#i should have saved before dracula

[beevean]

Just an experiment. Obviously the run can be improved, but I had tons of fun trying to dash through the castle as quickly as possible (while still minding enemies and hearts to collect).

I used this color hack for the novelty of it, since shaders don't appear in recorded videos.

Anyway Maxim Mode is a ton of fun and HoD is a game I enjoy a lot <3

[star-sim]

hopeless ☆ heeseung lee

☆ horrendously down bad! heeseung x fem! reader ☆ summary: absolutely no one would have expected the dark, brooding, and rough heeseung lee to be hopelessly head over heels in love with the sweet, oblivious you. especially you. even with the help of practically the entire year, it's almost pathetic the way heeseung struggles to utter three, simple words to you, let alone look you in the eye. ☆ genre: fluff!!! pining, SUPER WHIPPED HEESEUNG, high school! au, non-idol! au, a lot of 01 liner idols + the rest of enha make appearances, btw this follows the asian school system, SO MUCH FLIRTING OMG, heeseung is kinda pathetic and awk ☆ warning(s)? swearing and dumb characters lol, there is one SA scene, but it is not graphic + very minor violence ☆ word count: 10.8k ☆ this is extremely based off of "danger" by bts, especially the lyric "you're cute, and i'm pathetic" lol enjoy!

Heeseung Lee was stressed. 

No. He was distraught. 

Distraught about how fucking cute you looked today.

Ever since he was a kid, Heeseung loved Halloween, because he loved Trick-or-Treating with his older brother and cousins. However now, at the age of seventeen, he found himself resenting it. Not because there was any issue with the holiday, but because today was Halloween. 

From across the classroom, Heeseung found himself staring, all dazed and empty-headed, at you, who was clad in your cute bunny costume. The way the fluffy, white ears stuck out from the top of your head, as well as the fluffy white coat draped around your shoulders, made you look so soft and cozy and adorable. The way your nose crinkled as you laughed with your friends, sweet sounds coming from your lips as you threw your head back. 

Were you real? How could anyone be so goddamn beautiful and not be an actual angel sent from above? What country did Heeseung save in his past life in order to get to be in your presence in this life?

"Dude, you're staring," a new voice interjected.

"What?" Heeseung tore his eyes away from you. "I wasn't."

Beomgyu Choi was one of Heeseung's classmates. And, like everyone else in their year, Beomgyu knew how enamored Heeseung was with you. Other than yourself, of course.

"I'm tellin' you," Beomgyu plopped down onto his seat, which was beside Heeseung's. He slid his chair so that he would be closer to his classmate, before throwing an arm around Heeseung. "You need to make a move. Like, now."

Heeseung glanced over at his classmate. If he ignored the fake blood on Beomgyu's chin, as well as the fake, plastic vampire teeth and the god-awful Spirit Halloween Dracula cape, he'd know that Beomgyu was 100% correct. 

Everyone (and seriously, everyone) knew that Heeseung Lee had the biggest, juiciest, most obnoxious crush on you. In fact, your own friends had even tasked themselves with the job of putting in a good word for Heeseung, saying things like "Isn't he so cool?" into your ear to hopefully guide you straight into his arms. It's such a well-known fact that some of your teachers have purposefully placed you and Heeseung next to or near each other in order to help him with his more-than-obvious crush. 

With such a big, school-wide effort, it should be expected that at least some progress was made.

Wrong!

Not even a single stroke of progress has been made.

Probably because there was one teensy, weensy, eensy, problem: Heeseung was an absolute mess around you. Heeseung was known as this tall, blunt, and rough guy at school. When he wasn't silently judging everyone, he hung out with his group of friends, who had a reputation for being delinquents. Heeseung Lee, clad in his iconic black leather jacket, was intimidating, and usually had no problem speaking up for himself. But around you? Absolutely not.

If anyone thought that Heeseung Lee could easily speak to you, they were out of their goddamn mind. There were too many instances where your classmates would push Heeseung and you together, only for him to blow it because he was completely incapable of looking you in the eye without turning red. 

In Heeseung's defense, you were the most beautiful person in the world— How is he not supposed to get nervous?

"You know I can't," Heeseung murmured, clenching his fists.

Beomgyu rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Hee. What happened to banger Heeseung Lee? Heeseung Lee that beats up kids? I didn't think you'd be scared of talking to girls."

"First of all," Heeseung frowned, "I'm not a banger and I don't beat up kids. And also, I'm not scared of talking to girls."

His classmate quirked a brow. "Really?" Heeseung nodded. "Because the last time I remember, you could barely get a word out in front of [Name]."

At the sound of your name, Heeseung jerked in his seat, reaching out to grasp Beomgyu's arm. "Shhhh, don't say her name so loud!" he hissed, eyes quivering over to where you were with your friends.

"What?" Beomgyu looked around indiscreetly. "It's not a secret to anyone how you feel about [Name]."

"Shhhh! Shut up!"

When the bell rang, everyone scurried to their seat, and class began. As Beomgyu tuned out the sound of the teacher's voice, he couldn't help but notice the way Heeseung's eyes were completely glued to you. It was almost laughable, the way the boy's eyes were wide, staring at you like you were some god.

Oh god, Heeseung Lee was hopeless.

"Heeseung-hyung, are you free tomorrow?"

It was lunch time. Heeseung and his friends liked to hang around the rooftop of the school, because it was always empty. And plus, no one wanted to be where Heeseung and his friends were— they were too scary!

Heeseung looked at his younger Australian friend, Jake Sim (or Jaeyun Sim, as his official documents stated), who had just asked that question. Heeseung took a bite of the instant ramen that they bought from the vending machine.

"Yeah, why?"

"Good. Because you have a date with [Name] tomorrow."

Heeseung choked. As he coughed, his other younger friend, Sunoo Kim, let out a whine.

"Hyuuunggg!" Sunoo pouted. "Why'd you tell him?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise!" Riki Nishimura, the group's Japanese foreign exchange student friend, added, elbowing Jake in the ribs.

"Whatever," Jake crossed his arms. When Riki nudged him again, Jake opened his mouth to holler, "Jay, back me up!"

Jongseong "Jay" Park was another one of Heeseung's friends, probably the closest person to him. 

"You guys know Heeseung-hyung is going to fuck it up either way, right?" Jay said. "Remember last time?"

"Yeah," Sunghoon Park joined in. "No matter how much we prepared him, Heeseung-hyung still acted like a fucking idiot."

"I'm right here!" Heeseung shouted, still hitting his chest to dislodge the ramen that he choked on. 

Jungwon Yang, the seventh person in their friend group, put a hand on the older boy's shoulder, his lips lifting up into a half-teasing grin, revealing sharp canine teeth, "Hyung, don't listen to them. I think you'll really impress [Name] tomorrow."

It was Heeseung's turn to elbow Jungwon in the ribs.

When Heeseung finally finished coughing up a storm, his friends were already onto another topic, making plans for the next weekend.

"Hey, hey!" Heeseung grumbled. "Aren't you guys going to explain this so-called 'date with [Name]'?"

"What's there to explain?" Riki said. "You're going on a date with [Name]. End of story."

The eldest of the group's face contorted. "What are you guys even saying—"

"Well, it's not technically a date," Sunghoon said, taking a sip of his juice box. "You're, like, hanging out with [Name] though."

That still didn't answer Heeseung's question. 

"When? Where? What time?" he spluttered, eager for answers.

Jake huffed exasperatedly. "Do we have to explain to you everything? It's not that deep, man."

Jungwon rolled his eyes. "Hyung, [Name]'s friends are the presidents of the Environment and Ecology Club, and there's a social tomorrow. It's like birdhouse painting, or something. [Name] is attending to support her friend, so we signed you up, too."

"Birdhouse painting?!" Sunoo's features morphed into confusion. "I thought they were making bracelets?"

"No, I thought there were weaving baskets?" Riki frowned.

"Whatever it is, it sounds lame as hell," Jay remarked.

Jungwon rolled his eyes again, earning a punch on his arm. "Whatever it is, it'll be a great opportunity for you to talk to [Name]." 

The younger boy offered Heeseung a reassuring smile, only to receive a pensive one in return.

When classes resumed, Heeseung felt light-headed and distracted the entire time as he processed the fact that he was going to be around you tomorrow.

Oh god, he sounded like a total loser. Did the mere thought of being in your presence make him nervous? Yes, yes it did. You were just so pretty and sweet, he had no idea what to do. Poor boy, his teeth dug into his bottom lip, clammy palms pressing into the underside of his desk. His knee bounced, and there was absolutely no way that he could even make out a single word the teacher was saying.

Heeseung was going to pass out. 

"Hey, Heeseung?"

That's your voice. It was so pretty and nice on his ears. Was he in heaven? He wouldn't be surprised if your voice was the voice of an angel.

"Heeseung?"

Heeseung was convinced that he was in heaven now. What he wouldn't do to hear your voice every second of his life.

"Heeseung!" another voice interjected. That's what snapped Heeseung out of his daze. Too deep in his head, Heeseung hadn't noticed that the class period ended, and the short passing period had already begun.

At his desk stood Yunjin Huh, Minjeong "Winter" Kim, and... oh my god... you. The three of you had somewhat matching Halloween costumes: Yunjin was a gray mouse, Winter was a cat, and you were a bunny. And now that he looked at it, you all were holding a bag of candy.

While your two friends were giving him the"Are you serious?" looks, you looked at him with wide, kind eyes.

"Heeseung?" your beautiful voice said, fingers reaching into the candy bag that you were holding. "Would you like candy?"

He stared at you. You were giving out candy to everyone in class because it was Halloween... You're such an angel... What did the world do to deserve you...

Winter stepped on Heeseung's foot, snapping him out of his daze once again. The boy let out a small yelp in pain, and as the embarrassment settled in, he heard you let out a small giggle, lips raising up to show off your teeth.

Oh my god, he was going to die.

"Y-Yeah," he stammered out, cursing himself internally. Heeseung couldn't help but feel everyone in class's gaze glued to him. When you handed him a piece of candy, your hand brushed up against his. Heeseung could feel his ears becoming hot, the warmth rising to his neck.

You smiled at him, before saying in a sing-songy voice, "Happy Halloween!"

Heeseung had to force himself not to stare like an absolute fool.

He was really hopeless.

hee: jay i don't think i can do it tomorrow

It was 2AM when Heeseung texted Jay. He spent the entire night thinking about the "date" (probably the least necessary word at the moment), and he simply couldn't sleep.

Heeseung had embarrassed himself too many times in front of you. Like that one time you and him were on cleaning duty together, and he was so distracted by you that he tripped over a bucket of water. Or that one time he sat next to you for a few weeks and his shoes kept squeaking against the floor, making it look like he was farting. Or when he tried to look cool and suave in front of you at some social your friends invited him to only to rip a hole in his pants. And then what happened today... He could not embarrass himself again.

hee: like i think i'm going to die if she sits next to me tomorrow

It was only a matter of seconds when his friend texted back.

jay: you'll be fine trust

Heeseung frowned.

hee: stop lying to me

hee: you know how i am around her

jay: i believe in you

jay: like srsly

hee: that's blind faith

Jay typed for a little bit, before stopping altogether. Heeseung huffed. Did his friend just leave him on read? A few minutes later Jay sent a Wikihow article.

'How to talk to your crush,' it was aptly named. Heeseung deadpanned.

hee: are you being fr right now

jay: give [name] your sexy heeseung charm and you'll be walking off into the sunset hand-in-hand with her in no time

jay: read the article btw

How was this guy an actual person?

hee: kill yourself

jay: give her that passionate, sexy, boiling hot, hotter-than-the-sun, steaming hot heeseung that makes her just want to come up to you and give you the fattest, juiciest kiss on the mouth, i know you can do it soldier

hee: DIE

Heeseung couldn't sleep all night.

At school, the entire day was just plagued with anxiety for what was to come. It didn't help that your friends kept turning around and giving him knowing looks throughout the day. When school finally let out, Heeseung went to the classroom where the birdhouse-painting-bracelet-making-basket-weaving social would be held. His friends told him to go there the moment that school ended, but when he came, there was literally no one there.

Until someone yanked him into the classroom.

"Hey!-" he yelped, before the door slammed. In front of him stood two people that he recognized: Sumin Bae and Sieun Park, two of your friends who also coincidentally were the co-presidents of the Environment and Ecology club.

Sumin cocked a brow at him, crossing her arms. "I hope you're not as hopeless as everyone says you are."

Heeseung opened his mouth to respond, but Sieun cut him off.

"Ugh, that doesn't matter," she pinched her nose-bridge. "We told [Name] to sit near the front, so you better sit there, too."

"Right-" 

Sumin cut him off, too.

"[Name]'s favorite color is pink, and her favorite Sanrio character is Keroppi," Sumin asserted. "And she really likes things that are cute, so like fruit patterns, hearts, stars, yada yada."

Heeseung blinked at them. "And this is relevant how...?"

Sumin and Sieun shared a look.

"You are completely hopeless."

As it turned out, they were giving him details about design-elements that you liked, so that Heeseung could somehow impress you with his birdhouse painting abilities (Jungwon was right, it was birdhouse painting). After info-dumping on him, they kicked him out of the classroom to actually prepare for the social.

As Heeseung was pushed out of the classroom, he bumped into someone. Just as he was about to say, "Watch where you're going," he realized that it was you. 

"Oh, hi, Heeseung!" you greet him cheerfully, your eyes pressing into thin slits as you smile. 

Quick! What does he do? "Hi... [Name]."

"Are you here for the social, too?" The way your eyes gazed at him made him feel shy already.

"Y-Yeah...."

"I didn't know you were interested in the Environment and Ecology club..." You remarked, and Heeseung panicked— Was it obvious that he was here exclusively for you?— but what you said next made him sigh in relief. "That's great! I'm so happy that I finally have someone familiar with me here!"

He's going to faint.

When the social began, you invited him to sit next to you. Heeseung felt stiff as he sat beside you, watching the way that you happily painted your small, wooden birdhouse. Heeseung wanted to start a conversation with you, but each time he thought of something to say, his voice caught in his throat. Sumin and Sieun had given him two dirty looks already, so he needed to make a move now or their efforts would be in vain.

"W-What's that?" he finally stuttered out, pointing to the glob of green on your birdhouse. 

You laugh airily, leaning closer to him so that he can see it better. "Can you guess?"

Heeseung tries to concentrate on guessing, but it's hard when you're close to him. Quick! What's green and something that you like?

"Is that... K-Keroppi?"

"Yeah!" Your face lit up, flashing him a cheeky grin. You nudged him with your elbow, raising your brows at him playfully. "Awww, Hee, you smarty pants! How'd you know?"

Hee?

OhmygodohmygodohmygodyoucalledhimHee.

You stopped laughing, pulling away from him. "Sorry, do you not like being called Hee? Beomgyu sometimes calls you that, so I thought-"

"No, I like it!" Heeseung blurted, a little louder than he wanted to, earning a few questioning looks from people around him. The boy felt abnormally warm, embarrassed at his outburst. "I-I'm okay with you calling me that..."

"Noted!" you said, before your lips curled upward. "Now... are you going to tell me how you could tell that this green blob was Keroppi?"

"Oh uhm..." Heeseung's lips were moving faster than his head, "Y-You dressed up as Keroppi last year for Halloween with Yunjin."

Almost like you were a cartoon character, you perked up at his statement. "You remember?"

Of course he did. How could he forget? You wore a cartoonishly-big red bow around your neck like Keroppi, and had a green Keroppi-style headband. You looked adorable, especially when you went around showing off a Keroppi keychain that you got at the Cinnamoroll Cafe in Hongdae to anyone that was willing to listen.

Heeseung found himself chuckling. "Of course I'd remember your massive red bow."

You stared at him for a few moments, before a bashful grin broke out on your face. You then buried your face in your hands, letting out a groan. "Ughhhh, that's so embarrassing!"

"How?"

It's going good so far, Heeseung thought. Just don't mess it up!

You pouted cutely, your bottom lip jutting out. In the light, he could see the gloss shining off of it so prettily. "My makeup was so fucked up last year, ughhh, it looked so bad."

You? Look bad? Impossible.

"What are you talking about?" Heeseung asked, his doe-like eyes scanning your embarrassed face. "I thought you looked cute."

You stared at him. It took a few pulses for Heeseung to realize what he just said. His face instantly turned three shades warmer and panic was evident in his expression.

"I-I mean— You jus—You were really—"

He shut his mouth when you began laughing. Laughing so hard that you clutched onto his knee, keeling over yourself. His cheeks burned.

You're laughing at him, aren't you? Did he fuck up?

When you noticed the sulky expression on his face, you stopped laughing.

"Sorry, Hee," you said, giving his knee a reassuring squeeze. "It's just... You look so intimidating, when you're really just a sweetheart."

If Heeseung was red before, he was quietly literally the color of a tomato. It was a wonder that the entire room’s temperature didn’t rise given the sheer amount of heat radiating off his person.

"A s-sweetheart?"

"Yeah!" you happily respond. "You're just the cutest, y'know? Like a little puppy."

As much as Heeseung wanted to die happily now that you called him cute, he needed to keep this conversation going. Sucking in a sharp breath, the boy looked at you in the eyes. "W-Well I think the same about you... [Name]."

