#it's somewhat funny how different yet exactly the same they are

[sacredglitch]

Prime's Fallout Spoilers below

If I had a coin for everytime Michael Emerson played a disabled character with a Belgian Malinois being hunted by some governmental figure in America, I'd have two coins, which isn't a lot but it's very wild it happened twice.

Can we make it a triple, sir?

[eccentricallygothic]

|| Back To Black ||

Pairing: Dark!Winter Soldier James Bucky Barnes | Morally Gray Princess!You. 

Description: When the Winter soldier experiments go wrong on your fiance Crown Prince James Barnes and he ends up crippled and unstable, you call the engagement off and your family proposes that the alliance can still be on if his family pairs you up with his twin brother Nick instead. But then James breaks out of the lab one night and comes straight for you, razing through everyone who stands in his way, hurt and unforgiving.

Disclaimer: I do not own James Bucky Barnes, Nick Fowler or any of the MCU characters mentioned (sadly). This story contains dark and mature content. Minors do not interact.  

Warnings: Dubcon, morally gray!reader, opportunistic reader, smut with plot, dark!Bucky, angst, winter soldier, exhibitionism, choking, hair pulling, slapping, humiliation, degradation, dumbification, manhandling, unprotected p-in-v, biting, missionary and doggy style, breeding kink, creampie, fear kink, power imbalance, Bucky's metal arm (?), pet names (rosey, baby), Daddy kink, sir kink.

Note: I think this sounds a bit unserious and somewhat goofy aah but this was exactly my idea and I don't think I could have done it any different. Please let me know what you think <3 

. 

You rolled your eyes with a scoff at something your now fiance and ex brother-in-law to be, Crown Prince Nick Barnes, said. The night was cool and you had ordered for the lights of the garden that your balcony faced to be turned down. Your silk nightgown that was dark blue in color -Nick's royal color- hung from your shoulders in the most comforting way as the skirt bit of the article swayed with the gentle breeze. You heard Nick's chuckle on the other end of the video call and before you retorted with something edgy because that was just the kind of Princess that you were, you shifted against the railing to make yourself more comfortable while still holding the phone in such a way that he could see you.

His demanding nature was not one you particularly fancied but you supposed that was the kind of liberty that came with being an actual heir. Though you couldn't help but be reminded of how although his brother -the older twin- was a much better crown prince than Nick could ever be and yet he had never made you feel inferior in status by imposing his will on you.  

It was impossible for you not to muse on the possibility that if your older sister, The actual Crown Princess of your kingdom, had been chosen by his brother instead of you, Nick would still treat her the same way and if she would put up with having to be subservient. 

"All things considered, Your Royal Highness, we are still not having a dozen children" the title never failed to sting your tongue due to how you had never had to use it for your original fiance. 

But Nick was just one of those people. 

His snort made you want to roll your eyes but you knew better than to disrespect him as the two of you shared a rather formal relationship that was quite terse around the edges. Perhaps, his brother had spoiled you too much. "I always find it amusing that you think you have a choice in–" you were busy watching the stars because you could not bear to look at him when he behaved like this. But then he abruptly changed the topic and you didn't care to express concern by glancing at the screen, "I thought you said you excused your ladies, little one" he did not appreciate being lied to; something he shared with his identical brother.  

"I did, Your Excellency" when he sighed in disapproval, you had to avert your eyes from the sky to look down at him on the screen with an air of annoyance about you. "I really–" 

"Then who is that behind you?" Nick had also been busy reading away on a tablet as he traveled somewhere -probably back to the Palace- in a vehicle but now he narrowed in on his screen. 

Your eyebrows remained flat and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes. "Ha ha, Your Highness, very funny" he had a thing for making silly jokes when he was in an agreeable mood, or at least moving towards one. 

"Y/n, I am serious" there was an urgency in his voice as he leaned closer to get a better look. "Turn around right now and tell me who is–" 

"You even wear his color now, huh rosey?" Your body took a good few moments to register the voice behind you and you nearly failed to recognize it at first. Though when your brain finally managed to make the association, your heart dropped into your stomach and your blood ran ice cold. 

You spun around on your heels so hard they ached, coming face to face with James Barnes; the original Crown Prince and your real fiance. The man who had chosen you over your sister; giving preference to you for once, the brave warrior who had surrendered his body to his country; so they could make the best protector possible out of him, the honorable fool who only wanted to do good; a hero too noble for this wretched world.

Your phone that now blared with Nick's alarmed yells slipped through your numbing fingers but James caught it before it could break against the ground. "What the hell are you doing here?" You harshly whispered as if in a defensive autopilot, overwhelmed by how he had grown three times his size. Your eyes unintentionally traveled to where his arm had gotten mutilated on an expedition and you found a metal one glinting up at you in its stead. Maybe your reaction could be considered foolish in hindsight, but the knowledge that you were utterly at this unstable man's mercy and had nothing to defend yourself with against his monstrous stature terrified you. That in turn caused you to act in the only way you thought was appropriate as you desperately hoped for your facade to affect him in a helpful way. 

"Did all those years mean nothing to you, rosey?" His face was covered in stubble and his dark hair was long as it obscured most of his features, deep voice animalistic as his black leather clad form seemed to expand and contract with each heavy breath. Your throat tightened in on itself and your breath hitched. What the hell had they really done to him? 

"You shouldn't be here, James" you looked around for your guards– anyone but found the area to be eerily silent. How had you not noticed this ominous shift in your environment before? "That is against the rules as you're endangering the future Queen and many other people" he was all about rules and that was what you had disliked most about him. "Go back" your heart was on the verge of exploding but you pushed on with as much a semblance of composed firmness as you could muster. 

Nick's threats and curses melted into the background as James coldly snorted before snatching you by your hair, fingers snaking through a tangle of the strands, the action causing you to wince. It was only when you tried to fight him back and the bustle caused the two of you to inch closer to the lighting of your chambers did his face really come into your view. Your eyes widened in horror as your hand went to clamp over the hold he had on you defensively.

His pale face was covered in blood splatters and his glossy teal eyes seemed to shake, their blown pupils crazed. 

"So it was always about the crown then, huh, rosey?" You would never have expected him to sound as hurt and betrayed in this maddened state as he did.

"You know it was" you lied through your teeth to try and get his stance to falter like it always did when you counterattacked to his affectionate advances with hostility; the only thing you had known all your life. "Nothing matters more than the crown" the world functioned on power. So you had always used and abused that you had over him; over his heart. 

"I see" except, it didn't seem to budge him much today. Your eyes desperately scanned your dark surroundings again, this time for a weapon albeit still in vain. "In that case, you should be with me, then" your eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you whimpered at how his fingers tightened around your neck. 

"James!" And then you were getting dragged back into your chambers. 

Once he had approached your bed, he placed your phone on the bedside table so a fuming Nick could clearly see whatever was about to unfold. 

Your flailing form was yanked back in frame and then held tightly in place by the clasping of his metal hand over the deep neckline of your nightgown. "Because I am all fixed up," your eyes turned to look at him in horror as he chuckled dryly, "and back to take all that's mine" you screamed and hot tears finally rushed down your flushed cheeks when your compressed breasts sprang free in the air upon his tearing a thick valley between the front piece of your gown. James only snickered into the camera while his brother screamed at him to not dare damage what was his amongst other profanities. 

But wasn't James simply repossessing what had always belonged to him in the first place? 

He had finally corrected himself in the way the world deserved. 

Now he would only live for himself like everyone else was. 

He was done getting played for a fool by all. 

"Please!" Your words fell on deaf ears as the man proceeded to further rip his brother's color off your body furiously until nothing remained in his hold except for your nudity, strong jaw nearly ticking broken due to how it was clenched as he did so. 

"Tell me, dear, did you also let him have you?" You were nearly petrified at this point both by shame and fear as he manhandled you onto the bed before crawling over you like a predator and trapping your limbs under his. "And if you dare lie to me then so God help me" his metal hand roughly fondled your breasts as his other hand tightly restrained your limp yet determined wrists above your head. 

"S- Stop!" Your back arched and you turned your face away in disgust when he started sniffing you all over like a hungry hound. 

"Hm, what about this little pussy of mine down here" a chill ran down your spine at how the crevices of his metal hand felt against your nether lips when he stroked them. "Has she forgotten her Daddy, hm?" He was the stark opposite of the man you had been engaged to and that in addition to how you had last seen him slashing at the lab assistants while speaking a language you did not understand as well as how semi-liquid crimson particles covered his face caused for a wave of pure terror to rush over you. But it was nothing compared to the chilling fact that his body heat and touch -regardless of its fashion- had awakened that one familiar feeling only he could evoke in you.

Nick went silent at James' words and you felt blood rush to your tear stained cheeks. 

Contrary to popular belief, you were not the chaste future Queen saving herself for her wedding night and King like the royal protocol demanded. 

But in your defense, the then future King, James, himself was the one who had defiled you because you were already his. And you had let him for you could act all high and mighty as you desired in front of him as well as others due to how comfortably open he had always been about his feelings for you hence presenting a very vulnerable perhaps even a subservient part of himself to you on a silver platter, but also because the man knew how to fuck.

You were addicted to how he felt against you and though you had never brought your suspicion to your lips, you had wondered for the entirety of the time your betrothal had changed to Nick whether the younger twin would ever be able to come even close to his brother. 

"Would you look at that?" His coo sounded out of place and ominous due to how the pretend softness stood out from the menace of his tone. "It doesn't seem like she has," your fingers instinctively clawed the air to try and take a hold of his hand to deal with the feeling of his bionic digits invading their way between your petals. "She still weeps and blinks up dumbly at me like a stupid slut all the same" horror filled you as you became hyper aware of Nick's eyes on you, and yet your skin began to buzz at the filthy words that still scratched you in that one way regardless of everything. "Rosey…?" It was chilling how he playfully raised an eyebrow like he wasn't covered in blood and flesh of the people that he had torn apart on his way to you, instead giving you a lazy grin as he spread your privates apart with the back of his hand. "Be honest for once and say, you didn't let him touch you, did you?" Your loins sparked to life when the tip of his finger ghosted over your entrance. "I mean, I know how demanding a whore you really are, common ways can't satisfy you and you don't waste your time on lost causes" James bent down to inch his grin closer to peer down at you and you had to turn your eyes away with a clasping shut of your lids. You had been caught. "The crown matters more than anything, huh?" Your eyes further clenched at his taunt and a shiver reverberated through you when his hot tongue darted out to swipe across the tear stains on your cheeks. 

He had promised you during your courting period that he would never allow a single tear to fall from your eyes. It seemed so that even in this state, he was determined to keep it. This way or that.

"I- I belong to someone else now." Having always been treated inferior to your sister, you refused to let go of your only chance at power. So jutting your chin out determinedly you refused to look at him and falter in your stead, for you knew it would make you cave as his face was still that of your protector and pursuer.

Because even if a woman had not the slightest preference for her admirer, the mere knowledge that she was fancied earned him a place in her heart still. 

"No, you don't" his words were stern and determined. "You were mine and you are mine" his lips trailed their way down to your neck to mark you his while one of his metal fingers penetrated your intimate band of muscles, causing you to bite back a moan as your pussy clenched defensively; hence intensifying the pleasure. "It's not your fault, really. Your little girl brain is too small to remember the difference between me and him for too long since we are identical, huh baby?" You hated how your traitorous hips betrayed you and began to move in sync with his finger. "But you don't have to worry your pretty little head about that, my sweet rosey…" His lips ghosted over your ear, hot breath fanning your alarmed skin. "I'll just claim you again to remind you" his teeth were sharp and unforgiving against your skin that had faded out the marks of his passion. "And I'll put my heir into that little womb of yours so whenever your tiny mind tries to get too silly again, my child will remind you who you belong to" he refused to acknowledge your protests at that and plopped his fingers out of you just long enough to undo his pants. "Besides," his hard cock easily found its way to your entrance, as always, "isn't procreation one of the duties of the King and the Queen?" 

It was then you realized that his transformation had been physical in every sense. 

Your eyes widened as your body jolted upwards in shock, lazed out hips now sparking up to life to almost try and get away from the cruel impaler that threatened to intrude it in a manner so devastating that the band feared a ripping of the lining. 

James snorted when your pussy refused to accept him and clenched in on itself defensively to shut him out, your petals nearly trembling in fear. "Aw, baby. How cute, you did stay faithful to me after all, huh" shaking his head when you only sobbed in response, he grunted as his huge shoulders moved to attempt an invasion yet again only to be denied. "Tsk, tsk, never learns her lesson, does she?" 

"Plea–" your words were cut off by a harsh smack resounding against your pussy lips and you jerked up and into his chest. 

"Bad pussy" he seemed to be immersed in a world of his own amusement and lust, ears deaf to your pleas while his dark eyes drank up every last drop you had to offer. "Always playing around with her Daddy" the force of his metal hand was cruel against your tender flesh when three short paced slaps came down on it in quick succession. "Thinking she has a choice, tsk" the next hit was hard and heavy. "It seems she needs to be reminded who calls the shots around here" two concluding slaps later, you were being braced for his cock again and surprisingly enough, your tense little pussy was much more compliant with receiving him this time. 

That, and the embarrassing amount of slick that had seeped through your petals as a product of the brief disciplining session. 

"You feel that, baby?" His eyes finally looked up into yours as he aligned himself along your entrance. "She's all fixed up for her Daddy now" and then he pushed in. 

"Oh!" Your back arched before you could respond since he bottomed out rudely at once, biting down on a sensitive patch of your neck the same time as when he intruded your insides. 

The thing was, it wasn't that James wasn't an experimental lover, no. The two of you had done things that you felt mortified to even think about for too long. But it had always been with proper care and vigilance because the then crown prince was very soft on you as he referred to you as his heart. So you treated him like a pet dog and trampled all over his feelings and the liberty you had found in his treatment of you; something you had never been allowed before. You were used to pulling at his strings like a puppeteer.

But now, the way he pulled and twisted you in whatever fashion that he desired… 

You never expected the rush of hot need that waved its way over you and the thick arousal that gushed out of your womb to slick his cock to be the result of his manhandling you like you were no more than a doll for him to play with. 

And then his touch that you had been deprived of for months was further blocking your intellectual faculties amongst other things. 

James' eyes fluttered close as his metal hand reached for your throat to squeeze out the remnants of your refusals. A grunt left him as he let himself reminisce as well as get overwhelmed by the velvet texture of your splotched walls. He brought his face closer to yours and groaned before pressing it into one of your cheeks to press hard, sloppy kisses all over it as his hips moved but only to press harder up your womb. 

It was James' custom invented way of getting you completely stretched out for his cock. 

… That had grown thrice its size because of his serum procedures. 

And the man had already been way bigger than the average. 

"J- Jame-s!" You gasped out, struggling to breathe. His stiff tip felt like it was beginning to penetrate something else. "P- Plea-se!"

"What do you want, huh baby?" Your features scrunched together in discomfort as you flexed your fingers again. They needed to be freed so they could hold onto something to cope with the overwhelming penetration.  

"Move…" A smirk pulled his lips apart and he opened his dark teal eyes to peer down at you, silently grunting as he pushed deeper at that. "P- Pl-ease–" your tears were starting to become hot and you could feel your nerves bulging against your forehead from the lack of oxygen. 

"Will you behave if I do?" Your toes curled as you hissed, the knee that you wanted to bring up as a way to deal with the pain trapped under his heavy thigh.

You timidly nodded because there was not much else left for you to do. It hurt, and you wanted him to move to ease the pain almost as much as you needed him to fuck you. 

James clicked his tongue in disapproval and bit down on one of your nipples in a punishing manner, making you jolt upwards in pain. "Use your words, honey." A surge of pure pleasure overwhelmed you and you moaned loudly with satisfied nods, letting him know that you were in the process of complying. 

Like you always did when he was buried balls deep in your cunt.

"So you were fucking him when he was courting you, weren't you?!" Nick was furious on the other line, feeling like a lied to fool as you had denied it when he had asked you about it. "I fucking knew it you stupid slut!" The words caused you to clench harder around James' girth as you bit your bottom lip. "I am–" he went to cut the call but a gun entered the frame to press into his temple as his car seemed to come to a halt. You heard a faint 'watch' being told to your fiance.

But for some twisted reason, the way in which Nick's livid eyes now watched you with a quiet rage caused the desire in your hips to only bubble hotter. He didn't have a choice for once and you could go against him all you pleased "I w- will behave… p-lease!" Your eyes had stuck on your fiance so James patted your cheek to redirect your attention to him. 

"Eyes on me" the demand was followed by his letting go of your wrists to snake his arms under your waist to hoist you up and in a more convenient position for his cock. You moaned as your fingers found his long hair to hold on to. 

"Y- Yes… sir" his leather jacket was coated in blood and human and you did not want yours to add to the mix. So you raked your mind and you raked it hard. "T- Thank you, sir" you rather prided yourself on your opportunistic wit. 

James chuckled darkly as he began to reel his hips back, your cavern making a loud decompression sound as a result. You found yourself sighing in relief when his hard skin unglued from yours because for a second it had begun to feel like he was stuck in your channel.

"So fucking clever even with that little brain, aren't we, baby?" Of course you could never truly fool him regardless of how good you were. 

"BUCKY! OH!" A vile whine loudly left you when he kissed your chin only to sink down his teeth into it next as his hips snapped against yours to fuck you upwards. He didn't halt this time and pulled out again to back thrust in, his movements slow but visibly desperate to speed up. "FUCK!" 

"Ah, there is that girl I raised on this cock and its milk" your chin stung when he finally let go to close his mouth on one of your cheeks now, causing you to shiver from how overwhelmed you felt by the pain in your face and the pleasure that bloomed in your pussy that was inching closer and closer to a proper pounding as result. 

"Please fuck your child in me!" It had been far too long. "Please! I need it so bad! Please fuck me full of your children so I can always remember who I belong to!" You liked how Nick watched– had to watch. It almost felt like revenge; a slap you had wanted to hit him stupid with for the longest time for making you feel so low when his brother, who was twice the man he could ever hope to be and your real suitor, never had. James' cock felt just right as he fucked you so good that you began to see neon stars. You didn't care anymore. Or at least, not in the moment. It felt as though your life depended on this release. 

Perhaps… it did.

Besides, the silence in your surroundings and gun next to Nick meant James had it covered in some way. Not that it was much of a surprise. His Kingdom had the greatest army to date and those soldiers were loyal and compliant only to him. 

"You know what's the best part about this, rosey?" Your mouth was agape as you panted and moaned through it alike, tugging at his silky strands as his ballsack clapped against the beginning of your ass before sliding into your cunt each time, the primal smell of slick, sweat and sex floating in the air around you.

"What is it, my King?" You were shameless with it, as you had always been. "Please tell me" the fake way in which you unclasped your fingers from his hair to scratch one of his cheeks with your nails made him clench his jaw as he squeezed one of your tits, pistoning his cock in and out of you even faster. 

"I know you don't mean any of this" you froze momentarily and his crooked smirk morphed into a grin. "But you will before the year's end" you went to speak but his metal hand found your clit just in time and your eyes rolled to the back of your head, nails digging into the stubble of his cheek. "I know you will" him promising you that you'd return his feelings one day wasn't anything new. He had always told you that. However, normally your response would be a roll of your eyes or simply a change of topic. But today, something dangerously final lingered in them and you had no clue why but you found yourself answering; 

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir! I will, sir!" One of his thick nerves twitched against a particularly sensitive spot in your walls the same time his tip found your special bundle of nerves and brutally collided into them, tearing out incoherent screams from deep within you. "Oh- I am– I am–"

"Don't cum" his hand disappeared from your clit and your eyes that you had subconsciously closed flung open as you begrudgingly tugged at his hair with a needy whine. "You don't deserve it" your body violently jiggled up and down in his arms as you vehemently shook your head. 

"NO! PLEASE!" If there was one thing he didn't appreciate, it was you raising your voice at him. But you couldn't help it, your build up was nearing its edge and the fear that it would topple over all wrong after such a long time scared you. Because once an orgasm was ruined, there was no coming back from it. James had taught you that one night after a ball when you had danced with someone a little too frankly. 

"No?" He was panting himself as he hugged your waist closer to his, the feeling of his cock's imprint pressing against both of your stomachs only making him slam you down harder and harder. "So you deserve it?" 

