#i also like to think he has his little moons and stars on his gown as hanging things on his hat

[roubee]

Gonna sob this took me so long

[cometrose]

Since you were talking about your thoughts on Zhongli and Azhdaha, how about your thoughts on Zhongli and Guizhong? (Please never stop yapping about Zhongli)

For Zhongli and Guizhong I always kind of imagined them as platonic soulmates. I felt like they were people who complemented each other in every way.

First they have matching hairpins! Then Guizhong has a bubbly, lively and sunny disposition while Zhongli is calm and mellow. However, Guizhong has a cold color scheme, with stars in her sleeves, grays, whites, and deep blue while Zhongli is the opposite with browns, black and gold in his outfits. Guizhong is the moon to Zhongli's sun and their personalities are inverses (you can tell i love sun moon symbolism).

Guizhong is short with billowing sleeves, Zhongli is tall with a slim sleek gown, Guizhong was an inventor the "brains" of the operation while Zhongli was the fighter, and the "brawns" of the team. Guizhong is the one getting into fights while Zhongli has to break them up. Guizhong is always smiling with lots of emotion while Zhongli is straight-faced and impassive.

Considering that it is apparently rare for two distinct gods to have the same dominion I imagine the two of them complemented each other very nicely despite their differences.

Fun fact, in Yujing Terrace you can see glaze lilies and silk flowers. Glaze lily obviously are for Guizhong but silk flowers are used to represented Rex Lapis, so I thought it was kind of cute that you can find these two flowers in the middle of Liyue Harbor.

I envisioned that Zhongli was a lot more stoic and contract-focused when they met, he had very much closed his heart off to others. I don't think it was a full on "beauty and the beast" dynamic but she opened his heart up a not necessarily to care about humanity (because i am positive morax already did) but to make him understand humans on a fundamental level as well as chip away at that stone mask he was always wearing. I believe Guizhong was someone who could share his physical and emotional burden of protecting and ruling a nation of people.

That said it kind of frustrates me when people act like Zhongli and Guizhong didn't care about each other. Like maybe not on this platform but on twitter especially when it comes to shipping, people are like "zhongli and guizhong were just acquaintances" that doesn't make any sense she gave him puzzle with all of her knowledge and wisdom and told him to have at it.

Plus like I mentioned earlier, according to Soraya (the scholar at Wangshu Inn) it was super uncommon for deities to rule together, plus it is very obvious that Morax was stronger than Guizhong so he easily could've bested her so why on earth would they work together if they weren't friends. Then like Guoba (who could forget Guoba) the god of the stove was also there too and Zhongli is like 'that's my old friend' like if Zhongli was close with Marchosius why wouldn't he be close with Guizhong.

Then it is heavily implied that Guizhong died in his arms and he heard her final words before sealing her away like they were definitely close. Zhongli clearly doesn't like talking about his past unless forced. Or the fact that Zhongli repaired the Guizhong Ballista perfectly, he knows exactly what glaze lily bloomed on your birthday or that they love sweet songs. Not to mention Zhongli's burst meteor is the exact same as Memory of Dust. Or what about Cloud Retainer's abode where there are three seats for "Cloud Retainer, Guizhong and Rex".

Fun fact, Shenhe has a voiceline for Zhongli. "Master once said: "If you see him drinking on a stone stool in front of my abode, do not disturb him. Let him sit quietly for a while." And that's precisely what I did." So it's a little sad but sweet that Zhongli will return that table and just sit with his thoughts, but regardless it definetly means he cherishes the memories of the three of them together.

Back to the point why on earth wouldn't they care about each other there is a whole region named after their messed up names "GuiLi" like what are we doing!

It is mentioned somewhere in the archaic petra lore (i think the feather) that Morax wore a stone mask during the archon war. To protect the people of the Liyue he did not allow himself to show emotion but when the dust settled her was finally able to put the mask down. The way I interpreted this passage was after Guizhong died the entire nation was at war, like Morax took all of their people, left Guili plains, moved south, founded Liyue, and then fought till the war ended. Even the other adepti imply there was no time to grieve for her because the war was that brutal. It is only when the war ended, that Morax was not only able to put done that mask but also able to grieve his friend properly.

There are many theories around Guizhong like whether Jade Cutter was meant as a gift her, or whether she had connections to Celestia but my favorite Guizhong/Zhongli theory has to be that Morax killed her. LIKE LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN

First, Morax was the only person who was there when she died he heard her final words after all. Next, Soraya says that it would've been incredibly difficult to take down a nation governed by two gods, like what god would've been able to kill Guizhong with Morax and the rest of the adepti right beside her? Then, none of the adepti really know what happened that day, Ping and Cloud Retainer imply that when they got there it was already too late, Rex Lapis had likely turned her to stone while the Yakshas sealed her away.

Soooo maybe I am just giddy for angst but imagine Guizhong getting corrupted or eroding away and Morax had to kill her to protect their people.

The story has shown many times that Zhongli would do anything for the people of Liyue even turn his back on the people he loved. It would not be out of character for him to kill her should she ever pose a threat. Then remember Memory of Dust (MoD), the puzzle containing all of Gui's knowledge? Her last words to him were along the lines of "forget about that old stone dumbbell would you". This obviously could be her telling him to move on, forget her, and continue protecting their people.

OR it could also mean that the knowledge within the dumbbell was corrupted or damaged somehow. Because there are quite a few theories about how the lady of dust perished, it could've been a foreign god it could've been Celestia but if Guizhong had forbidden knowledge, not only would killing her prevent the knowledge from spreading and essentially destroying their entire civilization but by telling Morax to forget about MoD she could protect him from getting corrupted as well.

So like long story short, my favorite theory is that Zhongli had to kill Guizhong to protect their people whether by corruption or maybe even erosion which is why the full truth of her death is a mystery. It could explain how a nation ruled by two gods fell, and maybe even suggest a reason why he is not so keen to talk about her and why he was never able to open MoD.

Then again MoD could be locked for a number of reason, like Zhongli wants to move forward with his life and unlocking MoD would be like getting stuck in the past or he was truly unable to open it as he may never match her intellect. I imagine that when Guizhong died Morax had to assume her roles and began to embody her in many ways but there are still things she was still better than him at even to this day.

Not to mention that it was said that Guizhong died in a fierce battle "black dust choked the heavens and a thousand rocks splintered" so given the usage of rocks, Morax was undoubtedly involved so maybe it was a battle in which Morax and Guizhong were isolated from the rest of the assembly and he could not protect her from whatever killed her. Not matter what happened I still get angst!

I think the issue with the genshin fandom is that they don't value balance. Its either that Guizhong was everything to Zhongli and Liyue was nothing without her or she was nothing to him and only for Ping which are two crazy extremes like omg calm down. Zhongli was not heartless before meeting her but she was also very important to him and affected him. Like come on y'all READ!!!

Nevertheless I think Zhongli and Guizhong were perfect complements, whether romantic or platonic. I think together they covered each others weaknesses yet still managed to bring the best out of each other.

I really wish I could get to see them interact or just a flashback or a memory will do I promise!

[starlost97]

— a night to remember.

summary: It's your fourth year in Hogwarts, and Fred Weasley has asked you to go to the Yule Ball with him. He swore to transform it into the prom you couldn't have, and he kept his promise.

tags: fluff, fourth year, yule ball, hogwarts, f!reader.

characters: Fred Weasley, Luna Lovegood (mentioned).

warnings: reader is a muggleborn, reader is a ravenclaw, reader wears a dress.

a/n: tooth rooting fluff! also yes I purposely used the darcy-holding-elizabeth's-hand-for-the-first-time™️ pic, sue me.

word count: 1,076.

requested?: no!

< also posted on archive of our own >

You didn’t have any expectations for the Yule Ball. It was your first, and Luna, one of your only friends, was too young to attend. So you were trapped with the fourth-years.

Your plans were to stay back at Ravenclaw’s common room with Luna and watch some muggle Christmas movies, but Fred Weasley for sure didn’t think of that when he surprised you in the middle of the night with enchanted white roses — your favorite.

You still vividly remember seeing him down on one knee, holding your hand, kissing it, and asking you to “prome”, which was an unsuccessful attempt to say “prom”, a muggle event you dreamt of going to but lost hope after your first year in Hogwarts.

You ended up playing a little, acting like you were hesitant to accept his proposal — which made him extremely nervous —, but said yes. 

The shiny eyes, rosy cheeks and beautiful smile that covered his face after that was your assurance that you made the right choice. 

You made sure to try to match the beauty in his happiness when choosing your dress. And you did get very close.

Your dress was blue and silver, to match your house. It was long, and if you didn’t wear high heels you would probably trip over the fabric. The off-shoulder cleavage showed your collarbone and also brought attention to your necklace, which had a moon pendant on it that matched the silver constellations on the gown skirt perfectly.

As you went down the steps, your eyes immediately searched for Fred. Only to find him running to the end of the stairs and offering you his hand, which you happily took.

His eyes traveled through your curves — that you never knew could mesmerize someone so much. He seemed to attempt to memorize every inch of your body, which was something he always did, but you were too oblivious to notice.

You looked up at him as you stepped out of the stairs. He was so much taller than you. The — almost — thirty centimeters difference caused you to be the height of his chest, which you couldn’t really complain about. His hugs were great because of it.

“You really are the brightest star in here, darling.” Fred murmured in your ear, grabbing you by the waist and pulling you closer. You could feel his breath hitting your neck, which caused you goosebumps.

“I believe I’m not the only one who is grabbing attention, Weasley.” You said as you caught the glimpse of some Gryffindor fourth-years looking at you two. 

“They are just jealous I have all of you to myself tonight.” You giggled, now looking at his eyes. Your lips could feel the heat of his, even without making contact.

“Not yet.” You said, putting your pointer finger against his lips and gently pushing his head away.

“Yet?” He smiled, biting his lower lip. “Can I hold on to this promise?”

“What do you think?” You answered, making him giggle. You grab his hand, pulling him to the middle of the ballroom. His eyes never left you since he first saw you tonight.

“I didn’t know you were a dancer, darling.” Fred said as you put your free hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m not. But I couldn’t lose the opportunity to dance with such a pretty boy like you.” Fred smiled and laughed, not knowing how to respond. 

You felt like every single smile he gave you was too precious. The way that the simplest of things could make him giggle like a kid was special, and you felt honored to be one of the lucky people that can hear his genuine laugh.

Suddenly, you hear the music changing, and you recognized almost immediately Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”.

Fred pulled you closer, making you feel the heat of his body. One of his hands was on your waist, and the other one was holding your hand. You felt his grip tightening, causing a wave of shivers to go down your spine. 

“Such a possessive wizard.” You said, making Fred smile.

“If you knew the value of what is in my hand right now, you also would be very scared to lose it.” His words made you melt. You never really met the feeling of being perceived as precious.

“I can guarantee you that you won’t lose it.” You murmured. Fred's eyes were shimmering as he looked at you. 

“Darling, so it goes. Some things are meant to be.” He said, singing to the song, not once taking his eyes off you.

“Take my hand. Take my whole life too.”

“For I can’t help…”

“Falling in love…”

“With you.” You both said, smiling at each other.

When the music ended, you two still held each other for a moment, until Fred appeared to remember something.

“Come with me, my love.” Fred said, pulling you outside.

You followed Fred to the back of the castle. You could see two chairs and a little lamp beneath the starry night, and your heart melted.

“Do you like it?” Fred asked, excited to finally show you the little place he prepared for the both of you.

“Of course I do. It’s beautiful…” You sat in one of the chairs, admiring the sky.

“Wait until you see what I have prepared for you.” Fred said, grabbing your wand and commanding something.

All of sudden, you saw bright dots flying to the sky, only to explode in something that you thought would be fireworks. But you were wrong.

The dots multiplied and became colorful, and all of sudden you were seeing very realistic northern lights.

“I heard you saying to Luna that you missed seeing these, so I brought them here for you.” Fred said, with a proud smile. “Is it any good?”

“It’s perfect.” You said, looking at him.

You grabbed his neck, pulling him closer to you and smashing your lips against his. He immediately held you, kissing you passionately. You felt the "butterflies in the stomach" that you always heard about, and for the first time in your life, you were a hundred percent sure about something.

And that was Fred Weasley.

“Love…” Fred started saying, as soon as the kiss ended. “Would you do me the honor of making me your boyfriend?”

You smiled. You were at a loss for words, so you just kissed him again.

“Yes.” You said, transforming your first Yule Ball to be a night worth remembering.

[fecto-forgo]

I would like you to info dump about the kirby gijinkas 👀

AVA I LOVE YOU UM UM SO!!!

kirby:just kid stuff like rain boots, hair accessories n overalls, they also have two designs-one for older games n one for newer games!! n a scrapped off old one cuz it looked too fancy </3 also the bag is angel themed bc i thought thatd just look cute ngl

bandana dee:as i said on another post i got inspired by smash dedede having a shirt that rly looks like the beginning of a yukata or a kimono!! also he doesnt have a mouth, design on the right was an early concept lol (by "isn't allowed" on the sheet i mean im not sure if having it over the haori could straight be an insulting mistake or if its just something most people would not think of doing bc why would you) i bullshitted an eye design but my best friend rly liked them so i never changed them lol

marx: i literally finished his final design yesterday.even tho nothing changed i just gave him elf ears bc he looks silly w them lol.anyways its just a jester design tbh? since his hat has two differing patterns i thought itd be neat to add both the sun and the moon from his little villain plan to his outfit (i miss his fluffy hat balls a little though </3) also he has no arms tho his wings can work as them sometimes.bc im a firm believer in always having characters who lack limbs in their original design either not have them or have a fun replacement

elfilin:theyre themed around a more cutesy aesthetic for angels n space! contrasting forgo and elfilis more dark theme of those, also w an inspiration of retro futurism! and yes their outfit is completely stupid and overly complicated thats part of the charm <3 theyre like a scene kid to me.also a little star bc all of kirbys friends get one.fun fact they had 4 beta designs bc nothing looked good

fecto forgo:(sorry for bad pic i need to redo its entire reference sheet) just an hospital gown w medical tomes that werent removed from them (my best friend gave me that idea n what to add lol), i think theyre best described as a blob of weird elfilis slime that can take a humanesque form rather than a human form that can blob, theyre constantly melting n all its veins are visible, theyre v cold to touch n in the tube their body flows in a way that gives them cherub imagery similar to what was intended w canon forgo, also its legs are useless, theyre very weak and unstable and not naturally formed (also since i picture the elfilis split as some uh.physical form?? of disassociative trauma random trivia when they front post game elfilins eyes get replaced w theirs, just for the aesthetic)(credits to my bestie for coming up w that interpretation lol)

shadow kirby:they get two designs like kirby, both inspired off theirs but just like.emo lol.dont ask why their hair started doing that its whatever reason they became purple in canon.they have overalls beneath that coat btw

and miscellaneous designs i havent given a final sheet to yet!! taranza and dark taranza r based off more fantasy victorian (? medieval???) clothing, susie is holographic bc i didnt want to give her gray shading n her limbs r all floaty (i imagine shes always making some weird electric noise due to that), gooey is just like cute tbh? their cape is based off their mock matter form, chuchus hair is based off the shape the octopus species she apparently is has, i dont have any notable commentary for drawcia or claycia (was that her name) other than drawcia is like a paint blob.also claycias supposed to be way chubbier but i underestimated how huge her coat would look.gotta fix that

thats all the ones i have!! GOD it feels good to finally share them lol

[lune-de-miel-au-paradis]

OC Nina Cerasus deep dive part 2.

Meet my OC from my Star-crossed story. (She is a young woman living in her early twenties on Naboo. The time period is before the Phantom Menace.) I already made a short list about her. This is a little more deeper and collected. I hope you enjoy knowing her and like her as much as I do. Sorry for any mistype or bad English this is not my first language. I made a mood board about how I imagine her, the pictures are from Pinterest.

have they / would they dye their hair? she is a natural dark chocolate brunette, maybe she would add some colorful highlights 

do they maintain eye contact when talking? definitely

what is their tell for lying? a small movement, she picks her right pinky finger.

do they have an accent? she speaks in Nabooan dialect, also, she has a raspy seductive voice. People often ask her if she has a sore throat. Sometimes she sounds out of breath because of her illness. 

what languages do they speak? basic, binari (droid), kenari, 

what kind of music do they listen to? alternative/ acoustic/classic piano, also I think she would like Lana del Rey, Hozier and Mitski

describe them in one word. What could happen to make them the opposite? Abandoned. / Stay by.

do they have any ghosts? yes, her mom died, her dad left, and Maul broke her heart 

what is their worst fear? left alone, die alone, being forgotten

what is a secret they do not tell anyone? she has a few:

That her relationship was with Maul (in my Star-crossed fic)  

She was there when her mom died. 

She was the one who unveiled her fathers frauds and thefts and sent him to jail. It's her revenge. 

what motto do they live by? Ad astra per aspera. - Through hardships to the stars.

if they were a famous figure, who would they be? she was inspired by many characters from movies or books, also from my own life, but if I have to say some concrete examples it would be Amal Clooney's and Dakota Johnson's dressing style, a lot of inpo comes from Ellie Saab and Zuhair Murad gowns. And Sofia Bush's voice.

Also she got her name from my highscool bff called Nina. (She passed away a few years ago sadly due to a car accident.) So it's like a memorial thing to name my oc of her. A few of her personality traits, her freckles and silly moments also given to my character that remind me of my friend. And the green eyes my oc has is coming from me.

personality: the constant fear of being abandoned, having trust issues and the feeling of never being good enough. And she is trying to be the best version of herself by working hard and passionately. She fears to show out her real emotions or build connections, especially romantic ones. 

what great moment shaped them to be who they are? Have they lived through the moment yet? 

discovering her heart disease

when her mom got sick her dad left them and made his own family

Maul choose revenge over her and left in the Phantom Menace, she thinks he just left and used her, she never knew he was the sith assassin till my Heavenbound fic

her grandma’s first accident, then her hospital rest time

Wolffe’s love changed her, healed her and made her trust him and believe in love

what is their fatal flaw? fear of abandonment and trust issues makes her make bad decisions

how do they feel about jewelry? painted nails? she likes celestial themed or rare, personalized dainty jewelry

she gets her nails done soft almond shapes, and always decorated with stars and moons and use sparkly nail polish

what kind of art are they? astrophile as a hobby, art deco as a style, romanticism as paintings and mythological in sculptures and a femme fatale archetype in movies/novels

do they play a sport? weekly pilates lessons and dancing in clubs

do they have a speech impairment? how would that translate across paper? she is well spoken, and intelligent. Also her voice is raspy but in a seductive way.

what could you do to betray their trust? lying 

what makes them smile? acts of kindness and gentleness, paying attention to her little things, also the starry sky, and her loved ones

if you had to choose something to make them go all john wick, who would it be? to protect her loved ones

do they swear? in what language? yes in basic mostly

how comfortable do they feel around strangers? she tries to seem calm and collected being in charge of the conversation, but she usually assesses and judges their gestures and researches their back intentions

are they extraverted or introverted? introverted 

do they stand straight? what is their posture like? straight and hard like a ballerina's posture

what is their sleep schedule like? when she has time after work on mini power naps on rare occasions, she’s more insomniac workaholic

would they consciously invade someone else's body space? even a stranger's? always holds a decent distance, except when she flirts

how do they feel about contact with other people? do they flinch? she doesn’t like touchy people and only hugs her loved ones

are they the first to hug? never (exception if when she hugs Maul)

what would make them kill / stop them from killing? her morals, she wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose and she avoids physical harm

how do they smile? do they have dimples? yes she has smaller dimples, and in her apples and on her chin, and it makes her diastema visible

what about their teeth -- braces? sharp teeth? dentures? yellow teeth? what about spots? hers are white and straight but she has diastema (a big space between her two front teeth)

how do they get others' attention? clear their throat? punch them? clears her throat,

do they talk with their hands? sometimes

what is their final goal? building her home, having a family and feeling safe

how would they describe happiness? being with the people she can trust and love, under the bright starry night admiring the comets

what is their biggest conflict? it doesn't need to be big for everyone else, only for them. 

she needs to learn to let others in and be open for love

it’s hard for her to understand that Wolffe is loves her and doesn’t have the intention to leave her

also letting go Maul, she never knew who he truly was and her ideal about him got shattered in my Heavenbound fic, she had a hard time learning the truth letting her feelings go and having a closure, after she meets him on Mandalore

how do they react to death? seel super sad, and isolate herself 

do they cry? how do they cry ? in silent tears, or sobbing and screaming in pain, but she is not a crybaby. she suppresses it and have “episodes” of panic attacks she refers to as“inner storms”

how do they react when someone else is crying? can they comfort a stranger? she tries to give some sort of solution or comfort, she is empathetic

how are they around pets? are they allergic to any? she is allergic to tooka cats, she loves wolves 

following up, do they have allergies? to some pollens, and tooka cats

do they take off their shoes going into a stranger's house? would they offer to do the dishes? she offers to help cleaning up

do they call strangers by their first name or title? she is a professional lawyer so she calls people on their title/ titled name or accost

how do they show fear? trying to hide it? shaking? etc. she tries to hide it and acting calm and collected, try to show out her fearlessness, her voice is tremble and she shake's lightly

what is their impact on other characters? she usually gives the impression of a beautiful, clever, well spoken intelligent women who is very elusive and cunning

how could any of these change by the end of the story? we can see her softened up and warm hearted true self in the end of Heavenbound, she heals her traumas from Starcrossed, lets go of her past and builds her own family. She learns to trust and she dies while she is defending others. 

