#last time and she talked about the theme of soulmates and how some people can have soulmates that are separated by time

[androidboy]

-

[mrs-barnes-rogers-writes]

Pretty As A Picture - Chapter 4

Marvel

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader x Bucky Barnes

Theme: Soulmates - Feeling the connection as soon as you see each other.

Summary: When Bucky fell from the train, their soulmate was told he was gone. When Steve Rogers disappeared into the ice, their soulmate was again told one of her soulmates were gone. But she didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. Committed to a mental health institute, she dies of a broken heart. That's at least what the hidden S.H.I.E.LD files say, but if that's the case than why is there a photo of her. A photo that shows her side by side two redhaired Avengers.

Warnings will be per chapter.

For this fic reader will be British, but let your imagination replace if needed.

Chapter Summary: The team try to piece together everything together and Steve needs answers.

Chapter Warning: Sad Steve, sad Bucky, talk of death mental illness, electric shock treatment, and attempted sexual violence (not in detail).

The ringing of an incoming call, allowed Nat a moment’s reprieve.

“It’s Clint, I made him aware. Thought he should be part of this. He is part of our family after all.” Tony spoke, looking at Steve for permission to connect the call. Steve nodded and Tony answered tapping his phone to share the projection of Clint and Laura, the latter holding baby Nathaniel.

“Please tell me this is some weird prank.” Clint went first.

“You think we’d joke about something like this?” Steve snapped.

“No, of course not.” Laura replied, elbowing Clint, “but I think I speak for both of us when I say, what the fuck you guys.”

A little voice in the background shouted ‘language’ but didn’t get the usual laughter.

“Romanoff I don’t want to have to ask you again. Start talking.”

“I met her when she worked for British Intelligence. Clint introduced us.”

“So you knew her first?” Sam asked, directly his question at Clint on the screen.

“I did. She was an analyst initially, one of the best, if not the best. Still is.”

“So, she’s British?” Asked Rhodey.

“She is.” Answered Nat.

“Was she then?” Rhodey asked Steve and he nodded his reply.

“Man, what type of dumb question is that? You can’t change nationalities.” Sam asked.

“Actually Samuel, you can, not your birth place of course but when residing….”

“Vis not now.” Wanda said.

Pepper decided at this moment to take a handle of things as she watched Steve’s annoyance grow.

“Why don’t we go one at a time? Clint, so you met her first?”

“Yeah, initially just over comms, as part of the partnership between the different agencies but it was clear early on how good she was. The last mission Laura did, we, well we found out on the mission that Laura was pregnant. We were chasing some arms dealer in Greece that had decided to start manufacturing chemicals to control people.  Masses of people. We ran into some trouble. The extraction team were too far out and we were in pretty deep. I thought ‘this is it’, I’d taken my soulmate and my unborn child into a death trap, and then the sprinklers came on, and some 90s boy band starts coming out the speakers of the warehouse. It gave us a hint of time, just seconds to get the upper hand. We stole one of the ingredients so they couldn’t manufacture it and ran. A mile down the road there’s a pay phone ringing. It’s her. Telling us the S.H.I.E.L.D analysts were ‘shockingly shit’ and she’d dialled in and taken over. She directed us to a drain, told us the route to take. When we came up at the exit point, the SAS was there to extract us.”

“Holy shit. I don’t think I know anyone who can just call up the SAS like that, not even their own, not even us.” Sam added.

“She can, she’s got them wrapped around her finger I swear.” Clint said.

“Well, that’ll be guilt.” Nat muttered.

“What did you say?” Sam asked.

“She said something about guilt.” Bucky said, suddenly speaking up.

“Nat it’s not your place to tell them.” Clint stated firmly.

“Tell us what Romanoff?” Pushed Steve.

Pepper decided to refocus the conversation again.

“Laura, have you met her?”

“I have. She’s godmother to our children. Same as Natasha. She’s our soul sister.”

Steve huffed and leaned back in his chair.

“Nat?” Pushed Pepper.

“I met her over comms the same as they did to start with, Clint introduced us over a video call and then Fury sent me to recruit her.”

“For the Avengers?” Asked Steve.

“Not right away. S.H.I.E.L.D, then the Avengers. First as an analyst, then an agent.”

“I’m taking her lack of presence means she politely declined?” Quipped Tony.

“Not exactly.” Looking around at everyone’s confused faces Nat continued “it wasn’t exactly polite, she told me to fuck off.”

There was a rumble of light laughter.

“Hang on, hang on, she knew who you were?” Rhodey asked trying not to laugh, “she knew you were Natasha Romanoff, former assassin, Black Widow, and the British analyst, she told you to fuck off?”

“Yes Rhodey, she told me to fuck off.”

More amusement passed through the group. Then Laura’s voice.

“Tell them exactly what she said.”

Nat sighed.

“Fine. She said ‘I already told Fury and Barton no, and now I’m going to tell you Romanoff, no, a big fat fucking no, now get your Russian, double agent ass off my desk and fuck right off.’ She also had me escorted out of the building and had 001 revoke my access given to me under the partnership.”

"I like her already."

"Hush Tony."

Steve and Bucky exchanged a look. It definitely sounded like their girl but it also didn’t explain their soulmate being there now.

Bucky was next to speak. His voice still sounding a little broken.

“Was she, erm, like us? Is she like us? Was she frozen?”

“Buck we know she wasn’t, Peggy identified her.” he replied, tapping the file.

“What is this? May I look at this?” Asked Tony.

Steve nodded.

“Do you remember the liaison meetings around the time of the First Accords? A member of each agency was there?” The team nodded. “Well after Peggy’s estate was settled, one the British guys pushed that into my hand and left. It’s all about her, her background info, her career and what happened after us.”

“What happened?” Vision asked.

“Oh god.” Peppers voice interrupted. “Sorry I just.”

She pointed down and Steve could see she was reading the medical papers from when their soulmate was sectioned.

“She was institutionalised. Although the British call it sectioned. She was really insistent that we were both still alive. Kicked up quite a fuss. They had her sedated and shipped back home and put in a mental hospital.”

“They shouldn’t have done that Steve, they should have sent her to Ma like it said in our papers.” Bucky snapped tearfully.

“I know Buck. That’s why Peggy did what she did.”

“What did Agent Carter do exactly?” Asked Vision.

“She tried to get a guardianship.” Tony answered looking at the papers. “Wait, Dad’s name is here.”

“They both did. Your Dad and Peggy, but it was too late. She’d passed before.”

“Because of what they did to her?” Pepper asked.

“What do you mean? What they did to her?” Asked Bruce, finally breaking his silence. Tony glanced up at Steve.

“Can he see this?”

Steve clenched his jaw.

“It might help, that’s all, give us an idea of if she could have survived that.”

“She didn’t but fine.” Steve said through gritted teeth.

The file was passed down to Bruce, whose brow furrowed the moment he opened it.

“Jesus Christ.”

The room stayed silent as Bruce read through the file.

“I’m sorry Steve, Bucky, electric shock treatment of that amount, along with what they gave her, and the Broken Heart Syndrome. It’s unlikely she could have survived that.”

“She didn’t. The next piece of paper is signed by Peggy and Howard. Peggy identified her and registered her death. Howard paid for her funeral.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony asked, disappointed in his tone.

“I was going to and then everything else happened. I was going to tell you and ask if you’d help me find the grave.”

“But there isn’t one right? I looked, there was nothing and that’s because she’s alive?” Asked Sam. Steve shook his head.

“May I add something Captain Rogers?” Asked Vision “I believe it may help the others understanding.”

Steve frowned but nodded.

“When Agents and Analyst, anyone above a a certain category joins an intelligence agency they under go testing and that now includes DNA and genetics, along with regular retesting. It would have raised concerns had she have been the age of Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes and her identity would have been revealed or at least have led her to S.H.I.E.L.D for investigation not recruitment.”

Tony and Bruce both nodded in agreement.

“Captain Rogers what was the purpose of light implications that Peggy was your soulmate?”

Steve went to speak but was interrupted by Bucky.

“I hated that by the way and so did she.”

“I know Buck but we had to keep her safe.” Steve paused for a moment before continuing, “I found her right before I went looking for Buck. Peggy said we needed two things, a plane and route in. Howard got the plane and our soulmate was the map girl. I felt it the moment I saw her. My luck never was the best and then I find her and it’s in a war zone, I’m about to go on a suicide mission to find my best friend. Our eyes met and I was falling over my feet like the little kid in Brooklyn.”

“He actually did fall over his own damn feet. Our girl had to help him up off the floor.”

The team laughed softly.

“It’s true, that gave your Dad and Peg some laughs.” He said to Tony.

“Tell them the rest.” Bucky smirked.

“I kissed her, practically threw myself at her and kissed her. She was not amused, she was pretty pissed.”

“What was it she said ‘you yanks are all the bloody same’.”

Steve smiled, “Something like that, she pushed me off, told me off and shoved a pair of maps into my hands. Buck met her when he came back to base.”

“I didn’t throw myself at her, as hard as it was not to, and at least brought her a drink first.”

Steve smiled again as Bucky shared his memory before starting again.

“It’s not documented anywhere but when we were out on a mission there was an attack back at the base, a small group of energy agents had snuck in on a delivery truck. One of them went into what we called the War Room, trying to see the plans. Well, that’s what Phillips' first thought. Our girl was in there with another agent who was shot and killed. She got into a scuffle with the enemy agent and disarmed him but he didn’t stop and he tried to hurt her, in the worst way possible. Buck had slipped a pocket knife into her stocking before we left and she used it. Peggy burst in and finished the job. When they searched his body, there was a photo, albeit a bad one but a photo and a description of her. They hadn’t just come to see our plans, they’d come for her.”

“That’s why everything was deleted?” Nat stated, “Why I couldn't find anything, pictures, film, newsreels, all of it?”

Steve nodded. “Peggy pointed out she was safer with us than back home, we had no idea who knew about her. Every single one of those agents had a damn picture of her.”

“Peg made some calls, she knew someone at the BBC, Pathe News, some had lost soulmates in the war, so they clipped every image of her out.” Bucky added.

“So the photograph in your compass? Of Agent Carter? It was a diversion tactic?” Asked Vision.

Steve nodded, smile now gone. Sam still confused asked questions.

“OK, I need to piece this together out loud for a second and you know I’ve got your backs right? But for the non science bros, or super intelligent creations, no offence”

Replies of “non taken” echoed round the room.

“You said Peggy identified her, after she’d passed, Howard paid for the funeral, so they hid her really damn well for seventy years or this ain’t your girl. Like Vis said someone would have flagged her age.”

“It’s her!” Bucky snapped.

“Buck.”

“I’m trying to be the voice of reason here, make sense of it all. Are you sure that’s her?” Sam asked pointing at the pictures Buck still held. “You said yourself, she was deleted from everything, you don’t have a point of reference, a photo. You’ve been through some shit, you’ve been froze. Also, there's no point of reference for any of us either, with everything gone, we've all tried to look. I'm just saying you’ve been through a lot. Maybe the memory is blurred.”

It was at this point Bucky lost it.

“I remember everything!” He cried out “I remember her, I remember my Ma, my sisters, everything, all the god damn awful fucking things I’ve done, that they made me do. Shuri pieced it altogether and the good things, the good memories, her, the memory of her is what gets me through, when I can’t do it, when I can barely breathe.”

“Buck take a breath.”

“Just show them Steve, they’re looking at me like I’m damn crazy, about to ship me back to Wakanda! Show them.”

Steve rose from his seat and pulled out his compass. A compass that had been seen on newsreels, in newspapers and in history books. He slowly opened it and carefully removed the picture of Peggy. Hidden behind the S.H.I.E.L.D founder was their soulmate.

Faded and a little rough round the ages but the others could now see it clearly for themselves as Steve set the compass down displaying the photograph. Bucky reluctantly placed those from Wanda beside it.

It was the same person. You. Soul sister to the Bartons, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner and most recently, Wanda Maximoff, were in both pictures.

And you were Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes soulmate and you were alive.

Enjoy this fic? Fancy a cuppa? My Ko-Fi.

[north-blue-hearts]

Famous Last Words

CisFem Reader x Trafalgar Law

CW: Violence, swearing, mature themes, erotic romance, angst, creative use of devil fruits, this story is still in progress, I will add content warnings as needed.

Chapter 4: Teenagers

The world came back into focus, muted and useless to you compared to the man up on the stage. Tall and graceful, singing into the microphone and moving easily around the stage. The scrubs had been torn away to show off the costume for the song, and his eyes danced along the rows and rows of faces in the crowd as he entertained everyone.

Your soulmate was Trafalgar D. Law, lead singer of Your Synthetic Enchantment.

Realization and dread slammed into you at the same time. Your soul mate was one of the most famous people in the entire world. Millions of people knew who he was. Fans followed him and the band almost obsessively.

News coverage. Interviews. Cameras.

They traveled by submarine specifically to avoid having fans follow them from one show to the next, so that they could dock on islands in peace and have time to themselves before the show. There were rumors that they had devil fruits and paid people off to keep it quiet. There wasn’t anything that they had that could be kept private.

Or secret.

Would the marines take you away to some secluded island if – no. No, wait, what would they do for him? His life was far more important, what if the murderer learned about this? What if he hurt Law to get to you?

Panic flooded into your chest and your breath caught for a completely different reason. He couldn’t die, he couldn’t. You didn’t even want him to know harm or pain.

You had to leave. You had to. If you left then he wouldn’t see your face, if he never saw you, then he wouldn’t know. You could know, and you’d be okay. You’d be okay because he’d be safe.

He would.

You could do it.

Tears flooded your eyes as you watched him on stage. You didn’t want to leave. You didn’t want to be any further from him than you absolutely needed to be. You wanted to tell him everything. You wanted to know what your name sounded like on his lips, your real name.

You were angry with Nami.

She said you’d know. She didn’t say how frighteningly powerful that knowing was.

“Caddy?” Zoro’s voice cut through the noise around you as he put a hand on either shoulder and turned you to look at him.

Your eyes are ripped from the stage, and you look at Zoro. Tears are pouring down your face, and you’re dizzy from the flood of emotion.

“You okay?” He asks, wiping the tears away in the hopes that you’ll be able to look at him clearly. “Talk to me, are you just fan-swirling or whatever it’s called?”

You grab his shirt, your mind and heart and body are all at war, and it’s everything you have to yell. “Get me out of here, please!”

You can feel the air around Zoro shift, as you’re hastily wiping tears from your eyes. He lifts you up directly, hugging you to his chest, and shifting you only enough to hook both your legs into one arm, holding them against his waist so he had one hand free.

He pushed his way through the crowd smoothly, but you were barely halfway through the throng when the song ended. Zoro kept making his way in the darkened arena, but the words from the stage made you flinch.

“Thank you!” Law said into the microphone. “It’s our pleasure to be performing for you all, here on the Polestar Islands!”

The crowds’ screams reached a brand new crescendo, before calming down again.

“I have an important announcement before we continue with tonight’s program.” He says, and the edge of the entertainer is leaving his voice. There’s a vulnerability in it that the crowd has keyed in on.

“Oh no.” You say the words softly, but Zoro hears you, and stops pushing through the crowd, turning to look toward the stage with you.

“I’ve met my soulmate.” He says, and the hush that hits the arena is absolute.

You can feel Zoro’s eyes drilling a hole into the back of your head, but you can’t pull your gaze away from the stage.

You hear a voice, you know it’s Nami, but you’re so far from her.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” She screams at the top of her lungs, fingers twined with Vivi’s the two of them holding their hands up in the air.

There’s a short chuckle that escapes Law and the entire arena breaks into cheers. There’re a few people sobbing, you can hear them around you, but finding one’s soul mate is almost everyone’s dream in this world.

You can hear his thanks tumbling into the microphone as the crowd slowly calms down.

“They’re… shy though.” He says, and you can feel his eyes almost searching the crowd for you. He’s quiet as he searches the crowd, but it almost looks like he’s looking over every single fan. As though he’s asking for their support – close as he’d ever dare to beg.

“He’s asking his fans to back off.” Zoro murmurs, and you nod.

“For you.” He says it so quietly you’re certain no one else could’ve heard, but you don’t nod or shake your head. You just grip his shirt a little tighter.

“Thank you.” He says quietly, taking the held breath of the arena as understanding.

The big screen at the back of the stage shifts, and a song title slams into the screen as Law begins to sing and the band picks up with him at the same time.

“Now I know… that I can’t make you stay, but where’s your heart?” He sings, beginning the song as you tug on Zoro’s sleeve again, urging him back through the crowd.

He continues his push through the subdued crowd, people slowly coming out of their own stupors as the lyrics revitalized the arena. By the time you cleared the arena floor the concert venue was back to normal.

Out in the hall, it was nearly empty, the heavy doors closing behind the both of you, the only other people around were those coming from or going to the restroom. Zoro stops once you’re in the hall and pats your back.

“This far enough?” He asks. “I can take you all the way back to the General.”

You shake your head, letting yourself be set back on your own two feet as you took a moment to compose yourself.

“Thank you, Zoro.” You murmur. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

“For what? I’m here to work. I’m not a fan.” He admits, jerking a thumb back to the arena. “Though, I guess I’m not going to ask you out to coffee tomorrow.” He says, and gives you a toothy smile when you look up at him in shock.

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding!” Zoro assures you with a laugh, ruffling your hair. “Usopp says teasing someone is a good way to distract ‘em.” He explains. “I didn’t mean to make you panic like that.”

“There she is!” The voice that called out was cheerful, and didn’t sound at all dangerous, but Zoro had you behind him in a blur.

The man who had spoke up put his hands in the air. He was really tall, kind of a mess of limbs, with bright makeup that looked a little clownish. He wore a shirt covered in hearts, and burgundy slacks with a matching, open blazer over the light pink shirt. He had a messy mop of hair on his head, and looked about as dangerous as a newborn giraffe.

“Sorry! Sorry, I’m Donquixote Rosinante, Law’s manager, you can just call me Cora-san.” He explains, before pointing at the other, taller, broad-shouldered fellow with him. “This is Jean Bart, our head of security.”

Zoro was not relaxing. You peeked out from behind him and wondered if he could take two people, both of whom were decidedly larger than he was. It wasn’t often anyone made Zoro look small.

“We’re not – we won’t try to force anything.” Rosinante says carefully. “But we would like to talk somewhere privately.”

“Caddy?” Zoro prompts. “What’re we doing?”

You look around, and realize the hall is completely empty, save for the four of you. You look back at the other two.

“No one will know?” You ask apprehensively.

Rosinante smiles, and something in it makes you feel at ease. “We have people who are currently going through the security videos, removing you from all of them.” He promises.

You pat Zoro’s arm. “It’s okay.” Zoro relaxes and steps to the side. “Can you go back to the others and let them know I’m okay?”

Zoro looks over at you, his face scrunching up a little. “That’s… not normally how I work.” He admits.

“Oh! Oh, right you’re… you were actually hired, right.” You clear your throat. “Then, it’s best if you do what you’d normally do, I think.”

“Roronoa Zoro,” Jean Bart says. “Now I recognize you. It’ll be good if you come along as well.”

You blink a few times, but Zoro steps toward the two gentlemen and you follow along close behind. Rosinante smiles, turning and leading the way while also making sure to smile and chat with you as you walk. The other man’s eyes are forward the entire time, and he either pulls Rosinante or shoves things out of his way as you all walk.

“Law has been talking about you for weeks.” Rosi explains as you walk. “He was flustered about having such a vivid dream, but the more he talked about it, and thought about it, the more he realized what had happened. Poor Sachi went through almost a pound of paper, drawing your likeness over and over until he was satisfied it was correct.”

You feel your face go hot and you’re quietly glad that the concept of desperation wasn’t just on your shoulders.

“He wanted to search the entire island when we got here.” Rosinante continues. He’s so happy as he’s talking, you don’t dare tell him that he’s effectively showing off Law’s baby pictures behind his back with how much he’s spilling to you. “My boy, I’ve never seen him so flustered.”

Jean Bart clears his throat. “Cora-san, you’re going to upset him.”

“Huh? Oh, haha, yeah, you’re probably not wrong.” He admits sheepishly, one large hand behind his head as he grins. “Sorry about that. He was so adamantly against believing in Soul Mates though, for years.” Rosinante says, rambling again. “Statistically improbable, he’d say. So much more for him to focus on. He only agreed to the tour for the rest of the band. It’s hard for them to meet people, you know, and the boys were hoping their soul mates would see them while they were on tour. I mean, ten million tickets sold over two hundred islands, then statistically, the odds are in their favor.”

“Ten million tickets?!” You exclaim your eyes going wide.

Rosinante nods. “It’s a little less than Uta’s last world tour, but it is the first world tour for this band. It’s a very respectable turn out.”

“It’s… an amazing turn out.” You agree, feeling a little overwhelmed just by the sheer number of tickets.

Jean Bart opened a door and stepped aside, letting the three of you file into the room before him. The small room was just about big enough for maybe ten people, and there were three other doors coming from it. Jean opened the far right door and it opened into a long hall way.

Rosinante kept walking. “Down this way is a nice, quiet, secluded waiting area. It would’ve been used by a second or third band, if we were touring with openers or closers, but it’s just our little troupe, so there’s a lot of empty spaces.”

“The show has about an hour to go, maybe a little longer with an encore. Do you have any requests?”

You looked at Zoro and then back as Rosinante as he motioned for you to seat yourself where ever you wanted within the sizable room. You could see a band group fitting in easily, and there was a monitor on the wall. Rosi turned it on and there was a feed of the concert.

“It’s from the security cameras, so the sound will be a bit… brash, but you can watch the concert from in here. We can bring you something to eat, oh the restroom’s just down the hall. Jean can stand guard outside, and make sure no one meanders down the hall unexpectedly.” He states, working through the short list of options.

“Um… I…” You sit on the couch, and Zoro stays by the door as Rosinante sits across from you and Jean steps outside. “Water?”

Zoro bites his lip to keep from snorting, and Rosinante smiles. “Sure thing, Miss – ah, sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Ar… Arcadia.” You say quietly.

“Very well Miss Arcadia.” He says, turning slightly and grabbing a bottle of water from a mini-fridge tucked under a vanity. “You can request a song, if you like? I can make sure he knows.”

You shake your head. “I like,” you smile softly. “A lot of their songs, so it’s okay.”

Rosinante’s face lights up, but he doesn’t say anything, giving you a few minutes. The bustling manager is starting to realize that it was probably a bit of a whirlwind for you, coming down here.

