#i feel like she'd be second oldest

[cuhven]

just saying, there's room for a 5th sutton with a kat barrell fc....

[beensbaee]

𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 ˚ ༘♡ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ

summary; neteyam has the girl of his dreams right in front of him - but he cannot have her because she belongs to someone else. (does that stop him though? NOPE!)

word count; 4.2k

HIS SACRED SUN

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Neteyam Sully thought he was able to do anything he set his mind to.

As the oldest son of Toruk Makto, he strived to live up to his fathers image. His parents never failed to tell him of his importance, helping him understand exactly who he was and giving him the confidence to overcome anything.

Until her.

She stuck out like no other na'vi he'd ever meet. Her face something captivating and so charming - yet dangerous. Lethal.

She was the girl that had him turning around for a second glance. The girl that had his heart beating like a crazed drum. The girl he'd kill for.

In his eyes, she was perfect. Perfect in every way. Perfect for him.

Except for the distinctive fact that made her so untouchable.

She belonged to someone else.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Y/n sat with a group of teenage na'vi, all whom were giving their absolute attention to her as she stood tall, arms outstretched as she told them of her recent hunt. Her eyes gleamed with pride as she explained in detail exactly how she managed to escape the animals surprise attack

Neteyam sat towards the back of the group, where he was almost out of her view. He closed his eyes as he took in the sound of her voice

Smooth - so smooth. Like liquid. She spoke confidently. Expressively with the same radiant smile he was so infatuated with

When she finished, she sat back down as the next story teller went up. The girls around her swarmed her figure - raving on how brave she was during her hunt - or how they liked the gems that hung low on her neck

He loved how politely she'd respond to the compliments. Even blushing at some, unable to hide the flush on her cheeks.

As the teens quieted down for the next speaker, he watched Y/n comfortably stretch her legs out in front of her. The beads in her hair clinking together quietly as she moved. Her arms were behind her as she tipped her head up towards the boy who was talking to the rest of the group. He was beginning to tell his own tale

Any word the boy said went right through one ear and out the other, and he could feel his mind slipping and unable to even take in his surroundings as she became the only thing he could focus on

She could sense his gaze. He knew this because her eyes moved directly to him. She held eye contact for a beat. Two beats. Before turning away with a smile.

She didn't look at him again for the rest of the time the teens spent sharing stories. As the last volunteer to share theirs ended with a round of applause, the teens slowly began dispersing into smaller groups and began talking amongst themselves

He looked for Y/n, and after seeing her standing with a group of girls and nodding her head along to whatever they were saying - he seized the opportunity to speak with her.

He was by her side in less than a minute, and her friends gave her a surprised glance as she turned to Neteyam. They respectfully moved so Neteyam could speak with her, giving him room to talk to her privately.

"Neteyam Sully. Oel ngati kameie." She said sweetly, giving him a smile that had his tail flicking behind him lively

"Y/n. Oel ngati kameie. I had to come and say, your encounter with the Slinth was something only someone like you could fight." He said, his words holding true respect as her lips tipped upwards into a familiar grin

"Thank you, truly. But I must say, there is no one else like me." She said, a playful glint in her eyes, and Neteyam was sure his eyes could have been mistaken for hearts with the way he looked at her

He smiled, fangs and all. Just as he was about to speak - the boy he dreaded interrupted their conversation with a scowl plastered on his face

"Y/n, I was looking for you." Arutey said, moving and standing too close to Neteyam - almost as if to push him out of his way

His ears flattened against his head in disappointment as Y/n's eyes moved away from him and towards Arutey

"Yes, Arutey?" She asked, her tone sounding like she was holding in a sigh as he shook his head

"It's private." He said, almost snapping at her as Y/n frowned. She turned to Neteyam and bowed her head in goodbye. She gave him an apologetic look as Neteyam shook his head

"Do not worry about it. We will speak together another time." He said, eyes hard as Arutey stared at him with a hatred he understood. Anyone could've known how Neteyam felt for Y/n with the way he practically gravitated towards her

But he was a boy with honor, and he understood it was not his place to speak to her right now.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but Arutey's hand latched around her arm and gently pulled her backwards and away, towards him. Neteyam hated the way his hand moved from her arm and to her palms as he interlocked their fingers. They were walking away from him now - but Y/n turned around for one more glance

She held eye contact for a beat. Two beats. And then, she looked away. But this time, it was with a frown.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

He walked to his hammock with his head hanging that night. Arutey wasn't right for her. Why? Well, he couldn't answer that.

He wished his initial dislike for Arutey was for something not related to Y/n. But it was.

Maybe it was how rough he could be - Neteyam knows how Arutey behaves when he's angry. Like how he'd yelled at a younger na'vi for messing up during a hunt - the way the child's eyes welled up with tears had Neteyam ready to crack his bow over Arutey's head.

He knew Y/n would've been upset if she'd seen how he behaved sometimes, but they hadn't been together long enough for her to see that side of him yet.

Or maybe it was the boys ego - too inflated for someone as humble as Y/n.

Or maybe it was because it wasn't him at Y/n's side.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

It was Toruk Makto's yearly celebration of the day the Na'vi won their freedom from the sky people.

Though the Na'vi had many celebrations where they honored the Great Mother and the life they'd been blessed with, Toruk Makto's celebrations were always one to look forward to

Y/n's top was a beautiful shade of purple - made from the petals of Sun Lilies.

From her legs hung beautiful crystals and ornaments that glowed in the moonlight. Her hair was open and out of it's usual braids - falling softly over her shoulders and curling around her

It didn't take Neteyam long to find her. She looked like a flower in bloom with her colorful attire whilst surrounded by the greenery of Pandora

She was talking to a group of girls, laughing at something one of them said

It was a little embarrassing how much time he'd spend watching her from afar - but building the courage to go up to her was something he struggled with.

He knew he couldn't have her, because she wasn't his. But Eywa, sometimes it felt like he was made for her. He knew how silly he would sound if he said it out loud, but he knew - deep down, the love he felt for her would never leave his heart and soul.

Eventually, Lo'ak found Neteyam and dragged him to where he and a group of boys were sitting idly and speaking to each other - obviously intoxicated with something as they spoke loudly and tumbled over their words - laughing.

"Come on, don't be a loner hanging out all by yourself Neteyam." Was what Lo'ak had said to him

Neteyam just rolled his eyes with a laugh. In reality, Neteyam was even more popular than Lo'ak amongst the teenage boys. But, he didn't usually spend too much time with the other boys. They respected the fact that Neteyam liked to be alone sometimes, not even questioning Toruk Makto's son.

Neteyam finally realized Arutey was sitting amongst this group, oblivious to Neteyam's presence. Maybe it was because of how intoxicated the boy was. Neteyam watched him spill his drink as he stood angrily, storming off at something one of the boys had said

"What's wrong with him?" Lo'ak asked as the boy Arutey had been speaking with grinned. He then snickered, straightening himself a little bit as he noticed Neteyam's eyes watching him, like a predator would to its prey, before speaking.

"Just messing with him - his girl doesn't want him anymore." He said as Lo'ak looked at him confused

"What girl is it?" He asked curiously. But Neteyam's head was already turning to find Y/n

She was still sitting with her friends, unknown to the boy who was approaching her

He stood in an instant, following Arutey with furrowed brows as he watched him approach Y/n and drag her away from the party

He watched her protest, trying to get him to let go of her - but his hand held her arm tightly

It was too crowded for her friends to notice that the boy had taken her, only Neteyam had seen the distasteful interaction

Arutey must have been standing behind some tree now, out of sight from the rest of the party. He was slurring his words a bit as he yelled at her. Neteyam could hear his tense voice - but he could not see where they were, as Arutey had moved swiftly when walking with her - and Neteyam had been too far behind to see exactly where he'd gone

His voice grew louder, and Neteyam's anger was growing to the point where it was threatening to snap

Y/n Y/n Y/n

He was yelling at her. Someone was yelling at her.

Neteyan wasn't stupid, he knew the reason Arutey was yelling at her was because of him. And he wouldn't have it go on a single second longer.

His eyes were practically crazed as he searched for her familiar figure.

He followed the voice - hearing the words "You're a liar." and "Unfaithful." echoing through the forest as the voice grew louder - indicating he was getting closer-

He saw her tear streaked face first. The way her lips were parted in shock at Arutey's cruel words as he kept throwing insult after insult.

Arutey's back was to him - but Y/n saw Neteyam approaching them. He felt his stomach physically recoil by the wounded look on her face - but her expression quickly transformed into relief when she saw him

He was furious that Arutey had frightened her so badly - so mad he could've easily killed him with his fury alone. Arutey must have seen the look on her face -because he was turning around to see what she'd been looking at with such wide eyes

But before he could even get a word out - Neteyam's fist collided with his face. A sickening yet satisfying crack meeting his ears as he threw punch after punch.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

They were on each other - throwing hits so powerful it would've knocked out any other regular Na'vi, but the two teens were warriors, and not ready to back down.

Y/n had taken a sharp intake of breath when Neteyam hit Arutey - but she'd let out a cry when Arutey hit Neteyam

"Stop! Please, both of you!" She tried yelling, and the sound of her desperate voice had Neteyam turning away from Arutey and towards her with concern. Unfortunately, that single second of distraction was all Arutey needed as he threw a punch straight at Neteyam's face

"I hate you!" He yelled at Neteyam - his intoxicated mind ready to give his all in this fight with Neteyam

Neteyam merely gritted his teeth and recovered from the hit in an instant - throwing another punch at Arutey as the two of them pummeled each other with flying fists

It seemed their yells had caught the attention of the Na'vi, as they began walking into the forest to see the source of the screaming and fighting

It didn't take long for Toruk Makto to pull Neteyam off of the boy - and for Arutey's friends to pull him away from the confrontation as well

Both boys looked like they could've gone the whole night fighting each other as they were dragged away

Y/n was yelling at Arutey now, slapping the back of his head as he only sat quietly now. She was visibly upset, and Neteyam could only hear her trembling voice as his father yelled at him

"What the hell were you thinking boy? Hey, Neteyam!" He snapped, angrily snapping his fingers in front of Neteyams face - who's mind seemed to be somewhere else entirely

Neteyam blinked, before shaking his head and wiping the blood he felt trickling from his nose with a frown

"I'm sorry dad, I-" He started, but Neytiri quickly cut him off

"We leave Neteyam. Now."

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

After a long lecture from his parents and a proud smirk and slap on the back from Lo'ak, Neteyam struggled to sleep, once again.

He laid in his hammock for maybe an hour before getting up. It took him a second to stand straight, as his head was still a bit dizzy from the hits he'd received from Arutey. 

He sighed uncomfortably before his feet took him out and towards the forest - away from his sleeping family.

Neteyam never got into fights. He really was one of the most civil and peaceful Na'vi in the clan. Fighting was something Lo'ak was known for doing. He didn't even know what was going through his mind when he hit Arutey - but seeing Y/n getting yelled at by that Skxawng had triggered something inside of him.

She was easily the bravest teens amongst the clan - known for her flawless hunting and charming personality. But seeing her with Arutey had always upset him. How did he, of every Na'vi to live, have the privilege to be with her?

He knew he could not interfere with someone else's relationship - but Y/n had been his friend before she began her relationship with Arutey. And Neteyam believed he had the right to protect his friend. His dearest friend, no matter what. He valued their friendship like no other.

"Neteyam?"

He turned slowly at his father voice, seeing him standing sleepily and looking at Neteyam confused.

"Come here kid, come on." He gestured, calling him over as they sat down. He saw how tired his dad was, just barely awake as he sat down with Neteyam. He knew he was in for another lecture.

"Dad, you are tired. We can speak in the morning if you want?" He tried reasoning, but Jake shook his head firmly

"Yea, you think we'll get this type of privacy in the day?" He said, laughing quietly as Neteyam gave him a small smile

Jake was quiet for a moment, almost like he was thinking, before he began speaking.

"Now, tell me what happened. What really happened that made you fight that boy today." He said softly, his tone showing no anger as Neteyam stayed quiet, looking at the ground

Jake waited patiently for Neteyam to gather his thoughts

"Dad... well, there's this girl. Her name - it is Y/n." He started, the words foreign on his tongue as he spoke

Jake raised a knowing brow as Neteyam let out a nervous breath. Jake has heard of Y/n briefly, he knew of the girls sweet nature and skills.

The words were hard for Neteyam to speak because, well, he'd never spoken out loud of his feelings for Y/n before

But they sat for maybe an hour, Neteyam pouring out the feelings and the hurt he'd kept bottled up for so long as Jake nodded along quietly, listening more attentively than ever.

When Neteyam was finished talking, the relief he felt was like no other. Jake grabbed Neteyam gently by the shoulders before speaking

"Now, listen to me Neteyam. She is special to you, I gathered that much. And if someone is special to you - you don't ever let them go. I know that from experience. You know... you're mother was promised to someone else when I met her. Now, I'm not saying to go after someone who doesn't belong to you - what I'm saying is, if you truly, in your heart -" He said, tapping Neteyam's chest gently with his finger before continuing, "If you truly feel she doesn't belong with him, that she isn't happy - then you interfere. The fight you got into... well, I hate to say it, but I'm proud you intervened. Don't tell your mother though -" Jake quickly added concerned as Neteyam let out a heartfelt laugh

"Now - go back to sleep boy. Rest, you're tired, I can tell." Jake said, gently pulling the boy up from where they were sitting as Neteyam smiled

"Goodnight dad." Neteyam said. And right when his head hit his hammock, sleep took over his body before he had the chance to fight it.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Neteyam had spent his morning deep in Pandora's plentiful forest.

Initially, he wanted to clear his mind. But he couldn't stop himself when he saw the array of flowers that were growing plentifully and basking in the suns rays.

He'd seen his father gift it to his mother - a bouquet was what he'd called it.

It became a tradition of Jake's, constantly getting Neytiri bouquets whenever he was out or when she was mad at him. Neteyam loved seeing his mother's face light up when she'd be greeted by the familiar and beautiful array of flowers.

It took him a while to figure out how to create it - but once it was complete, he couldn't have been more proud.

It was colorful, and smelled so sweet that it reminded him of Y/n's own scent. The flowers were all different from one another - two of each kind, one flower to symbolize Y/n, and the other flower to symbolize him.

There were many, and they were tied together by vines expertly. It truly was a beautiful bouquet.

He had hidden the bouquet and spent the entire day with a cheesy grin plastered on his face looking forward to the night - when he planned to seek Y/n out.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

Y/n sat quietly tonight, not speaking much expect for a few please's and thank you's during  dinner

Neteyam frowned as he watched her - she was usually so lively and talkative. He loved eating his food quietly and listening to her talk to the clan with her precious smile

After dinner, she excused herself early and was seemingly bidding her goodnights for the evening.

Widening his eyes at her quick departure, Neteyam also swiftly excused himself as his father gave him a knowing nod - granting him permission to leave

He grabbed the bouquet he'd kept hidden, before taking a deep breath and following after her

"Y/n! Wait!" He yelled out

She turned around, looking a bit confused. But once she realized it was Neteyam who was calling her, he watched her ears lift curiously as her tail swayed awaitingly behind her

"Neteyam." She said breathlessly as he stopped in front of her, looking down towards her as his nervousness finally caught up to him

"Yes, I- are you ok?" He finally managed as she blinked a few times, shaking her head as if to assure him nothing was wrong

"Oh Neteyam, I am fine. I actually wanted to thank you for yesterday. I..." She trailed off as she stared at him, her hands clasped together tightly

"I feel horrible for what he did to you. You did not deserve that, and I - I have never felt so horrible before. I wanted to find you earlier, but I didn't think I could talk to you without - " She stopped, clamping her mouth shut as she took a deep breath in

Neteyam felt his heart sink as he understood what she'd been trying to say by the misty look in her eyes.

She thought she'd start crying if she tried talking to him after last night.

