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kasagia · 1 year

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My love will never die

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova/General Kirigan/The Darkling x moon summoner! reader Summary: You knew Aleksander before he was a Black Heretic, a foldmaker. You married him and promised to be by his side through thick and thin. And you never, ever regretted your choice. However, one day, your paths parted in an unfortunate way, and you both believed that the love of your lives was gone forever. After many centuries, you meet again with a man very similar to your Aleksander. And you start to wonder... maybe your love never die after all? Warning(s): ANGST, de@th mention, the reader yearns for Aleksander, and Aleksander yearns for the reader :c I USED FRAGMENT OF THE SONG "Jeg Saler Min Ganger" FROM THE SERIES "LOKI" Nonsense from me: So this is request from @morrigan-crowmwell Thank you so much, I was super excited to write this! I hope this is more or less what you asked for and that you like it.♡♡ I'm sorry it took me soooo long! ♡♡ Word count: 13k

"Aleksander Morozova! You'll be late to meet your mother!" you squealed as he stole another long kiss from you. "We don't have time for this, Sasha." you moaned, when he moved his lips to your sensitive neck.

"Nonsense… I always have time to properly say goodbye to my wife before I leave." he murmured against your skin, sucking on your weak spot behind your ear. He smiled slyly, hearing the sweet moan coming from your red lips, swollen from kissing.

Saints, he could stay in your arms for the rest of eternity.

"As much as your wife loves your goodbyes, she'd rather her mother-in-law didn't wander in the middle of one, looking for her spoiled son."

"This is how you say goodbye to your husband, lapushka? Calling him spoiled and hurting his feelings?" he asked indignantly, hovering over his beautiful wife and looking at her intently. He wanted to burn the view below him into his mind until he was back in her arms again.

"I have been "goodbye-ing" you for three hours, Aleksander. Don't you think that's enough for a 4 day trip?"

"I need at least one more hour to enjoy you." he murmured, placing more kisses on your already-marked neck.

"If Baghra finds us…" you moaned as he bit your neck gently, effectively silencing you, and got out of your head all the reasons why he should go now.

"It would be helpful if you would stop thinking about my mother while I try to kiss every inch of your gorgeous skin. Besides, don't worry about her. She likes you—sometimes even more than her own son, I have to admit. If anything, she'll blame me."

"Don't worry, sobachka (puppy), you'll always be my favourite." you smirked, flipping him onto the mattress of your bed and straddling him, marking his skin with your lips, making sure you'd give him back the same favour.

"I thought we didn't have time for this?" he purred meanly, pleased with your attention.

"Shut up and kiss me, Sasha." you demanded with an equally malicious gleam in your eyes, knowing full well how this would end. Bagra was right. You had him wrapped around your little finger. Which was good considering how many female Grishas wanted to catch his eye.

"As you wish, milaya." without a second's hesitation, he grabbed your cheek and pulled you into a kiss, pinning you back under him on the mattress.

Disappointment, as usual, overtook you after waking up from this beautiful dream. During those few centuries, flashbacks about HIM only became more frequent. Someone should hang that fool who said time heals all wounds. In your case, it only made it worse.

You'd give anything to go back a few hundred years and not let him go alone with his mother on this trip. You didn't even remember why they went to Aleksander's sister.

You had a vague memory of that day, only remembering the morning with your husband and the fragments of the Fjerdans' attack on your village.

But the moment you found out you were a moon summoner will forever be etched deep in your memories.

You helped your best friend's family and herself escape when the men attacked you. You defended yourself using all the tricks and attacks Alexander had taught you, but it wasn't enough against a band of trained soldiers.

Just as he was about to slash his sword at you, you felt heat radiating deep from your chest. You screamed, falling to your knees as light began to emit from you, blinding some soldiers and killing those close to you. The first time you've used the cut and your power.

You escaped with your friend and her brother - the last survivors, and hid in the city, pretending to be siblings who managed to survive the great fire caused by Grisha.

It was hard to pretend to hate your own people and even harder to hide your new powers. But the hardest thing was going through all this without Aleksander by your side.

You tried to contact him, search in every possible way. But the world was different back then. Your attempts in advance were doomed to failure. And you knew it. But your stupid heart made you search for your husband until the end.

And you did. Until the news of the Black Heretic, the shadow summoner, who died while creating the fold, spread across the world.

You mourned Aleksander for a long time. Your life went on, but the wound of losing your husband never healed. And you knew it wouldn't. He was your great, true love. Your end game. It was impossible to let him go, to make place in your heart for someone new.

Time passed, and everything around you slowly changed. Except you. Your friends got old, grey, and wrinkled. And you remained the same as those decades ago. Then you discovered your second curse. You were immortal.

You and Aleksander could have lived together forever if not for Shu Han's and Fjerda's people.

It was the time when you vowed to finish Aleksander's work at any cost. His sacrifice will not be in vain. You were supposed to build a Ravka safe for the Grishas. All you needed was a sun and shadow summoner.

So you waited. At any sign of the sun summoner's presence. You knew Aleksander's lineage was fine. People often spoke of the descendants of the Black Heretic. You've never come close to them. You didn't want to relive the pain that would be associated with being with a member of his family. Aleksander had no children, but his sister probably did; maybe even Baghra found someone - you weren't sure about the old woman's fate.

The past centuries have not been kind to you. But this month was fruitful in terms of good news. The sun summoner has been found, the king of Ravka was ill, and your men were on the trail of Morozova's deer.

And that's how you were on your way to meet Alina Starkov and the descendant of the Morozovas, General Kirigan.

You were supposed to change the world together - in memory of your Aleksander.

~•♤♤♤•~

Aleksander had never been in such a hurry to get home before.

He was so desperate to have you in his arms again that he even ignored all of his mother's taunts, remarks, and other snide comments. All that mattered to him now was coming home to you.

That's why he bravely endured his mother's teasing remarks as they rode horseback towards your cottage.

He was excited, only moments away from returning to the love of his life.

He missed you more than he dared admit to anyone. And he was a little ashamed of how an ordinary woman without Grisha's powers, like you, could have such power over him.

NO. You were not ordinary. You were his wife, friend, lover, support, rock, asylum, home. The only one to whom he entrusted his heart and soul voluntarily and without the slightest hesitation.

And with this gift his sister gave him, Aleksander will make sure you stay with him forever. That you'll live as long as he does. Neither of them, nor he, Baghra, nor his sister knew if this "gift" would work.

But Aleksander would be damned if he didn't try to keep you in his arms forever.

It didn't matter how many times he failed, trying to make you his equal, trying to turn you into a Grisha with similar powers to his. He was ready to do everything for you.

Aleksander sped up seeing your house. In his haste, he didn't even notice that he had lost his mother and that the scenery around him seemed to be getting darker and more frightening.

He practically leapt off his horse and raced to the door, opening it and rushing inside as fast as he could.

"Y/N?! Sweetheart, I'm home!" he shouted, expecting that as soon as you heard his voice, you would come running, throwing yourself into his arms.

But he was greeted by nothing but a terrible, deadly silence.

The scattered things in the corridor made him slightly anxious, but he dismissed his dark thoughts by saying that you were a little mess. However, after he still didn't hear any response from you, he started to worry.

He entered the living room only to find shattered furniture, an overturned bookshelf, and a broken window.

He panicked. He went mad with fear, screaming your name and running around the house like crazy, looking for you or any clues to where you might have run away.

His heart stopped when he found your battered body under an overturned wardrobe.

In the blink of an eye, he got you out from under the furniture and took you in his arms, trying to bring you back to consciousness.

"Y/N, please, Y/N, open your eyes! You can't leave me, not like that! Y/N! My sweet wife, my heart, please open your eyes!" he was shaking you in panic, begging all the saints to prove his dark suppositions wrong.

"Aleksander?" your quiet, tearful whisper both relieved him and broke his heart.

You lived. He hasn't lost you yet.

NO.

He couldn't lose you. He has to take you to the healer.

"Yes, love, it's me. Everything is fine now. I got you. Just stay with me until I get a help."

"You promised to protect me... why didn't you protect me, Aleksander? Have you stopped loving me?" your desperate whimper tore his soul in half. He began to shake all over, despising the feeling of helplessness and distress that had completely taken over him.

"What? No, I'll always love only you..." he felt your body suddenly go limp in his arms. He gripped your shoulders even tighter, shaking you in his panic attack. "Y/N? Y/N?! Y/N open your eyes! Y/N no! Don't leave me! Darling, no!" he screamed desperately in pain, burying his head in your hair and crying as he knelt on the floor and rocked with your cold body in his arms.

~•♤♤♤•~

Aleksander sprang from his bed.

The general was breathing fast, trying to calm himself after another nightmare involving you.

His beautiful wife. His epic love.

For hundreds of years, the day he lost the only love of his life played out in his nightmares in different ways. This time, his subconscious was kind enough to let him talk to you for a while. Usually, he finds your body either impaled or dismembered. He never managed to save you. With none of those dreams.

His dreams might have macabred the events of that day, but he had never, in all those hundreds of years of his life, forgotten what really happened. He has not forgotten the grief, anger, sadness, and despair that overcame him when he and Baghra found their village burned to the ground without any trace of you.

Despite his search, he still didn't know what really happened to you, and he doubted he'd ever find out the truth. If all this had happened a few years later, if he hadn't been a boy just discovering the true power growing within him then, but the man he is now, you'd never despair like that. You'd never leave him to mourn over the future you two could have if only he was more powerful.

He was trying to fool himself. Telling himself that if you survived, you would have lived a much better life than you'd lived with him by your side. What could he have given you, then? An uncertain future, living in hiding, being hunted by the king's men? You were worth much more. You were worth all the jewels and treasures of this land, safety, peace, family, and happiness. Aleksander couldn't give you that. Not then.

He couldn't remember how many sleepless nights he'd spent wishing he could meet you now, to have you by his side, when he was this powerful man who could look after you properly, who would throw the world at your feet or burn it to the ground, depending on your humour.

But every time the sun came up and he had to continue playing his new role, the bitter reality made him realise that he would never have you again. He will never feel your soft skin under his fingers again, never lose himself in those beautiful, mesmerising irises, never run his hand through your hair, never take in your wonderful, intoxicating scent, and never taste your alluring, feisty lips again.

He was alone. And he will be until the end.

Until he widens the fold and makes sure no more Grisha dies at the hands of common otkazat'sya. That none of his people will repeat your fate.

He was supposed to change the world - in memory of his Y/N.

And then, maybe fate will be kind enough to reunite him with his beloved wife on the other side.

~•♤♤♤•~

Alina Starkov was a pain in the ass.

It took the girl only 15 minutes to run away from Kirigan's Grishas and get herself into trouble. She has damn luck that you decided to follow her and rescue her sunny ass.

You disappeared as soon as you made eye contact with her after you burned the Fjerdans with your pale, white light.

You wandered through the forest, cursing under your breath at the carelessness of both sun and shadow summoners. You didn't know which was worse, the impetuous girl or the thoughtless general who just let her get away.

With helpers like that, you'll have to work twice as hard to make the fold bigger. Fate really had no mercy on you.

You stood by the river, sighing in relief as you washed the blood from your face with cold water.

Your moment of peace didn't last long, however. You sensed an additional presence—someone creeping towards you. You took out one of your daggers and braced yourself for an attack.

But the moment you turned to face your opponent, you froze.

Aleksander...

He was standing in front of you. In a black kefta, a man so like your husband that just looking at him hurts you more than any blade could. This gaze, this face, were hunting you each night, every time you closed your eyes. And now he was standing right before you.

And the worst of it all was that it wasn't your Aleksander.

Only his descendant looking just like him. A shell that resembles the only man you've ever loved.

In your rage, you attacked him first, taking out your anger on him for the saints for continuing to play you mercilessly by putting your husband's doppelgänger in your way.

But Kirigan did not give up so easily. As soon as you moved towards him, he too snapped out of his strange daze and drew his dagger as well. The clang of metal echoed across the clearing as you both tried to find the other's weak spot. Oddly enough, you both did it at the same time.

"Put that down and I'll consider whether or not to spare your life." he growled, holding your arm in a tight grip as he felt your nails digging through the skin on his hand.

"Femoral artery. You'll bleed out faster than me." you replied with a malicious smirk, ignoring his threats.

"Who are you?"

"My mother taught me better than to make friends with the stranger freak in the forest, sir. Especially when they have a dagger dangerously close to my back." you kicked him, pushing him away from you, and attacked again. The clanking of steel against each other echoed across the clearing as your daggers met halfway. You growled in frustration, pushing him away.

"Your mother should teach you not to attack everyone you meet. You may encounter someone much stronger than you." Kirigan recovered faster this time, storming at you.

You ended up in a rather uncomfortable position as you held the steel against his heart and he wrapped his arm halfway around you, pulling you close. You didn't know if you were more dissatisfied with the metal digging into your chest or with his hands on you.

"And yours that you shouldn't raise a hand against a woman. I guess they both failed."

Did you both just say the exact same thing when you first met your husband? Yes.

Will he get lenient treatment from you just because he looks like your Aleksander? Absolutely fucking no.

Taking advantage of his moment of inattention as he stared at you distractedly, you pulled out the second hidden dagger and placed it against his neck. You tried to push his hand away from you, but the man, feeling the extra-cold blade against his skin, woke up from his trance and grabbed your left hand aggressively.

He moved your blade away from his neck and pinned you to the tree, slamming your left hand hard against the trunk, making the weapon fly out of your hand and bury itself in the ground near his foot.

Kirigan pressed his dagger to your side, leaning closer to you. He stared intently into your eyes, and for a brief moment you saw longing flicker in his dark eyes, which then gave way to rage and frustration, equal to the one that exploded inside you the moment you saw him. The moment you noticed that saints still played cruel with you by creating someone so damn similar to your husband.

He has no right to have the same face and eyes as your lost love.

"What. Are. You?" he asked, pausing on each word to intimidate you and bring his face closer to yours. But you didn't care much. You have hundreds of years; nothing, especially the doppelgänger of the man you love, could scare you.

You stared at each other with hostile eyes, and for some reason (other than your dagger at his thigh), he had some sort of hatred for you as well. So much so that he didn't notice how your powers reached for each other where your skin touched.

Strangely, it felt familiar to you. HE felt familiar.

You stared into each other's eyes as you unknowingly leaned in closer. You were about to try to break free from his grip when a sudden snap of branches caught your attention.

"That's you! She saved me from the Frejdans, sir." Alina's voice pulled him out of this strange moment between you two.

You wanted to find a sun summoner. You spent several hundred years on this, but the girl had hellishly bad timing.

Kirigan moved away from you, but you both continued to aim your daggers at each other, not trusting each other for a moment. Even though Alina just admitted that you saved her life.

"Why did you do that?"

"Someone so powerful like you should recognise when they stand before their equal, general Kirigan." you sneered, glancing for a moment at the woman standing next to both of you. Fortunately, nothing happened to her. She had a few scratches, but nothing that even the most ordinary medic couldn't heal.

"And how exactly are we equal?"

You smirked mischievously as you slipped the dagger into your sheath.

You linked your hands, focusing on the warm feeling of your light coursing through your veins, and without taking your eyes off the general's, you pulled them apart, revealing a thread of white light. You spread your arms wider, causing the rays to illuminate the clearing around you.

They both stared at you in amazement as your light turned into stars, which then arranged themselves into constellations. Figures of saints ran around you until you flicked your wrist to make them disappear.

"Melinoe Petrova. Moon Summoner. I think the three of us are going to change the world together."

You watched the speechless Alina with satisfaction, but your smile faded as you shifted your gaze to Kirigan. You had some difficulty reading him, but even more so understanding the longing in his eyes.

It seems your problems with a shadowman have only just begun…

~•♤♤♤•~

Kirigan didn't trust you.

You weren't surprised by it, but you hoped it would be easier for you to manipulate him. Apparently, the descendant of Aleksander inherited family cunning and distrust.

It's been a month since your little encounter (and fight) in the woods. In the meantime, you've been living in the Little Palace with the other Grishas; you met the king and got your own fancy kefta.

Black kefta. With moons, stars, and so on.

You wouldn't care about the colour of the fabric if it didn't turn out that only Kirigan wore one. Bloody Alina was the first to find Genya and get herself a blue one. So you stayed in your black kefta, pretending the general wasn't trying to mark you as his property.

But the son of a bitch liked your look in his colours too much for you to accept it.

It didn't help that he was too much like your Aleksander, either. Many times you've held back from taunting, making snide comments, or yelling at him just because those fucking dark eyes looked at you, taking you back hundreds of years to the time when HE was by your side and looked at you like that.

The similarity between them was not only in appearance. They had a lot in common when it came to character traits. Stubborn, mischievous, prescient, well-read... sometimes, when you spent too much time in his war room, you found yourself thinking of him as your Aleksander.

So slowly, despite all your self-loathing, you fell in love with the general.

That's why you were hiding from him in the library, hoping Alina, Zoya, or anyone else would keep him busy tonight enough to forget that you were supposed to meet him after dinner.

You had to suppress that stupid feeling. He was not Aleksander. He was just your husband's doppelgänger. Just a shell of your lover.

"Mel? Are you okey?" Alina's soft, concerned whisper snapped you out of your thoughts.

"I'm fine. Another nightmare?" you asked, patting the space next to you and opening the edge of the blanket for the girl to sit with you.

Your beginnings with Alina were not colourful; the sunny girl irritated you and could easily throw you off balance. But as time passed, you became friends to the point where you comforted her after her nightmares about the fold and the deaths of her loved ones. Sometimes you would read her old Ravkan fairy tales or sneak into the kitchen for hidden sweets. In more critical situations, you would drag her outside to the gardens, where you would sit on the pier by the lake, watching it gleam in the moonlight.

In a way, you too found solace in comforting the girl. It was nice to have company after being alone for so long. Fighting your past, which was showing up in your dreams, was easier with a ray of sunshine by your side.

"No. This time I can't sleep."

"Are you bothered by overly comfortable pillows, or maybe our princess felt a pea under the mattress?" Alina snorted, shaking her head. It took her some time to realise that your sarcastic remarks were not intended to offend her but merely to make her laugh.

"I'm thinking about Mal."

"Oh yeah… your boyfriend and childhood friend, what's up with him?" you asked, slamming the book shut to turn all your attention to the black-haired girl.

"He's not my boyfriend. We are only friends." she murmured, blushing, obviously awkward at your apt comment.

"Sunshine, I can recognise the face and eyes of a woman in love. You can't hide your feelings from me."

"Well, you're not the only one with this gift. Kirigan also gives you an infatuated man's look. Don't deny it! Even Ivan can see it. I think that already half of the second army knows about their general's fondness for the moon summoner." she teased you with a cocky smirk on her face. You rolled your eyes, returning your attention to your book.

"Please, half of the Grishas look at me like that."

You knew what Alina meant. Kirigan looked to you as the solution to his fold problems - as did the other Grishas. Little did they know that instead of being their saviour, you gonna be their worst nightmare... a White Heretic.

"No, not in that way. They look at you, at us, as saints, as saviours who can destroy the fold. He admires you, not your power. And judging by the fact that you're still wearing a black kefta, he's not indifferent to you either."

You inadvertently snuggled deeper into the black material. Alina was partly right; maybe you didn't want to get involved in any romance, but it would definitely be easier to manipulate the general who is infatuated with you. You could have taken advantage of the fact that seeing you in his colours put him in a strangely pleasant mood. You've used your black clothes more than once as a weapon in your negotiations with the dark general.

"I have a black kefta because some irritatingly fast sun summoner found Genya first and got herself a dark blue one. You didn't leave me much choice, Alina."

"How sorry I am for that. By the way, Kirigan asked about you. He waits in his chambers, longing to finally see you after you've been ruthlessly ignoring him all day."

"I'm not done with you, Starkov!" you shouted after her, but the girl was already at the door, sticking her tongue out at you.

"See you in the morning, Petrova! You will tell me about your meeting with the General." she said as she walked away, slamming the library door.

"That little bitch." you muttered under your breath, wondering if you should go. You could have lied to him and said that you didn't meet Alina and forgot about your meeting. You only doubted the sun summoner's loyalty to you...

However, you started gathering your things, knowing full well that you would have to leave the library anyway.

You frowned as you heard soft footsteps behind you that probably no normal human would have heard… at least not one who hadn't lived at least a hundred years of hiding and running.

"Ivan." you greeted him without turning to face him. The man stopped, obviously surprised that you sensed his presence. However, he quickly returned to his unemotional mode.

"Miss Petrova. The General requests your presence in the war room."

"I was on my way." you replied, knowing full well that the man knew the truth. More than once, he chased you around the Little Palace at the general's behest. Fortunately, he had enough sense in his head not to make Kirigan aware that your memory was reliable and you didn't meet him only out of your own reluctance (actually, a huge desire to see him). "Alina just told me he wants to see me."

Ivan nodded and waited for you to escort you to the war room.

~•♤♤♤•~

Considering the fact that you were a regular visitor to Kirigan's war room, you should know the way to his chambers. But each time, you seemed to take a completely different route than the last time.

Ivan had to repay your elusiveness by making the longest trips to the general's room.

But this time, heartrender quickly dropped you off at his general's door and, wishing you good night, disappeared into one of the corridors.

You sighed, not wanting to face your growing infatuation and subsequent attempts to manipulate the general into carrying out your plans today.

You opened the door, entering the "vestibule". You pricked up your ears as you heard Kirigan talking to someone very familiar. Zoya.

"You used to call on me. On times like this. Your table wasn't messy, and in bed, it was me instead of these books. I can help you make it all right. Just let yourself relax." without knowing why, you wanted to go in there and interrupt whatever plan she had to seduce him. And not because you felt jealousy eating you up inside. You were supposed to be the one to lead him by the nose to do whatever you wanted. Not that windy bitch who was ruining your plan.

"I shall relax when my moon summoner comes here to help me with this. With her by my side, you don't need to worry about me anymore. I'm with the perfect helper." you chuckled internally, wanting so much to see the look on her face after he had rejected her. You figured this would be the perfect time to step in.

"Am I disturbing?" you asked as you walked inside.

If Zoya was an inferni, the general's room would probably go up in flames at the sight of you. Kirigan, on the other hand, seemed very pleased to see you. His eyes were focused only on you. And your black nightgown, over which you threw on (also the black) kefta he ordered.

"Not at all. Zoya was about to leave a few minutes ago."

"General." he said. Kirigan did not even glare at her as she bowed to him. She walked past you, giving you a hostile look, which you only smirked at.

"Didn't you forget something?" Kirigan's sharp question broke the silence between the three of you. Zoya stood immobile, as if engraved. She stared at the general for a moment, then clenched her hands into fists and bowed to you.

"Miss Petrova." she growled, then stormed out of the war room, slamming the door.

"It wasn't necessary. You'll only infuriate her more by forcing her to show me respect." you said, turning to face the general, who was suddenly right behind you. He was the only one who could sneak up on you. A skill he used extensively.

"You're the moon summoner… you'll get all the respect you deserve. I'll make sure about it." he murmured, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear.

"You can't make people do it. Respect is something that has to be earned, something that has no meaning if it is given involuntarily." his silence surprised you. He usually answered your words with 10 of his. But now he was staring at you silently, which didn't help your already fast-beating heart. "So what do we have on the agenda today, general? Arguments about whether we really need First Army soldiers or you don't know where Loavana is."

"I know where Loavana is. I was tired then, and besides, you were the one who turned the map and misled me."

"Of course, general." you snorted, smiling teasingly. You moved to the other side of the table, tactically increasing the distance between you. "So, did you summon me for any reason other than staring at my natural glow? Because honestly, I'm getting a little bored." you said as you sat down on the table and casually reached for one of the orders he had written.

"Always impatient." he muttered, suddenly appearing in front of you and gently taking the paper from your hand.

"Always too mysterious."

"This may surprise you, but I have other things on my mind than your natural glow, little moon."

"What a shame." you murmured, placing your hand over your heart in a hurt gesture. But you became serious when you saw him staring dully at the map. "What's bothering you?"

"The Fjerdans have moved closer to our border."

"How many?" you asked, jumping off the table and turning your full attention to the distressed general.

"Several branches. Enough to get our attention and attack one of our regiments." he replied, pouring himself a glass of liquor and handing you your own.

"We need to speed up Alina's training. Before all hell breaks loose and our great king orders our troops to be divided to fight the Fjerdans. The fold case must be finally closed. Before we go to another war. For now, we have to send some of our healers and additional troops there. If there are more of Grishas there, no Fjerdan will dare attack them. They will shift their attention to the soldiers of the first army, and this will no longer be a direct problem for us." you turned to him, confused by his silence. Kirigan stared at you with a gentle, tender smile on his face and a longing, dreamy look. The silence between the two of you and the gaze he was giving you embarrassed you. "What? Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?"

"No." he grunted, shaking his head as he blushed slightly when you caught him staring. "I just... I was fighting this war alone for so long."

This was the moment. You had to cast your net over him, surround him at his most vulnerable, and make him fall for you.

But you forgot to guard your own heart in the process...

You grabbed his hand. Your powers combined as usual when your skin touched, causing you to be enveloped in the utter darkness of his shadows, with only the white light emanating from your joined hands illuminating your faces.

"You're not alone." you whispered, afraid to break the spell between you. Afraid that the moment your voice reaches him, those damn hypnotic eyes will tear away from yours. Afraid your mind is about to scold the stupid heart that beat for the man before you. A man who, for the sake of your sanity, was too much like the husband you loved.

"I've been waiting a long time for you." he replied just as quietly, afraid to break the sanctity of the moment. Afraid it was another of his cruel dreams where he would have your dead body in his arms again. But the reality was even more brutal for him. Because the woman who stood before him, the woman who looked exactly like his wife, wasn't her at all. And that didn't stop his cold, centuries-old heart from beating for her.

"Believe me, not as long as me." you whispered. Tears began to gather in his eyes, threatening to spill out as he raised his other trembling hand and cupped your cheek. The feel of his cold hand on your face made you realise what you were doing. He was not Aleksander. He wasn't yours. And you will never be his. "I think I should go." you grunted, stepping away from him.

His shadows returned to him, as did your light. Everything has returned to normal. Except for the frantic beating of the hearts of the two of you.

"Don't forget about tomorrow's ball. We're supposed to put on a little show for the king and his nobility."

"How could I forget that we're supposed to be circus monkeys tomorrow?" you asked with a pugnacious smirk, to which he just shook his head in amusement.

"Don't let anyone else hear it. I don't want to visit you in a dungeon… however tempting you look in chains." his bold suggestion shocked you, but you decided to play on without giving him a chance to have the last word. You walked over to him and, ignoring his intense gaze, whispered in his ear with your lips brushing his earlobe.

"I'm not that easy to put in chains, general." you brushed his cheek with yours and disappeared from the war room at the speed of light.

It was something you could do. Game, flirt, chase, challenge—all kept away from any emotion other than lust. It was a game. Manipulation game. And you were going to win it. For your Aleksander and other Grishas.

~•♤♤♤•~

Your dress was so beautiful and wonderful. You admire Genya's skills, but what she did for you this time was indescribable.

With trembling hands, you smoothed the fabric of the dress around your waist, admiring the intricate embroidery of the constellations. The white and silver threads shone in the candlelight like real stars on your dark blue dress.

