#i said earlier that my clothes sharing tag needed to be found

[xxsycamore]

'𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐈𝐌 𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄

↬ ❤  You make Roy's number one dirty fantasy come true.

Roy Mustang x f!Reader • rating: E (MDNI) • tags: Fetish; Fetish Clothing; Skirts; Secret Relationship; Sex in a Car; Semi-Public Sex; Teasing; Fondling; Hand & Finger Kink; Vaginal Sex; Creampie; Dom/sub Undertones • wordcount: 2,183 • masterlist

And the rest of the world could disappear and I wouldn't care

'Cause I'm on fire.

(namesake song by Stateless)

a/n: Don't rewatch fma years later if you've become a writer somewhere along the way. You'd have something you want to get out of your system and it will be embarrassing.

"Are you cold, Lieutenant?"

Like a switch that's been flipped, Roy's tone changes once he finds himself alone with you. It was just a second ago when he gave the chauffeur an order, quick and straightforward, putting a start to the two-hour-long ride and shutting the metal cover of the partition that provides privacy to the backseat. Of course, you're accompanying Roy today - it's just you - and having known that in advance, while your Colonel's brilliant mind was at work crafting military plans, yours was coming up with plans of its own. Ones that are quite different in nature.

Your heart rate had quickened the moment you found yourself in the vehicle with Roy. No, even earlier than that. With hot blood pumping through your veins, there's no way you could be cold as per his question. But Roy is oh so perceptive when it comes to you; caring in the way the question rolled off his tongue, colored by his noticeably softer tone.

He's asking you because you're still wearing that long black coat over your uniform today, neatly buttoned all the way up, even if the sun did its best to warm up the earth so that the hours around noon offer weather that is rather pleasant.

And if you said you are cold? What would he do then?

With a well-measured chuckle, you slip into your more casual persona, remembering that you're now behind closed doors, so to say.

"Quite the contrary, I was thinking of taking this off now."

Over the rustling of clothes, your ears pick up on the small humming of part-curiosity part-confusion leaving Roy's mouth. The shared seat is rather cramped in the most perfect way, making your efforts at brushing past Roy's form inconspicuous as you strip off the overcoat. You need his eyes on you for what is about to follow.

You make sure you're half turned to the Colonel as you rise yourself off the seat so you can not only shrug it off your shoulders but also discard it completely to be half-decently folded and soon-to-be-forgotten, at your other side.

"Ah, that's much better—" The words are not yet fully out past your lips before Roy reacts. Your smile widens with mischief as you're granted a few silent seconds which stretch out to a blissful eternity, full of staring freely at Roy's expression. That's the face of a man getting a hard-on, if you know one.

Roy's deep dark eyes are wide with surprise, glued at your lower half, mouth slightly ajar. You're waiting for him to return the gaze. When he finally does, you're witnessing a new shift in his mood.

"What are you wearing, Lieutenant?"

Playing coy, you run a hand across your hip, from knee to the hem of that piece of clothing that seems to have captured Roy's attention so immensely. You swear you can hear the hitching of his breath as you graze the material with the tips of your fingers, barely dragging it higher up your hip than it already is, revealing more of your bare skin underneath.

"Oh, this? I found my old uniform at the bottom of my closet the other day, and… I made some adjustments."

The cheap lie of your casualness is see-through, when Roy can tell the effort behind those modest adjustments. What once was an ordinary part of your blue Amestrian state military uniform has been diligently reshaped into something so wicked and out of place with the attributes it once bore.

At least, that's how most people would see it.

You know that it's clear as day to Roy that you've actually taken care of everything to the tiniest detail; the thin silvery edges along the front pleads and the slit on the left side.

"A miniskirt?" Roy's chuckle is him regaining his composure, and his glove-clad hand palming the ball of your knee is his barely contained interest. It's hard not to part your legs right there and then, almost as if this is the signal you've been waiting for.

"A tiny miniskirt! C'mon Colonel, where is your enthusiasm? This is me showing commitment and loyalty to your high ideals…!"

Playing with fire, you take Roy's hand and guide it upwards to the subject of the conversation. The warmth of your skin is still penetrable as you can feel Roy's burning touch where it comes in contact with it. You egg him on, despite the time and the place, or maybe exactly because of the risk they carry.

"You can treat this as a preview, for the day you finally reach your goal…" You reach out a hand to caress his face, but Roy is quicker, catching it in his grasp.

"Here's my enthusiasm."

With a swift manner, you find yourself manhandled into the position Roy desires, seated on his lap - with your back to him.

Relentlessly, Roy's large palm is laid on the place between your shoulder blades as he pushes, making you bend forward.

You grunt, less out of discomfort than of surprise weaving along with pure desire pooling in your abdomen.

"It's quite short, isn't it? Are you even aware that you're giving me a flash of your underwear right now?"

It's firm and matter-of-factly, Roy's tone, as he sends shivers down your spine, forced to realize you're no longer in control of the speed of events. He could pull out his cock right now and you'd obediently sit back without protest, only able to lament the loss of the rest of the teasing you never got to inflict on your Colonel.

You all but feel his gaze on your ass, the lack of contact killing you as you feel your legs begin to slightly cramp from holding the position. Perhaps your hyper-concentration is what lets you know he is taking off his gloves right now, the faint, familiar sliding sound of the thin material indicating things you can't even wrap your mind around despite being all the same ready for. Luckily Roy doesn't leave you hanging for much longer, even if his next action rips out an embarrassing gasp out of you.

"Ah—"

Sensing his big, strong hands suddenly coming to grasp and grope the globes of your ass through the material of your skirt, or at least the part it does cover a part of, you shamelessly feel desire seeping wetly inside your panties, staining them right where Roy's gaze is bored into. You're all on display for him, and you like it, in combination with the way he squeezes and pulls your asscheeks apart, that's your confirmation. That's exactly what Roy's dirty fantasies were made of, and you're making them all come true right now.

At this point, you should've expected the small slap he gives your ass, but nonetheless you still flinch when Roy leaves a faint imprint of his palm on your cheek.

"Turn around for me."

Without skipping a beat, you shift your position between his long legs, eager to be welcomed in his embrace. Roy lets you straddle him, your legs coming to rest on either side of his, and inevitably your tiny miniskirt rides up even more.

Roy lets out a low humming noise, palming your newly exposed heat through the underwear, and you can tell he felt the wet patch stained with your arousal. He guides you to sit down on him comfortably, but instead of relaxing, you tense up as soon as you feel his raging hard-on tenting his trousers.

You really made him diamonds, a smirk playing on your face with the thought, despite how progressively lightheaded you get. Perhaps there's still room for a witty remark or two before he steals your ability to form coherent words.

"On a second thought… I think I might be rather cold in this skimpy thing…"

You reach out to find his hands, wanting to guide them on your body again, but Roy barely needs the encouragement. With your hands on top of his, he traces the skin of your thighs, exposing you in a lie as he feels how hot your flesh is the more he nears the apex of your thighs.

"Caress me, Roy… set me on fire with your touch…"

The call of his name does things to him you can only vaguely imagine by the way his lower lip slightly twitches. You can tell he's been craving for you to call him by his name in the sea of formality surrounding your daily lives. Right here and right now, he's your Roy; he wants to hear it again and again, and you make use of knowing it well.

"I'll take good care of you, then."

Unzipping his trousers, Roy distracts you with a long-awaited kiss as he makes quick work of his garments, freeing his aching cock. True to his word, his hands continue to roam on you, under the short coat of your uniform, then under your skirt; fingers sticking in the hem of it, toying with it but never taking it off. That's good, that's what you made it for, he needs to enjoy seeing it on you to his fullest.

In contrast to how much he takes his time caressing you, the way he puts your panties to the side is all but cruel and rushed, as if the barrier separating you offends him.

You expect him to shove his cock in you in a heartbeat, but he has other plans. Wrapping an arm around your waist, he maneuvers you up again so your glistening lower lips are only slightly grazing the tip of his cock. So close, yet so far from becoming one with him.

"You're going to pay for doing this when I can't get my fill of you."

Hearing those words, you suck on a breath, eager to know what he means. He gives you the answer without having to ask.

"Nothing to bend you over on. Not enough room to fuck your beautiful thighs."

You mewl as you finally feel his warm hand on your bare heat, wetness pooling on his palm as he rubs your folds in a way that isn't even remotely enough to spark satisfaction.

Maybe he's right, this is cruel of you; the images he paints in your imagination are all too vivid and dreamy when the only thing you can think of is presenting himself to him, enticing him to finally, finally-

Before a loud moan can escape your throat, Roy's hand clasps around your mouth, sealing it shut so no sound can leave. The other he uses to push you down on his cock, piercing you with it on one swift, long thrust.

You pulsate around him, walls tightening and refusing to relax as if afraid he'll deprive you of this pleasure as quickly as he gifted it to you.

Roy doesn't take his hand off just yet, knowing all too well that you have a lot more of those sweet sounds in you that are not suitable for the risky situation you're currently in. Paying attention to the volume of his own voice, he whispers more filth against your nape, bringing forth goosebumps.

"Relax so I can finally fuck you like you wanted to. That's what all of this was for, right? You wanted to be pounded good?"

Feeling Roy beginning to move you up and down on his cock, you can barely think of giving him an answer, but maybe your body does the speaking for you anyway.

"One day I'll seriously have you wear these things around me all the time. Would you mind then, I wonder? Or would you be getting off on the thought of how much you rile me up everytime I catch a glimpse of what's under your skirt?"

Tears pricking at the corners of your eyes with how good it all feels, his dirty promise, or this little taste you're given of how such a scenario would play out, you do your best to follow Roy's movements as you fuck yourself on his cock harder than how he tries to make you.

The fierce look he gives you with those dark, lust-clouded eyes, is already driving you closer and closer to the edge, and you want to drag Roy together with you. In an attempt to seal his lips with yours, Roy shows mercy and removes his hand from your mouth, changing it for his own mouth.

His low grunts are something you'll hear in your head for days, as he erupts in you right as you fall in the abyss of pleasure, meeting him halfway. His scorching hot semen shoots in you in several pumps as you helplessly tremble in Roy's arms, trusting him to catch you when your body goes limp with pleasure.

He calms down from his high gradually, petting your back as you continue to cum around him.

Not pulling out just yet, Roy kisses the last sparks of afterglow from your lips, making sure you both enjoy this moment to the fullest.

At least until the next time you both can indulge in those perverse fantasies again.

Taglist: @arsnovacadenza @ale-teodora @kimi00twin @otomelady @privilegedpancake @g-kleran    @pumpumnnnp @thesirenwashere @ravenarld @kimmy-banana @devonares @galaxyprison @sadshaxk @starshards26 @thewitchofbooks @acethephoenix256 @ikevamp-shrine-2 @nad-zeta @crystal13unny @keen19thcenturygoatsstudent @lordsister @ikemen-banshou   @themysticalbeing @otome-scribbles @rhodolitesrose @coornn @kpop-and-otome @queen-dahlia @kisara-16 @chaosangel767 @ikemenlibrary @queengiuliettafirstlady @aurora-morning @aquagirl1978 ​ @ikemenlover24 @mcofthemansion @joy-the-reader @katriniac @ikemen-writer @tele86 @lovely-bubb1es @aria-chikage @babyblue0t7 @rhodoliteschaos @shrimpy-kitsune @nightghoul381 @xbalayage @lucyw260 Let me know if you want to be tagged/untagged!

[pynkgothicka]

Ａｌｌ Ａｂｏｕｔ Ｕｓ ＫＮＪ

Synopsis - You run away with your boyfriend, but the road life takes a toll on you and Namjoon.

a/n: I hate this but now I'm moving onto recs! Also the old guy is Pedro Pascal....

Tags/Warnings: GUN VIOLENCE, consensual sex, VIOLENCE AGAINST READER, Yelling, GASLIGHTING

A friendly reminder that all my works are dark fanfiction! Please if you do not like that do not read them! This is your final warning before hitting the keep reading button!!

“You got everything ready?” You hopped in the car, your boyfriend in the drivers seat. It was late at night damn near 12 in the morning. But you had to leave, you couldn't take your mom's boyfriend anymore. He was practically suffocating you, and you weren't even related to him. And surprisingly Namjoon had wanted to leave after a big blow out with his family.

“I'm sick of this shit, we would be so happier if it was just us.” You has ranted on the phone earlier, holed up in your room.

“Who said it couldn't be?” Those words sealed you fate and so you packed a bag and decided to run away with him.

Snapping out of your trance of recollection of the days previous events“Yeah. Of course.” You said looking back at your house.

“Good, I'm gonna drive until I find a good place for us to crash.” Namjoon leaned in kissing on your forehead before pulling off. You found yourself looking back, but Namjoon had a firm grip on your thigh rubbing reassuringly.

A gust of cold air brushed over you, shivering slightly. You only had a backpack with all the things you could carry, and from that you pulled out a blanket. Spreading it over you, finally resting your hand on your boyfriend's. It was so intimate and you couldn't wish to be anywhere else.

“Are you sure you have everything figured out baby?” You asked letting out a yawn. His jaw clenched, but he have a small hum. “Okay… I just wanted to know.” You said sleep heavy on your eyes.

“Sleep baby. I'll wake you up when I've found something okay?”

“Mhmm… Nighty Night.” Namjoon chuckled humming one again.

🌄

When you woke up Namjoon was shaking you awake, his bag in hand. “Hmm?” You yawned out stretching the sleep from your bones.

“Wake up sleepy head. I got us a motel to crash at for the night.” He reached for your bag as well hoisting it over his shoulder. You nodded before getting up sleep evident in every movement. Joon smiled before reaching for your hand, leading you up to your shared room for the night. He pulled out a pair of keys and opened the door, a large bed and tv in the room. It was so well cleaned and you couldn't wait to finally get cleaned up, your body covered in a phantom layer of sweat.

“Okay, this is above motel average.” You laughed falling back on the bed. You looked up at the ceiling smiling once more. Joon dropped your bags next to the bad, and climbed on laying next to you, wrapping a firm hand on your waist. He kisses your forehead, “Aw stop!” You giggle as he kisses your face all over.

“Nuh huh, say the magic words.”

“Please! Please!” You said laughing, your face covered in cherry chapstick. “I love you… Thanks for getting me out of there.”

“No, Thank you for agreeing to this. I didn't think you'd want to do this, but I'm happy you did.” He said giving a deep smile. You smiled back planting a small kiss on his lips. You got up going for your bag, Namjoon groaning out. “Noo, don’t go.” He whined.

“I have to! You dont want to cuddle with a dirty girlfriend. Go ahead and find something on TV for us to watch.” You grabbed a set of pajamas and underwear, heading to the bathroom. “I'll be right back baby.”

You closed the door and sat your clothes on the sink and looked the the mirror. Jesus you really needed to take a bath. But you went for your phone instead already seeing the long list of messages and calls from the day of travel.

Mom: Where are you??

Mom: This isn’t a joke, please come home!

Mom: Hes gone. I know you never liked him but hes gone, so come home. I need you please.

You began to tear up looking at the messages. Your mother never did anything wrong, it was all him. But you couldn't turn back now, Namjoon wanted to leave his family too. So why return to your life and leave him, what you knew for a fact the love of our life all, alone? So you placed the phone face down and began to undress, hoping the shower could wash away all your guilt.

🌄

“Fuck, take it. Fuckin take it.” Namjoons hips hit your chin, his cock buried in your throat. Drool pooled down your chin. You couldn't barely leave the shower before Namjoon was on you. “Shit I'm about to cum, I'm about to cum, take it!” He his slammed into your face one more time, his hand digging into your hair eagerly. Cum shot down your throat, and you swallowed It all. He pulled out, patting a spot on the bed for you to sit.

But you had other things in mind, going to his lap. And you pushed him back moving to kiss his lips. “You taste good with me on your tongue.” He mumbled against your lips.

“I’m happy you like it.”

“I love it.” He then thrusted his thick cock into your tight cunt. You both let out a loud moan and you began to raise your hips, riding him with vigor. He thrusted into you, meet you halfway. “I love this, I love you!”

“I love you too, so much baby.” You fell on him, his hips moving in a phantom motion. You could feel your orgasm build slowly and then feel that slowly work and and throwing your head back and came. Namjoon laughed and kept moving, chasing his own orgasm.

“I'm coming again baby!” He slammed your hips down shooting his load deep into you. You both fell together, breathing heavy. “That… that was amazing. Think about how often we can do this now…” Then you snapped back to the reality of it all. But you put on a front and smiled nodding as well.

If only he knew.

🌄

“Look at this baby.” Namjoon reached into one of his many stolen bags. Often you'd do this, just pull on the side of the road and rest for a minute.

He'd just stolen a bunch of stuff from some store and left you in the car. You barely kept track of what he's stolen. Your mind was elsewhere 24/7.

Due to being unstable financially on your own, the two of you turned to a life of crime. Nothing major on your behalf, usually just hiding stuff or sitting in the car, however it was all spurred on by Namjoon and his desire for more and better.

He held up a cute babydoll lingerie and put it up to your form. “Imagine this, we’re in a nice hotel and your doing a striptease for me, then,” He leaned into your ear smiling, “I fuck you so hard you forget your own name.” You slap at his shoulder, moving to look away from him.

The road was empty and bare, only desert surrounding the two of you. The view was gorgeous but more and more you craved the sense of stability, the view of the road making you nauseous at times. Often you stared into that deep abyss, craving that warmth of your own home.

“Joon?”

“What's wrong? I was just j-”

“Why can't we ever just settle? Get a job? Or even stay at a trusted relative?”

“Why would you want that? Don't you like it being just us?” He asked back putting the flimsy dress in the back.

“Namjoon, we steal everything. We're a bunch of thieves! We don't have to be that don't you see?” You start talking with ur hands, empathizing your point.

“Look at all this stuff, we would never have been able to afford this!” He yelled back. His lit up a cigarette, in which you hated.

“Joon baby. You never fucking smoke. You NEVER smoke. Your picking up bad habits, all because of this fucking life. Baby you can stay with me and my mom, I just want to go home.” You lowered your voice head in your hands.

“Bad habits? Bad habits?! We don't need your mom. You don't need her, you need me. You've been needing me, it's what's best for you. And all I care about is you and m-”

“Me!? What's best for me?! I miss my mom, do you realize what I left behind for this? For you?!” You yelled. “You know what I don't need this. I'm getting my OWN way back home no matter how long it takes.” You grabbed your bag leaving everything he stole.

You couldn't do this, you needed to get out of this.

“The fuck are you going?!” You heard the door slam open and shut but you kept walking speeding up. You heard his steps get closer and you kicked it into full throttle speeding up and trying to outrun your boyfriend.

You refuse to keep up with his crime based life.

“If you cared you'd take me home. So I'm fucking going. Good. Fuckin. Bye.” You turned around and you saw him dig in his pocket, picking up a gun. “SHIT! SHIT!” You yelled and began to hurry quickly.

You see a truck coming up on the road and you move to the middle of the road to try and flag down it's driver. The truck comes to a complete stop and you get in the trunk, and banged on the back window.

Namjoon had the hand gun and was ready to shoot the driver no matter what. “FUCK! Drive!!” You yelled, and the truck took off, with you in the trunk. A bullet hit the back window and you saw your boyfriend fade into nothingness.

🌄

You took a deep breath as the man stopped at a gas station. He walked from out of his car and towards the trunk holding out his hand to lift you up and out.

“So do you mind telling me what that was about?”

“Sir I'm so sorry, me and my boyfrie-” The man cut you off with a hand eyes going wide.

“Wait. Your that girl. Dear Lord your mommas worried sick about you. She's been all over the news asking for you. Don't worry imma bring you home.” He passed you five dollars, and you took looking confused. Yet relieved, he was such a generous man, bringing you to where you always wanted to go. “Go get yourself something to eat while I fill up my tank.”

“Thank you! Oh my God thank you so much!” You gave him a firm hug before running off into the station itself. You walked from aisle to aisle, finally seeing a bag of chips. You picked them up smiling before grabbing a soda, walking up to the front of the store. You handed the man your snacks, anxiously folding the money in your hands.

“Where the fuck is my girl?!” You knew that voice anywhere.

“I have no clue what your talking about.” They were so loud, more like Namjoon was loud. And that could only mean the worst.

“Don't fuckin play with me I'm gonna give you one last time. Where Is she?”

“I told you man, I-"

Your jumped up as a loud bang rung outside. The older guy looked too you and motioned you to get behind the counter in which you quickly obliged, ducking back covering your mouth.

You knew you couldn't get away from him.

He'd found you.

The door shot open the smell of cigarettes tainting the air. It was a smell that Namjoon had garnered over the course of running away. He smoked whenever he became stressed, a habit he just picked back up on.

“Sir I'm going to need you to go. Or I'll call the po-”

BANG!

The man collapsed down, eye blown out and brain exposed. You let out a silent gasp moving closer to the gate allowing you to escape from behind the counter.

“Where the fuck are you?!” Joon yelled, his breathing harsher. “All this bloodshed just because you don't wanna embrace what we got!” You crawled, avoiding Namjoon as he stood in the back of the store, slowly looking for you. You crawled more walking towards the exit Namjoon still in the back. You shot up and opened the door running back to the man's truck. His body laid, eye shot in. A sharp gasp was let out, but you had no time to think about that.

A gun shot whizzed past your head and you fucked ankle giving out. You tried to get back up and retain your balance but that was quickly thwarted as Namjoon shot again.

This time the bullet landing straight into your calf.

You screamed out falling to the ground completely, but with that little once of fight left you dragged your body along, front portion of your body getting scratched up in the process.

But you weren't fast enough as Namjoon grabbed your injured leg and flipped you to your back. He stood over you straching his head with the nozzle of his gun. “Now. I'm giving you two options. You either come with me, or you bleed out or have a fucking untreated infection. Which is it gonna be?”

“Fuck!! Fu, uckkk!! Go with you! I'll go with you!!” You sobbed out, your crey for help breaking and meshing with your cries. He smiled at you before grabbing you at your waist. He hauled you over his shoulder, your body going limp as you succumb to your wounds, darkness taking over your vision.

“Your getting so punished for this stunt.”

[pigeontheoneandonly]

A Happy Feast

So I wrote a BG3 ficlet about my Durge. I'm not tagging it to avoid spoilers, but if you're not expecting some depravity, we're not playing the same game...

AO3 Link

They rolled back into camp near to midday, earlier than expected, but what was expected when a tadpole measured one’s life day by day, anyhow.  Nobody felt good about it.  But all that could currently be said had been aired, at length, and so they deflected into lesser complaints.  Today, it was the menu.

“Not so much as a rabbit track,” Karlach moaned, as she stripped a sapling for tent poles. 

Lae’zel was wiping her face with cool stream water.  “The pleasures of this realm are few, but I would not regret the opportunity to savor a roast.”

“You’d have better luck roasting a stick,” Gale grumbled.  He’d appointed himself keeper of their stores, and knew down to the last dry carrot what they had available to eat.  And it wasn’t as bad as all that, at least not today—if one liked eating vegetarian.

“A stick!” Astarion scoffed, and then made to appear hurt at their suspicious looks.  “What?  I’m as hungry as any, I assure you.”

Nalarin said nothing, herself.  Food was…food.  A necessity and little more.  But these…people hadn’t run.  They didn’t know her, true, not know her, but most others she’d met since their little accident had at least a sense about her, so surely her companions here did as well.  And yet they let her share their fire, travel with them, drew her into conversations, eventually.  Shared their food.  Like they wanted her to live, too.

And so Nalarin quietly took up her bow and headed back out into the wood.

Her errand took some time.  When she returned, she found the others occupied in their own private tasks following a cold lunch, as had become habit on days that ended early. That suited her.  Her task would take some time, with so little experience.

She made the fire away from the camp.  No need for our clothes to stink of cooking, Gale had said, the first time she’d watched him.  If the intensity of her observation had worried him, he hadn’t said.  They were all like that.  Willing to ignore a bit of discomfort for the sake of her company.  It made an unfamiliar curl of warmth in the pit of her stomach, pleased without quite knowing why.  She let that feeling fill her as she fussed over the pots, laboriously scrubbed and chopped and stirred and skewered.  It was good to have something to feel and something to do; it emptied her mind entirely.

