#i think that's what the fandom has settled on?

[ohtobemare]

Wild Ones, Miles Quaritch x fem!OC

summary: The avatar program has seen its changes in the decade since the Great War. And, waking up in a new evolution of an old avatar has its perks, sure. For her, or her other better half?

pairings: Miles Quaritch x fem!OC

warnings: established marriage, age gap, complete canon deviation, entry level fandom knowledge, a whole lot of made up futuristic tech, pro-human, Miles lives, accompanying fic to my upcoming AU rewrite, Kansas. my first official stab at Miles, Lord help us.

wild ones ➤

“.....you can hear me? Ruthaynne—Miss Carthier, you able to hear alright?” 

Waking from neural connection, usually, happens in a whirlwind—one of two ways, really. Many drivers reported a slow haze, akin to swimming. Time spinning backward as the crush of water rushes to fight you under, pulling at what feels to be your bones as you grapple for air, choking on hope and the claw for the surface. Smothering and slow. Others reported the  whiplash of being launched into a world of spinning color, cloud nine sounds, exaggerated tastes—acidic, sacchrine, umami in ways to make the head spin. The crash of a heartbeat, the lightning quick crash of senses coming online like from a coma. 

Lungs rise and fall rapidly, sucking in stale and thin air. Twice the size of what the human cavity would remember, not a stone’s throw from her alternate shell, locked away in some coffin box costing more than anything NASA would ever touch in three decades. Blood, rich with properties Earth could never fathom, rips through her veins—carrying foreign oxygens, CO2s cocktails to organs pushing hard, pistoning for life. Pores open and close like one never would think to acknowledge, hair stands up on end as the cool rush of conditioned air sets in. Her  hearing is the last to balance, deep and slow tones of the living settling into the brain like ripping off a wet, suffocating blanket. 

The weight of the sun may as well be resting on her chest—everything burns. Hot, like someone’s struck a flickering match beneath the epidermis that’s lit her up. Snapping and crackling in her blood, licking up whatever air is pummeling down her windpipe. Hunger claws somewhere in the depth of her core, starving and rapid with cold attention and steel tenacity that demands. She’d kill for a steak, or carbs—something savory, something salty. 

Synopses in her brain curl and flex her toes towards the floor. Muscles in her calves pull, twitch. Contract. They’re defined in ways Ruthie Carthier, her human body, would never feel; strong. Adept. Otherworldly, godlike. Adonis, reaching for the sun —flying too close to a feeling of power, of capability.  It was never how man was supposed to feel. Forever the creation, the taste of creator was never meant to flow through veins incapable of justice, purity. 

And this must be what Goliath felt like, high on adrenaline, drunk on power and iron strength able to bend hearts backwards. I Am help us, it was incredible. Magnificent in a twisting, serpentine way. Like a chilled, feverish sweat—cooling for the moment, but not everyday. Not stationary, not normal. Not organic. 

A snap of cold chases down the muscles in her back, the discs of her spine—chasing the heat crashing through her blood. And as her palms skip over whatever surface is beneath her, she knows why. It’s smooth, otherworldly smooth. Skipping through her fingers, she realizes it’s the medical berth. The labs.

“....heart level’s looking fantastic, o-sat is nearly perfect. Good respirations,” two heads suddenly appear above, looking down through rebreathers. They’re smiling, the wrinkles at their eyes and the sparkle of light are tells that not even a trained liar could hide. “Hey there. Doing okay?” 

Color fights for daylight from beneath the milkwhite collar of the woman’s labcoat—purple. It’s a purple something trying to hide, but it may as well be flashing neon on the Vegas strip—and it’s beautiful. The only scrap of living color, in the otherwise industrial steels and sterile whites of the ceiling and walls. Unable to look away from the rich promise of plumb for a few more heartbeats, movement flicks her eyes up to consider the light now passing in front of her eyes. 

“Excellent tracking response,” she chuckles. “Got some mighty blue eyes there, Mrs. Carthier—you’re clear to sit up, nice ‘n easy.” Stepping back from the table, the woman disappears from flat-back view and the beep of a monitor, the electrical whir of a correcting machine is the only noise. “You might be a bit disoriented, it’ll pass.” 

What once was the tech’s floating head becomes a pair of shoulders and a body as she works into a sitting position. The room spins, and it takes a squeeze of strong hands on the edge of the table to anchor the world, back as it was. Scribbling violently with a pen over a data screen, the tech’s eyes track the change; data hits the mainframe almost at the speed of light. Flicking between her patient and the screen, her smile is wire thin. She folds the plex over her chest, spinning the pen through her fingers. 

“Better?” Tapping the pen against her teeth, her head tips to the side. A nod satisfies her. “Figured. Takes a few seconds for all the neural pathways to wake up, the sleepy bastards.” The curse is short off a snort and foul, and Ruthie’s nose wrinkles in agitated disgust. Shooting her a sidelong frown, the tech has the nerve to roll her eyes. “My bad, Jesu—jeez. If we’re good here, you can stand up when you’re ready, hon.” 

For a second, Ruthie thinks she can feel the reinforcement in her bones as she slips off the berth. Bare fit hit the cold floor and she winces, recoiling as the heightened senses rush through her frame. Lifting her hands, she moves her finger, transfixed at the shallow bones flexing beneath her pale skin. Corner of her mouth ticking up in a small smile, she watches the back of her hands as she makes a fist, releases. Ball up, release, don’t tuck your thumb. 

Flexing a hand, she dips fast into low, and two sharp jabs feel like nothing, upsetting the air. She’s quick. Faster, maybe, than data suggested. 

Na’vi inspired carbon fiber marrows, mingling with red blood cells and whatever else I Am intended for the skeletal system. Giving her the strength, suddenly, of five men—and it’s remarkable. Beautiful, even. Reaching to card fingers through her hair, she glances over her shoulder to the tech. Even across the room, heightened eyesight makes out the small stitching of her name on her coat. 

Berg, J. The stitches are midnight black, a stain on the otherwise precise snow. Turning, a sweeping glance confirms it—she’s new. Ruthie’s never met her before, even before her other runs in the Eve program. Swallowing a breath of what’s beginning to taste like rancid air, she blinks and looks to the leads snaking along the berth, pumping fluids into the IV in her hand. 

“Miss Carthier—” 

“Quaritch, actually. Ruthaynne Quaritch, at your service,” unable to identify if the woman is a titled doctor or even military, she resorts to not identifying her at all. Basic manners, if you could say you needed them in Bridgehead. “But you can call me Ruthie, most people do.” Extended hand hanging there in thin air for a moment, unwelcomed, she finally just moves to brush the front of the medical gown.

Berg’s raised brow of confusion matches the yeah, right practically tattooed in her expression. And Ruthie would be more surprised at her lack of recognition, maybe, until she realizes after several seconds of trying to place her—she’s never made this woman’s acquaintance. Which isn’t unusual, new people float in and out of programs all the time as teams ship out, rotate. Eve was no different. Avatar Project attracted newbies like bears to honey. 

On cue, Berg’s attention trips to the monitor. Carthier, R. It blinks in solid, picked-by-some-underpaid-executive RDA standard font. Pen poised, she looks back to her patient, then to her plex—she swipes through screens, eyes scanning records. The transparent glass flashes Emergency Contacts, and Ruthie’s top teeth set to gnawing her bottom lip, waiting. 

A second, maybe, before the woman’s brows shoot almost right off her face. They would’ve hit the ceiling at almost the same pace as the color bleeding out of her face, if she didn’t drop her writing device from stupefied fingers. It hits the floor with a crack, Berg practically diving to retrieve it like she’s at Mach 10. And the way she fumbles through “Oh shit, oh fuck, how the hell—” Ruthie can’t help her snort of amusement. 

There it is, “I—oh shit—ma’am. My apologies. I didn’t—” This wasn’t the first time she’d been misidentified. Improperly ID’d. And it wouldn’t, certainly, be the last. 

A peacock of embarrassed heat fans up Ruthie’s neck and across her nose, a light shrug slipping from her shoulders in an attempt to shake some of the tension out of the air, “And you wouldn’t, Miss Berg—never bothered to update the mainframe,” a chuckle drops her gaze to the berth laid out before her like a tomb, “Paperwork, you know how it goes. Only thing that moves slower around here than molasses at Christmas.” Fingers pressing into the cool berth, she leans over the table a little to scrunch her nose, teasingly. “I won’t tell if you won’t,” waving between the two of them, she winks lightly, “Our secret. Scouts honor.” 

Berg’s mouth, hanging open on what could well become a swinging hinge of her jaw, snaps closed at the dismissal. “Oh. Well, uh—thank you, ma’am?” The look on her face matches the phrasing of a question, and the technician sits like that, staring. For moments longer than one or two. Until the monitor blips sharply, Ruthie turning her hand over to work at the IV stinging in the back of her hand. “Shit, shit shit—you shouldn’t—” 

“I feel fine,” Ruthie inserts softly with a crooked grin, “But you should probably let them know that.” Thumbing towards the one-way glass, her head gestures in that direction as she drops the IV to the berth, reaching for the monitor now screaming out an orchestra of alarms, chirps, and klaxons. “I’ll sit tight, you go do…whatever it is you techs do, hon.” A wave of her hand sends Berg hustling out of the room like a linebacker, Ruthie busying herself with quieting the monitor. 

Alone in the space, silence bleeds from the walls like sterile blood. Clinically white and oppressively bright, her eyes make out the room and its contents briefly, with disinterest. Another empty berth not but a few feet from her own, rolling trays of surgical utensils. Locked boxes and cupboards of what could only be medical goodies. The label beside the door reads Surgical Suite AVTR.EV, 12B along with escape routes. Fire protocols. Emergency contacts and dial outs. 

Pristine, overwhelmingly clean, it doesn’t even look like anyone’s been in here—aside from her discarded IV, dripping saline and minerals to the permastone floor. Picking it up, she drapes it over one of the arms of the monitor stand, fingertip lightly skipping over the surgical grade steel blade. Blowing aside a fallen curl from her face, she catches the movement of her arm in the reflection of the one-way, pausing. 

Smiling crookedly at the reflection, she chuckles and tucks a short set of curls behind her ear. It’s not the first time she’s actually seen her own avatar, but it’s the first time it’s been officially sanctioned. Since Eve’s kickoff, anyway. Avatar’s had been a regular faction of RDA for decades, even before the war and Sully’s insurrections. Augustine’s studies, and the data she herself had collected from the planet had given them more than enough edge to make perfections—and perfections, they were. 

Any avatar that could function at the same capacity as Na’vi without looking native and tapping into the demonic energy of the people was a step in the right direction. Direction that RDA, that humanity needed to successfully colonize. Establish roots that would outlast them all, give them hope. Second chances were rarely afforded, but this place—Pandora—was divine granted. Inspired, even. A second chance to course correct in a way the people of Earth never would. Hope in the high places, amongst the stars. 

And Eve afforded them all the luxuries navigation of a foreign, hostile world required. Na’vi avatars—the Adams—had been revolutionary at the time of the Great War; but nearly two decades later, nearly archaic. Prototypes for the big RDA push of the century, humanoid avatars. Avatars that looked like drivers, but functioned as natives. Extraordinary devices no longer reliant on the energy connection to the planet and its sentient  tyranny; precious luxuries afforded not everyone that passed through the RDA machine. Save a chosen few, soldiers and frontiersmen and pioneers of the sciences and human settlement efforts. Riches from amongst the ashes of the lost, the reaping of the war. 

Sweet fruit, indeed—at a million and a half a pop. Hers had been the first of Eve, the first humanoid avatar analyzed and genetically coded to her own DNA. One per driver, ever, and irreversible. Adam avatars, too, were permanent fixtures to the DNA of their drivers—Weinfleet, Mansk, all the drivers of the original Na’vi avatars were tethered to their Deja Blues, irreversible and for the long haul. A necessary evil, for without those Adams, those original prototypes, avatars like hers wouldn’t exist—fully human, fully native. The first step towards integration. 

Humanity would thrive on Pandora. It was in the numbers, the cards—a promise. Not so much a hope, these days. A decade ago they’d dreamed of merely settling outposts here. Breathing stale, purified air and never touching sunlight the way I Am intended. Crowded by steel and fortressed walls. But now, with the Eves—it was a step closer. A link to making humans fully hospitable on Pandora. 

Tipping her head to the side, Ruthie studied the perfections of the avatar not afforded her I Am-given body. Glassy skin, perfectly hydrated and patterned corkscrew curls; alive and quick eyes that sparkled even brighter than her organic glacier-blues could. Breathing deeply, her hands brushed over the definition in her arms—the veins and perfect fat-to-muscle ratio for her body type. BMI didn’t exist in avatars, something she was sorely thankful for. She wasn’t thin in her organic body, her skin wasn’t glass and glistening. She could’ve been ripped off the cover of a Vogue magazine, if Vogue was into hiring eight foot tall super soldiers.  

The iteration felt stronger, more alive than those before—more proteins, cleaner neural pathways. Faster reaction time. Clean cut emotions, quick synapses. No wonder the price of these steadily clawed higher and higher, they improved with nearly every quarter—-her bright smile, revealing sparkling albeit still-pesky pointed canines made her shoulders dipped forward. Couldn’t have it all, not even at a million and a half. 

Raking her close-cropped curls from her forehead, she turned to seat on the berth she’d risen from. Easily able to pull into a cross legged position, she rolled her shoulders forward. Back. Neck side to side, pushing her shoulder blades back to feel the tug of muscle, the shift and burn of activation. Wriggling her toes beneath her, she chuckled at how miraculously easy it was to lean forward. Abs she’d only ever dreamed of engaged, stabilizing her as reached her arms forward, palms skipping along the cool steel. 

Closing her eyes with a smile, her fingers easily slipped through her curls, pulling pleasurably at her scalp. Mind clear for the first time in minutes,  head dropping back with a sigh that curled her toes, she relished in the avatar’s strength. Its body, perfect and attuned to genetics she’d only wished I Am had granted in her own self. It felt so good. Vibrant, storybook. Like this was a dream. 

And it was, in one sense or another.  GI Jane can kiss my backsid—

“Well well, look at that—buttercup’s up and at’em,” the familiar drawl snapped her attention to the door, bolting her upright. Heart racehorsing against her ribs for a second, it takes only lightspeed to realize it’s Lyle kicked back in the suite’s doorway. Lounging like he owns the place, and in a way, he does—at nearly ten feet tall, Adam avatars pretty much have say of clearances and classifieds. “Get some rack, Sleeping Beauty?” 

“Lyle,” she acknowledges with a nod, lithely moving from the berth to cross over to him, cool smile taking him in. Crossed arms, RDA fatigues, Oakleys and all. “I’m not sure you can consider genetic connection as rack time, but to answer the question, sure. I’m okay.” Rolling a shoulder, “Feels good, feels right.” 

“No shit,” his nod matches the genuine smile he offers, before pushing out of the doorway to glance at her over the Oakleys, “Doc Berg says you’re good to go, figured you’d want some of these.” Stepping beyond the door, he twists to pluck a backpack up from the floor, tossing it forward with a flick of his wrist. “Colonel wanted to be here, but the General’s got his ass in a scouting debrief, like usual.” 

And that tracked—the only thing Ardmore did better than push papers was run debriefings, which on any given day, were excruciating. A gauntlet of sterile numbers and eye-crossing data, they were less informational as they were formal, for the books. Padded her numbers and her calendar for the eyes back home. But, she was meticulous, organized—on a horse higher than than hell, too. The only thing tighter than her regulations was her backside, head shoved so far up the execs of RDA’s asses that she may as well be bought and paid for.

Less a soldier and more a RDA performing monkey, she did run a tight outfit. Play by the rules or die was the motto, non negotiable. And if there was one thing about Miles that she knew and knew well was that he played by rules nobody had even heard of. He was wild like that, but disciplined. A lifetime of jarhead responsibilities and blood on the hands did that, sometimes. 

Blowing out a breath, “Sounds fun,” the only thing more sarcastic than her tone was Ruthie’s eyeroll, which broke Weinfleet into a toothy smile. Automatically her gaze drops to her wrist, which is bare—no watch. Reaching for Lyle’s wrist, she glances at the time. “Two hours? I’ve been out for two hours?” The jump of alarm in her gut is abrupt, and she drops Weinfleet’s arm a little roughly. “Good lord. What did they do, open brain surgery or something?”

Lyle snorts, nudges her forward with a gentle push to her shoulder. “Don’t look at me, buttercup—I just work here,” his tongue flicks over a sharp canine smoothly, before he thumbs over his shoulder. “‘S’posed to get you those,” gesturing to the bag with both index fingers, he slides the Oakleys up his blue dome, “but gotta haul ass back to the DB. You good?” Anything less would have Lyle’s backside in a sling with Miles, and that was unacceptable—even present company accounted for, she knew. 

