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hqmillioncorn · 7 months

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The Forecast calls for an 100% chance of Love!!!!

"Wait a minute!!" Tilika stopped Babycorn just short of going out the door. "Let me take a look at you." She turned Babycorn around to face her. A pair of oversized pink glasses covered her face. They were oversized because they were Tilika's glasses. "That's your disguise?!" Babycorn nodded, "Yuppers!" she winked. "Yup-yup!" Cherrypit tried to wink but he just closed both his eyes. Ever since last year, Babycorn had to attend Valentiones in disguise just to avoid being surronded by potential suitors. Or 'pesky bugs' as Pupusa liked to call them. Tilika sighed, maybe covering her eyes would be enough? She hoped.

i wanted to write Butter Moontide belongs to @windupnamazu

It was a sunny day in Gridania, on a very busy day.

And on that very busy day, a lone Vierafell walked forward, on a mission.

A mission of love!

With a heart full of determination, Butter placed his hand on the city’s aetheryte and let himself be carried over to the center of Gridania’s Valentione’s celebrations. In his hands was the most important thing of all. A metal cookie tin. That rumbled with every wary step that Butter took forward.

The cookie tin was filled to the brim with hand baked sugar cookies.

They weren’t just any regular sugar cookies baked by Butter however, oh no. These sugar cookies were special, they had been baked exactly a week ago to the day. Then they had been left outside to continue to bake in the sun for almost a whole day before being brought back in.

The incredibly specific reason for why Butter did this exactly all came back to a certain day when he had forgotten his freshly baked plate of cookies outside on a picnic table.

In his defense, Pancake had fallen down and scraped her knee while playing tag and that took priority over some cookies he had just made. Then after he had brought Pancake inside to bandage her knee up the cookies simply continued to slip his mind.

Until Babycorn wandered in, carrying a familiar plate in her hands and eating an equally familiar looking cookie. Cherrypit walked beside her. He was munching on a cookie in his oversized sleeves, much like a hamster would snack on a sunflower seed.

There was a huge smile on Babycorn’s face as she continued to eat cookies after cookie. Seeing such an expression on Babycorn was a rarity, especially for someone as grumpy as her.

“These cookies are so yummy!” Butter overheard her talking with Cherrypit. “They’re so tasty…” She paused, “I wonder who made them…?”

As Babycorn walked away, Butter could feel a tightness in his chest. There was nothing he wanted to do more than to tell her that those were his cookies, he had been the one to bake them! But no matter how hard he wanted to, he remained silent.

…That was until today!!

Today-! After years of building up courage, Butter was finally going to tell Babycorn that he had been the one to make those cookies she loved so much so many years ago.

This sudden burst of bravery came as a result of his spontaneous confession a few months ago.

Butter never could have imagined he could ever ever work up the courage to tell Babycorn how he felt but now here he was! Twirling in place, with a metal tin full of cookies ready to talk with his crush and ask her if she wanted to hang out later too.

He was now more confident than ever! Especially with the super secret intel he received yesterday. His super secret special intel, also known as Lunya Lanya, had let him know that Babycorn had told her that she would be running around Gridania today.

Apparently looking for any chocolate hearts that came from the ground, as Babycorn still didn’t really understand that sometimes people dropped their chocolate and she shouldn’t be eating them. To which Lunya told her to quit it about five years ago already but if there was anything Babycorn Corn was famous for, it was not listening.

Even amidst the sea of people crowding around the Amphitheater Butter could still spot Babycorn from a mile away. There was a certain way the pom-pom on her head bounced when she walked, Butter had no idea why so many people hadn’t noticed this about her.

As Butter gently maneuvered around so many people (because twelve forbid he bump into people!!!!!!!!!!! 🥺) he still audibly apologized to ever person and object he gently grazed. Until his eyes finally fell upon the cutest little pom-pom swaying back and forth in a sea of people.

In an instant Butter felt the butterflies in his stomach start to do backflips and frontflips.

As Butter walked closer and closer he started to wonder why he wasn’t running back home and hiding under the covers to write in his diary about his perfect wedding with Babycorn. So far he had the decorations all thought out and the flowers picked out too, and if he ran away now maybe he could even come up with invitation design ideas.

Then before Butter knew it he was standing right in front of her. When he realized he was, Butter let out a little squeak in surprise.

Cherrypit was the first to notice Butter, “Butts!! Butts!” He was wearing a fluffy pink coat that dragged on the ground where he walked. It was all covered in mud and dirt but Butter had a feeling that neither he or Babycorn really cared about that.

“It’s Butts! Bababababuuts!!” Cherrypit cheered. He stretched his arms up at him, trying his best to ask Butter if he could pick him up.

Butter smiled and set his gift for Babycorn down, making sure to keep an eye on it as he picked Cherrypit up with a small bounce. Cherrypit giggled and pressed his hands on Butter’s face. They were a little covered with mud and dirt after he had tried to make a dirt castle but Butter didn’t mind too much.

“Hi Cherry! Happy Valentiones day!”

“Butts!! Happy Valenntiooo day!” Cherrypit smiled and pointed over to where he had come running from. “Bebe! Bebe over there!” Sure enough Cherrypit was pointing right at where Butter had seen Babycorn standing earlier.

Babycorn was sitting on a stack of wooden boxes and talking to someone much taller than all three of them. Judging from the clothes they were wearing they were someone that worked for House Valentione.

There was also something about his outfit that seemed strangely familiar. Like he’d seen it somewhere before.

Or at least, he’d seen the top half of the outfit somewhere before. Oh well.

This mysterious stranger was smiling, eyes closed and moving their head back and forth, looking at the people walking past him. On occasion he would back at people that waved at him, wishing them a good day and answering any questions they had. All while Babycorn kept talking to him and only him.

…She was really talking a lot and really fast too.

Butter noticed the corner of his smile twitch. What was all that about?

Cherrypit wiggled in Butter’s arms as he called out to his sister. “Bebe! Bebe!” It looked like he got bored of being carried by Butter and wanted to go back to sitting by Babycorn. Being a small little baby meant that Cherrypit had a very short attention span and often changed his mind about things in a flash. This was something Butter and pretty much everyone else that lived with him were used to already.

Then just as Butter was about to set Cherrypit down on the ground, he noticed that Babycorn stopped talking and looked right at him.

Their eyes met and for a moment Butter could have sworn he heard a choir of angels singing around him. There was something about the pair of huge pink glasses on her face and the fluffy white coat she was wearing that was sending Butter’s heart fluttering.

Babycorn blinked. “Butts?!” A wide smile crossed her face, “Butts!! It’s you!! You're heeeeere~!” Babycorn jumped off the boxes she was standing in and ran right towards him. The valentiones-dressed man that she had been sitting next to almost collapsed in relief now that Babycorn was busy not talking his ears off.

Butter was so off guard at the sight of Babycorn smiling that he completely forgot about the part where he had to put Cherrypit down onto the ground.

Not that Cherry really minded, from the way that he was laughing and kicking his feet at supersonic speed it was pretty clear he was having fun.

Babycorn stopped just short of running right into Butter’s face. “Hi Butts!!” she yelled directly into his face despite being right in front of him. She was just really excited to see him, you know???

Once Babycorn greeted him, that was all that Butter needed to snap him out of his daze. He shook his head and quickly put Cherrypit down, leaving him to run right next to Babycorn where he sat down on the muddy ground and looked up at her.

Butter picked up the cookie tin and quickly placed it behind his back, “H-Hi Babycorn!!” he darted his eyes back and forth in the most unsuspicious way possible. A million questions began flying around his head. What was the best way to give Babycorn his present?! Was she even going to like it?! What was she reaching behind her back for?!

Wait-

“Happy Valentiones day Butts!!!” Babycorn had swiftly pulled out a giant heart shaped box and presented it to Butter. “I got this for you!!”

“For you!” Cherrypit raised his hands and repeated after her.

Butter was speechless, he could feel his face getting hotter and hotter. He yelled at himself to cut it out because that would just make Babycorn worry he had a fever again! “I-I-! Thank you!! Babycorn!” The present was a bright red color and had a dark red ribbon wrapping it shut. It looked so nice, almost a bit too nicely wrapped for Babycorn of all people to have done it.

Babycorn giggled, “Are you surprised?!” The expression on her face switched, making her look a little more haughty than usual. Butter would be lying to himself if he wasn’t into it woah what who said that.

“Heh-heh!” There was a twinkle in Babycorn’s eyes. "I’ll have you know that I ’ve actually been studying really hard for today!” She decided to hit pause on her unreasonable bragging to put down her gift and instead reach into her backpack to pull something completely different out. “Here! Here! Let me show you!”

Butter watched as Babycorn continued to look through her backpack for a good long while.

After a bit of staring he noticed the backpack was staring back up at him. It gave him a little wave with one of its loose straps. Butter happily waved back, hoping that Babycorn would be able to find what she was looking for.

“Ah-ha!” Babycorn shouted.

“Ha-ha!!” Cherrypit cheered after her.

Out of her backpack Babycorn began pulling out book after book after book, until she was holding about six of them in her arms. Cherrypit decided he wanted to help too and began stacking a few of them on his head.

“Look! See? See?!” Babycorn stepped towards Butter and tried her best to flip the books in her arms around so her good friend Butter could see their covers.

Babycorn was actually holding most of the books upside down, but Butter could still tell that most of them were romance novels. What else could they be when one of them had two people kissing on it, while another on had people that somehow had less clothes on than B’ig Nunh usually did.

That, speaking of, was also on the cover of one of the books. Weirdly enough.

Butter still didn’t really know how he felt about the guy. But whatever, now wasn’t the time to think about that Limsa cat boy.

Babycorn opened one of the books and flipped through some of the pages. The rest of the books she had been holding dropped to the ground where they were picked up by Cherrypit who quickly added them to the stack of them on his head.

“I’m still not very good at reading so Airy still has to read some of them to me!”

“Oh! If you want I can try to read some of them to you too!”

Babycorn’s face lit up, “Really?! Do you mean it?!” Whenever she had asked anyone if they wanted to read these types of books with her no one except for Airy had ever wanted to!!

“Yeah! Of course!” Butter smiled.

“Groovy! Then it’s a date!”

“O-Oh?! Y–Yeah!! I guess it is…” Butter laughed, trying to cover up how much he wanted to roll back what he had agreed to. Back during the fair Babycorn had made it clear that she was giving Butter the chance to ‘woo’ her and if going on dates counted towards that, then he was way more than happy to go on them.

“Far out!!” Babycorn cheered, throwing her book into the air. Conveniently it happened to land right onto the stack that Cherrypit was creating on his head.

“Yay!” Cherrypit yelled. Right before he jumped and threw all of the books back into their backpack using the several hands that sprouted from his back.

With all that out of the way, Babycorn picked up Butter's present from the ground. She was kind of pleasantly surprised with herself that she hadn't forgotten about the present entirely. Then again this was an important present. It was for her good friend Butter!!

Of course she'd never forget.

Babycorn held the heart shaped box towards Butter, once again. "Here! This is for you! I hope you really really like it!" For some reason Babycorn found herself bashfully looking away. Though once she caught herself doing that she quickly corrected her little blunder.

"Babycorn..."

Thankfully for Butter, he didn’t have to come up with a way to take the present from Babycorn, not while his present for her was still in his hands. Because just after a few seconds of holding it out for him-Babycorn opened the heart shaped box herself. “Here let me show you what’s in it!!” Babycorn grabbed the top of the box and pulled as hard as she could on it, which evidently still wasn’t enough to open it.

“Um.” She looked at Butter, then back at the box. “Give me a second.” With a nervous laugh, she turned around to face Cherrypit with a pleading smile. She bent down and placed the box underneath one of his sharp teeth and pulled it towards her. The box finally opened with a pop and a giggle from Cherrypit, who always found it really fun to be used as a bottle opener.

Or in this case a box opener.

Babycorn laughed maniacally to herself and stomped her feet in place, “Okay! Okay! Okay! It’s open! Ehehehehe!” Though she had full intention of showing her gift to Butter, she was ironically just way too excited to concentrate on actually doing it.

Instead Babycorn was just giggling to herself and thinking about how much Butter would love his gift.

Butter thought it was really cute.

Suddenly Babycorn’s eyes snapped open. “OH! RIGHT!!!” Babycorn twirled around and ran right up to Butter (again) almost crashing right into him (again.) “Peep this!! I picked all of them myself!” She smiled, the corners of her cheeks were pushing her glasses up slightly. A small detail that Butter couldn’t help but notice.

Butter looked down at Babycorn’s gift, it looked just like any box of chocolates would have. Except that there were no chocolates.

Instead the box was full of completely random and assorted things. “I ate all the chocolates inside and put a bunch of super hip things inside!!” Babycorn beamed, she pointed at the first of many things she had stuffed inside. “This is a leaf I thought looked pretty and that’s a dead bug I tried to make a bed for but I kinda killed it oopsie! And that’s some dust that fell on my nose and made me sneeze and that’s a rock I found on the ground when I tripped and chipped my tooth a few days ago!”

Babycorn suddenly stopped short of finishing her explanation.

“Huh?” Butter looked up at Babycorn, “Is there something wrong?”

Then without warning Babycorn grabbed something from the box and stuffed it into her mouth. Still chewing, she looked back at Butter, “Sorry! I saw a chocolate I didn’t eat so I had to eat it before I gave it to you!” She smiled, bits of chocolate were all over her face.

Butter smiled, “It's a good thing you saw it when you did then! Thank you!” Then he decided that now was as good a chance as ever. He held out his hands, holding the cookie tin out towards Babycorn. “I also got you something! I really hope you like it!” Butter closed his eyes. For what reason? He couldn’t possibly come up with a reason.

He was just nervous, despite everything that had happened since last year.

“Ah?” Babycorn looked at Butter and then at the box he was holding. “Is that…Is all that really for me?”

Butter nodded, his eyes were still closed. “I-I made it for you! For today! Because I…” All of a sudden, a wave of confidence surged through Butter.

He felt as if-he could really do this! Well. He was currently doing it already but like-he was really gonna make it happen!! “I made these because…I really like you! So I hope you like them!”

Butter looked up at Babycorn, try as he might and even if he wanted to, he couldn’t stop looking at her. There was just something about the way her eyes were sparkling while she was looking at him.

And there was something about the way Butter looked that Babycorn couldn’t stop staring at.

“T-Thank…you?” It surprised her that she had so much trouble saying that. Normally when people rushed up to her to give her gifts and declare their love towards her she had no trouble thanking them for their troubles. Then she would just move on and eat whatever goodies they had given her.

But then why…?

ba-bump ba-bump

Babycorn felt her face get warm.

ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump

Butter carefully opened the tin of cookies and the smell of stale sugar cookies filled the air around them. “Um…Do you remember those sugar cookies you ate a really long time ago? Well…I was actually the one that made them! So I decided to make them again for you!”

“That was you…?!”

ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump

“Yeah!” Butter nodded, “I’m sorry I never told you but I was a little scared to! N-Not scared of you! But just scared of you finding out I liked y-you…” His voice was getting smaller with every word he said. Butter didn’t even notice that Cherrypit had jumped up to grab a handful of cookies out of the tin to eat them.

“Like…me…?” Babycorn’s hands gripped the edges of her present to Butter. “You…You were really telling the…”

ba-bump

Suddenly Babycorn hands let go of the chocolate box, as her hands flew to cover her flushed cheeks instead. Then with a single “EEEEHHHHHH????” Babycorn fainted and fell back onto the ground.

“Babycorn?!” Butter quickly handed over the cookies to a very eager Cherrypit. “Are you okay?!” He noticed that Babycorn’s face was unusually warm when he reached out to touch it with his hand.

“Woaahh..aababhhwauaubbwah…” Was all that Babycorn managed to mumble out.

As Babycorn’s eyes continued to swirl around, her thoughts were filled with the passage that Airy read to her yesterday. Though it was kind of foggy in her head, Babycorn did recall how in the book the heroine had received a gift from the hero who would turn out to be her true love. Who loved her, above all else.

“L-Love…?”

Butter’s ears twitched. “Huh? What was that?”

Babycorn’s mouth formed a faint smile. “W-Woo…”

#writing #Butter #Babycorn #Cherrypit #buttercorn #I GUESS #i wanted to do something with babycorn for valentiones but past few days i ve been going throiugh it as they say #anyway babycorn fact: she often buys out entire shelves of romance novels in bookstores sometimes big nunh is on them #shes doesnt think shes in love she thinks shes dying #anyway go butts you can do it #also cherrypit is here and hes having a fun time #babycorns like does research in BIG quotations on things she doesnt know but when she actually experiencies those things #shes left blindsided its like WOAH........ WHAT??

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goldensocietyfm · 1 year

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ACCEPTED NPC - RUFUS RYAN

"you're him, i don't wanna hear it, you're him. and you, you're you, you be you, but not in front of her. you're him, you're you". - joe pantoliano

RUFUS RYAN (he/him), who looks a lot like DENZEL WASHINGTON (ACTOR), was born on November 3rd, 1878, which makes him 145 YEARS OLD.

Rufus is a HIGH CLASS MENTALIST (EMPATH)

He currently works as THE COMMANDER for the MILE (Magical International Law Enforcement).

He lives close to the MILE Headquarters, in a house.

BIOGRAPHY

"Cadets! A-tten-tion!" The sound of about fifty boots hitting the ground at the same time as the MILE Academy Cadets all shifted into position, and the impact of it sent shivers down Rufus' spine. Years later, he still liked to remember this moment. Especially when August 1st rolled around, the day the new cadets got initiated, and now that he had worked himself up to the role of The Commander, he got to lead the procedure every year. The year his son got initiated, he had almost shed a singular tear, but his will not to cry in front of the whole Academy had been too strong to let it slip. He did cry bitter tears over his glass of whiskey then, though, when he was back in his house and all alone again, sitting on the porch, watching the night sky. His son had long left the house, but it felt especially lonely then, now that he was finally and completely going his own way. Growing up, Rufus knew cold loving words of a father and loving ones of a mother, nothing he especially distasted. His parents were incredibly proud of him the day he officially became Commander, threw a big party even, and his son, they loved even more. When he got injured during a mission, his mother even moved in with him for a while, helped him out and took care of him the best she could. Thankful for her actions, he gifted his parents a house, which they still live in to this day. The dark side never tempted him, not really - there were dark moments and moments he isn't exactly proud of, but he stayed true to his true self, kept his beliefs and principles. As an Empath and with the ability to feel and control other's emotions, he's respected and feared. Though he rarely uses these powers in a bad way, only to defend himself - seeing that the Rebels still exist and still try their best to destroy the gorgeous world the Magicians have built over the years, so he does his best to fight against them. Other than that, he spends his free time golfing, enjoys his five PM tea on his porch and eats over at his neighbor's house (a 80-year-old human lady, that makes the best lasagna in town).

