#but that that realization wasn’t explained until the end of the story when he’s tying everything together

[daydreamerdrew]

Whiz Comics (1940) #2

[onlymingyus]

Bound to You (fall-ing for you collab)

pairing; yoon jeonghan x f!reader 

genre; smut (minors dni), angst, supernatural au, soulmate au

warnings; warlock!jeonghan, wonwoo side character/family member, mentions of magic, curses, death/murder, auras, soulmates, death of parents, complicated family dynamics, borrowed story point from Goblin, protected sex, fingering, oral (f receiving), cum eating, orgasm denial, edging, overstimulation, very light bondage in the form of binding hands/tying to the bed, marking/biting, pet names, aftercare

w/c; 12.9k and some change 

svthub fall-ing for you collab masterlist 

a/n; thank you to @wonwussy and @wooahaeproductions for beta/proofreading -- if you have been following me for a while you might notice this fic is in the same universe as Lavender Tea and Honey. I hope you enjoy this. 

before continuing remember reblogs are incredibly important and please read how to support me here

Jeonghan’s slender fingers run over the pages of the book in front of him as he lifts the cup to his lips. The warm vanilla latte runs down the back of his throat before he settles the cup onto the table, getting lost in his own world once again. 

Two weeks and three days—that was how long Jeonghan had been in this new town. He didn’t hate it but it was different than where he had lived before. He didn’t mind being around his extended family. He was enjoying the benefits of their cafe and the quiet ambiance that came along with the little corner he had stuck himself into but there were reasons he had ended up here. 

Say one thing wrong when you are what Jeonghan and his family are and know the wrong people, you might end up cursed or dead. It wasn’t entirely Jeonghan’s fault that he had the attitude or the mouth that he had. No, those were passed down to him by his parents as parting gifts.

Maybe this would be better in the long run… Jeonghan thought to himself as he traced a small doodle he had scribbled in the margins of his book a few years ago. A fresh start never hurts anyone. A little peace and quiet never hurts anyone. 

“Hi Wonwoo. Can I get —” 

“A chai tea latte?” 

Your laugh is soft and like bells, drawing Jeonghan’s attention up towards the counter. He hadn’t paid much attention to his cousin's work or anyone else ordering but for some reason now he couldn’t look away. Jeonghan watched as you tilted your head at the tall, dark headed barista. It wasn’t like you were flirting with the man; instead, it was clear you were friends. 

“Yeah, please. Am I that predictable?”

Wonwoo grins, turning from you to start making your order. His hands are precise with years of training and muscle memory. You came in almost every day and almost every day you got the same drink. So yeah, you were predictable. 

“You want the truth or do you want me to just make your latte?” 

Jeonghan watches, not realizing a smile had caused his lips to lift at either side. You were effortlessly beautiful. The type of beautiful that someone doesn’t even realize how beautiful they are until someone explains it to them. 

“Mm, my latte. If I want the truth, I’ll visit my family.” 

Sliding the exact change across the wooden counter, you smile at Wonwoo once more before turning to lean against it. The barista laughs as the sound of milk steaming causes you to feel warm from your head to your toes. You loved this cafe. Not just for the drinks but for every part of it—the employees, the other patrons, the sounds, the smells, and the familiarity.  

Hearing Wonwoo’s gentle, deep sigh, you turn back towards him, taking the cup from his hands. With a soft thank you, you turn towards your usual table to find the usual familiarity of your favorite cafe is broken. A man with dark hair and eyes watches you from your usual corner, a slight smile on his lips that makes the pit of your stomach feel deeper. 

The feeling is a confusing one. It wasn’t a feeling of dread. Not even a feeling of fear. Instead, this was a feeling somewhere between anxiety and desire. Smiling back at him, you quickly lower your gaze, deciding to pick a table close to where you usually sit out of the desire to be close to your favorite spot and this unfamiliar man. 

When you smile at him Jeonghan feels his breath get caught in his throat. He was no stranger to women. He knew he was attractive and charming so the fact that you caused such a reaction from him with just a simple smile and your mere existence was baffling. Taking in a deep breath, Jeonghan watches you walk closer towards a table next to him to take a seat. The calming scent of your chai tea latte wafting to his nose causes him to let out a soft sigh as he lowers his eyes to his table in an attempt to not make you feel uncomfortable. 

The overwhelming desire to look up at you, watch you, or perhaps speak to you was causing Jeonghan’s stomach to twist into a knot. Licking his lips, Jeonghan closed his eyes, his fingers shakily spreading across the wooden table in front of him as he tried to bite back on his whims when your voice shocked him out of his trace. 

“Your latte smells delicious. I’m always so tempted to try something new, especially something vanilla, but I’m a creature of habit, I suppose.” 

Smiling into an amused scoff, Jeonghan is ready to answer you before he meets your eyes but that is when any intelligent thought he once had fades into nothingness. He hadn’t noticed it before. Perhaps you were too far away? Perhaps it had been because you hadn’t spoken to him yet but a ribbon like maroon aura was spirling around your left arm and hand. 

“I–what?” 

Furrowing your brows, you wonder if you had read the room entirely wrong when the man speaks to you. He had seemed so confident not a moment before and now he seemed awkward and confused. Swallowing hard, your eyes downward at your own cup, you run your left index finger around the rim of the cup, not having the courage to look back over at him just yet. 

“Just…was talking about your drink. Making conversation. I’m sorry if you wanted to just be alone. You were looking at me; I thought it would be okay to talk to you.” 

Jeonghan shook his head at your words. He didn’t want you to be sorry. The knot in his stomach was so tight, he felt like he could fold in half if he didn’t figure this out. He had seen auras before but they were rare. 

Usually, if witches or warlocks were going to do something unthinkable, they would give off an aura of danger to those who could see them. Humans could give off auras if they were considering ending their lives or if they were bringing new life into the world. Jeonghan had only seen a handful of auras in witches, warlocks, or humans in his entire life, and they had never been focused around someone’s hand like yours was. 

“I’m sorry. I don’t want you to leave me alone. You just–-it’s really impossible to explain. You were talking about my drink. I get the same one every time too. I’m so used to the taste; it's familiar. What is your name?” 

Smiling a bit to yourself as the man rambles, you take a sip of your drink, letting out a pleased sound to the taste before licking your lips of the sweet foam. You're startled by how handsome the man truly is when you finally lift your head to see his eyes.

“I’m–my name?” You had one—a name. At least you had one up until the moment before you looked up into the man’s eyes. Now you weren’t sure if you remembered how to breathe, much less speak or think straight. 

Jeonghan smiles, feeling himself becoming more enamored with you as you look confused and as scattered as he had felt just a moment ago. Did you feel it too? The sudden, odd connection? Biting at his bottom lip, Jeonghan slides his chair closer to your table, turning it towards you as his fingers delicately trail along the handle of his cup. 

Your eyes are drawn to his fingers; your pretty eyes are almost entranced by the movement as you take a steady breath, seeming to come back to reality. “Y/N. I’m Y/N.” 

You hadn’t asked for his name but Jeonghan didn’t mind. You were looking at him like he was the first and last thing you wanted to see on any given day and he knew the feeling. Taking his own deep breath, Jeonghan glances back down at your fingers and the maroon ribbon of magic swirling around them. 

“I’m Jeonghan. It’s nice to meet you, Y/N.” 

Your name on Jeonghan’s lips was better than any music you had heard in a long time. It was reverberating in your ears, causing goosebumps to erupt along your skin. He was so handsome that you were having a hard time keeping your thoughts organized. Everything seemed jumbled, speeding towards him, and at the same time, everything was in slow motion around you. 

“I–” You laugh softly, shyly looking down, before you force yourself to look back at Jeonghan once again and into his pretty dark eyes. “It’s nice to meet you too. I come here all the time, and I feel like I would have seen you here before. Are you new to town?” 

Meeting your eyes, Jeonghan can’t help the way his smile exposes his enthusiasm. He wanted to play it cool and be some attractive man you had met in the coffee shop that you would pine after for weeks. Instead, he couldn’t help feeling like some schoolboy with a crush as his stomach tightened when you smiled back at him.  

Leaning his arm on the table, Jeonghan bites at his bottom lip, drawing your attention towards it briefly before he laughs almost as if he’s trying to consider his next words carefully. His eyes move past you towards the counter where Wonwoo was talking to a customer before he furrows his brows and shakes his head. 

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve visited before. Many times, actually. My family…extended family owns this shop. Wonwoo is my cousin; it seems like you know him pretty well. I just recently moved here, though. I’ve been spending a little more time here in the shop, at least for the past week or so.” 

That made more sense to you as you nodded along, staying quiet. Your eyes move to Wonwoo, who seems to notice, giving you a friendly smile, only to glance towards Jeonghan with a curious look in his eye. There was a bit of caution laced in his gaze but he didn’t seem to linger, instead going back to his tasks. 

“I see, I was out of town a couple days. I normally come in almost every day to get my drink so I probably would have seen you sooner.” 

You smile again, making Jeonghan swallow hard. There was no way that if you had stepped into this cafe before today, he would have missed you. There could be 100 people surrounding him now and he would find you again. 

Looking down at his own drink, Jeonghan lets out a soft, breathy laugh as you seem to study him, waiting for what he will say next with baited breath. You had never cared that much about anything anyone would say. It wasn’t like you needed a partner. It wasn’t like you came to this cafe or any cafe for that matter, looking for someone to be with. Especially not someone that you needed to speak to you so that you could breathe, but that is how it felt after just fifteen minutes of sitting at a table near Jeonghan. 

“I wish you could have come in sooner...  Fuck, I can’t explain what I’m about to say. I–I swear, I’m not a creep.” 

Almost afraid to meet your eyes, Jeonghan laughs, only to fall silent when you shake your head, letting out your own soft laugh. 

“For some reason, and I really can’t explain why I’m even saying this but I think no matter what you are about to tell me...I think I’ll understand. I sound like a crazy person.” 

Jeonghan shakes his head this time, lifting his eyes to yours to meet them with a persistent look, trying to shake away that feeling from you. You weren’t crazy. He knew crazy; he had met crazy, and that wasn’t you. Crazy couldn’t hide from him. 

"No, you don’t. Not to me. I was going to say I’d like to get to know you better. Could I get your number? I’d like to take you out.” 

Normally, you could hide your enthusiasm about situations. In this sort of situation, your friends would tell you to play it cool and play hard to get. Yet here you were smiling at this handsome man you had just met, like he had asked you to marry him when all he had asked for was your number and the chance to see you again. 

Jeonghan watches you rub your lips together, your pretty smile only dimming slightly with effort before you nod. His eyes follow your hands, the maroon ribbon swirling like water around your fingers as you slide your phone from your purse and look at him expectantly.

“Only if I can have yours too.” 

With numbers exchanged, conversation came easy until drinks were finished and your cheeks hurt from smiling. You had learned more about Jeonghan, yet you still knew nothing. He was still just as much a mystery as he had been when you spotted him at your table but the spiral of nerves and fluttering of butterflies in your stomach begged you for more. 

Keeping his eyes on you as if you were vanishing into thin air, Jeonghan couldn’t help the way his brows knitted together as he watched you return your cup to the counter. His chest felt tight and heavy listening to your voice as you said your goodbyes to Wonwoo, promising to be back tomorrow. Even though Jeonghan knew he had a way to contact you and the promise of plans with you, it was hard to bear the idea of the meeting ending already. 

Turning back to the tables, you stop when you find Jeonghan standing, a similar tightness in your chest, realizing what was happening. Smiling in an attempt to shake off the feeling, you sigh when he moves to meet you halfway, mimicking your sigh. 

“Thank you for letting me sit in your spot, Y/N.” 

Jeonghan smiles as you laugh, walking towards the door beside him. His hand reaching it first so he can push it open for you, the chilly fall air hitting both of you, causing you to shiver and wrap your sweater around yourself a bit tighter. 

“Mm, you’re welcome. You can join me anytime you’d like. The company wasn’t half bad.” 

Biting at your lip, you wrinkle your nose at your attempt at flirting. Your eyes fixed on the sidewalk, as neither of you can bear to make the first move to part from one another just yet. Jeonghan just laughs into a small sigh watching you, his eyes moving over your beautiful face even as you look down from him. He wanted so badly to reach out to tilt your chin up to him so you’d look at him but he finds himself tightening his fist instead to push away the instinct. 

“No? I hope I can keep being “not half bad company” then. Uh, how ‘bout tomorrow? Do you have any plans? Or is that too soon?” 

Finally lifting your head, you smile at Jeonghan like you had before and he feels his heart ache. If he didn’t know any better, he’d call the feeling love. 

“Yeah? I mean, no. I–let me try this again. I would love to see you tomorrow. I do not have any plans, so I would love to spend time with you.” 

Heat creeps along your cheeks as you stumble through your words, Jeonghan’s lips pulling up into a smirk and then a full smile. Stepping closer, he laughs and shakes his head, keeping his eyes on yours. In his mind, you were impossibly perfect. Every stumble of your words was you stumbling right into his life and he was ready to catch you. 

“Then it’s a date. Do you want to meet here tomorrow afternoon? Around 4?” 

Nodding, you take in a breath, finding your knees feel weak with Jeonghan so close to you, even though you are grateful he is blocking the wind. You were happy not to feel as much of the cold air on your face but the overwhelming scent of vanilla was clouding your thoughts and making your mouth water. 

“Mmhm, I’ll be here. I can’t wait.” 

Taking in his own deep breath, Jeonghan nods along with you, Chai invading his senses and making his head swim with desire for you. How hadn’t he noticed before that you even smelled like chai tea? It was delicious and almost overwhelming. 

“I–me either. I should…get going. It’s getting cold. You are going to get too cold standing out here because of me. I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful.” 

Swallowing hard Jeonghan speaks before he thinks, his lips and brain not seemingly connected as the scent of you clouds his judgment. Taking a step back, Jeonghan takes in a breath of fresh, crisp air before smiling at you and lowering his head as you watch him bewildered as he walks away, leaving you with your thoughts and how he had called you beautiful. 

Out of nerves, you had gotten to the cafe early. It was even colder so despite wanting to wait for Jeonghan outside, you had to give up on that idea and wait inside, where Wonwoo had quickly put a togo cup in your hands to warm them up. 

“Oh…I–thanks, Wonwoo. I didn’t even tell you I wasn’t staying today.” 

Shaking his head, the barista pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he moved around the counter with a damp cloth in his hand. You smiled at him, watching him clean off a table as you listened to him talk, your eyes moving to the door every time the bell would ring. 

“You are meeting my cousin. He’s pretty prompt, so you have a few minutes. Hang out and get warm before you leave again. I was kinda hoping to talk to you before you met him again.” 

Your smile faded slightly with Wonwoo’s wording, causing you to clear your throat before you brought your drink to your lips and took a sip. Was this one of those be careful and don’t hurt my family kind of talks? You weren’t sure why this was making you so nervous. You liked Wonwoo and he had never made you uncomfortable before, but now you were afraid to disappoint him. 

“Mm, okay? Am I in trouble?” 

Wonwoo’s laugh sends a wave of relief over you but it’s brief and fleeting as he sighs, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. 

“Course not. It’s nothing like that. It’s just... You’re my friend and I just wanted to... Damn, no matter how I say this, it sounds bad so I’ll just say it.” Nodding mostly to himself and gaining the courage to keep speaking, Wonwoo gestures with his cloth before continuing. “Jeonghan is a great guy. He’s my family and I love him but he’s had a rough past. He’s had a hard life at times and I just want you to remember that going into whatever this is you two are doing.” 

Watching from outside through the window, Jeonghan rubs his fingers together inside the pocket of his jacket as you talk to Wonwoo. The conversation seemed casual enough but something Wonwoo said caused your brows to furrow in a way that made Jeonghan’s stomach tighten. 

Wonwoo rubs his lips together, looks over your face and sees how your brows are knitting together as if you were trying to piece together a puzzle right in front of you. He wasn’t trying to scare you away from Jeonghan. He didn’t want his cousin to not find someone to be with; he just wanted you both to be careful and he could see something was moving quickly between the two of you that neither of you understood. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N, if I upset you. That is not my intention. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, and I’m certainly not saying not to see Jeonghan…” 

“I’d hope you wouldn’t be saying that, Wonwoo.” 

Jeonghan’s voice seems to break through the tension, pulling you away from Wonwoo, who sighs at meeting his cousin’s gaze. You had almost expected him to be angry at Wonwoo but instead you find him smiling as if it were expected and part of a joke. Wonwoo shakes his head, glancing down at the table in front of him and picking up a tea cup, then turning back towards both of you. 

“I’m not. I’m just talking to my friend. You want a drink to go?” 

Not waiting for his answer, Wonwoo walks behind the counter, leaving you with Jeonghan, who laughs under his breath, rolling his eyes out of slight annoyance. 

“Yeah, please.” 

The sounds of Wonwoo working on Jeonghan’s drink become background music as you swallow hard, finally looking up at your date to find him watching you curiously. His dark eyes move over your face almost as if he were checking you for sighs of pain or injury, though there was clearly no need before he finally smiles, causing you to do the same. 

“Hey, I feel like I’m late.” 

Laughing, you feel warmth rush over your cheeks at Jeonghan’s words. You start to explain yourself when Wonwoo says his name and Jeonghan sighs out "just a second,” leaving you to watch him move to the counter. His hushed voice and Wonwoo’s are enough to tell you that you should mind your own business but you find yourself trying to turn your ear in to hear them better, only being able to catch a word here and there. 

“Just–she’s not like you. She’s not like us. Be careful with her.” 

“I’m not an idiot. Thank you for your concern.” 

When Jeonghan turns back towards you, you put your drink to your lips in an attempt to look as if you hadn’t been trying to eavesdrop on his and Wonwoo’s conversation. Your eyes move from his face to Wonwoo at the counter as the barista shakes his head, muttering something to himself and Jeonghan finally makes his way to you with a long sigh. 

“Ready to go? It’s pretty cold, and the wind is making it even colder. Here…” 

Nodding, you start to speak when Jeonghan offers you his drink, making you tilt your head like a confused puppy. It’s only when you take it that you realize why he offered it to you to hold. His hands move to the jacket zipper, pulling it upwards before he fiddles with your scarf, making sure it is against your neck, keeping you warm and protected against the cold air. 

“Oh…I–thanks.” 

Jeonghan smiles at your softly spoken words, his fingers slipping over yours briefly to take his drink back. Your eyes follow him to the door, where he holds it open for you, gesturing his head towards it and taking in a deep breath of the crisp, fall air. 

“No problem, can’t have my date catching a cold. Wonwoo might kill me.” 

You can tell it’s a joke while also taking a stab at his conversation with Wonwoo but even as you move out onto the sidewalk with Jeonghan, you can’t help but feel bad about the conversation you had shared with his cousin. Chewing on your cheek, you walk beside him for a moment before finally letting out a breath and a whined sound as you speak. 

“I’m sorry… You know if that was my fault? I don’t want you to fight with your family because of me. I know I’m friends with Wonwoo so if that’s too weird and it means you can’t see me or something, I totally get it.” 

Jeonghan’s eyes widen slightly at the whine in your voice, his lips pulling up in a smile as you start to ramble out your apology as well as his “out”. Shaking his head, the man laughs, glancing over at you and lifting his brow curiously. 

“If you think I’m going to let Jeon Wonwoo get in the way of something or someone I want...Y/N, you need to get to know me. Yeah, he’s family, but that’s it. I value family, sure, but blood is just blood. It doesn’t mean everything.” 

You swallow the lump in your throat as Jeonghan watches you, his eyes falling to your lips before they move back to your eyes. He laughs again into another sigh as the two of you turn towards the entrance of the park. Soon, it is just the soft sounds of traffic, quiet, distant conversations, and the crunching of leaves that fill your ears as you walk. 

“Was that too much? The family thing?” 

Shaking your head at Jeonghan’s question, you lift your head to look at him, finding his brows softened. You hadn’t realized the two of you had been walking in silence for a few moments; you had just been lost in thought. 

“No, not at all. Family is complicated. People are complicated. If we weren't, we’d be made of plastic or something.” 

Jeonghan can’t help but scoff in disbelief at how easily you seem to understand him. Nodding, he furrows his brows before leaning his head back towards the sky as he walks beside you. The sky was gray, but the maple trees in the park looked like they were on fire, all red, yellow, and orange. With each new burst of cold wind, more leaves shook loose from their branches, making their way to the earth, reminding Jeonghan of how easy it was to fall. 

You watched Jeonghan for a moment before looking up at the sky yourself. The trees made you smile as the leaves drifted to the ground around you and the man beside you. It was beautiful because, where he saw falling, you saw possibility. 

“The leaves are so pretty, don’t you think? You know, I was told once that maple leaves are special.” 

His eyes falling back to you, Jeonghan stops walking with you. He watches you standing with your eyes towards the sky, your hand out in front of you, a smile on your face as the chilly air brushes by you both. 

“Yeah? Whys that? 

Your smile seems to get bigger at his question and Jeonghan feels that feeling of his heart aching—that sensation of falling in love. You laugh, and your words are spoken with that same laughter, as if you are trying to believe them as much as you are trying to get him to believe them. 

“I was told if you catch a falling maple leaf, you will fall in love with the person you are walking with.” 

Jeonghan smiles at your words, his eyes moving to the falling maple leaves as he reaches out to catch one. 

“Yeah? What if you have already fallen in love with someone and you catch a maple leaf?” 

You shake your head. Another laugh is on your lips when you look at Jeonghan as he catches a maple leaf walking towards you. Falling silent, you press your lips together, feeling your cheeks heat up even as the cold air nips at them like kisses. 

“Well? Do you know the answer to that one?” 

Watching your lips pull up into a smile, Jeonghan offers you the maple leaf as he leans down to brush his lips against yours like a question. Even with his face so close to yours, he meets your eyes as your fingers brush against his, taking the leaf from his fingers before you answer his question by pressing your lips to his. 

The kiss is warm and safe. Nothing feels rushed and yet you feel like if you don’t keep kissing him, you might cry. Jeonghan smiles against your lips when you whine softly, feeling him pull away from you. His thumb rubbing the back of your hand as he leans back to look at you and your wide eyes. 

“I–don’t know the answer to your question.” 

Jeonghan laughs, his hand dropping from yours to lift to your face when you notice something that startles you. Your shocked gasp as you lean back from Jeonghan causes him to look at you, concerned that he has hurt you. 

“What’s on your hand?” 

Shaking his head, Jeonghan looks around for other people, pleased to see the two of you alone when you take his hand and study it. He watches as you run your finger along his left hand, tracing something he couldn’t see but somehow, because of what he had seen with you and what he knew, he had an idea. 

“Tell me what you see, Y/N. I don’t see anything; that doesn’t mean it’s not there. Trust me, okay?” 

Your hands were shaking. Jeonghan knew then that Wonwoo was right; you weren’t like them. Not completely anyway. He had wondered if you had a little magic in you, so in a way, they were both right. 

“It’s impossible. I’m going crazy. It’s like...gold ribbons? Gold ribbons around your wrist, your hand, and your ring finger? Jeonghan…I swear I don't—I'm not insane.” 

Sliding his fingers through yours, Jeonghan shakes his head once more, leading you towards a nearby bench to sit down. Taking the maple leaf from you, he puts it into a small book before putting it back into his pocket and turning to take both of your hands, meeting your eyes. 

“I know you aren’t crazy. I’d never call you insane. I don’t like that word. It’s used far too often for people who can do things that others can’t, for people who can see things others can’t.” Sighing into his next words, Jeonghan smiles at you. “I can explain this to you but it would take time. I would need more time than I have in this park and honestly, what you saw... I'm not even sure what it means.” 

You knew logically that you should be scared of what he was saying about what you had seen, but then there was something about you that made you know there was nothing to be scared of. There was something inside of you telling you that he was telling you the truth and that you could trust him. Taking his hand back into yours, you watch the gold ribbon shimmer along his skin as Jeonghan watches the maroon ribbons on your left hand. 

“I want to understand it.” 

Nodding, Jeonghan reaches up with his free hand to brush his fingers over your cheek. His thumb resting on your cheekbone, the man sighs, hoping he isn’t overwhelming you, feeling like he can’t lose you just as much as he doesn’t want to lose you already. 

“Then I’ll explain it to you. We have time. I’m not planning on going anywhere.” 

Jeonghan’s words were comforting, just as comforting as watching the gold ribbon move around his hand. Smiling, you nod, finally looking up from his hand to meet his eyes. Out of the corner of your eye, you see more leaves fall and you can’t help but think about how they seem to fall slowly at first when they first leave the branch and then all at once the closer they get to the ground. That was how you felt about Jeonghan, even in a short amount of time. 

Daylight was shorter so by the time Jeonghan walked you back to your apartment building, it was dark. Your fingers were laced with his, the taste of chai in your mouth, though you were beginning to wonder if it was still lingering from the tea you had had earlier or if it was something else Jeonghan needed to explain to you.  

Jeonghan’s eyes moved over the door that seemed to want to take you from him and his fingers tightened to keep you with him for even just a moment longer. He knew it was selfish but he didn’t care anymore. He had already had so much taken from him in his life and now you had been placed in front of him like a gift. Why couldn’t he hold on a little tighter for as long as he could, even if it seemed too quick? 

“I’m beginning to think we should have met at the beginning of the day.” 