"Y/n... oh Y/n, I am the one who intervened. And for your honor, I will always intervene. Please, do not blame yourself for someones else's ignorance." He said softly, moving one of his hands forward as he tentatively reached for her face

He stopped a few inches from her face, suddenly freezing as he realized how intimate it was to cradle one's face. But it was Y/n who moved forward, resting her cheek against his palm and holding it softly.

She closed her eyes, leaning her cheek into his hand as Neteyam's heart beat quickened - so much that he was sure she could hear it.

"Actually, I stopped you for another reason Y/n. There was something I wanted to give you," He said, trying to calm his heart as his mind felt like he was about to go into the most dangerous battle of his life

She opened her eyes, her lashes damp as she looked at him with eyes so mesmerizing he struggled to form a sentence

"I wanted you to have this... I want you to know, I value you. More than anything Y/n. And if... If you ever need me, for anything at all - I am always here for you." He said, slowly moving his arm to reveal the bouquet he'd kept hidden behind his back during their conversation

He will never forget the look in her eyes when she first saw the bouquet for as long as he lived. 

Her lips parted, her eyes stunned as she took in the beautiful sight of flowers in front of her

And finally, the smile he'd missed so damn much overtook her entire face. The light from it alone bright enough to shine over even the darkest parts of him.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

He wouldn't pursue her the night after the fight. He knew she needed time, and he would wait as long as she'd wish for him to

But, their friendship evolved. 

Before, he spent his time watching her from afar. Now that they were closer as friends, he sat next to her - and Eywa, he began to see the little details he'd missed before.

Like the way her eyes would squint when she'd find something hilarious, or the way her face would be completely still, and only her eyes would move when she was hunting. She would be entirely focused - and he'd be just as still when he'd watch her

She liked swimming. They had spent many nights swimming with each other. She'd tell him of her favorite songs to sing when praying to Eywa, and how she loved sunrises. She'd wake up before every single one just to watch it happen.

He found himself opening up too - his heart giving her everything and more as he shared every bit of him to her. He'd tell her of his struggles as the eldest son, and how sometimes his mother would show him her clever tricks with her bow - he promised he'd show Y/n every single one she wanted to know about. To this, she said she wanted to know them all.

She learned everything about him - and he learned and loved everything about her. 

He didn't think he could fall in love with her anymore than before, but he was wrong.

Neteyam awoke early today, it was still dark out, but the smile on his face couldn't have been any more brighter

She'd invited him to watch the sunrise with her. Nobody else knew she'd wake to watch the sunrise - and he felt his heart physically stutter in his chest when she asked him to come with her.

It was a special moment of her day - and she wanted to share it with him.

He saw her sitting peacefully, eyes closed as her legs hung over the edge of the ledge she was sitting on

He sat down quietly next to her, and she turned to him with a smile

"Hi." She said quietly, her eyes twinkling in the dim light. Neteyam felt his heart swoon at the sight of her

"Hi." He whispered back, before the two of them turned to the view in front of them

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, her rays ready to touch the sky as Y/n turned to him

He turned away from the sun and to her, and she moved to hold his hand

"I wanted to tell you something important, Neteyam." She said, her voice gentle as his ears perked up

"Of course, is something wrong?" He asked, his voice genuinely concerned as she let out a quiet laugh

"Nothing is wrong, I just..." She trailed off as she stared at him, her eyes filled with an emotion he didn't entirely understand just yet

He remained quiet and waited for her to speak again, squeezing her hand reassuringly as she shook her head

Moving forward, she pressed her lips to his.

They were soft and gentle and sweet. He blinked rapidly, before leaning into her. His mind immediately freezing as he felt her hand gently hold his face

As she pulled back, the sun's light illuminated her face so radiantly, that Neteyam's breath was simply taken away.

She laughed at the look on his face, her smile enchanting him in a way no one else could've.

"I like you, Neteyam. More than friends. More like -"

"Lovers." He breathed out, still unable to believe what had just happened

She nodded her head, eyes beaming at him with love, he realized

"Eywa, I've been waiting for you to say that." He said lovingly with a grin that matched hers as he leaned towards her and connected their lips once again, the sun's light shining on them both as they enveloped each other longingly.

[astorianyxkings]

Oldest Daughter Dick™ is probably one of my favourite things ever. And it always will be and here's why:

Of course Dick loves his siblings and of course he loves that they know Bruce as the father he is. But it won't stop the jealousy he feels. And no one gets it, not even Jason. They were all raised by Bruce Wayne, he was raised by Batman.

When Dick came to live with him, Bruce had no idea how to he a father. How to handle normal kid stuff like sicknesses and school events let alone the fact he was an acrobat. He was Batman and Dick was raised to be not just his successor but the only contingency plan he had against himself.

Bruce never held his punches ("That was a good block but I still got you, didn't I?" Bruce had said, rubbing cream into the blossoming bruise on Dick's side. "I'll get you next time," Dick had promised, young eyes challenging. "You better." Bruce had grinned back.) All attacks were to remind him that he was at a disadvantage strength wise and thus needed to re-evaluate his lines of defense and offense.

Dick was raised by the paranoid-in-his-late-twenties-probably-shouldn't-be-a-dad-despite-what-Marisol-said Bat. A fun game of catch? He was dodging Batarangs. Learning to drive? It was the Batmobile and he was age 14 (and a half). School events? He was fumbling, awkward and did not want to be there (but still was because he'll be damned if his boy didn't have his support.)

And you know that's fine, Dick was fine. It wasn't Bruce's fault he didn't know how to be a proper dad, despite Alfred's parenting books and videos. And he did try, he was always there. But it just really hits a sore spot everytime he sees Bruce hold a punch before he knocks Tim out cold or when he's behind the wheel with Steph telling her what not to do. Or even when he's at school with Damian and Duke making Marjory and her cupcakes look ridiculous compared to him and his coconut crumble cakes.

It also irritates Dick beyond senseless whenever the topic of sparring with Bruce is mentioned. ("We can all beat the old man Goldie, he's ancient." Jason shrugs off and Dick wanted to scream.) The only one who even tries to sympathize with him was Cass. More than likely because she'd seen him fight as Batman The Dark Knight before seeing him fight as Bruce The Father of Six-Almost-Eight.

And it just really stings because he can't relate to being raised by Bruce the way the others can't. Bruce changed for them, not him. And maybe that kind of hurts. But maybe he's overreacting.

What he doesn't realize is he's the reason why Bruce changed. Bruce saw the hurt and anger in Dick's eyes when he fired him from Robin (Think Shifu denying Tai Lung the Dragon Warrior scroll). He knew the second he saw the betrayal in Dick's eyes after seeing Jason as Robin, that he'd have to change. (The same way Shifu should've changed for Tigress but I digress, not that fandom).

Bruce pulls his punches because he hated seeing Dick limp away from their sparring matches—despite the fire and promise of a rematch in his eyes. He teaches them how to drive regular cars before the Batmobile because the one time Dick crashed (while trying to avoid some of Poison Ivy's vines) his heart rate skyrocketed so high Clark had called him up demanding to know if he was okay. He shows up for Duke and Damian and Cass and Tim because Dick's smile whenever he saw Bruce in the parent's lounge never failed to make him melt.

Bruce stands firm on the fact that while he may have made a hero out of Dick, Dick Grayson made a father out of Bruce Wayne.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Could you do Navia, Clorinde and some other girls of your choice with a s/o that says "Those look quite heavy, mind if I hold them for you?" as they hold out their hands

(Genshin Impact) Navia, Clorinde, Chiori, Furina, Lynette, and Arlecchino's S/O asking to hold their hands

I ain't even gonna lie to you anon, I was this close to writing something entirely else before I did a double take. Can't-Read-Chris almost came back after such a long absence.

Navia at first is confused when S/O speaks up.

(Navia) "Huh? But I'm not holding anything-"

When her eyes glance downwards to their hands, Navia's confusion quickly turns into amusement, with the faintest hint of a blush.

(Navia) "Ooooh! Smooth, S/O!~"

Navia energetically takes S/O's hands into her own, leaning close into them as she laughs.

(Navia) "If you're offering, then of course! Do carry these heavy hands, S/O!"

Clorinde takes a second to process what S/O was asking. The only thing she had was-

...Ah. Her hands.

Clorinde quietly chuckles as she gently offers her hand to them, letting her palm squeeze around S/O's.

With how amused she is, Clorinde doesn't particularly care if anyone sees her like this, her focus entirely on S/O.

(Clorinde) "My thanks, S/O. Chivalry is not dead yet, it seems."

Chiori raised an eyebrow since she wasn't carrying her usual swords for cutting, let alone working at all.

Sighing out loud, Chiori finally realizes what they meant as her eyes rolled.

(Chiori) "How long did it take you to come up with that line, S/O?"

Well, since they offered, it'd be rude not to accept.

Chiori fingers interlock around S/O's, only slightly flustered from holding hands in public.

It was less so feeling everyone's eyes on her, and more the fact she was obliging that gods awful pick up line.

(Chiori) "I guess I can't criticize you too much since it worked...But I might anyway."

Furina pouts for a moment.

(Furina) "I-I am perfectly fine of carrying objects myself, thank you-"

...Wait, she wasn't even holding anything.

Oh.

OOOOH.

Furina tries to bounce back from that blunder, her hands fidgeting before promptly chuckling with as much confidence as she could muster.

(Furina) "Ah, you are quite sly, S/O! Very well, I will permit you to hold onto these pristine hands!"

Though this is her reaction in public. In private, she'd just shove her hands into them blushing madly.

Lynette's ears twitch for a moment before her eyes glance back up to S/O.

(Lynette) "...Is that really the best you got?"

Not that she knew any better lines herself, but that was probably one of the oldest ones in the book.

...Oh what the hell, not like she couldn't fault them for the complete confidence they had saying it.

Lynette's thumb brushes against the back of their hand idly as they walk side by side.

She's blushing ever so slightly, but her blank face remains. Although, her tail is swishing back and forth faster than it was before.

(Arlecchino) "Heavy with what, I wonder?"

Arlecchino knew exactly what S/O meant, but if they were going to be cute about this, then maybe she would be too.

(Arlecchino) "Are you sure your own hands are up to the task?"

Letting S/O make the first move to grab her blackened hands, she allows her grasp to relax into theirs.

She feels how soft their hands are to her own, admiring how gentle their touch is.

Judging by their happy expression, they didn't particularly seem to mind, which suited her just fine.

[ddejavvu]

ok but whos gonna talk about hotchy boy being all ☹️☹️☹️☹️ when reader does not talk to him just some misunderstanding where they are not in a committed relationship but everyone just knows they have a thing for one another i just wanna hear aaron say “are you mad at me? did i do something? i am a sucker for soft aaron for ONE PERSON his person!!!

Hotch is socially awkward. He can mask it with indifference or professionality, he can manage to assimilate when he's in familiar situations, but now he sticks out like a sore thumb.

He's standing in the doorway of the precinct's kitchen, waiting. Waiting for you to acknowledge him, waiting for you to say something, waiting for you to preemptively forgive his apology, waiting for something.

In turn, you're trying very hard not to do any of those things. You're not fond of being reprimanded, especially not for something you didn't do. So when Aaron had snapped at you in front of local officers for being distracted by your phone on a case, and you were only texting back and forth with Morgan about the second crime scene, you'd been annoyed.

You know that it's his job to keep everyone in line, and if he'd been right about you slacking off, you'd have taken the fall. But all he'd done was obstruct you from your job, and embarrass you to boot. So call it petty, but you're trying to avoid even looking at the man if you don't have to.

Thankfully, the precinct's kitchen is against a wall, not in a separate room. It means there's ample space to slip around Aaron and go back to your desk without having to ask him to move.

You're only a few steps behind him when you hear his voice call out after you, "Y/N?"

You try not to stop to abruptly in your tracks, but you turn to him with a politely interested look on your face.

"Yes, sir?"

His jaw shifts at the title, "Are you mad at me?"

You're a little stunned by the question. It sounds like something a child asks their mother, standing by the edge of her bed and asking why she'd rather sleep than play. It certainly doesn't sound like Unit Chief Aaron Hotchner, the 6'1 man who commands respect in any room he enters.

"What?" Is all you can muster in response.

"Are you..." He repeats, eyes anxious as they stare into your own, "Are you upset with me? Did I do something?"

Now you feel like a child. Embarrassment burns hot at your cheeks, and you chew on the inside of one as you debate telling him that your feelings are hurt because he embarrassed you.

"Nothing," You shake your head, gripping your coffee mug tighter, "You didn't do anything. Don't worry about it. I'm just tired."

Now he's analyzing you, head tilted curiously.

"That's... the oldest excuse in the book," His tone almost sounds sympathetic, like he's pitying you for your terrible lie. "Please tell me if I need to apologize for something."

"It's not-" You rush out, running a tired hand over your face, "It's dumb. Let's just focus on the case, we can talk later."

"I want to talk now," He pushes cautiously, stepping closer to you, "I won't be able to focus on this case until we resolve this."

You try not to think too hard about that, about the fact that his personal relationship with you means more to him than his work.

"It really is dumb," You laugh, but it's a humorless sound, "But earlier, I- I wasn't just slacking off, Hotch. You snapped at me in front of all of those officers, and I was just swapping pictures with Morgan of different missing persons files. I wasn't, like, playing a game or something. I'm not an irresponsible employee."

His face has fallen into something just short of despair. He's calculating the effect of his outburst, knowing now that the local officers probably trust you less, or ridicule you in private for being too absorbed in whatever online presence they think you were updating.

"I'm sorry," He says earnestly, and his chest caves in slightly with how sincere it is, "I should have known you weren't messing around. I hadn't considered that you were talking to one of us, we usually call each other. But I understand - that's no excuse. I shouldn't have reprimanded you, especially not in front of everyone."

Slowly, the more he speaks, his words disarm that little ticking time bomb of pettiness in your chest until its spark fizzles out completely. You're relieved to have closure on the incident, but it doesn't fix everything.

Hotch will, though.

"I'll let you deliver the profile." He decides, in the absence of your response, "And a press conference, if we need one. Give you back any authority I stripped of you back there. I... I really am sorry, Y/N."

"It's okay," You finally give in, shoulders slumping from how stiff they'd been around your neck, "I know this is a particularly stressful case. And it's your job to boss us around."

He offers you a small laugh at that, a soft exhale through his nose paired with something that you could perceive as a smile.

"I just wish it had gone differently."

"Me too," He nods, guilt still trailing after his words, clinging onto him no matter how much he tries shaking it off, "If anyone says anything, or avoids letting you work on something important, let me know."

"I will." You nod, "Thank you, Hotch."

"Thank you," He looks like he wants to surge forwards, and you'll admit that you wouldn't mind a make-up hug. Nevertheless, he keeps himself in check, tugging lightly on his suit jacket to readjust it over his chest, "I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me I'd made a mistake."

"Oh I'll tell you," You tease, and his eyes dance with laughter he contains behind a soft smile aimed at the floor, "Mark my words, Hotch, you'll know if you mess up."

[thedevilrisen]

Prompt Poll - One

Jack Hughes x sister!Y/N

Prompt: “You don’t have to tell me anything, we can just sit here”

Description: Jack’s sister has relationship troubles, Jack knows what she needs.

A/N: I hope you enjoy! Would be greatly appreciated if you could reblog. I love talking to people so say 'Hi' if you want to. Feel Free to send in requests as well. I'm happy to write for most hockey players.

Warnings: Crying, swearing, thats probably it! Mainly just good brother Jack fluff.

-Sincerely thedevilrisen.

-:-

Wet sniffles and the front door opening and closing with a quiet click an hour before it was suppose to is something that concerns three exceptionally protective brothers very much.

Quinn was the first to launch into action, tearing off the couch and toward the sound that scares them all half to death. Their sister, crying.

Before he could even leave the room in walked a sodden, puffy cheeked, red eyed girl. Her dark hair was plastered to her forehead and across the sides of her neck.