“After the concert, he’ll have backstage passes to deal with, won’t he?” You question, taking a drink.

Rosinante sighs a little, cheeks tinged pink. “He does, technically, yes.”

You tilt your head and Rosi looks sheepish. “If we found you, he had every intention of canceling the meet and greets. But!” He says somewhat hopefully. “We only gave backstage passes to people the band already knew on this island. We didn’t want to have a throng of people in the backstage in case someone made a connection. I mean, the assumption was the connection would be for Sachi, Penguin or Bepo, and not Law – at least when we initially set this up.”

“It’s only like, six people, I’m sure -.”

You reach into your pocket, pulling out your backstage pass, and Zoro does the same.

“Oh. Well, that settles that then.” He says. “I’m assuming you’re okay being seen by your friends?”

You smile. “Yes. They were going to find out about this one way or another.”

[i-am-baechu]

Chapter Eleven: The One About Trouble

Summary: “Did you just ask me if I sell coffee in a fucking coffee shop?” And with that, Taehyung was smitten by the Barista in the crazy flower sweater vest. Friendships will form but most importantly Taehyung will finally meet his soulmate. 

•——————•°•✿•°•——————•°•✿•°•———•

Genre: Idol au, strangers to lovers au, barista reader!, slow burn (friends with benefits to lovers kind of), semi-short storyish format, friendships, romance, angst, comedy, and smut

Main pairing: Idol! Taehyung x Barista! Reader 

Side ships: Hoseok x OC 

Warnings: Explicit language, smut, mature themes, homophobia, smoking cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol usage

⇜ Masterlist ⇝

•——————•°•✿•°•——————•°•✿•°•———•

Three days wasn’t enough but it was better then nothing is how Taehyung saw it. He wanted to be with her for at least a week but his manager told him that was impossible. He had a tour and even though he loves Armies, he just wanted some time with Y/N. In the three days they had, they went on dates or they had sex at her apartment. What else can a person want? It was perfect until Nikki walked in on him eating her out, that ruined the whole romantic aura. 

Saying goodbye was hard. He knew Y/N was upset because she couldn’t go with him to the airport, their last goodbye was in their apartment. She tried her best not to cry but he saw her tearing up and it broke his heart. The two cuddled for the final hours and kissed before he walked out of her door. It was sweet but sad. 

On the flight to Japan, Taehyung was stuck in his thoughts. His thoughts were clouded with Namjoon and this whole mess. The fact that he was too chicken to tell Y/N that he loved her and he didn’t know when he would see her again. It was a lot of emotions to feel especially when you're by yourself. When the plane landed, he had to force a smile or look relatively okay. He didn’t want to worry the fansites that were waiting for him. He couldn’t afford more rumors. When it was spread that he was going to New York, people were confused. He had a concert in Japan, what business did he have in New York? The answer they gave out was it was private business. It was annoying that people wanted to know what he was doing 24/7 but he couldn’t be shocked. He was an idol, a famous idol at that. 

He walked into the hotel with his staff showing him his room in a rush. The hotel staff were trying to take pictures of him and they didn’t want people saying the small hickies on his neck. He walked into his room and smiled when he saw Jimin waiting for him with food spread out on his table, “Welcome back!~” 

Taehyung smiled at him and gave him a peace sign, “I didn’t want to come back but here I am.”

Jimin gave him a hurt look and let out a small gasp, “You wanted to leave me. Why because you were fucking Y/N?”

“Why would you think that?” 

“You have that glow of getting your dick wet.” 

Taehyung rolled his eyes and rolled his bag near his bed. He took off his jacket and tossed it on the bed, “What’s been going on while I was gone?” 

“The usual...well.” 

“Well, what?” 

Jimin took out his phone and handed his phone to him, “There’s a K-pop news page that tweeted out that armies saw you with Y/N. Holding hands and kissing...so far, the company doesn’t see it as a threat to anything because it's not a popular account. People just think it's people talking out of their asses but Namjoon saw it and wasn’t happy about it.” 

Taehyung took the phone and raised his eyebrow at the tweet, “I mean there are no pictures attached so that makes me feel better...why is Namjoon upset?” 

“He thinks you're just doing shit without thinking.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes and handed his phone back to Jimin, “I was covered up and no one came up to me. If they saw me, so what? I’m an adult and I’m allowed to date.” 

“No one is saying you can’t...we just want you to be careful. I don’t want to see Y/N get hurt.” 

“She won’t get hurt...what did the others say?” 

“Everyone just agreed we didn’t want to see Y/N get hurt. Namjoon is just upset...” 

Taehyung sighed and sat on the bed with a frown, “What should I do?”

“Talk to him in the morning. Don’t fight.”

“I won’t fight...I think.” 

Jimin sighed and sat on his bed, “Taehyung, no fighting. Please.” 

“I won’t.” Unless he starts one. 

* . °•★|•°∵ ∵°•|☆•° . * 

Taehyung wasn’t nervous like how he usually is meeting his leader in private. He felt more annoyed. He understands that he would be upset if he was ruining the group's image or something but he wasn’t. There were no pictures of him with Y/N so it was just a brainless rumor (even though the rumor was true, no one needed to know that). He couldn’t tell if Namjoon was upset with the group or if he was upset because he was with Y/N. 

He knocked on the door and heard a low “come in”. He opened the door to see Namjoon sitting on his bed watching his tv. Taehyung let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck, “Joon, you wanted to see me?” 

Namjoon muted the television and looked at him with a small smile, “Hey, I just wanted to talk to you.” 

Taehyung nodded his head and walked deeper into the room with the door closing behind him. Sealing his fate. He sat in the chair in the corner as Namjoon sat across from him. The quietness in the room was making him uncomfortable but he didn’t want to say anything. He didn’t want to start the conversation on whatever he wanted to talk about. Namjoon sighed and leaned forward a bit, “Tae, there are rumors of you with Y/N.” 

“There were no pictures, it's just pointless words.” 

Namjoon shook his head and looked at Taehyung with a serious look, “It’s not rumors though, it's the truth. You can’t just walk around like you’re not famous.” 

“I was covered up...listen no matter what I do, they're going to follow me or make rumors up. I just want to live my life.” 

“You can live life-”

“Apparently I can’t. Y/N was covered, no one saw her.”

Namjoon sighed with frustration and leaned back in his chair, “You don’t understand...you can ruin her life.”

“I can ruin her life, how?” 

“You're famous...she’s not.” 

“That doesn’t matter, I’ll protect her. I love her and she loves me.” At least I hope she does...

Namjoon stared at Taehyung with a sharp look but Taehyung didn’t look away, “Look-”

“No, you look.” Taehyung stood up from his chair and looked down at his leader with a heated look, “I don’t know if you're doing this because you like her or something but you can’t just tell me I’m going to ruin her life and expect me to be okay with you.”

“I meant it from-”

“Are you doing this because you want to be with her?” The silence in the room made Taehyung chuckle and shook his head, “Are you fucking serious?” 

“Taehyung, I’m not doing this-”

“Then answer my fucking question. Are you doing this because you want to be with her?” 

“I’m doing this because I want you guys to be safe.”

Taehyung shook his head and clenched his fist, “You're still not answering my question...Namjoon, please. Just be honest with me.” 

Namjoon sighed and looked down at the carpet. This was all Taehyung needed to see. He walked out of the room but before he left the room, he turned around and looked at Namjoon with a glare, “She’s my partner. Respect that.” and with that, he left the room. 

He didn’t go back to his room but instead, he went straight to the hidden park behind the hotel. He went to a bench and let out a deep sigh, he wanted to smoke really bad but he wasn’t going to do that. He took his phone out and called the one person he needed to talk to, “Tae, is everything okay?” 

“Baby...we need to talk...I can’t hide this from you anymore. It’s about Namjoon.” 

“Did you guys get in a fight again? Was it about me?”

Taehyung sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “Yeah...it was.”

“Did I do something to make him hate me? I was always kind to him and even brought him cakes whenever I had leftovers.”

I wish he hated you, that conversation would’ve been easier, “That’s the thing, baby...”

He heard a confused laugh on the other side and he could picture her eyebrows going down as her nose scrunchies up, “What’s the thing?” 

“He doesn’t hate you.”

“Oh? Then what’s-”

“He likes you.” The silence was unbearable for him and he stood up from the bench. He rubbed his neck in a nervous manner, “Baby? Are you okay?” 

“I-I’m shocked...I don’t know what to say. Is this why you guys have been fighting?” 

“Yeah. I just don’t know what to do about this because I’m crazy for you and he's my leader.” 

He heard her sigh on the other end but it wasn’t relieving any stress, “What are we going to do? I don’t want you to keep fighting with him. You guys are brothers and have been through so much together. Don’t let me ruin that.”

“I don’t know what to do. I have never been through this before and I don’t think Google can help me.”

“What did you guys get into a fight about today?” 

Taehyung looked down at his shoes and kicked a rock as he sighed to himself, “There was this Twitter account that basically started rumors that I was with my partner. There were no pictures so no one believed it so don’t worry about it. He said I was going to ruin your life because I’m famous...”

“You made my life better...don’t think otherwise. I hate that people talk about you, it’s your life you should be able to do whatever you want.” 

“That’s the life of an idol, baby. I made your life better?” 

“Of course you did...you made me happier and I couldn’t ask for a better person in my life.” 

He felt his heart flutter at this confession and he wanted to kiss her at this moment, “You made my life better too. What are we going to do?” 

“I’m not sure. What did you do with your ex?”

“Oh, baby...that’s a story to tell...” 

“Did something similar happen when you were with them?”

“No...actually Namjoon was the one that helped me break up with them. Well, it was him and Yoongi that caught her cheating on me.” 

He heard a small gasp and he let out a small chuckle, “You were cheated on!?”

“Yeah with my best friend but this all happened when I first debuted so I didn’t have media attention. This is the first time I'm going through something like this.” 

“I mean there were no pictures so that's good for us but with Namjoon...I have no idea. You should talk to Yoongi, I feel like he would give the best advice on what to do.” 

“I’ll do that...Y/N, I...”

“Yes, Tae?”

“I’ll talk to you tonight.”

“I’ll talk to you tonight, bye ~.” 

He pressed the red button and let out a frustrated sigh, “It’s not time to tell her...with everything going on, it doesn’t feel right.” When will it be the right time to tell her? 

Extended Ending:

Taehyung went back to her hotel room and closed the door. He leaned against the door with his eyes closed trying to figure out his thoughts. He shook his head and went towards his bed with his shoulders slumped down. He sat on the bed and took his phone out, pure annoyance came through. He answered the phone and shook his head, “What do you want?” 

“Is that how you're going to talk to me?” 

“Aria, hurry the fuck up. What do you want? 

[desertfangs]

Love your love for post-canon Armand/Daniel, I’m the same 🫣 In part because I love reading different interpretations of what their relationship is like in the present, what has changed and what has remained the same over the years. It seems like people agree on most things but I love how certain things simply come down to personal interpretation. And look, I know that Anne should’ve included WAY more armandaniel content in the last trilogy but I appreciate the fact that she had a plan in mind for them, or at least a theme: them wanting to spend as much time alone together as possible post-reunion, which is a thing every time their names are mentioned together (them sneaking out in the rain, them wanting to go back to Trinity Gate). They’re in their “run away with me/anytime you want” era and I really love that for them 🫀

I’m so into post-canon Armand and Daniel and I'm so glad you are too! Anne didn’t need to tell me they’d get back together for me to believe they would—I firmly believe they always will, they’re soulmates and two sides of the same weird coin, plus Daniel is Armand’s only fledgling. They have a bond in love and bond in blood. And they’ve always been so absolutely feral for each other. I just can’t imagine them staying apart for long without extenuating circumstances. I believe they’re that couple who will have their periods of being apart (either because they’re doing different things or because they had a fight, lol) but they’ll always come back together. They’re magnetic and they love each other so much.

But I am glad Anne did give us little mentions that they were in fact doing things together and, correct me if I’m wrong, as far as we know Daniel and Armand are living together when the series ends. Which is good enough for me. Of course I would have loved Daniel to get more screen time. I mean aliens are involved! Let the guy talk about that! I want his perspective on that stuff! Or just to be included in the ending because he is such a vital character. He’s the reason the series exists! He’s the one who started it all. I mean, come on! ISTG Anne.

💖💖 THEIR RUN AWAY WITH ME ERA 💖💖 Listen anon, I love that so much I want it on a throw pillow or a t-shirt! 😭😭😭 I’m going to refer to it as that from now on, it’s perfect, no notes. 

I love that you’ve pointed out how they seem to want to be alone together when they are mentioned in the last trilogy. I hadn’t really thought of it that way and now that’s my happy thought. Because it does seem in line with my prevailing in-universe theory for why we don’t get more of them together and that’s because they want their privacy. 

We know Daniel never wanted fame. He published Interview with the Vampire under a pseudonym. I can imagine he was vaguely uncomfortable with his story being out in the world once he realized people he knew might find it. (Which is a funny thought given how eagerly he devoured Armand’s story in TVL but like.. I don’t blame him there.) 

But also Armand and Daniel have been through a lot. Armand tried to end his life and has had to spend time recovering and then got saddled with two kids because Marius thought it would tether him to the world. Daniel thought Armand had died and he’d lost him and went mad for a while. Like they’ve been through some shit. I can absolutely see them deciding that they want some space and for their story to be kept off the published pages of Lestat’s books as much as possible and Lestat acquiescing because he clearly does love Armand. 

If they want some peace and their time together left out of the books, if they want to disappear together or run off alone for long periods, or even just sneak off to Paris when they’re at Court, or hole up alone in Trinity Gate with a “No Vacancy” sign on the door, frankly that’s beautiful and they deserve it. I love that for them.

Thank you so much for the ask! 💖💖 I’ve had a horrible week and this has greatly improved my night. I hope I wasn’t too rambly, my brain is very fried. 

[performativezippers]

I think you mentioned changing (?) one of your books or planned books from an adult novel to a young adult novel. I was mostly wondering how that affects things. Is it just a matter of aging the protagonists down, or is there more going on there?

Ahhhhhhh this is THE question! I love this question.

It's more than just aging the protagonists down, for sure. You need to make sure the themes are appropriate for teen audiences, as well as the language (for me, this means taking out the word "fuck" like, 90 times), the setting, the vibes, and the characters.

One small example: In Firefly as originally written when the characters were mid-20's, Alex wanted Maggie to be her girlfriend. She wasn't going to be Alex's first girlfriend, but she was going to maybe be Alex's first real love, or her soulmate or whatever. Her last girlfriend. In Firefly as YA, (their names are different but I'll keep using the fanfic names) Maggie is going to be Alex's first real relationship. That means Alex's thoughts about Maggie, Maggie's place in her life, Alex's thoughts when Maggie dumps her, all of those are different because she's never done any of these things before. A first love is different, it's new and shiny and scary and teenage and wild. That's completely different. So that is technically from aging them down, but is way more nuanced and detailed than doing a control+F for "25" and replacing it with "17."

Another example from Firefly: In the original, Alex and Kara call their mom and are like "um what the FUCK you're magic???? why didn't you tell us, you know, when we went to MAGIC SCHOOL????" and she's like "lol oops sorry buddies." This is feasible because they don't live with her or talk to her on the day-to-day. A mom keeping a secret from her adult daughters is way different from keeping it from her teen daughters who literally LIVE IN HER HOUSE WHEN MAGIC IS DISCOVERED. Converting this to YA, however, meant I had to change it all up, because they literally left Mom's house to go to magic school. She had to be involved in some way, or I had to explain why she wasn't in a compelling, realistic, and non-child-abuse way.

So those little things, orientation to parents or siblings, relationship with hometown and people from high school, childhood pets even, all of that stuff needs to be thoughtfully looked at and changed as needed. The same thing happening to me when I was 17 and me now in my 30's will have a VERY different impact, so the book needs to reflect that in all of the nuanced ways it can.

[hello-nichya-here]

Which is the worst writting duo: Bryan and Mike, Craig and Carter, or David and Dan?

I cannot believe I'm saying this, but put some respect on Bryke's name!

Bryan and Mike already get bonus points because, even though Avatar had it's problems, at least there is more than enough good in the show and it's conclusion that the audience doesn't want to burn their TVs after the finale. And even the weakest season was still enjoyable, instead of dragging on and on only to slap us in the face like seasons 7-9 of HIMYM, or making even the past three awful seasons look briliant like season 8 of GOT.

And even the terrible shit like rampant ableism that would eventually make the comics unsalvageable? They never hide that shit. They're ableist dicks, but they're honest ableist dicks.

Why does that matter? Simple: because How I Met Your Mother only lasted as long as it did because Carter and Craig spent years straight up lying to the fans.

The very first episode shows us that Robin, the girl the main character, Ted, is obsessed with it is NOT the love of his life, but she did eventually become a close friend that his kids now think of as their aunt. We see how Barney goes from womanizer to a hopeless romantic that just wants to make Robin happy, and they spend SIX SEASONS developing their romance, with their wedding leading up to Ted meeting Tracy, aka the "Mother," and the writers are giving interviews talking about Robin and Barney are soulmates, and how Ted's love for Tracy will completely change his life and make him FINALLY experience true love...

And then the finale happens, Barney and Robin divorce because there's no wi-fi at their hotel, Robin starts living the nightmare that is the revenge dream of every incel (aka she regrets being with the "jerk" that the "nice guy" warned her about and is now completely isolated from everyone, desperately pinning for Ted), Tracy is dead and neither her husband nor their kids give a shit, and we have the reavel that the epic love story/tribuite to his deceased wife that Ted has been telling his kids is actually just going "Can I go bone Robin? You know, the actual love of my life? Your mom was just another girl I banged, and she only mattered because Robin can't have kids."

The level of bullshit these two bastards put the fans through was unbelievable, and I can't believe they're still being allowed to work in television. They destroyed nine years of work (though some of said work was mediocre or straight up bad at times) with one absurdly terrible episode that they still think was brilliant.

And now we have the infamous Dumb & Dumber. These two are, without doubt the worst duo on this list, and I instantly knew that, because I was actually OFFENDED that you called them "writers."

There's a reason Game Of Thrones went to shit the second they ran out of books to adapt. The REAL writer was gone, and left us with the two morons that straight up said they scammed HBO when they convinced them that they totally knew what they were doing. The guys who said "themes are for book reports."

Bryke made mistakes, but they never made the heroes suffer a major loss because they "kind of forgot" they still had enemies. C&C might be idiots, but they would have never made Barney be seduced by a girl who said "You want the good girl, but you need the bad pussy."

There's a reason these two got fired from Star Wars before even writting anything: the way they botched the second half of the show, the final season, and especially the finale was SO OBVIOUSLY BAD that two people who thought that was not only good, but actually talked about how they expected it to get 100% positive reviews from critics and audiences like Breaking Bad's finale did, were two men that shouldn't be anywhere NEAR a writting process.

[badwithten]

good short stories for @papermatisse

ok homie needed help writing short fics so heres a list of some short fics i like and what makes them so good despite their length (this sounds insulting but its difficult to make a story effective and short, so if you're on this list you’ve done a good job at it!)

sweet tooth by @lino-nyangi

ok so what i said about ongoing metaphors, this is sorta in the same boat but its less of a metaphor and more of a theme/how to run along a story? like because it flows through y/ns birthdays and each scene is that and the progression of it, it keeps you engaged. its very clear what the story is about, what the end of the story will be and it makes it so satisfying to read!

a life we spent apart for the death we spent together by @lebrookestore

brooke is an amazing writer and usually does do longer fics machi so check her our fr but this drabble works so well with me bc its a familiar theme that the readers know. being so short, you don’t have the words to world build or create depth with your characters the way you normally would. so picking a concept people are familiar with (in this case soulmate au) it allows the reader to already be invested in your story without having to write a lot. if that makes sense? you can just add your story and your feelings, into an already existing universe and get the point across. very cool

return our lives by @hoshwife 

ok sorry to say this again but mads is an amazing writer! legit one of my favourite, if not my favourite, on this app. once again, she does longer fics as well that you should def check out machi. but this story in particular is amazing, reading this again omg, just as good as the first time. i’m not sure how to describe mads writing, as i said above picking a familiar theme allows readers to be invested in the story without a lot of world building/character development but i feel although this story is the opposite. writing about the war which isnt common on this site, very descriptive of the world in the story. mads has just done such a good job at writing something so good but still fitting it into a bit sized fic. this is probably the most “scene of a fic” one on this list i guess? just read you’ll see what i mean lmao anything from mads is so good so yess check it out

crimson by @neo-shitty​

horror! if you're able to put a twist or some gory effects in a story it can be really effective at leaving an effect on the reader. this story does this so well! captures you in at the beginning, and then the last part is just done so well, no spoilers but if you do read it omg. i really really love horror stories for this reason. the twist of the horror. it makes a story great and it can be either done in longer fics or shorter ones ( i have so many long horror suggestions machi hmu bro)

dark clouds by @doiefy​

sorta the same as horror, but some alternate universes work well in smaller bits. i’ve done something with siren/mermaids where it was just a smaller chunk out what could've been a longer au. allows you to write something in there without a full fic, means you don’t have to work out all the lore of a full universe but its still really fun to write! this fic has done a similar thing to mads where you get to build up a little bit of the universe its set in, just enough for your story to make sense then to focus on what the narrative of your story actaully is. if that makes sense?

my last season called ‘you’ by @zh-lele​

i know we already read this story for k-bookclub but it really fits well for the ongoing metaphor point i talked about a little bit. the story is told through sections of the flowers, each feeling is represented by the flowers and what they mean. it’s just a great way to get across the point and meaning of your story

this one doesn’t have a specific fic recommendations but song fics! im a bit bias on this one bc i enjoy writing song fics, but if an artist can fit the narrative of their song into a 3-4 minute song, its sorta the same thing trying to write your story into the same short frame. its really fun like analysing the song, what the meaning is and trying to turn it into a story with the same meaning and effectiveness

this is a lot shorter than i wanted but if anyone has any types on writing shorter fics let me or machi know 🙏

[nootqueen404]

I posted 1,336 times in 2022

That's 1,336 more posts than 2021!