Your pretty laughter makes Jeonghan’s heart beat faster as you let go of his hand in place of wrapping your arms around him as if you had known him for years. Taking in a breath as he leans to rest his face against your hair, Jeonghan closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around you in return, feeling that urge to hold on tighter once again. 

“Next time, we will meet at the crack of dawn. I can learn about your entire life.”  

Jeonghan smiles against your hair before shaking his head. He would tell you anything, even things he didn’t want to but he wanted to know about you. He wanted to be part of your life and your family. He wanted to keep his family here but now there was you. There were those ribbons. 

“Mmm, I’ll tell you whatever you wanna know, Angel.” 

You smile, moving to nuzzle your nose against Jeonghan’s neck, when he calls you Angel. You hadn’t expected him to call you something like that. First, it had been beautiful and now, Angel? He really knew how to sweet talk you. 

Feeling the warmth of your cheek against your skin, Jeonghan laughs, leaning back to look down at you. His fingers press into your jacket, wishing he could get closer to you, touch your skin, and be skin against your skin. 

“What? You like that? Angel?” 

Jeonghan watches you nod shyly, causing him to laugh. You were perfect and you were his; at least that was how he felt. At least that was what he wanted. Swallowing hard, Jeonghan couldn’t fight his urge to kiss you again. He had to do it at least once more before he left. 

When Jeonghan’s lips meet yours this time, you can’t help the soft moan that slips from between yours. Between how warm the kiss felt and the gentle brush of his tongue against your upper lip, you find your knees going weak, needing his arms to keep you upright. 

Furrowing his brow at your reaction, Jeonghan tightens his grip on you, deepening his kiss. He becomes braver, daring to let his tongue explore your mouth. His tongue glides along yours, causing goosebumps to erupt along his skin when the taste of vanilla spreads along his taste buds. You were unlike anyone he had ever been with in his entire life. 

It is almost painful when Jeonghan forces himself to kiss you one last time, knowing he's saying goodnight. One last chaste kiss that lingers before he pulls away, watching your smile fade even slightly as he does. Jeonghan smiles still, brushing his nose against yours as you speak softly. 

“Would it be weird to tell you that you taste like chai?” 

Laughing Jeonghan shakes his head, leaning to rest his forehead against yours as your fingers slide into his jacket to get as close to his skin as possible through the layers of his shirts. 

“No, I was going to tell you that you taste like vanilla.” Sighing, Jeonghan then lets out a groan almost in pain when he leans back to stand up straight. “I guess I should say goodnight. Your cheeks and nose are getting really cold standing out here.” 

You laugh, furrowing your brows, learning that you taste like vanilla, only to frown when Jeonghan says he should say goodnight. You knew that he was right. You were cold; you were starting to shiver but you wanted to say you didn’t mind. You wanted to say, “Come upstairs?" and so you did. 

Jeonghan swallows hard at your request. He knew he should be the gentleman and say no. He should politely decline and come back another day. He shouldn’t go upstairs until the two of you know each other much better than you do now but looking at you now, Jeonghan can only nod. 

Two flights of stairs and a few seconds of fumbling with your keys out of nerves later, you stood in your living room with Jeonghan. Jackets and shoes discarded, you watched as he looked around at your life. A smile was on his handsome face as he moved to look at pictures of you with your friends and family. Hushed comments about how beautiful you are and how you looked like you had so much fun and were so loved. 

“Yeah…I’m pretty lucky, I guess. I’ve been here my entire life so I’ve always had them. I wanna know about you, though…You said you’d tell me if I asked. You said you could explain this?”

Moving back to Jeonghan, you lift his left hand, showing it to him. Though he couldn’t see the golden ribbons, they still spiraled around his hand, just like the maroon ones moved around yours. Jeonghan’s fingers flex before he sighs, furrowing his brows, leading you towards your couch to sit down. 

“Not going to run away from me or kick me out?” Laughing, he watches you shake your head no, a sweet smile on your curious face even though the nerves were eating him from the inside out. 

“Uh, ok, well, here goes. I–” 

Holding up his finger, Jeonghan leans from you to reach into his jacket, lying on the nearby armchair, to take out the book he had stored your leaf in. You watch as he opens it, offering you the leaf once again before placing the book on his leg. 

“If my mother was still alive and she knew I was showing this to someone who wasn’t a witc–well, someone who wasn’t fully… Fuck how do I even say this?” 

Turning the leaf in your fingers, you furrow your brows, hearing that Jeonghan’s mother isn’t alive, only for them to deepen when he struggles to find his words. Shaking your head, you lean to put the leaf on the table, moving to slide your legs under you so you can turn towards him, resting your hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating hard and quick in his chest. 

“You do it at your pace and truthfully? I swear to you, I’m not going to run away from you or be afraid. Jeonghan, your hand is glowing gold, so if you are about to tell me magic is real, I think you are a little late. I think you are a wizard, Harry.” 

Jeonghan stares at you for a moment before starting to laugh. You watch, amused but also concerned, until he finally calms down and shakes his head. 

“Did–did you just quote Harry Potter to me?” 

You nod, and Jeonghan scoffs lightly, leaning to kiss you softly, shaking his head as he leans back, feeling his chest lighten as his heartbeat slows and the panic subsides slightly. 

“I don’t know how the fuck I got lucky enough to meet you. I certainly don’t deserve you.” You start to speak and Jeonghan shakes his head, lifting his hand to stop you. “I–please, it’s how I feel. I can explain it.” 

You didn’t agree with him. There was nothing he could do or could have done to make you agree with him. Furrowing your brows, you want to comfort him but you aren’t sure how so instead, you press your fingers against his chest and just listen. 

“Yeah, magic is real. It’s not what they have in Harry Potter. Most of that is bullshit. But I’m a warlock; I was born that way. Anyone with magic is born that way. I think you were born that way too.” 

Leaning your head back, you scoff, causing Jeonghan to lift his left hand, letting you see the gold spirling around his hand. Your brows soften and Jeonghan knows his point was taken, allowing him to continue. 

“Perhaps not to the degree of some witches but everyone has a little magic in them. All humans, just a little bit. Deja vu is magic…but you there is a little more—fuck,  maybe a lot more. We can figure that out together, okay?” 

You just nod, feeling your heart quicken at the idea of having some magical potential. You had always wanted to believe in magic. That was something that any little girl or boy would want to believe in but you had never truly let go of it and now it was staring you in the face. 

“This…” Jeonghan gestures to the book on his lap, “is my grimoire. I’ll let you look through it later. It’s really personal to each warlock and witch. We can start you one, if you want, once we figure out what’s going on with you.” 

Jeonghan glances at you once again, watching you press your lips together. He knew it was a lot of information, even if it was just basic things. He didn’t want to overwhelm you but you had asked. Flipping a couple of pages, Jeonghan sighs and taps the page, causing you to gasp lightly as some words shimmer and then fade back to normal ink. 

“Some warlocks or witches have little things about them. My mom could transfigure into her familiar form. My dad could perfect any potion that he tried on the first try. I–I can see auras.” 

Glancing down at your hand, Jeonghan slides his fingers over your hand, tracing the ribbons as you watch him. 

“Auras? Like, you know when someone is good or bad?” 

Tilting his head back and forth, Jeonghan purses his lips, trying to think of how to describe it before he looks up at you. 

“It’s more than that and it’s rare. I can’t always see them and they aren’t always that simple. I saw an aura in a warlock who visited my house when I was little. It was dark green and it scared me. I didn’t know what it meant.” 

You watch as Jeonghan looks down at his grimoire, your eyes scanning over the Latin that you don’t understand as his voice shakes slightly. 

“I should have asked my parents because I had to find out later that dark green auras mean not only greed but to the point of ill intent. That warlock cursed my parents and a few weeks later they were both gone.” 

Feeling your heart tighten with Jeonghan’s grief, you look up at his face as a soft "oh" slips from your lips. You aren’t sure what to say and Jeonghan understands by just shaking his head and whispering that it’s okay. 

“When I said that I don’t deserve you, Y/N…I mean that because there is a reason that Wonwoo was telling you to be careful around me. There is a reason I moved here. I saw my own aura.” 

Sliding your hand over Jeonghan’s left, you tighten your grip on his and he feels the warmth spread through his arm, though he doesn’t have the courage to look at you, feeling like if he tells you the truth, he will lose you. 

“I searched for that warlock until I found him and followed him for months last year. I had decided that I would do it indirectly. That’s worse, you know? Cursing someone else to kill someone.” Jeonghan swallows hard, nodding to his own words, feeling your eyes on him even if you don’t speak. 

“My aura was black in the mirror. Pitch black, and I knew that was death and it should have scared me from doing it but I did it anyway.” 

Lifting your hand from his, you turn Jeonghan’s face towards you, tears running down his cheeks. You watch him close his eyes in an attempt to hide his shame, even as you push away his tears with your thumb.  

“Jeonghan…Did you come here to start over?” 

Nodding, Jeonghan keeps his eyes closed, leaning into your palm. The brush of your fingers like the rungs of a ladder helped him climb out of the darkness of the hole that he had been in for far too long. 

“Then start over. I don’t care about what you did. I care about your past but not that. Open your eyes and look at me.” 

Slowly opening his eyes, Jeonghan meets yours, almost afraid that you will be angry with him despite your words but instead he finds you looking at him lovingly. A sigh of relief escapes between his lips and Jeonghan turns his head to press his lips to your palm, whispering, “Thank you.” 

The two of you stay quiet for a moment, the story of Jeonghan’s past lingering like a breath before the weight is gone and Jeonghan can smile seeing the ribbons on your hand once again. 

“You have an aura on your hand. I think that’s what you are seeing too, on mine.” 

It is your turn to tilt your head as Jeonghan turns to sit towards you, offering you his hands and trying to explain the ribbons. The words on his lips seem to fall short when you gasp while watching the gold of his finger extend towards your finger and a ribbon of a different color come into view on your own hand. 

“Holy shit…you can see that?” 

Jeonghan watches you nod, your mouth open in awe, as his own hand spirals with gold. You watch as your hand shimmers with maroon warmth, extending up your arm and into your chest. Moving his hand from yours, Jeonghan scoffs in disbelief as the gold ribbon from his hand extends from his finger to meet the maroon trailing from yours, tethered. 

“What does it mean?” 

Jeonghan laughs at first, shaking his head. He wanted to be able to tell you something that sounded less like a fairytale but all he had was magic. Jeonghan recalled being young and his mother telling him about soulmates and how they were incredibly rare. How some witches and warlocks were very lucky and were tethered to another witch or warlock. 

“Do you believe in soulmates?” 

Furrowing your brows, you smile at Jeonghan’s words. You wanted to laugh and shake your head, tell him no, but instead you feel it in your heart that you do believe. You believe full heartedly. You hadn’t before. You hadn’t believed in anything like that or love at first sight and now here you were staring at him. 

“Yeah…I do.”

That hadn’t been what Jeonghan had expected. Your words were welcomed but they had thrown him off. He hadn’t expected you to accept him as a warlock or to accept him past and now you were accepting him as your soulmate? You took his breath away. 

“Yeah?” 

You smile and nod as Jeonghan smiles too sliding his hand along yours, the ribbons fading into your skin. Gold and maroon meshing and becoming invisible to the naked eye. You could feel they were still there if you wanted to but right now you didn’t need to see or feel the ribbons to know Jeonghan was yours. 

“Shit–I…this is not how I thought today would go.” 

Jeonghan’s words are spoken on a breathy groan as you slide across his lap to sit across his leg. His hands working their way along your thighs towards your hips feeling your body against his for the first time. It was familiar in a way that shouldn’t make sense. 

“I trust you. I–don’t understand any of this, not really but god that’s all I know, Jeonghan. I trust you and in my heart all I know is you’re mine.” 

It was what he had known and had been afraid to let himself accept all day. You were his. He had felt bad for thinking it, feeling it but there had been a reason. You were his. You were born his. 

Groaning at the feeling of your hips sliding over his, Jeonghan leans his head back, trying to keep his cool, unsure of how quickly you want this to go despite your words, “I trust you,” echoing in his mind. 

“Baby…fuck. You’re mine, I know. If you don’t…I’m trying to be good. Let me kiss you.” 

You wanted him to kiss you but you didn’t want Jeonghan to be good. You wanted more than that and you could feel that he didn’t want that either. You knew it was fast but that didn’t matter. Sliding your hand along Jeonghan’s arm, your nails scratching at his skin, you lean down to brush your lips over his hearing and feel his hiss into your mouth before he mutters against your lips. 

“I said I’m trying to be good.” 

“And I said I trust you.” 

You had lit a fire in Jeonghan and now you were fanning it hotter with your kisses. He remembered how much he had wanted to touch your skin while standing outside of your apartment. How many layers of clothes had been in his way and now here you were sitting in his lap, his fingers pushing your shirt up your back so that his skin could finally brush over yours. It was like pure electricity connecting you to him. 

Jeonghan smirks against your lips when you moan into his mouth. His hands pull you down by your waist over his hardening erection trapped in his jeans. Your leggings were allowing you to feel every bump and ridge of his jeans and how his cock had gotten hard for you so quickly between your legs. 

“Please…please… touch me, Jeonghan.” 

His brows furrowing, his lips pursing into a silent groan, Jeonghan feels his cock twitch in his jeans when you beg him to touch you. It was beautiful, and you were beautiful. He could listen to you say that all night long. He wanted to listen to you beg for him until the sun came up and maybe even longer. 

“I am touching you. See, don't you feel my hands?" 

You whine, squirming on Jeonghan’s lap, feeling his fingers under your shirt as he trails them along your back. It wasn’t what you wanted and you knew that he knew that. The smirk in his voice told you that. Sliding your hands along his chest, you lean back to look into Jeonghan’s eyes, your voice full of want to the point where you almost sound like you could cry. 

“Touch me everywhere. Take me to bed.” 

Jeonghan had half a mind to make you beg him again but your lips brushed over his and then his cheek, causing him to lose his resolve. He laughs under his breath before nodding, feeling you slip from his lap to take his hand. The warm feeling of magic, ribbons tangling and spinning around your hands and fingers, makes Jeonghan take a moment to pause before he finally does stand, letting you lead him toward your bedroom. 

The scent of vanilla and chai overwhelms him for a moment as he watches you take a step away from him. Your pretty smile enraptures him as his eyes follow you backwards to your bed. Jeonghan breathes out your name, taking a step towards you before stopping to glance at your bedside table. Three candles are placed in a triangle, each a different color. 

“Do you want me to light them?” 

Your voice is soft and sweet, almost innocent in your question. You clearly didn’t know what they were or what you had been using them for. 

“I can, Ignis.” 

The Latin word is half whispered and half just a breath but each candle flutters to life with it, causing you to gasp with wonder. Jeonghan smiles at your reaction, moving closer to step between your legs, his fingers once again sliding to the end of your shirt but this time he drags it up your torso, urging you to lift your arms so he can pull it over your head as he speaks. 

“Why did you pick those colors? White, red, and pink?” 

Shrugging, you shake your head, biting at your bottom lip as your shirt leaves your fingertips. Jeonghan’s eyes are searching your face before he glances down at your body. His fingers glide along your shoulder as his eyes follow until he looks back into your eyes. Your back arches to the feeling of his hand running over your spine, a small laugh slipping from between your lips as his fingers make quick work of your bra clasp, causing the straps to slip from your shoulders. 

“I just like the colors. They look pretty together.” 

Jeonghan gives you a skeptical look. His fingers trailing back along your shoulder to guide your bra strap further down your arm as you let it fall from you completely. 

“God, you are so beautiful, Angel. Lay back on the bed for me?” 

You watch Jeonghan drop your bra onto the floor on top of your shirt as you scoot back onto your bed. His eyes follow you, listening to your steady breath while his hands move to his own clothes. You find yourself being jealous of his hands while also enjoying watching him undress himself. You wanted to run your hands over his skin but you also knew you’d get your chance. You knew you’d only get this chance once. Seeing him like this, undressing for you for the first time, only once.

Jeonghan runs his fingers through his hair as he drops his shirt onto the growing pile of clothes, a sigh on his lips. His eyes glance over you as you lay half naked on the bed in front of him. He wanted to get you out of your leggings and panties to be between your legs but he was going to savor this. He wanted to savor all of it, every discovery. 

“I think it’s more than you liking the colors together.”

Shaking your head, you give Jeonghan a confused look. Your fingers slide along your stomach towards your breast as his slender fingers undo his belt and jeans, pushing them door. Jeonghan smirks, his dark eyes following your fingers every move as he kicks his pants from his legs and repeats the process with his boxers. 

“White candles represent new beginnings. Like a blank canvas. Red, well, that’s an intense color and an intense candle choice, especially paired with white and pink.”

Sitting up, you whine softly, somewhere mixed between Jeonghan’s name and a moan as you see him fully. His body was perfectly sculpted, from his head to the toes. You feel your mouth all but water as your eyes shamelessly look over his cock, hard and leaking for you. While you were listening to him about your candles, you also wanted him in your bed. You wanted his mouth on you, his hands on your body, and him inside of you. 

“I know, Angel. I’m right here. Be a good girl for me…be patient.” 

Jeonghan walks beside your bed, his fingers trailing along your hand and arm as you reach out for him. A smirk on his lips as you try to hold on to him, only for him to keep just far enough away. Without asking, as if he had been in your room a hundred times, Jeonghan opens your nightstand drawer and tilts his head. You watch as he sighs softly, pushing a couple things to the side before opening a box of condoms and taking one out. 

“The red candle represents fire. It means protection, strength, and courage, but also lust and power. So it’s fitting for a bedroom. I keep one in mine as well. 

Your cheeks burn with embarrassment and desire at Jeonghan’s words. Your eyes are fixed on him as he lays the silver square on the nightstand before finally looking at you and resting his knee on the bed to hover over you. Jeonghan’s fingers glide over your stomach and his touch feels like the fire he had been talking about. It’s almost as hot as a candle to your skin but you arch towards it, begging for more as his fingers splay out, inching towards the top of your leggings. 

“Pink is an interesting choice next to red. It’s like the flip side of the coin. It’s the candle I would choose for you. It represents tenderness, compassion, and acceptance. If you were a candle, you’d be a pink candle.” 

Sucking on your lips, you let go with a small moan as Jeonghan’s fingers dip below the waistband of your leggings. He watches as you lift your hips, your head shaking slowly to his words, before you smile and push your head back into your pillows. 

“So I’m a pink candle and you are red?” 

Tilting his head, Jeonghan purses his lips, adjusting his fingers into the elastic of your panties as he tugs your leggings down. Jeonghan finally smirked once again, dropping the rest of your clothes off the side of the bed as he answered you. 

“That’s a good way of saying it. Do you still trust me?” 

Sliding his fingers along the side of your face, Jeonghan stops to rest his thumb against your cheekbone as you look up at him. He knew the answer before you even spoke, but hearing your soft "yes" made his heart beat quicker and his cock jerk against your thigh. You were so innocent and his. 

“Mm, yeah? If you ever want me to stop, I want you to say so, okay? I want to try something.” 

Jeonghan was moving away from you again, causing you to whine but he didn’t go far. You watch as he picks up your silk scarf from a chair near your bed. You hadn’t given much thought to the scarf in some time; the deep red accessory had been worn a handful of times before you had tossed it on the chair, out of sight and out of mind. 

“Hands above your head. I promise, I’ll be gentle. I just want to see…just how much you trust me. Is that bad of me?” 

He watches as you shake your head, your arms lifting so that you can cross your wrists above your head. Jeonghan’s breath hitches as your fingers wrap around the wrought iron headboard slot. The cold iron under your fingers causes your skin to erupt with goosebumps as you watch the man in front of you curiously. 

“It’s not bad. I said I trusted you. I know you won’t hurt me.” 

Shaking his head, Jeonghan smiles a bit at your words, moving to his knee on the mattress next to you. You were right; he’d never hurt you. Not in any way you wouldn’t enjoy it, and certainly not in a way you wouldn’t like it if he could help it. 

“This is why you are the pink candle. So tender and trusting. You have your white light around you and yet... you choose a maroon scarf and your arua is the same color? What’s hiding inside of you, my angel?” 

Jeonghan’s fingers glide over your skin as he loops the silk around your wrists and finally around the slot between the headboard, loosely tying you to the bed. You were a vision to behold like this, laid out bare and vulnerable for him. So perfectly innocent, yet as he met your eyes, a small smirk played at your lips. 

“Oh? Is there something I am going to like when I go looking? Something you might not be able to keep hidden once I’m between your legs?” 

With his hand trailing along your side, Jeonghan slowly moves backwards on the bed towards your feet but he keeps his eyes on your face. He didn’t expect an answer but he didn’t need one. The way your breath hitched when his fingers traced over your hip and grazed just shy of your pussy answered the question just as well as anything you could have said out loud. 

“Spread your legs for me…” 

Closing your eyes, you feel a rush of embarrassment wash over you at Jeonghan’s words. It wasn’t that you didn’t want him between your legs or that you wouldn’t do as he asked; it was that he wanted you to do it for him. He wanted to see you; all of you lay bare in front of him and you could feel how wet you were. You could feel it running between your legs and on to the comforter beneath you, almost as if someone had left a faucet dripping overnight. 

“Baby…spread your legs. I won’t force them open. Not tonight, not this time.” 

Jeonghan slides his hands along your shins to your knees, watching you consider his words before you let out a slow breath and let your legs fall open in front of him. His eyes drift down your body and fall to either side of him as he moves to kneel between your thighs with a groan. 

The candlelight was just enough light for Jeonghan to see how wet you were and he couldn’t help himself. Leaning forward, Jeonghan mutters how beautiful you are as he brushes his fingers between your folds, pressing a kiss to your inner thigh. Using what had dripped on his fingers, Jeonghan rubbed his fingers and thumb together before pressing his thumb against your clit, his middle finger sliding back towards your already throbbing entrance. 

“This okay?” 

He didn’t have to ask. Once again he knew the answer from the way your body was reacting and the moan that spliled from between your pretty lips but he wanted to hear it this time. It was important. It was the first time and it was going so fast. 

Pulling at the headboard, the scarf bites into your wrist gently as you feel Jeonghan’s middle finger circle your pussy when he asks for permission. Nodding you whine out yes pushing your hips towards his finger in order to get what you want. You wanted more than just his fingers. You wanted Jeonghan’s mouth, his fingers, his cock. If it were possible to have it all at the same time, maybe then you’d be satisfied. 

“More…I can take more. Don’t be so gentle.” 

Jeonghan smiles against your knee as he leans to rest his cheek against your leg. His finger is slowly working into you as your walls clench around his single finger. You were greedy. There was the red candle. There was how you were like him. 

“You want me to leave marks on you? Remind you who was in your bed when I finally go home? Is that it, Angel?” 

Working a second finger into your gummy walls, Jeonghan groans, hearing your whines as you nod and beg him for more. He had never felt like this with anyone else in bed or in a relationship. There had been others in the past. The sex had been intense but there was never this much passion or this much territorial instinct. 

He wouldn’t fool himself into thinking he was the first person you had ever been with. He wouldn’t even ask you. Instead, he would fuck you so hard and good that you’d forget their names. He would erase them from your memories so that even if he did ask one day, you’d only be able to say, “I think there was someone…” 

Arching your back from the bed as Jeonghan’s third finger slides into you, you cry out in pleasure. His mouth latching onto your thigh hard, somewhere between a bite and a kiss. You can feel the way your skin is going to bruise under his mouth and yet you want spots like that one to paint your entire body like a map that you can revisit in the morning. 

“So–I’m so close. Don’t stop…” 

Your words cause Jeonghan to smirk against your leg. His tongue runs the length between the love bite and your mound before he replaces his thumb with his tongue. Your mind was hazy with bliss. You were right on the edge when….nothing. Jeonghan kisses your folds but his fingers slide from you, leaving your thighs trembling—your first orgasm taken from you. 

“No…no no no… why?” 

A quiet laugh and warm breath fanning against your wet folds draw your eyes downward, though you aren’t able to lift your body enough as you strain against silk and iron. Jeonghan lifts his brow at you, his fingers lazily playing with his spit and the wetness dripping from your wanting pussy as you whine at him confused. 

“You beg so beautifully. Nothing worth having was given so easily. Try again, Y/N.” 

Throwing your head back against the pillow you close your eyes feeling Jeonghan’s fingers slipping back into you slowly, one by one. The pressure slowly beginning to build once again. He wanted you to beg? You could beg for something you wanted, especially when it was him. When it was this. 

Jeonghan groans to the taste of you, his tongue running along your folds to his fingers before he finally wraps his lips around your clit sucking lightly. You were panting his name and begging under your breath but it wasn’t enough just yet. He could get you to do more. With a curl of his finger, brushing the spongy spot on the roof of your walls, Jeonghan smirks, his tongue resting against the throbbing bundle of nerves at his mouth as you cry out his name loudly. 

“Oh fuck! Jeonghan! Please? I need it. Please? Please, can I cum? Let me cum for you. I’ve been good. I can be better. I–ah! Please!” 

Your words were urgent. Tears fell over the rims of your eyes from feeling overwhelmed and the pleasure that ripped through your body as Jeonghan finally gave you what you wanted Groaning against your pussy, he buries his fingers in you deeply over and over again until finally the floodgates keeping your orgasm back break. 

