#but after confirming it was harmless he returned to him

[nelkcats]

The Crime Lord does not stop flirting with me!

When Danny ran away from home and ended up in Gotham he wasn't quite sure what to do, adrenaline was coursing through his veins and all he wanted was a place to be safe.

That's when Crime Alley lit up like a Christmas tree and Danny knew it could be his new home, something about Crime Alley was drawing him in. It wasn't long before he decided to get a job to lay low. Of course, the latter was a bust because Red Hood noticed him almost instantly.

Contrary to his expectations, the Crime Lord took an interest in him but said nothing. He simply asked him to repair his motorcycle like a normal customer in his new job. Danny did and well, he couldn't help but repair some damaged systems and add some modifications. He hoped he wasn't stepping out of line, he just couldn't help himself, it was second nature to repair damaged things.

He thought Red Hood would be angry about it but the man seemed delighted (or as delighted as he could look with the mask), he looked at Danny and asked him what else he could do. Nervously, he told him that he was somewhat good with technology and before he knew it he had been hired by a gang (more or less, they were just asking for some custom orders).

So, technically he established as the mechanic and supplier to the Hood gang, and more specifically to the Crime Lord himself. He gave Hood some upgrades and became his supplier of (mostly harmless) weapons and upgrades. This attracted the attention of most of the gangs that were against the Crime Lord and Batman himself.

Jason, noticing how nervous the guy was assured him that he would protect him and no one was going to hurt him as long as he was around, it was obvious he wasn't from Gotham. For some reason, his new employee blushed every time he said those words.

Danny didn't know if Red Hood understood what he was doing (That was totally a flirt for protection spirits!), every day it was getting harder and harder not to respond to him. His ghost side kept screaming that he got a good match!

Which was technically true, considering that Red Hood had promised him protection and let him stay in his haunt (it became obvious that Crime Alley was his haunt after a few days in Gotham but strangely it accepted him)

Jason continued to promise Danny that he would be safe (poor boy always looked nervous) and Danny wondered how many days he could take the blatant flirting.

[bloodyserratus]

welcome intrusion

pairing: choso x fem!reader word count: 4.2k synopsis: in choso's mind you are dating, but you are not on the same page. when you indulge in some harmless (to you) flirting, choso takes matters into his own hands. themes/warnings: SMUT! mdni, lots of day after fluff, lil bit of plot, f2l, very possessive choso, oral, piv intercourse, dirty talk, a mirror. lmk if i missed any!

a/n: this is the part 2 of my first choso fic! ...this can be read standalone but check that out for more context ig haha

You blinked lazily as you woke. As consciousness returned to you, so did your memory of last night. Glancing around you confirmed that you were, in fact, in Choso’s room and that your memories were not rabid fantasies. Choso laid behind you with a strong arm draped loosely around your waist and as much as you wanted to snuggle against him, you also desperately needed to pee.

You shifted gingerly, trying to move without waking him. You could figure out which door led to the bathroom yourself.

“Ope?!” you let out a surprised exhale when his arm tightened around your waist and pulled you against his chest.

“Don't sneak off,” he murmured sleepily, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck.

“I wasn't!” you were indignant. The thought hadn't even crossed your mind. “I need to pee,” you wiggled in his hold.

“Ah,” he clicked his tongue with understanding. “Right across the hall.”

You smiled as Choso’s grip loosened reluctantly as you shuffled across the hall to do your business.

“Missed you,” Choso murmured when you tucked yourself back into him and you laughed at his joke.

Choso’s eyebrows pinched slightly at your laugh because he hadn’t been kidding, but he was satisfied that you were back in his arms. He pressed himself flush against your back and his heat under the covers melted into you.

“You're warm,” you hummed delightedly.

“Mhm,” he hummed back. “Do you have plans today?”

“No, do you?”

“Spend the day with me?” he requested hopefully.

“Okay,” you smiled.

You lazed in bed for a while longer before the sunlight started to peek through the curtains.

“I'll make coffee, stay in bed as long as you want,” Choso pressed a kiss against your forehead before he got out of bed. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and before too long, you heard a grinding sound coming from, presumably, the kitchen.

You laid in bed for a few moments, contemplating the situation. Of all the things, sleeping with Choso was not one you had foreseen. Shrugging, you pulled yourself out of bed and found a clean shirt of his to put on. You tied your hair up and walked towards the sounds of coffee.

“Morning,” Choso greeted you with a lazy smile when you entered.

You paused in your tracks, once again taken aback by his physique. The sweatpants hung low across his hips and his musculature was nothing if not impressive. His long, dark hair fell around his shoulders and you thought about running your fingers through them again.

“What?” Choso felt you eyeing him as he poured the coffee into mugs.

“You are crazy hot, you know that right?” you tried to laugh it off.

Choso flushed, which is ridiculously endearing.

“Oh my god and you're fucking cute!” you cooed as you accepted a mug from him. You looked up at him with heart eyes and he tried to hide from your gaze.

“Quit it,” he protested bashfully.

“Why are you being so shy?” you asked playfully. “You know you’re hot right?” You took the opportunity to run a hand over his chest. His muscles flexed reflexively at your touch and his pupils dilated.

“Cho?” you pressed a kiss against his bicep. “You know, right?”

He had the gall to look sheepish when you kissed his shoulder.

“Choso!” you insisted and he responded by wrapping his arms around you and squeezing tightly. He couldn’t get enough of the sound of his name, so flirtatious on your lips.

“Thank you,” he murmured against your lips. You grinned and pressed a kiss to his lips. He grunted softly before picking you up and carrying you back to the bedroom.

He laid you down, but you pulled him down on top of you, legs wrapped around his waist as his cock pressed against you. It wasn’t until this moment that Choso noticed you were wearing his shirt and his pupils dilated. What a sight.

“Fuck,” you panted, grinding yourself against his hot, heavy erection. “Cho-”

“Pretty girl,” he ran his thumbs across your cheeks. “Want me?”

“Need you,” you pouted.

Your nipples tightened through his shirt and he pressed his tongue inside of his cheek as his gaze raked over you. Where to start?

“Wait,” you interrupted his thoughts. “Lay down.”

“Hm?” his eyebrows raised.

“Please?” you smiled brightly at him.

Choso’s eyes were still questioning, but he laid down where you gestured. You moved to the foot of the bed and ran your hands up along his legs, through the fabric of his sweats. You traced the contours of his shins, his strong quads, and his thick cock. You admired the outline of it through your fingers and Choso jerked when you squeezed gently.

You bit your bottom lip as you continued to trace up the contours of his abs and his chest, brushing lightly against his piercings. You grinned mischievously before running your hands over his shoulders and back down his muscular arms.

“You are so…,” you admired him dreamily. “Fucking hot.”

Choso blushed furiously up at you. Your chest grew tight. Something about the way color spread across the bridge of his nose made you tingly all over.

“God I like it when you blush,” you exhaled, learning forward to pepper kisses along the pink.

Choso’s breath caught at the way you were so generously affectionate with him. God he liked you. He had always liked you, but having you now was something else.

“Cho,” you gasped at the friction, “You're so hard.”

“Look what you're doing to me,” he chuckled darkly.

“Let me take care of you,” you moaned at his words. It was difficult, but you managed to pull yourself away from him and settled, instead, between his legs. “Let me take care of this beautiful cock,” you hummed as you nuzzled your face against his erection.

“Ah fuck,” he hissed as he watched you rub your cheeks and lips wantonly against his cock. Your lips nibbled through the soft fabric and your mouth fell open in desperate pants. God he wanted to place his hand on the back of your head and press you down on him, but he also loved letting you explore him freely.

“Shit…baby, baby, baby,” he muttered desperately, “Put it in your mouth, baby, please!” he panted, squirming impatiently. 

“Yes sir,” you answer him playfully before closing your lips around his engorged cockhead. He was hot against your tongue and his hips bucked up reflexively, hitting you in the back of the throat. “Fuck! Cho,” you coughed.

“Shit, sorry, I’m sorry!” He apologized profusely. “It felt so good,” he offered weakly in explanation. His expression was both guilty and crazed and you had to admit, you liked the way you could make him lose control.

“Don’t be,” you bit your bottom lip to hold back your desire. “I like it rough,” you grinned before lowering yourself onto him again. You relaxed your throat around his cock and took him down to the hilt.

Choso was all breathy pants and muttered curses while you milked him. He stared, eyes glazed over, at the sight of you eagerly swallowing his entire erection and it was only the thought of cumming in your pussy that was able to keep him from losing his sense and nutting down your throat. He bucked up into your mouth a few more times before pulling you off. When you looked up at him, eyes dark and mouth wet with saliva, he groaned deeply and pulled your mouth to meet his.

Choso guided you to straddle him and he grasped his cock, swiping the head through your folds. He grinned when you shuddered and he teased you a few more times before sliding up into you.

“Cho-!” you gasped, at his forceful upwards buck. Your eyes rolled back as he thrust up into you, harsh and rough. He watched you with dark eyes as you held onto his shoulders, hanging on weakly as he fucked you…hard.

“Cho-so,” your hands clawed around the back of his neck as he stroked in and out of you.

“So good, so good, so good,” he murmured like an incantation. “God this pussy is so fucking good!”

The forceful puncture of his words had your toes curling and you started to lose it. Sensing the change, Choso reached up and tweaked your nipples between his fingers and you clenched, walls fluttering around him as you came undone.

“Choooo~!” you squealed and he enjoyed the exhilarating sight of you coming apart on him, for him.

He gritted his teeth as you squeezed and clenched on him. He could hardly believe it, but he managed to stay together through your orgasm. He flipped you onto your back and grabbed your wrists, lifting them over your head.

“Put your hands on the wall,” he instructed. When you looked at him with confusion, all he said was, “Watch your head,” before he drove into you, deeper and harder than before.

You let out a surprised cry as your hands flew to the wall, bracing yourself. Choso was strong and he leveraged every bit of that to drive his hard cock into your clenching pussy. The sounds that came out of your mouth were no short of crazy and the pleased look on Choso’s face had you melting.

“Wanna cum in you, angel,” Choso muttered between thrusts.

“Please, please, please,” you nodded frantically. You wanted that too. Desperately.

Choso’s balls tightened and the word ‘mine’ echoed through his mind as he came, heavy and hard, into you. ‘Mine, mine, mine’ was all he could hear until his crazed haze subsided.

“I think our coffee’s getting cold,” you smiled up at him affectionately as you pushed some of his hair back.

“Probably,” he chuckled, but he let his heavy body weight on yours for a while longer before he could summon the willpower to pull away.

…

Choso watched you, chest full of butterflies, as you greeted someone’s dog. After showering and drinking your tepid coffees, you’d made a plan for the day which included brunch and then shopping. You’d been on your way to brunch when a puppy had derailed you and you were now petting its belly happily as Choso looked on.

“Agh he’s so cute!” you’d cooed when you’d finally returned to his side and continued on your jaunt towards the restaurant.

“You’re cute,” he laughed, looping his arm through yours as you walked.

You watched Choso over your menu as he read through his. You wondered what this was to him. For as long as you’d been acquainted with him, you’d never known him to date. Perhaps he was more of a casual person…you supposed that could be fine. You lived a little further apart than was ideal for dating, anyways. 

Choso looked up and caught your gaze. You panicked and lifted your menu up to cover your face. Heat crept up your cheeks at having been caught staring, but Choso’s lips curled into a smile. It felt really nice to be out on a date with you. To be able to think of you as his girlfriend. After having been so content being on his own for many years, he was surprised at how natural it felt.

“Want to check out the record store after this? They sell books and tea too,” he asked. He’d spend the entire day with you, if you’d let him.

“Sure!” you nodded, glad that he hadn’t mentioned your staring.

…

You walked purposefully from the dining area to the lobby. Tonight was the rehearsal dinner and you were anxious for things to go smoothly. Rationally, you knew that they should, but you couldn’t help the small string of worry about something going wrong. You were scanning the room to locate Yuko and Yuji again when an arm shot out and pulled you into another hallway.

“Oh?” you tensed up and then relaxed when you realized it was Choso. You smiled at him shyly. “Hey.”

“Hey,” his eyes searching yours, “You good?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, “Just…a lot going on,” you bounced on the balls of your feet.

“I know,” he brushed his thumb across your cheek reassuringly. “It’ll be fine though. As long as those two get hitched…it’s a success. And honestly I don’t think we could stop them even if we tried,” he laughed, jerking his eyebrows towards the couple who was canoodling at the head of the table.

You laughed. Choso was right, you could relax. Everything would be fine.

Choso admired you as you watched the husband and wife to be. Your eyes softened as you smiled and Choso was filled with a rush of desire. He wanted to pull you into a supply closet, he wanted to kiss you, he wanted to cart you off and do unspeakable things to you. He cleared his throat and stepped away from you in an effort to get a grip. It was Yuji and Yuko’s wedding. He wanted to wait until the nuptials were over until he shared that you two were dating so as not to steal their thunder.

Your smile fell a hair when Choso stepped away from you. Choso had been hot and cold all night. He’d held your hand under the table, thumb brushing against yours, but then dropped it quickly when Yuji and Yuko had approached from behind. He’d draped his hand around your hip when he’d approached you at the bar before seeming to remember himself and then pulling away stiffly. It made a certain sense, you surmised. It felt natural to be more physical after what had happened between you, but Choso must not want to give you the wrong impression.

…

“Megumiiiiii!” a cheery voice rang out from behind you. You could place Gojo’s voice from a mile away.

As Yuji’s mentor, he hadn’t been present at the rehearsal dinner yesterday, but he was invited to the ceremony.

“Gojo-san,” Megumi greeted the man reluctantly before returning his attention to his conversation with you. You liked Megumi despite his excessively stern exterior.

“Wow, YN!” Gojo raked his eyes over you as he settled into the bar behind Megumi. “You look…wow,” his jaw dropped appreciatively as he really took you in. His eyes burned hot little trails into your skin.

“Thanks,” you laughed, heat running through you at his hungry stare. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

This was true. Gojo was tall and handsome, so he cut quite the figure in formalwear.

“Grab you a drink?” he asked, eyeing your empty glass.

“Sure, why not?” you shrugged, telling him your order.

“Seriously,” Gojo let out a low whistle as he looked you over again. “This color really suits you.”

You laughed. Gojo was a notorious flirt, but it felt nice to be on the receiving end of such a handsome man’s compliments. Gojo’s index finger traced down the thin strap on your shoulder and you shivered at his touch.

“Gojo!” you chuckled, but your voice was breathy.

