#nor can he make enough money to travel all over

[spaceistheplaceart]

list of equipment 11:59 Link gets:

Magic Cape of Invisibility (to commit crimes)

Quick Boots (to outrun cops)

Arms of Strength (to resist arrest)

Instrument that teleports you (out of jail)

[sageryuri]

NEW YOU, JAKE SIM.

pairing jake sim + afab!reader.

genre fluff, angst, smut.

summary all hell breaks loose when you, the heir to the throne, decides to run away to begin a new life. luckily, you experience a surprise encounter with jake sim, which brings upon freeing adventures and sprouts a taboo relationship between a princess, and a poor criminal.

word count 10.7k (unedited).

warnings i’m sorry for the beomgyu slander 😔, jake refers to reader as princess as much as he can really, suicide mentions, family toxicity, NSFW MINORS DNI!!! (fingering fem!receiving, handjob, oral male!receiving, unprotected sex, light choking), death mentions.

an tis here!! took me awhile but i always prevail. ty for all the support <3

Royalty never lived up to the expectations that outsiders had anticipated. None of the money, gowns and experiences would live up to what those people would always have — complete freedom.

They could travel whenever they desired, do what activities they desired, be with who they desired; ultimately being who they wanted to be. You were stuck on the inside of a kingdom, and despite its tremendous size, it could never live up to the feeling of adventuring outside of the castle walls.

You had been unsure what you had done wrong to deserve something so terrible, but you had been enforced into a marriage that you would never agree to. In fact, they were so enthralled by this marriage, that you were not allowed to leave the premises so you couldn't meet anyone else until you had fallen in love.

Though, you don't think anyone could fall in love with Choi Beomgyu. He was idiotic, vain, rude and every other possible negative adjective you could think of. Even those who matched his asininity would barely be able to cope in his presence.

However, you sense you're the only one who doesn't fall for his 'charms' since everyone else seems to fawn over him whenever he appeared. Of course, you had to be the one who would in be betrothed to him in the end.

You had simply had enough.

As it was, you weren't a fan of your life before the marriage had been finalised. You weren't suited to the position of a queen nor did you want to follow that lifestyle. All that you wanted was the opportunity to be free.

What could be any better than making a plan to run away?

This was probably the fifth ball you had attended this month; you weren't sure why they had them so much, because they all had the same step-by-step procedure as if it was some form of experiment.

You would watch as your parents made their way around, greeting the same people, the same way, as if they hadn't seen each other a week ago. It was comedy-worthy how absolutely fake every single person here had been.

Within minutes of being there, you had already made your way over to the buffet table where your only friend, Julia, had been encouraged (practically scolded by your mother) to stand.

Her mother had been your babysitter as a child since it was rare your parents would find the time to actually spend any moments with you. Julia was the same age, so had grew up alongside you. It was interesting how opposite both of your lives had turned out to be despite being brought up by the same person, just with different blood.

"God, this is just as boring as I'd imagine it to be. Look at them all, it's like a food chain. I'm shocked nobody had cracked yet." You stand next to her, avoiding the gaze of everybody else in the room as you usually would.

"You shouldn't speak that way, you never know who is listening in." Julia had always been nervous when it came to your public conversation, considering she'd likely receive more of a punishment then you would, however, she leans into you more, "I would have to agree though. I could not point out a singular person who genuinely looks interested in their conversation."

"I mean, look at that herd of girls over there. They've been squawking with each other all evening, but I definitely saw Emily pointing fingers at Destiny last week." You nod your head towards the group that stood near the entrance, all chatting with one another as if they wouldn't talk behind each other's backs any other time of day.

Your eyes shift along, expecting to find another group of people to roll your eyes at, instead encountering quite a surprise. There's a servant that you don't quite recognise; brown shaggy hair, the same familiar white uniform that appears to be loose fitting, but seems to still look just right.

Surely, you think, you would have remembered someone like him.

"Julia, do you recognise him? I'm not quite sure he's ever been here before." You ask, she looks in your direction with furrowed brows as she takes in the man that you're looking at. She squints her eyes, thinking, then shakes her head.

He hadn't done anything to imply he was up to something suspicious, but you had a strange feeling about him. Feeling entranced by him, you try to think of a normal excuse so that you could speak with him — but your parents get to you first.

"Darling! Where have you been? We have been looking for you everywhere!" She beams at you, rather fabricated considering her eyes seem to be filled with annoyance since you had been staying distant from her the entire ball.

Unfortunately for you, Beomgyu slides into the conversation with his horrifically flirtatious smile that only forms disgust in your mind. He takes your hand, placing a kiss on it; Julia stifles a laugh when you side-eye her.

"It's nice to see you again, my love." He smirks at you, your mother almost clapping her hands in excitement as she watches, "Care to dance?"

Your mind searches for any excuse to refuse his offer, but your mother's fiery gaze barely gives you the option to think. You hate to be like everyone else in the room, but you give your best smile and place your hand into his.

Considering this would be your last time making your mother happy, you may as well allow it to happen.

The moment you reach your bedroom, you fall into your bed with a long groan. To be expected, the dress and makeup had taken at least an hour to remove, reaching almost one AM by the time you were in your chamber.

Minutes later, Julia wanders in her room for her 'nightly duties' — gossiping with you after a exhausting day. She conforms to you, jumping on your bed as you had.

"You look worn out- well, I'm not surprised after that." When she says that, you know she's referring to the excruciating dance that you had the dishonour (to yourself) of taking part in, "How was that enchanting dance?"

"I'm not sure if he was nervous or it was just natural, but his hands were incredibly sweaty! Normally I wouldn't judge, but surely you wouldn't hold someone's hand for that long when they're practically slipping off." Julia bursts into laughter at your response, tears spilling from her eyes.

You're going to miss Julia. In honesty, she was the only person that could keep you here and you wish you could take her with you. It would be too dangerous and risky, so you would have to give her the best.

"Julia... I was hoping you could help me with something." You take your bottom lip between your teeth and she looks at you expectingly, eyes boring into yours, "I'm really not sure how you will take this thought of mine, but it's truly what I think will be the best. I want to leave, and go far way."

Her mouth opens, no words to be spoken but it is clear she has many things to say.

"I know I should have mentioned my feelings to you earlier, and I am sorry for my selfishness. This is something I need, and I want your help, if you could." You look at her with hope, praying that there was something that she could do for you.

She sighs.

"I know a way that you'll be able to leave, quite easily." She states, she watches as your eyes light up and you become more absorbed in the conversation, "I know that they don't allow you to go into the basement of the castle. It's because there's a passageway through and door that leads through to the outside. It hasn't been used in many years."

In your mind, you recall every time someone had tensed up or began stuttering over their words whenever you got too close to that basement door. It was as if they knew that you had been planning to do something drastic, such as running away.

"How on earth would I get there if they're so cautious about me going in? It doesn't sound too wise." You sit up from your previous position, walking over to your wooden desk to take a seat. Allowing your head to fall into your hands, you question whether this was possible.

"Well... At particular times of the day, the guards leave their stations. Usually during your late dinners, actually- and around 4AM in the morning when they begin preparing for you to awake. If you can get out of the diner tonight, I'll show you." She whispers under her breath at you, just in case anyone had been deciding to listen in at the wrong time.

You have never hugged someone as tightly as you had with Julia. Within minutes, you had gone from having zero idea of how to get to your own paradise to having a knight in shining armour that so happened to be your best friend.

The dinners with your family were the worst part of being a royal; you had to spend an extended amount of time with them. Despite being your blood, they never felt like they were. Realistically, they likely didn't care for you that much, you were created for an alliance.

Even if it hadn't been explicitly stated, there was no doubts that it was the reality.

If you had to admit anything, the dining hall was gorgeous. The walls are as tall as can be, painted portraits and landscapes scattering every wall. Candles are sporadically placed around the room, as well as in the large hanging chandelier.

However, the gigantic table in the centre just made the dinners much more awkward.

"I see you talked with Prince Beomgyu at the last ball. I'm glad the two of you are getting along well." Your father speaks up for the first time during your dinner and to no surprise, it's involving mentions of your 'future' marriage partner.

"Barely..." You mumble under your breath, just loud enough for them to be able to hear, but low enough that they were unable to tell it was intentional.

You needed a reason to be able to leave, since they would never allow you to go to your room when you wanted to. On many occasions, you remember how whenever you argued or became upset, they would just let you to leave so they would't have to acknowledge the needed confrontation.

"Why can't you just be kind to him? He has done nothing but treat you right and you have hardly said one word to him." Your mother places her cutlery down and glares at you, as if you were someone she had become enemies with.

Just one more day.

"Me and all the other women he has been trying to court. I'm going to bed, I'm not hungry anymore." You retort back, standing up and storming your way out of the room. As expected, they don't follow you or say a word.

Quickly, you walk back to your room to see Julia already waiting inside for you, "We have to move fast. We have enough time but I'd rather we get in and out so we don't get caught, if all goes well, you could get out tonight." Julia grins with mixed emotion; ecstatic you're finally getting what you deserve, upset that she'll likely never see you again.

"I don't think I could ever thank you enough, I love you, Julia." You want to give her another tight hug, but there is not enough time in the day. Instead, she pulls you along to take you to the sacred basement floor.

Your heart thumps harshly in your chest as you stand in front of the door. Julia pushes it open slowly to avoid loud creaks and squeaks.

As slow as you can, you walk down the stone stairs that lead down to the basement. It is barely lit, just bright enough to be able to see where you are placing your feet on the stairs. Eventually, you reach a dingy room that is filled with miscellaneous items.

"I... don't see a door anywhere." Your eyebrows furrow as you walk around the room, squinting through the darkness in order to try and find this supposed door. In fact, you don't think you can see any other way out of the basement apart from the door you had entered from.

"It's hidden for a reason, look here." Julia remarks, you turn around to look at where she is standing. She taps her foot onto a particular area of the floor, which appears to sound more hollow than the rest of it.

The floor isn't easy to see, so you get onto your knees in order to touch around, feeling how the stone flooring feels like wood instead. With a large grin, you stand up and hug Julia one last time.

"You go back to your room now so that they don't see you down here, I can think of an excuse for myself if anything happens. It's already unlocked and goes straight out." She pulls back, her hand resting on your cheek, "If this is the last I see of you, I appreciate everything you've done for me. You're my closest friend and I hope I'll get to see you again in the future, much happier than you are now."

When your eyes begin to fill with water, you make your way back up the stairs and towards your bedroom and attempting to look as innocent as possible. Patiently, you watch the hours on the clock go by.

You begin to feel like the moment isn't real; not when it reaches 3AM and your hands are shaking against your door handle. The large door feels more intimidating than usual, as if it had started to grow along with your draining anxiety throughout the waiting process.

Hastily, you move through the many corridors without giving another thought because you may just second guess yourself and decide this was not your smartest idea.

As Julia has reassured you, you didn't bump into any of the royal guards — you realise they aren't the greatest, since they appeared to be nowhere in sight. You likely could have done this months ago when you began considering the idea.

This is the quietest you had ever heard the expanse of the castle to be, if it had been this way all the time, you would have liked it more. Instead, you were stuck with the family talking your ears off every second like nails on a chalk board.

You reach the basement, feeling around on the floor until you find the door again. A proud smile appears on your face when you feel the handle, though as you're pulling it up, someone or something on the other side seems to be opening it too.

"Huh?" You gasp out, almost flinging backwards when the door opens at lightening speed, revealing a very familiar face, "It's you!"

You remember him perfectly, his face was hard to forget. Opposed to his clean appearance when you had seen him at the ball, he looks muckier and he definitely wasn't wearing royal attire this time.

"Who the hell are you?" His expression displays confusion and his voice is almost aggressive, as if he isn't the one coming in from the outside; despite the tone, the thick accent that is diversely different from your own sticks out to you clearly. No one in the area sounded as he did.

"Me? Why on earth are you sneaking into the castle? Do you have a death wish?" You whisper-shout at him, mirroring his distress towards you. He doesn't respond, looking just as baffled as you are, "How long have you been doing this for? God, the security here is dreadful."

Suspecting you had been too loud because the man before you interrupted the original plan, as you had likely done to him, the sound of feet thundering above you caused your stomach to drop and your body to freeze up.

"Shit, shit, shit!" His eyes widen and he examines the room, biting his bottom lip when he can't think of anything. He sighs and puts his attention back on you, "Whatever you're doing, make your decision now or you're dead meat. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today."

He holds his hand out towards you, urging you to take it so he can help you down into the pathways below you. After a mere thought of going back and the sound of banging on the basement door, you close your eyes and take his hand into yours.

The path becomes a blur the faster he pulls you through, but you feel a weight lift of your shoulders the further you are away from that door. Finally, you feel the cold breeze of the outside, a simple experience that you had not truly felt in many months.

You don't think you could explain to another human how incredible you felt in the moment, and with the adrenaline pumping through your body you couldn't feel any better.

Eventually, your running comes to a halt when you're dragged into a run-down cottage hidden behind moss, grown out leaves and grass. It's nothing, minuscule, compared to your old home, but you like it.

Funnily, you had almost forgotten about the man who had saved your skin, now panting with his hands on his knees. He stands straight after a minute or so, looking you in your eyes that are as wide as a deers in front of headlights.

"This, uh, this isn't where I live. I just come here when I finish up my business, which you impolitely interrupted. You want to tell me what you were doing? You seemed pretty desperate to get out of there." He walks over to a desk next to the bed, which was on the verge of falling apart, and pulls out a handkerchief from the open draw.

Even though his own face was covered in dirt and sweat, he makes his way over to you and dabs away at whatever had made its way onto yours. Then, he shoves it into his back pocket before stepping back from you.

"I'd much rather know your name first. You know, you don't make yourself appear very trustworthy being so sneaky." You fold your arms over each other, giving him an accusatory look. In return, he just laughs and you look away so you wouldn't feel hypnotised by his smile.

"You're very feisty. I'm Jake, Jaeyun, whatever you want to call me. Now, you." Now knowing his name, you think that it fits him flawlessly; you wouldn't attach any other name to his pretty face.  There is a chair next to the desk which he pulls out to take a seat on, pointing his hand out towards the bed.

You noticed he had a habit of using gestures instead of his words.

"Well Jake, it's nice to meet you." The bed isn't comfy at all, but you know you should appreciate there is even one in front of you in the first place, "I needed to leave, my parents didn't really put me in the best situation, so I took it upon myself to get out of it before it was too late."

"Well, shit. You're the princess aren't you? You're worth a lot of money, you know." When you don't laugh, eyes somehow becoming even wider than they were previously, he shakes his head while he stands to place a hand on your shoulder, "I'm joking, don't look so terrified. The bed won't be up to your standards, but you're free to sleep and we'll figure something out for you in the morning."

"What about you? Mustn't you sleep?" You question, you still feel uncomfortable sitting on the bed, not wanting to attempt to sleep while he is wide awake near you. Not that you didn't trust him, but it only made you feel more awkward.

"I'll be okay. Don't worry, I'm not going to chuck you out while you're sleeping, you can breathe. And don't be so tense, you can trust me, princess." He grins at you, the light from the lantern made him look ethereal, though your heart still beats fast with conflicted feelings.

The conversation ends there, he turns the chair around the face the desk which was opposite the bed. You aren't sure what he is doing, but you feel better with him looking away. Hesitatingly, you find yourself falling into a light sleep, being awoken by the slightest noise.

You don't sleep very well that night.

The pain in your back is hard to ignore, you aren't so used to having such a springy and old bed. For a second, you expect to see Julia opening up the door to your chamber, but you are instead met with Jake walking back through the rusty door.

"Good morning, princess. I brought you some new clothing back, I imagine that cute nightgown of yours isn't so comfortable for the day." Jake holds up some clothing, what your parents would refer to as 'peasant attire'. You can feel your cheeks heat up since you had forgotten you had left wearing your nightgown in a rush.

"Thank you... for the- for the fresh clothing. I appreciate your kindness." Happily, you take the clothing from his hands. They're warm, as if they had been laid in front of a fireplace for a few hours. The new feeling of warmth after having to be used to the cruel, cold cottage brings you joy.

"No worries, sweetheart. I have a proposition for you when you're ready." You reply silently to him, with a nod of the head, then leave to go into what appears to be a bathroom.

In the mirror, you see what the last day had done to you. There's only specs of dirt left on your face, you imagine it had been significantly worse before Jake had cleared it away. Bags under your eyes show clear, causing you to let out a long sigh.

Having to get used to no longer being pampered and cared for anymore was looking harder than you anticipated. You had barely considered the cons of your actions. After a few moments of processing the past day and making yourself appear more presentable, you leave the bathroom to see Jake waiting for you, reading a book.

"I can take you somewhere that's alot safer than here. It's probably not what you want at the moment, but it's probably the best you're going to get for now." Jake places the book down and diverts his eyes to you. His eyes rack over your body, not in a sexual manner, just to examine the fitting of the clothing.

"Could you tell me what you meant by 'business'? I haven't associated myself with those people for a long time, so I won't get you into any trouble. I don't mean to intrude, but you practically know my story." Anxiously, your hands clasp in front of you and you can't bring yourself to look at him in the eyes yet.

"Well, I guess I'll trust you. Me and my family aren't very well off, if you couldn't tell. It's not east to get jobs, and even the boys who do have jobs barely get a penny." He sighs, you begin to feel bad for asking, "Surprisingly, assigned waiters and waitresses get paid enough for us to afford what we need and I'm nimble enough to get in there and fake the job. I wouldn't have done it without Julia."

Your brain short-circuits and your head shoots up to look at Jake. Confused, he looks between you and the wall at the sudden change in body language, waiting for you to speak.

"Julia? You know Julia? We were close and she never mentioned you, she even acted like she didn't know you when I asked. Did she not trust me?" Your eyebrows furrow as you start to question yourself, and everything that you had experienced.

Jake only grins at your concern and shakes his head in disagreement.

"She was always so cautious, I did tell her not to bring this up, I'm sure she was worried of others listening. She helped me- alot. Wouldn't have done any of this without her.” He reassures you, the two of you decide to end this particular conversation there.

Thinking back to his proposition, you collect whatever you have left of your belongings and place them into a straw bag which had been placed next to the bed. Jake nods towards the door with a barely noticeable smile.

The door opens and you wince at the sun burning into your eyes. It radiates through your skin when you take your first step outside. Your hands grip harder onto the bag as you follow behind Jake to your next stop in your journey.

Neither of you take it upon yourself to start conversations. You don't have a problem with him and he has no issues with you, but it's obvious that there was a silent agreement that you would try and help each other and part ways.

At least that was how you had taken the last few hours. This was a new, blooming path for you, and you couldn't allow anyone to hold you back. No matter how much you may start to enjoy Jake's company, he had a family he cared deeply for and you had places you wanted to go.

After an hour or two, stopping off for the occasional rest, you encounter another cottage. Larger than the last, and taken care of. Flowers grow all around in bright colours, the brick the cottage is made out of being painted a gorgeous beige and darkened smoke peering out of the chimney.

After being at awe at how beautiful you found the cottage to be, you then see two younger boys tending to a garden filled with various fruits and vegetables. They look up, confused by your presence, but their faces light up once they see Jake.

"Jae, You're back! We were starting to get a little worried about you." They both come running towards Jake, diving into his arms as he hugs them closely to his body. You can't help but smile at the love for each other that beams from them — you almost begin to feel jealous.

"I have a come back rate of 100%, I'm invincible at this point, Won." Jake places light kisses on the top of their heads, and then their attention lands on the elephant in the room, you, "Yeah, uh, this is a recent friend of mine."

Once you give your name to his brothers, they seem to put the puzzle pieces together. The taller ones jaw drops while the other's eyebrows fall into anger.

"Sim Jaeyun what the hell have you gotten yourself into! Heeseung is going to be furious!"

Heeseung was in fact furious.

The eldest had spent about twenty minutes stalking around the cottage's main room rebuking Jake for doing something so impulsive, like allowing the runaway princess to take refuge in their home without speaking with the rest of them.