You looked at him curiously, so he continued, his voice soft and sheepish, "I... also think that you're the cutest."

You blinked at him a few times, before the widest smile that he'd ever seen spread across your cheeks, stretching ear to ear. If only Heeseung wasn't too busy grappling with his shyness, he'd notice the way you let out a soft, bashful giggle, shaking your head and squeezing your eyes shut to keep yourself from being too visibly flustered. Slowly, with all the courage that you had left in you, you raised your hand and placed it on Heeseung's head. You ruffled his soft locks, gushing, "God, you're so cute, Heeseung!"

The rest of the social is filled with soft chatter between the two of you, but Heeseung was honestly too captivated by you to notice the time passing. With his heart on his sleeve, and a sloppily-painted birdhouse in his hands, Heeseung mentally high-fived himself.

Heeseung's friends never heard the end of it. The moment that he got home, Heeseung spammed their groupchat, giving them paragraphs and paragraphs of the events that ensued.

hee: and then she called me cute. like CUTE CUTE, not even like she was alluding it, she used the word CUTE

hee: oh my god i think i'm gonna faint

His friends don't have it in them to flame him. After all, this was progress.

Unbeknownst to him, you were feeling the same things. Everyone knew that Heeseung liked you, except yourself. You had the opposite case: you've had the biggest crush on Heeseung since middle school, but never told a single soul about it. You're a naturally expressive and sweet person, so it was so incredibly hard hiding your feelings for him. 

After all, under that handsome and brooding outer shell, you saw his softness. This past year, you've had so many miscellaneous interactions (at least, it seemed miscellaneous-- everyone but you knew that those interactions were set up) with Heeseung. At the beginning of each interaction, he'd act all mysterious, but as time passed, he'd speak so softly and slowly unravel. 

It was so, so cute. Heeseung was so cute. To say you wanted him would be an understatement. No words were sufficient to fully express the nights that you stayed awake thinking about him, or the makeup looks that you intricately practiced to impress him, or the sheer number of times that you had to hide the fact that you were staring at him.

Maybe you couldn't hide it any longer.

"Wait, what?!"

Heeseung's heart dropped to his stomach the moment he heard the words leave his friend's lips. Chenle Zhong was one of you and Heeseung's mutual friends, and according to him, someone had confessed to you via a letter today.

"Are you serious?" Heeseung asked, pulling his bottom lip into his teeth, chewing pensively. "Do you know who wrote it?"

"Nope, but I'll try to get more info on it," Chenle frowned. "Yunjin says that [Name] laughed at the letter."

When Heeseung didn't say anything, Chenle continued. "Hey, man, that could be a sign, y'know?"

When Heeseung's face morphed into a confused expression, his friend added, "Like, maybe [Name] thinks it's a joke? Maybe she doesn't care for it."

That's what Heeseung hoped for.

Later, Chenle texted him a screenshot of the love letter. To say that Heeseung was appalled would be an understatement. The letter read,

'To my dearest [Name], you're as beautiful as the plum blossoms in the spring. Your lips are soft like pillows, pillows that I would love to fall into an eternal in. I love you, I love you, I'll love you until this paper decomposes and becomes a part of the earth, and maybe then they will be able to force me to forget you. Love, your admirer.'

Heeseung immediately sent it to his groupchat.

jakey: yo who invited shakespeare???

hoon: i had a stroke reading that

sunoo: "your lips are soft like pillows" is crazyyy

hee: chenle gave me updates, apparently [name] knows who the sender is

jay: AND WHO IS THE SENDER??

hee: i don't know

hee: but minjeong says that it's someone from class 2

niki: class 2 is full of snobs

jungwon: i'm still in shock because of "i'll love you until this paper decomposes"

hoon: WHAT IF IT'S JUNGSU HYUNG

niki: oh it's SO over for you heeseung-hyung

As it turned out, it was not, in fact, Jungsu Kim from Class 2, thanks to your friends, who were quite wonderful info-brokers. But he still didn't know who it was.

Laying in bed, Heeseung felt weight on his chest. You laughed at the letter. While that could mean that it was a joke, it could also mean that you thought the person writing the letter was funny... which could mean that you liked them back. Just the mere thought of you with someone else made Heeseung frown deeply. This entire time he was worried about how to act around you, completely ignoring the fact that you yourself could be interested in someone else! God, he was so stupid.

Heeseung needed to know who it was that sent it, and more importantly, if you were romantically interested in them.

Fear makes man do crazy things.

Like walking one's crush to school.

Look, Heeseung was mulling over the situation as he walked to school, when he saw you across the street, walking in the same direction as him. In what could only be called an adrenaline-high, Heeseung ran across the street up to you.

"[Name]!" he called out.

"Heeseung?—Oh my god!"

Poor boy was breathless, flushed in the face. It took him a few moments to catch his breath. Flashing you a grin, Heeseung said, "Let's walk to school together, [Name]."

You're silent for a few moments, before you return the smile. "Of course."

The walk was silent, only the sound of early morning traffic, footsteps against the concrete sidewalk, and the occasional sniffle courtesy of you filling the cold air between the two of you. Speaking of which, your sniffles began to get louder and more frequent. Now out of adrenaline, Heeseung was back to being shy.

Clearing his throat, Heeseung forced his voice out. "Are you— Are you sick?"

You sniffled again, bringing your hand up to swipe your nose. The two of you were at an intersection now, so you pressed the pedestrian button. "No, I just get sniffly when it's cold."

That's. So. Cute. Was what Heeseung was thinking. The way you were rubbing your hands together made you look so adorable, he just wanted to put you in his pocket. 

He must have been staring at you for a while, back in his you-loving daze, because Heeseung did not notice that the streetlight changed, and it was time for the pedestrians to pass.

Not to worry!

Heeseung was completely kicked out of his daze when your smaller hand grabbed his, pulling him along the street. His eyes were glued to the two of your hands, especially where they connected. For someone sniffly, your hands were warm. He liked the way that they fit in his.

Even in the cool morning air, Heeseung suddenly felt warm all over.

You were in the middle of the sidewalk when Heeseung stopped. Feeling bold, he dropped his schoolbag, and began slipping off his thick, black, leather jacket, before draping it over your shoulders. 

When you looked up at him with those curious doe eyes, all his boldness went away.

"Y-You're cold aren't you?" He avoided looking you in the eyes. "Just... Just take it. Y-You can give it back later... or whatever."

You giggled, slipping your arms into the sleeves.

God, you looked so cute in his jacket. Heeseung was going to melt.

And he did melt, because you began doing cute twirls to show off the jacket, posing for him.

"How do I look?" you cheekily asked, popping your leg up. 

Heeseung was speechless, his mouth just left agape. He had to force himself to speak.

"Cute..." he answered, barely audible.

A grin was growing on your face. "Sorry, I didn't hear you. How do I look?"

Heeseung squeezed his eyes shut, huffing. "I said you looked cute!"

The sight of Heeseung's pink cheeks and his cute little pout was enough for you to be satisfied. Before the boy could realize what he said, you picked up his school bag for him, shoving it into one of his hands, before snatching his free hand. You pulled him gently to continue walking, but Heeseung was frozen in place, eyes too busy on you.

"Heeeeee," you elongated your syllables. You squeezed his hand twice, tugging him again. "We can't be late to class, can we?"

Heeseung audibly gulped. "Y-Yeah. You're right.."

You guys began walking again, neither of you wanting to let each other’s hands go.

"And then she held my hand— Isn't that crazy?! She held my hand!"

"Heeseung-hyung, please, I am peeing right now."

It was the lunch period once again. As Heeseung and Sunghoon traversed the hallways to get to the stairwell, the older of two chatted about the events that morning.

"So you held her hand?" Sunghoon asked half-heartedly, barely listening. "And then what?"

Heeseung perked up. "And then we walked to class together, and then she—"

"That's cool and all," the younger friend was walking in front of him. Sunghoon turned over his shoulder. "But did you get any more information about the letter fiasco?"

Oh. 

No, Heeseung didn't.

When they reached the rooftop, his friends gently nudged him to get more information about the letter. 

"You don't want to have one of those 'too late' moments, right?" Jungwon said, chewing on his rice ball. "What if by the time you gather the courage to talk to her, [Name] is already walking off into the sunset hand-in-hand with her secret admirer?!"

"What's with you guys and walking off into the sunset..." Heeseung muttered, running a hand through his hair. 

"I'm serious, hyung!"

"I second that," Jay said lazily.

"I second that," Riki mocked in a squeaky voice, earning him a soft smack at the back of his head.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Heeseung asked, frustrated. "I can talk to her or her friends later, but not right now."

Jake scoffed. "What's stopping you from going back inside and talking to [Name] right now?"

The eldest boy didn't have an answer. That's true. There wasn't anything stopping Heeseung from talking to you right now. All the boys were now watching him for an answer, ready to pounce on him for being a coward.

"I don't know!" Heeseung finally said. "I've used up all of my bravery today... I don't think I have it in me to talk to her!"

His friends stared at him questioningly, until the silence was broken by Sunoo taking a loud and very obviously fake phonecall.

"Hi! Yes! Mhm. He's right here. Yeah. Mhm. Thank you!"

Sunoo hung up loudly, and looked at Heeseung with a cocked brow. "I was just on the phone with Yunjin. She says you should probably go talk to [Name]."

Heeseung looked at Sunoo incredulously, but the expectant expressions on his friends' faces made him groan.

"Fine!"

As Heeseung creeped down the school hallway, he came to the classroom that you hung out in at lunch: your homeroom. Standing outside the door, the boy took a deep breath.

Relax, it's just [Name], he had to tell himself, as if that helped at all. What was he even going to say? 

'Hey, are you dating the person that sent you that letter? If you aren't, do you want to get married to me? Haha.'

????

Just as Heeseung was about to slide the door open, he heard a very familiar laugh from inside. Of course he could recognize it. After all, it was you. 

"Yuri is so cute!" he heard you giggle. "She wrote me that little letter as a joke, but I think I'm actually in love with her."

In.

Love.

With.

Her.

"Awww, Yuri, come here and give me a kiss!"

Come.

Give.

You.

A.

Kiss.

"I'm gonna marry you, Yuri!"

Marry.

You.

Yuri.

To Heeseung, everyone was an enemy. No matter their gender or class, the moment that he heard that you got a love letter, everyone became a suspect. It all made sense now. Yuri Jo, the 'Yuri' that you were talking about and to, was from Class 2. He knew that you and her were friends, but he didn't know that you were romantically interested in her. 

Jungwon was right. Now you were going to walk off into the sunset hand-in-hand with her!

hee: guys what if [name] is already taken :(

jakey: what are you on about this time

There was something scary about a 6-feet tall guy mulling around and sulking all day, so luckily no one got in Heeseung's way as he brooded. Unfortunately, he felt his heart hurt whenever he looked at you. Almost cartoonishly, he'd turn away, close his eyes in dramatic pain, and pout. Although he acted a little bit theatrical, it was no doubt that Heeseung felt sad. He really thought he had a chance with you, and now he felt stupid.

Except, he was stupid.

But for a different reason.

"Jesus Christ, you're actually hopeless, Heeseung."

After school, your friends cornered him, somewhere where you wouldn't see. His friends were somehow in close communication with your friends.

"I can't believe you thought me and [Name] were actually dating!"

Heeseung scowled, crossing his arms over his chest, as he leaned against a locker. Before him stood Yunjin, Winter, Yuri, along with a few other of your friends, Hitomi and Minju. 

"I don't know!" Heeseung huffed. "Everyone is an enemy to me—” he glanced at Yuri— “Including Yuri.”

Yunjin scoffed in disbelief. "You're insane."

Soooo... You weren't in any romantic relationship with anyone. Yuri sent you that letter as a joke, and you were just really close to her. Good.

"I don't know how I feel about this guy getting with our [Name]," Winter muttered to Hitomi and Minju, but loud enough for Heeseung to hear.

"Hey!"

"I know, he's a total dumbass," Minju grumbled back.

"Dude, I'm right here!"

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Well, are you free on Friday after school?"

"Yeah, why?" They always asked Heeseung that question when they had some crazy plan up their sleeve. Not like he was any better.

"Wellll," Hitomi began in a sing-songy voice. "[Name] really wants to go to that Cinnamoroll Sweet Cafe in Hongdae on Friday, but none of us are available."

Heeseung nodded slowly. 

"I think it'd be a good way for you to get closer to her, dontcha think?"

And that's how Heeseung scored his first (unofficial) date with you

When your friends told you that Heeseung would accompany you to Hongdae, you almost jumped for joy. Almost. Friday couldn't come any faster. The plan was that you'd meet Heeseung at the train station at 4:30PM, meaning that you had a bit of time to change and get ready. You didn't want to get too ahead of yourself and call it a date, but oh boy did you want to.

What were you going to wear? What if you were too formal? Should you go for a casual look or something more put-together? You needed to impress him!

When Friday came, you practically ran home to get ready. You perfected your makeup, and put on your prettiest outfit. Spraying yourself with your signature perfume, you looked in the mirror. Hopefully, he'll like how you look. 

At the corner of your eye, you spot a black, leather jacket. His black, leather jacket. Without even thinking, you slinked toward it, slipping into the jacket. It smelled like him, the faint scent of his cologne lingering on the leather.

With a final glance in the mirror, you left for the train station.

On the other hand, to say that Heeseung was nervous for the date was an understatement. His heart was about to fall out of chest. He changed into something more casual, made sure to brush out his disheveled hair, and reapplied his cologne. He came to the train station 20 minutes early, just in case something went terribly wrong. He glanced at his phone. For the date, he managed to get a hold of your number, for “communication purposes.” He’d wanted to text you all week, but didn’t have the courage to.

“Hee?” your soft voice calling his name got his attention. Behold, you standing there before him, all dolled up and pretty. This must be the sight he’ll see when he enters heaven, he thought. 

“Hi,” he said, his eyes glazing over your face. You were so pretty. Did you dress up for him? He didn’t want to get ahead of himself, but the idea that you wanted to look good for him made Heeseung’s heart skip a beat. “You look…”

He didn’t mean to say that. You smile bashfully. “I look…?”

“So pretty,” Heeseung breathed. “You look so pretty.”

“Thank you,” you smile. Your fingers reach for the hem of his shirt, playing with it, which sends his heart racing. “Well, I think you look handsome, Hee.”

“Th-Thanks.”

The two of you stare into each other’s eyes for a few moments, and Heeseung swears that you’re looking at his lips. You spoke up, breaking the silence. “You notice anything about me?”

Heeseung grasped the collar of his jacket gently with both hands. “My jacket.”

“I was going to give it back to you earlier,” you begin, eyes trained on his lips, “But I think I’ll keep it for today, yeah? Since I look so pretty in it.”

“Oh fuck,” Heeseung cursed under his breath, loud enough for you to hear it and giggle. “Yeah, you can keep it for as long as you want.”

“As long as I want?” you purred, taking a step closer to him. Although it wasn’t clear to anyone else, you were a mess inside. Your heart was palpitating so hard that you could hear it in your ears. Your throat felt dry, and your hands were shaking with mere anxiety and excitement. “What about forever?”

Heeseung cracked a grin. “Do whatever you want. You’re pretty.”

If it wasn’t for the train announcement, you thought you would have kissed his pretty lips right then and there. Taking Heeseung’s hand, you led him to your train cart. 

“Let’s go, Hee.”

The train is much more packed than you expected, but it was the beginning of the weekend after all. The trip from Gyeonggi Province to Hongdae should take no less than an hour. Unfortunately, because of the amount of people in the train, you and Heeseung had to stand for the majority of the time. It should have been uncomfortable, but it simply wasn't. Because you were with Heeseung.

Standing only a few inches away from the boy, your chests almost pressed against each other. You could feel his breath fan your cheeks. The both of you held onto the pole, hands barely brushing against each other when the cart shook against the rails. 

At some point, the shaking was a lot more aggressive than it had previously been. Instinctively, your hand reached for his broad shoulders for stability. Likewise, Heeseung reached for your waist, holding you in place. You and Heeseung shared a long, drawn-out look, eyes getting lost in one another's, before you both avert your gazes shyly, muttering, "sorry." Yet, neither of you moved your hands from their newfound positions.

As minutes passed on the train, your eyes were glued to Heeseung, at least when he wasn't watching. 

You loved the reddish blush that naturally decorated his under-eyes, and the natural corally red at tinted the tip of his ears. His glossy eyes and heart-shaped lips had to be your favorite feature of his, if not for his large, yet delicate hands, so gentle and soft.

You were deep in thought when you suddenly felt a hand creeping on your leg. Nimble fingers from behind, brushing up against the hem of your dress. From the corner of your eye, you saw an older man. He looked unkempt and scruffy, like a delinquent– but nothing like Heeseung. Heeseung looked much better than him.

The man reeked of cigarettes and musk. A nasty grin spread across his face as he peered down at your exposed legs. His hands creeped toward them again, now slightly pushing your dress up. Your teeth sunk into your bottom lip, your entire body stiffening. Your heart began to pound in your chest, your cheeks and skin feeling hot. 

Panic overtook your system. Your once soft breaths became much shorter and quicker, inhaling and exhaling shallow air.

