#he went from Exceptional to Very High approval SO fast when i told him Hey Do Not Reforge The Crown That KILLED THE DUDE WHO DID IT

[neraiutsuze]

gale. buddy. please. we literally JUST got done talking astarion down from seeking Ultimate Power That The Powers That Be Are Like Holy Shit This Is A Bit Much About yesterday. Can we please not. Can you please chill for five goddamn minutes. Don't give me the sad puppy eyes about the evil crown that EXTREMELY KILLED THE LAST GUY and is currently being used to control an ELDER BRAIN like i'm refusing to support you getting chocolate cake for your birthday. BUDDY

[ladyyatexel]

I Went On A Manga Binge

So you don't have to

For those of you who have wisely avoided the shreds of it I've left around the blog thus-far, I had some weird notion to go re-experience Yu-Gi-Oh uuuuuh a week ago? We'll go with that. Time is meaningless.

I'd been able to read a good portion of the early manga at the end of highschool, and somewhere in my stacks and stacks of paper is fanart from this dark time, so you know I cared. I also still own a Dark Magician action figure somehow, so. I'd also watched a large portion of the anime with my brother because it had been laced with some kind of crack and we couldn't look away? I remember when we both were just like shit, wait, don't change the channel, I can't stop looking at it. And the next thing we knew we were waiting for new episodes and I was doing research on the Japanese original because I was that kid.

Anyway, unnecessary backstory out of the way, here are some... let's call them Observations and Consequences of having read somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 chapters (and growing) of a manga primarily hinged on card games from a spectrum of sources ranging from boringly lawful to sketchy as fuck.

Surprise actual character that develops in typical shounen fashion being Jounouchi. My limited experiences with the 4Kids dub and only early manga had not painted him in a particularly good light. I don't know if episodes were being aired out of order or if I had just missed the ones that established that he was making shit up as he was going along, but Wow I liked him a lot more going through the manga than I ever did watching the (dubbed, heavily edited and censored and thrown into a slurry machine) anime. I'd managed to come out with the impression that he was just as reasonably experienced with the game as Yugi back in the day. Wild.

I'm now reading every single comic-style post on Tumblr backwards.

Striking inverse to first point, wow, I don't like Seto Kaiba. Though he gets points for his general philosophy of the future, and the line I read in my sketchy online combo of scans and scanlations in which he said, "If God is in your way, you run him down," was Metal As Fuck. I somewhat shame-facedly admit to enjoying him a lot more as an Abridged Series character. (I watched Abridged as it came out back in the day! The experience of watching the anime with my brother had been so fresh that I got all the in jokes about the way things were edited and dubbed, it was great. Series remains influential part of my life to this day, which is hella weird.)

I almost understand how Duel Monsters works now. I don't want this.

That said, wow a lot of the decisions made in the anime made everything a lot more ridiculous than the admittedly already ridiculous original. I got the distinct feeling in the manga that the Duelist Kingdom stuff we were seeing was designed to be used and exploited in ways that don't make sense in an actual cardgame just played on a table like a normal person and this was part of testing everyone to think higher, differently. Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, I don't know. I had always liked that it was very, 'Not so fast, I'm going to blow up the moon to change the tides,' but I'm not really sure the anime gave enough explanation that this was an extra layer added to things for that event? You can see people actively getting used to it in the books, and people who aren't considering the real or 3D nature of it getting owned, but my memory of anime version is everyone just like, 'oh, shucks, fuck me, I forgot to consider the phase of the moon before i played this card, can't believe I forgot.' No one calls Yugi on any of this stuff because it's valid play in that situation. Plus Yami Yugi had mad trickster energy in the beginning and it suited him to think of ways to do things inside these little simulation boxes the way it suited him to set perverts on fire. I imagine the real card game trying to emulate this element as something that would be to its detriment, but I neither know nor particular care haha

Ryou Bakura.

Really, though. I think he became kind of casualty of 'wow, we have a lot of characters who really aren't able to do anything in this story anymore,' despite the fact that his whole inner life could have been as interesting as Yugi's. I always like thinking about the possibilities of stories in which main character falls into magical world and is given magical item and told they're the hero and then they find out they've been the bad guy the whole time. The first several volumes of manga were about the quiet weirdo kid that no one talked to who was always blacking out and turning into a fucked up version of himsef because he was so attached to his ancient Egyptian jewelry, so like, Bakura could have much the same shit going on. I want to know what's happening with him so much. He clearly doesn't love being possessed, but he's also so drawn to the ring. Despite it having stabbed him at least twice and him knowing it's a danger to him and his friends, he keeps being pulled back into it. You see so much more of him being like, 'Oooh, a creepy thing, I love that! :D' in the manga than ever in the anime, which I'm all about. Also more blood. I'm very about that as well. Though my memory of the anime also made it look very much like normal regular daily Bakura was just a weird facade in places before he ever would have been. I think that was it trying to compensate for what people didn't see from the Toei anime, but okay whatever, that I love everything about this guy is not news, I don't need to talk about Bakura excessively here, I'm pretty sure that's gonna show up on my blog by itself

On a related note though, damn, more of these people need to talk to each other. Can we have some existential crisis support clubs or something. Can we get like some apologies or something? "I respect you as a duelist." "Cool, but you literally built a tower designed to specifically assassinate me and my friends? You were supposed to get Better after I retaliated by putting you in a coma, but you kinda didn't." "Why would the coma have made it better" "I just told you it didn't" ---- "Sorry I went along with the plan of your evil parasite stabbing you, misled you, and then also jumped in and took up some real estate in your head too." "I understand, I also have an evil thing inside me that does things while I'm blacked out." "...no, I was conscious for all of that." "Oh." "..." "..." "..." "Do you like Ouija Boards?" "sure okay" ETC. Like damn we are reading shounen manga because no one is talking extensively about their feelings here and I'm tapping my foot angrily.

Holy shit there are so many mythologies happening at once. The ancient family guarding the Egyptian Pharaoh has a surname that's a Mesopotamian goddess. None of the god cards make any Egyptian sense except Ra, and just like. Baaarrrrely. Somewhere either Evil Ring Bakura or Mar/lik makes a reference to cremation and spirits being taken to heaven with smoke which several things, but definitely not Ancient Egyptian. Marik/Malik meanwhile is clearly trying to head Arabic, along with Rishid, but then, hey, our sister is just Isis. Goddess McGoddess. Sometimes they're the same goddess! Her name could be Isis Isis or Ishtar Ishtar. Meanwhile, all the obviously 'occult because Christians think it is freaky' stuff. ~ancient egyptian pentagrams~~~This isn't a complaint, I guess so much as a 'Wow, I can kind of see the cultural spot the author was coming from and where he was aiming' kind of thing.

Wonder where things would have gone if the card games had not been latched onto the way they were.

Managed to forget how gross the pre-cardgames stuff was on the sexual harassment front. I'm glad there was a sort of explanation of everyone drifting away from being dick heads and that that decision was made. It got way more comfortable to read after no one was bringing Yugi p*rn on VHS.

Yugi looks better with a nose, glad we got that upgrade.

Interesting to watch the series style shift as it goes away from being horror to being over the top cardgames and friendship (with blood!). The first picture of Mokuba is fucking Jarring. Also noticed that the nicer a character is, the less their teeth are defined.

Glad manga did not go as completely off the fucking the rails about Marik's face. I never got as far as seeing him back in the day because college occurred, but I remember seeing pictures and stuff and being like, "what in the Fuck happened to that dude, I think the house style has collapsed in on itself"

Things the author Really Likes: motorcycles, belts, SHOES, holy shit the shoes. These are some of the most lovingly rendered sneakers I've ever seen. All the detail on his characters goes straight to their feet and then it's stretched upward until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in 3000 years of trauma and bake face down in a crumb coat of scattered mythology. Remove when you roll two zeros.

Where the fuck am I going to put the extremely large omnibus volumes of this comic I purchased in order to balance out how much I would be reading for free on the internet. I should have grasped that a three in one edition would be Thick and yet somehow I was still :O when it arrived. Have I strategically purchased volumes that contain my favorite parts, maybe, what's it to you will i eventually get the whole thing because incomplete book series gnaw on my soul? yes

Wish the transition from "I've murdered several people in delightfully karmic ways" to "all you need is friendship in your heart and cards in your hand" Yami Yugi/Pharaoh had been discussed more/transitioned better. Buddy, where did you get this approved for television high horse? Please go back to strangling people with yo-yos or at least tell me why you stopped.

I still can't tell anything that looks like a big robotic monster apart from any other big robotic monster. My dude, I can't tell cars apart, all these monsters look the same.

Yami Yugi fascinated me way more in highschool? Maybe because it was still super early and the anime was like 'we need to torture you about his origins WeEkLy. Now I'm just like 'wait hold on, can we go back to Bakura and Marik for a minute, there's some extreme unpacking to do here?' Those two are paying so much more in baggage fees here my guy wow

Violently uninterested in any of the spinoff media

[hawkins-high86]

Review: honestly idk y/n moves to new York and joins the avengers and falls in love with peter but something happens

Warning: language blood mentioned of death mentions of smut/smut/cheating ?bad writing I apologize 😳

My hometown was mystic falls I left there about when I was 17 because my parents split up so me and my dad and step mom moved to new York and I went to midtown high school and me and Peter because fast friends and we became I couple until he found out who I was my secret I was a vampire yes damon salvatore turned me into one I hated it but stefan teached me how to resist the temptation of the blood I didn't want to leave mystic falls I had elena bonnie caroline stefan I kinda had a crush on stefan but I left there stefan always updated me everyday if i wasn't busy on missions I knew Peter was spiderman because he told me and I believe him but I wasn't sure but he showed me his suit and I know that I didn't have any powers but tony stark said that I was super fast and strong enough to fight anyone but I didn't use vamp speed I usually compel them and afterwards like at midnight I usually followed them and feed on them sometimes I couldn't help it I was so hungry but after that one night everything changed I went back into my house and the house was on fire and my parents were dead inside the house tony stark enemy did this to my parents I was so upset I texted stefan he wanted to know if I wanted to move back to mystic falls I declined his offer I likes new York maybe I just needed time and stuff so no home but tony stark was kind enough for me to move in to his huge house that's were everyone lived together except for Peter parker he lived in queens, new York I was heart broken about how he found out about my secret I compel him to forget what he saw i didn't really trust him but, he was my boyfriend I broke up with him I told him we are better of as friends so he wouldn't get hurt so he understand and within a few months he was dating mj Jones my best friend i was kinda jealous of course call I had to call stefan about it he asked me if I could come to new York to check on me I said of course you can you can come as soon as possible "are you sure I don't want to interrupt anything"he replied just come over mr stark has enough room's in this house I will invite you in even I almost cried "don't be sad y/n I will come tomorrow" he said ok thanks stefan see you tomorrow love you I hunged up the phone I heard a Tap at my door um come in I said it was steve Rogers "I don't mean do interrupt anything but I heard you talking on the phone so is this stefan guy like you ex boyfriend?"he asked me what-no we are just friends very good friends and I can't believe that you were spying on me "I'm sorry but I don't want you to get hurt "he said steve I stood up I am not going to get stood up jeez he is just a friend I but my hand on his shoulder and smiled he is coming to new York tomorrow is that ok steve?I asked him

"Sure what's he like"he asked me

Um,I cleared my throat he is very nice and he has always been there for me when I needed him on my bad days and on my good days too I was so upset when we moved here but we promised each other that we would update each other what is happening and he cares about me a lot.

"Oh ok that's nice I will tell everyone else that he is coming over tomorrow he seems nice " steve said

Wait ,I need a favor you kinda have to invite him in the compound like you have to say it dont ask me questions about just do it or tony please steve ?I begged

"Um ok sure"he said he was kinda confused about this

Thanks Steve I said while he left the room I shut the bedroom door and locked it I grabbed the storage box under my bed it was filled with blood bags from the hospital i heard on the news that there were break ins from the hospital stealing stuff but I wasn't a ripper or anything sometimes I couldn't resist it peter texted me something.

(Hey y/n can I please come over? Mj broke up with me and I really could use a friend? )

(Of course sure come over also I got to tell you something anyways )

I put the phone on my desk hey Peter I'm a vampire and I feed on blood I said to myself sarcastically I'm so stupid I should just compel them all and get out of new York and go back to mystic falls I miss everyone there pack up and go wish it was that easy to do ugh! I layed down on my bed on a second blood bag than I heard a knock on my door I hid the blood bag under my pillow and sat up um come in I said it was Peter.

"How can mj do this I am so upset so broke my heart and it hurts " he said

Aw peter is so sorry I hugged him do you want some ice cream and watch movies or we can play video games he smiled at me

"You always know what to do y/n your the best friend ever" he said

I know I laughed stay here I will get the ice cream and some spoons ok I walked downstairs to get the ice cream and walked upstairs back to my room.

"Great I love chocolate " he said

Me to we can watch Netflix at the same time he plopped down on my bed thank God he didn't see the blood bag I sat down next to him I carefully removed the blood bag under my bed into the other one's after the movie he was cuddling with me.

"Can I tell you something y/n?"

Of course I looked up and held his hand well what is it?before I could say anything else he kissed me I was shocked wait I'm confused Peter stop.

"What I know this is really werid but I can't stop thinking about you are-" I cut him off

You can't be with me Peter I'm so sorry

"Why not what are you hiding? Come on you could tell me" he said

Well please don't freak out of shit you are probably going to freak out anyways he held my hand.

"Just tell me" he said

Forget it I started to kiss kiss him with passion i could hear his heart beating i was hungry stop peter I'm a vampire i said quietly embarrassed my face was red.

"Haha very funny you know I seen twilight and I'm not impressed by it" he said

Peter, you know how on the news that the people breaking in the hospital's? Well that is well me I stood up and tossed him a blood bag.

"Oh my God, your a killer you actually killed all those innocent people "he said

It's not like that Peter I Sw- before I could say anything else

"I never want to see you again "he said walking out of my room no wait I yelled but it was to late I started to cry I didn't want to tell him but I just had to still upset I grabbed my phone and dialed stefan number it was ringing come on come on please pick up.

"Hello" he said

Stefan it's me can you possibly come here sooner please I will tell you everything once you get here please I need you.

"Of course right on it heading out right now " he said

I smiled thanks your the best love you I end this call and brush my teeth are got into something more comfortable and went to bed.

...next day.....

I woke up I wanted to turn my humans off but the last time wasn't very pretty I got dressed and brush my teeth and hair than I heard a tap on my window it was peter ,what do you want Peter? I asked him.

"So I did a little research about you ,you know and I understand if you don't want to be with me or you want to kill me but I love you y/n and I know we have been going almost out for a year and we have been sneaking around the avengers because mr stark is like your father to you " I cut him off it's ok just promise that you won't tell anyone? I asked him nicely you have to swear it .

"Ugh fine I swear I won't tell anyone else "he said

Thank you so you don't hate me anymore, you don't think I'm a monster or a killer ?I asked him raising a eyebrow at him what is it ?

"Can I ask you something about it you know about being a vampire and stuff ?" He said

Sure I said

"So I have been doing research and how come you dont burn in the sunlight and who turned you and how old are you and stuff like that" he said

Oh well i wasn't a vampire my hole life let's just say I'm 17 almost 18 and damon salvatore turned me into a vampire and I dont burn in the sunlight well..I held up my hand see this ring that I always where well it basically protects me from the sunlight so I won't burn anymore questions about me I asked him.

"Who's damon salvatore where you his friend or something and he got mad at you " he asked me

No well I held his hand I can't believe I'm actually telling someone else this besides stefan salvatore ok so I was depressed and and my friends stefan house and I got some bourbon and I asked Stefan's brother if he wanted to join me and he said yes and well one think lead to another and he bit me and well here we are I smiled at him.

"Shit I'm sorry about that does your dad I mean mr stark know about it or steve Rogers you uncle steve I should say "

Nope not a soul well except for stefan and damon and all my other friends in mystic falls.

"Oh ok I noticed that she looked very cute when here hair wasn't up in a ponytail so I leaned to kiss her I put my hands around her cheeks and leaned into her closer I love you y/n so much and are eyes met and she smiled at me"

"Are lips were still connected with each other I didn't want to stop I slowly threw her on her bed and she was staring back at me before things could get werid she kissed me back I slid closer to her she was on my lap now I started to kiss her down her neck I'm sorry I stopped kissing her is this to much? I asked her.

No,its fine please continue I said to him.

"I smiled at her ok if you say so I started to kiss her neck again my fingers touched her cheeks and she laughed is it ok if I could take my shirt- before I could say anything else she ripped my shirt off sorry us vampire's can get a little turned on she said "it's fine unless you want me to stop "no don't stop ok I held her hand ok she began to feel my chest "wow who knew that spiderman had abs she smiled at me oh shut up she said I started to unbuttoned her blouse she nodded for my approval "wait this is my first time and I want it to be special "she said.

We can stop if you want me to or I could go easy on you "well I love you peter so go ahead I trust you "she said great I thew her blouse across the room and she slightly laughed at me now all I could see her black bra let me unhook it if that's ok with you "aw always and gentlemen "she laughed she nodded again for my approval I unhook the back and let my bra fall down to the ground so beautiful baby I kissed her chest "take your pants off now"she said oh um ok I took my pants off and I took her skirt off and saw her pink lace underwear so beautiful baby I could tell that you are wet already I started to kiss her hips and thighs before I came do anything else I heard a knock on her bedroom door "shit" she whispered to me "be right out " she said we got dressed quickly.

Y/n pov

"I'm scared who is it ?is it mr stark oh no he will kill me " he said shhh no peter I don't know yet let's just pretend nothing happened ok I opened the door "well isn't y/n" he said stefan salvatore I said I hugged him so glad that your hear missed you a lot oh this is peter ,peter ,stefan ,stefan,peter "hi nice to meet you " he said I noticed something behind stefan I used my vamp speed and it was damon salvatore I pinned him against the wall what do you think that your doing here? I asked him "well nice to see you to "he said I smiled at him and hugged him nice to see you my fellow bourbon buddy he smiled at me again I saw peter walking towards us "what the hell " he yelled at him what's wrong peter? I asked him "this is the guy that had sex with you and turned you into a vampire "he said my face got super red no we didn't have sex I didn't say that all I said we were drunk and started to kiss we never had sex before we are just friends ok and I forgave him so please chill out peter.

"Ok"he said how did you get in I mean how did damon salvatore get in he usually has to compel someone or kill them I smirked "haha very funny y/n"he he said I know I'm hilarious I smiled at him um peter can you go downstairs for a minute with damon don't worry he isn't going to bite he is actually really nice once you get to know him I smiled at them "sure anything for you y/n"peter said hi stefan I faced him so how would you like to spend your time in new York? I ask him before I could say anything else he gave me some blood bags oh my God thank you I was running out of them "no problem I don't mean to be werid or anything but...were you and peter just doing it?"he asked me what no! "Y/n!" Fine we were untill you came in with damon. "How long have you been dating peter "he asked me about 6-7 months "oh ok listen the real reason I said yes about coming to new York is to get you back to mystic falls before you say no or anything else elena and damon and Bonnie and caroline are in danger from the original family " wow um sure I went downstairs and I saw Peter and damon and tony and Steve and bucky

."don't worry I didn't tell anyone except for Steve and tony."

Peter you did not tell them please tell me you did not.

."so is this supposed to be like a twilight movie."buck said

I used my vamp speed to pin him against the wall and let him go

."so vampires do exist?,"

Yes,I smiled peter didn't seem to happy about me and stefan was he jealous? I asked myself me and stefan are just friends I was going to confess that I had feelings for him but than I moved and I met Peter I cleared my throat guy's this is stefan salvatore he is a very close friend of mine

".what's he doing here?."

Tony he is just visiting right stefan ?I asked him

."yes and no you need to kinda need to come back to mystic falls." He said

Wait why please tell me damon didn't do anything stupid again I smiled at him

."this is serious y/n remember I told you about the original family ?and the cure well we finally found it 3 bottles of it and I know that you don't really like being a vampire so I saved it for you ."

Are you serious wow okay maybe for a few days won't hurt what does that have to do with the mikaelsons? I asked him

."well they invited you to the mikaelson ball I know it's kinda short notice but can you make it ".he said

Sure let me see if I have any fancy clothes in my closet I said.

."can I um come with you y/n". Peter said

Peter that's very sweet of you but um mystic falls isn't the safest place in the world I'm sorry I don't want to put you in danger I put my hand on his cheek I promise I will be back soon I went upstairs found the dress that I was going to wear to the ball and pack some extra clothes and makeup stuff like that I will be back as soon as I can sorry I grabbed my bag and headed out of the building driving to mystic falls with stefan salvatore do you think he will actually forgive me? He called me a monster and a killer and he apologized and now he understands it I'm so confused ugh how I can I be this stupid

."hey stop don't beat yourself up about it just focus on taking the cure so you can have a healthy normal relationship with him."

Thanks I smiled you know what to say I don't know if I would survive without you stefan really I held his hand

."thanks have you met the mikkelson? I don't remember."

Only, klaus and Rebekah and Elijah oh no don't tell me there are more of them I laughed

."you didn't met esther and kol the other brother they want the cure too ."

But ,I want it I know that sounds so rude but I deserve it want to grow old and have kids

."hey don't worry we will get it I swear."

Thanks, I closed my eyes for a nap but it seemed like a lifetime for me

"Hey we are here y/n"

I jumped up oh wow it's good to be back in mystic falls

"Nothing changed her y/n"

Oh well ok I went inside the house and I put my bags in my guest room took a shower put on some light makeup and put on some perfume and jewelry and my dress was kinda nervous about this hole mikaelson ball thing didn't have a date wish Peter was here with me but he wouldn't be safe here anyways I put on my dress. Light blue dress with lace fabric but on some blue hight heels and walked downstairs stefan salvatore oh my you look handsome

"Y/n you look so pretty damon and elena are already there "

Oh ok I took his hand and we headed out it was a big house I don't really remember it it's been a long time I saw Rebekah klaus and Elijah and a other one that I didn't recognize that has to kol mikaelson ! Everyone was chatting.

"Hi I'm kol mikaelson nice to meet you "

He kissed my hand oh I'm y/n nice to meet you to I smiled at him everyone started to slow dance kol do you want to be my partner for the dance ?

"Sure "

He put his hands on my waist and I put my hands around his neck and started to dance he had brown eyes and dark hair he seemed mysterious in a way I know this is werid to bring up but do you know about the cure or I'm just going crazy

"Who told you about the cure?"

Damon salvatore why? I asked him

"There is only three and damon want to give it to elena why do you trust him ?"

Oh elena Gilbert? I trust damon I know hard to believe but I do or I thought I did so I came back to mystic falls for no reason ugh wish I was back in new York with Peter eating junk food and watching star wars after a few hours tons of songs the ball was over Rebekah approached me.

"Hey do you want to come over to our house tonight free drinks our on me "

I smiled at Rebekah how could I say no to free drinks yes totally let's go she took my hand and took me to the kitchen wow this is your kitchen its so nice.

"Thanks y/n/n/ "

What do you have any vodka or bourbon? I asked her

"Y/n I knew you for a half of a century your a bourbon girl"

Yes ,I smiled she handed me a glass one drink became two became three and things started to get fizzy I better stop Rebekah don't feel so good I ran into the bathroom and puked oh shit I knew I should drink that much

"Y/n are you ok?"

I stood up not really Hey can I spend the night here and have a sleepover and help me with my hangover?

"Of course you can I will get you some comfy pajamas and some painkillers and some mint tea "

Thanks beck I appreciate it waiting for Rebekah I took the painkillers and the tea

"How are you feeling y/n?"

A little bit better I rubbed my shoulders put my dress in Rebekah closet.

"Um well it's getting late I need my rest "

Oh I cleared my throat same here I laid down on the mattress on the floor next to her bed she turned on the light and I went fast asleep it was a werid dream this one was peter and kol together fighting over me I gasped for air and woke up shit! I woke up it was 3am you have got to be kidding me I stood up I was really thirsty for a blood bag this would happen often it wasn't unusual went downstairs and went into the refrigerator and got a blood bag a-postive my favorite I closed the door and saw some figure standing there hello? I turned on the lights it was kol mikaelson the one I was dancing with what are you doing?

"I couldn't sleep what about you? "

Um er same here I said I should get to bed soon goodnight kol

"Wait "

Huh ,what ?I asked him

"It's nothing don't worry about it "

Oh ok before I could go back upstairs and corned me to the kitchen wall we were starting at each other for a while his big brown eyes were stunning he kissed me and my heart was beating so fast he turned away.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that it was really stu-"

You kissed him back with passion wrapped my legs around his waist I took his shirt off digging my nails into his skin licking and kissing over his abs for a bit wow your so strong

"Darling I'm an a original"

Yea but your so fucking sexy I got my hands around his belt buckle we don't have to do this if that makes sense.

"We could do it"

Oh you sure?I asked him

"Yes I'm sure but may I try something if you don't mind me"

No go ahead I trust you I know that I met you today but it feels strange you just caught my eye and heart he laughed

"Your so cute and beautiful "

Thanks your handsome man yourself

"Can I try it now?"

Sure I trust you kol before i could say anything else he started to kiss my neck and i heard a ripping sound my pajamas i covered my chest

"Don't worry darling is there something wrong? "

No ,I laugh I got to tell you something but don't-he cut me off

"What?"

Don't judge me but I- I am a virgin ok let's face it I never got all the way was saving myself for someone special and I think that special someone is you -i know it's crazy but fuck ! I started to kiss his abs and I let go of my hands from my breasts-he looked at me and smile at me what do look funny?

"No they are amazing"

He started to kiss the top of my breasts I moaned than He was kissing down your tummy, smiling up at you as he starts fumbling with the button of your shorts

“May I?” He asked. I smiled and nodded.

“Hm, I can smell you. So wet and needy for me, huh?” He mumbled. I nodded as his lips got closer to my pussy He ripped off my panties, the cold air hitting my skin in an instant. I heard kol groan as he looked over my naked body. He looked back into my eyes, reaching up to kiss my lips.

Kol then stood up and began to unbuckle his belt and my eyes widened. I sat up immediately.

[sapphicmsmarvel]

“That’s my wife”

Carol:

Carol, your beautiful, amazing, powerful wife, asked you to pick up some papers from the Avengers Tower, you had never been to the city so you were eager to leave as quickly as possible.

Tony's A.I. (whatever the hell that was) took you up to the floor they were on, he apparently he told her you were coming and she did some facial recognition to let you into the building.

When you walked into the floor the avengers were around the corner in some room, before you walked in you scanned the room with your X-Ray vision through the wall. In the room was Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, Clint, Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes. You recalled their names from the file that you had read on them, you wanted to know names when meeting them for the first time.

You heard Clint ask, "why are you cleaning?" It was Tony's voice you heard next, "because Carols wife is coming by to pick up some documents. And I enjoy Carols company and I'm excited to meet her wife so don't be an ass." Tony scolded. "Ugh, thank god its not Carol." Your blood sizzled, what was that in his tone. The little incompetent ass.

You heard Clint huff, "Carols such a show off."

You rolled your eyes, of course, when a woman does it, she's a show off but you don't say him saying that about any of the guys.

"She's not that much of one." Wanda said, folding  her arms, her eyes becoming a steel gaze on Clint. Tony was just giving him a look. The rest of them all looked annoyed.

"Yeah, what's your deal?" Peter asked getting defensive. You rose your brows in surprise, Carol mentioned Peter Parker, the timid 16 year old who never "fought back". Your heart warmed at the idea of him sticking up for her.

She told you he was a good kid, and she was right.

"I don't care, it's annoying." He sighed. Hearing enough of the woman you were lucky enough to call your wife.

