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brucewhite · 4 months

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I Am Here | Herce

Date: Early June 2024 Featuring: @kouros-herc Warnings: Just sad :')

Bruce and Herc spend one last afternoon together.

BRUCE

Tomorrow, Bruce would leave Swynlake for good— well, as far as he knew. And he still felt complicated about that, even though he knew it was what he wanted to do. But today wasn’t about that. Today was about the people he was leaving behind.

Like Herc, who had been there for Bruce through some of his most difficult moments here on land. Who never judged him, who always believed the best of him. Bruce wished he could stay to return the favor ten times over, but that wasn’t what friendship was about, was it? It was about give and take, yes, but it wasn’t about keeping score.

So he was trying not to keep score in his head as he met Herc by the lake and starting setting up their picnic. This was just another day. A perfect day, even. Or maybe just a good one.

“I brought lemonade,” Bruce said with a smile. “Even made it myself.”

HERC

Hercules had been dragging his feet the whole way here, and feeling guilty about it. The moment he arrived, some invisible timer would start and the sand would trickle away until the hourglass was empty, and Bruce was gone. He did not want Bruce to be gone. But he knew, deep down, that the sand was moving anyway. All he was doing was trying to stall a pain that was inevitable. He could not show up at all, and Bruce would still leave, because he had to try to catch his pod’s migration pattern. All it would do was make it more painful for Bruce.

“Woah-” Hercules blinked, as he sat down and began to fiddle with the straps of his rucksack. “How do you even make Lemonade, I didn’t know that was possible? Well, obviously it’s possible, but I didn’t know you could do it at home?” (He was of course thinking of British lemonade, aka Sprite, rather than the type that could easily be made at home).

“I, uh, I brought the food-” He gestured to his rucksack, and began to open it up so he could get out the tupperwares. He’d made Bruce a poke bowl. His request.

BRUCE

This wasn’t British lemonade— it probably wasn’t even American lemonade, actually, it was a recipe Bruce had come across on TikTok for a “hack” that involved combining seltzer, lemon tea, mint leaves, and honey. His vegan days had gotten him interested in those kinds of recipe “hacks,” and even now, even when he wasn’t even vegan anymore, he couldn’t resist trying them.

“Oh, it was just something I saw online,” Bruce explained, taking out the jug he’d brought with him. “Thanks for cooking, mate. What have you got there?”

HERC

If you asked Hercules that was still pretty awesome! He would be asking all about it once he’d tasted some.

“Well,” he shrugged, feeling like it was embarrassing to admit he had made Bruce’s pick of meal for some reason. The feeling almost made him want to blush, but he shoved it down. This was Bruce. Bruce had never judged him for things like that, and Hercules had learned the dish because he wanted to share something with Bruce and to be able to show him he cared. If he couldn’t do that now, when could he?

“I actually, um. You remember you suggested I learn how to make a poké bowl? I, uh. Well, I’ve been working on it. So …” He pulled out the two large, mismatched tupperwares (the largest he’d been able to find). “I think I finally almost cracked the dressing-” he held one out to Bruce.

BRUCE

Bruce lit up when Herc showed him the poké bowl. He did remember that, of course, but he knew that Herc had a decent-sized list of people he was learning to cook for. It would have been understandable if he hadn’t made it to Bruce’s request by now. So it was touching that he had.

“Oh- for me?” Bruce said, grinning and looking up at Herc again. Who was being humble, of course, but Bruce hoped that he felt just a little bit proud of himself. It really did look delicious. “Herc, this is brilliant! I can’t wait to try it. You must have spent ages on it!”

He took his chopsticks out of the bag he’d brought— he usually left a pair in there, just in case. You never knew when a trip to the Moon Market would turn into an impromptu dinner out. “May I?”

HERC

“Of course for you!” Hercules felt warmth towards his friend sweep over him like a tidal wave. Who else would he do it for? Well, he had a lot of people who he was doing similar things for, but the poké bowl was for Bruce. Even if he made it for himself in the future, or he made it for other people, it would always be - partly - for Bruce.

“Honestly, it’s not that hard to make. I’ve had to do some practices, but that’s been fun. I’ve really got better at chopping things.” He added with a modest little shrug. Things had got a bit jumbled up in the tupperwares in his bag on the way here, so it didn’t look as neat as it should but he was just going to hope it tasted ok still.

“Dig in, buddy.” He waved a hand, and held off on eating any of his own, as he watched Bruce instead.

BRUCE

Bruce grinned and picked up some rice, some fish, and some sauce with his chopsticks, then took a huge bite. “Mmm!” he said immediately, though his mouth was too full to respond.

The fish was bright and fresh, just the way Bruce liked it. And the rice was deliciously fluffy. Most of all, though, Bruce could imagine Herc slicing the ingredients, carefully arranging them— just the way Bruce had taught him when they’d made sushi together. And that was the best part of all.

“Delicious!” Bruce said, still with some food in his mouth. He swallowed. “This was so thoughtful, Herc. And you did a brilliant job. Thank you.”

HERC

He didn’t know why the sight of Bruce, with a mouthful of fish but still beaming as wide as he could with his mouth closed and humming his approval, almost broke him. He forced down a mouthful of his own bowl, and somehow it didn’t help that yeah… yeah. He’d finally nailed that bloody seasoning combination.

Still, he swallowed, and then laughed a loud and sad and happy and brilliant laugh all at once. “Well I always said I wanted to make you something special, right?”

Now it would just be special for other reasons. A final little something that Bruce might remember. He hoped he’d remember the other stuff too. The imperfect stuff, when Herc made a mess of dinner and they had to get take out to eat while they talked too much and had to restart the movie. Or trying to crack some new football skills that neither of them could master.

BRUCE

To Bruce, it was all special. The picnic that Herc had put so much time and effort into, yes, but everything else, too. The movie nights and the days on the football pitch and the laughter and the tears, yes, even those. The times they had seen one another at their lowest. And the times they had celebrated together, too, but most of all, the ordinary moments were special.

“Well— you’ve made plenty of special things for me over time, but I do appreciate this one. So, thank you,” Bruce said.

He was silent for a moment, chewing on his fish and watching the breeze on the water. His home under the sea was beautiful too, but there were so many sights on land he would miss. Like the surface of a lake.

“You know, when I first got here, I thought everything was so… well, overwhelming, for one thing, but strange and beautiful, too. I’d never seen this world before. I’d never seen sunsets, or movies, or mountains, or even shoes… There were bad things, of course, but I thought most of this world was brilliant.”

He paused, still working out how to say what he meant.

“But I think the most brilliant things of all were the kinds of things I already knew about, that weren’t new to me at all. Friendship, love, hope, that sort of thing. It’s different, of course, but it’s not all that different.” He chuckled. “Sorry, I’m getting too philosophical, aren’t I?”

HERC

Hercules looked out across the water too, taking the chance to eat some of his food as well. It really was a beautiful evening, the kind where the sky was a watercolour and a few perfect wisps of cloud drifted across it in little dashed brushstrokes.

“Philosophical is good,” he spoke, smiling sadly. See, he’d miss that about Bruce. His other friends? Q, Mer, Mary? They didn’t talk about these kinds of things with one another. But it always felt safe to do that with Bruce. Something about the way he saw the world made it so much easier.

“You know, uh… in a way I felt the same when I came here.” Hercules nodded, feeling his eyes prickle a little again. “Obviously it was nowhere near as different for me, but I was so used to the city that this all felt completely new and scary and… lonely.” It had felt really, really lonely for such a long time in Swynlake. Even after he’d been accepted as part of the furniture of the town, he had still felt like he was on the outside and everything else went on unaffected by him.

“You made it less lonely.”

Bruce had maybe been the first person Hercules had loved as more than just a casual mate, or a mentor. Bruce was his best friend, and for the first time in his life he��d had one. “Thank you for that.” Hercules turned towards him, smile a little wobbly, but full of love.

BRUCE

“Well, you made it less lonely for me too,” Bruce replied easily. That was true. There were a lot of wonderful people in Swynlake who cared about him now, but building that network had taken time. At first, there were only the agents, and it had taken Bruce a long time even to trust them. Becoming friends with Herc had been an important part of feeling like he belonged here.

And now that Herc shared all that, Bruce realized it probably wasn’t by accident. They had things in common that Bruce hadn’t realized at first, but now it made perfect sense that they had found each other. They both knew the loneliness that came from being afraid of your own magic, being afraid of hurting people. And they both wanted to be better than what people would assume about them based on that magic. Even if they hadn’t realized why at first, of course their two souls had found one another.

“If you’re alright with philosophical, then I suppose I’ll say this. I’ve always believed that things happen the way they’re supposed to. That some people are supposed to meet. My pod follows the currents when we travel between the seasons, and we believe that they guide us in more than one way— that they guide us in our lives, too. I don’t like goodbyes, Herc, but I do think we were supposed to meet,” Bruce explained. “And I think that will stay with us for a long time. I know it will for me.”

HERC

That was what Hercules feared the most; that Bruce would leave and he would feel that loneliness once more. Michael was already gone, Simba stopped by for visits but could never stay for long, and now Bruce … He had friends that remained, but it all felt impermanent. Fragile. He had fought so hard to find this, and there was nothing he could do to make sure it stayed.

Bruce had such faith that everything was going how it was supposed to, and that it all had some sort of reason to it. Hercules wasn’t so sure, especially when that seemed to involve so much pain. It couldn’t be right, could it? But then … there were scales to be balanced here. Bruce staying might make him happy, but would it hurt Bruce’s family in the long run? To know their pod-mate was still missing? Not knowing what had happened?

It still felt selfish to want Bruce to stay.

“Of course I’m not going to forget you, buddy,” Hercules sighed. “I never will.” He would carry Bruce with him, always. Not just because of the scar on his leg. Because he adored Bruce, and always would. He would want to be more like Bruce, to remember how he was kind and patient in spite of everything, or that he never defined Herc by his strength… There was a hell of a lot to remember, like that big old smile of his.

“I just wish there was some way to know you were ok out there-” he confessed.

BRUCE

That was the hardest part, really. If he were a shallow-water merman, he could travel out to land now and then, pop into an Internet cafe and send a message to the people he wanted to stay in touch with. But he knew now, more than ever, he had to stay hidden deep under the sea. Even going slightly off course, swimming a little too close to the surface, had put Bruce in a dangerous position last time, and he’d paid dearly for it. He wasn’t going to do that again.

“I know. I wish there were a way to reach you,” Bruce agreed somberly. “But I’ve got it worked out. If I can’t find them, my pod, I’ll come back. I’ll find a way. So you can just assume if you don’t hear from me, that’s a good thing.”

There was, of course, another possibility, and anyway, it wasn’t that simple. Herc would probably worry either way. But it was the best Bruce could come up with.

“If I ever get the opportunity- if we ever run into another pod that goes to the surface, I’ll try to get a message to you,” Bruce offered. “It doesn’t happen very often, but especially lately, it’s become more likely. So I’ll do my best. But in the meantime… I know it’s not going to be easy, but I just hope you’ll trust me. That I’ll be alright.”

HERC

Hercules nodded, equally solemn for a rare moment. He hated the thought - and he knew it all too well - that anything might happen to Bruce, and not only would Hercules not know about it, but he would be utterly powerless to prevent it. It was hard enough to imagine that never hearing from Bruce again would be a good thing.

There would always be a question mark, and try as he might to force himself to picture Bruce swimming in dark blue waters, he would always worry.

“Of course I trust you. I just … wish it could be different,” he shrugged. He wished it could be like Simba, who he could text once a week or so and check in on, instead of like Michael, who he just had to hope was ok…

“It would be great to hear from you, but I get it, if you can’t-” Hercules sighed, and smiled at Bruce, although he couldn’t hide a note of sadness in his eyes. “But if you ever need somewhere else, you can always come and find me, ok? No matter what.”

It didn’t matter if it was here, or London, or Greece. Wherever he was, he would make a home for Bruce too.

BRUCE

Bruce nodded. He knew he would. If he ever got the chance, the first thing he would do would be to reach out to his friends, to tell them he was doing alright and to make sure they were too. The latter point was important to him as well, of course.

Because Bruce was taking a risk, jumping back into the ocean, hoping to find his pod. But life was difficult on land, too, full of risks. He’d wonder the same about his friends. Whether they would be okay. He would just have to wish the best for them.

“Of course. And the same to you. Not that I imagine you’ll have much need for the deep sea, but take care of yourself, alright? And if we do meet again, I want to hear about everything.” He smiled. He knew it hadn’t been the easiest time for Herc, these past few years.

HERC

“Yeaaah, I think I’d struggle to keep up down there,” Hercules shook his head, and gave a sad chuckle. No amount of scuba gear was going to help him to adjust to that environment. He would never belong there, but Bruce would. Maybe the same was true here, eh? Maybe Hercules could belong, but Bruce never quite could … He wasn’t sure he felt like he belonged now, but he had to hope.

He looked out for a long moment at the lake, his hands stilling rather than carrying on eating. Suddenly his appetite felt completely gone.

“Anyway, come on bud, let’s try some of this lemonade, right?” Hercules forced the smile onto his face, determined not to let too much of that show. This was about Bruce and saying goodbye, and leaving Bruce with a memory of him as ok…

“And how did you even decide to make some!”

BRUCE

“Oh, I saw this brilliant video online,” Bruce said, taking out the plastic cups he’d brought and pouring some into each one. It wasn’t exactly a bright or appealing color— more of a translucent brownish— but when he tried some, it was actually quite good. Nothing like lemonade. Why did they even call it that, Bruce wondered.

He chuckled. “Well, that’s not half bad. I don’t know if I could properly call it lemonade, though. What do you think?”

That was really what mattered— whether or not it was a culinary masterpiece, it was for his friend. And it was a part of the last memory they would make together.

HERC

“Neat!”

He had to admit that it wasn’t looking like any lemonade Hercules had ever drunk before, but he didn’t even think to hesitate before taking the cup that Bruce offered him and taking a mouthful of it.

“Mmm. Yeah! Lemony,” He nodded, smacking his lips a little. “It tastes good! I guess we can call it Bruce’s lemonade. You’ll have to send the recipe to me-” It could be another little tile in the mosaic of ways he would remember Bruce. Fish and lemonade and coming down to the lakeside, football and Bond movies and a thousand other little things besides.

“Thanks, bud-” He shifted a little, so he could nudge Bruce with his shoulder. “I appreciate it, and you. You know that, right?” He hoped he’d made it clear enough, even if it wasn’t always with words.

BRUCE

“I know,” Bruce replied with a smile. “I mean, I’m sitting here eating my favorite food that you learned how to make for me. That’s quite clear to me.”

It was more than that, obviously— Herc was not shy about showing he cared. And that was something Bruce appreciated about him.

“You too, mate,” Bruce added, nudging him back. “This place is lucky to have you still. You’re going to do brilliant things. And I hope one day I get to hear about them.”

He wasn’t going to hold onto that idea, that he’d get an update someday. It would probably never happen. But still— it was a nice thought.

HERC

It hurt to think they would never do this again. Hercules might drift here to come and eat and drink lemonade and think about Bruce, and perhaps wherever he was, Bruce might stop and eat and think about Hercules. But never again would they sit together and share a meal. He didn’t know that anyone else felt lucky to have him. In fact these days he felt more like a burden, than a blessing …

Hercules dropped his head for a moment, staring down at the pebbles between his legs as he felt the tears welling up in his eyes and this time refusing to be pushed down.

Bruce would never get to hear about those things; about what new schemes he wanted to run for the gym, or how his cousins were doing, about who Hercules was excited about going on a date with and if there would ever be a person who loved him back, about the weddings and births and whatever else lay in his future. And he would never know Bruce’s.

“Yeah,” he lied, looking up again with his eyes red. “Yeah it would be super cool to catch up,” Hercules nodded. Maybe they could hold onto that hope, or at least the knowledge that they would have listened.

BRUCE

“Maybe someday,” Bruce said vaguely, looking out on the lake. On land, he’d always found the sight of water a comfort, even if the water was so different from what he was used to in the ocean. What would remind him of Swynlake, when he missed it?

He looked at Herc and saw the tears in his eyes. And that made Bruce’s heart ache. They could talk and talk about how lucky they were to have met each other, how they’d never forget one another… but it wouldn’t change how terribly sad this all was.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s alright. It’s sad, isn’t it? But it’ll be okay.”

He put an arm around Herc, the same way people had comforted Bruce in his many trials on land. It was a human gesture, something he’d learned here. And something he’d carry with him. It wouldn’t change anything, but there was a reason people did these things, why they tried to comfort each other. Maybe it was just enough to know you weren’t alone.

HERC

Maybe someday.

It seemed like a hope in vain, but all the same there was something comforting in it. In amongst the staggering unlikeliness of them actually making that happen, the idea of being able to sit on some other beach in the sunshine and share everything seemed like a tiny firefly against the blackness. But a spark of light nonetheless.

Hercules leant against Bruce as the other put his arm around him, and did the same in return as if that would somehow anchor his friend to him.

It was sad. It hurt him, it felt like his heart was rubbed raw from it, like it would never quite be alright again. He knew that wasn’t fair though. It would heal. The scars might linger, but the wound would heal.

“I’m sorry,” he sniffed. “I wanted to be cool, I just … yeah. It’s… it’s sad.”

BRUCE

“You are cool, Herc. That doesn’t make you any less cool,” Bruce responded, slightly misunderstanding the meaning of what Herc had said. It was important to him that Herc knew that he didn’t think any less of him just because he was sad about this. “You don’t have to hold anything back. That’s what friends are for, right?”

It did make it harder to say goodbye, knowing it made people sad like this. But Bruce believed that both things could be true: it could be right, and it could be sad, too. And he didn’t want Herc to think that he had to act a certain way just because Bruce was leaving.

HERC

Hercules had never in his life felt cool, and maybe less so than sitting here and crying about how much he was going to miss his friend, but then Bruce was still saying all of the right things and it was getting harder and harder to think about saying goodbye to him.

“I love you buddy,” Hercules sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm. That would be the thing he’d miss most; the way Bruce met him uncompromisingly wherever he was. There was no awkwardness or posturing, no pretending they had to act cool or hiding their emotions from each other, there was only a gentle steady presence that said ‘I am here. I don’t care.’ He didn’t know that he had that anywhere else in his life.

“Just promise me you won’t ever-” He wanted to ask Bruce not to change, but change was Bruce’s whole thing, right? Adapting and shifting wherever the currents of life took him. “Don’t ever forget that you’re the best, alright? You’re like… who I want to be.”

BRUCE

Bruce smiled. “Well, I appreciate you saying so,” he replied, feeling that warm rush of affection he so often felt for his friend. “But I think you’re pretty great as-is. In your own way. I love you too, mate.”

Maybe that was part of it. Friendship. Something that was quite the same on land or in the sea. You found yourself drawn to people you wanted to be more like, and maybe if you had really great ones, you could start to see yourself through their eyes. Bruce hoped Herc saw the person that Bruce saw when he looked at himself. Dedicated, caring, loyal, strong. Someone who never gave up.

HERC

On some level, he knew how very lucky he was to have known Bruce at all. For all his short time on land, he could have ended up anywhere, and he ended up here, where Hercules could know him. He kept telling himself that as a way to ease the sting of saying goodbye. Right now it wasn’t working, but maybe in time it would be some sort of comfort to him. Bruce’s memory would be a comfort.

He sighed, heavily, and leant his head against Bruce’s shoulder for a moment to just feel his presence a little longer, before he straightened up a little again, and took another sip of the lemonade to try and clear the thick, cloying lump of emotion that was balled up in his throat.

He didn’t know what else it could say, but it felt like there was so much more to say, like he could keep trying to say it forever and never quite find the words.

“Your pod are going to be so happy to see you again,” Hercules spoke softly, trying to remind himself yet again. He was not the only one who would miss Bruce, but his pod had been missing him far more.

BRUCE

That was the hopeful thought Bruce kept returning to, then the thought of leaving made him too sad. That he would get to see his pod again, the people who had raised him, the people who had thought he was dead for the past four years.

That came with its own anxieties. What if he had changed too much, beyond recognition? What if they found him too strange to fit back into the pod’s usual structure, or they found his stories bizarre and confusing? What would they say when they found out what he’d done?

(Because the truth would come out— it always did on those long swims).

But that was another thing Bruce would just have to trust. A common pattern in this process of saying goodbye.

“Yes. I don’t think they ever expected me to come back,” Bruce replied, just a hint of hope in his voice. “That was something I couldn’t live with. The idea that they’d think I was dead. It’s going to be different. And probably not easy, in the beginning. But it’s worth it to me to see them again.”

HERC

Listening to Bruce talk made Hercules feel guilty again; for the selfish urge to keep his best friend there close, where he himself wouldn’t have to live with the fear that Bruce was dead but his family would have to keep that gaping absence where Bruce ought to be.

But he could hear it in Bruce’s voice. The love, the excitement, the hope of his home-coming and finally being reunited with his pod. It broke Hercules’ heart a little. But he steeled himself, trying to turn off the constant aching hurt that seemed to have lived in his chest for days now. He could be the brave one, right? He could make sure Bruce didn’t regret leaving, and didn’t feel guilty.