You’ve never been in a situation like this; you’d  never wished, thought, or even considered something like this happening to you– why would you? You had no idea what to do, and were not at all prepared for this. The train was packed to the brim, this man was much bigger and stronger than you, and you did not know how to fight.

The hand moved past your skirt, now under it and directly in contact with your skin. The hand felt dirty, brushing against you. A small frantic whimper escaped your lips when the man’s hand squeezed your bare thigh. It was a small sound, barely audible in the vast bustle of the subway. However, someone did hear it.

Heeseung, doe-eyed and lost in his own world, immediately darted his eyes over to you the moment he heard a sound of discomfort. 

When your eyes met, you could only signal helplessly. Your gaze was wide, pupils dilated, with fear and panic. Heeseung’s eyes narrowed, staring into your eyes for a moment before analyzing your expression. The way you were extremely tense and overwrought casted a sense of suspicion in his head, and your eyes that were seemingly pleading him made him think.

Help, your eyes said.

Heeseung’s dark eyes flickered from your face, to your entire body language, and back to your face, before he spotted a few, foreign fingers creeping around your leg area.

Your shifty eyes kept moving from Heeseung’s to the side, but now that he looked at it, it was like they were pointing behind you. And lo and behold, behind you was a musky pervert, who was shamelessly touching you.

“[Name]…” he whispered. His fists clenched, teeth gritting. He sucked in a deep breath, feeling anger build up in his stomach. You whimpered again in response. He brought a hand to ghost over your shoulder, pushing you very, very, gently to the side. “Move.”

He wound up his fist and sent the hardest punch he could muster to the man square in the jaw.

The man lurched back immediately, his hand moving far, far, away from you. A groan left his lips, his head being thrown back in pain. The man’s fall had pushed a few other people down as well. Other bystanders watched on in shock. Some took out their phones to record and take pictures, others to tell their friends.

You just stood still, leaning into Heeseung, whose fist was a faint red color. With a very careful hand, he brushed the lifted hem of your dress down, which had been messed with earlier.

The man quickly got up once he noticed the new and tense silence over the subway cart.

“Hey!” he shouted, pushing himself up from his downtrodden position. “You little punk, who the fuck do you think you-”

The train announcer called for the stop. Heeseung, ignoring the man, took your arm, pulling you out the door. Before he himself left, Heeseung landed a kick to the man’s crotch, muttering, “Fucking bastard.”

"W-Wait, Hee-!"

Heeseung was silent as the train doors opened, only pulling you along with him. When the two of you were far from the train, he finally stopped, turning to you.

"Are you okay?" was all he asked. You shifted uncomfortably at the thought of what happened earlier.

"Y-Yeah..." you played with the hem of his jacket sheepishly. "Thanks for what you did back there."

Heeseung jolted up at the mention. He didn't love using violence, despite his 'delinquent' reputation, especially in front of you. His hands joined yours at the hem of his jacket, shyly brushing up against yours. 

"Next time," he began, beginning to play with the zipper, "I'll fight every person on that train so that you can sit."

You smiled softly. "You don't have to do that, Hee."

Heeseung slowly zipped up his jacket on you, meeting your eyes, before straightening out your collar. 

"But I want to," he breathed. You gazed at him. His hands were still on the collar of the jacket, close to your face. You noticed the red smudges on his knuckles from punching the man on the train. You took that hand, opening it up, and nuzzling your cheek into it. You took his other hand. To Heeseung's surprise, you pressed soft kisses on his knuckles, rubbing them with your thumb.

"What are you..." his breath hitched when your eyes flickered to his, holding steady eye-contact. 

You pressed one last kiss on his palm. "Thank you, Hee. Really."

"Of course, [Name]," he finally whispered. "Anything for you."

And so, your first date with Heeseung began.

The sweet scent of cinnamon and pastries hit your noses the moment you guys stepped into the Cinnamoroll Cafe. When you were seated, you took a look at the menu. So far, the date was going smoothly. Other than the run-in at the beginning, the chemistry between the two of you was sparking. The conversation was flowing, and if that already wasn't a dream come true, you kept touching Heeseung. On your end, you were practically vibrating in your seat with the sheer amount of excitement you had bubbling in you. You couldn't believe you were on a date with the Heeseung Lee sharing a strawberry banana parfait. 

"Hee," you said, motioning him to come closer to you. He did, so you cupped his cheek, bringing your thumb up to wipe a stray piece of the parfait from his cheek. 

"Oh-" Heeseung's face reddened. How embarrassing! Did you think he was a slob now? You only giggled, bringing both hands up to hold his face. You squished the boy's cheeks, laughing at the way his brows cutely crashed into each other.

"You're so cute, Hee," you said, playing with his cheeks. "The cutest."

That's all you, he thought. You're going to drive him crazy.

Or, at least he thought he thought.

Did he just say that out loud? Heeseung groaned when you threw your head back laughing, hiding his own face in your palms. You chuckled.

Feeling bold, you cupped his cheeks again. You leaned closer, holding his face close to yours. You kissed a soft and chaste kiss on his nose. You couldn't help the heat that rose to your cheeks as the boy flopped over the table, hiding his face in his arms. You ran your fingers through his hair comfortingly, cooing at his cuteness.

"You can't do this to me," Heeseung murmured.

You laughed. It wouldn't hurt to tease him a little more, right? You leaned down, giving the boy another kiss. This time, though, you kissed the top of his head.

"Hee, baby, you're just the cutest, you know that right?"

Heeseung combusted.

After the Cafe, Heeseung and you walked around the Hongdae Festival Street. By now, it was beginning to get darker outside, the air cooling down. It was cold, but to Heeseung, it was perfect, because now he had an excuse to hold your hand. As the two of you walked and talked, you enjoyed the sight of the lights and bustling street. 

Suddenly, a new voice interrupted the two of you's conversation. Turning around, you saw two guys who looked around your age. They were holding a camera and a microphone.

"Hi!" they said, smiling. "We're interviewing couples in Hongdae, would you guys like to be in it? We’ll blur your faces."

Heeseung glanced your joined hands, then back at the two guys, then back at your hands, "O-Oh, we're not a coupl—"

You cut him off. "Of course, we'd love to!"

You flashed Heeseung a grin, squeezing his hand twice, almost as if to say, 'Just go with it.' His ears began to burn, his neck prickling with warmth, before clearing his throat. "Y-Yeah..." he squeezed your hand, "We'd love to."

The two guys cheered, turning on their camera. "All right, first question. How did you guys meet?"

"We went to middle school together," you were quick to answer. "I thought he was really cute, but we didn't start talking until this year."

You didn't know what the fuck you were saying. Was it risky to be so truthful for an internet interview, right in front of your long-time crush? Absolutely. But your heart was pounding so hard in your chest, simply waiting for Heeseung's response.

On the other hand, Heeseung's mind was in complete shambles. Were you telling the truth? The way you answered so smoothly with absolutely no hesitation made it almost seem natural.

"And you?" the interviewer asked. "What did you think about her when you first met?"

"I—" Heeseung's breath hitched. "I thought she was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen."

The way you glanced at him made Heeseung's heart feel like it was about to fall out. "I.. I still think that."

Your expression was unreadable, your lips pressing into a thin line. Then, a huge smile broke out on your face.

"Awww, Heeeee! I didn't know you thought about me like that!" You squeezed his hand again, and he squeezed it back.

"How long have you guys been together?" the interviewer asked.

"We just started dating!" You answered enthusiastically, a weird, surprised sound coming from Heeseung.

The rest of the interview went smoothly, with you mostly answering the questions. You quietly thanked the interviewers, and you and Heeseung were on your way.

Your words kept ringing in Heeseung's head.

Especially your answer to the question, "Why did you like him?"

You answered, "Because he's so perfect."

Heeseung? Perfect? He couldn't believe his ears! Were you telling the truth?

A calm silence fell over you and Heeseung as you walked the bustling streets of Hongdae. That question lingered in his mind, and before he knew it, his mouth was moving faster than his mind.

"Did you mean anything you said?"

His voice seemed to reverberate against the night air, ringing in his ears. You chewed on your lip. Then, you sucked in a sharp breath.

"Of course, Hee," you finally answered. "If it's you, I mean everything."

Heeseung sucked his bottom lip into his teeth, biting down so hard he drew blood. Once again, his hands found home on the hem of his jacket draped over you. 

"Good." He couldn't meet your eyes, not with the knowledge that you meant everything you said. He forced his attention onto the hem of the leather jacket that you were wearing, too shy to look at you. 

Heeseung only looked up when he felt your thumb pressing against his lip, eyes widening.

"Don't bite your lip too hard, Hee," you said, a smile in your voice. You thumb swiped against his lip, wiping off the small blotch of blood on it. "You'll bleed, and I'll have to kiss it better."

Heeseung's tongue darted out to swipe over his bleeding lip, brushing against your thumb. "What if I want you to kiss it better?"

"Well, then you better not keep me waiting."

His eyes flickered to your lips. He wanted to kiss them so bad. They looked so soft. What would they taste like? You liked strawberries— maybe they'd taste like that. When he didn't say or do anything, you changed the topic, unable to hide the disappointment in your face.

"Did you mean it?" You asked. "When you said that I was the most beautiful person you'd ever seen?"

"Oh my god, yes," Heeseung said under his breath, eyes still trained on your lips. "Always."

Another silence fell of you two, simply getting lost in each other's eyes. Maybe it was something in the Hongdae air, but Heeseung felt brave. His hand slithered to your waist, bringing you closer to him. When you slid your hands up his chest, resting them on his shoulders, Heeseung audibly gulped. Your faces inched closer and closer, until you could feel his breath against your cheek. You wanted to lean in and close the gap so bad. And you could tell that he wanted to, too.

Just as you were about to, however, the sound of a car honking and tires screeching interrupted you. Heeseung instinctively pulled away, his head whipping around to look at the commotion.

Oh hell no.

You were not going to let that stop you.

You snatched Heeseung's hand, before pulling him with you. You don't know how much you ran, or for how long, but you ran and ran until you found an empty alleyway.

You pushed him against the hard, concrete wall, a bit harsher than you expected too. Holding him by his shoulders, you put all your weight on him, caging him against the wall.

"You'd let me kiss you, right?" you rasped, out of breath.

Heeseung, also breathless, stared at you, lips parted. 

"I thought I already said," he breathed, "Do whatever you want. You're pretty."

With that, you crashed your lips onto his. His lips were soft, a little chapped. It felt so surreal. The scent of his cologne made you feel dizzy. When you pulled away, it was evident that he was feeling the same as you were. 

It was a chaste kiss, but the tension was so thick in the air. Somehow, that made it even more intimate.

"Wow..." was all Heeseung could utter. Under the moonlight, with you pressed up against him, you looked so goddamn pretty. Your face was illuminated with the pale light, making you look like an angel. Was he in heaven? Did he die yet? He wouldn't mind if he died right then and there, now that you (you!) kissed him. "Fuck, you're gonna kill me, [Name]."

"But you'd like it, right? Because I'm so pretty." The teasing tone in your voice would normally make Heeseung melt, but all he could do was grin. 

"You know I would."

The rest of the night, you and Heeseung don't kiss anymore. Not because you guys didn't want to kiss, but because the adrenaline wore off, and now the both of you were shy. It was almost comical, the way both of you completely reverted back to your bashful and sheepish selves, barely able to make eye-contact with each other.

"Thank you for tonight, Hee," you hummed, as you and Heeseung walked to the train station, hand-in-hand. "I had a lot of fun."

He scanned your face. The slight curve on your lips (oh god, your lips, the way the corner of your lip had a smudge of lipstick from kissing him earlier —how badly he wanted to kiss them again) was contagious. "Of course. I had a lot of fun, too."

The train ride back was quiet. You eventually began dozing off, resting your head on his shoulder.

"You did what?!" was the collective reaction of both you and Heeseung's friends. After that Friday together, you called together all of your friends to your house, to spill the beans. Likewise, Heeseung forced every single one of his friends into his living room.

"Ouuu, you little flirt!" Yunjin exclaimed. Currently, Yunjin, Winter, Hitomi, Yuri, and Minju were seated on your bedroom floor, while you dramatically flopped around on your bed. 

It was now that you explained to your friends your long-time crush on Heeseung, much to their pleasant surprise.

"And then what happened?" Minju asked, filing her finger-nails. "Did you profess your undying love for him?"

You groaned into your pillow. "I can't!"

"Why not?" Winter quirked a brow. "You guys literally kissed."

You let out another groan. "What if he doesn't like me like that?"

Your friends deadpanned.

Heeseung Lee didn't like you. He loved you. They would know better than anyone.

"[Name], honey, you're overthinking it," Yuri nudged you with her foot. "He gave you his jacket. I think that says enough."

"Well, what if I'm just getting ahead of myself and he's just being nice?"

"Girl..."

Heeseung had a similar reaction.

All of his friends stared at him like he just punched their grandmothers.

"You can't be serious right now, hyung..." Sunghoon said, pinching his nose-bridge.

All of his friends were piled onto one couch, while Heeseung laid out on the one across from them, almost like they were in a therapy session. 

"What if she just thinks I'm a good friend?" Heeseung used his hands to speak, theatrically moving them.

"What makes you think that?" Sunoo asked incredulously. 

Heeseung groaned. "[Name] tells Yuri Jo that she wants to marry her and they're good friends."

"Okay, and?"

"Well," Heeseung huffed. "What if [Name] kissed me because she sees me the same way that she sees Yuri?"

"Well, I'm good friends with Jungwon-hyung and I don't kiss him," Riki said matter-of-factly.

"Right..." Jungwon nodded his head slowly. "Hyung, do you really think a good friend would pin you against a wall and kiss you?"

"Do you think a good friend would kiss you three times and then call you cute like a bajillion other times?!" Jake chimed in.

"Let alone choose to keep your jacket?!" Jay sounded tired.

Heeseung clasped his hands together, thinking for a few moments.

"Yes."

All of his friends groaned in defeat.

"You're hopeless."

After a lot of urging and cross-communication between friend-groups, both of your friends managed to convince both you and Heeseung to confess to each other the next Monday.

"What if I faint the moment she says my name?" Heeseung catastrophized to Jay in the school bathroom. 

"Uh, I doubt that, hyung."

Heeseung texted you to meet him under the stairwell, and that was when he was going to confess. On your end, the moment that he texted that, you decided that you'd confess to him then.

When the time came, Heeseung headed out to the stairwell. His hands were clammy, and even when he wiped him on his uniform pants, he couldn't stop the trembling of his hands. What if everyone was instilling false hope in him? Gosh, Heeseung thought he was going to throw up. His stomach was churning, he was going to collapse if he saw you right now—

"Hee?" Your voice broke him out of his internal spiral. Seemingly, there was a halo around you, a light so bright that Heeseung was blinded.

"H-Hi," he stammered, straightening out his posture and clearing his throat.

Your hands were clasped behind your back, leaning forward toward him. "You wanted to talk to me, yeah?"

Heeseung couldn't bring himself to meet your gaze, his shoes suddenly becoming interesting. "Y-Yeah..."

The hallway where the stairwell was located was beginning to feel stuffy. Heeseung had never felt so nervous in his life. He was light-headed, barely able to even balance himself.

"Hee," you reached out to touch his arm, noticing his discomfort. "Let's go outside, okay?"

Going outside should have helped him cool down, but when you shrugged on his leather jacket to combat the cool air, Heeseung realized that there was no way in hell that he was going to get through this confession without dropping dead. 

The two of you walked around the school yard for a few minutes in silence. 

How should he start this confession? He had Sunghoon and Jake write out a script for him, and he spent the entire night memorizing it, but now in your presence he couldn't remember a single word. Should he have written a letter like Yuri Jo? Heeseung couldn't possibly contain himself.

"Hee," you finally said, disrupting the silence. "I have something to tell you."

Heeseung's mind wandered to the worst case scenario. 

You're going to tell him that you're moving across the world to marry the love of your life, aren't you? You're going to say that he's a great friend and that you just got a boyfriend, right? 

No, he needed to tell you his feelings first! If he didn't now, he'd never, and he'd burst into a million pieces!

"M-Me too!" he blurted, stopping in his tracks. 

You blinked at him, then smiled.

Oh, no! It's actually happening!

He could already hear your voice saying, "Hi, Heeseung, my boyfriend just proposed to me and you're invited to the wedding."

You sucked in a breath, parting your lips to speak.

He needed to tell you first! The little demons in his head kept replaying the scene of you asking him to be your groom of honor at your wedding with the love of your life next Saturday. He could hear the marriage officiant announcing, “I now pronounce you husband and wife” at your wedding, and he imagined himself sitting in that little wedding venue holding back tears.

Oh my god, he needed to say it now, or he'll never say it ever!

"Hee, I really--"

Heeseung cut you off. He squeezed his eyes shut, hands balling into fists.

"I like you, [Name]!" he yelled.

.

.

.

You stared at him in disbelief. Or were you flustered? Heeseung couldn't tell. With too much adrenaline in his veins, Heeseung threw away all the preparation and drafted scripts he and his friends made for this very moment.

"I-I.. I like you so much, I'm scared that I'm going to explode!" Heeseung continued shouting at you. He had no idea what he was saying. All he was doing was telling you the thoughts he'd had about you all this time. "You're so, so, so pretty and I can't believe that you're an actual, real, physical, person, and you make me feel so fucking stupid, I can't take it."