"What the hell happened?" asked Luke, half hysterical. Turning around on the couch, bug-eyed at sight of his normally well-put together sister a wet shivering, mess?

"Nothing Luke."

"Well that's bullshit." the troubled boy shot back.

"Lukey, just calm it for a second." Jack asked, significantly calmer than both of the other boys.

"No, Jack, Luke's completely correct in his statement!" Quinn, normally level headed, fired off. "She's crying and home way too early aren't you meant to be at Jessie's?"

"I'm not crying Quinn! I'm cold and Jessie is at her dad's!" the young girl warbled. "I'm going bed. Goodnight."

"Like hell you are!" the oldest shouted. "You're going to sit and tell us the truth."

She hated the way Quinn spat the word truth like he knew she'd been lying to them. She hadn't been lying per-se, not to all of them and not in great amounts, just leaving out certain details.

"Y/N, it's okay go upstairs and sleep if you would like to." Jack spoke sternly, more so at Quinn then at then now shivering girl standing meekly at the bottom of the staircase.

"Jack! Are you with us or against us?" Luke stated betrayed, the slight recognition in his features as he slowly realises his older brother's nonchalant-ness.

"I'm on neither side. If she doesn't feel comfortable talking then I don't think we need to pry." Jack continued, trying to diffuse the situation.

"What do you know." Luke's eyes narrowed along with his accusatory remark.

"Nothing more than you do." Jack stated calmly. He wasn’t fond of hiding information from his brothers especially when it involved their sister. He had his reasons though.

-

Jack’s Friday night plans did not consist of comforting his devastated sister.

A quiet shuffle of footsteps along the carpet in the hallway was barely noticeable amidst the cacophony of a summer storm. Light crept slowly into Jack’s room.

“Jacky?” an unreasonably timid voice asked into the darkness.

“mh- ompf.” he had grumbled, back digging into his phone which had been lost when he drifted off. “what’s up kid?”

"can i talk to you please?" she had mumbled through the small gap.

"yeah," he hoisted himself up from the bed. "come in kid, what's going on?"

"ihaveaboyfriend." she spoke at lightning speed. standing by the door apprehensively almost like she was ready to run if she needed.

slowly comprehending jack blinked drearily. "im sorry what?"

taking a deep breath she took a few steps and sat on the end of the bed. "i have a boyfriend," she spoke solemnly.

"shouldn't that be a happy thing?"

"he stood me up three nights in a row."

"ah, a not so happy thing." jack mumbled now realising the gravity of the situation.

"no.”

“what can i do to help?” Jack sighed. at this statement the smaller girl launched into his arms.

“don’t tell Quinn or Luke.” she cried into his chest.

“is there something else you need to tell me?”

“I do, but not now.” the girl crawled up closer to the head board with her brother and tucked herself under he arm.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, we can just sit here.”

“Thanks Jacky.”

-:-

This is probably the most half-assed thing ive ever wrote. im terribly sorry. 👍

if anyone cares i will be putting out the next prompt post later today and something about the au im creating!

find the prompt list for requests here.

[farity]

Devil in the Details

"Oh. My. Motherfucking. God."

You turned at your friend Floris's whispered exclamation.

It took you but a second to figure out what she was so excited about.

Aemond Targaryen, the black sheep of the Targaryen dynasty, the reclusive billionaire who looked down at everyone vying for his attention, the man you'd been in lust with since you'd met him five years ago, had actually made an appearance at the glittering charity gala hosted by his mother.

"I need to get his skin care routine," Floris said, biting on her lower lip as she scrutinized Aemond from head to toe. "I'd love to climb that tree tonight."

Good luck with that, you thought to yourself.

You'd been in the same Uni class as his sister Helaena and met Aemond when you'd gone over to work on a joint project. He'd been quiet and almost shy, and you had been instantly smitten.

And had not been able to date anyone in the five years since because all you thought about was Aemond Targaryen.

Not that he gave you a second thought, as far as you knew.

"What the fuck is he wearing?" Floris continued, and, tired of pining after the man, you looked at her and snapped, "why don't you go find out?" before walking away to get your drink refilled.

* * * * *

"We are so very thankful for your family's contribution - the children will benefit greatly," Alicent smiled at you, leaning in to air-kiss you as you said your goodbyes.

You got your coat from the girl at the front, and were about to call for your car when you felt a hand grab your arm.

"Leaving already?"

Your heart began pounding as you recognized Aemond's voice, and taking a breath to steady yourself, you turned to face him.

By the Seven, he looked amazing. He'd shaved off his hair a few months ago when Aegon had done the same after having one too many drinks. Alicent had screamed at her oldest son and out of brotherly solidarity, Aemond had grabbed the electric shaver and started running it along his scalp right in front of his mother.

His eyes bore into yours, the prosthetic eye he had so perfect that you couldn't tell which eye was the real one. Every time you thought about it, you wanted to wallop his cousin, the little shit who had taken Aemond's eye during a childhood fight.

"I've seen enough people to last me a few months," you said, looking at what was, indeed, damn perfect skin, as Floris had mentioned. And was that eyeliner? Because his eyes had never been bluer than they were at that moment.

"Tell me about it," he said, still holding on to your arm, "I was going to grab a drink at the quiet bar next door, if you're game."

There was something vulnerable in his expression and you found yourself nodding and taking the arm he offered. "What in the world are these?" you asked.

He looked down at the latex gloves. "Mother's been berating me for not making an appearance at these things," he shrugged, "so here I am. Maybe she should have specified a dress code."

* * * * *

"You know, there's a name for what you're doing," you said, taking a sip of your drink.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Malicious compliance."

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that would be me." He looked back up at you, eyes sparkling, "if she'd wanted me to wear a tux, she should have said so."

"Would you have, though?" you prodded, "I have a feeling you would have figured some way to twist that dress code around. You were always the clever one."

"Not so clever if I never got you to go out with me."

You stared at him for a few seconds. "Aemond, you never asked."

"I'm asking now."

He placed a few bills on the table and placed his hand palm up on the table.

You narrowed your eyes at him, making him laugh, and then placed your hands on his, and let him lead you out the door.

* * * * *

"How is Helaena liking Naath?"

"She loves it there. She has to get her shot every six months but she doesn't care, as long as she can keep studying the butterflies."

"And Aegon?"

"He stopped drinking after he shaved off his head, said it didn't suit his perfectly shaped skull."

You laughed, remembering Aegon's rather oversized ego, and then stole a glance at Aemond. "What about you? How have you been?"

He shrugged, "the company is doing well, family's good," he looked at you, "and I'm on a wonderful date."

You raised your eyebrows, "oh it's a date, is it?"

You could have sworn he blushed, but he lifted your hand to his lips and kissed the back. "It very much is, but I do have a problem." He looked at you very seriously. "I need to lose these damn gloves."

* * * * *

It took about twenty minutes of careful tugging and maneuvering but finally, Aemond was free of the gloves and while you got two coffees to keep you going, he headed to the bathroom to wash his arms.

Back on the street, he grabbed your hand in his as he sipped at his coffee. "This is much better."

"So where on earth does one get this sort of getup to shock Alicent Hightower?"

He smiled. "My friend is a stylist and he hooked me up. His girlfriend is a makeup artist and she put all this stuff on my face and hair."

"You look amazing," you said sincerely, "your eyes look super blue."

"I could feel mom's blood pressure spiking as she noticed the eyeliner and highlighter," he laughed. "It was worth it."

"I bet she'll say extra prayers for you tonight."

Nodding, he took another sip of his coffee. "Not enough prayers in the world," he mused. You stopped to drink some of your own coffee and he pulled you closer. "And I really want to kiss you."

You looked up at him, your heart beating faster, and then he placed his coffee cup down, and took your face in his hands. He brushed his nose against yours, not rushing you, and then his lips touched yours. He kept the kiss light and gentle, his fingertips threading through your hair as you sighed against him.

He murmured your name as he wrapped an arm around you. You didn't want this to end, this magical night, and then he spoke again.

"Come home with me."

* * * * *

"You feel so damn good," Aemond whispered in the lift, his hands on your hips as you wrapped your arms around his neck.

The car stopped and the doors opened, and you stepped into his loft, his hands roaming over your ass as you kicked off your shoes and let him pull you up against him.

"I want you so fucking much," you said against his mouth. He led you to his bedroom and you sat down on the edge of the bed as he pulled his shirt off over his head. "Come here, Aemond," you smiled.

He walked up to you, slowly, and you reached up to undo the fastenings on his leather trousers, keeping your eyes on him. Your hand lightly went over where he was already hard as a rock, and he hissed.

You drew down the zipper ever so slowly, biting down on your lower lip.

"I am going to make you pay for this," he gritted out.

"For what?" you asked innocently, starting to tug down the waistband. When you finally freed him, your eyes darting between his cock and his eyes, you licked your lips and took him in your mouth.

"Fuck."

"Hmmmm," you moaned around him, relaxing your throat so you could take him deeper. You could hear Aemond's breathing stuttering as you slowly pulled your lips all the way to the very tip of him and then took him back down your throat, hollowing out your cheeks.

"Fuck," he repeated, "I, uh, I can't-"

You felt him suddenly pull you off him and push you back on the bed.

"This is going to end too quickly if you keep doing that, angel."

"Angel?"

"Look at you," he said, indicating your white shimmery gown. "An angel about to be debauched."

You let one strap of the dress fall off your shoulder. "What does that make you, then?"

He lunged for you, hands on the bed on either side of you, and the smile on his face made you shiver.

"Me? I'm already destined for hell, love."

He took your lips, not slowly or gently this time, but desperately, his mouth all consuming on yours as he demanded entrance with his tongue and you willingly gave it. He was tugging down your dress as he kissed you, long fingers deftly maneuvering the yards of fabric until he had bared your breasts and then he pulled back, looking down at you.

You pushed the rest of the dress down until it fell on the floor, then laid back down and extended your arms to him. "Come here, Aemond," you said for the second time that night.

He shoved down the trousers, kicked them aside and spread your legs open before he kissed you again. He was so warm, his skin ablaze against yours, and you pulled him down to you, unable to get enough of him.

He began to kiss your neck, long fingers teasing your nipple, and then his mouth was on your breast and you moaned, the sharp sting of pleasure making you arch against him. He reached down lower, between your thighs, and you gasped.

"Tell me what you like," he murmured against your lips.

"Oh," you breathed as he settled on a steady rhythm, drawing tiny circles on the knot of nerves, "you're doing fine," you managed.

"Fine is not what I'm aiming for," he said, and slipped two fingers inside you and you cried out, your hips beginning to rock against him. "I want you to come for me," he added, curling his fingertips inside you.

"Aemond," you whispered, one hand on his shoulder, the other grabbing at his hair. "I- I'm-" you pressed your face to his neck a moment before the orgasm barreled through you, your cry muffled against his skin.

You felt him kneeing your legs apart and then he was pushing inside you. As ready as you were for him, he was big, and you bit down on your lower lip, still recovering and still wanting more.

"You can take me," he murmured soothingly as he kissed your temple. "Next time you come, I want to feel it around my cock," he said, and you whimpered as he rocked his hips to fill you completely.

He pulled back slowly, eyes on you, making sure you were okay, and then snapped his hips. You let your head fall back, and felt his teeth on your jaw, raking gently. "So good," he whispered, "I've wanted you for so long," he said as he settled on long, slow strokes. "So fucking long."

"Aemond," you closed your eyes, the feeling of him moving inside you beginning to send you back into that delicious spiral.

He reached between you, fingertips finding you and you moaned. "I can feel you," he said, "you-"

You cried out as you came, and felt him grab your hips to steady himself as he reached his own orgasm.

* * * * *

As reserved and aloof as you had always thought him to be, he hadn't stopped kissing and caressing you in the aftermath of your lovemaking. The man was full of surprises.

"Stay with me," he murmured against your cheek. "Tonight."

"How can I go when you've got me completely caged in," you teased, looking down at the arms he had wrapped around you and the way his legs were tangled with yours.

"Damn, I was trying to be stealthy," he smirked back. "We'll get breakfast, maybe I'll let you lure me back to bed again."

You rolled your eyes at him. "Rewriting history, are we? I remember trying to leave and someone grabbing my arm."

His eyes became serious on yours. "If I could rewrite history, I would have grabbed you a lot sooner." He leaned in to place a gentle kiss on your lips. "But I mean to make up for it."

You smiled against him, and let him pull you closer, thinking you were only too happy to let him make it up to you for a long, long time.

[touteslespetiteschosess]

Is It Over Now? || Kylian Mbappé

Plot: Kylian and y/n have been fighting for so long, she's not even sure she knows what they're fighting for anymore. Angst.

Warnings: toxic relationship

Word count: 3458

Masterlist

y/n well done on your goal, amour x will you want dinner when you get home? i'm making myself some pasta so i'll do extra for you x do you know what time you'll be home? i've left some food in the fridge for you x kylian can you reply please? i'm worried it's getting late, where are you?

A deep frown was etched on her face, she stared at her ignored texts, the oldest sent five hours ago and the most recent nearly an hour ago. None of them had received a response and neither had her calls.

She hadn't been able to go to his match today, as she'd already arranged to go out for her friend's birthday in the morning. Kylian hadn't minded though, it wasn't a particularly important match and she rarely missed any of his games, so she could be forgiven for this. Surely that wasn't why he was ignoring her. Well, knowing him at the moment she could easily conclude that there was no reason behind the radio silence. He was just being Kylian.

Dick.

She knew he probably had no reason to ignore her; he was most likely just over at Achraf's and didn't value her emotions enough to dain her with a text back. Still, having been alone in the house for so many hours with only her thoughts to keep her company, she couldn't stop her mind from wandering. It only felt natural to pick up her phone and she really couldn't help herself from opening Instagram. Her thumbs had a mind of their own, opening one of his fan accounts.

Then there he was, grainy footage of him on their story at some club in Paris, surrounded by his teammates. And then there was somebody else. Some girl sat at his side- on his side more really- his arm flopped lazily over the back of the booth behind her.

She was saying something and he was laughing. He was laughing in a way that he never did with y/n anymore. Wow, he was really laughing- surely nothing she said could be that funny.

The video was short, maybe five seconds, but she restarted it, watching it again, feeling a fire raging within her. The next story was a photo that some stranger in the club had taken. The pair were on the dance floor, none of his friends were in sight now. Her hands were up in the air and only now did y/n notice the girl's outfit. She wore a little red dress, just like the one that hung up in y/n and Kylian's shared closet. It was his favourite dress and she knew it.

At the sight, the fire that burned within her suddenly settled, an eery calm setting over her. After a few moments, she headed upstairs and drew a bath, watching the water slowly rise up the tub's sides. She loved that bath; the tub was huge, yet elegant, and sat right in front of a huge window which gave the most amazing view of the Eiffel Tower. Besides that, she and Kylian had spent some memorable nights in this bathtub. Not for a while though, she thought.

Now that she really considered it, she wasn't sure how many good memories she had with Kylian in the last six months. Maybe after three years together, she'd just grown used to the knowledge that she loved him and hadn't considered if he still deserved it. Maybe she hadn't considered if he still deserved her.

Maybe she'd been so caught up in the idea of the perfect man she'd met in that bar three years ago. She still remembered that innocent smile so vividly, the way he'd lift his glass to sip, almost hiding behind the thing. How every time she'd flirt with him, he'd blush like a schoolboy, and then suddenly shoot back with the most outrageous comment.

How a month after they'd started dating, the pandemic hit, and he'd turned up at her door, much to her disapproval. Then, he'd immediately asked her to move in with him. She still remembered his words.

Take a chance. If we're gonna go down, let's go down in flames. I don't wanna forget you, baby.

That aged like room-temperature milk.

He'd convinced her so easily, his charming smile and smooth words always getting the best of her. And he'd been right. Those had been the best few months of her life.