“They’ll always have hoped,” Hercules could speak with certainty there. He would carry that same hope in reverse, that Bruce was safe out there somewhere and might one day come back, even if just for a little while. “And you’ll make it work. You’ll be home again.” There was a little comfort in that. Bruce being happy, being loved, being whole again in his heart. Hercules couldn’t help but squeeze him a little closer all the same.

As for him? Maybe someday.

BRUCE

He would. Bruce had to believe that. And he wanted to be prepared, too, that not everything would be perfect, but what ever was? His life in Swynlake was a beautiful thing, even if it wasn’t perfect. And so would his life back home, when he arrived. Because he would. That was another thing Bruce had to believe.

“Yes, I think I will,” Bruce said, his smile small but hopeful. “But let’s enjoy today, eh? We’ve got this whole beautiful afternoon. I’m not done making memories here yet.” Every day, every moment now, Bruce was keenly aware that there would be lasts. And he was trying not to dwell on that too much— instead, to take it as a reminder to appreciate every little thing.

HERC

It was a beautiful afternoon. Hercules sipped his lemonade again and looked out at the way the ripples on the surface of the lake lapped the shore. Trees nodded gently in a breeze, and behind them he could hear the sounds of life carrying on regardless. Did nobody else know the whole world changed tomorrow? Or would it just continue on, a little less bright for the fact Bruce was gone from his life?

But for the moment, they were here. They were here on this madly-spinning world, and Bruce’s arm was as warm against him as the pebbles on the beach were cool.

He drew a deep breath in, his chest rising and falling. “Yeah,” Hercules agreed, as he loaded up his fork again and got ready to eat again. “Whatever you want to do, buddy. Anything at all. Lets make those memories.”

He would hold them close when the time came.

#herc #i am here #<3

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dfroza · 4 months

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“He will draw our buried motives, thoughts, and deeds (even things we don’t know or admit to ourselves) out of the dark shadows of our hearts into His light.”

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 4th chapter of the letter of First Corinthians:

Rather than power brokers, think of us as servants of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, caretakers of the mysteries of God. Because we are in this particular role, it is especially important that we are people of fidelity and integrity. It makes little difference to me how you or any human court passes judgment on me. I even resist the temptation to compare myself to the ever-changing human standard. Although I am not aware of any flaw that might exclude me from this divine service, that’s not the reason I stand acquitted—the only supreme judge, our Lord, will examine me in the proper time. So resist the temptation to act as judges before all the evidence is in. When the Lord comes, He will draw our buried motives, thoughts, and deeds (even things we don’t know or admit to ourselves) out of the dark shadows of our hearts into His light. When this happens, the voice of God will speak to each of us the only praise that will ever matter.

Right now, brothers and sisters, the best thing I can do for you is to apply these principles to the situation with Apollos and me. Maybe we can show you the meaning of the saying, “not beyond the things written.” If you learn that, perhaps none of you will swell with pride because you fall into the seductive trap of pitting one against the other. Is there any reason to consider yourselves better than others? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If you received it as a gift, why do you boast like it is something you achieved on your own?

Now let’s see if I have it straight. You suppose that you already have all you need. You already are rich and prosperous. And without us you’ve already begun to reign like kings. To be honest, I wish you did reign so that we could reign with you because it seems to me that God has put His emissaries at the end of the line, like convicts in their final walk to certain death. We have become a spectacle to the rest of the world—to all people and heaven’s messengers. We are nothing but fools for the cause of the Anointed One while you are wise in Him. Am I right? We are feeble and tired while you are mighty and full of life. You are well respected by others while we’re treated as contemptuous creatures by pretty much everyone everywhere. Up to this very minute, we are famished, we are thirsty, and our clothes are shabby, practically rotted to pieces. We are homeless, hapless wanderers. But still we labor, working with our hands to meet our needs because, despite all of this, when a fist is raised against us, we respond with a blessing; when we face violence and persecution, we stay on mission; and when others choose taunts and slander against us, we speak words of encouragement and reconciliation. We’re treated as the scum of the earth—and I am not talking in the past tense; I mean today! We’re the scraps of society, nothing more than the foulest human rubbish.

I am not telling you all this so that you’ll feel guilty or be ashamed of how you have acted. I am only trying to warn you, just as a father would warn his children. You may have 10,000 instructors in the faith of the Anointed One, but you have only one father. In Jesus the Anointed I have become your father through my efforts in spreading the good news. So as your father in the faith, I want to encourage you to live as I have lived. Imitate my life. This is one of the reasons I sent Timothy to be with you. He is my dearly loved and faithful child in the Lord. His mission is to remind you of the way I experience life in the Anointed. In all the churches everywhere I go, I teach the same lessons the same way, and I live out those lessons. But the reality is, some of you have put yourselves on pedestals and live like you are high above the rest—it’s as if you assumed I would not return to confront your misguided pride. But I am coming. Lord willing, I will be with you soon. Then I will know what power is backing those arrogant folks and their words. The kingdom of God is not a realm of grandiose talk; it is a realm of power. So tell me what you want. Should I visit you, rod in hand ready to discipline a crew of self-important people; or should I embrace you, love you, and gently teach you as we celebrate the blessings of God together?

The Letter of First Corinthians, Chapter 4 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

Paul explains and exemplifies the goals of a mature believer in a way that may be easily contrasted with the desires of an immature believer. He is seeking love and truth more than popularity, embracing suffering rather than comfort. In fact, he disregards popularity and comfort completely so that he isn’t distracted from the love and truth of Jesus. This could be a powerful force in the world if believers embraced this kind of maturity.

Today’s paired reading from the First Testament is the 31st chapter of the book of Exodus:

The Eternal One instructed Moses.

Eternal One: Look, I have a special calling upon one of the sons of Judah. His name is Bezalel (the son of Uri, son of Hur). I have filled him with God’s Spirit, gifted him with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skills with a variety of crafts. He is an expert designer and works well with gold, silver, and bronze. He is able to cut and set gems, work with wood, and skillfully perform any craft needed to help construct the congregation tent and its furnishings. I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan to assist Bezalel. I have gifted all of Israel’s artisans with the skills needed to build everything I have instructed you: the congregation tent, the covenant chest, the seat of mercy that covers it, all the furnishings for the tent, the table and its accessories, the pure gold lampstand with all its tools, the altar of incense, the altar for burnt offering with all its utensils, the washing basin and its stand, the woven garments, Aaron’s sacred priestly garments, the clothes worn by Aaron’s sons when they serve as My priests, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense to be used in the holy place. The craftsmen are to design and build all of these exactly as I have instructed you.

The Eternal One instructed Moses regarding the Sabbath.

Eternal One: Speak to the Israelites and tell them, “You must be careful to observe My Sabbaths. For the Sabbath Day serves as a sign between Me and you for all generations, so that you will know I am the Eternal One who has set you apart from all the other nations. Keep the Sabbath because it is a sacred day for you, different from all other days. Anyone who violates the Sabbath or defiles it must be executed; anyone who works on the Sabbath will be cut off from the community. You have six days out of every week to do whatever work is needed, but the seventh day is the Sabbath, a day set aside for rest and only rest. It is sacred to Me. Anyone who works on the Sabbath must be executed. Therefore, the Israelites are to keep the Sabbath and celebrate it throughout all their generations as an everlasting covenant. The Sabbath exists as a sign forever of the covenant between Me and the people of Israel for I made heaven and earth in six days, but then on the seventh day I stopped My work and was refreshed.”

When God had finished giving these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two stone tablets as a witness to their agreement inscribed by the very finger of God.

The Book of Exodus, Chapter 31 (The Voice)

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Wednesday, may 22 of 2024 with a paired chapter from each Testament (the First & the New) of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about the affirmation of eternal life:

Right now, as you are seeing this, take a moment to reaffirm that the Lord Yeshua is your deliverer and that you trust in Him for eternal life. He promises the trusting heart: “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes in the One who sent me has (i.e., present active indicative) eternal life and will not be condemned, but has passed over (literally, “crossed over”) from death to life” (John 5:24).

Note that the verb translated “has passed over” is “perfect active” that expresses completed action: “this one has already crossed over from death to life.” In other words, the gift of eternal life is an accomplished reality (though it is only experienced as we truly surrender to the love and grace of God from a heart of faith). The “basis” of life is now radically new and of a different order. As the apostle Paul later summarized: “For it is by grace you have been saved (i.e., a perfect passive participle that denotes completed action done on your behalf with effects that continue to the present) through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:9-10). I’m so glad it’s not the strength of my grip that keeps me holding on to God, but the strength of His...

So “be strong and of good courage” – chazak ve’ematz! The Lord our God promises “never to leave you nor forsake you” and to be with you wherever you go (see Josh. 1:5,9; Heb. 13:5, Psalm 139; Matt. 28:20). In the Greek New Testament, the wording of Hebrews 13:5 is highly emphatic: Οὐ μή σε ἀνῶ, οὐδ᾽ οὐ μή σε ἐγκαταλείπω: “Not ever will I give up on you; no, not ever will I leave you behind.” Alevai! May you hear the voice of the Good Shepherd calling you, and may He forever keep you under His watchful care. Amen.

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Jeremiah 31:3b reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/jer31-3b-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/jer31-3b-lesson.pdf

5.21.24 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel365

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

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m-aster-of-spinjitzu · 3 years

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Akita and Zane talk after the battle in 'Awakenings'. The conversation... doesn't go as either of them expect.

Prompt: memories, from @ninjago-bingo‘s warm board:D

Trigger warnings: implied self harm (one or two characters dig their fingernails into their hands), discussion and introspection about most of the crimes the 'Emperor' committed, a lot of talk and introspection about murder.

Word count: 4682 (I've literally been writing this for like a month lol, kinda disappointed it ended up fairly short:/)

"We have to talk."

The girl with red markings on her face - Akita, he heard Lloyd call her - unsheathes her short dagger, eyes narrowed to slits.

He glances around the throne room, hands pressed to his head. The memories were still trickling through; strange islands and a forest of snow, a dungeon and... a noodle factory?

"Alright," he says quietly. She bears the same red marks of the bear he can remember Vex convincing him was a criminal, many winters ago. That could only mean-

It wasn't you, he reminds himself. It was the scroll, and the actions of a power hungry traitor.

You gave the order, his now infallible memory supplies, and, honestly, he has no rebuttal for that.

"Alright," he echoes meekly, trying to muster some emotion into his voice. "I know-"

"No," she cuts him off roughly, her eyes scanning the room. It is just the two of them now - the samurai had fled once they had recovered from the strange trance he had put them in. Vex had been locked in the dungeon by Lloyd, who was helping any of the samurai who could not quite remember their old lives.

He had ruled for sixty years. Some of their families might dead, some by their own hands.

They know this. He knows this.

Irrationally, he wishes there was some way to fix this. A spell, or a way to turn back the clock; some way to yell at a younger Zane to just scout the cave-

There is no way backward; only forward, out of this winter - and, possibly, into another one.

He stares at the girl in front of him, taking in her tattered clothing, the ease with which she holds her weapon. She's not afraid to fight.

"I don't owe you an explanation, Emperor," Akita says definitely, forcing out the words. "But you will give me one, or you shall never see the light of day again. My brother-"

His heart lurches, eyes widening. Brother.

"Knows that the dungeon has many empty cells," she finishes sharply, barely contained anger flashing in her eyes.

He keeps the facts brief, concise. Once this is all over, he can dwell on them - agonize over what he should have done; use it to be better next time. Atone for his mistakes, even if he can never truly make up for them.

"A snake capable of sorcery used a magic scepter to blast me and a vehicle to this realm. I was sent here sixty years into the past, which is why it took my friends so long to find me. I was also holding a similar magic scepter - one which amplifies the holder's power, but if held for too long, it corrupts one's mind."

"I know what happens next."

How-

"I watched your message to your friends," she replies curtly, by way of explanation. "I did not know that you and the Emperor were one and the same. Continue."

"Vex interrupted a process I was using to try and fix a- vehicle, which caused me to lose my memories. He told me that I was ill. He said that he was a great friend of mine, and that this realm belonged to me. He convinced me that Formlings were warmongers, and that the rightful king had overthrown me. Just before he almost killed Lloyd, he said something that caused my memories to return."

She frowns. "I do not understand. How does one lose their memories so easily?"

Akita stares at his metal skin, her eyes widening as if noticing it for the first time.

"I am not quite like you-"

"I know," she interjects, eyes brimming with anger. "I am not a murderer."

"I was... created," he replies, quietly. "Out of extra materials. I can act like others, but I do not always understand emotions in the same way."

Akita frowns again, raising her dagger. Her voice grows a dangerous edge; sharp and cold. "You never realized that your actions were wrong?"

They're entering dangerous territory. Some part of him wants to derail the conversation; stick to the facts and leave his emotions out of this.

But he owes her an explanation - he owes everyone an explanation. He owes them so much more, if only he could give it to them; erase the past and leave their quiet realm in peace.

"Before I came here, I would never have done such things - if I had my memories, I would never have done such things. Vex convinced me that they were the only way I could defend my throne. I did not know that they were wrong. The moment I realized what I had done, I tried to help your side. The right side," he finishes, ignoring the temptation to stare down at the floor instead of into her blazing eyes.

An indecipherable expression crosses her face. "You never talked to another? One of your... army, perhaps?" "Vex gave all the orders. He just asked me for approval. I never left this room." "And you approved them," she muttered, but it seemed to serve more as a reminder to herself than it did to him.

"What was your life like, before you entered our world?" Akita asks suddenly, suspicion still coating her voice. He blinks, the question unexpected.

"My friends and I can control and create different elements," he began, hesitantly. Carefully. "We were taught to fight. We protect our city from those-" "You were built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"Those who cannot protect themselves," Zane finishes, guilt making his vision hazy.

He quickly blinks away the tears, all too aware of her persistent gaze.

"Two more questions," she says quickly, glancing behind her. "This room makes me uncomfortable. And so do you." The accusation is clear, but her eyes are not quite as cold as they had been earlier.

"What do you feel now?" Akita asks roughly, taking a step back. "You mentioned earlier that you do not feel emotions the same way that we do. Explain."

I could lie, he thinks, fleetingly. What if my feelings convince her that I am the Emperor even more than I am Zane? A voice at the back of his mind points out that he is - was - the Emperor.

He knows this.

He knows that he will have to acknowledge it once they are back home.

He knows that he cannot dwell on it now, or the winter will go on - inside his mind instead of outside it.

"I feel... guilt," he begins. "For the terrible crimes I have committed. Horror, at my own actions. Anger, towards that traitor. Relief - that I am no longer under his influence." An eyebrow touches her forehead, ever so slightly.

"How guilty?" It is almost a challenge, her voice rising in pitch threateningly.

"I will spend the rest of my life working to atone for my mistakes," Zane answers sincerely, resisting the irrational urge to squeeze his eyes shut. "However, I know that nothing I can do will ever undo them. But I can help others from people who- who... seek to manipulate them," he finishes quietly, a remorseful sigh punctuating the confession.

Akita says nothing; lips pressed in a hard line. Her blank, steadfast gaze meets his. The dagger clatters to the ground.

He draws in a breath sharply.

Picking it up, she squares her shoulders defiantly. "My people will know that... that there were two prisoners within these walls," she sighs, the weariness in her voice all too evident.

Yet he does not miss her glare; a barely contained anger that lurks just beneath the surface.

Akita straightens her spine, frowning menacingly as her hand tightens on the dagger.

He resists the irrational urge to take a step back.

"My brother and I will never forgive you," she snarls.

You do not have to, he would like to say. But he suspects that she already knows this.

"Come near either of us again, and I will make you long for death."

She shifts to her wolf form, baring her teeth - but when she stalks closer, he does not back away.

Suddenly, he is all-too-aware of the fact that the throne room is currently empty - bar the two of them.

He does not move.

It is not as if she could harm him - titanium is not easily damaged (yet, some part of him wonders if that is a blessing or curse), but they have faced enough villains for him to know how it works.

The villains die at the end; rightfully so.

Why should this be any different?

"You will pay for your crimes," Akita growls, shifting between her forms as if it is second nature. It probably is. "Emperor."

Her dagger clatters to the ground once again.

He does not move.

Why should this be any different?

---

"What's taking her so long?"

"Who?" The Samurai asks, the confusion on his face only amplifying.

"No- nothing," he mumbles, wincing. The adrenaline is wearing off - and with it, the fleeting distraction from the pain coursing through his chest.

Broken ribs? Probably. But he's got bigger problems to worry about - his minor injuries don't really matter when there's a warrior (because after all that she's been through, he thinks that she deserves the title - even if it's one she would never have wanted) seeking vengeance, someone who could tear apart this castle, brick by brick if she wanted to, alone with his brother.

His brother - who'd taken hers; encased her village in a tomb of ice, leaving behind no one but a teenager consumed with blinding anger - rightfully so, he admits, a bit wearily.

What happened to you, Zane?

Are you even... there? The person who used to stay awake with me when all I saw was the building crumbling before my eyes, night after night? The one who swore to protect those who couldn't protect themselves?

Are you still there?

"Can I, er, go inside?" he asks no one, trying not to breathe too hard. The Ice Samurai he'd been trying to help had vanished, most probably to try and get answers from someone else.

He owes it to these people to help them - if he'd just been faster, stronger, better, Aspheera could never have-

Not now, Lloyd!

He should probably open the doors - try and diffuse whatever fight they'd gotten into. Akita reminds him of Kai; both of them fiercely protective of those whom they care about, yet sometimes clouded by rage so thick they can barely see out of it.

But he's hesitating - there's always the possibility that her anger; prison of its own, might extend to him.

Not that he even has the right to condemn her for it, though.

Unwillingly, a fleeting thought presses itself to the forefront of his mind; beautiful white hair, a soft voice coated in honey-

Broken ribs, he reminds himself stubbornly, grimacing at the flare of pain as he draws in a breath sharply. She's gone, she's gone, and it's-

He bites his lip until the tang of iron fills his mouth, eyes fixed determinedly on the floor.

Not now, Lloyd!

Slowly, carefully, he pushes the door open. It creaks softly - but he doesn't think anyone hears it.

Oh, no.

---

"Akita?" a voice questions, hesitantly. He's half-leaning against the door, blonde hair almost completely hiding wary eyes all but squeezed shut in pain.

She stiffens, ignoring the part of her that learns to hunt, murder, the- the monster-

Blinking, quickly, she allows her mind to embrace the sharp, cold air on her fur, and her harsh, ragged breathing - until she can almost feel the shift in her heart, trading instinct for a different type of clarity, white fur for skin and hair.

Grabbing her dagger, she halfheartedly swipes it at the boy who makes her cheeks redder than they usually are, the boy who travelled across the ice seeking a murderer-

Well. He is in no condition to help anyone - they both know this.

But he does not have the right to interfere with this conversation - her feelings do not matter when his friend is-

"Leave us," she snarls, fingers digging into the hilt of her dagger. "What makes you think you have the right?"

Her voice grows colder, but she can't quite keep the tremor out of it.

"You did not find your village half-dead, or spend months mourning your brother," Akita snaps, frustration seeping into the words. Why does he always have to make everything so complicated?

"I know," he replies, hesitantly, eyes flitting between the room and the door. "But... this isn't the right thing to do, Akita."

"Do you think it was right for your friend to seize power from our rightful ruler? Do you think he was right when he imprisoned an innocent child for so many years?"

She doesn't bother to keep the venom out of her voice, ignoring the fact that the light brown of her skin has almost faded to white where she grips her weapon.

Taking a step closer, she bites her lip.

If he will make this his fight, so will she.

"The girl I told you about," Lloyd interjects. "H- Harumi." He forces out the name, as if the very mention of it ails him.

She raises her eyebrows. "What are you going to do? Distract me with stories about your girlfriend while he," Akita glares at the Emperor with a sigh, "escapes?"

"No," he replies softly. Brushing the hair out of his eyes, she doesn't miss his poorly concealed wince.

This is the friend he seeks?

There's a fragile silence, one of which she refuses to shatter. Nothing he can say will erase the horrific actions of this- this power-hungry ruler who has abused the gift he has been given; persecuted their lands, and forced innocents into lives ruled by fear and hatred.

"I- er-" Lloyd starts, visibly uncomfortable with saying... whatever it is he is trying to say.

She does not interrupt, but does not take her eyes off the Emperor, either. He has not moved or even contributed to their exchange yet.

Good, she thinks fervently. She does not need to force herself to try and feel sympathy for a man she has hated for so many long winters, one who has taken a piece of her heart and locked it away in a tiny prison cell.

"Did I ever tell you that- that... I watched her die?" he asks, aiming for a casual tone.

The hurt subconsciously laced into it makes something in her heart twist, as if it had been pierced by a shard of glass.

Outwardly, she does nothing more than raise an eyebrow.

For all the days they have spent trekking across the ice together, it suddenly dawns on her how little she actually knows about him.

"No," she replies carefully, dragging out the word. "Why?" "She-"

Akita can almost see his internal struggle - anger and fear and indecision and something she can't quite place her finger on meshing into another thing entirely.

"She- tried to murder," Lloyd flinches at the word, nails digging into his palms, "my friends. And I was forced to watch, helpless," he whispers, so softly that she has to strain to hear it.

"But when she- she died in a crumbling building, I- was... the one who caused it to fall."