You didn't like getting dressed up, getting your hair up in a fancy hairstyle, or wearing those uncomfortable ball gowns. In fact, you've only worn formal clothes a few times in your life. But only twice did you feel like a true goddess, a queen. Today and on your wedding day.

"Who put that veil on you?" Baghra's grumpy tone snapped you out of your thoughts as you looked at yourself in the mirror. You had a lovely dress, even considering that neither you nor Aleksander and his mother had as much money compared to other families. But it didn't matter. Not for you. The most important was Alexander and you. And not the judgmental looks of other people. It was your day and no one could ruin it for you.

"Myself. Something's wrong?"

The woman sighed as she walked over to you and unfastened it with unusual delicacy for her, mumbling something about your blindness as she adjusted your crooked veil.

"Now. You look almost properly. You're missing one thing."

"Which is?"

She reached into the pouch strapped to her side and pulled out something shiny. She gestured for you to turn towards the mirror. You did it while watching a woman put the most beautiful necklace you've ever seen around your neck.

"Bagra is… it's wonderful. I can't…"

"Yes, you can. And you will be. I won't let that old hag gossip about my daughter looking like a poor peasant on her wedding day."

"Thank you." you whispered in a shaky voice, more concerned that the woman called you her daughter than the ridiculously expensive and beautiful necklace.

"Come on. Don't cry, or you'll turn red and scare everyone, including my son. You'd better hurry up. The boy is about to have a heart attack if you're another minute late. If it wasn't for Ulla, he would have run here 10 minutes ago."

"Did she manage to come?" you asked as she took your arm with the obvious intention of walking you down the aisle.

"Of course. That's my daughter. She wouldn't waste the opportunity to tease her crazy-in-love brother." you giggled, not missing her little smile. The woman stopped right in front of the exit door, giving you a serious look. "Y/N, are you absolutely sure you want this? You know our true origins, my boy's character, and all the dark things our family has been through. Are you absolutely sure you want to join this mess? 'Cause once we walk through that door, there's no turning back."

"I think we both know the answer to that question, Baghra."

"No. I need to hear it. Do you truly want this?"

"I dream of nothing more than marrying Aleksander, and spending my whole life with him, no matter how long or short it may be."

The woman nodded silently and opened the door.

A wide smile appeared on your face as soon as your gaze met the clearly nervous Aleksander. He calmed down the moment he saw you, an equally goofy, in-love smirk playing on his lips. And when he finally had you at arm's length, he didn't hesitate to grab your hands in his firm grip, never taking his eyes off yours for a moment.

It was just you and him. Lost in your love.

And so began your little eternity together... shorter than either of you would have liked.

You'll always remember that day, even if it was associated with bittersweet memories of your all-too-short marriage. A single tear fell from your eye. You wiped it with the sleeve of your dress.

Your hand automatically wandered under your dress, absently stroking the Baghra's necklace to which you had attached your wedding ring. The only memento of your past.

In another life, you and Aleksander could have had it all.

"Little moon? Are you ready?" Kirigan entered your room." We're going... soon." you could see in the mirror how he froze as his eyes met your reflection in the silver mirror.

You turned to him, making a sweeping movement with your skirt. You wouldn't waste your chance to be a diva. However, you yourself soon succumbed to a similar blackout as his as soon as you assumed the general's appearance.

The saints really liked to torment you.

There was no other explanation for why the man in front of you looked almost exactly like your husband on your wedding day.

Aleksander couldn't take his eyes off her. She was perfect. Ethereal, otherworldly, and breathtaking. His Y/N... No. She wasn't her. No one could be her, not even a woman with her face. Which didn't stop him from giving himself to this dream that it was his wife standing in front of him. He spent hundreds of years in suffering; maybe this one night he can afford to live in his most beautiful dreams, where SHE would still be with him.

He cleared his throat, snapping you both out of the strange, nostalgic atmosphere.

"You look amazing." you blushed as you turned back to the mirror, pretending to consider the truth of his compliment.

"Thank you. Genya makes wonderful dresses." you reached for the kefta thrown over the armchair, but the man beat you to it.

"Please, allow me." you nodded to him. You turned your back to him, waiting for him to put the kefta on your shoulders.

He smoothed it out, letting his hand brush the fabric of your bare collarbones for a moment too long. You shivered as you felt the tiny touch of his fingertips on your bare skin. Good thing the kefta covered most of your bare arms. You didn't want to give him satisfaction for how he was affecting you.

But judging by his dilated pupils, you weren't the only one who felt the attraction between the two of you.

However, you will definitely not be the one to give in to such trivial desires. He was not Aleksander. Nobody could.

"Thank you again." you murmured as you pulled away from him, smiling. You preferred to act oblivious to his advances rather than risk giving in to the lust that was evident between the two of you. Although you knew there would come a point in your little game where you'd have to seduce him a bit to lull his guard down. And you feared that moment more than entering the fold.

"Anytime, love. Shall we?" he asked, offering you his arm. "I hope you spare me at least one dance." he murmured, smiling at you with that flirty twinkle in his eyes as he kissed your hand.

Wonderfully. Now he was supposed to be your personal bodyguard for all night.

You sighed, grabbing his arm. Kirigan pulled you closer as he escorted you through the maze of corridors.

It was going to be a really tough day. - you thought, allowing yourself to steal a glance at the general who was already watching you. - Especially with those eyes so focused on me.

~•♤♤♤•~

The Kirigan left you alone for a moment just before entering the ballroom. You were to wait for him and Alina, and then the three of you were to give little shows of darkness and light.

So you waited patiently until someone bumped into you, knocking you to the floor.

"Watch where you walk!" you growled, dusting yourself off as you got up off the floor. The hooded figure stopped and turned to you. You both froze when you saw your faces.

"Y/N?" Baghra asked in disbelief. "It is impossible." she whispered, coming closer to you and catching your hand in a strong, bruising grip, only to grab your necklace later, which had slipped out from under your dress after you fell. She looked at him tenderly, shifting her gaze to you.

"Hello mom." you whispered uncertainly, fearing your mother-in-law's reaction. She liked you, it's true, but in the meantime, you managed to disappear without a trace for hundreds of years. You didn't know what your relationship was like now. But rather, neither of you could be hostile to the other.

"It's really you… But how? I… we thought you were dead, child. Where have you been all this time?"

"A little here, a little there. Forgive me for not writing or coming. I think you understand perfectly well why I didn't."

"Not even a bit, actually." she replied, confused. You frowned. You've never seen Baghra confused. It was a strange sight, to say the least, and definitely worth remembering.

"You know how dear he was... Aleksander is to me. After his death..."

"Death?" she asked. You didn't know if you misheard or if the surprise in her voice was genuine. She rather knew about his death, didn't she?

"Yes. While creating a fold." you explained, looking at her intently. But Baghra's face never betrayed anything. Not any single emotion. She tucked the necklace under your dress and grabbed your shoulders.

"Oh, my dear child. For all this time..."

"Baghra!" Kirigan's scream echoed through the empty corridor. The woman stepped back from you like she was burned, watching the general with contempt as he approached the two of you. "What are you talking about with my moon summoner? I hope she didn't bother you too much, Miss Petrova."

"Not at all. Actually…"

"I was just leaving, moi soverenyi." the woman interrupted you, giving you an enigmatic look, before she turned her back to you two. "Enjoy yourself, Miss Petrova." she threw over her shoulder as she walked away.

"Crazy woman. But he teaches the young Grisha well. What did she want from you?"

"Nothing special. She asked where I was from and what I was doing here. I don't think she's heard of the new moon summoner yet."

"Probably you are right. Let's go. We've got a show to play."

He took your hand gently and led you to the centre of the room, where Alina was already waiting for you.

You had a simple task. Kirigan summons shadows. Alina, on the other side of the room, her golden rays, and you, the white moonlight that was supposed to connect with her powers, then break up into several constellations.

A child's trick and spectacle for the common folk who treated you like toys all rolled into one.

Everything was going smoothly. Suddenly, the room was completely dark. You waited patiently for Alina's light to appear on the other side of the room. When suddenly someone approached you from behind.

"It's okay, it's me. It's just me, you're safe."

"What are you doing?" you asked as he wrapped his arms around you from behind, taking both of your hands in his.

"Don't you think this is the best place to watch the whole show?" his question confused you. You turned in his arms, miraculously seeing those bloody, dark eyes in the darkness. The mischievous sparks both made your chest feel warm and terrified. The bastard was up to something.

"I doubt it; with my light, you'll barely see Alina's trick."

"Works perfectly for me, my little moon." he whispered against your ear. You tensed as you felt his soft lips on your earlobe.

Suddenly he leaned in, the tip of his nose tracing a path from your ear down your skin, sending shivers down your spine as he inhaled your perfume and those damn distracting lips slid from your ear to your neck.

He started placing small, wet kisses there. Your brain has melted. It stopped working while the general was kissing every sensitive spot on your neck. He read your body so damn well that if it weren't for his quick reflexes and his hand over your mouth, your loud, obscene groan would have echoed in the darkness of the ballroom.

You felt the light involuntarily escape from you and thanked all the saints that you lost control just as Alina finished her part.

You tried to push the shadow summoner away from you, but your attempts were so futile (and reluctant) that you quickly gave up, focusing on doing your job with his intoxicating mouth and roaming hands on you.

The son of a bitch was lucky to stay in the shadows, unseen by anyone but you.

You internally cursed yourself for how much easier it was to do the whole trick with him around.

To your great disappointment, he moved away from you just before the grand finale. You were panting, trying to calm your wildly beating heart, and breathing as the light began to take over the ballroom.

And those fucking dark eyes and smug smirk were the first damn thing you saw when you and Alina lit up the room.

People started applauding. Kirigan came up to you and grabbed your hand, and after Alina joined you, you bowed to everyone, gathering an ovation. You glanced briefly at Kirigan, who was staring at your neck. You just hoped he didn't leave a hickey in plain sight. But judging by the way his smirk widened and the way he ran away from you as soon as you were surrounded by a crowd of people, you assumed you had a new, not-so-visible yet bruise on your skin.

You'll kill him as soon as you get your hands on him.

~•♤♤♤•~

You stand in the darkness of his war room, waiting for him to finally appear. You played with the dagger in your hands, contemplating meeting Baghra. You felt something was wrong, something was missing. The woman's behaviour both helped you and, after the general's arrival, gave you a lot to think about. She was hiding something. But what?

you sighed. If only Aleksander was here. It would save you a lot of trouble. Among other things, intimidating his doppelgänger, who started to stick to you too much - much to your tacit approval.

But you were aware that this attraction was only due to his resemblance to your Aleksander. In a few decades, Kirigan will die too. And you will be completely alone again.

The sound of his boots hitting the floor snapped you out of your thoughts. You braced yourself for an attack and jumped on him just as he flanked the door and stepped inside. You pinned him against the wall with a dagger to his neck as he gave you a surprised, amused look.

"Hello, moonlight. Do you like the ball?"

"What the hell was that?!" you growled, pressing the blade against his skin as you made a small, harmless cut.

"You put a dagger to my neck far too often, darling." he noted, frowning as droplets of blood decorated the silver metal.

"Don't change the fucking subject! You have no damn right to act like this. Lay your hand on me like that again, and I'll make sure you don't have anything to summon your shadows with, general."

"So my lips on your incredibly alluring soft skin were no problem for you, my sweet moon?" he asked maliciously, raising an eyebrow. You growled, irritated by his arrogance. You guessed you preferred it when he responded to your attack with his own dagger.

"Do that again, and you won't live to see another moment to find out."

"You forget..." he mumbled, suddenly grabbing your hand holding the blade and wrapping his other around your neck. He pinned you against the wall, making sure there was no space between you two. "That you're not the only one with power here."

"You'd better let me go, little shadow, before you unleash hell you can't stop." you growled, summoning your light, which immediately met his shadows. You fought, jostling with your powers and staring hard into each other's eyes. You weren't going to lose this fight.

"You underestimate me, darling. I'm more than able to face any of your hell."

You didn't know why, but that sentence, the confidence in his eyes, the arrogance in his voice, and the same immense need that was hiding under both yours and his mask of restraint changed something between you two.

His already dark eyes were practically taken over by black pupils that stared at you lustfully. The intoxicating smell of his perfume, the warmth of his body, and those damn big, cool hands on your hot skin only made you accept your spur-of-the-moment decision.

With his hand still tightly wrapped around your neck, you leaned forward and pressed your lips against his.

You both groaned in unison. Your only consolation in this situation was that before your hands hooked on his strong arms, holding on tightly for fear your legs would give out, you could hear his dagger first drop to the marble floor, seconds before your blade.

You only broke apart for a moment before quickly removing the other's kefta and catching the other's lips again. You fought for control, biting into the other's lip every now and then, which only met with more resistance and the will to fight. Neither you nor he were made to lose.

At one point, he grabbed you by the waist, wrapping your legs around him as he carried you to the nearest flat surface—the war table. With one flick of his hand, he swept all the maps, papers, and other stuff off him onto the floor and practically threw you onto a wooden table.

You gasped in shock as your body suddenly hit the wood, which Kirigan quickly took advantage of. He dug into your mouth, his tongue grazing yours as he tried to dominate you once again.

You growled, grabbing the back of his black shirt and tearing the fabric to get to his skin, where you didn't hesitate to leave blood crescents in the shape of your fingernails.

He hissed away from your kiss-swollen lips and bit into the same damn spot on your neck where he had dared leave a hickey before.

Aleksander...

You froze. It wasn't Aleksander. It will never be your Aleksander again. No matter how damn similar they were.

Kirigan continued to kiss your neck when you finally decided, with a heavy heart, to push him away with a gentle kick.

You both stared at each other, gasping for breath. Kirigan took a hesitant step towards you and raised his hand to gently stroke your cheek. But you jumped off the war table before his skin could touch yours and start your kissing session all over again.

You had to escape from there. As soon as possible.

"I... I should go." you mumbled, shoving past him to pick up the kefta that had been thrown on the floor by him.

"Wait a second..." he followed you but stopped the moment his eyes met yours again. You both wanted each other. You were both held back by the very same thing that attracted you in the first place.

"We have a hard day tomorrow. Make sure Ivan wakes up Alina; she's not such an early riser after all." you mumbled in panic, backing towards the door.

"Melinoe." he tried to stop you, but your hand on the doorknob was faster. You opened the door, and without looking back, you threw over your shoulder:

"Good night, general."

You ran to your room, and before anyone could stop you, you shut the door. Tears began to flow freely from your eyes as you slid to the floor.

For a moment, a fleeting little moment, you were Y/N again. You were that 20-year-old girl kissing her husband again. But Kirigan could never be Aleksander. And even if you gave him your heart, he would shatter it to pieces over time when he, like other descendants of your Aleksander, reached old age. You were doomed to be lonely. But the fact that a person with eyes, a face, and a mind so like your husband was at your fingertips wasn't helpful to your already broken soul at all.

You just wanted to have your husband in your arms again. Was it so much for the saints to accomplish? You sobbed piteously until you fell asleep on the floor from exhaustion.

Little did you know that a few floors above you, someone was also mourning their dead significant other. And he also cursed fate for putting in his path a woman so similar to the one for whom he would give everything he held dear.

One thing was certain. The longer you stayed in the presence of the other, the more you lost your mind. But neither of you was ready to deprive yourself of the toxic pleasure of seeing the living face of your beloved, lost spouse.

~•♤♤♤•~

As planned, the next day you headed towards the border with Fjerdans. Neither you nor the general spoke to you most of the way, which Alina and Baghra noticed. Yes. Baghra went with you. The general was just as shocked as you, but surprisingly, he didn't argue with the woman about her unannounced presence.

The only thing you were afraid of during this trip was crossing the land where your village used to be. Aleksander's house and yours. It also didn't help that you were supposed to be there on the exact anniversary of his death - the creation of the fold.

You thought it would be easier for you to ride a horse through the only place where you were happy, but the wave of memories flooding you did not allow you to pass by indifferently.

"You'll never catch me!" you run away from him, laughing.

"If I catch you, the game will be over. But since you're insulting my capabilities…" you yelled as you ran away when Aleksander rushed to you.

You ran along the river, looking over your shoulder every now and then to make sure your boyfriend wasn't right behind you.

Suddenly, a cloud of shadows appeared in front of you, from which your Sasha came out and grabbed you by the waist. You thrashed in his embrace, causing you both to fall to the ground, laughing.

"Aleksander! You shouldn't use it in public!" you scolded him, punching him lightly in the chest.

"We are in the middle of the forest. There are only us and some animals."

"Still it is risky for you. Don't make me tell your mother about this."

"Could you please stop threatening me with my own mother?" he groaned, throwing you off him, to which you squealed indignantly. You stared with your daggers at the man lying before you with a mischievous smirk and an amused twinkle in his eyes.

"Since I found out she likes me and trusts me more than you? No, it's too funny, my grumpy shadow-man." you laughed. You rolled your eyes as you watched his expression growl. You climbed on top of him and kissed the crease that had formed between his eyebrows from your comment. "I'm soooo sorry, Sasha. You know how much I love you, right? You're the most important person in my life, Aleksander Morozova."

"And you in mine, Y/N Y/L/N." he murmured, grabbing your cheek and pulling you into a sweet, slow kiss. You purred, enjoying the feel of his lips on yours - something you'll never get tired of. He pulled away from you far too quickly. He licked his lips, looking at you nervously. You raised an eyebrow, questioningly. "Y/N... can I ask you a question?"

"Right now? I thought you gonna kiss me a little longer, but if it's so important." he chuckled, shaking his head, as he leaned down to catch your lips in a kiss again.

"Happy, lapushka?"

"Not really, but I'll try to survive a few minutes without your lips on mine." he chuckled, but you knew from the features of his face and the gentle clasping of his shoulders that something was bothering him. You just hoped he wouldn't have to leave with his mother again... "What did you want to ask me?" Aleksander cleared his throat, taking your hands in his trembling.

"You know that I love you. I can't imagine how my life would have turned out if you hadn't put that dagger to my throat five years ago right here."

"I knew I recognized this place from somewhere." you cut him off, looking around the clearing. Aleksander laughed, catching your attention again as you blushed at how stupidly you interrupted him. But it seemed to help him relax, judging by the way his hand confidently reached out to cup your cheek.

"You make me laugh. Even on the darkest, worst of days. Just one look at those wonderfully beautiful eyes is enough to completely change my mood. One word from you and all my plans and beliefs fall into oblivion. You are the light in my darkness. The only good thing that happened to me. The only person who isn't afraid of what I can do. The only person who looks at me with such adoration despite my shadows."

"You know I love them. I love all of you, Sasha. Nothing will change that." you replied with tears in your eyes, suspecting what his confession would lead to.

"I know I have nothing worth you and that the life I can offer you is nothing compared to what you deserve, but you know me better than I know myself... I would go crazy if I wasn't the only man who has the privilege of seeing your face first thing every morning and falling asleep in the presence of your beauty. I'd go crazy if someone else could be called yours..." Aleksander took a simple gold ring with a small black gem from his pocket.

You gasped, knowing full well how much money he must have spent on even such a simple engagement ring. Baghra was supposed to skin your fiancé when she figured out what he wasted their money on.

"Sasha..." you whispered, crying, moving your gaze towards him.

"Y/N, kei onolich yash (will you marry me)? Will you be my wife?" too moved to answer him, you pulled him into a kiss. You both smiled like idiots. "I'm guessing it's yes then, but I'd rather hear it from you before I tell everyone else."

"Yes. Yes, I will marry you, you idiot. You didn't have to buy me a ring, Sasha. I would say yes without it."

"I wanted to make sure you wouldn't reject me." he replied with a mischievous smirk, putting it on your finger. You huffed and punched him lightly on the shoulder. The ring sparkled in the moonlight. Your face hurts from smiling. "I promise you, Y/N one day I'll give you the prettiest, flashiest ring in all of Ravka."

"And I will still prefer the one you gave me today." you replied without a second of hesitation, pulling your fiancé into another kiss.

The Kirgian ordered a stop, which everyone accepted with gratitude. And when others Grishas dispersed to their tasks, you decided to go to the place where your house and Aleksander's once stood.

Since you were already a stupid girl, as Baghra so nicely called you, this little trip shouldn't hurt you. You'd rather be stupid and crazy—completely mad from love—than ever forget about Aleksander and move on.

And that's how you got here. By the river, close to the place where you used to be the happiest in the world, and now you were shedding a sea of tears over the life you lost.

"I will build you a palace."

"What?" you asked, giggling as you looked away from the stars to your husband lying next to you on the grass.

Sensing the movement of your head, he turned around to look at you closely. You both loved nights like these. Your hands intertwined as you both lay on the ground looking at the stars and talking about your day, your plans, and your dreams. It was a sacred ritual between the two of you that you performed at least once a week.

"A palace. For you and our future children. A safe place where we can live with our little family."

"Sasha... I don't need a palace to feel safe with you. You are my shelter. My protector. What we have now is more than enough."

"That little hut where we barely fit in with our stuff, even though we don't have much anyway? NO. You deserve all the treasures of this world, Y/N" he murmured, stroking your cheek tenderly.

You sighed, pressing your cheek against his hand, enjoying every ounce of his attention. It's been getting more and more dangerous around here lately. You seldom had time to spend together; you were too busy with the Grisha needing your help. But you didn't mind. As long as Aleksander's eyes gave you that loving, adoring look at least once a day, you were ready to face anything to get back into his waiting arms.

"I already have one." he raised an eyebrow questioningly, looking at you in surprise. You just smiled, pulling him to you by the chin and connecting your lips in a kiss. Aleksander rolled over and hovered over you, not breaking your tender kiss. You placed your hands on his cheeks and gently pulled him away, looking into his eyes. No stars in the sky could match the brilliance of his dark irises. "You are my treasure. With you by my side I want nothing more. You're all I need to be happy, Sasha." you mumbled, stroking his cheeks with your thumbs. Aleksander buried his face in your hands, closing his eyes for a moment and surrendering to this tender gesture.

"You deserve much more, milaya. And I promise, by all the saints and stars in the sky, I'll give you the world."

"Everything in time, Aleksander. Now, kiss your wife and show her how much you love her." you giggled as his long hair tickled your cheeks as he dutifully caught your lips in another sweet kiss.

"Was he really worth it?" Baghra's question cut through your sobs. You wiped your tears, not wanting to cry in front of her, and turned to face her. "Wouldn't you rather curse him for creating a fold and for leaving you than mourn the bastard that was my son? Y/N, child, you have eternity ahead of you. An eternity where you can be happy. Is Aleksander worth wasting it?" you laughed bitterly, knowing the answer to her question all too well. Nothing has changed over the centuries. And you knew nothing would change your feelings.

"You know very well that I will never know happiness again. Not without him. I've never done that in all these years."

"There had to be a moment. Even the smallest." she tried desperately to convince you. You dropped your head, remembering those few moments between you and Kirigan in Little Palace.

"There was. Next to a man who looked like him. But after a while, it dawned on me that he would never be Aleksander. Call me and think about me however you want. Pathetic child, crazy woman… But the truth is, I loved your son, Baghra, and I will always love only him. Our hearts were created by the saints as one and divided in two, placing one in Aleksander and the other in me. There is no one in the world I could love like him, with whom I could be truly happy. This type of love never dies, Baghra. Even separated by a grave."

"What if you got him back? If he was with you, but he wasn't the same man you remember?"

"It wouldn't matter. We are all changing. I know I would love him as much as I did then."

"I just hope you know what you want, child. And that maybe he'll go back to who he used to be because of you." she sighed, leaving you alone with your grief. You frowned, analysing her vague words.

It wasn't until it started to get dark that you got up from your knees and brushed the dirt off your clothes. You were about to leave when the crunch of branches caught your attention. A foolish hope rose in you and you lifted your head, only to meet your eyes with the Kirgian.

"General. I was just returning to camp." he nodded his head without a word.

Taking that as your cue to leave, you turned to take one last look at what used to be your home. You sighed tremblingly as a lone tear rolled down your cheek.

And you whistled.

It was a fragment of an old Ravkan song about lovers returning home after a long journey to throw themselves into each other's arms, longing for separation. You and Aleksander adored it. And you decided that every time one of you left home, you would whistle that particular verse that stuck in your mind.

In storm-black mountains, I wander alone

Over the glacier I make my way

A cool breeze caressed your hot (from crying) skin. But the goosebumps that formed on your arms weren't from the cold at all.

"In the apple orchard stands the maiden fair and sings, When will you come home?"

You froze. Incapable of anything but breathing. You misheard. It's just one of your stupid fantasies, your mind playing tricks on you, or another cruel dream about how you got back the man you loved. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be real.

But the man holding your arm in a tight grip and turning you around to face him felt very real. AND ALIVE.

"Sasha?" you whispered tearfully, shaking all over, and if it wasn't for his strong grip on both of your arms, you probably would have fallen to your knees in front of him long ago, unable to do anything other than stare hopefully at the man in front of you.

Aleksander's heart shuddered and threatened to burst as the pet name, unused for hundreds of years, reached his ears. In an instant, you were on his chest as he hugged you with all his might. With your ear to his heart, you listened to his beating, and for the first time in hundreds of years, you cried WITH HAPPY.

"It's me, milaya. My sweet Y/N, my moon, my heart, my wife. It's me."

You heard him through a haze, too intent on his eyes to understand anything more from his speech. It was him. Your Aleksander. All this time. He was saying something to you, but you completely ignored him as something gold around his neck shimmered in the moonlight. You pulled the chain from under his jacket, sighing as you saw his wedding ring hanging securely on his necklace. A sob of disbelief escaped you. It was really him.

His hand cupping your cheek caused your watery gaze to shift back to those dark, beloved eyes.

"No more tears, milaya. You do not have to worry. From now on, I will never leave your side again. Not for a single bloody second."

And that was enough for you.

Grabbing his hair, you pulled him closer to you to feel his lips on yours as soon as possible. It wasn't one of those soft, gentle, unhurried kisses that lovers share after they meet after some separation.

It was intense, desperate, and needy, expressing your deadly longing for each other's lips through those painful years without each other. You didn't have the strength to hold back, to pretend you didn't miss that exact feeling all those lonely nights.

It didn't matter that your tears mixed and you could taste their salty taste on each other's lips. It didn't matter that your lungs were burning for air. It didn't matter that you had already fallen to your knees, too shaken by the feeling of the other's lips, but both of you longed too much for this closeness between you to deprive yourself of the warmth of the other's body even for a millisecond. It didn't matter if your lips were too swollen to decently go back to camp and pretend nothing had happened between you two.

You sincerely doubted that you would be able to take even a step towards the camp. Not after you trembled in Aleksander's lap as his hands caressed every inch of your skin.

But the moment came when you had to pull away from each other, cursing the need for air. You rested your forehead against his, inhaling his scent and clinging to his kefta to be as close to him as possible.

You both knew that there was no way you were going to be an arm's length away from each other. And you were seriously considering sticking with him permanently. His dark cloak looked big enough for you to hide under it too.

You couldn't believe your luck. He was here. With you. You had his arms around you again as you both clung desperately to each other.

Your Aleksander. Your husband. Your loved one. Your heart.

He had you again. His wife. His soulmate. His sanity. His equal. HIS EVERYTHING.

You wanted to pull away for a moment to look at his face again, but something tugged at your neck, bringing your head to Aleksander's shoulder. You looked down. Your necklaces are tangled.