You almost stood up to leave them alone due to feeling rude and awkward, but Jake and his brother’s Jongseong and Riki were adamant on letting you stay since you had nowhere else to go. Somehow, they convinced the rest of them.

Over the month you had been living with the seven boys, something in your mind had switched. In such a short amount of time, all of them had become prominent figures in your life and it felt like you had been there forever.

One thing that you couldn't push through was the different between how you felt about Jake compared to the rest of his brothers. The touches between you both always lingered longer and you would always notice the way he would watch you while Jungwon taught you how to correctly tend to the garden.

It was a quiet day, most of the boys were tired and taking the hours to rest, most of them sleeping apart from Sunoo who silently read a book at the dining table, and you who had been sowing away to a shirt Sunghoon had accidentally ripped.

The constant silence, apart from the sound of pages turning and the fire crackling, was broken by a loud yawn as Jake opens his bedroom door. Sunoo doesn't spare him a glance, but you look up from your needle and thread to give the man a sweet smile.

"Good morning- well, afternoon, princess." He beams, making his way over to you. Both of his hands lay on either side of your shoulders and it takes everything in you not to tense up at the sudden touch.

"What did I say about calling me princess, Jaeyun?" You murmur, still trying to concentrate on the shirt in front of you. Jake's head is now placed upon yours, and you wonder if he's trying to or is blissfully unaware that he's flustering you to the highest degree.

"That I should stop calling you princess- but it suits you so well! And I think you should keep calling me Jaeyun, I like it." He replies, you roll your eyes and give up with your task. Jake moves away from you, so you turn around in your chair to face him.

"I'll think about it." You smirk at him, he opts to sit next to you and lay his head onto the table as if he had still been tired, "I thought you would be sleeping all day."

"Well... I was wondering if you wanted to take a ride in our sailing boat. I could teach you how to use it. It's too warm for me to sleep." He responds, his head being hidden in his arms consequently leaves you unable to see the pink shade that spreads across his cheeks.

"That would be nice, I've always wanted go ride in a boat- my parents never let me do anything." Finishing up, you finally stand from the chair to stretch your legs, cracking your fingers due to the ache in them.

"You can do anything that you want now. They'll always be looking for you, but we can get you far enough that they won't be able to find you." Jake purses his lips, looking away from you before continuing, "Though you’re always welcome to stay here."

"You know that I can't." You hadn't meant to sound so cold.

Jake becomes more and more despondent every time you reject his offer of staying with him. The others boys had grown fond of you, just as he had, you were safe and free from the sickening hold of your biological family.

Alas, you wanted excitement over tranquility.

The lake behind the house could have been the most perfect sight. Somehow, the water had stayed as clean as it could be, you could see the bottom of the shallow areas. What you liked the most was the natural decoration of trees and flowers, moments like this could convince you to stay.

As expected, the boat is still attached to the pier. It was rare they ever used it, often just fishing from the pier itself, but the warm day warranted a little change.

You and Jake walk side by side in a comfortable silence, something the two of you had grew to enjoy. Over years, you had gotten used to constantly being surrounded by noise that the serenity of the cottage on rest days felt strange — you never got rest days.

At first, any kind of silence was uncomfortable, though you hardly realised it had become pleasant.

Jake gets into the boat, holding out his hand to carefully help you in. He leans over to reach for the oars, and you take a seat across from him, "How am I supposed to teach you from all the way over there?"

"Where else am I supposed to go?" You raise an eyebrow at him. He shows off a flirtatious smirk and pats the little area that is left in front of him.

Jake did a brilliant job at making you frantic; you'd never experienced a relationship such as this, apart from Beomgyu, who you would rather never hear of again.

Slowly, you take your seat in front of him, back pressed snugly against his warm chest.

"Hold tight, I'll hold my hands over yours and show you how to do it properly." The two of you seem to be holding hands a lot lately. He tries to hold your hands as daintily as he could to ensure his tight grip wouldn't hurt you, and begins to row, "You're a natural."

"I guess I'm simply just good at everything." You joke, and you finally let the stiffness in your body go, moving with your thoughts to distract yourself, "I wonder how Julia is doing... I feel awful for having to leave her."

You had worried for Julia every single day. There had been no news, at least not that the boys had heard of yet; by now, you expected a large-scale search where guards and soldier would be loitering around every corner, but not one had been seen in the area. You wondered if she was safe.

"You had no choice. I'll always wish her the best, she really did everything she could for me, for us. We had a real hard time last year." He replies, staring off into the distance as he continues to row the boat, you're barely putting in any effort.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened? Whenever it seems to come in to conversation, everyone gets quiet and moves on." You ask, almost hesitantly.

Parts of you disliked that you allowed your curiosity to get the best of you. It wasn't your business, and a topic they had been evading conversation about since it happened. Though you cared about them, and want to take care of them.

"We were really struggling, the worst it had been. It was like everything that could go wrong, was going wrong. We had no food and we were freezing. There was a lot of pressure on all of us, and I guess Hoon just couldn't take it anymore. I had to jump in to pull him out of the water and I can still remember how hard he had sobbed in my arms."

"Oh Jake, I'm so sorry. None of you deserved that kind of life, you're all so loving and kind. I'm glad you all had each other, I can't imagine what you've been through." At some point, you had moved to turn your body around to face him. You had never been so close to his face before, yet it felt so familiar.

"Without Julia I'm not sure we'd still be here, so fucking up the system was our best choice. I guess I would never have met you either if I never went through with it- and I sure would have regretted that." He grins, and you can't help but return it.

"All of you are so strong, you're amazing, Jaeyun." You remind him, and hope this will be something he and his brothers will always know.

There are continuous shifts in the air whenever you are left together, as if every moment brings you so much closer, but formed a theory that there wasn't a moment where you hadn't known Jake Sim, like he was everlasting in your life.

It’s cut short when Riki comes running down from the cottage, almost tripping over his own feet. His face isn't entirely visible from the length away, but your stomach drops as you sense something is wrong. Just minutes ago, he was fast asleep.

As fast as possible, Jake rows himself back to the pier where Riki is stood, taking deep breaths. He appears bothered by something, and his concerned attention seems to be on you the whole time.

"You guys- you're going to end up in big trouble. Jesus, some guards just turned up at the door, pretty much just as you reached the pier. They didn't recognise you from so far away, we told them that you were going far out and couldn't come back, but they said they'll come back later to talk to you."

You are so, so scared; you can feel your body begin to shake as what you had been anticipating finally happens. It had been so long, that you had started to consider the idea that they swiftly moved on from you. Unfortunately, it could never be so easy.

It didn't take long for you to start sobbing, the original feeling of shock and fear subsiding into anxiety and sadness. Jay has you wrapped in his arms as you shake, everyone has seated themselves down apart from Jake, who aggressively wanders around the room.

"Jaeyun, stand still. You're just making her feel even worse shuffling around the room like that." Heeseung glares at his younger brother, standing up from his seat to walk towards him.

"Yeah? Well what else am I supposed to do? I don't know what the fuck to do!" Jake shouts, not so loud, yet it still makes you jump enough that Jay holds you ever so slightly tighter. Looking over, Jake and Heeseung are standing face to face.

"Stop shouting at me and get your goddamn act together, she needs us, she needs you. You want to help her? Then we need to talk and figure out where we go from here." Heeseung snarls at Jake, who lets out a frustrated groan and nods his head.

This was the first time you had seen them truly upset with each other. It's due to one of your own problems too, which makes you feel entirely responsible even if you hadn't intended to.

"I have to leave."

All of their eyes divert to your direction, even Jay draws back from you a little. They all share the same expression, one you can't quite read in detail, but they are shocked by your statement.

"What? No, no, where on earth would you go? We can figure this out. Don't go until you're ready to move on." Sunghoon states, his thick eyebrows beginning to furrow in concern.

"If I'm not gone by the time they get back, I'm not sure what they would do to you all if they knew I was here. I could never put you all at risky like that- and I would dread to think about the things they would do to me too."

"Are you sure?" Jungwon mumbles begrudgingly, frowning at the thought of you leaving them all. He had grown closest to you, other than Jake, and even though he would never admit it to anyone, he had grown rather attached to your presence.

Simply, you nod your head and hold your bottom lip between your teeth to attempt to avoid any more tears. Sunghoon was right to make a comment on you being ready, because you were far from so.

"I'll come with you." Jake's voice causes you to look at him again, eyes wide and lost. He appears so sure of himself, "I'll get you somewhere far enough that's safe. I can't stay with you, but I can offer as much help as possible. None of us want you out alone."

After a serious talk, heartbreaking goodbyes and reassurance that you will always have a place to be, you and Jake are on your way. He reminds you of another cottage not so long away that the two of you can stop at for the night, similarly to when you had first met.

Jake had been carrying a leather, worn-down rucksack that was filled with miscellaneous items that would keep you going and had been profusely refusing your offers to carry it for a little to give him a break.

There's a constant guilt riding through your body with every moment, and Jake is able to tell, he seems to know you well enough now. He spends his time telling you stories of his youth, his current years, his brothers; beautiful moments to tell you that this is momentary, and all will be well soon enough.

An hour or two walk leads you to the cottage, and it's far from pretty. In fact, you think some of the roof is missing and some of the windows are smashed up. Not the ideal place to stay, but it'll work for now.

"Here, take this, you're freezing." He offers up his jacket, more so forcing it into your hands. He's cold too, but he'd rather be the one to get sick.

"Why are there so many abandoned cottages around here? It's such a waste..." You question after sitting down at a wooden desk chair, your legs recovering from the long walk.

"People like to move around, they'll just up and leave, go to the next town or whatever it is they're doing. Their old homes just get forgotten about, I guess." He shrugs, he's used to them being around, while you were thinking about how lovely it would be to renovate.

It wasn't difficult for you to fall asleep, so exhausted that all it took was closing your eyes.

You never had nightmares; not until tonight.

Everyone you had come to know was there, complaining about how you were an awful friend, daughter, partner, princess. Hearing sharp words from your family was something you had become desensitised to, but Julia and Jake broke your heart.

Jake sees you shuffling in your sleep, making small noises, a concerned expression across your face. He pouts from where he sits, gathering that you were having a bad dream.

Quietly, he makes his way over to you and sits on the opposite side of the bed. He finds himself studying your sleepy face, you were always bright and ignoring a few minor occasions, he never really saw you upset.

He leans forward and pushes a strand of hair behind your ear, he ponders whether he should wake you up, but you're faster than him, shooting up as you frantically look around the room.

"Hey, woah! Breathe princess, you're okay, you're safe." Jake speaks so softly that the tension in your body dissipates immediately, your hand wraps around his for additional comfort and you look him in the eyes.

It feels right.

Jake's free hand moved upwards to rest on your cheek, you nuzzle into his hand happily and close your eyes. A few seconds pass, you decide to look back at Jake, who you hope is feeling just as you do.

When his thumb faintly rubs against your bottom lip, it was as if the subconscious block that had been holding you back snaps. Neither of you are sure who leaned in first, but it didn't matter.

His lips slot perfectly on yours; just like his hands, his arms, every fibre of his being. You feel slightly hesitant due to your lack in experience, though the softness of how Jake holds you tells you everything will be just fine.

He caresses your waist line as his tongue slips into your mouth, and you're sure you could kiss Jake's lips forever. In comparison, you’re gripping onto Jake for dear life, taking an awfully deep breath when you part from each other.

“I’m always going to keep you safe, you and the boys, you are my life. I’ll protect you even if it kills me.” He whispers against your lips, and a stray tear slips down your cheek as you both stay with each other, forgetting about your problems just for a moment.

You hadn't been to another town before since you were a small child, being isolated away from others for such a long time. It's so lively and full of happy people, it makes you think about how quiet it had been at your old home as everyone in town had generally kept to themselves.

"Anywhere you want to go?" Jake asks, his hand still gripping yours tightly. Neither of you decided to mention the previous night, but you both have refused to let go of each other since you fell asleep, and Jake was feeling nauseated at the thought of you getting lost.

You had to admit to being anxious; there was always the chance that someone would recognise you even if they hadn't seen you since you were much younger. Not everyone was a good person, you would end up back at square one.

"I think I'd like to go to the lake, the old lady in the bakery really sold it for me." You hold up the bag that was filled with bread and sweet treats (you had to convince Jake not to steal any of them because the lady was so kind and you had enough money), "It's getting a little late, so I wouldn't mind going to the lake for a little while and then going to the inn."

The sky is filled with vibrant variations of pinks, oranges and yellows as the sun begins to set. It shines beautifully onto the lake as you and Jake walk along the path, content as you both munch on bread and laugh with each other.

Time passes so fast that you don't even realise how long you have been wandering around for, the dark skies soon tiring you out. Your eyes feel heavy, so you suggest going to the inn.

"You are a lovely couple, how long have you been together?" The woman behind the counter asks, grinning at your closeness as she takes the money from Jake's hands.

"Our whole lives, miss." Jake says, as if it has been a normal everyday saying. Of course, you become embarrassed and hide behind Jake's arm and the elderly woman coos at you as she passes along the key.

The air feels strange once you and Jake are laid in the bed together. Even though you are so far apart from one another, it's like the heat of his body is still reflecting onto yours. Whatever you feel in your body, you know it is unfamiliar to you.

You bite your bottom lip in hesitance. Taking a deep breath, you turn around to face Jake. To your surprise, he had already been facing you with his eyes open, watching you.

"You can't sleep either?" He asks, his voice becoming raspy from the lack of speaking. Even though the room is so dark, he manages to look just as gorgeous as usual, even with such tired eyes.

"I'm thinking." You reply quietly, Jake nudges further so that he is closer to you.

"What are you thinking about?" He takes his hand, moving a stray hair behind your ear, hand now resting softly on your cheek.

When you don't answer, Jake's hand is quick to travel to the back of your head as he slams his own lips against yours. Your own hand makes its way into his hair, tugging lightly as your body shakes in anticipation when he lets out a low groan against you.

You clamber onto his lap, wanting to feel as close to him as was humanly possible. The emotions and hormones running through your body became so overwhelming that you could only let out whiny whimpers on his mouth.

His hand moves between your thighs, playing with your little clit in excitement, allowing you to grind against his veiny hand. He messes with you through your underwear, soon moving it to the side with a long groan. A long string of saliva links the two of you, Jake's jaw dropping as he looks at you.

"Didn't take you long to get so wet, you wanted me for that long, honey?" His voice drops octaves, his irises filled with a concept you could hardly comprehend; but you have never felt so much pleasure, "Can't believe I waited this long to see how pretty you look withering on top of me."

"Jake!" You grip at his arm, nails practically digging into his skin, hips moving faster and faster as you feel the intense butterflies in your stomach. Tears brim your eyes as you experience the new feeling, almost bursting as your slick covers Jake's hand.

He can barely take in the situation himself. He's hardly done anything and your eyes are already welling up and he just knows drool is going to start dripping from your swollen lips soon enough. Jake pulls his fingers out of you and licks them clean.

"Off, too hot. Yours too." You start to pull at Jake's shirt, he rips your nightgown from your body, leaving you with the thin material of your underwear. Before you could think, his arm wrapped around your back to pull you into him, taking your left breast into his mouth.

His other hand reaches to wrap perfectly around the other, harshly nipping to get a squeal out of you, he slots himself comfortably between your legs, pressing you against his hardening cock. The man underneath you bites his lip hard, lifting up his hips into your core.

"Fuck, fuck baby, just like that." His eyes and hands are still concentrated on your chest, completely hypnotised by their feel and appearance. Jake is absolutely enamoured, and you're already cock-drunk before he's even gotten inside of you.

But it still just isn't enough.

When you lift yourself up and reach down to palm his length through his pants, Jake is sure his eyes roll to the back of his head. He could feel

the fire emits from you, from inside you, from every touch you gifted to his body. You're so desperate, and he's ready to give you anything you desire.

"Can I..." You whimper out, reaching over to the low waistband of his pants. Looking at your face, Jake doesn't want to rip his eyes away. Your own eyes are blown out and your pretty skin is begin to sweat, your hair managing to fall flawlessly in place like you weren't jumping his bones.

"You can do anything you want to me, baby. I'm all yours." He whispers into your ear, nibbling slightly at the lobe. Swiftly, you finally pull at his pants and he lifts up so that you can remove them completely.

It stands tall, wet and red, you can't help but wrap your hands around it. However, not wanting to make a mistake, you give him your best doe eyes to ask for help.

"It's okay, princess. Just move your hand up and down, just like that- fuck." You move your hand up and down slowly, keeping eye contact with Jake, whose eyes are beginning to close from the building pleasure, "Such a good girl f’me.”

Suddenly, you're sliding yourself down his body, your face against his chest as your back arches deliciously. Your tongue lands directly on the slit of his tip, Jake moans loudly and grips onto your hair.

He tried his best not to buck his hips upwards, though he gets even more turned on at your inherent skill to take him in your mouth with ease, the tiny tears in your eyes only make him even more feral.

Your smaller hands are moving nicely on his cock along with your gummy mouth and just the sight of you has him on the edge; a lethal combination. Not wanting to let go just yet, he gently lifts you from him with a dazed smile at your sudden concerned face.

"It's okay, baby- you're doing so, so well for me. Just want us to be able to cum at the same time, hm?" He's quick to model you into the position he wants, you on your back facing him, legs over his shoulders so he can see your fucked out, cute face, “Tell me when you want me to move, okay?”

Then, he pushes himself into you.

You expected it to sting at first, your nails digging and scratching against Jake who just takes it. He waits, albeit the ache he feels in his stomach, until you give him the green light to start moving.

"Go, please." You squeak out, and he does as his lady requests. Still hurting ever so slightly, but with every move comes a larger wave of pleasure. He's almost sure he'll have to slap a hand over your mouth or kiss you so you don't get kicked out, "Oh my god!"

"So fucking tight. My pretty girl, all this for me." Jake stutters out against your neck, sucking at it while your hand rummage around his body, his hair, dragging your nails against his back as he ravages you.

Embarrassment fills you as Jake examines your face and body below him. You try to turn your head, but he immediately raises his hand to grab you by the chin and force you to look back, then his hand makes its way right around your throat in a light choke, "Look at me, honey."

It’s such an intimate moment, both of you finally together as one, only seeing each other and nothing else in the world. He’s holding your cheek while his other hand wraps around your throat and you’re all other the place.

You reach your peak, convulsing so hard and desperate. Jake’s eyebrows furrow harder, hips faltering as he climaxes too, you feel the spurts fill you to the brim, close to bringing another orgasm out of you.

Ears ringing, he lies on top of you though trying his best not to put all of his weight down on your current fragile body. He strokes the top of your head, and you ask him to stay inside of you until you fall asleep.

The alarm of the bright sun shining through the sheer white curtains has you waking up as soon as it hits your skin. You grab the sheets and hike them up your body, still naked after immediately passing out last night. However, it seems like Jake had cleaned you up before you awoke, no longer covered in sweat and cum.

Eyes closing again, you turn your body around and feel onto the other side of the bed for your lover, but only gripping onto empty sheets. You furrow your eyebrows and pout your lips, sitting up and looking around the room.

There is light sparkling from the gap under the bathroom door, you make the assumption he mist be in there, "Jaeyun? Are you in the bathroom?"

After a second or two, the door opens and there stands a half naked Jake, his lean torso and shoulders on full display for you. He grins as his eyes scan down your bare body, spending significantly more time on your tits.

"Now what a lovely sight this is first thing in the morning." He laughs, pressing soft kisses along the dark splotches on your neck. You roll your eyes with a smile, pushing him away a little so you could pick up your day clothing to get changed, "You could just stay like that for a few more hours, I'm not complaining."

"You're suddenly so perverted, have you been hiding this from me the whole time?" You ask jokingly, leaning against the doorway in all your naked glory. He looks at you like he has never seen anything as perfect, how he just can’t look away from you; the glint in them somehow tells you that it isn’t just lust in his eyes.