Taglist: @hellhound5925 @cloneloverrrrr @stardustbee @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @firstofficerwiggles

let me know if you would like to be added!

[cyrilphd]

CYRIL MY BOY: 💥, 💢, 💤, 🌙, 📣, 📸, 🌠, ☄️, 🍃

💥 COLLISON - what emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

Sadness + Fear don't really come easy to him, which isn't that he doesn't feel them but that they're often changed into anger and frustration before he can figure out what he's feeling. If someone scares him he's going to go straight to trying to hurt them so he feels in control again.

💢 ANGER - what are some habits they have that will take some getting used to?

Way too many. His less heinous ones that the average person could get used to are probably his annoying etiquette rules he picked up from being English and also a Tzimisce. Forcing people to take their shoes off at the door, making tea before conversation even if nobody can actually drink it, insisting that he gets something for his guests and getting annoyed if they don't take him up on his offer. He's also an advocate for people "talking properly"... Terrible.

💤 SLEEPING - do they fall asleep easily? what helps them sleep?

Going to disregard Canon a little wrt how vampires sleep because I don't fully know it. I think he has a routine before bed and it's very slightly silly, but it helps him drift off, he has pyjamas that are different than a lounging set and also wears a dressing gown. He probably reads a book a bit before putting on an eyemask (his room is pitch black without the lights on anyway) and going to sleep. If he was still alive he would have big glass of water on the bedside.

If he's home during the night he also takes dad naps occasionally.

🌙 MOON - what is your oc's greatest wish? how far are they willing to go for it?

He's basically insane and just really wants to turn into a dragon ever since he found out that it's possible. It's his biggest goal at the moment and he hasn't told a single other person that this is his endgoal. He's absolutely willing to do ANYTHING but he doesn't think he's going to get a positive reception from anyone so at the moment he's keeping his head down until he gets enough power that he doesn't have to worry about people getting in his way.

📣 MEGAPHONE - how loud are they? what do they speak like? got a voice claim?

Not loud per se, but definitely has a clear voice. He used to talk in lecture halls so he knows how to project without screaming. Talks calmly for the most part and when he's annoyed or angry the volume doesn't change, just the emphasis on words. I'm terrible with voice claims 😭 maybe something like jk simmons? Idfk

📸 CAMERA - do they enjoy having their picture taken? what's their go-to pose? do they like taking photos? what do they take photos of?

Cameras... Aren't exactly novel to him but they are one of the pieces of technology he's actually familiar with. I don't imagine he likes having his photo taken, with him trying to keep a relatively low profile in regards to mortals. He probably has some much older ones laying around for sentimental reasons though. I can imagine he takes photos of his reptiles for his own purposes and still uses a film camera.

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

Well first of all he would call bullshit, and ask how it's even possible for that to happen. Then if given cold hard proof, he would expertly engineer a flawless sentence to say to the wish granter because he is aware of the monkeys paw trope. Then he would probably just wish for the same thing in his answer for 🌙, or wish for no more hindrances if he really wants to figure it out himself.

☄️ COMET - what do people assume about them? are they right?

People who don't know his clan will assume that he's uptight and a killjoy, because of his archaic way of talking and his mannerisms, but really he's just being overly polite because of his personal convictions. He enjoys the unconventional and pushing boundaries, even if he doesn't always phrase things correctly.

If they know he's a Tzimisce, then all their assumptions are probably right. He's proud of his work and enjoys the process, with everything that implies.

🍃 FALLING LEAF - do they enjoy being in nature? what is their favourite outdoor activity?

He did before being embraced, used to go on expeditions quite often to other countries and do the whole travelling to remote areas to camp and look for wildlife. Obviously it hasn't been possible for him to do this for over 100 years now and it's probably one of the things he does actually miss about being alive. Being stuck in London doesn't exactly lend itself to experiences in nature and Ohio doesn't have any reptiles, so he's just had to fill his home with them instead.

He'd go camping in current day if he didn't take massive psychic damage from it.

[elemmacil]

UM EXCUSE ME I'M SO HERE FOR THE 1920s PZA au?????? That's such a good concept?? If you get around to posting it pls pls tag me I'd love to read it 😍 and the rest of your WIPs sound super cool! — @johaerys-writes

!!!! Aahhhhh!!! I will do so!! ❤️ So while I posed the initial idea in a Hades discord a while ago (though I think a more general jazz age au had come up once before that) the au as a whole really quickly took on a life of its own. A number of people have contributed to it and have written/are writing their own iterations, and drawing(!), it’s basically a collective effort that’s been super fun to watch unfold. Key items are Achilles being gender fluid him/her and Patroclus with a war injury that requires him to have a sexy knife cane haha. There were dayssss where nothing except jazz au was being discussed, it was glorious.

You should definitely check out this fic by infinitesle! But also since you tagged me for the wip Wednesday, I’ll take the opportunity to share a lil sumthin-sumthin from my own wip. 👀🤲🏼 (Tentative title????? “if that isn’t love it’ll have to do / until the real thing comes along”.)

Flushed and laughing softly, Zagreus lets Achilles reel him in by her grip on his shirt collar. His knees sink into the sofa’s plush, patterned velvet cushions, and one of his hands lands on the jut of her hip. He can feel the band of Achilles’ lingerie, the floral lace, beneath his palm through the thin green silk of the dressing gown. He had something prepared on the tip of his tongue, something cool and clever. Whatever it was flees him beyond recall. From her heavy, hooded stare Zagreus’ eyes drop, helplessly, to where Achilles’ dressing gown gapes open. Her chest rises and falls, a little unsteady. Between the swell of his breasts, small whorls of hair glint like spun gold in the lamplight. A perfect match for the long curls hanging past his shoulders. Achilles shifts, slightly, and her gown gapes wider. The breath punches from Zagreus’ lungs. Someone’s already left a bruise, there. Patroclus. “The night isn’t getting any younger,” Achilles tells him, low and amused. “Just kiss me.” There’s nothing Zagreus would love better, just now. Or perhaps ever again. The flush must reach up to his ears, he can feel how hot they are; as their laughter subsided Zagreus’ nerves have risen again. But Achilles’ wine-red lips part slightly as Zagreus leans forward, and Zagreus’ heart damn near beats itself out of his own chest because of that alone. Oh, she does want him. She wants him. Isn’t that something else? Something that could drive a man mad. Make him leap as high as the stars. Fly him to the damn moon. Beneath his, Achilles’ lips are warm. Soft. Zagreus can’t help the sound he makes. So much and so little about Achilles is soft, Zagreus thinks; his grief cuts, her anger bruises. Even her joy is bright enough to hurt, if you stare overlong. Zagreus has never heard Achilles sing and not wanted to cry, a little. When they first met he thought there wasn’t a damn thing in the world that could touch Achilles. Not truly. But then Achilles began opening up to him, in fits and starts, little by little. Until Zagreus finally understood what Patroclus meant about diamond scratching diamond. ‘Cause Achilles is tender as anything, when his hand brushes Zagreus’ cheek in the hall. When olive eyes land on Patroclus’, across a piano. When Achilles used to let tears streak his face in the middle of the night, or when her breath hitched on the last refrain of Sweet as the Mourning Dew. When he laughs, rumpled from sleep and slumped over an armchair. Or when, as he is now, as Zagreus lifts a hand to brush her hair over her shoulder and gently cup the back of his neck, he feels the way Achilles begins to melt like butter left in the sun with a shivering sigh— Ain’t nothing in the world that could hurt Achilles, he knows, save for Patroclus. Save for Zagreus, now.

[miles2g0]

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPS.

Thanks for the tag @a-canceled-stamp for another tag! 💕💕💕

For this one, I’ll post a snippet from each of the WIPs in the last post. Asks are still welcome for more info. :)

- Tim red hood, reverse robins His—he’s—Jason’s talking about his photos. Of Batman and Robin. They were in his room when he died. Hidden in a compartment in his closet. “Alfred found them,” Jason explained. “He has a bunch framed, all over the Manor. Damian kept some—he keeps them in his apartment. There’s one on his damn fridge, Tim. He does miss you.”

- Renegade au "I also trained Red Hood when he was working with the League of Assassins." He didn't know where the sudden pettiness came from, but he couldn't help but add details. "I gave him his first gun. Taught him how to hold it, how to shoot. An FN 509 compact tactical. He liked the size and weight—he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, his hands were still so small—" "That's enough."  It took a minute for Batman to compose himself. Renegade felt a rogue flare of satisfaction. 

- all birds have talons 2 - edited: He'd killed those two men right in front of her. He'd killed them, and that poor, broken little girl looked back up at him with stars in her eyes. Sasha had stood there with someone else's blood splattered on her hospital gown and looked at a remorseless murderer like he'd hung the moon.  And she hadn't stopped following him around since.

- villains win au Dick found him in Roman's office. He was—he was in a dog crate. A large one, but Jason was big. There was no room for him to fully sit up or stretch his legs, so he lay curled on his side. There was no lock on the cage and—that meant that something was very wrong.

- homeless Tim That winter had scared him so bad he'd stayed home for a full six months after. It was the longest Tim had been home since he'd turned twelve. He'd paid for it, but it was better than dying in the cold. But it, inevitably, didn't last. It took his dad breaking his arm to have him climbing out his window this time. As soon as it had healed enough that he didn't technically...probably need it in a cast anymore, he'd sawed it off on his own and found himself right back across the bridge to Gotham proper.

- blurred blue bleeding But the pain was a cleanse. He understood, after. It was a necessary evil. He'd grown up away from the Court, where he never should have, and it had sullied him. It made him too soft, tangled him up with too many people. Relationships outside of the Court were a weakness, a liability. The pain had cleansed his mind and soul of all of that. He felt like a weight had been lifted, like he could think clearly for the first time. So now he obeyed because he wanted to. Because the Court was all he had, all he needed. And if he disobeyed he would be decommissioned, and he didn't want to be rejected by his family. He wanted to be useful to his masters. He couldn't disappoint them. So when they sent him after Jason Todd, he just nodded and picked up his blades.

- mazes in our minds He was startled awake again by the jarring sensation of something touching him. Hands burning against his cold, paper thin skin, and he bucked away from them, flailing wildly again for the walls, for his safe corner. But it wasn't there and the hands came back again following him but he was too weak to fight, muscles atrophied from lack of use. He tried to scramble away but his arms and legs wouldn't take his weight and he rolled uselessly against that terrible, soft ground. There were sounds assaulting his ears—frantic voices. Jumbled words swimming around his head, but they didn't mean anything, words hadn't meant anything to him in a long time.

- bar hopping Jun slid his arm closer to where Tim's was resting on the bar so that their forearms were almost brushing. An invitation for contact, but not a violation of boundaries. Tim could easily move away if he wasn't comfortable. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Jun said simply. Tim pressed his lips together. Then he shifted and his arm was pressed against Jun's. His raw nerves chafed at the contact, but he forced himself to breathe through it and the warmth of Jun's skin slowly began to overtake that feeling. He hadn't really known the other boy long enough for this kind of intimate contact yet, but he was surprised to find that it didn't feel... uncomfortable. The power of tequila. And vodka. And whatever was in that shot Jason had pushed into his hands earlier.

[the-letter-horror-lover]

Take me into your loving arms; kiss me under the light of a thousand stars. Place your head on my beating heart. I'm thinking out loud maybe we found love right were we are." (Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran)

Chapter 11: Ready or not

Notes:

AN: Here we are!!! I think you know what's coming. So a lil warning... semi graphic here, but I tried not to be too icky for you, yet keep it realistic. Oh and fyi, I have no children so I have no idea what this is like so any moms out there I'm sorry if it's cliché, all you ladies have my up most respect. It is something I could not do and don't plan to. Any who as far as warnings I think you should all be fine, any way the moment you have all been waiting for is here, so! Get your sodas and popcorn and hunker down for the big moment. Also! There is some Imagery here that brings us full circle, so if you notice those little easter eggs good for you.

Chapter Text

Ciel felt restless, he had been lying in bed the last few days and been oddly content to do so. After eight months of pregnancy, one would think staying off your feet would be welcome. It was for a while, he was perfectly fine allowing Sebastian to fawn over him all to the ravens pleasure.

However, now he could not be still.

With a bit of huffing and puffing Ciel managed to heave him upright and take hold of the bed frame, hauling himself into standing position. Moving around with the low hanging weight of four children had become a chore.

"Ciel... are you alright?" Sebastian asked feeling the bed shift; he rolled over watching the silhouette of his husband in the moon light slipping on a dressing gown.

"Yes, yes I'm fine go back to sleep I just need to get some air. Your children are being troublesome."

"Funny how their mine when your annoyed." The ravenette quipped watching as the once human staked out of the bedroom.

The false night in hell has a strange kind of beauty to it, the inky sky above and soft glow of the moon that so mirrored the one in the human realm. It was something that always seems to bring Ciel a sense of peace, so familiar and yet unnatural. The nights in the underworld brought back fond memories of his bonding ceremony all those years ago. If he closed his eyes he could almost ear the sirens songs and smell the incense in the air.

Sitting in the garden in an old swing the neko closed his eyes. The long navy robe he had been wearing fell open illuminating his pallid skin under the false moon, casting the taut creamy flesh in lavender light. Around him, ghost roses turned there haunting white blossoms up to the deep violet sky. Something about this night feels so familiar and yet like a distant dream.

Ciel breathed in the soft fragrance and let it soak in to his lungs, the calming scent easing the ache that had been radiating from his lower back. He ran a hand over his swollen womb, "To think, I was once in an abyss of despair, when chance was offered, the choice to crawl out and I took it. I decided not to give up and reached for it. I thought the greatest gift that demon could give me was revenge...I was wrong. You are all my gifts."

A warm breeze flowed through the garden, swirling through the hedges and blowing the vibrant blue petals of the rose's trough the trees. Ciel watched the cerulean petals dance in the wind, there was something ethereal in it. He could have never believed hell could be so beautiful; truth was life is what you make it. Even in the other world were the inhabitant could simply chose to surround them with whatever they choose. This was a world created just for him, of his and Sebastian's own making. This was in a way there first child; they wove this place. The stone paths of the garden, much like Phantomhive manor, the gates around there home...suspiciously like the gates of London cemetery. The roses, even the swing where he sat now that was much like the one at his Aunt Frances's home, where he and Elizabeth used to play.

Ciel could imagine his children in this garden, four little mischievous toddlers dashing down the walkway. Little girls with long ink black pigtails. Little boys with shining crimson eyes so full of curiosity and wonder. "Look what you lot have done to me hmm?" He said breathing out slowly feeling the twinge in his back wrapping around his lower belly. "You all wreak havoc and make me sentimental...ya know I was once feared, I tamed a demon you know. I was a captain of industry when most boys where occupied with their studies. It only took me a hundred years to grow up, yet it doesn't seem so long now."

The demon sat there in the slowly swaying bench swing for a while longer, leaning back when the tightening in his low abdomen returned. Ciel knew what it was now, but it was to early to bother with it now. He wanted to put of Sebastian crowding him and calling Claudia in. By the neko's calculations, these first contractions were still a good 20 minuets apart. He would be looking at a few more hours yet.

Sebastian was tiding up the bedroom; Ciel never had come back to bed. The elder demon was not concerned, he got a hint of irritation from the other across there bond every now and then but other than that nothing that would cause the crow, any pause.

After leaving the master suite and descending the staircase, Sebastian looked around the parlor and library with no sign of him mate. Ciel had a particular talent in eluding him, Sebastian supposed it was apart of his feline like characteristics. If the bluenette did not wish to be found, he would not be.

However, a search of the patio yielded results. Ciel was laying on his side on a cushioned lounge that over looked the garden.

"Soaking up the morning sun are we?" the elder commented

When Ciel did not answer, Sebastian left the doorway and crossed the stone pavilion. He saw the pinched look on his mates face as Ciel let out a breath slowly. "Ciel?"

"What..."

"Are you alright?" stupid question he realized as soon as he said it.

"Wonderful, just enjoying the view and waiting for your hell spawn to position them selves between contraction. The usual, perhaps you can make yourself useful and make me some tea yes?" The younger man complained

Sebastian folded his arms looking unimpressed, "Why didn't you tell me."

Ciel rolled up into sitting position, hand on the side of his bulky stomach. "What would you have done that I am not perfectly capable of doing now. Entertained me with all your tricks with table wear?"

The raven pinched the bridge of his nose silently reminding himself that it was to hormones talking. "I would have been by your side, just as I always have been."

Ciel waved him off before gripping the fabric of his dressing gown and breathing in sharply. He counted through the rippling cramp, they were getting longer now but nothing he could not handle. When he opened his eyes, they meet with a concerned pair of garnets looking up at him. Sebastian was kneeling in front of the lounge.

"I'm fine."

The ravenette hummed rubbing his mates thigh, "I'm sure your doing splendid, though perhaps you would indulge me and come inside."

"Because I want to, not because your asking."

"Of course Dear."

It had been nine hours since the first contractions started, at this point, the tightening cramps were seven minuets apart and Sebastian had sent for Lady Faustus. Claudia had arrived and looked Ciel over, by now the neko was annoyed and between lying at the foot of the bed and pacing the room, he was nearly growling at everything that moved.

The she demon just shook her head and said "not yet" which earned her some rather colorful language from the once earl. Not that the string of profanity mattered much to her.

Claudia suggested that Ciel lay in some lukewarm water for a while to ease his back and perhaps cool his temper. Sebastian was quick to ready the bath and help his snappish laboring mate into it. Ciel slapped him away when a contraction rippled through him.

The elder demon gave up letting his partner have his solitude in the bath.

Out in the parlor Claudia was as calm as a spring day, sipping her tea and as her fingers idly ran along the stitching of one of the decorative pillows in the living area.