And even after lockdown, when she was back at work and football became more full on, everything had just seemed so right. He just seemed so right.

Every time he'd go away for matches, he'd always find some stupid trinket to bring home for her. The tradition had started the week they'd met, when she'd asked him out on another date and he'd had to turn her down, as he was playing away in Italy. He'd brought her back a little keyring- a pizza with Italia written on it. It was so tacky and so cheesy that she immediately fell in love... with the keyring. Their fridge was still littered with far too many magnets to count, very out of place in his black and white, minimalist kitchen.

Of course, she remembered the first gift, and she remembered the first time he'd forgotten. It was after an away match to Manchester City. An away match that had knocked PSG out of the Champions League- in the semi-finals.

It wasn't that she'd been expecting a gift- no, she completely understood. It was difficult for him; he'd been injured and therefore couldn't play the second leg. He'd had to go all the way to Manchester and didn't even get to kick the ball. He just had to sit on the bench and watch his dream fade before his eyes.

Despite not playing, she knew he blamed himself. He always blamed himself. For the injury. For not scoring in the first leg. For everything.

At the time, she hadn't been upset that he hadn't bought her some shitty magnet for their already cluttered fridge or a bottle opener for their already stuffed drawer. Besides, Manchester didn't have much to offer in the tourism department besides football, so she could forgive him for not wanting to search through shops full of his opponents' memorabilia, just to uphold their tradition.

Looking back on it though, that was the moment he snapped. Three weeks later, he'd returned from Reims empty-handed; when she'd playfully questioned him, asking how she was supposed to sleep at night without an 'I <3 Reims' t-shirt, he'd grunted something about being busy with work and she tried not to let her face fall, wishing he'd have just made some stupid joke in response.

Y/n, I can't afford to keep buying you all these presents.

Honey, nobody hearts Reims.

Well, I had some grapes for you but I got peckish.

But no, he'd just grumbled some excuse and gone up to their room. They'd won the game too. The last match of the season. Sure, they hadn't won the league but that fate had been sealed weeks ago.

Of course, at the time, she hadn't sat up at night, tossing and turning because her relationship was over. She'd understood. For him, she'd understood.

Then, the trinkets began to come every other away match, then once a month, once every few months, and then they stopped coming. The last remnant of their once-sacred tradition still sat on her fridge. He'd brought it back after an unremarkable league tie against Nice. A little magnet in the shape of a palm tree, in the colours of the French flag, with two words on it.

Trés Nice!

What did that even mean? Neither of them were sure. She loved it.

After that, however, the keyrings, and magnets, and bottle openers, and t-shirts, and pens had suddenly stopped. Not trés Nice!

The bath was full, the bubble bath she'd added working a treat. Slowly, she eased herself into the warm water, sighing as she settled back in the tub. She didn't even have her phone but she really didn't care. For what must have been an hour, she stared out the window at the city below her. From his castle, she watched his kingdom, knowing she didn't have a place in it anymore.

She stared at the dark streets they used to haunt, giggling hand in hand as they snook out of their apartment for late-night strolls (though it was always technically morning) down streets that at any other hour would be packed with hundreds of people, pointing at Kylian. Or when they used to go to tourist attractions in the middle of the winter and he'd pull on a balaclava, dragging her up the Eiffel Tower or the Champs Elysees, insisting her liked the thrill. In truth, so did she.

She liked standing hand in hand with him, knowing the crowds around them had no idea Kylian Mbappé was in their midst, and they never would because he was her Kylian. For that moment, at least.

It was late when she heard the door downstairs, the security system blaring loudly. She didn't panic, as it quickly turned off. He didn't say a word on his arrival. She could hear him drawing closer to their bedroom, his feet heavy on the stairs, in the hallway, in their room, approaching the bathroom door.

She thought he'd let his guard down when they first met, telling her his worries and fears, but maybe he only truly knocked down his walls that night in the bathroom months ago, showing his true self.

Maybe she only truly got to know him after Qatar, when he really snapped. When she'd tried to comfort him and he'd yelled at her because she'd never truly understand what he was going through. She'd told him she was sorry. She'd apologised. For what? She still wasn't quite sure.

Maybe she only truly knew Kylian when she'd been struggling at work, doing overtime to catch up on her ridiculous workload at home. She'd missed his match and he'd lost; then, when he returned home and she hadn't been in the mood for kisses and cuddles, he'd been furious. He'd said it was her fault she was stressed- she'd brought it on herself. She could quit her job any day and never worry about money again. She'd tried to explain but he couldn't comprehend her need for self-reliance. If anything, he was insulted that she didn't trust him enough to let him take care of her. He'd never been overly traditional or had an obviously fragile masculinity but that night she'd questioned everything she thought she knew about him.

Of course, he'd apologised the next morning and she'd forgiven him. They were both stressed and there was no reason to let one pressure-fueled spat escalate into more than it needed to. Then those one-off spats became more and more common until they were the norm. If they weren't in silence, they were fighting.

They only found peace when they were fucking. Even that physicality wasn't what it once was, no longer the same slow, gentle love-making. Now it was always quick, desperate, his once soft kisses now left bruises and his whispers of sweet nothings had morphed into wordless grunts and moans.

Is that all this relationship was anymore? Physical.

Light flooded the dimly-lit bathroom, as he swung the door open carelessly. He looked almost taken back at the sight of her, his eyebrows raising a little, as though he hadn't expected to see her here- in her own house.

Then again, maybe it wasn't her house. Sure, she'd lived here for almost as long as they'd been together but it was never really her house. It was Kylian's house in Kylian's city, and she was here too.

He stared at her for a few seconds before smirking, "Hey." he mumbled, already stripping down to join her.

She sunk further down in the tub, allowing the thick layer of bubbles to give her back her modesty. Silently, she watched him, her lips a flat line, her eyes on his face, not his naked body. He wasn't looking back at her. He was too focused on hastily ripping of his trousers and his shirt.

Without hesitation or any more words exchanged, he climbed in the tub and she leant forward as he slipped behind her. She wanted to be held in his arms just one more time, to feel his body against hers. He positioned his legs on either side of her, his arms flopping over her shoulders, as he pulled her back into his chest. Resting his face on her shoulder, he let out a noise, somewhere between a contented hum and a whine.

She ignored him, turning her head to stare out of the window. The city's skyline was dark and at this time, the tower's lights were off. Now, it was just a dark silhouette against a dark horizon, only made visible by the bright light of the full moon.

"What are you sulking about?"

As he spoke, she could smell the alcohol on his breath and she almost wretched at the scent. Her voice was calm and steady, as she asked, "Where have you been?"

Her voice sounded like she had an innocent curiosity in the question as if she didn't already know the answer, or she was merely asking to make small talk.

"Oh, some of the team wanted to go out to celebrate the win."

He didn't lift his head from her shoulder, placing a soft kiss on the damp skin. He lied with such ease. Well, he hadn't entirely lied, just withheld some important elements of the truth. Maybe she'd have preferred it if he'd just lied to her. At least then he would have had to make a conscious effort to deceive her. No, this felt so much worse; he spoke with such ease, as though it was the whole truth, and maybe he too believed it. Maybe he believed that she didn't need to know about the girl in the red dress, just like he'd believed she didn't need a text back, or a kiss goodbye before he left the house this morning, or a goodnight before she fell asleep last night or the night before that or the night before that.

"And who was that girl?" she asked, her voice still chirpy, not a hint of bitterness showing in her tone.

"Huh?" he twisted his head, the side of it on her shoulder, gazing up at her face.

"The girl you were with. She was in a red dress, like the one I have. Blonde hair and-"

"Oh," he cut her off quickly, "she's one of Ousmane's friends, I think."

"You think?"

"Mhm, I don't really know. I didn't speak to her that much."

Now, that wasn't a half-truth, that was simply a lie.

"Oh, okay. Just 'cause you seemed really friendly with her."

He scoffed, lifting his head, his tone suddenly switching, "What, were you stalking me?"

"No, but you didn't reply to my texts and you came home seven hours after the match finished, so I wanted to make sure you weren't dead in some ditch."

"Of course, I wasn't. Can I not have a night out with my friends?"

"Yeah, that's fine but you didn't fucking text me back and the next thing I see you've got some random girl in your lap at the club and you don't even have the courtesy to tell me about it."

"It wasn't like that! Why would I come home and tell my girlfriend that some nobody had been coming onto me in the club?" he snapped.

"Because you were coming onto her too! Don't you think I deserved to be warned that people were going to post pictures of my boyfriend with someone else! It's fucking humiliating!"

She stood up and climbed out of the bath, wanting to get as far away from him as possible. She quickly grabbed her robe from where it hung and wrap it around herself. She sat on the little ottoman in the corner, hugging her arms around herself.

"What are you saying? You know I wouldn't cheat on you!"

He yelled the statement as though it were a fact. Maybe he believed it. He seemed to believe a lot of things. Maybe he just didn't think about her perspective much.

"No, I don't! What reason have you given me to trust you?"

His face fell into an expression of fury, "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, Kylian!" she almost yelled and almost sighed, somewhere in the middle, "I don't know. What are we even doing this for?"

"You tell me! You're the one picking a fight for no reason!"

"No, not this just... why are we here? We keep fighting and I don't know what for."

He stood up, "What..."

"I'm not happy! You're not happy! What's the point!"

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he rushed over to her, "I'm happy, of course I am!"

"Well, I'm not." she murmured, standing up from the seat and heading for the bathroom door.

"What are you doing, where are you going?" he asked, panic setting over him.

"Away," she muttered, heading to the closet.

"No, you're not." he declared, chasing after her, "Look, baby, I'm sorry, okay?" Ignoring him, she began to change into some joggers and a hoodie. "Y/n, you're not leaving me."

"Why not? All we ever do is fight! There's no point in us being together if we make each other fucking miserable!"

"I told you, you make me happy! You make me happier than anyone else in the world!"

"Why don't you treat me like it then? Why don't you treat me like I'm worth anything? Like I'm a fucking human being!"

He was quiet, watching her as she grabbed a bag and started to toss clothes into it. "Y/n, I love you. I-"

"Do you, though? Really?"

"I do. Look I know I've been busy with work but you know how stressful my job is. I'm trying to be here for you and do my best for the team-"

"No, you're not. I know how hard you work but I have needs too. I can't keep doing this."

She dropped to her knees, zipping up the bag, packed with enough clothes for a few days. He stood in the doorway, blocking her exit as she tried to get her toothbrush from the bathroom.

As she stood in front of him, he took her hands in his, "Please, baby, I'll change. I'll do it for you, I swear."

"It's too late, Ky," she said, shoving past him. He didn't budge, "Kylian, get out of my way."

He clutched her hands as though his life depended on it, placing soft kisses on both of them, "I need you. You can't leave me."

"You should have thought about that before, shouldn't you?"

She shoved him out of the way and grabbed a few things from the bathroom before heading for the front door. He chased after her, his mind racing and his heart pumping a mile a minute in his chest. He swore it was working so hard he could hear his heartbeat in his ears- or was it the sound of her feet on the stairs?

"Y/n," God, her name sounded so right on his lips, he wanted to say her name forevermore, "she meant nothing. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have entertained her like that." Tears were forming in his hazel eyes, he watched her putting on her shoes, "Y/n, you can't leave me, I love you. I- I don't want to live without you. I don't want to be on my own."

"Kylian," she stood up and cupped his cheek. Her hand was so warm and fit so perfectly around his face, as though it was moulded just for it, "you know I'll always love you."

Covering her hand with his own, he shook his head, a single tear rolling down his cheek, "Don't do this to me, amour."

She hated seeing him like this: he barely ever cried. In all of their time together, she'd seen him cry maybe four times and it had never been because of her.

Her soft thumb wiped away the tear, "Don't cry. You'll be okay."

Then she was gone. The door was open and then it was closed. She was there and then she was gone.

He watched the space she'd been stood in for far too long, as though she'd swing the door open at any moment and declare that she'd had a sudden change of heart. But she wouldn't.

She was gone. It was over.

Masterlist

[livwritesstuff]

Steve is up past his bedtime.

(Because he's in his mid-fifties and needs one of those now).

It's 2:30 in the morning and he's awake, sitting in bed with a book and doing his best to ignore the dull ache of exhaustion because his oldest daughter, Moe, hasn't come home yet.

He keeps glancing at his phone, waiting for the screen to light up with a notification from the Ring doorbell they've had up and running for a few years.

Steve had been on the fence about getting it installed, but Eddie wanted it (and it was that or the touch screen toaster, and Steve didn't think he'd be able to take his kitchen seriously with a touch screen toaster).

The late-2000s had turned Eddie into a tech guy. Steve isn't sure if it should have come as a surprise to him or not, but it's true either way. Their kids are 1000x more proficient with it, for sure, but they also grew up with it. The last time the girls were really impressed was when their local Pizza Hut got one of those big touch screen soda machines, but Eddie is pretty much guaranteed to be into anything with a touch screen, anything he can control on his phone.

Steve, on the other hand, reached his capacity for technology with the 2nd gen iPad, which is still up and running even in the 2020s and he still uses it to play Hay Day with Hazel despite being practically the last people on Earth doing it. He’s not interested in any of the new stuff.

The one thing Steve was totally game for was getting a Ring doorbell, because with the girls old enough to come and go mostly as they please, it’s nice to have a better sense of those comings and goings.

It wasn't easy for Steve – relinquishing some control to give their daughters the independence that they'd be chasing whether they had permission or not, but the girls have called their dads to get them out of sticky situations enough times for Steve to know they're making the right decision, even if he doesn't like it.

Ridiculous as it feels, that silly smart doorbell does actually provide him with a small sense of relief.

As is proven yet again when his phone lights up with the long-awaited Ring notification.

"Jesus Christ, finally," Steve mutters, and Eddie, who'd been dozing off by his side, lifts his head.

"She's back?" he asks.

Steve nods.

The notification opens in time for them to see Moe stumbling up the porch steps. There's a boy her age – unfamiliar to Steve even up close – watching her warily from a few paces back. She's wrapped in a big sweatshirt and cradling a greasy Domino's bag like she'd used to hold her stuffed animals.

Moe grapples for the door before pausing and leaning towards the camera.

"Sorry Papa," she mumbles, shaking her wrecked bangs out of her eyes.

"Oh, look at her, hitting you with the Papa because she knows it makes you go soft," Eddie says with a smirk, "No apology for me though, that's kind of bullshit."

Steve shakes his head with a snort.

Moe finally gets the door open and makes her way inside. They hear the sound of the door closing downstairs a split second before it comes through the phone. The boy waits until she's inside before waving weakly at the camera.

"Uh...I'm Nate," Nate says, looking completely exhausted and sounding as if he regrets addressing the camera to begin with, "I'm sober. I drove her home. There’s, uh…I gotta get other people home."

Steve snorts as he watches the boy turn and walk back down the porch steps.

"Poor kid. Long night – closest Dominos is, like, thirty minutes from here."

"Jesus," Eddie shakes his head, "Think Moe would be totally mortified if we tracked him down to say thank you?"

"Yes."

"Sweet, sounds like a plan.”

[aurora-starwars]

Hi! So ive seen that you take requests so i thought i give a try.

Could you do an imagine where the reader is the auntie of the kids? She treats them very good and is very gentle with them. She wants to make the kids feel that they can tell her everything.

So when one day neteyam comes to tell her that jake was too hard on him again, she tries to comfort him. She tells him that he is not a disappointment and he shouldn’t always take the blame on himself etc.

I hope you get what i was trying to say. I hope you have a great day! :D

Family Is Not An Important Thing. It's Everything.

Pairing: Sully Family/Neteyam x fem!Aunt!reader (platonic)

Summary: Aunt!reader comforts neteyam after a fight with his dad

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: crying, mentions of Lo’ak being an idiot, mostly angst with fluff <333

A/n: Thank you so much for requesting! I really liked this idea, sorry it took so long! Trying to get as many fics out as I can! Enjoy!!

