#but thankfully i woke up just as angry

[joelslastofus]

[SUMMARY: Joel acts like he doesn’t like you until he comes across your rapist.]

TW: MENTION OF RAPE. Angst

“What did he do?” His voice was low, eerie like, suddenly he looked angry as you stood still before him.

Ever since Tess had died Joel became more unbearable to deal with. The two of you had only known each other a couple months before she passed away but never got close to one another, if anything Joel acted like he didn’t like having you around. He barely held any conversations with you unless it involved a plan he needed you to be on the same page with him about. Silently he’d share food with you but that was pretty much as far as he’d go.

“Get up, we’re gonna keep moving today” Joel woke you up out of your sleep gathering his belongings as you sighed.

“I thought you said we’d stay here for two nights-“

“Plans changed. We’re leaving soon” you groaned as you got on your feet and began to pack. This journey to Marlene seemed a lot longer than you thought it would be.

“Are you sure Marlene even has what you want?” You asked with a sigh. He didn’t respond instead handing you your weapon so you could follow him out.

Walking with Joel through the woods your foot accidentally slid down a rock making you gasp loudly. Joel quickly turned with his knife ready to attack only to find you straightening your shirt.

“I slipped” he didn’t respond only looking irritated and turned back to continue walking. You didn’t understand why Joel always seemed so bothered by you, had he not promised Tess that he’d look after you, he wouldn’t have stuck around with you. Tess never shared to him the true reason why she wanted him to care for you but when you first met her you had confided in her the brutal things that you overcame. One of them being that you were held captive for a couple months by a group not far out, one of the men in their group being your rapist, you were always afraid to come across this man again. Little did Tess know, this very same man was running things alongside Marlene.

“Joel, have I done something to upset you at any point?” You asked trying to keep up with him.

“No” he responded without looking your way.

“So what’s your issue?”

“I don’t have a damn issue, now let’s keep moving” you gave up at that point not saying a word. Joel truly didn’t have a specific issue with you, he just chose to not allow himself to get close to anyone ever again, he had lost too much.

Finally making it to Marlene’s you followed behind Joel walking in. You had no idea whom Marlene was or anything about the place but being with Joel you just did as he said. Standing beside him a few feet away you were introduced to Marlene. She seemed like a woman who was strictly about business, she spoke to him of the car she had promised.

Of course, tomorrow it would be ready.

You didn’t speak during their conversation, not thinking much of anything until the door opened and a man walked in. Instantly your heart sunk, your stomach turned as the man stood by Marlene confidently before noticing you.

“This is my right hand man, he does what I say, when I say and can always be counted on” Marlene introduced the man beside her, you found yourself unable to speak. You knew who this man was, how could you not?

Edward….you’d never forget his name, one year ago this man made your life a living hell. Your throat felt like it was closing up, your heart racing-

“Look who it is” Edward grinned towards you making Marlene raise a brow at you. Joel turned to you as you looked down taking a deep breath.

“Small world” Marlene muttered but Joel noticed something off with your reaction.

“Anyways, Joel” Marlene got his attention explaining what would happen.

“Tomorrow before the evening I should have a car for you, for now you two can stay in a room I have prepped” Joel didn’t like the idea of staying an extra day but silently nodded and took the offer. Thankfully Edward and Marlene left the room before someone else led you to the room you would both stay in. Your heart felt like it would come out your chest but you couldn’t find it in you to speak. Joel walked ahead of you opening the door to the room. You stood by the door closing it behind you watching as he placed his backpack on the bed without looking back. Your body felt as if it would collapse any moment, you couldn’t stay here, you couldn’t be around Edward yet you knew you couldn’t say a thing.

That night Joel noticed you seemed a bit fidgety but he didn’t say a word. He lay back on his bed and watched as you double checked the locks on the door twice before laying down.

“You know we’re safe here right?” You looked up not noticing Joel had been watching you.

“Y-yeah” you nodded before turning over and facing the wall. That night you didn’t sleep, if anything you hoped Joel would sleep so he wouldn’t hear you crying in the middle of the night. Of course that didn’t work, at one point Joel opened his eyes thinking he was hearing something but he couldn’t make out what it was until he looked over and noticed you seemed like you were trembling. Quickly he sat up unsure of what to do, slowly he got up from the bed and noticed you were whimpering in your sleep. He didn’t know what the hell to do, he’d never seen you like this before but he knew damn well what it felt like. Delicately he placed his hand on your shoulder and tried to wake you.

“Hey” you continued to whimper but wouldn’t open your eyes. Joel cleared his throat and leaned in closer to you prepared for you to be startled.

“Hey wake up” he shook you a little harder making your eyes quickly open. You gasped unaware who was near you, unaware that you had even been dreaming, raising your hand ready to hit whoever it was Joel caught your wrist in mid air.

“Easy, honey”

You looked up at him confused, you hadn’t even realized you fell asleep now here was Joel looking down at you with concern. Once he was sure that you knew it was him, he released your arm as you tried to catch your breath.

“I’m sorry” you whispered.

“It’s alright, just havin’ a bad dream is all” he looked at you for a moment curious to ask you what was it that made you so upset but didn’t say a word.

“I’m right here if you need me” he motioned towards the bed on the other side of the room. You quietly nodded and watched as he got back into bed. Turning away from him you could feel the embarrassment from what had just happened yet you were surpsied by how gentle he handled it. It was a new side you both had seen of each other.

The next day you did your best to stay clear from wherever Eduardo could be, and so you decided to stay in the room.

Just one more day of this, one day and you’d be gone. Joel explained to you that he would be going over something with Marlene leaving you by yourself. You assured him it was fine and sat on the bed reading a book you always carried around after making sure the door was locked. Sometime had passed when you heard the door unlock and you figured it was Joel. Laying comfortably facing the wall you flipped the page hearing the door close behind you.

“What happened with Marlene?” You asked when you felt the touch of a hand on your arm making you turn to see it was the very person you had been trying to avoid.

Edward

Quickly you jumped up, your back against the wall as he smirked at your reaction.

“It’s been a while” you couldn’t speak, you couldn’t believe he was right in front of you.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost” he chuckled placing his hand on your thigh. If you could move any further away you would’ve, he could see how anxious he made you.

“Relax, sweetheart I’m not gonna do anything” he licked his bottom lip pushing his hand further up your thigh.

“I just wanted to say hi to an old friend”

He leaned in and kissed your cheek as you tried to turn away.

“It’s a shame you’re leaving tomorrow, thought we could’ve had some fun” he laughed walking back out of the room and closed the door shut.

In shock you sat there with disgust, the simple touch or his hand on your thigh making you sick to your stomach.

You couldn’t do this, you didn’t care about a damn car no matter how badly you both needed it. Quickly you got up running to the door locking it shut once again afraid he would return.

Where the hell was Joel…all you wanted to do was leave.

After what felt like forever you finally heard the door begin to unlock, your heart jumping at the sound.

“Joel?” You called out worriedly to see his face as soon as the door opened.

“Yeah, it’s me” he walked past you not noticing the panic attack you were feeling in that moment.

You watched as he fold a paper and placed it in his backpack, a knot in your throat you struggled to speak.

“Joel” you finally were able to utter a word in a soft whisper. Going through his backpack he didn’t respond not having heard your voice. You struggled to speak again, stomach turning just at the thought of your rapist knowing where you were…the fact that he came to you when you were alone..

“Joel” you spoke a little louder where he was able to hear you.

“Yea” he responded as he zipped up his bag.

“Joel…I can’t stay here another night” you blurt out.

“What?” He asked confused with your statement still not looking back.

“We’re fine here, it’s just till the afternoon’” he assured you making your panic rise.

“No, I…Joel I can’t stay here” he noticed how your voice trembled and slowly turned to you. His eyebrows furrowed once he noticed the worry in your eyes.

“What’s the matter?” He stood straight fully facing you.

“Can we just go?” You didn’t want to give the reason, you didn’t want to speak of it.

“We’re getting the car tomorrow, its just one more night-“

“Joel please” you whispered taking a deep breath making him take a step closer. He stood silent, he could tell something had terrified you.

“Somethin’ happen while I was gone?” He asked making you quickly shake your head.

“No, no just please-“ you began to hyperventilate.

“I can’t, I can’t-“ you struggled to breathe when someone knocking on the door made you run into Joels arms. Confused he looked down at you slowly placing his hands on your back sensing the true horror you felt.

“Hey, hey it’s alright, it’s alright” he whispered feeling you shake in his arms. It was like the night before, all over again only this time something in your waking life was scaring the shit out of you. The sound of another knock making you grab onto his shirt.

“Give me a minute!” He called out feeling you hide your face against his chest.

“Hey” he whispered low looking down at you but before he could say another word Edwards voice heightened your fear.

“It’s me, Edward” your eyes widened as you silently began to shake your head.

“What is it, darlin’?” Your panic not allowing you to realize the softness Joel had in his voice with concern over you. The door suddenly opening sending you rushing behind Joel.

Edward appeared at the door.

“I was just making sure you guys had what you needed” a smile Joel didn’t trust appeared on his lips as he leaned over to get a peak at you. You felt Joel’s hand reach behind you holding you against him.

Edward could see the defensive look in Joel’s eyes and wondered if you had told him anything.

“What’s wrong with her?” He asked testing what he would say.

“I got her” is all Joel responded with as Edward looked at him curiously. Not saying another word Edward took a step back giving Joel a nod before leaving the room. Joel waited until he disappeared from his site before giving your thigh a tap behind him.

“He’s gone” he assured you making you slowly peak over his shoulder to see the empty hallway that led to the room. Quickly you ran to the door shutting it closed and locking it with each lock it had.

“We need to get our stuff and get out of here now” you ran to grab your bag and his before he tried to stop you.

“Wait a minute, wait-“ he grabbed you by your arms stopping you before you grabbed anything else. Joel was struggling to understand what exactly had you so afraid of this man.

“Joel, we need to go-“

“Talk to me for a minute”

“No! There’s nothing to talk about, I am not staying here!” You screamed trying to break free from his hold.

“What the hell did he do to you?!”

“Nothing!” You tried to shake his hands off you once more but failed.

“We can’t leave without that car, we need that car if we wanna make it-“

“I don’t care! I’m not staying here with him!”

“He’s not gonna do anything to you, darlin’ I promise you that-“ you shook your head in frustration that he wasn’t understanding.

“He won’t lay a finger on you-“

“He already has!” You suddenly blurt out silencing Joel. An intense look in his eyes as he took a deep breath looking down at you.

“What did he do?” His voice was low, eerie like, suddenly he looked angry as you stood still before him.

“It was long ago” you whispered.

“Doesn’t matter” he quickly responded.

“I had told Tess, I never thought I would see him again….it was a year ago…I had nowhere to go and he said he would help me. He’s the man who raped me.” you looked down as a tear rolled down your cheek.

“Did he come in here while I was gone?” He leaned in closer. You looked up and hesitantly nodded when he abruptly walked out past you charging down the hall.

“Joel!” You called out for him trying to keep up but all Joel could see was red.

“What are you doing?!” You yelled as he kicked the door open where Marlene and Edward both were. Without warning he yanked up Edward by his collar throwing him against the wall as Marlene stood up.

“Joel what the hell are you doing?”

“Stay out of this” he looked at her with a look you had never seen and grabbed Edward once again as he struggled to get on his feet.

“Whatever she said she’s a lying bitch!” He tried to poorly defend himself causing Joel to punch him repeatedly. In shock you stood in the doorway watching it all play out, Joel had lost complete control until Edward was a bloody mess.

“Oh my god-“ you whispered.

Joel stood up and walked towards Marlene who backed up not knowing what he would do.

“Give me the fucking keys” he spoke out of breath. Not even trying to fight him she opened the drawer and tossed him the car keys before he looked back at Eduardo.

“Should be more careful of who you have workin’ for ya. Got a rapist on your hands” Joel walked out of the room without looking at you in the eye, taking your hand he led you out.

In disbelief you walked alongside him trying to keep up, at one point looking behind you.

He still wouldn’t say a word.

Joel opened the car door for you and quickly got in the drivers seat before driving off.

Speeding down the road he didn’t take his eyes off it before abruptly pulling over. You could see him though the corner of your eye turning his body fully toward you, you didn’t know what to expect.

“You don’t ever keep somethin’ like that from me again. We clear?” You nodded in silence looking down at your lap.

“We would’ve never stayed there for even one night had I know what he done to you. You ever feel unsafe again I need ya to tell me and you tell me right away”

“Yes Joel” you whispered.

Turning back towads the road he pulled off feeling he came off kind of harsh towards you which wasn’t what he wanted. Unexpectedly you felt him place his hand on your lap bringing you a sense of calmness. He slowly entangled his fingers with yours without looking your way, you had no idea what this meant but one thing was for sure..

Joel made you feel safe.

[theundercoversquid]

All night

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x Reader

Summary: Charles is worried about his car and you

Warnings: Fluff!

A/n: yes I know that it doesn’t work like this! But humour me.

A/N2: This may or may not have been sat in my drafts since Feb 24 2022...

Masterlist

Charles was an idiot. That much everybody could agree on. A lovely idiot. But an idiot nonetheless.

"I'm so sorry." Charles apologised again. His voice was small and sheepish as he looked at your unimpressed face. His arms were resting on the tail of his car.

"I'm not angry at you." You assured him. Your hands were on your hips as you stared at his car.

"Do you think you will be done in time?" Charles asked. His voice small and worried.

"I will." You assured him your voice filled with confidence you didn't feel. But Charles didn't need to know that.

"Really?" Charles asked. His face lit up like a kid on Christmas. And that face was the reason you would be pulling an all-nighter on the off chance it would let you fix his car in time.

"Really." You nodded, determination filling you. "But you should probably go back to the hotel.

"I'll wait for you," Charles told you.

"No, you won't." You told him. "You need to have a good night's sleep for when you race tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Charles asked you unsurely.

"Of course." You assured him. "Now, the sooner you go, the sooner I can get started, and the sooner I can be finished."

"Thank you so much," Charles grinned. Kissing you on the cheek before he whizzed out to tell everybody he could race.

Taking a deep breath, you put your headphones on. Putting your favourite playlist on shuffle, you got to work.

Charles bounded into the Ferrari garage. He hadn't seen you since last night when you promised him you could fix his car.

Charles hadn't seen you at breakfast, so he just assumed that you had headed in early.

But as Charles walked in, he could see his Ferrari looking brand new. And you were nowhere to be seen.

Charles spotted a post-it note stuck to the car, taking a tentative step forward. Gently pulling it off, Charles recognised your handwriting.

'All done! She's ready for your race x.' Charles read. Grinning to himself, he picked the note and searched for you.

But Charles couldn't find you anywhere. And no one had seen you. However, they were singing your praises for fixing his car. Frederic Vasseur had even gone to sing your praises to the rest of the world. Happily dropping the bombshell that Charles would still be racing, much to everybody else’s dismay.

Eventually, Charles had to give up on his search for you and retreated to his driver's room.

Opening the door, Charles swung his bag around to throw it on the sofa. Thankfully he caught himself in time as he spotted your prone figure curled up on his sofa.

Dropping his bag to the floor, Charles pulled his hoodie out. Laying it over your asleep body, he placed a gentle kiss on your cheek. Murmuring a quiet thank you.

Charles then left the room to warn everybody where you were. And unsurprisingly, no one suggested waking you up. After all that you had done, people didn't mind. After looking at the timings of some of the data logs, they were glad you were catching up on some sleep.

When Charles told Vasseur, all he did was shrug. Say that you probably needed it, and he would send you back to the hotel to sleep in a proper bed when you woke up.

And you did emerge not five minutes later. The hustle and bustle of the Ferrari garage coming to life, waking you up.

When you appeared at the entrance to the Ferrari garage, everybody burst into applause. You just looked slightly startled. Your hair slightly messed up from sleep and Charles's hoodie dwarfing you.

"Am I late?" You asked, horrified. "I could have sworn I only closed my eyes for five minutes."

"Your not late, mon amour," Charles assured you as he sidled up to you. "We are cheering you on for fixing my car."

"That was nothing," you waved them off. Embarrassed as your cheeks went a shade of red to envy the car you had given your night up for.

"It's not nothing," Charles told you. "It's everything. Because of you, I can compete in the grand prix."

"He's right," Vasseur told you from where he had appeared. "Now go back to the hotel and sleep."

"Yes, sir." You nodded to Vasseur. Knowing better the to argue. Especially as you could feel a yawn clawing its way up your throat.

Turning, you retreated to grab your stuff from Charles's driver's room.

"Sorry for falling asleep in your driver's room." You apologised.

"Don't worry, mon amour." Charles assured you. "I'm sure you needed the sleep." Gently tucking a strand of hair behind your ear Charles smiled down at you. "Thank you so much for fixing my car," Charles said. His voice was a reverent whisper as he placed a feather-light kiss on your cheek. "Now go back to your hotel and get some sleep. Charles ordered gently.

Nodding, you bashfully smiled up at him before retreating out of the garage once again, with everybody cheering you and congratulating you as you left.

[jinkiezzsstuff]

Met the Devil 2

lucifer x human!reader

sorry this took forever it’s been hectic i guess im in my fanfic writer era of madness happening and mentioning it in the a/n (im joking… unless) anyways lads hopefully this is okay womp womp

Part [1]

Based on devilish folklore and wives tales so lucifer may be ooc!

Warnings: BODYHORROR; DESCRIPTIONS OF TEETH FALLING OUT. Mentions of blood, reader dies a goofy ahh death, lucifer being an unsure wreck, and he’s got no game, reader is perpetually confused, inaccurate descriptions of religion, swearing, not proof read and i don’t entirely know where i’m going with this teehee lmk whatcha think xxx

word count: 3.1K

Three months, it had been three exhausting months since the incident with Lucifer. As if there was some devine intervention, everything seemed to fall at your feet working out for you, while also simultaneously sucking. Career wise, you were doing much better, after working for Marie and watching her house keeping it exactly how she wished, excluding the devil you had intercourse with, she put in a word for you at her and her husbands church, which you ended up getting.

Although not a very important role, it paid well. You were mostly in charge of cleanliness, cleaning the areas in the front where children played, keeping the holy fountain fresh, sweeping the pews and repairing any unbinded bibles. However the staff weren’t particularly fond of you, the nuns avoided you like the plague, and the priest gave you glares. Thankfully you rarely interacted with them if at all.

However, while your career was better than before, your physical health wasn’t. Things tanked once you slept with the devil. It started slow, noticing hues appear in your skin that you hadn’t before. Despite the various skin, and blood tests, and the general run down of different illnesses that cause changing pigmentation, there was no evidence to prove anything was truly wrong, just random hues of pinks, purples and blues showing up like you were some corpse.

The second minuet thing to change was your nails, at first you foolishly wondered if your calcium intake increased causing the thickness in your nails to double, but you quickly scrapped that al when your nails grew more rapidly. You really hadn’t changed much diet wise for that to be true, odd as it was it wasn’t something you hated.

The worst of it was teeth. One night you woke to a horrific splitting headache, it wasn’t just one part of your head either. The pain seared through your jaw, down your neck, up your face through your cheeks and in the back of your eyes all the way to the tip top of your head. You walked half asleep half dazed from pain to the bathroom, once the light blinded you and you got woken up a bit was when your brain registered the feeling.