You stepped around the corner, "yet if she was a man, you'd say she was a powerful badass." You glared, holding your powers back from hurting someone.

"And who are you?" He snapped, not liking being called out for his bullshit. You smiled, "her wife. Y/N L/N-Danvers. I would say it was nice to meet you but I was raised not to lie."

You saw Tony look at you with a look of approval, the rest of them laughed and you asked, "papers?" He gestured to Steve who handed you the thick folder. Steve asked you, "you staying for a while?" You shook your head, "nah, I have a beautiful wife at home. But I promise we'll stop by in the future." With one warning glance at Clint who was sitting wordlessly, jaw slightly dropped. You said your goodbyes, spun on your heel and walked out. You were stiff as a board, head held high and heeled boots clicking you exited the room.

With your super-hearing you heard someone smack something, "nice going dumbass, way to make a first person." The voice was husky and not filled with laughter.

You grinned to yourself and flew home to your wife.

Wanda: Amica mia= my love

Being on missions with Wanda was both a blessing and a curse. There were times where one of you had to be the "catfish" or "slut" in order to get answers, usually you were the one who volunteered, much to Wanda's dismay.

"You give the signal when you need it, don't hesitate, please amica mia." "I know what to do Wanda, this isn't my first time." You smiled gently, kissing her head.

As the others set up, Bucky and Sam were your escorts into the club. Bucky's arm was hidden within his suit and his droid thing was waiting in the shadows for an attack.

Bucky elbowed you, "Wanda doesn't like this." He told you in russian.

You shrugged gently, "I'd rather be out here than her. Besides, I have my wife and my friends looking out for me, I'm not too bothered." You responded back, you smiled a pearly white look at the guard. As three walked by, he stopped your guards.

"Please sir," you said in a russian accent, "I'm new, and these are my guides, surely... you don't mind." You angled your body so your cleavage was on display and you gave him a hundred dollars.

He let you three in without another word. As you two walked away, Wanda's voice was in your head, I want to hurt him.

Oh relax, you said back, all in a days work my love.

You didn't mind doing this, it saved lives, you being the bait. You would rather be out there than Wanda, but you knew exactly where she was in the bar. She was by the bar, keeping an eye out. You didn't find any shame in being the bait, in fact it was empowering in a way. You knew exactly what you were supposed to do and you were good at what you did.

Bucky and Sam went to their corners to watch and wait for the bait. All you were to the "client" was a prostitute who had information, Stark managed to sell your profile as a valuable person who slept with his enemy. The clients, not Stark.

You felt a hand brush your shoulder, and it took everything in your power to not tense up.

That's him. Wanda said to you, you forced yourself to become neutral as the asshole walked and sat next to you.

"Hi, beautiful." He was slimy and gross.

You forced your sweet girl smile, "hello."

You two talked and talked so much that you felt like you were losing brain cells, listening to this pathetic man drone on and on about how hard his life was. You were patiently nodding your head and then suggested to go to the back room.

He anxiously followed, you ignored the fact that he popped a viagra, you tried not to roll your eyes again.

Men like this, liked dominance, you pinned him against the wall and let your thigh rub against his crotch. "I just have a few questions, sweetheart."

"I have the answers." He moaned out, his vodka breath making you wince.

Of course your technique revolved around getting him to talk about his kinks and make him vulnerable. You held a knife up against his throat, "now tell me where the bombs are?" You hissed.

He popped his eyes open to find the knife against his throat, "what- You bitch." He pushed you away, he was a lot stronger and a lot less drunk than you anticipated. He managed to get a knife out and slice your face which caused you to cry out. Luckily, your wife wasn't too far away.

You saw a blur of red come between you and him, Bucky and Sam followed in suit. They knew not to help you or check to see if you were okay, then let the asshole know about vulnerabilities.

"That bitch." Wanda hissed, "is my wife, and you will treat her with respect." Red flared around her arms, and you felt a kernel of her power rest around your waist. Not demanding you to be near her, but more like a warning, marking her territory.

Which you weren't gonna lie, you loved.

You four managed to get him into a quinjet and brought him to Fury.

Eventually you got him to talk about bombs and all the plans for future attacks, you two retired to your quarters and you looked in the mirror. The jagged red line was flaring down your face. She walked up behind you, "sit down." You leaned against the counter, she wet a cloth and grabbed the antiseptic, something that works fast that Banner came up with it.

You tried not to flinch as she rubbed the wound clean. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, just a scratch." You said.

"It's not fine, he should be in pain for laying a hand on you."

"Imagine the other girls he did this to. We know he hurt others."

"Exactly, they didn't have a team." She put a bandage on the cut. "I know better than telling you to not do it anymore just..." she put her forehead on yours, "I love you very much."

"I love you too." You smiled and kissed her.

Maria:

Nobody except Fury knew you existed. They had worked hard to make sure you and Maria's home was off the of SHIELDS grid.

Then one day, you decided to surprise her at work, you were tired of being the secret wife, even though you didn't mind it at first. But, you wanted to meet the Avengers and help them out every once and a while or just be their friend.

It got lonely.

You showed up with a bunch of freshly baked cookies to a meeting, you greeted the other agents with a smile even though they didn't know who you were.

"Hiya!" "Y/N, what're you....what're you doing here?" Maria asked, panic evident in her voice. "I wanted to visit you and Nick, the farm gets lonely." You shrugged and set cookies down on the table, "feel free to grab any!"

Of course they all went for your homemade snickerdoodles. Your smile was so bright as you talked to them that Maria couldn't even be mad.

"Who is she?" Banner asked her. "That's my wife." Maria said smiling as she ignored his look while she walked up to you and kissed you full on the lips.

She tasted the cinnamon sugar from your lips and felt your soft hands on her cheeks. You guys pulled away, you blushed at the attention from the Avengers while she smiled proudly, pulling you by the waist closer to her.

"Everybody, this is my wife, Y/N."

Natasha: This mission scared you, Nat had gotten shot a few months back, nearly lost her life and now she was back in the field with you. You felt better that you were with her but it was still scary.

You honestly should be used to it by now.

You two were with a group of people who refused to do the dirty work themselves and saying how you and Nat "had to" because you were more experienced.

"Here's the thing, dumbass," you said, "to get more experienced you have to actually do stuff and not let anyone do anything for you. I know you're used to mommy and daddy handing you everything but that isn't how this shit works." You hissed.

You didn't have to look at Natasha to know she was biting back a smile. She loved when you got feisty and you really took the point home with him.

"You can't talk to me like that you bitch." "Hey, that's my wife you're talking about," Natasha snapped, "and she can talk to you however she damn well pleases." Natasha snapped.

They all went quiet, "yeah you see how its quiet?" She asked, "I want that same reaction when she talks. Understood?"

It was quiet so she repeated, "I said, understood?"

They all nodded and she looked at you, "great." You clapped, "go get your gear! Now!"

They scattered and she looked at you, "sexy L/N." She said wrapping her arms around your waist, "I like when you get in charge." She said kissing your cheek.

You shrugged, "you're welcome I guess." You laughed.

Shuri: (Shuri is 23)

Shuri and you had been married for six months, yet the Royal Council didn't see your advice fit in situations, despite the fact that both King T'challa and Princess Shuri vouched for you.

You said how people in Wakanda needed more same-sex education when it came to sex because you had to go on YouTube to find out how to practice safe sex. They got all upset because A. you said sex and B. they didn't wanna listen.

They kept blowing you off and you just sighed sitting in your seat, Shuri noticed this and held your hand.

One of the Elders had asked, "any more comments?" "Yes, actually."  Shuri said standing up, "when my wife says something, you listen , understood?"

They nodded, afraid of Shuri for once because they had never seen the young queen mad, Shuri looked at you, "my love?"

You smiled, and continued with what you were trying to say, the Elders hanging on your every word.

Sorry shuri's is so short! I lost momentum.

[ghosttotheparty]

say my name and say it twice

32. also on AO3 chapter thirty-one

Lucas drifts off after Jens leaves, after hearing the front door shut behind him and Zoë. He’s anxious for him, knowing how nervous he must be. 

There’s a strange silence after the door shuts, an empty, lonely silence. As he buries his face into the pillow, pulling the blanket up over his face (it smells like Jens), he thinks maybe he’s somehow just never realised how quiet the flat really is. He usually isn’t up this early, and even when he stays up late, he tends to have his headphones on, or he’s on the phone with Jens, the two of them whispering and giggling to each other. But in the early morning, the air in his room chilly outside the thick blanket on top of him, it’s quiet. 

He can hear his own heart beating, can feel his pulse in his wrists on his neck, can hear his own breaths. It feels like something is missing. At first, he thinks it could be a noise, any noise, maybe rain or wind, or noise that he usually wakes up to, like Milan playing music from the kitchen or Senne walking past his room. (Though he’s fairly certain that Senne left early this morning for classes.) 

Lucas moves the blanket off of his face and lets the cold air wash over his face. He sighs, opening his eyes for a second before letting them fall closed again, rolling over and tucking the blanket under his chin, curling into himself, his knees drawing to his chin. The sweater he has on is light, and even under the blanket, he shivers.

He realises what he’s missing. 

After Jens came back to bed after talking to Zoë, Lucas had immediately drawn him in, pulling him close and feeling his arms wrap around him, his face press to Lucas’s chest, his legs entwine with Lucas’s. They spent the whole night like that, tangled together. It was warm. 

Eventually, Lucas drifts off. He doesn’t know when or how, especially with his shivering and restlessness, but he wakes up to Milan’s music quietly playing from the kitchen. Lucas opens his eyes, rolling onto his back and stretching, and sighs. 

Then he grins. 

He throws the blanket off of himself, getting up from the bed, stopping for a second after standing up too fast, and then grabs a pair of sweatpants from the floor, stumbling as he pulls them on while heading to the door. 

Milan is dancing by himself, swaying his hips as he flips a pancake at the stove, and Lucas pauses in the doorway, trying to push the smile off his face before going in. 

“Good morning,” he says, a little more brightly than he intended. 

“Morning, lovely,” Milan responds, turning slightly to shoot him a smile over his shoulder, reaching across the counter and turning down the music. “How are you doing today?” 

“Uhm, I’m good,” Lucas says, understating the condition of his heart at the moment. “And you?” he asks as he sits on the table, setting his feet on the chair in front of him. He pulls the sleeves of his sweater down over his hands, bunching them up in his fists. 

“I’m having a very good morning, very chill. Maybe it’s because Senne isn’t here,” Milan teases, and Lucas snorts. 

“I’m gonna tell him you said that.” 

“He wouldn’t be surprised.” 

Lucas chuckles lightly, watching as Milan flips a pancake before taking it off the pan and setting it on a plate, on top of a pile of pancakes Lucas hadn’t noticed. 

“That’s a lot of pancakes,” he says, trying not to laugh. 

“I’m making a lot so Zoë and Senne can have some when they get home,” Milan says, carefully ladling some batter onto the pan. 

“Kind of you.” 

“If they’re not grateful, I’m eating all of them.” 

“What about me?” 

“You can have some, I guess.” 

“Thanks.” 

Milan sets the ladle in the bowl and turns to look at Lucas, who has to push another smile off his face. Milan puts his hands on his back, resting it against the counter. 

“You’re shiny today,” he says matter-of-factly. 

Lucas raises an eyebrow and tilts his head, confused. 

“Your spirit,” Milan clarifies. “It’s shiny.”

The smile finally breaks through and Lucas has to look away, grinning as he shrugs, trying to be nonchalant. 

“What’s going on?” Milan asks suspiciously, narrowing his eyes. “You’re up to something.” 

“Uhm…” Lucas sighs, twisting his mouth to the side, trying to figure out to tell him. “There’s something I need to tell you.” 

“Okay…” His eyes narrow more and he turns his head. “Is it good or bad? I’m assuming good because you can’t stop smiling.” “Good. Definitely good.” 

“Okay, tell me.” He crosses his arms, an apprehensive smile forming on his face.

Lucas sighs again, grinning, and looks away, leaning back. 

“You’re gonna hate me and love me,” he says. 

“Oh my god, just tell me!” Milan says, laughing.

“Uhm…” “Lucas!”

“Jens and I are dating,” he bursts. 

“What—”

“And we’ve been together for a while, we met before the get together where I met all the guys, but he wasn’t out, and he wasn’t ready, so we just pretended—” 

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Milan interrupts, waving his hands and closing his eyes like he’s clearing the air. “Start over.”

Lucas giggles, feeling his face heat up under Milan’s gaze. He adjusts his seat on the table, turning more in Milan’s direction. 

“So—” 

“Wait, you guys already knew each other?” 

“...Yeah.” 

“I don’t get credit for this?” 

“No, I’m sorry.”

Milan let out a disappointed “Ah,” and turns away, seemingly distraught, before grinning and running his hands through his hair. 

“Oh my god,” he says in a high-pitched voice, almost a squeal. “I’m so happy for you guys.” 

Lucas beams, his shoulders lifting into a bashful shrug, but they drop when he hears sizzling. 

“Milan, your pancake is burning.” 

“Oh, shit.” Milan turns around, quickly grabbing the spatula and flipping it over. “That’s fine, we can give that one to Senne.” Lucas rolls his eyes. “Okay anyway, tell me everything. I want details.”

“Uh…” Lucas sighs, wondering where to start. “You know I like wandering around the city and taking photos and stuff…”

“Mm-hmm.” 

“One day I just stopped outside, like, a convenience store, and a bunch of people came out of the building next to it, and there was this one boy…” Lucas is smiling wistfully at the ground, reminiscing, remembering how beautiful he was, standing there with his friends. “And we just kind of made eye contact…” He trails off, looking up to see that Milan has his back against the counter again, smiling at Lucas like he’s watching him take his first steps. Lucas lifts a hand, shrugging. 

“And that was it? That’s how you met?” He sets the pancake on the plate and turns back to look at Lucas. 

“Actually, he left and we didn’t say anything, so I kind of… went back there every day at the same time for a week, and—” 

“What?” Milan cackles. 

“And,” Lucas continues, “eventually he was there again and we hung out.” “You went on a date that soon?” 

“Well it wasn’t really a date, we were just hanging out, but eventually he asked if I wanted to get coffee with him, and we just…” Lucas sighs, leaning his head back and grinning, his legs swinging happily. “And obviously we exchanged numbers and we call, like, every night. Except for the ones we spend together,” he adds, quieter, but he catches Milan’s head turn to him sharply. 

“Together?” Milan asks, raising his eyebrows and crossing his arms. “And when— when has this happened?” he asks like he’s interrogating Lucas, who laughs and scratches the back of his neck. 

“Last night…” 

“Wha— I did not approve of this!” 

“Milan, I’m seventeen. And he’s my boyfriend.” 

He doesn’t respond, crossing one arm over his waist and covering a growing smile with his other hand, setting his chin on his palm. 

“Your boyfriend,” he says fondly. 

“My boyfriend,” Lucas agrees, nodding. 

“Who made the first move?” Milan asks after they spend a second just smiling. 

“Me,” Lucas says, laughing. “I asked him to hang out, and I kissed him first. But then he kissed me.” He thinks for a second. “He said ‘I love you’ first.” 

“He said—” Milan squeaks, slapping a hand over his mouth and sighing. 

Lucas grins, kicking his feet in front of himself. 

“Can I have a pancake?” he asks after a second, and Milan drops his hand.

“Oh, sure,” he says, turning and grabbing one from the plate. He tosses it to Lucas and Lucas just barely catches it, the tips of his fingers snatching in the air before it can fall to the ground. He hears Milan chuckle to himself and he looks up, furrowing his brows and jutting out his chin. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I don’t know,” Milan says, still laughing to himself, and he turns back to the griddle, lifting the ladle from the bowl of batter. He carefully pours some in a circle, smiling at the sizzling. “You said you wanted one.” 

“On a plate, dumbass.” 

“Just be grateful.” 

Lucas makes a face at him even though he isn’t looking and takes a bite out of it. 

“Is it good?” Milan asks. 

“It’s definitely a pancake.”

--- 

Lucas doesn’t remember to tell Senne about everything until Jens is already knocking on the door. It’s been days since Lucas told Milan, who’s hassled him every chance since, “When is Jens coming over?” “Where’s your boyfriend?” “Do you spend any time with him at all?” Lucas has avoided telling him they haven’t seen each other much lately because Jens has been spending so much time practising and rehearsing for his recital. 

Lucas is excited about the recital. Since Jens asked him to go, every time he’s thought about it, his stomach has swooped like a roller coaster car. He’s even got his outfit out and ready for it, ready for when Lucas assumes he’ll wake up hours before he needs to, ready to meet with Robbe, Moyo, and Aaron tomorrow evening before the recital. 

“Who’s that?” Senne asks at the same time as Milan’s gasp, and Lucas pauses on his way to the door. 

“Uh… You’ll see.” 

Lucas catches Milan sending Senne a broad grin and shakes his head before leaving to the front door. 

“Hey, beautiful,” Jens says when Lucas swings the door open. 

“Hi,” Lucas says back, immediately stepping close and falling into him, pressing a lingering kiss to his lips before letting his head fall to Jens’s neck. Jens wraps his arms around him, swaying slightly and sighing. 

“Okay?” Jens asks, and Lucas hums, kissing his neck briefly. 

“Uhm,” he says when he stands up straight, tugging at Jens’s jacket, pulling him inside and out of the brisk afternoon air. “Milan is very excited to see you.”

“God, I love Milan.” 

“I know. He loves you too.” 

“It’s a good thing he does,” Jens says, taking off his jacket and hanging it up next to the door. “I don’t know what I’d do if he didn’t.” 

“Come on,” Lucas says after laughing lightly, grabbing Jens’s hand and pulling him down the hall into the living room. Jens lifts their hands and twirls him, dropping his arm over Lucas’s shoulder and leaning close to kiss his temple. 

“Hi,” Jens says as they enter the living room, his face brightening ups seeing Milan lounged across the sofa, his legs across Senne’s lap. 

“Hey!” Senne exclaims, surprised. He drops his phone and lifts a hand, pointing at them, a silent question hanging in the air. Are you…?

“Yeah,” Jens says, pulling Lucas in closer and kissing his head. Lucas’s face flushes and he smiles, wrapping his arms around Jens’s waist. 

“You’re so cute,” Milan says, and he turns where he’s laying, twisting his back and lifting his phone to take a picture. Jens lifts a peace sign and Lucas hides his face in Jens’s chest. “What are you doing this fine evening?” Milan asks after lowering his phone. 

“Hanging out,” Jens says, looking down at Lucas. “Getting ready for tomorrow.” 

“What’s tomorrow?” Senne asks, still smiling. 

“I have a ballet recital,” Jens says simply. “Lucas is helping me prepare.” 

“Am I?”

“Yeah, so I don’t have, like, an anxiety attack because I’m… stressed.”

“Oh, okay.” Lucas drops his head against Jens’s chest. 

“A ballet recital?” Senne says, his expression identical to Milan’s, their brows furrowed in confusion. 

“Yeah, I got the solo this year.” (Lucas grins proudly.) “I’ve been practising every day for the past few weeks and now I just need to…” He sighs. “Chill.” 

Lucas lets go of his waist and grabs his hand again, walking backwards out of the room and pulling Jens with him. 

“Ohhh…” Senne says, watching them with a sly smile. He calls, “Be safe!” as they turn the corner, out of sight, and Lucas leans back in to make a face and lift his middle finger to him. He can still hear his and Milan’s giggling as Jens shuts his bedroom door behind them. 

“Hi,” he says again as Jens pulls him in, slipping his fingers into his hair as their mouths meet, their lips part, their tongues press together. Jens hums lowly, sliding his hands over Lucas’s waist, under his pale blue hoodie and pressing against his skin. His fingers are cold. 

“I have a question,” Jens says when they part, after a quiet gasp. 

“Mm-hmm?” 

There’s a beat of silence before he asks. 

“Will you paint my nails for tomorrow?”

Lucas pulls his face away, looking into Jens’s eyes in surprise. 

“You want me to paint your nails?”

“Yeah, I mean…” He trails off, looking away, his cheeks turning pink. “I always thought it would be nice for a recital. And most of the girls do, so I figured…” He looks back at him. “Why not?” 

“Do you know what colour you want?” Lucas asks, starting to smile. Jens shrugs, tilting his head at Lucas and letting his arms gently drape around his waist. 

“Something dark, if you have it. It’ll go with what I’m wearing.”  

“Yeah,” Lucas says, kissing him once more before letting his arms fall from his neck and stepping back. “You still haven’t told me what you’re wearing,” he says as he grabs the red box of nail polish by the handle, lifting it and setting it on his desk. He shoots Jens a look, one eyebrow raised, as he opens its and begins rummaging through, finding all the dark bottles. 

“It’s a surprise.” Lucas scoffs, letting a bottle of black fall into the box with a clatter, remembering it’s gone dry and clumpy. 

“Robbe says you’re going to love it, though,” Jens continues. He crosses the room from where he was standing and sits on Lucas’s bed, cross-legged and watching him fondly. 

“So you’ve shown Robbe but not me?” 

“Mhmm.” Lucas glances up and Jens is nodding, smiling. “He says you’re going to love it,” he repeats. 

“I mean, I believe him.” 

“Good. I think you’ll love it too.” 

“Oh?” Lucas tilts his head, raising his eyebrows and pressing his lips together. “I’m excited.” He smiles when he hears Jens giggling. Lucas rolls his eyes and shakes his head and he cracks the window open and turns on the small fan on his desk.

He makes his way to the bed with several bottles of polish in hand, sitting across from Jens, mirroring him, his legs crossed. 

“Okay, these are all the good ones.” 

“Why did you just bring the box over so you can put the ones we don’t use away?” 

Lucas stares at the bottles in his hand before looking up sharply. 

“Don’t question me.” 

“Okay,” Jens says, snickering as he takes the bottles from Lucas’s hand and analyzing them in the light coming from the window. Lucas rests an elbow on his knee, putting his chin in the palm of his hand and watching Jens fondly, how his brows draw in as he looks, how he lifts them closer to his face, how he turns them in his hands to see how the colours shift. 

“I think I like this one,” Jens says softly, disrupting Lucas’s thoughts. He holds up a cylindrical bottle, the polish dark purple with subtle blue sparkles. Lucas smiles and holds his hand out for it and when he has it, Jens turns, leaning backwards, and places the rest of the bottles on Lucas’s bedside table, carefully standing them all up. Lucas smiles, watching. 

“Okay,” Jens says, huffing slightly as he sits straight again. He holds his hands out, palms down, and looks up at Lucas hesitantly. 

“Ready?” Lucas asks, hitting the bottle against the palm of his left hand. Jens watches curiously and nods, looking up and smiling softly.

“They’re going to be wet for a while; anything you want to get out of the way first?” he asks, looking at Jens with a knowing shine in his eye, and Jens grins, leaning across their crossed legs and grabbing Lucas’s face, sliding his fingers over his cheeks and jaw and neck until they’re buried in his hair. His teeth capture Lucas’s lower lip and Lucas smiles, closing his eyes and dropping the bottle (still closed) into his lap as he holds Jens’s wrists, leaning closer when Jens starts to pull away.

 He reaches up and presses his palms to Jens’s cheeks, feeling the lingering twinge of cold on his cheekbones and moves closer, feelings Jens’s breath against his slicked lips when Jens pulls back to gasp before leaning in again. 

Lucas’s legs uncross and he moves closer, his legs moving to either side of Jens, moving closer, closer, closer, until their chests are nearly pressing together. Jens’s hands move from his hair to his shoulders, pulling him in before he wraps his arms around Lucas’s neck. Lucas gently tugs at his hair, revelling in the small sound that escapes from Jens’s throat. 

They pull away with gasps, and Lucas leans in and presses their foreheads together, smiling. 

“I love you,” Jens whispers breathlessly, and Lucas bites his lip, closing his eyes again as he smiles and runs his hands through his hair. 

Jens says it every chance he gets now, every time they hang up, say goodbye. Every time Lucas texts him I have to go, I’ll text you later, Jens responds with something like okay I love you <3. Every time there’s a pause between their kisses or a moment of silence as they hold each other, the words are there, whispered in the air. 

And Lucas always says it back. 

“I love you too,” he says, pulling away and pressing a kiss to Jens’s forehead. He lets go of his hair and picks up the bottle again as Jens’s arms pull away from his neck. The chilled air from outside hits Lucas’s neck and he shivers slightly,  trying to pull the hood of his hoodie over his head with one hand. Jens smiles, reaching up and doing it for him. 

“Thank you,” Lucas says bashfully, opening the bottle of polish, and Jens holds his hand out, tucking the other in his lap. After carefully placing the bottle in his lap, Lucas takes his hand, gently stabilizing his fingers. “This might need two or three coats… Yeah,” Lucas says, stroking the brush against his nail, leaving a pale, translucent shade of purple in its wake. Jens leans forward, tilting his head to see around Lucas’s (he doesn’t realise how close he leans to focus), and smiles. 

When the polish is on properly, after Lucas has expertly wiped it off of the skin around Jens’s nails, Jens leaves his hands on Lucas’s thighs, trying not to move them. They’re not quite dry, just slightly tacky, and Lucas pulls his lips away from Jens’s every time they shift.

[the-whitewolfie]

Breaking with The Order // F.W.

Summary: After losing your parents you and your much younger sister were on your own. You couldn’t leave her without you. So you had to break with The Order, and break with him, to keep yourself and your sister safe.

Word Count: 2k

Warning: Angst

You gave your little sister a tight hug before leaving her with your sweet neighbour from a few doors down. The mission should go smoothly, however, it might take all evening, so this was your best bet, seeing as you couldn’t leave her at home on her own, and you most definitely couldn’t bring her along. 

You walked into the house on Privet Drive with Fred alongside you. Your hand in his. Stood beside him as Mad-eye went over the details of tonight's event.

"None of us really fancy it, mate. Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever!"

Amongst the pressing situation Fred still managed to make you chuckle. However you cringed when you watched him take a sip of the polyjuice potion as he instantly turned more and more into Harry Potter.

With his broomstick in hand he leant in for a kiss. You pushed him away with a light hand to his chest, not allowing his lips or was it Harry's lips to touch yours. It all seemed too real. “Not when you’re like this. I’ll gladly kiss you when we land safely at the Burrow and you’re back to being just Fred”. 

“I’ll take you up on that darling”. He sent you a crooked smile, although it didn’t have quite the same effect on you, when he was like this. He mounted his broomstick, and you yours as you sent him a look that radiated the sheer nervousness you felt, pleading for him to be okay.

Things went south. All the way to the Burrows it was one curse after the other. You’d nearly fell off the broom six or seven times, and just missed Bellatrix’s attempts to kill quite a few.

Back at the Burrows you ran into the house. He had to be here by now. You went in, your eyes immediately went to the couch. Internal panic hit in the instant it took you to recognize the bleeding ginger to be George and not Fred. He was crouched beside him. 

Locking distraughtly around, you could see the cuts and small wounds on everyone's faces.

“Mad-eye is dead,” said Bill, the oldest Weasley brother.

This was all too much. 

“I can’t. I..” you backed away in a hurry, out of the house. Running for a bit and apparated to outside your apartment. You went in, slid down against the door, sobbing with tears streaming down your face. Thankful that your neighbour was taking care of you sister for the night, so she didn’t have to see you like this.

“Where’s y/n?” panic seeped through him, the moment he turned away from his bleeding twin brother. “Where is she?!”

“She was just here” Ron turned to look in the direction where he’d seem you. 

“and you couldn’t keep an eye on her, could you?”

