#it is because they are not mountain dew usually. but i do wish they were.

[7minutesinpurgatory]

did you all hear about the new coke flavor by the way. spiced? gross. mountain dew had two new releases as well, the.... what was it. one was purple and one was red? i believe the red one was punch, the purple... maui some thing? some stupid flavor. both were gross.

[thrillered]

"You Know I Mountain Dew It For Ya" | Spencer Agnew x Reader | Pt. 5

Pt. 5: resolution.

-

-

-

-

Your heart dropped right through your ass. You stood there, one shaky hand out holding a ten dollar bill. Even through the shock you couldn’t help but laugh thinking about how stupid you must look. 

“What’s so funny?” Spencer asked, his heart rate increasing as you stood in front of him.

“I- I must have looked like… an idiot” You explained through fits of laughter. Maybe you were falling into hysteria, this was clearly not the time to be laughing but you couldn’t stop. 

You gestured for him to come inside as you composed yourself. You took a few deep breaths and steadied yourself, closing the door to join Spencer in your living room. He sat on the right side of your couch, like he always did. You couldn’t help but think about how well Spencer fit into your life and you in his, like two puzzle pieces. 

You sat against the left side of the couch, curling into yourself. “So…” You trailed off, not sure what to say.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asked, his eyes full of genuine concern. 

“Yeah I'm okay Spence.” 

“Then, like, what's going on?” Spencer began, fiddling with his watch– a present you got him for Christmas last year. “You’ve been avoiding me and– don't even try to deny it” He cut you off, seeing you were about to refude his point. “And I don't know.. I just… I miss you i guess” Spencer finished, his voice small and meek, full of anxiety. 

You stared at him, feeling the aura of fear and anxiety around him. “I miss you too.” You began, feeling your throat begin to tighten. “Like a lot.” 

You knew you missed him but in that moment, feeling his closeness, almost able to feel his body heat radiating off of him, you truly felt it. It had only been a few days and yet your life felt so different, your routine had become dependent on Spencer and without him it’s been skewed, back to a time when you didn’t have him. 

“Fuck. I’m so sorry Spencer.” You pleaded, your eyes beginning to well up.

“I forgive you, of course, but can you tell me why you were ignoring me?” He asked, “Can you at least give me that?” 

“I just- I released my song and suddenly so many more eyes were on me and things were changing– do you know I have 3.6 million streams total now? Like for all my music?-- things got crazy.” You began rambling, finally expressing everything you’ve been feeling lately. “Then my worlds collided and everyone started saying things about you and us and I guess I thought that if I took time away from you that people would leave it alone.” Your voice softened.

“C’mere” He mumbled, pulling you into a hug, his warmth enveloping you. 

You realized all the stress you’d been holding as it melted away in the heat of Spencer's embrace. You sighed deeply, leaning farther into Spencer as he turned, keeping one arm around you. 

“Spenspresso is pretty clever though.” Spencer teased, “it’s got a good ring to it, don't ya think?” 

You laughed, shaking your head, grateful the awkwardness was gone and your usual banter was back. “You wish.” 

“Oh! I almost forgot, I brought you a croissant from that fancy bakery.” Spencer reached next to him for the bag, offering it to you, “Ya know? In case I did something wrong and I had to convince you to keep me around.” 

“You didn’t need the croissant because one: you didn’t do anything wrong, and two: I was convinced to keep you years ago.” 

—

Spencer asked if he could stay for a little, to make up for lost time, he explained. You agreed, settling in on the couch and leaning your head on Spencer's shoulder as he played on your animal crossing island, doing the terraforming you hated to do, while catching up what each other missed the past few days. 

It felt nice, more than nice, it felt perfect. Making Spencer laugh as you told jokes into his ear and played with the sleeve of his sweater, you could almost fool yourself into believing he felt the same way as you. It made you want to confess right then and there, but you couldn't. You just got him back as a friend, you wouldn’t jeopardize that. For now you were content to nod off on his shoulder as just his friend. His best friend. 

You would worry about everything else tomorrow, for now you allowed yourself to relax. Just as you were falling asleep you could hear Spencer lightly humming an all too familiar tune. You smiled as you fell asleep. 

–

Spencer sat in contentment, laughing at your jokes, his stomach flipping with every breath he felt against his neck. Soon enough your jokes stopped and your breathing shallowed. He could tell you had fallen asleep as you nuzzled further into his side, a thing you only did while sleeping. You tried to not smother him normally but unconscious you wanted to be as close to him as possible. 

It was moments like these that Spencer wished could last forever. He tried to commit every miniscule detail to memory from the smell of your shampoo to the way your hair fell over your eye. He brushed it behind your ear, taking a second to examine your face, appreciating how peaceful you looked. 

He knew it was late but who was he to wake you when you seemed so comfortable? Instead he slowly moved the two of you until you were laying across the couch, Spencer made sure your head was supported on his chest and that you wouldn’t wake up in pain. 

He had spent the night enough times that it didn’t need to be explicitly stated that he could stay so he closed his eyes, craning his neck to place a feather soft kiss on the top of your head. He listened to your breath and let the feeling of your heartbeat lull him into sleep.  Right as Spencer drifted into dreamland he vaguely heard you murmur an “I love you Spence.” But, maybe he imagined it as he slipped away from reality, either way his heart soared and he vowed to never let you spend so much time away again.

[hypnoneghoul]

need... more... trans ghoul fics... save us hyppp.... save ussssssss,,,,

i was having soft swissdew sex thoughts so that's what youre getting heh and dew is trans as usual

Dewdrop was nearly uncharacteristically clingy with Swiss the entire day. He clearly wanted something—something rather specific—but, as usual, didn’t want to ask for it. Or couldn’t, didn’t know how.

It seemed like the thing he wanted was just...softness, but that confused Swiss a bit at first. He rarely was the one the fire ghoul sought out when in such a mood. Rain, Aether or Mountain were his usual choices, but that didn’t mean Swiss would complain. He always loved having a warm little fire ghoul in his bed, whether just for cuddles and reassurance or sex. Or both, because there were times when Dewdrop wanted—needed—all of those at one.

It turns out that day was one of those times.

After a few hours of clinging to the multi ghoul, Dewdrop finally actually looks up at him with soft eyes, nearly pleading.

“What do you need, kitten?” Swiss asks and Dewdrop melts.

“Can you…” he starts, so quiet the multi ghoul can barely hear him. His cheeks are flushed. “Can you take me to bed…fuck me slow and take–take care of me?”

He knows those aren’t the words that are coursing through Dewdrop’s brain. No, what he means is please, make love to me.

Swiss’ heart hurts and he smiles. “Of course, baby. Of course.”

He takes the fire ghoul’s hand and leads them to his room, to his bed. He strips him gently, kissing every inch of newly exposed skin and he wishes that pressing all the love and admiration he has for Dewdrop into his mind would be as easy as pressing his lips to his body.

Swiss doesn’t tease this time. The moment Dewdrop is bare before him he takes care of his own clothes and crawls back over the fire ghoul to lean down and kiss him softly.

He smiles into his lips and Swiss feels like he’s dying.

He only takes a moment to stretch Dewdrop out on his fingers, just the necessary prep so he doesn’t hurt him. He’d hate himself even more that day than he normally would. Dewdrop’s cunt flutters around his digits and steadily oozes slick that Swiss wishes he could just drink up, like he’s done many times before. Not this time, though.

“Are you ready, doll?” he asks, hovering over Dewdrop. The fire ghoul nods and the way he’s looking at him—like he just offered him the moon and the stars—breaks Swiss’ heart in half. Lucifer, how he loves him.

“Please, Swiss,” Dewdrop breathes and the multi ghoul’s name sounds so sweet, falling from his lips like that. He smiles and pushes in, watching intently as Dewdrop’s amber eyes roll back into his skull and this time it's a soft moan that escapes him.

“There we go, kitten,” Swiss grunts and stills his hips to give the slight ghoul under him time to adjust. He pulls the other down to press their lips together, slips his tongue into Swiss’ mouth and licks along his teeth as if he wants to make himself at home behind his gums.

The multi ghoul doesn’t jack-hammer into him. No, he barely pulls out at all. He gives Dewdrop all of him in deep, full thrusts, but he doesn’t dare peel his skin off of the fire ghoul’s own. Neither of them knows how much time passes, and neither of them cares. Swiss kisses all over the fire ghoul’s face and shoulders, marking him gently. Not in a possessive way, this time, more like…reassuring. Reminding him that he belongs with them. With Swiss.

He waits for when the cunt wrapped tightly around him starts to flutter rhythmically before leaning down to the fire ghoul’s lips again.

“I love you, Dewdrop,” Swiss whispers, breathes the words into Dewdrop’s own mouth and the fire ghoul is gone. 

[andastartosteerherby]

SVSSS Fic Rec

I'm updating it everyday, because time crunch.

(Mostly Bingqiu/Bingyuan, Unless Tagged)

*Different Endless Abyss

Guess I'll Die - Shen Qingqiu goes to the Endless Abyss.

Speak No Evil - SQQ gives up his voice to stop Endless Abyss. It happens anyway.

*Amnesia

Night of Yearning - Luo Binghe forgets Shen Qingqiu.

*Jinlan City Goes Differently/Different Reunion/Different Rebirth

High Mountains, How I long

Dew Over - Shen Qingqiu is reborn in the mushroom body and tries to live as Peerless Cucumber.

Honesty is Such a Lonely Word - Shen Qinqiu faces the trial, and Old Palace Master uses a truth-finding artefact.

*Time Loop/Time Travel

Just Like A Monkey (I've Been Dancing My Whole Life) - Instead of being reborn after self-destructing, Shen Qingqiu keeps coming back on the Stairs of the Brothel in Jinlan City.

Master of Dual Cultivation Series - Shen Yuan reboots his time in PIDW. He is traumatised and less happy-go-lucky. This one is multi, with Liu Qingge and Yue Qingyuan getting more focus uptill now (in the first two stories) but Luo Binghe is important too.

*Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan

Deluxe System 2.0: Co-op Mode!

Found Brother Shen brothers.

A-Yuan Has at Least Three Friends - Shen Qingqiu turns into a kid with both Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu's memory. They are the same person.

Replacement Head Disciple Shen Yuan - Set after the Abyss, before Binghe's return. Shen Brothers.

*Epic (These fics are longer and plot-heavy, and won a special place in my heart)

You Reap What You Sow - Luo Binghe is the transmigrator. I thought it would be so-so, but turned out to be one of the best ones I've ever read. Also has Shen brothers.

Xiangyang - When you are born as the daughter of your murderer, what do you do? A question for the ages. No active pairing, original LBH and his harem is present.

Uprooted - Shen Yuan transmigrates as a minor villain in PIDW. Except he's not.

To Stem the Coming Tide - Shen Qingqiu learns about Shang Qinghua a bit earlier, and they plot to avoid their fate. No Endless Abyss.

*IWYWMH & Its AUs

I Wish You Were My Husband - The epickest of epics. It produced a number of spin-offs of it's own. Maybe I should put them under separate sub-headings when I have time. Bingqiu main pair, but has past yuejiu and hints of one-sided liushen.

A Wish to Change Fate - A great fanfic to IWYWMH. Shen Yuan is actually Shen Jiu's reincarnation. This fic touched my heart in all the right ways, gave me things I didn't even know I craved. Someday I should write about it in details. Hings of Bingjiu/Bingyuan (since both are the same).

No Wish for the Wicked - Shen Yuan wasn't around to take the place of Shen Jiu. Sad.

*Bingge

to love another (and to learn yourself) - Bingge tries to get his own Shizun and brings a Shen Yuan. Even without his cultivation power, Shen Yuan is not a pushover. Binggeyuan.

How to Train Your Shen Qingqiu - Another piece I ignored for a long time, but turned out to be very good. I need to reread it.

*WIP

I usually avoid wips, but here are some of the best ones I read:

I Was Transmigrated as a Sword (Gen up till now)

Lotus Seeds - Shen Yuan runs away to save himself from the horrible fate of the Scum Villain - to the realm of the Lotus Eaters.

Scum Villain's Book of Prophecy - Shen jiu reads PIDW and learns the future. Original Luo Binghe/Original Shen Qingqiu. Almost finished, epic length.

[jazz-bazz]

@jesusbutbetterrr‘s Ghoulettes Weeks 2024! Week 1: Start of something new & Girls night out/in

imma try to do something each week even if its just random rambling bcs i love this so much... wish me luck please 🥺

This one is a slight angst but im taking both prompts for a run! And it’s a kinda long rambling 😬 Though with the first one it’s kinda not so obvious? But i hope y’all get it 😅

So Aether and Sunshine got a new job at the abbey and has to stay home while the others tour (no im not making it this kind of angsty), and they'd just summoned Aurora and Phantom. Cirrus and Cumulus are still missing Sunny, they video call every night before sleep, they text each other all the time, give her updates about the city they’re currently in, they buy her souvenirs, etc.

There’s a lot of fics about Dew being slightly bitter to Phantom because he’s missing Aether, but most of what i’ve seen about the ghoulettes, is that Aurora is quickly accepted… and here I’m thinking what about the girls? How can they accept her so fast?

i don’t think they’d be bitter towards her, but more like… they’re too caught up in missing Sunny, that they kinda… forget… that Aurora‘s there…

One day off early into the tour, they were ready to go out and explore the city, on a video call with Sunny of course, ready to show her the city through it, and they passed by one of the ghouls, maybe Mountain? And he asked them where’s Aurora?

