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crazyunsexycool · 1 year

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My little love

Chapter 8

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x enhanced!reader

Word count: 4.9k

Warnings: fluff, canon level violence! Use of guns, blood, reader turns into full on mama bear

⚠️EXTRA TRIGGER WARNING⚠️ : children are murdered

A/N: love the first half of this chapter, cried on the other half. So I am so sorry about it! I’ve also been thinking of adding an older kid may 7 or 8, would that ruin the fic?

Series masterlist

Ch. 7

Everything was mama.

It had only been one day since the night at the fire pit. After your initial shock wore off and you looked around you noticed everyone had the same expression on their faces. Pure happiness bounced from person to person. Steve immediately took Charlotte and tried to get her to say his name but she wouldn’t budge. While everyone was busy trying to get Lottie to say something else Clint walked up to you. There was that little glimmer in his eyes, he understood what you were feeling.

“Come here kid.” He opened his arms and hugged you. “You deserve to be her first word. You were her first safe person, never forget that you hear me.” He said with a smile once he pulled back.

“Is it always this overwhelming?”

“Yup, no matter how many kids you have their first everything will always be full of emotions. Just remember these moments when things get tough and you’ll be fine.”

“Thanks Clint.” He hugged you again.

Now you were finishing up your exercise routine while Bucky laid flat on his back on the sparring mats. He lets out an uff when Lottie throws herself over him. Her little arms extend to her side as she looks up at her dad. Bucky knows what she wants and quickly grabs her by her waist and lifts her up as he moves her around and makes airplane noises. Lottie kicks, giggles and blows raspberries as she tries to imitate what Bucky was doing. He brings her down and kisses her cheek causing more giggles to spill from her lips.

“Can you say dada?” Bucky asked her for the millionth time that morning.

“Mama.”

“Can you say dada once doll?”

You stood back as you watched the scene unfold, a smile playing on your lips. Lottie looked at her father straight in the eyes and then shook her head ‘no’.

“Mama.” And then she had the nerve to giggle.

“Say dada.” Bucky said in a growl, it was the voice he used when he read to her and there was a big burly character. Lottie squealed and wiggled trying to get out of his grasp but her belly laughs left her weak.

“Mama. Mama.”

This time she called out to you and you were more than willing to join the fun.

“Oh no my sweet Angel, do you need help?”

Ever the dramatic, just like her father, Lottie reaches her hands out so that you would take her. “Mama.” She said through a giggle caused by Bucky blowing raspberries on her belly. Before you’re able to grab her Bucky has pulled you down to the floor. Lottie is laying on his chest while he wraps an arm around you.

“Hi.” You say when you look at Bucky.

“Hi.”

He leans closer and kisses you. Lottie made her way to sit in between you, effectively causing you and Bucky to pull back. She leans forward and kisses your cheek with a very loud ‘muah’ for effect. You chuckle as she turns and kisses Bucky too.

“Steve, Sam, Nat and Clint are going out to a bar tonight and they asked if we wanted to go. What do you think?”

You looked back up at Bucky. This would be the second time you would be away from Lottie and you weren’t sure you liked the idea even though you had a mission coming up.

“Who would look after Lottie?”

“Wanda said she would. She’s not in the mood to go out tonight.” Bucky gave you a hopeful look.

“Ok, it’ll be fun. I’m gonna go figure out what I’m gonna wear.” You say as you stand up and head for the door. “Sweet Angel, are you staying with dada or coming with mama?”

“Mama.” Lottie stood up and walked toward you without a second glance at Bucky.

“Wow it’s like I’m nothing to her.”

You laugh as you head for the door. “See you later, handsome.”

You opted for a more comfortable style for the night out. Bucky had mentioned the weather was great for a ride on his bike. You took out your leather jacket, which he had gifted you, a simple t-shirt and jeans along with some boots. For your hair and makeup you did something simple and by 8:00 you were ready to head out.

“Ok Wanda if you need anything please call us.”

“Ok but don’t worry we’ll be just fine.” Wanda said while bouncing Lottie on her lap.

“Mama.”

“Bye my sweet Angel, I’ll see you later.” You kiss her forehead and then Wanda’s causing her to chuckle. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Don’t worry about it. Have a good time, Lottie and I are having our own girls night.”

You wave as you say a final goodbye, receiving a wave back from Lottie. When you open the door you’re met with Bucky who's also wearing his leather jacket. He leans in and kisses you sweetly before you head down to the garage.

Once you’re out of the elevator you hear Steve’s bike kicking on.

“Hey, Stevie.”

“Hey guys, ready to go?”

You nod as Bucky gets on his bike and you sit behind him. This isn’t new to you, there have been multiple occasions in which you rode on the back of Bucky’s motorcycle. This time it’s different though because you don’t have to hide the rush you feel by holding on to him so tightly.

“Nat, Sam and Clint took a car just in case anyone drinks too much.”

“Awesome. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Steve heads out first and Bucky follows. The bar the team likes to frequent isn’t that far but they respect your privacy which you all love. They also have a few dart boards and pool tables. It became the second favorite team hang out after you stumbled upon it.

Sam and Clint immediately go to one of the dartboards, even though everyone knows Clint never misses. Nat and Steve order the first round while you and Bucky head to one of the pool tables.

“Ladies first.” Bucky gestures to the table after setting everything up.

“Are you ready to have your ass handed to you Barnes?”

“Oh ok, I thought this was going to be a fun and relaxing night out. I forget how competitive you get.”

You smile and wink at him before taking your first shot. Bucky moves around the table, lines up his own shot and hits his target flawlessly. Both of you start walking around the pool table taking turns and just chatting.

“That is not fair.” You complain after his third back to back shot. Bucky laughs as he stands next to you.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I can help it.” He smiles when he sees your scowl. “I’m just using the skills I have. If the balls were made of metal I know you would use your ability.”

You gasp as you place a hand over your heart.

“I would never cheat like that. And the fact that you think so is very insulting.”

You pout while glaring at him. Bucky just chuckles and wraps an arm around your waist. He pulls you in and kisses the pout away before you keep playing.

“They’re so cute together, it makes me want to throw up.” Nat says with a hint of a smile as she places some of the drinks down on a nearby table. Steve laughs as he sets the others down.

“I’m just happy they stopped ignoring their feelings. Those longing stares were driving me crazy.”

“Yeah, I'd rather deal with that.” Nat adds as both her and Steve watch Bucky lean down and kiss you again. “Hey, love birds, I play against the winner.”

You’re there for a few hours. Drinking and joking and taking turns trying to beat Clint at darts. He’s still undefeated.

You open the door to your apartment while trying to stifle a giggle. Bucky was right behind you to make sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself. You weren’t drunk, just tipsy but still he wanted to make sure you got into bed ok.

“Hey, guys.” You say as you walk into the living room to find Wanda, Vision and Lottie. “What are you doing awake sweet Angel?”

“I’m sorry she just didn’t want to go to sleep.”

“Don’t worry about it Wanda.” You waved your hand dismissively. “Was everything ok?”

“Yes, Charlotte is truly a delight.”

You smile at Vision who was currently holding Lottie. She was very interested in the shining stone on his forehead.

“Doll, did you have fun with auntie Wanda and uncle Vision?” Bucky asked from beside you once Lottie decided to turn and look at you.

“Mama.”

Her face lit up when she saw both of you. Lottie immediately reaches out and starts making grabby hands. Bucky picks her up and Lottie wraps her arms around his neck the best way she could.

“I missed you sweet Angel.” You say as you lean in to kiss her cheek.

Bucky thanks Wanda and Vision as they get up to leave. Once it’s just the three of you Bucky ushers you into your room and then sits Lottie on your bed.

“Go get changed and I’ll get her to sleep. And then I’ll head to bed.” He says.

“No, stay with us. We can cuddle with Lottie. Please.”

Bucky smirks at your request.

“Ok, but you still have to get ready for bed. Now go.” He smacks your butt lightly.

When you walk out of the bathroom Bucky and Lottie are already comfortably in bed. Lottie is obviously fighting sleep. She gives you a tired smile as you walk closer. There is a glass of water and painkillers on your nightstand which you take before getting comfortable in bed.

“Mama.” Lottie says as she lays her head on your chest.

“Hi my sweet Angel. Hi handsome.”

“Hi sugar, did you have fun tonight?”

“Yes,” you whisper as you rubbed Lottie’s back in the hopes of getting her to sleep. “I’m glad we went. I like spending time with you, even if you cheat while playing pool.”

Bucky chuckles, his nose scrunching in that way you find adorable. “I didn’t cheat, I’m just a good shot.”

Lottie’s head shoots up from its place on your chest. Her eyes are droopy and she smacks her lips a few times before she babbles and moves to get comfortable. She settles right between you and Bucky and her eyes finally close. You turn to lay on your side as you admire both her and her father. They had both certainly changed your life and for the better. There was no doubt in your mind or heart that you loved them. Your eyes drift from Lottie to Bucky who was also admiring his daughter. His eyes shift to you and they’re filled with awe and happiness.

“You’re everything to me.” Bucky whispered. His hand finds yours and he intertwines his fingers with yours.

“You’re everything to me too. I don’t know what I’d do without you, or Lottie.”

Bucky presses a kiss to your knuckles.

“Goodnight, sugar.”

“Goodnight, handsome.” You sigh happily as you finally drift off to sleep.

You woke up first. Your alarm had been set up just high enough for you to hear and you shut it off quickly so as to not disturb the sleeping Barnes’. They were both in the same position, on their backs with their head tilted to the right, a hand over their midsection and their lips slightly parted. You took a picture and slipped out of bed quietly.

Today you had a briefing for the first mission you’d be going on. It was meant to be a recovery mission so only you, Bruce and Tony were going. It should only take a few hours but you were nervous all the same. Last time you left on a mission you almost didn’t make it back. You shake away the thought and head to the kitchen to make coffee before leaving to the conference room.

Bruce and Tony explained everything they had found after the raid on the bigger hydra detention center. This place was supposed to be an extension of that. It’s where the true experiments were created and tried. So you had to go to find what other things hydra had been working on. You leave in two hours so you head out quickly to find Bucky and Lottie in hopes of spending time with them before you have to leave.

Quick little squeaks get closer to you and when you turn the corner you find Bucky following Lottie. She was wearing light up sneakers. When she saw you she moved faster causing the lights and squeaks to go just as fast.

“Mama.” She wrapped her arms around your leg and looked up at you.

“Hi my sweet Angel. Were you running away from dada?” She only giggles in response.

“When do you leave?”

“Two hours, so I have one to spend with my favorite people.” You before kissing him.

“I missed you this morning.”

“I missed being there this morning. Were you going somewhere specific?”

“No, I was letting her lead the way. Seems like she was looking for you.”

You scoop Lottie up in your arms and kiss her cheek. “Should we go for a walk?”

“It is nice out.”

The three of you head in the direction of the nearest elevator, Lottie’s shoes lighting up the way. In the elevator she stomps her feet and giggles as the light bounces off the walls. Bucky takes your hand as you head outside. Lottie pushes the door open which reminds you how strong she actually is. And you remember the mission you’ll be heading off too. You can’t help but wonder if this is where she had been born and where the horrible things they did to her took place. While deep in thought you hadn’t realized bucky took out his phone and was recording sweet Angel running around. She stood in front of you with her hand stretched out.

“Mama.” She cooed as she held a tiny flower in her fist.

“Aw sweet Angel, is this for me?” You took it and placed it behind your ear.

Lottie’s mouth goes into an ‘o’ shape at the amazing thing you had just done. You laugh as you watch her run away and come back with another flower, this time for Bucky.

“Dada.” She said as she offered him the flower.

Bucky almost dropped his phone. You were quick to take it from him so that you could record the interaction. Bucky picked her up and kissed her forehead before cradling her against his chest. You could see the tears starting to form in his eyes and he took a deep breath to try and control it.

“Dada pay?” Lottie asked as she wiggled away from Bucky’s chest.

“Pay? Lottie do you want to play with dada?”

“Pay.” She points towards the jungle gym at the opposite side of the field you were standing in.

“We’ll do whatever you want, doll.”

“I have to get ready for the mission, see you in the hangar?” You ask.

“Of course.” Bucky leans down and kisses you as you place his phone in his back pocket. You stay there watching them walk along the field before heading back and suiting up.

Tony and Bruce were the first to get to the hangar. You walked in and Clint followed shortly after.

“What are you doing here?”

“Stark asked me to join, just in case you needed extra help without having to rely on Hulk.”

“Oh, ok.”

The door opens again and when you turn you see Bucky with a slightly tired Lottie in his arms. You meet them halfway and quickly wrap your arms around them both.

“I know it’s only a few hours but I’m going to miss you so much.”

“We’ll miss you too but we’ll be right here when you get back tonight. Right doll?” Bucky turned his attention to his daughter.

“Yeah mama.”

“You’re saying more words my sweet Angel. I'm so proud of you.” You kiss her cheek. “Will you be saying more words when I get back?”

“Yeah mama.”

You both laugh. Bucky leans in and kisses you.

“Please be safe.” He mutters against your lips.

“I will.”

You give him another kiss and then Lottie before you head to the jet. As you turn to wave goodbye you see Bucky telling Lottie something.

“Bye mama.” She practically yells as her little hands waves.

“Bye sweet Angel.” You yell back and wave.

You sit down next to Clint. “I don’t know how you do this.”

Clint looks down at you with a smile. “I do it to keep them safe. If I’m not out there keeping the monsters at bay who will?”

You nod as you think about his answer. “You’re absolutely right.”

“I know.”

You roll your eyes and laugh.

Tony scans the building as the jet lands. He confirms his suspicions of the building being abandoned. Three floors he had said. Just as a precaution you, Clint and Tony walk through the building to make sure you aren’t surprised by anyone.

“Something feels off with this place.” You say as you clear the last floor and holster your gun. “I think we’re missing something, isn’t this supposed to be a testing facility. Where do they do the testing?”

All you had found were a few small medical rooms and offices. Tony called Bruce in and he began to look through files while Tony handled the computers.

“Let’s go check out the other floors again. Maybe there’s something of value there.” Clint offers.

“You take the second floor, I’ll take the first.”

You headed down the stairs leaving Tony and Bruce on the third floor and Clint on the second. It was a slow process but you were determined to find any information they might have had on Lottie. There was this feeling you couldn’t shake like you were missing something. Whatever it was you knew deep down that it was important.

As you move into one of the offices furthest away from the main entrance you hear a high pitched whistling sound, almost like a tea kettle when it's ready. You look around, your hands hovering over the walls when you feel the draft.

“Please be a secret door.” You murmur to yourself. Feeling around the wall you push and a small section gives way. You put your hand to your comms. “Found a secret passageway. I’m heading down.”

“Wait, I'll be right there.” Clint answers. “This didn’t show up on the scans someone might be hiding.”

“It’s fine, Hawk. Just come down, I'll leave it open for you.”

You pull your gun out and begin to clear room by room. Most of them were small offices but as you get further in you see two larger spaces across from each other. One looked like a surgical theater. There was a set of stairs in the corner that led to a balcony that overlooked a surgery table. This room looked familiar, once you moved around a bit you realized this is where Lottie had been born. As you stand in the room you realize that the equipment that’s in the rooms is more advanced than the equipment in the video.

With nothing else to look at you head into the other room. Your gun still drawn, you turn quickly and search any areas where someone might try to hide but you find nothing. What you do find instead are four small cryogenic chambers. Three of them have a small bullet size hole in the small viewing window. Your heart immediately starts beating uncontrollably. Once you look inside the first one you gasp.

The sound of a gun going off rang behind you. The bullet hung in the air as you turned around with your own gun raised and ready to fire. The bullet that would have hit you right between your eyes had you not stopped it fell to the floor and in front of you stood an older man. You hadn’t seen him when you first walked in but you noticed another door right behind him. He looked familiar too, you just couldn’t place him.

“Well isn’t this a nice surprise? I thought I would be getting the soldat, but instead I got his honey.” He has a slight accent. It takes you a moment to place him but your eyes widen just a fraction and he notices. “Ah, good now you know who I am. Tell me how is my little project? Has she gained all her strength back already?”

“I’m not telling you shit. Was that your plan with these three too? Raise them up to be soldiers for you?”

“Of course, what else would I want them for? The littlest one was first if she died, who cares?” He shrugged his shoulders. “Genetically speaking these three were stronger. But look at what you’ve made me do. I had to get rid of them since you had to come snooping around.” He uses his gun to point at them.

You lower your gun at the realization. “They were alive today?”

“Of course they were. But I didn’t want you to get your hands on them. You already have one of your soldat’s precious children, I couldn’t allow you to have these as well.” You could see the anger in his eyes at the thought of losing more assets. “I do have to thank you though. You saved our last asset, we’ll be sure to take care of her once she’s back with her rightful owners.” He points the gun at you again and emptied the clip.

All of the bullets stay in the air between you both.

“You think I’m going to let you go near her?” The metal bracers that were part of your suit melt down and move to your hands. The metal covers your hands like gloves.

He laughs as your face goes from horror and concern to unreadable. The fire in your eyes is unmistakable though.

“Don’t tell me you care for her?” His laugh echoes in the room, taunting you. “Don’t worry she’ll be well looked after, and she’ll go on to do great things in the name of hydra.”

You moved quickly. The only thought running in your mind was not letting this animal even think about getting his hands on Lottie. A metal fist connects with his jaw and he falls to the floor. But that’s not enough. You think of how scared Lottie had been when she woke up. The terror in her eyes whenever she was near a lab or anyone wearing scrubs. How you thought you lost her when she stopped breathing because of her vision. You thought of the three innocent children he had just murdered. Your fist connected with his face every single time. He groaned in pain and blood seeped through broken skin. He tried to grab your hands or your suit but he was already too weak. It was obvious he had multiple broken bones but that wasn’t enough for you. He had inflicted pain on your little girl and you wanted him to feel the same.

You only stopped when Clint had reached you and pulled you back. Tony and Bruce were right behind him. You kicked and pulled trying to finish what you started.

“Let me go Barton. I will end him.” You were determined to not let that monster live another day especially if he threatened the safety and well-being of your daughter.

“He’s unconscious already.” Bruce tried to reassure.

“I want him dead.” You said as you pulled away from Clint and moved toward the chambers. “They were alive just before we arrived.” You muttered as you held back tears.

The three men moved toward the chambers and peered inside to find three small children no bigger than Lottie and they cursed under their breaths. They all had a single gunshot wound. You couldn’t deny how much they looked like her and it only made the anger you had boil over. They could have been saved, taken away from this life of misery. You and Bucky would have loved them unconditionally.

“Test subject 6369-65, test subject 7257-71, test subject 8254-78 and test subject 9268-88.” Bruce read off the information on the side of each chamber and moved to the filing cabinet. He quickly found the files pertaining to each child and held one out to you. “This one belongs to her.”

You grabbed it and opened it immediately. Scanning through the large amounts of papers of the things they’d put her through. While you did that Clint left to check out where the doctor had appeared from.

“We can’t leave them here. They deserve better.”

“We won’t. I’ll make sure they’re well taken care of.” Tony said as he pulled you in for a hug. It was obvious how much this had affected you.

“It’s just a small room with supplies. The whole place is cleared.”

“Then we should get going. We have everything we came for.”

The flight back was tense. Bruce worked to keep your unexpected guess alive and all you wanted to do was make sure he would need a feeding tube for the rest of his life. You knew it’s not that he wanted to, Bruce was the most hesitant to be around Lottie but even he grew fond of her. The only reason he was brought back was because he obviously had more information.

Once the jet touched down you were the first one at the ramp. You heard her before you saw her and your chest tightened. Pulling your phone out of your pocket and looking through one of the windows you saw that Steve and Bucky were both there. You called Steve. He pulled his phone out and frowned.

“Hey, is everything ok?”

“Yes and no, can you tell Bucky to take her inside.” You whispered, unsure if your unwanted guest was awake.

“Yeah, ok.”

You watched as Steve turned to Bucky. His eyes shifted from Steve to the jet before he nodded and walked away. As soon as Bucky left you practically ran out of the jet. Your body collided with Steve’s and you wrapped your arms around him. Steve was confused and he looked up as Tony and Bruce moved your prisoner on a stretcher, a small medical team moved to help. Clint was last but he stayed by the jet’s ramp, a solemn expresión on everyone’s face.

You were mentally and emotionally exhausted by the time you made it to the apartment. There was still blood on your face and suit from when you beat that good for nothing doctor within an inch of his life. You were met with a very worried Bucky in your living room. He was pacing back and forth, only stopping when he saw you walk in.

“Are you hurt?” He immediately took your face in his hands, gently tilting your head to try and find the source for the blood.

“It’s not mine. I’m gonna go shower ok?”

“Do you need anything?” Worry laced his question.

“Just you and our daughter.”