Nodding, she waves him off with a flappable hand, “Squared away, thank you very much. Get lost, smurfy.” With a teasing face, Lyle turned sharply on his heel and jogged off, down the corridor until his sapphire frame was swallowed from view, into the twisting darks of industrial grays and steels. Huffing a breath, Ruthie reached for the badge clipped to a strap of the PHNX pack, unsnapping it with smooth hands. Carding it through her fingers, one glance down to the surgical gown sets her jaw sharply. 

“Frickin’ doctors,” her huff is exasperated, pulling at the gown’s flimsy material. “Gross.” 

. . .

It’s not hard to tag a Quaritch anywhere in Bridgehead City, if one knew where to look. At any given time Miles was, mostly, in one of three places—or two, if he was driving, but that was just icing on the proverbial cake. Gym, war room, weapons R&D when he was on duty. Home, mess, gym when he was off the clock. Which, like it or not, was close to never. Marriage taught you a few things about your other half, but it hadn’t quite managed to zero in on whereabouts. Yet, anyway. 

Rolling up to the officer sector at eight feet tall was comedic, at best. Frustrating, at worst. Ducking through the door after scanning her badge into the domicile, it never ceased to remind as to why no driver ever squatted home. Vaulted ceilings, sure, but the space was hardly designed with eight feet tall natives in mind—and neither was the furniture. The couch, Ruthie figured every time she dropped home, would splinter if either of them even dared look that direction. And the rack? Forget it. Showers were out of the question. 

There were alternative lodgings available in the barracks, but the idea of putting up with general population bit like a mother. Dropping her pack beside the door, she emptied its contents and dressed quickly—her favorite specially manufactured Levi cutoffs, a sports bra, boots and socks, a favorite of her, again, special ordered shirts—a linen safari button down in off-white. Clothing options for avatars were few and far between, and Miles knew she’d never be caught dead in RDA fatigues outside of in-unit ops. 

Wetting her hair with a quick rake of her fingers and a splash of water to her face was enough to freshen up what, technically, didn’t even need freshening. Checking her appearance with a quick glance, she breezed out of the domicile, snatching her IDs and plex while dipping out the door. Flipping through the plex; no email, no texts, nowhere to be, technically, pointed her feet in the direction of the war room. 

It was a quick and effortless march to the sector, avatar legs carrying her faster and farther with less effort that was a breeze. Every time connecting back felt like the first time, at least for a while, until the creeping looks of raised brows and uncertainty spearheaded from the general public. Not everyone interacted with avatars often—the Eves, less so. They were new, they were unusual, they were expensive and highly classified—seeing a Na’vi avatar was more common and less unsettling than seeing an Eve. 

Especially one so highly cleared and….rumored. 

Crossing her arms over the plex against her chest, it wasn’t long until she found herself at the war room, Ardmore’s favorite place to host eternity-defying debriefings. Corridor quiet, the room indicator was solid scarlet—high level occupied, clearance required. As always. Brushing curls behind her ear, Ruthie shifted her hip for the badge to scan across the indicator, and immediately if flashed—first with her clearance levels, then with green. Granted, thank you very much, Carthier, R. 

Satisfied, she slipped through the door on light feet—only to find the entire space had, apparently, flatlined. Standing a head and shoulders taller than most in the room was a piece of cake compared to whatever the heck this BS was. 

Pulselessly still, she could’ve cut the wire of the room with a paperclip. Her gut jumped to play chicken with her ribs, eyes tracking around the space for familiar bodies. Nearly every corporate RDA goon eyeballed her like she’d been dropped from the heavens wearing blinking neon. She clocked Lyle first, at the back of the room doing his best impression of coughing a grin into his fist; Mansk second, who looked amused while oh-so-masculine manspreading in his comically undersized chair. 

White-noise from the holomap smack in the center of the room the only audible sound to the heightened ear, its images did little to hide Ardmore’s face from beyond. Just her luck. Expression pulled into an unreadable look of stone so blank that, for the first time in a hot minute, Ruthaynne actually felt embarrassed heat light up her face like a jetwash. Heart jackhammering behind her ribs, certainly loud enough to hear for anyone who cared to listen, it took a few seconds to remember exactly where she was—and who, exactly, she was. 

Ardmore beat her to it, the bitc—“Miss Quaritch,” the formality of her tone almost stung. Muscle in Ruthie’s jaw pulled a little tighter than she appreciated, “Avatar’s up and about, seems like. Outstanding you could join us,” 

She doesn’t mean it. But her nod, professional more than acknowledging, accompanies her hand fanning Ruthie forward, to the inner circle.

Putting up a hand, her return nod is polite. Over my dead body, Ardie, “Thanks, General. Please, continue.” 

And just like that, the room snaps back into business. Data and coordinates, strategy and all the war talk that usually applies to these debriefs. Ardmore brings up footage from a vest cam, walking the group through the sit rep, and the occupants in the space breathe—bodies shift in seats, sway back and forth on their feet. The rustle of shifting posture, the soft hum of plex’s as assistants and the more-interested access data. Across the room, Mansk bounces his leg, whether in agitation or concentration, one can never tell. Lyle, plucking his knife and flicking the tip with his nail. Boys. 

The plex under her arm chimes, and a quick glance shows it’s an airdrop from one of the assistants. A faceless name, but one that’s been in her inbox before. Accessing the data, Ruthie begins the download. Flips through some of the radar images, head tilted to the side in concentration. Sully’s forces, bolder than before—four dead on an expedition to a science outpost. Images captured young Na’vi, no more than 12 or 13, armed and painted in various war paints and tribal colors—-

QUARITCH, MILES

9 o’clock, cupcake ;)

The message takes precedence, dismissing the briefing intel and snapping her attention up, around the room. It’s odd, looking down and about the space from eight feet tall with perfect eyesight her organic body doesn’t know— it’s beautiful, really. Bottom lip rolling beneath her top teeth, she flinches a little as the pointed canines bite a little sharply into her flesh. Hissing, her tongue lathes over the spot, quickly skipping over her back teeth. Darkening the plex’s screen, her eyes cut sharply to her 9 o’clock—and sure enough. 

Gotcha. Almost ten foot frame hovering at the back of the space, the good Colonel sees her make him with a lift of his chin. A slow smile puts sparkling white teeth on display, so at odds against sapphire skin and glowing green eyes unlike anything she’s ever seen. Smiling back at him, he dips his head ever so slightly, crooking a lithe finger for her to come. Attention ever on the General, should prying eyes dare to drift. 

And good I Am, he’s as delicious as he ever has been, damned Na’vi genetics aside. Heart thudding a little harder against her ribs, moisture at the back of her throat vanishes, and suddenly it’s warmer in here than she remembers as his smile softens into a little smirk, probably clocking her shift of posture. Shoulders falling back subconsciously, her chin levels with the floor and nods to him once, him settling back into his akimbo stance. 

It’s not unusual for Quartich to drive his avatar, especially on days field ops are likely. And with Sully on the move, bolder and badder than ever, those days are less few and far between. It’s mandatory to have 24 out hours after every 36 driving, and Miles had just gone in before she had. They’d said their “see you laters” over coffee at mess this AM, him kissing her temple chastely before hustling out to head a safety meeting.

And while driving avatars was business as usual for both of them, there never ceased to be a little leap of excitement, seeing him bold and all big boy blue. Knowing it was him, actually Miles, only added to the little swirl of thrill chasing her gut down the length of her spine. 

Melding across the room behind backs of the tuned-in, Miles’ low hand guides her to his side at elbow, her feet one-over-the-other without much conscious effort. Brushing against his side, he plucks the plex from her fingers and sets it aside, on the chair behind him, on top of his own. Out of sight, out of mind. Nobody moves to notice her relocation, his large hand resting firmly at the low of her back while his other grabs her wrist, guiding her to stand in front of him. 

Shoulders pressing against the warmth of his chest, one of his arms slipped around her middle, locking in close. His other hand moves to rub one of her curls between his long fingers, knuckles brushing against the back of her neck. He’s warm, almost too warm—-his hand wrapping around the back of her neck, kneading muscles slowly and with care, triggers a glance over her shoulder to him. 

“You’re up,” The slow drawl in his voice is unnecessarily low, deliberate. “Wanted to be there, darlin’, really did—we got hit, lost a few of the lab coats,” the empathy in his voice is hardly there, Miles was never one to dwell on losses. Easier that way, from a certain standpoint. “You feelin’ all there?” 

Nodding, she shuffled back against his chest a little more, boots catching on the floor. Head dropping to rest against his pec, Ruthie focuses her attention on Ardmore’s holo readouts—or, rather, attempts. HIs fingers rubbing the hem of her shirt are distracting, rough knuckles warm against her abdomen in ways that distract more than just her attention. Hand moving from the back of her neck to rest atop his other at her middle, he angles his head to brush his nose along the shell of her ear, softly. In a rare public display of affection, attachment. 

Stomach jumping up what feels like the length of her spine, his chortle is nearly undetectable. She only feels it against her back, deep in his chest—his breath over her ear is laced with the clear, brisk mint he always seems to manage from that gum he likes so much. His head turns to rest against hers, and he takes a long breath of her hair, the slow crest of his chest almost dizzying. 

“Avatar looks good’nuff to eat, darlin’,” she can hear the smile before she feels it, one of his hands easily slipping beneath the hem of her shirt to brush a nail over the button of her shorts, “Weinfleet told me you looked good. Little shit—lookin’ at another man’s things,” the thought of being a possession should be offputting, should make nip at the veins of her pride, but it does the opposite—it sparks satisfaction, low and deep, at the base of her spine, the cradle of her hips.

The smirk in his tone deepens, if that’s possible. And it is, she knows that. Experience, logged time. 

“Gotta give him credit, though—man knows a good thing when he sees it.” 

Lower lip rolling inward, Ruthie shifts a little on her feet, rocking back on her heels in an attempt to move away from his hands, teasing and probing the waist of her shorts, which are suddenly too stifling, but somehow not enough all at the same time. Even after a decade of being together, of racking together and exchanging vows—he’s still all the cocksure ego she remembers of him when he’d first pursued. He still can reduce her to a gelatinous mass, little more cohesive than a brainless bimbo. Then, at the beginning, she’d been brash and all bravado and untamed. A wild thing, chasing stars and hope. Indestructible. 

Now—older, wilder, wholly ruinable. Drunk on him. On avatars, on promise of what Pandora could be. On the future and Project Eve and the inevitable tumble of Jake Sully’s abominable destruction of a dream. And Miles knows it, always has, just like he knows exactly how to piston her mind away from a scouting debrief with little more than touch and the right smile. And I Am, what she wouldn’t give for a quiet space, time alone—time alone that seems nonexistent, almost unreal. 

Eyes skate across the room, looking for any wandering attention. Nobody seems to have noticed them in the back of the room, which isn’t the usual. Most of the time Miles is front and center, the flagship of Ardmore’s efforts. The pillar everyone can count on. But today, he’s a man of the shadows, a man of the native world hidden away from the everyday. And she couldn’t be more thankful, because the way his hand grazes her shiny new abs just the right way has, she’s sure, unraveled her face into a Ardmore-show stopping expression. Hand pressing against the sculpted muscle of her middle, he sucks in a chortling breath a little too suggestively. 

“Oh? What’s this?” His fingers curl lightly into her abdomen, and she sucks in a breath that feels louder than it actually is, “Well, look at that—these are new,” he chuckles, amused, before his hand lifts to brush curls away from her ear. “Life’s a bitch, ain’t it? Takes half a life and rights to your firstborn to get ‘em real time, but just a nap and a few test tubes and, just like that,” softly imitating a snap of his fingers, Miles pulls her closer, if possible.  Brushes aside the collar of her shirt to press chapped lips against her collarbone. “Makes you wonder what else these things are capable of, hm?” 

Oh god, “You’re not paying attention, Colonel,” angling her head back against his chest, her fingers curl around the collar of his RDA issued shirt, pulling sharply. “The good General is trying to get you up to speed for your next hop, sir.” And with that, she firmly stabs her elbow into his abdomen, satisfied with the little huff he manages. 

“...and what makes you think I don’t already gotta handle on this intel, ma’am?” 

And that could be a point of contention, if she’d been an underprepared participant in his little game of cat and mouse. “Well, Quaritch,” it simmers low at the base of her chest, teasing and dark, “you know what they about assuming.” Biting the corner of her lip, Ruthie grabbed his wrist and pulled it back, sharply enough to earn another huff of surprise. “Be a good boy at work, Colonel, and I might just have a surprise for you when you get home.” 

Reaching around behind him for his braid, Ruthie feels it snake around her arm loosely, before taking a handful and giving a ruff tug. Off his game, the good Colonel stepped back sharply, allowing her just enough leverage to skirt from his reach. Slipping behind him, she nabbed the plex from his chair, tucked it under her arm, and pulled lightly on his braid again. 

Quaritch’s head snapped back just enough for her to gently nudge the shell of his ear. “Stand at attention, Marine. That’s an order.” And she’s sure he can clock the smile in her voice, releasing the Na’vi braid with a smirk. Obedient, the curve of his back straightened just so, making her grin. Sidling up to his right, she raised on toes to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Very good, Colonel. I’m impressed.” Clapping a hand against his abs, she went to step back, brows wagging juvenilely.

“Not so fast,” and it’s louder than it should be. Loud enough that a few uniforms look over their shoulders, intrigued. Miles, ever the pillar of strength and unashamed bravado he so exudes, frowns at them before his sharp green eyes lid, tail flicking a little aggressively. “Eyes forward, gentlemen. When there’s something to see back here, I’ll tell you to grow eyes.” 

Horrified, her mouth drops open before she swats at his shoulder, hissing darkly. “Miles!” Eyes darting between the backs of the uniforms he’s just startled and his lidded look of superiority, her stomach pitches with embarrassed somersaults as heat chases up the length of her neck. And before she can lose her composure and giggle at the wag of his suggestive brow, she frowns at him. “You’re such a prick,” it’s not entirely unserious, but the smile behind his eyes tells her it’s only fueled the innuendo of the moment. 

“Yeah? That may be,” his brows lift before his lower lip rolls beneath his top teeth, canines practically glinting in whatever low light the back of the room would offer, “but I think you like it, ain’t that so? Darlin’ little wife.” And with that, he steps up into her personal space, towering even her full eight feet—sharp eyes alive, wandering. Lustful, possessive. Hungry. 

No—starving. Frickin’ Na’vi DNA, packed with hormones not fully explored by the human psyche.  

Slipping beyond the snatching reach of his hand with a teasing smile and a roll of her eyes, Ruthie hushedly excuses herself from amidst the uniforms dotted around the back of the room. Without drawing Ardmore’s attention, she scans from the room, dipping low under the door and out into the corridor. Where the air is cool, there isn’t a thousand and one attentions keyed into the cat and mouse games of her husband, where she can breathe. 

She doesn’t make it five strides from the sealed door before it slips open with a mechanical whine, Ardmore’s droning audible for only a second before it bangs back into place, flashing a secure scarlet for high clearance access. But the door is barely noticeable, not from beyond the full nearly nine feet of Miles Quaritch’s Na’vi, staring hard and long, thumbs hooked through the loops of his cargoes. 

“And what are you doing?” Brow furrowed, she looks beyond him, to the door. “Miles. Get your ass back in that meeting,” all teasing gone, his exit from Ardmore’s briefing is the biggest of offenses—a slap in the face, defiance to not only Ardmore, RDA, but his men. He knows better. And for a second, Ruthie wonders if maybe she’s crossed a line—but if a decade together has told her anything, it’s not that. 

No, Quaritch is not the man that abandons his men to have it out with his wife in the corridor. Not in the long game. It’s something else, a thing she can’t quite put a finger on. She doesn’t know this face, his Na’vi well enough to read anything that resembles his usual, and she isn’t sure if it’s terrifying or thrilled butterflies that threaten her spine like a tarmac. 

 Mouth opening to further her protest, he’s to her in one stride, dangerous hands on either side of her face enough to cut any word she could think of forming off at the throat. And before she can even breathe, his mouth is on hers—hungry, ravenous, compelling. The force of it sends her backwards enough that she loses her feet, but he’s faster, arm catching her around the middle and pulling her forward, close. Close enough to feel the steady drum of his heart behind carbon-enforced ribs, The pull of muscle engage, as he tips her forward, against his chest. 

The world beyond—Pandora, Ardmore, RDA, Bridgehead—fades into black and whites not wholly unlike an ancient film, the only thing living color and wild him, right here, beneath her touch and coaxing her lips apart with his. Mint, sweat, the taste of whatever he’s eaten is rich, so there and alive with every gentle pull and push of his jaw, every bite and nip of his teeth against her lips. It’s determined, possessive, demanding, pulling a pathetic little mewl from the back of her throat she doesn’t remember since the beginning of him, the beginning of this. 