"Seriously? It couldn't have happened a month ago?" you groaned as you tried to untangle your chains. You smiled, hearing how your husband laughed carelessly for the first time in centuries, since the day he lost you. "We'll never hear the end of it from Baghra, you know about it Sasha?" you asked, resting your forehead against his as you gave up on releasing the two of you. It didn't matter that everything was against you again. At least now you finally have Aleksander with you. YOUR real Aleksander.

"She had already called me a blind fool before she made me come here. I think we'll hear a lot from her about our stupidity." he murmured. You shivered as you felt his fingertips on your neck as he untied your intertwined necklaces effortlessly. He unclasped yours and, with great delicacy, placed the ring on your finger.

"Remind me to thank your mother for making you come here later." you replied, making sure his wedding ring was on his finger as well. Maybe you won't scare all the bitches away from him, but at least you'll make it clear that he belongs only to you. After hundreds of years without him, you have the right to be territorial.

"Later?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't think I'm going anywhere other than your tent and your bed right now, do you?"

"Our bed." he murmured before grabbing you in bridal style and heading for your tent. "By the way, I must commend you for how bravely you resisted the charms of someone who wasn't me. I barely managed to kiss you properly before you pushed me away."

"I don't know what I should do to you. Slap you for groping someone who had my face, or kiss you for only being attracted to my beauty."

"You have to admit, you didn't resist me much back then, my little saint." he murmured, kissing you again. He ran his hand through your hair, pulling you all the way onto him so he could feel your weight on him. You were with him. Body and soul. And it wasn't a dream. "Let's go to that tent before I have my way with you here and now." he muttered, getting up.

"Wait." you grabbed his hand. He turned to you, giving you a questioning look as he found you still kneeling on the grass. "Before we do anything. We both agree that we are not going to destroy the fold, right?"

Aleksander held his breath. He forgot how damn perfect you were. How you fit in and understood him in every way. And only the slight ounce of control he had left was keeping him from lunging at you right now as you kneeled in front of him with those beautiful, mesmerising eyes staring at him.

But after all, Aleksander was only human. A man whose cruel fate separated him from his beloved wife for many centuries…

He pulled you close to him in one swift motion. You crashed into his chest, completely unprepared for the sudden movement, but his intoxicating lips on yours compensated for your shock.

You moaned into his mouth as he pulled away from you so as not to lose his control completely.

"Saints, you have no idea how much I've missed you, my little moon."

"I'll take it as a yes." you replied, giggling as he put his arm around you. As you'd guessed, you fit perfectly with him under his cloak. You sighed, intoxicated by his scent.

"You know so well that I'll do anything for you. The fact that our plans coincide only proves that we belong to each other. And only to each other."

"Always, Sasha. I'm yours for eternity." you replied, smiling slightly as you turned to steal a glance at him.

"And I'm yours for the rest of our lives and beyond." he murmured, kissing your forehead.

You practically ran through the camp, ignoring Baghra's knowing, malicious look and the shocked expressions of Alina, Zoya, and Ivan (at which you giggled, causing Aleksander a small, tender smile) and Fedyor's smirk. You entered his tent, laughing as you started kissing while taking off each other's clothes.

"I hope you realize we don't leave this tent for at least a week?" he asked as he laid you down on the bed. However, the bastard didn't wait for your response, stealing a kiss from you.

"They'll be looking for you, Sasha." you mumbled between your kisses and grabbed his cheeks to make him focus on something other than your lips.

"What a pity I'll be too busy with my wife to notice anyone else but her." he lowered his head to your neck, making your hands tangle in his hair. You sighed, feeling his tongue on your skin just before he gently bit you.

"I thought we had a battle to win." he suddenly stopped all his movements. He intertwined your ringed hands and cupped your cheek with the other, forcing you to look into his eyes.

"My little moon, I'll postpone any goddamn war for you. There is nothing in this world more important to me than you and never will be." he promised, pressing his lips to yours.

You moaned, enjoying the long-forgotten feeling of his skin against yours as well as knowing that your love would never die.

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cuubism · 1 year

Text

thinking about that meta about the endless not really transforming into different forms but rather being all forms simultaneously and just being perceived differently from different points of view. and yeah

"So, Death was telling me something interesting about you yesterday," Hob says, sipping on his coffee.

Dream pouts, though he would probably deny that that's what it is. "You are gossiping with my sister behind my back?"

"You know we talk."

"Gossip," Dream mutters again, steps taking on a pace adjacent to an irritable trudge. "What unseemly things does she say about me?"

"Why do you think she says mean things about you?"

"Every time we speak, she calls me an idiot," Dream says, and Hob lets out a startled laugh.

"That's what siblings do," Hob reminds him. "You know she loves you."

"Hmm." Dream plucks Hob's coffee from his hand, taking a ponderous sip. "What praises does she heap upon me, then?"

Hob shakes his head in fond exasperation. "She says that you -- Endless, that is -- can like... change your appearance for different people? Or creatures? Like. If you met a cat you would appear as a cat to them?"

"You do not quite have the right of it," Dream says. He hasn't returned Hob's coffee, despite having insisted that he 'did not require mortal sustenance' when Hob had offered to get him his own.

"What's the right of it, then?"

"It is not for human minds to comprehend."

Hob groans. "At least humor me and try to explain? Do you turn into a cat or not?"

"I do not turn into anything," Dream says, offended. "How base and common."

"Shapeshifting is base and common, I'll make sure to tell all the shapeshifters I know," Hob tells him seriously.

Dream lets out a sigh that Hob recognizes as meaning fine, I will answer your inane questioning about the nature of my existence. The funny thing is, now that they've gotten over the six hundred year barrier of what's your name and what do you do for work, Dream delights in talking about his creations. He will speak at length about his work given half a chance.

It's the personal -- whether that's something as mundane as how he takes his tea or as fundamental as what an Endless even is, exactly -- that's been hard to get at.

"I am a cat," Dream explains.

Hob stares at him, looking up and down at the very man-shaped figure walking beside him as if he needs to double-check. "You're definitely not a cat."

"Yes, I am," Dream says. He does not appear to be joking.

And apparently Hob is still thirteen years old all these centuries later, because he says, "Prove it."

"You cannot see it because you are not a cat," Dream sighs, as if this is truly a tragic occurrence.

"Maybe I am a cat," Hob suggests, tucking his hands in his pockets, all casual. "How would you know?"

Dream gives him a sidelong look. "You are not a cat. Though perhaps you would be more peaceful as one."

"Doubt it. But wait, so, if I was a cat I would be able to see your cat form?"

"In essence, yes. But. You speak as if I would be donning a coat. These are not forms. Merely fragments. Simultaneous angles on a whole."

"Fragments," Hob repeats. He works it through like a particularly hard math problem. "Hang on. So. You're also a cat now. If we met a cat they would see a cat."

Fuck, this is getting weird.

Dream looks proud of Hob for getting it. "Yes."

"Could have attempted to explain that instead of just saying I am a cat," Hob tells him. "I also still maintain that you are not actually a cat."

"I am as much a cat as I am a human," Dream says.

"So, not," Hob says.

"No," Dream agrees. "Because I am Dream."

"You're a nightmare, is what you are," Hob mutters, and Dream smirks.

"That, too."

They've been walking in silence for another few minutes when Hob asks, "What's your real form?"

Dream frowns. "All of my forms are real, Hob."

"Sure, you look like this or that to different people. What do you look like to yourself?"

"All of my forms are real," Dream insists.

"So what I'm seeing now isn't some kind of default? Are you just always different? Is this like that we don't know how other people see colors 'cuz everyone's eyes could be different thing? Or is there any internal consistency to you?"

"I don't know what thing you're referring to."

"What I'm trying to find out is did I invent this version of you in my head?" Hob asks, getting stressed about it now. Did his subconscious somehow decide this was what Dream should look like? Presumably Dream knows what he looks like to Hob. What if he doesn't like it? "Did I just decide yep that's what dreams should look like in 1389 and you've been stuck wearing black ever since?"

Dream chuckles. Probably amused Hob would ever think he had that much power. "No. There is what you call internal consistency in my appearance. Different creatures, cultures, and so on will see different aspects of me, but there is not a different aspect for each person. It is not infinite."

Oh, thank god. "So, you want to look this way."

"I suppose."

Never a straight answer with him.

"Well, just for the record," Hob says, "I fell in love with the entity but I happen to quite like the shape as well."

"The shape," Dream repeats, with a smile.

"Here's where you're going to tell me you're also a triangle or something."

Dream is silent.

Fucking hell.

"I'm not even going to ask," Hob decides, forcibly moving on. "I have another question."

"You have many," Dream observes.

"That's what you love about me," Hob says, and Dream tilts his head as if conceding the point.

"If there was a human culture that thought of dreams as represented by cats," Hob starts, "they might see you as a cat?"

Dream sips at Hob's coffee, considering. "I suppose."

"And was there ever one?"

"No."

Hob lets out a long breath. Dream is frustrating as hell to talk to sometimes, but Hob can't say he doesn't enjoy it anyway, doesn't enjoy the puzzle. "Was there ever any culture like that, though? That saw their dream representation as something other than a person?"

"There was one that thought dreams lived in bubbles, therefore I was the reflection of light along a bubble's curve," Dream says, expressionlessly. As if that isn't wild and fascinating. "However, that civilization has since disbanded and morphed into different forms."

"Which civilization was that?"

"You would not know it," Dream says.

Hob tips his head back and groans. "God, you're like an edgy teenager who knew that indie band before they were cool. Oh, which band? No, you wouldn't know them, they're too niche, too underground."

"Underwater," says Dream. "It was a civilization of dolphins."

Hob trips over a crack in the road and just manages to catch himself. Dream stops by his side, watching him with some concern, like he worries Hob might break himself in his clumsiness.

"The way the world looks to you must be insane," Hob says, staring at Dream.

Dream's lips tip up in the faintest smile. "Human perspective is narrow."

"Clearly. I wish I could see all your other forms. Must be amazing."

"You wish to see them?" Dream sounds surprised.

Hob scoffs. "Of course. But it's not sounding very possible."

Dream inclines his head in agreement.

Then a thought occurs. "Wait." And god, Hob has said a lot of stupid-sounding things in his life but this is about to be one of the worst. "If I pretend to be a cat, can I see your cat form?"

Dream can never answer a simple question directly, but apparently this absurd query is fine. "I suppose it is possible in theory for you to see it. But pretending is not enough. You would have to wholly assume the perspective of a cat. I do not know if it would be possible in practice."

Hob's never needed much more encouragement than that to try something. "Alright. Hold my coffee."

"I am already holding it," Dream points out.

"Hush. I'm being a cat."

How he's supposed to do that, Hob doesn't know. He paces back and forth before Dream, squinting in the sunlight. He looks at him from every angle. He tries to imagine what cats might dream of. Mice? Freedom? Sleeping in warm places? Their dreams must be feeling and instinct-driven, not intellectual.

Hob crouches down, looking up at Dream from as close to a cat's height as he can manage. Dream merely raises an eyebrow.

"Are you going to meow at me?" he asks mildly.

"Meow," Hob says, and Dream's mouth pops open in a round o of surprise that is one hundred percent worth the indignity of kneeling on a public street and meowing. "What do cats dream about, anyway?"

"World domination," Dream says solemnly.

"Haha," Hob says, but Dream doesn't take it back.

"Alright, I'm channeling megalomania," Hob tells him, shutting his eyes. "I'm channeling my inner despot."

"And an imposing one at that," Dream observes, looking down at him.

"Quiet, subject, can't you see I'm in the middle of ruling with an iron fist? Or paw?"

"I am quaking in my boots," Dream says. "Please, show mercy."

Hob squints back up at him. God, he's really trying, but it's hard. Cats live close to humans, but they are still so alien. Off in their own worlds, their own battles and hierarchies.

"Will it work if I lick you?" he asks. "Like how cats groom each other."

Dream blinks at him, once, twice, slowly, catlike, which he must be doing intentionally, because he's a bastard like that. "This is, as I believe you would say, getting odd."

Yeah, it is getting fucking odd.

"Perhaps you should try imagining my female form," Dream suggests, and if Hob weren't already on all fours on the sidewalk he'd have fallen over. "It is human, and may be easier."

"You have that?" Hob squeaks, scrambling back to his feet. "But I thought it was like, a species perspective thing? Do women just see you as a woman, then?" Then he shakes his head. "No, that's way too simplistic."

"Women can see me like this as well," Dream says. "Or however their culture dictates."

"So why would someone see you as one gender or another, then? Just a culture thing? Preference?"

"Why do some people see God as a woman?" Dream asks the air.

Hob groans. "You are impossible."

Dream smirks.

"Or maybe you just like being unknowable," Hob guesses.

"Perhaps."

"Perhaps. Yeah, perhaps. I'm sure." Hob cracks his knuckles. "Alright, my unknowable cosmic entity of a significant other, let's see if I can turn you into a woman."

Dream stares at him flatly, but Hob can see the slightest uptick at the corner of his mouth.

Hob still doesn't know what exact perspective he needs to see Dream as a woman. Maybe if he just believes really really hard he can make it happen. Force of will. It's how he'd always planned to make himself immortal, anyway, absent a fortunate encounter with one prickly dream entity.

He stops looking at Dream, and tries to look through Dream. Tries to imagine how it feels to see the true depths of his eyes, how the cosmos in them go straight to infinity. He tries to see around the way the light reflects off of and shapes Dream's form to the shape within, like a sculptor seeing the body in the marble before it's carved. Hob is no artist, but he tries.

And he knows Dream. He may not know all these angles on his form, but he knows Dream, the entity, the person. They have had a long friendship, Hob and the concept of dreaming.

And just like that, the perspective shifts. For a split second, Hob sees an infinity before him, the eternity of all existence condensed in all its brilliant, glowing facets--then his brain skids around it to avoid going mad, latches onto an angle, and slams back to earth.

Hob sways, rubs at his eyes, and then laughs hysterically. "Fuck!"

"Hob?" Dream sounds uncertain now. "Are you well?"

"I think I just glimpsed cosmic knowledge never meant for my mortal eyes, or whatever," Hob tells him, somewhat maniacally. His ears are kind of ringing, eyes swimming in the afterimages of a very bright light. "You're incredible, do you know that?"

"As you judge," Dream says.

Hob finally drops his hands from his eyes.

And immediately slaps them over his mouth, letting out a sound so high-pitched and manic he hadn't thought his vocal cords could manage it. "Holy shit."

Dream frowns. "Are you well?" he asks again. "Perhaps I should not have allowed--"

"I fucking did it," Hob whispers, mostly to himself. "Oh my God. You're a woman. I think? You look like one. I guess?"

Dream looks down at himself. Hob wonders what he sees--does he see what Hob sees? Or does he see the incomprehensible mass of everything that he truly is under the human trappings?

"Ah," he says, and presses a single fingertip to one of the breasts that he now has, prodding it curiously. "It appears that I am."

Okay, so he can see what Hob sees. Good to know.

"Yup," Hob says. He can't seem to steady himself whatsoever. "Yup, yup. You are."

"Impressive, Hob," Dream remarks, looking up at him again with a smirk. His jaw is narrower now, his lips plusher, but God, it's that same fucking smirk that drives Hob insane.

Hob wonders if Dream's female form is also bound by some limitations on appearance the way his usual form is. He hopes so, because it if turns out he managed to manifest Dream's tits to fit his own subconscious desires, he might just have to choose Death at last.

Hob still has his hands over his mouth. He makes himself drop them.

Dream frowns at his silence. "Are you not pleased?"

"I'm very shellshocked and reorienting my view of the universe," Hob tells him. "Also, you're very beautiful and it's just a lot all around."

That smirk again. Whatever minor amount of immunity Hob has developed over the centuries is obliterated by the new shape of him. "Ah."

"Ah," Hob echoes. "Can I kiss you?"

"You may."

Hob does so with his usual enthusiasm, perhaps more, as he does so love novelty. Dream tastes much the same, feels much the same to his hands, and yet not, like Hob's different perspective on him has altered the angle of his touch. Hob runs his hands indulgently over the softer curves of him, settling them on Dream's waist.

"Dear heart," he murmurs into Dream's mouth. "Most beautiful thing."

Dream makes a soft sound and rests his face against Hob's.

They stay there for a long moment, frozen in the middle of the sidewalk. Then Dream asks, "Would you have still kissed me if I was a cat?"

"On your little furry head, yes," Hob says, and pecks his cheek. "I thought you were a cat."

"I am," Dream says.

Hob groans. "Enough, I'm getting confused again. Let's stop with the metaphysics and go home and do something less headache-inducing."

"Like playing with the new toy you've found yourself?" Dream asks, raising an eyebrow, but obligingly lets Hob wrap an arm around his waist and tug him along down the sidewalk.

"Pretty much!" Hob agrees. "If you're amenable."

"I suppose I can bear it," Dream says solemnly, as though being kissed and coddled and worshiped is the greatest hardship of his eons-long existence.

Then he says, quietly, "You are singular, to perceive me thus."

"As..." Hob looks at him as they walk, looks at the elegant cut of Dream's cheekbone and the sweep of his eyelashes, the longer fall of his hair. "You mean, in more than one... facet?"

Dream nods. "You... see me. The truth of me. And still, you look upon me kindly."

"What other way is there to look at the one you've loved your whole life?" Hob asks, throat tight.

Dream leans into his side, and Hob presses a kiss to his temple, holding there for several steps. And he continues to hold him close as they go on, keeps his unfathomable boundless entity within the circle of his arms, where he can keep on fathoming him.

#really a toss up what's making hob lose his mind more. the eldritch vision of dreaming as a concept? or dream's tits?#listen he's a simple man #a simple and very bisexual man #dreamling #dreamling fic #dream of the endless #hob gadling #my writing

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harunayuuka2060 · 7 months

Text

Michael: *has presented to MC (angel) the ring that contains the fragment of their soul*

MC: ...

Michael: I spent a considerable amount of time acquiring this. *smiles* Thankfully, my friend Solomon had helped me out.

MC: ...

Michael: What are you waiting for? Don't just stare at it. Wear this ring so you would be able to receive your punishment.

MC: *nods* *allowing him to slide the ring onto their finger*

Michael: *waiting for it to take effect*

MC: ...

MC: Thirteen will never forgive you.

Michael: Ah. There you are. You've been gone for so long, but I see your personality hasn't changed a little.

MC: ...

MC: What have you done?

Michael: Isn't it obvious? I've turned you into an angel after you have abandoned your mortal body in Devildom.

MC: ...

MC: *smiles, seems taunting him* I never expected that I would interest you a lot for you to trouble yourself this much.

Michael: *smiles back* Yes. I won't deny it. Besides Solomon, your existence is also interesting.

MC: ...

MC: You should be aware that I would not hesitate to take my own life.

Michael: You do and the brothers will be in danger. You might not be aware of this, but the other you residing in their household is of an evil being.

MC: Evil being? Hm. I don't think so.

Michael: An optimist, are we?

MC: *lightly chuckles* *then stares right into his eyes*

MC: I'm a little bit disappointed with Solomon, but he must've been desperate too so I would be able to forgive him.

MC: But you? *smiling* You shouldn't have created another me when the other one is still in existence.

Michael: What are you talking about?

MC: I who no longer belongs to the world... *the ring started to shimmer*

Michael: *his eyes widened*

Simeon, Raphael, Luke, and the other angels: *have heard an explosion*

Luke: Wh-What's that?!

Simeon and Raphael: ...

Simeon: It's where Michael is!

Michael: *has staggered out of his room*

Simeon and Raphael: *runs to him* Michael!

Michael: Oh, you two... *coughs*

Simeon: What happened?

Raphael: *immediately understood what's going on when Michael gave him a glance*

Michael: It was a failed experiment.

Simeon: I see. You've got us worried.

Raphael: Simeon, go and inform the others that there's only a minor accident. And that they have nothing to worry about.

Simeon: *nods* Will you be alright on your own?

Michael: Yes.

*As soon as Simeon had left*

Michael: Raphael, go and find that human. They must be still around somewhere.

Raphael: *nods* *then went on his way*

Michael: ...

Michael: *smiles* You're really dangerous.

Luke: I hope Michael is fine. That was a huge explosion. *has been told by Simeon to return to his room*

Luke: *the moment he closes the door*

MC: Luke.

Luke: !!!

Luke: *quickly turns around and sees MC standing in the middle of his room*

MC: *smiles* It's been a while.

Luke: ...MC?

Luke: ...

Luke: *runs to hug them* *then cries*

MC: I miss you, Luke.

Luke: *being unable to answer as he continues to cry while hugging them*

Thirteen: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS, SOLOMON?! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY US?!!

Solomon: *has stayed silent after she found out about what he did*

Thirteen: MC... They have given what remained to their soul as a present for me-! Why would you steal it from me?!

Solomon: ...

Solomon: I miss them, Thirteen. And I will take every chance I have to be with them again.

Thirteen: You bastard-! *slaps him across the face*

Solomon: ...

Thirteen: You have no respect to someone's soul! And you didn't respect MC! *is on the verge of tears*

Solomon: !!!

Solomon: ...

Solomon: *accepted everything she said to him*

Solomon: *smiles bitterly* I'm a selfish human, Thirteen. You don't have to forgive me. But I'm begging you not to take their soul back.

Thirteen: ...

Thirteen: Why would I listen to you? That's a gift to me, Solomon.

Thirteen: A precious gift that none of you should have touched.

Lucifer: MC...

MC: *standing in the middle of the castle grounds while looking at the sky*

Diavolo: Have they finally returned to us?

Barbatos: ...

Barbatos: No, young master.

MC: *as if hearing Barbatos, turns their head at their direction*

MC: *lets out a tired sigh*

Lucifer, Diavolo, and Barbatos: !!!

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me mc #obey me michael #obey me simeon #obey me raphael #obey me luke #obey me lucifer #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me thirteen #obey me solomon

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delirium1217 · 12 days

Text

crystal clear

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

“It’s just… not my type of scene, that’s all,”

“Your brother’s engagement party is not your type of scene?”

“Is that really surprising?”

“I guess not,”

The conversation fizzled out, as if it had any fighting chance anyway. Regulus kept staring at tiny details to keep himself steady. The lines in the brick wall in front of him. The way the wind blew away his cigarette smoke.

It’d been too overwhelming inside, filled to the brim with people he hadn’t seen in years. Hungry eyes filled with questions and inquisitions. The shimmering hue that came over everything. Like he’d wound up in an overexposed photo, flaring white and red and orange all over the dance floor.

“Look,” James started back up again. He didn’t even have the excuse of smoking to keep talking to him, “I know things have been - awkward between you and well, everyone, since uhm, uh, it all. And I don’t know if you’re here to reconnec-”

“I’m not here to make amends, James,”

That seemed to catch him off guard. Regulus wondered if James wasn’t used to him being this blunt. Ah, well. Too many things have changed for this not to change too.

He took a deep breath, “That’s fine. I just wanted to say, we all appreciate you being here,” he paused for a second. “Sirius. Even though he has odd ways of showing it, he’s glad you’re here. Remus, too, his whole ‘don’t ruin his day’ speech is just nervous jitters,” his hands were flailing along his words, like he was trying to mime them out.

Regulus looked down at the floor, fragments of silver confetti were taking the shape of real constellations over his shoes. Clever little bit of magic.

He didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t blame them for how they acted. Sirius - initial anger followed by weird sentimentality. Remus, all confrontation and ragged edges. He knew what they all went through. He knew all the betrayal that had left them this fragile.

He wasn’t here to ‘reconnect’. If he was, he’d be doing a piss-poor job at it. Was that something he wanted? He didn’t even consider it. Reconnect, and what then?

“It’s just – did you really have to crash in at 10 am after three years of refusing contact?”

It wasn’t an unfair question. Still, it prodded at something in his chest. Something that pulsated and smouldered. He instantly felt the urge to seize up, and push away. It disturbed him how easy it was crawling back into his old skin. The viscera automatically reworking itself into the shape it had once been.

This, he told himself, this is why he left. This place dragged the worst out of him.

If James was expecting an answer, he didn’t show it, leaning back on the brick wall beside him. As if the question was a mere suggestion, something to consider. He’d think it patronizing if it were anyone else.

He looked over at him. White shirt crumpled, sleeves pushed up, tie dishevelled and wonky. The hazy sheen the evening held seemed to swell as he looked at James. As if the stars had fallen and framed his face in their wake.

It was still there, he slowly realized. The tug of want. He felt his hands ache. The incessant urge to touch and feel. He’d tried so badly to bury it. It was still there, sticking its ugly head out of the sand.

Stilltherestilltherestillthere.

An awkward blob of emotion and pheromones and terrible circumstances. He couldn’t look anymore.

“I-” he heard himself start, as if he had no control over his own tongue.

“I’m not supposed to be here. The letter with the portkey was on my dresser. And I couldn’t-“He took a deep sigh, eyes flickering across the floor, “I couldn’t bear to fail him today too,”

The words hung between them. James didn’t react, only nodding slightly. He got the impression he was being treated like a skittish animal. Maybe he was.

“I get that,”

He turned his head towards him, eyebrow raised. “No you don’t,”

“Okay, maybe I don’t,”

A smile tugged on Regulus’ lips. James hadn’t changed a bit. Ever the empathetic, even when it made zero sense.

“Hey, I got you to drop the frown!”

He instantly went back to frowning again. This promptly led to James laughing, in a way that sent Regulus careening years back.

“Thank Merlin I haven’t lost the ability to do that,” James went on.

Snapshots flickered through his head. Himself, a miserable little thing, observing from across hallways and classrooms and Quidditch fields. He wanted to hate him so badly, the boy who’d stolen his brother. He never stood a chance.

The end was there as well. That year was nothing but an open wound in his mind, a festering, rotting tunnel of memories he tip-toed around. But James was there. The only person who could get anything resembling a smile out of him. The stars above the astronomy tower, brighter and brighter as winter turned into summer. Prefect rounds and silly little bickering. They were the only things he’d allowed himself to revisit.

There were so many things left unsaid. So many things Regulus abandoned when he took the Mark. That last night – the one where he pushed James away flashed across his mind. He’d taken whatever fragile relationship they’d had, and he smashed it to the ground.

They hung between them, too.

“I, uhm. I think I owe you an apology,”

James looked at him. Wide dark eyes that he knew shone startling hazel under the sunlight. It was unfair, this effect he still had on him. Turning Regulus into something soft and fragile and vulnerable, even after all this time. He thought he’d left it all behind.

“Yeah?”

“The way I left things, it wasn’t right. I don’t want it stand between us,”

“I thought you weren’t here to make amends?” The wink that followed made Regulus’ heart perform a disgustingly loud percussion routine.

“Yeah well. Some things you just can’t avoid,”

“Ah. And I’m one of those things?”

Yes. All the miles I put between us were useless. Yes. I can’t help but want to crash into you.

“No. I just can’t go back and have another thing I fucked up haunting me,”

James was suddenly somber again, as if he just remembered the grim details of everything that went down.

“Alright, that’s fair. Well, no need to apologize, after all that you did,”

This was wrong. Something was off. He was lying, all this faux tranquility was for show.

He didn’t care how long it’d been since he last saw him, James had never not demanded more. More explanation. More words and whys and hows. It was one of the reasons he’d left things so untouched in his sixth year. James Potter would’ve tore down his defenses one by one, till he had none left.