Bucky was sitting against the headboard in your bed. Lottie was standing next to him. She was bouncing while holding on to him, giggling every time she fell. You slid into bed, the shift on your side gets her attention.

“Mama.” Lottie says gleefully. You open your arms as she crawls into your lap.

You kiss her forehead while the thoughts of what you’d found earlier keep running through your mind. Lottie reaches up and gives you a of her own. The simple act of affection from her makes tears swell up in your eyes. As much as you try to blink them back you can’t. Your chest tightens at the overwhelming emotions. If that weren’t enough both Bucky and Lottie try to wipe away your tears.

“What happened on that mission, sugar?”

“It was where she was born.” You smooth out Lottie’s hair. “We brought someone back. I almost killed him, I wanted to. Does that make me a bad person?”

Bucky shifts closer and wraps his arm around you and Lottie. “No it doesn’t. But you never want to hurt someone like that. So what happened? Did he touch you?” The question made bile rise in Bucky’s throat.

“No, he tried to shoot me tho. But no, it's worse. I didn’t recognize him at first but it’s because he’s older now.” You take a deep breath. “You remember the video of when Lottie was born?”

“Yeah, where that doctor fractured her arm.”

“He’s the doctor in the video.” You whispered.

Bucky tensed next to you and you grabbed his hand before he was able to move away from you.

“Don’t, please. I don’t want to be alone right now and he’s practically dead anyway.”

Bucky took a deep breath to try and calm down. He pulled you and Lottie into his lap. The warmth he provided and being held safely in his arms provided the comfort you needed.

You knew the next day would be just as emotionally exhausting. The thought of having to tell him about the other three children you found was heartbreaking. For now you let sleep take over while you held your little girl in your arms. The one place you knew she would be safest.

Ch. 9

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delicateflowerss · 2 years

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Heartless (Rafe Cameron x Reader)

Series Masterlist

After crashing a party, you know better than anyone that Rafe Cameron has no heart.

Warnings: 18+, DUB-CON, smut, pogue!reader, dark!Rafe, voyeurism, degradation, choking kink, slight violence, mention of anal, self-hatred, mention of drowning, mentions of drugs, underage drinking, non-canon ages (pogues are aged up)

You hate lying, especially to them.

Your friends wanted you to stay, spending the rest of the night on the porch of the Chateau, a beer in one hand and a joint in the other. Normally, that would sound like the perfect night to you. But even they can’t distract you from how miserable you are.

You sat there and listened to Pope and JJ’s bickering, Kiara interfering when she was needed. Looking away from them, you couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy at what you saw. Sarah sitting in John B’s lap, contentment painted on their faces.

So, you lied.

You told them that your mom needed you home, the poisonous words leaving your mouth with ease. You planned on curling up in your bed, deciding that your misery was best dealt with in private.

But as you get closer to your house, you feel the need to keep riding your bike, farther and farther away.

You don’t mind the long ride, enjoying the breeze on your face and the smell of sea salt wafting through the air. Your head feels clear for once, your only focus is keeping your legs moving and steering the handlebar.

It doesn’t hit you how far you are until you see it.

You come to a halt, stumbling a little off the seat of your bike, Your feet clumsy on the pedals. Your eyes scan the cars lining the driveway, types of cars you don’t usually see on The Cut. You can hear the deep bass of the music all the way from the street. People walk in and out of the intimidatingly large house.

You’re on the wrong side of the island.

Even worse, you’re at the Cameron’s house.

You could turn back now, ease your guilty conscience by actually going home.

You begin to realize that you have nothing left to lose. The idea of crashing a kook party sounds exciting, crashing a party hosted by Rafe Cameron sounds even more exciting.

Your heartbeat gets louder in your ears at the mere thought. Your fingers clench around the handlebars before riding past the gates.

The music is almost deafening as a sea of red solo cups surround you. You’re not sure if you’ve ever seen this many polo shirts in your life.

You remember why Sarah can stay at the Chateau tonight, Ward, Rose, and Wheezie are out of town for the weekend. She mentioned that to you a few days ago but you forgot about it. You guess you weren’t really listening in the first place.

Looking around, you don’t see anyone too familiar, just a bunch of kooks you never really talked to. You worry you stick out like a sore thumb. But no one even looks at you, too drunk or high to care.

You see someone pouring an unidentifiable liquid into cups. Without asking what it is, you down the lime green drink, grimacing at the taste. It’s exactly what you need. You’ll drink anything if it dampens the pain you feel, how your heart clenches at the thought of him.

You continue to look around, wondering if you’ll run into your host. Your palms still feel a little sweaty, so you refill your cup, downing that one too.

Leaving the kitchen, you spot Topper. A cup in one hand, the other on the wall next to the girl he’s obviously flirting with. If it means he’s over Sarah, you suppose you’re happy for him.

You move through the crowd, accidentally bumping into the people around you. It hits you how fucking depressing this is. At a party filled with strangers, your throat burning slightly from the alcohol. You could be with your friends, the people who care about you, actually having fun. Except it hasn’t been that way for a while.

Even Sarah’s noticed.

“So, he took me out on the water, and we just sat there, watching the sunset. It was so romantic, Y/N.” She smiled to herself, lost in the memory. “I think John B might be the perfect boyfriend.”

She looked over at you, her smile fading.

“Are you even listening?”

You nodded. “I’m listening and it sounds wonderful. I’m so happy for you.”

Your tone didn’t exactly match what you were saying, the words struggled to come out of you. You hoped she didn’t notice, but she did.

Her eyes didn’t leave you, instead of anger, worry seeped in.

“Why don’t you come over later? My dad won’t mind.”

You avoided her stare, fiddling with the threads on your jeans. You just shrugged gently, not knowing what to say.

She sighed, leaning back on her hands. The two of you were on the dock, the sun shining off the water in front of you.

Ever since Sarah started dating John B, you two got close. You’ve been friends with the others for years, but you and her instantly clicked. It’s a kind of bond you’ve never really had with anyone before.

So, avoiding her was never easy for you.

“You haven’t wanted to come over in weeks… are you mad at me?” Her voice sounded softer, confusion creeping in.

You quickly looked up to meet her eyes, instantly seeing the hurt she felt.

“No, Sarah. I’m not mad at you. I could never be mad at you.” You felt bad she even thought that.

You saw her shoulders relax, relief flooding her.

“But why don’t you want to come over anymore?” Worry still lingered in her voice.

You took a moment to answer but before you could, she continued.

“Did something happen the last time you came over?”

You stayed silent.

“Or did something happen before that?” She prodded you, wanting any kind of answer.

“Why do you think something happened before that?” You asked, wondering where she got that from.

She moved off her hands, bringing them to her thighs.

“You’ve been distant. Like you’re holding something back. Maybe it’s in my head, but usually you tell me everything. And lately, it’s like there’s a wall there.”

You bit your lip, considering her words. You were careful with what you said next.

“Nothing happened. I’m sorry if I’ve been distant, I just… have a lot on my mind.”

You hoped that fulfilled her curiosity.

It didn’t.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

You shook your head and said, “It’s just family stuff.”

She watched you, finally getting the message that you don’t want to talk.

You felt like the worst friend ever.

You can’t remember if you’re on your fourth or fifth cup. You’ve just been taking what’s being given to you.

You’ve made your way into the backyard. The blue ripples of the pool water stare back at you. It’s quieter outside, no one out here but you. It’s that time of year when it’s too cold to swim but too hot to wear a jacket.

You take in the big pool and pretty flowers. Sometimes, you like to fantasize about what it would have been like to grow up on Figure Eight. Being able to have nice clothes, a big house, maybe even getting a car for your 16th birthday. Not having to deal with sneering rich kids on their yachts calling you poor and dirty.

You try to snap out of your thoughts, your head already foggy. You should leave before you’re unable to ride your bike all the way back to The Cut. You thought the alcohol would help you to forget your problems, but instead it’s bringing them to the forefront of your mind.

You should’ve known that being here would only make things worse.

Something did happen the last time you were here.

You laid in Sarah’s bed, her steady breathing filling the room. The smell of burnt popcorn lingered as the TV flashed brightly in the dark room. The movie you two tried watching, plays with no sound. The white light is almost blinding.

Sarah fell asleep before you did, something that happens often when you two have a sleepover. You tried to get comfortable, hoping to join her in blissful slumber. But your mouth felt dry, and your throat felt scratchy. You sat up with a quiet sigh, annoyed that you have to get up to get a glass of water.

So, you tread lightly, not wanting to wake her or anyone else up. You could tell everyone else was asleep, the house dark and quiet.

That’s what you thought at least.

Before you could make it to the stairs, you passed by a door open enough so a glimmer of light peeked through.

That’s when you heard it.

A moan, loud enough for you to hear, but quiet enough to not wake anyone up. A moan not belonging to him.

Your brow furrowed as you stepped closer to his door.

You held your breath as you peeked in, pushing down any guilt over an act that crosses every line.

You saw him moving on top of her, some nameless girl you’ve never seen before. His back muscles flexed under his skin with every thrust. The strands of his dirty blond hair brushed against her face. Gentle moans kept coming from her.

He brought his hand to her mouth, caressing her bottom lip. The light reflected off his gold ring. He moved his finger just to replace it with his lips. It was a soft, almost, loving action.

You tore your eyes from the scene in front of you. Nausea swirled in your stomach and your eyes started to sting.

You’ve tried to forget about that night, but it’s haunted you. You told yourself that Rafe wasn’t dating that girl, knowing that he doesn’t do girlfriends.

At least that’s what he told you.

Your eyes are still stuck on the swimming pool before you. You think about diving into the cold water, your blood turning to ice as you stay under while freezing water rushes into your lungs. Would people just continue partying when they saw you? Would he care at all?

So consumed by your thoughts and self-induced torture, you don’t hear the door open and close behind you. You don’t register that anyone is out there with you until you feel a rough hand on your arm.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He asks through gritted teeth.

Forcing you to look at him, you watch him with wide eyes.

You want to say he looks good, his blue polo shirt matching his eyes. His pupils are blown, telling you what he’s been up to. But his bruising grip hurts and before you can say anything, he pulls you back into the noisy house. No one notices how he drags you up the stairs, your feet stumbling a little, while he shows no care whether you fall on your face or not.

You’re pushed into his bedroom. You only know it’s his room from walking by it so many times. You’ve never actually stepped foot in here before. The door slams behind him and he fiddles with a lock and key.

You try to catch your breath as you take in the scenery of his room, drinking in details of how Rafe spends his every day. You notice the posters on his wall and the brand of deodorant he has on his nightstand.

“Y/N, tell me what the fuck you’re doing at my party.”

You look at him, his tone demanding your attention. You can tell he’s angry, his eyebrows pulled together and his jaw ticking. He looms over you, has he always been this tall?

You’ve seen Rafe angry before, who hasn’t? But it’s never been directed at you. You unconsciously fiddle with the hem of your shirt, not knowing what to do or say.

“I- I was in the neighborhood. I thought it’d be fun…” You end up mumbling.

He stares at you for a second.

Then he bursts out laughing.

His anger has dissipated but you know this is worse. Your cheeks grow hot with embarrassment.

He finally calms down, a grin on his face.

“You were in the neighborhood,” he repeats, nodding, “Okay.” He acts like he believes you before breathing out another laugh, a smirk on his pink lips.

“So, why’d you really come here? Needed to see me that badly?”

“I just wanted to go to a party, okay? It has nothing to do with you.”

“I doubt that,” he says under his breath. But you hear him.

“Rafe.” He locks eyes with you at the sound of his name. “Don’t be an asshole.”

He rolls his eyes at the petty insult and steps closer to you.

It’s been so long since you’ve been this close to him. You can smell his cologne. You could never pinpoint the exact scent, just the slight smell of something woodsy.

It distracts you from how upset you are with him. But the next few words that comes out of his mouth makes it all rush back.

“I don’t want some dirty pogue off the street at my party.”

He doesn’t have that usual smirk or teasing tone to his voice. He seems genuine, like he truly despises you.

You can feel your chest start to tighten and your eyes beginning to water. You try your hardest to stop the tears, but it’s in vain.

“Aw, are you crying? Did I hurt your feelings?” His tone is now mocking, a short laugh following what he says.

“You’re being mean, Rafe.” You wipe the tears falling down hastily, struggling to get the words out through your trembling lip.

“I’m not being mean,” he says before reaching to grab your jaw, his fingers on either side of your face. You groan from the pain, his fingers digging into your skin. “But I can be. You want me to be mean?” He asks, his lips parted, eyes scanning your face.

You don’t respond, just watching him through your blurry vision.

“I think you do.” That smirk appears on his lips again. “You always liked it rough.”

“Rafe-.” He cuts you off by capturing your lips in a painful kiss. He can taste the saltiness of your tears, reveling in the hurt he’s caused you.

He pulls away, a smug look on his face. He takes his hand away from you, the pain dulling.

“You just can’t get enough of me, can you?” You can hear his pants unzipping.

“I didn’t come here to fuck you.”

You want to believe what you’re saying is true, but of course the possibility of it happening has been in the back of your mind since you walked into this party.

“Don’t lie to me,” he darkly whispers, anger tracing his tone. “You’ve been obsessed with me ever since I decided to put my cock inside you.”

He brings a finger to the side of his head, tapping it. “But what you still don’t get is, I was bored. And you were easy.”

The night of the bonfire flashes in your mind. You can remember the feeling of his hand on your waist and how beautiful he looked under the moonlight. He whispered in your ear, telling you how pretty you look. That was the sweetest he ever was to you.

After he led you away and fucked you in the dark, things changed between you and Rafe. You two hooked up for months, in places only you two knew about. He treated you nicely enough for you to keep coming back, hoping that he would look at you the way he did on the night of the bonfire.

He never did.

He became your best kept secret, cancelling plans with your friends just for him. Just for him to drop you, one random afternoon, telling you he was done and blocking your number.

He grabs ahold of your hair, yanking it, a yelp coming from your lips.

“I can’t believe how stupid you are to think I would ever date you.” A laugh falls from his mouth, “A pogue.”

Hand still in your hair, he moves you towards his bed, pushing your body down on the mattress.

You fall onto your stomach, your cheek squished against the soft sheets.

You guess him ending things wasn’t that random. It came just a few days after you asked about getting serious, which you realize was a bit naïve.

You feel him start to push your shorts down. You let him do what he wants with you. Even if what he says and does hurts you, deep down, you know it’s true. You believe the things he calls you. You are just a dirty pogue who doesn’t deserve him.

“What would your friends say if they knew half the things you’ve let me do to you?”

You feel your underwear get pushed down next, the cool air on your pussy.

“Like that time, you let me fuck you in the ass.”

He sounds proud of himself.

“Do your friends know you’re such a whore?”

They would be upset if you had been sleeping with any kook, but if they ever found out that you’ve been sleeping with Rafe, they would hate you. You’ve betrayed them and they don’t even know it.

He notices your arousal, already coating your inner thighs. He knows that your shame and desire are so closely linked.

“You’re soaking wet, and I haven’t even touched you.”

You can feel the tip of his cock poking at your entrance.

Your teeth sink into your lip and your face warms with embarrassment, and how turned on you are.

“I know you don’t let anyone fuck you the way I do. Maybe you’re just my whore,” he says before pushing inside you.

Your mouth falls open, him giving you no time to adjust. He groans as he pounds into you, using you and your cunt.

He moves his hand to your throat, wrapping his fingers around it, squeezing it.

A ragged moan comes from you as he continues to thrust into you. A roughness to them as he overwhelms you with pleasure.

After a while, he flips you over.

You look up at him, the strands of his hair damp from the sweat on his forehead. His quick breaths match yours. He looks down at you, a dark look in his eyes.

He puts his cock back inside you, his pace slower but deeper. You bring a hand to his arm, fingers squeezing his bicep.

He moves his face closer to yours, his breathing fans against your face and his hair tickles your cheeks.

“Is this what you’ve wanted?”

You don’t understand what he’s saying, what you’re feeling takes over any thinking.

“You want me to fuck you like this, like I’m your boyfriend? You want me to fuck you like I actually care about you?”

He moves his thumb to your bottom lip, caressing your soft skin. He keeps his eyes on yours before replacing his thumb with his lips, giving you a gentle kiss.

A type of kiss you don’t usually get. That’s when it hits you.

“I know you watched me that night,” he whispers against your lips. “I could hear your footsteps, you’re louder than you think.”

You feel him deep inside of you, hitting your sweet spot. You start to unravel.

“You don’t deserve to be treated that way. You’re just a slut who keeps my dick wet when I’m lonely.”

“Rafe…” Tears run down your face as you come around him, your walls squeezing him.

His eyelids flutter as he takes himself out of you and strokes himself, spilling all over your stomach. His warm cum on the bare skin of where your shirt lifted up.

He gets up to get you a towel from his bathroom, throwing it to you.

“Clean yourself up,” he says while fixing his pants.

You do as he says, sitting up, already knowing how sore you’re going to be tomorrow. You find your shorts, slipping them on.

“And Y/N, get the fuck out of my house.” He opens his door for you, impatiently waiting for you to leave. “Don’t let anyone see you leave.”

You wish you could stand up for yourself, but a numbness has overtaken you. So, all you do is give Rafe a tear-stained glance and do as he says, wanting to get as far away from this place as possible.

You should’ve known you weren’t just crashing a party. You were walking right into the lion’s den.

#rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #obx #outer banks #dark!rafe cameron #dark!rafe cameron x reader

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centralperkchenford · 9 months

Note

Omg I need for some reason pre chenford getting into an argument in the rain and both of them yelling that they are in love with each other

In my head this takes place late season 4/early season 5! I hope you like it!

Omg I need for some reason pre chenford getting into an argument in the rain and both of them yelling that they are in love with each other

Chenford + Lucy and Tim argue about dating Chris and Ashley (pre-canon)

Drop everything now Meet me in the pouring rain Kiss me on the sidewalk; Take away the pain

Tim watches as Lucy pays for her and Chris’s food and he shakes his head in disgust. This wasn’t even the first time this had happened either and it made Tim just as angry this time as it did the first time he saw it happen. He wasn’t the biggest fan of Chris, he never treated Lucy the way she deserved to be treated.

Lucy catches his eye and gives him a curious look but then turns away when Chris leads her away with a hand on her back. Tim sighs as he watches them go and looks up at the sky. It’s grey, and the sun is no where to be found. He feels a rain drop on his face and it rolls down his cheek. Tim sighs loudly and flicks the raindrop away as he sees Ashley coming towards him in her red lifeguard sweater shirt.

“Hi Tim.” She says as she gets closer and he smiles at her albeit a little weakly. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and Tim can see Lucy out of the corner of his eye staring at him.

Of course they would meet their significant others at the same place he thinks sourly. Except this wasn’t going to be a date for him, he was planning on breaking up with Ashley. Their relationship was fun at first and he liked her just fine but that’s all it was. He didn’t love her and he didn’t feel for like he felt for.. well Lucy. His feelings for Lucy went way deeper than he could even imagine

He leads Ashley over to a table and motions for her to sit down. And then he sits across from her and closes his eyes taking a deep breath before he starts talking.

“We need to break up.” He tells her and her mouth falls open but he keeps talking before she can say anything. “We aren’t working Ash. We want different things for our life and I swear everything we do I have to compromise and I still do what you want to do or eat or whatever.” Ashley’s eyes are full of tears as she stares at him. She doesn’t say anything so Tim continues. “And the truth is.. I have feelings for someone else so it wouldn’t be fair to you to stay in this relationship.”

Ashley’s eyes flash in anger when he says that and he has a feeling she knows who he is talking about. “So you are breaking up with me for Lucy?” She asks angrily. Tim sighs and sits back in his seat.

“I’m breaking up with you because we don’t work anymore Ashley. We do the same thing every week and I just feel like our relationship is at a standstill.” He says and his flicker to the side where he sees Chris and Lucy throwing away their food. He sees more raindrops fall to the ground and he looks up at the sky, the clouds darker than they were before. Ashley follows his eyes and she stands up angrily. She opens her mouth and the clamps it shut and she just stares at him.

“Fuck you Tim.” She finally says. “I hope you and Lucy have a fabulous life together.” And she marches off without another glance at him. Tim looks around for Lucy but she’s no where to be found.

He sighs as it started to rain harder and he heads back into the station.

***

Lucy sighs as she waits inside the station for Chris to come pick her up, it’s still pouring rain outside and she really doesn’t feel like waiting in the rain. Lucy sees Tim out of the corner of her eyes and wonders what happened with him and Ashley. She never thought Ashley was good enough for Tim and she seemed to prissy for him. But she supposes the heart wants what it wants. She knew what her heart wanted and she was pretty sure he didn’t want her back.

She pulls out her phone to check if Chris had messaged her or called her. But there was no new messages or miss phone calls. She dials his number and he picks up on the first ring, his voice already sounding annoyed.