Jeonghan’s warm, soft, wet tongue runs to your entrance, collecting your cum on his tongue as he moans in appreciation. His hands slide under your body to pull you closer to his face as he eats you out as if you were his last meal. Alternating between his tongue and his lips, Jeonghan takes his time to clean you of every last drop of cum as your thighs tremble around his head, your muscles screaming from overstimulation by the time he is finished. 

Moving between your legs, Jeonghan smiles, reaching up to wipe his hand along his mouth and chin as you look up at him with lustful eyes. There was what he had been searching for. That look in your eyes. 

Reaching towards the nightstand, Jeonghan swipes the condom from it, bringing the corner of the silver square to his lips as you watch him catch your breath. Carefully, he rips the foil open as if he’s done it a hundred times, making you roll your eyes playfully. Jeonghan grins, the latex in hand, his eyes moving from yours only for a moment as he reaches between your body and his to roll the condom onto his length as he speaks into a groan. 

“What? Was that too cheesy?” 

“You reminded me of a college fuckboy, but I think I might love you anyway.” 

Your words stop Jeonghan from moving and cause his breath to hitch in his throat. He had hinted at it earlier in the park. The leaf had fallen within his reach and you had mentioned the story about catching them and falling in love…But what if you were already in love with who you were walking with? 

Lifting his eyes to meet yours, Jeonghan finds you looking away. You had clearly realized what you had said and you were trying to hide your face without the use of your hands. Your fingers were straining against the silk that kept you bound to the bed but he didn’t need you bound to the bed anymore. 

Using his right hand, Jeonghan quickly unties the scarf, letting you pull your hands from the headboard but he is quick to catch them before you can cover your face. You watch as he shakes his head, lifting your left hand to his lips to press a kiss to your fingers as he does. 

No, he didn’t need you bound in anyway, except to him, which you already were. The maroon ribbons of magic swirling around your fingers again caused a glow against his lips as he let them rest there but you could see how the fibers of the ribbon trailed off and down to the bed where his left hand rested next to your body. 

“You think you love me?” 

Swallowing hard, you feel your heart beating hard and fast in your chest. You knew that Jeonghan could feel it against his own skin as he lay on top of you. There was no point or reason for you to lie, so you nod. 

“Yes.” 

Jeonghan smiles, pressing another kiss to your fingers. His hand slides along your arm until he lets go of it completely, instead of trailing his hand along your leg to your knee. Pulling it up to his hip, Jeonghan groans, leaning down to brush his lips against yours as he rolls his hips towards yours. Your soft moan fans hot breath against his mouth when you feel his cock press against your folds but not quite hard enough to push into you just yet. 

“I think I knew that I loved you the moment I caught that maple leaf. You were and are so beautiful. You were smiling up at the sky and the stupid trees and I was jealous of them. Then you were telling me about this fairytale..." 

Whispering Jeonghan’s name, you start to tell him that you love him again but fall short when the head of his cock finally gets the perfect angle and he is able to slowly thrust into you. Jeonghan closes his eyes, his fingers digging into your skin at your hip, feeling your warm walls clenching around him with each slow inch that you take inside of you. 

“Fuck…baby. You feel so good. I–god…You were telling me about falling in love and leaves and I was falling in love with you. I fell in love with you because we were born for one another. You were born to be mine. No one elses.” 

And he would never let anyone else have you. Not now, not ever, Jeonghan thought to himself as he bottomed out into you for the first time. Your hand sliding along his waist to rest on his back, pulling him closer to you as you gasped out a moan, feeling full of him. 

While Jeonghan’s words and the magic of it all didn’t make complete sense, what did was the feeling that he was describing. You knew it too. You knew it the moment he walked away the first time at the cafe. That man was yours. This man…is yours. 

Scratching at his skin lightly, you nod and mutter his name on a moan before throwing your head back, feeling pleasure rush through you when Jeonghan starts to pick up his pace and deepen his thrusts. He was beginning to learn about you. He could feel it now, every time your pussy would tighten around his cock if he moved just the right way. So he would move that way again and then purposely make you wait before he would do it all over again, just so he could listen to you cry his name against his lips. 

“Are you gonna cum for me again?”

Nodding, you wrap your hand around the back of Jeonghan’s neck, trying to keep his mouth near yours but he laughs at your instance. There was your greed that he loved so much. He wasn’t leaving you. He would kiss you every day for the rest of your shared life together but right now…he wanted to watch you fall apart on his cock for the first time. 

“Angel, I love how you cry for me like this. Is it that good? You like my cock that much?” 

His words were making you feel shy but still, you nodded and whined out a yes as tears ran down your cheeks. The pressure of your orgasm building in your abdomen as Jeonghan reaches between your legs to circle his thumb around your clit only causes your thighs to tremble even harder. 

“Ah…Jeonghan! Please…” 

The last of your words are whispered, almost tearfully between a moan and a sob, as you try to keep your orgasm at bay, though it hurts to try. Jeonghan hisses back his own groan. His climax is on the edge, barreling behind yours as he tightens his grip on your thighs, thrusting into you harder and pushing your head towards the headboard with each powerful thrust. 

“Cum baby. Do it… I’m not going—fuck, I’m right behind you.” 

Your hands clench on the bedding under you as you tightly close your eyes, seeing white the moment your orgasm washes over you for the second time. The intensity of pleasure is so intense for you and Jeonghan as you clench around him like a vice that any attempts he has at holding himself back are futile. 

Jeonghan groans, feeling warm, thick cum spill into the condom with one final thrust before he falls over you, burying his face in the crook of your neck. You are grateful for the weight of his body as you come down from your high. Your legs slowly stop shaking as Jeonghan’s hand runs along the length of your outer thigh. His lips work soft, tender kisses along the span of your neck before he makes it to your lips, catching his breath on the way. 

Smiling against your lips, Jeonghan knows he has pulled you. He knows he has to take care of the condom and that he needs to get you cleaned up but when you smile back against his lips he can’t make himself move just yet. Instead, he runs his fingers from the side of your face and neck to the back of your head, pulling you closer to his mouth. The kiss never rushed, feeling like it took your breath away while also giving you all you would ever need to survive, up until the moment Jeonghan finally pulled back to whisper against your lips. 

“I love you.” 

You had a feeling he would say the words. The two of you had been playing around with the words the entire time. You knew how fast it was. You knew how crazy it was but how crazy could it be when there was something bigger than both of you telling you it was meant to be? 

For your entire life, there had only been a handful of people you had ever spoken those three words too and meant them completely. Now you knew that as you said them to Jeonghan, you meant them for the rest of your life. 

“I love you too.” 

Closing his eyes for a moment, Jeonghan takes in the feeling of hearing the words on your lips. His fingers slide along the back of your head and over your hair before he kisses you once more and pulls from you at last. You watch with fond curiosity as he takes care of himself, disposing of the condom, cleaning up the wrapper, and moving towards your bedroom door, searching for something. 

“What are you looking for?” 

Sighing into a yawn, Jeonghan stretches his left arm above his head to feel the muscles in his back extend, knowing all the while that your eyes were taking in every inch of his skin. He had no reason to feel shy or embarrassed after what had happened. In fact, he was loving every moment of your eyes on his bare skin; he was taking pride in your enjoyment of him. 

“Your bathroom. I wanted to start a bath or shower for us. Something…” 

Sliding up in the bed, you smile, pulling your legs up towards your chest as you watch Jeonghan as he finally turns back to look at you. There was still so much to learn about one another but you knew there were many hours left in the night and many years left for the rest of your life. 

“Next door on the right. I’d prefer a bath.” 

Nodding, Jeonghan glances towards the door you mentioned before looking back at you fondly. You were the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his entire life at that moment. The moonlight shining on you from the window, the candle light in the reflection of your eyes, and that maroon arua around your hand that signified you were his. 

“Then a bath is what you get, Angel.” 

You follow Jeonghan for as long as you can with your eyes until he is out of your view. Just the sounds of water filling the tub and his humming as you lean back on your bed, lifting your hand to look at the magic swirling around your hand. All that maroon and a spot of gold at the tip of your left finger to let you know he was bound to you. 

“This is crazy.”

You laugh at your own hushed words, lifting your other hand to run it over your fingers. You don’t notice as Jeonghan comes back into the room, leaning against the doorframe for a moment to watch you. 

“No, it’s just a little magic, baby.”

© onlymingyus - all rights reserved. Reposting/modifying of any fic, or pieces of original writings posted on this blog is not allowed. Translations not allowed

[searchingforplanes]

Call me when you're bored

Not sure if the ““““““story”””””” around this actually makes any sense, I just wanted to write this down without overthinking it because I hate rereading the things I write.

TW: mdni!, smut, breath play, slight bondage(?), dom/sub undertones, terrible use of the English language, typos

WC: 1100-ish

You hadn’t realized it at first. Nothing had seemed atypical when he had come over, just the usual quick fuck: as per usual, he gave you a quick call, just to make sure you were in fact home and seven minutes later, no words spoken since he had entered the door, he was fumbling with the buttons of your shirt while kissing you harshly, warm, plumped lips tracing the expanse of your throat. As you soon had learned when you first met him, Matty seemed, at least to the untrained eye, a creature of habit. Truth was, routines worked for him because he wasn’t one to work for routines: fame taught him that minimizing steps between actions and decisions often meant that he got to enjoy his time more. So, at a certain point in his career, he had begun to just do anything he pleased, without asking, on rotation, until everyone was so in sync with his daily antics that he did not have to explain himself or ask for anything. It’s not like anyone was going to get mad at him for it, anyway. He had that kind of boyish grin that made everything justifiable. 

You weren’t immune, that’s for sure, or you wouldn’t have left the door ajar, as you always did, when you had heard the screeching of his tires just below your apartment complex; and he, like clockwork, just swung the door open, so sure of himself that you pondered, just for a second, how funny it would be if one day he just crashed on your front door that you ‘’accidentally’’ had left locked.

Becoming his favorite and only booty call was not something you had planned, the switch in your life so imperceptible you barely noticed it happened. At first, it was casual, just a mutual agreement for casual sex, but slowly you had become part of his never ending collection of habits, especially with your flat being exactly in the middle of the path between his place and the studio, making your ‘dates’ a daily occurrence that only required a brief notice on the phone, the convenience of it adjusting perfectly to his manically simple schedule.

And so there you were, standing before your still opened front door, topless and with your pjs shorts barely standing his needy pawing. Your fingers guide his face back on you, back at kissing him with force while his arms envelops you so close to him you almost feel you’re the one about to enter his body, and not the other way around. Quickly, his hands glide down your sides, putting the fabric that’s barely covering your modesty at risk again , coming at the back of your thighs before he finally speaks: ‘Jump’. You obey silently, his bulge brushing on your backside making you whimper like a teen at a school dance grinding on her crush. To be honest, it wasn’t too far fetched from truth, you had grown to like Matty quite a bit, especially when he was looking at you up and down like a predator, still in his white shirt and dress pants (maybe today wasn’t actually a studio day after all), towering over your now completely naked body on the couch. 

He lifts one of your ankles in his hand, lowering just enough to stamp a trail of butterfly kisses from your calf to the soft skin between your thigh and your hip bone, letting his curls cover the spectacle of his eyes. He grabs your hips, suddenly turning you on your stomach as he grabs your wrists with one hand, reaching for his discarded tie with the other, the only piece of clothing he freed himself of. He waits a beat for you to stop him, taking your small hum as a sign before he’s tying your arms behind your back, your shoulder blades almost coming to touch. 

You then hear his zipper come undone and after a couple of seconds his tip is splitting you open and filling you up to the hilt, not really giving you time to adjust to the delicious sting in your lower abdomen. He starts slowly but he’s soon pounding relentlessly into you, short, quick thrust that knock on your G spot just right every time, moans and calls of his name falling from your mouth with your now melted brain. He brings a hand to your head, shoving you against the cushion harshly and using it as leverage, almost like he wants to shut you up against the pillow, the new angle bringing him deeper in your cunt, but not stopping him from following his own pace, fast, barely bottoming out, hips clashing with your ass incessantly. 

‘Stop fucking clenching’ 

The order comes as a surprise. Then, when his hands are instead pushing on your shoulders to keep you down and firm against the plushness of the sofa, it finally hits you: he’s fucking you like he would his fleshlight. On your request, he had sent you a video while he was on tour, the rhythm of his hips in your memory matching perfectly the one he was now keeping. He knew you liked seeing him using that toy, and he now wanted you pliant and still like the object had been. You actually had asked for it, to be used like that, but the conversation had taken place so long ago you were kind of embarrassed to bring that up again.

No eye contact, no moans, no movements of any sort, just your perfectly still body: it all made sense and you couldn’t bring yourself to find it even slightly less hot. You try to muffle something to him, adding to the fire within him, his hand coming to shut your mouth and pinching your nose between his pointer finger and his thumb, blocking your airways.

‘If you want to opt out, kick me, if not, keep playing, doll, but don’t you dare fucking cum’

There it was, the final confirmation coming straight from his pet names.

The lack of oxygen was making your head dizzy, heightening the tightness in your stomach and you could feel Matty starting to lose his steady pace. 

‘You can cum now baby, did so good for me’ suddenly, the pressure of his body is off you, your constraint feels looser, the air returns your lungs and your orgasm is hitting you, the combination so strong your trembling under Matty, who’s enjoying the scene so much he’s decided to slides out to cum in his fist just to look better at you.

‘That was fucking insane, how did you remember about that clip? It was so long ago.’

And there it was, the most stupidly hot and egocentric grin you’ve ever saw in your life.

‘My doll asks and she shall receive.’

[uncannyinthegrove]

Uncanny in the Grove Chapter Four: When the Going Gets Tough

Table of Contents

Previous

First Chapter

(Content Warnings for Violent Imagery, see info for specifics)

Before Colton woke up and either had an emotional meltdown for trying to kill Yarrow again, or continued with the whole murder schtick, they needed to be prepared.

In their heart of hearts, Yarrow wished they had a decent length of rope, or even more ideally a chain to tie him up with. They would have been happy with even just some duct tape, at least until they knew whether they were dealing with a murder zombie, a murder ghost possessing a misfortunate victim, or simply a jumpy desk clerk with a guilty conscience.

Unfortunately, they had nothing on hand. Instead, they opted for the brilliant solution of tying Colton’s jacket sleeves together, stretching them as best as they could to get the length needed for a decent enough knot. Then, for good measure, they savagely tied together his shoe laces with all the fervour of a small child being given their first puppet, or a cat being unleashed upon a basket full of yarn. By the time they were done, it would have been at least ten minutes of work to get the shoes off, never mind untangled.

In the process, they also realized that if Colton had needed a doctor before, then that need had only doubled, if not tripled. It was no wonder, given he had gone careening off a cliff just like they had. And although he did not appear to be dead, which said a lot about his own resilience, he was in undeniably awful shape.

Yarrow grimaced as they straightened, feeling their own leftover aches protest how much they were moving about. It’d take more than a few minutes for that kind of damage to ease completely and in an ideal world Yarrow would get to spend the rest of the day either in bed, or bundled up on a couch being provided with sweets and cider and being pampered.

They were far from home and such comforts, though. The best they could do was limp their way up to their grandmother’s and hope things did not escalate into an even bigger raucous.

If there was a whole epidemic of walking dead plaguing the area, it needed to be handled, and Yarrow’s curiosity had been very much cooled by the threat of getting mauled at every turn. It was time to turn the matter over to someone else who actually knew what they were doing, while Yarrow waited it all out by napping.

Traipsing into the woods with the would-be-killer who they had already bested and was clearly reluctant on the murder part was very different from diabolical rotting bears and coyotes and moose. Their ghost hunt seemed like less of a whimsical little adventure that they could tell stories about later, and more of a cold, painful hassle. One murder was one thing, but two? With the chances of more looking rather high? No thanks. Better just to turn the whole mess over to their grandma. She’d know what to do.

Briefly, Yarrow thought about calling their mom again. She’d also know what to do. They just had to say the word and their parents would be in the car and on the way to Pinefort before Yarrow had a chance to sneeze.

It wasn’t like their parents weren’t going to find out that they’d run away from school, anyway. There wasn’t much point in putting it off. And yet the thought made them sag with exhaustion. At least their grandma wouldn’t badger them with questions about all that. She’d be a lot more concerned with the zombies. Once that was out of the way, maybe Yarrow could convince her to help explain things to their parents in a way that would not end with Yarrow back at the house, unable to leave again for fear their bad luck would invite further catastrophe.

Of course, to get to their grandma’s, they needed to know where they were. However, with a glance, Yarrow came to understand their situation pretty quickly—they had no idea where they were.

There was the drop that they’d fallen over not too far away, and in the burgeoning light of day, it looked innocuous and offensively innocent. Yarrow had never had to feel resentful towards a hill before, but suddenly a pointed bitterness towards the ridge filled them. Below it was the place where they had landed, a shallow brook of water that chuckled along over a rocky streambed and seeped into the surrounding area to create a bed of mud and densely packed alders. Beyond that was a repetitive view of trees and brambles without even so much as a bit of trail marker tape to indicate whether they were close to a known trail.

Typical of the unpopular and largely avoided foothills surrounding Pinefort, Yarrow knew. Still, that didn’t keep them from feeling a brilliant surge of frustration born on wings of an underlying distress.

Although venturing to the top of the ridge that they had fallen from would have surely given them the advantage of the high ground, Yarrow couldn’t bring themself to haul their aching body up its steep slope. They told themself it wouldn’t have really mattered in the end. They’d probably still just see trees. At least if they stuck to the little brook, then they might encounter a deer trail of some kind.

What good that would do, they weren’t sure, but it had to be better than nothing.

Ideally, they’d be able to orient themselves based on the fact that they’d almost returned to Pinefort before the dead squirrel incident. But even then, they’d only been following Colton with no actual sense for where they were in relation to anywhere else. Their blind run through the woods after that had stolen whatever chances they may have had.

Colton continued to lie bound and unconscious in the mud, and Yarrow couldn’t keep from being aware of his still form even as they meandered further away along the wet ground. After all, both times they’d left his sight since meeting him, he’d switched over into murder mode. The last thing they wanted was for him to sneak up on them with another blunt force weapon.

Eventually, however, he stopped being in their line of sight.

It wasn’t easy going. Yarrow was far more used to the spacious fields of their family property, and the forest beyond that had not been so dense and gnarled. By comparison, the ground they trekked over felt actively hostile, with its surges of rocky climbs tricking them with mossy crevasses that threatened to snare their feet. The area directly around the small stream was okay only for a little while, but the alder bushes and other brambles quickly grew too dense and they had to loop away from the bank into parts of the forest that became a craggy sea of tricky walking.

At one point the wet moss turned into a slide that sent their heart hammering in their throat as they slipped and slid back down along a ridge in startling repeat of their fall from the night before, and they only managed to catch themself with the tearing of their palms along the unkind branch of a conifer.

They hung there, legs akimbo like a fawn learning to walk, eyes wide and hands in a white knuckled grip on their wooden lifeline, and seriously debated just turning back and finding another path.

Overhead, a crow cawed, startling them enough to jerk their head toward the sound with an audible crick from their neck. However, no mess of decayed flesh and ragged feathers torpedoed itself at them even after several moments of tense silence.

Yarrow sighed with gusto and slowly began to straighten, careful not to fall back into another slide, ears straining for any further evidence of wildlife, particularly the undead and hostile sort.

At first, their heart sank when they picked up the sound of a dull rattle. With a creaking dread, they turned to stare, already picturing a horrific, boney swarm of broken bodies clawing its way towards them from between the trees. A graveyard made manifest to tear and gnaw at them.

But there was nothing.

Somehow, Yarrow found this to be worse. Worse in the way that it was worse to lose sight of a spider in the room than to see it scuttling along the ceiling.

They listened again closely, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound, their eyes stinging from their refusal to blink.

What ended up catching their eye was a familiar style of ornament.

The wind chime didn’t look to be made of bone at first glance, but an aged, dark stained wood. However, when Yarrow scrambled precariously over to where it hung from an angled old tree and stretched to scrutinize it, they saw that the maker had clearly harvested the tubing from a small animal. The string was wiry braided hair, not unlike horsetail, and the clapper and ring piece were both jagged pieces of chipped shale. Most distinctly was the burned etching carved deeply and darkly into every surface of the handicraft.

Yarrow had never been so comforted to discover one of their grandma’s totems in their life, and they clutched it like a lifeline.

Thoughts already sparking with new theories, they scanned the undergrowth once more, their eyes wide and seeking.

—

When Colton finally woke up, he did so with such a sudden jerk that it made Yarrow jump in surprise, despite the distance between them.

He didn’t seem to notice them at first, groaning with confused pain as he tried to twist around and get himself upright, still not awake enough to understand why his hands and feet weren’t working properly. He jerked and flopped about through the mud like a fish on land for several moments until the predicament he was in finally seemed to dawn on him. When it did, his breathing grew harsher and more panicked, his flailing becoming even wilder.

Yarrow winced, knowing that the dirty, injured young man was probably in no position to be thrashing about so much and that once the blind fear wore off, the pain from his injuries would become more obvious and be that much worse for the struggle.

“Hey, uh,” they started, trying to draw the desk clerk’s attention to them so they could explain. Unfortunately, he didn���t seem entirely aware of his surroundings, and it took Yarrow several more repetitions at increasing volume before he finally managed to get Colton to stop and pay attention.

His chest heaved with exertion, and face pale from the hours spent wet, cold, and victim of a night comparable to a horror film. “What? You?” He finally gasped at them. “What happened?”

“Well. What do you remember? Because there’s a lot to cover. Murder most foul, zombies, a high stakes chase scene, a dramatic fall off a cliff, more murder most foul.” Yarrow hopped off the rock they’d perched on and circled warily closer to Colton. “More importantly though, I’ve got clues! And also I think maybe I’ve got a temporary solution to your… problem. With the trying to turn my skull in a broken bone bowl of brain slurry. Maybe. How are you feeling, by the way? Like yourself? Or like the brainwashed minion of our murderous whatever?”

“I, uh, sorry?”

Yarrow struggled not to click their tongue the way their mother did when she found one of her samples had deteriorated. Unlike Yarrow, who’d had time for a morning hike and a subsequent scavenger hunt, Colton had only just woken up. He also was probably at least a little concussed and, unlike Yarrow, hadn’t managed to shake off the brain fog yet. They had to be patient.

“Did I try to kill you again?” Colton finally managed after a round of confused babbling and sentences broken by his own scramble to get his thoughts in order.

Yarrow nodded fervently. “You sure did. It really, really, and I mean really sucked. I don’t think it was, like, your fault technically, but still. Super not fun.”

To their horror, in the clear light of day, they saw the exact moment Colton’s expression cracked, and he started to cry. “Oh god, oh I am so sorry. This is awful. I can remember your face. I can remember the blood. I can remember… I can remember how it sounded. I just kept hitting you. Over and over and over again. Or. I dreamt I did? You’re…”

Yarrow blinked and cleared their throat uncomfortably. “Yes, well. Here we are. It wasn’t as bad as all that. So chin up.”

Colton was staring, face frozen in shock. “Oh god. You’re a ghost, aren’t you?”

“What?!” Yarrow gasped, hands smacking against the solidness of their own chest in instinctual need to check. “I am not!”

“You have to be,” Colton protested with a voice that sounded near tortured. “There’s no other explanation. Never mind the fact that you’re up and moving around, you look totally fine. That’s impossible. You’ve died and now you’re haunting me, your killer.”

“Wanna tell me who tied you up then,” Yarrow scoffed, ambling ever closer with their growing certainty that they had the guilty, fragile, deeply confused desk clerk back as opposed to the one that wanted them dead.

That seemed to stump Colton enough for him to fall silent, although he did go back to weakly tugging at his sleeves in an effort to get his hands free. It didn’t really work.

“Just listen for a second, ok?” Yarrow continued, crouching down next to Colton. “And stop struggling. Your hand is gong to be so busted.”

“Alright, okay. I’m… I’m listening.” The ragged young man grimaced and held still, gingerly letting his hands rest on his chest as if he’d just become aware of the state he was in. His eyes didn’t leave Yarrow though, as if staring for long enough would somehow reveal a faint transparency or some other indication that he was right and Yarrow really was just a grim spectre.

“First things first, there’s this,” Yarrow began. They reached out and lifted a string with bits of bone and shale attached to it away from where it looped like a macabre necklace around Colton’s throat. “This should, if I am right, keep you from trying to kill me. At least for a little while.”

“What? What is it?”

Yarrow tugged the repurposed totem so that the carvings were more visible to Colton. “It’s Gramma’s. I found a bunch of them hanging around the area. I can’t really say I’m an expert, but these should be totems of binding. They’re kinda defunct, but I’m thinking it should help a little bit, so long as you’ve got it on you.”

It wasn’t really a surprise when Colton gazed with acute incomprehension at the object. “Like… it’s magic?”

“You literally just accused me of being a ghost. I don’t know why you keep getting hung up on this stuff. What’s a little witchcraft to a forest of zombie animals trying to kill us?”

“Right,” Colton agreed, bafflement thick in his voice. “Just, I’m getting whiplash from all the weird shit you keep saying. Every five words you say to me sound like nonsense, but I can’t even argue, so forgive me if it takes a second for me to adjust my world view a bit.”

Yarrow sighed, but nodded. They gave it a moment, and then continued on, hoping Colton was done with his whole crisis. “Right, anyway, so there were a bunch of these hanging around. That’s the part about the clues I mentioned before. I think my grandma had trapped something here in these woods, but somehow the wards got messed up. Look, see how the engraving is all singed? That’s how I know it broke. You mentioned you’d been doing some work out here, right? Have you ever seen any of these before?”