Thing is, they didn’t know. And they told Mountain that. Mountain was confused, the girls usually all go out together as a group, why isn’t Aurora with them? But the ghoulettes were also confused, like they told her their plans, as an implicit invitation, but she never showed up or followed up on it or whatever.

And then Phantom came, and they asked him, because he seems kinda close with her. And he said he’s on his way to her room because she’s sad and overthinking things and needs some friendly listening ears and shoulder to cry on.

Of course the others were like, why? What’s there to be sad about? Is she homesick? What’s going on? And Phantom just said she’s a bit homesick and lonely. So they decided to all go to her room and paused their going out plan.

Aurora was surprised because she only texted Phantom but there’re also Mountain, Cirrus, Cumulus, and Sunny on the phone there, and she kinda felt bad. But when they asked what’s wrong, she decided to not skirt around it and said the truth.

She felt lonely because Cirrus and Cumulus are always talking with each other or Sunny, the boys she can’t relate much with, and Phantom also has his own thing to deal with. She‘s afraid, she kinda get that they invited her, but also afraid she misinterpreted and was actually not welcome, all that kinda thing.

Then Cirrus and Cumulus realized their mistake, they were too caught up in missing Sunny that they forgot Aurora‘s just a new summon, barely adjusted to topside life, everything‘s new to her, they forgot that she needed their guidance, their care.

They kicked Mountain and Phantom out and talked with her, Sunny too. They cleared up everything, they apologized to her for unintentionally hurting her, all that mushy sappy teary stuff. And then they tried to cheer her up and it kinda worked, so they resumed their going out plan, Sunny even ended the call before they got out, saying Cirrus and Cumulus need to bond with Aurora.

That day, Aurora truly had fun, the three learned new things about each other, shared some new experiences, made new memories, even after some bumps in the road. Cirrus and Cumulus still miss Sunshine, but the hurt wasn’t as much as before, now when they call each other while cuddling, it’s to introduce Aurora to Sunny and get them to know each other too! Ghoulettes gotta stick together, right? Some days they even added Mist to the video call and catch up with her.

[kkaisarion]

who could call my name

there was one of those tumblr prompt lists going around, and one of the prompts was "nicknames turning into pet names"—and @papaslittlesunshine and i decided to write a dual POV swissdew fic for it.

because when swiss first gets summoned, of course he immediately annoys dew by calling him a silly nickname. but when dew finally gets him to stop, it turns out that dew...misses it?

dew's POV by sunny and swiss' POV by me

read on AO3 (with nicer formatting) or in the thread below

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

chapter 1: dew

When ghouls are summoned, there’s usually a settling in period. They arrive from the pit and are confused and orienting themselves to their earthly vessels, learning to glamour themselves and adjust to the ways of things topside. They’ve all been through it, some easier than others.

Aether, Mountain and Dew arrived in various states of chaos. Aether in a swirl of the cosmos, all stars and purple mist, rather lovely, actually. His large form clawing from the edge. Mountain followed, a giant of a ghoul, trembling on legs as he stood, rising to his full height, towering above the rest. Shaky but intimidating nonetheless. Dew arrived with a splash, the water following him up to the surface and soaking everyone in a close radius of the summoning circle. He took the longest to get used to legs and breathing. He was always cold. And small, compared to the others - he was half their size. It was impossible not to notice.

He was always sensitive about it. Compensated in the usual ways, big bark, bigger bite. Oh, and he did actually bite. Hard. The others had learned not to underestimate him. They respected his speed and his agility, his wit and his beautiful looks. Dewdrop was gorgeous, high cheekbones, sharp jawline, long flowing silver hair, big blue eyes, pearly white horns, and a long, lean body that drew everyone in like the siren he was.

When Swiss was summoned, Dew had changed, he was now made of fire, and his silver hair now blonde. His skin warm and golden, the heat running in his veins making him appear to radiate a warm glow. He was still small, but now he had teeth and fire. And wasn’t afraid to use either.

Swiss broke all the expectation right out of the pit. He was a rare multi-ghoul and wasn’t even supposed to be here. He had crawled his way up when the air ghoulettes were summoned, fought his way to the surface and charmed everyone immediately, with his big toothy grin and smooth approach.

Everyone but Dew. As he went around the room making introductions, when Swiss’s eyes landed on Dew, he nodded downward and greeted him with a brash “What's up, shorty?”

The sound as the air left the room, sucked in by the collective gasp from the other ghouls, was deafening. They all braced for impact, or incineration of the new multi ghoul. Dew’s eyes flashed flames, as he snapped his teeth at Swiss, “The name is Dewdrop. You’d do well to remember that.” He snarled before turning on his heel and slamming out of the summoning chamber.

Swiss’s bravado doesn’t fade, but he switches up the method with Dew, and lands on a new nickname that has Dew seething. His teeth grit and a growl at the ready every time Swiss uses it. Which is pretty much every time he sees Dew. 

“What’s up, Foxfire?” Swiss grins as he enters the common room.

“Why do you insist on calling me that??” Dew snaps.

“Because you’re fire… and foxy…get it?” Swiss winks at Dew as he groans.

“That’s stupid. Quit calling me that.” He snarls back.

Swiss shrugs; but the sparkle in his eye softens and he simply says “as you wish.”

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

Over the next few days, weeks, Dew notices that Swiss has special names for everyone. Rain is “Water Lily”, Aether is “Cosmos”, and so on, but he never calls Dew anything but Dew.

And damn if it doesn’t bother him. They’d gotten much closer, but Swiss has a pet name for everyone but him, because he told him to quit. 

And he did. 

Now Dew feels left out, misses that connection, misses having that special connection to him, misses being his Foxfire. 

One night, while Dew and Swiss were tangled in Swiss’s bed, limbs intertwined, coming down from their exertion, Swiss presses a kiss to Dew’s horn and whispers, “I’ve got you, Foxfire.”

The pleased trill that escapes has him clapping a hand over his mouth so fast, like maybe Swiss didn’t hear it. But Swiss’s arms just tighten around him… holding him close, pressed to his chest. 

“Would you like me to call you Foxfire again?” Swiss asks softly.

Dew whines, low, afraid to answer.

“Well, how about I call you Foxfire when we’re alone? So it’s just for me. For us.?”

And darn if that doesn’t make Dew feel hot all over, like Swiss can’t see his blush, can’t feel him heat up and his heart race a little. 

“Ok. Just for us.” Dew whispers, a soft purr  kicking in as Swiss grins.

“Anything for you, Foxfire” he says, kissing Dew deeply as he holds him close.

[guiltyidealist]

Body count.

Hidden but insidious little piece of fatphobia:

you cannot find a single fucking page on INCREASING your appetite. On coping, struggling with a LOW appetite. Having a lowered appetite. On managing your health when your appetite is low. On how to get yourself to eat and NOURISH MORE. more efficiently, more FREQUENTLY.

By which I don't mean "how to gain weight" but by which I mean how to MAINTAIN A WEIGHT that's healthy for you. or more specifically, how to nourish SUSTAINABLY. over the LONG-term. How make sure you nourish and KEEP nourishing CONSISTENTLY. How to maintain your health in spite of an appetite that is too low.

Hell. even just what it means for your appetite to be low, how to TELL if your appetite is LOWER than is HEALTHY for you. the consequences and problems people face when they have a low appetite. the RISKS and DANGERS of a low appetite.

Because every fucking search result is

how to gain weight (muscle)

how to eat more foods that don't make you gain weight (fat) as fast as other foods

Tragedy Strikes: the Misfortune of Fat & How to Protect Your Precious Soul from Falling Victim to This Cruel Fate😢

how to lose weight (fat) (new fad diet for starvation and you will have a net loss of 0 lbs or less by the time 5 years elapses)

how not to lose weight (muscle)

how to eat less how to fucking starve how to deprive yourself the little things and be miserable and fucking die

if I eat too fast I'll feel nauseous. As a result, I graze over longer stretches throughout the day (er I did, before meds changes slaughtered my appetite).

People were always fucking like "ah! I hear that's better for you anyway😊"

by which they fucking mean "To my understanding, that eating pattern facilitates weight loss a bit more than normal patterns do, therefore it is superior because weight and supremacy are inverse correlates😊"

Nowadays I don't eat that way because my appetite is really fucking low. Today I managed a bowl of oyster crackers, an applesauce, some carrots, a piece of cornbread, a few pepperonis, and a scoop of cookie bake.

Plus x2 cans of Mountain Dew (my usual daily caffeine intake is maybe 1 glass of Coke), because I have to pass this final semester at the expense of my body.

Fuck I did not even realize how jack shit I ate today until I listed that out. With that combination it's really not a wonder that my whole digestive tract has been fucked for like 3 weeks straight now. On top of that I'm not getting ample nourishment, neither in nutrient nor caloric terms.

Low appetite is a problem.

and nobody cares. Nobody cares! Nobody fucking cares. You know why? Because this problem results in weight loss. See high appetite on the other hand, that causes weight gain, so you understand all energies must be allocated toward solving that problem🙂.

Noooo low appetite is a gift! A blessing!!! A privilege!!!!! God I wish that were me!!!!!!!!

How to lower your appetite!! 3 Vitamins that will lower your appetite!! Lower your appetite with these 15 yummy recipes!

6 easy ways to shame yourself for having wants and needs! How to stave off hunger and ignore your body's signaling of needs! How to replace the sound of your body calling you to action with blaring fad diet commercials. How to convert your body's begging for its life into an incessant and intrusive need to self-sabotage instead.

How to dissociate from your body and fixate upon doing the opposite of what it needs to stay alive. How to fret over whether or not you moved enough in the last 24 hours. How to take the energy out of every day to meticulously COUNT every single piece of material you dArE put in your body. How to count your body. How to develop one or more of the MOST DEADLY mental illnesses. How to wind up having the sole variety of mental illness that fucking kills you whether you wanted to die or not

How to tally the body count

[dwritesit]

cant get enough

its almost midnight but fuck it - rain comforting dewdrop when his thoughts get to him.

read it on AO3 or below the cut!

...

Rain watches Dewdrop with sad eyes as he curls up into his chest after a long, devastating cry. Dewdrop wouldn't let anyone else, no one except Rain, know how often he cried like this. It would come in waves, ebbs and flows of ups and downs, where things piled up on his shoulders - Rain knew Dewdrop carried the weight very seriously, never wanting any piece to drop. But it always did, and Rain was always there every time, even if Dewdrop’s mind would tell him otherwise. 

“Do you still love me?”

He pets at his fire ghoul’s hair, breathing in his scent, smelling like the cooling coals of a beach fire after the night has wound down and everyone has started packing up. It's soothing, Dewdrop is always soothing to him, even if this was his scent when he's feeling low, and Rain wishes Dewdrop could believe it when he tells him this. That everything about him makes Rain’s life beautiful. That he loved Dewdrop so much that he often felt like he was happily drowning in it.

If only he knew. If only his mind would let him know. 

Rain understood that Dewdrop couldn’t help it. They’d talked about it many times, how he felt like something had broken him after the change, that he didn’t know how to trust anymore. And Rain hadn’t known what to say then - Dewdrop certainly didn’t need to be fixed, and there were no strings of words that could make the pain go away. All he could do was stick around, to hold him when his mind was swirling with self-hatred and fear. 

To just hold him like this.

Here, Dewdrop was playing with Rain’s hands with his arms wrapped around Dew’s small waist as he held him close on his lap. He was always quiet after the feeling erupted out of him, like he’d exhausted every part of himself just simply telling Rain what had been bothering him. It made Rain’s chest ache, feeling the slow, shaky, rise and fall of Dewdrop’s body as he breathed through the tiredness. 

“All I do is take.”

Dewdrop often called himself selfish. He usually said it with a laugh, commenting about how he gets what he wants, takes what he wants, and then worries behind closed doors that he's too much to handle. Rain didn’t see it. He saw a ghoul that was… giving. 

When Swiss was sick, shivering in his room alone and pushing everyone away because he didn't want to be seen in such a weak state, Dewdrop had shoved his way in. He claimed he needed Swiss cuddles, that he needed attention and that Swiss was the only one he wanted. Rain remembered biting his own tongue as a few other ghouls told him to leave Swiss alone for a while. Dewdrop had ignored them and slipped inside Swiss’ space. A few hours later, he and Swiss emerged from the room, the larger ghoul huddling around Dewdrop for warmth as he finally allowed the others to begin taking care of him, looking better already. Rain watched as Dewdrop slunk to the back, letting Mountain take Swiss into his own hands while wearing a small smile on his lips. He hadn’t been selfish then. 

Did he not see that? Dewdrop’s empathy, though he tried to hide it behind false aloofness, was one of the many, many things Rain adored about him. He saw how he watched the others, absorbed them, asking them questions about their days and hobbies, keeping everyone engaged with his bright energy. If there was anyone who could cheer a sad ghoul up, it was Dew. 

Rain could recall countless times he’d seen Cirrus sulking in the mornings, only for Dewdrop to slink behind her, teasing her into a smile with his sharp tongue and a few loving touches. Or the many occasions that Phantom would wake up from nightmares, and Dewdrop who knew about such dreams better than most of them, would coax the quintessence ghoul into his and Rain’s shared nest, grumbling the whole way about how he slept better with Phantom squished between them anyways. Rain observed how Phantom’s ears perked up, tail wagging as he dipped himself into their bed, anxiety melting away at the idea of Dewdrop being the one who needed him.