"Your point?" she snaps; voice as sharp as her blade. He is the only thing standing between her and the Emperor; between the growing hatred she had allowed to fester for all this time, because one day she would finally make him pay-

Her friend visibly winces.

Too late does she realize her mistake, a fact that leaves her a bit sick to the stomach.

That's nothing compared to the bout of nausea that accompanies another realization, juts a second later.

How could I let my anger hurt another - one who did not deserve to receive it? Am I truly any better than the one whom I have condemned?

Well. The logical side of her mind points out that it is her choice to forgive, for such unforgivable acts; that the anger that had doused everything in its hue, every day, was to be expected-

"I apologize... for my conduct," she says quickly, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "You have never hurt me. I did not mean to hurt you." "It's okay- this- this isn't my fight anyway," Lloyd replies quickly, fingers wrapped around the door handle - but she doesn't even think he's aware of the fact. "I just- I just wanted to share something with you, something I wish someone would've shared with me, because-" He's rambling, words practically coated in a jumble of shaky nerves. "What is it?" Akita asks softly, losing a little of the stiffness in her tone.

"Murder- it isn't right," he repeats, hands pressed to his forehead. "But... it'll hurt you more than it will anyone else. I can't go a week without seeing her fall in my dreams, over and over again. I should've been glad, I guess... she'd hurt my friends and I so many times. But- but I'm the one with the nightmares, and all this- guilt. And I care- I care you, Akita. I know that I'll never understand how you've been hurt by- by the Emperor... just, think about how it'll affect you." Akita's eyes widen incredulously, but he's not done. "Just- don't let someone else make you hurt yourself." His voice is about a pitch higher than normal, but neither of them really register it. "Sometimes, the best kind of revenge is refusing..." Lloyd trails off, his eyes squeezed shut (a second later, he opens them again, blinking profusely), "to let anyone... make you hurt them."

Irrationally, she wants to break something.

That advice offers... an entirely new perspective. One that she had never thought of.

One that is- is unwanted, she insists fervently.

And now his fingers are pressing into his hands again, so tightly that she almost wants to yell - stop it, idiot, you're hurting yourself! - at him. "Because... it might haunt you lot more. And if they- they- really want to hurt you?" Both of them ignore the erratic, painful looking way his breathing starts to hitch just then.

"Don't give them... the satisfaction of it - by- your own hands."

Her mouth drops open.

No words come out.

What?

Out of the corner of her eye, she watches Lloyd slowly - a bit too carefully - push the door shut behind him. It creaks softly, but neither of the two left standing in the room really hear it.

She squeezes her eyes shut, far too many emotions almost crashing through her mind.

"You seek to rescue your friend. I seek revenge."

Blinking the world back into focus, her mind whirls and whirls; the storm unrelenting.

"I seek revenge."

What exactly did that mean to her?

She...

She did not quite know the answer now.

---

Akita does not speak for some time, her thoughtful expression plainly clashing with one of anger.

He does not speak, either, although it is for a different reason.

Lloyd's words have forced him to face the reality he has been avoiding ever since he smashed his scepter on the ground - ever since the decade-long winter had ended.

"And if they really want to hurt you? Don't give them the satisfaction of it - by your own hands."

"If they really want to hurt you."

There is only one whom Lloyd could have been referring to.

"You were built to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

Somewhere within his mind, he is aware of the fact that the second his memories returned, the staff lay in pieces on the floor; all of that corrupted ice shattering into nothing.

He is also aware of the fact that sixty years of tyranny will leave behind much more than an altered climate.

If they even get back to Ninjago, what will have become of his city? It took his friends decades to find him - what could have happened during all that time?

Friends. Does he even have a right to call them that?

He is not quite sure - or even sure if all of them will be as forgiving as Lloyd.

The Green Ninja had always strived to find the best in people - to believe that anyone could make up for their mistakes, that they would want to. It had been to his friend's detriment, once - yet Lloyd had never quite given up on the world, in the same way that many of them had. Maybe it was some sort of childish naivety - or maybe it was just in his nature to hope, even after all they had been through, that everyone had some good inside them.

Yet, he had never met anyone who shared his friend's mindset - or at least to that extent.

Kai knows what it is like to have a sibling kidnapped, taken from them for no rhyme or reason - other than the fact that a cruel ruler who seeks power and exploits those around them for it will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Cole knows what it is like to die (well, almost, his logic points out) - to be imprisoned within yourself; a husk of a person, unable to live your life to the fullest.

His mind flashes to the thousands of innocent villagers he had frozen in icy prisons, practically caskets-

Irrationally, his hands begin to shake.

He chooses not to focus on that.

Nya used to hunt down those who hurt others, he recalls - and then squeezes his eyes shut.

Is she not quite similar to Akita in that regard?

The realization leaves him more gutted than he thought was possible. Had he really become the very person his friends worked so hard to stop?

He clenches his fists, the titanium covering his fingers grating together.

At least I am no longer holding the scroll, he thinks, fervently. Before long, the memory of a clear, quiet night pulls itself to the forefront of his mind.

The echo of a whispered confession; a brief explanation mixed with tears and shaking hands. A voice usually so bright, silenced to the shaky murmur of "I watched her die, Zane, and it was all my fault, it's all my fault-"

It was then when he had learned of- of an alternate timeline, his processor had inputted seamlessly. Another reality, wiped from their minds and the press of time. One that only existed in the memories of two of his best friends.

One that resulted in poorly concealed winces, seemingly arbitrary flinches, Nya throwing out any dresses she owned and Jay practically shaking with fear when he was asked to do certain chores. One that resulted in scars that ran far deeper than those of venom or sword. His memories had been useless then, too, his mind points out. How could he have let two of his best friends suffer for weeks on end, when he was able to upgrade or encrypt his memory drive at any time? When he was a n- robot, and should be able to recover memories that had been deleted or erased? The others could never be afforded that opportunity - yet, he had let the team down when it mattered most. If he could not be there for others, try to help them protect them from a force unable to ever be completely defeated, would he ever even halfway fulfill his purpose? He had pondered all of those questions - had ignored the pang in his heart when many pieces of the figurative puzzle clicked into place, for many weeks afterward. He had almost immediately vowed to be better - to ensure that his purpose did not go unfulfilled.

His purpose, he thought bitterly, as he squeezed his eyes shut. What had become of it now?

Another question to ponder, he supposed. And the realization that Jay - one of his brothers, one who was always equipped with a weapon and a joke too - would forever know what it was like to be kidnapped, held hostage, simply because a power-hungry figure cared less for another than anyone ever should.

Akita's brother had been scarcely less than a child - after his imprisonment. How could he have strayed so far from his original goals - how could he have strayed so far from what he had supposedly fervently stood for?

---

Lloyd's words still ring in her ears, his weary tone not quite matching their crazy implications.

She rubs her temples, frustrated. This was definitely not what she had come here for! She had come for vengeance - vengeance for the terrible crimes the Ice Emperor had committed, against her village, her brother, even her-

But what was the point of revenge if she was the one left scarred? a small voice in the back of her mind points out, doing nothing but adding to her indecision.

I cannot do this, she insists fervently, thinking of her brother's worn face - and the years he had spent imprisoned; a lone figure silently mourning a sister he did not know still trekked the ice.

Just as she had been mourning him, she thinks sadly. The pang in her heart may have lessened since she had realized that he was still alive, but it was still horrifying to think that he had lost decades of his life - she had lost decades of hers, too, in a different way, she muses - saddened, alone, imprisoned.

But is this what he would have wanted? For her?

He had always been the calmer, logic-based one. She was always running into fights, the one fueled by emotion and anger.

Well. She spares a moment for the future.

The Emperor would leave their world - possibly, to haunt another. She would remain here - with her brother and her village, the woods and the towering peaks of the mountains.

I only have this one chance, she reminds herself firmly. She fixes her eyes on the strange blue ones of the Emperor, and sees a future ruled by that one decision.

Her gaze flits towards the doorway, and she sees a future there, too.

She sighs, dropping her eyes to the ground.

But Katuru would want me to- to-

Be happy, she realizes, jarringly.

Taking a deep breath, she bites her lip.

"Will taking your life make me happy? Will it make up for the years of pain we have endured at your hands?"

Her voice rings out, hesitant yet determined.

"I wish it were so," she confesses wearily, ignoring the ache in her hands. She's been gripping the hilt of her dagger for so long, the blade's almost pierced her skin. "Alas, it is not."

The Emperor meets her gaze, but not completely - out of guilt? Fear? Anger?

She does not have the time to ponder meaningless questions.

"I despise you with every fiber of my being, you coward," Akita snarls, some of the anger she has become so accustomed to bleeding its way into her words. "But I will not tarnish my hands on someone as worthless as you, when you presently pose no threat to me."

The words spill from her mouth, but she almost wants to stuff them back inside at that very second.

This isn't why I came here! This isn't what I was supposed to do-

Another voice cuts through the one in her head, a weary confession from someone she knew nothing and everything about.

"Don't give them the satisfaction of it - by your own hands.

The next words she utter fill the room - steady, unwavering.

"Leave our world, and never return. Never. You have treated my people as if you are a monster, yet you say that you are sorry. As if you could ever care - after everything you have done to us!"

Akita sheathes her dagger, indecision still weighing heavily on her mind.

"I hope that you are as haunted by your time here as we all are," she spits, walking towards the door. She does not look behind her, but packs as much bitterness as she can into the last word she utters before the door closes behind her.

"Emperor."

---

A/N - I know this wasn't great, but honestly, it was really interesting to write and challenged me to think about certain things quite a bit. If you did read it, thank you so much!:D

#the ice chapter #ninbingo #ninjago zane #ninjago lloyd #ninjago akita #ns11 #zane julien #lloyd garmadon #ninjago fanfiction

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alisonsfics · 4 years

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A Better Man💗

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: Y/N gets dumped on Valentines Day and Spencer comforts her.

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: cheating

You quickly glanced down at your watch. You huffed and leaned back into your chair. You were currently at a restaurant waiting for your boyfriend to show up. It was Valentines Day and you had plans to meet up for dinner after work.

Mark, your boyfriend, was supposed to be here half an hour ago. The waiter kept coming by and asking if you were ready to order yet. They were feeling just as impatient as you were.

You checked your phone, wondering if he texted you to say he was going to be late. Then, you looked up and saw him rushing over to your table.

He got to your table and kissed you on the cheek before sitting down. “I am so sorry, there was a horrible accident and traffic was a nightmare. I tried to text you, but I wasn’t getting any service” he apologized.

All of a sudden, it made sense to you. You felt guilty for being mad at him. “That’s okay, you’re here now” you said, smiling. You were determined to make this evening a night to remember.

“So is there any chance you’re ready to order? I think the waiter is getting a little impatient, I’ve been here for thirty minutes. I kept telling him I was waiting for someone, but I don’t know how much longer we can hold him off” you said, giggling. Mark’s mood completely shifted. He looked solemn and serious.

“Actually...we need to talk” he said, sternly. You were shocked by his quick change in attitude. “Ummm okay? It can’t wait til after we order?” You asked, confused. You didn’t know what he wanted to talk about or why it was so urgent.

He just sighed and took a deep breath. “I think we should break up” he said, looking you in the eyes.

You felt your blood begin to boil.

“Excuse me?” You said, refusing to let the tears well up in your eyes. He self-consciously glanced around the restaurant like he didn’t want to make a scene. “I don’t think we’ve been in love with each other for a while. It’s no ones fault, we just fizzled out. I think it would be better if we saw other people” He whispered.

It felt like your skin was on fire. You were resisting the urge to scream at him.

“Who is she?” You replied, simply. He looked confused.

A few weeks ago, Mark came home smelling like someone else’s perfume. You had been a little skeptical, but you didn’t say anything. Then, he had started to grow distant. You had hoped this dinner could fix things, but clearly he just wanted to leave you for her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he said, lying through his teeth. “Who is she?” You repeated, more stern this time.

“Piper” he admitted, quietly. You didn’t think you could any more shocked.

Piper was one of your best friends from high school. You cursed under your breath. “You cheated on me with one of my friends. And now you’re dumping me on Valentines Day? You are disgusting” you said, rolling your eyes. “It’s not like that. Come on, you know we aren’t made for each other” He said, trying to come up with an excuse.

“I can not believe you, you know what? I hope you’re happy” you said, standing up. You grabbed your jacket and your phone. “Come on, Y/N. Let’s talk about this” he said, trying to stop you. You rolled your eyes. You couldn’t believe that he expected you to not be mad at him.

“You lost the right to talk to me, as soon as you touched her” you said, throwing your drink in his face. You stormed out of the restaurant and got into your car.

You burst into tears. You were devastated. You weren’t upset because you had gotten dumped. You were glad you never had to talk to that asshole again.

You were upset because you had fallen for him. You fell for him and gave him everything. You trusted him and he couldn’t even be faithful.

You knew that you couldn’t go to your shared apartment. He’d eventually come home and you would have to see him. That was the last thing you wanted.

So, you drove to one of your best friends’ houses. You parked your car and wiped the tears away from your eyes. You got out of the car and walked up to the front door. You knocked on the door with your shaky hand. You waited for a few seconds and then the door opened.

“Hey are you busy?” You asked, trying not to burst into tears again. Spencer just looked at you, confused. “No, not at all. What’s wrong?” He asked, noticing your tear-stained face. The tears erupted and began to stream down your face. You couldn’t stop them, they just kept flowing.

Spencer pulled you right into his arms. “Shh shhh, it’s okay. I got you, I promise” he whispered, holding you tight. You felt him rub your back, comfortingly.

Eventually, the tears began to slow down and you took a few deep breaths. Spencer guided you over to the couch and then wrapped a blanket around your shoulders. “I thought you and Mark had plans tonight. Is everything okay?” He asked you, concerned. You just nodded your head and tried to put the words together. Spencer took your hands into his and rubbed his thumbs into the back of your hands. He gave you a small smile, encouraging you to keep going.

“We had dinner plans. He broke up with me and told me he had been seeing someone else” you admitted quietly. Spencer was shocked by what you said. He expected that obviously something that had happened, but he didn’t think it was that bad.

Spencer had to resist every urge to drive to your apartment and teach Mark a lesson. He wanted to kill him, he was furious.

“I am so sorry, you know that you don’t deserve that, right?” He asked you. You just weakly nodded your head. “Valentines Day is supposed to be happy, not sad. I think we’ll just have to turn today around. We can eat icecream and watch your favorite movies. We can do whatever you want, how does that sound?” He asked you.

Spencer was a goal-driven person. And right now his goal was trying to cheer you up. He wasn’t going to let anything or anyone stop him from doing just that.

You grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards you. You held on to his shirt and buried your head in his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around you and held you tight. “That sounds amazing, Spence. Thank you for being here for me” you said, sincerely.

Spencer started to smile, knowing that you appreciated his efforts. You pulled away and you were transfixed by Spencer’s eyes. There was nowhere else you could look, you were mesmerized by the little golden specks you saw in his eyes.

Then, Spencer leaned in and connected your lips. You were shocked by the sudden movement, but kissed him back instantly. Spencer’s hands moved to cup your face. Then, you felt his lips leave yours. He pulled away with a mortified expression.

You wondered what you did wrong. “I am so sorry” he said, standing up from the couch and backing away. You furrowed your eyebrows, trying to decipher what he meant.

“You are emotionally distraught and I took advantage of that, I’m sorry” he said, running his hands through his hair. Your eyes softened. You stood up and walked over to him.

“Tell that big brain of yours to stop thinking for five minutes” you whispered, cupping his face and kissing him again. He felt tense, but eventually let himself actually enjoy the kiss. He kissed you back and it felt magical.

You pulled away and smiled up at him. “At least you’re smiling now. That’s all that matters” he said, putting his arm around your shoulders as he guided you to the kitchen to pick out some snacks for your movie night.

You had a magical night and you knew that you could always rely on Spencer, especially when you were feeling down. It was truly a night to remember. Things felt natural with him. He was caring and kind. You knew that you would be happier with him than you ever were with Mark.

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#spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #valentines day #Criminal Minds #criminal minds imagines #Spencer Reid fic #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid imagines #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid reader insert #Spencer Reid valentines #Criminal Minds Fanfiction #criminal minds fic #criminal minds x you #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds x y/n #criminal minds reader insert #bau

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spacegirlapollo · 4 years

Text

Can’t Be Friends [Dazai x Reader Smut]

Dazai x Reader Smutty One shot

4,000+ words

Summary: After the death of his beloved friend, Dazai can’t trust love. But then you come bumbling into the picture and he can’t resist falling for you.

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Dazai had always been fascinated by magnets, that somewhere written deep in the earth's rules, it had been decided that two objects would eternally be bound together if fate allows them to. On the other hand they could push the other away, with the same ease.

He’s lived his life like a magnet, especially after Oda’s death. He couldn’t help it, although he desperately tried to not care about others it was simply impossible. To fulfill Oda’s dying wishes , he had to care about the people around him. He dared not admit it but he cared. He cared about Kunikida and the others at the agency. He especially cared about Atsushi and thought quite often of Chuuya and Akutagawa and how they were faring. To many souls to think about. So he cared, drawing them all in like magnets, connecting and then turning away pushing back against them when they got to close.

And at the center of it all was you. You were the crowning jewel in his grand hall of people he cared about, thought and worried and languished about. You reminded him of Oda sometimes. And if he squinted at you maybe he could see Oda’s piercing eyes and not so easy smile.

He was in love with you, that much was sure, and it was a secret, to everyone but him. He was much too smart to not understand his longing for you, the way his heart rate picked up at your closeness and he often found himself longing to hear your voice.

He didn’t think it would happen to him of all people. Sure he loved Oda, and he wasn’t sure if it was just as friends either, but this was different.

He’d met you almost immediately after his return to society, now on the side of the “good guys”. You were Fukizawa’s niece and a fixture at the agency. He wondered often how long his stay at the agency would have been had it not been for you.

In the beginning, Dazai couldn’t help himself, he had absolutely no self control over his magnets and the two of you connected, making quick friends. Wherever you went he would gladly follow.

Then you’d been attacked, remnants of Dazai’s past life finally rearing consequences upon you. You’d nearly died, even though you were a force to recon with in battle. Fukizawa had been the one to save you in the end. It was salt over Dazai’s wound that you were hurt because of him, and he hadn’t been there to save you.

It was a hard way to learn a lesson. To be smacked in the face with his universal truth. Everyone he gets close to will die, and it’ll be his fault.

You weren’t so easy to push away though, ripping you from his life was taking a piece of his soul slowly, and besides he’d promised to be good and the Agency was the best place for that. So he stayed, but your friendship suffered in its wake. You got the message eventually, not bothering to call upon him at midnight anymore and late night trips for food had stopped.

You’d never let on how it made you feel, and that somehow was worse for Dazai.

He’d thought you’d replace him, he was mentally prepared to see you and Kunikida laughing At the lunch table. But it was more often that you’d head to lunch alone, or leave work alone.

With newcomer Atsushi, things changed a little. You’d taken a strong liking to the boy, and he could tell you’d adopted Atsushi, as If you were his mother or aunt or something. Fretting and worrying. Dazai could see that the two of you were co-parenting in a way.

Then Kyouka came and you and Atsushi’s time spent together became less, and you ate alone once again.

Dazai observed this all as if he was peering into a fish bowl. Observing the lives of others and indirectly interacting with them but never jumping into the water. He thought himself clever. No one would know how much he loved you. That was until simple, observant Atsushi said something.

“Dazai-San?”

“Yeah?”

They were both sitting in the open floor plan area of the agency, paperwork stacking high between the two of them. On his part Atsushi was trying to conquer the work while Dazai was listening in to your conversation with Kunikida from across the room. You were laughing, and Dazai thought maybe this was it, you were finally replacing him. Good.

“Uh…”

Dazai lifted his eyes from you and his partner to rest upon Atsushi, whose voice was uncertain. Dazai had learned from day two, that he should listen to Atsushi, who occasionally sculpted diamonds from words.

Atsushi tensed with Dazai’s eyes upon him.

“I was just .... “ he sighed and swallowed his voice coming out low and a whisper.

“Are you and Y/N dating?”

Dazai blinked. Not responding, although that might give away more than he would have liked.

“It’s just that.” Atsushi seemed even more unnerved by Dazai’s non answer, seeing as the brown hair boy loved to talk.

“You always look up when she enters a room, like you know she’s there. You always stare at each other when you think the other isn’t looking.” Atsushi’s voice faded off. “Stuff- stuff like that.”

Dazai was half stuck thinking that he’d made a good choice of Atsushi for the Agency, and the other half was thinking about what he’d said. - staring at each other.-

You looked at him too?

“S-sorry.” Atsushi said, fearing he’d said too much. He had but that was fine.

“Am I really that easy to read?” Dazai asked his eyes back on you and Kunikida. Kunikida was blushing as you walked away, his eyes firmly on your lower back side. Dazai felt a feeling stirring in him. But he shoved it down harsly. There was no place for those feelings to show.

Atsushi shook his head. “No, you're quite hard to read. Dazai-San. Y/N is much easier to read, once I understood why she looks at you like that I realized you were looking at her the same way.”

Diamonds. Dazai thought , Atsushi was capable of making diamonds.