Your mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood as you tuned into the sound of tapping in your mouth as the loose teeth collided. When you threw yourself over your sink spitting continuously, you immediately began to cry feeling your empty gums with your tongue, and the worst part was it seemed you had swallowed some too as the amount in the sink didn’t amount to how much was missing.

That night you must’ve passed out because you were woken up by your angry family member shouting at you to hurry. The strangest thing was, however you awoke with teeth, sharp as razors, and the porcelain sink that was never cleared of blood or teeth was now cleaned.

Since your teeth, you managed to not lose nor gain any other strange things, and the only people who didn’t seem to look past these oddities were the people who attended the church or worked at it. It was like they could tell you slept with Lucifer, something in their eyes always felt so intense and aware even if they’d never spoken to you before. The strangeness didn’t end with your appearance or career.

You had weird dreams you couldn’t explain, it felt so real but once awake you could only remember how you felt about the dream. You had close interactions with certain animals, like ducks, goats, crows, and insects as well. It was like they sought you out no matter where you were, people would give you looks when you started greeting the goat like an old friend.

So,now three months after Lucifer, you changed a lot. You know it’s because of him, you just can’t figure out why, but soon you’ll know. Walking into your work place on your day off, everybody’s least favourite thing to do, but it had to be done. You saw the father reading a bible off to the side of the room, and so you approached. He gave you a stern look, and you could tell by his stiff and shifty body language he wasn’t too happy with your presence, antsy to see what it is you wanted.

“Good afternoon father, how’re you?” You start, standing in a way you perfected prior to attempt to seem unthreatening. The priest hummed closing his bible to pay attention to you. “Good child, good. How’re you, is there something i could aid you in?” Straight to the point, mentally you cheered happy you didn’t have to waltz around small talk for fifteen minutes.

“Well i’m alright father, thank you. I was actually wondering about, um, the devil?” The priest's head lulls back slightly eyebrows raised as his mouth opens with a silent o. “Is there temptation in your life?” You shifted on your feet at the question. You hadn’t really thought of it before but you suppose you felt more inclined to act without thinking,and indulge especially after Lucifer claimed you.

“Well yes, but i was more so wondering on what the devil is capable of? Like making deals, and stuff…” You trail eyes casted away to the large sculpture of jesus on the wall. “Nothing, the devil isn’t as strong as gods love. And never in the bible does it state the devil makes deals, that is but a wives tale.” The priest spoke sternly, punctuating his words to get his point across.

This was news to you however, you always thought the devil was more of a a character in the bible. “Father one more question?” You say head snapping back to look at him. “If the devil were to have intercourse with a person, what’s said to be the outcome? Will god punish?” The poor priest looked like he’d seen a ghost, yet you couldn’t comprehend why. Although slightly morbid you didn’t think the question was that out there, perhaps it was the monotonous way you’d said it.

“I’m afraid i don’t have the answer to that,” And with that the priest stood, excusing himself from your conversation walking off down the isle. “I heard the devil picks somebody to carry the antichrist.” Turning to the voice, there sat a woman, old looking wearing a light blue dress. “The anti christ?” You repeat mostly to yourself, but the elderly woman hummed. “Yep. Woo’s the target, sleeps with them, and they give birth to the antichrist. Bad things happen once the child’s born.” The woman explained turning to look back at you.

“And, what if there’s no anti christ, what if the devil just like…” The old lady cackled looking at your puzzled face. She tsked and ushered you near. When in front of her she met your eyes, again with that weirdly all knowing look on them everyone in the church seemed to give you. Holding out her hand to you, you opened yours holding it out to her.

She placed something in your hand but you weren’t able to know what it was before you dropped it shrieking. It was like gripping a hot coal, you gripped your wrist keeled over trying to breath out the pain. Your eyes briefly glanced over to the floor where the object dropped and sitting there was a gold rosary covered in what was more than likely your blood. Peaking up from your bent over position the old woman had took several steps back from you, hand up to her mouth.

Not knowing what to do, you perked up, thanked her for her input, and sped out to the street. Just like the night you met him, the sky darkened and clashed with lightning, then came the rain. The devil himself must’ve worked through water with the way it was a constant anytime something happened.

Walking down the street at leisure, you inspected the wound the rosary left as rain pelted you like no tomorrow. You sighed brushing your thumb over the large cross shaped gash. Suddenly a crack of lightning came down brightly, it was harsh and so very bright. Then another crack, this time however you felt the harshest pain describable. It was like being lit on fire inside your body, or like your blood was suddenly filled with glass shards and you could feel them coursing through.

You couldn’t scream too in pain, you simply slumped to the floor, the searing pain engulfing your body. As your eyes closed, it felt like the floor was sucking you down, but you couldn’t move. You couldn’t even will your eyes to open as you felt the concrete below you begin to engulf you fully. Your lungs burnt as you couldn’t breathe, but like any other regular circumstance where you’d gasp for breath, you were physically unable to. Like you’re body didn’t know how to breath, so you sat there chest feeling tight, burning and your stomach feeling like it was forcing itself inward but nothing changed.

As torturous as it was, it was short lived and finally you felt freed. The concrete beneath you morphed into something softer cozier, the breathlessness left finally you were able to fill your lungs with air almost as refreshing as a glass of water would’ve been, and when you opened your eyes you were greeted by the sight of a bedroom. It was decorated with whites, reds and golds, around you could see engraved apples and ducks in not only the door frames and baseboards but some of the furniture as well.

You couldn’t will yourself to sit up, you still felt the fire on the inside of your body albeit gentler than before. “Hey cookie.” Cooed a smooth voice, you didn’t have to look to know who it was, but thankfully he stepped in front of you, kneeling down to your laying figure. “How you feeling?” You stared at his face, scanning it over and over, his eyes were hauntingly beautiful. The red irises danced around nervously, you watched intently as his forked tongue brushed against the dryness of his lips.

“You’re beautiful.” You mutter half muffled by the fact you sunk comfortably into the mattress that you lay on. Chuckling quietly the king of hell turned and sat on the side of the bed, petting your head very gently like you were made of glass. “Where am i?” His hand stuttered on your head, and finally you rolled over onto you back to gain the view of him. His hat discarded, his suit jacket gone, he sat only in a vest, dress shirt, and his white suit pants.

“Hell, sweetheart.” It was interesting how warmly he had said that to you, looking down at you with almost a pitying expression. “I’m dead?” You jerked up, immediately regretting it as the pain shot through your body from the top of your head down. Sucking in air through your teeth, clenching your eyes shut Lucifer cooed at you reprimanding you for being too quick. “God must’ve struck you down.” His voice lifted as he let out his attempt at a joke, but you weren’t really in the mood to laugh.

“What happened, with me when i was alive.” You ask looking over to him, the expression he had looked slightly guilty, his eyes casted downward, a frown that tried to be a poker face- but failed. “I, well y’see, heh,” Lucifer fumbled picking at his nails and looking around the room. He bounced himself against the mattress almost like he was amping himself up. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay! So y’know you got some human repellant, claws, sharp teeth, that dead look. Sent some little guardians after you! Too bad you couldn’t meet the snake.” Lucifer tisked mournfully shaking his head.

You smiled at him, oddly enough, it was quite endearing that he set out to do these things to keep you safe. “Oh!” He sprung up meeting your eyes properly. “I also made Marie get you that job, and I forced a good pay, always here to help y’know.” The king briefly pinched your cheek before retracting and standing. He looked frazzled, uncertain, he pulled at his clothes like he was trying to fix them. “Sorry it’s been awhile. Y’know i gave up going to earth in like 1850.” The devil laughed out, scratching the back of his neck.

You scooted yourself to the edge of the bed, Lucifer watching intently. “So, what, well I mean, why…?” You were confused head bobbing as you tried to make sense of everything. Things didn’t entirely add up this you were certain of, and you could tell the king was keeping something hidden from you. “As you know hell is well, it’s hell, and you were so…” He trailed off hands circling eachother as he gazed off into space, attempting to find the right words.

Deflating his body slumped over, in one foul swoop it looked as though he’d lost all the will to keep up his charade. “Look I didn’t think you were gonna shake my hand, but in the moment I was hooked on you. The night you took the apple reminded me of days of my life i can’t go back to. So i may have indulged, but i didn’t expect you to be soooo,”

Your eyebrows pinched together as you watched him with judgement, giving him a look that egged him on, yet warned him. “Captivating?” You ‘hmphed’ at his term, as weak and guilty grin overtaking his face. “Okay okay. I enjoyed our night, you gave me advice and helpful conversation I haven’t gotten in, pfft,” He was now pacing, eyes wide as his arms wrapped around himself as a way to secure him.

“Ever, you were a breath of fresh air! I didn’t expect the deal to go through! I didn’t expect you to grab my hand, so when you sold your soul you started to gain those devilish features. I wanted to make sure you were still safe so I manipulated Marie, got you the job, but nothing else was planned!” He exclaimed hands coming up in defence, although it wasn’t like you were angry, you sat there patiently watching him and waiting for him to finish his explanation at his own pace. Understanding this was probably just as stressful for him, if what he says is true.

Blowing out air the king pulled gently at his hair. “I don’t know what to do from here, I sent animals to protect you, I knew something would happen, damnit!” The short man raged eyes blowing up red, that snapped you up, gently you grabbed his shoulders. “I believe you, I have no idea what’s going on either so it’s okay! I’m terrified, but you don’t look any better. Maybe we can figure it out together?” You suggest attempting to be a voice of reason, watching his eyes hue from bright red to the yellow and red irises you’re more familiar with.

He sighed and nodded looking slightly embarrassed. “Do you think we could set some ground rules?” You quirked a brow at that, watching as he once again began to pace. “My daughter, Charlie, we spoke about her, she can’t know I made a deal with you! And for now, she can’t know i did anything sexual. Oh no no no. NO!” Lucifer panicked, switching between gripping his hair and swinging his arms around. It felt like a stab in the gut, it wasn’t your first time being a secret, but you wish you could’ve kept the promise you made to yourself about getting into another situation where you were just a secret fling.

“I’m not gonna pretend that doesn’t get under my skin slightly, I’d prefer not to be the devil's dirty secret, but I understand what Charlie means to you so I’ll do whatcha need.” Lucifer looked at you sheepishly, it seemed like he slightly regretted the choice of delivery as you crossed your arms across your chest, looking at him with a tinge of disgust in your eye. “Okay next, uh let's see, okay you’ll pose as my assistant and you’ll spend the days with me so I can keep an eye on ya….”

You quirk your head, pondering if you should say what you want to say. Which was questioning him and the motive here, it’s normal to say things you don’t always mean in such an intense moment of sex fueled emotion, but now there’s a big consequence and you’re not sure if he really knows what he wants to do. “Hey,” You say quietly grabbing him from his frantic mumbling that he was doing to himself. He hummed at you, his attention refocused on you as he did. “Do you at all regret the deal.”

Lucifers eyes blew wide, his lips puckering as his fingers fiddled with each other. “Regret is a very loaded work y’know- uh, I think- eh, maybe if- okay so,” He fumbled his wings popping out feathers flying around as they did, they puffed out with stress making you gawk. “Uhm, I wouldn't do it again if I had the choice! But still I would've wanted the sex!” Finally he pumped his chest proudly, meanwhile you rolled your eyes. “That’s what most men would do, yeah.” Your tone was bitter, catching him off guard a bit, to be fair he didn’t know what you wanted from him. Normally deals were two sided, but this one you benefited nothing from, except trauma and an early grave.

“I didn’t mean that,” Damn he really lost his way after Lilith huh, every flirtation came out so naturally but now it seemed it was so unsure, no king of a whole mini word of demons should be unsure, he mentally scolded himself for being so unfit.

“Listen can we figure this out later, I still feel the pain from when I died, so I would love to sleep that off.” You say plopping yourself back on the comfy mattress. “Yes, yes of course go ahead! We’ll figure this out together hm, shedevil? Won’t leave you in the dark!” This time his exclamation sounded certain as he jumped into the bed with you, snapping his fingers so the lights blinked out. You hummed too lazy to respond and crawled underneath the covers, it was nice, warm and smelt like him, underneath the covers you felt him slip in with you, his body heat emitting off of him in waves.

You hoped your mind was less clouded tomorrow, hopefully you could have a better conversation with the king about this deal, get things sorted out.

[matrixbearer2024]

Blips In My Routine

Vox x CollegeStudent!Reader

A/N: A slight interlude in the "Get Off My Screen!" Series to keep you guys entertained while I write it's continuation. I apologize that it's taking so long! School's kind of been kicking my ass recently and I've had to focus more on work than my fanfics. Don't worry though, I'll still be writing more Vox content(Lord knows we don't have enough /j) as long as you guys want to see it!

A/N: I love 🥭 Anon's idea and tbh I don't put it beyond Vox to do it either, I'm not sure if this is as good as the other installments but I hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless. Btw, reader is in college so she's somewhere in her mid to late twenties. Happy reading!

You glanced at the ticking clock above the whiteboard.

It was just five more minutes before the bell would ring and free you from this boring lecture.

You fought to keep your eyes open as your gaze wandered back to the teacher's PowerPoint.

You hated this subject the most, not even because of the topic itself.

Rather, the professor could be kind of an old-timey asshole.

Thankfully though, it wasn't all that bad.

Not when you had to deal with an equally irritating digital companion anyhow.

Somehow you'd rather take Vox's bullshit over your professor's-

Speaking of, you both had fallen into a somewhat odd routine in the following months.

From greeting each other when you woke up or went to sleep-

To checking up on the other every so often within the day.

Not to mention spilling gossip when anything remotely interesting happened.

Either on his end or yours.

Like that time you saw someone's skirt snag in their locker door and just rip.

You could only snicker at their panic and shame.

The bitch highkey deserved it anyway.

Vox couldn't stop laughing when you eagerly told him all about it.

He knew you could be vicious if you wanted to.

Even if he was aware how much more inherently kind you were compared to the likes of him.

Sometimes the fact you found his companionship worth maintaining-

Or at least tolerable enough to keep-

Genuinely surprised the tech overlord.

Especially because you'd both been communicating for a little over a year by now.

It was nice interacting with someone else that weren't Velvette or Valentino.

Not that he'd ever openly admit to it.

It wasn't like Vox hadn't seen or heard you either, despite the fact he couldn't directly mess with the microphone or camera on your devices.

Your photos and files had more than enough stuff.

You often left him imagining your reactions and voice whenever the both of you chatted.

After all, most of your interactions were practically texting.

Sometimes you even wondered if Vox was constantly bored to end up finding companionship with you.

Or maybe he was lonely, who knows.

You genuinely couldn't be fucked.

He was an interesting guy and that was all that kind of mattered to you at the moment.

Your notepad window popping up snapped you out of that train of thought.

Glancing over at your laptop screen, the small desktop pet Vox gave you merely sat in the corner pointing at the notepad.

Oh it could do angry emotes too-

A slurry of words started pouring into the blank open text window, you figured Vox was probably having another shitty day.

Geez, who would've thought that hell would actually be absolutely crappy?

Well, let's see what he's complaining about this time...

This man was really typing way faster than you could read-

You were able to garner pretty quick what he was bitching about though.

Even if you kind of found the source of his irritation quite childish and kinda stupid.

"It's so dumb! The fact I can only talk to you with this goddamn thing is driving me insane!"

"Aaaand? What's wrong with the notepad? You also have the desktop companion."

You definitely started calling it that only because Vox was getting pissy that you were referring to it as a 'pet'-

"It can only do so much dollface, it's just glorified texting at this point. Besides, the tiny version of me is just an animated emoji keyboard."

"Well you already mess with my software regardless of what I tell you, what's stopping the great 'Technology Overlord' from hacking my camera and microphone?"

"Haha, very funny doll. Don't you think I would've done it already if I could?"

At this point you kinda just wanted to laugh at the whole situation.

Vox, a demon, one who could control electronics to his every whim-

Or so he claims.

Was being pissy about not being able to talk to you properly.

You couldn't tell if that was supposed to be endearing or hilarious.

He always got worked up over the smallest inconveniences.

You saw it as him being just very observant-

But it could also highkey be from his captain control freak tendencies.

"Then just make an app or something, you'll figure it out. Mess with the software settings or whatever."

That was the last message you wrote before the school bell suddenly rang out loud and clear.

You didn't even read his reply before shutting your laptop down and arranging your belongings.

Soon enough, you were the first one out of the classroom and more than ready to go home.

Vox knew you'd shut down your laptop after he got hit with his custom Voxtech screensaver.

Similarly to the wallpaper, he'd changed your screensaver to something more on brand.

While he did take your suggestion into account, a part of him wondered why he didn't bother trying in the first place.

But given the issues with him trying to access the built-in camera and microphone-

Vox felt a little concerned that modifying your devices too much could corrupt them.

That alongside all of your files and the data you had stored.

Wait...

Concern?!

He didn't actually care about your shit did he?

Oh fuck it!

He'll do whatever he wants to!

He was still careful not to really change much, he knows how annoying file corruption is and he didn't want to actually damage your data in case it had stuff you needed.

You weren't surprised that he'd taken your words literally-

You noticed a peculiar looking app appeared on all of your devices when you had arrived home.

That's a really fancy looking V design, was this Vox's doing?

Upon opening the app, you were greeted to a slightly odd looking interface.

It looked kind of like a more... sci-fi-esque styled chat room?

You wanted to say it lowkey looked like an Omegle room-

Before you could really nitpick at the design though, a text notification popped up on your phone.

You had just set everything up too, it seems like it came from the new app.

"Testing, testing. Are you getting this (Y/N)?"

To say you were amazed at what Vox had done was an understatement.

He was able to do so much in just so little time-

Just- how???

Oh, right- you should probably reply to that-

"Yeah yeah, I gotchu."

"Fucking finally! Working around your firewalls and antivirus was an absolute nightmare!"

Aaaaaaaand here came the usual ranting and bitching-

You just threw your phone on the bed and left to take a shower and freshen up while he kept at it.

Vox was actually quite proud he got the app to work.

Especially without affecting the existing system on your computer much.

If anything, it wasn't any different from the games or social media applications that already existed on your computer.

Granted, when he first booted the app to try it- the darn thing kept crashing and glitching.

But that was easily and swiftly dealt with.

Well, after much frustration and screaming but yes- taken care of.

By the time you came back, you saw an animated version of your wallpaper appear windowed in the app.

Right... that was supposed to be his face.

"Hello? (Y/N)? Can you hear me?"

What-

What the fucking FUCK-

Apparently, the thing you thought that was just a gif or an emoticon was actually a livestream of Vox's face.

And that was how he sounded like?

Okay that seemed pretty on brand for a telecasting television now that you think about it-

But how the hell did he manage to do this-

"Vox?! What the hell!"

You yelled out in retaliation, only growing more confused when Vox didn't reply or just kept repeating if you could hear him.

So he couldn't hear you, but he found a way to sort of project himself into your device.

What kind of upside-down thing is this?

Picking up the phone, you quickly used the chat-box to reply.

"I can hear you, but I don't think you can hear me?"

Vox just audibly cursed from what you could guess was frustration, staying silent and presumably typing out a reply.

Just how long had he been trying to fix this problem?