“What is it Lucy?” He snaps and she reels back at his tone. “I’m busy.”

Lucy sighs loudly and looks around the station for Tim and like a moth being drawn to a light she spots him talking to Grey. She gulps loudly as Tim looks over at her, she turns around so he can’t see her. The last thing she needs is Tim seeing her cry because her boyfriend is being a dick.

“I thought you were going to pick me up?” She says to Chris and she hears a loud thump on the other side and it sounds like he just threw something down.

“Well I’m not.” He snaps at her again. Lucy hears footsteps and she looks up to see Tim coming towards her.

“Screw you Chris.” She says and hangs up before he can say another word. Tim walks over and stands in front of her.

“Are you okay?” He asks her and she doesn’t look at him at first just plays with the skin on her fingers.

“I’m fine.” She says quietly. “I just need to find a way home now.” She looks out the door and somehow it stopped raining.

“I can take you home.” Tim offers but Lucy shakes her head. She doesn’t want to take him away from seeing Ashley.

“It’s okay Tim. I will just call an Uber.” She says and then pushes past him and goes outside. She hears Tim following her as she pulls out her phone to get an Uber.

“Why can’t I take you home?” Tim asks her and she looks up just as a raindrop hits her face “Where’s your car?” Lucy sighs heavily and pauses for a minute.

“Chris drove me to work today. He was suppose to pick me up.” She answers.

Tim scoffs and she looks up furrowing her brows. “What?” She snaps at him.

“Why are you with that guy Lucy? You do everything for him and he does nothing for you.” Tim says. Lucy doesn’t say anything just continues to look for a Uber.

When she doesn’t answer, Tim continues his voice lining with frustration. “You deserve better Lucy. If he drove you to work he should be more than willing to pick you up.” He says. “I don’t get why you put up with it.”

Another raindrop hits her face and then another. She tucks her phone away in her pocket and glares at Tim. She doesn’t think he has the right to judge her relationship when he was in one that was all about his girlfriend. And besides she was planning on breaking up with Chris. Soon.

“He just has his moments Tim. He’s not a bad guy, what about Ashley?” She says and he huffs out a breath.

“What about her?” He asks. Lucy sighs and runs her hand through her hair as more and more raindrops fell. They should probably go inside but neither of them made a move to do it.

“She has you on a diet, she makes you do all the things she wants to do.” Lucy says her voice getting a little bit louder. “Plus she doesn’t like Kojo which should of been a red flag from the start.”

“Chris makes you pay for every meal Lucy! Who does that? If it were me—” He stops and stares at her wide eyed.

“If it were you.. what?” She says and she looks up at him his face wet with raindrops. Tim steps a millimeter closer and Lucy wants to step closer too but it’s like she’s stuck to the ground.

“If you were with me I would never make you pay for your food Lucy. I would come and pick you up no question. You deserve to see how amazing you are and how true love actually feels.” He says breathlessly. She stares at him in disbelief as his words swirl around in her head. How true love actually feels.

“You deserve better too Tim. You deserve to be loved and cherished. You are amazing and I—” Her voices hitches as the rain continues to come down. It’s raining so hard now that her clothes are soaked and Tim’s aren’t faring much better, and she’s sure they both looked like drowned rats.

“I broke up with Ashley.” He says over the rain. Lucy looks at him in surprise and he continues. He’s not quite shouting at her but his voice is louder. “At lunch today. ”

Lucy swallows hard and she’s not sure what to say. “I’m sorry.” She manages to get out. Tim frowns a bit as he steps closer to her. His usually perfect hair soaking wet and water is dripping down his face in addition to the rain that is still falling. And despite that he still looks handsome.

“That’s all you have to say?” He says. Lucy frowns at him as she steps closer to him.

“What else do you want me to say Tim? That I love you?” She yells. “Because I do!” There is stunned silence before Tim is stepping forward so that they are chest to chest.

She blinks up at him and wonders if she had gone too far but he puts his fingers under her chin and tilts it up to look at him. “I love you too.” He says and his voice is still loud even though she’s right there and she feels it. She feels his desperation and his love, and she feels like she could burst at the seams.

“Well that’s good.” She says softly. “I-I have to end things with Chris.”

He laughs and gives her a quick kiss. “I love you Lucy and I will wait for you. Do what you have to do.”

She nods at him a smile creeping on her face. God she loves him. And what’s even better? He loves her!

“You promise?” She asks and she holds on to his rain soaked jacket. “You will wait for me?”

“Always Lucy.” He says and then he leans in to give her another kiss this one longer than the last. “Always.”

#chenford #the rookie #chenford fanfic #tim bradford #tim x lucy #lucy chen #chenford fic #anon answered

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ao719 · 1 year

Text

Vancross

Vancross - I’ll Be With You (Chapter 15)

Most of the characters belong to Pixelberry.

Summary: A group of friends embark on their final year at Vancross Institute with the hopes of making it their best year yet. When a new face with a complicated family plagued by secrets and rumors arrives on campus, new friendships are formed, a new relationship blossoms, and threatening challenges arise.

Title inspiration: Dusk Till Dawn - ZAYN

Main Pairing: Liam x F!OC

A/N: Multiple crossover series. There will be random sprinkles of canon throughout this story, but for the most part, it’s pretty much out the window. Thank you to @burnsoslow for prereading! Please excuse any errors.

Rating: M • Warnings: This series will contain nsfw material, language, some alcohol and drug use, and is not suitable for minors. If you read, you acknowledge you are 18+

Catch up here

After packing the last of her stuff into her suitcase, Croía attempted to close it; struggling to zip it shut with the bulkiness of her cold weather clothing, she pushed down against it, tugging on the zipper.

“Why does it sound like you’re wrestling a bear?” Trystan asked from the other end of the phone, which was lying on her bed on speaker.

“I’m trying … to zip … my suitcase,” Croía grunted through laughs. Only able to get it halfway, she let out a breath as she stood, brushing her hair back away from her face as she stared down at it.

“How much are you packing? It’s just a weekend,” Trystan chuckled. “You’re not turning into Mags and overpacking, are you?”

“No,” Croía laughed. “I just have more bulk than normal with my sweaters and stuff.” She looked over her shoulder at her larger bag; she really didn’t want to transfer everything.

“What time are you leaving?”

Croía glanced at her phone screen; it was 7:15 am. “We have to be at the tarmac by eight. So … soon.” She heard Trystan yawn on the other end. “You should probably get some sleep. It’s after midnight there.”

“I suppose,” Trystan sighed. “Well, have fun, kid. Stay safe and call me when you get back. Love ya.”

“Love you, too.”

When the call ended, Croía went back to attempting to zip her suitcase. She heard a knock on her door a moment later. “Croía?”

“Come … in,” Croía huffed.

Liam peered around the door a moment later; he had stayed the night and stepped out to grab breakfast while she showered. Seeing her struggling to close her bag, he chuckled as he stepped inside and moved toward the bed. “Here …” He splayed his large hands on top of the bag and pushed down, allowing her to zip it effortlessly.

“Thanks,” Croía smiled as she turned toward him.

“Welcome.” Liam’s arms wrapped around her as hers looped around his neck and he leaned down, pressing his lips to hers in a lingering kiss. “Ready?”

“Just about.”

Liam smiled, leaning down to kiss her again. His hands slid down from her waist to the backs of her thighs, effortlessly lifting her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around him with a laugh, and his lips curled into a wolfish grin as he pressed her back against the wall, kissing her again, deeper this time.

In the three weeks since their return from the weekend trip to Cordonia, things between Liam and Croía, while good before, were better than ever.

With Liam’s realization of how deep his feelings for Croía really were, he’d been pouring them into her in every way he could think of without actually saying anything. Still worried about making her feel rushed for something she may not be ready for and possibly scaring her off, he refrained from saying those three words out loud. Sure, he had no doubts that there were feelings on her end, but he didn’t want to assume what exactly they were or how strong; he in no way wanted to make her feel pressured to return his sentiments.

Instead of saying those words, Liam was expressing them in other ways, which led to that subdued passion and understated tension between them coming out more. He found himself unable to get enough. They seemed to be teetering closer to the edge of that line they had not yet crossed, but he never pushed for more than what she was willing to give, still following her lead and encouraging her when needed.

“We have to get ready to leave,” Liam whispered when he drew back from her lips.

Croía nodded before drawing his mouth back to hers, earning a chuckle from him; she wasn’t typically a morning person, but he certainly awoke something in her. When he drew back again, he gently tugged her bottom lip between his teeth, making her shudder.

When she opened her eyes, Liam flashed that charming smirk, and she smiled. He reluctantly lowered her feet back to the ground. “You have all your stuff?”

“Yeah,” Croía nodded as he stepped back. “I think I have everything. My boots are out by the door.”

“Did you pack your suit for the hot tub?” Liam asked, and she nodded. “When we get there, just tell Jonas to have the staff put your stuff in my room.”

“Ok,” Croía smiled. “So, what’s Camp Eirene like?”

“It’s a private lodge owned by the university up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere,” Liam answered. “There’s absolutely nothing around it for miles and miles except a lot of trees and snow.”

“Sounds peaceful,” Croía chuckled.

“It is,” Liam nodded in agreement. “I didn’t think to ask … how’s your skiing anyway?”

“I’ve been … not in a couple of years, though, so I’d imagine I’m a tad rusty,” Croía smiled sheepishly.

“It’s just like riding a bike,” Liam chuckled. “I’ll help you get reacquainted.” Just then, Alia called Croía’s name, telling her the guards were waiting to take the bags. “Time for some fun in the snow,” he grinned, taking her bag off the bed and heading for the door.

“I just gotta grab my other bag from the bathroom,” Croía said, gesturing to the door behind her. “I’ll be right out.” Liam nodded and exited her room while she stepped into the bathroom.

Croía peeked inside her toiletry bag, checking to make sure everything she needed was in there. As she was about to zip it shut, she spotted the small pink compact Marguerite had given her when she was there for parents’ weekend sitting in a basket on the counter; she finally started taking the pill when they returned from Cordonia. She grabbed it and dropped it into her bag before zipping it shut and heading for the door.

****

A two-hour plane ride and a 45-minute drive later, Croía stepped out of one of several SUVs that had driven the Vancross students deep into the mountains from the airport, taking in her surroundings. Blankets of snow that glittered beneath the morning sunlight covered the grounds outside of the massive lodge of Camp Eirene — it looked more like a resort.

Professor Masako, who had accompanied the class on the trip, called for everyone’s attention as they filed out of the vehicles. “Your bags will be taken to your rooms. You all need to meet with your guards, but once that’s done, you can hit the slopes.”

A few whoops came from the crowd of students as lodge staff appeared with carts to collect their luggage. One by one, the guards approached their charges, walking with them toward the entrance of the lodge as they did a rundown of the security protocols and their safe house routes and locations in the unlikely case they were needed.

When Liam and Croía finished with Anthony and Jonas, they met back up just as they neared the stairs that led to the rooms. He led her to the third floor of the lodge and down a hallway to the door at the very end, pushing it open.

The spacious room had a queen-sized bed that their bags already sat atop; to the left of the bed was a dresser beside a large closet, and adjacent to that was a full bathroom. A fireplace with a television hanging above the mantle was on the opposite wall of the bed; along the wall on the right side of the fireplace was a coffee, tea, and hot cocoa bar, and on the left, a set of double doors led out to a balcony that housed a hot tub.

“This is really nice,” Croía noted.

“They spared no expense when building this place,” Liam chuckled.

“I’ll say.”

“Most of the funds came from donations from alumni.”

Croía moved to the double doors and opened them, stepping out onto the balcony. “Wow,” she breathed at the scenery. “This view is amazing.”

Liam came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and resting his chin atop her head. “You can see the slopes over there.” He pointed to three open strips of snow-covered terrain in the distance; the first was small, another slightly more elevated with more of a drop than the first, and the third was the longest and steepest. “The ski lift is just down the hill from the entrance of the lodge and takes us up to the top. They also have flat trails at the bottom of the slopes that run through the mountains back to the lodge for anyone interested in doing some cross-country.”

Croía smiled as she turned to face him. “So, what are we doing first?”

“The others are getting changed to go up to the slopes,” Liam said before pressing a kiss to her lips. “Let’s get into our gear, then we’ll head down to get our skis.”

****

Wearing the pair of ski boots she had gotten with Alia a few days before, Croía followed Liam down to where the skis were housed inside the lodge. Once they were fitted by a staff member, they walked outside where everyone else was getting situated.

Liam glanced at Croía, and smiled, taking in her outfit; she wore a white and black snow bib paired with a matching jacket, white gloves, a white ski hat, and black and white goggles.

Croía glanced up to see him staring at her. “What?”

“You look like a snow bunny,” Liam chuckled. She laughed as they both dropped and situated their skis before securing their boots into the bindings.

“Li! Croía! Come on!” They heard Blaine yell before he and Alia disappeared down the hill toward the lift.

They grabbed their poles and Liam looked at her. “So you remember the basics?”

“Feet shoulder-width apart. Flex the ankles, shins tilted forward.”

Liam nodded with a grin. “Alright, let’s head to the lift.”

They pushed off with their poles and started gliding down the small hill. Halfway down, Liam glanced over to check on Croía; she was casually traversing, gliding back and forth. When they neared the bottom, he watched as she turned her body, spraying snow up as she slid to an easy stop.

Liam came to a halt beside her. “Rusty, huh?”

Croía chuckled with a shrug. “Like you said … like riding a bike.”

“Guys, come on!” Alia called out. “You can get the next chair up with us!”

Liam and Croía pushed themselves forward, gliding to where Blaine and Alia were waiting; they lined up side by side. “Have you decided, Li?” Blaine chuckled mischievously.

“Decided what?” Alia asked.

“Blaine wants to go down the triple black diamond,” Liam answered.

Alia snapped her gaze back to Blaine. “Are you high?”

“I wish,” Blaine chuckled. “Now that would make for an interesting run down the slopes.”

Croía furrowed her brows. “What’s the triple black diamond?”

“It’s the pro-level slope with bigger jumps,” Liam said before looking at Blaine. “And I’m thinking about it,” he grinned.

“Attaboy!” Blaine fist-bumped him.

Just then, the chairlift swung around; Liam instinctively grabbed Croía’s hand to help steady her as it scooped the four of them into the seat and started its ascent toward the top of the slopes. Croía took in the view as they climbed higher up the mountain; Liam wasn’t exaggerating when he said there was nothing around for miles and miles. All she could see were trees and snow.

At the top, the four of them braced themselves as the lift swung around; they slid off, gliding away from the unloading zone before coming to a stop at the edge of the tree line.

“There you guys are!”

They turned to see Alexei and Henri skiing toward them. “Simon and Rashad just headed down for their first run,” Henri said as they came to a stop beside them.

“Damn, they couldn’t wait,” Blaine scoffed.

“They just took off. We can probably catch up,” Henri said.

“We could race,” Alexei smirked. “Unless you two are more comfortable on the bunny slope, that is,” he goaded as he pointed to the smaller one on the other side of them.

Blaine and Liam shared a look; beside them, Alia and Croía shared their own. The two men turned to the girls, offering rueful smiles. “Go on,” Alia smiled with a shake of her head.

Liam leaned down, pressing a kiss to Croía’s chilled lips. “You ok if I go?”

“I’m fine,” Croía chuckled. “I’ll meet you down there.”

When he and Blaine looked back at Alexei and Henri, they simultaneously situated their goggles over their eyes. They lined up side by side, and Liam rocked back and forth on his skis as he waited for the cue; one of them shouted to go, and the four pushed themselves forward, Croía and Alia moved to the edge of the slope to watch. They were traversing and maneuvering around other students and spraying each other with snow.

Liam and Blaine had picked up speed, and when they both veered left toward a jump, Croía’s eyes widened; she watched as they flew into the air one after the other, each doing a backflip before landing and surging ahead of the other two.

“They’re ridiculous,” Alia snorted. “Well, let’s see your skills,” she said, sliding her goggles down over her eyes.

Croía smiled, sliding hers into place before the two pushed off and headed down the slope.

****

A long while later, while on another run down the slope, Liam and Blaine traversed back and forth, weaving around Croía and Alia as they laughed. “Go this way!” Blaine called out as he got in front of the others. He veered off the main slope onto a trail into the forest.

Alia zipped behind him, followed by Croía with Liam right behind her. They weaved in and out and around the trees behind Blaine as he followed the trail down the mountain, popping over snow-covered bumps on the forest ground.

Suddenly, Blaine let out a yelp as he disappeared over the edge of a blind spot; the three behind him skidded to a halt. “Blaine!” Alia shouted.

Liam shifted on his skis and peered over, letting out a bark of laughter. “Are you alright?”

Croía and Alia crept forward to look; Blaine was laying in the snow with one ski crossed over the other as his body shook with laughter. “I’m good,” he snorted. “Didn’t see the drop.”

Liam made his way over the edge and came to a stop beside him, holding out his hand to help him up. Alia followed suit and made her way toward them. Liam glanced up at Croía as she neared the edge of the drop. “You good?”

Croía popped on her skis over the edge and landed, gliding up to him. “Yeah,” she smiled.

“We’re near the bottom by the cross-country trails,” Alia said as she pointed to the left of them, sniffling from the cold air.

Blaine brushed the snow off his jacket as he looked up at the sky. “Sun is going to be down soon,” he said.

“Yeah,” Liam agreed. “The others headed back to the lodge after the last run.”

“Wimps,” Blaine chuckled.

Liam glanced at Croía; her cheeks and nose were red from being out in the cold. “Wanna head back, shower, and grab some dinner?” At his words, Blaine’s stomach audibly grumbled. “I take that as a yes,” he chuckled.

“All this skiing has apparently made me hungry,” Blaine laughed.

“Alright, let’s just take the rest of this trail down to the bottom and we’ll loop back around to the lodge,” Alia suggested.

The others nodded. Blaine turned and started down the trail with Alia beside him. Croía followed behind her, standing straight as she glided down the small hill. “Put your skis together,” Liam called out from behind her; she did as he said, and a moment later, he came up behind her with his skis on either side of her; he looped an arm around her waist and leaned forward, nuzzling her neck. “Hi.”

Croía smiled as his warm breath hit her cold skin. “Hi.” He held her against him as they skied down the trail in tandem. “Can’t say I ever skied like this before,” she chuckled.

Liam smiled. “Just enjoy the glide, I’ll steer.” She relaxed into his hold as he carefully maneuvered them down the remainder of the trail.

****

After having dinner with the group and sitting out by the fire pit, talking about their first day at the lodge, Liam and Croía headed up to their room. When they stepped inside, he moved to the nightstand, picking up the remote to light the fireplace.

When Liam glanced back, he watched as she bent over, rubbing her hands along her thighs. “You ok?”

“Yeah,” Croía groaned through a smile. “I knew I was going to feel it later, but it didn’t hit me until we got up after sitting in front of the fire. My legs are stiff,” she chuckled.

“We can get into the hot tub,” Liam suggested. “That’ll help loosen your muscles up.”

“That actually sounds amazing.”

“It does,” Liam nodded with a smile. “I’ll go make sure it’s ready while you get your suit on.”

Liam turned toward the double doors and opened them, stepping onto the balcony. He maneuvered the top off the hot tub and checked the temperature, upping it a few degrees before turning on the lights and jets. He then lit the small free-standing stone fire pit that sat in front of the hot tub.

When Liam headed back inside, he changed into his suit, finishing just as Croía stepped out of the bathroom; she was clad in a navy blue bikini with her hair piled in a messy bun atop her head, holding two towels in her hands. They walked outside, and Croía instantly shivered against the cold night air, her skin erupting with goosebumps.

“Go get in,” Liam smiled as he took the towels from her, setting them on the table by the door.

Croía hurried over and stepped over the edge, sinking beneath the water; her eyes closed and she let out a breath mingled with a moan as a rush of warmth washed over her. “Oh my god.”

“Nothing beats a hot tub in the snow,” Liam chuckled as he slipped into the water. He settled back into the corner seat, submerging all but his shoulders beneath the water. “Is the temp ok?”

“It’s perfect,” Croía smiled as she looked at him. “This is perfect.”

“Almost perfect.” When she arched a brow in question, Liam lifted his arms in invitation. She chuckled and moved toward him; she turned, settling herself between his legs and resting back against his chest. His arms wrapped around her and he laced their fingers together as he dropped a kiss on her temple. “Now it’s perfect.”

Croía looked out at the view beyond the balcony. Her gaze traveled from the blanket of snow that glittered beneath the moonlight up past the shadowy tree line to the inky expanse of the night sky littered with stars above them. She let out a content sigh as she closed her eyes, relishing in the quiet and that moment with Liam.