You quickly shook your head as your boobs flew about, pussy trying to close on itself out of sensitivity when his metal fist closed around your throat again. "N- No! No! I don't, sir!" Your voice altered in a humiliating manner when he squeezed and your dry throat pressed in on itself, making you cough. 

"That's right" his hand parted from your neck long enough to slap you. "Think you can just say your pathetic little pretty please and I'll forgive you for forgetting my existence the moment I wasn't good enough for you?" You sobbed out of frustration, willing your hips into squeezing themselves closer together so you could hold on from falling over. 

"No!" He slapped you again, the force causing your head to turn sideways this time around. "No, sir!" Desperately reaching for the artificial hand you pressed humiliating kisses all over it. "But it's been so long! Please, my King!" Your back arched from the strength it was taking you to keep yourself from cumming. "I need you so bad! I need it so bad!" In your confusion and oversensitivity you dropped your head against his, your knees trembling. "Only you can make me cum! I tried for months! So many times in so many different ways!" The tears of embarrassment were hotter than those of need that you had been weeping all this time. His movements faltered a little at your confession. "But nothing worked! Only you do! So please! Please let me cum! I don't know what I will do if you don't! Please let me cum and give me your babies!" 

"Only I work, huh?" His voice was eerily quiet, a new kind of dark exploding in the air about him. You vigorously nodded, genuine for once in your life. 

James' chuckle was the only thing your hazy mind registered before you were moved, twisted, turned and bent faster than you could keep up with. 

The next time your consciousness caught up with the present you were facing your phone, on your knees like an animal as your build up slowly subsided. Though your vacant pussy was plunged full soon after, your legs getting pulled apart before being hoisted up in the air by James' hand, your elbows the sole support of the upper half of your body now. 

"Tell him how badly you want to be stuffed full of my children and I'll let you have it" blood rushed to your face to bubble under the skin when your eyes locked with those of the stoic male at the same time but before you could hesitate, James cock began to move inside you although torturously slow. "You might want to hurry up, rosey. I don't have all night" the spank that his words accompanied sparked you into motion like someone pressed a button on you. 

"Please, Nick!" The thrusts sped up and your claws dug into the mattress. "I want James' children so bad!" There wasn't much emotion on the male you faced but the bright red of his ears and neck even in the dim lighting of the car indicated that he was both furious and humiliated. Perhaps even more so than you. "Please! Please ask him to stuff me full of his babies!" The more slaps rained down on your ass as your pussy expanded to welcome James balls deep inside you with each brutal thrust, the more your mouth ran on the most vile autopilot. "All I want in my life is to be fucked swollen and heavy with his children with my body wrapped up in his color while I nurse the other ones!" James cursed before his hand reached for your front to dip between your legs and you moaned before your arms gave out and you fell face first. 

"You heard her, now tell him that" as your cheek rubbed against the mattress everytime you were pounded into it, you heard a man speak to Nick. The Prince tried to protest but something– probably the gun pressing against his head caused him to stop before he gritted out a few seconds after; 

"... Fuck your children into her and wrap her swollen body in your colour, James" the man reminded him that it was King James, for whatever reason and Nick sighed before correcting himself. "Please, King James" you couldn't help the whimper that forced itself out of you at his menacing tone.

Your back arched when the frantic circular motions of his fingers became too much for your cunt to handle and you clenched around his girth again, shuddering as you prepared yourself to get in trouble for the orgasm you were about to have. 

But then your dependable luck did its thing. "Cum," the vibration of the spank buzzed through your whole body, "cum for me" as your tense muscles relaxed and you closed your eyes to let go, you felt James' hot seed explode within you, the force of his thrusts causing the cum to go flying all about. 

Your eyes fluttered shut and the only two things you registered for the next few minutes were shaking profusely while limb paralyzing pleasure exploded through you and the rapid rubbing of your cheek against the soft bed covers which was result of the brutal pounding you were receiving from behind.

When he was done with you, he slowly untucked himself from you and left you trembling on the mattress while he fixed himself up. "Natasha!" Your ears perked up at the name of his second in command and you trembled at his volume. The heavy doors to your chambers opened and closed after the woman in question. 

The red head clicked her tongue as she approached the bed, the heels of her boots faintly clicking against the floor as she walked. "Could've done better…" You jumped from how close she sounded when she spoke. "Because she's still awake" the hair on the top of your head was fisted into his metal arm to pull you up and you had to hurriedly scramble to cover your blushing jizz covered ass. 

"For what's going to happen next" you whimpered at his words as you were moved onto your trembling knees by the humiliating hold that the man had on your hair and your whole body shook under the stern woman's scrutinizing glare. Peeking up at the red head through your lashes, you went to cover yourself up but James' scold for you to stay put had you planting your wrists in your lap within the next second. "Hands down" you hurriedly lowered your head too to avoid further increasing his ire. 

Some shuffling sounded from above you before James approached you again. "Arms up, baby" the endearment must mean that you would be spared… right? You quickly complied with the utmost obedience and James placed a comfortable black gown on you before stepping back to reach for something else. 

You almost gasped when you recognized the brilliant glimmer from your peripheral vision.

His mother, The Queen's, crown.

"There you go" you felt him place it on your head and your heart dropped. "Everything you always wanted placed on that silly little airhead of yours, baby" an embarrassing gasp escaped you when he suddenly pulled you closer by your throat. "Are you happy now, my sweet rose?" Your eyes welled up with confusion and how he suddenly slapped you before pressing his lips against yours roughly. 

"He asked you a question, brat" you jumped at how Natasha spoke up suddenly, clearly fed up with you blinking up at him dumbly. 

"That's no way to speak your Queen, Nat" your heart warmed up at how he clicked his tongue at the woman disapprovingly. "Tsk." 

"Y- Yes. Yes" you nodded, still in a daze of post-orgasm sensitivity and general puzzlement at the absurd turn of events from an already shocking situation. "Yes, sir. Thank you so much." 

He was smiling now. "Good girl" before he pecked your lips and held his hand back for Natasha to hand him something else. "You can rule all of them" your face burnt when your mind registered the accessory that he wrapped around your throat next. A collar and a leash embedded with sparkling diamonds. "I just want to rule you" his metal hand rotated in the air as he wrapped the leash around his bionic digits. "Let's go" you nearly fell on your face as you were pulled off the bed before being marched straight to the heavy doors. 

Natasha opened them to reveal your entire family and staff standing mortified outside on weapon point of James' army. You whimpered and lowered your head in embarrassment until your chin touched the area between your collar bones, fingers tightening around your gown as you suddenly became hyper aware of the faint dig of the edges of the collar against your pampered skin. 

"The King has called the alliance off" Steve, your owner's right hand, announced in his firm and curt voice. "The only reason why he has spared you, I must add just this once, is because you are related to the Queen. Any efforts of contact from here on out will lead to unsavory consequences akin to those his own family has met" a chill raised in your spine as your blood dropped in temperature. Holy fucking shit. They really had made a beast out of this once too noble to be true man. "Lastly, not that any of you really care but if the Queen ever wishes to visit, she will be allowed to do so after she has provided His Highness with an heir, accompanied by some of the best that the army can provide." 

The walk out to the numerous sleek black SUVs felt like one of shame despite you wearing the crown you had always fantasized about.

And perhaps that's exactly what it was.

A balancing of the scale.

For betraying the one who loved you so dearly that even in his mindless state, he had known not to hurt you.

At least, not in a way that hadn't made your silly little pussy weep for more. 

.

Tag(s) <3: @identity2212 @tilltheendofthelinepal13 @cjand10 @ihavetwoholesforareason @myfavbuckyfics

[lovieku]

Good Luck, Babe! #2 ☆ jeon jungkook

what happens when you leave everything behind, only to be faced with it again years later? eunbi is convinced she was given another shot at keeping all she ever wanted, but it’s difficult when that all is her childhood best friend who doesn’t want to do anything with her anymore. how to earn his trust back?

☾ pairing: non idol!jk x fem!oc

☾ genre: childhood friends to strangers, friends to lovers, angst, fluff, smut

☾ word count: 9k +

☾ warnings: alcohol consumption. explicit language. underage drinking. this whole thing is fluff vibes imo. like jk is just a little loser who misses his best friend. gureum debut! i love this dog so much he deserves his own one shot.

☾ author’s note: hello !!! i hope this chapter isnt too slow for u guys.. i like this pace tho! we r starting to get to know our ggukkie better. but we’ll get to eunbi too! oh also, theres little hints that help understanding the timeline of the whole story so 👩🏻‍💻 thank u for ur time!!

ps : dal = moon in korean; boreumdal = full moon in korean. it’ll be useful as you read hehe.. ok bye!

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two ⋆ ribs

The first time Jeongguk got drunk, it was with his best friend. At the age of 15, the number of coming-of-age movies he had consumed with her by his side was more than he could count on both his hands and feet, never having enough of getting lost in a world that seemed so entrancing yet far. Not only because his age wasn’t exactly the one depicted in those films, but mainly because Busan didn’t offer such scenarios. Jeongguk was continuously inspired by those, so much so that he’s confident when admitting it was exactly that genre which got him to take directing and film production not only as a silly dream, but as an ambition. No matter how crazy it sounded to everybody’s ears, he wanted to follow that path, because only then he could translate his wild and eager imagination into somewhat of a concrete, tangible reality.

Having Eunbi by his side was only a bonus. At the end of every movie, after impatiently but silently waiting for the credits to roll (she knew Jeongguk took those very seriously, almost as a ritual), she would vomit every single thought she had harboured regarding what she had just watched and Jeongguk felt seen. His same hunger was reflected in his best friend’s eyes, and words, and passionate gestures when yearning for those experiences. The only difference was that, if Jeongguk was content with only jotting down their endless brainstorming after a long session of movie watching for future ideas that he hoped he could bring to the big screen, Eunbi was longing to bring those to life.

”I really wanna get drunk,” she whined in the older boy’s ears while munching on some remaining snacks, attentively observing Jeongguk’s skilled hand doodling what looked like two people watching the sunset on a beach. With time, he got used to staying focused on whatever task he was leading even with the girl going on about whatever passed her mind, but this time he released a chuckle and let his pencil roll down the couch, shifting his attention to his sulky friend.

“Why would you want that?” He said with a curiously amused expression, entertained by the pout on the girl’s face while she took his sketchbook and delicately traced the beer bottles he had scribbled earlier.

10 Things I Hate About You had been the current topic of discussion, being the last of three movies they had watched that afternoon and the one that Eunbi liked more. She couldn’t stop geeking about how cool Kat was and how she wanted to be her when she grew up. Jeongguk thought her little moment of admiration was funny, and let her go about it, “Everybody says it’s bad for your health and bla, bla, then why would they make it look so exciting?”

For the first time since their five years of friendship, Jeongguk thought of himself as the more rational one of the pair. Even if older (by one year), he had always been a bit childish around her and seemed to need his best friend to scold him with her witty, book-obsessed vocabulary. Thus, saying he was surprised by Eunbi’s claims would be an understatement. It was like the roles had switched when he said, “Well, it’s fiction. It’s supposed to be exciting.”

In response, he got the same glare he would reserve for her anytime she would tell him off for his immature behaviour, with an addition of an eye roll and an even sulkier expression, emphasised by her crossed arms. The boy giggled at her disappointment and snatched his sketchbook back from her hands, retrieving the pencil from where it had been buried under the cushions so he could resume his earlier activity.

However, the sudden silence was unsettling. It gave him a moment to realise he had never really been surrounded by quiet when hanging out with his neighbour. The Converse-lover girl would always fill any empty space with words, thoughts, songs, even random sounds made with her mouth, or hands. He was not sure if he should be thankful for such unusuality or if he should search for hints that could be hidden behind her odd quietude.

He went for the latter, and he was proved right when he lifted his head from his drawing and found his friend torturing her lower lip with her front teeth, staring into the void with narrowed thinking eyes. When she noticed his gaze on her, she exchanged eye contact and, unable to hide it longer, a mischievous smirk made its way to her mouth. Jeongguk shook his head, “You’re not seriously considering-“

”I’m just saying!” Her talkative self was back, sitting cross-legged on the couch and fully facing Jeongguk, trying to get him to direct his whole attention to her, “Dancing on a table seems fun…”

Jeongguk scoffed, amused by the way this one movie seemed to have had a huge impact on Eunbi’s running imagination, which he was very familiar with but, as he was having this conversation, he doubted if there was more he needed to discover, “Do you realise Kat was about to fall-“

”And! Got saved by hot Heath Ledger. Twice!” Jeongguk was used to being interrupted, especially when the conversation was about one of the girl’s favourite topics. He didn’t know Heath Ledger was on that list, though. He frowned, “You think he’s hot?”

Her response was as simple as a Duh!, making the boy feel stupid for questioning what seemed to be an ultimate truth. He rolled his eyes and went back to doodling meaningless details that would complete the image that had been clouding his mind, only for his shoulder to be shaken by a whiny Eunbi, “That was not the point. I’m telling you I wanna drink alcohol.”

Jeongguk snorted, taken aback by the unexpected outburst of confidence, then widened his already big eyes at her, signalling to quiet down, “My mom is literally in the next room.” That only got the daring girl to shrug her shoulders, eyebrows raised, and expecting an answer to her admission.

The older one sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed and contemplating. His meditation was interrupted by his determined friend rocking his body back and forth by the sleeve of his t-shirt, in hopes of getting what she wanted. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but figured Jeongguk could find a solution for her. Said boy tried to get the constant pulling to stop, only when it wouldn’t he could only lightly push the younger one away, knowing it would cause a huge reaction. And not even three seconds after, she laid down and acted as if her arm was broken, and her whole body severely injured, faking cries and whines. Jeongguk laughed, “What do you want me to do? Where would I even get it?”

It’s like she was waiting for that exact question, because the moment it was asked her acting immediately came to an end, as she lifted her body up again and sat straight on her heels, “Your dad has a whole collection of random bottles. He won’t notice if one is missing.” The quick response sounded strangely rehearsed, and Jeongguk furrowed his brows.

A smile danced on his lips at seeing his best friend trying not to break too and instead maintain a serious composure, wanting to make her intentions clear and unmoved. Jeongguk was surprised at her sudden resolution, figuring it must not have been so sudden after all, ”How long were you keeping this inside?”

”Literally forever,” she eventually broke, releasing a long breath, her body bending down with it but then regaining its straight posture, resuming her Convincing-BFF-To-Get-Drunk plan, “Movie was the last straw. Please Ggukkie?” She mustered her best puppy eyes and Jeongguk narrowed his, unbelieving of all the tactics she was using to get to her goal.

”No.” He strangely managed to sound firm, despite Eunbi insisting and now deepening her pout, making it hard for the boy to deny her request, “Dad will kill me.”

”I’m sure he won’t notice,” the way she was talking made it sound like she knew exactly what needed to be done, as if she was explaining something as obvious as Heath Ledger being hot. The look in her best friend’s eyes, however, let her know he wasn’t fully on her side yet, so she came up with something unexpected even to herself, as proved by her dubious expression after uttering out, “I will also steal a few beers from mom.”

Jeongguk fully broke out laughing then, nose scrunching and eyes squeezing, hand over his belly while muttering something close to You’re insane, and that went on for a minute, the reaction carrying at seeing his neighbour being as serious as ever, not even hinting a smile (even if she was doing her best to suppress it).

When the chuckles eventually came to an end, the brown-haired boy shook his head and went back to his drawing, leaving the girl incredulous at being ignored like that by who she thought would always be her Number One Supporter. She gasped, mouth hanging. Jeongguk smirked amusedly, seeing her through his peripheral vision, “What?”

The younger one whined and fussed on the couch, impatient with Jeongguk being seemingly impossible to convince but stubborn with wanting to make him agree. When not even her begging worked, going ignored as everything else she was doing, she sat silently just following Jeongguk’s hand on the paper. The boy thought it was over, until Eunbi let her mind speak again, this time more spontaneously, “You know, this thing you’re drawing, it could be reality. Not just film reality, I’m talking about us two drunk on the Busan beach, enjoying everything it has to offer. Can you really resist it?”

Eyebrows wiggling and a mischievous smile on her face, Jeongguk knew he was being difficult just because, the idea of getting drunk with his best friend had sounded inviting right from the start. Little by little, he was breaking, still hesitating when he admitted, ”Busan beach doesn’t sound that exciting but… Yeah, that would be pretty cool.”

At that, the girl’s eyes went sparkling, hopeful of finally winning her battle, ”That would be suuuper cool! C’mon, Ggukkie.”

Her hands were back on his shoulder, shaking him with less vigour this time but still making the boy giggle, “How would that even work-“

”We sneak out.” Once again, her rapid reply sounded so sure, it almost scared Jeongguk. He wanted to laugh again, but something in the girl’s expression made him hold back, slowly being persuaded by her convincing tactics, “I got everything planned. Let’s put the movie brainstorming aside and keep the get-drunk plan brainstorming going and I’ll tell you exactly how we’ll move through it.”

Jeongguk hesitated. The light in her eyes made him put the doubts to the side, ”Alright.”

That same night, they put the plan into action. It wasn’t too thought-out, but Eunbi had a way with words that made anything sound magical and captivating, just as those directors Jeongguk admired could depict their young age in a way too fascinating vision. They had decided to sneak out of their windows at 1 a.m., and before that, they would get their hands on what they had agreed and figured would get them drunk enough: whatever hard liquor attracted the boy more out of his dad’s collection, and two beer bottles from Eunbi’s fridge.

Both of them were clumsy with their actions. If they had to complete this initial part being together, the whole plan would have failed with how much one would have laughed at the other, and vice versa. Jeongguk made the bottle clink with another, while his best friend in the house next to his closed the fridge too hard, causing uncalled-for noise. The sounds were amplified by the quiet of the night, making the youngsters awkwardly stand still for a second, terror-stricken in hopes they wouldn’t get caught. What followed after was hastily placing the contents in their backpack and waiting some more by their window, ensuring no odd movement was heard from their parents’ room. When everything seemed under control, they nimbly climbed out, landing on their feet.

The first to appear outside was the younger one. With every fast and speedy beat of her heart, she felt it coming up her throat. All her senses were ten times stronger at that moment, and she could feel a jittery sensation travel through her whole body, running in her veins and seemingly unstoppable. She tried to, by harshly biting her lip and clasping a hand over her chest. Where the heck was Jeongguk? And why was she so cold? She wished telepathy existed, as she hoped with all her might that her friend had brought a jacket she could steal.

When a minute passed and there was no sight of the older boy, she felt utterly betrayed, and tried to come up with any excuse that could justify Jeongguk’s delay: there were none. If she could make noises she would whine, both the cold and the wait being unbearable.

Jeongguk appeared seconds later, looking like a deer caught in headlights as his feet landed on the ground with a stomping sound. Eunbi couldn’t help the snort escaping her mouth, quickly clasping a hand over it while the boy made his way to her with big eyes and his pointer finger laying over his lips, demanding absolute silence.

The two didn’t utter a single word until they were at a safe distance from their houses, and when they looked back and noticed how those were becoming smaller with each step they took, the smiles on their faces grew bigger. The girl in her Converses giggled and incredulously shook his friend’s arm, “What. The. Heck. We did it!”

Jeongguk let a nervous chuckle escape his lips, sharing that same excitement mixed with tension that he could feel oozing from his best friend, now hanging from his arm, “We did it. Now, where do we go from here?”

“Trust me, Gguk. I told you I know my way,” once again, the younger one managed to sound convincing enough, and Jeongguk let himself put his whole trust in her, too agitated to argue. However, Eunbi expertly noticed the unusual edginess in her friend’s nodding and lost gaze, so using the time it took to get to the beach through the route she knew best, she let out every single thought that passed her mind. Just as the dynamic between them was often like, but this time it served as a way to distract Jeongguk; and it did. The boy chuckled there and then at various comments, adding to them too. He laughed loudly when Eunbi admitted she brought some strawberries and water, just in case, and called her a dumbass. They then proceeded to have a meaningless argument about it, all while he took note of how the girl’s skin seemed to prickle with the soft wind, and laid his hoodie on her shoulders. They had a subtle way of caring about each other, which nonetheless never went unnoticed, but still not really mentioned.

