that enhance, rather than alter, your features. Nose - Men usually have broader noses, while women have narrower and more concave noses. Nose feminization surgery can provide a more feminine nose. Eyebrows - A man's eyebrows tend to be heavier and straighter, while a woman's eyebrows are thinner and arch upward. Waxing or brow bone reduction can help achieve a more feminine brow. Brow Bone - Males often have a brow ridge, while females have little or no bossing. Brow bone reduction can smoothen the brow ridge and create a more vertical appearance of the forehead in lateral view. Lips - Men have thinner and longer lips, while women have lush and plumper lips. Lipofilling and lip lift can feminize the lips and reduce the distance between the nose and the lip. Chin and Jaw - The male chin is more prominent and larger, while the female chin is smaller and less defined. Chin contouring and jaw angle reduction can help reduce the size and create a more feminine appearance. Common Mistakes to Avoid When it comes to grooming eyebrows, there are a few common mistakes that people tend to make. These mistakes can result in an unnatural or unflattering appearance. Here are some of the most common eyebrow grooming mistakes to avoid: Over-plucking: It can be tempting to go overboard with plucking, especially if you're trying to achieve a specific shape. However, over-plucking can result in thin or patchy eyebrows that take a long time to grow back. Over-trimming: While trimming your eyebrows can help keep them looking neat, it's important not to go too short. Over-trimming can make your eyebrows look uneven or sparse. Using the wrong products: Not all eyebrow products are created equal. Using the wrong product for your eyebrow type or color can result in an unnatural or mismatched appearance. Ignoring your natural shape: Trying to force a specific eyebrow shape that doesn't work with your natural features can result in an unflattering look. It's important to work with your natural eyebrow shape to create a look that complements your face. Remember, the goal of eyebrow grooming is to enhance your natural features, not create an entirely new look. By avoiding these common mistakes, you can achieve a well-groomed and natural-looking brow. Grooming Techniques for Both Male and Female Eyebrows Now that we’ve explored the differences between male and female eyebrows, let’s dive into some grooming techniques that apply to both genders. Whether you’re looking to trim and shape your brows or define and fill them in, these tips can help you achieve the perfect look. Regular Maintenance is

Key Regardless of your gender, it’s important to maintain your eyebrows regularly. This means regularly trimming and shaping them to keep them looking neat and tidy. Use small scissors or an eyebrow trimmer to remove any strays that fall outside your natural shape. Consider Your Facial Structure When it comes to shaping your eyebrows, it’s important to consider your facial structure. Your brows should enhance your features and complement your face shape, rather than detract from them. If you’re not sure where to start, consider consulting a professional for advice. Don’t Overdo It One of the most common mistakes people make when grooming their eyebrows is over-plucking or over-trimming them. This can result in an unnatural or overdone appearance. Try to keep your natural shape intact and focus on removing only the stray hairs that fall outside this shape. Use the Right Products Using the right products can help you achieve the perfect eyebrow look. For filling in sparse areas or defining your brows, consider using a brow pencil or powder. Opt for a shade that matches your natural brow color for a more natural look. Embrace Your Natural Brows While grooming your eyebrows can help enhance your natural features, it’s also important to embrace your natural brows. Rather than trying to achieve a certain shape or thickness, aim for a natural and well-groomed appearance that complements your face. By following these tips and techniques, you can achieve perfectly groomed eyebrows regardless of your gender. Whether you prefer a natural look or a more defined brow, remember to regularly maintain your brows and embrace your natural features. FAQ Q: What are the main differences between male and female eyebrows? A: Male eyebrows tend to be fuller and straighter, while female eyebrows are often thinner and have a more defined arch shape. Q: What factors influence eyebrow shape? A: The shape of eyebrows is influenced by genetics and facial structure. Q: How do hormones and age affect eyebrow thickness? A: Hormonal differences and age play a role in determining the thickness of eyebrows. Q: What are some grooming techniques for male eyebrows? A: Male eyebrow grooming techniques include trimming and shaping to maintain a natural look. Q: How can female eyebrows be groomed? A: Female eyebrows can be shaped, filled, and defined to achieve a polished look. Q: What are some general eyebrow maintenance practices for both genders? A: Regular trimming, shaping, and the use of suitable eyebrow products are important for maintaining well-groomed eyebrows. Q: What are common mistakes to avoid when grooming eyebrows? A: Over-plucking, over-trimming, and creating an unnatural appearance are common mistakes to avoid when grooming eyebrows.

0 notes

pastelpaperplanes · 4 years

Note

I just read your headcanon post about cybertronian reproduction and I have one question! Is there any possible way for twin sparklings to be created though the three ways you listed? Or would the process require too much energy?

anon is referring to THIS post!

Twins could be possible through all three ways actually! ‘Requiring too much energy’ I would assume goes with the Creator Construction & Creator Havesting method and —I’ll get to that later but yes, it’s possible

Through Cold Construction (sparks born through the Allspark and Forge—aka the most natural and oldest method of reproduction thats no longer around since the Allspark was destroyed) sparks can split soon after they’re formed and place within a forged frame. Seeing as the Allspark has an almost infinite power source this would be fairly easy and wouldn’t be necessarily draining as the spark simply detaches into a duplicate—then is paired with its pre-forged frame.

Spark split cybertronians would of course be considered siblings, however each Cybertronian born from the Cold Construction method is their own seperate being with their or separate spark blueprint and coding—that being said ‘siblings’ do NOT exist on this method unless they came from a split spark! Same goes for the Creator Harvesting method. When the spark blue prints are taken from two different mecha as the power source for jumpstarting a spark within a pre-forged frame—only a split spark could result in a ‘sibling’. But! Since this method of reproduction is the most unnatural and most DANGEROUS form of reproduction, split sparks are extremely rare since power drawn from the two mecha to jumpstart that original spark is not within a controlled spark merge, nor is it a split coming from the Allspark itself. So for example, the Jet Twins were an anomaly since they were sparked from this method, same with Road Rage and Optimus though for those those two that’s just in my CFau!

Now for example multiple sparklings born from the same Parent/Parents in the Creator Construction method though, they would definitely be siblings as they were born from a full merge/shared coding—rather than like the Harvesting method where only a blueprint and jumpstart was needed to ignite a spark and those manipulating the procedure would essentially alter/build around the desired coding until they made their desired picture-perfect line of soliders!

Now with Creator Construction twins are very much possible, but still rare. Carrying is a taxing, yet rewarding process for both Carrier and Sire. The Sire of course has to help sustain the newspark with constant merges, as well as help the Carrier stay on top of their self care like staying as fueled as possible and keeping themselves in a comfortable, safe, stress free environment. All of these factors and more help ensure that the newspark will emerge healthy and to term. With one newspark on the way that’s hard enough, with TWO as a result of a split spark—it’s not gonna be easy but yes it is doable. The Sire will just have their work cut or for them in ensuring those merges are frequent and their mate is well monitored.

the conception split newsparks are more likely to exist if both Sire and Carrier are in a more controlled environment, physically and emotionally. Wartime obv calls for a less than safe circumstance for a newspark to be conceived, lack of proper fuel for both Carrier and Sire (Carrier especially), the high stress levels of the Creators, or even the death of the Sire is a spark bond was present could put a hiccup in the a proper carriage. However newsparks (not just spark split twins) were still of course sparked through out the war—though many did not make it to term because of a those factors and more

So yes! Twins are possible in all three methods, but each method would have a vastly different rate at which twins would be ‘born’! Cold Construction would have the highest numbers for sure, next would come Creator Construction, the Creator Havesting at the very last with little to no likelihood of it occurring

#twins be tricky #honestly more than one at a time just be tricky #they need a lot of attention and care!#that’s why trined seekers especially have the highest rate of one member producing multiple at a time #cus they bit only have their mate to care for them—but they also have another m cha to fall back on #or if their mate were not even in their trained the wow lucky them theyre have not only a Sire but TWO OTHERS to aid in merges #asks #cybertron’s future au #transformers #Cybertronian biology #ya know for as many Sparklings—esp BASTARD sparklings I’ve made #lmao I sure do interpret carrying as difficult but ko and behold look at all of those BABIES #hey my headcanons are what they are #but I am just httngggghw love designing sparklings so we are just gonna nod our heads and go w it hahah

51 notes · View notes

letmetellyouaboutmyfeels · 2 years

Text

AT LAAAAAAST! Behold, my fic for the @buddiebigbang! Featuring art and a cover by @toriceratops who was kind and enthusiastic throughout the whole thing (art itself below the cut to spare everyone’s dashes). I’ve been so excited for months to share this fic with you all - you can blame @extasiswings for getting me into The Hating Game in the first place and then shamelessly encouraging me to make it a Buddie AU (she made up for it by holding my hand throughout this whole process).

A further shout out to @evandiaz who commiserated with me as our fics ballooned far beyond the original word count, @tripleaxeldiaz who sinfully joined Chapel in the enabling, and @catdadeddie and @mistmarauder for putting up with my panicking.

I hope you all enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Title: Don’t Play Games (Come My Way)

Rating: E

Pairing: Buck/Eddie (no surprises there) - minor background pairings

Words: 43108

Summary: Buck hates Eddie Diaz.

Ever since his publishing company and Eddie's merged, the man has been nothing but a pain in Buck's ass. The way he nitpicks all of Buck's company emails, the way he spends half his day bickering with Buck, the way he makes Buck's stomach flip and the way he's started haunting Buck's dreams... yeah, it's one hundred percent hate. Definitely. Buck's sure of it.

Because what the hell else could it be?

Read it at Ao3 here and check out Tori’s art below the cut!

#lincoln writes stuff #911 fox #911 fanfic #buddie #buddie fanfic

162 notes · View notes

jincherie · 4 years

Text

lunacy | 01

☽ ● | members: seokjin x reader x jungkook ☽ ● | genre: poly, wolf au, mates au, college au, urban fantasy, angst, smut ☽ ● | wc: 10.7k+ ☽ ● | warnings: none in particular in this part! ☽ ● | notes: here is the first part ! I think this one is going to end up being one of the longer series, so pls send me an ask and lmk what kind of tropes/scenarios u love to see in wolf aus! i wanna make this as self indulgent as possible LMFAO

The entirety of your introduction and exposure to wolves has been at the hands of Jimin and Taehyung, who over the course of your study have arguably become your best friends. It isn't until they drag you to a party held at their packhouse that you meet the rest of their pack, though-- and once you do, thing's already aren't the same as they were before;...

