#every time i vaguely mention liking something she cares so much that she actually looks up what it is and REMEMBERS it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

your-poetic-lifeline · 7 months

Note

Maybe some head canons of characters received gifts or small amounts of affection. Revenant perhaps?

showing kindness to robots sure turns them squishy like humans, hm?

think of this as a late valentines post

The Legends Receiving Gifts & Affection

characters included: revenant, loba, caustic

consist of: sweetness! long ass headcanons oops! and some vague gift ideas.

word count: 900+ (906 if you’re curious)

— • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • —

Revenant

- There isn’t a lot he’d expect as a gift, given that a lot of things wouldn’t be of use for him. The idea of gifts actually slipped his mind completely until the first time you gave him one. It was a nice little headband.

- He stared at it blankly in his hands. He wasn’t sure why you were giving him gift, but upon looking at it some more, he came to appreciate it.

- He gives thanks with a simple hum. When he’s alone, he’s fiddling with the fabric and deep in thought.

- He likes it a lot. He thinks it’s practical. And subconsciously, the color/pattern is a nice contrast to the red that takes over his design. Makes him feel… a little nice about himself?

- He never thought he’d have the capacity to accept and appreciate a gift. He certainly can’t remember the last time he did or if he ever did.

- Is secretly hoping for more. if his faceplate could move, the idea of getting gifts from you would bring a faint smile to it.

- He also craves affection (it’s a co-requisite with pretty much any other love language you choose to express)

- the act does something funny but exhilarating to his processors.

- Any act of affection could make him swoon in some way, but he usually tries to play it off with a sound feigning annoyance.

- Is secretly holding back a love-filled sigh when you give him soft kisses or subtle, fleeting touches

- my boy just wants some love. it’s a different experience for him and he chases it willfully

Loba

- Loves and appreciates every gift you give her. It doesn’t matter if she can steal anything she desires. The love put into a gift is more than thieving can outdo. The gifts she receives from you makes her swoon every time.

- “Oh darling… this is just as beautiful as the last. Thank you…”

- Biiiig smooch on your cheek or forehead as she continues to look over the item.

- She truly accepts every gift whether it’s jewelry or otherwise, expensive or not. She likes that the gifts you give her reflect your inner mind. Even if it was some obscure, handheld item, she’d find it cute/interesting and would find somewhere to display it or put it to use

- And she’s a huge gift giver herself! She’ll give you anything you ask for or even vaguely mention.

- “Now it’s my turn to give you something nice darling. No really, you deserve it my love.”

- Pretty much gives you twice the amount of gifts you give her

- She’s also very careful with you. If she decides to get you anything expensive, she’s sure to double check that it’s nothing too expensive or rare enough for someone to try and track. She doesn’t want you in danger because of a reckless steal.

- Is elated sharing gifts and other things with you. She’s very, very affectionate and seeing you in a good mood puts her in a good mood.

- She sometimes glances at you and simply decides to attack your face with kisses. Is always caressing your face as she just adores you.

- “You are so gorgeous…”

Caustic

- Ugh i cant stand this guy (lying)

- If you give him something, you may have to be a little patient with him.

- When you first started giving him things, he refused them.

- “You can have it back. I have no need for your obnoxious trinkets.”

- After a couple of attempts though he starts to accept them, but usually doesn’t even open them until days later. Chances are if you place it somewhere where he can see it constantly, he might open it a little sooner.

- If you give it to him unwrapped, that’s even better. It pushes him to see it for what it is and accept it. His reaction is barely a hum of approval, but he takes it nonetheless and moves on.

- When he’s alone he observes it meticulously. Truthfully, he thinks fondly of your gifts. Even if he wouldn’t deem them useful, they still get some appreciation.

- Has a spot somewhere where your gifts are all huddled up and subtly on display. He personally doesn’t like gifts, but the fact you occasionally give him things is something he can appreciate as well.

- He kind of wants to give you something in return, but is super bad with gifts.

- And being genuine.

- And nice. lol.

- He’s quite the observer though so he recalls your interests or anything else you’ve talked about to come up with a gift idea.

- Goes for something simple. He’s way too flustered to give you anything too specific because he knows you’d point out his attention to detail.

- He’d try not to make it a big deal when he gives it to you as well. Will stomp up to you and simply place it in front of you.

- Behind his brash demeanor, he’s actually smiling, satisfied with himself when your reaction to the gift is positive.

- When it comes to affection, he prefers to keep it to a minimum. But moments like these where you’re really happy loosen him up a bit and he may let you dote on him however you’d like.

— • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • — • x • —

banner source!

#apex legends #apex legends fanfic #apex legends headcanons #apex legends x reader #apex x reader #fanfiction #headcanon #apex legends fic #apex legends revenant x reader #apex legends revenant #revenant x reader #apex legends loba x reader #apex legends loba #loba x reader #apex legends caustic #apex legends caustic x reader #apex caustic #caustic x reader

127 notes · View notes

zoeysdamn · 2 years

Text

Bloodied petals - Xavier Thorpe x reader | Part.1

Summary: The Hanahaki disease, when flowers start to grow in the lungs of people experiencing unrequited or one-sided love. You never thought Xavier would be the reason you'd start to cough petals.

Warnings: angst, mention of blood

A/N: okay this is the first time ever writing on the show Wednesday and on Xavier so this is definitely not proof-read but I'm weak for the sad artistic blorbo blblbl

[Masterlist]

Through blurry eyes you could barely recognize where you were. Sure, the stone arches looked vaguely familiar and maybe the floor you were laying on was too. But right now, everything felt so far away, not the rough surface of the stone floor under your palms, the smell of burning fire in through your nostrils nor the panicked screams seemed able to reach you. The only thing you could feel was the plaguing weight inside of your chest, crushing your lungs under its unforgiving pressure.

You coughed, mouth filled with blood and stained petals. At every cough it felt like your throat and chest were lit on fire and tears escaped the corner of your eyes. This pain should be familiar by now, it has grown stronger for weeks. Still, it hurt like a bitch and now the pain had numbed everything else.

In the distance, green lightning and clashes of steel were the last of your worries. Even if you tried, you couldn’t care less about all of this because your whole body just hurt so much. Someone shouted, closer this time. God, when would this excruciating feeling of your heart and lungs being squeezed to death ever stop? Something dropped beside you. Or was it someone? You tried to say something, at least to say you were still alive. Nothing but gurgled sounds came out of you; words were stuck with the blood and flowers that had been growing inside of your chest and crawling out of your throat for the past weeks.

Someone ripped your jacket open and pressed something on your plexus. Once, twice, a third time and on, repeatedly. Trying to force some of those flowers out to get you some air. They called you. Another hand cradled your cheek and a face came into your blurred vision. Even on the verge of death you could recognize those hazel hair and brown eyes anywhere. The pathetic attempt at calling out Xavier’s name only came out as a weak wheeze, as more blood dripped from your mouth.

As the crushing feeling in your chest grew even heavier, at a point where your own body couldn’t take it anymore, you felt yourself slip away. When your vision went black, you wondered how things could have turned differently.

2 MONTHS EARLIER

It happened for the first time during fencing class.

All the students had stopped their practice to stare at the intense sparring between Bianca and the new student cladded in black. Mask tucked under your arm, you didn’t miss a second of their pride-filled match.

“Never thought I'd see Bianca having her ass kicked in fencing” you whispered.

Next to you, Xavier let out a chuckle.

“You did beat her several times last year if I reckon”

That made you snort, “Yeah, like I said, I never saw someone do it, I was too busy actually succeeding at it.”

To be honest, it was a tight match between you and Bianca on who was the best in the fencing team. But you had backed down when she and Xavier had started dating ; you didn’t want his new girlfriend to hate your guts more than she already could. Being Xavier’s childhood friend had made things awkward in the beginning of their relationship. You couldn’t say she was really fond of you now, but at least you were civil to each other.

Bianca’s opponent executed a pirouette to dodge the siren’s attack and you let out a low whistle.

“Woah, guess Wednesday does know her shit,” you said in admiration.

Xavier’s head snapped to you, eyes wide. “You know her?”

“New roommate apparently,” you casually answered. At his lack of response you glanced at him, only to catch him mesmerized by the fencing match. Or rather, by your new gothic roomie. That made you frown slightly. Not even when he was with Bianca did you ever see Xavier with such a look of adoration. “Why?”

He didn’t answer immediately, too focused on the match. Like he hadn’t heard you. You nudged his arm slightly, making him realize that you had asked him something.

“I think I know her from before,” he muttered.

He had answered you. But he had not granted you a single glance. You had known him for so very long, you shouldn’t have been bothered by that. After all, he was free to do whatever he wanted. But his strange fascination for this new student felt strange to you for some reason. Something in your chest didn’t feel right, like a starting cough. Feeling your throat starting to tingle, you sneezed once, twice, covering your nose for decency. Something soft landed on your hand as you sneezed but before you had time to see what it was a collective gasp made your head snap up. Wednesday kneeled on the floor, a clean cut painting her pale cheek in red. That made you gasp, too. She just lost.

Before Bianca could loathe anymore, the brunette gathered herself and hurriedly left the room, stiff as ever. You stepped aside like the other students to let her through. She was probably going to the infirmary to get her cheek checked.

“Well, that was weird,” you said with a dry chuckle. Then you turned toward your friend, “Are you down for another match, Xav?”

He didn’t answer you again. His eyes were still glued to where Wednesday had disappeared a few moments ago. It wasn’t intentional probably, but the negligence of your childhood friend made your chest ache.

“Xavier?” you called him.

“I- uh sorry Y/N, I gotta go”, he mumbled pensively before excusing himself out of the room.

Dumbfounded by his sudden departure, you looked at Ajax.

“What’s gotten him?” you asked him.

The gorgon only shrugged, “Dunno. It’s not the first time he had acted strange, eh?”

You nodded, he had made a point. You had known Xavier for a long time and knew him pretty well, but this time you couldn’t understand his behavior.

“Wanna do another match?”

“Thanks Ajax,” you said with a small smile, “but I think I’m gonna hit the sho-”

A fit of cough interrupted you, your chest burning with an itching sensation. It felt like something was stuck in your throat, and the coughs intensified until it disappeared only a few moments later. When the itching stopped, you looked at the gorgon apologetically.

“I think this is the sign for me to call it a day,” you joked. “Too bad, you could have actually beat me in this state.”

He snorted and nudged you playfully to the exit of the room, telling you he would have totally beat you anyway. As soon as you came out of the room, you opened your clenched hand. At the sight of five white flower petals, you frowned.

“What the fuck,” you muttered to yourself.

Your day had just become a lot weirder than you thought.

Fortunately, by the time you had stepped out of the shower the sneezes and other weird petals-coughing had stopped. So you had brushed away the thought, thinking it might be related to your late gardening the previous night. You had spent half of the night tending to your collection of plants and had almost fallen asleep on the workbench.

Returning to your room, you were met by the sight of your roommates, Enid and Wednesday in what appeared to be a glaring contest in the middle of the room.

“Already at each other’s throats?” you asked, making Enid humph and plopping on her bed with a pout.

The brunette eyed you meticulously, like she was analyzing every detail about you.

“It’s nice to meet you officially Wednesday,” you said with a small nod of your head. For what you had heard from Enid, she wasn’t the type to enjoy any unnecessary physical contact.

“You must be Y/N” she observed sharply, “Principal Weems had mentioned that I was to be plagued with two roommates.”

You nodded, not taking the icy comment personally. “I am. Though I’m very mindful of everyone’s personal space considering that I also cherish mine.”

“Perfect” said Wednesday sharply. “I also understood you were quite a fitting fencing partner.”

“You did?” you asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Xavier mentioned it,” she said.

“You talked with Xavier?” you asked with a surprised frown.

The way her eyes narrowed at every one of your reactions wasn’t missed.

“He talked at the infirmary. Just helped me to get out of a murder attempt.”

“A what now?” you asked with a dry chuckle.

“A WHAT??” Enid screamed.

Wednesday rolled her eyes at your blond roommate’s reaction. With a flick of your wrist and a simple mumbled incantation, the torrent of question the werewolf had started to ramble turned into silence. Enid gave you an outraged face at your actions, throwing silent threats at you before returning to her bed and pout. The ever so slight twitch of Wednesday’s eyebrow showed that you might actually have impressed her.

“Witch” you said simply, pointing at yourself. “Silencing spells comes out handy here.”

“Quite impressive,” said Wednesday in her usual flat tone. “Thorpe had failed to mention your actual useful assets.”

The thought that he hadn’t talked about your powers wasn’t odd. The both of you had basically grown up together when your aunt had started to drop you frequently at his dad’s house when you were kids. Your aunt was quite popular in the witch community and was good friends with Xavier’s equally famous father. When you ended up in her care after your mom’s passing, you gained a new friend in Xavier. By now he was used to your powers; it felt normal to him.

“Well if you ever need a fencing partner, you know where to find me”

She tsked, sharply returning to her chair to sit in front of her typewriter, “Although I’m not sure to step in the fencing room ever again, it is a reassuring thought to have someone able to actually stab efficiently in the same room as I.”