"Forgive me curiosity but how much longer will it be, in your opinion?" Sebastian asked, sounding collected when he was anything but.

The woman looked up, golden eyes regarding the raven coolly, "Could be another hour or the rest of the day. They will come when they are ready, I see no signs that the kits or their barerer are in any immediate danger. The best thing to do is simply waiting, once the first enters transition and descends then the rest will follow. "Sebastian nodded sitting across from her, "And the birth, are you as confident for that?"

"From his exam his birthing stoma has been in place for over a week now and with multiples the individual kits are smaller, I don't anticipate any tearing." she spoke waving a wand dismissively. "This is his first litter, it will be difficult but Ciel is strong. Perhaps more so than I previously believed."

The raven smirked, Ciel was strong - it was something he had known for centuries now. Where others had broken under stress and desperation his valiant little once human had persevered. Like a phoenix from the ashes, the bluenette has surpassed all expectations. He would do so now with no doubt.

"SEBASTIAN!" Ciel was leaning on the bed striped down cursing through every wave of pain. He had been in labor for 15 hours and finally felt the shift low in his belly.

His mate at his side running a gentle hand over the slighter males sweat soaked back, " That's it just a bit longer." This comfort was apparently incorrect as the neko's hand shot out and grabbed the raven by his collar jerking Sebastian in nose to nose.

"You said that three bloody hours ago." the bluenette grit

However, before Sebastian could make a witty retort his mate hunched forward over groaning into the next contraction.

By now Claudia had entered the room drying her hands on a tea towel, "I believe he's entered transition by now, I suspect his waters to break soon, if not I can do so to get things moving along." She spoke mildly unbuttoning her silk blouse leaving her in a cream cotton camisole.

"Yes lets get on with it." Ciel panted fisting his hands into the duvet, he did want to prolong this if he didn't have to.

Getting into position at the end of the bed had admittedly been the least glamorous moment of his demonic existence, yet some how the former earl could not bring himself to be ashamed. Being splayed out like a Christmas goose in front of a Faustus no less, this should have been humorous in a some dark part of his mind. However all semblance of wit left him with the awkward rush of fluid. Blessedly releasing some of the pressure he'd been feeling mount over the last hour.

"When you feel the urge to push do so, when you do bear down with your chin to your chest hold your breath to the count of 10. I will not direct you further, your body knows what it must accomplish." The she demon spoke in her ever even perfect tone as if critiquing a painting.

Ciel was less in the mood to be snaky at the moment, his hands griping into the terry cloth folded beneath him. He felt the steady strong presence of his mate behind him. This was happening, this was real, as real as the bond he shared with his former butler now husband. Real as the tactile sensation of the cloth in between his fingers.

"Ok I'm Ready."

Ciel groaned and cursed, his hair plastered down his back from sweat. Sebastian holding him whispering in his ear as he bore down again unable to hold back a scream that tore through his throat. Beginning to regret his choice not to do this in his demon form.

Then nothing mattered because admits the pain and the sound of his own voice crackling in his ears came clarity. The feeling his first born passing into the world followed by a shrill cry.

"Girl." Claudia said, freeing the last remaining tether between infant and barer. She held he shrieking little one and gently soothed away the blood from birth in the large steel bowl of water.

She was there, their daughter. Soft deep navy whips plastered on her head, her tiny fists clenched tight as she cried.

The demoness placed the little one in Sebastian's arms first. He looked down at the child who instantly called her wails into whimpers at his touch. "Hello Hela, my little girl. You have given your father quite a bit of trouble you know."

Ciel's face softened wanting to hold her and touch her, count her fingers and toes but there would be time for that later as one of his little girls siblings was already eager to follow her lead.

The next hour seemed to go easier, Arielle had arrived during the first birth and by the second the majority of the Michaëlis/Viceroy clan was down stairs awaiting news.

When the second girl, Athena, was born looking identical to her sister Ciel sensed a pattern coming. And sure enough when little Rachel's voice joined the chorus he knew he had a trio.

After Rachel was born there was a lull in his labor, Claudia assured him that was fine and to rest while he could.

"Their beautiful."

Ciel cracked open an eye to see his sister-in-law settle down in the chair next to the bed.

"Of course they are, hey are half Phantomhive." He commented easily. His palm running down over the far less prominent bump feeling a soft tumble beneath his hand of his final reluctant kit.

She chuckled smoothing her hands over her skirt, "Yes and they look it, Sebastian has fawned over them getting them clean and into their first little night shirts. Athena was particularly fussy about that. How are you feeling?"

Ciel looked up at the ceiling, "Fine, I don't know what all the fuss is about really."

Arielle rolled her eyes, "Really now, see because as I recall when I arrived here I heard you screaming a blue streak and threatening fairly sensitive portions of my little brothers anatomy."

The neko glanced sidelong, "It is his fault and I claim temporary loss of faculties."

"Very well, do try and sleep some. I know you want to see them but trust me they are just as tired for now and will be fine until there little sibling is ready to join them." She said patting his hand.

Ciel did not fight her, welcoming the ease of slumber that tugged him down into its depths.

When he woke again he felt hot and the tighten in his lower abdomen screamed with over sensitive nerve endings.

Sebastian opened the bedroom door with Claudia close behind him. "Alright then lets see how your doing" she said tugging the sheet back.

When her face blanched slightly as she looked up to Sebastian, Ciel knew... "What is it" He groaned through the next spasm of his muscles "What is it"

Sebastian took his mates face in his much larger hands. " Everything will be fine." But even as the raven said the words Ciel could tell the man did not believe them.

"The child is coming feet first Ciel..." Claudia's voice drifted up, there was more ... more she wasn't saying. "This will be more difficult but I need you to push and not give up."

"I have never given up in my life."

The child was smaller, Ciel couldn't even control the sob when he heard Claudia say "You have a son."

It wasn't the joy of his first little boy but the sorrow of looking down and seeing the demoness swiftly untangle the cord from around the so small babies neck and rub the child's chest. He was so much smaller, he was so quiet. Ciel tore his eyes away to see the stricken look on Sebastian's face, the soft words that fell from the elder demons lips "please.."

When the little body jolted in the she spiders grasp and whimpered Ciel fell back and covered his face to conceal the emotions tearing through him.

"Playing possum were you little one?" she said with an ounce of amusement as the little boy screamed louder, little limbs kicking as he was washed.

"Loki.. our little trickster." Sebastian smiled Moving to take the child and swaddle the babe in a towel.

Their son was every bit a Michaëlis, ink black hair that curled around his little ears and forehead. Even his little features, long slender face and nose. Ciel held out his arms, his last born was the first he would hold. Loki opened his eyes, blinking long dark lashes to show off his big dark sapphire eyes.

"What color are the girls eyes?" Ciel said as he ran a finger over his sons cheek.

"Hela and Rachel have my eyes, Athena has yours ." Sebastian spoke softly, Claudia slipped out after cleaning up the afterbirth and taking away the soiled blankets.

They were going to have there hands full from now on that was certain, Their homes much like their hearts would be full.

And the room at the end of the hall, would never feel empty again.

"You're the sweetest thing, that I've ever known. And to think that you are mine, you are mine alone. There is no greater love in all the world it's true. No greater love than what I feel for you." (No greater love - Amy Winehouse)

AN: Yes there will be an Epilogue.

Chapter 12: Epilogue: This is us.

Notes:

An: First I would like to thank all of you who followed this journey from start to finish. You all mean a lot to me and I'm so pleased to have given each of you something to enjoy and brighten your day even if it was only for a few moments.

In other news, Expect the Unexpected will be taking over the Sunday update spot. Its another Mpreg Grellium, so if you enjoyed this you may like that one. I also plan on finishing up my Bleach and Gravitation fics soon. So yep Lots will be wrapping up! But do not fear Your Loli is just cleaning up her dashboard for a new set up in 2016!

You can expect more Red Scales, And new Full length fic for Avengers called "Where we land" It will be Stony Ship OmegaVerse. With potential Mpreg haven't decided yet.

Anyhow, I will now give you the goods since I'm sure your tired of reading all this above XD

Chapter Text

"TAG!" Three bright little voices screamed from the end of the hall.

Ciel rolled his eyes looking up from his book shouting "No Running In The House!" over his shoulder. Not that it did any good. A few moments after his warning there was a thumb and whimpering. "Oh for Hades sake..."

A few minutes later, a set of guilty looking triplets came toddling in. Hel had her arm around her little brother shoulders as he cried. The little boy's knees were bright red from tumbling onto the hardwood floors.

"Loki fell daddy..." Rachel said

"Because you pushed him." Athena chimed in, causing her red-eyed sister to scowl.

Rachel crossed her arms with a huff. "Tattle tale"

"Alright, I don't care who did what. I told you not to play rough in the house didn't I?" Ciel admonished his girls. Each of them looking down and away. Rachel the least sorry of the bunch, she was every bit Sebastian's. "Alright you three go to your room."

A chorus of "awww but!"

"But nothing!" He cut them off taking his sniffling little son in his arms. "To your room now young ladies."

The trios mutter and had a pitiful little precession up the stairs.

Ciel shook his head and carried Loki on his hip into the kitchen. "You shouldn't let them goad you into games you know." Ciel said. Of course, he realized why this had happened. His little boy could not back down from a challenge. The apple, as they say, did not fall far from the tree.

"I know..." The little boy sniffled scrubbing little pals over his face.

The bluenette sat the boy on the counter running a damp cloth over the boy's knees. They would heal quickly, it was the sting or perhaps more the bruised pride of falling that hurt the little one more. "Would you like to sit with me until your father comes home?"

Loki nodded and held up his arms to be picked up, the littlest of the littler, he still clung to his barer. Ciel did not mind, if anything he found it oddly comforting that the little one still needed him so much. His girls were very independent already.

Hel was his little thinker, she was smart and cunning. Her crimson eyes observing everything so carefully, she could turn on a smile or a frown at will and had her grandfather wrapped about her little finger.

Rachel was his little aggressive one; she was competitive and loved to show off. Ciel could already see how wild she was going to get once she matured. Thankful he would have a good 100years or so before that happened. However, he did look forward to Sebastian's reaction.

He mate was already proving to be the very protective father.

Athena reminded him much of his sister-in-law. The child was smart and quick-witted.

This was his family, something he never thought he would have again. Ciel smiled to himself looking down at the small child laying across his lap. The little boy smiled, bright blue eyes filled with innocence, he knew then that if all the suffering in his life had led him to this moment it was all worth it.

"We got love, yeah, darling just swear you'll stand right by my side. Be my forever." (Be my forever - Christina Perri)

~FIN~

Series this work belongs to:

← Previous Work Part 4 of Kuro after years

[kiridarling]

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓.

request | Can I have royalty au (soon to be king bakugou) (and soon to be queen reader) , katsuki and reader are supposed to be getting married (not to eachother) but they end up sneaking around and doing IT with eachother so top!kats , exhibition , begging , dumbification and spanking THANK YOU💞💞

this lovely request was submitted for the kissing booth event (the rest of the drabbles come out soon, ahem :)) so, if this was your request, um...hAHA whoops.

katsuki bakugou | f!reader, royalty!au, infidelity, nondescript!fiancés, angst (gasp), fingering, exhibitionism, dumbification + more! minors dni!

— 3.7k words

“C'mon, princess...can I make you feel good once last time?

You're getting married.

No more ignorance is bliss, no more I didn't know any better—this is when you put all your childish antics to the side and fucking woman up, now in charge of the safety of your kingdom and its inhabitants and whatnot. So yes, you must snuff all your adolescent tendencies, and that includes sleeping with the Crowned Prince of the neighboring kingdom behind your fiancé's backs.

But, boys are stubborn. And stupid.

Ding ding ding!

"Excuse me, Everyone!" Your fiancé announces to the crowd in your dining room as he stumbles to his feet, spoon clinking against his glass. He nearly trips, but no one sees except yourself. "I would like to make a toast."

You frown. This wasn't a part of the rehearsal dinner.

"First of all, I would like to thank you all for being able to be with us tonight," he says, shoving the glass higher in the air. As red wine splashes over the rim, you think to remind him that isn't a toast, it's the beginning of a speech, but your comments have rarely deterred the man in the past. "As you’re all aware, this marriage is vital. Not only for our kingdom, but for the neighboring kingdom as well."

Your fiancé regards the Bakugou’s with a lift of his chalice. In the coming weeks, two arranged marriages will melt the four most influential kingdoms into two, and your fiancé and his family had the genius to throw a massive Gala to celebrate it. You wouldn’t be surprised if they got off to the idea of stretching themselves so thin their hair falls out at age thirty; they won’t even allow you to choose the type of dress for your wedding.

"I would also like to thank my lovely, lovely wife, for just being so... lovely.” Your fiancé chuckles, accompanied by an uncomfortable massage to your shoulder. The guests find amusement in how whipped he is as he gazes your way expectantly, conceivably wishing to see you swoon at the compliment. All you give him is a blank face. His elation falters.

"You know, when I first met this woman, I knew she was going to be the love of my life," your fiancé shakes your glare off. You purposely block out the rest of his story in favor of folding and unfolding your napkin again, puffing under your breath at the cheesy comment.

"Sap," you grunt to yourself, obviously. You don't expect anyone to hear, but there's a snort to your right. Your eyes lift from your lap—and straight into Katsuki's smug blood red ones. He winks at you from across the table and your eyes roll at that, though there's a small smile playing on your face that's impossible to hide.

"Isn't that right [Y/N]!...[Y/N]?"

You blink yourself back to life, eyes reluctantly leaving Katuski's hypnotic ones for the pair that make you nauseous, "Oh—u-um, yep!"

The place bursts in laughter and there's even a little smile dancing on Katsuki's face. He catches you staring so your eyes divert to your lap, but his remain a physical force against you for the rest of the night.

*selene — the greek goddess of the moon

The balcony is much nicer than the ballroom.

For one, it's the farthest place you could have gone from the commotion, all the way on the opposite side of the castle. It's a solid five-minute walk when you aren't in heels and a heavy petticoat, but it provides a lovely view of your front yard, subjecting you to watch the early-sleepers leave in their carriages to call it a night. Meanwhile, *Selene watches you from her telescope the moon with a sigh and a sad smile, because she's the only one who knows how completely and utterly alone you will be.

You glare at her—the goddess doesn't waver.

Bitch.

It's no secret that Gala’s like these get overwhelming—especially when you're the center of attention. You see Lord Shinsou (Earl) stuff the eager Lord Kaminari (Baron) into his silver-plated carriage before looking around to ensure no one saw, and blanche upon seeing your figure stood on the balcony. You salute so he knows his secret is safe with you, and relief washes over his face before he too hops into the carriage. What a scandal, you giggle.

Plenty of couples resign home after that; it makes you uneasy. You're unsure as to why, but you have the ever-increasing urge to nip at your fingernails until you don't have them anymore, and jamming the sharpest point of your heel into the concrete seems like the only proper way to release enough kinetic energy before you explode.

"He loves me."

He does, embarrassingly so—so what's the issue?

There isn't an issue; there shouldn't be. He reminds you how pretty you are and you compliment his influence. Neither of you are marrying down. You look good together. The kingdom's future power couple if you will, where you two supposedly mold the great future in your peculiarly young hands. There isn't an issue. You're the one for him, and he's the one for you.

The balcony door whines open. You don't turn around, praying whoever it is will see that it's occupied and turn the other cheek. Yet, the stomp of whoever's boots only grow louder until you’re adjacent to a shadow of a being, his chin lifted towards the stars. You catch a glimpse of blond hair, though dyed a pale white by the silver moon, and you two stand in a strangely comfortable silence, watching carriages roll out of your driveway.

The silence doesn’t last for long, though. It never does.

"D’ya always go disappearing like that?"

You frown. "What?"

"I don't fuckin' know," Katsuki grumbles—he has yet to look at you. Seems like Selene captures more than one person's attention tonight. "Blinked and you were gone."

Your frown only deepens, and you return your attention to the courtyard. "I didn't know you were paying attention."

The ash-blond presses his forearms against the railing for support. "I wasn't. He was."

Oh.

"Said he wants you to come back, so," Katsuki clicks his tongue, carmine red eyes finally flicking your way through the darkness. You don’t dare look at him. “You run off often, or what?"

"Tell him I'll come back in a second," you sigh, balancing your face in your hand. Katsuki says nothing, but he doesn't leave, and you hate that you don't mind.

Until he points towards a couple crossing the lawn and says, "Oi, that's the Duke from my fiancé's kingdom. Fucker tried to poison my dad for the throne—straightened him out real quick.”

"Why are you talking to me?" You snap like a cornered animal. Katsuki lifts an eyebrow.

"What? I can't have a goddamn conversation?"

"I—" your chest rises and falls with a reason to why he can't, but you can only come up with one—and you don't want to think about it.

"Listen. I don't like these things either, alright?" He huffs defensively, so defensively that you have to take a step back. "If I have the opportunity to get some fresh air, I'm gonna fuckin' take it."

You shrug, supposing it makes you one and the same. The wind blows, not harsh, but harsh enough to ruffle your gown, and make the gold jewelry decorating Katsuki's tunic jingle.

“So. I guess this is it, ain’t it?”

You sigh, “Katsuki, you know we—“

"Yeah yeah, that's all you fuckin' say," he growls bitterly, and you blink in a poor attempt to find where the animosity came from. His face twists in an ugly way as he sits his hands on his hips, nose scrunched to mockingly pitch his voice that doesn't sound like yours at all. "We can't, we shouldn't—"

"Because we shouldn't!" You nearly shout, and Katsuki jumps from how quickly you raise your voice. "Because—because if we get caught, we're fucked. And I can't go to sleep terrified that I'll wake up to an exposé tomorrow morning and get beheaded by the afternoon. So...please. Just stop."

Katsuki clicks his tongue.

"You don't love that asshole."

Your throat feels tight—much too tight to be comfortable, and your chest rises and falls with disbelief as you search for the words before you can talk again, eyes never dropping from the stars. You've had this conversation, fuck, you have it too often; often enough to know that he would say those exact words, and enough to know precisely what you'll say in response.

"I love him, Katsuki."

"No, no you fuckin' don't," the ash-blond chucks a laugh and it's nothing short of acrid, his words eating away at your skin more than you'd like them to. You sigh, resting your forearms on the railing too.

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

"Always gotta be so goddamn emotionally unavailable, huh?" He growls, glare set on the mountains presented in front of you. You feel his suit jacket hit your freezing shoulders, unaware of the cool temperatures until you feel the cloth brush against goosebumps. It’s your turn to laugh bitterly.

“Careful. People might think we’re getting married to each other.”

“One day you’ll let me fuckin’ live,” he grunts, and your eyes meet for the first time. His usual red is dyed a deep purple by the moonlight, their usual hardness traded for something much softer. “Can’t even give you a jacket when you’re shivering like a goddamn leaf in the wind.”

You give him a look of utter exhaustion because you’re tired—tired of all this running around and hiding, the secrecy. It eats at your insides like a caterpillar does a leaf, knowing that you go to sleep every night to a man who’ll barely touch you, but at the same time, feeling guilty that you don’t need nor want him to.

“Why are you here?”

Katsuki clicks his tongue. His warm body settles behind yours, close enough to feel the warmth but not close enough to feel him. “You looked lonely.”

“I thought my fiancé told you to get me?” You ask, raising a suspicious eyebrow. Katsuki rolls his eyes, his arms settling on both sides of yours.

“He did. But I didn’t refuse the damn request either.”

“You saw my loneliness all the way from the ballroom. What an eyesight,” you scoff. Katsuki’s eyes narrow, but it’s clear he’s fighting a grin because you’re a little shit who loves giving him a hard time. The ash-blond’s chest rises and falls, and he bites the inside of his cheek.