“Yeah, I have, but I’ve never seen something like this. It’s… really weird. Is that hair? It’s not human, is it?”

“Not so far as I can tell. Might be horse. Maybe.”

“Weird.”

“Not really. And you’re sure that you have never seen anything like this? Not even that time you fell asleep out here or whatever?”

“I didn’t know, but I wasn’t really looking?”

Yarrow frowned and turned it over in their hands a couple more times. “Huh. Well. Do you maybe recognize where we are? I guess it could have just been a different part of the forest.”

Colton craned his neck up, eyes darting around the area for a moment, before he let it flop back onto the ground with a wet smack. “Not sure. We’re near a stream, right? Could be the one that runs out before you get to Pinefort from the east. You know, there’s that bridge about fifteen minutes before the turnoff? I guess that could put us close to the spring? It does run into the brook. But also we could be anywhere alongside it. It goes right up into the mountains.”

That wasn’t particularly helpful, and Yarrow was left with no further answers. “Still,” they grumbled after staring speculatively into the trees, “we can’t have run too far. I’d wager we’re close. And either way, what’s important is that Gramma should know what’s going on. I say we make her place the priority. She’ll get you sorted out, and then she can fix whatever is making the forest so hostile.”

“She can help me?”

“Sure. I’m not sure what she was dealing with here, but it seems like she had it well in hand. I might have, you know, gotten in over my head a little or whatever.” Yarrow licked their lips and shrugged. “But Grandma has been around since forever. She’s dealt with all kinds of weird stuff before.”

“She’s not gonna, like, hex me or anything? For trying to kill you?”

“Right, but it wasn’t you. You said that yourself. And I’ve seen enough at this point that I’m pretty inclined to agree, even if it’s not ghosts possessing you and using you as their puppet. I mean, it still could be. Just that now I’m concerned it’s an entire army of them running around possessing anybody they can get their hands on. Here’s hoping it’s not that, and just some old necromancer’s version of a landmine, or a forest spirit’s curse or something.”

“God, I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone or something.”

“You’ll get to used to it,” Yarrow scoffed. “Anyway, if you’re done, we should get going. Like I said; that totem is pretty worn out, so I’d rather not dally, ya know?”

“Dally?” Colton scrunched his brows together, his expression somehow managing to look confused, irritated, and a little sheepish despite himself. Weakly, he lifted his tied hands off of his chest, gesturing with his knotted sleeves pointedly. “Ugh, do you mind undoing this, then?”

“Ah. Right.”

—

Before they did anything, they had to figure out where they were. With Colton awake and struggling alongside of Yarrow through the forest, they weren’t moving very fast, but at least they had a better sense of what direction to head in. Colton suggested the same thing that Yarrow had done earlier, that they follow the brook. As long as they went downstream, they’d end up either at the place where the spring merged with the brook, or they’d get to the road. Either way, from there Colton could orientate them towards the motel, and from there they could go to Yarrow’s grandmother’s.

It was almost as if they were right back where they had been the night before until they were attacked.

The daylight helped however, and although they both remained on guard, they didn’t encounter any more horrible abominations. By the time they hit the highway, Yarrow was feeling quite at ease. Colton, not so much, despite their efforts to convince him that obviously the daylight was keeping the horrors at bay.

He rather rudely pointed out that Yarrow seemed to have a lot of theories, but was clearly just guessing, and that he wasn’t going to feel better until after he got back from meeting their grandmother, quit his job, fully moved away from the entire area and went back to living a normal life.

“You’re going to quit?” Yarrow peered at Colton, letting the desk clerk limp on the more even side of the road, while they ambled along where the shoulder of the asphalt gave way to gravel and rolled into a steep, overgrown ditch. “Gramma will sort this all out though, and you should be fine to keep making money or whatever without any issues?”

“Yeah, except I’m going to need so much therapy after this—except how the hell am I supposed to explain that I think I got brainwashed by some sort of evil magic that made me attempt to kill a person. Twice. Only they somehow didn’t die and recruited me to go meet their witch grandmother living in the woods.” Colton’s voice gained an edge to it, rough like granite and acrimonious. “I can’t. No way. Never mind that I’m not gonna have money for that. So instead I’m going to do what any normal dude living on minimum wage would do—I’m going to get the hell away from here and repress any memory I have of this entire situation so I can move the hell on with my life.”

“Wait, are you gonna forget about me too?”

“Especially—look, don’t take it personally, but this has been probably the worst night of my life. And that’s saying something. I still don’t even know what you are. You’re definitely not normal, or else you would have died the first time I attacked you. Yeah, don’t think I haven’t noticed you avoiding that topic. Sturdy? There’s sturdy and then there’s apparently immortal.”

Yarrow coughed, pretending to clear their throat. “Not immortal. That’s a whole other can of worms. If I was immortal, do you really think I’d be so freaked out by whatever is going on here?”

Colton dragged to a halt and glowered, waiting until Yarrow reluctantly stopped and turned to face him. “So what is your deal? You know all this impossible stuff, your grandmother’s a witch or something, and you don’t die. We’re still quite a way from the motel, so you might as well explain it.”

Yarrow shrugged. “I could, but then I’d have to kill you.”

Blanching and swaying where he stood, Colton looked one step away from turning and fleeing int he opposite direction.

Yarrow raised their hands, palms out like they were approaching a feral kitten. “Sorry, bad joke. Didn’t mean it. I mean, probably you’re not supposed to know all this, but it’s not your fault. And you’re right, there isn’t really anyone you could talk to right now. I guess if you made enough noise, we’d have to do something about you, but there’ are plenty of methods to make this all go away.”

“You wanna tell me what you mean by that too? Because that isn’t making me feel any better.”

“I mean, if you’re down for forgetting any of this ever happened, it’d be easy enough to wipe your memory of one night. Temporary amnesia after a nasty fall isn’t super uncommon. It isn’t something we like to do for unwilling parties, since they usually end up subconsciously seeking out the missing memories and coming to all kinds of weird conclusions. But if you consent to it fully, a memory wipe is not a bad solution.”

Never mind that yarrow thought it was a pretty lame response.

Colton cupped both his hands over his face and for a moment it seemed like maybe he’d started crying again, but no, instead what came from between his fingers was more hysterical, disbelieving laughter as he tilted his head back and rocked on his heels.

Yarrow waited it out, smiling awkwardly into the ditch, not entirely sure what to do with their face. “I know, right?” They chuckled stiffly. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“What the hell?” Colton gasped between dying cackles, eventually letting his hands fall away from his face to reveal a smile with too much tooth but that didn’t reach his eyes at all. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s just go with that.”

They walked in silence for a few more metres when he spoke again. “So, taking my memories? That’s witchcraft stuff your grandma can do too? What about you? Is that… like, a spell you can just, like, make happen?”

“Hm,” Yarrow contemplated briefly, unsure of where to start. “So, it kinda depends on who you go to. For example; if it’s grandma, it’s more that she would put a barrier around the memories so you can’t access them. However, if it was my mom, she’d probably just drug you and induce amnesia that way. Less precise, but also tends to hold up in this day and age better. So ‘taking’ isn’t really the right word to use, though there are folks out there who’ll do that too. Ah, but don’t ask me to do it.”

“You don’t know how?”

“It’d be like asking you to perform a lobotomy. Which I assume you can’t do. Maybe that was presumptive. Who am I to say what your surgical skills are?”

Colton sighed, making no effort to hide the pained expression on his face. “Right. So what I’m getting from this is that there is a whole other, secret world where impossible magical stuff is real?”

“I can promise you, it isn’t whatever you’re thinking,” Yarrow sniggered. They cleared their throat and continued. “And secret is a strong word. Some folks keep to themselves, some don’t. Kinda like social media, I guess. You can participate, but how much is up to you. How far you go depends on the individual. And sometimes what you get from it is, you know. Really bad. A computer virus. Some weird stalker who doxes you to the world. You might end up on a forum with a group of people you thought were into crotchet but it turns out they were fate weavers, and then wham, you’ve insulted their doily pattern and they’re trying to incinerate your lifeline.”

The face that the bewildered murderer turned maybe accomplice was making at Yarrow was hard to read but might have embodied his dwindling certainty in reality.

Yarrow nodded seriously. “Really. You’ve gotta be careful these days. Although I guess if you’re lucky, you might find a nice little community to share your hobbies with, or somehow make a ton of money off your niche video essays. It all depends on you.”

“This has to be the weirdest metaphor I’ve ever heard.”

“Seriously? I didn’t think it was that bad. And anyway, what does this all matter to you? You dipped your toe in, and it didn’t go great, so now we’re wiping your search history and uninstalling the program or whatever.”

“But what if something like this happens again?”

Up ahead, the squat shape of Pinefort came into view at last, looking even more ramshackle in the light of day.

Leftover water from the previous night’s deluge sputtered out of the gutters still, creating streams of water running off into the forest. Grimy puddles dotted the parking lot, and one dated minivan and a small silver car decorated with a number of rude bumper stickers lingered, but it was otherwise barren.

Yarrow grinned and hopped forward. “Dunno! Guess you’ll have to cross that bridge when you get to it, huh?”

—

“I’m pretty sure your coworker thinks I took you out to the woods and killed you,” Yarrow greeted Colton as they pushed open the door to their motel room.

Colton glanced up from his spot on the end of the bed where he was gingerly towel drying his hair with one hand. The other lay limply in his lap, still waiting for any sort of medical attention. He’d taken a shower while Yarrow had been downstairs, nervously dodging the prying glower of a pre-retiree motel worker, and he looked both better and worse for it. While on one hand he no longer looked like a swamp monster, the myriad of bruises and scrapes littering his face and arms were now plain to see without the layer of mud hiding them.

“Wait, what?” He questioned.

“Yeah, no, if the cops don’t show up it will only be because she’s winning big on her casino game.” Yarrow tossed the small, overstuffed first aid kit they’d requisitioned onto the bed next to their companion, and began searching through their bag for fresh clothes.

Colton rolled his eyes. “Great. Well, I’m glad I know where I rank on her list of priorities then. Right below her gambling addiction.” He dropped the towel to the side and tugged his sweater on over his t-shirt, grimacing at its filthy state. “At least that works out well for us.”

“I know, right? Thought the jig was up the way she was staring at me.” Yarrow shivered. “I don’t want to be rude about your coworker, but I think I’d take the zombies over her.”

Colton scoffed. “You would. Marg isn’t… bad. She’s just, you know.” He shrugged as if that explained anything.

“You say that, but you were the one who said it’d be better for me to go in there and lie about going on an early morning walk and having a fall rather than you explaining why you skipped off work and look like the survivor of a zombie apocalypse.” Yarrow quipped while they headed towards the bathroom, intent on having their own shower.

“I am the survivor of a zombie apocalypse,” they heard Colton grouch under his breath just before the door clicked shut.

They’d barely managed to get the last of the dried up blood out of their hair when they heard a nervous rap at the bathroom door.

“Don’t wanna take too long,” Colton grumbled from the other side. “You’re the one who said you didn’t know how long this… totem thing would last.”

Yarrow huffed and glared at the cracked linoleum wall, but heeded the warning anyway. Partly because what Colton had said was true, but also because check out was surely fast approaching, and the last thing either of them needed was someone rocking up to clean the room and asking questions about why Colton was there and not downstairs in the office making excuses for vanishing from work the night before.

Even if maybe that would have been the courteous thing to do.

But Colton insisted that he was never working another night at Pinefort, and it didn’t matter to him if he got fired and never received his last pay cheque. Something about how near-death experiences tended to make references on his resume seem like a low priority.

When Yarrow stepped out of the bathroom, Colton was already hovering by the door, with the impatient expression of a large dog that really needed to go out for its morning walk. His arm was in a sling, and there were several bandages on his faces and neck.

“Did you really have to dry your hair?” Colton snarked, scowling as Yarrow took their time buttoning up their sweater and shoving their clothes back into their bag.

“Hey, I am hurrying, y’know? It took five minutes. And anyway, I, for one, would rather not catch a cold or draw too much attention to ourselves. Acting like we’ve got something to hide, isn’t it. You should know this, Mister ‘I check phones of murder victims because that’s what the movies said’. By the way, don’t forget to put your hood up. I get the feeling Marg is going to be watching to make sure I’m not leaving here with a body bag. Can’t have her picking a fight with you for ditching her.”

He glared at Yarrow, but Colton flicked his hood up and tugged on it so it covered as much of his face as it could all the same. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here. I’m so ready for this to all be over.”

“Might wanna hold your horses. It’s still a long walk to Gramma’s. This ain’t over yet.”

“Right. Here’s to hoping we make it before we get swarmed by a pack of murder racoons or whatever else wants us dead.”

Yarrow beamed back at Colton confidently. “We’ve got nothing to worry about. I told you that we were clearly safe while the sun is up. We didn’t get attacked once on the way here, did we?”

“Yeah. Sorry if I’m not feeling all that optimistic,” Colton snipped, though some of the tension in his shoulders did visibly ease. He inhaled deeply and then shoved the door open. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

Yarrow nodded, glancing back to offer the comfortable and miserably unused bed they’d paid for a longing glance before dragging themselves out after Colton for another long walk through the forest.

(Next Chapter)

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[yunahosk]

Heyhey! May I request yandere childe with a lonely reader, so as a result the reader loves him back and is willing to stay with him? Thank you

well there goes my one month unannounced hiatus hehe. anyways, apologies apologies apologies for getting to this so late! when i get home i’ll be getting to my other asks :)

as per usual, apologies for poor english and grammar!

thank you for the request, i wasn’t sure where to go with this but hopefully it’s all good >.<

hesitation | yan childe x reader

warnings: chasing, manipulation, and stockholm syndrome

Each step you take through the snow beneath you is accompanied by the numbing sensation in your toes. Despite your best efforts, you are unable to hold back the hush of panicked breathing as you navigate your way through the woods. The previous burning love for snow you once held has now burnt to ashes as you develop a hatred for it. You weren’t a Snezhnayan native, nor were you a track star. The disadvantage you stand to suffer in your current predicament as you run from Tartaglia is evidently clear. 

“I’m not too sure I like this game we’re playing.” The nerve that bastard has to taunt. Pushing your thoughts aside the thing on you mind stands clear. You have two choices.

You can choose to stop now and go back. Or, run until a safe place is in sight wherever in Teyvat that might be. Stopping means preparing for the worst when you are in his possession again. What the worst is? That remains a question, though you would rather not know. The latter of course increases the risk of collapsing, him catching you, and receiving an even more severe punishment. It’s obvious what the choice is. In reality there is none.

Continuing your tread through the snow you curse yourself internally. The thought slips into your head you wonder if one more sip of coffee, one more second invested in tying your hair up, one more step taken, or just one more breath taken would have changed your current situation. Could anything have prevented you from meeting him?

Your thoughts end abruptly at words thrown through the air. “Hm, you truly are stubborn as ever, it’s comedic really.”

As your breath caught at his words, you uttered the first words that came to mind, yelling loudly from ahead and shouting, "Shu-shut up!" Just as soon as that surge of courage began, it ended, and you quickly regretted that decision. You sound pathetic.

You dread the familiar sound that rings through the air: that stupid cocky laugh.

Panic flows through you. Quickly looking back your eyes widen in the process, finding yourself facing blue orbs. Its clear he's picking up the pace. The gap between you and him is closing by the second. In return, you pick up your pace, continuing to tread through the thick snow of Snezhnaya.

“Y/N, you’re cold, I can hear it in your voice. You realize it truly is only a matter of time before that willpower of yours dies out.” He’s right. It’s simply a matter of who can last the longest, who has the stronger willpower. You know Ajax won’t give up until you’re in his arms. As hard as it is, you too cannot give up. This is your future on the line. Your freedom. But, you feel like you’re on the brink of collapsing. Willpower may get you through mentally. But physically, Ajax is unmatched. His words, come to mind It’s only a matter of time. Is he right? You bite your tongue and shake your head, choosing to focus on the task at hand: get the hell away, and fast.

This cat and mouse game continues as your pace slows with each step, trying to keep your open with each breath as exhaustion sets in. Tartaglia’s words linger in the back of your head. It’s only a matter of time. A matter of time. Time. Maybe your true enemy is time. If only you had more time you’d be back in Fontaine? If only you had more time you’d be even a step ahead. But that isn’t the case, is it? You feel pathetic as your pace slows.

“Do you even truly want this?” His sudden words surprise you compared to the previous silence but the meaning of his words is what causes your eyes widen. “Where will you go to? Or rather, the bigger question of who will you go to?” His words bring your movement to a halt, standing meekly in the snow. You hadn’t though of this, had you?

“Wherever you go, they won’t accept someone like you.” Your breath hitches as he continues, mustering up the small fire inside you that still burned you mutter under your breath, “Shut up.” He’s lying, you know it. But his words continue. “You have no where to go.” “Shut up.” Your voice rises as you stutter. Watching as a shadow approaches in the white snow before you, you pause, feeling tears sting your eyes.

“You only have me, and you know that.” He speaks softly as you stare into the snow not daring to look back.

“SHUT UP, DAMMIT!” The tears that previously surfaced now came pouring as exhaustion dawned upon you. Raising your hands to your face you pause, falling onto your knees in distress.

“You’re lying, you’re lying, you’re lying, stop it, please, stop it!” Your meek posture shows as you slam your curled fists into the snow, tears streaming down your cheeks.

Ajax had always explained that every bruise and scar you have has been the result of a struggle that required unwavering determination. As you stare down at your hands covered in scars and bruises alike from your struggle through Snezhnaya in search of freedom, you wonder if your battle was over. Had you lost? Did you not have enough determination to get to what you wanted to so badly? Had it all been a waste? He’s not right. Is he?

Did you do this all for nothing?

Do you really have no one?

Does no one love you?

The sudden weight shift upon you is evident as his chin finds its place on your shoulder. His hands wrapping around your waist as you shake, tears flowing down.

“I love you.” The words he speaks are calm, comforting. But deep below lies the presence of his sinister pleasure. Letting your hands fall to the ground in defeat you let the words fall from your mouth. You stare in disbelief, hesitating to speak.

“Please don’t leave me.”

You have always been the center of attention for Ajax. Even when you find yourself performing the simplest of tasks he is unable to help the smile that runs across his face. It has been quite some time since you last visited Liyue. After so much time spent in Snezhnaya with Ajax, you'd grown accustomed to the cold atmosphere and silence of the townsfolk.  As you look down at the city folk below from the balcony, each with their own story, you can't help but smile a little. It’s truly beautiful here.

A familiar voice beside you brings you back from your own little world. Raising your head you meet blue eyes belonging to Ajax, staring at you from across the table with a smile.

“Mind helping me?” Your attention is drawn to his hands as he struggles with a pair of chopsticks in his hands.

“I’ve told you probably a dozen times already!” Laughing, you lay down your chopsticks and place your hands upon his, adjusting his fingers' posture on the wood. Returning your hands your own bowl you perk a brow.

“Go on, Mr. I know everything!” You watch intently as he once again fails to hold up his posture. Letting out a loud laugh you bring your hand to your mouth trying to stifle the laugh. From the corner of your eye you watch as he meekly sets the chopsticks down.

“Ajax, you have too much pride to admit you can’t do such a simple thing!” You taunt, setting your chopsticks down and leaning forward to rest your head on your chin. With a sigh he smiles,“Well, are you up for dessert?” He questioned.

“What a stupid question.” You hummed, watching as he stood up from his chair, dusting himself off. Leaving a small bag of mora on the table he nodded towards the waitress before extending his hand towards you. Gazing up you extended your arm, placing you palm onto his. You’d gotten used to feeling his tight grip upon your hand.

Continuing your small walk towards the stairs Ajax pauses, causing you to come to a halt. Glancing at him with furrowed eyebrows you cock your head to the side in confusion.

“I love you.” The words that roll off his tongue come out of no where.

“I love you too.” You smile softly, continuing your walk. On Tartaglia’s face remained a smile though unbeknownst to you he was celebrating a small victory, the smile on his face was for a different reason.

You didn’t hesitate anymore.

[lancermylove]

Teenager MC 5: Little Misfortune (HC)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: All x Reader, platonic.

Warning: Contains spoilers from Little Misfortune!

Requested by: Anon

Prompt: I am in love with your teenager MC series for obey me. I wanted to ask if you can make one with everybody where MC gets turn into a cute child, however, she acts like the little girl from the game Little Misfortune. I can’t help but wonder their thoughts and reaction to this. Especially if the MC talks about Mr.Voice. 😂 I hope life is treating you well😊❤️🙏😘🤗

A/N: ANON, I love Little Misfortune! This is such a cute request!! TY for sending this in. ❤️ Life is treating me as usual, but I am hoping 2021 is better! 😊 Hope things are going well with you~. 

———————————————

Lucifer

His immediate reaction when you called out to him: since when did a child start living in the House of Lamentation?

The Avatar of Pride was alarmed to see a mini version of you. His thought after seeing you: someone is trying to play a prank. MAMMOOON

"Luci, Mr. Voice told me I am going to die today and asked me to play a game. He says if I win, I can get eternal happiness." 

Your words didn't sit well with him as he started to question you about this, Mr. Voice. Lucifer assumed that Mr. Voice was a demon attempting to play tricks with your mind. 

Has this happened before in Devildom? No. Do strange unexplained things happen in Devildom? YES.

He didn't want to take a chance, especially considering what the disembodied voice said about your death.

"Why exactly do you wish to find eternal happiness? Are you unhappy here?" 

"No, I want to find eternal happiness and give it to Luci." 

Lucifer found your unexpected response endearing. But, he warned you to ignore Mr. Voice. 

While you ran around his study curiously examining everything, Luci worked to find a way to reverse the spell. 

In no time, you were back to your teen self.

"Thank you for thinking of me," Lucifer touched your cheek and kissed the top of your head, "but if you find eternal happiness, then you should keep it for yourself. You deserve it." 

Mammon

His immediate reaction: one of his witch "friends" was getting back at him for something. 

"Mammon, Mr. Voice asked me if I want to play a game with him. What should I do?" 

The Avatar of Greed was confused and questioned you about Mr. Voice. Mammon looked around the room and scratched his head. "You didn't eat anything funny, did you?" 

Then, you told him about your death and finding eternal happiness. "I want eternal happiness for Mammon...give him all the money in the world!"

Even though you said the magic word money, all Mammon heard was I am going to die today.

He dropped to his knees and embraced you tightly. "I don't want any money if it means losing you." 

Mammon was upset. He didn't want to lose you, and he wasn't going to spare the person responsible for doing this to you. 

Until he found the person, though, Mammon told you to ignore Mr. Voice. 

He stayed with you 24/7 until you got back to normal, and even after that, Mammon made sure that no demon messed with you, especially not Mr. Voice. 

Asmo

You entered his room while throwing glitter in the air. "A little sparkle for you, a little sparkle for you, and a little sparkle for me!"

"Sweetie? You look so adorable!" Asmo scooped you in his arms and embraced you close. "But, did someone cast a spell on you?"

Instead of answering his question, you said, "Mr. Voice, don’t say that about Asmo. I like him, his pretty eyes, his hair, his smile, and his clothes." 

Asmo looked around confused and asked you who you were talking to. When you explained to him, Asmo wasn't sure how to react, but something told him that Mr. Voice was most likely a demon trying to mess with you.

"Mr. Voice asked me to play a game with him." 

Asmo shook his head. "Forget about Mr. Voice and play dress up with me instead!" 

While you were busy raid through Asmo's makeup, he contacted Solomon and told him about the situation.

"Btw, Solomon, no need to rush. Sweetie looks so cute, and I want to spend more time with her mini version."

Satan

His immediate reaction: how adorable.

Satan thought that you touched a cursed spell book and got turned into a child. 

He doesn't think much of it until you mentioned Mr. Voice and said, "Mr. Voice says I shouldn't trust you. You may get angry and hurt me." 

Satan was upset, but he asked you about Mr. Voice. Not wasting any time, the Avatar of Wrath threatened Mr. Voice and asked him to leave you alone. 

He now thought that a demon was trying to play tricks on you. 

While you read one of his picture books, he tried to find a spell to cure you. 

Once you are back to normal, he asked, "Are you scared of me? You know I won't hurt you, right?" 

After you leave, Satan went on a hunt for Mr. Voice. Let's just say that Morgo is not going to bother anyone again, especially not you.

Levi

His immediate reaction: you look cute, but... first we had to take care of a teen, and now we have to take care of a child. Could the universe make things any harder? Yes, of course, it can.

Levi sat you in a spare chair and let you watch him play video games, but then he heard you talking to Mr. Voice. 

"Mr. Voice?" Levi thought that name sounded familiar, and when you told him in detail, he had a déjà vu moment. 

"EH? You can hear a voice that is trying to tell you to play a game for eternal happiness? Don't tell me that he also said you were going to die today!" 

"Levi, how did you know? Can you read my mind? Yikes forever!"

Great, the universe wanted to make things even harder for him. Now he will have to leave his room and be your Benjamin. Maybe he should wear his fox onesie while he's at it. 

So, a fox-onesie-clad Levi ended up rescuing you from Morgo's clutch and found a way to get you back to normal. 