You chuckled at her words, “My pleasure.”

Seeing that she wasn’t listening anymore to dedicate her time to writing, you plopped down on your bed, opening one of your history books to go through the last lesson. Everyone at Nevermore knew you were kind of a hardcore student, often spending free time practicing your abilities or studying. Even if your aunt hadn’t been the most present parent, she had always made sure you had the best tutors to teach you witchcraft. In the early years you had been under her care, you had been quick to understand that excellent grades and results were what made you worthy in her eyes; not that you thought less of her – witches were prideful beings and big on family glory. Now you weren’t trying to get her attention through scholarship anymore, but good habits of studying stayed.

So it wasn’t unusual for you to get a text from Xavier asking if you could help him with some assignment, like he just did.

Glancing from your book, you noticed that Wednesday was still on her writing hour, while Enid had left the room. You got up, grabbed your bag to throw a few personal effects and slipped out of your room. Girls and boys weren’t supposed to sneak into each other’s dormitories, but you knew how to go past the surveillance easily. Knocking on Xavier’s door, you waited for someone to answer. When he opened the door, Xavier had his usual lopsided grin.

“Hey”

“Hi there,” you smiled back, before entering the room, noticing the absence of his roommate, “Rowan’s not here?”

Immediately, Xavier’s eyes became colder and he seemed to tense.

“Nah. Don’t think he’ll be coming back tonight to be honest.”

You arched an eyebrow, while sitting cross-legged on Xavier’s bed, “Why?”

He licked his lips nervously, like he pondered whether or not he should tell you this. But after all, you were his oldest friend, and he trusted you with his life.

“He tried to kill Wednesday earlier.”

That made your eyes widen; not really the attempted murder part, more the fact than Rowan did it.

“Rowan?” you repeated. “As in, Rowan your roommate?”

He frowned, “You don’t seem very surprised that someone tried to kill Wednesday.”

You felt your chest tighten once again at his concerned tone. Like you wanted to start to cough again.

“She told me,” you explained, “though she doesn’t know who had tried to kill her.”

“Fuck,” he swore, passing a nervous hand through his hair, “I don’t know why he had done this.”

The way he looked so distressed made bile rise in your throat. You stopped the cough before it ever came out of your mouth.

“Look, we can’t know until Rowan’s back, okay?” you said calmly, trying to ease the tension, “Wednesday’s okay, I’m even pretty sure she’s honored that someone came this close to kill her on her first week here.”

That elicited a laugh from Xavier, and at this sound you felt lighter.

“Yeah, that’s probably right,” he chuckled before sitting down on the bed next to you. “I guess we’ll see where all of this goes, uh? Maybe it was all a misunderstanding.”

You hummed in agreement, “Besides, Wednesday knows how to defend herself, and I’m not going to let my roommate alone in the face of danger, no matter how much she pulls the cool detached girl behavior.”

He smiled at that. Despite the weird character of Wednesday, you didn’t wish her any harm. Should she be in danger, sure you’d help her.

Grabbing one book from your back, you gently swat it on Xavier’s shoulder.

“Don’t try to change the subject though mister,” you playfully reminded him, “I do believe you texted me to save your sorry artistic ass once again.”

He dodged your next attack, laughing as you tried to hit him again with your notebook.

“Yes ma’am” he smirked, grabbing his own notes.

The two of you started to work, leaving the subject of your new roommate behind. An hour into this comfortable studying session, where you helped Xavier for a botany assignment and he showed you some of his recent sketches, it felt like it had always been. You were comfortable around each other, everything seemed to come out effortlessly. That’s why you loved to spend time with Xavier so much.

You stretched your arms above your head, releasing all the tension that had built up due to your slouched position while studying.

“I’ll never understand how you always ace the arithmetic classes, Xav” you said with an amused smile.

“That might be my hard work,” he mused with a grin, letting himself fall on his back onto the mattress.

You snorted and threw a ball of paper on him, “You’re like the laziest student ever, Thorpe.”

He caught it effortlessly, “Must be my natural talent then,” he said before throwing it back at you, hitting you on the head.

“Oh you’re gonna pay for that,” you grinned, jumping on his side.

He jumped at your sudden move but before he could protest you were already tickling him mercilessly. “Hey! This isn’t fair!” he wheezed in between laughs.

He tried to counter your attacks, jabbing your sides and the two of you ended up rolling on his bed, giggling like children tickling each other restlessly. At some point Xavier managed to flip you over and you squealed at the sudden turn of events. You started preparing for a witty come back but the words were caught in your throat at the sight of Xavier’s face merely inches from yours. Hovering above you, he got you pinned on his bed; your breaths, ragged and mixing together softly caressing each other’s cheeks. For the briefest moment, it seemed like you saw his eyes for the first time. Brown, warm and bottomless; they looked like home to you. They had golden highlights too, how come you had never noticed?

While you were gazing at Xavier’s face, you hadn’t noticed him kissing every inch of your face with the very same eyes you were lost in. Before you could stop yourself your gaze flickered to his lips briefly then to his eyes again, only to find his gaze already on yours.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hey,” you breathed back.

“Willing to recognize my undeniable charm now?” he asked huskily with his usual grin.

You huffed softly at that, “I thought you talked about natural talent.”

“Well there’s that too, thanks for reminding me Y/N” he casually grinned. His expression then softened, “I’m trying to reach your level, sweetheart.”

Your already short breath got caught in your throat. It wasn’t the first time you heard him using affectionate pet names, but you couldn’t help but feel your cheeks shade in soft pink. This time felt…different. Maybe because you were laying on Xavier’s bed, with half of his body pressed against yours, complimenting you.

Somehow, the weight on your chest felt like it had almost disappeared.

Your eyes wandered once again on his full pink lips without really realizing it.

“Xav?” you whispered, not wanting to speak louder, like you were afraid it would ruin the moment.

“Yeah?”

Suddenly, you felt shy. You had never felt embarrassed about talking about anything with Xavier. So why did it feel so strange now? Licking your lips nervously you averted your eyes, unsure of what to do.

“Do you think…do you think about us, sometimes?”

At his lack of response you sighed quietly and kept your gaze down. God you felt embarrassed now.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, “this was a stupid question I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Noticing your discomfort, Xavier brought his hand to your face slowly.

“Hey,” he said, carefully brushing a strand of hair off your face, “hey it’s okay. No hiding between us, remember?”

You could only shrug slightly, unsure of what to say.

To be honest, you weren’t sure why you were asking this now. Of course, you had wondered if you and Xavier would someday be more than friends. It even seems that the thought had never really left, it was simply buried more or less deep in your mind. And somehow, it was resurfacing now.

“I have thought about it,” he confessed, “a lot, actually.” That made your heart flutter. Until he add, “But this…I can’t–”

A strong sound of chords, although muffled by the walls, made him stop. Without really realizing it, your head turned toward the window too. It sounded like someone was playing on a balcony?

This unexpected interruption seemed to break the strange yet intimate charm the two of you were caught in, and Xavier slowly pushed himself away from you, clearing his throat awkwardly. Yours on the other hand, felt tighter than ever. Still you got up from the bed, and just like Xavier, approached the window, curious about this melody resonating throughout Nevermore’s walls.

“It sounds like a cello,” mumbled Xavier, looking through the window to try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious player.

“Nobody has a cello in the school,” you started to think out loud as an image of your new roommate’s belongings flashed into your mind, “except…”

Your eyes flickered immediately to your room’s balcony, on the other side of the quad. Sitting under the night sky and deep in concentration, Wednesday Addams was playing cello like it was the last time she’d ever play. Passionate, dark, precise. An impressive presence that weightened down every other.

You didn’t know how long you had stayed in front of the window, mesmerized by the intensity of the music recital. When you got out of your reverie, your head snapped in Xavier’s direction. Really, you didn’t really know what to expect, it had been more a reflex than anything else. But finding him hovering over a sheet of paper, erratically sketching like a madman, wasn’t what you expected at all.

Sensing your burning gaze on his back Xavier lifted his head; at the betrayed look on your face, his eyes turned into pleading ones.

“I– I’m sorry I just–”

“No it’s me,” you cut him sharply in a small voice. Crossing the room to gather your belongings you hurriedly threw all of your stuff in your bag. Not daring looking up at Xavier; or else you weren’t sure you would be able to restrain your tears. “I overstepped, I should be going.”

“Y/N I–” Xavier pleaded.

“G’night Xavier,” you mumbled, storming out of the room and shutting the door behind you.

Eyes glued on the floor for the entire walk, you crossed the empty hallways in a hurry. At a turn, the gruesome feeling in your chest returned. Like a hot iron gripping on your lungs, a sharp pain started to overtake you. The harsh, tingling sensation clawed at your throat, acid plaguing your chest and lungs. As the first cough escaped your mouth, you leaned on the wall for support, hand covering your mouth. The horrid sensation of the never ending dry cough, shaking your whole body like a trembling leaf was crippling you. You weren’t even able to take another step, as the sensation of something crawling out of your chest through your throat was intensifying every passing second.

The coughs hardened, until at last your stomach managed to regurgitate something. Bending over as you felt you were beginning to throw up, your hand came in front of you out of reflex to grab whatever you were spitting. With an awful gurgling sound, you finally spat out something soft, covered with a sticky substance. More smaller bits escaped your mouth for a whole solid minute, your mouth still feeling soggy but the coughs gradually easing down anyway.

Bringing your trembling hands up, you opened them tentatively to see what had been stuck in your throat for so long. On your palm lay a white flower and scattered petals, covered with saliva and blood. Wiping the wet string dripping from your mouth with quivering fingers, you held them up in the moonlight. They were red and wet, covered in blood too.

Crumbling against the wall, you let yourself fall on the ground. For long minutes, you stared at the bloody flowers in your hand. Then, you bursted into tears.

“What the fuck,” you sobbed in disbelief.

You had no idea of what was going on; but this was far more concerning than you had originally thought.

[Part.2]

A/N: Next part is coming soon! Hope you enjoyed this fkjsrbkjbfr

Hope you’re all doing okay, take care of you ♥

#xavier thorpe #xavier thorpe x reader #wednesday #wednesday series #wednesday netflix #wednesday addams #xavier x you #xavier thorpe x you #xavier x reader #xavier thorpe angst #hanahaki disease #no beta we die like men

1K notes · View notes

akutasoda · 3 months

Note

Hallo halo!! If is okay could i request venti x reader one shot? Where venti and reader and a group playing truth or dare and someone dare reader to cuddle their crush or someone they want for the whole game and reader walk up to him shy and embarrassed yet hopeful waiting for his permission and what venti reactions when he found out reader choose him? (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)

a game of confession

synopsis - a game of truth or dare forces you to make a confession

includes - venti

warnings - gn!reader, brief mentions of alcohol, fluff, maybe ooc, wc - 1k

it would've been a normal night at angels share, if not for the increased amount of people pouring into it. you had built a habit of visiting the tavern frequently to hang out with the usual trio of rosaria, kaeya, and venti - whether or not this was a good habit remained unclear to you, atleast you weren't there every night like they were. they were somewhat good friends of yours and most often, this would be the only time you could see all of them at the same time, however tonight it seemed to be busier than usual as you could see a couple of non-regular faces around.

as soon as you stepped through the door, rosaria turned to wave you down from across the tavern and encouraged you to hurry over. normally you'd sit next to the three of them on the stools beside the actual counter but seeing as a couple more people were joining, they had taken up a booth not to far from the usual spot. tonight it seemed like eula and lisa would be joing the four of you - kaeya was also insisting that he'd convinced diluc to join nearer to closing time but none of you really were all that convinced.

angels share itself seemed much more populated with practically every seat in the room being occupied, but even so barely a single one would pay attention to your booth - they were all too swept up in their own drinks and conversations to care. you might not have been the heaviest drinker out of the group but this time was rather special as it was pretty much the only time you could all let loose and talk much more freely than everyday greetings - arguably alcohol did make a few of your companions quite loose lipped.

as the evening progressed, more people stumbled out of the tavern, and easy chatter and laughs faded from your booth as lisa proudly declared she had an idea. you all looked at her waiting for her to explain what her great idea was and eventually she smiled and announced 'how about a game of truth or dare?'

kaeya let out a small laugh before responding 'why not? im in', he then proceeded to signal over to diluc to join but it was clear that diluc was ignoring him and his efforts.

rosaria nodded before taking another drink and eula agreed aswell, you decided that there was no harm and agreed soon after.

a mischievous giggle escaped the bard and he proclaimed 'sure, who's starting then?'

lisa made a vague gesture to point to herself which made sense since she had proposed the idea. then she went about looking at everyone at the booth before deciding on her first victim. a couple of rounds had gone past and all it really was, was just standard rather subpar dares and a few boring questions so lisa decided that perhaps it was time she picked up the pace when it next became her turn to pose a question.

she turned to you with a smirk which made you shiver more than you'd like to admit 'truth or dare', admittedly you'd rather pick truth as you were concerned that she might have a rather embarrassing dare lined up but you knew that she probably could embarrass you alot more with truth. it felt like picking the better of two evils really, but eventually you pushed down your slight fear and picked a dare.