1 a.m. was dark, darker than they’d ever witnessed, and if it wasn’t for the tall buildings behind them, the beach would have been completely surrounded by obscurity. The closer they got to the sea, the more the moon also helped reduce such blackness, with its light reflecting in the water. The pair sat down on the sand, picking the spot they had claimed as theirs during one of their many beach days on the hottest days of summer. There wasn’t much talking now, both of them eager to start the final and main part of the plan, but none of the two brave enough to break the seal.

Eunbi wrapped herself around Jeongguk’s hoodie, her knees to her chest and her chin to her knees, observing the boy sitting by her side with a playful smile dancing on her lips. Her nose scrunched tenderly when he reciprocated it, and her voice was suddenly small, “You want a strawberry?”

”You dragged me all the way over here to eat strawberries?” He chuckled at the girl’s out-of-character embarrassment and lightly shoved her shoulder, getting a lively giggle out of her. She shrugged, putting up her best innocent act, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jeongguk didn’t say anything while he unzipped his backpack and took the main character of the night out, a bottle of Absolut Vodka, the one that had scared the boy less out of the whole collection, its liquid clear like water and seemingly free from danger. Who knows, maybe it also tastes like water.

He was proved wrong not much later, when he brought his mouth to the rim and gulped the first sip, its burning taste firing up his throat, then extending to his chest and finding home in his stomach. Jeongguk emitted a loud groan, eyes squeezing shut with the force of the foreign feeling, and distanced himself from the bottle to cough. The younger one had watched the whole scene with big eyes, unconsciously following every movement of his with her head, attentively studying his reaction and then laughing at his disgusted expression. She stole the bottle from his hands and repeated the same actions.

Unexpectedly, she accepted the sensation much better than the older one, only shaking her head fast in hopes the liquid would go down rapidly, and then taking another huge gulp right after. Jeongguk snatched the bottle from her hold to clasp it to his chest, his brows furrowed, “Woah, slow down there.”

”If I focus on how shit it tastes, I will never get drunk. Let me finish it,” her eagerness triggered Jeongguk’s competitive side, bringing him to swallow down a bigger amount than he had seen her sip, gulping loudly and then standing still, as if to prove a point. See? It doesn’t affect me either, that’s what his eyes were screaming. Of course, Eunbi didn’t back out, a silent race starting between the two the moment she claimed the bottle again and looked him right in the eyes while drinking. Jeongguk laughed too loudly, but he couldn’t control it, “That’s how it is?”

In between sneers and roasts, the competition went on until Eunbi announced her whole world was spinning, and the liquid covered a little less than half of the bottle. Jeongguk felt irrational contentment brimming his mind, making his body feel light yet still shaken by adrenaline. Unlike his friend, he could at least form coherent sentences, though. He had regulated the amount of alcohol he was ingesting, so that he could ensure one of them could still lucidly operate in case anything happened. He had also pulled the bottle away from Eunbi’s mouth multiple times whenever she would overdo the quantity she was drinking, but he figured it still affected her way more than it did him.

Indeed, a whole 10 minutes had passed of her munching on those strawberries she just had to take with her while walking in circles around Jeongguk’s sitting figure. Before going on that ritual-like path, she had also tried one of the two canned beers, and the littlest sip of it had made her declare it as the worst beverage on earth. Jeongguk didn’t mind it, surely liked it more than the clear vodka, but made sure to empty the opened can and hide the other in his backpack, in case his very tipsy friend wanted to try some more.

From his sitting position, he looked at her grinning when she would share bitten pieces of the red fruit with him, while still keeping up the constant walking and the random babbling. In the midst of it, she would also laugh to herself, and then resume her muttering, making the boy laugh as well with no exact knowledge of what she was saying. He just went along with it, didn’t get what was so funny but figured he was too tipsy to entertain meaningful conversation.

As he kept observing her, he saw her look up at the sky, the movement too fast for her spinny head, “Ouch.” She squeezed her eyes shut and quickly reopened them, only to be welcomed by black patches appearing and disappearing from her vision. Then, the starry sky is what she saw; the moon was next. She laughed at that too, spinning around a few times with her arms wide open.

Jeongguk does find a reason to laugh along with her now, his friend acting too silly his heart feels content just watching her, ”You look so dumb. What are you even doing?”

Giggles are her first response, followed by her suddenly sitting down on the sand, on the spot next to him. Jeongguk noticed some of the strawberry juice had dripped down her chin, so he cleaned it carefully with his thumb until there was none. She hiccuped, “Gguk, I think- I think I love the moon.” The sudden admission was out of context, but he accepted it. A little over an hour had gone by at that point, but once again she assumed the position she was in when they first arrived, knees to her chest and chin to her knees, with that same soft smile directed at him, only with sleepier eyes.

With the hand that was already close to her face, the older one moved some of the locks that were blocking her vision, then gently placed them behind her ear. He melted at the pleased expression on her face, her eyes gently closing. Jeongguk had always felt a sense of protection in her regards, just like a brother would to her sister. He wasn’t much older than her, but he still felt like he needed to be someone Eunbi could lean on and look up to. He followed along, nodding, “Yeah? You do look like the moon.” The tender moment seemed to have been interrupted by his comment. Her soft smile was replaced by a frown. Huh? Did he say something wrong?

With Jeongguk seated next to her, she turned to fully face him (the fast movement probably causing her head to hurt again) and furrowed her brows, “You do realise that’s not a compliment,” the same confused expression was now mirrored on her friend’s face, so she kept explaining, “You’re saying my face is round and puffy.”

The boy sitting cross-legged also fussed so he could be directly in front of her, facing the tipsy girl when he smirked, “Your face is round and puffy, Bee.” The grin turned into a full laugh when she hit his shoulder with a stronger force than usual, making him stumble. At that, she shoved him again, intent on making him fall on his back.

”What the hell? No, it’s not.” When she realised how weak alcohol was making her, she backed down from her mission and instead sat on her heels and crossed her arms, annoyed by the stupid smile on his face. She narrowed her eyes, “If anything, you look like a coconut. Fuck you.”

The boy feigned his shock, the act quickly being revealed by his uncontrollable giggles. The alcohol was getting her way sassier, and she was already too mouthy for his liking. Still, he was never intimidated by that, instead living off these moments just to make fun of her and wind her up further, “Should I call you Dal? My little Boreumdal?” His sickeningly sweet mocking voice was aggravated by his tickling under her armpit. She swatted him, “You’re being disgusting. I’ll throw up everything I drank on you.”

”I dare you Dal,” he wiggled his eyebrows and shortly after he figured that was the last teasing comment he could allow himself to throw at her before being pushed fully to the ground this time and receiving harmless punches on his stomach, which made him burst into lively laughter. The sand was getting in his hair and all over his clothes, but he didn’t care, his only goal being winning the nth fight between them, “Ouch, Dal stop-“

“Don’t call me that!” She was fully screaming at him now, her vodka breath fanning over his face while she kept tossing him on the sand, giggling along, “Stupid coconut.” Between laughs and jabs she didn’t realise how close they got, Jeongguk also working his way to free himself from his spot on the ground, resulting in her determined attitude trying to block him by sitting on his stomach and pushing his shoulders down.

However, when she felt his hands on her wrists, the contact triggered sudden awareness in her mind, registering the compromising position they were in, her whole face changing colour. With her movements being haltered, Jeongguk also seemed to notice the quick change in her expression. After a moment of silence, of her staring big-eyed in his starry eyes, a tipsy 15 year old Jeongguk could only come up with, “This is the first time I’m seeing a red moon.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

It’s the echo of her voice, yelling Shut up! in his face that startles him awake. When he takes in his surroundings, he relaxes in the bed again. Jeongguk was right when he predicted how hard the simple act of falling asleep would have been, following being so close to the cause of his nightmares after years. He checks the time displayed on his phone, 6:08 a.m. His alarm isn’t set to go off for another hour. Sighing, he’s aware trying to get some more sleep after it had failed to find him would have been useless, reason why he goes on a staring contest with the ceiling.

It becomes a canva for his running mind, which projects the last image that he saw behind his closed eyelids: Eunbi’s face being centimetres to his, her head crowned by a shining white full moon. He’s unconscious of the smile creeping up on his mouth, but when he feels its sides twitch it turns into a deep frown. He hates his own brain for doing this to him, but is also aware the girl coming back so strong and unexpected in his life played a huge role.

It’s not like he was ever confident with the possibility of fully forgetting about her. How does one forget about the moon? But he could still say he had done a great job at keeping her locked in one dark room in the back of his mind; until not more than three months ago, when she showed up beside Dahye, her big smile greeting the rest of the group, but breaking in pieces when she spotted him. Had it been such a disgrace for her?

Jeongguk can’t blame her if she felt like that, because after an initial, very brief moment of surprise, excitement and sparks, he was surrounded by doom. It had been gruelling battling against the kid inside him, probably confused as to why his first instinct wasn’t to hug his Dal. It’s as if that version of him got stuck right in the place he was left, and when he saw her again he wished to pick up from where they had stopped, never having gotten closure. Last night would be an example: the urge to keep an eye out for her, care for her safety. It’s like telling a child Santa Claus isn’t real, and watching his world break. But Jeongguk needed the kid in him to be faced with the truth badly, before a light gets switched on in that dark room of his brain he keeps her in, and next thing he knows she finds the key to open it and escape.

That truth being the fact that everything changes, and people do too. Although, compared to the first time he saw her drunk, he wouldn’t say there were any changes: she would still mutter incoherent nonsense under her breath, and laugh for no apparent reason. And it had the same effect on him, pure amusement and adoration. But this time, he couldn’t let himself indulge in it.

Jeongguk can’t stand his brain being manipulated so easily by his heart, and rather having to sit helpless while witnessing such conflict, he figures he can start his day ahead and get up from his bed. What awaits him is a train journey to Busan in exactly two hours. With summer break starting, he had concluded he could use the most of it to be with his parents, starting by the weekend ahead. He’s fairly excited to be in his hometown again after months, and with the way his mind has been taking him back in time through the memories, he finds it funny how he used to depreciate Busan and fantasise about Seoul, when right now he would do anything to not be surrounded by the capital’s chaos. You truly never know what you have until it’s gone.

Jimin, being also from Busan, had offered to drive him there and go with him, but Jeongguk refused. He’s aware his best friend was just being nice, a leading characteristic of his nature, since he also knows Jimin doesn’t really enjoy being back in his city, and tries to stay away from it as much as he possibly can. The blonde had opened up once to his flatmate, admitting how home wasn’t really that for him. Seoul was his one and only occasion to escape it; he loved it here, and had finally built what felt closest to a home. The fact that Jeongguk is part of it makes his heart swell with joy.

He’s as quiet as ever while he packs the last things in his backpack and exits the flat, making sure the door isn’t shut too loud so as not to wake Jimin, who’s probably going to suffer from the worst hangover as soon as he opens his eyes. Still, the brown haired boy now wearing a baseball hat over his head shoots his friend a text to let him know he’s left the house. A cheeky Don't miss me too much :p is sent after that.

Considering he still has a significant amount of time left before the train leaves (more than he had deduced yesterday, when he had set his alarm at 5 a.m. for 7 a.m. and had gotten even less sleep than that) he picks walking to the station over taking the bus, in fear if he sits anywhere he will fall into deep slumber due to his single hour of sleep and fuck up his whole getaway plan. The walk contributes to waking his senses and shaking off the weariness, his mind finding it especially hard after the previous hours spent in the small suffocating club, swimming in the smell of alcohol and weed, and being surrounded by blasting music.

When he gets to his destination, there’s still 30 minutes left before the train arrives. He sighs while he sits on a bench by the platform, and waits. Two cigarettes later, he figures there’s nothing else he can do but put his earphones to use and play the first album in his recently played. When not even Twenty One Pilots’ Vessel can avert his eyes from batting until they’re slowly closing, Jeongguk forces himself into a staring contest with the nothingness, in hopes the illusion of having to win a fight keeps him awake. Until even then his vision starts to unfocus, and in his zoned out state he feels like passing out on that same bench.

His phone is his last resort, mindless scrolling on social media apparently the only activity capable of avoiding his mind from completely shutting down. When he gets to Instagram, rather than checking the new posts on his feed, he clicks on Dahye’s story popping up as the first one of the list. Stories are a fairly new feature to the app, but he soon came to learn how much his friend loved it, documenting every piece of her life through them. What he didn’t expect, and surely didn’t need, was her recent updates to be a rundown of Eunbi’s recovery from her drunken state last night: firstly, a close up of her baby face, with cheeks covered by smudged mascara and what looked like tears, and a pout so pronounced with furrowed eyebrows; soon after, a sneaky shot of the girl completely bent over the toilet, almost hugging it, Dahye captioning it with her new BFF!; then, an hour later, Eunbi peacefully sleeping surrounded by all sorts of pillows and plushies. Dahye ended the small series with a short apology to her roommate, adding i love u @song_eunbee hehe.

When he realises the unconscious, dumb, stupid, smile on his face, he jerks his head up and shuts his phone, violently shoving it in his sweatpants pocket. Blinking a few times, he also notices how he quite literally almost missed the train, only then registering it had stopped in front of him and was ready to depart again. Jeongguk quickly gathers his stuff and makes his way onto the train, searching for any seat that is close to a window overlooking the outside. He thinks if he can focus on the view for the rest of the ride, he’d be able to shut off the urge to go on a three hour Instagram spiral. He knows he’s so wrong when not even two minutes in, he physically can’t stop his hands from retrieving his phone and looking up song_eunbee on the app’s search bar.

He’s relieved when he clicks on the first account that pops up and finds out it’s not private. In her profile picture her face is half covered by her hand, but the dimple adorning her cheeks doesn’t hide the fact that she’s smiling. He’s welcomed by quite a few posts, varying from landscapes, friends, family, baby photos, random kittens on the streets, club nights, and some selfies. He learns she’s pretty big on Ariana Grande and that she still loves the moon, as confirmed by the crescent moon emoji being the only thing in her bio. He can’t help but foolishly wonder if looking at it at night makes her even subconsciously think of him, and the fact that he kept calling her that nickname even after her protests. A handful of the pictures on her feed portray the moon too, and one of them is captioned with Kat Stratford’s unmistakeable monologue: but mostly i hate the way i don’t hate you; not even close; not even a little bit; not even at all.

Jeongguk was right when he predicted he would be a victim of an Instagram spiral, because for the next hour he studies her posts more attentively, the people she tagged, the people in her comments, the places she visited, the quotes in her captions. He is so consumed by curiosity, and maybe something more (awfully close to envy, anger and misery) that he doesn’t even notice the sleepiness completely dissipating from his body, his mind now running to connect every single pin on the imaginary board his own brain had offered for him to better analyse her account.

Until, after being extremely careful for the entire endless minutes spent on her profile, he accidentally clicks on her story and before he can react, he’s left to stare at the picture until the 15 seconds finish. He blinks. Keeps his eyes shut for a few seconds. Reopens them. Clicks on the story again. Only one side of her face is showing, and beside it it’s her middle finger, on top of it FUCK YOU @dahye.lee96 !!!!!

He shuts off his phone and puts it on his lap, squeezing it in his hand from time to time. He takes deep breaths every one minute. Considers deleting his account, or his whole existence. He doesn’t know what to do with himself now, his eyes closing but not with the intent to sleep. He’s trying to block his flow of thoughts, unsuccessfully.

The incident haunts him for the rest of the trip, causing him to check his phone constantly and contemplating flushing it down the train’s toilet. Only when he sets foot in Busan’s station he’s able to distract himself from it. He sports a boyish smile when he sees his parents’ car parked outside, and bashfully lets himself be coddled by his mom’s praises and his dad’s content grin before driving away. He’s almost 21, most people his age feel too grown for this type of affection, but he will never deny it. That’s enough for him to stop worrying about his earlier slip. It’s still in the back of his mind, though.

Opening the door to his childhood home, he’s greeted by a fawning Gureum, his tail wagging so hard his whole body moves with it. The white Maltese has been the family dog for almost six years now, and giving him a new life after rescuing him from a shelter had cured Jeongguk’s loneliness and heartbreak; he hopes it did the same to the dog. He blocks out all kinds of noises and questions from his mom while he spends the first ten minutes in his house entertaining Gureum’s zoomies, using a sickeningly sweet tone that is only reserved for the small pet. To the point Gureum almost looks like he’s had enough of being called a good boy, feels like he can confidently reply to who’s the best boy ever? with the correct answer. Me! He just barks.

After settling his stuff and catching up with his parents on university and life in Seoul (he doesn’t mention that Eunbi is a new entry in his friend group, yet) he spends the whole morning in between naps, sleepiness eventually catching onto him. He dozes off after lunch, his tummy full and content with his mom’s cooking, which he had dearly missed, and ends up sleeping for more than intended. Next thing he knows, it’s 5 p.m. and it takes him some time to readjust to the reality surrounding him. He drags his feet to the kitchen to retrieve a snack, only to sit again, this time on the couch, Gureum finding home on his lap. The sleepyhead is close to spacing out again while munching on some Peperos, until his dad asks for help, his voice coming from upstairs.

Jeongguk finds out his most recent obsession has been decluttering, and that’s what he was called over for. His dad had collected old stuff that belonged to Jeongguk in two boxes with the intention of getting rid of it, but he still wanted to make sure there was nothing his son still needed, or valued. The boy is glad for such consideration the moment he spots his old Samsung camcorder in between worn plushies and damaged toy cars. He can’t imagine what would have happened if he wasn’t there; he figures the camera would have probably got thrown away, with his dad’s eagerness. He gets sensitive over it, entertaining a small argument with his father about it and forgetting the task he was supposed to complete, instead returning to his room to check on the camera’s contents.

Leaving the door ajar, he can still hear his dad’s faint voice calling for him and asking for truce, and even if Jeongguk’s little fit of anger is already over, he is too enthralled by the device to acknowledge any other sound around him. It had been a while since he last picked it up, not only because ever since he started university the boy had managed to afford better equipment for his short films and casual moments of inspiration, but also because what is stored in there could potentially break the thin line of sanity he has been walking on for the past weeks.

The first videos he’s met with make him chuckle, his big 10 years old eyes reflecting in his equally wide 20 years old ones, still sharing that same love for filming and blabbering on about his passions and ideas. With time, the contents captured by the camcorder changed, from video diaries of family trips and shared meals, to dramatic storytellings starring any toy that could be put to use. He can see the exact moment he began developing a bigger interest for directing, and his various attempts at finding new original shots and angles put a sweet smile on his lips.

Until, one particular clip marked an important switch, and the introduction of who soon after became the main subject for the rest of the images filmed on the device. From the moment she met him, Eunbi had been a constant presence anytime he would hit record on the camera. Their very first encounter is documented by it, when Jeongguk had forgotten to stop the recording, too startled by the sudden changes occuring right in front of his eyes; nevertheless, it resulted in a pure, authentic fragment that he’d never been able to replicate. There is no way to, the earliest smile she directed at him was captured by those lenses, and that started everything which followed.

He can spot the point in which they eventually got tired of making up stories to play out through their toys, even with the addition of Eunbi’s impressive Barbie collection. They also tried replacing the dolls with their own selves, but changing outfits and makeup for every single clip was only fun for a short while. Four episodes later, the both of them left the telenovela they had started taping unattended, and looked for a new reality to portray, even if it was always only for their own eyes and enjoyment.

Jeongguk was searching for something more simple than cliffhangers and plots. He now remembers how even his little self would always go back to that initial scene that saw them together for the first time, Eunbi’s small voice greeting the camera with the sun beginning to set behind her. He wanted his shots to be characterised by that same unadulterated, filtered feeling.

That is most probably what led him to start a documentary about their friendship, just what he had said behind the lenses while his best friend tilted her head to the side, sporting a confused look on her features, unaware of Jeongguk zooming in and out on her face (which probably got Eunbi to yell at the top of her lungs later on), “Was I unaware of you being a National Geographic reporter?”

“Are you calling yourself a beast?” Jeongguk could be heard chuckling in the microphone at Eunbi’s incredulous reaction. That was how it would always go between them, a constant back and forth to battle on who had the last word in. The girl just scoffed, clearly scrambling to find a quick reply, but only managing to roll her eyes with crossed arms and muttering something close to says you. It seemed the older one was ahead, for now.