He doesn’t answer, shaking his head with a bite of his lip. Closing the bathroom door, you look at yourself in the mirror while you change, noticing the new glow in your skin — you’re sure there is a myriad of reasons why.

There’s a knock on the door to the room. strange, you think, but you imagine it may be someone complaining about the loud noises and squeaks throughout the night, so you finish putting your shirt on.

As your hand lands on the handle, Jake shouts.

“Get your fucking hands off me! She isn’t in here you, assholes! Who the fuck do you think you are?!” He’s angry at whoever was at the door, the mention of a she makes you shake and back away from the door.

You search for a window, anywhere that could get you out — but the thought of leaving Jake out there broke your heart and you would rather get hurt helping him than leaving all alone.

Before you can even come down to a decision between your two options, the bathroom door bursts open, wooden panels and metal flying around the room. You could recognise the clanky soldier attire of your family anywhere, them staring you down with violent glares.

Having nowhere to go, Jake nowhere in sight, your only option is to follow their instructions.

Standing before your parents, hands handcuffed behind your back, may have been the strangest occurrence you had the glory of experiencing in your life. Their angry faces dawned on you that you had royally fucked up and should have thought about being more sneaky instead of trying to live out your romance dreams.

"You are a disgrace to this family." Your mother spits at you, staring right into your eyes with pure disgust, no remorse for what she had done to you your whole life.

"I'm the disgrace? You tried to force your only daughter into a whole marriage with a man she couldn't stand to be around. You never cared about me, I'm only here to carry on your shitty legacy." You watch as your father's lips press into a thin line at your words, his hands rub at the bridge of his nose.

"You're completely delusional. The marriage will go on and that awful man you had stuck yourself to will be hanged for his crimes." His words are like poison venom, your knees bucking in shock.

Jake would be hanged because you had feelings for him, those were the crimes in your family's mind; their biggest fear as they locked you into a marriage destined to be because it was uncontaminated by a non-royal.

"What- no, no, no! Please, please let him go. I'll marry Beomgyu, I'll do anything, just please don't hurt him. He has a family, he did nothing wrong." You beg hard, almost wanting to drop to your knees with praying hands so they would listen to your requests just this singular time.

"We can't let a man of his kind go, they'll simply have to suffer." She dusts off her hands, standing up from her undeserved throne, "Don't think we forgot about how Julia betrayed us too."

"You're all fucking sick, you're sick in the head!" You scream at the top of your lungs, throat burning and your vision becoming unclear as you are dragged away back to your bedroom.

You spend your next few days with puffy eyes, overthinking every moment. It had been the day of your marriage, a day that you would remember forever but for the wrong reasons. Julia and Jake had still been alive since your torturous parents thought it would be a splendid idea for them to watch.

"You look gorgeous, I'm sorry that this day is not going as you desire, I wish this could be much different." Julia's mother had been the woman to adjust your dress. It was easy to see the sadness and distress in her eyes and you could barely imagine how she must be feeling in the moment.

"Thank you. I'm sorry about Julia." You wince as she tightens the corset.

"There isn't much I can do about that anymore. I tried my best, and it only seemed to make things worse." She comes around to your front, smiling so bittersweetly that it hurts you.

No matter how beautiful the reception is, it just appears revolting to you. Especially when you see Beomgyu waiting at the alter for you, everyone smiling at you like you should be happy and Jake and Julia sat right at the front, handcuffed up with guards on either side of them.

Your father holds on to your arm as you walk down the aisle and it makes you want to throw up on the expensive carpet. When you reach the front, you're practically pushed into Beomgyu's arms and the audience, since it's for show, laughs.

You look at Jake and Julia, them both sharing the same facial expression as you had. Seeing Jake in this light broke your heart and if you weren't in such an awful predicament, you would have ran to him.

"Any objections?" The priests asks before he begins and you have to peel your eyes away from Jake who looks like he hasn't slept in days and is on the verge of tears.

"I object!" Everyone's head turns in awe at the disturbance. You have to rub your eyes to make sure you're seeing things correctly because Riki is standing up on top of one of the further back pews, "I think this place has some decoration."

A sizzling sound is heard from the corner of the building; then the whole left side releases a large explosion that causes the building to begin to fall. With no thought, you start to run towards the exit, alerting Jake and Julia to join you, ripping your dress in the process.

Beomgyu latches onto your arm.

"Let go of me. They’re all I have left." You attempt to say sternly, but your voice trembles as you look between him and the exit. This was your last chance and he was trying to take it away from you. You’re struggling to drag yourself away from him- but he just releases you and turns to leave himself.

Jake, Julia and Riki, even Jay who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, follow suit.

"What the fuck! Where the hell did you get explosives from you psychos!" Jake shouts with an energetic laugh, still running with his hands cuffed — you would have to figure out how to get him out of those once you were all safe.

"I don't know! Sunghoon said he knew some people!" Jay responds, chuckling back at his brother.

You're back at your real home in no time, but you know you'll have to do something about the corrupted royals at some point in time. They could have easily recognised Riki and come back for a less peaceful visit.

"How did you know what was happening?" Julia interrogates the boys, rubbing her wrists to relieve them of the pain from being locked in cuffs for so long.

"They have a weird habit of releasing all information to the public. Heeseung had a feeling that something was wrong and made a visit, luckily was the same day they announced you and had Jake hostage.” Sunoo shrugs, “Sunghoon came back with explosives and still won’t tell us where he got them from.”

"Well, what do we do now?" Jake asks, his arms still holding you protectively. Everyone stays silent, but you know you’ll figure it out together.

Years pass and they never bother you again and you would all laugh that Sunghoon’s mystery explosives must have really made them jump.

Most of the boys had moved on with their lives; Jake found Heeseung and Julia making out in the kitchen one day after a hidden relationship, then the two of them moved out into a new town a little while later to start a family. Jay and Sunghoon found well-paying jobs on travels and would come to visit every moment they could.

The three younger boys stayed back, while you and Jake built up the cottage where you revealed your love for one another to live your own lives.

You smile widely as you examine your growing belly with the new life growing inside of it, Jake watches you lovingly from his desk chair where he writes up his notes for work.

His baby, his pretty girl; you who once stood as royalty lived a simply happy life and Jake finding what he was looking for in the end.

I’d say that deserves a happily ever after.

taglist ; @slutforsjy @jaklvbub @whiskrv @mixtapejimin @zyvlxqht @saintriots @yohanabanana @jentlecoeur @belowbun @meujaeyun @capri-cuntz @greyminyoon1 @river-demon-slayer

[jeon-ify]

NASTY- SONG MINGI (18+)

yeah i want you to get nasty,

do that thing you know i like, no one’s watching

warnings: read and find out. 18+.

FRIDAY

“welcome in, guys! what brings you in today?” the salesman asks. mingi’s been busy with schedules, realizing that he hasn’t seen you much, nor has he gotten to do anything he really wanted to do.

today was the day he’d spoil you. you didn’t want to go out, but mingi insisted that he’d blow all his money on whatever you wanted today since ‘my money is yours.’

the first place you went to was YSL. you bought a pair of the classic YSL heel, mingi letting you swipe his card the minute you picked up the pair. he stood and watched you try on the shoe, in admiration of how well deserved you are of everything good in the world. it was his love language— gift giving.

“what do you think, baby? do my feet look weird?” you observed your foot, making sure that your gold anklet matched the shoe. you never took off that anklet, you’ve had it on since the first time you spent your birthday with mingi.

“no, baby. i think they suit you really well. makes you look so elegant, my love.” he kneels before you, holding your foot and caressing your bare and smooth calves. his dimples rise to peek at you, making your skin crawl in arousal.

“thank you. i think i’m gonna get these, then.” you put them back in the silk bag they were once in, and handed them to the salesman. you put your shoes back on, walking over to the register to swipe your boyfriend’s black card.

“baby, you really don’t have to be my sugar daddy all the time.”

“stop questioning how i show my love. plus, you deserve it, don’t you, pretty girl?” he’s holding your bags, letting you walk free-handedly around the mall.

“i do.” you continue a conversation, only to notice that you’re not getting any responses. you catch mingi staring at the lingerie store on your left side, realizing that he’s hard, too.

“baby, we have to come in here. go try some things on and call me to the back so i can see them.” he holds your hand, guiding you into the store as he steps back and waits outside for you to call.

you pick out a burgundy corset laced set with black diamonds lining the chest area, with the back exposed. attached was a knee strap that had dangling diamonds dripping down your thigh, while the other thigh was left blank. you felt so sexy, almost like if you’d called mingi back here, he’d rip it off and have to pay for it before you’d even get to decide if you like it or not. nonetheless, you finish putting on the thigh strap to complete the look, you call mingi’s phone and he comes to the 7th fitting room you chose. you chose the last and farthest room from the store, knowing how mingi is.

he slowly pulls the curtain, eyeing you up and down with his bottom lip sitting between his pearly whites. his mind runs a thousand miles an hour, feeling like he’s above the clouds and underground at the same time. he watches the way you breathe, the way your hair moves down your back when you take the deep breaths. he watches the way you stare into his eyes through the mirror, watching him slowly walk towards you and closing the curtain behind him.

“you like? i think this color suits me, don’t you think, mings?” you ask as you run your hands up your chest, admiring the way your cleavage sits in the top.

mingi doesn’t respond. you catch him staring at the diamonds down your thigh, and down to the gold anklet hugging your ankle. his eyes move up to your perked ass, then right back down to your thigh. it’s something about your thighs that mingi could never get enough of. the smoothness and the way they feel around his head when he’s devouring your pussy.

“you can’t rip this off me, yet, mingi. i like it and i wanna get it. you can fuck me later. you know i can read your mind.” you chuckle. he breathes, his hand moving to travel up your waist and up to your neck to push you onto his body. your head is thrown back onto his shoulder, watching him through the mirror as he kisses down your neck.

“but baby, you look so nasty. you look so fuckable. like i wanna cum on your face and let you squish my face with your thighs while you wear this thigh strap you have on.”

he pulls on the elastic, only to snap it onto the skin. you gasp, he squeezes your throat tighter and kisses your temple.

“get dressed, i’ll pay for this and we’re going home.” he unties the corset from the back, then kneels to unclip the strap on your thigh. you slide the corset off, taking your clothes from mingi’s hands as he steps out and pays for the set.

mingi grabs the rest of your bags and you both head out of the building as soon as you can. mingi could not wait any longer to fuck you in your new set.

•

SATURDAY

“mingi, please go make me pancakes. i’m too lazy,” you whine. you really don’t feel like doing anything at all this evening. you craved pancakes at 7:00pm, mingi being wide awake and already in the kitchen.

“you’re so lazy. but yes, i will make you some pancakes, lovey. how many do you want?” his bare back muscles flex with every move he made, his hair bouncing in its place.

“like 4. but don’t drench them in syrup.”

“fine.”

“thank you.”

as you downed your last pancake, mingi watched you get up and put your plate in the sink and wash your hands. you wore his basketball shorts and your tanktop, along with a pair of black socks. your feet were cold, as you’d just moved in and you’re having trouble with your heat.

and so was mingi.

he watched the way your ass and hips moved whenever you walked anywhere. he stared at your waist and how your long hair covered your back. he felt himself getting rock hard as he remembered the scene in the fitting room yesterday evening.

he called you over to him before you sat down across from him.

“y/n. come here.” he motioned for you to sit on his lap, not thinking about breaking eye contact with you.

“where did you put that red set we bought yesterday, hm? tell me darling, when are you gonna wear it?” he runs his pretty fingers up the back of your thighs, landing a sharp spank on your left cheek.

“well we just bought it yesterday. i’ll put it on soon.”

“i think you should go upstairs and put it on. now.”

you, without a doubt, run up the stairs and pull out the set from your closet. you slide on the strap lastly, making sure it sat in the right spot.

as you finish putting on the set, mingi walks up the stairs and into the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

“fuck, all this for me? do you understand how lucky i am? guys would be on their knees for you in a second. but i get to have you and see you like this.”

he slowly moves towards you at the edge of the bed, lifting your chin up to maintain eye contact with you while he slides his hand through your thighs.

“i would never let anyone see me the way you do, mingi. i’m all for you. i belong to you.”

you could’ve sworn you just heard him moan. you feel his breath hitch under his touch, sweat forming around his orange hairline. he leans down to kiss you, nothing but tongue and teeth. he pulls away to catch his breath as his eyes are rolled back.

“that’s right, you belong to me. now, lay back for me, ‘m gonna taste your pretty pussy. want you to squeeze my head with your pretty thighs.”

as your body reacts to his deep toned silk voice, you lay back onto the bed, feeling mingi following you, planting kisses all over your chest. he kisses on the corset with his wet lips, falling in love with your body in every lifetime.

you are mingi’s ride or die. though it sounds cliche, mingi cannot live without you. he comes home around 2am after a long day at work, and you understand him. he wishes things were different with his idol life and his personal life, but you make up for it. he loves you more than anything in his life. in fact, you may be the only thing he does love.

these thoughts cloud mingi’s brain as he admires and worships your body tonight, tears enveloping his precious eyes.

“mings, why are you crying? is something wrong?” you sit up on your elbows, your left hand caressing his cheek while he kisses your lower stomach through the burgundy fabric.

“i fucking love you. i would die for you. you don’t understand that i cannot physically live without you, baby. you’re so beautiful, i don’t know what to do.” he lifts your thighs and places them on his shoulders while he kneels on the floor at the edge of the bed, kissing the insides of your legs, and to unbutton the bodysuit with his pearly white teeth.

“mingi, i love you. i love you so fucking much, i can’t imagine being with anyone else.” you moan out as he licks a stripe up your bare pussy, your thighs immediately shutting around his head as the diamonds on the strap poke his temples.

“you taste so beautiful. would rather die than never have this pussy again, my love. open up for me.”

as he continues to eat you out, he plunges his long, thick fingers into your heat and you finish all over his hand and wrist. he licks a long stripe from your pussy, gathering your cum and his drool. he brings his face closer to yours as you open your mouth. he gathered the juices in his mouth as he spit them into yours, immediately swallowing and sticking your tongue out to show him that you’ve swallowed.

“good girl. my beautiful girl. i’m gonna fuck you now, let you feel my love.” he unzips his pants, tossing them somewhere in the room. he throws his glasses onto the nightstand by your bed, then takes the rest of his clothing off, leaving nothing but his silver chain with your initial on it.

he brings his palm up to your mouth so you’d spit in his hand, then he rubs it on the base of his cock. he pushes his cock into your heat, making you immediately gasp in response, still not used to his size.

“fuck! mingi, you’re so big, i d-“ you claw at his lower stomach, clenching your thighs and scratching his hips with the black diamonds on the strap.

“baby, you’ve taken me hundreds of times, what’s changed?” he slowly pushes into you, using his question to distract you from his size ripping you open.

“i- fuck, fuck fuck! baby, oh my god—“ you cry out, mingi’s thrusts already picking up the pace. he doesn’t hesitate to thrust at his own speed, knowing that you’ve taken him hundreds of times, but you were extra sensitive today.

mingi took your wrists in his hands, using them to hold you onto his dick while he pounds into you deeper. he lifts you up as your legs wrap around his tiny waist. he feels like he’s on cloud 9, with the way you’re gripping his length.

“feel it. feel how much i fucking love you. how much i’d do for you. how much i’d lose for you.” he lets you go as you fall loosely back onto the bed. he comes down to spoil your mouth with his sloppy kisses, breathing in your moans and cries.

“mingi, i love you! i love you so fucking much, baby. you belong to me and i belong to you,” you cry out. you feel so blissful in a moment like this with mingi. its rough, its raw, its real. his love language always spoke its full dialect to you, while he showed how sorry he was for the lost time.

“do that thing i like, baby. grip my dick, make me cum.” his head is thrown back while he fiddles and tugs at your thigh strap. he feels your pussy gripping his length, unintentionally, since you’re already about to cum.

“fuck! fuck, stop, i’m gonna cum.” he gasps. you’ve already opened a gate and you do not want to close it. so, you grip onto his cock again, harder this time. he groans louder, coming down to wrap his pretty hand around your throat. he fucks into you rapidly, chasing his orgasm just as much as you chase your third one of the night.

“you’re still fucking me and you’re not using the safeword. i don’t think you want me to stop, mings.” you smirk at him, almost mocking his submissive demeanor.

“you’ll kill me one of these days, yet i feel so fucking alive with you. feels so good.” his pace comes to a halt, slowing down and twitching inside your ovaries.

“cum in me, mings. wanna feel your cum all in me.” you contract around him again. he comes down to kiss you, then sucks on your bottom lip, pulling away with a pop as he finishes in you.

“my god, baby. you’re fucking phenomenal. i love you.” he pulls out, plopping down on the spot beside you. you both give each other a few minutes before getting up.

a few minutes pass as mingi regains himself, he flips you over to untie the corset, letting your lungs finally breathe the air you needed. he unclips the strap on your thigh, putting it on the nightstand as keeps for the next time he wants to fuck you again. he walks over to the bathroom, soaking a towel with extra warm water to clean you up.

he turns you over and lifts your thigh to wipe the juices around your inner thighs, then plants a kiss on the cleaned area.

“the things i would do for you, my love.”

[yandere-3-sagau]

Yandere!SAGAU x Secret!Creator!Reader Pt 2

Short Summary: Zhongli knows that it’s you and he can’t wait to meet you as the first one to recognize the creator and officially welcome you. (sorry there’s no intense chase yet, sort of a filler chapter)

characters: Childe, Zhongli

warning(s): ooc characters, lowkey degenerate behavior from Zhongli

word count: 1551

Previous | Next

─── ･ ｡ﾟ✧: *.☽ .* : ✧.───

You manage to get home without any interruptions. Grandpa Fuyi, the farmer that took you in, noticed your heavy breathing.

He sat up in his chair, grabbing his cane. Wiping the sweat from your face, you urged him to stay seated.

“I’m alright! I just… saw a few hilichurls on my way back and got scared.”

His grey brows furrowed. “Thank archons you’re alright. It’s dangerous for you to be traveling alone. Why don’t you take a break from selling?”

“About that… I’ve been thinking of traveling.”

Grandpa Fuyi was silent for a bit.

“Did you remember your real family?”

When you had first arrived, you knew it was impossible to tell him that you’re from another world. Instead, you told him that you’re lost and have no recollection of your past.

“I knew you’d eventually want to return to your life before, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon.” He sighed shakily.

“No! That’s not it…”

Your heart breaks seeing the frail man. You can’t possibly leave him alone. But you are scared. You aren’t sure if the geo archon would come searching for you and you don’t want to involve the one person to give you shelter. You think about what your next set of actions are when Grandpa Fuyi speaks after a long strip of silence.

“Will you let me come with you?”

You are frozen in shock. He sees your reaction and continues speaking.

“I know I’m old and it’ll be difficult to travel with me, but I’ve always dreamed of visiting other nations before I pass…”

You pause, weighing out the options in your mind.

“Are you sure?” you ask. “It may be dangerous…”

“I’m sure. As long as you’re okay with it, I’d like to travel the world with you.”

He gives you a smile with such kind eyes that you can’t help but tear up as you hug him tightly. How can you abandon the one person to help you in this unfamiliar world?

The two of you prepare, quite quickly, to leave Liyue. Using your knowledge from your previous world, you create a collapsible wheelchair for Grandpa Fuyi that would make it easy to travel in. The money you made from selling your miracle vegetables is enough for the two of you to travel comfortably and is enough to last a lifetime. With your bags packed and an optimistic smile on your face, the two of you set out to head to your next destination, the land of eternity… Inazuma.

—

Early the next day, before the sun has even risen, Zhongli returns to the stall and sees that it’s not yet open and that the person he has been thinking of all night is no where to be seen.

Feeling that it is quite early, he decides to wait for you to come. He waits until the sun is high in the sky. Then he waits till the sky is purple. Despite standing for a whole day, Zhongli doesn’t move an inch from his spot.

He has to confirm it.

Even with this thought in mind, he knows deep in his heart that it it’s you. He knows that the creator has descended. Zhongli can feel it in his gut and with every fiber of his being. You’re here.