“You know what I mean.”

You snort, tilting your head to the right. You suppose you do.

“And I’m marrying a bitch,” he adds to his list of grievances, his hands finding yours to gently play with your fingers. You nod in agreement. A bitch she is.

“And...I’m really going to fuckin’ miss you.”

It might as well pass for nothing but a breath, eyes trained on your held hands. His chest suspends like he has more to say, but his teeth tear at the inside of his cheek before he can. “I—fuck, I get it, okay? I’m a selfish asshole—“

“This doesn’t have to do wit—“

“And I really, really need to get my fuckin’ priorities straight. I mean, they are, just not in the way they should be.”

“Hey,” you chastise, shaking his hands for his attention. “You can’t control who you love, okay?"

Katsuki grumbles at that but you refuse, turning around to look him in the eyes.

"And neither can I.”

You let go of his hands in favor of pulling him down via his cheeks and giving him a big fat kiss on the lips. It’s peckish and brief, but it’s sweet and gets your point across. It's comfortable.

“The hell was that for?” Katsuki asks once you pull away. Though you see him struggle to hide a grin, eyes squinting more than they should.

“Easy,” you say, stepping forwards (as if there’s any space for that), “You looked lonely.”

Katsuki snorts, dropping his head, “Bastard.”

“And I’m being married off to an asshole,” you lament, pulling his face so close to the point you’re sure the strain on his back has got to be anything but sexy. He accommodates anyways—Katsuki always has; and night seems to suspend along with his baited breath as he waits for the next line, eyes shining with a painful hope you’re about to confirm.

“And I’m really, really going to miss you,” you say, shaking your head at how utterly true that statement is. Fuck.

The vulnerability slowly fades from his eyes at that, and Katsuki hums, clammy hands finding their rightful place around your hips.

“You shouldn’t call him an asshole, you know,” he says, face inching so close you can smell the champagne on his breath. “He means well.”

“I didn’t know you cared,” you quip back, raising an eyebrow. Katsuki shrugs, and you don’t realize he’s backing you up until your back kisses the cool railing.

“Well. I can’t help but feel a little bad,” he says cheekily as he inches closer, “‘Cause I make you feel so good, don’t I, Princess? Last time I checked, better than he ever could.”

You scoff at his audacity though it’s all good-natured, eyes preferring the moon over his heated gaze as he turns you around to face the courtyard.

“Ah, ah,” he tuts, redirecting your attention using a finger on your jaw, “Eyes on me, Princess. You look really fuckin’ pretty under the stars, y’know.”

You snort at the compliment, rolling your eyes.

“‘M serious. A fuckin’ goddess,” he growls, leaving wet kisses up the column of your neck. Your breath hitches as he reaches your sweet spot and sucks, and you’re swatting him away before he can leave a mark.

“I sai—“

“One last time, Princess,” he bargains lowly as his hot hands slide their way from your waist to your breasts, taking their sweet time. Katsuki hooks his chin on your shoulder. “Lemme—Can I make you feel good one last time?”

You’re nodding with a whimper before you can berate yourself for being so fucking easy, the thought of not being able to indulge yourself with this, with him, any longer tosses any and all resistance out the window.

“Good,” Katsuki hums, tweaking your nipples through the bodice. “‘M gonna pay you back for being so good to me, yeah? For puttin' up with all my shit."

You scoff, mouth dropping to tell him you weren't putting up with his shit, but then a warm hand lands on your thigh—somehow, he's found a way under your dress. The hand slides up inner thigh and you feel Katsuki's chest shudder against your back as he finally reaches where you need him most.

"K-Kats—"

"Shhh, you don't want them to hear us, do you?" He grunts, pulling your panties to the side. You shiver from the change in temperature, watching another Duke and Duchess of half-drunkenly stumble into their carriages for the night, before there's a crack of a whip and hooves beat towards the exit. It's only a reminder of how painfully exposed you two are—one glance towards the balcony and any onlooker would know exactly what's happening. You hate it.

You hate that you don't.

"Atta girl," Katsuki purrs, groaning as he inserts a finger. You shiver, the weight of his being practically trapping you against the railing. "Always so fuckin' tight. I swear that asshole never fucks you right."

Katsuki's never been an impatient man and fills you with a second finger awfully fast, chuckling when you bite into the meat of your palm to hold back a whimper. His hips start to grind against the puff of your dress and he groans as quietly as he can, carelessly shoving down the sleeve of his suit jacket to bite into your shoulder.

You let out a broken moan much too loud for this time of night and it prompts Katsuki's free hand to stuff an equal amount of fingers into your mouth. "Y'know, something tells me you wanna get caught. You want the whole world to know how much you fuckin' hate that bastard, huh?"

You choke as Katsuki slides in a third digit next to the second, the slap of his palm against your pussy becoming nothing but obscene as your slick accentuates the sound. His hips speed up against your ass and that's enough friction to have the ash-blond groaning, along with the spit that drips down his forearm.

"So dirty for me, Princess," his hips stutter when you push back, tongue laving over the bite mark you'll probably have to conceal in the morning. Asshole. "You wanna cum like this, don't you? You're gonna cum all over my fingers in front of the entire royal court. Dumb little girl, can't even keep her mouth shut to keep us from gettin' caught."

You jam your heel into the balcony concrete so hard you positive it cracks before you're coming all over Katsuki's fingers, nearly choking on the ones in your mouth as you release the loudest broken moan you have that night. Katsuki's hips stutter against you and you're positive he's filling his boxers from the airy moan that follows, and his hand goes limp in your mouth before it slides out completely.

Your chests balloon in unison, his body draped over yours, and as you two catch your breath under the moonlight, you can’t help but think how much you’re going to miss this.

"Run away with me."

"I—" he does this. He always does this. He makes you feel on top of the world, acting like everything's fine, and then he pulls this shit on you. You look everywhere but him, nearly scoffing in disbelief. "Katsuki—"

"C'mon, Princess," Katsuki scrambles to flip you by the waist until your back is flush against the railing again and he’s cradling both your hands in his semi-damp ones. There’s a look in his eyes you don’t like, and it makes your chest burn. "Across the sea, people are movin’ over there and I—I know someone there, okay? Someone we could stay with, maybe help us get back on our feet an-and I found a fuckin’ ferry guy to take us across, and I can even pay him a little extra, o-or you, or—"

"Katsuki," you give him a sad smile, squeezing his hands tight. There's hope, too much hope in his eyes and it's fucking blinding. "Running away? I—this is—we have an obligation, we can't jus—"

"It'll be fine," he insists, stepping forwards and squeezing you back twice as hard. You sigh."I—the two kingdoms can merge or whatever the fuck they wanna do and then we'll be—"

"Katsuki."

"I—fuck Princess, I don't beg but goddammit, I'll do whatever you fuckin' want, get on my knees, I ca—"

"You really want to know what I want?"

Katsuki freezes. It's the first time you've ever seen some semblance of emotion in him that isn't anger or lust, with carmine red irises swimming in unshed tears—and fuck, you hate the sight. You want to shoot yourself in the fucking foot for what you’re about to do, but it’s for the best. It always is.

"Love her."

Katsuki looks at you, and his face drops, chest shuddering.

"I can't."

You drop his hands in favor of holding his face, thumbing at the hot tears running as they fall. God, Katsuki’s pretty—too pretty for his own good and he doesn’t even know it. His unsteady hands find themselves massaging your ribs and your foreheads knock together. "You need to try. Love her as much as you love me, yeah?"

"'S fuckin' impossible," Katsuki says with a wet snort, shaking his head with eyebrows raised. You giggle, throat impossibly tight.

"Almost, then? For me."

Katsuki’s red eyes stare at you through the darkness. You have half a mind to look the other way, but you figure you owe him this if nothing else, and as he lovingly absorbs your being under the moonlight for the last time, you really wish you could take your words back.

"I'll...fuck. Fine. I'll try." Katsuki resigns with a shrug, shaking his head. You two sniffle in unison and you suppress the strange urge to pinch him. "'M not gonna try to get over you, though. Sorry, not sorry."

You roll your eyes at that but it's all good-natured, followed by a choke you struggle to hide as his arms coil around your waist, "Then I won't either."

A genuine grin spreads across his face, and it’s borderline giddy—and a stark contrast against the waterworks. "She finally fuckin' admits it."

"Figured it was about time," you give him a wobbly smile before your eyes flicker to his, red blurring from being so close. Selene looks upon both of you with a reminiscent sigh.

"I love you, Katsuki Bakugou."

Katsuki sniffs before he laughs; it's wet, and near bitter, and he pulls you so close your face nearly shoves into his chest. "Fuck. Fuck, you're an asshole, you know that?"

"This is when you say it back," you bargain, squishing his cheeks. Katsuki presses his forehead deeper into yours.

"I love you too, Asshole."

He speaks with a softness you've never heard and it's like a gunshot to the heart, and as his lips inch closer to yours as your hands slide to thumb at his ears. One last kiss wouldn't hurt, would it?

Until there's a whistle and the click of footsteps. You and Katsuki jump a mile apart.

"Oh, [Y/N]! You're still out here in the cold?" Your fiancé asks with a raised eyebrow, but it seems like that's only an afterthought as he turns to Katsuki to say, "Your wife’s found the alcohol."

"Great," the ash-blond groans, understanding the translation—your fiancé is piss drunk in the ballroom.

"I do recommend you take her home. She's making quite a mess of the eclairs. And her face."

Katsuki heads inside without giving you a second glance, and your fiancé gives him a solid pat on the way in before turning to you halfway through the doorway, "Are you coming inside, Darling?"

"In a moment," you say with a smile. Your hand never leaves the railing. "Just getting some fresh air."

"Alrighty, then. I'll be in the bedroom. Waiting~" he winks, and with that, he's spinning on his heel, and you're alone with the moon again.

You watch Katsuki guide his inebriated fiancé into the carriage lovingly, with a smile on his face that isn't quite the one he wears with you but close enough, whispering whatever pleases her at the time with a chaste kiss on the cheek. You feel comfort in knowing that he has someone to love and someone to be loved by. He doesn't look your way—not once.

It's not until they drive away that you realize you still have his suit jacket draped over your shoulders. You don't doubt he did that on purpose, either.

Asshole.

[bucksfucks]

  𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚 ; 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀

summary┃steve has always had his eyes on you, yours on him. catching you on the beach he finally gets a taste of what he’s missing. 

pairing┃achilles!steve x f!reader

word count┃1,721 words

warnings┃beach sex, semi-public sex, a lot of nudity, oral, fingering, skinny dipping, soft smut, light degradation, dirty talk, unprotected sex — 18+ ONLY//MINORS DNI

notes┃this is very loosely based off of the story of achilles, like...very loosely. the only similarity is the blonde hair and the fact that steve is a demi-god, other than that, it’s self-indulgent <3

     He isn’t really sure when he first saw her. 

    All he knows is that he can’t keep his eyes off of her as she wanders through the cobbled street.

    She’s dressed in a simple gown, slightly weathered with loose strands floating above her feet as she wanders through the bazar. There’s an airiness to her, light and free as he sees light emanating from her. 

    He’s perched on top of a thick tree branch that’s able to hold his weight. Legs swinging and hair blowing in the summer air as he crunches down on the last slice of his clementine. 

    He wonders if she’d be sweeter than the sweet juice coating his tongue. 

    “If you stare at her any longer you’ll burn holes through her skull,” he feels a nudge against his right shoulder, pushing him slightly forward as someone joins him on the large branch. 

    He ignores the remark, scoffing as the bitter peel falls from his hand and other the grass below where it would be hoarded by squirrels and chipmunks. 

    Bucky’s legs dangle with Steve’s, touching but not connected as he continues to admire the way she picks a few apples into her woven basket. 

    He pays no attention to Bucky, the sound of his voice outweighed by the thoughts of her. 

    “Steve?” It’s a question as he finally snaps out of his haze, “what’s gotten into you?” Bucky asks, a genuine sense of wonderment in his tone as the younger of the two sighs. 

    “I think I’ve been struck by cupid himself.” He says aloud and Bucky can’t help but roll his eyes, but the smirk displayed on his lips makes him happy, happy that Steve has finally taken a liking to anything other than the bronzed shield he wields. 

    “I hear she has no lover,” Bucky whispers cheekily, the words catching Steve by surprise as he feels his heart leap towards her. 

    “Who told you that?” Steve asks, bewildered, amused, and hungry for more information. Bucky just laughs, jumping from the branch effortlessly before craning his head up to look at the golden haired man.

    “You’ll have to find out for yourself.” 

~

    The waves crashed against the shore, sand growing damp as you dug your toes into it. The sun was slowly fading, but still just as hot as you closed your eyes and let the sunshine was over you. 

    The beach was always a safe space, providing you with recluse when you wanted time with the most important person; yourself. 

    The woven basket you carried, now filled with fresh fruit and a jug of water, sat half buried in the tan sand, acting as a weight on the rag you lay for when you emerged from the water. 

    Shedding your clothes, you made your way beneath the waves, relishing in the cool water against your skin as your mind wandered back to the bazar. You saw him, perched atop a tree, lounging with his bow and arrow across his toned chest and back as he ate the sweet clementines you’d been trying to find. 

    Everyone knew of Steve, but vert few knew Steve. 

    He wasn’t like you or anyone else you knew, part God as his walked with a high head and a glimmer in his eye that made him shine. 

    When you made your way back onto the beach you were tired, taking you time to re-dress as you dig into the basket, an apple in hand before you’re biting down on it. 

    It’s sweet, quelling your hunger just enough, but it doesn’t satisfy you. 

    “Apples are sweet, but the summer is the season for clementines.” A sweet voice rings out from behind you, turning around to be met with none other than Steve.

    He was barefoot, buried in the sand, his bow and arrow still slung across his back and you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander across the vast expanse of his broad chest. 

    A smile stretches across your lips, tantalizing Steve as he takes a few steps closer until he’s at the edge of the rag you’re sat on. 

    “Perhaps I can entice you with one, instead?” He smirks, the orange fruit resting perfectly in the middle of his large hand as he sinks to his knees. You bite at your bottom lip, meeting his gaze. 

    “What is Steve, Son of Peleus doing talking to just a mere mortal?” You tease, craning your head slightly upward as Steve tosses the fruit upward, catching it with ease. 

    “Have you forgotten, my dear?” He muses, rolling the fruit towards you as you catch it in your own hand. “The sea is also my home, this is where I go when it calls me.” 

    His words are so soft, voice sweet like honey as it flows through the air and you feel the warm breeze surrounding you like a hug from Aeolus himself. You felt the familiar rush of butterflies you often felt when you thought about him, but here he was, in front of you with a beaming smile on his lips. 

    “Has it called you today?” You asked, a soft whisper and almost barely audible as he leans closer, “the sea amongst other things are calling me.” 

    Your heart is racing in your chest, he smells like lavender, almonds, and earth as he pulls back. He’s quick on his feet, marvelling at the muscles and strength he posses as he strips of the rest of his clothes. 

    It’s not hard to believe that he is part God, Adonis himself having competition as he flicks his eyes up at you. 

    “Join me,” he says gently, outstretching his hand before you’re stripping once again, clothes in a pile with his as you take his hand, submerging beneath the water. 

    He clearly belongs in the water, waves calming around him as he wraps his strong arms around you to bring you close to his warm body. You’re lost in the blue of his eyes, like the sky met the sea and you never want to look away. 

    “I have been dreaming of the day I can get my hands on you,” he admits faintly, your breath hitching in your throat as you can’t resist the urge to smile. 

    “The day that my lips get to meet yours,” your heart is now tumbling, core aching as you feel him stiffen against you. 

    “The day that I get to taste you.” There’s a glimmer in his eyes, mischievous, playful, and yearning as you tangle your fingers in the hair that rests at the nape of his neck. 

    Steve wastes no time in wrapping your legs around his waist before his lips are on yours, hungry and passionate as he steals the breath from your lungs until you’re dizzy. 

    Water sloshes around your bodies, breaths hot and heavy as wandering hands squeeze at your flesh and curves, Steve memorizing the way you feel. 

    Your eyes are closed, lips still on his as he carries you both onto the beach and onto the warm cloth lining the sand, gently setting you down. You take a moment to admire the way his wet hair hangs in front of you eyes, pieces of it seemingly glued down to his forehead. 

    “You are breathtaking, practically Aphrodite herself,” he mumbles against your neck, lips passing by your collarbone before he’s peeling the sweet fruit in front of your eyes. 

    “Open,” the command is gentle as you do so, parting your lips to welcome the fruit slice. You moan at the taste, relishing in the sweetness of it before Steve is running his thumb over your bottom lip. 

    His lips seal yours once again, body heavy on top of yours as you feel the weight of his cock between your thighs. It swells when you sink your teeth into his bottom lip. 

    “Mmm, so sweet, my dear,” he mumbles against your mouth, “but I can think of something sweeter.” He purrs, nose running between your breasts until he’s situated right above your hair decorated mound. 

    “Oh,” you gasp when he throws your legs over his broad shoulders, the sun just barely peeking over the horizon as Steve laps at your folds. 

    You’ve never experienced pleasure like this, every part of your body feeling as if it’s on fire as he groans against you, “so sweet.” He praises your legs beginning to tighten around his head. 

    “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you,” he pants, emerging with wet lips as his fingers are still focused on you. You can’t keep your eyes open, back arching as you lose yourself to the pleasure; waves crashing in the background. 

    “I need to feel you, sweet. Feel all of you.” He whispers, low and raspy as he holds himself over you on his forearms. He smells like you, tastes like the sweet orange juice, and you’re hypnotized. 

    “Steve,” you can only croak out his name before he’s filling you. 

    He’s thick and it stretches you like no other as his low groans and grunts fill your ears. 

    “Feel so fuckin’ good,” the curse causes you to clench around him as he smirks. 

    “My sweet, sweet, sweet girl.” His voice is much lower this time around, tone slightly condescending as his hips rock against yours. 

    “Here I thought you were innocent,” he smirks, “but the sounds you’re makin’, oh they are anythin’ but innocent my filthy little girl.” 

    Steve’s words, combined with his deep thrusts have you digging your nails into his lightly tanned back, crescent shaped indents the only reminder of you.

    “Be mine,” he gasps, your eyes shooting open as those words leave his mouth. His lips are wet and parted, ragged breaths leaving them as he trains his eyes on you. 

    “Be mine and I will show you the world,” he promises as his hips stutter inside of you. You nod your head, “yes, yes!” 

    Your words are a double edged sword, a promise and a plea as you feel the white hot pleasure seeping through your bones for the second time that night as your name leaves through his mouth. 

    By the time you open your eyes next the waves have calmed and the moon is now showing her face, stars littering the sky as Steve’s eyes are a muted cerulean shade.  

    “You are my Clementine, sweet like the summer breeze.” 

[hollyhomburg]

Before I Leave You (Sneak Peak)

 (Omegaverse au, Mafia au, Bts x Reader) 

Summary: Someone always has to leave first; They just didn’t expect Yoongi to come back with a new omega (who's clearly been through some shit). 

Pairing: Beta! Yoongi, Omega! Reader, Omega! Jungkook, Omega! Seokjin, Alpha! Namjoon, Alpha! Hoseok, Alpha! Taehyung, Alpha! Jimin,

Tags: Polyamory, groupsex, sexual and non-sexual Dom/sub undertones, heat sex, praise kink, brief humiliation, Spanking, knotting, breeding kink, emotional abuse, physical abuse, forced mating marks, graphic murder scenes, negative self-talk, self-esteem issues, non-verbal characters, abandonment, PTSD, hurt/comfort, gluttonous fluff, agoraphobia, implied/referenced self-harm, suicidal thoughts and brief desperate suicide attempt, unreliable narrators. Gender dysphoria, transgender characters, internalized homophobia, internalized transphobia, internalized misogyny, unintended outings, epilepsy, 

W/c: 100k+ (87k completed so far)

A/n: long time no see~ this is what I’ve been working on for the last few months! I hope everyone will like it. Updates will be once a week on fridays or saturdays at 5pm EST. This will also be cross posted on Archive of our own. 