PERSONALITY, OPINIONS, OTHER

It's not that he hates the Members of the Golden Circle and the rare-sighted Illusionary, it's just that he doesn't exactly likes most of them. Working with those bizarre creatures for years and years makes you mad at some point (and while he's quite bizarre himself), they have started to get on his nerves a long time ago. What annoys him even more, though, is the horrible London weather. He has spent many years of his life on sunny beaches, especially in the Eighties, and the constant rain makes his shoulder hurt more (or so he thinks). At least the food is immaculate - staying true to his London self, Rufus loves fish and chips and the daily tea, as well as cookies and everything else sugary and baked. Rufus has a sweet spot for classic literature and jazz music, as well as his old record player and the collection of records in his basement.

#* gsfm: accepted npc #npc bio #fantasy rp #skeleton rp #historical rp #npc: rufus ryan

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toastedside · 4 years

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In Health

Batmom!Reader x Batfamily

Warning: Angst, Angry Tim Drake

Note: I knoooooow it's been a while since I wrote this series and I actually have finished it a while ago. Just figure I want to share the rest. Enjoy!

Masterlist, Previous Chapter

You bit the inside of your cheeks, your eyes travelled constantly to the watch on your wrist. The iced coffee you ordered fifteen minutes ago already half gone. Metropolis was bright and sunny that day, the weather was warm and nice. A welcomed contrast to gloomy Gotham with its perpetual cloud.

The coffee shop Lois had told you about was buzzed with hungry patrons, considering it was almost lunchtime anyway. It was a breath of relief that nobody would recognize you on the first glance, something you had learned fairly quickly since Bruce had publicly claimed you years ago. If you went somewhere with shirts and jeans and nothing shiny, nobody would recognize you that you are Y/N Wayne.

You glanced into your watch again for the millionth time that day. Was the request to meet up too much for them? Were you too harsh on them back in the days? It’s unusual for–

“Hey, oh my god, we’re so sorry. Our meeting last longer than we expected.”

Lois suddenly came into frame. Behind her was a slightly disheveled Clark, eyeing her behind his glasses hesitantly. Something sank at the bottom of you stomach by the sight alone, perhaps you were indeed way too harsh on him.

“It’s alright, I didn’t wait that long anyway,” you mustered a white lie as you gestured them to take a seat across yours. “How’s Jon doing? I miss him coming over on the weekend.”

“He is fine. Clark and I bought him a video game console on his birthday and all he’s been doing was glued his eyes on the TV,” Lois rolled her eyes fondly at the topic of her own son, something you've been doing for years since you are a mother too. “How are the kids?”

“I figure Jon had been talking about his video games with Damian. He asked me if he could buy one just yesterday,” you laughed. “The kids are fine, per usual. Dick and Jason had been a little busy with their job, so they usually only come over on the weekend. Damian tried to woo me into adopt another pet again last week, Cass been practicing ballet a lot lately, and Tim... well... it’s been a little tough for him to fill Bruce’s shoes in the company but he’s doing well so far.”

There was a little shift in the air after you finished. Lois subtly adjusted her seat, silently sent a look towards her husband who looked a little too nervous to be comfortable. It would be funny to see Superman himself squirmed on his seat if the reason behind it didn’t left a bitter aftertaste.

“Lunch?” you swiftly opened the menu book to dissipate the growing tension and gently shoved it into Clark’s lap. “It’s on me.”

The lunch was surprisingly normal and calm, the thought of the dreading event was swept away underneath the nonexistent rug. Lois had been talking about the newest article she was writing about and Clark was obviously waltzed around carefully to not touching the superhero business, and you played your best to ignore it.

“Lois, Clark,” you started as everyone finally finished their lunch and the empty plates were taken away. “I am here to apologize for what I have done... three months ago. And what I might have said.”

There was silence hung in the air as Lois and Clark shared a look together. It was Lois who immediately reached for your hand and gently squeezed it. “Hon, you have nothing to apologize for. We understand, you were–”

“It was still rude and uncalled for, and my circumstance was a mere explanation. Especially to you, Clark,” you rolled your shoulders slightly to face Clark better, eyes fell into the balled fist on his lap. “You were only trying to explain, but I shut you out. I know you lost your best friend too that night and I am so sorry I didn’t try to reach you out sooner.”

“Y/N, it’s–”

“No, no, it’s not.” you breathed shakily. You had prepared your best for this inevitable conversation, but still unaware how painful it could be. “Bruce wouldn’t want me to act that way.”

Silence now had fallen completely and the air had shifted drastically. The only thing that grounded you from withering away and succumb into your own thought was Lois’s thumb gently stroking your wrist. Clark was stunned silent on his seat, the gears on his mind worked twice harder than it usually did in past three months. Nothing had prepared him for this conversation.

“Y/N, I forgive you. I already had long ago. I understand completely, and I would probably act worse if I were in your shoes,” Clark breathed out. All the tension in his shoulders that hinder him in the last forty-five minutes had dissipated into the thin air.

“Thank you,” you lifted your eyes to meet his. Sometimes you forgot how unnaturally blue his eyes were, cold and calculating, even though the corner of his eyes and the smile lines soften it out. It almost reminded you with Bruce. “Can you... can you tell me what happened that night? You were there with him, didn’t you?”

Lois and Clark shared another look, something told you that both knew what you didn’t. “Are you sure you want to hear this now?”

“I need my closure, Clark. And I’d love to know which son of a bitch that take my husband away.”

Clark told you everything in vivid details, the hairs on your shoulders stood in dread by the explanation alone. He talked about the League mission, the warehouse, and the explosion that had killed Bruce and suspected blown his body into unrecognizable tiny bits. By the time he was finished, you were close to tears, and was pleasantly surprised you didn’t weep your heart outs right away in a public place.

“One question,” you wiped the stubborn tears that started to well on your eyes. You mustered a silent thank you as Clark offered his handkerchief. “Was Red Robin there? Was Red Robin called for backup?”

“I can’t remember. What about him?”

You took a sharp breath, the image of Tim weeping on your lap and repeating his apology played inside your mind like a broken movie. “He obsessively investigating his death, saying it was his fault it happened in the first place.”

Lois tighten her grip on your hand and squeezed harder. It wasn’t a secret that your son was bad at letting go and coping with loss, but it had been a huge toll to knew he blamed himself for it. Clark sent you an apologetic look, and you were surprised that you didn’t dread the look.

“It wasn’t his fault. It was supposed to be an easy investigation, an in-and-out mission. Nobody could come prepared for the explosion,” Clark reassured you, although it was addressed more to Tim instead of you. “The machines...”

A sudden rang from Clark’s phone interrupted his words. He watched it rang briefly before let out a dreading, long sigh. “I’m so sorry, but I really need to take this.”

You smiled reassuringly. “Go on.”

Turns out, Lois and Clark had been called for another meeting and had to cut their meeting short. Lois had hugged you tight and drop a promise to come over by weekend for dinner. Clark left a lingering touch on your wrist, his eyes widen as if he had come into a realization he hadn’t before, but he left before he able to muster any single words.

The ride back to Gotham was long and tedious. The traffic had made the trip an hour and half longer than it was necessary, but the sunset at the horizon was a sight for sore eyes. The chance to catch a beautiful sunset was close to zero in Gotham, so you preserved the moment as much as you could. A little part of your soul wished Bruce could witness such sight with you.

You arrived right before dinnertime, the manor was surprisingly quiet, spared for some noises Alfred made in the kitchen as he prepared for dinner. One thing about Wayne household was silent wasn’t a good thing, and one should be suspicious if it happened.

“Where are the others? It’s eerily quiet.” your head popped up in the kitchen. “Alfred, it smells delicious. Are you making Shepherd’s pie again?”

“Miss Y/N, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t surprise me like that anymore,” Alfred deadpanned. “Yes, I am. How was your meeting?”

“It went well. I... I finally get the explanation I deserved,” you sat across the kitchen island, your bag fell into the floor as you did. “Thank you for convincing me into reaching out to him.”

Alfred pressed his lips together into a pleased smile. “You have found your closure, I assumed?”

“I don’t know about that, Alfred,” you admitted. “But it was great to finally know what happened and not left in the dark. Maybe it was a good step for me.”

“I believe so, Miss Y/N.”

“Are those teas for the kids?” you shifted the topic away into a tray full of teacups and biscuits. “Where are they?”

“All of them are cramped together in Batcave, I believe. Master Damian had asked me to brought them some teas.”

“Let me take it to them. You can continue bake your Shepherd’s Pie again.”

Alfred was hesitant, but he nodded away and shoved the tray into your embrace. It had been long overdue for you to step back into the Batcave anyway, figured this would be a great time for you to go back.

You forgot how much you hated the perpetual coldness the Batcave seemed to persistently have, no matter how many efforts everyone had put years ago into make this place warmer and comfortable. The sound of your children bickering with each other filled the cave and it made you smile, for all of its worth, you had always admired your children’s tendency to find things to argue about.

It was until the sound of fist slammed against the table that stopped you in your track and wiped away your smile.

“Stop it, Timbers, stop this fucking bullshit!” Jason’s voice roared, followed with the ear-ripping screeches of bats that had been awoken from their slumber by his roaring voice alone.

“I am telling you the truth!” Tim said heatedly, which was alarming. You quickly hid yourself in the shadows between the costume displays, finding yourself a better spot to watched your children without being known. “Why can’t you believe me?”

“Look at me in the eye and tell me that was not a fucking bullshit!”

“Tim, bud, come on. You need to stop. This isn’t healthy,” Dick’s concerned voice chimed in between the heated stares Jason and Tim exchanged. Your heart sank from that words alone, Tim must had investigating again. “You have us. We can get through this together. But not like this.”

“TT. Drake, you have started to creep me out,” Damian’s equally concerned voice, albeit masked with his usual scowl and sarcasm, piped in. “Also, you look like you hadn’t sleep since you were born.”

“Thanks for the flattery. But listen–”

“Stop it. Stop. Shut your mouth!” Jason yelled again. His finger intimidatingly pointed towards Tim, his eyes filled with rage and frustration. “Have you heard yourself talking?”

“Won’t you all give me a fucking minute to explain myself?” Tim stood from his chair; his fist crumpled together into a ball clenched on his side. It was such an eerie sight to see him so worked up like this. “Cass?”

You saw Cass silently shook her head. She sent Tim an apologetic smile as Tim groaned in frustration.

“Why none of you would just listen to me?”

“Tim, there is no way in hell Bruce is still alive!”

The roar that came from Dick was eerie, but it was his words that split your world into half. You didn’t realize the tray had slipped from your grasp until it clashed with cold floor, your gasp was masked with the loud clang of the tray hitting the floor and the sound of teacups shattered into pieces. All eyes followed towards the sound, and all were surprised to spot their mother was there.

You saw from the corner of your eyes that Dick walked towards you. His shoulders were tensed, his eyebrows furrowed together in frustration and anger. But your eyes fell on Tim whose eyes widen in horror upon realizing that your unknown presence was lurking all these times. You could mentally see the guilt that slowly seeped through his initial shock, the blue in his eyes waver slightly with the swirling guilt. You walked towards Tim, and from the look on his face alone, you wondered if you looked as if you were about to swallow him whole.

“Mom...” Tim croaked.

“Mom, it’s alright. It was nothing.”

“Ma, let’s go upstairs. It’s dinnertime, you never like it when we–”

“Tim.” The firmness on your voice effectively silence your two oldest sons out. Your hands gently placed on Tim’s shoulders as you shut your eyes and counted from one to ten. “Tell me everything.”

“W-what?”

“Tell me everything you know. Tell. Me. Everything.”

“Mom, I don’t think you should see it.”

“He was my husband, Tim. I deserve to know.”

Tim pressed his lips together, his eyes travelled up slowly before he let out a sigh. “Just tell me to stop when it gets too much.”

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antarax · 4 years

Text

𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

It's late at night when Damian makes a stop by your house with the intention to confess his feelings for you.

Damian Wayne x Black!Reader, gender neutral.

Words: 2,105

AN: Happy Valentine’s to all the beautiful black people in the fandom!! I dedicate this one to all of us, who rarely get any works that include us or are actually vague enough to. Hope you enjoy it 💞

It was a quiet, cold night in Gotham. Neon city lights blurred into your room as the muffled sounds of the videogame on the old TV kept you company, the blue hue of the fluorescent lights washing over your bedroom even through half-pulled curtains.

The day had been a slow and uneventful one. For you, at least, after the hope of receiving someone's valentine had been completely blown off, the same energy manifesting itself in you as the night also dragged itself along.

You almost jumped out of your skin at the sound of your window opening, having had no expectations of anything more for the day –that, and the fact that it was well into the night already. You saw Damian standing outside with his hand on the window sill, a bag in the other, Robin uniform dirty and tattered as his cape fluttered violently with the breeze.

He seemed stuck in his place, as if he had been the one surprised, frowning like he hadn't expected you in your own room.

The slight semblance of a smile grew on your face, "Well, come in," you said, pausing the game.

It wasn't uncommon for Damian to stop by your building after a busy night, the moon shining beautifully in the sky and the clouds a beautiful swirl of the light as he came through your window expertly quiet. But, even then with the known comfortability and trust you two had managed to reach in your relationship, it also wasn't uncommon to feel like remnants of the younger, more insecure Damian still clung to him slightly.

Slightly as in heavily.

You watched him as he moved into the small space and set down the bag on the floor, taking off his gloves and mask with the rough delicacy you associated with him.

He stood as if he was tightly wound up, like perhaps he could breathe wrong, or whatever new, unspoken rule he'd created for himself plagued his mind now.

It was a little funny.

"I'm not going to eat you, you know?"

Damian rolled his eyes, "I'm aware."

"Doesn't look like it," You muttered, glancing down at the controller in your hands, "What's in the bag anyways?"

"I— Things."

You raised a brow.

"Food, sweets. Drinks."

"Really?"

"Yes," Damian replied, sitting down and sagging against the wall underneath the windowsill, chest rising and falling slowly as he exhaled deeply. Damian grabbed the bag again, putting it down next to you, "They're yours."

You set aside the controller and rummaged through the bag, the thoughts racing in your head. Damian knew you well and you him, your friendship spanning over a few years now. There had been a lot you'd trusted him with. Secrets, worries, embarrassing shit you'd done that still haunted you and Damian had been no different. He let you in on his bigger secret, how he carried the mantle of Robin every night. Some of his deepest remorses were ones that you had knowledge of; although never diving too deep in the murky waters of Damian’s life, you still valued the clear trust he had in you.

And along all these moments, every opportunity you've had to know each other, slowly and softly peeling aside the layers covering the people you were, a warm intimacy rooted itself in your growing friendship. A comfortable sort of intimacy.

Every once in a while you stopped by the manor on the quiet days where it was only Alfred and the animals. You helped Alfred in the kitchen whenever he was practicing for a new recipe or baking a dessert for the family later in the day. You spent hours with Damian in his room, where his cat Alfred would always curl up next to you on his bed as he worked on his art, walking around the manor or playing around with Titus and Batcow in the manor's backyard –which, really, was just an enormous open field that they were too humble to call so– and sometimes you'd even earn an invitation to dinner.

As for you, Damian tended to visit at night more so than day, but there were moments where he would show up on a sunny afternoon when everyone else wasn't home, slumping down on your couch for an hour or two before going back to his own things. Sometimes he'd drop by books he'd seen at the library, a small trinket he'd bought at the store and various other paraphernalia that, somehow, you always ended up loving.

Damian knew your taste well, and there was no doubt he'd spend countless amounts of time pondering over each of his gifts before they ever reached your hands. All things that while anyone else might have brushed over you appreciated immensely.

"You know," you began as you leaned back into the foot of your bed, ripping off pieces from a napkin you'd taken out of the bag, buying time. Hesitating, "I actually— sort of, was hoping for a valentine this year."

You gazed at Damian's eyes, your interest boring into them, digging as deep as you were allowed. They looked nervous, hilariously so. Almost like he'd been caught. But caught... doing what, exactly?

Perhaps caught in the middle of staring back at you as he'd tend to do; how he'd tend to do and assumed you didn't notice.

Or maybe caught when he would discreetly drop off something in your room or your locker after having seen it at the store or the cafeteria and knowing immediately you'd like it, always behind the guise of simple complacency. Caught, in his true intentions, what truly made him do all these otherwise insignificant things that were much too small even for somebody as detail-driven as Damian.

Olive-colored eyes still shifted uncomfortably in front of you as the sole giveaway of the true nervousness Damian was drowning in, refusing to show anything more of himself, even when it mattered.

Especially when it mattered. It was frustrating.

"You were?"

"Yeah," You shifted in your spot, "I was."

No one could ever, ever know something about Damian that he didn't share. It's just not something you could do. Not when it came to him. Anybody who knew anything at all about who Damian Wayne is, at his core in existence, knows it only because he's allowed them to.

And he'd allowed you to know this too, and yet now he was hesitating.

"You wished to have... a valentine. Anyone?"

"Anyone."

"You could have, easily, if you wanted it," Damian rolled his eyes.

"I could?" You smiled, and the twinkle in your eyes was nothing short of mischievous.

"Yes."

"Reeeally. How?"

Damian slouched against the wall, "Well, you'd simply have to ask," he said it as if it had been an obvious fact, "I'm sure anyone at the academy would've said yes."

Your smile widened as you raised your brows, "Oh?"

Damian frowned, "You are making fun of me."

"What do you mean? How."

Damian crossed his arms as you laughed.

"You think I'm making fun of you," you protested, "I'm not."

"TT."

"There's something you want to say, isn't there? Just spit it out, Damian."

Damian's eyes lingered all over the room. His hands had started to sweat a while ago and by then, his heart had sped up so much he was sure it was making some attempt at breaking through and out of his chest.

Originally, his plan had been to drop by and bring you a gift, but then he'd gotten nervous and internally malfunctioned, because he'd bought a double of everything so that you wouldn't assume it had been a gift and instead just him coming by to hang out like he always did.

He had planned to come by, tell you he'd... harbored a few unwanted feelings towards you and hoped you would have been tired enough that you wouldn't have realized it, but clearly, his plan had flipped over backwards and blown up in his face.

Damian took as deep a breath as possible with his collar putting him in a choke hold, as if trying to push out his words while simultaneously wanting to keep them buried the deepest he could.

"I— hm," He stared intently at the floor, for the first time in a while feeling like the small child who would trip over his own emotions again, but he was resolved to tell you, "I like you. I suppose."