After several quiet minutes, Croía tilted her head back, and Liam looked at her; he lifted his hand out of the water and brushed his thumb along her jaw as he leaned down and captured her lips in his. He kissed her slow and deep as his hand curved around her waist; he felt her shudder slightly when his fingers grazed the bare skin of her stomach.

Liam drew back just enough to meet her gaze and subtly smirked when her eyes fell shut again as his hand slid down, gently caressing her inner thigh, slowly inching its way higher. She lifted her arm from the water, curling her hand around the back of his neck and drawing his lips back to hers just as he reached the apex of her thighs. He slipped a hand between her legs, brushing his fingers against her over the fabric of her suit, causing her breath to hitch.

“Liam,” Croía breathed against his lips as that familiar coil of heat started to twist inside her.

A quiet chuckle fell from Liam’s lips. “Is that what you want?” he whispered. He stared at her, watching her bite her bottom lip as he continued to tease her. “Tell me, Croía …”

“Y-Yes.”

Liam’s eyes shifted up at the sound of distant laughter coming from one of the balconies below. “Do you want to take this inside?” he asked quietly as his fingers continued to tease her. Her back slightly arched against him as a soft breath escaped her when he hit a particularly sensitive spot, drawing an impish chuckle from him. “You’ll have to be quiet. Is that something you think you can do?” Not wanting him to stop, she quickly and silently nodded in response, and he smirked, brushing his lips against the shell of her ear. “Good girl,” he whispered.

The words caused Croía to shudder against him, and Liam smiled in awareness. Over the last several weeks, he found that one of his favorite things was watching her discover new details about herself intimately. There was something about being the one to experience all of these firsts with her and watching her become more comfortable and attuned with what she wanted, liked, and needed that was a turn-on to him all on its own. He was the lucky one that she trusted enough to draw out this side of her and the one who got to watch her embrace and become more confident in her sensuality. He found it incredibly alluring and titillating and he couldn’t get enough of it.

Liam shifted her so her legs were draped over his thighs beneath the water, and her head rested back against his shoulder as his hand dipped beneath the fabric of her bottoms; he drew a whisper of a moan from her as he slowly stroked her with a finger. His other arm hooked under hers, sliding his hand up to her chest and slipping it under her top to caress her as his lips went to her neck. A moment later, a gasp mingled with a quiet moan escaped her when he pushed a finger inside and the pad of his thumb pressed against her.

Croía felt his lips and tongue on her neck and his hand gently caressed her breast as he simultaneously worked her with his finger, drawing soft, ragged breaths from her as her pleasure started to build.

Liam’s lips trailed back up to her ear. “Do you want more?” Barely registering the question, she nodded, and his husky chuckle rumbled in his chest against her back. “Croía, look at me.” Her eyes fluttered open as she turned her head to meet his gaze. “Do you want more?”

Upon repeating his question, Croía felt another finger press against the one already inside her, and she had to fight to keep her eyes from falling shut. “Yes,” she whispered.

“Kiss me,” Liam said. Croía immediately obliged, capturing his lips in hers. Just as his tongue swept against hers, she realized why as he swallowed the moan he drew from her when he added another finger.

A low groan escaped him at the tight fit, causing his mind to subconsciously wander to other places. She instinctively arched into his hand as he carefully worked her, pumping his fingers slowly. When he curled them inside her, she broke away from his lips with a sharp intake of breath as he hit a pleasure point she hadn’t felt before.

“Liam,” Croía’s voice trembled.

Liam chuckled breathily. “Right there?” he whispered, and she nodded as she bit her lip.

Slightly picking up the pace of his fingers, Liam continued to curl them into that spot that had her writhing against him as his thumb moved in tight, controlled circles. It wasn’t long before he could feel her start to flutter around his fingers as quiet whimpers fell from her lips and her breaths quickened. He turned her head toward him and captured her lips again just as she tipped over the edge, quieting her moans as her body trembled against him; he slowed his ministrations, drawing out her release as he kissed her slowly.

When her shudders subsided, Liam drew back, brushing his nose against hers as he slowly and reluctantly pulled his hand away. “You ok?”

Croía was unable to stop the broad grin that broke across her flushed face. “Yeah,” she chuckled. He smiled, kissing her once more. She could feel the hard length of him against her back, and she bit her lip sheepishly. “Are you ok?”

“I might need to go lay down on the snow for a minute,” Liam joked … partially.

Croía giggled, kissing him again. “No, you won’t.” She stood in the hot tub and looked at him as she climbed out, her eyes sparkling with an invitation, an offer to help alleviate him.

Liam took the cue and quickly followed her out; when his feet hit the floor of the balcony, he scooped her into his arms as she yelped through a laugh and carried her inside.

****

Later, Liam lay on his side in the bed, clad in a pair of gray sweatpants, feeling much more relaxed. He stared at Croía, now in her pajamas lying across from him, holding his gaze; the flames from the fireplace cast the room in a deep golden shade of light, enough to illuminate her face. “So, are you still feeling stiff?” he asked as he gently kneaded her thigh beneath the blanket.

“No,” Croía chuckled. “The hot tub helped.”

“Ya know, you said you were rusty, but you did good out there today,” Liam smiled, earning one from her in return. “Who taught you to ski?”

“Trystan did … before everything happened. He would take me up to the slopes with him, his fiancée, and Marguerite.”

“Did you like her? The fiancée?”

“Yeah,” Croía smiled sadly. “Even though I was younger, Juliana was always really nice to me. She treated me like I was family.”

Liam found himself curious about something he remembered hearing before. “Were she and Trystan really set up in an arranged marriage?”

“They were,” Croía nodded. “Juli was a Countess, but her parents also owned the bulk of Drakovia’s energy industry at the time. So my father was the one who arranged the marriage between them, saying it would merge two great houses, even though my mother was never particularly on board with the idea, according to Mags. Juli and Trystan both fought it, though. They wanted nothing to do with the idea of being together. They both said that marriage arrangements were archaic and bullshit.”

“I’d have to agree,” Liam grimaced. “I couldn’t imagine being forced to marry someone.”

“Me either,” Croía agreed. “I remember shortly after their arrangement was put into place, we were eating dinner one night, and Trystan was fighting with my parents about it. He blew up and things got so heated, my mother sent the rest of us to our rooms without letting us even finish our meals. He came to my room later to sneak me some belladi he’d swiped from the dessert bar and saw that I was crying. He asked me what was wrong, and I said I didn’t want to be forced to marry someone when I got older like he was being forced to. He promised that he’d never let that happen. He said they’d have to go through him first,” she chuckled.

Liam arched his brow. “Is that … something that’s been brought up to you? An arranged marriage?”

“No,” Croía snorted. “I’m the mistake, remember? They’re not going to want to marry me off.” Liam gave her a look of stern disapproval at her self-deprecating jab, but she ignored it. “But despite the arrangement and Trystan and Juliana constantly bickering over it … somewhere along the way … they actually fell madly in love. And their story — the fiery young prince set to inherit the throne who wanted to revolutionize the country, and this beautiful, bold heiress with the wealth to make it happen — it practically wrote itself. They were so happy and good together. And they would have been so good for Drakovia and would have changed things for the better, but they never … they never got that chance …”

Liam looked at her thoughtfully for a moment, even more curious now. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but … do you know what happened? The night that Juliana … the night she died?”

Croía searched his eyes for a moment before she let out a soft breath. “Trystan took Juliana out on our family yacht … just the two of them. It was supposed to be a two-day pleasure cruise around the islands for her birthday. He said they’d been drinking … not a lot, but enough. The waters were choppy, and they had anchored down in the path of a storm, but the reports said it wasn’t anything to worry about. They went to bed … together … but when he woke up, Juli … she was gone.”

Croía paused for a moment, and Liam slipped his hand into hers.

“Trystan said he panicked when he couldn’t find her. He sailed back to the marina, I assume to get help … but he never got it. He was found unconscious on the docks.” Croía took in a breath and let it out slowly. “There was a search for Juliana, no thanks to my parents … they wouldn’t help. They wanted it to be left alone so they could, from what Mags said, control the narrative. They found her body a few days later … 600 miles from where she and Trystan had been anchored. The autopsy was unclear because of the … condition she was in, but they said the cause of death was likely a head injury.”

“And Trystan didn’t say anything else about what happened that night?” Liam questioned.

“No,” Croía shook her head. “He said even though they didn’t have that much to drink … he could hardly remember anything. They told him that Juliana’s head injury was likely from her tripping over a loose topsail rope and hitting her head … that she went over the edge, probably gone before she even hit the water. At first, Trystan swore that he tied that rope, but during the investigation … they kept pushing and asking him if he was sure, so much so that he started to doubt himself. Eventually, he said he couldn’t remember if he had or not … and they ran with it. With the pressure for answers because of how loved Juliana and her family were, they made him the villain the public wanted; the press called him reckless and said he had murdered her and gotten away with it. But Mags and I … we’ve always believed that there was more to it … that a confession was coached out of him. She actually thinks he was framed. But Trystan … he doesn’t see it that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“He blames himself,” Croía replied, and Liam could see her starting to get emotional. “He says he has no memory of tying that rope … but that he should have. He was so grief-stricken and he felt so guilty … he just let them make him the scapegoat. He thinks that regardless of what really happened, it’s his fault because he should have been able to save her no matter what …”

“And what did your parents believe?”

“My father … he would die before ever believing Trystan had anything to do with it. My mother, on the other hand, believes he is responsible, one way or another.”

Of course she does, Liam thought to himself. “And so they exiled him … just like that … without trying to help him figure out what really happened?”

Croía nodded. “My father insisted it was for damage control. My mother couldn’t seem to care less. She said they’re better off with him gone …”

Liam watched her blink away the unshed tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Croía … I didn’t mean to—”

“No,” Croía shook her head. “It’s ok. I just … I haven’t talked about it in a long time … and never with anyone other than Marguerite.”

“Well, for what it’s worth … I’m honored that you trust me enough to talk to me about it,” Liam offered a rueful smile.

Croía held his gaze for a few silent moments. “I do trust you … more than I’ve ever trusted anyone in my whole life, Liam.”

It was the truth. He’d unlocked something inside her. An ability to finally find her voice and to be herself or, at least, the version that she always wanted to be but was never allowed or able to discover before. He made it ok for her to be vulnerable because he made her feel safe. He made her carefree. He made her happy. He made her feel … loved. And she trusted him because of it all.

Liam felt those three words on the tip of his tongue, but he reined them back in. He smiled, lifting his hand to her cheek; he leaned in, pressing his lips to hers in a soft, lingering kiss. When they parted, he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her.

*******

The following day, Liam and Croía were on the intermediate slope with their group of friends; they’d opted to spend the earlier part of the day tubing.

After making it back up to the top of the slope from another run down, Liam and Croía got situated into a double tube. On either side of them, the others had all paired up: Alia and Blaine, Simon and Zaira, Dionne and Peter, Rashad and Evelyn, Olivia and Alexei, Kennedy and Henri.

“No cheating!” Kennedy called out. “I’m looking at you, Blaine!”

“Of course, the daughter of my country’s rival would expect me to cheat,” Blaine quipped as Alia laughed. “Isn’t Rutherland used to losing to Ardona by now?”

Liam snorted. “Alright, alright.”

“First pair to the bottom wins!” Simon shouted.

“And no sabotaging!” Dionne said, giving a pointed look to the others; the only two who weren’t known to be competitive were she and Peter.

“Why the hell not?” Olivia bit out. “All is fair game in war.”

“This is a friendly tubing race, Olivia, not a war,” Peter countered.

“Speak for yourself,” Olivia smirked.

“Ok, is everyone ready?” Rashad called out and was answered with a collective yes. “Alright. Ready … set … GO!”

They all pushed themselves forward and started down the slope, slowly picking up speed and staying side by side. Once they had more momentum, a few of the others started to pull ahead.

“Lean right!” Olivia shouted at Alexei as they started to lose control of their tube and veer toward the tree line. “No! Right!”

“I thought you meant your right!”

“My right is your right, you imbecile!” Olivia yelled just before they lost control of the tube and hit the snowbank in front of the trees.

Blaine and Liam glanced over at one another with competitive grins as they raced toward the bottom. “Don’t count us out yet!” Rashad shouted as he and Evelyn came up on Liam’s other side.

As Liam turned his head to look at him, his eyes widened. “Rashad! Watch out!”

Rashad snapped his gaze ahead, seeing the jump too late. The tube holding him and Evelyn launched into the air. “Oh shit!” Blaine shouted through a laugh.

Liam looked over his shoulder, watching them land before they bounced out of the tube; once he realized they were both laughing, he let out a breath. “They’re good!”

Nearing the bottom, Liam and Croía were neck and neck with Blaine and Alia, one inching just ahead of the other every few seconds. Croía and Alia both laughed as the two men tried everything they could to sabotage the other to gain and hold the lead.

“See ya, mates!” Simon yelled through a laugh as he and Zaira came out of nowhere, rocketing past the two pairs of them.

“Where the hell did they come from?” Blaine shouted.

When they hit the bottom, Liam wrapped an arm around Croía’s waist and leaned to the side to slow them down; he leaned a little too far, causing it to tip. They rolled out of it, landing in the snow with him on top of her.

“Are you alright?” Liam chuckled, feeling her shake with laughter beneath him.

“Yeah,” Croía giggled as she looked at him. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips before standing and helping her up.

“What the fuck kind of sorcery was that?” Blaine asked as he approached Simon and Zaira. “You two weren’t even close to us!”

“Or were we?” Zaira smirked.

“Cheats,” Blaine shook his head. “I demand a rematch.”

Alia looked at them. “Can we get something to eat first?”

****

Following a late lunch, Blaine and Alia went back to the tubes with Simon and Zaira; everyone else got geared up in their skis save for Olivia and Evelyn, who opted to go to the lodge’s sauna instead.

After taking a few runs down the slope, while the others headed to the lift to take them back to the top, Liam and Croía decided to use the remaining time before the sun disappeared behind the mountains to venture onto the cross-country trails through the woods.

Using their poles to move, they slowly and quietly glided along the flat trail, taking in the scenery; golden rays from the early evening sun glistened through the trees against the pathway as birds zipped between and perched atop branches.

“It’s so peaceful out here,” Croía said.

Liam nodded in agreement. “It is.” He glanced up at the early evening sky. “There’s a split in the path up ahead; we’re gonna go left.”

“What’s to the left?” Croía asked.

“There’s a cliff edge along the trail,” Liam smiled. “I want to show you the view. And it’s the path that loops back toward the lodge.”

When they made it to the split, Croía followed Liam as he veered left onto the trail, gliding up beside him. He reached out a hand and wiggled his fingers, and she smiled as she shifted her pole to her other hand before taking his.

A moment later, he tilted his head. “What is that?” Croía asked, hearing the distant noise herself.

“Not sure,” Liam replied. “It sounds like … a chopper, maybe? I wonder if the press got wind that we were all up here …”

Croía’s brows furrowed. “They’d come all the way here in a helicopter?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve taken to the skies to try and get some photos to sell a story,” Liam shrugged. “Business must be slow,” he chuckled.

The obscured whirling became a little louder, then distant, louder, then distant. As they came to an open spot in the trail with a view of the slopes in the distance between a section of trees, they heard faint popping sounds.

Upon hearing it, Liam’s head snapped toward the view of the slopes; he could make out the indistinguishable forms of others midway through a run, some appearing to view off course toward the trees. His eyes then shifted up to see a black helicopter flying toward the top of the slope.

“What the hell?” Liam whispered to himself as his eyes drifted down again, watching others as they careened toward the bottom of the slope, one after the other.

Closer by, muffled shouts echoed in the air, but they were too deep into the trail to be able to make out what was being said. Then they heard what sounded like the engines of multiple snowmobiles starting. When Liam’s eyes shifted back into the sky, the helicopter was moving down the length of the slope in their direction, and more popping sounds ensued.

Suddenly, it hit him.

“Croía, go,” Liam urged her with a sternness in his tone she hadn’t heard before. He turned and gave her a shove forward on her skis before pushing off with his poles.

“What is it?”

Liam glanced over his shoulder, trying to keep an eye on the helicopter’s location. “I’m not sure.” He was, but he didn’t want to be nor did he want to scare her. “Just keep going. We need to get back to the lodge. Now.”

Coming to another split, Liam and Croía quickly veered left again, taking the path that led directly to the lodge. The whirling of the helicopter was getting louder, but Liam hadn’t heard the popping sounds, causing him to question whether or not he was merely overthinking.

As they exited the trail to an open, wider path, able to see the lodge in the distance, Liam went to breathe a sigh of relief but paused when he spotted the helicopter now closer; it was drifting away from their direction toward the chairlift area. “Get your skis off!” he called out, making sure his voice was heard over the noise.

Liam and Croía quickly got their boots free from the bindings of their skis; he told her to leave them, grabbed her hand, and started hurrying her in the direction of the lodge as he kept his eyes on the chopper. They came to a halt when the helicopter erratically swung back around and came towards them. It slowed, then hovered in the air above the trees on the other side of the path across from them; Croía stepped back, dropping his hand as she lifted her arm, attempting to shield her face from the snow that swirled from the gust of the chopper’s blades.

Squinting his eyes against the flurry, Liam stared up at the helicopter. Leaning out of its open door was a masked figure dressed in head-to-toe black, and although he couldn’t see their face, he swore he sensed the moment their sights locked on him … almost as if they had found what they were looking for.

Liam’s heart was thundering in his chest, questioning what was about to happen as his eyes kept shifting between the helicopter and his surroundings, trying to formulate some kind of plan — against what, he wasn’t sure. When he glanced up again, he froze in place and his eyes widened as the masked form raised the barrel of a tactical weapon toward them.

“CROÍA! GET DOWN!” Liam bellowed.

Without a second thought, he dove for Croía, shifting so his back was toward the chopper. Using his body as a shield, Liam wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down into the snow as gunfire broke out from above them.

***************************************

Perma Tags (if you’d like to be added or removed for this story, please let me know): @zaffrenotes @cocomaxley @emichelle @sweetest-marbear @indiacater @gibbles82 @the-soot-sprite @ladyangel70 @esmckenzie @dcbbw @burnsoslow @deb-1106 @bbrandy2002 @txemrn @charlotteg234 @kat-tia801 @neotericthemis @foreverethereal123 @choiceskatie @sirbeepsalot @gnatbrain @openheart12 @sincerelyella @superharriet @queenrileyrose @aestheticartsx @kingliam2019 @indiana-jr @bascmve01 @rainbowsinthestorm @emkay512 @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @forallthatitsworth @walker7519 @iaminlovewithtrr @amandablink @mainstreetreader @mom2000aggie @princessleac1 @21-wishes @appleone @tessa-liam @pixelatedpassion @malblk21 @lovingchoices14 @nestledonthaveone @forthebrokenheartedthings @nomadics-stuff @differenttyphoonwerewolf

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scalproie · 2 months

Note

HEE HO

AsuLili

3, 6, 10, 31,36

XiaoJin

1, 60, 55, 12, 10

J FROST IS LUCKY HES BLUE AND HAS ICE POWERS

(Also dont kill me for the Asulili im not as versed as you)

3. Do they wear the other’s clothes? (sweatshirt, bandana, necklace, etc.)

*laughs in canon clothes swap in t8 customization* but fr i dont think asuka would willingly wear lili's clothes bc its not her style and the same would be true for lili. BUT when lili start to gift asuka clothes, I feel she would eventually wear the kinda clothes she buy for her gf herself, making asuka want to wear them in return.

6. Who would beg the other not to leave? Who has to leave to protect the other?

I FEEL like both of those would be lili. bc lili is the one making an active choice to be in asuka's life, so it would be her who'd have to swallow her pride and beg for asuka to stay, all the while being the one who'd be ready to leave to protect asuka, bc in her mind, pre-dating, she deep down would think/know that her presence isnt essential in asuka's life (it wouldnt be true but yknow)

10. Describe their first date.

When they decide to actually start dating, I feel their first date would be kinda jarring to asuka bc in her mind, she'd picture lili doing exactly what lili has always done, with the extravagance she's bring to everything, the roses, the everything... but the actual date is much more reserved bc in lili's mind, smth has changed yknow? This has a touch of seriousness to the situation that wasnt there before, and maybe, just maybe, lili is a bit more nervous about this now.

31. Can they sit side by side without touching the other or are they handsy? (lacing fingers, touching knees, etc.)

I feel asuka would be kinda handsy bc thats the protectiveness talking, she would barely even notice that shes doing it, someone would be talking to either of them about lili in particular and asuka would have to have a physical contact with her.

36. Who’s more likely to fire up the stove at 2am because the other woke up in the middle of the night hungry?

Again. Asuka. She's someone who finds concrete solutions to problems, and if lili wakes up hungry well there is only one way to solve that. "Its rotten work, especially if its you. I mean i'll do it but christ alive"

And now Xiaojin!