He narrowed his eyes at him. It'd gotten cold outside, or maybe the alcohol warming him had dissipated. The noise from the party inside winding down. The cigarette butts littering the coarse ground.

It was tremendously uncomfortable, yet James had stayed for about twenty minutes, while Regulus smoked, talked and…for what?

“What is this really about, James? Why are you out here?”

“I- you just looked so upset and-“

“Plenty of depressed people at a wedding,”

“Engagement,” James corrected

“Whatever, same difference,”

“It very much is not when I’m the one who planned it all,”

“You planned all of this?”

“Uh, yeah. Why did you think I froze when you showed up? Estranged younger siblings really do throw a wrench into whatever party you have planned, y’know,”

He did not think about why James froze up, because he was too busy staring at Sirius, who looked like he could kill him, “I could imagine,”

The thought of James frantically planning an engagement party was a bit absurd, like something from those muggle comedies his roommates liked to watch. Despite the mood he’d developed, the urge to laugh filled his chest. The mental image of James, his hair more of a bird’s nest than usual, turning red over the wrong type of flowers or cake was incredible.

He supposed it did make sense, James was so close to both Sirius and Remus. Of course, he’d know exactly what they’d want.

That explained all the off-beat magic and tidbits of mischief he’d seen today. Those confetti constellation charms. Whatever the dance floor had that pushed people together. The ribbon streamers flying in between dull conversations, asking people questions. The empty glasses you could mutter whatever you wanted into. It was all so well-crafted. It made him ache.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He was a ghost floating through.

“Uh, speaking of the wedding. I’m planning that, too. Obviously. As if they could hire someone better than me. But, uh, uhm.” He took a deep breath, like he was readying himself to jump off a cliff, “I kind of told them you’d stay till the wedding,”

At first, he thought he’d misheard. “You-what?”

“Told them you’d stay till the wedding?” He hesitantly said, “Sirius was such a mess, he couldn’t deal with the fact that you were leaving afterwards and I just- I panicked,”

He stayed quiet for a second, his mind slowly processing what he’d heard. When he did, he got the sudden urge to cry.

“I just- no. That’s-“Regulus found himself fumbling. He’d left this. He’d left this all behind, he couldn’t do this again. “No. No, I’m not coming back,”

“But-“

Sadness burned into anger, a whiplash of emotions that suddenly grounded him, he moved forward off the wall and fully faced James.

“You want to know why I left, James? This is why I left!” Regulus spat out, the harsh words contrasting with all the goddamned harmony everyone was in. All the joy and exuberant youth they were bathed in. He could choke on it. “You don’t get to decide what I do, not you, not the Order, not my family, not any megalomaniac with a death-wish, okay? No one, no one but me!” The rasp in his throat caught him off guard. This – he couldn’t not have control, not after all he’d been through.

“What about the people you left behind?”

He found himself inching closer, staring into James’ eyes. “I do not owe anyone a fucking thing, Potter.”

“No.” James’ voice hardened. There. Regulus thought with sick satisfaction, there was the anger he’d so badly craved. James looked beautiful, face twisted with contempt. The anger Regulus deserved. “No. You don’t get to say that. Not after, not after what you did. Everyone was - I was fucked up for months after you left!” He paused.

“No idea of where you were or what you were doing. And then months go by - and you’ve turned sides but still refused to talk to any of us. How dare you?”

They both stopped after that, chests rising and falling with labored breath. Grey met brown. James swallowed, Regulus’ eyes flickered down to the movement.

And that’s all it took.

It wasn’t gentle, the way the crashed into each other – how could it be? All sharp angles, teeth, and digging nails. Things said and unsaid fell to the wayside. James’ hands grabbed his temples and dragged him inward. His own hand pushed at James’ tie, twisting it around his wrist and pulling in.

It was the farthest thing away from the chaste little touches they’d shared, a lifetime ago, fumbling through newfound confusion and attraction.

This was frustration and despair and regret poured into one. James tilted his head, beckoning Regulus closer. His hands let go of the tie, slamming him into the wall. The groan the came from James’ mouth lit something inside himself aflame. All he could do was push himself further. Closer, closer, closer.

James pushed himself off. Gasping for air. Regulus’ skin burned with all the lost warmth.

His face was vehement in the dull yellow light. Glasses pushed off, lost somewhere in their collision. His lips a violent red – slightly parted. Hair pulled into tufts, sticking out. All the anger that reverberated between them had cooled down into something feverish and restrained.

None of it mattered – the regrets and who’d left and who’d stayed. Not during a war. They were both wrong for bringing this up.

They fell into silence, shaky breaths, and piercing stares. Regulus felt his skin prickle with anxiety. His mind out of sync with his heart, he didn’t know what to think.

“I just needed to do that – at least once, if you meant it – leaving,” James muttered, words coming out in desperate breaths, eyes tracing his face.

“James, I can’t be here. Not like how you want. It hurts too much,” his voice came out pleading, a hoarse little thing.

James’ hand reached out, tucking Regulus’ hair behind his ear, the gentle touch a vivid contrast to all the desperate touches that preceded it. The urge to cry came back up again.

“That’s- it’s fine. I’m – I’m sorry I said what I did. I think I said it for my sake as much as it was for Sirius’, I thought about you – this, so many times. Even before you left, I didn’t care, I would’ve still been there,” his voice twisted with guilt at that last part, like he was confessing to a heinous crime. In Regulus’ eyes, he might as well have. He wasn’t proud of what he did – those last few months of war, hearing James say this sent a thrill of fear through his heart.

He would’ve destroyed him. He would’ve wrecked him to pieces.

He didn’t want to think about that anymore. It threatened to throw him off-balance. He looked over at James.

“I – I still want,” Regulus swallowed the rising sense of panic in his chest, he cleared his throat “I still want to be here. I just, I can’t be thrown in full throttle like today. You can’t expect me to just fold to whatever you want. But I still want to be here – when these things happen,” it was true, but he only realized it as he said it.

He still wanted the contact. The string to his past. He just couldn’t handle too much of it.

James laughed, a bright little noise that caught him off guard, “So like. Holidays and weddings? God, Regulus you are so – is that what we just had a full on screaming match about? You want to be a normal person living abroad and visit family on special occasions? I thought you wanted to disappear off the face of the earth and never be seen again,”

Regulus’ face burned with embarrassment – James was right, Regulus had blown up over the mere suggestion that someone would be in control of his life again. His therapist was going to have a field day with that one.

“You were the one that said I’d stay till the wedding,”

“Yeah, which is in twenty days?”

“Oh,” Regulus hadn’t thought about that. He should’ve realized – even after the war ended, people weren’t really keen on delaying weddings.

“Yeah, oh. What – you thought I’d keep you here for a year or something?”

Yes, that’s exactly what he thought. “No.”

James laughed again. Regulus wanted to memorize every second of it.

“Y’know it wasn’t really just a screaming match,” Regulus found himself muttering. They were still both so close. Face to face. The air had stilled around them.

“No it wasn’t,” James’ voice dropped low, his eyes finding Regulus’.

When they leaned in again, it felt inevitable.

Warmth filtered across his skin. James’ fingers gripped onto his hair, strong and unrelenting. His weight against Regulus’ own a welcome comfort. He could get lost in this. He could spend all his days here.

James broke away, yet again. Regulus felt like the rug was pulled out from under him.

“Listen, could we… talk about what we’re doing here?”

“I – what do you mean?” he felt dazed from the lost contact.

“This,” James gestured to the space between them.

“Um, I mean,” Regulus cleared his throat. “We can figure out a portkey system? I can’t give you any promises, I just. I’m barely holding on most days, but I can – for this, I mean, unless you just want something casual, which is fine. I guess. I shouldn’t have assumed. Yeah, that’d be-”

“Reg, you idiot,”

Oh. He should’ve realized, was this just a one off thing? Had he completely misread the situation?

“Has anything about us ever been casual?”

“No. I guess not.” He found himself laughing, none of it was particularly funny, it was just – relief. Weird, the difference a few hours could make in someone’s life.

James started laughing too. Seemingly, only because Regulus was. He linked their hands together.

“And Regulus?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time we have an argument, we really should do more than angrily make out about it,”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, maybe once in a while,”

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

if you enjoyed reading, consider dropping a kudos or a comment on my ao3! it helps a lot to motivate me! thank you<3

ao3 link

#alright might be pushing the limits of what ‘microfic’ is here #jegulus #jegulus microfic #marauders #regulus black #marauders era #james potter #james x regulus #regulus x james #jegulus fanfiction #marauders fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #jegulus oneshot #delirium writes

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itsabouttimex2 · 1 month

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I have seen many yandere parental figure so how about yandere offspring? Like Yandere mk/nezha/redson/mei to his parental figure? How would their parental figure to their child "strange" behavior?

Yandere Children:

Red Son and Ne Zha

(This is the first time I’ve written romantic yandere for Y/N. Not too surprised that it was for Bull King and Iron Fan.)

I like to think of this particular Y/N as a demon born of ice, someone who owes a serious debt to Princess Iron Fan.

When she finally calls it in, you head immediately to her fortified residence, seeing the former celestial standing outside with her husband, a small bundle in his arms.

You expect the worst, and prepare accordingly. The favor you owe is great- no task is beyond her asking. Your blessing, or a fragment of your power. Your service as a guard or war companion. Your compliance in a murderous scheme. But Princess Iron Fan does not wish for any of that.

Instead, she wants a babysitter.

“We were hoping… that you might be a suitable caretaker for our son. It could be that your natural affinity for ice will help to neutralize Red Son’s wielding of the Samahdi Fire.”

So the little boiling bundle is pushed into your icy arms, steam hissing and filling the air on contact.

His temperature lowers as yours rises, the little baby cooing and laughing at the humid mist swirling around you.

“…I didn’t know you had a son,” you say, poking the plumpness of his little scarred cheek. “And what a big and healthy thing he is, too.”

“A worthy heir to my throne!” The Demon Bull King proudly announces, watching closely as you handle his cherished son. Gently, you press a kiss to his bindi. Pulling away slowly, your lips leave a glittering ice-blue mark upon it, reading simply: 凛.

This is the life you settle into, a mostly peaceful passing of days spent playing with the growing boy and helping to tame his deadly flames.

Any time they grow out of control (and it happens frequently) you quickly reapply your blessing to his forehead, chilling his internal temperature and forcing his body to redirect the fire to heat himself up.

His parents watch on in awe, seeing you so easily and calmly reign in something so deadly and uncontrollable. You quickly become more than a temporary babysitter, given a lavish room furnished with every luxury that a demon could desire.

(Let’s be honest, there’s some real poly energy with you’ve got going on with PIF and DBK. ‘Live-in babysitter’, my ass.)

As the three of you grow closer, so swells your bond with Red Son, serving as primary caretaker and educator. He’s a prodigal learner, taking quickly to magic especially. You learn that the boy has a knack for putting things together, spot-welding any pieces of metal he can find. These little jagged creations are often gifted to you, and you have a shelf entirely dedicated to displaying them. Often will he reject his own bed to sleep beside you, finding comfort in the coldness of your skin.

But, in spite of all sweetness…

Red Son is still a demon, things that are horribly powerful and often violent or deceitful, if not outright murderous.

And he grows to see Y/N as being something that belongs to the Demon Bull Clan. And sure, with the nearly unpayable debt you owe to Iron Fan and your budding relationship with his parents, he’s not exactly wrong.

A caretaker, a maid, a teacher, a mentor, a friend. These are all things you have become in grateful service to this powerful family. And eventually, all those things bleed to what they really what:

A spouse and a parent.

It’s hard to tell exactly when the shift in their perspective occurs, because their obsession is a slow, drudging creep. But the shift in their actions once they realize their obsession is instead blindingly quick.

One day you’re sitting down with Red to teach him calligraphy, gently and reassuringly fixing his brushstroke and complimenting every line he gets right, all while he demands to sit in your lap.

Then night falls and it is made very clear to you what your new role in the family in, complete with a shift in sleeping area and clothing.

You’re pressed flush between Iron Fan and Bull King as they slumber, dressed in a red silk gown and bearing purple-jeweled rings across many of your fingers. Red Son sleeps on your chest, his grip immovably tight.

And this is the new life you must grow accustomed to, either to repay your debt or perhaps… because you have come to like it.

Loved isn’t the worst thing to be, after all.

(Personal headcanon: befitting his status as the Third Lotus Prince, most offerings given to Ne Zha consist of foods containing lotus seeds, lotus root, and lotus paste. At this point, he’s grown somewhat sick of the sweet taste. He actually prefers meat and vegetables.)

“Ne Zha,” you call, exploring the halls of his palace. “Little one, it’s time for dinner!”

All that meets your words is the clanging of metal and the tearing of leather. He’s training again, as always.

You push aside a silk curtain embroidered with many lotuses, revealing a well-stocked armory lined with dozen of training dummies.

And in the middle is a very worn-out Ne Zha, the little prince dripping with sweat.

“Little one,” you say, causing the boy’s sash to stand to attention, startled upwards like the tail of a cat. “What did I say about training so late?”

“I, um… I’m not supposed to train… so I won’t want to sleep in late to, um, make up for lost energy.”

“That’s right, sweetpea. Come on, let’s get something in your stomach. And then you’ll need a bath.”

“I already took a bath today,” he huffs, slotting his dual-tipped spear face-down into a holding pot. “I don’t need another.”

Timed to the click of your tongue, you swipe a finger across the young boy’s forehead, dragging a line in the built-up sweat. “I think you do, Ne Zha.”

“…hmph,” he pouts, his little cheeks puffing out. Though the prince is much too polite to outright refuse or go so far as to throw a tantrum, he still shows his displeasure in a quiet and mild way.

It’s one of the things you cherish most about him. Ne Zha is well behaved and rather mature, to the point where you have to encourage him to play and take breaks. It feels a little unfair, really, that someone so young has been saddled with so much responsibility.

You ply the Third Lotus Prince with plushies and paints, allowing him to explore avenues of creativity and make-believe. It’s nourishing for both his mind and body, a period of well-earned rest to slowly recuperate from the constant training he’s so insist on enduring.

In turn, he’s viciously protective of you, and often asks for your explicit attention over any other maidservant in the Celestial Realm.

Expect him to ward off any would-be suitors by challenging them to duels. It’s a lose-lose scenario . They either somehow win and beat the hell out of a little boy, or, more likely, get the hell beaten out of them by a little boy. Either way, it’s not exactly something that endears them to you, watching grown men and women raise their blades to your protective charge.

Kissing his wounds and fixing his hair, doting on the little lotus prince as your would-be suitors seethe, wishing that they were the ones receiving your attention.

Eventually, Ne Zha will properly dress himself (that’s a lie, he needed your help) for an audience with several important deities in the Celestial Realm, he asks for your permanent placement as his personal parent maidservant.

And what reason do they have to deny such a loyal warrior?

#Platonic Yandere #Romantic Yandere #Yandere Lego Monkie Kid #Yandere LMK #Yandere Red Son #Yandere Princess Iron Fan #Yandere Demon Bull King #Bullfam #Yandere Ne Zha #Yandere Nezha #Yandere Son

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eddiesxangel · 6 months

Text

Snowed In | Eddie Munson X Reader

Summary: Eddie spoils you on a snow day

Cw: Afab reader, fluff, and smut 18+ mdni

When you awoke this morning, you thought it was still the middle of the night, the sky was so dark, and you could hardly see through the snow blowing in every direction. How did Eddie get to work this morning? You thought as you noticed your boyfriend was no longer asleep beside you.

That thought was soon forgotten when you heard the clanging of pans from the kitchen. It was already 9:30am, Eddie was suppose to be long gone by now but the shuffling coming from outside your door told you otherwise.

“Shit” you hear Eddie curse under his breath as you walk out of your bedroom in only your panties and oversized long sleeve sleep shirt. As you enter the kitchen you see Eddie faced away from you as he worked over the stove. His bare back was exposed and as you approached him you see how low his flannel lounge pants hung on his hips.

“Baby what are you doing?” You coo as you brush your hands up his shoulders.

“Ahhh!” Eddie screamed freezing in place.

“I’m sorry baby” you hug him from behind feeling his heart race as you place your hands on his chest resting your head on his bare back. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Damn it Sugarplum, I was trying to surprise you with breakfast on bed.” He turns to you cupping your face giving you a light kiss good morning.

“Baby you’re so cute! But what about your shift?” You snuggle your face into the crook of his neck. He smelled so good. Like fresh linen and fragments of yesterdays cologne. He wrapped his arms around your head closing your in before kissing the top of it.

“Haven’t you see outside? We are snowed in. Malls closed. So it’s just you and I alllllllll day” he smiled at the idea. Eddie had so many plans for the two of you and all of them involved you naked.

“Really?” You perked up popping your head out of the confines of Eddie’s hands.

“Mmmmhhhhmmmmm” he nods. “Now get your cute butt to back into the room so I can treat my girl to breakfast in bed.”

Eddie man handled you back into your bedroom giving your ass a smack before plopping you onto the bed.

“Stay” he requests as he leaves you as you giggle to yourself.

About ten minutes later Eddie saunters in with a tray of pancakes, bacon, and two mugs of mocha because he knows you need your coffee.

“Baby! This is amazing thank you” if you could sprout heart eyes you would. No man had ever cared for you the way Eddie does. As Eddie placed the tray carefully down on the bed you grab his face and kiss him as a thank you. It quickly deepened as your slipped your tongue into his mouth but Eddie pulled away.

“Don’t worry baby we definitely be getting to that later. But I don’t want your food to get cold.” He smiled giving you one last peck before sitting down beside you to serve you.

After your belly’s were full of sugary goodness Eddie waisted no time before he was back on you. He kissed down your neck pulling your shirt collar out of the way with one hand before trailing his hand up your shirt. You felt his other hand tracing over your tummy before he was cupping your bare breast. His lips were so soft and gentle that you let out a moan of pleasure and it triggered Eddie’s on switch.

“Fuck baby you don’t know what you do to me” Eddie crawled over you so he was fully on top pressing his weigh down into your lap.

“I think I have a a pretty good idea big boy” you graze your hand over his bulge. You let out a sigh as you bite your lip at the realization it was only the fabric of his pants between you and what you wanted most.

“You’re wearing too much clothing” Eddie hums into your mouth before taking your breath away with a deep kiss. Eddie can’t take it any longer he rolls his hips into yours as you try and shimmy your panties down.

Eddie’s hands are already roaming your upped body trying to pull your sleep top over your head. You shiver as your warmth is stripped from you, only reminding you about the blizzard howling just outside your bedroom window.

The chill doesn’t last long as Eddie’s body heat consumes you. Wraps you up like a warm fluffy blanket. His skin is so soft wrapped around you. You think it’s due to the fact he is using your body wash now instead of the cheap bar soap he always used beforehand.

“Baby I need you” you’re now naked and Eddie is still confined by his sleep pants. Eddie’s mouth moved from yours down to the side of your neck. He knows the exact spot that drives you insane. He loves teasing you until you’re begging for him. His hands trace your entire body as you lay underneath him wriggling to get any kind of relief.

“Shhhh it’s okay Sugarplum….” Eddie cooed. “Just tell me how much you need this cock and I’ll give you everything.” Eddie held your gaze as he cupped your face.

“Baby, please. You’re the only one who makes me feel this good. I need you so much” you take his hand in yours, trying to guide it to where you needed him the most.

“Fuck baby you’re so wet and I’ve hardly started.”

“Can’t help it” you lift your head up to capture Eddie into another kiss.

He wiggles his hips finally releasing his cock from the confines of his pants. He legs out a sigh of relief as his cock slaps down onto your wet slit. Your legs open up wider for him to run his cock up and down your folds. You were both so desperate for one another the foreplay was going to be skipped over this time. The pure need for him to fill you had your ready enough. The pampering for today alone was all it took for you to open up for Eddie. Knowing he loves you, even if he hasn’t said it yet.

He showed it in his actions. The way he dressed up as Santa Claus for your nieces and nephews even though you didn’t ask him to. The way he picked you up form your late night shifts, walk your from the front door to your car so you wouldn’t be alone walking to your car in the dark. The way he would pull a blanket over you if you fell asleep on the couch. The way he doted on you, like this morning. It was his day off and yet he thought of you.

“You ready babygirl?” He slid his cock slowly up and down your wetness before you nod your head with consent.

As you breathed out his cock slipped into you so smoothly. The way he stretched you out was too good.

“You’re so damn tight, swallowing my cock up so good”

“You fill me so good baby, you feel so good.” You cry.

Eddie’s hips start thrusting so deliciously, hitting that spot deep inside you over and over. Your walls are contracting around him, squeezing his hard thick cock like a vice.

“Oh baby please” you begged as his hips snapped against yours. You spread you legs wider so Eddie could thrust into you deeper. He ran up his hands from holding your legs open, up your tummy across your breasts before grabbing your hands bringing them up over your head and interlocking his fingers with your own.

The intimacy of the moment was too much, “I love you” slipped off your lips before you even realized you were talking.

Eddie froze mid thrust. “What?”

“I-i-i” you stutter.

“You love me?” He questioned. His gaze held you hypnotized. His eyes reminded you of a deep rich coffee mixed with caramel and whiskey. You couldn’t find the words you nodded your head not blinking.

A big smile breaks out in Edie’s face, his glair softening, his heart warming. He hasn’t had anyone tell him they love in a romantic sense. He knew he was in love with you but he didn’t know how to say it yet. Not until now.

“I love you, “ he finally says back and you let out the breath of anticipation you’d been holding. “Fuck I love you” his hips snap back into you with such force you cry out with pleasure.

“I love you Eddie” “I love you sugar plum”

The silent room filled with the sounds of wet skin and the soft confessions slipping from your tongues.

One last thrust and Eddie had your orgasm ripping through you. “I love you!” You slip as your body rippled with euphoria. You cunt clamped down on Eddie so tight he swore he stared seeing stars. He came instantly, letting his seed fill you.

He peppered your face with kisses before slipping out to see your cum filled cunt. “Fucking beautiful.”

“You love me?” You shyly bite your lip as you spread you legs as far as they could giving Eddie the best view he’s ever seen.

“Oh you have no idea Sugarplum.” He smiles leaving in to kiss you.

The rest of the day the both of you were wrapped up in the sheets not leaving the bed unless I’d was for food or the bathroom.

“Best snow day ever” you snuggled into Eddie’s chest.

Tagging some moots 🩷: @slutty-thevampireslayer @battymunson @onegirlmanytales @reidsbtch

Reposted ❄️

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x female reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie muson #eddie Munson imagine #eddie munson fan fic #eddie x reader #Eddie smut #eddie x fem!reader #eddie x you

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bonefall · 9 days

Note

For the cat who takes out Juniperclaw, maybe if any of Leafstar's kits are still alive besides Harrybrook (or just him idk how you characterize any of the three), perhaps one of them would go with it? Leafstar might not have liked "an eye for an eye" and she'd probably teach them it's wrong to seek revenge, but I do think one of them can be talked into it, in the name of SkyClan and Leafstar. Make it more personal when Juniperclaw is told who they are in relation to the cat he killed, making it click in his head what is about to happen.

Oooo, great idea, I GOTTA do that... hmmm. Much as I wish I could cash in another chip for Firefern, since I adore her name, it's gotta be Harrybrook.

In-canon, his character is consistently harsh and distrusting and he's got it even worse in BB. It could be like his mother is the only thing actually holding him back. If anyone is going to end up being Waspstar's "Cleaner," it absolutely has to be him.

Harrybrook: We had a good thing, you stupid son of a foxheart! We had Leafstar, we had a camp, we had everything we needed and it all ran like woodwork! You could have shut your mouth, hunted, and caught as much prey as you ever needed. It was perfect! But no! You just had to blow it up! You, and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man! If you’d known your place, we’d all be fine right now!

A little recap of BB!Harrybrook, since it's been a while since I've mentioned him or any of his fragments;

Harrybrook is the son of Leafstar, Echosong, and Billystorm.

SkyClan does not have the Cleric's Vow.

This is because SkyClan was exiled at the beginning of the Ripple Era; before Larkstripe's Strike which resulted in the unofficial vow being codified.

it is actually a positive in their culture if their Cleric previously raised kittens. Echosong probably did have other litters in her long life.

Echosong is also alive to the current arc; Frecklewing joined with The Kin. Fidgetflake is still around, but he's probably still the "junior" Cleric of sorts.

Important point being that Harrybrook has personal stake in SkyClan's unique customs. His only surviving parent is a Cleric.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is what makes him such an effective killer. He has a knowledge of poisons and anatomy.

All cats know where the carotid artery is, they find it all the time when they put the killing bite in the wrong spot. Habr knows where else a single blow can bleed you out.

As a little kitten, he was named after Harry, who helped to save his mother.

What no one knew at the time was that Harry was being courted by an ancient monster. Sol, the God of Autumn, Change, and Tricks, wanted to play a game.

The rules were simple; Sacrifice three kits.

Sol wanted to see how far Harry, once baring the name Cinders, would go in pursuit of the power it could offer him. Sol HATES a boring vessel.

Harry JUMPED at the chance, offering two of his own kits as the last one got away. He just needed one more.

SkyClan almost tempted him into tucking his ambition away. Here, he was safe and accepted for the first time... but his desire for power won out in the end.

Sol offers immortality, the ability to mould reality like clay, the whole world could be Harry's toy.

(WIP SECTION)

In some way, Sol was able to manipulate Billystorm. I'm still working out how severe this manipulation was.

He likely got to Leafstar too. Possibly intentionally driving a wedge between them-- convincing Billystorm that SkyClan was unsafe and he'd raised the kits more than either his mate or his mate's girlfriend. He had a right to keep them safe, even if that meant taking them from everything they'd ever known.

And to Leafstar, he told her Billystorm was plotting against her. That she needed to be as firm with him as she is with the cantankerous Sharpclaw. If she's not, he might take those kittens back to his humans, and who knows what they'd do?

In any case, a fight between them causes Billystorm to leave. I'm not sure if I'm keeping Leafstar exiling him.

(Note: I don't really like how either character acts in the canon story. Or the framing. Or... anything about it really. It's bad Todd.)

In the past, I'd made it so Billy ended up trying to take the kids to his human, and then the human was the one who decided to get rid of the kits. INSTEAD it works a LOT better if Billystorm went back to his humans, and Harry then used this as a lure to get the kittens out of camp.

"Let's go visit your Ba, kittens. I know where he is. Just follow me."

While living in the town, Billystorm meets up with the child of Harry who got away, and learns that they've all been set up.

Billystorm deserves to go run save his kids and punch a God in the face I think.

DAYLIGHT WARRIOR MORE LIKE LIGHTS OUT WARRIOR! KAPOW!!

(Much as I will miss the gutpunch brutality of Billystorm realizing that his human can't be trusted. I'll just use the idea someplace else.)

(WIP SECTION END)

Stormkit was unable to be saved. There was only Firefern and Harrybrook.

Harry has been terrified of water since then. It represents everything awful that's ever happened to him.

He doesn't even like when it rains. Storms always seem to bring terrible things.

Firefern ended up dying on the journey to the Lake. I'm leaning towards changing it to infection, during the time that Echosong is missing (taking Frecklewing's arc).

Her other mother wasn't there to help her, and she died of something preventable. Something Harry knows she could have healed.