By the time the food was ready, Nalarin was thoroughly streaked and speckled with various remnants of her efforts.  She thought she’d got the doneness of everything right, the turnips and carrots in the ash, the meat on the spit, the greens just lightly wilted.  Of the seasoning she was less sure, and the herbs were a certain disaster.  But she could eat it and not make a face, and so she declared it suitable and called everyone over for dinner.

Exclamations of surprise made the warm pool in her belly grow.  “I hunted,” she explained, when they asked how?! 

“If we’d known you were a good tracker, we’d have asked days ago,” Shadowheart declared, plopping down with a loaded plate.  “What else are you hiding?”

Nalarin shrugged, but it hadn’t been a serious accusation.  More pleased, almost teasing.  She drummed her fingertips into the dirt.  Too excited, almost, to eat herself.

After a time, a squirrel crept down from a nearby tree and scampered up her shoulder to shelter in a nest of her thick hair.  She absently reached up to rub its tiny head.  She liked animals; they didn’t make the dreams rise in her, not the way people did, and so it was safe to love them. Self-control with people was so…heavy.  Wearying.  Not having to fight it… bliss itself.

Afraid! it chittered, crowding into her scalp.

Her strokes grew soothing, her thoughts on all the small traps in the forest, designed to break small bodies but not to kill.  The small corpses, pinned into the earth and unmolested by the scavengers, because even animals knew profanity when they smelled it. 

As she cupped the creature in the curve of her palm, across the fire Wyll finished a bite and smiled at her.  “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Neither did I.”  Wyll made her want to control herself.  To draw a knife over flesh and barely cut.  He was a monster much like her; one who made what he wished of his monster.

Her eyes narrowed and shifted to Astarion.  There was a monster not like her.  One who leaned into the monster, one who did not realize or perhaps did not care that it devoured him, inch after inch.  One who did not recognize why he could not rid himself of the monster’s hollow feeling.  The sort of monster, in fact, who made her think one day hers might pit itself against his.

Of all of them at this dinner, she thought he might realize.  But he gave his portion a hard stare, shot her a glance she did not answer, and then returned for another bite.  “Wonderful boar,” he declared.

“Really?” Karlach swallowed.  “I thought it was rat!  They can get quite gamey, you know.”

The tempo of Karlach’s mechanized heart never quite left her sensitive ear.  To take it apart, piece by piece, examine its workings closely and their destruction… Little could be sweeter.  Except, perhaps, to hear again her braying laugh, feel her solidity at her side along the road. 

Maybe they were her friends, too.  Nalarin’s memories might be gone, but some deep part of her was immensely certain she’d never had people who were friends.

Her own plate remained empty.  The conversation continued, but they were used to her not talking much, and their sated voices swirling around her, contented by her effort, was food enough.

* * *

Much later, after the pots were cleaned, the cookfire doused, and everyone off to bed, Nalarin bent over the stream to wash her face clean of the last of the soot.  She often stayed up late.  The cool silence of night felt more home than the day. 

“It is a very terrible thing thou hadst wrought,” said Withers, startling her into splashing her clothes.

But she straightened, and looked at him directly.  “I don’t care for onions.  When what we have is onions, Gale disguises them and doesn’t tell me they’re in the food, so I don’t have to think about it.  How is what I did different?”

His wizened face regarded her for long moments, as if weighing her sincerity.  Her honesty never ceased to surprise him.  But in this, she was confident.  How could it be different?

“Perhaps not,” he answered at last, shrugging, all bony eloquence.  “Still, I wonder—how wouldst thy companions respond, if they but knew they partook in roast dwarf?”

Her mind again saw the little traps and the poor broken bodies she had buried in small graves.  “He was a very bad dwarf.”

Withers looked down his nose at her, an impressive feat given he had no nose.  “Thou wouldst know.”

Nalarin’s lips curved in the dark.  Yes.

She would.

[countrymusiclover]

4 - He Deserves A Chance

Part 5

The Texas Tire Family

Tags - @supernaturalgirl30 @bvbwestfall @bubble-blu @patriciaplictisita

Sitting in the parking lot outside Dairy Queen, Georgie was finishing up some stuff at the gambling room so I was picking up dinner for us and Aurora. Biting into my burger I heard someone knock on my window so I cracked open the door a little bit. “Can I help you?”

The guy apparently had walked out of the restaurant but I could smell alcohol in his breath. “Hey doll, care for…a…beer…with me.” He slurred his words where I sat my burger down in my lap glancing to my daughter.

“Uh no thanks. I am underage.” I responded by going to close my door but he grabbed the door handle seeing my baby girl in the passenger seat.

He smirked, yanking me out of the truck where I screamed and she started crying. “Looks like I found myself a little rebel teenager and her little baby too.” He death gripped my wrists shoving me up against the truck before he blocked me in between him.

“Urgh I said no!” I grunted trying to push him away from me yet he gripped my shirt almost tearing it in half until someone grabbed the guy by the collar of his jacket.

Sliding down the side of the truck I gasped seeing someone punch the guy in the jaw until he was fast first flat on the blacktop ground. Lifting my gaze upward I recognized the person who walked over to me offering me their freehand. “Are you alright, Y/n?”

“George…um yeah. How did you figure I was here?” I asked when he pulled me to stand on my feet before I turned around seeing Rora had a scared look on her face. Unbuckling Rora from her car seat I gently picked her up feeling her calm down when she laid her head on my chest. “Sssh sweetheart mommy is fine.”

George scans over my body seeing some of my clothes were torn but nothing too serious where we would have to go to the hospital. “Okay well let’s get you guys home. I’ll take Aurora.” He gently took her from my arms, putting her back in the car seat.

Climbing back in my seat he followed me from behind and thankfully I made the drive home without any problems. Walking through the door of the apartment he held it open for me so I could lay her down in the bed. “Thank you, Mr. Cooper. But I am fine from here.”

“I’m not going to leave you until Georgie gets back. That guy could have really hurt you.” He responded sitting down beside me on the couch in our apartment.

Running my hands through my hair I sighed knowing it was a miracle that he was there. “Why were you out in town tonight. I thought you stopped going to the bar when I told you I was pregnant.”

“Don’t tell Mary but I was stressed after work. I saw you there and I knew I couldn’t let that bum touch my daughter in law.” Geoegie explained resting his hand on my shoulder before I hugged him gently. He hugged me slowly before with a weak smile.

Georgie hit the ignore call button on his phone for the sixth time today since we had picked the girls up from the mall earlier. Missy was coming into town so we needed to get the girls to nap because they would want to be awake when she got here. “Seriously I am going to throw my phone out the window if he keeps calling me!”

"He would stop if you picked up the phone and agreed to go to his wedding." I spat shooting him an annoyed gaze from the passenger seat.

Georgie grumbled some curse words under his breath getting out of the truck. He opened the apartment door with me carrying Eve in my arms. He had already put Aurora down for her nap in their shared room. "Are we seriously gonna do this the whole weekend until he leaves town, Y/n."

Spinning around in my brown boots I pointed my finger at him not really caring if he didn't want to have the conversation. "Yes we are, George Marshall. He's your brother for crying out loud!"

“But he also left after my father died and didn’t do anything to help us!” He raised his voice at me where I could hear his accent break at bringing it up. No matter how many years it had been we all still were broken by George passing away from a heart attack.

I always felt sad knowing that the girls would never know one of their grandpa’s. He was a great father in law to me. He told me that I was the best girlfriend Geoegie ever had when we were kids. “You’re right but I refuse to have our kids not know their Uncle Sheldon. Plus I want to meet the real girl who managed to get the eleven year old genius to marry. As far as any of us thought he would end up marrying a robot that he built instead of a human girl.”

“Fine darlin’….I’ll go see him but you’re coming with me. Let’s wake the girls up.” He slumped his shoulders causing me to squeal, flinging my arms around him in a hug. Breaking the hug I gently shook the girls awake telling them to get back in the truck heading to the hotel.

Stepping off the elevator Eve shot in front of us on her skateboard banging on the door number to the room Leonard had sent me in case we changed our minds before they left. “Open up Uncle scientist!”

“Sssh Eve. There are other people.” I made the girl be quiet, not needing some upset Texas neighbors in this hotel.

The door opened where the four of us stood outside seeing Leonard open the door with a half smile seeing us actually there. “I’m here to talk to my brother.” He moved out of the way letting us inside seeing Sheldon sitting on the bed complaining with room service.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[dominimoonbeam]

Bite to Bruise - 19

This work is mine and I do not give consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted without my permission. I am sharing chapters as I work on this story but it is copyrighted material that I plan to rework and publish when completed.

story tags: modern-fantasy mashup, werewolves, witches, monsters, romance, learning to trust, hurt/comfort, blood, violence, explicit sex, explicit language

The earlier parts can be found under the tag or over on patreon. <3

BITE TO BRUISE - CHAPTER 19.

Ever stared down at her.

The girl on the ground under him looked like Piper. Her face was the same shape with features more adolescent than grown, speckled in freckles under the wild mess of her brown hair. Yellow eyes stared up at him, seeing him but not quite recognizing.

She had smelled like fenrir, but it wasn’t right and it certainly wasn’t his niece. Now she smelled like blood and power. Witch.

She cried in shallow gasps, like she was barely holding back a scream.

He wished she would let it out. Better that than this.

“Bellamy,” Ever said. He wouldn’t use her true name out there. He wouldn’t risk anyone overhearing it.

Her expression shuddered surprise and then dawning understanding.

“Bellamy,” he said again, gently. Where was the blood coming from? He couldn’t see any injuries, but he also couldn’t see the bandages and wounds that should be on her arm. Another glamour, this one to make her look like Piper. Could she make herself look like anyone? There were stories about that sort of magic, fairytales really, and never good ones.

She exhaled and he watched her let the illusion go. Her eyes rolled shut and her whole body sagged on the grass like it had been a physical burden to uphold. Her black hair fell limply around her face, her body shrinking and her clothes changing. Blood smeared the side of her neck around an oval wound, red soaking into the collar of her top. Bits of glass clung to her, her leggings ripped, and her leg scratched up. Almost as quickly as one glamour dropped, the illusion of Bellamy slid into place. The clothes stayed the same, tears and stains too, but the body wearing them changed and her skin smoothed over—not even a welt left behind.

“Bell… Leave the wounds. I need to see them.”

She cringed, tears still rolling off her eyes, but her lips pressed into something close to a snarl, her hand coming up to grab at the side of her neck. “He bit me…” she whispered what he already knew. “He knows,” she added with dawning horror.

Ever shook his head, gently stroking her now blond hair out of her face. “He’s dead.”

Her eyes lost focus as exhaustion dragged her down but she reached up to push her palm against his chest, her fingers twisting in his shirt like she was trying to ground herself in him. “They don’t die…”

He leaned down, so that she would see him again and hopefully hear him before she passed out. “No one will find him, and he will never find you again.”

She stared up at him, either trying to hear him or trying to believe him.

Ever waited those long seconds with her until her strength finally failed, her hand releasing his shirt and falling.

She hadn’t changed the glamour of Bellamy to let him see where she was hurt, but he’d memorized what he could. He pulled his shirt off and pressed it against the side of her neck, soaking up the blood there. The flow was slowing. It would stop, and he’d clean it and bandage it when they got home.

A sharp howl sounded off behind him, telling him that the problem was settled and waiting for him.

Ever scooped up Bellamy carefully and started back toward the road.

Sunny shifted from wolf to man, standing beside the pavement over what was left of a shade. He spat blood into the grass. It wasn’t his own and it was nothing compared to the mess on his skin. Theo growled at the dead shades, probably because he remembered a time when fighting shades had seemed like an endless battle.

Ever hoped not to lead him back into those times, but he couldn’t control what the shades did and there were only so many options when it came to his response.

Sunny looked over his shoulder at him, his expression softening at the sight of the witch in his arms. He pulled his phone from his pocket and made a call. Oakley answered and in a quick exchange of words, Sunny had told the other man to get in his car and drive out to them.

“Tell him to bring kerosine,” Ever added. “And some plastic bags.” He settled his witch down in the soft grass beside the road, a patch clean of bloodshed and glass. What a fucking mess.

Sunny finished his call, eyes always on Ever. Leigh kept glancing between him and the fallen shades, while Theo knew to keep his eye on the not-always dead things. “So, I can guess what the kerosine is for,” Sunny said. “But why the plastic?”

Ever stepped over one piece of gore to reach the bulk of the shade who had called him—the one who had been crusted in Tate’s blood—the one who had had his hands and his teeth on Bellamy. He poked the side of the shade’s chest with his boot, rolling him thoughtfully on the pavement.

“That one’s not dead,” Theo told him what he could already feel. “I think the other three are though… We’ll know for certain if we wait.”

“We’ll wait,” Ever agreed. “We’ll burn whatever stays down, along with their car and that field.” He pointed at the orchard where he’d come from—where he’d found his witch.

“Burn the orchard?” Leigh asked, quiet even in their thoughts.

Ever growled lowly. “It belongs to the biters.”

“But not to Blackwell…” Theo pointed out. His head lifted and swung to the side, whisps of shadow trailing him with slivers of silver in all that darkness, outlining scars and underlining age. He looked at the witch, nostrils flaring before his gaze cut to the orchard. The old wolf huffed. “Burn it,” he agreed, but sounded less than happy about it.

“And the plastic bags?” Sunny pressed, one hand to his hip.

The shade under Ever’s boot twitched, his heart reforming from the growing matter inside his open chest. This one was too old to die.

“Do you think you can use him to barter with Blackwell?” Theo asked, but something in his tone suggested he already knew Ever wouldn’t do that. Couldn’t do that without this shade telling his master about their witch.

“I don’t want to barter.”

Sunny grinned, blood making his lips bright red and, for a strange second, Ever thought his baby brother would have made a great shade—if he weren’t wolf to his core. “We’re taking prisoners?” he asked excitedly.

Ever shook his head, watching the way that corpse put itself back together. It was making everything out of nothing, unstoppable. He wondered exactly how little it needed to regenerate. He had heard stories of shades being rendered to ash and still coming back. “We’re starting a garden.”

They moved the wreck of the car off the road and put the three dead shades in the grass nearby while they waited.

When Oakley got there, Ever moved Bellamy to the backseat of the car while the others pulled the supplies from the trunk. He splashed a trail of kerosine from the wreck, through the grass, into the orchard, following the path she’d crawled in her attempt to get away. He’d have to ask her later how she managed to crash the car, not that he doubted it had been all her doing.

When Ever came back to the road, the shade’s face had mostly reformed and his lungs were working in his chest again. One bright eye stared up at Ever, lips wide to drag gasps that reminded painfully of the way his witch had been sucking at life when he reached her.

Ever crouched over the shade. “Can you hear me?” he asked evenly. He wasn’t sure how their revivals worked. Was his mind repaired or just the bulk of that upper torso? He hadn’t regrown the lower half of himself yet. How long would that take? He could find out if he wanted to make a study of this…

The shade gulped, twitching in a way that suggested he tried to nod but realized his spine wasn’t all there. “Yes,” he ground out.

“What’s your name?” Ever asked. It seemed right to know and he’d like to have it for his next conversation with Florian Blackwell.

The shade cast his one eye around, making out all he could of the scene—the shadows of fenrir and the fire light shining against his sclera. He seemed to be deciding whether or not his name was a secret to keep. “Soren.”

“You fucked up, Soren,” Ever said, not raising his voice but studying the points of those teeth that had dared to break the skin of his witch.

Soren’s eye flicked to the side, toward the burning trees. Understanding dawned, and he grinned madly when he remembered what had brought him ruin. His gaze snapped up to Ever again. “What are you up to?” he marveled, voice rasping and the inner workings of his throat jumping. “Do you understand who she is?”

Ever tensed. He knew the others were listening too now. Sunny had known, yes, but the others had only ever known that they had a witch in their woods—a witch who had saved them once and was being spared.

Soren’s throat undulated. “You do.” Another twitch like he wanted to nod. “We can make a deal then. For that witch, you may be able to keep your woods. To give the duchess leverage like that… She could crush him…” His voice came in faster and faster rasps, like the possibilities were mounting before his eyes and making him salivate.

It was hunger.

It was greed.

Bellamy was something they wanted to own. Blackwell would want her because Baron wanted her. Fucking shades…

Ever thrust his arm down, right into the mess of that rebuilding cavity, and grabbed that new heart. The shade’s mouth dropped open in surprise, his one eye bulging up at Ever. Confusion gave way to shock. “No…” the shade rasped and Ever felt the man’s panic battering his palm. “Wolves and witches don’t coexist… You can’t…”

Ever closed his fist and pulled. He rose to his feet but didn’t let go, eventually the shell of the shade fell back onto the pavement, a little more hollow than before.

Theo, Leigh, Oakley, and Sunny watched him.

He pitched the heart into the fire and Sunny grabbed the plastic bags. They collected the husk of the shade and bagged him, tossing him into the trunk.

Theo and Leigh started on the run home and Oakley got into the front seat of the car and started the engine.

Ever stood by the backdoor, hesitating to close it. He’d intended to send Oakley back with the car, but then he laid his eyes on Bellamy in the backseat. His shirt was still pressed to her neck. If it weren’t for that and the red blooms soaking through the gauze on her arm, she would look like a beautiful, careless creature asleep in the back of that car. Her clothes were tattered and dirty, and bits of glass still flecked her hair, but the scratches and welts were unseen.

It felt impossible for him to close the door and leave separately from her.

But it felt unnatural to ride when he could run.

Sunny squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll ride back with Oakley.”

He said it like it was his idea and not an offer. Sunny loved to run and after a night like this, he’d probably be bouncing off the walls if he didn’t.

Ever shook his head, still watching her. “Run ahead and tell Sky what happened.”

Sunny nodded but didn’t move, still holding onto Ever’s shoulder. The blaze was loud and rolling heat through the night air around them. “She looked like Piper,” Sunny said quietly. He had been right there with Ever, ahead of the others, when they reached the scene. But he hadn’t known that Sunny saw that. “Why would she do that?” he whispered the question but Ever thought he knew the answer. Or, at least, enough of it.

She had done it to save Piper.

Ever’s heart constricted. No, it was to save him. To save all of them from what could have happened tonight.

He carefully moved Bellamy when he slid into the backseat, collecting her in his lap. Sunny nodded like he’d been given an answer and closed the door.

Even with the head start, he’d be back to the valley ahead of the others and the car.

Oakley drove, fists squeezing the steering wheel and gaze fixed ahead, like looking at the rearview mirror would be an offense. Ever wasn’t sure if he thought it was dangerous to look directly at the witch, or directly at him right now. Both seemed true to some degree.

She turned her face into Ever’s chest, breath puffing against his skin in a rhythm that soothed him in ways he’d never imagined. He absently stroked her hair, beginning the process of plucking out pebbles of glass.

Oakley was taking tight breaths.

“You can put the windows down,” Ever said, realizing it was the scent of her blood that was making the other fenrir anxious.

He remembered how overwhelming it had smelled when he found her wounded at the cabin. When had he gotten used to it? While he was cleaning her up, probably.

Oakley coughed gratitude and hit the button to drop the windows. Cold night air rolled through the cab. Bellamy didn’t seem to notice but Ever wrapped his arms around her anyway. It wasn’t a long drive at that speed. They hadn’t gotten far past his territory.

Still, he sighed gut-deep relief when they crossed that invisible line back into pack lands.

“Why did they take her?” Oakley asked. He was about the same age as Sunny and the youngest of all of Theo’s kids. His older sister and her family lived in the valley but the rest had passed away or moved elsewhere.

“They didn’t mean to,” Ever sighed. “They thought they got Piper and that we’d trade the land to get her back.” We would have, he thought. If they hadn’t been able to find another way, a way to get Piper back safely, they would have given anything. Of course, that wouldn’t have been the end of it. They would have gone to war and been forced to do it on their own land.

Oakley glanced in the rearview, at the back of the woman in Ever’s arms, and then quickly away again. “She doesn’t look like Pip…”

Ever rolled some of her blond hair around his fingers, thinking about how dark it had looked when she dropped the glamour. “Not anymore, no.”

“Witches…” Oakley exhaled, with awe rather than suspicion.

When they got to the valley, there was a gathering of the pack waiting in front of his house.

Sky had his big arms crossed and his chin down. Theo was talking and Sunny was baring teeth.

Great.

Ever got out of the car with Bellamy still in his arms.

They all went quiet and, again, he couldn’t be sure if it was because of him or her. They stared and they tried not to stare, but they all moved aside when he approached and no one tried to say anything when he walked up the porch steps.

Sunny got the door and Ever went inside.

They waited.

He carried her to the back of the house and settled her on his bed. He’d really hoped to lay her there under better circumstances, but he couldn’t imagine putting her anywhere else just then.

He closed the door gently and then marched back through the empty house and out front. No one had tried to follow him in, and they were just as silent and flustered as they had been seconds ago. He closed the front door and came to stand at the first step of the deck.

Sky wasn’t looking at him, and that chafed. Was he blaming him? Did he have the right to? Maybe… Maybe Ever had handled the situation with Blackwell wrong.

“She can’t stay here,” Theo said, breaking the silence.

[elliewithcellie]

Niceties

summary: After a monster attack, your friend Steve wants to make sure you're ok (Steve x reader)

wc: 1.8k

warnings/tags: TV accurate bloody Steve, mostly fluff, nightmares, one bed trope, implied that reader may be a girl, friends or more is a bit unclear, hurt/comfort for my boy

*******

You and Steve drove back in his car. No words were shared for the entirety of the trip. You were tired. That was the truth. But you were much more fit to drive than Steve, his eye bruised shut. Blood still caked his face, and arms, and legs. You winced merely at the sight. You weren’t much better, but at least you could see.

You pulled into his driveway and parked the car. Steve didn’t move, as if dazed by the day’s events. You cleared your throat, hoping to throw him. He shook his head and looked at you.

“We’re here,” you feigned a tone of optimism.

The two of you exited the car. You proceeded to throw the car keys at Steve and hesitated, insisting that you knew better. You walked over to Steve and placed the keys in his hands.

“I’m glad you made it, Steve.” You patted his shoulder and walked back up the driveway. A few seconds later, you had made it to the mailbox when you hear Steve call out.

“Hey, wait, wait!”

You turned around.

“Where are you going?” He started to jog after you, his body tensed, and his eyebrows knit together.

“Home,” you replied. The night sky was already littered with light, and the moon sent fragments of rays just past the treescape. The wind felt good in the late summer heat, but you had a long walk ahead of you.

“Well, let me take you.”

“No, no. I don’t want you driving with your eye like that.”

Steve stayed silent. His eyebrows were still pinched, as though he were solving a puzzle. “Well, well, well,” he stuttered. “You shouldn’t be walking home this late.” He paused again. “If you want you could stay here.”

Your cheeks flushed red. This would be a big step even for you two. Of course, the last two years the two of you had gotten close. You trauma bonded with him just like the rest of the group. Hang outs and sleepovers with mixed company weren’t uncommon; you had never come close to crossing the arbitrary line. But you were tired. You were so tired.

“That sounds nice,” you said.

Steve’s eye brightened. “Good, good. Let’s get cleaned up, what do you think?”

You nodded and the two of you walked inside.

You had been inside Steve’s house countless times, but never had you experienced it so silent and stale. With his parents never home, it used to be a dream scenario: parties, get-togethers, rated R movie nights. But the truth amplified through the echoes off the walls. The door hinges that creaked, the shoes that scuffed at the wooden floors, the hands scraping against the railing up the stairs. Not one word said, but you tensed up all the same. This was Steve’s reality, day in and day out. His parents weren’t home to know he was in trouble. They didn’t call to check in. It was Steve to fend for himself. And you somehow related to him even more.

The two of you found yourselves in a large bathroom. Steve opened a cabinet and pulled out a folded towel.