It happened like that often. A ghoul in need, afraid to reach out and Dewdrop would build himself into a bridge for them to walk across in the guise of needing them first. Rain thinks its because its what Dewdrop himself needs, just someone to outstretch their hand when he's locked himself away and told everyone whose come to the door to fuck off. He needs someone to say fuck that and kick the door down. 

“Everyone would be better off without me.”

Rain leaned down to kiss at Dewdrop’s temple, purring low, knowing his mate did not need words then, just love and safety. Dewdrop slumped further into his arms, the back of his head against Rain’s collarbone as he allowed Rain more access to his face and neck. He peppered chaste kisses on every bit of warm skin his lips could find, brushing his hair back for more. He relished in the way Dewdrop was leaning on him now, letting him love him like he hadn’t just an hour ago.

“I don’t want to-” Dewdrop gasped for breath, “Don’t want to be too much.”

“I love you, droplet,” Rain whispered against Dewdrop’s skin, “I can’t get enough of you.”

Dewdrop shifted in his arms, leaning back a bit so he could look at Rain. His eyes were searching for something, scanning his face with a blank expression, tired eyes red and puffy. His lip quivered, and Rain quickly swooped down to move him so he was straddling his lap instead, tucking his face into the crook of his neck as his small body shook again with quiet sobs. His claws scratched into Rain’s back as he clutched him tight. Rain held him tighter, arms wrapping around him to keep him as close as possible while his fire ghoul, his flame, let everything out through gasps and tears.

He rubbed his back as Dewdrop’s breathing slowed, his cries turning to shaking breaths and small hiccups.

“You promise?” Dewdrop asked, his voice thick and wet. He pushed lightly against Rain’s chest and Rain let his grip go slack until their foreheads were pressed together, his hands resting on Dewdrop’s hips. 

Rain breathed him in, Dewdrop breathed in Rain. 

“I promise,” Rain replied, giving Dewdrop’s hips a squeeze as if it were a punctuation, “I need you, Dewdrop.”

[traayaa]

Mushy May - Day Four

Love at first sight - Mountain and Rain

It's 1am. I don't know what happened. I didn't know what I wanted to do and then all of a sudden, here we are. They/Them Rain because I can.

Word count: 778

After a long day working in his greenhouse, Mountain wanted a chance to relax after a hard day. He wasn’t ready to return to the insanity that was no doubt waiting for him down in the den. Swiss and Dew had been butting heads, both trying to figure out the new pack dynamics and both had made it their mission to piss the other off as much as they could. He felt bad that Aether and Cirrus would be left to take care of it all, but he was exhausted. Tired from his day, tired from the lack of sleep Dew and Swiss were causing, tired of mediating all day, he couldn’t even get peace in the greenhouses that were usually a safe haven for him. 

The lake was close by, and the light at sunset was beautiful down there, one of his favourite things to watch. He’d ventured down and got himself situated on the dock, watching the water ripple, a ripple caused by a water ghoul. It made him think of Mist and her antics in the lake. She’d dragged Mountain in on a number of occasions, both laughing while they floated around on the surface, enjoying the quiet of the lake. Mist was the one that insisted he joined her at sunset, constantly telling him about the beautiful sight and what it looked like reflected on the water. It sent an ache to his heart, she was as sweet as she was fiery and so caring. But it wasn’t her, his friend would never make the water ripple, never drag him off the dock and into the cool waters below. Mist would never again sow chaos on the abbey grounds. She had taken Dew under her wing, teaching him all of her tips and tricks on the bass but also, teaching the little gremlin her chaotic ways. It was hard not to see her in the little ghoul.

Mountain could almost make out the shape just underneath the surface, watching him, assessing, and deciding if Mountain were a friend or foe, or possibly even a snack. He would wait for the ghoul to make themself known, he could be patient, a trait well known amongst earth ghouls. Either the shy ghoul would poke their head out or Mountain would eventually leave, maybe return again another day and see if they would say hello and introduce themself. Mount lay back on the dock, stretching his long limbs out and looking up at the sky, enjoying the end of the day. The sky was splattered with different shades of oranges and pinks, it almost liked like a painting. As he sat back up, Mountain noticed the head of the water ghoul that had been watching him disappear back under the water.

“You don’t have to hide from me, I won’t bite… well, not unless you ask nicely. But I can leave if you wish me to, or you could join me up here so I could introduce myself.” He waited, watching the last spot he’d seen the other ghoul. As he was about to stand up to leave, he saw the other’s head break the surface, just enough so that a pair of stunning cerulean eyes were above the water. Mountain smiled, inviting the other to join him on the dock. Cautiously the ghoul, who Mountain recognised as the new bassist, Rain, inched his way out of the water.

As they effortlessly lifted themself out of the water and onto the edge of the dock, Mountain couldn’t help but stare. Short horns, that looked almost like sea glass only just visible through the messy tangle of wet curls, a few strands stuck to their face, those piercing cerulean eyes surrounded by long lashes, a sharp fang barely visible between lush lips. The long, lean body of the water ghoul was deceptive, looking at them one might underestimate the hidden strength of the lean muscle underneath, but Mountain knew, there was little on Earth or in the pit that could rival a water ghoul in their natural environment. The pattern of blues on their fins was captivating, something Mountain could look at forever. Tearing his gaze from the form in front of him, Mountains eyes made their way back up to meet the gaze of Rain. A pair of eyes one could get lost in for the rest of time. 

Mountain thinks he’s in love with the painfully shy water ghoul in front of him. The very same water ghoul that was part of his pack and the band. He was in deep, he realised, a goofy grin appearing on his face, one that the water ghoul returned.

[ghoulangerlee]

handy link list of my writing (tumblr fic)

here's the tumblr fic to go with the AO3 post

untitled dewdrop/copia/cumulus rut fic E ruts/knotting/breeding/humiliation

Dew goes into rut during the tour; it backfires spectacularly

every breath, a second chance (one shot) gen Mountain/Phantom ; hurt/comfort healing fic

Phantom hums, somewhat nonsensically, reaches out with his other hand towards the edge of the bed, settles it palm upwards and wiggles his fingers in Mountain’s direction.   There’s a soft laugh, the shifting of the upholstered chair and then Mountain’s hand is in his, cradling it so gently. “I’m glad you’re doing okay,” he admits softly, brushing his thumb over the lines in Phantom’s palm, “Had me worried for a bit there, you were in so much pain.”

Cumulus smutty headcanons E

Cumulus/Swiss/Cirrus summoning headcanon Gen

untitled aetherrain smut E Aether/Rain ; non-human genitalia, rain is a shark ghoul

It’s…interesting, to see the different ways a water ghoul will manifest their appearance, because Aether has intimate knowledge of water ghoul anatomy and Rain’s is unlike anyone’s he’s ever seen.

untitled t4t rut fic E CopiaAether ; ruts/breeding/possessiveness

Aether doesn’t go into rut all too often; its just not something quintessence ghouls do usually—rut or heat, they’re not regular. Once or twice a year and sometimes, once or twice in a decade depending on the ghoul, on the circumstances.

untitled aetherrain M Aether/Rain ; biting a lot of biting and teeth, rain is a shark ghoul

Rain’s teeth are, arguably the most terrifying part of him—next to his eyes and the strange mimic voice he projects into Aether’s mind when he wants to be heard.

untitled swiss/aeon drabble in response to a post ; gen Swiss/Aeon ; first meetings and love at first sight

And well, that wasn’t really the problem, because, despite his nervousness, being the center of attention to thousands of people wasn’t the scary part of it all. It was meeting the pack.

untitled aetherrain first meeting drabble gen aetherrain ; first meeting, rain is a shark ghoul

A grin, sharp and predatory as he lifts his head, shrugging the blanket up higher onto his shoulders, a jumble of static flits through Aether’s mind for a moment, the touch of something soft and careful, asking for an invitation–and he lets it in, however foolish that may be.

silly ASMRtist!Dew drabble gen MountainDew ; Dew does ASMR

There’s a curling in his stomach and a prickle in his scalp as he listens, and then there’s another snap, another firm and somewhat exasperated command to look to the right now—and shit is this what people experience when they watch ASMR?

t4t copiaether smut E CopiaAether ; overstimulation

Prompt: “Do that again- Shit, just like that, right there.”

untitled SwissAlps M Swiss/Mountain ; smut

Prompt: “Interlocking your fingers above your head while making out passionately”

untitled raindrop E Rain/Dew ; biting and blood, predator rain

Prompt: spread your legs baby

untitled swissrora E Swiss/Aurora ; cunnilingus, masturbation

“Oh baby,” Aurora coos softly, her palms cupping Swiss’s flushed face, she’s standing above him, dragging the pad of her thumb gently across the apple of his cheek, “Are you in heat?”

mini two part copia/aether/dew homecoming drabble gen Copia/Aether/Dew ; homecoming

“They’re due back any moment now,” Sister Imperator says as she watches Aether clear the oak desk in Copia’s office, collecting and organizing various piles of paperwork as he goes. “Shouldn’t you be waiting for them?”

untitled Aeon/Swiss fic E Swiss/Aeon ; dinner distractions, magic use

Prompt: I wish you’d write a fic where someone gets a little distracted by someone else at dinner, but they have to keep it lowkey of course

kinktober day 7 E Swiss/Dew ; objectification, disinterest, cockwarming

Dew peers up at him over the edge of his phone, the light from the screen casting shadows across his face, “Gonna let the others see how you couldn’t wait to get something in you, huh?” He asks plainly—he doesn’t move, doesn’t put his hands on Swiss, just keeps them to himself, one with his phone the other one across the back of the couch.

untitled copiadew drabble gen Copia/Dew ; post tour discussions

Copia, as always, is sitting in a chair in front of a vanity mirror, a nicer one than some of the previous, carefully wiping his papal paint from his skin, “Last one,” he confirms after a long moment of silence, looking back at Dew through the mirror. “How does it feel?”

kinktober day 5 E Aurora/Swiss/Aeon ; double penetration and lingerie

Swiss has very specific needs and all of them can be satiated by being stuck between Aurora and Aeon.

kinktober day 3 E Copia/Dew ; blood and knife play

disconnected drabble about copia and small dick mountain E

untitled small dick mountain stuff E Cumulus/Mountain/Dew ; mean dew and nice cumulus

untitled big dick dew E (part 1) MountainDew ; Dew has a big dick and Mountain has a small dick

just the tip E (part 2) MountainDew ; big dick dew and small dick mountain once again

untitled copiadew smut E CopiaDew ; Copia humps Dew's leg while Dew is disinterested

untitled dom swiss fic M Swiss/Copia/Aeon ; Doms Swiss and Aeon, sub Copia

necropolis related drabble gen Copia/Ghouls ; Copia comes back right but Rain and Sunshine don't know how to cope

untitled swiss/aeon smut E Swiss/Aeon ; Swiss gets fucked and is a good boy

untitled swiss/aeon kiss prompt T Swiss/Aeon ; backstage kissing and some turbulent emotions

[blue-eyed-bloodstains]

When you make a typo, do you leave it, or go back and fix it? go back and fix it

Ever suffer from amnesia? no, closest is many many blackout drunk days/nights/years

What instrument do you prefer to play when playing Rockband/Guitar Hero WT never played, have only watched people play Have you ever picked out a song to listen to on a juke box? of course

While riding roller coasters, do you close your eyes? no

Have you learned anything important today? no

What’s a talent that you wish you possessed? dancing

Do you ever find yourself singing showtunes while in the shower? not showtunes

Have you ever eaten 3 meals from 3 different fast food places in one day? no

When’s the last time you were genuinely freaked out? night terrors that had me wake up screaming several times last week

Do you assign different ringtones to certain people? not since I was young with my first few cell phones

Favorite way to eat a potato? (i.e. french fries, mashed potatoes…) mashed, but I love potatoes in any form lol

Have you ever lived outside of the country that you currently reside in? no

Have you ever ridden in a limo? yeah for senior prom

Have you ever thought that you were honestly going to die? yeah

What’s the one thing you couldn’t afford to leave behind on a vacation? my laptop

If a brick suddenly showed up in front of you, what would you do with it? be anxious and confused as all hell, debating whether or not to keep it to show that I’m not crazy/didn’t make it up or just put it outside somewhere

Does Christmas music played too far away from Christmas annoy you? yeah hell even during Christmas season the repetitiveness drives me fucking insane....work retail during the holidays and you’ll relate to the pain. same five remixed Christmas songs on repeat all fucking day in every damn store!!!

Have you ever wished you could experience being the other gender? I mean there’s a curiosity sure, plus wondering what it’s like to not have to deal with what we deal with...think every month, for starters. 

Last thing you worried about? my bank card being expired and needing to wait for the replacement in the mail because the one they had originally sent a month before got lost in the mail apparently and I didn’t even know it was sent till I called the bank asking for one once my card declined for an Uber and I realized the expiration on it..

Are there in portraits/figurines in your house that you find creepy? no

Sprite, 7up, Sierra Mist, or Mountain Dew? I like all of em

When was the last time you felt you were about to pass out from exhaustion? damn near every day

Other than no school, what’s your favorite thing about summer? I haven’t been in school since 2010 sooo lol fave thing about summer aside from weather is lots happening for things to do

- Least favorite? the overwhelming heat waves that wreak hell on my body

If you could change your age, how old would you make yourself? not sure...I turn 31 today but don’t feel it, so I guess I’d be younger but at the same time I’d never wanna go through all I’ve been through all over again so...pass. I’m fine with 31.

How old were you when you learned to ride a bike? oh god ummm about 6 or 7 without training wheels

Have you ever cried in a movie theater? of course

When’s the last time you went out of state? my cousin’s funeral service in late January in NJ with family...