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

“You shouldn’t be out here- you’ll get cold.” 

Your hands play on the bannister. In the fountain, something trickles though it’s not full. It’s too early in spring and the flowers in the garden are reluctant to burst through the ground for fear of frost. Yoongi wonders how you’re not shivering. “It’s not the 1800’s Yoongi- people don’t die just from being cold”  your revealing dress is probably something that your husband chose for you. it makes Yoongi’s blood boil. 

You look a little bit better tonight, though Yoongi can't tell if the color in your face is actually real or from the thick layer of makeup that hides the bruises. The haze in your eyes, like you’re dissociating from everything, isn’t there anymore. Tonight, You’ve got a clarity that Yoongi savors. The scar is healing well, pink and hardly notable under the line of your jaw. Yoongi wouldn’t know it was there if he wasn’t looking for it.  

Yoongi searches your face. “You misunderstand me, I said that I don’t want you to be cold, but maybe if you caught a cold- I could help you get better.”

He knows his words don’t make sense- but still you recognize what he wants to say but can’t. I could love you, I could make it better, I could care for you and only treat you with the gentleness you deserve. But Yoongi doesn’t say any of that- no- he only leans forward and offers his hands. “One dance? Before I take you home?”

Yoongi will drive you away from here- will take you and go to some gritty fast food place and get you full of however many calories your husband has made you skip. And he’ll spend the whole drive thinking about leaning across the console to kiss you. He could do it- quick. You’re not wearing lipstick and no one would know. Maybe he can’t help you yet- so starved of love that you look like a ghost. But tonight, he can surely make sure your stomach and your heart is full with the careful care that Yoongi knows he’s good at giving.

You keep Yoongi at an arm's length as he leads you in the waltz, day dreaming of a hypothetical illness, some sickness that can be fixed by a few days rest and some warm soup that Yoongi could provide. The two of you pulled together in a bed however big or small- you wouldn’t mind as long as you got to be this close. His hand on your forehead crooning, “you’ve got a fever lovely.” 

It’s a beautiful day dream, but not better than reality as he pulls you in tighter against him in your skimpy gown. It’s only to keep you warm- he justifies. And you melt into his hold. His hands are wide, warm, and better than any jacket as they cup your sides and the small of your back. You stumble on the uneven cobblestones of the garden and Yoongi heaves you up so that you’re balanced on his toes.

He spins you, going faster in the practices steps, making you giggle- a sound that he’s never heard from you and wants to hear again and again. You slow to a more gentle pace, Swaying softly from side to side. You rest your whole body against him and Yoongi holds you up.

For the first time he can smell your real scent, you smell sweet and bready, like a freshly baked cake, something warm inside on a day that the rain pours outside. You smell like cozy lazy Sundays and cupcakes. Yoongi wants to bury his face in your neck but won’t without asking.

He wonders if you like his scent just as much as he likes yours.  

Before he can ask, you pipe up. “You just had to take all the good didn’t you?” its not said bitterly, but musing. Out of two brothers, why would one have so much more softness than the other? One gentle and kind while the other is bloodthirsty and violently selfish. Why did you have to choose wrong?

“What would it be like Yoongi? If you took me away from here what would it be like?” you’re crying, barely daring to utter the words. The two of you both know from experience that tempting fate never ends well but you’ve never wanted anything so badly. 

Yoongi struggles to hold onto your happy scent. You know how much wanting something you can’t have can hurt you. Reaching out like you’re prepared to grasp the future he’ll paint for you, holding onto the lapels of his coat as you cry. Yoongi just runs his hands up and down your back to comfort you through the longing. 

Like this garden aches for rain, Yoongi aches to give, anything and everything, his heart on a platter if that’s what you wanted.

“We’d get takeout every few nights and play rock paper scissors to decide who gets to be the little spoon, we’d have a rule of no yelling in the house, I’d take you out to the ocean and make you s’mores whenever you wanted. You could steal my clothes and I’d never ever say a word about It.” 

You laugh at that- somehow, Yoongi just knows that’s something you’d do. He’s known enough omegas, he knows that courting one means you voluntarily give up half of your sweatshirt collection. He keeps speaking softer, like to whisper his wishes out loud is like trying to hold onto a shooting star.  

“And-” Yoongi takes a deep breath, tilting his face forward so that your foreheads are aligned. So close. This is the closest Yoongi has ever let himself get to you. “-I’d love you until we’d both had our last breath. I’d leave you sticky notes on the refrigerator telling you that I love you every time I had to leave. I’d never- ever let you be cold. And I’d show you my pack”

Yoongi can feel you swallow thickly at his promises- and he hopes- hopes more than anything else that they’re not empty ones. You always forget that he has someone else- that there are several someone-else’s who have Yoongi’s attention the way you do. He is the moon and you’re just something he orbits around. There are other celestial objects caught in his orbit. “What are they like? What’s it like to have a pack?” 

Yoongi tries not to let himself get misty eyed, “it’s everything, it’s love and having everyone there all around you but it’s also so much fun, you’re never alone- you always have someone to be around and it’s not even- it doesn’t even feel tiring. Even when you want to sleep you’d rather stay up with them.” Yoongi slides his finger underneath one of the straps of your dress, playing with it. “Telling you what they’re like- well- that would take me hours” 

Your laugh is pretty, and it slips through yoongi’s fingers like smoke “That sounds beautiful.” Yoongi holds you like you might be a piece of that- a piece of his pack that he hadn’t known he’d been missing. That's probably why your next words hit him so hard. 

“I wish I could have seen it. Get back to them safe alright? Do me a favor and love them like you would have loved me.”

*Part 1 Coming Friday April 9th @ 5pm EST* 

[chiwhorei]

listen . . . i’m thinking about sugar daddy all might.

if endeavor is rich as the no. 2 hero imagine how much money toshinori has. warning: unedited, stupid, and smutty

i bet sugar daddy toshi is also so sweet, like— it’s not just about sex, he wants companionship. he wants a cute little thing to go to fancy dinners with and hang off of him at hero galas. he’s got more money than god and no one to spend it on until you come along.

you, with the bright smile and big eyes who makes his tea just right every morning when he comes into your shop.

he loves making you giggle and fluster. he loves the way you look at him like he holds the stars in his orbit, not as the scrawny, washed up former pro like everyone else.

your attraction to him is immediate, your skin feels like it’s burning whenever he’s close, but it takes toshinori longer to realize that you want him like he wants you.

he tries to take it slow, he promises you that he just wants to take care of you and that you’re under no obligation to do anything you don’t want to.

but you want him, you want him badly.

after your second or third “date” he brings you back to his place, a modest but unmistakably lush apartment, for a nightcap. he shows you all of his awards, different medals and ribbons. all a reminder of the hero he was.

you can see a glimmer of sadness in his eyes as he recollects his past. and there’s something about that moment that has you leaning into him even closer.

toshinori fucks rhythmic and deep. he’s caught off guard by your first kiss, but he catches on quickly. the designer dress he bought you to wear tonight is sitting on a pile on the floor— he’ll send it to the dry cleaners tomorrow.

you’re a dream on top of him, his hands attached to your hips, roaming up to swipe at your nipple or back down to cup your ass— scars and callouses exploring the sweetest, most pliant young body money could buy.

you don’t mean to, but those big hands on you body and that long cock nestled deep in your aching cunt make it hard to think straight. you scream out for your daddy in between tears and toshi goes absolutely feral.

he fucks up in to you, hitting that sweet spot inside that turns you into mush— as soon as his thumb comes down to swipe over your clit you’re done for.

no ones ever made you cum as hard as the lanky, scarred, retired hero below you.

it’s been months since he started taking care of you, moving you into his apartment and buying you anything that catches your eye for even a moment. he would rip the moon out of the sky if it means your bottom lip would wobble like when you see the little blue bag he slides to you over the dinner table.

you jump out of your seat and pepper his cheeks with a new flight of lipstick stains. every time.

watching you get ready for another benefit dinner in the most beautiful gowns, seeing you wearing nothing but pretty jewelry and his cum, waking up to you skipping around his apartment in his oversized dress shirts the next morning—

a sight so dazzling, he’s not sure he’ll ever get used to it.

✞ all writing is dymphnasprose’s original content, please do not repost or modify. do no read my content as asmr.©️

[kingandfireheart]

Lucien Vanserra Sass Appreciation Post

For more serious Lucien content see my other posts:

What the fuck is happening in the Autumn Court series Part 1 (Eris) and Part 2 (Lady of the Autumn Court)

What stories are left: Lucien

When Lucien introduces himself:

"Lucien," my captor said quietly, the name echoing with a hint of a snarl. "Behave."

Lucien went rigid, but he hopped off the edge of the table and bowed deeply to me. "My apologies, lady." Another joke at my expense. "I'm Lucien. Courtier and emissary." He gestured to me with a flourish. "Your eyes are like stars, and your hair like burnished gold."

When Lucien is intrigued by Feyre:

"Well," Lucien said, his remaining russet eye fixed on me, "you don't look half as bad now. A relief, I suppose, since you're to live with us. Though the tunic isn't as pretty as a dress."

When Lucien wants to know if Feyre thinks he's hot:

"Thank you for the meal," I said. It was all I could think of. "Won't you stay for wine?" Lucien said with sweet venom from where he lounged in his seat. I braced my hands on my chair to rise. "I'm tired. I'd like to sleep." "It's been a few decades since I last saw one of you," Lucien drawled, "but you humans never change, so I don't think I'm wrong in asking why you find our company to be so unpleasant, when surely the men back home aren't much to look at." At the other end of the table, Tamlin gave his emissary a long, warning look. Lucien ignored it. "You're High Fae," I said tightly. "I'd ask why you'd even bother inviting me here at all-or dining with me." Fool-I really should have been killed ten times over already. Lucien said, "True. But indulge me: you're a human woman, and yet you'd rather eat hot coals than sit here longer than necessary. Ignoring this"-he waved a hand at the metal eye and brutal scar on his face-"surely we're not so miserable to look at."

When Feyre leaves their first dinner together:

He gave a distant nod and motioned for me to leave. Dismissed. Like the lowly human I was. Lucien propped his chin on a fist and gave me a lazy half smile. Enough. I got to my feet and backed toward the door. Putting my back to them would have been like walking away from a wolf, sparing my life or no. They said nothing when I slipped out the door. A moment later, Lucien's barking laugh echoed into the halls, followed by a sharp, vicious growl that shut him up.

When Lucien notices Feyre checking him out:

Lucien paused, and I found him smirking at me, making the scar even more brutal. "Were you admiring my sword, or just contemplating killing me, Feyre?"

When Lucien is a sarcastic motherfucker:

“So is this what you do with your lives? Spare humans from the Treaty and have fine meals?” I gave a pointed glance toward Tamlin’s baldric, the warrior’s clothes, Lucien’s sword. Lucien smirked. “We also dance with the spirits under the full moon and snatch human babes from their cradles to replace them with changelings–”

When Lucien describes Amaratha perfectly:

"What happened to the magic to make it act that way?" Lucien let out a harsh laugh. "Something was sent from the shit-holes of Hell," he said, then glanced around and swore. "I shouldn't have said that. If word got back to her-"

When they run into the Boggee:

"I heard its voice in my head. It told me to look." Lucien rolled his shoulders. "Well, thank the Cauldron that you didn't. Cleaning up that mess would have ruined the rest of my day." He gave me a wan smile. I didn't return it.

When he gives Feyre a title:

"Are you a warrior, though?" Would you be able to kill me if it ever came to that? Lucien huffed a laugh. "Not as good as Tam, but I know how to handle my weapons." He patted the hilt of his sword. "Would you like me to teach you how to wield a blade, or do you already know how, oh mighty mortal huntress?

When Lucien just needs someone to spar with:

“Do you ever stop being so serious and dull?" "Do you ever stop being such a prick?" I snapped back. Dead—really, truly, I should have been dead for that. But Lucien grinned at me. "Much better.

When Lucien and Feyre spend quality time together:

Over the next three days, I found myself joining Lucien on Andras's old patrol while Tamlin hunted the grounds for the Bogge, unseen by us. Despite being an occasional bastard, Lucien didn't seem to mind my company, and he did most of the talking, which was fine; it left me to brood over the consequences of firing a single arrow. An arrow. I never fired a single one during those three days we rode along the border. That very morning I'd spied a red doe in a glen and aimed out of instinct, my arrow poised to fly right into her eye as Lucien sneered that she was not a faerie, at least. But I'd stared at her-fat and healthy and content-and then slackened the bow, replaced the arrow in my quiver, and let the doe wander on.

When Lucien diagnoses Faerie problems perfectly:

A brush of ice slithered across my nape. "He would be that brutal?" Lucien studied the wine in his goblet. "You don't hold on to power by being everyone's friend. And among the faeries, lesser and High Fae alike, a firm hand is needed. We're too powerful, and too bored with immortality, to be checked by anything else."

When Lucien is told to Back Off, so he exacts his revenge:

Lucien's russet eye was bright, though the smile he gave me didn't meet it. The face of Tamlin's emissary-more court-trained and calculating than I'd seen him yet. "I'm unavailable today," he said. He jerked his chin to Tamlin. "He'll go with you." Tamlin shot his friend a look of disdain that he took few pains to hide. His usual baldric was armed with more knives than I'd seen before, and their ornate metal handles glinted as he turned to me, his shoulders tight. "Whenever you want to go, just say so." The claws of his free hand slipped back under his skin. No. I almost said it aloud as I turned pleading eyes to Lucien. Lucien merely patted my shoulder as he passed by. "Perhaps tomorrow, human."

When Lucien hides:

"I had to go sort out some hotheads on the northern border-official emissary business," he said, setting down the hunting knife he'd been cleaning, a long, vicious blade. "I got back in time to hear your little spat with Tam, and decided I was safer up here. I'm glad to hear your human heart has warmed to me, though. At least I'm not on the top of your killing list."

When Lucien and Feyre become friends after he tells her how to trap a Suriel:

Another riddle-and another bit of information. I said, "It's a good thing that while you have superior hearing, I possess superior abilities to keep my mouth shut." He snorted as I took the knife from the table and turned to procure the bow from my room. "I think I'm starting to like you-for a murdering human."

When Lucien is day drinking and living his best life:

“Would you like me to grovel with gratitude for bringing me here, High Lord?" "Ah. The Suriel told you nothing important, did it?" That smile of his sparked something bold in my chest. "He also said that you liked being brushed, and if I'm a clever girl, I might train you with treats." Tamlin tipped his head to the sky and roared with laughter. Despite myself, I let out a quiet laugh. "I might die of surprise," Lucien said behind me. "You made a joke, Feyre." I turned to look at him with a cool smile. "You don't want to know what the Suriel said about you." I flicked my brows up, and Lucien lifted his hands in defeat. "I'd pay good money to hear what the Suriel thinks of Lucien," Tamlin said. A cork popped, followed by the sounds of Lucien chugging the bottle's contents and chuckling with a muttered, "Brushed.”

When Lucien is incredibly casual for a guy going to an orgy:

What?”

Lucien laughed. “Yes—all those female faeries around you were females for Tamlin to pick. It’s an honor to be chosen, but it’s his instincts that select her.”

“But you were there—and other male faeries.” My face burned so hot that I began sweating. That was why those three horrible faeries had been there—and they’d thought that just by my presence, I was happy to comply with their plans.

“Ah.” Lucien chuckled. “Well, Tam’s not the only one who gets to perform the rite tonight. Once he makes his choice, we’re free to mingle. Though it’s not the Great Rite, our own dalliances tonight will help the land, too.

When Lucien is the mom friend:

"You look . . . refreshed," Lucien observed with a glance at Tamlin. I shrugged. "Sleep well?" "Like a babe." I smiled as him and took another bite of food, and felt Lucien's eyes travel inexorably to my neck. "What is that bruise?" Lucien demanded. I pointed my fork to Tamlin. "Ask him, he did it." Lucien looked from Tamlin to me and then back again. "Why does Feyre have a bruise on her neck from you?" he asked with no small amount of amusement.

When Lucien loves drama:

"Accountable?" I sputtered, placing my hands flat on the table. "You cornered me in the hall like a wolf with a rabbit!" Lucien propped an arm on the table and covered his mouth with his hand, his russet eye bright. "While I might not have been myself, Lucien and I both told you to stay in your room," Tamlin said, so calmly that I wanted to rip out my hair. I couldn't help it. Didn't even try to fight the red-hot temper that razed my senses. "Faerie pig!" I yelled, and Lucien howled, almost tipping back in his chair. At the sight of Tamlin's growing smile, I left.

When Lucien bolts:

“I had to keep my hands clenched at my sides to avoid wiping my sweaty palms on the skirts of my gown as I reached the dining room, and immediately contemplated bolting upstairs and changing into a tunic and pants. But I knew they’d already heard me, or smelled me, or used whatever heightened senses they had to detect my presence, and since fleeing would only make it worse, I found it in myself to push open the double doors.

Whatever discussion Tamlin and Lucien had been having stopped, and I tried not to look at their wide eyes as I strode to my usual place at the end of the table.

“Well, I’m late for something incredibly important,” Lucien said, and before I could call him on his outright lie or beg him to stay, the fox-masked faerie vanished.

When Feyre goes to a party:

"Cauldron boil me," Lucien whistled as I came down the stairs. "She looks positively Fae." ...

I squared my shoulders, disinclined to let him see how much his words or voice or sheer well-being impacted me. Not yet. "I'm surprised I'm even allowed to participate tonight." "Unfortunately for you and your neck," Lucien countered, "tonight's just a party." "Do you lie awake at night to come up with all your witty replies for the following day?" Lucien winked at me, and Tamlin laughed and offered me his arm. "He's right,"....

"So there's singing and dancing and excessive drinking," Lucien chimed in, falling into step beside me. "And dallying," he added with a wicked grin.

When Lucien plays a prank:

"I also remember you telling me how witchberries were harmless, and the next thing I knew, I was half-delirious and falling all over myself," I said, recalling the afternoon from a few weeks ago. I'd had hallucinations for hours afterward, and Lucien had laughed himself sick-enough so that Tamlin had chucked him into the reflection pool...."

When Feyre gets drunk of Faerie Wine:

“Tam would gut me if he caught you drinking that.”

“Always looking after your best interests,” I said, and pointedly chugged the contents of the glass. It was like a million fireworks exploding inside me, filling my veins with starlight. I laughed aloud, and Lucien groaned.

“Human fool,” he hissed.

But his glamour had been ripped away. His auburn hair burned like hot metal, and his russet eye smoldered like a bottomless forge. That was what I would capture next.

“I’m going to paint you,” I said, and giggled—actually giggled—as the words popped out.

"Cauldron boil and fry me,” he muttered, and I laughed again.”