Wolves mate for life, and wolves are almost exclusively monogamous. It's rare for a wolf to have a human mate, and even more unheard of for a wolf to have more than one mate. Unfortunately for you, an incident at this party lands you in the middle of every exception there could possibly be.

— posted; 09.09.2020 | prologue ● next▸

The air is crisp and the plants coloured cool around you, but you're not cold.

You recognise this clearing you're in, but not from the waking world. No, you recognise it because just as it is right now, it has been the set of your dreamscape before. So it's familiar, as you gaze upon it, but at the same time something tingles under your skin in anticipation of the unknown that the shadows hold just beyond the treeline.

It must be early morning, you think to yourself, as you allow your gaze to slip to the sky. It's just fading out of the darkened caress of the night as you look upon it, tinting lighter with each breath you take. You love mornings, you recall with familiarity-- you especially love mornings like this.

There's a slight mist in the air. You don't notice it until you direct you gaze back down to the dewy earth, eyes captured by each patch of wildflowers and blotch of colour. It feels almost magical, really, but for some reason... that isn't the tone of this moment.

You don't know what it is, but something curls in your stomach a little like anticipation. What are you waiting for? You know you've seen this place before, but you can't remember when, or why...

At some point you've taken a seat in the meadow, and while a part of you expects dampness to seep into your skin, you remain safe and dry. It's comfortable. This is the nicest dream you've ever dreamt, a distant part of you surmises. You're just running your hands through the silky blades of grass and watching the dewdrops collect on your skin when a soft snap sounds far to your left.

You probably should be alarmed, but when you look up it's only in curiosity. What you see, again, should be cause for alarm-- but for some reason, the sight of the great, hulking wolf lingering at the edge of the treeline doesn't cause you anything but a flutter in your stomach.

It's not alone, you notice a moment later as something emerges from the shadows beyond it. There are two of them, both massive but one of them a little bigger than the other-- it is leaner and its limbs are longer, though, while the shorter one is thicker in its form, each limb corded with muscle.

For a moment they stare at you, and when you catch the golden hue of their eyes that gleams a little too bright to be natural, you realise they're not normal. Of course, within the walls of this dream you take it in stride.

The way they hover all the way over the other side of the meadow is almost... hesitant. You tilt your head, watching as they stay calmly in place. When you speak it's without even thinking, but you're not bothered by what comes out.

"You can come over here, you know?" you say, offering them a smile. How cool will it be if you can manage to make friends with two wolves! Regardless of their unnatural size and stature, and, now that you think about it, their colouring...

The first to move is the bigger one, its coat a gorgeous mix of sand and caramel, with streaks of white marking around its eyes and ears, as well as fitting around its front paws like boots. You'd noticed that he was a little leaner than the other earlier, but you're realising now as you watch him advance slowly that that doesn't mean he's any weaker. Each stride he takes makes dense muscle shift beneath his skin and fur, and you're slightly in awe of the power contained in his limbs as he moves.

The other wolf is no less magnificent to behold-- its fur is a curious blend of charcoal and ink, speckled with streaks and patches of dark chestnut that gleam rosy in the sunlight. Its eyes are the same unnatural amber as the other wolf's, but the way that they bore into you are oddly akin to that of a puppy.

You don't move when they come close enough that they're within reach, allowing them to move at their own pace. You're not left waiting long, though, before the smaller one trots closer, hesitation forgotten.

"Oh!" You're taken aback when it leans forward suddenly, shoving its massive, inky head against your shoulder with such strength you almost fall back, were it not for the other wolf flopping down behind you and supporting you with its massive form. Ordinarily you'd be worried you're about to be torn to pieces, especially when faced with its massive maw and large teeth, but when it rubs its head against you with a soft whine sounding from the back of its throat, you know it doesn't mean you any harm.

"Oh, you're a cute one," you murmur distractedly, allowing your hands to rise and sink into its fur. It brushes like silk against your skin, and the wolf is so pleased that it simply flops down against you, resting it's head in your lap and pushing it against your stomach.

Something lights up in you, something warm like you've settled close to the glow of a campfire and the heat is sinking into your bones. You're content, so content, and you don't even know why? But oddly enough, in this moment you're not really bothered by that.

Right as you begin to settle back into the warmth and the rhythmic lull of their breathing as they rest against you, something niggles in the back of your brain-- a shard of familiarity, do you know these wolves? How would you know these wolves?

"Who are you?" you find yourself mumbling tiredly, the world around you beginning to shrink back until your brain is only aware of you and the warmth pressed against you.

The wolf in your lap turns its head so that its large eyes are boring into your own. It's still, tail thumping once against the ground, but something stirs in the back of your brain at his gaze. Recognition that filters like sunlight onto little pieces of information in your brain until they merge into something coherent.

It dawns on you with a soft gasp-- you know them, you do. They're--

x - x - x

"Rise and shine, buttercup! I'm sick of having to silence your alarms for you! If you don't get up this time I can and will take photos of your sleeping face! You know, with your mouth all open and drool on your pillow--"

A groan escapes you that you don't quite recognise as a sound you can make, your eyes cracking open to the sight of your roommate's bright, grinning face very close to your own. The first conscious thought to cross your brain is that she does, in fact, look very punchable right now, bending over just so she can hover her face in front of your own with that shit-eating grin.

"Jihyo go away," you slur, sleep still having a very firm grasp on your brain and vocal cords. You slam your face into the pillow, yanking the duvet over your head. Your peace lasts all of 0.03 seconds before your demon of a roommate yanks the cover almost entirely off your bed, revealing your curled form to the cool air and making you whine.

"Why?" you whine, clutching the dinosaur pillow in your hold closer to your chest. "L'me sleep..."

"Nope, nuh-uh," Jihyo moves over to give you a firm smack on the ass, making you yelp and jerk out of your sleepy haze so harshly that you almost fall off the bed. Ow! "I snoozed your alarm for you five times this morning, buttercup. No more! Get up."

"Jihyo," you whine, giving her an accusing look over your shoulder as you rub your stinging behind. "You didn't even hit me where my skin was covered, you cow."

The girl simply shrugs, hands on her hips as she decides that her work here is done and begins to make her way to the door. "That's on you for wearing shorts to bed in autumn, bub. Anyway, you really do have to get up because it's like, what, nine-thirty? And you have a class at ten, so..."

At first you simply blink, her words ringing in your ears but not really sinking in, until they suddenly do and you're leaping from your bed with a yelp.

"Jihyo!"

She cackles, the absolute madwoman, and promptly exits your room. "Better hurry, buttercup!"

At her departure you fly into a panicked rush to get ready, darting around your room and grabbing things at the speed of light. You don't have time to dwell on the contents of the dream you'd been having before you were so rudely awoken, and as you fling yourself around your apartment the remaining slivers you remember of it slip from your brain and out of your grasp until the next time.

x - x - x

Regrettably, all your rushing didn't help you earlier; you still arrived late to class. Your only saving grace is that it was a lecture instead of an actual class, and the professor had been playing a video for the cohort when you arrived and so the lights had been conveniently dimmed for you to slip right in to the back unnoticed.

It actually ended only a few minutes ago, and now you find yourself walking distractedly on the way to your next class, mind lost in all the thoughts you didn't have time to entertain this morning. Fleetingly, the dream flicks through your mind-- what's left in your memory of it, anyway. You can barely conjure any of the details, or even what the two wolves looked like in whole, but the feeling it left behind lingers still in the pit of your abdomen.

You don't understand it. You've been having this dream almost every night for the past week, aside from the nights where you got too little sleep to remember your dreams. Ever since that night when Taehyung and Jimin dragged you to their packhouse, each night has greeted you with the same dream of two wolves in some meadow and you don't know why. Were they that impressionable? Were you so wowed by the sight of the wolves racing that you committed it to your memory subconsciously? Maybe… it’s a possible reason, but it doesn't feel like the reason.

It started as something small, but as the week progressed there was something, a feeling, a sensation, that grew inside you until it stirred restlessly beneath your skin, like now. You're not sure what it is. You feel like you need to be on the move, like there's somewhere you need to be, or you're forgetting something. But you've checked, and you haven't forgotten something, there's nowhere else you're meant to be. So this feeling stirring around your navel... you don't know what to do about it.

Then again, you ponder as you approach the building that holds your next class, perhaps it's just the weird feeling the dreams have been leaving you with that has been making you feel so odd and on edge.

When you enter, your attention is surprisingly not immediately captured by two particular loud men as it usually is the second you step foot in the room. Thanks to their annoyingly sharp senses, the two of them can usually smell you coming before you even reach the door. Admittedly, you're not sure if you're ever going to get used to being told that you have a smell, even if it's not in the usual insulting way. Something you're just going to have to get used to, though, considering you attend a university alongside many supernaturals, two of which are some of your closest friends.

Despite the fact that you weren't accosted upon entry this time, unlike how you usually are, the two boys you begrudgingly call friends are here, seated towards the back of the room. You wonder what stopped them from performing their usual ritual of behaviour as you approach them, but the answer comes to you when you see the light frowns on their faces and the slight bags under their eyes.

"Woah," you remark, taking a seat at the rounded table next to Jimin-- they start slightly at your appearance, ringing some alarm bells in the back of your mind. "You two look like shit. Are you okay?"

Taehyung makes a face, and Jimin gives you a smile that comes out more like a wince.

"We're fine," he says, reaching up to scrub his face with a hand. "Just... a little tired."

You tilt you head, wondering if they're going to tell you why of their own accord or if you're going to have to dig and drag it out of them. Taehyung must recognise the look on your face, because he's letting out a little huff of a laugh and enlightening you in the next moment.

"It's just... some of the members of our pack," he says, yawning. Your mouth falls open in realisation; ah, so it's a wolf thing. You're even more curious now, though. You love learning more about the creatures that walk among the population— plus, they're your friends so you feel like you should learn as much as you can about them.

"Are they causing trouble?" you ask, remembering the events of the other night with an odd shiver that isn't quite anything you can name.

Both males let out a laugh, quietening only as the tutor enters the room and lets out a greeting. Today's class isn't too interactive though, and for the majority of it you're left to your own devices to complete work at your own pace. As soon as the tutor is done telling you all the agenda, Jimin is speaking quietly from next to you.