1. Who would end a heated argument by defending their actions with ‘because I love you!’ ?

Xiaoyuuu like MAYBE post-t8, jin could end up in that situation but for the most part it'd be xiaoyu, again, pre-t8, jin would have trouble coming to terms as to why someone would do any kind of extreme actions for HIM so this would be xiaoyu's argument ender. She'd immediately be embarassed after saying it while jin bluescreen

10. Describe their first date.

AMUSEMENT PARK BABEYYY like man. Literally what better for them to reconnect as friends and get used to hang out as lovers? With xiaoyu's special interest and a place jin is sure to enjoy experiencing for most likely the first time where he get just to have fun?

12. Do they have many heated arguments? How do they smooth things over?

I dont think they have many arguments and in those, jin would be particularly apologetic anyway. His loved ones are everything to him so naturally he would try to make her heard and find together a solution to whatever problem theyre having that would have them argue anyway. That and he also feels like a "my girlfriend is mad at me. I hope I die" kinda guy.

55. Do they like watching clouds or star gazing?

Both, watching clouds turns into star gazing eventually and this is more jin's thing like he would show xiaoyu the clear sky of yakushima and she's happy to share that with him

60. Who pulls the other closer when they’re sleeping?

Xiaoyu does it sometimes bc like. she's finally found him :) but most of the time its Jin, he likes that kind of comfort to having her close to him and not being scared of harming her despite himself

#also sorry it took me like literally 24h. i had. a rough day.#tagging later #nozomijoestar #ask meme

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sapphire-weapon · 11 months

Note

i enjoy meta analysis of RE4make but even though a big part of the fun in shipping leon x ashley is extrapolating from all the little details in the game, sometimes i wonder what is it about them exactly that makes me go insane and the answer really just boils down to: royal/knight dynamic, fighting through hell to get back to you, blurring the line between duty and love

It's because their relationship doesn't end when the game does. The dynamic that they have in canon will actually carry over into their everyday lives when they're home, but... they're home now. It's different now. Their relationship is Not Normal, and they both know it even if they'd never acknowledge it out loud -- even to each other. And they have to find some way to live with themselves and also each other within the confines of mundane reality after escaping from a waking nightmare together.

It's the possibilities that pop up around that kind of conflict.

It's them at the same government function and locking eyes with each other from across the room until they can't bear to keep it up anymore. Ashley nervously draws her gaze down and to the side to look at nothing. Leon puts his hands in his pockets and quietly clears his throat, trying to tell himself that the anxious fluttering rising up from the center of his chest isn't there.

It's the way they still try to pass their tiny touches back and forth -- because they both feel the need to be in physical contact with each other for reassurance -- but they both know without saying aloud that they have to be much more subtle and natural about it in order to not raise eyebrows.

It's Leon sitting nervous whenever he's alone in the room with the President, because he's terrified he's been too obvious about even the quiet, subtle affections he's given Ashley since they've been home. He's sure he's going to get the "stay away from my daughter" talk any day now -- despite the fact that even those little affections have been infrequent and wholly innocent -- but it never comes.

It's the way that Leon has to physically choke back the urge to put himself between Ashley and anyone who gets too close to her. That's not his job -- and, in fact, it was an offer he knows he consciously turned down -- but it's an automatic impulse that he never fully trains himself out of.

It's Ashley making sure that she doesn't ask her dad about Leon too often as to be suspicious or annoying -- which equates to her doing it almost never, even though the desire to is always at the forefront at her mind, and not a day goes by that she doesn't think about him.

It's the way they just ignore the growing tension between them from their forced distance apart. It goes on for days, then weeks, then months -- until they can't ignore it anymore. They're not sure who kissed who first, but Leon has both hands buried in her hair, and she has one hand curled into the lapel of his suit jacket and another hooked around the knot of his tie, pulling him ever closer. Before long, he has her back pressed against the wall and her skirt hiked up just far enough to tuck the tips of his fingers beneath the hem of her panties. She can't get the buttons of his shirt open fast enough before pushing the fabric around his shoulders and down the length of his arms. Leon knows that he should stop this -- that this is wrong -- but Ashley's hands on his bare skin has him feeling normal for the first time in almost seven years, and he can't stop kissing her like the cure for his nightmares is written somewhere on the surface of her tongue.

It's Ashley on her back and running her fingers through Leon's sweat-damp hair as he hovers over her, eyes closed and head bowed as he tries to catch his breath and recover in the afterglow. Drops of sweat fall from his brow and the tip of his nose onto her bare chest and neck, and she lets them lay where they land. He's beautiful from this angle, and she so desperately wants to allow the words "I love you" tumble from her lips, but she holds back out of fear that, if she said aloud the truth they've refused to speak for so long, he'd put a stop to their now-repeated yet still infrequent midnight trysts. He kisses her slowly -- gratefully -- as he takes hold of one of her hands and weaves his fingers between hers. Her heart aches. Even though she has him for this moment, she still can't call him hers.

At least

I mean

That's what does it for me about the ship idk about you LMAO

#resident evil 4 #leon kennedy #ashley graham #this was fun LMAO #i think about this shit a lot sry

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public-trans-it · 12 days

Note

you mentioned your wol is cis(ish), what does that mean? (/gen)

(In relation to my WoL post) Sorry this took too long to respond to, distracted by stuff

Short answer:

Long answer under the cut, but probably not as interesting as you might be hoping. But also deeply personal. Mostly a recap of the stuff in that thread, with a bit more context from my personal life and my evolving feelings of gender involved.

But if you don't wanna read all that, its basically "She is a in-universe fantasia addict and has no real attachment to her physical body, and that includes her genitals."

Language is going to be a get tricky in this one, given we are talking about a setting that may not have the same views of gender as we do.

She is Cis(ish) simply because she is an afab woman who treats gender like just another part of her dresser. Were she educated on the topic, she would probably consider herself either genderfluid or agender. She is always a girl, but rarely 'just' a girl.

T'sraetn is my main. All of my characters are some reflection of myself, but as my main, T'sraetn is more myself than anyone. As such, many of her changes throughout the years are based on my own changes.

She started 1.x as just an afab miqo'te, because at the time, I was a trans woman and T'sraetn represented who I wanted to be, and remained that way through ARR. By the time Heavensward had launched, I had grown more comfortable with being trans, and fantasia'd T'sraetn into a trans Au Ra girl.

I know "Are fantasias canon?" is a very contested question in the fandom, but luckily I don't give a fuck about other people's opinions, so I don't have to care about that. And the fun thing about treating magic gender/race change juice as canon, is it vastly increases the number of options for gender presentation.

T'sraetn became an Au Ra cause she thought horns and scales were cool and wanted some. She stayed a girl cause she viewed herself as a girl and wanted to remain that way. She got a penis cause she wanted one. It was really that simple.

Just before Stormblood I... changed her back to Miqo'te. I didn't really do it cause I wanted to, I did it because I was in a really shitty relationship and the person I was with at the time wanted me to. Shortly after Stormblood launched, I stopped playing her as that person turned into a stalker, and started playing a new character, T'alia.

T'alia was kind of built on the loathing I had for T'sraetn at the time. How I felt she wasn't mine anymore, so I made a bastardized version of her that I justified as being her mom. I joined another FC, and got to start roleplaying as this character and fleshing her out more. I filled in the role they needed of a central antagonist, which fit in with the loathing I had built the character on. I built a few other characters to play as when we didn't need a central antagonist that week. But as Shadowbringers drew closer, I noticed a problem. In order to do any RP's in Shadowbringers areas, I'd have to do the expansion a second time in order to get there. I'd have to unlock flying, and do all that other bullshit.

I didn't want to, so I introduced a new character: T'alia. Or more accurately, a clone of her, which the FC affectionately named 'Tali' to tell the two apart. This new version of her rejected T'alias goals for her, and wanted to be her own person. Someone fighting along the FC. However, she had cybernetic enhancements that allowed T'alia to control her body and keep her from fighting back. Now I had an excuse to be on either side of a fight, without it being a question of "Why do you go missing every time we fight this one specific bad guy"

I made a central part of Tali's personality her crisis of identity. She didn't want to be the person everyone told her she was. I uh... I was not that subtle about it being a metaphor for my saltiness over that ex who's FC I was in. She was constantly modifying herself, trying to replace her cybernetics or alter the organics of her body. I only *actually* fantasia'd her twice, first time into a Viera, but I imagined she was changing up her body pretty regularly, trying to find the one that actually felt like "her".

Eventually, I got kinda fed up with the limitations of Viera in the game, specifically after one of the holiday events where Viera couldn't even wear the reward from it. So I decided I was going to fantasia her again when I had the chance, and worked it into the RP. I had worked a lot of frustrations about my own mother into the character of T'alia, and so I had known for a little bit before hand that Tali was actually T'sraetn, and had dropped a few hints in RP about it (mostly referencing past stuff with other FC members who came with when leaving that old FC). Stuff the players would go "We sure did that together, yep." while being subtle about the fact that my character absolutely should not remember that.

Eventually, I did the big reveal in RP, changed my characters name back to my old main, and reclaimed my old character. The ACTUAL old character became Gaelicat. That... is not canon to T'sraetn's story (unless... hm...) I decided to leave in the love for changing up her body she had acquired as Tali. She still had the cybernetics at this point, and it was a recurring joke in RP that her arms would fall off in every fight and she would have to find someone to fix them. Even once she had her cybernetics removed, she still retained the same attitude of having no attachment to her body. It could be changed and altered, maybe not easily, but it was certainly possible.

So she has no real attachment to her current form anymore. She looks that way just cause that's how she wants to look. She might see a pretty hrothgal and decide to be one of those for a bit. She might want to go for a (slightly. very slightly) bit more of a masculine look for a bit and become a male viera.

Ultimately it boils down to... it doesn't matter what configuration the parts of her body take, its just a fucking body, and it can and will be changed on a whim with this handy blue drink.

#ffxiv #ffxiv wol

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messa-messilla · 5 months

Text

The boy at casa loma

Walucas/Wallace Wells x Lucas Lee fanfiction - Part 3

(art made by me)

Summary : Wallace is invited as a VIP spectator at the recording of Lucas' next movie, but something doesn't go as planned...

Author note : Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, but guess what ? I FINALLY FINISHED THIS FIC !! WOOOOOOOH !!! The lore kinda changed recently with the new anime, so sorry for any out of canon thing :(. Anyway, i think i might write more fanfictions in the future, this one was really fun to make !!!

Final chapter : Impress

As the people on the streets were walking, just living their day, they could see something coming, grinding wall to wall, jumping from flip to backflip in an amazingly acrobatic way…

And this skateboarding king entity wasn’t other than mister Lucas Lee, the LEGENDARY oscar winning actor.

People were cheering, rooting, screaming, CRYING, as they saw Mr Lee rolling away, without even addressing them any once of a stare.

No, he couldn’t think about them…

He couldn’t think about anything else other than THE man.

The man with the dark, crow feather - like hair.

The man with the black, yet, deeply captivating eyes.

The man with that little smug look that seemed to really get stuck in the actor’s brain.

Wallace……

He would roll on his skateboard faster and even faster, just by thinking about him…

He carried with him a gray backpack, holding a delicious lunchbox, cooked with love and attention…

And some (kind of bland) garlic bread, that Lucas took with him, when he realized at the last moment he took so much time to cook Wallace’s meal that he actually forgot to get food for HIM.

The closer Lucas got to Casa Loma, the faster his heart beated.

What if he gave a terrible performance ??

A performance so bad that the boy that looked so lovely would see him as untalented, useless, even ?

Well, Lucas is now at the place, and the charming man is coming to him, so no time for thinking too much, go Lucas go !!!

“ - Well, glad to have you here, Mr Lee !”

Addressed the man, winking confidently, waving gently his hand to the star.

“ - The same goes for me..”

Lucas crossed his arms kind of awkwardly, looking around him, his eyes going from looking at the cameras, to the people around the set, staying here to watch the recording process.

As Lucas and Wallace got closer to the set, we could see and hear the street passengers all around, rooting, shouting even, to the moviestar, which made him grin, gaining even more confidence.

“ - Everybody, are y'all ready ??

Light…

Camera…

ACTION !!

- Listen to me right now, you douchebag…”

Lucas was giving the best of himself, and it really showed. The man clearly knew how to do his job, even when the script, story and scenario… Wasn’t really great.

“ - You really thought i was going to let you go away like nothing happened ?? After all you did ???”

The crowd, catered all around, was way too captivated, mesmerized even, by such a professional performance…

“ - Come here, i’ll make you feel the pain you subjected others to.”

“ - Okay guys, lunch break time !”

From the moment the break was announced, Lucas immediately started to look anywhere where Wallace could be.

Even at his own surprise, at the moment, he felt like the crowd's opinion on his performance mattered less… And also like Wallace’s view on the performance he gave mattered WAY much.

“- Hey man, i’m here !”

Lucas turned back with surprise, to see Wells’ smug face fix him.

“ - You said you would bring our lunch !

- Yeah, i did..”

They both walked through the setting, and sat at chairs, close to a simple little table.

“ - So, what did you bring for us, big man ?

- Well…”

Lucas took his backpack, and got out of it a blue lunch box.

“ - Thank you, Lucas !”

Wallace proceeded to open it, and was instantly amazed ! Two really lovely looking sandwiches, made with soft bread, and a really sweet smelling chocolate and strawberry cake !

“ - WOAW, you made that yourself ??

- Hmm ?”

Wallace looked up at Lucas… Who already started to nom on a poor looking piece of Garlic bread.

“ - Yeah, i made it, why are you asking ?” He said, looking on the side, a bit embarrassed.

“ - This… This looks delicious, thank you so much buddy !!!”

“ - Eheh, no problem, anytime boy !” replied Lucas, feeling an invisible force lift his cheekbones, showing at the same occasion his perfect white teeth.

“ - But… I’m wondering… Is this all you’re going to eat ??” Wallace disdained the cheap little piece of bread “ Why didn’t you cook anything that is that good for yourself ??”

Lucas felt sweat flowing down his forehead, looking quickly in all directions. He didn’t really want to admit he took way too much time making this lunch box for him, and forgot about himself…

“ - Don’t worry bro, eheh… I’m a strong man ! I don’t need to eat a lot on a regular basis !! Anyway, i don’t want to get too many calories.”

After saying this, Lucas INSTANTLY realized how stupid and non logic of an excuse this was. Wallace really made him lose his words…

“ - Oh, Lucas…” giggled Wallace “ You don’t really need to care about this at all ! Plus, you know, bread isn’t really calorie free.”

“ - What ?? What do you mean ??” Lucas exclaimed, actually worried.

“ - Bread has butter, bread makes you fat.

- BREAD MAKES YOU FAT ???!!!”

“ - Everyone, get back to your spot. Time to resume.”

Lucas gasped, he was having such a nice moment with Wallace, guess it was time to go back to work…

“ - Hey !”

Lucas turned around, it was Wallace, standing there again.

“ - Thank you for this great moment, you’re an impressive cook !”

Lucas felt his cheeks reddening a bit, he always ends up blushing whenever he gets anything nice from this dark haired boy..

“ - You’re welcome.” he said, as he tried to look as indifferent as he could.

“ - Oh.. Wait a second…”

Wallace raised his head. As he stared at the sky, we could see surprise in his expression. What could have happened ?

“ - Is there any problem ?”

“ - Lucas… I think it’s starting to rain !”

The teardrops, falling from the sky, were at a speed increasing every new single second.

“ - Okay, everyone, store back your equipment, we’re stopping for today.

- Oh.”

Lucas stared at the gray sky, which was getting progressively more and more dark.

“ - So…” addressed Lucas, looking at Wallace, “ What do we do now ?

- Mmh…”

Wallace began to think, what could they do…

An idea suddenly crossed his mind like a light flash.

“ - Well, i got an idea…”

“ - Hey Lucas, so about the next time we’re going to record…”

Lucas' manager got on the spot where he saw him some minutes ago, with that one dark haired guy he brang as a guest… And he wasn’t there ??

The manager looked around him, where is he hiding ??

When he suddenly saw him… He was running away with this guy ??

At the last instant they were in his field of vision, they were holding hands, and laughing loud enough to be heard from a surprisingly large distance.

“ - Get in quickly, or you’re going to get a cold !!”

They both got into Wallace’s house, absolutely soaked and wet, but in euphoric laughter after this hell of a race.

They both sat on the cheap mattress on the floor, trying to regain their breath and calm down.

“ - Woaw, your place is… Really… Chill..

- Thank you !!”

After they finally settled down, Wallace and Lucas both looked at each other, not gazing at any moment anywhere other than each other’s faces.

“ - So…

- Yeah ?”

Lucas fixed his hair, he never met a man that made him act this awkward, and also this emotional. Though, he had a really good new…

“ - Wallace, you see about the discussion we had recently… I finally found a psychologist that could help me.

- THAT’S WONDERFUL, MAN !!”

We could see excitement on Lucas’ and Wallace’s faces, both full of positive energy, as they exchanged a cheerful high five !

“- Woah man, what a day…

- Mmh… Lucas ?

- Yuh ?”

Wallace rubbed his eyes as he yawned, still cooling down from running under the rain.

“ - My man, you’re clearly a professional actor, you really got all the lights on you !! Everyone noticed you, you were the center of attention !!”

Lucas, hearing this, got frankly confused, everyone

noticed him ?? Everyone, even…

“ - So, i was impressing everyone there ??

- Yeah, everyone.”

Lucas felt his brain doing backflips, rolling and smashing itself everywhere in his head, and his heart was burning more than ever.. What if…

“ - Impressing everyone…

Even you ?”

A heavy silence settled in all the house by this sentence only.

Wallace's eyes were WIDE open, and Lucas was at a level of embarrassment so strong sweat flowed on his face like a waterfall, he felt HOPELESS…

But, after this silent moment that felt like decades… Wallace bursted out of laughter, at Lucas’ BIGGEST panic.

“ - THAT’S NOT FUNNY, if i was you i wouldn’t even dare to make fun of me like that…”

Lucas was so confused, so anxious, what could he even do ???..

Wallace calmed down… He fixed Lucas’ eyes, so deeply it felt like he was staring at his soul, looking as delighted as ever.

Lucas' panic was cut short, leaving him speechless, his eyes shining brighter than stars.

“ - I am impressed, Lucas.”

Lucas was breath taken.

“ - You…”

Lucas couldn’t even finish his sentence.

Wallace got close enough to his face, giving two seconds for Lucas to realize how pretty this man was.

The second Wallace’s soft lips laid on his, Lucas felt all of his stress evaporate, like steam coming from the ocean, his stress being the water, and Wallace being the shining sun.

Lucas couldn’t believe what was happening, he was overjoyed by the moment. He wrapped his massive arms around Wallace, who felt maybe squeezed a little too tight, even choking a tiny tiny tinnyyyyy little bit.. But he didn’t complain at all. Either way, Wallace, even with the large love experience he got… Never felt that way when kissing someone.

As they were making out, they both felt little lights around them, making this moment even more special… Sparks.

When they finally left each other's faces… They couldn’t let their eyes quit each other, it was THAT SPECIAL of a moment.

A special moment that NOTHING and NO ONE could st-

“ - AAAAEEEEUUUUGGHH ??!! LUCAS LEE ???!!!”

Scott just entered the place, and Lucas Lee, THE famous guy who tried to get rid of him, was just sitting here, in his shared bed ?? With his roommate ???! The last time Scott got jumpscared this hard was when Neil made him play the Scary maze prank...

“ - WHAT IS HE DOING HE-”

“ - DUDE, dude, calm down, everything is okay.

No hard feelings between us anymore, ‘kay ?”

Both Wallace and Lucas giggled, amused by Scott’s reaction, still holding each other really tight.

“ - UUUUHH ?? WHAT ???!”

“ - Okay boys,” cackled Wallace, “what about we take a drink and talk about, you know, all of this ?”

Lucas, who couldn’t agree less, nodded with great pleasure.

Yeah, both Wallace and Lucas were truly euphoric together, and nobody could ruin that.

Author note : YAYYY IT'S FINALLY FINISHED LET'S GOOO !! THANK YOU FOR READING !!!! This is my very first totally complete fanfiction and i'm really proud about it :>>> THANKS SO MUCH to the people who stayed here till the end <3<3

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snoffyy · 1 year

Note

I was disappointed that “fish hat” was not a prompt for either Zhaozaipalooza. Would you consider writing? Any character/pair as long as Zhao and a fish hat are present.

So hear me out; originally, I was gonna do a lil cracky piece with Zhao as a marine biologist forced to wear a fish hat by upper management but somehow it devolved into more of a spiritual canon piece???? Anyway, this was a lot of fun to write, so a big 'thank you!!!!' for the prompt!!!! Especially for giving Fish Hat the justice it deserves.