“There’s shampoo and conditioner in there for you, and I’ll leave some clothes by the door for you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to.”

“What, and just let you get all grimy again? Disgusting.” You both chuckled.

“Thank you,” you said.

“Of course.” Steve smiled. “If you need anything, I’m three doors down. Just knock.” He smiled at you before leaving you in the bathroom alone.

The scorching heat of the water all but numbed your body from the residual pain you felt earlier. Glimpses of terror jarred your memory. Brown and red water circled the drain, a continued reminder of the horrors you experienced. Your body flinched, beginning to believe the lie that evil lurked across the shower curtain. Your heart jumped into your throat, blocking your airways. You tore the curtain open. It revealed the vanity and nothing else. Your lungs expanded, and you began to breathe deeply again. The splashing suds that soaked your body settled you back into reality, and soon the water ran clear.

You stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around your body. You peaked out of the bathroom door. At your feet sat a T-shirt, sweatpants and long white socks. You smiled to yourself. You towel dried your hair, and once you got dressed, you walked to the third door down. You knocked.

“Just a minute,” you heard. You fiddled with the dead skin on your fingers, as if your hands were suddenly more interesting than what’s on the other side of that door.

Then the door opened. Steve met you with equally damp hair, a matching T-shirt, and boxers. The swelling of his eye seemed to level out, and with the blood cleaned off his face, you could really see the blues and greens developing under his skin. Still, he smiled.

“How do you feel?” you asked.

“Don’t worry about me. Are you hungry? I’m thirsty. Let’s get some water.”

He took your hand by the wrist and led you back downstairs. He didn’t give you time to think, but you weren’t sure that you wanted him to. You sat at the counter while he poured the drinks. He sat beside you and drank his water down while you watched.

“Why are you doing this?” you asked.

“Doing what?” he breathed out.

“I—I don’t know. I guess, being so nice to me?”

“Aren’t we friends? Shouldn’t a friend be nice to you?”

“No, yeah, of course.” You paused. You felt tears well up, but you pushed them down. You weren’t sure where the emotions were coming from, so now was not the time to make a scene. “Yeah, you’re right. I just, how about you?”

“What about me?”

“What can I do for you? To be nice to you, I guess.”

“Honestly,” Steve said, “I’m just glad you’re here. Everyone in the group has kinda got someone to turn to, and I don’t know about you, but it’s rough returning from all that alone.”

His honesty surprised you. “I wish you would have told me. I’d’ a been here in a heartbeat.” You placed your hand on his knee and looked in his eyes. His brown eyes looked warm and inviting, chocolates and caramels cascading in his irises. You wanted to inch closer, already benefitting from the heat radiating off him. Realizing your mistake, you adjusted yourself in your seat and removed you hand, reaching for your water instead.

“I just always assumed you had someone, King Steve,” you mocked.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Oh, god, please. As if you weren’t the most popular transfer in the school.”

“Shut up. I was not.”

“You’re telling me you didn’t notice every guy staring at you senior year? You were a hot commodity if I remember correctly.”

“Right. You mean every guy who viewed me as a number to add to their list. Meanwhile you could have any and every girl you wanted!”

“Not every girl,” Steve said.

You hesitated. “Sorry, you’re right. That was insensitive of me.” You lowered your voice. “You don’t still have feelings for Nance, do you? I didn’t mean to—”

“Oh, what? No, no. You’re good. That’s not what I—”

“I guess, I’m just saying that we’re not the same. You were an idol in high school. I was an object. And I get it, we’re older now. It shouldn’t matter, but…”

“No, no. I hear you,” Steve said. You looked back up at him, a soft smile forming on his lips, his arm outstretched across the counter, as if to reach out for you. “I guess we both should start from scratch with each other, huh.”

“We just never get this time, you know, to really get to know each other,” you agreed, leaning into his arm. “I don’t hate this,” you joked.

“Me neither,” he hummed.

The silence hung like a weight under your eyes, a yawn reminding you of the aches in your bones.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” you began.

“Way ahead of ya,” Steve said.

The two of you returned upstairs where Steve brought you to his guest bedroom.

“Should have everything you need in here. I’ll be right next door just in case.”

“Thank you. Goodnight,” you said.

“Goodnight.” He smiled and shut the door.

You adjusted the pillows to your comfort and fell asleep within minutes. But you did not rest. Your day played out in the form of a nightmare, corralling the kids and running for your lives. You tried to save Steve, but you couldn’t grab him in time. You screamed, but something was suffocating you. You couldn’t breathe. You begged yourself to wake up, shaking, crying, and—

“Y/N!”

You woke up to Steve above you shaking your shoulders. Your forehead was sweating, and your hair stuck dampened against the back of your neck. Your breathing already relaxed, matching the rhythm of Steve’s.

“You died. I thought I lost you. I thought—” Steve pulled you into a hug. You cried into his shoulder, the wall you built up finally breaking.

“I’m here. You’re ok. I’ve got you.”

He sat there holding you and stroking your hair. You sniffled. “Today was scary, Steve.”

“I know,” he whispered. You looked back up at him. Your eyes were puffy and wet, streaks staining your cheeks. Steve wiped away your tears.

“I’m sorry,” you said, realization washing over you. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m just glad you’re ok.”

Steve stood up from the bed and headed for the door. He paced in and out of the door frame, something on his mind.

“What is it?” you asked.

He froze, his body tense. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’ll go.”

“What is it?” you asked again.

Steve sighed. “Well, you know we talked about friends doing nice things?”

“Uh-huh,”

“I guess what I’m saying is I couldn’t sleep. I was up all night with thoughts in my head and then I heard you scream, and I thought something happened and so, uh…” he trailed off.

You didn’t interrupt. You didn’t guess what his next words were. You just looked at him from your bed.

Steve took a deep breath. “Would you mind sleeping with me? In my bed with me there, I mean. I just want to know you’re alive and breathing.”

Relief washed over your body. You didn’t want him to go. You wanted him to hug you forever, physical evidence that you both made it out. You forced out a giggle and nodded. “yeah, ok,” was all you said.

You followed him into his room and again into his bed. Steve held out his arms for you, and you gladly accepted them. You nestled your way into his chest, curling up under his chin. His arms found your back and feathered patterns along your spine. With your heartbeats harmonizing and your breaths deepening, the two of you found solace within your minds. The comfort of the other allowed you to drift to sleep.

The two of you didn’t have the capacity to comprehend the breeching of lines or the catching of feelings. What you needed now was instinctual, innate, deep within the human psyche; you needed security. And you and Steve provided that for each other. Tomorrow, there’d be time for self-conscious embarrassment. Tomorrow allowed for awkwardness and introspection. Tonight was devoted to safety.

************

ForeversTaglist:

@lizziedizzie3 @heavennleeee-blog @hunterswearingplaid @thisismysecrethappyplace @geekinator9 @ronnie248-blog @oliolioxiclean @phonegalhelp @because-you-never-know-when @roonyxx @keithseabrook27 @ericaprice2008 @heythereamigodude

[underratedandoverit]

slipping out of my fingers

912 words past orangekip

im sorry i wrote angst i. i dont know. my mind is dealing with something rn clearly even tho its not on the surface but like. yeah. this has been plaguing me the past few days and so i just barfed the words out and here we are. this is kinda alternative events post immortal fears there is no happy ending. im sorry

@midnightpretenders0 @stormbornpirate (im tagging yall since you wanted to be tagged in everything, not cause i think you'd enjoy suffering tonight)

on ao3

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

The house was so quiet it almost made him nauseous.

Cassidy had been dragging himself through every room possible, being met with the same silence and loneliness every single time. Every single light of hope had dimmed after another, every single door opened to an empty room without a single soul inside it.

Without him ever encountering that smile he had grown so fond of. The laugh that still rang in his ears whenever he heard certain words. The arms that always wrapped around him in a comforting manner when he needed it the most. The soft lips he was so used to be able to kiss whenever he wanted.

He couldn’t find any of those inside these rooms anymore. There’s nothing left behind but darkness.

Heartache.

Every curtain was closed. There were no open windows. The deafening silence lingered around stronger with each room he peeked into, eating alive the final pieces of hope Cassidy had.

He would just need to accept it.

The heartache.

Standing in front of the last door, his hands were shaking. Cassidy didn’t want to face this, but he was told he needed closure. That he needed to embrace the acceptance, that he needed to do this for himself. For their sake.

For Kip's sake.

The door handle was so cold. The tingling feeling shot through his entire body, making him shiver. It wasn’t always like this. This used to be one of the places he spent most of his time when he was home, the one room Cassidy could guarantee he would find company whenever he entered it. The room where most of the tears were shed, but also the one where things had been pushed into motion. Where they had healed, alone, separately, together.

Where they had finally said those faithful words.

There were no sunglasses to hide the tears tonight. He wasn’t even trying to hold them back as he pushed the door open finally, getting slammed in the face with every single memory at the same time, looking over the dark, messy room that hadn’t been occupied in what seemed like weeks now.

The bed covers that either of them so rarely made. The extra darkened curtains to make this a safe space. The dresser half pulled open, single clothing items draped over the edges of the drawers.

Everything just as he remembered leaving it when he walked away the first time.

Cassidy wandered slowly into the room, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. The air was still, heavy with dust, not at all how he remembered it. This had been a place of love before, holding so many strange, heavy days and nights for them both. He could vividly remember every late night conversation they had sitting on the floor at the same time. The way that hand ran through his hair, the way those eyeliner heavy eyes looked at him after they cried together for what felt like the millionth time.

There had been times before, both good and bad, making up, apologies, words that shouldn't have been said but were still shared out of both love and desperation. 

And he wasn’t going to get any of that back again.

He rustled through his jacket pocket for a brief moment, pulling out the note he had found from the kitchen counter earlier. The handwriting was familiar, but it seemed shakier than usually, even after getting better it rarely returned to this bad anymore. Or at least as far as he could remember, it didn't. This was something else, this wasn’t the usual relapse.

Cassidy read the note over and over again, until the tears made it impossible to see the letters anymore, forcing him to crumble the piece of paper, dropping it to the floor.

He carefully laid down on the bed, eyes filled with dust and tears, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had seen this view so many times before, but those dark, lonely nights were nothing compared to the pain shooting through him right now. At least before he would know someone would come for him, help him up on his feet again, be there for him at a moment of weakness like this.

This time, and from now on, he would just be alone.

The phone buzzed in his pocket. On an autopilot he pulled it out, some sense of sick hope in him making Cassidy think this was a sign. No. No, it was just Chuck. He was outside, asking if Cassidy was ready to go.

He slowly sat up, replying to the text barely registering the letters he was punching on the screen. There was no reason to wallow in it, he had to accept the fact that this was how it was going to be right now, and this was how this was going to be from now on. And that he couldn't do anything about it. 

Cassidy took one more glance around the room before he stood up. He didn’t want to leave, but at the same time the happy memories inside here were too much for his heart to handle. Everything was already broken, there was nothing he could do to fix it. Turning on his heels, he dragged himself out of the room, closing the door slowly behind him.

Closing the final door to the love he could possibly receive back from Kip anymore.

We have decided to try again with Penelope. I’m sorry. I love you.

[nicascurls]

Strangeness and Charm - Part Four

Word Count: 2K

Summary: Season 1 AU where Andy and Kyle arrive at Charles Lee Ray’s old house before Tiffany leaves with Junior and Nica and ultimately save them. Set in 2017, two weeks after Cult since that's when the show was originally mentioned to be set and in my opinion, makes the most sense.

Notes: Procrastination is taking charge, so I wrote this instead of working on my University essay. XD Anyway, the chaos cousins make an appearance here and then some BarclayPierce bonding cause I'm a sucker for them interacting. Also their trauma deserves to be addressed. On that note, Nica's attempt in Cult is addressed in this so a warning for that.

Tags: @streets-in-paradise @losersclubisms @cult-of-dollbabies

The boys huddled together trying to peep through the gap to keep an eye on Lexy, and after some pretty excessive insistence from Nica, Caroline as well. Devon was doing his best to stay focused on what the Mayor was saying, in case Lexy needed any help but it was certainly proving difficult with the bickering cousins next to him.

"Junior, will you quit it already? You keep elbowing me!"

"Well maybe if you moved out the way I wouldn't have to keep doing it!"

"You have plenty of room!"

"Not with your bird's nest hair right in front of my face!"

"Shut up. I can't hear what's being said." Devon eventually snapped. 

"Yeah, and I can hear you three better than I can hear my mom and she has a damn microphone." Lexy hissed, turning back for a split second. 

That got the cousins to stop for a moment, they knew that they couldn't risk messing this plan up. It took practically the entire morning for the teens to convince Kyle, Andy and Nica to let them keep watch on the event and find out Chucky's plan on their own. Nica had known that she couldn't go with them even with the chair Junior found in the basement from when his father had injured himself years ago. 

The kids could see that she hated it, not being able to protect them. They had assumed it was to do with losing her family, but Devon knew it was something darker especially once Caroline was mentioned. He remembered the tragic story of her niece that he had read during his research but avoided the subject for the time being, unsure of who else knew. 

As for Kyle and Andy, they knew they couldn't risk leaving Nica alone. Not to mention that if Chucky spotted either of them with the kids, the chances were all hell would break loose. 

So they settled for waiting for the kids to update them on anything related to Chucky and Tiffany, and once they knew what was happening with the truck they would take control.

The boys' focus was drawn back to the Mayor's speech as it painfully began to come to a close.

"Is it worth calling them yet?" Jake questioned, "I know we don't know anything about where the truck is going but if it's right there maybe we can take care of things whilst everyone is watching the movie?"

"Just wait until we know she's done talking, when she finally stops bullshitting we might actually get some more-" 

"Guys listen!" Devon interrupted just in time for them to hear the Mayor's announcement from outside the building.

"- Oscar-nominated actress and professional poker player, Jennifer Tilly!"

"Oh shit! Jake, I hate to admit this but you're right. We should call them." Junior concluded as Lexy whipped her head back to face the boys. He made a quick sign to Lexy to let her know what was going on as Devon continued keeping watch and Lexy thought of a way to get her and Caroline to join the boys without causing suspicion.

 Meanwhile, the adults had remained at the Wheeler's, anxiously waiting for any news. Kyle had given Nica some of her clothes earlier in the day for her to change into and that paired with having a chair again, made a world of difference for Nica. 

All three were now in the kitchen, sharing their experiences about Chucky to see if there was any kind of pattern or clue about how to stop him this time. 

"Wait, so how much does your mom and Mike know about all of this stuff now?"

"Minimal, I can't risk Chucky trying to go after them again."

"And he has a habit of wanting to play the hero." Kyle pitched in, getting herself some more coffee.

"No!"

Kyle turned to Nica in response, and rolled her eyes behind her brother's back. Nica couldn't help but snicker at the siblings' antics as Andy quickly turned to try and catch his sister before his phone rang.

"Shit, the kids." He announced before picking up the phone and putting it on speaker. They soon heard Junior's  voice over the phone, "It's Tiffany, she's here as Jennifer Tilly."

Nica's head shot up at that, eyes wide with fear.

"Okay, where are you?"

"Just inside the movie theatre." Jake informed them.

"All of you?"

"Me, Devon and Junior. Lexy and Caroline are just outside but we can see them."

The adults proceeded to listen over the phone as they tried to make out the whispers of conversation that followed.

"They're transporting the dolls from here right after the show, to Teterboro Airport." Devon fed back to the adults.

"Right, okay. What's the deal with Lexy and Caroline right now?" 

Just then they were met with the sound of the theatre side door opening as Lexy and Caroline made their way through. 

“I want Chucky!” 

“Care, remember why we were moving your barbies? We can’t trust Chucky, or any doll. They’re all fucked up.”

“You said a bad word!”

“I know I did, that's how serious this is. Okay?”

“Kids?” Andy spoke again.

“Yeah? Oh, shit, come on.” Junior responded before the sound of multiple footsteps came through the phone. Nica was getting panicked now, continuously biting her nails as the adults listened to the events over the phone, “Are you all, alright?” She questioned once the footsteps stopped.

On the other side Lexy grabbed the phone off the boys, “Yeah we’re okay, Jen- uh Tiffany was looking through the doors so we moved to a different part of the theatre.”

“Did she see you guys?” Kyle pitched in.

"Probably through the door but not where we went."

"Including Junior?" Nica asked, panicked.

"Yeah… Why?"

"Right. Junior, I think you need to head back here. If Tiffany saw you it's only a matter of time before she or Chucky come after you again."

"But surely they would be after all of us?" Junior questioned in return.

"Not Tiffany. Listen, above anything else she is possessive. She was going to leave Devon in that house but she took you with her. In her mind, the others aren't a priority but you are and she will try and 'steal you back' the first chance she gets which is why you need to get away before she finds you."

"How do you know that is what she'll do?"

"I can explain it more later but right now I just need you to trust me." Nica looked back and forth between the two other adults in the room, a silent plea for them to do the same. Which they did, they could see from the panic in Nica's eyes that she was speaking from experience, even if they didn't know the details of it.

"Okay, here's the plan," Kyle began, taking charge. "Kids, are you safe where you are right now?" 

"Yeah, we're safe." Devon responded.

"Junior you and Caroline, if possible, I'll pick you up and bring you back to the house now. You other three, stay where you are, Andy and I will come to meet you once Junior and Caroline are back here. Are you okay with that, Nica?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay with that. As long as there's no blood I should be fine."

"Got it, call us again when you're here and we'll meet you outside."

Five minutes had now passed and Kyle had left to meet the kids, leaving Andy and Nica at the Wheeler's house. Andy then turned to Nica to see her lost in thought.

"Hey," he spoke softly, causing her to face him. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed before continuing, "I just hate the idea of the kids being on their own. What about you?"

"What?"

"How are you doing? You seemed off after the Chucky incident."

Andy was taken aback, he knew Nica was smart. She would've had to have been to survive Chucky on her own, but how observant she was had already managed to surprise him even in the short time since they had formerly met. Either that or he was just ridiculously transparent.

"I- he didn't try to hurt you or anything did he?" Her voice brought Andy out of his thoughts again.

"No, there was nothing like that. He just liked bringing up Harrogate." 

Nica gave a small nod, "I am sorry about that, I know it was Chucky in control but-"

"No, you don't need to apologise. Honestly, I'm the one that owes you an apology."

"I… don't understand."

Andy took a deep breath, preparing to admit the truth. He knew he had to tell her now. The longer it was left, the worse it would seem, or even worse, she would hear it from Chucky. He was terrified that telling her would mean she would never trust him, which he believed he deserved, but he had to do it. She deserved to know.

"I had managed to smuggle a gun into Harrogate and when Chucky got to me I, uh I took a shot at you." 

Once again, he couldn't look at her after admitting it, he kept his eyes glued to the floor as Nica remained quiet, slowly processing what she had just been told. "I would have killed you if the gun hadn't jammed. I'm so sorry and I get it if you don't tr-"

"Andy. I'm not mad about it, you were trying to stop Chucky. You didn't know I was still in there too."

"That's the problem, I wasn't thinking about any of that, my only thought was getting rid of another Chucky and I almost killed you because of it!"

"I wouldn't have cared." Nica admitted in a small voice. 

Andy looked at her then, prepared to start telling her that she didn't need to say things to spare his feelings but one look at her and he could see she meant it. She now had a hesitant look on her face, as if she contemplated whether to continue or stay quiet before reaching for her left sleeve with a now shaking hand. She took a final deep breath and rolled her sleeve up, revealing the still healing wound that went down her left wrist.

Andy felt his heart sink as he saw it, not even sure of how to respond.

"When…?"

"My first day at Harrogate. Tiffany visited and told me about Alice. Since they had got me thinking Chucky wasn't real, I believed it was my fault." Nica explained, her voice breaking at the end. 

Andy kept his eyes focused on her and saw a few tears escape her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know that." She said quickly, continuing to stare straight ahead.

"I know, but I also know that doesn't stop the guilt. Although it can help more if you hear it from someone else?"

With that, Nica sniffed once and dared to look over at him with a small smile. "It does."

"You're gonna be alright now though? You don't…. Feel like that anymore."

Nica thought for a second, having people question how she felt was something she had grown used to but this was the first time in a long time that someone ment it, and she could tell.

"No, not anymore."

"Okay. But if you do, you know you can talk to me? I can't promise I'll know how to help but I'll do my best. Or even if you don't feel like that, just if you want to talk."

Nica couldn't help but smile more, "I do, and I will."

Andy returned her smile with his own, relieved that he may finally be able to help her when the sound of his phone ringing interrupted the moment.

"Yeah?" Andy began, having answered the phone.

"I'm on my way back," Kyle spoke over the phone. "Junior and Caroline are with me, the others are staying hidden till we get there."

"Right, see you soon." 

He hung up the phone and turned back to Nica who was now pulling the sleeve back down to cover the wound. She looked up to see him watching before she hesitantly asked. "Um, what I told you. Can we-"

"Keep it between us?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, the same with what I said."

"If anyone asks, the whole conversation never happened. Deal?"

"Deal."

[mjrino]

Since Ao3 is down, I thought I'd post the single fanfic that I'd posted there. Basically, it's a ToH fic that I wrote immediately after Hollow Mind - basically one of the many Hunter fics which were posted after it. It's pretty cliché, but I thought I'd share it.

Tags (from what I remember): Hunter & Darius, Hunter & Raine, Hunter & Eberwolf, Flapjack & Hunter, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Hollow Mind.

This was written a while ago, so it isn't as good as my current writing.

Edit: In light of ao3 being back up, here's the link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38601936

As soon as Hunter got his head around what happened, he knew he couldn’t go back. It didn’t take that long, he’d always been smart.

(That’s what his - Belos said, anyway.)

But the castle was his home, it had always been. His few things were there, most of the people he considered as friends were there. He had never known another home. But he couldn't go back. He would never be able to go back. His breathing sped up and his heart raced as he tried to put his thoughts into words.

So what could he do, then? Stay in the infamous Owl House? Maybe, but it would rely on them letting him. Sure, Luz had offered before, but he could never take anything that had been said at face value. Not even from Belos.

He’d thought he could, once. Now he knew better.

Hunter also hated the way they looked at him, like some stray palisman, pity in their eyes.

But what he hated even more was that he was deserving of it. Here he was, some - what was it that Belos had called him? - grimwalker, which was only made to serve him and be destroyed when he wanted to think for himself.

It was too much. It was all too much. He needed some air. His cloak felt heavy, the material too much against his skin. It felt like it was choking him, a symbol of what he was created to do.

He’d fled the house, and nobody tried to stop him, really. Luz chased after, but stopped. The Owl Lady and her… cat didn’t know what had happened, and as such were confused, and the bird tube was distracted.

So Hunter ran. He ran into the forest, far away from the stifling air of the Owl House, and the danger of the castle. There was one problem, though. He was injured.

He’d gotten it while escaping the grasps of the Emperor's subconscious, that horrible place which he had been pulled into.

He escaped, in time to save the Human, but at the cost of a blow to the abdomen. Light, by his standards, but still there.

It hurt every time he took a rapid gasp of air, and at every panicked movement he made. It would bruise for sure, and he didn’t have anything to help with that. He couldn't even make ice, because his mind was too messed up to do magic and his hands shook too much whenever he tried stopping to draw a glyph and they wouldn’t stop-

Hunter leaned against a tree, and found himself with too little energy to do anything other than sit, using it for balance. He finally managed to compute what the Owl Lady - Eda, had said earlier.

Breath.

So Hunter tried. He tried to slow his breathing and think. But it wasn’t that simple, because thinking meant coming to terms with the fact that he was made, he was a grimwalker and would never be a witch-

Tears started leaking out of his eyes, tears which he wasn’t able to stop. He’d grabbed his hair so tight it hurt, at some point. His breathing was coming in fitful breaths, the opposite of what he had previously tried to do. He could feel and hear everything, every dent in the bark, every sound a demon or animal made, every stitch of his clothing. And something unexpected; the flapping of wings.

Flapjack flew into Hunter’s blurry vision. They sat on Hunter’s shoulder, nuzzling into his cheek (right where the scar was). Breath, they reminded him, and Hunter slowly found his breathing evening out.