45 posts created (3%)

1,291 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@boss

@prettyboyeddiemunson

@ashyyboyy

@rosemaremembrance

@angelcutieprincess

I tagged 382 of my posts in 2022

#stranger things - 228 posts

#eddie munson - 196 posts

#stranger things 4 - 154 posts

#eddie munson x reader - 103 posts

#steve harrington - 74 posts

#eddie munson smut - 63 posts

#eddie stranger things - 51 posts

#eddie x reader - 47 posts

#joseph quinn - 40 posts

#strangerthingsedit - 33 posts

Longest Tag: 112 characters

#they mean so so much to me i just think that they’re soulmates and are so incredibly complimentary to each other

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Angel's First Time - Devil's Last Meal

Summery: …shit I just realized I have no clue what to put for a summary. All I can really say is that this was based on an RP I did with @steveharringtonanonblog back in late September-early October.

Pairing: Vampire!Steve Harington x Fem!Reader, brief mention of Robin x Vikki and Nancy x Jonathan

Warning (DNI if you’re under 18): All of the characters are over 18! Drinking, swearing, blood, injuries, hardcore flirting, sexual themes, minor blood play, angst (‘cuz Steve was raised by emotionally detached parents and doesn’t know how to express love,) oral (M and F receiving), breeding kink if you squint, Steve breaking free from his nepotism baby status, lots of biting, lots of foreplay, throat training, choking, use of pet names, unprotected sex (for the love of god please use protection folks).

Halloween Night, 1988

Robin insisted that Y/N (who she affectionately called Angel) be her Plus One to Steve Harrington's Halloween Masquerade Party. Any other time Angel would be all in to go to a party, especially if it involved the incredibly handsome and charming Steve Harrington. But after the last few years romance wasn’t exactly at the forefront of her mind. She moved out of her parents' house in the summer of 1985 – before shit really hit the fan – and lost her apartment when the "Portal to Hell '' opened up a year later. Since then Angel has been staying at Robin Buckley’s house for free – in exchange for driving her to and from work (and trying to teach her how to drive.) She could have asked Vikki, but Robin is still trying to ease her way into a first date.

During those rides Y/N got to finally meet Steve Harrington. Robin and Steve became an unexpected duo after their time at Scoops Ahoy, then moving onto Family Video. Angel was always too nervous to really talk to him more than just saying “hi” and some light teasing. Apparently he was hit pretty hard when the Portal and earthquake too. His parents were gone; either they moved out or they died no one knows. They just kind of vanished. Since then he really pulled himself out of that hole; he inherited everything from his folks. When we say everything, we mean everything!                No more struggling to get by because his dad wanted to "teach him a lesson." He took some of that money he got and invested in stocks, that made his money double. Then he bought rights to Scoops Ahoy, money back then tripled after opening a dozen franchisees all across the midwest. Needless to say Steve Harrington went past just peeking in high school. But with all of that he's spent less and less time with Robin and the rest of his friends. Yeah, he had his own businesses to run and figuring out stuff with his dead parents; but people swore it was like he just locked himself away in that new mansion he bought and just drowned himself in his work...he doesn't even go on dates anymore. King Flirt Steve Harrington not dating? That’s insane.

Anyways, Robin was on Y/N’s ass to dress up for this party. The invites were very specific about the dress code – "It's Halloween; go nuts! Bring on the opulence, but make it edgy – you must incorporate leather, spikes, and/or harnesses." She told Robin the literal BDSM shit was fucking weird. The brunette just shrugged it off and said "It's Halloween at Harrington's. What else were you expecting?"                   Luckily Angel had some stuff lying around to make a pretty damn good angel costume, maybe a little on the nose come to think of it. Nancy Wheeler helped Y/N make wings out of this gorgeous iridescent leather stuff she found in her brother's D&D shit. Y/N kept it simple otherwise; white mini dress that hugged her curves, strappy silver heels, and her hair was teased. She also had a garter belt that matched her wings that kept her stockings up, white elbow length gloves, and all of the sparkle and glitter Nancy, Robin, and Angel could get their hands on. Robin went as a pirate, nothing too crazy. She was given an exception to the dress code since Steve and her were so close, and Robin has some sensory issues.

“Christ, Steve went all in with that inheritance, huh?” Angel said aloud as she parked the car.

Robin was fixing her eyeliner in the rearview mirror “Yeah, he's a real Daddy Warbucks now. She stopped and made a face “That felt wrong...”

“You said it, not me!” Y/N shot back with a laugh. “Jesus Christ, this dress is short!” She was struggling to adjust the wings while not flashing anyone.

The pirate got out of the car and helped her friend adjust the straps of her harness. “Yeah yeah shut up! You picked it out, remember?” she grabs the angel’s hand and dragged her up the walkway, “Come on! Dingus Warbucks is waiting!”

Angel rolled her eyes and followed along. Steve's security/wait staff showed the two girls the way into the main dining hall.

“Geez if I didn't know any better I'd say Steve was having one of those parties,” Angel’s eyes darted around all of the guests. “It's like the set of Hellraiser in here.”

The pirate let out a scoff “Nah, not even Steve would be that bold.” Suddenly they both heard cheers and clapping and looked to the grand staircase – it's Steve Harrington. “Oh god...spoke too soon.”

Ever since the earthquake, Steve had put on a fake front for everyone, though still laying back and focusing on his business. The deal with his parents was a messy one, he almost got caught, but if there's something he knows how to be, it’s persuasive. So now – the music booming loudly through the mansion; guest after guest entering the house, he never felt more content, and hungry. The party was just a fakery to get the one thing Steve really needed...blood. It's been a while since he had this much food in one room, but that just doubled- no, tripled the fun.         Making his way downstairs, the crowd cheered like he was the biggest fucking superstar, but they would do that for anyone who invited them into their home and offered them free drinks. Saluting them, the music turned down slightly so he could speak.

“Hello everyone; glad to see you here- Christ, there are so many of you!” He says in awe, hands settling on his waist. For him, they were nothing but chunks of flesh, filled with the essence of a long lasting life. “Tonight, will be a night of sin! So grab a drink and have fun!” He urges the crowd; already scanning the room for a potential prey, preferably girls since they're the easy one to wow. Just a bit of the Harrington charm and they're on their knees, begging for me to suck them dry.

"’Night of sin’?" Y/N looked at Robin “Okay he is shamelessly doubling down now.”

“That's what you noticed? Not that clown suit he's wearing?” Robin gestures to Steve's outfit. It could only be described as Dracula meets Jared the Goblin King; spooky, extravagant, and sexy. Intricate gold and jewels dusted his body from his dress shoes up to his eyes, which were lined with black and red eyeshadow.

“Oh yeah I definitely noticed” she replied, your eyes drifting to the slacks Steve was wearing. They hugged his body perfectly to the point she could almost make out his so-called “legendary length.”

Y/N were zoning out again when… “Hello?! Earth to Dingus!?!” Robin snapped her finger in front of her face.

“What? Oh! Hi Robin…” Angel said, grinning sheepishly.

All Robin could do was shake her head “And you call me shameless...” before she dragged the angel to the food and drinks. “Come on, I'm starving!”

Steve flashed a smile and received some more applause, letting the music play again as he walked down into the crowd and started greeting some people. Everyone was on point with the dress code, and he was pleased with it. It made him stand out less into the crowd. His costume...well, is it even a costume if you came dressed as yourself – a vampire? With every time one can imagine, and uncomfortably tight slacks, walking down the stairs, he was starting to regret his decision but that didn't stop him from going to the kitchen to grab himself a drink.

Angel couldn’t help but continue to look around the mansion at everyone. “Hey Rob?”

Robin turns around after grabbing her fifth mini quiche “Yeah?”

Angel fidgeted with her gloves as she spoke “I can’t help but feel like I’m underdressed for this…am I?”

“Pfft No way” Robin exclaimed, “You look amazing; absolutely gorgeous!”

Angel lets out a forced laugh as she grabs a few snacks on a napkin “Really? I’d say I look cute, pretty even. But not gorgeous.”

See the full post

63 notes - Posted December 1, 2022

#4

Welcome to my Nightmare - Chapter Two

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Summary: Y/n and her friend Faye made it to Zombie Todd’s House of Sin, but will Eddie even recognize you? Is he the same man you remember?

Pairing: Vampire!Eddie x Fem!Reader

Warning (DNI if you’re under 18): All characters are over 18, swearing, hints of fighting, arguing, groupies mentioned, rampant fantasies,

A/n: I had to break this one down again. So WtmN might be more than 3 parts. Shout out to @reddeadgirl666for putting up with my bullshit and being my second set of eyes.

Tags: @groupies-do-it-better @reddeadgirl666

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

Your best friend swung the car right into her drive way and the two of you made a B-line for the basement, or as Faye liked to call it, her “Cave of Wonders.” She lived with her grandparents since they needed extra help in their old age. Since she was the Head of Hawkins High’s Costume Department she did all of her work from home. Monster masks rested on mannequin heads on shelves, the floor littered with fabric scraps along with towering bins filled with props. Two of her three sewing machines still had unfinished gowns waiting to be altered for the next play and the walls were covered with both movie and band posters. With all of the cans of hairspray, fabric glue, and fabric dye the basement always smelled clean and fresh – mostly because her Grandfather was former Navy (making him a clean freak by default) and the laundry room was right next door. Trying to pick just one costume from the sea of clothing racks was almost impossible. Should you go as a witch? No, too basic. How about the Childlike Empress from the Never Ending Story? No, too elaborate and you’re way over 18. That would be weird! Faye suggested Princess Leia’s slave outfit, but you were worried about being arrested for indecent exposure.        Finally you settled on a short black dress with lace accents along the hem and a built in faux corset and paired it with an cream-colored off the shoulder blouse with three-quarter bell sleeves, fishnets that Faye had bedazzled with red crystals, and knee high boots. “Vampire with a modern twist” you called it. Faye called it “Man Eater Material.” You paired it with a few long necklaces, vampy makeup, a short blood red cape, and teasing your hair to Jesus. Faye decided on being clever by going as her namesake – a fairy. She wore a dark green skirt that looked like leaves and was dotted with little white flowers and a sparkly lavender butterfly top. Her red hair was put up into space buns and dusted with glitter. Faye pulled on a hair of matching fingerless gloves, a pair of beautiful iridescent wings, and anklets that jingled when she walked. She slipped on a pair of white converse for comfort and you both were out the door as the sun started to set.        By the time you reached the venue it was already 7PM. Faye didn’t tell you this place was an hour and a half away from Hawkins…or how run down the place looked.

“When you said the place was called ‘Zombie Todd’s House of Sin’ I thought you were joking…” you said looking the club up and down. The building looked really small and was covered with graffiti and old promo posters. Attached was an old hotel that could have doubled as a Victorian castle. There was a line out the door and the entrance was flanked with bouncers. Faye touched up her lip gloss in the rearview mirror of her baby yellow 54’ Ford Thunderbird

“Now Y/n, do you think I’d really make up a name as ridiculous as that?” You just stared at her. Yes, yes she would.

Your friend rolled her eyes at you and took your hand, leading you inside. You both showed the bouncers your IDs, stamped your hands, paid the $10 entrance fee, and went inside the so-called “House of Sin.”

The club was a lot larger on the inside; there were three levels – a balcony that looked over the entire club and had a few places to sit, the second one you and Faye were on that lead to the bar and some booths, and the finally one being the dance floor and stage. The walls looked like they were made of crushed red velvet and the stairs leading to the dance floor lit up. Crystal chandeliers that look like they haven’t been cleaned since Prohibition hung from the ceiling, the walls were decorated with local artwork, but the hardwood floors felt sticky underneath your boots. Stay classy Zombie Todd. But one of the most interesting things about the club was the cages.

“Are those fucking cages?!” you started to feel a little uneasy. No way in hell those were sturdy enough to hold anyone.

“Well yeah,” said Faye “remember hearing about go-go dancers? That’s where they would perform for tips. Now come on Y/n, Burgie needs her juice!” The tiny red head dragged you over to the bar and you ordered some drinks.

The bartender had to get his manager over to double check that Faye was in fact 21, and he begrudgingly gave her the dink she wanted. You settled for a rum and coke, though the Kick-Flip Faye ordered did sound amazing. You both made it down to the dance floor just in time for the shitty DJ to finish their set, Faye’s bells ringing with each step she took.

“Try it! It has pineapple in it!” shouted Faye, your ears still adjusting to the booming speakers. You took a sip and immediately felt the room spin.

“Holy fuck Burgie, what’s in this thing – Sugar and rocket fuel?” You thumped your chest with a closed fist trying to get burn out of your system.

She laughed “Close! It’s got three kinds of rum in it, some fancy-shmancy liquor called Galliano or whatever, vanilla syrup, pineapple chunks, and pineapple juice.”

You looked at her with some concern “Faye that’s a lot of alcohol for one drink!”

Faye just laughed “I’m also extremely Irish! I can handle it!”

Just then the lights go out and the MC came on stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Ghouls and goblins! The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived! Please give a warm welcome to our very own…Corroded Coffin!!!” The whole club erupted in cheers and applause as the members ran on stage and got into position. “Hey! Put the bottle down and get your ass up here, Munson!” barked the MC as he stumbled off stage, clearly inebriated.

There he was – the man who had a vice grip on your heart since 4th grade – Eddie ‘the Freak” Munson. Long gone was the buzz cut, braces, and chubby cheeks. He was a man now, a man in his element. He waved to the crowed and flashed his signature grin. All of the members of Corroded Coffin were dressed up like classic Universal monsters: Jeff was the Wolfman, Gareth was Frankenstein, and Kevin was the Mummy. Eddie, on the other hand, wasn’t dressed up like any particular monster. It looks more like he made his normal wardrobe spookier. He had on black ripped jeans that had bat wings along the waist, a vintage blood red tee with Alice Cooper’s severed head on the front, black Vans, and his trademark battle vest layered over a black leather jacket. Eddie was also wearing makeup; his eyes lined with black eyeliner and some black and red eye shadow for dramatic effect. You don’t remember if he’s ever worn makeup before, but good God did he make it look good! If anything it made him twenty times hotter. His warm brown eyes looked darker, sultrier and almost evil, his fangs glistening in the stage lights.

“Fangs…?”

BWANG!

A soon as the first cord was hit you were up and out if your seat, the riffs slammed into your chest like a freight train. He was playing Metallica’s Master of Puppets. You almost forgot how great Corroded Coffin was live. You remembered the day Eddie gave you Coffin’s first demo, how excited he was for you to hear it. You remembered how pissed Dustin was that you got a copy before he did. Eddie laughed at him gave the young DM a copy before, as Ed put it, “creamed his pants.” When Eddie was on the run you played it almost every day because of how much you missed his voice. But he’s here now, standing on stage singing his heart out and blasting away on his most prized possession – his electric guitar “Princess.” It was silly but sometimes you got jealous of that stupid thing. You wanted Eddie to look at you like he looked at that guitar, hold onto you for dear life like the guitar. You constantly fantasized how those rough fingers of his felt on your skin…in your heat…

Faye was watching you watching Eddie. “Jesus fuck are you whipped y/n…” She waved her hand in front of your face trying to see if you’re even blinking. She understood your crush on him. You’ve always asked Faye how she didn’t possibly feel anything for the charming metal head. If anything it made more sense for Faye and Eddie to be an item. Faye was always the more outgoing one of the two of you and the chemistry between her and Eddie seemed to be there. But she always said it would be “too much chaos” for either of them to handle. Faye also said it would be like dating her twin.             She only ever had eyes for Steve Herrington: All looks, no brains, big heart, but eager to learn, and willing to please. But Faye was getting tired of waiting for you to make your move. It looks like it was time for Faye Burgun to play Cupid.        She had taken a break from watching you to slam back the last of her drink, and the next thing she knew you were gone.

Panicked, Faye scrambled out of the booth and started looking for you. It didn’t take long for her to find you. You were standing as close to the stage as you could without entering the mosh pit.

See the full post

68 notes - Posted July 26, 2022

#3

Eddie Munson HC: Having a Chronically Ill Partner

Yes this is purely self-indulgent, leave me be okay?! Bare in mind that much of this is based on my own experience as someone with multiple chronic illnesses. I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Chronic Anemia, Small Fiber Neuropathy, and Pre-Load Failure.

Even though you knew Eddie was the non-judgmental type, you were still scares to tell him about being disabled. Obviously he wasn't phased.

But on the inside all he can think about is “what can I do? What can I do to help y/n? How can I make their life easier? How can I let them know how much I love them?”

Eddie is best friends with Dustin, so he has a little experience with medical stuff. Part of the reason they are friends is because Jason Carver tripped the freshman on his first day and Eddie seriously though Dustin broke something. Eddie wound up in detention for fighting, but he still snuck out to check on Dustin and leaned about his CCD. The rest is history.

But yeah, Eddie tried to ask Dustin for advice. Dustin just acts like a smart ass and roasts him for assuming he knows anything because you and him are disabled and "must know each other." Eddie panicked and apologized profusely (we know how much he HATES confrontation,) but after he realized they Dustin was fucking with him Ed gives him a massive wedgie.

The internet didn't exist yet, so research is hard to come by. So Eddie does the next best thing - ask his Uncle Wayne for advice (he just reminds his nephew that the library is a thing.)

He probably asks Nancy too because "Hey she's pretty smart." She does help a lot actually, mostly by being the voice of reason and encouraging Eddie to learn from you.

Eddie asks A LOT of questions at first, enough to where he learns about one of the most common symptoms - brainfog and cognitive fatigue. Now he just asks the doctors you see.

Speaking of doctors he acts as your personal chauffeur to all of your appointments, even if you have a drivers license and a car. He knows you're more than capable of driving yourself, he just doesn't want you to put more stress on your body then you need to.

He's also not afraid to speak up on your behalf if a doctor or nurse tries to gaslight you. He remembers early on in your relationship of you coming home an appointment, just sobbing your eyes out about "no one believing you." That lit a fire under his ass.

He's threaten to throw hands with said doctors. But most of the time he just passive aggressive.

You've tried to explain Spoon Theory to him ("Why the fuck is it spoons?!?") So he changed it to a Health Bar, Hit Points, and Mana because he's a giant fucking nerd like that. Honestly it made more sense to both of you.

He's a lot more cautious now when it comes to his dealing, either cutting back on making deals to keep both of you safe, or triple checking the quality of his product. If what he deals could help someone, someone like you, then he knows it needs to be perfect.

When you tell him that some of the stuff he sells can help with your symptoms he makes sure he keeps the really good stuff in a safe place for you. Only the best weed for his baby.

Eddie stocks his kitchen with all of your favorite snacks and drinks, much to the annoyance of his uncle. Wayne bought him a mini fridge just so Eddie wouldn't overstock the main one with nothing but Gatorade.

Eddie is always worried if you're too hot/cold (In my personal case I'm always cold).

Too hot during those grueling summers in Hawkins? BOOM! Kiddie pool! BOOM! Pedialyte popsicles! BOOM! Umbrella!

See the full post

97 notes - Posted September 23, 2022

#2

Have you ever had that moment when you’re reading a wicked awesome fanfic on tumblr, but then your phone “refreshes” the page, and now you can’t find the fanfic you were reading

I was reading an amazing Eddie x Reader x Steve fanfic and I got pulled away for some reason and I LOST IT!! All I remember about it is that the author wrote in all lower case, the story started off with everyone at a party, and part of the story took place in the back of Eddie’s van. I know it’s not much to go on, but that’s all I remember.

EDIT:

See the full post

145 notes - Posted July 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Oh NO more ideas for fanfics!!!

But I'd do the opposite

Sugar Baby!Steve Harrington and Sugar Mama!Reader

But then Eddie wants in because - hey - he's getting paid to go on dates; and Wayne and him need the money. But SUPRISE the Sugar Mama ends up keeping Steve and Eddie long term.

188 notes - Posted October 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

OF COURSE Sugar Baby!Steve got #1 🤦‍♀️

[rottendollface]

Remember me.

Character: Zhongli | Morax.

Warnings: NSFW, female immortal reader, reader is a scientist, reader has a surname (Virchow), death themes, war flashbacks, obsessive behaviour, Zhongli in all 3 forms (human, adeptus (includes 2 cocks), dragon), virginity loss, monsterfucking, oral sex (reader giving and receiving), anal sex, double penetration, cum inflation, tummy bulge, soulmates, memory loss, symbolism, 18+.

A/N: Some canonical things were changed for the sake of the plot. The plot includes times before the Archon war, during it and somewhere 150-200 years after the fall of Khaenri'ah, from the last one goes: 1) Tsaritsa is a young recently ascended Archon; 2) Fatui Organisation and Snezhnaya aren't so developed as they should be.

Word count: 14 330.

Requested by: @stygianoir

Rex Lapis sent the maids out of his chambers. Their figures in colorful dresses made his eyes hurt, and the aroma of their perfume irritated him. He opened a window to get rid of those smells of bergamot and sandalwood oil, the popular novelty from Fontaine which was inspired by Sumeru's mystical nights, by habit showed his forked tongue to check the air and didn't feel the desired jasmine scent mixed with natural body odor. He felt only the bitterness of smoke emitted by numerous factories recently opened in Snezhnaya.

He looked at the tall houses with peeling paint that were unusually dark and inappropriate between the endless white landscape. The milky fog made air thicker than it should be and troubled vision. It was hard to breathe in layers of warm clothes; corners of eyes hurt because the wind made them water, and frost turned the wetness into ice immediately.

Poor suffering lands with poor suffering people. It was impossible to live in Snezhnaya due to lack of sunny days and the Archons who didn't care about their people. The Tsar was a simple tyrant who at least managed to raise his country from its knees and made the life here stable (Rex Lapis didn't want to think about numerous victims of his regime: hunger, epidemics, deportations to the least developed parts of Snezhnaya and many other crimes against humanity were a usual things for the Tsar to perform), and now Tsaritsa, who killed him in a terror attack during his speech on the main square, was busy with other problems and could never find the time for her mortals.

Every Tsaritsa's move on the world stage surprised Rex Lapis: her actions were chaotic and looked like an agony of some wild animal, not a strict policy – she was too young and too naive for this role. He could easily tell: people who served her were greedy to the power she had offered them. Stubborn and stupidly confident in their rightness – bastards, not diplomats.

'What an honor,' Tsaritsa smirked. Pierro, her faithful vassal, was silent but heeded carefully.

'Your sudden expansion of military power couldn't leave me uninterested. I believe you remember the things that happened not so long ago.' Rex Lapis looked at Pierro to illustrate his words with a perfect example. 'Other Archons are confused as well. They want to know the reason you started building factories and enticing the best scientists and engineers to Snezhnaya.'