Zhongli waits for days in the same spot, neither eating nor drinking. Passersby’s stare at him as if he’s crazy and some even offer food. Zhongli refuses them all, only one thought in mind.

Creator, creator, creator… where are you?

—

It’s been a while since Childe visited Liyue other than short business trips and missions for the Fatui.

Childe is heading towards Northland Bank when he sees Zhongli, standing as still as a statue next to an empty stall.

He decides to greet him, walking over to the former geo archon.

“What are you up to?” He asks him, seeing the serious expression on his face.

“I’m waiting for someone.” Zhongli’s answers are brief, nothing but determination in his eyes.

Around him, Childe can hear the whispers of the people who pass by.

“That man is still standing there…”

“How many days has it been?”

“Is he even human?”

Childe’s eyes narrow.

What’s so important about this stall that the Geo Archon himself waits days on end for?

His eyes examine the stall closely. Nothing special stands out. However, as he is examining it, he sees a small white handkerchief poking out from behind the stall on the opposite side of where Zhongli is standing.

“Who are you waiting for?” Childe asks as he casually walks over to the handkerchief. “They must be very important for you to be waiting this long.”

Zhongli doesn’t spare him a glance. “A vegetable merchant,” he says simply. Childe rolls his eyes, discreetly picking up the handkerchief and shoving it into his pocket.

“Wow, how informative,” he says sarcastically. “Well I hate to be the one to break it to you, but if you’ve been waiting here for this long, chances are whoever you’re waiting for is long gone.”

Hearing this, Zhongli finally moves. The former geo archon was so absorbed in thoughts about what he’d say and how he’d react when he finally meets the creator that he didn’t realize how long he has actually been waiting.

“You’re right.” Zhongli wastes no more time waiting and leaves to search for them.

“Nice… just leave me hanging, no problem. I’ve been good by the way, thanks for asking!” Childe calls out to him.

As Zhongli walks to each nearby stall, asking for information about the vegetable merchant, Childe pulls out the handkerchief from his pocket.

His eyes scan over it, noticing smears of gold staining the white cloth.

Paint?

His thumb rubs over the smear, noticing that it’s a different texture than the usual paint used in Liyue.

Childe lifts the cloth to his face, taking in a deep whiff. As someone who survived the abyss and the youngest Fatui Harbringer, Childe’s senses are not to be messed with. Though it’s been days, there’s a small scent that anyone else would not have been able to recognize… but Childe, someone who has experienced his fair share of fights, is able to recognize it instantly.

… blood.

The puzzle pieces in his head click together so fast that he’s barely able to react. Childe stares at the cloth as if it’s the most special and rare artifact in all of the land of Teyvat.

A handkerchief with golden blood and the oldest archon guarding a shabby vegetable stall. Childe knows that this could only mean one thing.

The creator has descended.

With his heart beating faster than ever, Childe quickly leaves. He has to let the Tsarista know before Zhongli can find them. Childe smiles giddily, excitement filling his body.

—

After following the directions given to him by the townspeople, Zhongli finds himself in front of the small house you lived in with Grandpa Fuyi.

The wooden boards creak as he steps on the porch. Zhongli cringes, seeing the decrepit state of the small home.

Is this where their beloved creator has been staying?

Zhongli sighs. He will be sure to build you a grand palace for you to live in once he finally meets you.

He lightly knocks on the door with anticipation. A few seconds pass with no response. He knocks a bit harder and waits. After a few minutes pass of complete silence, Zhongli lets himself in.

He walks around the small home, examining it closely. Other than a small living area and kitchen, there are two small rooms. The first room he enters is lightly decorated with a few antiques littered here and there.

Were they living with someone? Zhongli asks in his head…a bit of jealousy shakes his heart. How lucky they must be to have lived with the creator…

The next room he enters is almost completely bare other than a small bed in the corner of the room. Zhongli knows immediately in his heart that it’s your’s.

The creator’s room…

Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath, almost as if he’s basking in your presence. It’s like he can feel you…

Zhongli walks over to the bed, sitting on top of it. His hands caress the sheets, feeling the slight roughness of the cloth beneath his fingertips.

This is where the creator slept…

He lifts the blanket up, burying his face into the cloth and breathing in deeply with the nose of a dragon. He can smell you… he pulls away after a few seconds, feeling a bit dizzy.

From what he can tell, it hasn’t been that long since you’ve left. You must be close, he thinks. He smiles with eyes filled of devotion and exhilaration.

It won’t be long before you meet, Zhongli thinks. He awaits the day he is able to kneel before your feet and officially welcome you to the land of Teyvat.

Zhongli finally leaves the small house to follow your trail before it fades. He decides not to tell a soul of his discovery, thinking that it’d be best not to release the news so as to not spark any chaos.

… but in truth… Zhongli wants to be the first one to find you. The first to welcome you and become your most trusted acolyte.

Previous | Next

(sorry guys, i know a lot of you were expecting something big. Honestly, i had no plans to continue this but i randomly had a thought about it and decided to write this. I’ve been so busy and stressed with school so it’s been a while since I’ve had time to write anything. It’s a bit plain but I hope you guys like it! Next chapter will be more intense…probably…hopefully…)

taglist:

@allblognamesaretakenlikereally @kokxm1 @leafinapuddle @probablynoposts @tonightwrites @tiffthescales @dakotali @xxxastridexxx @sparklyphantom @ursinaw @d0rmiens-fact0rem @iruiji @turningmad @moonlilliesinthegarden @java-lava @chihawari @yanderesarentagoodidea @5-stirling-heartstrings @smokey-cat @raingoesboomboom @cheritastic @rugiebugie @thelocal-idiot @minteasketches @pwisoned @blueberryhitosh1 @eliaspspspsp @extremelytoastybread @angelkazusstuff @whinnywhale @thedevioussmirk @ravenswife @goldenglow149 @a-person-with-many-likes @noisychildnut

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Shine Bright Like A Winner

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~900

Warnings: implied smut

Summary: You have your eyes set on a very expensive necklace at an auction. So does someone else. When you lose, he pays you a special visit and confesses something you've been wishing for a while now.

Square Filled: stranger for @acrosstheuniversebingo (deleted bingo)

Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3

x

Your favorite part about being rich is going to auctions and bidding for expensive things. Yes, that sounds arrogant and snobby but you have an entire wing at your house dedicated to rare and valuable items you’ve won across the world. It’s a sort of collection that you’ve been obsessed with growing. It’s the same as someone having a snow globe collection or a keychain collection. Instead of small trinkets, you’re dedicated to collecting one-of-a-kind items.

A few of your favorite pieces are a balloon animal made of steel and mirrors designed by Jeff Koons, a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta, and a portrait of Marilyn Monroe done by Andy Warhol. You love traveling and seeing different cultures and owning parts of that culture for yourself. 

They are nice conversation pieces.

This auction, however, has only one thing you’re interested in. Queen Marie Antoinette’s Pearl. It would make a nice addition to your valuable jewlery collection with the occasional night out with your friends. You're currently in Italy for their annual auction that’s exclusive for only the extreme wealthy. You’re sitting in your seat fanning yourself with a personal fan as you wait. People are still coming in when you notice a tall man wearing a sleek black suit.

Your eyes narrow slightly once you recognize him. Dr. Spencer Reid. He’s rich, a doctor, and so delicious looking. He’s not a doctor of medicine but that’s neither here nor there. You have fantasies of calling him doctor in the bedroom. His brown eyes lock with yours and a smirk brands his beautiful face. He sits down on the other end of the audience but in perfect view. It doesn't matter if there are other people sitting in between you. He’s tall enough for you to see him above everyone else’s heads.

The auctioneer stands on stage and begins the service. There are some good items up for grabs but nothing that catches your eyes. The auctioneer moves from the paintings, statues, and other trinkets to the jewelry section. Spencer notices you sit up a bit straighter telling him you’re interested in what’s to come. The auctioneer passes by beautiful jewels until he gets to the one you have your eye on.

“Next on our list is a very valuable, very rare necklace. Once worn and owned by none other than Queen Maria Antionette. The bidding starts at ten million dollars. Do we have any takers?”

“Ten million,” you say and raise your bidding stick.

“Ten million! Do I hear eleven?”

“Thirty million,” Spencer says and raises his stick.

You narrow your eyes at Spencer who hasn’t stopped looking at you since he saw you were interested in this.

“Fifty,” you argue.

“Sixty.”

“Eighty.”

“One hundred million.”

Are you willing to spend one hundred million on something like this? You certainly have the money but is it worth it?

“One hundred and ten million,” you say before you can stop yourself.

“One hundred and fifty million,” Spencer says immediately after.

You can’t do that. Sure, you could keep going higher since you’re a billionaire but you didn’t become a billionaire by spending your money all willy nilly. You lean back in your chair and cross one leg over the other without saying anything.

“One hundred and fifty million going once,” the announcer says. “Going twice… Sold! To the gentleman in the sleek black suit!”

You’d be more upset over the loss but you’ll negotiate a price later with him. That necklace is going home with you, you know that much.

The rest of the auction goes by without a problem but your eyes didn’t leave Spencer. He kept his back turned to you the entire time but he knew your eyes were on him. Afterward, you headed back to your hotel since you’re flying back to the States the next day. Before you could get undressed for bed, someone knocks on your door. You’re still wearing your elegant dress but without shoes so the bottom of the dress drags on the ground whenever you walk.

You look through the peephole and see none other than Spencer standing on the other side. You open the door and look up at him since he’s much taller than you especially without the shoes.

“Hey, stranger. Are you here to rub it in my face that you won?”

“Turn around.”

Spencer steps inside your room forcing you to step back from him. He closes the door and you turn to face the hall mirror. He takes something out of his suit jacket pocket. You don’t see what it is until he wraps it around your neck. The necklace. Queen Marie Antionette’s Pearl. It shines brightly against your skin like it was always meant to be there.

“The necklace,” you whisper and look at him through the mirror.

“Only someone like you can pull off wearing something like this.”

“I’m not going to argue with you about that,” you smirk.

Spencer moves your hair to the side and presses soft kisses up and down your neck. He kisses up to your ear and sucks your earlobe into his mouth. You resist letting out a moan.

“You want to know what I’d really like to do now?” he whispers.

“What?”

He looks up and locks eyes with you through the mirror.

“Fuck you while you wear only this necklace.”

“What’s stopping you?” you grin.

Spencer turns you and picks you up bridal style. Suddenly, you’re not so mad at him for winning. Right now, you feel like the winner.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[missblissy]

So I saw that your inbox is open for hazbin requests

Could you do a Vox x Hellborn!Reader, like a succubus or something, so they can travel to the other rings but since hes a sinner he can't and say the reader is planning to attend a party in a different ring and just overall some fluffy clingy vox trying to convince reader to stay home and stay with him instead

If not that's okay !! Have a good day <3

((Ofc nonny! I had a lot of fun with this one! I've never seen any Hellborn!readers or even hellborn!OCs X Canon which honestly this was really refreshing!! Anyways, enjoy!!))

It didn’t look right. It didn’t feel nice… nothing felt nice. You pulled the bracelets off your wrist with a sigh and plucked the matching earring out as well. Another deep sigh, a huff, just hot air puffing from your chest in defeat. In the mirror you looked yourself over again, you couldn’t find anything to wear to the party your friends were having in the lust ring. As a hellborn you could move freely between all of hell, but you willingly choose to live in the pride ring.

Turning slightly you looked at your side profile, then your backside… “Ugh,” You groaned. Normally you’d be thrilled at the chance to travel to the Lust Ring. You kind of where… But you weren’t exactly keen on running into the recent drama your friends have been having.

While taking in your reflection you could see a spark in the corner of the mirror. Then a few more as they zigzagged to the floor. If lightning could produce people, Vox would always be at the source. He appeared behind you, a smile on his face and a clever yet sneaky twinkling shimmering in his eyes. 

Hands slithered and snaked along your hips, stopping to rest on your waist. A soft buzz and hum of electricity crawled along your skin and into your ears as he spoke, “What’s with the long face, little star?” The pet name never ceased to fluster a blush on your cheeks, “Another fight with the friends?” That amused look on his face said he already knew the answers to his question. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you could see one of many spy cams peeking out from the dark. He was always watching, and Vox was waiting until he saw that little smidge of doubt or frustration for him to come and make his move, “You know you can always stay the night here~” He cooed while swaying you just that little bit closer to him. 

You had to fight back a giggle or riggle from his grasp. His needy tendencies were honestly rather cute. Vox was confined to the Pride Ring, so he could never follow you lower into hell, and nor could he protect you, or even spy on you. His powers stopped with pride. 

Which explained why he’d always glow and bicker and pull at the idea of you staying home, here. Safe. Where he can keep an eye on you. Where you wouldn’t be harmed. 

Being a Hellborn, sure, you could hold your own. But you were far more at risk of permanently dying than Vox was. And that scared the living shit out of him. You could easily perish by a bullet from a regular old gun or a stab of a knife. Meanwhile, if such conventional means happened to Vox he’d just suffer through the pain until he healed or repaired the damage to his body. 

Vox tugged at your side a little more, a hum in his voice as he continued to lay on the affectionation. One, two, maybe three minutes passed before you let out such a heavy sigh you fell back into Vox’s chest for support, “I really wanted to go to this party, though,” You turned your gaze just enough to meet his, “Verosika Mayday is supposed to be making an appearance, I really love her concerts,” You whined. 

At the same time did you really want to spend all the time and money getting down a few rings just for a petty fight between your friends to ruin it all? You could take it or leave it at this point. And Vox with whatever sixth sense he had smelled the doubt and your unsureness. 

Normally, that being 9 times out of 10, there was no way Vox was going to talk you out of anything. Perhaps that’s something he really loved about you, that you were just as stubborn and headstrong as him. And you wouldn’t let anyone, including Vox, stop you from doing or getting what you wanted. 

But here he could already tell you were second guessing on even going to some stupid party you’d probably go to again next week. To be fair, he was getting a little sick and tired of you leaving every weekend and going places he couldn’t reach. 

The charm was ramped up to the max. You were suddenly spun around, a gasp of surprise jumping from your chest. You came face to face with Vox, a low blue glow from off his screen. Then a sweet, nostalgic song started playing, the source simply being Vox himself. 

“Who needs to see some singing bitch when you have one right here?” His tune was out of it and his hum was giggling but still, he began dancing you around, you in his arms and his hands holding tight, “I’ll take you to the moon~” The smile on his face only got bigger, and he drew you in close and tried to steal a kiss, “Get you higher than a balloon~” 

Twisted little notes, electric melodies, Spanish guitars, and suave singing were this man's go-to. He controlled everything in this tower, and the lights dimmed and changed colors. Vox made his own little world for the two of you, hidden behind all the showmanship and effects, you could easily mistake yourself suddenly on a sandy pink beach. 

“I can take you anywhere, my star, and we don’t even need to leave the penthouse,” Your heart started doing those silly flips and flops, battering around in your chest. You ate every bit of attention up. When Vox spoiled you like this, when he wanted something, good gods you could watch him all night. 

That didn’t mean you didn’t try your best to put up a fight, teasingly you whined out and dipped yourself backward only for Vox to catch you, one hand in the small of your back while the other caught your leg, “But how else am I going to get my fix of fun?” You dramatically called out, sarcasm laced in your words. 

“I’m the definition of fun, sweet cheeks,” He pulled you back to him, chest to chest, locked in a tango. Every step you took backwards he took a stronger one forward, legs getting tangled but never once did either of you trip. This playful dance was nothing new to you, so each step was gracefully placed. 

You faked a yawn, fanning your hand, and tried to look bored despite the growing grin and flare of passion and fire in your eyes. You tease Vox a little more, falsely attempting to flee from him. 

Only for Vox to snatch you closer with a grip twice as tight as before. A second of pleading flashed across his face only to be replaced by a sharp smirk. Where his hands made contact with you, sparks of snapping bolts shocked you lightly. Vox laughed out as you jumped in his arms, poured, and gave a mini glare, “You know you like it when I bite,” Vox’s face got closer to yours, the cheeky grin of his eating you away from the inside out. 

“Hmph!” Another shock traveled from him to you, causing a gasp of air while his voice drew closer to your ear. It was barely above a whisper… a beg…. A plea. His face was hidden in the crook of your neck while the vibrations of his vocals greeted you. 

“Please,” His voice was low. The two of you had stopped moving. And he clung onto you in a more desperate attempt… his walls fell and his true nature came out, “Please stay home tonight,” The cling of a desperate man who didn’t want to let you out of his sight, was enough to melt your heart, “I don’t want to be unable to see you,” Vox said, you understood what he meant even though he still added, “Or to protect you,” 

With little effort and carefully, you pulled away just enough to get a good look at those sad puppy dog eyes of his. Your smile was half there, and half in a bantering smirk. You gave him that kiss he tried so hard to get earlier, a soft one. But long enough to hold you there stuck on his lips. When the two you broke, your smile was full there though your voice still was laced with teases, “Fine,” You said, “But I want to watch a movie,” 

There were a few seconds of buffering while Vox took in your answer. A large grin took up his whole face as he let out a laugh and spun you around on the spot, “Thank you!” You didn’t normally hear those words coming from Vox, so it had a nice ring to hear him say it. 

He set you down, planting kisses all over your face but not letting you out of his grasp just yet, “Go down stairs and pick something to watch,” He hummed with joy, “I’ll order us something to eat,” He added, still giving a plethora of kisses between words. You giggled and laughed and bubbled out chirps of joy as he spoiled you with affection. He was utterly perfect, and too lovely for you by every degree. You nodded your head and made sure to run off as fast as you could because now you didn’t want to spend another second away from him.

[underhousearrestblog]

All I See Is Red | J.M.

(summary) you thought you were being rescued but instead you end up under the control of different captor

(warnings) blackmail, captivity, forced proximity, the possibility of sexual assault (eventually not happening and not between the main characters), death, threats, DUB-CON (initially non-consensual oral, initially non-consensual kissing) CONSENT UNDER PRESSURE IS NOT CONSENT!!!

(pairings) Joel Miller x reader

(reminder) Y/N – your name

(genre) angst, fluff (if you, like me, have abandonment issues), smut (if you squint), dark romance

(trope) enemies to lover-ish?

(word count) 7.7k

(also) I’m not god, I cannot make you stop reading if you’re a minor but I would kindly ask you to not interact with this post if you are underage

(also) flashbacks’ in Italics, the flashbacks from Joel’s point of view are in Bold Italics

(also) please be aware that this is a dark romance so don’t be surprised when triggers previously mentioned are found in the following fic (it’s YOUR responsibility to read the trigger warnings and decide whether you’re up for it, baby :))

(also) it’s 1 AM here in Latvia and I’m drunk so excuse any mistakes I might have missed while editing

HAPPY READING!

You squirmed under the intense gaze of one of your companions. The man was about your age and one of the leaders of the group that had captured yours. He looked shady at best and rapey at worst. You had no idea what you could possibly do to avoid his attention and your mind subconsciously jumped to the worst case scenario that could occur if his undivided attention and intention would not stray. Your hands trembled as your thoughts raced through your options.

Would it be worst or better if you complied? Would it be quicker or slower? More or less painful?

It was pretty clear what people paid with post-apocalypse, and it was not with money. Some paid with weapons, and yours was taken away by your captors. Some paid with food, which was also taken away and which you didn’t have lots of to begin with.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

You fought tears prickling your eyes and mentally berated yourself for not staying in the QZ.

Your hands were tied in front of you and with a thick rope, instead of handcuffs or metal substitution that was used for some of your group-mates. Apparently, you didn’t pose enough of a threat for them to use cuffs on you. And it felt weirdly insulting.

One of the older men of your captors stepped in front of your small group. He pointed his rifle to a man of your group, motioning for him to get up. When he didn’t comply or even move, you saw a muscle tick in your captor’s jaw, as he pressed the weapon against the older man’s forehead and pressed the trigger.

You gulped, as you watched a person slump against the ground in front of you. Blood pooled out of his head and people around him screamed out for mercy, silently begged for quick death or cried softly.