"I can't access your cameras or microphone whatever I do dollface, this was my last resort."

Seeing his live reactions allowed you to notice the genuine frustration and exasperation he had with the situation.

It kind of made you feel a little guilty for just brushing him off all the time now.

You always thought it was quite... old-timey for Vox to want to talk to you face to face.

Hold a "proper" conversation as he put it.

But maybe that was just because he grew that fond of your company.

Geez, what a sap.

"It's fine dude, I'm glad you made a specially designated space for our conversations though. My notes were starting to get cluttered with our conversations stuck in there with my school stuff anyway."

You could swear the small smile you saw on his face made saying all that worth it.

There really wasn't any reason for you two to switch mediums, but the new app wasn't unwelcome.

You were really starting to care more about this dumb TV head.

As you and Vox went back into comfortable regular conversation, you found solace as both you and your companion once again fell back into the odd routine you grew used to.

Come morning however, you were seriously reconsidering giving Vox the idea about making that custom application.

It was a stupidly large can of worms that you didn't even realize existed-

Notification after notification, you wondered just how much time the technology demon had on his hands to constantly bother you.

"Vox, I know you're happy about your app but can you stop spam sending me memes for five seconds?"

"Eh, not feeling it."

"Go to hell you dumb picturebox."

"Already here dollface, already here."

You facepalmed.

What an idiot.

Well, he was your idiot.

A/N: I'm leaning towards this being more than a just friends thing, dunno if I'll make it romantic or not in the continuation but I'd reckon that Vox and reader would get pretty close by now sooooo hahaha have fun y'all :D

[thekissofaphrodite]

SOMEONE REQUESTED THIS I CANT HELP TO MAKE IT!! IT'S SO SWEET!!

(I accidentally added the OG post on Queue and can't get it out, but thankfully, I took a picture of it)

Voiceless

Luke Castellan X Daughter of Apollo!Reader

Summary: The only thing that Luke Castellan loves in this world is his girlfriend and her angelic voice.

Warnings: Kissing, Cursing, Kinda toxic relationship??!

Author's Note: Hello guys! Another request for the day, I'm typing this on my phone since I forgot my laptop, Oh well, please forgive me for any grammatical mistakes and typos! My keyboard hates me 😍

——

The Camp Fire singalong ended an hour ago, but that didn't stop You and Luke, He had his head on your lap, breathing in and out as you ran your hands through his soft curls. The bonfire had little to no embers, but it still kept you two warm.

"Can you sing for me?" Luke whispered, His Hazel eyes met your brown ones. Apollo's children were always the lead singers from singalongs, Especially you, You had an angelic voice and campers liked it, so did Luke.

Not caring that your throat was a little sore, You nodded and started singing.

Boys, workin' on empty

Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat?

I just think about my baby

I'm so full of love I could barely eat

There's nothing sweeter than my baby

I'd never want once from the cherry tree

'Cause my baby's sweet as can be

She give me toothaches just from kissin' me

Flashback

Luke sat in the mess hall, His palm gingerly nursing the side of his cheeks, He had a rough day, Apparently, a new armour that like commissioned from one of the children in the hephaestus cabin still wasn't ready, and he wasn't able to use it. But it was Capture the Flag day, so he used his old and cranky armour, which displeased him.

You noticed from afar, Your halfsiblings chatting loudly, So you had enough, Grabbing your tray, you walked towards Luke, sitting on an empty Hermes table (Since his halfsiblings left, It's better to leave than to mess with an angry luke), The Hermes boy barely touched his food, he was rather poking it.

"Hey" He was greeted with your soft, melodic voice from behind, His mood changed from annoyed to cheerful. His eyes softening as he watched you sit beside him.

"Hm, how's your day?" He hummed whilst brushing a strand of hair away from your face, tucking it behind your ear.

"I should be the one asking you that—" Then, He felt something touch his lips, It was your fork, with a slice of blueberry pie, He tasted some of the cream, He tried to fight the urge to open his mouth since he didn't feel like eating.

"C'mon, it's bad if you don't eat, You don't wanna end up in the infirmary with one of my halfsiblings ranting about your presence." He looked at your eyes, there was a glint of hope that he'll actually take a bite.

He can't resist your eyes, Those eyes with much hope looking at him.

So he did, He opened his mouth and let the flavours sink In.

He did eat that night, with you feeding him like a baby.

—

When my time comes around

Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

Flashback

Luke was injured, You don't know how or why. He just appeared infront of the Apollo cabin, There was a deep gash in his forearm, One of the archers from your cabin accidentally shot him an arrow, You assumed that He and Chris were probably not paying attention while they walked pass by the archery area.

"I got you something." He breathed, waiting for your reaction.

But still, He managed to appear in front of you, despite your protests that he must be brought to the infirmary, He kept a brave face, holding a messily made bouquet of flowers.

"Oh Luke..." You threw yourself onto his arms, making him stumble a little, He chuckled.

"Now let's get you into the infirmary!"

—

Boys, when my baby found me

I was three days on a drunken sin

I woke with her walls around me

Nothin' in her room but an empty crib

And I was burnin' up a fever

I didn't care much how long I lived

But I swear I thought I dreamed her

She never asked me once about the wrong I did

Flashback

"Luke? Luke!" The dark-haired boy jolted awake, His eyes meeting the stormy skies whilst the raindrops hit his face.

"Hey baby," He groaned, His orange CHB shirt stained with mud, He slept on it after all. Then you remembered... The party in the Dionysus might have gotten a little wild...

"Luke, you smell like— Booze." You tried not to gagged at his scent, But he just brushed it off, Tumbling as he tried to got up.

"Let's get you inside, Some of my halfsiblings are away, so it's fine taking a fellow camper" You muttered while giving all your strength to carry him. You felt kinda embarrassed, Luke, Your boyfriend had carried you multiple times effortlessly, but now, you can't even take steps.

After what felt like an internity, you reached your bunk and flopped luke on it, His eyes sleepily drifting off again, but this time, your face was the one he's dreaming about.

—

When my time comes around

Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

Flashback

Luke was now in the infirmary, sitting lazily on a stool while your half siblings rushed to get medical supplies to heal him.

"Y'know, this is just a small scratch baby, you're making this a big deal." You turned your head to his direction so fast, you could've sworn you almost gave yourself a whiplash.

"Luke, Your forearm is literally dripping with blood, caused by an arrow. AN ARROW!" You bellowed, Everyone in the infirmary looked at you like a lunatic, some patients even muttering curses at you for interrupting their sleep.

"Still, I got you flowers, didn't I?" His grin made you melt, but the sight of his injury made you frown.

But you can't be mad at his handsome face.

"Yes yes, You did I love you for that, now Where's Ella? We need to give you an injection"

"INJECTION?"

—

My babe would never fret none

About what my hands and my body done

If the Lord don't forgive me

I'd still have my baby and my babe would have me

When I was kissing on my baby

And she put her love down soft and sweet

In the low lamplight I was free

Heaven and hell were words to me

Flashback

" I can't believe you'll do that!" You screamed, tears streaming down your face. Your red dress, once nicely ironed, was now crumpled. It wasn't even midnight, and you two were fighting again. Over a boy.

"Because that pathetic excuse of a bastard deserved it!" He Yelled, His voice booming inside your cabin.

"He's just having a normal conversation with me! you're the one who's deranged!" You cried, Luke couldn't stand the sight of you crying, so he kissed you, it wasn't a passionate one, it was a possessive one, with his strong arms gripping your wrists, pinning you into the wall.

you pulled away for a second, His lips still near yours.

"I hate you" You whispered, His lips touched yours again, smudging your lipstick.

"Show me how much you hate me"

You could've sworn you saw him smirk before kissing you roughly again.

—

When my time comes around

Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

Flashback

"I'm sorry baby, please let me in" Luke whispered as he peaked through the small crack on your door.

"You can't come and go as you please," you said, your voice cracking, You tried not to cry, You love him , but you can't just keep supporting him after all the things he'd done.

Now, he was carrying a duffle bag, full of stolen artefacts from the Gods. You were God fearing. That's when you realize it when your father, Apollo, had punished your mother, blinding her using his powerful Ray of sunlight.

"You'd do this for me, honey.." He whispered desperately, but you just shook your head.

"I'm sorry..."

"No no no! Y/n! Y/N!" He screamed as he watched you walk away.

—

When my time comes around

Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth

No grave can hold my body down

I'll crawl home to her

Flashback

You sat in the edge of your bed, still sobbing silently, Your halfsiblings gave you pathetic and sorry looks, but none of their pity could make you the same.

The God you admired the most, Your own father had taken your voice as a punishment, or that's what oracle said. Apparently, you had offended him by your blasphemous acts using his sacred song. Now you were voiceless.

"Baby?" Luke's voice greeted you.

You looked up at him, Your eyes glistening with tear as you ran into his arms sobbing violently.

"Shh...I know sweetheart.." He rubbed his hands behind your back, Kissing your temple at the same time.

As the dark haired boy comforted you, He smirked secretly, You were so easy to manipulate, with your doe eyes and your sweet smile, As you slowly fell asleep in Luke's arms, A rose necklace sat inside his pocket, Ever so beautiful, with your own voice trapped inside it.

A/N: HEY, GUYS! So this is a request! I used the 'Work Song' by Hozier, Every lyrics has an indication of the reader and Luke's past, I kinda wanna give them a toxic relationship, so....🫢🫢 I do hope you liked this!!

I apologise once again for any grammatical errors since my keyboard hates me ❤️

[chaos-in-deepspace]

L&DS Boys: Pool Day | Fluff

Ngl I wrote this in less than an hour and a half. Been chilling in the pool a lot these days and needed to write something for it. Now I want y'all to make sure and read Zayne's part and pay special attention to it, okay? Listen to what he says. I'm serious guys, listen to Zayne.

♡(ᓀ‸ᓂ)♡ Disclaimer: This is an original fan work for “Love and Deepspace”. Do not repost on other platforms or plagiarize. All characters shown in this fic is 18+. ♡(ᓀ‸ᓂ)♡ Warnings: N/A ♡(ᓀ‸ᓂ)♡ Pairings: Xavier x Reader, Zayne x Reader, Rafayel x Reader

Blog Information | Masterlist

Xavier

The cool water lapped at your skin as you sank your entire body into it. A sigh of relief escaped you as you instantly felt better. The summer had just started and already it had been record high temperatures. Thankfully your apartment complex had a nice pool, and since it was one of your rare days off you took advantage, silently thanking the world that your apartment had mainly elderly and hunters so today nobody else was at the pool.

To make matters even better, you managed to drag your sleepy neighbor out with you. You had promised him pool snacks and the new lounge floats you had gotten. Unlike the inflatable ones, these were fabric of sorts and you just knew they’d feel absolutely amazing the moment you two got into the pool.

“Are you ready?” Xavier asked, placing a hand on the small of your back. You let out a small yelp, not used to him being able to touch your skin so easily like this. You looked over at Xavier in his own swim clothes, almost wanting to blush. Of course this man would be the one who chose a speedo over something else.

Still, you began climbing up onto one of the two floats you had. Your body dipped into the water below you and kept you cool and you let out a content sigh. You watched Xavier follow suit, getting comfortable. The lounge float was just as comfortable as you had come to expect and you were living for it.

You put on your sunglasses as you relaxed and turned to Xavier, “Hey Xav?” You called out, making the blonde man hum next to you, “If I fall asleep, you have to promise to wake me up.” You said, knowing you were playing a risky game at the moment.

“Only if you promise to wake me as well.” Xavier said and you could hear the small yawn he let out. You rolled over to your stomach and realized this position was even better.

“Xavier, if I fall asleep and you fall asleep then we’re screwed. Someone needs to be responsible.” You comment with a light chuckle. You watched Xavier paddle his float over to you. He hooked his leg over part of your float and grabbed your hand, making it rest on his own.

“If we stick together like this and keep talking, then we have a better chance at staying awake.” He noted. Well he certainly was right, and being this close to Xavier was certainly a treat. You could ogle the plains and valleys of his well sculpted body perfectly like this.

Sadly it seemed you two forgot one very important fact…how you two always managed to pass out during naps while talking. You don’t even know when you fell asleep, or how long you were passed out. All you know is when you woke up you looked at Xavier. His pale skin was currently a bright red as he laid on his back, sunglasses on and you knew you were screwed.

You didn’t even need to see your back to know you were burned. Your skin felt hot and uncomfortable and if you could see it you’d notice just how angry it looked. You went to poke Xavier, flinching to yourself when you saw the spot on his cheek you poked turn white then back to red.

Xavier groaned as he opened his eyes and turned to look at you. Even with his sleepy vision he could see your current condition. He let out a gasp, going to sit up and forgetting he was on a float as he crashed into the water below him.

You couldn’t help but laugh as he came up, shaking some water from his hair. Without his sunglasses you could see the sunburn went around his eyes, “Xavier…we fucked up.” You said after a moment.

“I can…see that.” He said, looking over your back then down to his chest, “We should head indoors.” He said, going to grab your hand gently. You got off of your float and Xavier grabbed both of them in one arm while still holding your hand. You followed him to his apartment and you noticed how he had a serious look on his face as he forced you through the corridors of the complex. Your complaints about leaving a wet trail from the floats and your body went unheard.

You had to admit the moment you got into his cool apartment you felt a bit better. Xavier finally let go of your hand and dragged the floats to his bathroom, probably to let them dry in the shower. “Sit down on the couch, but be careful.” Xavier said, his calm voice echoing through the apartment.

You had no idea what had gotten into him, but you did just as instructed. You winced as you sat down, your sunburned ass stinging with the smallest movements. When Xavier came back, he was holding a large tub of something.

“Lay on your stomach.” He said and you were still confused as you did just that. He walked behind you and soon you let out a long, drawn out groan of relief. The item in his hand was a cream or sorts and was cool. It soothed your irritated skin as he gently began massaging it into your skin.

“What’s that…?” You groaned, knowing it was familiar but you were still tired from your nap and couldn’t think properly.

“It’s some aloe. I had some just in case.” He said, his small laugh was like music to your ears, “I apologize, you’re burned because I couldn’t keep my promise.”

You hummed and looked back at him as he began working the aloe into the back of your thighs, “We both failed, Xavier. Maybe if you kiss it better it’ll heal for me.” You joked. You hadn’t expected Xavier’s cool lips to press on your burned shoulders. It did feel nice as you melted into it, his lips trailing gentle kisses over the worst burns. He then continued to put the aloe over all those areas as well.

“You’re probably more burned than I am anyways. Did you even use sunscreen?” You comment after a few moments of silence. You had made sure to put some on before heading to the pool, but after hours of the sun even the sunblock wouldn’t be able to keep up without being reapplied liberally.

“I’ll be fine, I just need a nap.” He said, his large hands finishing their massage on all the pieces of skin you were burned. You slowly sat up, but Xavier went to push you back down, “And so do you. But first you need water.” He commented.

You smiled over at him and grabbed hold of his hand as he tried leaving, “Not so fast. We need to take care of your burns.” This time he didn't stop you as you sat back up. You saw the jar next to you and looked back at him. “Lay on your back, I’ll put some aloe on you.”

“That’s not necessary.” Xavier tried to protest with a pout, but you weren't having it.

“Xavie baby.” You said, calling him a nickname that always got him to blush, “Let me take care of you. Come on.” You said, motioning for him to do as you said. He let out a sigh and finally laid down.

You smiled, looking down at him as you covered your hands in the green goop. Today might’ve had a few failures, but being able to rub down Xavier’s body was almost a reward in itself. You then saw Xavier look off to the side then back to you.

“Perhaps if you kiss it better it’ll help them heal faster.” He said, using your words against you. You chuckled as you leaned down, kissing his cheeks before he grabbed your face. You were confused as he brought you in for a proper kiss.

“It hurts the most here.” He said after parting, running his thumb over his own lip. You chuckled, pressing another kiss there.

“Then it looks like I’ll have you pay extra attention to it.” You said, then kissed him again. Perhaps the sunburns weren’t that bad if this was the aftermath.

Zayne

Why Zayne never used the pool at his luxury apartments was beyond you. There were never any children running around, and oftentimes during the weekdays people were at work and couldn’t relax over there. That meant on your days off, it was just the two of you and a very nice and well kept pool. Yet whenever you brought it up, he would always say if you wanted to go he would, but he’s not planning on going by himself anytime soon.

So as soon as summer hit and the heatwave was at an alltime high already, you were dragging Zayne towards the elevator to head down to the pool. Your excitement was evident as Zayne adjusted the pool bag he had prepared. It was a large side bag and you were certain he kept a little bit of everything in there.

When the elevator hit the bottom level, you grabbed hold of his hand and began literally dragging him, “Come now, the pool won’t be going anywhere.” Zayne tried to assure you, but you weren't having none of that.

“The pool might remain, but every second spent dawdling is a second wasted.” You comment, “Time leaves us constantly so we need to catch up.”

He sighed and shook his head. As soon as you left the air conditioned building it was already sweltering hot. You could almost feel sweat clinging to your skin as you made your way to one of the pool chairs. Zayne had already opened the umbrella and laid towels down for the two of you.

Meanwhile you stripped off your pool cover and were about to run straight into the water. As soon as Zayne noticed your movements, he thought fast. Two large hands cupped under your armpits as he brought you up like a naughty cat trying to sneak off. You laid limp in his grasp as you processed what happened.

You slowly turned to him with a pout, “Zayne, what the ever loving fuck?”

“Eloquent with your speech as usual.” He teased as he went to set you down under the umbrella covered chair, “Aren’t you forgetting an important step?” He asked and you sighed with an eye roll.

“Nope.” You popped the ‘p’ as you looked away from the man.

“Perhaps I should remind you that sunscreen is necessary. I agreed to come to the pool if you made an effort to protect your skin.” He said and you groaned, “I’m sure you’re aware that a light skin tone only has a natural 4-5 spf, while skin with higher melanin has the max of 13.5 spf. That means no matter your skin tone, you still need to protect your skin.”

You couldn’t help but giggle, “Oh please keep talking about medical things with me, Zayne.” You joked and he shook his head.

“Your skin is the largest and one of the most important organs of your body, please treat it with the respect it deserves.” He said, grabbing the sunblock he had brought with him, “Now come here, I’ll help you apply it.”

“I can do it myself.” You protested, but he was already putting some of the cream into his hands. He looked up at you from his prescription sunglasses.

“I’m sure you could.” He said, “However I need to make sure you're covered properly and with enough product it’ll do its job.” He explained with an almost smile on his face. You rolled your eyes before opening your arms up so he could properly get you covered.

You glanced at the bottle and almost choked on your spit, “SPF 100? Isn’t that overkill?” You asked with an incredulous expression.

“Not at all, however we will need to reapply it after about an hour and a half since we’ll be swimming. I’ll make sure to set a timer.” He said and you once again groaned…that was until his hands were on you.

He had purposefully cooled his own hands as he began massaging the product into your arms, chest, stomach, and legs. His hands glided over your body respectfully as he made sure you were properly covered, eventually having you turn around so he could apply it to your back. You jumped when his frigid hands pressed on the back of your neck.

“H-Hey!” You whined and he just chuckled.