"It's not that they're causing trouble," he says, tone soft and airy. You like his voice a lot, Taehyung's too— actually, from what you can remember, every single member of the pack had a nice voice. Is it a werewolf requirement or something? Jimin's dark eyes flit from the teacher to you, mouth twisting as though he's trying to figure out how to word what he wants to say next. "It's just that..."

"You know a little bit about wolves, and the hierarchy that runs in packs, right?" Taehyung continues in Jimin's place, blinking at you. You nod, holding your hand up to gesture that your knowledge is so-so at best. "Well, within a pack there are the usual ones you've probably heard-- the alpha, the betas, omegas."

"Ah, yeah, I've heard about that," you say, unable to help the way you lean forward in interest. Taehyung smiles wryly.

"Well, there's a little more to it than that. In our pack, Jiminie and I are deltas," he hums gaze flicking upwards as he ponders how to proceed. "So our role, when we fall back into our dynamics, is largely watching territory, but it also includes taking care of ill and wounded members of the pack."

"Two of the members are sick," Jimin says, turning to you a split second later. "The two that bowled you over, actually."

"Oh," you say, recalling the handsome faces of the two wolves that had inadvertently caused your drink to end up on you and you on the ground that night. "So, they're sick and you've been looking after them? So you're tired? They should be okay though, right? I mean, you're wolves. You bounce back quickly."

The two males share a look before turning back to you, voices still hushed so that you don't draw your tutor over to where the three of you are, most definitely not doing the work assigned.

"That's just the thing, though," Jimin says, a troubled expression crossing his features. "We're wolves, we don't really get sick. The only kind of sickness that gets us is a flu that has mutated from another supernatural creature, but even so... they should have been better by now."

"It's like they just keep slowly getting worse," Taehyung says, frowning. "Jiminie and I are running ourselves into the ground trying to keep up and monitor them. We just can't figure out what's wrong to get on top of it."

"Oh," you say, an unknown feeling welling up inside you. It's something like longing, with a certain twist of urgency. You don't know what drives you to say what you did next. "Well, uh... is there anything I can do to help? You guys look exhausted."

"You wouldn't mind?" Jimin asks, sounding surprised. "Even after the other night? I know it must have been scary."

"Well, I mean, a little bit," you admit, scratching the back of your neck. "But it was also cool as hell. Your wolf forms are so awesome, I kind of wish I got to see it sooner."

"You haven't even seen ours!" Taehyung says, a little louder than intended. When the three of you look up to catch the tutor giving you the stink-eye, you bow your heads and remain silent for a while to get him off your backs.

"For real though," Jimin says a while later, hand still scribbling answers to the activity even as he talks softly. "If you're serious about wanting to help, we'd really appreciate it. The others are all caught up with either schoolwork or other obligations so it's been a little exhausting."

"I don't mind," you say, offering the two a brief smile before going back to pretending to work. "I'm happy to help. Plus... I feel a little bad that I didn't get introduced to them properly, you know?"

Taehyung snorts softly, grinning down at the table. "Yeah, that's true. Thanks, y/n."

You offer him another smile, hoping that they can't sense the way your gut flutters and churns with an unnamed feeling. "Of course."

x - x - x

When you offered to give Taehyung and Jimin a hand with looking after their sick packmates, you were expecting to be making soup or something for them to take over. You weren’t, as it happens, expecting for the two of them to rock up at 6PM while you’re in the middle of a belated cardio workout (which was only happening because you have schoolwork that you were procrastinating at the time) to grab you and drag you back over to their pack dorm to actually, physically help out.

“Why is it every time I come here, I’m always being dragged?” you question, hints of a whine to your voice. They hadn’t even let you change! You’re still in your workout gear, which, granted, consists of just a singlet and tight, ankle-length exercise pants, and isn’t that risqué—but still! The weather is getting colder these days and so are you, right now! If it weren’t for the absolute furnace that is their body temperature and the heat of their hands on your arms, you think you’d be shivering.

“You’ve only been here twice, and this is the second time,” Jimin says dismissively, hand gripping your arm as he leads you up the stairs to their front door. You have a funny feeling in your gut that you can’t quite pin, similar to the last time you were here, but now you don’t even have time to dwell on it before you’re thrown into the pack dorm once more.

It’s much tidier than it was last time.

You’re taken aback by how clean and, well…spacious it is, now that there’s not drunk adolescent bodies crammed everywhere. It’s a very modern layout, as you noticed last time, and tastefully decorated. From what Jimin and Taehyung told you, most of the bedrooms are upstairs and the lowest floor contains most amenities like the kitchen, gym room, etcetera…

The door closes with a resounding thud behind you, and there is a call from beyond the hallway, where you recall the kitchen to be. You don’t think you recognise the voice, though.

“Tae, Jiminie, you’re back!” There is a pause, and something that sounds suspiciously like a sniff. Suddenly, you’re mortified to be the only human here again. “…Who do you have with you?”

Before you’re anywhere near composed enough to be meeting another member of their pack, the two devious bastards are pushing you forwards and around the corner, into the kitchen once more. You have a very sudden, terrible flashback to the last time you were in this kitchen and on instinct you’re scanning the room for a familiar raven-haired male.

To your relief, Yoongi isn’t anywhere to be seen—there is someone at the kitchen counter though, someone that you don’t recognise at all. You freeze, offering a sheepish grin as the two wolves you somehow call your friends hold you in place. Like you could even attempt to get away anyway.

The new figure is taller than Jimin, but not taller than Taehyung. His hair is dark, cherry red, but you can spy some regrowth coming through at the roots, and before you even see the rest of his face you can tell from his eyes and the creases at their ends that this man smiles a lot. You’re proven right when he easily returns the smile you’d flashed him earlier, shooting it at you like a sunbeam. It almost, honest to god, disorients you where you stand.

“Hey Hobi,” Taehyung greets, grinning brightly. “This is y/n, we brought her around at the last party but you were, ah… previously occupied.”

The man before you has the decency to flush slightly, a sheepish grin tugging his lips. You’ve never seen a heart-shaped smile before now, but you’re glad this attractive man was the first one to show you the light.

“Ah… right.” He chuckles, before placing the bowl in his arms onto the counter and offering you a hand. “Sorry to have missed introductions, especially when Tae and Jiminie talk so much about you! I’m Hoseok, but you can call me Hobi, or Hope if you’d like.”

Hope. It clicks together in your head and your own face flushes as you recall last time when they said he, Hope, was off practicing the karma sutra with someone. Mortified that you recalled that tidbit now of all times, you push it from your brain and try to focus on the other things he said.

“It’s nice to meet you,” you say, shaking his hand. You can’t help the way you grumble after though, giving Jimin and Taehyung a glare. “And I hope they haven’t talked too much. Every time I’ve heard them tell one of you about me, it’s always something humiliating.”

“Oh, like being caught watching Ouran Host Club in your lecture?” Hoseok asks, head tilting slightly as he picks the bowl back up. You wince instinctively, and he laughs. It doesn’t get any less humiliating every time you hear it.

“Yup,” you say, feeling very much like you wished you hadn’t agreed to help at all. “Something like that.”

He smiles, but thankfully doesn’t tease you further. Instead, he turns his attention to the two boys beside you.

“What did you bring her for?” he asks, curiosity the only thing you can identify in his tone. Jimin wastes no time in sealing your fate.

“She offered to help when we told her Kookie and Jin were sick!” he says, smacking your shoulder like a proud parent. It was almost a little too hard, and you cough slightly from the impact. Taehyung rubs a soothing hand over the place of impact, giving his brother a look. “So we brought her over, since the others can’t stay and you’re the only one that can run classes at the studio right now.”

Hoseok’s mouth forms an ‘o’, dark eyes flicking to you in surprise. “Oh, that’s very kind of you,” he remarks, flashing you another billion-watt smile. “Thank you, for that. We’re not usually this hopeless at caring for ourselves but one of the ones that’s sick is the one that usually cares for us so… we’ve kind of been running around like headless chickens, heh.”

You shrug, finally feeling a little more settled and a little less like you’d like to flee at the first available opportunity. You’re still very keenly aware of the fact that this is only the second—and first, in Hoseok’s case—time meeting these people, and it’s therefore a little awkward for you. But, to their credit, the way they’re just taking it in stride is really helping you feel less out of place.

Even though technically you hadn’t even planned on coming anywhere near here….

“It’s no problem,” you say, unsure how else to receive his words. He’s still smiling, though, so you’re guessing that he wouldn’t have been too bothered however you answered.

“How are they?” Taehyung asks, soft baritone brushing the air. There’s palpable concern in his voice, and when you glance his way his expression confirms it.

“Well,” Hoseok says, placing the bowl down on the counter again, except with a little more oomph this time. You’re beginning to grow curious as to what exactly is in there. “They’re not any better, but they’re not exactly any worse, either, so… I’m not sure how to answer. Although—”

He smacks his hand onto the counter, a wooden clatter following from the spoon in his grasp, and your eyes widen at the light gashes on the back of his hand. They’re open but not bleeding, as though they’re in the midst of healing, but they look like they were deep at some point. “—Jin has been getting a bit of an attitude, so it’s probably for the best that you brought her. The two of you are going to have to deal with him; she can deal with Kookie, if she needs to. He’s just been sulky.”

“Jin got an attitude?!” Jimin sounds incredulous, and you figure that whichever one is Jin mustn’t normally kick up much of a fuss if he’s reacting like that to the information. “What, why? Did one of you step on his paw again?”

For a moment, you think it’s just a figure of speech, like a wolf thing, but then Hoseok huffs and grumbles, rolling his eyes. “No! That was only once! No one went near his stupid paws this time. He’s been shifted ever since he started feeling sick but he’s only just started getting snappy. He’s a little testy right now… it’s why I was down here, making him stupid treats because he can’t eat human desserts in this form.”

Wait, so both of them… are wolves right now? You’re suddenly a little nervous, but do your best not to show it—somehow, despite the fact their senses are so much more advanced than yours and usually you’d be instantly found out, they’re a little too distracted with the issue currently on their hands to notice.

As though he can hear the slander being thrown around on the floors below him, there is a sudden long, muffled howl that pierces the air—the sound is weaker than you’d expect but still startles you, making you jump. As it ends, it’s followed by a thump and a series of thunks and rattles, like something had been knocked off a shelf. Hoseok rolls his eyes, and you put the pieces together and realise that must have been the wolf in question.