Next gunshot was so unexpected that you jumped a little, when a little boy to your right ended up shot between his eyes. You squeezed your eyes shut to avoid accidentally looking at the child.

And even with your eyes shut, you could feel the weapon being turned towards you.

“Quick death is better than anything else this world has to offer.”

- Not her, - you shuddered, as the slimy guy in the back spoke up. – She can be useful for a while.

You really wished the leader of the group would consider you an additional and unnecessary mouth to feed but then the person to your left crumbled against the ground and your fate was sealed.

When you opened your eyes, every person you had travelled with was dead. Death didn’t scare you nor did it surprise you – post-apocalypse had made everyone emotionally stunted and numb and you hadn’t known these people prior to your journey. But they had still treated you better than most of the people you had met.

The disgusting man in back looked you over, smiled, took a step towards you and... crumbled to the ground. Your eyes widened.

There was a bullet wound right between his eyes. His eyes were still very much so wide open.

The leader zeroed in on you. He quickly approached you and pulled you up by your arm.

- Was she bait? – someone behind his back asked.

You shook your head, suddenly realizing two very important things. One – you were out in the open with somebody who just took out some of the best armed soldiers without them even suspecting anything which meant whoever this was – they were very, very dangerous. Two – in this entire world you had no friends left which meant one thing and one thing for sure – whoever was killing your captors, was not doing it out of the goodness of their heart.

Maybe for their supplies?

Their weapons?

Or maybe-

A bullet went straight through the group leader’s head, making him go down right against you, taking you to the ground as well. The bullet wound from his head sprayed you with blood. You could feel blood on your face, taste it in your mouth, feel it drip down your hair...

- Shiiiiit, - Tommy watched through his binoculars. – Did you get her too?

Joel shook his head.

He never missed and he certainly didn’t shoot someone he didn’t intend to.

Once Joel finished off the rest of the soldiers, he swung the rifle over his shoulder and took the binoculars from his brother.

- Are we offering her to stay in Jackson or are we just leaving her here?

Blood coated you all over. The protective side of Joel wanted to hug you, wipe blood, tears and sweat from your face and promise that you have nothing and no one to be afraid of. He would make sure of it. The other side of him – the one he wasn’t aware of up until this moment – primal and possessive – demanded that he marched over to where you were laying on the ground, picked you up and fucked you right there in the blood of the scum that laid their hands on you. This side demanded that he claimed his prize. He had saved you life, so now it belonged to him.

He pushed both parts away and tried to imagine what if you had been someone he didn’t have such a primitive reaction to. What if you were any other woman in distress? What if you were a child survivor?

- I’m going to offer her a chance to come with us, - Joel decided. – Whatever she decides, goes.

Tommy nodded, seemingly deeming it a good idea.

- I think we should try to convince her to stay, though, - Joel added, meeting his brother’s eyes.

When Tommy offered nothing, for a moment Joel thought he had slipped up and told on himself, so he added:

- She’s a woman, maybe wounded, definitely alone, - he shrugged, as if he didn’t care either way. – It would be in her best interest to live in a town with, you know, walls and houses. Water. Food.

Tommy, seemingly okay with that, got up and started heading downhill towards you but Joel’s hand on his shoulder stopped him.

- Let me, - he offered.

His brother looked a bit weirded out. Whenever he and his brother were out on any rescue missions together, Joel put in extra effort to not have to deal with any survivors and always headed straight back home.

- Are you sure? – Tommy looked over his bloody dirty clothes and disheveled hair. – You can be kinda... blunt.

Joel just chuckled and decided on using the only card that usually got his brother off his back.

- I think your pregnant wife might appreciate that I’m letting you off sooner...

Tommy’s eyes softened, as they usually did whenever his wife and unborn child were mentioned. He nodded and picked up their shit before throwing his brother one last glance.

- At least try to be empathetic.

Your senses after the whole shoot-out were a bit all over the place. You couldn’t focus your eyes enough to notice how bloody your own hands were but you could very clearly taste the metallic blood on your tongue. You could smell the blood on your neck and in your hair but your hearing seemed to catch up only on your rapid heartbeat.

That was exactly why you hadn’t heard the heavy approaching footsteps. That was why, when a large hand landed on your shoulder, you – not knowing if it was that of a friend or an enemy – pulled your fist back and swung as hard as you could.

The man before you easy caught your wrist. His warm palm wrapped around it and he pulled you towards him. Still very much so in the state of panic, you allowed him to pull you into a hug and rested your head against his chest. Your breaths were erratic, as you clung to the only person who didn’t immediately tried to kill you off.

One hand slowly stroked through your messy hair, as the other drew circles on your back, trying to calm you down.

He smelled nice, you decided, after recognizing the smell of soap.

Nobody smelled like soap anymore. Not in this hellhole.

That made you double-take in the man before you. Once your breathing had somewhat stabilized, you pulled back. The man let you, while still keeping an arm on your bicep to most likely not let you fall in case you fainted.

- Who the fuck are you? – sounded a bit rude but you were too emotionally drained to care.

- I’m... – he looked at the bodies at your feet. – I’m from a nearby town. My name’s Joel.

You looked down too. He didn’t seem dressed similarly to the dead men and sure as hell didn’t look like he crawled out of a sewer.

- Are you with these guys? – you gestured towards the dead people.

He shook his head, and you exhaled in relief.

Now, were you sure he wasn’t just lying? He didn’t seem to be but wouldn’t be the first time you hadn’t caught up to a lie. But he wasn’t trying to hit you or shoot you, or rape you and that would have to do. For now.

- I’m the one who killed them, - that got your attention.

When you didn’t move a muscle – or breathe, for that matter, - he took a step towards you but this time you immediately took one back. His head slightly tilted to the side, as he let go of your arm. You didn’t dare to run or try to reach any of the weapons that belonged to your captors. You were acting as if you had come across a wounded but still stronger-than-you animal.

- That’s one hell of a skill for a citizen of a nearby town to have, - you threw out, trying to steady your voice so it doesn’t tremble.

- Then it’s a good thing, I guess, that I was trying to save you and not kill you, sweetheart, - he said in a low voice, meant to put you at ease.

For a moment, nobody spoke. Nobody moved.

He was first to break eye contact and brushed his hand over his face, as if dealing with this bloody scared girl was irritating him.

- Jackson – the town I’m from – is few miles from here. You can wash off the blood, get some clean clothes, eat and, you know, not freeze to death, - he gestured towards the hills and leaned down to pick up the rifle of the dead leader of the scavangers. - Let’s go.

He turned to leave, assuming you would just follow a stranger as some sort of a child.

When you didn’t move from your spot, your arms still numbly hanging by your sides, he threw a look over his shoulder and stopped. He just looked at you for a second and then strode towards you once again.

This time when you took a step back, he didn’t care and took an additional step to end up right in front of you.

This close together, you had to tilt your head back to look him in the face. When he didn’t say a word, you realized he was probably waiting for an explanation.

You cleared your throat, trying to not sound tired and empty.

- I don’t know you, - was all you said.

When all the reaction you got was a tilted eyebrow, you rolled your eyes and tried to step back again to put some distance between you two. His hand shot out and he pulled you back by your bicep to where you stood. This time the touch seemed more than just making sure you could stand. It seemed almost possessive.

- You are a stranger and I’m not going anywhere with you, - you sounded like a kidnapped child who had to explain the most essential survival instinct.

He smirked, looked down at you.

- A stranger, huh? – his fingers on your arm didn’t let go. – Didn’t stop you from clinging to me just mere seconds ago...

Once he had said the words out loud, only then Joel realized how much he liked the idea of you seeing him as your savior. Your protector. Provider. How much he liked the thought of you clinging to him any time you were scared, knowing he was the one to stop anybody from harming you.

You looked into his darkened eyes – eyes that now seemed to vaguely remind you that, above all, he was still a man and stronger than you at that.

In another life, had you met him at a bar, you probably would’ve been tipsy and tried to hit on him. Then he would have to turn you down because he probably would say something along the lines of “I could be your father, sweetheart”. But essentially it would be because your type were older dominant men and he would probably be married to an age-appropriate woman. And, after embarrassing yourself, you would check him out one last time before parting ways and never seeing each other again.

He was literally a textbook version of your type. Every single feature you had ever found attractive in a man.

But, if anything, apocalypse had taught you to never live this life by the rules and instincts of your previous one.

- How do I know that you’re not just taking me somewhere to kill and dismember me?

“Why not – give him some ideas for your death,” you mentally berated yourself.

He smiled patronizingly, as if dealing with an annoying child.

- If I was able to take them all out from there, - he motioned towards some trees on a hill. – why take you anywhere? I could just kill and dismember you right here, - he laughed.

Even though you didn’t want to admit it, what he was saying was believable. There was no one else – alive – left here and nowhere to run and hide – not that you were in any condition to be successful at attempting that. He could just shoot you and be done with you.

Seeing some initial understanding flash in your eyes, Joel let go of your arm and turned to leave, again:

- Shall we?

And, again, you didn’t move.

When he turned towards you with a raised eyebrow, waiting for you to explain your next issue, you decided to take the diplomatic route.

You approached him and took his clean, large palm into both of your much smaller, much bloodier hands.

- Thank you, - you felt every emotion you had had for the last few days rush out all at once. – Thank you so much for not letting them kill me, Joel, - tears prickled your eyes. – They said they were gonna give us to some sort of a cannibal cult or something. And then there was this one guy, he was looking at me all the time so I thought that he was gonna...

Joel’s arms circled around you and pulled you against his chest. This was a real hug – not the one before where he was trying to make you breathe again. You stood up on your toes, arms wrapped around his neck, as you rested your chin on his shoulder. After you mustered the strength to calm down and speak clearly, you said:

- What I meant to say was – thank you for saving me but I’m not coming to your town, - you softly explained. – Thanks for the offer though.

For a moment, Joel didn’t move or breathe. His thoughts raced hundred miles per hour, trying to understand your words. His arms slowly loosened around you, and he stepped back to look at you.

You were smiling, just a small smile out of gratitude, but it made his heart both stop and somehow pick up speed.

These three days of following you and your captured group had made him feel such a surge of protectiveness, seeing you struggling to accept your situation. The thought of bringing you back to Jackson – which was something he never offered when it came to new people – and it made him feel as if you were controlling him from afar. You didn’t even know him and you were still slowly but steadily wrapping him around your little finger, making him come up with plans how to protect you.

- It’s not safe for you out there, sweetheart, - he tried to reason. – You’re alone and don’t seem to know how to use a weapon well. How are you going to survive?

He seemed to understand. He was doing the thing that people did where they knew someone was leaving but were still asking questions just to let someone know they cared. The soft look in his eyes made you let your guard down just a little. But it was enough for you to make a grave mistake.

- Well, living’s overrated anyway, isn’t it? – you tried to joke.

His eyes darkened, and your smile dropped. When he started to look downright angry, you reached to jokingly punch your fist against his shoulder.

- I was joking, - your laughed under your breath, - Jesus...

But all Joel could see before his eyes was red. You, laying somewhere, coated in blood. This time, your own. Would it be a wild animal? Another group of armed soldiers? Maybe you would just eventually starve?

Tommy and Maria would let you go the minute you would confess that Joel had brought you back against your will. They would not keep a prisoner and someone who did not wish to be there. And he would be forced to watch you leave. He would be forced back into square one.

Once you turned your back on him and searched the ground for anything you could take for yourself, Joel made up his mind.

You felt his hand wrap around the front of your neck, as he roughly yanked you back against his chest. Out of sheer surprise, both your hands shot up to peel his hand from your neck.

When the initial terror had subsided, you realized he wasn’t trying to strangle or choke you. His fingers expertly found a spot on your neck a bit below your left ear, and you felt him put pressure against it. You started to feel light-headed but it was too late for you to remember that certain spots in your neck could be used to make a person lose consciousness.

His other arm wrapped tightly around your middle, as your vision had started to cloud.

With black spots dancing before your eyes, all you could focus on was his warm breath against the back of your neck.

- This is for the better, sweetheart, - he promised and placed a light kiss on the small hairs on the back of the neck. – You’ll see.

That evening, when Joel returned to Jackson later than expected, Tommy greeted him at the gates.

- Where have you been? – his brother looked and sounded worried. – Where’s the girl?

- She refused to come here so I offered to walk her down all the way to the main road, - Joel purposefully avoided looking his brother in the eye, as he took off his rifle. – She’s heading back to the closest QZ.

For just few seconds, Tommy looked suspicious. He had spent three days, trailing around the scavangers and watching Joel get progressively more protective over you.

Had he killed you?

That was the only option Tommy considered and it didn’t seem possible. What would he gain from killing you?

Tommy shook his head and clasped his brother’s shoulder.

- Maybe for the best, - he offered. – Can’t save everyone.

Joel nodded and continued to dissect the few items he had taken from the dead scavangers.

Had Tommy been less tired and less excited to just see his brother alive and well, he would’ve noticed his brother’s gloves and warm jacket gone. The backpack that was usually given to people who went outside the town limits and was usually filled with food and some essentials, was gone too.

You opened your eyes, hearing the deadbolt being unlocked from outside. You didn’t rush towards the door as you had done the first few times Joel had returned. You had thought that having the element of surprise and trying to catch him off guard him would make at least a small difference. It didn’t. It hasn’t. Every time you had ended up on the floor with him restraining both your hands with one of his, while immobilizing your legs with his thighs.

“You’re getting better at this,” he praised you, and that left you even more furious. “Another few times of you ending up under me and we might just end up with me under you.”

After the initial shock had passed and you had gained back some strength – thanks to the food Joel brought and keeps bringing over which you still refuse to thank him for – and after you had realized that crying and pleading with him to let you go won’t work, you adapted a new tactic. Trying to scratch his eyes out every chance you got.

You have been living in this little cottage for about a week now. It was cozy and in any other circumstance could be considered something you had once wished to live in. It had an open-floor and with stairs that led to somewhat of a second floor with one room that only had a railing around it and no walls so it could be seen from the first floor.

This is where you had woken up. The way Joel had explained it – since you refused to come back to Jackson as a “civilized” person, you got to live here. With him.

Living was a bit too flashy of a word for it. You couldn’t leave. Every night when Joel begrudgingly went back to Jackson (as he put it, his brother would get suspicious if he stopped going home all together), you were locked inside this cozy little prison. Prison that you realized after many unfruitful leaving attempts was more secure than any QZ you had been a part of.

An old kitchen knife that you had tugged inside your sleeve bit into your skin. In order for this to work, you would have to get physically close enough to Joel. The problem was – that kind of behavior would probably be suspicious to him, as usually you tried to keep as much distance between the two of you as possible.

When he opened the door with his shoulder, you realized that you had missed a really good escape opportunity. Both his hands were full of what looked like boxes of food and clothes. When he kicked the door closed, you greedily watched the deadbolt with the lock unused, as your captor went over to the small kitchen portion of the house to put down the food. Subconsciously, you felt your tongue swipe over your lower lip, eyes darting between Joel and the door.

- I have to say, I’m disappointed, - he chuckled. – All this way from Jackson, I was really looking forward having you trashing and squirming underneath me.

You didn’t move from where you sat in an armchair in the middle of the room. When your eyes once again darted to the door, Joel caught it. He leaned against the stove and crossed his arms over his chest. With a slight turn of his head, he gestured towards the unlocked door.

- Wanna try? – he patronized you, smiling. – I mean, the last time you got out, I caught you before you had a chance to step outside the gates. Granted, you were malnourished and weak, and couldn’t pick up any speed...

Your eyes didn’t leave the door. How come freedom was this close and this far at the same time?

Joel lazily walked towards you but took the longer route by circling around the side of the kitchen island, giving you, like, two second head-start.

When he finally reached you, you looked up to find him staring down at you. His fingers incredibly gently pushed a stray lock of hair behind your ear, before he bent down so you were both more or less at an eye level.

- Here’s an idea, - he suggested, - I’ll let you have a fifteen second head-start, an unlocked door and I’ll even throw in permission to use that blunt kitchen knife you got on you.

You tried not to flinch by how little of privacy you had from him.

- In return, if you make it outside the gates, I’ll-

- Let me go? – you asked.

He laughed and shook his head. You deflated. And you hated that just for a moment there had been a small hope in your heart that he might have gotten bored of taking care of you here. That he had gotten sick of you.

- No, - he chuckled as if you had tried to make jokes. – Make it outside the gates and I’ll reward you.

You must’ve looked like you genuinely considered this deal because Joel looked a bit surprised but mostly amused.

He circled the armchair, pushed his boot between your much smaller ones and roughly kicked your left boot to the side, so he could comfortably stand between your legs. Once he placed both his hands on the armrests on either side of you, he leaned down. Your lips were just few inches apart and it had gotten really hard to keep eye contact. Or breathe, for that matter.

- And what’s the reward? – did that hoarse voice really belonged to you?

You eyes kept darting from his eyes to his lips.

- I was thinking head.

It took a second for your lust-clouded brain to catch up. Once it did, your accusing eyes shot up to meet his amused ones.

- What?

- I’ve seen you looking at my arms. My hands. Me. I know you find me attractive, - he said. – And I think we both know that it’s very much reciprocated.

You were so mad you could almost feel fumes coming from your ears. You roughly placed both your hands on his chest and pushed him back which made him stumble back just a little. You must’ve looked quite shocked because he softly laughed and backed up.

- Have you lost your mind? – you raised your voice. – What makes you think that I would ever agree to any sexual favor? You’re keeping me here against my will - I could never find you attractive!

Joel turned his back on you and went to lock the door. When that was done, he turned back towards you and smiled:

- I would make sure it’s very, very good for you, - his gaze slowly slid over you from head to toe. – You won’t be complaining nearly as much when you’re fucked out of your mind and cannot string a sentence together.

Even though you weren’t naive or inexperienced by any means, his crude words left your mouth wide open.

Did he think you were the type of person to have sex with your kidnapper?

For the first time ever, you had no words. You closed your mouth and opened it again. Then closed again. You wanted to take the old lamp on the nightstand and smash it against his head.

- The fuck do you... – you started. – What the...? Are you out of your mind?

Joel shrugged as if he didn’t care either way and turned towards the kitchen to start on dinner.

Your hand grabbed the lamp, and you threw in his direction without trying to hit anything or anyone in particular.

The lamp smashed against the kitchen wall and broke apart all over the stove and the floor.

You marched over to where Joel looked down at the broken lamp. Your hand reached out, you grabbed his shoulder and harshly turned him to face you.

- You will never ever touch me, - you spoke through your teeth. – And I will never ever agree to any deals with you. You’re disgusting to me.

Before you had a chance to step back, Joel’s hand shot out and grabbed your chin. He tilted your head back, pulled you against him and pressed his lips against yours.

In any other situation this type of kiss would be considered chaste. Virginal. A peck, really. No tongue. But this was Joel and, no matter how much you hated him for locking you up, he hadn’t hit you, he fed you and clothed you and in your fucked-up mind, that had experienced so much cruelty in this new world, he was very much still attractive both physically and emotionally.

Still, you gathered all of your strength and, placing your palms against his chest, tried to push him back. He didn’t budge an inch. Even more so, he pressed his hand on top of yours, as to make sure they stayed firmly pressed against his chest.

You turned your face to the side, roughly ending the kiss. He pressed his forehead against your temple and exhaled heavily.

- You have no idea what you do to me, sweetheart, - he murmured. – The things I wanna do to you...

The kiss left your light-headed. And you hated yourself for it.

This was your captor. All you should feel for him should be pure hatred. Anger. Disappointment in the man who once had saved you just to lock you up in this place as if you were his pet. Who had taken control over every single decision in your life. He chose what you ate. What you wore. What you read. It was deeply disturbing. But not nearly as disturbing as the fact that, despite all of this, you still had sexual dreams involving him almost every night. Where he bent you over the spotless kitchen counter and demanded that you paid for all the trouble you’ve been costed him. Insisting that you repaid him for all the food, clothes and shelter he’s provided for you. Every night you went to bed angry and woke up dripping wet. And twice as angry.

