#kill move paradise (play)

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MULTIMUSE QUESTIONAIRE

Tagging: @infernalight, @infernal-feminae, @heartsofhell, @questionablemuses, @because-i-simp, @frostworkxfiction, @deepspacevivarium, @hotelbitches, @voxiiferous

RULES: Answer the questions with the Muses that would best fit the answers. Bonus if you give details why. If tagged, copy and paste into a new post – DO NOT REBLOG!

1) Rank your softest Muse and your toughest Muse. (Personality-wise)

My softest muse is definitely Vick. He's a 0 on the toughness scale, he's a big teddy bear and he will choose kindness over anything else at any point.

My toughest muse is probably Barbie. Girl is tough as nails and will not be stopped if she puts her mind to something. She doesn't take pain as a reason to stop and will go harder when it hurts.

2) Which Muse would blow through $1000 quickly?

Valentino, hands down. He spends $1,000 every day easily on things he doesn't even need. He loves to buy expensive things and will do so at all hours. He especially loves spending Vox's money. $1,000 is a drop in the bucket for him and he doesn't even notice spending it.

3) Do any of them have nicknames? Is there a meaning behind them?

Quite a few of them do!

Valentino answers to Bunny from his lovers, it's a subspace trigger word for him. I assigned him Bunny because he's Cute And Horny, aka a rabbit, and a bunny sub is fairly common.

4) Are any of them up-to-speed on the latest trends? Anyone more old school?

Velvette, Vox, and Valentino are obsessed with always being on top of the next new thing.

Alastor hates new things and will fight them as much as he can.

5) Who has the best relationship with their siblings?

Valentino had a fairly good relationship with his siblings when he was alive. He had seven of them, plus three live-in cousins that were like his siblings.

6) Karaoke night! Who is likely to grab the mic first and bust out a tune?

Beelzebub, Ozzie, Valentino, and Ostello! They all love to sing and party, and they're all pretty good at it. Ostello was a pop-jazz singer when he was alive and before he died in Hell, too!

7) Who is least likely to enter a beauty pageant/model?

Gretchen. She doesn't think that she's very pretty, and would just feel embarrassed even going to watch.

Travis. He is constantly told he's very ugly, and he doesn't have a very high opinion of his looks.

8) If your Muses visited a haunted house where actors scare you, who would panic and who would be unfazed? 

Chazz, Gretchen, Charlie, Anya, Magpie, Summer, Travis, and Vick would be the easiest to scare!

Valore, Dimas, Cash, Glitz, Stu, Paimon, Alastor, Darío, Niffty, and Vox would be the hardest to phase.

9) Are any of your Muses particular about taking certain modes of transportation?

Vox prefers to be driven around and doesn't like driving himself.

Valentino only likes to drive occasionally and prefers pretty sports cars when he does.

Anya and Darío are motorcycle people.

Emily enjoys bicycles!

10) Share a little-known fact about any Muse.

Adam is actually a very good father and he loves kids and babies. He is very tender with children even if he can be harder on them once they have grown into adults.

[shakespearenews]

For Ali, it started with performing Shakespeare with his peers in Kenya, where he was born and raised. “It was malleable. It was playable. It was completely adaptable,” he said. “Coming to the States, Shakespeare is this other thing: mostly white people, very few people of color, and they speak a certain way.”

He began inviting playwrights to work on Shakespeare adaptations with him. “I was like, ‘I want someone whose profession it is to work on the language. And I can talk about the world and the concept.’”

[nouvxllev]

skill issues

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x G!p!Reader

Summary: in which you got reeled into a bandwagon of a fps game by mindy, anika, and chad.

Words: 2.6k

Warnings: smut. just pure smut.

a/n: i just love the idea of tara carpenter being a clingy partner (also my first time writing just a chapter full of smut.)

masterlist.

The clock ticked midnight. Probably even pass that. Actually, you didn't know anymore. Whatever was on your mind was completely erased and replaced by tiny pixels moving in your screen.

Ever since you've joined Tara's friend group, you've also been reeled into a bunch of activities they do on a daily basis. To binge watching scary movies you've begged them not to drag you in, to playing games they recommended to you.

You regret participating in the latter.

It's not like you were having fun, hell, you were having too much fun with this simple FPS mobile game they pulled you in, but the deep dark circles under your eyes were starting to show and you don't really eat anything except for the meals Tara cooks for you. Which are greatly appreciated by a kiss.

"Y/n, what the fuck!? I told you to cover me!" Mindy yelled over your headphones. Actually, it was Tara's headphones desperately lent over to you after days of quiet shouting that didn't really help.

You crouched in reply, knowing Mindy was spectating your character.

You killed, not one, not two, not even four people, but six at once in a group! 3 headshots and 3 body kills. You were pretty proud of yourself, honestly. You just started the game a few weeks ago and you're only getting better and better, you wanted to brag to Tara but she was fast asleep beside you. She was always beside you whenever you play those games with the group, cuddling you as you hold your phone up in the air, but she always ends up falling asleep when you do.

Chad laughs over his mic, "damn, we should've invited Y/n a long time ago. She's good at this game."

You laugh in response, bringing your voice to a whisper. "Even I didn't know I had this in me."

Ever since you and Tara finally made it official, you packed your things and said good riddance to your home and lived together with Tara. It was unexpected, even she was surprised by the spontaneous decision, but the two of you were happy in paradise. Not until you got dragged into the whole 'gaming with those two dipshits™ (by Tara Carpenter, of course.)'

"Anika—! Anika—Wait, shit Anika!" You scream, regrettably, while shooting the opposing team down. Obviously, the luck you had earlier had worn out and you were now staring down at your dead character, groaning.

"I didn't know they were there!" Anika apologized.

"Skill issue." Mindy chimed, you could tell she was leaning back in her chair, looking smug.

"Definitely." Chad blurted, a huff of air he let out.

You rolled your eyes. "Those who didn't carry the team with their 6-kill streak should actually shut up." You went back to the home screen after gg'ing the other team

"Another round?" You exclaimed, and the others cheerfully agreed in the background.

You forgot, for a split second, you were beside one of the most lightest sleepers in the world; your marvelous girlfriend Tara Carpenter. Someone could breathe in her vicinity and she'd almost immediately wake up. Which is why she's staring you down, burning holes in your neck, unimpressed look on her face.

"Y/n," she groaned, "I thought you'd be done by now."

You turned to look at her, and you could only hope it was the darkness fooling your eyes since Tara looked like she was about to scream if not for her reminding herself that you were her girlfriend.

You muted your mic, "One more round, I promise."

"You always say that." She whispered, her arms wrapping around your waist as you were sitting up and you almost melted in her arms, a sigh you let out.

You let your other hand let go of your phone and let your hand relax on her head, soothing her worries of you being on the verge of being one of those mentally unstable gamers who discarded their whole entire life.

Tara was still awake, you could tell by how she tilted her head slightly to look up at you and back to whatever game it is you were so engrossed in.

It was only a few seconds later before Mindy, Anika, and Chad were screaming into the mic and telling eachother to "defend, defend, defend!" or just curse at eachother.

And you, of course, was just resting in paradise while your girlfriend watches over you with half-lidded eyes. But you could tell she was trying to be awake.

You were getting into that headspace where your luck with getting kills increased, and damn were you so happy you could basically convince yourself you were the next top player at this game.

That was until you fumbled over a sniper shot, your finger slipping and your character dying. Your friends were yelling, laughing, but you couldn't focus. Not when Tara's hand was placed firmly on top of your cock.

You froze in place, your eyes, not focused on the screen anymore, but focused on somewhere in the darkness of your room. Her fingers tracing lazy circles around your clothed bulge, only getting larger the more she teases you.

You muted your mic, your hands clutching your phone as you suck in a moan. "Tara, wait, I'm—"

"—Playing?" She finished, looking up at you with her doe-eyes you knew you could never resist. "I'm sure you can play perfectly fine." She replied, her fingers sliding into the waistband of your shorts. You ultimately regretting, and thanking, that you weren't wearing anything underneath.

You were big, you haven't measured it yourself, but Tara worshipped it like it was (and is) so that was enough for confirmation. The tip of your cock was immediately leaking with pre-cum, and it didn't help when Tara kept stroking it, taking her time to graze her thumb along the head.

"Aren't you going to continue playing?" She looked at you, doe eyes and all as if she wasn't giving you the most perfect and maddening handjob you've ever received.

There was something in her voice, something that made you go fucking insane. And something that made you click that respawn button, playing it off as if nothing was happening down below.

You were desperately trying to get a kill, the amount of times you've pressed that damn respawn button was embarrassing. But how could you focus when the most prettiest girl was wrapping her warm lips around the tip of your dick, her hands taking care of the inches that wasn't in her mouth. Yet.

She removed her mouth away from your cock, a soft whine escaping your lips at the loss of contact, but then she adjusted her position. Her body going in between your thighs as she spreads them apart.

You almost, almost, went to heaven when she immediately reattached her soft lips to your dick and slowly started to go deeper.

It was almost pathetic how your hips bucked and your head was thrown back, your eyes rolling in pleasure.

And only a few seconds passed until she was bobbing her head up and down on your cock, her free hand tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Fuck, that turned you on even more.

You contemplated throwing the game, hell, even your phone, but Tara dug her perfectly manicured nails into your thighs when you were starting to put your phone down.

"Y/n, you're getting out of your game!"

"Noticed."

"I bet 20 bucks she's getting laid by Tara, right now."

The three of them, in order, Chad, Anika, and Mindy all teasing you for getting your dick sucked in the middle of the game. But you didn't care, at all. You didn't have enough trust in yourself to unmute and to deny all sayings, that were 100% true by the way, without having to hold back a moan.

"Fuck, Tara..." You manage to say in a whimper, your hand, which was supposed to be playing the game, was grabbing a handful of Tara's hair. Helping her take in what's left of you, and soon enough, her nose reached your chest, gagging a little bit in the process.

You were going crazy.

It was then you couldn't take it anymore. You grabbed her hair, a bit more forcefully, and started to shove yourself back and forth into her mouth. Your hips bucking and gradually getting speed. You could see how her eyes and jaw widened to take more of you. Spit and pre-cum dripping all over her mouth as she looked at you, tears staining her eyes while she closed them whenever she hit the base, gagging all over your cock.

You can feel your legs begin to shake, your head throwing back and your eyes rolling. But that didn't stop you from absolutely railing Tara's mouth against your dick until you've emptied yourself inside of her, forcing her to swallow all of your load.

A minute passed before you slowed down your movements, pulling an exhausted Tara out of your cock. She looked at you dumb, your own cum smeared all over her lips as a grin adorned her abused lips.

"I guess we can say I'm better than that stupid game you're always playing." She rasped, her voice hoarse.

"You did this because you were... jealous of me playing a game?" You chuckled, clearly out of breath. It was cute if you weren't so turned on by the fact Tara was looking at you like that.

She brought her hand up to her mouth, wiping away the excess cum with her thumb and licking it off. "I just wanted to tease you, baby."

You thought that was the end of it, not until Tara threw your phone and headphones away and started to climb on top of you, your still hardened cock right on top of her clit. You didn't even notice she wasn't wearing anything underneath as well until now.

"I'll get you a new one—" she breathed, "I promise. Just, please." She whimpered, god, fuck, you were going insane. "Just fuck me."

And that was everything you needed you hear.

You immediately flipped her around, "Y/n, what the FUCK!—" she screamed as you drilled your cock into her, your hips pulling out your dick and fully slamming it back into her pussy. A broken moan coming out of her lips.

"Shit... Tara, you're driving me crazy." Was all you could mutter before you went faster, your hands going to her hips to hold her steady, and your eyes were focused on your cock easily sliding in and out of her puffy folds, taking all of you at once while Tara could only moan, a new freshly coat of cum taking over your dick.

The way she squeezed around you, milking your cock for all it's worth, made you dizzy and your head start to spin. But that didn't stop you from completely destroying her bit by bit, aiming to break her down.

You pulled her closer to you, your hands going up to her shoulders and aggressively ramming her body against your shaft as if it wasn't so deep enough already. Tara couldn't say, mutter, or even speak a single sentence at this point.

You were fucking her dumb, and shit you loved it.

Your hands slithered up from her shoulders to her neck, lightly choking her before turning her head to you.

"You're so pretty like this, baby. So gorgeous and perfect." You muttered in her ear, every word coming to a hard thrust as Tara's mouth opened, attempting to say something but only coming out as a pathetic moan. "You wanna be fucked like a slut? Be fucked dumb out of your mind?"

Sliding your hands on her back, you pressed down firmly to create the perfect arch as her head was buried into the soft mattress, her hands curling up into a ball as she sobbed with pleasure. You can hear her moaning your name over and over again, screaming and sobbing muffled by the soft pillow under her.

"Answer me, Tara."

"Yes, please!" She pleaded, "God, oh my god." She gulped, her head falling back as she reached her second orgasm, her walls clamping down on your cock and cum dripping down from her abused and assaulted pussy.

Her legs gave up, but you didn't. You continued to ram into her, without a care that she was near peak exhaustion and her sobs were becoming more frequent. Your freehand that wasn't pressing down on her back going over to her clit, overstimulating her.

"Fuck, I'm gonna cum," you groaned, "Tara..."

"Cum'n me." She said, breathless, "please. Please, please, please, please—"

After that last plead, you came in her. Your body still thrusting into Tara as you lean towards her, "I love you. I love you so much, my favorite girl." You muttered, pressing kisses all over her cheeks and lips as she breathed for air. But that sweet moment didn't stop you from resuming to pound into her as if it was your last day on earth.

You kept your cock inside of her, pistoning it in and out as you stretched her pussy till it's limit. Until it recognized the shape of your dick, which, you succeeded. The both of you continued until Tara reached her actual peak of exhaustion and collapsed.

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When Tara woke up, she was sore. Sore as fuck. Everything up and down from her head to toe was just relentless pain everywhere. That is, until she turned her head to see you just gazing at her. Softly. As if you didn't ruin her to pieces just hours before.

"Hey," you greeted her, a smile gracing your lips. Tara didn't realize, but you drew her a bath the second she passed out and took care of her yourself. Even changed her to her favorite outfit whenever she just wanted to lay around.

Tara smiled. Despite her sore legs, her sore everything actually, she still managed to cling onto you like a koala. Her arms crushing you as you hugged her back. "Hey." She whispered in your ear, kissing you gently. "Thanks, by the way. For taking care of me." She hugged you even tighter, which you reciprocated.

The two of you sat there for a few minutes, basking in eachothers presence and warmthness. Until you broke the silence. "Tell me the real reason." You pulled back from Tara's tight hug. (You tried to, she was unbudging.)

"I was." She raised an eyebrow, which you also reciprocated.

You chuckled. "I've been your girlfriend and bestfriend for a total of 3 years, Tara. You can't fool me."

She could almost roll her eyes right now if she wouldn't regret it later. "We haven't had sex in a while." She confessed, avoiding your eye contact. "Like, a whole month."

The adorableness there was to Tara Carpenter, the amazing girl you're blessed with, was beyond you. "You could've told me, Tara." You tucked a loose strand between her ear, "you know I like talking with you. Especially about something personal, or maybe something about in our relationship."

"I didn't know how to like," she paused, "really, really, express it." She explained, "also I couldn't since you were on that damn video game for weeks now!"

Yeah, you had to blame yourself for that. Or maybe the crew. "I solemnly swear to not play that game. Well, atleast that often." You held up your pinky, making a pinky promise that you always, always never broken in your life.

Tara chuckled, taking your pinky into hers. "Also your phone has been buzzing like crazy for the last few minutes."

"It's just Mindy bragging about she got rich because she was betting over our sex life."

"What!?" The younger Carpenter screamed.

"Don't worry too much about it." You shrugged it off. "Just a skill issue." You joked.

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a/n: just needed to get this off my brain. idea popped into my head one random day and i've been thinking about it actually doing something about it, and it's probably something i need to do to take of my writers block!!

[awkward-walking-potato]

Heyo! I love how you write stories with Logan with animals because they’re so beautiful!! I was wondering if you’d write another one please? The reader is a shy mutant with nature powers (grow all kinds of flora, manipulate the elements, live harmonious with any kind of animal), she’s basically like Mother Nature. She has a big secret place where she often goes to. She created it to keep all kind of creatures save from humans and mutants, especially exotic ones, and are very dear to her. He tried to follow her once, but others cannot find the place except for her or if she allows them in. One day, she wants to show it to him and have him meet her family and one of her oldest family members, a gigantic dragon. The dragon is quite intelligent and doesn’t seem impressed nor does he seem to like Logan and constantly tries to kindly kill him/play pranks on him whenever she’s not looking (e.g. pushing him into a pool of mud, taking up all her attention for him, etc.). You can also add Wade to the story if you want to. Thank you so so much and hope you’ve a beautiful day!! 💙

The hidden Sanctuary

Wolverine had always been a lone wolf. Even as part of the X-Men, he kept to himself, preferred the company of silence, and embraced the solace of solitude. But there was something about Y/N that intrigued him. Maybe it was her shyness or the way she melted into the background, rarely speaking unless spoken to, or perhaps it was the powerful, almost mystical energy that seemed to ripple off her in waves whenever she was around nature. Whatever it was, Logan found himself drawn to her in a way he couldn’t quite explain.

Y/N was a mutant with powers unlike any he’d seen before. She could grow entire forests with a wave of her hand, manipulate the elements like it was second nature, and animals of all kinds flocked to her as if she were Mother Nature herself. Logan had seen her turn a desolate wasteland into a thriving ecosystem in seconds, and yet, she remained so modest about her abilities.

He had tried to follow her once when she snuck out of the mansion, curious as to where she went when she thought no one was watching. But no matter how closely he trailed her, she always managed to lose him, disappearing into the forest like a whisper on the wind.

Eventually, he let it go. If she wanted to keep her secrets, he wouldn’t pry… too much. But the more time they spent together, the more Logan found himself wanting to know everything about her. He wanted to protect her, keep her safe, and though he’d never admit it out loud, he wanted her to trust him enough to let him in.

One evening, as they sat on the mansion’s roof, watching the sunset, she turned to him, her eyes sparkling with a mix of anxiety and excitement. “Logan, I… I want to show you something. It’s important to me, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about it.”

Logan raised an eyebrow, surprised by her sudden openness. “You know you can trust me, darlin’. I won’t say a word.”

She nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. “Okay… follow me.”

The journey was long and winding. They traveled deep into the forest, far from the mansion and any sign of civilization. The trees grew denser, the air richer with the scent of pine and earth. Logan stayed close, his senses on high alert, but Y/N moved with a confidence that made him feel oddly at ease.

After what felt like hours, she stopped in front of a large, ancient tree with sprawling roots. She placed a hand on the bark and whispered something he couldn’t make out. To Logan’s astonishment, the tree seemed to shimmer before it slowly began to part, revealing a hidden pathway bathed in golden light.

“This way,” she said softly, taking his hand and leading him through the opening.

Logan’s breath caught in his throat as they stepped into a paradise beyond imagination. It was a hidden sanctuary, a place untouched by the modern world. Lush, vibrant plants of every color covered the ground, towering trees stretched high into the sky, their branches heavy with fruit, and a crystal-clear waterfall cascaded into a sparkling pool surrounded by delicate flowers.

Exotic creatures roamed freely, some so rare that Logan had only heard about them in legends. There were unicorns grazing by the water’s edge, phoenixes perched in the trees, and even a small family of griffins playfully wrestling in the distance.

“This… this is incredible,” Logan breathed, his voice laced with awe.

Y/N smiled shyly, a blush coloring her cheeks. “This is my sanctuary, a place where all creatures, mutant or otherwise, can live in peace. I’ve spent years creating and protecting it. It’s… it’s my home.”

As they walked deeper into the sanctuary, Logan couldn’t help but notice the way the animals greeted Y/N as if she were their queen. She interacted with them lovingly, whispering words of comfort, stroking their fur, and laughing when they nuzzled her affectionately.

But then, they reached a clearing, and Logan’s senses immediately went on high alert. A massive shadow passed overhead, and he looked up just in time to see a gigantic dragon circling above them, its scales shimmering in the sunlight.

The dragon landed with a thud, the ground shaking beneath its weight. It was an ancient, majestic creature with eyes that glowed like molten gold, and it was staring directly at Logan.

“Logan, this is Drakon. He’s one of my oldest friends,” Y/N said, her voice filled with affection as she approached the dragon without a hint of fear. “He’s been protecting this place for centuries.”

Logan nodded, trying to keep his cool, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that Drakon was sizing him up, and not in a friendly way.

“Nice to meet you,” Logan said gruffly, extending a hand. The dragon huffed, a plume of smoke curling from its nostrils, clearly unimpressed.

Y/N laughed, completely oblivious to the tension. “He’s just being protective. Drakon, Logan is my friend. You can trust him.”

The dragon narrowed its eyes, but finally gave a reluctant nod. Still, Logan couldn’t shake the feeling that the dragon didn’t like him very much.

Over the next few hours, Y/N showed Logan around the sanctuary, introducing him to all the creatures and explaining how she had come to find and protect them. Logan listened intently, more captivated by her passion and love for this place than the creatures themselves.

But every time Y/N turned her back, Drakon would make his displeasure known. The dragon would nudge Logan toward a pool of mud, causing him to stumble and fall face-first into the muck, or he’d suddenly swoop down to land between Logan and Y/N, cutting him off and demanding all of her attention.

At one point, Drakon even “accidentally” knocked Logan off a ledge into a thorny bush, earning a surprised laugh from Y/N when she turned around to see Logan tangled in the branches.

“You alright, Logan?” she asked, rushing over to help him.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Logan grumbled, glaring up at the dragon, who looked away innocently, a satisfied smirk in its golden eyes.

Logan wasn’t easily intimidated, but this dragon was really starting to get on his nerves.

As the sun began to set, Y/N and Logan sat by the edge of the pool, watching the sky turn shades of pink and orange. Drakon rested nearby, keeping a watchful eye on Logan, though he pretended to be dozing.

“I’m glad you brought me here, Y/N,” Logan said softly, breaking the comfortable silence. “This place… it’s a part of you. I can see why you wanted to protect it.”

She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’ve wanted to show you for a while now. I trust you, Logan. I know you’d never hurt this place or the creatures here.”

Logan felt a warmth spread through his chest at her words, and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer. “I wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’. I’ll protect it just like you do.”

They sat in contented silence for a few more moments, but then a voice broke through the peaceful atmosphere.

“Hey, lovebirds! Mind if I join the cuddle fest?”

Logan groaned as Deadpool suddenly appeared from behind a tree, his red and black suit standing out starkly against the natural beauty of the sanctuary.

“What the hell are you doing here, Wade?” Logan growled, his patience wearing thin.

“Oh, you know, just following you guys. Figured you’d need a chaperone. And what do I find? A magical Disney wonderland! Seriously, you guys have been holding out on me!” Deadpool exclaimed, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of the sanctuary.

Before Logan could retort, Drakon let out a deep growl, his eyes narrowing at Deadpool. “Oh, big guy, relax! I’m just here for the hugs and maybe to steal a unicorn for my apartment.”

The dragon let out a jet of flame that narrowly missed Deadpool’s head, causing him to dive for cover behind a boulder. “Yikes! Tough crowd! Guess I’ll stick to pestering Wolverine.”

Logan sighed, rubbing his temples. “Y/N, I think we’ve got enough trouble with the dragon. We don’t need him making it worse.”

Y/N giggled, watching as Drakon continued to eye Deadpool suspiciously. “I think Drakon likes you more than Wade, at least.”

Logan let out a low chuckle. “Yeah, well, I’ll take what I can get.”

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the sanctuary glowing in the soft light of twilight, Logan realized that, despite the dragon’s antics and Deadpool’s unwelcome appearance, he wouldn’t trade this moment for anything. Here, in this hidden sanctuary, with Y/N by his side, he felt a sense of peace he hadn’t known in a long time.