'i dare you to cuddle your crush for the rest of this game, as something tells me they might be sat right here with us' her smirk became much more evil and you immediately regretted picking a dare. you had absolutely zero clue how she even found out, was it really that obvious?

you knew there was no way to get yourself out of this and so you decided to swallow your dread and stand up. you moved to the other side of the booth and shuffled past lisa and sat beside venti. you swore you'd never felt so embarrassed in your life, you needed to remember to get lisa back for this one.

yes ut was true that you did have a crush on the bard but you didn't want to cuddle him if he would be uncomfortable with it, so very hesitantly and awkwardly you asked 'would you mind if i.. uh.. cuddle you for the rest of the game'

venti stared at you in disbelief, making you feel slightly more embarrassed - now more concerned he was about to reject you. he was completely caught of guard and he felt himself practically freeze but he knew you, and everyone else, were waiting for an answer. and as a matter of fact, he wasn't opposed to it and was rather flattered that someone such as yourself had a crush on him.

the embarrassment was practically eating you up and you were about to stand back up and go back to your seat, and try to forget this happened, but venti smiled.

'i wouldn't mind at all'

taglist - @little-miss-chaoss, @frankiesteinn

#—stellaronhvnters.#x reader #x gender neutral reader #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x you #genshin impact x gender neutral reader #genshin impact x female reader #genshin x gender neutral reader #genshin x you #genshin x female reader #genshin venti #venti x reader

82 notes · View notes

slashersteve · 1 year

Text

Dream Girl

pairing: Walter “Keys” Mckey/Female Reader

summary: Keys helps you pass a seemingly impossible boss battle in a video game you’ve been playing.

warnings/extra tags: cursing, a kiss kiss, probably ooc keys? I tried 😔, poor hacking things i got very vague but for this imagine just trust me bro, beta read, edited by me so if i missed anything pls ignore :')

note: Consider this my debut to writing Keys and who knows…maybe I’ll write more of him 👀 also yall this has been in my drafts for decades and today i was like?? it's bri's birthday, so i should post this right??? happy birthday @userdjo !! Thank you for reading and enjoy ♥️

✦ ✦ ✦

“I'm not doing it.”

"Why not?”

“Uh, because it's too risky?”

“Seriously? Too risky? Do you hear yourself right now?”

Keys was standing across from you, leaning on the kitchen counter holding a cup of coffee that he had only taken a single sip of seeing as the moment you heard the coffee maker come to life you stalked out of your own office to try to convince him to do what you wanted him to do all morning.

“Keys!” You were exasperated when he didn’t reply to your rhetorical question.

He just wanted to spend a bit of time during his break to look at something that wasn’t a screen of codes he could read like the morning paper. He wanted to talk to you in this kitchen like you always did throughout the day and unfortunately your conversations had to be this.

“We could get into a lot of trouble, I could get into a lot of trouble,” Keys told you firmly, to which you scoffed and crossed your arms, “I’m serious.”

“Only if you get caught, which I know you won’t,” you replied, before huffing and adding, “Where did this goody two shoes attitude come from? You literally took down an entire gaming company by causing trouble with Millie.”

Keys sighed, turning away from you as he set his mug down and brought one hand to his face to remove his glasses just so he could properly pinch his nose. That was different, and you knew it, but still wanted to try and guilt him into helping you.

“And you can’t do it yourself?” He asked, fully knowing that you couldn’t because you wouldn’t be asking him otherwise. If you could you wouldn’t be bugging him so much, pushing him to do what you wanted.

“I’d get caught, we both know it. Nobody can do it but you- Millie probably, but she’s not here,” you explained, “Come on, please? If you do it I’ll do every coffee run for the rest of the month.”

You were trying to bargain now, which amused Keys as he wiped the lens of his glasses before sliding them back over his eyes.

“Yeah me hacking into a game of another company is definitely worth you doing coffee runs,” he said sarcastically, resting his eyes back on you. You shrugged weakly and shot him a sort of sheepish smile, not caring that he was obviously irritated with you.

“I think it is- unless anything else is up for grabs? Anything you know…you would like?”

You wiggled your eyebrows at him, and he felt his chest tighten slightly, unsure exactly what you were getting at and suddenly being afraid that you did know. The sight of his expression had you smirking before you said, “She is my best friend- like yours- but girls mostly listen to each other…I could potentially lead her in your direction. You know…get that date you’ve always wanted lover boy.”

Keys blinked, understanding after a moment or two that you were talking about Millie and the hopeless crush he had on her, something he had confessed to you a while ago. Just that, nothing else…thank god.

“Don’t-“ Keys laughed awkwardly, “Don’t. I actually don’t like her like that anymore.”

You gave him a look, and he felt his cheeks heat up, embarrassed by the mention of his old crush on her. Not because he was embarrassed of being in love with Millie once, but because he had thought you had known something else now, that had nothing to do with Millie but with the woman standing in this kitchen with him.

“Oh…when did that happen?” You questioned him, not believing a single word that just came out of his mouth. Truth be told, long before he confided in you his crush, you had been aware of it. How could you not be? It was the way he looked at her, brown eyes longing and yearning. He had it bad for her, for years, so it was hard to believe he’d moved on, that he’d fallen out of love.

“A while ago, actually, just sort of happened one day,” he replied awkwardly, eyes flashing to his watch. He had a few minutes left before he had to go back in there and start coding again. You both worked from home, made up your own hours and he liked to keep a more timely schedule than you did.

“Huh,” you said, still curious as to how that happened at all, but knowing he was going to be escaping back to his office/room was enough to make you set it aside and continue your prior conversation bargain.

“Anything else then? I’m really desperate here Keys, I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if I wasn’t, you know this,” you continued, watching as he picked up his basically untouched coffee and pushed himself off the counter, ready to return to his coding.

“The coffee runs do sound nice, but like I said, not worth it,” he told you again, this time a bit more firmly and now it was you getting frustrated with him as you followed closely after him through the living room.

“Oh come on! I can do it for longer? The rest of the year- Keys!” You grabbed his arm, the one that wasn’t holding a coffee thankfully as it definitely might’ve spilled, “I’m begging you, do you want me to get down on my knees and beg to show you how serious I am?”

He cheeks suddenly became flushed as you started to descent to your knees and he had to catch you to keep you from doing that. The last thing he needed was to know how you looked when you’re on your knees in front of him. The last thing.

“No! You don’t have to-“ he said a bit too frantically. You stared at him, confused by his sudden behavior (even noticing his suddenly very pink cheeks and wide eyes underneath his glasses). Keys blinked rapidly for a moment, before he turned his head and cursed, “Alright alright, it may take a day or so- we need to make sure our schedules are clear- which means you gotta do work.”

He gave you a pointed look, knowing your tendency to move away from your work computer to what you called your fun gaming one whenever you felt like it.

“Oh yeah of course!” you replied like you did work all the time, “If that’s what it takes then hell yeah, I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

You didn’t say it like a joke, which made him swallow thickly at your words and push down some thoughts he’d been having about you lately. Some romantic, some not so romantic and more in the carnal sense. Both equally terrified him and made him feel a sense of guilt.

It didn’t help that your favorite lounge at home outfit was a sports bra and biker shorts you usually paired with a zip-up hoodie that you never zipped up. It was mostly that pretty silver chain necklace you wore all the time and how it would fall underneath the fabric of your bra, making his eyes and thoughts wander to forbidden places.

Something he was doing right fucking now. It was almost like getting caught in a spell of some sort, which embarrassed him greatly.

You were too distracted by the fact that he technically agreed to helping you out to notice his eyes resting on your chest area, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this for me- okay- okay you get back to work and we’ll meet up tonight?”

You were giddy, almost bouncing in your spot and Keys suddenly snapped out of his trance caused by you, and he quickly forced his eyes to meet yours, realizing you’d just been speaking and that he wasn’t listening.

“Uh- yeah- yeah totally,” he told you in an attempt to not sound like a creep. You didn’t notice though, you didn’t notice a lot of things actually, and you merely flashed him an excited grin before you turned and jogged back into your own room, for the first time being excited to do some work and actually complete it.

Keys just stood there long after you had slammed your door shut, long after you probably sat at your computer and started replying to messages or reworking some mods like you were supposed to.

He felt like an idiot. A fool. Yet another hopeless fool who developed feelings for somebody he was close to, somebody in the same friend group.

He hadn’t intended for it to happen. It had always been Millie, not that anything was wrong with you of course, he just had some odd attachment to her because for a long time he considered her to be his dream girl, but after a long hard look at himself and their friendship he knew that’s all she would ever be.

And he was okay with that…eventually. Eventually his heart stopped fluttering in his chest when their eyes would meet, eventually his mind was no longer foggy and warm when they spoke. Eventually, he felt nothing but a platonic love that would always be there to stay.

With you, he wasn’t anticipating feelings like that to come up. It honestly came out of no where one day. Millie and Mouser had left, and you decided to stick around a little longer.

Keys wasn’t used to being alone with you, as at the time you were closer to Millie only and you two were like a package deal. So when you said you’d stay, Keys suggested you two play a game of your choice as an ice breaker. You chose this shooter game, 1v1, or on a team together online. That would be his choice and he decided to go with 1v1, not wanting to deal with teammates he didn’t know as he wasn’t up for a headache or trash talking from strangers or kids who aren’t being monitored by their parents and cursing like sailors.

He didn’t catch the wicked look in your eyes when he chose that one.

Keys learned very quickly how much you liked shooter games, even ones at the arcades. Your aim was impeccable and your sportsmanship was completely out of the window. You quipped back and forth like old friends, teasing him when he’d lose, cursing him when you lost, which wasn’t as often as Keys would’ve liked.

It was fun, very fun, and you ended up spending the entire night with him, playing your favorite games, and his favorite ones. Then, you just talked and got to know each other better.

Keys had liked you before that, and it was after that he started to like you more. And when you and him moved into together- things changed. They changed a lot.

He really liked you, but like with Millie, he was probably forever going to keep it to himself because how could you ever like him in return? He was your friend, and you knew he had been hopelessly in love with your best friend- he couldn’t see that working out. Not one bit, even if it broke his heart knowing that it wouldn’t.

Like Millie was, you were just another dream girl, and like her again, he eventually learn to be okay with that. It’s what was keeping him going, honestly, but he knew it would take longer as you were around him constantly. Eventually, he told himself as he took a sip of his now cold coffee, eventually.

✦ ✦ ✦

Keys had gone to bed the minute he finished up.

He washed his face, taken off his shirt and put on his pajama pants, took off his glasses, and laid spread on his bed under the covers on his stomach. One side of his face was nuzzled into his pillow, heavy eyes shutting on their own accord, mind ready to be overcome by well deserved sleep.

Just as he felt sleep wash over him, something had weighed down the mattress from his left side. Well, not something, more like somebody had.

He opened one eye to see you on his bed, and he quickly sat up, moving away from you as he asked what the heck you were doing in his bed like this. You were taken back by his reaction, but then raised a brow before saying, “We agreed to meet up tonight, remember?”

Keys just stared at you, blinking wildly as he tried to remember if that was true. You shifted in your spot, spreading your thighs a little more so you could actually sit on his bed. He let his eyes move down for only a split second, though his vision was blurry, before forcing them back up at you.

“I seriously don’t remember, just-“

“God relax,” you suddenly said, a smile starting to grow on your lips, “You’re so nervous by a girl being in your bed.”

You were teasing him again, and he coughed into his hand before he shook his head and said in an attempt to change the subject, “I told you it might take all day, we can’t start tonight we’ll be up for hours.”

You frowned now, “Then why’d you agree tonight? You said ‘yeah totally’ I remember.” You pointed at him, and Keys suddenly recalled that he did say that to you- he had just been distracted that he didn’t know what he was agreeing to.

He cursed under his breath, knowing that you weren’t going to go away at all, but thinking he should keep his word as well, especially when you titled your head and gave him what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. You even fluttered your lashes and stuck out your bottom lip.

“Fine, get everything set up-“

“Already done,” you replied, already moving to stand, and you gestured him to follow you as you took long strides out the door. Keys could only grab his glasses, forgoing a shirt, so he could keep up with you.

Everything was set up, the game, the laptop with the games codes there- he was sure you made sure IP addresses couldn’t be tracked as the last thing your guys new gaming company needed was a scandal that involved one of the key founding members hacking into a game made by a separate company. Why on earth did you want to do this? It was insanely risky.

You moved to sit on a stool you had brought in from the kitchen, leaving your vibrant teal gaming chair to Keys. He sat in it, eyes glossing over the game and he asked you for clarification what it was you wanted him to do exactly.

“I’m having trouble with the items- okay so every time you buy one the price goes up and it goes insanely high- insanely that it makes it impossible to buy more,” you explained, “So I need you to either keep the prices from going up, or to give me infinite items or coins. That one sounds great.”