Rex Lapis didn't care about Snezhnaya and its military, he also didn't see any troubles with Tsaritsa recruiting people of science in her country – the real reason for his visit was much more delicate.

When Rex Lapis had heard about miracle healings in Snezhnaya and the talented healer who was taking care of all the sufferers without fear of getting infected, he knew who they were talking about.

'Snezhnaya deserves to be developed and glorified like Liyue and Fontaine. I'm tired of surviving and being afraid that every day can be the last day of my empire. Your fears aren't my problem. And you,' Her cold eyes pierced Rex Lapis as if she surmised he wanted to steal something from her. 'You are welcomed, but not for a long time. You know, how they say in Natlan: fish and guests smell after three days.'

'As well as they say: fools rush in where angels fear to tread. You should think more about making friends with other Archons and improving trade links, not play a mighty and wise ruler, which you are not. Talking about the main problem of my visit, you gave shelter to my dearest friend that disappeared long ago.' Quickly Rex Lapis changed his tone from affable to menacing. Tsaritsa's boldness wasn't conducive for a long pleasant conversation.

'We don't understand who you are talking about,' Pierro said roughly.

'Then I will give you a hint: she is the owner of the Moon Home.' Rex Lapis felt anger and relief at the same time: he found you finally, the year of his futile searching for your traces had ended, but the situation didn't promise a heart touching reunion.

'When I asked lady Virchow about her homeland she told me she doesn't remember a thing about her past,' Pierro declared, looking at Rex Lapis with a stern look. 'She will stay with us. We treat her with love and appreciation, she did a lot for Snezhnaya and will do even more in the near future. Snezhnaya needs talented people like her.'

Rex Lapis narrowed his eyes: he didn't expect Snezhnayans to rebel, and your surname, which he didn't hear for such a long time, sounded alien to him.

Tsaritsa didn't like the liberty in Pierro's actions. The atmosphere became heavier with every word. Tsaritsa couldn't remember if she had seen Rex Lapis like this before – the aura around him was sinister, and the golden light from pulsating Geo inside his veins was glowing under the black dragon robe.

'You are playing with fire.' Rex Lapis was close to losing composure.

'Maybe she ran away from your dictatorship,' Tsaritsa didn't care about you but couldn't miss the opportunity to tease Rex Lapis while Pierro became nervous: he didn't want to give away such a precious mind. Your scholarly articles were outstanding, just for a couple of months you had invented antibiotics, described deadly parasites and bacterias that were threatening Snezhnaya for centuries, and found the way to cure it. You knew how to heal every disease and built the Moon House – a shelter for everyone who didn't have a place to go and needed help. Orphans, victims of domestic violence, ill and wounded, everyone was welcomed in your house of compassion.

'You will change your mind when I turn your beloved Snezhnaya into the land of the dead.' Rex Lapis looked indefferently at Tsaritsa's bewilderment face; no emotion or compassion hit his cruel heart.

'Are you threatening me because of some girl?' Tsaritsa exclaimed as she didn't expect such vulgar intimidation. 'You better be joking!'

'Xiao,' darkness deepened behind Rex Lapis' back, and the youthful yet strongly built figure appeared in the meeting room of Zapolyarny Palace.

The demon mask covered the face of the man, but the tight convoy guard's grip on the bright jade spear and back haughty straight showed clearly that he was trained to kill at the command, without questions.

The emotionless face but panic in the dull blue eyes; lips pursed. The empress sat on the frozen throne, the crown on her head hurt her skin with sharp crystals, but thick droplets of blood froze in a painful crust in between her neat curly hair. Hoarfrost on the tips of her eyelashes, inside her glass shoes – snow-white lifeless feet. Her body wanted to shake from all the fear she felt, but Tsaritsa sat still, watching small whirls of wind swirling around the head of Xiao's spear.

What happened to the old prudent Geo Archon? You were just a regular human – small and unnecessary for the Archons and Gods, a tool that needed to perform its function and disappear in a scrap. In his time he had met enough men of science; some of them were smarter and more inventive than you, but he didn't care about them. Tsaritsa couldn't believe it was love: Rex Lapis' heart was made of stone, egoism, and ruthlessness. The origin of the warrior craved for violence – someone like him could show only the ugly cynical parody on such a wonderful feeling.

The short knock at the doors sounded thunderous in the stressful silence of the meeting room. Rex Lapis recognized this sound immediately – your elegant fingers were tapping at the wood.

'Your highness,' you made a step into the room, noticed that Tsaritsa wasn't alone. 'Oh, I'm sorry. I will come back later.'

'Fine. And you are?' She looked at you carefully: Geo was stored in your body, but you didn't have a Vision. Belatedly, Tsaritsa understood the reason Rex Lapis needed you so much.

'Virchow, your highness. You called me to examine the kids of the House of the Hearth.' You nodded and glanced at Rex Lapis and his yaksha without interest before leaving the room.

As beautiful as on the day he had met you, you were the same woman Rex Lapis had known for more than two thousand years, but for you he was a stranger, just an Archon of a distant island – your memories were erased, and you forgot everything that happened between you and him.

In the old times, when human civilization was miserable, and innumerable demonic gods were ruling the world, you were traveling around the old Teyvat to spread the knowledge of astronomy and medicine around it. As one of the first scientists you were respected, regular people who didn't have enough patience for meticulous studying were waiting for you to come and teach them a part of your wisdom. Legends and rumors about you crossed the world faster than you expected; you were like a goddess, your skillful hands and care saved a lot of lives, your eloquence attracted everyone to listen to what you were saying. For your dress with long black sleeves that followed you like a forked tail and the fleetingness of your blissful presence, people called you the Swallow lady: lone and earnest, you were bringing happiness and prosperity just like swallows.

Lands of the Lord of Rock were your final destination. Once Rex Lapis turned into a human to ensure your skill and magnanimity: in the form of infirm old man suffering from a terrible disease that disfigured him and made everyone around glance at him with disgust, he came to you, seeking for a cure. You did your best, trying to heal the one who didn't need to be healed: Rex Lapis made it more difficult every day for you to find the right mixture and cause of disease, but you didn't think to give up – you used herbs and mixtures worth of twenty head of cattle, which could keep you comfortable for the rest of your life, but you didn't care about wealth and sacrificed yourself for the patient that needed you. As a God of abundance, Rex Lapis was amazed by your devotion and readiness to abandon the rich life for a person you had seen for the first and probably last time: you could save these herbs for rich patients or sell them for a good price. For that, he showed to you in all his glory: black emperor's robe embroidered with dragon from golden thread, glowing eyes, and Geo, shining inside the veins of his talented hands. He offered you to be his counselor, promised you unrestricted access to the knowledge of Gods, and granted you immortality – he would pledge you everything, only to get a person like you by his side. Rex Lapis wanted you to be a patron saint of his nation, so you accepted his offer: it opened you the opportunities you couldn't even dream about, so both Rex Lapis and you were glad.

As a stargazer, you enjoyed spending your free time watching stars and thinking about the nature of outer space. By your ingenuity, you calculated the shape of the planet, explained the cause of eclipse, and was able to predict the date of the next eclipse — when the battle for the Archon's throne had started, you helped Rex Lapis to win the battle with Osial: the One, who now were laying in the deep, was confused when the sunlight suddenly had gone, so Rex Lapis, who was warned by you, made the decisive blow and pinned Osial to the ocean.

Time was flowing fast when you had a peaceful life with your God and nation, but when the war came into your land, the time stopped, and the whole day seemed to you a year: the old world was melting in hellfire, as it became fragile, miserable, and was deprived of mercy from the Celestial Gods. The sky was red, and the earth was hot and feeble: the whole cities were slowly falling into the devouring deep of flame, fear, and sorrow when their Demonic Gods were dying. You had nothing to fear: everyone was protected under the mighty hand of Rex Lapis, who made allies with adepti and yakshas to protect his people. Not a demon could seek into the sacred land of his; still, he was afraid: the hatred of defeated Gods accumulated in the earth and plagued people with epidemics and natural disasters, so you stayed with injured one to help them, for days you searched for people who went missing. You weren't afraid to step into the fire and worked equally with men to clear away ruins after rockfalls and earthquakes. To help you, Rex Lapis taught you how to manipulate Geo without having a Vision: he held your hand to share with you an elemental energy, just a little part of it – your delicate body couldn't take more without being hurt.

Smoke from battles and fire settled on your clothes and hair, making your eyes hurt. It was hard to breathe, and you were close to faint from lack of clear air – days after days you had spent in this state, praying for Celestia to end the useless war. You tried not to make friends with yakshas and adepti to prevent yourself from crying in case of their death, but tears formed in your eyes every time you had known about all the fallen. Nothing could soothe you: you felt scared and vulnerable when you had seen another land dying in fire. You tried to convince yourself of your safety, didn't want to annoy Rex Lapis with your problems and panic, but his emotionless face and cold eyes of a ruthless warrior just worsened your sorrow. The man you had known for so long was gone, and the refined hands of a creator became rough and calloused. Every time you patched him up after a fight, you were terrified of all the wounds he had got. He tried to make you feel better, but he was in fear, too: the fear of loss crippled into his mind and showed an ugly dream of losing you every night when he tried to find the rest for his exhausted conscience. Rex Lapis didn't want to scare you away, but he was close to going insane and locking you inside his palace without warning you. You meant much more for him than he meant for you, and it was killing him slowly: he had noticed long ago that your and his constellations were sharing the same stars, and when you appeared on his territories, those stars started to shine brighter. He was waiting patiently for you to understand that he was your soulmate – you were promised to each other by Celestial order, and none of you could escape it, still you weren't ready for him. You had seen only a master in Rex Lapis while he had seen you as his partner and was dying from his love. Every time he wanted to touch you, to feel your warmth against his, he had to stop himself, afraid that he couldn't restrain the desire – the destructive desire man felt for a woman. The only thought of your sweet body made the blood boil in his veins and teased the voluptuous thoughts, not worthy of a God. He respected you, but he wanted you to fear him, love him, and obey him – and he would be your slave. Rex Lapis would throw the whole world at your feet just to get more of your attention. All of his friends were dead from his own hands; you were the only treasure left in his life.

One time, you came into his chambers, where he stayed as a dragon, late at night. The war didn't seem to have an ending, but he got the time to rest, wounded worse than usual: demons gnawed his thick skin, tore pieces of him just to knock the powerful dragon at the earth, where them, just like a pack of jackals, would surround him and devour every unprotected part of his body. He was sighing heavily, ready to whimper from pain, when he felt your scent near the room, then the shy bar of light from the opened door showed on the floor, and disappeared fast, and the careful sound of your steps reached his ears. You stopped near him and lighted a small lantern that was tied to your belt.

Rex Lapis avoided showing you his true form. He thought it was frightening you and making you uncomfortable to talk to someone inhuman and bigger than you. Usually, he appeared to you as a middle-aged, handsome man, but every time he was at loss of power or tired to keep the human form, he had to show as a beast: you were so much smaller than him, such a tiny but brave, breakable lady. It didn't matter to him how many years had gone from the day you became immortal, he still treated you like a human. You were just like a flower for him, and he believed you needed his special care.

'I'm sorry to disturb you,' you noticed that he wasn't sleeping, his tail moved away from you. 'I got a new medicine from Cloud Retainer; it will ease the pain. May I?'

Rex Lapis blinked slowly, allowing you to do everything you wanted.

'Zhongli,' you moistened a cloth in the medicine and laid it on his wound. 'You shouldn't fight alone. Next time, let us help.'

It was rare to hear his human name from you – you were embarrassed that he chose it to free you from calling him in an official way. He wanted to be closer to the human culture to show you that you and him were at the same status.

Zhongli didn't want to see you on the battlefield. He wanted to know that you were safe and sound in his palace, protected by the spells he had cast. Zhongli wanted to have a place to return to, to have someone who would wait for him to come back. You spent an hour taking care of him, and when Zhongli had heard you packing up your mixtures, he was afraid you would leave.

'Will you let me stay for the night? In case you need me.' You came to his snout to see the answer in his eyes and smiled when he brightened for a moment before dull pain found him again.

Zhongli could never refuse you. Even in moments when he wanted to be left alone, he needed your presence: he delighted in your company, your heart of joy made him feel better. The one smile on your soft lips was enough to clear his gloomy thoughts. Zhongli could swear your aura had healing properties.

You settled down between his neck and shoulder; his cool skin made your body cover with shivers, soft fur on his neck tickled your face – it was unusual for you to sleep half sitting, with your lower part kept on the floor, but you had to control Zhongli's breathing to understand if he felt better or not. He bumped his snout in your cheek gently, rubbed against it to thank you – in such a state your scent comforted him, but a frail sense of comfort could easily turn into arousion, because his male strength and instincts that he remained as a beast were stronger than pain. Soon, you fell asleep, curled up on his paw like a kitten, yet he felt your sleep was light, and you were ready to wake up in case something went wrong. Zhongli placed his head next to you, warming you with his breathing to lull you and convince your alertness that everything was alright.

After this night you became closer with him. You started treating Zhongli as your respected friend; now you could let yourself chastise him for not being careful enough, and Zhongli tried to make up for it, smiling guiltily.

The war was close to the end, and the sky finally became clear, all the smoke disappeared with the northern wind. The sense of safety and prosperity came back to everyone, and the first flowers bloomed in the gardens of Rex Lapis. Zhongli noticed changes in your character. Every time you told him about your scientific progress or a new discovery, you didn't make a strict report out of it like you usually did, but was talking in awe and acted happily. You were joking more around him and tried to spend as much time as you could. He confessed to you first, and you accepted his feelings without thinking. Zhongli was finally granted for all the pain he had to endure: you loved him patiently, always stayed on his side even if you had an opposite opinion. You left your duties and canceled your plans for him; you had always been here to share his sadness and fun. You were a great support for him – and he was the same for you as well. You only had to think about something, and Zhongli had already done it for you. Your every wish was his command.

It was years full of happiness and harmony. You rarely left abode (at the request of Zhongli), got used to a life of Gods and adepti: your ascending was finished, now you could live without mundane habits. At first, it was strange for you to eat only fruits and herbs from sacred lands, and absorption of elemental energy seemed too complicated to you, but adepti and yakshas were happy to help you master the skill. Your friendship with yakshas gladdened Zhongli, but at the same time it made him jealous: he was happy that you made friends so easily and wasn't treated like a stranger, but he noticed the way Menogias and Bosacius looked at you. For them you were a woman – and they treated you as well. For strong yakshas it was a pleasure to help the lady with hard work, in their free time they were seeking for you to ask for a task. You had always found a job for them: sometimes you needed herbs from the highest peaks, on the other day you were moving astronomical equipment from one spot to another for a better view, and then made a revision in your library – all your job needed a pair or two of powerful hands, and Bosacius and Menogias helped you gladly. Zhongli didn't announce to his inferiors about a relationship with you; he didn't think it was necessary, but he felt the desire to make everyone understand to whom you belonged.

In Rex Lapis' abode time was flowing slower than in the mundane world – and people forgot about the Swallow lady.

It was years full of joy, but Zhongli stayed away from felicity and merriment. He couldn't sleep without you sharing the same bed, he couldn't eat without you sitting in front of him and retelling him a fable you heard from Menogias or Bosacius, he couldn't work without you knocking at his door and asking for attention. Something was torturing him, and Zhongli didn't understand the reason for such paranoid behavior. He was alarmed and ready to protect, but there was no enemy left near his domain. It couldn't go on like this, and soon enough, Zhongli was emotionally exhausted. He couldn't stay in human form and share the bed with you to make your nights comfortable. You followed him everywhere, didn't ask awkward questions – when Zhongli encircled you, curling up to sleep, you laid on his cold body and told him tales from different cultures to help him fall asleep. Your own voice was like a lullaby to you; pleasurable slumber took only you, but not him. His exhausted mind was suffering from lack of rest: Zhongli was lying in one position, afraid to disturb you, tried to keep his eyes closed, and followed an attempt to unleash all the thoughts and worries. Your soft body and quiet breathing warmed him, put him into a deceitful illusion of somnolency, but something deprived him from falling asleep. He opened his eyes, then shut them because of sudden itching and pain. Zhongli scanned the room with elemental sight, trying to find the reason for his anxiety but found nothing. You were sleeping calmly, and Zhongli was jealous of your tranquility.

Zhongli loved you a little too much – his love turned into blind adoration and was close to rebirth in obsession. He noticed every detail in your appearance, regarded you shamelessly: the peony gold hairpin, the circular silk fan with a painting and a lacquered handle, the embroidery silk platform shoes with pattern of a dragon and phoenix – and these he bought gladly. Hairpins had a special meaning for Zhongli: when you just arrived at his land, you didn't wear any accessories, let your hair down, so Zhongli was waiting patiently – you were a delicate bud, not ready to bloom into a flower. Now, when you lived with him for so long and had known all the peculiarities of his culture, such a small thing like a hairpin had an important meaning – the flower had bloomed and was ready to be plucked.

Could the young lady still be untouched? Did someone dare to make you half-virgin not to damage your reputation? Did someone show you the pleasures of flesh by just touching you? It was surprising for Zhongli that you didn't have any experience. You devoted your life to science and teaching, but your face was lovely, your eyes were shining with ardor yet meekness, he couldn't find a lady prettier than you. Your beauty was beyond the compliments, and the best masters of word couldn't describe even the hundredth part of your loveliness. You were more beautiful than lilies, fragrant with femininity and youth, – what great power gave you the strength to fight the lust?

The perfect bud, which mother nature saved for the sacrament of your first night with man, now belonged to Zhongli, and you honored him to be your first and only lover. When his kisses became hotter and his words were luscious, temptation brought with it a tingling sensation of arousal. Zhongli kissed your seductive pink lips with carefulness not to hurt their delicate softness; his tongue licked them slowly before entering your mouth. Clumsily, you tried to kiss him back, and your fervor mixed with hot wetness of your mouth teased him, tempted Zhongli to go further to satisfy his carnal curiosity. He wanted to see you naked, needed to admire the charm of your firm breasts and curves of your body.

Zhongli trailed his lips on your neck, licking the sensitive skin veily and sucking on it every time your body was covered with shivers. Your sighs got rapid; instinctively, you held your breath to heighten your senses. His hands were pressing on your breasts and messaging them through the clothes slowly, Zhongli had already felt your nipples were hard and swollen. Finally Zhongli undressed you, his thorough gaze noticed your rounded breasts immediately, your nipples were begging to be touched. He placed his hands on your sides, enjoying the sensation of supple velvet skin taking the form of his palms.

You moaned quietly, when Zhongli touched your heated nipple with his tongue, moistened it with saliva before he took it inside his mouth, while his hand slowly stroked your inner thigh, close to your womanhood. You were curious to see him naked, wanted him to press his strong body to yours and hold you as tight as he could for you to never escape his embrace. Suddenly you felt his hot kisses moving down your belly, then Zhongli left a gentle bite on the fat of both your thighs; his hands kept them apart.

The beauty of your private parts pleased him to the point of noticeable delight: everything here was rarely petite and promised the best sensation. Your clit was shyly covered with a clitoral hood, your hole – already quivering as if offering him an invitation. Zhongli kissed your pussy, his tongue slipped between your clit down to your hole to prepare you for future actions; he kissed and sucked on you shamelessly, enjoying the way your quiet moans changed on loud and impatient. He adored shuddering in your legs, when his tongue plunged into your hole, penetrating you a little – for your first time he kept the human form, so his tongue couldn't reach the deepest part of your body that pleaded to be played with. Zhongli replaced his tongue with middle finger and felt the thin ring of flesh, tight and clenching from pleasure. Zhongli pressed on the opening gently, pushing his finger deeper without effort, while his thumb was rubbing against your clit, and his lips – kissing your face to ease your pain. It was uncomfortable yet necessary: the ritual of deflowering and releasing all the feminine energy was important for the future prosperity and grace.

It was unusual for Zhongli to perform act of intimacy while being a human: as adeptus he could slide his forked tongue down your throat then abuse your poor pussy by tickling every sensual spot deep inside, he could hug your waist with his tail adding pleasurable pressure and keeping you still while he would be stretching both of your pretty holes with his two dicks – thick and veiny, full of strength, and always erected, ready to spill his sperm as much as he wanted. Both of his members needed attention from a maiden, but sadly, it didn't matter how hard she tried to satisfy his passions, it was impossible for the poor soul to make God reach his limits – and it was only his adeptus forms. As a glorious dragon of colossal size Zhongli was gifted with large dick, not similar to the human one, heavy and ribbed, with elongated curved tip that huddled right to cervix tightly for better breeding, and nice knot; he also had a thick tongue about 6 inches long. Variety of Zhongli's forms had a special preparation for all of them, and he was excited to show you the whole abilities of your body. By living with adepti you unconsciously absorb special elemental and divine energy that would let you accommodate everything Zhongli would do with you: some magic would be necessary while taking him in dragon appearance.

Overwhelmed by stretching, you came right after Zhongli added his second finger. Your lower belly tightened, your thighs heaved as you moved towards his fingers and your pussy sucked them deeper, trembling around them and soaking them in your juices. It was unusual to you, you had never felt a climax like this: your fingers were shorter than Zhongli's and you had never stuffed yourself with more than one finger. Zhongli pulled out his fingers covered in white cream and sucked on them. It was so hard to suppress the inner beast and not turn into adeptus – your pheromones were driving him crazy, and his mind was filled with animalistic mating and breeding. He undressed himself quickly, didn't give you a chance to look at his body: Zhongli kissed you again, bit your lips before letting his tongue back to the warmth of your mouth, while pressing at your hole with the tip of his dick and pushing it inside.

'Tell me when it hurts,' Zhongli whispered to your lips, saliva streamed down your chin when he broke the kiss.

You couldn't call it a pain, but the irritating stinging feeling of being stretched made you shut your eyes to calm yourself. You just needed to accommodate, but it seemed impossible to adapt to such a huge size. Zhongli didn't move until you became comfortable and gave him permission to continue. He started at a steady pace; soft moans escaped from his throat at the sensation of your virgin walls constricting him and taking the shape of his dick and spasming obediently. It was easy to make you cum again – the aroma of sex in the bedroom, heated moans, Zhongli's body pressing you into the mattress, his balls slapping your ass slowly, all of it was enough to bring you to release. You squeezed bedsheets in a fist and tilted your head, giving Zhongli signs of your climax. He pressed your thighs to his waist, his mouth found your neck and sucked on the most sensitive part, trailing it with tongue and leaving wet traces before biting your skin gently. Zhongli knew you were tired already, so he was ready to finish with you. You moved your hips with his, shaking and clenching your legs on his back, forcing him to thrust in your spasming pussy harder and made Zhongli cum inside. Zhongli continued fucking his seed deeper, until his awoken instincts were satisfied. Thick shots of pearl white liquid spilled out your hole right after Zhongli pulled out his still erected cock. He kissed you softly, his hand caressed your cheek – Zhongli was proud of you for taking him so well at your first time.