It hadn't been surprising to Damian. More that it was hard to accept. He'd mulled over it for a long, long time. In fact, the reason he'd visited you tonight, made up his mind to tell you so, had been his ridiculously embarrassing performance.

Being surprised by petty thieves and thrown out of the loop by measly codes, none of which happen, ever, not to him at least. Damian was far above such childish mistakes, at least so he thought until he started taking a closer look at his own thoughts and realized your eyes had gone from brown to 'beautiful pools of honey', your skin a beautiful, shining shade of brown.

He was an artist, after all. He'd spent afternoons studying his environment, the shapes and colors, how everything fit in together; you were no stranger to his thoughts.

Which of course, you wouldn't know. If you had, you would have taken the jump much earlier. You would have never acted based off of assumption alone, but having the confirmation, well.

By now you had to contain your smile because surely, surely, your cheeks would be sore afterwards.

"Wow," you raised your brows in obvious mocking, "Really?"

Damian scrunched up his face in disgust, like he'd witnessed the most foul thing yet, crossing his arms tighter but refusing to meet your gaze as he turned to the wall.

"You know, Damian."

"Yes?"

"The valentine I was hoping for this year… was yours. You could've easily made a card and thrown some glitter over it and that would be the end of that."

"A card, with glitter?" Damian snapped his head at you, seeming almost bored as he spoke in a deadpan voice, "Is that how lowly you think of me?"

At this you did laugh, almost too loudly for one in the morning, that you had to push both your hands against your mouth.

Damian frowned, "Please do know that if I were to ever make something so miserable, it must be because I've been replaced. Which would not happen. Ever."

You stood, shuffling over to Damian and sitting down next to him.

He looked pretty underneath the moonlight coming through the window, the curls over his forehead looking soft and shiny.

Damian looked right into your eyes, for the first time that night not looking away, he was trapped now. Not truly, he could leave, but did he want to? Not at all.

Softly, Damian touched your hand, something perhaps akin to fear in his eyes as if he still expected rejection.

"Damian?"

"Hm?"

"I'm going to kiss you."

"Oh."

"Unless you don’t want me to."

"Please do. I mean—"

It was a shy and quick kiss, but so, so exciting as Damian's grip tightened around your hand and you leaned into him.

When you leaned away, it was with a mischievous glint in your eyes.

"Please do—"

Damian frowned again, clearly not amused. After a few seconds though, your laugh died out. Truth is, your stomach was churning. Because, while you were very much happy and excited, you were also incredibly nervous.

Both of you were stitching your thoughts back together, seconds of silence passing by. You were still holding Damian's hand.

He closed his eyes, frown deepening considerably and quickly before he spoke, vile spilling out of his mouth, "A card? With some glitter thrown over it?"

He looked downright furious, disgusted even.

"Seriously?"

"It's not that big of a deal," You chuckled, "Get over it."

"Hm."

Damian looked out the window, and you followed, the moon standing beautifully in the middle of the sky.

Damian sighed, "I have to go."

"Oh... okay."

He didn't move. Neither of you did.

Damian gave you a quick kiss again, looking absolutely scandalized when he pulled back. You stared at each other in complete disbelief before he stood up and started putting his gloves on again.

He pressed his hands onto the windowsill and took a deep breath.

Damian looked at you, tenderly, "Goodnight, Y/N."

"Goodnight, Damian." You smiled.

Damian gave you a small smile, "Hm."

You watched as he jumped off, grappling to the nearest building and laughed when you saw him standing still before disappearing into the night.

#DC #DC Comics #Batman #Damian Wayne #Damian Wayne x Reader #Damian Wayne x Black!reader #escritos

167 notes · View notes

sevlgi · 4 years

Text

sweetener

requested: no

group: stray kids

pairing: felix x gn!reader

genre: pure fluff

contents: baker!felix, awkward!reader, supervisor!chan, very very bad attempt at asking lix out, valentine’s day

warnings: none

synopsis: Being late for work is always worth it when there’s brownies involved, and the baker might just be able to change your life, and your Valentine’s day.

a/n: cheesy valentine’s fic :)

word count: 3.4k

Stumbling into Sunshine Bakery was a complete, honest mistake.

Of course you liked bakeries, especially the ones that smelled like pure happiness in the form of fresh-baked cookies and cakes. But a bakery was an exciting place, a stop that you didn’t have time for on your mundane, yet incredibly hurried commute to the worst job you’d ever worked in your life.

“Y-yes, I’m on my way. No, I haven’t--” You sighed into the phone, mumbling apologies as you brushed into yet another person not looking each way before they walked. “I won’t be late. I promise.”

But just as you made your promise and sealed it with a press on the ‘end call’ button, you yelped out and fell to the ground, having been knocked over by someone passing by. To make matters worse, the other pedestrians continued to swarm, almost completely surrounding you as you tried to rush to your feet.

“Hey! Guys, let her stand up.”

“Sorry, Felix,” someone murmured after an unfamiliar voice called out. You turned your face up to the sky, almost as if you expected some kind of miracle to appear in front of you, but instead, you found a black rectangle just above your head and a pair of platform converse just next to you.

Then, a hand, which you accepted. Once pulled up, you were faced with a surprisingly friendly and attractive stranger-- slim, messy blonde hair, and the freckles scattered over his face scrunching with the force of his grin. The little plaque on his chest did read Felix, and as you were hit with the smell of warm brownies on the tray he held, you realized that you had managed to fall just outside the bakery that you had been working up the courage to enter for weeks. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I-- I’m sorry. For falling right in front of you.” You bowed, heat rising to your cheeks as you did.

“Hey, no worries.” Felix’s voice didn’t exactly match his face-- he had a decently heavy Australian accent that only accentuated how deep his voice was, but he smiled in such a way that there was no way he could intimidate anyone. “Can I help you though? If you’re looking for a treat to bring a little sunshine to your day, I have lots of experience in that department.”

The cheesy line shouldn’t have worked for anyone. It should’ve made you cringe and apologize again before heading to work with a growling stomach, but for some reason, you couldn’t seem to do what should be done. Instead, you bowed slightly and let yourself be ushered into the bakery.

And somehow, the plethora of worries clouding your mind were set aside by the simple smell of pastries. Maybe it was a requirement to look like literal sunshine to be inside the bakery; after all, all of the workers and the customers wore a smile almost as large as Felix’s. He returned to the counter, though, and set his tray down before leaning on the glass display case to grin at you yet again. “So? See anything you like?”

“Uh.” You stopped yourself from saying something stupid and bent down to focus on the actual pastries inside. “The... the brownies? Those look really good.”

“You have good taste! I made those,” Felix laughed, pride evident in his voice as he pulled the doors to the case open. “Will that be one or two?”

“Two.” You watched him pull a paper box out, bright tangerine just like the menu hanging above him, and quickly added, “Could I get a coffee too?”

Felix nodded, turning to wave at someone. “Hey, Minho hyung! Stop flirting with Jisung and come make a coffee.”

Yet again, a pretty person appeared, this time a dark-haired man with sculpture-like features. He looked a bit angry as he ruffled Felix’s hair roughly, but he turned to you with a sweet smile that concealed his bullying of his coworkers. “Sorry about that. Americano?”

“Americano’s good,” you agreed quietly, handing Felix your credit card when he held his hand out for it. Over the roar of the coffee machine, you couldn’t hear Minho jibe at Felix, but you couldn’t stop yourself from smiling at seeing the blond boy’s pout, either. “Uh, thank you. Both of you.”

“No problem! Stop in anytime,” Felix called out, waving and leaning on the display case again as you walked out.

As soon as you were hit with the cold, not-cake-scented air outside the bakery, though, you gasped and checked your phone for the time. 8:19-- “Shit. I’m late.”

Every time that you saw the face of Bang Chan, you cursed your luck with a passion.

It had nothing to do with Chan himself-- actually, you liked him a lot. He was the best supervisor in the entire department you worked with, but he just so happened not to be the one you worked under. He liked visiting all the different offices with a familiar dimpled smile, offering all of the workers the encouragement that their respective supervisors wouldn’t give.

So whenever word spread that he was visiting your office, you always made a point to be in the room, if only just to see his kind grin and catch a friendly wave. After the shitty morning you had, getting yelled at for being 5 minutes late, you made sure to be sitting securely in your cubicle at 5:45 pm for the dose of serotonin that you knew would come after seeing the nicest person in the office.

“Hey everyone!”

Chan’s telltale accent turned the head of every worker in the room; the chorus of “hello”s only widened his smile as he waved both hands, making sure to direct a smile at every single person. “I have a guest today, wanna see who it is?”

It felt remarkably like a classroom as everyone cheered, but you couldn’t help the grin on your face as you clapped too. Chan pushed open the door, revealing two people-- one of whom was very, very familiar. “Everyone, welcome Felix and Seungmin! They brought cookies for everyone.”

To your satisfaction (and slight impending embarrassment), Felix made his way in your direction with a box in hand, gloves on, and the same sunny smile from the morning. “Ah! I saw you this morning, didn’t I?” Felix asked when he reached you, holding the cookies out to you. “Chocolate chip cookie?”

“Y-yeah. Thanks,” you mumbled, accepting the napkin and the treat. “Sorry. Again.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s my fault too,” the blond boy shrugged, leaning on your cubicle. “I’m sorry, though, I don’t believe I caught your name yet.”

You pointed at the placard with your name engraved in black, but answered nonetheless. “Y/N Y/L/N, but don’t do the full name. I’ll think you’re my supervisor.”

Felix frowned, “Chan isn’t your supervisor? That’s a shame. Everyone seems to like him.”

“We do,” you laughed, shifting the cookie around on your desk. “I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t like Chan yet, we all wish he was our supervisor. He’s a lot better than Mr. Kim, anyway. You didn’t hear it from me, but we’re all only working for promotions so we can leave. When Chan brings us cookies, it only makes us want to leave more. ”

“I’m the one who’s bringing you cookies,” he protested, smiling in tandem with you. “Is working under Mr. Kim that miserable, though?”

You shrugged in response, fiddling with a pen. “Uh. It’s not fun, that’s for sure. It just kind of puts a damper on our jobs, even though he doesn’t show up to yell at us often.”

Felix pouted in thought, but when he spotted the other baker making his way towards the two of you, he smiled again and asked, “By the way, how were the brownies this morning? I like getting feedback from customers.”

“Wonderful, but I’m sure you didn’t expect anything else.”

Before you could say anything else, though, you were cut off by the other baker, the one you remembered to be Seungmin. “Hey, Felix! Minho hyung wants us to get back soon, rush hour’s starting.”

Felix shouted back in response, then turned back to you with a grin. “I’m glad you liked them. Will you pop back in sometime? Tomorrow, maybe? I’m always in the shop if you want to see me, and I come to visit Chan sometimes, too.”

You wished you could say no; you had to be working towards a promotion that would get you out of the office and out of Mr. Kim’s grasp. You didn’t have time for bakeries or the bakers inside, just as sweet as the treats they made. But you found yourself smiling, nodding, as Felix pulled away to join his friend. “Yeah. Tomorrow morning, if I can.”

“Okay. Nice meeting you, Y/N,” he waved, jogging to catch up to Seungmin, who had already stepped out of the office with Chan.

As soon as he was gone and everyone around you was caught up in their work, you allowed yourself to bite into a cookie-- and instantly regretted it. Because with the warmth of it, the sweetness of the treat- you knew you’d get addicted. To the cookie, and to the sweet boy who had handed it to you.

Fuck.

You didn’t exactly know what made you apprehensive about stepping back into Sunshine Bakery, but you did know that your hands were sweaty on the strap of your bag. You knew that your lip hurt from biting down on it, you knew that your shoes were tapping impatiently, and-- you knew that someone was waving at you and opening the door for you.

“Why’re you standing outside?” he grinned. You didn’t recognize him-- he was shorter than both Minho and Seungmin, with a wide grin and blonde hair hidden under a beanie. “Waiting for something?”

“Uh. F-Felix?” you answered, cursing yourself for stuttering. “Yeah. I’m looking for Felix.”

His eyes widened along with his smile as he opened the door further, motioning for you to join the chattering crowd inside. “Ah, another one. Come on in, then-- Felix is inside, that’s why you don’t see him.”

Despite the fact that you didn’t answer him, the boy kept talking, following you into the bakery. “I’m Jisung, by the way. I think I saw you yesterday morning, before Felix called Minho away to make you a coffee.”

“Oh. I’m sorry?”

Jisung shook his head, making his way behind the counter. “No hard feelings. Minho needs some help anyway, he never works.”

“I heard that,” Minho grumbled, stepping out of the kitchen. “Oh, hey, Y/N.”

“You know my name?” you asked, brow furrowed. Thankfully, you’d arrived almost half an hour before you actually had to go to work, so you weren’t worried about your time limit.

The taller of the two boys nodded, reaching to wipe his hands off on a towel. “Yeah, Felix--”

“I heard my name and sensed something embarrassing,” the blond boy himself interrupted, walking outside too. But his face lit up at the sight of you, a smile crinkling his nose. “Hi, Y/N. I’m glad you decided to come.”

You flushed and nodded. “Hi, Felix. Um, could I get... the brownies again?”

“I’m sorry,” Felix frowned, peeking into the case. “We’re out of brownies today, we ran out of cocoa powder.” Jisung jabbed Minho in the side, and the two made their way into the kitchen again, arguing under their breath. The baker in front of you paid them no mind, asking, “Could I get you something else?”

“Anything you recommend,” you blurted out. “I... I trust you to choose something good for me.”

It should’ve been weird. That was a weird line, and you knew that if it had been anyone else, they would’ve been staring at you like they regretted meeting you. But Felix only grinned wider and nodded. “Okay. How does cupcakes sound?”

“Sounds great,” you breathed out and followed him over to the cash register. “Sorry, I’m kind of awkward.”

“Hey, I deal with Jeongin,” Felix shrugged. He handed you the pretty paper box and stapled a receipt on top of it before humming and typing into the register. “I can handle awkward. Have a nice day at work, Y/N. I have a feeling it’ll be great for you.”

You bowed again and accepted the box, wishing your cheeks weren’t flaming hot as you backed out of the shop. Jisung shouted something and waved once you were outside the shop, but all you could think about was that last line. What convinced Felix that your day was going to be great? After all, it wasn’t like he’d never visited the office, he had to know it was miserable.

But before you could think any more about it, you were pressing the elevator buttons like you did every morning, the numbers worn, and the doors closed in on you like the doors to hell.

“What. The. Hell?”

You stared at the cardboard box on your extremely bare desk, a contrast to the slightly decorated way you had left it just the night before. The box in your hands felt cold as you stood in a suddenly unfamiliar cubicle, all of your coworkers avoiding your eyes. “Did I get fired and no one told me?”

“Y/N?” someone called from the entrance to your department, saving the people around you some embarrassment. There was a woman standing at the entrance, with a sweet smile and long caramel hair that you would’ve appreciated had it not been for the idea of being fired hovering above your head. “Please pick the box up and follow me.”

Wordlessly, you did so, not bothering to wave goodbye to the others as you made your way into the hall. As soon as you were out of earshot, you blurted out, “Did I get fired?”

“What?” She flashed you a confused smile, stopping in her tracks.

“Did I get fired?” you repeated. You felt stupid standing there, your heels incredibly uncomfortable and the tangerine box carefully balanced atop your belongings growing cold. “I just arrived to see my stuff packed up.”

“Oh!” the woman laughed and shook her head. “No, no. You’re being transferred to Chan’s department, he requested it himself. I’m Sana, I’m his co-supervisor. He would’ve come to pick you up, but I lost rock paper scissors.”

And just like that, the smile reappeared on your face. Ever since you had met Chan, had arrived in the company, you had wished that you could work for him instead. On an all-too boring Sunday that shouldn’t have been spent office, your wish was fulfilled, and you bowed deeply to Sana. “Thank you so much,” you sighed in relief. Anything was better than being fired, especially this.

She shrugged and tugged you up, smiling, “It wasn’t my decision, but I’m glad to have you. You’re great, you know, we all thought you’d be promoted by now.”

Heat rose to your ears as you laughed, embarrassed, “Really? That’s a huge compliment, thank you.”

“Of course.” Sana pushed the glass doors to her department open and announced loudly, “Hey! We’ve got a transfer from Mr. Kim’s department today, Y/N will be working with us from now on. Give some applause or I’ll cut your salaries.”

Your new coworkers matched Sana’s joking tone by booing her, but you were met with some clapping and ‘welcome’s anyway. Sana shooed you to what you assumed to be Chan’s office and explained, “He talks to all the new recruits. Go, go, I’ll see you when you come out.”

“Okay.”

Chan grinned and waved at you when you entered the office. “Y/N! Glad to see you made it over okay, I hear Mr. Kim makes things difficult for some transfers.”

Shaking your head, you took the seat across from him. “Oh, no, I didn’t see him today. I thought I got fired, though, because no one told me.”

“Oh, no!” He laughed into his hands, and you couldn’t help but feel like everything was going to be better, just by moving departments and supervisors. “I’m sorry, I should’ve emailed you or something. Felix just--”

“Felix?” You tilted your head in question, your fingers ceasing to tap on your knees. “What does my transfer have to do with Felix?”

Chan shook a hand, the smile still there. “No, you misunderstand. I was already planning on pulling you from the department, hopefully after you got promoted, but you told Felix about how miserable your job was, and when Sana went to ask your coworkers, they all thought the same. So I made the call to transfer you early.”

You could only blink at that, rather dumbly. You weren’t sure how you felt that telling Felix about how horrible Mr. Kim was managed to land you an early transfer, and you definitely weren’t sure how to respond. “Oh.”

“So,” he continued, apparently not fazed by your lack of a response, “I want you to take the day off. It’s Valentine’s Day, and I’m not sure if you have plans...”

No, you should’ve responded. You didn’t have plans, and you had to prove yourself to your new coworkers, but then Felix’s smile and the tangerine cupcake box sitting atop your new desk flashed in your mind. “Yeah. A day off would be nice, thank you,” you bowed, almost missing Chan’s outstretched hand.

“Of course,” he grinned. “Tell me if you need anything, Y/N.”

You didn’t say anything, but just before you slipped out the door, you turned back. “Hey, Chan? One question. How cheesy is Felix?”

Finding materials for what was quite possibly going to be the cheesiest date proposal in your life (to someone who might not even like you back) turned out to take a lot longer than you thought it would.

So by the time you finally managed to lug your proposal all the way to Sunshine Bakery, the sun was setting and you were hoping for your miraculous luck of the day to not fail you.