“My apologies, I’m just being thorough.” He explained as he worked on your back now. Once your body was covered you turned back to face him. You hadn’t expected his large hands to cup your face as he smeared some of the sunscreen there. Your hands went to wrap around his wrists as you tried backing away, but his grip was firm, “Stop fighting, unless you want a sunburned nose.” He scolded.

You finally huffed and relaxed into his touch. You were startled when he left your face, only to come back and press something over your lips. You opened your eyes and noticed he had a lip balm, one that also had some spf in it. You smacked your lips, noticing how it tasted sweet.

“Better?” He asked and you nodded.

“Yes, but.” You said and he hummed. You tugged him over to you, placing a kiss on his lips. He didn’t fight it, leaning in as your lips met his in a short and cute kiss. “You needed some chapstick too…”

“I appreciate you helping me put it on.” He said with an amused huff.

“Can I swim now?” You suddenly asked after buttering him up; already you were getting up. He gripped your waist and dragged you back down.

“Wait twenty minutes after applying sunblock before being exposed to the UV rays.” He said and now you just knew he hated you. You looked at him with pouty eyes and he just smiled at you, “Would you like to help me apply sunblock to help pass the time?”

Now you perked up at that offer, your hands already twitching as you nodded your head. He took off his own cover up and exposed his chest and you had to fight the urge to lick your lips at the sight. How he managed to be in shape while overworking himself was a mystery, but damn were you grateful for it.

You put some sunblock into your hands, running them over Zayne’s chest first and oh my goodness how were you going to be able to survive this. You could feel every single muscle of his as you massaged it in, looking up at him from time to time as you tried to remain focused.

Your heart was beating out of your chest as you realized how much you wished you weren’t out in public right now so you could squeeze his chest. You remained professional though and applied the sunblock liberally, and were almost disappointed when it all ended. Still, you both were now covered and you looked over at Zayne’s phone. He had already set a time and it said you had fifteen minutes before you could jump into the pool.

“Zayne, do we have to be a stickler for sunblock rules?” You asked after another five minutes. He looked over at you curiously.

“Are you asking me as your boyfriend, or as your doctor?” He asked and you huffed, rolling on your stomach on the towel.

“I hope you know imma spend the next hour and a half in that pool and I’m dragging you in there the entire time.” You said and he chuckled as he went to his bag and grabbed two drinks. There were two cans of milk tea and when he handed one to you, you noticed how cold it was. You sighed and opened it up, taking a sip, “But I guess this isn’t too bad.” You comment looking at the water.

“My top priority is your safety, however perhaps we can break a few rules. I’ll let you get in five minutes early.” Zayne said, clicking on his phone’s timer. You looked over and noticed you had six minutes left. Your eyes widened as you realized what he said.

You handed him your drink and as soon as the timer had a ‘five’ on it, you were running into the water.

Rafayel

“Fuck you, pufferfish.” You said, shoving the purple haired man out of the way, “I’m getting in first!” You cried out, your feet hitting the hot cement outside of his personal pool. The man in question was right behind you as he went and grabbed hold of you.

His grip on your wrist had you dragging behind him, “Tough luck, pearl, but the pool is mine.” He said, gaining the lead in his mad dash to the water.

This all started when you had been lounging at Rafayel’s home, realizing just how hot it was. His air conditioner was working, sure, but it was still balmy since you were right by the beach. Sweat clung uncomfortably to your skin as you had glanced over at the artist.

“Rafayel, it’s too humid.” You complained and Rafayel looked over at you. You could see the sweat dripping down his neck so clearly he was in a similar situation as you. He seemed to think something over quickly and then smiled.

“Perhaps I could take a break.” He mused, “I do have a pool out there. That should help with the current situation.” He said and you hummed. The thought of spending the day in a private pool was so nice. You had swam in his pool before, it had a tanning ledge, a hot tub with a small waterfall that bled into the pool, and several pool lounges. He had everything you could ask for really, which was to be expected.

“Let’s do it. I’ll grab some drinks.” You said, hopping off the couch and running to the kitchen. Rafayel called out for you, but you didn't hear him as you raced to his fridge. An assortment of soda and juices were stocked thanks to your insistence he have other things than just coffee and water.

You went for the apple juice, deciding it would be refreshing enough for a day like this. Rafayel had some tumblers that would keep it ice cold while you were outside. As you stood back up you bumped into Rafayel’s chest. You spun to look at him in surprise, “Uh need something?” You murmured.

“I asked if you had a swimsuit.” He chuckled and you realized that you didn’t have one at his place. You groaned and looked at him with a pouty face.

“No…” You mumbled and he shook his head.

“That’s fine, I bought you a few just in case. I’ll grab them for you.” Well isn't he being nice and accommodating. Something was up. Your eyes narrowed as you followed him. He went to his closet and that’s when you discovered the swimsuit line up he had.

They were either very promiscuous, or downright ridiculous. He looked between you and the suits and you groaned. You grabbed a pair with rubber ducks decorating it and looked at him, “You sir, are an asshole.” You said, heading to his bathroom.

“I did nothing wrong.” He said, a hand over his heart as you closed the door and quickly got changed. When you came out you choked on your spit. Standing in front of you was Rafayel, with a matching swimsuit.

“I fucking hate you.” You laughed, realizing now why he had gone through the trouble of getting these swimsuits. It was so you guys could match at his pool, “Wait, so if I had gone for the revealing one…?” You trailed off.

“It’s too late for that now, pearl.” He teased, “But I’ll have you know they make very flashy male swimsuits nowadays, in several different styles.” So the ones he showed you…damn you regret your decision. Still, seeing him in something ridiculous like that was enough to make you less bitter.

“Fine, whatever, let’s just get to the pool.” You said, walking out with Rafayel following you, then you said the most childish thing of the day, “Last one in's a rotten egg!” You then began booking it.

You forgot that the two of you combined was a bad case of competitiveness. It led you to the now, where you both were playing dirty to get into the cool pool. You were screaming at one another, attempting to trip or thwart the other.

As soon as you were at the edge, Rafayel yanked you back. You hooked your ankle around his to hold him in place. However this caught both of you off balance. Next thing you knew, the cool water was enveloping the two of you. You looked at Rafayel under the water with wide eyes as you two realized what had happened.

You broke through the water and began laughing immediately. Rafayel soon emerged as well, grabbing onto your shoulders and pouting, “You dropped me into the water.” He whined and you were still laughing.

“I dropped us into the water.” You corrected him. He couldn’t help the smile on his face at the confession.

“Ya, I guess you did.” He huffed before using his weight to push you down. You could hear his voice clearly despite being under water, “But that doesn’t mean I can let you go without punishment, my dear bodyguard.”

You went to scream but you knew your lungs would fill up. Rafayel then dunked his head under the water and swam closer to you. He took his hands over your eyes, covering them and you felt a soft peck on your lips.

Suddenly you could breathe underwater and you chuckled at his antics. He took his hands away as he looked at you with eyes swimming with mischief.

“You’re the absolute worst, fish.” You said, dragging him closer to you. You pressed another kiss on his lips, and you loved how red his cheeks and ears got.

“How am I the worst? You’re supposed to protect me, yet you let me fall in the water.” He complained, but his arms were wrapping around you as he said so. His nose nuzzled against your own as he held onto you.

“Oh how cruel of me to put the fish back into water. I’m just the worst.” You said with a sigh, “Now come on, I want to soak in the sunshine.” You began tugging him to the surface of the water. Despite his pouting, he allowed you to drag him up.

You went over to the tanning ledge, laying on your stomach and relaxed. “Need sunglasses?” Rafayel said, swimming next to you and splashing you with the water.

“Do you have some?” You asked and he shrugged before his eyes furrowed.

“Hey…how are your feet?” He asked and you looked confused. You sat up and looked to see if you had managed to get a cut on your foot at some point. You didn’t see anything as you turned back to him.

“They’re fine…why?” You asked.

“Good…think you could run and get us sunglasses then? They should be near the front.” He said with a smirk, knowing he got you.

This time you would admit, you did push him into the water…well more like kicked him. He was the one asking for it though as he let out a shrill scream before the large splash of water filled your ears. You regretted nothing.

Did y'all hear what Zayne said? Apply sunblock 20 minutes before being exposed to UV rays, no matter what skin color you got. Reapply every 1 - 2 hours as well if you're going to be swimming or sweating a lot (or as directed by the bottle). Your skin is a large and important organ of your body so take care of it you guys!

[norrisleclercf1]

Hey Dad

Pairing: Charles x Mom!Reader x Lando

Rating: PG-13

Words: 2.2K

Warnings: major angst, Reader is facing her lies, Elijah is lost and needs answers, Elijah blames you for not having a relationship with his father. Charles drives for RedBull and Lando Mercedes, deal with it

Synopsis: Elijah didn't want to be at the race, he couldn't be around his family right now. He was tired of the lies. Thankfully the biggest lie is there at the race

A/N: Elijah is 15 and Cecile is 11, also this might seem chaotic writing because this is from Elijah's POV so it's his messy mind trying to put everything together

Our Boy Series Masterlist / Our Boy / The Hunt for Fruit/ Together Again

Elijah knew he should've stayed in bed. He should've rolled back over and missed the Monaco GP. That's what he should've done. Instead, Cece came barging into his room without a care in the world and kicked her older brother out of bed. Literally kicked him. Sitting down at breakfast, watching as his Pa dotes on his Dad and Ma, he should've told them he didn't want to go. 

But seeing how happy his Pa was at being home and racing in Monaco, held his tongue. Ma would've let him stay when he voiced his dread. This bottomless pit ever since they walked through their apartment doors. Instead, he waved it off and just acted his usual self. Now, here he is in the hot weather feeling this dread grow more and more. 

Could this be a sign again? He still remembers when Dad got in his horrible accident. The same feeling was there. He can still remember listening through the radio as he crashed, the screams coming from you. Shaking his head, riding those dark thoughts, he takes several deep breaths. "The hell is wrong with you?" Groaning, he turns his head, looking at the face of his annoyed sister. 

"Go away, Cece." Elijah thumps his head on the Mercedes garage, not wanting to talk to anyone. "You're being a dick, have been since you woke up." Her fingers typing fast on her phone, probably texting Uncle Carlos's or Oscar's kids.

"Maybe I wouldn't be a dick if you didn't kick me out of bed." Cece makes a noise, clicking her screen off and looking up. "Please, you've been this way since we arrived. You snapped at Dad last night and barely spoke to Papa or Mama. What's going on with you?" Elijah rips his headphones off, angry for no reason. 

"Mind your own business, Cece. You don't need to know everything about me." He snarls, storming out of the garage. "Woah, easy there, Elijah." Running right into his Dad, he rolls his eyes, not even stopping to apologize. "Hey! Get back here, young man!" Lando roars, tired of this attitude. "Make me!" Elijah snaps back, ignoring his Dad's cries, losing him in the crowd. 

Elijah pays no mind to where he's going. He can't go to the Red Bull garage. Dad probably already told his Pa and Ma what he did, and Cece is definitely whining to Dad about how Elijah talked to her. It was all a mess. He should've stayed in London with his grandparents. Nothing but anger and confusion coursed through his veins, trying to make sense of everything. 

Why was he so angry? He hated acting like this to his family, they loved him so much, and now he's treating them like this? He deserved the worst punishment right now. Shoving his hands in his jeans, he keeps walking, not wanting to stop where anyone would recognize him. 

"Elijah?" He stops, hearing the familiar voice of his godfather. "Uncle Lewis." Lewis smiles brightly, pulling the boy into a hug, happy to see him here. "What are you doing all the way down here? Shouldn't you be with your Dad or Pa?" Lewis pats his back while Elijah just shrugs.

"I got in a fight with Cece and snapped at Dad. So I'm avoiding." Lewis sighs, seeing the turmoil that, at 16, Elijah shouldn't be going through. 

"Come on, let's talk over here." Lewis directs Elijah over to a private lounge. "Talk to me, what's going on?" Elijah stares at Lewis, holding back. "I won't tell your parents. I swear." The young boy pulls at his hair, Lewis watching as his godson battles with himself. "I found something that Ma has been hiding." Lewis sits up straight, clearing his throat. "Oh." Elijah nods, looking away. 

"My father....he's been writing to me since I was born. 3 or 4 letters a month for 16 years. I found the letters while I was looking for my birth certificate. Needed it for the contract I was going to sign with Prema." Elijah wrung his fingers, unsure how Lewis was going to take this. "Elijah, don't tell your mother that you know." Head snapping up, Elijah stares at Lewis, shocked. "What?" Voice turning hard startled that Lewis was suggesting this. 

"Don't tell your mother anything. I'm serious. Some things need to stay buried. This is one of them." Lewis reaches for Elijah, but he yanks back. "Oh my god, you knew. You knew that my father was sending me letters? Uncle Lewis, please tell me." How could the man before him, someone he respected, hide this from him.

Elijah told him everything. "Yes, I knew. But Elijah, there is a reason your mother has kept this from you. Don't go prying." Standing, he starts to pace, figuring out his thoughts and what to ask next. 

"I know who my father is. I've always known. He's my father, Uncle Lewis. I deserved to have a relationship with him. Yet you and Ma have kept this from me? Why? I need answers." This was the real problem. Elijah started to feel this way when Cece found out which one was her father.

He began to dig, and he dug deep, finding everything out. He was ready to confront his Ma, but something stopped him. Putting everything back and hiding the letters locking away this knowledge. 

"Elijah, your mother has her reasons. Just respect that." Lewis begs, trying to reason with the teenager. "No!" Elijah yells, darting out of the lounge and heading for his mother. "God fucking kid." Lewis dialing you, ready to warn you about the incoming storm. 

Elijah runs, not looking where he's going, only being stopped when he runs right into a body knocking him to the ground. "Hey, easy there, son. Might hurt someone." Elijah breathes heavily. Looking up, he stops all air sucked out of his lungs. "Dad." Scrambling up, Elijah hugs the person before him, hugging him tight. 

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

"What do you mean Elijah knows?" You snap as Lewis tells you everything that just went down. "I mean, Y/n, he knows he's his father, and you hide all the letters. Why would you do that? That boy deserves to know his father." Lewis hisses while you pace, trying to not overthink. "No, he doesn't; that bastard left me, Lewis. When I told him I was pregnant, he just left. He has no right to my son." Whispering as a mechanic walks past.

"Please, that excuse might've worked when Elijah was still a toddler. But he's 16 and wants to know his father. He still has parental rights over Elijah, doesn't he?" You freeze, eyes growing wide as you bite your nails. "Yes, yes, but I lied. I told Charles and Lando that he signed them away." Lewis throws his hands up, letting out an empty laugh. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Blinking fast, you try hard to remain composed as you can't let the cameras or anyone see you like this.  

"Don't judge me, Lewis. You helped." Waving his hand, Lewis turns away. "No, don't drag me into this. I didn't lie about parental rights. That's all you. I only helped because....because you're family." The two of you stare at one another, everything you hide coming to smack you in the face.

"He's going to hate me for the rest of his life. He'll never forgive me." Covering your mouth, you see Lando and Charles make their way towards you, clearly unhappy and Cecile worried. "Yeah, you might want to worry about those two before Elijah." Lewis waved at Lando and Charles, who smiled back. 

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

"Dad." Elijah's arms tighten around the man before him while the guy pats his back awkwardly. "Um, hey, listen. I'm not your Dad." Elijah pulls back, staring into the same blue eyes. "No, no, you are. My name is Elijah Norris-Leclerc. My mother's name is Y/N L/N. Almost 17 years ago, she gave birth to me." Elijah rambles, the guy looking him up and down. 

"Elijah? Your name is Elijah? And your mother's name is Y/n L/n?" He repeats back, trying to control that hope building in his chest. "Yes! And you're my father! You're Nico Rosberg, and you're my father." Nico laughs, grabbing onto Elijah and yanking him into his chest. "That's right, that's right." Nico and Elijah hug before Elijah pulls away. "I didn't know about the letters. If I did, I would've written back." Nico smiles, patting his hair down. 

"Elijah, calm down. Does your mother even know?" Elijah makes a face, feeling that anger boiling up again. "Who cares if she knows! She's been lying to me for years." Nico sighs, he wants to be so happy to hold his son, but he still needs to respect those boundaries.

"Elijah, I think you need to go back to your mother. She must decide when the time is right, not now." Nico didn't want to make things worse. He has been working so hard to get Elijah in his life, but you refused but slowly started to give him minor updates. 

"No, no. What? You don't want me now? Ma lies to me about everything; Cece gets to know her true father; why is it I can't? Is there something about me that is so easy to leave? To not want?" Elijah cries, those feelings breaking free. Nico reaches for him, but Elijah steps back. "Of course, I want you, but-" Nico stops, eyes growing wide when he sees you running towards them, Charles and Lando behind you. 

"Elijah!" He flinches, hearing your voice as you yank him around, checking him over. "Oh, baby, are you okay? Lewis said you just got angry and rushed off, and we've been looking everywhere for you." You cry, spinning him to make sure he isn't hurt.

"Nico, thank you for finding our son." Charles smiles. Elijah and your eyes connect. Slowly you turn, looking right at Nico, Elijah's true father and the man who left you. "Stay the hell away from my son." Standing before Elijah, refusing Nico the privilege to look at your son any longer. 

"Your son? Your son?" Elijah steps away from you shaking his head. "I'm not your son. I don't even know who you are." Elijah spits at you, Lando, stepping forward. "Hey! Don't speak to your mother like that." Lando was tired of this disrespect. "Oh shove it, Lando, you're not even my father. He is! Nico is my father." Everyone goes silent, breathing heavily; Elijah wipes his nose.

"You and Charles can act like my fathers, but you're not. I could've known my real father. Instead, my mother hides all his letters and refuses to discuss him! Uncle Lewis even knew Nico was my father and about the letters. What else have you been hiding, huh!?" Elijah yells. 

"Elijah James Norris-Leclerc, don't you dare speak to your Dad and Pa like that. You want to be angry at someone. You be angry at me. They're the ones who raised you, not Nico. He's the bastard who left us. Not them. Apologize." You glare at your son, trying to reset the urge to scream at him.

"No. I will not apologize; he left you, Ma, not me. You made him leave me. I read one of the letters. You didn't even give him the chance to be my father." Nico flinches, not wanting to have this conversation right now. 

"Y/n? Is this true?" Closing your eyes, you stare into the destroyed eyes of Charles and Lando. "Is, is anything you told us true?" Charles whispers. "Yes, everything she told you is true." Nico steps in, refusing to allow his son's family to break apart.

"Elijah, I did leave your mother and you. I was terrified at the thought of being a father. That's not a lie. I didn't start writing to you until your 6th birthday. I saw Charles's post and just decided to write to you." Laughing, you have the urge to slap Nico. 

"Stay out of this, you bastard! You're not a part of my son's life or this family." Elijah rolls his eyes, looking at Lando. Seeing Lando shake, unable to look up, he feels something break in him. "Oh fuck off, Y/n, you're just pissed because all the lies you and Lewis kept from everyone are finally revealed. I'm tired of being the villain in your story; it's time to face that you are the villain." Charles steps up, pushing Nico back from you. "Stop, that is still my wife. Don't you fucking dare speak to her like that." 