Keys ran his hand through his hair and laughed at your request, and said teasingly, “You know you can just earn all those coins by being a better player.”

He felt your hand lightly smack his shoulder, “I’ve been on this for weeks, Keys, and I’m desperate. This boss is kicking my ass and I’d like an infinite amount of healing potions.”

Rather than going to the coding, he actually moved to the game instead, starting it up and waving you off when you asked him what he was doing.

“I just want to see which boss is kicking your ass so much that you want to cheat,” he told you, and you started to protest, knowing that this was one the games he actually introduced you to and would definitely tease you when he found out which one it was.

Keys promptly ignored you as he loaded up to your last mission, and as his eyes danced around the screen, taking in the familiar surroundings and music even, he started to laugh and shake his head- doing exactly what you were afraid of.

“Alright yeah laugh it up-“

“No, no I actually don’t blame you,” he said with another shake of his head before he pushed his hair out his face, “I think I stopped playing for a while because of this fight. Have you gotten asked to play easy mode yet?”

He was looking at you now, and you moaned in distress before nodding. Keys laughed, remembering how this particular boss battle had humbled him and other players who thought they were god at video games greatly. He leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands together and resting them over his chest.

“It’s a bad idea,” he told you again, this time more firmly, “Also I’m sorry- I’m not going to let you cheat. We’re beating this guy here and now.”

He was turning away from you to look back at the screen, and you groaned.

“Keys there’s no way- no fucking way we’re going to beat him- you said even you had trouble,” you tried, “Just let me go the cheating route.”

You grabbed the laptop, but Keys had taken it from you swiftly, shutting it and setting aside as you grumbled at him.

“No you’re going to beat this guy fair and square, we just need to replay missions, get every objective checked off…” he trailed off as he started moving the character away from the boss battle zone. You just sat beside him, dreading the idea of having to go back to do all that.

“Keys…” you moaned in complete despair, “That’ll take too long.”

“It won’t, I’ll help you,” he replied back, and dropped your head on his shoulder while he grinned, amused by your reluctance to replay any of this.

“Fine, fine, we’ll take turns,” you said, lifting your head up so you can look at the screen. Keys agreed to these terms.

A few hours had passed, you and Keys switching off who plays and who watches- and Keys was a much better player than you were at this particular game, getting through past battles you also had trouble with and barely passed with ease, slicing through the bosses like butter, and going on his merry way. You were almost embarrassed honestly whenever it was your turn, but he sat beside you on that stool, and just helped you.

Normally, whenever you played together or watched the other play a single player game (a sort of ritual you two had every other night when you were both available) you’d go hard on each other for every little mistake.

“Uh triangle is the top button Keys? Need to study the controls a little longer there big guy?”

“Haha- if you’re just going to be so critical the door's over there…”

All would end with a laugh and you leaning back on his bed as you continued to watch him, teasing him within the next few minutes.

Right now though, he’d still occasionally tease here and there, but it wasn’t condescending or serious enough to irritate you. You actually liked it, liked him sitting next to you, leaned in slightly so he was closer to you and the screen, telling you directly in your ear what to do, when to trigger your characters power, what weapons you should go with- you liked him being so close, and especially liked it when you did good and he praises you.

It really urged you to play well, wanting to hear those words again.

Then, you got to the boss you’ve been having so much trouble with you wanted to cheat your way into beating him. By now it was past midnight, closer to 1 in the morning, and you have both been at it for at least another hour or so- switching spots again and again as you did your best to fuck the boss up. He was the only one who got closest and you at least got farther than you normally would…more than half of his life had been down before you were taken out.

“Yup- I’m dead,” Keys said with a sigh. He leaned back, pressing the back of his head on the gaming chair and you grumbled, knowing you were next to try.

“Don’t even move,” you said in a gruff voice as you moved from the stool and sat onto his lap. Keys eyes widened when he felt you there, hands moving to grasp your hips almost instinctively but quickly dropping them as if it was a crime to hold you.

“What are you-“

“I’m going to die real quick, so you moving would be a waste,” you said, shifting slightly before you restarted the mission. Keys just say there staring at the back of your head, trying to fight the heat that was overcoming him.

You weren’t putting your weight fully down on him, your own feet touching the floor and holding yourself upright as you clicked away at the keyboard, too concentrated on the game to notice Keys having a slight panic attack underneath you or how tense suddenly became.

Curse words were slipping through your lips toward the game, and you shifted in your spot again, making him hold onto you once more, deciding to look over your shoulder now and focus on the game and not how you felt on his lap.

You were doing pretty well, actually, dodging with precision, getting well aimed hits on the boss. Your characters power bar was growing drastically, and when the bar was full you managed to trigger it at the perfect time.

“You know, for somebody’s who not even trying you’re doing pretty damn good,” Keys mumbled, leaning forward so his head was over your shoulder. Focusing on the game had been successful in distracting him from your current position.

You merely hummed in response, acknowledging his compliment, and the villain’s health bar was so low- it was in the red and Keys said, “Holy shit! You almost got him!”

He held his breath, and also you, as he watched you dodge some his quickest attacks that you struggled with before triggering your character's power again and putting the boss to sleep with one final blow and a final scream.

You just stared at the screen, in pure disbelief, and perhaps a dash of denial that you’d finally beaten this fucker who had been haunting you for weeks now, taunting you every time you looked at your computer screen. You did it, you beat him - or did you?

"Did...did I actually beat him? Or did I fall asleep watching you play and this is a fever dream? Please tell me this is fucking real-"

“It's real! You kicked his ass!” Keys was practically hugging you from behind and you threw your hands up and shouted with excitement, the smile on your lips wide as you really took in that you finally beat him.

"See! You didn't need to cheat," Keys told you from behind, making you laugh and move to stand, making Keys let you go as you did. He stood up too, and you were turned around to hug him tightly, which seemed to have taken him off guard.

Keys settled into your tight embrace, returning it by wrapping his arms tightly around you before you tilted your head up at him with a wide grin on your lips.

He looked down at you, “He wasn’t worth hacking into a game, right?”

"I mean if we cheated it wouldn't be almost...2 in the morning right now," you joked, making him laugh, his lips pulling into a sweet smile as his brown eyes held your gaze, "But...no you're right...totally not worth that."

He nodded, happy that you agreed with him.

"Thank you, Keys, I mean it...just thank you, I know it's just a video game but you know...this stuff is basically our life, so just...thanks," you told him truthfully.

Keys sucked in a tight breath before he nodded, "You're welcome, anything for you honestly...except you know...hacking into a beatable game."

He made you laugh, again, and because he was pretty sleepy right now with the adrenaline rushing off, he couldn't really hide the way he was looking at your lips.

There was little light in the room, with only your bedside lamp and the light emitting from your computer screen behind you. It reflected back at you slightly, courtesy of those cute glasses Keys wore, but you could see his eyes weren't on yours.

You honestly don't know what compelled you, the adrenaline that still coursed through your veins from the win, or maybe the fact that you were still holding each other like a separated couple reunited- you couldn't really pinpoint it, but you were starting to lean forward as if you were going to kiss him...well...you were going to kiss him.

Until he was leaning away, causing you snap out of it. Your eyes widened as they snapped upward to rest back on his. He looked so very confused and your felt your cheeks heat up immediately with embarrassment, feeling like an idiot that you just about almost stole a kiss from him without asking.

“What...what was that?” Keys asked you, attempting to keep his voice as steady as possible as he felt his heart start to race and his stomach between to twist and turn with nerves.

You were pulling away then, saying in an exasperated tone, “Nothing- sorry- I think I just got too caught up in the moment.”

You were trying to laugh it off, make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal what you were about to do and you stumbled backwards, wanting to shut the game off for the night and lay under your covers in your own embarrassment.

Keys just watched you, piecing together exactly what you were close to doing- how close you had leaned in, how your eyes had looked- were those what they call kiss me eyes?

His heart nearly swelled in his chest and he grasped your arm gently, making you turn to meet him with a curious expression and he asked, “Were you about to…kiss me?”

Your expression turned horrified.

“What? No,” you said, panic rising in your voice before you cleared your throat and continued to say, “I wasn’t- no- did it…did it look like it? Because I wasn’t...”

He blinked a few times, knowing that you were lying. He knows what he saw, and he knows you and your tells, the way you refused to keep eye contact, and would press your lips together as if conflicted. You were lying, and you were embarrassed. He didn’t like that you were.

"Well! Anyway! Thanks for helping me, I really appreciate it and uh- we should totally do this again. Well we probably will but-"

“No wait I wasn't finished," Keys said, making you pause and look up again to meet his gaze. He looked serious now, less shocked and more...determined. You didn't know what to say or do, just standing there and waiting for him to finish.

"Just..if you were trying to kiss me…I’d be totally okay with it,” he said, his voice a little softer. Your eyes widened softly at this statement.

"Really?" you asked, and he swiped his tongue across his bottom lip before he nodded.

Things had suddenly grew tenser, the room quieter and darker, more intimate. You hadn't ever expected to be in a situation like this with Keys, sure you sometimes thought about Keys romantically, but you quickly stopped those because you had always known Keys was in love with Millie.

He was cute, he always had been, you had thought so since you first met him. He was funny...smart, the best video game partner, and roommate, coworker...friend, it always struck you as odd that Millie never saw him the same way he saw her.

And here he was, looking at you how he looked at her, except it felt like something even more and he was basically asking you to kiss him. And you wanted to, you wanted to so bad suddenly, but conflict raised in you because of the fact you thought it was always Millie he loved, wondering in these split seconds if he was suddenly into you because he couldn't have her.

He must've seen this, your hesitation, and he swallowed thickly before starting to speak, "I've actually...liked you for a long time now, you asked me when I lost feelings for Millie and...I think- now I know...it was when I met you because...yeah...it's you."

He trailed off awkwardly, and you watched as his cheeks dusted pink and his eyes shifted away from you. You couldn't really believe what he had just said, but when he finally got the courage back to look at you...you knew he was telling you the truth.

And you were leaning in, tilting your head upwards so that you could press your lips gently against his. You practically felt his breath get taken away as your lips touched his, just before he returned your gentle, almost shy kiss.

You both leaned away at the same time, your heart pounding in your chest and your eyes fluttering open as your eyes met. A small smile had returned to his lips, and suddenly you felt his hand in your hair as he grew more confident and you both leaned in to kiss a second time, this time the kiss was longer, your lips melding together tenderly as you titled your head to deepen it.

Then, things went further...because of you mostly. Your hands planted against his bare chest as you made him walk backwards, your lips never leaving each others and he was on your bed with you settling into his lap, straddling him.

Keys looked up at you through his lashes, his hands placed onto your waist, in almost the same way they were placed moments before when you on his lap playing and defeating the boss. His body felt so warm against yours, and you were sure your body was just as warm against his.

You moved your own hands to his hair, and said, "Do you want to keep playing, Keys? Or do you wanna keep doing this?"

He seemed taken back by your suggestion, but laughed breathlessly as he said, "Yeah...yeah let's keep doing this."

#ngl this was inspired by the feeling i got when i couldn't beat the first boss in devil may cry #didn't have a cute boy to beat it for me #just my sister LMAO #keys x reader #walter keys mckey x reader #keys imagine #walter keys mckey imagine #walter keys mckey #free guy #free guy imagine #joe keery

403 notes · View notes

twstbookclub · 7 months

Text

Inked Blossoms

Summary: Jamil didn't think much of you when he received a flower basket. You were his new neighbor running a flower shop—nothing more, nothing less. So, why can't he stop coming by after visiting you once? POV: 2nd Person Pronouns: Gender-neutral Admin/Writer: Cressa🦋 Tags: Tattoo Artist x Florist AU, Tattoo Artist!Jamil, Florist!Reader, Fluff, Romance, Angst, No happy ending, sorry folks, Mentions of Blood and Self-harm, Use of Flower Language, Jamil's POV Word Count: 4, 025 Main Reference for Flower Meanings: Boeckmann, C. (2023, November 17). What does each flower symbolize? The Old Farmer's Almanac.

And I thought the Riddle fic I wrote is my longest one 💀 I actually had this plot in mind in the same month as I thought of the Riddle fic, which was back in April of last year. I only put in one link here, but I fact-checked every flower I used in this fic with other sources. Admittedly, when I wrote this, I received some heartbreaking news that morning and I cried my eyes out. I may or may not have projected those feelings into this and incorporated my previous experiences here. To all the Jamil stans, I'm so sorry that my first fic of this guy is long and angsty. I hope you all enjoy, though 💕

Jamil stared at the flowers on his parlor’s doorstep. Pink peonies and coral roses filled the twine basket, along with a purple flower that he didn’t know the name of. The arrangement emphasized the purple flowers, while there were a few peonies mixed in with the roses. What piqued Jamil’s curiosity were the leaves that lined the edges of the basket. He squinted, subconsciously leaning down to peer at the blooms at his feet.