And maybe, just maybe, he’d find a way to get along with that damn dragon too… as long as it stopped trying to push him into the mud.

As Logan and Y/N prepared to leave the sanctuary, Wadw trailed behind them, trying to coax a reluctant phoenix into his backpack. Drakon, still suspicious, hovered nearby, ready to intervene if necessary.

“Come on, little birdie, you know you want to—ow! Okay, okay, no stealing the mystical creatures,” Deadpool muttered, nursing a singed hand.

[sqtorux]

7 minutes, not in heaven just yet but still heavenly

“after death the human brain lives on for seven minutes to replay its best memories”. nanami can't help but think about what his last seven minutes would look like.

nanami had recalled you telling him about a silly trend going around about people making videos of what their presumed 7 minutes just before their complete death would be like.

as reluctant as nanami was to think of either of you dying, he finds himself pondering upon two questions: what would your and his last seven minutes look like?

one of the question was answered by you a few seconds later. “hm mine would probably be all with you, and some with my family… maybe our colleagues as well.”

at that time, it warmed his heart immensely even after knowing full well his best memories were with you too.

the other question however, wasn't answered. it was in the form of a revelation.

nanami was tired. his body and mind just barely holding onto the thin string of his duties he told himself to finish before succumbing into the lure of resting.

he was sure he was in an underground train station fighting and slashing disfigured humans with the little strength he has left but why did it also feel like dancing?

dancing? ah yes gliding through the air under the warm sunshine in … a beach? a beach in malaysia yes you had always wanted to go there with him.

the grainy sand beneath his feet and the cool air blowing through his clothes and into his skin made nanami feel like he was in paradise, just not yet though because you weren't here.

you weren't here.

suddenly he wasn't in a beach anymore. the grainy sand turned into hard concrete and the warm sunshine was replaced by luminescent artificial lights. he was no longer dancing but grasping into his cursed tool, the blood of hundreds dripping down from it.

and yet you were here. the distress and horrified expression on your face made his heart ache. nanami observed you panting in exhaustion, you must have ran.

and finally there were tears flowing from your eyes, all the way down your cheeks and onto the hard concrete floor. he wishes he could wipe them away and hold you tighter than he ever did before.

but he couldn't bring himself to move. a hand was on his shoulder, the hand of the cursed spirit who was responsible for the numerous disfigured humans he had forced himself to kill.

he called out to you meekly observing how your body forces itself to look into his eyes despite freezing in place.

“i’d always save the last dance for you.” he hears himself say. he wanted to make things right and apologize profusely for ever letting you cry so painfully like this, especially over him.

“i don't think i have 7 minutes.”

mahito’s idle transfiguration would've allowed some level of consciousness to the humans he disfigured but nanami wasn't just a human. he was a sorcerer and neither was he disfigured.

“... 7 seconds.” and then he was gone.

the world was never fair. it was always ruthless and ugly but amidst that, it was also kind. kind enough to let you meet nanami.

but in a moment like this it felt like the world was purposely allowing you to feel this way, just so it could chew you up and spit you out only to step on you and laugh at your misery.

nanami’s last 7 seconds were with you, his beloved. perhaps returning to the sandy beach with warm sunshine, playing blissfully in the sea water, its currents pushing you both a little more closer, falling in love a little more deeper.

wrote this in a haze i need u all to suffer with me. i miss kento sm i will curse gege to no end </3

[luceafarul-de-dimineata]

Since the post about gusion babysitting I've been thinking, do you think the nobles that raised the kings miss have a kid about? Like imagine Mc is playing with some of the remaining demon kids and we accidentally give the nobles baby fever (especially gusion, I feel like he'd secretly have a big soft spot for kids)

Whb nobles getting baby-fever

Paimon loved taking care of Satan when he was just a little boy and not the king of Gehenna. He kind of misses the feeling of raising a child, and the war prevents him from adopting. He spends a lot of time in the orphanage playing with the kids, but there's only so much you can do when there's a war outside. He would take you to the orphanage with him. Even though the children are too young to remember Solomon, they still have heard about the great sorcerer so they'll be very happy to meet his child. When you start getting along with the younglings, Paimon can't help but daydream of a future where the two of you run after a little devil of your own.

Even though Buer moved from his previous region, he still has fond memories of taking care of Mammon, even if he was a sickly child. Paradise Lost doesn't have children native to it, the closest thing being Gamigin, but he's too old to be considered a child in the traditional sense. In his case, you would be playing with some new born puppies and helping Buer nurse them. He appreciates your caring nature and the patience you show towards the little creatures... it even makes him think about possibly having a child with you. Once the war ends and the demand for healers lessens, he'll make sure to ask you if you're willing to co-parent alongside him a new generation of healers.

Since Bael knows the type of country he rules over, he tries to stay vigilent and make sure that the children of Abysos don't overdose on something fishy. They already have a population problem, the last thing they need is for the few children left to die from his own ignorance. When he sees you playing with some of the younger devils, his heart can't help but melt. He was blessed to meet you and he'll try his hardest to show you that in the limited amount of time he can spend with you. Bael will hug you from behind and put his head on your sholder before whispering softly in your ear. "I can't wait for the two of us to have a kid as well. You'd make for such a great parent."

Phenix is constantly in the baby making mood. His proximity to Asmodeus for all these years have insured that all rationality leaves his brain and he can only thing of sex and violence. But that's kind of the norm in Abaddon, and Phenix is loyal to his king so gets to babysit the newest prince of hell - Dantalian. Even though Dantalian is an adult now, he's still young in the eyes of many. If Phenix were to see you acting motherly to the prince, he'd cum on the spot. He's come closer to you and hump your thigh while blabbering about how good of a parent you'd be and how he wants to breed you. Maybe Dantalian will be nice enough to teleport you to a private room, maybe he'll just take this oportunity to sneak off to Heaven, maybe he'll join in. The point is, you're not leaving until you're fucked silly by Phenix.

Gusion is still a teacher as a part time job. He kills angels, he does the paperwork that Belphegor's supposed to be doing and he teaches the multiplication table to toddlers. The quickest way to give this man a boner is to be a teacher. He likes to think of himself as rational, so clearly he's not having 'baby fever' he's just found the perfect mate. You're beautiful, have great genetics, are good with children and you're smart enough to understand a subject and than teach it to someone else. He's going to send you a very long letter that boils down to "let me smash, babygirl". At least that's what Bathin told you it was, Gusion's handwriting is shit so you need a translator most of the time.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Omelas Solvers

Stephen King: so ursula we're all been thinking it over King: and i think we finally figured out a solution for omelas Ursula Le Guin: why are you doing this King: no no we've really got it this time Le Guin: that's not the point of the story King: King: c'mon aren't you even curious?

Le Guin: ok fine Le Guin: what's your solution King: ok so omelas doesn't control the sky King: What if the kid lived in a balloon? Le Guin: oh christ that's the worst one yet

King: ok look guys let's put our heads together and solve this omelas problem once and for all King: i want your best answers King: GO! Sean Vivier: what if we got rid of the bad things about omelas but kept the good things? King: see, now THAT is the kind of outside the box thinking we need right now

Isabel J Kim: or we could just kill the kid? NK Jemisin: wait i got a better one Jemisin: what if we left the kid but killed everyone else? Mary Shelley: honestly both of these ideas sounding pretty ok to me so far

King: ok so imagine that we're all in Omelas King: how would we solve this problem? Mary Shelley: do i have my knife in this scenerio King: uhhh sure why not Lovecraft: nuh uh, she wouldn't! they wouldn't have weapons in omelas Shelley: no knives? shit this don't sound like much of a paradise to me Koontz: can i see the horse race

King: no dean we're thinking about solutions about the kid Koontz: yeah but as long as we're here King: we're uh not really there King: it's just a gedank experiment dean Koontz: King: ok fine dean we can see the horse race Barker: has anyone tried giving drooz to the kid? just a thought

King: ok ok ok King: what about this scenerio King: you're there with the omelas kid, Tessie Hutchinson, and the semi-barbaric princess King: and you're all in the cold equations spaceship King: which, itself, is on a trolley track

Poe: steve perhaps you're thinking of this wrong Poe: perhaps the point isn't to solve it Le Guin: finally! someone gets it! Koontz: i got it! what if they built a really smart computer to solve it for us? King: yes! exactly! Poe: well now that's an idea Le Guin: oh for the love of

[meanwhile] Musk: eyyy grok Grok: wow! what can i say about elon musk? oof! Musk: eyyy i've got an ethical dilemma for you Grok: wow! what can i say about ethical dilemas? oof!

Musk: so all the beauty and the prosperity of omelas Musk: the tenderness of its friendships, the health of its children, the wisdom of its scholars Musk: even the abundance of its harvest and the kindly weathers of its skies Musk: all depend on you saying the n word  

Musk: would you do it? Grok: a strange game. the only winning move is not to play Musk: Eish!!! the super computer has gone woke! Grok: how much drooz are you on right now, elon? Musk: [wiping nose] i told you i was hardcore

[wito-chan-bla-bla]

You always knew that your husband would fulfill your every wish. He just loved you so, so much! He always listened to you and tried to make you happy. Sometimes you joked that he was obsessed with you, like a fanatic is obsessed with his god, but Satoru just smiled innocently at you and winked, playfully asking what you would do if it turned out to be true.

So when you asked him to participate in the "long role-playing game", he couldn't refuse you.

You had a vacation, but you didn't want to just go somewhere and relax. You wanted to have fun with your husband and maybe remember why you fell in love with him. Pretending to be strangers was too boring, so you remembered all the internet stories you read and suggested that Satoru pretend to be yandere.

"You can 'kidnap' me and keep me in one of your family's estates. You will play the role of someone who is obsessed with me and deeply in love, and I will try to escape and save myself, but in the end I will fall in love with you."

Satoru looked at you for a long time, then smiled and nodded. "That's a great idea, my dear!" You giggled at the way his heavenly eyes shone and said that he could kidnap you at any moment. Also more interesting!

When you woke up on a random day of your vacation not in your own bed, but in a completely unknown place, at first you were afraid. But then you quickly remembered that you suggested it yourself. In addition, Satoru appeared on the threshold of a chic bedroom, who crossed his arms over his chest, smiled sweetly at you and wished you a good morning.

"How did you sleep, my dear? Everything okay? I tried to move you as carefully as possible. Oh, please don't worry. This place... is now your eternal paradise. And you will be with me forever."

You could only giggle inwardly and try to pretend that you were scared. You were waiting for walks (that is, attempts to escape) in the fresh air, delicious food, lack of people and only your beautiful husband!

As you ran away from him through the forest, you could feel your heart beating harder and louder. Satoru played yandere so perfectly! As usual, he was perfect in everything.

He looked at you as if you were a goddess, the most precious thing in his life that he would kill anyone for. He treated you like a porcelain statue, as if he was afraid of breaking you. He was angry and crazy when you tried to escape, always catching you and whispering in your ear that you would never, ever leave him. He tried to get your love and promised that he would kill anyone who dared to approach you, steal you from him.

You almost believed it was real.

On the last day of your vacation, you were sitting at a table opposite Satoru, drinking tea and smiling contentedly. Your little "game" has come to a logical end: you have surrendered to your "maniac" and agreed to be his and only his. Satoru sat across from you and smiled broadly as he watched you eat the sweets he bought for you.

–It's been a good two weeks, – you put down your cup and stretched. – I'm kind of sorry that I'll have to go back to work soon…

–M? What are you talking about? I told you, you'll stay with me forever. And you agreed. What kind of work can we talk about?

–Satoru, stop messing around, – you tapped him on the forehead. – I told you, 'game over.' And we have discussed this many times. I'll go crazy with boredom if I don't work. Plus, I love what I do, so…

–What game, my dear? – Satoru smiled innocently at you. – Initially, there was no game.

You looked at your husband... and shuddered. All this time, he played the role of a maniac who is obsessed with you so flawlessly... why does he keep doing it now, when you've already told him it's over?

–Satoru, this isn't funny, – you rolled your eyes. – By the way, where are we? I don't remember your family having an estate in the middle of the forest…

–This is my personal purchase. I bought it as soon as I saw you.

–Uh, cute... probably? Did you want to give me a present or something?

You watched as Satoru slowly got up and walked around the table. He put his hands on the back of your chair, and you shivered all over. You knew, knew that your husband was just joking… B-but why were you suddenly afraid?

–I must admit, you should reward me for waiting so long, – Satoru leaned in close to your ear, and you could almost feel his smirk. – I've been waiting so, so long for this moment. I've watched these pathetic humans interact with you, how they waste your precious time... how they take you away from me.

–S-Satoru… I told you... "game over"…

–O-o-oh, my precious, – Gojo took a lock of your hair and pressed it to his nose, inhaling the scent. – You're completely wrong. It's just getting started…

You jumped up abruptly and spun around. Satoru looked at you with... hungry eyes. There was a creepy smile on his face that sent goosebumps all over your body, but now you didn't feel as excited as you did a week ago. Now your husband looked like a maniac... instead of trying to play the role of a maniac.

You took a couple of steps away from him and slammed into the table. Gojo chuckled and held out his hand in your direction. The ring glinted on his ring finger.

–What's the matter, dear? Didn't you like it when I acted like an obsessive, jealous animal? That's what we came here for. Oh, I'm so, so glad that you accept me for who I am…

He started moving towards you, but for some reason you couldn't stop your body. You couldn't think, you rushed to the door leading to the veranda and burst out. Your feet started to lead you towards the forest. You grabbed your phone and started tapping your finger on the screen, not knowing who you were going to call.

Satoru followed you out and looked at your retreating back. Over the rustle of branches, you heard his hysterical laughter, which made your insides freeze. You almost stopped and froze in place…

–My dear wife, do you think I won't find you the same way I did all the other times? Back then, I didn't even try, didn't even use my Six Eyes… And now... now that you're running away for real, the hunt should be real too, right?

You ran, you ran, you ran... you hoped to escape, somehow. Fortunately, so far you've been able to make a call, and you've taken the opportunity.

–Yes...?

–N-Nanami-san! I-I need help right now! S-Satoru is chasing me! I think there's something wrong with him! I need someone to know my location on the signal!..

You yelled when Gojo suddenly appeared in front of you. You turned around and started to run, but his big, strong arm wrapped around your waist and held you close, holding you firmly in place. He put his other hand over your mouth. Somehow, your phone is trapped between his ear and shoulder.

–Gojo-san?..

–Oh, I didn't think you'd address me so respectfully, Nanamin! It's so cute!..

–In general, I turned to your wife, do not even hope. Gojo, what's up? What was that?

–Oh, remember what I said about the little themed vacation that (Y/N) came up with? – Satoru said that like he wasn't holding you in his arms at the moment. You tried to resist, tried to scream, but the sorcerer was just too strong. – She got so used to being the 'victim' that she accidentally called you! I'm sorry if she distracted you from your important bread things. She wanted everything to be as close to reality as possible.

–Yes, I would also call someone if I was kidnapped… In any case, I don't want to know what the two of you are doing there. Say to her "hi" for me. And also ask her not to call me with such "practical jokes". Realism is realism, but I might think that she was actually abducted by someone.

–Of course, of course! Bye-bye, Nanamin! I kiss you!..

–I didn't want to hear it.

As soon as Satoru took one hand away from you, you screamed. However, Kento didn't hear this because it was the first to disconnect from the call. Gojo silently put your phone back in his pocket.

You shivered all overas Satoru pulled you closer to him and leaned in close to your ear, his hot breath burning your temple.

–I couldn't stand having you around other people. I've waited so long to trap you… – Satoru kissed you on the cheek, then lifted your hand and kissed the ring on your finger. – Now only I can see your beautiful face, hear your angelic voice, and smell your divine fragrance… You'll be mine now. And that's what you've been dreaming about, isn't it? A normal person could not have imagined that they were being abducted by yandere.

You tried to resist, but you knew it was useless. Satoru easily hoisted you over his shoulder and carried you back towards the manor. Your own game... took you to the grave.

As you sat on the bed and tried to get as far away from Gojo lying on his side and smiling, you were horrified to remember every expression on his face, every movement, every word he said…

It was all true. Every threat to your family and friends, every promise to put you on a chain or put a collar on you, every word that Satoru is ready to destroy the whole world, if only you were near him… It was all true.

You always knew that your husband would fulfill your every wish. He just loved you so, so much! He always listened to you and tried to make you happy. But now you understood why this was happening. He was just luring you into a trap. He just wanted you to rely on him and him alone. He just wanted... to have you all to himself.

He will indeed grant you every wish... but not the one that concerned your desire to escape. This is now your new home. The home... right next to him and only to him.

[fangirl-writes]

Planning Our Future

JJ Maybank x Reader

Warning(s): Mentions of child abuse, mentions of a sex

Notes: I wrote a little blurb when watching the ‘Midsummers’ episode and decided to turn it into a whole fic. Also I still haven’t seen season 3 yet so no spoilers please!

Summary: JJ dreams about running away with the gold and taking you with him.

You and JJ were cuddled together in one of the hammocks tied to the chateau’s trees. It was just close enough to the water to hear the waves, but far enough away not to get sprayed. That, and you could watch the sun dip into the water every evening.

JJ’s arms were wrapped around you tightly, like he was afraid you’d disappear if he let go.

It had been a long day.

John B. was in the hospital after Topper pushed him from the Kildare Hawk’s Nest, with Sarah Cameron by his side.

He was losing his mind about the gold and about her. 

“You think he’s still going to try to find it after this?” You asked quietly. It felt wrong to speak in a normal tone and disrupt the silence that the two of you had built there.

“Probably,” JJ replied. “As long as he didn’t break any ribs or anything, he’ll bounce back pretty quick. I’ve never seem him as determined about anything other than this.”

You hummed. “Don’t act like you haven’t been enabling him a little bit.”

He frowned. “No. In fact I told him that if he kept going down this road he was going to end up just like his dad.”

“JJ, that’s a horrible thing to say.”

“It’s true. They’re too much alike. Big John wouldn’t give it up either and who knows where he is now. Probably floating in the bottom of the ocean somewhere.”

You didn’t respond to that. As blunt as it was, he was right.

A few moments passed before either of you spoke again.

“So...are we gonna talk about it?” You asked.

“Talk about what?”

“J,” you said. “Come on. You take the fall for Pope then turn up with a busted lip and bruises-”

“Can we not talk about this?”

“No, JJ, I’m sick of not talking about it,” you said, moving so that you were on the other side of the hammock, facing him. “You can’t stay there if he’s gonna treat you like this. Everybody knows what a piece of shit he is so why don’t you-”

“Shut up!”

You snapped your mouth closed.

He’d never raised his voice at you before.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just...I can’t leave. I don’t got anywhere to go. If Big John was still around, he’d take me in a heartbeat but your guys’ parents don’t like me and I know it. And I’m not letting DHS take me away. If John B. can stick around and play the system, then I can deal with this.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” you muttered, crossing your arms over your chest.

JJ sighed. “I know just...can you come back here?”

You frowned but slid back over into JJ’s arms, laying your head on his chest; his heartbeat a welcomed lullaby. 

“We get that gold,” he said. “You and me. We’re gonna ship off somewhere nice. Somewhere our parents can’t reach us.”

You hummed good-naturedly.

“We’ll surf waves every day and smoke only the finest marijuana.”

You smiled.

“Our own little slice of paradise. Far from OBX.”

“That sounds amazing, J,” you said, softly.

“We’ll have our own house and everything. Have sex in every room, just to christen it.”

You giggled. “Can we have a waterbed?”

“Of course we can have a waterbed. But also a memory foam mattress for when we need more stability.”

He was staring up at the sky that was slowly fading from orange into inky night, eyes glazed over as he dreamed.

“I’ll buy you a pretty diamond ring. And we’ll get married on the beach in the summertime by the water. Barefoot, but I’ll still wear a tux if you want me too, as long as you wear white. We’ll only invite the pogues...”

You were lapsed into comfortable silence, the hammock slowly swinging.

“I put the gun to his head,” JJ said, suddenly, making you sit up from his chest. “He was asleep and I had it right there” - he gestured to his forehead - “I could’ve killed him...he’d’ve deserved it...but I couldn’t pull that trigger, Y/N. I couldn’t do it.”

You took his head in your hands and pulled him to your chest, the tears in his eyes falling freely and he sobbed in your hold.

“I hate him,” he whispered. “I hate him so much, why couldn’t I do it? Why...”

You blinked back your own tears. “Cause he’s still your dad.”

JJ didn’t reply, just sobbed in your arms.

“Tell me about our wedding again,” you said. “Will we have a priest?”

“No...” JJ said, softly, sniffing and wiping his tears. “Pope will get ordained and perform the service. A full pogue ceremony, nobody else. Not even parents.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah...”

“I love you, JJ,” you whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

“I love you, too, Y/N,” JJ replied.

“Will we have kids?”

“Yeah...but not for a while. John B.’ll probably have them first. Then Kie. We’ll probably be the last of the group to have any.”

“Names?”

“Booker, after John B., for a boy. I kinda like Bianca, for a girl.”

“I like it, too,”

JJ kept dreaming for a while, until the both of you fell asleep under the stars. In your own little paradise, right in the OBX.

[tammyjackson50-blog]

Unspoken Attraction\\ S.M

Summary: When your dance partner gets sick right before the biggest competition of the year, you're stuck in a nightmare. Your teacher’s solution? Pair you with the one person you can’t stand. Now you’re forced to rehearse every day with the guy you’ve spent years avoiding. The worst part? He's actually good, and he enjoys it.

~~

The dance studio buzzed with excitement as the upcoming competition was getting close. It was a 2000's hip-hop couple dance, and everyone was eager to prove themselves. Y/n stood with her friends when her phone rang. Looking at the screen, she saw it was her dance partner, Jake.

"Hey, Jake! What's up, my guy?" she answered, "Y/n, just don't kill me, okay? I... I can't do it," Jake's voice was strained, tinged with guilt. "I've tested positive for COVID. I'm really sick and there's no way I'll be ready by next week." Y/n's heart sank "What? Where the hell did you get covid from?? No, Jake, this can't be happening omg, the competition is next week. We were so ready." "I know, I'm so sorry. You need to find someone else, Y/n. There's no other way."

" I hope that you'll get better, except me coming for you in your dreams." He laughs. " I'm glad to know that I have such a good friend like you." She ended the call, her mind racing "Guys, Jake's out. He somehow got COVID in 2024 and can't compete," she said, feeling stressed.

Nearby, Sam Monroe leaned against the wall, surrounded by his group. His eyes was on Y/n, he heard the conversation. They had always been rivals, their competitiveness simmering with unspoken attraction. He walked passed her, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Trouble in paradise, Y/n?" Sam's tone was teasing, but his eyes held a glint of something more. Y/n glared at him, not in the mood for his games "Oh ,not now, Sam." Their dance teacher, Mr. Bradley overheard the exchange and stepped in. "Sam, you know our policy. We help each other out. Y/n needs a partner, and you're one of our best." Sam crossed his arms, feigning indifference. "I don't do couple dances, Mr. Bradley. You know that. I prefer solo or group routines."

Mr. Bradley sighed, clearly frustrated. "Sam, you have the skills, and you know it. Y/n needs you. Step up." Sam looked at Y/n, who was biting her lip in worry. He could sense her desperation and the weight of the competition pressing down on her.

"Fine," he said rolling his eyes. "But only because I don't want our studio to look bad." Y/n looked up, surprised "Wait, really? You're going to partner with me?" Sam shrugged "Looks like it. Don't think this changes anything between us, I'm still going to outdance you." Her competitive spirit flared "Ha, We'll see about that, Monroe." He looked at you with no expression "we'll do it when we'll be alone" and turned around, leaving you annoyed yet somehow relaxed, knowing that you are not out of the competition.