"Don't touch my father." Elijah steps between, showing Charles's hand off his chest. All hell breaks loose in that moment as you and Elijah yell at each other. Nico yelled at Charles and Lando, standing back and watching everything crumble. "HEY!" The screaming stops as a booming voice breaks through their own screams. 

"I come here to watch the historic Monaco GP, see the battle for the WDC between Lando and Charles. Instead, I hear the screaming of toddlers. How shocked am I to find out those voices are my daughter, her scumbag ex, and my grandson. So, someone want to tell me what has caused this?" You and Nico stare at the older man before you all, you feeling like a little girl again while Nico feels like that dumbass driver who got his daughter pregnant. 

"Hey, Mr. Hakkinen. Good to see you again."

[ryker-writes]

Your angst fic had made me go into angst creative mood. Twisted wonderland Character/s of your choosing of younger sibling that have chronic illness but hide it from their family. Often when to the toilet to cough out blood to avoid suspicious. Even went as far as asking the dr to keep it a secret because they don't want to burden their family and wanted them to enjoy their life because they already suffer so much and the distance actually help. Until sibling collapse and went into coma and the Dr had to break the news that they don't have much time left.

If it not to much- I'm feeling very angsty-

Oh my the heavy angst. This is so sad tho but I love it. These actually ended up longer than I thought they would be. I just had too many thoughts and it hurt my soul to write this because it's so sad but I enjoyed it

sorry not sorry if anyone cries <3

Characters: Leona, Idia, and Malleus

warnings: Mentions of blood, implied reader death, angst, no happy ending

Request rules and Masterlists

Leona:

you knew you should tell Leona about your condition

he was your older brother and he should know

but Leona was pretty protective and would drive himself mad demanding that somebody find something to help you

and he would spend all of his time worrying and fussing over you

so you didn't tell him

you wanted him to enjoy things and be happy

he's already struggled so much growing up and you don't want to burden him more

also you wanted to peacefully enjoy the time you had with everyone without a lingering sadness in the air

so you pleaded with the doctor to keep it a secret

and thankfully they did

all you had to do was hide the blood that you may cough out

so your bathroom trips became more frequent

Leona even joked that you should see the doctor about how much you have to go to the bathroom

but he didn't know the truth, and he was happy

that's all you wanted

until one day you woke up feeling weaker

you tried to fight it and carry on as you normally would

but for some reason you just couldn't

it was when you were walking in botanical garden towards Leona

black spots started to cloud your vision and you felt like you lost control of your body

the last thing you heard was Leona shouting

Leona was very worried when he saw you collapse

and you weren't responding to him either

he rushed you to the infirmary as quickly as he could and demanded that the doctor sees you immediately

when the doctor tells him that you're in a coma and don't have much time left, he's angry

how could you not tell him about your illness

he would've tried to help you if you just told him

Leona will spend most of his time by your side, waiting for you to wake up

he's not going to waste a moment somewhere else

he doesn't know what to do with himself

he's so angry with himself for not knowing sooner and not being able to do anything

you have to wake up, you just have to

Idia:

the Shroud family was a strange one

most of the family were shut-in's that were pretty isolated and lonely

your big brother Idia was a prime example of this

he spent most of his time behind the screens and barely interacted with other people

and he didn't really have friends either

both you and Ortho wanted him to be happy

and that's why you didn't tell him about your illness

if he knew he would isolate himself further and bury himself in trying to help

he would sacrifice his own health for the sake of you

and you couldn't let that happen

though you did hope that somehow he would be able to be happy and have a friend before your illness took over

it was difficult to keep it hidden

Ortho regularly does scans on you and Idia's health so he knows if something is wrong

so he knew, but you had to convince him not to tell Idia

it was a long process and filled with tears but he gave in eventually

and so when you would spend time with Idia, Ortho would be a little sad but hide it well

when you made and excuse of going to the bathroom Ortho knew what was happening and would make up some excuse to Idia about you drinking a lot of water or something

but then one day you were walking through the school halls with Ortho and Idia's tablet

it hit you so suddenly that you didn't even have time to react

as you coughed you could feel the blood sputter out and onto your chin

this coughing fit seemed worse than the rest and you couldn't stop

it hurt and even brought you down to the ground, and after a bit you passed out

Ortho was quick to help stabilize your condition and take you to the infirmary

all that came from the tablet was panicked noises and frantic questions

once the doctor checked up on your condition, he gave them the bad news

you had been sick for a long time and it's led you to a coma

with the way your condition was progressing, you didn't have much time left

Idia was so confused

how could both he and Ortho not notice especially when Ortho did health scans

but Ortho didn't answer and Idia could just tell that Ortho already knew

Night Raven College was buzzing with gossip that day

some were saying they saw Idia Shroud himself quickly walking through the halls and others denied that it couldn't be true

the notorious shut-in would never even leave his room or go outside Ignihyde

but the rumors were true

Idia Shroud had left his room and walked through the halls to the infirmary

and he stayed there all day constantly checking up on every little change in your condition

and when he wasn't checking on your condition he would sit there quietly and think

why did this have to happen?

why did it have to be you?

it wasn't fair

Idia was making the stressful trek through the halls every day so he could stay by your side in case you woke up

as he sat there he would play some of his video games and tell you all about it like he normally would, but this time you weren't able to respond

Malleus:

Malleus didn't have a lot of people he treasured in his life

those in Diasomnia were like his family, but you were actually his family so he treasured you dearly

he was always looking out for you and doing everything he could to make sure you were happy, and you wanted the same for him

so when the doctor had informed you of your illness and what would happen, you didn't want to tell him

Malleus would be crushed at the news

He had always been someone who was lonely

and you were like the one person he had that wasn't required to be around him

if he were to learn that you would soon be taken away from him, he wouldn't be able to cope

and you wanted to see him happy as long as you would be here

you couldn't tell him and instead kept it hidden from everyone

Malleus never questioned it much when you ran off to the bathroom

he would just ask if you were alright and once you said you were, he wouldn't ask past that

and so many days and even weeks past as you spent time with Malleus

he seemed happy and you were happy to see him like that

but it was when you were going on one of his gargoyle walks when the world started to spin

you wanted to ignore it and act natural before Malleus could notice, but it was all to much

your legs seemed more tired than usual and you fell to the ground

you could hear Malleus ask you repeatedly what was wrong but you couldn't answer

then the world faded to black

The great Malleus Draconia was terrified

you weren't responding to him and he didn't know what was wrong

his healing magic was amazing, but he couldn't heal injuries he didn't know about

so he picked you up and teleported the two of you to the infirmary

the doctor had to stop whatever they were already doing when the fae prince himself demanded his assistance

and the doctor checks up on you and tells Malleus everything

you were sick, now in a coma, and you were running out of time

the room was quiet for a minute as Malleus processed what the doctor said

and then, thunder

the worst thunderstorm Night Raven College has ever seen has been summoned

lightning was striking all around the campus and many students were taking shelter while terrified

but the infirmary was the safest place from the storm

Malleus sat by your side quietly pondering his thoughts

he was angry

not at you but at your illness for doing this to you, life for cursing you this way, and mostly at himself

he should've been able to see the signs before it got to this point

he should've been there for you

he should've helped you

how ironic it is that one of the most powerful mages was so helpless to save the one person they treasured most of all

Lilia, Silver, and Sebek came to find him after the storm started

and when they did, they didn't even say anything, but felt the heavy atmosphere

Lilia tried providing some comfort, but Malleus just stayed silent

for days after that, his three guards stood outside the infirmary and prevented anyone from disturbing the two of you

the storm persisted and Malleus never left your side

he would sit there for hours silently wishing for you to wake and be okay

even though he knew that was unlikely

but he wouldn't leave and possibly miss you waking up

that was simply one event he wouldn't miss

Malleus was never good at noticing how quickly time passed

but as he sat by your side, he was painfully aware of every passing second that you lie there

[renren-006]

Savior | Daryl Dixion x fem reader

plot: Daryl saved you, and you want to kiss your savoir warning: slight mentions of almost taken advantage of, violence word count: 1518 a/n: I just had to write this idea!

taglist: @rosecentury

Back when the world had just ended, and things were still unknown, you were wounded around Atlanta's wooded, less populated areas. You had run from your car that got overrun, remembering the screams of your parents and the harsh pain in your ankle after you fell from the car watching them. You still struggled on your ankle; hisses escaped your lips as you walked. You had not stopped long through the days to heal or to rest, not knowing where the next undead would come for your flesh. Your jeans were worn and dirty, your red shirt now had holes, and you desperately wanted a bath. 

The day Daryl came to your rescue was the first day you had fallen asleep next to a tree with the fire embers still cooling in the morning rays. You heard the crunch and woke with a startle; there were three men watching you, all eyeing your body like a prise. 

"Well, lookie here, boys, some fresh meat for us," one of them said, toying with his belt to hide the painfully evident erection there. All three of them had one. You didn't know what to do, had nowhere to go, and knew you wouldn't make it far with your ankle.

"Please don't," you said, your voice coming out louder than you intended, maybe preying someone would hear you. 

"Aw, look at her. She's begging. I want her first," the second man said, and the others shook their heads. 

"no way she's mine," The third said, pushing his friend back before strutting twords you.

"No, No!" you said, shouting; maybe even the undead would save you. "Please!" he came to you, and you struggled to push him off. The others were smiling, ribbing their pants, and wanting their turn. 

"Hurry up, man", the first man said. Wanting the man who was trying to get your belt off to rush. That was when an arrow went through the man's skull, making his body thud against the forest floor, and then the second man went down with a knife in the head. The man on top of you looked back and gave you just enough room for you to knee his body off you. The man looked angry as you went back further, your pants even more ruined from the mud. Thankfully, your belt was still on, and your pants only ripped slightly from his strength. The man went down soon after, and two men peered around the trees twords you. 

"Hey there, girlie?" one of them asked, the same face the men had before they died. The shorter one pushed him back, walking over to you, bending down by the man, and pushing him away so you couldn't see his dead eyes. 

"We ain't goin' to hurt ya," he said, his voice soothing you from wanting to leave. "We got ya know."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," the taller one said. 

"He ain't going to hurt you either. hands off, Merle," the man sad

"I got it", Merle said, getting the hint that I wasn't to be touched by him at all. 

"I'm Daryl, that ma brother Merle. He won't get his hands on ya," Daryl said to you, holding out a hand; this seemed to be the first act of kindness this man had shown anyone in a while, and his face read it all too well.

"You don't save many people, do you?" you asked him. He shook his head, lagging slightly.

"Nah, normally we don't run into people. ya needed help, coulden't leave" Daryl told you, gripping your hand in his as he lifted you up. "You aint got no weapons on you?"

You told him, "No… I didn't prepare for the world to end." He nodded his head. Merle looked around, noticing a few of the undead heading your way.

"We gotta move." 

That started your journey with the brothers for a few months. It was just you two. They trained you on how to hunt and how to fight, and most importantly, how to piss Merle off, so he left you alone. Daryl also made sure your ankle was looked after, and in no time, it was better. Merlemeantt, no harm to you; he was just desperate for action you never wanted to give him. Daryl became your savior and bodyguard, making sure Merle understood that would NEVER happen. 

The three of you traveled until you met others who welcomed you into their small, little mountain-top community. It was you, the brothers, some sisters, and a man named Dale for a bit. Soon, the group grew and grew, but you only hung with Daryl and cursed off Merle. 

However, the time with him on the mountain made you aware of your attraction twords Daryl, the want you craved when you were near him. You were late in your 20's20s, having experienced college before traveling home to your parents just before the world ended. In those times before Daryl, you felt like you were younger, but now you feel your age, you feel strong. For the time being, you felt strong until your group had to pack up and leave because of a walker outbreak. 

Months later, you were entering the farm, your hands wrapped around Daryl as he rode into the grounds. You were mesmerized by how quiet and large it was here. While the others were setting up, you glanced over at Daryl, who was setting his tent up a bit away from them but not so far that he was secluded. 

"You got a tent?" Carol asked. You looked back at the woman. You didn't know what you were going to do. For the past months, you had slept by Daryl and Merle, but now, you were not sure what you would do.

"She with me," Daryl said, coming over to you. You looked beside you at the man who had apparently finished setting up and had walked over. "That good?"

"Of course," you told him, smiling; he nodded and walked over to Rick and the others.

"You both need to talk about your feelings for one another," Carol told you. "I can see it clear as day."

"Carol!" you said to the woman who had become a mother of sorts to you over the months. “I…cant”

"I think you can. I think you should," she told you, patting your back and going over to the others, leaving you thinking about how exactly you could even begin to explain to Daryl how Head becomes the soul man you wanted to be with for the rest of this apocalyptic world. 

It took you weeks and weeks to gain the courage, and only after he got shot did you tell him. He was lying in that recovery bed, not able to move a lot. You came in and sat beside him. 

"Whatcha doing in 'ere," He asked you as you sat down in the chair by his bed. 

"I…needed to tell you something…" You said to him, referring to the breakfast you had only a few hours earlier, which was being eaten away by the nerves. 

"What? Ya hurt?" he asked, concern spreading fast across his face.

"No, no," you told him, "I…god, I don't think I can tell you."

"Tell me what?" he asked, his southern accent so strong inside that room that it made your head spin.

"How you've been making me feel," you started, "I just didn't. I don't want to lose you, and after you got shot, I figured I might as well tell you before you died, and I never did."

"What are ya going on about?"

"I love you, Daryl. I've loved you since you saved me, and God, I love you even more since you've shown me how to be strong in this world", you rambled to the man in the bed beside you. Your hands were in your lap, and your eyes were glued to them. 

"Y/N," Daryl said in a soft tone you had never heard from him. 

"I know I should have told you you were the man who saved me, and you probably think I'm some kid to you", you said. Worry eating at you again.

"I don't think you're some kid." he told you, "I think you're a lot more than that."

"You do? You asked, eyebrows scrunched together. 

"That first night you spent with us, I didn't sleep cause I couldn't keep my eyes off ya," he told you, "I thought you were…blessed by a god or somethin'" he told you, holding your stare; there were tears in your eyes now 

"I don't think I ever heard you talk like that," you said, smiling through the slight tears brimming your eyes. 

"Ya won't again," he told you, pulling you down to him and kissing your lips so deeply. The door behind you opened, and then the person proceeded to fall into the door.

"Finally," Carol screeched. Smiles stretched over her face, as well as Ricks', who came to check on Daryl. Finally, you got to kiss your savor after all these months.

[jazzyoranges]

Splitting Headache

Tara Carpenter x Fem!Reader

Summary: Tara is there when you have a shitty day at work

Words: 1.0k

A/n: i didn’t spell check or anything so sorry if there’s mistakes 😇 also kinda inspired by a reddit story i saw on tiktok

Warnings(?): fluff, annoying customers

You’ve had a long fucking day at work. Your day was already bad when you woke up. There was a throbbing pain right in the middle for your forehead, but alas, the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache. Unfortunately, your headache only worsened when you somehow slipped on a chew toy in the kitchen of your apartment

But the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache or a bruise on your ass. You worked as a barista at a pretty busy coffee shop. There was always a constant stream of people ordering pastries, drinks, and sandwiches. At least you got paid a little more than average, right?

Luckily the car ride to the shop wasn’t too bad. Until you almost crashed into some dumbass driver that doesn’t know how to drive. A plethora of curses escaped your lips as you angrily beeped at the guy that almost made a dent in your car — your precious baby

But the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache, a bruise on your ass, or idiot drivers. You’re only a few minutes late so you quickly put on your apron and start making some drinks. The thing you hate most about your job isn’t the customers, but the overly complex and sugary coffees. Like, who the fuck is ordering a liquified birthday cake coffee at eight in the morning? The loud machine’s definitely didn’t make your headache better

But the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache, a bruise on your ass, idiot drivers, or loud noises. Thankfully your job was pretty simple. Well, to you it was a pain in the ass, but an easy pain in the ass. Take the order, make the drink, spell the name wrong, and serve. Sounds pretty easy, but there just so happens to be a certain time where the worst customers come in. Nine in the morning. At nine in the morning, all of the angry moms and the mean business men come in to have their morning coffee

And every single morning you have to deal with them

Every.

Single.

Morning.

Today was absolutely no different

“I asked for two pumps of vanilla! You only put one!”

“No, that gift card isn’t used up!”

“I get to cut the line. I’m more important than anyone else here!”

But the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache, a bruise on your ass, idiot drivers, loud noises, or annoying customers. Really, the only thing that was getting you through this day was your girlfriend. Your amazing, beautiful, wonderful, kind, beau-

“This is disgusting! You must be new, this is not the matcha coffee I ordered!” A woman snaps you out of your thoughts and you have to put on your customer-service voice

“Actually, i’ve been working here for about six months. What seems to be the issue?”

“Are you trying to smart-mouth me, young lady?”

“Not at all, ma’am.”

“Yeah the hell you are!” The lady was practically screaming at you, and you saw some phones recording your situation. At least you’d have proof of verbal harassment if you decided to punch her

“Please, ma’am, I’ll make it for you again.”

“No way! You’ve ruined my morning!” And with that, the woman splashes her drink in your face before you can react. Your manager catches wind of the situation, but he gets there too late. You’re already dripping green when he arrives. You storm off into the break room with a scowl on your face

But the world doesn’t stop spinning for a dumb headache, a bruise on your ass, idiot drivers, loud noises, annoying customers, or women that throw matcha coffee in your face. Thankfully your manager is nice and kind enough to know the customer isn’t always right. He offers you the day off, and you happily accept. You wash up before leaving and earn a few “I’m sorry she did that”’s and “She was in the wrong���’s, which makes you feel a little better knowing the other customers were on your side

The entire situation just made your head throb even harder

Originally you were going to go back home to take a nap, but you decide to visit the only reason you kept going today. You’re amazing, beautiful, wonderful, kind, girlfriend Tara. All you wanted to do was spend the rest of the day in her arms and kiss until your lips were swollen. Every sapphic woman’s dream, really

You pull into the garage of Tara’s apartment complex, and practically sprint to her room. One minute flat, a new record. Softly knocking on the door as to not scare her, you patiently waited to hear her footsteps check the peephole

“Baby?” Your girlfriend says behind the door before opening it. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

You choose to not elaborate, and pull her into a shoulder crushing hug

“What’s with the affection? Tell me what’s wrong, love”

“Bad day. Cuddle?” You mumble into her shoulder, and she laughs while shutting the door

“Of course.” Tara pulls your face to hers, giving you a deep kiss before taking you to her room. You can’t your giddy smile and it makes the younger Carpenter happy

There are random shirts and shorts from all the times you’ve spent over, and you quickly change before jumping into Tara’s arms. Burying your head into your girlfriend’s chest, you sigh at her smell. She’s exactly what home smells like to you

“Wanna tell me what’s wrong, baby?”

“Tired.” You mumble

“It’s only two in the afternoon my love”

“Just want you...” You mumble again in one breath, making Tara laugh

She had to be magic. Your worries washed away, and simply being with her made you feel better. Tara ran her hands through your hair, massaging your head. Simultaneously, your headache was nearly gone. Shitty days, mediocre days, good days, you knew your girlfriend would be there to pick you up. Maybe you wouldn’t mind if the world stopped spinning for Tara Carpenter

—

Bonus:

“Baby, why do you smell like matcha?”

“Long story.”