“... Is that basil?” He mumbled, confused about the inclusion of a familiar herb. It was something he often used in his cooking, particularly when he was roommates with Kalim back in high school. That boy’s palate was too refined for anything bland and ready-made, so Jamil always had to cook with spices and herbs. It came to the point that the smell stuck to his clothes, even after a thorough wash in the laundry. Not just his clothes—even his hair. He already had a meticulous process with his hair care and bejeweled braids, so it was a nuisance.

He shook his head, before he took the flower basket in his hands. The blooms jostled a little, and a gentle hand pushed a peony back in place. Something nagged at Jamil to look to the left, for some reason. When he turned his head, the sign of the shop next door caught his attention.

“A flower shop, huh.” That was new. Jamil vaguely remembered this lot being sold recently, but he never thought it’d be turned into a store like that. It used to be an antique store owned by an elderly woman. She minded her own business, despite the weird and judgmental looks he received for the henna tattoos that decorated Jamil’s tan hands and arms.

Jamil’s eyes darted from the cursive letters of the sign to the flowers and plants displayed behind the glass walls. The name of the shop was painted on one of the walls in gold—above some of the artful arrangements of red roses, white carnations, and calla lilies. There was a shift of color behind them, and he narrowed his eyes again for a better look.

Someone was tending to the flowers. He could vaguely make out the color of their hair and the verdant apron over a white polo shirt. With the large bouquets in the way, Jamil couldn’t see a face. Sighing and shaking his head, he walked into his tattoo parlor with the flower basket in his arms.

If all his time in the city taught him anything, it was that nothing in this world was free.

Still, Jamil couldn’t help but wonder what the purple flowers were. They reminded him of tulips, but the petals were thinner and pointed at the tips. The stamen was visible, too. It was a stark contrast to the blooming tulips he knew: blunt-tipped and oval petals without the stamen being visible. He made a mental note to search about them once he went home.

Jamil found out that the purple blooms were called crocuses, and he wound up finding a website detailing the meanings of every flower imaginable. The flowers replaced the lamp that used to be on the table next to his bed. Every morning, he’d wake up to the colorful arrangement in a vase with his mind stuck on the meaning of each flower.

Maybe he should see what the florist was like. If they were like the antique shop owner from before, then Jamil would just remain polite and ignore them whenever he could.

On a slow and quiet day in the parlor, Jamil flipped the sign and locked the door. He shoved the key in his pocket, while his eyes drifted to the flower displays and bouquets through the glass walls. A blur of white and green moved behind them, but he still couldn’t put a face to the florist.

Jamil would have to see if he was curious enough to put a name to that face, too.

A chime echoed in the store once he stepped inside, and an onslaught of fragrance hit him. He noted that it wasn’t as powerful as the smell of spices, ones that he can taste from the scent alone. Still, it was strong enough to leave him a little lightheaded.

“Ah, welcome!” A voice rang through the back, behind an open door that led to what Jamil assumed was a small greenhouse. Sacks of fertilizer and clay pots filled with flowers peeked out of the metal shelves. The sight was obscured by a green apron, stitched with the same cursive letters of the store sign.

Charcoal gray eyes met lively, cheerful ones. The gloved hands that gripped the door frame were smeared with soil, maybe even fertilizer. Dirt smudged your cheek, but his gaze drifted to your lips. Your smile—too bright to be natural—was difficult to look away from. Something churned in his chest the longer he looked at it.

“Oh,” you mumbled, which made Jamil look back into your eyes again, “you’re my next-door neighbor. Hi! I hope you like the flowers. I’m, uh…”

A sheepish chuckle left your lips, making Jamil’s heart lurch. He resisted the urge to scowl at the feeling. He just met you, and he’d rather not make a bad impression. The tattoo artist came to your store to meet you like a proper neighbor, not to antagonize you.

“I came by to say hi, and you weren’t there. I had to get the shop ready and all, so I decided to leave the basket and hope that it stays there—” You sighed, took off one of your gloves, and ran a hand through your hair— “and I’m rambling. Sorry about that.”

Jamil watched you, anxious and fidgety, and he suppressed a smile. There was something amusing about how you acted like a mouse: squeaking and retreating at any sign of danger. Although, he highly doubted that you saw him as a threat.

You were just… shy. You talked a lot, but you were shy.

“It’s fine,” Jamil raised a hand and smiled, practiced and polite, “and I appreciate the flowers. Thank you. It’s a beautiful arrangement—you have a way with bringing out their natural beauty.”

He probably laid it on too thick. It was a habit at this point: butter up people to ease them, to let their guard down. Jamil merely planned to meet this florist to satisfy his curiosity. He never considered the option of befriending this person, much less engaging in a long conversation with you.

Your face lit up, as if something dawned on you in that moment. Chuckling, you stretched out the hand without the glove and gave him your name. It was followed with a cheerful, “It’s nice to meet you! I hope we can get along, um…”

“Jamil,” he shook your hand with that same, practiced smile, “Jamil Viper. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He noticed your eyes dart towards his hand and arm, inked with the traditional motifs and patterns of his homeland. Under the sunlight that streamed through the glass, your eyes seemed to sparkle. Your mouth parted in a silent, “Oh.”

“That’s so pretty,” you blurted out and continued to stare at the henna tattoos. Jamil simply watched you with wide eyes, but the surprise disappeared in that same instant. Your voice, loud and happy, filled the silence of the room.

“The amount of detail here is amazing, and—Oh, there’s even more tiny patterns inside another pattern. That’s so cool!”

Even though this much praise usually annoyed Jamil (it reminded him too much of Kalim), he found himself flustered. A faint warmth spread across his cheeks as he watched you marvel at the tattoos. You raised a hand, probably to trace the design with a finger, when you paused.

Your smile was frozen on your face, as if you caught yourself doing something embarrassing. Your own cheeks flushed in shame, before you pulled away with a nervous giggle. Jamil almost laughed at how ridiculous you looked at the moment.

He ignored the small voice in the back of his mind that called you cute.

It was supposed to be a one-time encounter. Jamil only visited your flower shop to see the person who opened a new business next to his tattoo parlor. He wanted to see whether this new neighbor of his was going to be tolerable or otherwise. One meeting was enough to deem you tolerable; someone that Jamil could politely wave to if you two happened to pass by each other.

So, why was he looking at a bouquet of irises and white jasmines right now? Why was he standing in your store on a Sunday morning?

“You’ve been coming a lot here lately.” Your voice rang from the back, much like how Jamil first met you. He looked over his shoulder to see you admiring the other flowers with a small smile.

“I don’t mind, really, and it’s nice to have you here. I just didn’t expect you to come here almost every day,” you clarified with a chuckle as you approached him. The telltale flush of your cheeks already told Jamil about how embarrassed you were to confess that. He watched you caress one of the petals of a hydrangea with a gentle look.

For a weekend, it was surprisingly quiet here. People flocked to your store during its first week, and Jamil observed all this in the comfort of his parlor. The window provided a clear view of what was going on, so he didn’t need to go outside. You became frazzled in a matter of moments—running around and arranging the flowers yourself—and that amused Jamil. Just a bit.

Still, you smiled throughout that hectic week.

Me neither, Jamil wanted to say. Instead, he answered, “It’s another slow day in my shop, so I decided to visit. I suppose it’s become a habit whenever I have nothing else to do.”

You chuckled, and Jamil pretended his heart didn’t skip a beat. He ignored the twitch of his lips, curling into a small smile. Oblivious to the look the tattoo artist gave you, you continued to admire the flowers.

“That’s fine with me. Besides, I like your company.”

Your shameless honesty was going to be the death of Jamil. The tips of his ears grew warm, and he tugged his hood over them. He already concluded that you were a thoughtful and considerate person after spending some time with you. You prepared tea and cookies, ones you yourself baked, every time he visited. Careful hands arranged the flowers by meaning and color, which already said enough about you. Being a florist sounded just right for someone like you.

Jamil briefly wondered what flowers you’d give him if you wanted to give him a bouquet.

He cleared his throat, mimicking a cough, before he shifted his attention to the irises and jasmines again. Ever since he searched the meanings of the flowers in that basket, he couldn’t help but be curious.

“Can you tell me what these mean in flower language?” He asked, glancing at you from behind his hood. Whether you found this action odd or not, you didn’t comment on it.

With a curious hum, you leaned over to look at what Jamil referred to and smiled wider. You replied, “Ah, irises can mean wisdom, faith, trust, valor, and hope. As for white jasmines…”

You raised an eyebrow at Jamil with a mischievous grin. He didn’t dare entertain the thought that you were being adorable from the action alone. He didn’t dare hope that the gesture actually meant something.

“They can mean sweet love, and the person who receives them is seen as friendly and pleasant.” You paused, before you suddenly left Jamil’s side and reached for the adjacent wall of flowers. Before Jamil could say anything, you already extended a white bloom under his nose.

Wide-eyed and bewildered, he stared at the flower in your hand. It somewhat resembled a rose in full bloom, but the petals were shaped differently. Another amused laugh echoed in the room. You took his hand, inked with intricate patterns that crawled his skin like vines, and placed the flower in it.

Jamil realized that it was a gardenia. This species of flora grew in some part of the botanical garden of his high school. He was only familiar with it because he used to pass by the area to relax, preferably alone.

“I think this suits you, though.” You hummed and returned to the counter with a spin of your heel. Jamil watched you wordlessly as you disappeared into the greenhouse. From where he stood, the tattoo artist saw pink and white camellias peeking through one of the shelves. He nearly jumped when your head popped out of the door frame.

“Oh, and can you help me carry some of these pots around? They’re pretty heavy, thanks!”

It was only until Jamil got home that he searched for the meaning of the gardenia. The bright laptop screen glared at him as he entered the keywords in the search bar. He clicked on the first result and—

Jamil stared at the words with darkening cheeks. His mouth became dry, and his tongue was tied into knots. His hand slammed the monitor shut, before he abruptly stood up and left for the kitchen. He needed some water. He needed to not think too much into things. You were going to be the death of him, Jamil swore to that.

Still, the words were already seared into his memory: you’re lovely.

Jamil found himself visiting you whenever he could. You always asked for his help whenever heavy labor was involved. If it was anyone else, he would’ve felt annoyed. With you, it was just an excuse for Jamil to stay longer.

Fleeting touches, subtle glances, and shy smiles—it was like your own language. Not a single word was exchanged, yet it felt like you said more than Jamil could comprehend. He didn’t miss the moments when your hands lingered too long over his. He would be a fool not to notice that a cookie jar and a box of teabags sat on the counter each time he visited.

For the past year, you’d give him a single flower every day without fail. One time, after the usual tea, it was a morning glory. Another time, when you were particularly homesick and Jamil stayed to chat, you gave him a hydrangea. When he visited your house and took care of you when you became sick, you gave him a yellow lily the next day. He always brought them home, but it came to the point that a mishmash of flowers in a vase brought color and life to his workspace. It sat under the window, where it bathed under a patch of sunlight. He even considered buying another vase due to the sheer amount.

You gave him all kinds of flowers, but he’d never forget the first gardenia he received from you.

“That looks out of place,” one customer pointed out while Jamil prepared the needle. He already knew what he was talking about, but the tattoo artist still followed his line of sight. A soft smile stretched from one ear to the other, and he didn’t bother hiding it.

Without looking away from the flowers, he answered, “They’re gifts from a friend. It’s the only place I can think of where they can be cared for.”

He ignored the sly, knowing grin on the customer’s face. Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Jamil gestured towards the chair and continued to prepare everything he needed for this job.

One sunny day, your storefront was crowded more than usual. Jamil paid no mind to the crowd as he pulled his hood over his head. Inked hands grabbed a bundle of flowers, tied with twine, from the table. They were placed far from the vases that decorated the parlor; just to avoid confusion. His eyes fell on the gardenia he drew on the back of his hand. Jamil added that some time ago, maybe around the past month. Still, it made him smile.

Jamil locked the door, then he instinctively looked at the flower shop. His heart stuttered at the sight of the flowers amongst the crowd. The vibrant and lively blossoms were like a splash of color against the dull tones of the city. What used to be gray pavement and monochrome buildings seemed to come to life with just a few flowers.

He blinked his surprise away, before he gripped the bouquet in his hands. The thrum of his heart and the sweat on his palms weren’t something foreign to Jamil. He always felt like this at the thought of you, even Kalim noticed the change in his friend when he visited once. Your smile flashed in his mind, and his own lips curled into a small one. His feet led him to where he knew you were.

Past the flower shop; past the crowd that lingered at the storefront; past the fresh flowers that gathered against the glass walls. Jamil’s feet grew heavier with each step, as if lead hit the concrete and left faint cracks behind. He stepped through the iron-wrought gates with a soft exhale. His grip on the flowers tightened. He considered going back to the tattoo parlor.

In the end, he thought he’d regret it if he backed out now. Blades of grass grazed his sneakers as he walked through rows of stones. Names were etched into each one, a reminder of who they were to the loved ones left behind. Charcoal gray eyes looked straight ahead. He didn’t bother looking at any of them.

It had been a year since that day, but he still remembered where you were.