Then, at the sound of footsteps, all that progress was undone.

Hunter scrambled to his feet, eyes darting as he located the source of the noise. Sure enough, there were the figures who were planning on invading the Emperor’s mind earlier. By the looks of it, they hadn’t spotted him.

Are they here to kill me? What will they do? I have Flapjack, and physical prowess, but I won’t stand a chance. I’ve lost battles in better positions. As Hunter thought, his mind automatically went to analysing the situation and his chances of survival. It grew more and more hopeless as he weighed his odds, and found them far from in his favour.

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The people had spotted him. He was probably going to die, but his one comfort - if one could even call it that - would be that it wouldn’t be at Belos’ hands, as his predecessors’ deaths were.

“Hunter? Calm down, it’s just me.” Said a strangely familiar voice. Hunter realised it was the first time he’d heard one of the cloaked witches speak. He gasped softly as the figure lowered their hood, trying to regain control over his breath.

“Dar - Darius?” Hunter exclaimed with a wavering voice, not daring to say more. Was Darius actually committing treaso- working against the emperor, or was it a front? It was better to wait, and Hunter couldn’t trust himself to speak yet.

“Yes, yes, it’s me, little prince. What happened to you? You look like a mess. Ugh, have you been sitting on the ground?” Darius said. Hunter still didn’t know what side he was on. Hunter looked up.

“In all seriousness, what happened? You show up, out of nowhere, and then I find out you’re in the Emperor’ mi-” Darius said, processing the tears on Hunter’s face.

Hunter swallowed, cutting him off. “Well, uh, after you left, I did accidentally enter Belo- the Empero- that place. It was, uh-” Hunter started to say, then stopped before he could finish the sentence. He didn’t, couldn’t describe what had happened. His breathing quickened again. Darius put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder, but it was just like Belos used to do, before he’d give an indirect warning. Hunter jerked back. Flapjack let out a small tweet.

Another rustling sound rang out.

“Darius? Where did you go? We were supposed to stick togeth- oh.” Another cloaked figure stepped out, the bard one who’d played the recorder. They rushed forward, their hood falling to reveal the Bard Coven Head, Raine.

“Darius, is that the Golden Guard? What are you doing-”

Hunter cut Raine off, “N-no, no I’m not the Gol- him anymore, I can’t, I just-” Hunter managed to stutter out. Raine’s face flashed in understanding. They took a step back.

“Darius, what exactly happened?” Raine said, their voice betraying urgency.

“Ugh, I don’t know, maybe the tyrant’s mind that he was trapped in!?” Darius replied. Wait. Was that the ‘Angry Blonde Kid’? Darius walked over to Raine.

“What do you want me to do? You know I’m not good with people!” Raine hissed. It was obvious that they were trying to be discreet, but Hunter couldn’t bring himself to care. He was still by the tree, breath catching and tears still leaking out of his eyes despite how much he’d tried to stop them.

Raine seemed to notice. “Um, ok, so I’m not very good at this, but I want you to try and breathe with me. In, hold, out…”

Hunter, following Raine’s instructions, found that it helped. He managed to regain control of his breathing (and his tears).

Suddenly, the third of the cloaked figures revealed themself. Their hood was already down, and there was- Eberwolf? Were all of the coven heads treasonous?

“Oh, finally, Eber, where were you?” Darius said. Eberwolf let out a series of sounds, which somehow Darius interpreted. Hunter still didn’t know how he did that. So did Flapjack, apparently, because they also gave some tweets, trills, and chirps in quick succession.

Eberwolf, apparently able to understand this, sat tentatively on Hunter’s lap. Huh. He didn’t remember sitting down. The contact felt grounding, and for the first time since seeing the masks of the dead Golden Guards, he felt completely in control.

Raine crouched beside him, while Darius looked on from where he was standing.

“Are you, uh, ok with saying what happened?” They asked, quietly. Hunter didn’t know how to respond. Technically, he could recall and state the events, but it might send him into a panic again.

“I don’t know yet. It - it was a lot.” Hunter said. His voice was steadier now, but still wavered every now and then.

“Ok. I, uh, just realised I don’t know your name. What is it?” Raine replied. Right, name. Hunter could do that.

“My name’s Hunter.” He said. Darius, Raine, and Eberwolf all looked at him. Hunter averted his gaze.

Darius blinked. “Wait, didn’t one of the children you tried to recruit call you Caleb?” He asked.

“Code name.” Hunter replied.

“I see. Anyway, can you stand? The boiling rain’s about to come in, and I don’t want to ruin my cloak.” Darius said, a small smile playing up on his face.

Raine seemed to realise something. “Hunter, do you have anywhere to go? We don’t want you to get caught in the boiling rain.” Hunter weighed his options. He could probably go with the coven heads, but only Darius didn’t live at the castle, and his house didn’t have the security to protect him from Belos.

The Owl Lady’s house did, however. And while he couldn’t trust anymore, Luz had never lied to him. Not yet, anyway.

“Uh, I think I can stand, and I might be able to stay at the Owl Lady’s house.” Hunter’s voice was getting progressively less shaky.

He didn’t miss the look that Raine gave Darius, or the pointed stare they received in return. Raine sighed. “Ok, but we’ll come with you, just in case.” Hunter stood up. His legs were shaking slightly, and at some point his injury had stopped hurting. Guess it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought. I really am weak.

They started to walk.

Darius decided to take the risk. “What happened in there? You don’t have to give any details, but I’d like to know.” The edge of his voice was gone now. Hunter managed to keep walking.

“We- There were- the other Golden Guards, they were all…” Hunter said, unsure of how to say exactly what he wanted to convey. “They were all clones. And- and when they would betray Belos, he would…” Hunter’s voice trailed off.

Darius’ eyebrows shot up in surprise. “So that’s why…” He muttered. “I see. If you can, is there anything else that happened?”

Hunter swallowed. “Uh, yes. The sigils- the coven marks, they…”

“...drain you of your magic.” Raine finished. But that wasn’t what Hunter wanted to say.

“No, no, it’s not that, they were made to-” Hunter’s voice dropped down to a whisper. “To kill people”

Eberwolf growled, Raine gasped, and Darius said nothing, but his face betrayed surprise.

“So what do we do?” Raine asked.

“I… don’t know.”

_______________________

And that's the fic! Hope you enjoyed. Little bit of trivia: this was originally supposed to be a longfic, but I gave up on it. Maybe I'll revisit it later, who knows. Anyway, thank you so much to all of the Ao3 volunteers who not only keep Ao3 running for free, but are also combating the DDOD attacks! Ao3 has been a staple in my life for so long, and I didn't even realise until it was gone.

[hanmasghost]

“Cheater gets Cheated” Pt.2

Pt. 1 Here

A/N: ending kinda awkward but I did it. Also I don’t recommend cheating on your cheating partner, it’s not right.

Pronouns: not specified

Tag List: @ushi-lord @slutaholic69

Warning(s): toxic behavior, cheating, not fully proof read

The next morning came and you had Rindou pick you up.

He was quite pissed that you used a Kawata to get back at his dumbass brother, but he got over it after he left the Kawata residence. He even found it quite funny.

You didn’t really feel like going home and facing Ran, at least not so early in the morning anyways.

So, instead you and Rindou hung around town the whole day.

But you did have to bite the bullet and face the beast you call your boyfriend.

You arrived at yours and Ran’s place at 9:56 pm.

Rindou said he would wait at the door outside, per your request. He insisted on going in with you the whole car ride, but you told him it would be better if he didn’t, cause if he did he and Ran could possibly wind up on bad terms.

And you know how much he loves and looks up to his older brother. You couldn’t do that to your best friend.

Rindou walked you up to the front door and watched as you took a deep breath.

“You got this.”

You repeated his words in a hushed voice and walked in, shutting the door behind you.

You immediately went to yours and Ran’s shared bedroom.

Ran wasn’t there so you started looking for your stuff as you shoved it all into a suitcase you had found hidden and abandoned at the back of your closet.

As you turned to go to the bathroom across the hallway you saw Ran.

He was standing the doorway.

Hair disheveled and eyes red.

Had he been crying? Good.

He made you cry, it was only fair you returned the favor.

He also looked quite furious.

“What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” You mocked. Seemingly pissing off Ran more.

“What was that thing with you and that peach haired freak?! Do you think I’m stupid?!” Now that upset you. He just insulted one of your friends.

“I don’t know, maybe you are. ‘Cause if you were actually smart.. you wouldn’t shoved your tongue into some white haired bitch’s mouth!”

Ran stands there, seemingly shocked.

“How do you-“

“A friend.” You couldn’t throw Rindou under the bus. As you said earlier, he loves his brother a lot, and you could just throw him to the wolf now.

“Look- I wasn’t in the right state of mind. I was pretty tipsy and the music just-“

“I’m not gonna hear it. You fucked up, so I hit you with your own bat.. now can I go get my toothbrush and other things please.” You asked, pointing to the bathroom behind him.

He moved out of the way, making room for you to walk by and into the bathroom. He followed, standing in the door way.

“Babe please… let’s talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.” You replied, shoving hair and skin products into a plastic bag.

“{Reader}.. please.. I’m sorry…” Ran said pathetically, moving out of the way again as you walked past him and back into the room.

You didn’t reply and proceeded to shove a few extra clothes into your suitcase.

You zipped it up and walked towards Ran, who was once again, in the the doorway.

“You can’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“You.. you can’t leave me.”

“I can and I will. Now move.”

“… No. I can’t let you leave.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I love you.”

“Well than you should’ve thought about that before you cheated on me!”

“{Reader} I-“

“Move it.” An all too familiar voice says from behind the tall purple haired man.

“Nahoya? What are you-“

“We got a message from the man downstairs, and we just so happened to be around soo“ Nahoya said moving a bit to gesture towards Souya, who was standing behind him quietly.

Ran turned around. His face showing frustration and hatred clearly.

“Kawata.”

“Haitani.”

With the distraction you pushed past Ran, going around Nahoya and Souya.

“{READER} WAIT-“ Ran screeched, reaching out towards you, trying to pull you back.

“I don’t think so Haitani.” Nahoya said, getting in Ran’s way.

“Move it Kawata. I need to talk to my boyfriend.”

“I think once they walks out that door you should start getting use to calling them your ex boyfriend.” Nahoya smirked.

Souya moved infront of Nahoya and grabbed Ran by his suit’s tie. Nahoya moved pass the two and went to see if you had left any other bags or suitcases.

After looking over the room he walked out seeing you had everything thing.

“Alright. Let’s go.” Nahoya said walking past Souya.

They walked into the living room to see you standing there waiting for them.

“Well I’d say this was a success.”

“How about we all get some ramen?”

“Even the Haitani?” Nahoya grumbled.

“Yes, even Rindou”

“Fine… Souya?”

Souya gave a thumbs up in response.

So here you are. Sitting with Nahoya, Souya, and Rindou at 11:45 pm just enjoying a bowl of ramen.

Truely no other way to spend such a wild day than free food with your friends.

[xoxo-teddybear]

Heyo! I'm a REALLY REALLY REALLY! Big fan of angst and your works, so I have a suggestion! So like, in this au Bakugou and Y/N are aged up and they have a daughter (let's just say her name is either Katsumi or Kirumi). So, the child is 4 years old and she didn't get her quirk yet. Let's just say Bakugou got drunk when his friends dragged him to a bar and this woman decided to hit him up and let's just say he cheated- so Y/N found out because kiri just had to tell her because it wasn't manly at all for him to keep a secret and Y/N left him with his child and boom! Bad ending. Please tag me in this one tyy!

Bet.

(Changed it up the slightest bit to make Katsumi remember bc I kinda wanna do a part 2 for this)

Nobody to Blame but Yourself - Bakugou Katsuki

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: ANGST, cursing, cheating, alcohol consumption

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

Pt.1 Pt.2

You have a small, beautiful family. Your loving husband, Katsuki and your adorable daughter, 5 year old Katsumi.

Katsumi was your precious baby girl. She had Katsuki’s ash blonde hair with your silky smooth hair texture. She had your E/C eyes and Katsuki’s porcelain skin. She had Katsuki’s bravery and boldness along with your kindness and compassion. She was a perfect mix of you both.

Y/N and Katsuki have been together ever since their childhood. Their families were close and they grew up together. Katsuki always swore to protect his princess. They got together in their junior year and about 5 years after they graduated from UA high, Katsuki proposed.

—

—

“Be back soon, okay Suki?” You sweetly said to your husband as he got closer to the door. He pulled you in with a smile and pecked your cheek.

“Yeah, yeah Teddy Bear. I’ll probably be back sooner than you think, don’t even wanna go with those losers.” He complained with a strained face. You giggled at his expression and went on.

“Those losers have been your best friends since high school. You love them. You know you do,” you teased. “Besides, you haven’t spent some time with them in forever.”

“Yeah Y/N. I’m a husband and a dad. I don’t need to be around my friends, I need to be with my family.” He exclaimed with a playful voice.

“Well your family will still be here when you get back. Just as long as you always come back to us too.” You said with a wink.

“Always will Teddy Bear.” He said holding you tight. He held you close until you both heard the little pitter patter of feet running to the front door. You both looked down and saw your daughter in her pjs and watched as she jumped onto Katsuki.

“Be back soon daddy!” She said with a squeal. Katsumi was definitely a daddy’s girl. Her and her father were attached at the hip the second she was born. They were best friends and you loved their father-daughter dynamic.

“Katsumi, you’re supposed to be sleeping, love.” You said with a chuckled as you held her tiny hand while Katsuki picked her up in his arms.

“I wanted to say bye to daddy before he went to see uncle Kiri! And uncle Denki and uncle Sero and Auntie Mina!” She said and watched as you and Bakugou lip synced to her voice as she said the Bakusquad’s names. She laughed at her parent’s teasing as Katsuki assaulted her in kisses.

“That’s sweet baby bear. Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon. So get to bed you brat,” Bakugou said as he placed his daughter down and ruffled her hair. Others would look down on the rough treatment but you knew Katsumi never took it seriously. She always laughed and played back with Katsuki whenever he put on his ‘mean guy act.’

“M’kay.” Katsuki bent down to kiss her cheek and you followed doing the same action before Katsumi ran back off to her room. You and Katsuki said bye to each other after Katsuki gave you a loving kiss. He walked out the door to meet with his friends as he knew he was in for a long night.

It would soon shock him to see how true that statement would be.

—

The night was going well. Katsuki left around 8:30 and he said he would be back sooner than you thought so considering he was now a family man, you thought he’d be back by midnight. However, you woke up in the middle of the night and saw it was 3 in the morning...and he still wasn’t home. You were starting to get worried now.

If this was back in your earlier years of marriage, you’d say this was okay. Not great but okay, except now, Katsuki has responsibilities and promises that he vowed to keep. He should’ve been home a long time ago. Where was he? You stayed up deciding to sit and wait for him to come home and after almost 2 hours, your phone rang.

You picked it up quickly with a little bit of fear and anger sitting in your stomach. You didn’t even bother to check who it was so when you heard the voice of your husband’s best friend instead of Katsuki, you grew concerned.

“Katsuki! Where are you?!” You asked with worry as you slightly shouted into the phone.

“Hey Y/N..... It’s Kirishima. Umm...I have something to tell you.” He said with sadness detected in his voice.

“Kiri? Is everything alright? Wheres Katsuki?” You asked.

“I’m so sorry Y/N...”

Listening to the red head’s voice made your eyes pop. Your body trembled and tears began to pool in your eyes as you shook your head in denial. Katsuki loved you. You both had a daughter! A family! He would never....he wouldn’t....right? After talking to your friend for some time and getting the crucial information you needed, you made up your mind on what you had to do.

“T-Thank you, Kirishima. Goodnight.” You said into the phone with a hiccup.

“I’m sorry Y/N. You don’t deserve this. You and Katsumi....goodnight.” He said and hung up the phone. You placed it down and sat in silence for a moment. After about a minute, you broke down again and cried into your hands. You sobbed as tears flowed down your cheeks. Rivers of heartbreak and anger streamed down your face as you cried the night away.

Well..you couldn’t cry all night. Katsuki would probably be back in the morning and you had plans. You’d have to save your tears for later. You looked at the time.

4:18 a.m.

You set your alarm for 6 and went back to bed. The whole night, all you could think about was your precious baby girl. This was going to break her little heart. Instead of crying over your husband’s betrayal, you wept for your daughter’s future without her best friend. Eventually you cried yourself to sleep and the sun rose in time.

—

10:00 a.m

Katsuki opened his eyes to the alarm on the nightstand. He yawned a bit before adjusting his eyes to morning light. The more he looked at the stand, the more he realized he didn’t recognize it. Nor the alarm clock. He looked around and noticed he wasn’t in his bedroom. Katsuki shot up and sat on the bed and looked down to notice he was completely undressed. He looked to the side and saw some random woman. A complete stranger who was also naked in bed with him. His heart grew rapid as his eyes grew frantic.

“No, no, no, no, no, no this can’t be happening..this can’t be happening!” Katsuki said as his hands found way to his hair as he tugged on the blonde locks. The woman next to him awoken to his shuffling and smiled up at him. She placed her hand on his bare chest and cuddled in close to him as she sighed in content.

“G’morning handsome. Had a fun night?” She teased, reminding him of his affair and unloyal actions.

“Get the fuck off me!” He said as he jumped out of bed and found his pants. He pulled them on and continued to scream. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! The hell did you do to me you fucking slut?”

“What’re you talking about? And who the fuck are you calling a slut?” The woman said with sass.

“Just tell me where I am!” Katsuki demanded.

“A hotel! You know, the hotel you dragged me to so you could get your dick wet.” She said as she sat up from the bed but still covered herself with the blanket.

“Why the fuck would I do that?!” He screamed.

“You tell me. All I know is that I saw you in that bar, you drank a hell of a lot with your friends, I came up to you and flirted with you, you flirted back, we shared a few more drinks, and you dragged me here. I mean, I consented of course but still.” The stranger explained. Bakugou shook as he looked around in a frenzy. “Anyway, round 2?”

“You fucking bitch, I have a wife!” He screamed at her as he got himself dressed.

“Heh, wow. Well when your wife leaves you after she finds out you cheated, give me a call.” The woman said as she layed back down on the bed. Katsuki seethed at her as he squinted his eyes in disgust.

“You shameless slut. Like hell I will! And Y/N’s not gonna leave me! She loves me! And I love her-“

“Sure didn’t seem like it last night~” the woman said. Bakugou had enough and blasted the bed she was on with his quirk before cussing her out and leaving her there. He quickly ran out the hotel and found his car. He hopped inside and started it as he quickly sped off home.

“Shit!” Bakugou screamed at himself. How could he do that?! How could he cheat on you?! You were his everything! You and Katsumi! His two girls were his entire world! And he betrayed the both of you by doing this. He could only hope that you wouldn’t find out. He can’t tell you what he did. He would lose you! He can’t lost you! This whole thing just has to pass over and things will be fine. Right? Well something didn’t sit right with him as he inched closer and closer to his house.

—

When the 6 o’clock alarm rang, you woke up, ready for the day to begin and the drama to unfold. You were quick to get yourself ready. Brush your teeth, shower, get dressed, a little makeup, and you packed your important belongings and your clothes. Everything else would be replaceable. You put on a pair of shoes and put the rest in the large suitcase you had.

You made a quick call to Mina, assuming she already knew what happened. You asked if you could drop Katsumi off for some time and she of course said yes. After saying ‘thank you,’ you brought all your bags into your car and went back inside to get your daughter.

You walked into your daughter’s bedroom to see her sleeping peacefully. Next to her bed, a framed picture of your once happy family. It was Katsumi’s 4th birthday and she didn’t want to spend it with anybody else except for Mommy and Daddy. Now, you were gonna have to take someone out the picture. You shook your daughter awake and watched as she opened her beautiful E/C eyes that resembled your own.

“Katsumi..hey baby, wake up.” You softly said with a reassuring smile to not alarm her. You watched as she rubbed her eyes with her tiny fist and looked up at you.

“Mommy? What’s going on?” She asked as she looked around in a daze.

“You’re gonna have a little play date at Auntie Mina and Uncle Kiri’s house. Uncle Denki and Uncle Sero will be there too! You excited?” You asked with enthusiasm to hide your pain.

“Really Mommy?!” Your daughter asked with excitement.

“Mhm! Get ready and get dressed for Mommy. They’ll be here at 8, okay?” You said rubbing your daughter’s back before she quickly jumped out of bed and into her own bathroom.

“Okay Mommy!” She said as she ran into the bathroom, turning on the sink to begin her morning routine. Some time passed and Katsumi got dressed and you went back in her room to help her dry her hair. You helped her put on her shoes and by the time they were on, Mina and Kiri were already at the door.

You opened it with a soft smile and the couple looked at you with supportive, sad eyes. “Hey guys..”

“It’s okay to be sad Y/N, we’re here for you.” Mina said. Your eyes teared up at her words but you shook your head and gave her a hug.

“Thank you, but I promise myself I wouldn’t cry. At least, not when Katsumi’s around. I gotta be strong for her. Her whole life’s about to change after all.” You sadly said as you looked down and released your hold on Mina. Your pink friend nodded before walking into the house to find Katsumi in her bedroom. You and Kirishima stayed at the door and talked a bit more.

“I’m so sorry for all of this Y/N. I should’ve been watching him more.” Kirishima said as he looked down in sorrow.

“Kiri, you shouldn’t have to watch him. He cheated and that was his choice. Your choice was being a true friend and telling me. A true man,” you joked. You both gave a little bittersweet laugh before calming down again. “Thank you so much Kirishima.”

The red head did nothing but pull you in for a tight hug. You almost cried on his shoulder before your daughter came to the both of you. “Uncle Kiri!”

You both separated and looked down at the excited 5 year old. She jumped onto her uncle and he happily held her in his arms. “Hey squirt. Ready for a day full of fun?”

“Mhm!” Katsumi replied. You all talked some more before Katsumi said her goodbye to you and went off with Kirishima and Mina. You shut the door and took a break as you allowed a few silent tears to drop. You wiped them away and went to pack your daughter’s bags. Just a few more hours and he’d be home..probably. All you knew was that you’d have to face him eventually.

Finally, you finished packing your daughter’s things and placed them in your car. You put on a jacket and waited for Katsuki to walk through the doors. Soon, this perfect little family would go crumbling to the ground.

—

Katsuki pulled into his driveway and his eyes took notice of your car still there. He smiled at the sight and quickly got out of the car. He slammed the vehicle door shut and ran to the entrance. He unlocked the door in a rush and to say he was happy to see you on the couch, still there, was an understatement.

“Y/N! Hey Teddy Bear! I am so sorry!” He said as he ran to you and sat down next to you on the couch, pulling you in for a tight hug. He was too happy to even notice your jacket and shoes that you wore.

“Katsuki, you were gone all night. Where were you?” You said in a soft voice as you placed your hand on his chest so you could face him.

“I-..I overdid it and spent the night at Kirishima’s. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, love. I was passed out the whole night.” He said and attempted to pull you in again but you pressed a hand to his chest to stop him. You couldn’t believe he was going to lie to you. Actually, now that you think about it, cheating wasn’t below him so why would lying be either?

“So why didn’t Kirishima call me? Or Mina?” You questioned. Unfortunately, you underestimated Katsuki’s quick tongue. He was a good liar, and if you hadn’t already known the truth, you’d probably believe him.

“Shitty hair’s phone died and Alien girl was asleep by the time we got back. By the time he put me in the guest bed, I knocked out so don’t asked me what happened after.” He said. Your anger and fury grew at his lies but he didn’t notice. “Look, I’m so sorry I came back so late but I can make it up to you Teddy Bear. Now would you just give me a hu-“

“SHUT! UP!” You screamed as you pushed him off of you. You stood up from the couch and Bakugou watched you in “confusion.” Bakugou felt his heart racing as he had a guess at why you were so mad but he refused to believe it.