[hungermakesmonsters]

(Once Bitten) Twice Shy

Chapter Four

Plot summary : Desperate to get away from your controlling family, you take a job in New York as a wealthy vampire's blood source. A million dollars awaits if you can make it through a year, but life with Billy Russo is not going to be as simple as you think.

Pairing : Billy Russo x Reader

Story Rating : R  Chapter Rating : PG

Warnings : [This is a fic for 18+ only, minors DNI] Nothing of note this chapter, except a moment of sickeningly awkward cuteness (I'm so sorry). All chapters will contain mentions of blood. Please check the warnings on each chapter if you choose to follow this story. 

Word Count : 4.8k

A/N : The aftermath of last chapter. Tumblr is still only letting me tag five people at a time, so tags will be in comments again.

CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER TWO | CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Four

You woke to find yourself on the sofa, covered with a blanket, alone and with only a vague recollection of what had happened the night before. Your hand had been bandaged and you felt worse than ever. The room was spinning, your head pounding, and finally you understood why; blood loss. You’d drawn blood and, then, you’d let him drink from you; it had been too much and you’d lost consciousness.

It took a moment more for you to remember everything else that had happened; how he’d pressed his body to yours, how he’d kissed you, and how you’d - oh god, your boss had made you come. 

Panic washed over you for a second, your hand reaching between your thighs, terrified that something had happened after you passed out. No. You breathed a sigh of relief and found yourself feeling silly for even thinking that Billy would do something like that. From what little you knew of him, you didn’t think he was capable of that.

Despite being completely alone, you pulled the blanket up, hiding your face and your embarrassment. You closed your eyes and all you could see was his face, blood covered lips and dark eyes filled with hunger - and not just hunger for blood.

You remembered his lips on your neck, the scrape of teeth - fangs - as you came. Gingerly, you ran your fingers over your skin, searching for puncture marks but, thankfully, found none. 

As much as you wanted to move, to go back to your bedroom, you were too exhausted and, soon enough, you ended up falling asleep again. 

Hours must have passed and you certainly felt better for it when you finally opened your eyes again.

At some point a bottle of water and a note had been left on the floor next to the sofa, though you couldn’t say if they’d been there the whole time or if he’d placed them there after you’d fallen asleep again.

You decided to start with the water, taking a slow drink to steady your nerves before reading the note. It was impossible to stop your mind from going into overdrive, from thinking of all the things that the note might contain; was he going to fire you for your unprofessional behaviour, was he angry that you broke the rule about being in the penthouse after 9pm?

Your fingers shook as you unfolded the note and started to read.

I want to apologise for my behaviour last night, it was unacceptable and I understand if you want to terminate your contract because of it. If you want to leave, please let Lissa know and she will retrieve your things from storage. If you choose to stay, you will have the next couple of days to yourself to recover. I’ll be gone until Friday and won’t need blood before then. 

Whatever you decide, I’ve arranged for my friend Karen to visit you tomorrow and, if you still want to, you have permission to go out with her for the day. If you want to leave, she will help you with whatever you need to do so. Please take care of yourself.

Billy.

You read and reread the note, trying to figure out what he wanted from you. The note felt so detached, almost like he was assuming you’d want to leave. 

(Did you? Was that really what you wanted?)

You read it again before sitting up, noticing the dried blood on your pyjamas. Common sense told you to leave, to get your things and get out of there as quickly as possible. Last night had been stupid and reckless, you’d done the one thing you’d promised yourself you’d never do; you’d let a vampire drink directly from you.

Okay, so he hadn’t bitten you, but what was to say that next time he wouldn’t? But, by the same logic, what was to say that he would? He could have done anything he wanted to you, but he hadn’t. And what he had done you’d allowed. No, you’d been an active participant. You’d enjoyed it. (Who were you trying to kid? You’d wanted it.) He’d told you to stay away and you’d ignored him. It had been your choice to feed him, your choice to let him kiss you, even though you knew he wasn’t in his right mind.

Embarrassed as you were, some part of you had wanted what had happened last night and, now, you had to live with the consequences. 

You read the note one last time. Please take care of yourself, you weren’t sure if those five little words made it better or worse. He always seemed so concerned with how fragile you were, and you still weren’t sure if it came from a place of caring or of liability, but it felt like he was staying away from his own home because of you.

No, you quickly decided, you didn’t want to leave. You couldn’t. You needed the money and last night was as much your fault as Billy’s. 

Staying was still far better than the alternative.

Eventually you managed to get up and move to your rooms, grabbing yourself a bowl of cereal on the way to bed. You put the TV on, but more for background noise than anything and spent the rest of the day dozing, only getting up to get more cereal.

Instead of thinking about what had happened, you started thinking about tomorrow, about finally being able to go outside and see some of New York City. What would his friend Karen be like? Would she be able to tell you anything about Billy? Finally, you had something to look forward to, even though you were worried that Billy had only arranged it out of guilt.

You felt much better the next day when you woke up, in part because you were excited to finally go outside and see some of the city but, also, because you were looking forward to meeting Billy’s friend and having someone new to talk to. The weather outside looked cold and wet, so you dressed accordingly, pulling a lovely blue jacket and pair of boots from your wardrobe to put on over your jeans and blouse.

Just before midday, you heard someone calling your name, and you quickly went out to greet them. She had stunning red hair and skin so pale you might have thought she was a vampire if you weren’t about to go out in daylight with her. It was enough to make you pause, to make you wonder how she knew Billy, an odd twinge of jealousy filling you for a second.

“Hi, I’m Karen,” she smiled and held out her hand. You took it and introduced yourself properly, even though she already knew your name. “Oh, what happened to your hand?”

Your cheeks warmed a fraction, looking down at your bandaged hand for a second. “I caught it taking some cookies out of the oven.”

“Ouch,” Karen winced sympathetically, seeming to buy the lie. “Billy said you wanted to go for coffee?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” you answered, feeling overcome with relief the moment you stepped into the elevator.

“You got any place in mind?” Karen asked, subtly looking you up and down like she was trying to get a measure of you.

“I - I don’t know. This is my first time in New York, I don’t really know where anything is.” 

“And this is the first time he’s let you outside,” she stated.

For a second you looked at her, confused, wondering how much she knew, how much she was supposed to know. Lissa had told you that Billy valued his privacy and you weren’t sure what you were supposed to say in this situation. The uncomfortable look on your face must have been enough to tip Karen off that you didn’t know how to answer.

“He has his reasons,” she started again as the elevator arrived on the ground floor and you stepped out, “I know it probably doesn’t seem like it right now, but he is trying to look out for you.”

“How do you know him?” You asked.

“I met him through his best friend when we started dating.”

“Oh. And is he...?” You left the question unfinished, not sure if it was polite to ask.

“A vampire?” She smiled the sort of carefree smile that you couldn’t help feel envious of, like she didn’t care what anyone thought of her. “Yes, he is.”

Stepping out onto the street, you couldn’t help but stop for a moment, turning your eyes skyward and taking a deep breath. It took a second for your eyes to get used to natural light and, all the while, Karen stood watching you.

“How long has it been?” Her question pulled you back to the moment.

“A couple of weeks, I think?” You tried to remember, but you’d lost track of how long exactly it had been after the first week. However long it had been, it wasn’t really long enough to warrant that sort of reaction from you. Your cheeks warmed a fraction as you looked at Karen. “I’m not really used to being cooped up indoors all the time.”

Karen just nodded, waiting a beat before starting to walk. You fell into step beside her, your eyes taking in the sights of New York. You had no idea where she was leading you but you didn’t care. You were finally seeing the city and you couldn’t be happier.

Less than five minutes later, you found yourself in a little coffee shop, looking at the pastries and cakes on offer before you realised something.

“I don’t have any money,” you told Karen, your cheeks turning red, an uncomfortable sense of shame filling you.

It hadn’t even crossed your mind; you always had a purse with you or your phone, but Lissa had taken them and you weren’t going to be paid until you’d completed a year in Mr Russo’s service. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Karen replied, starting to fumble around with her purse before pulling out a black credit card and handing it to you. “Billy asked me to give you this for anything you need.”

The card had your name embossed on it but there was nothing else to indicate - well, anything at all. You didn’t know if it was a prepaid card or if it had a limit, and there was no way of telling where the money would be coming from.

“The PIN is your birth year,” Karen continued, though she seemed more interested in eyeing the food selection than she was in you.

After a moment more, you decided that you’d ask Billy about it when you next saw him (assuming you ever saw him again, after the other night). You choose modestly, not wanting to spend too much on a card that wasn’t yours and that you couldn’t control. For all you knew, you were spending Billy’s money and the last thing you wanted to do was take advantage of this gesture of kindness.

And that was something Karen did notice, watching you from the corner of her eye with a somewhat bemused expression on her face as you calculated just how much money you’d be spending getting a drink, a panini, and a muffin. Then, you held your breath as you used the card for the first time, preparing yourself for the embarrassment of it being declined.  It wasn’t. You breathed a sigh of relief before following Karen to a little table by the window.

Your eyes were fixed on the street outside, watching as it started to rain, but you could feel her eyes on you.

“You’re not like the others,” she finally broke the silence. 

“What were they like?” You asked with a healthy degree of caution, still not knowing what the rules were and what you were allowed to talk to her about. “Lissa said that they disappointed Mr Russo?”

She sat back, biting her lip and trying to suppress a smile. You couldn’t tell what part of it she found amusing and you didn’t want to ask.

“Disappointed is one word for it, I guess?” she took a breath, obviously composing her thoughts before continuing. “Did you know that you’re the first one he didn’t interview himself?”

You shook your head; you’d applied for the job by email and had spoken to someone (you now assumed to be Lissa) very briefly over the phone. In retrospect, it seemed strange given the amount of money that was at stake.

Unless he didn’t bother because he assumed you’d disappoint him like the others…

“The problem with Billy - with the whole job, really - is that it usually attracts a... certain sort of person. Most of them have only been interested in the money and spending a year living in the lap of luxury. The others are...” she fell silent, smiling as the barista brought your toasted paninis over and, when you were alone again, she looked like she really didn’t want to finish her thought.

“The others are...?” You prompted cautiously.

“They’re the sort of people who want more from the arrangement than Billy is prepared to give,” she answered and, when you obviously didn’t catch her meaning, she continued. “Billy is a very rich man and he’s going to live forever. A lot of people find both of those prospects very attractive.”

“They want him to...” you couldn’t bring yourself to say the words, a lump stuck in your throat at the thought. Karen nodded. “And you’ve done this before? Gone for coffee with... someone like me?”

“Not quite like this, but I did spend time with some of them.”

“What do you mean not quite like this?” 

She paused half way through lifting her cup to her lips and, for a second you could have sworn she winced. Still, she took a drink and didn’t try to answer until her mug was back on the table again.

“His rules weren’t always so strict.” Her head shook. “Look, it’s not my place to tell you any of this. Billy has his reasons for why things are the way they are; it’s to protect you as much as it’s to protect him.”

You opened your mouth to ask more questions but no words came out. Ultimately, it didn’t matter how or why the rules had changed because you’d agreed to them. You’d agreed to the job and you needed the money, so the last thing you wanted to do was get Karen in trouble and maybe jeopardise future outings like this.

“Thank you,” you told her, then quickly clarified; “for telling me.”

Karen smiled, considering her words for a moment. “Billy is a friend, but trust me when I tell you that if I didn’t believe what he was doing was necessary, I would have told him so.”

“It’s okay,” you conceded quietly, shrugging, “I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to do this.”

You turned your attention to your food, cautiously picking up your panini, trying not to burn yourself on the molten cheese that was leaking out the side as you took a bite. It was heavenly; toasted just the right amount, the cheese was sharp, and the tuna -

You dropped the panini back to your plate, horrified with yourself.

No. No-no-no. How could you have been so stupid? You felt your chest tighten a fraction, your stomach tying itself in knots. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Karen asked, obviously concerned.

“Tuna,” you stated, your voice breaking. “I’m not supposed to eat tuna. It’s on the list. He’s going to -”

“Whoa-whoa, back up. What list?”

“The list of things I’m not supposed to eat,” you tried to explain, unable to conceal the panic from your voice. 

This wasn’t you - you didn’t break rules, you always tried to stay in line - and, now, you’d messed up. All you could think was that you were going to lose the job, that Billy would kick you out and you’d have no choice but to go home. You were going to end up back where you started all because of a stupid toasted sandwich.

“Hey-hey, calm down, it’s okay,” Karen tried to settle you.

“You don’t understand I can’t lose this job.”

“You won’t,” she reached across the table, taking your hand in hers, “if Billy finds out, we’ll tell him it was my fault, okay?”

“But -”

“No, buts. Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise.”

You didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to explain the panic that was clawing beneath your ribs. You’d been raised to be good, to be decent, to follow the rules and not cause problems. You’d been raised to fear consequences and, even though you were far from home, that mindset was difficult to escape.

“Here,” she offered, sliding her plate towards you, “we can swap, I got ham and cheese. You only had one bite, Billy will never know.”

It was like she understood, like she could tell just by looking at you how desperately you needed to keep the job - not just because of the money on offer but because you had nothing and nowhere else to go without it. 

Taking the offered plate, you ate slowly, quietly. From time to time, you’d catch her looking at you, concern on her face. Conversation that followed was stilted and awkward as you picked apart your muffin until it was gone. And, once your mug was empty, the outing was over.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay longer,” she apologised as you started back towards the penthouse. “I’ll make more time next week; we can spend a whole afternoon doing whatever you want. We’ll make it a regular thing, every Thursday.”

Agreeing, you thanked her as she rode the elevator back up to the penthouse with you, making sure you were okay before leaving you with the promise of seeing you again next week.

It was strange to know that you were completely alone in the penthouse for another day but, after the incident with the panini, you were very deliberate when it came to the rules. You sat on the sofa until just before 9pm, watching the cloudy sky slowly darken and give way to night before returning to your rooms, even though no one would have known if you’d stayed in the penthouse longer.

That night you laid in bed thinking about Billy - or, rather, you thought about what it was going to be like to see him again after what had happened. Was he as embarrassed by it all as you were? Did Billy Russo even get embarrassed? Maybe it would be better for the both of you if you just pretended that it never happened.

Friday passed in a blur. Every time you heard a noise in the penthouse, you would creep to the door to your quarters and press your ear against it, trying to hear if he was back. Of course, some part of you understood how ridiculous you were being; Billy was so light on his feet that you’d never be able to hear him. But, still, time and time again you found yourself pressed against the door.

After drawing blood, you moved across the penthouse as quietly as you could, looking for signs that he was home and finding none. Once you reached the kitchen and placed the blood in the fridge, you allowed yourself a sigh of relief before turning and -

There he was.

Standing between you and your rooms, a look on his face that you couldn’t decipher.

For a second your lips parted, wanting to say something, but the words just wouldn’t come. Your cheeks started to warm and the silence dragged on for at least ten seconds. Billy looked uncertain, so uncomfortable in your presence. His normally calm and collected demeanour was gone, replaced with a look that made you feel unsettled, guilty even. More than that, you couldn’t help but notice how tired he looked - you hadn’t even realised that vampires could look tired before now.

“You decided to stay,” part-statement, part-question. All you could do was nod, letting your feet carry you a couple of steps closer to him. “I’m glad. I didn’t think you would.”

“I want to stay,” you offered quietly, breathing slowly, trying to keep your heart from racing.

“I’m sorry for the other night. I never wanted you to see me like that,” he said, standing a little taller and seeming to regain some of his usual composure. “It won’t happen again. I never wanted to make you feel unsafe here.”

“You didn’t,” your voice still small as you struggled to find a way to describe any of the things you were feeling right now. “You told me to stay away and I didn’t listen, and I didn’t ask you to stop when I should have. But I just...” you trailed off, not sure how to say the next part.

“What?” He prompted softly, his attention entirely fixed on you.

“I need to make it clear; just because you’re paying me, it doesn’t mean you’re entitled to -”

“I would never think that I’m entitled to fuck you just because I’m paying you,” he interrupted, just as offended by the notion as you were. “Anything that happens here only happens with your consent.”

Did that mean it could happen again if you wanted it to? You didn’t dare voice the question, instead you just nodded.

His gaze dropped awkwardly and yours followed it, noticing something tightly gripped in his hands. A stuffed toy. Before you could ask, Billy had cleared the distance between you, holding out the toy to you. After a moment of confused hesitation, you took it, frowning first at the toy then him.

“When you said you were lonely, you mentioned a dog and I -” he let out an uncomfortable huff of laughter, “- well, obviously I can’t let you have a real dog here but I thought - I hoped - maybe this would help.”

Your gaze dropped to the stuffed toy in your hand, shaped like a beagle with floppy ears and a little pink tongue lolling out of its mouth. You couldn’t remember the last time someone had bought you such a thoughtful gift and that sad thought caused your heart to give an uncomfortable squeeze. When you looked back to Billy, you started to realise that there was far more to the man than you’d originally believed.

“I didn’t know what kind of dog you had, so I just...” he continued, trailing off when he saw your smile.

“Thank you. It’s perfect.” 

It was Billy’s turn to simply nod, seeming just as lost for words as you were for a few seconds before deciding to let you go about your evening. “Anyway, I won’t keep you.”

The conversation was over giving you the perfect opportunity to walk away and recover from whatever this had been, only -

“I broke one of the rules,” you blurted out without thinking, not wanting to carry the weight of it after Billy’s gesture.

A flicker of discomfort crossed his face but was quickly reined in. “Which one?” 

“I ate tuna in a panini when I went out with Karen,” you stated, sounding so ashamed anyone would have thought you were confessing to murder. “It was just one bite. I forgot tuna was on the list. I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again, Mr Russo. I promise.”

You didn’t expect the laugh that followed, or the way the tension seemed to leave his body. His hand found your shoulder, offering a reassuring squeeze.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t matter.”

“But the list -”

“Tuna is on the list because I don’t like it. If I’d been here and had your blood, it would have been unpleasant for me, but I wasn’t here so I’m willing to forgive it.”

(Well, that explained why certain foods were on the list. They were things he didn’t like - did that mean he could tell what you’d been eating from your blood?)

“I spent twenty dollars,” you admitted a moment later, like you were confessing all of your sins to him. (Or maybe you just wanted to keep the conversation going a little while longer, keep his hand on you a little longer.)

His hand moved to your neck, his cold touch on your skin causing your heart to beat a little faster. And you knew he could tell, you knew he could hear the effect he was having on you. 

“You spent eighteen dollars fifty-five,” he told you, amused by whatever this was. “I don’t think you’re going to bankrupt me.” When his little joke didn’t manage to draw a smile from you, Billy sighed. “I’m the one that should be sorry. I haven’t really explained things to you, I guess because I didn’t think you’d even make it past the second week.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m asking a lot of you. Maybe too much,” he told you as his thumb began to softly brush against your jaw. “The truth is, I need things to be like this. I need to have control. I need to stay in control because when I don’t...”

He didn’t have to say it, you could fill in the blanks. The other night was what happened when Billy lost control, it was what happened when the monster overwhelmed the man.

“But,” he continued, “I know it’s not easy to be the person who’s being controlled. I know you don’t really want this.”