Choso fumed. He had seen Gojo approach you out of the corner of his eye. That fact alone had been enough to trigger a small flicker of jealousy in his stomach. When you’d laughed at Gojo’s words and then when he had dared to touch you…the small flicker was stoked into a steady flame.

“Oh! Gojo-sensei and YN?” Yuji observed innocently. “They look kind of cute together, don’t they?”

Choso’s fist clenched.

“I don’t think Gojo is the serious type,” Todo raised an eyebrow at his best friendo.

“Ah, that’s alright too,” Yuji waved a hand at the massive man. “If you ask me, she could use a fling! She’s been single for…forever!”

Gojo felt Choso’s eyes on him before he saw them. It was impossible not to. As soon as he had approached you, a pair of piercing, dark eyes had trailed him. When you had laughed and smiled at him, they had narrowed a fraction, and then Gojo had reached out a finger to trace the strap of your dress, the look he received could have killed. Gojo laughed. He wasn’t particularly close to Yuji’s brother, but he’d always thought of him as rather passive. How interesting.

“Cousin,” Noritoshi jerked Choso out of his thoughts with a friendly smile.

“Ah, Noritoshi,” Choso tried to rearrange his thoughts quickly. “How are you?”

Choso tried to focus on what his cousin was saying to him. Something about his father or grandfather, but truthfully Choso couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Gojo who was getting rather handsy with you. And to his dismay…you did nothing to discourage it. If anything, you were entertaining his flirting and that brought out a side of Choso that was positively cavemanish.

“Well, you’re clearly not listening,” Noritoshi raised an eyebrow at Choso and then followed the line of his gaze to you and Gojo. “Perhaps you should do something about it,” he suggested logically before walking away.

Choso thought for a moment. If it were any other occasion than Yuji’s wedding, he already would have. But his desire to be a good older brother was strong and he was resolute on not making a scene if he could avoid it. He even believed himself until Gojo wrapped his arms around your waist in a playful embrace and his control snapped. More than enough.

Yuji’s face grew comical as Choso strode across the room angrily. His eyes and mouth morphed into perfect circles when Choso bisected himself between you and Gojo.

“Hey,” Choso’s hand sifted through your hair and he pressed his lips against your forehead before he fixed Gojo with a hard stare.

“...Choso?” you blinked, suddenly hot all over at this territorial display. He was staking a claim and quite conspicuously at that.

Hearing his name from your lips, his eyes slid down to you and you were surprised at the emotion you saw brimming over in them. You squeezed your thighs together, trying to hold in the jolt of arousal that shot through you.

Yuji and Yuko’s mouths were long, matching ovals as they watched Choso all but carry you away. They blinked at each other before squealing with delight.

“Choso?” you asked, unable to bear the heavy, weighted silence filling the elevator as it ascended.

The elevator dinged to signal its arrival before Choso answered. He took your hand in his and led you to the door of his room before he met your eyes again.

“Why were you flirting with him?” His words were even and measured.

“Who, Gojo?” You asked in confusion. Gojo flirted with everyone, it hadn't been serious. And not like you had a reason not to.

“Of course Gojo,” he answered as if speaking to a child.

“It's Gojo!” you shrugged, “He's a flirt!”

“But you are not single anymore,” Choso exhaled. He leaned over you, placing a hand against the wall.

Your head jerked in surprise at this statement. You weren't?

Choso saw red when you had the audacity to look surprised. He unlocked the door and hauled you inside. He'd show you if that's what it took.

“Cho…,” his name died in your throat as you looked at him. He looked crazed. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and tugged his tie off angrily. 

You were still confused, but more pressing you were incredibly turned on at the way he got undressed. You could tell he was going to be rough and you were not against it. You tried to reach for the zipper on your dress.

“Don’t bother,” he stopped you by setting you on the edge of his bed.

His hands raked your skirts up in large handfuls, exposing your calves and thighs to him. The collar of his shirt hung open and you enjoyed a glorious view of his muscular chest. You hooked an arm around his neck, angling yourself towards him. His eyes traced a triangle…eye, lips, eye. You expected him to kiss you next, but he instead sank to his knees and dove under your skirt. He placed hot kisses up your inner thighs as he pressed them open. You were gasping like a fish out of water by the time he placed his first sloppy kiss against your overheated cunt.

“Choso!” you cried, thighs closing around his head. His fingertips bit into your flesh as he pried you back open and continued.

You moaned his name again and he grinned. That was right…Choso. He’d have you calling his name until you were seeing stars. Until it was burned into your mind. You reached for him, but your skirt was in the way. Instead you settled for placing your hand on the outline of his head through your skirt.

Choso ate you out like he was starved. He pressed lush, sloppy kisses against you. His lips pushed at the hood of your clit as his tongue swiped against your entrance. He sucked your lips into his mouth and then spread them back apart with his tongue. For lack of a better word, he was making out exuberantly with your pussy and it was incredible.

Choso felt frenzied at the sounds you made and the way you tasted. The way you kept trying to close your thighs around his ears and how you whined when he held you open for him. You had coated his mouth and chin and still he wanted more. Could stay down here forever. The pitch of your voice grew ecstatic as you clutched at him desperately. Your skirts were a rumpled mess and you warned him that you were close. He latched his lips around your clit and sucked harshly, drawing the orgasm out of you. You his name gloriously as your body tensed and you let go. Your legs grew limp and he resurfaced, looking down at you with a dripping chin.

“Choso,” you panted, out of breath and recovering. You reached for him, but he held himself cruelly out of arm’s length. He peeled the rest of his clothes off and you watched, transfixed by the expanses of skin as they were exposed to you.

Afterwards, he stood you up to face the mirror on the wall as he unzipped your dress and pulled it off of you. He grabbed you by the chin and turned your head to meet his eyes in the reflection.

“Keep your eyes on me,” he demanded as his hands traced across your skin. You shivered and goosebumps broke out at his caresses. He traced the undersides of your breasts, across your collarbones, and over the swells of your hips. His lips kissed at the side of your neck and you let out soft whimpers and squeaks at his touches.

“Choso, please…,” you whined, brows furrowing desperately at him.

“Yes, baby?” he replied, feigning clueless.

“You’re teasing,” you pouted, hoping he might be sympathetic.

“Mhm.”

“Please fuck me!” you begged.

“Not Gojo?” he arched an eyebrow.

“Choso! Fuck Gojo!” you stamped a foot with impatience.

Choso’s jaw ticked. You would do no such thing.

“Get on the bed, face the mirror,” he instructed, arranging you so that you were laying on your stomach, prone beneath him. He laid on top of you and wrapped his arms over your shoulders and grasped your chin. Again he met your eyes in the mirror and his breathing was warm and wet against your ear when he spoke. “Watch me…as I make you mine,” he purred and then his hips hitched, driving himself into you.

“Fuck!” you cried, eyes widening as you watched his reflection. His eyebrows were pinched and his grip on your chin was rough. He bucked into you, fucking you just as harshly.

“Choso,” you arched beneath him, hips lifting of their own accord until you were folded at the hips. This fucking angle…

“So pretty for me,” his eyes locked on yours.

As you held his gaze, you realized suddenly that you loved this. Adored his possession.

“Yours,” you blinked through glassy eyes, your look full of meaning.

“Mine,” he growled as he pulled you back onto himself again and again. His thrusts were deep, hard, and rhythmic and your cries of pleasure matched his pace.

Choso watched as your hands clutched at the air. Your pupils were blown out with ecstasy and you struggled to keep your eyes on him as he had requested.

“Yours, Choso,” you gasped and he felt you clench around him.

Choso drove into you and kept himself deep inside of you, his balls grinding against your clit and his head pressing against your cervix. Your eyes squeezed shut, overwhelmed by the sensation and you squeezed hard around him, orgasm ripping through you.

“Only yours,” you sighed almost sheepishly.

“Only mine,” he grunted. His chest came forward to press against your back as he emptied himself inside of you.

He rolled you both to your side, keeping himself inside of you. He pulled you close and pressed soft kisses against the top of your head.

“So…,” you spoke first. “I'm not single anymore?”

Choso managed to feel shy at your direct questioning.

“I-...,” he stammered.

“No, don't be shy now!” you tutted at him. “You were quite clear before!” you giggled.

“I'm happy to show you again…,” he rasped into the crook of your neck.

“I’m kind of a slow learner,” your lips threatened a grin as you arched into him with a satisfied purr.

[starryevermore]

the house of snow (8) ✧ coriolanus snow

the house of snow ✧ a royal coryo au | pinterest board| ao3

pairing: king!coriolanus snow x fem!reader

series summary: the king of panem is in search of a bride. and, for reasons you can never understand, coriolanus snow has set his sights on you. it would never be a happy marriage, you’re sure of that. but none of that matters, because when snow decides he wants something, he will do everything in his power to ensure it is his. 

chapter summary: sejanus crosses a line. 

word count: 5,961

series warnings?: 18+ MINORS DNI, royal au, regency au, arranged marriage, rivals to lovers, obsessive!coryo, jealous!coryo, protective!coryo, eventual smut, eventual pregnancy, more tags to be added later

chapter warnings?: scheming sejanus, jealous!coryo, angry!coryo, arguing, threats of execution, pet name (petal), not proofread

Thank you for the invitation. Though it was signed by Coryo, I imagine that you are the one who advocated for my presence at tonight’s opera. I appreciate that you hold our friendship in such high regard. That is why I write to you now. Ma has already confirmed our attendance for tonight, but I was hoping that I might be able to speak to you in private. During intermission, please meet me—

A knock at your door startled you out of your thoughts. 

“Are you nearly ready?” your father asked from the other side of your door. 

“Just a moment more!” you called out, hurrying to return the letter to its envelope. You rose from your seat at the vanity, sparing a glance at your reflection to ensure nothing was out of place, before tucking the letter in your trunk at the end of your bed. 

When you reached your door, you took a breath. Your father was a perceptive man. If he saw your nerves were jumbled, he would have questions and you could not handle questions at this moment. 

Your father smiled as you opened the door. Then he frowned, glancing around the room behind you. “Where is your lady’s maid?”

“I dismissed her after I finished getting ready. I wanted some time to go through my correspondence.” It was perhaps best to tell the truth in that regard. What your father didn’t need to know what that you were just reading the one letter, over and over and over again, trying to surmise if it was real, if there was a trick being played against you. 

“I should hope you were not writing any replies. The last thing you need is to get ink everywhere.”

“No, Papa, I was only reading them and sorting out which ones needed to be replied to first.” Well, that was a lie. But it was harmless enough. You hoped. 

When you received Sejanus’s letter in the mail, it confused you. You were never the sort of friends that wrote to each other. It certainly would have been presumptuous if you had. But when you read the contents of the letter, learned of his proposed plan, it only served to confuse you further. You had spent the entire day reading the letter as your lady’s maid pinned your hair into an elaborate updo, applied your makeup, and even as you dressed. You were half sure that if you read it enough times, Sejanus himself might materialize to tell you it was all just a clever joke. That he didn’t really mean it. You knew Sejanus well enough, though, to know that he was quite serious about these sorts of things. 

Your father nodded, then extended his arm for you to take. You slipped your hand around his arm and allowed him to guide you downstairs. He was silent for a moment while you walked, but when he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped. 

“Is there something wrong?” you asked. Had he already caught on to your ruse? Would he demand to see the letters and know that there was only one? Would he tell Snow? 

“I wanted to thank you for your cooperation,” he said. “I know this match was not what you hoped it to be, but I swore when you were born that I would do everything in my power to ensure that you are taken care of for life. You may not have gotten the love match you wished for, but you will be marrying into a reputable family with the resources available to provide you the best life imaginable. His Majesty will take care of you. He will be a good husband to you.”

“You cannot possibly know that.”

He sniffed, then conceded, “No, I suppose I don’t. But His Majesty was incredibly persistent. He had been asking for your hand for some time—”

“What?”

He blinked, as if he was surprised you didn’t know. But how could you? How could you have known? “When you graduated from the Academy, he asked for your hand. I suppose he hoped for you to join him on base while he served as a Peacekeeper. That certainly wouldn’t have been an appropriate life for you, so I told him no. Then when he returned, he asked again. I told him I wished to see him prove himself to be a worthy husband for you. I never imagined that he would become King, of course, but it was a pleasant surprise. A welcome one, really, all things considered. Just before the season began this year, he asked again. I had no reason to tell him no, except that I wished for him to properly court you before we reached any firm agreement.”

You did the math in your head. If what your father said was true… “I’m four and twenty. If he has been asking since I graduated, then he has wanted to marry me for five years.”

“Longer, I presume. He already had a ring when he asked for your hand the first time.” He looked down at your hand. “The same one, if memory serves well. Cleaner, though.”

That…You didn’t know what to do with that. How long had Snow been vying for your attention? Even with Sejanus’s revelation that Snow’s feelings for you had been genuine, you assumed it was a recent development. Certainly not something that extended back to your schooldays. Had the bickering always been one-sided? No, that couldn’t be…

“We hated each other in school. We tormented each other,” you said, more to yourself than your father. 

But he laughed as if you spoke to him. “Sometimes, boys are mean to the girls they are interested in. Any attention is better than no attention, in their eyes.”

“I don’t know what to do with this,” you admitted. 

“Know that you will be loved. I have never seen any man be so dedicated to something, someone, for it not to be done out of love.”

Downstairs, the butler announced Snow’s arrival. Snow entered the room, his blue eyes immediately finding yours. Your father moved to start down the stairs, but you remained planted firmly in place. A question nagged at your mind. If Snow had been asking for your hand for five years…

“Why did you act like I had to convince Snow to marry me when the season started? If you all but promised him my hand?”

His eyebrows raised. “My little dove, you have never done what you were told. If I said that you were to be wed to His Majesty, you would have all but runaway to avoid it.”

“But why act like it was my responsibility to get his attention? To throw myself at his feet when he already wanted to marry me?”

He was silent for a moment, contemplating his words. Finally, he settled on, “If you thought that you were serving your family by pursuing His Majesty, I had hoped that you would have seen his intentions were pure and good. It might not have been a love match in the traditional sense, but it would not have been a loveless arrangement.”

Nothing, you thought, about Snow was pure and good. “My fate was already set in stone. It didn’t matter what I did, you would have married me off regardless.”

“Don’t put it like that, little dove—”

You dropped your father’s arm, gathered your skirts, and walked down the stairs alone as Snow moved to wait for you at the bottom. A smile grew on his face as he watched you. It looked so genuine. You supposed it was. 

Snow held his arm out to you as you reached the last few steps. You slipped your hand into his, letting him guide you down the final steps, before holding onto his bicep when you reached the ground floor.