Have you ever had ‘a day at the spa’? no

Do you still have a VCR somewhere? no

You see someone running around naked in the street. Your reaction? what the fuck?!

Are the files in your computer well organized or all over the place? pretty organized

Is there wall paper on your bedroom walls? no

Does yard work bore you, or do you enjoy it? never really did any

Do you own a sleeping bag? my fiance does

Have you ever tried to put a huge puzzle together? no

What do you put on your hamburger? all the usual fixings. lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, ketchup

When was the last time you met someone new? not sure

What’s the furthest distance you’ve gone in the past 3 days? yesterday to Walmart 

Are there dogs barking in your neighborhood right now? no

[matthewtkachuk]

problem - jj maybank

being friends with pope heyward unfortunately means suffering through more interactions with jj maybank than you’d ever ask for. except, what was that phrase about the line between love and hate?

warnings: none

pairing: jj maybank x reader

word count: 1.5k

a/n: i said i was done with the boat show, but @outerbankslut​ deserves the best secret santa gift i can offer her. happy late christmas and i hope you like it honey!

JJ Maybank is annoying. He talks a lot, never really knows when to shut up. Usually, the things he says have little value and yet somehow even less substance. More times than not, his words are careless insults, things said purely to pick at you and drive you mad. You’re usually the better person, can usually let things like that roll right off your back.

And yet, it gets under your skin so badly it has you spitting words of vitriol at him yourself, turns you into some kind of monster whose only goal in life is to bring JJ down. This is not entirely against your neutral persona; however, it makes you seem more high strung than you really are.

You’re Pope’s friend, first and foremost. More a lover than a fighter, more akin to Pope’s natural, bookish tendencies than his reckless side that you only see coming out when he’s around his other best friends. Come summertime, you see a lot more of the other side, as most of your hangouts with Pope take place with the pogues in the background.

You have no problem with the rest of Pope’s friends; they all try their best to make you feel welcome. Kie gets you a job at her family’s restaurant, and the two of you bond while dishing out food and dealing with the complaints of entitled kooks and touron parents alike. John B offers you his couch when you’re too tired to bike home, and Sarah turns out to be a stronger confidant than you had initially assumed based on her family’s socioeconomic status.

JJ remains elusive.

You don’t really remember a time where you ever found JJ Maybank to be anything but childish and stupid. From the earliest days you were aware of who he was - even back in the second grade, he couldn’t help but run his mouth in a way that you found highly insulting - you couldn’t stand the boy. He didn’t grow out of it the way that Pope and your other friends did. To you, JJ was the same immature little boy who once shoved your face in mud and ate worms.

He shows it again when you show hesitance about joining them on the boat for the afternoon. There’s a lot you could be doing at home, or you could pick up a shift at your second job, or you could get a head start on your summer reading - if you were going to get out of this dead-end town, you needed to work really hard to secure a full ride.

“What’s the matter, Bookworm can’t hang?” comes from JJ’s mouth as you’re preparing to turn them down. It causes anger to flash across your face, and Pope’s stepping forward to try and get between the two of you.

You just shrug them both off and get on the boat, using Pope for leverage. “Never said that.” You’re not sure what point you’re trying to prove or who you’re trying to prove it to, but you feel the need to all the same. 

There’s an awkward silence as you sit between Pope and Kie, one that she tries to fill as she offers you a drink. Again, you’re hesitant, and again JJ picks up on it, scoffing before you even have a chance to respond. You turn on him with a glare, “spit it out, Maybank.”

“Nothing, I was just thinking that it was stupid to offer. We all know you’re going to turn it down.” And, well, he’s not wrong, but the way he thinks he knows you or something is so annoying you almost grab a beer just to spite him. But, despite your need to prove him wrong, you’re not going to do something you don’t feel comfortable doing just because some idiot says you won’t.

“Sorry, we don’t all need alcohol in order to have a fun time,” you roll your eyes and grab a bottle of water instead, chugging the contents and ignoring the way JJ is looking at you while you do.

He laughs, but you ignore him in favor of turning to Kie and striking up a conversation with her about water conservation. JJ doesn’t like being ignored, and you know that choosing to not engage with him further will frustrate him more than any barbed insult you could ever throw his way. When John B finds a suitable place to drop anchor, you and Kie lie side by side on the bow of the boat, chatting quietly while the boys mess around in the water. That is until you’re both doused in water by one not at all sorry-looking JJ Maybank. 

Kie just screams and laughs, shouting his name as she leans over the boat to splash him back. You’re pissed, though. For some reason, this is the final straw for you.

“What’s your problem with me?” you snap finally, voice cracking with all the emotions laden in it.

He avoids your gaze, shrugging and speaking, “I don’t have a problem with you.”

It’s evasive, and it’s annoying. “Bullshit,” you snap again, “you’ve had a problem with me forever, so what is it?”

He just scratches at the back of his neck, gaze roaming the waves rather than meet your eyes. You roll your eyes again, so frustrated and tired with this old song and dance as you repeat yourself, “What’s your problem?”

“Guys-” Kie tries to mediate between you as John B and Pope scramble back on the boat. 

“Not now, Kie!” you shout from your place on the boat. 

She just sighs a little, clearly as fed up with your behavior as the other two boys on the boat. “You asked for this,” she warns before suddenly you find yourself in the water beside JJ. 

Sputtering, you flail your arms and legs to keep yourself afloat. The truth is, you’re not the strongest swimmer. It’s not like you’re going to drown out here or anything, but it’s going to take a lot of effort to keep from doing so. “What the hell, you guys?” 

JJ seems to have caught on more quickly than you have, as he yells up at them, “Don’t do this!”

You spin in the water to glare at him, “do what? What the heck is going on?”

“It worked for us!” Sarah shouts as you hear the boat engine turn over. Suddenly you’re furious.

“Don’t you dare!” you yell out, head snapping to Pope, “you’re dead to me if you don’t let us back on that boat this instant.” He just kind of shrugs and half-heartedly waves to you as the boat begins to pull away. 

“Now look at what you’ve done! You just couldn’t leave me be for one stupid afternoon, huh?” You’re pissed at JJ, pissed at Pope and the other pogues. You’re also pissed at yourself for how good JJ looks as he effortlessly floats beside you. 

“Hey, this wasn’t just me, Bookworm. You didn’t have to start yelling at me.” JJ is so calm it’s infuriating, and it makes you want to drown him. You don’t, of course, they don’t offer full-ride scholarships to felons after all.

“You pick at me literally every second of every day, and you’re going to blame me for yelling at you?” you ask incredulously. “Seriously, how self-unaware are you?” He doesn’t answer you again, and the frustration just explodes out of you like the volcano you’d won the fourth-grade science fair with despite JJ’s sabotage attempt with half a bottle of mountain dew. “I’m not going to ask again. I will swim all the way back to shore if I need to. What. Is. Your. Problem. With. Me?”

It’s like a switch flipped on JJ then, some sort of fuse just lit, or some circuit just broke. “You’re my problem, Bookworm! You’re too pretty, and funny, and smart; it drives me crazy. I just want to make you feel as crazy as you make me feel!” 

Your jaw drops, and the seconds tick by as his words enter your consciousness. Suddenly, you laugh - harder than you ever have before, head tilted back, eyes closed, entire body shaking with laughter, laugh. “You don’t think you drive me crazy? Surely you know what you look like? And you’re always so happy and carefree. I wish I wasn’t so hung up on everything and could just enjoy the moment like you do.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he says immediately after you’re done speaking, never one for silences or quiet. 

You shake your head in disbelief before something occurs to you. “Did you just call me pretty? Do you have a big crush on me, JJ?”

“What? No,” he sputters loudly.

“You wanna kiss me so bad, don’t you?” you taunt a little, more flirtatious than malicious, and he picks up on it right away.

Perking up, he says, “maybe I do?” 

As he’s kissing the life out of you in the middle of the water, you think to yourself maybe you wanted to kiss him, too.

[translations-by-aiimee]

Mistakenly Saving the Villain - Chapter 1

Original Title: 论救错反派的下场

Genres: Drama, Romance, Xianxia, Yaoi

TW for this chapter: Mentions of suicide

I wanted to provide some ~variety~ so I'm doing another novel. I'll give a warning that the first few chapters are kind of intense and I'll keep the TWs updated as they come and put a TL;DR at the end if there's anything too graphic.

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter 1 - The Beauty in Red

Song Qingshi is dead.

After his death, he came to in a strange space, and in the space, there was a sphere randomly flashing red.

The sphere said that he is a book-transmigrating system from a high-dimensional world. There was a xiania novel called "The Exceptional Furnace", which was about to be plagued by readers' resentment due to the tragic fate of the protagonist, causing problems in that world. It needed to find someone who is familiar with the tropes of these novels and someone with the power to change and repair the body and mind of the protagonist, and fulfill the readers' wishes - change the fate of the protagonist, dote on him, and let him live the happiest and most fulfilling life □□ □□□□□

The information in the system came intermittently, and in the □□ there were incomprehensible, alien-like characters.

Song Qingshi suffered from Lou Gehrig's Disease during his lifetime and devoted himself to studying medicine to try and save himself. He was a medical student who studied and experimented frantically every day and never wasted time reading novels.

In terms of emotions, he is even more obtuse. Although he is very handsome and has an attractive and obedient personality, due to his physical problems, even the school bully treated him like a precious thing. With all the excessive loving care and sympathy, not only did he never have a crush, but he also suffered from a slight fear of talking to strangers.

This was the worst soul for this task.

Song Qingshi didn't know how he was picked up by the system. He had read Marxist philosophy novels in vain. But from his messy information and analysis from the system's explanation, as long as he accepts the task, the system will send him to the virtual book world, give him a healthy body, and he will come back to life.

After Song Qingshi realized this, he was ecstatic. A healthy body is was his biggest desire. Not to mention the fact that the system only asked that he take care of someone. Even if the system had asked him to swim through seas of fire, he would have accepted still.

Because of this, he ignored his conscience, structured his response, and lied for the first time in his life: "I have read tens of thousands of books that I have memorized. I have extensive medical and nursing knowledge, have taken a psychology course as an elective, and I could solve all the physical and mental sufferings of the protagonist. And love. . . I have lots of experience with love, I know how to communicate, absolutely, I. . . can definitely accomplish these tasks!"

If there was any blood that could exist in a soul, he would definitely be flushed.

The system didn't notice his lies. It registered the identity of the task performer, and sent a series of garbled commands, mixed with all kinds of chaotic and disorderly information into Song Qingshi's mind, sending waves of discomfort through his soul.

Suddenly, the system let out a sharp alarm and the data transmission was cut off. Song Qingshi's vision went black, and his soul drifted away towards a bright white light. . .

. . .

When Song Qingshi woke up, he found himself lying in the woods, surrounded by the faint fragrance of various herbs. He squinted his eyes and looked towards the dazzling blue sky. There was a gorgeous golden luan bird dragging its long tail feathers, letting out a loud caw as it flew past, with countless immortal birds following it.

Was this the world from the novel?

It seemed too real. . .

A soft breeze blew across the forest, shaking off the dew on the trees. The dew fell onto his pale fingertips, bringing a slightly cool feeling. Then, all the memories of the original body flooded into his mind like a tidal wave, trying to merge with his own soul - this body was also called Song Qingshi, the master of the Medicine King's Valley, and the most talented medical immortal and pharmaceutical expert in the immortal world. His medical skills could heal the dead and revive bones, and the spirit pills he cultivates were considered treasures by every cultivator.

However, the original body's temperament was extremely troubling. He rarely left Medicine King's Valley at all, never made friends, and had no interest in matters other than medicine and alchemy. When a patient sought him out, he only looks at their temperament and never asked their identity. When he was in a good mood, he treated mortal beggars. When he was in a bad mood, regardless of the identity of the visitor, he would turn them into flower fertilizer for his garden. He often used living people to test medicines. Cruel, but because of his Nascent Soul cultivation base and various skills with poisons, the immortal sects didn't dare provoke him easily, only secretly calling him troubling behind his back.

Cultivators in the immortal world had long life spans, and the knowledge and memory of this original body had for its hundreds of years of cultivation had not arrived yet. Various data fragments of the system rushed in frantically, with countless garbled codes, tearing the original body's memory into a mess, leaving Song Qingshi at a loss. It took a long time before he managed to figure out his current situation.

This was Golden Phoenix Mountain Manor, the most luxurious place in the immortal world, where there are rare and exotic animals and countless immortals and beautiful concubines.

The owner, Jin FeiRen, was also a great Nascent cultivator. He was a true romantic, an excessive spender, and had friends from both the immortal and demonic cultivation world. He was a well-known figure.

The original body had always been cold, obsessed with his work, and never touched either men and women. Today's arrival was accidental. The Manor Lord Jin wanted to give him Ten Thousand Year Snow Ginseng to exchange a batch of medicinal pills for him. The original body had recently been lacking Snow Ginseng to make his medicines, so he agreed to the deal.

Since Snow Ginseng grows in the secret realm of the snow mountains of the Jin family. If you wanted to get the ones with the best medicinal properties, you needed to pick them at night and preserve it with a special refining method. Therefore, the original body came here to pick it personally, and Song Qingshi somehow ended up here.

Then, Song Qingshi was sent here by the system. . .

Where was the protagonist? What does he look like?