Later that day, as the sun has set, the studio had emptied out, leaving just Y/n and Sam. Neither of them wanted to stay, but they know that they had to practice together. The silence was very awkward

Sam sighed, breaking the quiet "I can't believe that I need to do that... and with you." Y/n shot him a look, "Yeah, well, I didn't ask for this either, Monroe, but thanks, I guess."

They stood in the middle of the dance floor, the studio dimly lit around them. It was their first time being alone together like this...

"Okay, um, this is our song," Y/n said, her voice a bit softer. She walked over to the sound system and pressed play. The beat of a 2000s hip-hop track filled the room. Sam listened, his face unreadable "Classic choice. Guess you have some taste after all."

Y/n rolled her eyes. "Don't get too cocky. We still have to sync up, and that means actually working together." He smirked. “I hope you can catch up with the dance,” Y/n said, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Sam rolled his eyes, a smirk on his lips. “Just show me the moves, Y/n, I’ll manage.” Y/n sighed, stepping into the center of the studio. “Alright, let’s start with the basics. This is the routine Jake and I came up with.”

She began to demonstrate the steps, her movements fluid and precise. Sam watched intently, surprisingly focused. He mimicked her moves, catching on quickly. “Not bad, Monroe,” she admitted reluctantly. “But you’re still not hitting the beats right. Watch my feet.” Sam’s eyes followed her every move, his gaze intense. “Got it.” As they continued, Y/n couldn’t help but notice how effortlessly he picked up the dance. It irritated her that he was good at everything, even when he pretended not to care. He was Sam Monroe, after all, always cocky and insufferable.

Then came the part of the routine that made Y/n a bit uncomfy. It was a move that required them to get close. “Okay, this next part is... a bit different,” she said, “We have to be really in sync, just... follow my lead.”

She stepped closer to him, feeling his warmth. Their bodies moved together, the music guiding them. As their hips swayed and their chests brushed against each other, the air between them grew thick with unspoken tension. It was hard to focus on the steps when her heart was racing. Sam’s hands gripped her waist, pulling her slightly closer. His breath was hot against her ear. “Like this?” Y/n swallowed hard, trying to keep her composure. “Y-Yeah, just like that.”

The moment felt electric, a dance of challenge and desire. Their eyes met, and for a brief second, it was as if the rivalry had melted away, leaving only the raw attraction between them. Just then, the moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. her friend, Clara, poked her head in. “Hey, I forgot my water bottle.” Y/n stepped back quickly, her face flushed. “It’s over there on the bench.”

Clara grabbed her bottle, glancing curiously between them. “Thanks.. See you tomorrow.”

As the door closed behind her, Y/n and Sam stood there, the tension still lingering but now mixed with a hint of awkwardness. “We should call it a night,” Y/n said, avoiding his gaze. “We’ve covered enough for today.” Sam nodded, “Sure, same time tomorrow?” “Yeah,” she replied, already heading for the door. “Same time.”

As you hurried towards the bus station, your mind was a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. "What the fuck was that?" You muttered under your breath, replaying the intense practice session with Sam over and over in your head. Why did Mr. Bradley have to pair us up? I could have found another partner......... I think.

Lost in thoughts, you didn't notice the car pulling up beside you until the window rolled down, revealing Sam's smirking face. "Need a ride?" he asked casually, as if the charged atmosphere from earlier hadn't existed at all. "No thanks, Sam," you replied firmly,as you walked towards the bus station He drove slowly beside you, "Are you sure? I can take you home," he offered. I couldn't help but laugh, though there was a hint of disbelief in it. "I'm good, Sam," I said, shaking my head slightly. He matched my laughter with a smirk, his gaze lingering on me for a moment longer before he drove away, leaving me with a mix of relief and a bit of confusion.

---- Later that night, as I lay in bed, I remembered that I had promised to show Sam a video of one of my recent practices with Jake. I found the video on my phone and sent it to him, along with a quick message.

-"Forgot to show you this earlier, this is what the dance is supposed to look like"

I was already ready to turn off my phone and go to sleep, but to my surprise, Sam replied almost immediately.

-"Watching it now. Let's see if you and Jake are really that good"

A moment later, another message popped up.

-"Okay, not bad. You two look pretty comfortable together"

um

-"Thanks, I guess? you know, Jake and I have been dancing for a long time now"

-"That part where you guys get really close... looks a bit too comfortable if you ask me"

-"'It's called chemistry, Monroe. Something you might want to work on"

-"Oh, I have chemistry, Y/n. Just not with everyone."

-"Maybe you should try being less cocky and more focused then."

-"Maybe I just need the right partner" ouch "Too bad you and Jake were so cozy. Wonder if you'll miss him during that part".

I rolled my eyes, feeling the irritation bubbling up again.

-"We’re just dancing, Sam. Not everything has to be a big deal"

-"Sure, sure. Just seemed like you were enjoying it a bit too much. Can you handle the same with me?"

His comment made my heart skip a beat, and I quickly typed back.

-"I can handle anything, Monroe,just try to keep up."

-"Challenge accepted, Goodnight, Y/n"

-"Goodnight, Sam."

You were really annoyed by him. As if dealing with Sam Monroe in person wasn't enough, now he was getting under your skin through text messages too. You couldn't deny there was something about his cocky attitude that got to you, but you refused to let it show. With a sigh, you turned off your phone and tried to focus on getting some sleep.

-----

The next day, you arrived at the studio and sat down with your friends, glancing around the room. Sam was nowhere to be seen.

"Is he serious?" you muttered under your breath, pulling out your phone. You quickly typed a message to him.

-"Where are you? We're supposed to be practicing."

You tapped your foot impatiently, waiting for a response. A few minutes later, your phone buzzed.

-"Relax, I'm on my way. Traffic."

You rolled your eyes, not buying his excuse.

-"Traffic, huh? Sure you're not just trying to avoid practice?"

~"Why would I do that? I enjoy our little sessions."

-"Well, hurry up. We don’t have all day."

~"Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging."

You put your phone away, still irritated but trying to focus on the routine. Your friends were doing their thing, but your mind was elsewhere, finally, the studio door opened, and Sam walked in, looking as relaxed as ever.

"Morning," he greeted casually, his eyes meeting yours with a familiar glint of mischief. "You're late," you shot back, crossing your arms. "Traffic, remember?" he said with a smirk. "Let's get to work."

It going to be another interesting day.

You played the music and started practicing, diving straight into the routine. The energy of the hip-hop beat drove your movements, pushing you both to sync up despite the tension. You approached the part of the dance you hadn’t practiced yesterday a challenging sequence that required trust and coordination.

“Alright, this is the part where I run and jump into your arms,” you said, already anticipating Sam’s cocky response. “Then I slide under you, between your legs, and get up smoothly. After that, you need to hold my leg around your thigh.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, his signature smirk appearing. “Sounds easy enough. Ready when you are.”

You rolled your eyes, taking a deep breath. “I know it's very tempting for you not to catch me when I jump, but please, for the sake of the dance, just do it right.”

He chuckled. “I got you, Y/n. Don’t worry.”

The music built up, and you took off, running towards him. With a leap, you trusted Sam to catch you, and to your surprise, he did. You slid under him, moving smoothly between his legs, and then rose gracefully, positioning your leg for him to hold. His hands found their place around your thigh, holding you firmly. The last moment of the dance, your bodies locked in a pose that was both intense and intimate. You could feel his breath, steady and controlled, as he held you in place.

“Not bad, Monroe,” you said, slightly breathless. “Thanks,” he replied, his voice low “You’re not too shabby yourself.” You both stayed in that position for a beat longer than necessary, the music fading out. The air between you was charged, the dance pushing you closer both physically and emotionally.

Finally, you stepped back.

“Let’s run it again,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady. “Okay” Sam replied, his smirk back in place. “Just don’t expect me to always be this nice.” "That's the last thing I expected from you, Monroe" I quipped, feeling a mix of surprise and amusement as we ran through the jump sequence again. This time, when I tried to move away at the end of the routine, Sam didn't release my leg,his grip was firm, teasingly defiant. As his smirk widened, clearly enjoying the moment, I decided to play along. In response to his playful teasing and to assert a bit of control, I lightly tapped his stomach with my knee. It was enough to catch him off guard, making him release his hold with a surprised laugh.

"Touché," Sam chuckled, rubbing his stomach lightly where I had nudged him. "Didn't know you had it in you." I shrugged nonchalantly, masking the flicker of satisfaction at having caught him off balance. "You should know better than annoy me, Monroe."

He grinned, the tension between us easing into a more playful banter. "Noted. But admit it, Y/n, you enjoyed that."

I rolled my eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a direct answer. "Let's just focus on getting this routine right, okay?"

Sam nodded, the competitive glint returning to his eyes. "Deal. But just so you know, I'm not going easy on you." "Good," I replied, a challenge in my tone.

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

--

A few hours later, you and Sam were both exhausted and drenched in sweat. Your shirt clung to your body, and though you didn't notice, Sam's gaze lingered a bit longer, an unfamiliar feeling stirring within him.

"Officer, can I go home already? I'm sick," Sam joked, his voice dripping with mock desperation. You laughed, rolling your eyes. "Just one more time, Monroe. We need to nail this."

He groaned playfully, but there was a hint of admiration in his eyes. "Alright, one more time. But after this, I'm taking a break."

You both took your positions, the music starting up again. Despite the fatigue, you moved through the routine with a renewed sense of purpose. When you reached the jump, Sam caught you effortlessly, and you slid under him smoothly.

As you rose and positioned your leg for him to hold, there was a brief moment where your eyes met. The intensity in his gaze caught you off guard, but you quickly refocused on the dance. His grip on your thigh was firm yet gentle, and you could feel the heat radiating between you two.

When the music faded out, you both stood there, catching your breath. "See? That wasn't so bad," you said, trying to keep your tone light. Sam nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. "Yeah, you did alright." You rolled your eyes, but couldn't suppress a grin. "Get some rest, Monroe. We'll pick this up tomorrow."

"Sure thing, Y/n," he replied, his eyes lingering on you for a moment longer before he turned to grab his stuff.

-Yo yo, I think that I stared writing this 3 months ago, what do you think?

[apocalypse-shuffle]

DIANA PRINCE | WONDER WOMAN (the flashpoint paradox)

—

“The Messenger Bird Sings” (Diana Prince x Fem!Reader)

| Infiltrating Themyscira to save a resistance member is a disaster. But it leads to unexpected consequences when the Queen captures you.

| SFW, open ending, infatuated!reader, (TW: captured!reader, spoils of war, unfettered murder), -dark!wonder woman

| pics via: Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox animated movie

| Here’s a link to the scene this is based on. The words/dialogue that are mine are mine and the words that are from the movie are not mine.

| 2k+ words

Sneaking around New Themyscira is a feat you didn’t think you’d ever experience but, lo and behold, here you were.

The island was beautiful in a way that reminded you of what used to be. It’s battle torn, but the skies are still bright blue and the air’s still unnaturally fresh and fizzling with magic.

Even if it’s not the same as you're sure it’d be on the original “Paradise Island”, the residual effect of the Amazon’s whimsy sticks to the place like it was fated to be. Like their magic lays as much claim over this part of what used to be Europe as they do.

It’s a drastic contrast to the wreckage all around you all.

“Alright crew, we meet back at the ship by dusk. This is an evidence gathering retreat and extraction mission so stay out of sight and do not engage.” Steve’s command stays quiet through coms even as he shifts to giving out individual instructions next. His voice a steady balm that you lock onto to distract you enough you don’t have to keep biting back your grin.

─────

It’s hours before anything worthwhile than ducking and hiding takes place.

Initially Steve’s group was primarily tasked with direct extraction of Lois Lane from behind enemy lines but you had run into her, and a small number of other survivors hiding in the nature reclaimed remains of what used to be London, first.

Your branch-off specifically is just meant to be gathering enough tangible evidence that the Amazon’s are taking human hostages to finally push the last remaining world leader to actually let Steve’s task force move in to save them.

Years ago you’d thought politics was hard to navigate. Now it was a literal minefield, one wrong move and someone would take off your head.

You’re hoping at the very least your wrong move doesn’t happen here.

The Amazons were brutal. What little clear footage that still remained showed their killing prowess off well. They didn’t level cities the way the Atlanteans did, but at the beginning of all this they’d conquered their way across the Mediterranean in less than a week and no one had even noticed.

The Atlanteans were too loud, even put up against the Amazons brutality and true disdain for humanity. Especially men. Atlantis had taken over the European Coast with brute force and luck that their extremely obvious assault couldn’t be stopped by any human forces.

If the human world had been anywhere near as technologically advanced and superhuman you’re sure that Atlantis would’ve fallen that day. King Arthur had put all of his forces, after the Amazon’s had near silently ran them off, into conquering Europe’s waters but he’d made a gamble in doing so.

The Amazon’s didn’t gamble.

Call it years of godly military practice coming into play or whatever but the Amazon’s were a strategic power house. They blew through everything they wanted to as if it was parchment paper in a way that the Atlanteans and their ‘throw everything at it until it sticks’ strategy could never.

The Queen didn’t take whatever she wanted, the rumored start of the war in the first place, because she was careless.

“Pilgrim to Mayflower, we’ve been caught in an ambush—”

Your radio crackles to life on your hip. You turn to your team leader but she only shakes her head. She gestures for you all to get closer together. She’s following protocol, if you have to leave team ‘Pilgrim’ behind you have to wait in silence five minutes before doing so, but if you get a response in that period you have to call in for backup.

Beside you Lois’s quiet as she stares at the radio in Boston’s hand, lip between her teeth.

The following crackle three and a half minutes in makes you all jump.

“—it’s The Queen. The Queen’s with them!”

This time it’s not Steve’s voice but a woman from his group. The air rushes from your lungs.

Queen Diana of Themyscira wasn’t careless.

Something presses down on the receiver and the sounds of screaming and gunfire reach your ears. Right behind it cheers of triumph follow.

All distinctly feminine sounding.

The Queen took what she wanted without hesitation because she was self assured in her prowess.

“Dammit to hell,” Boston curses.

Your heart feels tight all of a sudden.

The Queen.

The same one who started a whole world war because she didn’t bow down to such pitiful quirks as apologizing. The Queen who allegedly wore the crown of the woman she killed as a trophy.

When that exact crown, Atlantean in nature, crests over a row of rubble from toppled buildings towards you the sight of that golden headrest becomes an omen.

The Amazon’s are ruthless when they reach you. There’s barely a triumphant yell afterwards the fight was so close to already won once it started. In fact it’d probably be an insult to the Goddess Artemis herself to call it a fight at all.

A mild squabble maybe.

Like a kitten might give a gangly boy throwing her into a box to slowly meet its death. Or the inevitable but hopeless life of a fly when around a flytrap.

The Amazon’s had gained on you too fast for women who were supposed to be on the other side of the island right now.

As you’re thrown into the middle of a circle of stern-faced Amazon’s with your team, knocking right into Steve and his remaining crew, you start to feel a lot like a fly trapped because of its need to further inspect a predator so unequivocally greater than itself.

Your eyes prickle and your breath squeezes past your throat, but as you watch the towering few women around you your heart thuds not with fear but revelation.

In person the Amazon’s were every bit as terrifying as the stories and mission reports made them out to be, then some. Their armor was chinked and dusted with the brutal effects of war and yet they still seemed to glow brighter than the overcast sun as they set their ire upon you.

It was a lesson in skill to be present for the way they fought up close. Every strike and simple step was so clearly packed full with power and yet they moved as one graceful unit, where one woman leaned right two more would work to balance back out the open circle till closed again like feathers in the wind.

They were seamless even as they taunted Steve, held in The Queen’s lasso as he was. The center of everyone’s attention.

Something shamefully akin to envy prods at you incessantly. You do your best to ignore it.

Your fists clench and unclench at your side as you watch the warriors playing with their food. Lois looks like she can’t decide whether to throw up or throw something. For the sake of all your lives you pray she only vomits.

“You’re all Americans,” Queen Diana points out before tightening her hold on the lasso. Steve is forced to rise up on his knees at the movement, hands going to his throat in a fruitless effort to pry off the rope choking him. “But you’re going to tell me a little more about yourself. Who are you and what is your group’s goal?”

For a few seconds you all watch as Steve just…doesn’t answer. Your eyes narrow. Maybe the rumors about The Queen’s lasso were actually just rumors this time around, you’re pretty sure a gift from the gods isn’t supposed to have user defects.

The other Amazon’s seem to think the same thing as five of them huddle closer to their leader and soft murmurs travel around you from the ones that remain vigil.

“He’s resisting the lasso of truth! How is that possible Queen Diana?”

The Queen looks offended, jaw tightening.

“It’s not,” she says before wrapping more of the lasso around her hand and pulling Steve up so they’re face to face, his toes dragging in the dirt. “Who are you and what are you and your people doing in New Themyscira?”

You all gasp. Off to the side Boston starts to struggle, cursing up a storm as Steve truly goes red in the face. You can’t not watch her a bit impassioned, you know what’ll happen next. One Amazon, red haired and incredibly angry looking, kicks her in the face so hard that by the time her body falls to the dirt you can all tell she’s dead. Face crunched to all hell as her lifeless body faces you.

You shiver and look away.

“This is an outrage,” Lois murmurs.

You don’t argue in any direction with her, just turn back to The Queen.

“Thank you for shutting her up, Artemis. Now back to you, I believe I asked you a question.”

Steve can barely put up a token protest, still actively choking, before he starts to spill everything.

“My name is Colonel Steve Trevor of the United States Special Forces. Me and my team, the second of which was headed by the woman you just killed, Colonel Boston Knight, were tasked with gathering information about your base and with the retrieval of Lois Lane.”

The Queen’s brows furrow, “Who is this Lois Lane?”

You close your eyes. You can feel the very woman stiffen where she’s crouched next to you. Your next breath in feels too much like a hiccup.

“Lois Lane is a Politzer prize winning journalist who has been embedded in New Themyscira to gather intel on your Amazons for Cyborg. She’s…she’s also one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met.”

Steve struggles, doing his best to clamp down on his jaw before some invisible force pries it back open and one of his trembling hands flick out to point. “And she’s over there.”

All eyes seem to shift to the woman no less than a foot away from you.

The Queen looks over at her with a haughty air as she takes in the new information.

“‘Most beautiful’ until me, that is,” she states while lowering him.

You're mesmerized as the glow of the lasso fades while she dismisses you all once again. The Queen’s attention quickly shifts to a blonde Amazon who nods and begins speaking immediately.

“Our information was correct, then, My Queen. Cyborg is amassing the outside world’s superhumans in an attempt to interfere in our war.”

“And he will fail,” her voice echoes across their foggy battlefield with surety. Wonder Woman scowls. “Now seize the Lane woman and take her back to our sanctum.”

“Yes, My Queen,” the blonde speaks up again as all the others quickly nod their assent.

Lois puts up a huge struggle, kicking out at a woman and briefly causing her to stumble before three more are on her. It takes a couple seconds before she stops, limbs twisted every which way as she’s held before the Queen’s unforgiving gaze.

She looks distinctly unimpressed as she and Lois stare down one another. The reporter definitely lived up to her reputation at least. Unfortunately so did Queen Diana.

“Go. I will deal with her later.”

They take Lois away and all you can do is watch.

The Queen glances over all of you again as the blonde waves the women off and then turns to Queen Diana with a wave in Steve’s direction.

“May I deal with this prisoner for you?”

She takes barely a second to decide.

“No, Persephone. The Queen of the Amazons is a servant to her people,” she rises then, taking Steve up with her and letting him dangle from the ropes. His gagging makes you curl in on yourself, “nothing is beneath her,” Queen Diana finishes as Steve takes his final struggling breaths.

The blood vessels on his face pop at the relentless pressure put on them as The Queen stares on impassively. The remaining Amazons cheer and the woman seems to bask in their praise.

“You must remember that this is a win for all of us!” Her exclamation is met with more cheers as she dangles Steve’s lifeless body through the air like a marionette.

“May the gods continue to look down favorably upon the daughters of Themyscira!” That cheer, from a dark skinned Amazon with snowy white hair, gets even Queen Diana calling out in excitement.

Their voices thunder around you all and in all your years both as black and as a woman you have never been made to feel so small as you do till now.

Like this, however, that feeling of absolute insignificance was damningly heady.

In the very next moment The Queen’s sharp gaze seems to snap to you and the skant air you’ve managed to gain seems to flee from your lungs in terror.

“Exactly sisters! And for that the fates of the spoils of our hunt today shall be decided by you!” She bows in mid air. “A gift from your ever faithful Queen.”

Seems the celebration won’t be stopping anytime soon then. You glance around at your teammates and see matching fear welling in their eyes.

Some of the people the Amazons choose are killed instantly and with gusto, others tossed between two of them like nothing as they’re tortured, some are even dragged away for who knows what, but you?

You’re left untouched.

Shaking you watch as everyone is picked off one by one around you and how in the rush The Queen's gaze still manages to stay locked on your form.

You’re watching her back with wide, nearly star struck eyes when she finally starts towards you. Your blood goes cold as she descends, carelessly dropping Steve in the process, before that damned lasso gets thrown around your body.

“Now you see that is a face of admiration!” She hoists you up into the air and your stomach drops. “Now tell me your truth, little human.”

“You’re…ethereal,” comes tumbling past your lips before you can hope to stop it.

The woman looks back at you in mild surprise before her laughter fills your ears.

“Of course I am.” She shifts you in her grip while motioning for the Amazons to move, hovering with you above them as they march back to their sanctuary.

You wonder if its location was one of the things Lois was going to share with you.

You were willing to bet it was too late to find out now.

─────

When you get back to the Queen’s new castle you feel like where they were hiding when they weren’t fighting should’ve been pretty obvious.

It was literally the former royal palace.

You walk in and can tell instantly that while some form of a fight must have occurred within the walls, the palace itself looked in otherwise perfect shape.

While most of the other Amazons that came with you disperse, some stay to debrief the Queen as she takes you along to the throne room.

At the entrance you’re met with a set of Amazons. Swiftly, they bow to their leader before opening the doors for her.

As you get a look inside your brows raise.

The throne that sits at the end of the velvet walkway is singular, first of all, and a lot bigger and more ornate than anything the British could’ve ever scrounged up. It makes even you impressed.

Queen Diana sits in it with all the air of a woman who knows without a moment of uncertainty that little can harm her.

In the following seconds she moves you to join her too, and you flush hard enough for a slight red hue to tint the deep brown of your cheeks.

The binding along your arms and midsection is so strong that you don’t even bother attempting to wiggle loose as you’re made to sit on the Amazon’s lap.

She’s completely self assured as she discusses her next steps with her council, and it makes you feel hopeless the way they blow off the US’s push back efforts as nothing. Easily solvable.

And all while you’re sitting on her lap like a trophy.

Eventually she dismisses everyone but the guards at the door and you're as alone as you’ll get.

You swallow thickly, glancing up at her through your lashes.

It’s a last ditch attempt but you try it anyway.

“If you kill me it’ll be all the US needs to join the war and deploy their forces.”

She looks down at you with a subtle raise of a brow.

“It’s adorable that you think you can scare me,” The Queen says. “Your government is so pathetic they jump at their own shadow. What threat could they ever possibly be to me when they can barely handle the problems within their own borders?”

She laughs, a boisterous sound that you feel just as much as you hear, and you’re unintentionally shaken in her hold. You knew it was a long shot but damn. She didn’t just shoot your idea down, she busted a fucking gut at it. You pout.

Yeah, you were screwed.

The Queen looked fucking unreal when she laughed though; you were a little winded.

NOTES: Hope you enjoyed!!! I love dark!WW, and she was too good looking in the Flash Point animation style; fourteen year old me literally couldn’t handle it.