“I like that color on you,” he said, eyeing the blue fabric. 

“You should. It took Tigris hours to find the shade closest to your eyes.” Your mother was insistent that, as the future Queen, you should build your wardrobe to complement your future husband as much as possible. 

“I shall send her my compliments then. Are you ready to leave?”

You nodded. 

“Good. We shall be riding alone this evening. Will that be alright?”

It wouldn’t have mattered if it did. Everyone else in your life was making decisions for you. Choosing what was best for you without ever asking what you wanted. What you desired. But you were angry at your father. Angry at both of your parents, because you were sure your mother knew something about this, too. Angry that they both would keep this from you instead of just telling you that you were to marry the King. You might have respected their decision more if they had. 

“I should kill my parents if I have to spend a moment with them tonight.”

Snow blinked. “Should I be concerned?”

“If you value your life, then you shouldn’t be.”

At that, Snow let out a huff of a laugh. “To kill the King would be treason.”

“Is a threat worth the same weight?”

“I would imagine so.”

“Then string me up at the gallows.”

He shook his head at you. He looked amused, like he didn’t take your words seriously. He probably thought you were just bickering to get on his nerves like you always did. “I would make an exception for you, petal.”

You turned your head, looking back up at your father, who still stood at the top of the stairs, dumbfounded. You turned back to Snow. “I wouldn’t kill you, for what it’s worth. As it turns out, you are the only person who has been honest with me recently.”

A frown settled on Snow’s face. “Is everything alright?”

You rolled your tongue over your teeth, contemplating whether you should tell him or not. It would be nice to vent, even to someone like Snow. But you didn’t wish to do it in front of your father, the source of your ire. And you weren’t sure you wouldn’t cry if you did talk about it. “I don’t wish to ruin my evening any further. Shall we go?”

Snow looked you over. Seeing nothing that would demand his immediate concern, he said, “We shall. But if you change your mind…”

“I will tell you if I do.”

The ride to the opera house was quiet. You weren’t sure if Snow was silent because he was giving you the space you asked for, or if he was concerned that your ire might soon turn on him. But he held your hand the entire time, his thumb stroking over your knuckles. Ordinarily, you would have been annoyed at the action. It was merely another way for Snow to exert a level of control over you. This time, however, it brought you some modicum of comfort. 

“I invited the Plinths per your request,” he murmured.

That should have lifted your spirts, but it only made your stomach churn. You couldn’t let Snow know that, of course. As hard as you fought for the Plinths’ presence, he would be less than pleased if you revealed you wished he hadn’t extended the invitation. “Thank you.” You squeezed his hand, more for your comfort than his own. “I appreciate that.”

Even if you didn’t appreciate it in the moment, you probably would appreciate his willingness to abide by your wishes in the future (though, you supposed you did have to coerce him to do it). 

Snow smiled and squeezed your hand back. “And I appreciate your vivaciousness. Even if it makes me want to pull my hair out.”

“That would be a shame,” you said before you could really think. 

“What?”

Well, you already got this far. You might as well finish the thought. “The nicest part about you is your hair. If you pulled it all out, you wouldn’t have anything going for you.”

Snow laughed—a genuine laugh. “If my hair is the key to gaining your affections, then I shall be sure to not pull it out.”

You laughed, too. It was…odd. How light you felt with Snow now. Though you still objected to how he asked for your hand, how your father gave you no choice in this matter, it was different knowing that Snow might not be doing all of this as some way to spite you. To get back at you for all the fights you had with him over the years.

The pit in your stomach burrowed deeper. If Snow found out about Sejanus’s letter, Sejanus’s plan, you could not imagine it ending well. Any semblance of goodwill he held for you could be ruined in a matter of minutes. Would you be set up for a miserable marriage if you withheld the information from him? 

“Snow, I—”

The carriage lurched to a halt. Your words died in your throat as the door opened. Snow stepped out first, then held a hand out for you to take. He helped you out of the carriage, his hands settling on your waist as you gained your footing. Your breath caught in your throat at the feeling. 

As you moved to take Snow’s arm, he asked, “Would you like to wait for your parents or would you like to go our seats?”

You glanced back, seeing your family carriage in the distance. The idea of seeing your father again made you grind your teeth together. “Let’s go inside.”

Snow led you to one of the Lord’s Rooms where you would sit in the upper balcony of the opera house. It had been some years since you had been able to sit in one of the Lord’s Rooms. Since your time at the Academy, you supposed. These seats were saved for the upper echelon of the Capital’s elite. While your parents certainly were wealthy and titled, they could not quite afford such expensive seats. Truthfully, for a long time after the war ended, only the King and some dukes could afford it. It was only in recent years that marquesses, earls, and viscounts could begin sitting there again. 

You took a seat front and center of the Lord’s Room, Snow taking the seat to your left. A smile tugged at his face as you tried to not let your jaw fall slack. 

“Are you pleased with the seats, petal?” he asked. 

“It’s perfect,” you admitted, because it was. 

When you looked over at him, his smile had grown, his chest ever so slightly puffed out. Oh, he was proud of himself for this. You supposed he should be. If he had been vying for your attention for as long as your father insinuated, you imagined there was no limit to the lengths Snow would go to make you happy. 

“Good.”

You were curious, though, to the lengths that Snow would go. “What would you have done if I was displeased?”

“Erect an opera house to your exact specifications.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your lips. To suggest such a thing was absurd. You were an intelligent young woman to be sure, but you hardly had the education required to design an opera house that both functioned as necessary and would not topple over in a gust of wind. “Then we should be thankful I am content here or else we might have to test the limits to the royal family’s protection from liability.”

Snow waved that off, though he still smirked at you referring to yourself as part of the royal family. “I would send anyone who would even think to sue you to the gallows.”

“So protective,” you teased. There was silence, for a moment, as you looked at Snow. Conversation was flowing easily, with none of its usual bite. Perhaps talking about your conversation with your father would be nice. To at least alleviate the stress you carried in your shoulders. “I am upset with my papa because of you.”

And that, perhaps, was the worst way to begin the conversation when you saw the way Snow’s smile turned into a frown. Oh dear, he probably thought you were trying to pick a fight. “I beg your pardon?”

“What I mean to say is, at the beginning of the season, when it was announced you were seeking a bride, my papa told me that I had to do whatever it took to win you over, even sacrifice my ideals. He made it seem as if it was something I had to do for the family. I refused, of course, but that did nothing to stop you from seeking me out. I wondered why for a long while, spent a long time convinced it was because you were trying to get back at me for all our quibbles over the years. But then I remembered Sejanus had told me that you were interested in me when we were children.”

Snow’s jaw ticked at the mention of Sejanus, so you quickly continued before he could spit some vitriol about your shared friend (for now, at least). 

 “That made no sense to me at the time he told me, of course, but the longer we courted, it started to feel real. Then, this evening, my papa told me that you had asked for my hand three times before. That you fought with me because you liked my attention, not necessarily because you had substantial disagreement with me. And when I asked, he said he lied to me about my needing to sacrifice my ideals to win you over, because he knew that I was already going to be your bride by the end of the season. I cannot respect a man who withholds things from me.”

“I apologize if I disrespected you, but—”

“Not you, my papa. It is clear now that, as far as this season was concerned, you had always made your intentions known. I can admire that. But my papa…I don’t know if I can trust him again. Or my mama, because I am sure she knew something about it, too.”

Snow considered you for a moment, before admitting, “If I had known you were kept in the dark, I would have told you. I assumed you knew I had spoken with your father and that that was part of the reason you kept fighting me. Telling me that you would rather marry anyone else but me.”

“No, I was, for once, clueless.”

He reached over for your hand. You allowed him to take it. “Well, you can rest assured that I will not let you be clueless as long as I can help it. We are to be partners in this marriage. There is no one that I could trust more to run this kingdom and raise our family than you.”

Your stomach twisted. All of this talk of honesty…It made you feel ill. You knew you should tell Snow about Sejanus’s letter. If he ever found out, any trust he had in you would easily be broken. You imagined he would lock you away in the palace, never let you see anyone but the staff and the heirs he would have you produce. And Sejanus…You shuddered at the idea of what Snow would do to him. It would make isolation look kind, you were sure. 

Knowing you had no other choice, you tried again to tell him. “Snow, I wish to tell you one more thing—”

You were cut off by the sound of Sejanus greeting you and Snow. You prayed you did not look as ill as you felt. 

“You look radiant this evening,” Sejanus said to you as he came to your side. Oh, Sejanus, he should not say those sorts of things. Not in front of Snow. Not when you knew how he felt. 

Snow rose to his feet, dropping your hand. It was the polite thing to do as a gentleman, but you knew it was more a power play than anything else. And, though Sejanus towered over Snow, something about the way Snow held himself made him seem like the giant. “She does, doesn’t she? It must be the pre-marital bliss.”

You ignored Snow. Well, if you couldn’t tell Snow about the letter now, you might as well make polite conversation until the next opportunity arose. “Thank you, my lord. You look quite dashing yourself. Did Tigris design your suit?”

“She did,” he beamed. Oh, Sejanus, don’t smile at you like that. “She is the only one I trust to not make me look like a fool.”

“Funny,” Snow muttered. 

You looked at him, your brows furrowed together. Was he trying to suggest Sejanus was a fool? Did Snow know something you didn’t? Your heart skipped a beat. Did he somehow already know of the letter? “What is?”

Snow blinked, as if he hadn’t expected you to hear him. A smile twitched at his lips. “You had said something similar, once.”

“Ah. Well, she is the best. Many people feel quite strongly over her,” you said. You smoothed a wrinkle on your dress. All of the kind talk between you and Coryo made you feel uneasy now that Sejanus was here. “It must be infuriating to know people like Tigris while they tolerate you.”

“Don’t be cruel,” Sejanus chided as Snow’s jaw clenched and unclenched. Don’t join in on the teasing. It will only make things worse. 

“But it’s so easy.”

Sejanus took the seat to your right. From the corner of your eye, you watched as Snow’s hands flexed, as if he was restraining himself from lashing out at Sejanus. Knowing that no one could see your face but Snow and Sejanus, you allowed yourself to roll your eyes. The corner of Sejanus’s mouth twitched up into a smirk. In any other circumstance, you might have been laughing with him at Snow’s expense. This all felt too confusing for you—something you would rather attempt to process in private rather than search your feelings in the moment. So you moved to the edge of your seat, propping your arm against the railing, leaning your cheek against your palm. Snow, as he sat back down, reached for your other hand, and you allowed him to take it. Jealous little thing, he was. But you couldn’t find it in yourself to mind. 

The performance soon began with little more spoken between you, Snow, and Sejanus. Mostly talks about your upcoming nuptials, which made it feel like a knife was being twisted in your stomach. If you didn’t know better, you would have thought that Sejanus was trying to be cruel. Sejanus, though, was something of an angel, and you were sure he didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Perhaps that was why you were so nervous about this. You knew how Snow would read Sejanus’s actions. You knew it would be far from good. 

You tried to push those thoughts away as the performers sang. It had been so long since you had been able to go to the opera, and you wanted to enjoy this moment. Snow would likely bring you to more performances, but just in case, you wanted to have fun while you could. Yet, Sejanus could not leave your mind. He felt entirely too close. It was almost suffocating. And when you dared to glance at him from the corner of your eye, and you saw the way his hand was placed on the arm of his chair, his palm face up, you felt ill. 

So ill, you could not stand it. 

When you dropped Snow’s hand, moving to leave the Lord’s Room, Snow rose to his feet. “Is everything alright, petal?”’

“I’m not feeling well. I just need to step outside for a moment,” you said. 

Sejanus, too, stood. “What’s wrong?”

Oh, don’t do that. Don’t give Snow anymore reason to get upset or concerned.

You waved Sejanus off. “It’s too stuffy in here. I just need a moment.”

Snow watched you, his brows pinched together. You again wondered if he could read your mind, if he knew what you knew. Or perhaps he was acting as if he cared in his own weird way, trying to ascertain if he needed to go with you just in case this was something more serious. “If you wish to leave early, we can. I don’t want you to feel as if we must stay even if you are ill.”

Don’t be kind. You’re not sure you deserve it. “I don’t believe it’s that serious. Please, sit. I shall be back before you can even think to miss me.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Snow sat down. Sejanus remained standing, watching as you turned to leave. It was not until you left the Lord’s Room, sparing a glance over your shoulder, that you saw Sejanus sit down, too.

It was easier to breathe outside of the room. Not much by much, but certainly easier. Being sat between Snow and Sejanus, even if had been something of your own doing, had become something of a personal hell. Damn Sejanus. Damn him. This evening wasn’t supposed to be like this. You were supposed to have a nice evening at the opera. You were supposed to get on Snow’s nerves. You were supposed to laugh with Sejanus and not worry about his insane ideas. It was supposed to be nice, not…whatever it was about to become. 

You found a somewhat secluded area of the foyer and leaned against the wall, trying to steady your heartbeat. You did not know if Snow or Sejanus or both would follow you. If they did, you worried about the other people who were invited eavesdropping on the conversation, realize that there was more than meets the eye regarding your betrothal to Snow. Oh, you would not be able to handle that scandal. 

After a minute or two, the sound of the opera singer ringing in the background, you pushed yourself off the wall. It had been long enough that Snow would become concerned and come looking for you. And it was close enough to intermission that Sejanus—

“You look like you’ve seen death.”

You sucked in a breath. “You need to leave.”

Sejanus stepped closer to you. Too close. He reached out, brushing a loose curl away from your face. You fought the urge to flinch away. “We can go—”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “You cannot truly believe I would leave with you, can you? Sejanus, Snow is the King. He would do everything in his power, utilize every resource at his disposal, to find us and bring us straight to the Capital. You would lose your head, and I would never see daylight again.”

“That should not matter if we love each other. We could find somewhere no one could ever find us. We could live a life all of our own, never have to worry about anything else.”

“But I don’t love you.” 

“Coryo told me that you would rather marry me. That you thought I am an easy man to love. Is that not enough?”

You squeezed your eyes shut. It was so hard to look at him and not cry. Why was he making this so difficult? Why was he putting you in this position? “I might have loved you. In a different life, maybe. But I do not feel what you feel for me. I will not risk my life and yours for a maybe.”

“But you will risk a life of unhappiness with Coryo?”

Why did no one listen to you? 

Why did no one care to ask you what you wanted and actually listen? 

“It is not as if Snow hates me. He cares, in his own way. Even if he shows it in his strange ways. I would want for nothing with him.”