Grass crunched under his feet as he stopped in front of an unassuming headstone. Engraved in the stone was your name—funny how he never knew your surname until the funeral. You never told him when you introduced yourself, and he didn’t pry. He even imagined you with his surname at some point, but…

Jamil swallowed the lump in his throat. He crouched on one knee and laid the bundle of flowers on your grave. The tattoo artist made the effort of arranging the colorful blooms in a way that you would. At least, how he remembered that you would.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, and he stared at your gravestone with that same lump in his throat. A sigh rang in the empty cemetery. A cool breeze carried the hustle and bustle of the city. The laugh that used to plague Jamil’s everyday life here was missing. It was gone for months now, but he could still hear it clearly in his head.

“Hey,” Jamil mumbled, clenching his hands into fists, “it’s been a while. I’m sorry I only visited today. It… took me some time to come to terms with what happened. Regardless, you deserved an earlier visit.”

No answer, Of course, there was no answer. You’ve been dead for quite some time now. That was an understatement, considering that a year has already passed.

Jamil’s stomach churned, and an insufferable heat filled his chest. His eyes stung. His nails pierced into the skin of his palms. The lump in his throat seemed to grow bigger, and he found it hard to breathe. Memories of your smile, your laugh, and the time he spent with you and your flowers overlapped in his mind.

He dug his heels into the dirt as he gritted his teeth. The sting behind his eyes grew worse. It was hard to breathe, and he found it harder to speak. He somehow forced the words out with a broken heart, pieces scattered along the ashes of what was left of you.

“You idiot,” Jamil choked out as his vision blurred with tears, “you could’ve called me to help you. How was I supposed to know you were still sick? How was I supposed to know you needed to carry that ridiculously huge flower display across the street? How was I supposed to know that car would lose control and—”

Jamil looked up to the sky with a clenched jaw, teeth clacking and shaking his skull from the force. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curse whatever deity existed in this world. He wanted to forget how you looked, pale and bleeding on the street, that day. He wanted to erase that memory of you until his heart bled out and his voice croaked its last scream.

“—they haven’t found the driver. Everyone who knew you petitioned to keep the shop in your memory. Someone else took over, too. You don’t have to worry about your flowers anymore.”

Since that day, whenever Jamil looked at the ink that adorned his hands and arms, all he remembered was your loud voice and bright smile. Your praise and astonishment echoed in his head like a broken record player. He couldn’t count the amount of times he tried to scrub them clean from his skin. If that didn’t work, he scratched at them until he bled and the patterns were hidden under that shade of red.

In hindsight, Jamil thought that was idiotic of him. Love turned anyone into idiots, anyway.

Sighing, Jamil forced the tears back and looked down at your gravestone. If he tried hard enough, he could imagine you smiling and laughing again. The image of you, lifeless and still on the road, would become a scar that faded with time. He hoped it would be.

“I thought of giving you baby’s breath,” Jamil began as the lump in his throat returned, “along with forget-me-nots, and blue salvia. It would be a horrible contrast, but I also thought of adding pink carnations.”

He paused, before bitterly chuckling to himself. “I don’t have your skills, though. You were always amazing with flower arrangements. I couldn’t hold a candle to you, and I rarely tell anyone that. I didn’t want to give you something that was less than perfect—you deserve more than that, so I settled with sweet peas.”

Jamil knew he was talking to himself. He always found it ridiculous how anyone talked to the dead, even if he understood the necessity to respect the ones who passed. This one time, he understood why people did this. Jamil just couldn’t bring himself to accept the circumstances that led to that revelation.

“They mean goodbye in flower language, but I prefer the other meaning. Maybe, in another life, I would’ve bought you flowers for a date. I was thinking of asking you on a date before. Did you know that?”

Another bitter chuckle. Another shaky breath.

“I was supposed to ask you that day. I finally found the courage to try, and what did I see? You…” The words were stuck in Jamil’s throat. He couldn’t force the words out this time. The clamor outside and the harsh slam of his parlor door echoed in his memories. He didn’t want his last memory of you to be your dying breath. He’d rather not remember that at all.

Jamil shook his head and continued, “I apologize for that. What you need to know is that I like you. I may even go so far as to say I love you, and I’m sorry I never told you earlier. I hope you can forgive me for that.”

The tattoo artist sat down in front of your headstone. He didn’t care if dirt and grass stained his jeans this time. He reached out to trace the name etched into the stone, with the same hand where the inked gardenia peeked out of his sleeve.

“I like your flowers. I like all of them. I still keep them with me. I wish I told you that sooner,” Jamil mumbled, voice cracking at the end. A tear rolled down his left cheek and dripped into the soil. His shoulders shook in a silent sob as he breathed his last words to you.

“Thank you for a lovely time. I’ll never forget you.”

107 notes · View notes

ashen-char · 5 months

Text

together pt.1/?

ship: river (all souls) x gender neutral reader

warnings: vague mentions of drug dealing bc of canon i suppose

summary: river has some financial troubles. you want to help.

word count: 800+

You're resting on River's worn-out sofa bed, like you do whenever you come over. River's place is a single bedroom and her baby comes first - Jade is already sleeping soundly in the bedroom. And you can ignore the springs digging into your back if it means River's laying beside you every night.

But right now, she's busy. River is counting crumpled bills at her dining table, sitting on a metal folding chair that's always been uncomfortable. A little from the dealings she runs, a little more for helping the cops, and the shitty tips from her diner job.

Her being a police informant is too dangerous for your liking. Especially with how it wraps River up in Silas's world again. River agreed with you every time you two talked about it but, in her words, what the hell can she do? She needs the money to keep the lights on, to keep her girl fed, needs Jade to be able to stay miles away from the shitshow that is her life. And, River added, the more she helps the police the closer that scum gets off the streets.

"Damn," River whispers to herself as she counts the final bill. "Barely enough to keep the lights on." But you hear her, and you can see that wrinkle between her brows. She's stressed - mind already whirring about how to make her paycheck stretch for the week. Your girl takes on way too much by herself.

"Hey," you say. You get up from the sofa and make your way over to her, sliding an arm across River's shoulders.

"Mm," she murmurs back in acknowledgement. River lifts her head up so that your lips graze against the tattoo on her neck. "Sorry, it's just-" she sighs, "a lot. But I'll figure something out. I always do."

"No, no. I'll pitch in." You don't say it like an offer, knowing that River's pride would make her refuse, but as a statement. You'd take care of her. You'd take care of them both if she let you.

River has been independent since she was a kid, practically, so young when she had Jade. She had dropped out and had taken whatever jobs she could, and after her mom passed River has been doing it virtually alone. Learning that it's alright to depend on you has been a struggle for her.

River pauses. "You sure?" You've offered before, and River always turned it down. It's your money, she'd tell you. The fact that she doesn't refuse immediately tells you that she's more comfortable relying on you already. It warms your heart.

The answer's easy. You don't hesitate to say "of course", leaning down to kiss her again.

It's slow and a little sweet, the tang from the Monster she just downed hitting your lips. Your tongue darts out to lick it away and River makes this cute little noise at the back of her throat. The pressure of River's kiss is like a soothing balm. When she pulls away, though, you can see that the money problems are still on her mind.

Leaning her head on your shoulder, she sets down the bills she was tallying and rubs her tired eyes. It's a mix of emotions. Gratitude for the roof over their heads, frustration at the unending struggle to make ends meet. And above all, River has determination to provide a better life for her daughter. She knows accepting this offer would be for the best. And she trusts you.

"Alright. But I don't really know what to let you help with," River admits. She already has enough, if barely, to cover the bills. With a little more pocket change from you, she could actually have some savings for a rainy day. You two wouldn't have to sleep every night on a sofa she found off the side of the road.

"I dunno. Anything," you say.

River looks over her apartment as if seeing it for the first time. The coffee table has cigarette burns and crayon scribbles. Toys are strewn all over the floor but the walls are empty, save for Jade's drawings. The cabinets never close properly. There's only two chairs at the dining table. That was enough for when it was just the two of them, but with you around... maybe River can dream of sharing meals together as a family. You'd stick around for breakfast instead of slipping out before Jade wakes up.

"You think we can get a little something to make the place more homey?" she asks. "I think I'd like that."

You grip her tighter, whispering promises against River's skin. Dreaming for more is hard in a world like this. But you hope against hope that you being around will make River see that it's alright. That dreams can come true.

You hold her close, surrounded by the faint scent of her perfume and the quiet hum of the city outside. "I'd love to. We'll make it happen," you whisper. You'll make anywhere home as long as you're by each other's sides. "Together."

pt. 2 is here!

#mikey madison #all souls #river all souls #mikey madison x reader #river x reader

48 notes · View notes

eldritch-nightmare · 9 months

Text

celebrating the holidays.

a/n: hi here's my short replacement for the eyeless jack fic. that one is still gonna get posted!! just may take a while bc it's getting longer than i intended it to be lol. anyways i tried to keep the holiday relatively vague but since i personally celebrate christmas, i may slip up a bit. couldn't decide who to write for so i just spun a wheel six times and went with the ones selected.

includes: the bloody painter, nurse ann, jane the killer (arkensaw), eyeless jack, kate the chaser, and homicidal liu.

warnings: not proofread, very brief mention of helen's childhood, literally just fluff, also inconsistent length but that's to be expected atp, reader consumes meat in jack's section so sorry if u don't, nsfw elements in jack's part my hand slipped guys, blood, lotta kissing.

THE BLOODY PAINTER

He never cared much for the holidays, even when he was a child. Honestly, it was the one time of year that he dreaded the most.

He's an artist, so you know what that means. Every year, without fail, he would always get some art-related gifts. Not that he was complaining about that or anything, it was really, and still is, the only thing he had much interest in.

He just... found it to be draining. Apparently, at least according to his parents, he was supposed to find the holidays to be a fun, exciting time of year. And he was supposed to be oh so thankful for getting yet another sketchbook or paints from his relatives or whatever.

That was just too much work, honestly. So he grew to dread the holidays, even long after he became the killer he is today.

He's... not quite sure how he feels about the wrapped gift you're holding out in front of him. A part of him wants to reject it, and he almost does, but the barely contained excitement in your expression made him hesitate.

Your excitement only seemed to grow when he took the wrapped gift from you. While he didn't necessarily want or need a gift, he couldn't help but indulge you, especially since you seemed genuinely excited over whatever gift you had gotten him.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what he was expecting when he unwrapped the gift. Something art-related, no doubt. And it was art-related, just not in the way he was expecting.

It was something similar to a scrapbook, but it was really... neat. And more so a collection of art rather than an actual scrapbook. The thing that caught his attention the most was that it was just any old collection of art.

It was his art. You... you took or had his art professionally photographed and you put it in this book. It wasn't every single piece of art he's ever made, but it included a lot from different points of his life. It even included pieces from before he had met you.

He does not cry, no. But you do catch the tiniest smile forming as he flipped through the pages. It's... the nicest gift he's ever gotten before.

Helen's not sure how he'll repay you for getting something like this, so for now you'll just have to accept the tighter-than-usual hug and soft kiss.

NURSE ANN

Ann isn't too sure if she's ever celebrated any holidays before. She has no memories of her life before her... death? Is she dead? Well, she certainly doesn't feel alive.

She's rather indifferent towards the holidays, and honestly she probably won't even realize it's that time of year unless you or someone else point it out to her.

If you want to celebrate with her then she certainly won't stop you, just don't expect her to be the life of the party or anything like that.

You will have to guide her through how to celebrate because she simply will not know. But once she gets a hang of how things work it'll be something she retains for the future.

Ann stares blankly at the... tastefully atrocious sweater you were sporting. There were so many colors and the design clashed in a borderline unbearable way but you somehow made it look good.

Her gaze then drops down to the matching sweater you were holding out for her, an expectant look in your gaze. She thinks she understands, though she still glances up at you in confusion.

You explain that while it's not necessary to do in order to celebrate the holidays, you thought it would be fun to wear matching outfits with her. It's something couples do sometimes, apparently.

After your quick explanation, she silently takes the sweater from your hands and puts it on over what she was already wearing.

It certainly looks odd on her, no doubt, but the fabric is actually pretty soft, and the bright smile that lights up on your face makes it hard for her to care about whether or not the sweater looks good on her.

JANE THE KILLER

Jane hasn't celebrated the holidays since all the shit that's happened to her. She's been so focused on hunting Jeff down that it never even crosses her mind. Hell, she hasn't even celebrated her own birthday in years.

But then you come along and you insist on doing something for the holidays. Not because you necessarily enjoyed the holidays, but mostly because you just wanted her to take a break for once.

It'll take a lot of convincing. You'll have to get her to promise you months in advance, if we're being honest.

And if she didn't have such a soft spot for you, she probably wouldn't even humor the idea you had to celebrate. But alas, she loves you, and she finds it hard to say no to you more than she would like to admit.

She huffs in mild annoyance, sticking close to you as you guide her down the streets. She wouldn't normally be in such a crowded place but everyone was so caught up in their own plans for the holidays that no one spared her a single glance.