————-

It was the fall time, the leaves had departed from their family tree or changed colors and the roads of Yokahama were cold and filled with that feeling you only got during the coming of winter.

Dazai had to work late, once Kunikida found out just how behind he was on his work, Dazai had been essentially chained to his desk. He could tell there were a few people left in the office as some lights were still on. Signing the last page he sighed standing up immediately, Kunikida would be satisfied with his progress and he could pick it up again on Monday, although he was secretary hoping for a case to come and push the paperwork to the side.

He tucked his hands in his pocket and made his way outside. It was a moment later that he realized that it was raining. The door to the cafe closed behind him and he stood under the awning, thinking with dread about walking through the rain to the subway station.

“No umbrella ?” You asked, and Dazai wasn’t sure how you’d been standing there that whole time and he did not notice. He turned to you his heart thudding rhythmically in his chest. You were as beautiful as ever, and you looked warm, swathed in faux fur jackets. He thought about how wonderful it would feel to lay in your lap and feel your fingers through his hair.

You turned away from him breaking his guilty illusion and rummaged around in your bag. You pulled out an umbrella, identical to the one you were already holding. You extended it out to him with a smile playing on your lips.

“You never carry an umbrella, Dazai.”

His name on your lips was joy, he realized as his lips parted in surprise. You knew him entirely too well and Atsushi was starting to as well. How had he failed so spectacularly in pushing people away.

He took the umbrella, unable to stop the smile on his face.

“Why would I ,Y/N when I always have you to have an extra for me?” He teased. He couldn’t help it, months of pushing you away and he was cracking like an egg from a simple gesture.

Your eyes met and he saw the faintest blush upon your cheeks. He wanted to kiss you. Badly. He blinked and looked away. This wouldn’t do, he needed to get home and fast.

He would let his mind slip for one night, maybe have a drink or two and stroke himself, your name hanging off his lips like smoke to a cigarette. That’s what he would do. He just needed to get to the station now.

“Dazai?”

Your words were soft but firm. The way you sounded when you’d gathered up all tour couraged and readied yourself for a fight.

He turned back to you, and your eyes shone with determination.

“Let’s go get dinner together.”

————-

Dinner, was located in a small corner of Yokohama, that only the locals seemed to know about. You either lived there or crashed there by accident. The restaurant was a hole in the wall, quite literally. It was an interesting place, made of stone and brick, with no real windows or doors, just, holes in the stone. It reminded Dazai of an old century oven, it had a large awning covering to keep the rain from the tables out front. Strings of light were laced around the stone building illuminating it in the darkness of the Yokahama streets.

It was a place that the both of you were familiar with, having spent many nights here, sipping hot tea and talking. Upon seeing it for the first time in months, Dazai saw just how romantic the place really was and was regretting his decision to follow you here.

Now seated you picked up the menu and started to scan it.

“You already know what you want. Y/N” Dazai said amused. “You always order the same thing.”

His smile grew as you put down the menu and glared at his teasing. “What if I wanted something different this time.”

“Hell would freeze over Y/N. And the flying pigs would be out as soon as the rain stopped.”

You scoffed cutely. “just for that I’m ordering something different.”

“I wouldn’t.” Dazai said, “ you remember the last time you were adventurous.”

Your eyes were wide with embarrassment.

“You swore you would never bring it up!”

“To anyone else.” Dazai corrected. He thought back on the time you’d ordered something new, and were so sick he’d brought you home, and had to hold your hair as you puked over the toilet. Obviously embarrassing for you but a fondly domestic memory for Dazai.

The waitress interrupted whatever you were going to say next and further Dazai’s amusement you ordered your regular.

“Dazai” you said after the waitress had collected your orders and it had been quiet for a while. Dazai’s heart started to thump again, the real reason you’d asked him to come to dinner was coming. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for it.

You had that look again, that stored up courage look. “ Let’s be friends again.”

He wasn’t sure if this was on his list of things he expected you to say. Some irrational part of his thought this would be your announcement of your engagement to Kunikida which he would have congratulated you on and then left to get very very drunk.

Your fists were clenched in your lap as you forced yourself to look at him.

“I’m sorry… if I did something wrong, and that’s why you stopped wanting to be around me. If I was - annoying or something I can-“

“Y/N” you blinked almost jerking at Dazai’s sudden harsh tone. He was angry, suddenly,

“You could never annoy me.”

The statement hung heavy in the air like cement.

“And you don’t have anything to apologize for.” He tried to soften his voice as he wasn’t angry at you. He was more angry at himself. That’s why you thought he’d pushed you away?

“Then why-“

“We can’t be friends.. Y/N” better to cut this off now. A few drinks was sounding better by the second. He dared a glance at your face and regretted it. You looked shattered, then confused, then angry. He hadn’t really seen you angry. It was beautiful in a way.

A hot tear pressed down your cheek and you angrily wiped it away.

“Why.” You asked now a wobble in your otherwise hard tone.

“It’s better to remain professional in the workplace.” Dazai offered up, it was weak but his mind was spinning so his normal snake charming words were not coming to him.

“Bullshit.” You said leaning forward. “You're not that way with anyone else in the agency. Hell you're not professional at all.”

Dazai smiled at this, despite how heavy he was feeling.

“That’s fair.” He said softly.

“Stop fucking with me Dazai.” You said anger still dripping over your tone although you were trying to keep it down since others were around.

“One night were drunk together and up till 4am telling each other everything and the next week you stopped talking to me.”

Your voice broke at the end of that. Another angry tear wipe. You pointed at him now.

“You let me in, you let me see you, and now you're going to pretend like we weren’t something?”

“Yes.” Dazai said with an edge . “ yes I am going to pretend.”

��Why!” Your voice went a little higher than a regular speaking voice drawing a few more eyes but neither of you cared. There was only the person sitting in front of the other.

“Because Y/N. I don’t want to be just friends.” Dazai felt like a popped balloon, that air just coming out of him rapidly. Years of holding that very phrase in and here he was whisper- shouting it at you in his favorite hole in the wall. That was only his favorite because of his memories with you.

He kept going now, no sense in stopping now. “ I want to hold your hand, to kiss you, to be the last thing you see at night and the first thing you see in the morning. I want to hold you when you're sad, and tease you when you do something embarrassing. I want you to fill up my life with your light” it was a mouthful, and Dazai sighed, looking up at you now, your face in shock.

You smiled suddenly, another tear falling but you didn’t make a move to wipe it away.

“I don’t want to be just friends either Dazai.” You said and he felt his heart starting its kathunk kathunk in his chest again.

“I thought maybe you didn’t feel the same way as I did. But I wanted to be near you. And things were so great when we were friends. And then we stopped and I thought at least I could still be around you. But I don’t want that it’s not enough. Just being around you, just being your friend isn’t enough. I want to be with you. Dazai.”

Dazai swallowed hard, if Atsushi’s words were diamonds you were like the rain. Cleansing away the unsightly parts of himself that he hated, he picked at. Soothing the old wounds that he’d left open as punishment to himself.

“We can’t… I can’t….” Dazai couldn’t finish. He looked up to you. “Every Time I love someone they die.” He shook his head slightly. “and I won’t lose you too.”

He thought then of Oda. He still couldn’t decide how he’d loved the man, there was a seed there, growing, and if he’d had more time, Dazai thinks he could have figured it out. Did he love Oda the way he loved Atshushi or Kunikida or did he love Oda the way he’d loved you?

But for Oda to be alive, and Dazai to have an answer to that question, Dazai needed to have removed himself from Oda’s life.

Dazai’s thoughts of Oda evaporated as he felt the warm touch of your hand to his. He looked up at you then, your eyes a calm steady sea to his stormy brooding ones.

He wanted to steal you away from the others eyes, take you somewhere safe where only he could gaze upon you. Strange feelings from someone who spent so much effort in not caring.

“You're a good person, Dazai.” You said. “I’ve seen it, I’ve seen your soul. Death is not the punishment for love. Life takes who she wants when she wants regardless of who we love and what we want. I’d rather die, having known your love than live forever without it.”

He kissed you then, over the tea that had gone cold, besides the people who were pretending not to listen to your conversation. The only thing he could hear was the sounds of rain dancing on the canopy above your heads.

———

Somehow the both of you knew that going home alone wasn’t an option. As the hole in the wall was closest to your place, it was decided without speaking that that is where you would go. You walked there holding hands.

Dazai’s mind was spinning with thoughts of your kiss, thoughts of you he’d tried to keep down but it wasn’t working and his pants were stiffening.

You’d looked at him, one look, that set him on fire. And as you crossed into your apartment threshold, he couldn’t seem to grab enough of you. The umbrella he’d borrowed from you was on the floor, along with your pretty coat, leaving wet stains on the floor. You were pressed between him in the wall, your hands deep into his tresses as he kissed you, his hands gripping almost painfully at your sides.

He pressed his lower body up against you unable to control the moan that came from his mouth at the contact of his hardened self against you.

“I need you.” He breathed out sounding so impossibly vulnerable.

“You have me.” You said between kisses, and so he did, his wide palms sliding below your waist end scooping you into the air, your legs wrapped around his lanky figure.

He carried you to your room, my memory as you had yet to stop kissing him, and he couldn’t see.

When he was there you fell into the bed, soft covers swallowing you up. He had thoughts to tease you, to take things slow, and feel every single moment of this. But as his fingers seperated your pants buttons and found their way to your core he couldn’t stop himself from pleasuring you.

Your moans were honey, as he slid down your clothing and his mouth latched to your clit. One of your hands had traveled to his hair and the other was gripping his arm which was around your waist keeping your hips down to the bed.

He wanted more from you working his tongue and fingers at a devastating pace. His cock painful in his pants at your honey dripped moans. His hand pressed down hard against your waist as you bucked against his face, sweat beading on your chest, it felt terribly good.

“Daz-“ you choked out as you reached your end, your hand pulling at the base of his roots causing him to moan into your pussy.

You couldn’t hold back your moan as you came, hard and fast, cheeks hot as he kept going riding you through your orgasm.

Dazai felt your body go limp after you came, and he stood up reaching to unbutton his shirt but then your hands over lapped his and you began to remove his shirt. His lips were on your again as your removed his clothes.

Dazai let out a small noise of surprise when you turned and pushed him towards the bed. He went willingly though his eyes half lidded in lust as you crawled over to him straddling his waist. He was taking you in, and fuck if he couldn’t come now just looking at you.

You leaned forward ticking a finger under his chin and guiding his lips back to yours. Dazai felt his control slipping but he didn’t mind. He wanted to be yours, all yours. You could do whatever you wanted to him.

“Let me make you feel good.”’you whispered

He hissed as you sank slowly down onto him your warmth wrapping around him like a vice. Damnit.

You moved again rising up your hips and bringing them back down at an agonizingly slow pace. This whole time he’d thought to tease you and it was you teasing him.

Almost as if you were reading his mind you smirked dipping slower to kiss his neck. Dazai jerked, another moan on his lips as you kissed at his newly discovered sensitive spot.

You’d hip were starting to pick up the pace a bit, sucking hard against his neck. Your pace and attack on his neck was torture, the best kind.

His hands gripped your ass tightly now as you rode him, biting deeply against his neck. With each slap of skin you moved faster, Dazai felt like he could explode, and maybe he would.

He couldn’t help himself, his hips snapping up into you suddenly causing you to throw your head back and moan. Oh yes he wanted more of that.

Your hands fell to his chest as he fucked you, his dick pressing up against that spot that was making you unravel.

In one swift motion he’d switched the flow and you were on your back again, and he was in between you. Your hands flew around his neck as he re-entered you.

“Mhfph” you choked out as he pressed deep into you, moaning your name sweetly into your ear.

He was one with you, as close as his magnet could reach, and though the fear of losing you still loomed in his mind, Dazai was in true bliss.

You were close, that feeling of knitting in your stomach, his strong deep strokes had left you gasping.

“Osamu” you crooned, and he looked down at you now.

“Say that again.” He breathed out.

Dazai felt like he was going to unravel, right as you’d said his name, the way it slipped from your mouth had his heart racing.

He thrusted faster , kissing along your neck now.

“Say it, say it again.” He moaned out.

“Mmm Osamu, “ you repeated his name over and over again like a holy chant. “Please.”

His strokes were coming uneven, as he leaned down to take your sweet lips with his again, fucking hell he was going to come now, in the woman he’d loved for years.

“Come with me.” He breathed out and you nodded rapidly, he pressed his forehead to yours as you felt yourself come apart at the edges. Sweeping in nothing but pleasure you both came.

“Osamu!” You cried out eyes shut in ecstasy.

———-

Neither of you could be bothered to leave the bed. Dazai was holding you to his chest, your face in the crook of his neck, your heartbeats matching each other’s.

“You know it’s too late for you now right?” You whispered, his fingers playing with your hair.

Dazai smiled. “It was too late for me since the moment we met.”

You chuckled softly, “that’s so cheesy.”

Dazai chuckled back, placing a kiss on your forehead.

“Yeah to bad you’ve got to deal with it from now on.”

“I love you, Osamu” Dazai heard you say, and even if he maybe thought he knew you did, it was different to hear you say it. He felt like he could break into a million pieces. Some stone cold bastard he was, he was absolute putty in your hands.

“I love you to, Y/N”

#dazai osamu #osamu dazai #dazai x reader #dazai x reader smut #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd smut #bsd fanfic

731 notes · View notes

fific7 · 3 years

Text

Dangerous and Divine - Part 20

Billy Russo x Reader

Summary: Billy Russo is an itch you don’t want to scratch. But he’s all over you like a rash.

A/N: This does not follow canon, it’s mainly fluff & lemon zest 🍋 Hopefully you’ve guessed by now that is my “Billy Russo Deserves Real Love AU” as I totally refuse to accept what happened in S2! The GIF is from Exposed, unreleased pilot show in case you’re wondering 😌... Billy vibes.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including unprotected* sex between consenting adults. Some drinking & swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My GIF)

You’d just realised that - despite his little caveman episode earlier on - you didn’t ever want any man except Billy in your life.

Still gazing into his dark chocolate eyes, you heard yourself saying, “I think I’ll have that ring, please.”

You really wished you’d had your phone in your hand to take a photo of Billy’s face, because it was what they call ‘a picture’.

Never had you seen his mouth drop open so wide. He gaped at you for what felt like minutes, until he stuttered, “Th... the ring???” You nodded, “Yeah.”

He grabbed your hand and stood up, moving quickly out of the booth and dragging you along with him. Glancing at the waitress, who was looking very surprised, he said happily, “Sorry, miss. We’re gonna have to leave. Sorry ‘bout that.” She shrugged and turned away as Billy rushed to the door, you in tow.

Once outside you huffed, “Billy! Slow down! And what about lunch?!” “Nah, nah, nah. Lunch’s gonna have to wait!” “But I’m starving!” “Angel, I’ll get you lunch soon, I promise ya. Right now? I need to get you back to the apartment. Get that ring on your finger ‘fore you change your mind!”

He continued moving along the sidewalk at speed, gripping your hand tightly almost like he thought you’d try to get away. You were beginning to pant slightly as he was going at such a rate, his long legs eating up the sidewalk, and you laughed breathlessly, “Seriously, Billy, slow down!” He dropped back ever so slightly, “Nearly there, angel,” he grinned at you.

Eventually you arrived back at his apartment, Billy throwing open the door and then slamming it behind the two of you. Just as well he doesn’t have neighbours up here, you thought, otherwise they wouldn’t be very happy.

The next second, Billy’s mouth was on yours in a fiery kiss. He broke away, “Wait there, wait there!” He almost bounced over to the kitchen table and grabbed the ring box. Meanwhile, you were smiling at his goofy schoolboyish enthusiasm. Then he was back in front of you and dropping to one knee again, but this time looking happy as a clam. The ring box was held up towards you, open on this occasion, and its occupant sparkled at you as it caught the light.

A bit out of breath, he said your name in a serious tone before continuing, “....I’ve said all this to you before, but I’ll say it over and over again. As many times as you need me to say it. I want you in my life.... I’ll always want you in my life, angel. I love you so much it hurts, and I can’t be without you.” The dark eyes stared intently into yours, “Will you marry me? Please?”

This time you reached out and stroked the hand which was holding the ring box, “Yes, Billy.... I will.”

The smile which appeared on his face would’ve put the sun to shame. He leapt up, fumbling a bit as he took the ring out of the box, taking hold of your hand and sliding it onto your waiting finger. It fitted perfectly. How’d he manage that? you thought.

But when you met Billy’s eyes they were full of tears. You immediately reached up and stroked his face, “Billy.... you’re crying.” He sucked in a big breath and wiped a hand across his eyes, pulling you into his arms and just holding you close.

“Thank you,” he whispered next to your ear. “I really hope you don’t feel like I pressurised you into this, angel. It means so much to me that you said yes. But just ‘cause I wanted it so bad doesn’t mean I ignored what you said before. Hey, we can still get to know each other while you’re wearin’ that ring on your finger. I just wanted something that said to the world you’re mine.”

“Big sap,” you smiled against his chest. He chuckled, “Yeah, I’ve already admitted I am,” before tipping your chin up with one long finger. His lips hovered over yours, “You’re my fiancée now.” You nodded, “Yes I am.” His mouth gently met yours and he kissed you... softly, slowly, with love.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After a prolonged and passionate kissing session on Billy’s sofa, you two finally made it back out for lunch. Which mightily pleased you, as you were absolutely starving by now. Billy had your hand in his and he was happily swinging both your arm and his backwards and forwards as you two walked back to the same diner you’d been in earlier.

He’d asked if you wanted to go elsewhere, but you just couldn’t face going even a little bit further away - you were sure you’d faint from hunger if you did.

The same waitress looked round from where she was leaning on the counter as you and Billy went back in, and tracked you over to the same booth you’d occupied before. Whipping out her notepad and pen, she was once again drinking in Billy with her eyes and ignoring you so a bit pettily, you picked up the menu with a flourish so that the diamonds in your ring flashed as they caught the light.

Her eyes were drawn to it - as you’d expected them to be - and widened quite noticeably. Billy was smirking at you, as he knew exactly what you were doing. He repeated almost the same thing he’d said earlier, “And my fiancée will have.....”

You hid a grin and ordered steak and chips, and Billy smiled “I’ll have the same,” at the waitress, before switching his gaze back to you a millisecond later. She looked at you, her mouth set in an irritated line and turned on her heel without another word. “And two beers, please,” you called after her. “Okay,” she said over her shoulder. You grinned over at your fiancé - your stomach leapt as you thought of him as that for the first time - “Y’know, if she worked for me, I’d fire her.” Billy nodded, smirking, “I know you would, angel. And not just ‘cause she’s got the hots for your fiancé.”

You swiped the menu at his his head, and he ducked out of the way with a joyous chuckle. You could tell that Billy was almost incandescent with happiness, and you felt glad that you’d made him really smile again.

While waiting on your food, you had a ‘brilliant’ idea. With Billy watching on with an amused smirk on his face, you took a photo of your ring and sent it to Karen.

About 10 seconds later, your phone rang and you answered it to a long loud shriek of “Ohmygod-Ohmygod-Ohmygod!” “Hi Karen,” you replied, holding the phone away from your ear and smiling at Billy.

She took a breath before saying, “So you did it! What happened to slowing down and waiting a little bit, then?!” You laughed, putting the phone on speaker, “I came round to Billy’s way of thinking.” You heard a chuckle from her, then Frank’s voice in the background, “Whass goin’ on?” Karen filled him in on the new development, he yelled something unintelligible and then suggested you all meet up for a celebratory drink. “Did you hear that?” asked Karen, “Wanna meet up for a drink?”

You looked over at Billy with a raised eyebrow, he nodded, so you said to Karen you’d meet the two of them at a bar halfway between the two neighbourhoods.

After consuming your late lunch faster than the speed of light, you and Billy headed out from the diner (you couldn’t resist giving the waitress the brightest smile as she frowned over at you while Billy paid) and walked to the bar to meet your two friends. Just as you approached it, a body slammed into you and two arms got you in a bear hug. Initially freezing in shock, you relaxed as you heard Karen squealing into your ear.

You managed to extricate yourself and as you did so, she grabbed your left hand, pulling it up to her face and squealing again, “Oh...! oh my god, it looks so good on you!” Grinning, you replied, “Why thank you,” as you made your way into the bar. Heading to an empty table, Frank went to the bar and ordered a bottle of champagne, returning to the table with it in an ice bucket. “Didn’t really see Frank as a champagne kinda guy,” you whispered to Karen. She and Billy grinned as Frank said. “I heard that!” and you looked at him apologetically, “C’mon, Frank, when was the last time you drank champagne?” He smiled, but a bit sadly, “At my wedding.”

Oh no, you thought, feeling instantly guilty. However Frank laughed now, “But if this isn’t a good time to take my second hit of champagne, I don’t know what is!” He glanced fondly over at Billy, who seemed to have a permanent smile on his face, then back at you, shaking his head and smiling, “You two.... I can’t keep up with you!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After several pleasant hours of drinking, chatting and laughing, you’d all eventually left the bar and gone your separate ways. Billy was now mildly tipsy, and insisted on walking down the street with both arms wrapped right around you. Which was fine until you met people coming in the other direction, meaning you had to dodge round them in an awkward dance, pulling Billy this way and that while he just clung onto you like an extra-large koala bear.