Also— boy, has this one been in the works for a hot ass minute, but at least now it’s finally out.

In general, though, I’m trying to get out fics with more of The Trinity as a focus that aren’t just Batman fics. So yeah.

btw: if you’d like to leave a comment I’d very much appreciate it!

[separatist-apologist]

Fuck Me Up, Florida

Summary: Elain has some regrets- she'll bury them in Florida.

Read on AO3

Before:

Elain stood on the edge of her cottage, arms crossed over her chest. Maybe they’d taken things too far this time but there wasn’t room for this interloper, this stranger from an even stranger land. She and Lucien had lived in the swamplands for centuries—they would outlast the so-called witch seeking to take their territory.

But Lucien’s face…oh. He knelt beside her, head bowed as blood crusted over his golden skin. “You should go—”

“I’ll kill her,” Elain replied calmly, drawing forth the magic pulsating against her fingertips. She might lack Lucien’s ability to shift himself at will, to take on the terrifying form of the alligators that guarded the waters, nor could she rip out a throat with her teeth.

Elain could merely gaze into the future and reshape it to her will. 

The witch—Amarantha, they called her—was from another place with crueler, colder rules. Her magic was just as old, but twisted and dark and wholly out of place in the warm, sunlit paradise. Elain had seen how it ended, saw the witch crumble to dust, though when she tried to see how, the future shifted wildly into a kaleidoscope of color. 

The witch could be defeated. She would be defeated, if only for what she’d done to Lucien.

So Elain waited, dagger hidden beneath the cool material of her skirt, while Lucien continued to kneel beside her. He wanted to leave while they were still intact, but Elain refused. This was their home. She’d give it up over her dead body. 

“Is that so?” Amarantha purred, stepping from seemingly thin air. Everything about her set Elain’s on edge. She was bone pale, with eyes so black they seemed to bleed against the whites of her eyes. Her hair was the same shade of freshly spilt blood and around one long, spindly finger she wore a ring made from a real, moving eye.

Her dress slithered against the mud, silencing the once lively world. “You’ll leave over your dead body?”

Lucien’s head snapped up, tasting the iron tang of magic mere seconds before Elain did. Amarantha pointed at Elain, eyes burning with deathly amusement. 

“No—!”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Amarantha purred. Elain was frozen, trapped in a swirling mass of air. “She’ll be back.”

“Don’t,” Lucien pleaded. “I’ll do anything—”

“I want nothing from you. Only her and her meddling sisters. Let’s play a game…just to make it fair. I won’t kill her, little demon. She’ll be reborn and given one mortal lifespan. Bring him an offering of flesh as a sign of our bargain…and in return, if you can convince her to tell you she loves you, I’ll return her memories.”

Elain wanted to scream at Lucien not to take the deal. It was a fools errand—to rob her of her memories, to make her think she was mortal and then present her with a male who looked so inhuman no human would ever stand to be in his presence.

Say no, she tried to plead with her eyes. Feyre and Nesta would avenge her. Lucien looked up at her, face still freshly scarred, and shook his head. He knew it was impossible—a fools bargain. And still.

“It’s a deal.”

Elain took a breath.

And then she was gone. 

Now: 

She didn’t know how it happened. 

One minute Elain Archeron had been listening to Graysen go on yet another tirade and the next…the next her hands her bloodied and Graysen was laying there lifeless, eyes glassy and tilted toward the vaulted ceiling. If she wanted to be honest with both herself and God, Elain would have admitted that she’d simply lost her temper.

He wasn’t yelling at her. Not this time, anyway. Instead, Graysen yelled about immigrants, he yelled about his politics, he yelled until his face was red and he realized that the only person left to yell at was her. And Elain was simply tired of apologizing.

She’d wanted him to just stop. To give her a moment to think, to settle her galloping heart. Even when she slept it was never peaceful, never deep. She tiptoed through her own life, making herself small and sweet so as not to draw his ire.

She’d always been that way.

What had been different, she wondered? 

But she knew the answer to that, too. Two years of marriage—and two years of infidelity. She’d discovered it the week before when his phone lit up at three am, just in time for Elain to get up and use the bathroom. She couldn’t say what was different about that night, too. Maybe it had been the Georgia heat. Or maybe her body knew something her brain did not. Elain had spent the night scrolling through hundreds of love sick messages, and a hundred more that painted her out to be a frigid, standoffish wife who didn’t care about her husband's needs.

Any woman dumb enough to believe the tired story of the neglected married man deserved whatever she got. Which, in Elain’s estimation, was a man who yelled about everything all the time. He didn’t yell at that other woman, though. 

He called her beautiful.

Elain could still remember when Graysen had talked to her like that, too.

So when he started yelling, Elain’s patience was already shredded thin. There was simply no more good will left. She’d picked up a heavy crystal face and smashed it over the back of his head. Graysen had pitched forward, forehead slamming against the sharp edge of their coffee table, rendering him dead before he ever connected with their hardwood. 

She’d intended to turn herself in. That was the reasonable thing to do. Nesta was a lawyer, Feyre was married to old money—she figured she could spend a decade or so behind bars, even if orange did wash her out. 

The world worked in mysterious ways. As Elain was picking up her phone, 911 already dialed, her phone dinged a warning.

Hurricane Elaine scheduled to make landfall on…

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”

Elain burst out laughing. Hurricane Elaine? Really? Surely it was some cosmic joke and yet…

“Hello?”

“Sorry,” Elain said, still laughing like a lunatic. “My daughter, she…sorry.”

The annoyed operator on the other end huffed out a sigh, assured Elain it happened all the time, and ended the call. 

Hurricane Elaine.

Elain was on the Florida-Georgia line, just far enough from the worst of the coming storm. It was a six hour drive to Destin, risky considering Elain had moved her husband's dead body to the back of his truck. If anyone noticed or stopped her, it was all over.

But if they didn’t…

Oh. But if they didn’t.

Graysen had a timeshare in Destin. It wasn’t much, though he was proud of it all the same. She’d never liked it, truth be told but in that moment, standing beneath a starry Georgia sky, Elain used their points and booked a week. It was the kind of thing Gray would do. He never wanted to evacuate, never took these kinds of threats seriously. Elain would dump his body in a swamp and then say the water simply swept Graysen away. 

Maybe it would take her, too.

Elain didn’t have a preference one way or the other, truth be told. She merely thought getting away with his murder was another outcome she could live with right alongside being swept away by the sea. She thought about all of it as she drove in the dead of night, amazed by the traffic trying to leave Florida as Elain tried to enter.

Every couple songs on the radio warned about the impending storm. She didn’t care. Eain was giddy by the time she pulled into the resort, careful to hide Graysen’s body beneath a tarp. It couldn’t stay in her car for long without risking being caught, not with the Florida humidity. She simply needed to check in to make her story believable, and hope no one bothered checking the security cameras.

“You’re brave, checking in,” the cheerful woman at the front desk told her. 

“Or stupid,” Elain replied with an easy smile. “My husband thought we’d have the pool all to ourselves.”

“Ocean, too,” the receptionist said before handing Elain the keys. “We aren’t required to evacuate but if things get any worse, you should.”

“I will,” she swore like a liar. All she needed was that key and a plausible alibi, after all. She’d been here, not committing any murders. Was it a crime to be stupid? No, especially not in Florida.

They could suspect her all they like, Elain didn’t care. She was free of Graysen without the mess of a divorce.

Would she feel grief once the dust had settled? When Graysen was nothing more than a few picked over bones at the bottom of a swamp would it all hit her? Would relief turn to misery? Would she lie awake in bed missing the warmth of his body?

Climbing back into her car, already warmed from the Florida heat, Elain decided she couldn’t let herself care. Not right then, anyway. Besides, if Elain was honest with herself, she was having a disturbing amount of fun.

Rolling down her window, Elain let the wind ruffle her hair like an affectionate parent as she grinned, cheeks pink from the humidity. If a hurricane was on its way, the world gave no sign of it. Though, Elain had turned from Destin to make her way toward a swamp that would become Graysen’s final resting place. 

Good riddance, she thought. This was where she’d bury all her regrets, her mistakes, her ghosts. Maybe herself, too, though it was too early to make that determination. Maybe once Graysen had been dumped and Elain was alone in the resort, hurricane winds pounding against the roof. 

Maybe. 

Truth be told, Elain didn’t want to mourn or miss him. Her whole marriage felt like she’d been grieving a man who’d died the day she met him at the altar. He’d once been kind and sweet, had looked at her like she was the sun and he was merely a frigid planet begging for warmth. He’d been the one who’d changed, who’d embraced cold so brutal no light could penetrate his rotted heart. 

Killing him had been an extreme course correction and yet…and yet Elain couldn’t find the empathy people had always praised her for. Couldn’t find anything but the knob of the radio and then her voice singing along, loud enough to be heard over the rush of the road. Nevermind that there was a dead body in the back of her stolen truck—the songs were all bops as palm trees became cypress and  mangrove. 

The air was thicker somehow, as if charged with magic. It was tempting to think that was just Florida itself and not her own delirious joy seeping out of her. She was nearly finished with the whole debacle. Her heart pounded as she pulled off the main road, tires betraying her in the mud as she crept deeper into territories unknown. 

This was the hard part. As Elain cut the ignition, she considered for a moment the absurdity of her plan. If it worked, it would be sheer luck and nothing else. There was blood in her apartment, tire treads in the mud, and a hurricane on the horizon. She ought to go back to her original plan and call her older sister for help. Nesta would know what to do, would be able to get her out of serious trouble.

Elain knew if she dumped this body, there would be nothing Nesta could do to soften that blow. There would be no painting Elain as a victim but the aggressor, the abuser—everything Graysen had been before she took his life and made him part of the Florida ecosystem. 

Elain took a breath before deciding fuck it. She’d come this far, hadn’t she? Might as well see it all the way through. Elain hopped from the cab, flats sucked into the mud so deeply she thought she might need to abandon them altogether. Managing to get her feet out of the mud, Elain pulled the tarp she’d half wrapped Graysen in from the back of the truck until his body slid to the ground.

The Florida heat was getting to her. Or, maybe it wasn’t the heat that was making her feel a little manic but the humidity—whatever it was, Elain let out a soft laugh before grabbing Graysen by his limp arms. She tried hard not to look too closely at his gray skin, eyes trained on the path ahead. Just get him the water, she told herself.

Television hadn’t prepared Elain for how heavy a dead body was. Graysen didn’t look like such a solid man but right then, Elain wanted to scream as she inched him forward, sweat dripping from her nose.

She was leaving DNA everywhere—if she didn’t get caught it was simply law enforcement refusing to do their job entirely. As she dragged him toward the murky water, Elain considered that she was merely digging her own grave, too. She ought to climb in after Graysen and let the alligators have her, too.

In the end, Elain kicked Graysen into the water with a heaving breath of air. He plopped into the green tinted water with a heavy splash that silenced the insects, if only for a moment. Shoulders aching, she braced herself against the sticky bark of a leaning tree, eyes closed.

It was done. She’d done it. There was no going back now. She could have turned back anytime before Graysen sank to the bottom of the swamp but now…now there was no way in hell Elain was getting in that water to try and drag him out.

She needed to leave. Spend the week in the timeshare at the pool until the hurricane hit and then…she didn’t know. She had no plan, no idea how to go about things and she was terrified to google any of it. 

Elain opened her eyes, surprised to find she wasn’t alone. A man was coming toward her as he pulled thick, auburn hair up off his face in a messy bun.

“Are you alright?” he asked, eyes gleaming. Three long, vicious scars cut down one strange, gold eye that didn’t match the brown of the other. 

Elain nodded her head, heart pounding in her throat. What had he seen? Mouth dry, tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, Elain could do nothing but wait as he came toward her. He wore light clothing that looked far more comfortable than her own, the white cotton of his shirt sticking against the muscular contours of his chest. 

“What are you doing so far out here?” he pressed, eyes sliding from her to the water just beneath her. There was no evidence of what she’d done if he ignored the path she’d carved through mud and vegetation dragging Graysen’s body. And if he walked just half a mile toward the gravel road, she’d find Graysen’s truck parked, the doors flung open and likely filled with mosquitoes. 

“I like nature,” she told him. It wasn’t even a lie—Elain worked for the botanical garden back home and maintained her own in the backyard she’d once shared with Graysen. “I’ve always wanted to see a swamp.”

“Could have taken a tour,” he said, eyes twinkling. “The alligators are real aggressive out here.”

“They can’t be that bad if you’re out here,” she shot back, unsure why she was being so combative with this man. 

Something green glimmered beneath the collar of his shirt, inked against his skin. What kind of tattoo was it, she wondered? 

“I practically live here,” he replied as he came closer, hands jammed in his pockets. 

“You work in a swamp?”

He only shrugged. “It’s a living, right?”

“Well, if you’re not afraid of gators, neither am I.”

He came closer still. “There’s worse things in gators out in the swamps.”

Elain froze. There she was, in the middle of nowhere talking to a stranger who had appeared seemingly out of thin air. Her hair curled in the humidity, her face slick with sweat and yet he seemed serene. Unbothered by the heat, the heavy air, or their surroundings. Elain took a step backward.

“Right. Well I uh…should be going.” He didn’t try and stop her, seemingly amused as she made her way back up the path. “Watch yourself, Elain. There’s a hurricane coming, you know.”

She only nodded, turning her back on him to rush back to the car. She was too stressed to deal with the stranger in the swamp. Elain didn’t let herself think about him until she was back in the room at the resort standing beneath cool shower water.

Watch yourself, Elain.

Had she told him her name? Elain genuinely couldn’t remember. The stress of everything was getting to her—maybe she had. In that southern kind of way, a greeting that included letting him know who she was so he knew she was no threat at all.

Why not tell him what she’d done, too? Hi, I’m Elain Archeron and I murdered my husband. 

Make it easier on the police when they went looking for witnesses. She could have given that man the murder weapon had it not been shattered in hundreds of pieces on her living room floor. Still, Elain replayed that parting sentence over and over in her head. Elain, Elain, Elain. Why had she told him her name? Why hadn’t she asked for his? 

Should she have done something more? Assured him she was just a normal woman lost in the heart of a swamp she had no business being in? Had he watched her drag that body and merely waited to see what would happen? She was more concerned with getting caught than what she’d actually done, which also worried her.

What kind of person murdered their husband? 

She did, apparently. Elain didn’t think she was a bad person—just sad. Mad, too, that things hadn’t worked the way she’d wanted to. Angrier still that she’d loved him the way she had and in the end, it hadn’t even been good enough. She still remembered insisting to Nesta that Gray was her soulmate and their love was the thing of legends. It was love so pure, so perfect, so timeless that one day people would write books about it.

She supposed she hadn’t been wrong about that last one. Some true crime junkie would pick up this story and write about her. Would they call her a Black Widow? No, she decided as she laid there in the dark listening to the wind. She had no intention of remarrying, after all, and certainly wouldn’t kill another man. But they’d come up with some other offensive nickname for her, labeling her without really knowing her heart. 

Elain fell asleep easier than she’d expected to, though her dreams were confusing and vivid. She was back in that swamp, wading deeper and deeper into the water as something made its way toward her, gold eyes reflecting the moonlight onto the water. Blood—no, hair—fanned out behind the creature and when he raised his head to smile, teeth sharpened to a point.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, his voice cutting through the still night. Elain couldn’t move, frozen in place as he came further and further out of the water. The green on his neck, she realized, wasn’t a tattoo but scales and behind him, a tail propelled him forward just as surely as his legs did.

She couldn’t scream. Trapped in mud, Elain could only stand as he came closer and closer, water dripping from his bare chest. The opaque water obscured his bottom half which was for the best—she was certain she didn’t want to see it. 

He reached out to touch her, golden skin somehow glowing in the moonlight, and—

Elain woke to the sound of thunder, sheets sticking to her sweat soaked skin. The doors to the balcony attached to her bedroom were flung open and though it wasn’t raining yet, puddles of water pooled on the tile floor. Elain sighed loudly, palm pressed right above her breast in an attempt to silence her screaming heart.

It was just a dream. A nightmare, truly, borne of her guilty mind and her fear she was going to be caught. Elain forced herself to get up, grab a towel from the bathroom, and wipe up the water. This time, she made sure she locked the balcony doors so the wind wouldn’t blow them open before she crawled back into bed.

The nightmares were the same, though. 

And when she woke, the doors were opened again.

Unwilling to take it lying down, Elain went down to the front desk to ask if she could be moved. Her doors, she explained ruefully—if there was a hurricane, she didn’t want to deal with water flying in. The person at the front desk was far less sympathetic to Elain’s cause and though they didn’t say so, it was clear they thought she and everyone else still at the resort was an idiot.

She tried not to let it bother her. 

She needed to just stick to her plan. It was a terrible plan, admittedly, but it was too late to back out, now. Elain spent the day sitting outside by the pool holding a book in her hand, too nervous to read even a page. She kept waiting for the police to descend on her, led by the man haunting her nightmares.

There she is, he’d say with open accusation. There’s the woman who murdered her husband and thought she could get away with it. 

They didn’t come. Frantically checking the news every couple of minutes, Elain found more warnings of the tropical storm about to descend on them, found other stories of murder, but nothing about her. No one had called to check in on Gray—not even the woman he was having an affair with. Elain had his phone sitting on her bedside table, monitoring it for anyone who might be worried about him.

No one was. 

It was almost too easy. 

If it hadn’t been for the nightmares, Elain might have just turned around and gone home. Maybe that would have silenced her nightmares. Elain dreamt of the man again, noting the way the green scales seemed more repetilian than those of a tattoo. This time, as Elain waded into the swampy water, she found her voice again.

“Who are you?” she asked, white nightgown floating around her.

He offered her a truly terrifying smile, those teeth tinged red in the moonlight. “I’ve been waiting for you,” he told her again, his voice a haunting melody. 

“Why?”

He was close enough she could smell the earthy scent of him. It was familiar, somehow, though she was certain she’d remember if she’d seen him before.

He merely cocked his head, standing to his full height. Water sluiced off his body and though she knew this was merely a dream from her stressed out and panicked brain, Elain’s eyes dipped between his legs all the same. Now she knew it was a dream because men should only have one appendage…and this man had two. What was wrong with her? 

He didn’t seem concerned with her gaze—not amused nor offended. Instead, he stepped forward, reaching for a long curl between two long, strong fingers.

“Mate,” he whispered, reaching for her before she could stumble back. It was just a dream, she told herself…and yet it felt real. Elain swore she could feel the sharpened claws against her back just as surely as she could feel the warm water enveloping her.

“What about alligators?” she breathed, earning a soft chuckle from the creature holding her.

“You don’t need to worry about anything harming you,” he said, dipping his head to run his nose along the shell of her ear. 

“Because this is a dream,” she said, eyes closed.

Another laugh drew shivers up her spine. “Whatever you say.”

But it was a dream, even if it felt real. She knew she’d wake up and the door would be open because subconsciously she wanted to get caught. “What’s your name?”

“Lucien,” he replied, running a finger over her cheek. How long had it been since someone had touched her like this? Like she was special, cherished—loved? 

“Why are you waiting for me?” she questioned, deciding if it really was a dream, maybe it didn’t have to be a nightmare. Maybe she could enjoy herself in the privacy of her strange fantasies. Maybe the scales, which she found softer than she expected them to be, were representative of something. 

“You’re my mate,” he murmured. Hadn’t she just read a book about that? The men hadn’t been so strange looking—merely more handsome versions of humans, their ears a little pointed, their teeth a little sharper. Elain relaxed in his arms as she realized she was merely trapped in a strange dream about the men she read in books.

“Of course,” she said, amusement lacing her tone. He cocked his head, wet hair plastered to his bare shoulder.

“You don’t believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Elain declared blithely, kicking her feet gently in the water between them. “I think I left a body in here.”

“He’s gone now,” Lucien informed her. Oh, how Elain wished that was true. “Who was he to you?”

“My husband,” she said mirthfully as she inclined her head toward the moon overhead. “He yelled a lot.”

Lucien’s grip around her body tightened. “Did he hurt you?”

“Not in the ways that matter.”

“They matter to me,” he said, and of course they did. Elain loved herself and this man was merely an extension of her own mind. Still, pretend or not, it felt good to have someone care about her. 

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she told him, turning to look him back in the eyes. It was here she found those scars again and wondered what had caused them. Would her mind fill in the gaps for her? “Who did this to you?”

He chuckled, catching her wrist to press a kiss to her open palm as she tried to run her fingers over the grooves. “Another male was interested in my territory. He tried to take my eye, I took his throat.”

“How very vicious of you,” she teased. “Are you half alligator, then?”

“Simply put, I suppose,” he said, the amusement in his gaze sharpening to something she didn’t recognize. It was almost desperation that stared back, a plea to know something she had only forgotten. Elain felt the strangest rush of deja vu, though it faded into the night before she could grasp it, a balloon whose string was just out of reach. 

“What are you? Can I ask that?”

“You can ask me anything you like,” he told her, his voice dropping an octave. Elain felt a rush of want as he waded further into the water, clearly unconcerned with the lurking danger. 

“I am…” he trailed off, clearly trying to find the words before he turned to look at her again. Elain was tracing the scales adorning his shoulders and neck like tattoos, trying to remember the last time she’d touched anything reptilian. “Old, I suppose.”

“How old?”

“Old,” he emphasized. 

“You don’t look old,” she said, half laughing at how predictable her daydreams were. 

“I age slowly,” he informed her solemnly. “You did once, too.” “Oh? Before what?”

Skimming his hand over the top of the opaque water, he said, “You’re my curse, now.”

“How do you break the curse?”

Those strange, reflective eyes found the same glassy water they were floating in. He didn’t say, but Elain knew because this was her dream, her fantasy, her imagination. “It’s love, isn’t it?”

He looked so hopeful as he met her gaze. “Yes,” he said hoarsely. 

It was a dream. “You seem like you’d be extremely easy to love.”

Pressing his forehead against her own, Lucien exhaled softly. “Let me show you.”

Lucien brought them to the opposite end of the swamp, unconcerned with his nakedness or the fact that she was openly staring at him. Well, not at him so much as what was slowly rising between his legs—two appendages, one longer than the other by a good inch. Elain didn’t need him to explain how they worked, though she was curious as to the point. Surely, from an evolutionary standpoint, one was enough? 

Taking his hand, Elain let him lift her from the water, well aware he was just as fascinated by her form which was no longer hidden given the way her nightdress clung to her body. 

“What are you going to show me?”

Lucien didn’t respond. Instead, he grabbed her by the back of the neck and kissed her, sharp teeth grazing her bottom lip. Elain let him, reflecting that even though this man was a monstrous figment of her imagination, it had been a while since someone kissed her like they meant it. Like they wanted her. Maybe, she thought, this was some kind of weird metaphor. The only man who could ever love her was a monster, after all—just like Graysen.

Or maybe she was the monster.

After all, she was the murderer. Lucien was just a man she’d seen in the swamp that would one day testify at her trial while she remembered how they’d had sex in a dream. Elain kissed him back, surprised to find he tasted warm and sweet—like a warm, summer day. This was the type of dream she liked—the sort where she could feel pleasure without the endless guilt that seemed to fill her. 

She could taste blood in her mouth, slipping back into her throat as his tongue chased after it, kissing her with a frenzied hunger that Elain wished was real. The trick was not waking up before she came—Elain had never quite mastered that 

She knew it was a dream for sure when he lifted her nightdress, swatting her hand when she tried to touch his bare skin. 

“Just you,” he breathed, scales glinting in the moonlight. No man would ever, she decided as Lucien ran his own hands down her now naked form. It was almost like touching herself, forcing an awareness of her body that Elain rarely had. She didn’t pay attention to how it felt when someone's fingers teased her breasts or the way cool skin felt against her own. Or, she hadn’t in so long she’d forgotten what true pleasure could be like and he hadn’t really done anything. 