Jimin is wincing, reaching to take the bowl and spoon into his hands. “Uh, okay—we’ll keep an eye on him, and I’ll finish making his, uh… his scooby snacks. You can get going, I know you have a class ready to start in, like, ten minutes.”

Hoseok shoots his packmate a thankful look, more being said with his eyes than you’re privy to as a complete stranger. Now he’s relieved of his duties for the night,

“Thank you,” he says, passing Jimin the whisk that lay discarded at the other end of the bench. You then watch as he moves around the counter to grab what you quickly realise is a gym bag from its perch on the table. You half expect him to wave and then be on his way, but he halts partway towards the door, something on the tip of his tongue.

“If they don’t get better…” he trails off, brows furrowed. It’s in this moment that it really sinks in for you that their packmates must be quite sick for them to be so concerned, and you feel bad that you regretted being dragged here earlier. Jimin and Taehyung are your friends and they need help caring for their pack, their family. You feel crummy for opposing it even a little bit.

Hoseok shakes his head, brows furrowing further. “No, even if they do start to get better—I think we should call the Head Healer. This isn’t normal, and whether its some supernatural flu or something else I think they should know. I’ll tell Yoongi to call his dad, but be prepared to tell him in case he forgets.”

The two males beside you nod, Jimin’s orange locks bouncing from the fervour with which he did so.

“Will do,” Taehyung affirms, nodding towards the redhead. “We’ll take care of them in the meantime.”

Hoseok nods, expression lightening for a fraction of a second. His gaze is soon flitting back to you, a smile that makes your heart skip a beat on his lips. “It was a pleasure to meet you, despite the circumstances,” he declares politely, even if the gleam in his eye is anything but. It takes all of your willpower to keep a straight face. “I’d love to get to know you a little more sometime—”

“YAH get out of here you slimy—” Jimin is huffing suddenly, red-faced and outraged, waving his arms before darting forward to chase his packmate out. “Don’t speak to her like that! She’s off-limits! Do not put your dirty whore hands anywhere near—”

The two of them disappear around the corner, but the sound of Hoseok’s cackling and Jimin’s indignant yells reach you loud and clear anyway. As Jimin sees his packmate off at the door, Taehyung picks up the bowl and resumes where Hoseok left off, and you’re left wondering just how this night is going to go with two massive wolves upstairs needing to be cared for.

x – x

“Okay, so… here’s the plan.”

You listen attentively, fidgeting on the spot and wishing not for the first time that these two idiots had let you change before dragging you here to help out. The sweat has made your head itchy, and you’re trying so hard not to scratch it that you feel your hands trembling. Thankfully, the two wolves beside you remain none the wiser to your inner turmoil and the occasional stink-eye you throw their way.

“Me and Jiminie are gonna go deal with Jin-hyung,” Taehyung says, pausing as a loud thump echoes from the floor above. The three of you are standing at the foot of the stairs, and had been about to go up before the taller man halted you all to make a game-plan. “It… seems like it’s gonna be a two person job. I don’t know what his problem is…?”

He looks to the side to Jimin as he trails off, but his friend merely shrugs, no closer to knowing the source of his packmate’s behaviour than he is. Taehyung huffs, turning to you. “And you can handle Kookie. Just take his food up for him, apparently he’s just been sulky and he’s not aggressive in wolf or human form so you shouldn’t have anything to be worried about.”

You nod as he hands you a bowl of cooked and seasoned meat that makes even your mouth water from the aroma wafting with steam into the air. “Great. That really comforts me, thank you.”

Taehyung grins and Jimin rolls his eyes. “If he allows it, could you check his temperature when you go up there? I know we usually run hot, but we’ve noticed that with whatever sickness this is their temperatures fluctuate a lot. It’ll be really helpful if you can just tell us whether he’s warm or cold.”

You nod again, Jimin appearing satisfied with his instruction. Taehyung throws his hand in the air, almost dislodging the bowl in his hold as he does so. “Alright! Autobots, roll out!”

You simply turn to go up the stairs first, already hearing Jimin deliver his packmate with a firm whack for being an idiot. You reach the top of the stairs and pause, eyes sweeping across the hallway and the abundance of closed doors with little or no distinguishing characteristics. Well, shit.

“Last door on the right, y/n!”

Perfect. Off you go.

As you approach the end of the hallway, another door opposite the one you’re heading towards, the feeling that has been sitting dormant in your abdomen suddenly stirs to life. The tugging around your navel is more persistent than ever, leaving you confused and a little disoriented as you finally reach the last door on the right. To your surprise, there is a shuffling sound from the door opposite, on the left side of the hall, and a low, baleful whine that reaches you through the wood and makes your heart drop and clench. You don’t think you’ve ever reacted so strongly to, well, anything before.

Shaking your head and hearing the other two follow behind you in the hall, you grasp the doorknob of the door you’ve been directed to and ease it open, slipping inside as quietly as possible before closing it behind you. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself and attempt to smother the quickened pace of your heart before it’s beating gets too loud, you slowly look up from the door handle and survey the rest of the room.

It’s chic, a stylish combination of white and various cool greys across the room. The window is open but the dark curtains drawn, the breeze ruffling them ever so slightly and making you shiver as it reaches you from across the room. It’s nice, you admit to yourself, momentarily forgetting why you’re there. You’re quickly reminded once more, however, at the sight of the massive furry lump sprawled across the queen-sized bed. The main overhead light isn’t on, but the bedside lamps are and it’s enough to illuminate the wolf left in your care for the time being. There’s something about him that tickles familiarity in the back of your mind as you survey his form; his coat is a sleek mixture of ink and charcoal, fur illuminated dark chestnut where it falls beneath the light. You can’t quite put your finger on why you feel something stir inside you at the sight of him, this massive wolf sprawled across the bed, and for the time being you decide to give up on attempting to understand it.

Adjusting your hold on the bowl in your hands, you move closer to the bed, unable to help the way you keep admiring this wolf’s majestic form even as he faces away from you. You know this one is the member called Jungkook, but you can’t quite put a human face to the name to recall which wolf it was that bowled you over a week ago.

Initially, you thought that he might have been asleep, but as you grow closer to the bed you hear the softest whimper enter the air, followed by a thin whine. You freeze, looking up just in time to see a large, heavy-lidded, amber eye watching you move. Distantly, you realise that this is the sort of sight that should be making you freeze in fear. Instead, the only thing you feel is something odd and foreign, curling warmly in the pit of your abdomen. You’re not sure what to do with it, and to be honest it gives you pause.

“Uh, hey,” you say softly, feeling a little awkward. The wolf gives a huff, blinking his large eye somewhat owlishly—while he didn’t seem to really see you earlier, he appears to be registering your appearance now. “We’ve met before… I’m Taehyung and Jimin’s friend. They said that you guys were sick so I offered to help out…”

The wolf shuffles in place, looking a little more alert. Thankfully, as Taehyung had promised, he doesn’t seem aggressive or anything like that. Actually, he seems about the opposite—as he rises to a slightly more elevated position on the bed, now facing you, he lets out another long, low whine. It makes your insides clench with something like sympathy. You place the bowl where he can reach it and immediately the wolf starts devouring his meal.

There is a sudden yowl that pierces through the walls and makes you jump, but the wolf before you couldn’t be more unbothered. In the blink of an eye the bowl is emptied and licked clean, the wolf’s massive head lifting to pin you with a look that seems to say ‘what next?’. You move the bowl so it isn’t tipped, placing it on the bedside table next to a black Nintendo Switch console there. Before you can flounder too much, you recall Jimin’s instructions from earlier.

“Oh, I need to check your temperature, as well…” you inform him, still speaking softly. There is a bit of a commotion from beyond the bedroom door and you think you hear Taehyung holler something stupid, but can’t be sure. You decide to ignore it.

Tentatively, you reach your hand up, simply going for the wolf’s forehead or the closest thing to it. To your surprise, despite the minute nod that the wolf had offered you just before, now he seems to be moving his head just out of reach every time you come close. There’s a peculiar gleam in his big puppy eyes that you can’t quite decipher, almost something sly as you continue attempting to place the back of your hand against his head. His relentless shifting ends up with you leaning over the bed to reach him, and you realise a little too late just how unstable you are. Finally, he allows you to place your hand against his head, but it lasts for barely a second before the bed is shifting suddenly and then you’re falling onto the mattress with an ‘oof!’.

The wolf huffs, a massive arm laying over your hips and his head flopped down on your chest just below your breasts. You can feel your face heat in a combination of embarrassment, confusion, and fluster. For a moment, you’re too stunned to even move.

“What are you—” you can’t even finish a full sentence, you’re so flustered. “I only need to take your temperature! Let me up, please—”

You attempt to move, or even prop yourself on your elbows, and the wolf whimpers, pitifully, more of his weight bearing down on you. You pause before trying again and receiving the same reaction, this time with a mournful whine tacked onto the end.

“You’re a big baby,” you find yourself saying, tone much closer to exasperated scolding than you might have expected. “Are you really not gonna let me up?”

In response, you receive a huff and an adjustment of the wolf’s hold on you that makes it even more difficult for you to get up from the bed, his massive paw pressing into the mattress on the other side of you. When you let out a heavy sigh, he whimpers and butts his head against you, the action oddly affectionate.

“I can’t believe this,” you mutter, staring at the ceiling and wondering what on earth has just happened in the past few minutes. Since you can do nothing else, you take the opportunity to finally touch his forehead and take his temperature. He’s a little cool, but oddly doesn’t stay that way; it’s like you can feel him warming beneath your hand.

Really, you’re pretty much trapped right now. You’re not as scared as one might think you would be, and you don’t really know what you’re feeling in response to the situation. You do know that something flips and flutters inside you every time you move and you hear him whimper, or whine and snuggle closer. This wolf is almost the size of a bear and is snuggling all over you like a teacup puppy.

You’re not sure how long you lay in spot before your two idiot friends finally realise you’ve been gone a little too long for the menial tasks you were given and come knocking. The creak of the door easing open makes you jump slightly in surprise and the hackles on the wolf to raise ever so slightly.

“y/n, what is taking you so l—oh. Oh my gosh.”