Ron gestured to his brother on the couch. “Seems there were more pressing matters, than looking after your girlfriend! Who by the way made it here safely”

Fred ran out, the rest of the order hot on his heels. “Y/N!” “Y/N!!”

There was no reply. Outside of the Burrow was completely quiet, except for him screaming your name as he ran frantically around in search of you. With fast strides he ran inside, to his own bedroom, losing faith when he didn’t hear any sounds even as he got closer.

You weren’t there

“Where is she?” His loud voice cracking at the end. He had to find you. He pushed past every one of the others. The next moment he was by your house. The loud determined knocking, made you scurry away from the door, wand in hand for protection.

“y/n! darling are you here?”. he had to be yelling on the other side of the door, seeing as the volume was quite high, even inside your apartment. 

The banging continued. You raised your wand to open the door for him, and he leapt inside. The look of relief was prominent on his features.

“You promised me a kiss babe”.

Even before he could send that crooked smile, he had tried to earlier. The initial shock of the possible intruder left your body, and you broke down onto the floor, your cheeks stained with waterfalls of tears. He went to your side in an instant, clutching you to his chest as you cried and cried and cried, till the both of you were merely sobbing.

“I can’t do this” your sorrow filled eyes looked at him. “I can’t put my life at risk like that- My baby sister needs me”. You got up and paced across the kitchen floor. He got up and approached you “no-” holding out your arm to tell him to remain distant. 

“Babe, it’s alright. I’m not asking you to keep being a part of this”. He took a step forward, and you a step backwards.

“and I can’t stay at home waiting for you to come, not knowing if today is the day you don’t”

“You know I can’t abandon The Order. It’s my family I’m trying to protect them” the physical distance leaving him slightly nauseous, the emotional distance however was unbearable.

“As am I, Fred” you backed away again when he tried to reach you “we can’t stay together. My heart couldn’t bear it.”

“What?” You didn’t think he could look anymore sorrowful than just before, but the change was apparent. “Don’t do this y/n. I love you”

“And I love you Fred. That’s why we can’t continue on.” He stepped towards you again. “Don’t!” Your eyes locked on his. “You need to go”.

“I won’t leave you like this, let me sta-“.

“No Fred. It’ll only make it harder. Please go now” once again the tears were pouring from your eyes. His as well.

He gave a final plea with his eyes to which you turned around. It would be easier not to see him go. “Take care y/n” he whispered.

You heard the door shut behind him.

Immediately going under the covers only to stay under them for what seems like days. If it hadn’t been for your sister, you would have stayed there forever.

Fred came back home pale as a ghost, tears still staining his cheeks.

“Oh dear. You didn’t find her? We’ll search-”. He interrupted his mother “She bloody ended it between us”. He dragged his feet across the living room and up the stairs to his room, followed by the eyes of his twin, who was still on the couch and his mother who too started to sob when she realised her son's major heartbreak.

3 years years later:

The excitement was displayed with her whole body. Your sister had recently gotten her Hogwarts acceptance letter and bounced up and down as the two of you strolled through Diagon Alley for her school essentials.

You’d avoided this street for obvious reasons, but this was the only place that allowed for you to get every supply she needed. Hoping so much she wouldn’t pay attention to his store.

“That’s Fred!” She pointed to the tall statue outside his shop. And there he was, a very visual reminder of the man you had lost those years ago. You keep forgetting that your little sister lost him too on the night you told him to leave. She kept asking for him, when he missed dinner the next Thursday nights or asking when he’d stop by, until you had to tell her that he wasn't coming back to you. You’d lie if you said you hadn’t thought about him since, you had even asked Hermione about him when you ran into her about a year ago, shocked to hear he almost didn’t make it through the war. 

“Can we go in? Do you think he still sells those funny-“

“Not today sweetheart. We have quite many things we need to get from your list”. It wouldn’t be fair to him to turn up out of the blue and what would you even say. You took one last look at the giant figure of your previous lover, before heading towards the first shop, arm in arm with your now not as content sister. 

After a while you carried a stack of books and on top of those a big birdcage with an astonishingly looking great grey owl inside. Not being able to see much, but wanting to help with the heavy lifting.

“FRED!” your sister squealed and ran off. Oh no. Although your eyes still searched for him through the bars of the cage and through the crowd. You spotted his ginger hair towering over seemingly everybody, with your sister now wrapped around his torso. He picked her up and spun her around. “I’ve missed you sweetheart”. He looked around for you, in the direction your sister had attacked him from, and saw you there behind the birdcage. Instantly coming to your aid, taking it in his hands. “That looks like Errol”. 

“She picked her out herself. We’re still trying to figure out a name for her”. You looked into his eyes now for the first time in those three years. Small talk felt awfully shallow at a time like this. “Maybe I can help with a name. Give me that Fred” Ginny was at his side, you had only noticed now. “We’ll be just over in the shop if you don't mind?” you shook your head all the while, your eyes stayed on him and Ginny went to the shop with your sister.

“It’s good to see you darling”

“You too. I’m glad you’re okay. I heard what happened during the war...”

His hand reached forward for you arm. A simple gesture.

“Let’s not talk about that now. I’m here aren't I?”

“I’m sorry” you took his hand in yours “about what happened between us”.

“Don’t be darling. I don’t blame you for nothing. However my mom took it hard. I did too”

You looked down. Your hand falling from his.

“Hey y/n, it’s alright. My mother would never blame you either, she probably blames me the most. She usually does” He scrunched his nose but you knew he was telling the truth. He really did get the blame a lot in the Weasley household. Although perhaps with good reasoning. And thankfully his joking nature changed the atmosphere a bit.

“Will you give her my regards? She’s family after all. She’ll always be family to me” This made him smile. Like a madman even. His eyes crinkled. “She’ll be so happy to hear from you”.

“Y/N, FRED! I named her Opal. Think I’ll call her buttercup though” You sister came running referring to the owl. Ginny in tow. 

“See I like that sweetheart. Am I allowed to send you a letter every now and again?” When your sister nodded eagerly, his eyes went to yours for your approval. You gave him a smile. How could you not.

“And you y/n. Am I allowed to send you a letter”. He left you breathless with his hopeful eyes. You nodded slowly. “Assuming you don't send letters to any other women currently.”

“I don’t”

“Good”

“Listen I have to go back” he gestured to the shop “it’s our busiest time of year, and I left poor George alone in charge”.

“I’ll cover for you!” Ginny said quickly. “I know my way around the store and I can easily do the register. Angelina is there too, I recon she’d willingly help our dear Georgie out as well” She looked at you. “Maybe I could be accompanied by your sister?”.

“Please I haven’t been there in so long!” Your sister said “I know you said-”

“Sure you can!” You hurried your answer, not wanting Fred to know you actually did try to avoid bumping into him in the first place.

You looked to Fred. Who was beaming, and thanking his sister a million times in his head. “Sure. Thanks Ginny” Now onto you “Would you fancy grabbing lunch with me then. We’re both free now aren’t we?”.

[hopes4gf]

Thievery and Mischief (a marvel/ descendants crossover)

TW: (applies for series: discussions and mentions of rape, underaged sex, cheating, suicide, mental health)

AN: hi! this is a work in progress fanfic i’m uploading in advance of 15 chapters, so please show this some love, also sorry in advance for typos and spelling errors, my grammar is shit ;/ please enjoy!

I was so young. Too young. I didn’t understand why anything happened. I grew up in Agrabah with my parents and my brother, Aziz. But it wasn’t the dream vacation destination everyone in Auradon sought it out to be. It was a wreck. Jafar and Hades had invaded Agrabah and fought against my parents for revenge. Agrabah was damaged after their attack and our government had struggle to repair itself. So we had to live in a semi-permanent safe home for quite some time. By the way, I was also cursed by Jafar as a kid and I could shape shift into a tiger and develop other powers in the future. In my home, Mom was always stressed. Yelling and screaming how we needed to be better than they were to protect our city, especially me with my powers. My brother and I both took fencing classes, martial arts, learn how to shoot, every survival skill in the books before taking boys and girl Royal etiquette classes. Mom was the one who was particularly hard on me and my older brother throughout our childhood. Dad, not so much. He spent a lot of time in meetings in Auradon City. That’s how my first friendships began. He was great friends with King Adam and Queen Belle, elected leaders of Auradon. Ben, their only child was shy around me at first. He was intimidated by my mature stature. He like horses, painting, books, and food. I liked singing, fencing, and dancing but I also had a love for food and books so we got along through those things. We would always talk about the different ingredients in our cultures foods. His French pastries and my Arabian comfort foods. We were an inseparable pair of friends. And then I was introduced to Audrey. She joined our group soon after King Adam and Belle has decided to promise my parents and Audrey’s parents to a trust bond. A promise that would have one of us marry in the future. 9 year old me definitely didn’t want ANYTHING to do with dating my best friend. Neither did Ben. But Audrey, she was so persistent. She would constantly try to grab his attention. She was such a cheeky little girl. Raised to be such a lady compared to my more loose and carefree attitude. Somehow, Ben was happy around her. Our group soon expanded, and I met the greatest person ever. Li Lonnie, my greatest friend ever. Daughter of Fa Mulan and Li Shang, she was like me. Mature, strong, intelligent, and such a beautiful kid. Sure, she didn’t have my hazel eyes but she was such a pretty girl. She spoke so intelligently and when she spoke it was law. She was one of my inspirations as a kid. And still is :)

Time passed and we realized we weren’t kids anymore. My brother had to go away to a school in Auradon. And I was alone soon again. But I had my friends. But my child-like manners went away when I realized it was soon my turn to go to Auradon. So, I ran away. But you’ll hear more about that in the future.

Freshman year of high school. Audrey and Ben has broken off from our group and started dating in High School. Audrey has changed so much. She was such a sweet girl with a big heart but had begun to morph into a self-absorbed teen. Lonnie was still the same kind-hearted best friend. When I arrived in Auradon, I had a familiar face to help me. My cousin, Jordan. Daughter of the Genie. Everyone in that school was so nice that it hurt. My mother had raised me not to believe everything in front of me. But one particular thing or something changed that. A blonde boy with short curly hair and beautiful blue eyes had captured my attention. I still remember when our eyes had locked for the first time in the school courtyard. It was a whole new experience for me. I suddenly felt happy inside. Like a new found confidence in me was discovered. But my cousin Jordan advised me not to approach the boy. Chad Charming, son of Prince Charming and Cinderella. The most popular boy at Auradon Prep. Every girl would fawn over him endlessly. One day I had found a note from him on my lunch tray to meet him in the gardens. I swear we talked for hours about everything. We talked about our dreams, our experiences, our hopes. He made all my dreams happen. I wanted my first date to be at a carnival and he made that happen. I wanted something from the mall and he got it for me. I thought everything with him was just fine. Until that party. Ben had thrown a party for all his friends at Auradon Prep and Chad and I were there. Everyone was drinking except me. Imagine, prestigious kids of Royalty breaking illegal drinking laws. I didn’t know at the time but the punch was spiked heavily with Vodka. I never drank Vodka after that damn party. Jane, the headmistress, Fairy Godmother’s daughter had come to my dorm crying. She kept saying “I can’t take this anymore”. She had gave me the worst news of my life. She had seen Chad take me upstairs while I was drunk and touch me in explicit manners. Essentially, my boyfriend decided to rape me at my best friend’s party. I was sickened by that. And when my family pressed charges and got a restraining order on him, the case ended in a settlement. He didn’t even serve time. Because the judge was a family friend of the Charmings. I was devastated. I cried for weeks. I didn’t eat. I didn’t sleep. I just cried. Lonnie visited me every day while I was out of school. She had told me that Chad had moved on and was doing perfectly fine. I was miserable for all of Sophmore year.

By the way, my name is Adri Ababwa and I’m the world’s stupidest masterpiece. But you’ll see why later.

------------------------------------------------------------

“Adri,” My best friend, Ben called out.

My eyes widen, suddenly alarmed from my name being called.

“What’s up?” I say striding over to Ben’s side as he looks out the window of his parlor.

”I spoke with my parents about the proclamation,” Ben says.

I roll my eyes, realizing what’s about to happen.

”I told you your idea was stupid. Your dad would never let you bring Villain kids over-“

”They approved it,” Ben says, stopping me between my sentence.

My eyes widen in disbelief.

“Oh. Oh! I guess that’s good for you I guess,” I say nervously.

Ben takes both of my hands in his.

”Listen, I know things were rough for you last year, but this year we need change in this world. And I’m gonna be the one to establish that change,” Ben says.

”Even if that means bringing the daughters of Maleficent and the Evil Queen and the sons of Cruella de Vil and Jafar to Auradon Prep?” I ask nervously.

”What did I say about that?” Ben asks cheekily.

”They’re not their parents,” I reply in a mumble.

”Right,” Ben says, patting my shoulder. Ben opens his mouth to say something but hesitates.

”What?” I ask.

”That‘s why your going to be my advisor,” Ben says.

I take a step back.

”Your crazy but okay,” I giggle.

Ben chuckles softly and goes to the phone to ask his secretary if Audrey is on her way to the room for her Coronation fitting.

I walk through the door and wish Ben good luck.

As I stride down the hall, I hop onto my sticker filled skateboard and race down the halls. I greet the guards surrounding the castle and slide the down the handlebars of the stairs. I see Audrey and stop to walk the rest of the way.

”Adri! It’s a pleasure to see after so long. Out of your depression, I see,” Audrey says snarkily.

”Sure! I’m fine. And I see your makeup is looking as creased as ever,” I reply in the same fashion.

Audrey huffs and rolls her eyes.

I strut off.

”Fucking bitch,” I mutter to myself, hopping on my skateboard and skating back to my dorm.

As soon as I reach my dorm, Fairy Godmother is standing by my door.

“Can you please give me the board?” Fairy Godmother asks.

”Can’t have any fun around here, can I?” I ask, giving her my board for the fifth time this week

“Not for the first week of school. Remember we have-“

”Press coming in to report on the school, I know Jane told me,” I say at the same time as Fairy Godmother.

“Good. Then I’ll see you soon,” Fairy Godmother says dismissing herself.

I turn around and head for the courtyard where I spot Jordan under our gossip tree.

”What’s new, pinky-Lou?” I ask.

”Hey, cuz. Just doing some newspaper projects. I writing about the secret camera web series of our school and the new kids coming to the Isle,” Jordan says.

”Damn, news does travel fast,” I scoff.

”Ben posted an announcement a couple minutes ago,” Jordan says.

I roll my eyes in disbelief.

“What if one of them is cute? You gonna go for it?” Jordan asks cheekily.

”HELL NO. I am never making the same mistake of opening up to a person ever again,” I yell.

”It’s gonna happen...” Jordan says in a song-like manner.

”Shut the fuck up!” I say.

The night I sneak out of my dorm and go to the kitchens to get a snack for Roxie, my baby tiger.

”Insomnia?” A voice says behind me.

I’m startled by the voice and I turn to see Lonnie standing over the counter.

”Yes, you asshole,” I sigh.

Lonnie laughs silently.

”You know someone’s gonna find out that it’s you recording the videos at lunch,” I say.

”Stop it. That’s top secret,” Lonnie says.

”Who cares? Everyone knows that they’re asshole and dickheads anyways. And your very lucky that I haven’t ratted you out to Jordan. She’s persistent,” I say, grabbing some bacon from the fridge and putting it in a pan

”That’s for Roxie, right?” Lonnie asks.

”Maybe not,” I say.

Lonnie laughs and I take a piece of cooked bacon and put it in my mouth.

I hum softly at the taste.

”Hey. Don’t be afraid to talk to me sometimes. Especially after what I saw,” Lonnie says.

Ah. The thing. After some time in my self-quarantine of Sophmore year, I decided it was time for everything in my life to end. So, I grabbed some pills and I did something I regretted. Lonnie saved my life that day. That’s why I love her so much.

“I know, mama,” I say softly as I cook the rest of the bacon.

”You have no idea how much I care, Adri,” Lonnie says, hugging me from behind me.

”Thats probably why I love when you’re around,” I chuckle.

Lonnie lays her head on my shoulder.

”By the way I signed ya up for the welcoming comitee with Audrey,” Lonnie whispers.

”What!” I yell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later...

Someone starts banging heavily on my door. I open my eyes and the sound in my ears clears.

”ADRI! Wake up! Your late for the Vk’s welcoming,” Audrey screams from behind my door.

Maybe I should have stayed asleep. Damn you, Lonnie.

I put on this:

pin.it/5uiV7hV

And I walked out my door.

“Ben shouldn’t have made you his advisor if you were gonna sleep in,” Audrey says.

”I’m here aren’t I?” I reply.

”Shut up, let’s go,” Audrey says, grabbing my hand and dragging me down the stairs to the courtyard.

Oh god this is gonna be terrible.

Ben sees me and Audrey coming up next to him.

”What happened to you?” Ben asks.

”Slept in,” I mumble.

Ben chuckles and Audrey takes his arm.

”It’s fine by the way, it’s actually the first time in a while,” Ben says.

Fairy Godmother begins to greet everyone in the small group of band kids and cheerleaders until she reaches our trio.

”Ben, Audrey, Adri, how are you?” Fairy Godmother.

“Good,” We all say.

The limo pulls up and the band starts playing. The limo stops and two boys pop out fighting over a scarf.

My eyes glance towards to girls who come out of the other side of the car. One has short plum hair with a plum leather outfit to match. The other girl has long wavy blue hair with two crown braids at the front.

“Why do you want whatever this is?” One of the boys with gray hair says.

”Because you want it,” The other boy in a red beanie says.

Right off the bat you notice who’s who. And the boy in the beanie is definitely Jafar’s son.

“Leave it where you found it! And by that, just leave it.” Fairy Godmother says.

”Just cleaning up!” The boy with the red beanie says.

He puts the scarf back in the limo and his eyes immediately catch mine.

He catches me as I stare at his frame. His brown hair, his dark brown eyes, his muscular form and his leather outfit all catch me off guard.

His frown turns into a smirk and he strides towards me.

”Hello, foxy~ The name’s...Jay,” The boy introduces, attempting to flirt with me.

I laugh softly at his action.

”Your quite the catch aren’t you?” I remark with a smirk.

“Welcome to Auradon Prep,” Fairy Godmother says, stepping between us.

I whisper a little thank you to her and she nods.

”I’m Fairy Godmother, the headmistress,” She curtsies.

”As in, the Fairy Godmother? Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo?” The girl with plum hair asks.

”Bibbidi-Bobbidi, you know it,” Fairy Godmother says.

“Does she ramble like this much?” I ask Ben.

”All the damn time,” Ben says.

We snicker in unison.

Audrey nudges Ben.

”It’s so nice to meet you all. I’m Ben,” Ben introduces.

”Prince Ben. Soon to be King, right Bennyboo?” Audrey interjects.

I fake-vomit at the nickname and roll my eyes.

”You had me at Prince. My mom’s a queen so that makes me a princess,” The blue haired girl says, fawning over Ben.

”The Evil Queen has no Royal status here and neither do you,” Audrey smiles cheekily.

”Yes she does, otherwise Snow White would cease to be Royalty and she is her step-sister,” I comment with a smile.

Audrey raises a brow to stop me and I wink in the girl’s direction. She gives me a smile in return.

”This is Audrey. My-“

”Girlfriend. And future queen,” Audrey says.

”Last but not least, this is Adri. My advisor and my best friend,” Ben says.

”Your new wickedly cool best friend,” I say with a smirk.

”These three are going to show you all around and I’ll see all tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut! Except library hours are 8:00 to 11:00 and you know I have a thing for curfew,” Fairy Godmother says, excusing herself.

”She tends to drag things out of proportion. Don’t mind her,” I say.

Ben chuckles and Audrey nudges his arm.

“It is so, so, so good to finally me... meet you all,” Ben starts as Jay hits his chest with a light punch.

“ This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history... Is that chocolate?” Shaking the gray haired boy’s hand that is covered in chocolate.

”As the day our two peoples began to heal,” Ben finishes.

“Or the day where you showed four peoples where the bathrooms are,” The plum haired girl says.

“A little over the top?” Ben asks her.

”More than a little,” She says.

”So much for my first impression,” Ben says awkwardly.

“You're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you? Yeah, you know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. Oh, my mom's Aurora. Sleeping...“ Audrey starts.

”Beauty! Yeah I’ve heard the name. You know, I totally do not blame your grandparents for not inviting my mother to their stupid christening,” The girl responds.

”Water under the bridge!” Audrey fakes.

”Totes!” The girl replys in the same tone.

They laugh together pathetically.

“Jeez, can we get this over with?“ I scoff.

” OK. So how about a tour, yeah?“ Ben starts.

We start to move towards the front of the school.

“Auradon Prep was originally built 300 years ago before my father turned it into a high school when he was elected King,” Ben says, clapping his fingers to morph the statue.

The gray haired boy jumps into Jay’s arms.

”Carlos, it’s okay. My father made the statue to remind us that anything is possible,” Ben addresses.

I laugh at the boy’s banter. Jay sees this and drops Carlos to the floor. I can feel him lurking by me as we continue inside the school.

“ So do you guys have magic here? You know, like wands and stuff?” Mal asks.

“All that stuffs pretty much retired. Most of us are just ordinary mortals,” Ben says.

”Unlike me. I was cursed so...” I say clicking my tongue.

”And you happen to be kings and queens?“

“That’s true. Our royal blood goes back hundreds and hundreds of years,“ Audrey says, placing an arm around Ben.

”Doug,” Ben calls Dopey’s son down.

“Doug, will be showing you to your dorms. If you have any questions-“

”Ask Adri or Doug,” Audrey says, whisking him away.

“Um, hey guys. Hi, guys. I'm Dopey's son. As in Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and... Heigh-ho.,” Doug starts, his eyes landing on the blue haired girl.

I take the clipboard from him and read their names.

”Mal Bertha. Evie Grimhilde. Carlos De Vil. Jay Farr,” I read to myself.

I interrupt Doug as he talks about classes.

”I’ll be showing you to your dorms,” I say, walking up one staircase.

”Guys, it’s actually this way,” Doug points towards me as the go in the wrong direction.

They follow me until we stop at their dorm rooms.

”Boys, you have the larger dorm here,” I point.

”Sweet!” Carlos says, hopping inside.

”What’s in it?” Jay asks, me

”Two full size beds, a flat screen tv, mini fridge, 3D printer, gaming console, a bathroom for two, fireplace, and double closet,” I say off the top of my head.

”Thank god, that’s enough to keep them busy for hours,” Mal says.

Me and the girls turn away from their room but someone places a hand on my shoulder.

”Hey, can we talk after?” Jay asks.

”Why?” I ask, raising a brow.

Jay gives me a pleading looks and I roll my eyes, walking away.

”Girls, this is your dorm. With roughly the same things as the boys except a bigger closet and bathroom and no gaming console,” I say.

”This room needs more-“

”Purple? I supposed you would agree. Love your outfit by the way,” I compliment.

”You don’t look to horrible yourself,” Mal smirks.

”I made it by the way,” Evie adds.

“Fashion Designer, huh? You could make some bank with that,” I comment.

Evie smiles.

”If you need anything, I’m the first door down the hall,” I say.

I close the door to the girls dorm and turn to see someone completely unexpected. My smile turns into a frown as I see Chad Charming at the end of the hall. As I try and stride down the hall to Jay and Carlos’s room, his gaze meets mine.

”Well, well. Look who it is. Little miss court case,” Chad says, his lips curving into a smirk.

”Your lucky my restraining order is expired, Charming,” I snark as he draws near to me.

”You know, you’re lucky Ben and Lonnie are friends with you. Otherwise, everyone here wouldn’t give a damn about your little charity case,” Chad says cockily, running a hand through my hair.

My body tenses and my teeth clench as he touches my hair.

“Don’t do that,” I say through my clenched jaw.

”Or what?” Chad says, pinning me against the wall. His frame towering over me.

”You gonna sue me again just so that I could give your pathetic ass more money?” Chad asks.

”Get your fucking hands off of her,” A voice says from behind Chad.

I look over Chad’s shoulder to see Jay standing behind him with a scowl on his face.

I can practically feel my eyes change shape, pleading to Jay to help me.

Chad gets off of me and walks towards Jay confronting him.

”Is that a threat?” Chad asks.

”You gonna punch me if it is, Princey? You know, you probably shouldn’t mess with someone you barely know. I’m sure it’ll have serious consequences,” Jay growls.

Chad backs off, intimidated by Jay.

”Whatever, man,” Chad scoffs, taming a step back.

He turns to me, his smirk returning.

”I’ll see you later, babe,” Chad says, winking at me.

He walks away and I can practically feel the tears coming to my eyes.

”Who the hell does he think he is?” Jay scoffs.

My legs start to move down the hall, trying to get away.

”Hey! Where are you going?” Jay calls behind me.

”Leave me alone!” I choke.

Jay’s footsteps chase after me and he grabs my wrist.

”Stay out of my business and leave me the hell alone,” I say in a serious tone.

”What was that about though? And why do you look like your about to cry in any second?” Jay asks deliberately.

I growl under my breath.

”Because he’s my abusive ex-boyfriend who raped me while I was blacked out at Ben’s party! And now everyone pities the hell out of me and treats me like a child because I tried to commit suicide. Is that what you’re so desperate to get out of me?” I yell.

Jay is taken aback by my words. His brown eyes widen as he looks at me. Searching through my eyes and seeing the pain in them.

”Shit, I’m so sorry. Look, I will never ever do that to you ever again,” Jay says, concerned by my action.

”Listen, don’t make promises you know you can’t keep,” I say.

Jay turns to leave but I grab his wrist.

”You forgot you tell me what you wanted to speak about,” I say with a smirk.

Jay scratches his neck nervously.

”Sorry. I was just so concerned about the way that guy was talking to you that I didn’t even realize,” Jay explains.

I chuckle lightly at his concern. How is he so chill after that? After I just yelled at him?

“I was just wondering if I could learn a little more about you. I mean-since we know a little bit about Ben and Audrey so,” Jay says.

I giggle lightly at his question. Then I hesitate, remembering this is the son of my parent’s enemy. But suddenly, my new found confidence tells me “Fuck it”.

”Well, I’ve lived in Auradon for 3 years. I like Art a lot. And um, I’m the daughter of Aladdin and Jasmine,” I say shyly.

Jay erupts in a light chuckle. My brows furrow at his actions.

”Did I say something wrong?” I ask.

”No, but that does explain everything,” Jay says with a smirk.

”Explain what exactly?” I ask, confused by his action.

”The comebacks, the way you roll your eyes, the outfit, and the way you act around danger. You have that “I really don’t give and shit sometimes attitude”. I’m assuming it’s family trait,” Jay laughs.

I roll my eyes at his banter.

”Sure, dipshit. And you know wanna know what gives you away?” I ask cheekily.

”What?” Jay says, playing along.

”The fact that you prance around me, eyeing me just like your father did to my mother when she was my age,” I say with a smirk.

His eyes widen, catching him off guard.

”And I promise you, your little concerned or flirtatious act isn’t gonna always cut it with me, pretty boy,” I say, tapping his shoulder and turning to leave.

I look behind me and see him smirk behind me as I walk to my dorm.

That boy is gonna keep trying to win me over. And I’m in for the long game...

[chilledplantmum]

CW: stillbirth, mental health, covid 19, trauma

*Names have been changed for privacy and confidentiality reasons

Life line: 13 11 14

Men’s help line: 1300 789 978

Beyond blue: 1300 22 4636

1800 RESPECT

SANDS: pregnancy and infant loss: 1300 072 637

Kids helpline: 1800 551 800

7.50 Monday morning

I was just doing my normal morning routine I was on the loo and I felt this weird sensation I thought Chester had moved away from my bladder as I felt a pop and a gush.