Masterlist

[Name] had always been close with the Sully kids. From the moment Neytiri found out she was pregnant, [Name] had been an important part of the family.

It started with helping Neytiri function in the last few days of her pregnancy, grabbing objects off the ground, bringing her food to her while Jake was on a hunt, and helping her walk when she struggled. Neytiri was more than happy to have her sister help her and her new family.

But as the years flew by, [Name] became a friend to the Sully children. A open ear, a shoulder to cry on, a person to come to when you have no one else.

So when Neteyam entered [Name]’s hut, tears in his eyes threatening to spill, [Name] was happy to help.

Walking over to Neteyam, [Name]’s eyes quickly scanned his face for any signs of wounds or injuries. It wasn’t unusual for Neteyam or Lo’ak to walk into her hut with cuts or gashes from stupid things that would get them in trouble with their parents. She would sigh and clean them up, try to make them laugh before pushing them out, telling them to go do something useful, smiling while she'd rolled her eyes.

But as she looked over Neteyam for any sign of anything, she came up dry. The only give away was his eyes. Neteyam’s eyes, usually full of joy or annoyance as he interacted with his siblings, held a familiar emotion [Name] knew all too well.

Neteyam had a bad habit of taking the blame for his siblings mistakes, mainly Lo’ak’s as he made many. While [Name] didn’t blame him for this, seeing as he often felt his role as the oldest was to protect his siblings, she did feel bad every time she saw that look.

Smiling to Netayam sadly, [Name] asked:

“Is it your parents?”

To which Neteyam only nodded gently, still trying to hold back his tears.

“Did Lo’ak did something stupid?” [Name] asked again, voice getting increasingly more gentle as as the story in her head started to solidify.

Neteyam nodded again, his lip twitching downward for a split second.

“And did you take the blame for it,” [Name] watched as Neteyam looked at the ground in front of him.

“Again?” [Name] questioned softly, already knowing the answer.

A single tear fell from Neteyam’s eye as he nodded once again.

“Oh Neteyam, I am so sorry.” [Name] walked over to him, enveloping him in a hug.

Neteyam held stiff for a moment before completely falling apart in his aunt’s arms. Quiet sobs filled [Name]’s ears as he let all of the moments he took his parent’s wrath for Lo’ak. He could usually handle it, as he would claim, but the truth is it really got to him.

Neteyam has always had a great love for his family, from the moment he was born he was brought in to the world that only seemed to shower him in love. The same love he hoped to give his sisters and brother when they were born. But since Lo’ak came of age to get in trouble he couldn’t get away with, trying to shower his trouble-making brother in his love became nearly impossible. Neteyam loved his brother, he really did but [Name] understood that that does not stop Lo’ak from being an idiot. She can say that from personal experience.

As Neteyam’s sobs slowly subsided, [Name] released him from her gentle hold.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” [Name] saw Neteyam wipe his eyes quickly, taking a deep breath before he nodded.

“What has happened, my child?” [Name] asked, leading him to a soft place on the ground, where they sat down.

“It’s my dad,” Neteyam looks at the floor.

“I’m not even sure if I am upset at Lo’ak, even though he is an skxawng. Most of the time he means well, even if his actions don’t show it…” Neteyam trails off for a moment before [Name] sees his fist tighten into a ball.

[Name] rests a caring hand on his shoulder, nodding to prompt him to continue.

“But my dad… He just doesn’t understand! He doesn’t understand that Lo’ak is just young and stupid and that we are not soldiers! We are his sons! “Neteyam threw his hands in the air as he huffed in frustration. “And sometimes I wish that he wouldn’t yell at me or Lo’ak so much for just being his sons.” Neteyam finished with a sad, soft whisper.

“Neteyam.” [Name] spoke carefully, hoping to get Neteyam to look at her.

Neteyam turned his attention from his hands in front of him to his aunt. It was only after he looked up that [Name] could see the tears still streaming down his face.

“Neteyam, you are a wonderful kid and an even more amazing sibling. I know that it’s hard to take the blame for everything, and I know it’s hard having your dad not understand. But you are never alone. You know that?”

Neteyam only nodded softly.

“You can alway come to me, and even though you think he is an idiot,” Neteyam giggled at [Name]’s choice of words. “I am sure Lo’ak would be there for you too. Neteyam, even though it sometimes doesn’t seem like it, your father loves you very much. He loved you so much he wanted to have more of you!”

Neteyam laughed again, starting to finally feel better.

“Personally, I think he might treat you like soldiers because he wants to protect you. And if he can’t do that himself, I think he hopes that you will follow what he says so that you won’t get hurt. Although I get that that is frustrating, he just wants you to be safe. After all, this family is all he has.” [Name] finished, giving Neteyam an understanding smile.

Neteyam looked away for a moment, thinking about what his aunt said. When he determined that it made sense, he turned to his aunt before pulling her in for a quick hug.

“Thank you for making me feel better, Aunt [Name].” Neteyam said gratefully, smiling wide seeming feeling much better.

“Any time, Neteyam. Now go play with your siblings or ride on your Ikran!” [Name] smiled, watching as Neteyam waved as he was running away.

Although conversations like those were hard, [Name] would never turn down a chance to help her nieces and nephews. Those children felt like her own at times, and she wouldn’t trade them for anything. So as she watched Neteyam get on his Ikran and fly away, she promised herself she would always be there for the Sully family.

A/n: Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you liked or didn’t like! <33333

Master-list

Taglist: @nyotamalfoy

[luke-hughes43]

beautiful crazy | luke and melissa

luke and mel enjoying their retired life and life as parents after the NHL and catching up with their closest friends and families.

*there's a couple of time jumps in this but it's their adult life after college and into the NHL and after. maybe with Luke being involved at the NTDP*

(I kept the ages vague and gave random names for their kids since we haven't talked about it yet)

~

her day starts with a coffee, and ends with a wine, takes forever gettin' ready, so she's never on time for anything

mel is very much a morning person compared to luke. she didn't always used to be a morning person but early morning workouts in college to having kids converted her into being an early riser despite her husband being in a deep sleep.

mel is up between 5 and 5:30 every morning to enjoy some peace and quiet before her teenage kids wake up. she's enjoying her coffee when at about 5:15, she feels a pair of arms wrap around her face. she knows it's luke.

"come back to bed." he mumbles into her neck. she giggles, "no. I'm enjoying my coffee in the peace and quiet before the kids get up. bridgette has a skate at 6:15, and christian is doing off ice at 6:00 with mini duke. delaney said she'd come too and just do her own workout in the gym at the rink before school."

"what time will you be home?" luke mumbles again, holding mel tighter.

mel smiles at her sleepy, clingy husband. she runs her fingers through his curls and says, "I drop the girls off at school at 7:45. so I'll be home at like 8 ish. when do you have to be at the rink?"

"8:30. I'll be leaving when you get home but I'm only there for half the day since the kids have school for the second half. and I took a half day anyways so I can spend time with you."

mel smiles and leans into luke's hold until she hears her first born moving around upstairs. she sighs, "and bridgette is up. goddamn early bird child."

"she gets it from you." Luke smirks and kisses mel's cheek. mel smiles, "while she obviously didn't get it from you. christian and del definitely did from you."

Luke goes to protests but they hear a "mom?!" coming from bridgette's bathroom and mel says, "duty calls. I love you babe." and kisses him before going up to their oldest daughter.

"I love you too sweetheart."

when she gets that come-get-me look in her eyes, well it kinda scares me, the way that she drives me wild, and she drives me wild

luke gets home from a long day at the rink with christian to see mel cooking dinner and doing the dishes. he asks over to hug her and give her a kiss but also to steal a piece of chicken.

mel slaps his hand and scolds him, "luke warren absolutely not. go take a shower before touching this. I don't need your hockey smelling hands contaminating dinner."

"I'm offended honey. really."

"I don't care. go shower." mel says sternly. she turns and gives him a look that says "if you don't get your butt upstairs and take a shower you're sleeping on the couch." luke recognizes the look and immediately retreats to shower.

he says as he's going up the stairs, "I love you!"

"go shower luke. then I'll tell you I love you." mel shorts back at him. he chuckles and just goes to shower before mel killed him.

beautiful crazy, she can't help but amaze me, the way that she dances, ain't afraid to take chances, and wears her heart on her sleeve, yeah she's crazy, but her crazy's beautiful to me

(this is while they are still in the NHL, it's gonna be shea's wedding so part of mel telling Luke she's pregnant, maybe for their third kid.)

mel is sitting with ethan's wife for a few minutes sipping on water since she can't drink. luke walks over, extends his hand, and smiles, "may I have this dance mrs. hughes?"

she looks at ethan's wife who nods and mel smiles, "you may mr. hughes." she lets him pull her onto the dance floor for a slow dance. something they don't get to do often. mel comments, "I'm so happy for shea. he looks so happy and grown up."

"yea. you always had a soft spot for him didn't you?"

"of course I did. you left me alone with him and gavin for a year and someone had to supervise them. I grew close with him and he's the little brother I never wanted but got stuck with anyways."

"I don't know if I've ever told you this but one of the things that I fell in love with about you is your ability to open your heart to anyone. especially the important people in my life."

"well if they are important to you then they are important to me. we're in this life together luke."

"that's what I mean. you took shea in your arms in college and kept him under your wing while he made the transition. and I know it meant a lot to him."

"he's family. it was a no brainer." mel smiles up at her husband. Luke leans down and presses a soft but long kiss to her lips. he mumbles against them, "I love you mel. my crazy girl."

"I love you too Luke."

she makes plans for the weekend, can't wait to go out, till she changes her mind, and says, "let's stay on the couch and watch TV", and she falls asleep

"come on Luke, let's get the whole gang back together for the weekend, send the kids to your parents or my parents or to their friends and just have a weekend with our friends with no kids and no responsibilities. like college all over again. it will be fun, and we haven't seen some of them in ages with mackie, mark, and ethan moving out of michigan."

"fine. but you have to promise not to change your mind about it. because even if you do, it's still happening and they'll still be here."

"I won't change my mind." mel says nodding with smile, excited about their friends coming to town.

~day before their friends come to town~

"luke, are we sure they're still coming tomorrow?" mel asks while cooking dinner. luke rolls his eyes and nods, "yes. you aren't getting out of it."

"but I really just wanna wear sweats and watch tv with you."

"not happening. and we do that every night. they are coming and it's final." he says looking her in the eye. mel nods and mumbles "fine" under her breath.

~night of~

after the first hour of catching up and being excited to see everyone, they all gather around the fire pit on the back patio. mel is curled up on luke's lap and after being under the blanker with luke rubbing her back for 30 minutes, she's out cold. luke chuckles and dylan asks, "what's so funny hughesy?"

"mel is out cold."

"typical mel." ethan comments. mark adds, "some things never change." both of their wives smack them for their comments but everyone knows it's true. she always suggests doing something and then curls up on luke's lap and falls asleep pretty quickly.

beautiful crazy, she can't help but amaze me, the way that she dances, ain't afraid to take chances, and wears her heart on her sleeve, yeah she's crazy, but her crazy's beautiful to me

mel is sitting in her office, in late july, on her computer to organize the family calendar to make sure that her and luke can get all of the kids where they need to be. luke comes home to his wife hard at work once again. he smiles, "do you ever take a break baby?"

mel jumps, not hearing him walk in. she says, "no. because if I take a break, the kids don't get where they need to be. because christian was so focused on hockey this summer that he never took his road test, bridge moves into holy cross in 3 weeks, and Delaney is coming back from pgf with lauren and sophia in 3 days and she has a camp at michigan when she gets back."

"woah, just relax for a second mel. it's gonna be ok. just breathe." luke says softly and pulls mel up from the desk and into a hug. mel lets out a deep breath and asks luke, "were we crazy for signing our kids up for so many activities as a kids and they kept that schedule into their teen years? like did we cause this because this is what we did?"

"no at all. we told them that if they didn't wanna do any of this that they didn't have to. and that just drove them even more. they get their crazy dedicated work ethic from you sweetheart."

"I'm not crazy dedicated, I'm just passionate." mel argues back against luke's chest. he chuckles, "you say passionate, most people say crazy. but you're my crazy girl and I love that about you. and don't worry about the kids, we'll figure it out mel. we always do."

"are you sure?" mel questions. luke nods, "I'm sure. I'll tell christian that he had to schedule a road test before school starts with the program or else he can find a different ride to the rink. and del will figure out what she wants for college soon, she's only a sophomore don't forget. and we'll get bridgette to worcester. you're parents are still nearby and I'm sure they'd be willing be to help out. but we got it melissa, I promise."

"never melissa me again." mel says looking up at him.

"I won't. I just used tot o get my point across." luke chuckled and kissed her head. he just holds her close and enjoying a moment to themselves in their very busy lives. mel is understanding how jim and ellen felt reading quinn, jack, and luke.

she's crazy, she's crazy, but her crazy's beautiful to me, her crazy's beautiful to me

luke is never not amazed but how go-go-go his wife is when it comes to the kids and how organized she has everything. he loves seeing her take control of the situation and get everything handled using her crazy methods to do so and is never not so deeply in love with mel that it hurts him to even think about a life without her.

[peachhcs]

high school signing day | the wonder years

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

samy's feeling lost with her college decision, so she looks to the three people she admires the most.

1.5k words

this is totally not samy and will, but this was requested!! there's like a little small bit of angst, but only if you squint. btw i'm not 100% sure how high school signing days work bc my school never had them really, so i just guesses lol

au masterlist

the hughes sibling group chat burned into samy's skull while her thumb hung over the facetime button wondering if she should call them or just figure it out on her own. she hated bothering them, especially if they were out doing something because who wanted their younger sister bugging them when they were hanging out with friends?

that felt like the worst part about all of this. samy was the last one left out of her brothers. all of them were on their own now and while luke was still in michigan, it felt like he wasn't a lot of the time because of him being busy with college. the connection the four of them once shared slowly dissipated despite the promise they all made before quinn went to college.

"i promise we'll still talk everyday. we can't get rid of each other that easily. we're family," quinn glanced between his siblings as they stood in his freshly decorated dorm room.

"yeah, promise. we're all still in michigan, so we're not even that far away," jack had said with a slight eye roll. he wasn't as emotional as luke and samy were about their oldest brother leaving home.

talking everyday slowly turned to texting everyday which turned into twice a week if samy was lucky. she knew their lives would start becoming more important than texting the groupchat everyday, but when one of the most important things was hanging in the balance of samy's life, she wasn't quite sure if she could bring herself to call the three people who had been there for her entire life.

"just call them," samy muttered to herself.

somewhere, she gained some courage and clicked the facetime button where her screen split into four boxes waiting for them to pick up. her lip slipped between her teeth as she anxiously hoped one of them would answer.

luke connected first.

his face appeared with a small smile while samy watched him stick his airpods into his ears and walk somewhere which definitely meant she interrupted him from something.

"what's up?" the older boy wondered.

"hi, sorry. am i interrupting something?" the girl immediately asked.

"oh, no. i was just playing video games with some of the guys," luke shook his head, relieving some of the worries in the girl's chest.

quinn's square connected a second later. he looked quite comfortable in what must've been his apartment couch. "hi, what's up guys?"

"hi quinny," samy hummed, smiling at her oldest brother.

"hey squirt," quinn's little nickname made samy chuckle.

finally, jack joined the call from his new jersey apartment. he waved to the group, "whole gang is here. what's up?" the middle hughes wondered while their gazes fell to samy since she started the call.

"hi, i just wanted to talk if you guys aren't busy?" samy wondered.

"sure, what's up? is something wrong?" quinn's protective older brother instinct kicked in almost instantly making the girl smile a bit.

"no, not..not really. i'm just..thinking a lot lately with..signing day coming up," the younger brunette explained making her brothers quickly understand.

"oh right, mom mentioned that. have you picked a school yet?" jack asked.