Your head whips in the direction of the door, and a pleading look is already on your face before you can even think to muster it. Taehyung and Jimin stand stock still in the doorway, faces portraying an almost comical amount of shock. Jimin squints, rubbing his eyes as though he’s making sure he’s really seeing what he’s seeing. “Uh… what happened here?”

“He won’t let me up,” you grumble, face on fire. This is humiliating. The wolf huffs, like he’s talking back to you, and both Taehyung and Jimin’s eyebrows shoot up. “He’s sneaky. I just tried to take his temperature and….”

“Oh, right,” Jimin says, blinking rapidly. “How is it?”

“A little cold, but each time I check he gets warmer,” you inform him, the distant hilarity of the situation not lost on you as you calmly discuss the health and wellbeing of the wolf that currently has you pinned to his bed as a makeshift teddy bear. Jimin goes to take a step forward and a soft growl halts him mid-movement, the sound something you can feel rumbling from deep within the wolf’s chest.

“Jungkookie,” he scolds, gasping in affront. “Don’t be nasty.”

“Oh my god,” Taehyung mumbles to himself, something cheeky and mischievous that spells absolute trouble glimmering in his eyes. “This is fantastic—just wait until you’re human again, Koo. You’re not gonna live this down.”

Unimpressed, you send them a glare—some of your limbs are starting to fall asleep, maybe they could try and help you get out? Catching the look you send them, the two men share their own, and you can safely say you don’t quite like the tone of it.

They better not leave you here.

x – x – x

The next day finds you sprawled on your bed, feeling dead to the world.

True to their historically goblin nature, your two best friends had indeed left you there.

You’d found out later that it was because they knew they’d only be able to slip you out from under the wolf when he fell asleep (because apparently once he’s out, he sleeps like the dead, no matter the form). But until such a time as they actually came and retrieved you from beneath their sick, clingy packmate, you were incredibly annoyed with them. It had taken about an hour or so for the wolf, Jungkook, to fall asleep—about halfway through that you’d subconsciously keyed into the same plan as them and had begun carding your hands through his fur in an attempt to lull him to sleep faster. It had worked, and you don’t want to think about how dead your limbs would be if the wolf had taken any longer to fall asleep.

In all, the ordeal was incredibly embarrassing and your only saving grace is that Taehyung and Jimin were too busy planning how to tease their youngest packmate to tease you. Which is lucky because, wolf or not, if they’d teased you then you might have killed them.

You didn’t get back until around midnight, since you’d stayed a bit longer to help Taehyung and Jimin cook and prepare some stuff in case the two wolves woke up worse. As soon as your head hat hit the pillow, you’d knocked right out. Shamefully, you slept so deep and long that you missed your alarm for your morning class and woke up closer to lunch, which is where you are now.

Laying in bed with aching eyes and wishing that you didn’t have another class in another two hours.

Jihyo hadn’t even questioned where you went for so long last night, but also hadn’t made a joke about you finally getting some so you figure she’s waiting to pounce on you later. You find she’s already left for the day, when you finally wrangle yourself from bed and attempt to resume life as a functioning human being. So you’re safe until at least this afternoon, when she finishes her shift at the university second-hand bookstore. You can probably remain safe for longer if you study at the library and come home when she goes to her pilates class.

You’re shamefully good at evading her, at this point. You’d feel bad if it wasn’t a skill you’d learnt for survival.

You took your time a little too much while getting ready for your class, and it made you run so late that for the time being even you completely forgot about the events of last night. Well, you did until you enter your classroom and are greeted by two loud hollers of your name. Honestly, do they have no shame? Do attractive people even feel shame?

“Shut up,” you grumble half-heartedly as you take your seat between them, resisting the urge to rub your eyes since you’d put on mascara earlier. One of many things that had almost made you late. “You’re so loud.”

You complain, but secretly you’re glad for the noise—it means they’re feeling better, and things must also be improving at the pack dorm. When you finally raise your eyes to survey their faces, you find them displaying an odd mix of emotions. Like they’re glad, relieved, but at the same time still concerned about something.

“So… how are things at the dorm?” you inquire tentatively, making the most of the time you have before your tutor arrives and begins the class; it seems you aren’t the only one running behind today.

Taehyung lets out a huff, resting his cheek in his hand with a wry smile. “Well, Jungkookie is much better. You must have a magic touch because he was up and back into his human form this morning. He wanted to go to his classes but Namjoon made him stay back because he’s still not completely better.”

“On the other hand,” Jimin continues, without the need of prompting. “Seokjin… well, it’s almost like he’s the same as before, slowly getting worse. We can’t figure out what is wrong with him and why his condition isn’t turning around like Jungkook’s is.”

Ah, now you understand their expressions. They look about as confused as you feel, too. It doesn’t leave you with a very good feeling, if they’re the experts in this area and even they’re stumped for an explanation.

“We got Yoongi to call his dad, though. I heard them on the phone before we left so I suppose we’ll hear what he recommends when we get back.”

You hum to acknowledge what he said, opening your mouth to respond but deciding against it when you see the tutor hurtle into the room, out of breath and frantic.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone! If you could please all open your books to this week’s chapter, I will begin with the slides in just a moment!”

x – x – x

Considering that what you’d heard from your two wolf friends was that one of their packmates was on the mend and the other less so, you hadn’t really expected to hear anything else from them. That proves to be the exact opposite of what happens, though.

At quarter to three in the morning, you’re woken to sharp, persistent banging on your front door—the kind that makes you scared that the door is actually going to break beneath the force of the blows raining down on it. You tear out of your bed and stumble down the hall to answer it, knowing that if Jihyo has to get up to do it she’s going to tear you a new asshole.

“WHAT?!” You snap, not even seeing properly through the bleariness in your eyes but knowing in your heart there’s only two people ballsy enough to come bust your door down at this hour in the morning. “Are you trying to get me killed?! Jihyo still hasn’t forgotten about the last time you came over and ruined her sleep!”

Jimin has the decency to look somewhat sheepish, but Taehyung simply looks distressed. “Look, I’m not gonna say I’m sorry because I’m not, but we really need you to come with us right now.”

You blink, reaching to rub your eyes and feeling a strand of your hair flop into your face in response. You just know it looks like something made at the hands of Jackson Pollock right now. “What? The hell? Do you mean?”

It’s Jimin’s airy tone that reaches you this time, lowering your hackles ever so slightly. “No, he’s lying, we are sorry, it’s just—it’s an emergency. Something happened and we need your help to test a… a theory, if you will.”

You stare at him, willing his words to make sense in your sleepy brain. “I don’t understand.”

“That’s fine,” Taehyung says; and then in the next second he reaches and grabs you around the waist, slinging you over his shoulder. “We just need you to come. Can you lock up so she doesn’t kill us, Jiminie?”

You’re too stunned to even say anything as you hear Jimin lock your front door behind you, Taehyung already beginning to move post-haste down the apartment building hallway with you over his shoulder. When you finally catch-up to the events of the current moment, you instantly curse the blonde man out. “Hey, what the fuck—I can walk! Put me down! Put me down or I’ll go straight back home!”

“No way,” Taehyung argues, already exiting the building with you in tow. “You’re just gonna go back no matter what, if I put you down. I saw that look in your eyes, the one you get when you’re about to slam the door in our faces. We really need you to come, y/n.”

You blink, trying to remember if you planned on closing the door in their faces. It was only a few moments ago, but you’re still half-asleep and can’t remember for the life of you. A part of you wishes to speak up and deny his words, but for however outraged you are right now you’re still attuned to the words he’s saying and the vocal cues that accompany his speech. It gives you pause, because he seems really, genuinely distressed right now.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

Jimin has since caught up to the two of you and is opening the car door, preparing the back seat for your entry—you haven’t seen this one before, so you presume it must belong to one of the older pack members. “It’s Jin-hyung and Kookie.”

“What?” Confusion combines with sleepiness to make you sound like the stupidest person on earth. “I thought they were getting better? Or at least Jungkook was—”

“We thought so too,” Taehyung says, finally putting you down and patting your head in a makeshift apology. You decide that killing him can wait for later.

“And then… tonight happened.”

As the two of them climb hurriedly into the car and buckle up to send you all on your way to the pack dorm, they fill you in on the events of the evening. While Jungkook had shown a marked improvement over the day, it was like a switch had flipped as soon as night fell and the moon emerged from below the horizon. He relapsed to a worse state than he was in last night, and Seokjin’s condition apparently worsened as well. Alarmed and not having a single idea what to do, they’d called in Yoongi’s father who had spent a large majority of the night attempting to diagnose them and prevent their condition from worsening. Only around half an hour ago had he put together a theory as to what was wrong with them, after all the pack members filled him in on everything they could.

“Wait so—Yoongi’s dad? The healer…?” you wait for their nods of confirmation before continuing. “He thinks it has something to do with me? Wait, if that’s the case should you even be bringing me back?! What if I make them worse again! God, I knew I shouldn’t have rocked up to the party last week…”

“No, well—I mean—” Jimin flounders for what to say, cutting himself off when he comes close to saying something and giving you the sense that there is another element to this that they’re not telling you. You have half a mind to demand to know, but you also recognise it could also be a wolf thing that you have no business knowing. “Don’t worry, if the head healer of our pack is calling you back, it’s not because he thinks you’re the thing making them sick.”

That does ease you, admittedly. Just a bit. You yawn, catching movement outside your window and realising with a startle that you’re already at the pack dorm. Instantly, for reasons barely known to you, your stomach erupts into a live bundle of nerves. You’re so baffled by it that you don’t even notice as the car pulls to a stop and your door is being opened in the next second by a perplexed Jimin.

“Are you alright?”

You give him a stinky look to save face as you climb out of the car, pretending your legs aren’t wobbly. “You’re asking that now?”

At the attitude in your voice the expression of concern slips right off his face and he snorts, looping his arm through yours and dragging you up the path to the pack dorm for the third time in a week. “Oh good, you’re alright. Hurry up now, I can hear them howling like pups from here.”

You go to bite back with a response but pause, because the second you tune into your ears you can hear it too. It’s mournful, the way the howls pierce the air. Baleful, especially when paired with the scenery of the almost-full moon hanging above the trees. Again, you’re not scared, just oddly… nervous. As in, full of nerves. It’s as though there are a thousand bees buzzing in your abdomen, and the network of nerves and synapses in your body have turned to live wires beneath your skin, thrumming and prickling with energy.

What does your subconscious seem to know that you don’t?