Your eyes were bulging out of your head at this point, your jaw dropped. 

"I've never liked anyone like I've liked you, a-and I just wanted to tell you this before you... you go off with someone else!"

Heeseung kept his eyes shut when he was done confessing, letting out a labored breath. There was no way that he could face you. The silence that fell over the two of you made Heeseung's heart sink to the bottom of his stomach. He squeezed his eyes in embarrassment. He gripped the hem of his shirt to relieve the bubbling anxiety inside him. Gosh, he was going to puke.

After a few moments, nothing happened. You didn't say a word. Did you just leave him there standing? Of course, you did. You were probably too kind and angelic to outright reject him. He was a fool to think that he had a chance with you—

Heeseung heard footsteps, and before he could react, he felt a pair of lips on his.

His eyes shot open.

You.

Were.

Kissing.

Him.

!!!

After he confessed!

Poor boy was so stiff, eyes wide.

Did that mean you liked him back?

You pulled away.

Usually, you had a reassuring smile on your face by default. Even during times where you were embarrassed, you almost never showed it on your face.

But this time, your entire face was painted with a flustered expression. Your cute lips jutted out in a mini pout, while your eyes were glued to the ground, avoiding his gaze.

A few pulses passed.

"I... I like you, too... by the way," you murmured.

Another few pulses passed.

You. Liked. Him.

Nonononono wait, was he dreaming?

You.

YOU.

The beautiful, angelic you. 

Liked him.

Without thinking, Heeseung stepped forward, gently grabbing your face.

"You're real, right?" he breathed. When glossy eyes stared back at him, Heeseung felt warmth spread across his chest. Your lips looked so appealing right now, he was craving them again. "I'm not dreaming, yeah?"

You blinked at him a few times. The corners of your lips quirked upward.

"Why, because I'm 'so pretty that you can't believe I'm real?' " your voice had a teasing tone in it, referencing his earlier confession. Heeseung chuckled, letting go of your face so that he could slide his hands to where they belonged: around your waist.

"Just kiss me," he mumbled, looking at you with lidded eyes.

You grinned. "Gladly."

With that, you smashed your lips onto his. Instead of the chaste, soft, kisses that you shared earlier, this one was different. You shoved your tongue into Heeseung's mouth, exploring all its crevices. Poor boy was so surprised that he squeezed your waist, letting out a small whine. The feeling of you smirking against his lips gave him butterflies.

You finally pulled away breathless, but gave him no time to breathe. You grasped his chin, giving you easy control. 

"You drive me so crazy," he murmured against the shell of your ear.

You pressed a kiss at the juncture between his neck and ear. "I drive you crazy?" you cocked your brow.

"You," you muttered. You began pressing kisses down his jaw. 

“Drive.” 

Kiss.

“Me.” 

Kiss. 

“So-” 

Kiss.

"Fucking-" 

Kiss.

"Crazy."

Before you could pounce on him with more kisses, Heeseung, red in the face, flopped over you, hiding his face in the crook of your neck. He let out a cute groan.

"What, are you getting shy on me?" you teased him, running your fingers through his hair. He shook his head against your shoulder, making you coo.

"I can't believe you like me back, that's all," he mumbled, muffled by your shoulder. 

You laughed. "How? I feel like I was so obvious."

Heeseung looked up at you with pink cheeks, frowning. "You don't even want to know how hopelessly in love with you I was."

You quirked a brow at him. 

"Yeah?" You pecked his forehead. "Try me."

Heeseung let out a breathy chuckle. He attacked your lips.

"How about I show you?"

FIN.

likes, comments, and reblogs are appreciated :)

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

Can Percy Jackson survive Castle Dracula?

To cut to the chase: Yes. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that he is *insanely* well prepared for this encounter.

First off, Dracula did not invite young Mr. Jackson to the castle. Percy took a wrong turn and stumbled in there by accident while on some other quest to recover a magic doodad or stop the evil whatsit, because that's what he does! (I love that the PJO books really take the "greek adventurer wanders around and has unconnected adventures" structure to heart.) But once he's in there, Dracula is delighted to take him in as a guest--canonically, halfbloods smell delicious to monsters. Taste delicious too. Percy is exactly the kind of snack he'd get excited about.

Fortunately, Percy would be on his guard pretty much immediately. The whole "monster pretends to be a gracious host and then tries to imprison and eat you" stunt gets pulled on him about every other week. Plus he's armed with a celestial bronze sword, which is specially forged to vaporize monsters. I dunno that Dracula would follow greek myth monster rules and vaporize per se, but I think it's reasonable that Riptide would be an effective weapon against him. And crucially, Dracula can't take it it away from Percy, since it is enchanted to always reappear in his pocket no matter how it gets lost. (And extremely useful trait for an ADHD teen that I wish my belongings had.)

But it gets better. Let's go into the specifics:

The Crucifix: Percy would accept it. He's used to receiving seemingly nonsensical gifts from people that save his life later at crucial moments. Plus he knows that gods and supernatural beings are real, even though he's not christian-religious, I think he would recognize the woman's sincerity in her belief that it would protect him.

Shaving: He's too young to shave! No confrontation here.

Going exploring: He 100% would. Percy never follows directions when someone says "don't go there." I could list at least 10 examples right now of him wandering off when he's explicitly told to stay put.

The Girlies: Percy has been known get distracted by hypnosis by female monsters before, but he's pretty good at snapping out of it. I think he's likely to clock 'em as enemies pretty quickly and get his sword out, at which point he should be able to fend them off.

Climbing the wall: One of the standard training activities at Camp Halfblood is a rock wall that undergoes earthquakes and pours lava on you. I think he'll be fine.

Wolves: Small beans compared to other monsters he's fought. Plus, Percy has an empathy link with his satyr friend Grover that allows them to communicate through dreams, especially when one of them is distress. If Percy is stuck at the castle long enough, then I think by the time he gets to facing the wolves there would have been enough time for Grover to get the memo and come help him--and Grover can talk to animals! So there's a good chance he can just talk the wolves down and not even have to fight them.

But I don't think it would come that. No, I think the biggest issue Percy would face is that he would force a confrontation with Dracula MUCH soon, probably within the first few days of entering the castle. Percy isn't particularly polite, and he has a bad habit of talking back and picking fights with powerful supernatural entities that already want to whoop his ass. (He picks a fight with the God of War as an eleven year old, and that's how the series starts.) Add that to the fact that he'll already be on high alert for monsters, and I think he'll be in a flat out combat with Dracula before the roasted chicken has cooled on his plate.

Fortunately, Percy is quite the accomplished swordsman. As mentioned, I think celestial bronze would be an effective weapon against Dracula. Unfortunately, Percy won't have access to one of his biggest advantages--water! Being a son of Poseidon would be very useful given vampires' aversion to running water, but I don't think there are any sources close enough to the castle for him to call on. In extreme situations, Percy does have an Ultimate he can use to call forth the sea from within his own body, but it wipes him out pretty thoroughly, and if he used that I think he would be at risk of dying in the woods after unless his friends showed up to get him somewhere safe. But even without water powers, I think Percy would put up a very good fight against Dracula and have a good chance of making it out alive.

...there's one more wildcard which might get played in his favor, which is that the greek gods love jumping in on his quests at the last minute with some divine intervention. So even if things go south fighting Dracula, I could see some kind of literal deus ex machina showing up at the last moment to give him the last push to victory.

So yeah. Castle Dracula would end up being just one more pesky side quest. XD

Aw man I was actually going to answer this one. Buuuuut I've had all week and I didn't so I can't complain.

N.B. I have not yet seen the new TV series, so hereinafter we will be talking about the books.

I think you're absolutely right about Percy stumbling haplessly into Castle Dracula, which is a bummer because it robs us of the Calèche ride, which is our only real opportunity to have Percy use his Poseidon powers by talking to the horses. I want to see Dracula's horses chatting with each other about the fresh meat, being nervous about the wolves, changing their tone in a truly disturbing way as Dracula calms them ... and Percy sitting in the back listening in like "I'm in Danger 🙃." He may not speak Romanian, but he might well be adequately warned by the horses.

One place where I am going to disagree with you a bit is the Celestial Bronze. Monster in this setting is a technical term - a species, really. Dracula is not a Monster in the Greek Mythology sense - he's just a guy. A human born to human parents who then got upgraded. So Percy's sword isn't going to turn him to sand and return him to Tartarus, because he is fundamentally not a creature of Tartarus. Now, does Dracula count as human for Celestial Bronze purposes? Will Riptide pass harmlessly through him? Maybe not. Maybe it's still at least a long sharp piece of metal and can be weilded as such. (Of course, if he goes after Dracula at night, it'll still pass harmlessly through him, but for unrelated reasons).

I agree that he will clock the Girlies as enemies immediately - as you say, this kind of thing happens to him all the time. I am less confident than you are that he could simply snap out of a trance, something that happens neither in the novel Dracula nor, to my recollection, in the PJO books. Usually iirc he is rescued from hypnosis via some sort of outside influence - much as Jonathan is woken by the baying of dogs the second time the Girlies come after him. I feel like Percy would give us some self-effacing narration to the effect of "now you're probably thinking - why did you just lie there!? You know they're vampires! And you'd right, because I was thinking that too! But for some reason I just couldn't seem to move. Man, I hate being hypnotized." That said, attacking something that can dissolve into moonlight with a sword is a good way to get dead, so it's just as well.

I agree that he will be able to manage the wall, and yeah, once he gets outside the castle, he's a good candidate for divine intervention or just another wacky encounter. He's so good at being rescued and/or nursed back to health by things. And the more I think about it, the more the wolves being organized by Grover as a rescue is exactly the kind of thing they would pull. "Oh no, I'm being ripped apart by woooooolves~~~"

Despite his battle reflex and excellent skills, I'm not convinced Percy could best Dracula in a direct fight, but he might be able to match him well enough to fall or jump out the window and escape. Alternatively, do Percy's demigod powers let him control Dracula while in mistform?? If so, Dracula will NOT be pleases.

As for general pugnaciousness, I dunno. He does pick fights with Ares but I don't know that he'd start something with an extremely scary dude whose house he is trapped on - unless he's deliberately trying to provoke him for some advantage. He does go in for the "get the other guy so angry it makes them stupid" approach quite a lot. But I don't know if he's try that on Dracula. He might well go for the "keep your head down and try not to get murdered" approach.

Percy's Fatal Flaw (tm) is his devotion to his friends, but since they're not here that's unlikely to be a problem. His ordinary flaw is that he's stupid (affectionate) - but again that might work to his advantage here. Because he is genuinely very stupid, no one ever expects him to be clever, and he's clever enough to lean into that. If he can play dumb and keep his anger in check, he might well last long enough to escape. And as you say, Dracula has an interest in keeping him around, because he smells delicious.

So on I guess precisely opposite reasoning, Perseus "Percy" Jackson, half-blood son of Poseidon, can survive Castle Dracula

[kimi240302]

Love of the cruel King

A/N: My native language is not English, so I put each of my stories through an app so that it ends up in English.

Also, I've uploaded this story before, on another account but it's defective somehow. So I created a new one

Summary: When Y/N follows her older sister Bella to Volterra , she didn't expect to finde out that she is connected by fate to one of the three vampire kings

Caius Volturi x female!reader

Words: 4.5k

Main Post / Twilight Masterlist

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" The best

place to get lost

is in the eyes

of someone

you've missed."

-faraway

"Now, just to be clear. You want to travel to Italy to save the guy who has been ignoring you for months just because a family member of his tried to eat you?"

Bella looked annoyed at her one year younger sister and tried to ignore her, but Y/N wouldn't let her.

" If he wants to kill himself please , let him do it. It seems to have become fashionable in the last few hours! But if you think I'm going to let you go alone with Dracula's sister, you're wrong dear sister!"

Bella walked past Y/N. " I'm not taking you with me."

Y/N grabbed Bella's upper arm. Both sisters looked into each other's eyes. " Bella you just jumped off a cliff for your ex boyfriend to notice you . That proves I'm the only one of the two of us who can still think straight! So either I get Jacob in here , who will happily help me lock you in your room until our father gets home or you take me with you!"

" You are too stubborn for your own good!" Grumbled Bella, breaking free of her sister's iron grip. " And you too naive for yours!"

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" Don't look at me like that!" Bella stood next to Edward and noticed her sister's annoyed look. Ignoring her sentence, Y/N turned back around and stared at the closed elevator doors.

" The entire Cullen clan will be the death of my sister , me or both of us at the same time."

Jane , Demetri and Felix eyed the young girl. Slightly she shrank under the gaze of the vampires. Because even if she did not want to admit it , the red eyes of the three were not only beautiful , but also intimidating .

"I know that Bella and I are the only humans in a rather cramped room full of vampires, but could you stop looking at me like you're about to really eat me?" Puzzled, Felix and Demetri looked at each other. But then grinned down at the girl. The blond vampire put one of his hands on Y/N's shoulder. " You have quite a bit of courage..." Jane interrupted him. " As long as Aro , Caius or Marcus have not decided whether you should live or die , your survival is uncertain human!" The vampire turned her head boredly to Y/N and back again as the elevator doors opened. Confused, Y/N turned her head to Demetri. "Is she always in such a good mood or does my perfume just not suit her?" " Imagine Felix she becomes one of us , that could be really interesting!" The brown-haired vampire studied the young girl closely and began to smile. "Maybe."

Y/N who was about to ask another question fell silent as the small group stepped through two huge double doors into a throne room. Demetri and Felix meanwhile also became serious again and pushed Y/N a little more in front of them when they noticed her hesitation. Their eyes followed Jane , who stood by a dark-haired boy and seemed pleased with herself. Looking to her left , the young girl held her breath.

Three thrones with their respective guardians stood before her. The vampire in the center rose with a grin that reminded Y/N of the Joker , and approached the small group. If Y/N remembered correctly from Carlisle's stories, the black-haired vampire was Aro Volturi. The vampire sitting behind Aro on the left, wearing the look of a man tired of life, was Marcus Volturi. On Aro's right side sat a blond vampire, whom Y/N identified as Caius.

This one aroused a strange fascination in Y/N. No matter how hard she tried she could not take her eyes off him. Even though she knew she should rather listen to Aro, his words just seemed to pass her by. Meanwhile, Caius looked aggressively in the direction of Alice and Edward, paying no attention to other person.

Goosebumps covered Y/N's skin when the blond vampire noticed that he was being watched. First he looked at Bella with a look full of contempt. Y/N immediately wondered if he would look at her with so many bad emotions as well. Just as she was about to finally release her gaze, Caius turned his attention to the young girl.

Y/N's breathing, which had just been rapid and uncontrolled, returned to normal. The fear she had felt all this time left her body and was replaced by a warmth that Y/N didn't understand and yet if she had to be honest with herself, she didn't want to be. Because the answer to that worried her more than her situation at that moment.

" Brother." Marcus drew all the attention of the room to him with one blow. Aro looked at his brother, startled, but Marcus simply raised his hand. In less than a millisecond , Aro stood in front of him and grabbed his hand .

With a cry of joy, Aro stood in front of Y/N with the same speed. Not having expected this, she stumbled back several steps, startled. Felix and Demetri reacted at the same time and caught Y/N carefully. Confused , she looked at the vampires , wondering why they were so careful with her and not so rough as with the rest. " Brother! Be careful , she is only human after all." Caius voice sounded a bit short tempered and yet there was something in his gaze that Y/N could not describe. Aro on the other hand just nodded and gave the young girl his full attention. " May I?" With a gentle smile, he pointed at Y/N's still slightly trembling hand. She winced at the coldness that enveloped her hand as Aro closed his hands around hers. But she did not dare to pull them away.

Laughing, he let go of her hand and turned to Caius. "This could be interesting, brother!"

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After a small fight in the middle of the throne room, where Y/N had been standing behind a vampire named Alec the entire time, they were allowed to go home. Caius had clearly rebelled against letting Y/N go home, but this interested Aro less. What bothered Y/N the most was that no one had even tried to explain to her what was going on and why Alice and Edward were looking at her as if she would drop dead at any moment. When she couldn't take it anymore on the way home and yelled at both vampires to tell her what the hell was going on, Alice confused her even more by saying, ˋSomething that changed your fate in this world'.

Three months had passed since then and Y/N doubted that anything would happen. She also tried to forget the whole thing, which proved to be more difficult than the young girl had thought. Because every time she closed her eyes she saw Caius in front of her.

That night, too, Y/N had trouble falling asleep, and when she finally did, she was awakened three hours later by a breeze and a huge shadow in front of her bed. Confused, Y/N blinked as she opened her eyes. Only to fly out of her bed with a sharp scream. She had looked directly into the red eyes of Felix Volturi, getting the shock of her life.

Smirking, Demetri circled the human's bed and held out one of his gloved hands to her. " Do you need help?" The blond-haired vampire raised an eyebrow in amusement. Wiping hair from her face , Y/N stood up without help and looked at both vampires annoyed . " No! What I need is a good reason why you stand in my room at night and watch me sleep!" "Actually, we didn't want to watch you sleep, we wanted to wake you up." Felix grinned at her, which Y/N returned with an even more annoyed expression. Demetri laughed. " The reason we are here is because Caius wants you to join him in Volterra." Y/N nodded mutely , scratched her forehead , bent down to pick up her quilt and lay back in bed . " Then I wish you both a safe journey back , because I'm going to lie back in this very bed and go back to sleep! You both know the way out." With that , she closed her eyes and buried her face back into her pillow . Felix sighed, "Aro was right! Things could get interesting with her!" The tall vampire bent down , pulled the blanket off Y/N's body and threw the young girl over his shoulder.