“Can you love him?” Sejanus stepped even closer to you. He cupped your face in his hands. You squeezed your eyes tighter. “Tell me you will be happy with him, and I will leave you alone. I won’t bring this up ever again. I will leave—”

Sejanus was ripped away from you before he could finish speaking. Your eyes flew open. What was happening? Why—

Oh. 

Oh no. 

Snow’s face was blood red, his knuckles nearly matching as he gripped Sejanus’s jacket. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he spat. 

“Coryo, I—”

“You said you didn’t wish to marry her. You said you wouldn’t try to take her from me. Was that a life? Were you trying to catch me with my guard down? What happened to not wanting to hurt me?”

“Please—” 

You had never seen Snow so angry in all your life. Not even when you would spend every day at the Academy arguing with him. Not even when you had told him that you considered marrying Sejanus. Was Snow going to hurt Sejanus? He looked angry enough to kill. You couldn’t let that happen. 

“Snow—” you tried to say, but he did not hear you. 

“I should have the Peacekeepers drag you through the streets, throw you in a cell, and let you rot. I should have you executed,” Snow hissed. “This is treason.”

“Please, Snow—” you tried again. 

You tried to think. Tried to figure out something, anything, to say that could quell Snow’s anger. But you couldn’t even get through to him. It’s like he didn’t even realize you were speaking to him. Oh, what could you say?

“I should make your execution a fucking spectacle. I should make everyone watch as you are hung—”

“Coryo, stop!”

Snow’s head snapped to you. His pale blue eyes looked you up and down, as if he was trying to determine if he should direct his ire to you. He let go of Sejanus’s jacket with a push. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t have made Sejanus stumble, but the sheer weight of everything brought the man tumbling down. Snow took a step towards you, his voice dangerously low as he asked, “Why should I?”

“I was telling him no. I don’t want to go with him,” you said, careful not to say Sejanus’s name. Saying his name in ordinary circumstances drove Snow insane. You hated to imagine what he might do if you did so now. He might just kill Sejanus with his bare hands. His hands. You glanced down, then reached for one of Snow’s hands. It was clenched into a fist, but he allowed you to open his hand, intertwine your fingers with his own. “I want to marry you, Coryo. I want to be your wife.”

Snow stared at your connected hands. He squeezed your hand. It looked like he couldn’t believe this was real. “He followed you out here. Were you planning to run away?”

You couldn’t lie to him. Not now. “He sent a letter this morning. He wanted to run away at intermission, when it was easy to disappear in a crowd. I…I tried to tell you, before he arrived this evening. I never intended to go with him.”

“He followed you.”

I didn’t ask him to, you wanted to say. But you knew that wouldn’t do anything to diminish Snow’s anger. Instead, you said, “I wish you followed me instead.”

When Snow looked at you, you could see his eyes softened ever so slightly. “I thought you might want some space.”

Though you did not wholly believe in what you were saying, you knew it was working to calm him down. “All I want is you, Coryo.”

For a second, a smile began to tug at Snow’s lips. But it vanished all too quick as he heard Sejanus begin to rise to his feet. “He needs to be punished.”

“Don’t have him killed.” When Snow’s eyes narrowed, you quickly added, “I don’t want the death of your friend, your best friend, to weigh heavily on your conscious. I-I know you’re upset now, rightfully so, but that should not mean you send him to the gallows.”

His jaw clenched and unclenched as he weighed your words. “Then what do you suggest I do? If we are to be partners in life, you shall have a say in carrying out punishments.”

Oh, he was being cruel. Perhaps rightfully so. Snow would not harm you physically, but he would not be so above hurting you emotionally. You had not told him about the letter, and in his eyes, you were sure that put you on a similar level of treason as Sejanus’s actions. 

You fought the urge to look at Sejanus. “He shall enlist in the Peacekeepers,” you decided. “You can ensure he has an assignment far away from the Capital. Give him time to consider his betrayal.”

Snow said nothing. You worried he would dismiss your suggestion and call for the Peacekeepers anyways. That he would force you to watch as Sejanus was hung. You stepped closer, pressed a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Please, Coryo?”

When you pulled away, Snow was blinking a mile a minute. You prayed that was enough to convince him, to show him that you were loyal to him. To spare Sejanus’s life.

“Go,” Snow spat at Sejanus. 

Sejanus gave a shaky nod. He dared to look at you, his mouth beginning to open. Whatever he intended to say, though, was lost. 

“If you are going to say anything, it should be to express your gratitude to her for sparing you from an execution.”

Sejanus swallowed. “Thank you.”

“If I learn that you have not enlisted by morning, however, I will follow through with stringing you up at the gallows.”

Sejanus nodded again and quickly left before more could be said. For his sake, you prayed he went straight to the enlistment offices. You weren’t sure if they were open at this time of night, but if he went now, he might be able to enlist first thing in the morning when they did open. 

You let your head fall against Snow’s chest. His heart thump’d, thump’d, thump’d quickly. You wound your arms around his waist. “Thank you,” you whispered. And as he hugged you back, you added, “And I apologize for not telling you of his plans. I…I didn’t think he would be so foolish to try to follow through on them. Or, I suppose, I hoped he wouldn’t.”

“You truly wouldn’t have left with him?”

“I only want a life with you, Coryo. You…may not be an easy man to love, but that does not mean I cannot love you.” Maybe if you said it enough times, you mused, it would become true. 

Snow pressed a kiss to the crown of your head. “I want to move up the wedding date.”

You shut your eyes. “You’ll work poor Tigris to the bone trying to finish my gown in time,” you tried to tease. Your heart wasn’t quite in it. 

“You could show up at the altar in a dressing gown for all I care. I don’t want anyone else trying to steal you away before I can make you mine.”

If this was the sort of anger you would have to grapple with should anyone else try— “Nor do I.” You pressed a kiss to his chest, just over his heart. A print of your lipstick left behind a stain. “I truly am sorry, Coryo.”

Maybe if you called him by his pet name enough times, he would forget this ever happen. 

“Don’t let it happen again.”

As you stood there in his tight embrace, people began spilling out into the foyer. Intermission, it seemed, had arrived. And not a single one of them were aware of events that just transpired. 

How lucky they were. 

[homunculus-argument]

I've learned to be neutral about other people being religious, but my own experience with it was definitely coloured by my issues with my dad. He was a proper Edgelord Atheist, loathing religions as a whole and christianity in particular, never hesitating to remark about how stupid and backwards or primitive it is. My mother didn't care either way, she only talks about god when she talks about gardening. So he was the only one in the house with any strong opinion about it. And yet, me and my sister were babtised, put into a christian daycare for a while and then put into christian religions classes at school.

I always loathed religion classes as a kid and didn't know why, I hated hearing about it and having to put up with it and always felt like the teacher is just insulting us by lying right at our faces, about something that surely nobody actually believes for real. My childhood best friend was put into the non-christian option despite of coming from the same kind of a vaguely culturally christian background as I did, and I envied her intensely for it. I asked repeatedly to get to go to the non-christian classes as well, and was told "no", because my mother didn't think that letting your kids do that was an option even though my friend's parents clearly had already done it.

I had a serious Edgelord Edgy Atheist phase in my teens, and was wrangled into going through confirmation anyway because Everyone Else's Kids Are Doing It Too. The aforementioned friend got to go through a non-religious version of the same thing, which I had not even known was an option, so I didn't think to ask for it. Being wrangled through jesus classes as a 15-year-old bag of spite who was only marginally self-aware enough to avoid physically wearing a fedora, I was not a pleasure to have in class.

My father was physically present in the house until I was 14, until my mother finally accepted that this man's presence might actually cause physical harm - his drunken attempts to cook almost caused a fire, and he drove drunk with me and my sister on board once - and he reluctantly agreed to be removed from the picture. His absence at home made no impact nor difference in our daily life, the man who sleeps in the spare room just wasn't sleeping in the spare room anymore.

We saw him frequently enough after that, he visited us for family events and joined us for outings. At some points I tried to bond with him, over mutual interests and passions, even tried to prompt him to join me on snide remarks about religions that he used to make all the time, but he would not. He refused to bond with his children even over mutually hating the same things. It slowly occurred to me over time that the reason why christianity had played any role in my life was because he had never, at any point at all, moved a finger to stop it. Harmless or not, he had no instinctive desire to move his children away from things he considered bad. He had hated it enough to make it known that he hates it, but genuinely just did not care enough to consider not letting him children grow up in an environment he loathed.

My father died when I was 17, and I never really mourned him - not out of hatred, but because his death had hardly even altered the empty absence that was his presence in my life. I had grown up with religious classes trying to tell me about a loving god, and I had not understood why I had hated it, why I felt betrayed and lied to. My relationship with the christian god I was taught to understand has been exactly the same as my relationship with my father.

Desperately shrieking into a void that is so vast that not even my own echo would answer, and knowing for certain that the dead silence I'm hearing in return is the complete, absolute absence of a loving Father.

[generationlossupdates]

GenLoss Episode 3: The Choice

Yall know the drill by now ^_^ I've bolded the most important bits for those who want to skim, and I'm putting it all under the cut to avoid dash clutter. If I'm missing anything important/messed up a specific detail PLEASE let me know so I can fix it, thanks!

The screen turns on, multiple error signs flashing before a drone camera turns on, showing different areas of the Showfall Media Headquarters. It switches to Ranboo, where he rips the dynamite attached to his neck. He walks up to the camera and asks the audience whats happening. As the can’t see chat, he gets no answer and suddenly we can hear H. They explain to Ranboo that they now have control of some of the facility, but still need to shut it down. They need Ranboo to get to the server room in order to take complete control.

Ranboo is panicked and attempts to take the mask off, when H tells him he can't yet, or else the entire operation will go up in flames. They also use the mask to communicate Ranboo. He begins to travel, needing to hide from Showfall agents with Squiggle masks. Ranboo peaks at different areas he'd been in, realizing that what happened was actually real. H confirms as such. He spots an exit and attempts to leave, wanting to call the police but H tells him he can't and to keep going. Ranboo doesn’t want to but H suddenly changes his story, saying the others are in fact still alive, and Ranboo (reluctantly) obliges. He goes down the escalator and when he nears a glowing blue mall room, a metal machine with a TV head runs to glass and starts to slam on it. Ranboo panics and H says its just security.

He keeps moving and makes it to the server room. It turns out he needs a keycard in order to get in. Ranboo keeps going, finding an office full of people with Squiggle masks. He seems apprehensive to enter but H says they're 'mostly harmless' as long as he doesn't do anything too entirely out of the ordinary. He has to get a keycard, a USB drive, and a code. He gets the keycard with ease but struggles to find the USB. After a few minutes of searching he finds the USB, and now has to find the code. After a bit more searching he finds 4 different codes and leaves the office.

Ranboo returns to the server room and enters with the items he collected. H says to be careful and to plug in the USB. They need to put in a code to the computer, though it’s unclear which code is correct. H gives chat the choice to pick which code to use. Ranboo is instantly unhappy with this, and instead of going with chat's pick, he chooses a different code and unfortunately it’s not the right one. The server shuts down and security gets upped, forcing H to leave. The facility blares and everything flashes red. Ranboo runs away, trying to avoid the Showfall puppets. 

Suddenly he hears voices coming from the former food court. He finds random streamers, though they cant hear him. He spots Charlie (WHO IS ALSO LIVE ON HIS OWN STREAM ON HIS OWN CHANNEL) and runs up to him. He pulls his headphones off and Charlie breaks out of the illusion, seeming incredibly confused. Ranboo screams at Charlie and tells him that they have to GO. They look for a directory, and after finding one Charlie looks behind the stand and finds a dead Showfall agent. They look over and Ranboo spots the 'security' (the metal TV head machine). They panic and run, starting to get chased by Showfall agents. They hide in a messed up props area and Ranboo picks up a knife while Charlie begs for an explanation. Ranboo says that he doesn’t have one and they go through the exit door in the room, winding back up where Charlie has been streaming. 

They leave running towards an exit before Showfall agents start chasing them. They wind up running through the rooms of the episode 2, slowing down for a moment before more agents come pouring in. They run down a hallway and turn into a small room where they find H.

H has been stabbed and tells them both that he won't make it. They explain Ranboo needs to finish the job by hitting the kill button and hands them a map. Ranboo stares at H’s body before turning and storming off, entirely in his own mind. Charlie rambles behind him, though his words can’t be made out. Ranboo walks right up to a Showfall agent and stabs them directly in the stomach before continuing the search.

Ranbooo and Charlie find their way back to the set of the cabin from the first episode, and Security jumps out, attacking Charlie. Before he dies he screams out for Ranboo to hit the kill button. Showfall agents begin to pour in as Ranboo runs for the button. He hits the button and everything goes dark, shutting off for good. Ranboo walks through the rows of deactivated agents, heading towards the genuine exit door. He opens it, and right before he goes through he does a Truman Show style bow, revealing H behind him. His mask, for the first time in this episode, turns back to a glowing red and H drags him through the door.

Everything fades to black and when we come back, Ranboo is chained up (Jesus on the Cross style), with his head being in a box, in front of lots of TVs. His mask is slightly broken as well and we hear H. H congratulates Ranboo, saying he completed the experiments. H explains that they never died and that the founder gave them a purpose to create these experiments to find people ‘worthy’ of joining the cast and living (and performing in the future shows) forever. Ranboo begs to be let go as his mask flashes on and off. H goes on to say that Ranboo’s actions we’re entirely his own, and that Ranboo can join the cast. They say that we (the audience) can even decide Ranboo’s fate. The chat gets to vote whether to let him live or die. In the last 30 or so seconds, Ranboo begins to beg and plead to be killed.

The vote ends and H flickers onto the screen, announcing that the chat chose death. The box around Ranboo’s head clamps shut, killing him, and the credits roll. After they end, the screen slowly pans out to show a tv, and a gloved hand pulling out a tape from the TV, labeled ‘TSE’ (The Social Experiments). The hand places the tape back on a shelf, where 7 other blank tapes sit, and the stream ends.

[drakaripykiros130ac]

The truth about why Rhaenyra and Daemon remained on Dragonstone in between episodes 7 and 8

The few greenie supporters that like to comment on videos presenting the confrontation between Rhaenyra, Daemon and Alicent in episode 8, like to make completely false assumptions. They constantly accuse Rhaenyra and Daemon of not taking responsibility for the ill Viserys and not visiting him. They also accuse Rhaenyra of not stepping up and becoming Princess Regent during those years.

If these people were even remotely aware of the actual facts, they would know that Daemon and Rhaenyra had been exiled from King’s Landing after they married without the king’s permission (no doubt Otto and Alicent’s doing). The Hightowers wanted them away because they recognized what the marriage between Rhaenyra and Daemon signified for them - a very strong Targaryen alliance. So, they convinced Viserys to exile them from the capital.