You wanted to go ice skating. It's not typically a traditional way to celebrate the holidays, at least not for her, but it seemed as if it would be fun. And it would give her an excuse to be close to you, so.

When you guys finally reach the ice skating rink, you're bouncing in excitement and eagerly pulling Jane along to go and put some blades on. She lets you, because your hand is oh so warm in hers and the way the lights shine in your eyes makes her feel... peaceful.

Now, there's no denying that she has never gone ice skating before. Hell, she's never been roller skating. So the moment you two were out on the ice, she was clinging to you to keep herself from falling.

It was embarrassing, and she almost wanted to storm off out of frustration but you never laughed at her. You would help her catch her balance whenever she slipped. You only laughed when you slipped.

You were even fine with sticking to one side of the rink, always keeping Jane behind you whenever another person would skate too close.

And when the two of you decided you had enough, she couldn't help but pull you close right as you go to step out of the rink, planting a deep kiss on your lips and leaving you dazed as she goes to take her blades off.

EYELESS JACK

Similarly to Ann, Jack can't remember if he's ever celebrated the holidays before. However, unlike Ann, he does have a vague idea on how people celebrate the holidays. He's not isolated like her.

He's definitely indifferent towards the holidays. He doesn't care much for them, but he's probably willing to celebrate if you really want him to.

Gift giving is not his specialty, dear lord. You will have to sit him down and tell him bluntly what you want so he can find some odd most certainly illegal way of obtaining it.

Jack is, however, an amazing cook and there is nothing that could change my mind on this, so he will definitely be willing to help you make any holiday meal you may want to try out.

Jack is silent as he watches you cook some meat for the meal the two of you had been spending the past few hours or so making. You had family coming over, and you needed dinner to be done before they arrived, so you had enlisted the help of your demonic, cannibalistic boyfriend.

His nose scrunched up in slight disgust at both the sight and smell of the cooking meat, and he grumbled silently under his breath about what a waste it was to cook it.

His mild disgust only seemed to grow more evident when you cut a piece of the meat off and pop it in your mouth to taste test it. He just couldn't understand how you could eat such a thing. Then again, he can't really judge considering he only consumes raw meat. Typically coming from a human.

You hum in delight at the taste, and perhaps it's an instinctual thing humans do, or maybe it's something else, but you cut off another piece and hold it out for him to eat. He just stares, and it takes a moment for you to realize what you had done, letting out a small, embarrassed laugh.

Before you could eat the piece of meat yourself, he was grabbing your wrist and bringing it back to his mouth, eating the cooked meat and biting your finger in the process. You hissed at the feeling of his sharp teeth pricking your skin, but you don't pull your hand away from him.

The meat was disgusting, no offense. You're an amazing cook so it isn't your fault, he just literally cannot consume cooked meat (or really anything that isn't raw/human) and he's going to feel absolutely awful tomorrow but that's for future Jack to worry about.

Present Jack thinks he deserves a reward for putting up with both the smell and taste of cooked meat, and he licks at your bleeding finger like your blood is the best thing he's ever tasted. To him, it was. It certainly helped to erase the taste of cooked meat.

Once he was satisfied, he was pulling you closer to him and kissing you deeply. He bit at your bottom lip until it was bleeding as well, and he couldn't help but groan as your blood invaded his mouth once more, relishing in both the taste and the little gasp that came from you.

He wanted more. Needed, if we're being honest. He found himself craving for you as his hands fell to the hem of your sweatpants, gently tugging at them. A clear sign of his intentions.

You grabbed his wrists before he could continue, breaking the kiss off and smiling slightly when he chased after you. The two of you were breathing heavily, the air in the kitchen feeling a lot thicker now.

Later, you promised. You still had a meal to finish cooking, and your family would be coming by in just a few hours. You sealed the promise with a quick, chaste kiss before taking the meat off the stove and setting it aside to focus on the next part of the meal.

And he helped you. He was patient, and he knew you could keep your promise.

KATE THE CHASER

Considering her sensitivity to light, it's not exactly easy for her to celebrate the holidays since bright lights seem to be a staple in them.

She's not really much of a holiday person anyway, so it's not something that bums her out.

She's probably the only one on this list that's least likely to indulge in celebrating, and will more than likely turn you down if you bring up the offer.

But she does feel a certain fondness in her heart when she sees you getting excited over something in relation to the holidays. While she doesn't enjoy that time of year, she's glad that you do.

Kate keeps her eyes covered as you carefully guide her through the forest. You had a surprise for her, apparently. Something to celebrate the holidays without actually celebrating.

She wasn't immediately thrilled, but you had promised that there would be absolutely no bright lights involved and that she didn't even have to consider it something for the holidays. That was enough to make her willing to indulge you just this once.

Even with her eyes closed, she could practically feel the excitement radiating off of you as you brought her closer to wherever it was you wanted to take her.

You told her to open her eyes shortly after, and she found the two of you standing in front of one of the many abandoned cabins within the forest. She didn't even hesitate to enter the cabin when you motioned for her to. Kate trusted you.

The sight she saw when she stepped inside was... it was breathtaking, honestly.

The walls and the ceiling were covered in glow-in-the-dark snowflakes and stars, illuminating the cabin in a faint green hue. It wasn't a grand gesture or anything of the sort. It was... it was nice.

The glow of the stars and snowflakes was bright enough to illuminate the cabin but dull and dark enough that she didn't have to shy away from it.

That wasn't the only thing you had planned either. She's not sure how much time and effort you put into doing all of this, but you had set up a little space in the cabin. There was even a small projector set up, as well as some food that you knew she enjoyed.

It's definitely the most romantic thing she's ever experienced. And if this is how you want to celebrate the holidays with her, then she definitely won't mind doing this sort of thing again next year.

HOMICIDAL LIU

Similarly to Jane, Liu hasn't really celebrated the holidays since everything that happened. He knows when that time of year comes around, and it makes him feel nostalgic, but he always found it hard to celebrate alone.

He's the one on this list who'll be most excited to celebrate the holidays with you if you ask him to.

It doesn't matter what you wanna do. If you wanna decorate your home, if you wanna give gifts, if you wanna make a meal, if you wanna just stay in and watch some movies and order takeout then he's down.

Sully doesn't care for the holidays and he finds the whole time of year to be annoying, to be honest, so you'll only be celebrating with Liu.

And you decided that you wanted to decorate your home a bit for the holidays. It was a simple way to celebrate the holidays, and you didn't even have to leave your home to get any decorations since you had some stuffed away in a box in your closet.

When you had told Liu that that was your plan, he was eager to join you. It's been so long since he's been able to do anything for the holidays, and he was just... really excited to finally have someone to spend them with.

You made sure to put on some music to play in the background while the two of you got to decorating, and you'd tell him where to put certain things if he didn't know what to do with them.

You two chat with each other as well during all this, sharing random memories and stories from your childhoods. Some were happy, some were sad. Sometimes, Liu would trail off mid-story and you'd have to change the subject to something lighter.

At some point, when a particularly romantic song played, you set down the decoration you were holding and pulled Liu away from the one he was setting out so you could take a break and dance with him.

It got the brightest smile out of him. The brightest one you've ever seen.

The bitter sadness and nostalgia that comes with the holidays lingered. It would always linger, honestly, but it was easier to deal with when he's with you.

And he was excited to make new memories with you. Ones that'll make him smile when the holidays roll around again.

#sigh keep forgetting how i tag stuff here hold on #the bloody painter x reader #nurse ann x reader #jane the killer x reader #eyeless jack x reader #kate the chaser x reader #homicidal liu x reader #the bloody painter x you #nurse ann x you #jane the killer x you #eyeless jack x you #kate the chaser x you #homicidal liu x you #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you

115 notes · View notes

elficially-done-with-life · 4 months

Text

Being married to Aredhel hc

Pairing: Aredhel x Reader

Warnings: mentiones of sexual content, vague mentiones of Eöl (He isn't directly mentioned, but I thought I'd better warn you)

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Before middle-earth:

♡ Is flirtatious even after you are already married and your fëa are connected

♡ Just can't stop pretending she's trying to seduce you again, knowing full well that you'll never be able to resist her

♡ Always got up early before your wedding, but likes to stay late afterwards to enjoy your warmth and cuddle you before the day starts

Spends as much time with you as possible, even skipping hunting trips with Celegorm to do so

♡ When you ride somewhere, no matter how short the distance, she makes sure you're on a horse together

♡ She then presses herself firmly against your back and her hands wander all over your body while she buries her face in your hair and breathes in your scent deeply

♡ Always dances exuberantly with you on the dance floor at balls and makes all the other couples look old

♡ Likes to show you off and brag how pretty you are in front of her brothers

♡ If you put on one of her dresses, or even her hunting clothes, she'll get all weak in the knees and fulfil your every wish

♡ She brings you a stone every time she hunts in the forest

♡ They're not gemstones, just ordinary stones in nice shapes and colours (if she does find a gemstone, she'll bring you that one too, of course), Aredhel always says they're nothing special, she just wants to gift you something, but you treasure them all and put them on every windowsill and cupboard in your shared home

After middle-earth:

♡ Meeting and marrying Aredhel after middle-earth would be different

♡ Aredhel needs a long time to even imagine getting married again, because her scars from Middle-earth will probably never heal again

♡ Fell in love with you because of your kindness, something she missed a lot in her previous marriage

♡ Whenever you touch her gently, she just melts away, she longs for the gentle touch of someone who actually cares about her

♡ Imagined what it would be like to marry you for a long time, but thinks you deserve better

♡ She's convinced she's already too broken and undeserving to be anywhere near good enough for you

♡ When you find out, you're heartbroken, but a long, emotional conversation brings you to the conclusion that you feel the same way about each other

♡ Would also really enjoy cuddling with you after the wedding, but not just in the mornings, but almost all the time

♡ Wants to be close to you especially when she's sad or thinking too much about the events in middle-earth

♡ She often tells you how much she loves that she can trust you so much

♡ Never goes into the forest for more than a few hours, and never alone, because only when you sleep next to her and she feels your warmth does she not have nightmares

♡ Introduces you to Lómion when he is let out of the halls and is very nervous, because she is afraid that two of the most important people in her life might not like each other

♡ But you get on well, and slowly Aredhel manages to get more used to her new life in freedom and full of love

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

23 notes · View notes

cordeliawhohung · 2 days

Text

Pup anon!!!!

putting the ask you sent me copied and pasted under the cut because 1: a fox cries; never howls spoilers and 2: just cuz some of it might be a little triggering in regards to vague mentions of abusive relationships because i am also going to yap lmao

first of all about the second ask yes lmao, apparently just like half an ask got sent through because I meant the fc;nh, that I have to say it really had me saying yeowch out loud and clutching my kitties, I loved the same situation (obviously not the exact same way) so I just have to tell you that you portrayed the feelings perfectly, there’s too many parts that I went ‘yeah that’s exactly it’ but this one Grief is the quintessence of escape. You’ve crossed the threshold — you were dragged beyond it — and now there’s no way back to the way things were. Your life wasn’t good, and it was far from comfortable, but it was familiar. You only know how to navigate things when bound. Chained to an unforgiving master. How are you supposed to live with free hands? I don’t even know where to begin with it, I suck with words too much, but you simply did it, I could yap for hours without an end about it, about living it and about how you portrayed it exactly how it is, but every word you wrote just, it was it, it was exactly how it felt, and that exact part was exactly how it felt when I finally managed to leave, even if for me didn’t go on for years, it was like six months maybe? when you finally step out, go back home, go back to a “normal life” you literally don’t know how to live it anymore, you always feel the ghost of the teeth, the words, the hands, everything, I was so used to that that it took me some long 7 years to finally be able to have a proper routine, to have a proper felling or wholeness at some point again even if not completely, I don’t know what the proper word would be, but as weird as it sounds reading that chapter brought me an amount of comfort that I can’t explain, I can’t never talk about this with anyone because they start looking at me like some sort of broken toy and suddenly start treating me like if walking in eggshells around me and treating me like a child, but while reading it felt like some sort of being understood for the first time, you truly are more than an incredible writer, i’ve overcome the whole situation just fine, even just a few days after getting out talking about it felt like telling a story and not something I lived and it stays like that until today, I actually have a friend that always used to ask me questions about it bc she wrote fics of that kind and wanted to know how to portray the feelings and the situations and I loooved answering her, it was the only moment where I could talk about it freely and calmly without the other person looking at me with pity, and to end this long ass personal yap once again, you’re just incredible, i’ll never get tired of reading every single thing that you write, you feel like seeing a baby kitten playing between flowers on a sunny day while you try to guess cloud shapes, i’m so excited for the next chapters, please always take care of yourself <3 and actually the yap that I have for yesterdays situation has some of this involved, i’ll send that soon enough i’m excited about it but I wanted to say all of this first, I know that you said that long asks don’t bother you but still i’m sorry!!! I feel like if i’m talking with my life long lost friend but at the same time like a girl sending her favorite celebrity mail while shaking on her boots

i get so terribly sad when anyone says that they can relate to certain characters/aspects of my stories because they are some truly horrible things to experience, but at the same time it's a little comforting because it's like, oh yeah i'm not alone. because i'm being so real when i say pretty much everything i've ever written and will ever write is just a trauma fic lmao. and i've had a few people come into my asks and tell me "omg you described this so well" or something to that effect, and while 1, thank you for the compliment haha, 2 it's something i try my best to do as far as evoking emotions, it's something i feel like i have to do.

like, people only want to listen to your trauma when it's pretty. when it's palatable. when you can dip your fingers into the blood and make it a painting. when you can turn it into art. it's honestly what got me back into writing because i needed some place to put it all down.

and yes, the pity people look at you with. i mentioned that a little bit too here:

For the first time in your life he makes you feel more like a victim than a toy, and you’re not sure if that feels any better.

it's such a really strange feeling to attempt to overcome. the want/need to share something but to be looked at the same. like a human. to be regarded with the strength you have for being a survivor. because it's alienating, in a way, not being able to talk about your past, these important in integral parts of yourself, because you know someone is going to treat you oddly because of it. good natured, of course, and i feel like media has portrayed that it is supposed to be that way, but it can be frustrating too. just, yes on that part.

also don't apologize for the personal yapping! i'm honestly glad you did. it's good to get that stuff of your chest, and i'm honestly so honored that i can create something that someone is able to relate to in a positive sense; that they feel seen and heard.

but ugh im so glad to hear from you! my brain is mush so i hope at least half of this makes sense i just also wanted to hop onto the yap. don't apologize for long asks either! i promise i don't mind at all lmao. and hey maybe one of these days when you feel comfortable to reveal yourself we can do all this in dms alsdkfj

also, so excited to hear the second part to your other ask earlier re: the collaring mmmm.