The howls are amplified the second you enter the house and there is no longer several inches of thick wall muffling their piercing resonance. They seem to be upstairs once more, on the side of the house that you didn’t venture into last time. Now that you’re close enough, you can distinguish that it’s not only pitiful howls breaking the air, but soft whimpers and whines, as well. Something about it, the quality of the sounds brushing your ears, makes your eyes prick with tears. It’s almost like…. Grieving. Like they’re calling out for something or someone that isn’t coming.

“Wow, they’re somehow even louder than when we left,” Jimin remarks, already dragging you towards the stairs and beginning on the climb up. “For wolves that are so sick they sure do still have a pair of lungs on them.”

You’re too busy remembering the fact that you’re currently dressed in the same shorts and singlet combo you’ve been in all week, and that you’re in a house full of men (and wolves, but you digress) to offer a response. Your arrival at the top of the stairs brings you to the sight of a number of men at the end of the hall, gathered together and muttering amongst themselves. You recognise all but one, and figure that the unfamiliar older gentleman must be Yoongi’s father as you’d heard of him.

“We brought her,” Jimin announces, though you doubt it was very necessary since they could probably smell you coming from the driveway. “Are they doing any better?”

Yoongi leans around Namjoon to deliver the younger with a deadpan look. “Listen for yourself.”

Right on cue, there is another round of pitiful howling, the noise tugging at something deep inside you. Why did it make you want to go to them? Are your instincts broken? That seems like a crazy reaction to have. Perhaps you should go get yourself checked out after this ordeal, though you’re unsure which professional you should be seeking out.

Jimin winces. “Alright. So they’re not doing much better at all.”

The new character, Yoongi’s dad, steps forward and reaches out to shake your hand. “Hello, you must be y/n. I’m Yunho, the Head Healer of this pack. I’m so sorry to have brought you out here at such a late hour.”

Now that everyone’s attention is on you, and Yunho looks so genuinely apologetic (you see the relation to Yoongi in the kind set of his features) you find your earlier anger at being awoken and dragged here fizzling out for good. Somewhat meekly, you manage to respond, “It’s fine. If I can help then I don’t mind at all.”

The older man smiles at your words, appreciation in his tone as he thanks you. “We’re really grateful, for that. Now, if you don’t mind, all I want you to do is just… go into the room with them.”

You blink, Taehyung and Jimin already having begun guiding (read: dragging) you to the room in question. “Pardon?”

Yunho seems slightly amused and sheepish. “I… have a theory, as to what is wrong with these two. I will inform you of everything after we test it out, but would you be able to go in, for now? Please?”

You’re not exactly in a position to refuse, not that you really want to anyway. As silly as it is, if going into the room where the wolves are is something that will somehow actually help them, then you’ll do it. Especially because you don’t think you can handle much more of their baleful howling—they seem miserable.

“Yeah, okay. Of course.” You shake your limbs out, shrugging your arms out of your friends’ grips and shooting them a glare for manhandling your again. They have the decency to appear slighty apologetic.

The entire pack in the hallway parts to let you through, like a sea of wolves. The room they direct you to is the one opposite of the one you went into last night, the one where the rowdy wolf that Jimin and Taehyung took care of had been. Taking a deep breath, you push the slightly ajar door open, biting your lip in anticipation of what you will see on the other side.

It’s a room similar in shape to Jungkook’s, but with blues and yellows mixed into the scheme of whites and greys. It is, put simply and as objectively as possible, a mess. You can see where things have been knocked off of shelves and desks, and some items (namely one of the bed posts) have been chewed up and left disfigured. It looks like a house with remnants of a temper tantrum from a puppy left alone too soon. They aren’t on the bed, which is oddly bare, and you see why a moment later when you catch sight of them huddled together on the floor, the size of small bears but shaking and whimpering so pathetically that you don’t feel even a shred of fear as you gaze upon them. A rumpled mixture of fluffy blankets and duvets are beneath them in a makeshift nest, some of them still attached to the bed and tucked underneath the end of the mattress.

You’re not sure what you expected when you stepped into the room, but it wasn’t for the two wolves to fall dead silent upon your arrival. You freeze, unsure how to proceed until there is a nudge at your back, and you turn over your shoulder to see Yunho giving you an encouraging look.

“Just go over to them, it will be okay. They won’t hurt you.”

You didn’t realise that was a fear you had until his words soothed it, and you take another deep breath to steel yourself before following his directions. You can’t tell whether the wolves are awake, or in that feverish place between sleep and waking, but the closer you get the less restless they seem and the less noises tumble from their jaws. Unsure what they want you to do when you reach the wolves, you turn back with a questioning look. Already, at the silence in the room, Yunho has a relieved look on his face. He makes a hand movement, gesturing for you to take a seat, and you see several heads pop around the doorframe to watch as you do so.

Blushing madly and pretending that you’re not as embarrassed as you are, you sink to your knees in front of the two wolves, eyes scanning over the one you hadn’t seen before today.

Seokjin, if you recall correctly; the eldest in the pack (well… this little subgroup of the larger pack, anyway), and the other wolf that bowled you over that day. A sense of familiarity washes over you as you view him, too, despite the fact you don’t think you’ve ever seen him in his wolf form before. His coat is sandy and light, caramel-hued in some places with accents of white around his eyes and front paws. Again, you can’t quite place where you’ve seen him before, but you know deep down that you have. The same goes for Jungkook, who appears extra dark next to his lighter packmate. Each of their heads is larger, broader than one of your thighs, something you become acutely aware of as you shuffle closer on your knees. Two barely-seeing sets of amber eyes watch your every movement.

Just when you go to look back and see what they want you to do next, there is shuffling from in front of you that captures your attention instead; a whimper escapes Jungkook, but Seokjin is the one that is moving, lifting his head and craning it forward until his moist nose skims your knee, sniffing tentatively. Whatever you smell like must confirm something for him, because in the next moment he’s letting out a low whine from the back of his throat and struggling forward, butting his head against you before rubbing the side of it along your thigh. You don’t have words to describe how hot your face is right now. Just when you think it can’t get any more embarrassing, the darker wolf gains a sudden burst of energy and lurches forward, snapping his teeth around the edge of your shorts leg and tugging lightly.

“Wh—” you don’t even have the brain space to finish whatever you were going to say, too busy shuffling forward and trying to make sure this wolf doesn’t pants you in front of the rest of the pack who are—as you confirm with an alarmed look over your shoulder—still watching everything unfold. The wolf, Jungkook, doesn’t stop tugging until you’re nestled deep between their two bodies, their temperatures rising each second you spend there, and as soon as he releases his teeth from the material of your shorts, Seokjin’s body is tilting and his head is coming to press against you and trap you in.

This is ridiculous. Is this actually happening? Are you not still at home, dreaming?

Your alarmed look is directed at the rest of the pack mates and Yunho once more, the older man letting out a sigh and wincing lightly. The rest of the members seem an odd mix of relieved and baffled. It does not soothe you one bit.

“Okay… y/n, there’s something we need to talk to you about.”

a/n: here it is! pls let me know what u think, feel free to come scream in my inbox and leave a like & reblog!! it means the world to me!! i might not always get to respond to all of them, but i do read every single one-- reread, even. thank u for reading this and for always supporting me! love u!! <3

1K notes · View notes

unbloomingmoonflower · 3 years

Text

Emergence of the End

Mentions of the OTPoly. Pre-EW

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Everything...is mine again.

True, the body was that of her shard. However, it was still hers. Lilith stretched the fingers, accustoming herself with the limbs of the lithe Au Ra.

It was easy to fool her shard into accepting her. It was a stepping stone to annihilate the star, to destroy everything she hated about Amaurot in its ridiculousness for perfection. Hydaelyn shattering reality...well, that only gave Lilith more work.

Shuri was battling futilely within the recesses of her mind. Her strength will fade over time and Lilith will fully regain autonomy over herself and her shard. Day by day, the Xaela was becoming weaker.

That is just how I want it to be.

“Shuri?” That familiar voice, belonging to the shard of her beloved, called out the name of her own shard. That’s right; he didn’t know. He didn’t know that Lilith could erase the presence of the woman he loved.

Such heartbreak. It would tug at her heartstrings if she had any left.

Turning with the face he recognized, Lilith could see the shock in Estinien’s ice-blue eyes. “Your eyes...” he murmured. “They’re silver.”

“Yes. They are.” A smile curved Lilith’s lips, feeling the aether within her flowing. So this is what Amaurotines felt.

“You’re not Shuri.” Estinien’s voice was biting, his eyes narrowing as he reached for his lance. “You’re her, aren’t you? The part of her she merged with?”

“Very good, my dear.” Lilith turned fully, spreading her arms as though to encompass the world. Just like her predecessors, with the aether running through her veins, she was able to form a glyph over her face. Just like Lahabrea; just like Hades; just like...

Just like papa.

“I took back what is rightfully mine. This body is my shard. It did not belong to the woman you know as your wife, Estinien,” Lilith continued, beginning to walk toward him. “And I intend to tear everything at the seams. These worlds should not have existed, yet Hydaelyn’s power shattered the very fabric of reality. I was to be Her heart, however...something went terribly wrong. Or...horribly right.”

“You know she isn’t like that. You should allow her to be in control of her body,” Estinien retorted.

“It’s not her body.”

Estinien recoiled as Lilith approached, using Shuri’s body, the mania in etched on his wife’s face disconcerting. It didn’t fit, it wasn’t Shuri; it was her former self, conveying the madness she’s had within her, the madness she relished in.

It was swift, but he was able to perceive Kivera coming to his side, aiming her scythe toward Lilith, her eyes narrowed. Despite her stoicism, Estinien could perceive a tremor in her arm. Hesitation.

It was clear she wanted to excise Lilith from Shuri’s body; however, that would involve hurting Shuri--the last thing the reaper wanted to do.

There was sick amusement in those silver eyes, the mad grin stretching further. “Your hesitation is so sweet,” she mocked, pressing a hand to her chest. “You don’t want this little shard to die. You were there, Kivera, when Amaurot fell. You’ve seen my sundering. And yet here you are, so fond of this little shard when you should have just taken her soul away. She shouldn’t even exist, is that not what your creed follows?”

Kivera grit her teeth before feeling Estinien’s hand curl over her wrist. She could feel his own hand shaking with rage at witnessing this, at beholding a mad homunculus wearing Shuri’s body no differently than Elidibus used Ardbert’s body.