I didn’t panic I just thought it was wee but I called labour and delivery just for an opinion they weren’t concerned and as I had an appointment at 11am so I just chilled out and had breakfast I pushed away any worries because pregnancy teaches you to chill because if you worry about every little thing you’ll go mad. Matt was sleeping as he had had the flu with migraines and temperatures all the previous week and he was buggered. Then I went back to the toilet and I was shocked at that point as I was bleeding bright red blood. So I left the bedroom en-suite as not to wake up Matthew and called labour and delivery again and they seemed not fussed then Matthew came out to the lounge and his face was just shocked he couldn’t believe I hadn’t told him I just wanted him to not worry.

I drove myself to the hospital alone as Matthew was still displaying symptoms of being sick and as this was the thick of covid 19 stages 4 there was no way he’d be anywhere near the hospital though we both had negative results the previous weeks so we could see Matthews son as we didn’t want to expose anyone.

I was called into my appointment very quickly and the OB rushed me to ultrasound. The ultrasound was a bit strange even I could tell there was something wrong as the amount of 20-week ultrasounds I had seen on Facebook did not look like this. The OB said everything should be okay it did look like there was not much fluid but in her words at the time ‘I’m not great with ultrasounds I’ll send you up to the assessment unit they are much better’ but Chester still had a heartbeat so again I didn’t get too worried and I hadn’t had any pain so I made my way up to the assessment centre. Again I was called in fairly quickly even though I counted about 15 heavily pregnant women sitting waiting.

The midwife sat me down and checked on Chester with the Doppler he was rolling around running away from the pressure typical of my little nugget but she found his heartbeat no issues. She did some swabs and then called a doctor. The doctor performed a procedure to check my waters had truly broken. They couldn’t get an accurate answer as there was too much blood. But again they assured me that there was no ‘pooling’ of amniotic fluid so everything should be okay. I went to do the ‘pee cup’ the results showed high glucose which is typical of myself being hypoglycemic and a slight infection marker but nothing extraordinary. Then they transferred me to a single assessment unit to see the head OB and again I didn’t stress because no one seemed to be too worried. I was actually enjoying knitting the scarf I’d been working hard at the whole pregnancy.

The head OB again did a fluid swab which was a nasty painful 60 seconds of my life. Oh and the fact he made the comment that my vagina was at an odd angle and it was impossible to see my cervix. I won’t go into too much detail but it was rough and if I ever see another speculum I’ll most likely cry.

Called Matthew at that point can’t really remember what we spoke about but I was just updating him so he wasn’t out of the loop. I then headed to the toilet and on my way back to my room I saw my OB say to another midwife do you think this test is positive? She replied yes definitely a poor girl. I stopped myself went back to the room in a hurry and just kept repeating no it wasn’t my test why would they just talk openly where everyone could hear. I slowed my breathing something I had been very accurate to my entire life due to anxiety issues so I held it together.

The head OB came in and non-chalnonty told me yes the test is positive my waters had indeed broken. I immediately speed-dialled my love. At that point I could not talk I stopped paying attention to anything around me and I could barely hear any voices. The OB explained the situation to Matthew and left swiftly. Matthew and I just cried not saying a word but uncertain of what the future held. I had a few midwives come to comfort me and told me not to stress babies are born all the time at early gestations. I asked her for some food as I wasn’t prepared for a lengthy hospital experience all I had eaten was a bowl of rice bubbles at 9am it was now 2pm. All she could find was 3 custard puddings as I was feeling faint and quite hungry I downed all 3 without hesitation. I was admitted and given my own room hey it kind of looked like a fancy hotel room. Tad odd there was no TV.

Again I asked for food and asked to make sure my dinner had been organized they assured me it had been.

Then my mate Didrie* the first midwife I met on the ward. I will not forget her she was kind, she was gentle.

I asked her for answers there was none at that point.

I called Matthew so he could hear the plan she explained so he could have his questions answered.

Now at this point, I need you to brace yourself as I can hardly handle my anger for this moment.

My honest and compassionate self told Dierdre about Matthew and I’s covid tests and they were negative but Matthew had developed a dry cough that morning. He was instantly refused entry to the hospital and was made to take a covid test.

Bare with me this bits a little complicated. I had driven the car in and as we only have one car Matthew needed to come to pick it up so he asked Dedrie if he could bring my bedding and bags for the admission to the front door and give me a hug......... the answer of course ... no

I called my mother and asked her to drive Matthew to pick up the car and so I could at least see one familiar face..... breathe..... the covid rules for antenates was one visitor for the entire stay and only 2 hours of visiting per person.

At this point I had Deidre explain this to Matthew as I was exhausted beyond comprehension. Matthew begged and begged and the head midwife said absolutely not until his covid test was negative. He basically ran to get the test and was told it was going to take 3-5 days. He told this story to the nurse who completed his test she cried. That angel of a woman put his test under immediate healthcare exemption so it was fast-tracked for 24-hour turn around.

At this point, I was given the impossible choice of having my mum give me a hug and a conversation so I could cope or wait for Matthew when his test came back. At this point I almost shut down I had no answers for my unborn and my stupid empathetic brain pulled Dedrie aside and apologized for how Matthew and my mother sounded I had chosen to wait for the father of my child. I apologized to her and said they were quite angry as only a year and a half ago I had almost succeeded in ending my life. Deidre hugged me and said just wait.

She returned not more than 5 minutes later and said call your mother right now and get her up here. You have exceptional circumstances.

At this point, I was still waiting for food I believe it was around 8pm. The food service lady knocked opened the door and stated have you got your tray? I looked at her utterly confused and said what do you mean? I haven’t received my dinner yet. She just said okay well dinner service was over.

I begged mum to go get me food I was weak tired emotional and confused. My mother’s anxiety got the best of her and said she had no idea how to navigate sunshine. I dialled Matthew crying and said can you buy me some tea, my darling partner said what do you want anything for you.

Deidre Returned and said she had gotten approval for external food to be brought in. My mother went to the front door to collect the food from Matthew. She was hassled by security on the way back to my room.

It was KFC just chips and potato and gravy and as it was quite late at this stage I took in as much as I could but I could hardly eat it was the Coca Cola that saved my energy levels. I had to just force the food in.

Mum left after her 2-hour visit with a letter from the hospital stating she had permission to be out after curfew.

I just sat on my hard horrible uncomfortable hospital bed and just cried not sure how long but it was endless tears.

I finally passed out from exhaustion.

The night head midwife came in and woke me up around 1am for an obs check. I knew something was wrong as I could barely make out a human she had so much PPE. She said you are now in isolation and you will be given your covid test in the morning. I said can I get a can of Pepsi out of the vending machine just quickly as I hadn’t had any soft drink in soooo long. It was hard no. She did my obs and checked Chester with the Doppler she kept complaining how hard it was to find him as it was such an early gestation but for a fleeting 3 seconds, I heard the gallop of his fluttering heart. And everything was okay.

I was woken up abruptly the next morning at who knows what time. At this point, I lost track of days time and distance. The doctors said your ultrasound to check on my little nugget won’t be today as it was a too high risk of infecting people with my nonexistent covid. They left just as quickly as they had presented.

I just broke I have no idea how long I was crying for it was grief it was something between a scream and a moan it was so loud I had to drown out my own thoughts I had to drown out everything. I pressed the call buttons who knows how many times no one ever came.

I passed out. I was then woken again by a stranger covered head to toe in white there were no eyes no smile no humanity. She did my obs and said are you ready for your covid swab? I begged I had had no symptoms a negative test. She said it doesn’t matter you need to test clear for our safety. I said what happens if I refuse, she said your situation won’t change it will just prolong your stay. I opened my mouth with tears streaming down my face I have a pretty strong gag reflex but there were a few dry heaves. Then the nose she said I’ll be gentle I was just hanging to my thoughts of Matthew and Chester. She did one nostril and the pain was unbearable every nerve ending in my body was burning from emotion the psychical pain was just something I couldn’t cope with. The masked woman said you need to calm down it’s not good for you and baby. She asked are you ready for the other nostril, breathing through snot tears and pain I said if I refuse will I be made to take it again if there is a negative result. She said no, I said, in that case, you're not touching me. I’m not entirely sure what happened next I think at that point I stopped calling family as I couldn’t bear to see the pain in their faces or in their voice. I just kept saying be strong, bubs needs you to be strong right now. I don’t remember much from the interactions from those midwives that day. I do know that I started to develop a migraine as I had not had proper caffeine in close to 24 hours. There was another angel that day who said if you need anything to buzz me as you cannot leave this room. I said all I want is a can of coke and I’ll be able to survive the day. The midwives I could hear were run off there feet so many met calls for other mums every time I pressed the buzzer it was a good half hour to an hour to get service. Then came changeover I had a new midwife, my angel didn’t come through and the migraine started to become unbearable. Then she opened the door she said I didn’t forget about you. Look after yourself she took off her mask and smiled, it was an act of pure empathy and humanity.

I had been referred to my next angel the social work rainbow that came from pain and clouds. Rainbow* you saved my mind that day. You sat with me for over 2 hours listening. We swapped stories of our social work careers which were eerily similar. We talked about maternity social work and how horrible it can be and how unfair the world is. She then said she was off to do the paperwork for Matthew to stay the night when he tests negative the first exemption The hospital had to learn to deal with.

Then one of the best phone calls of my life came through it was Matt I could hear his smile from a mile away he had tested negative. I cried with joy a deep love.

Later that night my blood pressure plummeted I was faint tired and had barely eaten or drank any fluid.

The doctor said we need to hydrate you right now and ordered IV fluids

I demanded they did not the vein in my elbow as it was always the most painful IV vein he tried twice. I came very very close to passing out and giving up but I stayed awake and strong I downed some orange juice. He said the vein he found had collapsed and he would try the other arm I again said do not touch my elbow. Again he stuck in the canular needle and once again the vein collapsed. I went numb, I have an intense fear of needles but my blood pressure continued to plummet from the stress and pain. A second midwife gave it a try yet again they found a vein it didn’t produce enough blood. I remained steadfast you are not to touch the painful vein every doctor and midwife saying how much easier it would be. Now at this point, they brought in someone who never fails..... she spent a good ten minutes analyzing my arms finally stuck me number 4 she was in and then the vein once again collapsed.

I was so tired and delirious she talked me into the painful vein. Such regret for that moment.

She was gentle it was by a bit tender but not painful.

My iv fluids went in and I quickly started feeling better my bp came back up. They wrapped my arm and left me to rest. I don’t recall much else not sure if I slept. I believe it was a video call with my angels of a blended family my Matthew, my sons mum and Chesters brother and nanny. I was so happy just to hear My bonus son giggle and say he’s silly quirks I was floored how much he had grown in just over a week.

Sleep was not my friend that night the canula started to burn it started to ache and I started to just give in to the pain and let the panic take hold I just lay there hyperventilating and just giving in to the pain. Again the head midwife entered who knows what she looked like I knew she was older, I was so so weak and I begged and begged for her to take out the IV I started to lose it. She said to stop being silly it doesn’t hurt that bad I’ll flush it and you’ll be okay. You need to get it together. She broke a boundary she rubbed my belly and said you need to stay calm for the baby.

She bandaged me up and said okay shall we listen to the baby? I was so happy to hear those words just connecting to the little miracle in my uterus. He played up a treat she said sounds like there’s fluid in there and you hear the gushing? Hope-filled my heart and then I heard him hiccup I slept well that night even though I was writhing in pain from the IV

I sat there rolled up in my maternity pillow and therapy blanket and I’m not a religious person but I sat there cried and prayed I said Hail Marys our fathers I begged and pleaded with the universe, I promised I would do anything to keep my child. I was a good person I helped people, I am kind I am generous. How could God take my baby from me when my abusive ex who had threatened to kill me and any new partner I fell in love with, strangled me several times held a knife to my throat had a perfectly healthy child. I begged I pleaded I prayed. At the end of this stay, god religion whatever you believe does not exist there is no fairness. I just cling to love and joy family good friends and life.

Again like doctors do they banged on my room for rounds stated you will be going for your ultrasound in an hour. I didn’t comprehend anything they said to me the midwife entered the room just a mask and kind eyes and I said what is going on? She said did the doctors not tell you? Your covid test is negative and there ready for you to come down to ultrasound to see nugget boy. I called Matthew tears of pure joy running down my face.

The PCA collected me in a wheelchair I just couldn't find the energy to walk. It was the young woman’s first day and she had no idea where ultrasound was, I said don’t worry I got you to let’s go.

I arrived and waiting an hour for the ultrasound that was ready for me know. I asked reception for a mask from politeness to others couldn't give two shits about anything as I was negative for the dumb virus anyway.

Finally called into ultrasound. I stated to the tech can I call my partner, she said I’ll talk to my supervisor, came back 5 minutes later and said only for the first 2 minutes, I just politely said Thankyou and dialled. The second the machine hit my stomach I saw him I had no idea what I was looking at it was just like a car that had been crushed into a cube I knew it was bad when the tech went quiet and left the room. Matt and I sat there in silence quiet tears running down my face we knew it was bad. The tech returned with the more senior tech, at that moment I was a thing an object they talked amongst themselves about how there was no fluid there was no clear vision of anything. But yet there was his little fluttering heart. He was still going strong.

It was long painful ultrasound bursitis and arthritis in my hips was near unbearable I was just so sensitive to pain which is not something I’m used too I normally can barely feel a thing until I’m at level 8 or 9 levels of pain and even then it’s hard to get me to take pain killers. Matthew and I stayed silent he said I will shower waiting for the doctor.

I went to the toilet and in seconds I could hear my name being called I ran out and went with my next angel The high-risk OB (HROB*)She sat me down and even with all her PPE I knew that look it’s as obvious as a deer in headlights. I paused and said before we start I need to call Matthew. He had jumped in the shower so it took him some time to respond. HROB started I’m so sorry.... that was all I needed to hear I don’t remember the words said next but Matthew has called back. HROB said I won’t say much more until Matthew was there as decisions needed to be made for our child. I had tears again I was out of breath I couldn't catch my breath with the goddamn mask on HROB gave me a minute as I had snot flying everywhere. I said can Matthew please please stay more than 2 hours she said no the government and police make those rules. I could barely stand

HROB asked someone I have no idea who but they basically held me up while walking back to the ward. Just waiting for the elevator I fell to the ground trying to get my breath.

I have no idea how but I made it to level 7 I said to the midwife wait for me I’m going to the fucking vending machine

I was taken back to my room which now I could move freely in and out of. Matthew knocked and the sense of love and relief I had at the moment was indescribable. We just sat down and held each other for hours no words needed to be said. At that point, there were no words.

Rainbow knocked she was so much more beautiful without the lab suit on.

She said I’ve got 10 minutes as I am now running up to my office Matthew you will stay the night I promise you.

Hours went by and then 3.30 came

HROB walked in we arranged the room.

The news was something no parent no human wants to hear.

Bubs our little peanut, nugget bean had a 1-5% chance of having completely normal anatomy and a normal or healthy quality of life.

The next sentence I’m sure nearly killed Matthew right then and there. HROB said bubs had 4 more days to go till viability. But with every second he was safe in my tummy it became more and more dangerous for me. The next words I don’t remember and I still can’t imagine the power. She said if you go into labour bubs would not live. And then if I got an infection I would only have a very small chance of survival many women quickly end up in ICU with sepsis and can die within minutes. She said if any tiny hint of infection set in we would not be given a choice. She made me promise if infection set in I would not refuse treatment and induction as bubs would 100% not survive and if I refused neither would I. It’s was Wednesday I think at that point. HROB left us to hopefully make the decision between a mother’s health and babies life. Of course, my instinct was baby. I asked Matthew he couldn't answer but I knew the look in his eyes and what it meant.

Matthew and I needed the connection we needed family we needed his son my beautiful bonus son. And they all answered it was the silver lining in a fucked up time bonus sons’ hiccups had my near in tears he sounded just like his brother's little hiccups. He was so happy to see daddy and cag cag ( his name for me) his smile lit up my heart and I just felt love just for a little while everything was okay. But then I saw my face in the camera view I started to get pale, I got pale, I pushed to stay on the phone as I just wanted to hold onto hope and joy. But then I fell behind Matthew and passed out in pain.

Not 2 hours later the choice was taken away I started to cramp, it came on thick and fast. The most intense pain I’ve ever felt. Whole-body convulsions I was rolling over and over again punching things screaming a primal scream that I didn’t recognize.

It was a blur from there for me the one memory I do have was Matthew pressing the buzzer furiously running up and down the halls trying to find someone to help finally they took a preemptive blood test ordered by a midwife. And then the morphine injection.

I had never seen my partner so angry so bossy, so in control. The young midwife just kept asking if I was ready.

Matthew lost it and said just do it she can’t talk she’s in pain just do it!

That injection felt like it went through my entire thigh through the other side. Matthew stated that the way I pulled away I nearly snapped the needle off into my thigh.

But then it’s was a blur I do recall the midwife coming in and stating there was an infection that had set in but it was mild and there was still hope.

We were moved to the assessment centre not long later.

Matthew passed out on the couch I was high as a kite on morphine and I just wanted cuddles and he said cass I need rest.

I spent much of my time with the international midwives guessing their accents apparently I did well. Then in passed out from being so tired.

Sleep evaded me as I discovered that morphine started to make me hallucinate. I was having night terrors quite frequently.

Finally, the morphine wore off and then the hunger kicked in

The midwife offered me the Doppler I said there’s no point it’s too painful.

Upon reflection he must have passed at this point as the vegemite craving kicked in all I wanted was a strong desire for vegemite sandwiches.

Then the moment came, the pain was starting to settle in but I was denied pain killers as I had to be clear-headed to sign my consent to induction.

One of the most delirious moments of my life one of trauma and sadness and even though this is just so new I still feel like I sentenced my darling Boy to death. I screamed I yelled I cried, I punched the bed. The pain started to set in again

Matthew said please let me sign it but as it was my body I had to.

I just couldn't do it I couldn't terminate my miracle child the child I was told I could never have conceived naturally.

Then Matt held me tight he begged and begged and cried he said you promised. bubs is gone I can’t lose both of you.

HROB just got frank she said I need to go but your choice is you sign this piece of paper or instead of losing one life we are losing two.

It took everything in me to go against every human value I hold dear but I signed.

I was then given more endone so I could relax.

I was rushed to the birthing suite by wheelchair, I couldn't stand on my own two feet let alone walk.

It was a fast process they said you have time for lunch so ordered as many dumplings as I desired. They came at me with that fucking canula again 3 pokes later I said go away I do not give you consent to touch me if I have to have IV antibiotics for 48 hours I will not spend it crying from a nasty painful IV

the dumplings arrived and they said it’s time hop on the bed we are inducing you. They said you will have plenty of time to eat. 3 times the usual dose they said we will increase the dose again in 3 hours.

I started on the dumplings I had been craving all day. I had 3

The pain came on thick, fast and nasty.

First was an endone tablet it worked as well as panadol. Then I was given the gas it worked for about the first 3 contractions they were not very far apart. I was right side up to upside down there was no comfortable position. The gas was just making me giddy and slowed my breathing I started getting angry all I wanted was time to eat I was starving. I pulled my shoulder trying to rip the bed rail off the bed. And then after a little, while I was ready I have no idea if I was dilated to the full but the midwife set the toilet up so I could sit and relax and push and there were towels to catch baby I had the gas and I had to be forced to take breathes as I just wanted to be high. I looked at myself in the mirror I looked tired but I could still see the strength in myself. Then the last few contractions hit and he didn't take long.

Bubs was breech and I cannot describe the feeling of giving birth there are no words.

I was moved to the bed to relax and give the final push it took mere seconds and he was out

The most heartwarming words came out of Matthews's mouth. Cassie, it’s a boy

High from the gas, I had a short break and then got to hold my darling boy in my arms

There are no words for the love I felt

Matthew and I looked at each other and said it’s our little Chester.

[therainroguefanfiction]

⁂ Days Come and Go (Coyote Starrk) [1 of 2]

Genre: Romance, Comedy ☁

Word Count: 3,666 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Starrk ☁

World: Bleach ☁

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Days come and go, but my feelings for you are forever,”

You growled, struggling against the restraints on your wrists. Apparently, you were an ‘important asset‘ to Aizen, so he had Tousen sneak up behind you and grab you. ‘Like a coward’, you thought. He brought you back to Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo and the others had already saved Orihime and brought her back to the world of the living. Aizen retreated from the battle against Soul Society before it even began and sealed off any way of getting into Hueco Mundo – or out, in your case.

Orihime had gotten a hold of the Hougyoku and damaged it, making it take four times as long to awaken. After Ichigo managed to get her, Aizen took you two months later in order to replace her, even though your powers were nothing alike.

You were sitting in Aizen’s room, hands cuffed behind your back so that you couldn’t use any of your reiatsu and, of course, the door was locked. That didn’t stop you from struggling against them, though.

You closed your eyes, focusing all of your power into your hands and wrists and, with one swift movement, you broke through the cuffs. You smirked, ‘If that bastard really thought those would hold me, he’s in for a big surprise,’

You kicked the door open, making as little noise as possible, and closed your eyes again, focusing; you were trying to find your zanpakuto which had been taken by Aizen upon your arrival.

Finally finding it, you set off down the halls of Las Noches, keeping your eyes and ears alert, as well as masking your reiatsu.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

After searching for what felt like hours in the winding halls, you finally came to a door. Las Noches is one hell of a maze! You could feel RyuuKaji, your zanpakuto, pulsing on the other side. You slid the door open enough to look inside.

There was an Espada level guy lying on a huddle of pillows on the floor, fast asleep. There were no others in sight.

You slowly pushed the door open, slipped inside, and shut the door behind you. You tiptoed over to the sleeping Espada, kicking his leg lightly with your foot to make sure he wouldn’t wake up. His chest was rising and falling softly, face content. Your sword was hanging from his sash, right beside his own.

You kneeled down on the pillows next to him and, very gently, untied the sash from his waist, letting it fall to either side of him. His right hand, which was laying on his stomach, twitched slightly, but he made no signs of being awoken.

You proceeded to push the sash to the side and reach for your sword.

“What are ya doing?”

You froze, looking over your shoulder to see a blonde-haired Arrancar. She must be his Fraccion. ‘Shit, why didn’t I sense her?’

She narrowed her eyes and walked forward, kicking the man where the sun don’t shine. He woke with a start, grabbing himself and groaning in pain. “I told you not to do that, Lilinette!”

She rolled her eyes, “You shouldn’t be sleeping on the job.”

“Hmm?” his gaze moved over and he stared at you for a second before closing his eyes with a sigh, retying his sash.

She scoffed and left the room.

You stared at your sword, wondering if you should just grab it and run. For some reason, an idea popped into your head – an idea you normally would never think about, ever. ‘This has got to be my father’s fault,’

You took a deep breath to steel your nerves and got on top of the lazy Espada, your legs on either side of his waist and hands on either side of his head.

He opened his eyes and stared up at you, lazily.

“Look, I can tell you really like to sleep. I’m sure that’s hard, though, having to guard that sword. So, why don’t you let me take it off your hands, so you can sleep, hmm?”

He stared at you for a few seconds before closing his eyes. “Sorry, no.”

You scowled, more dirty thoughts coming into your mind. Biting your lip, you considered your options. He may be an Espada, but he’s still a guy.

‘It might just work. Then again, it may piss him off and he could kill me now. Wonderful,’

You took another deep breath before deciding to go with it. Leaning down, you placed a few butterfly kisses on his neck. He squirmed slightly but made no other movements. You grinned in satisfaction, bitting his neck lightly, earning a grunt from the Espada below you.

You peppered kisses down his neck, unzipping his uniform as you went. Looking up into his face, he looked content. ‘Maybe I will keep my life. Now, to get my damn sword!’

You trailed kisses back up to his neck and bit his ear gently. “What do you say? Can I have my sword back, please~?”

“I can’t,” he responded softly, enjoying what you were doing to his body.

‘He can’t seriously be this hard to break!’, you thought with a frown. You nipped his neck again, earning another grunt of approval as your hand made its way towards your sword.

“Bitch!”

You froze, head whipping up to see a smirking Grimmjow standing in the doorway. “You were supposed to get your sword, not dry hump Starrk!”

You scowled at him, “You really do have a big mouth, ya know that?”

Our eyes connected and he grinned a minute later, “Hurry the hell up, eh?” then he turned around and left the room.

When you looked back down, Starrk was looking up at you, his eyes concealing whatever emotion he felt. You leaned down to his neck again. “Please forgive me for this,” you bit down on his neck, drawing blood as you forced your reiatsu into the wound. You felt him tense under you before he slipped into unconsciousness. “I’m sorry,” you kissed his forehead lightly before grabbing your sword and leaving the room.

Grimmjow was leaning against the wall outside the room, his arms folded over his chest and a cocky smirk on his face.

“Don’t even,” you growled, glaring at him as you passed while putting your sword back through your belt – much like Ikkaku had when he first attended Karakura High.

He grinned, following after you. “Daddy rubbing off on you?”

“Go to hell, asshole.”

“I’ll see you there, bitch.”

You snorted, hitting his arm as you made your way down the halls of Las Noches.

You used to be a soul reaper but left Soul Society right after Kisuke and Yoruichi did; you take turns staying at Ichigo’s house and Kisuke’s. You do not wear the traditional Shinigami outfit, never have. Instead, you wear baggy black jeans, a white t-shirt, a black zip-up leather hoodie, and black and white skull sneakers. You also wear a black belt around your waist to keep RyuuKaji, though it can be hard to see since it blends in with your jeans.

A deep blue ring occupies your middle finger on your right hand; a present from Toushirou before you left, while a black and silver ring, with a silver dragon on top, occupies your thumb, a gift from your father. Around your neck was another ring, blood red, on a chain that hung down to your stomach, a present from Gin before he betrayed soul society.

“Think we can make it?” Grimmjow asked, sounding bored.

You shrugged just as Ulquiorra appeared, blocking your path.

“Aizen-sama has ordered me to bring you back and restrain you.”

“Bring her back?” Grimmjow laughed, “We haven’t even left yet, idiot!”

You rolled your eyes, stepping forward and drawing your sword. “We’re having a bit of trouble, Ulquiorra. See, me and Grimmjow are eager to leave this place, but can’t seem to find an exit. I’m afraid, I’m gonna have to use you to make one!” As soon as you finished speaking, you used shunpo to appear in front of him, swords clashing. You pushed him back, making his eyes widen, with such great force, that he crashed through five layers of wall.

“Hey!” Grimmjow appeared next to you, “I can see the outside.”

You glanced at him before using shunpo again to appear outside, quite a ways away from Las Noches. Grimmjow appeared next to you a few seconds later.

He snapped his fingers with a smirk and a portal appeared. “Shall we?”

You grinned, stepping past him and into the portal, appearing in the sky of Karakura town. He stepped out next to you and the portal snapped closed. You stretched your arms above your head, your back cracking in the process.

Grimmjow chuckled, landing on the ground with you behind him.

“I’m guessing we’re going to go to Urahara’s?”

“Where else?” you muttered, walking towards Urahara’s shop.

Urahara, Jinta, Ururu, Tessai, Noba, Ririn, and Kurodo were waiting for you outside the shop.

“It’s about time you two got here,” Urahara grinned from underneath his stripped hat.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Back in Los Noches |

Aizen, Gin, Tousen, and Lilinette were standing over the unconscious Espada. Lilinette had tried to wake him, using the tactics that she always used, but the Espada didn’t budge an inch. Getting worried, she sought out Gin, who in turn got Aizen and Tousen.