The difference between maiden and woman could be seen easily: all your movements became more elegant, your figure got a special softness, and the contour of your rounded hips could be guessed under your clothes – Zhongli treated you specially, it was a sign for other men in his domain, and it didn't escape Cloud Retainer as well. She insisted on Bosacius and Menogias that you were in love with Rex Lapis, but they didn't want to believe it until they would hear it from you or feel his mark on your body with elemental sight. You were clear for now – it was just a small trace of Geo in your hands, as you were practicing the power Morax had given to you.

Zhongli didn't hurry to mark you: this process needed his adeptus or dragon form, but you weren't prepared enough. You were comfortable with getting intimate, your body wasn't sore after a session of love-making, and it was harder and harder for Zhongli to keep the human form when you kissed him passionately – still he needed to stretch you better. Zhongli didn't have problems with your consent, as you were open to try new sexual things and trusted him a lot: one time you found erotic engravings in human world, and asked Zhongli to try something that was depicted on them, as you could entrust him your every desire. You knew he wouldn't bring anything that could hurt you, and curiosity made you aroused every time you imagined how Zhongli would make your cravings real.

Zhongli was ready to serve you, but the impossible tightness of your once virgin holes demanded from him hours of preparation; you found the way to make it more enjoyable for both of you: with you laying on top of him and your head towards his feet. At first it was embarrassing to use such a position, but soon no shame left as you were able to suck Zhongli off while he was playing with your ass and eating you out at the same time. Tortuously slow movements of his fingers in and out of your anus made your legs tremble, but with pleasure as you became familiar with such a strange feeling. Zhongli pressed all the right spots that were close to the ones inside your pussy, he knew your body oh so well he could make you lose your head by just touching you.

Zhongli started to spend more time with you as an adeptus. He was taller and bigger than his human appearance. Zhongli let his black tail rest behind his back; he had horns, long and curled on the ends, his skin was cold, as now he was a half dragon. For you it was interesting to look at him moving his tail, or showing his forked tongue to check the smells in the air.

'Can you self-amputate your tail?' You asked him out of the blue once, while you were playing with it. Zhongli and you had a rest under the trees with a perfect view on the ruins of Cuijue Slope – it was your favorite place to visit, so Zhongli recreated the whole territory in his abode. You laughed when you felt how his tail tensed because of your sudden question. 'I'm just curious, sorry.'

'I can,' he smiled to your surprised face. 'The new one will be grown in three month.'

'Fast enough! Dragons and lizards are really sharing the same traits. Impressive. Call me if you drop it, okay? I'll take it for my research.' You pressed his tail to your chest, cuddling it like a toy. You enjoyed playing with it due to the unusualness of such a part of the body, and you had no idea that it was deadly as fangs and claws. 'Talking about your tongue, do you really identify smells better by tasting them?'

'I get the full image of the environment,' Zhongli should have predicted your interest in his changed appearance, still your questions were a little boring – you had never asked vulgar things because you were afraid to offend him.

'And do I have a special smell?' Your cheeks turned pink from embarrassment.

'Yes,' smile showed on Zhongli's lips again. 'I like it a lot. My clothes and bedsheets have your smell on them, your's have mine as well. You can't feel It properly, but I can. I also can know who you have talked with during the day just by sniffing you.'

'Ew! You are probably going insane from all of this!' You grimaced because of how much information Zhongli could get by this ability.

'I'm used to it, and it helps me to check on your health, my love. I'm taking care of you too.' Zhongli let out almost a mocking laughter at your rounded eyes.

'Do you mean?..' You began and stopped.

'For example, your ovulation doesn't pass unnoticed by me.' It was something lovely in teasing you and seeing you blushing and confused, but the joy disappeared fast enough and Zhongli became serious. 'I have to tell you about one thing you might not know about. If you let me make love with you in such a state, I will leave elemental marks on your body. They are invisible to the human eye, but could be seen by everyone who can use an elemental sight. Those marks are important to creatures like me, as they show that a person already has a mate, and they don't disappear with time. Please tell me about your decision when you think my words over.'

'It's not a problem at all.' You touched Zhongli's hand, started rubbing his knuckles with your soft fingers. 'I wanted to tell you... you don't have to stay as a human or adeptus with me. I'm afraid you might think I don't love your real form or feel uncomfortable with it. I know you waste a lot of power to control your appearance, you don't rest properly because of it, and I want to spend more time with real you.'

'I appreciate it, my love,' He took your hand in his and put it to his lips, kissed it carefully. Zhongli was glad to hear what he had heard: the only issue of ascending (of which he had never talked about) was a loss of human feelings. Love, adoration, compassion, grief and other feelings were alien to adepti and most of the Gods, who were runneth with wisdom. The mighty one whose heart could tremble from fear, and lips could smile from joy was blessed and cursed at the same time by Celestia. Feelings and emotions were a great gift and a terrible curse: Zhongli knew how to rule people because he could place himself on their position; he knew what was love and importance of the family to humanity; he knew the dread of being forgotten; Zhongli experienced death of the one he once loved, he went through the ruthlessness of war and decay of ambitions and ideals, but he could never understand the complexity of human worriers and fears, just because he was different breed. Zhongli was afraid you would lose the thin link between humanity and divinity, and your heart would roughen up; but you didn't change – you still had sympathy to the monster like him, granted Zhongli with mercy of your love.

Zhongli didn't like you to leave the abode since demons sometimes haunted the human world, but in honor of the annual Rite of Descension he invited you to see the ceremony: he felt guilty for every year you had skipped because of his egoistic desires. He convinced himself that nothing bad would happen under his control, and not a demon would dare to corrupt the day of Rex Lapis visiting his land. You accepted an invitation happily, already impatient for the next day's event. A fuss took over you and you asked Zhongli numerous times if he needed your help with something and brought to him important topics about health care and education in the human world. A lot of things changed with the flow of time, and you were intentional to see everything with your own eyes.

It seemed to be almost impossible to sleep since you were inspired by an upcoming event. The night went fast, you were fully dressed and ready to leave long before the beginning of the ceremony – Zhongli made a promise to show you the whole city and tell you in detail how Qixing were ruling it without guidance from Archon. When you finally made a step on a mortal earth, you were shocked: the world of mortals changed beyond recognition since you visited it for the last time. Awkward houses of wood were replaced with dignified buildings from stone, walking paths were paved with stone as well, everything was decorated simply yet stately. You noticed changes in fashion and behavior of people, even language was different from the one you had heard – pronunciation was complicated, some syllables changed their sound. It took some time for you to read the handwritten signboards and understand the meaning of texts.

Finally the ceremony started: people of Qixing lightened up an incense burner as the Tianquan was reading prayers. Sky parted, and the dragon Archon came to the land.

You were sitting among the nobles with a perfect view on Rex Lapis. You smiled, when he looked at you squinting his eyes. You were watching the ceremony carefully until you felt the irresistible urge to distract on what was happening on the streets: from the lodge for special guests you could see the center of the city as well. You noticed the young girl, who was stomping around the hot earth in an attempt to run away from stinging pain in her little feet, covered with dust. The sun was blazing, and by the way people pushed the girl away with disgust on their face, you understood she might be sick. Zhongli forbad you to leave without him, but you couldn't sit still: you slid out unnoticed and hurried to the poor child.

The girl stepped on a sharp rock, sighed fearfully and looked around, trying to hear the voice or steps of her mother. She couldn't see – her eyes were covered with rag, soaked in pus fully. Her hair was cut roughly, short locks were dirt with sebum. She put her tiny hands on her head, protecting it from the sun and pressing leftovers of her hair to the skin; she was swaying, as she felt dizzy because of the sweet, sickly smell of disease. She made a final step before she lost balance and fell right into your open arms. You sat on your knees, and let the girl rest her head on the silk of your dress.

You knew adepti were watching you, and the moment after you heard the flapping of Cloud Retainer's wings. She put a spell on the crowd of people so they couldn't see all of you.

'It's okay, I'm here,' you patted the girl's cheek, your eyes were tearing up because of the unbearable stench. `We should return to abode immediately.'

'You can't take a mortal to a sacred place.' Cloud Retainer shook her head. 'That's the law of Celestia. Even you can't violate it.'

'It should be the way! She will die without our help!' Your cool hands brought a peaceful relief to the girl, her heavy breath became regular.

'You can't save everyone and change their fate,' Cloud Retainer was uncompromising.

'Maybe I am her fate and I need to help her. Just look at her,' You were in panic, fast thoughts in your head and humming from the crowd of people around you brought you a headache. 'Zhongli... he will let me, I know it.'

Cloud Retainer looked at you with a shred of contempt – you let yourself to call Rex Lapis so vulgar around her, and your connection to the world of mortals still was strong enough. Impunity and permissiveness of yours led to a tragic consequence: Rex Lapis loved you too much and let you do everything you wanted, so now you were unable to understand the simplest rules of life and dared to take the decisions only Gods were allowed to take. The circle of death and birth couldn't be violated because of a whim of yours. You knew this girl was doomed and human medicine wouldn't help her, so you wanted to use the bliss of God's abode to enhance the healing potential of mixtures you had made. Behind your soft heart Cloud Retainer could also see vanity: you wanted to acquire an unusual disease to your collection and be the first one who was managed to cure it, to save a hopeless case – sordid sins were fresh in you, despite the hundreds of years you had spend with adepti.

'Should I start lecturing you again? Celestial order is sacrosanct. Nothing could compete with it.' Cloud Retainer couldn't finish her speech, as you interrupted her.

'Morality and mercy are higher than every order. World wouldn't be damaged because of one saved soul, and I will be the one to be punished for my decision. You have nothing to fear. Please, just let us enter the abode.' It was humiliating for you to beg Cloud Retainer for such a small thing, but you weren't able to enter or leave the abode by your wish – only adepti could do this.

'Celestia will remember this.' Cloud Retainer did what you wanted. Now she understood – mortals (even the one who was blessed) learn from their mistakes only, unlike adepti and other creatures of higher rank. It was easier to give you what you wanted than talk some sense into you. After all, her master's words would have more weight than her own.

It was impossible to save the girl's sight, but you managed to stop infection from spreading before it reached the nervous system. By chance you noticed that the mix of herbs you burned in the censer had a special effect on health: the girl's immune system became stronger, not a sickness could affect her. You knew it wasn't one of the potions, ointments and tinctures you used – you described their every side effect and checked it carefully. When the child was able to walk and eat by herself, you had to return her to where she belonged, but you couldn't just leave her on the streets. You spend weeks searching for someone who would be happy to adopt her. By all this time you stayed with her, you had to imitate the life of a simple woman, and you didn't like what you had seen: it was hard to earn money to buy food and water; kids, adults and oldsters had to work a bigger part of the day to make a pittance. While nobles were prospering, everyone above them was dying slowly. Finally you found a good family for the girl and left the human world, determined to criticize Qixing in front of Zhongli.

Zhongli didn't tell you a word against your deeds – maybe he became soft-hearted, but he just waited for you to come back to him, despite his hurt that you abandoned him so easily for some child. He wasn't honest with himself: Zhongli wanted you to lose any devotion to everyone else but him. He wanted you to be cold and unemotional like adeptus with everyone, but loving and caring like a human with him, as he was jealous so bad it drove him crazy. Zhongli needed you more than people he swore to protect, he wanted to scream and howl when you wasted your attention on someone else. He didn't want to admit that Cloud Retainer was right: blood is thicker than water, you would never forget your origin and would be stuck between humanity and divinity. He had to talk to you, but you didn't want to hear him. You thought you were right: Gods and adepti needed to teach themselves compassion, become independent from Celestia.

'You can hide everything from Celestia, you can lie and wipe out all the evidence of your crimes, but you just don't want to, because it's easier to be a puppet in Celestial hands.' Your words pierced Zhongli like a poisoned arrow. Suggesting something like this to the God of contracts – you probably lost your mind the second you decided to spit those words out of your mouth. 'Why am I explaining such things to you? You are the one to settle rules of contracts, you can manipulate truth and facts in a craziest way and worry about Celestia? Just why?'

He shouldn't have listened to you, he needed to punish you for everything you blurted at him, but deep inside his soul he agreed with you. It was something he had been thinking about for a long time, but wasn't brave enough to admit.

'This is between you and me.' Zhongli wanted to forget this like a bad dream, so he retired to his cabinet, leaving you alone with your indignation.

You went to the Cuijue Slope, fortuitously saw a couple of swallows flying above a long faded grass. You had never seen swallows before in the abode and smiled. It was a good sign, and you believed it.

Zhongli calmed down fast enough, and was waiting for you to return. He didn't care how grievous your sins were and how corrupted were your thoughts, he would forgive you everything – you were his forbidden weakness. Without you Zhongli wouldn't survive the war, without your support he wouldn't make his nation prosperous and happy. He heard chirping from the window, and smiled – swallows came back to their nest. It was a good sign, and he believed it.

You showed up in his room with the first drops of rainfall. The timid knock at the door was like a bliss. Zhongli could easily recognize it: two short, fast knocks with the knuckle of your index finger. Kiss of apology, happy hours of pleasant conversation, your soft laughter and crinkle at the corners of his eyes from merriment, light of your smile – it was the usual atmosphere of a rainy evening Zhongli was waiting to feel again. His tail was caressing your leg, strived to climb under your clothes to tickle your skin, going higher and higher to the sweetest place of his desire. Zhongli missed you badly: lubricious excitement was corrupting his thoughts and blurred his view, making him focus on you only. He tried to stay calm, but his imagination was running wild, and forced abstinence made it even worse. Zhongli was dreaming of the moment his teeth would leave a red mark on your shoulder, while he would stuff your womb with loads of his seed and keep it inside until the knots would let him pull his cocks out. Zhongli was nasty and shameless in his thoughts, fantasizing about your graceful body covered with his cum on the most attractive parts: your lips, chest and tummy. Nothing could decorate your pale pink lips and your supple skin better than a droplets of pearl white liquid, he believed.

As the conversation died slowly and gave place to the physical contact, Zhongli's gaze became more tempted. You glanced back at the door, wondering if you locked it, opened a delicious sight of your neck muscles tightening under your skin and making a relief – it begged for Zhongli to leave a kiss on it, trail his lips down your neck and tickle with his forked tongue and sharp fangs. Instead he let himself touch your skin with fingertips, while squeezing one of your thighs and rubbing another one close enough to your core with tail. You looked at Zhongli, your lips parted to catch a breath from sudden stimulation, and he pressed his finger to them, shoving it inside your mouth, under your tongue, encouraging you to lick it. You put his finger on your tongue and closed your lips, nibbling and sucking on it gently.

Zhongli's tail was pressing against your crotch, while he replaced his finger with tongue: he pressed fingers on your jaw, let his tongue inside your mouth; the recesses on it bumped into the tip of your tongue, tickling it, before sliding down your throat. His lips covered yours in a lewd kiss, sharing saliva with you until it started dripping out of your mouth. Zhongli was impatient and didn't waste precious time: all his instincts demanded from him to mark you right now, he needed to prove his rights to you and his male significance. Zhongli flicked his tongue – you were aroused enough for him to sense your pheromones and feel your body odor becoming clear and intense.

Grinding against his tail, you pressed another kiss on his lips, your hands slowly put your clothes down and left your chest bare. Zhongli wrapped his arms around your waist, made you sit on top of him, so you could feel his strong erection and his two cocks pressing against your lower body with impatience. You were as needy as him, curious to taste the new side of intimacy. You helped Zhongli to undress, squeaked, when tail replaced his hands and clenched on your waist. He took a specially prepared oil from a nightstand, lubricated his fingers to prepare your holes before penetration. His tail took you down on the bed to make you lay on your tummy; Zhongli spreaded your buttocks, applied an oil on your anus, rubbing it in gently before inserting two fingers inside. Your worked up muscles took him easily, without pain or an unpleasant feeling. Your pussy was leaking with natural lube and needed attention, but was neglected by Zhongli as he was busy playing with other hole, pushing his digits in and out, and scissoring them inside your tight ass just to make you moan and squirm.

Zhongli got what he wanted – you begged for him to fuck you, used such a vulgar, boorish word, as you were desperate for his cocks to finish a sweet torture he gave you. He helped you to turn on your back, and you saw his palms glowing golden with stored Geo inside. It was unusual to see him like this: his hands, except palms, were black, but covered with golden symbols and runes; instead of skin on his sides were scale, that shimmered in candle light; you looked at his cocks and held your breath – two fat, curvy cocks of color black were fully erected and sticked to Zhongli's stomach, twitching from arousal; tips had already soaked in precum, and golden veins along the length were pulsating, as well as knots on both of his dicks were swollen, ready to prevent his seed flow out your pussy. The tingling sensation inside your body made you spread your legs even wider. Zhongli lubricated his cocks, rubbed them against your holes, teasing you for his sadistic pleasure. You hugged him, moaning in pleasure from stretching – you were tiny for his size, long preparation eased the process but weren't able to prepare you enough. Your lower tummy was bulging at the size of cock: Zhongli groaned and pressed his hand on the bulge to feel himself moving inside your pussy. A beautiful sight like this brought him a visible satisfaction.

You were overwhelmed at sensation of two cocks fucking you at the same time in a rough pace, tight grip of teeth on your shoulder and another one on your waist by tail. Zhongli used the tip of his tail to rub against your clit, pleasure hit you from all sides, it was impossible to run away from it, as he was stimulating all the right spots, even the deepest one you didn't know existed. You came shamelessly fast, but asked Zhongli to continue, as you needed more of him. Overstimulated and sensitive from the first climax you felt strange at your lower belly – something was building up, ready to spill at any moment. You felt like an animal in heat, heady and devoted to the lubricity of carnal pleasures, ready to perform every disgusting fantasy only to prolong the sweet serving to lust.

Zhongli was close to cum: both of his knots became bigger at their size, with final powerful thrusts he pressed your hips on his torso and came inside, filling you to the brim with numerous shots. You grabbed Zhongli by his hands, releasing your climax and squirting from such an intense outburst of his seed that was stretching your uterus with an unbearable amount and elemental energy he passed into your body.

'You did so good, my love,' Zhongli leaned to kiss you, left a soft peck at your lips then at your sweaty forehead. You smiled and hugged him.

You were resting in a strong embrace of his hands, listening to the sound of rain tapping against windows and cornices. Zhongli loved this atmosphere of pleasant silence, as you and him were just enjoying the presence of each other, and no words needed at the moment – only your hearts beating at the same rhythm, the true connection of souls. He couldn't stay with you for a night as he had some important business, but you, understanding and all-forgiving, were alright with it. You didn't ask him what was the matter, just gave him a goodbye kiss and tried to enjoy the cold bed on his side. You didn't sleep alone for too long – and it felt lonely. Zhongli would give everything he had only to have you in his arms again: he missed you so bad he was delirious – he could swear he felt phantom touches of yours on his skin.

Zhongli remembered clearly how you visited his cabinet and told him something wasn't right with Moon and sky: as usual you were checking analemma – the fixed position of the Sun in the sky during the year – and noticed that a diagram of figure eight was roughly broken and turned out to be a complete nonsense. Moon for some reason became closer as it was before, and new constellations, which you had never seen before in this world, appeared. The problem wasn't in your tools and you didn't make any mistakes – you rechecked it again and again, and everything was fine.

'Like someone put us under a dome,' you muttered in agitation, pressing fingers to your chin and looking away. Zhongli hardly remained calm, yet his hands were trembling nervously and he clenched his fists.

'Forget about it,' his tone was cold, and didn't imply any discussion. 'and go back to your room.'

A fake would never repeat an original – Celestia knew it and just needed more time to recreate the natural position of stars in the sky. It was hard to imitate exact astronomical processes, but Celestia didn't mind to hurry: humanity was still miserable and didn't have opportunity to notice a swap as stargazing and astronomy were considered as black magic, but Celestia didn't count you. Zhongli didn't know what to do – not a word could be hidden from Celestia. He prayed for them not to pay attention, was trying to come up with an idea of how to hush it up.

He could have lied. But he didn't.

He could have hidden your aura from all the Gods and mighty. But he didn't.

The God of contracts couldn't lie as he despised liars and cheats. The God of contracts was too vainglorious to lie to himself, and he scorned the human sins – so he thought Celestia would never dare to punish a woman that belonged to him. He had a great power and could compete with Celestial Gods, so they would have treated him as equal. But they didn't. It was horrifying for Zhongli to find a ruined nest of swallows with their carcasses laying underneath, so he locked you inside his palace and prohibited you from leaving it.

No one was supposed to know, except the Seven who swore to protect humanity. The fake sky was a protective shield between Teyvat and the Dark Sea: Celestia was afraid that those who betrayed the heaven order would unite and take their place in a fight. The whole war was the result of Celestial fear – the fear that borned from exorbitant pride of every god-like creature. Celestial Gods were afraid of rivalry, the desire to be indispensable was above the moral and the concept of sin, so they decided to take control over the seven strongest Gods of the human world, and they succeeded.

Zhongli thought nothing could hurt you inside his palace, but he was wrong. He could sense the looming threat, but didn't know what to expect. He was imagining the dreadful scenarios of demons attacking the abode or a plague ravaging the Teyvat, but you died in the morning right before his everyday visit to you. A scorpion got into your clothes and stung you when you were dressing up. He couldn't do anything to save you, as it was too late when he found your breathless body.

Zhongli couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe: he still could sense elemental energy passing through your body and the weak aura of life in it. You weren't dead, but didn't recover consciousness either. Didn't matter for how long he was waiting for you to wake up – years had passed before Zhongli decided to give your body a final resting place. He made for you a crystal coffin and left it in a cave on Cuijue Slope, far enough from cities and people, so no one could find you. Protected by spells and guarded by yakshas, you were sleeping peacefully in your best dress and with your favorite hairpin in your hair. Not a day left without Zhongli visiting your tomb: he believed one day you would wake up.