Back at his place, you were amused to see Billy’s eyes beginning to close drowsily, so despite all the filthy promises he’d been whispering into your ear the entire walk back, you two ended up just falling into bed and going to sleep.

You weren’t sure how many hours later, but you started to surface from your deep sleep as you suddenly became aware of hands on your breasts and something hard between your legs. Your eyes slowly opened to see Billy’s big dark eyes looking down into yours and then his hand found its way to your ring finger, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. Billy had somehow managed to part your legs and manoeuvre himself between them while you were sleeping on your side. Realising that Billy was already inside you and beginning to thrust, you whispered, “Billy, you cheeky big devil!!! I’m not awake yet,” but you only heard a low laugh from him as he carried on making love to you.

He was nuzzling into your neck, kissing and licking so you decided to take what was yours and grabbed two handfuls of his hair, pulling on it. He laughed out loud, “I guess you get to do that whenever you like now,” and thrust extra deep, making you gasp. “Definitely,” you managed to say as he rolled you over onto your back and pulled your knees up. His lips moved to your breasts, and your head went back onto the pillows as his tongue did its best work.

Suddenly he hit your sweet spot, and you hauled on his hair like you were trying to rein in a runaway horse, hearing an answering “Ow!” from him. You were just smirking to yourself when your climax hit you, and your mind went blank as you became completely immersed in it. Billy kept up his fast pace until you felt him shudder and release into you, his mouth biting down on your shoulder.

He moved onto his back, but somehow managing to stay inside you for the moment even as he softened. “Sweetheart.... you know I’m happy that you like my hair, but I truly don’t wanna be bald!” he laughed as he tried to get his breath back.

“I’ll buy you a wig!” you replied, “...sorry, Billy... not gonna stop pulling your hair, you know I’m not.”

Billy smiled lazily over at you, eyes staring into yours as he pulled slowly out of you, saying happily, “Yeah, angel, don’t worry... I know you’re not!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

After breakfast, which involved a certain amount of kissing as well as the food items, you said to Billy that you needed to go shopping. You were just finishing a catch-up text with Jake, and noticed Billy reaching for his jacket. “No!” you blurted out, and he looked over at you in confusion and with a slightly hurt look on his face.

Billy seemed to need to be physically attached to you right now; he couldn’t stop stroking, touching, hugging, kissing you (with some licking thrown in there for good measure), so he looked really disappointed that you were insisting on going on your own. “I’ve just got a couple of extremely boring things to pick up, poppet and I don’t want to inflict that on you,” you soothed, going over to him for yet another long kiss.

“Okay, sweetheart,” he grumbled, “...how long you gonna be?” You stroked his face, “Not long, I promise.” A slightly happier look on his face, he sprawled out on the sofa and switched on the TV, so you sang out, “Bye!” and made your escape, a satisfied little smirk on your face.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Twenty minutes later, you were in Harry Winston’s Fifth Avenue store. The sales assistant was looking at you as if you’d been let out of a psychiatric unit for the day. You’d just handed her a ring made of out of a sliver of Post-It note, rolled up and sellotaped together. She took it from you, holding it between two fingers as if it might bite her.

You sighed, and decided to explain the situation to her as otherwise you didn’t think she’d take you seriously. “Look, my fiancé got me this ring....” extending your rock-laden finger towards her, “... but it was a complete surprise.” She now gave you a warm smile, recognising one of their very expensive engagement rings.

“And I want to get him a ring,” you carried on, “...and I want it to be a surprise for him too. Had to pretend I was just idly wrapping scrap paper round his fingers while I was watching something on Netflix.” It did look like something a kindergarten kid might’ve made, but you were quite proud of your improvised way of finding out Billy’s ring size.

Now she was really getting into it, leading you to a display case of big chunky men’s rings. “I’ve got something in mind, but I’m not sure you’ll have it in stock yet.” She gave you a quizzical look, and you described a ring you’d noticed recently in a fashion magazine; a fairly thin matt black titanium band, with two ultra-thin strips of platinum running round each edge. You knew that one of those chunky ones just wouldn’t look right at all on Billy’s long, slim finger.

She gave you a huge smile, “We’ve just launched some new collections, and that’s one of them! - our Midnight range. Please wait here, madam, and I’ll be right back.”

Soon you were on your way back uptown to Lenox Hill, and this time you were the one with a ring box hidden away out of sight.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

As you let yourself into the apartment and hung up your jacket by the door, you noticed that Billy had dozed off on the sofa. You loved watching Billy sleep, so perched on the edge next to him and stroked back a couple of strands of hair which had strayed onto his forehead.

He awoke at your touch, smiling sleepily up at you, “Angel, you’re back...”

You took hold of his left hand, and scrabbled around in your bag for the ring box. “Billy.... you remember you said you wanted something to show the world I belonged to you?” He gazed back at you warily, as if he thought you might’ve changed your mind while you were out. “Uh... yeah?”

“Well, snap!” you said, finally finding the box, opening it and then sliding the black band onto his ring finger.

Billy’s eyes widened, and mouth opened in surprise. “Wow!” he said, sitting up and looking at it closely, “I love it!” You breathed a sigh of relief: some guys didn’t even like wearing their wedding bands, never mind an engagement ring. “So you’ll wear it?” you asked. He nodded, “Uhuh, course I will, angel!”

He turned his hand this way and that, and you admired how good the slim band looked on his finger.

His dark eyes met yours, and he gave a low chuckle, “Ha, see...? Now you’ve got me on that leash, sweetheart!”

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

@blackbirddaredevil23 @galaxyjane @omgrachwrites @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead @ourloveisforthelovely @swthxrry

#ben barnes #billy russo #billy russo x reader #billy russo fanfiction #billy russo imagine

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everlastingdreams · 4 years

Text

Weeping Monk x Reader : Playing With Fire chapter 20

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Story Summary: The Huntsman, that is what they called your brother. A name he had earned by hunting down the fey for coin. Coin that is given by Father Carden for his services. You refuse to stand aside and watch how your brother hunts down those who are fey. When you start to warn the fey camps your brother wishes to attack, you find yourself behind enemy lines. But when the Weeping Monk becomes suspicious of you, you realise you are playing with fire.

Chapter Summary: Both you and Lancelot find yourselves growing more comfortable around each other and you tell him you know of a safe place to travel to.

Notes: Just know that the more comfortable they get around each other, the worse they will annoy each other lol

Warnings: None, I think.

Word count: 2344 words in this chapter.

Chapter: 20/ 33+ something (buckle up, it’s a wild ride.)

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The conversation with Lancelot about how your brother had treated you was still going through your mind when the sun went down. He was more compassionate then you had first believed him to be. It dawned on you that it could be because he himself had undergone a similar treatment by Father Carden. The moment Carden had slapped him hard across the face was burned into your memory. The look in his eyes one you would never forget. In that moment you had seen yourself in him. And now you felt strangely guilty for slapping him in the forest that night. Sure, he had threatened your life but he had never struck you. He had always remained quite civil and now it was clear that he did not approve of the sort of violence your brother had made you endure. Percival was tossing leaves into the fire and watching as they burned to a crisp. He looked tired and bored, mostly tired. You softly brushed a hand through the boy's hair “You should get some sleep, we will wake you when it's time to get up.”

The boy let out a loud yawn that distorted his voice “Fine.”

Lancelot was busy checking Goliath's saddle when he heard you approach and stop next to him.

"I feel like I need to apologize." You stammered awkwardly.

His brows drew together and he turned just enough to look at you "What-"

You interrupted him before he could speak "For hitting you. I wish I had not."

It confused him greatly until it dawned on him that you were talking about the time you had slapped him across the face in the forest. He had almost forgotten it, but what you had said about his soul then was etched into his memory "I understand why you did."

Looking up at him, you fumbled with your hands "Still... I...we both know what it's like to get slapped like that."

His eyes fell to the ground "You saw me as an enemy. And I believed you to be mine."

You crossed your arms in front of your chest "We're good then ? Or are we still uh..."

You nodded to the sword at his side and he let out a light scoff and actually chuckled.

"I always thought you were more interesting alive." He confessed, not thinking it through.

You quirked a brow and a sly smirk krept on your lips "Did you now ?"

You messed with him a bit to lighten the mood, but the fact that he failed to respond made you wonder if what he said did not in fact mean more. And the slight hint of pink now gracing his cheeks added to that.

“Anyway, I'm sorry for slapping you in the forest that day.” You broke the silence.

Lancelot looked at the ground, the corner of his mouth turned up “And I am sorry for dragging you and the boy through the forest that day."

His apology took you by suprise “I'm sorry, what was that ? I didn't quite catch that...”

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, realising that you were messing with him “I said I'm sorry, y/n.”

You smiled victoriously, and he shook his head "Hey... uhm...how are you feeling ?" It was a question he had never been asked before. Not that he could remember at least. And the fact that it was you asking him that came as an even bigger suprise. Weeks ago you had looked at him as if you wanted to strangle him with your bare hands and now you were asking him how he felt ? Lancelot didn't even realise he was staring at you for a moment after the question, then he blinked and uttered a quick answer "Better." You raised a brow, doubting that answer "Better ? Even after that punch to the nose ?" Sure, he certainly had felt that punch the Huntsman had landed on him. But the fact that he had settled that situation gave him an euphoric feeling. "I've been through worse and survived." The injuries caused by the Trinity Guards had been far worse. And had you and the boy not helped him, he would have bled out in the forest. Or perished from the fever by now. Lancelot realised he hadn't actually thanked you for that yet. You had been frightened of him and you had still been brave enough to treat his wounds. He took a deep breath "I wouldn't be alive now had you not helped me. For that I am grateful to you, y/n. I owe you my life."

He meant it, these few days he had spend with you and Percival had reignited something that he thought he had lost forever. Hope. He had not felt this alive for so long, he was not just mindlessly following orders, he was living. He finally found something that filled the emptiness inside of him. "I wouldn't be alive either if you hadn't helped me...twice." You reminded him. Then he asked a question that had been going through his mind for a while now, and the moment it left his mouth he wished he had kept quiet. "I wonder why the Huntsman believed that we...that..." Lancelot let the question fade out. It felt too personal to ask, even feeling lightly embarrassed now. You gaped at him, almost rolling your eyes "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you kept following me around and showed up in my home at night ?" He noted the heavy sarcasm in your voice "You know why I was doing that." You tilted your head arrogantly "But they did not. And know that whole town thinks that I...that we..." Now it was your voice that faded out as you awkwardly gestured to him. Lancelot cleared his throat, visibly regretting ever bringing that up. Finally you shrugged "Damn them. They never helped me when they saw how my brother treated me. I never thought you would...but you did. Thank you." He gave an inclination of the head, acknowledging your expression of gratitude even though he did not expect you to thank him for such a thing. You shifted on your feet nervously, weeks ago you would never have told him what you were about to tell him "I know of a safe place where we could go to, unless you have another idea ?" He thought about it for a moment again, it had gone through his mind non-stop right after he had saved you and the boy from the paladin camp. He was not able to think of a place where it would be safe. People knew him, they knew of his reputation and the markings beneath his eyes were not helpful at keeping a low profile. Finally he shook his head and waited for you to speak. You started to explain your plan to him "There is a place... it shouldn't be far from here. Some feys once told me about it when I was...uh..." He smirked smugly and quirked his brow "When you were not warning them ?" You narrowed your eyes at him "Will you ever let that go ?" No. No, he would not. You had spend too much time driving him insane with it. Besides, he caught himself liking that dark look you gave him when he annoyed you. Lancelot sighed and looked at the ground "Do you know where this place is ?" You nodded "I do. I've never been there but the way they spoke of it...the place exists." He gave a nod "We will rest here for a while. I believe we could use some sleep if we are to continue our journey."

“Sounds like a good plan. I have barely slept.” You mumbled more to yourself and walked away.

OOOoooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooOOO

Night had fallen and Lancelot had insisted to keep watch while you and the boy would sleep. Percival had fallen asleep quite fast and you had taken off your jacket and drapped it over the boy. Lancelot watched in silence how you covered the boy with your jacket. He was sitting against a tree, a bit further away from the fire. He saw how you had clutched your abdomen with your hand when you had bend down to tuck in the boy. It suprised him that you had not complained about the pain yet, but then again, both of you seemed reluctant to admit when you were in pain. He watched as you walked over towards him and looked up at your face when you stopped next to him. You placed a hand on the tree before slowly moving to sit down against the other side of the tree. Your shoulder brushed against his as you sat against the tree as well now. Both facing another direction. He couldn't describe the feeling that coursed through him now. Were you becoming more comfortable around him ?

For a moment there was silence and to his suprise, it did not feel uncomfortable. It dawned on him that he was getting used to your presence close to him. Somehow it even calmed him.

“Back in the paladin camp...” You quietly started, so it wouldn't wake the boy “You could have left and just saved the boy.”

Lancelot knew it was true. Yet when he had decided to save the boy, he just could not leave you there to die. He would have been a hypocrit to let you die for the same thing he was about to do. Saving a fey. And deep down he knew that it was not just his conscious deciding that, no, somewhere along the way he had grown fond of you. You were one of the few who didn't seem to truly fear him, who saw him not as a monster but as a person. And truthfully, he enjoyed to be around you. You challenged him and he liked that. He replied quietly, letting his gaze fall on the grass in front of him “It would have made me a hypocrit, don't you think ? That would mean I would have let you die for something I was doing as well. We have both helped fey.”

You leaned against his shoulder a bit "So, you didn't want them to kill me either then ? Why is that exactly ? I mean, I did get in your way by doing what I did."

Lancelot fell silent, deep down he knew he never really wanted to kill you. He just wanted you to stop getting in the way of things. That day in the forest, when you made him face the truth he knew he could never kill you even if Father had commanded it. By then you had gotten under his skin, you had gotten through the cracks in his soul.

He gave an honest reply to you "I suppose I no longer saw the point. Besides, as I said before, you're more interesting alive. Usually people don't try to have a conversation with me."

“Conversations ? Is that what you call them ? I don't remember those being very friendly...” A hint of sarcasm in your voice. He smirked at that, it was true, they had mostly been arguments. But those had held more meaning to him then any conversation he had ever had with Father.

“Are we not acting friendly now ?” He talked over his shoulder but didn't look at you.

“It's an improvement. At least now you're not holding a sword to my throat while we talk.” You deadpanned.

This time he looked at you and saw the smirk on your face, he sighed but felt the corner of his mouth turn up into a smirk as well. “You may not have listened to me when we spoke, but I listened to you. You made me face the truth. I've never met anyone before you or the Green Knight that had tried to do that. That talked to me like a person and not like the monster that I am.” Lancelot confessed, his eyes landed on yours.

“You're not a monster, Lancelot.” You almost whispered it “Not to me, not to Gawain and not to that boy over there.”

He moved his eyes away from you when he heard you say that, he swallowed the lump in his throat. All his life he was taught that he was demon born, that he needed salvation...

And hearing you say that you didn't think of him as a monster felt as if some of that weight had been taken off of his shoulders.

You could sense by the silence that he was reacting to your statement. And when you tried to look at his face he tilted his head. You wanted to lighten the mood “You're a person to me. An annoying one at times, but definitely a person.” Another second of silence passed before he spoke.

“I feel the same way about you.” He jested and you knew by the sound of his voice that he was smirking.

Your mouth fell open, realising that he had just turned your own words against you. You snapped your head, now glaring at him and he was definitely smirking.

“You're such a git !” You shook your head and turned to lay against the tree on your side facing away from him. You groaned and rolled your eyes when you heard him chuckle at your response.

It wasn't long until you fell asleep, exhaustion carried you into a deep slumber. He looked over his shoulder but couldn't see your face. He could only hear your slow steady breathing and concluded that you had fallen asleep. Even though he tried to keep his focus on the forest or on the boy sleeping close to the fire, he felt it wander to the sound of your breathing. It sounded so calm that he felt himself relax at it as well. And as much as he tried to fight the alluring embrace of sleep, his eyes grew heavy.

He did not win that fight.

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vampiresuns · 3 years

Text

🍋 Private Diversions

1.7k words. That Tamryn and Anatole weren’t attending the Midsummer Masquerade didn’t mean they couldn’t bring it home. Tamryn belongs to @valhallanrose

Written for the @midsummer-masquerade, Day 1, using the prompts ‘Marking’ and ‘Temperature play’. Lemon ahead, Minors DNI.

You can read the rest of ‘City of Delights’, here.

CW: Dom/sub dynamics, anal fingering, penetration.

“I knew you weren’t going but,” Tamryn shook his head, frowning, “I thought you said you’d take this as having a free week, finally.”

Anatole hummed, echoed by the sound of his quill scribbling away. “It is a free week if I don’t have to go to the Palace.”

Anatole put his quill down, resting his hand over Tamryn’s. “It also means I can catch up on the job as I see fit, if I so desire. I do like working with people, but sometimes I do need them all to shut up.”

He moved his hand away to resume his scribbling. Revising documentation was a never-ending task, but it was a worthwhile one when he had to do it for investigative purposes. Linguistics and policy planning remained two of Anatole’s greatest passions.

He didn’t notice Tamryn frowning again, deeper this time, but he could sense it in his voice.

“I’m going to lay on your desk. You can’t work if I’m in the way.”

“Tamryn, this is the bedroom secretaire — if you break it I’ll find another room to sleep in, and that is a threat.”

“You’d do that?”

“You know I wouldn’t, but I am working, Tamryn. Just give me a moment.”

Instead of giving him a moment, Tamryn put his knee on the edge of the desk. “No, not for long you aren’t.”

Anatole stopped scribbling, pausing his timer spell so the bright orange clock stopped turning. When Tamryn met him, he used to make the spells another colour, a softer hue between mauve and champagne that Tamryn couldn’t see, resulting in a number of unintended interruptions from his behalf to Nana’s time blocking methods. However, as soon as he pressed himself to do it, Anatole changed the colour, so it was something Tamryn could see without trouble. He had kissed his jaw and told him it was no problem, as he didn’t want Tamryn to feel guilty about interrupting him.

That way, he had said back then, he could choose what to do better, even if once again he assured him Tamryn was very welcome to draw his attention, and if Anatole couldn’t give him his right then, he’d find the time. He always found the time. He had also said that that way, if Tamryn didn’t see it, they could attribute it to him being a dumbass.

Tamryn’s sole remark had been Anatole liked him that way.

Noticing the cease in the sound of quill on paper, Tam moved his knee away, a triumphant look on his face that grew when Anatole moved away from his desk, and evaporated when he settled somewhere else. The orange clock began ticking again.

“You do realise I can just move my things away, don’t you?”

Tamryn pulled out his tongue at him before he moved closer to Anatole again. “And you do realise I’m obnoxious and I will follow you until you put your work away?”

Anatole turned to him, standing toe to toe with Tamryn, as if they were the same height. They weren’t but that had never stopped him. Besides, both of them knew Anatole’s presence was somehow taller, heels or no heels involved, and Tamryn would be lying if he didn’t admit it sent a shiver over his skin. Anatole just had presence, and the bastard knew how to use it.

“I can always work on top of you.”

Tamryn smirked as he began playing with one of Anatole’s locks. “Kinky, though if you’re going to be on top of me, I rather you were working hard on something else.”

Anatole hummed again, squinting up at Tam. That did sound tempting. “Fine,” he said, rolling his eyes.

With an incredulous face Anatole found adorable, Tamryn let out a whistling, victorious ‘yes’. Anatole shook his head as he let his boyfriend walk away, towards the bed, as he removed his shirt faster than he could repeat his own name and threw himself on top of it.

“So, what are you waiting for?”

Anatole kicked his shoes off, climbing on the bed. However, he had not let go of his papers and his squill; he was still holding onto them when he climbed over Tamryn, straddling his chest to sit down over his sternum with his full weight.

He turned the page and Tamryn wheezed.

“You did say I should work in something else,” Anatole said absently, in that ennui filled, small-talk tone he used when he wanted to rile Tamryn up, or tease him. “You never said what in.”

“It was implied.”

“Was it? Well, I could shorten my timeblock and finish this tomorrow, but I still want to finish this go, so why don’t you behave for once in your life.”

Tamryn could not resist the challenge. Maybe Anatole wasn’t trying to raise one, maybe he was. Tamryn knew he liked challenges and that he liked to win them, but he also liked to make Tamryn whine and usually got away with it. Perhaps he could do both. Raise a challenge and butter him up with sweet tones.

It didn’t work. Anatole smiled instead, and pressed his quill against Tamryn’s lips. He didn’t look at him, however. “It is very cute when you try to be all sweet, but do be quiet. You can be a good boy for me, can you not? The better behaved you are for me now, the better it’ll be for you in the end.”

Maybe Tamryn had insisted because he knew this would be the outcome. He sounded more eager than he intended when he told Anatole he could be good for him. When Anatole called him his “good boy” he knew he was done for. Just no how much. As Anatole worked, he began idly tracing patterns over Tamryn’s skin with the feather end of his quill. Ticklish as Tam was he tried his best not to squirm but the longer Anatole did it, the harder it was to not move.

He tried his best until the time spell ran out. Anatole sighed, reaching forward to leave his papers and his quill on the night-table. He sat back on top on Tamryn, only a little further down this time. “If it was that tortuous not to move, you should’ve told me.”