Harrybrook hates his name. I think he was too quiet about it, though, to the point where his family wasn't aware of it.

They probably figured it was overwriting Harry's memory. It's Harrybrook's name now, instead. Harry just feels like it's a reminder of being tricked.

I think at one point he should get an honor title, but I'm still working it out. He might just be keeping Harrybrook as a grim reminder.

If it's him who kills Juniperclaw, I know for a fact he'd take Waspstar's orders very seriously; "Please be discreet and professional." It's only mostly personal, you see. More importantly, this is for SkyClan.

Leafstar wouldn't have approved. But she's not here now.

He'd quietly intercept Juniperclaw as he approaches the camp, standing in his way, looking him up and down without a twinge of emotion on his face. Juniperclaw's hackles are raised immediately. He lived with SkyClan before Heartstar reformed ShadowClan-- everyone knows who Harveybrook is.

"I've- I've come to pay my respects," He says proudly, standing tall and noble. Even after that he did, he has the boldness to hold himself as a brave warrior. What he knows he did, and to who he's talking to. Harrybrook shouldn't fault him for not knowing how arrogant he comes across-- but does anyway.

"Yes, we've been expecting you," He flicks his tail and dips his head respectfully, "Right this way."

The trail doesn't lead to camp.

When Juniperclaw begins to realize that they're taking a strange path, he just waves it away as an odd feeling. It's been a while since he's been here, after all. But the tickle doesn't go away. It gets stronger and stronger, until he recognizes the northern border of what used to be ShadowClan's full range.

And that's when he halts, "Where exactly are you taking me?"

"Not any further if you don't want to," Though Harrybrook's eyes are wide like he's about to pounce on prey and his massive body is buckled low, prowling, sizing up the distance between them, his tone is soft. Like he's gently explaining something to a fellow warrior. "This would be far enough."

The ex-deputy swallows on a dry throat, frozen in place. Harrybrook relaxes his stance. Juniperclaw seems to be very good at taking orders, just like he is. He knows exactly what to do to keep this discreet and professional.

"If you'd like, we can finish the long walk. It's a place my mother used to like. It has flowers, butterflies, it's a lovely haven," He relaxes his stance, meeting Juniperclaw's terrified eyes with a calm, dutiful look.

The panic distills into a resolve. Like something clicked in his mind, and he was coming to one of those unspoken conclusions that these Forest Four cats all seem to have figured out between them. "All right. I... I think I know the haven you're talking about. We can have our fight there. There's no need to make a scene."

Harrybrook's ear flicks, but Juniperclaw doesn't see it as he brushes past him. It seems he misunderstood what this is. He thinks this is an invocation of the Right to Challenge. That this is going to be a fair fight between warriors.

It's the last mistake he ever made. But he doesn't feel a thing. Back turned to his killer, he hears the snap before he learns in StarClan that it was the sound of his own neck.

#better bones au #BB!Juniperclaw #BB!Harrybrook #Sol's Game #Squirrelflight's Horror #This is the kind of standalone scene I'd have some problems with placing in one of my reworked books #SO I'll have to think of where it goes #Honestly I'm grateful for the SkyClan stuff that seems to be coming out lately #It'll make it easier to show off all the big changes I made in BB!SkyClan

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raayllum · 18 days

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ALRIGHT, time to talk about the poster in lovely HD.

First things first, I want to talk about these two ladies (?). The upper one closer to the moon looks more like an elf, and is gazing down at the second, closer woman. I've seen people speculate Ziard due to the hair, but none of this usual clothing appendages are there, so I lean towards a new character, and possibly being the human Aaravos had a special connection to. We see what looks like the arches of the Moon Nexus framed behind them, which was the case both when Rayla went through the portal in TTM and when Lujanne used historia viventum to show Callum the way things looked before. Souls of hate and love, maybe?

We see other Moon symbols throughout the posture sure as archangel lunarises, which seek out Moon magic (1x01) and can be used in illusion spells (2x03, 3x09). We also see the enchanted lotuses from 3x03, though for what purpose is unclear (more on that later).

Moving down, we have a fully celestial, quite happy Aaravos. He's in full flourish and clearly using Moon magic for someone, as begetting the moon behind him, though whether he's constructing lotuses or channeling energy into his Key (perhaps making it able to sense Moon magic) is unknown. While the lotuses in 3x03 were occasionally different colours, the deep purple here makes me think of dark magic. If he is channeling his cube, perhaps he's taking moon energy from the lotuses (or moths) surrounding him to put inside.

I don't think I need to scream much further than I already have about the Moon rune glowing on his Key and having it displayed with his usual star symbol (rune cube foreshadowing symbolism my beloved). This bodes well for theories in which 1) Callum goes too far and does something knowingly risky to free the Moon fam for Rayla's sake or 2) does something risky to help Aaravos to protect Rayla's life, each subsequently to being possessed and/or playing into Aaravos' hands. Thank you goodnight.

Then we have the book, which is deeply fascinating. It seems like a very Moon book, the fragments framing it similar to the ones we see on the lotuses and possibly evoking one of the archangel lunaris' flying around. It wouldn't surprise me if the book contains a variant of Deep moon magic of some kind, whatever that would look like. The crescent curved moon is also similar to the symbol we see on Aaravos' poem page for the Midnight Star in show (2x08). I do wonder why each side of the book looks so different though, with no actual visible moon in sight besides the tiny gemstones and the crescent moon, the other side being entirely dark (which, to be fair, is pretty moon-y).

We also sort of but don't quite see Aaravos' famous chest piece, though it is a-glowing. Whether it glowed all the time pre-Fall we just don't know, as the only time we've seen it glow/be filled in is 2x09 when he's channeling magic through Viren, but who knows. It does mean that the cube is even older than his banishment and that if it does hold his chest piece, it was placed after (if it's tangible at all, which has always been one of the biggest questions).

This is perhaps the weirdest thing that I am the most interested in, as alongside his crown and bangles, this is the biggest design difference between Aaravos in-show and out. In show, both in his mirror and even 'pre-Fall' (aka the timeline for the 1x01 shot is probably a lie anyway), Aaravos' hip thingy is a lot more simplistic.

However, Aaravos does have all his flowery (and I mean that literally, it looks like petals) adornment in his concept art.

The fact they have a lotus flower flair to them always felt interesting but ultimately like a coincidence, but perhaps not. Either way as pictured below, it seems like he's either constructing or dismantling the lotuses, which is Eyes Emoji either way.

The most... surely metaphorical / abstract portion of the poster, though, is I'd imagine the very bottom. I hesitate to read into things too literally (one of the S5 posters had Finnegrin's ship being blasted with lightning and Domina watching the waves, and while she featured in the season and played a role in Finnegrin's aims, the scene itself as portrayed did not come fully to fruition) so I'm gonna go with a more symbolic read, just as as disclaimer.

Lastly we have these two figures. I'm assuming the one in white is an elf and betting on young Aaravos or Leola, though it could be someone else connected to the Moon arcanum (the elven daughter who vouched for exiling rather than eliminating humanity?). The red and black shadow figure feels far more sinister (blood and stardust, anyone) but if you lighten the shadows, you get something even more... interesting, shall we say.

Rather than standing up straight, this figure almost seems to swoop down with a draconic like claw and a face that reminds me the most of Sir Sparklepuff's features, honestly, perhaps boasting a similar kind of blood (Viren's) and star (Aaravos) and dark magic (the staff?). It is also clearly moving toward the more humanoid figure on the bottom right, which gives a "corruption is reaching / coming for / offering things to you" sort of vibe.

#tdp meta #tdp #the dragon prince #tdp spoilers #s6 spoilers #promo art #official art #tdp aaravos #aaravos #s6 speculation #s6 #arc 2 #predictions #analysis series #analysis

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pixiestickie · 11 months

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so . i did something ^}*#*}*%+%

(more parts might come and if that happens this post will be the masterlist)

ramble ⏬

so . ok here goes nothing. first things first.

this is like the “fisherman meets mermaid and they are in love” AU trope but jamil isnt a fisherman: he pretty much retained his canon life, aka he is a servant and one day he found a merman and he just hangs around him to escape from his shitty life situation (and the merman is completey enamoured).

so, apart of NRC not happening, more details about the canon divergence should be revealed at a later date

thiat is the info about the au out of the way. ill just do personal rambling here esp bevause im insecure about some things about this so you can stop reading if you want.

this is a trope ive seen around a lot, especially on twitter, so ive had this idea since a bunch of months ago. i then proceeded to forget about it until i saw a twitter post about this same exact trope again except it was with fucking miguel o’hara but thats besides the point. the original post that made me get the idea were 2 ocs (they had the blood-cut-to-call-merman idea. I completely stole it from that. im coming clean) and i was like “wow do you know who else is a mermaid? azul fucking ashengrotto”

ok so no the art style i used. i started using it really recently to doodle stuff, since 2 days ago actually im so serious. i tried using it here as well bevause its an easy art style, really quick to draw with it and also looks good. or so i thought. because im now having doubts about wether it looks good or not and i fear it might just look weird. i kinda wanna hear if people prefer this art style or my “actual” one from my other posts

this style looked way better when i used it to doodle stuff, but i dont think im capable of using it in comic format. the style i was going for is mostly evident in the colored “poster” because ive actually redrawn the comic sequence a bunch of times so the style was lost there. I do like how the “poster” looks but im not sure if y’all would agree so id love to hear wyt

now the biggest part. ive never made comics in my life!! so these are going to look so damn akward. u can already notice it here!!!!! crowd starts booing

also i cant draw water and also i dont know how to draw azuls octo patterns bc the material we have of his design are so vague and fragmented but his patterns are not easy to draw so im struggling and i need to make a reference of him for myself 😭😭

#what…. tag do i give this au?#it doesnt even have a name #i genuinely have no idea but ill have to add a tag for this au later #azujami mermaid au??? that sounds lame #suggestions r apprecieated #twst #twisted wonderland #u can tell im fucking sturggling #azujami #jamiazu #ashenviper #azul ashengrotto #jamil viper #art tag #posting this and throwing my phone across the room and never picking it up again for the next 48 hours

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sukunastoy · 7 months

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Shameful Attraction (CEO! Sukuna x Female Reader ~NSFW~ Part 5)

Parings: CEO! Sukuna x fem!reader x fiance! Toji (Non-Curse AU)

Synopsis: You've been in a long-term relationship with Toji from high school, who is the love of your life. Well, sometimes he is... You turn a blind eye to all of the heartaches he seems to deliberately bring upon you and the relationship. Despite his actions, you've remained loyal and true. That is, until Sukuna, a CEO and your new boss, draws you into an affair.

CW/TW: This story has moments of mistreatment and abuse. There are references all throughout about this behavior—Hitting, name-calling, degradation, hiding bruises, cheating, unfaithfulness, etc. Also, the reader is thin/underweight, unprotected sex, fingering, pet names (i.e., doll, pretty thing, little one, princess, etc.), consensual degradation, and praise kink. Occasional mentions of depression, and thoughts of suicide.

Wordcount: 5.9k+

(Previous, Part 4)

Monday, 6:02 PM

Sukuna's body and yours were entangled in his bed, both exhausted yet satisfied while intertwined in the expensive, black silk sheets. He had a strong arm around your waist in a comforting and almost possessive hold, and your face was nuzzled up under his warm chin as you lay mostly on his chest, his elevated heartbeat thrumming against your cheek. This little affair hadn't been going on for long, but this man had already introduced you to a world of pleasure and comfort that you never knew existed.

"You're amazing..." you murmured breathlessly into his neck, being as close to him as possible. His deep chuckle vibrated through his chest, the sensation a comfort, and he let out a satisfied and proud sigh.

"Yeah, I know." His hand came to your shoulder, fingertips gently trailing along your arm in the process, never minding the small beads of perspiration along your skin from his previous ministrations to your body, and you shivered at the delicate touch. He pulled away slightly to look at your face, your dove eyes meeting his while his knuckles brushed over your warm, rosy cheek. He couldn't stop himself from admiring your soft face, thinking how pretty and tender you looked in your afterglow.

Seeing how your glossy eyes stayed connected with his in such a gentle and almost desperate way made him eager to hold onto your gaze, almost offering a sense of relief that was clearly needed for you. You spoke nothing about the traumas your life was filled with, though fragments of your shattered sanity easily glistened through your eyes. Sukuna had curiosities, maybe even questions, but it wasn't his place to ask or try to uncover what you left unsaid. Besides, you weren't his girlfriend or anything. You weren't his problem that he needed to try and fix. You were an employee who he expected hard work from. You were just another woman in his office that he's taken to bed.

"Well...I should probably get going, before it gets too late and I miss the final train." A small smile stretched your lips through your statement, honestly not wanting to leave.

"Ah...pretty thing doesn't want to stay for more?" His devious smirk made you blush harder as he captured your lips with his again, both of his arms holding you close to his warm body. You playfully squirmed, laughing in return against his lips as his strong embrace relaxed you in such a way that any saddened thought in your mind could almost be forgotten.

"Well, of course I'd love to stay...but, I don't even have clothes to go to work in tomorrow. It'd be bad to show up in the same outfit."

"Perhaps from now on you should keep a change of clothes, then. In case I need my assistant to come home with me for the night."

"Oh, cause we have so much work to get done?" You teased in return while letting a happy smile tug at your lips. The fact he even mentioned such a thing made your heart flutter. "I'll gladly keep a bag packed...but you can't just take my underwear and not give them back." You pouted playfully, remembering he had yet to return the ones he slipped off of you this morning in his office. He took a moment and pondered about it before smirking and taking hold of your chin in his hand. "That's not a promise I can keep."

The train ride home was long and it made you anxious while you stared blankly out of the window. Tokyo slowly faded away and your home town eventually came into view, and with it, feelings of despair. When you were with Sukuna in his apartment, you felt at ease, and your mind wasn't clouded with anxiety and depression. But the further you got away from him, the more those emotions seeped into your being and made you forget what happiness even was.

At least Toji wasn't home, but he certainly left the place a mess...alcohol bottles everywhere, some of the carpet soaked with spilt beer and other drinks, food left on the counter, dirty dishes in the sink, clothes all over, and such an awful stench in the air. How did he create such a god forsaken mess while you were at work earlier today? It's like he did everything he could to make things hard for you. He had demanded that you cleaned the apartment while he was gone, and now it made sense of why. It was already still messy from when he had his guy friends over a couple days ago, but apparently he decided it needed to be more chaotic for you.

And it took hours. Hours of scrubbing, cleaning the bathroom thoroughly as there was piss everywhere, being on your knees and finding bottles up under the couch, even finding a couple used condoms thrown about. You've walked in on Toji's little parties a time or two with some random guy and woman you've never met just fucking on your couch without shame even as you stared at them in shock, so it certainly didn't surprise you to find such things.

By the time you had finished cleaning everything, it was already after midnight, and you just couldn't sleep. You sat by the window in your room, staring out into the darkness while lost in thought. You told yourself you hadn't gone to bed yet because you weren't tired, but, you knew the real reason.

You hated being here. Hated everything about this apartment. Hated how small it was, how tiny the bed was, how noisy the neighbors were, how old and outdated everything was, how the plumbing had issues at times, how some of the windows had cracks in the glass; the list went on. The ceiling was so much lower than the one in Sukunas penthouse, and it felt like you were going to be squeezed to death at any moment.

Being raised in a household that was well off with money and respect, and then having to spend your days in this filthy apartment was a complete shock to your system. At first you loved this place, just happy to have something with a guy who was supposed to be the love of your life. But of course once Toji showed his true colors and you were the slave who cleaned up his disasters, you soon hated being here. Sometimes you wondered if your parents would take you back in. Let you go back to your old room that was bigger than this apartment, and your huge, plush bed that was so comfortable. But they didn't even respond to your calls or texts anymore. Even from the other day after you left a voicemail, you've not heard anything in return. They'd probably laugh in your face if you showed up at the posh, mini mansion you grew up in. Not to mention, Toji would probably find some way to drag you back. And that's what kept you terrified and chained to his side. He always found you...always dragged you back...always beat the hell out of you afterwards before pretending he cared. Same story every time. At rare moments you felt like he still really cared, but it was getting harder and harder to find any hope in that thought.

Looking down at your phone, your hand trembled as you read over the message you had sent to Toji. You asked how he was, told him goodnight, hoped to see him soon, the usual. Of course, your messages were always left on "read." You couldn't even begin to imagine how angry he'd be if you deliberately ignored him like he does to you. It just wasn't fair...

Tuesday, 8:16 am

You set out small packets and folders of reports that were to be discussed in this morning's meeting, making sure each seat in the conference room had one. Today had a decent amount of meetings, and you were to be present for each of them of course, taking notes and asking appropriate questions to anyone else involved while Sukuna led through it. You sat to his right while he discussed this week's goals, and a few other executives were either coming up with some ideas of their own or explaining why a certain goal couldn't be met. Of course, excuses weren't something Sukuna was interested in hearing. "Mr. Itadori, we should just take a moment to think about the realism of achieving these demands by the end of the week. I mean, surely you don't assume these tasks are easy." Sukuna chuckled then leaned back in his chair while looking at the other executive. "I don't assume anything. I either know it or I don't. And I know this is something that will be done as expected. If this task is too advanced for you to manage, perhaps you'd benefit from a lesser position."

You were going over the numbers yourself, and sure it would be a difficult thing to do, but it wasn't impossible. Sukuna had laid it all out in the plan and so long as everyone did their job diligently, it could be achieved.

"Well, the plan you provided doesn't completely cover your process for this demand and-"

"Excuse me sir, " you interrupted as politely as possible. "it is described in detail on page 8. I went over it this morning before this meeting started. Anything that isn't included is something you are already aware of how to do."

"With all due respect, you just started working here yesterday. You're not familiar with what my job entails or what I know or don't know." The other executive scoffed lightly, glancing to his associate next to him to share a look of disbelief and annoyance.

Shit like this always stung a little, and to be honest, it almost made you want to drop your head in submission and shut your mouth. But...this wasn't Toji you were talking to. Work was the only place you were allowed to actually speak your mind and provide input without getting physically punished for it.

"And with all due respect in return, I am not ignorant to how companies manage their tasks or who is responsible for doing so. This may be my second day in this office, but not only the second day in my career. The title which you hold means you know what to do with this information. If you weren't qualified for it, it wouldn't have been presented to you."

The man put his palms onto the table and straightened in his seat as if to stand up, most likely to assert his dominance in this conversation but Sukuna put his hand up to stop him.

"Sir, I don't appreciate a woman who has virtually zero experience in this office trying to overstep her boundaries and talk to me as if I'm beneath her."

"(Y/N) is an extension of me and what I want. Whatever she says or tells you to do coincides with my expectations of you. She is to be treated with the same level of respect and subordination as you give to me. If this is a problem for you, you can get the fuck out." He gestured briefly while the man settled back into his chair.

"My deepest apologies, sir." He said with a small bow of his head towards Sukuna.

"Now, if you're done wasting my time, this meeting is concluded." The other execs shared brief conversation amongst each other while standing to disperse and Sukuna glanced to his phone for any missed calls.

"Sir..?"

He looked over to you with a concerned expression cause of your small voice. "I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries." "Of course not." He chuckled before going back to his phone. "The whole purpose of having you in this position is to assist in whatever I need. Even if that means reminding others of their place. They're not your boss, and don't let them think that they are. If they're talking with you, it's the same if they're talking with me."

A breath of relief left your lips and you nodded at his words. It was good to know you really were an equal with him in this position. Some places didn't let the assistants have such a voice, especially being a woman.

Friday, 7:53 am

You followed Sukuna into his office after he arrived, shuffling papers in your hands to go over with him. It had only been a few days, but you already had his schedule mostly figured out and you got next weeks neatly printed for him. Nanami helped you go over Sukunas personal home schedule as well. Though Nanami took care of a different role in the company, he was more or less a friend to Sukuna. Apparently they'd go out and enjoy a drink every now and then after work when there weren't late meetings to attend to go over minor things that still needed to be handled. You knew which days Sukuna worked out, when he got his hair cut, when he preferred to go to the onsen, etc. You were even filled in a bit in regards to his family. Apparently he had a younger brother, Yuuji, and a grandfather as well. There wasn't much to be said about his parents, and it was implied that they weren't really apart of Sukuna's nor his brothers life anymore. Finding out these small intimate details just made your heart flutter. On a business level, it was so you knew when to schedule early or late meetings and appointments without interfering with his personal life. But, on an emotional level it just made you feel even closer to him.

You discussed any projects and reports that needed to be gone over today, handed him any notes or messages you had taken from phone calls through the week, and provided an outline for next weeks schedule. They often changed, but it was a good list to go by nonetheless. A few executives would be coming into town early next week, and Sukuna was needed at a few other offices nearby to discuss things with partner companies. It was tiring work just to get all of this put together and organized, so you couldn't imagine how exhausting it must be for him to constantly be going back and forth all the time. You knew once you became more stable in this position, you'd probably see him less and less, as you'd take care of things that he didn't need to be present for. It's nothing you wanted to think about, but it would inevitably happen. Its just how it was with CEOs and other high up executives.

Friday, 8:58 PM

The time you were dreading finally rolled around, the end of a night on Friday. This meant you'd be stuck at home for a couple days. Nothing you were really looking forward to... Not many enjoyed spending their days at work, but you found solace in it. Especially knowing you would be gone for so long. The trains stopped running at midnight, so you could get home really late with the excuse of just having to work extra. Toji never liked you being gone, but luckily he wouldn't give you too much trouble if it was work related. He liked all the money you provided. But, he hadn't said shit in days, despite you messaging and calling him nearly every day, just to check on him. You could see him online on his social media accounts, yet he couldn't respond to you...it was fucking heartbreaking. Half the time you couldn't understand why you even tried to get him to respond. Not like he made you happy. But, still...you couldn't help but wonder if he was okay. Just some sort of helpless habit.

Finishing out your report for the day, you let out a heavy sigh before looking up to the glass door separating the offices. Sukuna hadn't come out of his office yet, and you wondered how late he planned on staying. Most of the week, you stayed as late as he did in the office. One of the nights you attended an after work gathering with him and other office executives to briefly discuss project reports. There was a lot of drinking, but you just wanted to eat. The only time you got any food was when Sukuna bought lunch for the two of you. You had no breakfast or dinner, so that was especially nice to enjoy in the middle of the week. Two meals in one day? A rarity.

Apart from Monday, Sukuna hadn't touched you at all these last several days. Maybe a simple touch to your shoulder in passing, but he didn't offer more than that. The dread set into your mind like a festering illness, making you worry that you had done something to displease him or make him less interested in you. Perhaps you already became old news, and he's moved on to someone more entertaining and exciting. That thought made you want to throw up right at your desk, and you stood up immediately to get out of that headspace. He had bought you lunch all week, that was a good sign. Right..? Maybe he was waiting for you to be a bit more open and straightforward with what you wanted? By now you found yourself at the glass door dividing the two of you, and you looked in nervously to see that gorgeous man sitting at his desk. He had his earpiece in, and he rested his jaw in his hand while scrolling through something on his computer, seemingly annoyed. When the door made a slight click as you gently pushed against it, his eyes shifted to you briefly before going back to the screen.

"Sit." He spoke out curtly, pointing to the seat across from him. Your heart sank. Had you done something wrong? Your jaw hurt from clenching, but you did as you were told, trying to prepare a conversation in your head of how to apologize for something you didn't even know about. Thanks for the constant trauma, Toji.

"I don't give a damn what you think happened to it. If there is not an explanation by Monday, you and your team are fired. Do I make myself clear?" You could feel the hairs lift on the back of your neck as he talked with such a tone. Clearly it wasn't something you were involved with, but, hearing the aggravation in his voice still made you worry and mull over numerous thoughts. It just made you re-imagine all the times Toji raised his voice and threatened you...

Someone on the other end tried to speak out, but Sukuna clicked off the earpiece before they had a chance to. You swallowed hard as he sighed and looked to you, but his gaze softened only a moment later. "Something I'll finish dealing with on Monday. Now...in regards to you." He started while standing from his desk. "I have something for you, and I'm curious to see how it will look on you later." "Later?" You questioned curiously, unclenching your jaw and relaxing your body. "Oh come now doll, I haven't had you since Monday. Think I am going to let any more time pass?" "Sir, I-" your words were cut short as he presented a small package onto his desk, gently pushing it towards you. It was a gorgeous little box with lace ribbon tied around it, keeping it closed. "It should fit you." He chuckled while gesturing that you open it. "Did...did you buy something for me?" You asked while trying to laugh through your embarrassment as you peeked into the box, seeing a lacy garment nestled gently in some tissue paper. "Did you bring a change of clothes?" He ignored your question while logging out of his computer. In fact...you had. There was a small bag you kept in your office with things in it to spend the night somewhere else. You weren't sure if he was serious about that or not when he had made the comment Monday night.

"Yes sir, of course." you said eagerly as he put his suit jacket on. "Well then, come on." He grinned to you while gesturing towards the door.

Following him home out of the office made your stomach tighten in anticipation. You had longed for his touch again so much these last few days.

Friday, 9:43 PM

Looking at yourself in the mirror in the bathroom, you tried to take deep breaths to calm your nerves. Your face was burning red with insecurity upon seeing your reflection. This was by far the most revealing thing you've ever seen yourself in, and if it weren't for Sukuna buying it for you, it's nothing you would have gotten on your own. Your breasts were pushed up and held in a bustier style top that had lace along the edges and framed your cleavage. Of course the bottoms consisted of the same lace pattern and style, with a little bow completing the look at the top and in the middle of the band. Not to mention, they were split in the middle, allowing easy access without having to remove them or slip the cloth out of the way.

Turning to your side, you couldn't help but smile thankfully, realizing the lace of the bustier came down long enough on your sides to cover your apparent ribs. You hated how thin you were, looking like a starving dog with its ribs showing...but knowing that one of your more self conscious areas was hidden gave you a little relief.

Had Sukuna remembered that and took it into consideration when picking this style out..? God, just imagining him going into a store to pick out something naughty for you to wear was enough to send your head into a spiral.

He had told you to change, and that he'd be waiting for you in the living room, and that made you all the more nervous. This wasn't anything you've done before. Even before Toji became a complete asshole, you never did anything as flirtatious like this. With a shaky breath, you peered out of the hall bathroom after shutting the light out. Sukuna was in the living room like he said he'd be, looking out one of those tall windows that showcased the lovely city. His back was to you, and you were grateful for it. Grateful that he didn't watch you awkwardly walk down the hall, fumbling your arms on trying to figure out what to do with them. Put your hands on your hips? Let them hang freely at your sides? No matter what you did with your hands, it didn't feel right. Obviously, this was supposed to be some sexy situation, but you felt worried it would be more awkward for a man like him to see you in such a way. Still, you inhaled some confidence while approaching him. He bought you lingerie to enjoy you in it, not judge you in it. Before he could turn his head to see you, you embraced him from behind, letting your hands clasp onto the buckle of his belt. Part of you didn't want him to turn around to see you, but the other part wanted him to just get right to the point and fuck your brains out.

This was a man of power and wealth in your arms, and you were at the bottom of status and importance. But when his attention was on you, he sent you to cloud nine, elevating your existence to something worthwhile.