Jeongguk grins at everything that follows next, and he tells himself it’s because he’s amused by his younger self’s manners, but it’s not like those were the main subject of his shots. He quickly comes to terms with the fact that if he wants to keep scrolling through the videos, he’d have to be constantly faced with Eunbi; there is really no way of escaping it. Jeongguk had underestimated the amount of clips portraying her, to the point the idea of a documentary seemed more like an excuse to film his friend. Make her his first muse. It was Eunbi playing, doing her hair, secretly trying on her mom’s clothes, blowing candles on her birthday cakes, revising for tests, baking Christmas cookies, coming up with friendship jingles; and everytime, she seemed so natural, as if being in front of a camera was all she was ever created for. She insisted she always wanted to be a teacher, though. He wonders if that changed.

He doesn’t know how much time he spends crouching on his desk with the recorder in his hands, but he knows it has to be hours when he gets to a close up of Eunbi’s face, her sleepy eyes and sheepish smile immediately taking him back to the night that infested his dreams hours earlier in his bed, his assumption being confirmed when he can see the sand extending behind her figure. At that point, he figures the relatively small amount of alcohol they had drank had already dissipated from their bodies, only leaving them feeling hazy, but in a good way. The wind makes it hard to decipher their slurry dialogue, and he misses the reason why Eunbi suddenly stole the camera and pointed the lenses at him. It makes him realise how little he showed himself in front of those. His timid smile probably gives out why: contrary to his friend, he wasn’t a natural. Still isn’t. He works better behind them.

He rewinds the clip a few times, curious as to what they were talking about. He can faintly hear Eunbi mention how that scenario looked so much like the drawing Jeongguk was working on that same afternoon. He doesn’t remember what it was, wishes he still had it. Then, the girl balanced the camcorder on the half empty bottle of vodka and stood, struggling to bring the older boy up with her. Now next to each other, Eunbi looked like she was instructing Jeongguk how to pose, and he figures she was trying to recreate that same doodle. She laughed hard when the boy shoved her, visibly annoyed with being moved around, more so with the girl seemingly repeating something again and again in his face. Her voice got louder, but the recording couldn’t quite catch it. From her lip movement, it looked like she was saying Put this in your movie! Put this in your movie! Jeongguk giggles. Was he already working on something? He wishes he could return to that moment to know, and maybe stay there for some more just because.

The boy is startled by sudden soft knocks on his door, jerking his head up and placing the camera on the desk, his hands sweaty from holding it for such an endless amount of time. He hums, signalling to come in, and he smiles when it’s his dad timidly peeking out and lifting his brows expectantly. Jeongguk giggles, “Dad, I forgive you.”

The older man sighs with way too much energy, exaggerating his relief and then coming to his son’s side. He smiles, ruffling his hair, “Are you hiding a girlfriend from us? This thing keeps going off,” handing him his phone, he cackles when he sees Jeongguk’s panicked expression. He must have left it on the couch earlier. And what does his dad mean with “girlfriend”? Phone going off? Does this have to do with him viewing Eunbi’s story? Is she publicly shaming h-

“Anyways. Dinner is almost ready, Gguk.” His dad pats the still alarmed boy’s shoulder and exits the room. As soon as Jeongguk hears the door close, he dashes himself on the phone and unlocks it. It keeps pinging with texts from his friends’ group chat, but there’s no new notification from Instagram. He releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding, but his relief is short lived when he comes up with another thought: was he that irrelevant to Eunbi? She didn’t even think of requesting his account? He frowns.

His initial idea was to quickly scroll over the messages as to join his family downstairs, positive it was probably just going to be either Seokjin sharing awful unfunny memes or Hoseok updating the group on the next possible catastrophe looming over human beings. He furrows his brows when, instead, he’s met with the whole group chat coming at Jimin, for no apparent reason, after his own name was mentioned.

Jiminssi, 7:48 p.m.

heeeyyy so…. ggukkie’s bday is very soon guys

Dahye, 7:50 p.m.

jimin.

Yoongi hyung, 7:50 p.m.

Park Jimin.

It’s in two weeks

Jiminssi, 7:51 p.m.

what

im just saying

its gonna be exciting!

Dahye, 7:51 p.m.

shut your mouth rn.

Joon hyung, 7:52 p.m.

Bro I thought I could trust u w this

Jeongguk is even more confused when, as he goes on reading, his friends keep brutally bullying Jimin, going as far as threatening to ban him from the next club nights out that he himself had planned. He chuckles at his friend’s misery, but soon remembers he is somewhat involved in it. He pouts, angrily typing.

Jeongguk, 7:58 p.m.

What is this about

Hobi hyung, 7:59 p.m.

baby it’s nothing

Jeongguk, 7:59 p.m.

???

Its not nothing

I wanna know

Like the baby he truly is, he keeps spamming the chat with messages to make himself noticed, until he sees Jimin’s texting bubble going on and off.

Jeongguk, 8:01 p.m.

My dear jimin what is it

I know you wanna tell me 🌀🌀🌀

Jiminssi, 8:02 p.m.

WE R GOING CAMPING FOR UR BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

The next thing displayed on his phone is an incoming group videocall from Namjoon, but Jeongguk remains still staring at himself on the screen for more seconds than necessary, registering the sequence of events that had just occurred. Camping? His birthday?

He slides to answer the call, and he giggles at the imminent chaos he’s welcomed with, all his friends throwing shade at Jimin while he just laughs along with his roommate. As all the members keep joining, he still doesn’t notice a certain someone missing.

”Was this supposed to be a surprise?” Jeongguk finds it hard to stop his laughter, both because of Jimin’s incapability at keeping secrets, but also — and mainly — because of the excitement he feels at the news just revealed to him.

”Well, duh. Jimin just had to ruin it,” It’s Dahye who replies, and Jeongguk can see the indignation on her features even in the little pixelated box she’s now displayed in. She then proceeds to entertain an argument about it with the boy she mentioned, and as everyone just listens and tries to excuse Jimin’s reasoning, Jeongguk searches for Taehyung on the screen. When he finds his eyes, he’s already wiggling his brows and the younger boy silently chuckles, mirroring his actions. It’s been a couple months since the two of them started suspecting something going on between Jimin and Dahye, even with the former always denying it. What is undeniable is the tension between them, though. It is showing right at that moment.

Jeongguk decided to intervene, having to raise the volume of his voice to be heard over the soon to be (in his and Taehyung’s opinion) lovebirds, “Guys, guys. I’m not mad. This is amazing. Thank you, really. Are we the only ones going?”

He questions just because in the last period they were often times joined by Seokjin’s girlfriend, as well as a couple of Dahye’s friends, and he genuinely enjoys their company, would be totally okay with them being present to celebrate his birthday. Seokjin himself speaks, “Sora is coming, and I think Iseul and Aera are also gonna be there. Oh, and of course-“

”Guys!” His phone tings, signalling a new person joining the videocall. It’s Eunbi. Oh. He almost didn’t consider the fact that she is most probably going to be invited too. Well, obviously. From what her camera is showing it looks like she’s outside, more specifically waiting at a bus stop, headphones on, “Sorry, I just saw the texts. Jimin, why the fuck would you do that?”

As the topic of the conversation moves once again on Jimin being awful at secrets, Jeongguk dissociates for a minute, no longer giggling along. He realises this would be the first birthday of his he shares with her by his side after years. He’s not sure how he feels about it. Can only sense a nervous sensation travelling his body, and making him feel uneasy. His furrowed brows and sudden silence don’t go unnoticed by Jimin, while on the other side Jeongguk surely doesn’t seem aware of his internal battle showing on the outside. He can’t let one person ruin his own birthday. He just has to ignore her. How hard can that be?

When he returns to the reality surrounding him again, he absent-mindedly listens to the others talk and can only distractedly pick up that the attention has been shifted to a complely different matter, Eunbi seemingly finding it funny assuming from her loud pearly smile. He frowns, his confidence wavering. It doesn’t look like it’s going to be easy to ignore her. Still, not wanting to dwell too much on it at that moment, leaving it for his future self to worry about, he leaves the call not before thanking his friends again. He misses Eunbi’s fond smile as the others shower their baby with praises, dismissing his gratitude with this is the least we could do for you, Ggukkie boy.

When he joins his mom and dad downstairs, it’s oddly quiet as they eat. Gureum places himself under the table and sighs, laying his head on Jeongguk’s feet. The boy can perceive the eerie atmosphere, so he asks about Gureum’s health and shows genuine interest when his dad updates him on the dog’s improvements. His mom, however, defines herself as an expert when it comes to her only son. She can spot even the tiniest change in his demeanour. Still, she knows to be delicate when asking about it, “Is everything okay, honey?”

Jeongguk stills with the fork in his mouth, looks at his mom with wide telling eyes, then nods. He hesitates, gulping down the previous bite, “Uh, my friends and I are going camping for my birthday.”

His mother smiles a big one, “That’s nice!” She seems aware something is being left out, so she inquires further, “But…?”

The questioned boy plays with his food while still munching on a big bite of it, “I guess I kinda forgot to mention it,” he starts, trying to mask his embarrassment by talking with his mouth still full. When his mom glares at him, he forces it down, “But, huh… Eunbi is in Seoul. And she’s Dahye’s roommate, so she’s coming too.”

It’s his mom’s turn to be silent. She looks like she’s taken aback, her mind working slower than usual to register a name she hasn’t heard in a long while, “Eunbi as in Song Eunbi? Our neighbour?”

Jeongguk unconsciously furrows his brows. The girl hasn’t been their neighbour for years, and never will be again. He doesn’t know why such a simple definition of her makes him feel edgy, “Yeah, our old neighbour.”

”Right… Well, that’s good, no?” Mrs. Jeon tries to lift up the atmosphere, even while knowing the mentioned girl could still be a touchy subject for the boy. When everything happened, a piece of him had been taken away with Eunbi’s sudden departure. There was seemingly no way to mend his heart, and as time went by Jeongguk closed up more and more every time his old friend was brought up, to the point she was never mentioned again, as if she had never existed. That illusion seemed to help the boy move on. His mom is not sure how her son feels about it now, but she unknowingly figures the scar has to have healed after all those years, and maybe seeing Eunbi again even brought her son to the closure he needed. When Jeongguk just nods, she hopes that is the case. His mom smiles, ”Invite her over sometimes?”

“… Yeah, mom. Huh, I will.”

[wonyui]

ENEMIES TO WHAT? | K.CW

PAIRINGS Kim!Chaewon x F!Reader

SUMMARY You knew the exact buttons to push when it came to getting on Chaewon's nerves. Funny enough, it seems all her attention is now on you after catching her ex in the same party the both of you were in. Just how far is she willing to go in order to piss her ex off?

GENRE WLW, one-shot, enemies to lovers, fluffish(?), romance ig, jealousy, mentions of name calling and swearing, LOTS OF SWEARING beware

"You're staring again." Your best friend Yunjin sighed in disapproval.

You've been staring at Chaewon for what seemed like an eternity. Although the two of you knew each that well to start an argument without no second thoughts, it wasn't that good enough to start a normal conversation.

Groaning and feeling like a total poser, Yunjin softly patted you on the back. "Dude, just go up to her."

It was generous of Yunjin to try and give you the courage you needed, but that wasn't exactly the reason why you couldn't try. "And what? be a total asshole by insulting her for god knows how many times I try to control it?" You took a sip of Yunjin's filled cup of alcohol, "Ugh, what's with this disgusting alcohol mix?'

Taking back her drink, Yunjin glared. "Excuse me. It might not taste the best, but it surely gets me wasted."

'Of course," you plainly thought, knowing exactly who to watch out for the whole night. "Don't drink too much it's gonna be a pain to drag your ass into the car."

"Haha, very funny. My alcohol tolerance is stronger than what I go through when I have to tolerate you." She basically slurred, sounding so out of it.

Rolling your eyes, you excused yourself to find the certain someone who would entertain you whenever you'd get on her nerves. A few steps was all it took before a pair of hands could pull you out of the crowd. "What the fuck?" You hissed, hands hurting from the strong grip that the person had on you.

"Good to see you too," Chaewon scoffed. "Anyway, listen. I need a favor."

Your eyes widened after realizing who it was. Looking down and seeing that she still had her hands on yours, you tugged it away so that damn asshole in your chest wouldn't beat too loud.

"What do you want." Chaewon ignored your recent action, finding herself to blame it on the fact that you were nothing but a weirdo. An attractive weirdo at that.

Looking back at what seemed to be another random yet pretty girl, Chaewon looked back at you and muttered out a few curse words before opening her mouth to speak. "Okay fuck look," you silently waited for her to carry on, "that's my douchebag of an ex girlfriend. She thinks I'm still into her, and I need someone to prove I'm not."

"And you want me to be that someone?" You crossed your arms, looking unimpressed, but the butterflies that built up were telling a different tale.

The same age latter nodded.

"And what do I get out of this?" She didn't look at all surprised, already figured out that you would have asked for something in return because you were an absolute jerk who insulted people for a living.

It was truly an art to see the way she frowned out of annoyance, controlling herself in order to not punch you. The way her teeth clenched made her look somewhat cute yet scary. "Jesus, you greedy fuck. What do you want?"

"I'll think about it." it was obviously a smart decision to save the best for the last. "What's your plan, by the way?"

She blinked, realizing that she didn't have a plan for this to go through and work so decently. "Sorry, what."

"Your plan..?"

"I don't have one."

"Seriously?"

"Can't you just flirt your ass through like you've been doing ever since high-school?"

It was totally uncalled for. True, but totally uncalled for. You laughed, finding her insults even more amusing and funny. "Nothing is funny, she's looking."

Judging from the way that her ex had been drilling daggers into your poor soul, it was kinda working. Taking some part of Chaewon's hair and twirling it with a flirty smile, it made it look natural as if the two of you weren't exactly new to this thing.

"What are you doing?" Chaewon looked red at the moment, slapping your hands when her ex looked away for a few seconds.

She was a stone. Hard stone, to be exact. Just how did she expect for you to flirt? Say some cringy pick-up lines that would have looked silly to her ex because the music was booming louder than everyone else's voices?

"I'm flirting," you mentally facepalmed. "Would you rather I say some useless pickup lines that would have looked as though we were having a normal conversation?"

"Yes." She immediately responded.

She was honestly inexperienced and clueless to the whole thing of making someone jealous. It was both frustrating but a sight to see, just how bad was she at this? Taking another shot of alcohol that someone left on the table, you mustered even more courage. "It wouldn't work that way. You do realize that actions speak louder than words right?"

Chaewon stared at you in distaste, knowing that you were correct in many ways. "God I seriously can't stand this."

It may have sounded too sudden, but once her ex put her focus on the both of you once again, thinking she might have been slick. You smirked and took the opportunity to pull Chaewon closer to you. Chaewon's ex gritted her teeth in annoyance, finding you to be annoying despite not knowing you that well.

"Look at that," you proudly whispered. "She's jealous."

It took a few seconds to realize that Chaewon was still too close to you. You pulled her away to see if she felt uncomfortable, seems like it was the other way.

"Gross. Are you blushing?" Chaewon smacked you on the shoulders for your attempt in teasing her, cursing you. Something about you being annoying and talkative.

Not denying nor saying yes to your sarcastic question, Chaewon looked over at her ex. Doing a double take in case her ex looked invested in what the two of you were doing. You weren't sober but sober enough to see that she was trying to look for any signs. "Double take on your ex, seriously? at this point, look at her for a whole minute." A bitter smile appeared on her face, feeling unbothered until you commented. "No shame in anything. I say she deserves to have whatever comes at her for cheating on me."

Laughing, your throat a little too dry from the unhelpful liquid that you consumed earlier. You couldn't help but find the thought of Chaewon getting cheated on a bit too funny and questionable. Fumbled, really.

"What? Something funny?" She looked offended, balling her fist due to the annoyance that filled up.

You shook your head, feeling quite honest. "Nothing, just amusing that she'd ever think of cheating on you, really."

Chaewon jerked her head, looking elsewhere but you. You couldn't but but notice that this was by far the most normal conversation the two of you could have ever had without the need to choke one another. Cursing? She's getting there.

"I find it insulting how you can state such thing when all you do is annoy me." You shook your head, wanting to prove her wrong. "Yeah, but I never said anything about hating the process of dating you, did I?"

That question had a good amount of effect on Chaewon, making her wonder if it was the alcohol talking or not. She put her hands in her own pockets, forgetting that the two of you were literally in a party filled with sweaty, drunk, and lovesick people all around you.

"She's gone." You stated, about to leave when Chaewon stopped you.

"Wait," She bit the inside of her mouth, feeling embarrassed for feeling this way. "I haven't repaid you yet idiot."

You wanted to tell her, but it was too risky. She didn't know how much of a chokehold she had on you, and you liked to simply put it that way. Chaewon's gaze stayed on you, trying to see if you had been thinking or spacing out like you'd normally do. About to say something, a cold liquid got on your white top. You cursed to yourself, annoyed by whoever made such a horrible mistake only to find Chaewon's ex looking at you with a cocky smirk.

"What the fuck is your problem?" You were in disbelief, the alcohol sticking onto your clothing.

The glint of mischief in her eyes made you wanna punch the 21 iq out of her, but since it seemed like a huge scene, everyone had been staring, waiting for your next move. Luckily, Chaewon took notice of this when she saw your balled up fist, taking your hand and rushing the two of you out of the building. Still angry from the previous 'accident', you ran your hands through your hair and scoffed. "Your ex is a fucking asshole."

"Tell me something I don't know," Chaewon rolled her eyes, trying to be slick by checking you out in the corner of her eyes. "But luckily I brought extra clothing."

You raised your eyebrows in amusement. "Extra clothing? seriously?"

"What? You don't know the icky people that could either puke or.. spill their alcohol on you." Her serious tone turning into a teasing one at the end of her sentence.

You laughed, finding her humor and jokes a bit too funny for your own liking. In just one night, the two of you were already hitting it off well. Chaewon took out her purse(that she had been carrying this whole time) and brought out a white t-shirt. "Here, not sure if this'll fit since your frame seems to be a little bigger than mine," you nodded, taking it anyway. "This is my thank you for taking the alcohol from my shitty ex." Scoffing at her horrible attempted joke, Chaewon smiled in a slick and subtle way.

Since there was no one and the walls were covering most of the spot, you took your top off, making Chaewon panic before she could close her eyes and turn away. Replacing the old clothing with the white t-shirt, you thanked the fact that you still managed to look good.

"Thank you." You mumbled, feeling embarrassed to even say it loud and clear.

Chaewon nodded, acting as if it wasn't a big deal. "So, what about me repaying you for helping me?"

"Can I take you out sometime?" You got straight to the point, this time being unable to blame it on the alcohol because you were fully sober.

"Do you want me to go home and laugh at how much of a silly idea that is?" Chaewon laughed, annoyance not evident in her tone this time. "Shouldn't it be me taking you out since I'm the one repaying you?"

You slowly nodded, cheeks pink tinted. Entering the building to join your friend as Chaewon followed behind, you turned to see what other thing she wanted. "Why are you following me.." Chaewon raised her brows. "My friend is actually there." "Don't lie, what friend?" "Don't make me take back what I said."

Before you could retaliate, a drunk Yunjin wrapped her arms around you and mumbled words that were nearly deafening. "Y/N.. where were you? I wanna go home."

"This drunk asshole.." Chaewon scratched her head in annoyance, pulling Yunjin off of you and into her very own arms. "I'll help her into the car."

You blankly stared at her, a little scared as to why she knew you both came by car. "I'm not insane. Everyone would have noticed such old jeep don't look at me like that."

Accepting her insult along with the truth, you helped her with supporting Yunjin to the car. Although the two of you struggled, Chaewon got tired and threw the younger latter, clearly not caring about whether she'd break a bone or two. "Wow, just romantic, yeah. Throw my friend into her own jeep."

"She's drunk, passed out even. I'm sure she won't notice."

"Okay, fair."

"Mhm anyway, 6 pm. I mean, don't be late, I'll send you the details since I snuck my phone number into your pocket."

You stared in confusion before the realization could hit you, snapping your fingers together, Chaewon couldn't help but mentally judge you.

"What about you?" You got into the driver's seat, looking outside of the car window in order to talk more better to Chaewon.