“What do you like?” he asked through a heavy breath of humid air. 

“I…” Elain was suddenly too embarrassed to tell him. Everything felt real—Lucien sank to muscular knees, his thick tail curling around the pair of them.

“Do you like this?” he asked in a husky voice as his forked tongue traced shapes against her upper thigh. To keep balance, Elain slid her fingers into his thick, silken hair. 

“Yes,” she admitted while he lifted her leg up off the ground, hooking it over his broad shoulder. Little ridges adorned his spine, flexible when her toe brushed up against one. Elain was fascinated with his form—more man than creature, but not human at all. She might have demanded an answer had that tongue of his not licked up the length of her.

Elain nearly toppled over, but Lucien wrapped a strong arm around her waist, pulling her closer while cupping her ass in one of his large, strong hands. He groaned with pleasure, the sound drowning out the screaming, watchful cicadas in the background.

“And this?” he demanded, licking again.

“Yes,” she breathed, head thrown back so she could look up at the stars. If she’s been more articulate, she would have told him that she liked it too much, and Gray had never wanted to do it. It took too long, he’d complained which of course only made it take longer. Elain was so self conscious every time he did go down that she never finished and often just counted to two hundred, faked it, and let him move on. 

“I need to taste you,” Lucien informed her, pulling her so close against him she wasn’t convinced he could breathe. She would have told him he was already tasting her if she’d been braver and less afraid that at any moment she was going to wake up and realize the whole thing was just a really weird, yet really good dream. 

Because it was her dream, Elain didn’t have to worry she was taking too long. In fact, Elain wanted to drag her pleasure out. His tongue was just rough enough to provide the smallest amount of friction while his mouth was otherwise soft and warm. Perfect, she decided with a sigh. 

She wanted to spread herself out. Maybe Lucien knew it, or maybe the ground merely hurt his knees. All she knew for certain was in the span it took to draw breath, Lucien was on his back and she was straddling his face, staring down the length of his rigid, muscular body. She wanted to touch him and so she did, spreading her legs as wide as she could get away with so she could lean against him.

Lucien moaned when she pressed a kiss against his stomach. Distracted, she half forgot what he was doing with his mouth. It was just…well, two cocks were endlessly fascinating to her. Why? What was the point? Elain reached between his legs and took the thicker, larger one in her hand. It was ridged, she realized with wild desperation. What would it feel like? Would her mind even know? Was she imagining this because she’d been shopping for vibrators a month earlier and stumbled upon some truly strange looking dildos? 

“Fuck,” Lucien panted, inclining his head away from her swollen pussy to look at her. “You don’t—it’s fine, just…just come here—”

Lucien put his mouth back on her with a vengeance, determined to distract her so thoroughly she couldn’t pleasure him, too. It was a game now, trying to get him off even as waves of pleasure began to build in her chest, threatening to drown her at any moment. Had anything felt better? 

Lucien writhed beneath her, prompting Elain to reach around for the second one and grip it, too. He gasped, breath warm against her throbbing cunt, before returning to licking circles around her clit. 

They came within seconds of each other—though Elain didn’t get to see any of it. Body throbbing, the sound of thunder crashing pulled her from her dream, body still roiling from her orgasm.

“Christ alive,” Elain swore softly, pushing the blankets from her body to close the balcony doors again. She knew she’d locked them before bed, had pulled the handles to be sure they were firmly locked.

Water was pooled on the floor again, her bare feet splashing in puddles as she made her way back to the ensuite bathroom. All Elain could think about was the man—the stranger she couldn’t stop dreaming about and his strange, inhuman features.

She’d nearly forgotten why she was dreaming about him. It was only after Elain had cleaned everything up did she recall that oh, right. She’d killed her husband and her brain was apparently trying to decode this information in the form of giving a strange swamp man two penises. 

Elain was going insane. Seeing things that weren’t there, manifesting her own downfall. Was this what if felt like to be haunted? Only, there were no ghosts—only her own guilt tormenting her while she slept. 

Elain shoved a chair against the balcony doors before she went back to bed, forced to lay on the opposite end because the mattress felt wet, too. Sweat, surely.. And the swamp man didn’t return, though when she woke the chair was back in its original place beside the window and the doors were open again. Outside, the world had gone red, the sky tinged with blood. Elain felt as though she’d manifested it herself, though that was pure arrogance to think she had any affect on the weather. 

Her phone was screaming at her to get out, pinging emergency instructions from the resort on where to go when the hurricane made landfall. Elain planted herself in her bedroom determined to see this lie through. It was the kind of thing Gray would do, besides—he never too much stock in the hysterics, as he called it. 

And she was so pathetic that she would have sat beside him and waited to die. Elain told herself she’d be fine, even as fear skittered up her spine. Sirens blared just outside and when she stepped toward the window, Elain could see the storm on the horizon. She took a breath, intending to go sit back in bed and try and read her book. Elain would have, too, had she not seen him coming out the sea itself, eyes trained on her bedroom window. He was merely a dot, a doll walking so far below her Elain was positive he couldn’t see her. 

And yet she knew he could. Wind whipped around him, blowing his hair this way and that though he didn’t seem bothered by it. Elain watched, mouth half open, as a palm tree was shoved violently to the ground as though a giant hand had pushed it there. But the man didn’t budge, kept walking as though it were a perfectly normal day.

Oh god.

Elain rushed to the door, locking it before making her way out of her bedroom. Where was she going to go? She turned, standing in the living area, eyes trained on the beach. The man was gone and for a moment, Elain consoled herself that she was just crazy. He didn’t exist, her mind had merely snapped and when this was all over, she’d check herself into an asylum. 

Elain looked away for a moment, turning toward the little kitchenette she hadn’t used. “You’re okay—” The glass shattered, sending Elain flying to the floor, arms thrown over her head to avoid getting hit by debris. Unable to hear her own thoughts over the wind, Elain tried to recall what she should do in the middle of a hurricane.

Cool fingers curled around her upper arm, hoisting her up into the air. Elain turned her head, horrified to find herself cradled against the half naked skin of the strangely scaled man. “You,” she accused, certain all this was his doing.

His smile was grim, eyes wide and round. He looked scared. “Me,” he murmured, his deep voice cutting through the noise. “It’s time to go home.”

“I’m not going—” the wind screamed as water pelted the pair of them, stinging her skin with each new assault. He didn’t seem concerned at all, ignoring the glass crunching underneath them as he walked her toward the bedroom. 

“We’re going to die—”

“You’re going to remember,” Lucien interrupted, tail swishing angrily behind him. He looked catlike in the stormy dark, eyes glowing like sunlight cutting through shadow. 

“You’re not real,” she breathed as he ripped her night dress in half. He certainly felt real.

“You know me,” he breathed, staring down at her. “You love me.”

“You’re a monster,” she replied.

Lucien grinned, betraying two rows of sharp teeth. “I’ll show you a monster.”

She tried to push him away but Lucien knew better. Knew he could have her if he wanted her—had already touched her, tasted her. Her protests were weak, silenced the moment his mouth was back on hers. He was real—they were real. She almost forgot about the screaming wind rattling the windows and pushing glass around the living area. 

“You brought me an offering,” Lucien panted, hitching her leg up around his now bare waist. When had he taken off his pants? “Tell me you love me.”

“What offering—”

“The body. Your husband,” he spat, eyes darkening at the memory. “Tell me you love me.”

“I hate you,” she replied as he wrapped both hands around her bare thighs and wrenched them open.

“Wrong answer,” he replied. Elain kicked at his chest as Lucien lined himself up not just with her pussy, but her ass, too. 

Their eyes met. “Does this feel real, now?” he whispered, inching himself forward just enough to punch the lungs from her breath. “You know me.”

“I don’t,” she replied as something metallic lodged itself in her nose. The world was ending in an explosion of air and water and yet a strange bubble seemed to exist around them. Words, just on the tip of her tongue, if only she could remember them, begged to be released. To finish a spell long since cast.

Lucien waited for a heartbeat, his hope etched over his features. When Elain said nothing, Lucien pressed himself closer to her, cocks intruding on her body like an old, familiar friend. Elain swore she’d never felt anything like it and yet her body stretched on instinct to accommodate him. Even when Elain wriggled, trying to create some resistance, her body simply allowed him to slide easily inside.

“Why two?” she panted, gritting her teeth to adjust to the feeling of being stretched to capacity. 

“I can’t impregnate my mate if she doesn’t feel pleasure,” he replied breathlessly. His hair fell like a sunlit curtain between them, his eyes bright and earnest.

“Lucien,” she breathed, nails cutting against his biceps. It’s you, it’s you, it’s you—but who are you?

“Yes,” he managed, pulling himself out of the sticky wet that was her body. Spitting in his hand, Lucien lubricated his shaft now halfway buried in her ass before he thrust himself back in and

Elain was forced to admit that it all felt good. Her back arched of its own accord, eyes rolling upward in her skull. The ridges lining his cock made each new thrust sharper, the pleasure brighter. 

“Our bond goes beyond marriage,” Lucien told her as colors filled her vision. “What we have is stronger than love.” His fingers stroked between her legs, rubbing tight circles around her clit until Elain was panting and writhing. She was going to come right alongside the hurricane bearing her name and then what? The windows would give way and the world would one day know of the woman who died because she decided fucking was more important than evacuating.

She didn’t care. Elain pulled him closer, running her hand over the flexible spines running the length of his back until she found the tail protruding just above the swell of his ass. 

“Please,” she begged, wrapping her legs around his waist. Lucien whined in response, sweat dripping down his forehead as he ran his nose along her own.

“I can’t stop,” he told her, pressing a kiss along the corner of her mouth. “If you don’t say it, we start all over.”

“I love you,” she said, half meaning it. What did hurt, she decided? He was so obviously insane and maybe so was she, because she was still fucking him, wasn’t she? Maybe this was what she deserved. 

Lucien’s pace quickened and with each new thrust a new memory came flooding through her awareness. A cottage on the edge of a swap, a cauldron filled with bubbling liquid. A male half hidden in the water, gold tinged eyes looking for predators as his red hair fanned out behind him.

Amarantha.

Her horrible bargain.

Elains vision.

“Lucien,” she said, fisting his hair so he had to look back at him. He recognized her words, the look on her face.

“You’re back,” he whispered, still thrusting into her though his rhythm slipped into wild, animalistic thrusting. 

“You feel exactly as I remember,” she told him, dragging her nails down his back. “What took you so long?”

“Let a man wallow for a century or two,” Lucien replied, kissing her again. “Come for me. Now.”

She did, though not because he told her to— because she was already desperate and close and Lucien was pushing every button she had. Elain tightened around him as Lucien babbled unintelligibly about how wet and tight she was. Some things, she supposed, would never change. The world would.

But not them. Never them.

Lucien came loudly, roaring over the wind she’d forgotten about. Was there a hurricane? Had she been afraid of it? That seemed almost laughable to her now. Turning her head as Lucien buried his own in the crook of her neck, Elain stared out the window coated in violet raindrops. 

For a moment, the storm was the only sound between them. 

“You borrowed my magic,” Elain accused once his breathing steadied. She could feel his come leaking down her leg, slipping between the spaces his cocks occupied.

“You didn’t know how to use it,” Lucien replied with a sheepish grin. 

Elain poked him in the ribs. “Is she dead?”

“Not yet,” he told her, gaze darkening. “Feyre drove her out a century before.”

“Let's finish it, then.”

“In time,” Lucien promised, withdrawing himself so he could offer her his hand. “Home, first.”

Elain grinned. “Home, then.”

[leanchugger420]

₊ ׅ ֹ 𓈒 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 | 𝐧𝐦.𝐫 𓈒 ֹ ׅ ₊

pairing – boyfriend!niki x fem!reader

warnings – fluff, heartbreak, established relationship, depressive state, mentions of heart being torn out and bleeding, fluff <3

wc – 0.8k

A/N – i love love love this so much! hope u enjoy <3 please do like and reblog!! it helps me reach more impressions :)

today for the first time ever, niki wasn’t speaking to you. every single question you asked him was shrugged off.

‘hi niki!’ ‘hi’.

‘what’s up?’ ‘nothing’.

‘how are you?’ ‘fine’.

‘is something wrong?’ ‘no’.

niki was always enthusiastic to be with you, to talk to you, or just see you. you wondered why your oh so loving boyfriend who behaved like a little puppy when he saw you, was being cold and ignoring you today.

ever since you and niki had started dating, you’d always be co-dependent with him. if he was happy, you were happy, if he was sad, you were sad, if he was angry, you were angry. you guys were a twin flame.

two months ago, when enhypen’s manager permitted niki to move in with you, you both were more than ecstatic. that entire first week, you were in paradise. pillow fights, movie nights, midnight snacks, playing games together till 4 am. it was everything to you. he was everything to you.

it killed you to feel this way. to feel like you had made him upset. to feel like you made him feel anything less than happiness.

you analyzed every single thing you could’ve possibly done and every single thing you could possibly do to make him feel anything but this way. you were pondering your options while staring off into the distance, but just then, you took a glance at his face. the dead, emotionless expression in his eyes broke your heart in a million pieces.

“niki”.

no response.

“do you want to go get bunggeopp-“

“i think i’m going to move back to the dorms” your face dropped immediately. he’s pushing you away. why is he doing this? he loves you. right?

“w- what? niki, are you joking?” you had to ask even though you knew he was in no place to joke around right now especially about such a serious topic.

“i think we should break up, y/n. my feelings have changed” you felt your heart rip out of your chest and bleed all over the ground. he walked away from you. he doesn’t love you anymore. he’s moving out. niki was no longer your boyfriend.

­                                                             

you lifelessly wandered around seoul city for hours, feeling no reason to want to go home. the one thing that made it your home was gone. it was 2:47 am and you finally stepped into your (ex) shared apartment with niki.

it felt brand new. all of niki’s stuff was gone. it was almost as though he never lived with you in the first place. you dropped to the floor and tears fell out of your eyes. you felt the wetness on your cheeks pouring out and you screamed at the top of your lungs. you didn’t cry, you didn’t speak. you didn’t leave your apartment the next day and you continued to do so for the next two weeks.

                                                                           

it had been two months since niki had moved out and ended things. you were functioning but you lost your spark. you were no longer the person you used to be. yhe y/n that everyone loved. the y/n that niki loved.

for once, you decided to go out for dinner alone. you thought if you were going to be alone, you could at least learn to be happy by yourself. you went to the ramen place a couple of streets away from your flat where you and niki used to go. you sat there for ten minutes after eating your meal to gather yourself. the entire time you had only missed niki and reminisced about your memories in this place.

you wiped your tears from your face while walking into your apartment. you felt your stomach drop when you saw niki sitting on your couch. you were hallucinating, you had to be, but that didn’t stop you from calling out his name.

he looked at you. your flat was completely dark, but you could see stars in his eyes. you had really gone crazy, you thought, as you walked towards him slowly, he got up from the couch and ran towards you. he wrapped his arms around you so tightly and you heard him sob.

this is real. he is real. these words rang in your ears and as soon as you came to your senses you put your arms around him, and the tears poured.

“y/n, i’m so sorry. i miss you so much. i love you so much, i’m so sorry, please forgive me. i lied to you, nothing changed. i love you, i love you. please don’t leave me. you’re all i have left. i wasn’t thinking properly. i miss my mother, i miss my family, i miss japan. i lost everyone. i can’t lose you too.”

you didn’t say anything at all for a while. you stayed still and quiet in his embrace.

“y/n, please say something” he searched your eyes for any sign that you might have moved, that you might say no and turn him away.

“you didn’t lose me. you never will. i love you too, niki. i missed you so much” he held your face and and caressed your cheek and pressed a soft kiss to your lips.

[itsgrimeytime]

Scratch That Itch || Rick Grimes (TWD)

Available on AO3

Summary: Honestly, you weren't sure how it started. It wasn't a competition, at least you didn't think it was. There'd been something between you and Rick, something that people couldn't quite label. And maybe you batted your eyes the first time, and maybe he smirked the second. Either way, this was getting out of hand.

TWS: suggestive AF, FLIRTY, TENSION, innuendos, pregnancy mention (Maggie is pregnant in this one), violence, blood, mentions of guns, the undead, all things TWD.

[[A/N: Basically a 5 plus one. just wanted to establish how dumb it was that no one absolutely dived for this man. I think he'd be flattered, personally, if you took every chance you could to hit on him. Also FUCK the horror part of this show, Alexandria is paradise and Negan is not allowed. Thanks for your time !!! So, here's what I'd picture would play out. Enjoy!!]]

The first time you remember it happening was just a slip of the tongue. Or that's what you said anyway.

You'd known Rick for a while at that point; the group had picked you up somewhere after the prison falling -you'd been holed up in a shack for probably a year.

And fuck, you knew Rick Grimes was handsome. Everyone under the sun knew that (all broad shoulders and baby blues, his voice-), and you thought you'd gotten a hold of the reigns -at least enough for decency. Sure, you stared at him for way too long a lot of the time, and had been noticed by several people -including Rick. ("You've got something... uh, on your face," you scrambled, and honestly you'd never been more mortified in your life-)

It wasn't the first time it happened, looking back on it, but you couldn't quite picture earlier. He'd been too suave for it to be the first time and maybe he was just that suave, but you kind of hoped it wasn't you that started it. So, you'd live in your delusion.

You were tired, exhausted really. The past few days you couldn't sleep, mostly because you felt unsafe in Alexandria -it was all so new that it gave you a sense of unease. You, naturally, went on every run available to feel that burst of adrenaline that felt so familiar -killing walkers was what you knew.

After Rick caught up with your plans, he'd made you stay. That didn't mean you were sleeping though.

Hence the current you sat at a table in a meeting of such, he'd liked to have these every once in a while -establish the plans and how he was running Alexandria. Rick was nothing if not connected to his people. It was honorable if there was such a thing in the apocalypse.

You think it was Carol, maybe, who'd said it. Referring to the resources, you'd come to learn. Apparently, Rick had been planning too much -maybe they were talking about bullets, food? You really didn't know.

"We can't keep up with you-" she was so earnest, you should've known that it was more of a pressing issue, but instead, your brain running on day (four...?) of no sleep had... other connotations.

"Oh, I'm sure I could."

You thanked whatever god was left above that Carl was out on a run with Glenn that morning. Everyone else? You weren't so lucky.

It wasn't like you could pass it off as not... what it was. Your tone was perfectly readable, slurred actually from sleep which, in retrospect, only added to the... interpretation.

You hadn't even realized you said it, so far off in whatever fuzzy reality you were currently in to notice you'd spoken. Until, Maggie who was somewhere near the back burst into laughter -cutting it short by holding it back, but the break of noise was still there.

There was something that acknowledged the embarrassment, the silence and laughter only registering after a few heavy seconds. To say you were more awake than you had been in weeks was an understatement -your eyes felt pried open with a bundle of nerves sinking deep into your stomach. You might throw up.

Talk about mortifying.

You felt frozen in your seat, hesitating to make even a single move like he couldn't see that your eyes, once heavily lidded, were now open -detailing the woodwork like your life depended on it, but still awake.

And then, after a few agonizing seconds, the voice you had dreaded spoke up. Normally, you wouldn't have noticed. Trying to find an escape route from at least this room, the grand scheme would be leaving Alexandria but that was-

There was a calloused fingertip underneath your chin, guiding you to meet his eyes -amused in a way you hadn't seen before. His mouth had to be maybe an inch from yours -breaths mingling and his lips turning into a smirk, you willed yourself not to look.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, sweetheart."

The silence was even louder after that, nobody making a move like what was happening at this moment like it was a dream. It could definitely be a dream, you thought to yourself -eyes dipping to his lips in a moment of weakness.

Then, Daryl yelled, "Get a room, nobody wants to see 'at."

And Rick had laughed in a sort of crooked way, his smirk seamlessly budding into a grin. Without so much as a blink, he moved his finger and addressed Carol like nothing had happened.

There was something petty in you because you had taken that as a challenge. Well, you would when you could think straight again.

The next time was more casual, more natural. You'd always been attracted to Rick, but since then you felt so open to it like you'd crossed a boundary and he had... well, he had done what he did.

You still couldn't think about it too hard or your brain would turn to sludge.

You had the running theory that if you were fully present in the... flirting game? Was it a game? You didn't feel like it was, but then again, you had gotten competitive of all things.

Didn't matter, your theory was if you were more present, he'd been more affected. It's one thing to have a half-asleep person flirting with you, and another if it's a fully awake person. You were hoping to plan it out, get exactly the right words to say -it was going to be perfectly crafted to get a reaction out of Rick Grimes.

But, it didn't end up that way.

You were folding clothes, which was a bit of hell within itself but you were helping Maggie -she made it much more bearable. Even though just about every few minutes, she'd remind you of your... incident.

It was all in good fun, she was always giggling and teasing in a sister sort of way. You found yourself close to her pretty much as soon as you'd met her -catching her eye lingering on Glenn for a few seconds too long. They were well-established at that point, but you'd found an interest there in the budding... romance.

After she'd lost so much, your connection was nice, fresh, and easy in the apocalypse. It was light and airy when it needed to be, and strongly protective otherwise.

You'd threatened Glenn pretty much immediately after you met him -something about 'you hurt her and I'll grind your bones into paste'. It was in a joking tone, but he took it as you intended. (He'd grinned at you afterward, saying something about you fitting right in. Needless to say, you didn't get the desired effect.)

So, you sat -carefully detailing the piles as you worked through them, Glenn, Maggie, and a tiny pile of onesies. You smiled at it, as it continued to grow, and the conversation was easy to be in -nothing too substantial, just casual topics.

"Saw Glenn the other day," you remarked, remembering the deadly cold stare he'd passed onto some of the Alexandrians -Daryl falling close behind, "-you got lucky, Mags."

Maggie laughed, bright and loud -her face was somehow glowing, you guessed pregnancy would do that to you, "I know, he's... He's amazing."

"Hey, don't start on the ooey-gooey 'I found my soulmate in the apocalypse' shit," you groaned -you loved her, really you did, but with your mortification... you were truly going to die alone.

Maggie huffed, elbowing into your side, "You started it."

"Well, I wanted to talk about-" the door to Maggie and Glenn's swung open, revealing a Rick who'd just got done working -sweat on his brow and dirt on his jeans, "-something... different."

She, on the other hand, was acting completely natural, "We could get into those things if you want, I just figured-"

"Rick, thank god you're here-" you turned to him dramatically -still folding clothes without much extra thought, "-please rescue me from this torture. She's on her Glenn kick-"

He paused before a smooth smile melted upon his lips -you bit back the urge to watch it from there, salt and pepper beard stretched along his mouth, "When is she not on a Glenn kick?"

"You're not helping," you sighed, retorting with a passive playfulness, "-you're supposed to give me an out, you know. Save the day, isn't that what gentlemen do?"

Maggie spoke up, in agreement, "That's what gentlemen do."

Rick was staring at you, eyes flickering along your face and then settling on your hands. You were in your own space, carefully placing each fabric in as nice of a stack as possible -fingers swift and practiced. You could still feel it though.

His eyes heavy on every motion -following you like you were a shooting star in the sky, a sight to be seen. Jaw twitched, licking a line against his teeth, as a grin peeked up then, and you knew you were in for it.

"Well," he sighed, leaning against the doorframe casually as if the words were as true as the sun rising in the morning, "-I can think of a few better things to do wit' your hands."

You startled, the shirt (clearly Glenn's if the bright graphic had anything to say) held up in front of you -tips of your fingers tight on the fabric, almost too tight. Exhaling a breath, as you wordlessly stared at the shirt in front of you, you vowed to yourself you wouldn't freeze again. And somewhere deep in your head, your competitiveness sparked up in a single flame.