When Lucien is hungover and third-wheeling:

Lucien kept rubbing at his temples as he ate, unusually silent, and I hid my smile as I asked him, “And where were you last night?” Lucien’s metal eye narrowed on me. “I’ll have you know that while you two were dancing with the spirits, I was stuck on border patrol.” Tamlin gave a pointed cough, and Lucien added, “With some company.” He gave me a sly grin. “Rumor has it you two didn’t come back until after dawn.” I glanced at Tamlin, biting my lip. I’d practically floated into my bedroom that morning. But Tamlin’s gaze now roved my face as if searching for any tinge of regret, of fear. Ridiculous. “You bit my neck on Fire Night,” I said under my breath. “If I can face you after that, a few kisses are nothing.” He braced his forearms on the table as he leaned closer to me. “Nothing?” His eyes flicked to my lips. Lucien shifted in his seat, muttering to the Cauldron to spare him, but I ignored him. “Nothing,” I repeated a bit distantly, watching Tamlin’s mouth move, so keenly aware of every movement he made, resenting the table between us. I could almost feel the warmth of his breath. “Are you sure?” he murmured, intent and hungry enough that I was glad I was sitting. He could have had me right there, on top of that table. I wanted his broad hands running over my bare skin, wanted his teeth scraping against my neck, wanted his mouth all over me. “I’m trying to eat,” Lucien said.”

When Lucien drops one of the best lines in the book:

"I see," I lied, not quite seeing at all. Lucien chuckled, sensing it, and I glared sidelong at him. "You've been noticeably absent again." He used the dagger to clean his nails. "I've been busy. So have you, I take it." "What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded. "If I offer you the moon on a string, will you give me a kiss, too?"

When Lucien doesn't know what is coming in the future:

Downstairs, Lucien snorted at the sight of me. "Those clothes are enough to convince me I never want to enter the human realm." "I'm not sure the human realm would know what to do with you," I said. Lucien's smile was edged, his shoulders tight as he gave a sharp look behind me to where Tam was waiting in front of a gilded carriage. When he turned back, that metal eye narrowed. "I thought you were smarter than this."

When Lucien admires Feyre's attitude:

“Don’t you understand what Rhys is?” “I do!” I barked, then sighed. “I do,” I repeated, and glared at the eye in my palm. “It’s done with. So you needn’t hold to whatever oath you swore to Tamlin to protect me—or feel like you owe me anything for saving you from Amarantha. I would have done it just to wipe the smirk off your brothers’ faces.” Lucien clicked his tongue, but his remaining russet eye shone. “I’m glad to see you didn’t sell your lively human spirit or stubbornness to Rhys.”

When Lucien is a fashionista:

Lucien had gifted both to me—the dagger during the months before Amarantha, the belt in the weeks after her downfall, when I’d carried the dagger, along with many others, everywhere I went. You might as well look good if you’re going to arm yourself to the teeth, he’d said.

When game recognize game

“Cursebreaker,” some murmured. “Blessed,” others whispered.

I made a show of looking surprised—surprised and yet accepting of the Cauldron’s choice. Tamlin’s face was taut with shock, the Hybern royals’ nothing short of baffled.

But I turned to Lucien, my light radiating so brightly that it bounced off his metal eye. A friend beseeching another for help. I reached a hand toward him.

Beyond us, I could feel Ianthe scrambling to regain control, to find some way to spin it.

Perhaps Lucien could, too. For he took my hand, and then knelt upon one knee in the grass, pressing my fingers to his brow.

When Lucien is scared of Amren:

“I think Amren would probably deny that she feels any affection for us—”

“Amren is a bedtime story they told us as younglings to make us behave. Amren was who would drink my blood and carry me to hell if I acted out of line. And yet there she was, acting more like a cranky old aunt than anything.”

“We don’t—we don’t enforce protocol and rank here.”

“Obviously. Rhys lives in a town house, by the Cauldron.” He waved an arm to encompass the city.

When Lucien is a little murderous:

“You’re working with that prick,” Cassian cut in, whatever catching-up now over, apparently. He moved to Mor’s side, a hand on her back. He shook his head at Azriel and Rhys, disgust curling his lip. “You should have spiked Eris’s fucking head to the front gates.”

Azriel only watched them with that icy indifference. But Lucien crossed his arms, leaning against the back of the couch. “I have to agree with Cassian. Eris is a snake.”

When Lucien volunteers to go on a quest:

“You will be going into the human territory,” Rhys warned. “I can’t spare a force to guard you—”

“I don’t need one. I travel faster on my own.” His chin lifted. “I will find her. And if there’s an army to bring back, or at least some way for her own story to sway the human forces … I’ll find a way to do that, too.”

My friends glanced to each other. Mor said, “It will be—very dangerous.”

A half smile curved Lucien’s mouth. “Good. It’d be boring otherwise.

When Lucien makes a friend

“Not for long—not if Vassa has anything to do with it.”

“You sound like an acolyte.”

Lucien blushed, glancing at Elain. “She’s got a foul temper and a fouler mouth.” He cut me a wry look. “You’ll get along just fine.”

[forthegothicheroine]

The King in Yellow, 1949

Much of this story is true.  Warnings in the tags.

When I had pneumonia in my early teens, my mother brought home an armful of VHS tapes from the library to alleviate my misery.  Knowing my snobbish preferences, she had grabbed copies of whatever she found in black and white.  I remember something musical that I suspect was Busby Berkeley, I remember Mildred Pierce (a bad choice, as it turned out- the plot includes a young girl dying of pneumonia), and I remember a period piece called The King.  I faded in and out of consciousness while I watched it, but it soothed me while I was awake and filled my fever dreams with sparkling images.  I could never find it at the library again, nor at Hollywood Video or even early Netflix (once my father got the subscription service where you could order practically every DVD.)  It was a bit odd that it seemed to be so obscure, given that it starred old Hollywood legend Ingrid Bergman (and, although I initially forgot it, Marlene Dietrich.)  But even big stars make films that fall by the wayside in public memory, and it seemed that this was one of them.  Google was no help, and at the time that was that.

I didn’t see the film again until I was watching Turner Classic Movies at my grandparents’ house.  I loved watching that channel with them while filling out the crossword puzzle that came in their little TCM catalogue (all of it based on movie trivia, the only kind of crossword puzzle I’ve ever been any good at.)  I recognized a certain scene where Bergman stood on a balcony, looking sadly at the moon.  Her face had an expression of unutterable melancholy, and the crescent moon reflected in each of her eyes, giving the impression of two moons in one sky.  I had very little time to catch up on what I’d missed before we had to go meet my cousins at the local Italian restaurant.  I knew logically that the movie would be long over by the time we returned, but I turned on the channel anyway.  Of course it had moved on to the lesser known Alfred Hitchcock film Stage Fright, but then I heard Marlene Dietrich sing before I could reach the remote to turn the tv off in disappointment.  I knew that I had heard her sing before, and I knew it had been in The King.

Dietrich’s singing often comes across as somewhat campy today, with its Rs pronounced as Ws and it’s up-and-down tone.  Madeline Kahn parodied it brilliantly in Blazing Saddles, such that it was a bit of a disappointment when I finally saw Dietrich’s western Destry Rides Again and found it to be lifeless and inconsistent next to the parody.  Still, we remember her voice for a reason, and when I remembered it that night, I knew that its sardonic loneliness had rung through The King and made me shiver in my dreams.

The TCM schedule didn’t list The King in its time slot, but something else.  If I had taken down the name, maybe it would have helped me find it.  Sometimes the same movie runs under multiple names.

I didn’t see the film all the way through for many years, after I graduated college.  I had found a web page that listed public domain film noir, including one called The Masked Guest.  The website described it as a costume noir, and I curiously clicked on the link.  Once I took in the credits running on the youtube window, my eyes grew wide and I did not move from my place on the bed until the movie had run its course.

The credits did indeed list it as The Masked Guest, but I recognized the strange repeating design on the title cards.  They told me that in addition to starring Dietrich and Bergman, it was directed by Fritz Lang, and a character called The King was credited to “???”  (I hadn’t seen that kind of credit since the first Karloff Frankenstein.)  When the King finally appears on screen, though, it is unmistakably Orson Welles’s voice that booms out from behind his elaborate costume.

Here are the things I understand about The King, or The Masked Guest, or The Man in Yellow, or any other title I’ve found for it on public domain archive searches.  Dietrich and Bergman play princesses named Cassilda and Camilla, respectively.  Though Dietrich’s accent is German and Bergman’s is Swedish, they blend together to give the film the impression of being set somewhere on the map that I can’t quite find.  The scenery and camera angles are very Freudian, with a great deal of archways and pillars.

The first act of The King involves frankly dull romantic plotlines, and the only thing that really saved it was the feeling that the suitors were supposed to be insipid, a suspicion lended credence by the fact that the love interests were listed so low on the credits.  Dietrich is the scandalous sister and Bergman is the responsible one, though each takes on aspects of the other as the film goes on.  Dietrich sings her song at a party, dressed in a fake 17th century gown and leaning against a piano.  Although just a moment ago she had been laughing and joking with her gentleman friends, her song takes an abruptly serious tone (not seductive, not sentimental) as she tells the story of a city lost to time and memory.  Bergman slips away from the party and onto the balcony, where we see that wonderful shot of the moon in her eyes.  Is she mourning?  Is she longing?

Dietrich cuts off the song by abruptly screaming “Not on us, King!  Not on us!”  She flees the party weeping and shaking, and from there on the film goes mad.

Though uncommon, it is not unknown for movies to switch between black and white and color, done most famously in The Wizard of Oz.  The film The King recalls here is the silent Phantom of the Opera, which had a masqued ball scene tinted in shades of red and green that tried to provide a whole spectrum of color.  The effect is even odder in the masqued ball scene in The King- the only color that appears is yellow, highlighting things like candlelight, Dietrich’s hair, a passing gown, a vase of tulips.  It also highlights one particular masked figure, whose expressionless mask was decorated with a black pattern against a sickening yellow canvas- the same pattern I had seen in the opening credits.  The color of his costume causes him to stand out from the crown even when he is far off in the background, just one head among many others.  It must have taken long and painstaking hours of work to color in every frame.

Dietrich still seems broken up days after her song, though Bergman tries to coax her into joining the dance.  Finally, at midnight, Dietrich goes out to face the party, but only to demand that every guest remove their mask.  The yellow man with a voice that once warned America about a Martian invasion tells her that he wears no mask.  Bergman reacts with disbelief, but Dietrich starts laughing like a woman unhinged.  As she laughs, the yellow hue seeps out of the King’s clothing and face- if that really is his face- and begins to color the entire ballroom crowd.  I think that what follows is bloodshed, but if there is any carnage (doubtful under the Production Code censorship), the blood must be tainted yellow and splashed across the camera like daubs of paint.  Dietrich’s laughing face is doubled and tripled on screen until it dissipates, but even when it has faded offscreen, it feels as if her ghost continues to watch the proceedings.  

By the end of the scene (filled with German Expressionist camera angles and mad violin screeching), only Bergman remains alive, cowering behind a grandfather clock.  It does not hide her for long.  The King steps towards her and extends his hand.  Reluctantly, but with a fatalistic expression, Bergman takes his hand.  They walk away together hand in hand.  The screen shifts back into black and white, and then the credits roll before we can get a good look at all the bodies in the scene.  The credits say it was based on a play called The King in Yellow, although Raymond Chandler of all people apparently had a hand in the screenplay.

As I said, that’s what I think I understand.  It’s an oddly experimental art film for the era, and it may be awaiting rediscovery by the film festival crowd.  I feel as if I alone know about it, though that obviously isn’t true.  It is my little secret; I tell myself that my husband doesn’t need me to show it to him, it would be too odd for his taste.  I’ve rewatched it many times, even if it seems like each time I search for it I have to find a different video platform or torrent.  Naturally, no subscription site has it available.  Maybe I am the last person who will ever watch it.  Maybe no one will ever think to look for it again after me, and it will be completely forgotten.

When I was hospitalized, they let me use my laptop at night before I went to sleep (no power cord, though, in case I tried to hang myself.)  I found a youtube link for The Man in Yellow, and I watched it every night.  It wasn’t a soothing sort of movie, but having it in my mind all day and then watching it in the evening allowed me to think as opposed to crying endlessly while the other patients shot me awkward looks.  I clutched the childhood stuffed animals my mother brought me when she visited, and I always held them extra tight when the masquerade scene started.

I watched the movie when I had to move away from my beloved San Francisco.  I watched the movie when I lost the last of my grandparents.  I watched the movie when a doctor unwisely took me off my medication and I couldn’t manage to eat for a month.  I watched the movie when the whole world got sick and we all locked ourselves away from each other.  I don’t mind that I don’t entirely know what it means.  I don’t mind the nightmares.  In the hospital they kept telling us about mindfulness exercises, and maybe the fact that I can focus on every aspect of the film so closely that all else falls away is the reason I keep coming back to it.  I’m being mindful.  I’m not letting any stray thoughts invade my head.  I’m just watching and waiting for the next beat of every scene, leading inexorably to that yellow-stained bloodbath.

Streaming media doesn’t last forever, and each time I find The King, I worry that it will be the last time I ever can find it.  My efforts to download it have so far been unsuccessful, odd considering that it is in the public domain.

When I watch The King, I am once again a child in my bedroom being cared for in the throes of agonizing sickness.  I am once again sitting on the couch with my grandparents in front of the tv, both of them alive and lucid again.  I am once again in the hospital, all alone except for my stuffed animals and the staff trying to keep me alive.  The film reflects in my eyes like the crescent moon in Ingrid Bergman’s gaze.  It sings to me.

I am determined to find a way to obtain The King under any name so that I never have to worry about losing it.  During some of the worst times in my life, it is the only thing that has kept me sane.

[slightlymore]

fragment

part of the ‘almost’ collaboration hosted by @hyucksie

final part of the 'soulmates collection' 

doyoung x fem reader | 10k

genre: greek mythology retelling (selene and endymion), abstract historical setting, astrology, astronomy, magic/fantasy, romance, !angst!, smut, fluffy notes 

warnings: swearing, alcohol, explicit sexual content +18 (no hardcore raunchy stuff because it didn’t fit the vibe but highly erotic scenes), bad ending, major character sad situation (not death but similar, idk how to explain without spoiling lol), overall mature themes 

other characters: ten as doyoung’s brother, kun only mentioned 

playlist:  - Moon | Jonghyun - Sun&Moon | NCT 127  - Mystery lover | Taemin  - End to start | NCT 127 

__________ A sigh. 

It was a little and delicate sound, almost inaudible. But Doyoung could hear it so well. 

It was the only thing his mind could focus on besides the soft feeling under his fingers. 

He exhaled too but he couldn’t make sense of his own voice and he didn’t want to when there was this other one he so dearly wanted to hear instead. 

He wanted it to become louder and louder. He wanted to bathe in the smoothness of that voice forever. 

“I just think you need to get laid, that’s all,” Ten smirked before his tongue could make an appearance through his plush lips. It licked one of the grapes he was holding to his mouth and chuckled at Doyoung’s disgusted expression. 

“You’re always on that bullshit. I don’t even know why I keep telling you stuff.” The man commented. 

Ten, previously lying down on the single wooden bench inside the observatory, sat up with a roll of the eyes. His fluffy hair bounced around his forehead at his movements and his smile was wicked.

“If you keep having wet dreams, it means that you’re in need for some, so you should go and get it, brother.” 

Doyoung sighed and placed his papers down, unable to understand what he was trying to do with moving them around in the first place. 

“The thing is-,”

“Yeah I know,” Ten interrupted him, “you only have sexy dreams in the observatory like a freak. Kun said it’s because you’re exhausted and your mind is more prone to let your deepest desires-”

“Wait. You told Kun about my dreams?” 

If Ten got jumpy because of Doyoung's sudden loud voice, he concealed it well. 

“We talk about unconsciousness all the time,” the boy explained relaxedly. “I think you should come too sometimes. You can let out some of your, uhm, frustration,” he wiggled his eyebrows as he took a few steps separating himself from Doyoung’s desk. 

Doyoung shrugged to make Ten take off the hand from his shoulder. “I am a scientist, not a philosopher or whatever you guys like to call yourselves.” 

“Well I am sorry that scientists don’t fuck and we do.” 

Ten ran out of the observatory with a giggle before he could be hit in the head by Doyoung’s telescope. 

______

Doyoung has always imagined meeting his soulmate in a very romantic environment. 

He was not an extremely romantic person, but since it was still a soulmate talk, he imagined at least a few shy smiles and a kiss on the hand, not a scream and his cock in his fist instead.

He was the first to scream as he turned around at the sound of rustling leaves.

You screamed too but only because he screamed so loudly in the silence of the night that the dormant birds flew away from the trees. 

Then you yelped again when your eyes fell to the man’s crotch.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry!” you hid your face with your palms and it felt boiling under your fingertips. 

The young man felt paralyzed and his first thought was that he wouldn’t have been able to touch himself anymore because of the shame. 

He breathed out once after finally putting away everything that had no business to be seen and cleared his throat. 

You had turned around in the process and Doyoung looked at your back for a moment before finally speaking. 

“Hey. Why are you wandering at night like this?” 

“Uh-” you put away your hands but didn’t dare to face him. “I couldn’t sleep and decided to come out for a bath,” you explained. “My lord,” you quickly added. 

“How did you get here? This property is owned by my astrology professor.” 

“That would be my father, sir. I live-” you lifted one arm and indicated the tower behind the garden, “-there.” 

Doyoung followed your finger with his eyes then took in your figure yet again. 

“You can turn around. I have no intention of hurting you.” 

You did as he told you and you were pleasantly surprised to see him as flustered as you were. “I’m sorry I startled you, sir.” 

The young man shook his head. “I have to apologize. It was highly inappropriate of me to do that in public.” 

“Well, no one was here to see, sir.” 

“You were here. And don’t call me sir, just call me Doyoung.” 

You smiled timidly and took a few steps towards the lake, nodding. “Then it’s nice to finally meet you Doyoung.” 

The man opened his lips for a second but you spoke on top of him. 

“Oh, my father speaks so highly of you every day,” you dipped one foot inside the calm water and Doyoung noticed for the first time what you had no shoes on. “He laughs at you for wanting to call yourself an astronomer instead of an astrologer but he also praises you a lot. My dad is an open-minded man. Sometimes I feel like he loves you more than he loves me.” 

Doyoung stared at your ankles then calves as you gently moved your toes inside the water. 

Your tone was light and nonchalant but he could sense the light layer of bitterness on it. 

“I’m sure that’s not the case.” 

You tilted your head to the side at his words and smiled again, the white and thin nightgown you were wearing almost touching the water too. Then you gathered the material around your waist and taking it off, you threw it on the shore near Doyoung’s feet. 

He gasped. 

“What are you doing?” he asked with a trembling voice, shocked to see your suddenly naked back getting swallowed by the shining darkness of the lake. 

“I told you, I came here for a bath,” you chirped back as if it was an appropriate answer. 

Turning around towards him you noticed that he caught a glimpse of your chest before he looked away in the distance. 

His adam apple travelled up and down distressed and even in the darkness you could see his neck and face redden up. 

You smiled again and crouched down, letting the water get to your chin and hide your curves from his eyes. 

“What would my father say if he knew I’m here naked in front of you now?” 

“Hm, he would probably kill me,” he replied sincerely. 

You let out a bright laugh. “Don’t worry. He won’t do it. If he doesn’t know.” 

He closed his mouth and you noticed the little smile trying to bloom on his lips as you exchanged a longer look than intended. 

Then he looked away and cleared his throat. 

“Then I’ll leave for now and I’ll come back when you’re done bathing,” he suddenly got up and patted his ass trying to clean his slacks of any dirt. 

“Aren’t you here to stare at the moon?” your voice stopped him from walking away. 

You were looking at him, gently swimming backwards. “Stay. I won’t bother you.” 

Doyoung sighed and after a moment of uncertainty, he moved back slowly and sat down again. 

You closed your eyes, letting the water lull you slowly. 

For the first time in weeks, the young man didn’t look at the moon once. 