Tamryn squirmed a little underneath him, as Anatole began running his fingertips with a feather light touch over his ticklish spots. “I wanted to be good.”

“Oh, you are being very good, Tamryn, my very good boy. I should ease it up a little for you, would you like that?”

“Please.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Anatole did not ease it up. For a moment, Tamryn thought he would. He began running his hands over his torso, his sides, his arms; hands which decreased and increased in temperature, slow and steady. Anatole’s right hand got colder, his left one warmer. They traced patterns on his skin, increasing and decreasing in temperature, until they changed — his left one growing colder, and his right one warmer, as he traced the same places they did before.

Anatole moved a little further back, kneeling between Tamryn’s legs. He pressed a cold hand to his stomach, forbidding him to move unless Anatole told him to. He only told him to move so he could lift his hips as he pulled his pants and underwear down. Anatole leaned forward to press a kiss to his hip bone as he ran his hands over his legs.

With his hands on the crease between his upper thigh and his hips, Anatole told him to wait.

He got up to get various things he planned on using: his dick, a plug for Tamryn, lubricant. He warmed the latter up and scooped some with the fingers of his cool hand. He cooled it after, and scooped some with the fingers of his warm hand.

“Colours, sweetheart, do you have them in mind?”

“Yes.”

“Safeword.”

“Yes, sir.”

Anatole smirked. “Good boy.”

He wrapped his warm hand with cool lube around Tam’s cock, stroking him slowly, pressing his thumb against the slit on his head, toying with his piercing there. He pressed one of his fingers from his cool hand with warm lube against his ass, doing circles until he pushed in.

Tamryn whined. Anatole was unable to resist teasing him as he began moving his hands, coordinating each movement and adding another figner when Tamryn could take it. He built him up, going at it for a little longer than necessary. What could he say? He thought Tamryn looked pretty when he whined and sounded even prettier when he begged.

The idea came to him on a whim: to put his mouth on the soft skin of the inside of his thighs, leaving lovebites on both of them, watching them bloom as he continued to finger Tamryn. He was a begging mess; past the point of caring how he sounded or looked like, he became a malleable matter to anything Anatole wished to do onto him, which is exactly how Anatole liked his men: handsome, hopefully with nice tits, begging for him.

Anatole left lovebites over his hip bones too, fingering Tamryn until he came, his come falling onto his stomach. Though he called him a good boy again, he gave him no time to recover, ordering Tam to turn over.

“On your knees, sweetheart. Lift that ass for me, I don’t want you to get your come on the bed, am I clear? I want you to have it as a reminder of what you’re here for.”

As Tamryn got on his hands and knees, he thought Anatole was going to be the death of him. Anatole didn’t take long getting his dick and his harness, but anticipation made Tamryn hyper-aware of every sound he made.

“You look good like this, sweetheart,” Antole said, positioning himself behind Tam. He felt his clicked cock against him, moaning as Anatole slowly pushed in.

Once it was fully inside, he said: “But you know how you’d look even better?”

Tamryn didn’t get to verbalise a reply before he felt Anatole’s hand on his back, shoving his upper torso into the mattress as he began fucking him. “Like this.”

That they weren’t attending the Masquerade didn’t mean they couldn’t bring it home.

#the arcana lemon #lemon #my writing #tamnana #tamryn #aelius anatole #vesuviaafterdark #city of delights #midsummer masquerade

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zmayadw · 3 years

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Hello to all :)

My free time is so limited lately, I barely have any time for wtiting :( And it's so frustrating!

Anyway, here is the next part of the story.

Wish you all a nice and relaxing weekend! :)

CALL OF THE RAVEN

PART 23

Mayas POV

In the following days the calls stopped. Nothing was happening actually, and I didn't know what to think of it. Was that a good thing? Or was there something worse coming my way? I did feel a bit calmer with the calls gone, but that sinister feeling was still much present with me. Jake left when we woke up, saying he has to go do something, grinning at me before leaving. He seemed less worried too about everything, but I had a feeling something else was bothering him. I dont know how long it passed, I was lost in my work, when he entered the room, smiling at me from the door „Right where I left you.“ „Hey you.“ I said smiling back, taking my headphones down. „What you been up to?“ „Wouldn't you want to know.“ He grinned „Come on, get up and get dressed.“ „Oh god, not that again.“ I said desperatly, and he laughed. „Dont worry, nothing happened. Just do it.“ „All right.“ I said, getting up and dressing. „What's this all about?“ I asked curious when I was done, and he just walked to the doors, opening them „You'll see.“ „Ok, mister 'oh-so-mysterious'.“ I was about to take my phone „No,no, leave it, you dont need it.“ I turned surprised to him „All right, now I really want to know what's this all about.“ I said, crossing my hands at my chest. He rolled his eyes, walking to me. He gave me a quick kiss, taking my hand pulling me towards the door „Just trust me, and come on already.“

Leaving the motel, Jake lead me to the car, popping the trunk. He took out the blanket handing it to me, and a big paper bag filled with stuff, I couldn't see with what exactly. He closed the trunk, and started walking towards the woods. He turned to me when he realized I was still standing confused by the car. „Coming?“ he grinned at me. I raised my eyebrow „To the woods?“ He smirked „Awww, dont be scared, angel, I'll hold your hand.“ He winked and continued. When did he get so cocky? I quickly followed after him, and he grinned as I catched up with him, holding his hand out for me. I stuck my tongue at him, he just shook his head and smiled. „Whats in the bag?“ I asked after we walked for a while, trying to peep in it. He just shifted it under his other hand „You'll see.“ „Fine, I wont ask anything anymore.“ I said making a pouty face. He looked sideway at me „That face wont work on me, I'm still not telling you anything.“ „Come on, thats not fair.“ I protested, but he just laughed again „Can't you just be patient a little?“ „I can“ I said „I'm just too curious of a person.“ I grinned. „You do know what they say of 'curiosity' and the 'cat'?“ he said teasingly to me. „Ah, but the cat has nine lives.“ I countered and grinned again. „And besides“ I said „ going for a movie, or dinner would be less..uncomfortable, then wandering through the woods.“ He looked at me grinning „ Admit it, you just desperatly want to see that new movie with Chris Hemsworth.“ I laughed „I'm surprised you actually know what's playing in the cinema at the moment.“ I said teasingly. „Why so surprised? I do watch movies.“ He said and grinned. „Good to know your whole world doesn't revolve arround computers.“ I said grinning back at him. „Oh, I can assure you it doesnt.“ He said. „But, yes, computers are my biggest passion for sure, been that way since I was a kid.“ I was taken aback by his words, he never before said anything remotely similar, so I just stared at him. He turned to me „Why are you looking at me like that?“ „Like what?“ I asked, still surprised. „So astonished.“ „Well, to be honest“ I said „Because I never heard you talk like this before. About yourself.“ „Well, Maya“ he said and smiled „You never asked me anything about it.“ „And if I did, you would tell me?“ i asked surprised. „Ofcourse.“ He said without hesitation. „Anything I ask, you would answer?“ I asked again and he stopped walking, turning to me. „Look, I know you are curious, and yes, you can ask me anything. I might decide not to answer some questions, but it wont mean I dont trust you or anything like that. So, please, just keep that in mind, all right?“ I just looked at him for a moment. „All right.“ I said finaly. „Good.“ He said and continued walking. „Can you tell me now where are you taking me?“ I asked teasingly and grinned coming beside him. He looked at me and groaned „Dont make me regret this.“

After walking for a while longer, we finaly emerged from the woods, and I stopped and stared at the sight in front of me, smile widening on my face. The Blackwater lake was even more beautiful seeing it with my own eyes. The sun was out, making the color of the water silvery, soft wind blowing making the ripples on the surface sparkle like diamonds. The woods surrounding the lake and the singing of birds gave a serene atmosphere to it. It was amazing, so I just closed my eyes, the sun warm on my face, making a mental picture of it in my mind. I opened my eyes, turning to Jake. He was looking at me with a smile, his phone in his hand. „Did you just take a picture of me?“ I asked, walking towards him. „Yes I did.“ He said, and I groaned desperatly „Ugh, delete it, please, I turn out terrible on pictures.“ He smiled, his eyes sparkling „Nonsence, you looked beautiful just now.“ I blushed a bit, I was never good at receiving compliments. „I think the sun is making you delusional, maybe I should be the judge of it.“ I said grinning. He laughed „I'm not showing you the picture, you will just delete it without looking at it.“ „Fine“ I said, squinting my eyes at him „I'll just do it while you sleep.“ „Ha! Good luck with breaking my password first.“ He grinned at me. I pouted my lips „And its not fair, why do you have your phone, but I couldnt take mine? I like to take pictures, too!“ He smiled, hugging me arround my waist „Because, you are here with me, and nothing can happen to you, so you dont need your phone for me to be at peace.“ He leaned and kissed me softly. „And besides“ he said and smiled „I wanted to have you all for myself, with no distractions.“ I smiled. „But, what if something happens to you, and I have to call for help?“ I said all serious. „You have to tell me your password, it's for your own protection.“ I grinned, and he sighed and shook his head „You so ruined the moment.“ He said, taking the blanket from me, spreading it on the ground. „Oh, I'm sorry, don't be cross at me.“ I said, feeling guilty for it. „I'll make it up to you.“ I said, as we both sat down. He streched on the blanket, leaning back on his elbows „Hmm, I dont know, you would have to come up with something really good.“ „Something really good..“ I said toughtfully. „What could that be..“ I said, biting at my lower lip, my other hand playing teasingly with the zipper of his hoodie. His breathing got heavier, and I leaned slowly to him, stopping so close, my lips barely brushing his. „How am I doing so far?“ I breathed it out almost whispering, looking him in the eyes. He swallowed hard „Pretty damn good.“ I smiled, kissing him softly and unzipping his hoodie. His hands wrapped arround me, and he deepened the kiss, laying me on my back. He broke the kiss after a moment, his eyes sparkling „And you are lucky, because I just cant resist you.“

Jakes POV

„Are you really asking me that?“ I said laughing. She was laying with her head on my stomach, eyes closed, and I played with her hair. She turned to me „Yes.“ She grinned „Why? Are you embarrassed to give me an honest answer?“ I chuckled „No, but are you sure you want to hear the honest answer?“ I raised my eyebrow „I was pretty wild when I was younger.“ „Ugh“ she groaned „Alrighty, next question.“ I laughed again „Come one, dont tell me you wer and 'angel' back then?“ She blushed a bit, averting her look from me. „All right, all right, I said next question.“ She asked after a moment „Ok, where did you grew up?“ Ah, here we go, I thought, personal questions, but I didnt mind, I was expecting it. „Well,not that far from here, actually. My mom moved back with my grandma when she found out she was pregnant.“ „You said before, Hannah and Lily are the only family you have left, so I persume she passed?“ she asked. „Yes, when I was 12.“ „Oh, im sorry to hear that.“ She said softly. „Its fine.“ I said. She was silent for a while „Do you think your life would turn out differently if she was still alive?“ „I dont know“ I answered honestly after a moment. „I was always fascinated by computers and all this 'hacking' stuff, so I can't really know if something would end up different.“ „What was she like?“ she asked then. I was silent for a moment, memories coming back. „I'm sorry if its too personal.“ She said to me. „No, it's all right.“ I smiled at her. „She was amazing. She was firm, but soft when needed, she always stood her ground. She was tough on me, but showed me nothing but love.“ It was strange for me talking about my mom to someone, but it felt nice. I was amazed how easily it was for me to say all this to her. And she was genuinely interested, intensly listening to my every word. I smiled again „She would always say to me 'Jakey, my boy, always listen to your heart, not your head, no matter what. The heart knows best.'“ „It sounds to me like she was a wonderful person, and a great mom.“ She said to me, smiling softly. „She was.“ I said smiling back at her. „She would have liked you very much.“ „Wish I could have met her.“ She said and smiled. Her face got serious „What happened to her, if you don't mind me asking?“ „I dont mind“ I said. „She got sick, it was getting worse fast, and she passed some months after we found out about it.“ She turned, staring at the sky. „Its not fair.“ She said after a moment. „What isn't?“ I asked. She turned to me „That good people like that leave so soon.“ Her eyes got watery so she turned her head away, and my heart skipped a beat. I turned her head back to face me, her eyes glazed. „Dont get sad on me now.“ I said smiling softly at her, tucking the loose hair behind her ear. „I'm sorry“ she said, giving me a small smile „I'm soft on things like that.“ I just stared at her. Her emotions surprised me once more, her sadness was so real, so sincere, I was amazed. And I knew, right here, right at this moment, my heart belongs to her forever. I knew I was in love. I pulled her to me, kissing her gently. „You really are an angel.“ I said to her, and she blushed a bit before smiling. „Dont praise me, or you might end up disappointed.“ „Thats not possible.“ I said kissing her once more. She smiled again before moving to lay back. „What happened after she passed? Did you stay with your grandma?“ she asked. „Yes“ I said „Until I was 18, then I left.“ „Where to?“ „Well, I found a group of people who shared my interests, so I joined them. I was with them for quite long, and learned much from them.“ „I'm sensing a 'but' here.“ She said and I smiled at her „You are right.“ I said. „But, they became a bit too extreem for my taste, so I moved on.“ „So you joined someone else?“ she asked. „No, I was on my own from then. I did meet some new people after it, but never joined any groups.“ „What about friends?“ she asked serious. I laughed „Yes, angel, I do have friends. Some of them are really good friends of mine, the ones I trust.“ „Thats good to hear.“ She grinned „Maybe I will meet them one day.“ „Hm, if

you stick with me long enough, maybe.“ I said and winked. She smiled, before getting serious again. „How did you find out about Hannah and Lily?“ I sighed „Well, I didnt get along well with my grandma after my mom passed, so after I left I havent really seen or heard from her much. I found out later some lawyer was trying to contact me when she passed, so I met with him.“ „What happened?“ she asked curious. „He told me my grandma left everything to me, since there wasnt any other beneficiary. So I went back, collected important stuff, and sold the house. It wasnt really till few years back, when I went through some old stuff from my mom that I found out about them.“ She turned to me „It must have been hard finding out like that.“ „It was.“ I admitted. „I was really angry at first, at my mom, and my grandma, for not telling me anything about it. It took me a while to cope with it.“ „What happened then?“ „Well, the rest you actually know.“ She looked puzzled at me. I sighed „After I cooled of, I decided to contact Hannah. I was curious. At the same time, thats when i ended up in trouble. And all the other things that happened. So there, that's it basicly, now you know the whole story.“ „All right“ she said „But, can you tell me anything about the trouble you got in? Or why you are so mysterious about the 'people' you do things for now?“ „I had a hunch you will ask that eventually.“ I said. „Can you blame me?“ she asked „It worries me. If I knew more of it, I might get calmer a bit.“ She looked so intensly at me, I knew I had to tell her at least something. „All right“ I said „I wont go into much details, and I want you to promise me, you won't ask anything more then what I'm gonna tell you about it after. Can you do that?“ She just looked at me for a while. „All right.“ She siad finaly. „And I need one more promise from you.“ „No, I won't tell anyone about what you will tell me.“ She grinned. „That's no it.“ I said, and her face got serious and worried. „Then what?“ I sighed „You have to promise me, you won't feel guilty after I tell you this.“ „Guilty? Me?“ she asked surprised. „Why would I? What's it got to do with me?“ „Do you want to know or not?“ I asked. „Ofcourse!“ she exclimed „Now even more then before.“ „Then I'm serious, Maya. No guilty feelings, ok?“ „Ok,ok, I promise.“ She said, but I knew it will affect her eitherway. „All right.“ I said, taking a deep breath. „I got a hold of some information, something that I wasnt suppose to find. And I got caught doing it. So thats when all this shit started happening. I had to move constantly, as you know already. I kept what I found, hoping one day that information will serve as my ticket out of anything if needed.“ „Ok, that doesn't sound that bad so far.“ She said. „Well, my plans changed abruptly.“ I said, looking for the right words to continue this. „Why?“ she asked. I had no idead how else to say this, so I just did. „You.“ „Me?“ she asked, and I just nodded. She didn't say anything for a while. „But, what I have to do wit...“ she fel silent. I could see on her face her mind was racing, connecting the dots. „No...“ she breathed it out after a moment. „Maya...remember what you promised me.“ I said, raising my eyebrow at her. „But..no.. it can't...“ she stuttered. She got in sitting position, hugging her legs. „Me coming here, to Duskwood..you had to do something you didn't plan on, right?“ „Something like that, yes.“ I answered her honestly. „Oh, god.“ She said desperately „I completely messed your plans, didnt I? I ruined everything for you.“ She lovered her head on her knees. „Hey, look at me.“ I told her, and she slowly lifted her head. I moved to her, sitting also. „I don't blame you for anything. It was my decision. I wouldn't do anything differently, belive me.“ „But, because of me, things got even more complicated for you, again.“ I smiled „I don't care.“ „How can you say that?“ she asked in disbelief. „If it means I can be with you, I really don't care.“ She looked at me for a moment, suddenly throwing herself at me, hugging me tight. „I am so sorry for

everything I've put you through.“ She said. I hugged her back even tighter „Nothing to be sorry about, angel. “ She held me tight for a moment more before moving away „How can you still call me that, after everything?“ I smiled, taking her hand „Because nothing changed.“ I leaned, kissing her softly. „Thank you. I really dont know how you can still put up with me, when all I ever did was complicate things for you.“ she said a bit gloomy, lowering her head. „Don't you ever think like that.“ I said, and she looked back at me. „I'm right where I want to be. It's all that I ever wanted since I met you, to be with you. And nothing will change that, ever.“ She just looked at me, her eyes getting teary. She hugged me again, burrying her head to my neck „I really don't deserve you.“ she said. I smiled, wrapping my hands arround her. She wasn't even aware of how much my life changed for better because of her. „Oh, I'm pretty sure it's the other way arround, angel.“ She lifted her head „ You just say that to make me feel better.“ „No, I really mean it.“ I said. „ But if it makes you feel better, then that's just a bonus.“ I grinned at her. She laughed, shaking her head „You're impossible.“ „Hey, don't steal my line!“ I said teasingly. She laughed „Wait, I tought your line was ' You're amazing '.“ „It is.“ I said. She grinned „Then this one is mine now, you can't have both!“ I laughed „Fine, fine, you can have it.“ She got serious again „Ok, joking aside, tell me just one more thing, please. The people you 'work' for now, are they the ones you took the information from?“ „Oh, god, thankfully not.“ I said. „Then who are they?“ „That, unfortunately, I can't tell you. For now, at least.“ „All right“ she said „I won't ask more about it, I said so. But, can you at least tell me, for my peace of mind, what you do now, is it something you detest?“ She actually got me thingking with this question. „Hm, no, definitely not.“ I said after a moment. „I still do what I'm good at, just in a way I'm not used to. I don't know how to explain it better without telling you something I shouldn't.“ She was silent for a while. „Thank you.“ she said „For telling me all this.“ I smiled „No need to thank me, angel. Did you at least get you curiousity satisfied now?“ „Oh, I got more then I expected.“ She said gravely. I chuckled „Well, be careful what you wish for next time.“ I said teasingly. „Mhm, I definatly will.“ She said and laughed. „Well, I do have just one more question.“ „You do?“ I asked, raising my eyebrow. „Yes.“ She said all serious. „Can I see what's in that bag finaly?!“ she grinned, and I shook my head. „What?“ she protested „I'm hoping you have something to drink in there, I'm thirsty as hell.“ I laughed handing her the bag „I'm sure you'll find something to your taste in there.“ „Ohmygosh“ she squealed out checking the bag „You had all this stuff in here, and you let me starve and be thirsty all this time!“ I chuckled „The bag was here all this time, you could just take it.“ I said, reaching in the bag to take a bottle of water myself. She slapped my hand „Hey, what's that for?“ „Wait for your turn.“ She said serious. „That's what you get for keeping things from me.“ „Aww, don't be like that, angel. At least give me the water so I don't dehydrate, I think I deserve that much.“ I said trying to be dramatic and act hurt. She looked at me for a moment, taking the bottle and handing it to me „Be happy with this. I'll think about if I will share the rest with you.. Jakey.“ I laughed „Thanks. And please, don't call me that“ I groaned pleadingly „I never liked it, anyway.“ She grinned „Oh, I'm SO gonna use it just to annoy you from now on.“