“T-Teddy Bear, whats wrong?” He asked with shaky hands as he tried to reach out to you but you dodged all his attempts.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?! You’re fucking lying to me! You’re lying to me after doing what you did! Katsuki, are you just gonna act like you don’t know what you did?! Because I know! So why don’t you?!” You screamed at him. Bakugou still couldn’t believe you knew so he tried his soft attempts once more and reached out to you again.

“Baby, please calm dow-“

“Are you fucking serious Katsuki? You’re gonna tell me to calm down?!” You laughed out in disbelief. You watched as Katsuki’s lip began to tremble and he looked down in shame. “Say it.”

“What?” He spoke softly.

“Say what you did.”

“......”

“Say it Katsuki! Tell me what you did and how you betrayed not only me but your daughter too.” You specified. It took Bakugou a second before he spoke up in a soft, quiet voice.

“I cheated on you...”

“Louder.”

“I cheated on you!” He said while standing up and facing you with tears in his eyes. “I cheated on you! Okay?! I got drunk last night and slept with someone else but baby I swear I didn’t mean it!” He said as he walked to you and tried to hold you. You once again pushed his hands away before speaking back.

“It doesn’t matter if you meant it or not Katsuki! You still did it!” Your voice grew dry as it began to break. Your eyes pooled with tears as you continued. “I would’ve NEVER done that to you. I wouldn’t even be CAPABLE of doing that to you Katsuki! Because I love you!”

“I love you Y/N! I swear I do!” He fought back but you retaliated.

“It doesn’t seem like it! Because you slept with someone else! You promised me you would never hurt me. You promised you would always protect me. You promised me that you loved me and only me! Not only that but you promised your daughter that you would never bring harm to her! Guess what?! You’re the reason her whole life is going to be so fucked Katsuki! Do you realize that?!” You screamed at him.

“I do, Teddy Bear, I do!” He said.

“Don’t fucking call me that Katsuki!” You said with an exasperated voice. Bakugou shook his head as he walked to you and kneeled infront of you.

“Baby, please! I’m sorry! I was drunk, it didn’t mean anything! It was a mistake but if we can forget about this I promise I’ll make it up to you!” He begged.

“Forget? Forget?! Are you insane?! I’m never gonna be able to forget any of this Katsuki. How the hell am I supposed to forget that my first friend, my first love, my first kiss, my first everything betrayed me like this! How am I supposed to forget that my husband, who I’ve known since we were fucking babies, cheated on me?! Tell me!” You said as the tears finally fell.

“I don’t know...I don’t know but I promise I can make it up to you! So please forgive me! Please stay!” He pleaded. The whole time he couldn’t let go of you. Every time you pushed him off, he just came right back.

“How am I supposed to trust that you’ll actually keep that promise?” You said softly with a sad voice. “If it wasn’t clear already, I’m not staying. We’re getting a divorce, Katsuki.”

Bakugou felt his heart shatter. He looked at you with his trembling body and shaky irises. “W-What?”

“Katsuki...you cheated. There’s no other way around it. No explanations or excuses. And you can’t even blame it on the alcohol because I’ve been blackout drunk before too and the idea of cheating on you never even crossed my mind. You have nobody to blame but yourself.” You said with a broken voice and a shrug. “We’re getting a divorce and I’m taking Katsumi with me.” You said and began to walk to the door.

Bakugou couldn’t believe what he just heard and so he got up from his knees and ran after you. He ran in front of you and held you by the shoulders. “What?! No! Baby!! Please, that’s my daughter! You can’t just take her from me, please!”

“I won’t be taking her from you,” you said and pushed his hands off your shoulders. “We can co-parent, but when she’s old enough, when Katsumi asks why we’re no longer together, I’ll be telling her the truth. So you can still see her, but when she’s ready to know, if she decides she hates you and doesn’t want to see you ever again, then you’ll have to accept it.”

At this point, Katsuki began to openly cry as he allowed his fat tears to flow down his face. Hiccups left his mouth as he shamelessly sobbed infront of you. “Y-Y/N....please don’t go. You guys are my family, you’re both my entire world..I-I love you both so much,” he said and went in to grab your hand, which you allowed. “I know I hurt you both a-and I know I fucked up, but please just give me another chance. I swear this was just a mistake, I never meant to do it. Please stay...please let me fix my mistake. I love you.”

Tears once again filled your eyes but you didn’t allow them to flow. “.....I love you too Katsuki,” at those words, Bakugou felt a bit of hope. “But I just can’t stay with you. If it was just me..I probably would give you another chance..but Katsumi is your daughter Katsuki. She’s your own flesh and blood and you betrayed her. You’re supposed to be her hero and you betrayed her like this. I just can’t trust the fact that you won’t do something like this again, and not just for my sake but for our daughter’s too. I’m sorry, but this is where we end.”

Once you said that you walked away from Bakugou, leaving him in shock. He stood there, regretting everything. Not just his mistake, but all the times where he could’ve been a better husband.

‘I should’ve held her more..I should’ve been home more...I should’ve been more for them,’ he thought until he heard the door open and slam shut. He turned to face it and looked around the now very empty house. He allowed silent tears to drip down his face and then he took a little tour of his new environment.

He walked to the master bedroom and saw all your belongings gone. He saw your closet was empty, all your shoes gone. He went into the bathroom and saw all your stuff was missing. The tears flowed faster and when he walked into his daughter’s room, it made it 10x worse.

He opened the door to the pink room and saw her bedsheets missing, all her toys gone, her closet was barren, and her bathroom was hollow. He walked back out to his little girl’s former bed and sat down. He cried on the bed and sobbed into his hands. He broke down as he thought back to your words. You were right.

‘You have nobody to blame but yourself.’

Katsuki looked up from his hands and when he did, he took notice of the picture frame that was left faced down on the night stand. He picked it up and his heart turned to dust. It couldn’t break anymore. He looked at the picture of his once happy family. His beautiful wife, his blessing of a daughter. His two girls who had a protector...that protector was supposed to be him...and he failed. He smiled at the picture but continued to cry. It was a beautiful sight but you left it behind.

He took the picture with him as he walked to his bedroom. He sat on the bed and held the frame close to his chest as he layed down on the cold mattress. Tears still freely fell as a shadow casted over his eyes. No words could be said except for a few.

“N-Nobody to blame but myself.”

@darl1ngmei

A/N: Hey Cubs! It’s been awhile since my requests have been closed AND THEY STILL ARE but the reason why I took this one was because I’ve been on a writing spree recently (I literally have 15 drafts full of different writing pieces🤣) and I rly liked this request! Please don’t start sending requests because they may just get lost. When I open up my requests, then you guys can send some because I love to satisfy! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this piece and thank you to the cub who requested this! 🧸💗

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Hidden Marks

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Elijah Mikaelson x Reader

Request:  Hii! If you still taking request I want ask for an soulmate au with Elijah, where which one of them have the same mark. He and his soulmate are very good friends for a long time and never have thought about this, but someday he see her mark and find out about this but don't tell her for being afraid of hurting her because of his family -Anon

Word Count: 1.6K

Warnings: Tad bit of angst, mentions of blood, but that's canon at this point.

Author’s Note: I apologize that this wasn't out earlier today. But there was some things in it that were bugging me and I just couldn't let it post without fixing it! It's still the 7th for me so this is your fic for the day! I hope you guys enjoy it!

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. ♥

“Oh come on,” Y/N said as she turned and faced Elijah as a smile pulled at her lips. “Are you really telling me that you’ve given up on looking?”

Elijah shook his head slightly as he let a huff of air past his lips. “For as many times as you’ve tried to persuade me to find who my soulmate is, my answer has remained the same.”

“Deep down I don’t think you mean it.” Y/N said with a slight tilt of her head. “You give the advice of your best friend ‘needing’ to find who she is ‘destined’ to be with, but you wont take your own advice or mine for that matter.”

When Elijah was younger, he believed that Soulmates finding each other was something magical. He may have lived with his mother who was a witch, and even a few of his brothers, but this was different. Elijah could remember the stories some of the villagers told him about how they found their soulmates. That the marks they were born with would match the person they were meant to be with.

Elijah had hoped that his soulmate would come along and he’d get to experience that kind of magic that he witnessed. He wondered who his soulmate was. How he would meet them and when they would realize who they were to each other. But when Henrik died, Elijah had felt his opportunity to meet his soulmate had been lost the moment he became a vampire.

The magical feeling he once believed in had been diminished over time. As the centuries had passed Elijah had never once met someone who he would ever be his soulmate. That there was no longer someone out there that would share the same mark as he did. As the years passed, the thoughts of a soulmate had all but diminished.

Elijah’s mark had been just below his left clavicle. The mark is a few shades darker than his skin tone. An intricate design of three circles intertwined in a horizontal line. His clothing always covering the mark from everyone around him. So long as it was covered, he wouldn’t be asked about it.

At least that was until Y/N came into his life. The vampire may have been several centuries younger than him, but they had become close friends over the past century. Elijah had met her during his time away from Klaus. The need to be away from his brother for a while had proved to be much needed. And when he met Y/N there didn’t seem to be anyone else better to spend his time with.

But during that time, he never mentioned what his mark looked like, let alone asked her what her mark looked like. Y/N was like Elijah in some ways. She once believed that soulmates were like fairytales. But when she turned, the notion of having her soulmate found had diminished.

“Was it not just a few hours ago that you reminded me that you’d rather not find them?” Elijah asked as he watched her.

The smile she had on her face faded slightly. “I have my reasons.” she shrugged slightly. “I may change my mind if I see you find yours.”

A light chuckle passed Elijah’s lips as he began walking down the pathway they stopped in moments before. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

There were several more conversations similar to that between them. But no matter how many times each of them brought it up, they both believed that they didn’t want to know who their soulmate was. They were content with their lives and it avoided the disappointment if their soulmates were human and lost some time ago. This way, there wouldn’t be heartache.

_____

“Elijah?” Y/N called out as she struggled to keep herself steady as she walked into the compound. She hadn’t ever expected to go to Elijah when she had been injured. But she needed help this time. Someone had attempted to shoot a wooden bullet at her and it was currently lodged in her back.

In a blink of an eye, Elijah was in front of her taking in her appearance. His eyes had widened as he helped her over to a seat in the courtyard. “What happened.” He asked as he took note of the current bullet holes in her shirt.

“Oh you know, failed attempt at making friends.” She tried to brush off the pain that was currently radiating through her. “ I just need you to help take one of them out. The others were easy to do. But this one is lodged in there.”

Elijah moved behind her as came to take note of where she had been speaking about. There had been a tear in her shirt from the attempt to make the bullet hole bigger to get the wooden bullet out. He could see the healed spots from the others that she had been able to take out.

It was as he moved the fabric aside to begin pulling the bullet out that he noticed the mark right above it. He stopped for a moment as he took in the horizontal circles that were intertwined. For as many times as he had seen his own mark, it was replicated on Y/N’s skin.

Y/N could feel how he hesitated; she looked over her shoulder at him. “What is it?”

Elijah shook his head slightly. “I believe that is the first time I’ve seen your mark.” He said before he began to poke and prod at the bullet hole.

She hissed as she felt him digging into her skin and muscle. “There’s a first for everything.”

Y/N knew that while they had joked and pressed the other to go in search of their soulmates, they never once actually saw each other’s mark. For the century and a half that she had known Elijah, she had never once seen Elijah’s mark, just as he hadn’t seen hers until this moment.

Elijah hadn’t said anything in response. If anything he was letting his mind go over everything the last several centuries had shown him. He had been at his lowest, the lowest that he could be as a Vampire, when Y/N had entered his life. They had gotten along so well during that time that Elijah just considered it them having a lot in common.

“I take it now that you’ve seen it, you’re going to go on a mission to find my soulmate for me?” She asked a moment later, hoping to fill the air with voices instead of the sound of blood and muscle being messed with.

“I thought you disagreed with that plan.” Elijah tried to keep his voice normal as he talked with her.

As much as seeing the mark should have made him happy, that he should have stopped right then and there and told her what it was that he realized, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. It had nothing to do with the bullet that he was now pulling out from her back. If that had been the case, he’d tell her the moment he watched her skin begin to heal before his eyes.

“Oh, I do.” Said with a nod as rolled her shoulders, stretching out the muscles of her back where the bullet had been moments before. “That doesn’t mean it will stop you from doing it.”

Her words had caused him to chuckle as he pulled out his handkerchief and began cleaning his hands of her blood. She turned towards him in her seat, watching as he tossed the bullet onto the table a moment later.

“I have no intentions of seeking someone out that you do not wish to meet.” He noted with a nod of his head as he looked over at her. Even after getting into some trouble, she still looked as if she could still take on the world.

There was something in her eyes that changed a moment after his words had pierced the air. “Would you tell me if you saw the mark on someone else?”

“Of course.” He said even though it had been a lie. He knew he wasn’t going to speak of the very mark that was on his chest.

As much as Elijah wanted to express every thought he was having at the moment, he couldn’t allow himself too. Not with the past that he had. Not when there were multiple reasons why he didn’t want her to know.

Not to mention the track record he had with the women in his life. While one would argue that it was all meant to lead up to him meeting Y/N, Elijah knew that even she wasn’t immune to the darkest parts of his family or even himself.

He watched as she stood up from her seat. “Thank you for helping me with that.” She gestured to the bullet. “Would I be able to interest you in a little night hunt?”

There was a smirk pulling at her lips, one that Elijah couldn’t stop one from forming on his own. She was offering him a night of catching those that attempted to harm her. Between the two of them, the sport of keeping each other and his family had been a game of keeping score. His head nodded in agreement at the thought of helping her.

He always promised to help keep her safe. And it was as they began leaving the compound that Elijah realized in order to do so, he was going to have to keep his mark hidden from her.

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[asweetprologue]

me lámh le do lámh - Part I

Ahh I can’t believe it’s finally done! After a year of working on this beast, it’s finally ready for me to share. This is something I started way back last summer, and I decided to finish it as my project for this year’s @geraskierbigbang. It will be ten parts in total, and I will post one part per day until it is complete! There are several art pieces that were created by the wonderful @herostag​ and Miranda.draws for this story, which I will link when the appropriate section is posted. For a summary and further links, please see the masterpost.

Next | Ao3 | Masterpost

“Alright,” Geralt said. “Don’t laugh at me.”

Yennefer looked up at him with bright eyes, curious and already mirthful. She was sitting across from him in his quarters, reading through a tome she’d found in Kaer Morhen’s disheveled library. Geralt had just come from a bath after hours spent training Ciri in the yard, and the room was filled with the warm evening light, supplemented by the fire crackling in the hearth. Yennefer had insisted on carting dozens of tapestries and drapes to hang around the drafty keep, and the room was nearly stuffy with their bulk keeping the heat in.

Yennefer gave him an amused smirk. “I will make no such promises before I even know what you’re going to say.” The gentle teasing brought a fond smile to Geralt’s face. After the events of the mountain all those years ago, things had been understandably tense. Yennefer had been reluctant to join them when she had finally met up with Geralt after Sodden, but had eventually agreed to seek refuge in the witchers’ keep and teach Ciri to control her magic. Once she’d met the girl it had all been a wash; it was clear as soon as their eyes met across the room that Yennefer was as much a part of Ciri’s destiny as Geralt was.

Geralt had expected that to either mend the rift between them enough for things to go back to the way things were, or make things even more awkward. Instead, they found themselves in a sort of in-between. Over the years his affection for Yennefer had only grown, but he found himself looking to her more and more as a friend—maybe his best friend. After Jaskier, of course.

Speaking of. “I was thinking about Jaskier.”

Yennefer rolled her eyes obviously. “As you are so frequently wont to do. The thaw will come soon enough, dear, and you can run off in search of your bard.”

Geralt felt his ears grow warm. Witchers couldn’t blush, not truly, but he still felt the tingle of it as he fidgeted with embarrassment. “That’s not what I meant,” he said, absently tracing a finger against the grain of the wooden table. There were two goblets of wine sitting between them, but so far neither of them had begun to drink. “Do you know how many winters it’s been since I found Ciri?”

If she was confused by the odd turn in subject matter, Yennefer didn’t show it. Instead she looked thoughtful. “Two, perhaps three? You know I don’t follow the seasons with diligence.”

“Neither do I,” Geralt agreed. “I was thinking the same though, two or three years since the fall of Cintra. Which means Jaskier is…” He paused, trying to do the math. “He was a few years past forty, during the dragon hunt, I think. He must be closer to fifty now than not.”

Yennefer raised an eyebrow at him. “I recall mentioning something about his crows feet. What of it? Humans age. Are you only just discovering this?”

Geralt forced himself not to grumble. In a way, he was only discovering it. He’d known humans across the years, of course, and knew that many that he’d once been acquainted with were no longer alive or were in their twilight years. For decades Geralt had wandered through the world, changing no more than a ghost would, touching the lives of regular mortals for a brief instance, maybe a few times if they were particularly unlucky. No one had stayed by his side, dedicated themselves to a relationship with him, the way that the bard had. The amount of devotion that Jaskier showed to him had made Geralt antsy, in earlier years, and then confused and angry by turn. He had hated the idea of someone needing him, had hated needing someone in return. The way his chest felt heavy when he and Jaskier parted ways had left him furious with himself and the bard.

And then Ciri came into his life, and everything had changed so quickly.

With Ciri, it didn’t matter whether Geralt felt like he should care for her, or if he wanted to. He needed to. Without him, the girl would die, or be kidnapped by Nilfgaard for who knows what purpose. He had to feed her, and clothe her, and teach her, and he had to love her for her to thrive.

She made it very easy. It was only afterwards that he realized how much of an idiot he’d been to Jaskier, and the thought of how he’d treated the bard over the years had plagued him. It had been months before he could find him to apologize, but Jaskier forgave him almost immediately—which Geralt found both relieving and infuriating at the same time. This was the first winter they’d spent apart since. Geralt left the keep more rarely now, heading out on the Path only when the months grew truly warm and returning at the first hint of falling leaves. Ciri was safe on her own, he knew, but he missed her when he was away. And he could admit now that one of the forces driving him back into the world over the last few years had been the itching desire to find Jaskier again and settle the yearning in his chest for another year. He was less inclined to venture forth when his bard, his daughter, Yennefer and his brothers were all in one place.

This winter Jaskier had begged off, saying that he had “work in the south,” which could mean anything from spending a decadent winter in the court of some noble or sludging through the front lines as a Redanian spy. Geralt had learned not to pry too deeply into Jaskier’s business when he wasn’t around. It was often either too explicit for him to stomach or too confidential for Jaskier to share freely.

It worried him, being away from the bard for so long. He could get hurt, or captured by Nilfgaard, or worse. But what really terrified Geralt was the idea that he would find Jaskier in a tavern along the Path and realize that the bard had grown old, to find silver in his hair and wrinkles beside his eyes. “He’s getting too old,” Geralt said to Yennefer, who looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

“You must have known when you started travelling with him that he would eventually leave you,” Yennefer said, not unkindly. “Humans are so short lived.”

“I didn’t exactly get a choice about becoming his muse,” Geralt said with a huff. Despite his improved relationship with Jaskier over the past few years, he still found it difficult to admit that he had always been more than willing to let the bard tag along. If he’d wanted to travel alone, he would have. But he never had. “I just didn’t realize…”

“It always comes sooner than you think it will,” Yennefer sighed. She set her book aside and picked up her goblet of wine, turning to look out the large window their table sat in front of. It faced west out of the keep wall, towards the mountains and the forest beyond. The sun had set below the craggy peaks, throwing the snow covered valley below into darkness. Geralt could just make out the ruins of the old tower, its stones dark against the white landscape. “You can’t cure his mortality, Geralt.”

“We did.”

The look that Yennefer gave him was sharp, almost angry. The firelight in the room turned her violet eyes darker, like mulberry wine. “At great cost,” she snapped. “I can’t imagine you would put him through the Trials.”

A stab of panic shot through his gut at the thought. “No. Of course not. He wouldn’t survive it anyways. Only children stand a chance at all.”

Yennefer nodded, apparently satisfied that Geralt hadn’t completely lost his mind. “The boy hasn’t got an ounce of Chaos in him, in spite of his rather chaotic nature, so I highly doubt they’ll accept him as a late trainee at Ban Ard.”

“There must be other ways,” Geralt said, feeling petulant. “Less conventional.”

“I cannot believe we are actually discussing this,” Yennefer said, rising to her feet. She picked up her book from the table as well as her glass. “There is no way to achieve immortality, especially not without sacrifice. You know that, Geralt. Drop this foolish line of thought.”

Geralt rose after her, reaching out to catch her retreating wrist. A grasp loose enough that she could break it, if she wanted, but Yennefer paused. “Please, Yen. Just… look into it for me? I can’t—the thought of—” He cut himself off, dropping his hand away from her arm. The look she gave him was more pitying than he would have liked.

“I’ll do some research, but nothing more. Don’t get your hopes up, Geralt. There’s a reason there are so few of us,” she said. Her face softened slightly, as much as it ever did. Despite Ciri, Yennefer was still made of more glass and fire than anything else. “I know you love him, even if you can’t admit it to yourself. I promise, I will do my best.”

Geralt nodded wordlessly as she left and wondered if Jaskier's eyes would be as bright next time he saw him.

*

For weeks Yennefer said nothing about his request, and Geralt refocused on spending time with Ciri and preparing to depart for the spring. Lambert and Eskel had already left a month before, as soon as the road down the mountain began to thaw, but Geralt had hung back. The roof needed repairs, a difficult job to do in the midst of winter, and it was a hard task to leave for Vesemir alone. It was always like this, now—him looking for odd jobs to keep him at Kaer Morhen, with Ciri, making excuses until Jaskier’s jitteriness or Vesemir’s raised eyebrows forced them on the road again. Some of that was mitigated this season by the silence he heard when he found himself listening for the sounds of lute strings strumming gently in the background, and Geralt’s increasing anxiety about Jaskier’s wellbeing. Even so, it was hard to leave Ciri behind.

The girl was progressing rapidly as she entered her teen years, the chubbiness of her youth morphing into lean if awkward muscle as she continued to work on her swordsmanship. When Geralt and his brothers weren’t pushing her through drills, she was studying monsters and alchemy with Vesemir, or practicing her magic with Yen. She never seemed to tire, eagerly absorbing any lessons passed on to her and desperate to prove her worth. The only person she seemed to let her guard down around was Geralt, who found himself often goading her into mock wrestling matches (which he refused to throw on principle) and humoring her when she became restless and wanted to explore beyond the keep. Kaer Morhen was dangerous in the winter, but as spring approached and the deep snows on the surrounding mountains began to thaw, the duo spent more and more time trekking through old ruins and sleeping beneath the stars.

He could put off his journey south no longer.

“I’m going to be fine, Geralt,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. He wondered if he’d been this petulant as a teenager. Certainly Lambert had. “I can take care of myself, and Yen will be with me.”

Geralt tapped her wooden training sword with his own, indicating that she should prepare to go again. When he was a boy he’d trained against the other foundlings, stumbling around like pups through drills and sparring matches. Ciri trained against full witchers, and only Eskel ever faked a misstep here or there to allow her to get in a good hit. When she won a fight for the first time, it would be on her own merit.

The girl raised her sword into a decent fighting stance, and Geralt moved to correct her footwork. Her sword work was exceptional above the belt, but she consistently forgot her stances, throwing herself off balance. They’d begun putting her on the pendulums to force her to focus, dancing between posts to attack the dummies. Geralt had spent many a night rubbing salve into her bruised shoulders, gained from taking fall after fall from the low poles. No one forced her, but if there was one thing Ciri hated, it was admitting to weakness in herself. “Sword up,” Geralt said, and launched into his attack.

He stayed on the offense, forcing her to practice the defensive drills they’d started going over recently. “I know you’ll be fine,” he said, continuing their conversation. His breathing was relaxed, almost meditative through the slow exchange of blows. “Just seems cruel to leave you with only the old man and Yennefer for company.”

Ciri giggled despite herself, and Geralt found himself grinning back before he smacked her lightly in the ribs with the training sword. She swore—Lambert, Geralt thought with chagrin—and danced back a few paces. “Gotta focus,” he said, still smirking at her.