And thankfully, when you arrived, someone was just starting to turn the lights off and come outside. Someone with blonde hair, in a beanie and a tangerine apron, and someone who jumped slightly when he turned to find you outside. But Felix waved and opened the door for you with a huge grin. “Y/N, what’re you doing here? Late Valentine’s shopping?”

“Not exactly,” you breathed out, gesturing to the honestly heavy box in your hands. “Uh, I got you flours.”

You were sure that steam was practically coming out of your ears with how embarrassed you were; to be honest, you had never said such a cheesy thing in your life, and you had never wanted to, but Felix’s smile was practically touching his ears as he reached out to take the box from you. The little brown bags had heart-shaped stickers on them, and Felix looked like he was about to melt when he noticed the details. “Is this your incredibly cheesy way of asking a baker out?” he laughed.

“Depends,” you shrugged. “Is it working?”

Felix nodded mock-seriously and jerked his head towards the dimmed bakery. “It is absolutely working. D’you wanna come in?”

You moved to open the door for him, then followed the baker to the kitchen. He set the box of flour down with a grunt, but the grin never left his face. “It’s not going to be much of a date, but we have some great Valentine’s desserts prepped for tomorrow,” he explained and disappeared into the kitchen. “You can sit anywhere, by the way.”

“It’s okay, I’ve always dreamed of watching a cute boy bake,” you joked and sat down on the stools before the counter.

Felix’s voice traveled well even from inside the kitchen, echoing on the walls. “Really? You think I’m cute?”

“Well, I pulled that stupid date proposal off,” you grumbled. “I better think you’re cute.”

He didn’t respond, only arrived again with two heart-shaped cakes in hand and some icing smudged on his face. “Happy Valentine’s day, Y/N.”

“Thank you, Lix,” you smiled. There was more than one meaning to the ‘thanks’, and you assumed that the blonde boy understood as he handed you one of the cakes.

In the mostly dark bakery, Felix’s grin and the LED lights of the kitchen behind him the only things lighting your way, Valentine’s Day was a hell of a lot better than you’d imagined.

#stray kids #stray kids x reader #felix x reader #felix imagines #felix scenarios #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #stray kids felix #felix #lee felix #felix lee #skz #skz x reader #skz imagines #skz scenarios

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shakey-hands · 3 years

Note

Hi hi!! I LOVED your fic about Ranpo and Fukuzawa, it was wonderful❤️ And I adored your writing style as well, I really hope you’ll continue writing~

I’d love to see a Kunikida x Fem!Reader where the reader is dating Kunikida for a few years and one day, a client comes and starts flirting heavily with the reader and Kunikida decides to make him understand that she has a boyfriend. (I’m so sorry I just love these healthy jealousy dynamics hehe)

sooo i’m ngl, i love kunikida :) i haven’t finished season 3, i’m waiting for my semester to end before i do. i did take some artistic liberties with this so i hope you like it :)

tw: dazai osamu and men (and slight cursing).

---

It was annoying how sunny the day was. Kunikida’s eyes squinted as he added no sunglasses to his ongoing list of why the day was not ideal. First, he woke up late. His eyes had opened to his very loving girlfriend promising to see him at lunch and giving him a kiss on the head before heading to her job. Then, his coffee was cold, making him reheat it in the microwave that then caused the coffee to get everywhere inside. There was no time to clean it up, meaning he would have to figure out how to get the stains out before his girlfriend came home to the mess. It was not like she wouldn’t mind helping him, but Kunikida was in one of his stages where he had to be perfect for her.

Kunikida had showed up to work five minutes late due to some idiot (see: Dazai) holding up traffic to dramatically propose to some random girl in the middle of the street so they could commit suicide together. The crowd had loved it, but the girl had not. Then, Kunikida was slammed with a lot of paperwork all the way until thirty minutes before his lunch. Of course most of the paperwork was just Kunikida fixing other people’s paper work. That one hour of seeing Y/N had the potential to flip his entire day. The bespectacled man looked forward to awkwardly holding Y/N’s hand while they ate the bento boxes she made the night before on a random bench at a park. And yes it was awkward, he never could get the right pressure down, making him either barely hold her hand or squeezing it. It had been years since he started holding her hand, but he never got it down.

That finally leads to one of the worst surprises. Dazai had forgotten to tell Kunikida about an appointment with a client that was fifteen minute before lunch. While this wouldn’t be a big deal, the client needed to meet at the park for lunch and Kunikida did not know how long the meeting would be. Since moving in together in their second year, Y/N and Kunikida had agreed to keep their work lives separate from their home life. That meant that Kunikida could not bring a client to their lunch date. While Y/N was the epitome of kindness and being homey, once she set a boundary she had set it. This was part of why Kunikida loved her so much. However, he was now checking his phone every couple minutes to see if she had responded to his text about lunch.

‘Meeting came up, might be late.’

Vague? Yes. But Kunikida knew she would understand. Hopefully, Y/N would take her time and arrive later than planned. She had a habit of literally stopping to smell the flowers in the park.

The client had been speaking for a long duration, talking about how some thugs were ruining the park's atmosphere and how his grandchildren frequented this place all the time. He was small and had comically large glasses. His hands were folded over one another on top of his cane as he rested on a park bench across the park from Kunikida’s spot with Y/N. Kunikida did not see why the agency was taking this case on. He had gotten a message from Fukuzawa that it was important, but no details as to why. This was a police matter, not something the agency needed to add to its plate. Especially when more pressing jobs needed their attention. The old man spoke slowly, not paying much mind to anything else.

Kunikida’s phone dinged and he couldn’t help looking at it right away.

‘Is this your way of telling me you need to cancel?’

Y/N was just giving him a hard time. She took joy in messing with him, knowing that Kunikida was up tight and would probably freak out. He could vividly see her lips stretch into a teasing smile. All he was missing was the soft kiss on the cheek Y/N always gave him to make up for being mean. She would always pull him down by his tie, gripping it tightly. Dazai had gripped his tie the same way once, and ended up with an earful of colorful words and an official complaint against him. Kunikida let Y/N get away with so much, and he would continue to. He was so in love with his girlfriend of three years.

“Sir, is there an emergency?”

Kunikida snapped out of his daydreams of how Y/N cradled his face whenever they kissed. The client was staring up at him, an eyebrow slightly raised. At the other end of the bench, Dazai snapped his head towards them. He stopped singing the annoying song that had played on the radio that had gotten stuck in both his and Kunikida’s heads. A sly smirk took over his head and slid down the bench towards the client.

“Kunikida,” Dazai said with a wagging finger. “You’re blushing. Were you thinking of a certain little lady in a compromising position?”

Kunikida felt his face heat up. He definitely had not even thought of his girlfriend in that way where other people could perceive him. Especially not during work hours. Kunikida was very private about things like that and so was Y/N. Kunikida started to sputter about, completely appalled by Dazai bringing that up in front of a client. The client looked confused, not knowing what was going on. Dazai let out a loud laugh and began to tease Kunikida more.

* * *

Across the park, Y/N walked up to their spot. She was dressed in her uniform, tired of having to deal with picky clients of her own. Two bento boxes were balanced in her hands, both very similar in food, but different in preferences. Kunikida’s was healthier, with a small salad with various vegetables. Y/N’s had a small slice of the cake she had baked them that week and more fruit. She always woke up early to make them lunch. It was one of the few ways she took care of her loving boyfriend that he found to be quite endearing. Well, he found anything she did endearing, but there were some things that especially made his heart race.

Another example was that she wore the stupid little children’s bracelet he had won her from their first date every day. Due to his nervousness, Kunikida had been convinced by Atsushi and Kenji that he should bring her to the fair the agency was going to. Of course it was for a client, but it had slipped Kunikida’s mind when he first saw Y/N’s smile as he offered (awkwardly and properly of course) to hold her hand so they wouldn’t get lost. While at first it was very practical to not get lost in the crowd, Kunikida did not have to convince himself that the warmth of her hand was something he wanted more of. He was smitten from the beginning, and now he couldn’t imagine a life without her.

Their bench was unoccupied, like always. She sat down, crossing her ankles and casually looking around. It was a nice day, with clouds covering the sun and a soft breeze. A large tree provided extra shade, and if you looked closely, there was a small heart with both Kunikida and her initials carved into one of the large roots. It had happened one night where both had a little too much to drink, but the next morning Kunikida was freaking out over it. Y/N loved their spot.

As her eyes casually drifted over the park, a familiar trench coat caught her eyes. Dazai was draped over a bench, paying no mind to the old man sitting beside him. Standing with his back facing towards her, Kunikida had his weight shifted to one leg and his arms crossed. Y/N smiled at the sight of her boyfriend. His whole body was tense and she knew Dazai was probably giving Kunikida a hard time by the smirk on Dazai’s face. It had taken Y/N a while to get used to Dazai, but now she could smile with appreciation. The two balanced one another, and Y/N was completely aware that if it weren’t for Dazai’s softening of her boyfriend, they would have never gotten together.

Y/N was too much in her head to see the handsome man coming towards her. He had his eyes set on her silky hair and sparkling eyes. The man had been out for his daily run before he met his grandfather and just happened to see the pretty girl on the bench from across the way. Although it was not his usual running path, the man couldn’t help but switch it up. The closer he got, the more he realized how easily he could fall in love with her. As he slowed down, he noticed how she was lost in the scenery of the park.

“So, you come here often?”

Her head turned, unsure about what she was about to look at. Y/N was not impressed by the man in front of her. Though every man seemed to be paled in comparison to her boyfriend. The man in front of her was buff and looked like he was on a run. He was attractive, with high cheekbones and plump lips, but Y/N was not interested. One of her eyebrows quirked up.

“I suppose.” There was an uncertain edge to her voice, hoping he would get the hint.

Instead, the man hiked his foot up on the opposite corner of the bench, flexing in a very obvious way that he was trying to be subtle. “Yeah, I was just on my daily run. I work out a lot, mainly in nature, but don’t turn down any gym days when they come up. Those are rare though. I have a job that keeps me busy. You know, you don’t earn 200 million yen in a year by just sitting on your ass. I mean, sure I take nice vacations to my beach house every once in a while-”

His boasting could be heard from across the park. Which of course caught Dazai’s attention when he saw who the guy was talking to. It was as if God had set up a perfect day for Dazai to have. He hoped Kunikida would explode. The client was very boring and Dazai was pretty sure the supposed thugs happened to be the Port Mafia. He was just waiting for Kunikida to get through all the questions from his notebook so they could go on lunch already. But now? Now a show of entertainment was in sight as Dazai zeroed in on Y/N and how uncomfortable she looked. That would certainly set Kunikida off.

Dazai knew how whipped Kunikida was for Y/N. The tall man almost never liked to talk about things outside of work, unless it came to his girlfriend. Everyone in the office knew to steer clear of the topic of Y/N unless they wanted to be trapped in a conversation about how amazing her cooking was or how well her job was going. It was cute at first, but it had been a couple years and Kunikida was still in his honeymoon phase of worshipping her. But this? This would make him go wild.

Dazai let out a huge sigh as the client kept talking. He noticed how Y/N kept looking over, hoping someone would notice and get her out of whatever hell she was going through. So Dazai waved slightly, making Kunikida look over at him and frown. The client was still talking, going into some story that looked like it would drag on and on. And then, the situation got worse.

Just as Kunikida was looking to see whatever had Dazai’s attention instead of the case, the strange man began to twirl Y/N’s hair around his finger, getting horribly close. His face got too close to hers, noses about to brush. Y/N held her breath, praying that the moment would be over soon. And it was.

Nobody had expected Kunikida to be that fast, but soon he was up the hill to the bench and holding the man who was shorter than him by the collar. There was a rage in his eye that centered around the man’s wandering hands. Y/N stood up quickly, ready to pull Kunikida away from the man if he tried to be too violent. Of course she would pretend to be slow, but she still felt morally obligated to pull them away from one another. Dazai casually walked up the grassy hill, hands in his pocket and smirk on his face.

Kunikida was breathing heavy, mind racing on what he was going to do. He wasn’t naturally a violent person, but he did not like how the man was making Y/N uncomfortable. His sudden rush had caught the attention of those who were close by. There was a silence enveloping the group as they all waited to see what Kunikida would do.

“Unhand my grandson,” The old man yelled as he waddled up the hill at an extremely slow pace.

Dazai raised an eyebrow and looked behind him. For a split second, he was very aware of how easily he could push the old man back down the hill and turn back to the source of the growing tension in the park. But Dazai didn’t want to be the source of any drama in that moment so he just turned back around to see the conflict in Kunikida’s eyes.

“It’s okay, honey,” Y/N said as she slowly put a hand on Kunikida’s shoulder.

Kunikida let down the man, he dropped to his knees from the sudden let go. He faltered as he stood up, readjusting his clothes.

“What the hell is your-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, he was getting socked in the face. Everyone stood in shock as Y/N’s hit sent him straight to the ground. She stood over him with a frown on her face.

“Learn to respect women, asshole.”

And if it were possible, Kunikida fell in love with her more.

#bungo stray dogs #kunikida x reader #bsd kunikida #dazai osamu #jealous kunikida

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mooglecharm · 2 years

Text

ignis x trans!OC fic idea

Originally on Twitter.

An Ignis x trans!OC story I want to write, but have no stamina to do, starts with:

Ignis hated cooking. Had always hated it. It was tedious and and often stressful, especially for beginners still learning how to follow recipe books.

But it was a task he needed to learn. He was the prince's personal companion: this meant he had to keep close watch on Prince Noctis' dietary habits and nutrition. it was just part of the job.

So, when he was in his early teens, he started browsing through cooking videos. None of them really inspired him or made him more interested in cooking, but he didn't need inspiration; he just had to learn the basics.

His first task was to learn baking. After a few years of baking failures, he got enough confidence to move on to other kinds of kitchen work. Soon enough, he found his way to general cooking videos.

That was when he met Konstantia.

He didn't "meet" her, exactly - he just came across her cooking videos. She was a teenage girl his age, maybe a little older…she was always secretive about personal details.

And she was just learning how to cook, too.

She went through the basics with the shy, unassuming air of a humble amateur. Her voice was soothing, her manner calming, and she didn't hesitate to recommend vlogs of more masterful chefs; always a plus, for a learner like Ignis.

Best of all, she learned at her own pace.

She did not pressure herself to master a certain skill immediately, like quick chopping or perfect sunny side up egg-making - and neither did she invite her viewers to do the same.

A commenter had said she was learning too slowly; she calmly invited that person to unsubscribe, then find a vlogger who better suited their learning speed.

Ignis admired her poise, resourcefulness, and uncompromising passion. Watching her almost made him like cooking. ALMOST.

He soon began learning more quickly than she did, but he still found himself reviewing her older videos to get deeper insight into her art.

***

After over a year of eagerly anticipating each new video she uploads, Ignis finally admitted to himself that he had a crush on her.

Of course, that eventually meant digging into her personal history.

But he found, to his surprise, that she had none.

She called herself Konstantia, but there was no record of anyone with that name living in Insomnia. A pseudonym, no doubt, but there should at least be clues as to her true identity.

In one of her more recent videos, Ignis spotted the edges of what seemed to be a family crest, when she was taking her camera around her kitchen. He looked it up; it likely belonged to the Oikomenos family. A noble house.

None of those born to that house in his generation resembled her in the least.

Soon enough, and in keeping with trends, she made a livestream. He created an account just to interact with her. It always made his heart flutter whenever she acknowledged his comments, and answered his questions in her shy, sincere way.

He felt he was growing with her; he thought of her as a friend whom he also admired. He wanted to believe she felt the same, but knew that it was wishful thinking. She didn't know him at all outside of his cooking-related questions, and that was for the best.

For around a decade, Ignis supported Konstantia's endeavors, as a loyal fan - watched her grow from a gentle amateur to a braver, more innovative cooking master.

He kept his distance, respecting her obvious desire for anonymity.

Then, he had to leave Insomnia, to take Prince Noctis away to be wed.

***

Internet was spotty outside of the city, he'd been warned. So he thought about saying goodbye. He never did (because who was he, anyway? Just a fan. Possibly an obnoxious one, who asked too many questions), and it was a decision he came to regret…

When some days after he left, Insomnia fell.

There was no chance to find her now. Ignis didn't know the first thing about looking for her, because she was in no official records, and she had stopped making videos, because obviously, she had fled Insomnia, too.

The boys knew that Ignis secretly watched Konstantia's cooking videos that were saved in his phone, as they lived in the rough, on the run. Those videos gave him comfort.

Though Ignis had never admitted it aloud, they knew how he felt.

So, they planned a surprise.

Gladio gave Ignis his phone. "Here," he said. "I got Konstantia's number from one of her corporate sponsors. Call her."

Ignis hesitated, but took the phone.

He dialed the number, and her familiar, soft voice greeted him on the other end of the line.

Even if they only knew each other from their internet pseudonyms, and despite a shaky start, they talked all night. It was as if they'd known each other all their lives…or at least the past ten years.

There was no expression on Ignis' face when he returned Gladio's phone to him, long after midnight.

But he slept that night with a smile on his face.

(tbc)

#ffxv #my fic #ignis #ffxv oc

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cherryrogers · 4 years

Text

when dusk falls {1}

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

pairing: bucky barnes x reader | royal au

warnings: mentions of war, death, rape + forced marriage. pure angst tbh.

summary: One fateful afternoon, your blissful life as the beloved princess of Taria comes to a sudden halt.

a/n: ok so i am very excited for this fic. more excited than i’ve ever been to write a fic ever, i really hope you guys like it !! it’ll likely be a slow burn, and i’m gonna try so hard to do weekly updates (unheard of from me i know !!) anyway please enjoy and any feedback is appreciated !!

series masterlist

The Kingdom of Taria was said to be the most beautiful place on the planet. A verdant location, rich with greenery from north to south. Known as the planet’s garden, visitors would travel for days overseas simply to inhale the fresh scent of the crisp air upon arriving within Taria’s borders. The civilians were lovely, always smiling and willing to offer tours of the gardens and markets. And the monarchs — the most loved the world had ever seen. They lived in a fabulous palace in the centre of the green land, one of the oldest buildings to exist in Taria. The palace front garden was free for anyone to roam, a place where the King and Queen could be seen waving from their balcony, broad smiles covering their lips.

And the Princess; she was the kingdom’s gem.

Adored by the people of Taria and those of allied kingdoms, you made it your mission to be less of a princess to your people, and more of a friend. You played with the children in the palace garden on sunny afternoons, went to tea with the women who sold baked goods at the markets, helped their sons with schoolwork when you had time to spare — there wasn’t a single name you could put to a face. You felt so free, so lucky to be engaged with the people that made Taria as wonderful as it was. You didn’t even need personal guards, not when there wasn’t a soul in the kingdom that wanted to hurt a hair on your head.