That is why they stayed away for all these years. The time lapse between the two episodes does not directly explain that. They stayed away out of obligation, not choice.

The opportunity for the Hightowers to take control arrived. With Viserys incapacitated and Daemon and Rhaenyra exiled, Otto and Alicent took advantage and did things their way. One of the more obvious changes was the removal of Targaryen symbols in the Keep. Because they couldn’t add the Hightower symbols, they chose something close - symbols of the Seven. Alicent deemed it harmless, but is obviously a power move, and a treasonous one. They ruled for 7 years - and they weren’t very good at it, as proven in episode 9.

Rhaenyra and Daemon returned to King’s Landing out of obligation in the settlement of the succession of Driftmark (due to Corlys’ near death experience). They were summoned. Corlys wanted Lucerys to be his heir. He made that clear. It was his decision, and as the Lord of Driftmark, he has the right to choose his successor.

And now, taking advantage of Corlys’ weakened state, the Hightowers were conspiring with Vaemond to take control of Driftmark. Daemon and Rhaenyra had to return to protect Lucerys’ rightful claim.

Rhaenyra and Daemon knew about Viserys’ weakened state. The expressions on their faces when they talked about him on Dragonstone confirm that. But they didn’t expect to see him looking that badly, when they finally arrived in King’s Landing.

It is natural for Daemon and Rhaenyra to act suspicious of Alicent and Otto, and confront them the way they did.

Viserys was weak, constantly drinking something strange, Otto was acting as King in all but name, Alicent was replacing the Targaryen heraldry (and she doesn’t have any good explanation for it, not to mention that she is a consort. She has no authority to replace the heraldry of the ruling House)…anyone would have acted suspicious of all this. I would have directly accused Alicent and Otto of usurping the throne. And nobody could put it past them to poison Viserys and take over. Because Otto and Alicent are social climbers.

Rhaenyra and Daemon’s suspicions and accusations are completely justified. They are the only ones who truly loved Viserys.

[xjulixred45x]

Suguru Geto x Kotoha like reader...

Like hear me out--

reader is born into a powerful clan, but with little or no cursed energy, her family is disappointed, but they decide that they will keep her for her beauty and that they will marry her off as soon as she is of the right age. so it was. Reader marries young to an older man. and she's not having a good time.

Whether with the Kamo or the Ze'nin, Reader constantly suffers humiliation and beatings by her husband and her in-laws, being more of a slave to the home than a wife. but at least she manages to have a healthy and strong son (for now we will call him Haruki, literally "bright light") and in a way Reader resigns herself to her life, because at least if her son would be fine.

That is until her husband threatens to hurt her son......no no no no no NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT-

Reader finally gains the courage and strength to be able to take her son and flee from her husband's house (probably when he is sleeping) and flees as far as possible, still hurt and with her son in her arms.

She has no idea what to do, she knows that if she goes to the higher ups they will return her to her husband, where could she go?

then, similar to Kotoha (from KNY) she ends up in Geto's cult, asking for help, that at least if he doesn't want to take her in, take in her son, she begs him. and Geto is at least intrigued by this sequence of events, reader has been on the run all night, so she doesn't even think very clearly, but she has in mind the idea of protecting her son at all costs, and Geto can see what she has ( apart from a lot of bruises) cursed energy, so he decides to let BOTH in with hospitality (much to Reader's surprise).

Reader is treated for both the bruises and the fatigue, but she refuses to let go of her son, and she begs again that please, PLEASE not take her son away from her. Geto allows it, even if now the doctors have a harder time curing her. In a way, this brings a feeling of familiarity, a pleasant feeling. After all, a mother's love is the purest thing in the world, and this could be an opportunity to have a new member in the family.

Reader recovers and begins to interact with Geto and some members of the family, mainly Mimiko and Nanako, Laurie and Manami, the twins LOVE Haruki, like, a lot, they are always playing with him, taking pictures of him, trying on cute clothes and even trying to to make him say his first words.

When this happens, Geto usually has a few moments alone with the reader, drinking tea or eating, he is interested in seeing her vision of the world and, above all, what made her flee to the cult. He probably already knows it, but he wants to hear it from Reader, and when he confirms it, seeing how Reader's face turns sad, he realizes why he is so interested in a certain way.

reader reminds him a lot of himself, when he was young in Jujutsu Tech, to be exact. when he was spiraling, not knowing what to do, but then Mimiko and Nanako appeared, and he knew exactly what he had to do.

That's what he saw in Reader, a more naive and softer version of himself, who was still finding her way. Geto comforts Reader, reassures her, he knows that she loves her son very much, so she doesn't have to worry about her "husband" hurting them ever again, not now that they have a new family that loves them. It's a very soft moment and the awake of something more...deep.

Geto himself easily falls for Haruki's charms! He is a very unruly baby, he loves to chase after everything that moves, so it is not unusual to see him chasing Geto's tunic like a duck. If Geto is sitting, Haruki will go directly to him, Geto catches him before he falls and congratulates him for making it this far.

He's so cute, just like his mom. Would he say if Reader is in the room.Normally Reader just takes it as a harmless compliment to her AND her son, but each time the comments would become a little more romantic and cute in a way.

Reader and Geto spend more time together, whether for x or y reason, Geto wants to teach Reader as many things as possible, how the cursed energy works (I highly doubt they have taught Reader any of that)? gotcha! Are you curious about how curse-seeing glasses work? He gives reader a whole class about it. How does his cursed ritual work? He explains it to her and may even pull out some harmless curses to play with Haruki, and the list goes on and on.

He also absolutely LOVES when Reader sings Haruki to sleep, she sings well, but also the lyrics she sings (even if they always change) are so full of love, he can't help but hum them when he's bored or having to put up with believers.

There was a time when Haruki fell asleep on him and Reader had to sing to them both, Geto relaxed so much that he let out a pick-up line that was more...daring than normal.

-"..sometimes I think we should get married..."-

When he processed what he said he felt much more awake and was about to say something to make himself look less of an idiot, but then reader just said with some humor (and embarrassment) that "I probably wouldn't be a good wife."

Geto blinked twice before realizing, reader didn't dislike the idea of being with him, but he had to be careful where he stepped. He had the opportunity here, he had to take advantage of it.

-"I don't think so dear, you take such good care of me and the family, Haruki is a good child...you make us happy...you make me happy"-

As he speaks, Geto carefully sets Haruki down on the Tatami as he approaches Reader, ending his statement with a promise that Reader knew was VERY real. Also, I won't let anyone hurt you as long as I live.

I only imagine a kiss after that, but if you want to imagine that something +18 happened, go ahead ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

and in a way, Reader being Geto's wife becomes somewhat pseudo-official, since he treats her much more openly affectionately, calling her by nicknames like darling, honey, sweetheart, etc. although one did stay like before, Songbird. Reader become more confident someway, even more cheerfull, No wonder, life finally smiles on her after so long, she has her son with her, she has a new "family" to protect her and even a husband that she REALLY loves.

But the thing is...Reader is very unaware of the plans of Geto for the Non-Sorcerers.

Yeah, she notices some Odd things like he call them "monkeys" sometimes or his little to nule contact with them, maybe it was the rose-colored glasses you wear when you fall in love that made me overlook all of this (which now that I thought about it was pretty questionable) but overall I think Reader was willing to turn a blind eye for love.

until a certain incident occurred.

It was in a night when everyone was doing other things for the "Cult" and Reader was alone with Suguru, but wake up in middle of the night and went to search for him after notice he was not in in there(leaving Haruki in bed).

...And Reader find out Suguru KILLING an Non-Sorcerer.

And Reader hides and tries to calm down, Suguru don't notice her, didn't he? And she feels a LOT of emotions, surpise, betrayal, but overall FEAR. She knew he has a thing with Non-Sorcerers but now...does that mean he would do something to her? To her son?

As a hasty and fearful decision, Reader takes her son and when no one sees, she RUNS from the cult, now having no idea what to do, she is very afraid of what is going to happen.

but then Suguru intercepts her, he doesn't seem angry at all, but rather very worried. Does Reader have any idea how dangerous it is for a Non-Sorcerer woman to go out on her own, alone, in the early morning, with a baby? It almost scared him to death.

but then Reader reproaches him that she already knows what he is doing... and she knows that he is a liar... she will not risk him doing something to her son.

NOW, I came up with two possible endings for this, one happy and one not so much.

The not-so-happy ending is a completely yandere ending, in which Suguru simply brings Reader and her son with him back to the cult no matter how scared Reader is, but at least keeps his promise intact that he would never harm them while he is here alive, but Reader would be much more isolated and would eventually give up because it is better to stay with a somewhat crazy but loving Geto than with her clan.

Reader can become happy in this Ending, but I wouldn't say entirely free, because Haruki (her son) would also probably learn Geto's yandere tendencies and unintentionally ends up being an accomplice, whom Reader obviously doesn't hate but would put a barrier between she and the child.

This Suguru just doesn't want to lose his Songbird:( and does everything possible to give a good life and have the family that Reader deserves(just not in the healtyiest way...)

and the happiest ending is one in which Reader simply sees that Geto really doesn't seem to have bad intentions towards her son or her (because NO ONE would pull such an elaborate trick to kill her) and decides to return on her own to the Suguru cult with him. turning a blind eye out of love to all the bad acts her husband does because Suguru is still a loving father and a very good husband to her, so she doesn't want to walk away even if she should. learn to love both the good and the bad of him, so to speak.

As i say, the happiest ending, Reader at first she could only do it out of a certain fear of the consequences of having "run away" but she soon realizes that no, Suguru REALLY cares about her and her son, without double intentions, without a plan behind, he only loves them because he sees them as part of his family.

Thanks to this, Reader can trust Suguru again more easily, although of course, she ends up unintentionally bringing up old reflections of when she was with her old husband, but she can easily overcome it. More when Geto is pampering her every step of the way.

As for Suguru, he couldn't be happier! He has his two families with him, his family with the Curse users and his family with Reader, who seems to tolerate his plan, which only makes him confirm his decision more. did the best.

Thank you for reading ❤️

Shares reglogs and comments are very welcome!

[ystrike1]

Honey Maple More More Sugar - By Tsushiko (7.5/10)

Two adult men that love to make custom plush dolls. For one it's a hobby he has to keep secret, because of his serious police career. The other is a crafty social media star, but even he doesn't express his cute desires in public. Dating online is tricky enough. It's even harder when commitment comes at you fast. The stern officer isn't willing to let his ideal partner slip away.

Sometimes nothing is scarier than a guy that moves way too fast.

Tsumugi is a plushie maker who has lots of fans and customers on social media. He's also in the closet. He's been flirting with one of his fans through a gay chat app.

"Chitan☆" (that's his username) wants to move in together....after two dates. Two.

2.

It's an uncomfortable situation for Tsumugi, and he thinks Chitan☆ might just be a crazy fan.

Chitan☆ is also super strong, tall, and influential in the local police force. He also has lots of money, and he offers to take care of Tsumugi financially....on the second date.........

Tsumugi freaks out for like a week and he considers cutting contact.

Chitan☆ and Tsumugi have exchanged plush dolls named Honey and Maple. It's adorable. Both men are obsessed with niche kawaii culture stuff. Chitan☆ is mega repressed and unable to share that with anyone. Tsumugi at least has his fans.

He tries to be understanding with Chitan☆.

Chitan☆ is too innocent...

He doesn't understand...Tsumugi never intended to start a relationship with him....he thought they would be hookup buddies at most.

He gets so stressed about the situation. He starts dreaming about his dolls lecturing him.

Tsumugi successfully cuts off contact for a month, but he misses Chitan☆.

He decides to visit Chitan☆.

Chitan☆ wins him over with brutal honesty. He hasn't found anyone so wonderful in all his years of dating. Or trying to date. He's in his thirties, and he's willing to spoil Tsumugi if Tsumugi chooses him.

Chitan☆ has an older sister and she's exactly like him and it's funny. I thought this scene confirmed that he really isn't a yandere but he is super devoted and weird in the extra chapter.

He wakes up at 5am to stare at Tsumugi.

He compares Tsumugi to the most tempting of gods.

Tsumugi makes him another plush for his birthday, and he immediately starts thinking of lavish return gift ideas.

He's fun.

He's mostly harmless.

His pushy behavior was pretty scary.

It's cute.

[bananadrinkxxx]

THE BLOOD CROWN

PART 17

[Aemond Fanfiction ]

[Dark Romance / Enemies to Lovers / Revenge]

[warnings: smut, sex content, angst, fights, domination, murder]

[Aemond Targaryen x Original Female Character ! I fem!reader]

Content for adults.

Previous and next chapters: click here

"Do you know how I lost my eye?"

He didn't know why he brought it up. It had had nothing to do with the situation, it was almost irrelevant, and yet he felt the need to talk about it. Rose was the first bystander he wanted to tell.

Silence.

He saw her look up, hesitant, as if she feared the wrong answer would make him angry. He saw her swallow, then bite her lips. Aemond wondered if she would keep biting her lip if she knew what effect it had on him.

"Yes."

He wasn't surprised. He felt her start to breathe faster, her muscles tense.

"Who told you that?" He asked in a low voice.

"Dyana," Rose confessed. "Back when you captured Lucerys." Her voice was calm, though he was aware of the slight tremor within her. She looked at him gently, asking him not to glorify a problem that wasn't there. "She didn't tell me how it happened." She added quickly as he turned his head away. Did she fear his wrath? "She just said your nephew took your eye."

The girl talked too much.

Aemond took a deep breath. The memory of that night came back, the pain, though long gone, resurfaced, almost made him wince. He needed to calm down, to continue the conversation. His hand clenched into a fist. He tried to loosen it and massaged his temple.

"It happened after I claimed Vhagar. They came at me, full of rage and anger that I had dared."

"Dared?"

"The dragon belonged to the deceased whose funeral we attended. I have to admit it was bad timing, but there was no better time to do it." He had seen the opportunity and taken it. He would have been a fool not to. She listened to his words, her eyes locked on his lips. She nodded, her gaze warm and understanding, no sign of condemnation.

She did not interrupt him. A quality he appreciated in her.

"There was a fight, and Lucerys drew a dagger with which he drove through my face. I thought I was going to die at the first moment, so unbearable was the pain," he reported. "My mother was furious and wanted Lucerys to be punished, but my father...," he faltered for a moment. The memory of that night hurt him more than he wanted to admit. "He didn't do anything. Like he didn't care about me. Probably I was, too."