He couldn't live without you. The Earth became empty and life lost its colors when you left him. Zhongli didn't talk to anyone and didn't want others to talk to him – he was sitting at his cabinet in a deep thoughtfulness, waiting for you to knock at the door and distract him from his duties. Cloud Retainer, who seemed to be more depressed than others, tried various ways to cure you, but all her efforts were useless. 

Zhongli didn't cry, but he wanted to. He couldn't drop a single tear, but only crushed everything that got under his arm in an attempt to ease the heartache. Zhongli hated himself for his pride, for being weak and tricked like a puppet. He could easily sacrifice his nation to save you, he would die himself for you to live.

The only thing left for him was walking down the cold corridors of the cave only to reach your coffin and fall on his knees, kissing it and, lean his forehead to feel the scalding cold crystal instead of the warmth of your body, he used to worship. Grief-strickened Zhongli became distrustful and petulant. He had seeked for the cure on the whole Teyvat, and no one was able to perform a miracle. Even the Lord of Dust, Guizhong, wasn't able to keep her word and make you alive: she came to Rex Lapis and promised to resurrect you in exchange for him protecting her and her people, and he agreed. Zhongli heard a lot of her wisdom, even renewed his spirit, but she died soon.

Century after century he was watching his old friends and subordinates dying, until he became indifferent to it. Zhongli didn't care anymore and devoted himself to his people – as a good Archon was supposed to do. The evil was haunting Teyvat again, so Xiao and him, both in beasts form, didn't know rest and fought against it day and night. Wounds covered Zhongli's body, and the new day brought new suffering for him. He thought he would die – bleeding wounds were festering and his whole body was affected with toxins. When he was at loss of power, Zhongli made a great effort to reach your tomb, and fell unconscious near your coffin, dreaming of meeting you again in the afterlife. Zhongli woke up two days after, his wounds healed and turned into scars – it was a discouraging surprise for him, but with this it was another evidence that you still were alive. Zhongli's hope was his curse: he couldn't let you go and was clinging to every opportunity to bring you back, knowing perfectly it wouldn't work.

The abode became a dull and uncomfortable place. Adepti moved to their domains, and only Xiao among all the yakshas remained alive, but lived in Wangshu Inn. The sacred land had seen a lot of deaths, and blood soaked in groaning earth, even the sun stopped shining: only fog and heavy clouds adorned the abode's sky.

Zhongli didn't visit your grave for a couple of months – it was too hard for him to find the strength to see you again. He didn't want to know that Xiao felt this way, too. After all fights and missions you were the one whom he had seen right after opening his eyes: when Xiao was young, inexperienced yaksha, he oftenly lost consciousness from using his elemental skills too much, and you were taking care of him. By spending years in your company, Xiao began to consider you as his older sister. He hesitated to interact with you, so he was admiring you secretly. It was rare for him to show at Cuijue Slope, but every time he did, Xiao whistled in a bird manner, hoping that this whistle of aloneness and sorrow could awake you from your dream.

It was a normal day when Xiao entered your tomb to change flowers in your hands – to show his respect he took care of your tomb, naively thought that sense of fresh flowers would scare the death away from your body – but the tomb was empty. Coffin lid was broken into pieces, bouquet of dead flowers laid on the ground and your body was missing. What was this? A miracle? Or a plunder? Xiao didn't believe his eyes and panic took over him. He was rushing around trying to find someone's traces, and he didn't know what he was afraid the most – of your awakening or a treasure hoarders' crime, so he called for his master and they started their anguising search for you.

Meeting with Tsaritsa ended without contracts: words of your departure to Liyue left unspoken but clear to everyone. Rex Lapis expected Pierro to tell him everything about your business in Snezhnaya, and Pierro had to cooperate.

You didn't plan to visit Snezhnaya: you were traveling around the Teyvat to find someone who could help you restore your memory loss and earning your food and shelter by healing people and teaching them. Pierro noticed you when he visited Fontaine: his good friend, an avaricious landlady of an apartment building where you rented a flat, told him how you eased her gout disease (for that she even let you live for free). Pierro had heard enough stories about your kind heart and rather incredible smartness, so he decided to meet you and invite you to Snezhnaya. He didn't have to persuade you, as you agreed easily, but on one condition – he had to help you find the truth about your past. Pierro made a promise, though he didn't plan to keep it. You gave him your hairpin, thinking it could speed up the process, but left Pierro confused: he found your name engraved on the hairpin, its state and material it was made from indicated that you were a noble woman of high rank (maybe a wife of a Tianquan of the Qixing) from Liyue, and approximate age of the hairpin could prove it, but your old-fashioned manner of speech and words you used (some of them he didn't even know exist) made him think that you and this hairpin were of the same age. You didn't give him any useful information – usually you were muttering something about stars and non-existing constellations, then you told him facts about defeated gods in the Archon war. Leftovers of your memories were disparated so much it was impossible to understand a thing from your words – you forgot the simplest facts of your biography, but could describe how the sky looked 1,500 years ago.

It was obvious for Pierro that you had a patron: a young beautiful lady with such a talented mind could easily attract the attention of the rich and great, so Pierro did his best to lie to you about his progress in restoring your past and searching for someone who had known you before your memory loss. In fact he was afraid of it: Snezhnaya needed you more than others, and he could offer you everything you once had had. Love, adoration, financial support – it wasn't a problem for him, he was ready to fulfill your every whim. Your smartness was above his expectations, so he rewarded you generously for your work. You got the best herbs and other raw materials for your ointments, pills and whatever medications you made; he covered your expenses and supported the Moon House financially, he even gave you the best apartment in Snezhnaya, despite the fact that you preferred to live with your patients. The Moon House was situated outside the city, and every time Pierro visited it, he was amazed at your efforts of keeping it: the building with sharp turrets and blue stained glass windows, the place that smells with viscous incense, herbs and mixtures, and where projections of Moon and stars swinging slowly in sapphire light from a rare wind.

Your job took all of your time. You barely had a chance to sleep and rest: people from all the parts of Snezhnaya came to you for a cure, and you didn't have enough moral strength to refuse them. You trained and prepared a lot of doctors to help you, but people traffic didn't seem to have an ending. Your schedule was busy not only with healing and surgeries, but with preventive events and lectures for constant residents of the Moon House as well. The more people you hired the heavier responsibility you took on your shoulders, but thanks to Pierro who nicely gave you managers and other stuff, you could concentrate only on the medical part of your duties.

You constantly ignored your headaches and noisy flashes of memories that were buzzing in your head like a swarm of beetles. Pierro wasn't honest with you – you didn't notice any progress in his research. You got more information about your past from your rare dreams and headaches, than from his words.

Usually you had seen a tall man with long black hair, sometimes he wasn't alone – with him it were various animals or other people, but everyone treated him with respect and called him master. You couldn't remember what they called themselves, as all the dialogues you heard in your dreams were erased from your memory as soon as you woke up.

It was miserable. All your life was miserable and looked like a groundhog day. You wanted to escape from it but didn't know where you would live and how you would earn money if not with medicine. You were tired of everything already, and the always gloomy atmosphere of Snezhnaya irritated you – not a sun ray touched your skin for the years you had spent here. You were slowly preparing yourself for running away and was searching for a good reason to disappear, and soon, you found it.

Your headaches became more intense and all the pain killers stopped working at once. Thrumming in your ears, visual hallucinations of lights and unbearable ache in your nape made you suffer and chained you to bed for the rest of the day, but you couldn't have repose – even your sickness wasn't an excuse from leaving your duties, and you couldn't cancel a meeting with a man from Liyue, who made all this way to see you and tell you about your past.

Zhongli was nervous to meet with you. You probably were the new person by now, not the same woman he fell in love with long ago. What if you wouldn't like him? What if you refuse to come back? You were his soulmate, so it shouldn't be any problem, yet Zhongli had never felt so vulnerable and scared.

When he made a step into your cabinet, he didn't like what he had seen. Hectic flush in your cheeks, your once bright eyes became tired and dull, and were red and teary, even your skin lost its shine, showing clearly that you didn't have enough vitamins. You were stressed out and overworked, so the first Zhongli's intention was to kill Pierro, but he was able to control himself. Seeing you in this state made Zhongli's heart ache: he didn't care about moral questions anymore, as he had seen that you were fading without his love and care.

Pierro told you this man was here to help you learn something about your past, and you felt a strange distance Pierro kept between you and him. He remained cold with you, but you didn't mind it, you were curious about the reason.

First few days weren't as productive as you wanted them to be due to your never ending headache and strange feeling that haunted you around this man, who was the Geo Archon himself. You planned to go to Liyue after Fontaine, but couldn't decline Pierro's invitation to Snezhnaya, so your plans had to be changed. You were grateful that Rex Lapis offered his help, yet something was wrong with it – maybe his strange gazes at you which you noticed sometimes, or your inner voice, that was telling you to look at him closer as if a mystery was hiding behind his glowing golden eyes.

You made an appointment to discuss everything without hurry and in a calm private atmosphere of your cabinet. But at the day of the meeting you didn't even tell a few words to your visitor before the new spasms of pain attacked your head, and made you shut your eyes and lean against the table to prevent yourself from falling, but it didn't help – all the times you neglected your health made it back, and you fainted. Before you closed your eyes you finally found the reason that was bothering you all this time, so in a delirious dream, you saw everyone with their faces and heard their true voices.

Zhongli tried to bring you to senses, but it didn't work. He couldn't risk anymore, not this time: he took you up in his arms, and went outside before he turned into a dragon. The only safe way to carry you back was to take you in his mouth, so he did it, holding you inside gently, afraid to hurt you with his teeth or slap you with tongue. It was his turn to take care of you – while you slept in a fever, Zhongli was in paranoid distress that Celestia found you again. Cloud Retainer tried to tell him that it was a natural reaction to the sudden return of memories, but he didn't want to hear it. Zhongli violated the law of the Heaven and hid you from God's and Archon's sight: now you didn't exist for them, they could never trace you by your energy, and your constellation was broken for them. You were right – words were a great power, and he could manipulate them as he liked. He could turn the lie into truth, as he was the one who defined the truth and the lie for himself.

You woke up after a couple of days and were greeted by Cloud Retainer. She checked on you and asked if you remembered her – you did, but didn't feel the same way anymore. While you were asleep you had seen all your life from early childhood until these days, but it seemed unreal and you couldn't associate yourself with it, like you watched after someone else. Cloud Retainer didn't push you into a friendship with her and was exercising your body patiently to recover all the abilities of it. She explained everything you wanted to know, but never told you about your relationships with her master – and you didn't bring this topic either. It was embarrassing for you to see all the nights of love you had spent together in detail, you still felt his hot kisses on your skin and shuddered every time you felt his attentive look on you, when you were walking down the corridors of his palace. You knew he was watching you, but couldn't see him.

Zhongli gave you time to accommodate and was waiting until you would want to meet him again. One more time you were first to visit his chamber, made a shy step into the room where he was resting in dragon appearance. Did you miss him? Or maybe you wanted to discuss something that was bothering you all this time? He heard you walking on tiptoes, as if you were afraid to disturb him, your bare feet made a barely audible sound when touched the warm floor. Zhongli opened his eyes, looking at you: you were healthy now, your cheeks got a nice light pink blush, your hair was smooth and shiny, and your skin didn't look dangerously pale.

You felt awkward, tried to find the right words to start a conversation, but Zhongli didn't need it. He touched your shoulder with his snout carefully, and waited for your reaction. You were confused but hugged him, wrapped your hands around his neck, and felt how shivers covered your body from the sensation of fur tickling your skin. Zhongli wanted to tell you how badly he missed you, how his life turned into an endless torture of regret and mourning but remained silent. He wrapped his body around you, trapping you so you would stay with him for the night instead of going away.

Every day, you knew him better again and spent time with pleasant conversations and walks. Zhongli did his best to make you fall in love with him again but accompanied you as a dragon or, on rare occasions, as adeptus. The abode was now a silent place with only two residents, so no one could disturb you – Cloud Retainer left you after you recovered and didn't visit you for a long time, giving Zhongli more space and opportunities. He became overprotective and attentive and didn't let you leave the palace alone. Zhongli assisted your experiments and reading time, prepared a bed for you in his chamber, and tried cooking your favorite mundane dishes.

You started to laugh more frequently when you were with him, narrated some things from your journey. You liked to talk with him before going to sleep, when the moonlight was filling the room, and you rested, laying on his cool dragon body. Zhongli kept one of his paws on you, imitating a hug, and you caressed it slowly, while telling him funny situations you were stuck into, then gave him a goodnight kiss and made yourself comfortable, preparing for the night.

Maybe you weren't the old version of yourself anymore, but Zhongli didn't love you less because of it. He was grateful that you were alive and he could hear your melodic voice and sweetest laugh. Zhongli didn't rush with getting intimate, but couldn't resist his desire to feel your warm lips with his tongue and inhale your arousing body scent, so when you were asleep, he sometimes touched your face with the tip of his tongue, imagining how he would place it inside your mouth when you would be ready for it. You didn't know about all his lewd dreams, couldn't even imagine how badly he wanted to sniff your private parts to understand if your body was ready to take him. On another night time talk he took a risk and licked your cheek, when you made a pause and tried to come up with a new topic. You looked at him with a surprised expression, but smiled and kissed him back, laughing joyfully, so Zhongli accepted it as a good sign. He ran his tongue over your lips this time, noticed how you stopped breathing for a moment; you opened your lips to take a breath, but he put his tongue inside your hot mouth, moving it inside slowly, and imitating frictions down your throat; his paw held you by your waist, you felt sharp claws pricking your skin without hurting it. Thoughts left your head as you started to enjoy such a strange vulgar way of kissing, but only one reckless thought of Zhongli doing the same things, but inside different part of your body made you tremble with excitement, and he noticed it.

As a dragon Zhongli kept a mental connection with you, so it wasn't a problem for him to know your desires. He smiled a little to himself, put his tongue out of your mouth, admiring the thick string of your and his saliva mixed together running down your chin. By your clouded gaze he could tell you wanted more, so he let himself strip you, by digging clothes out of body with claws. You felt his tongue going down from your neck to your hardened nipples, moving slowly down your belly, but avoiding your womanhood and teasing the inner part of your thighs. Despite the shyness and shame you felt, you spread your legs more, begging Zhongli with your actions and impatient folds that were glistening on your labia already. Such a view was driving Zhongli crazy, he curled his tongue on your clit, stimulating it with both rough and smooth sides of his tongue. You moaned long, clenching your fists from pleasure. You made yourself open your eyes to see his tongue satisfying you, moving from your clit to your wet hole and stuffing you full. Your walls were clenching around his thick tongue, sucking it deeper for better sensations. Zhongli kept your legs open by pressing his paws on your thighs, heeded to your breaths and moans to adjust the intensity of thrusts. When you were close to release, Zhongli suddenly put his tongue out, leaving you desperate and confused, only to replace it with his dick, already hard and fully erected. Passing Geo through your body, Zhongli put a protective spell on you, so you wouldn't get hurt – you didn't need more, as he used the same spells during stretching lessons and your body remembered it.

Zhongli wrapped around you to make you lay on him and still be able to see your face, his dick was pressed to the entrance of your core, and he inserted it slowly, while licking your cheek to calm you. Once he was inside you fully, he didn't wait anymore and started moving at a fast and desperate pace, pulling you on his cock hard. Zhongli heard sounds of bodies bumping in each other and with every thrust in your tight pussy he was closer and closer to his own orgasm. Scales rubbed against your body, you could sense Zhongli's pheromones and special smell which appeared on his body as a liquid and marked you as his mate. Zhongli came inside with a loud groan, his body shuddered, almost constricting you in his embrace, and made you cum as well, releasing not only inner coils, but squirting over his pubic zone. Zhongli stuffed you with cum unbearably full, the bulge on your tummy was painful even from the amount of seed he had placed inside you. The second after Zhongli put his cock out, his cum spilled out your exhausted womb, leaking down your thighs.

'I won't let anyone hurt you, my love,' Zhongli hugged you tighter, rubbing his snout against your face. 'You are mine... forever.'

You heard his heart beating in the same rhythm as yours. Now, when Zhongli became closer to the human's nature, he was ready to fight against the whole world alone to protect you, he would sell his soul and steal all the stars only to make you smile.

In the quiet and deserted abode Zhongli and you finally could enjoy the presence of each other, fearing nothing. You were the only one, who stayed with Zhongli in good times and bad, and he was endlessly grateful to you.

With first drops of dew on flowers, belated birds with black feathers and long forked tails flew up into the sky to mark the beginning of something wonderful.

[lovelyjin22]

For Lovers Who Hesitate

⤍ Pairing | Jeon Jungkook x Reader

⤍ Genre | computer science major!jk, animation major!reader, fake dating/relationship, jk and reader are similar in age (barely mentioned), both go to a made up, prestigious university in south korea for the sake of my sanity, jk is frustrating and has terrible morals in this fic, golden retriever personality!jk, technically) fuckboy!jk, hopeless romantic!reader, female reader with she/her pronouns (reader can be any sexual orientation, up to you :))

⤍ Summary | All you wanted for your love life was a secure, loving relationship with your soulmate. Unfortunately, your fat, dumb crush on Jeon Jungkook doesn’t help you at all. Jungkook isn’t into relationships, only leading girls on when he needs a good night. You knew that about him, it wasn’t something he tried to hide (he never talked about himself, but never once denied rumors). Despite knowing this, you confessed your feelings for him.

↳ Warnings | mature themes (mainly cursing and smut)

↳ Word count | 2,065... something, I started editing last minute

↳ A/N: Ughghghhghh I hate how I portrayed Jungkook in this story, bro makes me so frustrated and I’m the one that wrote him LOL. 

You can check out more of my works on my AO3 and instagram! lovelyjin22

Butterflies.

It was the only word you could use to explain what you were feeling right now. You were never the patient type when it came to crushes, always eager to meet “the one”. Confessing to your crushes was always terrifying as the first, yet somehow you always ended up in this kind of situation. 

In high school (especially senior year), you confessed to most of your crushes. Unfortunately, most would reject you. It was always the same reason, that you didn’t know each other very well. It was a good reason, to be fair, you did barely know your crushes before jumping the gun. But isn’t that the point of dating? To get to know each other? Your confessing spree got worse in senior year, with a total of eleven crushes and eight confessions. Most of them you (probably) gaslighted yourself into liking because you were bored. But nothing really stopped you, none of them would remember you when you went to college. You promised yourself that you would stop confessing to dumb crushes once you had a clean slate in college.

Unfortunately, Jeon Jungkook had fallen right into your heart. Something about him was so different from the other crushes. Your silly high school ones would only last a month or so if they were lucky. Yet here you were, crushing on Jungkook for a whole seven months (it may not seem like a long time for others, but to you, this was almost insanity). Broad shoulders, muscular build, the cutest smile, a laugh that was pure magic, attractive piercings and tattoos, you could go on about him for years. The guy who was able to befriend anyone lived in your head rent free for seven months. There was never a time when you weren’t thinking about him (and usually thinking of cute, couple-y scenarios… you never imagined past that to something more mature, you felt too guilty). 

Surprisingly, you hadn’t confessed to him for those seven months, you really wanted it to work out with him so you managed to find some patience. 

Immediately attracted to him, you had asked for his Instagram so you could talk to him. Of course, he was confused but nevertheless gave you his information. Jungkook never said no to a new friend. The two of you became good friends, hanging out with each other in person often and texting everyday. It was like you two were already dating… in fact people usually assume the two of you are dating (unless they know Jungkook, everyone knows he doesn’t date). 

You knew he brought girls back to his place often, it hurt you but you had no right to be jealous. You also knew it was better to be his close friend than just being a one night stand. Jungkook usually forgot his one night stands as well, which gave girls the opportunity to become his friend right after without Jungkook realizing. You found it kind of ridiculous.

But back to the butterflies.

Jungkook was driving you back to your place. The two of you had just gone out for dinner and you had to (unfortunately) finish up homework for tomorrow’s class. There was usually never silence in your conversations, always finding new things to talk about even after seven months. You tried to bring it up casually this entire night, knowing that confessions have a higher chance of working if you’re casual about it. 

“Hey, these past couple of months have been cool and I think we click really well. No pressure or anything, but I just wanted to throw it out there that I like you.”

You pat yourself on the back, your confession was smooth and the ball was in his court. Jungkook, who had his eyes on the road this entire time, finally looks over to you before facing the road again. You were already looking at him, making sure to catch his glance for eye contact. When his eyes went back to the road, you took this opportunity to (maybe definitely) check out his one-handed driving you found so attractive.

“Oh wow.”

Jungkook starts, some would assume Jungkook’s mind went a little blank, but you knew he had his rejection ready. He had rejected plenty of people in the past, basically muscle memory at this point. You start praying to every god possible that his response would be more than just that. You were sweating, would it be too obvious to roll the windows down?

“I think you’re super cool and I think we click really well too.” 

Your heart starts to beat faster and you can feel your face reddening. Would this be your first success? You had calculated everything down to the last confession and you can already feel it paying off. Perhaps all those dating and crush advice articles actually work! Unfortunately, you got your hopes up too soon.

“But you already know I don’t do dating. I’m just looking for quality time with friends. I’m not really ready to invest more of my time into one person only to meet disappointment.”

You smile and hum to let him know it’s all good, no hard feelings. Your hands were definitely sweating and your fingers were definitely fiddling. His rejection was surprisingly mature and something you weren’t expecting. Of course, you were hurt, but you could understand where he was coming from. 

Nodding, you laugh it off, “Ah don’t worry, I totally get that! Dating is a lot of commitment and I hope we’re able to stay good friends after this.”

He doesn’t look over for the rest of the way back to your house, “Of course we’ll stay friends, (Y/n).” You wish you could say you knew him enough to read his voice and expressions, but even after seven months you couldn’t tell what this guy was thinking. Would he really pretend like you hadn’t said anything? Knowing Jungkook and how he can do the same for other girls (who confessed to him and who fucked him), you could probably assume he would. You wish you could say you weren’t like the other girls in the long line of girls, boys, and every other person wanting to date him but you really weren’t. You wish Jungkook saw your guy’s friendship as the gem in the groups of stones or whatever the fuck the saying is, but you knew your friendship with him was only one of convenience for him. You could animate and he needed someone to animate his stupid little game. Anyone in their right mind would’ve refused to, who would spend their precious free time animating characters that fit the male gaze… you, a girl with a big fat crush on Jeon Jungkook. Hell, you weren’t even being paid enough. And it’s not like you can leave now, he’ll think you're a loser or something, he’ll think you aren’t “chill”, he’ll probably think you want to ruin a friendship over some feelings you had for him.