Chaewon titled her head and pointed at herself. "What about me?"

Too embarrassed to even ask, you made sure to pinch yourself in order to gather the needed courage. "I could give you a lift home."

"Thanks, but," Chaewon softly smiled and pointed at the building that the two of you used to be in. "I wasn't lying when I said I had a friend who also needs my help to drive home safely."

"Then why'd you help me? go help your friend holy." You basically scolded, sending chills down her spine from the sudden change of attitude.

Before she could leave so you wouldn't complain further, she looked back at you. "Oh, and Y/N?"

You looked back, loving the way the moon complimented her features. It looked as though you were spotting an angel. Giving her time to think about her reply, Chaewon opened her mouth once again to finish her sentence. "I had a reason of helping you get here, and it wasn't because of Yunjin," you stayed quiet, knowing exactly what she meant. "I'll go now. Have fun driving that idiot home. Bye, loser."

[wolven91]

A Role Reversal

The taurian huffed with her arms crossed, she was inches away from breaking something fragile just to feel better. She was going to be stuck escorting a goddess damned male around, it was the absolute last thing she needed this week.

They were always so flighty, so frustrating. To say the wrong thing was to have them clutching at themselves as if she’d slapped them.

Urie often found herself in trouble and receiving reprimands when trying to treat a male as she would anyone else. She was instructed to do so! But she always ended up either insulting them or saying something inappropriate and she'd have to once again take a gender awareness course. 

She didn't mean to disrespect them, she just tried to treat them as an equal, as one of the gals!

The door opened to reveal a diminutive human male. The brand new species that the whole galaxy was buzzing about. Something had happened during their introduction, but the story was oddly difficult to get an official report on. 

He looked somewhat similar to a taurian male, flat chest, cute butt. What was truly interesting was that he had no horns. His skull was completely different to a taurian, yet the lack of horns seemed to trigger the same feelings Urie got when meeting a tuarian at the bar that she’d try her luck with. 

In male taurian culture, they would shave their horns down to be as 'desirable' as possible before covering them with a ceremonial sash. This human had no need, it was… scandalous.

"Hey there!" The human gleefully greeted her, surprising Urie with his boldness. She checked herself, sometimes males would want to assert themselves so they weren't seen as meek.

"Er…Hello! My name is Urie and I'll be your escort whilst on the station." She said in a plain, respectful tone and gave a well practised formal bow. It was only then she noticed she was bowing over the outstretched hand of the human.

"Uh, sorry." She said quickly, grabbing the hand, then wincing. She wasn't meant to just grab them, that wasn't 'correct'.

"It's okay! You got a great grip! We'll have to arm wrestle at some point, that'll be funny as all hell!" The fleshy creature laughed with a jovial tone.

Urie'smind blue-screened as she wasn’t certain exactly how to handle this. She'd love nothing more than to arm wrestle a male. To touch them was exciting enough, to actually do something fun?!

This had to be a trap. She'd stick to the training. It was the only safe option.

The following couple of hours was maddening. He'd talk to her freely and calmly. He'd laugh at her faux pars. When she accidentally bumped into him, he deliberately hip checked her right back.

By the time they reached the food court they were both laughing uproariously.

"So, I have to ask. You mentioned that you were looking for a partner?"

"A mate, yes." Urie nodded.

"How come you haven't found anyone? A lass like you should have guys hanging off you I would have thought? What is it, do you snore?"

"I intimidate them." Urie replied with a dejected tone.

"...how?" He asked an incredulous voice. She brought up a thick arm and tensed her bicep, which bulged and twitched.

"Well count me scar-roused." He stated confusing Urie as he spoke with an awed inflection.

"Most males are intimidated by us, we're bigger, more dangerous. Males have to be careful because IF I'm one of 'the bad ones' then I'm a massive threat. You're... you're not usual. No male would act or talk the way you do..." She said before putting her hands flat against the table so he could see where they were, claws extended and digging into the table top.

As a taurian, she wasn’t even close to the largest of the races, but she still had a few feet on the smaller human. The table they sat at was designed for their species, but their differences were highlighted at this moment. 

The human merely chuckled and waved a dismissive hand. 

"Ah, I know kung fu. We'll be okay, I'll spar with you sometime if we get the chance." He said with a casual air.

Urie blinked. The idea of pinning him down was the only image in her head now. She couldn't help but pin him with her gaze as he finished his meal, she used her mighty mitts to smother the toothy grin that refused to leave her face.

The following day, in the evening, Urie opened the can of beer with one hand, grasping the top with her index claw and thumb, while her index finger’s claw picked at the tab and opened it with a practised move. She poured some of it in the outstretched pint glass, once the beer roughly reached the top, she poured the rest in her far larger glass. She didn't have as much now, but she honestly couldn’t care less, it was worth it.

This was the very first time that not only had she had a chance to drink beers with a male, but he didn’t seem to be forcing his taste for her benefit. It also helped that he was so attractive.

There had been males that enjoyed drinks, or acted like females, but they all seemed off to Urie. Males acting like females and half looking like females, wasn’t something she wanted, she just wanted someone who was happy to be themselves and she liked what males looked like, there was no need to be ‘feminine’ to her to be equals. She just wanted to spend time with one that was chill and understood that she meant no harm if she missed a social hurdle.

Urie side-eyed Kerion.

She’d never met a human before, she had no real information on what they were like, it had been barely a month since they had appeared. Her first impressions were that they were odd. Very odd. He was attractive, no doubt there. His hornless forehead lent him the air of a male who genuinely tried to make an effort on their look, but he'd not acted like a male all day or the day before. He'd listened to her opinion, offering banter or other opinions without expecting that she would agree with him. They were just equals, a budding friendship devoid of a power struggle. 

They both ended up sitting on a bench overlooking the community marketplace of the station. It was at the very commercial centre of the various city-sized sections of the station. The ceiling, a latticework of glass overhead glittered as they orbited the blackhole giving it a 'beautiful' look, a serenity that lent to the calm atmosphere of this isolated spot.

Urie’s eyes widened when she realised with a jolt that others used this a 'lovers' overlook. She just felt it was a nice quiet place she went to be alone! She’d always come here on her own, this was the first time she had someone with her up here. She didn’t mean to get him alone like this. 

Cringing at herself, she looked at the human again and wondered what he was thinking right now. 

Did he know? He wasn’t dumb, he had to know!

Was he pretending he didn't know? He was kind and never made her feel lesser, it would be what he’d do…

Was he waiting for her to make a move? Where did that idea come from…

Was she supposed to kiss him? She wouldn’t mind doing that…

The silence felt pregnant, but Urie wasn't sure what to say or do, she sat there wiping the condensation off the side of her glass as she tried to figure out what he wanted her to do now. 

When a yawn tugged at her face, she began to stretch before a fantastic idea graced her. Subtly after the apex of her yawn and stretch, when she relaxed back against the bench, she brought her free arm down along the back of the bench and around Kieron's shoulders. 

He didn’t react at first, if anything he chuckled before turning against her. 

His legs stretched out along the bench, his back fully against her side and with his free hand, gently plucked her wrist and put it around himself, finally resting his smaller arms over her forearms and began to drink again from his smaller pint glass. 

“Mm, I’m glad you finally made a move. I was worried I was going to have to take the jump.” He said quietly. 

“I… didn’t mean for this to happen. I mean! Er.. I’m glad this happened, but I didn’t expect…? Yeah, I didn’t expect this to happen.” She tried to explain, why was her mouth so dry?

He shook against her side. 

“Haha, don’t worry. Whatever the case, I’m glad we’ve got to this moment. By hook or by crook, this has been a lovely day. You’re good people Urie.”

Her heart fluttered when he said her name. Goddess, she felt light headed.

[theodorecanaryhood]

The coffee shop guy

Red Hood x Male! Reader (Arkhamverse)

Jason goes to a coffee shop after a long night of patrol, which is where he keeps running into a handsome stranger.

Seemed only yesterday that Jason was determined to get revenge on the big, bad Batman. Seemed only yesterday he failed miserably, regretting his choices and making a decision to help Bruce.

Jason hadn’t slept decently for a good few years as nightmares always crept up, 2am or 3am and then that was it, he’d be awake the rest of the night.

Jason couldn’t stand it anymore and decided to start pulling all nighters, patrolling the streets until the sun came up.

Of course, Jason knew he couldn’t go in like this forever, he knew exhaustion would win. Until then, Jason would power through.

It was around 7am and Jason needed a pick me up for the drive home, he didn’t exactly want to fall asleep at the wheel.

‘Clover coffee? Seems cute’ Jason mumbled to himself, he walked inside trying his hardest to look as awake as possible.

He stared at the menu in the wall for a good minute or so, settling for his usual choice.

Jason always found it funny about how when people order the same thing, they go to a coffee shop or a restaurant and look at the menu, only to order the same thing again.

‘Hi, what can I get you?’ The young girl behind the counter asked with a smile, Jason smiled as best he could, his tired face not being able to show much expression.

‘Hey, can I just get a black Americano please?’ He asked, not paying attention to his surroundings as the girl took his order.

‘Can I take the name please?’ She asked in return.

‘Jason’

A few minutes of standing waiting for his order, Jason heard his name called out.

Sit inside or walk to the car? Well, Jason could’ve still fallen asleep at the wheel if he hadn’t allowed the caffeine to hit yet.

Jason settled for sitting inside, only till he got more than halfway, then he’d head home.

Still not paying any attention to his surroundings Jason didn’t even take in that there was other people inside, Jason looked around a bit. That’s when he noticed him, you.

Your h/c hair slightly messy as if you’d been ruffling it, your black framed glasses sitting perfectly on your face. Not dressed to stand out, but at the same time, dressed to be noticed in some form.

Jason couldn’t understand why all of a sudden he was so engrossed with the male figure sitting opposite him.

You stared at the screen of your laptop as you slightly smiled at something on the screen. Fiddling the pen in your hand.

Jason kicked himself for not having the courage to at least try and get your attention, but then he wasn’t in a state to chat some cute guy up, Jason looked as tired as he felt.

What Jason really needed was a day and night in bed, sleep, rest. It took Jason a good 48 hours to somewhat recover, sleeping so many hours he’d lost track of if it was day, night, morning, Wednesday. Jason really had no idea.

Jason didn’t patrol for about a week by this point, he couldn’t keep forcing himself to stay awake.

Some more time went by and Jason was allowing himself to sleep more, get more comfortable with staying still and allowing himself nights off.

He went out with Roy after so long of not seeing his best friend, Jason even started to look like he was dead…again.

Jason had actually forgotten about the cute guy in the coffee shop, until he went back again to get another dose of caffeine. This time not from staying up all day and night for weeks on end, but from simply having to wake up early.

Like most people, Jason couldn’t face getting up at shits o’clock so needed a hit of caffeine.

‘Americano for Jason’ the male barista called out, Jason took his coffee with a smile and a small thank you.

Sitting down in the same spot he sat last time, noticing you again.

It was like you didn’t move from the last time he was here, except you had, because you were wearing a different outfit, but still.

Jason tried to see what your name was on your cup, but he couldn’t spot it. Jason thought he might come off creepy if he sits and stares at you, but then you weren’t looking near his direction.

‘He’s not into you Jason, he’s probably straight, or married’ Jason whispered to himself quietly.

Luckily no one was close enough to hear Jason arguing with himself. They might lock him up in Arkham for thinking he’s crazy.

Still there was no denying, Jason was into you and couldn’t help but to look at you. He watched as you took a sip of your coffee, adjusting yourself in your seat a little.

‘No wedding ring, ok good start’ Jason thought to himself as he saw your left hand.

You pushed your glasses up your face as you typed something, Jason sat and wondered what your job was. A reporter? A journalist? An author?

Either way, Jason found himself creepy right now, staring at this man who for all he knew was really just minding his own business.

Days went by and Jason kept coming back, the same coffee shop, the same seat. Checking out the same guy.

By this time Jason was trying to see what name fits you more. Were you a Blake? A Jordan? A Cameron? No, none of those names fit you.

Maybe a more sophisticated male like Nicholas? Tristan? Sebastian?

Jason was also thinking about how soft your skin is, what it would be like to touch, how it would be to kiss you. Ok, now Jason really felt he had to stop. Even he was finding this super creepy now.

Jason threw himself into a good book to distract himself, in the back of his head thinking wouldn’t it be hilarious if after all this time of checking you out, you had the same name as him.

‘Stop Todd’ Jason thought to himself, losing his page.

Today was different, Jason was at his usual coffee shop in his usual spot. But, his eye candy wasn’t there today.

Jason was going to bring a book anyway as a distraction. But now he really has no choice, he couldn’t sit and look up at his coffee shop crush every now and then.

Just as Jason got halfway down his coffee he saw you walk in, he smiled a little to himself. Watching as you walked over to the counter.

There was only one other person in the whole coffee shop today, as it is a weekday and most people are on the school run or heading to work already.

‘I need sugar’ Jason said out loud in case anyone thought he was just being weird.

The stand with all the sugar and stuff was next to the counter where you order, this seemed a perfect opportunity for Jason to catch the first glimpse into your life, your name.

‘Hey, can I get an Almond latte please?’ You said, your voice soft yet had a gravelly tone too.

Heavenly, was all Jason could think as he heard you speak for the first time.

‘What size would you like?’ The barista asked.

‘Medium please’ you replied, Jason thought it was cute how polite you were.

‘The name in the order?’ The barista asked again.

‘Y/n’

Jason grabbed a fistful of sugar sachets as he smiled to himself, he finally knew your name. And it was very fitting.

‘Oh, sorry’ you said as you nearly walked into Jason, looking him in the eyes.

‘No problem, I should watch where I’m walking’ Jason chuckled, he was caught off a little by your eyes.

They were the most beautiful e/c eyes he’d ever seen, and your smile was even more amazing.

Jason tried to catch his breath a little as he walked back to his table, watching slyly as you walked to your usual spot.

Driving home with a little smile on his face as he finally knew, as sad as it seemed to admit to people. He finally knew his crushes name, what he sounded like.

Jason never went everyday but went regular as not to look desperate. But by this point, Jason was getting a little eager to know more about you.

Jason was here before you again as he’d come a little earlier today, simply coming for needing the caffeine hit. Jason had a rough night, last night he’d taken out Black Mask, and it was brutal.

Jason hadn’t slept much for the first time in a while, Jason was a little grumpy and not in the mood for people.

Jason saw you walk in but this time was different as you came in with someone, you were both laughing as you walked in.

Jason smiled as he heard your laugh for the first time, it was magical.

Though, Jason couldn’t help the little tug at his heart as you came in with a woman. The two of you stood at the counter while you both spoke.

‘Fuck’ Jason mumbled to himself, feeling like an idiot as he watched his months long crush with someone else.

Jason dove himself back into his book as he sipped his coffee, not noticing the figure coming towards him.

‘Hey, sorry to bother you, is it ok if I borrow this chair?’ You asked Jason, hand on the backrest of the seat.

Jason nodded, smiling a little as not to seem rude, you smiled as you took the chair and placed it opposite yourself, your usual place of course.

Jason cursed to himself again as he mentally kicked and punched, thinking he was a total loser. Once again, not noticing you coming over.

‘Hey, sorry to bother you, again. I always see you here alone. Was just wondering if you’d like some company?’ You asked, really out of the blue which caught Jason off guard.

‘Sure’ Jason kind of hesitated with the answer, walking over to your table with you.

‘Got you an iced latte, as it’s getting warmer now’ your friend said, she spotted Jason, who was seated next to you.

‘Hi, I’m Terri’ she said, Jason smiled and waved a little.

‘She’s a work friend’ you said, Jason then mentally apologised to himself for all the mean things he’d called himself.

‘Awesome, I’m Jason’ Jason livened up all of a sudden.

‘Y/n’ you finished.

The three of you sat for a good hour as you spoke, Terri suddenly looking at her phone screen.

‘Shoot, I got a run. You boys stay and enjoy the chat’ Terri rose to her feet, giving you a quick kiss on the cheek and shaking Jason’s hand again. Heading for the door.

Now is your moment Jason, don’t be an asshole, you’ve had a crush on this guy for months. Talk to him. Jason mentally challenged himself to jump in a ask you out.

‘So, you’re here a lot’ Jason cringed at his words as soon as they came out.

You laughed heartily as you sipped on your coffee, pushing your glasses up your nose. Placing your hand close to Jason’s.

‘Yeah, it’s my favourite place to just come and forget about the outside. You’re also here a lot’ you pointed out.

Jason smiled, thinking back to the first time he came here. What kept him coming here straight after.

‘Yeah, truth be told I came in the first time because I was extremely and unhealthily tired, but I kept coming after because of, a different reason’ Jason explained, you raised an eyebrow. Nodding your head slightly.

‘Mhm, and I’ll guess the reason isn’t the $7 coffee?’ You chuckled, smiling so bright Jason’s day just lit up more.

‘My coffee shop crush’ Jason blurted without thinking, he covered his mouth as he realised he’d said it out loud. Though, you laughed.

‘I figured, I saw you checking me out’ you admitted, Jason instantly regretting the long distracting thoughts while staring directly at you for weeks on end.

‘You did’

‘Yeah, but it’s cool, I checked you out too’ you admitted once again, Jason blushing.

‘What?’ Jason looked genuinely shocked, as he didn’t think you’d be interested in him. Jason Todd of all the guys in Gotham, what made him special.

‘What can I say? I like them mysterious’ you chuckled, brushing Jason’s hand.

Another question answered as Jason discovered your skin really was soft. As soft as anything.

He still had two more things to find out, one being your job and the other what it felt like to kiss you.

After a bit more talking you looked at your watch, standing up.

‘Well, time is getting away, I have a thing but this really should happen more often’ you said, Jason smiled.

‘Yeah, it really should’

‘I finish work at 4’ you smiled as you wrote your number down on a napkin for Jason.

‘What do you work as?’ Jason asked you as you winked.

‘School teacher’

Another question answered as Jason walked with you outside, feeling the softness of your hands once again as you touched his as you said goodbye.

Jason was humming to himself in the shower as he was really, for the first time in a while, happy and excited about something.

Jason put on his best shirt and pants as he sprayed some nice cologne, putting on his signature leather jacket and heading for his apartment door.

It was his first date with you tonight, for the first time Jason didn’t have to sit and imagine what it was like to do something with you, he could just do it.

A bar for a few drinks, then dinner, then a nice walk through the city as you both talked about life, childhood, family, funny stories. Jason could listen to you talk for hours. In fact, he could listen to you talk all night.

The final part of the date was approaching really fast, now Jason started to panic.

‘So, what’s a big No for you on a first date?’ You asked curiously, Jason thinking for a bit.

‘I guess I don’t have limits, maybe just be nice to me’ Jason answered, wondering if he should hold your hand or not.

‘Mine is about to break’

Jason looked at you confused, turning to you fully as he saw you looking into his eyes. Jason finally got the answer to his final question.

The kiss was amazing, it started as a light peck as you teased a little. Then you pulled Jason in fully and stayed there. Your lips were soft, the softest Jason had ever been blessed to kiss.

You took Jason’s hand as you both continued walking. Jason not talking much as he finally got to know what it was like, kissing you was the best feeling.

However, Jason had a bonus question. What would it be like to have you in his bed, sleeping next to him.

Ok, now Jason was going insane because all he wanted was to have every inch of you. Clothed or not.

Jason couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun, well that’s a lie, he can it was with Roy a few nights ago in a bar. But, date wise, Jason could not remember.

It has been a few dates by now and Jason was getting quite impatient, he wanted to have you in his bed. Of course, he would never rush or force you. Yet, he was still itching for you.

‘This is the man magnet’ you chuckled as you walked into Jason’s apartment.

It was definitely a bachelor pad and had probably seen some action. Truth be told, Jason lived on one nights, he never let himself get attached.

Yet since meeting you, properly anyway, he never had interest for other men. When he saw you the first few times, Jason pictured your face when he was with other men, or alone and needed a release.

‘Not for a while’ Jason remarked, you gave a face enough to reply without speaking.

‘Ok hot stuff’ you responded sarcastically, Jason grabbing your arm as he pulled you in for a kiss.

The small kisses turned into making out, which turned into you tugging at Jason’s shirt, as he did the same to yours.