And if her hands were large, his were larger, his thumb running up and down her jaw, applying pressure to adjust the angle, the tilt of where he wants her, how deeply he needs this. Noses bump, brush, and one inhale of the way he smells—strong, powerful, of a musk unexplainable to humanity—sends her mind spinning, her heart cascading like a falling star between her ribs. His kiss is powerful, it demands. Touch me, feel me–ever only me in a way that sends bolts of electricity to every heightened nerve in her body. It sets leads, it guides—it sets the pace, it rescues everything and anything that could be set wrong. 

His thick fingers through her hair, tugging at her scalp triggers her teeth at his bottom lip, canines pulling sharply enough to elicit a groan from somewhere in his chest she can’t even fathom. All the years of this, of him, and it’s never once failed to feel new, like the first time—Miles kisses her and the world unfolds, like fiction. Like something anyone ever said couldn’t be real. Fingers tugging at her hair drags a punched out little whine from the back of her throat, which he swallows with a groan. 

Head spinning and chest burning, the need for air claws like a demon. Breaking apart, her head falls back to suck in air, chest rising and falling shallowly as she attempts to blink away the rabid color the world has suddenly become. Eyes closed, Miles lazily nips at her bottom lip, pulling just a little as his hand gently cradles the side of her face, the heat that’s blushed her cheeks to a hot, thrilling pink. 

Her head rights, and he lowers his to rest his forehead against hers, breath fanning across her face in low, hardly controlled breaths. It’s so unlike him, to be so unraveled. Uncomposed. Hair clings to the tacky sweat that’s pearled across her forehead, and his nose brushes the tip of hers, lovingly. Tenderly. Taking his hand, she gently guides it beneath her left breast, to cover the racing pulse in her chest. 

“I miss you,” is all he breathes, and it’s strange—strange because he hasn’t been gone, she’s always been here. And it hangs there for a few heartbeats, until it makes sense. He misses her. Miles. Not the Na’vi shell of the man she’s known for a decade, what feels like half her lifetime—Miles, somewhere in an avatar lab, somewhere that’s not here. 

Swallowing each of her breaths, which have started leveling, he kisses her again, softly. Aftercare, the intimacy he so rarely offers outside the confining fortress of marriage. “I’ll see ya later, yeah?” It’s rough, low. Growling, tainted with his drawl that has become like home.

A soft nod breaks them apart, kiss swollen lips stinging as he steps back towards the door, creating distance. And the corner of his mouth ticks up in a pleased little smirk as she rubs her jaw, fresh red marks from his possessive hands warm to the touch. More than visible. 

“I’d imagine so,” her smile is purposefully resigned. Floored, he grins. Tongue skating over too-sharp teeth. His nod is concrete, firm as he passes his badge in front of the security system, flashing his credentials before a bright, clearance green. 

And he does come home. Again, and again. 

⏩️ tags for the interested: @itsgoghtime @horserad-ish @mongoosesthings @sarahsmi13s @gothidecorem @kmc1989 @permanentlyexhaustedpigeon88

[jagapom]

Ragatha and Pomni occasionally regret being in a relationship with the purple bunny man

[jennycalendar]

jenny taking giles to one of those musicals that creatively reimagines actual historical events. i think that it’s a tired take to assume he’d hate it outright because regardless of how he felt about it he would be just trying so so so hard NOT to hate it for jenny’s sake that he’d combust and she would just be sitting there like :) because this is her real enrichment. forget the musical. she has to torment him or she’ll die

[chaos0pikachu]

the only coding I've ever seen in Luffy's character is latino branded goya flavored but fandom ain't ready for that conversation

[corvidcall]

i saw a good post abt how fatphobia comes up in fat peoples sex/dating lives (which I'll probably reblog later, when i have time to add stuff to the tags) but hooooooh boy it did dredge up some stuff for me!!! and now im upset!!!!

[generalsmemories]

How do I tell my husband he got scammed into buying a lion?

✧ jing yuan x gn!reader

✧ summary: during one autumn afternoon you're suddenly faced with another one of your husband's impulsive purchases. only that this time it's a living being.

✧ content: established relationship, fluff, humor, might be a bit ooc

✧ a/n: hello there hsr fandom! i have unfortunately lost the battle against myself on making another sideblog for jing yuan, the man who has singlehandedly occupied my mind since his first appearance in the beta. i do hope that this will actually appear in the tags, but every infomation you would need if you want to request something is all up on the blog if you so wish! i hope we can have a pleasant time together !!

also this is not beta-read, we die like how fast my resolve to not create a jing yuan blog died.

Being the spouse of the Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou Luofu comes with it's share of benefits and disadvantages. For one you're regarded at a higher position than most of it's citizens, often being stopped on the side of the road when taking a walk to exchange numerous pleasantries with merchants from outside of Xianzhou, various store owners or cloud knights on duty.

Another factor is shouldering the burden your husband has on his shoulder, an oath you had taken yourself the day you accepted Jing Yuan's nth proposal. You considered that a fair trade with his vast knowledge and insight into a possible future and doing everything behind the scene to avoid colliding headfirst into said problem. A feat that attracted you towards the general in the first place, minus his dashing looks of course.

The biggest disadvantage of publicly announcing that you were indeed the Arbiter-General's significant other was doing everything within your power to not throw your husband's famous title away for a newer, more terrible one. (more utc!)

Because as you see him walking up the steps of the Seat of Divine Foresight, your gaze is not locked with your husband's smiling face, rather it's fixated on the small being he has cradled in his arms. The soft smile you had quickly spreading into a more nervous and confused smile as you glance over at Qingzu, the counselor looking at you with just as much confusion.

How in the world did you manage to leave him alone out in the market area for an hour and he comes back with a lion cub?

"[Name], darling! Look at this grimalkin that a merchant had!"

A what now?

"... A grimalkin, you say?" Every book that has recorded history had specified that the grimalkin species had gone extinct, and you were well aware that your husband knew this fact. And yet here you were, faced with his smile directed down towards what you can clearly tell is a lion cub, his thumb pressing down at its paws affectionately.

You're starting to think that Yanqing's impulsive purchases with his sword collection aligns with your own husband's impulsiveness.

Coughing loudly into your hand, you take a deep breath before descending down the stairs to be on the same level as Jing Yuan, peering down onto the cub's face. It was indeed cute, and judging by how enamored Jing Yuan is, you can clearly tell that it's small stature is what attracted him to it in the first place.

Oh he's going to be crushed when it grows up, "It's adorable, Jing Yuan," you settle on saying, waving a finger over the lion's grimalkin face, the animal lifting its paws to try to grab it. You shoot a look towards Qingzu, a silent command for her to look into which outer merchant was now scamming people into buying literal lions. The counselor quickly excusing herself to look into the matter immediately, Jing Yuan only giving her a smile and a wave of his hand as she scurries down the stairs.

"Right? I decided to name it Mimi," he muses, and your heart breaks a tiny bit for him, but there are more pressing matters at hand than the fact that your husband once again got scammed because he was most likely bored out of his mind.

You would rather that the Xianzhou citizens know him as "The Dozing General" instead of the general that gets scammed a few times too many. How does one even go on about trying to tell their husband that the grimalkin in his arms is actually a lion?

"A fitting name indeed," you mutter, raising a hand to caress Jing Yuan's cheek, a simple gesture to make the general direct his attention to you. However, you could still see that his guard was slightly up with you. You only chuckle at that, leaning in to slide your lips over his own, Jing Yuan wasting no time to press back.

Another well hidden secret reserved for the walls of the Divine Foresight is the fact your husband is incredibly weak for his own spouse.

"... Want to tell me how much you paid for Mimi, dear?" you ask in a whisper when your lips part, thumb caressing over the mole under his eye.

Jing Yuan merely smiles, twisting his head to press his lips against your hand instead, "It was from my personal wallet, dear. Please don't fret over the small details."

"Darling, I hope you're aware that the small details would be the necessary funding for accomodation, toys and food, right?" you say with a chuckle, your husband freezing with his ministrations upon remembering that fact.

Oh well, you want to see how long it takes before your husband comes to realization that it's a lion. You just have to be extra vigilant towards the numerous fundings in the meantime.

While scrolling through your schedule for the next morning, your phone dings with a message from Qingzu. You quickly look down at Mimi whose resting on your belly and then at Jing Yuan whose sleeping self is still snoring away by your shoulder before letting out a small sigh in relief that the loud noise didn't awake any of them.

Qingzu:

Do I even have a say in this?

Was the message sent by Qingzu, attatched to it is a picture taken of what you can only presume is one of Jing Yuan's "diaries". The contents of it making you let out a low laugh, the shaking making said man beside you grumble before pressing his face into your neck.

Attatched image:

"Eventually, I paid hefty sum for the grimalkin, named it "Mimi", and took it home. Only that I'm too busy with official business and have little time to take care of Mimi. After thinking it over, chores like feeding it and changing its water should also be entrusted to Qingzu. I do wonder why [Name] looked so distraught when they first saw Mimi though. Maybe they didn't think I would favor the petite and small animals instead of the usual large and strong ones?"

[Name]:

So Qingzu, do you have an idea what the easiest way to tell someone they got scammed is?

Qingzu:

That is the role of the spouse, not the counselor.

[meayefet]

Here's another thing I feel like we need to talk about regarding the current war between Israel and Hamas. Minor as it may be, I've been losing my mind over this.

As a person who grew up in the early 2010s, I grew up mostly on the internet and fandom culture, and have written quite a lot of fanficition in my early teens.

Something I've realized this past week is that people are seeing Palestine as a fandom. And not only does it belittle the actual problem, it dehumanizes Palestinians and Israelis alike and allows the rewriting of facts and truths as if it were an AU fanfic.

After realizing that I jokingly told a friend that I wouldn't be surprised to see RPF about the events of October 7th. I had in mind something like slash fiction of Hamas members, but today I found out people are writing fanfiction about A HOSTAGE AND HER CAPTOR.

I also found out it didn't happen in a vaccum - apparently tiktok is exploding with this stuff, saying Maya Regev - the hostage in question - had "left her heart in Gaza", because she smiled and said "shukran, bye" to her captors.

In case you have forgotten - Maya Regev was SHOT IN THE LEG AND TAKEN HOSTAGE INTO GAZA along with her brother, who was released FOUR DAYS AFTER HER. She was released with a shattered leg and without her brother - but if she smiled, her captors must have treated her so well, amirite? (Even though there are already plenty of horror stories from Hamas captivity, and children came back pale and whispering with their heads full of lice.)

Even in the early 2010s there was a debate whether RPF is legit or not (and at 26 I can safely say it's a no from me), but in this case it's even worse. These are not public figures we are talking about. This isn't One Direction or The Beatles. The Hamas terrorists are, well, terrorists, and Maya Regev is a private person made public because she was TAKEN HOSTAGE INTO GAZA. Writing a FANFIC about actual people who were actually injured during October 7th is beyond sickening, and it's probably the most immoral thing you can do on social media for the Palestinian cause (and if you guys claim to be on the side of morality you might want to be consistent).

Another thing that's driving me crazy is the difference between Israelis and Non-Israelis who grew up on the same things at the same time. my friends and I learned a lot about justice, critical thinking, and the power of art and creativity on the internet. I met a lot of my online friends in socialist youth movements and rallies, and many of them later became my classmates in Bezalel - BECAUSE we applied what we had learned into our adult life.

Non Israelis who grew up on the same platforms as I did who took part in the same fandoms, read the same fanfiction works, learned the same truths of social justice and the power of art- are now viewing the conflict as a fandom. You're either a fan or you're wrong - there is no middle. No room for critical thinking, for "Palestinians have every right to self-determination and an independent state BUT Hamas who actively prevents them said rights has comitted crimes against humanity on 7.10 and must be held accountable", or for "the occupation must end BUT the Jewish people are indigenous to the region" - there is only room for "by all means" and "from the river to the sea". It doesn't matter if they don't know which river and what sea - because if the conflict is a fandom, then they can write an AU to deal with every truth that doesn't settle with their narrative, and rewrite reality to fit their next fanfic.

[knapptapp]

Elevator- JamesPotter x GN!Reader

WC: 950

You are stuck in a muggle elevator with James Potter, Who wont stop flirting with you

Tags: Fluff, angst(?), Sarcastic reader, Slytherin reader, Flirty James Potter, Insecure reader

A/N: Wrote this from a prompt, trying to dip my toes into the Marauders fandom not a fully fleshed out fic or anything. A little experiment

“This might be a bad time to mention it, but I really like your perfume.”

“Oh shut up,” You said with a scowl as you once again pushed the emergency button.

Professor Corbyn had thought it a wonderful idea to assign the seventh year class a lengthy list of ‘muggle activities’ to complete. She had also thought up the brillant of idea of assigning partners randomly. Though you had your doubts about the “randomness”.

Still, it was a project worth a good chunk of your grade. As much as you wanted to, you couldn't blow it off. Which is how you ended up stuck in an elevator with James fucking Potter. James who thought your perfume was of utmost importance at the moment.

“No seriously, it's quite lovely.”

You ignored him and pressed the call button. A moment passed…..Nothing. Great, not even the phone was working.

“Where did you get it? From Diagon alley or-”

“Can you be useful for once?” You interrupted.

James pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning on, “Can you apparate?”

“No.” You admitted begrudgingly. Getting your license was on your to do list, there just hadn't been enough time. You were really starting to regret not putting it up higher on your list. You fanned yourself with your hand.

“Someone will come for us eventually.” James said with a shrug. He seemed completely care free and not at all worried about the situation at hand.

“Yeah. If we don't die from heatstroke before then.” You settled against the wall opposite of him and slid down till you were seated. It was just a tad bit cooler down on the floor.

“I know how you could cool off.” James said with a smirk. Just in case you hadn't understood his comment, he lifted just the hem of his shirt to reveal a sliver of tanned skin. You quickly looked away, but not before you caught a glimpse of a dark trail of hair disappearing beneath the waistband of his jeans.

“Oh fuck off.”

James copied you and slid down to the floor. Instead of sitting with his legs tucked up to his chest like yours, he instead stretched them all the way out. The elevator was tiny and James’ legs were long, the sides of his red converse knocked against your thighs. Cloth shopping had been another part of the project.

“Have I told you your shoes are ugly?”

“Many times,” James responded unphased, “You just don't like them because they're red.”

“Horrible color.”

“I think you'd look really nice in red. Got one shade specifically in mind actually.”

“Yeah, no” You fidgeted with the fraying sleeve of your dark green jumper. House pride was taken very seriously in Hogwarts. Wearing gryffindor red was an act of betrayal.

“You would,” He insisted, “I even have a jumper that would look perfect on you! Says ‘Potter’ right across the back.”

“Careful now James, I might think you're hitting on me.”

“Did it take you this long to notice?”

You knocked his foot away with your palm. James allowed it before he returned it back to tapping against your thigh. He was such a tease. He had been on this since you two got assigned partners.

“Ha Ha very funny,” You replied dryly.

He tapped his foot rhythmically against your leg, you tried your best to ignore it. The elevator was completely silent. The music had cut off when the elevator had come to a sudden stop with a metallic screech. There was nothing but the sounds of James and your breathing.

Your whole body was on edge. You couldn't help but keep anticipating the worst. Any movement made you feel like the elevator would go crashing to the ground below, You were stuck on the seventh floor and you had heard one to many horror stories.

“I'm bored,” James said, “We should do something.”

“Like what?”

“Why don't we play a game of truth or dare?” suggested James.

“Truth or dare? Seriously?”

“What else do you have in mind?” he replied smugly.

“Fine, let's play.” you agreed reluctantly.

“Okay, I'll start. Truth or dare?” James challenged.

You sat for a moment, mulling over your choices. There weren't many dare options while stuck in an elevator, but everyone and their mothers knew James Potter was a master prankster. He could probably come up with something within a second. Hell, he probably already had fifty dares planned out. Better to play it safe then.

“Truth.”

“Okay..” James pretended to think for a moment, he stroked his chin and gazed up at the roof dramatically, “Why don't you like me?”

Oh. Straight into it. You looked away from him uncomfortably. The thing was, you didn't not like him. Honestly, it was the opposite. But you couldn't let him know that. You would never hear the end of it.

“I don't not like you…You're just loud…” You said carefully.

“I think i’m quite charming honestly,” James smirked.

“Yeah, you think that.” You said with an eye roll

“You don't think I am?” James tilted his head to the side, one loose curl fell in front of his eyes. God damn it. Yes, you wanted to say. I've thought that you are charming since fourth year. But of course, you don't say any of it.

“Not at all.”

“You're forgetting the rules of the game again.” He teased. He leaned forward, only a couple inches closer than before, but still all too close.

“I’m not lying.” You attempted to sound confident and self assured but you couldn't manage to bring your voice above a whisper.

The gods must have heard your prayers because the phone on the wall rang. James and you stared at each other for a moment. He finally pulled his eyes away from you and stood up to answer the phone. You and your feelings were safe for another day.