She poked her tongue out at him childishly and reposted off of one of his blocked attacks. He easily swayed out of the way, but the movement was fluid and smooth, which meant someday it would be fast, faster than he could dodge. He gave an encouraging nod.

They continued to spar for another half an hour or so before breaking, heading to the well to fill their water pouches. Geralt sat on the short ring of stones and Ciri slumped on the ground beside him, leaning against his leg. The simple trust and familiarity she exhibited around him still took him by surprise, sometimes. “I’m leaving tomorrow,” he said, rubbing a hand over the top of her head. Her hair was almost as white as his.

She sighed, wiping dripping water from her chin as she tossed her water pouch down. “I figured,” she said. “Say hello to Jaskier for me, when you find him? I missed his songs this time.”

Geralt’s caress turned into a playful ruffle. “I will. Any requests for books?”

“Ones about Elves,” she said immediately, “and Skelligan alchemy. It’s different from ours, did you know? The Druids—”

Geralt chuckled. “I know. You’ve said half a dozen times. No fairytales this time?”

The girl hummed, reminding him for a brief and touching moment of himself. “Just bring Jaskier back. He tells about your adventures so much better than you do.”

“He’s certainly made a career out of it,” Geralt grumbled, feigning annoyance. “I’ll do my best. You know how he is.”

“You missed him too,” she said, hitting his knee with one closed fist. “I know you did. You get all…Well, more grumbly and mopey than usual, when he’s not around.” She wrinkled her nose up at him in exaggerated disgust. “It’s gross. But I do want you to be happy.”

Geralt knocked back against her gently with his knee, swallowing around the feelings that rose in his throat. “You just think I’m a boring old man who won’t help you put toads in Eskel’s bed. But you never even ask. I’m the expert, not Jaskier.”

Ciri laughed, bright and crisp in the morning air, and Geralt felt warm despite the fading winter chill. Tomorrow he would leave, and he would find Jaskier, and next winter he would tell Jaskier that he had to stay at Kaer Morhen. For Ciri, if nothing else. And if it was more for Geralt’s sake than anything, well, no one had to know.

*

Yennefer found him before he left, saddling Roach in the stables.

“Go to Triss,” she said by way of a greeting. Geralt knew what she meant by the gravity in her tone and the tension sitting in the corners of her mouth. “Ask after Ida. I don’t know where she is or if she’ll speak with you, but a Sage is the only one that might be able to give you anything.”

Geralt reached out to grasp her hand firmly in his own. “Thank you, Yen,” he said honestly.

The sorceress sniffed. “Well, you owe me one, I suppose. I hope you find what you're looking for. But be careful.”

“I won’t do anything that might put him in harm’s way,” he promised. “I swear it.”

“Good.” She gave him a slight smile before leaning in to brush a kiss over his rough cheek. The simple touch warmed him from inside out. “Say hello to the bard for me. Tell him I heard about that disastrous competition in Vizima. Ought to have him stewing for a good long while.”

Geralt rolled his eyes. “I’ll give him your love as always.”

“Goodbye, Geralt,” she said, patting his arm lightly. “Be safe. You know how to reach me, if you have need.”

“I do,” he said. “I will. Take care of Ciri.”

“It’s more the other way around, I’m afraid,” she said with a soft smile, and Geralt understood exactly what she meant. Ciri had saved them both, in more ways than one. Every time he left her was more painful than the last. Someday, he knew, they might travel the Path together, a witcher, a sorceress and their daughter. Maybe even a bard, if he was extremely lucky.

Geralt hoped he would be.

[animefreak1145]

A Lover’s Touch(Adler x Bell!Reader)(Oneshot)

Word Count: 1.8k

Description: Adler came back from a mission to their assigned safehouse, some minor injuries here and there.

Good thing he has Bell to help out with those sore spots.

Warnings/Tags: Mature Warning, Post!Solovetsky, Established!Adler/Bell, Past Brainwashing, Slight Sexual Content, Implied Sexual Content

My love- моя любовь(moya lyubov)

Handsome—красивый (krasivyy)

Beautiful—красивая (krasivaya)

Russell—Рассел (Rassel)

My- мой Рассел (moy)

My dear Russell-голубушка, рассел (galoobooshka Rassel)

Sweetheart-лапушкаka (lapooshka)

Baby- крошка (kroshka)

“Told you I should’ve came with you instead.” You teased as Adler sat atop their shared bed in their room, a nice one too within this particular safehouse. Adler settling with his bare back to you, his honey brown hair still wet at the ends giving him a wild boyish look after already washing his body in the shower before you could help him—too busy yourself in going over the intel he got with Zeyna. “Now look at you, all bruises and small cuts.”

“You think you could’ve done better?” You only grinned sharply when he looked over at you, you moving near him and getting behind him with your hands on his broad shoulders as he snorted and looked away. “You got a lot of nerve for someone who got kidnapped once—“ you made a displeased noise and tightened your hold on his shoulders in warning, “—but I’ll give it to you. Don’t tell Zeyna that. The mission was a success after all.”

You did a pleased hum, tracing your fingertips on his back to a developing bruise and seeing how the muscles coiled in response. You placing a small peck towards the location of it on his mid lower back.

“Almost a full one,” you say as you do a trail with your lips along his skin, placing a kiss here and there as you went up, “if мой Рассел managed to come unscathed.” You did a playful nip to his ear once you reached it. Adler turning his clear blue eyes towards you with a brow up, a look practically asking “what’s gotten into you?” but you just shrugged and patted his shoulders twice. “Come on. Let me help you relax and lay down on your stomach. You’re as tense as a pregnant woman about to give birth.”

He went to move, but not before throwing you a sly look as he placed a pillow under his head—some tresses over his eyes.

“Are you trying to tell me something, sweetheart?”

You huffed out your nose in amusement, shaking you head as you gave him a kiss to his shoulder before moving to straddle on top of his backside so you have free reign for his shoulders and back.

“I think I would be more creative than that if I’m going to make that kind of announcement. Now hush, Russ,” you said Russ with some of your Russian accent coming through, you slowly getting it back as time went on and mixing with your American accent that you gathered. You placed your hands on his shoulders, slowly pressing down on his warm skin and moving as he let out a small grunt. You leaning over slightly by his ear, saying softly, “Let me take care of you.”

You felt him tense underneath you as you leaned away, but didn’t say anything. Continuing to massage and move your hands against his coiled muscles, slowly unknotting as you went. You moving from his solid shoulders to his muscles back that carries the world upon them, being careful with where you spotted harsh bruises to avoid hurting him. You could hear his small grunts and quick short releases of breath due to your actions, the delicious sounds making your imagination run due to how you normally get to catch those sounds. You tried to focus on his massage instead of that, his tense and muscled back slowly turning into putty underneath you. You shifted on top of him slightly, feeling a need start to come that you pushed away.

Once you finished pressing the palms of your hands on his lower back, now notably relaxed and knot free, you moved them atop his shoulders.

“All done,” you rasp, not taking note of how low your voice sounded as Russell hummed. Placing a hand to one of your pants covered thighs as he craned his neck towards you, and doing a quick squeeze as his cool eyes met yours with a relaxed smirk.

“Alright, it’s your turn.” He moved to sit up, you getting off him as you threw him a bewildered look as he gently coaxed down to where he was.

“But, I don’t need it. It was for you.” Despite your words, you felt yourself shift again with your legs. You wish you were in more comfortable clothes now instead of you looking through Intel earlier. “I didn’t go on a mission.”

Russell’s smirk didn’t falter as he stared at your expression, only lifting more into knowing as he hummed again. “I insist,” he says, pushing you down to where he was and you let him with little resistance despite your words. You placing your cheek against the pillow, your heart thundering as Russell straddled atop you as well but not fully due to the size difference and not wishing to stress you with his weight. You felt his hand go underneath your shirt, just as you felt his mouth graze your ear. “Tsk, tsk, Bell. We need to get you out of these before I go on. Hm?” He asked lowly, breath tickling your ear.

You felt yourself slightly shiver, and it wasn’t due to how he lifted your shirt and you letting him as you took it off. Him moving onto unstrapping your bra as well and your back now becoming an open canvas for his calloused hands as he trailed one from your neck to your lower back. Your breathing growing a little short when he stopped at the edge of your pants before both of them moved to your highly tense back and began expertly pressing.

“Someone’s tense,” Russell observed, his hands working you along your heated skin. You starting to sigh out in pleasure as he relaxed some muscles, your thoughts of wondering at his odd and rare playful mood escaping you and instead just focusing on what he’s doing. “I have a guess on what’s gotten into you,” he says, pressing his knuckles against a certain part to your shoulder that made you gasp quietly which made Russell hum. “Didn’t expect you to be like that,” he than leaned towards you, you felt his bare chest on your bare back, skin meeting skin as you could only blink blearily as you wondered what he’s getting at and what he’s doing, why did he stop—“I have a jealous лапушкаka, do I?”

Your eyes widened, excitement raising once more as you shifted underneath him. He knows what his Russian does to you—all fluent and rough just like a native. His endearment of ‘sweetheart’ in your language making you ache.

“I do, don’t I?” He said more than asked, breath to your ear and one hand still working on your shoulder, thumb moving and pressing.

You craned your neck to look towards him, a mocking yet heated look to your eyes as you replied through a sigh.

“Like you aren’t when—“ you let out a moan when his hand found another spot, Russell eating it up as his eyes darkened greedily. “—w-when it’s me and Woods out in missions.”

Russell huffed, raising his brows as he leaned back, and with it taking his heat and making you nearly childishly whine as you fisted a sheet underneath you. Despite him keeping his hands on your shoulders.

“Woods is a beast. You don’t know him like I do.”

This time, you let out a breathless laugh against the pillow. Russell raising a brow in silent question as you looked up at him with an amused smile.

“The pot calls the kettle black,” you say, before continuing coyly, “America’s Monster should know I am only his. Right, моя любовь?”

Russell chuckled richly, shifting himself to be more on top of you and your eyes widened when you felt hardness through his pants on your backside. Him feeling when your back arched towards him in response but him stopping you with his hands as he shook his head as you released a small whine at him this time.

“Not yet, крошка. You’ve been a little minx and just because you’re tempting me with how красивая you are isn’t going to change that,” He says smugly. Totally doing it on purpose with his words as you could only barely shift underneath him to get some reprieve only to be stopped when he gave you a warning nip to your neck. “You moving is making massaging you really fucking difficult, sweetheart.”

You noticed he sounded strained. Tense and distracted by how he switched back to English with the endearment. It made you move more because despite how a man like Russell Adler has extraordinary self-control and patience for missions, he doesn’t quite have the same with just the two of you.

Monsters shouldn’t be leashed for too long.

He hissed, putting more pressure on you but you threw him a look over your shoulder, heated eyes and a purse to your lips which his electric fire eyes focused on.

“голубушка, рассел, you going to leave me влажный и недоставать all for you?” You said through a needy pout, “After wanting to show how красивый you are after such a successful mission? себя мука на.”

Something snapped as his hand moved to your hair, and gripped it firmly as he leaned his chest to your back once more as he growled into your ear.

“You asked for it. Keep quiet so the others won’t hear.”

You hid a smug smile to your pillow which quickly changed as the night went on, all open mouthed and pleading as you tried to control yourself.

It ended with you leaning against his chest, Russell taking a smoke and notably less tense you observed with amusement as the smoke gathered around him. You placed another kiss to his chest where a bruise was as you and him laid naked under the sheets. You made sure his bruises turned to hickey’s instead by you when they did the lust filled act, Russell groaning your name all the while.

“You know,” Russell began, a small smirk playing on his scarred and bruised lips as you looked at him in attention, tapping his cigarette on the ash tray next to him with eyes on you. “They should call you a demon instead. You really are a minx, Bell.”

Seems he caught on to your farce earlier.

You giggle, bringing a hand to graze his scarred cheek and craning your neck to give him a kiss which he met.

“Only for you, Russell. A monster and a demon would be a match, hm?” You give him another kiss, deepening it and Russell seemed to have forgotten his cigarette since his other hand brought you atop him. You laughing again when you slightly pulled back. “Again?”

“Again.” Russell said in answer with a hungry smirk before continuing, hand going under the covers and working in a different manner compared to the massage earlier.

A match made indeed.

.

.

.

Say thanks to me and @tr1ppylady little fantasy of what it would be like to have the honor to massage Russell Adler’s back. Credit to @salvija for helping me with the Russian too!

Adler sure is a monster in bed, huh? *wink wonk* I’ll leave now. Anyways, love both some slight Soft!Adler and Dom!Alder. Like…hello. (´-ω-`)

I didn’t want to describe too much because it’s for the imagination. And I’m supposed to be writing something else. Hope you guys enjoyed!

@smokeywhalee @parkeepingparker @weirdoartist21 @dvesinthewind @nikkibell1937 @nocturnalblurbee @quizzyisdone

[amoristt]

Grazing the Fire | IV

well hello. here i am, four years later, once again enamored with nathan enough to finally dust this baby off and pick up where i left it. im a little rusty so bear with me this chapter! much more to come <3

reblogs + tags and replies will make my entire day as i put a lot of effort into this :)! it also helps motivate me!

story continues beneath the read more. let me know if you can’t access it!

Warning: language, very vague s/a mentions

want to support me? heres my kofi!

__________________________

“Alright class, who can tell me,” A board stick clacks against the chalkboard. “Who can answer problem four?” 

A few hands raise in the corners of your eye, but yours remains atop your desk. Eyes far away, mind in a murky haze and almost completely unaware. All you could focus on were the memories playing on repeat within the confines of your tired, tired brain. Hours ago, you were warm, you were comfortable. Safe.

Cheeks heated to a dusting blush when you remind yourself just how you had awoken that morning. At some point in the night, an angel had blessed you. Allowed you to wake up wrapped around none other than big, bad, Nathan Prescott. Your face nuzzled into his chest, broad but wiry hands pressed firmly over your shoulder and his arm slung over your waist to keep you against him. Thankfully you had been the first to wake up, blinking away the morning sun blazing through his blinds and painting the room stripes of gold. At that moment, before your headache came crashing down onto your skull, you were astounded by him. 

Eye lashes brushing the top of his cheeks, his lips parted ever so slightly, chest rising and falling rhythmically. In that moment, there was no anger, no bitterness. Just a soft and peaceful slumber. It was like being the sole viewer of a magnificent painting- each stroke and detail placed just there just for you to pick out, to remember the curves and sharp edges down to the very foundation. From his unkempt hair down to the way his hand flattened onto the mattress where your indent still lived. Nathan was so beautiful like this. 

For a long time you stayed there. It was as though you were afraid to move- you couldn’t bear to disturb him. You had wondered, if he was always like this, so at peace, what would he be like? Likely soft voiced, mild mannered. He’d do his school assignments without hassle and donate to the charity board. He would wander the town with his friends and listen to music in a beat up truck flying down the stretch of highway overlooking the bold, blue, and beautiful ocean. An entirely different version of himself- carefree, and a fair blue as opposed to a burning flame of red. 

But, if that were the case, you’d never have gotten here. You’d never been both the outsider, and the only seeing eye. A lucky, albeit firstly unwilling witness to the display of depth before you. 

It never hit you like it had quite in that moment how lucky you were.

But- just then- an alarm disturbed what serendipity existed. You nearly leapt out of your skin, clutched your hands to your chest at the sudden sound. A headache wove its way into your once untouched temples. Nathan groaned, mumbled, ‘god damn it’, under his breath, and thus his body was reanimated into life. He rubbed his eyes and he stretched, that familiar scowl coming over his eyes and lips as he took in the sunlight damn near blinding him. A polar opposite to the being you’d appreciated just moments earlier.

“Ugh, fuck, how the fuck is it seven already.” He groaned. “I feel like shit.”

“Well good morning to you too,” You started, welcoming Nathan into the world. “‘I’m feeling pretty shitty as well.” 

You said that, but really… You were more than alright. Your head had hurt, slight nausea crept into the wells of your stomach, but other than that you’re sure you were phenomenally better than you’d have been waking up whereverTate would have left your ass.

“You need to get outta here, before everyone gets up.” Nathan drawled, but he didn’t sound as urgent as you expected him to be. You’d expected him to be angry that you were still in his room, but instead he just… accepted it. 

You snickered, climbing out of his throne of a bed. “Wow, you’re giving me the morning after treatment?” 

“Sure am. Get outta here, whore.”

“Oh fuck you.” 

You located your heels from last night, resting upright near his dorm room door. Heels didn’t sound like the most  practical to sneak out of a dorm with, so you instead opted to grappling them by the straps and carrying them at your side. Hair a mess, outfit riddled with wrinkles and makeup smudged under your eyes, you stood before Nathan in all your glory. He stared at you for a long, odd moment- and you for some reason felt exposed, or even, shy. 

“What?” You ask expectantly, placing a hand on your hip. 

His eyes trail to your line of vision. He shakes his head. “Just thinking about how now you really do look like my morning after.”

“Yeah?” You hummed. “Find it hard to believe you get a lot of those.”

Nathan shoots you a suggestive glance. “You’d be surprised. Everyone wants a piece of Prescott.”

Surely, he was joking, or maybe he wasn’t, but you… Didn’t like hearing that. It made your stomach feel odd, uncomfortably heavy.  As he stood up, reminding you how many inches he had over your size, you swallowed and cleared your throat to flush out that crappy feeling. “Well,” you started, mood having dropped. “I’m gonna go, then.” 

“What got your panties in a twist all the sudden?” He asked, raising a brow and pulling some clothes from his closet, tossing them onto the bed.

The bed you two had shared.

You hated the idea of his morning afters- whoever they may be. 

“Not feeling great. Probably a side effect of the roofies.” You mumbled.

Nathan breathed a laugh. “Probably.”

He seemed so calm, right now. Perhaps due to it being so early, before the outside world had a chance to remind him just why he was so uptight all the tight. Before he needed to be so uptight all the time. He really did have so many versions of himself- all of whom you were slowly becoming familiar with. Compared to the person you’d believed him to be before your run ins, you’d never have assumed someone so dangerous could be so soft as last night, as this morning. In the beginning, you’d feared him. Avoided him like a plague, or a wild animal. Even when you were enraptured in the existence of him, you still wanted to keep away. You’d never have believed someone like you could wake up clutched to his chest, as though he were afraid if he released you, you’d be gone long before he woke. 

Then, a sudden thought struck your mind. 

He’d held you so tight. He’d welcomed you in the morning. No anger, no annoyance. His soft laugh at your banter and taunts. How your heels were standing upright instead of tossed haphazardly into some random corner, where he’d watch your struggle to find. 

How he’d stayed awake to ensure your sleep.

“So are you just gonna stand there?” Nathan called you back to reality, hands gripping the hems of his shirt. “I gotta get ready and you need to wash up so you don’t look like a five dollar stripper.” Cruel words, but with absolutely no bite. You rolled your eyes.

“Yeah. But, hey,” You started. “Thank you for last night.” 

“Yeah, yeah. You gotta start learning to watch your own back.” He says. “There’s gonna be times I won’t be there to drag your ass out of the fire.”

If you’d been charged, if you’d been stricken with a strange defensiveness, you’d have retorted, ‘than stop helping me’, but… Instead you allowed yourself the comfort of protection. You allowed Nathan Prescott to watch you.  

“I know,” You reached for the door. “Thank you.”

With that, you bounded out of the dorm silent as a mouse. 

-----------

In hindsight, you should have left earlier. Class was merely 15 minutes away when you slipped out of Nathan's room and bounded towards the women's dorm. Albeit not exactly a long walk, by the time you discreetly snuck back into your own dorm, you had roughly twenty minutes to somehow pick an outfit from your countless unopened boxes and make yourself even slightly presentable. 

Wiping off whatever make-up you could get and reapplying it, brushing out the tangles of your hair and nearly tearing off your scalp in the process, scattering your nightclothes over your floor and managing to scrounge out a semi-decent outfit for the day… You still looked a mess. If the mirror could laugh, it would have. Black mascara smudges under your eyes and frizzy untreated hair. What a lovely look. 

You’d made it to class just five minutes late, but those five minutes were all it took for all eyes to be on you as you tried to slide into the classroom unnoticed. A couple classmates whispered to their table mates as you passed by, smelling of oversaturated cherry blossom perfume to hopefully cover the scent of alcohol. You sauntered to your seat and sank down with all your weight, suddenly exhausted. You’d made it with just five minutes tainting your record of attendance. The teacher greeted you with a disappointed sigh, and thus, the day began. 

But, it was so hard to focus. All you could think about was Nathan. 

“Alright class, who can tell me,” A board stick clacks against the chalkboard. “Who can answer problem four?” 

You lowered your head. 

“Ah, how about, ___?”

You snaked back into reality, blinking up at the chalk board that was somehow already riddled with math equations. Since you hadn’t been paying attention even in the slightest, your mouth gaped wide open, eyes scanning for something you understood even slightly so you didn’t look like a total idiot. 

Sadly, you were out of luck. The teacher shook his head. “I’m shocked,” He said. “You're normally so on top of things. Oh well.”

“Oh, I’m sure she was on top of things,” A female voice sniggered behind you “Last night.”

Your face flushed a red, hot, ruby. What the hell was she talking about? How had they found out you were with Nathan? You were so sure of being sneaky, there was no way-

“Her and Tate totally got it on last night.”

You whipped around in your seat, facing girls who looked to be clones of some sort. Both with the same dark eyes, short brown hair, and freckles. “What?”

“Alright-” Your teacher blurted. “That's enough. April, May, enough. Let’s not discuss things outside of the classroom.”

The two girls batted their eyes. “Sorry sir.” One spoke, twirling a hand through her hair. Her sister's wide toothy grin never fumbled. 

“Back to it then. Kate, can you help out __ with number four?” 

The small, blonde girl nodded quickly, brushing a lock of hair behind her eyes and offering an empathic nod. 

As you turned around in your seat, her answer fell on deaf ears. Your heart was racing in your chest, hands balled into fists while you stared ahead blankly.  

They couldn’t seriously think that you chose to leave with Tate, could they? Surely someone must have seen the state you were in. Someone other than Nathan.

The clock ticks forward but time feels like it's passing almost unnaturally slow. With just 10 minutes left, you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket.

‘Nathan: consider ur favor officially returned 

Your tongue poked from your lips, the tiniest of smiles taking over your once sullen features. Terrible thoughts and worries flew out the window while you type back, ‘damn. here i was gonna to ask you to do a backflip off the roof with me. there goes my plans.’

Nathan types for a moment. Typing, stopping, typing again. 

‘Nathan: soundz like a blast. where and when?’

A small blush heats your cheeks. ‘very funny. thanks to last night i have an entire 24 hour session of studying to catch up with.’

His response is almost instant. ‘Nathan: boringgg. txt me when ur fun.’

Rolling your eyes, you shove your phone back into your pocket. It seems you’ve been able to secure enough of a friendship with him for some mindless banter even outside your little visits. You smile. He’s… Fun to talk to. Surprisingly. 

Class comes to an end and you start to pack up the books and papers you’d hardly even glanced at the whole period. Whatever had been upsetting you before is lost in your mind while you think of the morning, the night before. All the things in-between. But, your happiness doesn’t last long. As you get up, you’re almost forced right back into your seat as a weight shoves into your shoulder. Your books scatter to the floor. April, the one who’d remarked about you earlier, glares at you in what looks to be disgust. 

“Careful April,” Her sister hums as she saunters past you, keeping distance and raising her already shrill tone of voice. “Might wanna watch where you’re walking- I’d hate for you to catch something from this slut.”

You absolutely gawk at her. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

April scoffs. “Oh come on, like everyone doesn’t know what you were up to last night.”

“Sleeping around isn’t a good color on you.” May hikes her bag over her shoulder and snickers at you. They both leave the class together, sickeningly in sync. You’re left stunned where you stand, unsure how the hell your life came to this so quickly. How you’ve stooped so low that the daughters of the world's most uncreative parents are able to bully you based on something that didn’t even happen.