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" A human mate...." Caius grumbled this to himself as everyone waited for Demetri and Felix to arrive with Y/N. " For the last three months you have been trying to deny this brother. Give it up." Aro looked over at Caius in amusement. Marcus turned to Caius as well. " Fate cannot be stopped or changed. Everything has its right and, accordingly, a reason." " Then fate seems to hate me. For I, of all people, am linked to the sister of the Cullens' toy!" Aro pursed his lips for an answer, but he was interrupted by the opening of the door. Smiling, he turned to it and was about to start a greeting, when he fell silent, confused.

" You huge idiot! Put me the fuck down!" Everyone present had to get used to the image that presented itself to them. Y/N was hanging over Felix's shoulder, in her sleeping clothes, hitting his back while insulting him. Felix looked annoyed and Demetri seemed to stifle a laugh.

" Felix, put them down!" Caius grumbled this. Alec , standing next to Aro's throne , tilted his head slightly and eyed Y/N as she stood. " Did you get her out of bed?" Annoyed , Y/N looked at him . " No how did you come up with that? I had the idea of being carried in here in nothing but my pajamas over Bigfoot's shoulders!" Aro cried out laughing and clapped his hands. " You are such a special specimen of a human. I like that!" He turned to face Caius. " So if you ask me brother , fate has sent you the perfect mate."

Confused, Y/N looked around. " Mate?" " You and Caius my love are connected by the red bond of fate . I could see it the moment you looked into each other's eyes!" Marcus looked at her lovingly. Silently Y/N stood there trying to understand exactly what was happening. " That means exactly , just to make my brain understand everything for a moment..." "You and Caius souls complete each other. In other words; you will stay here in Volterra so you will be with him and he will logically be with you!" Aro smiled at her. " Ah" , the young girl turned to Demetri, " Just to be sure... I'm not asleep and this is really happening?" Grinning, the latter shook his head. " You're wide awake!" Slowly, she nodded and looked to Caius. " Do I have a choice?" " No!" " So what's going on right now is, by and large, a kidnapping?" " Yes" " Good to know." Amused, all the vampires watched their master and his mate. " How do you explain my sudden disappearance?" Aro answered the question without letting even a second pass. " On the way to your mother , you died in a car accident."

Silently, she looked around and noticed that no one seemed to be joking. Fear spread through Y/N, but also relief to finally be near Caius again. Being too confused by her own feelings, she simply nodded. As she did so, her surroundings began to spin and she slumped slightly. Y/N realized only now how much everything was taking her and how much her body longed for sleep, which she had not gotten in the last weeks. Caius, who had sensed the change in his mate's behavior, immediately stood in front of her and caught his mate's increasingly flaccid body. Picking her up in bridal style, he looked down at her with concern.

" It is fascinating how in the human mind the separation of two mates shows itself..." Aro had stood next to Caius and was also looking down at Y/N now sleeping body. " Will she be okay?" Aro placed a hand on her forehead and closed his eyes for a moment. " She just needs sleep and your presence , just as you need hers." Nodding , he left the throne room to go to his quarters , where they had cleared a new room for Y/N to sleep in .

Once there, he placed her in a large and soft bed. For a minute he watched his mate sleep. He shook his head and wanted to turn away, but Y/N's hand stopped him. Again he looked down at her. " Is something going to happen to me here or am I going to be turned against my will?" Sleepily , yet worried and with a touch of fear , she looked up at Caius . He shook his head and sat on the edge of the bed. Her hand he released from his wrist, grasped it and placed it on his non-beating heart. Y/N sat up and moved closer to Caius.

" The connection that binds us is very rare , some vampires never find it in their infinite lives and the ones that do... you can't feel it as a human like I can. When you are a vampire and you find that one person that is meant for you , every second without them is agony." He interrupted himself and put his forehead to Y/N's. The latter didn't flinch, even seemed to relax more. "If the wrong people found out that you were that person for me, Y/N, they would use you against me and kill you. I can't lose you, not after I just found you! So don't be afraid that anything will happen to you here. I will always be there to protect you!" Caius detached his forehead from hers and looked her in the eyes. "Turning into a vampire will be your free decision. I will not make it for you , even though I would love for you to become one of us , so I can have you by my side for eternity."

He lifted her hand , which still rested on his chest , and pressed a kiss on the back of his hand . Before he could get up , Y/N held his hand tighter . "Stay with me... please" Caius hesitated briefly. But he meant to make room for her so that he could lie down with her. Cautiously and with still some restraint Y/N snuggled up to him and fell asleep for the first time in months without waking up every now and then.

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Lost in thought, Y/N let her fingers run over the fabric of the blue Summer dress that Caius had given her only that morning. "Are you all right my dear? You've been lost in your thoughts all afternoon." Athenodora looked at Y/N out of worried eyes. Detaching herself from her thoughts , Y/N studied the older woman before her closely.

Several weeks had now passed since Y/N's arrival. Everyone seemed to really like her, even though she was still human. Even the twins couldn't help but be nice to Y/N, which seemed to shock many. Aro was worried that the twins would be nice. But that thought was quickly misplaced when the Cullens wanted to talk to Aro and the rest of the kings to bring Y/N home and the twins had to be stopped from traveling to Forks and wiping out the Cullens for good. Caius and she spent every spare second he could spare together. Sometimes she just watched him paint his canvases and sometimes they read together in front of his fireplace. Even though Y/N knew that Caius would never admit it, she knew that sometimes at night he would lie down with her and pull her into his arms. After a while, Y/N had to admit to herself that she was starting to feel something for the grumpy vampire king. Which would not be a problem if it were not for his wife Athenodora, whom Y/N met on the second day in Volterra. She treats the young girl like a good , almost like a best friend. While Y/N felt more and more guilty for her feelings towards Caius.

" It's all good. I'm just tired." Athenodora raised one of her eyebrows. "You should know by now that I can hear your heartbeat. So don't even try to lie to me my dear!" Y/N looked at Athenodora and rose from her place at the window of the tower with a sigh. " Aren't you mad at me about Caius?" A silence spread between the two friends for a moment , which was interrupted by the happy laughter of the vampiress. " So I am right in my assumption that you have fallen in love with Caius Y/N?" Ashamed , the young girl nodded , unable to lie to Athenodora . " And also am I right that you feel guilty because I am Caius' wife?" Again the young girl nodded, with her head lowered. Smiling softly, Athenodora stood up and glided lightly towards Y/N to take her in her arms. Pressing the young girl to her chest, she whispered in a soothing voice, "The love that Caius and I once felt for each other has been extinguished for an eternity. We still cherish each other as friends who shared a deeper past. Now he has you and even though Caius would never express it with facial expressions or words, you make him happy. The whole castle seems to be a bit livelier again since you've been around and me, I'm glad to have gained a good friend!" Y/N wrapped her arms tighter around Athenodora's torso.

" Will you promise me something Y/N?" " Anything you want." " That someday you will be ready to become one of us. Because even if you don't see it yet, you're the piece of the puzzle that we've all been missing here." Athenodora noticed the tentative nod at her chest. " I have a confession to make." The vampire broke away from Y/N and looked at her questioningly. " I think about it every single day." Eyes shining with joy, Athenodora hugged Y/N to her again.

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As evening had fallen, Y/N set off for her chambers with Demetri at her side. "Master Caius is in his studio. If you are interested." Smiling, Y/N thanked Demetri , who with an equally warm smile led her to her new destination.

Felix and Santiago stood in front of the high doors of Caius' studio and opened them as soon as they saw Y/N. Caius, who was sitting on a chair by one of the windows, with his painting in front of him, only looked up for a moment to smile at the young girl. But he turned back to his work. He was used to Y/N joining him with a book and reading in front of the fireplace on the sofa. But the young girl had other plans today.

Carefully she let her gaze wander over Caius. He was wearing only a white shirt and simple trousers. The only light that illuminated him was that of the moon, the fireplace was too far away for that and probably had been turned on just for her. Slowly she walked up to him and stood behind him. Caius was about to ask her if all was well, when she put her arms around his neck from behind and buried her face in them.

" I missed you."

Caius paused in what he was doing, putting away the brush and paint palette, he turned his torso a bit, wrapped his arms around Y/N's waist and pulled her onto his lap. With a surprised expulsion of air, she landed in Caius' lap. Examining her, he looked into her eyes. Carefully, she put her arms around his neck again. " Did something happen?" Smiling, she shook her head. "Why do you think something happened?" The vampire tilted his head. " Because this morning , you were still keeping your distance and now you are sitting in my lap." " I had a conversation with Athenodora." " About?" " My feelings for you and the consideration of letting myself be transformed."

Caius sat up a little straighter and strengthened his grip on Y/N's waist so that he didn't hurt her. Y/N noticed her mate's sudden tension and let her hands move from his neck to his cheeks so he would look at her again. " Before you assume the worst why don't you ask me first, Caius." Annoyed , he exhaled . " And what conclusion have you come to?" Amused, Y/N looked at Caius. Instead of answering him directly, she leaned forward and breathed a kiss on his mouth. Surprised, he looked at her. " My realization is that even though you are often in a bad mood , I couldn't imagine eternity with a better mate." " Y/N are you sure..." She interrupted him with another kiss. But when she tried to break away from him this time , Caius put his hand to the back of her head and deepened the kiss. Y/N's hands dropped down from his cheeks to his shoulders. Detaching from Caius , since Y/N still needed air , she bit her lower lip in embarrassment . Grinning , he placed his fingers on Y/N lower lip to free it from her teeth. " Caius..." Y/N's voice trembled. " What do you want Y/N. Tell me and it's yours." Her grip on his top tightened. " I want you and eternity." Looking deep into her eyes his hands moved back to her waist , where he lifted her up and stood with her. His lips settled on hers once more. Y/N hands wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist. Carefully, Caius laid her on the couch in front of the fireplace and leaned over her. His lips parted from those of his mate.

"If I turn you now, you'll never get rid of me." Laughing, she pulled him close to kiss him again. "I love you Caius Volturi!" With shining eyes he looked at her. " I love you too..." Caius lips carefully wandered over his lover's stoner ,moving to her neck and placing a kiss on a sensitive spot . Y/N's eyes closed , her hands buried in the fabric of Caius shirt. With one last look at Y/N, Caius buried his fangs in her neck.

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"Caius, are you all right?" Athenodora had left her tower, having noticed for three days that her husband was standing outside in the middle of a field, looking up at the stars. The vampire did not turn away from the starry sky when he spoke. " Have I made a mistake?" Athenodora looked at him in confusion. " Turning Y/N?" Slowly he nodded. " Caius she will wake up , don't worry . It's been a while , but surely you haven't forgotten how long our transformations were ." Sadly he looked at Athenodora. "What if she remembers that I am not the one she wants at her side? What if she regrets the transformation and demands that I kill her? What if..." " Caius!" Athenodora put a hand on his shoulder. " I spoke to her that day. The girl loves you and no matter what the future will bring you , you will face it together!" " Thank you." "Not for this, Caius. I'll leave you with your thoughts." Again he looked up at the sky. The flowers around him gave him peace, knowing how much Y/N loved them.

A movement behind him made him smile. "I thought you wanted to go inside Athenodora?" Two arms wrapped around his waist from behind and he felt a second body nestle against him. " I am not Dora." Closing his eyes, Caius placed his hands on his lover's. " How long have you been awake?" "An hour. I should take something to eat before I could get to you." Caius nodded silently , turned around , put his hands on Y/N's face and pulled her to him for a kiss. Y/N returned his kiss without thinking twice about it. They both disengaged after a while and rested their foreheads against each other's.

" Dance with me." Caius looked at her seriously and Y/N laughed. " Here , without music?" He nodded. " Here , without music." Grinning, she agreed and so they both began to move to a tune that only the two of them could hear.

"I'm glad he found her." Aro looked down into the garden with a satisfied smile. "And so even the grimmest soul finds its right half."

[naffeclipse]

I absolutely adore every AU you come up with, but I was actually curious if you had already or were considering writing a traditional DCAxReader? Hopefully I can kick this art block soon because there is so much fanart I want to draw of your stories :) Hope your week is going well! (besides the roof disaster ^^;;;)

On another note... AUs are my brainrot and I keep thinking about that post about the large bed... and spoopy ghosts. Clipgeist? No running away from something that can follow you to the ends of the Earth. Poor Y/Ns just can't catch a break lol

I have a few canon stories with the DCA x Reader on my Ao3 but nothing as grand or long as my AUs! I do have a 'canon' story plotted but I don't know when I'll write it. Hopefully one day!

Ah, that's so exciting! I hope you can chisel that art block down hehe 

It's going good (aside from the roof ;-;) I have this week of school before we go on break for Thanksgiving and it can't come soon enough!

Shaking your hand so hard rn!! I love AUs! And a spooky ghost one? Oh ho, I've always wanted to write a domestic monster scenario!

Perhaps Y/N moves into an old, old house with steep roofs, pointed arches above the windows and doors, and a lovely porch. It's two and a half stories tall (the half story is attic space under the roof rafters) with a four-story central spired tower! All dark wood and even darker interiors. You can't desire if it's Dracula's castle or a fairytale home for the happily ever-after-ed prince and princess. It's even got a secret underground tunnel! What more do you need when flipping a home? You love restoration and you intend to keep all its gothic charm while updating it to be, well, livable.

It's also incredibly cheap! Like, stupid cheap, for something that should be incredibly pricey for its prestige style and historical value. Not that you've ever looked a gift horse in the mouth, but even you have second thoughts before ultimately snatching up the house key.

The first night is always unsettling—maybe you hear a voice whisper in your ear despite it being dead silent and there's not a soul for miles, but you'll brush that off as getting spooked by old ghost stories your brain conjures up within the ornate decorated rooms.

From there, things get stranger and stranger still. Your paintbrush is moved and you know you didn't set it there because of the wet paint dripping onto the floor. The electricity is ever fickle, turning off at the most opportune moments during the night, like when you swear you saw a figure standing at the end of the hallway, all thin and scraggly with a ghostly smile and an inhuman head framed with wavering energy that almost seems to glow like embers in the dark!

Still, you continue your repairs and restorations, sometimes softly talking to yourself out loud and talking to the house like it's a wounded animal you intend to restore back to its fittest with all the love you can pour out of your heart. Places need love, too.

The most obnoxious thing is that you can't access the tower—the door is always locked, and no matter what key you try, it refuses to budge. You don't dare risk causing damage by prying it open, but you swear you'll get into that tower one day. There's got to be treasure inside with how mysteriously it stands, just out of your reach. Though, you've mostly put it aside for now. Whenever you jingle keys in the lock, you swear you hear a voice grow angry with you, and the hallway becomes so cold you can see your breath.

So, yeah, you're saving that for later.

The pivotal moment of you even considering a haunting is one night when you find yourself overwhelmed and stressed from the ever-growing list of chores and how everything is falling apart faster than you can fix it. You dissolve on the living room floor into thick tears. You're usually so put together, even when alone. You hate crying. There's no one to hold you together except yourself, so why fall apart in the first place?

Your little moment of getting it out is interrupted when a quilt falls over your shoulders. A soft, heavy quilt of midnight skies and dotted pale blue stars that was never in this room.

You leap to your feet, quilt falling away, and call out in classic horror victim fashion, "Who's there?" but no one answers. In frozen terror, you stare at the room, expecting something, anything to jump out or scream at you, but it's so, so quiet. All is still, like apologetic comfort.

That couldn't have happened. No draft, no forgetfulness could explain how a quilt was draped over you as if by a concerned friend.

You stare at the quilt and decide that you've had a long day. You go to your room, unable to relax even once you're under the covers, feeling something cold and misty above your bed.

When you wake in the morning, that starry quilt is draped over your lying form. You did not put it there.

Something or someone else tucked it around you.

[morerawerbreath]

Fictional Men Ranked Least to Most Likely to Eat Pussy

When I’m bored my powers turn to evil. Happy to announce that @earlymodernlesbian is not only is an enabler but wrote a gay companion piece which you can and should read here!!!! 

10. Mr. Rochester — Jane Eyre

No chance of oral here. Sorry, I don’t think he puts Jane first once in this book. She’s too busy being a ministering angel to ever consider anything above and beyond her wifely duty and I don’t think Rochester ever really stops being a narcissist long enough to consider her desires or even, you know, her life. I bet his french mistress asked him to do it once and he was like “ew, no”

9. Rhett Butler — Gone With the Wind

Rhett says shit like “you ought to be kissed and by someone who knows how,” and then I bet would go down on you one time just to show you what you were missing out on, and then he’d tease you about how much you liked it for months afterwards and refuse to do it again. Imagine how much more normal Scarlett might have been if she was getting regular oral.