"I'm sorry about that," she said softly. There was no pity in her voice, only sympathy. At the sound of her last words, his expression softened, as if he had returned to himself.

They were silent for a moment, not looking at each other, just the pleasant sound of the fireplace crackling and the flames around them.

"I'm not a monster, Rose," he said, and he stared at her. Didn't let her escape. She didn't understand his hatred, he knew that, but maybe she understood where it came from. Why he was the way he was.

"No, you're not," she confirmed with a smile and goosebumps spread over his body. He longed for her, for her touch and her gaze. Her innocent eyes that settled on him like a silk shawl and soothed his soul. When had she managed to claim not only his body, but his mind as well. He would never let her go again. Rose was his.

"Come here."

She stood obediently, walking slowly, fearlessly, full of trust and care, toward him. He could see she wasn't afraid of him, not like the others. He might have been afraid for her, but she never showed it to him.

Rose was a fighter. She had probably been through more in her life than he had, often it was the internal injuries that hurt you.

Luke, his brother, and even his own brother had made him tough.

The Pink Dread. The Pig. His new dragon.

Aegon had called it a harmless prank, maybe it was, but at the time it had broken his heart. Humiliated him and it hadn't been the only situation where they had bullied him because of it. He had never forgiven Aegon for humiliating him with them. Aegon should have been on his side, but instead he had laughed along with them. Laughed at him. That he had contributed to what he had become and what he had lost. Jace would never have let anyone bully Luke. Even when they fought among themselves, Luke was his younger brother and Jace protected him from the others. But Aegon had always thought only of himself. Selfishness had always been the most important word in his vocabulary.

Then, as now, he had only been able to rely on his mother. She had always listened to him. His father, on the other hand, had judged it only as a stupid prank.

His mother had hugged and comforted him. She was the only person in his life he trusted and it scared him that Rose was about to become just another person. Trust was hard for him, it made him feel weak and dependent. Vulnerability.

He reached out his hand to Rose, looked at her calmly, and she grasped it. Her hand was small, delicate and soft. His was large, rough and hard. She placed her soft fingers on his skin, and he gently pulled her to sit on his lap. She sat on top of him with her arms around his neck and took his face in her hands. He kissed the center of her hand. She leaned over him and kissed his forehead, going lower and lower, to his scarred brow, his eye patch, his cheek. She touched the eye patch delicately, but did not pull on it. He put his hands on her hips automatically, as naturally and easily as if it were an unconditional impulse for him.

She was his and he would never let her go.

. . . . .

Aegon returned to his chamber in a rage. He slammed the door in the servants' faces and with a sudden movement threw down all the objects lying on the table in front of him, causing much noise and commotion.

A servant called after him. "Shut up," Aegon shouted and there was silence.

Aemond had humiliated him in front of everyone, over a damned woman. His new whore, whom he had chosen over him without hesitation. He was angry at himself. He had not been able to control himself. Aegon was ashamed of the thought of having shown his jealousy in such a simple and obvious way. He did not know what was happening to him. When Cole had told him about Rose and Aemond's relationship, anger had gripped him. And jealousy. Anger that his brother still dared to judge him, and jealousy that he owned the girl and not him. He was the king. He should have been.

His little brother, the pathetic sissy who had always run to their mother to cry. He had only made him a man and he dared to attack him? He was the king and he had to respect him, even if he didn't like it. 

"Come on, little brother. Don't be so damn shy," Aegon said wryly and a touch annoyed as they stood in front of the whorehouse. He threw his arm over his brother's neck and stroked it comfortingly. "It's time you got it wet."

He was the one who had made his little brother a man. Even then, the sissy had been reluctant.

A knock snapped him out of his thoughts. "What, damn it?"

A maid stepped in uncertainly, wanting to see what had happened, but one look from him was enough to make her retreat. Before she could close the door behind her, he ordered her to stay. He saw her flinch, looking at him fearfully. Aegon enjoyed her fear. She made him feel powerful.

He poured himself a full cup of wine, feeling he needed to desensitize, to forget.Aegon felt uncomfortable with what had happened. He felt humiliated by his own weakness, his childish naivety, as if he wanted to embrace his mother's dress like a little boy. His mother who loved his brother more than him. She had proved it again. She had taken from him the hope that had appeared after his coronation, that she would finally love him too.

Aemond had taken that love from him again, and he was going to take something from Aemond, too.

Rose. She was like a forbidden fruit that he wanted to pick.

He had seen the looks of the two. It had not remained hidden from him. He had not paid much attention to her, she was just a pretty servant, but after knowing that Aemond was attached to Rose, he had felt the need to have her look at him as tenderly as she looked at his brother.

Aegon looked at the maid. He grinned slightly.

"Come here," he ordered, and she hesitantly approached him. She looked troubled.

"Bend over the table," he saw her eyes widen. He wondered why. It wasn't the first time she had been at his service. In fact, back then she had been the one to seduce him. She had flirted with him and obviously done what she wanted.

Yet she obeyed without argument.

As she bent over the table, Aegon unzipped his pants and took the last sip from his cup. He grabbed her hair and pressed himself against her. He would forget everything tonight.

. . . . .

"How could you behave like this, Aemond?" his mother scolded as he joined her in her chambers. She looked at him judgmentally. Dressed completely in green, as always, she approached him. Her eyebrows drawn together disapprovingly. "I expected more from you."

Of course she had. He had to control himself not to roll his eye.

"You saw what Aegon did."

She looked at him seriously. "I did, and I saw what you did, too."

"What did I do, mother?"

"You attacked your king."

Yes he had. And he would do it again if Aegon dared to provoke him. He did not suddenly have more respect for him because he had now been given the crown of conqueror. Aegon was just as unsuitable for the Iron Throne as Rhaenyra. Only with the difference that he was not born with a cunt.

She stepped closer to him. His mother stroked his hair and he enjoyed the touch. He felt her soft, feminine fingers gently running through his hair.

"I don't understand you, Aemond. You know your brother. It was wrong what he did, but you shouldn't have reacted that way."

She was right.

"This girl," she continued. "What meaning does she have for you?"

Aemond looked his mother in her green eyes. He found a lack of understanding there. She hadn't said it yet, but he knew what his mother thought of his behavior. She disapproved. He was not surprised. His mother had never made a secret of the fact that she found this behavior dishonorable. Suddenly, shame welled up inside him. The thought of his mother condemning his behavior hurt him more than he had thought.

He could not give her an answer to her question. He had no idea what Rose meant to him, he only knew that she meant something to him.

Had he lost control? Yes. Was it because of Rose? He didn't know. Maybe it was also because of Aegon and that he was making fun of him again, mocking him, humiliating him in front of everyone. He didn't recognize himself. Did Rose make him a different person? A weaker man with less self-control?

"You can't let a girl come between you and your brother. You are a family, don't forget that," Alicent warned him, looking at him seriously.

"During this time, we have to stick together. More than usual. Blood is thicker than water, Aemond."

He could do nothing but nod and he saw relief in her eyes. She took a deep breath and smiled gently.

. . . . .

Rose couldn't hide the smile that kept creeping onto her lips. She felt a wave of happiness come over her and she smiled at everyone who crossed her path. Last night, despite the event with the king, had been something wonderful and she felt that she had come a little closer to Aemond. It had warmed her heart when he had told her that he wanted to teach her to read and write, and an indescribable gratitude had spread through her. She wondered what she would read first when she finally could. She had never thought it possible and it was suddenly within her grasp.

"Dyana," she called out as her friend entered her field of vision, but instead of turning to her, the girl moved away from her, though Rose was sure she must have heard her.

Astonished, she stopped. What was wrong? Was Dyana not feeling well? Had something happened again? Concern for her friend spread through her and she was about to run after her when she was suddenly overcome by nausea. Surprised by the sudden change, she stopped and felt herself throwing up. Panicked, she looked around and ran into the garden to hide behind a bush. Since she hadn't eaten anything yet, only stomach acid left her mouth and she spat out the bitter taste. She squatted on the ground and remained that way for a moment until the feeling subsided somewhat. The nausea had gone as quickly as it had come and Rose wondered if she was sick. Maybe she had caught it from someone? She only hoped that her illness would not spread to Aemon. Or maybe it was just the stress that had taken a toll on her stomach.

Taglist: Write me for being add to this taglist :)

@watercolorskyy

@marvelescvpe

[bluegekk0]

Honestly I just thought about it…What does Lewk think of Hollow Knight (And any small vessels) Does He consider them a sibling or more like an uncle considering their size and age? (Also guess I just ask all the vessel questions now because Broken Vessel is my obsession and he’s the reason I made my ocs in the first place)

Holly is as much of a sibling to Lewk as Hornet is. There is no reason for him to see them otherwise. Plus they aren't that much older than Hornet, and Hornet herself is about 50 years old in universe. which seems like a lot, but since she stopped aging when reaching maturity (like FPK did), she's actually closer to 18-19 years old. And Holly is a similar case, they also don't age, so in actuality they would also be around that age (in vessel years I suppose) even if they are technically very old compared to an average bug.

And because Lewk grows up in a family where aging is weird and not really a topic most of them worry about (Zote is an exception, unless he ends up joining the Troupe at some point, like the idea I had a while ago), if he's told that Holly is his sibling, he would have no reason to see them as anything else.

As for the other vessels, if he did get to know any, it would be the same. Naturally it would be a bit more awkward since he never grew up around them, but he's a very friendly kid so he would have no trouble with getting to know them better.

Now, an important detail about Lewk and Holly is that it is a bit more one-sided than the relationship between Lewk and Hornet. That is because Holly used to struggle with a bit of jealousy over their father, particularly when it comes to competing for his attention as his child. They did occasionally feel it when they saw FPK spend time with Hornet instead of them, though it never went past them just noticing it and hoping FPK can spend time with them next.

Where that jealousy manifested was when they heard that they were going to have another sibling. What was once harmless jealousy, now turned into less than pleasant thoughts. Whenever they were around the egg, they could hear a quiet voice in the back of their head telling them to destroy it, so that whatever hatched from it wouldn't steal their father's attention. It never went further than just thoughts, but they quickly realized they were dangerous. First they just kept it to themselves, ashamed of it, but when the voice didn't go away, they attempted to run off and distance themselves from the family, convinced that this was for the better. It didn't take FPK long to track them, and they did eventually share what was bothering them. FPK promised that he would never replace them and that he trusts that they would not harm their new sibling. And so they returned home.

And FPK was right, Holly never hurt the egg or baby Lewk. Over time they even got more comfortable with the idea of sharing their father's attention with him, though they never forgot about their previous thoughts. But this time, it manifested into a fear that they would accidentally hurt him - he was tiny, so they had to be especially careful around him, but what if one day they aren't? What if they harm him without meaning to? What would father say then?

They do love Lewk, he is their little brother and they would never want to hurt him. But you can tell that they're terrified of that possibility, they stop moving whenever he's around and they're very hesitant about picking him up and hugging him. They much prefer just spending time with him. For example, they know Lewk loves watching them draw, so they always offer him a piece of paper and some crayons so that they can enjoy some bonding time together that puts a safe distance between them.

I definitely think that having this experience helped to deal them with that jealousy. FPK never stopped giving them attention even after Lewk was born, he still very clearly loved them, and having that confirmation meant a lot to them. There was no reason to fight for his attention. They deserved his love, yes, they were deprived of it for so many years. But it was unreasonable of them to expect him to ignore the rest of the family for their sake. It just took them a while to understand that, and in the end it was a good lesson for all of them.

[jamesthedigidestined]

Taikouvember Day 6A: Brave Knowledge

A young Koushirou tensed, readying himself as he spied out from the side of a tree. Gently, slowly, he made his way into the clearing. Careful not to reveal himself until the right moment. He approached his target with as much precision as he could muster before, finally…

“Hah! Gotcha” he says quietly, slamming his net down upon a beetle who could barely care less. It looks up at him with dull, uninterested eyes. Contrasting his own young, bright, curious look.

Koushirou quickly pulls out a notepad and starts to write down the insect’s features, comparing the description to one in an insect hunting guide he brought along.

“Hmmm… Kabutomushi, or *Allomyrina dichotoma*…” He absentmindedly says as he transcribes the name alongside the description of his particular beetle. Soon he’s returned from the folds of his book and back to the insect in front of him, who is currently attempting to escape.

“Oh no you don’t! Get back here!” He commands, attempting to scoop it up with the net to usher it into a glass jar. The small little bug held firm to the log it was on however, and Koushirou had to grab it by the shell and lift it up into the jar himself.

With a sigh of relief that his prey was now secure, Koushirou turned around to reveal his audience.

“Koushirou…? D-did you just touch a bug…?” A slightly older boy and a player on his football team, Yagami Taichi, had looked on, half-obscured behind a tree.

“Of course, they’re harmless,” Koushirou began, walking towards the boy with his filled jar. “Kabutobushi-san’s mouthparts are too small to bite, and they don’t have stingers or pincers. Their carapaces are smooth and cool, so I find them rather nice to touch. Would you like to try petting him?”

Taichi looks over the boy, still a bit worried over the insect, but calmed from his words. He hadn’t known the quiet redhead for more than a month at this point, but he knew he wouldn’t tell a lie.

“Alright,” Taichi stands himself a little taller, puffing out his chest “I will pet Kabutomushi-san!” And with that declaration, Koushirou begins to unscrew the lid of the bottle and waits.

…And waits.

……And waits.

Until…

“I can’t do it!” Taichi blurts out, anxiety written all over his face as he grips his shirt.

“It’s easy Taichi-san, watch me.” Koushirou effortlessly moves his hand into the jar to retrieve his newfound pet, softly stroking the smooth cool carapace.

“See? He doesn’t lash out and he’s not slimy.” Koushirou warmly responds, looking as the tension inside Taichi begins to melt away.

“Alright…” Slowly but surely the young wild-haired boy pets the insect as well. And at this point, said insect is sick of it.

As the hands retreat from his shell he reveals his large wings and begins to fly away, eliciting a yelp from Taichi and a determined look from Koushirou, net back in hand.

“After that beetle!” Koushirou calls, waving his net around at the escaping insect.

“R-right!” Taichi confirms his presence as he runs behind Koushirou, the two of them setting off on the first of what would be many adventures for them.

[sparrow-stunned]

How about Zhongli and Xiao with an immortal (or whatever would be the equivalent of an adeptus in Snezhnaya.) traditional unicorn that serves the Tsarista/Cryo Archon.