[ao3commentoftheday]

Re the difference between derivative and transformative works: Is it "fair" not to want our works translated? I tried explaining the difference once, to a certain audience, and I'd love to get more opinions here too. I say no to translations of my works – or podfic for that matter – but I'm perfectly fine with remixes, sequels, fanart, what have you, it would even be hypocritical not to, because they're transformative in regards to my fanfic just like my fanfic was in regards to the original material. But translation is derivative, it's just another version of my work, in a different language – and podfic in a different medium. They don't "transform" anything.

I think the idea of transformation when it comes to podfic and translation is a conversation worth having. A lot of fan translators and podficcers do transform the work in different ways as they create their versions, but according to the laws used to create the AO3 terms of service, if you - the original author of a work - say no to translations and podfics, then you can request any translations/podfics that are made of your works be taken down.

You can also, if you are a US citizen, likely go to court over a translation or a podfic - but I'm not a US citizen and I'm not a lawyer, so don't take my word on that one.

As the author of a fanfic posted on AO3, you retain the copyright to your own work. That means you have the choice of what you allow others to do with it. That's why permissions statements are so useful! It gives your fellow fans clear information on what you welcome and what you don't allow when it comes to your own works. Every creator has their own preferences, and a permissions statement gives you the opportunity to let others know yours.

Whether it's fair or not is a conversation that will never be settled. It's a debate that will continue in fandom and it's probably a conversation worth having even if you've already decided one way or another for yourself. New fans enter the space all the time, and being able to see these internal debates helps them form their own thoughts on issues.

Make your own decision on the matter. Add a permission statement to your AO3 profile page or tumblr About page or wherever other creators can find it easily. If you change your mind later, update your statement. Your reasons for choosing to say yes or no are your own, just make it easy for your fellow fans to understand what they can and can't do with your work, and it makes it easier for everyone involved.

[reallyromealone]

Hello there, I was wondering if we can get a part 2 of the alpha Kirishima x alpha Bakugo adopting to mega pup reader and the reader is meet most of their aunts and uncles?

Title: adoption part 2

Fandom: my hero academia

Pairing kirishima x Bakugo x male reader

Type: platonic fluff

Warnings: omegaverse, child reader

Notes: none

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑

(Name) was an absolute precious little guy, always following one of his dad's when he could and trying to help in the best way he could with such little hands as the two adults tried to include him in their day to day, currently on maternity leave to acclimate (name) better.

"Yaaay! Good job!" Kirishima congratulated (name) as the babe put his plastic bowl in the dishwasher, (name) beaming at this and hugged his dad's neck for comfort "were getting ready to meet some people, they're your aunt's and uncles and are very excited to meet you" when their friends learned if their tiny pup they practically exploded with excitement, mina taking everything within herself to not bust down that door to see the pup.

(Name) held the Dynamite toy close, either that or an old sweater of Kirishimas that the babe saught comfort from, a quick Google search showed Omegan pups saught comfort from their parents items it was early stages of a familial bond settling in.

Bakugo was the one to collect the little one after his nap, the aunts and uncles sitting in the livingroom to meet him "hey squirt, it's time to wake up" they changed the crib to a toddler bed when (name) tried climbing out, the little one starfished with a cute pair of pajamas on "nnh" the boy grunted as Katsuki huffed and gently lifted him "come on you" the boy nuzzling into his dad's shirt as he was brought out to the livingroom "(name), can you say hi?" Katsuki was surprisingly soft with the pup who looked confused and face had marks from the sheets "awww he's so little!" Mina gushed as she stood up and (name) clung to his dad nervously "slowly mina, he's shy" Eijiro said watching his sons movements.

The itty bitty pup looked nervous as Katsuki spoke to him "this is your aunt, she's a bit annoying but she's not gonna hurt you"

Carefully he set (name) down, the boy fidgeting before running to his other dad for protection, the redhead holding his stuffed doll "awww he has a dynamite toy!" Ochaco cooed and they watched (name).

Eventually everyone began chatting and (name) grew more comfortable and began wandering around as he normally did as he noticed the snacks on the table, things the others brought "oh look he's staring at the (treat)" denki snicked as the babe reached out and grabbed a handful, little hands getting messy in the process "well at least he likes it" Momo said as the dad's looked at each other and Katsuki cleaned him up and Eijiro got the boy a small serving "so how's being a parent?" Iida asked as he sipped his tea, glancing at the pup "he keeps trying to make nests everywhere, we don't think he knows what he's doing though" Eijiro chuckled as he let (name) get comfortable in his lap.

Later on came his former teachers + Eri and Shinsou, the two tagging along.

Katsuki saw the two as his own parents, his real parents and him had.. a hard relationship.

His mom and him never got along and when he showed up with Eiji... That went bad fast, he was seventeen at that point.

He hadnt even graduated yet.

His dad loved him but being an Omega, he couldn't really go against his alphas word but did send letters to him in secret.

After that Aizawa stepped up, using his custody over Bakugo and taking care of him and by proxy so did Yamada, the men treating him like a son.

"Hi little listener" Yamada was soft with the pup as Aizawa looked at the two fondly, Eri chatting with kirishima about her classes and her plans to join U.A under recommendations by not one but multiple heroes.

"Oh? Thanks..." Shinsou was awkward around children and when (name) handed him a Cheeto he wasn't expecting it to be so...soggy "you don't gotta eat that, just walk to the kitchen and toss it" kirishima whispered and the other man nodded and did so.

"Hello there" little (name) reached to the black haired man who had the forethought to have his hair put up "you can smell I'm an Omega" Aizawa smiled softly as (name) sniffed his face and bounced slightly "omegas feel calm with other omegas" he explained "safety in numbers sort of deal"

(Name) smushed his face, a silly baby attempt at scenting "I think he thinks I'm apart of his pack"

"Well you are" Eri said simply and everyone smiled at the interaction.

"Minas gonna be pissed that he's getting this and she's not"

When everyone left, (name) was tuckered out "he sure enjoyed those snacks"

"He's so sleepy" kirishima gently traced the boys face "let's get him to bed yeah?"

[findafight]

Okay I kept thinking about this post and Steve being a BNF of Corroded Coffin message board of the internet of yore.

Alright so way back in the nineties Suzie hooks everyone up with the internet, yes? Yes. Eddie and Steve got together in '92 after some mutual pining and a few disastrous relationships that couldn't handle 1) Steve and Robin's general QPR clinginess 2) Eddie's intensity 3) the secrecy required if having multiple years of monster fighting and subsequent NDAs and the trauma associated therein. They're older and more settled and ready for an Adult Relationship.

Corroded Coffin is gaining traction and doing really well and the internet is still a brave new frontier, so Steve says to Eddie something like "I'm going to see if there's some message boards about you 🥰" and find them he sure does. So he makes accounts and posts under the username EddiesOnlyGroupie because he's hilarious and also the mods banned him from using EddieMunsonsHusband (he figured it was fine on the internet because nobody actually knew who he was but APPARENTLY NOT homophobia lives on in the digital age). He gets pretty well known in the Corroded Coffin fandom, most assuming he's a woman because he will go off on how hot Eddie looked at a gig. Like. Saying unhinged internet shit because 1) true and 2) he and Eddie think it's so funny. Everyone kinda believes the groupie thing too because of all the performance pics he's able to post and how he'll sometimes offer tidbits if knowledge about the band.

When they transition from chatrooms to livejournal etc he follows, with the same username. He's kind of a legend by the mid aughts. EOG is the acronym people use when discussing theories on his identity, and he's like "guys I'm literally his only groupie it's self explanatory. Guys why don't you believe me Eddie hasn't slept with anyone but me since 1992. We're basically married". He goes "it's not a mystery we literally are in love and Jeff and I go to Cubs games and cry when they inevitably lose together. Gareth is Godfather to my cats" (Eddie is still offended that he was not named Sassafras and Moonshine's godfather when Steve and Robin adopted them in '89). No one believes him.

Possibly because he still thirsts after Eddie and whenever someone posts a new Eddie pic those in the know wait for him to pop up with comments like "I want to bite his neck omg" "he has no ass but nobody is perfect I'll settle between his thighs anyway" and "literally a crime I am not married to him right now what the fuck" As twitter grows he swoops in to grab his handle, and follows a bunch of other CC fan accounts (some of them old friends, some of them new to the scene)(EOG 100% has his own fanlore page, which also has speculation on who he is and how he gets all the bts pics. It also doesn't believe when he says what it says on the tin. He's Eddie's only groupie.)

tumblr and tiktok come round and Steve is like. Openly horny on main. He's seen some shit go down on the internet but he's still commenting on Eddie fan edits that are title shit like "why am I attracted to this middle-aged white man" and "retro cc fancam" with things like "I'd let him lick the inside of my ear and only bring it up to tease him on special occasions" "his FINGERS" "back in '89 Jeff and Howie and Claire staged a mutany over this song because they were 'sick of Eddie only writing about biting bats' lmao" and "Jeff is my favourite member of cc"(just to stir the pot)

Eddie comes out in the 2010's and he's like "yeah I've been in a long term relationship with someone who is usually mostly a man kinda (gender is fucky) for the past twenty years, lol. His name's Steve. I love him a lot even if he mocks me online." and of course EOG comments "the mods of that old message board should have let me keep my original handle of EddieMunsonsHusband. When're you gonna make it reality, Munson? smh" and everyone is like Huh?? EOG is a MAN? And he's like yeah? Sometimes?? Not always?

(He 100% thinks this is him telling people he's Eddie's Steve. They don't get the message)

Anyways life goes on Steve continues to thirst under pictures of Eddie, he has his pronouns and name in his bio on twitter (Steve, he/him, she/her, Eddie Munson's first and only groupie 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ ) and continues to post behind the scenes photos that shockingly few people question (she always says "because I'm his groupie" though. He and Eddie think this is VERY funny and also true. Robin groans. They've been making the same joke for two decades.) and people believe it because Eddie has interacted EOG sometimes, liking photos or videos, commenting sometimes. (Steve has a more professional realname account that he rarely uses but Eddie usually tags Steve there)

And THEN Internet user EddiesOnlyGroupie says he's taking a few weeks off for her honeymoon because "I'm finally marrying the man of my dreams!" And people are happy for him but also bummed because Eddie is also taking a two week hiatus but EOG promises wedding and honeymoon photos. (Face reveal! Sorta!)((he doesn't get why people are excited because he's pretty sure he's been in a lot of Eddie's recent pictures, but whatever)

Imagine the Internet's surprise when Eddie Munson posts a collection of pictures spanning '86 to his 2016 wedding of him and Steve, including one of Steve looking seriously at an old desktop computer, captioned "Steve starting his internet career" and tags EOG.

Steve qrt with "I told yall. I'm his only groupie, and they should've let me keep EddieMunsonsHusband even if they WERE homophobic. Because now it's TRUE"

Niche internet community drama chaos ensues.

[demonicbaby666]

You’re Mine

One shot | Marvel Masterlist | Masterlists

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x fem!Reader

Genre: Smut

Words: 1.5k+ 

Warnings: 18+, minors DNI, jealousy, fingering, daddy kink, asphyxiation, sort of public sex being that people are on the other side of a door...

Summary: Natasha has always had a thing for you being hers and only hers. It's one of the things you love about her. However, it's impossibly hard not to rile her up because of her tendency to get overprotective and possessive. This time, you may have pushed her too far. So much so that she takes matters into her own hands with a lot more urgency than what you're used to.

A/n: my finger slipped and turned my laptop's whore mode on xxx

Emerald eyes were glued to the hand on your thigh. Of course, Maria hadn't meant to stir the pot when she'd harmlessly laid her hand down. Someone had made a joke, and after a series of light slaps, her hand just settled. It wasn't uncomfortable initially, but as Natasha's eyes continued to bore into you, it certainly was.

The next thing to do was to simply move Maria's hand away. Yet, there was something so satisfying about Nat's flushed face, reddening from anger, and her auburn hair that seemed to burn brighter similarly that - you didn't care to admit it - made your stomach tense in the best of ways. Was it a good idea to egg her on? Of course not. That didn't stop you from leaning into the casual contact from Maria. The lonely hand on your knee was soon joined by yours.

If Natasha wasn't pissed off before, she sure as hell was now, and you couldn't blame her. It would have been too much for anyone to handle, what with the exaggerated laughs, nudges, and non-existent space between you and Maria. You served up a platter of green and practically spoon-feed envy straight into Nat's mouth, which was now clenched together.

"A word outside," Nat said, suddenly standing above you. The veins in her neck were strained and pulsing; her nostrils flared as heaved breaths racked through her whole body. The tight-fitted shirt she wore rose and fell plain as day, and from this sight alone, you realised you may have pushed too far.

Not waiting for a response, Natasha grabbed your wrist, pulling you up and out of the room - ignoring the following sets of eyes.

Once you were away from said prying eyes, the older woman had you backed against the wall in an instant, eyes of fury scorching through you.

"You think I'd let that slide?" She seethed, wrapping her fingers around your throat, "Do I need to remind you that you're mine?"

The tight, possessive coiling of her fingers burned down your chest and ignited a fire between your legs. Nat had never been shy about where she stood on you getting comfortable with others. Even mentioning previous relationships would have repercussions. Often, these were reminders of how said relationships lacked vital things only Natasha could give you, i.e., the ability to walk the next day.

"No," you squeaked.

"It's obvious I do," Nat growled, sliding a hand between your bodies and roughly palming your breast.

The beginnings of a moan caught in your throat as the auburnette squeezed her fingers tighter around your neck. In some ways, you knew it would boil down to this, though you expected the display of dominance and ownership to come later in the night, when everyone was fast asleep, and no sound made would penetrate the alert ears that filled the room the other side of the wall.

You tried pleading with her, "Nat, they'll hear."

"Let them," she said, her lips inching closer to your ear, "It seems they also need a reminder of who you belong to."

"Nat," you attempted again before you were cut off by the sharp feel of her teeth biting the flesh under your ear.

With her hand still firmly holding you against the wall, airways fighting to get oxygen in, she lowered her hand down your ribcage and cupped your clothes cunt. Adrenaline coursed through your veins, knowing what was to come. It would have been easy for you to say stop or to have pushed Nat away entirely, but excitement was bubbling under the surface, and a large part of you wanted this. To be owned. To be claimed. To be reminded of what happens when you forget your place.

"You want daddy's fingers, don't you?" She muttered into your ear, her tone low, her voice raspy.

"Yes," you shamelessly breathed out.

In one quick move, your body was flipped, face pressed against the wall and hands on either side of your face. One of Natasha's hands held your hip in place, the other slithered between the wall and your stomach, slowly moving south. Deft fingers trailed a line up your thigh, reaching the waistband of your panties and wasted no time delving into the sticky mess she'd created.

"Did having Maria's hands all over you do this?" Nat asked, the disdain in her voice evident.

Having her so close to where you needed, yet refusing to appease your growing desire, had you shaking your head and wriggling your hips, trying to position your clit over her stubborn fingers. However, Natasha was unrelenting and moved her hand away entirely, resting on your jaw and yanking it back so you could face her.

"Tell me who your cunt belongs to," she demanded.

Behind the anger and lust that donned her eyes, once light sage, the shade of dark juniper, you saw a hollowness that encircled and sought to wreak havoc on the one certainty she held sacred - you. Of course, you had always made it clear that you were hers and she was yours, but despite her tough bravado, sometimes she also needed to be reminded. After all, the avenger was only human.

"You," your voice crackled in your throat, desperately trying to remain quiet yet sure in your words when all you wanted was to be mercilessly fucked against the wall, "you, you and only you."

"Good girl." she pecked the underside of your jaw. A smirk lined her smooth, balmed lips as she did so.

You could have cried with joy when Natasha released you and trailed her finger back down to your underwear. Instead, you settled for a soft moan of gratitude when you felt the pressure radiate off your body and the beginnings of lazy circles drawn over your clit.

Despite the urgency that flooded through you and the precarious place where your body was being taken, Nat showed no signs of being in a rush. The languish exploration of a place she knew all too well was still being undergone after gruelling minutes. A complaint had touched the tip of your tongue so many times, and as if the older woman knew when it was coming, she'd give you the tiniest taste of relief and settle back into the depth of endless torture.

It was too much. A lump was caught in your throat, your bottom lip was sore from the firm bite of your teeth, and your body fought to keep itself upright and steady while simultaneously trying to remain docile.

"Please, daddy," you begged, rucking your hips for the hundredth time, "Fuck me."

Immediately, you sensed the change in Nat's stature. She stood taller and closed the space between your bodies, pressing her chest firmly to your back and pushing you further into the wall. The cold paint was welcome against your flushed cheek and cut your gasp off short.

This newfound calm would only last a millisecond before two fingers penetrated the junction between your legs, and a fire set ablaze every living cell in your body.