8. Konstantin Levin — Anna Karenina

Definitely knows about eating pussy and can’t stop thinking about it. I think he might even shamefully obsess about it in conjunction with his dirty peasant laborer fantasies. However, he also has the ascetic monk thing going on so I bet he hardcore represses his desires to actually do it. That being said, I think if he ever got over himself he’d be way into it.

7. Mr Darcy — Pride and Prejudice

I’m not convinced Mr. Darcy even knows going down on girls is a thing, but once Bingley had filled him in I bet he would try it. Elizabeth I’m sure would not object but I can’t see this happening more than once or twice.

6. Oliver Mellors — Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Mellors has the distinct advantage and disadvantage of being the only character from a book that actually describes sex acts. If it was based solely on what he said (being turned on by getting women off, not shutting up about Connie’s ass, talking about how much he wants a “real” woman with a “real” body), I’d say absolutely he wants to get down there and would use the cringiest words possible to describe it. However, they textually do almost everything else so I feel like if he ate her out DH Lawrence would have told us 😔

EDIT: he goes down on her in the most recent movie!!! vindicated

5. Jonathan Harker — Dracula

Jonathan is obsessed with Mina (rightfully) and loves her to the end of the earth, so of course he’d do anything for her, including eat her out. However, there’s so much putting women on goddess pedestals in Dracula that he might just like, repeatedly kiss her between her legs and and be like, “am I doing this right?” and Mina would be like “I love you so much Jonathan” but she wouldn’t actually get off, you know? 

4. Heathcliff — Wuthering Heights

Someone who is willing to dig up your grave would definitely be down to lick your pussy. Cathy and Heathcliff are so rabid about each other I bet oral is like, one of the least weird things they would have done to each others bodies if they had the chance

3. Gabriel Oak — Far from the Madding Crowd

Not intimidated by Bathsheba’s independence and position of power. Could take care of her and spoil her if she ever let him and they both know it. Plus, not afraid to get down and dirty and do farm work for her. If a man cures your sheep and saves your hay before a storm, what else will he do for you? 👀

2. Mr. Knightley — Emma

Mr. Knightly is the definition of a service top. 100% confident in his masculinity and completely comfortable putting Emma’s needs and wants first, but not gonna let her get away with being high and mighty. Excellent combination of obsessed with her but still in charge. ;) She would get neurotic about it and he would tell her to chill out and he’d be right.

1. George Emerson — A Room with a View

George chugs his respect women juice and is so turned on by the idea of women as individuals with unique desires he can’t stand to see Lucy betray herself by marrying a robot. “I want you to have your own thoughts even when I hold you in my arms” ?!? “The desire to govern a woman lies very deep, and men and women must fight it together before they shall enter the Garden” !! What’s not to love about a pro-Eve humanist who enjoys swimming naked and is constantly telling everyone to be less embarrassed about desire and the body? No question George is going to be eating Lucy out every day of their lives and getting off on it himself.

Bonus: 

Marius Pontmercy — Les Misérables

Shy, but also French. Not sure which one wins out here. 

[see-arcane]

“You know,” Dracula hums by the fireplace, the flames a shade dimmer than his own eyes. “I do believe I am becoming paranoid in my old age. Yet I keep my things in such precarious order, all things where they must be.” A log pops. His eyes flash. “Where they should be. And so I have noticed that my own bedroom was disturbed during the day.”

“Oh?” Voice level, Jonathan. Voice steady, Jonathan. Surprise. Concern. “How so? I was under the impression the door was locked.”

“So it was. And yet, I can tell something was...” His nails drum on the mantel, the click of claws, “...different. Meddled with somehow.”

Something between foolishness, sleeplessness, and a smoldering kernel of ire sparks in Jonathan’s chest. Its embers travel up to his tongue.

“Nothing was stolen, I hope. I admit I had a mild scare some time ago, when I realized I couldn’t find certain things in my luggage. Only it occurred to me that your servants must have already taken them away to clean and hold aside for my departure.” A smile so easy it borders on suicidal curls on his face. It feels like a rictus. Maybe it will see him dead right then. “The people here are the most discreet I’ve ever encountered.”

Dracula raises a snowy brow.

“That they are. As discreet as spiders minding their web.” Then, a sudden swerve out of the growing cloud. He oozes mirth. “Have you seen any here, my friend? Spiders?”

“None.” He hadn’t. Dust, motheaten holes, but no spiders.

“That is because of my people as well. More, it is the work of local aid.” His grin has too many teeth. “The bats quite love them. Whenever I or my servants come across a spider indoors, we save it for them. All those that would dare to come crawling along the outer walls?” He snaps his fingers. “They are eaten before they can spin their first thread. It is a most lucrative exchange.”

Jonathan fights not to swallow, not to acknowledge the cold twisting in his stomach.

“I’m certain.”

“A hypothetical question for you. Which would you rather be, my friend? Of the two, I mean.” Dracula’s hand is on him again, itself a titanic white spider. Cold and immovable from his shoulder. It squeezes just short of bruising. “A spider or a bat?”

“I wouldn’t know, Count. Neither is the best choice."

“No?”

The hand is tighter.

“No.” Under the table, Jonathan crosses his fingers. “The best choice is a cat.”

The grip lightens and amusement sketches a change in the Count’s expression.

“Why a cat?”

“They can get away with much more,” Jonathan’s traitor tongue flies. He bites it. “If only for the fact of their comparative harmlessness as they serve their masters as they entertain and accompany. This, while it provides a more handy service in hunting pests of all sorts, be it spider and bat or beetle and rat. In exchange for doing the dual work of tending to the home and being pleasant and defenseless, the more powerful keeper ensures they’re housed and,” he gulps down glass, hot coals, acid, “and loved. A cat can only do so much, but it does just enough.”

Dracula shakes his head.

“Enough to get themselves in trouble, perhaps. No, my friend, if we must leave the smaller creatures behind, I must say a wolf is the better choice. He eats all in his path and has no master at all.” The cold hand gives another squeeze, the nails dimpling cloth and skin...then relaxes. Strokes. “But cats have their place as well. If kept in their proper place...”

The night goes on in this way for endless hours. And still Jonathan’s fingers are crossed out of sight. He has a fondness for cats. Even for spiders. He appreciates all creatures who take it upon themselves to hunt and cull those things that infest or take lives by little bites. But more than either, he has always had a fondness and fealty to dogs.

As the moon drags itself slowly across the sky, he imagines he hears their barking and baying meeting the wild cry of the wolves, and shepherd teeth sinking deep into bloodthirsty throats.

[princesssmars]

season of the witch

a trephacard x witch reader

wc : 3.644

the saviors of wallachia are tasked with the removal of a dark entity plaguing a town, just to meet a new acquaintance instead.

contains: mentions of murder and violence, cursing, mentions of nsfw bc trevor belmont is a Bastard. fluff. me losing my sanity i need them so bad.

a/n : i miss them so badly god please.

the heart of the forest inside of wallachia was always dark, even before dracula unleashed demons from hell onto them that bloody night. some of the trees were thin, fragile, and tall; looking over you like a shadow looming behind your back. the others were thick and rotting, full of branches hanging off of them like a monster about to strike. staying in these woods long wasn't something meant for the faint of heart.

luckily, the three heroes of wallachia (or the entire world, depending on who you asked), were anything but that. unluckily, they didn't know how to be quiet.

"there's no shame in admitting we're lost really, it happens to the best of us-" "shut your mouth.” trevor quickly cuts off alucard’s jest, trying to focus on steering the group’s cart through the rough terrain. even the horses seemed on edge.

he was too, not like he would admit it out loud. he had heard stories from his older brothers about what was in here. monsters. witches. demons. but then again, he wasn't a stubborn little child who couldn't fight his battles anymore.

he was now a stubborn adult.

“boys, be civil just for this trip, please. we need to save our energy,” syphas’ head pops out from inside the cart, looking between them like a scolding mother. “i have a weird feeling about this job, I can't describe it. but, in case it's bad, we should probably hurry.”

the “job” sypha was talking about was of course investigating the woods and the small town close to them, to the northeast of gresit. there had been reports of strange things happening in the woods-most likely night creatures that had escaped somehow. they'd go in, kill the creatures, retrieve their reward (and maybe some information and ale), then be gone. easy peasy.

“worry not, sypha, it's most likely some pissed-off night creatures that frightened a few of the townspeople. nothing we haven't dealt with before.” alucard says, moving to take her hand in his to further soothe her nerves.

“mhmm…” she hums, still staring straight ahead at the road.

they eventually arrive at the town, stopping the cart little ways out and getting out to walk the rest of the way. the informant said to meet them at the tavern, and when they step inside all eyes turn to them. there are a few seconds of tense silence before the bartender speaks up, “you the three here for the job?”

“yes, we’re here to help.” alucard steps forward with a polite look on his face.

the bar then breaks out into the usual chatter and laughter as the bartender smiles and waves them closer. the three make their way over to him and sit at the stools near the bar, with alucard sitting normally, trevor with his legs open, and sypha with hers crossed.

“can I get yall anything to drink? it's on the house, the least we could do” the bartender voices, cleaning some glasses.

“some beer would be nice, actually,” trevor says almost immediately, earning playfully annoyed looks from his lovers. “what? it's the least they could do!”

they're given their drinks and the bartender gives them some more information about the job, giving insight into how some men in the village went to hunt in the woods last week and haven't returned.

“it’d be best to head out in the morning if you ask me,” the bartender’s eyes flit around, looking almost nervous. “not to be superstitious but now is around the prime time for whatever lives in there.”

the group all share a look before trevor rests his arms on the bar. “then I guess we better get started.”

“is it just me or is there nothing in here to be worried about?” sypha whispers, narrowly avoiding tripping over a large root sticking out of the ground. they'd been walking for what felt like an hour with no sighting of any night creatures, just rarely stumbling across the normal creatures.

trevor sighs, dragging his feet behind his companions. “i knew it, probably just some scared old woman who saw a weirdly shaped tree in the dark.”

“and the men who went missing?” alucard pipes in.

“skipped town or fell in a ditch.”

sypha lets out a long sigh before stopping and turning around. “alright, this clearly isn't working. we should try something else.”

adrian hums, just as annoyed as her at this point. “i could climb the trees, try to get a better view of everything.”

the redhead lights up with a bright smile, clasping her hands together. “that's a great idea, adrian! come down and tell us if you've seen anything.”

he nods, quickly jump-teleporting up the branches of one of the taller trees. below, sypha looks up at him dreamily.

“pshh, i could climb a tree too, y’know.” trevor mumbles, crossing his arms. his face slacks when sypha kisses his cheek and says, “i know you could my love. it'd take you quite a bit, though.”

alucard glances through and above the trees that he can, able to see a good few miles out thanks to the height and his vampiric abilities. he looks around, almost giving up before he sees it: smoke.

jumping down, nearly scaring the daylights out of his partners who lightly scold him, he informs them of what he saw. glad to finally have a bit of action (even if its probably a straggler camping).

as they make their way deeper into the northern section of the woods, they start to feel…weird. like an unwelcoming energy surrounds them, urging, even begging them to leave.

trevor grunts, deciding to call out the uneasy feeling. “does anyone else feel weird or is it just me?”

“yes, there is indeed something strange in the air,” alucard nods, slowing his steps, “it feels like a protective spell, probably guarding something.”

“or someone,” sypha butts in. she's cast this kind of spell before on the castle and the hold to assure alucard they'd be safe while they traveled. it was a bit complicated, but her abilities were growing every day. but the way this spell felt, it had to have been cast by someone extremely powerful. “but we've already made it this far, we might as well see it…through…”

her voice trails off as all of their steps slow. in front of the group stands a small black cottage, the walls made of cobblestone, and the roof made with a dark wood. a path leading to the house turns into a bridge halfway through, reaching over a creek that comes from a small waterfall coming from one of the walls of rock that act as an enclosure for the abode. it was eerie yet almost comforting.

“my goodness…” sypha exclaimed, walking closer to the bridge until she felt a rough hand pulling her back. she looks up at trevor with questioning eyes while he sighs. “were you just gonna walk in and say hello?”

she scoffs, knowing that yeah, she might have. she knew she could be a little naive because of her upbringing and personality, but despite the dark exterior, this place seemed rather peaceful. almost comforting. it'd be hard to explain the connection she felt to this place already.

“if anything i would assume youd be the one to run into danger, trevor,” alucard jokes, walking past the two to analyze the house, “but he is right. we should proceed with caution.”

trevor and sypha nod their heads in agreement, following the blonde over the bridge and up to the door. sypha suggested knocking but in the middle of her sentence, trevor twists the door knob to find it open.

“wait!” she whisper yells, making the man's foot stop before it can cross the threshold. "there's another protection spell starting at the doorway, let me just..."

"i think it's a special sage, lets head in and investigate."

the redhead holds her hand up to the door, her palm brimming with her magic as it gets closer to the boundary. to her surprise, the air in the doorway seems to shimmer with energy. it slightly tickles her hand, making a slight giggle leave her lips.

the companions slowly step through the doorway into what seems like a cozy and cluttered living area. there were numerous books on the far wall, being split apart by a lit cobblestone fireplace. connected to the room is a small kitchen, with various herbs, spices, and plants lining the counters. leading from where the rooms meet is a hallway leading deeper into the cottage, with many candles on the walls being lit.

"look there," alucard tilts his head to the fireplace, noting how a small cauldron is laced on a hook over the flames, with the contents inside nearly boiling over, "whoever resides here has been in here recently."

"at least theyre a nice interior decorator. but id like to know where they're hiding because im becoming uncomfortable." trevor grunts, folding his arms over his chest.

sypha slightly chuckles, poking him in the arm. "oh don't tell me you’re scared of a little recluse, trephie."

"i told you to please stop calling me that-"

"what are you doing in my house?"

the two immediately stop their teasing, all three of the hunters still, turning slowly to face the direction the mystery voice came from.

standing in the doorway connecting the kitchen to the back portion of the yard stands a woman, wearing a casual cloth shirt and simple but slightly muddy trousers. in your arms is a bundle of vegetables and plants picked from what they assume must be a small farm. the thorns of one of the flowers pricks into the skin of your arm from your grip.

the three strangers stare at you, waiting for you to make a move of attack. when you raise your leg to take a step you see the brunette raise his hand to his hip, getting ready to grip-

"my gods, is that the morning star?" you gently exclaim, pointing to the infamous weapon attached to his whip. you'd read about it in one of your books regarding renowned weaponry and the families they were tied to. which meant... "that means you're a belmont, correct?"

as you look at your other sudden.."guests", you recognize the blonde as a vampire, given his catching eyes and pale skin, and the woman with red hair is wearing what you're pretty sure are traditional speaker robes. she’s oddly pretty for a speaker you think. the ones you've seen all seemed like they would drop dead at a gust of wind.

the woman carefully steps forward, placing her hands in front of you as the men visibly tense at her movement. she smiles at you, a really damn pretty smile, and stands up straight. "we did not mean to intrude in your home miss. well, technically we did but only because we've been sent by the people of-"

"belros." the word leaves your mouth like bile, your brows scrunching in annoyance. you sigh, moving over to the counter in the kitchen and setting down your produce before making your way around them and to your fireplace, gently removing the bubbling cauldron from over the fire.

"you’re familiar with the people in the village i assume? though i imagine you don't see them often, you're more than self-sufficient out here." alucard inquires, looking at the number of items stuffed into containers and shelves on the walls.

"im familiar with how the townspeople are a bunch of babbling idiots who would cower in fear at an eclipse," you spit, moving to turn towards the three of them, "and how they banished me from the village when i was young and frequently send people out here to rid of me in fear of what i might do to them."

"you’re telling me those people in belros kicked you put when you were what, a child? what’d you do?" trevor asks, putting his hands up when sypha fixes him with a hard glare.

"no, its fine. it’s reasonable for you to question it. do you mind if i ask your names first?" you move forward to sit on the couch, the speaker sitting on the couch with you while the belmont and dhampir sit on the identical couch across from you.

"well, my name is sypha belnades. these are my partners, trevor belmont and alucard tepes." sypha answers, pointing to each person as she says their name.

"its nice to meet you all. now if you don't mind me asking, how did a speaker, a belmont, and a vampire come to travel together?"

"well it all started with this ones batshit crazy father-"

"trevor!"

"its a bit more complicated than the nitwit makes it seem, but yes, we did come together because of my father. im sure you noticed the amount of hell he unleashed." alucard is calm when speaking, seeming used to trevors rude comments.

'they seem really close', your mind thinks. you feel yourself at ease a bit more.

“yes, it was trevor who saved me from my death, actually. after that, we found alucard and went to kill dracula. once we finished we decided to stick together.” sypha tells, her face bright as she talks about meeting her companions.

“well, I'm glad your encounters with other people these past few months have gone better than mine,” you sigh, moving to sit on one of your couches while they crowd onto the other, eager to hear your story.

you explain to them how you are a witch born with magic, coming from a fairly long line of powerful ones who worked behind the scenes so as to not scare humans with your abilities, lest they call you a demon and ostracize you or worse.

sadly, thats exactly whats happened to you. when you were but a child you had seen one of the town's hunters wounded in the woods, clearly about to die if you didnt help

when you had you found this cottage, you quickly fixed it up and moved it, putting up the protection spells in fear of being found by anything or anyone. but it was inevitable that you head out into the woods and people break through. it didn't phase you any longer to admit what you had to do to protect yourself.

their facial reactions are mixed, a variation of shock, horror, and anger. you were grateful they didn’t seem too upset about you basically confessing to murder, but you suppose they had seen and caused their fair share of death.

to your surprise sypha reaches over, taking your hands in her cold ones, trevor smirking at your visible shiver. “we are so sorry to hear that, y/n. if we had any idea of what the townspeople were like…”

“its alright, sypha. thank you for listening, let alone believing me.” you thank her, smiling at the woman.