Mostly because of this quote from the Last Unicorn:

"I can never regret. I can feel sorrow, but it's not the same thing."

a diamond heart (is not unbreakable) |

yan!zhongli x reader (x xiao)

content warnings: yandere themes, slight references to drugs (but not in the not-sfw way lol). reader discretion is advised.

word count: 1.0k

notes: this prompt really interesting! i will say i was quite stumped on this one because i have no idea what the last unicorn is—bless our wikipedia overlord—but the film premise looks interesting! I just went with whatever came to mind at the quote to be honest, so hopefully it’s up to standard/ xiao seems quite harmless here, not really yandere like i intended at first, but well. sometimes the words write themselves instead. (also this is extremely late, so apologies:'))

“Rex Lapis has welcomed you with open arms,” Xiao hisses, the grip on your arm taut and just shy of dangerous, force strong enough to splinter human bones, “and you return hospitality with daggers and lies?”

His voice is more desperate than threatening, as though he were on the verge of cracking instead. You smile woodenly, not a trace of pain in the expression. “I had my orders from my Tsaritsa. I did what I had to do,” you repeat. The famed adeptal realm is more dim than you thought, you think vaguely, staring up at its artificial skies. Sunny blue, to be sure, but your senses tell you it is mere illusion—a prison, crafted by Rex Lapis after your betrayal.

“Don’t look away!” The gloved hand of your prison guard reaches out for your chin, forces your eyes on him. How fragile the gold in his eyes seem, sparks of frustration tangled with longing. “Why?” he demands. “Why did you try to kill Rex Lapis?”

“It was my mission,” you repeat softly. “Nothing more and nothing less, Xiao. Tell me, if it were between me and Rex Lapis, who would you choose?”

As expected, there is no answer. 

“You see?” you say gently. 

Xiao grits his teeth and flings your arm away from him, as if the contact of skin burned, even through his glove. “Fine,” he mutters. “Have it your way. Stay here forever then.”

His face becomes stony—like Rex Lapis’, when your hand plunged into his heart, searching for that precious, precious gnosis. Perhaps Xiao and Morax were not as different as you initially thought.

What was Zhongli thinking, you muse as you stare at Xiao’s tense shoulders, using such a lost little prison guard. So fragile, you felt the slightest sorrow at his mission—it must torment Xiao, to know that your heart had never moved an inch, despite your times together. The Tsaritsa crafted you from the coldest ice in Snezhnaya, after all. A touch of your horn freezes everything in its path.

You look at your arm dispassionately, wringing it to check for fractures. The lack of such breaks, despite Xiao’s uncontrolled strength, confirms your words: you were never built to melt. To crack, despite what Xiao wants of you—and Zhongli, too.

Zhongli visits you on the third day of your imprisonment. You sit alone, waiting. Xiao flitted away when the earth rumbled, already alerted to the presence of his sovereign. 

He brings a jug of traditionally brewed wine. Sets it on the granite table in front of you, crisp clink as stone meets clay. The scent of osmanthus flowers drifts lazily in the air when he lifts up the lid. 

You regard him with a cool gaze. 

The corner of his eyes lift, a byproduct of the wry smile on his lips. “You’ve stopped pretending,” Zhongli says. “This honest look—it suits you better. Xiao thinks differently, of course, but he is more naive than I, unfortunately.”

“Have you always known?” You settle your palms in your lap, as still as ice.

Zhongli twists his hand—and from thin air comes goblets, vessels used long ago by the archons. The Tsaritsa kept one such cup in her vault, you know. A souvenir from Archon summits long ago. “I had my suspicions,” he admits while pouring the wine into the goblet. It’s effortlessly graceful, the smooth flow of liquid. Zhongli never did anything by half measures. He places the filled goblet in front of you.

“Yet you let me get close enough anyway,” you say quietly, taking a small sip. Floral osmanthus blooms on your tongue, but it’s too sweet. More fruit than osmanthus, you find. How ironic, the mask this wine wears in its scent. “Close enough to thrust my hand through your chest. I didn’t know the blood of the Archons were crimson too. How mortal of you.”

“Gods bleed too,” Zhongli murmurs, eyes half-lidded as he stares at you. Takes a delicate sip, and says, “They feel too, despite what the legends say.”

You think of your Cryo Archon, her too-big heart, wounded and bleeding in her chest. Love kills, she’s taught you. Love hurts. Maybe that’s why she made you, so you could remain unfeeling in her place. “You’re right,” you say. “I’ve forgotten.”

“And when you tried to kill me, did you remember this?” The grip around his wine vessel tightens. 

You don’t flinch. “No.” 

Zhongli laughs humorlessly. “Of course. I am the fool for expecting any less.”

“Will you keep me here forever?” you ask evenly. 

“Not forever,” he says. “Only until…”

“Until I return your affections?”

Zhongli stills. Soft orange irises harden into cor lapis. “I am foolish,” he says, “but not quite that foolish.”

Still, there’s a glimmer of something behind the hardness of his eyes. Want? Anticipation?  Ah, you think, closing your eyes from unexpected fatigue. They feel heavy. The master is as foolish as his disciple. “What did you lace this with?” you finally whisper. It’s a small betrayal compared to yours. Besides, you can’t hurt anyway—not anywhere important, at any rate. 

Zhongli smiles again. “Nothing harmful, I promise.”

“I only have loyalty toward my Tsaritsa,” you say, words melding together from how leaden your tongue feels. There’s a burning sensation in your chest, uncomfortable for you to clutch at it, and oh dear, what is this heat at the corner of your eyes?  

“No matter what,” you gasp, some liquid leaking from your eyes that you don’t understand. It hurts. “I.. I won’t falter. That was how she made me, Zhongli.”

Before the world blacks out, Zhongli’s expressionless face is the last thing you see. His words are the last thing you hear too: “We will see who lasts longer against time, dear heart—yours or mine.”

[marshmallowsqoosh]

[Sleep Token (Band) | Half Blind (WIP)]

I started this a while ago to deal with some life things but... I’m not entirely sure I’m gonna finish it? Anyways, here’s a 2k porn with plot/feels set up that I may or may not finish but I desperately wanted to say thank you to the Sleep Token fandom for being so lovely I’m just a really slow writer and life keeps Life’ing [sob]

Fandom: Sleep Token Title: Half Blind Rating: will eventually be Mature; this is mostly just 16+ CW: Concert shenanigans that lead to sex back at the hotel Lesser Warnings: Altered Physical State (Sleep gives His vessels gifts that cause mutations that they can mostly usually hide; II has multiple limbs and chelicerea (do not google that if you have arachnophobia, it’s a spider’s jaw),  Sleep is chill/supportive, Sleep is an eldritch horror that exists in an alternate plane of existence and manifests as tentacles to His vessels, Vessel is Sleep’s host, Not Beta’d, Incomplete

Summary: This is 2000% just my excuse to write III being a little bit of a brat and Vessel being exasperated with him. (aka my bestest enabler sent me a video of Granite live and III yelling Give it to me! right before the breakdown and it did things to me)

extras. Status: incomplete word count. ~1997

Give it to me!

One of the simplest collection of words. They stick to Vessel for the rest of the performance—well after they've closed out and returned to the hotel. He genuinely wants nothing more than to drag III back to their room—suddenly understands why they doubled up instead of all four of them just sharing a room—but II stops him, making sleepy, half-hearted grabby hands at his back.

"Ves… sleepy kiss." II's barely standing. IV catches him by putting a hand on his shoulder when he sways and Vessel just sighs. It… was a more intense worship than usual. The crowds are growing, the stage is growing but it's still suffocating and hot in the flashing lights and too many bodies in a room.

He doesn't get a chance to confirm he hears the request, though; instead he's fighting down a pleased shudder and moan when III presses up to his back, dragging a hand up from the dip in his back to his shoulders with one hand, while his other arm hangs over Vessel's shoulder, mostly harmless.

Mostly, only because he's using it as an excuse to press his hand flat to Vessel's chest, fingers curling a little and tapping against the exposed flesh.

"Think we all earned sleepy kisses, yeah, Ves?"

He's grateful Sleep manifesting is enough to cover the small moan in his throat; the rift forming on his back always feels weird enough without III being flush against him… and then he just feels weirdly cold when the bassist backs up just enough that two of Sleep's appendages can wriggle out of their plane of existence, eagerly moving around Vessel so He can tap the tip of one tentacle, gently, to II's forehead before trailing down the the side of his face and resting on his cheek. The other one presents to IV, waiting for permission—permission eagerly granted, by IV extending the hand not keeping II steady on his feet—and coiling around the extended arm until the tip can press gently to IV's cheek in the same manner.

You all did so marvelous tonight.

Sleep's voice is always… stronger after performances. It makes Vessel's ears ring and his head pounds a little, like he's knocked back too many shots at once, and he squeezes his eyes shut against the sensation. He feels III's hands resting on his hips, thumbs tracing gentle patterns into his back to distract him without getting closer and trapping Sleep.

My apologies, Vessel. You all must be very tired; please, rest, my devoted. Rest and let your bodies and mind heal in the afterglow of worship.

It's only when he feels a gentle tap of one of Sleep's tentacles against his back that he even realises a third one had been coiled around III the entire time. II nearly falls forward, trying to follow as the tentacle withdraws and IV's turned his hand upright so that the one around his arm drags across his palm in the process of returning to Vessel. They both look pleased and more tired than they did a moment ago.

That extends to you and III, as well, Vessel. I know you wish to lavish your praise unto III, but do not neglect yourself. I would greatly prefer both of you in good health, come morning.

Not for the first time, Vessel finds himself grateful for his mask and keeping his hood drawn up, as he feels a flustered heat spread up from his neck to the tips of his ears and try to move across his cheeks. He manages to catch III by the wrist before he gets too far away, hastily clearing his throat and hoping he doesn't sound like he's in too much of a hurry.

"Sleep extends His wishes for rest once more. We'll see you both in the morning. A word, first, if you don't mind, III."

He can tell the bassist is grinning at his back and can see him waving at the other two as he's pulled along. He doesn't bother looking back to see if II and IV go to their room or even really try to remember how close the rooms are. He knows their room and simply pulls III along until the door clicks shut and locked behind them.

♥

IV blinks, slowly, and lets his attention stray down to II after a long moment of simply standing in the hallway. II sways a little on his feet, clearly already asleep and starting to lose the ability to hide his Gifts from Sleep as he yawns, wide, behind his mask and the chelicerae try to stretch out and puncture through his mask. His robe flutters a little to accommodate the manifestation of more of his arms and that's what finally gets IV to pick him up so they can relocate before they get found out.

"Ves knows we know they're fuckin', right?" Maybe he's just missed something about the pair, but it's always odd that they try to cover up what they're doing when… he's pretty sure everyone knows.

"Let him have this, IV." II slumps over his shoulder, two arms over each shoulder and a third set, along with his legs, curled around the guitarist's torso like he's trying to become a koala. He still sounds pleased and mostly asleep. "It makes Ves feel better and honestly… I think III gets off on it."

That… does actually make sense. It would definitely explain some of his behaviour on stage—not Sugar. They all talked about that before it was officially implemented; but, the… relatively new desire to engage the crowd with what should be innocent enough rallying of the audience. Except everyone else on stage knows he's doing his absolute damnedest to get a rise out of Vessel—between trying to get him to laugh and keep him from being too anxious on stage, III's also taken to being a borderline menace, sometimes.

But, that's quickly the last thing on IV's mind, as he gently kicks the door to his and II's room shut and he realises whoever goes through the process of booking them rooms made a very pointed effort to put a few rooms between them and shuffled Vessel and III off to a corner where they hopefully won't disturb anyone. ... A gratitude sadly short-lived as his entire focus is soon on trying to figure out how he gets out of the trap of II having fallen asleep with a death grip around him and resigning himself, fairly quick, to the fact this is just going to be how he ends up sleeping tonight and trying to find a comfortable way to lie down.

♥

III laughs when Vessel pushes the door shut behind them and barely waits long enough for the man to ensure the door is locked before III pushes him against the door, hands on either side of his neck and fingers tapping a gentle rhythm against his jaw beneath the edge of his mask.

"A word, huh?" He feels a shudder go up his spine when Vessel's fingers slip under the bottom of his mask, pulling the fabric to pull III's face close enough that they're barely centimeters apart. A brush of lips against his just ends in a whine building in his throat as the mask stops him from seeking out more.

"Ves—"

"Patience." Vessel's voice is low. Even pushed against the door, he doesn't buckle under the whining and friction as III tries to get his way by pressing as close as he possibly can. He pulls at III's mask again, gentlylifting it off his head and making sure it's folded into his pocket before he runs his hands back through III's hair, mindful of his rings, even as he knots his fingers in the ends. "You've been… so patient already. Just a bit longer."

III's head tilts a little to follow the hands in his hair—a gentle pull, a pleasant sensation—and swallows, hard, when it exposes his throat. Vessel's mask is cold against flushed skin and he makes a pitched keening noise when he feels teeth graze the hollow of his neck and up over his Adam's apple.

"But—"

"On the bed." Vessel releases him and makes a gesture back towards the bed. It takes III a few seconds to get his bearings, to actually process the order. Vessel waits, patiently, even when III swears he hears the man stifling a laugh as the bassist nearly trips over himself in his attempt to turn and navigate the room. He starts to turn again, so he can sit, and ends up freezing when Vessel's suddenly at his back, breath warm on his neck and eliciting another shudder of anticipation. "Lie on your front for me."

He doesn't… really have a reason to argue. A selfish one, perhaps; but, not… really. He might be able to turn over later, so for now he simply obeys and carefully toes his shoes off without untying them—nudging them under the bed in the process—and crawls onto the bed, trying to center himself, and pulls a pillow under his chest as he lies down. Low enough he can kick his feet, a little, off the end of the bed. His attention perks a little bit when he sees Vessel set his mask on the room's desk and his robe is laid across its chair. The gentle clink of all of his necklaces being taken off and set on the desk, as well, is almost enough to lull III to sleep. Always something soothing watching Vessel shed his clothes, like peeling away the layers he used to hide himself from people, even when it was something as simple as his boots or jewelry.

Almost enough. He's alert again, the second Vessel crawls onto the bed over him, leaning down to kiss his shoulders and neck. III manages to reach back, fingers curling into Vessel's hair to hold him in place, a quiet moan escaping as he resists the urge to arch up into the singer's body.

"Ffffuck… c'mon, Ves. Said yourself I been patient, yeah? C'mon… give it to me." The words come out in a purr, still hopeful he'll get his way.

"You have been remarkably patient." Vessel's hand slips around III's neck, fingers curling gently to pull his head up and back, thumb pushing at his jaw, just enough to turn his head for a kiss without their masks in the way. A gentle kiss… that ends in Vessel biting at his lower lip—still gentle, but enough to jump all of III's senses—his voice lower than before. "And an absolute menace."