"uh, that's the problem. i-i don't really know," samy frowned.

she'd been back and forth between michigan and boston for weeks now. both of them were such great schools and amazing soccer programs, she didn't know how to pick one. if she went to michigan, she'd continue her brother's legacy, but if she went to boston, she'd get to stick close to will and the guys she's grown so close over the last two years.

"what's got you stumped?" luke raised his eyebrow.

"i-i don't really know. they're both such good schools. i feel like i'm gonna let people down no matter which one i choose," the girl sighed a bit.

"wait, who are letting down? mom and dad?" jack grew confused.

"well, yeah, if i don't go to michigan and you guys in a way and i let down will and the guys if i don't choose boston," samy sunk down into her bed.

"wait, no, no, you're not gonna let us down if you don't go to michigan. you know that, right?" luke quickly cut in.

"i-i mean.. yeah," samy's voice grew quiet.

"we don't care where you go, samy. as long as you're happy that's all that counts. would it be awesome if you came to umich? yeah. my heart wouldn't be broken if you chose boston though. plus, i know mom and dad will be happy for you no matter what?" luke quickly reassured his sister, but she only shrugged.

"i just feel so..lost, i guess. i mean how did you guys even choose?" she mostly asked quinn and luke since jack didn't go to college.

"quinn sort of influenced my decision, but i guess i just loved the atmosphere michigan brought. it's like home to me. you just gotta choose where you most feel at home," luke hummed.

"if that's boston, that's great. if it's still here, that's also great. no one's gonna hate you if you choose one or the other," quinn added in.

a little smile danced across the girl's lips. "yeah, i guess you're right. maybe i'm a homebody, but michigan will always feel like home to me."

large smiles grew across her brother's lips hearing her say that. they would've been happy wherever samy ended up, but all of them were secretly hoping she'd land on michigan.

"you guys sure you can't come out for my signing day?" samy asked half joking, half not. she was mostly asking quinn and jack since luke would most definitely be there living so close to home.

"sorry, squirt. i'm not sure if i can get the time off," quinn frowned.

"yeah, me neither, but we'll be there in spirit. maybe mom can facetime us in!" jack exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.

facetime us in. that phrase was common in the household nowadays. there were a lot of things samy's brothers have missed because of their obligations which she completely understood, but sometimes it hurt. she never once missed any of brothers most important days, yet they seemed to have missed nearly all of hers.

not to mention, facetime calls got old really fast.

"that's okay. i'll think of you. i better let you guys go though. thanks for talking," samy put on her best smile despite the pit in her stomach.

"of course. anytime, squirt. love you," quinn said while jack and luke echoed his sentiments. samy hung up first leaving the other three still on the call.

"are you guys for real not coming down?" luke wondered, tone somewhat bitter but not quite.

"i mean..i would if i could, but with a game coming up i just don't know if i can swing it," jack began.

"come on, she's been there for us our entire lives. she's been dragged to more of our shit than us to hers. the least we could do is be there for her for once," luke didn't mean to sound so angry, but he couldn't help it because he too was one of the forgotten siblings jack and quinn slowly stopped showing up for when they left the house.

quinn and jack's expressions fell soft and it seemed to ebe decided then as texts and calls were quickly sent.

—

samy sat at the table with her parents making up the last of the display. they all sported the infamous blue and yellow colors along with a banner laid over the table saying university of michigan. the decision seemed so easy after that conversation with her brothers and samy was glad.

she spotted will, gabe, ryan, drew, aram, jacob, and will vote up in the gymnasium stands watching down with proud smiles on their faces. sure, it hurt that they'd be separated in the fall, but the brunette knew they were all extremely proud of her.

samy's eyes weren't on the doors that opened a few seconds later with three very special guests walking in. instead, she watched her mom fix more things on the table that she also didn't catch her dad recording her.

"i'm glad we have another baby wolf in the family," quinn spoke first, instantly catching samy's attention.

she probably gave herself whiplash with how fast her head swiveled around to meet all three of her brother's gazes.

"o-oh my god. what are you guys doing here?" the girl exclaimed, jumping up to collect them into hugs.

"you'd really think we'd miss something like this?" jack laughed, nuzzling his head into his sister's head.

"i'm really glad you guys are here," samy grinned.

"wouldn't miss this for the world," quinn beamed as well.

after the hugs and reuinions, the entire family crowded around samy's table as she got the paper ready alongside the woman's soccer coach. her high school coach also stood behind her while the photographer got ready for the big moment.

they staged a handshake pose before samy began signing her name across the paper, beginning her contact with the ncaa.

"samy hughes, university of michigan women's soccer!"

[spiderdaddy420]

The Favorite Uncle...

Usually my brother is home when I come to town for work, but his job sent him out of town for a few weeks this time. When I gave him a call to let him know I'd be around, he asked me if I could maybe take his oldest kid out while I was in town. Her and her mom haven't been getting along at all lately, and he was sure they could both use a break. Of course I told him no problem. His kids were good, fun kids, and my niece is very cute. I'd definitely have a fun time spending the day with her.

I spoke to Sara a couple days before I got to town, and asked her if she'd like to hang out with her uncle, perhaps we'll go see a movie, or even hit the Build-a-Bear workshop nearby. She seemed super happy to hear that idea, and even asked if she could dress like a little kid when we went. "ha, sure kiddo, why not?" I said, liking the idea. And having no idea what I was getting into.

It turns out my little niece had become quite the little heartbreaker in the year or so since my last visit. And I was shocked when she pranced out of her front door towards my car. Skipping down the sidewalk, she wore teeny tiny little shorts, and an adorable little blue crop top with cherries on the front. With her blond hair in a loose ponytail bouncing behind her and her big round glasses, I thought for the first time that she looked absolutely delicious.

As Sara plopped down in the passenger seat next to me, she leaned over and gave me a big kiss on the cheek, pressing her little b-cups against my arm. Yikes, she wasn't even wearing a bra! Definitely not going to be easy to keep my composure.

"Hi Uncle J, thanks for taking me out today! Are we starting with building a teddy bear?" she giggled, looking adorable as hell.

"Ha, sure sweetie, we certainly can! Do you know what you wanna make yet?" I asked, prying my eyes off of her young, smooth, bare legs.

"I dunno yet, maybe you can help me pick?" she replied.

As I drove the half hour or so to Build-a-Bear, we had a fun, light chat. She's really looking forward to her second year of high school in a few weeks. I kept trying not to, but my eyes kept wandering across her tiny white thighs. She kept crossing and uncrossing them, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional. And then there were several times she rested her knee on my hand holding the shifter. Is she trying to tease me?

As we parked, Sara could barely contain her excitement. Last time she was here, I took her for her 12th birthday. She made an adorable floppy giraffe. She was so happy that she could make it play the Toys-R-Us theme song when she squeezed his belly! She told me she still snuggles with him every night, and he needed a new friend.

As we're waiting in line, she was SO bouncy and giggly! Grabbing my arm, giving me hugs, saying "thank you thank you thank you!" over and over. Jesus, kiddo, you have no idea what you're doing to me. 'Course, I didn't say that, but when we got close to the front of the line, she held my arm, twirled around, and ended up wrapped in my arm, her back pressed firm against me, I have a feeling she felt my cock grow against the small of her back. I'm guessing she did, because she held my arm tight, and didn't move an inch til we were next in line. I'm definitely glad I was holding a bag from the bookstore we passed by, because my tent was fully pitched.

Bouncing around and smiling as delightfully as ever, she chose to make a big stuffed Stitch, from one of her favorite movies. She had him stuffed big and full, and we added a bubblegum scent, and a little audio clip of his laugh from the movies, and she kept giving big warm hugs, thanking me so so much. I swear, she knows exactly what she's doing.

As the clerk rung us up and I paid, she gave me yet another possibly too long hug, pressing her firm little tits against my arm. "Glad you're happy, kiddo!" I said, giving her a little wink.

Of course we didn't need a bag for her Stitch, she wasn't going to be letting him go any time soon.

As we reached the car, she asked if we're going to head to the movies now, and I told her I just need to stop at my hotel for a few minutes, then we'll head out. "why don't you open your phone up and see what's playing nearby?" I suggested. "okie dokie uncle J!", as she pulled her phone from her tiny little purse. Holding it between her legs, which of course I couldn't look away from, and a pic of her with her eyes crossed, and tongue hanging out, was her phone's wallpaper. As she saw me look, she giggled adorably "heheh, oops, I was just being silly the other day".

"Ha, it's a super cute pic sweetie, send me a copy" I said, half jokingly.

By the time we got back to the hotel I was staying at, I could barely look at the road. Sara kept touching her thighs, then touching my hand, then crossing her pretty little legs.... I was about to burst.

As walked the hallway to my room, she had Stitch held tight in one arm, the other holding my hand. Practically skipping down the hall, and I kept noticing her perky little tits poking and bouncing under her little blue top.

Walking into my room, I locked the door behind me and asked if Sara wanted a snack while we're here. Handing her a candy bar and a Pepsi from the mini fridge, she leaned forward and showed me how low her tiny top was cut. Catching my gaze, she quickly covered herself up, blushing. "Sorry uncle J", practically red as an apple. "Hehe, it's ok kiddo, you're adorable".

"And...um.... I'm sorry if I got a little excited at the store earlier. I don't know what got into me" she said, staring directly down at her feet.

Kneeling down in front of her, I gently lifted her chin to look me in the eyes, and I told her it's ok, I got pretty excited too. She replied "I know uncle J, that's kinda why I kept doing it. I'm so sorry, that was wrong of me".

"So, you knew what you were doing, kiddo?" I asked, still holding her delicate chin.

"Y....ye....yeah, I did", and a tear or two started to stream down her soft pink cheek. "You're just always super nice to me, and take such good care of me when you visit, and I wanted to thank you..." Rambling now, she continued "thank you and make sure you knew how important it is to me, and you're a really handsome guy, to be honest, and nobody is ever that sweet to me.... I just want you to keep visiting and taking care of me, I wanna make you happy...I just...! Ugh, I'm so sorry..."

My pulse instantly quickened. And my cock grew hard again. "really, little Sara?" I asked, as my eyes narrowed, and I looked into her watery eyes.

"Yea-"

Like a snake attacking it's dinner, my hand went dropped down and my large strong fingers wrapped around Sara's tiny neck. Lifting her to her feet that way, both of her hands grabbed my forearm, but she didn't actually resist. I leaned close and began kissing her soft young lips, pressing my tongue into her warm, Pepsi flavored mouth. After a moment, I leaned back up, eyes locked with hers, not releasing my grip. My poor little niece looked so frightened, and so excited, and so delicate....

"I'm going to enjoy taking care of you, sweetie" as I turned, still grasping her neck, and pressed her against the wall. "You just stay right here, and look me in the eyes, sweetie."

One hand still holding her neck, her fingers still clutching my arm, tho her nails are no longer digging in, my other hand slid down below the edge of her crop top, pulling up and revealing what she's been teasing me with all day. Her adorable little b-cup looked tiny when my hand wrapped around it, and Sara let out a short gasp as I pinched her little nipple and firmly rolled it in my fingers.

"Unc-...uncle J....what're you-... What're we-.... What's happening...?" She whimpered, as she kept taking short gasps for air.

"Hush sweetie, you're making me very happy" I replied, leaning in to press my tongue in her mouth again, she moaned directly into my mouth as I pinched again, and began kissing me back as I released her now stinging little nipple.

We kissed for several moments like that. One hand around her neck, firmly, and the other cupping and kneading one of her tits, then the other.

"Am....am I being a, uh... Am I being a good girl, uncle J?" She whimpered, as she began to squirm from her tiny little hips down.

Glaring at her like a perfectly cooked piece of meat, I said "yes, princess. I'm very happy right now".

She leaned forward, head tilted up, eager for another kiss from her uncle. I obliged, and felt her tongue playing with mine, eagerly. My hand slid down from her breasts at that, down to her tiny little jean shorts. As I began unbuttoning her jeans, and sliding the zipper down, her grip tightened on my forearm again. "N-...no....plea-...." But her plea for me to stop trailed off, as my big hand slid inside the elastic band of her tiny yellow panties. She was practically bare down there, maybe hasn't even grown enough to shave her first time. An inch or so lower, I discovered she was also soaking wet.

A moment later, Sara's knees went weak, and she almost entirely released her grip, as my middle finger pressed between, and past, her young, wet lips. She gasped again, and retightened her grip as my whole finger invaded her. Her knees remained jelly, and I'm basically holding her up by her neck at this point. I think my finger may have been the largest thing she's had inside of her, because holy shit was she tight.

"Fu-...fuuuuuck, uncle J..." she moaned, as my finger slid slowly in and out of her virgin little pussy. "You...you can't..." but no other fight.

Making sure my palm rubbed against her little clit, I quickened the pace of my hand, and she began getting squirmier and squirmer in my hands. Desperately leaning forward to try to steal another kiss.

Fast and deep, I finger fucked my niece against the wall. Her legs began to shake, and her breath intensified. She was about to cum on my hand, and she had no idea what was about to happen. Her eyes rolled back, and her arms flopped down to her sides. She kept trying to reach up and grab her own tits, but was too flustered and confused to get it right.

"Shi-...I can.....I can't....we can't..."

"Shhhhhh, no more talking princess. Let uncle J take care of you" I said, my hand moving at a furious pace now. I could feel her entire body clench in an instant, including her already tight little cunt, as she came all over my hand. I kept my pace for a few more moments, til Sara was on the verge of passing out, before slowly removing my fingers from inside her still shivering body. Leaning forward, I kissed her open, drooling mouth, as she struggled to focus on kissing me back.

"Now it's my turn, kiddo" I said, leading her, hand around her neck, back to the bed where I released my grip finally, before twisting her around and bending her over the tall king size bed. Tugging Sara's loosened shorts down, along with her panties, she got a bit of energy back and tried telling me stop, halfheartedly. With one hand on the small of her back, I use the other to undo my jeans and drop them to my ankles.

"Wait, wait.... Uncle J... I'm not ready for-"

I cut her off, shoving her face down into the thick soft blanket.

"Shhhh, you're perfectly ready, princess." I reply, and take a small step forward, til my hard cock is resting on her tiny, firm little cantaloupe of an ass cheek. Sara tries flailing a little, reaching behind her, so I grab hold of each of her wrists, then clamp them together behind her back with one of my much larger, stronger hands. My other hand leads the head of my cock, now damp with precum, against her still soaking wet little pussy lips. I slowly, gently press just the head of my cock into her. She's tight as a vise grip, so it took a moment for me to break thru. Sara squealed at that, and stopped wriggling her hips against me. Teasingly, I slowly slide the head of my cock in, then out, of her incredibly tight hole, several times. Once I felt she was ready, I pushed my entire length into her in one firm, slow push. Sara let out the most beautiful sound, and she felt her uncle entirely fill and stretch her young, tiny insides. Still gripping her wrists tight, I held myself inside of her just like that, and moaned to her "mmmm, this is just what you wanted, isn't it little girl? Why you were teasing me and rubbing against my cock all fucking day. To feel me make you a woman?"

"Uh...y....yuh... Yuh huh... Uncle J, you're hurting me a little.... Please st-....please....please don't stop uncle J....please...." my niece whimpered, and began grinding herself against me.