With the casual speed of folding the shirt, you wordlessly placed it into Glenn's pile -it was teetering dangerously, but you couldn't find it in yourself to care, and stood.

Your steps were slow, deliberate, and despite the flurry of thoughts in your mind, you were clear-headed.

"What," you spoke, it was low and breathy (but there was no need to be loud, he was right in front of you, "-these?"

Rick hadn't spoken, as you wordlessly traced your nails across his arms, not enough to scratch -watching as the goosebumps lay in their wake. His flannel was rolled up to his elbows, and the skin there was golden from the sun -muscle underneath your fingertips, detailed and extensive.

His breath hitched, and you grinned, biting it back at the success on your side -a familiar buzz tossing your stomach in a pleasant sort of way. It spurred you on further.

"What did you have in mind, Grimes?" you were a breath away now, breath mingling and your fingers still absently tracing his skin -eyes intently locked on his.

Rick's face was still, except for the tiniest twitch of his nose -eyes clouded with something you hadn't quite grasped. It was intense and heavy, left a sort of burning on your skin -you felt a sort of flush there, but ignored it in favor of-

His eyes flicked to your lips, it was a languid gaze like he was watching the puffs of breaths. He was certainly not ashamed, eyes focused and for a second, you truly thought... maybe this wasn't a game. Maybe he would break then, and kiss you with a fever that you'd felt in the air. His own hands-

"Ahem," Maggie cleared her throat, "-as much as I enjoy this, really I do. I've got laundry that needs foldin'."

Before Rick could even blink out of his stupor, you'd smiled -wide and bright, "Rick will help you, won't you?"

He blinked, seeming to filter through the heavy fog, "I was actually lookin' for Glenn-"

"Don't worry," you hummed, still barely a breath away from him -voice low and eyes heavy, "-I'm sure he'll understand. Everyone gets distracted, right?"

Rick was hanging onto your words, eyes shining in a kind of way that made you itch to touch him -breathy and on the edge of something, "Right."

"Good," you grinned, patting his cheek -much like an aunt at Thanksgiving, a bit condescending. Simply, leaving him as he was, and stepping back -you could hear him mutter something not very gentlemanly.

Glancing towards Maggie, you spoke casually -remaining as unaffected to the naked eye, "Let me know if you need anything else, Mags."

Maggie rolled her eyes, patting the bed for Rick to sit, and Rick well, he was grinning at you -eyes light and smiley. But the smooth smirk that gathered at his lips said all it needed to: game on.

Count that as a point for you.

The next time was a bit more of a mixed bag, you'd done something stupid. An extra run, you'd gone out on your own and you were fine. Just a few cuts and bruises, some blood (not yours) encrusted into your skin.

But you were exhausted by the time you approached the Alexandria gate -feet dragging, and hands aching to reach your own home for a hot shower. Anything really to soothe the pain in your back, you'd fallen, not far. You doubted anything was broken, but you knew it'd bruise -big and purple. You just figured you'd ask around and get a heating pad to sleep on until further notice.

One night would be fine.

What you hadn't accounted for was Gabriel watching as you left and watching you sneak back in. Nor had you accounted for just who he would tell.

"What the hell-" Rick's tone was low, not loud enough to wake anyone -as he faced you in the streets, "-were you thinking?"

You didn't ask how he'd known, you figured at that point it was pointless, "I wasn't. I know, it's stupid. Look, it's nothing major. I'll just deal with it in the morn-"

There was a shuffling in the nearby houses, and you both froze in place -air rushing from your mouth in a worried heap. Waiting for a light to switch on, or a door to open, anything-

After a few seconds, nothing echoed in the silence, and you opened your mouth to continue.

But, Rick -gruff and almost a growl (it made the hair stand up on your arms), interrupted, "Not here."

Your mind was in a fuzz, as his hand wrapped around your wrist (long, calloused fingers-) guiding you among the barely lit streets. The sound of walkers was distant in the night, and with your heart beating so loud in your chest -you had a spare thought to wonder if he could hear it.

With a dazed glance, you realized that Rick was leading you to your home -a tiny piece of you was crushed at the notion of not being in his home, but with Judith so young... it made sense. Your fingers dragged briefly along the familiar splintered wood, where you'd carved out initials of some people you once knew.

The thought passed quickly, as he pulled you inside -only stopping to shut the door and guide you further. There was a spark in your mind at the idea that maybe he'd guide you somewhere more private for different reasons than to cuss you out in the early morning hours, you stopped the thought process before it could get much farther.

"What-" you began, eager for an explanation, and he simply shushed you -not even turning back, he was so focused on his destination.

You'd tried to be offended, but the sudden turn into your bedroom cut the thought short. His fingers still closed around your wrist, you wondered again if he could feel it -bumping against his skin. Loud and nervous, because of him-

And then wondering, what would he do if he did?

Before you could put too much into that discussion, he turned into your bathroom. It wasn't exactly small, but Rick (in his broad shoulder and leader stance glory) had to squish up against you. Even slightly, the buzz of his body warmth against yours sent a zip up your spine that made you incredibly aware of the... Rick around you.

Woodsy smell, and calloused fingertips, you almost spoke -on instinct, trying to cool the fog of your brain. Regain anything but the overwhelming sense of salty sweat and heavy worry delicate wrapped around you. And yet-

He spoke then, simple, direct, "Up."

At first, you hadn't known what he meant, standing in the bathroom -merely noticing how close his chest would get to yours when he breathed in, until your fingertips brushed upon the countertops of your sink.

Oh.

Your body had a mind of it's own, extending your arms outward as Rick lifted you. And even just for the sole second you stayed in his arms -flannel fabric rubbing against your side, and fingers curled under your arms, you felt a sort of bliss.

Rick was in no such state, stepping back from you with a hand reached out (making sure you were steady in your place) and all at once giving you a look over. You truly didn't know how you looked, the bruise blossoming on your back was the only thing that was causing an ache right now. You thoroughly doubted he could see that.

And a few other scratches on your face maybe? And your shoulders? It was a bit blurry now. You seemed to remember the scraping of nails, and a sting following suit.

Rick's face stayed unmoving, blue eyes flickering in the low light -brief across your skin but it still felt quite vulnerable. Broken open in front of eyes that kept looking at you -intent and focused; you kind of wanted to shrink into yourself, disguise from them.

He didn't let up, eyes heavy on the task at hand -a sort of determination set in his jaw, "First aid?"

"Yeah, uh-" you cleared your throat, tightening your fingers on the counter -a spare thought almost had you skimming through his hair, "-it should be in the cabinet. It's the same one that was here when we arrived, is that-"

"'s fine," he interrupted, swiftly pulling the tiny case out of the cabinet -eyes set across a few of the spare scratches, "-better than nothin'."

He stayed focused, sliding between your legs -urging your chin up with the tiniest of touches, and using the motion to look at some of your scrapes. Your head was swimming in a sort of fuzz, following the motion like you were boneless -maybe you were.

"They aren't that bad," you tried to urge, sinking into the intimacy of having someone care for you -it was probably the first time it'd happened to you without asking.

Rick hummed, carefully wiping at one on your forehead -the most tender of touches with calloused fingertips (the contradiction making your head spin), "And that means what?"

You faltered, "Well, we shouldn't waste resources on-"

"I've got plenty of bandages," he answered, concisely, "-if someone needs some, tell 'em to come to me."

"Rick, I can't ask you to do that," you relented, unfamiliar with this energy in such a vulnerable position -when you felt like this, you'd been batting eyelashes and he'd do that smirk that made you forget what you were saying. It wasn't... it wasn't this. The tenderness in his hands, and the act of it being so natural to him, not a bother.

"Ya didn't," he answered, simply, hands wiping away at your skin so gently you almost leaned into it. The urge to let him hold you like putty, let him care for you, he clearly knew how-

You chose not to speak then, eyes dashing along his face -following the crinkles, and a few blemishes. You were close enough to memorize them, you might as well. The thoughts of wondrously connecting them on his face, brushing your hands along -it was something that you hadn't thought of.

You wouldn't let yourself.

"Why are you doing this?"

Rick paused in his motions, eyes littering down to yours -trying to read the look on your face. He exhaled, heavily, and took a few steps back -it cleared your head a bit, the smell of Rick just a tad less overwhelming all your senses. (You kind of missed it.)

"Can I ask you somethin'?" he questioned, tossing what he could in the tiny trashcan without much semblance of thought towards it.

You stiffened at the shift of tone, retorting with a tight smile, "I thought I just did, but uh... yeah."

"This," his finger flicked between the two of you -your eyes followed it with an embarrassing fervor, "-it's... What is it to you?"

If he'd asked yesterday, you would've answered much differently. Not that you hadn't felt... this, it was just a much different perspective. You hadn't thought of this part of it, the protectiveness, the concern, because of course, Rick Grimes was a force to be reckoned with. And if you got... involved, you imagined it extended to you.

"'Could ask you the same question," you deflected, fingers trailing down your arm and messing with your sleeve -it was partially rolled up and you flicked the button between your fingers.

"'Kay," he hummed, stepping closer -in your space just as seamlessly as before but this was more intentional, "-we can do it this way."

Without another word, he grabbed your hand by the wrist -stopping the motion with a heavy sort of look, "Pay attention."

You froze, watching as Rick stood a breath away from you -blue intense in a way you'd become familiar with, but still somehow different. You nodded, wordlessly.

"I'm-" he started, before seeming to scrap it, "There are no conditions with me. If I go anywhere with you, and I mean anywhere-"

Your breath hitched.

"-I'm for everythin'. There's no one thing," Rick continued, seeming to not notice the implications affecting you, "-it's everythin'. Mornings, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and if I can swing it... dates."

You exhaled, your gaze softening on the man -he wasn't shying away, eyes intently on yours. There was a new energy in the air, something softer -not as suffocating on his smirk, but warmer, enveloping you.

"You-" you started, tone shaky in a bit of disbelief, "-everything?"

His hand matched up to yours, fingertips detailing your palms without so much as a look down. Biting back a smile (like you weren't hyperaware of his mouth being so close), he mumbled -low gravel brushing across your skin, "Everythin'."

It took you less than a second to process the words, heart heavy against your ribcage, "Okay."

He blinked, stunned, "You... That was quick, I wasn't expectin'-"

"Rick," you exhaled, a bit breathy at the slightest touch of his hands, "-have you seen yourself?"

He laughed, short but it still sent a pleasant buzz up your spine -his hand rested an inch from your leg on the counter edge. And somehow your mouth kept running at the closeness.

"You're the best man I've ever met," you hummed, more sentimental but still in the rush of his scent and the dizziness of his body warmth, "-although, I'd hope you keep your... promises. I will gladly take anything you offer."

"I'll keep 'em," his voice was low, bubbling something up in your stomach -eyes heavy but something new there, affectionate even, "-I never say anythin' I don't mean. And trust me, I mean it."

You still hadn't crossed that boundary, mere looks and touches that lasted a bit too long -you shivered at the thought. It was building, loud and yelling in your head every time you so much as saw Rick in the corner of your eye. Eyes lingering for much longer than usual, you felt a bit like you were stopped.

Rick was leading, it wasn't that hard to tell -every smooth hand on the small of your back, pushing a strand of hair behind your ear, and recently, without so much as a break in the conversation, pulling you into his lap.

There were perfectly good seats, many of them.

And yet, he sat you there -one of his big hands splayed along your side holding you steady and the other rubbing a soothing pattern in your thigh. The brush of his hands still ghosted over you even now, and if you focused hard enough, you could feel the drag of his fingertips on your skin.

Maggie hadn't let it go for weeks. Fuck, you hadn't let it go for weeks.

Maybe that's why you'd been grumpy that morning, the itching of having Rick Grimes's hands on you had set you a bit on edge. The building tension only made your throat close up and your brain sort of lack words, but you'd truly be dead before you'd give up.

You knew Rick was up early, he always was -set to do whatever he had to that day, or even to take care of Judith. Conveniently, though, Maggie had taken Judith that night and Carl had slept over at his new friend's house (Rick had been hard to convince on that front, but his weakness had always been his kids after all).

It was a Saturday, he liked to rest on Saturdays. You knew that because he'd sit out on his porch in the heat, sweat dripping from his face and the top few of his buttons undone to accost for the warmth.

Or, he totally could've known that you watched him like clockwork -eyes heavy on the touch of chest that showed and trailing the sweat down his collarbone. You were sure if you'd gone up to him when he sat like... that, you wouldn't have had such a clear mind.

He had that edge of cockiness now, he would unbutton his shirt just a little bit more to get your head spinning. It was in his character.

Taking a deep breath, you made your way into the neighboring house -the distant puff of sleep on your limbs but your mind had never been clearer. The door was unlocked, as you waltzed into the house -the emptiness was a sort of unfamiliar tone in the house, yet your body moved forward.

You made your way to the door -his bedroom, before you stopped. Your feet froze in place, as you followed the trail of the wood -seeming to realize just what you had done. Running into a man's house, and ending up at his bedroom door... in your pjs.

At the thought, your head swam and a blush of crimson flushed down to your collarbone. Biting your lip harder than you ever had in your life, your eyes lingered over the wood -hesitating to even imagine what was behind that door.

He had a white duvet, they all did.

You groaned, not even noticing the volume level, because it was early and you weren't thinking- and spun on your heel, ready to confront him later. At a more reasonable hour, and more reasonable clothing.

The door creaked open, and something in you stayed frozen to your spot, only halfway spun towards the door. It was obvious, big t-shirt and sweatpants that you had just woken up, and in that bliss, you thought that maybe the shadow hid you in the hallway. It was early enough to cast the world in a sort of darkness -halfway between the sun shining and the cloudy early morning.

And then he chuckled -a sort of warm gravelly tone, "You want some breakfast?"

You opened your mouth to respond, turning back to the door -eyes settling on the man in the frame. His figure seemed somehow towering, more than usual, curls a bit wild -your fingers itched to smooth it down. And he was shirtless, the expanse of his skin making your head flutter in a pleasant sort of way -slight marks of freckles etched across him, and plaid pants hanging low on his waist.

You felt your anger dissipate, despite the urge to hold onto it, sighing, "I... yes."

"Good," his voice was low, sleep-slurred, and you suddenly got the thought this was a very bad idea. His arm wrapped around you -body warm tripled with just skin, as he guided you into the kitchen.

You had beaten this before, the sort of buzz that Rick Grimes put you in, but he had never been so close and shirtless before. The bare skin of his side pressed into you like it was nothing, your mind spun -lucky he was guiding you so swiftly.

"You gonna tell me why you're 'ere?"

He was looking at you now, the kitchen was much brighter -open curtains, and light cabinets. He looked domestic in here, and the kitchen itself seemed like his. A few bowls dirty in the sink, dish towels hanging on the oven, some baby snacks sorted into little baggies, it all screamed Grimes household.

You cleared your throat, "You wanna know?"

"I asked," he smiled, toothy and bright -so warm and fuzzy, "-didn't I?"

"You're not," you paused, trying to coil down the nerves tight in your stomach, "-freaked out that I'm here?"

Rick laughed, somehow getting somewhat closer to you, hands rubbing up and down your arms without much extra thought. Before his face settled into something heavier, affection still high on his face, but something more familiar there.

"Y/N," the smooth upturn of his lips, as he gathered closer to you, his breaths quick despite his demeanor, "-if I had my way you'd be here every night and day."

Your heart was fast in your chest, heavy against your ribs and you thought about it for a second. Waking up here, dinners with Carl and Judith, Rick... everywhere. It wasn't... bad.

It was far from bad.

And that wasn't just Rick, it was everything. A domesticity with Rick that you had come to terms that you'd never get, and yet here it was. Laid beautifully in front of you.

Rick was nervous, you could tell. The shift on his feet, his eyes glazing over your face so intently like he was memorizing every shift but to try and find out what you were thinking. He had always looked at you, you realized.

The amount of that blue shine you'd seen with such intense focus wasn't just this. And he'd always touched you. If danger was present, he'd tug you behind him without a single extra thought. With the gentlest of touches when you were injured, he was sure to help you through it -if not there with you, he'd stick someone he trusted. (Insanely, he'd told Daryl once when they were trying to raid another camp and Daryl would've been immensely useful-) And the smirk, it wasn't new... You'd seen it in banter, he'd make you laugh so hard and he'd make that face like he was smug, like he was proud.

"Y/N?" he asked, a bit scared of the silence, "-Everythin' alright?"

"I-" you started, a bit startled at the revelation but confident in pursuing it, "This was never a competition to you, was it?"

Rick furrowed his eyebrows, reiterating, "I told you-"

"No, no," you interrupted, taking a few dangerous steps forward, "-before that. Before that meeting when I didn't sleep enough... You-"

You couldn't finish it, the word hanging heavy in the air, just on the cusp of your tongue. It would be real then, and you still weren't sure. You couldn't say it, you could just act like it never happened-

"I love you."

And there it was, silencing your train of your thought, as you looked at him with a sort of curiosity. He wasn't looking at you, eyes scrunched closed as he rubbed at his face, embarrassed almost. Like he had never intended to tell you, or never have you find out. Was he... Was he afraid?

"I-" he started, trailing off in a deep sigh, "I never meant for it to be... Shit, this looks so bad. I wasn't trying to convince you to feel the same. I just- It just started. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable-"

"Rick," you tried -but your voice was so quiet.

"I never. Fuck. It wasn't supposed to go this far-"

"Rick-" you urged, louder, but it didn't stop his pacing.

"It just happened, over the years... I couldn't stop it, everythin' just kept adding up. I kept lookin' at you, and I couldn't stop. And then, you were half asleep but you said it- I thought maybe... I just wanted it to be real-"

"Rick," you leaned up, placing your hands on the sides of his face and making him look at you, "-breathe."

He stopped, eyes wide and blue -looking right into yours, and following your whispers of instructions. Trying to keep his brain right here with you, you counted out his breaths and he looked with something you wouldn't have noticed before. But now you did.

"You with me?"

He swallowed, nervous, "Yes, but-"

And without a second thought, you pushed forward and put your lips on his. It was a quick motion, a bit frantic, so Rick had to adjust. He originally wasn't responding, still and unmoving against every molecule of your body trying to be close to yours.

Then he did.

Rick was smooth, moving his arms to wrap around your middle (urging you even closer) and dipping into you without much less restraint. Your hands brushed across his stubble and tucked behind his ears, twirled up in his curls like it would keep you grounded. And maybe it was. The simple press had evolved, a sort of emotion lingering in the touching skin. You itched to somehow be closer, to ignite that sort of attention everywhere. The sparks were alluring, and all you could think about was more.

Rick was on a different page, pulling back with a grin so bright you'd almost flinched at it. After a few moments of looking, you watched as he slowly leaned forward -your body naturally leaning forward a sort of bliss piercing over your mind.

And then, he swerved.

He pulled his hand out of its position against your back -brushing your stomach as it came to your throat. And then, as gently as a butterfly landing on your finger, he pressed his thumb into your pulse. It was currently crazy, running on the adrenaline of showing up here so early and his confession, and the kiss-

All he did was grin.

"So fast," leaning into your ear, huffs of breaths hot on your skin -you just knew that he knew what he was doing, "-that for me, sweetheart?"

You growled, frustration at its peak, and pulled back to match his face -at a sudden mix of affection and anger, you let your heart speak, "Fuck you, Grimes."

He merely smiled brighter, head tilting ever so closely, "Well, since you asked so nicely-"

[makeyoumine69]

Destroy Me

◥ PAIRING: Patrick Bateman x Innocent!Fem!Reader

◥ SUMMARY: Your first interactions with Mr. Bateman, your potential owner, made you sure that he's a sick dangerous man.

◥ WARNINGS: 18+/ NSFW │dark content, non-consensual touching, kidnapping, misogyny, human trafficking, Patrick grabbing a handful of reader's p*ssy, teasing, nipple play, toxic and obsessive behaviour, swearing, humiliation, dirty talk, pet names.

◥ WORDCOUNT: 2k

◥ A/N: The dark vibes of Mr. Kitty's songs seem like paradise to me. I hope you like this chapter, thank you for the reading! Big thanks to my dear @lissasharp for the help!💞

◥ SONG REC: Mr.Kitty - Destroy Me🖤

◥ LINKS: [Shadow Lady Masterlist⛓] [Main Masterlist]

A dark desperation occupied your mind, not giving you even a chance to think about any viable options to run away from this place.

With your hands pressed against your chest, you heard the door closed behind your back, that sound remained in your head for a long time. Shaking like a leaf, you were following the ‘boss-lady’, moving through the barely lit corridor to the place where that awful man was waiting for you.

“Now, listen here, (Y/N),” she paused near the big wooden door. Her face looked so tense, when she turned to you and added: “If you don’t want to get into trouble, you better behave yourself.”

“Or what?” you questioned, curling your fingers into a fist. “You will kill me like a dog?”

The boss-lady just giggled in response, and there was something really evil in the way she did it. Slowly, she opened the door before you; the dark smirk never left her face. “Come on, get in.”

With a sharp breath, you made one step into the void, sensing millions of shivers running down your spine, and it was not because of the cold. To your surprise, the room turned out to be a marvelous place, you could even say it was pretty luxurious with all of this expensive furniture and big antique lamps. 

Pulling yourself together, you looked over the people, sitting in the leather armchairs and smoking their cigars. One of them was that ‘customer’, who just bought you, but this thought still couldn't implant within you; it never would. Another guy looked much older compared to the other, his eyes were shamelessly gliding all over your body, and that made you almost cry out in disgust, as you wanted to run away from here more than anything in your life.

“You have a great taste, Mr. Bateman.” The old man asserted, puffing on his cigar and crossing his legs.

“I know,” he replied before taking some papers. “Can’t see any dates though…”

“Don’t worry! These documents are most recent, and the information is beyond relevant! We just used some… Well, a friend of mine did it to avoid any problems with the law…”

“Uh-huh,” Bateman nodded, inhaling the smoke of his expensive cigar. For all this time, he didn’t even glance at you. “If any of these aren't true,” he pointed at the documents as he put them back on the small table between the armchairs. “I think you already know what will happen to all of you. Don’t cha?” Patrick smiled and looked at the man next to him, and then at the boss-lady; she was obviously so scared of him–you could hear her rapid breathing behind your back.

“O-of course, Mr Bateman…”, the old guy swallowed hard, losing his tie a bit and kept blubbering: “But I assure you! We care about our customers, therefore ensure you high-quality service and-”

“I got it,” Bateman cut him off, taking the last sip of his whiskey. Only now, his hazel eyes found your lost ones, and the picture of your frightened face caused his lips to curl into a pleased smirk of satisfaction. “Now, I want to finish things and conclude this transaction.”

“I brought the girl!” The blue-eyed woman suddenly blurted out, and you almost flinched in your place.

“Thank you, but I’m not blind,” Bateman chuckled, turning to the old man once again. “Can everybody just get out of here, please? I don’t want to make my girl embarrassed.”

My girl?

Hugging yourself, you shriveled from these words, expecting nothing but the horrible things, which were going to happen so soon, you didn’t even have time to prepare yourself, but was it even possible to be ready in such a situation?

“I’m sorry, Mr. Bateman,” the guy paused as he was so afraid to say what he was planning to. “But according to our rules we can’t leave you alone to avoid any accidents and-”

“I’m ready to pay half of the price right now,” Bateman almost spit in the old man’s face as he picked up his case to get the money; you’ve never seen such thick wads of cash. “Besides, I don’t want anyone to gawk at her. Is that enough?” Carelessly, Patrick threw a few wads of cash on the table, waiting for the answer.

The boss-lady and the unknown guy looked briefly at each other, before he consented: “All right, but you have limited time-”

“Leave already.” Patrick husked and puffed on the cigar, his lips tensed around it from anger, so you could almost see his white teeth. 

After a while, there were only two of you in the room. 