“No, I -” the words started to slip out before you could stop them. Billy looked at you expectantly, silently demanding you finish the thought. Your cheeks felt like they were burning, but he was giving you honesty and you needed to do the same in return. “I’m used to rules. I like knowing what’s expected of me. It doesn’t make things easier for me, but I like knowing where I stand. So, I guess I don’t mind following your rules.”

It was clear he had questions but clearer still that he didn’t want to ask them. You were grateful for that.

“You always have a choice here, little hummingbird, even if I sometimes make it seem like you don’t,” he told you, leaving his hand to linger on your neck a moment more before it dropped to his side. Somehow, you felt colder for the loss of his icy touch. He was quiet a moment before; “do you like Thai food?”

You nodded despite the very sudden change in conversation. “I love it.”

“I’ve got nothing planned this weekend, perhaps we could spend some time getting to know each other a little better? Maybe that would make things a little easier,” he offered, a small smile on his lips. “We could order from a great Thai place I know and I could try to answer some of your questions about things.”

Your fingers tightened on the stuffed toy as you smiled. Finally, you felt like you were getting somewhere, like this could become something bearable, something good.

“I’d like that,” you answered.

“Okay then, tomorrow evening at sunset,” he nodded and looked ready to leave.

Nodding in return, you finally stated to move back towards your rooms. Your hand was on the handle when he spoke again.

“Why did you help me?” You could tell from his tone that he didn’t want to ask the question, but the curiosity had gotten the better of him. “You didn’t have to help, you could’ve stayed in your rooms. Instead you put yourself in danger to help me. Why?”

You turned back, despite not knowing how to answer him. And, for a few seconds you found yourself looking at him. There was something there, something about his expression, something that made you wonder if anyone else had ever helped him before. It seemed like such an alien concept to him that anyone might go out of their way to do anything for him.

“You looked like you were in pain,” you shrugged, “and, even though I haven’t always felt completely comfortable here, I think you’ve always tried to be kind... in your own way. So, I couldn’t just stand by when I thought there was a chance I could help you.”

Billy swallowed, like he was trying to rid himself of a lump in his throat. Then he nodded, clearly lost for words. That look you’d noticed only seconds before seemed to intensify and Billy didn’t seem to know what to do with it.

“Thank you,” he finally managed, before giving you one last look and turning away. 

For a second you allowed yourself to watch him as he made his way towards the kitchen but you knew you couldn’t linger, not when the pounding of your heart gave you away. Slipping through the door, you quickly shut it behind you, pressing your back against it for a moment. Looking down, you realised that you had the stuffed dog clutched to your chest. It was silly, such a ridiculous gift, but the fact that he’d listened to you, the fact that he’d thought about what you’d told him, it meant so much.

End Note : Billy was having a Mr Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen version) moment when he handed over the stuffed toy. Place your bets on what she’s going to to call it. I know this one was slow and a little cutesy but I wanted to build some more tension before things start to ramp up next chapter.

As always thank you so much for reading! And thank you so much to all my new followers (I did not expect 200+ followers when I started posting on tumblr). I hope you all have awesome weekends!!

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged in future chapters! If tagging doesn't work for some reason (aka Tumblr being dumb) I post most Fridays around 7:30 gmt. (Note: Tumblr is currently being stupid and only letting me tag five people at a time, so I'll be tagging people in the comments. Sorry if you get tagged twice!!)

Tag List : @vaguekayla @thdcre @rensolodriver @house-husband-of-castlemurdock @snowkestrel @danzer8705 @noortsshift @aoi-targaryen @lincerad @vxnity713 @readerinsertsaremyguiltypleasure @dreadfulxives18 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @glamourbabe17 @sweetserendipity65 @damagelove @strangerfromketterdam @a-starrynightwith-u @readingabouthim @countryday @weepingwitchofthewest

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

Hello hope ur having an amazing day/afternoon/night

So for the "if you weren't alone" how about the Hunting dogs with a GN reader? Take your time and make sure to take care of yourself

If you were not alone

Part III

Characters: Self-Aware! Hunting Dogs

Reader: Adult! GN! Reader

Warning: English is my second language

_______

🐕‍🦺You were tried. Today, you and Hunting Dogs were having one of your traditional camping trips. Thanks to Teruko's and Fukuchi's training, you have become tougher. Still, you were tried and were thankful, when you finally set up a camp.

After dinner, you go to your tents and fall asleep

You were the last one to woke up. A familiar redhead looked inside the tent. Tachihara looked worried.

"[Y/N], you are awake, good... Listen... My dear Hyacinth... You probably should take a look at that..."

You climbed out of the tent and looked around. Your gaze immediately stopped on the familiar Statue of the Seven, standing on an island in the middle of the lake.

You were in Starfell Valley, on a Cider Lake shore.

The rest of the Hunting Dogs were not only up, but already were in their uniforms. A fire was burning and aromas of porridge and tea were coming from a pot and kettle, that were put above the fire.

"[Y/N], does this place look familiar to you?" Teruko passed a bowl with porridge and a cup full of hot tea to you.

You braced yourself. Explanation will take time.

🐕‍🦺 You tried your best to answer questions about Teyvat. About nations and elements. You answered questions about the game. That nothing strange was happening in your game. No insane luck, no new voice lines, no new menus, no new characters (that weren't announced), no reaction to you talking or petting the screen, no strange emails, no gifts. Genshin Impact looked like absolutely normal game.

After the breakfast was done, Hunting Dogs got the most basic information about Teyvat and were as confused as you were about Teyvat being real.

But you can't get answers just staying in one place. After you collect your belongings (with tent, sleeping bags), Hunting Dogs and you start walking. To Mondstadt.

Just to make sure, that you stayed safe, Fukuchi asked you to walk in the middle of the group, while he was walking before you, Tachihara and Teruko were walking on the sides and Jouno and Tetchou were walking behind you.

Your journey has begun.

🐕‍🦺 Mondstadt greet your group with yelling, Knights of Favonius with their weapons out and a mob who wanted blood.

"HERETIC! IMPOSTER WITH A HERD OF SINFUL CULTISTS!" You didn't know, that Kaeya could yell. Or even use 'heretic' negatively. You could see, how Hunting Dogs slowly drew their swords. In a last attempt to explain yourself and try to resolve the conflict, you carefully put your hand on Fukuchi's arm and stepped before him. Dozens of angry eyes stared at you. You cleared your throat.

"I am not an imposter. My friends aren't cultists! We got lost and just wanted to find a way home... AAA!"

"SILENCE YOUR LIES, CREATURE!"

A small stone hit you on a forehead. The hit was painful, but, thankfully, not strong enough to cause serious damage.

But was strong enough to cause damage to the person, who threw the stone.

🐕‍🦺 You left Mondstadt. With Klee as your guide, you were going to the Dragonspine to find Albedo. And Mondstadt was left with beaten up knights, scared civilians and a new baby, who just an hour ago were an adult, who liked threw stones.

Still, no one in Mondstadt realized, that you weren't an imposter. In their eyes, you became an Imposter with a horde of demons under your command.

After you left, Jean reached to Fatui delegation. Maybe, Harbingers could help to capture you.

Meanwhile, you and Hunting Dogs, together with Albedo, finished planning your next move. You would move from nation to nation, searching for Alice. Albedo promise to keep in touch with her, asking her to either stay as long as she can in one nation, or go to you, if you find a safe place somewhere in Teyvat.

Time to move forward.

🐕‍🦺 After Zhongli's and his adeptis attack on you and Hunting Dogs, you decided to stay away from the city.

Still, the situation wasn't as bad as it can be. You had quite a good number of helpers (you, Jouno and Fukuchi had to make sure, that Tetchou won't try to cook for Xiangling as a 'thank you for help'. You didn't want to get on kind girl's bad side), and, while being accused and hunted was terrible, you had your friends with you.

Right before you decided to move to the next nation, your camp was attacked.

By Fatui.

And by Tartaglia, Eleventh Fatui Harbinger.

⚔️ While Teruko and others were protecting you from Fatui solders, Fukuchi was fighting Childe. Fukuchi has to admit, that Childe was a dangerous enemy and a skillful warrior. Fukuchi knew, that he shouldn't underestimate him. And Fukuchi won't underestimate himself either.

Especially, after Childe transformed into a Foul Legacy.

Childe tried to focus on a battle and ignored that tiny quiet voice, that begged him to stop attacking and believe "Impostor's" words. He must destroy the old man and the rest of your horde and capture you.

Childe raised an eyebrow, when the old man picked up a small stone from the ground. Was he desperate enough to start throwing junk? The old man threw the stone. And hot, white pain filled Childe's senses. His left shoulder, where the stone hit him, was burning with pain. The bone shattered, skin was broken. Transformation was cancelled.

Childe, in his human form, was laying on the ground, howling with pain. Behind Fukuchi, the remaining Fatui soldiers finally surrender. They collect their fellow soldiers and Tartaglia and left you alone.

You hopped, that you won't run in other Harbingers.

🐕‍🦺News about Childe's defeat spread through Teyvat. And almost everyone were terrified of your group. Now, instead of 'Sinner' and 'Heretic' you were greeted with 'Begone, Monsters' and 'By the power of Holy Creator, return to the depth of The Abyss you have crawled from!'.

People were now afraid, but, thankfully, Nahida was helping your group. Staying with Aranaras was fun. For some reason, they start adoring Jouno and Fukuchi, and it became a current occurrence, when they were sitting on the ground, discussing something, and Aranaras were climbing all over them.

Unfortunately, harbingers didn't give up yet.

You didn't know about most of the attempts.

You didn't know about Fukuchi fighting with Pierro and winning.

You didn't know about a bird-like mask in Jouno's bag. About Dottore, who was unfortunate enough to ran into Jouno and Arabalika and demand Hunting Dog to give aranara and you to him.

You didn't know about Arlecchino's and Teruko's quarrel that ended in child Arlecchino on a doorstep of House of the Hearth.

You didn't know about Tachihara destroying Sandrone's robot, when she was searching for you.

You didn't know about Tetchou's fight with Capitano. The moment Tetchou got his grip on Capitano's claymore, he got an advantage over the strongest warrior in Teyvat. Because "controlling a blade that was making loops and barrels" wasn't one of Capitano's abilities. Tetchou was victorious.

But four Harbingers still remain. And Cryo Archon was still here.

🐕‍🦺 When you got a letter from Albedo (through Alhaitham) about Alice whereabouts, and Nahida, thanks to her powers, confirmed it, Hunting Dogs and you left Sumeru and start your trip to Snezhnaya through Fontaine's port.

🐕‍🦺 Unfortunately, the delegation was waiting for you in Fontaine. Tsaritsa, healed Childe, Columbina and Pantalone with Fatui troops were waiting for you.

The battle has begun.

Hunting Dogs tried to keep you away from battle. You followed their plan, until you noticed Pantalone, who was aiming a musket at Tetchou, while he was facing another direction.

You acted fast.

You and Pantalone, both gripping one musket, as a small tornado rushed through the battle. Each of you were trying to get the musket solely to yourself. Your fight were good enough destruction, Fatui's troops were jumping away, trying not to get in your and Pantalone's way.

You growl. You hated being in Teyvat. You hated being afraid for Hunting Dogs life. You missed others. You were tired of Fatui's ambush.

You wanted to go home.

The portal opened under your feet.

______

🪢🦀🐁 It's been almost a month since you and Hunting Dogs have disappeared. Everyone was looking for you. While Hunting Dogs would never let anything bad happening to you, there is a chance, that you were separated. And the fact, that there were no trails left, made everyone worried. Fyodor and Dazai weren't sleeping. They were discussing, what to do next. And thinking about the ways to make Katai and Higuichi stop to share their "theories" about your disappearance. Because, if Fyodor heard another "[Y/N] and Hunting Dogs get secretly married and then run away from home to who knows where" from Katai, he will do something drastic to Katai. Same story was with Dazai and Higuichi's "They built a bunker under the forest and hid there from aliens, I know for sure!".

Suddenly, they have heard the loud crash coming from the barn.

🐕‍🦺 Sounds were loud enough to wake everyone up. When everyone got to the barn, they saw a bizarre situation.

You were trying to take away a strange gun from a rich-looking guy, while Hunting Dogs tried to get you away from each other.

🐕‍🦺 Pantalone, startled by the appearance of other people, lose his grip. You immediately pull the musket from his grip and hit Pantalone on the head with the butt of a musket. Pantalone, unconscious, fall on the ground. Only then you realized, that you were back.

🐕‍🦺 It would take time to explain everything to others. One thing for sure. You were very grateful, that you and Hunting Dogs were together. You had a feeling, that the Teyvat journey would be much worse, if you were alone.

______

Tag list: @withered-blossoms , @myluckymoon @cocodrilofeliz @c4xcocoa @vvyeislazzy @whisperingwinters

[bunny-yan]

I am so deeply invested about your Giant Yandere Oc are you willing to make more content surrounding them? Its such an interesting take to the point ill take anything regarding them love you lots keep up the good work 💌

TW: Intimidation, Mentions Death, Depicts Violence, Language, Absolutely no minors

—

“Play along.” You said, eyes wide as you stared down the shaken stranger. “Play. Along.” You repeated once you had their eyes. You could tell that they had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. You had been the same when you had first been dragged here against your will. Lost, angry in your confusion, and drowning in overwhelming fear. It was unlucky that he wouldn’t show her the same patience that he had you. 

You felt sick looking into this girl’s eyes. You didn’t want to imagine what she would look like if he decided that he’d been merciful enough and let his anger get the best of him. 

“Where am I?” Her shaky voice said, looking back and forth. There was no comfort to be found in her strange surroundings. Everything was foreign and astronomically different. The surface was smooth, unlike anything you had ever encountered. 

Realization set in when you saw what appeared to be a coffee maker, one you could make out from miles away. You knew this surface. It was an island. A kitchen counter and a brand new world. 

“We don’t have time for that. He’s going to be back any minute. Just do whatever he says and don’t freak out.”

“What? Who is he? Where am I?” Her words melted together the faster she spoke, eyes flitting back and forth as she tried to come to terms with her surroundings. It wouldn’t kick in right away. It was hard to believe something you’d only heard about in bedtime stories as a child. 

You wanted to say more to alleviate her incoherent rambling, but the vibrations you’d come to recognize as his footsteps were getting closer. 

“Don’t freak out. Don’t-”

You slammed your hands to your ears out of instinct, before lurching forward and slapping your hand over the girl’s mouth to cut off her piercing scream. Her eyes were big as she stared at the monster towering above the two of you. It was nothing he hadn’t experienced before. 

Pulling up a chair, he rested his head on his hands as he watched the two of you. 

“Getting friendly without me?” His eyes narrowed on you. “I’m jealous.” You didn’t want to let go, not when you weren’t sure how she’d react, but you didn’t want to hear the sound of popping limbs if he decided to pull the two of you apart.

Slowly taking your hand away, you let out a shaky sigh of relief when the girl simply stared up and up and up, frozen in terror. 

His size wasn’t the only terrifying thing about him. The way his eyes narrowed on the two of you, you felt your spine tighten at the thought that he was a predator sizing up his prey. From the looks of it, his advantage was overwhelming. 

“Have you explained to our new friend the game we play?” He asked, poking at you. 

“Stop that.” You growled, holding onto his finger so you didn’t get shoved into oblivion. The size difference made his distance perception awfully inaccurate so you’d received an injury or two from his playful gestures. 

He smiled, resisting the urge to pick you up between his fingers. Didn’t want to break any ribs, after all. The last time his urges got the better of him, you stayed holed up in your house, moaning in pain when you weren’t begging him to let you go to the hospital. Thankfully, the special meal he provided you day and night allowed for a quick recovery. Not that you were particularly grateful. He couldn’t blame you when his urges often got the better of him. 

“She just woke up.” you said by way of explanation. It was clear from the way this girl looked as if she was about to pee herself that she had no idea what was going on. She looked just as confused as you had been when you were going about your day before being plucked from your life and spirited away. You were almost certain that she’d gone through the exact same thing. He wasn’t exactly subtle with his kidnapping. 

“Can you please just give me a moment to explain things to her?” you asked, edging closer to where she was. She looked pale and you wanted to be close enough to catch her if she fainted. He’d get angry, but you didn’t really care. His feelings didn’t matter. 

“No.” he said. You glared at him, but he only pouted in response, lowering his head to the counter you stood on. “I’m bored and I don’t feel like waiting.” His playful tone didn’t diminish the authority in his voice. 

This wasn’t an option. 

“This story has a good ending so you’ll like it.” he quipped.

You felt anxiety as his eyes finally left you, taking on a cold edge as he looked at the girl. 

“You.” he said, making the girl flinch at his booming voice. “My little doll and I play a game called storytime. You’ve had the wonderful fortune of being included.”

It was awful explanation, but you just hope she remembered the rushed advice you tried to give. 

“Once upon a time,” he began, alarm immediate in your expression at the abrupt start. You tried to run towards the girl, but a hand as tall as a wall slammed between the two of you, eyes narrowing on your figure. “No cheating.” he said. 

It wasn’t fair. She didn’t know the rules. 

When he removed his hand, you knew better than to move from where you were. Characters didn’t exist without the story after all. 

“Once upon a time,” he began again, resting his head on his hand. “There was a princess. She was very ugly princess who was lacking in many ways. She didn’t have the brains of her older sister, the First Princess, the brawn of her older brother, the First Prince, the beauty of her younger sister, the third Princess, or the courage of the youngest son, the second Prince. Outmatched at every turn and belittled wherever she went, the princess fell into a deep depression. It was so deep that she bought what she believed was poison from a strange merchant and drank it before falling into a deep sleep.”

You looked at the girl who was dazed, and understandably confused, and tried to will her to understand that she was the princess in this make believe story. You couldn’t say anything to her. Your characters hadn’t met yet and doing anything outside of the narrator’s guidance was breaking the rules. 

He looked at the girl, narrowing his eyes. You could tell that she was frozen in fear from his attention. “She drank poison and fell into a deep. Sleep.”

Still, she didn’t move. 

You could see the irritation growing on his face and before you could make the conscious decision to help her despite what it would mean for you, his finger poked at her chest, sending her sprawling backwards.

“You’re supposed to be asleep, ugly princess.”

The girl screamed, landing hard on her ass. 

Your eyes widened at his complete disregard for their difference in size. “Be gentle!” you yelled at him, wishing that it eased some of the worry in your gut but when his eyes slid to you it only got worse. The look in his eyes was unrepentant, bordering vicious before it softened as he gazed upon you. 

“Quiet, doll. It isn’t your turn yet.” he said, the pad of his finger brushing against your head before he turned back to the girl who was still moaning in pain. “In case you haven’t figured it out by now, your character is the ugly princess. Any action she does is what you’re supposed to do.”

Sniffling was the only response before she carefully lowered herself to lay down. 

You sighed, hoping that the story would be like all his others. It would revolve around you making a complete fool of yourself, much to his amusement, before having a happy ending. You’d wrap it up nicely, take a bow and it would the end of this. 

“On the 75th year since the Kingdom’s founding, the King decided to hold a ball celebrating his lineage’s prosperous reign and the successes of his children. The First Princess had successfully negotiated treaties with neighboring kingdoms, the First Prince successfully ended the four year war with a rival Kingdom, the third Princess was a prosperous socialite that created trends throughout the kingdom, and the second Prince went abroad to study before returning with many emissaries as potential allies. Everyone had achieved something great except for the sleeping, ugly princess. As this was the largest ball since the founding of the Kingdom many lords and ladies came from all around the world and an especially curious royal stood at the edge of the ball, bored out of their mind.”