There was no need to move anymore because the expeditious pace and vigour of Natasha's talented fingers left you sated - in addition to clouding your conscious mind. The only task necessary to focus on, thanks to the body and hand holding you in place against the wall, was breathing.

"Say it again," she ordered.

The moment her thumb made contact with your throbbing clit, a bolt of lightning plummeted through your spine and forced your neck to snap back with a silent whimper. Thankfully, the avenger's quick reflexes came to her aid. She moved her head in time for the back of your head to crash down on her shoulder. The thudded contact would have been painful had it not been for your senses being somewhat preoccupied with the brain-numbing ecstasy that was reaching its peak.

"Fuck me, daddy!"

Careful to make sure the force of her body would be enough to keep you upright, the auburnette wound her arm around your body and placed her hand firmly around your neck. Everything around you faded and ceased to exist; the floor beneath your feet was gone, and you were floating on cotton clouds. You dragged your nails down the wall in an effort to grasp onto something tangible. Instead, the mix of the dulled scratching sounds and emptiness in your palms left you increasingly consumed by the ethereal feeling of pure, unadulterated pleasure.

"I'm going to come, daddy," you cried out, surely extracting a snigger from someone on the other side of the wall, "Please keep going."

"You're mine," Natasha uttered into your ear, squeezing the sides of your throat harder. She ran her thumb faster over your clit, curved her fingers at the end of each thrust, and within the next few seconds, the stars in your visions illuminated a blacked-out night sky.

"Mine."

When you regained the ability to see again, you spun around and crashed your lips to Nat's. It took her by surprise, though quickly enough, she reciprocated and poured every ounce of love she had into the kiss.

"I'm yours," you whispered softly against her lips, "and only yours."

Taglist: @ssa-sapphic @red1culous @7thavenger @five-bi-five-mind @kenyakimble34 @12fluffybunny12 @asensitivecookie @maxinehufflepuffprincess @whosprentiss @asolitaryrose3 @lesbi-hinest-here @imlike-so-gaydude @taylorswiftsboyfriend @asphodelvamp @tmlwattpad19 @jareguiromanoff @lilfartbox1 | click here to be added to my taglist

[saturnsorbits]

Always a Groomsman

Fandom: My Hero Academia, Warning: Angst (A Touch), Smut, Exhibitionism, Reader Smokes, Kaminari isn't a Hero Anymore, Brief Mention of Addiction etc. Word Counts: 5.4k.

Summary: A wedding, what a wonderful place to reunite with the one that fucked you and ran all those years ago.

The light is already dying by the time you finally manage to slip away from the reception and make a B-line to the back of the tent. Your feet are killing. The whiskey helps the pain, but even whiskey can't numb everything.

'Oi.' Bakugo catches your elbow, stopping you just short of freedom.

'Where are you going?'

'Need some air.'

Flicking up his eyebrows, he offers you a smirk that tells you he's not buying your bullshit. 'So it's got nothing to do with that then?' He hooks a thumb towards the dance floor and the drunken silhouette of Kaminari Denki He's curled himself around a bridesmaid, hand pinching the silk over her hip, lips hovering barely an inch above her neck as she threads her hand through his hair.

You chew your lip and lie. 'No.'

'C'mon... Just talk to him, you know you want to.' Bakugo's eyes widen suggestively.

'I think he's too pre-occupied to talk.' Something bubbles in your stomach as you watch Kaminari whisper in the woman's ear and you quietly shift your gaze so you don't see what happens next.

'You know he's only over there because he thinks you're mad at him, right?'

'I am mad at him.'

'It's been years.'

'He fucked me over, Kat...'

Bakugo's gaze hits the floor. It's not like he's forgotten what happened. 'I'm not taking his side but -.'

'No.' You raise your hands, palms flat in the air to stop him. You know what he's about to say. You've heard it all before. 'You've got guests to entertain and I am literally going to explode if I don't get some air in the next minute.'

Rolling his eyes, he plants a kiss on your cheek and uses his new proximity to whisper in your ear. 'He'd make a pretty groom, that's all I'm saying.'

'Oh, fuck off.' You manage to swat his shoulder only once before he's turned on his heel and returned to the mess of wedding guests that whoop and roar when he re-emerges into the fray.

The cold hits you as soon as you duck under the edge of the tent and step out onto the small deck. Instantly, you pull at your shoes and hiss as your feet are forced to straighten against the wooden floor. Before the throbbing in your soles has settled, you stagger off, limping towards the tall rail separating the deck from the field beyond.

It's a nice night, cold, but nice. In the sky, stars burn on a back-drop of navy, their blanket only broken by the soft, red blinking of the odd satellite or plane. The music from the tent floats out and lingers in the air, leaving you with enough space to actually think for a second.

You'd been overjoyed to watch Bakugo finally get hitched to Kirishima, but almost all of that excitement had died when you saw Kaminari. It had been almost ten years since the night he'd kissed you outside of UA, since you'd stumbled up the stairs to his dorm and let him be the first to touch you. He'd pretended as if it had never happened afterwards and you'd taken the hint.

A few months later, you'd moved south and he had stayed. He hadn't even shown up to your leaving party, despite both Sero and Kirishima telling you he'd be there.

But, all of that was in the past, or at least you'd thought it was until your eyes had grazed his as he stood beside the alter as Kirishima's best man and you'd felt a forgotten affection swell in your stomach. Sighing, you fiddle with your clutch bag and remove a half-full packet of cigarettes from within. You flip open the box, pluck one from inside and pop it in-between your lips before diving back into the clutch to search for a lighter. Rummaging for a second, you come up empty.

'Shit.'

'Need a light?'

The voice makes you shriek. You jump, stumble over your shoes and just about manage to catch yourself on the rail. Hand falling to your chest, you can feel the hammering of your heart through your skin.

'Am I that scary?' He snickers.

You squint, trying to make out his edges in the low light. Your eyebrows furrow, then lift as you focus on the man in front of you. He looks good, better than the last time you'd seen him: A scrawny shadow of himself pictured in a double page spread of a gossip magazine, something about heroism, drugs and a sex scandal printed in bright ink above it.

Flicking your eyes up to his, you're glad to see the spark has returned to his eyes. An old, but familiar shiver runs the length of your spine and suddenly, your stomach fills with motion. 'You... You look good.'

'Yeah?' He holds open his blazer, allowing you to get a full look as he slowly spins on the balls of his shoes and pinches at the skin of his stomach. 'Hero weekly says I'm chubby now.'

You're tempted to lie, to tell him that he's looked better, but you don't. 'No, you look good, healthy. It suits you.'

Something in Kaminari's chest stutters and he has to swallow the spit pooling in his mouth before he speaks again. 'Light?'

You pause. 'You don't mind?'

His face breaks into a smile, perfect and shining. 'Nah, don't even crave the things any more.' He misses out the bit about having enough nicotine patches on his chest and arms to stop a bull.

You concede. There's a comfort that comes back almost too easily, like the past finally catches up with you. It dampens the fire in your stomach, leaving you clutching at the anger that had grown inside of you since that night. You lean forward, letting him cup his hands around the end of your cigarette.

His hands shake when he tries to make a spark. It takes one, two, three times of his thumb coming down on the wheel before it finally catches a light and he can step back to a safer distance.

'It's still the same one, doesn't work as well now though.' He mumbles flicking the cap of the lighter. It's silver, with a chipped yellow lightning bolt painted on the front of it.

If you looked close enough, you're sure you'd be able to find the rough scratching of your entwined initials, engraved by his shaking hands at fifteen.

You breathe in, savour the burning of smoke as it infests your lungs and exhale. Turning, you rest against the rail and look back out over the field.

'So – you're -.'

'Sero said -.'

You both start up at the same time, the constriction of the silence around you forcing you both to attempt to fill it.

'You first -.'

'No, you – go on.' You encourage, arching an eyebrow.

Kaminari swallows. His heart thrums violently, threatening to deafen him, but he's just hoping that you can't see how bad his hands are shaking, how he can feel sweat beginning to bead his forehead. He's not an idiot. He knows how he left it, what you must think. As soon as Kirishima had asked him to be best man he’d felt his guts begin to twist and turn. The idea of seeing you again set his veins on fire. You cough and pull him back from the edge of his thoughts.

'I – uh...' He can't think. You're too close, too real and suddenly, his tongue seizes in his mouth.

Another beat of silence nestles its way into the conversation and you can't take it. You switch the conversation. 'Ei said you're going to work with Aizawa.'

He takes a deep breath and prepares himself to look at you, but it still doesn't stop the air being stolen from his lungs when he finally does. There's a flourish of nostalgia in his stomach and he swallows a grin. 'Yeah. He, uh, he sought me out. After all the – the, y'know, rehab and all that, he thought I'd be a good fit.'

'Yeah?' You raise your eyebrows. Kaminari's fall from grace had been far from undocumented. There had been barely a week that he hadn't appeared in some sort of magazine, his eyes dull and another questionable entourage in toe. Another one night stand, a model spotted having cocaine snorted off her tits; wherever there was chaos, Kaminari had followed.

'Yeah... We're, uhm, we're already working with a group of kids in UA. They got caught up in that villain attack down town. We do these workshops were we like pretend to be pro-hero's...'

Smiling, you raise your eyebrows. There's light in his voice, something you've missed and something you're keen to hold onto.

He snorts. 'No, I know, I know, but we pretend to be...' He shoots you a cheeky glance. '… Current... Pro-hero's doing interviews and talking about our experiences and stuff, y'know like it's miles away. Helps to sort it all out in your head, picture a future were it isn't all still hanging over you. There's this one kid, absolute firecracker... He stopped the whole fucking building collapsing before they could get everyone out, has a pretty nasty scar to thank for it too, but he does the most flawless impression of Bakugo it's almost scary.'

You bat at his arm instinctively and freeze as your hand wraps his bicep. For a second it's all too easy to forget you're not still teenagers clinging onto youth with both hands. 'That looks good on you too.'

'Huh?' He swallows before moving his hand to cover yours on his arm. His skin prickles when you don't pull away. It's hard to forget how it all ended. How he'd been too naïve to tell you how he felt, how he'd bit his tongue for months after he'd summoned the courage to finally kiss you and how he'd tried everything he could to run from the violent storm of emotions that had been released in his stomach that night.

It hadn't worked.

Avoiding you hadn't worked, neither had sleeping with other women or pretending it had never happened.

You lean into him, tightening your grip and the warmth of your skin reminds him that he's not the scared teenager he used to be.

'Helping kids, working with Aizawa...' You giggle, relaxing into his presence at last. 'It looks good on you. You light up when you talk about it... It's nice. Haven't seen you look like that since...' You chew your lip. 'Listen...' It's impossible to read him. His jaw is set, eyes facing forward as the cold begins to chap and redden his cheeks and you have to fight to push away the thought of how beautiful he still looks. 'I know you're only out here because Bakugo told you to be.' The accusation slips off your tongue too easily as the past rears it's head.

'I'm not – it's -.'

'You don't have to lie to me.' You offer him a broken smile, a truce of sorts.

'I really screwed up, didn't I?' He chuckles, letting smoke drift from his nose and mouth before turning to you.

'You did.'

There's a lapse in the conversation and he takes his chance. You're peering up at him, your eyes filled with the embers of something he hopes is affection and he dives in. 'Do you remember that night... Outside the school when... When, we -.' He feels stupid. The words lodge in his throat and refuse to move, forcing him to stop and haul in a breath. You'd think after all the talking therapy he'd be better at it by now.

He battles through, after all – he doesn't know when he'll get the chance to see you again.

If he doesn't do it now, he never will.

'When we slept together?' You sigh then tilt your head and finally give in, resting your head against his shoulder. Part of you wonders why he's brought it up, the other part isn't sure you care. Right now, you're just happy to bask in him. You've missed it: him. Even with the history between you. 'You don't have to apologise. I get it.'

'What do you mean?' Kaminari stammers.

'Well, It was a mistake, right?' It's a question disguised as a statement, but you don't give him time to answer before you're already trying to soften the blow yourself. 'We were young and people sleep together all the time, it's not a big deal. I just -.' You puff out your cheeks, finish your cigarette and drop it to the floor, letting Kaminari crush it with his dress shoe. 'I – I guess I just expected us to... It doesn't matter, you didn't want it and I respect that, just, it was just a hard pill to swallow, I think.

He takes another lungful of cold air, hoping the shock will calm him. It does, but only until he cranes his neck to look at you again. You're looking back up at him, your eyes wide and questioning, pupils blown out through darkness and alcohol. His gaze lingers on the soft pump of your lip and he's almost knocked over by the rush of memory that reminds him you used to taste like strawberries and smoke.

He wonders if you still do.

'It's not like that...'

You swallow. 'What was it like then?'

His voice is a whisper when he finally admits what he came out her to tell you. 'I was scared...' His thumb ghosts the back of your hand. 'I'm still scared.'

'Denki...'

'Yeah?' He's vaguely aware of the fact that he's unable to tear his eyes away from your face, but he's too caught up in the feel of you pressed to his side, where you belong, to care.

'Don't start saying things like that.'

'Why -.'

You lick at your back teeth, fighting annoyance. 'Not now. Especially not when there's a bridesmaid wondering where you've got to in there.' You hook a thumb back towards the tent.

'I'm not – we're not, we're not together or anything...' He's stumbling, making a mess as usual.

You roll your eyes. 'You don't have to lie.'

'I'm not lying.'

'I saw you all over her.'

'Dancing – we were -.'

Chewing at your lip, you sigh. 'It doesn't matter.'

'No.' He takes hold of your hand, squashes his own on top of yours and pins you as best as he can without forcing your fingers to entwine. 'It does.'

You swallow. 'Why now?'

'I – uh -.'

'Why not then?'

'I was scared.'

'You know...' You slip your hand from under his and fold your arms across your chest. 'It hurt when I realised that I was just another fuck for you, but it wasn't as bad as loosing a friend Denki – We were friends and you just fucking ghosted me. No explanation, no apology, you could have just fucking ignored it and I would have let things go back to normal, I would have just -.' You're crying, kind of. Tears well in your eyes, but you're refusing to let them fall. You've spent too many tears on him already and your make-up took almost an hour to do.

'I was a fucking idiot, I was scared and – and -.'

'I think I'm going to go...' You nod, swatting away his hand when he reaches for you. 'It was nice seeing you.' Turning, you're ready to make a short dash through the tent, ready to be as far away from the constricting air of the deck.

'No. Please. Please, don't go – not again, I just. Fuck.'

A hand wraps your wrist, pulling you back just enough that he can slip in front of you blocking your escape. 'Den - Kaminari.'

'Just let me, let me get this out. Okay.' He's pleading when he looks up at you, but he can't let you leave, not without at least trying. 'I was a fucking idiot. I was so scared that you'd hate me, that, that I'd be a bad boyfriend, or you'd move away and I wouldn't be enough, that I'd be too busy with work, or it'd be too much and I – I let that get the better of me. I was already falling apart, even back then and I didn't – I didn't want you to have to see it, to put up with it. You, fuck, you deserve so much and... That night...' He hauls in a breath. 'That night was one of the best nights of my life, not, not just the sex – just being with you and I – Well I did fuck it all up, didn't I... Look at the state of me - I couldn't, I couldn't have dragged you through all that.'

'Oi.' You fix him with a stare. 'Don't go blaming yourself, not for what you've been through - or how you've dealt with it. Never, okay... And for what it's worth, I would have gone to Hell and back if you'd asked.'

His jaw ticks, but when he turns to face you there's something almost thankful in the shine of his eyes. 'I'd never ask.'

You chuckle. 'I know. You wouldn't have had to. I've have done it anyway.'

He swallows.

You roll your lip between your teeth and bite down. 'So you liked me... Back then, I mean. When we – I wasn't just, just another girl that you...

'We both know I did.' He licks his lips. 'I was a fucking idiot, I -.' His eyes widen as he struggles to find a word to summarise the years that have elapsed between you and leaves him out on a limb.

'Do you still...'

He nods.

'And if, if it were to happen again, you'd want that?'

'More than anything.'

'And you wouldn't run away?'

'Only if I was chasing you.'

You smile, straighten and curl your body into his. 'Then...' You whisper. 'Kiss me.'

He does. Wrapping a hand around your neck, he lets his thumb rub at the softness behind your ear as your lips meet again for the first time in years.

Things go quickly from there...

It's overdue. A coming together that both of your bodies have longed for, for far too long. He kisses the same, with lips that are a touch too dry and a hunger no-one else has ever been able to match.

You have a mind to stop him, have a mind to stall his hands as they press to your chest and seek out the stiff peaks of your nipples, but you don't. Instead, you let yourself be overcome. Your hands find his belt. It's almost too easy to do, to unclasp the buckle and yank it clear of his suit pants. You cast it aside and are surprised when he doesn't seem to care where it lands.