"Not going to let me see?" He grinned in humor as you hid yourself behind him. "I feel so scrawny." You murmured into his back, trying not to just give up and run back to the bathroom in shame. He chuckled softly while taking hold of your arm to pull you around so he could see you. "Well, I don't think that you are." His large hand clasped onto your jaw before you could protest and you went weak in his grasp, letting him move you as he desired. "And, I want to look at what's mine for the night." He smirked while pulling you towards the couch as he backed up. He released you and then started to undo his belt and you swallowed hard while watching him, keeping a swell of breath in your chest. As he sat himself down onto the couch, he patted his lap and now your lungs struggled for air. "Come on, pretty thing." His voice was like a lure, urging you to climb onto his lap and straddle the erection clearly growing in his pants. "O-oh, I-I...I'm not, not sure." You laughed anxiously. "I've...never been on top." "Oh? Nervous?" He teased, leaning back to move his pants down a bit. "Your fiancé is clearly boring when it comes to fucking. No wonder you need my dick." He smirked while gesturing you to his lap again.

You couldn't deny that...Toji never did much besides make you feel like a fuck doll. Anything that could make sex better for you was out of the question most times. Unless he was in some very rare mood. He just wanted you to lay there and shut up while he took what he wanted. He said a woman would never be above him when it came to sex, and so you just accepted staying below him in all aspects. Meanwhile, it felt like Sukuna craved to see the look of pleasure on your face.

You approached him with a nervous smile, feeling embarrassed yet recognized as his eyes traced over your body. His gaze traveled with remembrance, having already seen you a few times with little to no clothes on. You let your chest swell with a bit of pride as his minor action gave you a little confidence.

It was awkward when you tried to climb onto his lap, feeling so close and personal with this man, but he helped you up to where you needed to be.

Your breath hitched as he fully parted your legs, positioning your knees to be on either side of his thighs. You felt your aching sex spread open, making you feel so exposed and vulnerable like this. He freed his cock and let it proudly spring up from its restraints.

Despite never being on top, you knew it wasn't for beginners. Especially with a dick this big. "S-Sukuna, wait...wont it hurt?" You whimpered through soft moans while he started to kiss your neck hungrily. The way he craved you made goosebumps travel across your skin, and his large hands sliding up your back didn't help your composure either.

"I won't hurt you, y/n." He said gently, now holding onto your hips while positioning you over his length. "Just breathe for me, sweetheart." You did as he said, taking in a deep breath of air as he brought you down onto him, slipping between that opening in the lace panties to push into you. Not like there was any resistance. Your pussy spread apart for him so eagerly, allowing him to slip in like you'd done this a thousand times. "O-oh...my god..!" You let out a moaning yelp, the pressure between your hips making your body tremble as he slowly buried himself within you. Your thighs struggled to hold your weight up, but his hands remained firm on your hips, guiding you down at a slow pace so you wouldn't drop down.

Being on his lap like this, it was possible for him to reach a new depth inside that made your mind absolutely melt. It did hurt; this different pressure. But you couldn't deny how good it also felt when he hit that spongy spot deep in your core. It was a dull ache to your cervix as he nearly bottomed out, and it actually brought small tears to your eyes from the intensity of this position. You knew he'd make you love it though. Your fingertips moved to your mouth and hung loosely onto your quivering bottom lip as Sukuna held onto your shaking thighs, moving you up and down on his dick in such a slow and mindful pace. It was almost torture. A steady, increasing feeling of wonderful torture. He knew you wouldn't be ready quite yet, and had taken it slow at first. You'd get your fill soon enough. His lips came to your cheeks, softly kissing your small tears while letting you adjust. "You alright, doll?" Your eyes were held shut as you weakly nodded; in pain yet also euphoria. "I f-feel so full..." you whimpered, your other hand gripping tightly onto his shirt over his shoulder. "Need to stop?" You quickly shook your head, now looking at him with watery eyes. "N-no, sir." His cock throbbed at your soft expression, and he let out a heavy breath to ease himself. Rarely had he taken it slow like this. But the way he fit so perfectly inside of you without moving and the raw emotion on your face made him want to almost enjoy the moment a while longer. Exhaling deeply, you nodded your head as your body finally relaxed. "I'm ready."

"Hnm...how is it, pretty thing?" That smooth and timbre voice made you weak with needy desire. "S-so g...good..." you nearly sobbed as he suddenly snapped his hips upwards, burying himself into your tightening walls as far as he could go. Clearly, you had opened up fully for him, and already so soon. Your gaze focused on nothing as your body fell forward, jaw agape as you came unexpectedly hard to his cock hitting the most sensitive spots that you never knew existed. A soft whimper escaped from your lips and you're certain you drooled at this point, letting your cheek rest on his shoulder, vision blurry at the intense high he just sent you into. "Oh, my my." He smirked while wrapping his arms around you, keeping you locked against his body while continued to fuck himself up into your spasming cunt, quickening his pace. "Cant even make a sound, hm?" You couldn't, even if you wanted to. You had orgasmed so hard it just sent your mind into a daze, and all you could do was drool on his fucking shoulder. Your sloppy pussy gushed onto his lap, and the sounds of his thighs smacking up into yours echoed throughout the living room. "Fuck, I love how you take my cock." He growled lustfully into your ear. His hot breath sent chills down your spine and you clung to him while still riding your high.

He positioned himself to lay down more on his back and his hands gripped onto your waist, holding you in place while he used your body for his desires. You cried out loudly as he kept hammering into that sensitive spot, bullying his cock ever deeper into your swollen and soaked walls.

He chuckled while holding your chest tight against his with an arm wrapped around your back and shoulders. "Mmh you feel so good sweetheart..." he cooed while his other hand gripped onto your ass to spread you open more. You hid your face in his neck, sobbing from your loss of control as you knew you'd cum again any moment. You could hear just how big of a mess you were making all over him yet nothing could stop it. "P-please...d-don't stop..!" You weakly begged as he fucked the air out of your lungs. "Desperate little thing, aren't you?" He teased before pushing his lips against yours. You moaned desperately into his mouth, almost unable to keep your lips connected to his as your legs shook uncontrollably.

"I'm gonna cum, you're gonna make me cum again..!" You sat up out of his grasp, hands pushed firm against his chest as your body writhed in oncoming euphoria. "Take it pretty thing, take what you need." He grinned while watching you succumb to feelings that your fiancé could never give you. Your hips moved forward on their own, rolling against his and sending the delicious pleasure through your body. You felt like such a slut, riding this huge dick and looking down at a man who wasn't Toji. But fuck, it also made you feel incredible. Sukuna's lustful growl urged you on though, and his warm palms came to your waist, guiding you along as you rode him desperately. His thumbs pressed into your belly, staving off his own release until you finished first. You couldn't stop your nails from digging into his chest through his shirt as your walls clamped down around him, sending you into a delirious high. He swallowed hard and watched as you came, the sight of your eyes rolling back and your mouth falling open to a nearly perfect "O" made his cock throb and envy it's own release. He gave you a moment before fucking you through your orgasm, making you scream and nearly fall back as your body lost all control. His arms quickly caught you, and he pulled you back down to be tight against him as he bucked up into your swollen cunt. You moaned almost frantically into his neck, begging he doesn't stop as an immediate second wave of ecstasy takes over your body. He cums once buried deep in your constricting walls, growling in satisfaction at how tight your soaked pussy gripped onto him.

His lips were so warm, and they enveloped yours so easily. You whimpered into his mouth as he kissed you deeply and slowly, his hands caressing your body while doing so. You broke away for a moment to breathe, panting while looking into his eyes. Warmth flooded your cheeks as he watched you in return, those gorgeous maroon eyes of his fixated on yours. "Did you enjoy yourself?" He asked quietly. You slowly nodded while almost entranced by his voice. Your forehead settled against his as you sighed out in peace, draping your arms around his shoulders. "Isn't it obvious?" He chuckled softly in his throat before kissing your lips again so gently and tenderly. Making out with him like this on the couch put you in such bliss. Being this close and intimate to a man was so foreign to you. But damn, it felt so right.

Sukuna mentioned ordering some food for the two of you, and to just relax the rest of the night and perhaps watch a movie. You both changed into something more comfortable for the night, and you got nestled into the large couch between the pillows and blankets. When the food arrived, he headed down to the apartments lobby to get it, leaving you alone for a moment in this massive penthouse. There was so much room in here, and the ceilings were so tall with elegant yet modern lights hanging down from them and being only dimmed so it wasn't too bright. His taste in color made the room so relaxing and calming. Dark tones and skillfully placed furniture and decor made it really fancy yet also realistic. It wasn't just on showcase and never used. It was comfortable, almost cozy. Honestly, you just felt safe in here. So far up from the ground, so far from Toji, and behind a door that could only be accessed by the owner. It's a door that Toji couldn't come beating down to look for you.

Even the take out food tasted expensive yet amazing, and you savored every bite while watching some random movie with Sukuna. When you were done eating, you cuddled against him and rested your cheek on his shoulder while feeling more relaxed than you have in a very long time. You hoped you weren't pushing boundaries by being so cuddly against him, but he didn't say anything in regards to it. Unless he mentioned otherwise, you were going to take advantage of this closeness. Occasionally Sukuna would check his phone for an email or message regarding work, and you glanced over at one point out of curiosity; though wishing you hadn't. A woman's name popped up, MeiMei, and you only saw part of the message but it was enough to make your stomach twist into a painful knot. -"Cant wait to see you again tomorrow, fucking at my place or yours?"- He disregarded the message by swiping it away as he was still reading an email, but you turned your gaze back to the TV.

A harsh reminder that this wasn't exclusive for you...

Omg, it's been so long since I updated this story I am so sorry ;__; Too much crap has happened this year I swear...

Thank you for reading though!! Comments and reblogs are much appreciated!! (❤´艸｀❤)

#sukuna jjk #sukuna #sukuna smut #ryomen sukuna #sukuna x you #sukuna fluff

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lefteagleblizzard · 17 days

Text

𝕱𝖗𝖔𝖒 𝖉𝖚𝖘𝖐 𝖙𝖔 𝖉𝖆𝖜𝖓

mike schmidt x gender neutral reader

Summary: A one shot that narrates many different things that happens during a long day between Mike and reader.

Warnings: gender neutral reader. No pronouns used towards reader. Angst. Fluff. allusion to smut. No actual smut. Flirting. Established relationship. Panic attack. Happy ending.

Can also be found on wattpad and ao3

Sorry for bad grammar. Sorry if it's cringe. Enjoy :)

The sun peeked through the curtains, casting a warm glow across the room. Mike stirred, his eyelids fluttering open. Beside him, you laid still, chest rising and falling rhythmically. You were tangled in each other's arms, cocooned in the soft warmth of your shared bed.

Mike blinked away the last remnants of sleep, his gaze landing on your peaceful face. Your hair was tousled, and a faint smile curved your lips. He couldn't help but smile back. The both of you had been through so much together—late-night conversations, laughter, tears, and stolen kisses—and yet, every morning felt like a new beginning.

He shifted closer, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead. You stirred, your eyes fluttering open. The first thing you saw was Mike, and your smile widened. "Good morning, did you sleep?" you whispered, your voice still thick with sleep.

The nightmares had plagued him ever since the kidnapping of his little brother. The faceless abductor, Garret's terrified eyes, the guilt—it all came rushing back in the dead of night. He'd wake up drenched in sweat, unable to breathe, feeling like he was failing his brother all over again.

You stayed up with him during the nights when the nightmares were too much. You helped him when he woke up screaming, tears streaming down his face.

"Morning," Mike replied, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. "Did you sleep well?"

You stretched, your limbs intertwining with his. "Like a baby," you said. "Your presence is my best lullaby."

He chuckled, tracing lazy circles on your back. "I could say the same about you." The room was filled with the soft rustle of sheets as you shifted, getting comfortable. Outside, birds chirped, and the distant hum of traffic reminded you two that the world was waking up too.

You propped yourself up on one elbow, your eyes curious. "What time is it?"

Mike glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Early," he said. "But who needs time when we have this moment?"

You laughed, leaning down to kiss him. Your lips were warm and inviting, and Mike lost himself in your taste. You kissed slowly, savoring each other, as if you had all the time in the world.

And you really wished you did.

When you finally pulled away, you rested your head on his chest. "I love mornings like this," you murmured. "Just us, no rush, no worries."

Last night he didn’t have to work at the pizzeria and you grasped the opportunity to make up for lost time.

Mike mumbled something incoherent that you almost certainly assumed was a sign of him agreeing with you.

It was your little bubble, where everything else fades away.

You lay there, wrapped in each other's arms, while you shared stories about the fragments of a dream you had tonight and was lucky enough to remember.

"What's on your agenda?" Mike asked.

You tilted your head, pretending to think. "Hmm, let's see. Waking up Abby, breakfast , followed by cuddles, and then maybe pretending to be sick so I don’t have to leave for work."

"Sounds perfect," Mike said. "But what if I add a twist?"

Your eyes sparkled. "What kind of twist?"

He gently rolled you onto your back, hovering slightly above you, his beloved. "Tonight, I had a wonderful dream that I so dearly wish to recreate."

Your smile turned into a subtle smirk, despite the fatigue that gripped you from waking up just minutes ago. You raised an eyebrow, curious. "A dream? Odd, it felt so vivid to me."

"Yes, it was so splendid it seemed impossible to be real."

You laughed, pulling him down for another kiss. Your lips met, hungry and passionate, as if you were making up for all the kisses you hadn't shared during the night while you held each other as if there was no other person in the world.

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

You sit at the kitchen table, cradling a warm mug of coffee in your hands. The sun spills through the window, casting a gentle glow on the checkered tablecloth. Across from you, Mike sips his own coffee, his eyes still heavy with sleep. It’s one of those quiet, comfortable moments—the kind that make mornings bearable.

Abby, Mike’s adorable sister, perched on a stool, her pigtails bouncing as she swung her legs.

“You slept well?” You asked while taking a small sip from your cup, tilting your head to the side when you saw the expression on her face.

Abby squinted her eyes, her little forehead wrinkling in concentration. “You know what?” she said, her voice serious. “Your bed creaks a lot at night.”

Mike choked on his coffee, and your coffee goes down the wrong pipe, and you cough, sputtering. You and Mike exchanged wide-eyed glances, both of your faces turning various shades of crimson. The previous night’s activities had indeed been...energetic.

“Uh, Abby,” Mike stammered, “it’s just an old bed. You know, wood settling and all that.”

Abby shook her head, her eyes wide with innocence. “But I sometimes hear it and other times no! You think that a new bed for you two will work?”

You bit your lip, trying to suppress a laugh.

Mike leaned closer to you, whispering, “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”

You grinned. “Big trouble. The mattress we have is too comfortable to loose”

“Abby,” Mike said, leaning toward her, “you’re right. We’ve been having epic pillow fights at night.”

“Pillow fights?” Abby’s eyes sparkled. “Really?” She asked towards you.

“Oh, ehm... yeah” you stammered before recovering. “Mike snores too loudly and I use a pillow to stop him”

Abby claps her hands, her laughter bubbling forth like a mountain spring. Your heart swells; this is parenthood at its finest— the shared conspiracies towards the same member of the family.

Mike glares at you, but his lips twitch. He’s caught between irritation and affection.

Abby gets out of her chair and starts jumping out of excitement. “Can I join your pillow fight club?”

“Of course!” You said. “But only if you promise not to tell anyone about our secret pillow fights.”

Abby put her tiny hand over her heart. “Cross my heart! But seriously, you should get a new mattress.”

You and Mike burst into laughter, your embarrassment now completely forgotten. Abby’s innocence was a balm for your souls.

As you all finished breakfast, Abby skipped off to draw, leaving the two of you alone.

You leaned across the table, your fingers brushing.

“You know,” you whispered, “maybe tomorrow we could check the bed’ slats. The noises might come from them”

Mike grinned. “Isn’t it romantic to you? Our bed serenading us through the night.

You cheeks tainted in red. “Mike, focus! We need a solution. How about we flip the mattress? Maybe it’s just grumpy from being on the same side for years.”

“Fine, let’s flip the mattress. And while we’re at it, we can tighten the screws. But then we’ll have to test to make sure it doesn’t make any more noises” Mike said while nuzzling your neck.

“Deal,” you giggled from the tickled caused by his stubble.

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

The sun, in the late afternoon, casts its golden rays through the window of the house. The rooms are bathed in a warm, honey-colored glow. Dust particles float lazily in the air, illuminated by the sunbeams. The light dances across the floor, creating elongated rectangles that stretch from the window to the opposite wall.

A shame you were not capable of enjoying the beautiful display as you embarked on a quest to find your elusive phone. You tiptoed into the room you shared with Mike, who was busy lifting weights from his bench press. Sweat glistened on his forehead as he strained against the iron. He was a security guard after all, he should at least maintain himself in form, even if no one would probably enter that creepy and abandoned place he works at.

Your eyes scanned the room, but the phone remained elusive.

“Hey, Mike,” You called out, feigning innocence. “Have you seen my phone? It’s playing hide-and-seek.”

Mike paused mid-lift, wiping his brow. His eyes narrowed playfully. “Your phone? Nah, it’s probably hiding from you, considering how much you use it”

“You know, Mike,” You said, “you’re not exactly intimidating when you’re always this tired.”

Mike chuckled, sweat dripping down his forehead. “Yeah, well,” he panted, “I’m going for the ‘approachable’ vibe.”

You raised an eyebrow. “Approachable? More like ‘about-to-collapse’.”

Mike set the barbell back on the rack and wiped his face with a towel. “You think I’m weak?”

You rolled your eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

You groaned in annoyance as you kept searching for your phone in the room. You needed to answer to some important stuff for work.

Maybe it fell down from your wardrobe? You turned around and bent down on your knees, looking under the creaky bed and finally spotting your phone under it.

A sigh of relief left your lips. Your arm stretched out under the bed, fingers grazing the cool wooden floorboards. Your phone lay just out of reach, teasing you with its silent screen.

“Come on,” You muttered, wiggling your fingers. “Just a little more.”

But just as your fingertips brushed the edge of the phone a pair of arms was wrapped around your waist, and lifted you off the ground.

You yelped in surprise, legs kicking in the air as Mike scooped you up in his arms, bridal style “Mike! What the—”

Your heart races, and for a moment, you forget to breathe. The warmth from his body envelops you, his scent—part musk, part fresh air—fills the room and you cling to him instinctively as you wrap your arms around Mike’s neck.

Your fingers find their way to the back of his neck, where you feel the tension in his muscles. The room spins around you, and you laugh— a genuine, unguarded sound— as he carries you toward the window.

“See?” Mike grunted, pretending not to strain. “Not weak at all.”

His strength surprised you; he might look fatigued, but those biceps were no joke.

"Mike" you protest playfully, "what are you doing?"

He grins down at you, his eyes sparkling. "Taking you to see the sunset," he says, his voice low and intimate.

The warmth of his skin seeps through your shirt as he steps closer to the window, the fading sunlight bathes you both. Despite being so simple, the garden outside looks beautiful under the sunlight.

"Look," he murmurs, tilting your chin upward. The sun kisses the horizon, casting a golden glow on your faces. "Isn't it beautiful?"

You nod, unable to tear your eyes away from the view. But it's not just the sunset that steals your breath—it's the way Mike looks at you, as if you’re the most precious thing in the world. The warmth of his love surrounds you, and you know that this memory will stay with you forever.

And in that moment you forget about everything except the warmth of Mike’s arms and the love in his eyes. Bridal style or not, your exactly where you want to be—held close, suspended in love, and ready to face the sunset together.

Abby had heard the laughter from the hallway. She burst into the room, eyes wide with curiosity. “What’s going on here?”

Mike grinned, showing you like a trophy obtained with so much hard work and explaining to her how you told him he is weak.

With you still in his arms, Mike walked closer to the bed from where you previously were. His legs trembled slightly, but he held on. You giggled, and Abby skipped alongside you two, cheering like you all were in a parade.

“Mike,” Abby said, eyes wide, “can you lift me too?”

Mike chuckled. “Give me a second”

Mike gently sets you down. You both caught your breath, laughing and feeling the warmth of shared moments.

Abby joined in and you watched with a grin as Mike lifted her up from the floor, making her laugh joyfully.

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

The moon hung low in the sky, casting elongated shadows across the plain and simple field. The abandoned playground stood like a relic from another time—a place where laughter once echoed, but now only silence prevailed.

Mike patrolled the rusted arcade games and cracked tables, his flashlight cutting through the darkness. His duty was to protect this forgotten place, even though he couldn't shake the feeling that something watched him from the shadows.

You had always been intrigued by the mysterious playground. You’ve heard stories—the kind whispered around campfires—about children who vanished here, leaving behind only their laughter and half-buried memories.

Tonight, unable to sleep, you decided to pay Mike a surprise visit. Abby was tucked safely in bed.

You park your car in the gravel lot, the crunch under your tires sounding unusually loud in the still night. The air is cool, tinged with the scent of rain that hasn't yet fallen. Ahead, the silhouette of the abandoned pizzeria looms, its windows dark.

Navigating through the shadows, you feel a mix of excitement and apprehension. Mike's job as a security guard here always seemed eerie to you, surrounded by empty halls and the echoes of machinery long silenced. But tonight, you're here to bring a little warmth to his solitary shift.

You enter the building, your footsteps echoing off the concrete. The stairwell is dimly lit, the walls tagged with graffiti.

Your footsteps crunched on the gravel path as you approached the main hall. The moonlight revealed twisted shapes—a carousel frozen mid-spin. Those animatronics behind the tents looked anything but friendly. The air smelled of damp earth and nostalgia, and you shivered despite the mild night.

Just as you stepped onto the cracked pavement, a beam of light swept across your path. Mike emerged from the shadows, his security uniform slightly disheveled and his eyes widened in surprise. His flashlight illuminated your face, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, despite the visible tiredness on his face

"What brings you here?" Mike said. His voice was a low murmur, gravelly and worn. Each syllable seemed to emerge from the depths of exhaustion, like a shipwreck survivor gasping for air.

You feigned innocence. "Oh, you know, just thought I'd drop by. Abby's asleep, Max is watching her and I couldn't resist exploring this creepy place."

Mike chuckled, a sound that rumbled from deep within his chest. "Exploring, huh? You're brave, but this is a private property, you should not be here”

You stepped closer, your breath mingling in the chilly air. "And what are you gonna do about it, Mr. Security Guard? Are you gonna call the police for an harmless intruder?"

“I'm willing to make an exception for you. Harmless you said? let’s see those hands. Empty pockets, please.”

You show him your empty hands “Clean as a whistle. Are you going to frisk me?”

Mike leans in, his voice low “I might have to. Strictly professional, of course. Turn around, hands against the wall."

Your heart started pounding while you played along, that deep voice that he made with a hint of tiredness was hot

You turned, placing your palms flat against the cool brick wall. Mike steps behind you, his breath warm against your neck.

"Spread your legs a little wider. We wouldn't want anything slipping past my expert frisking skills." He said, voice still low.

You stifled a nervous giggle, your pulse racing. Mike's hands move—firm, yet gentle—up your sides, skimming the edges of your coat.

"I assure you, I'm clean. No hidden weapons, no secret plans." Your voice was now trembling.

You can feel Mike leaning in closer, lips brushing your ear "Good. But I have to be thorough. Safety first, you know."

His hands continue their exploration, tracing the curve of your hips, then sliding down to your thighs. Your skin tingles, and you wonder if Mike can hear your heart pounding.

"Thorough is...appreciated." Your voice is barely audible now.

Mike’s fingers dip into your coat pockets, checking for imaginary things. His touch sends shivers down your spine.

"All clear. But there's one more area I need to inspect." He whispered

He steps closer, pressing against you, and your breath hitches. His lips brush your cheek, teasing.

"Your heart. It's racing. Is that normal during a routine frisk?" He whispered in a husky voice.

Before you can respond, Mike turns you around, his eyes searching yours. The playful game fades, replaced by something more intense.

"You're trouble. But I think I like it." His hand slid down to the flashlight's switch, turning it off. Darkness enveloped you two.

And then, his lips meet yours. The kiss was both sweet and urgent. A kiss that tastes of adventure, stolen moments, and the promise of something beyond a simple game.

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

Pushing the door open, Mike shows you the office he mainly works in, the bank of security monitors bright inside the dark room.

His tired face lights up with a smile as he sees you taking a seat to the chair next to his.

You spend the next hour talking, catching up, sharing a late snack you brought from home. Mike tries to focus on your stories, but his eyes begin to close, his head tilted forward slowly until he struggles to stay shiny and awake.

You suggest he get some rest. "I've got this," you assure him, motioning towards the monitors. "You need more sleep than I do."

Reluctantly, he agrees. He settles into a small cot in the corner of the room, his body visibly tense. "Just wake me if anything happens," he murmurs, his voice already slurring with exhaustion.

You nod, watching as he drifts off, the lines of his face softening. Quietly, you move to his chair, keeping an eye on the screens. The silence, the cameras showing nothing but abandoned spaces and those animatronics behind the tents.

It was normal for Mike to be so sleepy if every night here always plays out the same.

You could have sworn that the giant animatronic bear had moved its eyes towards the camera, but as soon as you blinked, he was no longer watching it.

Tiredness was having an effect on you too

An hour passes slowly. You jump slightly when Mike suddenly gasps, his breath ragged, his eyes wide and filled with the terror of the nightmare that's haunted him for years. Rushing to his side, you find him panting,

"It's okay, Mike, you're safe," you say softly, taking his hand. His grip is tight, almost painful.

"Garret... I saw Garret..." he chokes out, his voice ragged with fear and grief. You remember all too well the stories he's told you about his little brother, Garret, who was kidnapped years ago. It's a wound that never fully healed, one that haunts him in these vivid nightmares.

"Ssh, I'm here, Mike. You're not alone," you reassure him, stroking his hair as his breathing slowly calms. You've been through this many times over the years, yet each time feels just as heart-wrenching.

"I always think I could've saved him... If only I hadn’t been distracted," Mike confesses with tears streaming down his face.

“You did everything you could”, you remind him gently. “It’s not your fault”

"It's okay, it's okay, you're safe," you murmur, pulling him into your arms. His heart races against your chest as you hold him tightly, feeling his muscles tense with every shudder. These moments are heart-wrenching, yet after all these years, you know exactly what to do.

Mike clings to you, his breathing erratic, his grip tightens around you as if holding on for dear life.

"Focus on my voice, Mike," you continue, your tone steady and soothing. "Breathe with me. In... and out... In... and out." You guide him through the breathing exercises you've learned together, a routine that has become second nature on nights like these.

Gradually, his breaths become less shallow, the trembling subsides, and the grip of his fingers loosens around your arm. His face, buried in the crook of your neck, feels wet against your skin-tears, not uncommon on these long nights.

"You're doing great," you reassure him, brushing a hand through his hair, offering the comfort that words alone cannot. This touch, a simple gesture, often helps to anchor him back to the present, away from the nightmares.

Thank you," he says, his voice hoarse but sincere. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You don't have to do anything without me," you reply, a small, tired smile crossing your lips. "I'm here, always."

He rests his head on your chest, listening to the steady beat of your heart-a sound that seems to comfort him as much as your presence. You stay awake a little longer, ensuring he drifts back into a more peaceful sleep, watching over him in the quiet of the night.