The introduction of your character. So far, so good. 

“This royal couldn’t stand to hear all of the others preen about the Kingdom’s reign considering they came from a neighboring country that declined due the Kingdom’s raids. They came to speak to the First Princess about negotiations, but she was too busy to listen. They wanted to convince the First prince to pull out their knights, but he too wouldn’t listen. They tried to speak to the third Princess to sway the opinion of the nobles but she was too busy being fawned over and pampered. They even came up with a plan to show the second Prince that their country would make a good ally, but he was too proud to be bothered. Left without hope, the royal abandoned the ball filled with superficial frivolities and wandered the palace to nurse their wounded ego.”

You began to walk, slowly making your way towards the girl. He didn’t stop you, deciding instead to continue with the story and you had a feeling you were about to get a chance to encounter her, not that it would matter beyond assuring yourself that she was okay. 

“On the royal’s walk they came upon wall of portraits displaying the royal family. They recognized each one except for the portrait of a woman with a face shrouded by a veil. After asking a passing maid, they found out that it was the neglected ugly Princess. The royal learned of the princess’s condition, but they believed that there was hope. They believed that if they cured the princess, then surely she would listen to what they had to say. Hoping to meet their propitious savior, they snuck without much difficulty to the ugly princess’s chambers and gazed upon her sickly sleeping face.”

You took no time at all to saddle near the girl, looking over her and trying to ascertain whether or not she was okay. 

“This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy.” the girl repeated over and over again, eyes wide presumably in shock. 

You placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down, but she flinched before her wide eyes turned towards you. You jumped when her hand snatched your wrist before she pulled you closer. “Help me.” she begged. “We have to get out of here.”

Shushing her, you resisted the urge to glance towards your giant spectator. He might’ve been huge, but his hearing was exceptional. There was no doubt that he was listening to everything she said. 

You tried to soothe her as quietly as you could, but her pleading only grew more hysterical, gripping your wrist tighter as she cried.

“The ugly princess was slowly fading away like the wilted flowers at her bedside. It wasn’t hard to see that she didn’t have much time left. Observing her declining state, the royal had a newfound desire to save the princess and their kingdom. With their goal in mind, they set off to find a cure that would bring the princess back from her deep sleep.”

You began to pull away, the girl yanked your wrist back towards her chest. Her eyes were drowning in fear as she pleaded, “Don’t leave me. Please, please don’t go.”

“You’re okay.” you whispered, grabbing her hand and wrenching your own out of her grip despite the guilt you felt. “Just play along and you’ll be fine.” 

She stopped seeing. 

Her gaze was empty and aimless as she looked beyond you, going somewhere you couldn’t see. 

“You’re taking too long on your journey royal.” 

Dread coiled in your gut, causing you to climb to your feet before stalking away from the girl. 

“Anymore interruptions and you’re getting a penalty.” 

No matter how reluctant you were to leave her on her own, you couldn’t help her if you were penalized.  It was best to just listen and hope for the best. It was all you could do. 

“The royal-.”

You were unsure why he stopped so abruptly. Looking back, your heart almost leapt into your throat when you saw the girl getting to her feet. 

“Please.” she begged, stumbling as her weak legs struggled to carry her weight. “I wanna go home.” she sobbed. “Please, just let me go home.” Her words were a whine, almost unclear from how hard she was crying. 

“The ugly princess is sleeping.” he said, her pitiful display not having any effect. You had a bad feeling about this. Why didn’t she just listen? 

“I-I wanna go home. Please!” Her voice was becoming hysterical, taking on a shrieky tone and you could tell by his darkening expression that he was getting irritated. 

“The ugly princess is sleeping.”

Biting the bullet, you begged her, “Lay back down!” 

His eyes snapped to you. “Shut up, Doll.”

“I wanna go home! Please let me go home!” She was screaming at this point, hiccups breaking apart her words as she cried and choked on her tears. 

Without any warning, he plucked her body sending her flying backwards. You covered your mouth, fear gripping you as you watched her sail through the air before bouncing off the ground and rolling to a stop. You didn’t have to see her arm bent at an awkward angle to know she had broken her bone.The sound of the the violent crack after her body made contact with the counter made you flinch. 

Every muscle in your body was tight, clenched in fear, having yet to recover from that awful sound. You looked at the girl’s crumpled body, still, unmoving. 

You hoped she wasn’t dead.

Looking at him with wide eyes, you uttered, “What the fuck.”

Looking at you with a smile as if he hadn’t just possibly killed someone, you felt deeply unsettled. 

“What is it, Doll?”

“What the fuck‽” you yelled. Your voice was loud enough to ring in your ears or maybe it was the uncertainty of watching someone die. 

Was she dead?

You turned on your heel and ran towards where she landed before a giant hand obstructed your path. 

“The royal doesn’t meet up with the ugly princess until the end of the story, Doll.”

“Fuck your stupid story!” you said, punching at his hand and feeling helpless at the knowledge that it was doing nothing to hurt him. Your blows felt lighter than a mosquito bite. 

You tried to circumvent his hand, but he moved to block your way. This continued until you yelled at him in frustration, it only growing when he smiled. 

“You’re so cute.”

You wanted to hurt him. You wished there was a knife small enough for you to do actual damage, but your violent thoughts turned to sweet relief when you heard a pained groan on the other side of his hand. He hadn’t killed her. He hadn’t killed her. 

“Are you okay?” you shouted. 

What a dumb question, but you couldn’t think past the anxious relief that threatened to rip your insides apart. There was no response beyond another pained groan and you just took it as a good sign that she was still alive. 

“She needs a hospital.” you said, pushing away from his hand as you turned to face him. He scooped you up, horror planting itself inside of you, before bringing you closer to his face. 

“Our doctors don’t treat your kind.”

“This is serious! She’s badly injured.”

“I’m being serious. In case you haven’t noticed, the instruments are a little too big to fit inside your body.”

“Then give her a piece of the heart! Or better yet, take her home so she can get treated there.” Your exasperation was shared as he gave you a funny look.

“Why would I do that?”

You knew that despite his seemingly easygoing nature he was cold, but you didn’t think he was this unfeeling. She’d broken her arm and he acted as if he couldn’t care less because she wasn’t significant enough to him. 

Gritting your teeth, you growled, “Because I’m asking you to.” His eyes shone with excitement at your words. 

“Asking for favors?” You wouldn’t humor him with a response. “And what do I get if I indulge you?”

Of course he expected something in return. Bringing you closer to his face, you couldn’t stand the cheeky smile he wore as your racked your brain with something to barter with. If you low balled he’d ask for something ridiculous and you’d have no but to agree since he had all the bargaining power, but you didn’t want to do anything you were too uncomfortable with. 

You knew what he wanted. 

He didn’t expressly state it but you could see it in his eyes. In the light harassment you were forced to endure, in the way he lingered whenever you were doing anything remotely uncomfortable. But to open that door meant his abstraction of feeling would become a reality. 

Biting your lip, you choked down the dread as you said, “I’ll- ”

A piercing scream forced you to cover your ears. 

She was fully awake and she had seen her arm. Her sobbing echoed throughout the room, a deep agonized wail passing her lips. “It hurts!” she cried, choking when she couldn’t pull breath deep enough into her lungs. “It hurts!” she screamed. 

You felt his irritation before you saw it. Turning at the sight of his fingers flexing, you froze like a deer in headlights at the deep scowl on his face. 

He was angry. 

You’d never seen him angry. 

His hand came up and you realized too late, still frozen in fear to yell at him to stop, mouth open in a silent scream as it slammed down on the counter. 

A loud bang thundered through the room, vibrations simulating a miniature earthquake for you, before there was complete silence. 

He didn’t. He couldn’t have. 

You felt a cold sweat, too afraid to turn around.

He couldn’t have.

You were unable to stop yourself, feeling something beyond morbid curiosity. It was almost like an obligation to see, to convince yourself fully. Your head was rigid as you turned to look over your shoulder and your head snapped back so quickly you felt pain in your neck. 

“So,” he said, bringing you closer to his face once again with a smile dancing across his lips. “You were saying?”

You dropped to your hands and knees, no warning as bile burned your throat, forcing everything out of your stomach. You didn’t care that you were throwing up in his hand, you couldn’t get that sight out of your head. 

When there was nothing left in your stomach to throw up, you began dry heaving, your body shaking so violently it was painful. 

He killed her.

You gagged at the stench of blood. 

He killed her.

Tears were leaking from your eyes in reaction from the pain. He shushed you, cooing gently as he went to stand. 

You shook your head, your body still shaking. You shouldn’t have looked. She would haunt you and what was left of her would remain in your nightmares forever.

You sobbed, hating how weak you sounded.

“Shhhhh, Doll. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

Not wanting to hear soft words from this monster, shaking hands covered your ears as you closed your eyes tight and begged for this to all be a dream. That you’d open your eyes and see that the goddess woke you from this nightmare. 

“Let’s get you cleaned up, okay? You’ll feel better.”

[lunamochii]

'your love and support is what keeps me going.' oikawa toru x f!reader

"Are you coming? Class is going to start."

You read the message of your friend replied "I am, just buying something." Bowing to the shopkeeper, you exited the shop and prepared your speech on why you are late to your teacher. Thankfully, she just let you in and your friends is eyeing you suspiciosly.

The class went on for an hour and half and with each minute passing by, you can tell your body temperature rising. You thought your fever will go away yesterday since you just stayed all day at your house. You even said no to the date you supposed to have with Oikawa. The moment the class ended, you excused yourself from your friends who wanted to know why you're late, you were never late.

"Shit.." You whine when you felt the throbbing pain inside your head again, you already drink some medicine but it's not doing any good. Looking at yourself at the mirror, you look horrible.

"Are you okay, miss?" Looking up, you notice some first years and you just weakly smiled at them

"I am, thanks." They just nodded and went out of the bathroom, after fixing yourself. You tried your best to get to your classroom, your vision getting blurry and it's like everything is spinning. The moment you open the door of your room, your head began to throb, horribly.

Last thing you heard is the voice of your classmates and friends screaming your name.

The last thing Oikawa wants right now is the attention from his fans, he likes it don't get him wrong but he really wants to focus on their training this time.

"Are you still mad because she declined your date?"

Iwaizumi said when he approach the setter, Oikawa woke him up at the middle of his nap just to cry and whine on how you don't love him anymore. He knows his bestfriend is a lil'bit dramatic so he let him rant and he just went back to sleep.

"We planned it for so long! She knows our schedule doesn't match up so we specifically agreed on that date."

The brunette huff and spike the ball he was holding and let out a sigh, if something came up you would've told him. Iwaizumi stared at his bestfriend before shrugging and returning to practice, some time later there was a commotion at the entrance of th gym

"Please! We need to speak to Oikawa-san!"

"I told you that his busy!"

Coach Nobuteru glared at his captain and Oikawa grimace and went to calm down his 'fans' but before he could speak, your angry bestfriend shove all the girls and glared to Oikawa

"Your girlfriend collapsed!"

He didn't need to get a go signal from his coach and sprinted towards the clinic of their school. He never ran that fast all his life, he was panting, hard, catching his breath as he entered the clinic where he saw you getting check up by the nurse

"Baby.." he manage to blurt out while wiping the sweat off from his face and approach where you are "Rest for 15 minutes first. Oikawa take her home after she take this medicine." He nodded and grab the medicine from the nurse's hand. The nurse excuse herself and slightly close the curtain, enough to cover you and Oikawa.

"Why didn't you tell me?" You look at him and sighs "You have a match coming up, I wouldn't want you catching my sickness."

It's true but you could have inform him, he grab the stool and sat beside you. You laid down on the bed, facing him. Your right hand slowly coming up to cup his cheeks and he groan feeling how hot your palm is.

"I'm sorry. I know we've been looking forward for our date yesterday... I'm so-"

"Shush it doesn't matter. All that matters is you'll be healthy and energetic again, okay? Now, rest. I'll go get our things, when I come back you'll take this medicine and we'll go home, okay?"

Even if you are wearing a facemask, he can still see your smile. He lean forward and kiss your forehead and almost curse when he felt his lips get burn. Even if he misses the practice tomorrow, he'll nurse you back to help. He won't get weak just by missing a single practice. Plus, when you are all well again he'll have your whole love and support and it's enough to fuel his desire to win everything in life.

[avocado-writing]

Hi bestie. I would love some angst with Astarion and Tav(reader) where a shape changer turns into one of them to hurt the other and the aftermath of the hurt and the victim convinced it was real until they talk it through and make up? Sorry if that didnt really make sense

notes: none! just some angst set start of act 3. rating: T

pairing: Astarion x reader

You have a horrid feeling in the pit of your stomach as Astarion appears before you. Withers senses something in the air, something loaded, and decides to turn and count his coin; he doesn’t want to interrupt what’s about to come. 

Or more likely he doesn’t want to get caught in the crossfire. 

The way Astarion is staring at you… gods. You feel a tight grip in your chest as a thousand emotions flit over his face. Hurt. Betrayal. Anger. Confusion. Before you can open your mouth he shoves past you, making a beeline for his tent. 

“Astarion, wait - !”

He doesn’t, so you have to jog a little to keep up. Go to put a hand on his arm, think better of it. Don’t want to upset him any further with unwanted physical touch. 

“Please - ”

“Oh, now you want to talk? Suddenly changed your mind after treating me like a bloody pincushion? I thought you were…” he trails off for a second, before finishing with, “I’ve got nothing to say to you,” he sneers, eyes solidly focussed in front of him, acting as if you weren’t even there. 

That stings. But of course he’s angry, he doesn’t know the whole story. You battle through the hurt and manage to stand in front of him, blocking his path and finally getting him to meet your gaze. 

“It wasn’t me! It was a gods-damned Doppelganger!”

He stops. Good. That got his attention.  

Your mind flits back to the other night, the horrid scene as your adventuring party for the day made it back to camp, when you figured all your companions were asleep - a horrid, faux-copy of you with a deadly blade sunk deep into your vampire’s neck. Given the secluded nature of the spot, the “two of you” may have been in the middle of a private moment. He was ripped open from several stab wounds, pale body bathed in garnet blood, and after a loud fight woke the rest of the camp… 

Well. After that everyone worked on bringing him back as quickly as possible, even though you were shaking from shock and sobs. 

Astarion searches your face. He’s looking for a tell. He’s looking for the slightest indication that you actually were the one tearing him to pieces. You want to tell him how stupid that is. Of course you’d never hurt him, change your mind and try to dispose of him in the worst way you could (and if you did, why bring him back?) You’d hoped he’d trusted you more than that. But, being in Baldur’s Gate, with Cazador so close… well, it’s no wonder that nerves are frayed. Logic has gone out the window until he can be forced to hear it.

“It must have been Orin. You know how she’s been hounding us. She probably saw how close we were, and decided to… well, try to hit us where it would hurt. And I hate it. I hate that she used my body to trick you like that.”

Ah. That he understands. You can see Astarion turn this over in his mind, and with a small exhale he releases all the tension in his body. The obvious relief is quickly plastered over with a light laugh and the affectation of his usual laissez-faire attitude. 

“Oh. Well. Don’t I look like quite the fool, hmm? You know what they say about assumptions. They make an ass of you and… well, I’d say me, but usually that’s usually a rather difficult accomplishment.”

He’s trying to hide how genuinely hurt he was. The idea that you could turn on him broke him a little, you think. That you’d use him and discard him so casually… it breaks your heart. Carefully you reach out to take his hand. You feel him flinch just a tiny bit but he accepts the gesture. 

“I’m so sorry she got to you. I won’t let it happen again. I’d never, ever hurt you, Astarion. You know that I…”

The end of that sentence hangs between you, heavy, pregnant. But thankfully, rather than chasing the end of it, Astarion pulls you to him. His arms wrap around you and you feel the softness in his embrace. 

“I know. I know you do.”

And you hold him. Knowing you’d move the cosmos to keep him safe. 

[heartsforhavik]

imagine waking up next to kuai liang… (sfw)

warnings: mk1 story mode spoilers, established relationship, gender neutral reader

a/n: y’all i’m so sorry i haven’t been writing lately, i feel like my motivation disappeared into thin air and the only drafts i’ve written i’m not satisfied with. thanks to everyone still sticking around <3 also i just wrote this off the top of my head. it’s 2 am. this is a draft. not proofread, not planned or anything, it’s completely raw.

you woke up in your shared bed with kuai liang, opening your eyes to see him still sleeping by your side. his hair was undone and messy, he had his lips slightly parted and a bit of drool was escaping from his mouth, which you chuckled at.

you remembered staying up that night just to greet him when he returned home. it seemed that he was working harder ever since he formed the shirai ryu. kuai liang started arriving home later and later, which made you feel a bit lonely. you understood that he was simply busy, but you just wanted to spend more time with him.

so when he returned that night, you two were finally able to go to bed at the same time. and now you also get to wake up at the same time.

you gently moved his hair away from his eyes, revealing his face. kuai liang’s new scar thankfully didn’t hinder his looks, and he was still the same handsome man that you always loved. you took a moment to admire him before he woke up. his skin was smooth, his hair was just as shiny and silky as always. it was almost amusing how he managed to still look handsome in his sleep.

after you spent a couple minutes silently admiring your lover, the shirai ryu’s grandmaster began to awake from his rest. he slowly opened his eyes, and as soon as they landed on you, he smiled.

“good morning, my love. did you sleep well?” he asked in a soft tone, as he gently rubbed your cheek.

“i did. but to be honest, it didn’t matter how i slept. i was just happy to finally have the same sleep schedule as you for once.” you professed.

kuai liang laughed softly. “i am pleased that we were able to enjoy a night together again, but…” he paused, then sighed and looked down in shame. “i fear i may have neglected you. i understand if you are angry at me-”

“don’t say that.” you interrupted. “there is no need to apologize for being busy. besides, you have a lot on your plate after bi-han’s betrayal. i know it is out of your control. i can tell that you’re doing everything that you can for me, and i appreciate it.” you reassured, as you ran your fingers through his hair.

kuai liang sighed in response to your affection, and closed his eyes in contentment, savoring the domestic moment with you.

he used to be filled with repentance at the realization that he was starting to leave you alone more and more as the days went by. but as soon as you expressed that you understood his work ethic and his anguish after his brother’s betrayal, he felt as if a weight was lifted from his chest.

“thank you... i don’t know what i did to deserve you.” kuai liang praised, as he gave you a kiss on the forehead and got up from the bed.

“no need to thank me. i’m always here if you need anything, okay? i know it must be hard to lead a clan.” you sympathized.

kuai liang would never be able to describe how overjoyed he felt in that moment. he was more than thankful for your help, and he could never ask for a better partner than you. you were always there for him and you always understood him.

the love between you two was warm and pure. you both supported each other and always offered help to the other’s dilemmas. it was a relationship where you both felt safe and secure at all times. you may not be able to spend as much time together as you wish, but the very few moments you two shared were good enough to leave you both satisfied.

even on mornings like that, where you only have a scarce amount of time with kuai liang, you still manage to make it work.