He pushes you back, urging you further and further away from the wedding still raging inside and towards the scant privacy the deck can offer.

Although, it's more than obvious that neither of you care.

Each touch is electric. A build of emotion that had crystallised, now dissolving into your hands and dripping through your fingers. It's rough and needy, desperate, but more than that, it feels right.

'Here, quick.' You pull at the lapel of his suit jacket, yanking him impossibly closer.

He misreads the signs, twisting and turning as he attempts to wriggle from his jacket and slip it from his shoulders.

Tugging it back into place, you shake your head. 'No time, just...' You let your hand slide down his chest, feeling your way across the expanse of him before slipping your fingers into the waist of his suit pants. '… Come here.'

Kaminari moans as you make quick work of his pants, shoving them eagerly half way to his thigh. 'Don't need to tell me twice.' He chuckles, using what little air remains in his lungs to whine as your fingers graze over his hardening cock.

You tease for barely a second longer before taking hold of him and squeezing.

'Fuck.' His head rocks back on his shoulders, eyes rolling to the skies as he sinks into the feeling of having you again. 'I've missed you. Shit.'

You chuckle and lean in close, pressing your chest to his as you lick at the shell of his ear. 'Have you missed me or just my hand?'

Immediately, he pulls back. His hands wrap around your elbows as he holds you at arms length. He looks comical, with his pants clinging to the thin at the end of his thighs and his grey boxers almost dyed black, stained with pre-cum as his cock pulses in its confines, spilling more desperation onto the fabric. 'I really have missed you...'

Stooping to catch your eye, he raises his eyebrows and offers you a smile. 'You. Not the sex, not anything else. Yo -.'

You barely let him finish his sentence before you're breaking from his constriction and pressing back into him. 'I've missed you too...' Biting his lip, you ease the sting with a kiss. 'But, we really don't have a lot of time and I'm so fucking wet I -.'

He whines against your mouth. 'Can – Fuck, let me taste.'

'Maybe later.'

The idea of later makes his blood sing, but the sound of the party still raging inside quickly refocuses him on the task at hand. 'Think I can make you cum in five minutes?'

'Oh.' You squeak when his hand pinches at your ass. 'I fucking hope so.'

'Challenge accepted.' Grinning from ear to ear, Kaminari presses back until you bump against the wooden railing of the deck. His hands roam across your body, squeezing and nipping at everything he can reach. Reaching up, he takes hold of the strap before pausing. 'Can I?' Or will this rip?'

'It'll be fine... Just -' You push your chest out, helping as best you can as Kaminari pulls down the front of your dress to expose you to the air.

The cold air forces your nipples to pebble immediately, the lip of your dress forcing your breasts to sit high and pretty and in perfect reach of Kaminari's wondering hands.

He cups your chest, thumbs brushing over your nipples until you squirm. If he had time, he'd savour this. He'd crane his neck, bow to your beauty and take one of those hardened rose buds into his mouth. He'd taste your skin, savour the salt and lick effortlessly over you until your cries became the background noise to his dreams. Licking his teeth, he looses himself to the feeling of you filling his hand. The fat of your tit spills through his fingers as he squeezes, earning another breathy gasp from you before turning his attention to other areas.

'Denki...' You're breathing heavy already, your chest heaving as Kaminari takes his pleasures feeling every inch of you. His hands sink, exploring. He pinches at your ribs, skates over your ribs and grips your hips before landing a firm smack against your ass. 'Denki, please... Fuck, c'mon, I need -.'

'Yeah?' His pupils have blown when he looks at you. Rings of gold struggle to keep them in check as hunger threatens to swallow them whole.

You nod, helping him yank up your dress until it's bunched up around your hips. Shivering against the cold, your knees knock together as a wave of vulnerability suddenly washes over you. You're freezing. The arousal trapped in your underwear cooling by the second, even as your cunt burns to be touched.

'Fuck...' Kaminari's hand sinks into your underwear the second it can. His fingers brush across trimmed pubic hair before petting, gently, at your clit.

You moan, bucking into his hand as he slips further and brushes his fingertips across your entrance. Bringing his hand back up, he presents his hand to you in the air. Your arousal shines on his skin, the glittering light from tent making it shimmer as he widens his fingers, leaving sticky strings to hang between index and forefinger.

He admires the shine. 'You're so fucking wet.'

Nodding, you reach for his wrist to pull it to your mouth – tasting yourself and cleaning his skin, but before you can, his tongue darts out of his mouth. He collects your slick like a delicacy and moans as your sweetness hits the back of his throat.

'Denki, I can't wait anymore... Please -.'

Kaminari wastes no time. In a moment, he has himself freed from his boxers, his cock hard and twitching against your stomach and your leg hooked lazily over his arm.

You tug aside your underwear yourself, exposing your cunt to him fully. There's no time to waste. Something primal eats away at your insides, something you're sure will only subside once he's seated inside of you. Your fingers itch, one hand playing with the strays hairs at the base of his neck as you look down and watch as he guides himself into you.

The initial push makes him hiss. You're tight. Tighter than he remembers as your walls wrap around him and clench. Locking his jaw, he hauls in a breath through his teeth and wills himself away from embarrassment.

Feeling him twitch helplessly inside of you, you grasp him by the lapel and pull him close until your nose touches his. 'Don't you dare. Not...' He gives you another inch, making you gasp and roll your hips. 'Not yet, don't fucking -.'

'Don't worry, baby. 'm not, not gonna.' Holding onto his sanity with his fingernails, Kaminari pulls back his hips and grinds back into you. The rhythm he sets up is uneven at best, but still, each thrust causes his cock to rub directly across the sponge roof of your cunt making you whine and cling.

Lips finding his neck, you litter him with lust. Your teeth find purchase, biting down to stifle the moans bubbling in your chest as he continues to fuck you, bottoming out each time in an effort to give you everything he has.

'You're gonna leave a mark.' He speaks through gasps, his pace stuttering as he continues to try and please you. The muscle in his thighs shake, his hands struggling not to clamp down on your waist as he pushes through the pulsing of his balls that threatens an early end.

You chuckle, revelling in the goose-flesh your breath leaves in its wake. It's intimate, setting a fire in your stomach as you pull back enough to catch his eye once more. You smile. 'What? Don't want your cheeky bridesmaid side piece to see?'

His pace falters. 'I don't.'

'Denki, baby... I'm joking.'

The pet name hatches butterflies in his sternum. They bump against the bone, tickling his organs and making him feel like he could float six feet from the floor. Not for the first time, he curses his own previous cowardice for stealing away all the pet names the past could have gifted him.

Bringing your foreheads together, you pant, breathing in each others air for a moment.

It's always felt like a cop out to call him 'The one that got away'. The title had never fit, no matter how much you'd wanted it to – or wished at one point and yet, right here, now, you wonder how you'd ever even brought yourself to think of him like that. 'Denki... Denks.' He hums, transfixed by a look he'd only been able to imagine in your eyes. 'What – what do you need. Tell me.'

You chew your lip, muttering. 'I'm never going to cum like this.'

'Ah.' His eyes light up, a shock of understanding zipping through him.

It might have been years, but he remembers every second of that night you spent together. He remembers you quaking, remembers how you'd looked on your hands and knees, thighs shaking as your spine curved deliciously, your ass bouncing as you rocked yourself back on his cock desperately. How could he forget?

Slipping out of you, he pulls back only enough to lay his hands on your waist and spin you.

You twist, dizzy and grab hold of the railing to steady yourself. Instantly, you're up on your tip-toes, back curved as you wait, pretty and presented. Anticipation lances through your legs making holding yourself up difficult, but it's all worth it when you feel him stretch you open and slide home.

Not giving you a second to adjust, he sets a blinding pace, spurred on by the memory of what it had felt like to have you fall apart around him. The fingers of his right hand dig into the flesh of your hip as the other slides up your back and takes hold of your neck. He grips, leaning over you to whisper, hoarse, in your ear. 'Touch yourself... Touch yourself for me, show me how good you feel, baby.'

You obey. Slipping a hand between your legs, you spread your fingers to feel him rutting into you for a moment. The skin of his cock is silk soft and slippery with your arousal, grazing the sides of your fingers as you shift and finally, begin to rub at your clit.

'Fuck...' Kaminari's grip on your hip stutters, growing light as he feels you tighten up around him. 'Go – Good girl. Shit. I'm not – not gonna last, I -.'

You don't need him too. In a few moments, you feel the telltale rush. Your cunt aches, clit pulsing as your orgasm threatens to reduce you to your knees. With your eyes rolling back into your head, you struggle to keep circling your clit, but Kaminari's fingers replace yours without you asking.

His movement is clumsy, but he manages to fuck you through your high either way. 'Holy, holy fuck... You feel, feels so – fucking Hell.' Stuttering, he struggles through, pouring his focus into you as you milk him relentlessly, bringing him closer and closer to his own end. With a tight chest, you reel back, glancing over your shoulder.

Kaminari's face is flushed, his cheek bones brushed with a pink that makes him look boyish and young. The edge of his mouth is twisted, a cause of his teeth gnawing at the inside of his cheek and his jaw is clenched, bringing out the cut line of his jaw.

He's close. You can tell. The thought thrills you, your cunt tightening on impulse as you await your prize.

'Where, fuck, fuck... I can't cum on your dress, you're – you're gonna have to move, or, or -.'

Reaching back, you grab at the edge of his suit jacket and pull at him, forcing his hips against your ass. 'Inside.'

He doesn't get a chance to think, his body makes the decision for him. His balls tighten, pulsing as he cums, emptying himself inside of you. Curling over, he presses a kiss to your shoulder, teeth scraping against the exposed skin as he pours himself into you, pumping you full.

With your stomach full and his lips grazing the base of your neck, you relax into a bone-deep kind of satiation you'd not felt since that night. It's surreal. Absurd as you come crashing back to reality as realise that the party has begun to quieten inside of the tent.

He's still dripping out of you when you hear the high pitched whistle cut through the air.

Kamiari turns. Tearing his suit jacket from his shoulders, he drapes it over your hips, covering his own mess.

'You two made up then?' Sero's smile is blinding. His hands are dug into his pockets, thumbs poking out over the material as he shrugs himself into his shoulders. He's plastered, his hair mattered and a mess as it falls from its bun, but even the alcohol making him stagger doesn't put a stop to his mischief.

Kaminari panics. His voice is still breathless, shaking slightly from the force of the orgasm that had almost had him seeing static. He should have made you cum quicker, shouldn't have slowed down the way he did. Fuck, he should have asked you to come back to his hotel. You deserve better than a quick, forgive me fuck outside of a tent in almost freezing temperature. He curses himself and cringes. 'How long have you been stood there?'

'Long enough to be pitching a tent, you guys don't fuck around huh...' He chuckles to himself. 'Well, I guess you do but -.'

Struggling with your dress, you can't help the smile that breaks your lips when Kaminari shields you and helps get your tits situated and hidden once more. Stepping from behind him, you slide a hand down his arm and twist your fingers in his. Hoping this time he won't run away. 'What do you want Hanta? We're just about to get out of here.'

Even if you had been trying to miss the smile that brightens Kaminari's face, you wouldn't have been able to. He re-adjusts his jacket, now slung over your shoulders and squeezes your hand tight.

Sero chuffs. Still too drunk to know better. 'When I first came out here I just wanted to smoke, but now I'm thinking of asking to watch.'

Reaching down, you pluck one of your heels from the floor before turning and throwing it headlong at Sero's head.

He ducks, laughing as the shoe goes wide. 'That a maybe then?'

'Hanta...' Kaminari whines, but Sero is already backing away holding his hands up in a mock surrender.

'Woah, woah...' A cheeky smile tugs at his lip, bringing his left dimple out in a way that only happens when there's real mischief up his sleeve. 'I guess now would be a bad time to tell you that the lights out here cause a pretty solid shadow to be cast on the side of that tent then, huh?'

The colour drains from both of your faces. 'No...'

Sero's eyes shine as he reaches into his pocket and removes his phone. 'I've got a video of it if you don't believe me...'

-> Masterlist

[queers-gambit]

Distraction

[ series masterlist ]

prompt: at a rare family dinner, you have news for your husband.

pairing: Aemond Targaryen x wife!reader

fandom: House of the Dragon

word count: 5.9k+

note: i didn't want to like him but the pirate baby war criminal does something to me.

warnings: cursing, spoilers, Aemond being a little shit, basically the dinner scene with Aemond's wife. canon-level incest (?) and dialogue. not edited!! ❗️major season one, episode eight spoilers

"How's this?" You asked Amira, your handmaiden, showing her the sixth dress you've tried on. You observed all angles of yourself in the mirror, smoothing over the material of your dress in worry.

"I like it better," she nodded, admiring your figure. "And you can't even tell you're hiding - "

"Mira," you warned, sighing sharply.

"When are you going to tell him, my Lady?" She demanded, helping you into your shoes as you fixed jewelry around your neck, wrist, ears, and fingers. "It's killing me!" She whined lowly.

"Soon, Mira," you rolled your eyes.

"You've been saying that for a month, and now you're starting to show!" She snipped, hands on her hips. "He's not stupid - "

"He's been distracted as of late," your eyes rolled. "He is not paying attention to me right now, I've time to think."

"I beg to differ, but sure, let's be ignorant."

"Mira," you sighed, or more like whined. Your head tilted back and you sighed sadly, pinning her with an exasperated look.

"I'm being honest, Princess, and I'm telling you the Prince absolutely adores you. How he's not noticed yet is beyond me."

You sheepishly admitted, "I might've... Lied a wee bit."

"And said what?"

"I was bloated from bad fish and my cycle," you shrugged. "He doesn't know much different, and he's been coming to bed in exhaustion that he doesn't much stay awake to notice my growing figure."

"Well," she sighed, hands slapping her thighs as she shrugged with defeat, "this dress hides everything better, it fits nice. It's a winner for tonight's dinner... Just - "

"Don't eat too much," You ended for her, smirking. "I know... I know."

"You should just tell him, Princess. Rid us of this game, please."

"I will..."

"He has the right to know," she whispered.

"He will - just once I figure out what to do."

"What do you - "

"Once I figure out how to be okay with this," you sighed sadly. "Look... I just... Aemond doesn't seemed thrilled by the idea of being a father but his mother insisted on lineage. He only did his duty," you shrugged, fiddling with your fingers as emotion caught in your throat, "and I'm nervous to tell him, because... T-Then it's over."

"What's over?" Amira asked softly.

"The marriage," you sniffled, "the bliss, the partnership. I just become a cast-aside-milk-machine."

"You know the Prince would never - "

"Truthfully, Mira, we don't know," you cut her off sadly, "because nobody can predict what Aemond will say or do next."

"He wants to be a father," Mira nodded, but both of you froze when a new voice asked from the doorway,

"Who wants to be a father?"

Recognizing your husband's voice, Mira was swift to answer when you froze in fear, "My husband's brother. He's trying for a baby with his wife and I was telling the Princess how excited he is because he really wants to be a father."

"Hmm," Aemond considered a moment, stepping into the room in-full and letting the door close softly behind him. "Well, speaking of my dear wife, are you almost ready, love? We've dinner arrangements."

His eye raked over your form and when he settled on your face, he smirked with mischief. Gulping from the flush of heat his gaze brought, you glanced at Mira before affirming, "I'm ready, my Prince Ameond."

His brow furrowed as Mira showed herself out, Ameond asking, "Since when do you address me so formally, my love?"

"Oh, well, just - you know, we're going to have dinner with your whole family, Ameond, I just wanted to remember formalities and, you know, my place..."

"Your place," he reaffirmed as he reached for you, "is at my side, sweet girl. You worry for nought, my family adores you."

You sighed lightly, "As if you gave them a choice but only to accept me."

His smirked broadened, "You're right - I gave them none. Come, you're worrying yourself silly. It's nothing, my sweet girl, Father called for this dinner to celebrate us being together."

"Might you promise me something, then?"

Aemond sighed, "You know I cannot break promises to you."

"Exactly," you smirked lightly, feeling his arms tighten around your waist to keep you pressed to his front. You worried he'd feel the small curve of your belly, but distracted him by asking, "Do not antagonize anyone while your King Father is present, my love, please. He's old, he's sick, let us grant his wish of having a meal together - in harmony, in peace..."

He sighed again, letting his eye shoot over your face as you pouted lightly. "All right, my love," he agreed, "I will behave myself while Father is present."

"Thank you," you whispered, thinking that was the end of it. Your Lord husband smiled and took your hand to tangle his fingers with yours, pressing a lingering kiss to your lips.

"Shall we, my love?" He muttered softly.

"Hmm," you hummed, kissing him again. "All right, yeah, let us go. Shouldn't keep the family waiting."

He smirked, "Come."

Aemond liked keeping you close, moving from your shared rooms and down the halls to reach the private dining room the Royal Family was to take their meal in tonight. Upon entering, you discovered the fires ablaze and torches set to provide ample lighting, making you smile as the room was the perfect temperature for your pregnant, flushed-flesh.