Beel

Beel thought you were the cutest being in the universe, and he immediately put you on his shoulders, carrying you around everywhere.

He took you out for food and all sorts of desserts, but then you mentioned Morgo. "Beel, Mr. Voice says that eating this much is bad for me. You are a bad influence." 

He was far from happy hearing this. How could anyone say that eating was bad for you? How dare someone say that eating is bad! 

After getting you back home safely and leaving you under Lucifer’s care, the Avatar of Gluttony went on a hunt to find Mr. Voice. 

And when he did, Beel nearly ate Morgo whole. 

Moral of the story: don’t tell the...THE Avatar of Gluttony that eating is bad. 

Belphie

Huh? Mr. Voice? Eternal happiness? What is she talking about?

Belphie didn't react as his mind was occupied with something else: small child + needing to sleep + Belphie nap time = cuddle partner. So, instead of working about Mr. Voice, Belphie asked you to take a nap with him.

"Belphie, Mr. Voice won't let me sleep..."

"Ignore him and only pay attention to me." He even hummed you a tune to get you to fall asleep. 

By the time nap time was over, you were back to your original self.

Belphie asked if you could still hear Mr. Voice. If you could, he knew he was going to have to do something. 

"Who is Mr. Voice?"

The Avatar of Sloth chuckled, "You need to sleep more. Sleep makes everything better." 

Diavolo

He has no idea how a human child managed to enter Devildom. Only when he paid close attention to your face did he realize who you were. 

Diavolo found you to be irresistibly adorable. He was all smiles until you suddenly said, "But Mr. Voice, I like Diavolo! He's not a bad guy." 

The King of Demons was baffled until you told him about Mr. Voice's game. 

"How about I join you? We can go on an adventure together." He joined in the hunt for eternal happiness without any worries in the world.

"Mr. Voice, are you curious about him? Diav is my friend! He is also the King of Demons and the ruler of Devildom." 

Diavolo smiled and remained silent. 

"Huh? Mr. Voice? Where did you go? Mr. Voice?"

Diavolo laughed, finding this amusing. Once the two of you returned to the castle, he asked Barbatos to watch over you. 

The King of Demons appeared behind Morgo and chuckled menacingly, "So, you were trying to take her soul, huh?" 

That day Morgo realized the meaning of true fear. 

Barbatos

He was stunned to see you as a child but found your mini version to be cute. 

"Barb, are you making dessert? Can I have some?" 

While the demon butler prepared your dessert, he heard you talking to yourself. Your actions don't alarm him as kids are known to have imaginary friends. 

"Mr. Voice, am I really going to die today?" 

That line was enough to alert Barbatos. After making the dessert and watching you eat it, he found a way to get you back to normal.

He pressed you about Mr. Voice, but you told him that you didn't know anyone by the name of Mr. Voice. 

When Barbatos researched Morgo, he found something very amusing. "A demon posing as the devil? How interesting..."

Simeon

His immediate reaction: My god, you look precious.

Simeon couldn't get enough of your mini version, but something bothered him. It almost left like there was a dark presence around you. Was someone trying to harm you?

"Oh really? But, Mr. Voice, I like angels, especially Simeon!" 

"Mr. Voice?" Hearing you say that made Simeon feel even more uneasy. When he learned about the disembodied voice, Simeon turned on his guardian angel mode. 

He held your hands and prayed to the heavens, asking the heavenly powers to protect you. 

Before Morgo vanished, he appeared behind you, catching Simeon off guard. 

After asking Solomon to help lift the curse and making sure that you were back to normal, Simeon went to talk to Diavolo and Lucifer.

The King of Demons and Luci were supposed to protect you, especially from demons. Let's just say that both Diav and Luci were speechless after getting lectured by Simeon. 

Luke

Luke panicked when he saw you, but at the same time, he was secretly happy that there was someone shorter than him.

He started acting like your big brother and became your personal bodyguard; he took you everywhere he went and made sure to hold onto your hand. 

When you told him about Mr. Voice, the angel immediately informed Simeon about it. 

While the older angel worked with Solomon to figure out the mystery of Morgo while you bonded with Luke.

When Solomon and Simeon returned, they found you and Luke cuddled on the couch fast asleep. You with your head on his shoulder while his head rested on top of yours. 

"Why don't we let her stay this way for a little while longer?" Simeon smiled. 

Solomon

As soon as you appeared in front of Solomon, he knew he had to find a cure. But the sorcerer was curious about the curse inflicted on you. 

How did you get this curse and who is responsible? Also, why are you shrouded in darkness?

He didn't waste any time and started looking for a way to lift the spell, but he was distracted by your tiny version. Your fun-size self + throwing sparkles everywhere + twirling around = too cute to resist.

Oh, he was going to have fun teasing you about this when you get back to your teen self.

Then, he heard you talking to Mr. Voice and figured that a demon was trying to trick you. 

"A demon that can trick people and lure them? I wonder if the demon would make a pact with me." Cause 72 demons just isn’t enough.

After getting you back to your teen self, Solomon thought his job for the day was done. Then, he looked around his room - his glitter-covered room.

———————————————

➣ Obey Me Masterlist ➣ Buy me a Ko-fi or Commission?

[narniangirl1994]

I, like many other fans, was disappointed with several aspects of Lucifer's final season. Although it could have been much worse, I feel like certain decisions ruined several aspects of the show. For example:

They didn't show nearly enough of Trixie this season and didn't give her a satisfying ending. Not only did it make no sense for Chloe to ignore her child so often after Trixie just lost her dad, but she never officially found out about the celestials in her life and never got to say goodbye to Lucifer.

It was tough to care much about a new daughter from the future who was introduced at the last minute, yet had such a huge impact on her parents' stories. Especially seeing how sidelined Trixie was this season for a biological daughter (with Rory even saying Lucifer wasn't Trixie's real dad 😡).

I disliked the reasoning behind Lucifer abandoning his family at the request of a daughter who shouldn't have been that invested in Lucifer's calling. Yes it was important, but why was she willing to put them all through so much suffering for a calling that had nothing to do with her?

It was especially tragic to see Lucifer's choice essentially taken away from him because of Rory's insistence/coercion that he keep everything the same, after how much the show emphasized personal choice and responsibility. Not to mention his separation from his family for most of their lives is just needlessly tragic after everything they've been through.

Here's how I think the final season could have been made 100x better while still keeping the overall plot and taking into account the scheduling/COVID safety issues with Trixie's actress:

Instead of introducing Rory, have Trixie be the one who time travels back from the future to see Lucifer (therefore keeping her character relevant while using a different actress). This could be explained by her having asked Charlie to send her back in time. Not only would it make sense for Charlie to be the one to develop time traveling powers (since Amenadiel's powers were also time-based), but his powers could even be teased briefly with baby Charlie earlier in the season.

Her anger would be due to two reasons - Lucifer abandoning her so shortly after her father died, and Chloe telling Trixie that Lucifer was the only one who could have freed Dan from Hell, but that he didn't do it before leaving. Perhaps Chloe waited until Trixie was in her 20s/30s before telling her this, and that was the breaking point that made Trixie ask Charlie to send her back in time.

In the past, she somehow conceals her identity and uses tricks Maze taught her over the years to (pretend to) threaten Chloe in order to force Lucifer to bring Dan to Heaven. Lucifer knows he can't do that and it would likely make Dan a ghost, but Dan agrees to it anyway to save Chloe.

Once he's back on Earth, Trixie demands to know why Dan isn't in Heaven and gives up when both Lucifer and Dan convince her it's impossible. Realizing she failed her father, Trixie frees Chloe and leaves (obviously never intending to harm her in the first place). She later comes back, revealing her identity and explaining why she did what she did, why she's so angry at Lucifer, and how things go down in the future.

All the same shenanigans ensue, with Lucifer asserting he would never leave Chloe and Trixie, and trying to prove that he does actually love Trixie as his own daughter. He could do the same goodbye tour just in case, but this time spend a day at the beach with Chloe and adult Trixie.

Meanwhile, child Trixie can be off at a camp designed for children who lost a parent(s) and want to spend time with counselors and other grieving kids to help them recover. This would be a much better explanation than Trixie being off at a science camp and never seeing her mother so shortly after the trauma of losing her father.

All the other plots could still happen with Dan trying not to be a ghost, possessing Le Merc, talking to Lucifer and realizing he needed to speak to (child) Trixie, etc. Lucifer would still realize he didn't want to be God while Amenadiel would realize he did want to be God, yet more emphasis would be placed on Lucifer wanting to find his true calling.

Le Merc could kidnap adult Trixie, and she could similarly need to be talked down by Lucifer so that she didn't kill Le Merc in revenge. They could still figure out that Lucifer ultimately helped Dan get into heaven, and that he has helped other people (like Lee and Trixie) move past their own mistakes/flaws.

Rather than pressuring Lucifer to keep the time loop the same like Rory did, Trixie could explain how important it is to her that Dan was able to get into heaven because of Lucifer (and the time loop). And how important it is to her that other people who made mistakes, like her father, can get into heaven with Lucifer's help too.

Chloe's acceptance would be due to several things: wanting Dan to get into Heaven, being happy Lucifer found his calling, and - tying into the background plot of police brutality/inequality- realizing that many 'criminals' are a product of our broken system and deserve the chance to better themselves in this life or the afterlife.

Perhaps if they changed the focus of the Hell episode (where Lucifer helped the guy he hated confront his deepest insecurity), to his brother Michael instead, Lucifer would have a deeper connection to his calling. If he could learn to care about and understand Michael, he could care about/understand anyone. Perhaps Michael's issues aren't fully resolved by the end of that episode, but some sort of progress was made. This would enhance Lucifer's motivation to follow his calling/keep the time loop and give the ongoing Lucifer and Michael plot a real conclusion.

To emphasize that this really is Lucifer (and his loved one's choice) - rather than Rory or fate itself - perhaps they could even include a conversation with Ella, theorizing the possibility of creating an alternate universe if he chooses to break the loop, rather than making it seem like the loop is inevitable.

As such, he willingly chooses to 'abandon' his family (with their consent) for the next decade or two so that Trixie time travels and all of this comes to pass.

But unlike the finale, he can become a part of their lives again after Trixie has completed the time loop. That way, he isn't apart from Chloe and Trixie for the rest of their lives, but they all had a chance to learn and grow on their own before coming back together and understanding one another.

All of this would have provided a much more satisfying conclusion to the show. It would respect the relationships already formed (and affirm the validity of non-biological family), respect Lucifer's newfound ability to make his own choices, keep character motivations realistic, and more.

What do you think? What would be your preferred finale of Lucifer?

[ruby-whistler]

I'm beginning to think that a lot of the reasons why people refuse to accept c!Techno as a force of positive change in the story is because they're hung up on the L'Manberg-good Dream-villain narrative.

But the thing is - that is the exact thing that the story itself is continuously attempting to change. Let me explain. /dsmp /rp

If you look at it from the aforementioned perspective - if c!Techno was a good guy, he would've fought against c!Dream, because he's the one hurting and endangering everyone, right? If c!Techno was not the bad guy, he wouldn't have fought against L'Manberg, because those were the people who represented freedom, right?

Until you realize that that initial narrative is ultimately misleading. c!Dream hurt others in efforts to help and provide freedom and unity to the people he felt responsible for. He was just an individual with ruthless tendencies who got in over his head in difficult situation.

c!Techno recognizes that the ultimate antagonistic force has always been systemic - L'Manberg has done harm to people both inside and outside of it, but even without that, the fact that a system like that exists by itself causes conflict and hurts people.

c!Techno doesn't fight against individuals. He protected c!Tommy because, to some degree, he knew c!Dream hurt him - but the first thing on his list was always to dismantle oppressive or tyrannical systems, because he saw those as the biggest problem in his eyes.

And here is where the narrative gets completely flipped on its head by a single character, because he's right.

The initial narrative, built up majorly by c!Wilbur, has always praised L'Manberg as a country, a concept, carved it into people's minds as something worth protecting. However, c!Techno coming in with a completely different view on it, was in a way vital to the story.

Because at the time that he joins, the Dream SMP falls into themes of corruption by power with many of the major characters - the complete opposite of what the initial narrative was pushing.

c!Wilbur, according to cc!Wilbur, actively wanted to destroy his country and "kill his friends" because of "his own insolence, shortsighted naivete, and disregard for his fellow citizen whom he claimed to love so much" which ended him up in a state of someone who "had great power and who lost it all due to his own poor choices and negligence [and] sees destruction as his ratification".

The external factors that led to this were also fuelled by corruption - an attempt at taking back power, whether that be by means of controlling the economy, building an army, or staging an unfair election. This landed c!Wilbur in a spiral, and (L')Manberg itself corrupting due to a dictator who wasn't afraid to hurt people in order to further his own authority being in charge.

Narratively, this clashes terribly with what was previously established in the story - and a character with an unbiased, outside view, who would disrupt the status quo, was ultimately the best way to fix this.

Because c!Techno isn't misinformed. He doesn't need to know the history of something that is hurting people in order to know he needs to stop it - however, even if he did, it wouldn't change much, because the country's history was only presented in a positive light, while never actually being anything other than attempts at establishing a system that would allow for power over others, completely unnecessary, and beginning and ending in bloodshed.

The country never mattered. Or, it shouldn't have - but the sunken cost fallacy of what its members had sacrificed for it ended up tying them to it as the only thing they had left, making it more important in their minds than lives and safety of individuals.

c!Techno is right in wanting L'Manberg destroyed - or its governmental structure, seeing as he was fine with the place itself existing when it wasn't being oppressive.

And when c!Techno's perspective positions him firmly against the country that was always shown as a protagonistic force, is when everything seems to click.

Because this is a character with a firm moral structure, ideals stronger than to be influenced by grudges and feelings and words. After the Butcher Army attacked him, he never went after them as people - he was willing to let a member, who apologized for what he did, join him, showing he didn't actually have a problem with the individuals. He never attacked c!Tubbo or c!Quackity or even c!Tommy, who he had thought betrayed him.

He only went after L'Manberg - because while the Butcher Army targeted individuals, seeing them as obstacles in the way of getting the country into power, once again reaffirming the themes of corruption in the story - c!Technoblade destroys the root of the problem - he targets the systems.

Isn't it interesting to watch the narrative actively paint c!Techno as the one in the right? Watching the story show again and again how much corruption hurts people, and seeing it trace every problem back to systems of power, namely L'Manberg? And this continues even after the country is gone, with c!Quackity being determined to take control once and for all, and Pandora's Vault corrupting c!Sam to the point of doing terrible things for the sake of "justice".

It all falls into place from c!Techno's perspective. He's not the one misinterpreting the situation, the people who actively defend L'Manberg by blaming individuals for its faults are.

The themes are never this clear from any other point of view - and yet all the other characters and their own stories participate in proving c!Techno's perspective right, continuously reaffirming his position in the story as a positive force which the themes are firmly attached to, and strongly opposing the initial narrative.

[ilguna]

☼ support (Finnick Odair) ☼

summary; ‘ hi i was wondering if u could like do a finnick×oc where the mc is haymitchs daughter and she and finnick meet in district 13 and the two are really close and we see the scene where finnick ia talking about what the capitol made him do and how the mc reacts to it and soemthin a little angsty? (annie isnt in the pivture btw) i understand if u dont get the time to do it but yk i was just thjnking about something based on this :)) ‘ by anon

warnings; swearing, MENTIONS OF PROSTITUTION

wc; 2.5k

--

As you move down the stairs, hands ghosting the railings, you recite where your dad has told you where to find Finnick in the bunker. Even though the attacks were yesterday, Coin’s decided to go ahead and let everyone stay down for another day just to be safe.

You’d be down there too, if it weren’t for the fact that your dad, Haymitch, would rather you stay close to him. You can’t really blame him, you don’t like to wander far from him, especially not here in District Thirteen. It’s easy to get lost, as you discovered, and you don’t want to end up turned around again.

However, if an errand needs to be run, then you don’t mind, especially with how urgent this one is. If they want to rescue Peeta and the other victors, they’re going to need help. And after watching Katniss vanish into the bunker somewhere this morning, there needed to be a replacement. 

Your dad isn’t much for entertainment, and you aren’t either. There’s nothing you two can say that'll lead to a good enough distraction, which is why Plutarch came up with a vague idea. He wouldn’t explain it in detail to you, so all you know is that it involves Finnick, and he’s the last resort.

Before you left, it was clear that your dad wasn’t happy about it. It was too late to call you back, though, you were already out the door and on your way to get Finnick. It wasn’t until you got started down the stairs, when you realized that there is likely someone who would’ve been faster than you. And that you were the first to go so that they could talk privately.

As if you couldn’t have just gone to bother Beetee instead.

You come upon the last flight of stairs, being able to see the doorway to the bunker. There are two people standing near the door, looking eerily similar to peacekeepers. The only difference is that they’re more friendly, they give you a smile when you pass them. After that, you take a sharp right and move through the bunk beds, eyes searching.

You were told that there’s a great possibility that he’s towards the very back on the right side. It would be easier if Coin had them numbered or something, so that you could just find the row and look for the number that Finnick’s been assigned. You suppose that would be too easy, though.

Once the far wall comes into sight, you begin searching for Finnick. Dad took a guess that he’d be awake at this time, so he should be one of the few people awake at this time, which narrows down a lot, actually.

You stop in the middle of the aisle, taking one more sweep of your surroundings. When you see a man hunched over, moving something in his hands, you automatically know that it’s Finnick. Your suspicion is confirmed when he looks up as you approach him.

Finnick gives you a smile, “Hey, (Y/n).”

“Hey, how are you?” you ask, hands disappearing behind your back.

“Good, I guess,” he holds up the rope in his hand, which is tied into a knot that you can’t name, “tying knots to pass the time. Katniss isn’t here, if you’re looking for her.”

“I’m not here for her, I was looking for you.” you smile, “It’s a long story but Plutarch and my dad want to ask you a favor, it’s important.”

His eyebrows raise, lessening the dark look on his face, “Now?”

“Yeah, I’ll take you right to them, if you’ll follow me.”

Finnick nods, tucking the rope into his pocket. He follows you all the way out of the bunker and up a couple of flights of stairs before he speaks again, “Do you know what it is?”

“Well, they just approved a rescue mission, so it has something to do with that,” you glance at him, and by the way his face twists, you realize that he probably didn’t know that, “Do you want me to start from the beginning?”

“If you could,” he says.

“Okay, well the Capitol’s defense is down right now because of some power outage in District Five. Plutarch heard that the victors are in the Tribute Center, and after a few people volunteered to get them out, the mission was approved by Coin.”

“I think they’re beginning to rub off on you.” Finnick muses.

You elbow him, “Anyway, Katniss got upset this morning so they don’t want to push her anymore. And since dad has been out of the spotlight for years, and I’m just his daughter, we aren’t entertaining enough to be a distraction.”

“But I am.” Finnick finishes.

You frown slightly, leading him to an elevator so the two of you can stop going up the stairs, “That’s not what I meant.”

“It’s what Plutarch was thinking, though, right?”

“I think so,” you push the button, “They’ll be able to explain a lot more than I can. All I was told was that I needed to go grab you. Plutarch wouldn’t talk to my dad until I left the room.”

Finnick’s eyebrows draw in, mouth turning into a straight line. He must have a clue what they want out of him, then, because you don’t see any other reason why.

“How have you been liking District Thirteen?” you ask, pulling up the elevator door.

The two of you head inside, and he helps you shut the doors, “It’s no District Four.”

“Missing the water?” you joke, pressing the button.

Finnick mocks your face, “Do you even know how to swim, Miss Abernathy?”

You stare at Finnick for a long second, “Don’t call me that.”

“You’re ignoring the question.”

“I was getting there, thank you,” it’s your turn to mock him, “And yes, I do know how to swim.”

“Not very well, I’m guessing.”

“I never claimed to be a professional.”

With the elevator stopping, the two of you step out, with you still leading to the room where your dad, Plutarch and Beetee should be with the camera crew.

“What about you, (Y/n)?” Finnick asks, “How are you liking Thirteen?”

You shrug, “I wouldn’t say it’s a life of luxury. It might not have been perfect in District Twelve, but it had it’s charm. I miss my room, and my plants.”

“Plants?”

“Yeah, I had a whole sunroom dedicated to them, since dad didn’t really use any of the extra bedrooms much, besides the obvious places.” you turn a corner, “I spent most of my time in that room, had every plant native to Twelve. It was quiet, there was a fountain in the middle of the room, I’m sure you would’ve liked it.”

Finnick is smiling when you look at him again, “Did you have any pets?”

“Nope, unless you want to include the rat that lived in the cellar,” you laugh, he does too.

Everyone is still standing in the general area that they were before when you get inside. And with your arrival, they drift in your direction, which makes you move out of the way so that they can talk to Finnick. You’re not really a component in this conversation.

It goes exactly as you had told Finnick, that Plutarch is looking for a distraction to keep the Capitol busy while the volunteers head inside of the Tribute Center. At first, Plutarch beats around the bush, until finally saying, “I was hoping you’d have some stories to tell.”

Your dad immediately sends Plutarch a look, one that you normally receive if you’ve done something that he doesn’t necessarily approve of. It’s funny watching him give Plutarch the look, considering that it doesn’t hold much weight. You guess that it does convey his message, though.

On the other hand, Finnick pales. He stares at Plutarch, not saying a word.

Plutarch seems to notice his mistake, “If you’re comfortable, that is. If not, we could always find someone else.”

You look at Finnick, his face is twisted, but he’s nodding, “I’ll do it.”

“Are you sure?” your dad asks.

“Yeah, I can do it.”

--

Initially, you were going to keep close to your dad and wait for him to come back into the control room after finding Katniss. However, before you even had the chance to tell the others, Finnick was asking if you’d stay with him, instead. Mostly because it was just going to be him, the camera crew, and Effie Trinket, Katniss’ Capitol escort.

With the way that the conversation had gone inside of the bunker, you weren’t entirely sure if you’d wanted to say yes, once you realized that he was asking for your support, it was a little impossible not to agree. You and Finnick might not have known each other before District Thirteen, but during these past few weeks, you’ve become attached.

He needed a friend, and you were a breath of fresh air.

You fix the jacket on your shoulders, hands tucked into your pockets. When you were told that it was cold outside, you didn’t believe them. Now you do, since it’s going straight through your jacket and right to your body.

In the crater that the Capitol had formed with their missiles, lie chunks of concrete debris. The camera crew has already set up lights, which allows you to see just how many white roses they dropped. You’re only a few steps out of the bunker, and you already stop.

“What’s that smell?” you ask, face twisting when you reach for your nose. 

“Perfume,” Finnick stops by you for a second, “Snow’s signature scent.”

“He couldn’t have picked anything better?” 

Finnick cracks a smile, laughing, “Apparently not.”

“(Y/n), you can sit right here,” Cressida motions to a chunk of concrete, “So you’re not in the shot, you should be able to see him from there.”

“Sounds good,” you follow the direction.

They go deeper into the crater, “Okay, Finnick?”

“Yeah,” Finnick nods.

“Go in the center there,” Cressida points, “those rocks.”

Finnick wanders, stopping where the light is the brightest.

“Castor, left. Pollux, you’re with me.” she stops behind a light, “So we’ll go straight to camera, okay?”

Finnick is looking off to the side, thinking.

“Finnick?” she asks.

“Yeah.” 

“Okay, take your time. Just remember to keep talking and don’t stop.”

He gives you a look, you nod, placing your hands between your thighs to keep them warm. You’re not sure if you were the best person to have as support, but you’ll do your best.

You give him a smile.

“This is Finnick Odair,” he begins, “Winner of the sixty-fifth Hunger Games. And I’m coming to you from District Thirteen, alive and well. We’ve survived an assault from the Capitol, but I’m not here to give you recent news.

“Instead, I’m going to tell you about the nights and the stories I’ve heard. The truth, not the myths about a life of luxury. Not the lie about glory for your homeland. You can survive the arena. The moment you leave, you’re a slave.”

Finnick pauses, giving you a glance. You nod as encouragement.

“President Snow used to sell me, or my body, at least.”

Your face falls, blood running.

“I wasn’t the only one, if a Victor is considered desirable, the President gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them. If you refuse, then he kills someone you love.” he presses his lips together briefly, “So you do it.”

You knew that the Capitol was bad, how awful they could be to their Victors. You might not have experienced it first hand, but your dad has. He told you what they did to your family before you were born. How all he did was use a mistake in his games, and suddenly his mom, brother and girlfriend were killed.

You don’t envy the Victor’s, you never have. And this is one of the many reasons why.

“I wasn’t the only one, but I was the most popular,” Finnick says, the emotion beginning to fade, “And perhaps the most defenseless, because the people I loved were so defenseless. To make themselves feel better, my patrons would make presents of money or jewelry, but I found a much more valuable form of payment.

“Secrets,” he says the word with a smile, “And this is where you’re going to want to stay tuned, President Snow, because so very many of them were about you. Such a young man when he rose to power, such a clever one to keep it. How, you must ask yourself, did he do it? One word. That’s all you really need to know. Poison.

“There are so many mysterious deaths to adversaries. Even to allies who were threats. Snow would drink from the same cup, to deflect suspicion. But antidotes don’t always work, which is why he wears roses that reek of perfume,” Finnick gives you a sly look when he says that, reminding you of what you said when you first walked out, “Help cover up the scent of blood from sores in his mouth that will never heal.