The life you were so grateful to live, that you cherished so close to your heart — it was terrifying how easily it was stripped from you. How easily Hydra ripped you away from the golden dream that it was.

You’d been hiding in your library, laid out on a plush beige couch, the skirt of your royal blue dress spilling over the edge, flipping through the pages of a thick, hardback mystery novel. It’d been gifted to you by Sharon, your lady-in-waiting and best friend before that. She’d left you alone in the library momentarily while running to bring you both a steaming cup of chamomile tea; an essential when reading, she’d insisted. If you weren’t so caught up in your book, perhaps you would’ve noticed Sharon had been gone for nearly ten minutes. It was only when the sound of commotion erupted from behind the large doors of the library that your eyes finally flickered up, and when they did, your friend was suddenly bursting through the doors, a frightened expression on her face.

“Sharon, what’s wrong?” You’d slipped your bookmark between the pages of your novel before placing it at your feet.

The blonde rushed towards you, taking your hand and tugging you up from the couch. “We must go.”

Your face contorted in confusion, but Sharon didn’t care to explain as she snatched you away from the centre of the grand room, making a beeline to the back door of the room that led into your personal garden. Her hand was tight like a vice around your wrist, pressing your bracelets uncomfortably into your skin.

“What was with the yelling outside?” You questioned breathlessly, struggling to keep up with her pace as she pushed open the glass garden doors. “And why— my gosh, why are we running?”

Winding through the plethora of brilliantly coloured roses and tulips, you shrieked as you closely avoided tripping over your own feet, bare and aching from the gravel of the pavement between the square plots of flowers sticking to your soles. Everything was happening so fast, even the colours of the garden were blending together as you tried to figure out what could’ve been going on.

Sharon’s hand fleetingly let go of your wrist as you steadied yourself, and before she could clasp it back in her grip, you ripped it out of her reach.

She narrowed her eyes. “_____, we don’t have time—”

“Tell me what’s going on.” You folded your arms over your chest, the waver in your voice telling Sharon that you needed to know then and there, your nerves beginning to build more with each passing second.

The woman was about to object, but since you weren’t aware of the gravity of the situation, she decided telling you may have been a better option — whatever got you away from the palace the as soon as possible. Sighing quickly, she held your upper arms in urgency. “It’s Hydra, they’re here. Here for you.”

In that moment, you swore your heart had never dropped so low in your stomach. “For me? What— What do they want with me?”

“I don’t know; as soon as I heard your name, I ran to find you. They’re searching the palace for you right now, _____, we need to get to the stables and leave before they find you.”

She took your hand in hers, ready to make a run for it, but you didn’t budge. Mouth hung open in shock, you were paralysed on the spot.

The Kingdom of Hydra was a dark place. Plagued with freezing temperatures and harsh blizzards, the majority kept far away from it. The effects of a long dictatorship had set in over the decades, making it the complete opposite of Taria. King Alexander called all the shots, passed laws that benefited him, denied laws that benefited the public. Crime was at an all time high; women raped every day, markets trashed and robbed, murders around every corner — the King didn’t bat an eye. Nobody did. The only reason people stayed was because they had to. It was against the law to migrate unless the circumstances were exceptional, but realistically they’d never be severe enough for the King to lose tax money over.

Attempts at rebellions had spiked over the years, usually only consisting of not even one hundred civilians wanting to fight the system. The King’s father, who occupied the throne before him, was killed by a rebel when the castle was attacked by hundreds of men wielding pitchforks. Once Alexander became king, he threatened that any civilian who dared to rebel against the monarchy would be sentenced to death without question. While there were still quieter rebel forces waiting for their moment to strike, most were ultimately too fearful to take physical action, and they were right in feeling so.

Hydra was a brutal place; living there was a life sentence that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. But it seemed like soon, you’d be serving that miserable time yourself.

Only when you felt a warm hand press to your cheek did you snap out of your fear, glossy eyes meeting the deep brown ones of your friend. “You’ll be okay. I’m going to get you to safety, but I can only do that if we leave now.”

Forcing your fear down with a painful gulp, you nodded hurriedly. The blonde’s lips curled slightly in reassurance, before she took your hand eagerly and headed straight for the tall, cream garden gate leading out to the stables.

She quickly explained the route you’d take; travel west through the Goldwater village, borrow a rowboat from the docks, and sail over the Emerald Sea to the Swari Island; a small but resourceful community not ruled over by a monarchy, but had offered hospitality to the royals of Taria if they ever needed it. They’d know who you were when you arrived there, and because it was such an independent island, Hydra likely didn’t even know it existed. If they did, they probably would’ve attacked and taken over the place a long time ago.

The plan sounded hopeful, and your nerves had actually began to simmer once you were close enough to the gate for Sharon to shift the heavy metal lock. But when a worried voice called out from behind you, her movement was paused, the lock only being half pulled.

Steven — your father’s valet — stood tall in the doorway to the library, golden locks and beard seeming even lighter with the sun beaming down onto him. But the look on his face was anything but light; thick brows pinched and lips curled into a frown, he waved for the two of you to return.

“There are soldiers behind that gate,” He called. “You can’t reach the stables.”

You turned to Sharon with a fearful expression; she kept a tight hold on your hand, letting go of the gate to respond to Steve. She remained calm, but at the foiling of her plan, her demeanour had visibly changed. “Then what are we to do? I won’t let Hydra take her, Steve.”

His face fell even further, a hand coming to clutch at the sword on his hip as he jogged towards the two of you. Blue eyes set on you, he spoke with sorrow. “I’m afraid that they’re not going to leave without you, Princess.”

Your friend scoffed, shooting the valet a glare. “And why is that?”

Steve didn’t reply, an apologetic glint in his eyes as they stayed on you. You held his eye contact, shaking your head in disbelief. What did he mean they weren’t leaving without you? It wasn’t like Steve to give up so easily, especially when it came to your safety. He had a duty to your father, to ensure your protection before his at all costs. But Hydra didn’t care for duties and loyalty — they didn’t care for compromise. What they wanted, they got. And they wanted you.

��Steven, what do they want with _____?” Sharon asked again, this time more aggressive with her tone, but her hard exterior was beginning to crumble.

Like you, she knew Steve to be confident, determined. He’d been like that even at the age of thirteen when she’d befriended him — the scrawny blond boy that didn’t have the patience to read books or plant seeds in the back garden like the other kids she neighboured with, instead always running around on the dirt roads using long, pointy sticks as swords to battle with an imaginary opponent.

Originally from the war-torn Kingdom of Lidor, she migrated with her aunt after her parents were caught in the centre of a Hydra attack on their village. Sharon was staying at her Aunt Peggy’s for the weekend when it happened, and as soon as it did, Peggy wasn’t risking her young niece being killed along with her brother and sister-in-law if they dared attack again, which was likely inevitable.

That was the scary thing about Hydra; they had the absolute power to ruin everything in their wake.

Sharon met you when she was sixteen; she was wandering the beautiful palace garden with her aunt when you’d approached the two of them, introducing yourself with a kind smile. It was the first time they’d been near the palace, their new village being in a more remote area of Taria, and preferring to keep to themselves while recovering from the tragedy back home. You ended up clicking with her straight away, easily being drawn to her fiery attitude and quick wit. As you got closer, you became her shoulder to cry on when she’d opened up about her parents and her life during the war at home, learning that Lidor was fighting on their own against the powerful forces of Hydra, and had been three years — Hydra had a certain way of keeping their harmful affairs quiet.

Later that week, you informed your father of her kingdom’s situation, and after a discussion with Taria’s knights and the leaders of your allies, cavalries upon cavalries shipped out to Lidor to rid the place of Hydra’s men. The war came to an end months later, and you’ll never forget the relief and joy on Sharon’s face once you’d let her know that her home could soon begin to recover.

She’d also spoken of needing a job, and after a short conversation with your parents, they approved of her being able to fill the spot of your lady-in-waiting. Sharon was hesitant to take the role, as it meant leaving her old aunt to live alone in their home miles away from the palace, but you assured her she could visit Peggy whenever she wanted, and that the role wasn’t so much a servant job — more like a professional best friend.

Steve, then eighteen, was introduced to you when you ventured out to meet Sharon’s aunt at her home. Unlike him in his childhood, he’d grown incredibly tall and broad, large biceps and muscular thighs easily filling out his clothing. Purely kindness and charisma, Steve seemed like a man your father would’ve adored. One day, you brought the two of them down to the palace for dinner in the evening. Steve was obviously out of his comfort zone; he’d never once imagined he’d ever come to be around so many royals. Like you’d guessed, he had your father clutching his stomach with laughter, and he’d deeply admired the blond’s courageous spirit when he’d expressed his desire for a job where he could protect people who needed it.

At the end of the night, the King pulled him aside and told him that if he was interested in being his valet, the job was unmistakably his. Of course, Steve accepted it without question. You’d always remember the first time he held a real sword; it was like witnessing a child during a sugar rush.

Since that day, both Sharon and Steven had never been too far away, always around to keep you company. It was a good change to have good friends living in such close proximity. Your life had never been better, safer.

And now, in their presence, you’d never felt more afraid.

Before Sharon could force an answer out of the valet, a raspy, smug voice sounding from where Steve had been stood only moments ago in the library doorway caught the attention of the three of you.

Tilting your head to look past Steve, your jaw tightened at the sight of a dark-haired man, dressed in dark clothes and scruffy boots — a clear juxtaposition among the vibrant garden. Upon his lips, a too-satisfied smirk, and on the left metal shoulder piece shielding his thin tunic, the image of a skull with tentacles coming from the mouth clear as day — the symbol of Hydra.

“I must say, Princess, you have a wonderful palace here.” He patronised, stepping into the garden gesturing to the enormous building behind him.

It was then you noticed the four soldiers that’d followed him out, expressions completely vacant, staring straight ahead as if they hadn’t just infiltrated the royal palace. Their uniform was similar to brocks, except the skull symbol was replaced by a large red star.

Steve pushed you behind him protectively; your grip remained tight on your friend’s hand. “You have no business coming to Taria without speaking the King first. This wasn’t part of the agreement.”

Agreement? Hydra had no business in Taria at all; none that you knew of, anyway.

The man shrugged carelessly. “The King wants the Princess in Hydra now; circumstances have changed.”

“Circumstances have changed how?” Steve challenged, glowering at him.

Frustration bubbled in your chest. You didn’t understand what Hydra wanted with you, and you definitely weren’t aware that there was an agreement between Taria and Hydra. Your kingdom vowed a long time ago never to make deals with the devil, the devil being a kingdom ruined by dictatorship and power-hungry men.

Sharon uttered your name cautiously as you removed your hand from hers, stepping forward to lower Steve’s raised arm, no longer shielded from the man who’d seemingly been sent to collect you.

“Tell me what’s going on,” You spoke up confidently, shoving down the anxiety threatening to appear in your voice. “What agreement do you speak of?”

The man’s sick smile widened upon hearing your voice. Looking over his shoulder, he gave a nod to one of the docile soldiers who left his side on his signal, before turning back to you. “I could tell you, Princess — but I think it’s better that you hear it from the King and Queen.”

Your eyes widened; behind the man, you watched as four soldiers escorted your parents into the garden. They appeared tired, as if they’d put up a fight. Wouldn’t any loving parent to keep their child safe? Of course, Hydra had likely brought enough infantry to keep control of the situation. Your knights were strong, but scarce compared to the large army Hydra had built over the years.

“Go on,” The man coaxed, stepping off to the side so that you were eyeing your parents directly. “Ask them.”

Biting your lower lip, you pushed back the confused and angry tears threatening to spill down your cheeks. “Father, Mother — what’s going on?”

A stray tear trickled down your mother’s face, her eyes never leaving the ground. She was petrified. Exhaling deeply, your father took her hand gently, before shooting you an apologetic look. “This was never meant to happen, _____. I was going to renegotiate the agreement…”

His pleads to show himself in a better light fell flat, futile — everyone knew that you were leaving with Hydra one way or another. You brought your brows together, silently asking him to just tell you the truth. Another heavy sigh, and he came clean.

“One day, when your mother was pregnant with you, her and I rented a sailboat from the east docks. We used to sail along the Heartlen Ocean all the time when we were young; she was due to give birth in two weeks, and since she’d be palace-bound upon your birth, I decided that one more sail before the big day wouldn’t hurt.”

Typically, most who chose to go sailing took boats from the west docks to travel the Emerald Sea. They were easier to access, less remote than the east docks hidden by the thick woodland separating them from Taria’s centre. But if you recalled correctly, that’s why your parents were so fond of the Heartlen Ocean — it was quiet, the whole ocean was theirs to sail freely.

“We’d been out for an hour or two, ignoring our compass and the sky growing dark. We had no idea how far out from Taria we were. Your mother suggested that we head back, but… but before we could, she went into—”

“Can we speed this up, Your Highness?” The insufferable man snarked, earning himself a piercing glare from your father, but he obeyed nonetheless.

His eyes landed back on yours, filling with regret once more. “She went into labour on the boat. We were so far out that going back to Taria wasn’t an option. So, we sailed to the nearest land we could find, which turned out to be Hydra. We had no choice but to ask for their help, and— and they gave it to us, but with a cost. The King, he refused to help your mother unless we made a deal, that deal being that if she gave birth to a baby girl… she was to marry his newborn son once he‘d turned twenty-one.”

You could have fainted on the spot. Steve offered his arm to you, which you took quickly, holding on as if the ground was turning to quicksand. If that meant the ground would’ve swallowed you up and been your escape from the nightmare-come-true that was happening before you, you wished the ground were quicksand.

Tears yet again glazing your eyes, you shook your head. “I— I don’t know what to say.”

Meekly, your mother lifted her head, broken eyes meeting yours almost painfully. “We had no choice, my dear.”

I know. You wanted to say it, but the words refused to leave the tip of your tongue. A sob stuck uncomfortably in your throat, but you couldn’t cry. You couldn’t let your guard down; not in front of Hydra.

Not in front of the people who held your mother’s life in their greedy hands, only agreeing to save it if they could benefit from doing so. You refused to show them an ounce of your vulnerability.

Still wearing that ugly grin, the man who seemed to be leading the Hydra soldiers brought himself back between you and your parents, and you couldn’t help but glower at him. “Well, I believe congratulations are in order. Princess, you’re getting married.”

“You’re sick.” Steve spat, but the man just snickered.

“Soldiers, prepare the carriage for our departure,” He called over his shoulder, and the expressionless soldiers obeyed, marching past you to unlock the garden gate, revealing another dozen soldiers right outside. “Oh, how rude of me, I haven’t even introduced myself.”

He reached for your hand, but Steve was quick to bat it away, drawing his sword from his hip with a stern stare. But by doing so, the soldiers stood at the gate followed suit, ready to lunge at the valet if his sword moved any closer to their leader. With great reluctance, your friend put his weapon away, and the man reached for your hand yet again.

His hands were rough, and you couldn’t hide your grimace at the dirt he’d failed to wash from them. Moving agonisingly slow, he brought your silk-soft hand to his lips. “I’m Brock; we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other once you settle in Hydra.”

You could’ve thrown up, right then and there. He was enjoying it, seeing you and your family miserable. Once the public heard of the sudden news, they’d be terrified. If the King of Hydra could so easily take their Princess away from Taria, what was stopping them from trying to take Taria for themselves completely?

Brock chuckled as you tugged your hand from his grasp. “I hope you’re a little friendlier to your husband-to-be; I know that Prince Isaac is very eager to meet you.”

Husband. It was still almost impossible to process. A deal to save your mother’s life — and your own — made twenty years prior meant that your freedom was to be completely stripped from you. It didn’t matter how they’d treat you in Hydra; they’d be taking you against your will, forcing you to marry a man you’d never met, and if he was anything like his father, you would’ve rather been as far away from him as possible.

Of course, you could’ve refused to leave. But when you were surrounded by soldiers, ready to comply to any instruction Brock gave them, you didn’t want to think about the consequences of doing so.

You’d like to have thought Taria had moved on from such traditional norms of a kingdom ruled over by a monarchy. Money was provided to civilians that needed it — not only to survive — but to live a stable life, the richer inhabitants of the Kingdom were taxed more and didn’t complain; everyone had a chance of a good life in Taria. Your family certainly made sure of that, and not many other kingdoms had come to follow in your footsteps of upholding a fairer society.

However, the rules concerning the marriage of the King and Queen’s children had been the same since a monarch first took to the throne in Taria, and everywhere else too. And you didn’t mind that; you trusted that your parents wouldn’t force you into marriage with a man you were certain about. They’d definitely never have you marry Prince Isaac of Hydra if they had a say in the matter. But the deal was made a long time ago, and Hydra had a knack for never forgetting what they’re owed. It’d be illegal for you parents to go back on the agreement, and again, you didn’t want to think about the consequences of that happening.

“The carriage is ready, Commander.” A soldier announced from behind you, voice as monotonous as you’d imagined it to sound. His words still sent a shiver down your spine.

“I— I need to collect my things.” You stated to Brock, who waved you off.

“There’s no need; everything you could possibly need will be given to you at the castle, Princess.”

So you weren’t even allowed to bring your own clothes, or books, or anything to remind you that you’d never truly belong to Hydra. Of course they’d want to strip you of your identity; they wanted you on strings, dancing around for them as if you were a puppet. In their clothes, reading their books between the walls of their castle, perhaps it’d be enough to transform you into one.

You sighed, clenching at the skirt of your dress in annoyance. “May I at least say goodbye to my family?”

Brock seemed sceptical, but figured that perhaps you’d let down your front a little if he granted you what you’d asked. “You have two minutes, then we must leave immediately.”

As soon as he stepped out of your way to begin gathering his soldiers, you made a beeline to your parents, ignoring the gravelly pavement against your sore feet. Pulling the two of them into a loving hug, you didn’t care to suppress your tears that time.

“I’m so sorry, dear,” Your father mumbled in your ear, his tone dripping with regret. “The palace guards tried to stop them from entering, but there were just too many soldiers. And the knights weren’t aware—”

You pulled away, offering him a forgiving smile. “It’s not your fault, Father. Neither of you are to blame.”

Tearful eyes landed on your mother next, who could barely lift her gaze from the ground. “Mother, please listen to me.”

She glanced up as you addressed her directly, her frown deepening. “If you hadn’t accepted the deal, neither of us would’ve lived to see how beautiful Taria has become over the past twenty years. Living this life and having it taken away from me… it’s better than never having lived it at all, I swear.”