As you finally feel his body yield to exhaustion and the steady rhythm of his breathing indicates he's asleep, you allow yourself a moment of rest. Love, you remind yourself, is both a refuge and a strength, in the quiet of the night and beyond

༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞༞

It was now morning. Soon it will be time to go back to Abby. Mike leaned against you, your fingers intertwined. "I don't know if I'll ever fully heal," he admitted. "But you make it bearable."

You pressed a kiss to his temple. "We'll take it one step at a time. Healing isn't linear, Mike. Some days will be harder than others, but we'll get through them together."

And so you did. Mike still woke up from nightmares, but you were there to help him, to remind him that he wasn't defined by his past.

As the days turned into weeks, Mike found himself laughing more, sleeping a little better. The shadows of the past didn't disappear, but they no longer consumed him. Your love was a lifeline, pulling him back from the abyss.

One night, as you lay tangled in each other's arms, Mike whispered, "Thank you."

"For what?" you asked.

"For being my light," he replied. "For helping me find my way out of the darkness."

And you smiled, your eyes filled with tenderness. "Always, Mike. Always."

63 notes · View notes

morgansunflower · 1 year

Text

Slammed Doors

Bruce Wayne X Wife! Reader

Warnings:suggestive content, explicit language and angst

Words:1311

Arthur's notes! Third P. O. V

Requested taglist:@too-strong-to-lose

Losing her would end him. He couldn't even look at her thinking each time how close she was gone.

"what the hell were you thinking Bruce?! Again for the third time this month!" she shouted at him losing her temper.

"I did not see the urgency of a fragment of my night to be so important" he coldly said pissing his wife off more.

"look in the damn mirror! You insisted me to stay on bench for weeks after I had a little stab!"

"that is an entirely different situation!" he defended "it nearly hit your main arteries! You're blind to think otherwise!"

"different?! You're driving me insane! Bullet number one your flank, the next your arm and the third your chest. You had a minor concussion! The only reason I know is because Alfred told me after expressing that he thought you told me.. Just a dammed text or call would've been helpful or dammit Bruce send someone to tell me. Don't tell Alfred not to worry with informing me... " she takes a deep breath forcing tears back "it's bad enough that you won't even hardly look at me" she mumbled

His heart cried while his anger overcomes his feelings of remorse. "you're so damn stubborn! We are not discussing this any further!"

"oh so that's it?! You get hurt and it's nothing" He walks away from her to the bat-mobile. "we are still talking about this Bruce!" he gets in putting his cowl on "if you drive away don't expect to sleep with me tonight or any other night!" she threatened with a cry.

"fine with me" he scoffed with a, grunt and then shuts the door.

The tires skid as he leaves. Y/N kicked the ground pissed. Early in the morning. She couldn't sleep last night, Bruce didn't even bother trying to sleep. She had stayed in the gust room unable to be around Bruce after their fight. She sits on the chair in the dining room. She hears Bruce hitting his fork on his plate abruptly. She couldn't make herself look at him. They had grown distant and cold over the last few weeks. The fight was the last straw to send them into turmoil with each other. It hadn't been this bad since he lied to her about Grayson's death. They had grown busy with their lives, patrol and work. Everything seemed to pulling them apart.

"is everything alright amongst you both?" Alfred asked bringing Mrs Wayne her coffee.

"were fine Alfred" Bruce said with a angered grunt.

Fine?! She needed to get away from him. She raises from her chair. She walked away and slammed the door to her current bedroom. She hears the door to Bruce's study slam shut. That's when she feels a tear roll down her face.

"Mommmmmy.. Are you ok?" Stephanie asked through the door

"things seem pretty heated between you and B" Jay said

"can we do anything for you?" Duke offered

"talk to us Ma" Tim pleaded

She takes a shaky breath and then clears her throat. "I'm ok my loves don't worry"

That night she laid in the guest room. She sighed heavily she hated absolutely hated fighting with him. She can't sleep.. She keeps thinking about Bruce and her fighting. She hears her window door opening. She sighs heavily, she really didn't want him to see her like this.

"I don't want to see you right now B"

"mother?" Damian softly said.

"hey mom, you ok?" Grayson asked right by his little brother. He turns to shut the window.

She sit upward turning the lamp on "oh hi Damian, hi Grayson. I'm sorry boys.. I didn't know it was you. I'm ok"

"what happened between you and Father?" Damian asked entering the room.

"seems like it was a pretty bad fight" Grayson sympathized, he knew from when he was Robin. If Mom was sleeping in a different bed things were really bad.

"oh.. It's, ok. We're just... Just.. Not happy with each other right now" she sighed defeated.

"is it something I did?" Damian asked

"oh no! No.. It's just.. It's going to be OK son" she assured him.

Damian laid beside her and rest his head on her shoulder. Grayson stands by the bed and lays the covers on them. He holds her hand to comfort her. It was so hard to hide how she's feeling. Especially to her older children.

"I gotta go drag Babs into bed or she'll be up for too long again, sleep well mom. Night Dami, night Ma" Grayson kindly said

"thanks son" she mumbled

It'd now been 5 miserable days. Bruce sighed looking at the wedding photo that was on his desk. He had to fix this before there was too much distance between the two of them. His heart was heavy as he craved to be near Y/N. He walked to the room she had been staying in. He didn't see her and her purse was gone. There was a box of Crackers on her nightstand. He smelled vomit? Why would she be going out if she is sick? He stepped into the bathroom. The room was clean. He looked in the medicine cabinet to make sure she was taking proper medication. Bruce nearly gasps from shock. He holds the special vitamins. He softly smiled. That night he told the children that their room was strictly off limits. He prepared their room for a elegant evening. Alfred helped of course. Bruce laid freshly made platter on the bed. He had their wine glasses placed on the platter and the bottle in the bucket of ice. Just as he was finished, he hears Y/N stepping to the room. He opens the door taking her hand and gently pulls her in the room. She was startled and then completely surprised.

"Bruce.. You--I.. I can't believe" she nearly burst into tears.

"I want to be a better husband to you" he pleaded kissing her temple.

He guides his wife to the bed. Her face was full of emotional joy. He adjusted the pillows for her. He holds her hand as she sits down. Bruce moved to sit on the other side of the bed. He takes a wine bottle and he moved to pour it into her glass. Her heart raced. She has to tell him.

"I think I may just have water...."

"really? This is your favorite flavor" he shows her the bottle label. Non-alcoholic f/f wine.

She smiled softly "but, don't you want?.. "

He pours the wine in both glasses "I could use a break"

"you know! I can't believe you know! I promise you that I was going to tell you"

"I know" he softly smiled

Bruce reaches his hand out to hold her face, he softly smiled she looks so beautiful so full of love, he wants to embrace her "29 days ago you were almost killed. You weren't br-breathing, your heart stopped.. Y/N" he sighed letting out a deep breath as he couldn't fight how truly terrible he felt "20 days ago on a cold night in Paris we had outstanding sex" he smirks kissing her knuckles, to which she softly laughed at his words. He rubs her temple tenderly "that night... I was terrified that the closer you stood by me.. The more danger you were in. I was wrong" she began to cry, he kisses her forehead "I was angry and... I was scared. I took it out on you, forgive me?" he holds both of her hands

"Bruce" she kisses his lips covering his heart in warmth of security "please.. Don't... Don't ever push me away again"

He reaches embracing her, the moment caused his breath to be stolen. She was still here. She still forgave him.

"I will never ever do this to you again. I will try my hardest to be the one you deserve... Are you hungry?"

She laughed with tears hugging him tightly "you have no idea"

#bruce wayne x wife! reader #Bruce Wayne X Reader #Batman X Batmom #Guilt #Fighting #Make up #forgiveness #Pregnancy #pregnant! reader #Bruce Wayne X Pregnant! Reader #unplanned pregnancy #batfamily #alfred pennyworth #fluff

917 notes · View notes

unicyclehippo · 10 months

Note

15. kiss on the back for the prompt thing!

Imogen has spent years submerged in the sweet, babbling waters of Laudna’s mind so, while she may not be able to hear her thoughts now, she still remembers their current. And besides, some things don’t need to be said. It’s an unspoken agreement between them—a quirked brow, the tilt of an answering smile—to return Zhudanna’s coin.

Laudna distracts their elderly friend with an enthusiastic—and slightly gooey—recreation of recent journeys while Imogen carries the groceries to the kitchen. She unpacks jars of olives and honey and jam, every pickled thing they encountered, wax-wrapped cheeses, smoked and salted meats, dried fruits and beans, bags of fine-ground flour and spices. She leaves the fresh fruit and vegetables on the countertop with the pumpernickel loaves and, as she does, pulls Zhudanna’s lockbox from its hiding place beneath the beans with a subtle bit of magic.

It’s easy to use her powers now. She knew she was getting stronger but something about being here—where she spent much of her time in degrees of agony with no way to control it or stop it, her powers flaring whenever they wanted to—the difference is stark. How reactive her magic is now, how finely-tuned to her will. A thought, and the lockbox opens. Imogen busies herself selecting and slicing an orange. Another thought, and the coins lift out of the shopping basket and zip over to the box. She arranges the orange segments on a colourful plate. The box clicks closed and slides back into place beneath the beans. It’s all done in a matter of seconds with Zhudanna none the wiser, even if she had peeked over to check on Imogen despite Laudna’s distraction—though how anyone could look away from Laudna for so much as a second during one of her stories - vibrant, enthralling as she is - Imogen doesn’t know.

She lingers a while, helps herself to a slice of orange. It’s tart, almost sour, the way she likes them. The sun blankets half the kitchen in a square of light. Standing in that warmth recalls fragments of an old dream—baking, home, Laudna. The details are too faded and vanish when she reaches for them; in the space where they had been, her memory provides instead the aroma of baked bread and the cool press of Laudna’s lips against her own. Fingers sticky with orange, Imogen twists her wrist and presses her smile to the back of her hand. We kissed, she thinks, giddy, and suddenly the handful of steps separating her from the sitting room and Laudna is too far.

‘—a shape like dripping tar, a great blob of malice, hovering in the air. It struck Orym with a spiralling bolt of shadow, pinning him against the rock!’ Imogen hears as she rejoins the story.

‘Oh!’ Zhudanna squeaks. Her eyes are wide, both wrinkled hands covering her mouth in horror. When she speaks, she sounds so old—had she always, Imogen tries to recall, or is it all of this…this fucking mess around them? The solstice, the god-damning speeches, the fear suffusing the streets like thick jungle mist, the moon, the way oncoming way tilts the axis of every heart. ‘Oh,’ she says in a small, quavering voice, ‘oh dear, oh no, is he alright?’

‘Who?’

‘Your friend. Orym.’

The question makes Laudna’s smile falter. Zhudanna, half-blind, probably doesn’t notice. Imogen does. She fills the agonising pause, steps between them to put the plate down next to Zhudanna. By the time she plants herself on the footstool, twin to the armchair Laudna has claimed, Laudna has recovered.

‘Yes. Yes, of course! He’s a warrior—a hero!’ Zhudanna heaves a sigh of relief at that, claps her hands. Laudna continues. ‘He pulled free of the shadow spear with a horrid yell and spray of blood—’

Geez, Laud, don’t forget she’s old as shit.

And? She has such a creative soul, she’s enjoying—ah. I suppose…heart attacks…hmm. Should I…tone it down?

Imogen rests her chin on her hand as she settles in to listen to the rest of the story and, catching Laudna’s eyes, offers a small smile. Just for her, darlin’.

With a wobbly nod—one that makes Imogen want to yank off the circlet and dive deep into Laudna’s thoughts, wade through them muck and all, hear for herself the knotted tangle of fear and nervy tension and trust she knows is causing havoc in there—Laudna launches back into her tale.

‘Together with our dear new friend Prism–’

‘I like her,’ Zhudanna says. ‘Sensible, for one of those wizard types. Getting out there and having a go of it. Good for her.’

‘Indeed. Very sensibly, she and I harried the foul spirit with our joined magic, giving our companions time to protect the Heirophant and dragging them clear of the danger of this hungry shadow. We threw everything we had at it—flaying it of its shadow piece by piece, cracking its sallow face, until there was nothing left of it but a slug of tarred shadow that I crushed, sending it back to whence it came, into the merciless dark,’ she hisses, hand closing in a tight fist, eyes a brittle, glossy obsidian. After a moment, her intensity relents; the faint gloom in the corners of the room disperses like an audience post performance, and as it leaves, air rushes in to fill the empty space. ‘Anyway,’ she trills, ‘apparently that wasn’t the first time it had appeared there, can you believe that? The Heirophant—the elf Orym and Ashton saved—told us that they had fought it before—or was it their order that had? Hm. Don’t recall. But yes - it’s like a recurring thing. Like a bad ex turning up on their doorstep. But not a bad ex because Evithorir—’

‘Evi- Evirerth-’

‘Evithorir. I think. It was so hard to tell, it hissed a lot. Regardless, the shadow spirit, it turns out it was some, like, ancient terrible hungry fey spirit that sought to devour everything in the world, blah blah, the usual. Starting with Oma-Dua who is this - get this - equally ancient druid who buried herself in the last moments of her life in the depths of this cavern centuries ago to sustain the land around this mountain for the rest of time and took on the form of an enormous glowing green crystal…’

Laudna drifts into an odd silence and sinks back into the plush armchair, into herself, looking small and troubled. Her teeth dig well-worn trenches into her bottom lip as she loses herself in thought.

Imogen clears her throat. ‘It’s been an awful long time since we got a proper rest, Zhudanna—d’you mind if we rest a while?’

‘Not at all, not at all. Let me move my easel, dear, and - ‘

‘No, please, don’t go to any trouble. I’ll set it aside, if that’s alright?’

‘Certainly, certainly.’

Zhudanna lets herself be distracted gracefully, pulling an old knitting project from the box by her chair. Her eyes—wrinkled, worried—linger on Laudna as Imogen helps her up from the chair, curling a gentle hand beneath each elbow.

She looks so exhausted and Imogen is certain she’s bearing most of Laudna’s weight for her when she pulls her to her feet but she’s so fucking light it nearly has Imogen stumbling, off-balance. A dozen questions cluster behind Imogen’s teeth, on the threshold of her mind. Did you eat at all? Did you rest? Who took care of you? The thought might’ve made her jealous a month ago but now it just hurts. Laudna is too light, bordering on frail. Her hair is stringy—dirty, greasy, like its been a week since she washed it, brushed it, cared for it (for herself)—and Imogen knows the answer. Knows Laudna. She cares like caring is what keeps her alive, will drag the energy out of her own fucking marrow for everyone else and when it comes to her, she shows them something dead and dying, shows them a grinning skull. Something beyond repair, beyond need of care.

Red flickers behind her eyes, smoulders in the cracks that split the tips of her fingers. But her hands stay gentle as Imogen helps Laudna to their old room.

The door shuts behind them, shuts out the world. Blissful. There’s no window in here to show them the ruddy moon. There’s no crowds, no intrusive minds. No guards, no traitors, no one but the two of them.

Laudna’s slow walk turns to a hobble. She sits at the edge of the bed, shoulders hunched.

Giving her a little space, Imogen puts their bags at the footboard of the bed and Pate’s birdhouse on the bedside. He’s sleeping in there or pretending to be. Creepy, beloved spy. She moves the easel like she said she would, tucking it into an out of the way corner.

‘She’s really very good, don’t you think?’

Laudna stirs. Glances over, dark eyes flicking between the easel and Imogen, and the smile she manages is a wavering thing but it holds steady at the corners.

She’ll be alright, Imogen decides. Promises.

‘Yes. Very talented, our Zhudanna.’

Her words trail off again and Imogen watches as Laudna begins to fidget, fingers twisting, tugging, pull and plucking in her lap. Was the closed room not blissful for her? Was it too crowded, with Imogen and her and all her thoughts and Delilah and now Bor’dor haunting her? Or was it as simple as the strain of her journey taking its toll? Or was it…

‘Do you regret it?’ Imogen blurts. Laudna stills. ‘The kiss, I mean. Me, kissin’ you. Because I know I asked and I know you kissed me back but if - if you got caught up in the moment or thought it’s what I want - Laud, you gotta know, it doesn’t matter to me how you care for me, I’m so - I’m so happy. So lucky. Just to have you near me. Truly.’

It takes a hell of an effort to shut up then—to bite her lip and give Laudna the room to speak.

Her stomach flips from nerves and her traitor heart follows suit; it flips, flutters in her chest, so gentle and so warmed by the memory of getting to take Laudna’s face between her hands, getting to touch her after so long of only being able to dream about it, getting to lean in and—that kiss! The memory of it fizzles through her, sweet lightning, and it’s ridiculous, actually, because her hands start sweating and her lips tingle and her skin goes hot all over, sensitive. It’s such a silly feeling; she feels like a stumbling foal - clumsy and awkward, unsure, but so fucking eager to get up, go, explore. It’s silly - she feels silly with it, giggly and warm - and then, of course, sense reasserts itself firmly because Laudna hasn’t said anything yet—is staring over Imogen’s shoulder with a tiny, worried frown—and Imogen’s stomach sinks, veins flooding with ice. If she could just take off the circlet, but…

‘Laud?’

‘Imogen.’

‘Do you?’ It’s harder to ask the second time. ‘Do you…regret it?’

‘No,’ Laudna says in that barely-there way. Imogen wants the shadows back. Wants the intensity. Wants Laudna cackling over one of Pate’s horrendous comments, or chiding her for mussing the bedsheets. Anything but this ghost. ‘No, darling. I was - I was only thinking,’ she sighs, ‘how silly it is, how hard it is to talk about…well. About what we want.’ She blinks, dim and distant. ‘I often think that if only everyone were honest, there would be less space for misunderstanding and heartbreak –’ The words send Imogen’s heart sinking ever lower, but Laudna doesn’t seem to notice and continues, ‘– and cruelty and war and, oh, I don’t know. People wouldn’t get away with murder or inheritance trickery and such. I think about all the people who lie whenever they speak and how foolish it is and then it is my turn to speak and I…I’m terribly afraid.’

At that, Imogen crosses to sit beside Laudna on the bed. She takes one of her delicate hands in both of her own. It’s so light; bird-boned, Imogen thinks distractedly, mind cluttered with midnight-plumed ravens and the Duskmaven, of scavenging vultures and red seeping into cracked desert soil, of a canary in the dark. She hopes—as it gets harder to breathe, lungs struggling to contend with the weight of hope and panic—that Laudna won’t warn her away.

‘You can tell me,’ Imogen says, and her words stay blessedly steady. ‘Even if you think I don’t want to hear it. I do. I do.’

For a long moment, Laudna examines their hands. Intertwined. Her own—delicate, long-fingered, pale. The dark web of stagnant veins. Imogen’s—broader, tanned, calloused. The cracked skin, red seeping out. Squeezing Imogen’s hand, Laudna says,

‘I won’t lie, darling. I won’t tell you I wasn’t surprised. I was. I am. You are—’ Dark eyes lift to meet Imogen’s; without thoughts to skim, all Imogen can see in the depths is warmth, a glittering fondness. Sorrow lurks there too, somewhere, even if she can’t see it. ‘You are extraordinary. Young and beautiful and so very alive. I - you wishing to kiss me - you understand why I might be startled. I don’t know what I can offer you, darling. I will always be at your side, of course—to protect you, to wake you from your nightmares, to support you, to - to tether you against the storm, as you said, but - ‘

‘But what?’ Imogen shakes her head with a gentle laugh. ‘Who could ask for more than that?’

‘And the kissing?’

‘We don’t have to do it again. If you don’t like it.’

Laudna tilts her head; it’s not a no, but neither is it a yes. ‘You could choose anyone—’

‘I want only you.’

‘Even though I am—’ Laudna cuts off the words with a snap of her teeth. Turns away, sending a gloomy look to the dim corners of their room.

Imogen’s heart thuds, hard, against her ribs. She rubs at at it, sympathetic. Her bruised heart. She wants what it wants—to be close, ever closer. To hug her, hold her tight. To love her. To rip Delilah out of her—fry the bitch, burn her to ashes, and the ashes to smoke, and the smoke to nothing at all in white lightning—and then offer up her own heart to fill the lack. To welcome Laudna into the red hollow of her ribs, already wondering what kind of home she could make out of them. To take back the ruby ring and present it again, with all the ceremony Laudna deserves. To kiss her. Again and again.

But right now, Laudna doesn’t need a storm, even one of love. She only needs Imogen to listen to her. So she asks,

‘Even though you’re what?’

Laudna’s hands curl into talons and a snarl erupts from her throat. Earlier, Imogen hadn’t known what to make of the idea that Laudna could summon a wolf but she gets it now. Hears it in that mournful, ragged sound.

‘Dead. Broken.’ She claws at her heart. ‘Weak.’

‘No. You’re not, sweetheart, no.’

Imogen cannot resist reaching forward. She keeps her touch feather-light. Skims a high cheekbone before sliding back to the strand of dark hair that has escaped its high bun. She tucks it behind Laudna’s ear with exacting care, thumb grazing the gold ear-cuff. I see you. Every bit. Laudna’s eyes fill with inky tears and, when Imogen lifts her other hand to cradle her precious, lovely face, Laudna leans into the touch.

For a moment, Imogen can only stare.

There is no one in the world like Laudna—so starkly beautiful, so sweet, so enchanting. There is no one half as creative. She knows Laudna’s story—saw her die—but no one could spend an hour in Laudna’s presence and leave thinking her anything other than vibrant. How could that be death? And as for broken, well, Imogen thinks of the mosaics in Uthodurn’s royal halls, and of stained glass windows in the Dawnfather’s hall—what little she had overhead of that part of Laudna’s story—and thinks of Laudna’s mendings and crafts and the hundreds of achingly beautiful smiles Laudna has made up just for her and yes, maybe she’s been broken, but who hasn’t? How can that make her less? Less lovely, less wonderful? It doesn’t. It doesn’t. She thinks of faith and lets her pinkie slip down to touch, so gently, the ragged mark of Laudna’s first death. She thinks of destiny and meets Laudna’s eyes.

Beautiful, she thinks, and then - because they are being truthful, because they are telling each other the truth - she says it out loud too.

‘You’re beautiful. You’re my—‘ Imogen falters, tries to think of a word that doesn’t stick in her chest like a knife, but pushes on because her love doesn’t make her fearless, it just makes her brave. ‘My favourite.’

Her blush blooms purple under Imogen’s hands. Laudna glances down, shy, then up from under lashes dark and sticky with inky makeup, splayed like delicate spider legs.

‘It is strange,’ Laudna says, covering Imogen’s hands with her own when she starts to pull away, worried. ‘Don’t leave, darling. Let me… Let me?’

Let her lean in, yes, let her press close, forehead to forehead, yes, stay so still when Laudna touches her cheek, fleeting. Laudna trembles—afraid? excited? damn this fucking circlet—but the contact settles her and when she retreats, she pulls Imogen’s hands from her cheeks but doesn’t let them go. She breathes in and out. Then says,

‘Waking from death is much like waking from sleep, except it hurts. Only a little but all the time.’

Imogen’s fingers brush over Laudna’s wrist, where her pulse plods away. ‘Laudna,’ she whispers, not to interrupt. Only because Laudna ought never go a moment thinking she didn’t care.

‘For all those years, even though I…I ran and built my huts and Pate too, of course, and of course I felt things—fear and loss and joy, too, sometimes—I was alive and awake but. So much of me was still dead. I was so - confused. And angry, often. I was surviving, you see. I had strength enough to hold myself together and fix things, here and there, but no more than that. I was hungry, all the time, I had so many teeth.’ Laudna searches her face. ‘And then I met you and you helped. Cared. These past years with you… It used to be that when I wanted something, it - it was hunger I felt. This endless hunger. A great pit in my chest. And it was hard to tell, you see, what it was I wanted except for everything, anything I could get my hands on. Do you understand?’

Imogen gnaws at her lip. Slowly, she shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t.’ She dips her head, catches Laudna’s eyes. ‘Explain it to me?’

Laudna’s fingers shake as she slides them over the backs of Imogen’s hands. Long fingers curl around one of Imogen’s wrists and she lifts it to press a chaste kiss to her knuckles, lips cool against the burning ridge of her oldest lightning scar.

‘You have given me so much. You gave me friendship and purpose and trust. Food. Fun and stories. Strength. A bed. A home. And the hunger…it doesn’t gnaw so terribly, darling. Now, when I - when I want something, it isn’t an impossible task. I needn’t lose myself in that great black pit, blinding searching for what I lack. It starts to make sense. I start to make sense. What I want. Outside of her, and hunger. You’ve given me so much,’ Laudna tells her, and her voice creaks with the weight of her words. ‘How can I possibly take more? How - selfish, how greedy it would be to want… To want.’

‘Do you want me to kiss you?’ Imogen asks, voice soft. She tries not to sound to hopeful.

Launda holds her hands for a long time. It’s maddening, because Laudna never stays still for long; she doesn’t now either, instead stroking tiny patterns against her skin, fingers sliding over and between her own. At the occasional scratch of her nails, a frisson of electricity crackles down Imogen’s arms, through her body. Finally, Laudna nods.

‘I do. Oh, Imogen, I do. I didn’t know it - I knew I would be content for centuries, the rest of my days, if only I could sleep in your bed, stand at your side, content with any touch or favour you might share with me. And then - to be kissed?’ A shy smile creeps across her lips. ‘Would it be terribly unfunny to say it struck me like a bolt?’

Imogen snorts. Pulls her hands free so she can shove at her—lightly, though, barely enough to make even Laudna sway. Her hands settle on the tender branching of Laudna’s collarbones. The fabric of the new dress is silk-smooth under her palms; the lace neckline, though, catches against her work-rough, scar-rough fingers. She strokes it again, entranced. It’s so soft, the lace, in its reluctance to let her go. It’s so beautiful, the whorling patterns of leaves and flowers, and the contrast of blue-black fabric against Laudna’s pale skin is enough to make her glow. And beneath lace and skin, the steady tap of Laudna’s pulse—a knock on the door, on the coffin lid, here I am.

Beautiful.

‘That’s dreadful,’ she scolds, wrinkling her nose.

‘That’s me. Full of dread.’ A ghostly visage flickers across Laudna’s face, there—skin and skull shifting, FRIDA’s inspiration?—and gone. ‘And you?’ she asks. ‘You too?’

‘Full of dread?’

‘Do you wish to kiss me, I meant, actually.’

Imogen swallows harshly. ‘Yeah,’ she rasps. ‘Yeah, I do.’

A frown pinches Laudna’s forehead. ‘Have you been afflicted with this desire for long?’

‘Afflict— You say it like it’s a sickness or somethin’,’ Imogen teases, but Laudna flaps a hand for her to hurry up and tell, so she shrugs. ‘Um. Yeah. I ‘spose I’ve been wantin’ to kiss you for a while,’ she admits, cheeks burning. ‘When I could hear you, it was… Do you remember when Dusk was hangin’ around, you told me you hadn’t thought about it? Hadn’t accessed that part of your brain?’ Laudna nods. ‘I know. I knew that. Because sometimes, when we were close and you…’

Imogen pauses. Sucks in a breath—it’s a little stuffy in their room, no windows, but it smells of freshly laundered sheets and paint and wood polish and Laudna and Imogen lets it steady her.