Aizen had his hand on his chin in a thinking matter, a smile on his lips. “They simply used a special spell that not many know. No doubt they learned it from the goddess of flash.”

“A spell?” Lilinette asked, staring down at the Espada.

Aizen nodded to Tousen who stepped forward, holding his palms out to face Starrk. He muttered something under his breath and his hands started to glow a deep purple. A few moments later, the Espada stirred, opening his eyes slowly and sitting up, looking at the four people standing around him.

“Haha, they really got ya, Starrk!” Gin grinned his normal, fox-like grin.

“Get ready,” Aizen said lightly. “You will be going after Y/N.”

Starrk looked up at Aizen, his mind running wild.

“As much as I hate to admit it, they are stronger than everyone here except for me and you. Y/N on equal standing with Gin. You are the only one who can beat them and bring them back. You leave in one hour.” With that, the three men turned around and left the room.

It was silent for a few moments before Lilinette spoke. “Why’d you let them do that? Why didn’t you stop them?”

Starrk sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I don’t know,”

Lilinette narrowed her eyes, “Yes you do! They took away the loneliness, didn’t they? Y/N made you forget everything!”

He nodded slightly, his voice still low. “They’re the first person to make me feel that way. I…” he was at a loss for words. He couldn’t even describe how you made him feel.

“We can’t doom them by bringing them back here, then,” Lilinette said, firmly.

“We have orders,” he countered, quietly.

“So?” she scoffed, “If they makes you feel that great, why bring them back here just to die?”

“Y/N would never love a hollow, Lilinette. Especially not me. The feeling wouldn’t last but a fleeting moment.”

Lilinette didn’t know what to say. All she knew was she couldn’t let him bring you back if you affected him so much. She had to form a plan and she only had an hour to do it.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

| Karakura Town |

“They’re here,” Grimmjow muttered, staring down at the tea Tessai had placed in front of him.

“To investigate, no doubt,” Urahara said, waving his fan.

“Huh?”

“Soul Society thinks that Y/N went to Hueco Mundo of her own free will. They’ve sent two shinigami to question her and possibly apprehend her.”

“What!?” Grimmjow growled, slamming his hands on the table. “After all the shit they’ve done for them!? This is how they repay Y/N?”

“Unfortunately,”

“Grimmjow,” you muttered, staring at the ground. “Let it be,”

“But – !”

“It’s fine,”

He growled again but kept his mouth shut.

A few moments later, two shinigami appeared at the door to Urahara’s shop.

“Y/N-chan,” the man spoke softly, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Father,” you murmured, avoiding his gaze. You saw Grimmjow glance at you out of the corner of your eye but ignored it.

“Can I speak to you alone?” he asked, softly, holding his hand out for you to take.

Grimmjow glared slightly and slapped his hand away, standing up. “If Y/N goes, I go!”

He nodded in understanding as you stood up. “Stay here, Nanao-chan.”

Nano nodded, sitting down at the table as the three of you left the shop, heading to the river.

Starrk and Lilinette were hidden behind a large tree, watching you, Grimmjow, and the shinigami as you talked. Their reiatsu had been hidden well, so none of you could sense them.

Starrk was listening closely to what was said, all the while curious as to your relationship with the two men.

“So, what happened?” Shunsui asked as he lounged on his back in the grass.

Grimmjow folded his arms over his chest as he stood nearby, a grin on his face. “Why don’t you tell him what happened, Y/N?”

You glared at him before looking back to your father.

Starrk was watching your movements carefully.

“Well – you see -” you sighed deeply, rubbing the back of your neck, “Aizen wasn’t happy about Orihime getting away. So, instead, he sent for me to be taken. Bastard Tousen snuck up behind me and put those damn cuffs on me.” Your voice was full of anger

‘What is this feeling in the pit of my stomach? Why do I want to make their anger go away?’, Starrk frowned.

“So much for vigilance,” Grimmjow sniggered.

You glared at him again, “I was locked in Aizen’s room – ”

“You should have looked for blackmail.” Grimmjow sniggered again.

You ignored him. ” – of course, you know me, can’t stay still for too long.” Shunsui smiled at your words. “I managed to break free and went in search of my sword. Aizen gave it to one of the Espada to guard.”

Grimmjow snorted.

“I would have gotten it scotch free if his Fraccion hadn’t shown up and woken him.” You sighed deeply, looking down as you nervously picked the grass from the ground. “She woke him and left the room. Of course, I couldn’t just take it from him after that. So, I tried to think up a plan.”

“Oh, you thought of one alright.”

Thinking about what you did to him made Starrk feel content for a fleeting second before it disappeared. Oh, how he longed to have that feeling back.

“Oh?” Shunsui raised his eyebrow in question. “What plan did you use, Y/N-chan?”

“Well… I figured that, even though he’s an Espada, he’s still a guy…”

“Oh~?” he sat up, looking eager to hear more.

“I kind of… sat on him,”

Shunsui chuckled, pulling his hat down to hide his amusement.

You continued. “And, err, well… the rest isn’t important!”

Grimmjow burst out laughing, earning another glare. “You were practically dry humping him!”

“I was not!” you growled, slamming him so hard on the back of the head that he face planted on the ground, leaving a small indent in the earth.

“Y/N-chan~” Shunsui cooed, “What exactly did you do, darling?”

You groaned in defeat. “I figured I could persuade him, ya know? All I did was kiss him a bit…”

“‘Kiss him a bit’?” Grimmjow scoffed, rubbing his face clean of dirt. “They were leaving kisses and love bites all over his neck!”

Shunsui stared at you for a few minutes before jumping up and squeezing you to his chest, “That’s my child!”

You managed to struggle free of his grasp and pointed an accusing finger in his direction, “I knew it was right to blame you! Pervy old man!”

He grinned sheepishly, swatting your hand away. “Now, now, Y/N-chan. What did you expect? So, how did he take it?”

“Pretty well, surprisingly. I couldn’t get him to break though,” you shook your head, folding your arms over your chest.

“My lord,” Shunsui whispered in disbelief. “All that and he didn’t give in? There is something wrong with that man.”

You rolled your eyes, “Something wrong with him? Just because he’s not a pervert like you and Grimmjow?”

Grimmjow shot up, glaring at you. “I am no pervert, bitch!”

You scoffed, “Suuurree, whatever you say, asshole.”

Grimmjow glared at you for a moment before his expression turned serious. “You should consider yourself lucky.”

“Hmm?” you raised your eyebrow at him.

“If he was any different, he probably would have killed you.” He smirked at your confused expression. “You didn’t know? You did something like that to him, and you didn’t even know?”

“Know what?” you scowled, feeling annoyed.

Grimmjow stared at you before laughing, falling to the ground clutching his stomach. You kicked his stomach with your foot. He managed to calm down a bit, still chuckling, “Starrk is the Primera!”

You stared at him in shock, “P-Primera?” you took a few steps back, thinking about what you had actually done to him.

Kyoraku cocked his head to the side, watching you curiously.

“Holy shit,” you muttered, falling to the ground, your hands behind you. “I could have died!”

Grimmjow laughed harder, “If he was any different, you would have been dead!” His laughter stopped, then started again, harder this time. “Imagine if you did that to Ulquiorra!”

You glared at him, kicking his foot. “I would never do something like that to Ulquiorra, or anyone else for that matter!”

He scoffed, “Oh yeah? Then why’d you do it to Starrk?”

You rubbed the back of your head, looking anywhere but at his blue eyes as you fought back a blush. “I-I don’t know… it was a one-time thing, okay!”

Shunsui started to chuckled, scooting over so that he was next to you, putting his arm around your shoulder. “Did you feel it, sweety? That special feeling?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know what I felt or what came over me.” You suddenly pushed him away, standing up and putting your hands in your pockets. “It doesn’t matter,”

Grimmjow stayed silent for a minute before speaking again. “You’re right, it doesn’t.”

You raised a brow at him.

“Aizen probably found ’em by now and he’s most likely going to send Starrk to come bring you back. Hell, he might already be here.”

Shunsui sighed, standing up and pulling his hat down over his eyes. “I need to get back to report everything to Yama-jii,”

You nodded, pulling off the blue ring from your finger and holding it out to him. He raised his head, a confused expression on his face. “Give it to Toushirou before you go see the old man, will ya?”

He seemed thoughtful for a minute before he took the ring from the palm of your hand, “Be safe, darling.” He used shunpo and disappeared.

“What do you think?” Grimmjow asked, softly.

“I don’t know what to think anymore.” You started in the direction of Ichigo’s house, “Come on. We’re staying with Ichigo tonight.”

He nodded, following at your side.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

“Ichigo! You’re late!” Isshin screamed from downstairs. A crash followed, along with Ichigo yelling, “It’s only seven o’clock!”

“That’s no excuse!”

More crashes could be heard before it went silent, the only sound being Ichigo’s annoyed footsteps and Grimmjow’s sniggering in the corner. His bedroom door slammed open and he came in, a scowl on his face as he plopped down on the bed next to you.

“Rough day?” you asked as he laid his head on your stomach.

Rukia walked over after shutting the door and plopped down in his desk chair, playing on her phone.

“Yeah,” he murmured, “Damn Keigo kept trying to get me to – ” He shot up suddenly, staring at you with wide eyes. He was frozen in that position before he jumped on you, hugging you tightly. “Y/N!”

Grimmjow snorted, “It took you that long for that brain of yours to actually work?”

Ichigo scowled, glaring at Grimmjow. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged, “‘Cause I can be.”

Ichigo ignored him, turning back to you. “How’d you get back?” Then he turned to Rukia, who was still playing on her cell. “Did you know about this?”

She shrugged, “Of course. I felt Y/N’s Reiatsu as soon as they arrived. They’ve been talking to captain Kyoraku.”

You sat up, moving to lean against the open window above the side of his bed, hanging outside it to feel the cold breeze on your skin. “I managed to escape,”

“How!?” he yelled, sitting in front of me, his brown eyes both concerned and confused.

“That’s not important,” you shrugged, “What is important is the fact that Aizen’ll be sending someone to get me back.”

Ichigo growled, folding his arms over his chest. “Not if I can help it!”

Starrk and Lilinette had followed you to the orange-haired shinigami’s house and watched as he talked with you. The window was open, making it a little bit easier to hear what was being said.

He would be lying if he said he felt nothing in his chest when Ichigo had laid his head on you. He longed to be in that position with you, to feel your skin on his again.

“I can handle almost anyone he sends,” you murmured, looking up at the dark sky. “The only ones I’d have trouble with is Gin, Starrk, or Aizen himself.”

“You know he’s gonna send Starrk!” Grimmjow muttered.

“Starrk?” Ichigo looked between the two of us. “Who is that?”

“The Primera Espada,” you said, quietly, “He’s the one that was guarding my sword.”

Now you had Rukia’s attention. “Primera? How’d you manage that?”

“Details aren’t important,” you waved her off, closing your eyes.

She gave you a quizzical look before her phone started to beep, “There’s an espada here.”

Grimmjow glanced at me, “It’s Starrk.”

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

▸ Part 2 of 2

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

[whirlybirdwhat]

Prompt: modern au (?) Gin wants to ask Sanji out, but he has to go through Zeff first

let me preface this with a HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIN I LOVE YOU!!!!  and a thank you for the request! 

Now, onto the story! Also read it here on ao3!

what you do for love

Gin has broken into a great many places. Some were worth it! Some were not. Some had the security of Fort Knox, and others were like an open door. He’s done it across the coast from east to west, but never, never, has he found a place so hard to get into like the Baratie.

And this time he isn’t even doing it for fucking Krieg!

It’s for Sanji.

Whom he likes, very much, and would like to invite on a date, thank you very much.

It’s not happening – different schools, Sanji has work, Gin has a job, Sanji’s taking down governments with his own gang, there’s never a time to get to him.

So Gin decided to ask him out at Sanji’s work.

Only… Gin had forgotten that the Baratie wasn’t only Sanji’s workplace… but his home. Where his dad and pseudo big brothers lived.

The first time he walked in to ask, he was met with Zeff, smaller than Gin but twice as muscular with a mean kick despite only having one leg. Zeff had given him a once over, taking in Gin’s leather jacket, tattoos, bandana and flyer to next month’s fight arena and promptly… did nothing, except give Gin a warm meal.

(It wasn’t the first time, nor the last.)

Until that is, Gin went up to go talk to Sanji.

Then Zeff swept his feet out from under him and sent him flying out the door, laughing.

From his place on the sidewalk, hidden by the high storefront windows, Gin heard Sanji asking “What was that,” and Zeff brushing him off.

Surely a fluke, Gin foolishly thought.

Only to find that the second time he went in, Carne was there, waiting with a strong hand to lift Gin by his collar and drag him out to the back-door entryway and throw him into the ground outside.

“Bye,” Gin could see Carne mouthing, mischief in his eye, followed by a swear.

Fuck off! Gin wanted to scream back but decided to rest in the ground instead, contemplating his failure.

Why, he thought, why.

He tried again, and again, and again. Zeff kicked him out the window with a first aid, kick, did a round of combat with flying kicks, gave him a warm meal then had Patty and Carne throw him onto the shallow beach outside.

Gin didn’t get it, because each time Zeff had this look that he approved of Gin, which, what.

Why was he kicking him out then?

Dads were weird as fucking hell.

After the seventh time this happened, Gin decided to get a little smarter, which leads to the current situation: breaking into the Baratie.

Which, as previously mentioned, is hard as hell.

He doesn’t want to get to the money, so he’s thankfully avoided the more dubious traps, but he’s tapping on what he assumes to be Sanji’s window and it’s not opening.

He questions why he thought this was a good idea, then remembers that Sanji did the same thing last year because he wanted to ask what food Gin wanted for his birthday, so this is just him returning the favor.

The windows finally opening, thank fuck, he was scaling the gutter for this.

“Hey, San-” That’s not Sanji.

That’s Zeff.

“Shit.” Gin says out loud and isn’t fast enough to dodge the kick that smacks him into sliding down the gutter.

Fuck.

Zeff gives him a wave, throws down and ice pack, and leaves.

Should have known Red Leg Zeff wouldn’t let anyone near his home without his permission. Hell, even the gang members follow his lead.

Gin sighs, staring up at the window which apparently isn’t Sanji’s, and decides he’s not being smart enough.

Or maybe, he thinks, staring at the straw-hatted jolly roger emblazoned in graffiti on the side of the building, I’m not being crazy enough.

-

Gin’s phone was destroyed in a fight two weeks back, half of his troubles with talking to Sanji, but that also means he has to track down the Straw Hats in person.

It’s not the most difficult task though – just look for the biggest commotion and you’re sure to find at least one Straw Hat in the fray.

Gin turns the corner, swearing to find a Straw Hat tonight, and runs smack into the Straw Hat, who is sprinting and holding a bag of what looks to be… meat themed jewelry? Gold? Gold nuggets but chicken nuggets? Gin can’t tell and doesn’t want to ask, but takes the opportunity anyway.

(The world always had a way to fall exactly into Luffy’s whims, and Gin supposes that if this must be happening it’s a sign of hope.)

“Straw hat!” Gin shouts, snatching out a hand and dragging Luffy into the alley corner.

“Bandana Guy!” Luffy says happily as Smoker rushes by the alley entrance. “What’s up? Sanji misses you!”

Gin lets a dopey smile bleed onto his face before speaking. “Yeah, I miss him to which is why I need your help right? I need you to bring your crew into the Baratie tomorrow, around sixish, and cause a ruckus so I can ask Sanji out, alright? Zeff and the others keep kicking me out.”

“They do that to you too? Shishishi! Sanji’s dad says I’m not allowed there without superpowers.”

“I think you mean supervision, anyway, will you be there?”

“Party at the Baratie tomorrow night, got it!”

That’s as close as Gin is going to get with Straw Hat, so he lets them go.

Time to get ready for action.

-

Gin should have expected this. He really should have expected this.

This being the Strawhat’s starting the ‘party’ whenever they feel like it, which is not six which was planned but five.

Gin sighs.

Whatever.

He can make this work.

Gin walks into the Baratie and, for once, is not immediately accosted by members of the Baratie’s staff.

Straw-hat can’t follow a plan but at least he can cause a ruckus. Gin looks to the left where the swordsman is balancing bottles of beer on his swords to raucous cheering, and steps to the right.

And then Gin spots him. Sanji, coming out of the kitchen, laughing and smiling the way he’s only prone to do around his crew (and Gin, on occasion.)

He’s not talking to anybody, just enjoying the chaos, which means this is Gin’s chance.

His only chance.

There’s a flash of yellow in his vision, accompanied by two flashes of white, and Gin knows he has to move fast if he wants to beat Zeff and Carne and Patty.

Gin runs, jumping over smashed glass and dodging around rushing waiters, all the while shouting “SANJI!”

Zeff trips him but he manages to turn into a roll, and comes up standing right in front of Sanji.

“Sanji!” He says again, out of breath but with a smile on his face, offering the carefully folded but now crumpled flyer in his hand. “Would you – would you like to go with me to Red Line’s Battle Arena on the twenty-third… as a date? If your family doesn’t kill me first?”

Sanji’s staring at him, and he hopes he hasn’t said the wrong thing. He had thought the date out perfectly, it was something they both enjoyed, food provided, near the sea, he had tickets to the booth seating so it wasn’t as chaotic as usual and –

Sanji cuts off his internal monologue with a smile. “Yes. I’d love to.”

Gin practically faints only managing to keep himself upright through sheer determination. He doesn’t know what to say after this, hadn’t really thought that far but—

“FINALLY!”

“Brat smartened up at last.”

“Now we can tease ‘em both at once! Boss, can we kick them both out?”

“Not until the party’s over. But yes. Eventually.”

“HELL YEAH!”

Gin is lost at the commotion coming from the chef’s around him, who have now stopped attacking him and started cheering for him.

Like… what?

Sanji takes pity on him. “They’ve been teasing me for months about you, trying to get me to ask you out. You stopped showing up so…”

“Oh. That was because your family kicked me out when I was trying to ask you out. Its been going on for a month. Tried banging on your window and everything but they literally kicked me out.”

“Oh.” Sanji starts snickering.

“Yeah.” Gin says to his boyfriends(?) apparent mirth at the situation.

Sanji snorts one last time before turning to his family and screeching. Gin swears there’s fire coming off of him as he yells “WHAT THE HELL YOU SHITTTY BASTARDS!? WHY THE FUCK WERE YOU KICKING HIM OUT? WHY ARE YOU THIS STUPID THIS COULD HAVE BEEN DONE AGES AGO AND-“

“It’s cause we like ya!”

“Yeah! We have to tease you!”

“Making up for that time you kicked me in the face.”

“And me! And the time you met the Straw Hat Brat!”

“Yeah!”

Zeff cuts in through the shouting. “Eggplant, you’re a bit short on the braincells. Had to make sure this brat was good enough to replace the ones you’ve lost. He passes. Welcome to the family brat, we got cake in the back. Straw Hat told us to throw a party, and I’m sure Sanji mentioned that it was your birthday today. Eat up.”

Gin gets a caked shoved in his hand and a hug from Sanji in a matter of seconds, followed by approving nods from the rest of the Baratie Staff as the Straw Hat pirates cause chaos in the background.

He’s bewildered. Confused. Bamboozled. Any other word to describe this feeling. Sanji just laughs at his face.

“They’re always like this,” he explains. “When Luffy first invited me to join his crew they thought pretending that they hated my food was a good way to make me leave and chase some dreams. You can see how well that turned out, but that’s just how they are. Hazing the new guy and me, at every. Single. Opportunity. Ugh.” Sanji’s complaining, but Gin can tell he loves this place.

“I can see that,” He says, and watches how Sanji smiles so brilliantly. “You want to escape this mess?”

Sanji laughs. “Definitely. Happy birthday, Gin.” He places a kiss on Gin’s cheek and strolls out the back door, waiting for him.

Gin smiles in return. “Thanks, Sanji.”

Zeff nods one last time behind his back before turning away.

Gin has finally passed the Baratie Bar of approval.

Thank God. That was exhausting.

[tipsyylove]

real

➵ genre: zombie apocalypse au, angst, dreamies x reader

➵  warnings: language i didn’t proof read it, sorry for any mistakes.

➵ requested: no

➵ a/n: i got inspired oops. sorry for using truth or dare a lot :/. this is kinda longer than what i usually write ooops

BROADCAST: WARNING! AN INFECTIOUS OUTBREAK HAS STARTED. PLEASE DO ANYTHING YOU CAN TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE SAFE. DO NOT GO OUTSIDE. PLEASE STAY INSIDE WHILE WE TRY TO RESOLVE THIS.

shit. that’s all you could think. you have absolutely nothing and no one around you. since you moved out of your god awful parent’s house, you’ve been alone. and that was not to long ago. you’ve never reached out to anyone after high school, just wanting to be alone. you had friends, but you all eventually stopped talking. which is something you regret right now.

you had gotten up to make sure your doors and windows were locked. your house was very small, so it didn’t take long. you pulled down the blinds to your windows, and kept the lights on. you sat back down on your couch, awaiting updates from the news about the outbreak. the broadcast had been cut. it was just white noise now. something awful happened. this outbreak is spreading fast. way faster than you had expected. you aren’t really sure what to do in this situation. all you have is a couple somewhat sharp kitchen knives. no guns. no bats. no nails. nothing. you got up and grabbed the largest kitchen knife you owned. it could be helpful. you then went back to the couch and just stared at the tv, hoping something would happen. and next thing you knew, you were passed out.

»»——  ☠  ——««

you were very suddenly woken by a loud banging at your door. you’ve never held anything tighter than that kitchen knife at that moment. you peeped through the peephole to see a man standing in front of your door. he was looking at the ground, still banging. you unlocked the door and invited the man in. he was the first real person you’ve seen in a while. you never go outside unless it’s to eat. he looked a little ragged, and his clothes were only a little torn. you were just looking at him. he had a gun in his hand and he was quiet. until now.

“come with us. you’ll be safe from this, i promise.” he spoke. who’s ‘us’? is he insane? “im sorry, who’s 'us’?” you asked, puzzled. he just reached out his hand and said, “come on, it’s not safe here.” what is this guy on? “can i at least get your name?” you asked the man. “jaemin. now come on.” he was dragging you out of the door at this point. you hadn’t even turned off the tv or lights yet. not that it mattered anymore. the world is ending. and sooner than you thought it would.

»»——  ☠  ——««

when walking outside for a bit, you’ve already seen the chaos that’s rained down on you. what was once a beautiful neighborhood was now trashed. it was just you and jaemin outside walking. you hadn’t seen any real people for a while, just some people running and the occasional zombie, in which you ran from. jaemin had seemed to be leading you somewhere. he was very alert, and didn’t let anything hurt you two. you two had been walking for quite a while, before arriving at a huge house. it was all boarded up everywhere, and seemed abandoned. once you and jaemin had walked up to the door, he did some type of knock code, and some other guy opened the door after unlocking everything. the man was very tall. he had a pinkish tint to his hair, and plump lips. he let you guys in, and locked the door behind you.

this was all very sudden. you were just watching the news, and now you’re surrounded by six other men. they all had very distinct features. one very short, yet so handsome. one had a blonde undercut, which was so attractive. another had bright orange hair. the last one had his hair puffed up, forehead out. they looked like trustworthy guys. “okay, so here’s the only bystander i could find who was still inside. she’s rather quiet, which is kinda helpful.” jaemin spoke to the others. they all just kind of investigated you with their eyes. “what’s her name?” the orange haired one asked. “my name’s (y/n).” you spoke, quietly. “(y/n), this is chenle.” he said, pointing to the orange haired one. “that’s renjun.” he said, pointing to the rather short one. “that’s jisung.” pointing to the pinkish haired one. “that’s haechan.” he said, while the one with his forehead out waved. “and that’s jeno.” jaemin said, pointing to the man with the blonde undercut. jeno was quiet, and didn’t even acknowledge your existence. which is understandable, maybe he is just thinking. 

they were all very respectful towards you. they didn’t invade your space, and let you rest for a while. they were all discussing plans on what to do. they let you get some food out of the kitchen, and made sure you were comfortable. they were all so attractive in their own way. they all were just perfect. but, you were extremely exhausted from everything today. you just wanted to sleep. “hey, guys? im getting pretty tired, where should i sleep?” you asked, yawning. they all looked up at you, except for jeno, who just kept focusing on the map in front of him. “there’s two beds in the room upstairs and to the left. first room.” jaemin spoke up. you were assuming jaemin was the leader of this small group, being that he was the only one that really talked to you. “thank you guys so much. i couldn’t thank you enough.” you confessed to all of them, making your way upstairs. 

»»——  ☠  ——««

the room you were met with was surprisingly small, for how big the house was. but, that’s not something you should be complaining about. you have shelter, and you’re no longer alone. which was a good feeling. it’s been quite a while since you’ve been around people who seemed to enjoy your presence. you didn’t have any pajamas, so you just decided to lay down in your daily clothes. the bed was way more comfortable than your own. you were practically melting into it. until you were interrupted by someone stomping into the room. “holy fuck, you scared the shit out of me.” you yelled at the man. “sorry. maybe try not to take over my fucking room next time.” he spoke, clearly angry. this voice could be anyone that wasn’t jaemin. he definitely doesn’t like you, or your guts.

»»——  ☠  ——««

waking up, no one else was in the room with you. you heard someone knock on the door. yawning, you said, “come in.” jaemin walked in. he had a fully cooked breakfast for you in his hands. “jaemin, what did i do to deserve this?” you asked him, sitting up. “i just think you need a better welcoming than what you got last night. we were all planning on how to get into a safer place, and didn’t consider properly welcoming the new member of our team.” he smiled at you. “thank you, so much.” you said, smiling back at him. “we’re all gonna be downstairs. come join us whenever you want.” he smiled again, leaving you alone in the room.

you quickly ate your breakfast, excited to meet everyone properly. you didn’t bother cleaning up your appearance, so you just ran downstairs. as soon as you made it on the last step, you heard a, “hey, (y/n)’s up!” from chenle. everyone was gathered around the island in the kitchen, just talking to one another. you joined them in the circle, and just listened to them talk. everyone looked a bit messier now, everyone’s hair less done than it was yesterday. “i think we need to go to the supermarket to get some food. we have seven people now, we won’t make it very long if we don’t.” haechan said. everyone nodded in approval. “how would we get there, though. we don’t have a car. a couple of us would have to go on foot, and try to make it back alive.” jisung spoke. another group nod of approval. “i’ll go.” jeno spoke. that’s when it hit you. the voice from last night. the one that hated your guts. “me too.” haechan said. “count me in.” renjun said, raising his hand. “anyone else want to go?” jaemin asked, looking at jisung, chenle, and you. “nope.” we all said, in unison. “okay, haechan, jeno, and renjun. be careful out there. we wish you the best of luck. bring everything you need. don’t forget the walkie talkies.” jaemin commanded. it was amazing how prepared these guys were for this. they had all the materials that they needed, and always had plans for different things.

»»——  ☠  ——««

now it was just you, jaemin, chenle, and jisung. you guys were all children on the inside, so you played truth or dare. you gotta have some type of fun during the apocalypse, right? “jaemin, truth or dare?” chenle asked the supposed leader. “truth.” he said. “hmmmm, what’s your biggest fear?” chenle asked, hesitating a bit. “definitely losing you guys, you’re all i have.” jaemin confessed. it was quiet for a few seconds, before jaemin said, “(y/n), truth or dare?” you weren’t expecting to get asked. but, here you are. you’re a coward, so you said, “truth.” it took jaemin a while to think. “do you feel safe with us?” he asked. before you could answer, jaemin’s walkie talkie started to go bonkers. “what do you want us to get, exactly? we’re not sure at all what we should get.” renjun spoke through the walkie. jaemin picked his walkie up. “just grab anything you can. we’ll eat what you get, it doesn’t really matter.” jaemin told the other man. “okay, thank you. see you guys soon.” renjun’s soothing voice said, turning off his walkie, making jaemin’s go static. “okay, anyways. do you?” jaemin looked at you, along with the other two. “y-yeah. i do. i feel a lot safer here than i did at my house. again, thank you.” you said, smiling at all of them. “i’m bored.” you heard chenle speak up. “let’s make a fort!” you suggested. “yeah!” jisung jumped up in excitement.