Jason’s bonus question got answered as he finally got to know, the feeling of you in his bed. The sounds you make, the way your body moves, his name being called, your body, your smell, your lips on various parts of his body, and his on yours, the noise you make when you’ve reached the ultimate level of pleasure.

Jason was in a dream as he lay on his back in his bed, you fast asleep on his chest.

How lucky that Jason didn’t sleep for so long, how lucky he stumbled on a random coffee shop. How lucky, Jason had the most precious thing in his arms.

[gotafewtricks]

Thinking of a Dog!reader, they have dog ears and a tail, and they act exactly like the type of dog they are. Like a golden retriever is happy or how a Saint Bernard is lazy, you know? Just thought it'd be funny with genji having someone like that 😭

★ Bark bark (... literally)

I personally love these silly requests like this, because they have me think more creatively :3 I may not do it aboslute justice, but gosh... I love dogs <3

With you having these dog-like traits, Genji, in general, would note a mental comment on your appearance; but woukd not push not pressure you about it. You were still a person, and no matter how you had such cute ears and a fluffy tail, the ninja was in no place to judge. He would have some strange (yet, somewhat valid) questions about your anatomy—are you colourblind? Do you eat dog food? Can you bark?

No matter how you responded to him, he would be sitting with you; nodding his head affirmatively with each of your statements. Please tell Genji that he's merely being curious, and to also set boundaries with him, if a topic is too much for you. Making you uncomfortable was something he'd hate to ever hear. He would do his very best to help you accommodate towards things as well, if you do need the assistance.

Along with different dog breeds, I'd like to imagine he'd have the most fun with... maybe a Shiba Inu, Chihuahua, or a golden retriever?

The Shiba Inu is a rather iconic pick, plus, fitting for Genji—considering its place of origin. At first, judging by the looks of your animalistic features, he would try to guess what breed you were at first—then, ultimately settled on you being a Shiba, as he saw your personality unfurl. Plus, that curled up tail gave it all away. Your confident yet more reserved, cat-like demeanor amused the ninja; as he was then excited ro see what you'll do next.

With being friends together, Genji would like the refreshing change of pace that was brought by your attitude—loyal and compassionate, whilst still being individually independent. You'd often hang out with him whenever he is practicing his blade, considering that's what he often-time does in his free hours, anyways. You'd give him a pleasant surprise if you showed off your escape artist skills; able to somehow contort yourself around various, high-scalling nooks and crannies. Genji would joke that you were a better ninja than he was!

If the two of you were to ever be in a relationship, Genji would love to feel his hands around the softness of your ears; smiling to himself, seeing how lovable you were. Even though you had so much energy, he knew keeping up such a big personality to-boot had to be exhuasting; he'd note. Based off of memes, he'd go get you random items—like, y'know that one meme where it's a Shiba, and its wearing a piece of bread? He would have very loving pet (haha get the joke haha get it) names, such as Doge. He'd apologize for how terrible he was at these types of things.

For a Chihuahua, he'd have fun with that one. Stereotyped for their small frame but big temper, he would make jokes about your height; comparing you to different objects, and ask if you could even reach them. Genji would open doors for you, since he'd "worry" that you were too short. Everytime you were to snap back at him, you could tell that he'd roll his eyes—adding that reaction as more ammunition that he could use against you, so that he could tease you further in the future.

He understands to take you seriously, and just because you happen to have a canine appearance, he knew you were still a person at heart; even if you acted like a little shit sometimes towards him. Genji is pretty used to being either around the same height as others, or relatively shorter, so he'd like to think of that as a win for him. If you were to challenge him to a fight, he'll say that you with your ankle-biting tactics may be the formidable enemy against his blade.

He knows how exhausting it must be to have such an attitude like that, and to be so cute, so, if you're uncomfortable with his teasing, please do tell him! He wants to know if he is ever pushing boundaries, and would rather you tell him if he is, rather than for him to accidentally upset and hurt you any further, if he has. Genji knows when to lay off if needed, and he will have more creative jokes, rather than just teasing you about your stature or supposed high ego—as he knows that there is far, far more to you than that.

With a golden retriever, he'd be pretty pleasantly surprised! I feel like Genji's a dog person (self-projection), and he has a soft spot for retrievers and labs! With how contagious your smile and energy was, he couldn't help but love the change of pace that he was getting, since often times, he would talk to people who would only have a sour, pessimistic view. Of which he understood, as he once fell into that hole too. Jealous of how people could be so easily idealistic about the world, he would've shunned those feelings, and felt uncomfortable with sharing. With his newfound enlightenment, he understood that peoples' intentions were not to be idealistic—but to put a positive spin on a rather harsh, sinking reality.

It might take him a minute to try and keep up with your pace, but know that if he were to ever get overwhelmed, he will tell you! He found it interesting that your tail would be swishing back and forth constantly, worried at first that you were trying to communicate something—as dogs communicate with all kinds of gestures, and a wagging tail does not equate to a happy puppy. Once he realized that you were just affectionate and loving naturally, he really understood!

Genji was one to not deny someone of their creative expression, and that is also their love language! Wether that maybe platonic or romantic, he will not take it the "wrong" way, as he has difficulties at times with processing his emotions. Don't be affaid to be all excited; he enjoys seeing you happy, and those ears of yours perk up—too!

... also have this 😭

[foressfaction]

:Ticci Toby:{A Rewrite}

CHAPTER 4

WARNING:: This story contains EXTREMELY triggering topics such as Domestic/Child/Substance abuse, Death, harsh language, GORE and dissociation triggers. This story mentions mental illnesses and disorders such as Depression, PTSD, ADHD, and Tourette's Syndrome. !!TICS MAY BE TRIGGERING!!

Chapter four

Later that night, Toby sat alone in his room, surrounded by notebook pages full of small doodles. Stick men and symbols, one that stood out the most, a bunch of circles and X's. He found it fun to draw, therefore obviously showed it. There was a knock on his door, glancing up, Toby hummed out a response. "Come in."

The door opened and Lyra stood in the hallway, stepping in to catch first glance at all of the little pages who Toby started to clean up, shoving it all back into the original journal he tore them from.

"Dumb, right? These d-d-drawings, am I crazy? Lyra, am I a freak."

Lyra's eyes widened softly as she got down to sit in front of him. "no no no you're not, who told you that?"

Toby turned and pulled something from his bag, the note that was slammed onto his back when leaving school. He unwrinkled the paper and held it out of her. Lyra's shoulders dropped, it seemed she too had the same reaction to the note as he did when he first laid eyes on it. Her eyes darted back up to him with an angry expression. "You're seriously going to let these kids bully you like this?" Toby just looked down with a huff.

"I've never been put with these kinds of k-kids, i c-can't blame them if they hate me, hah..i'm not exactly that likable."

Lyra was quick to correct him, grabbing his right hand. "Don't say that, Toby, you're the strongest, most lovable person I know, you mean so much to me..i…I can't bear seeing this happen to you." tears were forming in her eyes, her hand squeezing his.

"Here…" She held his hand up and mimicked something with her other hand. "I'm going to show you how to make a fist, okay." She moved his hand into a fist shape, making sure his thumb was rested over his fingers. "Make sure your thumb is always on top, if not, you'll break it." Her words were gentle, and so were her movements. She was careful about his jerky arms, keeping them down if he was going to accidentally hit her or himself. Lyra continued on with explaining the idea of fighting. She did take 6 years of karate before the family broke apart. "Your hands are weapons, don't ever use them unless you have a good reason..if someone hits you first, go crazy, kick, hit, bite even."

Toby laughed a little, it was a weak one, but he did laugh. The idea of biting someone was somewhat funny. "No but I am serious." She admitted, earning his eyes to glance back up, locking onto her worried expression. "Promise me you will stick up for yourself..if this progresses. The last thing I want to see is you hurt."

Her hand still laid over his now fist of a hand. Toby then made a fist with his other hand, showing her. Lyra nodded. "Yep, just like that." She lowered it. "I want you to be…violent when it's the time, but i also don't want to be blamed if you accidentally knock someone unconscious." She slightly joked, but it was also serious.

Toby looked down with a small hum. "Please, Toby?"

He looked up. "Don't hurt anyone unless they hurt you." She warned.

Toby just stayed quiet, but eventually spoke. "Okay, I promise, but wh-what about dad? When he hurts mom—" He was cut off quickly by her tugging his arm. "That's a different story…We're talking kids the same age as you,"

"But when he hurts you—is that an e-e-excuse to hit him?" Lyra quickly just pulled him into a hug once more, squeezing tighter than she usually would. Was this an attempt to shut him up? "Let's not talk about that yet…If it was an excuse don't you think i would've done something about this by now?"

She shivered a little, not letting go. "School will be over in just a few months..it'll go fast, i really hope you won't need to use these." She gestured to his hands, by which she just saw a few new blemishes that covered them.

"Are you chewing on them again?" Lyra asked with a sad sigh.

"mhh yes but- not as much as last year." The last thing Toby wanted were those tight straps of gauze wrapped around his hands to the point he couldn't even use them.

"Okay, get some sleep bud..like actually, get some sleep..it's starting to look like you got into my eyeliner again." she gestured to his dark circles that were beginning to get more and more noticable.

Toby nodded and sat everything that was once strolled out to the side by his night stand. Lyra left the room and closed the door.

Toby looked down to his hands, seeing the gnawing marks and small concrete scrapes from falling so much. His knees and elbows were covered in healing and recent bruises, who knows how many little cuts and scratches he had in total. He never could remember getting most of them.

At night his room would get pretty creepy. The whole night was the definition of paranoia. Toby would make out black shadows, deep whispers and even started to feel pressure on his bed like something was crawling onto it, or sitting on the edge. Toby would make himself as small as possible when he slept, in an attempt to not be woken up by his mind playing tricks on him.

Weeks would go by painfully slowly. Toby started to feel like he lived at school and only visited home. On this day though…He wished he never did come home.

•••••

[ranposbabe]

Delightful | William James Moriarty x Reader

Chapter Five

So the year is 1879. Which means you are about 144 years in the past. Shamefully that took a while to calculate. You were never brilliant at maths. But still how funny. The point was that It just simply cannot be true. If it were so then that would mean…

“Time travel exists ?!” You cry, rising from the stiff bed. Though, you’re rather quick to settle back as you remember the sun only did rise a while ago. It’s the early hours of the morning and you’d prefer to at least be kicked out for being too loud after breakfast.

After what happened last night with Moran, you can only hope he didn’t give the others too much detail about almost running off. Oh what you’d do for a drink.

Your hectic thoughts are pushed aside as there’s a abrupt knock at the door. A somewhat urgent knock.

“Pardon me. These clothes are for you.”

His name was Louis, you remember.

His eyes glance down but not in a way that he’s not confident. No he looks rather occupied. Like this is one of his many tasks for this morning.

“Cheers.” You sigh, you extend your arm behind you, without a glance throwing the clothes onto the small bed. He’s rather quiet. Perhaps too quiet for your liking.

You pause as he remains standing in the doorway a certain look in his

“Can I help you with anything else ?” You raise a brow. He stands there, slightly tilting his head to glare behind you at the messy bed before simply walking off.

You step out, confused as you watch him walk off. Probably onto his next task of the day.

You turn back to grab the clothing from the bed. “What in the actual-

You hold the clothes up, well you attempt to. There’s many layers of clothing and yet there’s not even a coat !

There’s a very plain sage green skirt ? Along with an even plainer black blouse.

Such dull and depressing colours to wear.

You’re not sure if Louis intentionally picked out such colours or were you just in such a melancholy era ? Who knows.

Some time later you find yourself down in the kitchen it’s about lunchtime..you think.

The hands on the clock were a bit too small for you to read. You would be lying if you said you didn’t struggle manoeuvring around in the skirt that rested around your ankles. It was long and swished at any sudden movement and felt so awkward at the lack of free movement.

You couldn’t remember the last time you’d worn something so formal.

You would of taken offence at being forced out of your own clothes and put in new ones but you suppose you weren’t quite ready yet to discover if Louis was as stubborn as Moran was. Not yet at least.

In the kitchen you find Louis with his back turned to you. You start to wonder how often is he in here and how come you haven’t seen nor heard from the others ?

“Were you in need of something ?”

He’s rather polite yet still he does not face you. You can’t help but glare straight at his back. He’s definitely doing it on purpose.

“I thought that maybe I could help you ?”You shrug. It’s partially true yet realistically you’ve nothing else to do. You’re not willing to attempt last nights events with Moran again. As well as that, you literally don’t even know these men. All you know is that they can afford to live in such a wide space you’d could only dream of. You don’t know what jobs they work, their hobbies and interests.

You’re not exactly confident in striking up a conversation with any of them. Therefore the same can be said for them.

All they know is that some strange girl turned up out of the blue and oddly enough took you in rather quickly.

You’ve yet to discover why.

But from what you can tell all these men are so different from each other yet seem to have a strong bond.

Weren’t you also suppose to meet another man living here too ?

��I’m not entirely sure of what use you can be.”

Louis states, placing the dried tea cups in the high cupboards.

“I can sweep floors !” You’re not sure if you’re trying to convince him or yourself.

“I’m really good at sweeping floors.”

Definitely attempting to convince yourself.

At your non convincing words he finally turns to you with an uncertain look in his eyes. “Very well then.” He nods.

At that you head down the long corridors.

After some long time of sweeping dirt that doesn’t exist your mind starts to wonder.

Well, first of all you did question why Louis sent you to sweep a specific area of the man our but as you continue to sweep practically nothing it makes sense.

He must’ve already done so and is enjoying this. That bastard.

But your main focus was that if you were really in such a time period that was over a hundred from your lifetime, surely you would need proof for such.

Not exactly proof for others but more so for your own sake.

“That’s it !” You cry in joy, tossing the broom to the ground without a care in the world. “I know what to do !”

The sudden plan was to go to each seemingly empty room and search for anything out of this time periods ordinary.

From the top of your head you thought of maybe plugging sockets in the walls or perhaps-

“A phone !” You facepalm.

Why didn’t you think of this last night ?

So to the nearest room to you, you open the door and at that your nerves somehow start. While you were expecting to walk into some bedroom you find yourself in a room that seems to be a study ?

It’s empty thankfully, you hesitantly make your way in, cautiously eyeing around the room.

There’s bookshelves all around the room almost as high as the ceiling. They’re filled with hundred of books, not a single gap is found within the shelves. A fine mantle piece but what really strikes you is the fine wooden desk laid out in the centre of the room. As you slowly but surely walk closer, the eagerness to search becomes bigger.

Your eyes instantly lands on the huge newspaper laid out. A broadsheet ?

Isn’t that what they’re called ? You’re sure tabloids aren’t around in this time.

Weirdly, the paper is settled at the edge of the desk as if it was suddenly put down like whoever was reading in was in a sudden hurry and rushed off. To you it seemed that even the slightest bit of breeze would blow the newspaper over the edge of the desk. Your hand reaches out to a book placed by the newspaper.

Your hand runs over the soft velvet cover that’s painted scarlet red. As you flicker through the pages you find that it’s filled with maths ?

“Who would willingly own a book filled with maths ?” You wonder.

Just by looking at the pages you can tell its rather complex, you don’t dare to attempt to try to understand it.

Suddenly there’s a muffled sound outside the door. The sound of footsteps !

“Someone’s here !” You huff, placing the book back on the table.

It could be Louis or Fred or even Moran but you’re not willing to find out.

How can you explain being in here ?

It’s obvious to you now that this is someone’s own study and that you’ve no right to be here. You’ll be questioned as to why you didn’t just walk out as soon as you walked in.

There’s no time to think as you practically force your legs to stop the sudden shaking. Instead of taking responsibility and given a proper explanation like you should. You do the next best thing.

Hide. You’ve secured yourself under the desk. But the chair is halfway across the room maybe to help reach the higher shelf, you’re not sure. The most dumbest hiding spot ever. As if you were being jinxed, The cover sheet of the newspaper then blows over, falling over the edge of the desk. It shields you, covering you like a blanket or a veil. Those newspapers that are very tall and big enough to cover your body from view apparently.

The only give away is your feet slightly poking out.

It is only then you get to view the contents of the newspaper and despite being in slight darkness due to the sheer blocking the light, your eyes widen when reading 1879 on the sheet. Oh.

The door immediately opens and at that your heart starts to race. What are you actually doing ?!

Your right hand reaches up to press against the roof of under the desk as the sudden tightness feeling in your chest also seems to appear right under the desk.

The steps come closer every second and you fail to keep your breathing steady.

It is then a hand delicately pinches the corner of the sheet. Your eyes squeeze shut, scared of who will uncover you. The page is slowly lifted up and pulled back on the desk. Like how a groom would remove the veil off his beloved.

It feels like forever that you’re stuck in such agonising silence. You practically force yourself to open your eyes.

“Quite the peculiar hiding spot you have.”

You stare. You’re not exactly sure how long you stare for but you stare long enough that you don’t take notice of how he’s kneeling down on one knee before you. You don’t take notice of how he’s remarkably calm for someone who just found a strange girl hiding in his own study. Most of all though. His eyes that match the velvet book.

Those eyes that don’t even look real.

“So.” You pause. “You’re William I take it ?”

If only the ground could swallow you up now. “And..you’re y/n I take it ?”

He extends his hand to you and at that you notice his other hand still wears his white glove the other glove in his hand.

Shakily still you take his hand and somehow gently you find yourself pulled out from under the desk.

You attempt to wipe your skirt, not to tidy yourself up but rather in the attempt to somehow in your racing mind find an excuse that you will present to the man still eyeing you that stands before you.

With a polite smile on his face, the man you now know as William looks down at you with those unreal eyes with a certain look you must admit you’re not familiar with. You’re so caught up you don’t notice the sudden smirk that differs from the polite smile he showed to you before you averted your eyes away due to the immediate anxiousness.

“Apologies for not introducing myself until now.”

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TAGLIST: @elvyshiarieko @queenofspades403 @rayonfirethe2nd

[five-rivers]

Fractal

This is set in the Mortified-verse

.

Patterns repeated themselves.  That is why they were called patterns.  Two things derived from the same source tended to share similarities, though the method of derivation might be totally different. So it must be with shadows and Phantoms, one group cast, the other, copied. 

Yes, technically speaking the lair, Refuge, which the shadows were part of belonged equally to all seven Phantoms, but Danny had existed the longest, had been awake the longest, had the most memories, not counting a certain someone who was ignoring the lair with an intensity that could likely make plants wilt.  

(Danny, when he thought about Dan and Refuge in the same moment, thought about the fate of Harmony in that timeline.  Had it survived, unknown to Dan, or–?)

The personalities of the other Phantoms were starting to come through, most obviously in the creation of Replica, who was more Ellie's shadow than Danny's, but, to an outside observer, those changes were small, and could easily be dismissed as Danny wanting to accommodate his siblings. Fractal was not an outside observer.  He could cite exactly who was influencing what at any given time.  

All that to say Fractal was definitely a creation of Danny’s, a facet of his needs.  He had been made, largely, to act as a non-threatening interface between the lair and any visitors.  

All this to say that, despite the above facts, Fractal felt that he and Dmitri had a lot in common.  

They were both somewhat more bookish than Danny presented himself, they were both shy, they were both in a position that required them to interact frequently with others, anyway, they both had eye issues, and they both were on the verge of developing an enmity with the current organizational system of Refuge's library.

Before the shadows were made, the lair had sorted books, and other objects, autonomously. That was not to say the sorting wasn't still autonomous.  The shadows were part of Refuge, no matter how easy it was for outsiders to forget that.  Sending a shadow to move things was, however, a different process than the one it had employed before.  

It was easier, but, with shadows also being called to do other things so frequently, it also took longer.  Thus, the library was arranged in the same way it had been since Danny first became aware of it.  By color.  

This was a terrible way to arrange anything except, perhaps, art supplies.  Fractal, who had been assigned most of Refuge's sorting problems, hadn't gotten the chance to deal with it yet.  

He had been watching Dmitri flit up and down the rows of bookshelves for about five seconds.  He’d been aware of his frustration for much longer.  

Steeling himself, Fractal stepped forward–

Right onto the hem of his pants–

Causing him to, once again, plant his face on the floor.  It was even the same place!  Was there something about this one particular aisle?  This bookshelf?  The act of stepping out into the open?  Was he cursed or something?  When would he have been cursed?  How?  Why?  Who?