“The arrival of this day has plagued my nightmares ever since you were born,” The woman choked out a sob, immediately taking your hands in her trembling ones. “Don’t let Hydra take away the good in your heart, my dearest. And— And don’t lose hope.”

You gave her a nod of assurance, before stepping back from the two of them, afraid that you’d turn into a sobbing mess if you spoke to them any longer. “Thank you, for everything.”

As the two leaned into each other, your parents plastered on smiles of appreciation, of love, and you made sure to keep that image fresh in your mind forever. If that were the last you were to see of them, then you refused to let the memory get away.

Turning around, you couldn’t help but chuckle sadly at your friends, watching you with such fallen expressions; they’d never appeared so down. Around each other, the three of you never shared a dull moment. If you were to leave Taria to marry in the future, it was meant to be far less melancholic. Unfortunately, not everything can work out in everyone’s favour; destiny seemed to really not want to work out in yours.

Approaching Steve first, you quickly wrapped your arms around his neck, a sense of temporary relief filling you as his big arms enveloped your waist. He was a brother to you; it felt like you’d known him your whole life rather than a mere few years. He held you tight, almost afraid that you’d disappear into thin air if he loosened his grip in the slightest.

“I wanted to tell you...” He muttered softly in your ear. As the King’s valet and his most trusted confidant, Steve was told of the matter only a year prior. The King knew that Hydra would come knocking soon enough, and he believed that Steve deserved to know the truth, him being so close to his daughter and all.

“You couldn’t,” You responded, voice muffled by his shoulder. “I understand that.”

“Taria wouldn’t be the place it is without you; I guess I just thought that… nobody could ever take you away from here, no matter how hard they tried.”

Stepping back, you moved your hands to his shoulders, giving them an assuring squeeze. “Hydra will never be a home to me, Steven. Nobody could ever truly take me from here.”

His lips curled at that, though it didn’t seem to raise his spirits; it’d be impossible to. The worst case scenario had become a reality — Taria’s Princess in the clutches of Hydra.

Leaning forwards, you pressed a short kiss to his cheek, a token of your gratitude for the valet and one of your best friends. “Take care of yourself, Steve.”

“And you, _____.”

You grinned; it wasn’t often that he addressed you by your first name. He’d become so accustomed to calling you by your title around the palace that it slipped his tongue naturally, despite your pleas to address you as his friend, not his princess.

The moment your eyes fell to Sharon, she pulled you straight into her arms, almost knocking the wind out of you. She’d never been much of a hugger; even on her birthday each year she’d cringe when you and Steve would attack her with hugs and affection. But with the possibility playing on her mind that she may never get to be in her best friend’s presence again, she was happy to keep you as close as possible during the little time you had left there.

“Sharon—”

“There has to be a way to stop this,” The blonde shook her head against your shoulder. “It’s not— this can't be legal.”

A sigh left your lips as you pulled back, trailing your hands to her upper arms. “Somehow, it’s perfectly legal. Even if there was a way to prevent me from leaving, I doubt that the outcome would be any better than this.”

If marrying the heir to Hydra’s throne meant that the rest of Taria was left untouched, you’d leave your Kingdom without a second thought. Their King was not a man of reason; broken deals were always followed with brutal consequences.

Sharon knew that; Lidor happened to be on the receiving end of those consequences when the war broke out on her homeland. The Kingdom was meant to surrender themselves to Hydra’s rule when the previous king was in charge. But when he died and his son took to the throne in turn, he refused to let Lidor fall under such an appallingly cruel government. And following that refusal, Lidor was practically demolished.

If it weren’t for the help they received from Taria and their allies, the place would no longer have been inhabitable. It’d been rebuilding itself slowly over the past few years, and Sharon would’ve hated to see the same tragic thing happen to Taria.

But then again, look at what the cost was. You, trapped in the walls of Hydra’s Castle that’d seen more affliction and agony than your parents had ever even heard of — she couldn’t just let it happen. She was going to fight for you, as your lady-in-waiting and best friend.

Wiping at her eyes furiously, Sharon shook her head again, simply refusing to let you go so easily. “This isn’t goodbye, _____.”

“Sharon—”

“You’re always the one telling me to look on the bright side, to never stop looking for light at the end of the tunnel,” She spoke sincerely. “The war on Lidor had torn me up for years; without you, I have no idea where I’d be, but I certainly wouldn’t be happy. Now it’s my turn to get you through this.”

You furrowed your brows, uncertain of what she’d meant, but then she uttered something lowly, not wanting anyone else to listen in.

“I know someone in Hydra — they work for King Alexander personally. If I write to you, they’ll get the letters to you.”

Scoffing breathlessly, you narrowed your eyes at her. “Are you insane? Do you know how much trouble you could get into? And who do you know in—”

“Hydra is awaiting your arrival, Princess.” Brock’s teasing tone sounded next to the garden gate, and you assumed that meant your two minutes was up.

It was really happening. You were really being stolen away to Hydra, like a mere object.

Sharon took your face in her hands for just a moment, savouring her last few seconds with you before the smug idiot behind her snatched you away. “I love you, okay? We all do.”

“I love you all too.” You shot her half a smile, glancing up at Steve, who was already looking back at you, and taking a look over your shoulder to eye your parents once more.

Sure, Taria was aesthetically gorgeous, but it was the wonderful people who occupied it that made it a profoundly beautiful place.

The longing expression on your face soon faded when your eyes diverted to Brock, and announced that you were ready to leave. He offered you his arm; you ignored the gesture.

His cavalry were set to depart, already mounted on their dark-haired horses, shining manes blowing gently in the slight breeze. The carriage was rather small, only made to escort two people at a time, and the thought alone of being stuck so close to Brock for as long as it took to simply arrive at east docks made your stomach turn.

Sharon and Steve followed you out next to the stables, watching as the carriage pulled away with their beloved friend inside of it.

Steve naively waited for the nightmare to end, to wake up in his chambers and know that you were sleeping safely in yours. Sharon’s jaw was tight, already contemplating ways to guide you back to where you rightfully belonged.

The taller of the two finally tore his eyes from the carriage, now long gone down the dirt road heading east. He pressed his lips into a thin line, already sensing the frustration boiling in his friend’s blood. “Sharon—”

“You knew,” She intervened bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest as her narrowed eyes snapped up to Steve’s. “You knew that Hydra would come for her and you didn’t even tell me — didn’t even tell her.”

The blond’s lips parted to respond, yet we knew that there were no words he could possibly come up with to make the situation any lighter. “I know you’re hurting, so am I—”

“We’re not the ones being forced to start a new life in Hydra, Steve. _____’s the one that’s hurting. I just... I just think that she deserved to know.”

With that, the woman turned back abruptly, making a swift exit back through the garden gate. The valet remained in his place, a hand absentmindedly going to rest on the hilt of his sword as he observed the carriage morphing into a black dot on the horizon.

And for the first time in his life, overlooking the green land and breathing in the fresh air of the Kingdom he’d come to call home, he felt that Taria didn’t seem so beautiful.

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky x you #bucky barnes reader insert #bucky barnes au #royal au

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jess-the-vampire · 3 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 46

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"There!"

Sunny wiped at her brow, happy with their final designs for their costumes, it had taken a lot of brainstorming and they weren't even close to being actually finished but they had made a lot of progress. Actually it was kinda nice to have both lexi and sunny here, they were both creative types like her and that made them perfect to bounce ideas off of when it came to stuff like this.

Sunny even helped her with adjustments for nora's hat.Sunny had made her own costumes back home, not that they were well made ones or anything, but she wasn't unfamiliar to the process even if it wasn't very good. Plus she liked sharing her own ideas, especially since she knew what she was going for, to be performers they needed an idea in mind and well...better sunny then anyone else, she liked to perform back home.

"Maybe this time you'll get to see me actually perform!", she said cheerfully.

"Yeah...can't wait to watch you run around with a mustache", sky joked, smirking, but she was a little bit serious after hearing how sunny's last performance went.

"Thank you!", she was all too cute, She was a light spot in a lot of this, always trying to make others feel good as best as she could. It didn't shock sky at all she and mason became friends, they had a lot in common. Though since their shared father was a demon with a fond love of soft small animals, sky had a feeling he was the main culprit for this similarity.

"So...how'd you get into acting and singing and whatever exactly?", sky cleaned up some of their mess as sunny hummed to herself, trying to clean sky's extremely messy room to the best of her ability, though with a little demon magic help on her side. "Oh? Well, When i was stuck in our castle all the time i was lacking in many things to do...so i wanted to find new ways to entertain my little brother...so...i started writing stories for him...then starting acting them out with puppets...then costumes...it just...sorta...became fun for me".

"Locked up like...how nora was?", she felt a bit of concern considering nora's situation beforehand.

"Well...not exactly...more freedom...but the only reason we stayed inside as often as we did is cause people tried to attack us all the time when we went out...so they felt it better we were protected a lot...not to say we never went out a bit regardless...but i have a bodyguard, trust me when i say it's weird walking around without a knight following me to protect me...i mean it's happening now but when i first arrived-", something about that seemed to surprised sky, maybe with how tough sunny was, but the mention of it all made sky remember something.

"So...the knife-?".

"Protection purposes...i learned self defense young".

"Huh".

Somehow that made sky even more terrified of sunny then before, but also safer as well, sunny seemed too innocent to be just as scary as she actually was but boy did it make you want to be on her good side all the more. Otherwise you might quickly meet a bad fate by underestimating her and her strength and power. Gee and all sky usually did was taze people and might occasionally get a blast at them if he wand was working properly that day.

A 14 year old prodigy with bodyguards, self defense skills, a knife, and who loves musicals and plays.

Behold princess Sunny, one strange young girl.

She still seemed a bit sheepish about the whole thing with her dagger, her shoulders tightning, "I never meant to hurt judas...it's just a part of my training, usually when a giant tentacle comes and grabs you like that you're not expecting it from a friend, I know he doesn't hold it against me but when you're so worried about being attacked that you end up hurting a friend, it does get to you...sometimes this stuff affects making friends...they think you're too scary".

"Eh...friends who hate you for that probably aren't worth being friends with anyway", sky simply grumbled, "We're all pretty bad socially...none of us had the best environments to grow up in and make friends in...i'm lucky just to have judas as my friend, otherwise i might've just been by myself for years without any friends...and...yeah, that'd be kinda depressing".

"A life without any friends is a sad life...", the small princess finished cleaning up, helping her sister Galexia get her drawings together. "We're only alive so long, better we enjoy that life as much as we can...when i get home i hope to make more friends then i ever could before...perform more, just get to enjoy myself a bit more instead of being stressed or scared".

"That...sounds nice".

"What about you sky?".

"Eh?".

She turned to face her directly.

"When we're back home and everything is back to normal...what will you do first?".

She blinked at her, waiting for an answer, but sky had to just respond with a shrug.

"Honestly? Not sure...i actually think i'll just...rest...i think there's no need to rush into anything and well...rest is something i need before i could do much of anything anyway.

Sometimes you gotta take the time to like...breathe right? Can't spend every moment busy or you might not like...get to enjoy everything, i might wanna slow down for a little after this...i think".

"Planning on getting some therapy?".

"Yeah, definitely.".

That got her to laugh, sharp teeth being exposed upon her laugh.

"Yeah...i think i might need rest when i get home too...", she seemed to be lost in thought, probably thinking about her family back home. It had honestly sounded overall like her parents were rather nice, maybe protective but overall rather great to be around. Maybe in truth the first thing sunny would do was hug them tightly and never let them go after this.

Sounded like something sunny would do.

"Thanks for being a big help sky, you're super talented! I'm really glad to have you as our kinda sorta leader...", Sky was being pessimistic but it was coming from sunny, so she probably most certainly meant it. And considering Sunny was considered such an important and brilliant person back home that probably meant a lot coming from her, even if sky didn't know the full weight of it.

"Y'know sunny?".

"Hmm?".

"Whether it's my fault you're here or not...i'm...happy you guys are here...i mean i'm not happy you're separated from your families and friends or anything of course, i just mean i'm happy i got to like...meet you all...even luna...it's just kinda been nice...having sisters. I've seen judas deal with his brothers for years and sometimes i wondered about if i had an older or younger sibling so...i guess this turned out to be a weird blessing for me...though i hate that it hurt you all".

"Well i never would've gotten to meet you and judas and angel, mason, landon...galexia...any of you without this happening either, it's going to make one heck of a play when i get back home i tell ya!", sky was just imagining sunny pretending to be all of them on a stage, acting out all the stuff they went through and found herself snorting with laughter.

Oh what a sight that would be.

She could just see sunny wearing fake spider legs for angel and stilts with a fake tentacle arm for jude.

"Wanna get some food...?", she perked up, her stomach growling and ready to head out for a break.

Sky was more then happy with that idea, maybe they could run into angel or nora on the way, though maybe they'd also run into Meteora if they weren't careful. Sky also wanted to check up on judas, after all he was getting his arm looked at more and sky wanted to hear what they found. Judas probably needed this check up, even if they didn't find anything.

Plus judas would probably like having company, even if sky and the others weren't there for very long.

Though they were being very closely watched on, reminding sky of the first time they had bodyguards, except this time they were so close sky could smell their breath. But this time, sky didn't mind them so much, in fact she liked having them there then she used to, it added just a bit more safety to their situation even if the guards probably wouldn't last long in a fight against Her.

The more meat shields the merrier at this point.

They hadn't even gotten far however when exactly what sky was worried about was standing nearby. Meteora writing something down in her little notebook, interviewing some other guards and knights in training that knew luna as well, she took her job pretty seriously it seemed. She was pretty good at getting people to talk, though it seemed the knights were MORE then eager to spill dirt on luna.

Geez, so much for nobility and loyalty.

Sunny was baffled at seeing her, and that's when sky remembered meteora knew sunny in her home, Sunny had been pretty open about that part. Sky wondered just how different the two meteora's were, guess if meteora was a spy for sunny she might've been able to figure that whole thing out way before though. Judging by her expression it seemed this meteora was quite a bit different.

If even in just appearance.

Though as much as sunny wanted to talk to her, she had to keep her mouth shut, she didn't want to draw attention to themselves and come off even more suspicious then they looked before. They were just going to have to walk past her and let her do whatever she was doing, sky taking the lead with the girls behind her, but even though sunny knew the drill.

Galexia clearly didn't.

She waved to meteora as they walked past, making sky and sunny both panic for a moment as meteroa glanced up and looked at them walking past her. She didn't react much however, though she did give lexi a smile and sunny a curious look before getting back to her interviewing. The girls heading past, trying to seem as normal as possible as they headed out of her sight.

"Meteora looks very pretty...", the demon noted, keeping her head forward to sky.

"Yeah...pretty...but also...intimidating...".

That's when sky thought of something, but the guards being there made it hard to really ask.

She waited till they headed to the kitchens, were the noises were as loud as ever to pull sunny aside, lexi looming over the freshly baked cupcakes. "Hey...question, meteora exists in your world so uh...why are you next in line for the throne? Why isn't she and eclipsa in charge?".

Sunny eyes for anyone who might be listening in and answered the curious girl, "Well, it wouldn't hurt to say but...she didn't like being in charge so she thought my parents outta do it instead since they were more interested...meteora and me just grew up kinda like sisters...it was something that just kinda worked out for everyone, plus eclipsa likes not having that pressure anymore.".

So it was almost like what eclipsa said happened in this universe, except with a lot more secrets and sadness attached that felt like it screwed some people in the process.

Gee if it weren't for the constantly being attacked and constantly put under pressure thing, sky would argue the world sunny comes from is next to perfect, having a happy family unit with no secrets between them. It really was no wonder sunny was the person she was, and it was no wonder sky had the problems she had. It was nearly like night and day, nearly.

She had a lot more in common with her siblings then she had actually thought, more then just being princesses and just sharing a single parent. No they had situations and issues that repeated between them, it was almost eerier in that regard, that sky ended up meeting girls who knew how she felt in several ways. She easily could've have gotten several sisters who were just...normal people.

Or killers.

If this wasn't somehow on purpose she had gotten seriously lucky with the girls who had shown up.

Hmm

Something about that got her thinking.

But she wasn't able to ponder on that too much longer as sunny helped lexi pick out some snacks for the three of them, grabbing something bonus for judas just in case he was hungry. The servants were staring at them as they grabbed stuff, to them these girls were just helping themselves to their treats without a care in the world, and the only reason they didn't tell them off was because sky was here.

Imagine living your life as a princess and then going into a world that just saw you as a peasant.

That had to be a weird shift.

Then again, not having that pressure must've been super relaxing for once. Sunny could honestly just chill if she wanted to, though if sky asked it was clear sunny would rather be with her family again and take the pressure then be away without it. If Sky had been transported to one of their dimensions without judas she knew she'd have a straight up heart attack.

She'd rather be queen with him around then not be queen without, that was for sure.

And that led her to pick out a treat for him as well, something she knew he liked the best.

Thanking the servers and staff before leading the girls out, munching on some fresh cookies and laughing together, she liked the vibes these two had, hey were just so...positive. They were the opposite of luna and celeste, positive, friendly, and easy to talk to and hang out with.

Hanging out with them as so nice, sky felt bad she had never really done it much before. She had been so stressed hanging out with her sisters felt like it would just waste time, but she really liked spending time with them, she didn't have that many friends who were female when she thought about it, nora not even counting much because they had only truly become friends recently.

Even though they were being followed by guards and barely allowed to properly talk it still invoked a nice feeling. Sunny and Galexia had clicked since day one and barely left the other's side since, hanging out more with each other then anyone else. Even now they were laughing among themselves, having a good ole time, and before sky could feel left out sunny was inviting her in to talk.

it was a nice break from the stress.

Judas was being checked up in the butterfly kingdom hospital wing, though thankfully in a room away from where they usually seemed to go when stuff happened, clearly his parents wanted to give him some more privacy and sky and judas both couldn't protest against that.

Last thing they needed was the press to get out about jude's arm acting funny when they already spread lies about his arm for years.

He was waiting on the bed when they were allowed in, his face lighting up at the guests coming to see him. He looked tired, but a long few hours of checkups will do that to ya, so much so he seemed happy when sky sheepishly handed him a snack. "You got me peanut butter chocolate chip cookies? Thanks so much sky! I've been hungry waiting in here", he beamed as he took a bite from her tray.

"They haven't brought you any snacks in here?", that sounded out of characters for either of his parents though judas finished swallowing as he made things a bit more clear. "No, i had a bit to eat, but i couldn't have much, they were worried it'd affect the tests...but thankfully i'm about finished so i can finally eat properly, i'm super happy you guys got me some stuff besides water and stale crackers...".