- What would it take for you to let me go? – you asked, trying your best to pull off an innocent, naive look.

He looked down at you. His eyes were almost apologetic.

- You already know the terms, baby, - his raspy voice sounded pained. – Come back to Jackson with me. Play house with me. Let me take care of you. Let me provide for you.

When your unsure eyes met his, he wrapped his hand around the back of your neck and pulled you against his chest.

- We can have a good life together, you and I, - he promised. – Just allow me to be your man, and you’ll have everything you could ever dream of. Safety. A house of your own. Children, if you want them. A dog, if you don’t.

Did it sound promising? Sure. Still, you shook your head. Everything you knew was back at your old QZ. And, even though Joel had done more for you than anyone else in a really long time, you still didn’t trust him. His intensity scared you. His need for you terrified you.

Joel’s eyes darkened. His hands untangled themselves from your hair, and he stepped back. Then he just turned around as if nothing had happened and started to prepare dinner.

You felt so, so helpless.

Would it be easier for you to escape from Jackson than it was escaping from here? There was a possibility of you finding a person who would feel for you and eventually would let you leave the town. Maybe, if you could get to Joel’s brother and his wife and convince them to convince Joel-

- If I come with you to Jackson, will you leave me be? – you tried to reason with him. – Can I just come back with you and we part our ways? Can we just act as if nothing happened?

With his back still turned to you, Joel pulled out a carton of eggs, placed them carefully on the counter and then turned to face you, carefully folding up the paper bag.

He looked you over with a heated glance, as if trying to decide whether some quick oral is worth letting you go.

- No.

You wanted to smash something against his head.

- No? How the fuck would you even explain me coming back to Jackson to your brother? You told me that you-

- If you’re coming to Jackson, nothing changes, - he put the paper bag on the kitchen island and approached you. – You come back but you’re still provided for by me. Sleeping next to me. Living with me. You’re still mine. I’m just offering you a bigger house and an additional human interaction.

You were fuming.

- And if you’re really thinkin’ that my brother might make me change my mind and let you go, you clearly haven’t learned anything in this past week, - Joel reached you and looked down at you almost comfortingly, as if trying to deal with a very, very difficult toddler. – He has his own troubles and he won’t risk his new family over some girl he hasn’t even met yet.

When you didn’t speak, Joel added:

- Take it or leave it, - he shrugged. – To be fair, I prefer not to share you with anyone. To keep you locked up. All to myself.

When he turned to return to his dinner, you weighed out your options and quickly made a decision.

- Fine.

He looked genuinely surprised.

That was a first.

- What? – Joel couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

- I’ll go to Jackson with you if that’s what you want, - you straightened, trying to at least keep an illusion of you having the upper hand. – On one condition.

Joel’s lips pulled upward. He looked quite handsome when he smiled. And for the first time in a long time, he felt genuine happiness. Still, he looked amused when you demanded a condition of your own.

- Let’s hear it, baby, - he urged you, motioning with his index and middle fingers for you to approach him.

When you did, he put his hands behind his back, watching your angry face.

You lowered you voice almost to a whisper.

- If I succeed in escaping from Jackson, - you started, - because I will attempt to do so, I can promise you that, - your angry eyes were met with his terrifyingly dark ones, - if I succeed, you don’t look for me. You don’t come after me. You don’t chase me. You let me go.

Joel put on a show of considering it. When he nodded, seemingly accepting your terms and conditions, you exhaled with relief.

But then he leaned down and added:

- Good luck with it, though, - he chuckled against your temple. – I will be watching every step you take outside our home. You will be by my side every second of every day. And, if for whatever reason, I have to leave Jackson, you will be tied to my bed, a vibrator pushed all the way up in your cunt to the highest setting to the point where you won’t be able to stand up, - he placed a light kiss on your forehead in an almost loving manner, - let alone run.

You trembled with either terror or need and hated that you couldn’t decide which one was it.

- You won’t hate me when I come back to you at night, - he promised. – You will greet me like your god because only I will be able to stop your misery. Running away will be the last thought in your pretty little head when I’m done with you.

He took a step back.

- I’ve been good to you, letting you adapt, - his eyes shamelessly roamed all over your body. – But don’t ever assume I wouldn’t use your own body against you. I’ve let you preserve your dignity but, if you try to run, I will overstimulate you to the point where you will beg me to fuck you. Where you plead for me to take you and make you mine. To ravish you.

He had never spoken to you like this. He had always tried to mask his lust for you and had allowed for you to do the same.

- I don’t want you to hate yourself for wanting your keeper. Don’t you think it would be easier on you if you wanted your husband, your lover? Allow me to make you my wife and you can sleep easier at night for wanting this, - he motioned between the both of you. – For wanting me.

- I already said I’d come with you to Jackson. That’s all I can promise you right now.

He nodded in an almost understanding manner. As if deciding on giving you some time to come to your senses.

- Fine, it’s a deal, - he decided and then something dangerous flashed in his eyes. – Now strip.

In a world that had shocked you every step of the way, you were still taken aback.

- W-what?

- You heard me. I’m taking that oral we argued about a bit earlier, - you noticed Joel’s hands slightly trembling, as if he was approaching a priceless artefact and, for the first time, he had been given a permission to physically touch it.

Except, he hadn’t.

- What? No, - you backed away. – The whole purpose of this was for me to come back to Jackson! – you argued. – You didn’t ask anything for it!

He shrugged, still zeroing in on you with predator-like steps.

- That was before. I’ve changed my mind. Now I want something for my troubles.

For the first time, you thought of a possibility of needing to physically fight off Joel. And you knew you wouldn’t be able to do that. Your hand reached for a book that laid on the table, you pulled back and swung it across his face.

His face just slightly turned to the side and, when his eyes found yours again, the pupils were dilated to the point his eyes looked black.

Shit.

You made it worse.

- That’s it, baby, - he encouraged. – Try to fight me off. You have no idea how hard I get every time you’re violent.

- I’m not sucking your dick, bastard, - you threw the book away, deeming it to be pretty much useless. – I’ll bite it off if you make me do it!

For a split second, Joel looked clueless. Then he chuckled.

- I think there’s been a little bit of miscommunication, darling, - his hands found your hips and pushed you, making you sit down on the bed. – I don’t want you to suck my cock, baby. I don’t enjoy taking something that’s not freely given. I enjoy giving.

You couldn’t believe what you were hearing. He kneeled down in front of you, hands travelling up your hips. His long fingers started to untangle the messy knot you had tied in front of your sweatpants.

- I want to eat your pussy, baby, - a hand on your chest roughly pushed and held you down against the bed. – That’s what I demand for providing for you. That’s how you repay me for saving your life.

In what upside-down world were you in right now?

Since when did men consider giving being a prize to them?

Once he had gotten rid of your sweatpants, he hooked his fingers on the sides of your panties and pulled them down. When you tried to sit up and press your legs together, he shook his head, disappointed.

- Can’t have that, baby, - he tsked, placing a sloppy kiss against the inside of your thighs. – I want to fully enjoy myself and you’re getting in my way.

Next thing you felt was the coldness of the metal placed around your wrists.

He had handcuffed you!

Not paying any attention to your trashing, he cuffed your hands together and then cuffed both of them around the headboard of your bed. When you pulled against the cuffs, all he said was:

- Don’t hurt yourself, baby.

- YOU BASTARD! – you screamed. – YOU PROMISED! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! YOU DON’T HAVE IT!

He reached somewhere next to him and picked up a piece of your clothing.

- I’M GONNA MAKE YOUR LIFE SO MISERABLE YOU’LL WISH YOU NEVER SAVED MY LI-

Those were the last words you uttered before he stuffed your panties in your mouth, effectively shutting you up.

You tried to kick him in his face but he easily caught your calf, placed a quick kiss on your knee and spread your legs.

As you had thought before, your strength and anger were nothing compared to his. His warm calloused palms wrapped around your upper thighs, keeping you in place as his mouth delved in between your legs with no hesitation.

The first initial swipe of his tongue was torturous. Your conflicting mind and body refused to acknowledge the immense pleasure both of them received. He purposefully tortured you with thoroughly enjoying you and making every lick as slow as he possibly could. His beard pressed against your inner thighs and you knew tomorrow there would be red marks left from it on the inside of your thighs.

You tried to withdraw by pulling your hips back towards the front of the bed but his fingers dug into your hips and pulled you firmly back against his mouth. And when you tried to close your legs, his hands wrapped around your thighs, holding them apart. Joel’s tongue dipped inside your hole, and you squeezed your eyes shut when the tip of his tongue touched something inside you, making black dots dance before your eyes.

Fuck you for making me feel this pleasure, you tried to talk with your panties still in your mouth, fuck you for making me feel wanted.

Joel’s nose accidentally brushed over your clit and you whimpered, making him laugh against your core.

- This is how you’re going to sound and look every night from now on, - he lifted his head to meet your eyes, his lips glistening in your arousal. – This is how you’re going to receive your man home, sweetheart. This is how you’re going to reward me for all the troubles I go through to provide for you. With your legs spread and your mouth shut like the obedient little girl I know you can be.

His lips wrapped around your clit and sucked. Against every bone and wish in your body, you pressed against his mouth, trying to find some relief.

So, so close...

When you were balancing right on the edge of the abyss, Joel pulled back. A whine left your mouth against your better judgement, and tears pricked your eyes.

This week had left you in so much stress. You wanted this. You needed this. You had to have this.

His hand shot up and pulled the soaked material from your mouth.

- Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop... - you blabbed incoherently.

- Hey, baby, - his hand unwrapped from your thigh and grasped your chin to tilt your head towards him. – Beg me to make you come. Beg me to make you feel good, baby.

You tried to close your thighs to get some friction between them but Joel’s hands held them apart, making you suffer. The pressure was still there and it bordered with physical pain. You had to get some relief.

- Fine, - you nodded. – Fine! Please, please, make me come, Joel!

He leaned down towards your pussy and... softly blew air against your core.

When she twitched, Joel just looked up in amusement.

- I think she likes me, - he chuckled. – I think she knows who she belongs to.

- Just finish what you started, - you pleaded. – Please.

He tilted his head to the side, considering it.

- Tell me you want me, - he took a long swipe from your ass to your clit. – Tell me you’ll be a good little girl and let me take care of you.

- Fine, you can take care of me, - you panted. – Feed me and clothe me, and-

He sucked on your clit and you lost focus. And your ability to talk. Black dots danced before your eyes and your back bowed from the bed. He calmly ate you out through it, only removing his mouth once you had slumped back against the sheets.

- Good girl, - he whispered against your core and placed a kiss on your pussy lips. – Such a good, good girl for me.

You still tried to steady your breathing when he gently let go of your thighs and stood up. Towering over you, he reached to remove the handcuffs.

When your frightened eyes met his, Joel paused and leaned down to kiss you on the lips.

You could taste yourself on his them.

He placed his hand on your cheek in a lover-like manner, closed his eyes and rested his forehead against yours.

- You’ll learn to love me, - he promised both you and himself. – You’ll learn to love me eventually, sweetheart.

[cutebutalsostabby]

Which Link is most likely to go for a trans surgery?

Hmmm. Well: all of them are SOME flavour of trans and/or genderqueer (I don't make the rules, except when I do, and yep: thems the rules), but I don't think many of them would actually have surgery, per se. For several reasons, which all basically boil down to this: Hyrule is a better place than the real world, and they can do cool stuff we can't do here. Behold as I infodump all over your question.

First off, my opinion is that there's less social and legal pressure within most of the game settings to conform to particular gender presentations. Which is obviously far from the sole reason why surgery would happen in the real world, but it does mean that you can decide 100% for your OWN sake, not for anyone else's. Note: Western transphobia developed under specific conditions which we don't have to transpose into fictional worlds. We can just do what we want. It's great.

Second, and this one is pretty clearly demonstrated in game lore, mechanics and dialogue: kids in Hyrule, Skyloft and the Great Ocean are treated really well compared to the real world, in that they have 1) the ability to make personal decisions WITHOUT parent consent, and 2) direct access to libraries, doctors, clothes shops, potion shops and etc. Sure, money is a factor here, but the Links at least tend to have spare cash and/or the ability to earn it. Plus, potions at least are not that expensive, nor is that one medical bill from the Oracles games from memory? Idk. If you have 50 rupees every now and then, you're probably set. So if there's a particular surgery a trans person might have in the real world as a direct result of not being able to make their own choices during puberty... that doesn't have to apply in a fictional world. Unless they either didn't know or didn't have access at the time.

Related to the above: most of the games have some form of magic and often also some form of science. I think surgery would be a last resort, used either where magic isn't available or where the magic that IS available doesn't do enough. So probably only for major changes and/or in low magic settings.

As for who, then, based on the above:

TP!Link does come from a low magic world where one of two doctors is a raging racist, and that could limit his access to HRT equivalents. The fact that he comes from a small village could also impact his access to information about being trans, though his house IS full of books and his adopted dad and childhood friend's dad ARE connected with a bunch of people across Hyrule, including the one non-racist doctor. If I didn't HC him as being intersex and totally fine with his body, he'd be my pick.

Since I do: Hyrule (ZeldaI&II!Link).

I HC him as transmasc, but I think he was probably late to put actual words to that, given he's been travelling alone since a young age. Potionsellers do exist within his world, but they're a) rare, an b) expensive. My boy is POOR. But luckily, the town healers and magicians both offer their services for free! YAY! He can get all the surgery and magical HRT he wants :) just so long as he's both cool with having a little blood spilled and able to stick around in a town long enough to recover. Which he uhh... CAN do... right?

Congrats on your top surgery, Roolie!! 🎉🎉🎉

[contentloadingandstuff]

Aether Whump | Things Money Can Buy - Intro

A/N: Yup, the series is back - sort of. I'm going to be remaking what's here already to make it an actual story instead of just random whumpy scenes. CW: Canon violence.

Honed blades clash, sending a handful of blue sparks flying. Growling, Kunikuzuchi withdraws his blade and brings it down with double the force, just for his weapon to be stopped by Aether’s sword, held firmly in his experienced hands. The Traveler pushes forward, forcing his opponent to take a step back under his relentless pressure. The katana is raised just in time to stop a follow up blow, but the sheer force bends his whole body backwards. 

Scaramouche doesn't have time to ready his own attack as Aether maintains the pressure, delivering blow after blow to his opponent. Each clash creates dents in his blade, the white iron chips flying every time he barely manages to block. 

“Worthless… weapon…!” The puppet speaks, grinding his teeth as he strains with each blow. An attempt to stab the human is foiled with an efficient parry, sending him back on the defensive. 

“Not used to fighting, are you?” His golden eyes are filled with grim determination. “Or risking your own skin in the first place, huh?”

At last his katana reaches the end of its rope and Aether's next strike cuts it clean in half, the end of his blade slashing through Scaramouche's chest. He stumbles backwards, clumsily raising his iron bracer to stop the next strike. No blood from the cut stains the dusty boards or the Delusion factory. 

The warrior mind of his opponent remains unphased at this, instantly winding another strike. Scaramouche throws out his hands, summoning bolts of Electro with all of his might. His opponent is stopped in his tracks, forced to stand his ground and block the attack with a rapidly deployed Geo shield. He shoots another bolt but as he does so, the shield explodes into jagged, yellow shards of rock. They strike his vessel, embedding into his shoulder and offsetting the lightning to harmlessly strike the floor. Wasting no time, the enemy charges forwards and strikes true. 

The Harbinger’s arm clutters to the ground amongst servos and gears. Wires short out in the wound, shooting sparks out of the wound. He falls to his knees, dazed, clutching the removed part of his mechanical body. 

Seeing his opponent unarmed in both meanings of the word, Aether takes a step back. He uses the tip of his weapon to slide the katana’s remnants away from Scaramouche. 

“Hah. It seems like you're not only figuratively heartless.” 

Unflinching, Kunikuzuchi looks up at his enemy, his mouth a snarling grimace. 

“Whatever you are, you'll pay. You'll pay for the war.” He points his sword at Scaramouche’s throat. “Tens of thousands dead, just so you Fatui could lay your hands on the Gnosis. But no more.”

There is no inkling of neither hesitation nor mercy in his eyes - only stone cold resolve. Scaramouche’s expression softens. In the silence of the room he can feel a pulse in his chest. 

His hand clutches over the wound. He has been destroyed, defeated. He is left kneeling before his enemy like never before. It is over. 

Scaramouche feels his throat tighten in fear as he awaits death. 

But Aether stands still. In the corner of his eye, Behind the man, Scaramouche sees a splash of red on the wooden backdrop. He focuses and sure enough, he spots a handful of Skirmishers looking on from a balcony above them. 

Useless minions, he thinks, but his thoughts are stopped dead in their tracks as he spots a rifle trained straight at Aether. 

Scaramouche's eyes shoot open. Maybe they aren't so useless after all. 

Noticing this, the Traveler turns his head only to be welcomed with a loud gunshot.

He spins around, instantly summoning a shield to defend himself. Scaramouche summons Electro in his remaining hand and slashes across his would-be killer's shins. Aether screams out as the energy burns through his trousers and into his exposed flesh. He falls forward, the puppet using this opportunity to get back to his feet. Feeling the anger and hate boil inside him, he outstretches his arm and summons a shockwave, sending the momentarily unbalanced Aether flying at the wall. Barreling through various shelves and crates, his body smashes against the stone wall with a dull thud, sword cluttering to the ground. 

Kunikuzuchi smiles. He curls his fingers, lifting Aether into the air and slamming him into the debris-ridden floor. As he impacts a small cloud of dust arises from the broken furniture. Aether is picked up again and thrown to the side, his face meeting the cold stone of a fireplace. 

“You should not have returned here, you fool. Just destroying our plan wasn't enough for you, so you thought - the audacity! - that you could capture me too?” Scaramouche dusts his knees off, gazing smugly at the human, slowly raising to his feet. Before he can stabilize himself though he is raised up again and tossed like a ragdoll to the opposite end of the room. “And then you don't even kill me when you have the chance. You're a mockery.”

Aether grunts. Scaramouche observes as he drags himself to his knees and coughs out a bloodstained tooth. His eyes flicker with excitement. 

Adrenaline rushing through his body, Scaramouche steps forward using his powers to pick his defenseless opponent up yet again. With a satisfied groan, he gestures downwards with his whole arm, sending Aether crashing against the ground. Then, Scaramouche repeats. Then again. And again. 

With each gesture of his hand and each painful impact, Aether groans in pain. His cries become quieter and quieter as the deceptively hard floor stains with more and more blood. When Scaramouche can hear the pained sounds no more, he finally releases the human from his grip, letting him fall to the floor. 

As the Traveler moans weakly, Scaramouche laughs to himself. “Pathetic.”

Aether clutches his stomach, coughing as the Fatui approaches him. Every now and then a few new droplets of blood stain the floorboards. Using his foot, Scaramouche turns his enemy over onto his back. He aims his leg and stomps onto his stomach, sending him into a coughing fit. 

“I would gladly end your misery here, if only you weren't such a nuisance, Traveler.” The man tries to turn his head to look up at him, but is forced into place with Kunikuzuchi’s sandal on his head. 

Aether spits, sending him a look of defiance.

“You'll pay”, he speaks with a mocking voice. 

With a kick to the head, Aether's world is plunged into darkness. 

Scaramouche takes a step back, admiring the battered body of his opponent. He turns sharply towards his saviors. 

“What are you waiting for, morons? Tie him up. We'll take ‘the Traveler’ on a really memorable journey.”

Thanks for reading!

[usmsgutterson]

THE HALLOWEEK OF HURT: DAY SEVEN

Heartbeat- K.B x gn! Heartrender! reader

all right! Last day of this event and the goal with this one was to make myself cry. I'll be rereading and editing it the day it comes out, too, so this fic is for anyone who needs a good cry and doesn't mind crying on Halloween.

Fic type- this is angst.