Jungkook isn’t like that, he’ll probably forget the next day. You were just an overthinking and a pessimist, the worst combination. 

‘My Jinji’ begins to play out of his crisp, rich boy car speakers. Fuck this guy and his stupid, romantic playlist.

You tried to keep the conversation light after your confession. You didn’t want him to think his rejection would change you, it would make you seem like a bad person… right? You somehow roped him into a light (more like distracting from the previous conversation) topic of you wanting to paint your apartment’s walls (due to the apartment being a rental, you’re not allowed to paint it, but you desperately needed a change in conversation so you’ll just ignore that information for now). 

You pretended his rejection didn’t hurt, but you have never wanted to curl up in a corner and cease to exist more than now. It really fucking hurt. 

“I’ll text you later?” you start, you were standing next to his car with the car door open. He bends over in his seat a little to (finally) make eye contact and grins, “You better! Now hurry and close the door, there’s a car behind me and I swear they’re gonna honk at me at any moment!” You only roll your eyes (dramatically) and shut his door. He motions you with his free hand briefly to head inside and you rush into your apartment building, clutching your tote bag with both hands tightly. Jungkook was always sweet like that, he made sure to watch you go inside before he left.. even if it did mean the car behind him was honking impatiently. He probably knew what he was doing to you and everyone else when he did these things. He probably knows that he can make everyone’s hearts flutter with the smallest gestures. He probably knows that he can get away with it all because he’s hot. 

“The two of you became good friends, hanging out with each other in person often and texting everyday. It was like you two were already dating… in fact people usually assume the two of you are dating” you had forgotten to add a tiny detail to this. This is the same situation most people are in with Jungkook. 

You let out one final sigh of defeat, finally done over analyzing what went wrong and regretting the fact that you forgot what Jungkook’s personality is like. You shouldn’t have confessed, everyone knows Jungkook doesn’t date. Letting go of your tote bag that you had on chokehold, you decide that you just need to move on, if Jungkook can milk this friendship… then you want to do the same.

Forgetting how gross your apartment building’s stairs are, you sit on the second step and sigh (again, dramatically). Making sure to bang your head against the metal rails a good number of times. Highschool rejections didn’t hurt as much as this one did, and Jungkook’s rejection was the only mature one. Maybe this is a sign that you like Jungkook a lot more than those gross high schoolers in your past. 

You definitely felt your heart squeeze in pain, it was a feeling you hadn’t felt since your first innocent confession. You could feel heat coming to your face, especially your nose and eyes. You didn’t want to cry in front of Jungkook but he’s not here right now.

Facing your chatty roommates was the last thing you wanted to do. Your never ending headache was making its appearance again and two roommates who can’t take a hint are the last thing you needed (you loved your roommates, respectfully, but sometimes you wonder how they were accepted into a top college). You don’t know how long you were sitting on those grimy steps for, but by the time your headache settles, you hear your phone ding. 

JUNGKOOK

“Hey actually, can we date?”

It takes you a minute to process the short but heavy text. Your headache was coming back, didn’t he just reject you… you check the time, forty minutes ago?

You want to throw this man out the window, but unfortunately your fat crush for him slaps you in the face. 

(Y/N)

“???”

As much as you want to say yes and throw yourself all over him (unfortunately, just like all the other girls), his text was odd. He had an actual reason to reject you so why would he change his ideals so quickly?

JUNGKOOK

“can i explain larer?” 

You sigh, this asshole doesn’t even care enough to edit his typos and yet he has the audacity to act interested in you romantically? Just because you have a big fat crush on him doesn’t mean you can’t have dignity and self-respect. 

(Y/N)

“sure.” 

Funny story, you give into anything Jungkook asks because he has you wrapped around his finger. Take back the previous statement about having dignity, you have no self respect when it comes to this guy. Your headache hurts a little too much (could possibly be from slamming your head into the metal rail) so you decide to go to your apartment and stop sitting on the gross stairs. 

JUNGKOOK

“dude thx 🥵”

You purse your lips and stare at his stupid, unread message. You hated that you had no backbone when it came to him. You wanted to jump with joy that he… technically(?) accepted your confession. But god, right now you were extremely confused. Whatever bullshit Jungkook just pulled on you made you question your taste in men.

(Y/N)

“you better have a good explanation 😐”

Why do you do this to yourself?

[dahbeez]

1. "You're such a dork."

2. "Get over here, you doof."

3. "Cheeky."

4. "You're so needy."

5. "Kiss me again."

6. "You're so adorable!"

7. "Look at you... goodness, you're so cute!"

8. "I'm just so happy!"

9. "I can't stop smiling."

10. "I like that you make me laugh so much that my cheeks hurt."

11. "You are being extra sweet today."

12. "Oh, look at you!"

13. "Your eyes are so pretty."

14. "I'm really happy that you're here with me."

15. "Thank you for staying with me."

16. "I don't think I've ever loved someone this much before."

17. "I feel like I'm in the clouds when I'm with you."

18. "You're like my hero/heroine."

19. "I'm gonna tickle you if you don't come over here."

20. "My, oh my. You are such a beautiful creature."

@drink-it-write-it​

21. "Go with me?" "As long as you hold my hand."

22. "Is there a reason you're blushing like that?"

23. "Have you seen my hoodie?" "Nooooo..." "You're wearing it, aren't you?"

24. "OH you're jealous!"

25. "Can we stay like this forever?"

26. "Please just kiss me already."

27. "I think you might be my soulmate."

28. "Sleep over? Please?"

29. "Are we on a date right now?"

30. "I think I'm in love with you."

31. "Are you flirting with me?" "You finally noticed?"

32. "Am I your lockscreen?" "You weren't supposed to see that."

33. "I wish we could live together already."

34. "They're so cute when they're asleep."

35. "I just wanted to let you know that I think you're beautiful."

36. "Quit touching me, your feet are cold!"

37. "Sharing is caring, now give me the hoodie!"

38. "Give me attention."

39. "You met me yesterday." "Yes, and I would die for you. Next question."

40. "She's hiding behind the sofa."

41. "Did you just hiss at me?"

@wishiwasanavenger-archive​

42. "Have you kissed anyone before?"

43. "Can I kiss you?"

44. "You're not hurting me, you're not heavy. I've got you, love.” 

45. "I look at them and I just... it's like when the Grinch's heart grows three sizes."

46. "I don't... I've never... been in a relationship before and I'm going to make mistakes... I just need you to tell me. I need you to talk to me."

47. "You didn't tell me your friend was cute! Now what am I going to do?"

48. "You give me a reason to be better, to do better."

49. "God, you are so fucking cute."

50. "I love you, but I need you to go away because you're really bloody distracting and I have to pass this test tomorrow."

51. "Oh no... they're cute."

52. "I can't talk to cute people, okay? I don't know how to flirt!"

53. "God, I love your face."

54. "Don't look at me, I'm a mess!" "I love it when you're a mess!"

55. "Please do your homework for me...? Just one time." ... "I said one time, y'know... you didn't have to start studying. Not that I'm not proud or anything."

56. "I'm already home."

57. "Your comfort and happiness is more important to me than some stupid dinner."

58. "Stop moving! I'm going to have to start counting all over again!"

59. "I just thought that since you weren't feeling too good, this would help."

60. "I'm not kissing you in the rain! We'll catch our death!"

61. "Would it help if I stayed?"

62. "I apologise sincerely if my beautiful/handsome face has kept you up all night."

63. "God, you're pretty."

64. "Calm down, it's just a chocolate bar!"

65. "Please, tell me you brought a toothbrush?"

66. "You take the bed, you need it more than me."

67. "You're so warm!"

68. "You're freezing, Jesus!"

69. "You always look beautiful."

70. "Your hands are so small!"

71. "Sometimes I just want to cuddle, okay? Is that so bad?"

72. "Now I know where half my wardrobe went."

73. "Here, let me just–" 

74. "You're really special to me."

75. "That tickles!"

76. "We only have one room left for the night..."

77. "Naps are life, okay?"

78. "I don't think I could love you anymore than I already do."

79. "I had the weirdest dream..."

80. "I got you a trophy, it's only plastic, but it's for being the best human I know."

81. "Someone keeps leaving love notes in my locker and I don't know if I should find it endearing or creepy..."

82. "I love your voice."

83. "Put me down! I can walk!"

84. "Can... can you come over?"

85. "You're the best."

86. "Can you please stop biting your lip, it's distracting."

87. "I thought you liked love songs!"

88. "I know you're not a fan of Valentine's day... I just thought that maybe I could change your mind..."

89. "You're my favourite know-it-all."

90. "That was the least romantic proposal in the entire history of proposals."

91. "I never knew you were a romantic at heart."

92. "I made it. For you. I know it's not the best, but..."

93. "Let me carry that."

94. "How do you know my favourite drink?" "I'm observant."

95. "We've known each other's for years and I don't think we've ever had a proper conversation."

96. "You're the clumsiest person I know, how did you survive past childhood?"

97. "It's always time for a milkshake."

98. "You know, humming the James Bond theme tune defeats the point of sneaking."

99. "I think your cat wants to kill me."

100. "Where have all my jumpers gone?"

101. "I don't get paid enough for this shit."

102. "Oh my God, I love you."

103. "I told you to bring a jacket."

@writings-of-a-hufflepuff​

104. "Is that my shirt?" "You mean our shirt?"

105. "It's you, it always has been."

106. "You're everything I could've wanted and more."

107. "Kiss me."

108. "Home stopped being a place when you entered my life."

109. "You should probably go home." "But I'm already home."

110. "You're an idiot." "But you love me."

111. "I'd do anything for you."

112. "You took all the pillows so I'm using you as one."

113. "Stop moving and let me braid your hair."

114. "I'm so proud of you."

115. "You are my family."

116. "I'm right here."

117. "Can you just please hold me?"

118. "I'm pretty sure they're my soulmate."

119. "This reminded me of you."

120. "Your hair is really soft."

121. "Are you blushing?"

122. "Can I stay here tonight?"

123. "Because I love you."

124. "Make a wish!"

125. "I love seeing you smile."

126. "You're just a softie."

127. "You are crushing me right now."

128. "Darling I love you and all, but please step out of the kitchen."

129. "Take my hand. Just trust me."

130. "You're the only thing that matters."

131. "Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"

132. "Hey, look at me. Focus on me, alright?"

133. "Why can't I get you out of my head?"

134. "Don't let go."

135. "Stay."

@blisfvll​

136. "You smell really nice."

137. "If you steal the blanket, I'm going to put my cold feet on you."

138. "You're comfy."

139. "But I want to hear you sing."

140. "Don't get up – I'll do it."

141. "Care to give me a back scratch?"

142. "Your bed head is really cute."

143. "How about a kiss?"

144. "Uh oh, I know that look. What do you want?"

145. "Are you really flirting with me right now?"

146. "I like the way your hand fits in mine."

147. "You have something in your hair, umm... do you want me to get it out?"

148. "It's nice that your voice is the first thing I heard today."

149. "This movie is really scary, but you're into it so I'm trying not to cover my face the whole time but– WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"

150. "Wait, don't pull away... not yet."

151. "Half the time I get too embarrassed to say anything."

152. "No, it's fine. I can wait until you're done talking to them."

153. "No, like... it's just, I can't believe you're actually wearing my clothes."

154. "I've been trying to get ready for like an hour and an half because I know you're going to look so good and I need to try and match up."

155. "I wanted to say 'I love you' for the first time without stuttering, but that failed."

156. "We could order pizza and just stay like this all day."

157. "It's not a double date. We're just third and fourth wheeling."

158. "I remember practicing how to ask you out in the mirror..."

@marauder-exe​

159. "It's not funny!"

160. "That wasn't suppose to happen."

161. "Hurry back."

162. "I can't take you seriously."

163. "Problem solved."

164. "That was embarrassing."

165. "It's freezing in here."

@love-me-a-good-prompt​

166. "I love you, baby."

167. "Hey, cutie."

168. "I promise to love you for the rest of my life."

169. "You're my world."

170. "I don't care if you're sick, catching a cold from kissing you is worth it."

171. "You are so perfect."

172. "Marry me?"

173. "You're the best part of me."

174. "Stay here with me. For the rest of our lives."

175. "I'm speechless, you're so beautiful!"

176. "Come here, I need to hug you."

177. "When everything's wrong, it's you that makes it right."

178. "You're the one."

@raggedy-dxctor​

179. "Well, it's the thought that counts." "Wait, no, don't take my kisses away from me!"

180. "Oh, you've started stealing my socks now?"

181. "You owe me a kiss."

182. "How did you get in here?"

183. "That's not even fair."

184. "You promised me a cookie!"

185. "Ew, that is so sappy, I might vomit."

186. "You're not very intimidating."

187. "That was, by far, the stupidest thing you've ever done."

188. "Why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer."

189. "Why the hell is there glitter everywhere?"

@whcczes​

190. "I'll feel much better if you let me walk you home."

191. "Apparently, all our friends have a bet going that we end up together."

192. "You make me feel alive. For the first time ever, I feel like I can breathe."

@moanlightlust​

193. "It's two in the morning and you want to cuddle?"

194. "You shine so bright it's intimidating. I love it."

195. "I'm here."

196. "What's your name again? Sorry, I just got that super weird feeling that we only see in movies, you know? Like, the whole world stopped turning and all I could see was you."

197. "I was born to be yours."

198. "Isn't it a bit too cliché?"

199. "So, you're just kissing strangers for no apparent reasons?"

200. "You'll always be my favourite person."

201. "You're making it weird, stop making it weird."

202. "There's nothing I love more than running back into your arms."

203. "I'm yours. Forever."

204. "You always know how to cheer me up."

205. "I... I lost the ring."

206. "Will you be mine?"

207. "Darling, you look perfect tonight."

208. "You saved my life."

209. "Don't give me that look. No... NO! I said no puppy dog eyes! You know I can't resist them! Argh, fine!"

210. "I missed you and your bad puns and even your horrible cooking and the way you fit perfectly against my body when we cuddle. I just really missed you."

211. "We're a team, remember?"

212. "There's no place I'd rather be than by your side."

213. "Your smile brightens the whole room."

214. "I kinda adopted a puppy behind your back... don't be mad! Look at those cute fluffy paws!"

215. "You're burning up. Guess I need to activate my nurse mode."

216. "I love you. As in more than friends, more than best friends and more than super extra best friends."

217. "I love you just the way you are."

218. "We need to kick his ass, no questions asked. You in?"

219. "Hot chocolate and cuddles? Kisses?"

220. "You make me feel pretty."

221. "You'll always be my best girl."

222. "Never hide yourself from me."

223. "Babe! There's no toilet paper!"

224. "I'll never give up on you."

225. "Do you feel that shirt? That's boyfriend material."

226. "That prank went so wrong."

227. "Care to dance, my love?"

228. "AH! You're stuck with me!"

229. "You're too good to me."

230. "Is it that time of the month?"

231. "Can I braid your hair?"

232. "It's okay to have doubts, as long as you don't let them overwhelm you."

233. "Come here! I can't stand to be so far away from you!"

234. "I got you."

235. "I wanna fall asleep next to you every night and wake up every morning with you by my side."

236. "Stop, I need to finish this!"

237. "I just wanna binge watch The Office, but it's not the same without you."

238. "Because I care about you!"

239. "I just wanted to impress you."

240. "I love you even though your breath stinks right now."

241. "Did you just puke on me?"

242. "We should get drunk and do stupid things."

243. "I always know what you're thinking about, babe. You're like an open book!"

244. "Could you sing to me?"

245. "I, uh, could you... could you play with my hair, please?"

246. "Nooooo, don't leave! I'm cold!"

247. "I think you're suffering from a lack of vitamin me."

248. "A mistletoe? Really?"

249. "Will you join me, love?"

250. "I have feelings for you."

251. "You are the reason."

252. "Take my hand, I wanna show you something..."

253. "You have a lovely name."

254. "You're my everything."

255. "You do know a lot about my blushing schedule."

@voilawind​

[themarcspector-a]

BURY ME DEEP / RE-INTRODUCTION

status: i mostly write for fun. So, for now it’s drabbles, playlists, graphics, headcanons, and biographies. i will eventually write it in chapter form. Yet, for now, i’m just having fun doing a lot of random character development. 

genre: speculative fiction - but sci fi noir horror

setting: the city of whispering sands, which basically has a los angeles in the 80s aesthetic going for it meets 1940s film noir. a weird combo, i know, but it’s fun. neon is very popular right about now and so are old earth movies from the late 70s, 40s, and 80s. the year is 3024 and the planet is new and part of several new planets that have been inhabited by humans and aliens alike. oh yeah and there are random doors to different dimensions that are probably caused by the aliens. because, uhm, why not? but no one talks about the aliens because they like to mess with people. also also also humans have powers because they got involved with some of the humanoid looking aliens. the last bit isn’t super important but it explains the powers, so yeah.  

pov: the story will be in 3rd person, but some drabbles might be in 2nd. 

warnings: missing people, violence, superpowers, paranormal themes, death, possible drugs, drowning, unreality, family issues, turning super powered themed media tropes on their head. 

about:

our protagonist, who is essentially an anti-hero, is claudia daviau. she comes from a city that’s essentially like brooklyn, but she was adopted by a rich family. she’s kind of been raised into controlling her powers from a young age - for appearances sake - and has no idea she has them until she’s 12, when her brother is murdered and she is nearly drowned by the person who succeeded in murdering her brother. 

she is saved by the little neighbor boy, who uses his powers to bring her back to life. however, this serves as a catalyst for her hearing voices of the dead and seeing the dead and realizing she can use her mind to move things. the voices she hears get her into trouble with her father and when she’s placed on medication, she discovers she cannot move things with her mind anymore. however, the sightings of ghosts and hearing them, only managed to increase. she sees her dead brother frequently after that and lives with the fact that she couldn’t save him. 

as an adult, she thinks that she doesn’t have to acknowledge that her family covered up her brother’s murder. but when she gets a job working for the ‘universal agency’, she discovers someone has decided to get her attention specifically by kidnapping and drowning people in their bathtubs. there’s usually a message for her, and though she attempts to ignore these messages, they sorta get inside her head. the murders get more and more brutal when she ignores them, so she pays attention.

during this time, she remeets her old friend - rachel - who is oddly really great at discovering what the murderers next move is. and since claudia doesn’t suspect her and is kinda hanging on a thread of her sanity, it never occurs to her that rachel is doing all of this. well, that is, until she learns that rachel knew her from when she was a child and experimented on in the lab she was experimented on - prior to being adopted. this kinda makes claudia spiral, up until she realizes she’s the only person who can take rachel down. however, rachel has powerful powers that she, with her own, cannot defeat since she’s always been told to keep from using hers. 

fun little side plot points:

claudia and her husband, alexander, who is the little neighbor boy who brought her back to life. he time travels and sometimes she and him have a little romance going. he supports her and loves her and is a bit of an oddball, who believes everything she tells him - no matter how bizarre or unbelievable the information is. 

claudia and rachel being anti-soulmates. generally, who doesn’t love anti-soulmates with tension?

martin saunders, who tries to keep claudia’s bullshit from getting out and him getting a bad name; even though he eventually has to fire her from the agency. like she punches a detective at one point and gets into fights at bars jskkhljhlkj. he’s just like SIGH she isn’t meant for this. but still lets her do her thang for a bit.

daviau family drama. essentially, the daviaus are a messy rich family who have a hidden past. 

important characters: 

Claudia Roscoe-Daviau: She’s that meme that’s like “No one would ever think Kylie Jenner was Bat.man, because it’s Kylie Jenner” aka was adopted by a rich family who’re well-known in the media. She wanted to help people after the death of her brother and she began seeing ghosts. They kind of help her solve their murders and help her help others. However, she discovers as a universal agent that the authorities cause more trouble than anything and just begins to do things on her own and gets into trouble.

Alexander Roscoe:  A bit of an oddball. A time agent. Claudia’s husband. More to add. 

Martin Saunders: Claudia’s boss. More to add. 

Rachel Temperance: Claudia’s arch nemesis. More to add. 

Marta Roscoe: Claudia’s missing daughter. Who eventually shows up.

taglist: @thelittlestspider  reply here or dm me, if interested. 

[hollyhomburg]

Before I Leave You (Pt.5)

(Sneak Peak) (Omegaverse au, Mafia au, Bts x Reader)

Summary: The pack reunites with Yoongi, with some…unexpected results.

Tags: Mute main character, implied domestic abuse, themes of jealousy and betrayal, fluff, cuddling, reuniting, internalized transphobia, Trans! Tae, misgendering of trans characters, negative self-talk, abandonment issues, 

W/c: 9.0k

A/n: some of this chapter will be hard to get through if you’re trans or at all questioning your gender. other than that it’s a pretty middle-of-the-road chapter! 

Part 5: Unlikely Enemies 

Eventually, jimin has to leave. things feel more settled now- he doesn't instantly trust that yoongi will always be there but the house is offly permanent.  

Before he can descend the stairs you stop him, hand grabbing his sleeve. Jimin has to stop himself from pulling it out of your grasp. You look like you’re struggling for a moment to talk. Like your lips are trying to move around words but your throat can’t summon the sounds associated with them. You never meet his eyes, never even tilt your head up, your hair and your eyelashes hiding the color of them from Jimin.

Yoongi quiets your frustration with a hand on either side of your face, tucking your baby hairs behind your ears. stroking your cheeks again gently, it makes your eyes flutter gently. “It’s Okay sweetheart- why don’t you just tell me and I can tell him okay?” you rise on the steps to properly speak into Yoongi’s ear without having to go up on your tippy-toes, your height difference exaggerated.

You hide your face in Yoongi’s neck and Yoongi smiles, holding you close in a way that Jimin wishes he could be held. Jimin is so fucking jealous and it must show on his face because Yoongi’s smile falters when he looks up at him.  

“She wants you to come back and-” Yoongi hesitates, “you can bring a few of the others if they want to come.”  A few- and only a few, because Yoongi doesn’t think you could handle meeting all of them at once- that might be too much for your little heart to handle. 