He was quick to chow down, taking some of the treats sunny got him as well with a pat to her head.

"So...what exactly did they do to you?".

She was making it sound like they experimented on judas like mad scientists or something but but clearly that wouldn't happen on the Lucitor's watch. Judas laughing and feeling his arm, "They uh well...may if gave me a few shots...and uh...my arm may of reacted a little...swatting at the needles and uh...everyone in the room for a bit". That's when sky noticed the floor looked like it had just been cleaned and the counters nearby weren't as neat as they usually were.

"Oh, ouch, i'm really sorry to hear...".

"No sky, it's ok, they eventually got it to hold still enough and turns out...it actually did seem to put it to sleep...though i'm kinda drowsy...but at least they were finally able to get more dna on it...i mean none of this is new to me, they did stuff like this since i was made but...maybe this time we can get somewhere with it since things have changed since then...".

"Don't you wanna control it rather then cure it? Like how are the these tests supposed to help with that?".

"Well, yeah, i've been considering that maybe the best thing i can do is stop trying to remove something i can't and learn to take it over but well...knowing more about how it works is not a bad thing...might be able to really help me deal with it and everything...though i have to admit...it does scare me a little, it's years of trauma I'm attempting to battle. The tests are just here to well...discover new things about my body, might help me with future choices i make...whether i cure it or not".

"Well, it's noble you even want to do it...no one would blame you for just wanting it gone, but i think it's cool that you wanna like...conquer it of all things".

"I guess to some extent it feels like i'm trying to fix something i can't really fix...if i can't remove it...the next best thing i can do...is not let it take me over...if that's really what's going on...sky i just don't want to keep being afraid of myself anymore...even if you trust me not everyone does and i don't want to be scared of myself...or...have you be scared of me...so...maybe...maybe this can work".

"You really think it's possible?"

"It's worth a shot...i've never really tried before...i mean maybe a little when i desperately tried to will it away as a child but i was too scared at the time...so i'm not sure what'll happen this time...it could work really well or really fail and i wouldn't be surprised either way...i just...it's something i've been thinking about, so..." he rubbed at his arm, sighing.

"Judas...you shouldn't pressure yourself into-".

"I'm not...sky i just...i'm going to be king and...i don't want to be king...with this lingering over me...", he nearly almost cried but pulled himself together last minute, "I'm running out of time before i'm coronated...the sooner i do this the better...i can't wait for a cure...i know nora did what she could...and she can still help...but i have to try something else right now".

"Then maybe you shouldn't be king...".

The two turned to see Sunny, who had been patiently watching and listening to the conversation, her words making judas pause. Sunny must've realized she came off a little harsh when she said it, quick to explain herself before judas and sky said anything else. "I don't mean it in that way judas, i promise...sorry if that came out the wrong way or anything-".

"I can't not be king sunny", he mumbled.

"I don't mean never or anything, i just mean...maybe your parents should push back your date to be king...until you're ready and aren't having all these breakdowns and everything...sometimes you just have to admit you're not ready and have to wait until you are...and if you're so worried...i...i just think your health should come first...before being the next king of the underworld...it's enough pressure without issues...".

Judas seemed to be actually considering what she said, though he shook his head, "This coronation plan has already been set up, i'm not backing out on it if it can really finish all of this...I care more about solving this right now...saving the kingdom, ". Though sunny and sky seemed to both share a concerned look, maybe sunny had a point, though sky rarely heard of many royals who didn't take the crown at least at 18.

Though granted, some had taken it younger, so maybe allowing for some to take it older wasn't a bad idea. Judas could have some time for himself to sort out his problems and come into the position more prepared, he had barely even gotten to focus on the responsibilities of being king, the situation had taken up all his attention, did he really want to put someone like him on the throne like this?

But that didn't only depend on judas, but also his parents, their family, and most of the other kingdoms who had been ready to adjust to his rule. It was no simple task and they needed more time to really work it out, but now that sunny said it and brought it out there, sky couldn't help but put it in the back of her mind for later. Judas was her best friend, and if she needed to, she'd help anyway she could.

She didn't like seeing her best friend dealing with so much pain throughout all of this, she just needed to be there for him.

But for now, her presence seemed to be just enough, judas looking delighted again, even if he was going through a lot in his own mind. Galexia already back to drawing before handing judas one of her drawings, which caught him off guard. He was scared at first knowing what he knew about lexi and her seemingly strange abilities, but he was quickly soothed seeing a drawing him himself.

Happy.

His brothers and parents at his side, with his grandparents as well.

He didn't even know for sure if this were a normal drawing or a premonition , but it was still something rather nice of lexi to give him. She might not have been his sister, but she was a welcoming presence here all things considered. He sent her a soft smile and nodded, "Thanks lexi, this is very sweet of you...you really know how to draw...that's for sure".

He folded the drawing up and put it in his pocket, "I'll hang it in my room...when the castle is finally back together".

"It's nearly done?".

"Yeah i think so...it wasn't nearly as bad as what your castle has been through after all, just a lot of damaged rooms and hallways...but i think we're nearly back and ready...with uh...a few changed just in case that happens again". He didn't seem so sure about the ideas they had in mind, but if it prevented THAT from happening again, it was better then nothing.

"Well maybe it'll be way better then our system...".

"I mean, i'm not too confident...at this point i just assume nothing works on her, she's just too smart for us...well...maybe they are...luna thinks otherwise and i guess it's a real thing to consider", sunny blinking at them both curiously, and sky remembered she never updated sunny on what they spoke about with luna yet, having been distracted with their work.

"Luna thinks what?".

"Ehhh...long story...but she had a few theories that maybe we're being bamboozled by someone whose making things up as they go along? Not that we're sure or anything like that it's only a theory...but we did have her say that to us when we were there, we're honestly on the fence mostly about the whole idea but she just wonders if maybe we think this person is smarter then they are".

The demon girl responding with a bite to her lip and a tap on her chin, clearly thinking more about this idea herself.

"Anways...we're close to getting everything fixed...of course not that i'm sure how much we'll be staying there...but at the very least we'll have a castle that doesn't have holes in it anymore...which is better then before. It's in part thanks to your moms and my grandmother, having a larger demon help with construction makes the progress go a lot faster then it would without".

"You helped too", she pointed out.

"Eh...not as much...", he looked off to the side, though sky clearly was telling him with her eyes not to ignore his own efforts he put into all of this. He smiled but went back to his point,

"But i guess we'll be bunking for a good while before i'm allowed to sleep alone again, so i guess we have a lot of sleepovers ahead of us, whether we like it or not".

"Is it really a sleepover if your parents, my parents, other kingdoms, and even your grandparents are also staying in the same room? At that point it's not so much of a party and more like a one room hotel...", she could hear sunny giggling at that nearby as judas shrugged, "I mean, we got no choice, but your safe room is rather cozy...even if there isn't as much to do in there".

"Don't brag, not my fault my granny was so picky about things".

But she knew judas meant no real harm,if her moms had been given their way the room would probably have a large pool in there, but having a grandmother like queen moon meant dealing with a grandma who lectured everyone on proper queen ways and the best use of their resources and time. Naturally, games and toys aren't really as important and others things in a safe house, at least according to her.

Though sky would argue boredom and preventing it was a major need that of course needed fixing in a place like a safe room.

"Not your fault sky, at least we have each other in there, how's the plan coming along by the way?", he glanced to his half sister nearby and sunny looked like she had just been WAITING to go on about their ideas for this mission. Though they'd have to cut it short, hearing noises nearby, and for now they couldn't tell whether the person speaking was even friend or foe.

Then quickly enough, the voices dropped and judas's ears twitched.

"It might be my parents, they'd around talking with the specialist who checked me over", he listened out to see if they were coming in, but it seems they had merely passed by the room instead, allowing everyone to relax. "Alright i think we're ok, sorry, sometimes i get caught up talking i forget there's still a ton of people around, we should really talk more quietly just in case", his voice getting a bit softer in response.

"It's ok, we can talk later...i'm just happy to see you", and sky felt judas tug her into a hug, making sure not to hold her too tightly, sky snuggling into his chest as she wrapped her arms around her best friend. They had only been separated for a short time and she still felt overdue for a hug right now, even judas felt pretty happy to have a hug to ease some tension, kissing his friends forehead affectionately as they parted.

"I needed that".

"I could tell", she crossed her arms, smirking.

"I really just...appreciate your support sky, i might not say that enough, but i'm really glad to have you by my side...throughout all of my issues these last few months and everything, i know i might be acting a little crazy sometimes and changing my mind all the time and not keeping myself focused and being tired...and you get it, but you still stuck around with me through it...and it means a lot", the princess patting his shoulder playfully.

"Dude, look at what you put up with by being MY friend?! I nearly blasted my mom in the face and got send to frozen prison, seems like you can't catch a break by being my best friend, of course i'm sticking with you throughout all of this...we said we'd be best friends no matter what went down in the future, we're ride or die for each other...and that ain't ending for any reason".

"What about if i killed someone?".

"I'd probably help you hide a body to be honest...hey at least we'd end up in prison together", she stuck her tongue out at him and sunny giggled nearby.

"You guys are cute".

They both stuck their tongues out at her.

Sunny only stuck her tongue out back, "The sweetest best friends i've ever met, don't try to hide it". Sky just rolled her eyes, hearing jude's parents coming back down the hall, but this time it seemed they were actually heading into the room itself, the doorknob turning and everyone getting into position, he king and queen of the underworld heading in so fast they nearly didn't notice the other guests.

They did, however, notice the food right away.

"You know a doctor's room is really not a good place to be leaving crumbs everywhere...right?".

"Oh um...sorry mom", judas quickly covered his mouth and tried to clean up the mess around him as the girls moved the treats aside for later, tom and marco greeting the girls with a wave, "guess that explains the additional guards outside...though maybe you girls could've given us a bit more of a heads up, you could've walked in on important shots or something".

"Sorry about that!", sunny was quick to apologize, lighting up at seeing the adults. They were quick to forgive though, honestly if one of them had been in a similar position the other probably would've done something very close. Both parents walking over to their oldest child to give him news of the tests, judas shaking a little in his seat as if expecting to be told something horrible.

Though their faces were trying to be more reassuring.

It had been a long while since they had really tested it to the extent they were doing, so what may come of it could go in many directions, it had time to grow and change with jude's body, it could be so many things at this point that his parents weren't sure how to tell him. Judas's mind had been running through every possibility they could give him, even ones where nothing had changed.

Whatever it was, he needed to trust them on it and keep himself together, it couldn't get really any worse...hopefully.

His parents seemed to be reassuring each other with looks as they looked for the best words they could say to explain whatever it was they needed to say to their eldest son.

"Alright jude...so we knew going in there was no guarantee these tests would change much, we've done this kinda thing before to get more info on a cure and it never worked...but with your arm acting more funny then before we felt better taking you in to get it more looked at then doing nothing just to be safe...and we'll break the news...we still haven't found much about a cure...", marco was trying to be ggentle, as if expecting this news to hurt the teenager but judas didn't react much at all, it wasn't that shocking to him.

"But what's the catch?".

The adults looks to each other, a little surprised at jude's reaction.

"Well..um...the catch is...there might be an answer as to why your arm reacted how it did...to the magic flowing through it so much...". Tom eyeing his partner as marco put their hands together, "So you see...the monster arm spell...is kinda a dark magic spell...i got infected with it when star somehow thought it would fix my broken arm...and as tom has told you...the spell that still lingered in my dna latched on to you...though it did transform".

The demon nodded.

"Point being, you may of... whether intentional or not...purged the dark magic cells in your arm...from the curse...and that clearly really hurt your arm...burning your arm and purging out the dark cells...even if it did take a bit of time to fully do so...even now, it's apparently still doing it", judas rotated his arm, of course he couldn't see what was happening but he had felt it for sure.

"Guessing it didn't take it well?".

"It?".

"My arm was supposed to be alive...remember? Everyone thought it would take over my body and kill us all? With how it kept swelling up i guess it really didn't like being purged from dark magic how it was ", but his parents had more to say, marco especially, rubbing their neck nervously. "Judas...so...with this test...we uh...about the arm situation...".

"hmm what's going on here that you guys are acting so funny about?".

"What your mom wants to say is...if that your arm was never alive...really".

Judas's face twisted to confusion, as if not understanding what his parents just said at all, looking between the two of them with all three of his bright red eyes.

"What are you talking about?".

"It's just been you".

Judas still seemed utterly confused, searching his parent's faces for answers as they both attempted to try and explain. "Judas...what we're trying to tell you...is we always thought this curse...was exactly like your mom's...but after these tests we were told there's actually no trace of another lifeform outside of yourself...yeah it was filled with dark magic...but no other lifeform was in your arm".

"Judas...", marco started, "It appears...through the years of having your arm the arm never showed up upon it's own will...but more that perhaps you triggered it through emotional response...whether intentional or not." Though it didn't seem like judas was fully taking it all in, at the very least he wasn't having a strong negative reaction either to this news.

He seemed...unsure what to respond with, which was expected.

He spent 17 years with this idea his arm was a bloodthirsty killed out to destroy him and everyone around him, how was he really supposed to process this information and take it like normal? Was he even supposed to believe this anymore? This wasn't a thing the last time he got tested! How could he trust this kinda word, for all he knew his parents were lying to him to make him relax.

Everyone in the room seemed to notice judas was struggling in his mind a little, all rushing to help him.

But instead he stood up, "I need a minute".

And he didn't even wait for a response before leaving the room, everyone standing dead silent as he shut the door behind him.

Sky quickly turning to the Lucitors with mixed emotions, "Wait...is that true? Is his arm really-?".

The two nodded, "We were so anxious for years because we never fully understood much about what happened when the curse was transferred but...if there's really no trace of another living being inside of his arm, then that means judas can be the only culprit as to it moving how it did...and well...we still don't fully understand how it all works but...it seems like the most likely candidate is judas was somehow doing it".

"He once reached out to grab me with it".

They all glanced to sunny.

"I ran away, he tried to stop me and it turned into that thing to grab me, it obeyed him completely...reacted to how he was acting. I never questioned it really beforehand in the moment considering i kinda maybe reacted by stabbing judas...but um...i guess when you really think about it...that was kinda a little strange. It seemed in the moment judas had control over it".

"But shouldn't it happen more often then?", sky mumbled, "i mean, if it reacts to stress and stuff if should happen often enough for us to tell...right?".

"Maybe, we need a little more information on it...but what we do know is there isn't any monster hiding in his dna, that's the best thing we can tell you from this whole thing".

Sky turned to where judas left, "We should follow him, before he...gets hurt...". Not to say judas would do anything stupid but the way he had stomped out like that had sky very worried for him, this clearly had really gotten to him, it was one of those things that had flipped over his entire life that he had known up to this point. There must have been a lot of thoughts swarming in his mind, he couldn't catch a break.

"Wait...maybe we outta give him space", marco held out their hand, preventing sky from following the young demon, gazing off at the door themsleves with a sigh. "You care a lot about our son and it means a lot to us he has you for a great best friend...but this is his own fight, he might need some time to really think about it...if he needs to talk...we should be the ones to do it...as well...we're more responsible for it".

Sky couldn't argue with that logic, even if she wanted to.

"You know a lot about curses?", sunny asked suddenly, getting their attention quickly with her innocent voice. The adults sadly only replying with a shrug and nervous expression, "I mean outside of the arm...well of course there's the blood moon curse...but those two curses are very different from each other and we don't know much outside of that".

"What about the blood moon curse?".

The adults looked to each other and back to sunny before sky butted in, "Uh...sunny? I'm sorry but that's kinda off topic...why do you want to know about any of that? That whole thing is long gone in the past...". Sunny bit at her lips, her fangs pricking out as she thought about what she wanted to ask a bit more, "Nothing important...just um...i had questions about it and magic and stuff...

Tom leaned down and got onto her eye level, putting a hand on her shoulder in reassurance.

"We'll talk later if you want about that, in private...sound good? After we get out of the hospital wing?".

Sunny nodded, thankful, even if sky was left in curiosity.

"Let's get cleaned up, save these treats for judas...we can put them in the safe room for him later when he's hungry", marco quickly started grabbed snacks, encouraging help from lexi, who was collecting her doodles, "Boy...you really do draw a lot don't you?". Lexi didn't respond much outside of a thumbs up, grabbing a plate of snacks to head out on, everyone heading out.

"Hey...uh...Mr Lucitor?".

Tom turned around to sky, who was right behind him as the others went forward, stopping in his tracks.

"If judas has really been in control this entire time, we're not actually in danger from his arm...are we?".

He seemed to pause a moment, his eyes turning to the side, "Well...theoretically no, judas would never want to hurt any of us...but on the other hand that's not to say the arm couldn't hurt any of us if judas either didn't know what he was doing or his body was under someone else's control...it's still something we should be very wary about...but the nice thing we can say is the demon that once lived inside marco's arm is gone".

"Yeah i guess that's good...though yeah i know as much as anyone about being not in control of your magic and nearly hurting someone...and with everything jude is going through...i mean i trust him but at the same time...i'm just...worried", the king patted her head gently and moved her forward to follow the others. "Yeah, i understand...maybe just in case keep that zapper for his arm...better safe then sorry.".

"I'd hate to zap jude if he's just...himself though, it was easier to imagine he was under control and i was zapping something possessing him...but if it's just him...then i'm hurting him...", she felt the zapper and it's button inside her pocket, she always somehow seemed to remember it, at least as much as she could. But what originally felt like judas trusting her to save him now felt much more uncomfortable.

Even tom seemed to understand her concerns, truthfully not sure what the best advice he could give her would be. Most teenagers didn't usually have to go through a dilemma like this, then again most teenagers didn't have to go through any of the wild stuff that they were dealing with in the first place. The best he could do was try and comfort her, "Hey...my advice? If judas were to ever almost hurt you...i'd think he'd be ok with you protecting yourself and us...much rather that then him actually landing a tentacle on you".

"Even if i feel bad about it?".

"You gotta make hard choices to protect your friends, i know that feeling...but i trust you'll make the best choice if it ever comes to that, and i trust judas to try and avoid it ever coming to that if possible...and if we have to, we'll make sure to come in and help ourselves...we won't let anything bad happen to all of you...we'll figure out all of this...it's just as freaky to us as well", he ran his fingers through his pink hair, "To think after all that...the arm...was just judas...".

"Does...it make you feel better or worse considering-", she hated to ask, but she had to know.