“Um,” said Dmitri.  “Are you alright?”

“Yes!” said Fractal.  He sat up.  “Yes.  I am fine.  Are you fine?”

“Yes?” squeaked Dmitri, floating far above Fractal.  

“Do you need help finding anything?” pressed Fractal, tapping his fingers together.  “Perhaps a book?”

Wisps had started to come down out of the leafy trees that grew from the tops of the bookshelves…  Or, from another perspective, the trees whose trunks the bookshelves were carved from.  They liked it here, but ever since the wisps as a group had gotten scolded for making Danny incredibly high, they were a little wary of getting close.  Which was too bad, really, but in ghost form Dmitri was almost the same size as them, so it was maybe just a bit…  

Fractal wouldn’t call it funny, but he was quite sure most of the other Phantoms would.  Either that or cute.

Dmitri glared at them, making them chime sadly, and dropped lower.  

“I’m trying to find books about places,” he mumbled.  “About countries and cities and things.”

“Ah,” said Fractal.  “We do have several like that.”

“But I can’t find them.  I can’t figure out what the order of this is!”  He waved a tiny hand at the shelves. 

“There really isn’t one, I’m afraid,” said Fractal, folding his hands in front of him.  “They’re arranged by color.”

“Oh, no,” groaned Dmitri.  “By color?”

“I can help you find them, though.  May I ask what this is for?”

“Don’t you know?” asked Dmitri, tilting his head to one side.  

“I can guess,” said Fractal.  “But Refuge as a whole is still somewhat more aligned with Danny, and we’ll always be more in tune with subconscious needs than conscious desires.”

Dmitri fidgeted.  “Dad - Sojourn - said he wanted to take me on a trip once we’re done regularizing relations with the US, and that I should pick out the places to go, but I don’t know any places.”

Fractal, already cataloging the atlases and travelogs held in the library, nodded.  “You’ll mostly want places in the Realms, then,” he said.  “At least until we start reaching out to the other countries on Earth.”

“Yes,” said Dmitri.  “That would be good.

“Okay,” said Fractal.  “I think I’ve found a few books that will be useful to you.”  He started to walk away confidently, then remembered his earlier spill and changed his gait to something more cautious.  The first book wasn’t far away, and then the next one was…  and so many atlases were blue of some variety…

“Does it ever bother you?” asked Dmitri.  

“Does what bother me?” asked Fractal.  He slid another book from the shelf, and passed it off to a wisp that was trying to make itself useful.  

“That you can’t leave.  That you’re stuck here.”

“I can understand that it would bother you,” said Fractal, pausing, “but why would it bother me?”

“Because you’re not really just a shadow, are you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I picked some things up from Danny.  You’re based on us physically, too, which means you have a brain, so…  Doesn’t that make you a person, too?”

“Hm.  Maybe.  But even if I do have a brain, it’s function is to be an extension of yours.  And,” he added, “I have no intention of pursuing any individuality I might possess.  I am a portion of a pattern that is self-similar to the larger, more complete version.  That is all.”

“A fractal.”

“I did name myself.”  Fractal started walking again.  Atlases, atlases…

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh, I guess I didn’t.  It doesn’t bother me.”  He smiled.  “After all, I get to travel with you.  Let’s find the rest of your books.”

[softpascalito]

Doves & Lights - Joel Miller x Reader

Summary: It's the first time Joel has a Christmas Tree in his house since leaving Austin. Emotions are running high. part 1 (optional) here

Relationships: Joel Miller x Reader WC: 2000 Tags/Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Past Character Death, Grief/Mourning, Joel Needs a Hug (The Last of Us), Soft Joel (The Last of Us), Panic Attacks, Established Relationship, Forehead Kisses, Healthy Relationships, Christmas, Christmas Tree, this turned out so sad, Author needs therapy Read on AO3 full advent calendar (updated daily)

notes: y'all i am SO SERIOUS when i say check the tags!! this is really sad and deals with some heavy stuff for joel :( i promise horny stuff will return once i have stopped crying over joel miller.

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

He wakes up to a steady dripping noise coming from the bathroom. It only takes a second for him to remember the day before, your shared patrol, the way he snuck his hand down your jeans, leaving your underwear a mess. The same underwear that is now washed and hung over the showerhead, steadily dripping away.

Joel stays like that for a moment, not yet willing to open his eyes. It’s almost calming, hearing something that is so undoubtedly intertwined with you being here, like a warm mattress or a smoldering fireplace. Something that leaves the impression, the reassurance that he is not alone, that you are just out of the door to get some more milk or grab more firewood from the shed.

He feels that way a lot recently. He feels it when a kid leaves a football laying around on the street, he feels it when he passes the window of the small school, decorated with pink and purple butterflies. He feels it when he catches a glimpse of the girl with curly, brown hair walking around town.

It’s so easy to make himself believe that it’s her, that it’s his Sarah, that she was merely away and that she’ll be back in time for dinner. He makes a point not to think about it. Or he tries. Until it all washes over him again.

It’s almost funny, he thinks, how spending a Christmas safe indoors with food and decorations and dinner parties brings back feelings he thought he had buried so deep that he would never be able to reach them again, even if he wanted, even if he tried.

But what is hidden in some deep and dark corner for him seems to be just below the surface for you. It barely seems to take any effort, for you to gather up the things he has kept hidden for so long and take them out, to look at them- and smile.

You’ve seen it. And you’re still fucking smiling at him. He doesn’t understand.

With Christmas only two days away, the town is busy with preparations, everyone seemingly wanting to make it a perfect holiday. Joel couldn’t care less. He’s agreed to dinner plans because he had to and he’s agreed to the tree because you practically blackmailed him with your pretty face. He’s gotten a few presents, snatched up a bottle of nice liquor on a patrol a few weeks ago and is ready to sit through the holiday with a blank expression and occasional small talk. Because he has to, mainly for Ellie’s sake. It’s what he keeps telling himself.

His mind is still on the dreaded dinner when he comes downstairs and is met with the smell of fresh pine. His eyebrows knit together, a frown decorating his face as he turns the corner to the living room.

Joel remembers being stabbed, back at the University. The sight in front of him feels exactly like the piece of wood had, a searing pain, shoved right into his abdomen.

You’re kneeling on the floor next to the tree, a small box with something inside propped up beside you. Joel needs to blink two times before he recognizes that it’s decorations, most of them made out of natural ingredients but a few stray bulbs in between.

It’s different from what he used when he decorated the tree with Sarah. But it’s still close enough.

He’s somewhat aware of the feeling in his chest going from pain to pressure, his lungs seemingly deflating as his throat closes up. He swallows once, twice. He finds that it’s not enough. The lump in his throat is still there. 

Joel wishes the feeling would just go away. He doesn’t want it, never has. It’s been so long. Surely it shouldn’t be hurting as much anymore.

His mind begins to wander, questioning if there is something wrong with him, either his body or his brain. He briefly wonders if he’s dying. The expression on his face is almost completely blank as he stumbles, his shoulder crashing into the doorframe with full force.

It’s the noise that finally makes you turn around. It only takes you a second to register his face, the way his body seems to go more slack with each second. You’re by his side instantly.

“Joel, come here. Lean on me,” you mutter, using your own body to try and prop him up. “Can you hear me?” There isn’t even a twitch of his lips at your words. His eyes seem to be staring into nothing. His breathing is fast, though, and you know that he’s already right in his panic attack.

“Okay, walk with me, yeah? Over here, come on.” A small grunt escapes you as you maneuver the broad man towards the armchair by the window. You drop him carefully, making sure that he’s not just falling over. Then you crouch down in front of him, one hand in his, the other on his knee.

“Joel? It’s me. We’re in Jackson. We’re home. You’re safe.”

You’re not sure yet where his thoughts have taken him- and to be truthful, you don’t really care. You know he has enough bad places in his mind to last several lifetimes. You’re sure you barely know about half of them.

“It’s okay. Take your time, you’re safe.”

You mumble the phrases over and over again, almost like a mantra. Trial and error have taught you the best ones, those that are most likely to help.

At first, Joel is barely aware of your presence, your body nothing more than a shadow that is speaking a language he doesn’t understand.

When he is like this, no one speaks his language. The words that come out of his mouth are all wrong. So he screams, sometimes. He doesn’t think anyone hears that either.

It still feels like something is around the corner, the door is open, she just needs to walk back in.

Joel starts crying, eventually. It’s almost silent, his breath going a little fast, salty tears running into his open mouth, a few dropping onto his shirt. It’s like it all spills from his eyes, the sadness, the panic, the emotions that flare up like they are an illness.

You wipe his tears, one hand still tucked into his. It feels like ages before his eyes move, landing on a few meaningless points in the room before they find you. 

No matter how many times you witness him like this, you never get used to how his eyes look afterwards. They’ve seen too much. You wish you could take some of it away. Just a little bit. Just to make it better. Just to make him a little less sad.

“There we are,” you praise softly, squeezing his hand a little. “You’re fine. Can you squeeze my hand?”

He gives a tiny nod, squeezing your hand back. It’s a little shaky but you nod in approval, running your thumb over the back of his hand, gently caressing the calloused skin.

“Can you come here?”

His voice takes you by surprise. It usually takes him a bit until he speaks and you’ve learned not to push it. His eyes have moved on from you and you can tell he’s avoiding your gaze. He’s also avoiding looking at the corner of the room that holds the half-decorated Christmas tree.

His free hand tugs on your shirt and you obey, crawling up onto the armchair with him and settling into his lap. Your arms automatically wrap around him, pulling his head against your chest. Your lips find his hair and you press a small kiss to the top of his head, the tiny bald spot that is showing his age right below your lips.

“Did I do something?” You ask quietly. He doesn’t reply. You’re about to repeat yourself when his voice perks up, a little muffled through your shirt.

“We used to decorate the tree.”

He doesn’t need to clarify who he is referring to. Your heart clenches at the thought and you immediately cram in the depths of your mind, trying to remember if he has mentioned this before. He answers the question before you can.

“You couldn’t know.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not sorry.”

You feel him nod below you, his arms pulling you a little closer. His grip is so tight that it hurts. You can’t bring yourself to care. If he needs something to hold on to, you’ll gladly be it.

“Sometimes I still think-” His voice breaks and you feel your own eyes beginning to prickle. “-hadn’t thought about Christmas decorations in so long, I didn’t think it would-”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault,” you mumble into his hair, pressing another kiss into the soft curls. There’s a streak of gray you have never noticed before.

You both stay quiet for a bit, you silently wiping your own tears away while Joel stays tucked into your chest. He listens to your heartbeat. Unlike his, it’s steady. A steady rhythm, just like the one he woke up to. It’s different though, better.

It’s not the promise of someone coming right back. It’s someone sitting in front of him. It’s his face in your shirt, the smell of wood and snow and sugar filling his nostrils. It’s the small touches and kisses on his head, on his back, a finger tracing a scar on his neck.

“We can throw the tree out, you know? It’s just a tree. It won’t mind,” you offer after a bit.

“You were so excited about it.”

He’s right. You’d been happy to finally put a tree up again, more than once glancing at the snow-decked tree leaning against the shed, waiting for its turn.

“We can get another one next year. Or the year after. Hold off until it’s gotten easier.”

“What if the years don’t make a difference? It’s been- it’s been so many years and it still-”

“Then we don’t get one, ever.”

He seems to consider something for a while, falling silent. Then he sighs, his body deflating under your touch, “Were you- were you done decorating?”

You frown a little, “Not really, but I told you, we can throw it out and-”

“Can I help?”

His voice is so soft and so quiet, like he’s afraid of you saying no. Of course, that’s not what he’s actually afraid of.

“Only if you promise to be honest. Tell me if it gets too much.” He nods, finally pulling back to look at you. Your hands fly to his cheeks, cupping his face as you smile at him.

He starts talking while you detangle the popcorn and cranberry garlands. At first, you think he’s just trying to make conversation. But then, he goes on and on.

He tells you about Sarah's first Christmas, about the year he got her concert tickets and she didn’t stop smiling the entire night. He tells you where he’d store the decorations in the summer, which kind of tree they’d get, how Sarah was mesmerized by the colorful lights every year, about the small pair of doves that she loved the most.

You take a chance. And it costs you almost the entire two days leading up to Christmas, cramped in attics, asking around town. But you’re successful.

On Christmas Eve, two tiny doves are dangling from the branches of the tree. One has a slightly chipped wing but other than that, they’re still intact.

Joel tears up when he first spots them. He wraps you into a hug, his eyes never leaving the smaller of the doves.

It feels like he could turn around any second and be back in Austin and see his own little dove waiting at the foot of the stairs when he comes home, throwing herself up into his arms.

On Christmas Eve, for the first time, Joel thinks he likes the feeling inside his chest. The chance of someone waiting for him behind his front door, someone's laundry in his bathroom, someone's heartbeat in his ear. 

And he finds that, after all these years, the door is still open.

[trashyslashers]

Hey! I miss your writing! How are you doing??

Any way I can get Corey with a shy s/o? How would that start, with him being shy in the beginning of the movie??

Ahh this one was really cute to write, thank you!

As for your question, things have been very up and down lately, hence the slow release of writing. The death of one of my beloved pets, a health scare with a family member who was in extremely critical condition, recently adopting three new baby rats, issues at work, applying for new jobs, dealing with a lot of inner turmoil and, for lack of a better term, a major crisis in self identity and I guess a lot of questioning about my own personal beliefs, feelings about myself, my family, my life has.... left me feeling very beat down and just fucking exhausted lmao.

In better news, I'm really hoping to see Halloween Ends again here soon, so fingers crossed that it works out because I'm DYING to see Corey again, especially since I want to get a better grasp on him for writing as I still fear I write him OOC. But hey, he's new, I'm new to writing him, I'll get better with him.

Also I cannot remember what his bike looks like so pls pretend this would work even if it wouldn't </3

Thank you again! This came out a bit longer than intended.

Corey Cunningham x shy! s/o

You two are both shy - but in somewhat different ways, and it's honestly kind of cute how it worked out that way.

Much of Corey's shyness stems more so from how incredibly socially awkward he feels, at least initially. While after the babysitting incident he became incredibly anxious (sometimes bordering on fearful) when it came to interacting with the public due to the cruelty they'd often deal his way, a great deal of his shyness has more to do with him just not really being sure how to socialize with people without coming across as, what to him always felt, dorky.

Corey thinks your shyness is pretty damn adorable - which is funny because he thinks his own is unattractive. His own didn't actually bother him too much, at least not until you came along - y'know the saying "opposites attract", and he felt that he didn't have the charisma to attract you, or get you to open up beyond the timid waves or smiles you'd give his way whenever your eyes would meet briefly.

He's had his eye on you for awhile. Never, ever sure how to approach you given the fact that neither of you knew each other, and that he's typically so focused on his studies and educational goals that he'd worry you may not find much in common with him and, as a result of that as well as what he always viewed as his abysmal social skills and lack of charm, you'd end up losing any interest you may have had in him.

Truthfully, it takes until after that Halloween night for him to approach you, and it wasn't exactly something he planned. After what happened, he knew that you knew, and as a result he could only assume that like most others in Haddonfield, you wanted nothing to do with him, and he considered any potential for a relationship with you gone.

That was, until the day you were walking out of the same convenience store he was going in to. It was an incredibly brief, yet still so comically awkward encounter, that every night he spent thinking of it made his heart thump with both embarrassment but also a giddiness he hadn't felt before.

He, upon opening the door and realizing someone was heading out, kept his gaze mostly to the ground in the hopes that avoiding eye contact would save him any flak from anyone who recognized him as he held the door for whoever it was, praying that they'd just pass by and not give him any shit. He didn't even want a thanks - hell, he figured that if he didn't hold the door, it'd slam shut on whoever it was and then it was inevitable that they would say something to him.

"Thank y- " You'd started, and the moment he heard your voice his head shot up, and he couldn't determine if your words were cut short by his sudden movement or by the disgust you must've felt upon realizing it was him, of all people - yet that apprehension faded when you offered that sweet, timid smile that always made his heart flutter. "You're Corey, right? Thanks for the door - you didn't have to do that."

He spent weeks kicking himself over how terribly he stumbled over his attempt at saying both "You're welcome" and "It's no big deal" and instead said "You're no big deal". He was quick to correct himself, scoffing a painfully awkward chuckle and once again redirecting his eyes elsewhere "Shit, I meant... it's fine. You don't need to thank me, I wanted to. Yes, I'm Corey." And giving you your name in return to confirm that he did, in fact, know who you were too.

Much to both his relief but also embarrassment, you seemed to find his blunder more comical than you did anything else, and nodded. "Yeah, that's me." He could listen to that cute, quiet little laugh of yours for hours. You quickly excused yourself, wishing him a good night and a "see you around".

He wanted so desperately to believe that you were being genuine with your kindness, and he kept swearing to himself that he'd talk to you the next time he had the chance to. Opportunity after opportunity kept passing him by and he kept swearing that next time he'd do it, until one day when it was absolutely pouring rain, and apparently your usual method of transportation had fallen through and you had no choice but to walk in the downpour.

He was not about to let that happen, and taking the tiny surge of bravery he felt, he stopped his well-ridden bike close enough that you could hear him over the rain, but far enough that you, hopefully, didn't feel uncomfortable, and he offered you a ride.

It definitely was a spectacle - he didn't have his motorized bike yet, and his bike wasn't made for two people, so he had you take the seat, while he stood over the center bar to pedal. You had to place your hands on his sides to keep your balance, and had it not been for his concentration on getting you to your destination as quickly, yet as safely, as possible, he would've melted on the spot from your light touch.

The both of you actually laughed a bit over the ride to wherever it was you needed to go, and he felt a fair amount of any nervousness and shyness he felt around you melt off. The hard part, the how do I approach them without scaring them off? part was over with.

Once the two of you enter an established relationship, your shyness actually begins to bring out Corey's bolder, protective side. He'll speak up for you if you need him to (he absolutely will be the "excuse me, they asked for no pickles" one in the relationship if need be), he'll act as a literal barrier between you and someone if they're hassling you, he'll give you rides home if your shyness branches into the socially anxious territory (and even if it doesn't, he still prefers to give you rides home - the people in Haddonfield can be shitty and he does not trust many of them) - he can, and does, overcome his own struggles with shyness when it comes to you.

As things develop and he becomes bolder, and much more confident and charismatic, he absolutely loves to tease you a bit and get you a shy, flustered mess. Calling you goopy, silly pet names in private? Check. Wrapping an arm protectively around your shoulders in public? Done. Pressing quick kisses to your face in a crowded room when you think no one is looking? It's like a game to him.

Turn the tables on him a bit, if you're feeling playful. For awhile, even just calling him something like babe or honey is going to bring back that shy, at a loss for words, Corey that he was for the first initial few weeks of your relationship.

[bitsandbobsfromrandomfandoms]

Sometimes I think there is a lot of internalized misogyny that shows up in fanfiction that remains unaddressed because it's so hard to talk about.

It is practically against fandom etiquette to think critically about fanfiction. I even feel very icky doing it when I know that many writers and artists churn out their content for free.

I have nothing but deep love and respect for fan-content creators. (From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your service 🫡)

But there are a lot of underground aspects about fandom that goes unacknowledged because even as I sense them, it feels ephemeral and intangible. I’m only one person, I don’t think I know how to articulate this much less speak of it with any kind of conviction.

So for the sake of that, I'm going to try and chip away at it and see if the words come over-time.

My more critical opinions are posted here and not in the comment section on ao3 because I have no desire to truly discourage anyone.

And first, let me just say I truly loved this story. I enjoyed the bloody shit out of it.

Draco's snarky, unfailing sense of humour even in face of utter tragedy was just chef's kiss.

10/10 recommend.

But there is one bone I want to pick and it's this:

It is established that by the end of the story, that Harry has fallen in love with Draco but chose to go back to his wife.

Why? Because he wants to have a family and children which was the reason he and Ginny were fighting to begin with and since Draco can't give him that, they both agree to end things.

Draco himself, has a very beneficial arrangement with his wife since she is also gay and they're acting as each other's beards but we see nothing of Harry's relationship with Ginny.

So my question is, what is she in this story besides a glorified baby-maker?