“But he can’t hide the scent of who he really is. He kills without mercy, he rules with deception and fear. His weapon of choice is the only thing suited to such a man. Poison. The perfect weapon for a snake.”

Finnick opens his mouth to continue speaking, but Cressida holds out her hand to stop him. One of her fingers is pressed to her ears, face twisted in confusion, “We’re off, they’re experiencing a disruption.”

You straighten up, “What do you mean?”

“Power is back on,” she looks up, “Katniss is going to try and distract them instead. We should go back inside.”

“Oh,” you say, slipping off the rock, “Okay, yeah. You guys can go in without us.”

Cressida hesitates, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” you wave, smiling, “It’ll just be a couple of minutes.”

With an agreeing nod from Finnick, the crew leaves you guys in the crater. You watch, waiting for them to pull the door shut before you begin. Once you hear the familiar creak, you turn to Finnick.

And open your arms for a hug.

He tilts his head, not sure at first, so you go ahead and take the initiative. He hugs you back, letting you squeeze him.

“I’m probably going to be the first of many, still I am so, so sorry Finnick,” you say, “And I will never truly know what it’s like to go through what you have, but I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to, okay? Whenever you want.”

When you pull away from the hug, Finnick’s got watery eyes, nodding. He lets out a laugh after a moment, wiping the tears before they have a chance to come out, “Thank you.”

“Don’t even mention it.” 

[headaching]

more titanic au?? 👀

Azula scrutinized Sokka with squinted eyes causing uneasiness flashed across his face. “For the record,” she jeered, “next time you want to stage an accidental falling, maybe keep your boots and jacket on.”

Sokka shot a panicked look at Zuko, who only shook his head. Sokka sputtered, “We…We were…”

“You don’t have to answer to her,” Zuko told Sokka apologetically.

“I don’t really care,” Azula snapped. “In fact, I think it’s sweet you made a friend.” Zuko crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t dare look at Sokka. “I’m just saying, you might want to get your story straight.” She winked at Zuko before turning on her heel. Zuko’s blush was furious and so quick it sickened him. For that, he was thankful Sokka stood behind him. “Are you coming?”

“Leave without me,” Zuko growled, and she cocked her head in his direction.

“What if you get lost on the way there, and there isn’t a third-class passenger to guide you back?” Azula’s voice was both sharp and cold, cutting and dull.

Zuko conjured his most menacing tone and said, “Azula, stop talking. Leave. Now.” Slowly, Azula’s head straightened, and she walked away without a word. Zuko watched her go, slightly impressed with himself.

When Zuko turned back to face Sokka, he was lacing up his boots. “I’m sorry about her,” Zuko apologized, and Sokka looked up from his shoes to grin at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sokka said as he finished tying his laces. On went his jacket, and he turned toward the water while he adjusted it. His gaze remained on the ocean as he leaned his elbows against the railing. “I’d like to see you tomorrow,” Sokka announced, not a demand, but a wish. Zuko approached Sokka, though he maintained a good distance from the ledge.

“You will, at dinner,” Zuko replied, and noticed his own rapid blinking. Sokka shot him a playful look over his shoulder, then turned around and occupied the remaining space between them.

He stood an inch or two taller than Zuko, and his head bowed forward. Though Zuko’s head tilted upward, he was only brave enough to stare at Sokka’s lips, which were full and soft-looking and slightly parted.

“I meant besides dinner.” This was the closest they’d been face to face without the impending threat of treacherous death, and the air seemed harder to take in because of it. “It’s okay if you don’t want to,” Sokka added, and Zuko noted a hint of nervousness in his voice.

“No,” Zuko croaked, “I do.”

Sokka smiled. “Okay. Meet me here tomorrow, say, two o’clock?”

“Sure.”

“It’s a date.” Sokka’s voice was quiet, but it rang through Zuko’s ears and spiked his blood, churning it hot through his veins.

As Sokka turned to leave, Zuko found himself saying, “Sokka, wait,” with an outstretched hand. It suspended in the air with his index finger pointed at Sokka’s chest. Sokka’s eyes darted from Zuko’s hand to his eyes inquisitively. Zuko straightened his fingers to offer Sokka a handshake.

“Thank you for saving my life,” Zuko said formally with a stiff nod. Sokka laughed, and a few strands of hair fell around his temples. For an isolating moment, Zuko felt like an idiot, until Sokka’s hand closed around his. They shook hands with a firm grip, and it seemed to last longer than a usual handshake.

“Thank you for not jumping,” Sokka murmured, and stilled their hands, but didn’t pull away. The fingers on Sokka’s opposite hand caressed Zuko’s wrist, and Zuko tried to remember if he’d ever been touched so gently.

Eventually, Sokka stepped back, and their hold was broken. He slipped his hands into his pockets and eyed Zuko, then exhaled through his nose in a quick laugh.

“Is something funny?” Zuko asked reflexively, then cleared his throat at the sound of his raspy voice.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Do you always have to know all the answers?” Sokka teased, and Zuko crossed his arms. Sokka had no idea how few answers Zuko actually received, or how long ago he gave up the pursuit of seeking them.

Zuko couldn’t manage a response. He realized he was shivering; he must have left his coat on his chair at dinner. Sokka noticed, too, and questioned, “Are you cold?” He didn’t wait for Zuko to answer before taking his jacket off.

“No, I don’t need—” Zuko began to protest through chattering teeth, but was interrupted by Sokka draping his jacket across his trembling shoulders.

“You’re shaking,” Sokka dismissed quietly, practically affectionate. He pulled the opening of the jacket closer together in an attempt to insulate Zuko, then placed both hands over his crossed arms when they were exposed to the cold air despite the effort.

As Zuko watched carefully, Sokka unfolded his arms and brought Zuko’s clenched fists to his mouth. Sokka exhaled a heated breath onto Zuko’s hands, while his own drifted down to cup Zuko’s elbows. Their eyes met, honey and pale blue, and neither averted their gaze.

Zuko imagined breaking one hand free to caress Sokka’s cheek, and when Sokka’s lower lip just barely brushed against his finger, the fantasy morphed into one where they were kissing.

Zuko’s heart raced at the possibility of gliding his fingers along Sokka’s toned bare arms, the nape of his neck, the sharp angle of his jaw. Maybe Sokka’s hands would hold Zuko’s waist, draw him in, entice him to step closer. Sokka’s jacket might plummet to the deck floor if their hands were frantic, or stay perfectly in place if the embrace was slow and peaceful.

Though Zuko had little romantic experience, the image of kissing Sokka was easy, dangerously so, and the possibilities were endless.

“Zuko?” brought him back to reality, where Sokka’s hands had shifted. Sokka seemed to be holding him in place with a firm grip and one foot braced forward. Zuko blinked and noticed his fingers had fallen from their clenched position to grip Sokka’s forearms. He considered pulling away, but stayed still.

“I’m sorry. W-What happened?” Zuko’s face was smoldering, and he desperately wished to conceal it.

“You checked out for a second, then seemed like you were gonna fall,” Sokka explained, and though he sounded concerned, Zuko detected a smirk on his face.

“Oh,” Zuko mumbled, and looked away pointedly.

“Seriously, are you okay?” Sokka asked, the happy traces in his face replaced with worry. Zuko sighed, inwardly cursing his inability to play anything cool. “I mean, you just had a near death experience. Of course you’re not okay.”

“That wasn't my first near death experience,” Zuko replied before thinking better of it. His throat constricted when Sokka’s eyes flickered to his scar, but he found solace in the gentle squeeze Sokka gave his arms. Sokka looked down and nodded slowly. “I’m just clumsy, like Azula said,” Zuko added, gratefully getting him to crack a smile.

“I’d hesitate to take anything she says to heart,” Sokka laughed, and Zuko breathed a silent sigh of relief. Sokka stared at him for a moment with a twinkle of amusement still in his eyes, then said, “Maybe I should walk you back, though. You seem out of it.”

“You have no frame of reference,” Zuko retorted, and though his voice was agitated, Sokka took a small step forward, somehow still possible with their close proximity.

“Not yet.” His reply was an easy, clear indication that he intended to find out. Zuko focused on the dreaded task of evening his breath, but his mind inevitably wandered to their hold on one another and how it still had not ended.

“Not yet, but not tonight,” Zuko said eventually, as gently as he could. “My father will be expecting me soon.” Sokka nodded, and glanced at their arms pointedly, then back into Zuko’s eyes with raised eyebrows. “I can walk myself,” Zuko scoffed with an eye roll. He took the opportunity to remove Sokka’s jacket, but a firm hand halted his own.

“Keep it,” he insisted, and Zuko shook his head.

“I don’t need your jacket,” Zuko responded stubbornly, but drew the garment closer together in an attempt to disguise his shivering.

Sokka’s eyes glanced down, and somehow, the grin that spread across his face left Zuko wishing he could disappear and never leave Sokka’s sight all at once. “You contradict yourself a lot,” Sokka noted. Zuko decided disappearing would be better.

“And you’re infuriating,” Zuko muttered, his eyes on the deck.

“Is that any way to thank a kind stranger for his hospitality?” Sokka teased, and Zuko brushed past him with a hard jab of his elbow.

“Thanks,” Zuko said sarcastically.

He grinned to himself when Sokka yelped, “Ow!” followed by an airy laugh. When Zuko reached the gate, he glanced over his shoulder past the fabric of Sokka’s jacket to give him a smug smile. Sokka’s laugh faded into a closed-mouth dreamy grin complete with squinted, glistening eyes, and for that Zuko’s nerve was almost wasted.

“You’re not a stranger anymore,” Zuko said quietly, unfamiliar with the flirtatiousness of his voice. Sokka’s face fell, but with a focus that made Zuko wish he could read his mind. “Goodnight, Sokka,” he mumbled and turned away before Sokka could notice any further blushing.

“Goodnight, Zuko,” Sokka called after him. “See you tomorrow.” It was much quieter, and so light Zuko wondered if the wind had tricked him. Before leaving the gate, Zuko stole one more look to find Sokka splayed across a bench with his hands padding the back of his head. He looked up at the stars with a peaceful grin.

After watching Sokka longer than Zuko would have cared to admit, he finally left the deck. As he entered the interior of the ship, the warmth of whirlwind excitement began to fade. The farther he got from Sokka, the more he wanted to turn around, occupy the space next to him on the bench, and outstretch luxuriously with his palms resting under his head. How simple it would have been, to watch the stars.

To be free.

send me the title of a wip for an excerpt!

[vyeoh]

this is your chance: wax poetic about an Empires or DSMP character of your choice to a fan who is new to both. Explain why I should love them. I need guidance in this new and meme-populated land.

okok this is a lot of pressure haha. Spoilers for EmpiresSMP and DreamSMP below, obviously. I wrote a lot so prepare yourself, anon

I watch a lot of empires POVs but the ones I most anticipate every week are Scott and Sausage.

c!Scott (I'll call him Smajor for the sake of simplicity) starts off the series chilling, not really getting involved with the rest of the server, and staying aggressively neutral. After all, he's an elf. He has lived far longer than most of the other rulers already, and will most likely outlive them for many years. So, the best thing is to stick to his mountains and not get invested in the dealings of mortal affairs, maybe sometimes causing problems on purpose and dipping because what's life without a little spice right.

But then, this demon comes to the server, Xornoth. He's going around causing havoc and wants to send the world into an eternal winter, but he doesn't bother the kingdom of Rivendell much so Smajor stays tentatively cautious but ultimately unbothered. But then, the puzzle pieces start falling together. The first thing that the audience noticed was was Xornoth sounded like Smajor, but we mostly thought that this was just due to cc!Scott voicing both of them and there was nothing more to it. However, then, the people the demon starts possessing start chanting in elvish. The demon hates mortals, and the elves are conveniently one of the two confirmed not fully mortal races in Empires.

This culminates when Smajor stumbles across a cave that contains the backstory of the patron god of Rivendell, Aeor. Basically, there's two opposing forces, Aeor and Exor, and both have a champion. In a previous life, those champions were two brothers, where Aeor eventually prevailed and banished Exor. In this life though, the champions are - you guessed it - Smajor, and the demon Xornoth.

So now Smajor is like. Well fuck. It's my literal god-given destiny to be responsible for defeating this demon who is technically my brother, and if I fail the server gets plunged into an eternal winter. And I have no fucking clue what is happening because I've just been here on this mountain actively trying to stay out of the issues outside my kingdom. We watch him panic and teeter on the verge of spiraling for an entire episode, and when the followers of Xornoth go to the End to kill the dragon, releasing Xornoth's full powers, he fails to stop him. Smajor is a character who was used to being the smart one, the prepared one, the one who has the least deaths on the server. But he's also a character who runs away from his problems and ignores them. Before and during the dragon fight, we hear the desperation in his voice, as he's thrown into a situation he is wholly unprepared for, and it's bigger than him going to the Cod Empire to kill their king, or assisting in other people's plans to kill the codfather. He can't run from this. cc!Scott plays this scene so well as well, as I've said before, one of the best parts of Scott's acting is how he's never super dramatic, but he's so effective in the little things like inflection to make you feel, viscerally, the panic and dread.

So after the dragon fight, Smajor realizes, I can't do this on my own. I've tried and failed. So he gets allies. We watch him, someone who has so strongly been an isolationist, learn the benefits of allies and watch him learn to trust others and watch him learn how to get that trust in return.

My favorite thing about Smajor's characterization is that he's an incompetent protagonist, but not in the way of the "plucky young adventurer". He's capable skill-wise, and fairly jaded and very pessimistic. However, his issue is that up until recently, he did not care about the rest of the server at all, and by the time he learned to, it was way too late.

Also, in 3rd Life, cc!Scott and cc!Jimmy were canonically married and they reference it sometimes in Empires. Like, Scott goes over to the Cod Empire every so often both in and out of character to kill and/or flirt with Jimmy, the ruler of the Cod Empire, which may develop as a secondary plot into the future who knows. So ty Scott for giving the gays what they want o7

Now onto Sausage: his is a story of Icarus, his hubris and ambition being his downfall. He's one of the two followers of Xornoth, who promised him endless power in exchange for his servitude. He started the series being eccentric, but not outright unhinged, but slowly gets more and more extreme as the series progresses, as he gets brought more and more to Xornoth's side.

One of the best parts of Sausage's character, in my opinion, is how his gradual corruption affects the people around him. Initially, he got into a conflict with the Cod Empire and was allied with two other people in the Witherrose alliance. They were allies, but also close friends. The fandom liked to joke that the three had sibling energy, and I'm pretty sure the ccs played to that even more lol.

It was painful to watch the other two members, Gem and fWhip, watch Sausage get corrupted right in front of them, and see them desperately clinging on to this old idea of Sausage in their head because if they faced the truth, it would mean that their friend was gone. Eventually, they do finally cut him out of the alliance, leading him to fully commit to the side of the demon. Sausage felt very clearly betrayed by this, and declared the remaining two Witherrose alliance members to be enemies.

He gets more and more possessed, and we even see the other Empires, his enemies even, slowly realize that something is very wrong with the ruler of Mythland. He starts doing more and more evil things, like killing people more, making sacrifices to the demon, and eventually helping to kill the dragon to free Xornoth. So things are good for Sausage, for a bit. He won, and is more powerful than ever. Then he finds out: he's going to die. Xornoth's possession is slowly killing his soul, and eventually, his body going to be fully taken over and he himself is going to be trapped in the spirit realm. So how do you react to this? Over the next few episodes, we watch Sausage struggle between "the demon is literally killing me" and "the demon has given me so much, and I love it", all while Xornoth takes over more and more of him. We hear him exclaim that "don't worry!! I'm still about 15% there!" while trying to downplay every time Xornoth completely takes over his body. We watch him willingly oppose anyone who is trying to end the thing that is killing him.

My favorite thing about Sausage is that he is undoubtedly evil and proud of it, but he's also undoubtedly human. If you like to watch evil characters go absolutely feral, he's the guy for you. He makes the deal with Xornoth in the beginning, knowing and fully embracing the evilness of the demon, but at the same time he knows what he's doing is detrimental to both himself and everyone around him, but he's gotten in way too deep at this point, and to be fair the demon has held up its end fo the bargain, right?

Also, I would be damned if I don't talk about cc!Sausage's editing. Every one of his videos is like a movie. The way he does camera angles and uses music is so skillful- every lore scene feels like something out of a high fantasy action saga (think: LotR). Every big lore event I always wait in anticipation for Sausage's ep because his editing truly takes lore to another level.

I'm just generally very excited to see where this series goes. Empires is such a good mix of talented builders and good lore. Part of the reason why the series is so immersive for me, beyond any other lore smp, is that they have the settings to back it up. There is a certain charm to the DreamSMP's objectively terrible builds (with a few exceptions) but in Empires, the settings help sell the plot so much.

Another part of why I love EmpiresSMP is how much the ccs are involved with the fan community. I'm sure you've seen the memes about Scott being on tumblr, and Sausage regularly goes through the EmpiresSMP fanart tag on Twitter and likes art, even ones not related to Mythland. Most of the ccs, in fact, have brought up tumblr content on stream at some point or another. Like, several ccs have said that they read tumblr lore theories and hcs and stuff and sometimes take inspiration from them. Fun fact: Rivendell's church was inspired by my pinned drawing; confirmed by Scott Smajor himself. It's just such a good cycle of ccs and fans being excited about each other.

As for DreamSMP, I'm gonna be honest here, the only person I really am invested in in Technoblade. I started watching when he joined the server, and he's the only person whose lore I keep up to date with.

Techno's fun to watch because he's like the Deadpool of DreamSMP. Virtually unkillable, very skilled and scary, but consistently cracks jokes and breaks the 4th wall during plot. His POV is just fun. Like, he does wild plans and gives speeches and some of the stuff that happens to him should be called deus ex machine if it wasn't for the fact that Technoblade is the one who's doing it, and all the stuff is grounded in the fact that cc!Techno is just that good at the game.

However, the fact that he rarely takes anything seriously makes the few times Techno is 100% serious so much more impactful. His whole character has a basis in being perceived as inhuman and being treated as such, and therefore in return trying to hide his humanity. So, when he shows that humanity, whether that's fear, anger, or genuine love for his friends, it really makes you go "oh shit."

Techno's often said not to have character development, but I'd argue that while he remains steadfast in his moral code, he develops leaps and bounds as a person. Like, at the beginning, he's brought onto the server to help Wilbur and Tommy overthrow a government; them knowing he's 1) an anarchist and 2) very very powerful. His character was more of a plot device at that point and was treated as such in the canon. Wilbur and Tommy straight-up lie to him about their plans to establish another government after they overthrow the current one, while he was led on to believe that they were abolishing all governments in the area. But he isn't a plot device. He's a person, as much as he only shows the terrifying, blood god side of himself.

After the establishment of New Lmanburg (the new government its a long story), his friend Phil joins. And for the first time, we see him be fully human with someone and we see someone treat him like a human. Like, we saw glimpses before, with Wilbur and Tommy in Pogtopia, but Phil is the first person we noticeably see he trusts 100%. Then Doomsday happens, and Techno essentially retires to the tundra. During this time, we see Techno learn to be more human, first with Ranboo, then Niki when he establishes the Syndicate. In fact, the two of them, along with Phil, canonically throw him a birthday party, which is a far cry from his treatment in Pogtopia.

Techno's development is one of a god learning to be human, and I just think he <3

[animeyanderelover]

I wonder if it's too much to ask for a isekai reader for the eldian soldiers like Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie and/or Zeke ? I just realised that isekai in aot is like the manhwa "iris lady with a smartphone"

More Attack on Titan!

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, paranoia, overprotective behavior, clinginess, stalking, controlling Yandere, mean Yandere, kidnapping, death

Reader gets transported into their world

🟤🧡💗People might think they didn’t have already enough secrets keeping with them. Needing to keep quiet about who they really were and what their true intentions were. But then you suddenly came. It was after Marco had died that you suddenly stumbled upon them, to be more specific after Annie had joined the police. She was just patrolling around the city when she suddenly heard loud noises from one of the alleys, slowly walking inside, ready to fight whoever was in there. She had expected some drunk bastard or thief to hide in there. But she hadn’t expected to find you inside. Someone with a very questionable sense of fashion who just looked with huge eyes around, muttering something from “not believing you were in one of your favorite animes”. At first Annie thought you were some lunatic, confronting you and asking you coldly who you were. Upon seeing her you instantly flinched and stuttered to not kill you. Annie just rolled her eyes and told you that she you should leave because she didn’t want to waste time on you.

🟤🧡💗It was kind of obvious to you that she thought of you as some crazy person. But you weren’t. And you needed help! And just as she was about to leave you suddenly told her that you were from another universe. That caused her to scoff, continuing to ignore you. But she froze when you told her that you knew that her, Reiner and Bertholdt were Titan shifters. And before you could even blink you were suddenly thrown to the ground by Annie, threatening you to better tell her if anyone else knew about this and from where you had even gotten this information. You were honestly scared that she would kill you so you told her in a scared voice that you had proof that you were from another world, telling her to look into your pocket. She did, her eyes never leaving you and her arm never stopping to twist yours in a painful grip. You knew that if you would move she wouldn’t hesitate to break it. Annie quirked an eyebrow when she pulled that weird thing for the first time out, some flat object. For a few moments she just turned it around from all angels before accidentally pressing somewhere down. When that thing suddenly started glowing she was a bit startled and nearly let it fall before catching it. What was that thing?

🟤🧡💗You were dragged away from the town, Annie making sure that no one would ask any questions. If they did she just said that she escorted you home due to being a bit drunk. She got laughed at for this, but didn’t care. And you had to keep your mouth shut or else...You didn’t want to find out what else would happen then. So you just followed Annie for who knows how long, always asking you where the two of you were going to and her always making you shut up with a short glare. By the time the both of you arrived you had been traveling for hours. At least you had ridden the most part on horse Annie had taken with her on her way out. Your destination? A small house in the forest, pretty isolated from other villages in here. You actually wanted to protest, but before you knew it you were pushed inside from her. And after she had locked the door she slowly pulled the small object out, asking you what exactly that was and that you should better on explain everything to her. And be truthful with it. She was still a bit suspicious of your explanation that you came from another world, but on the other hand she had never seen a thing like this before. But she got convinced when you showed her photos on your “phone” from her and all her comrades, telling her that in your world the story of her world was like a fairytale in hers. Many people knew that story and that was because you knew everything.

🟤🧡💗Annie left you alone in that house after progressing the news, tying you to a chair and warning you to better not disappear. And there were definitely better things than being tied up for hours to a chair without having the chance to go to the toilet before, not to mention without having drunken or eaten anything before. You were when she finally came back sure that you would pee in your pants if she wouldn’t hurry up. But she hadn’t come alone. You realized that when suddenly no other than Reiner and Bertholdt stepped in, Reiner having a non believing look on his face and Bertholdt a unsure yet curious expression on his. Both of them observed you closely when Annie carefully untied you, giving you finally the chance to relieve yourself and even being that nice to steal some food and water for you which you needed after hours. But it didn’t change the fact that you felt very nervous by all of them. Especially Reiner scared you. At least they had the patience to wait until you had shoved down all the food before Reiner finally demanded from you to show them what you had in your “phone”. So you showed them gladly all the fan art and pictures you had saved about them. Reiner kept his stern expression, but Bertholdt watched everything with wide and fascinating eyes, being amazed by the fact that there was another universe like yours out there.

🟤🧡💗The opinions about you at the beginning were very different. Reiner believed it might be the best to just kill you, seeing you as a potential threat. If people like Levi or Erwin would find you, they would be doomed. Bertholdt thought the complete opposite. He had instantly taken a liking to you after the first meeting, protesting and saying that you could be a great help for them as well with all your knowledge. Annie’s decision was what saved you in the end. She thought that it wasn’t their job to kill you. You didn’t even belong into this world and they didn’t even know if you might just get transported back without them doing anything. So after long discussions they agreed to keep you in this house, making sure to tell you that if you would try to escape. Bertholdt wasn’t even all that threatening, Annie just told you with a neutral face that she would break your bones if you would try to escape and Reiner was the one who definitely was focused on scaring you the most, telling you he would kill you if you should ever try to run away. And so your new life started. Being locked up in a small house with one of them or all three coming every night at the same time to look after you. You weren’t very happy about this, having hoped to see the other characters as well. But all three had agreed that it would really mean trouble if the scouts would find out about you. Not only that, but you obviously had “favs”, meaning they couldn’t risk that you would tell someone about them just because you wanted to save someone’s life.

🟤🧡💗Bertholdt was the first one to become obsessed. He had a huge curiosity for you the moment Annie had told him and Reiner about you and had taken a instant liking towards you the moment he had met you. The thought of another world much more peaceful than his existing was so soothing for him, making him want to know everything about this world and also you. What exactly made him fall so hard? It was probably the fact that you could listen to his worries and his guilty thoughts without completely judging him like everyone else did. You were somewhat neutral, despite having your “favs” in this show, being able to give him your honest opinion without having to always add in the end what he had to do. You just told him what you thought about this. For him you were a true angel, possessing an innocence that not even a child had. It made him want to protect you, to make sure that you would never have to suffer like he had to.