Song Qingshi wanted to ask the system to ask for more information, but the system seemed to disappear. The materials it sent not only contained no plot points from the novel, but also very little character information. There were garbled characters everywhere, even though the protagonist hadn't been introduced yet. Song Qingshi got dizzy going through all this information before he found some descriptions in the copywriting introduction: the best physique, unmatched beauty shou X□□□□□ gong, procured by trickery, sadomasochistic, □□, □□, □□ There were only three texts that could be read clearly: Banquet of Bea□□□.

. . .

If this were someone who often read these types of novels, they would immediately recognize that this situation was problematic.

Song Qingshi, however, didn't recognize any of this as problematic. He believed that this was a test given by the system to assess his reasoning skills and ability to do things. Song Qingshi was very accustomed to being assessed like this. Usually, when he and his teacher started developing a new drug, he often didn't have any prior results in his hand. It required some experimentation and to experience many errors and difficulties in order to reach the final result. Most of the time, that result was not what they were hoping for.

Many pharmaceutical companies invest billions or even tens of billions in drug research. Scholars have spent decades trying, right until their hair turned grey, only to fail during their clinical trials.

Therefore, every drug researcher is a strong man who has experienced many battles, repeated defeats and never-ending setbacks.

These questions from Teacher System were not difficult!

Scholar-Tryant Song expressed no fear! He will definitely find the correct answer and live up to the teacher's expectations of him!

Song Qingshi thought about the information he was given, determined the goal of the protagonist, and then quickly understood the key points of the novel: the protagonist will appear at the Banquet of Beauties, it will be a male, homosexual, unmatched beauty, superb body; a pitiful character with a tragic fate. He needs to save the protagonist, give him the greatest care, heal his physical and mental health, and then help him find happiness and joy!

During Song Qingshi's time, respect for sexual orientation was written into the law, and same-sex couples could get married.

He once found a novel lost by a rotten girl classmate, titled "His Evil Majesty's Spoiled Husband". On the cover was a handsome and domineering man in a period costume holding a beautiful woman with long hair with a super flat chest. He didn't understand it, and returned the book. When he asked curiously, his classmates told him what Danmei was, and told him that the beauty on the cover was actually male. The beautiful male was the "shou", and the domineering one was the "gong". So Song Qingshi is confident that he would easily distinguish between the gong and the shou in the novel. He would never mistake the gong as the protagonist.

He had thought it through and the direction of problem-solving has been determined. All that was left was to wait for the Banquet of Beauties to start the exam.

Song Qingshi's spiritual sea gradually became clear. The soul and body were merged and became flexible. He sat up with his hands cautiously, took off his shoes, raised his feet, and tried to stretch the toes that had been stiff for many years. The white and round toes curled happily. Song Qingshi stood up shakily, briefly walking forward a few steps with hands and feet before finally remembered the walking posture of a normal person, and his movements gradually changed from jerky to steady. . .

Under his feet was soft green grass and moist soil.

Outside the forest was a calm river. Song Qingshi stepped into the water and took a handful of cold river water to wash his face, confirming that he was not in a dream.

Tears fell out of extreme joy, and the big tears fell onto his palms. His hands couldn't stop no matter how much he tried. The river calmed down from the slight disturbance, and the reflection of the boy's figure appeared.

Song Qingshi was surprised to find that the body given to him by the system was very similar to his high school appearance; he was not very tall and significantly thinner. He wore a Daoist cultivator outfit made of many layers of snow-coloured cloud brocade, wrapped tightly around his body. At first glance, all the layers of clothing gave the illusion of a frail man.

His thin hair was simply tied up with some loose hair dangling freely. His appearance may be related to immortal cultivation. He is a bit more refined than his original body, with a cold, pale complexion and clear eyes. Because he often blocks out the world and focuses on his study, he feels a bit dull and extremely gullible, leading many unlucky ghosts to think that the original was harmless and would become the fertilizer or poison tester.

. . .

After Song Qingshi vented his emotions and saw the red-rimmed eyes in the reflection, he was a little embarrassed. He hurriedly lowered his head and fetched water, trying to wash away the tears on his face, but behind him came the sound of fine bells and ridicule.

"It's useless to commit suicide. It will only cause you needless pain. If you are still not reconciled, you can try and sink slowly to see if you can succeed."

Surprised, Song Qingshi turned around and saw the most beautiful thing he'd seen in his life.

There were trees full of peach blossoms, and under the tree was a beautiful young boy in red. Who knows how long he was watching Song Qingshi stupidly crying. The young man's appearance was blooming, like a scroll of rich colours and ink, painted with all the romantic colours of the world. The warm jade-like skin, the most beautiful thing about him were the dark golden phoenix eyes under the crow-feather-like eyelashes. He resembled a noble and dignified phoenix in the sky, but there was an extremely gorgeous red tear-shared mole under the corner of his left eye, desecrating his nobleness. The dignity of his appearance was crushed, and the phoenix rejoined the mortal world, turning into a creature stained with flattery and seductiveness which made people feel unbearable tempted.

His long hair was untied and hung casually around his waist. The ends of his hair were slightly curled, his feet were bare, and he was only wearing a red dress made of shark silk. The shark silk was as smooth as water, clinging to his body, covering all the desirables underneath.

Song Qingshi did not think anything blasphemous, but because he was caught crying, his social anxiety became more intense. After a long pause of building courage, he stumbled and said: "I, I just..."

His hesitation became reluctant approval in the eyes of the beauty in red.

There are dangerous monsters and birds everywhere in the immortal world. Cultivators were equipped with spiritual auras and keen senses, and can easily detect the wind and grass around them. Even the minor cultivators in the time they were establishing their cultivation base would not miss the sound of mortal footsteps with bells, let alone the Nascent Soul cultivators. If they release their spiritual thoughts, the smallest creatures on the mountain would not escape their attention. Except for Song Qingshi, a newly-born soul who had just arrived in this world, and was still very unused to spiritual power and these world conditions. . .

The beauty in red had completely misunderstood, thinking that Song Qingshi was also a mortal. There was only one use for such a beautiful mortal in Golden Phoenix Manor. He clarified: "A new slave?"

Song Qingshi looked up in amazement. He wanted to ask questions, but his eyes fell on the beauty of the red dress. There seemed to be some strange bruises on his neck as if it had been bitten by a mosquito, but it seemed that it might be something else. He took a few more secretive glances, trying to determine what they were.

The beauty in red noticed his curious glances and his heart grew upset. With growing malicious intent, a very gentle smile appeared on his face, and he said in a sincerely blessed tone: "Don't stare, you will have them soon, too."

Song Qingshi was very sheltered before transmigrating. He had never encountered malice and did not understand the mystery behind these words. Although he thought this blessing was a bit strange, he still answered politely: "Thank you."

The beauty in red choked hearing this answer. He was stunned for a moment. He looked at Song Qingshi up and down like a fool, and found that the person in front of him was clean and his skin was free of any injuries. He had never experienced the ravages of hell in his eyes. He was pure.

This discovery made him feel pity for the heart that had been tempered by suffering. He retracted his sharp malice and said softly, "After tonight, you will know that death is a luxury." He turned slightly to his side, looking at the river's flow. He warned, "When I first came here, I tried to commit suicide many times, but it was useless. We are slaves who are branded with the Acacia Seal. Our spirits belong to our master. So long as the master doesn't allow it, we cannot die, even by our own hands. . .

The beauty in red was silent for a long time. He slowly stretched out his hand and stroked Song Qing's hair that was soft as the fur of a small animal.

Song Qingshi saw several red rope marks on his pale wrists. He realized that this was pain that the beauty wouldn't want to be questioned about, so he pushed down his curiosity.

The fingertips of the red-dressed beauty slipped from his hair to Song Qingshi's delicate face, watching his innocent expression. He held his hand there for a moment before putting it down, conflicted. He didn't want to say any more. Since he didn't know those nightmarish experiences, it was useless to say anything more. Being able to preserve this kind of innocence, it was one more moment of happiness for him. Finally, he sighed, "You look good, but unfortunately the more your looks improve as you grow, the longer it will be until you're freed. . ."

Song Qingshi was puzzled: "What do you mean by 'freed'?"

"You'll know soon." The beauty in red's expression suddenly relaxed. He glanced around carefully, then stretched out his index finger and tapped his lips lightly. With a voice so light that he could barely hear it, he said ambiguously, "Tonight I will be freed. . ."

The beauty in red turned around with a smile and, with a crisp ring of the bells, turned to leave. His steps were a bit unstable, and each step was strenuous, like a mermaid walking on the tip of a knife in pain.

A pair of exquisite gold shackles were exposed on the beauty's ankles under the red clothes. Each of the shackles was decorated with an exquisite bell. The middle was connected by a slender golden chain. When walking, the bell shook slightly and made a clear and sweet sound, just like a tethered bird.

The golden chain dragged across the grass, and a few drops of blood dropped onto the green leaves.

Song Qingshi mustered up the courage to overcome his social anxiety, and shouted to the beauty who was about to leave: "Are you. . .injured? I, I know medical skills. . . Do you need me to treat you?"

The beauty in red turned back, looked at him for a few seconds, and he couldn't help but smile. This time the smile finally reached his eyes, like a ray of golden sunlight breaking through the clouds, dazzlingly beautiful. He shook his head towards Song Qingshi, and gave himself a sincere blessing: "I hope you have better luck tonight."

He turned his head, and the sunlight in his eyes disappeared in a flash, as if it had never existed, only the dark clouds that would not retreat.

Having endured these nightmares for years, he has long learned not to remember the kindness of others, and not to care about being offered charity from others.

He walked alone in this prison without stopping, step after step, wearing those painful shackles.

[ultraintrovertedgryffindor]

Ghoulish Portraits - Rain Ghoul (Ghost)

No idea what this is lol. I’ve been wanting to make more Ghost content but haven’t been able to think of anything. Then bam! This idea hits me as I’m coloring.

~~~~~~~~~~

All the Ghouls were hanging around the ministry's sitting room, admiring the portrait that you had created.

“I don’t understand how she can draw things so life like!” Swiss awed.

“Hey! I’m not a thing!” Aether whined.

“She doesn’t just do portraits jackass!” Swiss argued back.

The drawing was of Aether. You had a talent for making very detailed drawings, even of people...or Ghouls. You had drawn most of the Ghouls already, Aether being the newest and you gave the drawing to him last night.

The Ghouls found out that you could draw when Dewdrop saw your sketchbook a few weeks back, well, more like stole it from you.

You had been drawing some of the scenery in the ministry’s huge garden and you left your book on a bench for what you swear was only five seconds, but that amount of time was all it took for the feisty fire Ghoul to steal the book.

You were furious, but the rest of the Ghouls forced him to apologize...that was after they all looked through the book first. But you found that it was hard to stay mad at the Ghouls for long.

Soon after, some of the Ghouls came to you to see if you could draw them. At first, you didn’t want to because you were still slightly bitter from when they saw your book without your permission, but Swiss was very persuasive.

You drew Swiss first, and he loved it of course. He made sure to rub it in everyone’s face that he was the first Ghoul you had drawn.

Cirrus and Cumulus asked if you could draw them together after, which you happily obliged. Then you drew Mountain.

Dewdrop wanted you to draw him too, but you refused to when he stomped over to you and basically commanded you to draw him, which was rude. You told him you’d only draw him if he asked nicely. Your request irked him and elicited a growl from him.

You decided to draw Aether just to spite him.

“She even got your thick ass thighs!” Swiss laughed.

“Shut up!” Aether complained.

“Well...he’s not wrong.” Rain mumbled.

Rain really wanted you to draw him, but he was shy and afraid to ask you.

The rest of the Ghouls tried to encourage him to ask you, knowing that you’d be happy to draw him, but Rain was petrified of rejection.

In truth, you had been waiting for the water Ghoul to approach you to be drawn, but became disappointed when it didn’t happen. You had taken a liking to the Ghoul, his shy personality captivating you. You had almost the Ghoul yourself, but you didn’t want to scare him off.

So you decided to let him come to you when he was ready, if he ever was.

“Rain, when are you gonna get yours done?” Dewdrop teased, knowing how he felt about you.

Rain’s ears turned to the side as he blushed, not liking his fellow Ghoul making fun of his nervousness towards you.

“Shut up, Dew. You know how Rain is.” Aether fussed, making Dewdrop angry.

“I’m just joking around with him, asshole!” Dewdrop growled.

Rain rolled his eyes and sighed, starting to walk out of the room when he sensed that the two bickering Ghouls were going to start fighting with each other again. Rain wasn’t one for conflict.

As soon as he stepped out of the room, he heard some crashes coming from inside of the sitting room. He was thankful he left when he did. The last time Dew and Aether fought wasn’t pretty and Rain accidentally got involved and got a few deep scratches from trying to stop the two Ghouls.

Never again would he try to get in between one of Aether and Dewdrop’s fights.

Rain suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, looking over to see Swiss. “How bad was it?” He asked.

Swiss smiled. “Not too bad. Just a few broken vases and some scratches, maybe a couple ripped up pillows. Sister Imperator is not gonna be happy.”

“Like she ever is when Dew and Aether get into fights.”

“True, true.”

Swiss followed after Rain when he started walking away. “So, not to make you upset again, but...are you ever gonna ask Y/N to draw you?”

Rain sighed. “I want to...but, I guess I’m just scared.

Swiss refrained from laughing. “Come on! She’s drawn most of us by now, there’s no reason she wouldn’t draw you too!”

“I guess...”

“If you’re that nervous...I can ask her for you!”

“No!” Rain suddenly raised his voice, causing himself to blush again. “No...I want to do it.”

“That’s it!” Swiss patted him on the back. “I think she’s in the garden again.” Swiss pushed him in the direction of the garden. “Go on!”

“Now?!”

“Yes!”

Rain sighed and rubbed his hands together. “Okay...”

Rain peeked around the corner and saw you were indeed sitting in the garden, sketchbook in hand. You were sitting on the usual bench you sat on when you drew. The Sun shined through the circular glass dome that covered the garden, the rays of light giving your person a soft glow around you that made you look like a fallen angel.

You had an intense stare on your face, the typical face you make when you’re concentrating hard on a sketch. Rain though it was cute, and he didn’t realize he was smiling until you turned your head up to take another look at what you were trying to draw.

Mountain had recently planted a bunch of Chrysanthemums in the garden and you were awed by how beautiful they were, and you just had to draw them.

Rain shook his head, trying to get himself to walk over to you. But you were so concentrated on what you were drawing, he would feel bad if he broke that concentration. He didn’t want to bother you while you were working. Wouldn’t that be rude? He didn’t want to be rude.

Unfortunately for Rain, he hadn’t realized that he was out in the open and just staring at you.

From your peripheral vision, you saw that Rain was staring at you. If it was any other Ghoul, you probably would’ve been a little creeped out. But you knew how Rain was. Poor thing was probably too nervous to talk to you.

You smiled, hoping that he’d find it easier to approach you than when you were wearing that focused face. You were annoyed at yourself for having a resting bitch face, not liking that it made people hesitant to approach you. But anyone who knew your personality knows that you were the opposite of a bitch to those who are nice to you.

You decided to call out to Rain. It was risk, but you wanted to talk to him. “Hello, Rain!” You smiled at him.

Rain’s eyes widened, finally realizing he wasn’t hiding anymore. He had no choice but to talk to you now. “Hi...” He tried not to stutter.

“You can come over.” You beckoned him over softly, trying to make him comfortable as possible.

Rain finally gave a little smile and sauntered over to the bench where you were sitting.

“Have you seen the flowers Mountain planted yet? Aren’t they so pretty?” You asked once Rain sat beside you.

Rain followed your gaze and saw that there were indeed new flowers in the earth. “Hmm, yeah. I’m not really a big flower guy though...” He chuckled nervously.

“Oh, me either. I just think they’re pretty.”

I think you’re pretty, is what Rain would’ve said if he had any flirting skills at all. But instead he just hummed in agreement.

He looked over to you drawing and saw that it looked amazing. “Wow...” He voiced accidentally.

You giggled. “It’s not even done yet!”

“I think it still looks really good. No. Incredible.”

Now it was your turn to blush. “Well, thank you.” You smiled bashfully.

“I was thinking...” Rain started, getting your undivided attention, making the Ghoul feel the pressure to word his thought correctly. “Uh, I thought, maybe you could draw me?”

Silence.

“You don’t have to though!” Rain panicked. “I was just, uh, well, you had drawn some of the others and I just thought, uh, oh, uh. Ah fuck, sorry. You don’t have to!” Rain continued ranted nervously.

“Rain!” You called out, grinning from ear to ear. “You don’t have to apologize! I’d love to draw you!”

Rain’s eyes lit up and his tail started quivering in excitement. “Really? You don’t have to! I mean, I’d love-”

You stopped him from nervously ranting again by putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Rain.” You said softly. “I’d love to draw you.”

Rain smiled and sighed in relief.

“If I’m being honest, I’ve kinda been waiting for you to ask me.” You chuckled nervously.

Rain’s eyes widened. “Oh...well, in that case, I wish I had come to you sooner.” He grinned.

“Well, you’re here now.” You smiled back.