Mayas POV

The sun was slowly starting to settle down. I stared at the calming water of the lake, thoughtfully licking my fingers from the melted chocolate we just finished. My mind was still processing all that Jake told me. Even though he left out some things, I learned a lot about him. And I was happy he did it, and amazed how open he was with me, I felt so much closer to him now. My feelings for him got even stronger, I liked him even more now. Liked...is that the right word to describe how I feel? I knew better. A smile forming on its own on my lips, and the warm feeling spreading throuhg me from just the tought of it was a clear sign – I was in love. „What's on your mind?“ he asked me, wrapping his hands arround me from behind. I smiled and leaned back against him „ I was just thinking, how I wish this day could last a bit longer.“ He smiled „Glad you liked my little surprise.“ „Oh, I loved it, belive me. The whole day was like a beautiful dream.“ I said and smiled. But the smile slowly vanished from my face. „Unfortunately, reality is hitting back at me like a wrecking ball.“ He sighed „I'm sorry, angel. I wish things wer different, I really do.“ „I wish that, too.“ I said. I turned my head to look at him „But, I'm lucky I don't have to go through it alone. I'm glad you're with me.“ He looked at me, his gaze determined, the reflection form the lakes grey water in his eyes giving that determination even more intensity „As long as I breathe, and as long as you let me, I will always be here for you. You will never be alone.“ I just stared at him, what he said sent tingles all over my skin, and before I knew, the words just left me. „I love you.“ I tensed and my eyes widened, as the realization of what I said hit me. He just looked at me. I got up sitting, turning to him. „Ok, ok, don't freak out on me now.“ I said. „But it's true, I do love you.“ My heart was beating fast, and the words just continue to leave me. „I know it's crazy, right?! We barely know each other, but I can't deny how I feel.“ I was beginning to sound a bit histerical by now. I dared not to look at him, I was affraid what I might see on his face, so I lowered my head, staring at my hands. „It's just.. I don't know.. Just feels right, you and me, being together.“ I was talking fast, scared what he might say if I stop. „It was like my life was missing something, and then you came along. You wer that one missing puzzle piece in it, and now the picture is complete.“ My voice started cracking. „Dont worry, I dont expect from you to say it back. I mean, who could blame you if you don't. I completely jumped you just now with it.“ My hands started to shake, and I clasped them, nervously rubbing them together, feeling my palms sweat more with every passing second. I stood up, hoping my legs won't betray me from how nervous and terrified I felt. I took a few steps towards the lake, a knot forming in my throath. What have I done - I tought to myself desperatly. „You know what, just forget it“ I started, not turning arround, staring at the lake „ Just forget everything I just said. I take it all back. Just pre...“ „Don't you dare!“ I was cut mid sentence by him, and I turned arround. He was already on his feet. „What?“ I asked bewildered. „You can't take it back.“ He said, coming towards me. „Don't take it back.“ he said stopping in front of me, his voice trembling a bit. „Don't, because...“ he started, his eyes glistening „Because, I love you, too.“ I gasped, and just stared at him, as the sound of my heart beating frantically echoed louder and lounder in my ears. “From the moment you entered my life, I knew things will change. You made my head spin. A complete stranger.“ He said, and I just continued to stare at him. „ But I was so drawn to you, I couldn't think of anything but you. It was driving me insane, I could barely function normal!“ He paused for a moment, catching his breath. „ And you wer, you are, the best thing that ever happened to me. You changed my life for better. With you, I finaly feel alive again.“ He was looking so intensly at me, his eyes

glowing. „ And I can't find the right words to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you .“ My head started to spin, and I threw my hands arround his neck, feeling as if the earth beneth my feet was dissapearing. But it was my own feet giving up on me, I didn't realize I was holding my breath all this time. His hands quickly wrapped arround me, pulling me tightly to him. „You all right there, angel?“ he asked, not taking his eyes off of mine. „Im fine.“ I said after a moment, my feet steady again, air coming back to my lungs. „Good.“ He said rising his eyebrow „So, you won't faint or something if I kiss you now?“ I smiled, shaking my head „Oh, shush it, and just kiss me already.“

As we walked hand in hand back to the motel, I couldn't shake off the goofy grin from my face. This day turned out to be perfect. I was happy, and nothing, nor anyone could change that. Whatever happens from now on, I knew I will be all right, as long as I have him by my side.

How little did I know.

#duskwood #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood jake x mc

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jaehyunspeachparty · 4 years

Text

1.15 Christmas special

warnings: This story contains content that could be problematic for one or the other. Among other things, the story may contain content about sex, rape, late pregnancy, relationship with a large age difference, and others. Just because it's in the warnings doesn't mean these topics will appear, but they will definitely be covered in the story. The content of the story is fixed and doesn’t change. If you don't feel comfortable with these topics, then it's okay if you don't read the story. I just write down my ideas here and I just enjoy writing about life. The fact that some things in life are not rational or weird for some people is also part of it.

Miga opened her eyes and saw how Hyunjin was still asleep. She had stayed in the dorm that night ... the night before Christmas. Hyunjin invited her to watch Christmas movies and at some point she fell asleep on his shoulder. Not much has happened between the two. A couple of kisses, but everything else was innocent. She was still torn between him and Jaemin. But since the last time, she thought, that Jaemin had written her off. And she trusted Hyunjin, she had told him everything, he knows what she had to go through and he was patient. It was all a new experience for Miga. Men have never been so patient with her, especially when it comes to sex. But Hyunjin and Jaemin made no demands of her. Jaemin in particular always rejected her inquiries. Miga looked at the clock and was startled. It was 11 o'clock in the morning and she had to get home quickly because it was Christmas today. "Hyunjin ... I have to go." She shook him gently and then sat up. "Noooo ..." He turned to the side and hugged her hip. Miga had to smile and she stroked his hair. "It's Christmas. I have to go to my family." Miga kissed his head and then got up. His other members were still asleep or were also away to visit their families. "You're not from Seoul. Aren't you going to see your family?" Miga then asked and got dressed. "No ..." Hyunjin bowed his head and suddenly became very serious. Miga looked at him surprised and asked why he was hiding something from her. But Hyunjin thought again that she told him so much and he can now show a part of him to her. "My mum and sister died when I was very young." He didn't like to talk about it and didn't want that she feels sorry for him either, so hardly anyone knew that about him. "That means you don't have a family?", Miga asked worried and she couldn't imagine what it is like. After all, she had always lived in a big house with three brothers. "I have a father, but he's ... sick." Hyunjin grabbed his forehead and struggled with himself. "Hey, would you like to celebrate with us. If I explain that to Mum, she'll be glad to have you here." Miga sat down next to Hyunjin and looked at him worriedly. "And your father? Your offer is very sweet, but it's really okay." Hyunjin kissed her gently and smiled. "Okay, but call me when you're feeling lonely." She stroked his chest and Hyunjin nodded. She looked at him and he suddenly started smiling. "What is?", She asked and then Hyunjin pulled her back to her and kissed her. "I can't believe that you are here, that you are talking to me ... that you are kissing me." He touches her lips again and he didn't want to let go of her again. "Don't always say that." Miga shook her head and stroked his cheek. "I don't want to go, but Mum and Dad will go nuts if I'm not at home in time." She kissed Hyunjin one more time and then set off.

Sunoh videocalled Chichi who was still in Japan. He missed her more and more every day and he wanted so much to visit her. He was used to seeing her every day, spending time together and suddenly his day was so empty. And he was also worried about Chichi. Over time, he discovered that her roommates were bullying and terrorizing her. Chichi didn't say that, but he already noticed it. But now she was alone and he could talk to her in peace. "I wish you were here," Sunoh said with a sigh and he leaned into bed. "Me too." The girl looked so sad it almost pained Sunoh. And then suddenly she started crying and Sunoh found it so difficult to just watch her and not be able to do anything. "Please don't cry," he said desperately and was torn. "I'm sorry," she looked guilty at the floor and wiped away her tears, but Sunoh didn't want that either. "Chichi ... I just don't want you to be sad." Sunoh's heart was really broken and he wondered when the next flight to Tokyo would be. "Don't worry. You make me happy," she said then and smiled again. Sunoh's heart started beating wildly and he was so close to trying again and admitting his feelings to her. "Chichi ... I've wanted to tell you for a long time that I ..." "SUNOH!" Suddenly his door opened and his two little brothers came into his room and lay down in bed with him. "Haven't you heard of knocking yet?" He asked a little annoyed. "Hello Chichi," said the twins at the same time and grinned cheekily. "Hello Geon, Hello Kiwoo", she said and was happy to see the little ones again. Sunoh rested his head on the blanket and sighed. He wanted so much to confess his feelings to her and someone always intervened.

Later, when Miga returned home, Jaehyun decides to watch a Christmas movie with the children while you cook food for the family. You wanted to have some peace anyway, because you are on the phone with your sisters. "Are you at home?" Miga suddenly received a message from Jaemin. She quickly picked up her phone before her father saw it. "Yeah, I'm watching a Christmas movie with my dad and brothers." She answered him quickly before anyone became curious. "I'm standing in front of your house. Are you coming out for a minute? I have a present for you." Miga was surprised. With Jaemin it was always high and low and she never knew what to expect next. But that was something she found kind of exciting too. "Sooah just wanted to bring something over. I'll go out for a minute," Miga then lied and got up. "We don't press pause," said Kiwoo and grinned cheekily. "We watch the movie every year, I think I know what happens next." Miga rolled her eyes and then walked away quickly. She quickly put on her shoes and her coat and left the house. She immediately saw his car, which was black and elegant, and the windows were also tinted so that you couldn't tell who was inside. Jaemin was pretty famous, after all, and wanted privacy too. Miga then quickly opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. Jaemin looked good. His hair was styled, he was wearing a white shirt and his top button was open. "Hey," she said gently and Jaemin looked at her. "Hey," he greeted her quietly and turned to the side. He was so stunned from her. She looked so good and Jaemin found it harder and harder to resist her. The age difference was difficult, but why she was Jaehyun's daughter too? It was just too much. But she was perfect for him. He bit his lip and tried to keep his wits about it. "I didn't know you had anything for me." Miga grinned and leaned her head against the brown leather of the seat. You could see how Jaemin was struggling inside, he thought day and night whether he should go to her, after all there was always the danger that Jaehyun could see him. "I saw it and thought it is perfect for you." He suddenly took out a turquoise box and handed it to her. Miga accepted it in disbelief, because she saw immediately that this was something from Tiffanys. "Jaemin this is ..." Words couldn't help her and she hoped it was just a key fob or something. "If you don't like it, it's not a problem," he said uncertainly and Miga first pulled down the white ribbon and opened the box. And when she looked at the inside, she could hardly believe it all. It was a bracelet made of pure diamonds. The setting was gold, in the middle was a diamond flower and everything was surrounded with further diamonds. Miga didn't even want to imagine how much it cost. "Jaemin this is ..." She still had no words. "Don't you like it?", Jaemin asked immediately concerned and Miga shook her head. "It is wonderful." She could hardly take her eyes off the diamonds. She had worn expensive things before, for example for a photo shoot, but she had never owned anything so expensive. "I'm glad you like it." Jaemin looked relieved and watched her reaction closely. "But Jaemin, that's way too much." Miga lowered the box and now looked at Jaemin. "It suits you and that is the most important thing," he said very modestly, pretending it was a cheap plastic bracelet. "Jaemin I didn't know ... I have nothing for you now." Miga felt incredibly bad. After what had happened, she thought that he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. But at that moment he leaned forward to her and kissed her. She was surprised, because she hadn't expected it anymore, but she enjoyed it. Jaemin's kiss was so passionate, so intense. She felt his tongue and his did a wild dance with hers. Jaemin kissed her like he was making up for the days when he couldn't kiss her. She closed her eyes and felt his hand come to rest on her hip so he could pull her closer to him. Unfortunately, car seats weren't ideal for being that close. But Jaemin was kind of happy about it too. Over time, it became harder and harder for him to resist her, especially since they also made a drama together. "You are the best present for me," he then whispered and almost couldn't believe how open he was with his feelings. Miga looked at him with big eyes and she was so happy inside that he felt that way. She was about to say something, but suddenly Jaemin's phone rang. He made a short phone call and when he was finished he sighed and turned to Miga. "I have to go. My mum is waiting." He then smiled gently and stroked Miga's hand. "I should go before whoever wonders where I am." Miga smiled and enjoyed his touch. And just before she got out he pulled her to him again and kissed her goodbye. Completely in a trance, she got out of the car when she suddenly saw you. You went outside to throw away the trash and you knew this car. "Was that Jaemin?" You ask your daughter in surprise. "Uh ... huh? In the car? So yeah, that was Jaemin." Miga stammered these words to herself and didn't quite know how to face you. "What did he want?" You ask further, because it all seemed strange to you. "I still had to sign something about the script," Miga lied and hoped that you wouldn't ask any further questions. "Couldn't your father bring you that?" You ask further. "Um, no. Jaemin saw the producer today and quickly brought the document over." Miga got hot because she doesn't like to lie to you. You've always had an open and honest relationship, but everything has been difficult between you for a few weeks. "Aha", you don't quite believe her, but now there was no point in forcing her to tell the truth. Still, you decide to keep an eye on the whole thing. Miga then quickly ran to her room, lay down on the bed and looked at the diamond bracelet. It looked so elegant and so classy. She couldn't believe Jaemin gave her something so expensive. She was interested in how much it had cost, so she did a little research on the Internet. It wasn't long before she found it on the Tiffany website. The diamonds were 18 carats and cost a total of KRW 25,300,000. Miga stared at the piece of jewelry and suddenly no longer knew what to think. You may have thought it cost KRW 1,700,000. But that was insane. How could she have accepted that?

providentia masterlist

daddy jaehyun masterlist

#jaehyun #daddy jaehyun #jaemin #jaemin fluff #hyunjin #jaehyun jung #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #nct #nct u #nct 127 #nct 2020 #nct fluff #nct 127 fluff #nct 2020 fluff

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jungshookz · 5 years

Note

so did ballet jimin and y/n get any... closer on valentines day?? I know that you said you would never write a full fic on them but we the audience would like to see them finally get together or a smut 😔🥺

y/n can barely look jimin in the eye right now so i wouldn’t expect any sMUT any time soon but here’s a suRPRISE DRABBLE-

➺ pairing; park jimin x reader

➺ genre; balletteacher!jiminiverse!!! fluff :-)

➺ wordcount: 1.6k

➺ what to expect; just because he’s single doesn’t mean he has to be so bitter on a day that’s dedicated to expressing your love for your significant other.

➺ readings: part one; part two

➺ note; every time i tell myself the balletteacher!jimin storyline isn’t going anywhere my brain spazzes and couGhs out another chunk of the story so i’m retracting my statement of ‘i’m never going to give them a fic’ and replacing that with ‘idk????? mAYBE????? but IDK!!!!!! probably not but also probably yES??’ ok bye please accept this short drabble that’s too long to be a baby drabble

»»————-　♡　————-««

jimin completely forgot about the existence of valentine’s day because:

a) why the hell would he remember it in the first place and

b) there literally is nO point of valentine’s day??

like why can’t you prove your love to your significant other on any other day??? why does it have to be february 14th specifically??

so yeah that’s his general take on valentine’s day

the only good thing to come out of valentine’s day is the next day when all the chocolates and candies go on sale

one of his guilty pleasures are those decadent chocolate-covered strawberries

he thinks there should be a day dedicated to eating chocolate-covered strawberries

now thAT he would celebrate and cancel class for

but valentine’s day?

hAH

nope

basicaLLy you guys usually come in three times a week (monday, wednesday, friday) and valentine’s day just so happened to fall on a friday which, in his defence, is completely out of his control

and yeah he knows that some of you were disappointed to find that he hadn’t cancelled class but he aLso knows that no one’s going to pipe up and argue with him because you’re all terrified of him

with that being said he does feel a teeny bit bad

before class on wednesday he heard a couple girls talking about how they had to cancel their plans with their significant others and how it suCked that they were going to be stuck here dancing all night instead of going to the movies or going to a nice dinner oR getting laid lol

unrelated: he noticed that you didn’t contribute anything to the conversation when everyone was going around sharing what their would-be valentine’s day plans were

either you’re very secretive or you’re single

and he’s hoping it’s the latter

which he thinks is 98% the case because of the incident (“i would 100% love to sit on park jimin’s face because i, y/n y/l/n, am 110% attracted to him.”)

anyways

yeah

he felt a liTTLe bad

just because he’s single doesn’t mean he has to be so bitter on a day that’s dedicated to expressing your love for your significant other

…which is why he bought a dozen single-stemmed roses aNd he tied a little satin bag containing two hershey kisses to each rose

at first he was just going to get everyone red roses but then he thought that thAt was crossing a line of professionalism so then he settled on light pink

to be honest he felt a little silly on the drive to class because he feels like doing this is going to make him seem less authoritative and make you guys leSS scared of him

but it’s fine

he’ll just yell at someone and then his power will fall right back into his hands

“now, i’m well aware that today is valentine’s day.” jimin clears his throat as he sets the basket full of roses down on the ground

he can see all of your eyes flicking in between him and the flowers

“and i know that some of you had plans tonight that had to be cancelled because of class,” jimin continues on and notices you getting up on your tip toes to peek over lisa’s shoulder at the basket

cute :’)

wait what

he means.,,. um,..,

noTHING

“contrary to popular belief, i do have a sympathetic bone in my body.” that gets a chuckle out of some people but everyone shuts up promptly when jimin raises a brow

“so everyone gets a rose and some chocolates from me as a…” jimin pauses and thinks for a second “as an i’m-sorry-happy-valentine’s-day hybrid… gift? i’m also giving you twenty minutes to sit around and… talk… to each other, or… whatever it is you do when i’m not around.”

he clears his throat again

he can see the confusion swimming in everyone’s eyes

god

why is being nice so HARD

“what i’m saying is that today is… less about dancing - we’ll stiLL be dancing i’m not saying that class is cancelled - and more about… i don’t know. being… together? i guess?” he reaches up to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly

…

coughs

“you know what, just- just talk amongst yourselves while i hand these friggin flowers out. dispErse.” jimin flicks his wrist and everyone immediately relaxes from the stiff first position you have to stay in when jimin’s talking

“i’m not gonna lie, that was painful to watch.” wendy mutters under her breath and you stifle a giggle

“aw, give him a break, he’s trying to be nice for once!” ailee teases as a couple of you get settled on the ground

it is actually really nice of him to do this

the nicest thing he’s ever done for the class was that one time he extended the mid-class break by one minute

you’re barely paying attention to the conversation because your eyes keep wandering over to jimin as he hands out the flowers to everyone

most of the girls are getting all blushy and giggly before they’re curtseying to him

as he approaches your group you scramble up from the floor before you get the chance to fix one of your leg warmers (they’re heaRT patterned!!!!!) so now one is pulled up the other one is still pushed down

but it’s too late to fix it because mr park is here so

“thank you, mr park.” seulgi offers him what yoU think are painfully obvious bedroom eyes and you resist the urge to scoff

of course you can’t call her out on it because then she’s going to say something about how you’re just jealous because you have a crush on him blah blah blah

which you DO but you’re not planning to actually admit that to anyone anytime soon

you’re still trying to get everyone off your back about the incident

right now everyone thinks you only said you had a crush on jimin just to get seulgi to pipe down and you’re just going with that because you can’t imagine the merciless teasing if people find out you actually like jimin

the jokes have died down a little bit but everyone’s going to remember that day for the rest of their lives

like the other day jisoo came to class wearing a new lipstick and you said it was pretty on her and then she proceeded to ask if she was pretty enough for you to want to sit on her face and everyone found that hiLARIOUS

“-i hope you don’t mind, miss y/l/n-“ you straighten up when jimin gets to you

“sir?”

you almost let out a fond sigh when he smiles lightly at you

he’s just so unbelievably handsome

you’re the last in line and everyone else is (as instructed) talking amongst themselves anD enjoying their chocolates

“there weren’t enough pink roses in the store…” jimin trails off and you let your eyes drop for a split second

well

that’s okay!

it’s the thought that counts

you try to hide your disappointment but jimin notices the way your shoulders droop just a tiny bit

“which is why i got you a lavender one. i know it’s not a traditional colour, but…” jimin presents you with the baby purple rose and you feel your entire boDy spring back to life

suddenly you feel your cheeks tingling with heat and your heart starts to pound in your chest as you accept the rose from him

“it’s very pretty, mr park. thank you.” you smile politely and give it a sniff

roses always smell so goOd

“ah- uh, yes. you’re welcome.”

“happy valentine’s day, mr park.” you blurt out before you can stop yourself and your eyes widen a little bit

oops

was that inappropriate??

because it felt inappropriate even though today is literally valentine’s day

and it looks like jimin wasn’t expecting that either considering the slight flush on his face

you’re about to start apologising profuSELY and you’re [this] close to returning the rose before he-

“…happy valentine’s day, miss y/l/n.” he smiles fondly and falters for a second before nodding once and walking off

“god, you can tell these are the expensive roses, too.” seulgi sighs as she gives her flower another heArty whiff

“ooh, i found it!” jisoo raises her phone and everyone turns to look at her

class ended ten minutes ago and everyone’s packing up now and wendy was wondering what light pink roses represented just out of curiosity so jisoo volunteered to look it up

“associated with gentleness and admiration, light pink roses lets the receiver know that they are a pleasure to behold – an indication of joy. light pink roses can also be used to express sympathy and saying thank you.” everyone immediately bursts into coos of adoration

“oh my god, he’s so sweet…”

“i think i’m, like, actually in love with him!”

“when he handed me my rose i actually considered breaking up with my boyfriend-“

“oh my god sAME-“

you make sure your rose is tucked safely away in your duffle bag before you pull your phone out

time to do your oWn google searching

okay

here it is

‘the lavender rose is often a sign of enchantment and love at first sight. those who have been enraptured by feelings of love and adoration have used lavender roses to express their romantic feelings and intentions.’

you swallow thickly as you feel your heart flutter in your chest

oh boy

(jimin just hopes you bought his excuse)

(of couRSE the store didn’t run out of light pink roses)

help me help you make your wishes come tru (aka send me a request)

requested drabbles masterlist

1K notes · View notes

dfroza · 1 year

Text

A conservation work

“caretakers of the mysteries of God”

And a question mark (?)