As custom dictates, you bowed to the Queen Mother first; greeting the Hand of the King after, then with similar bows, greeted the crowned heir to the Iron Throne, your birth mother, Princess Rhaenyra. You gaze shifted to your mother's husband, the Prince Daemon, your step-father, and offered him a polite greeting. Truth of it was that you were always cautious of Daemon, and the way he looked at you was hard to decipher; never knowing if he even liked you or not. You skin was toned down from your father's, the late Lord Laenor Velaryon, but your hair was as bright as your mother and father's, and all who shared your blood.

Your marriage to Aemond was a bid for peace after your younger brother, Jace, took the young Aemond's eye about 6-7 years prior. To placate tension, your hand was offered only 2 years ago, and it turned out to be a surprising love-match. You and Aemond grew closer after the years apart, and though you tried to understand all sides of the situation, you knew the truth behind the loss of his eye, and only tried to offer comfort for your husband on day's he became overwhelmingly insecure.

You loved your family, but you loved the man you shared your life with now and did your best to keep the peace.

You greeted your brothers and cousins before looking back at your mother, who grinned in excitement.

Your mother breathed your name and stood from her seat, making you match her excitement as you let go of Aemond's hand to hug her tightly. "Mother," you gasped into the tight embrace. "Oh, how you glow! Pregnancy has always agreed with you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm well, my sweet love," Rhaenyra nodded, pulling away to gently pet a stray hair from your forehead. "Your hair's grown so much in these years."

"Do you like it?"

"You look beautiful, my love, I adore it," she promised, squeezing your hand. "How are you fairing?" She glanced over your shoulder to your husband - who was greeting his own siblings.

"I am doing well, Mother, you do not need worry," you assured. "Aemond is good and kind to me, I promise. I have known only love and warmth from him, and I feel I should both apologize to you for protesting the arrangement, and then thank you for it..." She smiled fondly, caressing your jaw and chin. "It has worked out better than I ever could imagine."

"I am delighted to hear it," your mother spoke with so much love and kindness that a light sheen of tears coated your eyes. "You look well, love," she sighed lightly, petting over your long hair. "You know I miss you daily, my sweet girl. It is not the same without you."

"I miss you, too," you swore. "More than words..."

She sighed, "Well, go on, we should find our seats..."

"We'll talk again soon," you assured softly, giving her hands another squeeze before breaking apart. You nodded to her husband, "Prince Daemon."

"Princess," he nodded back, watching you move around the table to snag Aemond's hand in yours, and together, the two of you made it to your seats at the head of the table. Aemond pulled your chair out and let you sit before taking his seat between you and his grandsire, leaving you between him and his sister, the Princess Helaena.

"Good evening," Otto muttered to you, nodding with a soft smile. "You look beautiful, Princess."

"Thank you, my Lord," you smiled. "You look well yourself. And you, Princess," you directed at Helaena, "that dress befits you."

"Thank you, my Lady," she smiled, "you're glowing... In this light," she spoke with a knowing twinkle in her eye.

"Love?" Aemond muttered, a servant holding a goblet. "Would you like wine tonight?"

"Oh, please," You accepted, Aemond taking the goblet to pass along to you. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Hm," he acknowledged with a small smirk, raising his own to his lips as he observed the whole of the table and slowly turned in his chair to crowd into you. "Say the word, love, and we'll leave..."

"We're fine," You assured in a soft whisper, bowing your head to speak in his ear. "You are on edge, my Prince."

You could almost physically feel his nerves.

"With reason," he sighed, leaning in to press a kiss to your neck. "Aegon wants a word, my love. I'll be a moment."

"Go on," you sighed, smiling with a nod as he stood from his seat; leaving you with a parting kiss on the top of your head. The table was still being dressed for dinner and the Targaryen-Hightower families all sat around as they all waited for the King to arrive. Aemond and Aegon stood for their conversation at the corner of the table, leaving Helaena to rise to her knees in her chair; giggling with you over whatever riddles plagued her mind in that moment. Otto smiled as he watched you two for a moment.

From your place, you could feel the tension from Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra, knowing all of their feud from your limited years at court prior to tonight. When the doors opened and a procession of Kings Guard was seen, you all pushed from your wooden chairs to stand for the King's arrival; your husband reaching for your waist to stand together as a united front. Aemond always took your union very seriously as your birth appearance only left room for rumors to fester about your brother's lineage, and Aemond took immense pride in calling you wife.

You, who had the color of your father's skin, and the hair color of your mother; you, who was a highly desired prize to the courts; you, who was desired over others, and looked at only as a trophy - but being that you wed a man who had known you your whole life, he treated you as much more. You were proud of your marriage, and stood tall at his side.

The King was carried in a chair that would double as his seat for the evening meal, requiring a set of guards to carry him up to the table before being lowered.

When everyone was allowed to reclaim their seat, Aemond held a hand to the servant boy who meant to push your chair in; smirking at you as he took the liberty himself. Say what you wanted about the lad, but his mother raised him right...

Much could not be said for his brother, but Aegon was not your worry.

Aemond took his seat after, letting his hand drift to your thigh in invitation; smirking again when both your hands tangled with his. You noticed both of your brothers now sat with their betrothed, who were Daemon's daughters with your Aunt Laena - who passed seemingly only days before your father. Both tragedies left your mother, Rhaenyra, and uncle (?) Daemon available to marry, and you remember standing on your ancestral home of Dragonstone, watching the Old Valyrian customs come to life as they wed.

A beautiful ceremony in truth.

Around the table, all members of the Targaryen-Velaryon-Hightower family claimed their seats as King Viserys Targaryen, First of His Name, was set down at the large gap separating your mother and step-mother...

How odd to think about the relations around this table.

As the guards retreated, Viserys croaked, "How good it is... To see you all tonight... Together."

You smiled at Aemond and let your head fall into the crook of his neck when he glanced at you; his arm readjusting to better hold your hand, both attentively listening to the King's words, but not before his chin caressed the top of your head when he returned your brief show of affection.

The tension at the table was nearly palpable, leaving Alicent to ask her husband, "Prayer before we begin?"

"Yes," Viserys agreed.

Everyone took proper prayer form, you glancing at your seemingly confused mother for a moment before to your lap as Alicent lead the prayer: "May the Mother smile down on this gathering with love. May the Smith men the bonds that have been broken for far too long. And to Vaemond Velaryon, may the Gods give him rest."

You ignored the under-breath huffy responses to Queen Alicent wishing for rest upon a man slain in court today, nodding when the prayer was over and lifting your head to reclaim your husband's hand in your own. Viserys continued, "This is an occasion for celebration, it seems. My grandsons, Jace and Luke, will marry their cousins, Baela and Rhaena, further strengthening the bond between our Houses." You nudged Aemond gently when you saw him staring at Jace with unnerve. "A toast to the young Princes and their betrothed!"

"Hear, hear," Daemon mocked as he took up his goblet, your husband spying your smirk of amusement.

And though he lowered his voice so his father did not hear, Aegon's words reached your own ears as he muttered to your brother, "Well done, Jace. You'll finally get to lie with a woman."

Jace let his goblet set to the table forcefully, catching your eyes as you subtly shook your head at him. He ignored Prince Aegon's antagonizing words.

"Let us toast, as well, Prince Lucerys... The future Lord of the Tides."

"Hear, hear," his future sister-cousin toasted with a soft smirk.

"You'll be great," his cousin-fiancé assured.

"Love," you reprimanded softly, catching his stare again. He only sighed at you as Aegon was turning to Jace again.

"You do know how the act is done, I assume? As least, in principle? Where to put your cock and all that?"

"Let it be, cousin."

"You can play the jester if you wish, but hold your tongue before my betrothed," Jace defended, keeping his voice low so the adults would not hear him.

"Hmm," Aegon sighed, nodding once before sitting forward in his seat. You sighed to yourself, feeling Aemond's hand stroking over the meat of your inner thigh and leaning into his arm slightly.

But all came to a stand-still when Viserys grunted and stood uneasily to his feet, leaning forward on the table to hold himself up. His words were spoken between huffs of breath, "It both gladdens my heart and fills me with sorrow to see these faces around the table." He looked around with meaning, "The faces most dear to me in all the world... Yet grown so distant from each other... In the years past."

Aemond blinked once, then twice, and lowered his gaze to the table before looking down at you. You offered a silent smile and pet over his hand. But both of your smiles dropped when you looked up again, watching Viserys reach for the latch that kept the golden facemask in place; realizing his intention. You were used to Aemond's injury and scar, but the King's was something else entirely, and with your pregnancy stomach - you were unsure how you would react seeing it.

Aemond's hand squeezed yours when the King dropped his mask and gave a front-row-viewing to his decaying face. Aegon and Helaena refused to look, their eyes set to the table as Viserys looked around; Rhaenyra seeing the extent of his illness, and how his children could not look at him for longer than a few seconds.

Viserys continued, "My own face... Is no longer a handsome one," he snorted lightly at his own joke, "if indeed it ever was. But tonight... I wish you to see me... As I am." Otto watched the King directly, boldly, and your eyes could only handle small glances, focusing on the way Aemond was distracting you with his fingers running up and down your thigh in your lap. "Not just a King," Viserys continued through haggard breathing, "But your Father!" He turned his eye to Daemon, spitting, "Your brother!" His head turned to Alicent, "Your husband." And then he looked to the middle of the table, "Your grandsire. Who may not, it seems... Walk for much longer among you." He slammed the gold mask to punctuate his point, all eyes staring at him now. "Let us no longer hold ill feelings in our hearts. The crown cannot stand strong if the House of the Dragon remains divided. But set aside your grievances." You felt emotion swell in your chest as Aemond's hand paused to squeeze your hand. "If not for the sake of the crown... Then for the sake of this old man! Who loves you all so dearly!"

He panted in exhaustion as he fell back into his seat with Alicent's aid; fixing the mask back over the decaying half of his face. Suddenly, your mother, Rhaenyra, was shooting up from her seat with her goblet in hand; making you sit up straighter almost subconsciously. Aemond fought off his knowing smirk as he watched your mother hold her goblet with intention.

After a moment, the crowned Princess spoke, "I wish to raise my cup to Her Grace, the Queen." When Alicent had helped secure the gold mask, she looked up in curiosity. "I love my father," she continued to Alicent. "But I must admit that no one has stood... More loyally by his side than his good wife." After a meaningful look, your mother spoke to the rest of the table, "She has tended to him with... Unfailing devotion, love, and honor. And for that, she has my gratitude... And my apology."

When your mother's eyes caught your own as she sat down, you nodded with your own toast, "To the Queen Mother."

The others echoed your words and took their obligatory sip of wine, watching Alicent accept your mother's words. "Your graciousness move me deeply, Princess." Daemon sat forward at the Queen's words, your mother watching her as your own husband seemingly stilled to watch the tense exchange. "We are both mothers... And we love our children. We have more in common than we sometimes allow." Your mother accepted her words, in turn; and the Queen Alicent Hightower stood to her feet, and hoisted her cup high, "I raise my cup to you and to your House." After a moment, she ended, "You will make a fine Queen."

You smirked gently as your mother fought off her emotion, raising your cup again to call, "To Princess Rhaenyra, our future Queen!"

The rest of the table followed suit, and with King Viserys, took their gulps of wine. Aemond smirked and pecked your temple, earning your attention for you to grin at him - feeling as if this was a perfect moment to announce to your husband and family that you were pregnant. But his attention drifted when his brother drained his goblet, cleared his throat, and stood from his seat.

He sighed and kept close watch as you silently turned your attention as well. Aemond knew better than anyone how protective you were of your brothers, and though you shared different traits in appearance, they were still your blood, and you, and your gorgeous green dragon, Kasta, would defend them until your death day.

You could not make out the words Aegon was muttering to your cousin, but you knew the lad liked to instigate; his farce of pouring himself a new goblet of wine only getting him so far.

Whatever was said upset the Prince enough for his hands to bang on the table as he stood; Aegon's smirk assuring you he meant for this reaction. "Jace," you heard Rhaena try to intercede.

But as Aegon made for his seat, your husband stood to his feet, and stared Jace down as if in challenge to say anything. The table all stilled, and even Viserys, who had witnessed your husband ferocity, waited with held breath. "My love," you whispered, reaching for Aemond's sleeve to give a simple tug. "You promised," you reminded softly, begging him to sit down again. But when his fist formed, you stood from your seat to press into his side, whispering urgently, "Aemond, please, do not do this, I am begging you."

His arm slithered around you to keep you at his side as Jace only pounded his fist into Aegon's shoulder in a show of good faith; noting the way Aemond went rigid even under your soothing touch.

Jace toasted with his own goblet, "To Prince Aegon and Prince Aemond. We have not seen each other in years," Jace glanced from Luke to you and Aemond, "but I have fond memories of our shared youth. And it is obvious the love, devotion, and respect you show my sister - and for that, I give both gratitude and thanks." He paused to look at Aegon, who looked sour at the show of responsibility and educated-tongue. "And as men, I hope we may yet be friends and allies. To you and your families good health, dear uncles. Or, should I say, dear uncle, and brother," he smiled at you after, seeing you return it with all-teeth.

But when Aemond's hand tightened on your waist in anger, you whispered again with urgency, "Please, let it go."

Behind you, Jace had gripped Aegon's shoulder, giving a tight squeeze, before another friendly fist pound - making the Prince reply tightly, "To you as well."

"A moment," you called, making Aemond pause in his descent to his chair, and prayed you could cause reason to smile again, "because I'd like to toast my good and loving husband." He offered you a solemn smile, but cocked his head in confusion. "And... I'd like to take this moment, before our families, to share the good news..."

"Love," Aemond whispered in shock, Alicent perking up as Otto did. "You speak what I think you do?"

You nodded, glancing at the table, but telling Aemond, "I'm pregnant. We're going to have a baby, the Seven's heard us at last, my Prince."

There was a round of cheers and applause as Aemond breathed in relief and pulled you in, letting both his hands caress your cheeks as he kissed you tenderly. "Truly?" He muttered, making tears brim your waterline.

"Yes," you confirmed, feeling one of his hands drop to press against you gently swelling womb. "Just a bit over three months in."

He laughed and pulled you in for a proper hug, the table sending their congratulations to you both - and you foolishly thought you were successful in distracting Aemond enough. You took your seats again, him fully turned to keep his arms around you, as the family all muttered in good tidings.

But above them, you could hear Helaena mutter, "Beware the beast beneath the boards."

You didn't get to question it because you were leaning over to give Otto's hand a squeeze - thanking him for his good tidings. Your mother caught your eye after, giving you a bright and happy grin; silently toasting to you, making you return the motion and take a sip.

Thinking you had ended the toasts for the evening, imagine the surprise when Helaena, a usually quiet girl, stood from her seat as if it burned her. Aemond and you both paused to look up, listening as she spoke, "I would like to toast Baela and Rhaena. They'll be married soon. 'Tisn't so bad," she assured sincerely. "Mostly, he just ignores you..." Then, a thought came to her, "Except sometimes when he's drunk."

You honestly didn't mean to, but you laughed a little - eyes widening as you look at Aemond with your hand over your mouth. But he chuckled, too; and dare you say it, but you swore Otto let out a singular chuckle to his granddaughter's words. In fact, you knew he did, when Helaena found her seat again and he nodded at her, muttering, "Good."

"Let us have some music," Viserys spoke, and a moment later, the live musicians struck a tune. Curiosity burned in your gut when Jace stood from his seat, muttered to his fiancé, and then stepped around the table to approach Helaena with an offered hand.

"Jace," You warned your brother when he halted beside you; watching as Aegon could not tear his sights away from his wife as she accepted, and let the Prince lead her to a small clearing for a dance.

Aegon turned and shared a hardened look with his brother. Aemond let his chair push back some to give him a proper view of his surroundings, taking your hand, and encouraging you closer. You sighed with mild worry, muttering, "Won't you eat something, my love? Please?"

He hummed, tearing his gaze back to you. "No, sweet girl, you go on. Eating for two now, aren't you?"

You sighed lightly, "W-Was this alright?"

"What?"

"Telling you here?" You wondered, genuine fear flooding your chest.

Aemond sighed and leaned forward to crowd into you again, despite the head of the table posing with natural privacy. "My love... This is," he sighed lightly and took your hands in his, meeting your gaze, "The best news you could've given me - in any way. But in front of our families? That is special, indeed," he smirked some, leaning in to press a linger kiss to your forehead. "Worry not, sweet wife, for this is joyous news. I am just..."

"Uneasy?" You filled in with a frown. "I know this family likes to push buttons but please do not say or do anything - not with the King here, my love."

"I know," he assured softly, "I made you a promise, I will not break it."