~~~~~~~~~~

[bitch-its-me-alv]

You can’t touch what’s mine, bitch

(Part two of He is mine, bitches)

Damian was very proud of himself. He got a very hot and sweet boyfriend 13 months ago, managed to keep that boyfriend more than happy, and had managed to hide the existence of marin from his family for 14 months. 

He had no idea how an alleged family of detectives and vigilantes hadn't even noticed that their youngest member was in a relationship. And that he spent less and less time with them and more with Marin. He was severely disappointed in his family, although he never said it out loud, he thought they would make better opponents.

In Marin's apartment he even had his own closet where he had his clothes, the only reason Damian kept coming back to the Mansion was because of appearances and his precious pets.

But he knew he couldn't go on like this forever. he wanted to introduce his family to Marin, to see how damn perfect he was, his photographs around the world, his point of view so different from the others, the way he sang for Damian even when he was in another room… Well maybe if he kept to himself how weak he was for his boyfriend everything would be fine.

With a good contact on the dark web, he got a protector on his cell phone, and so there were more than two thousand photos with Marin. They on their first date, in the bathroom mirror, at gotham school, in the classrooms, in the cafes, in bed. Their chat seemed like they were talking for years, full of memes that Damian didn't understand at first, and memes with their own faces.

He take all possible measures, but never anticipated that Marin would get sick from some kind of virus, forcing him to stay in bed, well, Damian actually forced him after Marin almost fell down the stairs at school.

So when he informed his father that he would take a break from patrols until further notice, he turned on all the Wayne family alarms.

Little Demon Spawn wouldn't use patrols as an excuse to hit people? Would he pass up the opportunity to take his katana out of its case? Who had he killed? Oh my god, would he be doing drugs? Maybe that would explain the little bruises on his neck and wrist.

“Oh for all the bats, Bats, what are you going to do? your only son of blood became a drug addict!”Dick very concerned about his little brother's safety “Tim, hack his cell phone, look it up in the network of cameras in the city, we can't leave it like that!”

“Calm down, boy wonder. It is clear that he killed someone and he is not using drugs.”Jason tried to appease his brother in his mother hen way.

"Well, he's hiding something big, someone has been removing images from cameras for over six months, and Damian coincidentally never sees himself in them, not even at school.”Tim didn't want to alarm anyone, but the fact that he hadn't found evidence of his little brother in the last six months in the city was certainly a big concern.

Had he been going back to his habits from the prince of assassins?

Everyone looked at Bruce, waiting for his words. “We will follow him just to make sure he is safe, whatever his secret he will tell us sooner or later.”

(They didn't know it was more later than sooner)

Nightwing, Red hood, Red robin, and Batman followed the low trail Damian left when he left the mansion. Unaware of the luck they had, of Damian being in a discussion on the phone with Bourgeois, to distracted to know he was being followed.

They stopped on the roof opposite the minimarket that Damian entered. With tim setting up the microphone to understand what Damian was saying. Another red flag was that he could not hack his cell phone.

"There is no need for threats Bourgeois, I understand the delicacy of the situation, and I am fully prepared to waste a couple of days on the cause."

No one in the family harbored hope at this point.

After hearing Bourgeois rant about the importance of his best friend's health, Damian continued navigating the soda aisle, he would never understand why Marin insisted that Dr.Pepper was the best of drinks when Mountain-Dew was clearly superior.

"To prevent him from trying to escape I had to chain him to bed, his insistence on continuing with his final project is very irritating, I am grateful that he can hardly speak at this point, or else his voice would be ringing throughout the department."

The whole Bat family was shocked and disappointed, Damian was holding a hostage somewhere horrible, and he was working with someone else.

At leaving the store, the vigilantes dispersed, all decided to find Damian's hostage, then they could deal with Demon Spawn. They were a little scared of what Damian could have bought in a simple minimarket to use as torture.

From Damian's phone, Chloe gave up with her hateful act and said goodbye to her best friend's boyfriend. "Just make sure he recovers properly, it is very rare that he gets sick, no matter what country or climate Marin was in, he almost never contracted any disease."

"I am conscious chloe, we both know that if there is someone Marin surrenders for, it will be me. I will inform you of any change in his condition."

He hung up the call as he entered his apartment building. His call with chloe lasted his entire journey on the street, luckily he was about to spend all his time with his soft and muscular boyfriend.

Meanwhile, on the rooftops around, the watchers waited for a more appropriate place for torture, but with their beloved Demon Spawn they never knew. Tim pulled out the binoculars so he could see through the walls of the building, looking for the poor soul that Damian held captive.

What they did not expect was for Damian to reach the top floor of the building, taking off his coat and shoes as he entered. The apartment very well furnished and full of life, as if someone actually lived there.

Batman was about to fly straight to the biggest window in the apartment, when what Tim saw made him fall backwards. Bats snatched the binoculars away from him before anyone else could.

"Bats you really don't want to see what's going on there, you wish you could forget it!" All the boys went crazy trying to get Tim to tell them what he had seen.

Inside the apartment, Marin was chained from his right hand to the head of his bed, his mystical blue eyes reddened at the corners, his body rendered by the dark green sheets that Damian had insisted on buying or would not sleep in bed. Marin saw nothing wrong with the old bear sheets.

Instantly Marin felt better when her grumpy boyfriend came home. If he could have produced any vaguely human sounds, he would have rushed Damian into the room.

Before Damian could say anything to his very sick boyfriend, Marin pulled him down onto his chest. Damian was very frustrated that despite all his years of killer training, he always fell on his boyfriend's chest. It was very common to find himself more than six times with his face buried in his hard chest.

So as a very usual act, he made himself comfortable to lock Marin between his body and the bed, holding on tight as always.

They give each other a chaste kiss to avoid germs, but the habit is difficult to break even for a few days. Tim falls on his back at that moment.

“Why did you take so long? It is sooo boring here without your vocabulary of yesteryear and your beautiful frown.” Damn the expensive cologne that always clings to damian, making his neck and hair always so tempting. He curses his body that matches him, which is always ready to attack at any time, and curses his sharp jaw.

"Your very dear best friend distracted me all the way, pretending to be the enemy, as if she hadn't been happy for us when we got together"Damian rolls his eyes.

Marin apparently having said the last thing his throat could handle surrenders to his boyfriend's possessiveness, letting Damian give him little kisses all over her face, excluding his lips. 

Across the street batman curses and turns around, contacting agent A. Tim comes out of his stupor and tells his brothers what he saw. They also desperately contact agent A, the only sane one in any situation.

Two days later Marin is fully recovered, shining like a malicious and amiable ray of sunshine. 

After Marin confessed to Damian that he knew he was Robin by his butt, and consequently deduced who the other bats were, along with super boy and superman, the barriers of the alter egos had fallen, and in exchange Marian told him about what he found in the Amazon caves and about who his relatives were.

To say that Marin had been about to split the marble island of his kitchen in two because of nerves would not be a lie, but once again, Damian surprised him by saying that it was not very important in his relationship that he had villains as a family, reminding Marin that his mother and grandfather were assassins and that he was also assassin at some point.

So there were no unpleasant surprises in their relationship, but there were surprises for the rest of the world. Marin knew about the secret that Damian was hiding from his family, because he was the secret.

He didn't get it wrong, no, Marin knew that Damian was more than willing to tell the world who he was dating, if the first selfie he published was something to consider, or ... all the broken hands he left behind because he thought they were very comfortable with him.

Oh, he loved when damian got all possessive, like a bristling kitten, or rather a panther ready to attack.

Returning from his fantasies, Marin decided to tell Damian that his time was up. His aunt Ivy had mentioned that the cameras hidden among the succulents had caught the bats spying on them days ago. Harley and ivy investigated before informing him, wanting to make sure they weren't going to confront him.

He loved Ivy and Harley, but the fact that they had called his parents and his nonna had not made him very happy, now he would have to explain why he had not told them about his boyfriend.

Marin hoped that the feeling of imbalance that was beginning to form in his chest was only the work of the family drama that was coming and nothing else.

➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞

Damian was a bit more bitter than normal at school during the morning, he would admit that his call with Bourgeois distracted him from his surroundings, but it was about time that his family began to suspect.

Obviously he didn't take it out on his angel, he was what kept him going, so if Marin's fans came out with completely unnecessary bruises, neither Jon, Chloe, or Marin said anything.

And when Marin started kissing him more often to distract him nobody complained so much.

By the middle of the school day Damian had his hair messed up by Marin, Jon had chosen to warn Marin's outside friends about getting close, and Chloe was on her cell phone as usual. But a strange call to Marin sparked everyone's interest.

Marin reluctantly answered upon seeing the unknown number, but when no one spoke on the line, he knew it was a premonitory call.

The group partially aware of Marin's secrets nodded in acknowledgment, attentive to what was to come.

➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞

Tim was ready to die, Dick was almost there, and Jason was more than pleased to help his little brothers leave this plane of existence.

Bruce was regretting in the darkest corner of his cave, what had he done wrong for his son to hide his partner? The moments of fatherhood that he shared with his son came to his mind ... and he realized that in reality he had not done much fatherly, so it made sense.

“I can't find any mention of Marin Dupain-Cheng, Jon Kent, Chloe Bourgeois or Damian on the internet for the last year. Everything has disappeared since October 28 from last year.”Tim was going crazy, he couldn't possibly find nothing.

“Calm down replacement, you can not find anything because you are looking for them from our devices and accounts. Alfred lent me his cell phone, and when I look for the name of our mysterious boy many interesting things appear”

“What are you waiting for Jason? Show it on the screen, I'm worried about little D”Dick said.

Bruce just nodded to his son, he had to be a better father to Damian from now on.

Jon, Chloe, Damian and Marin instagram appeared on the main screen of the cave. All with ridiculous names, like hellaMari, NottrollJon, QueenChloOriginal, and TheDEmon66. With too many followers to be just teenage accounts.

The only recent one was that of damian, where his photos were of him distracted, the one with Marin or the animal welfare he helped and the one he founded.