(and a tidbit of irosami just for you, Orange <3)

Fog. Ghostly wreaths of it. Zhao stumbled, trying to blink past the heavy vapour. In the distance, figures. Screaming; almost inhuman, but distinctly human enough that Zhao wasn’t sure which would have been worse.

They named their regrets, their minds slaves to their own ambitions. A cold prickle of chill wormed its way through Zhao’s veins. That was going to be him. His mind, no longer his own. He didn’t even know how long he had.

“No,” Zhao whispered, squeezing his eyes shut when another scream sounded in the distance. No, no, no.

Was he even dead? Alive? Undead? What had happened the moment he’d been dragged into the water to now, stuck in this awful hell?

“Pay your penance.”

A voice, silvery and sweet, the same voice he’d heard in the oasis before fire had alit his hands and he’d…

“Where are you?!” Zhao demanded. “You’re the princess, aren’t you? Show yourself! What are you doing here?”

The fog morphed in front of him. And then… like a shaft of light slanting through storm clouds, there she was. Distinctly otherworldly, no longer human. Her eyes, luminescent. Her clothing, wispy. Everything about her was ethereal, as if she no longer had any ties to the mortal realm.

“You neglected the notion that the moon spirit had multiple forms,” the princess (was she a princess any longer?) informed him, peering at him serenely.

“You,” Zhao snarled.

“Yue,” she corrected. “Names have meaning, and while the title of ‘Tui’ falls to me now, my mortal sentiments still remain.”

Zhao sneered. “I still don’t understand what you’re doing here.”

“You killed the moon spirit,” Yue murmured. “But in doing so, you killed the ocean spirit as well. They were a pair. One could not live without the other, even if a new counterpart was offered. La is dying, Admiral Zhao, and he needs a replacement.”

“Good luck with that, then,” Zhao said coldly, bitterly. “My life’s work, wasted. All the time and effort expended, and I didn’t even do it right.”

Yue approached him, and he could feel neither warmth nor cold from her.

“If that is how you want to put it,” she said, now reaching out and brushing her fingers along his brow. “But perhaps not. You will take La’s place.”

Zhao stared, and even the screaming in the distance seemed to ebb away. “Excuse me?”

Yue held out her hands, a headdress manifesting from thin air. Pitch black, with a white spot on the forehead, scaled over like –

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Zhao hissed. “A fish hat?!”

Yue levelled an unimpressed stare at him. “You have a choice here, Admiral Zhao. Forsake your mortal name and take on the title of ‘La’, or stay here in the Fog of Lost souls, where you will join their ranks.”

She pointed at the figures in the distant, hunched over and apathetic. The screaming had stopped, and the silence was damning.

“You will be known,” Yue pushed the headdress closer, “but not for your mortal feats.”

Zhao stared at the headdress.

“It is a kinder fate than you deserve,” Yue informed him, her blue eyes icy.

Zhao swallowed. He’d never thought himself a fool. He’d never wanted to believe himself a fool. But pride was a stubborn thing, and it often twisted his own tongue, made him turn his nose up, building scoffs and sneers like second nature.

But what pride did he have here, if only to forsake it to the fog?

He met Yue’s eyes.

And grabbed the headdress.

“My grandfather knew the Moon Spirit, you know,” Iroh said, joined hands with Asami swinging gently in the cool ocean breeze.

It was beautiful tonight, with a full moon and the lapping waves creating the perfect ambience for a midnight walk after a late dinner.

“Princess Yue, right?” Asami brushed a wayward lock of hair behind her ear. “Her story is so saddeningly beautiful.”

“Yeah,” Iroh tore his gaze away from that strand of hair. “But Grandfather had seen her when she was mortal.”

“What of the Ocean Spirit?” Asami asked, stopping him with a squeeze of his hand before she bent down and lifted a white shell from the sand. “Avatar Aang fused with it, right?”

“No one really knows what happened to the Ocean Spirit,” Iroh shrugged, beaming when Asami grabbed his free hand and gently placed the shell in it. He tucked it into his breast pocket, patting it carefully. “But Avatar Aang said that the Ocean Spirit’s energy felt different. Almost like two new spirits had been born rather than just one.”

Asami hummed, her painted lips pursed, an adorable furrow of concentration scrunching her brows.

“Maybe some things aren’t meant to be known,” Iroh remarked, looking out over the ocean. The full moon was reflected within its depths, tranquil and lulling.

Push and pull.

Just as it has always been.

#thank you!#zhayu???#if you squint??#zhao #yue #irosami #zhao the moon slayer more like zhao the moon prayer

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moonybadger · 8 months

Text

Whoops I started thinking about it too much, so here’s

LITTLE WAYS I’D FIX AGGRETSUKO (without deviating too much from the original!)

Season 1:

I wouldn’t change much tbh this is a great season! But the one thing I’d tweak is that I’d want Haida and Retsuko to have a more interesting dynamic, where you can see him bringing out flashes of her more energetic, abrasive self before she hides back in her “polite work persona” again. I would also have him explicitly confess to her at the end of the season and have her turn him down, with him having the same realization of “I don’t really know her that well”. He’ll take the rejection well and for the next season he’s JUST her friend and vows to get to know her for herself more.

Season 2:

Again, I wouldn’t change much but I’d waaaaay tone down Haida’s jealousy and stalkery tendencies; just lean on him being a fanboy of Tadano and then being concerned about Retsuko’s health in the second half (I will allow a wistful look, but nothing more). I think I’d actually introduce Inui here as Haida’s new girlfriend and they’d date probably up until either halfway through season 3 or the start of season 4.

Season 3:

The first half of this season can mostly stay the same but I would absolutely have Retskuo stay in the band at the end; like she can definitely keep her day job, the other band members work them too. But Haida and Fenneko are also just supportive of this. Retskuo probably tries to hide it from them out of embarrassment so we can have an episode or two of shenanigans but there’s no guilt tripping her into staying at her office job that she hates.

The Inui drama that happens in the original season gets rewritten and will somewhat mirror Retsuko’s breakup with Tadano. Inui can get an opportunity that requires her to move while Haida is moving up in the company or something and they have to decide if the relationship is worth one of them giving up their dream/career opportunities. They’d decide to amicably break it off there, though they’re both really sad about it. Maybe there can be a scene where Retskuo is comforting a sad Haida and he says something like “thanks for being such a good friend through all this :(“ and she can maybe feel something like “oh I actually want to be more then his friend now” at the very last minute.

I also would not have Haida drag Retsuko away from her parents home SO SOON after being attacked, like have it start actually turning into a problem that they need to pull an intervention on. Like maybe Haida invites her to a friendly hangout and it’s only the temptation of karaoke that draws her out, and even then she can’t bring herself to do the heavy metal stuff until Haida starts playfully yelling at her with rock music. Also all the band members show up and tell her they love her and to stay with the band.

And to reiterate!!! Haida and Retsuko’s banter will have been growing more earnest and and like... playfully bickery! One of the main issues I have with them as a pairing is that every conversation they have Retskuo is so painfully polite and impersonal, compared to how she is with any of her other friends in the show. Show them “getting closer” by having their conversations actually be meaningful and fun.

Season 4:

Pretty much none of the Haida and Retsuko stuff is salvageable here ugh. In this hypothetical canon I’ve constructed, I think it would work okay to keep Haida reluctant to approach Retsuko romantically, since she’s already turned him down once, he’s still getting over his breakup with Inui, and he’s very conscious of Retsuko still recovering from getting attacked at the end of the previous season. I think I would have it so that he THINKS he might be getting signals from her, but not wanting to overstep any boundaries.

I would keep their character interactions consistent at least by having them continue guitar lessons and having him drive her to band practice (Fenneko can come too, maybe she can start seducing the leopard band manager or something) A lot of Retsuko’s arc here can be a combination of A) recovering from the attack and learning to find joy in the band again and B) Coming to terms with her new feelings for Haida, since they’ve been actually forming a good healthy friendship the last three seasons and he saved her life at the end of the last one. She can also either decide she wants to keep singing in the band OR she decides to step back from actually being a member and just wants to do the accounting. Either way she stays with them though!

I’m not sure about the office drama... I really like the stuff with Ton so I definitely want to keep that part of it there, but I’d take out the Haida being jealous and running off to the evil new president because of it stuff because that was irritating. MAYBE Haida could be getting blackmailed into being a patsy and the reason he doesn’t tell Retsuko is that he’s trying to protect her and not wanting to burden her.

Their big emotional finale can be either Retskuo just finding out about the mess Haida’s gotten himself into or he can come clean with her himself, and she can tell him that she WANTS him to burden her with things like this because she cares about him!!!! And they get together! He probably still looses his job though, sorry Haida.

Season 5:

This season can also mostly stay the same thankfully, though I think I’d take out the losing all his money to gaming parts with Haida and Retskuo thinking he’s cheating on her because. Sigh.

Just have him get evicted from his apartment after running out of money on rent and food and is unable to find a new job because of how he’s been blacklisted from the accounting world. He can just be too embarrassed to tell her, and his judgemental father can help reinforce where he got this behavior from.

Other then that, I think I’d just bump up the Retskuo running for a political office to start a little sooner in the storyline and maybe have a few more interactions with Haida and Retsuko’s parents.

THERE THAT’S HOW I WOULD FIX THE SHOW

#aggretsuko #season 3 and 4 are just sooooo frustrating #but there is a lot to like in both of them still #bored badgering

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calciumcryptid · 9 months

Text

If someone at DC handed me Livewire and asked me how I'd adapt her for a new media here is my pitch:

I'd save her until Kara enters the scene, very specifically a very insecure and just starting out Kara who just reunited with her cousin and is trying to find her place in this Super Legacy.

Kara decides to attend Metropolis for university, studying for a Journalism degree. She decides to stay on campus, so she enters her dorm room all excited to see, you guessed it, Leslie Willis.

You know those characters in reboots who spout off progressive political opinions to show the writers are caught up with what the kids believe? Yeah, that is the role Leslie plays except likeable. She isn't afraid to act in protest for change.

She is an independent podcaster who is critical of the heroes becoming more frequent in their world. None of what she says is wrong, but naturally without the whole story. Kara likes hearing Leslie criticize her cousin, it makes her feel like his legacy isn't as daunting to live up to as she believes.

The two click like that, and throughout the episodes or issues or whatever they continue to get closer and closer with Leslie becoming a major informant when it comes to online spaces and politicians. Sure Leslie criticizes Superwoman just as much as she criticizes Superman but Kara starts to take the criticism in stride and improves herself.

I imagine one episode/scene/issue would have Kara bringing home the friend she made from college and it turns out to be Superman's second most vocal critic after Lex and Clark are just sitting there trying to not laser beam Leslie to death. Lois finds the whole situation hilarious, especially since Leslie actually does a bunch of research.

The whole time the audience is just sitting there like when is the other shoe going to drop? This is Leslie Willis, obviously she is going to become Livewire at some point so when is it going to happen?

Then the season/arc approaches its end and Leslie holds up two passes to a local convention. She was invited to be a featured creator but wanted Kara to come with, after all it will be fun and Kara has never been to a convention before and she just has to experience it. Convention jokes galore.

(Bonus points if Leslie cosplays as a hero.)

Kara wishes Leslie luck on her first panel, and Leslie joins the others on the stage when the canonical storm occurs causing the panel to be cut short. The storm turns massive and people have to evacuate to the storm safe areas. Kara appears as Superwoman to help people alongside Leslie. Leslie tries to get out of a short-circuiting building but the electricity gets to her first and Kara watches as her closest friend gets electrocuted near to death. Kara rushes her to an ambulance and the ambulance drives off.

Naturally Leslie would awaken with her electric powers and then you could do whatever you wanted.

Personally, I'd have Leslie try to be the hero she thought the Supers could never be only to get too overheated and down the path of villainy with an 'anything goes if it means the end goal' ideology. Then have her be a villain for a while before finally becoming a permanent ally.

Along the way, have a tearful reveal between Kara and Leslie with Kara disappointed in what Leslie has become and Leslie is too angry about the secret Kara kept from her to look her friend in the eye.

Anyways that'd be my pitch.

#i know supergirl had a whole monologue about the supergirl name and not superwoman but fuck that kara deserves to be superwoman by now #leslie willis #livewire #dc

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berserkchip · 10 months

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I read through your Noel route fic a few days ago and had a lot of fun going through it! I've always been really fond of this kind of full-length canon divergence AU that explores an alternate timeline in detail and it's neat seeing yours come together. You do a great job mimicking the prose of the original Tsukihime

Some thoughts

Digging into the stuff with Tokie is a really smart choice for this. It's an obscure bit of canon that rarely gets touched on but it absolutely should have implications for Shiki's character. By its very nature a Noel route is going to involve pairing Shiki with an older woman leveraging a position of power to take advantage of him so it makes perfect thematic sense to spend some time thinking about Shiki's previous experience with that kind of thing and the ways in which it is and isn't the same. You do a good job grappling with it

You write an excellent Akiha. She's got ice in her veins her verbal lashings are delicious. Your Arihiko is great too

I'm a little confused about the sequence of events that leads to Akiha selecting Noel as Shiki's tutor. Noel sends home a fake report card with arbitrarily lowered grades for Shiki on the first day in the hopes of getting his family to hire a tutor for him and then Akiha attempts to hire one and Noel does something to prevent any other female candidates from applying? But a lot of it seems to rely on Akiha taking actions that Noel has no control over - deciding to hire a tutor at all, agreeing to hire Noel when she’s the only candidate instead of just getting someone from farther away, etc. I’m also quite surprised that Akiha seems to actually like Noel here - I would have thought her flighty unreliable personality would be something Akiha can’t stand

The original Tsukihime mostly used its (consensual) sex scenes as an emotional climax close to the end of a route cementing the main relationship after spending a long time with Shiki and the heroine slowly growing closer. It’s kind of neat reading a route that takes the opposite tack - a ton of sex scenes early on while the characters still know almost nothing about each other. Noel’s a sexually frustrated adult woman hitting on a student, not a teenage girl looking for love so I think this makes a lot of sense for her

If I’m tracking things right Arc should have resurrected, went to look for Shiki, and gotten chased by Vlov’s minions while Shiki stayed at Noel's apartment. Without Shiki to push her into confronting Vlov sooner I imagine she’s going to lay low for a while to build up her strength and then show back up in a few days at full power unimaginably pissed off. I’ve been liking this whole alternate sequence of plot developments a lot and I’m interested in how far it’s going to diverge by the end. It’s very funny that Arc’s initial assumption that her killer is a church agent will turn out actually be true by the time she catches up with him in this timeline

As a sidenote, writing fanfiction for an incomplete canon like this is an interesting writing challenge. TsukiRe sets up a ton of mysteries for the far side and while we can assume answers to some of them (Arach being the spider DAA is obvious) there are others where it's a lot less clear what's going on and any fic is forced to choose between carefully skirting around the plot point and just making up something while acknowledging that in a few years it may be invalidated by the other half of the game. You've done a solid job handling it so far

Noel’s relationship with Ciel is by far the most interesting and complex part of her character and I’m really excited that the next part of the story looks like it’s going to start exploring it. So far Noel has managed to mostly hide the stuff that’s really wrong with her from Shiki but the further in he gets the more he’s going to realize how broken she is

Ending things here with Shiki’s vampirized classmate calling Noel out for her bullshit and getting stabbed by Shiki for it is fun. She’s really speedrunning stuff - it’s been under a week since she got hired as a teacher and she’s already fucked the student she went on an undercover mission to investigate in the first place and dragged him out at night to help her hunt vampires. Zero professionalism. It seems unlikely that she has any real feelings for Shiki either - he’s cute and she’s fond of him but at this point she’s just using him for sex and professional advancement

I’m interested to see where you’re going with all the Nanaya stuff. It’s not quite a full alternate personality but Shiki changes a lot when he swaps into that mode - the narrative voice becomes a lot more masculine, aggressive, and misogynistic, Shiki’s actions become much more aggressive and dominant, etc. You do a good job distinguishing the two. One thing TsukiRe does with this that hasn’t come up here yet is that when Shiki swaps into this mode in combat he starts doing a lot of numerical computation, counting times, speeds, distances, like his brain is automatically calculating the most efficient route to kill

This is less writing feedback and more copyediting but you should do a pass on the earlier parts of the story to edit for tense consistency. You shift back and forth from past tense to present tense a lot (this is actually relatively accurate to how VNs are written in japanese but it sounds wrong and is disorienting in english)

Some minor canon accuracy nitpicks that don’t matter but I’ll bring up anyway: The Tohno mansion is at the top rather than the bottom of a hill, Shiki only returned to the mansion once after the incident and it was so Makihisa could dismiss him, Makihisa’s study and Akiha’s study are separate rooms at opposite ends of the mansion

This is very much a matter of personal preference but the erotic scene that stood out the most to me here was actually the makeout scene at the lockers near the beginning. The tension of being desperately attracted to each other but knowing that you shouldn’t act on it and forcefully tearing yourselves apart is very hot. In comparison the later scenes where they get to actually have sex relieve tension rather than building it and aren’t as impactful to me

As a final note you should put this fic up on Ao3 so that it’s easier to find! That’s the first place most people looking for english language fanfiction will check (tragically the community of people writing english language fanfiction for Tsukihime isn’t very large to begin with but some readers is still better than no readers)

Thank you so much for reading and thank you so much for the feedback!! It brightened up my day!!

I definitely see what you mean about being confused as to why Akiha would choose Noel in retrospect, I don't think I explained that well enough. I might have relied too much on coincidence actually, since it's supposed to be Noel's plan, and the main reason Akiha picked someone from Shiki's school is because of his anemia attack during dinner. It makes sense that Noel could narrow things down on her end, but it makes less sense for her to have been able to get Akiha to pick someone from his school in the first place. Hopefully I can come up with something lolol

And as for Akiha getting along with Noel initially, it's more that Akiha was interested in embarrassing stories about Shiki, which Noel happened to have, and less actually liking her as a person. Their relationship will get really rocky as the story goes on.

It's not much of a spoiler to say Arc does indeed resurrect. I'm gonna do some interesting things with her but she unfortunately won't get too much of the spotlight this time around. Not for a while, anyway.

For writing for incomplete canon, yeah Part 2 is definitely going to have some Fullmetal Alchemist (2004) moments where I'm going to purposefully deviate from canon, and if I feel like it, I may go back and retroactively change things as new entries come out, or maybe I'll just leave it as is and have it be an AU. That's definitely going to apply to Saiki Gotou, but despite there already being some evidence of what Dr. Arach is, I'm actually going to purposefully do something different with her as well.

With Noel, she has the unrealistic and unachievable goal of "a normal life" which, to her, means getting back the old life that she had. Barring that, she at least wants something that resembles what everyone else has, so everything else is just a means to an end. You are entirely correct that she doesn't have real feelings for Shiki, but I think the fact that she took being called stupid 'so' hard because it was coming from Shiki shows that she's 'starting' to see him as more than just a pawn.

Plus, she did ultimately choose to save Shiki by calling Ciel, rather than leaving him to die or risk trying and failing to save him by herself. Noel's arc is going to center around what it even means to have a normal life, which is a big part of why I used that song to close out the chapter. She's realizing at that point just how incompatible she is with the life that she wants for herself.

I really should do like 7 or 8 more once-overs, lol. I had a deadline and I wanted to meet it, but when I started, I was doing past tense just because that's kind of the default, but I eventually realized that doing present tense reads better for Tsukihime, and went back and retroactively changed as much of the past tense stuff as I could find, and even still there were times when I'd accidentally slip back into past tense and be like "wait DAMNIT" and go back and change a bunch. It doesn't surprise me that I missed some, lol. I also notice that I have a really bad habit of repeating words either in the same sentence, or one sentence apart. Like "it's time, now. We're going now." or something like that. very bad habit, lol.

I was wondering what you thought of the extra chapter with Noel at the monastery. I put it there to try and build tension for the eventual reveal of what actually happened when Shiki's memory was blocked out that night, like "oh no did he..." But also I wanted to portray an idea of what it must've been like for Noel growing up after the French incident. There's a throw-away line where Noel thinks about what'll happen if she gets discharged, and that they'll send her back to the chapel, and she says something along the lines of "I can't survive there anymore." So I figured I'd flesh that out to make Noel a bit more obviously sympathetic, instead of having readers infer what her life must have been like based solely off of the things she says.

I also wanted to define Noel's "powers" more. In the source material, it just says she uses "sacraments" but that can be one of two things, either equipment the church gives you, or literally just magecraft that the church conveniently calls "miracles" or "blessings from god" or whatever. I wrestled over whether I wanted Noel to actually be considered a "magus" especially since that whole dichotomy technically works differently in Tsukihime, but afaik it's not as well defined as it is in Fate, so I'm actually leaning more towards Fate lore for how her powers work, and hoping it's not 'that' different from TsukiRE. I mean Melty Blood Type Lumina literally opens every round with "Open Your Magic Circuits" sooo, lol

As for AO3, I'll give it another look, but last I checked they didn't have an option to embed word/pdf files, which might mean I'd have to axe the images, which I'd really rather not. Also I think there was a 50k word limit so I'd also have to split it up into multiple chunks.