Jimin doesn't like the way he says it, something too conditional about it. but he nods and leaves, watches you and yoongi carry the empty pitcher of lemonade back inside. The second you're out of sight he drops a pin in the location, no way he’s forgetting where it is or letting yoongi slip away again. 

He’s got a few notifications that he swipes through as he walks home in a daze; (Well- back to h-mart first because they actually had needed more groceries and Jimin had left his cart when he’d found Yoongi. Jin will be pissed if he comes back empty-handed) he’s got a meme from Namjoon of the cat variety, a Tictok from Jungkook, and a half dozen texts three of them from jin. 

Two about nothing in particular and another wondering where he was with a string of worried emojis. He thinks about telling him immediately, but thinks better of it, settling for a quick text, ‘sorry, got distracted with something, tell you later”

Since Yoongi left- they’ve been more worried and watchful. Seokjin has always been prone to Anxious waiting. Everyone deals with trauma differently. And that’s the way that Seokjin’s presented.

Jimin is quiet and taciturn at dinner, Seokjin knows something’s up, and it looks like he’s told the rest of the pack. Taehyung doesn’t stop to greet him after work besides to run his fingers through the hairs at the back of his neck before he heads off to a shower, the contact burns in him, his words nearly bubbling over.

You did the same thing to Yoongi today, endless trails that you ran through his baby hairs, How could Jimin forget?

His pack mates are used to Jimin getting into his feelings. And they give him his space to go through his thoughts and organize them. In truth, Jimin spends the meal picking at his food and trying to work up the courage to spit them out.

Occasionally Namjoon rubs his thigh under the table, but that’s it. They wait patiently. And it only makes it worse; if they bugged him he could say it offhandedly like the information didn't matter.

 For an alpha that exists so heavily in an instinct-driven headspace, he often needs more time to figure out how he’s feeling, and this- this is just a tangle of feelings that jimin doesn’t have words for, it’s one of the few times that he wishes they’d just ring it out of him.

He can’t help but notice the little signs that Yoongi left around the apartment - like the seventh chair at their dinner table that never goes inhabited, opposite Namjoon at the end of the table. They always set the table with silverware and a plate- though that's mostly Taehyung's doing (he's a little over sentimental).

Many a night he’ll fiddle with the silver wear, making it perfect. And it hurts Jimin that his soulmate hopes- hopes that Yoongi will come back one night, come in and say something like “sorry I’m the commute was hell” like the last year was just a bad nightmare.

But now Jimin knows where he is, and he’s not coming back to this apartment. After today Jimin can safely assume that yeah- Yoongi will never live here again. And it's almost that fact that hurts the most- that their little love nest no longer belongs to Yoongi- is not the place where he can curl up and be safe. It's not Yoongi's home anymore.

Jimin's resolve breaks just before Hoseok gets up to clean the table; Jimin’s hand darts out before he can take the first plate. His warm palm against the other alphas wrist. 

Jimin has always had incredible control over his scent, most people don't. But now he breaks, his scent going from faint vanilla to gun smoke anger, and fear. He sees Namjoon's nostrils flare. And it’s like Hoseok’s pheromones instantly spike to meet Jimin’s agitated; a panicked dousing of sugary warmth, Hoseok has always had a reactive scent.

this isn’t just any one of his usual moods; this is something that affects all of them. And Like a classic Alpha, he needed to make sure that they were full and warm before he says it.

He does it quickly- like ripping off a Band-Aid. His voice unsteady. 

“I found him, t-today I saw him, I saw Yoongi.”

TO BE POSTED SATURDAY, MAY 8TH @ 5PM EST 

[bts-hyperfixation]

Soulmates

JJK X Reader soulmate AU

Warnings: Minor character death(car crash, only mentioned nothing graphic), Drinking

I don’t know if this is what you (the requester) were going for? this is somehow where I ended up

Everyone in this world has a soulmate. Someone that is meant to complete them and make them feel whole.

Your other half can be identified by the matching birthmark hidden somewhere on their body. There are also a lot of people whose marks are so close to matching that it almost feels like the real thing… almost. Sadly, many don’t ever get to experience the love of their true soulmate, so they settle for the closest they can get.

Jungkook was convinced he was one of the lucky few. Looking at her made his heart feel like it was going to burst. Every time he saw her the world got brighter, the birds started singing a little louder, and his stress nearly melted away entirely … nearly. But at 17 no one is going to pay attention to nearly.

Their birthmark’s matched so closely, each sporting a small puzzle piece on opposite wrists. You wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at the loved-up pair as they walked together hand in hand. And he loved her so completely, and her him, that they never thought to question it. Madly in love until the day she died.

Jungkook spent weeks almost comatose when the news of her car crash reached him. Couldn’t move, eat, sleep. To lose your soulmate so young was said to be a fate worse than never finding them at all. Even after coming through the other side people could tell he wasn’t the same carefree young boy he had been, most likely never would be again. His eyes’ looked far older than his years now, his soft features much more angular.

Three months after her death he resolve to never fall in love again, happy in the knowledge that he got to know her even for such a short amount of time.

….

You met Jungkook at a party. Someone from Uni decided that 24 was the right age for a big birthday bash. They hired out an entire club and set up a series of activities for people to enjoy. A mechanical ball on the main floor, a ball pit to the side, a BBQ in the smoking area, and a bouncy castle in the downstairs 90’s themed area. It really was an amazing event. You however spent most of your time watching the quiet Korean boy in the corner, every time his eyes met yours you felt compelled to move to him, talk to him, dance with him, anything that would get his attention on you. At the time you put it down to the alcohol. It took you exactly 3 and a half drinks to pick up the courage and interrupt his current conversation.

He was very sweet, really sweet considering he clearly didn’t want to be talking to you. It was evident in the way his eyes shifted and the nervous playing with his sleeves, still you persevered. Something about him wouldn’t let you give up, not yet at least. Your saving grace came when your favourite band came blaring over the speakers. “PRETTYMUCH” aren’t an underrated band per say but it’s difficult to find someone who knows them in your circle, so when Jungkook’s face lit up at the same time as yours you knew you had your in. So with the Phases remix blaring through the club you took your opportunity.

“I love this song!” You took his hand and pulled him on to the dance floor before you really realised that’s what you are doing. To start with he was frozen, a little shocked by your boldness, but as you gave it your all he joined in, loosening up for the first time that entire night. After that it was a lot easier to talk to him, you actually went into the smoking area to talk more about shared music interests.

After you went to get a drink you got caught up with some others and he came to find you. It felt like an electric shock when he’d grabbed your hand to get your attention, but there were a lot of balloons around so that would explain the residual electricity. By the time the party was over, and the club was closing, you didn’t want to leave him, not just now but ever. You found yourselves wandering around aimlessly, talking about nothing until the sun came up. Looking back it was then you decided Jungkook was it for you. You had never really believed in the soulmate tradition until you met him.

Weeks go by of you texting back and forth. You found out the reason he was so into music was because he was a musician himself, he even promised to perform for you sometime. A lot of promises were made in those messages.

‘There’s this amazing Restaurant in the city’ you claimed promising to take him with you next time.

‘I really want to see this movie’ he said promising to pay for tickets when it came out.

‘We should go see this band together’ The number one promise between the two of you, quickly racking up a lot of different acts to see together.

So when one of those bands turned up on the roster for the local you’d bought tickets immediately sending him the confirmation. Your stomach had fluttered thinking about seeing him in person again. And so you counted down the days as they passed. Picked and repicked your outfit. Talked yourself in and out of going. Eventually the day arrived. The doorbell signalling his arrival was deafening, ringing out through your small studio apartment. You took a few deep breaths before opening the door.

He was flawless, your tipsy memory hadn’t done him justice. A broad chest draped in a white long sleeve tee, ripped skinnies straining against his thighs, his hair swept into a James Dean quiff. You might’ve laughed at the way your outfits had accidently matched (a black crop with white skinnies) had you been capable of making a noise.

“Ready to go?” He asked nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. You’d nodded, blushing when you realised you had been staring.

It was a short bus ride into the town centre. Spent in relatively comfortable silence arms brushing against one another in the limited space on the crowded vehicle. The club was packed wall to wall when you got inside, no hope of getting to the front of the crowd, or so you’d thought. Jungkook grabbed your hand winked at you and began heading in the opposite direction of the stage. He led you up some back stairs and on to a balcony you hadn’t ever noticed before.

“I’ve played here before, almost no one knows this is here, but it will give us the perfect view.” He dropped your hand in favour of leaning over the railing. You couldn’t help but feel cold at the loss. The performance was great, you found yourselves screaming lyrics back and forth at one another. Some people had cottoned on to your little hiding spot and soon it became as packed as the rest of the club. Whether he was trying to protect you from the others or he was pushed there you will never know, but Jungkook ended up caging you to the railing, head resting on your shoulder.

After the show you’d decided it was time to ask him how he felt. The club was still busy, but the two of you had been in a quiet corner on your own nursing drinks and chatting aimlessly.

“Do you believe in soulmates?” You asked, broaching the topic carefully. You watched closely for his reaction, but he gave nothing away. Instead he just shrugged.

“I did once.” It was too blunt, you knew you should’ve stopped but you couldn’t, now you’d decided to tell him it was like verbal diarrhoea.

“I didn’t think I did, I mean I’ve never seen any ‘matching birthmarks’ and every couple I know is perfectly happy… but then I met you and I keep thinking about it, and you, and how I feel about you.” You watched as his face goes from pensive to a deer caught in the headlights.

“I… I have to leave now.” He got up and ran into the crowd before you even had a chance to reach for him. He dipped through a back entrance of the club and into the night before you could even push through the first layer of people.

The ride home had seemed a lot longer. Holding back tears had proved extremely difficult. Of all the reactions he could’ve given you that might’ve been the worst one. Somehow you found yourself thinking even him laughing in your face might’ve been better. You left the lights in your studio switched off that night. Made a beeline for your bed and passed out face down.

It would’ve felt like a bad dream when you woke up… if it hadn’t been for the crusty mascara tracking down your cheeks. You’d picked up your phone from where it lay abandoned next to you. Battery on 12%. You’d decided then it’d be best to run damage control, at least save the friendship.

Y/N: I’m sorry about last night…

You hadn’t expected his reply to be quick, so it’d surprised you when the typing bubbles appeared immediately; and furthered your sadness when they disappeared moments later without a message.

For days you spiralled. Going over the moment again and again in your head. Each replay turning the memory into something worse than the original.

Eventually you plucked yourself out of bed, deciding to face the problem head on and talk to the friend that invited you both to their birthday in the first place.

She met you at a café downtown during her lunch break. It was obvious by your red rimed eyes and sniffling nose that you had been crying but she was nice enough to ignore it for the most part. You caught up on her life for a little while until you physically couldn’t hold back anymore.

You told her exactly what had happened between you and JK, watching as her expression got both more understanding and pitying as you got closer to the end. Whatever you thought she was going to tell you was no where close to the story you got. You sat mouth wide open as she told you about the accident, and the way it affected Jungkook. It made you want to cry all over again. You didn’t know what to say once she had finished, stewing in your own thoughts for a while. The main thought that kept coming to the front of your mind was one that made you feel so evil. But you had to get it out

“What if she wasn’t really his soulmate. What if he was never meant for her” Its barely above a whisper but your friend heard it.

“He truly believes that she was” She replied squinting at you. Her break ended shortly after that leaving you alone with your thoughts.

…

It’s almost a month later when you see Jungkook again. Hadn’t heard a single thing from him since the concert but at least you knew why.

This time it was someone pool party. You honestly hadn’t been expecting to see him there. Didn’t even know you had mutual friends past that one girl. You didn’t think twice about your birthmark when you stripped down to your two piece. Why would you? Everyone has one. You were lay out on a sun-lounger with a drink when you spotted him. Tucked away in a corner once again, the only difference this time was his attention was already on you. He looked as good as ever, hair damp and slicked back, Long-sleeved neoprene shit covering his torso but trunks showing off his amazing thighs. You’d forced yourself to look away form him but could still feel the intensity of his gaze on you.

Eventually you couldn’t take it anymore, too hot under the sun and his stare you decided to change out of your swimsuit into a sundress for the evening. Heading inside you found your way into someone’s bedroom to get changed. Perhaps you should’ve checked to see if the door the locked though, because just as you had wiggled out of the bikini top Jungkook burst into the room.

“Ah shit… Sorry… I um.” His hand had flown in front of his eyes as he’d slammed the door shut behind him and you’d immediately reached for the flimsy dress pulling it over you torso so he could reopen his eyes.

“What in the actual fuck Jungkook?” you whisper screamed not wanting to draw attention to the two of you hidden away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t think… I just needed to see…”

“See what?! My boobs? I think you managed that one perv. You haven’t spoken to me in weeks and now all of a sudden you can’t wait long enough to knock.” You came across a lot meaner than you had meant, you just hadn’t been prepared for him to want to speak to you again.

“No I’m sorry I’ll go, this was a bad idea, I was probably seeing things anyway.” He mumbled looking sheepishly at the floor/

“No wait it’s okay, I really want to apologise don’t leave.” You took a deep breath and waited for his eyes to meet yours properly. When they did you could see the shock behind them.

“Why do you need to apologise? I’m the one that ran off, I never even told you why and I fucked up and I’m sorry I just…” You reached for him then, wanting nothing more than to comfort him and then realised it wasn’t your place, arm dropping heavily back to your side. “I felt so guilty with you, not because of you, because of me.” You nodded in understanding.

“I found about your soulmate after I confessed to you. I’m so sorry I didn’t know. I never would’ve brought it up if I had known you had already found yours.” You’d broken eye contact with him then unable to watch the sadness in his eyes and not be able to do anything about it.

“That’s why I felt so guilty though because the way I feel about you is so similar to the way I felt about her, how I still feel about her deep down. I was so confused because you’re only supposed to get one soulmate, and if I could feel the same way about you in such a short time… it just feels like I’m betraying her by loving you.” He stepped forward reaching for your chin and forced you to meet his gaze. “The today when I saw your birthmark on your thigh I could’ve cried.” He uses his free hand to unzip the shirt he’d been wearing. He pulled his left arm from the sleeve exposing his birthmark to you. A puzzle piece to fit perfectly into your own.

You’d gasped at the revelation you were right. He was meant to be yours. And yet it didn’t feel right. The anguish on his face was clear, the internal fight he had obviously been having with himself ever since the concert.

“Letting yourself love me now doesn’t mean you loved her any less” you whispered, allowing yourself to move even closer to him, wrapping him in your arms. He’d nuzzled into your neck allowing tears to stream down his cheeks and onto your shoulder. You’d felt every bit of stress leave his body as he cried. Emotions he hadn’t even know he had been holding onto, finally letting himself really breath since he had lost her all those years ago.

You’d lost track of the time, just stood with him, holding him until the final few sniffles came. His cheeks had been puffy by and red when he pulled away, wiping his face on the sleeve still on his right arm.

“Do you want to leave? We can go back to mine” You’d asked carefully, not willing to let him go home alone after feeling like that. He’d nodded weakly, sliding his arm back into the shirt before taking your hand in his. You’d headed for the door only to be brought back by the hand he had on yours. He’d pulled you so close you could see the flecks of gold in his irises, watched your reaction before leaning in and kissing you. It was salty with left over tears, but you wouldn’t change you first kiss for the world. Everything felt like it clicked into place in that moment, the world tilted on its axis. The exchange was short lived, a chaste peck followed by a few smaller pecks before he let you lead him all the way home.

Masterlist

[imkylotrash]

Found A Lover

Pairing: Saul Silva x reader

Request: They are soulmates but Saul is stubborn (all the angst) and refuses to accept the bond until reader gets hurt and we get an epic love confession. @kingunder221b And She's close to graduation. Her friend, also a fairy, is really into potions, he's brilliant at that. He hides his stuff in her room and something goes wrong with his last potion. The reader is hurt and it's like in a fairy tale, she falls asleep. The difference is, she's trapped in one big nightmare and her heart will give up if they don't find a solution. They try everything, even go to Dowling, but nothing helps. The only option left is true love kiss, so they go to Silva. Anonymous

A/N Italics are the nightmares and I tried going for a little bit of a horror theme though nothing too bad. They can be skipped if that’s not your thing. I’m not sure if any of this falls under trigger warnings but please let me know if you want something added 💛

Tagging: @grey-girl @intoanothermind @anreeixcobra @kingunder221b @lflores2008 @alexiapayne12 @quuenofblacks @quarterback-5 @estelmei @bitchwhytho @music-of-melody @artsyle​ @baueoud @glowingatdawn @shadowhuntyi

There’s no denying it though Saul tries very hard to. His soulmate is not a student at the school. He refuses to believe his own eyes as you hold out your arm with the exact same scar as his. Same shape, same placement, same everything. 

“This is a mistake,” he says making it seem as though it’s somehow your fault that the universe decided that the two of you would be right for each other. 

“With that reaction I’m not exactly too fond either,” you sneer upset that he so willingly disregards you. All your life, you’d listened to people finding their soulmate and falling head over heels in love within seconds. Like they’ve been walking around blind and now they can finally see. That’s what you expected when you found your soulmate - not a grumpy old man desperate to get as far away from you as possible. 

“We should keep this information to ourselves for now,” he says and you couldn’t agree more. Why would you want to tell everyone that your soulmate refuses to acknowledge your bond? What Saul doesn’t tell you is just how terrified he is finally having found his soulmate. He’d made peace with the fact that he’d spend life alone. He’s terrified that you’re so young compared to him and that he won’t be able to give you everything that you want. He’s already raised Sky and he’s not eager to think about doing that again. The best action for him is staying away and allowing you to fall in love with someone who can be what you need. It’s just not how this soulmate thing works.

Upset from his rejection, you run straight to Logan’s room hoping he’ll be back soon so you can cry on his shoulder. You’re not sure if you’ll be able to tell him what happened but you know he won’t push you if you don’t want to talk. He doesn’t get there in time though. You have no way of knowing that the book you grab to inspect as you wait is actually a secret storage box. The weight surprises you and it slams onto the floor. Something breaks inside the book which confuses you even more. When does books contain glass. When you open the lid, a weird dust spreads making you cough violently. Your eyes water as you struggle to breathe. Within seconds, you’re lying on the floor looking as if you’re blissfully asleep. 

“Y/N!” Logan runs over to shake you awake but he knows it’s no good when he sees the smashed bottle. Without wasting another minute, he runs right out the door to find Mr. Harvey leaving you to your own worst nightmare. 

“Hello,” you call out walking down the empty hallway. It feels like you’re underground but you can’t be sure without finding a window so you keep walking. The first thing you notice when you enter the new room is the blood soaking your slippers. The white bunny slippers are now red and you feel like you might be sick. 

“Hello,” you call out once more hoping someone will hear you. 

“Hello,” someone says in a mocking tone. You spin around to find yourself standing there? Is it a mirror of some kind? 

“I’m not a mirror, you idiot. I’m you,” it says carelessly throwing a knife into the air and catching it again, “but without all the weaknesses.” You want to scream but suddenly, your mouth is sewn shut. When you reach up to touch it, you feel the thread closing your lips together. 

“I figured that was the easiest way to keep you from yelling. God, do you ever shut up?” The thing takes a few stops closer to you still clutching the knife in their hand. 

“Sorry. That was a very dentist move of me, wasn’t it? Asking you a question knowing full-well that you can’t answer.” You must’ve sprouted roots because there’s no way you’d still be standing there if you were able to move. Carefully, the copycat lifts the knife to your mouth letting the tip of the blade run across the thick thread. 

“Poor thing, huh? Not even your soulmate wants you. It’s sort of like mommy and daddy all over.” 

Your body is being transferred to Mr. Harvey’s office as well as the powder you inhaled. Logan knows exactly what potion it is but there’s no cure in the records. No cure to wake you up and it’s all his fault for not storing the potions correctly. He knew he should’ve kept them under lock and key but half the stuff in his room, he wasn’t even supposed to have. 

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Harvey. I never thought anyone would get hurt.” He looks down at his best friend lying on the table and he swears he’ll never be so careless with potions ever again. 

“It’ll do you no good to dwell on that now. We need all hands on deck to figure out how to wake her up again.” What he doesn’t mention is the fact that he’s not sure how much time your heart has left before it stops entirely. The stress it’s being put under is nothing like Mr. Harvey has ever seen before. 

“Fight, Y/N,” Logan whispers. 

You want to scream at yourself for bringing up mom and dad but you can’t. The knife comes to rest on your throat so that every time, you take a breath you feel the cold blade on your skin. 

“Should I be quick or slow? What do you prefer?” Once again, you try to scream but to no avail. The first cut takes you by surprise. When the copy of you brings the knife down to your chest, you get worried. Could you really kill yourself like this? 

“Blink once for quick, twice for slow.” You blink once waiting for it to be over. You don’t know why you’ve given up so easily or why you not even for a second think to use your magic but you just don’t have a fight in you. 

“Perfect.” The blade pierces your skin until it reaches your heart. You feel the heart beating faster in an attempt to persevere but it is futile. 

“I’ve tried everything, Farah. Every solution the greenhouse has to offer and nothing works.” Three days pass with Harvey working hard to reverse the potion’s effects but nothing helps. You stay asleep and your heart continues to beat itself to death. 

“Do we know who their soulmate is? We should probably inform them,” Ms. Dowling says bringing out a vague memory in Logan’s mind. He runs straight to the library hoping his theory is right. 

“Is everything okay?” He looks up to find Mr. Silva standing there.

“Y/N is hurt. I’m trying to find a cure,” Logan says grabbing the book and running straight back to Mr. Harvey but this time Mr. Silva is right behind him. 

“True love’s kiss!” Logan exclaims finding the fairy tale in the book from Earth. He shows it to Mr. Harvey and Ms. Dowling who scans over the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. 

“Then we must find her soulmate,” Mr. Harvey says and while Logan knows it’s true, he also knows you haven’t found your soulmate yet. He’s about to open his mouth when Saul beats him to it. 

“I’m their soulmate. We just found out a couple of days ago.” He was so scared when he found out he was your soulmate but watching you lie on that table he knows he can’t let anything happen to you. It’s the reason he leans in and places a gentle kiss on your lips. The effect is almost instantly. You open your eyes very confused and terrified out of your mind. Is this another nightmare? 

“It’s okay. You’re safe,” Saul whispers holding your hand tightly. You don’t need words as you look into each other’s eyes. The love is evident even if Saul tried to run from it. Seeing you in pain like this had awoken something inside of him and he swore from that day on that he’d always protect you.