🟤🧡💗The next one to fall for you was Reiner. At first he honestly disliked you. He didn’t enjoy the fact that there was someone from another world in here and knew everything about them. You were just an obstacle in his eyes, at least at the beginning. But he was a very unstable one and that was what made him fall faster than thought for you than he had expected. The knowledge that there was a world where people didn’t have to suffer like him or all the others was truly medicine for his damaged mentality. Similar to Bertholdt it was also your innocence that made him fall even harder even though he liked to describe it more as naivety. Despite the fact that he still was sometimes very harsh with you he relied a lot on you, being able to just let every shit that was going on in his head out without being scolded for being weak or being called a monster. And you just listened and tried to understand. He would have never expected to fall so hard just because someone would just sit down and let him talk all his overwhelming feelings out.

🟤🧡💗Annie was the last one from those three to fall for you. She had been the most neutral and calm about you. She hadn’t hated you like Reiner had done, but she also hadn’t been all over you like Bertholdt had been. She had just thought rationally about the whole situation. But you knew that behind her motionless mask someone else was. And that’s what made her in the end fall for you. You didn’t just see her as a soldier or warrior. You saw her for the person she was and not just as a weapon or a monster. You saw her as more. And Annie felt...appreciated. For the first time in her life she felt like she was sincerely liked for who she really was. This innocence made her want to shield you from the cruelty of this world, ensuring that you would never lose those pure thoughts of yours.

🟤🧡💗Everything was alright for some time, but all of them weren’t dumb by any means and realized that they all felt the same for you. And then it came to a small argument. Reiner was definitely the most pissed, Annie was, despite still being able to keep most of her cool, slightly annoyed and Bertholdt was only confused and surprised by this discovery. It became more messy between them after this. They didn’t hate each other, knowing fully well that they needed to work together, not only for their home’s sake, but also for you. But that didn’t mean that there wasn’t some tension. Especially between Annie and Reiner was the tension more thick. Annie had a talent for pissing him with her words off whilst keeping a cold face, making it even for Reiner hard to keep his cool. Bertholdt was the one who tried to ease the tension between the two of them. He considered both of them as his friends and more important, they were also helping to protect you so he needed them to get along.

🟤🧡💗Despite this small problem they were still able to keep you a secret. But things started to become more messy after Annie’s cover had been doomed. This is an AU where she was able to climb over the wall and escape. Suddenly people knew that there were more like Eren out there, people who could transform into Titans. It became more stressful after that for Reiner and Bertholdt, needing to be more careful since it had been known that all three of them had been always very close. Especially after they had found you. There was a closer eye kept on them, not allowing them to visit you every night like they used too, what was for both of them a torture. They feared that at some point you would ran out of food or even worse, the Military Police would find you and investigate you. For Annie it was even worse. Whilst Reiner and Bertholdt were at least still able to reach out to you, she was now completely out. Somehow sneaking back in would be very hard and there was also the danger that she could doom Reiner’s and Bertholdt’s cover or even leading the enemy directly to you. She needed a plan and help, leading us to how you met Zeke.

🟤🧡💗🚬You were very well aware of the events that were avout to happen, speaking of the Beast Titan aka Zeke Yeager coming into the picture. You were aware that some of the original story line had been changed, knowing that Annie had actually been supposed to crystallize herself. You guessed your appearance had led to some change in the plot twist and asked how much that would change the story. And what would happen to you? You got your answer sooner as wanted when that happened which you had already known. When the Titans started to appear inside the wall and the roof of your house had suddenly been lifted up, giving you nearly a heart attack and thinking that this must be your end. That was at least until you recognized the Female Titan. It was Annie who had grabbed you and set you on top of her head before running off with you, not giving your brain the needed time to progress all of this. She just ran away with you, bringing you somewhere else. Somewhere far away from all the disaster that was currently going on in the Walls.

🟤🧡💗🚬It was a while later when you met Zeke who had decided to help Annie with saving you. Could you blame him for wanting to meet the infamous “world traveler”? You didn’t look that different from any other human, but he as a smart man instantly noticed during his talk with you that you were different. From the way you used gestures whilst talking to your speaking pattern. It all was unique, not to mention the weird words you sometimes used from which he had never heard before. He had believed Annie when she had told him about you, being able to tell that she wasn’t lying. But when he asked you what you knew about his past and you held a whole speech, including even his father’s and mother’s past up until now? If he hadn’t been convinced before he was now.

🟤🧡💗🚬It was only natural for him to become obsessed with you. How couldn’t he with someone who was such a mystery? How had you even gotten here? Had there been a reason why you and not someone else? Was there a way to teleport back to your world? What was your world like? At first Zeke had just been obsessed with those kind of questions. But with time they started to revolve more and more around you. What was your family like? How was your childhood? He wanted to know everything. He had expected to be highly interested in you, but he hadn’t expected to feel so abnormally strong for you. What was it about you that caused him to feel this way? Was it your point of view from the meaning of life and this world that he had never heard before? Was it your more innocent and openly personality that was like a breath of fresh air for him? Now that he started thinking about it, there were a lot of things about you that he loved. Who would have thought that he would found himself attracted to a dimension traveler?

🟤🧡💗🚬Not long after meeting Zeke you were also reunited with Reiner and Bertholdt who were honestly nothing, but glad and relieved that you were safe. They had feared that you might have gotten in contact with a Titan or the scouts. But now a new problem appeared. Whilst Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt had gotten by now somewhat adjusted to the fact that they all loved you they hadn’t been prepared to finding out that Zeke had it suddenly for you as well. Zeke hadn’t either. He had suspected from the way Annie had acted when it involved you that she had feelings for you. But he hadn’t expected all three of them to be in love with you. And even with the same unhealthy feelings he was. That was somewhat troublesome.

🟤🧡💗🚬Zeke had an advantage in here. The fact that he was the superior of the three. So it wasn’t rare that he often just snatched you away from the three, claiming that he wanted some more informations from you. In reality he just wanted you away from them and being a manipulative and controlling one he started to try to talk you into avoiding the three and spend your time instead more with him. And that was what caused the tension to reach a suffocating level. Because Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner weren’t happy with that. Whatever dislikes they had held against each other before was put to a stop and they teamed now willingly together. It became honestly like a game of tug of war. Suddenly you found yourself in a situation where Zeke tried to tell you to stay away from those three since they weren’t good influence and Bertholdt, Reiner and Annie telling you that you should probably stay away from Zeke since he wasn’t what he looked like. It was a very tiring situation for you.

🟤🧡💗🚬Now to what would happen if each one of them would find a way to travel back with you. And let’s be honest. They would all use that chance without blinking twice. But would they consider sharing you with someone? Let’s see. For Zeke it would be a huge no. He’s paranoid and not a fan of sharing, making him someone who would definitely take his darling and travel without anyone else to your world to finally have you all for yourself. Annie is another one who would travel alone back with you. She might actually consider the fact of taking Bertholdt and Reiner with her since she has some history with them and they did help her to protect you. But I feel like in the end she would decide that this might cause to arguments for which she don’t have the patience and will also consider Reiner’s unstableness. With Reiner there’s a high possibility that he might take Bertholdt with him given the fact that both of them are really close and there’s a chance that he might even consider taking Annie since she helped protecting you as well. Bertholdt is honestly the most willing to share, seeing both, Annie and Reiner, as his friends and as more ways to ensure that you’re protected and save even in your world. But don’t forget that the moment he witnesses that they should treat you wrongly in his eyes he’s also willing to leave alone with you. But as long as this doesn’t happen he’s fine with taking them too.

[attllhak]

Surface Too Soon .3

@tortilla-of-courage @emenerd hey look it’s chapter 3. Two chapters in a day and I’m on a roll.

General warnings because Ghirahim is in this chapter and he’s, well, he’s Ghirahim. And he’s being creepy.

Anyways, enjoy! (And to Tortilla, sorry for torturing you with vague updates as I wrote. The boy is fine, just shaken up and scared.)

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Chapter 3: On The Surface

Link did his best to swallow back every pained whimper as the strange woman ran her hands over his body. He still didn’t want to move, because ow, and it wasn’t like he was in a position to complain.

He’d already survived, which was more than he’d expected after he made it past the clouds.

He did end up crying out as she made it to his ankle, jerking it up away from her, sparking more pain along his leg and side.

She sat back, glaring at him slightly.

“Well, you’re not walking,” she huffed, glaring at the offending ankle, which was throbbing quite painfully. “I’ll need to actually be allowed to take a look at that to assess the damage,”

Link frowned at her, shifting his leg a bit further away.

This seemed to frustrate the woman further. “I am trying to help you. I can’t do that unless you let me.”

Link considered this, and considered the pain he was in, and then considered that, ulterior motives aside, he had no idea where he could find help without this woman. Slowly, because ow, he moved his leg back down to her.

He had to grit his teeth as she slid off his boot and sock to inspect his ankle, and then declared it not broken, but still very badly injured.

His ribs, it turned out, were broken in a few places. Which explains the crack he felt.

One of his shoulders had been dislocated, which the woman popped back into place, which was a LOT of ow.

Eventually, with a lot of complaining and pained noises and slow movements, she got Link sitting up against the sand he’d sid down. So he was still kinda laying down.

Which is when he finally got a look at his surroundings. Hard, red rock rose up all around him, the slope above and behind him was all loose sand, and some kind of thick, red liquid sloshed nearby, giving off heat.

“Who are you?” He asked, and filed away quickly that ow, talking hurts.

The woman looked at him, pausing from where she was using the fabric that had been covering her face to wrap his foot. She looked very annoyed for some reason he couldn’t identify.

Link didn’t know why he’d pissed her off by landing here, but he felt a bit bad for it.

“My name is Impa,” she said finally, turning back to his ankle. “I am a servant to the goddess Hylia, meant to protect the Spirit Maiden on her journey to fulfil her destiny,” she finished tying off the fabric and looked up to meet Link’s eyes. “You are not her,”

He lifted his good arm, since the other still hurt to move. “Is that why you’re mad at me?”

She frowned at him, like he wasn’t making sense.

“I’m sorry,” he said, hoping that would help.

This got him a glare.

“You do not need to apologize for not being who I was waiting for,” Impa told him bluntly. “I’m mad, but not at you. I’m mad because you shouldn’t be down here yet. I should be meeting the Spirit Maiden, not the Chosen Hero. Regardless, you are in no shape to fulfil your duty, and I see no sign of Her Grace arriving here. I’ll take you somewhere safer to heal, and we’ll talk more about your destiny then,”

Link had no idea what she meant by most of that, but it was nice to know she wasn’t mad at him.

He did make a few pained noises as she picked him up, balancing him in her arms.

Every movement as she carried him away from the heat and rocks was ow, ow, ow. He really was a giant bruise by now. Also ow.

The green that started popping up was awe inducing. Especially as there came more and more green. Link had never seen so much green before. And the trees! There were so many trees!

He probably should have paid more attention to where they were going, but he was too enthralled with his surroundings to care.

Which was when he noticed the tiny birds.

All thoughts of pain and worry were out the window at this discovery, and he all but begged Impa to stop and let him look at the tiny birds. She said later, and he tried pouting, which didn’t work, and then needled away until she agreed to bring him a tiny bird to hold when they stopped.

That had Link very excited.

Eventually, Link was set down on a very big plant, Impa called it a mushroom when he asked, and was told to stay put. Impa promised to bring him a tiny bird and some healing items.

Link, of course, did not stay put.

His right ankle couldn’t support his weight, so he ended up crawling around instead, doing his best to keep his weight off his left arm.

When Impa got back and finally found him, he was lying on his stomach and chatting with a small creature he met called a kikwi, who was also face down on the ground.

Impa was not pleased in the least.

He drank the potion she brought him, and even got to hold one of the tiny birds after he’d done so. It felt so small and fragile in his hands, and it was so cute. Even his new kikwi friend stood up to also coo over the tiny bird with him.

Machi didn’t understand why Link was so fascinated with the bird, but Machi also was a bit confused by the whole ‘came from the sky thing’, so Link didn’t hold it against him.

Impa just seemed frustrated with him, proceeding to lecture him about why laying on his stomach was bad for his ribs and how he was just going to hurt himself more. Something about pressure on the breaks or whatever.

Link was only about half listening to her. Oh he was trying to pay attention to what she was saying, of course he was. He always got in trouble in class for not focusing, and he knew it was even more important to focus on what she was telling him down here, with so many unknowns.

But, there was just so much happening around him! The trees here were HUGE! And there were so many new kinds of plants! And what even was a mushroom and were they all that big? And the little bird was falling asleep in his hands, which was adorable, and there were more birds flying around. And there was a new bug he’d never seen before on the wall over there.

It was hard to focus on her, was the point. He kept getting distracted by all the new things to look at.

“Are you even listening to me?” She asked, frowning at him.

Link, realizing he’d zoned out and missed most of what she’d said, responded as tactfully as he could think of.

He lifted up the tiny bird to her slightly. “I can feel it’s heartbeat,”

Impa slapped her face.

Link got the slightest hint that maybe, maybe, he was pissing her off a bit.

“I’m sorry,” he said, watching her drag the hand down her face. “There’s just a lot of new things around and I’m having trouble focusing on you. If it helps, I’ve kinda always had trouble paying attention when surrounded by new things,”

She looked very unimpressed.

“Fine,” she sighed. “We’ll talk about all that later. But no more lying on your stomach,”

Link nodded seriously, or as seriously as he could manage. “Yes, ma’am.”

She looked very tired, and while Link didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d fallen that morning (he’d never been good with time and today was not a good day for that) he was still pretty sure it was too early in the day for her to look so exhausted.

He was pretty sure he was at fault for that. Maybe he should apologize?

“Are you hungry?” Impa asked finally, after just looking at him for a while.

Link was about to say no, but then his stomach growled and so he nodded instead. Food never hurt, he figured.

“Stay put. I mean it this time,” Impa pointed at him firmly. “I’ll be right back,”

Link watched her walk off, and figured maybe he should actually listen this time. She had seemed awful annoyed.

“So, what’s it like in the sky?” Machi asked as the silence dragged on.

“Oh, it’s great!” Link grinned. “The stories say the goddess sent us up there a long time ago to protect us. We ride around on big birds called loftwings, and it’s so pretty, and I was supposed to participate in this competition called the Wing Ceremony so I could graduate into the senior class and become a knight. Actually, I wonder who won it. I mean, I know Zelda will be disappointed- HOLY HYLIA ZELDA!”

The bird in his hands startled and flew away, and Machi fell over at Link’s outburst. Link’s hands shot up to fist in his hair, panic and worry constricting his chest.

“Zelda is probably so worried about me! I have to get back to Skyloft, I need to tell her I’m okay!” Link gasped, suddenly remembering that little detail he’d forgotten in his excitement. “I gotta get back to the sky!”

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed then, Sky Child,”

Link didn’t like the way that voice slithered along his spine like a snake, making all the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He slowly turned his head to see someone standing on one of the mushrooms, smiling at him like a remlit that had just caught a butterfly.

This individual, probably a man if Link had to guess, was very pale, skin fitted white clothing stuck tight like a second skin and a deep red cape sat around the man’s shoulders. Sharp, too big eyes watched Link like he was the most fascinating and precious thing in the world, and it made him feel very uncomfortable. He didn’t like the way this man was looking at him, eyes taking in his form and tracking even the rise and fall of his chest as he wrestled to keep his breathing under control.

There was something very wrong about this man, and Link wanted to be as far away from him as possible. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure if his leg could support his weight yet, not that he’d be able to run very far even if it could.

Where was Impa? She said she’d be right back.

“Don’t bother looking for your bodyguard,” the man grinned, noticing Link breaking eye contact to scan the forest where Impa had gone. “She’s a bit, tied up right now,”

The smile on the man’s face made every nerve and muscle in Link’s body scream “RUN!” at him. But he couldn’t run, he’d never make it away in time.

Stall! He thought desperately at himself. Stall so Impa can get back and get you out of here!

“Wh-who are you?” Link asked, fighting his throat and hating how shaky he sounded.

He’d never been in real danger before, though he was pretty sure that’s what this was, and he was terrified. He didn’t know what to do here!

The man grinned wider, and Link felt his stomach twist into uncomfortable knots.

“Oh how rude,” the man cooed. “I hadn’t introduced myself. I am the Demon Lord who presides over the land you look down upon, this world you call the Surface,” he vanished in a cloud of diamonds, then reappeared inches from Link’s face. “You may call me Ghirahim. In truth, I much prefer to be indulged with my full title: Lord Ghirahim. But I’m not fussy,”

Link backpedalled, crawling as fast as he could to put as much distance between himself and the man as he could.

Ghirahim vanished again, this time appearing behind Link to grab his shoulders. Link froze, fear rooting him to the spot. He didn’t dare breathe.

Where was Impa?!

“I’m much more interested in you, however,” the, the demon cooed almost directly into Link’s ear. He suddenly felt nauseous. “Yes, Your Majesty, you are a much more interesting find. I had actually expected your mortal form to be that of a woman, but I’m not complaining about this little surprise. It’s certainly clever, if nothing else,”

Link swallowed down bile, body tense as he felt the man continue to look him over, even from the awkward angle.

Impa, he thought desperately. Please hurry!

“I-I don’t know w-what you’re t-talking about,” Link stammered out, fighting his very uncooperative voice to keep it from shaking too badly. He didn’t really succeed.

Ghirahim chuckled, the sound directly in his ear causing goosebumps to rise up on his skin. It was warm out, but Link shivered.

“No, of course you don’t, not yet. You just got here,” Ghirahim finally vanished again, appearing in front of him, and Link finally let himself breathe, chest heaving and sending him back onto his elbows. “I had thought that goddess-serving dog would have told you, but no matter. Whether you know or not, it doesn’t change my plans. And you, dear boy, are very important to them,”

The sick, pleased smile on Ghirahim's face made Link want to hurl, and scream, and curl up into a ball and cry. He’d never had to deal with someone this, this deranged before, and he was scared. He was scared, and he wanted to go home. He wanted to be back up on Skyloft with Zelda, getting yelled at for not practicing hard enough. He wanted his best friend to smile and tell him this was all a bad dream and hold him tight and tell him it was going to be okay. Hell, he’d even take dealing with Groose over this.

What he wouldn’t give to go back to this morning, and not be here, trapped under the gaze of a demon who seemed so pleased to have caught him.

“Stay away from him!”

Ghirahim turned, dodging sharply as someone moved to attack him.

Impa!

Link gasped in relief. He had never before been so happy to see someone he’d only known for a few hours.

Impa positioned herself between Link and Ghirahim, glaring down the demon lord and turning herself into a barrier.

“Of course, you’re here,” Ghirahim sneered, lips twisting on his face in disgust. “Come to protect your precious Spirit Maiden, hm?”

“Link,” Impa said, ignoring what Ghirahim was saying but never taking her eyes off him. “Run,”

“Imp-” Link tried, voice still shaky and weak sounding.

“GO!” Impa snapped, and Link scrambled around to get moving.

He knew he wouldn’t get far, being as injured as he was, and who knew what other kinds of monsters there were in the woods. He spotted Machi waving to him and scrambled over, ducking behind one of the mushrooms to hide, waved into a small crack in the stone where he curled up to wait, Machi pulling some of the vines to hide him better.

He could hear fighting beyond his hiding spot, and covered his ears with his hands in the hopes of blocking out the sounds of breaking glass and metal on metal. He squeezed his eyes shut too, stomach and chest twisting uncomfortably at every flash of blue and black light.

He had never been so scared or helpless in his life, and he hated it. He hated it, he hated it, he hated it.

He wanted to go home. To where there were no demons out for him or Spirit Maidens or fighting between people to the death. He wanted Zelda to tell him it was okay, like she would when he had nightmares, or when Groose was a bit meaner than usual. He wanted the biggest worry in his life to be whether or not Groose put something in his food or hit him with a spitball during class.

He was done with the Surface, he wanted to go home!

It was far too long before he realized the sound of fighting had stopped. Did, who won? Was Impa okay? Was Ghirahim going to take him away somewhere for some reason he still didn’t understand?

“Link,”

Link slowly opened his eyes and turned his head at the soft voice.

Impa was crouched down next to his hiding spot. She was bleeding in a few places, and her features were creased with worry, but she was okay.

“Are you hurt?” She asked, once she was certain he was looking at her.

Link shook his head, the movement jerky. “Is, is he, is,” he paused to swallow, finding it hard to get his thoughts across and into words. “Gone?” He finally managed.

Impa nodded. “For now, yes, he’s gone,”

Link felt like bursting into tears. He was scared, and mostly alone, and some demon was hunting him and Impa had gotten hurt trying to protect him and-

“I want to go home,” he said quietly, not even really embarrassed by how broken the phrase sounded.

Impa frowned, gently, and offered him her hand. “I know. I can’t get you home right now, though,”

Link sniffed, reaching up to swipe at his eyes. He somehow already knew that.

“Come on, it’s not safe here,” Impa said, offering her hand to him again. “There’s somewhere safe close by where we can at least spend the night, though,”

Link sniffed again, wiping at his face with his sleeve, and accepted her hand, crawling out of the spot he’d hidden in. He felt like a little kid all over again, like he was when his parents had died. Scared and lost and alone, with no idea how anything was going to turn out or if it would even be okay.

Only this time he didn’t have Zelda, or Pipit, or Karane to help him out. There was no Geapora to take him in. Just him, a whole world full of new things and dangers, and Impa.

“Is he going to come back?” Link asked while Impa looked him over for any new injuries.

Impa paused, looking up at him, then turned her eyes back to his arm. “Probably,” she admitted, slowly, like she was trying not to scare him. “Which is why we can’t stay here,”

“What does he even want from me?” Link asked, trying his best not to actually burst into tears. He didn’t want to cry. He could be brave, though he was starting to think he didn’t want to be.

Impa sighed, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d feared considering the last time someone held his shoulders.

“He doesn’t want anything from you,” Impa told him seriously. “He wants something from the person he thinks you are. He wants the Spirit Maiden,”

“But I’m not the Spirit Maiden,” Link said, in a way that bordered on a mix of a whine and beg but wasn’t quite either. “Can he leave us alone?”

The sympathetic look Impa gave him did not make him feel better.

“He doesn’t know that, though,” Impa said gently, squeezing his shoulders to try and offer him some comfort. “He thinks you are the Spirit Maiden, which is why he’s targeting you,”

Link could feel himself trembling, and he dropped his eyes away from Impa’s.

“I want to go home,” he repeated, trying his best to blink back scared tears and avoid just curling into a ball.

“I know,” Impa sighed, and he felt a gentle hand brush through his hair. “Come on, let’s head somewhere safe for now. We can work on getting you home once you’re healed,”

Link nodded, sniffling a bit and swiping at his face with his sleeves.

He hated being so helpless. He hated being so scared.

He just hoped Zelda wasn’t hating herself too much for pushing him. It really wasn’t her fault he ended up down here, being hunted by a demon.

He hoped Impa could find him a way home soon, so that he could apologize for worrying her.

He was done being excited by the surface.

[ikeromantic]

Middle Ground

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfic - approx. 2200 words. This scene occurs well after the events of the romantic epilogue. Fluff.

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Bonding

“So . . . separate beds?” Mitsuhide’s wry smile was only a little bitter.

“Yes. I know it’s silly. I’d . . . I’d rather be in there with you.” The chatelaine, soon to be Lady Akechi, looked down, her expression a mixture of shame and defiance.

“It’s fine. I will have you all to myself soon enough. What is a night or two apart?”

She looked up without raising her head, trying to gauge his emotions.

Mitsuhide wasn’t having any of that. He took her chin between his finger and thumb and gently lifted until her gaze met his. “It is fine.” Then he leaned forward to brush a kiss across her cheek. With his lips almost close enough to touch her skin, he added. “Are you so eager to be in my arms again? Do you want to . . . test out the guest room? Or your childhood bed?”

He had the intended effect. She shivered and licked her lips. “You are so bad!”

“You are the one protesting our brief separation.” Mitsuhide pressed another kiss to her cheek and leaned back.

She crossed her arms. “You’re right. It’s just a few nights. But when we get back to the city -” a wicked smile turned her lips up at the corners, promising all sorts of fun.

“So forward, my little mouse. So eager. You make me wish we were home already.”

“That’s the idea.” She turned and threw him a saucy look. “Something to dream about.”

Mitsuhide chuckled. “Good night, little one.” Something to dream about indeed. He watched her hips as she walked down the hall, until she turned into her room and shut the door. She really had no idea what impact she had on him. He wondered if it was his practiced art of hiding his true emotion, or simply that she couldn’t see how beautiful she was. How desirable.

He went into the room and shut the door. It was so strange. The electronic hum of household devices. The cold fluorescent light from the street lamps in his window. Distant traffic sounds blending with barking dogs and strains of music. Mitsuhide felt suddenly very alone and very out of place.

Despite his refusal, the thought of spending one night, much less three, without his little one, felt impossible. A burden too heavy for him to bear. He needed to feel her in his arms, to fall asleep to the sound of her breathing, the beat of her heart. Her warmth grounded him in this strange place.

Mitsuhide gave a dry, soundless laugh. Who was the little mouse now?

Slowly, meditatively, he dressed for bed and lay down. He would embrace this world, different as it was from his own. He had to, because it was the one that gave birth to his beloved. And so, listening to the heartbeat of this small town, the viscous thrum of modern life, he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Miyake and Sasuke arrived the following day at lunch. They met up at a local restaurant. Youko was friends with the owner and able to borrow a few tables in the back for privacy.

Minoru, the chatelaine’s often grumpy father, seemed to be on his best behavior. Not smiling, but distantly polite to the two newcomers. He thawed a little when his daughter threw her arms around each of the men in greeting.