"Well...i...i think it makes me feel a little better...though it is still my fault this happened at all...i just wish i'd known sooner to avoid the years of fear we had". though it wasn't just that, had they known sooner, maybe judas wouldn't be how he was these days. They could've saved him before he had to deal with years of trauma and fear, and tom didn't even need to say it for sky to know he was thinking about it.

"Hey uh...sunny brought this up earlier...but...maybe judas needs more time...before he should be on the throne", she hadn't planned to bring this up right away but with his father next to her, worried about his son it just sorta came out. The demon king glancing at her and not saying much in return, "I know it's tradition and everything but...she has a point, i don't wanna watch judas suffer on the throne with this either...".

"I'll talk about it with my parents and marco...thanks for the suggestion, i'll thank sunny later...", it still depended on if judas wanted it, but at least his parents could consider the idea of it. They headed on their way to catch up with the others before tom and sunny branched off to talk, leaving sky with marco and galexia, who ushered them to come with.

"We'll drop these snacks off and since you girls are here i want your help, the more hands the merrier, plus i prefer at least one of us keeps an eye on you as much as possible.".

"Wait...with what?".

"Angel's father is arriving tonight...with everything happening i could use the help to welcome him in and make him feel comfortable, star would've been in charge but she's dealing with her mom instead and janna sure isn't doing it, in fact i think she's currently dealing with fae actually...even though fae was returned to her family she kinda keeps coming in for further questions and help and well uh...janna and mason were the only ones brave enough to deal with her right now...janna seems to find the fact she seems cursed to be rather cool, because of course she does.".

"Wait...mason? What's that about? I though mason already interrogated her? I'm not sure how much he could get out of her at this point, it's not like she spent a whole lot of time with the person or anything... ".

"Well it's not exactly that, it's more...fae is going to be the one actually doing the asking...long story, it's janna suggested having her there might actually be helpful...she has knowledge on rumors spread by the kingdoms and well...actually it might just be because the other stable servants just wanted her to do a job away from them".

"Hold up a minute...fae is going to interrogate someone? She's like...i dunno...twelve or something?".

"We were against it for the same reason, but apparently jackie is going with them too so it made me and tom feel a little better about mason handling it, they're actually not doing a regular interrogation, this time they're trying something new...basically going through the evidence we found and having fae there because apparently they think just her presence might scare the guy into talking...".

Who? Like you obviously didn't capture the real masked person so...", sky suddenly felt extremely clueless to what the queen was talking about, who got arrested recently?

"The guy who was letting masky keep a child and a evil lair under his bar...that's who, they took him into custody...he didn't really get very far, something about him running right into a giant plant who likes stuffed animals...", sky's expression was enough to tell him that no one had really been talking about that capture in comparison to the luna one. "Eclipsa wanted to go but she and globgor need to deal with angel's kingdom, so they decided if janna herself wasn't scary enough...well...fae seems to have an off knack for things falling off the ceiling when she's in a room".

"Wait...why's mason there?".

"Fae asked for him, it seems they're actually friends, and she wouldn't help unless he was there.".

"You guys brought in a CHILD to interrogate a criminal?", marco snickering to themselves at the way she asked that, "Well, we were against it obviously...but having her there was better then not, she does have some additional knowledge after all...that and...i'm worried if i said no in her presence we might have an...unfortunate accident...after mason told me about her bad luck...i'll admit...she makes me nervous...and well...i also might not have wanted her left in a room alone...our castle is damaged enough as is".

"Well...actually if you put her in a room with anyone there tends to be the lingering worry the room might collapse so maybe you have a point.", the idea her mom would take a child to use as a threatening weapon actually sounded really in character for her somehow. At least then maybe they might get a reaction from the guy if janna wasn't enough, though she usually was.

"Me and Tom are not exactly happy about having you involved in this danger but at the same time we know we need your help if we're going to get anywhere...and thankfully with jackie there that guy won't be getting into any funny business, she tends to always be armed...it's actually rather scary when you think about it, but more for him then it is us".

"Well, thanks for trusting us...even if it's a little...it means a lot to us".

"Don't think this means we want you fighting anything dangerous directly, fae is only allowed to help because she has info that is helpful to us...we would neve have allowed her to help otherwise...but having a citizen give us info from a citizen point of view is just kinda helpful...can't get much as that as a ruler...not unless the servants gossip like crazy".

"Well for our sakes, let's hope the guy spills everything in a few minutes...any longer with fae and he might combust".

Marco laughed but somehow they didn't actually doubt that and it slowly became a more concerned and nervous chuckle.

"Anyways...they're taking care of that...we just have to focus on the king's arrival...angel's still in the safe room to my knowledge so we'll get him when we drop these off, though he seems to be a bit uneasy so be careful around him". Guess with his dad coming to visit he was going to be sick in the stomach for awhile, like how he had been when he was about to be on trial.

His father being forced to deal with the kingdom after him, their prince, started working with an enemy to mewni, made him scared...he was disappointed in him and he knew it.

He was going to be forced to talk to him about what had happened directly and everything going on and that was something hard to be fully prepared for, no matter how much he was expecting it. Sure, he could bring good news in terms of his mother but even he was worried about what his mom would say about everything he had done since she had been sick.

So yeah, he was in quite a mood when they arrived passed the guards, angel was by himself, not interacting with any of the others, in fact he seemed to be talking to himself. Judas or sky was usually there to reassure him or calm him down but with the both of them having been out for most of the day he had been left to his own person. Sky noticing nora was also out, otherwise she would've expected her to be here with him.

She didn't hesitate to approach him after the others sat down the snacks, angel actually startled as she approached, as if he hadn't seen her even enter the room because of how distracted he had been. Though he was relieved, probably expecting someone way worse to have come for him, the monster prince trying to pull himself together and make himself look less of a mess.

"Hey...how you doing?".

She probably knew the answer to that already but she still felt she should ask.

Angel sweating in his seat as he tried to pull his hair back into a ponytail, having a hard time making eye contact with sky, "My dad's coming...he can't see me like this, i'm a mess...i never used to look like a mess...what if he sees me like this and thinks i've gone off the deep end or i'm no longer much of a prince?! Sky i don't know if i can do this...things went so bad last time i saw him...".

"You didn't get much of a goodbye after the trial...did you?".

He shook his head.

"I didn't want to show my face to him and he left without a word to me...probably for similar reasons...i haven't seen him since then, he just...let me here...in the care of your families...i'm terrified of what he might think of what the other arachs have been telling him...they all already hated me and i can't think anything got better after you saved me...i...he'll probably tell me i'm dethroned...".

"You don't know that, your dad seems mostly nice...i mean he's never been THAT bad".

"Maybe not...but i'm not taking any chances...i probably deserve it though...he's had enough time to really consider it as an option, even after what happened at the trial...plus no one wants me as king back there anyway".

"Angel, c'mon, that's not true, we've talked about this...you want to be king and you can do it too! Who cares what your dad thinks!".

"I care!", he said that a little too aggressive then he had been intending, suddenly sheepish.

"Sorry sky...didn't mean to lash out at you...it's just...being king means nothing if the current king doesn't think i should...even if i really want it, he does have the power to transfer the crown if he wants to...even if it's to the farther out cousin i have somewhere...i wasn't a good prince...even if i want to do things right now...that doesn't change much if they say no".

Sky couldn't argue that no matter how much she wanted to, angel was the rightful heir but that didn't stop plenty of other kingdoms from giving the crown to more distant relatives before. Gee, now she was thinking about what meteora said before when she had trashed on the guy, she, judas, and him seemed to be favorites to hate in mewni for reasons...some much more fair then others but still.

"Well...maybe your dad will be happy to see you...a lot has changed since then after all right?

You can't be completely sure of how he feels, since you've been helping us out maybe he understands you have really learned and want to do better...i mean, you screwed me over a lot...but i'm a but better about it then i was at the time."

"I want to think that...but after what i did...i keep doubting myself sky...i don't know why i'm like this...i just can't be as positive as you and judas...even though i want to...I...", he thought back to the advice nora gave him, taking a breath and trying to remember what he did was all in the past, and there was nothing he could do about it now but work to do better.

"You really think my dad will forgive me? He's not like you, he's been away from me all this time...I'm scare to face him.".

"I mean if he doesn't forgive you i'm sure eclipsa will have no trouble signing adoption papers for you", she was joking to lighten the mood but in actuality that was a likely outcome if things were really to get worse. Angel standing up and streching his legs, "Hey...can you at least help me get ready to meet him?...i think i looks like a mess...i don't want to look like one when i see him...and your way better with clothes then i am".

"Well...how do you wanna dress? More princely? Or more like..."

She motioned to his borrowed clothes from judas, because judas was taller then them his clothes, while looking nice on the prince, were a bit more oversized. It wasn't the most ideal prince look.

"Why ask...you know what the better option is?".

"Just saying angel, maybe you outta see your dad as yourself...not trying to be something your not, better way to judge you then to pretend to be perfect after everything...i mean if formal is what you feel like wearing i ain't stopping you but i'm just saying you should dress as who you are now and not what your dad wants you to be". Angel shuffled in his place before taking out the hairband, his hair free again, "We can figure it out while you show me some options...if that's ok?", she nodded and followed him back to the group, marco happy to see him.

"Angel! Hey, i hope you're doing ok...if you need anything just ask us...we'll be happy to help you in any way we can...but just always stick with one of us, for your safety and ours...at this point we have a buddy system, as well as way too many guards...but it's better then you or any of us getting in any sort of danger...so just stick by and find help if you need it".

"Don't worry, i don't plan to leave anyone's side...not yours, sky's...anyone's...if i can help it...at this point i get anxious from being alone...", that was when sky awkwardly held out her hand, "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but if you need to hold me to feel comfortable...judas tends to do it with me when he really needs it so...just in case you might have some kinda panic attack about the masked guy or whatever".

Angel's small grin was very appreciative.

"Thank you, i'll keep that in mind...".

"You ready?", marco started waving to everyone still inside the room as they made their way towards the door, the kids following suit, lexi trotting along in the back. She looked happy to have angel with them as well, patting him on the back as if welcoming him. Galexia did have a way of making people feel rather welcome around her, whether she knew them or not.

"Were we headed first?".

"Marco looked back at the others, leading the way.

"The kitchens...we have a lot to do, he's going to be having dinner with us tonight...with former queen moon, the sooner we prepare for tonight, the better".-

Landon felt he was starting to get somewhere, if even it was just a little.

At the very least his marks were slightly more consistent then they were before, which was an improvement to an extent. He'd been training for hours, barely leaving the room. It was nice to get away from the others, for now this was mostly private and something he wanted to keep mostly private until he figured out his best course of action. Maybe after figuring out how to activate his marks he could then really work on magic with some help.

He'd considered looking at sky's spellbook but no way would he ever get permission to be in her room without asking her first, and she'd be suspicious of his actions for sure.

She had already been before, she'd probably assume he wanted to look into some of the darker magic.

But he also couldn't claim she wasn't completely wrong about that last bit, he did feel a bit curious about some more of the magic of the butterflies. It was forbidden for most people to see it unless a butterfly showed them so even getting a chance to see what was inside would be interesting, landon was a special case after all, he wasn't even a butterfly.

He should be allowed more permission then anyone out there, otherwise this was a missed opportunity.

Not many queens could ever claim to something like being able to train those who weren't apart of the butterfly family with their magic, though at the same time the queens ,were so picky with who got to use it maybe at the time it wasn't even considered an option.

Regardless that wasn't the point, the point was landon had powers, and if he wasn't trained to use them now he might never get to.

He was the forgotten brother after all.So forgive him if he had his doubts that anyone would train him in magic after things may of gotten slightly better. He hadn't exactly had a lot of attention like his own brothers had had, there was no reason to him this would make a huge difference. But if everyone was distracted, it only meant more time for him to learn more alone, not judged, not controlled.

So maybe there was benefit to being ignored.

He wasn't going to be a powerful magic user anytime soon, but this was bringing him some confidence he never had before without either bernard, or his mom cheering him on. He never thought his music was capable of magic before, it was like making his own spell, even if he hadn't been doing it on purpose. If he could figure it out just a little more maybe he could make something happen.

Hopefully a good something.

He was taking notes, testing what worked and what didn't, it was like a strange musical puzzle. Maybe if he knew more about magic he could figure this out a lot easier, but his wand was catered to him right? So it should paly by his rules, his music rules. On the other hand, he wasn't using his wand, he was using a normal violin, having a wand would make this process so much faster.

He might as well have been trying to dip down.

No queen had been able to do this without some practice, so yeah, no wonder he was making little progress.

He put down his instrument, sighing, maybe he really would have to approach celeste for help, cause boy he wasn't going to be using sky's wand in it's condition, and he doubted sunny would just hand it to him. Granted, maybe if he tried to convince lexi he might have better chances if she didn't think about it too hard, otherwise he might not finish any spell till sky was queen.

But that was enough progress for today, he outta take a break and eat something before everyone did start wondering where he was and found him trying to do magic, he didn't want to have to make up a fake excuse so he didn't look suspicious. Everyone was already on edge enough, they might assume he was mind-controlled or something if he started acting weird around here.

Violin strapped to his back, he started heading his way out of the guarded room.

Mason promised to meet him later, something about a hangout with fae he had to do first?

Either way if he was going to finally talk to his crush he was going to need help, he'd tried doing it by himself and he chickened out, so maybe it was about time he had a bit of help...even if it was from his younger brother of all people. It was a strange priority to have right now of course, but if he didn't do it now, he might not get to again.

He was being tailed of course, by guards who needed to watch him, which made him only more anxious, but he found them easier to ignore when his mind was more distracted with other thoughts. He was thankful he had been allowed to practice in private at all, he half expected them to sit and watch him, which would not have worked with his magic practice at all.

Until mason came to help he already knew what he wanted to do first.

Talk to celeste.

Celeste was still not in the greatest of moods, but when was she ever in a good mood in the first place? Seeing luna again seemed to have made her grumpier then she was before and that was saying something, she went right to bed and never spoke once in the morning, she clearly had wanted to be left alone to deal with her feelings towards luna after how rude she had been to everyone.

Yeah, celeste herself hadn't been the peak of niceness, but luna was...oof.

How she made everyone feel, how she hurt everyone, how she treated everyone who had been helping her. Something about her really seemed to annoy celeste, and in ways that didn't seem to suit to anyone else. It didn't start that way, luna came to her first for help when they wanted to go home more desperately, seeing her as an ally, but it seemed anyone who worked with luna for more then a few minutes were quick to get annoyed.

Landon could relate.

But he had to check on her, he'd feel like an awful technical brother if he didn't.

Once he had made it to the safe room he saw her on a nearby couch, she wasn't even doing anything, no reading, no music, nothing, instead she just seemed to be thinking to herself.

Everyone who really did talk to her wasn't here, leaving her all by her lonesome, and landon's shoulders sunk as he knew this feeling more then he wanted to remember.

He approached her, a small wave as he tried to her her attention.

"Hola".

She glanced up at him, speaking a small bit of spanish in return.

"Hola...".

Was it just him or did she seem to be...sad actually? Like she was in some sort of a slump? She was moody often but right now she seemed more...sad...less mad...and just odd for celeste overall. She seemed to mostly be huddled up on the couch, lost in thought as she looked landon over, noticing he had his violin on him, "Hey...i didn't say it before but...nice job on the spell".

A compliment?

"Thanks cele...i know me using your wand sorta felt...mixed for you...but thanks for letting me use it, really".

"Don't mention it, though don't assume i'm going to let you have it again right now...cause i'm not, i just...y'know...it's a hard spell for anyone to do...", she turned her head away, landon taking a seat next to her, "Hey uh...maybe this sounds like a bad idea, like a really bad idea, but maybe the two of us should see if we can head out and pay luna a visit or something...".His words quickly earned him a confused scowl from the girl, though he had been expecting it.

"What?".

She said it with a tone that felt rather nasty and that quickly got landon to change the way he talked about this idea, he didn't want to make a scene and get celeste more upset. She was clearly upset enough as is, and of course so was he, but he had at least kept himself distracted enough to not fall into a slump about it. Celeste in this state was someone to be cautious about.

"I'm thinking well...maybe we need some closure...with luna...you and me seem to be...torn up about her and mad with her and everyone can tell we both dislike her in particular...so i dunno...maybe we should talk to her...or something, maybe help us feel better...so we might work better with the others...so we can move on from all of this...y'know?", he didn't like the idea any better then she did but the idea might work.

Angel and Sky became friends despite not liking each other like this.

So did his own parents.

It had to have crossed his mind, and it was what his mom would suggest them doing if he had asked. If he was going to confront his crush, confronting luna was at least a good way to help landon progress with confronting his problems rather then letting them weltch up inside of him for long periods of time before bursting randomly in a fit of rage.

Granted, this was luna, so it might not even work, but maybe it would be better then them both being bitter as they were all the time about her. At the very least they might have an ending to all of this mess and be able to move on without falling into anger the moment the blonde was even so much as mentioned by anyone. "Hey...you don't have to if you don't want to...i was just making a suggestion if you were interested", he tapped his foot on the floor, shrugging.

She didn't respond.

"I just wanted to check on you ok? So sorry if i'm bothering you...i just wanted to make sure you were ok...i get it if you want me to leave".

"No.".

He paused, standing in place, worried if he had said something wrong as celeste seemed to cool down some more, though she wasn't looking at him. "Thanks for...checking up on me, i'd thought you were too busy to really care...but...it's nice, i've...i've been kinda alone all day...the others have been out mostly so...i haven't had anyone to talk to.".

"It's not a big deal, we're friends...kinda...right?".

Her brows furrowed, and landon could tell she wanted to say "Yes", but wanted to avoid the cheesyness of having to admit to it. Instead he rubbed his boots into the carpet, sighing, "Well, i'm glad we're friends...even if it's kinda complicated...and um...thanks for the compliment, it really does kinda mean a lot to me". She still didn't look at him, her eyes elsewhere as he took a step back, "Well, if you aren't coming i still want to go, it's important to me, if you want you can wait for me here and we can hang out for a bit after i'm done since i'm waiting for mason-".

"Wait.".

He turned to look at her, the girl getting up and off the couch, "Let's go talk to her...i have some things i actually would like to say to her...", she glared at nothing in particular, fists clenched. Landon suddenly wishing he hadn't said anything at all, as he might of just accidentally set up a fight between two sisters instead of actually making things better.

"What exactly do you want to tell her ? Not assuming anything celeste, it's just-".

She turned to look at him, still stern, and not looking to waste any more time, "Let's go, before someone else gets there before we do".

#star vs the forces of evil #sky and the forces of the multiverse #tomco bby #tomstar bby #starco bby #ostar bby #tom the demon #tom lucitor #marco diaz #marco #my art

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