Warnings- a lot of mentions of matthias' death, mentions of blood, drowning, stabbing

The final day of October in Ketterdam was shaping up to be at a minimum, decent. The pumpkin-flavoured drinks still dominated the bars and would hold their rightful place until around the 15th of the next month, at which point the winter season would take full hold five-ish weeks in advance and you would not be able to escape the sight of sugar cookies and various ceramic ornaments or the smell of fresh pine, eucalyptus, gingerbread and cinnamon.

You were working behind the bar, making yourself a shift drink--a pumpkin spice martini because you, too, were a fiend for the fall drinks and your shift was nearly done with anyway--when Kaz approached.

"Drinking during a shift, are you?" He asked, sitting down at one of the barstools. You'd been working more and more shifts at the bar lately, one near the University of Ketterdam. You were a part-timer with the Dregs, one who Kaz considered apart of his inner circle, and when you weren't in the Slat or at the bar, you were at uni, studying to get a degree in library science.

"Drinking at the end of it," you said. "Two minutes to go. You'll probably have me at the end of my shift when this conversation is done. What do you want?"

Kaz grinned, and you took a sip of your martini before setting it on the counter, grabbing a glass and pouring rum into it. You slid it across the counter, and Kaz took it with one gloved hand.

"Heist," he said. "Tonight. Can you manage?"

"Where?" You asked. "How many days of my study fortnight are you asking me to miss?"

Kaz grinned. "A fortnight is fourteen days," he said. "Five days on the boat, five days back the way we came. We're due for a heist in the Wandering Isle, but thanks to the heist we pulled for the Ravkan royalty over the summer, Nikolai added one of his speed boats to the limited sum they were able to offer. The likes of the Wandering Isle would take three weeks, normally, so thank your saints for Ravka, your royals, and their limited available funds."

"Just because I am Ravkan does not mean I like the royals, nor that I claim them in any respect," you said. "Zoya Nazyalensky is quite admirable indeed, but the Lantsovs have run the country into the ground since the first in their line sat his pathetic ass on the throne. I have no respect for the Lantsov line, even as handsome as Nikolai turned out in spite of the previous men of his lineage."

Kaz took a sip of his rum. "Ten days of travelling in total," he said. "Two days in the Wandering Isle to get the jewelry we need. You can study for your finals on the boat, if you need to, and then you can study for the remaining two days before your break ends and we're home. Are you in?"

You scoffed. "I joined the Dregs when we were sixteen. I've been in on every major job we've done since--unless this isn't major?"

"Sixty million kruge."

"Level of risk?"

"Trapdoors in the tiles on the floor that take you to a windowless and relatively inescapable lower level, a security system that defaults to flooding the building and leaving no survivors. Without Jesper, the windows would be lined with unrelenting Grisha steel and glass, so they would be unbreakable and effectively leave us to drown."

"And with him?"

"He can manipulate it enough so that it can be broken, and he's agreed to," Kaz said. "The risk amounts to the reward, I think."

"Last time we got money in the high end of the millions, we lost someone," you said. "I love the heists, and I love you enough to consider it, but the risk might just be too high. I can't stand the thought of losing the likes of any of the rest of us."

"You paid off your college debts," Kaz said. "You own a home in the financial district, even if you don't live in it. With this kind of money, you wouldn't have to work a day."

"You used your portion to renovate the Slat and buy out Pekkas buildings," you said. "What you've done with the rest of it, I don't know. This money could just mean more expansions, and if you keep going like that you'll be the king of the Barrel one of these days."

You took a sip of your martini and Kaz shrugged.

"So, you're in?"

"Obviously," you said. "I'll even wear my amplifier. If I can slow our heartrates before we drown and then liven them up once the water has drained, we'll be set to go."

Kaz laughed, a rare but true sound, and your heart gave a flip.

"Your shift?"

"Finished about half a minute ago now. Walk me back to the Slat?"

Kaz finished off his brandy, and you finished off your martini, and the two of you left the bar. You walked home in relative silence, occasionally talking about the heist as you went.

-

You'd packed everything necessary for the journey and were on the Lantsov-gifted speed boat at midnight, sharing a brownie with Nina in a common area belowdecks as you registered Kaz's heartbeat from where he stood upstairs, looking on at an empty horizon while standing at the centre of the boat.

"You do that a lot," Nina noticed as you popped a piece of the brownie into your mouth. "I used to do it, too, before the parem hit."

"Do what?" You asked, one of your hands going to the bear claw necklace you only tended to wear in dire situations. It amplified your abilities as a Heartrender, allowed you to sense the differences in peoples heartbeats and choose who to keep standing on their feet.

"That," Nina gestured. "And when you wear your amplifier, you go seeking for heartbeats. Gives you something to listen to."

"I do not," you said, part of you still focused on the rhythmic beat of Kaz's heart in his chest. "And besides, how could I need something to listen to when I have the sound of the waves?"

"You don't like the waves much," Nina observed. "One of the things you and Kaz have bonded over since you started dating three years ago, I would assume. Is it his heartbeat you're listening to?"

You flushed, shook your head. "I'm not listening to anyones," you denied. "I don't do that."

"Yes you do," Nina said with a laugh. "All Heartrenders who're strong enough to do it do it. During the Ice Court, I did it with Matthias'--had I not taken the parem, I would've been able to listen to his heart when it stopped."

"If you hadn't taken the parem, we'd all be dead," you said. "I am grateful for your sacrifice, and Matthias', but I think that if you could've heard his heart as it stopped you never would've stopped grieving--you still grieve him."

"I'm learning the art of moving on," Nina said with a grin. "I wanted to hold onto him forever, and I know that it's not feasible. He's buried in Fjerda to connect with Djel, and I am here. I am helping Kaz Brekker on a heist and I am sharing a brownie with the person who is probably the love of his life, and everything is okay."

You grinned at her, let go of Kaz's heart and instead absorbed the sound of the silence in the room.

"You are not the person you were when we did the Ice Court," Nina said. "You are not the person who came to Ketterdam to escape the war--you've changed, and it's for the better. Matthias would like the person I am now, and as much as I take solace in that, I do not need to know that to keep functioning as a person."

You sighed, looked around the room in search of a bottle of brandy.

The lounge area was simple--a couch pressed against one wall, a window just a foot or two above it that looked out onto the upper level, and a small drawer with a couple of bottles of various liqours and cups to drink them from. A table was in front of the two of you and would probably be used when Jesper came in, seeking something entertaining like a game of rummy or war without making any bets.

You grabbed yourself a brandy, grabbed Nina one and clinked your glass against hers.

"To not being the people we once were," you said. She grinned.

"To listening to the heartbeats of those we love the most."

You both sipped your brandy, and you let yourself be content, not quite aware of the storm that would make landfall in the Wandering Isle at the same time you did.

-

The water had already risen to your kneecaps by the time you registered just how wrong things had gone. Everyone else had rushed out while you, Jesper, and Kaz stayed behind to fight--it meant that Inej, Wylan, and Nina were safe. That was all that really mattered as you fought the guards, some part of you having tuned into Kaz's heartbeat as you fought them off.

They were coming at you in droves, nearly impossible to fight as the water continued to rise, and when you looked at Kaz, he looked half dead as it were. You livened up his heart, forced the sound of it to thrum in his ears.

You are still alive, you thought. You are still here. Stay with me. Don't give in. I can't lose you.

"I've weakened the windows!" Jesper shouted. "Get near them! We can punch our way through the glass and then hope the water cushions our fall!"

You began to move that way, watching as Kaz did the same. "We can't keep fighting them like this!"

You clutched a hand to your amplifier. "I can't take them all on at once--there were a thousand when we started, there are five hundred now!"

The water had risen from your knees to your shoulders in a matter of minutes, and soon it would rise past your head. You would have to hold your breath as you punched through the weakened windows and fell out of the windows, onto the pavement.

You were still listening to Kaz's heart as the water rose, though. You'd been rendered a bit useless in the water, having to use your arms to keep yourself from sinking rather than swimming.

The water reached your neck. You glanced at Kaz as his heart slowed, saw him in a fight with one of the guards.

It was because of the fact that you were listening to the thrum of his heart in his chest that you heard the very moment it stopped beating.

You glanced at Kaz again. A knife had been jabbed into his chest fatally. You wished you'd chosen to be a healer instead.

Jesper lurched forward, nodded at you as the water took you even further, rising past your head and plunging you beneath the surface. You swam to a window, punched it open wide enough and punched the walls still, letting Jesper take Kaz's corpse out first, falling out of the window thereafter and landing in the puddle that'd formed on the ground.

You started crying when you looked at him. Kaz was gone.

Jesper was crying, too. "We need--he has to--"

"The boat," you said. "Take him to the boat--I need a second, Jes. I need a thousand."

Jesper nodded at you. "I'm sorry this happened. I know how much you cared."

You watched Jesper walk away, carrying your beloveds corpse bridal style, and curled in on yourself.

He was gone. Kaz Brekker was gone.

He'd died by being stabbed--a painful death indeed, but not more painful than the fate you wished to deliver to his killer.

-

"Did you--you weren't--" Nina started as she came into your quarters on the ship. "Oh, Y/N."

"I was," you said. "I heard his heart when it stopped. I wanted to save him but I couldn't."

Nina sighed, walked into the room, lied down next to you. "He has found his peace."

You didn't believe that. You weren't sure if you believed anything.

"I know," you said anyway.

He was gone, and you were incomplete, but there was nothing more that could be done--if he had found his peace, you too would find yours in time.

[justyanderes]

yautja!uvogin x reader

warnings: uvo is terrible in this! The world building of this au is also pretty dark too (clone trafficking is mentioned), implied future dubcon and the making mark of is basically branding the reader

A/n this whole au doesn't follow too closely into the yautja lore and is mainly made up by yours truly ofc

It's past midnight when the screaming starts up. The ships monitor is old- prewar in fact. No one when you asked earlier had any idea nor wished to use it. But works well enough to give you access to every camera on the ship.

Not many people in the galaxy are willing to haul a damn xenomorph. But the tag along group of mercenaries needed the money, everyone seems to do these days. It didn't hurt that you had money up front for the travel either. So they took you in, never thinking you could be dangerous compared to the illegal cargo they were handling. If they only knew huh?

Said captain who took you in without reporting your presence is the only one who manages to fight back. It's a useless endeavor. His spleen and other organs fall right out of his body when he least expects them to. It's hard to fight against something you can't see after all.

There's a lot of things this crew could have done to save themselves- it can all be traced back to them taking pity on you. Letting you tag along to the next planet where you desperately needed to get to. All of them are unaware of that stowaway you've brought that will be the death of them all.

You think that it will only take him another ten? No, five minutes at most to finish the task. Meaning you are left waiting, once more. The screams are getting closer now. Someone finally bangs on the room's door and you make no move to let them inside.You know all of this remains completely out of your control. If you want to live this is just another hard factor of life you'll have to come to accept. You are well aware of the fact, but it doesn't make any of this easier.

When you remember to breathe, that's when you decide to look around the room for things of value. The first item that catches your eye is a starship figurine. The second is an old school cloning catalogue. You can't help but chuckle trying to imagine a world that had such a dated product. Back on your home planet there were a dozen shops that offered cloning services with the promise of a finished product at the end of the week.

Eventually in your search you recognize a piece of tech scattered across the old storage room. Its value is no greater than a cheap battery pack. But it's the final piece you've been needing to finish up fixing your current project.

You check back on the monitor- confirming that the entire crew is dead due to the fact the Uvogin is no longer wearing his mask.Giving you a rare view of the ugly mug that makes your skin crawl. You've seen your fair share of aliens but his species was pure nightmare fuel. The space boogyman- that caring parents use to have their kids behave. If you're forced to be honest however its his eyes that frighten you the most. And right now staring back they seem absolutely piercing. You wonder briefly if you have zoned off far too long. Uvo would be really pissed if you have.

You hold on to the tech you found like it's your lifeline. This time it very much could be, you never know exactly where you stand with the yautja.

You've been traveling together for months and this entire time he's been able to understand every curse that's left your mouth. Yet you don't have the faintest clue what's going through his head. There's only so much meaning you can only make so much sense of what every low trill and sound means.

And the noises he makes that you do understand almost instinctively are ones you really wish you didn't hear.

Blood is tracked all over your boots by the time you make it to the medical center. Or what's left of it anyways. Uvo is waiting for you, perched against one of the counter tops.

You can more clearly make out the yautja's familiar features now you aren't huddled in a corner with a shitty monitor. He's impossibly tall, to the point you think he's some genetic failure rather than a creature that should actually exist.

Silver dreadlocks are the only factor that shows off his true age. One of your first mistakes had been assuming Uvo was a young blood- growing up you had heard tales of how easy it could be for humans to trick the younger males.

All one needed was a xenomorph to set it off on a hunting rampage. Needless to say your escape attempts using that information did not pan out well.

You show off the piece of tech you found. Which thankfully does the trick in keeping Uvogin from giving you any bullshit. Earning you a pleased trill followed by what you think is his impression of a human laughter.

He hands you the broken translator and settles down so you can reach him more easily. The thought of using your screwdriver and plugging it into his big forehead is there. Despite the fact you know you'd die before you ever get the chance to get a swing in.

"When it is fixed, it will likely be the last time before it breaks down completely. You'll have to find another one once it breaks".

The yautja considers your words for a moment, giving a grunt to confirm he actually was listening to you.

That was another thing odd about Uvo you can't quite place- even if you've been careful with how you act in front of him. There have been times where you have been too scared to listen to his commands. Which you know has made the yautja who expects worship at his feet to be pissed off enough.

Even the slightest amount of a threat should be enough to set the male off. Since he hasn't killed you yet he'll have to let you go, you think. In your mind you can't think of any other reason why he would keep you along any longer. Once the translator has been fixed you'll be home free.

It takes a great amount of effort for you to keep your hands from shaking as you wire the final piece.

You then carefully attach it to his neck, ignoring the way his eyes are scanning over your form. Sizing you up, seems to never stop despite how long you have been forced to work together. Even a hardened thief is nothing compared to a yautja. Especially a maddened one could care less about it's own species or their traditions. You thought by now he would have learned you weren't a threat to him.

"Test it out now".

For a moment there's only static until the translator is properly warmed up.

"Took you long enough! 'uman, I was beginning to think you didn't want to hear my voice again". Uvogin says, a little too close into your ear.

The voice could be fitting on a human perhaps- on UVO it's nothing short of unsettling. His attempt at flirting makes your skin crawl.

Needless to say the voice options leave a lot to be desired. You'll take what you can get however. This voice is certainly better than the last one he had set up. Most importantly you can now properly understand him.

"I spotted that this shithole had some alcohol if you're in the mood to celebrate".

It's an offer, but it's obvious that declining the offer leads you to trouble. Tonight you are too tired and not in the mood to deal with such games.

"Sorry big guy. Drink without me I need a shower and to rest before this headache kills me".

You quip, backing up into your own personal space. In your mind you start up trying to guess the value of things. Despite the fact there's nothing else really valuable here- Uvo has ruined anything that was.

You head back to the shower room, likely to get rid of the bloodstains. It didn't make a lot of sense to Uvo but he lets you walk away just this once. Come tomorrow the yautja won't be as willing to overlook your odd human habits. He's been planning to do this for a while now. At first he wasn't sure if he truly wanted you, or if it was his instincts talking. Too many mating moons spent alone finally turning him into a romantic sap.

But pretty didn't always mean useful- Take the clone Phinks had stolen from Saturn for example. Prettiest thing he ever saw and yet the stupid thing still tried to run every chance they got. You on the other hand learned quickly what trouble running got you.

He wasn't necessarily looking for a strong human to mate with. But Uvogin would be damned if he was stuck with a weakling.

His own species was a little too headstrong. A fact that Uvogin began to despise more every passing year. Especially the females, who would rather kill their more powerful counterparts than try and work together. Pakunoda was the only one who never tried to battle Uvo for dominance- Thus she was his only yautja sister he never had to kill.

Since it would be pointless to imagine you beating him, it took a while to decide what task he could set you upon to prove your worthiness. Planning a way to allow you a chance to survive was even more difficult. In the beginning he often wondered if you were worth the effort.

You've been ready to run from him since the start. And if he were a youngblood, too concerned with taking what he could. It's undeniable that he would have messed this whole courting thing up. Likely killing you long before he could ever fuck you.

The image of just that settles his thoughts for a moment. His favorite pastime as of late has been imagining your little cries of pleasure. Or how you'd look at him with those perfect eyes terrified of what he could do. All of it gets him off more easily than any other has. A factor that certainly lines up with the idea that you could be his mate. All you have to do is prove yourself worthy enough and Uvo would accept you for himself. The tracker he had placed on you confirms the fact you really are asleep. Or at least trying to. See, the plan originally was to give you a full six hours of rest. But being a little impatient Uvo decides you'll have to do well enough with four.

Uvogin kills the first xenomorph with ease. Detaching its head from the rest of its body. Saving a bit of the foul creatures blood within a vial. (If you survive this, he will need the less acidic blood to mark you)

The second is still heavily drugged, it doesn't even twitch when Uvo chops it's ugly little tail off. Followed by him breaking one of it's hind legs as well. He leaves the creature's arms intact however.

After all he isn't trying to make this too easy for you.

[attackfish]

the “shifting quagmire of rising and falling states” au (Aang died in the iceberg, but at his canon age.) to zoom in a bit, did katara ever learn water bending and if so who taught her? Alternatively, how did Iroh and zuko’s travels go?

Continued from: [Link].

I don't think Katara remaining perminantly without waterbending training is a tenable situation. She is going to go north at some point. And this becomes even more urgent when she finds out, as we know from the comics, that there are other waterbending children, much younger than she is, in the south, who will also need to learn waterbending. And I think that her journey north will coincide with her reaching adulthood.

Unfortunately, she doesn't know about the swampbenders, so her goal will in fact be the Northern Water Tribe. And once she gets there, especially because there are other young waterbenders in her tribe, and she's going to feel that profound need that she's going to have to teach them, she is going to feel that she has to be all kinds of waterbender to all kinds of people. Just learning healing isn't going to cut it. And the Northern Water Tribe and Master Pakku still aren't any more willing to teach her any other kind of bending than healing. So she goes to a former student of Pakku's and weasles training out of him. They're caught, Pakku wants her kicked out, she fights him, he sees her necklace, he agrees to train her. She becomes the first of the new waterbenders at the South Pole.

Before I talk about Zuko, let's talk about Azula, because Azula is dealing with the reality that no matter what she does, at some point, her father is going to stop seeing her as his favorite child, and start seeing her as a threat. This is true because at some point, hes going to notice that she's separate person from him, with her own opinions, and he is not going to be able to cope with that. But it's all the more so because he, after all, is a man who came to this throne by killing his own father.

And by considering her a threat, and treating her as such, he, of course, makes himself a very real threat to her. This is going to be incredibly painful for her and hard and nasty, and it will shatter her illusions and make her feel scared and alone and miserable, and eventually she will figure out that she needs to deal with him as a threat, and I'm putting my money on Azula, because she is a lot smarter than her father.

So Azula takes the throne the same way her father did, through murdering her own father. But Ozai is not an old man on the verge of death, so Azula has to be that much more careful. She slips a small amount of slow acting poison into something he drinks every day, something he keeps in his room: his tea. Because Ozai might have mocked his brother for decades over his fussy tea drinking ways, but he drinks almost as much tea, and is almost as fussy about it. And Azula slips in the poison right before leaving for a year long tour of duty handling insurgents in the Earth Kingdom.

It takes almost three weeks for Ozai to even begin to feel the effects, and another month to become seriously ill. Azula is called home as she knows she would have been, and as she relied on, because after a certain point, he was going to get too sick to make himself tea. But once she's home, she can keep making it for him.

Azula carefully researched the poison she used, to find one that would mimic the symptoms of a natural intestinal issue, and the physicians are none the wiser, nor is her father. As he grows weaker and weaker, as he lays dying, they reconcile. Hes scared, and he wants his golden child there again, who adores him and believes in him. And it's all very sweet and heartfelt, and Azula feeds him his last dose of poison before he slips away.