But yeah again thanks so much for your feedback!! It means a lot!

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lady-phasma · 2 years

Text

Zaldrītsos

(Little Dragon)

Part 4 of ?

On AO3 as “Dragonstone: Summoned”

Warning: 18+, NSFW

Summary: In which Viserys decides which horse to bet on? Sheesh. How far from canon can we take this field trip? Okay so technically no smut in this chapter but I'm keeping the 18+ because of all the others. And just be patient, some really fun smut is coming up, I promise!

The fire had burned down during the night. The room was cold and damp. Rhaenyra snuggled closer to him under the quilts and furs. She didn’t want the servants to disturb them and squinting at the window she saw dawn approaching. They would be knocking soon. She screwed up her face in annoyance. She was awake now and would most likely stay awake. Her arm lay across Daemon’s stomach and she didn’t want to wake him. He was sleeping deeply, on his back, his lovely face turned away from her. As she started to rise, very slowly, she indulged her urge to lean in and kiss the hollow of his neck. Her lips barely touched his skin and she inhaled deeply. That was something she would never get enough of, the way he smelled. She had begun to understand how smell could trigger memories and there were so many with him.

He moved in his sleep but she hadn’t woken him. She gingerly got out of the bed and slipped on a robe that had been flung over a chair. She stood in front of the window and stretched. Her eyes unconsciously searched the horizon for Syrax. She tried to stifle a noisy yawn. She shivered and hugged her arms around herself.

The wait was excruciating. It had been almost a week and no raven had returned. After the second day she woke every morning expecting a raven and went to bed every night disappointed. She had plenty of distraction so the disappointment was brief, she glanced over her shoulder at the bed, but the disappointment always came. Daemon still hadn’t stirred. She didn’t want to stoke the fire or open the door to call for a servant. She wanted to be alone for a moment and if he was asleep she could be maudlin without feeling like she was letting him down. Kings were complicated, princes perhaps even more so.

The sun’s first light was hazy through the clouds and turned the caps of the waves a subtle violet. Almost the color of their eyes. She heard a dragon but didn’t see one. They were just waking up. Syrax may have felt her anxiety even from this distance, she could never be sure how much Syrax knew. The clouds raced across the sky and the sun made a brief appearance. Rhaenyra turned from the window and tiptoed to the fireplace. She balanced on the hearth, the residual heat warmed her bare feet. She turned and faced the waning fire to warm her hands.

* * *

He heard the patter of feet on stone in his sleep. Daemon opened his eyes a fraction and saw her, back to him, standing on the hearth. Memories crept into his drowsy mind, memories of her curling up with him on cold winter evenings begging him to tell her stories of the first dragons, of her tucking her bare toes under his leg to stay warm. He put his hands behind his head and enjoyed the images as they came. Her brave steps to ride Syrax for the first time, trying to not let anyone see how afraid she really was. Her small fists, white-knuckled, on the saddle horn.

He felt the chill of the room on his bare arms. He needed to get someone to build a fire. He threw the blankets off and hissed when his feet touched the flagstone.

“Good morning,” she didn’t turn to look at him when she spoke. “Shall I fetch someone to start the fire? I would have already but didn’t want to wake you.”

He didn’t reply. He walked to the door, opened it, shouted some instructions at whichever attendant was outside the door, and left the door ajar. Before he grabbed his breeches he walked over to her. She turned to face him, almost as tall as him while standing on the hearth. He wrapped his arms around her. He was hard against her leg. And she blushed. It took him a sleepy moment to work out why she should blush and then heard the footsteps behind him. He lifted her off the hearth and kissed her. Not even the least embarrassed by his nakedness but adoring her embarrassment.

He let her down easily and reached for the clothing on the chair. He heard chains rattling in the hallway. This early? He sighed. The maester bowed slightly in the doorway, greeted them and waited.

“Yes?” Daemon summoned him in gruffly and Rhaenyra shot a stern glance at him. He returned her glance and smiled at her. She was lucky he even put his breeches on. She hid her smile under an air of imperiousness and tightened her robe.

* * *

Thank the gods he had put on some clothing. It was far too early for his games. She straightened her robe and greeted the maester. Her heart raced. She tried not to snatch the scroll out of Maester Gerardys’s hand. It may not be for her. No one knew she was here except her father. And anyone who may have read her letter but that wouldn’t be many. She clutched her hands behind her back.

“Your Highness,” the maester began. “a raven arrived from your brother.”

Rhaenyra watched as his hand moved past her and offered the parchment to Daemon. He looked almost as surprised as she felt. She bit the inside of her cheek and turned away from the maester. She walked to the fire. It was beginning to catch and she hoped the warmth would stop her shaking.

She couldn’t look at them. She heard Daemon yell at the maester to leave. She thanked him as he left, trying to make up for her uncle’s outburst. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the scroll contained. She heard Daemon behind her.

“That

* * *

dried up old cunt!” he threw the parchment on the bed. He wanted to throw it in the fire. He couldn’t look at her. Not yet.

Instead he swiped his hand across the side table and the empty wine pitcher and cups clattered on the floor. The shattering of the pitcher didn’t lessen his anger and he saw her flinch. She wasn’t looking at him either. He snatched up a tunic and his boots and walked out. He left her. He hesitated outside the chamber door but didn’t stop. The words of this cunt-of-a-brother’s letter reverberated in his thoughts.

* * *

Brother,

I hope this finds you well. As I am sure that it will. I am relying on you and your sense of duty to put an end to Rhaenyra’s childish folly. I cannot entertain the rumors that spread through the court and are reported to me by my Small Council. They advise me that you are complicit and that you have already sullied her reputation. You are impetuous, brother, but surely you haven’t lost all reason.

She is enamored of you. She is still a child, such adoration will fade. A child of eight and ten years and not yet wise in the ways of the world, as we old men are. You know how this will end if you entertain her. Bring her back to King’s Landing, break her heart, leave her, whatever needs be done to send her home. If she is to rule she cannot do so with such vain distractions.

I expect a raven or her arrival within the week. If you don’t resolve this, the only remaining recourse I have will be to send my Hand to retrieve her. She is still under the protection of her guard even if they are not currently at Dragonstone. They can deliver her.

Viserys, First of His Name, King of the Andals….

She let the scroll fall from her hand. Caraxes had been bellowing in the distance and the sound now brought her back to her surroundings. She was in Dragonstone. She was cold, angry, and, somehow, alone. She was alone with these cruel words.

Rhaenyra couldn’t tell if these were solely her father’s words or if they were influenced by that serpent Hightower. It was so manipulative to send his ‘reply’ to Daemon and not her, she felt it had to be his Hand who suggested that tactic. Otto would know how Daemon would react, how he would be angered and reckless as would her father.

She shook her head trying to rid herself of the shock. Without calling a maid to help she dressed herself in comfortable clothing, appropriate for riding. That might give her time to think, to react, and not be frozen with… with disgust? disappointment? She wasn’t sure yet. As she laced up her boots she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, a rolling, awful feeling. Her mind drifted back to her aloneness.

Consciously slowing her pace, she left their chambers and the castle. She was immediately buffeted by the cool morning air. Dragon cries in the distance were difficult to discern. She couldn’t tell if Syrax’s voice was the one she heard or Caraxes’s. She walked toward the cliffs and scanned the horizon. The sun cast shadows from the clouds across the beaches and the cliff faces running north along the coast. She thought she saw a glint of gold just up the beach. By the time she reached the hill above Syrax, she had abandoned her perch and circled above Rhaenyra.

The dragon nuzzled her outstretched hand after she had landed. Syrax’s hot skin felt wonderful in the chill. Glad to not have a saddle between them she climbed onto the dragon’s back. She quickly tied her hair back with a leather cord and braced herself for the oncoming wind. “Sovēs.” She laid down on Syrax’s back and watched the land rush away. She gave no further direction. She didn’t care where they went. She relinquished all control. After their ascent, the gliding was soothing. Syrax banked and turned, circled and made shallow, graceful dives.

Rhaenyra looked back, Dragonstone appeared so small in the distance. They hadn’t gone far but the castle wasn’t imposing from above. Its intimidation was successful looming above those walking up from the shore. She faced ahead and saw, with no surprise at all, a red wyrm on the ground not far away. She didn’t encourage Syrax to land, she let the dragon decide. Syrax dove and squawked, that frustrating noise had no other description. It almost embarrassed Rhaenyra when the dragon made this feminine, high pitched sound. She repeated the sound and then, surprisingly, blew out a few feet of flame. That was curious but she had no time to dwell on it before they hit the ground. Dust and loose grass flew in Syrax’s wake but neither Caraxes nor Daemon seemed to notice. Caraxes’s great body lay curled almost to touch nose to tail. He sniffed and snorted as Rhaenyra approached but didn’t open his eyes.

* * *

A part of him didn’t want to see her. He wanted to be left alone to seethe. That part knew that she could calm him and, like a petulant child determined to have his way, he wanted, enjoyed, being broody and indignant.

Daemon looked up at her. He was reclining against Caraxes’s side, legs crossed at the ankles, and his body rose and fell as the dragon breathed. He didn’t stand to greet his princess. He dropped his eyes back down to his fidgeting hands.

“Caraxes,” she directed a nod at the dragon. “Daemon.” As she closed the distance between them there was a rise in temperature inside the circle of the dragon’s body. He blocked some of the wind, gave off natural heat, and seemed to be radiating heated anger in spite of his dozing. He snorted again.

Daemon didn’t meet her eyes until she was only a few paces away. She had never shied away from his anger because it had never been truly aimed at her. Yes, he had misdirected it a time or two but she was patient with him. She knew him better than anyone. He held her gaze, no expression on his face. He crossed his arms. He didn’t think there was anything she could say in this situation that could dissuade him from his anger because she was surely angry as well. But she could attempt to make him ‘see reason’ as so many people tried to do in his life.

She completely surprised him.

“Ao geptot!” her voice trembled in spite of herself. You left! He couldn’t look at her. He looked away to stare, unseeing, at the horizon. He felt her walk up to him. “Ūndegon nyke!” Look at me!

He did. Only because Syrax bellowed in punctuation of her rider’s words. Daemon didn’t meet her eyes but watched her fists clench. He didn’t want to look at her. He feared very few things in the world. Hurting her sat at the top of that list. He saw the angry tears on her cheeks and looked down again. She wasn’t crying, not really, but the anger had nowhere to go. She couldn’t rage at her father and she was rightfully angry at himself, he knew that.

He had stormed out in self-defense, avoiding the situation, the same reaction he resorted to most of his life. He hadn’t known where he was going but didn’t want to be there when she read the scroll. He couldn’t protect her from the pain and anger it would cause. He couldn’t undo it once it had been done.

In the few moments since her outburst she had stepped closer to him. Still not close but close enough now that he had nowhere else to look. Unadulterated rage came off her in waves. Her tears were drying. Her lower lip trembled slightly.

* * *

Did he feel nothing? She wanted to shove him. Watch him get caught off balance, shocking him out of his cocky pose and false demeanor. She also needed him. That frustrated her as much as it hurt. She was selfish, knew he hurt too, but she had been slighted, she had been the true target.

“You left and…” her voice was too quiet, she cleared her throat. “You act as if his words change anything, as if he would convince you to do something I know you would not. You are not who he thinks you are. He thinks so little of both of us if his words are his own.” Daemon’s eyes flicked up to hers.

“I am angry with you but I am more angered by him,” she continued. “I am surprised by both of you. You are surely brothers. I don’t know which path to choose from those ahead of us but I only see those paths we are both on.”

“Those paths are blocked,” his voice was quiet but firm.

“What?” she feigned that she could not hear him and stepped closer. Her feet were almost touching his boots. He still would not open to her.

“Those paths…” he held her gaze now but with his head low, eyes burning below the ridge of his brow. “Are blocked. I am not conceding, bending to his will, but I see no other paths. Enlighten me, my queen, what do you see that I cannot?” He spat these words at her and they had their intended effect. She took a step back as if struck.

Caraxes’s head rose from the ground and he snorted hot air behind her. She fought back tears and wanted to flee but she felt trapped. Caraxes wouldn’t stop her if she left but her uncle’s words would go with her. The weakness, the similarity to her uncle’s running away, disgusted her. She planted her feet.

“Seven hells!,” she shouted, louder than she intended. “I don’t know, dārilaros.”Prince. She hurled the title at him as he had done to her.

“I see,” she gestured to the space around them. “I see this, I see Dragonstone and peace. I see many things that are far away from and unencumbered by that damned Iron Throne. Above all that I see you. You loom so large you blot out the sun. You are rightfully the heir and want it. Were I able to give it to you…”

He didn’t look away. Maybe what she said was true. She hadn’t decided before she spoke.

“If you sat on the throne,” she continued. “All paths would be open to us. A king can choose his wife. A queen may not even choose her reign much less her consort. Can’t you at least see that I am lost, lost without you Daemon?” The last of her words came out almost pleading. She swallowed, choking back the tears that threatened.

* * *

Perhaps he should have been injured by her jab. All he could think was how wonderful a queen she would have made, still could. He stood up but didn’t go to her. He rested a hand on Caraxes. The dragon opened an eye and looked at them. Daemon looked from Caraxes to Syrax then finally to Rhaenyra. Everything she said was true.

He walked the few steps to her. His fingers grazed the outside of her clenched fist. His eyes moved over her face. She flinched when he leaned down and kissed her cheek. His chest tightened and he felt an unfamiliar lump in his throat. His fingers snaked into her hand and she let them. He kissed the dried tears from her other cheek. He slid his cheek against hers, his lips against her ear, her hair smelled like salt and her. He felt her exhale.

“Iksā ñuha dāria,” he whispered. You are my queen. He risked placing his hand on her back. “I never want to hurt you. I don’t know how to protect you. Forgive me?” He felt her hand come to rest on his chest, still in that tiny, fierce fist. Her other hand tightened on his.

“I have never done anything my brother has asked of me, why would I do so now?” he kept his voice low and pulled her to him. He was too proud to look at her. Seeing her angry tears, feeling her flinch at his touch, hurt him worse than her words. Pride wasn’t the only reason he couldn’t look at her yet. When she had pulled away from him, his eyes had stung, and as he spoke and held her he had closed his eyes because tears threatened. He hadn’t felt that sensation in years. So now he could add to his list, not just fear of hurting her but fear that she could, would choose to, hurt him.

Daemon took his hand from hers and smoothed it over the back of her head and rested it between her shoulder blades. Now both of her fists rested on his chest between them. He didn’t sooth her or squeeze her to him. If she would forgive him for how he had behaved he wanted to stoke the remaining rage. He didn’t want to extinguish the fire that could rise in her.

“Shall we go inside, zaldrītsos?” he murmured into her hair. “You’re cold and I’m not warm myself. You will have to keep me warm instead of Caraxes, he won’t fit through the castle doors.”

He thought he heard her chuckle and felt her shoulders move as if stifling a laugh. He didn’t know how they would respond to the King’s command but that could wait. He needed to resolve what was between them now. He slowly loosened his embrace.

* * *

She felt Daemon’s arms relax around her. His lips grazed her forehead. She pressed her hands flat on his chest. She wasn’t sure if she could feel his heartbeat, perhaps it was his, or it was her own still thumping from the anger that ran through her. She would forgive him, soon. She needed time. She needed to think about her father’s words and what action she, they, should take. A new course of rage began at the thought that she had not chosen to be heir. She bit that back. It was irrelevant.

“Perhaps breakfast,” Rhaenyra said. “I need to think. We have a lot to discuss but I need to think.” She stepped out of his arms and ran her fingers along the inside of his palm.

“Come back with me,” she turned and let her hand linger momentarily on his. Caraxes didn’t even open one eye to look at her as she passed.

“Glady, niece,” Daemon replied.

They were astride their dragons simultaneously. She glanced at him. He was magnificent on the back of Blood Wyrm. Syrax must have felt something similar. As Caraxes raised himself up on his knuckles, she growled. The giant looked at her with one, seemingly dismissive, eye then bellowed. He was as boastful as his rider. Rhaenyra spoke “sovēs” first and they were in the air before she heard the beating of Caraxes’s wings. He overtook them in a few wing strokes. In their fashion and possibly not at the direction of his rider, Caraxes breathed a plume of fire that engulfed both dragon and rider before they disappeared in a low cloud.

Rhaenyra rubbed Syrax’s neck and thought, to herself and to Syrax, ‘they both think they are the best the gods could have made.’ Tuned into this emotion Syrax darted into the cloud. Her smaller form made her perfect for sprinting. If she grew larger at Dragonstone distance and stamina would become easier. For now, she easily overtook the other dragon. Rhaenyra’s stomach flipped as Syrax banked, showing off for Caraxes, and dove. She leveled out just under the cloud cover. Dragonstone grew in their vision. A shadow passed over them and lingered. Rhaenyra dared not look up, without a saddle she didn’t want to risk losing her grip. She didn’t need to look up to know. She glanced at the ground running fast beneath them and saw the shape of Caraxes dip and shudder over the terrain.

She guided Syrax to bank and glide in next to the castle. Syrax took a couple dainty steps and stopped just before the flagstone. There wasn’t room enough for Caraxes to land here. Rhaenyra smirked. She jumped down and patted the dragon’s side. Caraxes huffed and circled a short distance away. When they landed his rider dismounted and began walking toward the castle. Caraxes flew off toward the cliffs.

Chapter 5

#High Valyrian is a love language #zaldrītsos #house of the dragon #hotd #daemon targaryen #daemyra #daemon x rhaenyra #rhaenyra targaryen #hotd fic #daemon fic #caraxes #syrax

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deny-the-issue · 1 year

Text

The Battle of Illumination

Chapter 10: Oral Fixation

TBI Masterlist

[PTSD] [ Silco x you] [silco x fem!reader] [no y/n] [set before act 1] [angst] [Canon-typical violence] [Bondage] [Addiction]

Summary: At the pinnacle of your thirst, Liam joins Silco's movement and you receive a just reward.

AO3 Link

ko-fi link

You never thought you’d be running back to Silco this fast, but here you were, dragging Liam along for the ride. His life was no longer in immediate jeopardy but that could change if he didn’t get the care he needed. Care you weren’t able to provide.

Maybe he hasn’t noticed I left yet.

Silco could take your desertion personally; he saved you, after all. You could only hope that he would give you a chance to explain before casting judgment. Liam’s head bobbed side to side as he leaned against you harder, clearly exhausted. You weren’t far behind him; carrying him the whole way was a difficult process.

A breathless sigh parted your lips at the sight of the cannery and you picked up your pace. The place was swarming with drunken goons, freshly returned from Margot’s party. Through the mob, you found Sevika and hobbled over to her.

“Where’s Silco?” Sevika’s gray eyes examined Liam for a moment before speaking.

“Who the fuck is this?” Her lips dropped into a tense frown as her glare landed on you.

“A friend, where is Silco?”

“The lab. Don’t expect him to be happy with you; he knows you left.”

Great.

Without another word you turned for the stairs and teetered yourself and Liam down them haphazardly. It was a miracle neither of you took a tumble, and you were so focused that you hadn’t noticed Silco’s demonic gaze on you. Taking a breath, you finally searched the room, finding Silco’s teal eye filled with disdain locked on you. His hellfire eye seemed to glow especially bright at the moment, and it filled you with an anxious excitement that pooled in your core.

“Why shouldn’t I send you away?” The coolness of his voice made you regret leaving and you took a deep breath before starting.

“One of Karvyq’s men snuck into the warehouse and I interrogated him then dumped his body. It made me think about the problems I could cause you and I decided the best thing for me to do was disappear. I don’t want your dream to fail because of me.”

“I appreciate your concern, but the decision was always mine to make, not yours.” His good eye softened when you nodded in agreement and he asked, “Who is this?”

“This is Liam, he needs help.”

“Does he speak?” His condescending tone made you shake Liam, hoping he was coherent enough to know what was going on.

“Yes,” Liam answered feebly after your thorough jostling.

“What would you do for the undercity’s independence, Liam?” Silco asked, walking closer with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Anything,” Liam growled with foreign passion.

The Liam I knew would never say something like that. I guess we’ve both changed.

A smirk tugged at the corner of Silco’s mouth and he signaled the doctor over. He led you to the table you were strapped to once, and you gently lowered Liam onto it. To your relief, no straps were needed as skeleton fingers prodded Liam’s body. Leaving them to it, you turned your attention back to Silco and approached him cautiously.

“You should know; Karvyq is still alive; They only maimed him.”

“I’ll deal with him in my own time.” He disregarded your concerns, clearly still feeling bitter.

“Do you want me to leave?”