»»——  ☠  ——««

the fort you guys had made wasn’t the best thing. it had it’s perks, but you were all enjoying a game of uno inside. you guys were laughing a lot. and you were pretty sure that you were gaining a better friendship already. they were all very fun and outgoing people. you liked this side of them. the fun sides of people are always better. you get along with them very well, and you’re glad that they found you. you would be dead now if it weren’t for them. you owe your life to them.  your uno game was suddenly interrupted by a very strategic knock at your door. jaemin quickly got up and let the other men in. they had very large bags full of food from what you could see from the fort. “god, are you guys five?” you heard jeno say, scoffing after. no one responded, but the mood in the room went down. it was no longer a happy mood. chenle and jisung were no longer smiling, along with yourself. you all got out of the fort and started to take it down. “hey, what are you doing? don’t let jeno influence your mood.” you heard renjun speak from the kitchen. but, it was taking up a lot of space in the living room, so you decided to take it down, explaining to renjun why.

it’s been a couple minutes since you had taken down your fort. the house was silent. “hey, jeno. what the fuck is your deal? why are you such an asshole recently?” you heard jaemin ask him broadly. “i have no idea what you’re talking about. am i not allowed to speak my opinion?” jeno stated loudly, but not quite yelling. “well, yeah. you’re allowed an opinion. but does it always have to be in such a nasty tone?” jaemin confronted the blonde man. jeno never responded. he just remained quiet, continuing to put the food away. 

»»——  ☠  ——««

the guys getting food took longer than you had expected. it was now night time. and it was fairly dark outside. and rather quiet outside. everyone gradually made their way to the food, all eating what they needed, but not too much. the three that went out for food earlier seemed pretty exhausted. jaemin was rather quiet, as well. which was pretty unusual. you were scared to talk about anything, afraid to be attacked by jeno. he seemed to be extremely aggressive. at least when he talked. which was rare. 

you started to make your way upstairs, and started to get comfy in your so called bed. it was another quiet night until you heard footsteps coming up. you were already prepared for what was about to come. you just knew that jeno didn’t like you invading his space, and probably wishes you were dead. he remained quiet, just laying down in his bed. that’s when you drifted to sleep.

»»——  ☠  ——««

it wasn’t long until you were awoken by some yelling. which was probably a bad idea, since the undead was probably attracted to sound and followed it. it sound like jaemin and someone else. you couldn’t quite point out who, though. you made your way to the door and slightly opened it, trying not to awaken jeno. you walked a couple steps down, and listened to the conversation. “we can’t just put her out on the street! that’s fucked!” you heard jaemin yell. “well she’s an issue! she never does anything and she’s always quiet!” you heard the other man yell. “i don’t care that you don’t like her, jeno! she’s apart of us now! she’s been here for two days. she might be scared to do anything!” jaemin was yelping at this point. “what if she never does anything, jaemin?!? she could be completely useless to us!” jeno boomed. “we could at least give her a chance!” jaemin yelled, ending the conversation. you heard someone start to come closer in your direction. you practically ran to your bed, and faked being asleep. you heard jeno walk in and he was swearing under his breath. he plopped down and you heard extremely aggressive breathing. you drifted to sleep after.

»»——  ☠  ——««

you woke up and made your way downstairs to see what everyone was doing. everything was quiet, once again, and you heard jaemin say “we have to go.”

part one | part two

[yastaghr]

Kinktober 2019 Day 5:

Pairing: Horror Papyrus/ Classic Sans (cross-universal fontcest)

Kinks: Knotting, Distension, and Size Difference, heat cycles, multiple orgasms

Warnings: None

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20851682/chapters/49702799

When Classic walked in the room, he could smell it. Crooks was in heat, and by the way the scent had Classic weak at the knees, it was a dominant heat. Crap. Classic knew no one else was around to help. Blood and Paps were at the peace conference with all the others. Classic was supposed to be there, too, but he’d gone and broken his leg the week before. Now he was stuck in crutches. It was just easier for him to stay home, just like it was easier for the massively tall Crooks to stay home. But no one could have expected this.

Classic girded himself and swung his way closer to the source of the scent. Some might say it was the scent messing with him, but Classic knew better. He’d had a crush on Crooks that had been growing steadily stronger for weeks. He’d wanted to ask the other out and do things properly. Looks like that wasn’t going to happen.

He rounded the corner and was faced with an impenetrable barrier: a locked door. He tried the handle gamely, but no luck. Time for words. “hey, crooks. i know you’re in there. that heat’s gotta be hard on you, heh. why don’t you open the door and let me help?”

Classic could hear the squeak of Crooks’ reaction. Then he heard his amazingly high-pitched voice.

“NO! YOU ARE ALREADY HURT, I COULD NOT POSSIBLY HURT YOU FURTHER!”

“you’re not going to hurt me,” Classic reassured, “ecto magic can stretch really far when it needs to, and it’s not like i’ve got organs you could crush. i’ll be fine.”

“BUT- CLASSIC, I CAN’T DO THIS TO YOU. I DON’T WANT TO FORCE YOU TO HAVE SEX WITH ME JUST BECAUSE OF THIS HEAT. I LIKE YOU TOO MUCH TO HURT YOU LIKE THA- OH! I DID NOT MEAN TO SAY THAT.”

Classic chuckled. “it’s okay, crooks. i’ve...got a bit of a crush on you. more than a bit, actually. i just haven’t had the nerve to ask you out yet.”

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Classic could hear Crooks’ heavy breathing. His own breath was coming rather fast. Finally, Crooks spoke. “YOU...WANT TO GO OUT WITH ME? REALLY?”

“yup,” Classic said, his soul fluttering.

“I...I WOULD LOVE NOTHING MORE THAN TO GO OUT ON A DATE WITH YOU...ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOW IS NOT THE TIME.”

“yeah,” Classic chuckled again, a deep thrum that could make the room light up, “i think the humans would have a problem with an 8 foot skeleton walking around with a boner in public. ‘m pretty sure there are rules about that.”

A few seconds passed before Crooks tentatively said, “IS...YOUR OFFER OF HELP STILL VALID?” He sounded so hopeful.

“mhmm,” Classic agreed. “i’m happy to help just as soon as you open this door.”

“OH. THE DOOR. YES. LET ME JUST-” The sound of squeaky metal moving came from the lock. Classic made a mental note to oil it sometime soon. Then the door opened and that thought was completely blown away by the overpowering smell of Crooks’ heat.

He was also overwhelmed by the sight of Crooks. The other was naked. A few training scars and one badly healed broken rib were the only marks of the life he had led. Classic was glad that the supplements had helped him. When he first arrived his bones had been thin, yellow, and pitted from malnutrition. Now they looked so much better. Classic couldn’t help himself. He quickly made his way over to those bones and stroked them gently. His whole hand was about as wide as Crooks’ ribs.

“OH!” Crooks shivered with pleasure. “THAT FEELS GOOD. CAN YOU DO THAT MORE?”

Classic sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured for Crooks to join him. “sure. come on down here so i can use both hands. please?”

Crooks sat, and Classic’s hands were immediately all over him. Little shivers and pants were the perfect reward for every touch. Soon another part of Crooks drew his attention. Classic swiveled to face the phallus before him.

Crooks’ dick was huge; it was easily 12 inches long. It was smooth, staying about the same width until the very end. That is, except for the knot. At the base of the blood orange colored shaft was a swelling. Most of the dick was about two inches in diameter, but the knot flared out to about 4 inches. Seeing its size made Classic’s eyes water. He was going to have that in him? Maybe Crooks had been right...no. He said he would help, and he knew his magic could take it, so he would help if it killed him. He just really hoped that that was a figure of speech.

Classic let his pussy summon, but nothing else. He needed all that empty space to be empty. He also needed his entrance stretched, so he started working himself open with one hand while the other wrapped around Crooks’ dick and started slowly pumping it.

“MMMM! CLASSIC, WHAT ARE YOU…?”

Classic grinned at him, then looked back at the hand on the dick. “i’m just loosening myself up so i will stretch good. and you? we need some kind of lubrication, so i’m getting as much pre out of you as i can.”

“WOULD THIS HELP?” Crooks asked.

Classic looked up. Crooks was sheepishly holding out a tube of high-end lube. Classic whistled. “that’s the good stuff. where did you get that?”

Crooks blushed. “MY FRIEND PINK GAVE IT TO ME. HE SAID HE COULD FEEL THAT MY CYCLE WAS COMING UP, AND THIS BRAND WORKS WELL WITH MY MAGIC TYPE. HE SAID I WOULD NEED IT NO MATTER WHO ENDED UP BEING MY HEAT PARTNER BECAUSE I’M SO BIG.”

Classic hummed thoughtfully. “lust’s brother, right? interesting. funny he didn’t mention that your heat was coming up when he was driving me home from the hospital, especially since he was there the other night when i got drunk on the spiked ketchup and spilled about my crush on you.”

Crooks’ blush spread further. “I...MAY HAVE ALSO TOLD HIM ABOUT MY CRUSH ON YOU. IN STRICTEST CONFIDENCE! I HAD NO IDEA HE WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.”

Classic swayed under the force of Crooks’ increased heat smell. “whoa, big guy. easy. no need to get all worked up about it. i’m sure he meant things for the best...and i’m also sure that, when this is all over with, we can booby trap every inch of his room for when he gets back. glitter bombs, green ooze, sound traps, seran wrap...the possibilities are endless.”

Crooks grinned down at him, the teeth for which he had been named were spread wide in all their crooked glory. “I, AS A PAPYRUS, CAN ONLY APPROVE OF THE BEST OF JAPES. AND THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE BEST OF THE BEST.”

A shudder and a small wave of fluid marked Classic’s first peak. He sighed and laid down on his back, legs spread wide and pussy on display.

“okay, big guy. you can start now. i should be loose enough to take you.”

Crooks stood up and hunched over Classic. He loomed, but the excited expression on his face turned what could have been a threatening gesture into an arousing one. Being picked up in Crooks’ ginormous hands was even more arousing.

The taller skeleton lined himself up with Classic’s entrance. “PLEASE TELL ME IF ANY OF THIS HURTS YOU, CLASSIC. I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU.”

“will do, bu-” Classic’s eyes went wide as Crooks hilted inside him in one go. His pussy bulged out just below his ribcage. The stretch was huge!

“OH! I’M SORRY. I DIDN’T MEAN TO DO THAT. ARE YOU OKAY?” Crooks frantically asked.

After a moment, Classic found the breath to answer. He held up his left hand in an okay sign. “i’m good,” he squeaked, “you can move.”

“IF YOU’RE SURE…”

“i’m sure,” Classic beamed up at him, making Crooks blush bright orange, “go ahead.”

Crooks pulled out slowly, then slammed back in. He quickly set a fast pace, and Classic was loving it. No one had ever been this rough with him. It felt great. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were little hearts.

“FEELING GOOD?” Crooks asked with a hint of concern.

Classic nodded hugely. “so good. keep it up!”

Crooks smiled. He grabbed one of Classic’s shoulders and used that as a handle so he could fuck Classic harder. Both almost immediately were lost in the sensations. Before long, Classic could feel his orgasm approaching.

“i’m gonna cum soon, crooks. are you close?”

“I’LL BE THERE SOON. DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE MY KNOT? I KNOW IT’S RATHER BIG. I WOULDN’T BE MAD IF YOU SAID YOU COULDN’T.”

“i can take it,” Classic said confidently. There was also a sliver of desire in his voice. He wanted that knot badly. “go ahead and knot me, big guy.”

Crooks took him up on that offer, pushing hard until his knot popped in with a squeak. He kept thrusting, although now it was much more shallow. Classic’s pupils were blown wide. This felt so good! The tight coil of magic in his soul was just about ready to burst. What tipped him over the edge was the first spurt of warm orange magic. Classic whimpered as he came. Soul fluid dripped out of his ribcage, fluids lubricated the base of the knot, and Classic’s spine arched with pleasure. Crooks fucked him through both their orgasms. Classic ended up coming several times.

When Crooks was finally finished, Classic’s magic was almost as round as a basketball. It flowed out of him when his taller lover pulled out. Crooks looked incredibly proud of how much he had produced. “YOU LOOK SO GOOD, CLASSIC. I KNOW I’LL BE HEATED AGAIN IN AN HOUR OR TWO, BUT CAN WE CUDDLE IN THE MEANTIME? I...REALLY WANT TO BE TOUCHING YOU.”

Classic held his arms out imploringly. “yeah, we can cuddle. get over here, i want to be touching you, too.”

Crooks obliged, curling up around as much of Classic as he could manage. Then he settled in to rest.

[nukagalreacts]

Part two of Fo4 companions react to Sole succeeding & failing at playing the knife game

Here it is! sorry again about the wait but I hope y’all enjoy reading it and thanks again for the request!

Piper(Succeeding): The journalist would never play the game herself but she loved watching Sole be a boss at it, she would bet money that no one knew how to wield a knife better than Sole in the whole Commonwealth. Piper really did bet caps on some of the games and she had yet to be disappointed with how much she got back in winnings because Sole had yet to lose, sure their were a few close calls but nothing ever happens. Tonight was no different as Sole was declared the winner and the other person held a wounded hand while Piper quickly went to collect all her winnings being sure to congratulate Sole with a hearty slap on the back.

Piper(Failing): Sole had lost focus for a brief second and was now holding a bloody finger and trying not to scream as Piper tried to find something to wrap the finger up in, she was in shock that they hadn’t lost the whole finger. A few people who had bet on Sole were grumbling about losing so many caps and they couldn’t believe they had lost. Piper just snapped at them telling them to shut-up and get lost and that if they didn’t have the extra caps to lose than they shouldn’t be betting to begin with. People cleared out after that as Piper tended to Sole’s small wound and they thanked her for sticking up for them.  

Danse(Succeeding):He was like a mother hen who constantly followed Sole around trying to keep them out of harm's way, which was difficult when Sole purposely played a game that put them in danger of losing fingers! He always reminded Sole that what they were doing was strictly frowned upon within the Brotherhood, Sole would just give him that knowing look and remind him it was only bad if they got caught. Danse would just glare at Sole the whole time as they went to the hidden dock area were others would gather to watch Sole face off a new challenger every week.Until Sole was actually declared the winner Danse felt like he was going to have a heart attack just watching them play, and always scolded them afterwards saying their luck would run out one of these days.

Danse(Failing): He knew this was going to happen! All he could do was watch in horror as Sole miscalculated a move and the knife sunk into the skin and bone beneath the knuckle of their middle finger. Sole didn’t register the pain at first but started cussing a few seconds later, pulling the knife out and trying to put pressure on it while asking Danse if he could go sneak some medical supplies from the med bay. He knew Sole couldn't go in their because if word got out about this to anyone outside their circle Elder Maxson would not be pleased and he couldn’t stand the thought of Sole getting trouble. After patching Sole’s finger up he gave them a look of “I told you so” causing Sole to roll their eyes but also promise to be more careful.   

Nick(Succeeding): He didn’t approve of Sole playing such a risky game and always reminded them if they lost a finger or permanently damaged their hand it wasn’t going to be a fun time. Sole was confident in their skills though and said there was no way in Hell they would ever lose on this winning streak they have going on here with the folks of Diamond city. Every once in awhile Nick would tag along and was amazed at how many people would gather to watch Sole face off against someone else, and Sole’s knife skills weren't to shabby. He knew it was a good deal for Sole in terms of caps to, a partial amount of the bets placed on them if they won were given to them and Sole was always generous enough to share some with Nick to. Even though he thought it was dangerous he did get caught up in the excitement and thrill of the whole game, and always congratulated Sole at the end and would take them out for a well deserved hot cup of noodles.

Nick(Failing): Nick knew Sole would lose sooner or later or the game would go sour and for some reason he had a gut feeling about tonight so he tagged along again. Sole was doing great one minute and 2 seconds later was standing up holding a bloody hand with the knife laying on the table slightly covered in blood at the bottom of it. Nick tried to stay calm but was slightly freaking out because he wasn’t really sure if the finger was still attached or not, Sole assured him it was but they needed stitches like pronto. He guided them quickly to the local doctor who just shook his head at Sole when learning how they got the injury, but stitched the finger backup and warned them against doing something so stupid again.

Deacon(Succeeding): The two played the knife game together all the time because hey reckless was their middle names and who didn’t love the high stakes of earning caps and possibly losing a finger. When they traveled they were always hitting different settlements and bothering people to join in on one of their games which usually people just called them crazy and ignored them but sometimes it worked and a few would come join in. Sole was the better out of the two of them and remained undefeated and Deacon never got tired of watching them kick ass at the game and helping them carry out their winnings, while trying to run away from a few angry settlers who were convinced Sole was cheating.

Deacon(Failing): Sole is freaking out and screaming as Deacon is holding Sole’s severed middle finger and dragging them into the nearest doctor and asking if there's any way to save the finger. The whole sight is rather comical except for the blood spurting out between the clenched fingers Sole has over the area and the pained expression on their face.The doctor said he would do his best as he handed Sole a bottle of whiskey the only thing he had to help numb any pain while they sterilized the wound and got to work stitching it up. Sole was grateful for Deacon being their holding their good hand and telling them dumb jokes to distract them and passing the bottle of whiskey back and forth because his nerves were just as frayed as Soles.  

Curie(Succeeding): She was a protective mothering type and thought it was foolish of Sole to play such a game and when she caught them playing she would always break up the game and scolded Sole for it. Even when Sole won a game she would pretend to not be impressed and reminded them it would be her they would run to if they ever hurt themselves and she would be their to tell them I told you so. Sole would just give the caring synth a knowing smirk and say I look forward to that day if it ever happens. Curie would just walk away in a huff not understanding why Sole continued to gamble their safety in such a way.

Curie(Failing): She inspected Sole’s partially severed finger as Sole looked anywhere but at Curie’s scrutinizing gaze, it was the look Sole could remember their own Mother giving them as a kid every time they didn’t listen to her. Curie just gave a disappointed sigh and started sterilizing the area and told Sole to brace themselves for some serious pain, she would do her best to be quick about it. Once everything was said and done Sole finally looked up at Curie saying they were sorry for being such an ass and not actually listening to her and she had been right. Curie just shook her head and placed a comforting hand on Sole’s shoulder telling her she only did it because she cared deeply about them and she couldn’t imagine a Commonwealth without them in it.

Hancock(Succeeding): No one was quicker with a knife then him, that is until Sole came along and changed all that and showed Hancock what it truly meant to have skill with a knife. Everyone loved gathering around and watching them face off at the Third Rail, when they were their it meant a good night of drinks and free chems and a more free flow of caps being bet on the two. Tonight wasn't any different as Sole and Hancock were getting deep into the game with Sole going so fast with their knife most people’s eyes couldn’t keep up with watching them, of course both were throwing taunts back and forth, which was all in good fun. Finally Hancock slipped up and Sole was announced the winner with a ton of people cheering and raising their drinks as they went to collect their bet winnings. Sole leaned back in their chair giving a cocky look at their favorite ghoul letting him know he owed them a round of free drinks, he just barked out a laugh and went off to grab them their usual choice of drink.

Hancock(Failing): Playing this game was different for Hancock because if he accidentally stabbed himself it didn't really hurt and Hell he was already falling apart what would losing a finger matter, Sole was squishy though, tough but still very human. It seemed Sole hit the jet a little to hard before they started playing and suddenly the knife was going into their hand and Sole was just looking at it like oh God what do I do. Hancock was quick to jump up and shoo everyone away before leading Sole over to their good doctor friend and bringing a bottle of booze along for Sole to have, because he knew that shit was going to hurt here in a little bit. He stayed y Sole while the knife got taken out and the rather large wound was stitched back up, and Hancock told Sole at least this would make a cool story later on, Sole was not amused as they took another swig from the bottle of vodka.

[javelon]

Crossroads Deal - Part 2

Marvin was the first to respond when he heard Henrik start babbling in German, his room being the closest to the doctor's office. It wasn't uncommon to hear Henrik start speaking in his native tongue when he was excited or upset or really frustrated with something he was working on. Unfortunately there hadn't been much to be excited about lately so Marvin was hoping it was frustration causing the doc's current meltdown and not something..worse.

Slowly Marvin eased open the door to the office, jaw dropping when he took in the scene before him. Henrik was babbling excitedly, dashing from machine to machine with his clipboard in hand. And talking happily with the doctor was a very awake Jack.

"Jack!" The magician found himself at Jack's bedside, his own excitement causing him to temporarily lose control of his magic and speed forward faster than the human eye could follow.

Jack and Henrik let out squeaks of surprise as Jack was enveloped in Marvin's embrace, "Oh my God, Jack! You're awake! You're actually awake!" Tears streamed down his face as emotions overwhelmed him.

Jack's arms tightened around him as he laughed, he laughed! Such a beautiful sound that Marvin had feared they would never hear again! "I'm awake, Marvin. It's so good to see you, my friend."

Marvin couldn't reply as he broke down in full on sobs, relishing in the feeling of Jack's hand rubbing his back, "Hey, hey it's ok Marv. I'm here now. Shhhhh it's ok."

By the time Marvin was able to compose himself, the other egos had come to see what all the commotion was. He jumped back next to Henrik just in time as Jackie hurled himself at Jack, earning the anger of the good doctor.

"Be careful, Jackie! You'll crush him!"

Jack laughed again as he hugged the crying superhero, "It's ok Henrik, I'm not made of glass."

Warmth blossomed in Marvin's chest as he watched Jack and Henrik banter back and forth about Jack's supposed frailty. Gods he had missed this so, so much. 

Out of the corner of his eye Marvin saw Jameson standing hesitantly in the doorway. Jack must have seen him too as he smiled up at the old timer ego and motioned him forward. "Hello! You're...JJ right?"

The egos looked at Jack in shock as he grinned, "I could sometimes hear you guys talking in the darkness. I remember hearing about the new ego JJ which must be you. I love the 'stache, bro."

Henrik and Marvin exchanged smiles at the joy on Jameson's face. They knew the youngest ego had been worried Jack wouldn't like him, despite reassurances that Jack would love him just like Jack loved them. They were family after all. And finally Jameson got to see for himself that they were right. 

"Did you...uh...hear what I said then?" Anti's voice from the back corner of the room made Marvin jump in surprise.

The glitch was standing against the wall as far from the others as he could be, digging invisible dirt out from his nails with his knife, pointedly not looking at anyone.

Marvin looked back at Jack in concern. They knew Anti felt true remorse for his actions but that didn't change the fact that the glitch was still the one who had put Jack into a coma in the first place.

Relief filled him when he saw the gentle smile on Jack's face. "I heard every word, Anti. I'll admit at first I was worried it was a trick." Jack held up his hand when Anti's head shot up, "But I heard the others talk about you too so I knew you were truly sorry. And I forgive you."

"Oh thank you God." Anti had slumped in relief before flushing red, ducking his head back down but not before light caught on the tears pooling in his eyes.

Marvin had never seen Anti cry before. Chase had told him once that he had found Anti crying at Jack's bedside a few times, stammering apologies to his comatose creator. But Marvin had never seen it for himself. He felt the urge to hug Anti like he would for the others when they cried but he knew the glitch wouldn't approve. They were still trying to get him used to spontaneous, kind touches but it was slow going. Chase was the only one who could hug Anti without the glitch immediately shoving him away.

Speaking of the father ego Marvin realized he was the only one not in the room. A tiny warning sounded in his head before Marvin shoved it away. There was no need to be alarmed. Chase was probably just in his room. It's where he usually was when he wasn't recording videos for Jack's channel or working after all. And his room was the furthest from the office so he probably hadn't heard all the noise.

The magician shook himself with a smile and slipped out of the room while the others filled Jack in on what he had missed. Chase would be so happy to see Jack awake! He'd really had the toughest time with Jack's coma, being the one who had been closest to Jack. Then having to fill in for Jack just made it worse. The young father had once confessed at Jack's bedsite that he felt like a fraud. Sadness washed over Marvin as he recalled when he walked by the office only to pause at the door when he heard Chase say that. He hadn't wanted to intrude at the moment so he had walked away. Sometimes he wished he had spoken up though. Did Chase know how much the others appreciated everything he did? Surely he knew...

The door to Chase's room was firmly closed so Marvin rapped on the door.

Knock knock

"Chase? It's Marvin. I need to talk to you. Can I come in?"

Silence answered him.

"Chase?" That tiny warning returned this time accompanied by a curl of concern settling in his chest.

Knock knock knock

"Chase?? I'm coming in!"

Marvin twisted the knob and pushed the door open, stopping when the door hit something. Peaking his head inside he sighed.

"Oh Chase."

The father was laying on the floor, blankets pooled around him, an empty whiskey bottle barely peaking out from under the bed. Sorrow tugged at the magician. Life had been so hard on Chase lately. He put on such a brave face but Marvin knew even without the empty alcohol bottle that it was just a mask. 

He slipped in the room and knelt down next to Chase, placing a hand on the father's shoulder. "Chase. Wake up, dude."

Marvin frowned when he didn't get a response. Chase must have drank more than he thought. Usually Chase would at least grumble in his sleep.

The magician gently shook Chase's shoulder, "C'mon sleeping beauty, up and at 'em."

That curl of concern turned into a stab of fear as Chase remained unresponsive. 

"Chase c'mon this isn't funny brother. I need you to wake up now." Marvin shook him harder.

Something was wrong. He didn't know what but Marvin knew something was very wrong. He turned Chase over and placed shaking fingers on the father's pulse point. Relief washed through him when he felt the tha thump of a heartbeat, only for fear to grip him again when he realized it was way too slow.

"Chase! Please Chase! Wake up!" Marvin cried, pulling him up into his arms, shaking him as hard as he dared.

"Marvin? Vhat ever is the matter?" Henrik's voice broke through the magician's fear.

Marvin whipped his head around, "Henrik help me! I can't wake him!"

Henrik's eyes widened and rushed forward to kneel next to them, "Vhat happened?!" He quickly took Chase's limp form away from Marvin.

"I don't know! I went to tell him Jack was awake and I found him like this!" A faint breeze started whistling through the room as the fear in Marvin grew.

The good doctor looked over Chase before looking at Marvin with a serious look though Marvin could see the fear in the doc's eyes, "Marvin I need you to levitate Chase to the office. He needs to be in a bed, preferably near my supplies."

Marvin quickly nodded, already pulling on his magic before Henrik had even finished speaking. As fast as they dared move, the two took Chase down to the office where the others had gathered in the doorway. Their eyes widened in shock when they saw what was happening.

"Everyone move! Out of zhe way!" Henrik yelled, causing the others to jump to the side.

"What happened?!" Jack cried, being the first to recover.

"I do not know and you should still be in bed!" Henrik growled as he hurried past to the 2nd hospital bed, gesturing for Marvin to place Chase there.

"Did he...? Is it the alcohol?" Anti asked, glitching next to the bed to get a look at Chase himself.

"Alcohol?" Jack looked around in confusion.

Nobody said anything for a moment. Chase's alcohol problem wasn't something talked about often but everyone had noticed. They hadn't really thought about the fact that Jack wouldn't know about it, having been in a coma before it all started.