Almost as soon as he's dead, she sends for her brother. But who is the Zuko Azula sends for?

Already at sixteen, Zuko is perceptive enough and brave enough to tell Zhao that his father is a fool if he thinks rest of the world will follow him willingly. He's drowning in a whole lot of fear, pain, anger, and self deception, but it's not like he's incapable of perceiving the harm the Fire Nation is doing, and how the rest of the world feels about it. Without the Avatar, and going back to the Fire Nation, and the series of events that happened in canon, it takes him longer to realize what a shit his dad is, and how his dad doesn't love him, or want him home, or think he can find the Avatar, and how about he, Zuko, didn't deserve the way his dad treated him, and how the best thing he can do for the world is work against his father and the Fire Nation's imperialism, but he gets there. He is in fact there for about a decade before his father dies.

His exile is boring. That's the thing, whatever internal changes he has come to, he spends most of his time sailing around, on a perpetual journey, designed to keep him away from his father and the court. Once he comes to the realization that he was never really supposed to find the Avatar, he's left adrift with little purpose. It's almost a blessing that his ancient ship is pretty much always falling to pieces around him, especially after the first five years, and he and his crew are chronically underfunded, so he is forced to find ways to make up the shortfall. At first, this mostly means running errands for various naval officials, but especially after the fall of Ba Sing Se, it means smuggling.

Zuko and his crew actually ran his sister's blockade around some of the cities she is besieging, because they were harboring insurgents, to bring food and supplies, and she was none the wiser.

So when she calls him home, she expects him to be biddable, scared, angry, but desperate for acceptance, love, and family connection. And yeah, when he first comes home, he is pretty biddable. He and Mai, uh, renew their acquantance, (Mai was waiting for Zuko, but not altogether willingly. Once Azula decided that her brother was going to be doing the whole. Making heirs thing instead of her, she quickly decided on Mai as his future wife. When Mai attempted to date a guy when she was nineteen and recently returned from Omashu, Azula shut that down fast, and made it clear to Mai that it would not happen again) and Azula basically ignores him and their uncle while she starts ruling the country.

And here is the part where Azula's pragmatism versus her father's self-aggrandizing stubbornness come to the forefront, because Azula, as mentioned in the previous post, is capable of realizing that she can't hold onto all of the Earth Kingdom. As much time as she has spent in the field, trying to deal with insurgency, she's very well aware of this, but she also has no intention of losing all of the Earth Kingdom colonies, just the ones she has to, just the ones that are much more expensive to keep than they could ever get out of them.

But just because she is being pragmatic, and doing what is the most self-interested thing the Fire Nation can do, that doesn't mean that there aren't people who are going to lose here, or who are afraid they are going to lose here, and the most dangerous time for any autocratic regime is when it's trying to reform. All it takes is one colonial governor afraid that he is about to lose his position, or people who used to live in the new colonies, coming home to the Fire Nation, unhappy about it, for someone to plot and assassination, and Azula might be very good in combat, but there's not a lot she can do about a bomb thrown at her palinquin.

And just like that, a few years into his sister's reign, Zuko, newly married and with the kid his sister wanted to be her heir on the way, takes the throne in the wake of his sister's grisly assassination. Azula is remembered as a martyr for the deconnization that her brother would forge ahead with, much further and faster than she ever would have. Certainly not a fate she ever would have chosen for herself.

[littlewestern]

favorite non-engine exhibit at the MSI?

I see that you have sent a variant of this question to me and @greatwesternway so let me start by thanking you for that! Gives me the opportunity to point out that she has answered in the *spirit* but not the *letter* of the question, and I never miss an opportunity to nitpick as the Winton is, of course, an engine. I understand the assignment, however.

There are a few objectively good answers to this. I'll start by naming my runners-up as well since I'd be remiss in not mentioning them.

One I didn't expect to like as much as I do now is actually the Fairy Castle. When I was young I never really "got" this exhibit and might have even missed it on a couple of grade school field trips since it is neither science nor industry. In fact, on our last trip to the MSI, I asked DJ point-blank what she thought the castle was even doing here in the first place. DJ said, quite simply, that she thought it was a way to get girls to go to the museum at the time, and I couldn't argue with the logic. It's just a big dollhouse.

But the room it's in is very dark and - owing to the waning popularity of the exhibit - usually quiet, which is always welcome. The ambience is nice, and each side of the dollhouse has a directional speaker over it that narrates a little story (complete with airy music and soothing nature sounds) about each room and points your attention to specific objects inside it. When you allow yourself a moment to be immersed, it can actually be a novel experience.

The attention to detail can be genuinely breathtaking, and I think there's merit to having something like this around even if it doesn't necessarily fit the theme of the museum itself. And kids are still enjoying it to this day! When we went last, we were letting the small children in front of us inspect the garden when one of them turned to us and asked if we could see the fairy the narration was talking about, because he couldn't find it. It was very cute.

It's hard to indicate the scale of these things without seeing it in-person, but the larger rooms are big enough to stick your head inside. My favorite rooms are the bathrooms because the tubs have fake water in them. I love fake water.

Another one I make a point to stop in on when I'm there even though it objectively contributes nothing in its current state is Yesterday's Main Street, which I will show to the best of my ability. Because it's so dark down there, it photographs like dog ass so it's hard to really capture why I find it so charming in images alone.

Yesterday's Main Street puts you in the shoes of a 1910s Chicago resident where you walk along a (very, very wheelchair unfriendly) cobblestone street complete with curb and sidewalk past period-accurate storefronts and down to a little movie theater that shows a reel of 10 silent films on a loop.

It's another spot that's quiet, dark, and mostly disused. This doesn't rank higher because it's another exhibit that contributes very little to actual discussion about science and industry and hasn't been updated in probably 20 years or better. It feels dated, not vintage, and I suspect it will be on the chopping block very soon.

That said, I don't think it's a waste of space or anything. The MSI's traveling exhibit space often features things from popular film franchises, and there's room here to talk about early film as an industry or the ways in which a shopping district street from 1910 undergoes infrastructure changes in the course of 100 years. Like, this isn't a total swing and a miss, but it would need so much extra investment of time and money to bring it in line with current exhibit standards, I just don't think it's feasible. I'm very interested to see what is done with the space in the next 10 years or so.

Okay so after all that. What's my favorite non-engine exhibit at the MSI?

I don't think anyone expected this, but I have a few good reasons for why I chose YOU!. This is, in my opinion, the best example of the MSI's ability to modernize their science exhibits. There are a ton of little diversions and screen-based games but it also makes sure to incorporate the museum's history in a way I think is modern and sensitive while still being educational and fun.

If you know the history of the MSI, you'll know that body science has always been one of their primary interests. The giant walk-through heart was a cultural touchstone for children in Chicago, and anyone my age and older will remember it as a right of passage for any grade school science field trip.

It stood there for over 50 years! At some point, it stopped justifying the space it was taking up. What once impressed children in 1954 no longer lights up the eyes of the jaded youth of 2024. Or even 2004. The hard truth is it had to go. But the replacement circulatory system diagrams are interesting, in an open and inviting space, and make the inside of the human body seem much more natural and inviting and less... monolithic and intimidating. I think this is a good change.

The fetuses and body slices are a similarly positive change. The MSI has an extensive collection of real, human specimens which they have displayed in various ways over time. Not all of these were obtained in a way current societal standards would deem unobjectionable, but the fact is the samples are here now. Rather than hide them in storage, YOU! puts them in the best context they can and gives the spaces (in my opinion) both dignity and purpose. You can argue whether or not that's the correct thing to do, but I think there's value in having that discussion and using the exhibit as a vector to do so is another way in which I think YOU! is quite modern and educational.

It also has a "Create An Ad" game which prompts guests to think about the ways in which media can influence us, which is a pretty abstract concept to introduce in an exhibit that could easily just be about the mechanical functions of the body. Taking the idea of "you" as a person away from the esoteric and medical and into the realm of the real, the present, the everyday, is what childrens' museums should be all about. Also the game is fun!

Before the 2020 renovation of the Pioneer Zephyr exhibit, I think YOU! is the best example of the MSI taking their old, weird, sometimes controversial (and maybe even boring), stuff and updating it to be interesting and modern and fun again. It's old now, so there are some things that could use another overhaul, but it's much closer to what I think the ideal science exhibit at the MSI should look like.

Thanks for the ask!

[fitgothgirl]

So my dad texted me a thorough apology the day after that dinner/yesterday morning, saying he was embarrassed and hoping I could forgive him and just totally owned up to everything. It meant a lot coming from him and we texted for a sec and things are better now. My emotions were still all frazzled yesterday and I did still cry again, because it was still a stressful and sad situation to go through regardless of forgiveness and wanting to move past it. Feeling better today though.

In other news, I'm getting back to Doordashing tonight (or even possibly Lyfting) because I don't have enough money to pay my credit card bill that's due Monday. I'm at a really bad point money-wise. I'm finally hitting my credit limit and I can't keep falling back on my credit card (nor should I; and despite the stress, I'm partially grateful to be hitting my limit). I'm 34 and I have no savings, just a couple grand in retirement, every month I spend more money than I make, I'm in a huge amount of credit card debt, and I don't even have a budget. I've dug a deep hole for myself. My bf doesn't know the extent because I'm so embarrassed... I even had almost everything paid off for a hot second a few years ago with help from family, and now I'm worse off than I was before that; all that help, just undone and wasted.

I need to make a budget, I need to stop going to concerts, I need to make extra money, I need to go to the cheapest grocery stores and use coupons. I literally don't have a choice anymore, there is no more credit.

I love my job and want to stay in it, and I think the pay would almost be an adequate amount to live on if I didn't have the credit card bills that I have... But even without the bills, I don't think I could really do things like save for retirement and travel/do fun stuff and have an emergency fund, etc. And as a childfree person, I want/need long-term care insurance when I'm older, which is expensive. I also need to face the fact that it's probably five years or so until my position is completely replaced by AI anyway. Plus there's no growth with this job anyway, I'm not going to get many more raises (if any?). I need to plan ahead for which direction I'm going to go, and I need it to be more lucrative so I can live like a fucking adult. And to also not hold my bf back in things like travelling; he makes enough money but we don't do all these things we want to do because I just can't get the savings together. The times we do travel are were often largely put on my credit card...

I passively wonder about going back to school. I don't know if it'd be worth the time or the money though. That'd almost certainly mean more debt too. But getting my MPH might be a good boost to my job/salary options - or not, knowing the current state of society lmao. I also entertain the thought of getting a second Bachelor's in something else like biology or neuroscience or even math and going to a completely different industry. I don't know how feasible any of this even is though lol. My head's just often in the clouds like this.

My current job is in the medico-legal field and I could go more into the law side of things doing admin stuff or something; I feel like that'd be a more lucrative field. Unless AI takes over that stuff too lol.

Idk. I'm just feeling a strong mixture of both anxiety and shame.

[a-strange-inkling]

Hellcheer Anastasia AU

Summary: Chrissy doesn’t remember where she came from nor who her family is. She has no memories, no last name. She’s been alone all her life, passed from orphanage to orphanage with only a locket and a folded up letter inside that says:

Meet me in Paris

My Darling

Snippet:

That’s how she finds herself in The Hideout, a seedy old tavern on the outskirts of the city, standing in front of the notorious conman Edward Munson. Traveling papers are difficult to come by these days, but she’s heard rumors on the streets that he can help procure them. For a price, of course. She doesn’t have much, but she’s saved a little. She hopes it will be enough. He’s appraising her slowly, warily, dark eyes wide and a little formidable.

“What?” she asks anxiously, subconsciously touching her face and neck to make sure she can’t feel any dried mud there.

“Nothing, sorry,” he murmurs, still gawking. “You just… you look…”

She waits, fiddling her fingers nervously.

“Nevermind,” he shakes his head slightly, motioning toward the seat across the small table from him. “Take a seat, Miss…”

“Chrissy.” she supplies, slowly lowering herself down.

“Chrissy…?”

“Just Chrissy.” she tells him.

“Ah ha,” he drawls slowly, thoughtfully, giving her another once over.

“So… how does this work, exactly?” she asks him quietly as the barhand walks by, setting the glass of water she ordered on the table.

“…Oh, just like any ol’ sale.” he waits to reply until the boy’s gone. “Money first, I get you the papers, it’s as simple as that.”

“H-how do I know you won’t disappear with the money?” she asks. “After I pay you?”

He grins slowly, devilishly and she feels her heart skip a beat. He’s younger and more handsome than she imagined he’d be when she heard his name being whispered in the streets.

“What’s the matter? Don’t I look trustworthy?” he asks teasingly, leaning forward, tilting his head to one side for her to assess for herself. Flushing, she quickly looks down at her hands, her fingers are still red and stiff from having walked all the way here through the snow.

“…Something tells me you’re not going to have enough anyway, sweetheart.” his voice is gentle, sympathetic.

“I have some saved,” she murmurs bashfully, feeling her lower lip push forward slightly.

“How much?”

With a sigh, she pulls out the coins and paper banknotes, laying them out on the table. It’s almost eighty rubles, her entire life’s savings since she left the orphanage.

“You do realize I’d be risking my life for this, right?” he chuckles at the meager offering.

“It’s… all I have.” she shrugs her shoulders hopelessly, feeling as though she might cry.

“Sure about that?” he reaches forward and she gasps brokenly at the feel of his rough fingers suddenly against her throat, leaving a hot trail against her snow kissed skin in their wake as they follow along the chain hanging around her neck. He stops just when he reaches the plush skin above her breasts, tugging upward to reveal the gold locket that was hiding between them.

She can feel her own blood racing through her whole body.

No, please, not that.

His eyes gleam as he takes it in, running his thumb over the engraved lilies and the white pearl embedded in the center. “Now that’s a pretty thing.” he muses breathlessly. “Where did a little waif like you get something like this?”

“I didn’t steal it if that’s what you’re wondering.” she tells him, frown deepening. “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.”

His twinkling gaze meets hers with a giddy smile. “This is real gold, sweetheart… the pearl alone could get you back and forth over the border ten times if you wanted.”

“…it’s not for bartering.” she tells him firmly, pulling it back and shoving it between the layers of her coat and blouse.

“I’d reconsider,” he rests his cheek into the palm of his coal tainted hand still lingering between them. “A few hot meals and somewhere to sleep would probably serve you better than a cold trinket to wear.”

“It’s important to me.” she replies, pocketing her money. She’d be angry if she wasn’t so weary, so devastated. Another deadend. “I think this was a mistake.”

“Hey, hey, hold on,” she stills when he feels his hand grip hers. “Hold on…let me buy you a drink, something besides ice water, maybe?”

She glances back at him, brows furrowed. The warmth in his eyes makes her slowy sit back down. His thumb runs over her raw knuckles before he makes his way up to the bar. “I’ll be right back… Don’t disappear,” he rasps as he passes, though it’s more of a plea than an order. She blinks up at him, nodding slightly. She watches his back as he goes.

[syntia13treeman]

Case files 08.01

what I think happened in:

Case 08.01,

the case of "Time of the Hungry Architecture" or "There are no missing persons in Forton Service Station."

Ok, I've had twinges of suspicion in some earlier episodes, but now it's a certainty. There are some Time Shenanigans afoot! Not time travel per se, but time asynchronicity for sure.

But let us start at the beginning, with Terrance Stevens (51) who recently went through a messy divorce, lost most of his friends in the process, and rather than going down the rabbit hole of workaholism/alcoholism/etc, decided to practice some self-care. He ditched his high-stress job in finances and became a janitor (less money but also less stress), and for a bit of intellectual challenge he enrolled in a university course. Good for you, my dude!

Downside of this – I imagine there are not many opportunities to bond with co-workers at a service station, and most if not all his fellow students are bound to be half his age, so he likely didn't make any new friends to replace the old ones. This is important, because I believe that lack of connections made him extra vulnerable to the spookies.

As Terrance later explained in his paper, his new place of employment, Forton Services, can be considered a site of brutal liminalism (TM). It's a cold and uninviting place, where there is a constant stream of people who want to be somewhere else, and where time has little to no meaning (open 24/7 and not a clock in sight).

In a place like this, reality might start to wear a little bit thin. Time and space might get a little bit warped. A little bit distorted. And not a little bit hungry.

And Terrance, lonely, sad and isolated Terrance, looked like a perfect meal.

It crept up on him over the course of few days. Without ever realising, he was being pulled somewhere else for increasingly long periods of time. (From his point of view, it seemed like there were less people around. There weren't. Terrance just didn't see most of them, because he wasn't there). It kept happening, until the fateful night, when Terrance phased out of reality for good. (For awhile).

Where did he go? Someplace almost here but not quite, where time was just a little bit out of sync with ours. Not by much. Just enough that the people and cars moving around started looking to him like a colourful blur. (Like stepping into a time-lapse picture).

Spooked by the (seeming) absence of people and strange visuals, Terrance ran right into the waiting trap elevator (defunct here, but working there). He was greeted by a too thin woman with name-tag that wasn't actually name-tag (it read You Are Here). She took him up to the (not)functioning restaurant at the top of the Pennine Tower (20m high).

There, in what seemed to be a 60s themed restaurant, he saw a crowd of people* who looked like they were AI generated (with key prompt words being thin&malnourished) sitting at the tables, not-eating and not-chatting. The chef, wearing another 'you are here' name-tag greeted him with a cheerful "You are here! Stay awhile!"

As first reaction, Terrance moved to sit at a nearby table.** (Everyone turned to watch).

As second reaction, Terrance showed admirable self-preservation instinct and tried to get the hell out of there. Sadly the door he'd entered through weren't there any more, the windows, he just noticed, were empty holes leading into black nothingness, and all the 'guests' moved to grab him, repeating after the chef: "Stay awhile!" (It was not a greeting this time. Nor was it a request).

After this, things escalated quickly. The hungry crowd closed in on Terrance and started biting him (the chef munched one of his fingers whole). Not quite ready to become dinner, Terrance punched and kicked his way free and with no hesitation jumped out the not-window.

Somewhere between the window-hole and hitting the ground, he re-entered the normal timestream, and some kind soul called in paramedics to treat his injuries. Which, for the record, were classified as fall damage by said paramedics and I find it either sus or hilarious. Sirs, these are bite-marks. How many teeth does your average building/pavement have? (To be fair, maybe the hungry crowd didn't master the teeth just yet. Maybe they need to take an anatomy course or something).

It is unclear how much time passed here while Terrance was NOT-here. It wasn't the Rip Van Winkle's 'one nap = 20 years', since he managed to submit his paper the same year it was assigned, but it was apparently long enough that he felt that someone should have reported him as missing. The fact that no-one did can have two explanations:

Very mundane if sad 'no-one cares about you enough to notice your extended absence, buddy'.

Part of the Pennine Tower's whole thing is that people who were pulled in-there are not remembered out-here, at least for as long as they remain in-there. A good hunting strategy, actually. If you were an immobile ambush predator, you wouldn't want potential pray to realize that fellow humans die here, would you.

To finish the story - Terrance immediately quit his janitor job, rationalized his experience as psychotic episode brought about by bad influence of hostile architecture, wrote a paper about it (submitted 12 July 2023 - late; failed) and, hopefully, moved on with his life.

Things of note:

*This is the second time we were introduced to a group of nameless, copy-pasted not-quite-people, prone to repeating cheerful, positive phrases. Colour me intrigued.

**I wonder what would have happened if Terrance took his place at the table. Maybe even tried some food he was offered. Was he always going to end up as the main course, or would he be assimilated, turned into one more thin, hungry guest, forever waiting for a new meal to walk in the door?

I keep going back and forth between 'the tower is a predator that creates human-facsimiles as part of its digestive system' and 'the not-people made the tower their home because they liked the brutalism vibe (or it was just a convenient spot)'.

I rather hope we'll see the Pennine Tower again. It's such a distinctive landmark. And the land is definitely marked.

There sure are a lot of mentions of hunger and food in this podcast, eh? Wonder what could it mean.