__________

“What are the results for tonight?” you leaned in to read Doyoung’s notes, your gown collecting the drops of water falling on your body and making it difficult for the man to look away. 

You started to come out every night, the sound of your footsteps arriving to Doyoung’s senses first then your scent.

The results for that night were that Doyoung absolutely loved breasts and that he absolutely needed to touch himself or he might go insane. 

“The moon got smaller as predicted and it had the same course on the sky as usual.” 

You chuckled. 

“Well, of course. What would Selene do otherwise? Wander around?” 

Doyoung bit his lower lip as he would do when listening to your father teach him about astrology and deities. It was obvious that you would have his beliefs about the moon too.

“Well, she could, couldn’t she? Since she’s a goddess,” he played along. 

You sat near him and patted your neck with one end of your gown fabric. “She can technically walk away. But only to places where her presence is needed. And she goes away once every cycle to sleep.” 

Doyoung put away his papers and leaned back on his elbows, suddenly very amused. 

“Selene needs to sleep?” 

You noticed the almost mocking tone in his voice and smiled. “Of course she does. She obviously sleeps during the day just like Helios sleeps during the night but she also needs a full recharge once every cycle.” 

“You know a lot about her. Do you also know why she shrinks every night? Is that to show that she’s getting tired?” 

You chuckled at his theory but nodded. “Exactly. And after sleeping she grows bigger and bigger.” 

Doyoung hummed pensively and his eyes fell on your spine. “Wouldn’t it make sense if she came back full after recharging? Instead, she comes back small. The process makes no sense.” 

He raised his eyes to meet your gaze and you noticed the way his fingers twitched as if he forced himself to still his hand and not touch your skin. 

“There are so many things that make no sense,” you whispered.  

The man tilted his head to the side at your words and you let yourself down on your back, your eyes drinking in the stars above you. 

“Like what?” 

“Love?” 

Doyoung imitated your position and you had to prevent yourself from jolting when his shoulder touched yours. 

“Do you believe in love, astronomer?” you turned your head to see his face. 

“I don’t know. I have to see and touch things to believe in them.” 

“So you need to see and touch Selene to believe in her?” 

“Yeah.” 

“And would you believe it if she suddenly appeared and told you that it was her?” 

Doyoung turned his head to look at you as well and his gaze made your guts twist on themselves. He was so close that you both kept on whispering. 

“She should prove it somehow.” 

“What would you want her to do?” 

“Something goddess-like?” 

“What would that be?” you turned on your stomach interested and lifted your bust on your elbows. Doyoung’s eyes wandered on your chest for a little moment and it made you burn. 

“I don’t know. She’s the goddess. She should know. What can Selene do?” 

“Make people fall in love with her until they descend into madness."

Doyoung hummed with a smile. 

“Human girls can do that too. How is that special?” 

“So you do believe in love," you smiled teasingly, one finger to poke his bicep. 

“Well, it never happened to me, but if so many people talk about it, I guess it could be true.”

“A lot of people talk about Selene and yet, you don’t believe in her.”  

His eyes were barely visible in the night but the little lights in them were dancing just like the stars around the Moon. 

You opened your lips and breathed out.

Then he got up and collected his stuff before you could slip and ask him to just touch you right there under the black sky until he believed in you. 

__________

The first time you saw him you didn't think much of it. 

Another night, another person longing for something while looking up at the moon. 

You let yourself down to watch him better and you smiled surprised upon seeing his features. Apollo would wither away with shame in comparison so you chuckled excitedly. 

Finally. What a nice match. 

What a nice subject to driving into insanity for you. 

So you kept staring at his dark eyes, illuminated by your light, then at the curve of his forehead, his jaw, his neck. You imagined it strained as he begged for your love and you chuckled again. 

"Sleep," you whispered to him, eager to enter his dreams just like you did with so many people before him. 

But he didn't move and his eyes remained wide and awake. 

You tilted your head to the side, studying him well. 

"I said, Sleep," your voice travelled inside his head again but it got blocked by such a thick wall to make you almost fall backwards. 

You scoffed, one foot stomping on the ground and your arms crossed on the chest. 

He was not thinking about you?

He was staring at the moon, yes, but he wasn't staring at you?

_________

It was not until he fell asleep in his observatory that you managed to get closer. 

Night after night you were staring at each other without him realizing and night after night his head was completely closed off. Drifting away in the morning, angry and tired, your only thoughts were made of plans around how to enter that man's dreams.

You were feeling weak, so little time until Helios would push you to the side with his light. But your pride was hurt and you were desperate to get into his head. 

It was so easy this one time. Completely at your mercy. So easy that you basically tripped forward not expecting it. 

His mind was like soft butter and you giggled triumphant, stepping around his dreams. 

Finally. 

It was completely silent inside of him and you inhaled deeply. 

What a nice head, you thought. So calm and peaceful. No chaos and no darkness. 

You opened your eyes and focused around his imagination. 

It was a deep refreshing forest with a faraway waterfall. The sound of it accompanying the sound of your nude feet on the grass. 

Then you saw him. 

The man was lying down on a patch of soft moss, eyes closed and relaxed features. Like some sort of spirit. Like a god. 

You walked to him silently and touched his knee. His eyes slowly opened at the sensation and his lips got brushed by a sigh. You leaned down on top of him, catching it with your lips, sighing into him as well. 

Finally, you smiled, as his hands pressed into your soft flesh. 

But before he could touch your bare skin, you were already drifting away to sleep yourself and the dusk vaporized you from his arms. 

So you tried again. 

And again. 

Always near the time, you'd touch gowns with Helios as you passed the baton. Always touching the mortal man just for a second in his mind and his dreams.

Until you became obsessed.

His hands on your stomach and sliding lightly on your bust. You holding onto his wrist with both your hands and delicately kissing his thumb before gently starting to suck on it. His muscles contracting at the sight and you feeling him harden underneath you. His lips slightly parted as if breathing for him was suddenly harder and his gaze was dark and lustful. Jerking up with no warming and, pressing you hard against himself, kissing you hungrily. Wet, messy, and rough. His fingers digging into your thighs and yours into his shoulders. His skin rubbing against your and you desperately wanting more.

Until you got too impatient. 

__________

“It’s called a telescope. It’s a machine that makes things appear closer. I want to see every detail of the moon and I’ll soon be able to.” 

Doyoung was scribbling away into his papers and you shifted your head from resting on your knees to resting it on your hand instead. 

“Can I see it?” 

He didn’t reply for a few moments, eyebrows furrowed and clenched jaw, so you thought he didn’t hear you. 

“It’s not done yet,” he then mumbled right when you opened the mouth to speak again. 

“Well-” you started but he suddenly got up and extended his hand to you. 

You looked at his delicate palm and fought the urge to kiss his fingertips. 

You lifted your hand to touch it. It was soft and warm as you held it. And you hoped he wouldn’t let yours go after helping you up. 

Unfortunately, he did and started to walk up the little hill towards the tower by himself. 

You smiled a little and followed him after gathering your gown in your fists, eyes on his back instead of paying attention where you should put your feet instead.

“So tell me. Why do you like the moon so much?” 

Humans were so used to walking around that it was nothing for him to arrive at the top of the hill in a few steps. You haven’t been walking as much as you did while with Doyoung in aeons so you had to rest, palms on your knees and panting hard as he spoke. 

“It’s fascinating, don’t you think?” 

“Well,” you shrugged, “she’s a goddess.” You replied, the sweat on your forehead and messy hair very ungoddess-like. 

Doyoung looked at his side, staring at your lips as they moved then looked away at the tower in front of him. His visible cheek trembled a little under the moonlight and you smiled. 

“So you still don’t believe the moon is a goddess. My job here is useless.” 

He sighed at your affirmation. “I just- I’m sure there’s more to that. The moon is made of soil just like the earth. I think it’s a piece of earth that didn’t manage to merge with us.” 

He started to walk away as you caught up with his pace. 

“Merge with us? Like when the earth was made someone just left a piece of it out for no reason?” 

The boy looked at you after arriving at the wooden door and resting one hand on it. “You think I’m insane, right? No one believes me.” 

You imitated his expression and lightly hit his shoulder with yours. “I don’t think you’re insane. Your mind is just fascinating like the moon herself.” 

“You think there’s a possibility that the goddess is mad at me for not believing in her existence? Maybe this is why I’m not making any progress with my studies,” Doyoung mumbled to himself amused as unlocked the tower. 

You stared at his profile for a while. The silence made it possible for the soft breeze on the lake water to be heard as well as the young man’s yearning sigh. 

“I think she’s flattered. You’re like a challenge.” 

Doyoung turned his head around to face you again and his dark eyes under the strands of black hair were hypnotizing as he made a few steps backwards into the round room. 

“Flattered by me? There are so many people staring at her.” 

You tightened the hold on your gown as you followed him into the darkness of the observatory. 

“Not like you. I watched you from my own tower and you’ve been here every night for so many cycles.” 

“I am flattered that you’ve been watching me,” Doyoung lowered his voice.  

You smiled again and felt a lump grow in your throat under his gaze, forcing you to swallow before talking again. 

“Also, you don’t just mindlessly admire her. You want to understand. And that’s fresh.” 

You looked up at the high ceiling and admired the weird wooden construction. It was a little dusty but cosy.

Doyoung let one corner of his lips rise. “So the moon is bored with all the suitors and finds me amusing. Will she kill me after playing with me like this or you think she will grant me forgiveness?” 

You looked down again and stared at each other until Doyoung’s eyes widened a little upon seeing your troubled expression. 

“Hey, it was a joke,” he touched your arm delicately. “The moon is not going to kill me.” 

You gulped and lowered your gaze upon feeling his touch. 

“No, she can’t. But what if she has to put you to sleep?” you asked with a feeble voice. 

His pupils shook quickly as if he was waiting for you to finally laugh out loud at the joke. 

But you didn’t. 

“Why would Selene do that?” 

You walked away from him, hands behind your back, neck strained as you looked up at the structure. 

“Have you ever heard of Selene being in love?” 

“I haven’t heard much of her at all, to be honest.” 

He leaned his hips on the desk and crossed his arms on the chest. 

“What have you been doing during my father’s lessons?” you suddenly turned your head towards him and he finally could see a hit of amusement on your features. 

“Hm,” he considered. “Thinking about the moon but not like that.” 

You rolled your eyes and touched the telescope in front of you with one finger. It was sturdy and cold. Then you started to walk around the room, the fingertip gently caressing everything you could touch. 

“Selene is cruel. She makes people fall in love with her. With no promises. Just for fun. And when they all learn that she can’t possibly love them back, they all leave.”  

“Why?” 

You stopped near a wall adorned with a simple mirror. The reflection was something you didn’t want to look at so you placed your gaze on Doyoung. He exchanged the look. 

“It’s her fate.” 

“Her fate to be cruel?” 

“Her fate to be alone.” You started to walk again. 

His clothes neatly hanging near his bed smelled like incense and they were soft under your finger. 

“That sounds like someone that wants to protect themselves,” he considered. 

You didn’t reply for a moment so Doyoung kept talking. 

“Selene sounds like a sad individual. She keeps making people fall in love with her but no one is trying to make her fall in love with them. And then they run away like cowards.”

You chuckled a little. “You think? But that’s Fate. If you fall in love with Selene, you either run away or lose your life.” 

“And how many people lost their life?” 

You hummed. “No one really.”

“If you love someone truly, no Fate is going to make you tremble in your slacks like a little boy.” 

You chuckled again. 

Your room tour was almost over as you walked over him, your finger gently touching the table until reaching his thigh. 

He looked down at your hand and followed it’s movements as you drew a line up on it until getting to his hip, then on his wrist and forearm. 

His skin shivered in goosebumps under your touch and you heard him swallow. 

“If you’re going to keep being so obsessed with the moon, you might lose your life too,” you whispered. “Run away now, before it’s too late.” 

His hand twitched as he loosened up his arms on his sides and grabbed your fingers before you could get to his chest. 

“Selene might choose to put me to sleep?” 

“She might have to. For pity. To not let you die on the hands of the Fates instead since it’s gruesome.” 

Doyoung wrapped your shoulders with his arm and pulled you towards his body.

 You heard the buzzing of his voice near his heart when he talked. “I will not let the moon do that. Don’t worry.”

His scent was inebriating and you closed your eyes, palms shyly placed on the linen of his tunic, his breath tickling your forehead before he placed a kiss on it. 

The touch felt so dizzying that you had to inhale twice. 

“Promise?” you lifted your head and asked quietly, the words travelling on the little sigh you emitted and placing themselves on his plump ones. 

“I promise-,” he tried to say but he was so close that you didn’t let him finish, the kiss he gave you after you leaned in was better than any words. 

Then he kissed your cheek and jaw, then you felt his tongue gently outlining your ear until you whimpered and tightened your fingers into his clothes. He chuckled lightly and kissed the spot under the ear, down down on the neck, biting gently into your flesh as you started to pant. His hands palmed the bare skin on your back before meeting the fabric of your nightgown again. 

It was your turn to get goosebumps all over your skin as you melted in his hold. 

Then you noticed the lights of the dusk gently illuminating the small windows of the observatory and you had to lightly push his chest back. 

“I have to go,” you whispered quickly. 

“Just a minute,” he replied on your lips, his arms not wanting to let you go yet. You kissed him back in short pecks until he chuckled. 

“Okay okay. Go,” he pressed his lips into yours for the last time and you turned around fast, yelping once as he lightly slapped your ass. 

__________

“There’s something I need to confess,” you announced. 

Doyoung’s eyes weren't on the moon that night either and you smiled at the small victory. Then you felt a sting inside your chest that prompted you to finally be honest with him. 

Getting out of the water slowly you hoped he'd let his obsidian eyes shamelessly caress your skin but sensing your approach he lifted his eyes on the sky instead with a secret gulp. 

“What is it?” His voice was low and a little pasty. 

"Are you drinking?" you chuckled once surprised as your feet walked the short sand shore before you could feel the cool grass under your toes instead. 

Doyoung smiled. "It's starting to get a little bit cold these nights. I have to keep myself warm."

You kneeled in front of him, sitting on your legs and extending your hand towards the bottle. "I'm also a little chilly," you explained. 

The young man handed you the wine and watched your lips as you tasted it. 

"Perhaps if you didn’t wander around naked you won't be feeling this cold." 

"Perhaps if you finally let me under your cloak, you won't be feeling this cold either." 

Doyoung's pupils trembled and his lips tightened. His lashes fanned his cheeks a few times and he looked away as you collected a single drop of wine from your lower lip with the tip of the tongue. 

He was so stubborn to fully give in that it made you euphoric. 

After the little exchange in the observatory, you expected him to jump on you as soon as he saw you. Instead, he slyly sat down on his usual spot in front of the lake, eyes high on the sky and hands busy taking his notes. 

So you undressed as usual and entered the water until you could physically feel his gaze burning your skin.

You were actually relieved he felt like that. 

Nights after nights you wondered if you should just stop bothering him. 

You felt selfish and cruel. Cruel with yourself, because you already knew how it would end. He’d run away from you and if perhaps he would not, if he prefered to actually die, then- 

You drank again and enjoyed his awkward silence for a bit. 

“I’ve been watching you that first night," you confessed. Doyoung's breath halted for a second and you smiled.

I’m Selene. I’m actually Selene. 

“I told you that I’ve been watching you for many nights, actually. From my tower.”

You locked eyes and you felt his hand wrap yours making you shiver. He retrieved the bottle and sipped talking.

"Why?" 

I’m Selene. 

"For the same reason, you've been staring at the moon. To understand. And because you're beautiful." 

Doyoung gulped the liquid and his eyes finally locked with yours. 

"What do you want to understand about me?" 

"Everything."

The crickets kept you company in the moment of silence and for the first time Doyoung didn't shy away from openly looking at your curves and you felt your skin get goosebumps. 

His fingers then unbuttoned his cloak and lifting himself on his knees, he wrapped your naked body with it. The warmth and his scent almost made you whine in pleasure. You desperately wanted him to pull you down on top of him.

"So you choose that exact moment to come and talk to me." 

The little smile that crept on Doyoung's lips made you smile as well. He sat down again and relaxed back on one elbow.

“I had no idea that looking at the moon would get you horny if that's what you're saying."

He looked at you with the corner of his eyes. The amusement in them made you bite your lower lip. 

"You got horny by looking at me though." 

In your whole long life, you've never experienced that type of teasing. 

He was there, hands not on you, doing everything with his eyes instead of his touch and it was driving you insane. 

It was not the first time you'd come down and talk to admirers that loved to stare at you, yet not a single one has made it so difficult for you to sleep with them. 

Were you losing your charm? Was it their belief in Selene that made you look fascinating to their eyes? Was this the reason Doyoung kept it all together all of these nights? You were just a normal girl in his eyes, weren't you? 

It made you so frustrated. 

And relieved at the same time.

“So why were you horny that night?” 

“I’ve been dreaming about this girl I have never met before,” he admitted." I don't know who she is or what she looks like-"

"But she managed to get you horny like that?" 

He had another sip from the bottle as if regretting telling you that. 

"Maybe it was Selene? She's known for meeting people in their dreams," you suggested. 

I am Selene. It was me. Keep me close but please run away too. 

"Selene doesn’t-” he tried to reply but stopped, aware of your deep beliefs. 

"And a girl from your dreams does?" 

"I've never-” 

"Is this why you're here? You hope to dream about her again?" 

"I am here because I am studying the moon." 

“What was the girl doing in your dreams? Can you show me?” you lowered your voice and you could have sworn that Doyoung was ready to finally push you under his weight. 

“Don’t do this to me,” he whispered instead. 

I am sorry. I am so sorry. 

“Why not?” you touched his knee. 

“I haven’t been myself since you’re around.” 

“Is that a bad thing?”

It is. It’s such a bad thing.  

“I just… I want to concentrate on the moon-” 

“She’s not going anywhere.” 

If there were men that refused a naked girl as she explicitly asked them to touch her skin, Doyoung realized with great difficulty that he was not one of them. 

Fuck, when you straddled his lap and leaned down, not even Zeus and all of his squad would have been able to stop Doyoung from sliding his hands up your thighs and grab your waist.

"Will you leave me alone after this?" he whispered on your lips. 

"Only if you leave me alone first." 

"You came to me first."

"I don't think that's correct."

Doyoung's eyebrows furrowed at your words but he had no time to think about it at your command. 

“Kiss me,” you managed to tell him before he pulled you down on his chest and promptly bit your lower lip. You whined once and cupped his face as his hands pressed you on himself.

It was weird. It was so weird. 

His tongue playing with yours and his fingers caressing your naked body, you felt powerless. You were so small. 

A weird sensation was engulfing your chest just like his scent and warmth tickled your senses. 

It tasted like danger and it made your nerves shake. 

The desire was so high that it made you dizzy but the terror was just as big as you felt his grip tighten on you. 

You felt like any other man you bewitched before. Insane. At his mercy. 

And you desperately didn’t want him to die. 

"Wait!" 

Doyoung stopped kissing your neck and looked up at your face. 

"Is everything alright? Sorry if I-," 

"No, no, it's fine," you gulped, gently moving back until standing. 

You tugged at his cloak, even more, covering yourself up to the chin. 

"I'll borrow this if it's not an issue for you," you tried to smile a little. "I just remembered I need to go home. I’ll let you concentrate on your studies for now.” 

"Wait- it’s not morning yet-," he blinked at you and stood up as well, but you were already running away on the little dirt path towards the tower. 

__________

"Your game is so weak that you make girls run away now?" 

"I didn't tell you this to get teased by you," Doyoung replied sternly but when Ten looked over he smiled seeing the other's amused expression. 