No one said much as they ate. Youko and Minoru sat beside their daughter on one side of the table, glancing up at her strange friends. Sasuke, Mitsuhide and Miyake sat across from them, looking nervous.

It was Sasuke who finally broke the silence. He cleared his throat. “I understand your daughter told you about our time in the Sengoku. Understandably, you want proof. You have questions. We are here to give you what evidence we can.”

Minoru snorted. “What do you get out of this charade?” He gestured to Mitsuhide. “Is he paying you?”

Miyake looked as if he wanted to speak up, but Sasuke beat him to it. “No. I am here because your daughter is my friend.” He reached into his bag. “I know it isn’t much, but I brought my ninja kit as proof. These - these are smoke pellets. And that is a kunai. This is a sleeping poison, and this -” he went through the items, explaining what they were and how he made them. Detailed descriptions of the tools and materials he had available.

When Sasuke finished, Minoru looked thoughtful.

Youko smiled across as Sasuke. “You seem a very resourceful young man. And you are also the one that discovered these wormholes?”

“Yes ma’am.” Sasuke dipped his head, embarrassed by the compliment.

“It could just be you have a - a fascination with this stuff. Read a lot. Saw some movies,” Minoru said. His gruff voice held more than a hint of doubt. Even he didn’t buy his own explanation.

Sasuke nodded. “I could have. But even that would not yield the encyclopedic knowledge I’ve developed. I would go into greater detail, but I imagine you don’t have the underlying historical education to make use of most of the information I could provide. Unless . . . Are you a history buff?” His voice sounded different at the end, as if this question was important. Light glinted off his glasses, hiding his eyes. The air around him was charged, almost crackling with a sudden and unexpected energy.

“No. I can’t say I am,” Minoru replied.

“Hm, too bad.” The strange tension in the ninja disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Mitsuhide nudged Miyake. The warrior muttered something under his breath and then rolled his shoulders. “Alright, old man. I don’t blame you for doubting us. I’d think I was crazy too, or lying. But what Lady Akechi told you is true. She’s been living with my lord for the last few months. And it’s a good thing too. He smiles a lot more now. Eats too, and sleeps almost like a human.”

“Miyake,” Mitsuhide growled. “That’s not the kind of evidence they need to hear.”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth. And if you don’t mind me saying, well, even if you do, your daughter makes for one hell of a princess. She makes the servants happy to do a good job because she notices the little things. And the guards . . . they’d all die for her, and not just because Lord Akechi demands it. She’s kind and good to all of us. I don’t get to spend time at the castle, but I hear how she remembers birthdays and congratulates newlyweds and -”

Youko laughed, a sound Mitsuhide recognized. Much like his own little one, but matured. More elegance with just the same amount of joy. “It sounds like you have a following,” she smiled at her daughter.

The chatelaine blushed. “I really don’t. He’s exaggerating, mom. Really.”

“He is not,” Mitsuhide chided. “Though I don’t think that’s the kind of proof her father -”

Minoru interrupted, his gruff voice quieting the table. “It’s clear you’ve gotten to know her. My little girl.” He gave her a brief smile. “I am still . . . it’s a lot to take in. This wild story. But she stands by it and there is clearly - something true in it.”

His daughter hugged him. “I knew you’d come around, papa.”

He dislodged himself from her unexpected embrace. “I didn’t say I’m buying the whole story. Just,” he waved his hand, “some of it rings true.”

The tension at their table eased, and conversation began to flow more naturally. Youko and Minoru had a lot of questions, and were finally ready to hear the answers.

***

Kyubei followed Ranmaru through the thick forest undergrowth, barely able to make out the dirt path he led them down. This was supposed to lead to a safe house, one that Kennyo agreed to meet him in. He wished the demon-abbot had a taste for teahouses instead of abandoned forest shacks, but it could be worse.

He could be with Hideyoshi, hunting Motonari across the ports. Kyubei wasn’t afraid of pirates, but being on a boat . . . the constant roll of the ocean waves made him sick as a dog. No matter how many trips he made, he never gained any kind of tolerance for the motion. So this, the dirt and the bugs and the thick air under the trees, was a better deal all around.

“This is it.” Ranmaru stopped just before the path opened on a small clearing. There was a half-rotted shack ahead, once a shrine to some local deity, now fallen into disrepair.

Kyubei was surprised to see he wasn't’ the only one here to speak to the monk. Another familiar figure sat on the wooden steps outside the shrine. “Shingen?”

Takeda grinned up at him, pushing a lock of sweaty hair out of his face. “If it isn’t Mitsuhide’s maid!” He laughed. “Kidding, kidding! I just expected to see the kitsune out here himself.”

“He is otherwise engaged.”

“Is he?” Shingen’s smile was dangerous now. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with our missing ninja, would it?”

“If it does, I’ll send him your head,” Yukimura spoke up from somewhere to Kyubei’s left.

Ranmaru put his hands up, laughing as if this were all so silly. “It’s too early for threats. Come on! Let’s make some tea and relax. The abbot will be here shortly.”

Kyubei turned his head a fraction, just enough to see Yukimura lower his spear. “Tea would be good.” He ignored the younger warrior’s scowl as he followed Ranmaru to the shrine.

He didn’t sit, but stood near Takeda, resting his back against a tree.

Shingen, for his part, pretended to be fully relaxed. It wasn’t quite effective though. His brow held a waxy sheen, his eyes looked sunken and fevered. Worse, his breathing was labored. A rasp, harsh as a winter cough.

Kyubei watched him carefully. This was a bad situation. A dying man had fewer qualms than one that had to live with his decisions. He hadn’t realized Takeda was so bad off though, despite the reports he’d received. The Tiger of the Kai was legend. Not a man to be taken down by sickness. And yet.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Yukimura snapped, coming to stand beside his lord.

Shingen chuckled. “So protective, Yuki.” His laugh turned into a thick, unproductive cough. When he finally got control of himself, he directed his attention to Kyubei. “So. Where did your lord and my ninja go off to? And don’t tell me you don’t know. There’s too much tying their disappearance together. I’d rather not have to kill you today for lying to me.”

Another situation he wished he had his lord’s guidance. What information was safe to pass along, and what plans would the ripples of this conversation affect? Kyubei swallowed. “I suspect they have gone to visit the chatelaine’s home. 500 years in the future.”

Shingen nodded as if this was the answer he expected. “Sasuke asked me if I’d like to visit his hometown. He said - he said they could cure me.”

“And then he left without you.” Yukimura punched the shrine wall, causing the whole building to tremble.

Ranmaru poked his head out. “Hey! Careful or you’ll bring the whole thing down on my head!”

“Sorry,” Yukimura growled.

“If it is any consolation, I don’t believe Lord Akechi or Sarutobi left when they did intentionally. The information my lord left indicates the trip was meant to take place later. He was still . . . putting things in place for his extended absence.”

“That’s bull,” Yukimura grumbled, but he relaxed his grip on the spear.

They had no more time to talk it over as Kennyo’s shadow fell across the clearing. He came out of the trees like a spirit, the rings on his staff clinking. “It appears you found me. Again.”

Shingen grinned. “Well, old friend, I did have to hunt through every abandoned shrine in the province to get to this one.”

Kennyo snorted in disbelief.

“Ranmaru brought me,” Kyubei bowed. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“I have little time or patience for guests. Tell me what you want.” Kennyo crossed his arms.

“Your help with the false emperor.” Kyubei didn’t look up from his bow. “We both know Ashikaga is dead. The scribe we set up in his place, or the men around him, have gone astray.”

“I could care less. Let the exiled shogun harass the devil-king. Nobunaga and his pawns can go to hell.” Kennyo’s eyes were dark and full of anger. It radiated from him like heat from a fire.

Shingen shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I hate him too. But it’s not just him getting hit. These idiot daimyos in his retinue are conscripting farmers. Villagers. Innocent folk that should be left out of a power grab.”

The demon abbot’s eyes fell on his old friend. “And you believe this is a worse fate than what the Oda have in store for them?”

“I do.” Shingen’s gaze didn’t waver.

Kennyo’s shoulders shook and it took Kyubei a moment to realize the abbot was laughing. He shook his head. “You always were a fool, Shingen. But fine. I will tell you what I know. I don’t think you can stop what has been set in motion.”

Next: Double Dating

[0littlestwolf0]

Poisoned Appletini

Yandere! Eddie Longo

Ship: Yan!Eddie Longo x Reader

Warnings: kidnapping, adultered drink, stalking, yandere-ish behavior

Requested by: @tomriddlessecretvampiredemigod

Don’t be out alone at night.

Be vigilant at all times.

And never accept any free drink that wasn’t sealed.

Those were three rules (out of many) to survive life as a woman. Three rules your parents, authorities, and society in general had told you over and over again until it was engraved in your brain.

And yet you forgot to put the words into action.

To be fair, you had had a very stressful couple of weeks beforehand, having to wake up extra early every morning to get ready for an awful day surrounded by people you didn’t like telling you how to do your job.

So, in the midst of all that havoc you found a little routine that made life just a tiny bit more bearable.

Every Monday and every Friday at precisely 9:00pm you’d stop by that club everyone you knew kept talking about, you’d order an Old Fashioned and look closely as it was being made while talking about nothing with that cute bartender whose shift you apparently always seemed to catch.

Those talks usually consisted on nothing of real importance, making fun of people who seemed to be way too drunk, creating interesting stories about strangers the other picked, and what you had considered harmless flirting.

It was anything but harmless.

This Friday had been way too chaotic to put much mind on anything else, you had gone with your usual routine until it seemingly out of nowhere became too much. You couldn’t even glance at your coworkers without feeling the urge to yell at every single one of them.

Your boss was no exception, and when that jerk started yelling at you instead for arriving a minute late after lunch you just couldn’t take it anymore, wouldn’t take it anymore. Honestly, if you tried recalling that moment you’d most likely see something similar to an out of body experience.

The way you almost weren’t in control when your arm threw your water at your boss, and then how your lips moved almost out of your control telling him where he could stick his stupid minute. And then a silent ride to the club in which you were now drinking your usual.

Eddie listened to your every word as you recounted your day, his eyebrows going up and down as your story progressed, every time more and more engrossed in the sound of your voice, his whole body leaning ever so slightly in your direction from the other side of the counter.

As you finished he had drummed his fingers against the polished wood and smiled “You know what this means, right?” He had the widest smile.

His excitement made you laugh

“What?” You asked fully leaning in the counter

He turned around and kept moving around under your curious glance, blocking your view of whatever he was doing, dodging your every question with soft laughter and a couple “you just wait”

And then he placed a green drink in front of you.

It looked and smelt pretty good, you realized. It even had a slice of fruit decorating it, you rose a brow at him.

“It’s a special Appletini, on the house” he explained “A congratulations on starting your new life” he added with a strange smile, one you mistakenly thought nothing of as you began downing the liquid.

It almost tasted like apple, there was something else in there though, something that made everything bitter-y but since you’d never had one before you just figured that was how it was supposed to be.

A couple seconds later you began feeling dizzy, it must’ve been a strong drink, stronger than anything you were used to, you tried to look at Eddie and ask for water, but your head was just too heavy, and so was the rest of your body, it made you stumble out of the stool you had been sitting on.

“You okay?” His question only dimly registered in your brain, but you managed to shake your head regardless.

He wasted on time on getting to your side, his hands taking a hold of both your arms as he directed you outside “I’m taking you home” was all he’d say, and you tried to reply, you really did try to tell him that you’d never told him where you lived, he must’ve been confusing you with someone else.

You can’t remember much more afterwards, only waking up with a pounding head and Eddie offering you water. You tried to scream but your body was too weak to do anything but drink water and stay in bed for the next couple of days, he didn’t even bother tying you up knowing how it would take you a while to take full autonomy of your body.

The second you heard his car taking off you’d try to move some and some more, at first your body had been too heavy, then too weak or clumsy, but sooner than he had expected you were able to move, still putting on a facade of a slow healing in front of him.

And then, one night after he’d left you got up as fast as you could and bolted to the door, which of course was locked, then you looked at a couple of windows until you found one whose lock was so old and worn out even you in your weakened state could break.

You jumped before taking a good measured look outside and began trying to run, but he had been heading back, unfortunately for you he had forgotten his wallet, and he caught you exactly like a deer on the headlights.

Your legs were much too weak to run faster than him, and in no time he had you back in the house that looked even weaker than you.

He wasn’t yelling though, not even raising his voice, but he had you wrapped so tightly in his arms it was hurting you as you tried to squirm away. Something you had noticed about him is that he rarely got mad at you, not being able to talk the last couple of days he had gone on and on about the beautiful life the two of you would share.

Making comments about whether or not he wanted children and deciding it would be up to you, but you only wanted to yell at his face and maybe spit in his direction and then run the other way.

But now he was silent, he’d never been this silent before, he let you loose momentarily as he turned around to lock the door and you tried to hit him square in the chest, I say try because it ended up being more of a slap than anything, but it took his attention back to you regardless, his eyes clouded and his breath going in and out in puffs.

The sight made you shiver and your instincts forced you to run the other way, but he grabbed your arm and twisted it in a very painful angle behind you as he forced you to walk to the bedroom he had had you imprisoned in.

“You are not leaving me” he said only once, twisting it even further with every poisoned word.

You were crying out of an ungodly combination of fear and pain “You’re hurting me!” You cried

He spun you around and forced your back against the wall getting close inside your personal space “You hurt me first” he declared with his whole face going red “pulling out of nowhere that running away shit! What the hell were you thinking! Fuck!” Every word he said made him angrier “After everything I’ve done for you?”

“You kidnapped me!” He slapped you as soon as the words left your mouth, and then he forced you to face him with a steel grip on your chin.

“I saved you!” Was his only reply “And you are never leaving me”

[limitlessgojo]

Blood Bound: Red Strings of Fate (Ch 10)

Warnings: Action, Coarse Language, Fighting, Descriptions of Blood

Previous Chapter: Wait For Me

Next Chapter: Kyoto-Tokyo Goodwill Event

Tags: Soulmates AU, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Fem!Reader

Taglist: @lessie-oxj @rizzo-nero @whoreuc @fkngkumiko @isl3t @gojoussunglasses @onepotatostand-blog @s-t-f-u-b-i-t-c-h @sunaswife

Notes: If you want to be tagged for every update, please mention it in the comments below ty <3

We are halfway through the story~ I never planned for this to be over 40k😅 but I've added some integral scenes in the later chapters. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10: Invisible Ties

You couldn't sleep at all the few nights that followed. Mai and the others noticed your fatigue. They worriedly asked about you and let you cuddle into them and nap when you had some free time.

Miwa even let's you stay with her in her room at times, and it does help for a bit, but you don't want to bother them. And something was telling you it wasn't just regular fatigue.

You sometimes zone out in class and could barely stay awake during physical training. Eventually, you consulted Utahime about your possible insomnia.

You had a feeling it was tied to your feeling of unrest over your soulmate bond. It didn't help that your soulmark was stinging and all your heart wanted was to be with Noritoshi. There was a strong sense of unease over this bond.

You pulled down your sleeve to reveal the mark on your wrist flashing madly like a broken stoplight. You groaned and shoved your face into your pillow.

You've taken to wrapping a black velvet ribbon on it during the day, to not attract attention. If this light flashing keeps up, you might have to use a thicker fabric.

◇◇◇

Noritoshi was feeling the same uneasiness you did. He tried to shake it off and act as natural as he could around you, but even he was still shook at how quickly your negative emotions transmitted over the bond.

He was in his room and it was past 11. He tried to get to sleep, but found that he couldn’t so he tried studying. He was actually distracted for once, looking over his desk at the soulmate record and diaries of Hotaru and found himself reading them.

◇◇◇

On the other hand, you were restless in your room.

"I shouldn't bother Noritoshi senpai but..." You glanced over at your clock. 12:06am. Just past midnight, he was surely asleep. And yet you found yourself grabbing your pillow and blankets, and quietly making your way to his dorm room.

It was as if your body was moving under the command of your red strings. Pulling you back to the man who was responsible for messing you up like this.

You stood outside for a good 5 minutes, contemplating on whether or not you should knock. You haven't had a proper sleep in nights and it is starting to show in your studies.

Finally, you decided to quietly knock a few times. A beat passed and there was no response. You were about to walk away when the door opened. He was awake to your surprise.

He was in his dark navy Kimono, hair wrappings undone. Some strands of his hair fell over his eyes. At that moment, you thought to yourself that he was the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen.

“Can I help you y/n?” He was staring at your pillows and blankets.

Ah right. All of the sudden you feel so small and dumb for coming all the way here for no good reason. “Ah, Noritoshi senpai. Um, good evening.” You scrambled for words.

“I, uhm, I’m sorry I can’t really sleep- Ah what I mean to say is that I haven’t been sleeping well lately and I was wondering if I-” a cold gust of air blew past you and you shivered.

Noritoshi’s eyes widened at this and he pulled you into his room and closed the door behind you. He was so close, your face turned bright red. Way too close for comfort.

He seemed to get the hint and took a step back from you. “So you want to stay the night with me, is that what you’re getting at?”

You stayed still before slowly nodding, then looked up to see his reaction. His face was like stone, nothing was giving anything away. He didn’t look so happy to see you in your opinion.

“I’m sorry to disturb you…. I was gonna…. ask… if I ….. could … sleep …. on … your floor…, “ your voice was getting smaller and softer with each word, heart clenching painfully. Your fists tightly scrunched up in your blankets.

Suddenly he leaned down close to bring his face to yours and raised his hand. You flinched and closed your eyes tightly, expecting a “no.”

He cupped your cheeks gently and touched the bags of your eyes with his fingers. “You’ve been looking so exhausted lately, I was actually going to bring it up to you, but I wasn’t able to catch you earlier today. Just share the bed with me.”

You blinked. What. Did you hear that right?

You looked at him with wide eyes. His face was red too. “Is this okay with you? I really don’t want to overstep my boundaries… Last time….” you opened your mouth then realized you didn’t come here to dump all the shit that’s troubling your mind onto Noritoshi.

‘I’m sure he also has it hard on his end’. “Ah, never mind. Thank you so much senpai.” you smiled up at him.

Noritoshi’s chest hurts to see you fake a smile towards him. Time and time again, he’s loved watching how expressive and honest you are with your emotions.

He’s seen your genuine smiles more often than not. Seeing you like this just felt wrong.

“Tell me.” He said.

“Ah- it’s really nothing, I know you’ve been dealing with so much on your end, you’re also stressed, I’m just thankful that you’re letting me stay here in your room-” you were rambling without realizing it.

“Tell me. Don’t hold back. I can feel your unease through the soulmate bond.” he said sternly.

Noritoshi was starting to understand that you both had to work through the negative emotions each one feels together. That’s the reason for the soulmate bond. Ignoring it would be like dragging yourselves through mud.

You got the gist of his line of thought, having the same realization at the same time. You spoke cautiously so as not to offend him, "This has been bothering me. Last time in your room, it just felt like you were treating me as an outsider and it hurt. Like I thought that we were more than that, but maybe it's just me. Also, you once said I didn't know who you are. So I just…. Wanted to understand you better..."

Noritoshi’s eyes softened, and he just couldn’t resist you anymore. He pulled you towards his bed and set down your blankets and pillows. Then turned back to you, “Can I hug you?”

“Of course.” It was fun to see him blush and awkwardly hold his arms out towards you. You stepped into his space, grabbed one arm to throw around your shoulder, and the other around your waist. As he didn’t seem to know where to hold you.

"I do admit I have my secrets and I’m not ready to tell you about them yet. For that I apologize, you have to wait a bit longer until I’m more comfortable with you. But you're not an outsider to me my dear. You could never be. I also believe that we are more than friends, like I said before. I need you to trust me a little more. And I’ll do the same with you, I’ll trust you a bit more. I want it all and this soulbond, as long as it's you."

Your eyes widened and sparkled upon hearing his words. Your bond finally settled into something of a quiet hum underneath your veins. You hugged him tighter, which he smiled at.

"I'm sorry, I should have explained to you how I felt senpai." You whispered sadly. But he just hushed you and held your hand. "It's okay, next time we can do better. Let’s start anew shall we?"

You spoke out a soft yes in response. It was honestly still a disjointed relationship. Like you’re both just two parts of a whole trying to find their way to each other.

"Let's face the truth. This is really an unconventional relationship. We can't really abide by the normal fall in love then confess situation can we?" You said.

"Why can't we?" Noritoshi asked, looking a bit surprised. "It's unconventional and gives us a fair share of problems, that's true. But we can still fall in love and confess the normal way. With time." He added.

You just hummed and nodded.

You pulled back from him, “Anywayss, Why are you still awake at this hour anyways senpai? It's bedtime.”

“Reading the diary of a man who was my past life.” Your eyes widened at that. “Let’s read a bit of it together, then we can sleep?” You nodded.

He set up the pillows so both of you could lean side by side in bed while reading the diary entries. The story was not a nice one. Hotaru eloping with his lover, on the run from their families, curses and curse users. Constantly taking odd jobs to get money, and hiding in old inns. It sounded so exhausting.

You found yourself looking over at Noritoshi every now and then, wanting to lean closer, your eyelids getting heavier.

He turned to you then looked at the clock. 12:47am.

No classes tomorrow, since it's the weekend but you looked terribly sleepy. So he closed the book, set it aside. Closed the lights before climbing in beside you.

You stretched out like a cat before tucking yourself under the sheets. "Sleep time??"

He smiled at you. "Yeah." He laid down beside you, and you were both lying on your sides, facing each other.

"Good night darling." He whispered. Your face heated up but you thanked the darkness that he couldn't see your blush at the pet name.

"Good night Nori- ah senpai." You whispered back.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Drop the Senpai, just call me Noritoshi."

"Okay…. Noritoshi."

"Mmmm."

2 minutes passed, but you're both still staring at each other.

"Noritoshi."

"What is it?"

"Nothing much… Just saying your name feels nice. Can we hold hands while we sleep?"

He chuckled and reached to clasp both your hands in his. Your mark has long stopped flashing wildly. It's now a warm dark red glow.

You smiled at your marks.

"Can I kiss you? Properly?" He asked hesitantly.

Oh. You would like that very much. Your heart is literally in your throat, beating so furiously Noritoshi could probably feel it.

You could feel some of his stronger emotions through the bond. He really wants to hold you in his arms, you realized. You never felt so bare with another person before. He could probably feel your emotions too, so no point in hiding it.

As you nodded, he slowly crawled over you, caging you in with his arms. Slow, he was too slow.

You grabbed the front of his Kimono and pulled his lips down to yours. His eyes widened, but soon closed shut as he finally finally got to taste you. He was careful not to crush you as he pressed you into the sheets for a deeper kiss.

You both found yourselves running your hands over the other's body. His tongue entered your mouth and played with yours. Dangerous. Your hands tugging at his hair. It was getting dangerous.

Noritoshi quickly pulled back, chest heaving against yours, and tucked you under his chin. His heartbeat was beating furiously before quickly calming down.

"Darling I'm-" how could he tell you that he wants you right now. This wasn’t good, he had to hold himself back. He kissed you on the forehead.

"Shhhh, I'm right here." he whispered sweet nothings into your ears as you whined out at the loss of his lips on yours. "Time for bed as you said. Good night." He kissed you once more on the cheek.

You pouted and looked up to see him cuddle you with such a soft expression. So you relented, "Okay. Good night Noritoshi." And fell into a deep sleep in his arms.

◇◇◇

"Nnnghhh…."

"Mmnghhh…."

…. You opened your eyes to see Noritoshi groaning above you. It's like 3am, in the middle of the night, and you accidentally shoved your knee in his gut.

He was still asleep, but he could feel the pain. You hurriedly retracted your knee, reaching over to pat him on the back. Then moving to stroke him gently on the head.

As he finally settled back into sleep, you subconsciously moved forward to tuck your head under his neck. He is feverishly warm and comfortable. It’s gonna be hard going to bed without him.

And as you fell back into a deep sleep in his arms, Noritoshi, still asleep, wrapped his arms tighter around you and then continued dozing off.

◇◇◇

You felt yourself wake up with the best night’s sleep you’ve had in years. And that was saying something.

Noritoshi was still sleeping. He looked like he was having a rather nice dream. You traced the outline of his features with your fingers until his eyes snapped open.

You jumped back, shrieking and almost falling off the edge of the bed. But Noritoshi had fast reflexes, hand reaching out to grab your waist and pull you close to him. Your face smacked into his chest.

"Morning." His voice was so deep and raspy, you shivered at the sound. His eyes darkened.

"Morning senpai." You whispered, feeling so small.

"Do you make it a habit to play with other people’s faces while they’re asleep?" He whispered.

Goosebumps prickled along your skin as he stroked your arms slowly. "Ahh, I didn’t know you were awake, I’m sorry." You blushed.

Both of your stomachs were kind enough to growl and save your sorry ass. Noritoshi laughed at this.

"My darling needs some breakfast. I'll have the Kamo household prepare and deliver some for us." He said as he reached for his phone.

"Noritoshi, you don't have to, I don't want to be a bother really." You tugged at his sleeves.

“I already said you're never a bother to me haven't I?” He slumped over you as he typed out a text.

You groaned from underneath, "You're heavy Noritoshi."

"That's to stop you from leaving my room without breakfast." He deadpanned.

Blood Bound: Table of Contents