And there was no doubt Shuri was screaming from within.

Turning on her heel, Lilith walked away from the two. “I’ve become quite fond of you both. Estinien being the shard of my beloved...it’s as though I have Lucifer returned to me. I want to keep you hidden away while I destroy the fabric of these shards. And I will use this body to do it. Can you imagine the sheer look of betrayal on the Scions’ faces when they see their precious warrior of light stand as an enemy?”

Glancing back at them, Lilith’s eyes were swirling with her madness, her unyielding need to destroy. “It will be absolutely delightful. And I hope to see you both on the battlefield when the time comes!”

The pain within their hearts was to an overwhelming degree to watch Lilith walk away--to watch their beloved being used no differently than Ardbert’s body had been.

And there seems to be no way to bring her back.

#moonie writes #emergence of the end #lilith #pre-endwalker #otpoly #shuri fontaye #shuri angura #estinien #estinien wrymblood #kivera #Kivera Siverstein

12 notes · View notes

x-authorship-x · 3 years

Text

Fic Writer Review!

stole this from @bouncyirwin and encouraged by @iamnotakitty and @eruditeempress because I am weak haha

1. How many do you have on Ao3? 26

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 939,497 words

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 6 fandoms (Naruto, Harry Potter, LoTR, Hobbit, My Hero Academia, Akagami no Shirayukihime)

4. What are your top 5 five by kudos?

* Yeah, Kunai are cool but have you had dessert? - 4,209

* He’s the Evil Twin, okay? - 2,731

* In The Eye of The Beholder - 2,206

* No Tomorrow - 2,031

* Until Dawn Breaks - 707

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? Generally yes but sometimes, especially if I’ve gone really off the fic in question (as in, cannot bear to think about it) or writing in general, I just moderate the comment straight through without responding. But, when I’m back into writing again, I’ll go back and reread comments or reply very late haha

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending? My fics are usually about canon divergence that SPARES death/angst but I do post what-ifs in one-shots. The saddest is a chapter in my ficlet collection ‘Tomorrowland’ where I write Inoichi’s POV of Shisui’s b*dy washing up from the Naka River.

7. Do you write crossovers? yes, I generally like to throw a character into a diffferent universe or adopting the settign from one as an AU than merging the two worlds together. I have a HP world Shisui one-shot and then an on-going Shisui is in LoTR story, The Red Ally.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic? oh god yeah, it was so horrible at one point that I’ve had to get on my soap-box in my A/Ns before

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? Hmm, I do but usually as a comisseration gift to my Beta for putting up with my insane workload. Any pairing combo!

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Yep! had it several times where people say they want to link their fic as inspired by mine and, when I go to check them out, they’d copy+pasted sections. it was sorted in the end but not fun :/

11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Uhhh I had people ask, back on FFNet, and a russian version of one was done but I’m not really sure if its still out there or not??

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Nope! I'd love to tho

13. What is your all time favorite ship? Hmm, I dont really write ship-fics for some reason BUT i love reading Kakasaku, shikasaku, TobiKagami... oh wait i’m also weak for literally most rarepairs. I drove myself mad trying to find Saku/Hashi the other day haha

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will? Uh I’m not sure I should say with all the readers following me 👁️👄👁️

15. What are your writing strengths? I would say descriptions but I’ve been told I’m strong with fighting scenes. Apparently I set the pace right

16. What are your writing weaknesses? I’m very very stop-starty. No Tomorrow was the first ever fic I wrote (and, really, have written ever) where I was largely able to post on the regular. I speed-write 10K in a day or I edit 500 words for six months. there is very little in-between. I also have a terrible habit of ranting about WIPs and then never doing them, which is something I’m actively trying to work on since I feel bad for the people who WANT to read the ideas I rant to them about

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? I would if I could but I cant so i shant!

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? uhhhhhhhhhhhhh I think it was a very very cheesy first-person confession ficlet for Akagami no Shirayukihime... I remember reading it out to my Mum and, in hindsight, her expression was very pained lmao

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve ever written? i’m most inamoured with whatever i’m currently writing, i gained the most satisfaction from my recent Godaime!Tsunade fic ‘SUKEBAN’ but i am most proud of ‘No Tomorrow’ because I actually finished it to a degree i’m satisfied with

hmmm @looks-like-starlight and @skewedrevisions off the top of my very empty head ❤️❤️❤️

#torship #fanfic #torship talks #reblog game #ask

16 notes · View notes

intangiblyyourswrites · 4 years

Text

Stress Relief Modern AU

So I’m going to try something new. Since my WIP list is exhaustingly long, I’m going to outline what I think a Stress Relief Modern AU would look like (in response to this post and this post) because I’m not sure I’ll ever get to actually writing it. I might do scenes from it occasionally though; feel free to request specific ones if you’re interested! (Warning: this is 3000+ words long.)

Link and Zelda went to high school together, and lo and behold, they hate each other

Link’s family has always worked for Zelda’s family as their head security, and Zelda is upset that Link is able to best her in certain things, like certain school subjects and some sports. Link thinks Zelda is stuck up, and too much of a rule follower. Likes to say things like, “Don’t worry about the rules so much.”

So they’re always competing in everything. They avoid working together if they can, and if they have to, then it involves lots of butting heads.

Fast forward to their senior year pre-graduation party. They’re shoved into a closet by their friends for some good ol’ seven minutes in heaven. They spend the first minute glaring at each other from each end of the closet.

Then Zelda huffs, flicks her hair over her shoulder, and says, “What’s so special about you anyway?”

Link, brows raised and eyeing Zelda with a clear challenge. “Why don’t you find out?”

They spend the next six minutes liplocked, hands wandering, and only springing apart when the door opens back up.

They are blushing furiously but refuse to look at each other. They don’t talk about it. They’re graduating. They’ll never see each other again.

Ten Years Later

Zelda is taking over her father’s (Rhoam’s) company, Hyrule Corp.

People obviously want to take advantage of her. At 28, she’s young and beautiful, and seemingly inexperienced.

Ganon approaches her with a marriage proposition to merge their companies.

Zelda, nails digging into her chair at this man’s audacity, “Thank you for the...thoughtful offer, but I must decline. Our interests do not align here.”

Rhoam is worried for Zelda’s safety though. Ganon has a history of being rather ruthless when he wants to be. He suggests that Zelda gets a bodyguard—he knows the perfect person. Zelda begrudgingly agrees.

GUESS WHO IT IS

Link, obviously.

Zelda slams her hands on her desk upon seeing him. “YOU??”

Link barely flinches, and in this monotone voice, “Miss Zelda. What pleasure it is to see you again.”

Zelda almost fires him on spot, but her father talks her down.

And Link, in the same flat voice, taunts, “Surely we’ve both matured enough to put aside our differences.”

Zelda’s brow twitches. But she relents.

For awhile, Zelda makes these snarky remarks and Link, pettily, doesn’t respond. But just as Zelda begins toning it down, Link starts making these digs, like “Hm. Ganon must be out of his mind if he’s asking for your hand in marriage.”

Zelda kicks him for that one. He can only glare back.

One day, Zelda is feeling a little tired so she lays her head down. Just before she falls asleep, she glances at Link and mumbles, “Why did you sign up for this job anyway.”

Link, of course, doesn’t answer. He gives it 5 minutes before he goes over and places his jacket over her shoulders.

When it nears lunch time, he goes to wake her up. His hand stops short of brushing aside her hair (a flash of a memory of him tugging at her roots and angling her lips up for better access) and flicks her on the forehead instead.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. Time to eat. Don’t need you fainting on me or I’ll have to carry your heavy ass.”

Zelda throws her pen at him and misses (“Wow, Zelda, you’ve really lost your touch there.”). And he slips out the door.

She notices his jacket on her. It smells nice.

The Fake Dating

Zelda has been researching Ganon to see what kind of a threat he really is. So far, he has not done anything to her, and it’s suspiciously quiet. She pulls up a series of old companies that declared bankruptcy with no connecting thread...except that they were once partnered with Ganon’s company.

She calls Link over for a second opinion (“Not that I value your opinion. You’re just the only one here.”)

They enter into a bit of a staring contest, with Link sitting at the edge of the desk and glaring down at her, and Zelda in her comfy exec chair glaring up at him.

It actually looks quite intimate from a third party’s perspective, and guess who waltzes in?

Ganon

They jump apart, but Link also instinctively places himself in front of Zelda. Zelda also stands, alarmed that her people just let him up without warning.

But Ganon appears genial, and laughs.

“Why, Miss Zelda, if you were already involved with someone else, you should have just said so. I would not have taken offense.”

And Zelda, still feeling oddly threatened, takes a step closer to Link and grabs his arm.

“Y-Yes. This is my fiancé Link. I wanted to keep everything under wraps while my transition into this position was occurring.”

Ganon walks around, eyes narrowed, sizing up Link. Link feels annoyed and wraps an arm around Zelda. He lifts the other to shake hands. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Dragmire. Link Forester.”

Ganon sneers, “Forester, eh? Doesn’t ring a bell.” He pulls out his slate, does a search, and then puts it up for them to see. “Did this happen before or after he became your bodyguard?”

Zelda, insulted, “Before. We’ve known each other since high school. Our families are close. It’s been an on/off thing for years.”

Ganon still doesn’t see that convinced, but leaves with, “I wish you two the best then.”

They both wait 30 seconds, standing perfectly still, before springing apart.

“What the hell, Zelda??”

“You saw what happened! I didn’t have a choice!”

“But fiancé?? Why not just boyfriend. Why are we suddenly about to get married??”

“Look, I panicked. Can we just keep this farce up until I figure out what he’s planning?” Then, “Oh no, are you dating someone? This is what happens when you don’t talk about yourself. If I had known—”

“—No, there’s no one else.”

Zelda doesn’t know why that sounds so intimate all of the sudden.

“Oh. Okay then. I...guess this will be fine then. Just for a little while. Here, we’ll set ground rules.”

Rule 1: No feelings

Rule 2: We have to be convincing

Rule 3: Kissing is okay if we need it for convincing people

Rule 4: We tell no one the truth except the Champions

The Engagement Party

They announce their engagement and throw a party for it

They’re shockingly good at pretending to be together, occasionally posing in “compromising” positions to be found in. Paya, her secretary, has “stumbled” upon Link with his hand up her skirt (“Paya always walks in to bring my coffee at this time. Put your hand here.” “Where?” *takes his hand* “Here.”)