Draco and Harry eventually end up back together when their children are grown and they are middle-aged men. Harry even jokes that Ginny thinks he's gay and Draco says "10 points to Gryffindor".

Which is funny because at the beginning of the story, when Draco was giving advice under the guise of Lavender Brown to the man who wrote to Prophet, Draco advises him to break-up with his wife so she wouldn't lose years of her life with someone who couldn't want her back the same way:

She is young enough to start again with someone else. You want bitter? Denying you're gay and then finally admitting this to her when she's forty-five is sure to warrant her casting at least three different castration charms in your direction. And I wouldn't blame her.

And yet this is exactly what Harry does to Ginny.

This isn't so much a criticism as it is an observation that Harry was extremely selfish and cruel.

On top of that, I have a few more bones to pick at but none of them are as big or as important as the first one. They're just little things to be mindful of to maintain the distinction between good story-telling and reality.

The first is that, Harry in this story was healer and it was so much fun to see him take on this role since there are so many stories that feature Draco as a healer. But in this story, he was sacrificing his own life's energy to save people who would otherwise die. A physical consequence of doing this was his constant fatigue and how he seems to be just as thin and gaunt as Draco, who is somewhat starved and malnourished in this story.

In real life, when someone is prone to such extremes of behavior, they don't just stop doing what they are doing because someone asked them to. It's something of a compulsion or an addiction to them. So if the story was realistic, and Harry was actually absorbing other people's deaths, he wouldn't stop simply because Draco asked him to, he would continue to do what he was doing but hide it better.

There was also the strange role-reversal that took place after Harry saved Narcissa where instead of Draco thanking him, it was the other way around because Draco made him promise to stop. This isn't bad per se, but since I'm something of an expert in abusive relationships, something that comes up often in situations of lamp-shading or gaslighting is that the person who is being gaslighted is usually expressing the sentiment that in the given circumstances, it makes more sense for the other person to be expressing. So I'm hyperaware of that even though it may not necessarily apply here.

My last nitpicking is that Draco does not seem to have any sexual trauma because all the coercion and assault he's endured. Again, realistically this is unlikely. People who have gone through what he did don't walk out of the same way. And yet, apart from the physical damage to his knees, psychologically, he seems fine. I don't think this is so much of a complaint because I realise that if the story did address sexual trauma, it wouldn't be as light-hearted and enjoyable as it was. So I like to think that this is something that Draco might've had to come to terms with, off-screen.

I really did love the story but off-late, I'm more mindful of the way women are written in fanfiction because I really think that part of the reason m/m fanfiction is so much fun to read is because it never has to address to complex social dynamics that exist between men and women.

It's a space where women get to ignore the nature of living in a patriarchal world. Where sexuality isn't immediately conflated with shame or submission. Where the characters can engage in recklessness or risky behaviors without losing their relatability or be blamed for it. Where both characters seem to just be on more even footing than if one of them were a woman?

Urghh. I don’t think I’m explaining this well at all.

But I have to wonder that there are a lot of underground implications for why women go in for this kind of thing. And what it means when female characters are treated the way Ginny was in this fic?

I’ve noticed that even in many f/m fanfictions, there is this tendency to place female characters in situations of bondage or enslavement. Or they are reduced or disempowered in some way.

It’s going to take long time before I fully understand what's truly going on under the surface here.

I also think that, for straight women, reading about men in sexual situations will always be more gratifying than reading about women, because it’s what we are naturally attracted to x2. Maybe that’s why men are also very titillated by lesbian porn 🤷‍♀️

[adorablebanite]

I'm trying to get myself hyped up to continue my last 2 chapters and finally finish this- I took such a big hiatus after Gortweek, and I really want to get this done! The people reading/supporting the ENTIRE WAY though have been so lovely and nice! Please enjoy! (or don't! It's up to you!) Please also note -I am an extreme amateur - this is the first thing I've written in over 10 years xD

Destri couldn’t disclose to Lilla exactly why her emotions were so off-kilter, but the young cleric didn’t pressure her; instead they sat on the bed together, bantering as if they had been friends, or sisters, since forever.

Soon, Lilla was enthusiastically recanting her tale of the Banite tournament (not excluding her romp with Rugan, which the Bhaalspawn was particularly interested in), as well as her short stint at the House of Hope. Destri clung onto every word, enamoured with the story, as well as Lilla’s own journey to navigate her complicated thoughts. 

Though their situations were quite different, Destri found a modicum of relatability between her and Lilla. She hadn’t fully understood the reasons Lilla ended up in the hells until that night; only that she had sought to save the dashing Rugan’s life, at the expense of her soul - all under the assumption that the tyrant didn’t want her anymore. 

It was a wholly absurd concept, Destri thought, but endearing… and romantic - even funny, in many ways. It reminded her of one of her corny, lewd stories, and she found herself revelling in the friendship she had with Lilla. The young woman was so easy to love; her company so effortlessly accommodating…Destri found her mind wandering somewhat, while Lilla went on a scholarly tangent about her studies into the nature of succubi and incubi.

Instead of a bloody vista, as far as the eye could see, Destri was lulled by images of herself, Lilla, and the tyrant simply spending time together. Lord Gortash with his inkling for mechanical bones and joints, Lilla perhaps reading a book on whatever topic captured her at the moment, and Destri serenading them with a soft, serene cello piece before a cosy fire.

It was only a quick vision, but it was strong. Strong enough to make her heart ache with want. She can’t have that when everyone is dead. Before the tyrant, she wouldn’t have thought twice about cutting every cord of life from this world…But that damned, pathetic man and his adorable little gremlin of a woman were enough to make her question her born destiny. 

She should be angry at them; furious for distracting her…But perhaps due to Lilla’s calming spell, or simply her charming presence, there was no hate or rage in Destri’s heart…Only warmth. Love, maybe. Love was a foreign feeling she had only recently been acquainted with - which was hysterical , because clearly the tyrant was the same. Neither of them knew how to navigate each other, yet they did it anyway. When one was misled by some emotion or another, the other would guide them through the storm. 

Was that what love was? Was it really that simple? It seemed so simple if one didn’t think about it…But when Destri tried to consider what it was exactly, she screwed up her face in an attempt to understand the paradox: an unconditional kindness, while simultaneously acting as a transactional oath. You do no harm to me, nor I to you . But what if harm was done unintentionally? Like when the tyrant says something cruel he didn’t mean, or when Destri acts cold towards him to shield herself from fear? It’s not meant to hurt him, it’s meant to protect herself…But maybe protecting herself wasn’t as important as taking gentle care of him when he’s laying his beating heart bare for her to scrutinise…

Oh gods, oh gods. Oh father. 

I’m sorry, so sorry. 

You gave me life, and this is the tangle I have woven in thanks for your gifts…

But I never asked for these gifts, did I? 

I am your child. You say you love me. 

If you truly love me, then am I permitted to choose my own fate? 

Or is our love transactional, not unconditional? 

It’s it not a lovely paradox of one and the other, in which some queer, twisted balance can be agreed on?

Is our love your love only?

I pay you in souls, and you pay me in fleeting ecstasy.

…Is that love? 

I never knew anything else until the tyrant.

Can you lay your heart bare for me, like he has? 

Maybe then I can better understand your demands. 

Maybe then I can better understand my sordid birthright. 

“My Lady?” Lilla’s voice called to Destri from a million miles away; across a red ocean, beckoning her home. 

“Hmm?” Destri blinked the glaze away, focusing on the cleric’s beautiful features, “Oh, Lilla. I apologise…I’ve been distracted of late. So tired...”

Lilla responded with a warm smile, “Of course, My Lady - no apologies needed, you know that! I got lost in my own thoughts about devils and incubi, and maybe Rugan…”

This drew out a surprise guffaw from the Bhaalspawn, “You’ll really have to introduce me to this Rugan…It’s the first person I’ve heard you speak about in such a way besides the tyrant…Be sure he doesn’t become jealous!”

Lilla blushed, “Rugan will never be like Master…But I like him. I think. I also want to crush him, just a little - you know?”

Destri gawked at Lilla in surprise, then burst out into a flowery laugh, “I actually know exactly what you mean, my sweet.”

“Oh thank the gods,” Lilla sighed, “Besides, Master isn’t jealous of Rugan - he invited him over the night you two rescued me from the House of Hope!” The red on her cheeks deepened at the memory, “They both fucked me silly as a punishment.”

“WHAT?” Destri squealed in shocked delight, eyes flaring.

“Master made me drink my berry-red potion - which makes one

rather mad for cock - and they tied me up, and both had their way…”

“LILLA!!?!!”

“I thought you were maybe watching from the oak tree, like you sometimes do!”

“LILLA!!!!” Destri’s cheeks and ears burned with embarrassment; she covered her face and fell back onto the bed, laughing. 

“Oh please,” Lilla scoffed playfully, “It’s not like we’re exactly playing the role of chaste princesses at this point…”

Destri slapped her on the arm, trying and failing to prevent her laughs from turning into grotesque snorts, which caused Lilla to burst into laughter alongside her.

[lake-archive]

Play Date

Izuann Masterlist (!!-Era) - Alte Liebe Rostet Nicht (Next)

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Characters: Izumi Sena, Original Character

Pairing: Izumi Sena/Original Character (Izuann)

Words: 1,625

Summary: A short trip into a childhood event from over a decade ago, when the times seemed simpler and it was easier to like other people...

"Izuzu! Hier!"

Outside of his nickname for her the little boy didn't exactly understand a word this girl was saying. He didn't even know her name. He didn't know how to ask! Or rather when he did she just tilted her head and laughed it off, saying something he didn't get. But he assumed that she thought he was being funny which made him pout a little. She was a meanie sometimes! This wasn't funny at all!

However, something made the boy unable to stay mad at her for too long. Maybe it was because she had dragged him away that time, onto the nearby playground. At first he had been a little skeptical, given his parents specifically told him not to talk to strangers. In fact, it was a rarity that they allowed him to be out on his own during the day. Usually Papa or Mama would stay close to him to keep a close eye. But that time they had been busy, saying they 'would be busy working today so he was free to go as long as he's home by five'. That's why they had gone to this country for a while, away from his friends. It was only a month or so but still, away from his friends… It was getting lonely. Maybe that's why he came along with the girl around his own age at the end, playing with her. He didn't understand the names of the games, being in some mysterious language he did not speak. But they were simple enough to imitate what she was doing. Sometimes it was just hopping around, other times drawing something on the ground with chalk, then once it involved climbing, other times a ball: Just whatever came to her mind. Honestly, if it were not for her voice, he would probably mistake her for a guy.

Short, brown, messy hair, shorts, a shirt way too big for her and a pair of trainers. No dress, no accessories, not even make up. And she was not scared too from what he saw. She sometimes fell over and scraped her knee but laughed it off rather than crying over it. She was odd, to say the least, yet he was jealous all the same.

Little Izumi wouldn't dare think of this. After all, if he fell over for even a moment or made his clothes too dirty he would get yelled at by Mama and Papa.

"Izumi! What happened!? Didn't we tell you to be careful!? Go to your room! You will stay there for the rest of our stay! What if you would have gotten yourself hurt, spread an ankle or hit your face!? Oh especially your face! If you get it dirty in any way, you won't be able to model anymore!"

He didn't like it though, being sent upstairs and never being able to leave the house. They did this way too often sometimes. But it's just because they were worried. So this was fine, wasn't it? Being locked up, told to be careful or it might end badly for him… This was how they showed their love, right?

But even if he knew he dared not to make his parents worry. It was the last thing he wanted. They were just looking out for him, weren’t they? So he had to be extra careful when playing with this little girl.

It was over time where he started to have fun, her gaining his trust altogether. It was fun, in an odd way. He enjoyed their time together, just playing some games. His parents only knew vaguely about the girl. Because who knows how mad they would get if he told them about their games! No, he can’t do that. He can’t describe them!

Besides, both of them were usually just playing in silence, somewhat. Or rather she was talking and he was just listening, not understanding a word. She may as well speak alien to him, it would make no difference. They didn’t communicate verbally but rather with their expressions and actions. It was odd, something not many would understand, but they were able to communicate in some way. It took one glance to figure out what was going on, even at this very moment. He did not understand a single bit what this girl was trying to tell him, he only stared at her with his head slightly tilted. She noticed, first blinking before laughing per usual.

“Izuzu versteht es nicht? Dann zeige ich es Izuzu!”

She said something awfully cheerful before starting to suddenly hop in place. He simply observed her movements, over and over before seeing her jump into a construction she may have drawn up on the bricky ground. There were seven rows in total, numbered ‘1–10’ and each row either had one square or two squares next to another, in turns. Before having even hopped into one of the squares she threw a tiny stone right into one of them, then started hopping.

He had watched her eagerly up until when she suddenly tripped, face plastered onto the hard ground. Out of worry he got up, running over to her and shaking her for some time. At first the girl didn’t want to get up it seems, him almost tearing up as a result. Did she— She didn’t, right? No way! She can’t! She shouldn’t—

But he would hold those tears in when suddenly seeing her head lift up, a bump right in front of it. But instead of crying like he would have she was only laughing it off while rubbing it.

“Ahaha, Mami wird sich aufregen!" She said something… But he wondered what it would have been. Regardless, the next thing she had spotted was Izumi’s face, at the brink of tears yet that only made her jump up all of a sudden with a bright grin. Even now her smile did not fade which is quite impressive, to say the least. Did this girl have any weaknesses to begin with? She can be in such a good mood all the time.. It was kind of impressive.

“Alles super Izuzu! Mir macht so etwas gar nichts!” She then had just casually walked up to the tiny stone, picked it up and then ran over to him, holding it out.

“Ist jedoch nicht so schwer, oder? Versuch es! Du bist sowieso vorsichtiger als ich! Haha!"

Those were the days Izumi looked back on, more fondly than he liked to admit. The time was short lived as one of his parents had spotted the two, seeing what ‘barbaric game’ he was playing with this girl before being dragged away. It was the last time he ever saw her, unable to tell her what happened. Not like he could talk to her or anything but at least try to say goodbye. Because the rest of the time he had been stuck at home, supervised by one of his parents with a fair scolding. He made them worry and while he believed to understand that they cared it always left a sour taste in his mouth. What was she doing now?

Where was she? Would she even remember him? He thought about it sometimes and over time he had started to desire to see her again, to at least explain himself to her. But she most likely forgot. Yeah, that was—

“Izumi–Kun? Izumi–Kun! Wake up!” An unpleasant voice shouted right at him, making him turn around in no time, though his expression turned a little less pleasant… Ugh, them. Ann had to wake him up, of course they did… However, before he could complain he got a few papers shoved in his face, literally, before grabbing said papers and Ann letting go of them. He lowered the stack to see their expression, as annoyed as his own.

“Here You can leave.” They added, almost drily. “Article about Makoto–Kun translated. Bye bye!”

“Tch, you got some nerve talking to me like that.” He responded, equally annoyed.

“You asked for translation! I provided that! Now out!”

“Did anyone tell you to watch your tongue!?”

“Back at you!” They added before grabbing him by his shoulders, turning him around and trying to shove him out of their office. “Now out!”

“What the— Hey, don’t just touch me without permission!” Izumi broke free easily, taking a step forward before turning back around. “I get it, I’m going! Not like I enjoy sticking around you anyways!”

“Could’ve left earlier then!”

“Are you kidding me? This is Yuu–Kun’s interview! I have to read it as soon as you finish translating it!”

“And then complain day later?”

“If you were to mess up less, then I wouldn’t!”

“If you’re better, do it yourself!”

“They don’t pay you for doing nothing!”

Ann growled for a short moment, only for Izumi having a smug grin. Serves them right. If they talk back and aren’t a good little employee they get what’s coming to—

Though he suddenly paused when looking at their face, holding that thought. This…He observed it closely for a moment, just staring and staring. It had thrown Ann completely off, them staring back in confusion before making him snap out of it: “Something on my face to complain about?”

He quickly shook his head several times, still in disbelief. He had been staring though not sure why. “No, it’s as ugly as always.” He responded, attempting at a comeback which only made them more furious but he turned around by then. “I’ll read it right away. Thanks.”

He then left just as quickly, no longer wishing to face them. Could it be… That Ann is…

“Pff, no way. That thing’s way too pessimistic to be her.”

Izuann Masterlist (!!-Era) - Alte Liebe Rostet Nicht (Next)

[myfairkatiecat]

😂 , 😭, and ❓ for the ask game since you said you have a lot. I hope you’re having a lovely evening!

I do have a lot of WIPs! Hey you know how I often say “I should make a fic about that?” That translates to “BRB going to go start a fic about that.” So like. Some of these WIPs will NEVER be finished 😭 or maybe one day they all will! Who knows?

😂 a funny or crack WIP snippet

Okay, I’ve talked a LOT about how I’m making this AU, but have never put any snippets online, so here we go!! (I gave y’all a long one since it’s taking me forever and then another forever to write it.)

—

“Now that the nightmare is over,” Kate began.

“You are not going to sing,” Constance interrupted. Kate was silent. “That was meant to be a joke. An attempt at humor. But I now see that you were actually going to sing. DON’T.”

“Was it really a nightmare?” Nathaniel winced. “It was, you know, occasionally fun.”

“It was!” Nicholas said affirmingly. “Sometimes.”

“It was not,” Constance deadpanned.

Kate cleared her throat loudly. “As I was saying, now that the nightmare is over, Reynie and I have prepared one last special performance. I have expanded my piano repertoire from Chopsticks to A Few More Chords simply for this occasion!”

“But there’s no piano in here,” Sticky pointed out.

Constance’s eyes widened. “Please tell me you didn’t save one of the Buttons.”

“Those buttons are some of my finest inventions!” Nathaniel insisted.

“The way you told it to me, it was your associate’s invention,” Nicholas reminded him.

“Well, yes, Dr. Garrison made it, but it was my idea.”

“I’m not in the least surprised,” Nicholas said with a sigh.

Kate pulled out a small black-and-white button, threw it to the ground, and the illusion took over, the room appearing to now be a stage with familiar spotlights shining down. The button itself had expanded, and while it couldn’t quite replicate an acoustic piano, it was impressive that it made an instrument at all. “Piano was one of the hardest ones, but I insisted she figure it out,” Nathaniel informed everyone as Kate sat down at the piano.

Reynie made his way to the middle of the dance floor and, much to Constance’s annoyance, began to sing.

—

The song is I See Stars from Mean Girls, but y’all don’t get a preview of my rewritten version of that song quite yet! You’ll just have to wait for it to come out…….

😭 angst or sad WIP snippet

Oh boy oh boy do I have these.

So this particular snippet is actually from a different fandom (*gasp* Katie writing for her old fandoms???) so enjoy! (It’s also from a one-shot, so I kept the snippet short!)

—

Merlin bit down on his fingers as soon as the words flew out of his mouth. It had worked against the truth potion before, but he was too late this time.

“Merlin,” Arthur said slowly, “what exactly do you mean by treason?”

“You’re the king, I figured you would know at least that much,” Merlin evaded, even with the truth potion prompting him to spill every last treasonous action he’d committed.

“Merlin.” Arthur’s voice was even, but his eyes were hard. “What. Did. You. Do.”

“I was born,” he muttered bitterly. “But I guess I’ve done a lot of things besides that anyway.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

“Do I ever?”

“Merlin!”

“I’m a sorcerer!” The truth burst forth, and Merlin cursed the potion, still in his system. “Is that what you wanted to hear? No, of course it wasn’t. You wanted to hear that I was being over dramatic and that I did nothing against the law. Well, I was born with magic! There’s the big treasonous secret!”

—

Hehe angst.

And finally, ❓ any WIP snippet you want!

I actually got the idea from reading SOS 😉 you know exactly what scene I’m talking about

—

“She’s… she’s nice,” Nathaniel said somewhat hesitantly. “And I mean it. She doesn’t seem like it, but once you learn her language…”

“She has the same emotions as everyone else,” Nicholas finished. “She just expresses them differently.”

Nathaniel nodded and was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Like me.”

Nicholas looked surprised. “Yeah. Like you.”

“You weren’t expecting me to say that out loud.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

There was a beat of silence, and then Nathaniel said, “It’s why you adopted her. I understand… I did the same with SQ.”

—

Thank you for the ask! This was fun!