"That's my good little kiddo" I said, slowly sliding myself out of, then back inside, her tiny, tight, young little cunt. Within moments, I began to speed up. Full long strokes inside of her, making her hurt in a wonderful way she'd never imagined. Still grasping her wrists tight with one hand, my other on her small little hip, as I begin thrust hard and deep inside of her young little pussy. "Ahhh!" She cried, several times, as I thrusted myself inside of her, trying to bruise her insides. Exactly what a little cockteaser like her deserves. Several fast, long, hard strokes, and the poor little girl began to cry. For some reason, her tears turned me.on even more, and I was fucking her little virgin cunt as hard as I could. For several minutes, til sweat was dripping down my temples, I abused her tiny little hole like a cheap whore. Finally, I released her wrists from my grasp, and saw how bright red they were. Probably going to bruise. Sara didn't even move her hands when I let go. She was cumming over and over from the pounding her uncle was giving her, and didn't want to move an inch for fear of losing the sensations of the moment. As her sobs continued, she instinctively slid her hand to her face, and placed her thumb in her mouth. Fuck, I couldn't handle any more. Another few deep thrusts into her, and I grabbed her hips extra tight, and shoved and help myself fully inside of her, as my cock absolutely exploded. I could feel my cum stretch her insides even more, and Sara groaned a deep, gutteral moan and she came a final time, gripping my shaft and squeezing out every single drop of my cum, 7 inches deep inside her tiny little frame. She was so confused and flustered she wasn't sure if I was unloading myself directly into her chest, it felt so deep. Lifting her slightly, I guided her to laying flat on her tummy, as I kept myself inside of her. I laid on top of her like that for a couple minutes, til I was sure every drop was drained from my balls. Every time my cock would twitch inside of her sore, wet, exhausted pussy, her entire body shivered.

Reluctantly, I slid myself out of my niece's cum filled pussy, leaned close and whispered into her ear "you're a very good girl, Sara, and you make me as happy as I make you".

She was still crying lightly, but managed to whisper out "thank you uncle J, that's all I want".

Her mom ended up texting me a short while later, saying her and Sara's little brother were stuck at her aunt's house, and the weather was getting bad there. Would I mind keeping an eye on Sara til they made it back tomorrow? Sure, no worries Elaine, I told her. Sara just passed out on the couch watching movies anyway, so I doubt she'll mind.

I filled her young little pussy twice more that night. And introduced her to swallowing my cock and cum as well. She's a fast learner.

The next day, after lunch, I dropped her off at her mom and dad's, sore, and still dripping my cum. The clever little girl told her mom the couch wasn't comfy at all, that's why she was sore.

Her mom didn't notice the bruises on her wrists, nor the redness around her tiny little neck. I did. And got hard yet again, just thinking about it. Still do!

Two days later, after I had left town to head back home, I get a message from Sara. "Thank you for taking care of me uncle J, can't wait to see you again!" along with the picture of her tongue out from her phone's wallpaper.

[nerdycanible1]

Heyo! Anyone want some Lin Fanart? :D

Here you go!

I'd like to think this is right after Suyin hurt her and Lin may or may be blinded 👀💧

I'm not exactly good with expressions but I wanted to show Lin in both pain but also the anger and hate in her eyes.

All art belongs to me. If reposted plz credit!

Accidentally written a little one shot that's horrible. I meant to take a nap but just sat in my living room typing this and munching on food!

Enjoy- tho I doubt it'll be good 💀

Suyin would undoubtedly be upset she hurt her sister, but wouldn't be prepared to see this expression. An expression she's never seen on Lin before and is possibly ingrained in her mind forever.

Suyin would go to help Lin but Lin would refuse to let Suyin any closer and literally build a wall preventing Suyin from getting close.

Toph shows up and asking what happened, comforts Suyin upon feeling the little ones erratic heart beating all before Suyin tells her mother she's sorry and that Lin's hurt.

Toph goes to see what happens and all she hears is Lin barking at the healer to just do what they can and a slam of a door closing. Toph could sense something is wrong with Lin and can tell she'd faint at any moment if she don't step in only for Lin to hold her hand up at her mother and tells her, "Not now."

Before Toph could say anything Lin tosses her metal coils down on the ground and telling Toph that they'd need to be upgraded and that it's best for everyone in the facility to get them reworked.

Lin's face begins to swell up, the blood is trickling onto the ground and the healer helplessly following Lin around as she's barking orders but is starting to sway and almost faint.

Toph ends up freezing Lin in her place with her metal armor just to help the poor healer out and demands Lin to tell her what happened.

Lin straining too much and only just begins to fall to her knees as she can't fight against her mother in the state she's in, her heart aches, her face feels in agony and she feels ready to fall asleep.

The next thing she knows, she wakes up in a dimly lit room. She could smell the incense and the sandal wood and the light smell of spring in the air. She could hear yelling down the hallway between her aunt and mother, Suyin screaming that it was Lin's fault and of course the numbing pain on Lin's face.

She knew what happened and knew how bad the wound was. She didn't need a healer to tell her how bad the wound was because she felt it, could already sense her other senses strengthening.

With a sigh the metalbender slowly turned her head which made the blood in her head pump and practically caused her brain to ache as she tried to look out the window.

It took too long for Lin to focus and could see the sun had set a bit ago. She'd sit up and leave if she could but just the thought of it hurt Lin's head and she didn't want to go through that pain.

"We don't arrest family!!"

"And look what happened! Agni Toph, Lin got hurt and Suyin's in shambles! I'm not asking you to arrest Suyin I'm just asking you to help her. Ground her! She needs a mother Toph, not an absent one!"

"If I need any advice from you I'd ask! It's just a scratch, Beifong's don't get hurt!-"

"Mom?-"

"-And what do you know about raising kids Sugar Queen? Your two oldest couldn't wait to leave you and where are they now?!"

"-Aunt Katara?-"

"-That's not fair and you know it! They're grown up! Let them do as they and ex- you know what? Forget it! Since you're blind to see what's in front of you I'll tell you! Lin hates you and you don't know why! You're so concerned about your job, about your name, about your position, about metalbending that you forgot what's important!"

"And what's so important huh?!"

"That Lin is important too!"

The silence is what stung Lin the most. Maybe it was the hesitance or maybe the fact that her mother took a whole 10 seconds to finally respond. It was enough for Lin to realize her mother never saw Lin on any level of importance in a very long time.

"So what. She's a big girl, she doesn't need me. She didn't need me when she started tying her shoes, she don't need me now."

Lin sighed felt tears prickle in her eye before quietly crawling out of bed and out the window. She made her way down to the beach and sat down mauling over her aunt and mother's words.

Maybe her mother was right. Maybe Lin was the first to start pushing everyone away. Maybe she forgot what family was. It would make sense why her mother and younger sister were close and how she wasn't. Maybe Lin stopped being apart of the family once she realized she was nowhere near the same as them. When she was the one ruining their fun and becoming a "party pooper."

And even if that was true, even if it were very much apparent, it didn't hurt any less. People used to tell her how much her mother and her were alike. Nicknaming her Little Toph or Tiny Beifong. That she was going to be just like her mother and become a great metalbender.

She thought that since she looked like her mother, became an officer like her mother, bent the same stones as her mother, that she and her would share a bond. A bond that no one would understand but them.

It hurt her once Suyin was born, it was like Toph and her clicked right away and suddenly Lin wasn't Little Toph anymore. She became Miss cranky pants or miss you're-not-Suyin's-mom. She was no longer little Chief but an annoyance to her and her mother. A nag that ruined the fun.

The more people saw Suyin and Toph together the more they said Suyin was exactly like her. Rough, abrasive, strong, stubborn and a powerful metalbender.

A metalbender. Lin just realized why her mother favored Suyin over her. It was because Suyin was a great metalbender. Maybe that's why she loved Suyin more than her.

Lin ran her fingers through the coarse sand and stared up at the moon. Was she always this different? Was she ever in the spotlight to begin with? Lin didn't know but she knew she'd have to accept that she'll never be good enough. Even as she thought these things, Toph was probably taking care of Suyin because she was upset.

Maybe one day Lin would be a true Beifong and everything will be fixed. One day where she was just liked her mother and sister and they could be happy. One day where she didn't become a buzz kill.

Maybe one day she'll be a great metalbender that was worth her mother's time. She just hoped it was soon rather than later. She didn't want to be the only one left behind.

[anm3mi]

SELFISH ─ NETEYAM ⊹ ִֶָ

contents. fem!omaticaya!reader, hurt/comfort, fluff

notes. originally, this was supposed to be a longer slow burn series, but i ended up giving up on it, yet i didn't feel like simply abandoning it, so i'll admit the ending's not the best, hopefully y'all understand :)) word count : 4k

you were tired - tired of everyone's pitiful looks each time you'd walk through the village, finally leaving the solace of your home. a year prior to the accident, you were treated with respect, your entire family was, as you and your parents were one of the most fine and loyal warriors of the omaticaya clan. but now, the na'vi people were awfully kind to you, constantly making sure you and your siblings were alright.

at the beginning, you appreciated the sincere concern, but soon it only seemed the people around you were walking on eggshells - careful with their words to not upset you and never stopping to try and comfort you, even after you politely declined their help.

you were growing sick of being treated like you were about to break any second, because the truth was - you were, but you wouldn't let anyone see. if you could, you'd hide in the comfort of your home and never leave, maybe cry yourself to sleep and slowly fade away, but as much as you wished to, you simply couldn't. you had to be strong for your sisters. having no other choice, you put your own needs aside and shoved your feelings deep down.

being the oldest sibling came with its pros and cons. yet nowadays you couldn't help, but only focus on the cons, such as putting your sisters' needs and wants first. you would never cry in front of them, because the way you felt wasn't important. all your emotions were slowly building up inside you, waiting to explode like a ticking bomb - danger to everyone around you, but mostly to yourself.

having to explain to your 7 and 10 year old sisters your parents have died in a battle turned out to be one of the worst parts about the tragic accident. they were both so young, and in a matter of a second - your lifes have flipped upside down. you had no one else to take care of you, no family, no friends. now you only had each other. so being the oldest sister, you put on a strong facade and decided to raise your sisters, syuyi and a'lea on your own.

it was harder than expected. syuyi, being the youngest, was a bit spoiled and throughout her life only accepted comforting from her father. she'd curl herself up in a ball in the corner of the room and cry, demanding for the presence of her dad. with a painful expression, you could only watch the younger girl with an aching heart, because each time you'd get closer and attempt to assure her, syuyi would only cry harder, pushing you away. as much as it pained you, you had to wait until she'd get tired and fall asleep, before carrying her into her bed.

a'lea, on the other hand, reacted to your parents' deaths differently. suddenly - she became quiet. unlike syuyi, she wouldn't cause trouble and cry until the late eclipse. even before the accident, a'lea wasn't very social, always keeping to herself - stuck in her own little world, yet she still knew how to have fun, but most importantly, she wasn't afraid to show her emotions in front of her family. that all changed. a'lea would disappear for hours on end, worrying you, yet you knew she was careful enough and would always come back home.

the wood you were carrying was suddenly dropped to the ground with a loud thud, startling a'lea. eyes wide, you desperately scanned your home, but to no avail, as your youngest sister was nowhere in sight. "where's syuyi?!" heartbeat only increasing with each passing second, you demanded. a'lea's lips fell apart, as she glanced around the room - the realisation sinking in, leaving her speechless. she wasn't paying attention, as you simply went to the forest to gather up some wood for fire, and now her little sister was gone. "i- i-" she stuttered with a shocked and confused expression.

pursing your lips into a thin line, you sharply inhaled through your nose, holding back a groan. "a'lea." you begun, your strict tone visibly worrying your sister. "stay here, i mean it. i'll go look for our sister." hands curled into fists by your sides, you announced, before speed-walking out of your home, making a beeline for the forest, the one and only place your sister could disappear of to. in response, a'lea nodded with guilt smeared all over her face, before uncomfortably shifting in her place.

it's been seven months since your parents have died and you were barely keeping it together. each day - you were getting closer to breaking down, the gaping wound in your heart only growing. as much as you loved your sisters, they weren't making your situation any easier. just like you, they were grieving and you understood, but a'lea's sudden distant and cold behaviour and syuyi's constant tantrums were pushing you towards the edge.

your walking has soon turned into a sprint as you entered the forest, a lump crawling its way outside your throat, while your stomach swirled with anxiety. the lively nature of pandora surrounded you, yet you paid no mind to the beauty of it - you couldn't afford to do so, your sister your one and only concern.

suddenly, you stopped dead in your tracks upon the sound of splashing water followed by an oddly familiar giggle. you bit back a relieved sigh, as you made your way towards the small pond your family would often visit - the same pond syuyi adored to play in. the anxiety slowly yet surely washed away, as a soft expression replaced your worried one upon the sight.

syuyi was crouched near the pound, splashing the cool water all over her surroundings and what seemed to be her new friend, as laughter echoed around the forest. you couldn't help, but slightly tilt your head in thought, as you stepped closer - recognizing the small face as tuktirey, one of jake sully's children. your thoughts were interrupted by an excited call of your name coming from syuyi, who finally took a notice of you. "y/n! come play with us!" syuyi called out with a grin, as you let out a small sigh.

"syuyi..." kneeling next to the younger girl, you brushed away a strand of her messy hair out of her face. "you cannot simply run away without telling a'lea or me first." you reminded her with furrowed brows, as her grin slowly disappeared. with a pout, syuyi let out a grunt, before crossing her arms over her chest. closing your eyes for a few seconds, you bit the inside of your cheek, making sure you were careful with your next words to not upset the younger girl.

"tuk!" out of nowhere, a masculine voice called out, causing all three of you to snap your heads towards the sound. soon, a trio appeared out of the near bushes, their worried expression disappearing upon the sight - especially the oldest boy's one. your eyes widened, as you realized who they were. "y/n?" the oldest boy furrowed his brows in confusion, making his way closer. "neteyam." you voiced, the way your stomach flipped not going unnoticed by you.

"tuk! we told you to stay with us!" kiri, who stood near her brothers, explained with an almost disappointed expression. "i know, but i found a friend!" pointing her little finger at syuyi, tuk happily announced, as everyone's eyes fell on the small girl with you by her side. yet neither you or neteyam could by bothered by their looks, as you were too busy staring at one another with unreadable expression. this was the first time in a year the two of you have been so close.

obviously clearing his throat, lo'ak gave his older sister a strange look. "y/n, can we play a bit longer? please?" with a pout, syuyi pleaded. "i'm sorry," gently placing a hand on her shoulder, you begun. "we have to get home, a'lea's waiting for us. now, you wouldn't want to make your sister upset, would you?" you questioned, as syuyi quickly shook her head from to side to side in response. "okay..." you muttered under your breath, before getting up and taking your sister's hand.

"maybe you two can play together some other time, alright?" the corners of your lips twitched into a small, toothless smile, as you glanced between syuyi and tuktirey, who both desperately nodded. "if it's alright with your parents." you quickly added, your gaze switching to the older siblings. neteyam could only nod in response, which lo'ak took notice of, before responding: "sure. if it's alright with your-- you. if it's okay with you." with slightly widened eyes, he corrected himself, earning a glare for his sister.

"let's go, tuk." offering her hand to the younger girl, kiri simply said, as tuk wasted no time, before grabbing it. "bye, syuyi!" she waved to her new friend with an innocent grin, who mirrored her gesture. the now three siblings begun to slowly make their way back home, but soon stopped, when they noticed their older brother still only stood there - his eyes fixated on you.

underneath his stare, you couldn't help but feel your skin burn. "you guys go ahead, i'll catch up." neteyam explained, but his eyes never left yours. soon, his siblings disappeared out of your sight, leaving only the three of you alone. "would you mind if i walked you home?" at his kind offer, you smiled. "not at all." you simply shook your head, as you and syuyi got on your way, followed by neteyam.

"it's been a while, huh?" eyes glued to the forest ground, you broke the tense silence out of nowhere. with syuyi being too busy jumping from a log to another and adoring the nature, you walked a couple of feet behind her, neteyam by your side. "yeah..." neteyam replied with a simple hum. "i miss it, don't you?" finally, you raised your eyes off the ground and met neteyam's, who's were already on you. your expression was calm, but deep down, your heart was yearning for a response, silently praying he does, in fact, miss it.

you prayed to eywa neteyam missed all those early years the two of you have spend together, before slowly drifting away - the both of you sadly getting busy with responsibilities.