‘D’you know that you say the kindest, sweetest things sometimes? You always know what to do to calm me down or make me laugh, even when the whole world is—’ She gestures awkwardly to the south wall where the moon hovers in her minds eye. ‘You know. Going to shit. And sometimes—I wasn’t sure how much you…’ She stops again, lips twisting, frustrated. ‘I knew that you cared for me because, well, because you do.’

‘Naturally, of course.’

‘But sometimes I wondered if…if you wanted to kiss me, like I sometimes thought of doing. But when I looked into your mind, you were never thinkin’ about it so -’ Imogen shrugs, cheeks hot. ‘I never brought it up. You hardly ever thought about it when other folk were flirtin’ or talkin’ about it, so I figured it wasn’t something you wanted. And that didn’t matter to me! Just so long as you were with me, and we were together, I was happy with that. But then Dusk,’ Imogen strangles the name in her throat, hopes fiercely that Yu can feel it, wherever the fuck they might be, ‘put the idea in your head and then they…left…and you were confused and I’d sometimes catch flashes of it in your head but it didn’t feel right to bring it up, even though sometimes I thought—the way you were lookin’ at me, and not pullin’ away when I was lookin’ at you—I thought…maybe? Maybe it was - Maybe you could. Think like that. And when you died—’ Her voice cracks. ‘That wasn’t the right time either, obviously,’ she scoffs. Pulls a hand back to swipe at her eyes.

‘Darling,’

‘It had to be your choice. All of it. Everything, after what happened. And I was fucking terrified because of all those questions in my head like if I’d be pushin’ you if I asked, or makin’ you more of a target, burdenin’ you with all this Predathos moon shit—’

‘Never. Never a burden.’

‘—and then I got this,’ Imogen taps her circlet, ‘and I couldn’t hear you anymore, couldn’t check, and so, yeah, Laudna, you could say I’ve been thinkin’ about it for a while.’

‘Thinking about,’ she says, so carefully, like she’s afraid if she speaks it too loud or too fast the whole thing will break, ‘kissing. Me.’

Imogen laughs. Smiles at her with her whole face, her whole heart. Every soft, exposed, grotesque, tender part of it. ‘Yeah, sweetheart. Is that alright?’

Laudna nods jerkily. Eyes Imogen’s mouth curiously. ‘Can I - that is, if it’s alright with you,’

‘Please,’ Imogen whispers, and she isn’t sure if she’s reading her own mind or if Laudna’s is loud enough to overpower the circlet, if she’s letting the power of it subside in her eagerness to know if Laudna wants what she wants, but it’s so clear—Laudna’s dark eyes, warm and kind and wanting; her reaching hands, aligning them hurt to hurt, heart to heart; plum lips pressing, ever so gently, against hers.

The kiss lasts a heartbeat. Barely long enough to register the touch. Even so, Laudna flushes deeply. Touches her fingers to her mouth and breathes out, shaky.

‘Oh. Imogen.’

Imogen lifts a hand—‘Can I? Let me, please’—to Laudna’s neck, grazing the high collar she’d been so jealous of in the store for getting to touch Laudna’s neck, but adores now as she coaxes it down so she alone can see, can touch the soft skin of her neck. Feel the way Laudna’s breath hitches when she does, her shiver as Imogen’s fingers slide forward, following the path of her jaw and swiping beneath the hinge of it—tender, awed, lingering on the mottled silver marks of bullet holes and torn skin—before she slides her fingers into the curtain of dark dark. She presses gently, guides her forward for another kiss. Her lips find the corner of Laudna’s mouth and smiles at the noise of displeasure it pulls.

‘I think,’ Imogen whispers, kisses her more solidly. Tilts her head and loses herself in Laudna: Laudna’s nose nudging into her cheek; Laudna’s hands fluttering between her elbows and shoulders before laying gently on her back; a clumsy bump of lips, which is actually mostly chin, a giggled apology, and then something gives and Laudna’s lips are on hers again, steady and slow and careful, like they have all the time in the world, like now that she is here there is no where she would rather be. Imogen pulls back, licks her lips. Citrus bursts on her tongue.

Laudna stares at her mouth. ‘What - ‘ She has to clear her throat, voice breathy, like Imogen has kissed all the air out of her and the thought makes want crackle beneath Imogen’s skin. ‘What do you think?’

‘Amazing. Great. Perfect.’

Dark eyes gleam. Laudna smiles—no, she smirks. ‘Darling. You were saying something, that you thought…?’

‘Oh.’ Imogen starts to speak—and has to stop. She laughs. ‘Y’know, I’ve totally forgotten?’

‘Oh.’ Laudna’s blush deepens. She’s so fucking pretty. ‘It will come back to you. If it’s important.’ She fidgets. Reaches out a hand to touch Imogen’s elbow, her knee. She looks for a moment as if she is about to speak but then a calm settles over her and she only smiles and nods. ‘Do you mind, dearest, if I take a little time to fix the birdhouse? Only Pate said it’s dreadfully uncomfortable and I think - if I add some soft cushion fabric, maybe curtains - I can fix the place up for him.’

Imogen nods. She understands—and could do with a minute to calm down too. She crawls around Laudna up to the headboard, props herself up against it.

Laudna frowns. ‘Really? Boots on the bed?‘

She smiles, closes her eyes. ‘It’ll be alright, I’ll magic the dirt away after.’

‘It’s the principle of the thing,’ Laudna insists. After a few moments of Imogen ignoring her, Laudna sets aside the birdhouse and begins to unbuckle Imogen’s boots. Imogen watches, thoughts far too chaotic to pin down. It doesn’t take long—Laudna has helped her before, when migraines stopped her from doing just about anything—and she pats Imogen’s shin, tuts at the unhappy state of her socks, and mends the hole by her big toe with a needle and thread of black shadow. It looks good as new when she is done.

‘There,’ Imogen drawls, snuggling down into the pillow at her back. ‘What would I do without you?’

Laudna laughs. ‘You’d wear boots in bed and put your cups upside down on the shelves–’

‘First of all, I’m right about that and second of all,’ she nudges Laudna with her toe, ‘I never wanna find out.’

She smiles and, oh, Imogen thinks, Dawnfather, eat your heart out. You don’t know light like this. You couldn’t make a light like hers if you had a thousand solstices.

They spend a lazy afternoon together. They don’t kiss again—Laudna is far too intent on her work, and Imogen merely watches her and allows time and proximity to ease the tight, grating knot of nerves in her chest that had built with every moment of Laudna’s absence. She asks easy questions and retreads old, familiar jokes and stories, and everything resettles. In some ways, it is as it has always been. It’s the two of them, together. It’s also new in a way that makes Imogen’s heart flutter every time she remembers; I kissed her, I can kiss her.

‘Pate,’ Laudna croons, as she takes apart old clothes and blankets, stitches them into cushions for the interior of the birdhouse. ‘Come out, come out, wherever you are,’ she sings, and the rat-bird clambers out of his wooden house and up her arm, waits until she’s packed the cushions into place to skitter back inside, taking pride of place in the decadence. ‘What do you think of your new ho-ome?’ It’s so fucking weird. They both are. Imogen has to get closer to her. Tucks a foot under Laudna’s knee—who beams at her, wraps a chilly hand around her ankle and keeps her close—and makes a note to kiss Pate on top of his awful little skull soon. Just because. ‘What do you think? Will this be more comfortable?’

‘It’s nice!’ he croaks, little paws patting walls and floor. ‘I do have a suggestion, though—’

‘What! You’ve only been alive for a few months, what could you possibly know about decorating?’ she demands, aghast.

Pate flies from the house, landing on the roof. There are no eyes in his bird skull but Imogen swears he rolls them anyway. ‘Pfft! What don’t I know? I’m the whole package, you know. Bird brains and rat cunning, fanks very much.’

‘Fine, then, if you’re so smart! What’s your suggestion?’

‘Curtains.’

‘Curtains?’

‘Curtains. For, you know, setting the mood, or sleeping in the day. Or if you two need a little, heh, private time to lock lips—’

‘Alright, yes, fine!’ Laudna yelps. ‘I’ll make you some damn curtains!’

Pate chuckles. His wings peel open with a wet squelch that Imogen is never going to get used to—how could he be wet, he’s been dead for years, that’s what she wants to know—and he takes off with one, two laborious flaps of his wings, gliding down to the bed covers and scampering back into his now-comfortable home. ‘Thank ye kindly,’ he calls out from within.

Laudna grumbles as she pulls together curtains rather quickly, delving in her pack for supplies. She pulls out shards of metal–splinters, almost, but as long as her palm.

‘What’re those?’ Imogen asks, as she tries to bully the pillow under her head into a more comfortable shape.

‘Hm? Oh - one of Ashton’s climbing pitons. It shattered.’

The pillow refuses to be comfortable; Imogen gives up, gets up to search the room for wherever the other pillow went. She finds it, after a while, on the top shelf of the little linen closet and jumps for it before remembering she knows telekinesis. How in the nine hells Zhudanna even got it up there, she has no clue. Wandering back to the bed, Imogen watches over Laudna’s shoulder for a minute as she crafts.

‘You went climbing?’

‘When we were separated, that’s where we landed,’ Laudna says. ‘On a cliffside. Jagged rocks, Steam vents. Now that I think about it, we were rather lucky, actually, that we didn’t appear in the air above a sharp spike or roll off the cliff. But yes, we had to climb,’ she says, and tells Imogen all about it— finding Deni$e - Mona, at the time—and the climb and the endless valley of verdant trees.

Imogen listens carefully, heart heavy. She thinks of a long, cold walk and finding truly kind friends at the end of it - a celestial bull they befriended - shopping - the warmth and bustle and commerce and, yes, anxiety, of Uthodurn, and meeting royalty—and she thinks of Laudna, who dislocates something whenever she sneezes, having to pull herself up a cliffside. She rubs Laudna’s shoulder and dips her head, presses a kiss there on her back—because she can, because she wants to, because Laudna wants it too. Laudna hums, a happy sound.

‘I’m sorry you ended up there.’

‘It wasn’t all bad. It was rather beautiful. I would have enjoyed it, I think, if you had been there.’

‘Maybe we’ll go together someday.’

Laudna smiles. Affixes one of the piton curtain-rods into place as Pate guides her—’Higher, higher on the left - other left - all of it lower now - perfect!’

‘I think Ashton will want to go back.’

‘Oh?’

‘There was something of the Hishari there - a town. Cursed now, apparently. He wants answers.’

‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ Imogen agrees. ‘Kill the moon, then go on holiday to a cursed town in Issylra. Sounds nice.’

‘You were right, by the way,’ Imogen says later, as they walk back from the Windowed Wall to their friends.

‘Of course I was.’ Laudna beams across at her, tone bright, teasing; it’s such a shift from her mood of the morning that Imogen can do nothing but smile back at her. ‘About what, though?’

‘You said if it was important, I’d remember what I was gonna say. And I remember now.’’ Imogen wraps her arm through Laudna’s, pulls her in tight. There aren’t many people crowding the street but she doesn’t need an excuse to hold her close anymore. ‘You know, the thought you kissed right outta my head?’

‘Imogen!’ Laudna slaps her hand lightly, but her eyes gleam. Imogen thinks she might be pleased by the idea of driving her to distraction. ‘Well, go on then. What was it?’

‘You asked if I’d been thinking about it for a long time. Kissin’ you. I was gonna say, I think I’ll never get it outta my head. I’m gonna be thinkin’ about kissing you forever. If that’s alright with you.’

Laudna’s chin lifts - proud, pleased by the idea, clearly - and she gains what could only be called a strut. Her cheeks colour faintly. ‘I’ll be thinking about it too.’ Her eyes glitter brightly over a sweet smile. ‘After all, you’re very capable,’ she teases, and laughs, delighted, at the blush her words pull from Imogen.

They’re still smiling when they rejoin their friends. It earns them strange looks, but fond, relieved. No one pries—though Ashton has a stare like a crowbar—and they say nothing, for now.

#tagging my stories #prompt fill #cr tag #imodna my beloveds #imodna

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whatudowhennooneseesyou · 8 months

Text

Mommy!May: Arrangement

Content Includes: Mommy!Seonghwa x demisexual fem!reader, messy….MESSY, angst (so much of it), protected sex, touch-starved reader, kissing, foreplay, oral (f receiving), cum play, fingering (f receiving), swearing, 18+, based off true events.

Word Count: 3.1 K

You never thought you would end up being this desperate for a man’s touch.

Years of pent-up emotional and physical celibacy are now being broken for a scheduled dick appointment with a taken man.

It all started over a tipsy conversation with you and your best friend, who’d you had known for years, the two of you making quiet conversation on the couch as a Netflix romance comedy played quietly in the background.

‘I don’t get it, why don’t you just fuck a guy off Tinder? It’s simple, you just fuck, cum and leave’.

You choked on your wine glass and stared at her in annoyance, rolling her eyes as you began a conversation that had been repeated many times.

‘It’s not that simple for me, I need to have those feelings there, I can’t just fuck a guy without a connection, it’s not pleasurable for me’.

She sighed in response and reached for the wine bottle, talking as she filled up both your glasses with the red liquid.

‘Well, you have to do something because it’s clearly having an effect on you’.

She put the wine bottle back on the coffee table and reverted her attention back towards you, watching you stare into the glass as a means of feigned distraction.

‘I don’t know anyone who’s gone for as long without sex like you have and you’re getting lonely, you’re not as upbeat as you used to be’.

The words hit you deep in your heart and not because she was being so casual about her chosen words, most would find it offensive but your friend was painfully blunt with everything she said, so you had learnt to take her words as they were.

The words hurt because it was fucking true and your defenses were up, navigating the conversation the best way you knew how.

Humour.

‘And what? You think you can change that? How? You’re going to loan me your boyfriend for the night? See if he’ll fuck the loneliness out of me and make me feel better?’

The snarkiness was strong in an attempt to hide the twang in your chest and your choked breath, taking a much needed swig out of the glass before shifting your attention back to your friend.

Who was now quiet and looked at you with curiosity, her body open and relaxed.

‘What?’

‘Would you want to fuck Seonghwa? I could ask him, you know? He’d probably say yes’.

Your eyes widened and cheeks went red out of embarrassment at even questioning such a thought, curling your body away from her.

‘What! I was just being sarcastic, he’s your boyfriend…why would you even say that?’

She leaned down to place her wine glass on the table, crossing her legs and leaning further towards you.

‘Honey…Seonghwa is my person and we’re happy, you know that and besides, you’ve known him for as long as I have- so I’m sure that connection is there right?’

Anxiety stirred in your chest at even the thought of such an idea.

And the shame was even more overpowering once you realised how enticed you were by the offer.

Seonghwa had a beautiful heart and he adored your best friend, they were so perfect and cheesy together and it was gross and disgusting and OMG how you yearned for even just a fragment of it.

You may have been jealous of their relationship at one point and sure-you may have checked out Seonghwa more than a few times.

But that was a moral boundary you would never cross and never intended too.

‘I mean…yeah but wouldn’t that be weird? I don’t know if I can fuck your boyfriend and then just act like nothing happened’.

‘Why not? It’s just for one night, then we’ll never discuss it again, we can move forward and just forget it ever happened’.

The conversation continued with further discussion, more notably with how protection would be used and of course, she would have to get Seonghwa’s opinion first.

It was strange but exciting- the situation was never one you expected but the idea of being cared for by a man you felt safe with, even on an emotional level.

It sparked a desire in you that you hadn’t felt for awhile.

And so, with all thoughts of rationality leaving your mind.

You did the unthinkable.

You said yes.

…

The expensive fragrance of your perfume was the final touch needed for your outfit, giving yourself a quick glance in the mirror for any needed touch-ups.

You smoothed your hands over the black, lace dress that had adorned your body, your special occasion dress that made you feel beautiful every time you wore it.

The feeling of uncertainty still lingered in your belly as you admired the stockings you wore…and heels.

There wasn’t really a point to it because you were just wearing them to your living room but they made you feel pretty and Seonghwa was apparently a legs man.

Fuck, you can’t believe that he actually agreed to this.

A few days after your friend’s ‘kind’ offer, you had received a message explaining how he said yes and you both organised a night where he would come to you.

Which you were thankful for because whilst this wasn’t cheating and all parties were enthusiastic and consenting.

The idea of you fucking your friend’s boyfriend in their bed wasn’t exactly the most appealing thing to experience.

And so you had spent the day buying new sheets and lingerie, purchasing a fresh bottle of wine and a scented candle because I don’t know-maybe the candle might make things better?

The lights were dim, your hair was shiny and your face lightly made up and you almost felt calm and grounded.

Until your phone pinged.

And the screen lit up with a familiar number.

‘Hey, I’m outside :)’

…

‘Oh wow, thank you. I wasn’t expecting this’

You chuckled out of surprise as Seonghwa handed you a single red rose, sniffing it lightly as you ran your eyes over Seonghwa’s attire.

Black silk shirt with sleeves unbuttoned, dark jeans, boots and his dark, shaggy hair parted to the side.

He looked gorgeous, desirable and wow- this was a level of effort you were not expecting.

‘There was a lady outside selling them and I know you like roses so…’

He spoke as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

‘Well, thank you’

You reached out to rub his arm lightly in a gesture of fondness.

‘I really appreciate it’.

Seonghwa took a step towards you and there was a soft smirk on his face as he slowly leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to your cheek, the smallest of intimate touches already sending your heart ablaze.

‘You’re welcome’

He whispered in your ear.

And his voice alone was enough for your breath to shudder lightly, anticipation stirring in your chest.

‘Would you like some wine? I haven’t tried it before but the lady at the store said it was pretty good so…yeah’

Mindless small talk was exchanged between you and Seonghwa as you stood in the kitchen, pouring wine into two glasses as Seonghwa leaned against the kitchen bench.

‘So…how long do I have you tonight? I wasn’t told much, do you need to be out of here by a certain time?’

His fingertips grazed your wrist as he took the wine glass from you, the touching was so indiscreet you weren’t entirely sure if he was doing it on purpose.

And he absolutely was because he could feel the nerves radiating off your body the moment he handed you the rose.

Seonghwa chuckled half-heartedly at the response as he took a sip of wine, his bright teeth calming the air of tension that lingered.

‘No- Do you think I’d fuck you and just leave? We have all night together’.

Seonghwa’s abrasiveness left you surprised and you could feel the blush creep upon your cheeks, he really was a no-nonsense man.

‘Well-I just wanted to prepare myself for what I was expecting’.

You fiddled with the lace of your dress and stared down at your shoes, trying to figure out how a mindless conversation in the kitchen will turn into Seonghwa’s body on top of you.

A gentle brush of fingers was felt on your arm as Seonghwa placed his wine on the bench, delicately removing the nearly-empty glass from your hands and placing it next to his.

‘I’m not being a good guest am I?’ He teased, his voice low and a glint of mischief in his eyes.

‘I almost forgot to tell you how beautiful you look right now’

His hands ran down your shoulders and settled near your waist, crowding you against the bench and you felt so small under his touch, your hands tentatively moving to his sides.

‘You look handsome yourself, I still don’t know why you chose to do this’

You chimed as your hands slowly ran up his body, feeling the silkiness of his shirt under your fingertips.

‘Because I know you feel safe with me’

His hands reached up to gently cradle your face, tilting your chin up so you were forced to look into his eyes and they were no longer filled with humour but serious, almost intimidating with how intense his gaze is.

‘And you’re lonely’.

A soft pair of lips was felt against your forehead and you could smell Seonghwa’s cologne soaking into your skin, making you giddy, making your skin warm with need.

‘And I can’t give you what you need’.

You could feel his thumbs stroking your cheekbones and his nose almost touching yours, the energy was so strong, you could cut it like a knife.

‘But I can give you tonight’.

He kissed your mouth softly, almost timidly and he pulled away with a soft sound.

‘Does that sound good?’

It had been so long since you had felt a man’s hands on your body, so long since receiving any type of attention or care at all.

‘Absolutely’

You breathed out before leaning up and kissing him again, it was chaste and clean but it had been years since you’ve even made out with someone, you hoped kissing was an artform you hadn’t forgotten.

‘Tell me’ Seonghwa spoke in between each kiss, his hands wrapped around your forearms.

‘When was the last time you had sex?’

A shaky breath was felt in your chest, okay did he need to be this forward?

I guess he did.

‘Years, it’s been years’.

‘Really?’

He responded with a shock he couldn’t quite contain, the comment surprising him and he cleared his throat, attempting to hide the unexpected.

Seonghwa knew you were a romantic and an emotional connection was needed in order to have sex, he knew about your failed attempts with men and the rejection you received.

Unbeknownst to you, his partner told him absolutely everything about your friendship.

He had seen you cry and gave you tissues and sweet words of comfort when another worthless man rejected your advances.

He saw the sadness in your eyes whenever he showed affection to his girlfriend whilst you were there.

‘Yeah…I know it’s been awhile…but I’ll try my best to make it good for the both of us’.

The words wobbled in your throat as you spoke them, the intrusive thoughts expanding in your mind and spiralling.

If you’re going to fuck one time, then you’ll give your best performance so he’ll remember this one time.

‘Precious’

One final, gentle kiss.

‘Don’t worry, I’m already enjoying tonight, I’m enjoying being with you’.

…

Your mind and body were in a daze from euphoria and forgotten sensations.

The trail of Seonghwa’s fingers on your bare skin, the look of care and need in his eyes as he undresses you, fervent kisses on your breasts, his warm and wet tongue on your clit.

Everything felt heightened, sensationalised, electrified.

Your mind was knocked back into the present when you felt Seonghwa’s mouth form a hard suction over your clit, his fingers gripping into your thighs, forcing them apart.

‘Fuck…ahh!...it feels so good’

Pants and soft moans filled the room with a strewn arm thrown over your eyes, his relentless tongue and mouth almost becoming too much-so overwhelmed from so little.

And he wasn’t even inside of you yet.

‘You’re dripping precious, want you to cum all over Mommy’s face’.

‘Wait-what?’

A tilt of your chin was all you needed to look at Seonghwa’s reddened face, revealing he said something he definitely did not mean too.

‘Mommy?’ A questioning tone was heard in the room.

‘Y-yeah, I thought she would have told you?’

‘I thought she was joking, I mean, I can see it but I thought she was fucking around’.

Seonghwa started to lift himself, wiping his mouth as he spoke.

‘We can just move on from it-’

‘No’ You frantically yelled out, a frenzy going over you as you threaded your fingers in Seonghwa’s hair, wanting him to lick you again.

‘I don’t care, I’ll call you whatever you want, I’m so close…please keep going!’

Tears were pooling in your eyes from the frustration and being wound up, maybe you would think about it in the future.

But right now you just don’t fucking care.

Seonghwa groaned darkly, his voice vibrating through your core as he began eating you feverishly, almost like he could fully let go now.

‘I thought you were a dirty girl’

Seonghwa moaned as his tongue flicked at your clit, his hips grinding into the mattress.

‘You just needed Mommy to show you how dirty you are’.

The teasing settled into the pit of your stomach and the coil was tightening, your whimpers growing and…

With a soft nibble to the underside of your clit, the band snapped.

A palm clasped heavily over your mouth was used to stifle your cries, feeling your hips kick back into the mattress and your cunt clench around his fingers.

Wet kisses against your core sent you spasming lightly, like Seonghwa was attempting to delay your orgasm for as long as possible.

‘When I look at you from now on’

Seonghwa spoke as he trailed lazy kisses up your body, making his way up to your face.

‘I’ll remember how sweet you taste on Mommy’s tongue’.

The messy comment felt like cleanliness to your heart-starved mind, a pandora’s box disguised as pandora’s pleasure.

‘But…’

An eager hand removed your palm, holding your wrist against him as Seonghwa looked at you with a warning glare in his eyes.

‘Don’t hide your moans from me, Mommy wants to hear how good I make you feel…okay?’

‘O-okay’ His gaze was borderline intimidating, feeling almost trapped under his primal-like stare.

‘Okay?’ His eyebrow quirked.

‘Okay…Mommy?’

His gaze softened into something sweet, with a soft and affirmative smile.

‘Good…good girl for Mommy’.

Seonghwa’s plush mouth pressed against yours, tasting yourself as he licked your bottom lip.

‘You listen so well’.

‘Take deep breaths, just try to relax while I get myself ready’.

The warmth of his body left yours and you stared mindlessly at the ceiling, hearing clothes drop to the floor and the sound of a condom wrapper tearing.

Is it going to hurt? Am I wet enough?

It’s been so long, I hope I’ll remember what to do.

I hope it’s good-for both of us.

A tap on your hip brought you into the present as you felt a pillow shoved under your hips, averting your gaze to see Seonghwa’s naked body and the thin latex covering his cock.

‘You ready?’

‘Y-yeah’ Your voice cracked with uncertainty, shifting to get your hips comfortable.

‘Just….’ You reached out to grab Seonghwa’s hand, clenched with worry.

‘Go slow…please?’

Seonghwa’s warmth in his eyes and his smile helped to soothe the tension lightly, his nurturing energy and all-round care for you helped cement your reasoning in this being the right decision.

At least right now.

‘Of course, tonight is about you. You’re Mommy’s priority right now’.

His tip prodded at your entrance and your body clenched in response to the foreign sensation.

‘Mom-mommy’

You gasped out, clutching his forearms as Seonghwa hovered over you, his hands pressed beside your face.

‘It’s okay…breathe’ He kissed the tip of your nose, ‘Mommy’s got you’.

Jolts of electricity surged from your core down to the balls of your feet as Seonghwa breached you, the feeling of being split open was so prominent it was borderline painful.

‘F-fuck, you’re so tight, I can feel you pulling me in’

His head hung low and his fringe brushed over his lashes, shiny mouth, taut muscles and sweat on his brow.

Seonghwa looked ethereal, glowing and wrecked in all the best ways possible.

You already were fucked.

From this moment, you know you would never forget how LOVED you felt with this man on top of you.

And as Seonghwa began to slowly move in and out of you, your legs locking him against you fingers tightly interlocked with his and cheeks flushed and eyes glazed with pleasure.

His heart twisted in a way he wasn’t expecting, his girlfriend forgotten, the brevity of this situation forgotten.

All he could focus on were how desperate you felt under him, the need to PLEASE and the need to be GOOD overwhelmed his senses that he hadn’t experienced before with his partner.

A particularly hard thrust had you crying out in surprise, tears pricking your eyes and fingers pressing into Seonghwa’s knuckles.

Seonghwa panted out, his thrusts slowing down and he released his hand to cup your face.

‘Are you okay? Mommy got carried away’.

Your arms wrapped tight around Seonghwa’s shoulders as you held him taut against you, holding him like he was your lifeline.

‘Keep going…please Mommy’ You whined out, brow all scrunched up ‘Don’t stop’.

You didn’t finish and you weren’t expecting too, the feeling of being held and cared for was enough for you.

The warmth of Seonghwa’s release was felt with Seonghwa’s whine in your ear, evoking a sense of happiness in understanding you were good enough for him to finish.

‘You did so well’ His eyes were hazy as he rubbed your shoulders, your body still tense and holding him to you.

You knew you had to let him go eventually.

You just didn’t want to.

‘Thank you for doing this, it was incredible’

A lingering kiss was shared, one that might not be shared again.

‘Mommy will stay awhile precious, make sure you’re okay’.

The night ended with Seonghwa’s body pressed close to yours, feigning sleep because you knew he’d be gone by the time you woke up.

If only at the time, you knew.

How messy a simple arrangement can be.

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