"Perhaps she just wanted to seduce you and when you finally got seduced she got bored."

"Valid. But we could have at least finished." Doyoung sighed. "I'm afraid I scared her somehow." 

The lake sounded calm in the colours of the dawn and Doyoung raised his gaze to look at the sky. 

"I mean, I'd be scared to sleep with you too." Ten joked but Doyoung wasn't listening. 

"There's something else,” the latter mumbled, almost to himself. 

Ten went quiet and looked at the other's glowing profile. 

"She felt so familiar as I held into her. Her scent and voice and her breathing. She was exactly like the girl I've been dreaming about."

Ten whistled. "You're projecting now?"

"Maybe she didn't want to be used as I thought about that dreamy girl," Doyoung murmured on his own. “I swear they felt the same though.” 

Ten waved his palm in front of his brother's face but the other didn't flinch, eyes lifeless as he was lost in thoughts. 

Then Ten shrugged. 

"Go and find her. Ask to talk to her."

Doyoung finally came to his senses. "You want her father to kill me?" 

“Go to sleep then.” 

“What?” 

Ten shrugged again. “Go to sleep and see if they’re the same person.” 

“Don’t make fun of me.” 

“I told you that you should come over our weird mystical meetings sometime.” He signed the words with air quotes. “You’d understand that dreams can be something more than mere night hallucinations.” 

__________

Doyoung didn't look at the moon that night. 

Instead, he went to sleep when it came out adorning the sky and he fell into the slumber with its image burned on his eyelids. 

He felt an idiot but he hoped to see you.

Doyoung didn't believe in fate or higher forces but if his mind could somehow predict your arrival he wanted to find out how it worked. Theory, observation and conclusion. 

It was a soft dream. 

He was walking a flowery hill. The spectrally white blossoms were high to his hips and he gently let his hands caress their petals at his passage. The moon made them bright as if they were faes and all of them were directing him somewhere.

He knew you were there waiting for him before he could see you. 

Timidly sat on the top of the hill, your white gown was looking even brighter than the moon itself. Your thighs were full-on display and for a moment Doyoung felt like he'd lived a moment like this in the past already.

He stopped and looked down around his feet where a small rabbit tilted its head to the side, staring at him with its big and glossy eyes. It was light brown and fluffy. 

Doyoung chuckled once and crouched down. The little rabbit hopped into his arms and he carried it up until reaching your smiling face. 

“I missed you,” he said as a greeting. 

A small breeze made the flowers lean gently on the side and your gown inflated as you stood.

You took a little step towards him and placed one finger on his lower lip. 

He let his gaze fall on it and kissed your fingertip. His skin was warm and soft.

Then he kissed the round sweet you made appear in your hand.

He chuckled feeling the honey already melting on his lips. He bit into it and you ate the half of it that was leftover.

“Why are you running away from me?” he whispered as the rabbit hopped off.

You were unsure if he spoke to it or you.

“I’m afraid.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“The unknown.”

Doyoung lifted one hand and cupped your face. You exhaled and closed your eyes.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” he asked.

“Falling in love with you.” 

_________

“I’m glad you took some time off to see me, son.” 

“Thank you for accepting the invitation, sir.” 

The two men were slowly walking through the Tower’s gardens, full of roses bushes and soft grass. 

“How are the studies going? Got some new information about the Moon?” 

Doyoung inhaled, hands clasped together behind his back and tilted head. 

“I do. And that’s why I’m here. I have some questions for you, sir.” 

The Professor halted his movements and smiled under the thick eyebrows. 

“What’s all that about?” 

Doyoung started to walk again and the man followed him. 

“I think I might be slightly insane but what if our theories both coexist? What if the moon is just a celestial object for some and a goddess for others, based on their beliefs?” 

The man laughed. “Have you been to the meetings of that philosopher brother of yours lately?” 

Doyoung smiled a bit at the teasing. 

“I think you can be right,” the Professor then added with a different tone. 

They both stopped again and Doyoung tried to read the expression in his eyes. 

“We’re incredible beings. We’re creators. The divine in us wants to create things so badly. Art, science, food, babies.” 

They both smiled again. 

“Reality shifts according to what you believe in and you can create things out of nowhere.” 

“But is that true if I created it? Isn’t it just fantasy?” 

“And what exactly is reality in the first place?” 

“Something you can see and touch. Something you can feel with all of your senses.” 

“Air is reality. Can you see and touch it? Can you feel it with your tongue? No. But it’s here. We all agree on it.”

The astronomer smiled again. “It’s because we need different eyes to see it.” 

“Just like you need different eyes to see Selene instead of a round disk in the sky,” the man replied. 

Doyoung turned around and walked again in silence. 

“Would Selene start to exist like flesh and bone in front of me if I started to believe in her?” he asked after a moment. 

“Yes. And the moon would look like a piece of dirt to me if I had your beliefs instead.” 

Doyoung sighed, shaking his head to the side as if trying to apologize. 

“I don’t know why I started to think about all of these things.” 

“You’re not the first man to get heartache for her, Doyoung.” 

“I am not-” Doyoung blinked a few times, unable to go on. 

“It’s actually,” he finally faced the old man, “it’s actually all about your daughter, sir,” his voice was feeble and his cheeks lightly dusted with the colour of roses. 

The Professor opened his mouth for a moment but he was quick to close it as a little smile adorned his mouth instead. 

His arm moved and Doyoung fought the urge to not run away. But the man had no ill intentions. Instead he fatherly cupped the other’s nape and laughed once. 

“I do not have a daughter, my boy.” 

__________

She’s cruel.

Doyoung could understand that. He was not stupid nor blind. 

Swaying your hips around him, visiting him all nights, eyes full of him and basically begging him to touch you: only a fool would not take a hint. 

Yet, you didn’t come to him anymore. You ran away instead of fully seducing him, breaking him, leaving him desperate. 

Or was it the whole plan? Making him long for more until no other thought could have space in his mind? 

Well, it was working. 

But Doyoung was also the sole creator of his reality and his heart was still not acquainted with the truth of the moon being a goddess. And if he didn’t believe in you, you were not real. Just a fragment of his imagination, of his dreams.

Although your touch and your breath on his skin was something he could actually feel. And the thing blooming inside his heart was also something he could feel. 

Slow feet to drag to his observatory he barely noticed the white gown abandoned on the lake’s shore. He had no intentions to look for you yet there you were again when he least tried hard to reach you. 

The night was dark and the moon was but a mere semicircle in the middle of infinite stars. 

And you were barely visible in the slow movement of the lake too, eyes closed and face up to bathe into the myriad of lights. 

“I’ve never asked your name.” 

His voice was low but it startled you. He was standing on the strand of sand, nude feet gently touched by the water at a slow rhythm. 

Hands in his slacks pockets and head ever so slightly tilted to the side, he looked so confident to make your blood boil. 

Your eyes ran over his thighs then up to his small waist. You imagined yourself wrapping it with your arms, pressing your face into the clean scent of his white flowy shirt, fingers drawing the most prominent veins on his forearms made bare by his hands that slowly unbuttoned the sleeves.

“You didn’t.” 

You swam backwards, water hitting the swell of your breasts at each fluid movement as you put on a brave face.  

He smiled and your breath vibrated but then you couldn’t see his face anymore, hidden by the fabric he took off. 

His shirt fell near your gown and you looked at its trajectory before realizing what you had in front of you. 

“What are you doing?” your voice was not brave anymore as you spoke and you gulped once. 

“Taking a bath. I had a very long day,” he explained, amused eyes under his messy hair, hands already unbuttoning his pants. 

You watched those too as they fell to his ankles before he could step out of them and when you raised your eyes again you inhaled sharply. 

Doyoung didn’t comment on your inability to look at him but you could almost feel his smile burn the side of your face as you turned around, laying down on your back again and trying to calm your buzzing nerves. 

The water did nothing to lull you as your guts physically felt each meter Doyoung swam towards you. 

“I dreamt you a few nights ago,” he talked and his voice was nearer than you expected. 

“Oh really. Was that nice?” 

“You were there too, Selene."

You floundered with a gasp at that name on his lips but he was quick to wrap your body with his arms and keep you afloat. Your chest was expanding quickly and it stopped when you realized that it was pressed on Doyoung’s naked body. 

"What are you talking about?" you tried to chuckle, palms on his chest as if trying to push him away but not actually wanting to do it. 

“Look at me,” his voice was a whisper. 

You breathed out and kept staring at his collarbones instead. 

“A goddess would certainly have enough guts to look at a mere man’s eyes, wouldn’t she?” 

His fingers delicately drew your jaw until lifting your chin up. 

The look you exchanged was electrifying and your hands got buried in his shoulders’ muscles on their own. 

“You certainly have a lot of guts for a mere man.” 

“Is this why you’re running away from me? You’re not used to it? For your little pets to have guts?"

You scoffed once. 

“I could- I could set you on fire if I wanted to.” 

“You already do without trying,” he smiled. 

“I could physically turn you on fire, you know?”

Doyoung hummed at your threats and tightened his hold on your hips even more until there was no more possible space between your bodies anymore. 

“You’re physically turning me on fire,” he whispered near your ear. “Do you not feel it?” 

"Doyoung," you whined, his skin rubbing on yours as you shifted. 

"Selene," he replied. 

"We should not do this."

"Do what?" 

You exhaled frustrated and finally looked at his eyes. 

"You should not try to sleep with the goddess of the moon if you want to be alive."

"And who's going to kill me?" 

"The Fates." His lips curved up. 

"I'm serious! It's going to kill you."

"But I can’t step back. I'm just a weak mortal bewitched by you."

"We both know that's not true. You don't care about me at all. Not--,” you gulped. “Not like I do."

He smiled a little. 

"And that drives you insane, doesn’t it?" his breath caressed your earlobe as he whispered near it. "You hate being weak."

You closed your eyes with fluttering eyes as you felt his fingers caress your spine, from the base of your neck, down to your waist until reaching the softness of your ass.

"Why are you resisting me, let me in."

"You're just everything I was afraid of."

"Maybe it's time to stop and face your fears."

"There's no going back after this. You should run away now.”

"I don’t want to go back." 

"You said it yourself. You’re but a mere man. A human!” you argued. 

"And yet here you are, Selene herself melting in my arms."

You sighed in frustration. "Don’t get so cocky."

"You said that the worst thing that could happen is you falling in love with me. Is that really that bad?" 

“The Fates will get to you, Doyoung? Do you not understand? You’ll be gone.” 

“You said that you can put me to sleep more gently. Do that.”

“You’ll be gone!”

"I’ll find a way back to you."

"You’re so reckless for a scientist."

"Your influence on me is really bad.”

“You’re not taking this seriously at all.” 

“Can’t be rational when all I can think about is how much I want to fuck you dizzy.” 

You opened your mouth to reply something witty but you couldn't because with quick hands he took your arms and wrapped them around his neck. It was so quick that you were still in the middle of processing what just happened when with gentle fingers he directed your head closer to his face and pressed a sweet kiss on your lips. 

You let yourself be cuddled by his homely scents as you slid your fingers through his soft hair. His hands were drawing light lines on your back and between his arms, you felt warm and safe. All your worries were suddenly gone and you couldn't feel any tiredness or anxiety in your muscles as Doyoung smoothed it all for you.

He eventually broke up the kiss and you were both slightly breathless as you looked at each other in the eyes. His gaze was intense and rough and you couldn't stop thinking about the way your body was pressing against his.

Your thoughts might have been written on your face because he smiled slightly and got his hands busy to slowly slide his fingers across your ass and thighs. 

"I can stop if you want me to," he said, almost whispering. 

"No, don’t stop,” you whispered back. 

__________

“So, what are you? Like, immortal?” 

His voice was a low buzz. Head resting on your stomach and arms wrapped around your body, you let your hand gently play with his hair. 

The night was cold on the lake’s shore. His cloak felt soft under your naked bodies though and his mere presence made it impossible for you to feel any breeze. 

You exhaled and shifted in his hold to be able to look at him. “Yes, but I can die too.” 

“Well, you do have hot blood inside of your veins,” he smirked, lifting his head too, palming your body up until reaching your warm cheeks. You closed your eyes for a moment, gently rubbing your side of the face on his hand before opening them up and taking in the view of him between your legs. 

“I told you how this is a curse, right?” 

He hummed, going back to his previous position, hands wrapped around your thighs and slowly drawing diagrams on your skin. 

“And it’s bullshit.” 

“How is that-”  

“Who the hell are the Fates and why do they have a say in your destiny?” He sounded angry. 

“Also why are you even cursed?” he lifted his head to look at you and his furrowed eyebrows made you giggle. 

“The Goddess of the Moon is not the same forever. We change every other aeon. I have been chosen this time and with it came the curse.” 

Doyoung rolled his eyes so incredulously that you giggled again. 

“My heart is flowing with jealousy. Of all I’ve ever wanted, my hands got only smoke,” you whispered and Doyoung blinked at your sudden change in tone. 

“Hey,” he slithered upwards until placing his arms around your head. 

You wrapped his body with yours and hid your face into the crook of his neck.

“It’s going to be so soon,” you whined. 

“What?” he rolled over and pulled you towards his chest. 

“The Judgement.” 

Like a spell that summons darkness, the night sky suddenly got hidden. 

You inhaled sharply and got up, away from his hold.

Doyoung’s eyes were wide, looking at your face then at the sky where no stars and moon were shining anymore. 

“You have to run away,” your voice trembled. 

“I will not do that,” he stood as well, hands trying to pull you closer again. 

You took a few steps back, shaking your head as if afraid of him to touch you. 

“Doyoung, are you perhaps a fool?” you almost screamed. 

“Yeah, maybe I am.” 

"You said that you wouldn't let me do this!" you cried out, face wet with tears, unable to get closer to him any further. “I thought you didn’t love me and you’d run away like the others!”

Doyoung was pale and with shaky hands trying hard to reach you. But you were the Moon, high up in the sky and so far away for him to touch. 

“How can I not love you?” he whispered. 

You brought a hand to your mouth, feet slowly leaving the shore, rising in your goddess glory. But there was nothing glorious at that moment as your body jolted with hiccups. 

"It's alright, " he whispered. "Everything is fine. We can deal with this.”

"It's my fault. I've been a fool." 

"No. No. Listen to me."

"I don't want to lose you…" your voice was tiny as he slowly descended on his knees, arms resting in his lap, eyes taking in the beauty of your light. 

"Do it quickly. It's okay," Doyoung added.  

You looked away. 

"It's okay," he repeated. "I'll find a way to get to you. I promise."

"Stop, please, just stop. Why don’t you just go away?” 

"If not in this life, in another one. This is but a mere fragment of our existence. My soul's eternal and it will always long for you. I'll come and find you. I can't let you go.” 

"Doyoung-," 

"My love. Put me to sleep. It's not death.” 

"It's worse than death!” 

"I'll find a way. Trust me. We’re ending this to start again. I do not intend to run away like some coward in front of these Fates.” 

"Doyoung," you whined again, the sight of the Fates darkening the hills beyond him making your eyes fill to the brim until you were unable to see. 

He didn't look back. His eyes were on you all of the time. 

His eyes have always been on you all of the time. 

Your feet touched ground again and he smiled, his own eyes being two little night skies filled with little shiny stars. 

His hair floated in the killing wind of the Fates approaching each step closer, yelling, screaming, shaking the ground. 

Your trembling hands didn't look like your own as you cupped his face and kissed his lips desperately, the whispers of your love filling up his mouth. Until he inhaled deeply.

Until the darkness of the Fates passed above you with a deafening yell of a thousand birds. You wrapped his head with your arms, protecting him and he wrapped your torso with his. 

"Go away!" you screamed towards the halo dancing around in the sky. It let out a frustrated cry and before you could realize it, it went away in a minute, leaving behind but buzzing silence. 

You gulped feeling your throat raw, a little sparkle of hope still lingering in your chest. 

But then you looked down at his face and a loud hiccup knocked all of your body. 

Your kiss worked. 

You held him in your arms and watched his peaceful expression dotted by your warm tears. 

He was beautiful and eternally asleep. 

__________

From “I will not vanish” with Haechan coming up in March

“How bizarre. Not dead yet not alive either.” 

The voice startled Doyoung in the silence of the prison. It was warm and pleasant. Almost childish. 

“Who talked?” 

Doyoung walked the dark corridor slowly, eyebrows furrowed and eyes scanning every cell. 

“I did.” 

The voice sounded clearer with each step he took until he was sure it came from the farthest away room. It was darker and bigger than the others.

“Don’t be afraid. Come closer.” The voice was amused. 

Doyoung stopped in front of it and blinked hard to see inside. 

The creature inside of it giggled once and leaned forwards into the feeble light of Doyoung’s torch. 

The latter flinched and took a step backwards. 

Two round eyes looked at Doyoung from underneath fluffy hair. His lips were plush just like his cheeks. Yet Doyoung could tell he was not a child. The eyebrow scratch and sharp jawline that flinched as he smirked communicated infinite amounts of years. 

“Donghyuck the demon?” 

The young man rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“I’ve been terrorizing whole villages in their dreams, asking them to call me Haechan and no one is passing the message around? Donghyuck is such an old fashioned name now.” 

Doyoung blinked at him, unable to crack a single word. 

The demon snickered. “What did you expect to see, human? A wobbly indistinguishable mass with four voices talking all at once?” 

“Yes,” Doyoung replied honestly. 

“Those are the angels. Have you seen an angel? They have like seven arms and twelve eyes. Like, you’re an angel, right? With all those great powers. And what do you do? You appear to people with disgusting eyes around the belly button?” 

Haechan leaned to the side on one elbow and imitated puking sounds.

“I had an unpleasant encounter with an Archangel.” 

Haechan smiled at the other’s words and got up from the floor. Doyoung expected chains around his limbs but nothing was holding the demon back. 

He walked slowly towards the edge of the cell and Doyoung noticed his bare feet and ankles. They looked like the ones of a prince not having worked one single day in his life.

“Archangels are smarter. They don’t look as good as me but they at least don’t scare away young girls. Who did you discuss with to leave you so desperate to come here? Also what the hell happened to you? An eternal sleepwalker?"

Haechan was mere centimetres away from Doyoung but the latter didn’t step back. 

“Mark.” 

The other hummed. “Archangel Mark. He’s still on that bullshit? Fate and all?” 

“You’re a demon. You know everything.” 

Haechan laughed. “Yeah.” He walked along the edge with hands behind his back before turning his face towards Doyoung again. “So he’s the reason why you chose me?” 

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"You think we're going to be friends?" 

"Business partners."

Haechan licked his lower lip amused. 

"What do you want?" 

"Love."

Haechan snorted. "Okay, loser. And what are you offering me?" He lifted one eyebrow. 

"Freedom." 

__________

Haechan stared at the contract Doyoung handed him. It was a big heavy book and Haechan touched its cover. 

And if she’s not my soulmate, I’d rather wander alone than touching someone else’s skin, I’d rather walk this earth with no hand to hold and lift me from the ground. And if I have to heal from it and accept the universe’s imposed call, I’d rather suffer from my eternally open wounds. I’ll fight the stars and let them burn me, I’ll let them laugh at my weakest state and I’d gladly make them erase my memory of ever existing in all of the infinite lives if I have to follow Fate.

Turning it over he read the words that appeared on the back after meeting you.

I’m walking through dark times But please come to me just once If I see you again, will I be able to hug you? With this body that’s frozen and about to break? Your eyes and your warm voice I long for it like crazy One day, give me your hand too, turn around and look at me Find me, just once I’ll wait so please come back*

Haechan let out a dry scoff and sighed, looking over the empty hills. 

“Losers.”

*”Who waits for love” by SHINee