"Chase...has been under a lot of stress lately. He...he didn't always deal with it in a healthy manner." Jackie finally spoke up.

Jack's face reflected the sorrow they all felt. The egos had all tried to help Chase in various ways. Unfortunately he had simply gotten better at hiding his pain. And it all led to this.

During this discussion Henrik had been working hard on Chase, only to suddenly stop as he looked over the readings of one of his machines.

"What is it?" Marvin hesitantly asked.

Henrik shook his head, a confused frown on his lips, "Zhis...doesn't make any sense."

"What doesn't, doc?" Jackie asked, fear evident in his voice.

Anti looked over Henrik's shoulder, his brow also furrowing in confusion, "He...didn't drink that much."

"What?"

Henrik nodded in conformation, "He is correct. Zhe blood alcohol content iz not nearly high enough to explain Chase's condition. Then why...?"

He looked up at everyone, his serious expression sending more fear through Marvin, "I'm going to have to ask everyone to leave. Except Marvin. I will need your help. And Jack will stay on zhe bed."

The other egos started to protest only for Henrik to yell over them, "No arguments! I need silence to work out vhat's wrong! Now please, leave. I vill report to you all when I figure out vhat's wrong."

Reluctantly the others left, looking back before the door closes behind them. 

Henrik has returned to work by the time the door has clicked shut, paying little attention to Jack and Marvin hovering behind him.

Long minutes pass in silence before Henrik whirls around to face them, "Marvin I need you to cast your diagnostic magic on him. I need to know if my findings are correct. Jack please sit on zhe bed. I must examine you again."

Jack and Marvin exchanged looks before doing as the doctor asked. Coming to stand by Chase, Marvin pulled at his magic. The twinkling warmth of healing magic running through his veins had become familiar to him over the years. Ever since Jack had fallen into a coma Marvin had used it every day, trying to help speed up Jack's recovery.  Though the last time he had used it on Chase...

Marvin shuddered, the memory of Chase on the floor, a halo of blood pooling under his head, overwhelming his senses. That had been a dark time for them all. Nightmares of the day haunted Marvin still, and he was sure it haunted the others as well. 

Shoving the memory away, Marvin let his magic wash over Chase. Starting at the heart, the magician let each pump of blood help push the magic to every part of Chase's body, the veins glowing as the magic passed through them. The longer the magic flowed though the more confused Marvin became.

"Uh...Henrik..."

Slowly, almost hesitating, Henrik turned to face him.

"His scar...his temple scar tissue...its gone." Marvin looked up to Henrik, his alarm obvious to all who looked at him. "But...there's old scar tissue on his neck..."

The doctor scrubbed a hand over his face, "I was afraid of zhat..."

Jack and Marvin looked at him confused. Henrik sighed and motioned the magician over, "Jack, may Marvin cast zhe same magic on you?"

Jack nodded and Marvin pulled at his magic again. Several moments passed in silence as Marvin's magic worked through Jack's body. When finished, Marvin's jaw fell open.

"Wha...how is Chase's old scar tissue now on Jack??"

Shoulders slumped, Henrik gave him a helpless look, "As our resident magician I vas hoping you would know. Zhis is nothing natural thus outside my are of expertise."

Jack's hand crept up to his temple as he looked between the two, "Wait...if I have Chase's...if I have his scar...then the neck scar..."

"It's the scar tissue from Anti's attack on you, yes." Henrik finished.

"And he also has all the muscle atrophy that you should have from being in a coma for so long." Marvin added softly.

A quiet gasp came from Jack as he realized what had happened. Somehow all of his injuries past and present had become Chase's including his comatose state.

"But...how?" 

Marvin sighed, "I don't know but I will find out." The magician looked over at Chase again before walking towards the door. Henrik followed after him, "And I have some egos I promised an explanation to." He fixed a stern glare on Jack, "You stay here and rest."

"I've been sleeping for months!" Jack protested.

"A coma is not zhe same as actually sleeping! You better be in zhat bed when I get back."

Jack shrank under the doctor's stare and pulled the blanket on his bed up to his chin. Henrik gave a brief nod in satisfaction before leaving the room. Marvin hesitated a moment before turning back to Jack, his heart breaking at Jack's own heartbroken look as Jack looked over Chase's still form.

"Marvin." Jack said softly.

The magician jumped slightly. He didn't realize Jack knew he was still there, "Yea?"

The broken shards of his heart cut deep into Marvin as Jack turned to him with tear filled eyes, "Bring him back. Please."

Swallowing hard, Marvin nodded, "I will. I promise."

Jack turned back to Chase and after a moment of silence Marvin left the room, determined to fulfill his promise and bring their brother back to them.

[vore-scientist]

In Which Sophia Makes Some New Friends

A tale of the Mystic Woods

(read the other stories/comics here, and all posts related to Mystic Woods can be found here)

THIS IS A DIRECT SEQUEL TO THIS STORY

Content warnings: No actual vore in this story, sorry! But discussion of both safe and fatal (I tried to make it humorous/light hearted, it makes sense). Also GT cuddles at the end ;) 

---

Sophia paced around Yonah’s desk. After the unfortunate encounter with the meddlesome prince, Yonah had wandered off to get a healing potion. That was fine, while she waited she admired all the little things on the desk, and the books in languages that she had only begun to learn to read, but that someday she would be fluent in.

“Yonah?” came a voice. “Hey Yonah, you there?”

It was a man’s voice, and it was near. Sophia froze and looked around. The mirror, the small mirror on Yonah’s desk! She ran to it, and saw in it the face of what could only be another wizard.

The man had a red and black mustache, kind green eyes, a big floppy wizard’s hat, and beautiful yellow and blue wizard’s robes, which were accented with silver and black. His hands were behind his back and he was looking around expectantly, until he saw Sophia, and he startled, but recovered fast.

“Sayyyyyyy! You’re not Yonah!” said the man, smiling with suspicion, “Who are you?”

“I’m, I’m Princess Sophia of the Kingdom of Orr!” she declared without thinking. Then a terrible thought struck her, what if this man in the mirror was an evil wizard. Those existed! A continent to the west had an entire Society of Wizards who were always up to some evil.

“A princess...” then the man grinned like an idiot, “WAIT A PRINCESS? No shit!”

His face turned away and he shouted at someone out of view, “SHOSH! HEY SHOSH! YONAH WENT AND KIDNAPPED A PRINCESS!”

“HE DID WHAT! YOU BETTER NOT BE FUCKING WITH ME MICA!”

“IM SERIOUS COME TO THE MIRROR!”

A moment later a woman, also wearing a wizard’s hat appeared next to Mica and gasped. “oh dear gods that’s a princess alright!” Except for her ruby red lipstick, she had no makeup on, but she had numerous facial piercings. She had wild brown hair and large oval spectacles that made her green-brown eyes appear buggy.

Sophia fidgeted with her gown, she wasn’t some spectacle to be gawked at by whoever these people were. She wished she wasn’t in a blood spattered nightgown. She wished that Yonah was here.

“And who,” said Sophia, as sweet as she could, “are you?”

“Oh how terribly rude of us!” said Mica, still smiling, “I’m Mica, Mica Cohen! And this is Shoshana Jaffe, we’re friends of Yonah and we were hoping to talk to him,”

Sophia was stunned “Yonah has friends!?”

Mica and Shoshana burst out laughing.

“Yes dear girl, he has friends,” said Shoshana, “you can’t stay sane in a prison without them.”

“I’ve been here for two months! How have I not heard of you?” Sophia was planning to chew Yonah out about this when he felt better. What else was he hiding. Probably a lot, wizards liked their secrets... But why would he hide friends from her! How many more friends did he have?

“You mean you’re serious. Yonah hasn’t mentioned us?” Shoshana looked genuinely hurt.

“No! until now I thought he was a sad lonely man!”

The wizards laughed again.

“Well he’s not sad” said Shoshana, “angry more like, but not anymore than your average firewitch.”

“Nor is he really a man, kinda, half a man,” said Mica, thoughtfully.

“Lonely, well now, we wish we could visit more often, he is kinda stuck in one place.”

/Yeah, you can thank my dad for that/ thought Sophia. But thought it was better not to mention Yonah’s semi-house arrest sentence was handed down by her father.

“But now you’re there! This is so wonderful!” said Shoshana with glee, before turning serious, “unless, you’re lying and you’re a giant slayer, disguised as a princess.”

“What?”

“Whose blood are you currently wearing?” she narrowed her eyes.

What an odd way to phrase that, “it’s, well it’s Yonah’s but”

Shoshana raised an eyebrow, something about her presence, even through a mirror grew dark and threatening. Mica remained bright, if scared.

“Um, well you see, there was an incident this morning, with a prince, and…”

She told them what happened. They were a good audience, gasping and cheering at all the right places, and they didn’t interrupt her. Until she got to the part where Yonah ate the prince. They both looked a little green.

“He, ate the prince?” Mica’s voice shook. He and Shoshana exchanged worried looks.

Uh oh. Guess Yonah’s friends didn’t know. Too late now.

“Y-yes, but he spit him out! He ran off after that.” They relaxed, a bit, but continued to look at her suspiciously.

“And then you called” Sophia ended lamely, “that’s it!”

“And the blood?” Shoshana hadn’t noticed that Sophia failed to explain it.

In reality Sophia just forgot.

“Yonah’s… insides got roughed up by the prince’s armor and I ended up in the line of fire when he coughed”

She looked up from her gown to see the two wizard staring past her. Shoshana grinned wickedly.

“Ah, Yonah, Sophia here has been telling us all about your adventure from not moments ago!”

/“SHE WHAT!”/ cried Yonah. Except, as the words made it to his lips a stabbing pain in his throat stopped him, closing his airways as he coughed himself catatonic. So instead he just sat down and stared at the mirror through a slightly teary haze.

“Yonah, this young woman says that you’re a man-eating giant now! Can you lend credence to this? Has our Yonah truly become the monster that the professors said he would? Yonah, eater of men, kidnapper of princesses!” the sarcasm heavy in Shoshana’s voice.

No. no no no no no. no NO. This was not happening. This day was so crappy to begin with.

“He’s not denying it, so it must be true!” Mica said, matter a factly.

This wasn’t at all how he expected this to go down. He had kept his instances of “man-eating” hidden from his friends, sure that they would never speak to him again if they found out that he’d ever eaten a human.

But… they weren’t mad.

Didn’t matter. Getting teased about it was almost worse. He rubbed the moisture from his eyes.

“It’s not like you go around hunting humans” said Mica before getting serious “and it’s not like you were keeping this hidden while in school. You weren’t, right? You didn’t eat anyone at school? Was tasting us not enough?”

For the first time, Mica and Shoshana looked genuinely worried. Maybe they HAD been wrong about Yonah.

“No, No. I-I didnt eat anyone.” said Yonah, his voice high and quiet, he looked scared, “typically, giants only eat those who break into their houses, to steal or to kill” he recited. They’d heard the line before.

And regardless, the school was never his home, Of course he wasn’t ever interested in eating his fellow students. Tasting them was another matter, plenty of them smelled incredible. His friends did and still do occasionally allow him a taste, just to tease him.

Up until Sophia he wouldn’t have even dared to eat them! It was too dangerous. A thief he could risk swallowing and spitting back up before they died. Standard procedure to shock and punish them. And a Slayer’s life was forfeit. When they failed and escaped they usually returned and one way or another someone would end up dead.

“What about professors? I feel like some of them deserve to be eaten” Mica continued, all previous concern now gone, he was back to antagonizing.

“N-no, I just said that-“ but apparently Mica wasn’t listening and Yonah’s interjections fell upon uncaring ears.

“Like Professor Thuorbir! What a prick.” said Mica.

“I think he was also a giant slayer!” said Shoshana, her voice containing energy that Mica’s didn’t even come close to, “you should totally eat him, he’s still an asshole. Fucker rejected my research proposal for a third time!”

Gods this was not happening. Yonah put his now burning face into his hands.

“I’m not gonna eat Mr.Thuorbir,” Yonah managed to say through is stupor. Though he silently agreed that the man certainly deserved it, regardless of giant slaying. His head was buzzing.

Mica looked at Shoshana incredulously

“Shosh, that was because your proposal was to research a spell that would have turned the entire Mystic Woods PINK, down to the littlest ant! None of the professors would have approved that” he said before turning to Sophia. “The one before that, she wanted to propose researching a spell that would give the caster dominion over all bees. All of them. Knowing full well that attempting godhood is ILLEGAL.”

Sophia giggled and tried to imagine her father’s kingdom becoming a uniform shade of pink. Oh dear. Maybe she should tell her father, in case Shoshana actually attempted it.

“Well, just because they don’t want an army of bees” said Shoshana, nose in the air, arms crossed. “And it wasn’t a proposal to actually do it, just to design a spell that could.”

“I hate you both, you know that,” said Yonah.

“We know you mean love!” said Shoshana.

“Anyways, it can’t have really happened,” said Shoshana. “Not the way you said it did at the very least.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Yonah.

Mica looked at her in shock, he had clearly believed the story. This wouldn’t be the first time Shoshana had gone along with a ridiculous farce just for the drama of it, but as far as he knew, Yonah hadn’t spoken to Shoshana that recently, not without him present. And Yonah’s pain was real, his embarrassment was real.

Shoshana sighed and rubbed at her glasses.

“You don’t believe-“ Sophia started to say

“Oh I believe he’s eaten people. Comes with the territory at this point. But you’re” she eyed Yonah, “You’re kind of, too small to swallow a person whole, right? You’d have to, oh I don’t know, rip into them with your teeth like they were a prime rib.”

/Ugh, what a great image, thanks Shosh/ thought Yonah.

“It’s not really worth trying to claim the prince survived for our benefit. If eating people was a dealbreaker we wouldn’t be friends with dragons or ogres or that Sphinx that guards the gates to the tunnels of-“

“Yonah did swallow the prince whole!” Sophia wasn’t about to let the wizards think she had lied, “And yes, he’s killed a few assholes that way but he let the prince live! And thieves too! He eats them all the time but always lets them go!” She was almost shouting now, “And! And Yonah swallows me all the time! And if you haven’t noticed, I’m in one piece.”

All eyes were on her and everyone was silent, no one moved or blinked, but Yonah’s face became scarlet. Sophia played with her dress in her hands, and looked up at Yonah.

“Um, was I not supposed to tell them that?” she squeaked out.

“Yonah HaEsh, how could you!?” Shoshana yelled, no longer playful, “eat a princess!? You could kill her! She’s not a knight or a giant slayer! What on earth were you thinking? So we need to rescue her from you?”

Yonah’s embarrassment had turned to anger as his hair started to smoke and the roots glowed orange. He was breathing sharp breaths, seething with anger, until one got caught sending him into a into another coughing fit and onto the floor. Sophia took the opportunity to rectify her mistake.

But there was no need. Shoshana has gone white.

“Oh dear, I think I overdid it!”

“You think? Now Yonah thinks we hate him! Next time don’t seem so serious,” Mica chided her. Shoshana muttered something about wasting her skills and addressed Sophia again.

“But seriously, how!” she said, “How does he physically manage to swallow a person whole? And you said he eats you all the time! How the fuck has he managed to avoid fucking up and killing you or the thieves!” color had returned to her face. No longer bothered by Yonah’s plight, even though she had caused it. Mica shot her a death glare.

“Oh like you weren’t thinking the same thing!”

Mica sighed. “I was but I have the manners not to voice it. We could have called back tomorrow. But it’s too late now.”

They both looked at Sophia expectantly.

“Oh um, well, the thieves he just spits up real quick but myself... Yonah, enchanted me, so that he can’t hurt me” Sophia explained everything as Yonah wheezed in the background, still on the floor, but no longer in danger of coughing up a lung.

Shoshana’s eyes sparkled with greed. Mica was deep in thought.

“Wait are you sure this was an enchantment, because it sounds like curse.” Mica finally said.

“Well,” said Sophia, “the difference is a matter of perspective isn’t it.”

Which was true. One could see gems falling from ones mouth when one talked as a blessing, until everyone in the kingdom wanted you as their piggy bank and your voice was hoarse from being made to talk non stop and the economy is ruined by your gem contributions. Then it’s a curse. Becoming a glass statue would be a curse, but that’s not how it worked.

“That must have been an expensive procedure,” said Mica.

“It was, but he got the money from my dad,” Sophia made the last few words harsh and final. She was still bitter that her dad had instructed and funded Yonah to traumatize her into running back home. Jokes on him, it hadn’t worked and Yonah was her friend now! Showed him!

“He managed to only cast half a curse! He could publish with a trick like that” she said thoughtfully, but with a touch of envy.

“There would be a problem with rational,” Mica pointed out, “he would have to invent a fake reason! He can’t say he did it so he could eat one specific person and not worry about them dying!”

Shoshana nodded and laughed.

“To answer your other question, I don't know how he does it, because you’re right, by all means he shouldn’t. But even he doesn’t know.” Sophia said, the wizards were disappointed. Sophia tried to brighten their mood by suggesting they investigate it. They considered this with great pleasure.

“I’m just unable to picture it,” She was talking to Sophia again. “I-“ she shuddered with wicked glee as she had a new thought. “ Yes, I’d like to see it for myself. I don’t suppose, since it was your idea to research this, that you would be willing to give us a demonstration?”

That surprised both Sophia and Mica, but Mica’s grin said that he liked that idea.

Now it was Sophia’s turn to go red. Sophia rubbed her back of her head. Let someone watch? Having just seen Yonah eat the prince, she wasn’t sure if she wanted Yonah’s friends to see it. Even if they had joked about him giving into his more monstrous heritage. Sophia had seen it. That side of him did exist. But it had been her idea. She regretted planting the idea in their stupid wizard brains.

“I’ll, consider it, but Yonah’s in no condition right now.”

“Oh of course not dear! Just call us or something, there’s not rush,” Shoshana winked, “especially if it’s a regular occurrence, plenty of opportunities to observe.”

Yes, Sophia was realizing that about the thieves as well. She wondered how regular they were too, and if she could get involved in thief catching. 

Shaking badly, Yonah got up from the floor, pulling himself up to his stool. His face was very red, and his eyes glistened, tears steaming up his face.

Sophia turned to him “They’re over it, I explained it, you can stop being such a big baby and extinguish yourself”

Yonah glared at her but his head stopped smoldering and his eyes were back to brown.

“I think,” he wheezed, “I think I need to lie down, let the healing drought actually take effect.”

“Yonah darling you do look awful, we’ll get out of your hair, but don’t think we are done talking about this! Next time I expect a demonstration!” said Shoshana “goodbye Princess Sophia it was an absolute pleasure meeting your highness!” and before Mica could say a word she waved a hand in front of the mirror, turning it back to a normally mirror.

“Thank you Mirror” Sophia said, placing a hand on the golden edge. It made a small hum of acknowledgement.

“Come on let’s get you to bed,” Sophia looked up at the disheveled and gaunt wizard who picked her up and held her close to his chest as he walked back to his room. The sun had been up for an only hour yet the day felt like it was already over. He needed a nap.

He released Sophia onto the night stand, took off his hat, did not take off his slightly blood stained night robe, and collapsed face forward on the bed, breathing heavily.

Sophia sighed and climbed down the nightstand and using the still loose bed sheets, climbed onto the bed and onto Yonah. He didn’t protest, or make any sign that he knew she was there, but he had to know.

“Hey, you did good today, and your friends still love you, and I’m still your friend. I don’t think you made friends with that prince but he seemed like a dick so who cares.”

A painful chuckle shook from beneath her as Yonah rolled onto his back, Sophia scrambling to keep up with the rotation. Sitting on his chest as he stared up at the ceiling with his eyes closed. he brought his hand up to pet Sophia gently. His hand was warm and rough, and Sophia leaned into it, tickling his palm.

She fell asleep like that, Yonah’s warm hand of a weighted blanket.

Yonah had one last panicked thought before sleep took him.

/Had Shosh said DEMONSTRATION?/

[Thanks for reading! please reblog!]

[bazypitchandsimonsnow]

The Black Swan

Chapter 9

Rating: T

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word count: 7268

Chapter: 9/17 (All chapters)

Summary: Baz and Simon deal with the aftermath of the festival. And Simon makes a shocking discovery.

Read on AO3

AN: This chapter is a bit weird but bare with me, alright? Hope you guys like it!

———————————————

Simon tried to write it down himself, to pay attention, but his mind wandered as always. He despised his governance studies, and the private lessons with David were particularly tortuous. So his quill kept drifting to the margins of his parchment. His doodles started off as random lines, but quickly they formed the vague shape of a mouth. A thin mouth, with shiny teeth and a secret smile, who’s possible taste Simon was still thinking about days later.

“Simon!” David barked, making the prince jolt so hard his knees banged sourly against the desk. “Pay attention! This is your future we’re learning about.”

Simon sunk into his chair, fidgeting with his feathered quill. “I know, Father.”

“How do you expect to be a king if you won’t even learn diplomacy?”

I never asked to be king, Simon wanted to yell. But he knew yelling at his adoptive father got him nowhere. So he simply shrugged. David shook his head.

“Look,” the king sighed, “I know diplomacy isn’t as exciting as magic or sword fighting. But it’s necessary for when you take the throne. You need to know how to rule strongly, so you can handle Watford when I’m gone.”

“But you’re not going anywhere anytime soon. I don’t have to worry, right?”

David shook his head even more. He walked up and put his hands on Simon’s desk, looming over his heir like a very perturbed statue. “Don’t be naive, Simon. There are enemies everywhere for a king. I could be killed after I walk out of this room! You have to be ready for my death at all times, or you will be caught off guard and Watford will be left without a strong ruler, as well as someone to carry on my legacy. You’ll have to tell the same to your’s and Lady Wellbelove’s children. Every king has to.”

“Great pep talk, Davy,” Simon murmured.

“What was that?” David glared even harder.

Simon sank further into his chair. “Nothing, Father. I’ll pay attention now.”

“You should have been paying attention from the start, but very well.” He went back to the board. He tapped his wand under “STRENGTH” once more “This is the most important trait when negotiating. Strength is what everyone respects universally, no matter what you say.”

Simon underlined “strength” three times on the parchment. He listened and listened, and tried to figure out how much of it he actually believed. David was a good king. He must know what he was talking about. But it didn’t sit well with Simon, not all of it. Being strong, a wall, listening to no one and barreling through. It had worked for him. Simon thought it was better to be cautious and ask others, but David didn’t. But...

“Don’t try to be like David, Si. Be like you.”

Simon didn’t know what he wanted to be like. All he knew was that he really didn’t want to be here right now. He wanted to be back at the festival, eating sweets, dancing his heart out, kissing a strange boy before the sun came up.

“Now, you better start packing, we’ll be off first tomorrow morning.”

Simon’s head bolted up. “Wait what? Are we going somewhere?”

David sighed and shook his head. “Yes, Simon. We’re going to the west. There have rumblings of rebellion from the region, but an appearance by the king and crown prince will put those to rest. I already told you about this.”

“N-No you didn’t!”

“Yes,” he growled. “I did. You probably just weren’t paying attention.”

Simon curled in on himself, picking at his nails. “I-I guess. How long are we going to be there?”

“As long as we have to be. What, do you have somewhere else you need to be?”

The way David asked the question suggested there was only one answer, no matter what the truth was. Simon let his head fall, staring at his lap and shaking hands. “No, Father.”

David made an approving sound. “Good. Make sure you’re well packed and ready to ride. You’re dismissed for today.”

Simon stood up and nodded. “Thank you, Father.”

He walked out of the room with his head still down. He kept walking through the halls, trying to keep his composure. And the second he was in his room, Simon grabbed his sword and started battling the air. Simon channeled all his fury into every slash and stab into nothing. He did that until his arm was sore, then let it fall. The tip of his sword made the tiniest clink on the stone floor. It was loud in the room, save for Simon’s harsh breathing.

Simon didn’t want to go to the west. He didn’t want to not see Baz for ages. Just the thought of it made his heart ache. But he was going to have to go. And he’d have to tell Baz. That made the ache even worse.

———————————————

“Hey.”

Simon turned around. Baz was already standing there, hands behind his back, small smile tugging at his lips. Those lips that Simon hadn’t stopped thinking about for days. His stomach fluttered. He couldn’t help but smile himself.

“Hey,” he said. “How are you?”

“Better.” He tapped his bruise, which had faded to a much smaller purple stain. “This thing is almost gone, thankfully.”

“That’s good. Glad to hear it.”

Baz nodded then quickly looked at the ground, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear. Simon gulped, because he was very sure Baz’s cheeks were red. It was still hard to see the colour on him, sure, but it was almost certainly there. Simon didn’t know what to do. Grab his hand? Tell him about his trip? Kiss him to make up for what they missed out on? But it wasn’t that night anymore. The high was gone. Simon was nervous beyond belief. He had no idea what to do. And from the look on Baz’s face, neither did he.

Maybe the only thing to do was to do what was normal.

He dropped his bag and quickly scooped up a long stick. “Wanna duel? I’m feeling confident about winning tonight.”

Baz’s brow furrowed for a moment. But when Simon poked Baz’s chest, the other boy sighed, picked up his own stick, and crossed their swords. “Very well. As long as you’re prepared to lose.”

Simon grinned, and made the first jab. Baz parried him with practiced ease. They fell into their usual rhythm. Slashing, blocking, giving ground then snatching it back. But right now, the steps reminded Simon far too much of their dancing. His mind kept going back to the last time they moved liked this, spinning and flying across the ground like it was as natural as breathing. When Baz’s arm was tight around his waist, when they had been so close and so happy. Simon wanted all that again, not sparring. So his slashes were weak, he barely blocked, and he gave far more ground than usual.

It took him a few minutes, but Simon realised Baz wasn’t trying that hard either. The other’s boys sword work was just as lackluster. Neither of them wanted this. So Simon lowered his sword, and Baz quickly followed. They stared at each other. It was clear both were unsure what to do.

“So,” Baz said slowly. “Want to talk?”

Simon nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

They both tossed their sticks to the side. Instead of walking to the lake, Baz walked to his cottage. Simon followed behind. They sat down with backs against the wall. And Simon couldn’t help but notice how closer they were. One wrong (or right) move, and he’d be holding Baz’s hand again. He wouldn’t mind though. He wouldn’t mind one bit.

“How are you?” Simon asked. It was a simple question on the surface, but so much bubbled under the surface. They hadn’t talked since the festival. Simon had no idea how Baz felt after what happened after they dashed through the woods, after their almost kiss.

Baz seemed to know the meaning. He took in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “I’m alright. It was a bit scary, I won’t lie. But I’m okay now.”

Simon wasn’t fully convinced. He shuffled a minuscule amount closer, cautiously brushing his fingers over the back of Baz’s hand. Baz barley reacted, except with maybe some more colour in his cheeks. “Are you sure? You can tell me.”

Baz sighed again. “I really am, Simon, don’t worry. Even if it had a rough end, I had a really fun night. Thank you for it.”

Simon’s pulse fluttered. He felt so proud and so unsure how to cope with it. He wasn’t used to being thanked. “Y-You’re welcome then, I guess. I’m glad you had fun, I did too.”

“We should, um,” Baz looked away, obviously embarrassed, “maybe...do something like that again soon. I think you’re right, I do need to get out of here more. Maybe we can go explore without the excuse of the festival.”

Simon’s eyes went wide. His mind was racing, thinking of all the things him and Baz could do together outside of this lake. Go town late at night, climb a hill, just run as fast as their feet could take them. It was exhilarating. But...there was David....