Today’s reading of the Scriptures from the New Testament is the 4th chapter of the letter of 1st Corinthians:

The Letter of 1st Corinthians, Chapter 4 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 5th chapter of the book of Jeremiah:

Eternal One: Roam the streets of Jerusalem, and tell Me what you see, Jeremiah.

See if you can find anything good happening anywhere.

Look in the marketplaces and open spaces of the city.

If you can find just one honest person who lives according to My ways,

I’ll spare the city of this horror.

I hear them making oaths in My name. “As the Eternal lives,” they say.

But they know the oaths are not true.

Jeremiah: O Eternal One, aren’t You looking for truth and integrity?

You struck them, but they did not flinch.

You destroyed them, but they did not yield to Your correction.

They wouldn’t change their ways.

They have set their stony faces against You—

defiant and determined, refusing to repent.

And I thought to myself, “How could they know any better?

They are poor and senseless people, unfamiliar with the ways of the Eternal,

Unaware of what their God requires.

So I will go to their leaders and share what I see.

They will do the right thing because they know the Eternal’s ways.

Surely, they will do what their God requires.”

But to a person, I was wrong; leaders were no different;

They, too, had broken the yoke, burst the bonds,

and pulled away from God’s guidance and correction.

Therefore, from the forest, a lion will strike.

From the desert, a wolf will pounce and destroy.

And from the shadows, a leopard now stalks their villages,

waiting to tear apart any who dare wander outside.

Such is the fate of all who fall away,

for their rebellion is great; their sins are many.

Eternal One (to His people): How can I forgive what you’ve done?

You have passed on your legacy of rebellion to your children who also rejected Me.

They have made unholy oaths in the names of so-called gods.

Why? I have fed them till they were full, and still they wanted more.

So they betrayed Me with their adultery,

trooping off to worship idols, filling up the houses of prostitutes.

They have everything they need, and still they want more.

Like lusty stallions, they call for each other’s mate.

Should I not punish them for these atrocities?

Against this nation, should I not avenge Myself?

(to His people’s enemies) Walk through the rows in her vineyards, and destroy them.

But do not destroy them completely.

Lop off the branches,

for they do not belong to Me, the Eternal.

Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have betrayed Me.

They spew lies about the Eternal that mock My sovereign power.

They have said, “Nothing will happen! God will not hurt us!

All this talk of war and famine is just talk.

As for the prophets, they are full of hot air;

the word of God is not in them;

Let their words of doom fall on them.”

The Eternal One, Commander of heavenly armies, has this to say:

Eternal One (to Jeremiah): Because this is the way they speak,

I am going to turn My words in your mouth into a fire,

A fire that will consume these people; they are nothing but kindling for My fury.

(to His people) O house of Israel, I am stirring up a distant nation to march against you.

They are an enduring people from ancient times.

The language they speak is unknown to you;

you will not understand them.

Their quiver is like a gaping grave, full of death.

They are all mighty warriors.

They will devour your harvest and your food.

They will devour your sons and daughters.

They will devour your livestock, flocks, and herds.

They will devour your vineyards and orchards.

They will wield their swords

and cut down the fortified cities you think are so safe.

(to Jeremiah) But even then, I will not destroy your people completely. So when they ask you, “Why has the Eternal done this to us? Why would our one True God treat us this way?” remind them and speak to them My words: “Because you have rejected Me and bowed down to foreign gods in a land that was yours, now you will bow down to a foreign people in a land that is not yours.”

Declare My truth to the house of Jacob.

Proclaim it throughout the land of Judah:

Hear Me you foolish, heartless people.

Even with eyes and ears you are still blind and deaf to what is happening.

Do you not realize who I am? Do you not fear Me?

Do you not shake in the presence of the Eternal, the Creator of all things?

It is I who has drawn for all time the boundaries of the sea.

The waves may crash and roar against the sand,

But the waters do not cross the lines I have drawn.

But with stubborn and defiant hearts, this people

ignored Me and left Me for another.

It never occurs to them to say,

“Let us stand in awe of the Eternal our God,

For He sends the rain—both the autumn and the spring rain—

and He brings the harvest at just the right time year after year.”

It is your sins that hold back the rain.

It is your rebellion that keeps good things from happening to you.

Lurking among My own people are the wicked

who watch and wait, preying on the less fortunate.

Like hunters who set traps for birds,

they ensnare people for their own benefit.

Like a cage full of noisy birds, their homes are filled with screeching lies.

This is how they have become so rich and important—because others fell for their lies.

This is how they have grown so fat and polished.

Their evil deeds know no boundaries.

They do not take the side of the orphaned to help them prosper.

They do not seek justice for the poor;

Should I not punish them for these atrocities?

Against a nation like this, should I not avenge Myself?

(to His people) Something horrible and appalling has happened

in this land of promise.

The prophets who claim to speak for Me

are nothing more than false prophets, spewing lies and empty predictions.

The priests who were to do My bidding have chosen to go their own way,

and all the while, My people think nothing of it.

They actually prefer it this way,

but when the end comes, when My justices arrives, what will you do then?

The Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 5 (The Voice)

A note from The Voice translation:

As when Abraham pleaded with God over Sodom’s fate (Genesis 18:23–32), God is willing to spare Jerusalem if the prophet can find a single person, honest and true, living there.

A link to my personal reading of the Scriptures for Tuesday, September 5 of 2023 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible along with Today’s Proverbs and Psalms

A post by John Parsons about being spiritual “aliens” in this world:

To be a human being is a paradox, caught between the realms of the infinite and nothingness; a union of endless possibility yet terminating limitation. Man desires to live forever but is conscious that one day he will die. He is an incongruity - a mix of flesh and spirit, saint and sinner, good and evil, angel and animal... A spirituality that demands for us to be always happy, always "up," is therefore dishonest, since the truth is grounded in what is real, and that includes both the miserable and the tragic as well as the joyful and sublime. It's not that there is no difference between good and evil within the heart, but both are part of who we really are. It is the bittersweet struggle, the process of walking as "saintly sinners," "holy fools," "dying immortals," and so on, that defines us. We must embrace our brokenness, in order to become whole; there is no healing without true confession of our need. Therefore we come to the paradoxical cross - the place of utter pain, separation, and death - to find healing, acceptance and life.

Please note this is not to deny that we are to walk by the Spirit and reckon ourselves dead to sin in the Messiah (Rom. 6:11); however, far from being a sign of a lack of spirituality, personal struggle is a sign of its presence.... Only those who are conscious of the tragic, who are haunted by the disparity between what "is" and what "ought" to be; only those who are divided within themselves, torn by inner tension and conflict - those aware that they are both in this world but not of it - sojourners, a long long way from home, homesick for the heavenly city, who inwardly ache and yearn to be fully redeemed - only these, it may be said, are consciously spiritual. After all, the worldling, the self-confident and self-possessed, rarely desire deliverance from themselves and are often content to rationalize the state of their soul; the spiritual person, on the other hand, senses a profound incompletion, a lack, a fracture that runs straight through the core of reality, a breach that needs to be healed...

I would utterly die of despair over myself were it not for the truth that it is not about who I am that is as important as about who He is...

There is great joy, of course, and we are indeed to “rejoice in the Lord always,” but there is also real pain in our lives, and I'd rather be in the company of those mourning the mess they have made of their lives than with someone who thinks they've got it all together... "We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything" (2 Cor. 6:8-10).

[ Hebrew for Christians ]

========

Psalm 41:4 Hebrew reading:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm41-4-jjp.mp3

Hebrew page pdf:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Blessing_Cards/psalm41-4-lesson.pdf

9.4.23 • Facebook

from yesterday’s email by Israel 365:

Whether we’re stuck in traffic, grappling with doubt, or pondering the broader destiny of a nation, Psalm 89 offers timeless wisdom. It teaches us that even when faced with uncertainty, our faith should remain unshakable, reminding us that the end of the road often holds promises that make the journey worth it.

Today’s message (Days of Praise) from the Institute for Creation Research

September 5, 2023

Behold, My Servant

“His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” (Isaiah 52:14)

The last three verses of Isaiah 52 begin the well-known Suffering Servant passage (Isaiah 52:13–53:12). The passage begins “Behold, my servant” (Isaiah 52:13) and uses abrupt topic changes. It says “he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high” (v. 13), then without transition switches to today’s text. This doesn’t read with much flow, but God through Isaiah had a reason.

The sudden change makes the reader pause. The text jolts us into reading it again. Like a preacher who lifts his hands in a moment of passionate conviction, Yahweh wants us to behold His Servant with a double-take.

What’s so important that it deserves a closer look? The next verse tells us: “So shall he sprinkle many nations” (v. 15). The very act of the Servant’s disfigurement is the means by which He will fulfill His purpose to “sprinkle many nations.” The apostle John saw those future nations. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne…saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9-10).

What could He sprinkle that would redeem such a throng? Surely this is Jesus’ blood, “which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He sprinkles His blood over us now. His shed blood is the only way to remove our sins. His death means our life. Now, that’s worth beholding. BDT

A few words about Garden of the Gods from the September / October issue of Acts & Facts by the ICR:

The worldwide extent of this erosional surface baffles uniformitarian scientists. Why is this near-planar boundary found at the same level on every continent? This question remains one of the great mysteries of evolutionary geology.2

The worldwide Flood is the best explanation for the global nature of the Great Unconformity.

And another article about global population after the Flood:

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alma37 · 4 years

Text

A[h]arrowing evening - chapter 2

I kind of promised another chapter if I reached 100 hits on AO3. I am a little behind schedule, but a promise is a promise.

So, here is the chapter 2.

Fandom : Dracula TV 2020

Relationship : Agatha x Dracula

Rating : this one tends to M but not quite

I still have not counted the words.

@hopipollahorror @lady-of-the-wolves @thebeautyofdisorder @festering-queen @feralstare

[let me know if you don’t want to be tagged]

@vampyrsbride @khyruma no idea if you even read fanfiction

Anyone else who didn’t ask to be tagged but still read my shit,

everyone, I hope you’ll enjoy!

As Dracula was settling comfortably for the night, a knock resounded on his door. Curious, he went to open and was startled to find a swaying Agatha in front of him.

- Agatha! To what do I owe the pleasure? Or is it displeasure tonight?

The young vampire waved her hand and slurred :

- I came to aplo... to aloo... ap.., to say I'm sorry.

The older vampire frowned :

- Are you all right?!

- Nether bedder!" She was leaning dangerously sideways until she was supported by the doorframe.

- Did you take something?" Dracula asked, incredulous.

- Noooo!... " But after a short pause, she admitted : "I just drank a drunk!" And she sniggered. Agatha never sniggered.

- Oh my! Are you drunk?!

- Mabee a little bit. But he tasted sooo good!" Agatha mumbled, ecstatic.

- What did I tell you about drinking drunk people?!

- Pff!" The younger vampire scoffed. "I drrink whoeve' I want, Mr 'now-it-all.

Now she was listing dangerously towards Dracula who held her upright by the shoulders.

- Do you understand how much alcohol is needed to affect us?! How much blood did he have left in his alcohol stream?!" He asked drily.

The former nun, leaning on his chest now, snorted.

- Did you just make a joke?

- Perhaps.

- You shooould not do that.

- Why not?

- Because... it makesss you likeable. And I am not sh-supposed to like you. I am sh-supposed to.. to kill you! See? I still have my little arrow with me, just in case.

Agatha brandished in all directions the wooden weapon she got used to carry since Dracula turned her. Weary, the older vampire got hold of it before his younger kin could do some damage to either of them.

- Yes, I can see that. I'll keep it for now, if you don't mind.

Agatha made a gesture, that could either mean she didn't mind or its exact opposite. When she didn't try to take back her weapon, the Count concluded it was the former and returned to their previous conversation :

- Did you just said you liked me?

- Ov course not! Why would I do that?! You mush... must get deaf in your old age.

- I assure you my hearing is quite good. You just said you liked me." He persisted.

- Nooooooooo. No, no, nononono. No..." Another short silence, before :" Maybe. A little. But I am rrrreally d-drunk at the moment, so you'll have to ashk... aks... hashk me again tomorrow. When I sh-slept it off.

- When you slept it off, you are going to wish me to the devil. So...

- Zat's not... jat's... that... Yeah!... Maybe we should sleep it ohf togejer, zen.

- I beg your pardon?!

- Zat way, no dish... no dims... no w... no sc-scoffing at.

- I won't sleep with you when you are drunk, Agatha.

- Why not?! I am vewy ri... very vi... willing at the moment. When will you 'ave anozer chance, do you think?

- God, give me strength!

- Did you..." Agatha sniggered for the second time in the evening. " Did you just take God's name in vain?!" before she dissolved in laughter, at the utter dismay of her older kin, while actually slouching against him.

- That's exactly why." The only thing keeping her up was his arm around her waist. When she finally calmed down, he tried to lead her towards the bedchamber :

- Come now. I am putting you to bed.

But Agatha resisted his pull. Even drunk, she was still a vampire.

- Only if you're coming with me into it.

Dracula towered above her.

- Agatha, don't push me. You know I want you. But not like that.

Far from being cowed, the younger vampire slid along his chest until she was an air breath from his mouth before flashing him a brilliant smile :

- Draaackeyyyy... me loveyyyy. Don't be so meaneyyyyy.

The older vampire snapped :

- That's it. That's enough! I am putting you to bed now.

Lifting her like she was a bag of feather, he threw her on his shoulder. Sober Agatha would have been scandalised. Drunk Agatha, however, sniggered for the third time and purred :

- Ooooh! Me very own cave man!... Cave vampire!" Then, even upside down, she set about removing his shirt from his trousers. Dracula couldn't believe what was happening : a few weeks ago, she almost killed him and now, it appeared that she was intent on undressing him.

- Agatha, stop that!" He admonished her, to no avail.

The younger vampire, apparently, was determined to see him naked before they could reach the bedroom. She was really trying his self-control.

- Agatha, if you don't stop, I am going to do something I have wanted to for a long time and you will be left with only regret and self-loathing in the morning. Is it really what you want?

At last, this made her stop. Dracula couldn't help but release a relieved sigh.

Once they reached the bedroom, Dracula slid her down to the bed. He put a knee on the floor to remove her shoes. Agatha, surprisingly silent, was watching him. When he straightened up to help her lie down, she unexpectedly put her hand under his shirt flat against his abdomen. Dracula fought to keep what was left of his restraint.

-Show me your scar.

- It's gone. You know we don't scar." The older vampire answered while removing gently her hand from his skin. She was warm from the blood, which wasn't helping with his growing lust. Luckily, she didn't resist. But she looked disappointed :

- I wanted to kiss it better, as you asked me. As an apology.

- You did, don't you remember?

- Hum! Yes. But I wanted to do it more... Can I kiss you better somewhere else, then?

- Agatha..." But before truly realising it, he was leaning forward. His restraint was flying through the window.

The kiss started sweetly, a mere brush of the lips, but drunk Agatha was demanding and Dracula, unable to resist, gave her what she asked. Soon they were tangled with each other, the older vampire not sure anymore how many limbs his younger kin had, as she seemed to touch him everywhere at the same time. He finally stopped her hands from their roaming and threaded their fingers, while exploring her mouth with avidity. In all their 123 years of fighting, she had never let down her guard and never allowed him this close. Until tonight. She was exquisite, as always. Warm and soft and... softer?

Dracula raised his head to note, with a mix of dismay and amusement, that his nemesis had fallen asleep in his bed. Well, at least, she finally was where he wanted her. The vampire shook his head and laughed softly at the irony. As it was, she wouldn't be able to stake him come morning. Small mercies.

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

A few hours later, Agatha emerged slowly from her slumber. For a few instants, she couldn't remember but when memories flooded back, she put a pillow on her face and groaned. How could she do that?

- Oh! I see you are awake. Hum! And not suffering ill effects from your over-indulgence.

- Sweet Jesus! It really did happen, then?! I still hoped it was a nightmare.

- I am afraid not, Angel.

- I can't believe I did that. This is so embarrassing!

- Well, it could have been worse. I could have given in.

At those words, Agatha removed the pillow from her face - She couldn't smother herself anyway - and looked at her supposedly oldest enemy. He was watching her with a mix of fondness, resignation and longing. Or so it seemed to her guilty mind.

- I am so sorry, Vlad. I... Well, thank you for resisting. At least one of us didn't embarrass themselves last night.

- My pleasure, Angel. And don't thank me, I wasn't able to totally resist, if you remember well. If you hadn't fallen asleep, honestly..." He trailed before falling silent.

Agatha dropped her gaze on the sheets, a new wave of mortification washing over her.

- Yes, well, I provoked you. So, for once, I don't blame you. You actually showed remarkable restraint.

- Did I hear you well? Did you just pay me a compliment?! You may suffer ill effects after all." Dracula teased her.

- Nevermind." Agatha mumbled, going out of bed. Dracula presented a helping hand, which, after only a slight hesitation, she took. Once upright, though, she had to grip it more tightly as she swayed on her feet.

- Hum. Not totally unscathed, then." The older vampire remarked, without mirth.

- I'm fine." She defended herself."I just feel a little numb.

- Yes, of course. My mistake." He answered, with a knowing smile this time.

- Oh do shut up, Dracula!" The younger vampire growled, as she tried to remove her hand from his. But Dracula didn't let her.

- Maybe you should stay the day. Sleep it off.

- Dracula...

- I promise you : no mischief, no ulterior motive. If I may say so, you don't look so good. You could rest here, I won't bother you.

- I don't think..." She hesitated.

- I can bring you some clean blood to clear your head and you can lie here as long as you want." Dracula added when he sensed her wavering.

Agatha was thinking about accepting his offer as she felt exhausted, but still she pondered.

- Where will you rest? It's daytime.

- Don't worry about me. My sofa is quite comfortable.

The former nun snorted :

- Your sofa is as comfortable as a marble coffin and at least a foot shorter than you!

Dracula shrugged.

- Well, I still have to put a bed in the guest bedroom, so it will have to make do.

Agatha looked at her nemesis' bed : it had been made for him, so it was probably a foot longer than her and at least, large enough to house a small village. She gulped then took a deep breath :

- Your bed is big enough for the both of us. And since, you were the gentleman and offered me its exclusive use, I would be a very sore guest if I'd let you sleep on this terrible furniture you dare call a sofa.

Despite his surprise at her unexpected proposition, Dracula chuckled :

- Well, if you get into the habit of coming to see me while drunk, I may need to invest into a second bed. Or...

Agatha raised a warning finger :

- Don't even think about finishing this sentence, Count.

The older vampire grinned but stopped talking. After an awkward silence, Agatha added :

- You should think about replacing that sofa, too.

- I will." At his tone, she looked at him. He was watching her back with that same expression again.

- Are you sure you don't mind?" Dracula broke the spell. "I must admit I got quite fond of my bed, since I don't need my coffin to sleep in.

- No. I mean : I don't mind." But she insisted, to be sure : "You promise me no mischief.

- You offered me to sleep with you." He countered, teasing her.

Agatha didn't catch the joke, if her scandalised look was any indication :

- I was drunk!

Dracula laughed at her outraged tone.

- I'm joking, Agatha. Relax.

he sat on one side of the bed and patted the place next to him.

- Come on. You look dead on you feet. I promised you no mischief. I'll keep my word.

Agatha sat carefully on the bed then lay down next to her old enemy. They didn't say anything for some time. Dracula rearranged his limbs then put his hands behind his head, settling in.

Agatha was lying next to him rigidly, debating with herself, until finally she sighed :

- Oh Hell!" And throwing caution to the wind, she rolled on her side to nestle against him. It was quite nice, actually.

The older vampire stayed still for a moment, unsure what to do. Then, slowly, he put down one arm to place it around her shoulders and bring her a little closer to him.

- No mischief." She mumbled into his shirt.

- No mischief." He confirmed with a smile in his voice. "Even if you make it hard for me to keep my promise."

- Not without a partner." His younger kin replied softly, already on the verge of sleep.

Dracula resisted laughing at her tart answer, so as not to disturb her. She was relaxing against him and very soon, he could sense she was fast asleep. No partner indeed.

He couldn't hold it any longer and laughed, barely disturbing his exhausted partner. She muttered in her sleep, then settled against him once more after throwing an arm across his chest.

Perhaps, she would heed his advice next time. But Dracula hoped she wouldn't. Drunk Agatha was almost as fun as angry Agatha and far more agreeable.

The older vampire looked down at the woman in his arms. Maybe he was the one high, in this instance : he still couldn't believe his nemesis was actually sleeping, sober and peaceful, in his embrace. If God had decided to be done with him and Agatha was His sword arm, Dracula decided then and there that it was a small price to pay for a few hours with her in his arms. And with that satisfying thought, he slipped in a comfortable slumber.

#dracula 2020 #dracula bbc #dragatha #a [h]arrowing evening #chapter 2 #stand alone #agatha got drunk #drunk agatha is fun #poor dracula has to resist #she's driving him ragged #fanfiction #my fanfiction

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