"i do." with a low voice, neteyam answered with honesty, as your heart skipped a beat upon his words. the tense silence was soon exchanged by a comforting one. and before you knew it, the three of you were standing in front of your home. syuyi quickly ran inside, leaving you and neteyam alone.

turning around to fully face him, you crossed your arms over your chest, as in to hide how small you felt under his look. over the years, neteyam has matured into a handsome young man and you couldn't help but take a notice of it. but unknown to you, the older boy's eyes were roaming your frame as well, mesmerized by you.

"do you want to come inside?" shyly averting your gaze, you offered. "i'd love to." and with a nod, neteyam followed you inside. as you took a step inside, you were met with a messy sight. all kinds of stuff was thrown over the floor, as a'lea sat in a corner, too preoccupied to even acknowledge the new guest, while syuyi ran around, letting out playful noises. "i'm sorry about- you know." cheeks burning with embarrassment, you kicked away a piece of wood out of the way, yet your bashful expression soon disappeared upon hearing neteyam's light chuckle. "it's okay, i have younger siblings. trust me, i know what it's like."

as you walked further into your home, you eyes landed on the pile of wood you have previously dropped. "a'lea! i told you to start a fire!" with an upset look smeared across your face, you let out a groan. "you didn't." the younger girl simply shrugged, as you furrowed your brows in confusion. "well, could you please start it?" inhaling through your nose, you requested. but instead of obliging, your sister rolled her eyes, only fueling your irritation. taking in a deep breath, you rubbed your temples.

"y/n, i'm hungry!" a sudden, yet harsh tug on your hand snapped your attention towards your youngest sister, who was staring at you with a pleading expression. "i know, syuyi. i am too, just give me a-" but before you could finish your words, syuyi let out a long, over exaggerated groan, before she begun to run around the room. "a'lea, please." your voice was barely audible. deciding to take a step closer to your sister, you were almost pushed aside by syuyi, who continued to make circles around both you and neteyam, making swooshing noises.

while neteyam found it almost funny, you didn't. you were getting overwhelmed with each second. hungry, irritated, sad, surprised, angry, embarrassed - you were feeling so many emotions all at once, your heart harshly beating against your rib cage.

"are you even listening to me, y/n?" a hand swiftly waving in front of your face interrupted you from your thoughts, as you furrowed your brows in confusion. "what?" you lowly muttered upon the sight of a'lea standing close to you. rolling her eyes, a'lea scoffed at your reaction. "you never listen to me." angrily, the younger girl begun to make her way towards the entryway. "a'lea, wait-" grabbing her by her forearm, you opened your mouth to speak once again, but were cut off by a'lea's harsh words. "just let me go! i hate you!"

the grip you had on her arm loosened, as you froze in your place. you could only watch a'lea stomp away, disappearing from your sight. throughout your life, you've heard a lot of hateful things, yet none of them affected you as much as your own sister's words did. you knew a'lea didn't truly mean it - she was angry and grieving, but deep down, you couldn't help yet wonder if you raising them was the right decision.

neteyam's expression faltered at the scene that has evolved in front of him, yet you couldn't bring yourself to meet his eyes - standing still and glaring at the floor, as tears begun forming in your eyes. to your luck, a few braids have fallen to cover the side of your face like a curtain, but even without being able to fully see your face, the way a'lea's words hurt you didn't go unnoticed by him.

crouching down, neteyam finally managed to stop oblivious syuyi, before placing both of his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "hey, syuyi, do you want to play with tuk some more?" with a low voice, neteyam asked, earning a quick nod in response. "okay." he muttered, an assuring smile decorating his face. tilting his head towards the entrance, neteyam signaled for the younger girl to wait for him by the entryway and she happily obliged.

neteyam carefully made his way towards you, before gently whispering your name. "y/n?" hesitantly, he reached to place his hand upon your shoulder and in response - you snapped out of whatever trance you were stuck in. swiftly, you glanced to your side with teary eyes, meeting neteyam's. why you hated everyone else's pitiful looks, yet neteyam's seemed to comfort you? "i'll be back in a few minutes, i promise." his hand softly rubbed your shoulder, as you nodded slowly, causing more braids to fall in front of your face.

"are you going to be alright?" as neteyam's hand reached to tuck those loose braids away, you couldn't help but feel your heart skip a beat at his gesture. attempting to answer his question, you opened your mouth, yet nothing came out. you knew if you tried once more, you'd start to sob, so instead you simply nodded again. knees feeling weak, you used all your remaining strength to not collapse on the floor, as silent tears begun to run down your face. and before you knew it, you were left all alone inside your home - before finally collapsing to the floor with a light thud.

"we need to find your sister first, alright?" holding syuyi's hand as the duo begun walking, neteyam explained. "do you knew where she might be?" he added. "hmm..." furrowing her brows, syuyi thought to herself for a few second. "oh, i know!" her face suddenly lightened up, dragging neteyam by his hand towards the forest. "is y/n okay?" glancing over her shoulder with a confused expression, syuyi questioned neteyam. "i'll make sure she is, don't worry." the corners of his lips twitched into a soft smile. "i like you." with a grin, syuyi innocently blurred out, earning a chuckle from neteyam. "i'm glad, because i like you too."

a'lea was quite surprised at the sight of neteyam with her little sister, but she didn't complain once he offered his idea. after all, she did feel guilty, but she wasn't ready to face you just yet.

now alone, neteyam once again entered your home - frown appearing on his face at the sight of you on the ground, sobbing. "where are my sisters?" you managed to ask in-between sobs, watching as neteyam kneeled in front of you. "you don't have to worry, they're with my family." at neteyam's attempt to assure you, your eyes only widened. "oh, no, you- you didn't need to do that." you quickly stammered, rubbing your nose with the back of your hand. "i don't want to burden you or your family." neteyam's face fell at your words, feeling his chest tighten at your upset state.

"you're not a burden to anyone. trust me, tuk was more than excited to see syuyi and kiri has already wandered off with a'lea." neteyam send you a small, yet assuring smile, before adding: "they'll be alright." in response, you only sniffled, before taking in a deep breath. "the question is, are you alright, y/n?" his words caused a lump to from inside your throat and you could feel more tears coming. "i- i don't know." you whispered, your voice breaking. "but it doesn't matter how i feel."

neteyam now sat by your side, before placing his hand on top of yours that laid in your lap. "it does matter - you matter, y/n. you cannot spend the rest of your life putting everyone above yourself." as your gaze remained stuck to the floor, neteyam inched closer in an attempt to meet your eyes and he was successful. "sometimes, you have to be a bit selfish." he added, his voice barely above a whisper. "you're the one to talk." you let out an airy chuckle, catching a glimpse of neteyam's rather confused expression. "is neteyam sully, the mighty warrior telling me to be selfish?" the tears on your face now have dried, only leaving traces, as you playfully teased neteyam.

suppressing an eye roll, neteyam couldn't help but smile a bit at your suddenly lighter mood - he knew you were hurting deep down, but if you didn't feel like talking about it at the moment, he wouldn't push it. "it seems both of us have to work on that." rubbing the back of his neck, neteyam explained, as the two of you shared a laugh.

after you conversation, neteyam offered he'd stay with you a bit longer and you simply couldn't say no to him. as he stayed behind inside your home, you went towards a near creek to wash and refresh yourself. when you arrived back, you eyes widened. the wood you previously brought for fire was no longer thrown on the floor, but instead put neatly aside, as neteyam begun cleaning around your home. "neteyam!" you called out, as his head snapped towards you. "you- you don't have to do all this." you announced, making your way towards him.

"i know, i don't have to." neteyam couldn't hold back his smile at your innocently worried expression. "but i want to." his words were laced with honesty, as you felt your heart swell at his kindness. you made a mental note to repay him, perhaps by making him a bracelet of some sort. "i appreciate it." afterwards, a comfortable silence fell over the two of you, as you continued to clean - every once in a while stealing glances at one another.

hands placed proudly on your hips, you let out a long breath. "looks like we're done." you announced, before turning your head to the side at neteyam. "we make a good team." neteyam added, earning a giggle out of you. once more, your eyes scanned the inside of your home. this was the first time in a while it looked awfully neat, as you didn't have much time to properly clean and if you did, syuyi would be quick to scatter all her toys around.

suddenly, you let your arms freely fall to your sides. "neteyam?" with furrowed brows, you once again glanced at neteyam, who's eyes were searching for anything you two might have missed. "why are you doing all this?" at your question, neteyam finally met your eyes. for a few seconds, his own expression was unreadable, before softening, the concerns of his lips twitching into a smile - a sight you could never get enough of. "we're friends, y/n. and that's what friends do."

it felt like butterflies have entered your stomach and begun fluttering around, when you couldn't hold yourself back anymore. throwing yourself at neteyam, you hooked your arms around his shoulders and unconsciously hidden your face in his neck. "thank you." you muttered, as neteyam's hands made their way around your waist - pulling you closer. "thank you so much, neteyam." once again, you whispered against the skin of his neck. "there's no need to thank me, y/n." neteyam whispered back, his smile growing at your touch.

six months later, you were in a rather similar situation - except for the cause of it. silence has taken over your home, as you laid in your bed, but not alone. with your head resting on his chest, one of neteyam's arm was underneath his head for support, while the other one simply laid across his stomach, as you drew shapes on it. every once in a while, you'd brush your fingers along the beaded bracelet decorating his wrist.

"are you sure your parents won't mind?" once again, you asked the same question, but neteyam couldn't be angry at you - he understood your worries. "not at all, they really like a'lea and syuyi." neteyam assured you. "oh, really?" propping your chin on his chest, you were now facing neteyam with a smirk. "really. but what they like more is that i finally begun courting someone." neteyam playfully teased, his hand coming to caress the back of your head. "and who is that lucky person?" as you continued to tease him, neteyam rolled his eyes in response. "let me guess- is it nayä?" you let out a playful gasp. "tamarai?"

instead of responding, neteyam only shook his head from one side to the other, before leaning in and pressing a kiss against your lips. "i choose you." he muttered against your lips, as you grinned in response. "isn't that a bit selfish?" once again, you teased the sully boy - reminding him of your conversation that happened months ago, yet the day still played in his head on repeat like a broken record player. "if wanting you makes me selfish, i guess i am." neteyam explained, as you leaned closer, softly placing once of your hands on his cheeks.

"looks like we both are selfish then." you let out an airy chuckle, as your eyes scanned neteyam's face with admiration. gently, your thumb rubbed against his cheekbone, before leaning in and letting your eyelids fall. once more, your lips met - and your chest swelled with pure joy and love. ever since neteyam made his way back into your life, everything appeared brighter. even with his own responsibilities, he found the time to help you and also found time to steal your heart.

that night you two grew closer once again, it seemed like your world was already lost - lost in the grief. how could he hang onto something so incomprehensible? how could he keep pouring love into an abyss? but then there he was. there was something in those bright eyes that was so beautiful, so safe and warm. in just one look you were home. you reached out and made the connection, and like eywa herself had arranged it, he fell for you just as hard. he chose you.

[shogvnate]

Wicked and white, love me in spite. bela dimitrescu x f! reader

bela dimitrescu oneshot

slightly angsty, wholesome, yearning.

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hi it's my first writing post pls treat me nicely :D, also feel free to send your requests! i write for the women (bc i'm sapphic) but if u wanna request the dudes it's alright too, just don't put too much hope on it being posted 😭

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Bela Dimitrescu never felt this way towards anyone.

As the oldest out of her sisters and the heiress to her family's winery business, she would take over a lot more of the dirty work than them, leaving barely any time behind to focus on herself.

She was always overworked, always pressured to be the best.

Her mother always tells her,

"Bela, you are your sisters' role model," Alcina blew smoke from her lips, unamused at the way she lost her composure over a little squabble with her younger sister, Cassandra.

"Yes, mother." Bela kept her head low, rubbing her upper arm slightly.

"Don't disappoint me."

Bela aimed to be the perfect daughter, the perfect heiress but still, she was never enough. She knew she wasn't. But when she saw you and how accepting you were, her walls melted like an ice sculpture by the dawn of spring.

She'd like to believe you were foolish for saving her, but deep down she knew it wasn't true. She was thankful. Thankful that despite the villagers' harsh words for saving a potential murderer of their wives and daughters, you stayed and nursed her back to health.

You were like an angel, much more than Mother Miranda would ever be, that's for sure.

As you watered your garden, she wondered to herself, could you look at her with that expression? A soft smile gracing your angelic features and eyes gleaming with nothing but love. No wonder your garden was filled to the brim with colorful flowers, even Bela can tell they were happy with you.

Could she also feel that?

Dubbed as a monster, mad, and even heartless; could someone like that feel love?

Or was it just wistful thinking?

A vampire and a human never end well anyway.

It's depressing, it's... mortifying how none of them got their happy ending; or at least as far as she's aware of.

She sighed, and when she did, you finally noticed her watching you by the wooden fences.

Molten honeyed eyes burned the sight of the way your face lit up into the depth of her mind. If you could look at her like that everyday, she's sure to become the happiest woman alive.

You approached her, still holding your watering can. She could feel her dead heart hammering against her chest for a few seconds before returning to its silence as she smirked at you. Her heart ached for you, a pain that she was so used to that she grew numb to it.

"How have you been, Bela?"

Your voice, god, your voice.

Bela can just melt into your arms right then and there, but she must stop herself. She wasn't like Cassandra who will keep anyone she's interested in near. She was the opposite, she didn't want you near, she didn't like how you made her feel this way, and yet she always found herself watching you.

Hopeless that she can never tell you how she felt without making herself feel vulnerable.

"I've been faring well." She replied, "How… How have you been?"

"I'm doing good now that you're here." You smiled.

The two of you soon fell into silence as you started to water your plants, now with her company.

It was agonizing, being by your side. Knowing full well that there are countless men and women in the village that can easily snatch you away from her. You were kind and gentle, anyone can find that charming. Heck, her sisters could even steal you away from her easily.

Cassandra was silver-tongued and shameless, she can lure anyone into her grasp as easily as she can murder them.

Daniela was unpredictable and wild, but she was loving, and she was everything Bela was not.

You noticed how she spaced out, reaching a hand out to wipe the dried blood from her lips. Your touch was gentle and it dragged her down to reality.

The reality where you told her that you'll wait for her to be sure of her feelings. You'll wait for however long it takes for her to say those three words. The reality where you belonged to her and she belonged to you despite no other promises being spoken.

She leaned into your touch, her yellow eyes refusing to look at you directly.

But she knew you understood. You understood her better than anyone, better than herself.

You guided her back to your porch where she laid her head on your lap as you sat down, her hood coming off to reveal her long, albeit a little tangled blonde locks.

You thread your fingers through it, detangling it and removing the dried blood clinging to the beautiful strands.

"Bad day?" You asked, closing your eyes.

"..." She shifted on your lap, confirming that she indeed had a bad day. You didn't ask anymore, you knew she didn't like sharing about things that bothered her and that was okay. She needed time and time you will give.

One of her flies landed on your hand, and you noticed it. You chuckled lightly as another desperately pulled your free hand towards Bela, likely her consciousness acting without her control.

You stopped threading your fingers through her locks and she had to stop herself physically from letting out a disappointed whine, you placed your hand on her waist instead and she froze.

"You can stay for however long you'd like, Bela."

You watched as she closed her eyes, another tender smile blooming across your lips, one with more affection than before. Her cold hand grabbed a hold of your warm one, squeezing it before her breathing slowed. Your fingers rubbed her knuckles silently, the contrast between your temperatures was like day and night, dead and alive; and yet you loved it.

You drifted into sleep along with her, perfectly comfortable and content now that she at least stayed and not ran off the second she showed you anything remotely close to physical touch.

Hours later you finally woke up, slowly opening your eyes and stretching your numb arms.

Your lap was absent from her cold body, but what you instead found was a stunning inflorescence of forget-me-not. Did she steal it from your garden? You chuckled.

The blues were easy on your eyes, and the meaning behind it in the flower language made you smile fondly.

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"Oh, Bela."