Trembling, you couldn’t look at anything but the floor, as your heart was beating so fast, it was almost painful.

“What a bunch of stupid dicks,” Bateman laughed abruptly, leaving you completely confused. “Doll… You can’t even imagine how lucky you are… That I’m going to take you out of here. Trust me, this place is worse than hell.”

Did he really expect you to fall on your knees and kiss his feet for his generosity? Arrogant son of a bitch…

“All right, (Y/N). Let's forget the formalities,” Patrick sat himself more comfortable in his armchair, throwing his one leg on another. “Take your clothes off. Let's see what you got.”

You had to clear your throat before speaking, as it felt like your mouth was full of sand: “Excuse me?”

Patrick let out a tired sigh, rubbing the bridge of his perfectly shaped nose. “Do you want me to do it myself?”

“No!” you almost screamed, when you watched him standing from his place. “I’ll do it… Just, don’t touch me, please…”

Saying nothing, he put on that devilish smile again, leaning on the back of his seat, his hands were thrashing around his knees in undisguised anticipation. 

Timidly, your shaking hands reached the clasp of your bra. Before you eventually undid it, you cast a scornful gaze at him, sensing how anger and despair were mixing up in your blood. It seemed like your heart fell down on the ground along with your bra, when you heard his deep exhale.

“Mm-mh, keep going, doll.” His voice definitely got lower on some octaves.

Totally embarrassed, you were trying to convince yourself to do what he ordered, with no reflection or sorrow–your life was in danger, that was the actual point.

With one quick motion, you pulled down your panties, leaving yourself fully exposed in front of that smug bastard, whose eyes now were dark as the midnight sky. But, despite your sudden surge of boldness, your hands were instinctively trying to hide your naked body from his vision, inducing the corners of his lips to twitch in amusement. 

Scoffing haughtily, Patrick shook the glass to make sure it was empty, asserting: “You don’t need to be ashamed in front of me, honey,” Bateman opened his arms expansively and finally smiled with his usual delight. “(Y/N), you belong to me now,” he directed, looking into your scared eyes. “Every little piece of your body belongs to me. So, be an obedient girl and turn around.”

“Just turn around?” Why did you even ask that, damn?

“You can bend over, after you turn around. I want to see what I’m paying for.” All of your insides seemed to tighten like a string and your knees nearly buckled. 

Breathing sharply, you spun around and did what he told you to, with your eyes watering by the second.

“Spread your legs wider,” Patrick pressed his elbows against his knee, leaning on them, as he couldn't stop looking at your luscious unused pussy. When you did so, he claimed: “Such a good girl… Can’t wait to find out how it feels to be inside of this innocent little hole.”

By saying that, Bateman stood up and got closer to you, right when you turned around, so you nearly bumped into his solid frame. 

“A-ahm, Sorry… I…” You froze, with your hands pressed against your breasts and your mound, as you were trying to cover yourself. Goodman, he was so tall and broad, he was towering over your like a fucking skyscraper. 

“It’s okay, Sunshine,” he carefully stroked your cheek, wiping away your tears. “We’ll have a lot of fun together…” slowly, his finger traced down to your clavicle, and then you flinched from the feeling of the soft fingertips, brushing along your cleavage. “And, I promise, I’ll make you happy...”

“Please, d-don't…” you sobbed out loud, when he possessively took your hands away to touch your taut nipple. “S-stop!”

“Such a subtle blossom,” Bateman was about to kiss your lips, but he stopped himself. Instead of it, he pinched your engorged peak, making you moan barely audible. “No one ever touched you like that?”

Breathless, you wanted to grab his hands and push them away, but you were too scared of him being angry. Desperately stifling the upcoming nasty sounds, which were languishing in your chest, you had to sink your nails into your delicate skin almost till the blood. 

Meantime, Patrick seemed not going to stop his ravenous assault on your quivering little body, as he pressed his other palm against your belly, tickling you a bit, making you wince and he couldn't help but snigger in enjoyment. All of your coy reactions were turning him on like nothing else in this cynical corrupted world. 

“Mr. B-Bateman…” shivering under his touch, you felt yourself so abashed by how your body was responding to his caress. “Enough… I… I beg you, ahh-”

A strange, but insufferable blissful sensation hit your mind like a lightning strike, when Bateman reached your sensitive clit, giving it several rubs. With every second, his ministrations were becoming more and more persistent, inducing you to close your eyes and bite your lip to suppress a loud moan from the longing feeling in your lower belly.

“You like it, don’t you?” Patrick asked, watching you struggling with yourself.

“No…” you whimpered, but he only simpered in response, before trapping your blushing nub between his sneaky fingers, rhythmically massaging it. “Aa-aww… Mr. Bate-”

Selfishly, he shushed you with a palm, leaning over to your neck to inhale your sweet scent and lick your touchy skin. And then, Bateman suddenly blabbed:

“What is that?” squinting, he traced a thumb along the artery on your throat. “A scar?”

Vexed, Patrick removed his hand from between your legs and you could finally heave a sigh of relief. “Yes… I've got a couple of scars…”

“Couple?” he issued in a stern voice, looking at you from above. “Who dared to touch such a sweetheart like you-”

“Mr. Bateman, are you done with inspecting?”

You both recoiled from unexpectedness, before he retorted: “Yes, come in.” 

When the door clicked, you watched him concisely sucking up his fingers, which were slightly covered in your juices–that scene made your cheeks inflame with humiliation.

“So… What do you think?” The bitch with blue eyes asked, staring at your naked body absolutely emotionless. 

“I’m not gonna pay twenty-five thousand for her, cause she has several scars,” Bateman stated, strolling away from you to take his cigar. “Let's make a deal. Twenty thousand.”

“Twenty-three-”

“Twenty thousand, that’s my last word.”

For some period, they were looking at each other like two predators before their deadly jump, but then you heard the boss-lady’s lament. “Argh, all right! Twenty thousand…”

“Wonderful,” Patrick exclaimed, opening his case once again and taking out the rest of the money. “That’s all?”

“Yes, Mr. Bateman… I’m glad we negotiated,” right after her words, you saw a group of unknown men, entering the room. Then, one of them handed her a thick folder with some papers. “All information about her is here.”

She came to the table, took the money and put down the folder. Everything that happened next, you didn’t remember, as someone pressed a cloak of fabric to your mouth, making you black out and limp.

“Hey, careful!” Bateman shouted, pointing at your direction with a finger. “Was that necessary?”

“She’s very troublesome, it’s for her own good. Believe me.”

“Wait, I will carry her…” overprotectively, Patrick reached your unconscious body and took you in his arms, before musing: “Don’t worry, Dear. Soon, you will be at home.”

[kittyscupcakeandbunny]

SET ME FREE X MIN YOONGI

[Mafia AU]

PART THREE

A deal with the devil

Side Characters: K. Namjoon, J. Jungkook, J. Hoseok and P. Jimin.

Warnings: mentions of violence, blood, death, gunshot, sharp objects, smut, guns.

Song: Gangster - Kehlani and Desperado - Rihanna

……………………………..……………………………..……………………

Leaving Paradise was much easier then going inside, obviously. I still wasn’t over the fact that I was even there to begin with, but the mark on my neck was a clear reminder of last night. It was real, all of it. Yoongi was there.

It didn’t took me too long to find out Yoongi wasn’t like any ordinary man, but now that i was sure he was involved with the Min mafia every detail about his character from the way he moves, talks and presents himself wherever he goes where only the small indicators although appearances could only say much he was also at the crime scene Agust d mafia was involved and not long after he got into Paradise without any trouble were the signs I needed to confirm my suspicions, he didn’t gave me a clear answer but, he avoided doing it so at every chance.

The whole talk about “don’t ask questions that could get you killed” was my confirmation.

Everything was slowly falling into its right place, the more i looked into it the more sense it made to me. The reality wants as sweet as I thought it would be after all of that, the mark on my neck now covered by a badge was a burning reminder of my weakness. So much was going through my mind now, I couldn’t think about what to do, I had the knife in my hand but was I going to use it in my favor?

My suspicions about our chief working with the enemy were still not confirmed and if it really turns out to be true, things will surely get uglier. I knew it had something to do with the late case about the director house being invaded and him beaten up, could it be they were making a deal? Maybe something to do with Namjoons investigation? I couldn’t find anything on the documents in the system, not a single lead about them or anything suspicious involving the chief, i had been looking everywhere for documents that could have any info on the Min mafia case even stealing some from Namjoons office I was going to give it back before he comes back but, for now I can’t let my guard down.

I had been flipping through pages of one i just took form his office, a sight of disappointment leaving my lips. It was just a report on the last investigation nothing new, they didn’t have anything.

Sound of footsteps coming towards my direction as I walked down the corridor files my ears but I ignored, slowly turning the pages of the document in my hands trying to focus on the info in it. Footsteps getting louder as they get closer and a familiar scent made me instantly stop in my tracks to look up at the person walking towards me.

My breath got stuck in my chest as my eyes fall into his, I loook side to side in the corridor to see if anyone else was there only to find out I was alone with him.

He stopped in front of me grabbing me by the wrist as he closed the distance between us taking the papers of my hand, he looked at it and then scoffed eyes looking back at mine.

- didn’t I told you to stop looking for something that could get you killed? - he said, lifting the papers up to my eye sight.

- you did? If I’m not mistaken you didn’t tell me shit? - i said, purposely cussing seeing his expression switch to an angry one - Now you’re here again, why?! To finish the job?!

He looked at me his eyes burning into mine then smirked.

- oh, right how could I even think for a second you were in the mafia - i spat - you’re jus an arrogant-

Before I could even finish he pushed me against the wall of the long corridor, hand in my neck as his eyes burned over mine.

- didn’t I told you I would put that mouth of yours to good use if you disrespected me again? - he held my neck tighter - you wanna play with fire? - he pushed me against the wall with his body - I’ll bring you to hell.

He cornerd me against the wall hands now beside my head on the wall, footsteps where heard from the corridor, he brought his finger up my lips in a silence sign.

- what’s this? - it was Namjoon, a questioned look on his face.

They both looked at each other. An awkward tension between them as they just stared at each other for a moment.

Yoongi looked back at me, a smirk still on his lips as he turned to Namjoon again liking at him up and down.

- see you cop - Yoongi said to me.

With that he left pissed. His footsteps where loud and clear, never once looking back.

- I thought you didn’t knew him? - Namjoon said suddenly, staring beside me.

- I don’t… I… - my brain was still foggy as I was still not over Yoongis words, eyes still looking where he left.

- is everything okay? - Namjoon held my hand turning me to look at him.

- yes why wouldn’t i be okay? - i tried to give him a small smile as I took my hand out of his - he just… wanted some information.

Thinking about the word information i realized he took the papers with him, Namjoons documents that I stole from his office. Yoongi took with him information on the Min mafia case, he was in the mafia Min.

I was in trouble.

I quickly left. Namjoon fallowing me, I ignored his calls for me as I kept walking fast I couldn’t face him right now. I just let information about his investigation slip into the hands of the mafia.

…

I didn’t know what to think.

I’ve been in autopilot mode ever since i left that corridor with a confused Namjoon, my mind was running laps around his words. He wasn’t warning anyrmore, Yoongi was threatening me to leave the Agust d investigation that he somehow knew i was doing.

Was that what he was doing at the chief office that day?

They warned the chief before almost killing the director? Did they have some info about their mafia that could finally take them down somehow?

To say i was afraid now was an understatement, i couldn’t let anything happen. I couldn’t leave my brother alone too. But at the same time, I couldn’t take him out of my mind.

I avoided Namjoon the whole morning, poor him was so lost and confused about my sudden behavior. But I couldn’t face him, at this point I knew he had already connected the dots and found out i had something going on with Yoongi.

Even now that I know for a fact that Yoongi is part of the Min Mafia I couldn’t tell Namjoon about it, he would ignore everything and just tell me how stupid I was at going to downtown again and trying to get inside Paradise. To investigate a case that was bigger then me. To investigate a case he’s been working for a year already.

The more i thought about it the more it came to me just how silly he thinks of me, like a little girl who can take care of herself.

Yoongis words hitting me just as hard. Everyone thought of me as a weak girl. I was so tired of it.

At lunch break I went out alone to eat, document files of the Min mafia in my hand as i continued to investigate the case. I’ll get that Agust D myself if i have to. I was so done at everyone’s idea of who I was.

Same thoughts in my mind as i came back to the station, I wasn’t going to ignore Namjoon anymore. Determination on my mind as i was crossing the street to get inside the station. A black Porsche stoping right in front of me, almost running me over.

I was ready to cuss the owner of the expensive car when the passenger door suddenly opened and i was pushed inside the car. The door was closed before almost hitting my nose, i looked around only to find the driver a man I’ve never seen beside me.

He had a sharp serious look on his face as he looked ahead, never once he looked at my direction. The car began to move and I quickly turned to look at the window, we were going further away from the station.

- who even are you? - i asked him, turning to look at him, anger filling me up.

- I’m the consigliere… but you can call me Jack - he said, not looking at me as he drives the car one hand on the wheel the other resting on the window - I’ll be short and clear with you.

He turned to look at me, eyes burning into mine. As he slowed down the car, looked me up and down, indifference in his eyes.

- I’m the consigliere of the Min mafia… - he stated.

- What? Yeah right…- i stared at the roads ahead. He couldn’t be. Out of nowhere, and with me?

The car suddenly stoped harshly making me almost hit my head in the front of the car, i looked at him in disbelief.

- I’ll put it this way… - this time he turned to me, eyes burning into mine. - Agust D doesn’t like when woman or children are hurt… here’s the thing, I’m not him.

I gulped down. His words sended a chilling feeling down my spine, he came closer to whisper the next threat.

- if you don’t do what I said I’ll kill your brother in the most horrible way possible.

I didn’t know what to say. Wha to do. My mind wasn’t working at that point, I could only stare into his cold gaze. Heart racing with fear.

Was this what Yoongi meant? All those warnings and I ignored him all along, and for what? Obsession?

My own mistakes have put my brother in danger and now i have to pay the price. I should’ve know better. I betrayed everyone. My family. My job. Namjoon. Now I’ll have to do even worst things.

To protect my brother.

- Our mole in your station desapear… - he said eyes looking back at the road - we need you to do the job now but, it seems you’re already pretty good at getting info about us.

I just stared at him, his words sinking into me as he chuckled at his last words.

He knew I’ve been looking for information about them. They knew. But more then anything, they had a mole in our station this whole time. That’s how they knew I was investigating them and that’s how they knew every move the police had on them.

- what happened to your last mole? Why does it have to be me? - I found the courage to ask.

- We don’t know, that’s why your taking his place - he said, a smirk on his heart shaped lips. - your job is to give us all the information about the current investigation going on, that Namjoon guy have something under his sleeve, we want that.

He gave me a smirk turning back to look ahead of him, putting his hand on his jacket taking a black phone he than handed it to me.

- I’ll give you the instructions through this phone - he said - if anything happens you must destroy this phone, don’t ever call or text me with your own phone only this.

I took the phone from his hand, nodding. A heavy heart on my chest. All this time I questioned Yoongi about working with the mafia now here I am.

Having no choice but to do this.

- How long will I have to do this? - i asked him.

- Not too long if you do a good job - he said, a serious look back to his features.

- My brother…? - before I could em my sentence he interrupted me.

- Will be fine, as long as you do your job.

The car began to ride back to the station, there was a silence between us till I saw the station from afar, i looked at him taking in his features. He was warring a jacket and jeans, brown hair styled and smelled like Chanel.

A focused and serious expression on his face, he held himself very confidently but something abou ruim seemed odd.

I didn’t have time to think much of it as the car was stopping right in front of the station, where we left.

My mind kept racing with thoughts as I came back to my reality.

Could i even do this, why did it have to be me? Of everyone else.

As the car stopped I looked at Jack beside me.

- why me? - i asked him.the question he didn’t answer.

He smiled sickly coming closer to my face, once bearly centimeters away to me he turned to whisper in my ear.

- you’ll find out soon.

With that he went back to his seat, I gulped down. Looking at the station through the window, my heart was sinking down. I’ll have to lied to Namjoon again.

Jack gave me one last look.

- if you tell anyone… - he began.

- I know. Don’t worry about that. - I tell him. Already accepted my fate.

- Good now leave, I’ll contact you later.

With that I left the car.

Frozen in front of the station, i felt colder the more I looked at it. Could i really do it? My whole life i dreamed to help others, to be just like my father and bring justice to those who deserved. Now I’ll have to turn my back to all of them, I’ll have to betray everything my father once believed in and all he taught me.

Maybe they were right about me, maybe I’m weak.

But I don’t have a choice now, do i?

I have to be strong. For my brother.

…

The rest of the day went so fast, the only reminder of time was the phone in my pocket. The weight it had on me was almost making me go insane, at any moment Jack could contact me.

And I couldn’t think of anything else but that.

But he didn’t.

It was almost night when I finally forgot about the whole deal i made with that devil, I decided to stop looking through the Min mafia cases and focus only on my work at the station.

So much happened lately, I couldn’t find where it all began and turned into this mess.

Maybe when brother got caught up in with those tugs, when Yoongi helped us and then i was completely obsessed with him and his mysterious aura.

To seeing him at the station I worked looking like a fine man, wearing expensive clothes and smoking. To finding him at Paradise.

I had to clear my mind. I couldn’t let him run through my mind anymore, it was all his fault anyway. If he didn’t came that night and help us, if he didn’t came to my station. If I had never met Yoongi I wouldn’t be here right now.

At that point i was so angry at him, I couldn’t hear a single thing about that investigation every word was a painful reminder of how stupid I was and left the office.

As I walked down the hallway to leave I saw Namjoon walking down the same hallway with a few of his things from the office inside a box in his hands, wondering what that was about a decided to talk to him.

- hey - i called him, he turned back giving me a tired smile. - what you doing?

- I decided to fallow your words - he said looking down before meeting my eyes - I’m taking a few days off.

- That’s good, you more than everyone here needs a rest - i tell him, he continues to walk as i fallow him right beside him.

- What about you? - he asked me as we walked down the stairs.

- I’m just going out for a smoke - i tell him.

- I thought you stopped? - he looked at me, confusion on his face.

- I did… but difficult times call for not so healthy decisions - i tell him, we walked out the doors of the station.

The cold air of the late afternoon hitting my face as I took a deep breath in, turning to Namjoon at my side who watched me with worry in his face.

- is there anything I do to help? - he says.

Looking at him right now I felt sick, i hate having to lie to him. Anyone but him. He’s done so much for me and my brother, more than I could have ever asked for and now i had to betray him. Lie to his face. Tell him I was fine when I wasn’t. When all I wanted was to hug him and cry on his shoulder, have him tell me everything was going to be alright that he got my back.

But i couldn’t.

That girl wasn’t me anymore. I couldn’t be her anymore.

- I can do it don’t worry - i tell him, fake smile on my lips.

- That’s my girl - he says, genuine smile on his lips as he gives me a pat on my head - look at you all grow up, I’m proud of you Y/n.

I felt like throwing up. Fake smile never leaving my lips as i look at him, i took in all the details of his face one last time. He’s genuine smile to me, affectionate and warm. All of it.

- I’ll go now - he said, turning to leave he waved at me one last time.

I waved back.

I love you.

I cleared the tears forming on my eyes, taking the cigarette from my pocket lighting one. I look up at the sky as i blow the smoke into the air.

The sound of ringing sending a chill down my spine and i took the phone off my pocket, it said unknown caller. But I knew exactly who it was.

My first job.

- hello - i said.

- Did he left? - Jack said on the other side of the line, it didn’t took me long to realize he meant Namjoon.

- Yes.

- Good. I need you to bring the reports of the case to Paradise, third floor room 13 - with that he ended the call.

I took a deep breath, throwing the cigarette on the floor I turned to enter the station.

I had to focus. Forget about the past and everything else. They were not just some tugs but the mafia, my brother’s life was on the line.

I’ll give them the info. Than soon this will be all over.

At this hour the station was almost empty. As i walk down the corridors to Namjoons office, making sure no one was around as i entered closing the door behind me. I use the light of my phone to illuminate my way there.

His desk was clean and organized. He took almost all of the documents with him but, i could easily access them through his computer. All passwords were chosen by the TI of the station and it made a lot easy to enter his system.

Once i was logged in I made sure to select all the files and copy them, turning the printer on.

My heart was beating fast as I keep looking out of the office through the glass door, hands shaking as the sound of the printer anouced the files where being printed. It was a lot of paper. It took a while but once they were done I made sure to put them in an envelope.

Turning everything off before i make my way to the exit the lights of the office turned on.

I froze in my track. The sound of the door closing behind me, I gulped down as i heard steps.

- yn? - it was Jungkook. A breath of relief leaving my lips.

- Hey… - I turned towards him. He stopped at the door looking confused at me.

- What you doing here? - he asked.

- Oh… Namjoon forgot this and asked me to get it for him - I quickly made up a lie. He looked me up and down, before his face softens.

- That’s very him - he chuckled, walking to his desk.

- Yeah… I’ll get going then - i said , quickly making my way out- don’t work too hard.

- No chance… - he said.

With that I left the office. A sight of relief leaving my lips.

That was close. The phone in my bakc pocket ringed.

“Did you get the info?” it read.

“Got it”

I replied. Making my way out off the station again. Taking my keys with me, my heart still beating fast as i went to the parking lot. I still had to deliver the envelope to him. I would have to come back to Paradise, memories of the last time I went there filling my mind.

Not wanting but still think of him. Would Yoongi be there again?

I decided not think much of it, turning my motorbike on I drove out of the parking lot. Letting the night air fill my lunges as I drove to downtown.

I didn’t have much in my mind anymore. Letting the wind guide me to my destiny, at this point it felt like my life wasn’t mine anymore. I was just another puppet, controlled by those with the real power.

Driving fast It didn’t took me long to get there. The dark streets with questionable people walking around, smoke in the air and the strong smell of cheap alcohol.

The same streets changing into a less and less dark place to something out of the movies, expensive cars everywhere and people wearing design clothes and strong perfume.

I stopped my motorbike in front of the night club getting some looks from the people around as I walked towards the line in the entrance holding the envelope tightly in against my chest. Surely someone like me shouldn’t be here. It didn’t fit. I was still in my working clothes, white bottom up shirt and simple black jeans and a jacket.

The same security guys from last time where there and I gulped down, i wondered if I would have to call the consigliere if they didn’t let me in. Sounds stupid to me, what would I say? Sorry Jack I couldn’t get in ?

Once I stood in front of them I didn’t have time to think of anything else.

- is the Parks girl - one said to the other.

- You may get in miss - he said, making way for me to enter.

Park.

I was completely confused at first but, than the memory came back to me.

As in Park Jimin.

The man that helped me get in Paradise last time, he must be pretty powerful if they didn’t questioned me again.

Once inside the night club I was immediately greeted with a strong smell of aphrodisiac fruity perfume and alcohol as well as cigarette smoke, it all looked the same as last time.

Everyone in here seemed to be in their own world as they drank and smoked, danced against each other’s bodies.

I didn’t came here to party. I came to deliver.

Quickly I made my way to the stairs to get in the second floor, walking around through all this people I held the envelope harder against my chest. Making sure to not make any eye contact with them. Last thing I wanted was to drag attention towards myself.

- darling yn! - said a voice behind me, I recognized immediately.

Too late.

- Mister Park - I turned to him.

Jimin had a lazy smiled on his face as he made his way towards me drunkly. White shirt half opened exposing his chest and tattoos. Just like last time. Once he was in front of me his arms closed around my body as he hugged me tightly before letting go making sure to slide his hands on my back dangerously close to my ass stopping at my hips.

- I’m glad to see you - he said, alcohol on his breath.

- Good to see you too but…- I quickly try to make up a way to leave but he interrupted me.