Okay, III might have been a little provocative on stage. On purpose. More than usual. Even during Sugar he may have dragged Vessel's hips against his a bit harder than they normally were, desperate for even a little bit of attention that he hasn't been able to get the past few nights.

Needy.

Vessel releases him and pries, carefully, at III's hand so he releases Vessel, too, and pushes his hand flat to the bed. Both of Vessel's cover III's and he carefully rearranges himself so he's sitting across the small of III's back, pushing him into the mattress and pinning him there, in the process. III whines, desperately, and just does his best not to squirm and draw this out more than he knows it's going to be. A difficult enough task with how much he wants Vessel on a normal day… a few days of nothing but the touches on stage and just being able to feel Vessel's arousal through his jeans, just above III's waistband…

He manages to twist his fingers with Vessel's, the way his hands are covered, and tries to breathe a little slower, a little deeper, to keep from begging. He might be regretting letting his feet dangle, now that he can't get purchase to try wriggling himself free—well. He could. But it'd be easier if he were on the bed proper.

[iamsherlocked-1998]

Broken Branches

A classic night in the woods this time of year...

Words: 1247

Warning: Violence, description of wounds and blood, some body horror? monster sex, dubious consent at first.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Things were going bad, really bad, like when you watch something spiraling terrifyingly towards the ground without remedy. Pike never had much luck, but always tried to look forward in the most positive way possible. He had led a quiet life since moved to the capital, but everything changed the day when, exceptionally, another section of the FBI office asked him for help in a theoretically simple and harmless interrogation, but that man without prior warning increased his aggressiveness and he received blows in addition to a bite. He had all kinds of tests done that confirmed that was healthy but then the symptoms came.

They started on a small scale, he was hungrier than usual, had greater physical resistance, in general his body was... changing. One night he felt unconscious and woke up in his bed naked and covered in scratches. The limit came when next to him found blood belonging to a half-eaten rabbit. His head was exploding.

He tried everything, but the therapy did not work, the phenomenon repeated itself and the recordings he made turned out to be blurry, the only solution was to tie himself periodically every month, he seemed to find some control in the madness.

In the same time began to meet a companion, the woman was charming and intelligent and she lit up when saw him, which was a great relief after the feelings that Lisbon's rejection caused him months ago. His chance at a normal life became clearer when a retreat to the forest courtesy of the government agency where they would share a cabin was announced.

He was happy, prepared everything for that weekend, but when he saw her everything changed, his senses were sharper, the girl smelled so good...

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

Seeing Marcus you approached with a smile and hugged him, you were grateful that he was assigned the same cabin as you. Pike was one of the most charming people you knew and never ignored your contributions like many of your other peers, the man really listened to you.

The hours passed peacefully between a bit of hiking and watching a movie on the comfortable sofa. The other agents went to have a drink near the lake but you and Pike stayed. Your friend seemed uneasy and distant, like he didn't fit into his own skin, but you chalked it up to exhaustion from the last few cases and the fact that you'd been half-heartedly flirting for months, maybe he was nervous. Even so, your hands frequently rested on his knee or reached for his hand, after hours you became discouraged.

You ended up falling asleep, when woke up the only lighting was the moon and a small lamp, the movie playing ended hours ago leaving a black screen. Marcus wasn't there, you called out to him but received silence in response. Then you heard footsteps from the rooms, but they weren't human, you froze, feared the intruder heard you, panicked when a growl joined the night crickets.

You left the cabin with the intention of taking shelter in the nearest bungalow, it was midnight and your friends would have already returned. A tree branch snapped right behind and you ran, feeling your own heartbeat in ears.

You were not fast enough and that being progressively got closer until you were knocked onto your back. You tried to scream but your voice swirled in the throat and then saw it. It was a kind of canid, with pointed teeth and enormous claws.

You really thought your time had come, the monstrous animal clung to you and was aggressive, receiving a scratch near the back of your neck. You sobbed pitifully when the creature looked at you, its eyes were amber but very familiar, you slowly looked away until you saw a gold bead on a string held barely by its claw.

A tear spilled down your cheek, it was the commemorative bracelet you gave Marcus for his anniversary in the capital. For that reason Pike didn't answer you, the beast caught him first. Then that being reacted to your cries, it stopped growling and seemed to become smaller, as if it were suddenly docile. You brought hand up to its ear in a show of bravery or stupidity, caressing the skin there. At the gesture the wolf sniffed the area of your chest, going down to stomach and licking gently in the process.

In your heart you knew, that thing didn't attack your partner, he was Marcus. You couldn't understand anything but it was the same feeling as when the man brushed your shoulder with his hand, waving as he passed on the way to office.

The creature's behavior changed, making a clicking sound with its tongue, roughly touching each area of your body. The animal's paw was placed between your legs, insistently rubbing your center. After a while you couldn't resist, the fabric of your baggy pants was thin and weren't wearing underwear for comfort, terror turned into excitement and you were getting wetter, moaning as the seams got tangled in your bundle of Nerves swollen from the rough movements of touch.

This encouraged the monster, he positioned so that you were facing the ground, you put your elbows to avoid hurting yourself, he raised your hips and ripped the pants with ease, making you feel the breeze on bare skin, the being gave a snort at the sight. His chest stuck to your back, covering you completely. You bit your lower lip as felt the hardness of him rub against your center until he entered you completely.

The grunts followed one another uncontrollably as you heard the wet sound of the thrusts, his manhood seemed to grow inside you, anxiety returned to you feeling the creature attack wildly, you really considered that it was going to split you in two. In the next few minutes you didn't even breathe, noticed the grass when you placed forehead on the ground.

You screamed as he spilled large amounts inside but the strength of his grip didn't waver. After a while the creature separated and settled on itself, while it trembled caressed its back until you succumbed to exhaustion, your whole body hurt and were sure that would not be able to walk well, your head rested on the fur of the beast as the night came to an end.

………………………………………………….

Marcus slowly came out of the drowsiness of sleep, you had your head resting on his side, everything was surrounded by trees and leaves. He tried to remember the previous night through the episode of mental confusion. He truly considered that everything would be fine, the moon was not yet full but he did not take into account that, like all animals, there was a season of heat. His solo sessions to seek relief were more intense at this time of the month, when the transformation had not yet taken place but it was not far away, that and your presence was intoxicating. He examined you carefully and gasped when saw the scratch marks and multiple bruises on your skin. Despite that, you had hugged him to calm in the post-sex haze.

He nervously woke you up, he held your face asking if you were okay or needed a doctor, but when you reacted you just looked into his big, haunted brown eyes with a smile.

“I'm more than fine.”

🎃 Happy halloween! @harmonity-vibes

[annestie]

Revenge

Summary: Ao'nung offers his help along with an apology. Neteyam takes the opportunity for his own revenge

Pairing: Pre-relationship Ao'nung x Neteyam

Word Count: 757

Notes: For Day 12: Malice of @bellakotzent Valentine's Week Challenge.

I got the idea of Neteyam seeking revenge but in a way that wouldn't get him in trouble and just ran with it. This is probably one of my favorite ones I've written for this challenge. Also woo! Finally one where I didn't age-up the characters lmao.

Neteyam looks to Ao’nung, a confused expression falling over his face. “You want what?” he questions.

“I want to apologize. I spoke with your siblings and what I did was not right. I am sorry,” Ao’nung says, sounding genuine.

“Why should I believe any word you say?” Neteyam asks in return, crossing his arms.

“Lo’ak said we were even, and we talked. I promise. He also called me ‘bro’.”

“And that should make me believe you?”

“Well, talk with them if you wish. I have a reason for coming to you.”

“Which is?”

“Is there anything I could repay you with for what I have done?”

“Anything?” Neteyam confirms, ideas already forming in his head as he looks at Ao’nung.

The first thing that Neteyam thinks of is, of course, lessons and chores he either needs help with or must be done soon. But then, the idea of some harmless revenge gets into his head. He’s not a revenge seeking person, especially at those who could compromise the safety of his family, though the idea of getting back at Ao’nung without any consequences makes him giddy.

Which is why Neteyam is now waiting for Ao’nung to show up beside the forest. Not only were they to spend the day climbing trees, they’re starting early in the morning. Just after the eclipse ends, the sun not even lighting up the sky yet.

Ao’nung shows up soon after. He groggy and half-awake, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “So what did you need with?” Ao’nung asks through a yawn.

“I need help with collecting some fruit,” Neteyam explains, trying to act as unsuspecting as possible.

“Seems easy enough. I see you already have a basket, so where do we begin?” Ao’nung asks. He glances around the outside of the forest.

“Actually, the fruit I need only grows at the top of the trees,” Neteyam says, pointing to the treetops of the mangroves.

If Ao’nung wasn’t awake, he was now. His eyes practically bulge out of his head and it takes everything in Neteyam not to start laughing at his expression. “What? That tree?!” Ao’nung says, looking up in horror at said tree.

“Not that specific one but one like it, yes.”

A beat passes between the two of them before Ao’nung slowly turns to Neteyam, defeated. “Alright,” he says resigned. “Which one?”

Neteyam immediately leads Ao’nung into the forest. He looks around, searching for the right one as he hadn’t the chance to really choose one yet. Though, he’s surrounded by them so it’s not hard.

He ends up choosing a tree after a few minutes of walking. The tree is tall, obviously; is an easy climb for Neteyam, but not easy enough that Ao’nung could do it effortlessly; and has no fruit on it. Plus, the ground is cushioned with other plants to break any falls. It’s perfect.

“This one,” Neteyam announces, already hooking his basket onto his arm and beginning to pull himself up one of the roots.

“This one?” Ao’nung questions. “Really?”

“Yes,” Neteyam says. “Now come, we do not have all day.”

The climb isn’t hard but the way Ao’nung goes about it doesn’t makes it look so. His posture is wrong and only makes everything more difficult, not that Neteyam tells him that. And the way he goes about traversing between branches makes Neteyam want to cringe.

Surprisingly, Ao’nung only falls five times in total. All in the beginning and all cushioned by the soft foliage below as Neteyam had predicted.

After many hours, they finally reach the top. Neteyam’s sure he could have done it in much less time if he hadn’t needed to wait for Ao’nung. At the top, as expected, there is nothing besides a good view of the ocean.

“Where is the fruit?” Ao’nung questions, looking around. He grips tightly to the branches around him.

“I guess this tree does not fruit in this season,” Neteyam responds, glancing over to Ao’nung.

“So we spent the entire day climbing for nothing?” Ao’nung says, sweat dripping down his face as he pants.

“Not for nothing. I thought watching you fall was amusing,” Neteyam replies.

The realization on Ao’nung’s face is instant. “You…” he beings, but his words fall short.

“You said anything,” Neteyam replies with a smirk.

“You knew? It is past midday already! I could have died!”

“I would not have let you die. Besides, you almost got Lo’ak killed.”

“Is this your idea of revenge?”

“Pretty much.”

“I would have preferred you just punching me in the face!”

[neteyamxme]

Home (NeteyamxOC) (part 1)

Warning: English is not my first language. I apologise for incorrect grammars.

Summary: Enid, a teenage human who have lived alone ever since her parents were killed by the Na'vi people when she was 8 years old living in a forest near the Awa’atlu village. She was on her own and solving the biggest mystery in her home when an Omaticaya boy, Neteyam, bugged her life.

“Who are you?” I asked bravely after watching the Omaticayan na’vi entered my territory inside the nearest forest of the Awa’atlu village. No Metkayinan ever entered that forest because they know nothing of that kind of place and they were never fond of lands.

I was facing behind him with a bow aiming at him. He could feel that weapon even from far away so he did not dare to move. “You’re one of the sky people.” He announced, quite certain.

“I said, who are you?” I repeated, this time I was more intense and eager at releasing the poisonous arrow across his head.

He slowly raised his hands on his head and carefully turned to see me, in return, I grasped my arrow tightly, ready to shoot at any moment. "I'm Neteyam."

"Go back. You can't be here."

"This is a forest, I'm an Omaticayan, this is my home."

My eyebrows arched in annoyance. "Well, not this one. Go back or this arrow will go through your skull." I moved forward unhesitatingly to show him that I'm not afraid of doing what I said. He stepped back, fear on his face.

"Look, I just miss my home, okay?" he started explaining as he lowered his hands. "I've been in the ocean for too long and I just want to somehow enjoy the home I used to call. They told me this place is very dangerous and I've been ordered to never come here. But I want to see myself."

I studied him and when I confirmed that he's just a mindless na'vi, I drew back my bow and hung it behind my back. "You should have listened to them. This is no place for any Na'vi."

Confusion flustered on his face. "Then why do you live here? This world is even more dangerous for you"

Suddenly, a rasp sound occured somewhere behind the trees. I got tensed and kept a keen eye around me, forgetting about the na'vi in front of me.

Neteyam chuckled at my reaction. "It's probably just some wild harmless animal. If you live in this forest, you should now."

I ignored him and focused on the rasping sound nearly coming to our place. "Skawng" I hissed.

He was about to protest again and probably insult more when the sound became louder and nearer, his ears twitched. Suddenly, fear crossed his face as if the sound wasn't familiar.

I started locating the sound. Even though I'm a human, I've developed and practice my hearing to become sharp. Because I've been all alone in my life, I had to train myself to adapt and be wary of this dangerous world, for me at least.

The rasping stopped. But I knew that something terrible is gonna happen. And with a blink of an eye, two black angry forest animal came to attack the both of us. They were almost as big as the Na'vi in front of me.

While the animal was still on the air when it jumped, I released my arrow and it hit its arm. It fell down to the ground but didn't affect it, rather, it became angrier, growling, and charging at me. When it started running again towards me, I readied my bow and aimed straight at its head until it fell down and died.

On the other hand, since Neteyam was unprepared and weaponless, the animal almost knocked him down but he blocked it and threw it with all his strength against a tree. Unfortunately, he got scratch on his chest. He hissed in pain.

Neteyam was about to prepare himself from the next attack of the animal but he suddenly lost balance of himself and almost fell down.

"Shit." i murmured when I saw the wound on his bare chest with two scratches directly from the claw of the animal.

I didn't waste any second and before the animal even make its move, I prepared my bow and hit it right through its head which immediately died.

"You stupid fuck." I said then run to the na'vi. He was bleeding, but it's not the mere wound I was worrying about.

"It's fine, it's just some scratch." He said with a faint smile but his face is starting to get pale. "I can just go home and... and." he didn't finish his statement because he fell down to the ground, very unconscious and ill.