“Y-yeah,” he replied. “That’d be great. But...” Baz’s face fell. Simon’s heart broke instantly. He put his other hand over Baz’s squeezing firmly. “No, no no, I’m not saying no. I want to go and do that, most definitely. But it just might not be for a bit.” Baz’s brow furrowed. “My guardian, he’s taking me on a trip out west. So I’m going to be gone for awhile.”

Baz’s face fell again, but in a different way. Not heartbroken, just plain old sad. He was sad that Simon wouldn’t be around. It made something both soar and shatter in Simon all at once. He didn’t want Baz to feel anything bad, but a small part of him was strangely happy that Baz could be sad over him. Baz looked down at their hands, then flipped his over, fingers curling around one of Simon’s.

“When do you leave?” he asked softly.

Simon swallowed, staring at their hands. “Tomorrow morning.”

Baz’s shoulders slumped. “And how long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know. My guardian won’t say. At least a week, probably longer.”

“I see.”

Baz’s voice was even, but his hand was so tight. He couldn’t hide his feelings from Simon at this point. And it made Simon feel horrible. So he reached behind himself and grabbed his bag. He rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out what he had brought from his room before he snuck out.

“Here,” he said. “to keep you company while I’m gone.”

It was a large book with a red leather cover. It was an analysis of the interaction between societal norms and economic policies by Natasha Grimm-Pitch. Simon wanted to doze off every time he looked at it. But he knew Baz would love it. And he was right, considering how Baz’s mouth fell open and his eyes went very wide. He balanced the book on his knees, tracing the gold letters.

“This is incredible,” Baz whispered. “Where did you find this?”

“My friend gave it to me awhile ago. I hate reading stuff like it, but I thought you’d appreciate it more than me.”

Baz chuckled, the sound low and amused. “You assumed correctly. I’ll enjoy it greatly.” He looked at Simon again, smile crinkling the corners of his eyes, cheeks certainly red. “Thank you, Simon.”

Simon grinned back. His heart fluttered again. By all the Gods, he wanted to kiss that beautiful smile on Baz’s face. He could feel his face heating up at just the thought of it. But he was leaving. He didn’t want to kiss Baz then leave him alone for possibly weeks. Baz deserved better than that.

“You’re welcome, Baz,” he said. He was the one who shifted their hands this time, weaving their fingers together. Baz clutched him tight. “You won’t have to read it for long though. I’ll be back. I promise, Baz, I’ll come back.”

Baz didn’t stop smiling, but his eyes were more than just happy. They were kind, understanding. There was so much contained in the deep sea galaxy of his gaze. And Simon never wanted to look away.

“I’m not worried,” he said quietly. “I know you’ll come back, Simon.”

Simon’s mouth became dry. His heartbeat was thundering in his ears. He tried to memorised the gorgeous look on Baz’s face. That image in his mind would be the only thing to help him get him through the upcoming tortuous journey.

“And I always will,” he replied.

That was a promise he didn’t plan on breaking.

———————————————

The trip itself wasn’t too bad. It only took a day and a half with a stay at lower lord’s house overnight. Simon rode in his own carriage and slept most of the way. It was nice to not have David nagging him the entire time. He’d almost call it peaceful, if his dreams weren’t filled with his recurring nightmares and the occasional flash of Baz’s face.

But once they reached the edge of Canterbury, the capital of the western province, everything got so much worse. David made Simon ride next to him on horse. Simon hated horseback riding. Saddles were uncomfortable, horses didn’t listen to him, and it was all made so much worse by his itchy prince clothes.

“Why do I have to wear this?” Simon asked, voice dangerously close to a whine. “They’re not good for riding.”

“Because we need to make an impression, Simon,” David said with his nose in the air. “We need to remind them that we are their sovereign rulers, and disobedience won’t be tolerated.”

Something about made Simon flinch. He remembered the matron’s words. Listen to me, Simon, she would yell, and do what I say. Simon thought those kind of strict orders went away when you grew up. But maybe the orders just started to come from someone higher up and further away. That was kind of what a king was supposed to do. Simon didn’t want to do that. He didn’t even want to be a hero right now. He just wanted to see Baz again. Yet here he was, wearing his embroidered green tunic and golden circlet, and absolutely loathing every minute of it.

The royal procession walked through the main thoroughfare. Simon had to work very hard to keep his horse in line. He did his best to wave politely to the crowd anyway, while David did the same and kept his stern composure. The streets were reasonably filled with people, but there was no cheering. They merely clapped politely. And when Simon looked at their gaunt faces, none of them were smiling. Most of them were blank, void of any emotion, and a few even looked angry. What disturbed Simon the most was that some of their expressions reminded him of Baz. So many had a distant sadness sitting in their eyes. Simon’s heart felt tight.

They arrived at the manor, where they were greeted by Lord and Lady Stainton and their daughter Philippa. Philippa went to school with Simon and roomed with Agatha. They weren’t super close but they spoke a few times. Simon always suspected she had affection for him. He was nervous to see her again. But when he dismounted and stood in front of her, Philippa was nothing but courteous. She followed her parents, curtsying and bowing her head low.

“Welcome to Canterbury, your majesty and your highness,” Lord Stainton said. “We are honoured to have you in our home.”

“As you should,” David replied curtly.

Lord Stainton seemed a bit thrown off by that response. He cleared his throat and straightened even more. “Of course. We’ll have the servants bring your bags to your quarters. Would you like to see the most recent reports?”

“Of course. Simon, come along.”

Simon followed a distance behind the actual adults. Philippa was beside him, hands linked in front of her skirt politely. He leaned a closer to her.

“It’s good to see you too, Lady Stainton,” he whispered. “How are you?”

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, your highness,” she replied. “I’m well. Thank you for asking.”

Simon wanted to ask more, ask her what she’s been doing since school. But they entered the conference room, and David gave Simon a look that said, “come here now.” Simon scurried forward to stand at his father’s side. They took the head seats that were supposed to be for the Lord and Lady. But the King always got the best seat no matter where he was. Lord Stainton took a moment to look down at Simon sitting in his seat, then spread out a large map on the oak conference table. It showed the western province with a few red marks.

“There have been problems here, here, and here,” Lord Stainton said. He kept speaking of uprisings, of who the leaders were, how they were handling it. Simon listened as best as he could. The biggest thing he noticed was that Lord Stainton never mentioned the reason for these uprisings.

“I see,” David said thoughtfully, stroking his mustache. “We’ll go to these towns and you’ll voice your support for me. I’ll speak well enough to quash these rebellions. Prince Simon will stay here to keep a presence in the capital. Understood?”

“Understood, your majesty,” Lord and Lady Stainton said simultaneously. Simon had to hold back a groan. So they came all this way so Simon could sit around in a different annoyingly large building, one far enough away that he couldn’t sneak out to see Baz or Penny. If there was a Hell, Simon was sure he was living in it.

“Good. The Crown Prince and I shall rest before dinner.”

“Of course,” Lord Stainton said. “Rest well, your majesty.”

“We will.” He stood up and beckoned with his hand. “Come, Simon.”

Simon nodded and stood. “T-Thank you for the rooms, Lord and Lady Stainton,” he said as confidently as he could.

The three nobles smiled kind and bowed their heads. “You’re welcome, your highness” Lady Stainton said weirdly cautiously.

Simon smiled back. But as they walked away to their quarters, Simon felt David’s hand grab the back of his jacket. Simon yelped and choked slightly. He looked up at David. The king glared at him with unmasked fury.

“Do not speak out of turn,” he growled. "Understood?"

Simon gulped. His palms were suddenly sweaty. He nodded. “Y-Y-Yes, sir.”

David let go. His mask returned. “Good. Go to your quarters.”

“Yes, Father.”

Simon took the smaller room while David entered the larger one. Simon breathed a sigh of relief the second the door was closed. David didn’t hit him, sure, but he never had to. He was intimidating enough without leaving a mark.

Simon’s brass trunk sat in the middle of the room with his rucksack on top. He wished he knew which servants brought it up. The trunk was very heavy, he wanted to at least thank them, maybe even give them a few coins. He’d try to find them later. First of all, he opened up his travel bag, and pulled out his leather bound sketch book. Simon flopped down on the large page as he flipped through the pages, and he soon landed on his destination. He stared at his latest sketch of Baz for far too long. He hovered over the drawing, tracing the drawing’s features with a hovering finger. His dark wavy hair, his pretty eyes, his barely there smile. Simon missed Baz like he would miss the sun if it went out. And he’d definitely be counting the days until he saw him again.

———————————————

The Canterbury Manor wasn’t that bad, really. It wasn’t as big as Watford Castle, but it was still sizable, and everyone was nice. Lady Stainton was a good host. She made pleasant conversation with Simon at meals, despite her obvious discomfort with him. Simon was used to it. She didn’t look down on him with contempt like her husband, but obviously didn’t know exactly how to act around the common born prince, especially when David wasn’t around. Philippa was nice too, but she had private tutoring that took most of her time as well. He tried to talk to servants, but they were all too intimidated by his presence to hold any sort of conversation.

So Simon spent his days mostly alone, switching between wandering, sketching, and practicing his sword work at the training ground. He tried to work on some new things to show Baz when he got back. But his heart wasn’t in it. His heart felt far away, left behind in Watford, in that hidden lake. It was a foreign feeling for Simon, and no matter how much it hurt, he didn’t want it to go away. He wanted anything that reminded him of Baz.

He was practicing a new blocking technique when the door opened and he stopped. His eyes met Philippa’s, and she jolted back.

“Oh, hello, your highness,” she said nervously. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were here. I’ll go-”

“No!” Simon called out. Philippa turned back around, looking very shocked. “Uh, you don’t have to go. It’s your grounds, and you’re here to practice, right?”

It was a fair assumption. Philippa was wearing a loose tunic and trousers, something uncommon for women in Watford, unfortunately. (Penny was constantly railing against that.) Philippa looked down, hands clasped in front of her. “Yes, but you may have the ground, your highness.”

Simon sighed. He sheathed his sword and stepped towards her, though still a respectable distance away. “Philippa, look up,” he said. She raised her eyes but not her head. “You don’t have to do that. King David isn’t here, no one is. You won’t get in trouble. We’ve known each other for years. You were Agatha’s bloody roommate. We didn’t talk a lot, sure, but I saw you all the time. You don’t have to treat me like I’m someone super important.”

“But,” she said with genuine confusion, “you’re the crown prince.”

Simon shrugged, rubbing his upper arm. “I prefer just Simon, honestly.”

Philippa finally raised her head. She looked incredibly nervous. Simon grinned as brightly as he could, and Philippa’s body visibly relaxed as she smiled back. And Simon felt a lot better.

“So what do you practice with?” Simon asked.

“Uh, longsword mostly,” she replied. “I started back at Mage’s School and I enjoyed it.”

Simon’s brow furrowed. “I thought girls weren’t supposed to learn swords at School.” (Another thing Penny railed against a lot.)

“We’re not, but I started learning from some of my male friends in secret in sixth year. I’ve tried to keep up the work ever since.”

“That’s pretty awesome.”

Philippa smiled more. “Thanks.” She shuffled her feet, rubbing a hand on her neck. “Y’know I...I heard you were really good at swords. An arrogant part of me always wanted to, um, see how good you were.”

Simon shrugged. “Well, I don’t think I’m that good. But we can duel, if you want.”

Philippa’s eyes went very wide. Her mouth fell open. “Really?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m always looking for new competition.”

Philippa chuckled. “I don’t know about that, but if you’re offering I’ll go for it.” She walked over to the armory rack and snatched two wooden practice swords. “Let’s use wood though. I don’t want to accidentally stab the heir to the throne.”

Simon laughed as he tossed his sheath off. “Yeah, that’s probably smart.”

He held out his hand. Philippa hesitated for a second, then tossed the sword to him like an old sparring partner. He caught it and walked to the centre of the ring. Philippa followed, swinging her sword back and forth with all the confidence of a pro. They faced each other equidistant apart. Simon got into his fighting stance, both hands on his hilt, feet lining up with his rolled back shoulders. Philippa did something similar.

“I hope you don’t go easy on me,” she said. “I like a challenge.”

Simon smirked, like how Baz did before their matches. “Don’t worry. So do I.”

They nodded once, and then they began.

Simon striked first, a downward slash, which Philippa blocked easily. He tried again, she blocked again. But she didn’t give ground. She held firm and Simon couldn’t move her. Philippa finally struck. She swung to the side. It wasn’t that strong, and Simon blocked, but the odd angle she used forced him to step back, foot digging into the sawdust. Philippa took the advantage, pushing forward. Simon was impressed. He quickly noticed her fighting style. What she lacked in strength she made up for in speed and technique. She was quick, precise, technical. She was a lot like Baz even though she wasn’t as as strong. And Simon knew how to fight Baz.

He pushed back at Philippa with a sizable amount of force, making her stumble. Simon didn’t give her a chance to think. He kept striking, throwing her off the rhythm, pushing forward until she had to give ground. Her strikes became frantic, technique abandoned. One of her swings faltered badly, and Simon took the opportunity. He stuck his sword underneath her’s, spun around, and sent her wooden blade flying out of the ring like the world’s strangest bird. Simon didn’t point his sword at her. It felt too bragging. Philippa was out of breath, but looked strangely pleased.

“Well,” she chuckled, “I can see now why people said you were good.”

Simon chuckled as well, planting the sword in the ground. “Thanks. You’re amazing too.”

She smiled brightly, a bit of flush on her cheeks. Simon inhaled sharply. She reminded him of Baz the night before he left. He liked seeing that on Baz, but not on Philippa. He got nervous seeing it on Philippa.

“So, uh, do you just like swords or do you plan to fight a war?” Simon said jokingly, trying to alleviate the mood. But Philippa’s suddenly became very serious, her body and mouth a thin straight line. She walked out of the ring to pick up her sword. Simon followed behind her. Philippa put away the sword almost angrily, rattling all the other weapons.

“Um,” Simon said slowly, “did I say something bad? I’m sorry. I’m still bad at speaking.”

Philippa sighed. “Your hi- Simon, how much do you know about King David’s policies?”

Simon shuffled his feet. “N-Not as much as I probably should.”

“Anything about the west?”

“Not that I can remember.”

Philippa nodded thoughtfully. She turned around, arms crossed, eyes downcast. “Ever since King David took power, the taxes have gone up. It was fine at first. My family could pay them, we had enough. Eventually though, he stopped wanting money and started asking for some of our grain, which was also fine at first. But then he kept wanting more and more. And now our people have barely anything to eat. My father keeps asking him to lower the amount at the council meetings he attends, but the king keeps insisting we have enough to give away. That it's time for the lords to pay their dues, no matter how much my father tries to dispute him.” She took a deep breath and lifted her head. Her eyes were filled with determination. “So...I suppose I want to know sword fighting to protect my people when I’m Lady of Canterbury. Like I’m supposed to.”

It was Simon’s turn to be surprised. He remembered Philippa just as Agatha’s sweet, shy roommate. But either he hadn’t been paying enough attention at school or she’d changed a lot in the last year. He was thoroughly impressed by her. And thoroughly disgusted by what David was doing.

“That’s horrible,” he growled. “I-I had no idea! I thought he was just going after the really rich lords, not the common people! Gods, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault, Simon,” Philippa sighed.

“Yeah, it kinda is.” He sat down in the middle of the ring, a cloud of sawdust bursting up around him. “I should know more about Watford policy. But I don’t, because I don’t like it. And look where that’s got you and all of the West. So, I’m sorry. I’m a shit prince and I’ll be an even shittier king. You and your people deserve better.”

Philippa didn’t say anything. Simon stared at his own feet. He heard rather than saw Philippa sit next to him, sawdust blowing up in a little “puff” noise. “Would you do something like what he’s doing here?”

“Never,” Simon said automatically. “Never, absolutely not.”

“Then you’re already a better king than David.”

Simon lifted his head. Philippa was looking at him kindly. He smiled back, but still shrugged. “Thanks. The problem is I’m not sure I’d know how to do something different though. Fuck not sure I even want to be king.”

“Well, guess you don’t have much choice in that matter.”

“Guess so.” He flopped backwards on the itchy training ground floor. “Kinghood is a long way away though. I can sword fight until then.”

Philippa snorted. “Then I’ll have to challenge you again sometime.”

“I’d certainly like that.”

She flopped with him. Together stay stared at the high vaulted ceiling with its intricate lattices of stone. Philippa’s head lolled to the side. “So what else do you like to do instead of the prince stuff?”

Meet up with a snarky cursed boy who I have the inexplicable urge to snog, he wanted to say, but obviously couldn’t. Baz was his beautiful secret. Luckily there were other, smaller things in his life. “Well, sword work obviously, good food, and drawing.” He turned to look at her. “What do you like?”

Philippa made a contemplative noise. “Hm, sword work too, dresses, and, well, you’re going to think this is childish, but I love storybooks.”

Simon bolted up, a big grin across his face. “Really? Me too! I love old storybooks!”

Philippa gasped and grinned like a child with candy, sitting up as well. “Oh, amazing! Finally, someone to appreciate the collection with!”

“Collection? What collection?”

Philippa looked incredibly pleased. She jumped to her feet with impressive ease then offered her hand. Simon took it, and she hoisted him to his feet too with only a little struggle. “Just you wait, Prince Simon, your britches are going to be blown off.”

Simon had little time to question that statement before she was dragging him down the grand hall. They raced across the floors, sharply turning corners and narrowly avoiding running into things and servants alike, until they reached a set of giant double doors. Philippa let go of his hand, and pushed them wide open.

“Welcome,” she announced grandly, “to the Canterbury Library.”

Simon thought the royal library was impressive, but this was something else. The shelves were at least three times as high, nearly reaching the ceiling. Each as filled to the brim with books and scrolls of every kind. If Penny or Baz came in here, neither would go outside ever again, Simon thought. Even he could appreciate the majesty of it.

“Wow,” he whispered.

“Impressive right?” Philippa said. “Ever since the first royal palace burned down, this has been the biggest collection of books in all of Watford. My father says that’s one of the reasons King David wants to make sure we won't have rebellions. We’ve got some of the older historical and magical texts here that were lost in the fire that he occasionally needs, for negotiations and spells and such. But those are boring. Let me show you the good stuff.”

Philippa started walking to to her left. Simon trailed behind like a lost puppy. Which he certainly felt like in here. Philippa turned a corner, took another five steps, then stopped. Simon nearly ran into her, barely stopping in his tracks.

“This,” Philippa announced, “is the best part.” These shelves are lined with slimmer volumes with many coloured covers. Philippa pulled a red one off and held it out to Simon. He took it, tracing over the letters. “The Dragon Prince.”  It was one he was familiar with, one he read back in the orphanage. But unlike the orphanage, this copy was pristine. There wasn’t a single scratch or tear, the letters were shining silver, and a Canterbury Cross was indented on the corner. A sign that this book belonged in this incredible place.

“It’s beautiful,” Simon said. “All of these are fairy tales?”

“These five shelves, yeah. I’ve read them all a lot.”

“Lucky. I would be here all the time.”

Philippa traced over the spines with genuine affection. “Well, you can look at as many as you while you’re here.”

Simon grinned all the way to his ears. “Thank you. I’ll definitely take you up on it.”

“Go wild. I’m happy to have someone else who can appreciate this.”

Simon took that to heart. He scanned over, pulling any title that looked interesting. Ones he knew, ones he’d never seen before. “The Red and White Queen”, “Mermaids of the Crystal Cave”, “A Beauty and Her Monster”-

Simon stopped. He stopped moving, thinking, breathing, anything. Time had frozen in place as his fingers touched the spine of a blue bound book. He read the the silver words on it over and over.

The book read, “Swan Lake.”

Simon cautiously took it. The cover had the title again, along with a silhouette of a swan floating on water. Simon took a deep but shaky breath. What was this? Could it be...?

“Simon?” Philippa asked. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” he replied, shaking the haze from his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just, uh, really amazed by your books. Um, I-I’m going to go start them right now, actually. Thank you!”

“Um, you’re welcome!” Philippa called after him as he ran away.

Simon ran and didn’t stop until he got to his room, slamming the door shut immediately. He felt like he had some sort of dastardly secret. Did he? Was this even important or just some scary coincidence? It didn’t hurt to look.

Simon placed the stack of books on his bedside table and held onto Swan Lake. He stared at it for far too long, caught in excitement and nerves. Slowly, he opened to the first page.

———————————————

Once upon time in a faraway land, there lived a prince named Siegfried.

Siegfried lived a loud and carefree life. He went to parties and drank far too much ale, never caring for anyone. But on his 18th birthday, his mother told him he must choose a bride at the ball the next evening. Siegfried was forlorn over the loss of his freedom, so his friend suggested they go hunting to lift his spirits.

They went deep, deep, deep into the woods with their crossbows. Siegfried looked up to the sky, and saw a flock of swans overhead. The pair followed the swans into the darker parts of the forest. Siegfried quickly lost his friend among the trees as he followed the flock.

Soon, he came upon a crystal clear lake. The swans landed upon the water. Just as the sun set on the horizon, every bird turned into a beautiful woman dressed in white. One also wore a golden crown upon her golden hair. Siegfried was instantly enchanted by her. He emerged from his hiding spot. They were all initially scared, but Siegfried assured them that he meant no harm.

The crowned one told Siegfried that her name was Odette. She and her companions were all cursed by an evil wizard named Rothbart. They were forced to be swans during the day and only became human at night when they were landed upon the lake.

Siegfried was heartbroken at her woe. He asked if there was anyway to end this horrific curse. The only way to break the curse was more tragic than the curse itself. Someone who had never loved before had to declare their love for Odette to the world.

Siegfried almost asked to know more, but suddenly a man with yellow eyes like an owl stepped out from the shadows. It was Rothbart! Siegfried raised his bow to strike the evil wizard through his heart, but Odette stopped him. She told him that if he killed Rothbart before the curse was broken, it would be permanent. Siegfried lowered his bow and could only watch as Rothbart went by.

Odette returned to her ladies. They danced together in a circle around the water. Siegfried was dazzled beyond reason. He tried to approach them, but all the ladies were scared of his weapon. He snapped the crossbow in half, then approached Odette. He offered his hand and waited for Odette to take it. She was shy and scared at first, but Siegfried offered all of himself, and she decided to trust him. They danced the entire night together. Their feet spun and flew over the ground. Their eyes never left each other. And in the course of that night, Siegfried and Odette fell in love. But soon the sun was rising once more. Odette and her ladies became swans once more. Siegfried called to the swan in the golden crown that there would be a ball at his palace tomorrow, then he left with his broken bow in tow.

That night at the ball, Siegfried patiently waited for Odette. Other princesses tried to entice him with their wiles but he had no eyes for them. Soon, Odette walked through the doorway with an escort, dressed all in black. Siegfried’s heart soared. He asked her to dance like they did the night before. She accepted. They flew across the floor for the second time. It was enchanting and perfect. Once their dance was done, Siegfried called for the guest’s attention. He announced to them all that he loved this woman undyingly, and he would marry her. They cheered for the newly betrothed.

But when Siegfried turned to his love, he suddenly realised that she wasn’t Odette at all. Her appearance had completely changed. A loud laugh rattled out from the crowd. Odette’s escort transformed. It was Rothbart again! He told Siegfried that he had just announced that he intended to marry not Odette, but Rothbart’s daughter Odiele, magically enchanted to look like Odette. To make it worse, Rothbart showed him a vision. Odette had been watching through the window, begging for Siegfried’s attention. But he hadn’t seen her. She was now crying and running away. Siegfried was shocked and furious. He left the ball and ran to the lake.

Odette arrived at the lake. Her maidens tried to comfort her but she was heartbroken beyond repair. Siegfried arrived soon. He apologised and begged for his love’s forgiveness. Odette forgave him, but he had already declared his love for another. He could no longer break her curse. Odette decided she’d rather die than live as a swan. Siegfried didn’t want to live without her, so he decided to go with her. Hand in hand, they both fell into the lake, and they stayed until the water filled their lungs.

Little did Siegfried and Odette know, their sacrifice ended the curse on the maidens. The newly freed and grateful women watched as the lovers’ souls ascended to the heavens, together forever more.

The end.

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Simon slowly closed the book. He took a deep, shaky breath, eyes squeezed shut. The story was poorly plotted and depressing as all fuck, but that was wildly unimportant. A swan during the day, human at night, only able to turn back while on a lake. All were far too familiar to be a coincidence. Did the cloaked man take the curse from the story? Simon didn’t know if that was even possible. All he knew was that this was near identical to Baz’s story.

Except, this version had something else, something he’d been trying to find for months; a way to break the curse, a way for Baz to finally be free. But was his curse the exact same as Odette’s? Could Simon break it the way Siegfried was supposed to? Simon blushed at the very idea of it. Was that what Simon felt? He had no clue what “undying love” was supposed to feel like. But he knew he’d do anything for Baz, there was no question about that.

No matter what though, the second he got home, Simon was going to show this book to Baz.

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Simon was strangely sad to leave Canterbury a week later. He shook hands with Philippa in public, but took a private moment to hug her. He thanked her for the company and the books she was graciously letting him borrow, and promised to write when he got home. She promised to write back. Simon wanted to thank her for Swan Lake in particular, but she might ask why. Simon couldn’t explain that in the short time they had. Maybe he would tell her when this was all over, when Baz was free.

The trip back was the same length, but it somehow felt ages longer. Simon was jittery beyond belief. He couldn’t sit still for more than two minutes. He read and reread Swan Lake twenty times, so that he could recite it to Baz off by heart. Baz would find that impressive. But eventually that became too much as well. He read other books, napped a bit, and before he knew it, they were back on the edges of Watford Town. Simon breathed a sigh of relief. Tonight, he’d finally be able to see Baz again.

But then the carriage stopped.

Simon lurched forward then back, knocking his head on the seat. He rubbed the sore spot with a pout. Why did he keep getting head injuries? His brains were going to rattle loose and dribble out of his ears soon.

“Ow,” he groaned.

The door was violently ripped open, making Simon jolt. David stood with a stern expression.

“Get up, Simon,” he said. “We’re doing a procession, like when we arrived in Canterbury.”

Simon sat ramrod straight. “W-What? Why?”

David narrowed his eyes. “Because the capital should receive their ruler and heir with appropriate fanfare. So we will make sure it happens.”

Simon took a deep breath in place of a groan or shouting at David’s stupid face. “Yes, Father,” he gritted out.

“Good. Put on your crown.”

Simon snorted and grabbed his circlet. They walked to their horses, and Simon reluctantly got on. He was going to hate this even more than Canterbury and he knew it.

Watford Town as a bit more excited than Canterbury as they rode through. People looked generally pleased and happy. Or at least they were better at hiding their displeasure than Canterbury. They clapped and cheered and grinned. Simon waved politely, trying to ignore his desperate desire to run away into the Forbidden Lands. His eyes just swept over the crowd with passive disinterest. He scanned for Penny’s hair or one of his other old classmates. He noted the house, the fruit stands, the pond.

Simon’s breath stopped. His hand froze in the air. Sitting on the pond was a black swan, wearing a silver chain. And one of it’s deep sea grey eye met Simon’s dead on.

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AN: Well, Simon knows a way to break the curse, but whoops, Baz knows the truth. I won't spoil, but next chapter is where the angst really comes in. Also tbh I didn't plan on Philippa being this much of a character, but I needed a character with a last name and Philippa came up. She doesn't have a lot of personality beyond crushing on Simon in the book so she's almost an OC lol. I enjoyed writing this. Baz and Simon are so crushing and so awkward haha. It was hard to balance between the two but I liked doing it.

Next chapter will be next Monday baring any complications. And I'm posting the last request fic in the next few weeks. I'm really excited to post it and containing my excitement is really hard lol. I'll just say is that it's connected to one of my previous popular fics :) See you guys soon!