So they look beautiful together attending this event in matching attire, and the eyes they make at each other this night is a bit different from the usual.

They dance together a few times, being a bit immature about it and playing “are you nervous” during one (in which Link lets his hands wander to certain areas of her body and see how close he can get before she tells him to stop).

Zelda has this open back dress, and his hand creeps across her shoulder blades, fingers slipping underneath the fabric and curling around her ribs. In her ear, he whispers, “Are you nervous now?”

But the music ends and here are a few wolf whistles at them, and they both blush.

Link leaves Zelda briefly to get them drinks, but from the corner of his eyes, sees a waiter carrying something shiny.

He recognizes it instantly as being a knife, and sprints back to Zelda just in time to see the waiter trying to pull it on Zelda

Cue Link beating the shit out of the waiter

Party ends early. Waiter is apprehended and sent to be questioned. They’re in a hotel for this party and have rented a room for tonight, so Link escorts Zelda up. They get extra security to guard the outside of her room and Link checks every closet and lock in her room.

Zelda is pretty shaken up, so he sits with her trying to get her mind off of what happened. Eventually, he brings up high school.

They laugh about the stupid things that happened, and about their rivalry. Zelda had ended up claiming valedictorian at the end of it all. Their class picture has them standing awkwardly next to each other since Link was salutatorian (actually, their GPAs ended up being the same, but Zelda asserted that she had perfect attendance and one-upped him lol “How’s that for rules, hmm?”). Both their faces were red.

Zelda’s laughter dies down and she looks up shyly through her lashes. “Thanks for tonight, Link. For saving me, making sure I got back alright, staying up with me...All of it.”

“Hey, it’s fine. It’s my job. You were in danger. And it’s my room too.” (They hadn’t wanted to look suspicious and get two rooms)

“...Yes, of course.”

Cue awkward silence. Zelda is looking ravishing despite some of the smeared makeup. Her hair had fallen out of her bun and one strap of her dress had fallen off her shoulder. Link feels warm.

He suddenly gets up. “Well, I’ve secured the windows and checked everything. You should get some sleep. I’ll be on the couch.”

Zelda, trying not to look disappointed, just nods and gets up to walk him out of the room. When he reaches the threshold, he turns to say goodnight, and Zelda’s hand shoots out to grab his sleeve before he leaves.

“...Do you remember senior year? At that party…” Her voice is shaky. “...In that closet?”

Link swallows. “Yes.”

“We were interrupted. Because it was a game.”

“Yes.”

“There’s no one to interrupt us now.”

Link’s eyes are wide, jaw slack. And then he folds like a deck of cards, lips immediately finding hers, and nudging her back into her room. They’ve shared brief kisses before like in front of the press, and one longer one to convince their friends, but this is different. They’re alone and willing, and Link may or may not have dreamt of this for years.

Zelda’s out of her dress and Link is shirtless, and his hands are working on her bra when she suddenly asks, “What about the rules?”

“What about them?”

“We said no feelings.”

Link stops momentarily. Remembers how she whispered his name in that closet when they were 18. Remembers the way she looked asleep at her desk and the way she gasped when he deepened the kiss in front of their friends. The way she’s clinging to him now, her breath in his ear. How she had him wrapped around her fingers during all these events. How, when his father told him about the job opportunity, his heart leapt to his throat at the mention of her name. She could tell him to go on his knees now and beg for her love, and he would.

But he swallows, afraid to lose these moments, and lies. “There are no feelings.”

Something flashes in her eyes, and all she says is, “Okay,” and pulls him in for another kiss.

Frenemies-with-Benefits

Their relationship is just weird after this.

Both are hurt and a bit angry that the other person doesn’t seem to want more to this relationship (when actually, they really do, duh), but now the physical aspect of it has progressed. So they do take advantage of this, using each other as stress relief. Paya catching them in weird positions are actually accidents now, and they get a bit vindictive in front of the Champions (like Zelda playing footsies with Link under the table or Link tying knots in cherry stems and making innuendos; sometimes they grow more bold and see how far they can get without being caught).

BUT they are closer, so they banter more, and it’s a terrible cycle of teasing turned flirting to “they don’t really mean it” to snide, sometimes hurtful, remarks. And then taking those frustrations out on each other. They go through a rollercoaster of emotions during this phase.

Class Reunion

So since it’s been ten years, their high school graduating class is holding a reunion

Still under the guise of being engaged, they go together

Link’s old friends are patting him on the back, saying, “Good for you man! I know you’ve liked her since sophomore year,” and Zelda’s friends saying, “We knew you had a thing for him. You never stopped talking about him!”

Link and Zelda just stare at each other in shock for a bit, and then laugh it off, “Yes, of course, he/she is just so adorable.”

But the minute they get in the car, Zelda turns on him and practically yells, “You liked me? I thought you hated me!”

Link, throwing his hands in the air, “You hated me!”

“Because you looked down on me!”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about?? Zelda, you were—are—brilliant!”

Zelda is just speechless. Takes a few moments to process this, then asks, “Did you want to kiss me then? In the closet?”

Link sputters a bit, trying to find ways to say yes without looking like a puppy trailing after her, and then gives up and sighs, “I’ve wanted to kiss you since you shoved that dead frog in my face in sophomore biology class.”

Zelda remembers this. Remembers how she was so excited that she didn’t care who she was speaking to. Link had looked a bit red then; ended up muttering something under his breath and walking away. She pinks a bit. “And what about now?”

“We’ve kissed multiple times now,” he tries to say casually, but he’s also blushing.

“But do you want to kiss me the same way you wanted to kiss me back then?”

He sucks in a breath, knows this is it. He’s about to make or break their relationship. But Zelda is looking at him with this hopeful expression on her face, and he thinks maybe she feels the same about him after all.

He goes for it, hands fisting into the fabric of his trousers, “I keep thinking, ‘If only I had shut that door again, maybe I wouldn’t have had to go ten years without you.’”

Zelda’s lips quiver, eyes watering. Link freaks out and is about to apologize, to tell her to not worry about his feelings and he knows he broke rule number one, but Zelda grabs his tie and pulls him in for a kiss, which he reciprocates immediately.

“Goddesses, Link,” she says, still crying. “In the hotel room. The first time. I had wanted so badly for you tell me to ‘fuck the rules.’”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“You know it now.” And kisses him again.

Spoiler: they actually get married.

Ganon and his Motives

Throughout all this, Ganon is trying to expose their lie. The waiter that attacked Zelda ended up committing suicide in prison.

He wasn’t trying to kill Zelda then, just scare her, but Link proves to be more formidable.

Since Link and Zelda go into their frenemies-with-benefit phase after this, they look like a real couple all the time, so he has to switch tactics.

He tries to dig up dirt on Zelda, but there’s none. He tries to show Zelda the benefits of having a merger but Zelda is pretty set on keeping things separate. Ganon having a stock in Hyrule Corp would make him a terribly powerful person in the business world, just untouchable, so even if it could make her richer, she doesn’t care for it.

Ganon tries to sway her shareholders instead, but Zelda still has majority of the company still and actually some pretty loyal followers (e.g. Mipha and Urbosa; more on this later).

He gets frustrated. Starts sending death threats to Zelda and Rhoam. Link really hates this; he, Daruk, and Revali start investigating him more.

There is a break in at her house once night and Zelda finds one of her guards dead. Link had been making show of staying over every now and then, but he moves in after this to keep a closer eye on her. Zelda has an expansive library, so they dig through some journals and such. Apparently, Hyrule Corp and Dragmire Corp (lol idk) have been at odds at each other for years, dating back to medieval times when their territories were at war.

Eventually they read about the “Triforce,” a document that had united these three large nations under one banner of Hyrule. They realize that Ganon wants to steal this to either 1) take the old Gerudo territory back, or 2) gain control of all of Hyrule.

Link, “Can he even do that?”

They ask Rhoam and apparently, he can. The document is kept hidden, guarded by the descendants of Hyrule’s monarchy and line of royal guards. The Foresters are part of these lines.

Actually, the Forester once held the last piece of the “Triforce.” It is said that once upon a time, the Princess of Hyrule fell in love with the Chief of the Zonai (a rather large territory), and upon their marriage, the Zonai promised their fealty to Hyrule.

Hearing this tale, Link and Zelda look at each other and then look away blushing for some reason (👀)

(Let’s clear up some lineage things real quick. Link and Zelda are not related. Sometime during the last 10,000 years or so, all the Zonai knights were given the last name Forester as an honor. Now, not all Foresters are “knights,” but the main line that serves the Hyrules, now Bospheramus, family are Foresters. Regardless, this union was so long ago, they still wouldn’t be related.)

(Is there a real Triforce and this is just misinformation due to the passage of age? Maybe.)

Eventually, they get dirt on Ganon (due to the sister of waiter avenging her brother), and Ganon goes to jail

The Champions

Daruk and Revali work with Link in security; they are all part of the Forester Security Group. Daruk and Link get along great. Revali and Link butt heads, but Revali tries (and fails) to be nice to Link when he realizes Link is close friends with Mipha.

Mipha’s family and Riju’s family (Urbosa is Riju’s mom) are shareholders of Hyrule Corp. Mipha, Riju, and Zelda all grew up together. Link and Mipha grew up together too. Link and Zelda don’t meet until high school due to schedules never lining up.

Sidon is also friends with them, but he’s younger, so not always there

Same with Yunobo and Teba. Not big characters in here.

Mipha does have a crush on Link, but that was mostly through high school. Part of her always kind of wishes there’s still a chance, so she goes through a bit of “Oh no, Link and Zelda are dating. Wait, it’s fake. Actually, it’s very, very real.” She meets Revali in passing several times over the years, thinks he’s cute, but they don’t talk until the engagement party. Their relationship don’t really progress until Zelda’s bodyguard dies and they all start spending more time together (i.e. large sleepovers at Zelda’s with Zelink occasionally sneaking off for private time lol).

Yes, Mipha and Revali end up together

Zelda and Link have both their parents throughout all this. Yay.

THE END.

Whew, that was long. Thanks for reading!

#stress relief modern au #zelink fanfiction #kind of #more like headcanons #intangiblymine #fic request

86 notes · View notes