I had comments like: I would like to be you, how lucky you are, how I chose you, omg give me your life, etc ... It was very disturbing for the bati family, especially because they did not know that it was THE Damian Wayne, nor did they have his real name, they called him demon.

The evidence was refuted a year ago, with a photo in the instagram of Marin, of Damian and him facing the sun. With Damian's hair styled in a modern way, and with Marin lying on him, winking. Damian didn't even look the same even though he wasn't smiling, how happy he looked without needing to smile amazement at his family.

Thereafter, Jon and chloe began uploading photos of the group. A video especially on the NottrollJon insta convinced them to stop snooping.

Now they just had to wait for Damian to come back.

➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞

"Since they overcame their own incompetence, I decided this would be the most effective, Marin, this is my family, my father Bruce, Grayson, Todd, and Drake. I think Alfred is in the kitchen but you already know him. Father and idiots, this is Marin my boyfriend for a year, congratulations for finding out.”

The bats definitely did not expect Damian to arrive with Marin after school, they had assumed they would have to hunt him all over the mansion. Even so, Bruce always prepared for everything with his mask, he shook Marin's hand, impressed by the height and strength of the boy.

"I'm glad you guys have finally discovered our secret" Marin smiled to the bats, making Damian grumpty.

“Wow, why are you like the sun if you date Demon Spawn?”

“Wait, did you know that he was hiding you from us?” Dick was surprised.

“Well ... I think we better start the story in the dining room, we don't want to make Alfred wait.” Damian was very pleased with his family's reactions and the fact that they were very surprised to approach Marin.

None in the family knew how to describe Marin yet. Physically, it was quite a surprise, with his big, slanted eyes, his symmetrical face, the fact that he was bigger than Jason in muscles and height, that his smile rivaled Grayson's, and that his dark blue hair was real.

But they knew very little about their attitude, tastes, or backstory. Tim's investigations had been very vague, only discovering that in reality there were not many papers about Marin because he had never been to school, or had lasted more than nine months in one place.

Then they followed the boys into the dining room, still amazed at Damian's attitude. Determined to inspect Damian's boyfriend thoroughly and decide for themselves how dangerous Marin Dupain-Cheng was. After all, if their beloved little brother liked it, it would have to have a dark side.

➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞

As night fell, the bats could tell that Marin Dupain-Cheng did not lie to them even once. With their detective senses on edge, everyone could agree that he didn't tell a lie even once.

Which leaves them with the incredible travel anecdotes that Marin had related to them to please Damian and distract him from the accusations of his family.

It was refreshing to say the least, Marin's point of view on heroic and villainous figures, the problems of the world, the little ones, the horrible situations of the poor, the wonders of traveling. It was a drastic change to what they were used to. A vision stained brown with red and black shades, the city, the complaints and the pressure on the vigilantes or the absolute disgust for the anti-heroes or rogues.

“So you were in the scarecrow attack at the museum a year ago, and you threw your motorcycle at the guys who were shooting at you?” It was obvious that Jason had reminded him of the incident long ago, but unaware that Marin already knew their identities because of her boyfriend's butt, Jason pretended he hadn't been there.

Tim, Dick and Bruce had also been there, but they didn't see the moment that happened, so their disbelief was not acted.

"Was it because of the toxin of fear, or before you could already launch motorcycles at your whim?"Bruce spoke, seriously, what the hell did he take in the morning to make his voice so deep and strong?

Marin told Damian that it was the magic of the dark knight, but Damian dismissed it saying that after pretending so much he had stayed like this.

“Oh no, it's actually partly because I do what I can to keep fit.“Marin and Damian knew what was coming

“And the other part? "Dick asked suspiciously.

“Well that's thanks to my curse” Marin shrugged. As Damian reached for his hand under the table and all the bats leaned in his direction synchronously.

“Damn, like magic and that?”

“Yeah, when I was five, my nonna took me to the Amazon, of course she hadn't originally thought about going to the jungle, but for some reason I escaped, and ended up being swept away by a current in the river. Miraculously, I came to some kind of cave next to the rapids, where I touched something I shouldn't have touched and then the plague's curse clung to me.” Marin didn't mention that the curse came with the slim silver ring that right now was being rubbed by his boyfriend.

“So you're saying, that you have super strength because you drank from the Amazon River?“ Tim hit Jason, wondering if that white streak actually meant the death of all his neurons.

"It is more complicated than that but yes, it is actually quite similar to what you say”

Damian looks at his father, he will never admit it, but he was worried that his father did not like Marin, either because of his magic, the fact that he discovered his secret identities ... Or that his family is made up of the rogues of Gotham and other non-heroic personalities.

“He also discovered our identities a month after we started dating "Damian let out.

This time no one moved, with poker faces and saved breaths. Tim was the boldest "How ... did that happen?"

“I know Damian's butt from near, and being Robin didn't hide his butt very well.” Marin knew exactly how to break the tension, even if it means embarrassing his boyfriend a bit.

Jason and Dick started laughing seconds later, Bruce massaged his forehead, with the slightest blush on his cheeks. Tim dropped his head to the table, regretting his question, Damian just covered his blush, without looking directly at his family.

“Tt, Marin, couldn't you just tell them something else?”

“Of course not mon amour, they would know if I had lied”

After that they moved into the living room, where the fireplace was conveniently already on. The talk was postponed until it was late at night, and Marin after so many jokes with Jason and Dick had forgotten to mention that his parents would be coming to Gotham soon to meet them all.

Oh well, interesting things were definitely to come.

➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞ ➞

Damian had a good night, maybe it had to do with the fact that he shared a bed with Marin, but they had done that before, or maybe it was the fact that this was the bed where he slept only before meeting Marin. Or was it because he had finally introduced his boyfriend to his family, and they all got along wonderfully.

Naturally someone had to ruin his good mood, and to his surprise, it wasn't his brothers this time, not even bruce had that nerve. It was that annoying weakling with casuela hair and orange spots on his face who dared to affirm that he had dated Matin and had currently come to town to repair his relationship.

The rest of the Gothnamites at school seemed unconvinced of their cheap babbling in bad English, but Damian didn't give a shit what his classmates thought. The important thing was that they had learned the lesson about Marin a long time ago, and it seemed like Damian would have to break some noses to make his point again.

"Oh yeah, my Mari and I were like this in the past." He showed his intertwined fingers. "But when he had to leave France because his aunt was trapped in the Himalayas it broke my heart, now that he's in town he has been insisting that we come back, isn't that so romantic that he dragged himself along for me?"  

Lian was proud that all eyes in the hall were on him, who said that the Gothnamites were smarter was clearly an idiot.

Perhaps he did not realize that all eyes were of displeasure, weariness, and a few concerns. The skinny boy clearly didn't know what he was getting into.

Damian approached with irritation, after a quick check, decided he couldn't hit him ... as hard as he wanted. The chestnut build was too weak, and judging from the orange stains and chipped teeth, there was a more than 73 percent chance that a punch from him would send him to the hospital, and Marin had made him promise not to send more people to the hospital, to the hospital outside of school.

"Oh, so you and Marin are something?" Damian said to the chestnut, ignoring how people began to crowd with interest, while leaving space so that they did not cross with the cold words of Ice Prince, or his fists.

Lian, ignorant and malicious noticed the growing crowd, he had to do it right, or Adrianna would destroy him.

"Well… I don't really want to create any misunderstandings, especially with all the false publicity that he put on instagram, I mean, Marin didn't know a better way to get my attention, so he ended up hiring that model to fake a relationship for Internet." The crowd gasped, that boy would end up knocked out.

"Woah, everything that has come out of your mouth is nothing but shit, and I've only had the misfortune to meet you for a minute."Damian spoke. “So I will tell you something flimsy rat, Marin has never had something with you nor will he, he is a man of good taste, he has class and high standards that you will never can fill in your miserable excuse for life. So you better shut your mouth full of shit before I kick your ass and those horrible orange stains you have.”

The students smiled, that bastard would finally shut his mouth in the best way, oh, and sunshine prince did not look close, there was a great possibility of punches.

Lian did not know what was the best way to react, that guy was scary, damn, he was surely the thug, the safest thing was to play the scary victim, anyway he was too scared to act angry.

"Oh, maybe you are one of the people who is in love with Marin, I can't blame you, my boyfriend is charming that everywhere he go he get a ... admirers entourage, it is understandable that you are angry but there is no need to do great matter about it.”

Damian was about to reply with his usual cold and dark aura, when his boyfriend entered the crowd. 

Lian, or actually Lila, cringed at the sudden appearance of Marin, she / he thought it would keep her record of being late to school and give her time to manipulate the sheep.

“Stop your pathetic act Rossi, the French in our old school may be a ball of idiots, but in Gotham things are very different.”

Ah, Marin. It could be called sunshine prince and boy did it fit him. You can be in his graces and be lucky to have a ray of sunshine to light up your days, or you could be an idiot without self-preservation and die from sunburn.

Lian tried to regain command, wild was going to kill her, she had not been in the city for five days and had already been discovered.

“Oh, Marin darling, you don't have to protect me from the media anymore, you can stop pretending.”

He tried to get closer, but damian slapped his hand against the lockers before he could touch him. Lian did not hesitate to exaggerate and throw himself against the lockers. "Agh, this brute just attacked me! Separate him from me!"

No one moved, sharing the feeling of shame that apparently the skinny did not have.

Marin decided to speak. "Let it be known, that I am not associated in any way with this cheap and lying bitch. Anything that comes out of her mouth is more false than the pyrite. I hope I don't see you again Rossi"

When Lian was about to throw herself at Marin's feet, Damian stopped him, putting his brand name shoe on her chest.

“Don't even try you bastard, he's my boyfriend. And you can't touch what's mine, bitch.”

When the order of the hierarchy was restored, with Damian and Marin walking hand in hand the students lost interest, and left quickly. Completely forgetting the sulfuric chestnut on the ground.

Lila Rossi was so fucked up, and the Agrestes still didn't know.

At a spa across town, Chloe had a feeling. And in a room a few doors from where Rossi Jon was, he also felt it.

[sugarsugarmoon]

In The Arms of Morpheus - Ch. 1

Series Summary: Greek god Morpheus!yoongi x villager!reader

Series Genre: Angst, Fluff, Eventual Smut

Chapter Summary: When you get to make the pilgrimage to Mount Olympus for the first time, you meet some unexpected troubles.

Chapter Genre: Honestly just exposition and background building

Chapter Warnings: some description of injuries, some slightly bullying

Chapter WC: 3856

a/n: This is the first chapter of at least 5 chapters, and I am really excited about this series. I hope you all like it. It’s slightly more edited than usual, but I didn’t try that hard.

Nestled within the mountains and forests below the Land of the Gods, a sleepy little village bustled with preparations for that year’s pilgrimage to the base of Mount Olympus. Each year, the youth of the village travel to leave an offering to The Gods. Though no one has seen or heard from any of The Gods in hundreds of years, the tradition is one that has persisted throughout the existence of the village.

You were packing your small backpack for the trip when your mother entered the room. She walked to you and ran her hand over your hair, which was hanging loose down your back. She had always been gentle with you, like if she touched you too hard you might break.

“Now, you’re sure you’re fine going? You have everything you need? You could wait another year or two.” she asked as she started to braid your hair.

“Yes, mom. For the hundredth time, I’m fine. I’m in my 20s, and I’m not made of glass. I can do this. I’m glad I finally get to go,” you responded, a little exasperated.

She finished the plaits in your hair and tied a ribbon around the end, and you wriggled out of her grasp and stood across the room from her. It’s not that you didn’t love her or appreciate her concern, but you were the only person in the village who, by your mid-twenties, had still never gone on the pilgrimage. Everyone in the village treated you the same way, and they had even given you the nickname “The Glass Princess.”

When you were younger, your body was too weak, so you were bedridden for most of your childhood. You didn’t have the opportunity to live the normal life of a child. The healer from your village had traveled far to other villages searching for the mystical Elder Root, and finally, she had bartered some of her evening primrose, echinacea, and lavender for a small trimming the plant. She made the journey back to your village and made the Elder Root into a tonic. After 2 weeks, you had the strength to stand up. After one year, you were healthy enough to attend school, even though your mother would never let you.

You learned everything at home, patiently sitting each day while your mom braided your hair, and reading as many books as you could. You read all about the times of The Gods and the way the world used to be. You overheard your mother talking with your grandmother and the healer about when The Gods still appeared in the mortal realm, helping when they could or tricking humans. They complained about how they wished The Gods were there now to help with the great famine of the land.

That day, you decided that you would try to figure out why The Gods abandoned humans. In all of your research, you had never found a clear answer to what The Gods wanted in the mortal realm. You had decided that they had actually never existed because what kind of immortal creatures would let the people they were said to care about fall into such a deep and unrelenting hardship. You hardly told anyone that you believed that The Gods weren’t real, and when you felt comfortable enough to tell people, a few of them had told you that they couldn’t associate with a non-believer.

Your friend, Hoseok, was the only one who supported you. He still believed, but he always told you that it was your right to not believe. No one treated you more like a regular person than Hoseok did. He goofed around with you, shoving you gently when you made bad jokes. You thought that, perhaps, when you were older, you might like to marry someone compassionate and understanding like Hoseok. Something always kept you from saying this to him.

This year for the pilgrimage, Hoseok had agreed to accompany you, even though he had gone several times already. He smiled brightly as you rambled over and over about your excitement to leave the village for the first time. You had been waiting for this moment for so long, and you went through waves of bubbling excitement and overwhelming anxiety.