You nodded in response, letting his lips meet yours for a slow kiss, his nose nuzzling against yours before he leaned back in his chair - nodding at your plate to silently encourage you to take another bite.

Some minutes passed and after laughing with Otto over something silly, you caught your husband's gaze again. You offered him a small look before leaning in, making him sit up and bow his head to hear your words, "You're staring again."

He chuckled, "Perhaps I am enjoying the view."

"Oh, of me eating, is it?"

"Of my beautiful wife, yes," he smirked, leaning back again, and leaving you to get sucked back into whatever was being spoken of now. You did not notice how the King gazed fondly at you all, taking note of his gathered family, until he was wincing and moaning in pain.

Slowing your chewing, you watched silently as Alicent called for the guards, and Viserys was then being pulled away, and carried away from the table. You stood with respect as he was dismissed, Aemond's hands smoothing over your waist to guide you back into your seat - a moment before he did the same.

Aemond sat at an angle, not eating, and leaving place at the table before him for the servants to raise and set a roasted pig before him. You eyed it wearily, knowing of the torment your brothers and Aegon put Aemond through for being dragonless in his youth, and tried not to think further of it. You reached to lay your hand on Aemond's knee in comfort, just placing your next bite to your mouth as Luke's snickering amusement enraged Aemond.

"Don't," you gasped after you swallowed when you noted the way his entire body turned to regard your younger brother; sighing in defeat when Aemond's fist rapidly pounded into the table's top as he climbed to his feet and swiftly picked up his goblet.

"Final tribute," Aemond proposed, ignoring the way you sighed and remained still in your seat. When the hall quieted and turned their attention to him, Aemond continued, "To the health of my nephews: Jace," he looked to the boy still-standing, "Luke," his sights turned to your brother that slashed his eye from its socket, "and Joffrey. Each of them handsome," your eyes met Alicent's, as if anticipating his words, "wise..." He paused, the tension brewing to a new height.

"Love, please," you whispered, watching him nod silently, and then finish,

"Strong."

"Aemond," his mother tried, but was ignored.

"Come!" Aemond barked as you slowly stood to your feet out of worry; his arm extending to wrap around you and settle you on his other side - as if to protect you. "With my sweet wife, let us drain our cups to these three..." Aegon rose his goblet with enthusiasm, ever the one to hide behind his brother's brute, words, and strength, "Strong boys."

"I dare you to say that again," Jace barked.

"Why?" Aemond instigated as his head snapped to look at your brother, you sharing a look of unease with Alicent. "'Twas only a compliment." He let go of you as Jace started forward, turning instantly to meet him. "Do you not think yourself Strong?"

Luke stood in anger as Aegon met him, Jace launching his fist into Aemond's jaw - making you wince slightly upon the impact, and making you call your brother's name in protest. You felt Otto raise to his feet and pull you back from the fray, as Aegon smashed Luke's head to the table. "THAT IS ENOUGH!" Alicent raged.

Seemingly unfazed by the fist to his face, Aemond smirked at Jace before pushing the younger boy back off his feet. He sprung up with a growl - making two guards lunge forward to restrain him - as your husband turned with a broad grin and his goblet, still in hand.

Jace and Luke were both restrained as you freed yourself from Otto's grasp to reach for your husband, who sat his goblet down in order to hold onto you. "What was that? Huh? You lost your mind finally?" You demanded in disappointment, hearing your brothers still growling and grunting with effort to free themselves.

Alicent descended upon you two, demanding in a lowered tone, "Why would you say such a thing before these people!?"

"I was merely expressing how proud I am of my family, Mother," Aemond rounded on her, one arm still tight around your waist. "Mm," he considered, raising his voice as he let go of you to turn, "though it seems my nephews aren't quite as proud of theirs."

Jace broke free and charged forward as Daemon barked, "Wait, wait!" With a silent finger held, he stalked between the two Princes; easing Jace backwards without uttering a word. When the boy was back by his brother and both of their betrothed, your mother was demanding of them, "Go to your quarters. All of you go, now."

Daemon turned and settled his sights on Aemond, making the hair on your neck stand on end with worry as you held your husband's hand tightly - as if it would keep him at bay. Your step-father came to a halt and sighed, still staring at Aemond, and you knew that just because your husband was unhinged, didn't mean you were, and Daemon genuinely made you nervous. He was undefeated and rumor of his win in the Stepstones was told to you directly by your father, who bore witness to the Rogue Prince taking the entire beach by himself.

Daemon was not someone you were eager to cross, but your husband loved a good challenge - and by the look in both man's eye, you knew they had met their matches.

Aemond sized Daemon up for a moment before your hand tightened in his, begging quietly, "Can we go, please?"

He hummed in response and tightened his hand in yours, leading you past your mother and step-father, but pausing when Rhaenyra spoke your name. Your mother reached for you, smiling, "Congratulations, my sweet girl. You'll make a beautiful mother."

"Thank you," you whispered to her, leaning in to kiss her cheek, and whisper, "I'm so sorry."

She winked at you in return, letting Aemond take your hand again and lead you onward into the torch-lined hallway. You sighed when you pushed from the room, leading in the other direction of the guest rooms, meaning, you did not have to worry about running into your brothers.

"You're angry," he mentioned in observation after a few moments.

"No," you answered quietly, leading up to your chamber door. "Just uneasy."

"Over me?"

"Over all of this," you admitted softly, entering first and hearing him follow. When the door closed, you continued, "It pains me to feel and see the divide in the family. And I walk both lines of it..."

"'S not easy," he agreed.

"No, it's not," you sighed, pulling your jewelry off. "And now isn't the time for petty games, my love. We've a child on the way, the time for grudges has passed - though I will not tell you to let this go." You turned to look at him in the firelight. "I know the pain caused, and I know what was taken from you..." He lowered his gaze, making you slowly approach him and reach for either hand. "But I need my husband with me, and not lost to some vendetta. We're having a baby, Aemond, and I'd like for them to know their uncles."

He sighed, nodding as he wrapped his arms up your waist. "Aye... I'd want that, too. But they can't call me brother, please, my love - "

You chuckled, "I will make sure they understand. We do not have to see them often, but the times we do, I'd like for some semblance of peace and normalcy."

He nodded with understanding, "Aye. For you, my love, I can do that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," He sighed.

"Then please - no more Strong comments," you begged quietly. "They're leaving soon, please, do not instigate this further. You do not have to see them again, but I'd like to see my siblings off."

He nodded, "Whatever you want, my sweet."

"Well, I want my brothers and husband to get along but that's not happening, is it?"

"Not likely," he teased. "But I will do my best to restrain myself."

"I only ask that you try," you agreed, pecking his lips. "Now, are you gonna run off anymore or do I have my husband for the night?"

He smirked, "You have me, my love. I am here with you."

"Good," you smirked, letting a hand snake along the back of his neck to pull him down; searing a heated kiss to his lips.

[ series masterlist ]

[hyperfixat]

okay first of all hiiii genshin community this is my first ever fic for the fandom and i’ve only been playing for about a month and a half TT although i am already at AR 50, so i’m decently confident in writing this.

this is taking place in a self aware genshin alternate universe where the reader has been accused of being an imposter; aka imposter!au. contains fontaine characters >:3

btw. while i am in fontaine’s archon quest, i know little about wrio… and the fortress of meropide, so i took some liberties. and i’m not a lawyer or anything so. expect errors.

600+ Words.

You don’t think this is how prisoners should be treated, what with the heavy white iron shackles, tightly welded around your ankles, wrists, neck, and midriff. It’s excessive, really. Nameless guards and Wriothesley himself escort you to the opera house where your trial shall be held.

As you’re dragged along, you pass hordes of not just Fontaine’s citizens, but international crowds have gathered to see you fall.

You don’t have much hope.

The accusations against you are… grim, it seems. Stealing the face and body of the divine, what is that even supposed to mean? This is your body, how you’ve always been. You can’t even imagine what sort of divine being would sentence someone to… death(?) for simply bearing a striking resemblance to them. The court shall see.

You’d been so excited to see these characters, especially the beautiful Fontainians, but now as you catch sight of Neuvillette, nothing but bitter fear and dread fill you.

Those eyes; gray, blue, purple, undoubtedly gorgeous, are serious, befitting the Iudex. Though you never thought you would be surveyed under them.

“Order in the court.” Neuvillette calls out as the packed audience quiets down from their excited buzz. Furina holds a hand over her chest dramatically, waltzing to the edge of her balcony.

“Will the prosecution please state the reasons behind today’s trial? Lady Furina?” Neuvillette prompts the lady.

“Indeed.” She agrees grandly. “The guilty—!”

“Accused.” Neuvillette interjects.

“Accused,” Furina repeats. “Is charged with attempting to infiltrate the rightful spot of the Creator, a grave sin.”

The crowd boos.

“Don’t worry, my dear citizens and travelers from afar, we will see justice delivered to this sinner!”

“Order.” Neuvillette calls and the crowd hushes. “Will the prosecution present evidence to support their claim?”

“Look at them, Monsieur Neuvillette! The whole room can clearly see that they have crafted themself a mirror image of our true god!” The room rumbles in agreement. Your brow knits with worry, unsure of how (if) you’ll get out of this situation.

Neuvillette turn his gaze solely onto you, looking down from his seat as judge. A few moments of his scrutiny pass. “Defendant, can you refute these claims?”

You try.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I swear on my life, I haven’t intended to offend anyone, this is just how I look. No one will call me by my name—.”

“Boo!” Lady Furina calls from her seat, hushing when Neuvillette sends a sharp look her way.

“—I will admit I’m not from this world, but I don’t know how to explain any of that. I haven’t meant to do any harm.” You look to the crowd. “I’m sorry.”

The Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale shifts, one of the weights pulling down, you aren’t sure if it’s in your favor, and doubt it is.

“Is that all from the defendant?” It is. No lawyer would dare represent you, not even a public defense attorney.

“We turn to the judgment of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale to give us the results of this trial.” With his words the machine rumbles and the sides of the scale quickly move up and down. It settle in the middle and a slip of paper slides out.

“Our defendant is…” the room simultaneously brings in a breath of air. Neuvillette’s voice chokes up. “Innocent.”

“No!” “Impossible!” “Fraudulent!”

“Oh, give me a break.” You moan at the reactions.

Lady Furina, narrows her eyes at you. “Let us settle this with a duel!”

The guards that led you here begin gathering your chains and you panic.

“Wait! Please!” You cry out one last desperate attempt. Neuvillette pauses, looking at you from the side of his eye. The hand holding the oratrice’s results stills.

“Do the words Genshin Impact mean anything to you?”

[bad268]

maybe a story where kimis gf (reader) has curly hair and she does her curly hair routine on kimi. love your writing!! 💓

Curl TLC (Andrea Kimi Antonelli X Curly Hair! Reader)

Fandom: RPF/F2/F3

Requested: Clearly (Thank you <3 and as someone with curly hair, I had too much fun with this)

Warnings: None

POV: Second Person (You/your)

W.C. 1332

Summary: Kimi needed some help with his curls.

Join my 1K Celly

As always, my requests are OPEN

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

~~(^Pinterest)

It was something you always noticed. Kimi’s hair was always unruly after a race, but after being with him for almost a year, you noticed the little things. His curls used to be so well-formed and clean, but now, it’s like he was losing his curl pattern. And given that you also had curly hair, you decided to teach him your tricks during an off weekend. 

“I don’t see why this is important,” He complained as soon as you started rinsing his hair. “This seems like a lot.”

“I haven’t even done anything yet,” You laughed as you made sure none of the water got in his eyes. “This is just water.”

“But the number of things you have is concerning,” He replied as he glanced over at the three bottles and diffuser on the counter.

“That’s nothing,” You dismissed as you grabbed the shampoo specifically for curly hair. “Now, this is my shampoo. The first time I do it-”

“You’re gonna do it more than once?” Kimi cut you off as he tried to sit down, but you put your hand on his shoulder to sit him back down in front of the sink. 

“Yes, the first time, I’ll give you a head massage. It helps get all the dead skin off your scalp and It’s just really relaxing,” You explained as you applied the shampoo to his roots. As you began working it through his hair. You knew better than to explain your process when you were scratching his scalp because you knew he would not be listening. As soon as you started, his eyes shut and that was game over. After a few minutes, you turned the water back on to rinse it. Maybe, you let a little splash onto Kimi’s face, causing his eyes to snap open and look up at you. “The first shampoo is to get everything off your scalp. The second one is to get all the dead skin out of your hair.”

“That sounds gross,” Kimi cringed as he settled back into his seat. “It’s just two, right?”

“Two shampoos, yes,” You answered as you started with the second shampoo treatment. “Then, we’ll condition once and put curl cream in your hair. I’ll show you how to form your curls, and then I’ll help you dry your hair with a diffuser.”

“What even is that?” He asked confused as you turned the water off to let the conditioner sit.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” You laughed as you sat on his lap to pass the time. Kimi immediately tried to bring his hands to his hair, but you grabbed them and held them to his side. “No, don’t touch it! Leave it alone!”

“That’s not fair!” He complained but leaned into you to kiss you. 

“I know what you’re trying to do,” You dragged out as you pulled away and leaned your forehead against his. You felt his arms trying to pull themselves from your hold, so you adjusted your grip, “And it’s not going to work.”

“How long do I need to leave this in? It itches,” Kimi complained with no real heat behind his words. It did not really itch, but it was a different formula than he was used to. The texture was just weird to him, and he wanted it off.

“A few more minutes,” You said as you looked at his hair. The curls were starting to form back on their own, so that was going to make your job easier later on. “If it’s really bugging you, I can rinse it now and we can move on to the cream and diffusing.”

“Please?” He asked he gave you puppy eyes. He knew you could never say no to him then.

“Fine,” You sighed in mock offense as you stood up and walked around to stand at his side to wash the conditioner out. “I just don’t think you’re used to it, bu don’t worry. You’ll learn to love it.”

“That sounds threatening,” Kimi laughed as he closed his eyes when you turned the water back on.

“Take it how you wish,” You joked as you finished rinsing his hair. You grabbed a towel after turning the water off and gently dried his hair a bit. “Here, stand in front of the mirror and I’ll show you how to define your curls.”

“I never knew it was this complicated,” Kimi groaned as he stood up and stood beside you. You removed the towel and inspected the natural curls he had already formed. You were just planning on working with what he had. They were fairly spaced out right and they were already semi-formed. They just needed a little cleaning up, and that’s exactly what the curl cream would do. “What is that?”

“Curl cream,” You said simply as you put a little on your fingers and started to run it through a section of his hair. “It’s going to help your curls hold their shape and be less frizzy.”

“Is it going to make them hard?” Kimi complained as he watched you through the mirror.

“First off, that’s what she said,” You giggle as you move on to the next section. Kimi laughed a little, but he gently slapped your arm in response. “Secondly, no. It’s not. All it does is help them hold. They’ll still be soft. You’ve never noticed my hair being crunchy.”

“Oh, good,” Kimi said to himself. He watched you for a minute before asking, “What are you doing now?”

“I’m using my fingers to wrap your curls, so they will be more defined,” You explained, slowing down to show him. “Look. I take this piece of hair, wrap it around my finger, and then gently, keynote on gently, twirl it off. You try.” He tried it. Did it look perfect? No. Would it work for now? Yes. He’s learning, but it's a good start. “That looks good! You’ll get better, I promise.”

“As long as you’re here to help,” He sighed. “It’s a lot of work.”

“You don’t always have to do all of this,” You explained. “Some days, just washing with shampoo and conditioner works just fine. Your curls just needed some TLC today, so we did the whole nine yards, but normally, I would not do the curl cream or diffusing. Only when I’m feeling extra.”

“Oh, good to know,” Kimi trailed off as you finished off forming his curls and moved to grab the diffuser. “This is next, right?”

“Yes! If you want, I can show you how to do it, then let you. Or I can just do it,” You offered, but he immediately handed you the dryer. You chuckled at his eagerness to get rid of the object but started to blow dry his hair. “Flip your head down.”

“I feel like this is unnecessary,” He grumbled but did so without question. You did not listen to him as you just laughed to yourself and moved on with blow-drying his hair. “Why is it so cold?”

“It’s cold to start with, but I’ll warm it up as we finish up,” You replied. “Heat ruins your hair, so even though we’re blow-drying your hair, it’s going to be cool air.”

“I don’t like it,” He groaned as he tried to lean away from the cool air.

“Well, lucky for you, you don’t have a lot of hair, so you're basically done,” You said as you ran your hand through a couple of strands without separating them, and you noticed they were completely done. You decided to explain the rules as you started putting everything away. “Don’t brush it, don't run your hands through it, and do not put a helmet on for a while. In a way, it’s a good thing you don’t have a race for a couple of weeks.” 

“About that,” Kimi trailed off, causing your face to drop immediately, “I was gonna go karting tomorrow.”

“You better not! I worked hard to make those curls!”

~~~~~

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