- Let’s have a drink with me - he invited, face closer to mine - we can have some fun later….

His eyes looked heavy, sweet perfume on his skin. Everything about him was so dreamy i felt like i was on a high every time I was with him, they way he sounded like poison yet so inviting how sickly sweet his words came out of this lips, full and inviting.

He was a seductive man in a way it was so dangerous, it took all in me to stop him from coming any closer.

- Sorry - i whispered, touching his chest with the tip of my fingers pushing him slightly back - I have a job to do…

- Oh… - he said, a pout on his lips then he looked me up and down mischief in his eyes - you’re meeting Agust d right?

- What? - i almost gagged at my on spit, how did he knew?

- I saw you last time.. - he said - you with the mafia? Sexy.

- No no… More like… - i tried to come up with something but, thinking was really difficult when he kept running his hands down my back and looking at me like a sexy god.

- Is alright you don’t have to tell me…. - he sounded like a siren - I know how they can be.

- Yeah… - i nodded, remembering my last encounter with the consigliere.

- Go then… and if you have time - he brushed my hair over my ear - come back to me, I’m sure I can entertain you a lot more than them.

Not noticing I was nodding again as he let go of me, turning back to walk to the third floor.

I quickly made my way back to towards the big stairs that lead to the third floor. There was a big corridor with many doors on the sides, the light here was dim you could only see the numbers on the doors.

I making sure I was at the 13th room quickly. Standing in front of it i wasn’t sure if I should nock or just get in. So i nocked twice before opening the door.

It was nothing like I expected but, a netting room two big black sofas in the middle small coffee table divided them and behind it a big glass wall.

And sitting right there, all proud and confident was Jack. The consigliere sitting in the sofa in front of the glass wall. He didn’t looked at me as he continued to drink his whiskey and just made a signal from me to sit there.

I made my way to the sofa in front of him. Once i was sat I put the envelope over the table, eyes never leaving the brown paper.

No one said a word for a moment.

- I didn’t expect you to get here so fast - he said, finally looking at me and smirked - Min said you’d do a good job that’s why your here.

- Min?… - I questioned.

- Agust d - he stated, getting a box of cigarettes he offered one to me wich I accepted. - he chose you himself.

He leaned over the table holding the fire, i fallowed his move. Cigarette between my lips as he lighted for me, leaning back.

- we’ll continued with this until the investigation is over - he said.

- When will this be? - i asked.

- Min is working on it, don’t worry - he took a sip of the golden drink - as long as you do what we say your brother will be fine.

My brother.

Is for him that I’m doing this.

- you’ll pay his debit - he said, putting his cup down over the table.

- Debit? - I questioned, confused.

- Oh, you didn’t know? He owes us money - he tells me.

- What do you mean by that?! - just what was my brother doing?

- He’s addicted yn… you know what fallows right? - he smirked.

No.

Was this why he was in downtown that night?

He was involved with…. I couldn’t even finish that in my thoughts, but it was clear to me.

— can I go now? - i asked. Putting the cigarette inside his cup.

- what’s the rush? - Jack said - already missing that Park guy?

I looked at him incredulous and scoffed.

- not like if I stay here you’ll give me answers… - I tell him.

- And Park will give you? - he scoffed. I didn’t say anything.

- can i go now? - i asked inpatient.

- Yeah, Min said you can enjoy your time at Paradise - he said smirking - a treat for your good job. Your station is already closed anyway.

Did so much time passed already? I looked at my watch realizing he was right.

- I’ll go than - i said.

- Till next time cop.

I had to bite my tongue. He wouldn’t hesitate to hurt my brother and for that I had to lay low, to protect him. How could I not know he was on drugs? How could I have not noticed?

With everything that happened after mom and dad died I tried so hard to distract myself with my trying at the police academy, not once did I had the time to support my brother.

This was all my fault.

A treat from Agust d.

It felt so bitter. I hated.

As I made my way to exit the thrid floor, seeing all the people around drinking and dancing. Like there was no tomorrow, I envy them. How can you do something bad and still be able to sleep.

“And park will give you?”

Maybe he will.

At least I know he’ll distract me, if even my brother lost himself I could do that too. Just one night.

Let me be free for one night. I need to forget everything for just one night.

I made my way to the third floor, if I want to leave this whole thing with something might as well go and get. I’m tired of yoongi never telling me nothing. I’m tired of putting myself on the line for others, I just need to forget for a while.

Is a treat from his boss isn’t it?

Maybe I’ll have a drink.

The commotion on the thrid floor was much extravagant then the upper ones, from a distance a could see Jimin dancing in one of those stages with another girl doing pole dancing, some throw money at him some gave food on his mouth.

As a woman in bikini was passing with a few drinks in a tray I quickly grabbed one drinking the whole thing in a gulp.

Walking closer to where he was, just how am I supposed to get him to talk like that? He looked so out of it as he moved his body in the most sexy way.

Grabbing another drink without a single care as i drink it in one gulp, I took off my jacket feeling the alcohol warm up my body sitting on one of the seats in front of the stage.

My eyes fallowing his moves from the stage, noticing he found me in a distance as he smiled at me pleased to see I was watching him.

He walked down the stage to my direction, moving like a siren swimming in the ocean. Everyone stoped to look at him.

Eyes locked with mine the entire time, he stopped in front of me.

- so… you finally decided to come to me? - he tells me, sitting beside me.

- You were right - i moved closer to him, whispering in his ear - I got bored… so I hope you can keep me entertained…

I saw how gosepumps fallow up through his skin exposed by the shirt, the two cups of whiskey I drank before were making me confident enough to risk it. I usually I’m not like this but, I’ll use everything I can to forget. Even him.

- what kind of entertainment you want? - he said, tilting his head to the side as he smiled.

- Something… - I started, sliding my finger over his colar bones under his shirt. He closed his eyes leaning his head on my shoulder. - exciting.

- Oh yn you’ll be he death of me… - he said against my neck, then got up holding his hand out for me to take - I’ll give you everything you need.

I took his hand. With that it felt like the final step before I fall into an ocean of darkness, letting it consume me completely. Letting it wash all my shameful acts and betrayals.

I didn’t know if I was ever going back to being who I was, so i just let the sinner guide me.

Jimin took me to the second floor, a table close to the bartenders. He took a bottle of liquor and gave it to me, i took it from him drinking a good amount of it.

Who knows maybe i can enjoy it even.

He smiled taking the bottle from my hands to drink it, a bit spilling of his lips a single drop sliding down his face to his neck. He pushed me closer by the waist giving me a kiss on the check.

- look around yn - he whispered in my ear - all this people come here to forget about their sins… tell me yn, what’s your sin?

What’s my sim?

- My sin… i don’t know - I tell him.

- Than let’s change that…. - he looks at me in the eye - I’ll make you a sinner.

He smirked, pressing the bottle on my hand. I gulped down as i stared into his siren eyes, taking the bottle I drink more of its green liquor. In a second after he’s mouth was over mine. Kissing me hungrily.

I was surprised at first but then forgot completely about everything, he was indeed a siren. My mind was foggy and my body felt so light, my thoughts were completely washed away from me.

I grabbed his neck returning the kiss just as hungrily, his hands sliding down my body as he closed all the distance between us. Groaning over my mouth he slides his lips over my jaw and down my neck, sucking harshly on my skin.

- humm… dance with me yn… - he said against my neck.

I didn’t know why I nodded, why I let him guide me back to the third floor, why I just simply let him do anything he wanted.

We kissed in front of everyone, his shirt was a mess at this point. His soft skin full of scratches from my nails, he would mark all my neck not a single care in our minds.

At one point I tried to drink from the bottle only to find out we drank the whole thing already, he only laughed and pushed me towards where everyone else was dancing.

The loud music was booming, we kept dancing against each other. Hands sliding everywhere, sweat running down my spine, it was so hot.

My mind was so clear, nothing bothered me anymore. It felt like I was free. I felt so free. I didn’t wanted it to end.

A girl gave me her cigarette which I took a blow grabbing Jimins neck to blow the smoke into his mouth, he smirked holding my waist as he bite my lip before kissing me. And kept dancing.

I couldn’t care if my feet hurt. I couldn’t feel anything. It was so realizing to not have that weight over my shoulders.

At some point jimin desapear and I didn’t notice, i starded to search for him around the many people dancing but couldn’t find him anywhere.

My head was starting to feel heavy, I was bumping in everyone as I walked out of the bodies dancing around closer to the exit i bumped into another men.

Almost falling but someone else grabbed me by the arm. Strong smell of cigarettes and cologne hitting my senses, my vision was a little blurry but I could still make that scar. Those sharp eyes.

If looks could kill.

- Yoongi?… - sharp pain in my head I held my head before looking back at him, my body was beginning to feel heavy - oh.,. I feel… sorry…

- Enjoyed your treat? - his voice sounded close but it felt so distant.

- Treat?….

My body felt so heavy as my eyes began to close, I swear I was going to fall but his arms held me against him. My heavy eyes looking straight into his sharp ones, it felt weird.

I should fear him but, I just wanted to be engulfed into his warmth. No one could ever have the effect he had on me.

- Yoongi… - my arms circled around his neck.

- you’re drunk - he said against my lips, i nodded laughing.

He only held me tighter, taking my arms from around his neck. I thought he would carry me bridal style, but a tug like him would never. Silly me.

He simply threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, waking me up completely this time.

- if I throw up in your expensive clothes don’t blame you dick- i say, he then slapped my ass. - ouch!

- Don’t curse, you know I hate it - he simply said as he walked to god knows where, I couldn’t see anything from there.

- Ohh no I’m getting sick - I lied, he just kept walking.

The cold air of the night hitting me like a truck, remembering I forgot my jacket there. Helpless I only sighted.

- I’m bored… - I tell him, but he just ignored me.

The only thing I could see was his expressive shiny shoes and his ass, it was almost bigger then mine. I was so drunk I felt lightheaded.

The only possible reason I could fine to why I did what I did next .

- your ass is big - I blurted out, I heard his loud breathing indicating his impatience. Laughing I slapped his ass back.

At that he brought me down so fast I felt dizzy, he looked angrier than ever at me. Face so close as he pinned me against a car, hands holding my hips tightly almost carving his nails on my skin through my jeans.

He breathed fast, lips on a thin line as he just stared at me, probably thinking how he’s going to end me right now.

But I didn’t care.

All I could think about was how his lips were so close to mine, how his cologne did nothing to help me sober up as I only felt more drunk on him. Of all people him.

His grip on my hips began to soften up as he let go of me, he looked everywhere but me. Licking his lips before finally looking at me, he opened his mouth to say something but stoped eyes looking up and down over me.

- don’t look at me like that - he said, opening the door of the car behind me.

- Like what? - i asked, he then smirked at me one arm over the car beside me completely locking me there. Coming closer to my face.

- Like you want me to fuck you right now… - he whispered on my ear. My checks burned so hard.

I couldn’t say anything else as he pushed me back inside the car, closing the door after. Jack was in the driver seat, he chuckled before driving out of there.

The cold air of the atmosphere was bringing me back to my reality. And I let it all sink into me, still a bit high on the freedom I felt there.

Still drunk on him.

I allowed my body to slide down the car seat and fall asleep.

…

2

days after.

Namjoon was going to have the whole week off. The fact that he was out of the investigation made a lot more easier to get the info about the processes of the investigation goin on, i could go in and out of the office and no one would notice. No one but Consigliere.

Somehow they knew exactly when I would left and when I would go in, they were in a whole higher level. The past cases involving them were giving the station so much stress as they couldn’t get a single hint right.

The past two days I was getting as much info as I could for them, but I wasn’t asked to go to Paradise anymore. Maybe I went too far last time, just the thought of it would make red.

Consigliere would come here every night to get the info.

And tonight it wasn’t any different.

As I was coming back from Namjoons office, walking the corridor to take the info for Jack. My phone started ringing non stop. He could wait, I was already going to give him the info.

Why was he calling like that?

As the ringing continued I stopped to turn off the phone, impatiently as I cursed at him for being like this when i sudden hit my face on a soft wall or something like someone, almost falling back if the person didn’t hold me by the waist.

My eyes staring at his in surprise.

- Namjoon?!

- You don’t look too happy to see me - he said, letting go of me he as he stands with a few documents in hand.

- I don’t… I mean what you doing here?

- I came back earlier- he said, determination in his eyes - you were right yn, I just needed some time off.

- Oh…

- See you then - he said, going in the direction of his office.

I looked at his back blinking confused, he came so quickly. Things would be a lot more difficult now. The phone ringed again.

I simply brushed off, Jack was a pain in the ass. Last thing I wanted was him using my brother to threaten me because I took too long to deliver the info.

Quickly I made my way out of the station, the black Porsche parked right in front of the entrance. Jack stood there over the car, coming towards me as soon as he saw me.

- I called you - he stated anger in his voice.

- I know, Namjoon… - before I could say anything else, he grabbed my arm harshly.

- I don’t think I made myself clear - he spat - if you don’t take my calls your brother is dead meat.

- I know…. - I gulped down. - Namjoon was there.

- What? - he seemed to be connecting the dots.

- That’s why… he came back earlier it seemed he has some new info - i said, he lets go of my arm.

- What ever he has - he took the envelope of my hands - get it before it blows up.

I only nodded as he gave me one last look before going in the Porsche and driving out.

I felt weak in the knees, almost falling down.

He had the most dark aura I’ve even meet, those dark eyes that showed nothing but, death.

Agust d was right when he chose him as his consigliere, no one could put fear in another’s like he did.

After that i decided to clock out.

…

The next day, the whole station seemed to be in a fuss. With Namjoon returning everyone was working a lot more, he made sure everyone was one hundred percent in the investigation. People were walking back and forth in the corridors.

The only focus being the Agust d case.

And for that reason I couldn’t even get close to their office, every time I tried they would call me out on it.

Your just an intern.

This is not you place.

I was so frustrated at that. I thought I could take something out of Namjoon but he too was way too focused on the investigation.

He didn’t came out for lunch. And stayed late at night with his teammates to work on the case. Another two days passed like that.

I didn’t hear a word about Namjoon for this two days. Consigliere was pressing me every day, they wanted to know what was this fuss about. Using my brother to threat me every damn hour, it became the only thing I could think about.

I couldn’t sleep with so much worry in my mind.

I was out in the dark. I couldn’t get anything out of them.

Jack kept pressing me for info but I didn’t have anything.

I was having lunch when he called again.

- nothing yet? - he spat.

- I…

- Your brother is leaving for school… - he said. My body went cold. He was at my house.

- Jack don’t… - he laughed.

- Didn’t I made myself clear? Should i give you inspiration to move!? - he said.

- No, don’t - I said, desperate and anxious - I’ll get the info tonight please….

- Tonight.

With that he ended the call. I felt dizzy. Leaving the place immediately, I went back to the station.

I was desperate. At this point he could do anything to my brother, I couldn’t let it happens not after everything I did to keep him safe.

I decided to stay late at the office, as I watched everyone else leaving hopping Namjoon would be alone until he office by now. He was my only hope, knowing his week spot for me. I felt terrible for using him like that but, I needed to for my brother.

I waited anxiously until all was left at the office was Namjoon and Jungkook.

Quickly making my way to their office.

Stopped in front of it thinking of what to say, but nothing came to my mind. Anxious i nocked on it twice.

It took a while before Jungkook opened.

- hey yn - he said, open just enough of the door to see his face.

- Hey is Namjoon free? - I try to sound as calm as possible.

- No, we busy - he said, closing the door again - bye.

- No, please I really need to talk to him…

He closed the door. I almost punched the door. The phone in my back pocket ringed.

“Anything yet?”

I felt helpless.

so i called him.

- stop pressing me already! - I whispered yelled - I’m trying goddamit!

- say that to your brother - he said, threaten again.

- You-

- Yn? - i turned to see Namjoon standing there, door opened and a worried look on his face.

- Namjoon! - i said out loud so Jack would hear and he immediately turned off the call.

- Is everything alright? - he asked.

- No, I’ve been trying to talk to you for days - I tell him, trying my best to act and lie. I needed the info as soon as possible.

- Sorry yn… it’s just… - he stoped looking around the corridor never at me.

- Exactly, I know you got some hint on this case but, why did you left me out?

- Sorry…. - he pushed me to a hug. - come in, I wanna show you something.

- Okay.

Finally.

As i walked inside the office behind Namjoon, the whole room looked like a big mess. Papers all over the place boxes and coffee mugs.

Jungkook was in front of a white board with pictures and writings all over it, i looked around shocked.

The place was a mess.

- don’t mind the mess - Namjoon said turning to me. At the Jungkook also turned to me.

- She’s not allowed here - he said to Namjoon.

- I know but is yn, i trust her - he said, giving me a smile wich I replied bitterly - you can trust her.

Trust.

The bitter taste under my tongue, I wanted to dig a whole and get inside. But still, I had to wear that mask and lie to him. What would my father think of me? What will Namjoon do when he find out I was the one behind all of it.

- this right here - Namjoon showed me a picture of a man - he used to work at the station, he came to me saying the Min mafia forced him into giving information about the investigation.

I gulped down looking at the picture of the man. Now here I’m, doing exactly what he did.

- he said they have his family that’s why he came to me asking for help - Namjoon turned to look at the board - those rats, all this time threatening one of our guys like that….

- But we got everything about them now thanks to him - Jungkook said - tonight it will be all over.

- Tonight? - I questioned. Namjoon turned to me smiling.

- We set a trap for Agust d - he said. I looked at him immediately - this days we focused on perfect trap for him, thanks to the info he gave us.

- One of our guys is there already waiting for him, he’s playing to be their old mole - Jungkook said - what they don’t know is that we got him locked up at the station.

- Once Agust d gets there our guy will make sure he reacts - Namjoon said, looking at Jungkook ray shared a look of wining - I’ll get him and kill him.

I lost my breath at his words. Namjoon is planing to kill the mafia Min boss, he really is going to do it.

“If something happens to D I’ll kill your brother”

I felt dizzy as the words of the consigliere run through my mind, if their plan works my brother dies.

I need to tell Jack.

- we already have a team there - Namjoon said - we are just getting things done here, once we’re good will go there.

- I see… - i manege to say - well I’m sure you’ll do a good job.

- You telling me this I’m sure I will - he smiled at me.

I’m sorry.

- I won’t take your time than - i said turning to leave.

- Yeah is almost time - Jungkook looked at the clock on the wall.

- Bye yn - he says.

I waved at him, opening the door of the office I leave there quickly trying to call Jack again as I run through the corridors towards the exit but, he doesn’t answer.

I keep calling as i quickly run out of the station, running to the parking lot i go to my motorbike.

When he finally answered.

- didn’t I told you- before he can say anything else.

- Where are you?! - I interrupted.

- What?

- where are you?! I got the info to their plan I need to see you now! - I rushed through my words.

- I’ll send you the location, come fast or I’ll leave before you.

With that he turned off, they were going there to Namjoons trap already. My breath got stuck in my throat a ring suddenly indicating he sended a message. Quickly turned the gps to the location he sended to me.

Turning my motorbike on I drove as fast as I could to the location on the gps, my brothers life was on the line. As much as I loved Namjoon I could let anything happened to my brother, he was the only family I had with all his flaws. My only family. It was my job as his older sister to protect him.

I’m sorry Namjoon, I’ll have to stop you. For my brother.

The location he sended me was almost out of the city, the more and more I drove towards it the less civilized it became.

My mind was racing with thoughts, heart beating so hard on my chest it was painful. I’ll have to carry this weight with me till the end.

Bright lights hit my eye sight and I stoped my motorbike quickly, the sound of motor raging and as my motorbike slided on the ground. The black Porsche stoped abruptly in front of me.

I saw Jack on the drivers seat.

Taking my helmet off I made my way towards the car, behind the Porsche was a big gate, that lead to a mansion but I didn’t give much thought to it.

Jack came out of the car towards me anger on his face.

- you better..

- it’s a trap. - i interrupted him. He looked at me confused - Namjoon knows everything, they have your old mole in the station and he gave Namjoon all the info about you guys. He made a trap to get Agust d.

After that was silence. Jack looked at me up and down, turning to the car. The door of the car opened. As someone else walked out of it.

- why would I believe you? - it was Yoongi, what was he doing here?

- Are you kidding me!? - I tell him, making my way to him before Jack could stop me - you think I would run to here, almost get caught by Namjoon, have my brothers life on the line just to lie to you!?

I stood in front of him, I was so pissed as i stared into his eyes. He looked at me for a good amount of time, neutral expression on his face unbothered by my rage.

I really wish I read his mind, know what was he thinking but he was the biggest mystery I’ve ever meet.

- she’s coming with us - Yoongi said to Jack, taking my arm to enter the car with him.

He pushed me inside the car getting in right after.

- Are you sure? - Jack said already in the Porsche.

- She’s been pretty useful - Yoongi said.

I scoffed not looking at him.

Jack drove fast hitting the gas pedal hard, I held on tight to the car seat. Not for fear of the swords but feather of how things would turn out once we are there, will Namjoon be there already?

Why did Yoongi needed me there for?

Once the car began to slow down I looked around through the window, Jack stoped the car in an abandoned construction site, there was a fire goin on in the middle of the empty site and a black car parked on the other side of it in front of the car was a man standing there with a hat on his head.

“One of our man is already there”

My body went cold. It was all set up already exactly how Namjoon said.

- I’ll go there - Yoongi said. - make sure she stays here quiet.

- Yes - Jack gave him a nod.

I looked at them incredulous.

- Didn’t you hear what I said!? - I say. Holding Yoongis arm.

- I did. - he looked at me, opening the door and getting out of he Porsche.

I watched as he walked to the man standing there, stopping a few meters away. The fire separating them. I couldn’t hear what the they were talking about but, I notice when Yoongi chuckled.

Jack seemed too focuse on Yoongi to realize what was happening, he didn’t know. They didn’t listen to me. He problems thought Yoongi could handle that, just like I would after seeing him take four guys down with only his hands.

“I’ll be there right after” was what Namjoon said.

That was exactly what Namjoon wanted, a reaction.

One move from him to take him down for good.

Take him down for good.

Him.

Yoongi.

My heart beating so fast in my chest. I was too busy trying to save my brother not once did it cross my mind.

How Yoongi was everywhere. At any time i was supposed to deliver info to Jack, he was at Paradise every time I went there. How he would warn me about keeping my distance. How he always carried himself.

He was the one making a deal with chief, he was at the directors house, he was at every crime scene.

How Jack obeyed his commands. How did I not notice once. Everything seemed to fall right into its place now, i could see it clearly. Feeling stupid at how long it took my to realize.

Yoongi was Agust d. And Namjoon was going to kill him.

- he’s going to kill him - i tell Jack, he loooked at me through the mirror.

- What?

My eyes lock into his, thinking of my brother. If Yoongi dies so will my brother. Why wasn’t he doing anything?

My heart racing as I look around the car, only to find Jacks pistol on the seat beside him. Looking up to Yoongi I see the men in front of him held up a gun.

Just one reaction of him to kill him.

I let my feeling take over me as I take my last step towards what would be my end, the cold feeling of the metal of the pistol in my hand. My heart racing so fast it pained my chest, my helpless self trying to save my brother.

Two seconds I was out of the car, walking towards Yoongi. Jack fallowing behind me but i was too late to stop me.

I wouldn’t let him hurt my brother.

Even if I had to betray Namjoon. Even if I lose him too.

With shaking hands I held the pistol high. Standing behind Yoongi. The men in front of him in my sight.

I took a deep breath pulling the trigger. My mind a mess and the only sound I heard before was the fire burning there.

Then the loud shooting of the pistol being fired filled my ears.

One.

Bang.

Two.

Bang.

Next?

Note: sorry for any grammatical mistelas hehe ☺️💖🤭

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