“well what do we do now?” trevor questions, “its not like we can just go back there and say we had a nice chat with you and decided to be friendly.”

“i have an idea.” alucard says. “i will need to see what potion materials you have, may i?”

you nod and rise with him, guiding him over to your multitude of stuffed shelves in the seating area and the kitchen. while he’s searching for what he needs you cant help but admire him. ou had always read about the beauty of vampires but figured it was a farce they put on to lure in unsuspecting humans to their doom. but the man in front of you is ethereal and now staring back at you.

“my apologies, i didn't mean to stare and make you uncomfortable.” you nervously chuckle, quickly turning back to look for the ingredients you were searching for.

“its alright. im often complimented for my beauty on our travels.” he laughs, playfully flicking a lock of air behind his shoulder.

“i didn't take you for the vain one, alucard.”

“you may call me adrien, if you'd like. and I'm not really. i get most of my attributes from my mother. its…comforting, to know i look like her.” his tone of voice brings your eyes back to him, seeing the mix of fondness and grief in his eyes at the mention of is mother. you remember faintly hearing that the demons you'd encountered were brought about by draculas rage at his loss, and you couldn't fathom how he managed to process the murder of his mother, the mental collapse of his father and then having to take his life.

not knowing how else to comfort him, you decide to relate to his struggles. “when I escaped here I managed to save a few things of my parents, like my mothers’ jewelry box. it hurts a bit to look at it but it's nice knowing I have something of hers to keep with me.”

alucard watches you as you speak, smiling when our eyes meet his, saying a little “thank you.” under his breath.

trevor laughs, biting into a snack you had offered to them earlier. “another addition to the club of mommy issues. god, help us all.”

the rest of the night is spent discussing and starting alucard’s plan and getting to know more about your new friends. despite the fear of what will happen the next day, you find yourself enjoying their company more than you thought you would.

.

.

.

“ah! our saviors have returned! with good news i hope?” the bartender addresses the returning trio, the other members of the bar turning to look at them in awe and hope.

“your little problem has been taken care of. you and the people of your town will no longer have to worry about what lurks in the woods.” sypha tells, projecting her voice to alert everyone inside the room.

the room quickly erupts into cheers and shouts, the patrons of the bar rejoicing with the news that they are a little bit safer. if they had still been in the dark the three would have found comfort knowing they had helped to bring safety to more people, but after becoming aware that they are happy at the death of a woman, it leaves a bitter taste in their mouths.

“thank you, thank you! we are forever in your debt.” an older man says, his attire leading them to recognize him as the leader of the village.

“trust us, it was no problem.” trevor assures. “although, how about a round of drinks? monster hunting leaves a man thirsty, after all.”

“why stop at a drink? we will throw you a feast! you have saved our people a great deal, you deserve nothing less.”

the three share a secret look.

“that sounds wonderful.”

.

.

.

the feast is spectacular. there is a great amount of food, enough to share with everyone in the village to syphas insistence. before the drinks are served, alucard excuses himself. he returns when trevor and sypha are in a seemingly pleasant conversation with the village head. halfway through the dinner, they notice how the townspeople seem a bit lighter like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders.

once the feast is over trevor heads to the edge of the woods near the front of the town, where you wait patiently while fiddling your hands together. you have faith in alucard but if this works, if the people recognize you…

“dont worry. it anything goes wrong we’ll protect you.” trevor notices your worry and reassures you, placing a large hand on your shoulder while he guides you into the village center.

you both stop as a woman with her child does the same in front of you. you can feel the magic inside of you gearing up in the face of potential danger.

“why hell, dear. we haven't seen you in town before. are you a visitor as well?”

you let out a concealed long breath.

“yes. yes, i am.”

.

.

.

“it seems like the townspeople are rather welcoming to you. i hope this will help bring you a sense of security, y/n.” sypha hugs you close to her in front of her and her partner's wagon. after making sure the potion had been taken and the now forgetful townspeople had been alright with your presence, it was time for them to head on to their next journey.

“you have no idea what you three have done for me today, i have no idea how to repay you,” you tell them.

“well you could always come along with us and earn your keep, i suppose.” trevor jokes, shrugging his shoulders as adrien and sypha roll their eyes at him. “what? you two were thinking it as well!”

“i do agree it would be enjoyable to have you on our travels. you'd make a powerful ally to us as we continue to clean up wallachia of night creatures.” adrien agrees.

sypha nods. “and what if the potion wears off? or more people bother you because of your abilities? maybe it would be better for you to come with us. for extra protection, of course.”

you nod your head along, pretending to take in their arguments like you hadn't already made up your mind when they had risked so much to help you. you had a feeling your life was going to become a lot more exciting traveling with the heroes of wallachia.

.

.

.

[codylabs]

One thing that's missing from a lot of the current Dracula discourse is an understanding of how vampires actually work in the book's universe.

In most of the modern portrayals we're used to seeimg, vampires are painted as tragic or conflicted figures, that are mostly the same as how they were before being bitten: the same person, just immortal and nocturnal and periodically possessed by bloodlust. Not so in the original book, and not so for our good friend Johnathan Harker.

In the original story that we're currently hearing, vampirism is much more of a transformation, and much more closely tied to undeath and demonic sin. Not only is it brought on by death, but the reanimated corpse retains none of it's soul and it's conscience and any trace of goodness it had in life.

Most of us were delighted and amused at the Count's bizarre antics in the story's first chapters, then suddenly surprised when it took a sudden turn toward horror and apparent homoeroticism when the Count saves Johnny from his 3 blood-slorpimg girlfriends and gives them a baby to eat instead. And yes, that is the point where the nature of the threat becomes clear, but the missed purpose of the first few chapters is to set up not only how absolutely disconnected the Count is from how a normal person lives and acts, but to show how this entire demeanor as a noble gentleman or a friend or a human being is nothing but a poorly-maintained facade, and a means to an end; that end, of course, being to move away from the superstitious and well-guarded countryside, and into a quiet home in the center of London, one of the most densely populous cities in the world at that time.

And somewhere in the Count's conversation with his three fine ladies lies another hint: that love means something completely and entirely different to vampirekind than it does to us. A human does, and should, love through care, concern, goodwill and service. The count wears these things like a mask around Johnathan, but between he and his ladies the mask falls, and we see that when they say love, they mean something else: something on the spectrum between lust and dominance and hunger, and probably closer to the latter. The Count being affectionate is not necessarily a sexy or appealing or desirable occurrence in any way whatsoever at all ever.

The story hasn't suddenly turned toward horror, it has been a slow revealing, to both us and Johnathan, that he is trapped in a castle not with a man but with a THING. It wears the skin and memories of a nobleman who died long ago, likely in one of those wars it's so fond of recounting, but it is even less his friend than we are. We, and Johnathan, can be certain now that the moment he has served his civilized purpose the pretenses will drop, and the beast and its beastettes will devour him,

And England is next.

I love this story. Familiarity and memes can turn horror into comedy so easily, as we have been proving, but beneath it all, this is some damn good horror.

[milkywaydrabbles]

If it's quite alright with you, I would like to request Castlevania's Alucard with a female s/o who helped take dracula down. I imagine she takes Grant's place from the videogame,(they never adapted him in the anime 😔).

Love to see Alucard with a bossy, mischievous girl boss.

A/N: Hello aaa thank you for the request!! I had to do some background checking on Grant since I didn't actually play the games (fake fan fr) so I hope this sounds okay! I rewrote this like 4 times because I didn't know if HCs or a full drabble would be better ;A;

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this! It was fun writing a S/O like this!

TW: none!

Alucard with a sassy S/O ☼Oh, she was bossy alright. After the curse was lifted and she realized she had supernatural powers that never went away after being turned back to human from that demonic form (don’t ever ask her how that came to be, she’ll just shrug. How do you even explain that?) she felt more invigorated to go and fight Dracula, completely ignoring the three that saved her life. ☼“A thank you would be nice” Trevor would grumble, and she’d turn around with a taunting smirk. “I would say thank you if it weren’t for the fact you almost killed me along the way.” Was her retort, and before Belmont and company could even speak she marched her way along to the castle. “Are you coming?” she questioned ☼If y’all thought the trio was fun with their bickering you should see the way she gangs up on Trevor with Alucard! But only when Sypha wasn’t around, she had to maintain an image around the woman (that she wasn’t just as childish as the boys were, liar.) ☼“Come on Belmont, don’t listen to Alucard. I think your whip is cool. Just...not as cool as the magical sword that floats around him all the time.” She’d throw a wink at the Dhampir, who couldn’t help but blush up his neck and cough into his hand to cover up his embarrassment.  ☼Turns out, she was actually super helpful in the fight against the night creatures that crawled around Dracula’s castle, along with the vampire generals. Effortlessly jumping from wall to wall, slicing through skin and cracking bone with superhuman strength and a dagger, she really did help clear the way to Dracula for them to finish the job. ☼With all said and done, Trevor and Sypha packed up to leave, Alucard assumed you’d be going with them. ☼Imagine everyone’s shock when you shyly looked down at your scuffed boots and asked if it would ‘be alright if I stayed around. I quite like it here with you’.  ☼The teasing that would ensue from the nomadic duo would be endless until they finally left.  ☼Fast forward after defeating Death, and village Belmont being established (she still calls his Village Treffy) she’s just as fiery as she was in the beginning. The only difference is the outward love and affection she shows Alucard. And if anyone said anything about it, she’d simply flick them off with a middle finger. ☼Sometimes though, that didn’t work out the best in her favor, and would come home with cuts and bruises.

“My love, please don’t think you have to fight for my honor or something ridiculous like that.” Alucard would sigh, lightly dabbing at the cut above her eyebrow, apologizing silently when she winced. “Adrian, how am I supposed to let it go when they have something awful to say about you? You let them live on your land, build them a village, saved them from Danesti. And they have the nerve to insult you for being half vampire!” You got too animated, clutching your head where the blow landed. Alucard clicked his tongue, continuing to care of the cuts and bruises. 

“Plus, if you think I look bad you should see the other guy.” She joked, flexing an arm that wasn’t currently being bandaged up. “You didn’t think I’d lose did you? I have to look cool for our nephew that's on the way!"

Oh, he was absolutely smitten with her.

[autumnmobile12]

After the release of the official Nocturne trailer, we're all asking where Alucard is.

Here's my two cents and two theories:

Theory 1: The Years Got to Him

Being effectively immortal, Alucard would have watched Trevor and Sypha die, and then he inevitably would have watched their children die, and then their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

How long would it have been before couldn't bear the thought of seeing another life he'd known since birth age and pass away? How many times did he recognize Sypha's laugh or Trevor's eyes in their descendants before he said, "No more. I can't do this any more."

So he puts himself to sleep with the instructions to the family to wake him 'in their darkest hour' or something like that. Over time, he becomes a family legend and then forgotten. In his absence, the Belmont village crumbles and disappears, taking with it all the knowledge and advancements its people.

Because as we know from the original series, humans forget.

...

Theory 2: The Belmonts Drove Him Out

I know what you're thinking: Trevor and Sypha would never. And you're right, they wouldn't. Their children and grandchildren probably wouldn't either. By the time we get to Christopher Belmont, he probably never met his great-grandparents, but he would know the stories and honor their memories.

But in the two hundred years between him and Richter?

The Belmonts are a long-lasting family, and like any other family, they can adapt and go through changes. They are subject to past traumas and prejudices, can lose sight of original purposes, or can straight up become corrupted by any number of things.

We see it with kings, emperors, CEOs, and even just regular families. All it takes is one asshole who chose to ignore the wisdom of his ancestors to ruin a good thing.

Say some Belmont down the line--Soleil, Simon, or Juste or anyone--lost someone important to a vampire and they swore vengeance on the entire race, as Dracula had once done on humanity. Alucard steps in to stop them and remind them of their history, and his words are met with a cold, "What do you know? You're just an old dhampir we should have done away with decades ago!"

This is just a scenario, but it is a possibility Alucard could have had a falling out with his family. Maybe they tried to kill him and he fled. Maybe they nearly succeeded in killing him and he sealed himself in his coffin to recover as he did in the original series.

He's no stranger to betrayal, after all.

This would depend heavily on the 'dear person' Olrox lost. Was their death warranted? Were they a menace to society and had to be put down?

Or have the Belmonts gone astray and Richter's mother killed them simply for existing? This option might be indicative as to why Olrox spared Richter. Killing a defenseless child would have saved him a lot of trouble in the future, but perhaps he chose to be better (the lesson learned in the original series) than the mother and risk the consequences later. Mother might have killed just because of a vampire, but Olrox refused to kill just because Richter was a Belmont.

...

Unrelated, but this could also be a set-up a 'break the chain of sorrow' trope in which this scenario played out: Richter's father was killed by Olrox's 'friend' for lack of a better word, Richter's mother then kills Olrox's lover out of vengeance, Olrox kills her out of vengeance, leaving Richter to either take vengeance himself or break the chain of sorrow by accepting that if this revenge continues, there will be nothing left but sorrow.

I'm probably putting way too much thought into all of this, but...there you go.

[gentleseaediting]

To Comma or Not to Comma

THE CORRECT USE OF THE COMMA WHEN JOINING CLAUSES

Should you use a comma before and? What about before yet, then or if? This is one of the trickiest rules of punctuation to apply correctly: whether to use a comma when joining clauses. But do not fear; I am here to help by providing eight tips on this very subject.

Because this is a complex topic, I’ve created a handy flow chart to assist you. You can download it for free, and I would recommend having it at hand as you read through this post.

You can also listen to this post on YouTube or read it on the Gentle Sea Editing website.

FIRSTLY, WHAT IS A CLAUSE?

A clause is a group of words that includes a verb and a subject. So, Sarah writes books is a clause because it includes a verb (writes) and a subject (Sarah). Sarah is my favorite author is a clause, but my favorite author, Sarah is a phrase, because it does not contain a verb. In today’s post, we’re focusing on clauses.

1. COMMAS WITH INDEPENDENT CLAUSES: THE GENERAL RULE

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) indicates that “when independent clauses are joined by and, but, or, so, yet, or any other coordinating conjunction, a comma usually precedes the conjunction.”

Now, you might be asking, “What the hell does that mean?” Don’t worry, I had the same reaction the first time I read it.

An independent clause is a clause that makes sense on its own. It is a complete sentence. It does not depend on another clause to give it meaning. In the sentence Damon drinks blood, because he is a vampire, Damon drinks blood is an independent clause. You can remove the rest of the sentence, and it would still make sense.

Coordinating conjunctions join clauses or phrases of equal importance. So, if you want to join two clauses and show that they are on equal footing, you would use a coordinating conjunction. The list of coordinating conjunctions is represented by the mnemonic “fanboys”: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so.

So, according to the general rule, if you want to join two independent clauses, like Taylor wrote the impactful lyrics and Jack produced the beautiful song, with a coordinating conjunction, you should add a comma before that conjunction. Here are some examples:

Taylor wrote the impactful lyrics, and Jack produced the beautiful song.

Taylor wrote the impactful lyrics, but Jack produced the beautiful song.

Taylor wrote the impactful lyrics, so Jack produced the beautiful song.

Taylor wrote the impactful lyrics, yet Jack produced the beautiful song.

This general rule also applies to imperative sentences—sentences that give the reader an instruction, make a request, or issue a command—in which the subject (you) is not expressly stated but understood. Here are some examples:

Help Queen Charlotte climb over the wall, or tell King George to spend time with her.

Buy two tickets to Barbie, and wait for me at the corner of Cornelia Street.

It also applies to questions, for example: Do we want to save Wallachia, or are we scared of Dracula?

2. COMMAS WITH INDEPENDENT CLAUSES: THE EXCEPTION

The English language is a wonderful thing; for every rule, there are plenty of exceptions. The general rule above is no exception.

If the independent clauses you are trying to join are very short and closely connected, the comma preceding the conjunction may be omitted, unless the clauses are part of a series. (See, even the exception has an exception.)

So, if you want to join two independent clauses, like Billie sang and Finneas played the piano, with a coordinating conjunction, you can do so without a comma, because these two clauses are short and closely connected:

Billie sang and Finneas played the piano.

Billie sang but Finneas played the piano.

Billie sang so Finneas played the piano.

This exception also applies to imperative sentences where the subject (you) is omitted but understood, e.g., Get up and stand tall.

However, a comma would still have to precede the coordinating conjunction if you are joining more than two clauses. Here’s an example:

Billie sang, Finneas played the piano, and I watched the show.

So, essentially, you should follow the general rule unless you are joining two very short and strongly related independent clauses.

3. COMMAS WITH COMPOUND PREDICATES: THE GENERAL RULE

According to the CMoS, “a comma is not normally used to separate a two-part compound predicate joined by a coordinating conjunction.”

Just one question: What??? Let's break it down.