Next class goes no better. The person to your right, a jockey looking brunette guy, asks, ‘have you ever heard of a Tate?’. You say no, that that’s the dumbest name you’ve ever heard. The idiot grins and goes back to marking down likely wrong answers on his test sheet and you debate kicking the leg of his chair out- but you don’t to avoid even more eyes on you. It makes you sick to your stomach- even more than recovering from the roofies does. How can everyone believe it? You barely even knew the guy and you were clearly uncomfortable with his advances. No one saw that? 

After everything you’d worked for to build a reputation, trying so hard to not call out peoples shit for the sake of seeming friendly, tainted over something that didn’t even happen? And the kicker was that it hadn’t even been your fault! He’d drugged you, he’d have taken advantage of you! Yet you were the bad person? 

Class came and went in the blink of an eye this time. Your mind wrapped up in the situation, your stomach churning. You wanted the day to be over with but you still had 4 more classes to suffer through. Why was this happening to you? Was Tate being treated just as horribly, or was he getting pats on the backs of his unaware friends?

Wandering down the halls to your locker, you noticed Lance and Kaz hanging around one of the drinking fountains. Your nerves quelled- your friends would surely make you feel much better. Especially since they had witnessed how awful you were feeling as you left. You approach with a relieved smile, ready to say your truth and finally have someone on your side.

“Hey guys.” You smile, but Lance looks down at his feet while Kaz places her hands to his hips. Your smile fades.

“You could have told us you were gonna spend the night with Tate,” Kaz snaps. “You didn’t need to lie like that just to leave. We were all worried about you and it was for nothing.”

“What?” You feel like you could cry. “No, Kaz, I really did try to leave. Tate tried to drug me and take me home, and-”

“He wouldn’t do that.” Lance interrupts, with a frown. He looks back down at the floor with knitted brows. “I’ve known Tate since before time. He wouldn't do something like that, especially not to one of my best friends. Plus he told me he was really into you. Why would he even try?”

“Are you serious?” You sputter. “You think I’d lie about something like that?”

“You’ve been lying about all sorts of things!” Kaz huffs. “What’s going on with you lately? You’ve been so distant, and secretive. What are you hiding that’s making you lie like this? We’re supposed to be your friends and then you lie to our faces just to go and fuck the first guy that shows you attention.”

“What…?” It was like acid. It was like the rug had been pulled from your feet sending you spiraling down the unending cliff. Kaz, your best friend, all that venom. How could they turn against you like this? What the hell is going on? You felt your throat tighten. “Look, I’m sorry if I’ve been distant, but I’m not lying to you, I-”

“We gotta go.” Lance isn’t in the mood to hear it. “We’ll catch up to you.. Some other time.”

Kaz says nothing as she pushes past you. Lance, at least, spares a short glance over his shoulder. You stood there alone in the hallway, your bag falling off your shoulder and clattering onto the floor with a thud echoing off the walls. Everything you had, all gone at once. 

No one believed you.

---------

With nowhere to go where you felt like you could truly allow yourself to process the day's events, you went to the only place you knew. 

Just outside of campus, where rocks lined the edge of the boundary, overlooking the outskirts of the town and the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. You settled yourself there, staring at the vast waters and wondering how this had all happened. Unlucky didn’t even begin to cover how it felt. Not only did you feel violated with Tate attempting to do unthinkable things with your unconscious body, but you also felt alone, and walked on. Your best friends hadn’t believed you. While Lance seemed saddened, Kaz was so… Angry. Her words cut like knives into your skin. 

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair. You didn’t deserve this.

You want to talk to Nathan, but knowing him, he’d see your state and bounce instantly. After all, this isn’t exactly very fun of you.

As the sun began to fall, splaying orange and blues over the wide open sky, behind you, you could hear voices. A group of them, some male, some female. Memories of when your notebook had gotten snatched by those two horsed face assholes came flooding back and with all your alertness, you stood up, and decided that this sitting place was no longer safe. Nothing was.

Before you even made it ten feet away, the group had found their way to your spot and gotten comfortable, one of the girls cheering, ‘this’ll be our hangout! look at how pretty the view is!’

You took a short drive down the stretches of road and decided that if you were going to lament in your own sadness, you were at least going to do so in a place that had something to cover the sound of your tears. Plus a nice view.

The beach, littered with its picnic tables and the sounds of crashing waves would suffice just fine. So, you pulled in the desolate parking lot and wandered down the sandy shores until you stumbled upon a picnic table shaded by a large willow cascading lushious branches to block out the sun- a perfect canopy for you to wallow under. 

You had nothing at that moment. No friends, no reputation, no one to believe your tragic tale. And now, you’d just lost the one spot that made you feel comfortable when stress was building into your body like concrete. Tears pricked into the corners of your eyes and you bit your lip, dreading that feeling of a lump in your throat. Why you? Everything had been going so well. How could not even a single person believe that Tate had tried to hurt you?

Well, actually, there was one person.

Of course Nathan believed you. He’d been the one to rescue you, after all. Time and time again it seemed.  How was it that even the ones closest to you would turn their back so fast, yet Nathan seemed to be there even when you didn’t want him to be? Even when you yelled at him, and he yelled right back, fire and sparks falling into embers around the two of you. 

In that moment, you almost felt like you could finally relate to him. A reputation based on lies and things out of your control, paired with a hardheaded attitude to try and combat all the assumptions. 

No wonder he was so angry. 

“Hey bitch,” A voice suddenly called, and you had a split second moment where you were terrified of once again being the victim of a cruel prank or some classmates boredom. “How about next time you have a pity party you don’t fucking call me in the middle of it.”

You blinked away your tears and through the blurriness saw a figure coming towards you. All that sass, the tone...

“Nathan?” You breathed. It only takes moments before he’s in front of you, holding his phone in view, seeing that the call that had been running for nearly ten minute. You flush in embarrassment, pulling your phone from your back pocket. “How did that happen?”

“Well, can your ass dial numbers?” He taunts, ending the call. 

“Damn it, dumb phone must have butt-dialed you. I knew I should’ve gotten a different one.” You mentally kick yourself. “It must have unlocked in my pocket.”

“You don’t have a password on your phone?” He taunts. When you shake your head, he whistles. “You are just begging for a robbery. I’ll keep that in mind when I’m in the mood to send random messages to all your buddies.” 

“Fuck off.” You scowl, and he grins, hopping up on the picnic table next to you. The sun flatters his skin. He’s almost glowing. 

“Speaking of buddies, how the hell did it pick my number out of your sea of friends?”

You shrug. “Probably cuz’ it’s a priority contact.” 

“Oh lala, I’ve been upgraded to priority huh? Does it display a superman logo whenever you give it a ring?”

“Nope. When I press call it rings the nearest asshole in my vicinity. The fact that it’s you is your own problem.”

“Haha, fucking ha.” He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. He stares out at the water, watching waves pull and crash onto the beach. It’s almost beautiful, until he ruins it. “Yknow, you’re a really ugly crier.”

“Wow, thanks.” You shake your head. “That's exactly what I needed to hear right now. Why did you even stay on the line?.” Wiping your eyes, you start to forget your tears. “Couldn’t have been that wild of a conversation.”

Nathan shrugs. “Between the crying and the sound of the waves it was pretty nice.” He grins. “Very educational.” 

“Awesome. Glad I was able to make your day.” It doesn’t feel like your usual bitey remarks. You’re tired, you’re still a little hurt and you can’t stop thinking about how such an amazing morning had turned into such a horrible day.

“So what’s got you all fucked up? Never seen you act like this big of a baby before.”

“Nothing. You already paid off your debt to me per this morning, so feel free to resume our regularly scheduled mutual hatred.” You say, lying through your teeth. You know you’re both past the point of hatred, but you’re feeling jaded, you can’t help it. 

“Oh shut the fuck up,” He groans. “I didn’t drag my ass all the fucking way out to this shit hole of a beach just for you to give me that bullshit. What, did you fail a test? No one matched you on tinder?”

“Everyone thinks me and Tate slept together last night.” You blurt. “I think he’s telling people me and him had sex.”

Nathan tenses his shoulders and grimaces. “Fucking werido.”

“I told my best friends that he tried to take advantage of me and they don’t believe me. One of em’ even said he wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Fuck em’. Who needs best friends.”

“And to make everything so much better, these two bitches that I share four of my classes with harassed me all goddamn day. I mean, fucks sake, how the hell are girls named April and May of all things able to get to me. It’s bullshit. And to make matters worse, Tate is just… Getting away with it.”

“Yeah well, something tells me that Tate’s gonna get a real nice fucking taste of medicine eventually. I just gotta find him first. He’s got a lot of nerve spreading shit around given I knocked his ass onto the pavement.” Nathan brows knit at the memory.

You test the waters. “Why would you do that for me?”

He seems caught off guard, or maybe, surprised that you’d ask. Maybe he thinks you’re both beyond that point. He grumbles, “Why does it matter.”

“I’m just curious. We don’t owe each other anything, remember?”

“Yeah, well,” He huffs. “Don’t ask me questions to shit I don’t know the answer to.”

“You say that an awful lot.” You tease.

“Yeah well you ask dumbass questions an awful lot. Not everything I do has to have some weird ass motives behind it, ___. Maybe I’ve got beef with Tate that’s outside of you.”

“Uhuh. Sure.” You’re about to say something else, when your phone lights up with a text. The display makes your heart fall all over again. 

Unknown Number: you should just pack up and go somewhere else. no one wants std’s from breathing your air xoxo

You don’t even know who that is. Now absolute strangers are on your case. You want to throw your phone into the ocean and leave.

Nathan scoffs. “Don’t even bat a fucking eye for that bitch, whoever the hell they are. Half the hoes you’ve mentioned have slept with half the football team,” he pinches his jacket, “and I would know.”

“Ew, Nathan,” You grimace, that same feeling from the morning returning. It feels, oddly, like jealousy.  He nudges your arm with his elbow and grins playfully. It’s cute.

“Chill, I’m just fucking with you. You gotta know even I wouldn’t fuck girls that desperate. I’m a man of class.”

That last comment actually forces a laugh from you. It’s soft, but it’s real. The first laugh you’ve genuinely had all day. “That’s horrible.” You remark, giggling again.

It's almost like the slight restoration of your mood puts him at ease as well. He leans back on his hands and stares off into the ocean, those sparkling waters under the setting, orange sun. “I’m for real though. Those hoes aren’t worth your time. One day when we blow this shithole of a town they’re not even gonna matter.”

Your brows knit, eyes blinking up at him. Had you heard that right? 

“We?” You ask, perplexed, albeit a little… Hopeful.

Nathan sputters. “Well- Like, when everyone’s older and-”

“You know what, it's fine.” You interrupt. “Fuck it. You’re right. We’re gonna blow this town and they’re just gonna be some shitty memories.”

He sucks in a shaky breath. You’ve never heard him scramble like that, like he’s been unmasked. The look he casts you when you agree, when you don’t tease or patronize and finally hop on the idea that yeah, what if the two of you really didn’t have to deal with it anymore.

What if the two of you could just exist, without the anger. 

You look up at him. “Would you actually do that though?” You start. “With me, of all people?”

He swallows. His expression is tense, but he’s not upset. He appears nervous, caught off guard. Nathan tries, “I-”

Your phone rings. Shrill, piercing. Mood destroying. 

“Jesus Christ, it’s my mom.” You grab your phone and Nathan looks forward, stone faced and silent as you hop off the table and answer. It’s your mother, who all but shouts into the phone that her and your father are taking a surprising visit to Arcadia Bay while they’re traveling by on their vacation. She insists that you be ready in about an hour for dinner, and likely there will be family photos. 

Which means if you still look as wrecked as you did this morning, you’re gonna have a lot of washing up to do. With a quick goodbye, a short and sweet, ‘love you’, you hang up and sigh. 

“You still tell your mom you love her?” He teases. “What are you, five?”

You frown. “You don’t tell your parents you love them?”

Nathan side eyes you, and just shrugs. It is all the answer you need, really, and for his sake you decide it wouldn’t be best to press the issue. Not now. But- it still makes your heart hurt just a little. You wished that he’d had it better growing up. 

“Right… Do you want a ride home?”

“Fuck no, what am I,” He shoves his hands into his pockets. “a fucking girl scout?” 

“I was just offering, weirdo.” When he doesn't get up, you feel like you’re missing out. Like if you stayed, maybe, just maybe, you’d get to know him a little better. “Hey, if you want, I can stay for a bit longer.”

He rolls his eyes. “You’re needed elsewhere. But,” he shrugs. “I don’t know. Fuckin’... Text me or something. Or not, I don’t care either way.”

There’s a small warmth in your chest that rises to your cheeks. He wants you to text him. “Yeah,” You say. “If I’m feeling fun.”

And with that, you bid him farewell, beginning your descent to the parking lot. 

“Hey,” He calls, and you turn just in time to catch a small item he’s tossed right at you. A tiny key resides in the palm of your hand. “Spare. If shit hits the fan again-...” He shrugs, and actually looks away. “Just don’t be too fucking loud of I’ll kick your ass out myself. No Madison needed.”

The widest grin plays over your lips. “I’m gonna re-decorate your room while you’re gone.”

“Ah, you fucking better not.” He shouts. “Actually- you know what, give it back.” 

“No, no! I’m sorry.” You play with the key between your fingers. “Thanks for this.”

“Yeah, whatever. Don’t lose it and remember- emergencies only. I don’t need you watching me sleep like fucking freak. We’re past that stage.” 

“How many times will I have to say I was never watching you. Christ… But, alright. See ya, then.” The key is heavy in your palm. 

You place it into your pocket and give him one last glance before you take off, leaving him to enjoy the sound of waves, birds, and the absence of your tears.

[jisungsmochi]

favorite crime - na jaemin

favorite crime - na jaemin 

this is the second installment for my SOUR series! you can read jeno’s one here! 

a little bad boy!jaemin x troubled (?) but still a ‘goodie goodie’ reader // strangers to friends to partner in crime to strangers again :/ 

word count: 7.2k 

summary: “It's bittersweet to think about the damage that we'd do

'Cause I was goin' down, but I was doin' it with you” 

who would have ever thought that, jaemin, the quiet boy you met in detention, would become your first love? getting involved with his shenanigans was probably the worst thing you could have done in your life. you were lucky enough to love someone like him, someone who excited you, scared you, and most of all, loved you back. but what happens when his actions suddenly have consequences? 

a/n: this summary sucks but i liked writing this alot,, explains why it took me so long to write it oops. 

tagging the bestie: @skrtbabe

//

Know that I loved you so bad

I let you treat me like that

I was your willing accomplice, honey

//

as you walked into the near-empty classroom, you made a beeline for the closest seat to the window. if you were going to be stuck in detention for two hours, you might as well have a nice view. you let out a short sigh to yourself, one hour and fifty eight minutes to go. the supervising teacher was lazily marking her class’ essays, completely choosing to ignore the entrance of na jaemin. he gave her a subtle scoff before stumbling past the desk, making his way to sit behind you. you heard him roughly place his bag onto the surface of his desk. you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want to look back and see what he was up to. jaemin was always a mystery to you, and to everyone else in the school. despite keeping himself away from the majority, people had quite a lot to say about the boy. you heard rumours that he got stabbed (which you didn’t believe at all) but your classmate, haechan, insists he had video evidence. if anything, you don’t think you had ever spoken to jaemin in your entire life, but that was all about to change.

thirty minutes into detention and you were beyond bored. everybody was either catching up on school work or trying their best to not be caught on their phones. you opted to staring out the window, eyes following the movements of a particular butterfly. eventually, the butterfly decided it was time to leave your line of sight, causing you to let out a short huff. you heard a soft chuckle, belonging to the previously silent boy behind you. you slowly turned to face him, his eyes immediately latching to meet yours. he had his chin perched on top of his right palm, a cunning grin on his face. you gave him a glare,

“what are you laughing at?” you faintly whisper to him. this caught him off guard, he didn’t expect you to sound so stern.

“an explosion is about to happen” you grew to be more confused, what is he talking about?

“wha-“

“i’ll be right back! s-stay where you are!” your teacher suddenly blurts out, rushing out of her room as fast as she could. the rest of the students all looked over at eachother, some even opting to leave detention entirely.

you turned back to the snickering boy, who clearly had something to do with it.

“what the hell did you do?”

“put laxatives in her coffee” your jaw dropped, how the hell did he manage to do that?

“w-what’s wrong with you?”

“what’s wrong with you? learn to live a little” he suddenly stood up, slinging his bag across his body. his eyes still stayed on you, silently asking for you to follow him. this was one hell of a first impression. you weren’t sure what took over you in that moment, but you found yourself trailing behind na jaemin like a lost puppy as he led you both out of the school gates. he didn’t speak much to you, aimlessly walking to wherever the hell he needed to be.

“so what did you get into detention for?” he suddenly asked you, causing you to stiffen. you weren’t a stranger to getting into trouble, your short temper often being the root of your issues. but you weren’t exactly the most comfortable talking to new people.

“ah you’re a bit shy? i’ll start then, i stole lee haechan’s clothes after gym practice” he smirked to himself, feeling some sense of pride.

“that was you? he was running around school butt naked because of you” you couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of seeing two full ass cheeks after your history class.

“that’s what he gets for claiming that he has proof i got stabbed? which is ridiculous by the way” jaemin shakes his head before coming to a complete stop. you slightly bump into his right shoulder, quickly stabilising yourself before looking at the quiet cafe infront of you.

“hungry?” you nodded in response, following him into the cafe. he seemed to have known some of the workers, earning you a free croissant and hot chocolate.

“so, i told you why i got into detention, now it’s your turn” he chimed, clearly entertained by having you as company.

“i punched kim yuna in the face” you slightly cringed at your own words. you weren’t the one to be physical in your confrontations, but this girl really struck a nerve.

“sheesh, i saw her earlier, you gave her nose a good bruising, i must say” he couldn’t help but find the entire thing entertaining. this was so odd to you, every person that had witnessed it, thought you went crazy. but here jaemin was, laughing at the situation.

“you think this is funny?” you asked curiously, rather than in a judgemental manner.

“well yeah, i don’t know why you did it, but she probably deserved it” he shrugged, taking a bite of his own pastry. you felt your shoulders begin to relax, infact your entire demeanour had changed. jaemin was the only person that didn’t push you to admit your faults and apologise. he didn’t need to know the whole story, he just took your words for what they were.

the next hour consisted of you and jaemin, sharing stories on some of the mischievous things you had gotten up to in the past. from small things like setting off stink bombs during an exam, to running from the mall cops after stealing a pair of pants from a store. jaemin liked your reactions to his stories, at first your face would be full of shock, then turn into some sort of enlightenment. he found it quite endearing to watch. he wasn’t too bad on the eyes either.

“need me to walk you home?”

“i don’t need you to do anything for me” jaemin just smirked at your response,

“but i wouldn’t mind if you did”

“ah i see how it’s going to be”

“what do you mean?”

“our relationship, it’s going to be very push and pull” what on earth was he on about?

“you got that from just spending a few hours with me?” jaemin nodded, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

“i think we’ll be spending a lot of time together” was all he said back. if you had told yourself earlier that day, that you’d become na jaemin’s partner in crime, you’d punch yourself in the face. but this was only the beginning.

//

from that day onwards, you would purposely seek out jaemin’s presence. whether it be you walking to the most isolated parts of school, or simply trying to get into detention in the case he was there again. as a result of the laxative prank, jaemin had earned a two week long suspension. you had caught wind of this information from the school’s chatterbox, haechan. you’d think after being humiliated by jaemin, he’d keep his name out of his mouth.

you decided to visit the same cafe you accompanied jaemin to, incase he was hanging out there. you weren’t sure why you wanted to be around him so much. if anything, you were more at risk of getting another detention, or becoming a social outcast. but you were going to take those chances.

as you entered the cafe, your eyes scanned near and far for any sight of the black haired boy. you were about to give up, when you heard a voice,

“stalking me now?” you immediately froze, too nervous to turn back. you felt jaemin’s hand on your shoulder, slowly turning your around to face him.

“i-i no it’s not what it looks like-“

“it’s fine, you must have missed me, no?” he let a cocky grin land on his face. you just rolled your eyes, ready to walk right back out that door.

“let’s get up to some trouble today” he gripped your wrist gently, dragging you out of the cafe. he didn’t let go of you, once again, you were aimlessly following him. why did you let him do this to you?

jaemin wasn’t too much of a talker, he tended to try and speak with his eyes. you found it interesting, the way he expected you to know exactly what was on his mind. he eventually stopped walking after reaching an abandoned building. you were beginning to feel slightly anxious, noticing that the sun was slowly setting and the breeze was getting cooler. jaemin plopped his carry bag on the concrete floor, you heard clinking sounds erupt from the bag. he moved to pull out a few spray cans.

“ever graffitied?” you shook your head,

“not spray painting, but i’ve drawn some not so pleasant pictures in the bathroom stalls” you shrug as he handed you a can of bright yellow spray paint. he slightly chuckled at your anecdote, which made you look down at the ground.

“well you won’t get in trouble for messing up this place”

“what is this place anyway?” you start to shake the can, watching as jaemin started spraying onto the blank wall.

“somewhere i come when i don’t feel like going home” you weren’t sure if you wanted to press him to elaborate, so you just nodded, beginning to spray a random design of your own.

jaemin found hanging around you quite amusing. you were always up for anything he wanted to do. you seemed so cheerful about the simplest things, and never pushed him to explain the questionable things about himself. you were a lot different than the people he would usually surround himself with. but like many things in na jaemin’s life, they often went sour very quickly.

//

And I watched as you fled the scene

Doe-eyed as you buried me

One heart broke, four hands bloody

//

jaemin had asked you to accompany him to the abandoned building one night. you were half asleep and freezing to death as you approached his car. it was quite beat up, making you worried,

“is this thing even safe to be driving?” you groan as you wrap yourself in your large puffer jacket. jaemin had previously insisted you bring a sleeping bag and pillow. you chose not to question it, too tired to argue back with him.

“don’t disrespect my sweet ride! be grateful i didn’t make you walk in the cold” he scoffed before starting the engine. the car ride was fairly quiet, you were drifting in and out of sleep, in which jaemin noticed. he thought you looked so peaceful, so he tried his best not to make any sharp turns or run over many speed bumps. in a matter of time, he parked the car, gently wiggling your shoulder. you woke up instantly, feeling his cold hand on your cheek. you furrowed your eyebrows before following him out of the car. he led you to the same wall you both had graffitied on before, but this time, it seemed to have become a complete picture.

“i wanted to show you this! isn’t it cool?” he gleamed, pulling you to his side, slightly rubbing your shoulder to warm you up. you quickly ignored his touch, focusing back on the wall. it was a mirage of different doodles and words that must have meant something to jaemin.

“this is amazing, you did this all by yourself?”

“yeah, i really wanted to see your reaction”

“what does it all mean?”

“it’s kind of a representation of what goes on in my mind? i’m not the best with expressing my feelings with words, so i decided to let it out on this wall” jaemin spoke with such ease, his voice filling your ears with warmth. he pulled you closer to him when he saw you shiver,

“care to share?” you slightly joked. jaemin never got too deep with you, so you assumed he would brush the comment off. but he just stares back at you, his eyes piercing into your own. you held your breath as he leaned in closer to you.

“sure thing” he slowly leads you back to the car, turning on the heater as you both wrapped yourselves in sleeping bags. you were huddled up in the back seat, your head leaning on his shoulder as he played with his fingers.

“i never had an outlet for my imagination. my parents weren’t the most warm or loving people in the world. i barely remember anything from my childhood, except for the unpleasant memories. when i started hanging out with some of the older kids, they showed me the ropes of their crew. they taught me how to graffiti, how to carve things with a pocket knife, you know, basic seventh grade stuff” he let out a soft chuckle, but you didn’t laugh. instead you placed your hand over his, feeling the coldness shoot through your body.