“Do you want to stay?”

Of course, answering a question with a question. These control issues could be fun in the right situation.

“Of course I do. I wholeheartedly believe in your cause; I simply do not want Chross to have any more ammunition on you. And as you stated, the final decision is yours.”

“It is,” He agreed absentmindedly, mulling something over in his mind. You waited eagerly on his next words, losing yourself in the lines of his face. He should know better than to look at you like this by now; that half-lidded judgemental look made you want to get on your knees for him. Your face flushed with arousal at the thought and he continued his thought, “You would place my ambitions above yourself?”

“I would die for you, Silco, I thought you knew that.”

“Even if I never laid a hand on you again?”

“My needs aren’t important when you seek to liberate an entire city.” He raised his brow at that and you continued, “besides , I doubt I’m missing much.”

A short laugh left his mouth, exposing a hint of chipped teeth as he glanced down to your lips. He stepped closer and spoke in a low tone.

“Darling, you have no idea.” An involuntary shiver raced up your spine and you had to stop yourself from whimpering.

He doesn’t even need to touch me to drive me crazy.

You eyed him hungrily, as your body urged you to climb him like a tree. The doctor broke the charged silence, causing you to close your eyes in frustration.

“With proper treatment, the boy will recover in a couple of weeks.”

“Good,” He responded before turning back to you. “You can get him settled.”

“Where should I take him?” Confusion danced across your face with Silco’s smug look.

“A room was recently vacated. He can have that one.” Your mouth opened to argue with him but no words came. He seemed to relish in the discomfort he caused as he waited patiently for your rebuttal.

Here it is. I knew he wouldn’t let this go without some kind of punishment.

“Where should I place my things?”

“Leave them with me, I’ll see to everything.”

That’s not menacing at all.

Nodding awkwardly, thoughts zoomed through your mind at a million miles a minute, never stopping on one long enough to form a sentence. Furrowing your brow, you will yourself to focus. He ended your suffering and replaced it with an entirely different kind before you could speak again.

“Find me later. I’ll give you what you deserve.”

All of the exhaustion was ripped from you as your body went into overdrive at the implication of his words. Eyes wide, mouth parted, you struggled to compose yourself as he stepped towards you. Your heart raced as he passed you, leaving the lab. Inhaling the scent of cigar and aftershave that rippled off of him, you gave yourself over to his intoxicating nature.

I’m going to let him ruin me.

You had to take a deep breath before facing Liam again, hoping he didn’t see just how worked up you were. Silco’s words wouldn’t be obvious to anyone but you, and you couldn’t help admiring how smooth he was. Helping Liam off the table with a small smile you began the laborious ascent of the stairs, leaving your bag in the lab with singed.

The bathroom was your first stop. He desperately needed a good scrubbing, and it only now occurred to you that he might need help.

It’s what Sevika did for you; It doesn’t need to be awkward.

Liam’s eyes lit up at the sight of the shower and he limped over to it himself, turning the knobs eagerly.

“I’ll go get you a towel and some new clothes, ok?” Liam nodded happily and you closed the door behind you, leaving him to it. Heading to a small storage closet, you found a bin of mismatched clothing and chose some you hoped would fit his malnourished frame. Grabbing a towel off a rack, you walked back to the bathroom and waited with an ear to the door in case he fell.

When you heard the water turn off you entered with your eyes closed. Shoving the clothes onto the sink, you unfolded the towel and offered it blindly in the direction of the shower. It was pulled out of your hands a moment later and you backed out of the room once again.

Liam looked more like the boy you knew when he stepped out of the bathroom; sandy hair not darkened by soot and eyes filled with hope. He gave you a sleepy smile as you led him to his room. Pushing aside the curtain, you flipped the light on in the room you once occupied.

“What happened to the door?” Liam inquired, eyes lingering on the curtain.

“Bad dream, don’t worry about it.” You muttered as you plopped him on the bed, squatting down to take off his shoes. A healthy blush spread over his face and you dropped your gaze to the floor, pretending to be ignorant of his perverted thoughts.

Pushing the boots under the bed you stood as he swung his feet onto the bed, quickly settling under the blanket.

“I hope I didn’t get you in trouble.” He pleaded with wide, innocent eyes. “He sounded angry with you.”

“Ah, that’s just his normal mood. You’ll get used to it. Just don’t get on his bad side; he’s got an explosive temper.” Liam’s eyes filled with panic and you quickly added, “Not that I’ve seen it, obviously.”

“You’re sure you're safe?”

“I wouldn’t go that far. This way of living has a way of getting to you eventually. Silco won’t hurt me. Not now, anyway.” His eyes narrowed at you as you smiled maliciously.

“I’m happy you haven’t changed,” Liam said with a small smile as his eyes began closing.

“You’re about the only person to think that,” You laughed but Liam didn’t seem to hear you. He crashed into a deep sleep as you flipped the light switch and left the room.

Excitement coursed through your body like electricity the moment Liam was out of your sight. Silco’s words repeated in your head like a mantra as you searched for him and instead, you found Sevika.

“What has you so riled up, brat?”

“Nothing, I’m not riled up.”

“Yeah, right, and I’m a counselor. Looks like Silco’s playing with his food again.”

“There might be more happening this time.” You mused, satisfied with the disgusted scowl that appeared on Sevika’s face.

“You’re forgetting that virgins are only appealing the first time . What makes you think he’ll keep you around after?” It was your turn to scowl, now. Not dignifying her with an answer, you tried to pass her when her arm shot up, stopping you. “He won’t be back until later.”

“Where the fuck am I supposed to sleep?”

“Not my problem.” She crashed into your shoulder as she walked past, leaving you with doubt and anger.

I can’t crawl in next to Liam, not with how he looked at me.

Sighing in defeat, you walked back down to the lab. Everyone avoided the place because of the man that was commonly found within, but you found his quiet nature soothing. Normal people had a way of wearing you down with their extroverted exploits and the doctor's cold demeanor was a welcome change.

Shit, maybe I’m just like him, now.

Picking the back corner by Silco’s bedroom door, you slid down the wall landing on the floor with a soft thump. Leaning your head back, the soft clinking sounds of the doctor working lulled you into a deep sleep.

A violent kick to your leg startled you awake and Sevika was gearing up for another when you put your hands up.

“I’m up, I’m up!” You complained, rubbing the sleep from your face.

“Someone’s got Silco, let’s go .”

Her words were like a shot of adrenaline to your system and you scrambled to your feet.

“WHO?”

“That asshole, Karvyq. Any ideas where he would take Silco?”

“No, but Margot might know.” You didn’t wait for her reply before making your way to the stairs. She followed without issue and your rushed pace reflected the panic within.

Margot better not be in on this. I’ll kill her myself.

Fighting against the early morning crowd, you made your way to the less busy pleasure sector. Margot took up residence in her main brothel, not the one she had sent Karvyq to. Obviously a pathetic attempt to distance herself from him. It was a higher-quality establishment, filled with luscious fabric and comfortable seating in soft gold and pink colors.

The main room had a few customers lingering in this early hour; the regulars. Thankfully no one was willing to question your intent as you made your way up the spruced-up staircase. Heavy perfume made your head swim as you passed the row of doors leading to the lady’s bedrooms. Stifling a cough, you made your way to the end of the hallway where an ornate door stood in contrast to all the others. Even if the door hadn’t given its owner away, the men outside would have.

The guards outside her door moved to block you and they were easily dealt with by the both of you. Kicking the door open Margot stood at her desk, ready to kill. When her eyes landed on you and Sevika they were filled with confusion.

“What the fuck! You couldn’t have knocked?”

“Karvyq has Silco, and you’re going to tell me where.” You came around the side of her desk and forcefully pushed her back into the chair.

“I didn’t even know that fuck recovered!” She pleaded innocently as you pinned her in the chair with a hand on each armrest. The quivering of your lip was the only sign of your thinning patience as she reverted into the scared girl you remembered. “H-he had a place where he’d take girls sometimes, I’ll give you the address.”

Straightening your body, you allowed her to retrieve a piece of paper. You shot her one last murderous look before grabbing the note and leaving the room with Sevika. The building that was referenced was near The Last Drop and you prepared yourself for the worst as your feet moved on autopilot.

As soon as the building was in sight you ducked into an alleyway, looking for the back door. To your surprise, no one was guarding the heavy wooden door of the stone building. Sevika came around to the front of you, sizing up the door.

“I’ve got this, you go around front and flank them.” Nodding, you headed for the front door. Two men were chatting on the steps, smoking cigarettes and they grumbled with annoyance when you approached.

“Get lost, kid.” The one on the right sneered and you unsheathed your daggers, flashing them a cute smile before unleashing a fury of slashes that left them gurgling on the ground. Their sounds alerted the men inside of your presence as they rushed to the door, pushing it open to see the damage. You stood on the side of the door frame and jabbed your dagger in the gap as soon as the door opened, earning a scream.

Kicking the door the rest of the way open, the injured goon fell backward as two more lunged with knives. The sound of metal filled the air as you blocked their knives with your own when they groaned and fell to the floor, revealing Sevika’s bloodied blade behind them. She cautiously climbed the stairs and you stayed in the shadows behind her. A man’s voice called out just as Sevika showed her face on the top floor.

“Your lapdog is here, Silco, how quaint .” Sevika halted her advance, eyes unblinking. “Move and he dies.”

Shit, I have to find another way.

Leaving the way you came without another sound, you examined the building for possible entry points, eyes landing on a small balcony with an open window.

That’ll have to do.

Expertly scaling the side of the building, you landed silently on the balcony crouching below the sill to remain out of sight.

“My what shiny hands you have, Karvyq.”

Did she just say hands? How could he have recovered so fast without shimmer? Shit.

Peaking through the window, you saw Karvyq’s back to you and a man on his knees in front of him. Luck was on your side tonight, it seems. Slithering through the window you slowly crept up to him. A floorboard creaked, giving you away.

Karvyq’s head snapped to you as you grabbed his knife-wielding hand, preventing him from cutting Silco’s throat. Sevika took the opening and was on Karvyq in seconds, and a hard punch to the face ended the altercation. Walking in front of Silco, you kneeled to take the gag out of his mouth. That’s when you noticed how incredible he looked tied up .

Loose strands of hair hung on his sweaty brow as his chest rose and fell rapidly. He was hogtied in such a way that he could still remain on his knees and the intensity with which he looked at you made you blush as dirty thoughts rushed through you.

I mean, he looked delectable like this. You could only imagine the sounds he’d make as you rode him into oblivion, bouncing on his rock-hard cock with reckless abandon as you shamelessly chased your pleasure.

Oh my. I’ll just file this under “things he would kill me for even thinking about.”

Sevika ended your reverie when she cut him free, causing him to fall forward onto you. Instinctively hugging to catch him, your eyes went wide with the contact. He quickly righted himself, pulling himself from your arms as you tried not to mourn the loss of his body heat.

He looked down on you, still on your knees, with an expectancy that signed the death certificate for your panties. Sevika cleared her throat and you shook the lust from your mind as you pushed off the ground.

“You’re not going out alone anymore,” Sevika commanded coldly and Silco hummed in agreement, dropping the last of the rope to the floor. “Should I kill him?”

“No, we need him. Bring him with us.” Sevika sighed as she tied up the incapacitated Karvyq and roughly threw him over her shoulder. On the way out of the building, his head may have hit several walls.

He’s gonna feel fantastic when he wakes up. It’s the least he deserves for putting the future of the undercity at risk.

Silco moved a little slower than usual, hands grazing over his chest as he descended the stairs. He had fresh bruises peppering his face and a busted lip but his broken ribs seemed to be the worst of his injuries.You had attempted to lend him an arm for support but he shrugged you off, rejecting your help.

So stubborn.

The trek back to the cannery was made in silence, each person lost in their own thoughts. Karvyq obviously had help tonight and there was only one person with the knowledge to put Silco down. Margot was just a pawn in this scheme after all.

I was stupid to think Chross wouldn’t punish Silco for the scene I made. This was a warning shot, a simple message to Silco that he could still take him out.

There was nothing you could do but close your fists in anger, simmering in your lack of options until you arrived at the warehouse.

Karvyq was brought down into the lab, thrown into a wooden chair, and restrained. He was conscious but still severely drowsy until Silco forced a drop of shimmer into his mouth.

Wide awake now, his eyes darted around the room searching for an escape. You knew that feeling all too well, and it set your mind on edge. His mechanical hands gripped the chair and the movement surprised you. The silver engraved hands weren’t mere prosthetics; he had full control over them. Possibilities rattled around your brain as Silco prowled around him, letting him fully grasp what was happening.

“Chross slipped you some shimmer, did he not?” When Karvyq didn’t answer, Silco poured more shimmer into his mouth and he writhed in pain as purple veins sprouted across his skin. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Karvyq. Shimmer’s magic properties go beyond simple healing. Incredible things happen the bigger the dose; I’m going to show you.”

Pulling another small vial from a nearby rack he popped the cap off and signaled to Sevika to hold Karvyq’s head. The strength of Karvyq on shimmer rivaled Sevika’s, and Silco emptied the vial in his mouth as Sevika’s arms shook from the effort.

The straps snapped as Karvyq’s body grew larger, flopping onto the ground and Sevika drew her blade and pressed it into his back.

“You see, the doctor has discovered Shimmer is more addictive than any other drug he’s seen. As soon as you come down you’ll want more, and I’ll give it to you... If you work for me.” Silco purred, eyes glimmering with a passion that made you squeeze your thighs a little tighter.

Karvyq spewed purple liquid from his mouth and coughed violently, his body already shrinking to its original size. He looked around the room once again but with a new purpose. His eyes locked with the rack holding more vials of shimmer and began crawling towards it. Sevika laughed cruelly as she replaced her blade with her boot, holding him in place.

“Who provided the men that helped you? I know they weren’t yours.”

“Finn,” Karvyq answered eagerly, saliva spraying from his mouth.

“Good, you’ll set up a meeting if you want more shimmer.” Silco motioned for Sevika to remove her boot and Karvyq stood on shaky legs. Silco tossed him a vial and Karvyq flew up the stairs as soon as it was in his hands.

“Your loyalty is appreciated,” Silco said to Sevika, “I’m going to rest now.”

She nodded her head in respect before leaving you to stand awkwardly in front of him. You knew sex was off the table tonight; he hadn’t planned on being kidnapped. It didn’t stop your heart from fluttering as he looked you over.

“Where should I sleep?” You asked timidly, hoping for a bed but expecting nothing. A hint of a smirk ghosted across his lips as he made his way to his bedroom door, disappearing into the dark room. A switch clicked and light poured from the open doorway as Silco sighed.

“Are you coming?”

Your heart nearly stopped when you heard him say those words. Clumsy feet tripped over themselves as your mind raced miles ahead of your body. Stopping in the doorway, you stared with wide eyes as Silco began removing his tie.

“Close the door.”

Following commands have never been so easy for you. It didn’t even feel wrong like you thought it would. Leaning back against the door to close it you couldn't help but part your lips at the sight of him unbuttoning his vest.

“My plans for you will have to wait until I am healed. Will you be able to control yourself?”

“I’ll do my very best,” You teased with a devilish smile. “I’d like to do something for you if you’ll allow it.”

His teal eye narrowed in thought as you bit your lip while taking a few steps toward him, grabbing the vest from his hands and flinging it onto the chair. Testing his consent, you gently smoothed your hands over his chest and hovered your lips over his.

“Let me take care of you,” you breathed and his lips embraced yours without another moment’s thought. Soft kisses trailed down his neck and collarbone, unbuttoning the shirt as you did. He slid his arms out of his suspenders and you untucked his shirt revealing badly bruised ribs. Grimacing as he shrugged out of the shirt, you helped him take the rest off.

His skin was pale and covered in scars of all sizes with thin, corded muscles hidden underneath. Drunk on the sight of him you traced his defined musculature with your eyes, committing them to memory. Your hands hesitated as you reached for the buttons on his pants, looking at his face for reassurance.

“I’m waiting,” He cocked his brow in a show of mock irritation.

Bastard.

Taking your time, you dropped to your knees and began struggling with his pants. You had never undressed someone else before and wasn’t expecting it to be a fucking puzzle.

I’m going to rip these pants off of him if these buttons don’t surrender to me.

Pulling the fabric to loosen it first allowed you to free the button and work on the next one. When his pants fell open you let out a frustrated growl as it revealed more overlapping fabric. Instead of reaching through it, you tugged the pants down exposing his hips. Wonderful thin hips that you couldn't stop yourself from kissing. A light gasp escaped his lips as you nipped at the soft skin, giving you the courage to pull his pants the rest of the way down.

His erect member bounced free inches away from your face.

How am I supposed to fit that in my mouth?

“Is something wrong, darling ?” He wore a smug expression as you glanced up at him. Licking your lips slowly you kissed the base of his cock and pulled away when it twitched. Taking it as encouragement, you kissed your way up the length of his throbbing cock and a drop of precum emerged from the tip.

Tasting the saltiness of his excitement you brought his velvety head into your mouth, eliciting a deep, pleasurable sigh from Silco. It was only the first sound you pulled from him and you were already addicted.

A hand entwined itself in your hair, pushing himself deeper inside, grazing the back of your throat and holding the rest of his length with one hand. Bobbing your head slowly, he aided your movements as you took in more of him with each stroke. Growing more confident in your abilities, you swirl your tongue around the tip before shoving his cock down your throat as far as you could go, your nose grazing the small patch of dark hair at the base.

A guttural growl filled the air and he fisted your hair, losing control as he fucked your face, causing you to grab onto his tiny ass for support. Tears began streaming down your cheeks and you let out a strangled moan, begging for air. A string of saliva still connected his cock to your mouth when he pulled out of you, his face looking absolutely feral . A few seconds to breathe is all he allowed before mercilessly continuing his assault on your throat.

Your hand moved to the ache between your legs, rubbing in sync with Silco’s ruthless pace. His hips stuttered in their rhythm and his pleasure rippled through you, bringing you close as well. He moaned through gritted, chipped teeth, shutting his good eye tight and throwing his head back.

Gods, he’s beautiful like this.

Hot spurts of his release coated the back of your throat as your climax ripped through you, causing you to whimper around his thick cock. Thighs quivering with the aftershocks, you released his member from your mouth with a satisfying pop and swallowed his seed, relishing the bitter, salty taste of him.

As he opened his eye again, he looked at you with an unfamiliar softness and caressed your sore jaw with a thumb of the hand that was tangled in your hair a moment before.

“I’ll have to put that mouth to use more often,” He mused, swiping a thumb over your chapped lips. You were still too worked up to reply with anything but an exasperated smile as he helped you to your feet. The change in position allowed blood to reach your brain again and kickstarted your anxiety.

“Do you want me to leave?” You found yourself asking a second time in one day.

“I’m not done with you. Unless you’d rather sleep on the floor?” You shook your head adamantly as Silco dressed in loose sleep pants. He tossed you one of his clean shirts, a silent demand for you to wear it. Laying down on the bed, he placed his hands behind his head as he watched you intently, expecting you to undress.

Your shirt came off easily and you only began to blush as you unclipped your bra, exposing your chest to him. His eyes on your body made you uncomfortably warm as you unbuttoned your pants. No one had seen you fully naked before and an old fear crept into your bones.

What if I’m not like other women down there? What if he doesn’t like what he sees?

Silco cleared his throat impatiently, breaking you out of the anxiety spiral. Taking a deep breath you pulled your pants to the floor, leaving only your panties. Silco hummed in appreciation as he sat upright.

“You’ve made quite a mess, kitten.” He observed, running a finger over the wet fabric. You gasped and he sat back with his hands supporting him. “Take them off.”

Your heart was damn near palpitating now, and you slipped your panties off agonizingly slow. There was no part of you his eyes didn’t reach as he examined you with parted lips.

“Unfortunately I am unable to reciprocate tonight; you’ll have to settle for my hands.” You grasped his wrist as he reached for you, stopping him.

“I want you to fuck me the next time you make me come.” You hardly recognized your voice, feeling like it was some other part of you in control.

“Have it your way,” He conceded, laying back on the bed. The rich fabric of his shirt felt sinful against your skin and you decided at that moment that he wouldn’t be getting this shirt back. Scooting closer to the wall, he gestured for you to join him. You knew no sleep would be had if you faced the man so you put your back against him, your butt firmly against his cock.

His hand instinctively grabbed your hip, preventing you from grinding on him.

“Be a good girl, and go to sleep now,” he whispered in your ear, snaking his arm around you, holding you tightly against him. Hugging his arm, you felt his breathing slow as sleep took him.

I’m not dreaming, right? This really happened?

Silco began softly snoring in your ear and you stifled a giggle.

So he’s human, after all.

#silco #arcane #silco arcane #silco x you #silco x reader #silco x female reader #fanfic #fanfiction #smut #plot #the battle of illumination

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