Over the course of the week, you had kept your hands occupied all day every day by sewing, knitting, helping your mother cook, and even making daisy chains with Hoseok in the fields of wildflowers beside your house.

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” Hoseok asked, and you could tell by his tone that he was trying not to offend you.

“I don’t have to do it, Hoseok. I want to do it. I’m just different than everyone else in that I’ve never even been into the forest outside of the village.” Your fingers stopped twisting the flowers, and you set them aside and grabbed Hoseok’s hands, looking deeply into his eyes. “And I have you, right? That��s all I need to make it.”

Hoseok blushed slightly, but he smiled a huge shiot shaped grin at you. He took the flowers in his hand and placed them on top of your head.

“This color looks really good with your hair,” he giggled, moving to rebraid your hair with the flowers in it.

With Hoseok’s reassurance, you had made it to the day that you were going to leave. You hugged your mother and joined Hoseok with the group of young adults, carrying different types of bags and baskets with them for the trip. Overall, it should only take about six hours, so you all met while the morning dew was still clinging to the blades of grass in the village center. After everyone was accounted for, you all left on your way toward the forest.

As you crossed the field of tall grass, you turned back to see your mother right before she disappeared into the distance. At the edge of the forest, you turned to Hoseok, who smiled and took your hand.

“You’ve got this,” he whispered in your ear.

Once in the forest, the world seemed different. It was quieter and calmer. The dampness mixed with muskiness of the earth below your feet wafted into your nose. Combined with the smell of the damp leaves on the trees, it was unlike anything you had ever experienced before. You are immediately in love with everything that the trees have to offer.

You kept looking straight up into the canopy, and the twigs and roots on the path caused you to trip a little bit. Eventually Hoseok grabbed you by the arm to steady and lead you while you marveled at the way the light danced between the leaves when the wind blew and how the branches from different trees mingled with one another, causing different colors and shapes of leaves to bleed together as if they were one.

It was nothing like the two or three trees bunched together that you’d experienced before, and your eyes started to well up with tears as you thanked the Gods (even though you didn’t believe in them) for the opportunity to leave the village for once.

You and Hoseok lagged behind the rest of the group because of your enchantment by every facet of the forest. Hoseok didn’t seem to mind, just pulled you along a little more quickly when you started to fall too far behind. The path through the forest wound through the thickest parts of the forest, where the trees were so dense that hardly any light peaked through at points. You felt like you’d been walking all day long when you finally emerged from the winding path to the base of the mountain.

It stretches high above you and paints the sky a light, heathered green until treeline, and the gray top of the peak and white snow are surrounded by clouds.You have to catch your breath, as it is the most massive thing you’ve ever seen. The expanse of the entire mountain range overwhelms your senses, and you cannot believe that you’ve spent your whole life looking at these from a distance. Up close, the mountains are both staggering and much less threatening. When you look at them, it feels like you could definitely hike up the winding switchbacks on your own easily.

Before you start to climb up the foothills, the group decides to take a break to eat and drink. The entire group sits together in the shade of one of the trees on the edge of the forest, cheerfully chattering as they eat. None of the others talk to you and Hoseok, but you don’t mind. You blather on and on about the smells and sights and feel of the forest, as you run your fingers through the moist dirt, pinching small pebbles between your fingers and tossing them aside.

“Hey, glass girl, are you sure that you can make it up that hill?” one boy calls from the otherside of the circle.

“Of course she can!” Hoseok immediately shoots back at him. He’s always been protective of you, but you know that he knows how important this is to you. You place your hand on his knee, and whisper “it’s fine.”

“No, y/n, it’s really really not fine,” he says curtly. “They will always see you as the Glass Princess, and it isn’t right. They should be mocking you for the fact that you were sick.”

“Hoseok, you know that, and I know that. It’s not worth the fight.”

He sighs heavily. “Fine, but if he does it again, I’m gonna punch him.”

You laugh at Hoseok’s words because you know he would never hurt anyone unless he really had to. Hoseok’s frown finally fades into a smile as you talk more about what the rest of the day holds. You only have about half an hour left to hike up the hill to the shrine of the Gods, then you’ll all head back to the village, resuming your lives like normal.

Finally, the group decides to pack up and head out before the sun is too high in the sky, scorching your skin when you are between the trees.

The hike is more difficult than you imagined it would be, the gradual grade upward making your calves burn and your breath come out in shallow pants. Hoseok stays by your side, but he does giggle as you continue to tell him that you don’t need help between heavy breaths. The hike is a little difficult for you, a girl who has never been outside of her village, but you catch up to the rest of the group.

As you crest the small hill, you see the shrine, shining in the sun. It’s gorgeous and blinding. The golden slab has an elaborate illustration of Zeus atop mount Olympus surrounded by Hera, Ares, Dionynus, Hypnos, Athena, and Apollo. Even though you didn’t believe in their existence, you were required to learn about the Gods from your mother when you were a child. You could name all of the major ones, but you hadn’t given enough time to any of the Gods who weren’t etched into this shrine.

The group sets to work at cleaning the shrine and preparing to leave the offering for the Gods. You and Hoseok begin to clean up the cloth from the last offering, gathering it into your bag and replacing it with new clean cloth. Others clean the golden plaque or lay the fruits, breads, and oils on top of the cloth.

When it’s finished, you all stand back and admire the work that you’ve done. It looks like a beautiful setting, a beautiful offering. You wish that it was going to anyone or anything besides the birds scavenging the mountains, but you are still proud of how it looks.

The teens start talking about Hyacinth Ridge amongst themselves, about how beautiful the purples, whites, and pinks are among the trees on the side of the mountain. Your ears perk up because hyacinths don’t grow in the field by your house, and you would give anything to see, smell, and collect them.

“Hey, are you all going to Hyacinth Ridge!?” you call out to them.

“What? The Glass Princess wants to hike the ridge? Really?” one young girl asks in a snarky tone. “Do you think you can make it?”

“Of course, I can make it. I’m not going to break!” you exclaim a little louder and more defensive than you mean to. You blush as they all look at you. “I just want to see the Hyacinths.”

A small faction from the group decides to spend an extra hour to go up to the ridge and see the beauty of the flowers. At first, Hoseok is hesitant to go, but when you are insistent that you are going, he rolls his eyes and joins the group.

The hike is a little more difficult than the first hill, but the boys up front keep calling back that it’s just a little while further. You feel the heat of the sun in your cheeks, and you know they are reddening. Your mother will be so upset when you show up with pink cheeks and ears, but you don’t care because you are so thrilled to be on that mountain.

You come around the corner to a gorgeous, deep green forest that looks different from the forest at the base of the mountain. Sporadic sprouts of hyacinth sit at the bases of trees, lining the forest floor. The further you walk, the more and more flowers fill the space. You squeal with excitement as you see them all, in all different shades. You stop to pick some of the white flowers from the side of the path and place them into your bag gently. You see some of the pink flowers a little deeper into the forest, you silently pad across the forest floor to pluck some of the pink sprouts. When you look up, you can’t figure out from which direction you came.

You spin frantically around, looking for the path. There is no way that you had wandered that far because you can hear the faint giggles of the group, but their laughs echo off the trees making it impossible to figure out from which direction they came.

“Hoseok!!!” you yell as loudly as you can, searching for any sign of him or the others. God you are so stupid! you think to yourself. y/n, you are so stupid.

You hear your name faintly from somewhere, and you try to walk toward it. You keep calling out for Hoseok while you move. Unfortunately, the sound gets fainter and fainter the further you walk. You begin to cry as you tread through the wooded area. You know that if you don’t go up, eventually you will have to come back down the mountain.

After what feels like hours of walking, you finally emerge onto a rocky face of the mountain. Even though it goes against your instincts, you decide to hike up a little higher to try to get an aerial view to see if you can see the path.

You work your way upward then follow a small, flat area. Your feet slip on the loose rocks, and you lose your footing on the edge of the incline. As you fall, you cry out for Hoseok. The last thing that you remember is the pain of the jagged rocks one after another as you rolled down the side of the mountain. You screamed at first, but the impact knocked the breath from your lungs. You had no choice but to allow yourself to tumble down the side, accepting that you were going to die. Your mother had been right to be afraid. And then it was black.

The first thing within the blackness is the pain. You become aware more and more of the pain. Seemingly every inch of your body is screaming. You feel your ragged breath filling your lungs, and every movement of your chest hurts. You open your eyes, and, at least, your eyelids don’t cause any more pain.

You are in a dark place. Maybe a room. You can’t really tell or process. You see a few lights spread around. There are three figures in the corner, but they don’t look quite human. They are too far in the shadows and your brain is too fuzzy to make out what is so different about them, but you can’t tell if they are friend or foe.

You try to cry out to them, instead making a squeaky whimper. All three heads whip around to look at you. They whisper amongst themselves, and one of the figures approaches you. From where you are lying, he looks tall and slender with a shock of tousled black hair atop his head. When his face is illuminated by a candle on the table nearest to you, you gasp causing a sharp pain in your ribs. Not only is he painfully gorgeous with soft features, thick lips, wide and angled eyes, and a piercing stare, but you are sure that you’ve seen him before. You couldn’t quite place him. But you knew you had.

He shushes you instead of saying any words and slips into the space behind you. As his face is illuminated by the candle near you, you see his face.

He had come to you in dreams. Usually, you were in a mundane scenario when he appeared. He would deliver some weird cryptic message that he said you were supposed to apply to your life, and then you would return to your dream. You would never forget the first time that he had come to you, and he had warned you that your grandfather would be involved in an accident.

When you awoke, his face was burned behind your eyelids, but you thought nothing of it. However, the next day, on a ride to the market, a snake spooked your grandfather’s horse causing it to buck him off and take off into the woods. Your grandfather broke some of his ribs and hit his head hard enough that he was unable to work for weeks. After you heard the news, you immediately tried to remember the man’s face, but it was just a vague blur of features.

Since then, every time he’s come to you, you’ve fought to remember his words and his face upon waking, taking every possible precaution based on his warnings. No, you would never ever mistake that face when you were asleep. You must be dreaming now. But...why were you in so much pain still?

“You,” you whisper in a barely audible tone, throat dry and rough.

“Shhh,” he says and begins to wrap his arms around your mangled body.

“No…” you try to fight, but you find yourself relaxing into his chest. Unable to fight the sleep that overcomes you while being held in his embrace.

…

“You can’t just keep her here, Yoongi. She recognized you.” The woman, his mother, Pasithea, hisses at him as he lays you back against the pillows and walks toward her.

“What am I supposed to do then? Let her die out there? You know that without treatment she’ll die. Ascelpius will be here soon, and he will heal her. I’ll just stay with her tonight,” he whispers, through his frustration.

Even though he would never admit it, Yoongi was fond of mortals because he had to interact with them so much. After you hold people in your arms so much, you can’t help but feel concerned for their frail bodies, minds, and hearts. Mortals were so much warmer, physically and emotionally, than the other Gods. They let their minds imagine wild scenes while their bodies rested. The Gods were so fixed in reality; humans had imagination.

His mother sighs, “Fine. But only until she can be healed.”

She stalks out of the room, leaving Yoongi alone. He pulls a stool up and watches you sleep. Your brow finally relaxes, leaving behind red creases. He smiles to himself at how helpless and frail you look. Something about your humanity excites him and makes him feel comfortable around you.

As Yoongi sits there through the dark minutes, he thinks that perhaps the reason that humans can sit with their dying loved ones and watch them sleep is because eventually they fall asleep themselves. Without the need for sleep, Yoongi sits in the chair bored for a while, and then he remembers that he has messages to take to the mortal realm. You are restless, and he worries for you but can’t just sit in that chair for the rest of the night.

He stalks out of the room to track down his brother, Taehyung - known to the mortal realm as Phantasus - to stay with the girl. He knows that Taehyung would be willing to take a night off for once, whereas his other brother, the third of the Oneiroi, would be of no comfort to him.

Yoongi existed to help humans sleep, to help them process their experiences, and to help them receive messages from the Gods. Taehyung existed to allow the humans to fully explore their imaginations, see the fantastical creatures their own minds were capable of creating if only they relaxed. Their other brother, Seokjin - known to the mortals as Phobetor - ironically delivered terrified dreams to the mortals and scared them. Though the humans learned a lot through these nightmares, Seokjin himself was so easily scared because he had seen so many terrifying things.

Yoongi spots Taehyung in the hall. Only their mother and Taehyung knew that the girl was hidden in one of the empty caves within the Palace of Hypnos. Yoongi waves his younger brother over, more frantically than he would have wished. He rolls his eyes at himself as Tae draws nearer to him, and Yoongi holds a finger over his lips.

“What?” Tae whispers.

“Do you think you can stay with the human for a while? I have some messages from Zeus to deliver, and you know how he gets when you make him wait.”

Yoongi tries to be as casual with his tone as possible. He isn’t sure why, but he wants Tae so badly to care for you. He wants his mother to stay away from you, even though she agreed to let you stay overnight. He knew that as soon as Ascelpius came and saw you, his mother would send you out alone on the mountain with no direction or supplies.

Tae smiles at him. “I’m not sure why she means so much to you, but you got it, hyung.”

Yoongi smiles slightly and claps his brother on the back. “Thank you, Taehyung! I’ll be back shortly after sun up.”

He walks quickly down the hall, leading Taehyung to you. He catches one more glimpse of your soft features in the pale candle light before he crosses through the river and waterfall out of the entrance to the Palace, and he skulks off into the night toward one of the nearby villages.