“i-i don’t like showing how i feel. because i think it makes me weak, or pitiful. that’s a bad way of thinking, but i can’t help it. so i let out my frustrations here, by either spray painting or smashing random things. it’s nice to get it all out” he stops speaking, his posture suddenly stiffening. you lifted your head from his shoulder, forcing him to look over at you.

“i’m here to listen to you. you don’t have to result to destroying things in order to reveal your feelings. you can just talk to me next time, okay?” you assured him, tightening your grip on his hand. jaemin just nodded, his eyes faltering from yours. why were you so considerate towards him?

“wanna know why i punched yuna in the face?” you saw jaemin crack a smile, nodding frantically.

“she said some things about my family, how they only took me in because they felt sorry for me. see, i’m actually a foster kid, my real parents weren’t in the ‘right state of mind’ to take care of me. well, in the eyes of the law atleast” jaemin didn’t know how to respond, opting to pulling your head back into his shoulder.

“i know she was just trying to rile me up, my foster parents aren’t terrible. but hearing those words just struck a nerve. how can people be so judgmental?”

“that’s just life, love. everyone will always have their own opinions, but it’s up to you, on how to respond. or you can simply choose to ignore them, it’s always worked for me” jaemin started tracing small patterns on the back of your hand, feeling his eyes become drowsy.

“but i don’t want to always ignore my problems. i want to be able to face them, how else will i grow as a person?” you sighed,

“we grow each and every day, most of the time we don’t notice. you’re doing better than you think. sure, you’ll grow up soon enough, you’ll develop your own identity, but for now, enjoy the moment. don’t care too much about what others think, this is your life to lead” jaemin looked down at you, feeling a warm sensation reach his heart.

“for someone who doesn’t like speaking his mind, you sure give some great advice. promise we’ll be there for eachother?” you pull out your pinky finger from his grip, watching as he blinks for a few seconds. you sensed some hesitation, but blamed it on him being tired. eventually, jaemin linked his pink with yours, sealing it with a gentle press of his lips. you couldn’t hide how flustered you had gotten, burying your head in his chest as he started stroking your hair.

“thankyou for being with me tonight” he mumbled as he felt himself fall asleep,

“anytime”

//

sometimes jaemin would leave you hanging for days on end. at first you would get concerned, mainly for his own safety. you were never sure what he got up to in his spare time, and to be honest, you didn’t want to know. but after a certain amount of days, he would pop back into your life that nothing happened, as if no time had passed. today was one of those days. he was sitting on your bedroom floor, flicking through your history notes. you couldn’t pry your eyes away from him, he looked so peaceful.

“you’re so much smarter than me” he huffs, scratching his head as he closed your notebook.

“no way, i’m pretty average. you’re more street smart than i am” jaemin perks up at your words,

“i guess i am huh” he smirks to himself, making you slightly smile.

“i can help you study if you want, you need a pass, right?” you scooted over to him, sitting so that your shoulders brushed against eachother.

“well yes, technically. but passing doesn’t secure i’ll get into college. not that i can even go” he shrugs, eyes focused on his rings, beginning to fiddle with them.

“what do you mean?”

“i don’t have the grades, my parents barely have any money saved for my college fund. i don’t have a job, you see the issue here?” you sensed him stiffen up next to you, this topic clearly striking a nerve within him. you placed a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing it,

“you know college isn’t for everyone. i’m sure you will be able to live a good life” jaemin knew you were trying your best to cheer him up. but these were constant thoughts and struggles he had been dealing with for what seemed like a lifetime. he knew you would never fully understand, and he couldn’t be mad at you for that.

“y-yeah, i’ll be fine” he sighs, linking is fingers with yours. you worried about jaemin so much, it slowly began to take over your mind. you caught yourself thinking about him more often, how you wanted to be there for him during his dark times. but jaemin always shoved off the idea of getting too deep with his emotions. sure, he trusted you with most things, but there was always a thought in the back of his mind. you were way too good for him.

//

“what is this?” you smiled brightly at the boy standing across from you. he was leant up against your locker, gift bag in his hands, shoving it towards you.

“a token of my appreciation for our growing friendship” you chose to ignore the last word, your feelings towards jaemin still being undecided.

you slowly open the bag, your eyes landing on a small box. you furrowed your eyebrows, before opening it.

“t-this is beautiful, jaemin. how did you afford this?” you gasped, pulling out the shiny necklace from the delicate box. it was a silver chain, that sparkled under the light at just the right angle. there was a small pendent latched onto it, a butterfly.

“don’t worry about that, do you like it?” he grinned at you, taking in your ecstatic reaction,

“of course! i cant thank you enough!”

you pull him into a warm hug, arms tightening around his torso. jaemin chuckled softly, bringing his arms to wrap around your frame, slowly swaying you side to side.

“being there for me is enough, i promise”

//

The things I did

Just so I could call you mine

The things you did

Well, I hope I was your favorite crime

//

the following few days, jaemin went MIA again. you were beginning to become annoyed by his lack of communication. you wanted to believe he was gone for good reason, but something in your gut sensed something worse was happening. that’s when you decided to go to the abandoned building, remembering he often went there when he wanted to be alone. not having a car of your own caused many issues in your life. like right now, you were huffing and puffing once you hopped off your bicycle. you quickly set it aside, making your way to the building. before you turned to the main corridor that you met jaemin in many times before, you heard hushed voices, one belonging to the boy in question.

“we need this deal done asap. no excuses” a deep voice echoes through the building. you couldn’t get a good look at them without being caught, so you remained hidden behind a huge slab of concrete.

“b-but what if they think i’m scamming them because i’m new?” jaemin squeaked. you had never heard him so worried before.

“well you better think of some way to get them to buy, we can’t risk anymore losses. take this as initiation into the big boys club” what the hell was going on?

soon enough, the small group of men had left the building, walking past the concrete slab you were hiding behind. you let out a sigh of relief before rushing to jaemin. his eyes widened at the sight of you, part of him wanting to yell at you for being so stupid.

“what are you doing here?!” he was mad.

“i could ask you the same thing” you scoffed. jaemin suddenly became quiet, eyes avoiding yours.

“what’s going on? and i want the truth. the whole truth” he just sighed, dragging you back to his car. you folded your arms, in disbelief from what you had heard prior.

“i-i’m helping them with some deals okay? it’s just a side hustle to get some cash, i want to get out of this town. this is the only way”

“what are you dealing? drugs?” you gasped, watching as jaemin snapped his neck to face you.

“yes, it’s not as bad as you think-“

“not as bad? they’re literally part of a gang. do you know what happens to people who don’t seal these deals?” you couldn’t believe what you were hearing.

“i know the risks. but i’m desperate. i just need enough to buy an apartment in another city and finally start my life” jaemin doesn’t know why he’s bothering trying to explain this to you. he brushed his fingers through his hair roughly, letting out a groan as he did so.

“when i said there are ways for you to live a good life, i didn’t mean deal drugs. i meant get an apprenticeship or something! literally anything but this”

“there’s nothing you can do to change my mind. i already swore i’d do this deal. i need the money. you wouldn’t understand” jaemin struck back, feeling attacked by your words.

“what the hell is that supposed to mean? i-i can’t do this. come back to me when you’ve come to your senses. this is stupid and you know it” you rush out of his car, causing jaemin to trail behind you as you stumbled to find your bike.

“come with me” you stopped in your tracks.

“pardon?”

“come with me to the deal. i-i don’t want to go alone” he says barely above a whisper,

“you’re crazy if you think i’ll follow you like a lost pup-“ jaemin pressed his lips on yours, hands stuck to your waist, gently rubbing your sides as he deepened the kiss. your words became jumbled as he continued to kiss you. as much as you wanted to argue back with him, feeling his lips on yours was only something you had experienced in your dreams.

“please” he whispered, pulling away from you momentarily.

“o-okay” you whispered back, hands now on his shoulders. jaemin smirked with pride before pulling you in once again. he led you back to his car, dragging you into the backseat. he began trailing kisses down your neck, erupting a pleased sigh from you. and just like that, you were wrapped around his silly little finger.

//

you were now seated in the passenger seat of jaemin’s busted ass car. your nerves were off the charts, and so were his. you had never seen him so anxious before, he was breathing in quick successions and couldn’t stop shaking.

“just get it over and done with...okay? get in and get out” you try your best to ease his nerves but how much could you really say? you were encouraging him to commit to a drug deal, this was not how you expected your friday night to go.

jaemin just nodded, clutching onto something in his jacket pocket. he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead, gently stroking your hair as he did so.

“thankyou for coming with me” he mumbled. you just nodded, trying to ignore your intense gut feeling that something was going to go wrong. he led you by your waist into the noisy bar. you kept your head down, allowing jaemin to gain sight of the clients. he didn’t let you approach the group of men, so you tried to distract yourself with a random fruity cocktail from the bar. it wasn’t enough to push aside your worries.

after what seemed like hours, you caught sight of jaemin, who seemed like he was in a rush. he quickly scooped you away from your seat, swiftly leading you out of the bar. before you could even open your mouth, he interjects,

“no time for questions, get in the car now” he harshly shoved you into the passenger seat. now you were more worried than before.

“what the fuck is going on?!” jaemin didn’t answer you, starting the engine of the car. before you could press him any further, the same group of men rushed out of the bar, eyes scanning for the boy next to you. this wasn’t good.

“may or may not have given them the wrong amount...nothing a little hide and seek can’t fix!” jaemin tried to laugh it off, but you knew he was equally as scared. his dingy car wouldn’t start, adding to the panic in the atmosphere. the group of men were already in their own vehicle, approaching jaemin’s car rather quickly.

“fuck fuck fuck” he began shouting, slamming his foot on the accelerator as the car hurled forward. in a matter of time, he was speeding down the street. he probably ran a couple red lights and a few stop signs, but he wasn’t fazed. you on the other hand, were about to throw up. jaemin kept taking sharp turns to throw off the car chasing you, he barely looked back. you were terrified in this moment. anything could go wrong, one wrong turn, and it could all be over. soon enough, he stopped right outside the all too familiar abandoned building. he was out of breath, the adrenaline still present in his system. you were completely frozen, still in shock at what had occurred.

“wasn’t that riveting?” he smirked. he fucking smirked?

“are you kidding me? that was fucking insane. d-don’t do this again. i don’t want any part of this anymore” you began tearing up, feeling your heart pump out of your chest. jaemin’s face dropped as he tried to hold your hand, in which you pulled away immediately.

“t-take me home. please.” he didn’t say anything back to you. he respected your wishes and took you home safely. you didn’t even want to think about the punishment he would receive from the gang for messing up the deal. the only thought of your mind was your own safety. jaemin risked your safety this time around. you would have done anything for him, but in this moment, you were beginning to regret it. na jaemin was trouble. and you needed to stay away from trouble.

//

staying away from na jaemin was harder than you thought. subtle glances from across the classroom or school courtyard wasn’t doing you any good. so you sought refuge in the library. somehow he managed to find you there too.

“y/n, please, talk to me” you continued to read the novel you weren’t interested in, trying your best to remain angry. he sat across from you, pulling down the book from your face, eyes begging to meet yours.

“there’s nothing left to say” he just sighs, never seeing you be so stubborn.

“i know what i did was wrong, i shouldn’t have put you in that posit-“

“can we please not discuss this here? where anyone can hear us?” you quickly interrupt him, pulling him to the school parking lot. out of habit, jaemin led you to his car, opening the passenger side door for you. you got chills as you sat in the seat once again, the memories flooding back.

“i-i’m sorry. i shouldn’t have brought you into it. i just didn’t want to be alone...you’re the only person who doesn’t make me feel alone.” jaemin could barely look at you, too embarrassed of being vulnerable.

“you know how i’m against what you’re doing. and i know i can’t change your mind. i just can’t keep worrying about your safety. it hurts me knowing that you could get hurt one day” you began sniffling, which made jaemin’s heart ache. he pulled your face to meet his own, staring at your soft features. he slowly guided his fingers to wipe away your tears.

“don’t worry too much about me, love. i’ll be just fine” he pressed a soft kiss to your lips, and just like that, you were dragged right back into his arms.

“be careful” you whispered against his lips,

“always”

//

You used me as an alibi

I crossed my heart as you crossed the line

And I defended you to all my friends

//

jaemin wasn’t careful. not in the slightest. he showed up at your window, hands clutching to his lower torso area as he stumbled into your room. you hushed him to be as quiet as he could but you immediately knew something was wrong. he practically fell to his knees, soft whimpers and sighs leaving his mouth. you quickly moved to turn on your lights, taking a better look at the boy in pain. your eyes travelled along his face, covered in scratches and bruises.

“you good with playing medic tonight?” he joked, trying to relieve the tension. but you were not having any of it. you pulled him into your bed, allowing him to lay on his back. he had an array of cuts over his body, including a large gash on his lower lip. you swiftly rushed to the bathroom, grabbing your not so impressive first aid kit, but it would have to do for now. you tried your best to disinfect what you cold, until you reached his torso. you saw there were specks of blood leaking onto his t shirt, which made you more worried than you were initially. jaemin just sighed, lifting up his shirt slowly. your eyes were glued on the painful wound plastered on the right side of his body.

“d-did someone stab you?!” you felt tears prickle the side of your eyes. how could he be so stupid?

“n-no, its just a cut, it’s not even that deep” he tried to play it off, but the moment you pressed the cleansing wipe onto the wound, he winced.

“stop playing the tough guy. i hate when you play tough guy” you groan, trying your best to tend to his wound. jaemin watched as your expression changed from one of concern, to annoyance.

“hey, don’t be mad at me, okay?” he brought his hand to hover over your thigh, gently stroking his fingers on the surface.

“i’m sorry” he whispered, trying his best to sit up, but you immediately pushed him back down. you moved to lay next to him, allowing yourself to finally look him in the eyes.

“i can’t always be here to take care of you like this, jaemin. as much as i want to, there are going to be times where i just can’t. you have to understand that”

“of course, i didn’t expect you to be my personal nurse or anything. i just don’t want you to leave” his words sank deeply into your thoughts.

“i-i won’t leave”

“thankyou. i promise i will take you out and we will have fun. like old times. we can go on a road trip, or even that stupid homecoming dance you keep talking about. i’ll do anything to make it up to you because i ca-“ he immediately stopped himself, clutching his side.

“just get some rest, we can continue this discussion another day. goodnight jaem” you just sighed, turning on your back to face him. jaemin didn’t know why he couldn’t finish his sentence. he does care about you. more than anyone else in the world. but why couldn’t he just say it?

you on the other hand, were too busy imagining your future with jaemin. would he be there as your partner in crime for life? or was he just someone passing by to teach you a lesson? you weren’t too sure you wanted to find out.

//

“y/n, principal lee wants to see you in his office” your economics teacher informed you during class, eyes of classmates following you as you left the room. you swore you hadn’t done anything remotely mischievous lately, besides snatching a cheat sheet for the upcoming final.

“ah yes y/n, please take a seat” principal lee invited you into his office. you tried your best to stay focused on the stubby man in front of you but you couldn’t ignore the two police officers standing to the side.

“you wanted to see me, sir?”

“yes, these officers are here to ask you some questions. don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble. they just need some information for their investigation” he explains as best he could, shifting the conversation over to the two officers.

“as principal lee mentioned, we just need information. are you comfortable with us asking you a few questions?” you slowly nodded, hands beginning to clam up.

“we have reason to believe your friend, na jaemin, has been involved in an incident that occurred last thursday. he claims he was present with you that night. can you confirm this?” you immediately froze. you swore you didn’t even blink. that was the night he came to your window, all banged up a bruised. but you couldn’t tell them that part. so you went with a variation of the truth,

“yes, he was with me, we often study together and watch movies on thursdays.” you tried your best to maintain eye contact, not wanting to draw any more attention.

“have you noticed anything odd in his behaviour lately?” you knew they were just following protocol, but you weren’t prepared for any of this.

“not really. he is quite reserved naturally, but there hasn’t been anything too alarming, in my opinion” the officers just nodded, scribbling down your words.

“thankyou for your time, if we were to need any more statements from you, would you be okay with that?” you simply nodded, wanting nothing more than to get back to class.

“great, we’ll be heading off now, thankyou principal lee, and y/n” you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. what in god’s name happened that night?

“why were the cops coming out of the office? did you do something?” your friend, jimin asked you as she rushed to your side.

“n-no, they were asking about jaemin” you sighed. you didn’t want to tell her much, knowing she wasn’t his biggest fan.

“y/n, you have to stop hanging out with him so much. he’s bad news. i mean, he’s got the cops questioning you? is that someone you really want to be with?” you knew she had your best interest at heart, but she didn’t know jaemin like you did. no one did.

“don’t talk about him like he’s some pest in my life. he makes me happy, okay? i’d do pretty much anything for him” you huff, beginning to walk away.

“but would he do anything for you?” her words made you stop in your tracks. she was right to question that. god, even you questioned it sometimes. would he?

//

And now every time a siren sounds

I wondеr if you're around

'Cause you know that I'd do it all again

//

jaemin insisted he take you to the homecoming dance — he even pinky promised you.

“jaemin! i’m so excited for tonight, what time are you coming by?” you excitedly squeal into the phone, making jaemin slightly chuckle.

“uh love, i-i don’t think i can make it tonight” you felt your heart drop.

“what? why?”

“i have some business to take care of. i promise you i’ll take you out soo-“

“i think you should stop making promises you can’t keep. hope you have fun doing whatever you’re doing” you immediately hung up, wiping the stray tears from your face. you quickly pulled yourself together. showing up alone to the homecoming dance after you told your friends you were going with jaemin, was probably one of the most embarrassing things you had ever experienced. they all felt pity for you, dragging you to dance, trying to get you to forget about jaemin. but nothing was working. you were beyond disappointed, partially in yourself, for believing he could actually keep his promise.

the moment you got home, you saw someone sitting on the steps just outside your front door. you let out a loud sigh, hoping he heard everything. you wanted to push right past him and go to bed, but jaemin trapped you in his arms. you felt something was off about him. he was stiff as a board, he didn’t say anything to you. you finally got a glimpse of his face, his right eye was swollen and there was a slight gash on his cheek. you immediately gasped, all your anger towards him had fizzled away.

“w-what happened?” you barely whispered, bringing your hand to the side of his face. jaemin winced as he felt the touch, quickly pulling away.

“finally got what was coming” he tried to laugh it off, but he knew you weren’t going to laugh back. instead, you allowed him to follow you to your room, hoping your parents were fast sleep.

jaemin slowly made his way to sit on your bed. you felt like he had something else he was hiding from you, but your main focus was yet again, tending to his wounds.

“i’m getting some real déjà vu right now” you sighed, cleaning his face. jaemin tried his best to not move, but everything stung. he really got it bad this time.

“i’m sorry for breaking my promise. i know how much the dance meant to you” he softly muttered, eyes avoiding yours.

“i-it’s okay”

“no it’s not! you do so much for me, and i couldn’t even do this one thing for you. i feel so shitty. why do you even keep me around? i’m deadweight and that’s trouble for someone with wings” he scoffs, replaying harsh words he had heard from others in the past. you slowly plucked away the medical kit, turning to face him properly. (a/n: not me using a quote from the show ‘panic’)

“you’re not deadweight...you’re a good person, jaem. you’re good to me, that’s what matters” you gently push away the stray strands of hair that covered his forehead. he smiled at your touch, leaning into your palm as you brought it to cup his cheek.

“i love you”

you almost choked on your own saliva...he loves you?

“w-what?”

“yikes, not the response i was hoping for” he yet again, tried to relieve the tension with a joke. but you weren’t having any of it.

“can you be serious for one minute in your life? you can’t just say something like that and not expect me to freak out! i mean, do i love you too? of course i do! i would be stupid not to, but jaemin, you cant just spit that out of nowhere!” you began pacing around your room, which made jaemin smile even wider.

“well i just did. and i mean it” he stood to meet you, standing in the middle of your room as he held your shoulders in place.

“s-so what happens now?” jaemin hesitated for a moment, did he just ruin everything?

“we can’t be together”

“pardon?”

“i-i can’t do that to you. i can’t let you be with someone like me. i’m constant danger. the cops are going to get me one day, and i don’t want you to see it happen” he started rambling, you were barely understanding anything.

“this makes no sense. you’re telling me that you love me but you can’t be with me? why would you do this to me?” you started sobbing,

“i-i don’t expect you to understand. i just needed to tell you before...” he paused, pulling you closer to him. but you pushed yourself away. you didn’t want to hear anymore but forced yourself to listen. you needed answers.

“before what?” you gritted through your teeth,

“before i leave” your eyes widened, tears stopped flowing for a moment. you couldn’t make out any words, allowing jaemin to explain,

“i cant stay here, not in this town. i need to go somewhere else. somewhere they won’t find me. somewhere i can start over” he sighed, sitting back down on your bed.

“take me with you! we can go tonight, i don’t care where i am, as long as you’re with me i’ll be okay!” you begged, pulling out your duffel bag from under your bed. but jaemin quickly gripped your wrists, pulling you to sit with him on the bed.

“y-you can’t come with me. it’s not fair on you, or me. i want you to have a better life, a life with no regrets. you have so many goals, i can’t hold you back from them. i won’t” he insisted, holding your hands in his as he pleaded you with his eyes. you weren’t thinking straight, everything became so overwhelming.

“why are you doing this to me? i cant do this without you! i cant get through all of this without you. please don’t leave” your hands began to shake. jaemin brought them to his lips, placing soft pecks on each knuckle in an attempt to calm you down.

“you can. i know you can. because you’re you. an incredibly loyal, intelligent and courageous person. you don’t need me. if anything, i need you more” he smirked at the last part. you kept shaking your head, not believing anything he was saying.

“just promise me one thing?” he whispered, leaning in closer to you so that your foreheads touched.

“don’t forget me. don’t forget all the things we got up to. i had so much fun with you, more fun than i’ve had in my entire life. i can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me. i love you, okay? i’ll always love you” finally, he kissed you. his hands dragged to your waist, rubbing over the soft skin. you shined into the kiss, partially still upset with his departure.

“can we just have one last night together?” you pulled away, wiping away the rest of your tears. jaemin softly nodded, pulling you down onto the bed, wrapping his arms around you.

“thankyou for being my partner in crime. i’ll miss you” he sighed, gently scribbling random doodles on your arm with his fingers.

“i miss you already. maybe one day, we’ll meet again? i don’t know, am i being silly?” you didn’t want him to answer, afraid he’d break another promise.

“you’re not silly at all. we’ll see what life has planned for us” he responded. that was enough for you. you’ll leave it up to fate. you were just happy you were spending one last night with the boy you loved so dearly.

//

It's bittersweet to think about the damage that we'd do

'Cause I was goin' down, but I was doin' it with you

Yeah, everything we broke and all the trouble that we made

But I say that I hate you with a smile on my face

Oh, look what we became

//

you awoke the very next morning in an empty bed. your heart sunk, knowing jaemin was gone had finally hit you. your eyes drifted to where he once was, landing on a piece of paper.

‘go to the building for one last goodbye. i hope you like it.

- jaem <3 ‘

you quickly got changed and rushed there as fast as you could. would he be there to bid you farewell? you weren’t betting on it, but was still curious as to what he had to show you. you made your way into the building, your eyes cascading over all the graffiti. finally, you saw exactly what he left for you. he painted over the mural you both worked on. it had been replaced with a painting of a butterfly. its wings were all different colours, you could tell he spent ages on it. you finally reached the bottom of the artwork, a small inscription was engraved,

‘for the one with the wings, keep on soaring’

“so cheesy, i hate it” you joke to yourself, smiling at his words. this was his final gift for you. as you admired the painting once again, memories of all your little adventures came rushing back. everything you did together seemed like an eternity ago. although you wished you had confessed to him sooner, or kissed him harder, you knew that he was gone for good. jaemin wasn’t the time to keep many promises, so you’ve learnt. you started to put your faith in the universe. if you were meant to be, then you would meet again. but for now, you were content with everything you had gone through together. you were grateful to have known someone as amazing as jaemin, and you would never take that for granted. you only hoped he would do the same, no matter where you both were in life. you hoped you could both grow wings and soar through life without any regrets.