What is a predicate? It is the part of a sentence or clause that describes the action but not the subject. So, in the sentence Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer would be the subject and created the atomic bomb the predicate.

A compound predicate occurs when two or more verbs share the same subject. So, if a single subject is shared by two or more clauses, and that subject is not repeated after the first clause, you’re dealing with a compound predicate. In the sentence I gambled with Jesper and ate waffles with Nina, the subject of both the predicates gambled with Jesper and ate waffles with Nina, is I. However, I is not repeated after the first clause. So, we’re working with a compound predicate.

Therefore, the general rule is: Do not use a comma when joining a compound predicate with a coordinating conjunction. Here are some examples:

Joe broke up with Taylor Swift and divorced Sophie.

Yennefer wanted to be a mother but could not have a baby.

You should join Jinx or listen to Vi.

4. COMMAS WITH COMPOUND PREDICATES: THE EXCEPTIONS

However, a comma may be necessary to prevent misreading or confusion even if you are joining a compound predicate with a coordinating conjunction. For example, in the sentence I recognized the man who attended the concert, and fainted, the comma before and is necessary to indicate that it is the speaker who fainted, not the man attending the concert. Here are more examples:

He loved the girl who rode a dragon, and wielded shadows.

She dislikes the man who has titanium teeth, but wears Yeezy shoes.

Additionally, you should also use a comma before the word then if it is being used as shorthand for and then even if that comma separates a two-part compound predicate. So, you would write: He attended her show and then gave her a friendship bracelet or He attended her show, then gave her a friendship bracelet.

Finally, the CMoS indicates that “compound predicates of three or more parts treated as a series are punctuated accordingly.” So, if you have a single subject performing three or more actions, you would use a comma before the coordinating conjunction. For example:

Selena attended the Golden Globes, released new music, and became a billionaire.

Victoria published a book, increased her Instagram following, and announced a book tour.

5. COMMAS WITH INTRODUCTORY DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Now that we’ve gotten independent clauses out of the way, let’s talk about dependent clauses. A dependent clause cannot stand as a sentence on its own and is connected to a main, independent clause. So, in the sentence Damon drinks blood, because he is a vampire, because he is a vampire is a dependent clause, since it does not make sense on its own. Subordinating conjunctions—like if, because, whether, or when—are used to join dependent and main clauses.

According to the CMoS, “when a dependent clause precedes the main, independent clause, it should be followed by a comma.” So, when the dependent clause comes first, you separate the clauses with a comma. Here are some examples:

If Sokka trains with Suki, he will become a better warrior.

Because Kim is a successful businesswoman, she gave a lecture at Harvard.

When Nyx is older, he will train with Cassian.

6. COMMAS WITH DEPENDENT CLAUSES THAT FOLLOW THE MAIN CLAUSE

If the main clause is followed by the dependent clause, you have to determine whether the latter is restrictive or nonrestrictive.

The CMoS clarifies that a dependent clause is restrictive if it is “essential to fully understanding the meaning of the main clause.” For example, in the sentence Sokka will become a better warrior if he trains with Suki, it isn’t certain that Sokka will become a better warrior. The dependent clause if he trains with Suki adds information that is vital to understanding the main clause. Therefore, it is a restrictive dependent clause.

If a restrictive dependent clause follows the main clause, you should not place a comma before the conjunction. Here are two examples:

Nyx will train with Cassian when he is older.

Kourtney wasn’t mad because of the fashion show; she was mad because of the timing.

A dependent clause is nonrestrictive if it is not essential to the meaning of the main clause. For instance, in the sentence Margot is a good actress, whether you like her or not, the dependent clause whether you like her or not can be omitted without changing the meaning of the main clause.

If a nonrestrictive dependent clause follows the main clause, the subordinating conjunction should be preceded by a comma. Here are two examples:

I’d like to watch Mean Girls, if you don’t mind.

He arrived hours later, when the movie was already over.

However, sometimes this can be a tricky differentiation to make. Take the sentence Kourtney wasn’t mad because of the fashion show. Without the comma, Kourtney is still mad, just not about the fashion show. Add a comma before because, and the fashion show becomes the reason she’s not mad. The CMoS’s advice? “If in doubt, rephrase.”

7. COMMAS WITH INTERVENING DEPENDENT CLAUSES

When a dependent clause is located between two other clauses, meaning that the two conjunctions are right next to each other, the conjunctions don’t have to be separated by a comma. Here are some examples:

Violet tried to decipher the journal for days, but if Dain had not given her advice, the truth would have remained concealed.

Zuko stood up for the soldiers, and when his father ordered him to fight back, he refused.

They decided that if Percy didn’t return the lightning bolt, he wouldn’t see his mother.

Technically, there’s nothing wrong with adding a comma in between these conjunctions. In fact, it might even be preferred in certain cases for emphasis or clarity.

8. COMMAS WITH RELATIVE CLAUSES

Finally, let’s look at relative clauses. A relative clause provides information about a noun. For instance, in the sentence The book that she wrote years ago was published this year, that she wrote years ago is a relative clause, because it tells us more about the noun (book).

According to the CMoS, “restrictive relative clauses are never set off by commas from the rest of the sentence.” As with dependent clauses, a relative clause is restrictive if it provides information that is crucial to understanding the rest of the sentence. In the example above, the reader wouldn’t have known which book the author is referring to without the relative clause that she wrote years ago, so no commas are used. Restrictive relative clauses are usually introduced by the pronouns that, who, whom, or whose. Here are some examples:

I prefer to support politicians who stand up against genocide.

The joke that he made at the Golden Globes was sexist.

The author whose work I like the most has just released a new book.

This rule applies even when these pronouns are omitted:

The movie I just watched won an Academy Award.

The people we follow on social media have a big impact on our lives.

A nonrestrictive relative clause, on the other hand, is not essential to the identity of the noun to which it refers. In the sentence Sarah’s House of Flame and Shadow, which I finished last night, is a great book, the relative clause which I finished last night can be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence. So, it is nonrestrictive. Nonrestrictive relative clauses are set off from the rest of the sentence by commas. These clauses are usually introduced by which, who, whom, or whose. Here are some examples:

I prefer to read about scholarly characters, who are less likely to be ignorant.

Madelyn Cline, whose most famous movie is Glass Onion, was seen with Pete Davidson.

The talk show, which recently featured Sydney Sweeney, has celebrities eating spicy food as they answer questions.

So, to sum up (TL; DR):

• If you want to join two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction, you should add a comma before that conjunction unless the two clauses are short and closely connected.

• Do not use a comma when joining a compound predicate with a coordinating conjunction unless:

o a comma is necessary to prevent a misreading;

o then is being used as shorthand for and then; or

o a compound predicate of three or more parts is being treated as a series.

• If a dependent clause precedes a main, independent clause, add a comma after the dependent clause.

• If a restrictive dependent clause follows a main clause, do not add a comma before the subordinating conjunction.

• If a nonrestrictive dependent clause follows a main clause, you should add a comma before the subordinating conjunction.

• When a dependent clause is located between two other clauses, meaning that the two conjunctions are right next to each other, the conjunctions don’t have to be separated by a comma.

• A restrictive relative clause is not set off with commas.

• A nonrestrictive relative clause is set off with commas.

There you have it; those are the rules for comma usage when joining clauses, at least in terms of the CMoS. In the wise words of Neil Gaiman: “It’s that easy, and that hard.”

For professional editing and proofreading services, head on over to gentleseaediting.com

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

Have any of the Star Wars characters visited Castle Dracula?

If not, I'd love to hear about Obi Wan or Anakin. Although Anakin is probably more interesting: do chosen ones taste extra tasty? Does Dracula try to get Anakin to join the coven by suggesting he could save Padme?

Are the Vamps like Darksiders, Sith, or not even of the force?

I've got asks sitting around for Anakin, Leia, Luke, Jar Jar, the Mandalorian, Yoda, and now Obi Wan, and it occurs to me I should run at least one of them for Star Wars Day on May the Fourth (this is not to say I won't get to any of them before then, but I do like being Seasonal even if I can't always achieve it)

So! Whom should I run for Star Wars Day, with the understanding that the queue is set to 3 per day AND the understanding that Dracula season will have started by then?

[nellydreadful]

When Jonathan Harker was going around all uneasy because his bed kept getting made and meals kept getting served without ever seeing hide nor hair of another human being, I was like, okay, several spooky things that could be going on here. I read a lot of fairy tales so empty mansions and castles with mysteriously absent staff are old hat to me. I was ready to find out what creepy explanation there might be, if any. I had a few prepared.

Castle is HAUNTED haunted? Sure, we have a vampire, nothing stopping us from having a few ghosts. The long deceased staff of the castle forced to continue serving their master in death as they did in life, cool, excellent.

Demon familiars? All the sensibly freaked out Romanian peasants kept ominously muttering about the devil, that could be happening. Dracula could have bartered for free satanic housekeeping services along with his other Infernal Powers.

Straight up evil wizard magic? Could be a thing. What do I know about what Dracula can do? Maybe the whole castle is enchanted to run itself.

Servants are around, but something is Wrong With Them and they have been ordered to keep themselves hidden so that Jonathan won't see whatever is messed up about them and thus be suspicious? Possible but dubious, if only because Jonathan Harker very quickly proves to be as dense as a sack of bricks and probably wouldn't say anything even if every servant did have blank entirely white eyes and a mass of scar tissue on their necks. Still, it was an option.

But no. No it's. It's just Dracula. Dracula is doing all the domestic chores secretly whenever Jonathan isn't looking. Dracula is running around in the background like a chicken with its ass on fire, making beds and cooking food and cleaning up and pretending to be his own chauffeur. Jonathan is turning his head for a few minutes and Dracula is clearing away all his dirty dishes and sprinting to the scullery to wash up. Dracula is cooking breakfasts that can be served cold and leaving them out for Jonathan along with a pot of coffee to be kept warm on the stove before scurrying off to do laundry. It's just... it's all just Dracula.

Presumably when this book came out, the revelation that Dracula was doing all the domestic work for the castle was shocking and eerie, like, GASP, this castle that should be full of people is actually completely empty save for Jonathan's captor, and GASP, the supposed aristocrat is lowering himself to the work of servants which is proof that something is clearly amiss with him and he is no true gentleman! But I'm sitting here in 2022 in hysterics because it's all. It's JUST DRACULA.

[le-velo-pour-dru]

I have a slideshow to share with you all. Ahem.

Thank you for your consideration. ❤️

[ID 1: A title slide that reads, "Why Dallon Weekes is Really A VAMPIRE, By Dru". The word "vampire" is written in red in a harsher font and in all caps. To the left of the title is a photo of Dallon Weekes under purplish lighting during an iDKHOW concert. To the right of the title is clip art of a stereotypical vampire sitting up inside of a coffin, a glass of wine in his hand.

ID 2: A slide titled, "Introduction". The body of the slide states, "Dallon James Weekes. You know him. You love him. ...Or at least, you think you do. But what if he was hiding a more sinister secret below his floral print shirts and immense musical talent? In this presentation, I will prove that the Dallon Weekes you think you know is actually a bloodsucking creature of the night." An image is below this of Dallon with red eyes, smiling and giving a thumbs up. The caption says, "Ignore the h8rs and keep being a demon, guys. That's what really matters."

ID 3: A slide titled, "Reason #1: His Lyrics". The body of the slide states, "To start, let's take a look at his lyrics, specifically the lyrics of his song Kiss Goodnight." Below this is a screenshot of some lyrics from Kiss Goodnight, which read, "Should you invite me in / To spend the night on the floor / Oh please believe I'll believe I'll be a gentlemen / Or you can show me the door". There's more text below this, which states, "Pay special attention to that first line. He says, 'Should you invite me in', suggesting to his wife-to-be to invite him to her place. Now, why am I pointing this out? Because who is it that needs to be specifically invited to places before entering? That's right. VAMPIRES." The word "vampires" is bolded, red, and in all caps.

ID 4: A slide titled, "Reason #2: His Youthfulness". The body of the slide states, "Look at Dallon in the 2000s." Below this is a photo of Dallon from when he was in The Brobecks. He's looking to the camera with a smile. The slide then says, "Now look at him today." Below this is a photo of Dallon during an iDKHOW concert. He's speaking into a microphone and holding up a water bottle. At the bottom of the slide, it says, "Not much difference, right? Twenty years have passed, and he still looks as young as ever. Now, who else are known to stay looking the same age across long stretches of time? That's right. VAMPIRES." Once again, the word "vampires" is bolded, red, and in all caps.

ID 5: A slide titled, "Reason #3: His Hint Hiding In Plain Sight". The body of the slide states, "Now, the final reason. I've saved the best for last. For our final piece of evidence hinting towards Dallon's vile vampirism, let's look at Le Velo Pour Deux, shall we?" Below this is a screenshot of some lyrics from Le Velo Pour Deux, which say, "Vampires never have to complain, / Of living a dull circumstance / So let's all pretend that we are undead, / In turn of the century France." Below this, it says, "Again, pay special attention to the first line. Or even just the first word! Because what is it that he refers to? VAMPIRES. This begs the question: how would Dallon know anything about the way vampires live? Well, if you take all the previously discussed evidence into account, it becomes clear that the only possible reason for this is that he himself IS a VAMPIRE." Both instances of the word "vampire" are bolded, red, and in all caps.

ID 6: A slide titled, "In Conclusion...". The body of the slide states, "After viewing this slideshow, it must become clear to you that Dallon Weekes is, in fact, a vampire. This just goes to show you that you can't always trust your first impressions. Where you may see a kind, funny, charismatic father of two with outrageous musical talent, there may actually be a bloodthirsty, fanged monster lingering just beneath the surface..." Below this is clipart of Dracula edited to have Dallon's head over the normal head. /end ID]

[yallemagne]

Everyone: "Man, how does Van Helsing know so much about Dracula and vampires?? Must be a personal connection between him and the Count."

Me: *pulling my hair out trying to rewrite the September 30 meeting scene* "IF YOU ACTUALLY FUCKING READ HIS MONOLOGUE TWENTY TIMES OVER YOU WOULD KNOW HE KNEW NONE OF THIS INFORMATION PRIOR TO THE STORY."

Maybe not none. But. Let me just. Most of the shit he says is filler. "Let me tell you, it's gonna be fucking spooky" is what he says like fifty times over in twenty words or more each time.

"Alas! Had I known at the first what now I know—nay, had I even guess at him—one so precious life had been spared to many of us who did love her."

Van Helsing says that if he knew all the info he's about to dump on us about vampires, they could have saved Lucy. Meaning he didn't know jack shit. He most certainly didn't know who Dracula was.

"Even friend Jonathan, who lived with him for weeks, did never see him to eat, never! He throws no shadow; he make in the mirror no reflect, as again Jonathan observe. He has the strength of many of his hand—witness again Jonathan when he shut the door against the wolfs, and when he help him from the diligence too. He can transform himself to wolf, as we gather from the ship arrival in Whitby, when he tear open the dog; he can be as bat, as Madam Mina saw him on the window at Whitby, and as friend John saw him fly from this so near house, and as my friend Quincey saw him at the window of Miss Lucy. He can come in mist which he create—that noble ship's captain proved him of this; but, from what we know, the distance he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself. He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust—as again Jonathan saw those sisters in the castle of Dracula. He become so small—we ourselves saw Miss Lucy, ere she was at peace, slip through a hairbreadth space at the tomb door."

Then finally he starts saying things that he may have already known since he cites no specific examples: night vision, requiring invitation, no power in the daytime, the sunrise and sunset bit, etc.. He does cite an example of what "unhallowed ground" vampires can enter uninvited, but that's just to illustrate his point. But then he talks about his friend Arminius.

"I have asked my friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University, to make his record; and, from all the means that are, he tell me of what he has been. He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land. If it be so, then was he no common man; for in that time, and for centuries after, he was spoken of as the cleverest and the most cunning, as well as the bravest of the sons of the 'land beyond the forest.' That mighty brain and that iron resolution went with him to his grave, and are even now arrayed against us. The Draculas were, says Arminius, a great and noble race, though now and again were scions who were held by their coevals to have had dealings with the Evil One. They learned his secrets in the Scholomance, amongst the mountains over Lake Hermanstadt, where the devil claims the tenth scholar as his due. In the records are such words as 'stregoica'—witch, 'ordog,' and 'pokol'—Satan and hell; and in one manuscript this very Dracula is spoken of as 'wampyr,' which we all understand too well."

Van Helsing is really just like me for real oh my god. He sounds like me after just having gone on a Wikipedia binge. He knew absolutely nothing about Dracula before, and he really wants to capitalize on all the new shit he just learned.

"We know from the inquiry of Jonathan that from the castle to Whitby came fifty boxes of earth, all of which were delivered at Carfax; we also know that at least some of these boxes have been removed. It seems to me, that our first step should be to ascertain whether all the rest remain in the house beyond that wall where we look to-day; or whether any more have been removed. If the latter, we must trace——"

*gunshots* Anyway.

More fucking fuel for the stop fucking painting him and Dracula as mortal enemies fire. He's literally just an old man who reads a lot, he's not a badass vampire hunter, Dracula didn't kill his gf or some shit, and he's probably never successfully dealt with a vampire before. Also, more ammo for my if you deny Jonathan's importance to the story one more time-- gun.