#core responds #a fox cries; never howls #tw: abuse #pup anon

16 notes · View notes

moodymisty · 1 year

Note

Hello! Hope you are well! Do you have any headcannons of how the horsemen would confort a female reader, stressed out because of work? 🙂

Author's Note: Hello and welcome! If this was perhaps prompted because of some IRL stress (I feel you), here's some cute Horsemen headcanons for comfort. If not, still here's some cute Horsemen headcanons X'D

Relationships: Death/Fem!Reader, War/Fem!Reader, Fury/Fem!Reader, Strife/Fem!Reader

Warnings: None, just some mentions of vague stress

✦ Death ✦

Death is no nonsense. Get it done, get over it, or move on. Stewing and stressing is a pointless act.

When he realizes that isn't gonna work on a human the same as it did when he was a young Nephilim, he has to figure out something else.

He has the utmost faith in your abilities, no matter how much he may wryly say otherwise. You can count of him to always be there supporting you in this silent, brooding sort of way.

This will be one of the rare times Death will actually be a bit more forwardly affectionate towards you in any way. You might just be better off hugging him yourself though given how awkward he is. But he's trying.

He just hates seeing you all sullen like this. You're supposed to be his little beacon of light, so he'll do his best (even if it hurts him inside to be this, bleh soft) to silently help.

Death is also unfathomably patient when it's someone he cares for, and will be there for you until you no longer have such need for him. Though he isn't going to say it isn't nice- to be someone's rock for awhile.

✦ War ✦

War doesn't really, get stressed. At least not in the way most people do. So when you're buzzing around, he doesn't really know how to handle it.

He ends up silently being a wall for you to literally and figuratively rest on while you work or try and wind down. He's warm against your back, looking over your head curiously. Whatever you're doing might not make any sense to him, but he finds himself enjoying watching anyways.

He isn't entirely sure what to do, but this is working, so he just lets it happen. It's not like he's getting a raw deal, with you snuggling him.

He's the perfect person for if you just want someone's presence.

He might get a little bit antsy if you don't pay attention to him every now and again, or at least tell him that he's helping.

War blooms under the gentle praise of you telling him he makes you calm. You've done the same to him an uncountable number of times when he feels himself losing control of his anger, so he likes returning the favor for you in a way.

✦ Fury ✦

You stressing makes her stress, Fury will joke. Though she honestly isn't far from the truth.

You're much more of the jokester out of the both of you; So when you're too stressed out to do any of the sorts of usual quips and such, Fury is very quickly on edge. She at first something had hurt you, before she realized that wasn't the case.

She's definitely tied with Death when it comes to struggling the most to comfort someone.

She'll talk about how you're better than this, and that none of this should bother you, nonchalantly throwing her hand.

Eventually she settles, and it turns out she's a surprisingly good ear, if you're in the mood for complaining or just vocalizing your stress.

Venting is her favorite way to deal with things and while your venting may be a bit different (and less violent) than what she's used to, she doesn't mind. It helps and you're her favorite human, so she's more than willing to.

Quickly you end up getting distracted and feeling the stress fade from your body for a bit, and Fury has to contain a bit of pride from knowing she successfully put that smile back on your face.

✦ Strife ✦

Honestly, Strife is probably the worst guy to be around if you're stressed in any capacity.

He tries though, and that's what matters.

He hovers, a lot, attempting to try and cheer you up in whatever way he thinks could work.

He'll try multiple different avenues; Things like offering to give you a ride on Mayhem, or relaxing once you're done. These offers might quickly start to become a little more, risque, if you don't quickly stop him.

As amusing (or tempting) some of them might be, it might not be the best strategy, depending on how you feel. If you take him up on any of his offers Strife will be overjoyed to get your mind off of things, even if it's just for a little while.

If you don't, he'll end up getting stressed out even more, thinking it's really serious if none of his usual methods worked.

The best way to deal with him is to just tell him to stop pacing and sit down. Get him to relax so you can try and relax.

He'll do down near anything to make you happy again; You only need to tell him what you want, and he'll try his damn best.

#darksiders x reader #darksiders strife x reader #darksiders fury x reader #darksiders war x reader #darksiders death x reader #Darksiders/Reader #reader insert #reader #mywriting

57 notes · View notes

siriannatan · 4 months

Text

Dragon Sleeping Habits - ScfWhip

For once fWhip isn't the one who needs being taken care of :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55694242/chapters/141905710

He'd be first to call himself a hypocrite, fWhip thought as he watched Scott during a meeting of all the emperors. Why Katherine insisted on gathering them together if all they did was argue and exchange vague and veiled threats and insults was beyond him.

But back to him observing the leven half-dragon king. Scott looked exhausted. And trust him, fWhip would know what exhaustion looked better than most. He more than once caught himself in a mirror after working on a project. And he knew, being one himself, that half-dragons were fully capable of exhaustion.

He fully knew why Scott was exhausted. It wasn't just a few weeks since his brother tried to take over the world. It must have been hard knowing your sibling was in an eternal magical prison for consorting with demons. Not to mention all the horrors they all had to go through to get him there.

So, even if fWhip was usually wary of Scott. It was in every dragon's nature to be wary of other dragons unless mated. He decided he needed to talk to Scott. Everyone else seemed to ignore the obvious. Not to mention that Scott pretty much only left his empire for these meetings. And fWhip might have overheard about him withdrawing from all his alliances. Just suddenly turned neutral to all his ‘friends’. Even from Jimmy what fWhip took worrying amounts of pleasure from. Well, he could always blame Scott being pretty for that.

So once the meeting was over. Just like last time no issue Katherine raised got solved. In fWhip's opinion best solutions involved explosives and ended with big holes. Sausage and Jimmy have been cordial ever since weren't they? Back on topic. Once the meeting was over, fWhip told his allies he needed to go back sooner but instead of going back to Grimlands he followed Scott.

He wasn't trying to hide so he was not shocked Scott landed halfway to his empire and waved at him. “What are you following me for?” The elf asked. Wings spread slightly in a threatening manner but fWhip could see them shake slightly.

“When did you last sleep?” Fwhip asked instead of responding. “Who like who, but I'd know how long we can go without sleep, no? And I can see your wings shaking. You need to sleep Scott,” he scolded, refusing to return Scott's hostile stance. He wasn't here to pick a fight for once.

Scott stared at him, likely trying to come up with a good excuse. He likely didn't but he spoke anyway. “How are you expecting me to sleep? I literally can't with the nightmares fWhip,” he huffed and yawned, likely against himself judging by the blush.

fWhip sighed. Of course Scott had nightmares. “You want a potion for dreamless sleep? It'll take a bit to make but you can stick around my place while I work on it. Who knows, some actual company might help too,” he offered. fWhip rarely offered potions to not friends or allies.

Scott stared at him in disbelief. “Do you really expect me to agree to be alone with you?” He asked but his wings relaxed.

“I can ask Gem to come over too if that makes you more comfortable,” he shrugged. Even with that one incident Gem and Scott had a pretty cordial relationship. Not to mention she had a reputation as a peacemaker.

“No need to bother her, I'll go with you,” Scott sighed, likely having thought the whole offer over.

“Okay, you first,” fWhip nodded and took a step back so Scott could take off towards Grimlands.

“Why me first?”

“So I can catch you if you pass out,” fWhip grinned. He knew Scott would hate being saved by him.

With a huff and a mutter of something that sounded like a complaint Scott took off. fWhip followed as close as he safely could. He had to admit, it'd probably be fun to race with Scott if he wasn't so exhausted.

The first thing fWhip did after they arrived was have Scott send a message to Rivendell that he was fine, just getting help solving his nightmare problem. And then let, practically dragged, Scott to his alchemy lab.

“Sit wherever, the potion should be ready in about an hour, try to sleep if you can,” he instructed while changing out of his nicer - less filthy and burnt - coat.

Scott did, taking the only chair there. Well, there was still fWhip's cot for when he couldn't drag himself into his real bed after experimenting for too long.

The potion wasn't hard. It just took some time to properly brew. So he occasionally snuck in looks at Scott. He observed fWhip carefully. Arms crossed over his chest. Clearly tense as his leg bounced up and down. Attempt to keep himself awake? fWhip felt a bit bad with how often Scott was yawning. But not enough to offer a real bed. He'd likely refuse it anyway.

Scott actually fell asleep shortly before the potion was done. Soft snoring was what alerted fWhip to the fact. He still finished and bottled the batch. It didn't look like Scott was currently having a bad dream. Aside from some mumbling between the snores he seemed quite peaceful.

With a sigh fWhip gently picked Scott up. If his calculations were correct the manor should be empty save for the patrol outside. He didn't like having people in his house while he slept.

Now, he could just leave Scott in a guest room. Put the potions on the nightstand. Maybe leave a letter if he felt particularly nice. It's what he'd do if it was anyone else in his arms - maybe aside from Gem. But this was Scott. Nothing was ever this simple when Scott was involved. Scott had fWhip's damned instincts oedge just by existing near him.

And not the aggressive, territorial instincts. fWhip had him wanting to act like an idiot. Some part - he'd never admit it was the whole - of his brain liked Scott. And wanted to mate Scott. Court him with gifts and all that. But fWhip was a realist and knew there was no way Scott would like him back. So he just suffered silently.

But as for now? Now he took Scott to his own bed. To keep an eye on him, he pushed the excitement down. He was absolutely not coming up for excuses for when Scott woke up.

Or so he could tell himself. But he could not deny the warm feeling when he tucked Scott in. His brain was too happy about the situation. So with a huff, fWhip got his coat off and removed his shoes before getting into the bed as well. Once the potions were safely on the nightstand that is.

Scott woke up the most rested he's been in days. He still felt dead tired. But not as much as when he spoke with fWhip. He felt he needed to apologise for likely making a ruckus, even if he couldn't really control it, but he felt so comfy and warm. His draconic side was practically purring in his head…

Why would he be comfy on that chair in fWhip's lab? He couldn't… Wouldn't… With panic building up Scott's eyes opened. All he could see were dark sheets. He tried sitting up but something… someone stopped him.

“Just sleep,” he froze as fWhip spoke. Voice heavy and coarse from sleep. Scott looked down. All he could see was fWhip's hair and horns. And the count was purring. Scott himself as well.

“fWhip? What… why are we in one bed?” He asked while trying to wiggle out of fWhip's hold against what his dragon part was telling him. Damn fWhip for being nice and pretty.

“You fell asleep, looked pretty peaceful so I let you sleep and brought you here, stayed in case you woke up from nightmares,” fWhip explained as if he was explaining his next plan. It shouldn't have sounded as attractive as it did.

Scott gave up trying to escape. fWhip was pretty strong for his size. And pleasantly warm. “Once I'm rested we need to talk,” Scott sighed as he settled as comfortably as he could with fWhip clinging to him.

“Fine, I freed a whole day for a nap, by the way, I can have someone bring food here if you're hungry,” fWhip continued to push all the right buttons. Scott just sighed and closed his eyes. All that could wait. He was too exhausted and touch starved at the moment to care. Their empires could survive a day or two without them around. He could be selfish for one day.

#my stuff #my stories #empires smp #fanfiction #empiresshipping #empires fwhip #empires scott #scfwhip

12 notes · View notes